Digital Camera/Photoshop Workshop – Day 1
Rechargeable batteries – a must – get from Photography co-op
Auto off feature saves batteries/ when shooting, turn off if camera is sitting
Film – based on speed
Digital – quality based on pixels, memory is a commodity
Pixels run across and down, count related to what you want to do
Format card for camera – must have to read – can occur if you use different cameras with card
STANDARD FUNCTIONS – menus simple to navigate
Icons:
flower – to give quality to close ups
lightening bolt – flash setting
set on for flash, or off for natural lighting, auto guesses
tree – zoom
Stick with highest resolutions for better quality
Some have portrait settings
Shadows, digital noise, can be problem with digital cameras
Slightly overexpose images
Plus and minus – over or under exposure notice
flat art copy – use 2 photo floods
white art balance
florescent lighting – drives digital camera “nuts”
treat like film camera – easier to handle what comes out
Have camera on one setting, see what student can do – creatively problem solve, using tools
You don’t want to always shoot with flash on…inside and outside
In Elementary, middle, leave on Daylight mode (if available), not on auto
Can experiement with 100 or 200 settings, learning the range…black and white, texture,shooting on lower quality, enlarge it – to understand the process
Experiment with cropping photos…..working with zoom, explore different angles – you lose a lot when you crop…try to compose what you have instead of zooming……walk closer to subject!
Have them layer, use sizing
Outside shoot:
El - Have them look for picture taking “underneath”, different angles, architecturaly – use camera for seeing, composition
Green area – is the play back setting
To get images off camera onto computer…mac hard drive, under applications, go to image capture program….simple program
Turn camera on if it says “no image capture” (If I photo comes up, get out of it)
In image capture, Drag down ………go to other…..make folder, naming it, file photos on desktop….hit download all, or download some, if you want to download only some of the photos
To eject camera…look for non descript disc icon, on desktop, drag to trashcan, then you can pull out the plug, without damage. After you have downloaded pictures, there is no reason to keep the camera plugged in to the computer.
Suggested text: $45. At Borders - Adobe Photopshop CS2 for Photographers – a professional image editor’s guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC by Marin Evening, Focal Press ISBN 0240 519841 - $44.95, includes CD rom
Divided into chapters into tutorials
rmizzell@gmail.com to reach Rob Mizell - see photos on his website
Digital Photography Workshop – Day 2
Cheap place to buy photo paper in town– Xpedx.com
On Kingshighway
Objectives:
Color settings, toolbars, seclection, manipulation, vector tools, option bar (sub menu of all toolbars) opening up blank files, navigation, layers, history
Photoshop – open program ( click icon )
Top toolbar, 2nd from right, scroll under Window – select workspace option- default workspace
Color space –“what does the camera see, what does the computer see, what does the printer see” - try to align them, replicating what camera sees.
Adobe RGB (1998) – ways of seeing and recording color, hue or tones, additive…more add, more white – higher RGB number, more ink
Subtractive …CMY, more black
“Throw out color wheel when working with Photoshop”
How do you set up to make it a default color RGB?
To get same playing field on all computers: set color settings
Photoshop – Go to File, find Scroll under Edit, hit color settings, and scroll in settings to:
North American prepress 2 – ok
To open file…go to file – open (remember where your photos are, pick a photo)
If you have” mismatched profile” come up….means camera is assigning its own color space (imbedded profile) – what to do?…ignore, convert, or discard …you don’t want to get rid of all the color information – tells printer what you want
Convert to adobe RGB recommended – will convert camera’s profile into adobe (some cameras you can change to adobe RGB, but not all) do it right up front, not just before printing
TOOLBARS
1st 6 tools are selection tools
next 8 are manipulation tools
last ones are ?
