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The Dark Room -- Photo Editing and Picture Taking. Advice, tutorials, questions on all things photoshop, photo editing, and taking pictures of beads or glass.

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  #1  
Old 2006-11-04, 6:44pm
sarah_hornik sarah_hornik is offline
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Default Photoshop Tutorial

I often get asked how I take such good photos of my beads. The truth is, I don't - I know virtually nothing about photography and I take pretty bad photos. However, I am the photoshopping queen! So I manage to get by...

I just posted a little tutorial on my blog and I thought I'd share it here.
You're welcome to check it out:
http://blog.glassbysarah.com/2006/11...oshopping.aspx
This pretty much explains how I do it - it's a relatively quick and easy method and I hope it is helpful to someone.
If there are any questions I'd be glad to answer.
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  #2  
Old 2006-11-04, 11:08pm
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Thank you Sarah!
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  #3  
Old 2006-11-05, 12:53am
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Hi Sarah!
What an AWESOME Photoshop tutorial. I used to TEACH Photoshop and I couldn't have done it as well! EXCELLENT results and a GORGEOUS bead too!
Hugs
Lynnie
Quote:
Originally Posted by sarah_hornik
I often get asked how I take such good photos of my beads. The truth is, I don't - I know virtually nothing about photography and I take pretty bad photos. However, I am the photoshopping queen! So I manage to get by...

I just posted a little tutorial on my blog and I thought I'd share it here.
You're welcome to check it out:
http://blog.glassbysarah.com/2006/11...oshopping.aspx
This pretty much explains how I do it - it's a relatively quick and easy method and I hope it is helpful to someone.
If there are any questions I'd be glad to answer.
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  #4  
Old 2006-11-05, 1:39am
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I wish you would have posted this before I started my 10 week Photoshop course! LOL

It really is a fantastic tutorial and when I forget all of the other stuff I learned in my class I will refer to your tutorial
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  #5  
Old 2006-11-05, 8:41am
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This is a great tut Sarah!

Thank you So much!
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  #6  
Old 2006-11-05, 8:47am
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Excellent tutorial! I have printed it out and I am going to bind it into my customized Photoshop booklet of key tips and techniques. Thank you! Thank you!

Oh and by the way,
Quote:
Originally Posted by sarah_hornik
. . . I know virtually nothing about photography and I take pretty bad photos. . .
has got to be a joke!

This is NOT TRUE, as anyone who browses Sarah's Flickr pages can see in a heartbeat. Except for the cat (sorry! --> cats=yuck <-- sorry!) the pix are all outstandingly great! I like the beads in pages 1-4 especially, and all the pix of Amsterdam. Good, good work!!

Jan
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  #7  
Old 2006-11-05, 11:25pm
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Your photo's are great. You are a world traveller, I see pictures from all over the world in your portfolio.
Funny picture of a bench in Amsterdam, are we dutch poeple that tall?
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  #8  
Old 2006-11-06, 4:46am
sarah_hornik sarah_hornik is offline
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Thanks! I'm glad you like it!

Quote:
I wish you would have posted this before I started my 10 week Photoshop course! LOL
That sounds like fun in any case! Photoshop is the best - there's so much you can do with it.


Quote:
Oh and by the way,
Quote:
Originally Posted by sarah_hornik
. . . I know virtually nothing about photography and I take pretty bad photos. . .

has got to be a joke!
Haha, I can take a relatively decent photo outdoors (or of my cat ) but if I didn't have Photoshop, I don't think I could take a good photo of a bead if my life depended on it.


Quote:
Your photo's are great. You are a world traveller, I see pictures from all over the world in your portfolio.
Funny picture of a bench in Amsterdam, are we dutch poeple that tall?
Thanks! And as a matter of fact - YES! I might be a bit vertically challenged, but when I visit Amsterdam I always feel like Alice in Wonderland... all the furniture and stuff is always so... tall! Not to mention the people...

I miss Amsterdam. *sigh*
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  #9  
Old 2006-11-07, 3:53pm
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Hey Sarah, First of all props on a well written tut. However, your technique has too many steps. Every time you click 'ok' the computer adds or subtracts information ( interpolation ). So it is important to limit the number of step.

While all of your steps are correct, They can and should be done in one step, using LEVELS. Basically less steps more detail.

