JPEG clean up utility

[LeAnne]

I am trying to use the byRo JPEG cleanup utility and am having trouble figuring out what to do with the file. Is it a stand alone program or a photoshop plugin? If it works with photoshop, how? Thanks in advance for the help!

[byRo]

Hi there, LeAnne. Welcome to RetouchPRO.

My little JPEG clean-up is not a stand-alone and also not a plug-in - it is an action.

An action is a sequence of steps that you do often in Photoshop and can record them as a little "program" to save time. If you do a search on this site you'll probably find detailed instructions as to the how's and why's, so in short...
- Unzip, now you should see a file called "byRo JPEG Clean-Up.atn";
- Extract this to the folder ".....\Adobe\Photoshop xxx\Presets\Photoshop Actions;
- In Photoshop find the actions palette <F9> should do it (it's usually together with History and Tool Presets;
- To the right of the tabs there's a little round button, press this and you get a fly-out menu;
- Select "Load Actions...." and load the action;
- Find the new action on the action palette and hit the little play button at the bottom of the palette.
(that was short?)

Still with me? Don't worry - it's only difficult the first time!
Rô

[LeAnne]

Thanks! Putting the action into the correct folder was no problem, but when I go to the actions pallette I am still not seeing it. I am actually quite good with photoshop, I feel like I must be missing something really silly! Do I need to completely reboot my computer or should restarting photoshop be sufficient?

[LeAnne]

Nevermind - I found it! It really was silly. What a great tool!! Thanks so much for making this and making it available to everyone!!

[12fretter]

Where do I get this? Thanks.

[byRo]

Hi there, 12fretter

On the menu bar at the top of this page you'll see RetouchPRO between User CP and Member list.
Click on this and choose the option "Resources",
Besides this action you'll find a lot of interesting stuff there.

Rô

[12fretter]

Thanks, Ro!

[RalphBenmurgia]

Originally Posted by byRo

Hi there, 12fretter

On the menu bar at the top of this page you'll see RetouchPRO between User CP and Member list.
Click on this and choose the option "Resources",
Besides this action you'll find a lot of interesting stuff there.

Rô

Since I have your attention, Thanks for the action I use it all the time works great. I do sometimes get a bit of a blur after running it, not always just some times, what I usually do then is just give it a quick hit with the unsharp mask and its better than new.

Thanks

[byRo]

Hi there, Ralph,

Originally Posted by RalphBenmurgia

... I do sometimes get a bit of a blur after running it .....

Are you adjusting the Gaussian Blur? In the action I left it at a radius of 0.5 because, for me, that's usually about the best setting. But you should adjust for each image trying to find a radius that best shows the little 8 x 8 squares without introducing too much of the original image's texture.
The worse the JPEG, the higher the radius - and more likely you'll end up with some unwanted blurring.

Rô

[RalphBenmurgia]

Originally Posted by byRo

Hi there, Ralph,Are you adjusting the Gaussian Blur? In the action I left it at a radius of 0.5 because, for me, that's usually about the best setting. But you should adjust for each image trying to find a radius that best shows the little 8 x 8 squares without introducing too much of the original image's texture.
The worse the JPEG, the higher the radius - and more likely you'll end up with some unwanted blurring.

Rô

I have'nt touched the original settings, but thanks for the heads up I will try that the next time I use it