Photoshop CS2??

[loewermx]

Ok guys, I have been playing with this for a couple of days now and I don't feel like I am getting anywhere. Whats the trick for learning how to use this program properly? I bought a book (CS2 for Dummies) and I still can't get anywhere. Can someone point me in the right direction for some tutoring?

I just really want to know the basics, how to take something out of an image, how to rotate the image, properly. ect.....

I can rotate the image but I want to leave the whole thing square, you know what I mean.

HELP!!! :?

Scott

[MLaBoyteaux]

Here's an image I used as an example to share some Photoshop tips.

http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/kaptkaos/image01_source.jpg

And here's the touched up image:
http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/kaptkaos/image01.jpg

The first thing I did was to find the brightest and darkest pixels in the image. I did this by copying the image into 2 new layers in Photoshop. Then select the top layer and go to Image-Adjustments-Threshold. This makes the image black and white. Move the slider to the right and the pixels will begin to change from white to black. The last pixels to turn black will be the brightest. Select the color sampler tool (eyedropper with a crosshair) and click on the pixels you want to leave a color sampler. Delete the layer and perform the same action with the next one, except move the slider to the left to find the darkest pixel. Put a color sampler on the darkest area and delete this layer.

Now, I went to a photo conference a couple of years ago and was given a set of custom curves for printing images. The idea is that the whitest pixel isn’t exactly white and the blackest pixel isn’t pure black. So now we’ll create a new Curves adjustment layer (click on the half black/half white circle at the bottom of the layers pallet) and apply a new set of curves to the image. Using an adjustment layer allows us to modify or turn off the adjustment later if we feel we need to adjust it. If you applied a new curve to the image layer itself, you can’t undo it later without loosing every change you’ve done since.

You can change your curve points by double-clicking on the color pickers in the curves panel. So I set the white point curve in the Curves Panel to these settings: C = 5%, M= 3%, Y=3%, K=0%.
For the black point curve I set it to: C = 75%, M= 63%, Y=62%, K=90%.

Then I’ll take the white point color picker in the curves panel and put it right over the color picker on the image where we selected the brightest pixel. The do the same thing with the black point color picker on the curves panel and put it over the darkest point on the image.

The image looks way too blue. So I added a new Levels adjustment layer and modified the levels. On the levels panel, if you select the blue channel from the drop down, you can adjust the blue channel. I moved the shadows input level to 27 to pull some of the blue out of the image. I then selected the Green channel and set the midtone input to .97 and the highlights input to 252. This helps pop out the green, but by changing the midtone to .97 it keeps the grass from looking too green. Then I selected the Red channel. I pulled the highlight input down to 213 because the reds looked really flat.

When adjusting the levels, you really just have to experiment with them to get a feel for what they do. Each image will be different, this one had too much blue and the reds needed some help. Keep in mind, this is just my interpretation, it doesn’t mean it’s right!

I then selected the RGB channel and changed the highlight input to 220 to help brighten the image up.

Then I added a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and bumped the saturation up +10%.

Although I didn’t do it on this image because it had already been compressed quite a bit, I usually will apply an Unsharp Mask filter to the image to sharpen it just a tad. I set the UnSharp/Mask filter settings to Amount=35%, Radius=2, Threshold=2.

I’ll apply the filter 2 or 3 times and look at the image to make sure it’s not overdoing it. Make sure the image is enlarged at a multiple of 25%, or 50% or 75%, or 100% etc. What I’ll do is use the history pallet and look at the image with only one application of the filter, or 3 applications, or none and get a feeling for what looks good and what looks like too much.

I also would've straightened the horizon, but this image is too far gone to save for that. I would've used a different one or shot another set. There isn't enough image left after straightening.

There are other tools that can also enhance the image and probably better ways to tweak an image. I’m hoping others will share what they do so we can all learn from it.

[loewermx]

WOW! Thanks Mark. That is exactly what I am talking about.

Next question, whats the easiest way to remove something from the image? Lets just say that you wanted to remove the 2 vehicles from the driveway. In the very bottom of the picture.

[MLaBoyteaux]

Here's an image we shot recently that I'll use for an example of rotating and cropping:

http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/rotate_crop_05.jpg

When you open the image in photoshop, usually the image will be in a layer labeled "Background" and it will be locked. You'll need to make a duplicate of this layer so you can modify it. Make a duplicate by right-clicking on the background layer and select "duplicate layer". Once you do this, the new layer should be active, you can tell this because it will be highlighted with a blue background in the layers pallette.

First, we'll use a guide to help us get the horizon straight. You left-click on the ruler (if they're not visible, click on "View - Rulers" on the top bar) and drag a guide down into the image. If you release the guide and want to move it later on, you can select the "move" tool (shortcut is to press the "V" key) and click-drag the guide to a new location on the image. You can drag as many guides as you want onto an image and hide them all by pressing the Ctrl and ";" keys simultaneously (ctl + ;). Do it again to show them.

http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/rotate_crop_01.jpg

Once you've got a guide in place to give you a straight reference for the horizon, use Ctl + "T" to enable the free transform. This is the same as clicking on "Edit-Free Transform" but quicker. When you put your cursor near the corners of the image, you should see it change into a pair of bent lines with arrows. You can then left-click and hold, and drag the image rotating it left or right, whichever direction it needs to go to get a straight horizon. Once it's straight, release the left-click and click on the checkbox at the top of the screen to accept the change.

http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/rotate_crop_02.jpg

If you've turned off the background image, you'll notice that you're going to have to crop the image back square because of the rotation. I usually drag some guides out to mark the left and right and top and bottom limits of the image. Then I use the marquee selection tool ("M" key) to crop the image.

http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/rotate_crop_03.jpg

And here is what the cropped image looks like. The horizon is straight (well almost, there's some distortion because we used the 17mm lens and the horizon is slightly curved)
http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/rotate_crop_04.jpg

Tomorrow I'll go over tips and tricks for using the clone-stamp tool for getting rid of the power lines.

