Edit and Create on the Go with Adobe Photoshop Touch for iPad
On Monday, Adobe launched its Photoshop Touch application for the iPad. This long sought after app runs on the iPad 2, and not on the iPad 1, and it requires that you have iOS 5 installed. The app costs $9.99 which is at the high end of the price range for photo-editing apps in general but Photoshop Touch seems to have got the feature set about right so most people will probably consider it worth the money.
I use the iPad a lot for working with photos I’ve shot using a digital SLR camera in raw and which I’ve resized, converted to jpeg and downloaded to the iPad. Those images I have on the iPad are there because they are funky or because they lend themselves to some artistic play. So, I looked at Photoshop Touch in this light – I wanted to see if it would be part of my iPad image creative workflow. For heavy duty work, Photoshop and Lightroom will remain my tools of trade.
When you launch Photoshop Touch you get two options, viewing the tutorials or doing some work.
There are 10 tutorials that you can work through each of them is project based so you learn the program by learning a technique not by learning how individual tools work. These are text and image tutorials and not video ones, but they are interactive so you can learn as you go.
The second option is Begin a Project which is where I’ll start. You get the choice of adding an image from your iPad, the Adobe Creative Cloud, the Camera, Google or Facebook. I chose Local Photos then the Photo Library and an image from my iPad.
In the main editing area you’ll find the tools on the left, layers on the right and menus across the top. The program pays lip service only to Photoshop. Some icons are familiar but others are more iPad than Photoshop so Photoshop users may find it a bit confusing where iPad artists will find it more familiar.
You can add multiple images and multiple layers. I wanted to texture this image so I clicked the Add Layer button and selected Photo Layer.
Once you select a second photo you get to size it as you import it – you can also rotate, flip or skew it too. Click Done to proceed to the editing area.
Now, with the layer selected, you can apply adjustments to it.
I chose Curves as this was a texture and I wanted more contrast. There are no adjustment layers so the Curves adjustment is being applied just to the targeted (top) layer. As you can see, you can adjust the RGB composite channel or the individual red, green and blue channels.
With the texture layer still targeted you can apply a filter to it by clicking the FX button. There is a range of filters including Basic, Stylize, Artistic and Photo. Some add things like drop shadows, blurs and glows and others are more artistic.
I chose Stylize > Old Photo, configured the settings and tapped Apply. Unlike Photoshop where the foreground and background colors need to be selected before you run a filter, here you can select the colors to use in the filter settings – this really is a feature that Photoshop should have.
To blend the layers you click the Layer icon and you get a choice of blend modes and the chance to adjust the layer opacity.
There are no masks but you can use a gradient to fade the effect – when you do the gradient is applied to the layer and you can only undo it by tapping Undo – you can’t go back and edit it.
You can also add a new Empty Layer and fill it with a gradient.
And then blend it using a layer blend mode as I have done here.
I finished by cropping the image and then saving it.
You can then email it or send it to the Camera Roll or upload the project to the Adobe Creative Cloud so you can access them from there.
There are limits to Photoshop Touch and one is the 1600 x 1600 pixel image size limit. The text tools are rudimentary and, as a long time Photoshop user, I’d like to see editable masks and editable text. That said, for fixing photos and tinkering with creative projects this program is a welcome addition to the Adobe family.
This app will appeal to a range of users. There are plenty of basic tools that are easy to use but also some more advanced features for working with images. The Scribble Extract tool does a reasonable job of extracting a subject from a background and you can tinker with gradients and fades to get some interesting effects. You don’t need to know how to use Photoshop to use the app but your knowledge won’t go astray.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Edit and Create on the Go with Adobe Photoshop Touch for iPad
How to Create Impossible Images: Erik Johansson
Got a spare 6 minutes? Here’s photographers Erik Johansson presenting at TED about his ‘Impossible Photography’.
Erik combines photos together to create surreal yet realistic images. In the video he shares his rules of doing it.
View more of Erik’s Imagery at his site
What do you think?
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
How to Create Impossible Images: Erik Johansson
Use Lightroom Presets in Adobe Camera RAW
If you’re like me, you have some presets that you’ve created in Lightroom that you would like to use in Adobe Camera Raw. Unfortunately the format of the preset files in each program is different so you can’t just install a Lightroom preset in ACR. However you can make an ACR preset from a file that has had that same preset applied to in Lightroom. Here’s how:
Apply the Preset
To begin, open an image in the Develop module in Lightroom. Without applying any other changes to the image, apply the Preset that you want to take to ACR. Here I have applied one of the free Wonderland presets from wonderlandpresets.com.
Export the Image
Now export the image as a DNG file so that the changes will be written to the file. To do this, right click the image and choose Export > Export to DNG and export the image to folder of your choice.
Open in ACR
Launch Windows Explorer and locate the image on disk. Right click it and choose Open With > Photoshop CS5. Because it is a DNG file, it will open automatically in ACR.
Create the Preset
Click the Presets tab and click the Create New Preset option at the foot of the Presets panel. Type a name for your preset and then select the options that you want to include as part of the preset. Type a name for the preset and click Ok.
The preset will now be available from the Presets panel in ACR and will be able to be used to adjust any image.
Features not included
You should note that while most of the Lightroom adjustments that can be stored in a Lightroom Preset can also be saved as an ACR Preset, one exception is any Graduated Filter adjustment.
In Lightroom any adjustments you make using the Adjustment Brush cannot be saved in a Lightroom preset and in ACR those made using the Graduated Filter cannot be saved either. You will see the Graduated Filter adjustments that you made in Lightroom in ACR if there are any but you cannot save them in your preset as a Graduated Filter adjustment. What you can do however, is to save the settings for the Graduated Filter but not its placement as a separate setting. To do this, click the Graduated Filter icon in ACR to select the tool then click the Graduated Filter to save the settings for. Click the icon in the top right of the Graduated Filter panel and choose New Local Correction Setting and save it giving it a name.
You can apply this to an image in future using the Graduated Filter tool – just select the setting to use from this menu and drag to create the Graduated Filter for the image. The solution isn’t perfect but it can save you some work as shown here with the two Graduated Filters which are part of my Orton Preset for Lightroom. I can apply the preset then switch to the Graduated Filter and quickly apply the two Graduated Filter adjustments with their individual settings.
Advantages of taking Lightroom presets to ACR
One of the reasons you may want to take presets from Lightroom to ACR using this process is to take advantage of the free presets available for Lightroom. There are lots more of these than there are presets for ACR. If you use ACR as well as Lightroom then having your favorite presets available in both program will be useful.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Use Lightroom Presets in Adobe Camera RAW
HDR and Beyond – Seeing is Believing!
A Guest Post by by Gavin Phillips
What is High Dynamic Range Imaging? (HDR)
HDR is when you take 3-5 or 7 photos at different exposure settings, and then merge them into a single image using speciality software. What you get are beautiful photos with incredible detail, controlled lighting and accurate colour. You cannot reproduce an HDR image manipulating a single JPG or RAW image in Photoshop.
Below is an example of a set of 7 images taken at 1-stop exposure increments. Then merged and tone mapped.
The benefits of HDR
The human eye sees an outdoor or indoor scene quite differently than what can be captured with even top grade professional digital cameras and lenses. Not surprisingly, our eyes are far more complex.
Our eyes adjust for harsher light and render colors and detail more accurately than any single RAW file can capture.
With HDR you can produce wonderfully crisp images that have excellent detail and control of lighting. You do not need to worry about harsh sunlight or very contrasty scenes.
Below is an example of my regularly exposed single shot compared to my 7-shot HDR version. When printed, the HDR version has far more detail and an overall richer look to the image.
You control your final image
There is a lot of misunderstanding about HDR. As with all new creative techniques with so many creative opportunities available, we all tend to overdo it at the beginning.
This is okay, it is our way of experimenting and finding what we like and don’t like. For business applications, you can simply say what sells; although this may vary from client to client.
When would you shoot HDR?
- Landscapes
- Architectural and Commercial
- All interior shots
- Select wedding shots (church interior, vows)
- Wildlife (animals standing still)
- Night architectural
HDR in a Nutshell
- Take 3,5 or 7 shots at different exposures
- Merge bracketed sets into 32-bit images
- Tone-map in HDR specific software
- Finish in Photoshop
HDR Camera Set-up
Always shoot RAW. The RAW format is better for HDR than JPG. I have compared sets of JPG and RAW of the same scene and processed them in Photomatix and Artizen. The results are far better with the RAW images than the JPG.
Auto Exposure Bracketing Mode
Put your camera into the auto exposure bracketing mode. This allows you to run off a sequence of shots at different exposures by simply holding down the ‘shoot’ button.
It will depend on your camera as to how many you shoot in a sequence. Most DSLR cameras offer you up to 1-stop increments in bracketing mode. You would only ever go to a maximum of 2-stop increments. I shoot sets of 5 or 7 at 1-stop increments.
Some recent advanced compact cameras offer RAW shooting and Auto Exposure Bracketing.
Two that I know of are the Panasonic Lumix G3. It offers up to 7 shots at a max of 1-stop exposures. This is perfect for HDR. Also the Olympus E-PL3 offers RAW and up to 2-stops in AEB. These cameras are easy to carry around and offer a good introduction into digital HDR.
HDR Specific Software I Use
All these software programs are Mac/Windows compatible and offer free trial downloads.
Photomatix Pro
Photomatix offers many features and an intuitive, easy to use interface. It’s strength is outdoor daytime HDR. It really opens up shadows and produces very pleasing colours that are easily controlled with the sliders.
The batch processing feature is a huge time-saver. Merging one set of three, five or seven images into a 32-bit image can take from 10 seconds to over a minute, depending on your computer speed and how many images are in the set. If you have more than a few sets of HDR, (at Yosemite I had hundreds of sets) this consumes a large amount of time.
Photomatix’s batching feature allows you to merge dozens/hundreds of sets of HDR into 32-bit images automatically while you do something else. You then open the 32-bit image instantly in your software of choice and apply the tone-mapping, which is the only part that interests you.
With interior shots, Photomatix often introduces a blue cast into sunlight coming in through windows. I often use ‘Artizen’ or ‘Dynamic Photo HDR’ for interiors.
Artizen
I use Artizen for most of my interior HDR shots. Most of the time it gives me better results for what I’m looking for with interior shots.
Dynamic Photo HDR
I use DPHDR for some of my night HDR, and some daytime HDR as well. It depends how the image looks. It often creates more natural looking skies.
It’s also great if you want to go in a different creative direction. You can get a great variety of different colour effects.
But sometimes I see odd artefacts introduced into images; burnt skies or excessive noise. So I don’t recommend this program as your only HDR specific software. It is good to give you different creative ways to go.
HDR Efex Pro
Like all Nik software, HDR Efex Pro’s user interface is intuitive and easy to understand. I liked the variety of one-click presets, and it is easy to keep your HDR looking natural. I still prefer the colour in Photomatix for outdoor HDR though.
Nik’s patented ‘U Point Technology’ is included. With this you can fine-tune very specific areas in your image without effecting the rest of it.
