Working with Type/Midterm Due May 2

Week 4: Working with Type 

Lecture:
•    Downloading free fonts (dafont.com) •    Use of Type in Photoshop •    Text Effects •    Rasterizing Type
•    Preparing a new file in preparation for print
•    Converting to correct Color Profiles for Printing

Lab:
•    Using techniques of type from lecture, begin your promo card. We will photograph and scan your personal work in class together.


HW/ Midterm Assignment due next week (Due Week 5 which is May 2nd):
Create a Professional Promo 2 sided card that features at least one of your photos/artworks and has your contact info.
Bring a digital copy of the promo card to class next week (saved as a TIFF with layers), and bring 2 copies of the double sided final print on cardstock (approx 5x7” in size)

Reading: Classroom in a Book Section 7, starting on pg 187

***
Filling Text with an Image:
Open image that you want to fill with text. I chose this watercolor pattern:

Hit "T" for text tool on your keyboard. Click once then start typing.
Adjust the font size and type to cover the area of the image you want to fill the font.
Rasterize type layer by control clicking on type layer.
Use magic wand and click on type (Make sure the contiguous box at the top is not checked)
While the selection is live (ants are running) click on the image layer.

Copy (command C) then Paste (command V).
You now have a new layer of text filled with the imagery which you can paste onto another document.

Text with Texture:

Wacom Tablets

Adobe Photoshop is specifically designed to be used with a Wacom pen tablet. Pen pressure, pen tilt, and even the airbrush's finger-wheel can control attributes like opacity, size, color, and exposure. With a Wacom pen, you have the power to dynamically control Photoshop's tools in the most natural and intuitive way possible.

Photoshop has more than 20 customizable tools that perform at their best with a Wacom pen. Simply press a little harder or softer with your pen for more or less effect. Photoshop feels every slight adjustment that you make with your Wacom pen.

Photographers, designers, and artists choose to work with Wacom pen tablets because Photoshop Quick Masks and Layer Masks are designed to be used with a Wacom pressure-sensitive pen. Color temperature, exposure, blur, and any other Photoshop effect can be applied with pressure-sensitive pen control. To selectively undo the effect, simply turn your pen over and use the pressure-sensitive eraser. Whether making selections, retouching, or applying effects, working with a Wacom pen is clearly the fastest way to work to achieve a smoother, more natural look.

For more info go to: http://www.wacom.com/tips/photoshop.cfm

For tips & a tutorial on how to use the wacom pen plus pen tool to do a composite, go to http://www.wacom.com/tips/tip.cfm?ID=91&STEP=5&category=Photoshop

To buy one, click here.

History

Just a reminder that you can change the amount of steps recorded in your history palatte, up to 1000 (instead of the regular 20)

Go to Photoshop > Preferences > Performance > History > Caches, then type a larger number (perhaps 500?) into "History States".

Basic Tips for Taking Pictures

Week 3: Masking and Adjustment Layers

Class Outline

Lecture:
•    Basics of Masking, creating layer masks
•    What are Adjustment layers?
•    Focus on Curves, Hue/Saturation, Levels
•    Dodge (brighten) and Burn (darken) using curves (lighting corrections)
•    Painting on masks with hard and soft brushes and using a gradient on a mask.
•    Double Processing Camera Raw
•    Sharpening Masks

Lab:
•    In class exercise includes usage of curves adjustment masking, sharpening and layer masks

Homework Due Next Week (Due Apr 25th)
1. Bring in something to scan next week, plus examples of your own artwork.

2. Turn in a TIFF that has 3 adjustment layers: one “S” curve layer, one “dodge” curves layer
and one “burn” curves layer.
3. Required Reading: Classroom in a Book Section 9 (pgs 228-247)

What is a MASK?

Organizing your Layers:
It's important that you separate your layers into groups (by making folders), separating color corrections from retouching and separating pixel layers from adjustment layers. Remember to always put new layers on top as you work. Here is an example of what an organized file looks like:

Sharpening:
 

Open Image from Camera Raw into Photoshop

Duplicate Background Layer

Go to FILTER > OTHER > HIGHPASS. Choose a radius of 2 pixels.

