Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Curves + Luminosity = Better Tones.


In the last blog entry I mentioned some cool things you can find in the Curves dialog that help you adjust the tonal range of your image. Today I’m going to show you how to wreck the color in an image in the name of improving tonal range.

The Curves dialog has four channel options – you can work on the RGB composite channel (the default), or you can work on the separate R, G or B channels. Problem is that although adjusting the R, G or B channels independently can help you improve the tonal range of the image – it can also totally mess with the color. For this reason, few users bother working with the individual channels. Makes good sense? No!

You see working with individual channels is a good fix. If the Red or Green channel lack contrast you can hype it up using a curves adjustment. You’ll mess up the color but, if you’re using an Adjustment Layer, you can simply change the blend mode of the adjustment layer to Luminosity and immediately the messed up color disappears and the adjustment is limited to luminosity only. Instant fix.

So, next time you need to apply a Curves adjustment, check the channels in the Channels palette. If you see a channel that lacks contrast – adjust it to add contrast to it. Then set the blend mode of the adjustment layer to Luminosity to remove the color problems you just created.

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Sunday, December 7th, 2008

Where on the Curve are you?

The Curve dialog in Photoshop hides some surprise features that aren’t immediately apparent at first glance. In Photoshop CS3 and later, one surprise is that you now have the adjusters under the chart that you’re used to using in the Levels dialog inside Curves. So it’s easy to perform a Levels adjustment in Curves – the reverse isn’t true – Levels can’t do a Curves adjustment. So I don’t use Levels for increasing tonal range in my images anymore – Curves does everything I need.

Second tool is the sampler. If you want to add contrast in a particular area of an image it helps if you can find that area on the curve. Simple. Just move across and hold the left mouse button as you wave your mouse pointer over the area of your image to sample. When you do this, you’ll see a marker move along the curve showing you where those pixels are in the curve. This is the area you want to steepen – the steeper the curve, the more contrast in that area. So pull the curve above the area you want to affect upwards and pull the curve below that area downwards to steepen the curve and you’ll get more contrast in that area of the image.

To add markers to the curve – Control + Click (Command + Click on the Mac) on a point in the image and you will add a marker on the curve indicating exactly where those pixels are to be found. You can use the marker to anchor the curve so it doesn’t move when you pull the curve above or below it or drag on the marker to change the shape of the curve at that point.

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Straightening images with Photoshop’s Lens correction tool


Let’s be honest, Photoshop’s tool for straightening an image sucks – well it would if it really were a tool – it’s not even that. It’s a cumbersome workaround.

Start with the Ruler tool (if you can find it – it’s stuck away under the Eyedropper) then ‘measure’ along the line you want to be horizontal. Then choose Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary and accept the value for the angle – that’s what you used the Ruler tool to measure. Wow, that’s sophisticated – NOT! And it gets worse. While now have a ‘straight’ image, the edges look horrible. Grab the Crop tool and crop the image to remove the messy edges.

So, while there isn’t a tool, there is a slightly smarter workaround. Choose Filter > Distort > Lens Correction – ok, I promised it would be smarter – I didn’t say it would be any easier to remember where to find it.

In the Lens Correction dialog, drag on the Angle to straighten the image – best thing about this is that you get a grid to guide you. Then, drag the Scale slider upwards until the rough edges disappear. Then click Ok and you’re done.

So, there you have it, a one stop straightening tool – still sucks compared with programs like Paintshop Pro and Photoshop Elements which will straighten and crop in one step but it does it in one menu rather than 3 tools – I call it an improvement – just!

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Saturday, November 29th, 2008

Smarter Photoshop Crop

Before (above), After (below)

There is more to Photoshop’s crop tool than meets the eye! Read on to learn everything you didn’t know about using it:

Shield color and opacity
When you click the crop tool and drag the crop marquee over an image in Photoshop you will see a shield around the area of the image that will be removed when you commit the change. You can change this shield color from the Tool Options bar to make it any color you want. For example, click in the color selector and make it white, gray, black. You can also Adjust the opacity of this shield to make it, for example, 100% so it totally masks out the unwanted area of the image. This lets you see more clearly the portion of the image you have selected.

Rotate your crop
Rotate the crop marquee by dragging on one of its handles to change the angle of the rectangle and make an angled crop from your image. This way you can make a diagonal crop without having to first rotate the image.

Perspective crop
This option is way too cool! Click the Perspective checkbox on the tool options bar and you can crop an image in perspective. So, drag the corner handles into any four sided shape you like – each corner operates independently of the others when this option is enabled. Then click the Commit button and the unwanted part of the image will be discarded and what remains will be reshaped and deliciously distorted to a rectangle.

You can use this feature to fix keystone perspective problems with images such as tall buildings (which tend to be wider at the base and narrower at the top) or you can use it for creative purposes.

So, next time you select the Crop tool, check out these features and put them to work on your images.

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Friday, November 14th, 2008

Vamoose the Grid – Photoshop Vanishing Point Filter

Ok, this one has had me stumped for forever. Problem is I really needed to solve it. You have used the Vanishing point filter in Photoshop to create a grid then you don’t want it any more.. perhaps because you want to show someone how to create the grid. So how do you get rid of it. Delete button? nah! doesn’t work. There isn’t an option in the filter for deleting the grid and starting over, at least I can’t find it. So, what’s a gal to do?

Answer is.. BACKSPACE. Who would have thought it, but it works. Click the panel of the grid you want to remove to select it and press Backspace and it is removed (so too are any grids built off this one). So, to remove the entire grid, select the first panel and press Backspace and all the other grids disappear.

Like so much in Photoshop, easy when you know how!

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Thursday, November 6th, 2008

Walking the walk in Paris – Before Sunset

My one full day in Paris I followed the path taken by Jesse and Celine in the movie Before Sunset… it took me all over Paris but it starts at the wonderful Shakespeare and Co book store in the Rue de la Bucherie just opposite Notre Dame:

I strolled across to Le Pure Cafe at 14 Rue Jean Mace and it was as quirky a cafe as you are ever likely to find and well worth a visit:

Then I walked to Le Viaduct des arts which is a converted old railway line – the overhead line is now a narrow park and underneath are shops. It’s almost invisible so you won’t realise it is there unless you know it is – the park is well worth walking through:

In Paris, graffiti is different to the other places I’ve been. You have to look high up as much of it, as this shot shows, is at roof top level – and that’s five or six stories high:

Stencil art is also popular. Last year I captured a large wall of graffiti in Paris which included a Shepard Fairey piece of stencil art. What a blast to have seen it and to have a photo of it. This year, this is one more addition to my stencil art collection.

And, at first glance this doesn’t look like graffiti but it is. The building is abandoned and derelict and this graffiti and a couple of pieces of stencil art (can you see the cat?) decorate one side of the building:

The Place des Vosges is like Paris’ backyard. When you come here, Parisiens are sitting in the park, running around its outer edges and kids are running and playing. It’s the most amazing place, tucked as it is just off a very busy street but very peaceful and green. I love entering it through the lovely gardens of the Hotel Sully – go through the hotel entrance, across the courtyard, straight through the arch and past the bookshop and out into the hotel garden. In the bottom right corner facing you is a small archway which takes you direct to the Place des Vosges – you simply won’t know you are in Paris and entering this way makes you feel like you’re in the know!

These are some reflections from the Place des Voges, the gardens are gated and around them is a road and around that a courtyard of beautiful buildings. The gardens themselves are probably an acre or two in size:

These are the beautiful gardens of the Hotel Sully – I’m standing at the entrance to the Place des Vosges looking back to the Hotel itself:

Here are some colourful and quirky things I found. First of all – just what are you supposed to think will be the result of drinking THIS soft drink?

You have to wonder what Neo and Trinity were doing in Paris – I never did quite work it out but they were on ads at metro stations and on the back of every third bus – too strange!

I love getting up and out early in the morning. You see things then you just don’t see later in the day. Here are the ubiquitous cafe chairs piled up ready to be set out for the day:

Sure, can do:

Finally, some rooms built out of the side of a building – the colour were so unexpectedly modern, the remainder of the building not so..

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Arrivederci Roma

Proof positive that it is impossible to have too much of a good thing. When one reflection is just not enough, what about four or five?

Today, I walked around Rome for a couple of hours before heading to the airport for flights to London and then CDG in Paris.

I have loved Rome, I really didn’t expect to even like it – not sure really why I decided to come here but I certainly left a little piece of my heart here.

So here are todays pixs. First is proof postive that the early bird, if she doesn’t get the worm, at least gets the wonderful photo, I loved this tree throwing such a perfect shadow in the early morning light:

This wall is near the Villa Borghese gardens and it really captured my eye:

This statue made me laugh. It looks pretty angry with having to hold up the front of the Westin Hotel – and I’m not sure who the artist modelled it on, but it is a very ambiguous piece!

One of my themes this trip is lights and this morning I lucked out with this perfect shadow – you don’t get these in the middle of the day – you have to be up early enough to capture the light coming at just the right angle:

Here’s another of the light fittings I shot, they have such wonderful detail and they are so varied:

No great graffiti today, but this snippet caught my eye:

Autumn in Rome, I love how the reflection of the trees has painted this car:

When I was a kid, my brother had this cute little minature train set. This petrol station could have been part of his set. I guess when you have little cars and lots of scooters you don’t need petrol stations the size of supermarket parking lots:

And finally, another really old number plate on the cutest Fiat car:

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

Caesar has cool boots

Julius Caesar gets to wear very cool shoes, I want boots like his.

Today is my last day in Rome and tomorrow I fly to Paris via London. Yes, I know, that makes no sense, neither does it that BA charges $250 for this flight and Air France from Rome to Paris would have been 10x that price. So, I go via London and get to check out the new Terminal 5!

But, today belongs to Rome. The weather was fantastic and I got an early start. The bright sunshine means that reflections abound – here are some I captured:

I am becoming a conniseur of which cars give the best reflections, love the way this one curves around and I promise, that paper was there already, I didn’t put it there:

I struggled to find any meaningful way to photograph the Colosseo and the Arco di Constantino. It was frustrating to think I’d come home with the same photos that everyone else had. And then I stepped in this really big puddle of water – hmmmm, puddles, water, reflections – got it! These are the two shots that made my day:

I walked past this church and didn’t even notice it – from the ground it looked like any other building. But, as I was checking out reflections, I caught sight of its tower and bells – I would have missed it otherwise. Double glazing in the windows has added character to these cool reflections:

Gotta love this guy, Piazza Navona is full of tourists in casual gear, cameras going everywhere and tons of noise and music and this guy is sitting, very dapper in his tie, drinking caffe and water and working – on a Sunday!

Ok, so this angel might look innocent enough but he is holding a mamoth sword in one hand – angels with swords? It’s Rome!

Remember your history lessons? Pop Quiz: a) ionic b) doric c) corinthian?

This is how they fix a horse that split his seams, statue detail, Piazza del Quirinale:

Very old number plate on a very old car:

Today was a little light on grafitti but this one caught my eye:

Statue detail from Piazza del Quirinale:

Finally, the sun sets over Rome’s Fiume Tevere:

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

Falling in love with Rome

I have been surprised at how easy Rome is to walk. On the map it looks so much bigger than it really is. You need to walk it too or you miss so much of the tiny details that, together, go to make the city.

As you look at these photos, insert backing sounds of church bells ringing, traffic and the sirens of the local carbineri and politzia as they whizz around this wonderful city.

Here are some images from the themes I’ve been shooting. One is roof tops and the wonderful chimney pots and layers in the roofs of the city:

Close ups from statues, churches and fountains is another of my themes. The first is detail from the Trevi fountain and the second is from one of the three fountains in the Piazza Navona:

OMG, there’s a pigeon on my nose!

From a church in Orvieto:

Same church, here are the colours of Italy in the door detail:

Another theme is windows, here is one through which you can see to the building behind. It is from the Forum area in Rome:

This window harbours a reflection of a nearby building:

Mirror, Mirror on the wall…

I find that domes are much more interesting in the context of their surrounds, like this one:

Another of my themes this trip is light fittings. I have a huge collection of wonderful street lights and shop lights. This is a set from near the Colosseo in Rome:

As luck would have it, United Colors of Beneton is right opposite the Trevi Fountain. So, with your back to the fountain you can see it reflected in the shop window. Here’s the result:

Another morning, I found a map and paper shop with a street light in front. This photo is more reminiscent of a multi shot taken using film and has a collage feel to it – gotta love reflections:

Everywhere throughout Italy you can find religious icons above houses and at nearly every street corner. I have a grab bag of photos of them, this is one of the more elaborate I’ve found:

Finally, who can resist a market such as the one at the Campo de Fiori, and the wonderful variety of fruit on display:

Or this streetside tie display:

And what is a day without some wonderful graffiti?

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Goodbye Florence, Hello Roma!

Today I ended my stay in Florence and took the train to Rome. Before I left Florence, I got up early enough to take the D bus to the Ponte Vecchio as I wanted to photograph the “other side” to the one I’d seen previously. As luck would have it there were a couple of other things I’d seen on earlier trips that I also saw as I walked back to the hotel before checking out so it was a successful hour of photographing.

This corner fountain was one of those things I wanted to capture. So wonderfully unexpected – you fly round the corner and see this… very Florentine:

These are sundry photos from the Ponte Vecchio – it is a very very old bridge with shops along it and the cutest little buildings growing out of it:

This guy was working on a house, and passing bucket loads of broken rubble down to his mate below. They thought it too funny I wanted to photograph them and we exchanged lots of laughs as they posed for the camera:

One of my challenges this trip has been to photograph reflections. They aren’t so easy to capture as we’re so used to looking past them – we just don’t notice they are there. These are first, bright morning sunshine in a window in Florence and then two buildings captured reflected on cars in Rome:

One thing I wasn’t expecting was that it would be still Autumn in Italy. I seriously thought that since I was in Paris last year in Sept/Oct and it was Autumn then that it would be well past it in Italy. Well, I lucked out. Italy has been experiencing very hot weather until the week before I arrived when it started to turn cold. Result? It is Autumn in Italy and the colours are magic. Here are some photos from along the banks of the Arno River showing some of the Autumn colours in the leaves:

It wouldn’t be a happy day if I didn’t find some great graffiti. I’d seen this piece a number of times across the city, and this morning I finally captured it:

More from alongside the Arno River in Florence:

Now we move to Rome. This building towers over the top of the Spanish Steps which, themselves, offer breathtaking views across Rome:

Because no buildings can be taller than one of the churches here, the panorama is spectacular from the Spanish Steps you look out all across the tops of the buildings below:

Last photo for today is this one. Taken as the sun was retreating in the late afternoon, it encapsulates some of the magic of this city – it’s really in the small things that Italy etches herself deep in your soul:

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

Florence IT, wow!

Roof detail, Florence, IT.

Clock near the Domo, Florence, IT.

I came to Florence really to see the statue of David which I had missed out on seeing when I was here the first time. I spent about an hour just sitting and looking at it – it really is a beautiful piece of work. You can’t photograph in there but luckily someone had taken good photos which were available as postcards so I have them.

The rest of Florence, I have now spent two and a half days photographing and I spent today in Siena.

Here are some of the results.
These first photos are from the statuary in the Piazza della Signoria. Photos of some of these statues I’ve been working with for a while now, courtesy of a friend (thanks Greg) who shot them about 8 years ago. It was funny to actually see them with my eyes. I spent quite a time shooting these capturing all sorts of detail as you see:

Of course, obsessed as I am by Graffiti there are always some shots of graffiti to entertain:

These are photos of the Arno River which flows through Florence. The first is of the Ponte Vecchio which is the oldest bridge here. The second is looking the other way.

You think when you see photos of the Domo that is looks pretty but, in reality, it is absolutely spellbinding and the colours and detail in the building are stunning. Here are some detail shots:

This is a tower in Siena – about 50km from Florence. The day was alternately wet and sunny – as luck would have it, sunny at just the right time and the clouds really made the shot:

My themes for this trip include manhole covers and this is one of the ones I found in Florence, I have a very big collection which is growing daily!:

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Venice in Pictures

Venice is the most wonderful place and I took an awful lot of photos. The above is detail from the houses along the Grand Canal.

I loved capturing reflections and these are some of those I lucked upon – you have to catch the canals without traffic and that’s not easy in a city that has no cars so everyone walks or boats:

These next photos are the same place – one is a what is above the water and the other the reflection. I just love laundry hanging out to dry and Italy is laundry heaven!

Just to prove I can get up early. These photos are from a walk along the Grand Canal at dawn just as the sun came up. You won’t catch St Marks’s square empty like this at any other time of the day:

Gondolas are one method of transport in Venice but not the only one. Vaporetti are public ferries and they go up and down the Grand Canal and around the lagoon. The Vaporetto stops are floating barges with yellow strips so they’re easy to see. Some stops have barges for each direction, some stops the same barge works for both:

Gondolas go where you want them to go – they’re expensive and only 2 of the 6 seats are actually side by side and sitting back, the rest are upright and look pretty damn uncomfortable if you ask me.

Traghetti go across the Grand Canal. Because there are are only 3 bridges in around 2miles of Grand Canal sometimes you have to get across it where there isn’t a bridge. A traghetto is the answer – it is cheap to ride – the catch is that you stand up – not for the faint of heart. There are traghetto stations at intervals along the canal.

At one side of the Rialto Bridge there is a huge market each morning where people go to buy food for the day. Here are some images from early morning at the Rialto markets.

This is detail from St Mark’s Basilica:

Ever wondered how UPS, FedEx and DHL deliver in a city with no cars – check this out – DHL boat delivery service:

V for Venice or V for Vendetta – you choose:

Graffiti Venice style:

Lion detail from Victor Emmanuel equestrian statue – Grand Canal:

Grand Canal and minor canal photos:

That’s it for today.

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Monday, October 27th, 2008

This post carries a warning – sensory overload ahead

Burano is an island in Italy and it has to be one of the most colourful places in the world. It’s proof that what your mum told you about mixing colours was way wrong. You see, red and green “can be seen” and if pink and blue aren’t enough, go ahead, add orange and mauve – it’s ok!

I spent half a day photographing this wonderful place. I just put the map in my backpack and started walking. It’s an approach I took to discovering Venice – as soon as you leave the tourist areas, things get really interesting and, it’s an island – it’s not like you can get really lost.

So here, for your enjoyment is the first batch of Burano pix:







For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

Paint in color in Phothoshop with color brushes


If you ask most people they’ll tell you that brushes in Photoshop don’t paint in color. That’s not true. Brushes can paint in all sorts of colors when you know how.

To see this at work, select two colors in your color palette for foreground and background colors and display the brushes palette by choosing Window > Brushes. Click the Color Dynamics checkbox to make sure it is enabled. Drag the Foreground/Background Jitter to a high value and adjust the Hue jitter to a high value as well.

Click the Brush Tip Shape option and, if desired, adjust the spacing to get the best results. For example, if you want the shapes that you’re painting with the brush such as a leaf shape to be separated from each other choose a value higher than 100 percent.

In the Shaped Dynamics area, adjust the Size and Angle jitter, for example to angle the brush and change its size as you paint.

Now click back in the document and drag to paint. You’ll see that the shape that you are painting is rotated and sized because you are using size and angle jitter but it is also painted in color because of the hue jitter value. To get brighter results adjust the brightness jitter so you get some variety in brightness in the painted elements. Whatever the choices you make you’ll never again believe that you cannot paint in color in Photoshop.

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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Thursday, September 25th, 2008

Return to your Photoshop tool defaults


One issue with tools like the Photoshop Type tool is that it remembers the settings from last time you used it. Sometimes this is a good thing, most often it is not.

If you need to reset the tool or its associated Character or Paragraph palette options, click the tool or palette and from the appropriate flyout menu (the Type tool’s flyout menu is in the top right corner of the Tool Presets dialog), choose Reset Tool.

Make sure you don’t have a text layer selected when you do this if you don’t want its settings changed to match the reset options.

For more Photoshop tutorials and techniques visit www.projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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