Photoshop CS5 HDR
New to CS5 are some basic HDR tone-mapping sliders and presets. I have worked with it on some sets of HDR and compared it to the tone-mapping I get in the other software. The results are far better in Photomatix, etc.
Photoshop’s great strength is finessing the image after you have completed your tone-mapping. Removing blemishes, cloning, color, lighting correction and sharpening are essential, and none of the other software does this.
Single-shot ‘Pseudo HDR’
All the HDR software reviewed here give you an option to create a pseudo HDR out of a single RAW or JPG image. You really need RAW with single shot HDRs. The advantages are that you do not have to take multiple shots, and there will be no ‘ghosting’ to remove of people moving in the image.
However, you do not have the same dynamic range that you would have with multiple exposures. Pseudo HDRs tend to be noisy and you don’t get the same detail. But when you have rapidly moving people, animals or vehicles, pseudo HDRs often look far more interesting than just working the image in Photoshop. And they are very quick to process.
HDR and People
You can photograph people with HDR selectively. People posed, or a bride and groom standing still at the altar. Even if they are standing ‘still’ there is likely to be some slight movement between the frames.
This is referred to as ‘ghosting.’ The colour of the peoples faces will be incorrect as well. To correct this I use one of the bracketed set of regular RAW images and Photoshop to mask-in just the people into the HDR image.
It only takes 5-minutes. I only take a few HDR images with people in them. This captures the occasion in a way I could never achieve otherwise.
My HDR Work flow
My HDR Work flow I download all my HDR sets into a folder. I sort the winning sets in
Photoshop/Bridge or Lightroom, and move them to a ‘Winners’ folder. Different sets must be kept together. Don’t mix a set of three with a set of five or seven, it will completely mess up the batch processing.
Batch rename the winning sets in Photoshop or Lightroom with a number sequence. If I have 20 sets of five bracketed images, it will be numbered 1 through 100.
I then use Photomatix to batch my 20 sets of five into 20 single, 32-bit images. While Photomatix is doing this, I’m in Photoshop or doing something else.
When Photomatix finishes it’s batching, I go in and open the 32-bit images in Photomatix for tone-mapping. The tone-mapping is very fast. Once I set-up the sliders for the first image, I usually stay pretty close to those settings for the other images. I then finish the image in Photoshop.
Avoiding HDR Issues
Halos can be an issue with HDR images. Halos are usually found where the sky meets buildings or trees in an image. It is a line, or band, of lighter sky. It does not look natural and is very distracting.
You usually get if using extreme settings in your tone mapping, although sometimes you may still see halos even with conservative settings. In that case you may have to swap out the sky in your HDR image with the original sky in one of the bracketed images in Photoshop.
Over saturation is easily controlled in all the programs I reviewed here. Once you have the settings the way you like them, you can save them as one of your custom presets.
You have complete control over your image. It is easy to stay within a regular color range, but still gain a significant advantage by using HDR. You have to watch you do not overdo it, particularly with skies.
Finishing in Photoshop
Although the HDR specific software is great for the merging and tone-mapping
stage of your HDR sets, there is no substitute for the final finessing of your image in Photoshop.
I usually use a custom ‘curves’ adjustment. You can use the brush tool on the ‘curves’ mask to adjust how much of that curves is used in your image, and where it is used.
Another excellent, but often overlooked adjustment layer, is the ‘Shadow/Highlight’. There maybe areas of the image that require careful cloning out. Don’t forget that sometimes you can use the ‘spot healing brush’ to blend away something small in your image instead of always using the clone tool. Photoshop CS5’s new ‘content aware’ brush option is very handy for fast clean-up as well.
The last thing I do is selective sharpening. I use high pass sharpening for all my images that do not have people in the image. You find this under ‘Filter’, ‘Other’, ‘High Pass’. When people are in the image I use ‘unsharp mask’ or ‘smart sharpening’.
Creative Freedom
HDR gets quite a lot of criticism because many of the images are over-worked.
For that matter, any image can be overworked in Photoshop or any software, not only HDR.
Some photographers have become so worried about being criticised for using HDR, their HDR images look exactly the same as a single image worked in Photoshop. HDR is different; it has a vibrance and detail that is great for certain situations.
For some images I go further and use a full range of Photoshop adjustment layers, filters, masking and plug-ins to go in many different directions. We have so many creative tools to work with today; I’m not going to limit myself to staying within a regular photograph all the time.
As the late famous photographer Fred Picker stated, ‘Photographers owe nothing to reality.’ I offer my clients both types of images. Gavin Phillips offers HDR webinars and training movies. He also offers custom Photoshop ‘actions’ and Lightroom Presets. See his website for more information.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
HDR and Beyond – Seeing is Believing!
How to Create Contact Sheets in Lightroom
Historically a contact sheet was a page of images each printed at the same size as the film negative – they were used as a reference for the images on the film roll. They were called contact sheets because the film was placed in close contact with the paper when printing them.
These days the term contact sheet loosely means an arrangement of multiple, small, same size images on a single page usually with some identifying information such as the image filename placed under the image. The purpose is to provide reference to a larger number of images. You may print them to keep or give to a client as a catalog of the images from a shoot, for example.
You can create a contact sheet inside Lightroom and here’s how to do it:
Select a Template
Start by selecting the folder or the collection that contains the images that you want to add to the contact sheet.
Launch the Print module and, from the Template Browser, select one of the contact sheet options. There are a few grid layouts including two with square image cells – a 4 x 8, and a 5 x 8. There are two with landscape orientation cells – one 5 x 9, and one 5 x 11.
I chose the 5 x 8 one.
Set up the Print Job
If you plan to ‘print’ the contact sheet to a jpg file, from the Print Job panel on the right of the screen, choose Print to JPG File. As contact sheets are just that – a contact sheet and not full scale images – select to use Draft Mode Printing to speed up their creation.
The page dimensions will be preset for 8.5 x 11in. You can set your own Custom File Dimensions but increasing the size of the page simply changes the page size not the size of the cells – you have to adjust them separately.
Adding Images
If you have only one image selected in the Filmstrip then the contact sheet will only display one image.
You’ll need to select all the images on the filmstrip to add them to the contact sheet. To do this, either click on the first image and Shift + Click on the last or select All Filmstrip Photos from the Use: list on the toolbar. If the Toolbar is not visible, press T to display it. You can also select Flagged photos, if desired.
The Toolbar shows you how many pages you will use and you can click the arrow keys on the toolbar to navigate the pages.
Add Image Captions
To add information below the images, from the Page panel on the right, select the Photo Info checkbox and choose the field to display. You can use one of the preset options such as Caption, Date, or Filename or click Edit to create your own field.
In the Text Template Editor, you can access to fields such as the filename, a sequential numbering or date as well as EXIF and IPTC data. You can also type your own custom text to create detailed photo info to add to the contact sheet. Here I typed some text, added a sequential number and the filename.
Customize the Contact Sheet
The template contact sheets are a starting point but you do not need to strictly adhere to their design if you don’t want to and they can be easily customized.
For example, from the layout panel if you click the Keep Square checkbox you will find that in some layouts your images may change orientation so the page will be a mix of portrait and landscape images.
You can adjust the maximum cell size and width using the Cell Size Height and Width sliders in the Layout panel. As you adjust the cell size, notice that the Cell Spacing values will change.
You can decrease the number of rows and/or columns using the Page Grid options. By decreasing the number of rows or columns, you can increase the cell size.
Adjusting Margins
If you increase the Bottom or Top margin you can give yourself room to, for example, place an Identity Plate on the page.
Here I’ve reduced the number of rows and increased the bottom margin and added an Identity Plate from the Page panel options. In the Page panel, select the Identity Plate checkbox and then select the Identity Plate to use.
The Identity Plate will appear, by default, in the middle of the page so drag it into position on the page. Adjust its scale by dragging on the Scale slider.
You can adjust its Opacity if desired and, if it is a text identity plate (rather than a graphic), you can also select Override Color to make it any color you like.
Print the Result
When you’re done, you’re ready to output the result. If you selected to print to a JPG file click Print to File and type a name for the file and select a location for them. The pages will be printed to a JPG file and if there are more than one they will be sequentially numbered.
Print to PDF
If you want to print to a PDF on a Windows machine you will need to have a PDF printer driver installed such as Adobe PDF or one you have downloaded from the web.
Select Page Setup, select the pdf printer driver and configure the page size so it matches the template size – such as letter paper portrait orientation. Then set the Print to: option in the Print Job panel to printer and click Print to print to a pdf.
Save the Template
If you have customized a template and want to be able to use it again in future, save the design as a new template.
Click the plus symbol opposite the Template Browser panel header and type a name for your template. You can store it in User Templates or create a new folder for it. Click to create it.
In future you can save yourself the time setting up the template by starting with your customized version.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
How to Create Contact Sheets in Lightroom
How I Shot And Edited It – Nepal Zoomable Panorama
Have I mentioned how much I love photography and technology. Here’s a good case for mixing them together.
As you say previous on the Q&A with Uncornered Market, creating panorama’s can create some amazing images. I took their methodologies and applied them to some of my own panoramas, which do not cover 360 degrees all around. This method is more practical for those of us without fisheye lenses. Take a look at this tutorial if you are curious for a step by step on creating your own immersion panoramas.
You will need to click over to my blog to view the immersion panorama described in this demo because DPS does not yet support embedding the SWF file type. The image can be found at this post and a static version is shown here:
Title: Nepal Himalaya Panorama Exploration
Location: Mong, Nepal
To answer the question, “How did you make that?” I offer this post as instruction. It’s not magic and it’s something you can accomplish. I had the aid of a number of computer programs:
Additionally, the hardware I used included:
- Canon 7D camera
- Canon 28-300mm L lens
- Bogen 3021 tripod with ball head
Those are the basics. The other important piece of equipment was an alarm clock. I knew I needed to be up at least an hour before the sunrise in order to get dressed (it was a bit cold), grab a snack and find my location. I had scouted a likely spot the night before and I had taken nearly this same photo in 2008 while trekking. Scouting your location really helps when timing, as with a sunrise, is critical.
Get Ready
After getting myself out of bed and trudging up a small hill to the location, scaring a dzokyo with horns (it’s a cross between a cow and a yak) over a fence in the process, and after avoid his ‘cow pies’ (I’m not romanticizing this process enough, am I?), I set up my camera. Important in this step was to find a location with good visibility that would allow me to see over the roofs, but still capture the stupa in the middle of the village. Also important was good stability of the ground so I or my tripod would not slip.
My plan was to shoot the scene as a single swatch of panorama. I didn’t have the immersion viewer in mind when creating this, just a traditional super wide image for print. So I set up my tripod and made sure the base was level. I did this using the back of camera screen level that comes with the Canon 7D. If not, I would need a little level, like this one. This is an important step! If the camera is tilted, the longer your panorama, the less overall useable space you will have when it is leveled and cropped. Practice this at home so you don’t waste time in the field learning to get things level (and then become disappointed when back at home crying at your computer screen. Yes, I’ve done that).
Now with the base of the tripod level, I placed my camera onto it in a vertical orientation. I wanted a tall image and this would allow me to capture more scene. I also knew the timing would only allow for one pass. Once the sun was up, the lighting would change and I’d spend many aggravating hours on the computer trying to balance it all out if I didn’t get it in one pass.
Those steps in bullet form:
- Scout a location before
- Scare off large animals
- Set tripod on stable ground
- Level tripod
- Attach camera
Get Set
Camera on the tripod and the sky is getting brighter. I have a better idea where it will peek over the peaks. I start taking some meter readings and figuring out where I want to set my aperture and shutter speed. I already know I will set my ISO to 100 for the least amount of noise I can hope for. I then picked my focus point and locked it (turned off auto focus). Oh yeah, I also set my aperture at this point based on how much depth of field I wanted, doing this in conjunction with picking a focus point not completely to the horizon. I picked a point about 30 feet from me to focus on. This allowed me, at f/10, to have most of the scene in focus, which was going to include the fence, stupa and distant mountains. Plus my guest on this tour off to my side (who would later be begged, “Please don’t move!” when I shot frames with him in them). My closest object, besides some ground, was about 15’ away.
I did this in Manual mode so the exposure settings would not change. My settings ended up being 1/100th of a second and f/10. Going into the menus for my camera, I turned on the exposure bracketing and chose one step over exposed and one step under exposed. I locked my tripod’s ball head once all was level as I would be using the base swivel where the tripod met the head’s body to turn my panorama. I swung through the action a few times, making sure it was level in all spots. There are newer heads on the market, such as the Induro PHQ, which have levels built-in to help make this step easier.
Lastly in this step, I set my white balance (not required, but it makes post processing easier) and turned off my lens’ image stabilization because I was using a tripod. A couple more swings through to make sure I knew what I’d be doing. One more step was to turn my frame rate to high. This would allow the bracketing to shoot quickly and speed up the whole shoot. In these practice swings I timed myself to make sure I would have time to stop at each point, get my shots, and move while not causing blur from too fast a motion. I also wanted to complete my shot in less than a minute to make sure the lighting didn’t change too dramatically during the shoot.
Those steps in bullet form:
- Meter
- Switch to Manual mode
- Set Shutter Speed
- Set Aperture based on desired depth of field
- Turn off Image Stabilization
- Set focus and lock
- Check level throughout path of shoot
- Turn on high speed shooting mode
- Make sure camera is set to RAW (if desired. A note here: if you find your camera’s buffer can’t keep up with your rate of shooting, you may need to choose a smaller size RAW format if you can, or switch to JPEG)
- Breathe
GO!
I ratcheted my camera back to my start point on the far left side. I was on a hill and would not be making a full 360 degree sweep as the hill itself wasn’t exciting (and far too close). When the sun just started to top the left side of the peak, I started shooting, overlapping by about 30%, give or take. A robot like the Gigapan EPIC would have helped. Each stop produced three images as such:
Under exposed by a stop, at exposure and over exposed by a stop
Sweeping through my shot in just about one minute perfectly I checked the images on the back of my camera and breathed easy. The buffer had started to get full and I had to slow my shooting a half way through, but it wasn’t bad enough to effect the final image.
With the 117 shots secured (and later that night they were backed up to a second and third drive), I continued my tour while still contemplating how to merge them without spending hours on the computer when I returned home.
Those steps in bullet form:
- Wait for your moment to start
- Know your timing for the whole panorama if timing is critical
- Shoot!
- Breathe, again
Putting It All Together At Home
At first I attempted to use hugin to stack my images (each set of three shots makes a stack) and then create a panorama. The results were ok, but there was a LOT of manual work in aligning the images. I then was given a copy of AutoPano Giga to try out and it has created, for me, a boon in panorama processing. I will give a full review in the coming weeks, but for now I just want to show how I created this particular image and not get into all the nuts and bolts of the program.
My first step was to import the images into Adobe Lightroom and adjust the exposure settings. I did this for the middle shot, the one you see above. It has the widest range of light and I wanted to make sure I kept it looking realistic. I only adjusted the middle image, the one with the camera’s suggested exposure settings. After I did this and removed any spots, I also adjusted the image for clarity, saturation and the like, but not too much as I would perform more near the end of the process. This is a personal preference and your settings will vary.
With the one image edited to my liking, I then synced those settings with the rest of the images using Lightroom’s sync feature. Nice and easy. I then exported each image as a full sized JPEG. In later work, I will be using the DNG file type as AutoPano Giga can handle those and there will be less compression. All of those files went into one folder and it’s time to use AutoPano Giga.
This software is quite easy for basic shoots. After starting the program I imported all the photos by selecting “Select Images”. Once loaded the screen looks like this (click for larger version):
An important feature in this software is the simplicity with which I can create stacks. All it takes is a right click and then selection of the “Create stacks by N…”. This allows me to input that there are three (or any number) of images per stack. Now I don’t have to line them up or tell the program I was using bracketing for my shots. With the stacks created, I pressed the “Detect” button up top and AutpPano Giga does its best to align my images. Here’s the result, which appears on the right side of the screen.
Luckily there was not a lot of waste in this image because of taking the time to level the camera properly. AutoPano Giga aligns, color corrects, adjusts exposure and a few other items when performing this step. I will have more on the software in a full review later.
I output this as a PSD file to help preserve the image quality. This takes a while and makes a huge file (2GB). Patience is needed. I could also output to a JPEG to save time, but as I want to present my best work and make it highly zoomable, I chose the PSD format.
Opening the resulting file in Lightroom (in this case, Lightroom 4 Beta), I then crop the image and play with exposure to get it how I want it.
After adjusting the image, I exported the file as a .PSD file type, again to preserve as much detail as I can (and again, I will be using DNG files for the first compression in the future, but that also adds considerable time when processing multiple panoramas. At the very least, you will see the quality possible when using one of the faster methods given here). Opening the file in PanoTour Pro, I have a number of options to set.
