red_satin_doll | Adventures in Photoshop, Part _

Entry tags:

Adventures in Photoshop, Part __ ?

Trying to teach myself PS CC is sometimes fun and sometimes sends me screaming into the night. As in last night, trying to correct a photograph of a rose I wanted to have printed and just muffing it up horribly. *le sigh*

The various "sharpen" functions are ones I have not mastered yet at all. I'm sure I'll love it when I master it but I'm at that stage I was when I transitioned from Photobucket to ipiccy a couple of years ago: "I just want to do this, I just want my little slider bar back, where is the eraser so I can selectively apply this effect?" etc etc etc. That said I do LOVELOVEOVE the fun effects with fonts - especially drop shadows, contouring and glow effects.

This morning I had a little more luck inmproving contrast, brightness, color, warmth etc on a photo I took yesterday of flowers behind the garage, but it still feels like I'm in the "beginner's luck" stage. I didn't even attempt to sharpen either of these, btw. Baby steps, baby steps.....

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You did a great job with the coloring on this. Coloring is very hard master, especially if you are using Selective coloring. I'm still learning and experimenting with color. And as I have said before coloring that is acceptable for fan art isn't always acceptable on RL images.

For sharpening I use two different methods...1st way----- In filters, under sharpen, I use the unsharp mask. I adjust the mask to my liking, without getting the image too pixelated. 2nd way-----Duplicate the image, go to filters, then down to other, then click on high pass. I adjust high pass until it looks like there is a slight film over the image. Then I set the top image (the one with the film) to soft light. Then I adjust the opacity to my liking and merge the two layers.

In the photo studio (before the days of PS) I was taught this mnemonic for coloring.
My - Great (Magenta - Green)
Big - Yellow (Blue - Yellow)
Cadillac - Runs (Cyan - Red)
Which really isn't necessary now with photoshop but it still is fun.

Wow, thank you so much for the compliment! As I said to rbvfid, I photographed the cooler one in a shadow and was trying to get it to match the daylight look of the other photos I took that day - and now I like the edited result better than the other ones shot in actual daylight, the tone is much warmer.

Color is HARD though because there are so many variables. What we call color includes hue and tone, saturation, temperature, light and shadow. It's a lot more complicated than a box of crayolas.

What is selective coloring?

coloring that is acceptable for fan art isn't always acceptable on RL images

Very true.

Thank you for the sharpening tips! I want to watch some tutorials on the unsharp mask because a lot of people seem to rely on it and recommend that tool. Comlodge and chasingdemons for example. Your second method - I'll have to walk myself through that one before it makes sense then come back with questions. So much of this is learn as I go (and then hope I don't forget what I just did!)

In the photo studio (before the days of PS) I was taught this mnemonic for coloring.

What was the purpose of this?

What is selective coloring? Selective color is the way most people adjust color in photo shop The mnemonic I mention tells you how to correct color.
Green is used to tone down Magenta, Blue is used to tone down Yellow and Cyan is used to tone down Red. ( And vise versa)

Here is a screen capture of how to find selective color. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/teragramm4/Textures%20and%20stock/selective%20color.jpg
If you notice on the right is the sliding scale of Red......Cyan, Magenta.....Green, Blue......Yellow and white.....black

You can use Color Balance too but I feel Selective coloring is more precise. Plus Color balance doesn't have black and white. Selective coloring is great for brightening up dark BtVS caps.

The mnemonic I mention tells you how to correct color.
Green is used to tone down Magenta, Blue is used to tone down Yellow and Cyan is used to tone down Red. ( And vise versa)

Ok thank you that makes total sense! The screencap doesn't look like my mac setup but I found selective color in the new adjustment layer menu and this tutorial seems like it might be helpful: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/selective-coloring/

A friend gave me a little walk-through on creating a new adjustment layer last night and gave me a 5-minute workshop and taught me how to use Curves to adjust contrast, and I'd never done that before. I'll have to try selective color next.

for brightening up dark BtVS caps.
And conversely I'd imagine it would come in handy to add contrast and definition to some of the late seasons caps that look weirdly flat because of the more "naturalist" lighting?

Many of the adjustment layers (to use an old quote) takes 5 minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. I have managed with selective color but curves is still a mystery to me.

