Tricks & Tips
After
spending time teaching our CC how to make a cube. Member Sam Klein,
an inveterate web scout, called me to let me know that he found
a cube maker on a web and in a few clicks of the mouse and a matter
of minutes the cube was made. As each photo is opened it places
it into a cube format and doesn't require any resizing. Open PS
and then go to the web and download www.thedom.fr/share/dload.php?action=file&file_
id=33&sid=55870c5a9e3c846ba8118ae3e33d1065
MARCHING
ANTS
Hit Control+H
to hide the marching ants of a selection—you will get a better
view of how your adjustment fits your image.
FULL
SCREEN MODE
To see your image
as it will appear in print or on the web hit the F key and it will
be centered on a grey BG, hit it again and it will appear on black.
Hit again and you will return to the default view.
PREVIEW
PRINTS
Press Control
+Y and the colours will look as when real printer inks are used.
CREATING
BORDERS
For a painterly
border for your images in either Photoshop or Elements select the
Brush tool and hit D then X on the keyboard to set white as the FG
colour. Choose an artistic brush from the Options bar and paint around
the outside edge of your images. An even more natural effect occurs
using a Wacom tablet.
NEUTRAL
DENSITY GRADUATED FILTER
A filter that
was once essential for landscape photography is now supplanted by
Photoshop. Shoot in RAW, then covert it twice, once for the highlights
and once for the shadows, blend them together in PS--it gives the
same result as an ND filter and the results are more controllable.
For example in RAW drag the sliders--exposure +0.40>Blacks 27>Brightness
+35>Saturation +20>save as Conversion A at a level of 10jpg.
back to RAW file>open>temp 6400> Exposure>+2.00>Blacks
10>brightness>+50.
No need to save. Open image again with both conversions on monitor
choose Move and holding down Shift key click in 2nd conversion and
drag it into conversion A. Click on Eraser press shift and the [ key
to soften edges and brightness in the image.
MAKING
A CUBE
When this is downloaded it appears as an action in PS and is named
THE DOM CUBE. Click on the arrow and the list of actions appears.
Highlight MAKE and go down to the bottom to the arrow that is PLAY.
Click.
What appears is your list of images. (Mine is Bs Pix). From here
select any image regardless of size or dpi. Behind your listing
of images you will see a new file with a transparent BG.
The image you have selected will appear in the top of the cube.
Click on a 2nd image from your file and click on play and it will
appear on the left side of the cube. Ditto on the 3rd image and
voila! you have a cube. From here your imagination may run rampant.
ALTERNATIVE
METHOD TO DODGE AND BURN (courtesy Herb Kammer)
Open
an image. On the menu bar, go to Layer > New > Layer > change
the Mode from Normal > Overlay. In the box select 50% gray, and
click OK. Select a soft brush, start with opacity at about 30%, paint
with black to darken (burn) or white to lighten (dodge) that part
of the image you choose.
MOTION
To
use this filter do not apply it to the entire image. Using the Lasso
tool select an area, feather the selection and apply the filter. To
check the amount of feathering press Q (Quick Mask). Use the Motion
Blur filter selecting the distance for the amount of blur desired.
PALETTES
In Photoshop
palettes can be restored to the default positions. Go to Windows>Workspace/Reset
Palette locations
CROOKED
HORIZON
Click on the measure tool
and drag a line from one end of the horizon to the other. Image>Rotate.Canvas>Arbirtary>Enter.
Crop and drag over the images leaving out the edges. Enter.
STRAIGHTEN
THE VERTICALS
Tilted angles
cause the buildings to converge. Go to Layers Palette, hold down Alt
and double-click background . Drag edges of the image window to make
some workspace. Image>Transform>Distort>dragging the handles
to pull the verticals straight. Enter. Also try using the Grid to
see the results. Use the Crop tool to delete the transparent edges.
CROPPING
TO A PREDEFINED SIZE
If you have several
prints to present for competition and you wish the size of all to
be, for example, 10x15, select the Crop tool but before using it fill
in the sizes and resolution in the Options bar at the top of the image.
Crop image, Enter.
For image number two and the subsequent images click on Front Image,
bring up image number two Crop and Enter. Each image will conform
the size selected in the Options bar.