       

Now, on the layers palatte, change the blending mode of your new “Sharpening Layer”  from “NORMAL” to “OVERLAY”

If this is too sharp, lower the layer opacity. If it’s not sharp enough, duplicate this layer or repeat the process with a number higher that 2.

Make a layer mask and invert the mask (Command i). The mask should be black. Paint with a soft white brush on the areas you wish to sharpen.

**Example below: Only the face has been sharpened (as you can see, the mask was inverted and white was painted over the face to reveal the sharpened effect hiding underneath)

You can Dodge (Brighten) and Burn (Darken) using Curves and Masking:

Week 2: Camera Raw & File Formats

Lecture:

• Review of File Formats (shooting JPG vs. RAW)
• Editing in Camera Raw: Maximize your image’s potential before opening it into Photoshop
• Batch saving in Camera Raw, batch renaming in Bridge. 
• Forcing a jpg into Camera Raw
• How to properly save files. “Save as” vs “Save”

Lab: Work on your own images using what we've gone over in class.

• Process in Camera Raw
• Practicing proper saving techniques, batch saving, batch renaming
• File Size: Comparing the size difference of TIFF vs JPG vs PSD

HW due week 3: Process one raw image and save as a TIFF and JPG. Turn in all 3 files labeled as “first_lastname.tif, first_lastname.jpg, first_lastname.nef (or .crw for Canon users, etc...)

 Reading: Classroom in a Book Section 4 (pgs 96-121)

 

Class Outline: Image Manipulation  Week 2

April 11, 2011

1. Go over HW. Show Erin the layered TIFF on your computer, then save as a JPG, name file as your_name.jpg and place on the Transfer drive

2. Camera Raw Overview

            Sliders to pay attention to: top 5

            Special Attention to White balance

            Special Attention to blue text at bottom (make sure you process at 300dpi)

            Batch Save Images

3. 72 vs 300 DPI/ Resolution

4. 300dpi Lo-res Saving: SCRIPTS: With a folder of images, using “Scripts” (FILE > SCRIPTS > IMAGE PROCESSOR) in Photoshop, create a folder of  lo-res jpgs appropriate for online use (approx 800x800 pixels, sRGB color profile). Take note of the file size (in Megabytes) of the hi-res images vs. lo-res images.

5. 72dpi LO- Res Saving: SAVE FOR WEB: automatically saves everything as 72 dpi

6. Test out one of the lo-res web size images you’ve made in Photoshop. Try enlarging it to approx 8x10” in size, as if you were going to print it. How does it look?

**You can convert Big to small, but you CANNOT convert small into BIG!!! (kind of like a haircut…once it’s gone, it’s gone)

7. Image size vs. Canvas Size: Open up a large TIFF in Photoshop. Go to FILE > IMAGE SIZE. Change the file to web size by no dimension longer than 800 pixels. Notice how one size is dependant on the other*. This is the “long” way to change each image into web size. Now make the canvas size. Now, once side is not dependant on the other, you can make the length of each side whatever you wish, and empty space will fill in the void. Add a white border around your image, making it approx 1000x1000px, centered.

8. Quiz

9. Questions/ Demos/ Open lab to work on your own images using the tools we’ve gone over.

Week One- April 4th/ Intro

Class Outline for Week 1, April 4, 2012

Lecture: 

• Introduction of Instructor and Students 

• Go over syllabus 

• Fill out questionnaire 

• Photoshop Basics: Orientation of palattes, overview of tools, layers, brushes 

• Intro to Bridge: Organizing your images 

• The importance of shooting RAW, Brief Intro to Raw

Lab: 

• Exercise using Photoshop tools 

• Discussion and exercise on image size, file formats (JPG/PSD/TIFF/RAW)  

• Simple Photo repair exercise: using patch, clone and healing tool on a portrait 

HW due week 2 (April 11th): Retouch one portrait, save as TIFF with layers. Reading: Classroom in a Book 

Sections 1 and 2 (pgs. 12-65) and Section 5 starting on pg. 124

Tools: