Category: Video

Tuesday’s Tutorial – Creating Actions in PS

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While I don’t have a regular schedule for releasing content, tutorials or otherwise, the alliterative bonus of having a tutorial on Tuesdays tastes terrific to tongues. And…since i posted it before midnight, it technically was released on Tuesday, even though it’s 11:20pm! Well, what was neat about this was that on my weekly visit to Photoshop User TV, Matt Kloskowski showed how he created an action for curves adjustments in LAB, and this same technique is what I used for the sharpening aspect of my work flow. While I also have the LAB action assembled, I had split that up into three different ones (one at 3 hashes, one at 2 hashes, and another at 1 hash). Check out the video on their weekly blog post here: Photoshop User TV. I gotta admit though, it was kind of cool though to see a technique I use also be showcased in the tip from the likes of Matt Kloskowski. So, in keeping with the use of layers adjustments as a means of applying different effects repeatedly for evaluating images, my tutorial follows the same theory, but applies it to sharpening rather than curves.

It’s kind of long (12 minutes) because I went through every step, AND I left a mistake in intentionally to show how you can edit an action while you are recording it! Take a peak at it here: Creating a Sharpening Action in Photoshop

As for consolidating the curves adjustments from 3 to 1 using this technique, I actually will pass on that because for me, I am usually pretty close in my “guesstimation” of what will work, and I just want the action to do that for me, not multiiple layers of different curves adjustments. Sharpening is tougher though, so I think it’s more valuable as a method in that regard. We’re all different though, and that’s what makes the world go around, so if you like it, go for it! Enjoy and have a great Wednesday. Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t give Matt the courtesy of a link to his site on Lightroom Killer Tips. Check them out too…I am always learning from this guy…

Applying Gradients to Text in Photoshop

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Another tutorial has been uploaded and is ready for viewing. This tutorial shows how to use layers to apply a gradient effect to text inside of Photoshop. With the layers, you can preserve the text and the gradient independently of one another for future editing and customization, depending on the need and use. Check it out by visiting the tutorial page for it today:

Applying Gradients to Text in Photoshop

As always, feedback, comments and ideas are always welcome either here or via email: Jason AT Canonblogger DOT com! Thanks for tuning in and happy shooting!

Type Tool presets

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On the heels of the last tutorial, this week, the focus shifts to pre-sets. While Photoshop is not the best program for creating style sheets for text, the presets can make things easier if you want to re-use the same format. So, check out the latest video tutorial. It’s online now and again under 5 minutes for those on the go. In the meantime, happy shooting! I’ll have some pics up from the weekend later this week. ETA: Link is fixed, was pointing to an earlier tutorial on a different tip for the type tool. Sorry for the mix-up.

Type tool Presets

Sharpening in LAB Mode

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That’s right, the podcast is done…this is part deaux of what will likely be a three part series that speaks to my work flow in LAB mode. The first tutorial dealt with curves and luminance adjustments in the LAB color space, and here, I illustrate how to sharpen in the LAB color space. Great stuff here, and I also briefly touch on producing an action that will create various layered sharpness levels so you can pick and choose which suits your needs best.

Also helpful are some formulas I’ve learned on what works best for various scenarios. I intended to include these in the podcast, but I am trying to cut down on podcast length and keep extraneous info to a minimum. Nevertheless, the various sharpness levels are relevant, so I am including them here:

For people, portraits, etc.: An amount of anywhere from 120-150%, a Radius of 1.o, and a Threshold of 10 works well.

For cities, architecture, etc: An amount ranging from 50-65%, a Radius of 3 and a thresh hold of 2 does great.

For general everyday use: For all others, I try an Amount in the range of 80-85%, a Radius of 1, and a Threshold of 4.

As always, these numbers are not set in stone, and will vary depending on the types of photos you are working with and your particular tastes. Nothing is ever set in stone in a subjective field like photography, so take this information with a grain of salt, and pepper to your own tastes.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the Sharpening in LAB tutorial! Enjoy! (And feel free to leave a comment or idea – if you do, you’ll be the first!)