The tutorial seems like a good one for b/w with spot color.

Screen caps are different than photos and not all photo tutorials work for screen caps (and vise versa). If you are looking for a tutorial for screen caps there are ton of them on lj. If you can't find any you like drop me a line and I'll give you a few pointers and steer you in the right direction. Although, I have found that on many tutorials, my results were different than how it turned out in the tutorial.

Many years ago I found a tutorial that I like and have been using it to brighten caps, with little tweaks here and there.

Many years ago I found a tutorial that I like and have been using it to brighten caps, with little tweaks here and there.

I'd be interested in that one :D

Right now one of the things I have to look up is the correct way and format to save files. I've found I've tried to reopen some files I've worked on and PS can't find or open it so I end up going back to the original. What are the best formats to save things and what about those little boxes that come up (to save as a copy or not? To compress or not? PSD, tiff, png?) I've tried reading Adobe's tutorial and it was still greek to me.

A lot of artists save images as png but because of my photo studio experience I always save mine as jpeg (most photo labs only except jpeg).

I either save as a copy or give the copy a new name. It is sometimes easier to give a new name because if the file is IMG_2445 and I have worked on it I will call it IMG_2445a, so I know I've working on it.

To compress or not? Since I don't usually do png or tiff I don't have need to compress or not.

PSD.... Is the image with all the layers....if you flattened the image, then there is no need to save it as a PSD.

I've tried reading Adobe's tutorial and it was still greek to me. Yes, I think they design it that way on purpose.

I'd be interested in that one :D Sure I'll PM it to you.

I did receive the tutorial thank you! Haven't tried it out yet. today I was trying to teach myself to use the quick selection tool to cut around images of Willow and Tara so I could merge them into layers and - half the time the QS tool worked and half the time it did not. Very frustrating. And half the time I could figure out how to actually cut away the pixels outside the figure once I've drawn the line.
*argh* It's slowing me down tremendously.

But at least I'm learning bit by bit.

I either save as a copy or give the copy a new name. It is sometimes easier to give a new name because if the file is IMG_2445 and I have worked on it I will call it IMG_2445a, so I know I've working on it.

I do something very similar! I always add a number or letter at the end so I know which version or simply that I've edited it. Thank you for the info on files, I think I'm starting to understand each one better. I'm surprised jpg's are such a standard format because they're "lossy" (is that the term?) You lose some information every time you copy a jpg. I've sometimes done awards banners where I've seen a huge difference from time to time on the quality of the artist's "originals" and ones the mods have reproduced and copied for contents.

A few things to remember with the quick selection tool....1. make sure your opacity is 100% or this can change the outcome of the QS. After you have made the selection, to the menu (on top) ... to Select and then down to Inverse the QS, then you can copy the part of the image you just did the QS. You can now paste it on same image or a different one.

Did that help?

Thank you - I actually don't quite understand this all yet but - let me go back and try again with the tool and see how it works.

Coming back to this to say YES, your advice about the QS tool was very helpful once I put it into practice, thank you!

So glad it helped. The inverse had me puzzled too when I first used the QS tool.

I can't say I'm any good at using it yet however. That's just going to take lotsa practice.

I also miss being able to simply "erase" pixels in ipiccy when I'm adding a new filter or layer.

You did really great job here, turning night into morning)

And, as a semi-offtopic... Did you know that google turned their Nik Collection photoshop filters into freeware? They could come very handy, especially noise reduction and sharpening filters (cough - early season buffy screencaps - cough).
If you are unfamiliar with Nik Collection, here is a video introduction, explaining them.

Thank you! It was actually late afternoon but I apparently moved into a shadow because the other shots of the flowers I took in partial sunlight didn't look this cold and blue, so I was trying to get this one to match the other photos in the set. I think I did an okay job. (the original does look like nighttime doesn't it?)

Now I should try to see if I can do the reverse effect.

Did you know that google turned their Nik Collection photoshop filters into freeware?

A friend of mine just told me about that the other day! I had never even heard of Nik before but I'm starting to download them. He mentioned it and I was like, "for all the supposed sophistication of Photoshop and all the tools and toys I still need to download stuff just to do the basics I want to do?" But thank you very much - and I haven't watched the video intro yet, I'll do so right now.

