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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
How I Did That - Inner Essence
This was done with a strobe, Tri-X 400 35mm Kodak Black and White film, and printed on Ilford fiber paper. I started with a slow shutter speed and hit the shutter when I was zoomed in and quickly zoomed out. The strobe went off right away and that is why the one eye is extremely sharp and the rest is out of focus. After printed I toned the print with a selenium toner which really seperated the tones.Cheers,
Mike
www.Digital PhotosOnCanvas.com
www.DigitalPhotosOnCanvasExpress.com
Monday, July 21, 2008
Alternative Health Site
I just wanted to tell everyone about a cool website if you are into natural health. It is Perfect Circle Remedies. It is a website not devoted to one area of alternative health but is a site to find information to many different areas of natural health. I know this isn't photo related but I am interested in being healthy. Visit www.perfectcircleremedies.com
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Adobe Photoshop CS3 Tutorial about Camera Raw - How to get Great Photos
This video tutorial is a bit long but is a great introduction to Camera Raw and what is possible with it. The length is almost 25 minutes.
Benefits of Adobe Photoshop CS3
If you're a professional Web designer, chances are that you've used Photoshop at least once in your life. This impressive application, nearly 20 years old, is very much the industry standard for image editing and photo retouching, and is often the software of choice for the Web designer too.
The latest incarnation - Photoshop 10, or CS3 - is just around the corner; Adobe officially launched it last week, and it's currently available for pre-order at the time of writing.
We've been playing with the CS3 beta for the last few months, and it's certainly an impressive beast. Let's take a look at the new, fun stuff that Adobe have added to their latest release, as well as areas that they've improved over CS2 and earlier versions.
New features
Although the new feature list for CS3 isn't quite as lengthy as CS2 was, there are quite a few radical changes in there - a redesigned interface, the wonderful Auto-Align Layers command, and the clamoured-for Smart Filters, to name but a few. Let's explore all these new features.
Brand new streamlined interface
Palette icons
The first thing you notice when firing up CS3 is the new user interface. For one thing, the toolbox has been slimmed down to a single column of buttons, rather than the pre-CS3 two-column design. This allows you to keep the toolbox out of the way on the side of your screen - great for freeing up horizontal space. You can easily flip back to the two-column version by clicking the double arrow at the top of the toolbox window.
Speaking of slimming down, Adobe have really gone to town with the palettes. The new collapsible palette docks let you reduce all your palettes down to tiny icons when you're not using them - see the screenshot on the right - which is a wonderful space saver. It takes a while to memorise the icons, but once you do you'll be flipping between palettes in no time. You can keep your commonly-used palettes, such as the Layers palette, open all the time, and collapse the rest to icons until you need them, freeing up more space to work on your images. However, if you prefer the old style interface, you can always drag your palettes out of the dock, and have them floating free again.
There's also a new Maximized Screen Mode - available by clicking the icon at the bottom of the toolbox, or by pressing F - that expands the document window to fill the available screen space between your toolbox and palette docks.
Universal Mac application and speed improvements
At last, with the release of CS3, Photoshop becomes a Universal Mac application, allowing it to run at native speeds on the new(ish) Intel Macs. In fact CS3 is generally zippier than CS2 was, with brushes and filters feeling that much more responsive than in CS2; the application is much quicker to launch too. It's nice to know that more features don't always mean more code bloat!
Smart filters
This has to be Photoshop's number one requested feature: "live" filters that you can go back and edit on the fly. These types of filters have been available for a long time in other image editing software, and it's great to see them make their Photoshop début in CS3.
They're a tad clunky to use, it must be said - you have to convert your layer to a smart object before you can apply a smart filter to it - but it's a welcome addition nonetheless. In use, smart filters behave much like layer effects in the Layers palette, as you can see in the screenshot. You can reorder the filters by dragging them in the Layers palette; this lets you control the order that the filters are applied in.
You can also set a blending mode for each filter, which is a really powerful feature.
Quick Selection tool
CS3's new, super-easy Quick Selection tool is like the Magic Wand tool on steroids. Rather than carefully clicking areas of your image to select them, like you do with the Magic Wand, you just casually "paint" around the edges of your selection using a brush size of your choosing. Photoshop then automatically selects the object you're "painting" on as it goes.
It's incredibly quick to use, and Photoshop often gets the selection border spot-on. If it gets a bit carried away, you can of course paint with Alt/Option held down to remove areas of the selection, or use the fabulous Refine Edge command. Speaking of which...
Refine Edge command
Refine Edge groups most of the commands available under Select>Modify, such as Smooth, Feather and Expand/Contract, into one handy dialog. This is great, because you can now fine-tune your selection all in one place and preview the results as you go. It works with any selection, whether made with a selection tool, or created via the Quick Mask.
Auto-Align Layers command
The wonderful new Auto-Align Layers command automatically lines up several different photos of the same scene, even if the photos were taken from different angles. It's almost like a non-panoramic version of the Photomerge command.
For example, say you've taken three photos of the same scene, but with different people in. Simply stack the three photo layers on top of each other, select them, then run Auto-Align Layers. Photoshop rotates, squeezes and distorts the photos so that they all line up with each other. You can then copy and paste the people from the different photos into the one final image.
This is a pretty powerful feature, and it nearly always does a great job at aligning the images. It works best if your photos were taken at nearly the same angle though, and even then it sometimes gets it wrong. If in doubt, use a tripod!
Auto-Blend Layers, the perfect complement to Auto-Align Layers, adjusts the brightness levels of the aligned layers so that they're consistent, and also creates layer masks for the layers to mask off the ragged edges, leaving you with a nice square finished photo. Of course, because the layers stay as layers, you can still edit the individual photos if you wish.
Speaking of Photomerge, this stitching command - first built into Photoshop CS - has seen a major overhaul in CS3. The Auto-Align Layers technology is now integrated, which produces a much better result than in previous versions. It's even a fully automatic process now, though you can still go in and tweak the panorama manually if you like.
Black & White adjustment
Another oft-requested feature, the new Black & White adjustment command - also available as a new adjustment layer - lets you produce great black & white conversions of colour photos.
Although you've always been able to convert a photo to black & white simply by choosing Image > Mode > Grayscale or Image > Adjustments > Desaturate, these commands do a pretty poor job of it. This is because they don't give you any control over the conversion process.
For years, photographers have got around this by using various tricks, such as gradient maps, multiple hue/saturation adjustment layers and all sorts of other voodoo. The Channel Mixer adjustment has arguably been the most useful of the bunch; enable the Monochrome option and you can control the amount of red, green and blue that goes into the final black & white image.
The new Black & White adjustment builds on this by giving you six sliders: Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues and Magentas. This gives you much greater control over the mix of colours that makes it into the final image. It's also more forgiving than the Channel Mixer; the values don't have to add up to 100%, and it's much harder to clip your shadows or highlights. (Speaking of which, Adobe have thrown in a Total display in the Channel Mixer dialog, so you can check that your channels add up to 100% without getting your calculator out.)
It's an improvement in other ways, too. There's an Auto button that sets the six sliders to produce the best mix (from Photoshop's point of view, of course), and there's also a range of built-in presets to simulate various lens filters. Finally, you can add a tint - for example, a sepia tone - to the end result. This seems to produce a much nicer effect than messing around with a Hue/Saturation adjustment after the fact.
