PhotoShop SIG 8-9-10

In this month's SIG we talked about HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging. HDR allows the photographer to capture all the tonal range in a scene that the eye can see but image sensors can't capture in a single exposure. This is done by making multiple exposures by using the bracketing feature or the exposure adjust feature in a digital camera. The multiple exposures are combined into a single image that displays the entire tonal range of a scene.

Software that can do this is found in Photoshop CS3 and later with CS5's HDR Plus being a significant improvement over previous Photoshop versions.

Photomatix, current version is 3.2, is an excellent program for HDR. The web site for Photomatix is from HDSoft, http://www.hdrsoft.com/

We also looked at a new product, HDR Expose from Unified Color. HDR Expose is unique as it provides tooks for editing all of the photograph in 32 bit HDR mode before outputting it to an 8 or 16 bit image. The Web site is http://www.unifiedcolor.com/

Also discussed were various tools and plugins for creating a pseudo HDR from a single exposure. RAW files work the best. In Photoshop CS5 go to Image > Adjustments > HDR Toning.
Photomatix has a Plugin that can be purchased with Photomatix as a bundle for an additional $20 that gives excellent results. I only works of 16 bit images.

At the SIG I showed how the Topaz Labs Adjust 4 plugin also can give an excellent HDR look. A good place to start is the Spicify preset is a good place to start. The web site for Topaz Labs is http://www.topazlabs.com/

At the SIG it was planned to also show some new Plug-ins of interest.

Exposure 3 from AlienSkin, https://www.alienskin.com/ is great for giving a look to an image that emulates a film looks. There are many choices.

ToonIt from Digital Anarchy, http://www.digitalanarchy.com/ is a fun plugin for creating a cartoon look to a photograph. It has many Presets to use to get started.

Portraiture from Imagenomic, http://www.imagenomic.com/, is an excellent plugin for doing portrait retouching.

Photoshop Elements SIG - 6/16/10

In the Photoshop Elements SIG this month and in the following months we'll be going through exercises from the book "Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 Unleash the hidden performance of Elements" by Mark Galer and published by Focal Press. The book comes with a DVD with the images used in the book so as to follow along with the various lessons and movie tutorials that help following the text. It also comes with various actions and presets that can be downloaded to make the editing easier and better. This books can be obtained from Amazon for $29.67.

We started by pointing out the tutorials available for Elements users on photoshop.com. You also get 2 GB of online storage.All Elements registered users get access to photoshop.com from the Start-up screen. You first have to create an account. Plus accounts offer 20 GB of storage with additional tutorials other stuff. The cost is $49.99/year. At the SIG I played a video tutorial from the normal account "Creating a sense of movement". At the conclusion of the video we went through the tecniques described.

This month we covered book, Part 1 Project 4, Curves, Project 5 Hue/Saturation & Luminance and Project 6 Sharpening, Advanced Sharpening Techniques.

The Project 4 Curves described techniques in Elements that are similiar of the powrful Curves Adjustment in Photoshop for controlling contrast in an image. One of these was the use a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer in Luminosity mode.
I created a video of this technique and it can be viewed by clicking the link
http://tinyurl.com/2bhuf36

Advanced Sharpening Techniques will be shown in the next SIG in August. There will not be an Elements SIG in July.

I will show these steps shown for advanced sharpening techniques.

1. Open 1_P6_USM.tif
2. Dupe background layer by dragging to new layer icon
3. Filter > Other > High Pass
a. set the Radius to around 20 to 30 pixels for a 6 to 12 megapixel image.
b. Click OK
4. Apply the Despeckle filter - Filter > Noise > Despeckle
5. Next the Filter > Noise > Dust and Scratches –
a. R – 1
b. Threshold – 0
Note-the High Pass filter is sometimes used as an alternative to the Unsharp Mask if the duplicate layer is set to Overlay or Soft Light mode. In this project, however, we're using the High Pass filter to locate the edges within the image only.
6. Filter > Adjustments > Threshold is next applied - the threshold will reduce the slayer to 2 levels-black and white.
7. Drag the slider just below the histogram to isolate the edges that require sharpening. The aim of a moving of these sliders is to render all of those areas you do not want to sharpen white, or nearly white.
8. ClickOK
We're now halfway to creating a sharpening mask the mask will restrict the sharpening process to the edges only (the edges that we have just defined). Increasing or decreasing the radius in the High Pass filter will render the lines thicker or thinner.
9. Paint out any areas that were not rendered white by the Threshold adjustment that you don't want to be sharpened. In a portrait, any pixels remaining in the skin away from the eyes and mouth, nose and background is painted over using the brush tool with white selected as the foreground color.
10. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur
a.4 pixel radius to ensure the sharpening process will fade in slowly read it rather than have a sharp abrupt edge.
11. Magic Eraser Tool
a. Deselect the Contiguous option
12. Click on any white area within the image, and we should be left with only the edge detail on the layer and none of the white area.
13. duplicate the background layer and drag this duplicate layer to the top of the layer stack
14. Layer menu choose Create Clipping Mask or click on the dividing line between the two top layers with the Alt key depressed.
15. Enhanced > Unsharp Mask
a. Amount - 150
b. Radius - 0.8
c. Threshold - 5
16. Click OK

Photoshop Book by Martin Evening

I refered to a book in the Photoshop SIG by Martin Evening. The name of the book is
Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers published by Focal Press. I bought my copy from Amazon,

Photoshop SIG 6-14-10

I apologize for not keeping this blog up-to-date these past 6 months but these months have been a bit difficult. I promise to do better in the future.

If you have a Canon camera that shoots RAW would like to view the Canon RAW files in Windows Explorer go to http://www.usa.canon.com/, hover the mouse over Support and choose Consumer. In the Search box enter Canon RAW Codec. On the resulting page pick your operating system, Vista or Windows 7 and you will be offered to download rc170upd_71.exe, scroll to the bottom of the page and click I Agree - Begin download. Save to a folder on your hard drive and after the download go to this file and click on it to install.

To view dng Raw files I did a Google Search on dng raw file codec. The top of the list took me to Adobe Labs which has the Codec to download and install.

I received a request to show a technique for blending two images together using the Gradient tool. I showed this at the sig and I created a video of this that can be be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/29y4lq5

In the June Photoshop SIG I demonstrated a technique for changing a face in a group shot. Many times in taking photos of a group one or more in the group has their eyes closed or something similiar. To get around this the photographer should take multiple shots of the group and replace those closed eye face with ones that are good.

In taking my group shot, a photo of my grandson's youth soccer team, one of the member's of the team showed up late so I showed how to take a seperate photo of him and then insert this photo into the team photo.

I have created videos of both of these techniques and they can be viewed at:

http://tinyurl.com/293uc6q and

http://tinyurl.com/39jskra

We also talked about camera RAW and all the adjustments in the Camera RAW dialog box.
Martin Evening recommends a workflow for Basic adjustments of:
Exposure to set overall image brightness
Recovery to restore any important detail in highlights
Blacks to set the shadow clipping
Fill to reveal more detail in the shadow area
Bright-Contrast is used last to fine-tune the image after you’ve adjusted the other 4 sliders.

Photoshop Elements SIG - 3-17-10

This is my first post to the Blog in a few months. Sorry I will try and do better in the future.

I demo'ed a technique for removing a color cast in an image. The steps are:
1. With the image open that has a color cast. Dupliclate the background to a new layer. I use the shortcut control+J
2. In the Filter menu choose Blur > Average. This creates an image with all the colors in the image averaged to a single color. This should be gray for an image without a cast.
3. Add a Levels Adjustment layer. Do this by clicking on the Ajustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layer's panel and by choosing Levels or from the Layers menu, Add Adjustment Layer.
4. The Levels Adjustmet Layer dialog box has three eyedroppers on the left side. The middle one is the gray eyedropper. Click on this to select it and click anywhere in the image on the background copy layer. This makes the adjustment to neutralize the color to gray on the background copy layer.
5. As we now have the adjustment we need in the Levels Adjustment layer either delete the background copy layer or turn it off by clicking the eyeball icon on that layer.
6. This applies the Levels adjustment to the image removing the color cast.

I showed three plugin filters for Photoshop Elements. They were

Topaz Labs Adjust 4, Simplify 2, Clean 2 and Detail 2.
Essentials 3 from onOne Softwere
Sketch by Akvis Software

See you next month.

Photoshop Elements SIG - 12-16-09

At the Elements SIG I showed a technique for creating an Orb. The steps are as follows:

Creating an Orb

1. Full Edit open flower bunch
2. Crop to a square
a. Marquee tool
b. Cookie Cutter Tool
3. Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates
a. Polar to Rectangular
4. Image > Rotate > 180 deg
5. Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates
a. Rectangular to Polar

Photoshop Elements SIG - 11/18/25

Captions Alive Pro

The software that I used to create the animated text captions that I have been showing in my slide shows the past few months has now been released. It is called Captions Alive Pro found at the web site can be found at http://www.visisketchpro.com/CAP/CAP_Main.html
You can download a free trial and then buy it from the web site.

Essentials 3

A few months ago I posted information on Essentials 2, a very reasonably price set of plugins for Photoshop Elements. Unfortunately this version is not compatabile with Elements 8. OnOne Software recently released Essentials 3. Here are the top new features in this release in addition to support for Photoshop Elements 8:

• New Photo Essentials Palette - The Palette provides quick access to all five modules from a single location right inside Photoshop Elements.
• Make It Cool - This new module offers a library with dozens of professional effects that can be added to images in one click. This is based on our award-winning PhotoTools 2 plug-in.
• A new dynamic range optimization algorithm in Make It Better.
The web site for Essentials 3 is
http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=11

Photoshop Elements 8 SIG 10-21-09

Steps to add texture to an image

1. Open a photo to which you would like to add texture
2. Open a texture image
3. Add the texture to the photo by dragging it into the photo. It will appear as a new layer.
4. Use the Move tool to position it and Free-Transform to size the texture to fit the image
5. Change the Blending mode to what you like best. The best are Overlay, Soft Light or Multiply.
6. Change the layer opacity to suite
7. To apply your texture selectively you can add an adjustment layer above the background image
8. Group this adjustment layer with the Texture layer by selecting the Texture layer and select Group with Previous from the Layers menu (Ctrl + G)
9. You can now paint with black the areas on the mask associated with the adjustment layer where you want to hide the texture.

There are many, many more free textures on deviantArt; enter ‘texture’ into the search box to find them.

Creating an Orb

1. Full Edit open image
2. Crop to a square
a. Marquee tool - Shift Drag a selection and the in Image menu choose Crop
b. Cookie Cutter Tool - Choose a Square Shape, Check Crop in the Options bar and shift drag.
3. Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates
a. Polar to Rectangular
4. Image > Rotate > 180 deg
5. Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates

Adobe Photoshop SIG Meets

The Adobe Photoshop SIG - October 12, 2009 Notes:

RAW Converter

If your version of PS (CS3 or before) or Lightroom RAW Converter doesn't support your new camera, go to the Adobe Web Site > Downloads > Adobe DNG Converter 5.5 Update,
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4576
Download and install the DNG and then when you want to move your digital RAW images from your camera's memory card use the DNG Converter to convert the camera's RAW image files to DNG and move to your computer's hard drive. You can open these files in CS3 or earlier RAW file converters.

Tips

Zoom
Ctrl + "+" to zoom in and Ctrl + "-" to zoom out.
To resize the window as you zoom go to Edit > Preferences > General and check Zoom Resizes Windows.
You can also zoom in using the Zoom tool (Z) and click in the image. To Zoom out Alt+click with the Zoom tool.
If you are zoomed in and would like to zoom in on a different part of the image, with the zoom tool Click with keep the "H" key pressed. The image will zoom out and you can move the square showing the zoom around to a different part of the image. Release the mouse button and you will be zoomed in on the selected area.

Press the F key to view the image in a full window. You can move the image using the spacebar. Press the F key again the window changes to black and the menu bar,toolbar and palletes go away. To get them back press the Tab Key. Press the F key again to go back to normal view.

Fixing Overexposed or Faded images

You can duplicate the background to a new layer by pressing Ctrl + J and then change the Blend mode to Multiply. This doubles the file size, unfortunately, but another, better way is instead of duplicating the background or a layer that is underexposed, add an Adjustment Layer such as Levels. If you change the Blend Mode to Multiply you get the same effect with no increase in file size. If the increased image density is too much, you can reduce the layer opacity. This technique is very handy for restoring old faded photographs.

Fixing Underexposed or Dark Images

You can do the opposite of the above for dark or overexposed photos by changing the Blend mode to Screen.
In both cases you have the advantage of the Mask that comes with the Adjustment Layer. For example to

Lighten eyes and maybe teeth in a portrait

Add a Levels Adjustment Layer and change the blend mode to Screen. This lightens the whole image so you want to fill the mask with black to hide the adjustment. With black as the foreground color press the Alt + Backspace key. This will fill the mask with black. Now change the foreground color to white and with the Paintbrush at about 30% opacity paint with the white foreground color on the eyes to allow the Screen mode to show through. You can adjust the opacity of the layer to get the right amount of lightening. You can also do this on the teeth or any other areas you would like to lighten.

This is a good technique for opening up detail in the shadows.

Photoshop Elements 8

Yesterday Adobe announced Photoshop Elements 8, http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/?promoid=BPDEM.

There is no upgrade price from any previous version of Elements, bummer, but they are offering a $20 mail-in rebate until the end of October.

You can check the above web site for the new features that are included. Among the new features is an image scaling feature similiar to Content Aware Scaling that was introduced in Photoshop CS4 that allows the user to reduce the width or height of an image to fit into a set width and heighth without distorting the major elements of the image.

I will go over this new release in the Photoshop Elements SIG on Wednesday, October 21 at the Tampa Bay Resource Center Resource Center.

Color Management

Devices for monitor calibration are:

X-Rite Pantone Huey - $89
http://www.xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?id=756&catid=107&action=overview

Datacolor - Spyder3Express - $89
http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-mc-s3express.php

Edit JPEG in Camera RAW

Note: This does not work in Elements 8.

If you have JPEG files and would like to process them in the Camera RAW Converter you can do this currently in the Editor, File menu choose Open As and choose Camera RAW (not Photoshop RAW) as the format. Your file will open in the RAW converter. This may be a good or bad thing as the a lot of file information in creating a JPEG in the camera has been lost.

If you would like to open a JPEG or other non-raw files from Organizer you can download a free EditInACR appliclation from http://johnrellis.com/editinacr/

The web page will have "Open JPEGs in Adobe Camera Raw from the Photoshop Elements Organizer" by John R. Ellis information and how to download a use the EditInACR.

Plugin Filter for Elements

Most plugin filters for Photoshop costs more than Photoshop Elements itself. That has now changed when onOne Software introduced Essentials 2 for Elements, http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=11. There is a very good plugin filter for Photoshop Elements and at $69.99 is priced very affordable considering what it contains. This small suite of plugins contains a cut-out filter for removing an object from the background. It is very similiar to onOne's Mask Pro at $159.95, plus it contains Make it Better which is similiar to Phototune 2 for $159.95 and it also contains Frame It that is similiar to Photo Frame 4 at $159.95 and finally it has Make it Bigger that is similiar to Genuine Fractals @$159.95. Essentials 2, in my opinion is a real bargin.