click on tool, hold down, scroll for extra tools
Descriptions from Upper left :
Rectangular Marquee Box
Move tool – moves items around
Magnetic Lasso tool – free form selection tool, can draw around an oddly shaped item
Magic Wand tool
Crop tool – crop and delete
Slice tool – don’t use much
Healing brush tool – bandaid, spot healing brush (healing – make a selection of source, spot you do not have to select) patch tool, red eye tool
Brush tool / pencil tool, color replacement tool
Clone stamp – clone as is
History and art history brush – source back to previous time in file, retouch mistakes or errors / “dodge and burn”
Eraser – never use it, ways to get around it/ retouching, manipulating, instead use layers, remove bits and pieces
Non destructive method, you don’t want to get rid of original
Paint bucket –
Gradiant tool –
Sharpen and smudge tool
Dodge and burn, sponge tool
Direct selection
Path and shape tools
Annotation tools – notepad, a little sticky, can use to grade a part of work – grade on project
Eyedropper – select it
color sampler tool
Measurement tool- straighten out photo
Zoom tool
Foreground and background color ( if you don’t select one of those, it will bring a color sampler )
Shortcuts:
D key – resets it to default colors
X key – will exchange your foreground and background color
(menus can be layers deep )
How to use toolbar:
Brush tool – shortcut E
Options bar – brushes, tool preset, layer comps
Mode – opacity – brush will never go darker
Flow –
Go into file, view, a new file window
Name it
Color mode – set that to RGB color
Preset – scroll to 4X6
Width – 4”
Height-6”
Resolution - set at 300 pixels per inch
color mode - RGB
background - white or transparent
print in 8 bit
adobe 1998
pixel ratio square
Use foreground, background color
Activity:
Click on brush tool
Set foreground color to red
Grab in color picker window – slide up and down, click on red, ok
Adjust brush size – up in options bar, change master diameter and hardness (100% circle = hard )
To move part of image:
Click and drag – select an area within the image (click your space bar to use mouse to move it around – “marching ants”)
Shift key will make it an exact square
Shortcuts:
Open apple C is cut and copy
Apple D is de-select
1st introduction to layering – think of it as a collage - do multiple layers, manipulate one layer
To cut out a section – can use lasso tool, draw a selection, come around to the starting point - select background – cut and copy
Double click mouse if you get stuck in the lasso?
Beginning assignment (learn basic toolbars and get use to layers):
Set up a new by file 5 X 7, adobe 1998 color space, use brush tool, use 5 different brush tools, compose and make image look nice
Spend some time getting used to what you are looking at on screen, explore
Right hand side of screen
Navigator – overview of image (thumbnail zooms in and out – can click and drag in box)
Info pallet numbers – will give you RGB numbers, info techno
Histogram –
Color Swatches – libraries of colors
Styles
History Pallet – remembers everything you did 20 steps back – history state can undo what you’ve done - Apple Z – undo
Actions – way to augment
Layers pallet – can create new layers on background – nondestructive editing – multiple levels of your artwork
How do you create a new layer of your own?
2 buttons:
post it – create new layer
trash can – click and drag to trash can to get rid of a layer
when you select a new layer, that is the only layer you are working on – like creating a collage
Digital Photography Day #3
“Portraits”
when working on previous photo – set color space (refer to day #2)
Delete layer 2
when you click on layer – scroll to layer 2 – put it in the little trash can, or you can click on trash can if “layer 2” is highlighted (not the one on the dock)
click eyeball (on left) next to the curves 1 in layers pallet
use zoom tool to zoom in on a part of the photo
turn all other layers off
digital cameras are notorious for making portraits red
curves layer corrects the exposure and makes skin tones correct
Delete layers, click and drag to trash
Turn on eyeball next to your background
Open apple O – makes image fit the size of the screen
Use levels to adjust colors / can go to black and white to make the “negative” – make background copy, can use healing brush – name the layer, retouch
Open apple J – to copy a layer
For any tool, hold down space bar can move picture around in space
Localized Correction:
Color sampler on forehead – click on eyedropper tool – hold down shift and option – move mouse over bullseye, to remove it
To get healing tool, go to icon, click and hold for tool options, select healing brush
Open apple + to zoom in
Go to top – brush setting, set hardness at 50%
(affects edge of brush, 0% lots of bristles)
in healing brush
select retouch layer
hold down option key to get bullseye - click drag it over to anywhere to pick up a color “graft” – lay it down where you want to retouch – let go this is a way to get rid of blemishes or get rid of airplanes or birds from a sky – if you are retouching neck, select skin “graft” from neck area, etc.