Exposure adjustment layer
It's a small change, but worth mentioning anyway: If you're a fan of using the Exposure adjustment command to correct in-camera exposure problems, you'll be cheered to know that Exposure is now also available as a non-destructive adjustment layer in CS3.
New blending modes
Another minor change in CS3 is the addition of two new blending modes: Lighter Color and Darker Color. They're simply composite versions of the existing Lighten and Darken modes.
In English, this means that they work by comparing the overall brightness levels of the two layers, rather than working on a per-colour-channel basis. Their effect, as you might imagine, is similar to Lighten and Darken but, because they don't affect the colour channels separately, they preserve the original colours in the layers.
Device Central
Device Central is a new satellite program that ships with CS3. It's designed to help you create content for mobile devices, such as phones and PDAs. You choose the device you want to create for, then Photoshop gives you a template document to use that's the right size for the device's screen. You can then preview your work on a virtual version of the device, by clicking the Device Central button in the Save for Web & Devices dialog (see below). You can also create and preview Flash, video and Web content.
It's very much beta at this stage though - it only contains generic devices rather than specific makes and models - but it'll be interesting to see how this looks in the final release.
Export to Zoomify
CS2 featured an option to export large megapixel images to a Web viewer called Viewpoint ZoomView, which lets you quickly zoom in and out of large images and pan around, Google Maps-style.
With the advent of CS3, Adobe have eschewed ZoomView in favour of Zoomify, which basically does the same thing, albeit without some of the advanced features of ZoomView. However, Zoomify works with the standard Flash browser plugin, so it doesn't need a separate plugin like ZoomView does. A big plus.
Improvements to current features
As if all those new CS3 features weren't enough, those clever-clogs at Adobe have been working hard to improve existing Photoshop functionality too.
Save for Web
The trusty Save for Web command now has the tongue-twisting name of Save for Web & Devices. It's very similar to the CS2 Save for Web, but the Edit in ImageReady button in the bottom corner of the dialog has been replaced with the Device Central button for previewing your image on an emulated device.
So why no ImageReady button? Simple: ImageReady is no more! It's gone to software heaven. The more useful ImageReady features - animation, slices and so on - have been absorbed into Photoshop itself; other features, such as image maps, have been dropped. Personally I think this is a great thing - it was always a bit cumbersome constantly flipping between Photoshop and ImageReady to do stuff like animated GIFs (which, let's face it, aren't as popular as they used to be anyway).
Animation palette
The dialog also contains controls for previewing an animated GIF and choosing repeat options. You now create the actual animation directly in Photoshop, using the Animation palette (Window > Animation, shown to the right). The old ImageReady features are all there, such as setting frame delays and adding tweened frames.
Clone Source palette
Many of the cloning tools, such as the Clone Stamp and Healing Brush tools, now let you preview what you're doing before you do it. To do this, hold down Shift+Alt (Win) or Shift+Option (Mac); an overlay appears, showing you what's directly under the mouse cursor. This is wonderful for avoiding those cloning accidents - I'm forever cloning a feature of the image that I didn't want to clone!
You can also now sample from the current layer combined with all layers below, rather than simply all layers, by choosing Current & Below for the Sample option in the options bar. You can also choose to ignore the effects of any adjustment layers when sampling - to do this, click the appropriate icon in the options bar.
Finally, there's a new Clone Source palette available (Window > Clone Source) that lets you store up to five different sample sources - from different images if you like - as well as scale and rotate the sampled pixels before cloning them. This is fantastic if you have a perfect area of the image to clone from, but it's at the wrong angle or size. You can also control the preview overlay from this dialog, including its opacity and blending mode.
Eyedropper tool
Eyedropper options
The Eyedropper tool, used for sampling colours from a document, has had a small update: you can now sample bigger ranges than 5 by 5. Much more useful in the day of 20 megapixel images!
Vanishing Point
Vanishing Point command
Adobe have improved the incredibly handy Vanishing Point command, first introduced in CS2, with a couple of great new features.
Firstly, you can now Alt/Option+drag a resize handle on a plane to rotate that plane about any angle relative to its neighbour. In other words, you're no longer restricted to creating planes that are perpendicular to one another. This gives you a lot more flexibility and control over the types of perspective shapes you can create.
Secondly, whereas the CS2 Vanishing Point limited you to moving your selection over one plane at a time, in CS3 you can stretch your selected image over multiple planes; the image hugs the contours of each plane, twisting and turning as it goes. Perfect for making package mock-ups and so on.
Curves
Curves dialog
The Curves adjustment dialog has had a bit of an overhaul. If you modify the curves of individual colour channels - great for correcting colour casts - you can now see the individual channel curves superimposed on top of the composite curve. This means you can see the whole adjustment on the one graph, which is handy.
Adobe have also added a histogram, as well as black and white point sliders below the graph, meaning that you can now easily do Levels-type adjustments within the Curves dialog.
Other useful additions include some great built-in presets for various colour correction scenarios, and a more obvious way of switching between brightness levels and ink levels. You can also view which parts of your image you're clipping, much like Alt/Option-dragging the sliders in Levels dialog. Finally, there's no longer a button to expand the size of the dialog - it's permanently "expanded" now. This seems like a good move; the old smaller Curves dialog always felt a bit cramped anyway.
Brightness/Contrast
Let's face it - the Brightness/Contrast adjustment has never exactly been the professional's tool of choice. With its somewhat "rough and ready" approach, and its enthusiasm for clipping images, posterising and destroying shadows and highlights, it's generally been relegated to the "special effects" department.
Adobe have addressed this with the new Brightness/Contrast; it's now much tamer. Brightness now adjusts the spread of the brightness levels across the shadows, midtones and highlights; it's a bit like using the gray point slider in Levels. Contrast adjusts the contrast across the midrange - the equivalent of using an S-curve or inverted S-curve in the Curves dialog. It's much harder to clip your image now. If you're really keen to muck up your image though, you can always check the Use Legacy option in the dialog to return to the old-school method.
Camera Raw
Camera Raw dialog
The Adobe Camera Raw plugin lets you open raw, unprocessed image files from many digital cameras - they're the digital equivalent of a film negative, in many ways - then process them, adjusting white balance, exposure, sharpening and so on, before opening them in Photoshop proper.
In CS3, Camera Raw has seen some major improvements. The most significant is probably that you can now open regular JPEG and TIFF files and process them in Camera Raw. Other welcome additions are the Recovery slider - for clawing back blown highlights created by dragging the Exposure slider - and the wonderful Fill Light slider, which is just great for adding punch to the lower midtones of an image.
Adobe have also overhauled the user interface, with more intuitive grouping of the sliders, and introduced a couple of new tabs, such as the HSL/Grayscale tab, which lets you control hue, saturation and luminance across eight colour ranges, as well as perform a black and white conversion right in the dialog. There's also the Split Toning tab, for adding a touch of colour to your shadows or highlights.
If you want to perform really precise, detailed adjustments to your images - whether they're raw files, JPEGs or TIFFs - the new Camera Raw is definitely the way to go.
Slightly better HDR support
A HDR image yesterday
High Dynamic Range, or HDR images contain a much wider range of brightness levels than standard images, allowing you to capture both your dark shadows and bright highlights without clipping. Usually this is done by taking multiple photos at different exposure settings - known as bracketing - then using Photoshop's Merge to HDR command (File > Automate > Merge to HDR) to merge the photos together into one HDR image.