On the right hand side are most of the important bits for this project (a review of PanoTour Pro will be forthcoming as well, after I have played with it more). The size is already set with the width of the image imported. I set the JPEG quality to 12 instead of 10. In the next tab, I set the projection to only be 300 degrees so it does not wrap around.
Lastly, I ticked the check box next to “Embed all data”. This enables the output to be a singular file, which can make for easier handling (and a higher file size).
All that was left was to upload the resulting .SWF file after I performed an export (the program has a facility to upload the resulting SWF file or files, but I wanted to check the results locally before spending the time to upload).
I encounter one small glitch while creating this file; my web service isn’t the fastest on the planet. The SWF file that resulted was about 125MB large. Normally not a problem but it slowed down the experience for many readers. So I went back in and cut the image size to 14,000 pixels wide in PanoTour Pro and decreased the compression to 10. This resulted in a file about 5.5MB large and much quicker to download. On that original post, I linked to the original file for those with patience, as the full detail is really incredible.
Those steps in bullet form:
- Import into Lightroom (or your editor of choice) and adjust as needed (but not too much)
- Export to DNG files, ideally
- Import into AutoPano Giga
- Create Panorama and export as PSD (Tiff would be another fine option, or JPEG if your space and resources are limited)
- Open in Photoshop or Lightroom or GIMP or … and crop. Make final adjustments. Export as PSD or simply save file
- Import into PanoTour Pro and set variables as needed
- Export as SWF file and upload to server (using the programs built-in FTP capabilities if desired)
On The Website
To make all this magic work on my blog, I had to install a plugin. The one I chose is called PanoPress and you can download it from their website. It’s an easy install and so far has not wreaked havoc on my site. Natively, WordPress, which is what powers my site, does not support SWF files in the sense of viewing panoramas like this. The best part of all this magic is the ability to choose fullscreen mode. Letting viewers fill their entire screen is something we photographers don’t often do and it can be intoxicating. PanoPress makes this magic work.
Conclusion
2000 words later…that’s it! I know it might seem like a lot, but with the choice of software this time around, I am very happy with the flow. I can also process multiple images in series (often setting my computer to pound through the large files while I sleep) and receive predictable results. I have more learning to do with the Kolor products to refine things and see if I can automate more of the mundane settings.
Also of note, I went through this process in both Lightroom 3 and Lightroom 4 Beta. I was far happier with the results in Lightroom 4 and they are what you see on the site.
I look forward to crafting more of these types of images (and have already started to, here) as I go back through old panoramas that I have taken and make them more presentable on the web. This process will not work for everyone out there (it can, though, be performed on a Mac or PC as listed and on a Linux machine without the Lightroom aspect) but it is my sincere hope that it helps more of you present your art in a dramatic way on the web.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
How I Shot And Edited It – Nepal Zoomable Panorama
Download and Test Lightroom 4 for Free
Over the last week, with the launch of our brand new Guide to Post Processing eBook, there’s been a lot of discussion around dPS around post processing – particularly about software and tools.
One of the common threads of conversation that I’ve been hearing is around the expense of some of the better post processing software tools and a hesitancy to spend so much on a tool when one doesn’t know if it suits you.
I can relate to that feeling. I still remember the first time I looked at Photoshop and considered purchasing it but balked at the price. It seemed a big risk to invest in something that I wasn’t completely sure would suit my needs.
Things have progressed a lot since those days – now many software tools give you trials before you buy. One of the exciting trials currently on offer is the ability to test the brand new beta of Lightroom 4.
Lightroom has been a product that many photographers of all levels have adopted as their preferred option and it has evolved in its first 3 versions into a very useful tool. It’s how I manage and edit my own images and I’m pumped to see them releasing Lightroom 4 soon.
In the lead up to the full launch Adobe are allowing everyone to download and trial Lightroom 4 for free. Download it today and you get to use it until the trial ends on March 31 2012. That’s over 2 months of free use of one of the most popular post processing tools on the planet! More than enough time to see if it’s right for you and the perfect time to take your post processing stills up a notch with our new Post Processing Guide.
So what are you waiting for? Download the free beta of Lightroom 4 today and tell us what you think!
Update: Worth noting are the system requirements for using Lightroom 4 beta:
The minimum system requirements for Lightroom 4 beta are as follows:
Windows
Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor
Microsoft® Windows Vista® with Service Pack 2 or Windows 7 with Service Pack 1
2GB of RAM
1GB of available hard-disk space
1024×768 display
DVD-ROM drive
Internet connection required for Internet-based services*
Mac OS
Multicore Intel processor with 64-bit support
Mac OS X v10.6.8 or v10.7
2GB of RAM
1GB of available hard-disk space
1024×768 display
DVD-ROM drive
Internet connection required for Internet-based services*
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Download and Test Lightroom 4 for Free
A “Happy Snap” Lightroom Workflow
At Halloween last year I was asked to photograph some kids I’ve shot from time to time since they were born. Basically their mum likes to have some up to date photos of the kids and Halloween seemed like as good a time as any to get some shots.
When I’m shooting like this, my aim is to get some good shots but nothing formal and I prefer not to use a flash because I get a better response from the kids without one. I captured the images in raw and I chewed through three small size camera cards in about an hour and a half.
My deal with their mum is that I get to use the photos for my work and she gets a disk of pictures. To keep this fun – so it doesn’t feel like work for me – I need a fast and effective processing workflow. I need to get the images off my camera, sorted, processed, burned to a DVD and delivered to mum in time for her to enjoy them.
Thanks to Lightroom the process was simple and, in all, I reckon I spent less than 2 hours getting the photos from the camera cards to a DVD. Here is what I call my Happy Snap Lightroom workflow – it’s what I do to quickly process casual snapshots:
Step 1 – Determine a plan of attack
To begin with I have some criteria I work by. I never give away substandard photos so anything blurry, out of focus or over exposed gets permanently deleted. Then I sort out the best of the images intending to give mum around 50-60 photos of the kids – it’s a nice range of images for her to use to scrapbook and post to Facebook and it doesn’t over burden her with too many photos to choose from.
Step 2 – Download the images
To begin, I download all the images from all three cards into a single folder on my hard drive (if there were only one card I would omit this step).
From there I import the images into Lightroom at the same time copying them to their permanent storage on my external photo drive and making a backup to a second drive. Copying rather than adding images to the Lightroom catalog lets me make backups and also add my metadata to the images so, when they popup on Facebook my copyright details are embedded in them.
Importing all the images in one step also means that when I’ve started the import process – which includes rendering standard previews – I can start working through the images and I don’t have to do it multiple times or switch out cards as I work – (the process works for me – your mileage may vary).
Step 3 – Eliminating the duds
The first time I run through the images I am looking for images to delete as well as getting a general look at what I shot.
As I work through the images I’ll press X for images to delete and use the right arrow key to move past everything else. I’ll select to delete all out of focus images, anything where someone has their eyes closed or similar, and anything I don’t want to put my name to!
Once I’m done I choose Photo > Delete Rejected Photos to delete the images from my primary external photo drive. There are still copies on the backup drive and my hard disk but not on my main photo drive.
Step 4 – Sorting the usable images
On the second run through the images I pick those I want to use. By now I have a rough idea as to what I have and what I might want to give mum. So this time I run through the images pressing P to pick an image and using the right arrow key to move past those she won’t be getting.
Step 5 – Create a Collection
Once done, I isolate the picked images by clicking the first of the filter flag icons above the filmstrip. Then with only the picks visible I press Ctrl + A to select all of them and then click New Collection > Create Collection and type a name for it. Because the images are already selected, I leave the Include Selected Photos checkbox enabled and click Create.
Step 6 – Apply initial processing to the images
Now I have a collection of the picks and it’s time to process them. I start out by selecting all the images in Grid View in the Library and from the Quick Develop panel I select Auto Tone. This gives me a head start on fixing them but, because of the lighting, pretty much all of them needed a white balance adjustment.
Step 7 – Process in the Develop module
Switching to Develop module with the filmstrip visible I selected the White Balance Selector and then made sure that Auto Dismiss was disabled. This allows me to adjust the white balance on one image and then click on the next one in the filmstrip and continue to adjust the white balance from one image to the next without having to reselect anything. Basically all that most of these images needed was some white balance adjustment.
For those that needed cropping, I cropped as I finished with white balance adjustment and then moved on to the next image. This ensured that each image was dealt with only once as I progressed across the filmstrip.
Step 8 – Make one off fixes
So, having fixed the worst of the problems I work backwards through the filmstrip to see if any of the images warrant special attention. If so, I make a call to fix them or simply remove them from the collection. To remove the image, right click it and choose Remove from Collection .
Here I had one issue with a couple of images where one child’s face was in shadow. For this, I used the Adjustment Brush tool at a small size with a large feather radius. I brushed over the areas where her face was in shadow and then adjusted the Brightness and Exposure to lighten to her face. In the same images other faces were overexposed so I added a second Adjustment Brush adjustment with the opposite settings to attempt to deal with this. The final result wouldn’t stand up to close scrutiny but is just fine for the web and 6 x 4 printing.
Step 9 – Export and burn
Once this was done it was time to export the images. Because they’re all in a collection, Ctrl + A selects all the images. I chose File > Export and then exported them as JPG images, 80 percent quality at the largest size and I added sharpening to them in the process. I made sure these images all went to a new folder so that they would be isolated from everything else and easy to find.
From there, it was a matter of launching Ashampoo Burning Studio, grabbing all the images and burning them to a DVD.
This workflow is one giant step better than simply burning the images direct to a DVD. It takes only a little more time with Lightroom to sort and apply some basic fixes to the images and it also means that only the best of the images get circulated and those that do have my copyright information embedded in them.
So now it’s over to you. What’s your “happy snap” workflow? Do you capture snapshots in raw? Do you process using Lightroom? And how do you get your images processed quickly so you’re not spending hours on images that are really just family snapshots?h3
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
A “Happy Snap” Lightroom Workflow
A Guide to Post Processing Your Images: Photo Nuts and Post
I’m extremely excited today to be able to announce the launch of a much anticipated eBook – Photo Nuts and POST by Neil Creek.
- In January 2010 we released the first eBook in this series – Photo Nuts and BOLTS which is all about understanding how your camera works and how to take full control of it.
- In January 2011 we released Photo Nuts and SHOTS which built upon the first eBook to cover techniques and tools to use your camera to take great photos.
- Today – January 2012 we release Photo Nuts and POST – which is all about what to do with your images once you’ve taken them.
While the first two Photo Nuts eBooks are all about taking the best photos possible (the only real place to start with great photos) – Photo Nuts and POST is about helping those photos to come to life.
What is it About?
This is not an eBook about making bad photos look amazing. Neil’s written two eBooks already emphasising the importance of getting the best possible photo when you take that photo. Rather this is an eBook about taking those photos and turning them into a finished, polished and appropriately prepared photo for whatever need you have (online sharing, printing or publishing).
As I wrote in the forward of this eBook:
For years my own approach was to avoid post-production; my mindset was that great photographers always got it right in camera anyway and that any processing work was somehow ‘fake’. Over time, however, I’ve come to see the benefit of some gentle processing on my images – not to hide anything but to bring them alive and to reflect the reality of the scenes and subjects that I capture.
While getting your photos right in camera is the only real place to start, this ebook is all about putting the tools and techniques in your hands to take those good images and lift them to new levels through post-production.
I was delighted to work with Neil on this ebook because his approach to post-production is similar to my own. I therefore trust that you’ll also enjoy learning about how post-production can help unleash the potential in your own images.
Who is Photo Nuts and POST for?
- Those who want to process their photos and don’t know where to get started
- Anyone who is skeptical about processing but is keen to explore it
- Photographers who see amazing photos online and want their own photos to look like them
- Anyone who struggles with an aspect of processing for eg – workflow or culling a big shoot
- Anyone who has just started learning processing and wants to take it further
If you own a dSLR camera you owe it to yourself to learn about digital post processing.
FAQ
- What post processing software does this eBook teach? – this eBook is written to be as software-agnostic as possible, but by necessity some of the terminology and examples may be influenced by Neil’s personal choice of Adobe’s Lightroom. Screen shots of examples are mostly from Lightroom, but he has striven to keep them relevant to other software choices.
- Can I read it on my iPad – yes. This eBook is a PDF and can be read on your computer or any other PDF reading device. To read it on your iPad simply download it to your computer and then upload it to iBooks (or any other PDF reading app).
- Is it Guaranteed? – yes, like all of our eBooks if you buy a copy and find it doesn’t suit your needs just contact us within 60 days of purchase for a full no questions asked refund.
- Is there a hard cover version? – Unfortunately not – we only do eBooks at this point in time.
- Got Questions or Needing Help? – If you have any problems with the purchase or download simply contact our friendly support staff. Please include the name of the eBook you are asking for support on as well as your PayPal email address if you have made a purchase.
Special Launch Discount: 33% Off
To celebrate the launch of Photo Nuts and POST we’re offering it for $19.99 – 33% off the normal price.
For more information on it check out the Photo Nuts and POST
Or to secure your copy directly, simply click the Download it Now button below.
You’ll be taken to a page where you can make your payment via PayPal or Credit card and get immediate access for download.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
A Guide to Post Processing Your Images: Photo Nuts and Post
How Post-Processing Helped Me Become a Better Photographer
The following post is from author of the Photo Nuts DPS ebook series Neil Creek. The third book in the series Photo Nuts & Post – A Guide to Post-Processing launched on dPS this week! If you have any post-processing questions for Neil, he would be happy to answer them on Google+ or Twitter.
Post-processing your digital photos is a controversial topic for some. The idea that you change and manipulate a photo after it’s been taken is seen by some as changing reality; creating something that’s ‘fake’. I disagree strongly with that idea for many reasons, but the reason I’m going to talk about here is that post-processing made me a better photographer. Not just that I think it made my photos look better, but actually helped me to become better at taking photos.
Accelerated Learning
Getting your photos onto the computer and into an editing program gives you access to an instant feedback machine. You can learn a great deal about how to take photos by looking at those you have taken before:
- Looking at each photo closely reveals problems. You may not notice some issues if you just resize and upload a photo.
- Comparing the results with the settings used gives instant feedback. The EXIF data in a photo is invaluable for giving you clues about why a photo may not have worked.
- Playing with photos in post is almost like touching them. Experimenting with sliders lets you ‘feel’ the potential in a photo.
- The hard-to-define and harder-to-teach skill of learning to see is made so much easier by this process of shooting and feedback.
Lessons Learned
After you’ve been processing your photos for a little while, some lessons about how digital photography works – and the limitations and strengths it has – will become more apparent to you. You can then keep these in mind when shooting and change your settings or shooting technique to avoid running into any problems and make the most of the format:
- You’ll get a better understanding of exposure and the capabilities of the RAW format (you ARE shooting in RAW, right?).
- Learn the consequences of a poorly exposed photo, and how much latitude you actually have to correct such a photo.
- Understand how much can be gained and lost at various noise settings so you know when you can push through low light and keep shooting, or when you need to consider alternative strategies.
- Understand why it’s important to ‘get it right in camera’.
- Conversely, understanding how much can be done in post and what’s best left to that stage.
Expands the Mind
Creating images from the shooting perspective only is a bit tunnel-visioned. Once you free yourself from the metaphorical shackles of preserving some idea of ‘reality’, then you will open your mind to the creative possibilities of processing your photos. Not only that, but you will understand that you are the one in control of how real the photo looks, or how unreal. Your confidence will grow, and that will be reflected in your future work.
- Processing lets you see the hidden potential in a photo.
- You will realise that most of those amazing photos you admire online started with something quite different out of camera.
- You will also realise that your photos could be so much better.
- You are in complete control of the final look of the photo. Whether you just tweak things to reflect your impression of being there, or you create something completely new that was never seen by the human eye, it’s completely within your control.
- Your confidence will build by giving you the tools and knowledge to take your photos to the next level.
An Extra Opportunity
If you’ve been thinking that processing is an extra step you don’t have time for, you’re missing the point. It’s an extra opportunity to learn more, make better photos and become a better photographer. And to be quite honest, post-processing can be fun! Import your photo, sprinkle a bit of magic ‘post’ dust on a photo, and export something with much more life and impact.
Getting better photos is wonderful, but don’t underestimate the power that post-processing has to make you a better photographer.
Want to learn more about Post Production? Check out Neil’s new eBook – Photo Nuts & Post – A Guide to Post-Processing.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
How Post-Processing Helped Me Become a Better Photographer