Sorry Photoshop users this is only available for Elements.

Photoshop SIG 9-14-09

Photographic Society of America web site is http://www.psa-photo.org/
Some interesting plugin filters were discussed in the SIG this month.
One of my favorite filter company is Topaz Labs, http://www.topazlabs.com/
I showed examples of using Detail, http://www.topazlabs.com/detail/
and Clean 2, http://www.topazlabs.com/clean/
Akvis has some interesting new filters. Sketch 9, in my opinion, is the best software plugin for creating simulated pencil, pen, or charcoal sketches from photographs. http://akvis.com/en/sketch/index.php
A new filter for creating simulated art work such as an oil painting from a photograh is Artwork,
http://akvis.com/en/artwork/index.php.
A lot of filters are now available for Lightroom
Imagenomic - Portraiture 2 - http://www.imagenomic.com/
Nik Software - Sharpener Pro, Color Efex Pro, Viveza and Silver Efex Pro http://www.niksoftware.com/index/usa/entry.php

Web sites for color profiling devices are;
Spyder Pro 3 - http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-mc-s3elite.php
Huey (low cost monitor profiling) - http://www.xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?catid=107
ColorMunki - http://www.xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?id=1115&catid=&action=overview

Using the Pen Tool

There is an interesting tutorial on using the Pen Tool on PhotoshopCafe that I thought you would find interesting.
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/pen/pen.htm

See you at the Photoshop SIG Monday, 9-14, at the Resource Center.

John Nack of Adobe

Adobe has made available a new tool called a Configurator to enable the user to create a panel of tools etc that are frequently used. This is still in beta and John Nack of Adobe offers information on this and allows users to make comments and offer suggestions that will affect the future of Photoshop. This is on his blog,

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/10/introducing_ado_1.html

View Photoshop psd files in Explorer

Ever since Photoshop 7 you could no longer view psd file thumbnails in Windows Explorer. To view thumbnail images for Photoshop PSD files in Windows XP and Vista go to http://www.josh.biz/tech/6-view_psd_thumbnails.html
where you will find instructions and a downloadable zip file. The instructions are on this web and in a txt file included in the ZIP. The last step in the instructions is double click Adobe.reg to run this program. After running this Vista users should Restart. Also it won't display a thumbnail if the file is a layered file and the top layer's visibility is turned off.

Camera RAW in Elements

There is a a very good way to be able to open jpeg images in Camera RAW from the Organizer. The script and how to use it can be found on the Adobe Forum,
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/468562
Remember the Photoshop Elements SIG will resume on Wednesday, September 16th.

No Photoshop SIGs in August

Note there won't be a Photoshop or Photoshop Elements SIG in the month of August. I' taking a break. The next Photoshop SIG will be September 14th and the Photoshop Elements SIG will be September 16th.

Photoshop SIG 7-13-09

The Pen Tool
I have posted 3 short video tutorials on the basics of using the Pen tool on
Lesson 1 - http://tinyurl.com/n6e2em
Lesson 2 - http://tinyurl.com/lhxb4s
Lesson 3 - http://tinyurl.com/kpsxau

Various solutions for extracting objects from the background were discussed at the May, June and this months SIG. There is a video link on the May post on this blog. This month I showed various 3rd party plug-ins that are available. They are:

SuperMask from Akvis, http://akvis.com/en/smartmask/index.php at $120
Mask Pro 4 from onOne Software, http://www.ononesoftware.com/products.php at $159.95
Fluid Mask from Vertus, http://www.vertustech.com/index.htm at $149
KnockOut from Corel, http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1152105061771#tabview=tab0
at $99.

In my opinion the best of the group is Fluid Mask.

In addition I showed an inexpensive sketch type of plug-in from Redfield who also makes Fractalius another cool plugin.

Sketch Master available from http://www.redfieldplugins.com/