CS3 features some minor improvements on the HDR front. Its Merge to HDR command lets you load and save camera response curves for later use, and it also uses the new alignment function from Auto-Align Layers to better align the photos. Having said that, it did a pretty bad alignment job when I tried it on a test image (shown here). It aligned the clouds in the image fine, but - presumably because the clouds moved between shots - the rest of the image was all out of alignment. CS2 was actually better in this regard! Hopefully things will improve in CS3 final.
In addition, more functions within Photoshop now support 32-bit HDR images, such as the Levels and Hue/Saturation adjustments, and the Emboss filter. It's still quite a limited range, though - hopefully HDR support will improve in future versions of Photoshop.
Better PDF handling
Adobe have made a small enhancement to the way Photoshop opens PDF files: You can now specify an exact width and height when importing a PDF page, rather than just specifying the resolution.
Improved printing
Printing from CS3 is now much simpler, with a single Print dialog handling both previewing and printing itself. The print preview window is also bigger, and Photoshop now integrates more tightly with certain printers.
Adobe Bridge
Adobe's Bridge software, bundled with Photoshop, lets you view, manage and organize your images, Photoshop documents and other graphics files. The latest version sports a new, snazzy-looking dark grey look - you can change the colour if it doesn't appeal - and various other improvements to the interface. For example, there's a wider range of views to change from, including a vertical filmstrip, and a Light Table view.
The new Bridge also features a Filter pane, letting you filter by an impressive range of criteria, including landscape or portrait orientation, and even aspect ratio. Another nice touch is the ability to group selected images together in a stack, for easier organisation. The new slideshow view is quite snazzy too, with Ken Burns-style sliding of images - though frankly it made me a bit queasy after a while!
The latest incarnation - Photoshop 10, or CS3 - is just around the corner; Adobe officially launched it last week, and it's currently available for pre-order at the time of writing.
We've been playing with the CS3 beta for the last few months, and it's certainly an impressive beast. Let's take a look at the new, fun stuff that Adobe have added to their latest release, as well as areas that they've improved over CS2 and earlier versions.
New features
Although the new feature list for CS3 isn't quite as lengthy as CS2 was, there are quite a few radical changes in there - a redesigned interface, the wonderful Auto-Align Layers command, and the clamoured-for Smart Filters, to name but a few. Let's explore all these new features.
Brand new streamlined interface
Palette icons
The first thing you notice when firing up CS3 is the new user interface. For one thing, the toolbox has been slimmed down to a single column of buttons, rather than the pre-CS3 two-column design. This allows you to keep the toolbox out of the way on the side of your screen - great for freeing up horizontal space. You can easily flip back to the two-column version by clicking the double arrow at the top of the toolbox window.
Speaking of slimming down, Adobe have really gone to town with the palettes. The new collapsible palette docks let you reduce all your palettes down to tiny icons when you're not using them - see the screenshot on the right - which is a wonderful space saver. It takes a while to memorise the icons, but once you do you'll be flipping between palettes in no time. You can keep your commonly-used palettes, such as the Layers palette, open all the time, and collapse the rest to icons until you need them, freeing up more space to work on your images. However, if you prefer the old style interface, you can always drag your palettes out of the dock, and have them floating free again.
There's also a new Maximized Screen Mode - available by clicking the icon at the bottom of the toolbox, or by pressing F - that expands the document window to fill the available screen space between your toolbox and palette docks.
Universal Mac application and speed improvements
At last, with the release of CS3, Photoshop becomes a Universal Mac application, allowing it to run at native speeds on the new(ish) Intel Macs. In fact CS3 is generally zippier than CS2 was, with brushes and filters feeling that much more responsive than in CS2; the application is much quicker to launch too. It's nice to know that more features don't always mean more code bloat!
Smart filters
This has to be Photoshop's number one requested feature: "live" filters that you can go back and edit on the fly. These types of filters have been available for a long time in other image editing software, and it's great to see them make their Photoshop début in CS3.
They're a tad clunky to use, it must be said - you have to convert your layer to a smart object before you can apply a smart filter to it - but it's a welcome addition nonetheless. In use, smart filters behave much like layer effects in the Layers palette, as you can see in the screenshot. You can reorder the filters by dragging them in the Layers palette; this lets you control the order that the filters are applied in.
You can also set a blending mode for each filter, which is a really powerful feature.
Quick Selection tool
CS3's new, super-easy Quick Selection tool is like the Magic Wand tool on steroids. Rather than carefully clicking areas of your image to select them, like you do with the Magic Wand, you just casually "paint" around the edges of your selection using a brush size of your choosing. Photoshop then automatically selects the object you're "painting" on as it goes.
It's incredibly quick to use, and Photoshop often gets the selection border spot-on. If it gets a bit carried away, you can of course paint with Alt/Option held down to remove areas of the selection, or use the fabulous Refine Edge command. Speaking of which...
Refine Edge command
Refine Edge groups most of the commands available under Select>Modify, such as Smooth, Feather and Expand/Contract, into one handy dialog. This is great, because you can now fine-tune your selection all in one place and preview the results as you go. It works with any selection, whether made with a selection tool, or created via the Quick Mask.
Auto-Align Layers command
The wonderful new Auto-Align Layers command automatically lines up several different photos of the same scene, even if the photos were taken from different angles. It's almost like a non-panoramic version of the Photomerge command.
For example, say you've taken three photos of the same scene, but with different people in. Simply stack the three photo layers on top of each other, select them, then run Auto-Align Layers. Photoshop rotates, squeezes and distorts the photos so that they all line up with each other. You can then copy and paste the people from the different photos into the one final image.
This is a pretty powerful feature, and it nearly always does a great job at aligning the images. It works best if your photos were taken at nearly the same angle though, and even then it sometimes gets it wrong. If in doubt, use a tripod!
Auto-Blend Layers, the perfect complement to Auto-Align Layers, adjusts the brightness levels of the aligned layers so that they're consistent, and also creates layer masks for the layers to mask off the ragged edges, leaving you with a nice square finished photo. Of course, because the layers stay as layers, you can still edit the individual photos if you wish.
Speaking of Photomerge, this stitching command - first built into Photoshop CS - has seen a major overhaul in CS3. The Auto-Align Layers technology is now integrated, which produces a much better result than in previous versions. It's even a fully automatic process now, though you can still go in and tweak the panorama manually if you like.
Black & White adjustment
Another oft-requested feature, the new Black & White adjustment command - also available as a new adjustment layer - lets you produce great black & white conversions of colour photos.
Although you've always been able to convert a photo to black & white simply by choosing Image > Mode > Grayscale or Image > Adjustments > Desaturate, these commands do a pretty poor job of it. This is because they don't give you any control over the conversion process.
For years, photographers have got around this by using various tricks, such as gradient maps, multiple hue/saturation adjustment layers and all sorts of other voodoo. The Channel Mixer adjustment has arguably been the most useful of the bunch; enable the Monochrome option and you can control the amount of red, green and blue that goes into the final black & white image.
The new Black & White adjustment builds on this by giving you six sliders: Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues and Magentas. This gives you much greater control over the mix of colours that makes it into the final image. It's also more forgiving than the Channel Mixer; the values don't have to add up to 100%, and it's much harder to clip your shadows or highlights. (Speaking of which, Adobe have thrown in a Total display in the Channel Mixer dialog, so you can check that your channels add up to 100% without getting your calculator out.)
It's an improvement in other ways, too. There's an Auto button that sets the six sliders to produce the best mix (from Photoshop's point of view, of course), and there's also a range of built-in presets to simulate various lens filters. Finally, you can add a tint - for example, a sepia tone - to the end result. This seems to produce a much nicer effect than messing around with a Hue/Saturation adjustment after the fact.
Exposure adjustment layer
It's a small change, but worth mentioning anyway: If you're a fan of using the Exposure adjustment command to correct in-camera exposure problems, you'll be cheered to know that Exposure is now also available as a non-destructive adjustment layer in CS3.
New blending modes
Another minor change in CS3 is the addition of two new blending modes: Lighter Color and Darker Color. They're simply composite versions of the existing Lighten and Darken modes.
In English, this means that they work by comparing the overall brightness levels of the two layers, rather than working on a per-colour-channel basis. Their effect, as you might imagine, is similar to Lighten and Darken but, because they don't affect the colour channels separately, they preserve the original colours in the layers.
Device Central
Device Central is a new satellite program that ships with CS3. It's designed to help you create content for mobile devices, such as phones and PDAs. You choose the device you want to create for, then Photoshop gives you a template document to use that's the right size for the device's screen. You can then preview your work on a virtual version of the device, by clicking the Device Central button in the Save for Web & Devices dialog (see below). You can also create and preview Flash, video and Web content.
It's very much beta at this stage though - it only contains generic devices rather than specific makes and models - but it'll be interesting to see how this looks in the final release.
Export to Zoomify
CS2 featured an option to export large megapixel images to a Web viewer called Viewpoint ZoomView, which lets you quickly zoom in and out of large images and pan around, Google Maps-style.
With the advent of CS3, Adobe have eschewed ZoomView in favour of Zoomify, which basically does the same thing, albeit without some of the advanced features of ZoomView. However, Zoomify works with the standard Flash browser plugin, so it doesn't need a separate plugin like ZoomView does. A big plus.
Improvements to current features
As if all those new CS3 features weren't enough, those clever-clogs at Adobe have been working hard to improve existing Photoshop functionality too.
Save for Web
The trusty Save for Web command now has the tongue-twisting name of Save for Web & Devices. It's very similar to the CS2 Save for Web, but the Edit in ImageReady button in the bottom corner of the dialog has been replaced with the Device Central button for previewing your image on an emulated device.
So why no ImageReady button? Simple: ImageReady is no more! It's gone to software heaven. The more useful ImageReady features - animation, slices and so on - have been absorbed into Photoshop itself; other features, such as image maps, have been dropped. Personally I think this is a great thing - it was always a bit cumbersome constantly flipping between Photoshop and ImageReady to do stuff like animated GIFs (which, let's face it, aren't as popular as they used to be anyway).
Animation palette
The dialog also contains controls for previewing an animated GIF and choosing repeat options. You now create the actual animation directly in Photoshop, using the Animation palette (Window > Animation, shown to the right). The old ImageReady features are all there, such as setting frame delays and adding tweened frames.
Clone Source palette
Many of the cloning tools, such as the Clone Stamp and Healing Brush tools, now let you preview what you're doing before you do it. To do this, hold down Shift+Alt (Win) or Shift+Option (Mac); an overlay appears, showing you what's directly under the mouse cursor. This is wonderful for avoiding those cloning accidents - I'm forever cloning a feature of the image that I didn't want to clone!
You can also now sample from the current layer combined with all layers below, rather than simply all layers, by choosing Current & Below for the Sample option in the options bar. You can also choose to ignore the effects of any adjustment layers when sampling - to do this, click the appropriate icon in the options bar.
Finally, there's a new Clone Source palette available (Window > Clone Source) that lets you store up to five different sample sources - from different images if you like - as well as scale and rotate the sampled pixels before cloning them. This is fantastic if you have a perfect area of the image to clone from, but it's at the wrong angle or size. You can also control the preview overlay from this dialog, including its opacity and blending mode.
Eyedropper tool
Eyedropper options
The Eyedropper tool, used for sampling colours from a document, has had a small update: you can now sample bigger ranges than 5 by 5. Much more useful in the day of 20 megapixel images!
Vanishing Point
Vanishing Point command
Adobe have improved the incredibly handy Vanishing Point command, first introduced in CS2, with a couple of great new features.
Firstly, you can now Alt/Option+drag a resize handle on a plane to rotate that plane about any angle relative to its neighbour. In other words, you're no longer restricted to creating planes that are perpendicular to one another. This gives you a lot more flexibility and control over the types of perspective shapes you can create.
Secondly, whereas the CS2 Vanishing Point limited you to moving your selection over one plane at a time, in CS3 you can stretch your selected image over multiple planes; the image hugs the contours of each plane, twisting and turning as it goes. Perfect for making package mock-ups and so on.
Curves
Curves dialog
The Curves adjustment dialog has had a bit of an overhaul. If you modify the curves of individual colour channels - great for correcting colour casts - you can now see the individual channel curves superimposed on top of the composite curve. This means you can see the whole adjustment on the one graph, which is handy.
Adobe have also added a histogram, as well as black and white point sliders below the graph, meaning that you can now easily do Levels-type adjustments within the Curves dialog.
Other useful additions include some great built-in presets for various colour correction scenarios, and a more obvious way of switching between brightness levels and ink levels. You can also view which parts of your image you're clipping, much like Alt/Option-dragging the sliders in Levels dialog. Finally, there's no longer a button to expand the size of the dialog - it's permanently "expanded" now. This seems like a good move; the old smaller Curves dialog always felt a bit cramped anyway.
Brightness/Contrast
Let's face it - the Brightness/Contrast adjustment has never exactly been the professional's tool of choice. With its somewhat "rough and ready" approach, and its enthusiasm for clipping images, posterising and destroying shadows and highlights, it's generally been relegated to the "special effects" department.
Adobe have addressed this with the new Brightness/Contrast; it's now much tamer. Brightness now adjusts the spread of the brightness levels across the shadows, midtones and highlights; it's a bit like using the gray point slider in Levels. Contrast adjusts the contrast across the midrange - the equivalent of using an S-curve or inverted S-curve in the Curves dialog. It's much harder to clip your image now. If you're really keen to muck up your image though, you can always check the Use Legacy option in the dialog to return to the old-school method.
Camera Raw
Camera Raw dialog
The Adobe Camera Raw plugin lets you open raw, unprocessed image files from many digital cameras - they're the digital equivalent of a film negative, in many ways - then process them, adjusting white balance, exposure, sharpening and so on, before opening them in Photoshop proper.
In CS3, Camera Raw has seen some major improvements. The most significant is probably that you can now open regular JPEG and TIFF files and process them in Camera Raw. Other welcome additions are the Recovery slider - for clawing back blown highlights created by dragging the Exposure slider - and the wonderful Fill Light slider, which is just great for adding punch to the lower midtones of an image.
Adobe have also overhauled the user interface, with more intuitive grouping of the sliders, and introduced a couple of new tabs, such as the HSL/Grayscale tab, which lets you control hue, saturation and luminance across eight colour ranges, as well as perform a black and white conversion right in the dialog. There's also the Split Toning tab, for adding a touch of colour to your shadows or highlights.
If you want to perform really precise, detailed adjustments to your images - whether they're raw files, JPEGs or TIFFs - the new Camera Raw is definitely the way to go.
Slightly better HDR support
A HDR image yesterday
High Dynamic Range, or HDR images contain a much wider range of brightness levels than standard images, allowing you to capture both your dark shadows and bright highlights without clipping. Usually this is done by taking multiple photos at different exposure settings - known as bracketing - then using Photoshop's Merge to HDR command (File > Automate > Merge to HDR) to merge the photos together into one HDR image.
CS3 features some minor improvements on the HDR front. Its Merge to HDR command lets you load and save camera response curves for later use, and it also uses the new alignment function from Auto-Align Layers to better align the photos. Having said that, it did a pretty bad alignment job when I tried it on a test image (shown here). It aligned the clouds in the image fine, but - presumably because the clouds moved between shots - the rest of the image was all out of alignment. CS2 was actually better in this regard! Hopefully things will improve in CS3 final.
In addition, more functions within Photoshop now support 32-bit HDR images, such as the Levels and Hue/Saturation adjustments, and the Emboss filter. It's still quite a limited range, though - hopefully HDR support will improve in future versions of Photoshop.
Better PDF handling
Adobe have made a small enhancement to the way Photoshop opens PDF files: You can now specify an exact width and height when importing a PDF page, rather than just specifying the resolution.
Improved printing
Printing from CS3 is now much simpler, with a single Print dialog handling both previewing and printing itself. The print preview window is also bigger, and Photoshop now integrates more tightly with certain printers.
Adobe Bridge
Adobe's Bridge software, bundled with Photoshop, lets you view, manage and organize your images, Photoshop documents and other graphics files. The latest version sports a new, snazzy-looking dark grey look - you can change the colour if it doesn't appeal - and various other improvements to the interface. For example, there's a wider range of views to change from, including a vertical filmstrip, and a Light Table view.
The new Bridge also features a Filter pane, letting you filter by an impressive range of criteria, including landscape or portrait orientation, and even aspect ratio. Another nice touch is the ability to group selected images together in a stack, for easier organisation. The new slideshow view is quite snazzy too, with Ken Burns-style sliding of images - though frankly it made me a bit queasy after a while!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Corel Painter - Water Rake Variant
One of my favorite oil-painting brushes in Corel Painter is not filed under Oils but hiding in the Blenders brush category—the Water Rake variant. As a Blender brush, the Water Rake blends colors in an image in the form of oil-paint strokes.
You can also use it to paint color. To do so, set the Resat slider in the Property Bar to 33%, choose a color in the Colors palette and paint. The brush stroke resembles an oil painting technique.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
How I Did That - "Thanksgiving"
This is one of my older images, taken in 1997 on Thanksgiving and so titled "Thanksgiving". A couple of unique features to this that are uncommon in my work. First of it is a landscape, I usually am more interested in images of people. This is one of my most contrasty photographs but in the darkroom I used selectol soft for two minutes and Dektol for one minute along with on the enlarger I used a filter to reduce the amount of contrast. I knew there was detail in the dark areas. This scan doesn't show the real subtlety of the light areas and dark areas though. In art shows this is the image that gets the best response from people that don't normally go to art shows. They usually rip on the other artwork but say this is one of the best works in the show. In actuality I would think people that have a deep respect for black and white photography would love this with it's great tonal range. After the print was created I used selenium toner that really expanded the tonal range of the photograph. It is the most peaceful art I have ever made and really relaxes me when I look at it and it really seems to stick out like a sore thumb with the rest of my art.
I used a Fugi 35mm camera with tripod, about 30 second exposure, with Agfa 100 black and white film.
Cheers,
Mike
I used a Fugi 35mm camera with tripod, about 30 second exposure, with Agfa 100 black and white film.Cheers,
Mike
Send Out Cards
Send Out Cards -
Digital Photos on Canvas is a distributor for Send Out Cards so feel free to ask us any questions you may have.
Mike
A concept and service that is changing people's lives.
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Send Out Cards is a great way for individuals and businesses to keep in touch with people, while keeping you organized and maximizing your free time. To find out more visit our page about Send Out Cards and find out how to get started today.Digital Photos on Canvas is a distributor for Send Out Cards so feel free to ask us any questions you may have.
Mike
How to Save Custom Brush Variants in Corel Painter
Among the many questions new Corel Painter users ask is:
"How can I save brushes?"
Below is an edited version of my response to a new Painter user who asked this question recently:
With the brush variant you want to save selected:
1. Go to the Brush Selector menu and choose Save Variant.
2. Type a unique name not already used by Painter.
3. Click the OK button. Now your custom brush variant is saved.
With the original brush variant selected (the one to which you made brush control adjustments):
Go to the Brush Selector menu and choose Restore Default Variant.
Now the original brush variant is returned to its default state.
Suggestion:
Go to the Help menu and choose Help Topics. Then read the chapters listed on the Contents tab, starting at the top and progressing down the list of chapters. Read them in this order because they're arranged so the most basic information for newcomers to Painter is listed first.
Use the Favorites tab to bookmark pages you'll want to return to later.
Make a habit of reading Help Topics at least a few minutes each day.
This will help you feel more comfortable and confident with Painter faster than waiting for answers to questions posted in forums or newsgroups.
Sometimes you may either have trouble finding something in Help Topics or not understand the information provided. When that happens, post a question in the forum or newsgroup you visit and be very specific about what it is you want to know, what you want to do, the brush category and brush variant you're using (by exact names), provide a description of your image, and any other details that will help us to help you.
"How can I save brushes?"
Below is an edited version of my response to a new Painter user who asked this question recently:
With the brush variant you want to save selected:
1. Go to the Brush Selector menu and choose Save Variant.
2. Type a unique name not already used by Painter.
3. Click the OK button. Now your custom brush variant is saved.
With the original brush variant selected (the one to which you made brush control adjustments):
Go to the Brush Selector menu and choose Restore Default Variant.
Now the original brush variant is returned to its default state.
Suggestion:
Go to the Help menu and choose Help Topics. Then read the chapters listed on the Contents tab, starting at the top and progressing down the list of chapters. Read them in this order because they're arranged so the most basic information for newcomers to Painter is listed first.
Use the Favorites tab to bookmark pages you'll want to return to later.
Make a habit of reading Help Topics at least a few minutes each day.
This will help you feel more comfortable and confident with Painter faster than waiting for answers to questions posted in forums or newsgroups.
Sometimes you may either have trouble finding something in Help Topics or not understand the information provided. When that happens, post a question in the forum or newsgroup you visit and be very specific about what it is you want to know, what you want to do, the brush category and brush variant you're using (by exact names), provide a description of your image, and any other details that will help us to help you.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Corel Painter and Photoshop
Let’s first look at Photoshop and the CS package and what it has to offer on advantages.
The CS Advantage..
The new Adobe Creative Suite combines Adobe's graphics applications and an efficient workflow that answers the needs of nearly every creative professional, from conceptualization to implementation, from print to Web. Whats great about this pack of programs is that not only do designers get one program at a time; rather, a whole suite of the latest versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and GoLive software.
The Creative Suite is Adobe's attempt to bind the applications together. Now, Adobe's creative products use not only the same graphics engine but also the same type and color-management engines. Files that are created in one application can open easily in others with all their features intact. With a consistent user interface, moving from one application to another is easy.
And holding it all together is the new file-management and version-tracking technology Version Cue. The Version Cue lets you create and publish content for print and the Web faster, more easily, and more affordably. That's why Adobe is introducing this one whole package as "the complete design environment for print and Web publishing".
Adobe Photoshop for image editing- easily manage your images with the improved File Browser, quickly share design variations with Layer Comps, and instantly improve contrast with Shadow/Highlight correction; perform more precise editing and retouching with expanded support for 16-bit images and monitor changes to your image in the Histogram palette, which dynamically updates as you make adjustments.
Adobe Illustrator for drawing and vector graphics- with powerful new 3D features, advanced typographical controls, and a host of groundbreaking new design tools, this powerful upgrade from Illustrator 10 delivers the performance you need to make the most of your creativity; import Photoshop image compositions directly to Illustrator- or create drawings in Illustrator and import them directly into Photoshop; create native Adobe Portable Document Format files using settings and options consistent with Adobe Acrobat Distiller software and get fast, consistent print results with features like Fit to Page, Print Preview, and support for Print Settings.
Adobe InDesign for page layout and design, and Adobe GoLive for Web layout- import your native vector and bitmap artwork directly into InDesign CS software for sophisticated print layouts or into Adobe GoLive CS software for powerful web pages. With the support of Adobe PDF and XML, you can easily output your pages to both print and the Web.
The Corel Advantage…
With the introduction of Corel Painter IX, commercial designers, photographers, and professional artists are able to use their natural talents and techniques to create breathtaking works of art. Corel ensures that the new program is a must-have software for creative professionals, whether they're in film making, game development, commercial design, illustration, photography, or even fine arts.
With regards to performance and productivity, the Corel Painter IX boasts of significantly improved speed, new and enhanced Brush Control Palettes, Frames-per-Second Control, and Customizable Shortcut Keys. Professional users can extend their creative possibilities with new enhancements that include Artists' Oils Painting System, Snap-to-Path Painting, improved Digital Watercolor, and Quick Clone.
What is exciting about this new software is that the Corel Painter IX is more compatible with other professional technologies, providing enhanced support to Adobe Photoshop, Wacom (including the Wacom Intuos3), and Color Management.
What's more, getting started is easier than ever. Corel has provided various support guides to help end-users control their fear of tackling a seemingly intricate world of softwares and programs. Corel has provided a revitalized User Guide, the Painter IX Handbook that includes tutorials from leading creative professionals, access to free training videos, and academic courseware specifically designed for educators.
With powerful applications such as the Adobe CS and Corel, artists and designers alike can now combine both worlds of traditional art and sophisticated technology. The intricate tones of traditional art skills and techniques they've developed during their formation years as artists can be integrated with the incredible benefits that digital media can provide. Every creation can now be worthy of the exaltations and awe reserved for those found in galleries and exhibits. In addition, these art forms are now made at a faster and quicker rate than their original counterparts.
The CS Advantage..
The new Adobe Creative Suite combines Adobe's graphics applications and an efficient workflow that answers the needs of nearly every creative professional, from conceptualization to implementation, from print to Web. Whats great about this pack of programs is that not only do designers get one program at a time; rather, a whole suite of the latest versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and GoLive software.
The Creative Suite is Adobe's attempt to bind the applications together. Now, Adobe's creative products use not only the same graphics engine but also the same type and color-management engines. Files that are created in one application can open easily in others with all their features intact. With a consistent user interface, moving from one application to another is easy.
And holding it all together is the new file-management and version-tracking technology Version Cue. The Version Cue lets you create and publish content for print and the Web faster, more easily, and more affordably. That's why Adobe is introducing this one whole package as "the complete design environment for print and Web publishing".
Adobe Photoshop for image editing- easily manage your images with the improved File Browser, quickly share design variations with Layer Comps, and instantly improve contrast with Shadow/Highlight correction; perform more precise editing and retouching with expanded support for 16-bit images and monitor changes to your image in the Histogram palette, which dynamically updates as you make adjustments.
Adobe Illustrator for drawing and vector graphics- with powerful new 3D features, advanced typographical controls, and a host of groundbreaking new design tools, this powerful upgrade from Illustrator 10 delivers the performance you need to make the most of your creativity; import Photoshop image compositions directly to Illustrator- or create drawings in Illustrator and import them directly into Photoshop; create native Adobe Portable Document Format files using settings and options consistent with Adobe Acrobat Distiller software and get fast, consistent print results with features like Fit to Page, Print Preview, and support for Print Settings.
Adobe InDesign for page layout and design, and Adobe GoLive for Web layout- import your native vector and bitmap artwork directly into InDesign CS software for sophisticated print layouts or into Adobe GoLive CS software for powerful web pages. With the support of Adobe PDF and XML, you can easily output your pages to both print and the Web.
The Corel Advantage…
With the introduction of Corel Painter IX, commercial designers, photographers, and professional artists are able to use their natural talents and techniques to create breathtaking works of art. Corel ensures that the new program is a must-have software for creative professionals, whether they're in film making, game development, commercial design, illustration, photography, or even fine arts.
With regards to performance and productivity, the Corel Painter IX boasts of significantly improved speed, new and enhanced Brush Control Palettes, Frames-per-Second Control, and Customizable Shortcut Keys. Professional users can extend their creative possibilities with new enhancements that include Artists' Oils Painting System, Snap-to-Path Painting, improved Digital Watercolor, and Quick Clone.
What is exciting about this new software is that the Corel Painter IX is more compatible with other professional technologies, providing enhanced support to Adobe Photoshop, Wacom (including the Wacom Intuos3), and Color Management.
What's more, getting started is easier than ever. Corel has provided various support guides to help end-users control their fear of tackling a seemingly intricate world of softwares and programs. Corel has provided a revitalized User Guide, the Painter IX Handbook that includes tutorials from leading creative professionals, access to free training videos, and academic courseware specifically designed for educators.
With powerful applications such as the Adobe CS and Corel, artists and designers alike can now combine both worlds of traditional art and sophisticated technology. The intricate tones of traditional art skills and techniques they've developed during their formation years as artists can be integrated with the incredible benefits that digital media can provide. Every creation can now be worthy of the exaltations and awe reserved for those found in galleries and exhibits. In addition, these art forms are now made at a faster and quicker rate than their original counterparts.
Customizing Corel Painter: Shortcut Keys
Corel Painter offers creative professionals an unprecedented level of control over their workflow by enabling complete customization of shortcut keys. You can save time by assigning your favorite commands to keys on your keyboard for immediate access. Along with character, numeric, function, and modifier keys, you can also use Tab, Backspace (Windows®), Delete, Insert, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Left Arrow, Right Arrow, and Spacebar. When assigning a command, you can over-write keys already used for other shortcuts.
You can also create a collection of keyboard shortcuts, or key sets, based on changes to the default key set. For easy reference, you can generate and print an HTML summary of a key set.
The Customize Keys dialog box lets you assign your favorite commands to shortcut keys.
To assign commands to keys
1. Do one of the following:
* (Mac OS) Choose Corel Painter IX menu > Preferences > Customize Keys.
* (Windows) Choose Edit menu > Preferences > Customize Keys.
2. Choose a key set from the Key Set pop-up menu.
The default key set is named "Default" and is not editable. When you change any shortcut in the Default key set, another set is created and named "Custom."
