Preparations and Organizations

Please use the screenshot below to organize your files for review.

Week 6

Shape tool

The shape tool allows you to draw many shapes based on vectors, rather than pixels. You can change the color using fill in the options bar, or just click on the thumbnail of the layer in the layers palette.

Here's a great tutorial for creating selections using the pen tool and paths: 
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/selections/pen-tool-selections/

Pen Tool

What is a path?

A path is a line that goes from one point to another, not based on pixels. It can be thought of as an outline that you can use to fill, create selections, masks, or apply a stroke.

Keep an eye out for the two path modes

The options bar shows two pen modes, fill pixels icon (like shapes/not the one we want) and the Paths icon/the one we want.

Straight paths

Start by creating a shape clicking and letting go, then clicking again to create another anchor point to make straight lines. Close and save the path. Turn the path into a selection/marching ants. If you don’t save it, it may disappear when you create a new path.

Curves…

Ah, but there are curves in life you say.

Direction handles: Click, drag out a handle towards the direction you want your path to go. The point in the middle is the anchor (square shape), the points on either end are direction handles (circle shape.) They control the angle and length of the curve. One handle controls the curve going OUT of the point and one, controls the curve going IN to a point.

You can always go back and fix an anchor point if you don’t get it right the first time, which is great and makes the pen tool a very forgiving tool indeed!

Rotate and Resize

Rotate and Resize direction handles by holding down command to get the direct selection tool. Click on the end and rotate like a see-saw, which adjusts the angle of the curve. Drag the handle in and out to adjust the length of the curve.

Convert Point

To rotate each handle independently, hold down alt to get the convert point tool. 

Now, the opposite handle does not move. (Can release the alt button, once you start dragging.)

Drawing a curve

Hold down shift to constrain your movement.

Twists in the path may mean that you’re dragging the wrong way and the path is crossing itself.

Use Ctrl+Z or delete to delete the marked anchors.

Remember that you can add and subtract anchor points.

Srs bzns

Always start by examining an image for a good place to start and get a general idea of where you might set anchor points. When dealing with curvy selections, often fewer anchor points mean cleaner paths. It’s not a staple gun. You can check a selection by creating a bright colored solid layer beneath it.

Here's a great tutorial for creating selections using the pen tool and paths: 
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/selections/pen-tool-selections/

Homework

Be prepared to show your final collage image.

Isolate the rhinocerus  and praying mantis from their background using the pen tool.

Come in with a concept and sketch for a static banner ad for a product of your choice that you will be making for 300x250/72 PPI, 160x600/72 PPI, and 728x90/72 PPI. This should include a logo and CTA (call to action which will most likely take the form of a button of some sort.)

Please see http://www.bannerblog.com.au/ for inspiration.

Week 5...Introduction to Selections

Creating Selections

We often see the world as many separate objects, while Photoshop only sees it as colored pixels. We need a way to work on these pixels here, but not those pixels there. Creating selections is how we tell Photoshop which pixels we want to work on.

Here's a useful article explaining why creating selections is important.

Below you'll find a list of the selection methods we looked at in class and tutorials to help explain them further.

Rectangular and elliptical marquee tool
Lasso and polygonal tool
Color Range
Magic Wand

Free Transform Tool
Please see this tutorial to review the free transform tool.

Homework

Make isolated selections of all items photographed on a separate layer. Include a contrasting solid color layer below it in the PSD.

Please save the paths used in your PSD under the Paths tab.

Week 4...Layer Essentials and Adjustment Layers

Layers

Understanding and organizing layers is integral for controlling and creating great images and Photoshop files.

• Create new blank layer: shift+command+n
• Create layer with selection: command+j
• Duplicate layer or layer group: command+j or drag
• Naming and re-naming Layers: double click layer name
• Select pixels in a layer: command+click thumbnail, select whole layer (marching ants!)
• Auto-select option: check box on option bar of move tool
• Right click on your canvas to open a popup window with layer names to select layers
• Restack layers by clicking and dragging
• Create layer groups: command+g
• Delete layers and layer groups: highlight layer you want to delete and use delete key or drag to trash icon in lower right of layers pallette
• Delete groups and choose to delete just the group or the group and its contents
• Repositioning layer content with the move tool: v
• Align layer content: select move tool to bring up align options in the option bar
• Change layer Opacity by either dragging the slider or input numbers
• Use lock options: transparency, image pixels, location, all
• Choose Layer panel options: color code, thumbnail size, doc or content bound
• Layer Filters: pixels, adjustments, type, shape, smart objects—on/off in upper right corner
• Merge layers: merge layers command+e, merge all visible, flatten image
• Visual/hidden: eye icon to the left of the layer thumbnail
• Don't forget about layer options like controlling your thumbnail size, color options, and naming

 
You'll find some good links that go into detail on layers, how they work, how to organize them, etc. below.
 
Adobe:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-78e3a.html

Photoshop Essentials:
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/layers/layers-panel/

 

Adjustment layers

Adjustment layers are superior to simply making adjustments to pixel layers, because they are less destructive, editable, and more flexible.

You can find adjustment layers as the half circle icon at bottom of layers panel, as a dropdown in the main toolbar under layers, or in the adjustment panel under window.

Clipping Mask affects only layer beneath it, no clipping mask affects ALL layers beneath the adjustment layer.

• Brightness/Contrast
• Levels
• Curves (highlights top, shadows bottom, eye droppers)
• Exposure
• Vibrance
• Hue/Saturation
• Color Balance
• Black & White
• Photo Filter
• Invert
• Posterize
• Threshold (black/white, high contrast clipping)

Please learn more about adjustment layers on Photoshop Essentials here.

Homework

Scavenger Hunt Chopshop

Think about the final image you create—story, composition, how it will all come together. You can use themes from fantasy, travel, holidays, stories, etc. I recommend creating a sketch of what your final composition will look like.

Please see examples here. Note that I have named the photographic elements that I believe were used, in the comments of each. This is to help give you an idea of what to photograph to be able to create your final image. Please be aware that we will not be altering the elements much. We will be isolating, transforming, cutting, and adjusting. The point here is to think more in terms of collage, rather than stretching, distorting, painting, etc. I took care to only include images on the Pinterest board that in truth, I believe that you could create by the 3rd week of the assignment, that reflect what I am looking for.

For example, in the below image, the photographic elements appear to be a fish, a sitting child, a branch or fishing pole, water (possibly from an aquarium), and a sky.

Photo by Caras Ionut

Take a minimum of 5 pictures and use Camera RAW plugin to process your photographs and Photoshop adjustment layers to perfection.

 

Week 3...RAW Photoshop Plugin and Workspaces

RAW images and Camera RAW plugin

Why use camera RAW images?

·       Powerful correction tools

·       Edits saved as “instructions” files

·       Less destructive edits, less data loss than in Photoshop

·       16 bits per channel, more original data (JPG and TIFF is 8 bit)

·       More tonal range/tonal distribution, less data in the light/white range, more mid and shadow tones

·       Superior Noise Reduction and Sharpening is easier to use and causes less data loss

·       Understanding and using Camera RAW will help to understand Photoshop, similar features for tonal control, color correction, etc. 

Check that preferences in Photoshop are checked for opening RAW images in RAW plugin:

Photoshop>Preferences>File Handling>Prefer Adobe Camera Raw for Supported Raw Files

The RAW photo I used for the in-class demonstration can be found here: http://www.elinoreeaton.com/storage/IMG_1581.CR2

RAW screen tools

·       Histogram

·       Original camera settings and information

·       Adjustment Tabs

·       Toolbox

·       Camera Model (at top or bottom of screen)

Click lower link to show workspace, recommend Adobe RGB to manage colors for both RAW and Photoshop.

Tabs

Use presets to best describe lighting for which the photo was taken. (note: presets can only be used with RAW images.)

Temperature: raise and lower to add blues/make cooler or add yellows/make warmer

Tint: left and right to add greens or magentas

Histogram shows values of red, green, and blue areas; white is where they overlap

Shadow clipping left (absolute black), Highlight clipping right (absolute white.) You can tell how dark or light a picture is without even seeing the actual image due to the nature of the histogram. One of the goals to consider is to redistribute the tonal values in the histogram.

Basic Tab

·       Adjust Exposure and Contrast for overall tonal values.

·       Adjust Highlights and Shadow to bring back details of highlights and shadows

·       Adjust Whites and Blacks to brighten whites (image detergent) and darken blacks (image ink.) Clipping warnings can be helpful here to see where exactly they are, and keep an eye on the histogram. 

·       Increase Clarity to adjust edge values or deliberately make the picture softer by decreasing (hint: low clarity…fabulous glamour shot; high clarity… there’s your edgy movie poster.)

·       Vibrance to adjust saturation, is preferred because it protects skin tones and is less likely to oversaturate.

Tone Curves

Detail

Zoom to 100% (use hand tool/spacebar to look at other sections)

~50-60 for most photos

~100 for very sharp objects and scenes, like buildings

~1.0 to 1.3 for radius, how many pixels surrounding an edge are modified

Reduce noise with Luminance slider, ~20-70 and watch the noise disappear!

Adjust color to help solid color “speckled” areas try ~40-50

This may reduce color values, readjust with Color detail to ~75

HSL/Grayscale

Use to adjust each hue individually

Adjustment brush to

Split toning

Great for adjusting the tone of a highlighted area

One method for creating mono or duo chromatic images is:

Convert to Grayscale (HSL/Grayscale tab)

Move both Saturation sliders halfway to judge colors for next step.

Move the highlights hue slider to change the color of the highlights and the shadows hue slider to change the color of the shadows.

Reduce balance setting of shadows and increase balance setting of highlights 

Workspace
Understanding your workspace, how layers work, and how to create great selections is an integral part of Photoshop. 

Here is an Adobe link detailing workspace basics:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-750ca.html

Homework

Create a still life and photograph it. Create 9 versions of your picture using RAW plugin and the rainbow as your guide.

Color perfect

Red

Orange

Yellow

Green

Blue

Violet

Black

White

Please use different techniques for each color! Make some monochromatic, use brightness, individual color adjustments, etc. but most importantly, make your color perfect version, color perfect!) 

Save each as a DNG file in one folder.

Crop each one differentlly using Photoshop and save as PSDs in one folder.

I've included some images for inspiration here.

Adicolor

Take a look at a very creative ad campaign based on different interpretations of color, albeit a bit disturbing at times: 
http://thisisnotadvertising.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/adidas-adicolor-project-united-colors-of-adidas/ 

The original site doesn't seem to work anymore unfortunately, but to promote the films, they registered domains for each color-themed film based on their RGB color values. Here’s the full series of seven films:
White = r255g255b255.net

Red = r213g037b053.net
Blue = r023g075b158.net
Yellow = r254g245b006.net
Green = r006g146b071.net
Pink = r243g197b208.net
Black = r000g000b000.net

Extra Credit Fun

Watch Belly directed by Hype Williams.

How does color affect the scenes? There is a lot of attention to composition and depth of field. Notice how this film is so different visually than the norm. Remember it was directed by a hip hop music video director. How do you think this genre plays into a full-length feature?

I won't argue it's narrative value, but for visual creatives, it's worth seeing.

For Next Class

Please come prepared to work in Photoshop and have 43 MB available for downloading pictures from a thumb drive.
  

Week 2...Making Great Images

 Shutter Speed

The amount of time the shutter is open, that your camera is exposed to the scene you’re attempting to capture/the amount of light let in.

Shutter speed is measured in seconds

or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (ie 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30).

In most cases you’ll probably be using shutter speeds of 1/60th of a second or faster

This is because anything slower than this is very difficult to use without getting camera shake. Camera shake is when your camera is moving while the shutter is open and results in blur in your photos.

If you’re using a slow shutter speed (anything slower than 1/60) you will need to either use a tripod

or some some type of image stabilization, or at least set it on a stable surface.

Shutter speeds available to you on your camera will usually double (approximately) with each setting.

As a result you’ll usually have the options for the following shutter speeds –

(FAST) 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8 (SLOW)

This ‘doubling’ is handy to keep in mind as aperture settings also double the amount of light that is let in – as a result increasing shutter speed by one stop and decreasing aperture by one stop should give you similar exposure levels (but we’ll talk more about this in a future post)

Some cameras also give you the option for very slow shutter speeds

that are not fractions of seconds but are measured in seconds (for example 1 second, 10 seconds, 30 seconds (very long.) These are used in very low light situations, when you’re going after special effects and/or when you’re trying to capture a lot of movement in a shot.

Some cameras also give you the option to shoot in ‘B’ (or ‘Bulb’) mode. Bulb mode lets you keep the shutter open for as long as you hold it down.

When considering what shutter speed to use in an image you should always ask yourself whether anything in your scene is moving

and how you’d like to capture that movement.

If there is movement in your scene you have the choice of either freezing the movement (so it looks still) or letting the moving object intentionally blur (giving it a sense of movement).

To freeze movement in an image, you’ll want to choose a faster shutter speed (fast_shutter)

To let the movement blur you’ll want to choose a slower shutter speed (slow_shutter_water)

The actual speeds you should choose will vary depending upon the speed of the subject in your shot and how much you want it to be blurred.

Motion is not always bad.

Water flowing (slow_shutter_water)

Lights moving (slow_shutter_lights)

Stars moving (long_exposure_stars)

Choose a longer shutter speed. However use a tripod or you’ll run the risk of ruining the shots by adding camera movement (a different type of blur than motion blur).

ISO

Sensitivity of “film” to light, in digital, it is measuring the sensitivity of the image sensor measured in numbers:

100, 200, 400, 800 etc.

The lower the number, the lower the sensitivity of the film and the finer the grain in the shots you’re taking. The higher the number, the rougher the grain.

The same principles apply in digital as in film photography – the lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain/noise. Higher ISO settings are generally used in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds (for example an indoor sports event when you want to freeze the action in lower light) – however the cost is noisier shots.

When choosing the ISO setting I generally ask myself the following four questions: 

Light – Is the subject well lit? 

Grain – Do I want a grainy shot or one without noise? 

Tripod – Am I using a tripod? 

Moving Subject – Is my subject moving or stationary?

If there is plenty of light, I want little grain, I’m using a tripod and my subject is stationary I will generally use a pretty low ISO rating.

If it’s dark, I purposely want grain, I don’t have a tripod and/or my subject is moving I might consider increasing the ISO as it will enable me to shoot with a faster shutter speed and still expose the shot well.

Situations where you might need to push ISO to higher settings include: 

Indoor Sports Events – where your subject is moving fast yet you may have limited light available. 

Concerts – also low in light and often ‘no-flash’ zones 

Art Galleries, Churches etc- many galleries have rules against using a flash and of course being indoors are not well lit. 

Birthday Parties – blowing out the candles in a dark room can give you a nice moody shot which would be ruined by a bright flash. Increasing the ISO can help capture the scene.

Basically, situations where you can’t get better light, but need to capture the scene.

Aperture/Depth of Field

Aperture is the hole inside your camera lens

When you adjust the aperture, the hole gets bigger or smaller, which in turn controls how much light can pass through your lens.

Aperture settings are expressed by F-stops and are represented by numbers (i.e. f/2, f/5.6/f/11-reference week 2 white board)

Crayon Picture: Shutter speed and ISO remain untouched and only aperture is changed, so you can see how ithe light is affected by changing the aperture. The larger the aperture, the more light and is overexposed vs a smaller aperture with less light and is underexposed.

Ruler Picture: Aperture can affect the depth of field—the distance where objects in your scene are in focus. The larger the aperture opening, the shallower the depth of focus. This is because only the light that hits the area in focus will be rendered sharply on the digital sensor or film, and other areas will be blurry. But, the smaller aperture will allow for a deeper focus for what is in focus, because there is no extra unfocused light spread out.

“Seeing”

Being able to observe the world and imagery around you better will help you know what to do when you are creating, retouching, or editing an image. Often, you will be working on an image and you know there is something not quite right about it, but can’t figure it out. Observing the world around you will help

Light

Using high contrasted areas can draw the eye's attention. Sometimes high contrasts created from light and shadow is called chiaroscuro and can add drama to an image.

Some good examples of imagery using light and shadow are here.
 
Line

The quality and direction of line in an image can create illusions of distance and space, and move the eye around a composition. You can use leading lines, like train tracks to lead the eye into the distance.

Some good examples of imagery using line here. 

Color
Color can drastically change the mood of an image. 

We often have personal or cultural associations with color.Take a look at some monochromatic (images focusing on the use of one color) pictures and notice the what kind of associations you might have with that color and how it alters your perspective on an image. 

You can create points of interest to an image where to opposite colors meet like red and green or blue, and orange.

Some good examples of imagery using color here.


Assignment

Please set up a still life at home using at least three objects with direct light. Be creative with your still life. Think about texture, light, line, color, and composition.


Take 3 photographs of your still life using a different depth of field for each, from the same position, using a tripod or a still surface. Make sure your camera is set to take RAW pictures.

• Foreground subject in focus with blurry background
• Background in focus with blurry foreground
• All composition elements in focus

Create a drawing of your still life from the same point of view as your photographs. Pay attention to what you are actually seeing--the perspective, line quality, etc. The drawing should be on paper that is at least 8.5" by 11" and you may use any medium you like--pencil, charcoal, etc. Adding color is preferred, but not required.

Required Reading

http://www.fuelyourphotography.com/how-to-compose-shapes-lines-light-dark-colors-textures/
http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds 

Week 1...Introductions, Pixels and Digital Imaging Basics

Digital Imaging

Materials

Mouse or Wacom Tablet NO using just your fingers on your laptop

Adobe Photoshop

DSLR Camera

Suggested Books

http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photoshop-CS6-Classroom-Book/dp/0321827333  http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-CS6-Visual-QuickStart-Quickstart/dp/0321822188/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373662684&sr=1-9&keywords=photoshop  http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-CS6-The-Missing-Manual/dp/1449316158/ref=pd_sim_b_11  http://www.amazon.com/How-See-Reading-Manmade-Environment/dp/0316603120 

Helpful websites

http://psd.tutsplus.com/

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/
http://www.pxleyes.com/

Grading

Here is the breakdown for how you will be graded in the course.

Attendance and Participation in class and on the BLOG 30%

Homework and Assignments 70%
The majority of your grade will be determined by the work you do. All work will be checked for progress and completion, and class critique on it's due date, but will not receive a final grade until the end of the course.

Week 1: Favorite Food 5%
Week 2: Still Life 5%

Week 3: Rainbow Portraits 15%

Week 4-6: Scavenger Hunt Chop Shop 15%

Week 6-10: Banner Ad 25%

Grading
A 90% or more
B 80-90%
C 65-80%
D 50-65%
F 50% and below

What's a pixel anyway?

Pixel is a contraction of the term PIcture ELement.

Digital images are made up of small squares, just like a tile mosaic on your kitchen or bathroom wall. Though a digital photograph looks smooth and continuous just like a regular photograph, it'sactually composed of millions of tiny squares.

Each pixel in an image has a numerical value of between 0 and 255 and is made up of three color channels. Four colors and their RGB values can be seen below:

There are over 16 million possible combinations using this scheme and each one represents a different color. Computer savvy folks will know that each color is represented by a hexadecimal. Check them all out here. 


Pixel Count

A megapixel is 1 million pixels and is abbreviated as MP, and cameras are reaching 80 MP (Leaf Aptus-ii) and growing. More pixels equal more post-photographing possibilities. You may not want to turn your photo into a billboard when you take it, but you never know if you might later.

 
Resolution 

Resolution changes depending on purpose
Usee 72 PPI for digital and 300 PPI for Print


Resampling VS Re-sizing 

You can think of the Pixel Dimensions section as the section you’d want to change if you were working on an image for the web or simply to display on your computer screen, while the Document Size section is used when you need to control how large your image will print.

Pixel Dimensions = web
Document Size = Print

Image resizing keeps the number of pixels in your image the same and affects only how large your image will print (the Document Size).

Image resampling physically changes the number of pixels in your image (the Pixel Dimensions).

The Resample Image option at the bottom of the Image Size dialog box controls whether you’re resizing or resampling an image.

With Resample Image checked, you’re resampling the image. With it unchecked, you’re simply resizing the image.

Resampling images by changing the width and height values in the Pixel Dimensions section of the Image Size dialog box is primarily used when optimizing images for the web.

Resizing images by changing the width, height and/or resolution values in the Document Size section of the Image Size dialog box is used for print.

 
File Types

 
JPEG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, and RAW, and the wide world of file types 

TIFF (also known as TIF), file types ending in .tif
TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format.
TIFF images create very large file sizes. TIFF images are uncompressed and thus contain a lot of detailed image data (which is why the files are so big) TIFFs are also extremely flexible in terms of color (they can be grayscale, or CMYK for print, or RGB for web) and content (layers, image tags).
TIFF is the most common file type used in photo software (such as Photoshop), as well as page layout software (such as Quark and InDesign), again because a TIFF contains a lot of image data. 

JPEG (also known as JPG), file types ending in .jpg
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group
JPEG files are images that have been compressed to store a lot of information in a small-size file. Most digital cameras store photos in JPEG format, because then you can take more photos on one camera card than you can with other formats. A JPEG is compressed in a way that loses some of the image detail during the compression in order to make the file small (and thus called “lossy” compression).
JPEG files are usually used for photographs on the web, because they create a small file that is easily loaded on a web page and also looks good. JPEG files are bad for line drawings or logos or graphics, as the compression makes them look “bitmappy” (jagged lines instead of straight ones). 

GIF, file types ending in .gif
GIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format.
This format compresses images but, as different from JPEG, the compression is lossless (no detail is lost in the compression, but the file can’t be made as small as a JPEG). GIFs also have an extremely limited color range suitable for the web but not for printing.
This format is never used for photography, because of the limited number of colors. GIFs can also be used for animations. 

PNG, file types ending in .png
PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics.
It was created as an open format to replace GIF, because the patent for GIF was owned by one company and nobody else wanted to pay licensing fees. It also allows for a full range of color and better compression.
It’s used almost exclusively for web images, never for print images.
For photographs, PNG is not as good as JPEG, because it creates a larger file. But for images with some text, or line art, it’s better, because the images look less “bitmappy.” When you take a screenshot on your Mac, the resulting image is a PNG–probably because most screenshots are a mix of images and text. 

Raw image files Raw image files contain data from a digital camera (usually).
The files are called raw because they haven’t been processed and therefore can’t be edited or printed yet.
There are a lot of different raw formats–each camera company often has its own proprietary format. Raw files usually contain a vast amount of data that is uncompressed. Because of this, the size of a raw file is extremely large.
Usually they are converted to TIFF before editing and color-correcting. Display, Printing, DPI and PPI 

Review of Adobe Bridge. Transferring photos from a camera. Workspaces in Bridge. Changing file names and batch renaming, adding basic metadata with metadata templates, creating and applying keywords to images. 

Homework

Take 20 photographs of your favorite food in RAW format.
Shoot it as many ways as possible. Don't forget to have fun, get creative, and use your imagination. Think about composition, light, and location. Get familiar with your DSLR. Download the photographs and use the organization methods in Bridge from class. Rename all the pho­tos and apply the Keyword WEEK1 to this set.

Please choose your 3 favorites to share with the class.