Image Prep #2 - Save a TIF and working in curves

So now I have a properly sized (10" by 200 Pixels per Inch) and I want to save an uncompressed photo. By compressing in a JPEG format (which is necessary later) we degrade the image by adding compression artifacts. We'll cover this later on. 
So I save the image (with a date on it) in a TIF format, a non-compressing format.

And don't let the program fool you. Do not compress. This is your golden copy of the golden puppy.


Now it's time to do some very simple toning of the image. Toning should be for brightness, contrast and color balance. One tool in Adobe PhotoShop allows me to get the image in the ballpark. This is art more than science. I have a color profile loaded into my machine, but that's for another day. Usually people use some akin to Adobe 1998.


I pull from the top menu IMAGE > ADJUST> CURVES. I simple lighten or darken the image by pushing the line in the middle of the graph. Never move the top point or the bottom very far as they are your black and white points and you don't want to give up too much native information. I'll nudge one point back and forth to punch up the contrast.

I also notice that the puppy is a bit too yellow (photographed under incandescent lights) so I go to the neutral (gray) dropper under the graph and start clicking around that black and white background until some of that color cast is gone and the puppy is close to his native color.