Dynax Digital Forums

Quote from: springtide on March 23, 2008, 09:12:31 PM

OK, I'm sure this has been posted before, but just in case it hasn't... (and I've only just discovered this!)

When using the B&W filter in CS3, instead of using the different colour sliders, did you know that (with the dialogue open) you can just click on parts of the image and drag it right (to lighten) or left (to darken) - which basically drags the corresponding slider (of the colour below where you clicked)?

As I said, I didn't know until today !!! 

I think stef has it embedded in one of her tips, I will try to check.

Yes it is in there but I did not want to mention it- keeps members encouraged to post and reminds others. By the way this is actually a very good tip to all of you who have not tried it out!
Stef.

Well just a very quick one- as I think I have not mentioned it before and I guess most of you know it...NEVERTHELESS it is very useful:

Levels adjustments

Should you ever use levels instead of curves and you move the black or white little sliders inwards until they are under the beginning of the histogram- hold the alt/apple key down while moving that slider. The image will either turn completely black or completely white. Keep moving the slider in until you either have the first black or white point turning up in your image and this is where you should stop moving. Often this point is further in than the "foot" of the histogram and t is the optimal point for contrast.
Hope as usual that this helps the one or other of you!
Happy photoshopping
Stef.

How to emulate filters (This is the answer to a request by Ascot and follows a discussion between mainly Springtide and myself in another thread: http://www.dynaxdigital.com/index.php/topic,4772.msg34325.html#msg34325

Option I
Now let's assume for one moment you did download the Lee filter swatches from somewhere- one of the easiest ways to emulate a particular Lee filter (if not completely correct nevertheless close!) is to do the following:

You can just open you image than open your Lee filter (the one you have hopefully saved somewhere on your harddrive  ) and do the following:

1. click on you lee filter -> ctrl +c (=copy)
2. click on your image -> ctrl + V (=paste)
3. edit -> transform ->scale -> drage the handles until the lee filter is covering your whole image
4. set the layer blending mode from normal to colour and reduce the opacity to around 25%
Please keep in mind though- real Lee filters are obviously different than colour swatches as they are made of glass and usually in front of your camera

Option II

This is if you don't have the swatches:
1. open you image in PS
2. layer > new adjustment layer > photo filter > click O.K. => a new dialogue window will open
3. Now you have two alternatives: (a) you try one of the presets: the easiest is to highlight the top one and then just scroll down by using the arrow keys on your keyboard paying attention on the effect that particular filter gives you with your image. Do not forget to play around with the density slider as well - to get a more subtle effect!!
(b) Here it gets interesting and the Lee filters come into play: In the dialogue box instead of choosing the presets > tick "colour" => your cursor becomes a colour picker (!) > double click in the little colour window > now you can choose any colour BUT the cool thing is: you don't need to choose a colour from the dialogue window that opens but you can choose ANY colour- also one from a colour swatch that you have downloaded from the Lee website or even another photograph!!! (Just see how the colour in the little window changes accordingly to where you used your colour picker!)
Don't forget again to play around with the density slider.
Voila you should be done!

For Advanced Users:
The above CAN get more complicated if you want to have 100% the real Lee filter effect: what you would have to do is take two images of the same object in the same light conditions- one with the Lee filter on the other without. Now you open both up in PS next to each other. Click F8 or Window > Info > at the same spot in both of the images and measure the values for RGB in the info palette. Now you will know how much warmer/ cooler/ redder/ greener...the one with the Lee filter is compared to the one without. Now it gets tricky: once you know these exact values you have two options...(actually many many more as usual... but let's keep it simple ):
(a) you can make a colour balance adjustment layer and play around with the sliders until you get exactly the same values as in the image with the Lee filter and save this setting for later use in form of an action. (You could also take curves/ levels or pretty much  any other adjustment layer - they are more or less all able to do that)
(b) you could follow step one from above and at first take a photofilter preset that comes close to the desired effect and play around with the density until you get the desired values- don't forget you can stack the photofilters as well(!) (In other words you can use more than one photofilter adjustment layer)
(c) and just for the fun of it- I just throw in another option: you can use the match colour command under image > adjustments > match colour and save the statistics of the Lee filter image for future use to match with all your images... guess this leads a bit far...

I don't want to go one here (which we easily could ) just in case I scare people away- keep in mind this was a request (!). If you really need/ want to know more or something is not clear- just put it under the request section and I promise you we go a level (or two or three... ) up...

Hope this helps?
Happy photoshopping!
Stef.