Global Correction:
In layers pallet, find Ying yang button, scroll to levels – brings up graph, drag cursor from left to right to adjust brightness of photo
Can correct color - channel: RGB - scroll red green and blue, can adjust
If it way too green, go in and select by dragging cursor left to right to find the right color
Color wheel for Photoshop is RGB – CMY
Hue saturation
Find Ying yang icon at bottom (little half circle), hold, find hue/saturation tool
Edit box: can adjust under Master: reds, yellows, greens, cyans, etc.
Hue – saturation – lightness
If you select reds, it only adjusts the reds in the photo
Can change hue of grass, sky, skin, etc.
tweak skin color into correct zone, make it look even, blended in around 10,11,12
hold option key- it will turn cancel button into a reset button to get back to the original photo
to change hue of shirt – go to Edit – blue – experiment with hue, saturation and brightness
sometimes on screen looks different than what can be printed
Colorize button (on right) , changes whole image at once
Make it black and white- ying yang, channel mixer under selected color
Output, source and contact
File – save as name, last name first, underscore assignment #
Psd – file type if it is still in layers, still in process
Jpeg (gets rid of information you don’t want) or tif if – if no layers –final, can’t edit
Save work as photoshop file to continue to work on it
when you print and it is final, save as jpeg or tif
percentages act like filters
for photo never put blue at 100% - brings out nasty textures
good combination:
red 100%
green 40%
blue 0%
Sharpening
For every step of the way, the files get softer and softer, images get blurred – goal is to come back in and fix it so you can print
Go apple O – full screen – my percentage 66%
Turn channel mixer on - Hold down shift, option, open apple, and press E – should see a layer pop up – takes pictures of all the layers underneath it – rename top layer, sharpening
In filter drop down menu, you see a list of
Artist, Blur, etc and many options
Will email in pdf file all assignments taken in Photoshop at Brooks Institute to Mr. Johnson
Under sharpen, find unsharp mask – main file 50%
Amounts – stays around 150%
Radius - 1.5 pixels
Threshold - 4
Can click preview to see what photo will look like
Open apple S to save it
Crop tool – resolution at 300, width 5, ratio 8X12 or 4X6 – will chance overall resolution of file, keep around 300
Click outside the area to get a tool to adjust image
Open apple Z for undo if you don’t like it
Better to crop at front end of project because cropping after sharpening will change resolution
Flatten and prepare for printing
(smaller file size) ( a class of 25 can eat up your space quickly) –
scroll under layers to get rid of all layers when you are positive you have what you like – you now are in an unsafe state, so, go to file, save as, in photoshop, drag down to tif, and save
with a tif, you can still go back and edit
Byte order – under tif options, IBM can not read a mac file, but mac can read pc, so check the box that says IBM PC
Or
As JPEG – save button you will get quality or format options
for quality - open apple option 0 to zoom in at 100%
settings:
baseline – standard
8 in quality, ok
review of work so far
keep background layer round, copy the layer
copy the background layer, drag to new layer, or open apple J to duplicate so you can work on it
use healing brush on that layer,
adjustment layers in ying -yang circle: levels, hue saturation, etc.
create layers that are non destructive
can adjust what we have done
sharpening for output
history - can click back, open apple Z is undo
different ways to save:
Jpeg for printing and website use
or tif for printing only
for Photoshop elements:
a lot of the tools use the same icons, but may have a different layout, simplified version
does have healing brush, and also has clone stamp instead
cloning out an exit sign, watch tonal values, but it works the same, just takes more patience
use “optimizing for printing” in elements