PXL’s Screenshot Edit Tutorial - Photoshop CS6 (no reshade)
I’ve received a bunch of asks/messages and requests to post my editing process for “HQ” Screenshots; I’m by no means an expert and there’s others that do this way better than I’ll ever be able to but here’s what I do:
Important Info 📋
This tutorial is for Photoshop CS6, I’ve never used other photo editing applications so I’m not equipped to give advice for other platforms.
I play in 3200 x 1800 resolution and my screenshots are taken at this size.
I play with every setting on high/ultra and use uncompressed textures.
I - Exposure & Gamma
For interior shots with “normal” lighting conditions I usually:
Increase exposure +0.30
Offset Gamma to 1.25
II - Brightness & Contrast
Increase brightness +20
Increase contrast +10
III - Add Photo Filter
I prefer a slightly pink overtone and a “cooler” image I use a photo filter with the following settings:
Color #E6C3F3
Density 25%
Preserve Luminosity
IV - Flatten Image
Right click in the layers panel and make sure to flatten the image at this point so the next steps are performed with your exposure and color corrections applied.
V - Topaz Clean
This is an external plug-in which can be found here [x] I use the following settings:
Clean
Strength 0.50 to 0.75 (depends on shot)
Threshold 0.50
Radius 8
Edges
Accent 3 to 5 (depends on shot and level of edge detail needed)
Radius 5
Sharpness 2.00
❝ This filter really brings out the detail and cleans up the softness of edges without adding a bunch of noise and harsh jagged edges; I prefer this to using sharpening methods because it retains that creamy effect! ❞
VI - Resize Image
I usually resize my images anywhere from 1000 to 1300px; tumblr’s dashboard is horrible for uploading images and having them retain their quality but when viewing through the user theme I prefer HQ larger screenshots.
VII - Smart Sharpen
After resizing some detail is lost, so I touch this up with smart sharpen with the following settings:
Strength 300%
Radius 0.2 PX
Reduce Noise 10%
VIII - Topaz De-Noise
This is an external plug-in which can be found here [x]
My last editing step is to run de-noise; you’ll notice this filter most on sims skin-tones and shadowed areas. This removes overly sharpened details from textures and any color mishaps and helps to create that final “creamy smooth” effect.
Noise reduction 0.20
Detail recovery 0.10
❝ Pay close attention to the texture of the towel also, this removes the “noise” in the color and texture and makes it smooth again without softening the edges or sharpness of the image! ❞
IX - Save File for Tumblr!
This is also an important step: you want to choose a format that will preserve as much detail as possible whilst also being fast to load and something that won’t become too compressed when viewed on the dashboard:
Save as JPEG
Quality “12″ maximum
Baseline (Standard)
That’s it! This is the basic process I use for all of my in-game shots!
❝ For reshade shots the exposure, lighting and coloring effects have already been applied with the program, so I just run through Topaz, Resizing and Sharpening/Cleaning for upload. Occasionally I will manually add depth of field which I can create a different tutorial for if any of you are interested. ❞
