A Quick Look at Ming Thein’s New Post-Processing Suite

[pluton]

If this was the fifties American music scene Ming Thien would have been a "Beat" not a "Hipster."

Dave

They had 'hipsters' in the 1950's?  He's the Irving Penn of building shots, maybe?

[abergon]

Hi Michael,
thanks for having given your opinion on the new Ming Thein's post-processing video.
I have paid for a couple of MT's training materials, and they helped me focus on the right topics. I am not necessarily fond of his style, but at least he's got one and he's a good professional who takes time sharing with others.

[Michael Erlewine]

Well folks, there are so many conflicting comments flying around in this thread, that it is hard to decide which to respond, and some are not worth a response IMO. As for the LOL ones, the idea that by learning from Ming Thein, I will be trying to make photos like him. How funny, but also how impossible that would be. I am not influenced by Thein's style, I am inspired by his style and ability... to do more with my own style. I am a person who shares information. After all, I am a Sixties person; we don't care about keeping stuff to ourselves. We like to share it around, which I do.

And those who criticize Ming Thein's tutorials: you obviously know much more than I do about post-processing, because I immediately learned from this latest A3 Tutorial a number of things that I am already using to my advantage. One example is how a tablet pen GREATLY improves dodging, burning, and the sponge tool, to name just one thing I picked up.

This is not my first rodeo. I have been taking reasonable photos since 1956, when my dad gave me a Kodak Retina IIa, a close-up lens, a meter, and a tripod. It is true that now that I am retired, I enjoy a lot more photography and my photos have actually improved. But I have no fear of being influenced by other photographers. I have learned from a number of them, including Chambers, Hogan, Thein, and especially our own nfoto. I even have learn technical details from Ken Rockwell.

Anyway, I was surprised and kind of saddened by this thread, but it is OK. As they say, everyone has an opinion.

[The_Traveler]

My hesitation is that I have tried a pen based system without any success (just not enough stick-to-it-iveness) and I hate to buy into something and then not be able to follow through for lack of equipment savvy.


Is his workflow dependent on using a pen and tablet?

[David H. Hartman]

I used to have a pen and tablet but it was an economy 4x5" (10x12.7cm) and I found it nearly useless. I wonder if I could have afforded a lager drawing tablet that I might have found it useful.

If there is a way to try before you buy I recommend a large drawing tablet.

Dave

[Michael Erlewine]

I have a Wacom Intous, and it works fine. It can be used with a mouse, but for feathering fine things, a mouse won't do it. It makes a real difference.

[The_Traveler]

I used to have a pen and tablet but it was an economy 4x5" (10x12.7cm) and I found it nearly useless. I wonder if I could have afforded a lager drawing tablet that I might have found it useful.

If there is a way to try before you buy I recommend a large drawing tablet.

Dave

I had the same experience as you with a small tablet, the aspect ratio was off and it wasn't fine grained enough. I just bought a large Intuos Pro so I think I'll get a chance to try again.

[charlie]

Editing with a tablet vs mouse could be compared to editing with a laptop track pad vs mouse. Once you get used to the tablet it is frustrating to work any other way. It took me a few days to get the hang of the tablet (Wacom Intuos 4) but once I did there was no going back. If you are primarily pushing and pulling sliders and curves and such then a tablet is not vital, but if you are working on the image itself to dodge & burn, making masks, etc then there is no other way in my view.

I bought the large model but wish I would have bought the medium. I have a dual screen set up so the two screens are scaled across the tablet which means the majority of the tablet surface does not get used much and there is just more tablet real estate to move across to navigate the cursor to the second monitor. For this same reason I do not use the tablet mouse either, to much arm movement compared to the USB mouse, which is still plugged in and used for everything other than photo editing. Maybe on a single monitor the large tablet would make more sense (?) but I'll be buying a medium tablet next time around what ever my screen setup.

Michael, if you ever have any dodge & burn questions/issues that may have not been covered in your tutorials feel free to ask. As with most things in photoshop there are several ways to dodge & burn, some ways more appropriate in certain situations than others.

[Michael Erlewine]

Michael, if you ever have any dodge & burn questions/issues that may have not been covered in your tutorials feel free to ask. As with most things in photoshop there are several ways to dodge & burn, some ways more appropriate in certain situations than others.

I studied up on it and bought the Wacom Intous medium tablet, which is plenty large enough and can be pushed out of the way, as I use the regular mouse a lot, anyway. Yes, please, let me know your approach to dodge, burn, sponge, and on so on, since I in learning and ready to learn more. Thank you!

[Almass]

I studied up on it and bought the Wacom Intous medium tablet, which is plenty large enough and can be pushed out of the way, as I use the regular mouse a lot, anyway. Yes, please, let me know your approach to dodge, burn, sponge, and on so on, since I in learning and ready to learn more. Thank you!

Photo Retouching and usage of Wacom tablet would need separate threads on their own.

My first Wacom was the largest A3 tablet we got for the studio runnign on a Mac II Fx or something sometime back around 1992/3. This was not used for photoshop but was specific for our in house Airbrush artist for him to stop polluting the air and the silence of the studio with the compressor. He hated it and the tablet ended up under a pile of paper. I purchased the smallest Wacom sometime after that to use for Photoshop.......and the rest is history after a plethora of Wacoms.

I use the medium size Wacom Pro and large/small size depending on which station I am using.

Today and for Photoshop work. It is more efficient to get the small Wacom Pro and not the medium or large. I used back in the nineties the A3 Wacom for work on a Flame station as you need the space to work. Both the Medium and Large sizes are elbow intensive for PS work and the small Wacom is the correct one to use.
In case you are using the large or medium size Wacom. The thing to do is remap the Wacom space to the smallest space comfortable for you (approx 2inch square/rectangle) in such manner that your wrist never leave the resting position.......otherwise you are toast.

Wacom Pen. This is another issue which I can cover if you wish to open a separate thread. The gist of the matter. Do not use pressure sensitivity when you start working on PS. Pressure sensitivity is not for everybody as it is more akin painting and not all retouchers are painters.

On some of my stations, I do not use a mouse anymore but use the tablet sensitive surface for other scrolling, clicking, zooming. The Wacom becomes second nature. The Wacom tablet offers the possibility of being configured for different applications as to whether it is for PS - InDesign - Web Browsing....etc.

As I already said, I do not only do a lot of post processing but also use Wacom for 3D work and video photocompositing/editing.

D&B retouching is a separate thread and in short is available in 3 main different techniques with their variants.

[Jakov Minić]

Nothing like a good cigar and a beautiful woman

[Erik Lund]

I could not agree more! 

As to Ming Thein I have followed his writings on Leica M gear, I agree with most of his findings - But sometimes it seems like he gets caught in the 'New is better' game of the marketing departments - Generally he shoots very pleasing images. I have not seen his PS PP suite,,, but I have seen some online images that appeared to have been through too much/heavy PP to my personal taste for such a motif,,,

[Tristin]

I have to agree with Michael that some of the opinions put forth in this thread are disappointing.  Please keep in mind when commenting on a thread that an opinion can be both sincere and un-necessary. It will make for a friendlier and more open community.

[MFloyd]

I use a Wacom Intuos Pro Medium tablet (PTH-651) for a couple of years now.  The equipment is relatively cheap and of very high quality. First price, here in Switzerland, is about €265.

[mimi6900]

I think the style of Mings PP is excellent, are you saying that this tutorial will enable a person to produce pictures that have the look and shadow detail of Mings...........is it really that easy ? Does the package include LR presets. I cant seem to find a detailed account on the net from anyone who has purchased this tutorial ?