Check out my tut. here in the dark room called Fastest way to better photography, Levels tut. right now it is on page two.

I think it will help you understand just how powerful LEVELS are. And the advantages of doing all of the image corrections in one step.
Scott
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  #10  
Old 2006-11-07, 4:54pm
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Where is the tut Scott can you give us a link, please I couldn't find it? And can you please explain WHY doing evertything in one step is beneficial? thanks
Lynnie
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tanner Studios
Hey Sarah, First of all props on a well written tut. However, your technique has too many steps. Every time you click 'ok' the computer adds or subtracts information ( interpolation ). So it is important to limit the number of step.

While all of your steps are correct, They can and should be done in one step, using LEVELS. Basically less steps more detail.

Check out my tut. here in the dark room called Fastest way to better photography, Levels tut. right now it is on page two.

I think it will help you understand just how powerful LEVELS are. And the advantages of doing all of the image corrections in one step.
Scott
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  #11  
Old 2006-11-07, 5:11pm
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Sarah, thank you. It's a very clear tutorial.
Lynnie, here's the link to Scott's Levels tutorial: http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=11879
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  #12  
Old 2006-11-07, 5:23pm
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Ahhh Thank you Judi! (I must be blind!) I looked at it, and even though I have taught Photoshop... I was a bit confused by it. But then again, I couldn't FIND it to start, I'll read it again in the AM! Maybe my brain will wrap around it better! Thanks Jusi (and scott too)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judi_B
Sarah, thank you. It's a very clear tutorial.
Lynnie, here's the link to Scott's Levels tutorial: http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=11879
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  #13  
Old 2006-11-07, 6:03pm
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The reason it's best to do it all in one step is... The computer make changes mathematically. It can not go back and look at the set where the photo was taken. So once the information is removed, it can only guess. If you use Levels, resizing then unsharpmask. Thats only three Steps. Compared to seven to eight or more. Now Sarah's tut is very good and well worth the read. It will help you understand all of the steps. But Levels with do four or five of the steps at one time. Thus less information is lost. You get sharper richer images. Plus and most importantly. If your going to convert to cmyk for printing, you need all the information you can get.
Like I said it's a great Tut and Sarah should be proud.
Scott
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  #14  
Old 2006-11-07, 10:25pm
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Default Question for Sarah...

I'm still trying to absord all these useful tutorials. I applaud you for sharing your tips. I love your tutorial Sarah, but while I was trying to follow it tonight, I came across frustration. Not because of your tutorial...it's written very clearly. But most likely we have different versions of Photoshop and menus have been changed. I have version 4.0 and have had to constantly go to the help menu to find the commands you specified. Do you have an earlier or later version? Or am I missing something altogether? I'm starting out in Standard Edit. I love the progression you show in your photos from beginning to end, but just can't find the menu commands to follow you through.
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  #15  
Old 2006-11-10, 8:09am
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Hi Scott! I tried your tutorial, and I have to admit I went it to it a little skeptical, but I came out with results simillar to my "method" (I probably could have got them identical if I played around with it a little more). I'm impressed!

Final image after using my method:


Same image edited with Scott's method:


Thanks for sharing that info, I guess there's always something new to be learned about Photoshop. I might have to consider trying to change some old habits.
About the "too many steps" thing - I've heard that before from people who like to do everything using "Curves". I can see how it would be important if you were sending the image out to be printed, like you said. But I wonder if this kind of thing really matters for a JPG that's going to be viewed on screen, since they are low-res and optimized anyway. I always say, if you can't see the difference, does it really matter?

Quote:
Like I said it's a great Tut and Sarah should be proud.
Thanks!


Hi Barbara, I work with Photoshop 8.0 on a PC. 4.0 is quite old - I used to use it a long time ago, but I can't remember where these commands were or if they had different names... I'm not even sure if I was aware of them at the time. But they are pretty basic Photoshop functions so they should be in there somewhere. If they're not under the "Image" menu, maybe under "Edit"? I'm sorry I can't be of more help.
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  #16  
Old 2006-11-10, 11:30am
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There are almost as many ways of doing things in Photoshop as there are Photoshop users. Being a graphic designer who uses Photoshop everyday - even if you are sending an image out to print as long as you keep the resolution high, there really isn't that much difference in how many steps you take to manipulate an image. There are two important steps you should take to retain the integrity of the original image (always good practice to have a copy).