Outpatients and outages, but we have a new tutorial!

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It’s been a few days since making a post, as there have been a few issues that have come up, not the least of which was an outage or two from my provider. As a result, I was not able to get online for more than a few minutes at a clip for Monday and Tuesday as a result.

Additionally, I had an outpatient procedure done yesterday at the Doctor’s Office so I needed a little time to recuperate after that. Things are slowly working their way back to normal though, and I have the first in a two part series of tutorials designed to give some insight to my work flow and the use of the LAB workspace for both lightness and curves adjustments. Check them out via the link at the end of this post. In the meantime, happy shooting, and I’ll be back in a day or two with the remainder of the LAB work space tutorial…

Curves Adjustments in LAB

Camera Raw Tutorial is up!

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I gave up again trying to figure out how to embed the flash file into the blog page, and keep the layout somewhat decent looking, so I am going to continue linking to a dedicated video podcast page, where I will likely end up building an html front end to reference down the road. It’s an admittedly rudimentary look at ACR (Adobe Camera Raw), and while there are some really great extensive resources out there (I highly recommend Jon Canfield’s book on the subject), this should be a nice intro for those that have shot jpg and are thinking about making the move to raw.

In any case, here it is…enjoy! Thanks for stopping in and don’t forget to vote in the Content poll! 🙂

Fair warning though – it’s a long video, and the audio is kinda on the loud side…

Camera Raw Video Tutorial

Terrible Tuesday Stwess!!

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Well, terrible Tuesday’s post is about the length of my latest video podcast severely biting me in the you-know-what.   As it turns out, Flash has this limitation of 160,000 frames, so to circumvent that, there seems to be only two options:  record in shorter segments and splice them together in Flash with Action scripts (I don’t have Flash…using another software solution right now, still in trial form…), or encode as a FLV file (the shorter flash videos have been encoded with the more common SWF format.  SWF gives higher resolution, loads faster, and is also more common…so I didn’t even know much about FLV prior to tonight and my history with swf/flv players in WordPress.  Well, since I don’t own flash, my only real option was to encode as an FLV file.  This is taking forever!  I am now looking into how to do Action scripts and purchasing Flash as it seems this might be a more viable long term solution for me…but, it does delay the Camera Raw tutorial another day.  It did give me some time to sit down re-tune the blog to allow for embedding flash video files locally, without needing to hang a video podcast out there hanging in the wind where it can’t get picked up by the all-important blogger feeds of the masses (iTunes included). So, I think I shall call it a night early, and make sure things are picture perfect tomorrow after work. For today, I guess the “masses” that tune in will just have to wait along with me in agony!

No news for Monday

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Well, that may not be entirely true, as Tips from The Top Floor has a few updates both in audio and video format, so stop over there for some weekyl news and info about Chris’ trip to the great ole U.S. of A. He’s going from CO on to California, and then some other place before finishing up in St. Lucie FL, so if you get a chance between now and Oct. 18th to listen/view – you may wanna do so as now I am even thinking of making my way down there for a few days.

Please also say a prayer for Scott Sherman and Michael Stein from The Digital Photography Show. Before this week I did not know that their affiliation began because both their children are affected by Cerebral Palsy.   Scott’s had to have a surgical procedure this last week, and yet he still managed to find some time to produce the show. Suffice to saw, I would have been long gone and Canon Blogger would not have even been on my radar – so thanks to Scott and Michael and my prayers go out to both of you as you walk this noble path – esp. to Scott given the recency of its impact on his life personally.

Finally, Strobist had a couple cool posts recently, first one about Flickr where you can see your “ranking” on there – serious submitters only though as if it’s less than that, you probably won’t show up many times. Another cool post is about using small off-camera lights to help illuminate landscapes. A neat example is there too, so go check that out.