3. Choose one of the following from the Shortcuts menu:
* Application Menus to create or modify menu bar command shortcuts
* Palette Menus to create or modify palette menu command shortcuts
* Tools to create or modify tools shortcuts
* Other to create or modify non-menu, non-palette menu or non-tool command shortcuts
4. Choose a command from the Application Commands list, and type the shortcut keys you want to assign.
If the shortcut you assigned is already in use, a message appears below the Application Commands list.
5. Do one of the following:
* Click Accept to assign the shortcut to the command. The conflicting command that previously had the keyboard shortcut now has no keyboard shortcut assigned to it.
* Click Accept and Go To Conflict to assign the shortcut to the new command, and to assign another keyboard shortcut to the conflicting.
Key Set Reference
For your convenience, Corel Painter IX provides a handy HTML summary of any active key set which you can print to use as a reference.
To create an HTML Summary of a Key Set
1. In the Customize Keys dialog box, click the Create HTML Summary button.
2. In the Save Summary dialog box, type a name in the Filename box, and click Save.
You can also create a collection of keyboard shortcuts, or key sets, based on changes to the default key set. For easy reference, you can generate and print an HTML summary of a key set.
The Customize Keys dialog box lets you assign your favorite commands to shortcut keys.
To assign commands to keys
1. Do one of the following:
* (Mac OS) Choose Corel Painter IX menu > Preferences > Customize Keys.
* (Windows) Choose Edit menu > Preferences > Customize Keys.
2. Choose a key set from the Key Set pop-up menu.
The default key set is named "Default" and is not editable. When you change any shortcut in the Default key set, another set is created and named "Custom."
3. Choose one of the following from the Shortcuts menu:
* Application Menus to create or modify menu bar command shortcuts
* Palette Menus to create or modify palette menu command shortcuts
* Tools to create or modify tools shortcuts
* Other to create or modify non-menu, non-palette menu or non-tool command shortcuts
4. Choose a command from the Application Commands list, and type the shortcut keys you want to assign.
If the shortcut you assigned is already in use, a message appears below the Application Commands list.
5. Do one of the following:
* Click Accept to assign the shortcut to the command. The conflicting command that previously had the keyboard shortcut now has no keyboard shortcut assigned to it.
* Click Accept and Go To Conflict to assign the shortcut to the new command, and to assign another keyboard shortcut to the conflicting.
Key Set Reference
For your convenience, Corel Painter IX provides a handy HTML summary of any active key set which you can print to use as a reference.
To create an HTML Summary of a Key Set
1. In the Customize Keys dialog box, click the Create HTML Summary button.
2. In the Save Summary dialog box, type a name in the Filename box, and click Save.
Customizing Corel Painter window background color
Corel Painter lets you set the window background color to either the current main color or some other color of your choice. The window background color is displayed when you use full-screen mode to view your document. Full-screen mode hides your computer's desktop and lets you view the document window without scroll bars.
To change the window background color
1. Do one of the following:
* (Mac OS) Choose Corel Painter IX menu > Preferences > Palettes and UI.
* (Windows) Choose Edit menu > Preferences > Palettes and UI.
2. Do one of the following:
* To use the current main color, click Use Current Color.
* To choose another color, click Custom Color, select a color in the Color dialog box, and click OK.
To change the window background color
1. Do one of the following:
* (Mac OS) Choose Corel Painter IX menu > Preferences > Palettes and UI.
* (Windows) Choose Edit menu > Preferences > Palettes and UI.
2. Do one of the following:
* To use the current main color, click Use Current Color.
* To choose another color, click Custom Color, select a color in the Color dialog box, and click OK.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Digital Photos on Canvas Shipping
Often we are asked how long it takes to receive your canvas. There are many factors involved in how long it will take. If you order from our main website: Digital Photos on Canvas and you order a canvas with painterly effect, collage, or image manipulation we send a proof and depending on how quickly we receive approval to print will decide how quickly you will receive your order.
If you order Rush service from either of our websites it will still take atleast two days before we can ship the order because it takes one day for the inks to cure and one day for the two layers of varnish to dry. If you order the standard service this process could take up to four business days.
Depending on Rush or standard service your order will take between 2-4 business day to print and package. Below is a map that shows depending on where in the United States of America you live how long UPS will take to deliver your photo canvas order. Add the days UPS will take plus the amount of time it takes us and it should be their by then.
Also, we usually ship orders that are Rush service Second Day Air to areas that would take four or more days to get to with UPS.
Thanks,
Mike
If you order Rush service from either of our websites it will still take atleast two days before we can ship the order because it takes one day for the inks to cure and one day for the two layers of varnish to dry. If you order the standard service this process could take up to four business days.
Depending on Rush or standard service your order will take between 2-4 business day to print and package. Below is a map that shows depending on where in the United States of America you live how long UPS will take to deliver your photo canvas order. Add the days UPS will take plus the amount of time it takes us and it should be their by then.
Also, we usually ship orders that are Rush service Second Day Air to areas that would take four or more days to get to with UPS.
Thanks,
Mike
Square pegs don't fit in round openings and other great info on proportions.
Square pegs don't fit in round openings and other great info on proportions.
Once you understand photo proportions it seems easy to understand but to people that don't understand the concept this is actually hard to understand.
There are traditional photographic print sizes. That is what we offer for our photo canvas sizes. Most 35mm camera take photos that are proportional to a 12x18, and 24x36. That means if your photo was proportional to a 4x6 it would not be proportional to a 11x14 or 16x20 and some cropping would be necessary to have your image fill all of the 16x20 or 11x14.
We complicate matters more by having deep stretcher bars (at our website www.digitalphotosoncanvas.com not our express site) that look great but from the front you lose an additional 1.5" on each side. Below are examples of what a painting by Van Gogh would look like reproduced in different options.
For more information on proportions.
Cheers,
Mike
Once you understand photo proportions it seems easy to understand but to people that don't understand the concept this is actually hard to understand.
There are traditional photographic print sizes. That is what we offer for our photo canvas sizes. Most 35mm camera take photos that are proportional to a 12x18, and 24x36. That means if your photo was proportional to a 4x6 it would not be proportional to a 11x14 or 16x20 and some cropping would be necessary to have your image fill all of the 16x20 or 11x14.
We complicate matters more by having deep stretcher bars (at our website www.digitalphotosoncanvas.com not our express site) that look great but from the front you lose an additional 1.5" on each side. Below are examples of what a painting by Van Gogh would look like reproduced in different options.
For more information on proportions.
Cheers,
Mike
Understanding Pixel Resolution
Pixel resolution
The term resolution is often used as a pixel count in digital imaging, even though American, Japanese, and international standards specify that it should not be so used, at least in the digital camera field. An image of N pixels high by M pixels wide can have any resolution less than N lines per picture height, or N TV lines. But when the pixel counts are referred to as resolution, the convention is to describe the pixel resolution with the set of two positive integer numbers, where the first number is the number of pixel columns (width) and the second is the number of pixel rows (height), for example as 640 by 480. Another popular convention is to cite resolution as the total number of pixels in the image, typically given as number of megapixels, which can be calculated by multiplying pixel columns by pixel rows and dividing by one million. Other conventions include describing pixels per length unit or pixels per area unit, such as pixels per inch or per square inch. None of these pixel resolutions are true resolutions, but they are widely referred to as such; they serve as upper bounds on image resolution..............
Below is an illustration of how the same image might appear at different pixel resolutions, if the pixels were poorly rendered as sharp squares (normally, a smooth image reconstruction from pixels would be preferred, but for illustration of pixels, the sharp squares make the point better).
An image that is 2048 pixels in width and 1536 pixels in height has a total of 2048×1536 = 3,145,728 pixels or 3.1 megapixels. One could refer to it as 2048 by 1536 or a 3.1-megapixel image. As the megapixels of a camera increase so does the ability of a camera to produce a larger image; a 5 megapixel camera is capable of capturing a larger image than a 3 megapixel camera.
Larger monitor screens usually have higher screen resolution, measured in pixels.
The term resolution is often used as a pixel count in digital imaging, even though American, Japanese, and international standards specify that it should not be so used, at least in the digital camera field. An image of N pixels high by M pixels wide can have any resolution less than N lines per picture height, or N TV lines. But when the pixel counts are referred to as resolution, the convention is to describe the pixel resolution with the set of two positive integer numbers, where the first number is the number of pixel columns (width) and the second is the number of pixel rows (height), for example as 640 by 480. Another popular convention is to cite resolution as the total number of pixels in the image, typically given as number of megapixels, which can be calculated by multiplying pixel columns by pixel rows and dividing by one million. Other conventions include describing pixels per length unit or pixels per area unit, such as pixels per inch or per square inch. None of these pixel resolutions are true resolutions, but they are widely referred to as such; they serve as upper bounds on image resolution..............
Below is an illustration of how the same image might appear at different pixel resolutions, if the pixels were poorly rendered as sharp squares (normally, a smooth image reconstruction from pixels would be preferred, but for illustration of pixels, the sharp squares make the point better).
An image that is 2048 pixels in width and 1536 pixels in height has a total of 2048×1536 = 3,145,728 pixels or 3.1 megapixels. One could refer to it as 2048 by 1536 or a 3.1-megapixel image. As the megapixels of a camera increase so does the ability of a camera to produce a larger image; a 5 megapixel camera is capable of capturing a larger image than a 3 megapixel camera.
Larger monitor screens usually have higher screen resolution, measured in pixels.
Image Resolution
Image resolution describes the detail an image holds. The term applies equally to digital images, film images, and other types of images. Higher resolution means more image detail.
Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Basically, resolution quantifies how close lines can be to each other and still be visibly resolved. Resolution units can be tied to physical sizes (e.g. lines per mm, lines per inch) or to the overall size of a picture (lines per picture height, also known simply as lines, or TV lines). Furthermore, line pairs are often used instead of lines. A line pair is a pair of adjacent dark and light lines, while lines counts both dark lines and light lines. A resolution of 10 lines per millimeter means 5 dark lines alternating with 5 light lines, or 5 line pairs per millimeter. Photographic lens and film resolution are most often quoted in line pairs per millimeter.
Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Basically, resolution quantifies how close lines can be to each other and still be visibly resolved. Resolution units can be tied to physical sizes (e.g. lines per mm, lines per inch) or to the overall size of a picture (lines per picture height, also known simply as lines, or TV lines). Furthermore, line pairs are often used instead of lines. A line pair is a pair of adjacent dark and light lines, while lines counts both dark lines and light lines. A resolution of 10 lines per millimeter means 5 dark lines alternating with 5 light lines, or 5 line pairs per millimeter. Photographic lens and film resolution are most often quoted in line pairs per millimeter.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Curves for Adobe Photoshop
This is a little more complex. This is better if you have an image with bright highlights and want to bring up the shadows in exchange for flattening the highlights a little.
Deliberately underexposing a digital camera in contrasty light and then doing this actually improves the image over a conventional exposure, because it gives you the ability to create a shoulder for the highlights that's missing in digital cameras.
Call up curves by IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > CURVES or simply command + M.
Put the cursor on the lower middle of the diagonal line. Click and hold it and drag it up.
-Mike
Adobe Photoshop Levels Command
LEVELS COMMAND
Go to the LEVELS adjustment either by IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > LEVELS or simply command + L.
You'll see a histogram; which is a graph charting the relative amounts of light and dark in your image. You'll see that it doesn't make it all the way to the right of the space in which it sits. Click and drag the little white slider on the far right of the histogram to the left, just enough to meet the rightmost edge of the histogram. As you drag it make sure PREVIEW is checked and you can see what you're doing. Hit OK and you're DONE!
Hold the OPTION key on Mac while doing this and the image will go to super-high contrast. Drag the white slider left until some points just start to sparkle out of the black background. Take your finger off the Option key to see how the image really looks.
-Mike
Adobe Photoshop Tool Palette
This is a quick summary of Adobe Photoshop Tools palette with a description of each tools functions and shortcuts. Great for those brand new to Photoshop.
For those people who just got a copy of Adobe Photoshop and have no idea what to do with it. The keyboard shortcut is in ( ).
Rectangular Marquee Tool (M)
Use this tool to make selections on your image, in a rectangular shape. This changes the area of your image that is affected by other tools or actions to be within the defined shape. Holding the [Shift] key while dragging your selection, restricts the shape to a perfect square. Holding the [Alt] key while dragging sets the center of the rectangle to where your cursor started.
Move Tool (V)
Use this tool to, well, move things. Usually you use it to move a Layer around after it has been placed. Hold the [Shift] key to limit the movements to vertical/horizontal.
Polygon Lasso Tool (L)
Ok, this should be the Lasso Tool, but I use the Polygon Lasso a lot more often. Use this to draw selections in whatever shape you would like. To close the selection, either click on the beginning point (you will see the cursor change when you are on it), or just double-click. When holding the [Ctrl] key, you’ll see the cursor change, and the next time you click, it will close your selection.
Magic Wand Tool (W)
Use this to select a color range. It will select the block of color, or transparency, based on wherever you click. In the Options Bar at the top, you can change the Tolerance to make your selections more/less precise.
Crop Tool (C)
The Crop Tool works similarly to the Rectangular Marquee tool (see above if you have no short-term memory). The difference is when you press the [Enter/Return] key, it crops your image to the size of the box. Any information that was on the outside of the box is now gone. Not permanently, you can still undo.
Slice Tool (K)
This is used mostly for building websites, or splitting up one image into smaller ones when saving out.
Healing Brush Tool
This is a really useful tool. Mildly advanced. You can use this tool to repair scratches and specs and stuff like that on images. It works like the Brush tool (see below). You choose your cursor size, then holding the [Alt] key, you select a nice/clean area of your image. Let go of the [Alt] key and paint over the bad area. It basically copies the info from the first area to the second, in the form of the Brush tool. Only, at the end, it averages the information, so it blends.
Brush Tool (B)
This is one of the first tools ever. It is what Photoshop is based off of. Well, not really, but it is pretty basic. It paints one your image, in whatever color you have selected, and whatever size you have selected.
Make Screenshot
This article will teach you how to make a screenshot of any web page or capture any screen event. Step by step instructions are given for Photoshop.
1. Open the web page in the web browser. On Windows, press the Print Screen or Prnt Scrn key on your keyboard, found at the upper right of the keyboard. This key will capture the entire screen. If your monitor resolution is set to 640x480, that's the size of the screen capture. If your monitor resolution is set to 600x800, that will be the size of the screen capture, etc.
To capture only the active window, press Alt + Print Screen.
On the Mac, press Command + Shift + 3.
2. Next, open up Photoshop.
3. In Adobe Photoshop, select File/New, then Edit/Paste. Your screen capture is now ready to be cropped or scaled. opposite direction.
-Mike
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