[Nate Dogg]

a plus for shooting in RAW format if possible: CS2 has a straighten tool built into the raw tool palette, and you can recover darks and lights far better than you can with a jpeg. Another way to adjust levels is:
layers>new>adjustment layer>levels. create a new layer, then move the sliders around to change the image. the left one changes what is black, the right one what is white and the middle one adjust the brightness (laymans terms) I always use adjustment layers to change things without altering the original image, that way you can also shut off different adjustments by changing layer visibility.

[Teej]

Pulling down a guide line isn't a bad way....but what I usually do is call up the measure tool and run it down whatever it is I'd like straight (ie the horizon). Use as much distance as you can.

Then you can go into image rotate and choose "arbitrary" and it will do whatever rotation is necessary to make your line straight.

I can see times where I'd use both, but I didn't even think to do it your way. ;)

[frankos72]

Can someone point me in the right direction for some tutoring?

HELP!!! :?

Scott

The tutorial at this digitaltutors.com are outstanding. They aren't very expensive and will walk you through opening a file into some of the more advanced features. I bought the indroduction to photoshop($45) for my wife and I actually learned some stuff from it too.(I've been using it for 3 years.)
http://www.digitaltutors.com/store/home.php?cat=25

They have plenty free tutorials too so you can see the quality of their work.
http://www.digitaltutors.com/digital_tutors/tutorials.php?cat=ps

Enjoy!!

Jev

[Hyde]

teej is right - thats how most people including myself do it. measure tool > run it length of the horizon you want > rotate arbitrarily > crop.

your way seems waaaaay too long lol ;)

[MLaBoyteaux]

Sweet. I've learned something new!

Yeah, there are a lot of good tutorials on the web for CS2. I think Taylor Collins posted a link to another excellent one at http://lynda.com/

Maybe we could add a few more tips and techniques to this thread that make up the majority of tweaks any good AP operator should know?

I'm no expert and I have a lot to learn myself.

Excellent thread!

[Nitrospazzz]

Might want to check out www.good-tutorials.com I spend a few weekends on there and now do a lot of photoshop for fun and for profit

[MLaBoyteaux]

It's great to have other Photoshop users posting your tips and offering suggestions! I hope it continues.

I decided to use a little easier image for an example of the power of the clone stamp tool. We shot some images of a house which was surrounded by trees which forced us to fly from the driveway. No problem, the concrete is pretty homoginous and it should be easy to clone stamp us out of the photo.

While flying I became focused on the heli (as usual) and forgot about needing to stand in the sunlit portion of the driveway. I also didn't notice the homeowners daughter had moved to the corner of the garage to watch and was in the shot.

http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/clone_stamp_01.jpg

The source image is 3456 X 2304, so I'll zoom in about 500% and select the clone-stamp tool and set the brush size to around 6. This will depend on the area you're cloning and the image you're working on.

http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/clone_stamp_02.gif

What you want to do is copy the pixels close the the area you want to remove. You do this by holding down the "ALT" key and clicking on the source area. Then left click and drag the mouse along the area you want to cover up. It takes a little experimentation to get a feel for how far away you need to use for a source. Often I'm constantly changing the location of the source pixels to get as smooth a transistion as I can.

http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/clone_stamp_03.jpg

http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/clone_stamp_02.jpg

http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/clone_stamp_04.jpg

Here's an animated gif showing the comparison.
http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/no_see_um.gif

And here's the final result. I also removed our reflection in the window and the ivy growing up the side of the house.
http://www.hawkeyemedia.com/photoshop/clone_stamp_05.jpg

Another tool I use is the Spot Healing brush tool. Once you've cloned out the area, you may wind up with repeating patterns or areas that are lighter which make it obvious you've made some corrections. You can use the spot healing brush set to something like 15 and either just click around on the area or click and drag. It will tend to blend the area and diffuse some of the obvious corrections. Play around with it and see what it'll do for you.

[WillJames]

MAN!!! Thank you Mark!!! This is AWESOME information!!

Thank you!! :noteworthy

[LoopBaCK]

Thanks, Mark! I'm starting to get better at using this tool. Practice, practice... I was wondering what the different modes of the clone stamp tool are best suited for.

Replace mode is really what I'm used to from other apps where I clone from one spot to another. But normal mode does this and a little more - but I haven't exactly figured this mode out. Could you provide a summary of what these and the other modes for?

[miami6]

mark can you start a sticky like finless for trex but for the AP Group on Photoshop tips like these please

[Canada Goose]

Did anyone notice that he even took out the reflection in the glass of the two guys on the driveway? Very nice job!

CG

[Menno]

When you need to clone an area next to a straight edge the clone stamp can be a real pain because it is round. In those cases I first make a selection of the area with the polygonal lasso tool. After that you can clone without beeing carefull with the edges.

Menno

[dreslism]

When you need to clone an area next to a straight edge the clone stamp can be a real pain because it is round. In those cases I first make a selection of the area with the polygonal lasso tool. After that you can clone without beeing carefull with the edges.

Menno

Good point Menno, that goes for just about anything you need to get close to. If you were trying to clone in some grass against a sidewalk or driveway, don't free hand it. Select off the sidewalk using one of the lasso tools, choose a bit of feathering in the selection so it is not so hard a transition, then you can just clone away without hitting the sidewalk at all.