1) Save the file in tiff format until you are done and re-save it in jpg for the final smaller version. Each them you save a file in jpg, it "compresses" and loses some information . . . doing this once or twice doesn't really matter much but if you do it 20-30 times, your image will look different.

2) ALWAYS make your changes/manipulations on a DUPLICATE layer and not the original layer. Just turn the background layer off so you don't see if when you play around with the settings.

Hayley
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  #17  
Old 2006-11-10, 1:28pm
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Ok I'll admit it. When Publishing for the web. Image quality is less important then say printing. And if your not buying the steps argument for image quality, then consider this. How important is your TIME? If you can get the same results in one minute or five minutes which would you choose? But the real argument here is this. If you learn how to read the histogram in Levels. You will be able to understand exactly what changes your making to the image. I can color correct a photo on a Black & white monitor just by reading the histogram ( not that I want too or need too Thank Goodness ). LOL

Just FYI, Curves and Levels are the same tool. The only difference is how the information is viewed. Levels use a bar chart and Curves use a graph. Curves are not meant to be a editing tool for over all image control. They are designed for pin point control. Meaning with curves you can isolate a color and change it. Both are very powerful . The most powerful tools in photoshop. Oh yea, did I mention their the same tool?

Sarah, I had to laugh at your comment about unsharp mask. Their are very few that know what the term means and where it came from. I know so I'll share.
Basically it means adjustable sharping. The term itself came from a old dark room technique. When a photo was unsharp, the photographer could save it in the dark room with a technique using masks to sharpen the edges. Thus Unsharp Mask.
Now you know. LOL
Scott
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Last edited by Tanner Studios; 2006-11-10 at 3:54pm.
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  #18  
Old 2006-11-16, 8:04pm
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I like both tuts and I appreciate that you have both taken the time to help your fellow beadmakers!!!
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Old 2006-11-17, 5:13am
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Sarah, could you possibly show the picture as it was before you did any editing? Im having a h$^* of a time taking pictures to put up on my new website and it is making me crazy cause it is sitting there with no product. Would love to see what you are starting with so I'll know if Photoshop will help me at all or if i just need a better camera. Thanks!
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Old 2006-11-17, 6:04am
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Hi Byrdbeads, the first photo in the tutorial is the original shot:



(the real original is much much larger, but this is what it looks like.)


Scott - thanks for all the info!
I've actually been using Levels more and more now. I still like Color Balance but for most photos I can just skip the Brightness/Contrast step now.
And I'm glad to finally know what an Unsharp Mask is - makes much more sense now!
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Old 2006-11-17, 4:39pm
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Wow. What a difference. Ok there may be help for my photos LOL I like my camera but didnt know if editing the pix could get it closer to what it really looks like. Thanks!
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Old 2006-11-18, 4:32pm
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So to use "unsharp mask," you just click on it? There's no specific adjusting to be done?
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  #23  
Old 2006-11-20, 4:09pm
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When you click it, it will open a box with 3 sliders with different settings that control the amount and quality of the sharpening.
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Old 2006-11-20, 5:05pm
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Hi Sarah. I was making a small tut to answer Emily, and add to yours. While you were answering the question. I hope you don't mine if I posted anyway.
after all it's for the benefit of all our sisters and brothers in arms

Ok first, understand two things. Photoshop is filled with Idiot buttons ( Now before you call me mean ). Let me expand, Idiot buttons are what I call presets (yes I use them too. If they work.). For example sharpen and more sharpen are presets based on the Unsharp Mask tool. Their just some ones settings that work well for a a lot of cases. The Second thing is simply this.... Unsharp Mask means ADJUSTABLE SHARPENING.

So here we go. Understanding unsharp mask. What this tool is doing, is adding white dots and black dots around the colored dots of the original image. That is why it is so important that is the very last step and it is used only once.

Hope this helps
Scott
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Old 2006-11-24, 4:32am
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Haha, that's okay, I could never have explained it better.
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Old 2006-11-24, 7:50am
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Big, big thank you to you guys for taking the time and putting forth the effort to answering Photoshop questions and making tutorials...it helps so many people!!!!

J.
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