Non-Destructive Pixel Editing In Photoshop

Decided to test my little flatbed scanner yesterday. After recently tidying up my desk at I uncovered a proof that had for some reason been set aside and not made it's way into the place where I put work I'm considering.

As always I had to tweak the image as I would in the darkroom, one of my favourite ways to do this without destroying pixel data in photoshop is to use a 'soft light' burn and dodge mask this allows a lot of control and as I said no pixels are destroyed in the process. It could also be used as a starting point for a finished print in the wet darkroom, if I was so inclined.

Here's the image, a larger version is available on flickr just click the image.

And here's what a 'soft light' burn and dodge mask looks like.

Basically it's an empty layer filled with 50% grey. Then after changing the "blending mode" of the layer you use either the burn or dodge tools to dodge and burn or, you use the paintbrush with black and white paint, at really low opacities like 10% and lower to darken and lighten selected areas of the image. The secret is build-up up the areas you want to lighten or darken.

As for the scanner, well it's a Canon CanoScan FB630U. Given to me by a relative, thanks Deb. It performed really well actually. I scanned a whole pile of emphemera that I collect for other projects and it did a good job from the look of things on screen [I don't have a printer at home] the only criticism I have is it didn't cope to well with the higher resolutions scans, over 10 megabytes or so, and these were several attempts at scanning the proof above. Still for more graphic projects and small web scans it's pretty good.

Drawing and Photography

This article piques my interest and the writer's blog has some wonderful imagery on it.

Digi-photos 20.01.06

The sunset over Melbourne last night was awesome, the top most digi-photo taken minutes after the one below it.

Below you can see a a screen grab of the layers palette for the image above. Having converted it using the Lobster Colour correction plug-in, I then proceed to burn and dodge create masks as needed and generally tweak the image over all. Given that I finished my final summer Photoshop workshop for this summer it's unusual for me to do this but having captured in RAW, capturing is only the beginning of the process. And these images, just so needed to be shared.

Technorati Tags:-Lobster, Photoshop, digi-photos

Melbourne is Still in a Drought

Since discovering the BOM weather radar, I've rarely seen red clouds which says a lot about the state of water supply in Melbourne. Yesterday somewhere in Melbourne, it was raining pretty heavily. Water they say will be the new oil, will there be wars over it?

CCD Inventors awarded Draper prize

Are these guys to blame for my obsession?

Technorati Tags:-CCD, inventors

Paranoid Policemen prevent Photographers Photographing - or try too!

So the mainstream are now recognising the "issues" with photographing in public, or are they?

Insecurity

Heart wrenching story about security over cameras, gone mad!

Some days....

Recent visit to the Docklands precinct, resulted in these images.

I am Koonan; the converstion killer!

A funny thing happened while shooting on the weekend

Tree re-dux

Tree re-dux

A re-shoot?.

Shot with the Canon 350d, the original on the Nikon coolpix 5400, not a very good comparison really as I used a tripod on this shot and the lighting conditions were completely different. I also shot this in RAW format and processed it in Graphic Converter, which I'm still learning or trying to learn, compared to the original which was shot as a jpg. The lack of barrel distortion alone is enough for me to like the second shot better than the first, but there are plenty of issues with sharpness and lens aberrations that have me worried about the 12,000 plus images made so far with the Nikon, so much so I'm now shooting in RAW unless I am after a quick response/turnaround on the street or travelling for example.

iPod's impact...

...clearly stated.

Sony Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer said in an interview broadcast Sunday that his company has made huge mistakes in the online music and player business and that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been a thorn in the Japanese electronics makers side.
In an interview for CBS' 60 Minutes, Mr. Stringer said "there is no question that the (Apple) iPod was a wake-up call for Sony. And the answer is that Steve Jobs was smarter at software than we are."

A little late yes, but; Insert smug sounds here.

Technorati Tags:-iPod, Sony

Tree

Docklands Park - Panorama

One of the better urban panoramas I've seen on flickr

Docklands Park - Panorama,
originally uploaded by Chaddles.

More mad memes?

New Flickr Feature

A new feature on flickr. When viewing a photostream you now have the option to browse the stream itself or move through the thumbnails on the top of the screen, sweet indeed.

Of course the real reason I like flickr so much can be seen below the thumbnails. Sets. there is only one set showing for this image because that is where I have placed it. Some images fit multiple ideas others simply fit one, but it's the idea that images have multiple AND connected ideas behind them is what excites me the most… oh and the idea of a 24/7/365 gallery.

Technorati Tags:-flickr, slideshow

Google Earth now available for the MAC, yaaaaah!

In a row

These 4 are my most recent uploads to flickr.

Technorati Tags:-digital-photos, flickr

Languish

Parts of Melbourne Disappear on a daily basis.

Somewhere near Chinatown in 2004. I've learnt lots about tweaking images since then too?

Lightroom Software Review

An in-depth review of the new software by Adobe, Lightroom.

Technorati Tags:- Lightroom

Postscipt to the Death of Photoshop?

Well you can't half tell that things have quietened down in this house. Three posts in one day!

So the Behemoth organisation that is Adobe has released a free workflow tool that allegedly competes with Apple's Aperture[more news here]. I've been wondering where Photoshop could go from here, basically as a photographer I use and need probably about 10% of the whole app.

Because of this my heavy duty app of choice is an application called Live Picture, I'm also experimenting with Graphic converter as well. Graphic Converter is super cheap and still does more than I need. Live Picture is elegant doesn't destroy pixels as it works, handles large files with ease on a minimum of ram, edits internally in 16 bits, the list is too long to mention here. While Photoshop has become some sort of de-facto industry standard it isn't the best tool for the job, it certainly isn't the cheapest and I know of at least one person who has discovered that it manipulates colour in a way that is contrary to our way of seeing, [as a consequence they built a tool to work around it].

Anyway while this new tool may be cheap i.e. free, it'll need to do a lot of other things well to sway me. To be honest I have half suspected this for the last version or two of Photoshop, these version upgrades were to say the least uninspiring and I'm not really using much in 8 that didn't exist in 5.5.

Some are speculating some sort of war between Apple and Adobe, to my mind I've always felt Adobe's business model too predatory for my liking, so I still intend on going with Apple's tool anyway.

Technorati Tags:-Aperture, Photoshop, Lightroom.

The Death of Photoshop?

Currently tinkering with Graphic Converter one of the cheap Macintosh alternatives to Adobe Photoshop. One of the awesome things it allows and handles at least two decimal point accuracy across the board.

Technorati Tags:-Photoshop, GraphicConverter

Nature V's Nurture

Taken prior to Christmas 2005, Wright St.Sunshine.

Technorati Tags:-Grey, digitalphoto, concrete

Kodak Changes its Logo

In a break with the past, Eastman Kodak Co. is introducing a new corporate logo designed to help the company forge a new image as a cutting-edge, 21st century innovator.

Kodak's new corporate symbol retains the company's distinctive red and yellow colors, but does away with the boxes that have contained the word "Kodak" for the past 70 years.

The logo change was introduced today during a sweeping speech by Kodak Chairman and Chief Executive Antonio Perez at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In his speech, Perez called on the industry to work together to make digital imaging and digital photography easier and more useful in the context of daily life.

The new mark, based on a customized typeface, is designed to give the company a contemporary look but be flexible enough to apply in new ways and new venues across Kodak's varied businesses --everything from tiny handheld digital cameras to computer software to the letters on Kodak buildings around the world.

The logo is one part of Kodak's larger effort to redefine its brand-name identity, through advertising, public relations, supplier and partner relationships and other in areas.

"We want to break out of the box, in a lot of ways," says Betty Noonan, director of brand management and marketing services at Kodak.

The announcement caps a busy week for Rochester's best-known company. Kodak late Thursday announced an important technology-sharing-and-marketing alliance with Motorola Inc. aimed at making imaging more widespread in electronic devices. Earlier, it unveiled what is believed to be the first digital camera with two lenses, and new software that combines Internet telephone calls with photo sharing.

From, The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle News

Technorati Tags:-Kodak, Logo

Meme on Flickr

Meme's come and go, but this on one flickr has some interesting merits. These are my top 20 images that are other folks favourites, thus proving they have impeccable taste like myself :)

How come common sense isn't so common?

Not that I'm likely to listen to a CD by a band like cold play, but I guess I will NEVAH be buying this one?