(cough - early season buffy screencaps - cough)

I FEEL ya, hon. :D

"for all the supposed sophistication of Photoshop and all the tools and toys I still need to download stuff just to do the basics I want to do?"
Hee, I know the feeling.
Well, you can do all that stuff without Nik Collection, but it would take more time (and browsing through the premade filters occasionally gives you new ideas). So, as it's free now, there is no reason not to use it )

I'm actually looking forward to playing around with them. And I am now trying to resist using spicy but hey, sometimes I just have to get stuff done. I'm sure I'll come running to you when I have questions about the Nik collection (you don't mind do you? *lol*)

you don't mind do you?
Not at all)

Those filters sound very interesting; I may have to check them out too. Thanks for the tip!

Wow, great job on that picture.

I have been working with Photoshop (Elements) for a couple of years now, but much of the time I don't really know what I'm doing -- it's mostly just trial & error for me.

Good luck with your future Photoshop endeavours!

Thank you very much!

You probably already know I started to try to learn PSE but my sweetie switched to PS CC. I don't know how the two compare but I'm actually having an easier time diving into PS than PSE. But then again I've also forced myself to actually just do projects and muck around in it.

It will come. I like what you're already doing very, very much! Looks like some PS vets are giving you excellent advice here.

Gabrielle

THank you so much for the encouragement and compliments! I know I've been kind of MIA lately and I do want to get back into artwork.

I got the print a friend did of the pink rose photo I showed you a while back, and it's very pretty but I can see that the contrast could have used a little adjusting. I'm going to have a photo on canvas printed next to see how that comes out.

It looks like you're doing a great job based on these pictures! Photoshop takes a lot of time to learn. But the nice thing is there are a lot of people on LJ who are happy to help!

Thank you so much!

It seems like I have landed in the right place! (I've occasionally checked out PS forums but the conversations tend to be way over my head from the get-go. I like it just fine here, thank you.)

Really gorgeous work on your coloring!

Thank you very much sweetie!

great discussion everyone - you did a fine job with your PS - and for encouragement my story with PS - I knew zero about PS and digital work when I took it up. My first adventures were like spending six hours trying to learn how to move friggin text and type - my husband walks in and showed me how to do it in minutes. I tried so many different ways and search my book for so long looking for index info on "moving text" Come to find out PS thinks everyone just knew that "nudge" meant "moving"

It's a cheap fix but I also just copy elements from the photos or images I am working on and place them over the super bad spots as cover -

Even after all these years I am still at a beginners level - Just Keep at it and It's just plain great creative life fun.

Edited 2016-05-13 04:40 (UTC)

Speaking of text, I still need to learn how to wrap text, how to curve it and bend it around an object, etc.

Come to find out PS thinks everyone just knew that "nudge" meant "moving"

Good to know!

Doesn't that drive you crazy? It's great that your husband was able to help - I'm lucky that our friend is knowlegable (but he doesn't have a mac so that can be a challenge) and we can't keep him here all the time. Folks here on LJ are really nice thank goodness. (I have noticed if you go online to forums etc people can be very nice or treat you like dirt for not being "knowlegable enough".)

Like I want to put a nice misty frame on a banner in PS - and I ended up having to go back to ipiccy to do that. I look forward to really knowing what I am doing!

You achieve some really gorgeous effects and you have a definite style all your own.

I also just copy elements from the photos or images I am working on and place them over the super bad spots as cover

Totally legit! In ipiccy I've used a copy of the image I'm working on as a texture layer and erased what I don't need - it allowed me to totally reproduce text from one banner to another or cover up goofs.

For sharpening images, the method I've always used is similar to above, but a little different.

1.) Go to channels and select the most crisp-looking. Usually it's green, especially if you're talking Buffy screencaps. Copy it and paste it to a new layer. Make sure you hit RGB so all channels are visible before going back to layers view.

2.) Select the Green (or whatever layer you copied) and run a high pass filter on it. You want it so just the edges are visible. Typically it's around .8-1.2.

3.) Unsharp Mask filter it. Just enough to make it crisp.

4.) Set the layer to Overlay or Soft Light.

It'll be sharper, but without all the noisiness you get from processing all the layers with the sharpen filter.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Adventures in Photoshop, Part __ ?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject