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.