Finally, another podcast is ready for viewing! I did run out of time for production tonight though, so will have to wait until tomorrow to finish it, but promise a rather lengthy one (about 30 minutes) is forthcoming and discusses quite a few details about working in Camera Raw for your post processing. Stay tuned and it should be online in less than 24 hours! Until tomorrow then…Happy Shooting!

Closing out the week with a new tutorial!

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That’s right, I’ve finally got enough of an act together to record a new tutorial. It’s another Photoshop tip, and this week is kind of a tangential feature of Photoshop, in that it’s not one you would typically use Photoshop to produce as Adobe has other products that perform this function better. There are also other applications on the market that do this equally well, and probably with equal if not better results, but if you don’t have them, PS is a neat alternative, especially for preserving things like drop-shadows and text style treatments like gradients and other stuff commonly associated with Photoshop. In any case, the tutorial is linked at the end of this post. You can download for iTunes from the link as well.

In other news, I also was able to successfully arise early enough to catch a sunrise shoot at Isle of Palms today. I had my trusty Canon XT with me, and I found myself enjoying swapping between the 18-55 kit lens, a Sigma macro lens, and my Canon 70-200 4.0 L The colors were okay, but nothing really spectacular to write home about thus far in my review of the shots. I’ll hopefully have a few to share tomorrow, but in the meantime, enjoy the video podcast. Until next time, Happy Shooting and enjoy the weekend!

Creating PDF files in Photoshop

New video tutorial is available!

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What with all the work I’ve been putting in to my new dedicated photography site, and keeping up with web activities, I’ve not had a chance to look into the issue of embedding flash in the blog yet, so links to the videos will have to suffice for the time being. As I get more vids put together, I may generate a static page where all of them can be viewed in a myriad flash/html format, depending on how much feedback I get. For the time being here is my first video attempt, attached as a flash file:

Clearly, this week I was re-visiting the horizon leveling subject, but in a more intermediate role. Last week, this subject was one of a few tips were touched on in a light fashion, so this week, largely in response to feedback from fellow photogs, I am re-visiting this one to address some questions that arose. Primarily, how should you level on multiple axes? It was something of a learning experience for me, as my initial thought would have been the warp tool under Free Transform. As it turns out, in the image supplied, perspective transform worked a lot better. I suppose there are multiple ways to skin a cat, but here I look at both the ruler and the transform tools for leveling purposes, depending on the number of axes, and effects you are going for. Check it out in the link at the end of the post.

I also wanted to take a moment to give shout outs to Scott Sherman and Michael Stein of The Digital Photography Show. Scott had a series of snafu’s last weekend that reminded me of some useful advice I learned a year or so ago in similar fashion. Basically, he reminded me that if you are serious about photography and your pictures, the planning begins long before tripping the shutter. After my episode, I devised a checklist of “to dos” both in packing for a shoot, and in wrapping up. This ensures you have all the gear you need going in, it all works, and you leave with all your gear as well. The post came from the photo clubs’ blog, last year, so forgive the outdated link, but it still has use and is relevant today. Anyway, the story can be seen at the link at the end of this post.

Thanks all for tuning in again, and I see the poll count has jumped another couple notches so keep the votes coming – I don’t want to say the goal for fear of jinxing it, but the more the merrier in voting for content! 🙂

Oh, and I almost forgot, shout outs to Dave from Fred Miranda for supplying the image for this weeks tutorial!

Developing a checklist

Leveling multiple axes (horizons) in Photoshop

ETA: As I eventually figured out the flash problems, I have been able to go back to previous posts and incorporate the embedded flash videos. As this was the first video podcast (I wasn’t keeping count until I realized that I’d better, just to keep track of content and quality), so backdated shout outs for the first video podcast. I am also attaching a Quicktime version of the movie for downloading and iTunes purposes so, check for that at the top of this post.