I was wondering if there is a way to correct barrel-distortion or to lessen or increase this effect (on pics taken using a fisheye lens) in Photoshop 7?

Any ideas......

Chris

I was wondering if there is a way to correct barrel-distortion or to lessen or increase this effect (on pics taken using a fisheye lens) in Photoshop 7?

to correct barrel-distortion in PS 7

In the newer version of PS we now have something called filter > distort > lens correction which works wonder once you start playing around with it. Not sure since what version of CS that filter exists???

Another simple option is:

1. Layer > New > Layer from Background (or just double click the background layer to convert it to a layer)
2. Edit > Transform > now: try perspective first (but the other ones work as well)
3. Pull the corners of the image a bit out so that you can see all corner handles. Now start with pulling out the bottom right and left hand handles until the perspective is right- or depending on the problem with your perspective use the top left and right one
4. Flatten the image and you should be done.

BTW:

This is also a good trick if your foreground interest object turns out to be too small. You can enlarge it this way and then blend the duplicated layer together with the original background layer.

Hope this helps?
Happy photoshopping!
Stef.

How to clean up a studio background?

Guess you all had this at some point: you shoot a model in front of a white studio background with sophisticated lighting and then realise that the lighting was not that good… Instead of an even super white background you end up with some blotches or shadows- sounds familiar???


Well here is what you can do:

“Replace Colour” Command

1. With your image open: Image > Adjustments > Replace Colour => click on the white background. Now hold shift and keep on clicking on all the offending parts. You will be able to tell from the preview window whether you got them all. Use the fuzziness slider to fine tune the results.
2. The only thing you have to do now is to move the lightness slider all the way to the right.
3. At a very last step once you are done with this- open up curves or levels and adjust the contrast of your model by either moving the curve in the middle slightly upwards (assuming black is on the left hand side) or the middle slider of the levels command.

Voila you should be done! Background white and photographer happy!

NOW: Never a tip without another one! If you decide to change the background colour completely- nothing easier than that! Just play around with the hue and saturation sliders as well while keeping lightness at 0. You can then adjust the lightness of your particular colour- but colour comes first!

Hope this helps?

Happy photoshopping!
Stef.

How to add a signature to your images?

1. sign with a black pen on a white sheet of paper and either scan your signature into Photoshop at 300ppi or just take a photograph of it making sure your writing is in focus
2. once that signature is in PS: open the levels palette in Photoshop (image > adjustments > levels) and drag the left (black) slider to the right and the right (white) slider to the left until the writing is pure black and the paper is pure white.
3. take the rectangular marquee tool and make a selection around your signature
4. edit > define brush preset > save the brush as your signature
5. open the image you want to add your signature to > create a new layer > select the colour you want to have by double clicking the foreground colour swatch > search for your brush under the brush presets and add your signature. Using the backet keys [ or ] allows you to alter the brush size.
6. you can now lower the opacity of the signature layer or even add some layer blending effects. These effects could be save as an action for later use.

As usual: a variation:

In effect you can create a whole image as your personal signature doing whatever you want to it. At the end once the image layers are flattened you can do the following: select all and do step 4 from above!

Hope this is helpful?
Happy photoshopping
Stef.

Three Step Sharpening: capture sharpening/ creative sharpening and output sharpening

Now when it comes to Photoshop there are always a hundred different ways for doing things and much worse a hundred different opinions about what is best

This is one possible way of achieving the best result...

It is sharpening in three steps. Some people would say " don't sharpen at all in-camera and/or in the RAW converter but do everything in Photoshop.

Now I suggest you try the following and make up your own mind : Make sure you look at your image at 100%!!!
1. Do it as you always would do it so you have a chance to compare the results! Make sure thought that you work on a duplicate of the original.
2. Now trythis:
a) make sure you don't sharpen your image in RAW but just open it up in PS
b) before you do any adjustments do this: filter > sharpen > smart sharpen > tick "preview" and "basic"; amount 125%; radius 1; remove: lens blur; untick "more accurate" > click O.K
c) NOW do all your usual adjustments. Once finished- flatten you layers should you have any and make a copy of your background layer: layer > new > layer via copy (or: ctrl+J)
d) smart sharpen again with the same settings as under b
e) layer > layer mask > hide all => the effect from the last step will completely disappear
f) take a brush tool with white as foreground colour and paint carefully over the parts that you need sharp (eyes, flower petals...) and leave skin ...out
g) once this is done > flatten your image once more > now resize it to your final output size and should you want to print it than believe it or not: sharpen once more as under b just this time put 25% under "amount"

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Happy photoshopping!
Stef.