Page 2 - Premedia Arts | Widen

A Simple Color Manipulation Tip for Photography

Monday, June 15, 2009 by Premedia Arts

Create a Luminosity Selection
Starting with a self portrait I created at the Armstrong Redwoods in the Russian River Valley of northern California. I wanted to add a bit of detail to the highlights and add density at the same time. Here's how I did it!

Loading Luminosity
Cmd + Opt (Mac) / Ctrl + Alt (Win) + 2 loads the luminosity of an image as a selection. This can then be used for a variety of manipulations such as adjusting color or building density.

Command + J will make a new layer out of your luminosity selection. Then I toggled thru the layer modes (do this by hitting V (for move tool) then use the shift and +). I really liked the way multiply adds density and detail to the highlights.

The Result
A lovley image with jsut the right amount of depth and movement.

xx joy

Logos, Promotional Materials, Corporate Branding OH MY!

Monday, June 8, 2009 by Premedia Arts

Stamp Your Brand

Over the weekend I was trying to come up with some logos, you know, just for fun. If your anything like me, and you probably are if your reading blogs about Photoshop, you work all day in Photoshop then head home and continue the madness...

Here is a fun little project to get your week started. Logos come in all shapes and sizes and are a must for corporate branding, promotional materials, or any premedia service. I love the look of grungy, noisy, faded graphics. So making a stamp out of all the grunge brushes that I have made or accumulated over time seemed only natural.

The How To's and What For's

I'm not going to go into detail on how to load brushes, you can see how to make a brush in my earlier blog about brushes, or you can just Google grunge brushes and get your own.

Pick a font and type your word, I used Tahoma Bold. Next you are gonna want to rasterize your text. I then added a layer mask to apply my grunge brush to take away some ink, like a nice used stamp...

Texture is nice...

I added a new layer on top of my text layer, added a nice grungy frame to give some texture to the stamp.

Handmade is beautiful.

Merge your layers and rotate slightly to give it a lovely human touch.
I then added a crumpled piece of paper to the mix, because in real life, a stamp would be on paper.. right?

Pick your Color!

Pick your ink color and stamp stamp stamp.. If you are going to be using your logo a lot, and why wouldn't you, create a brush out of it (again... see my blog on making brushes) and it will be good to go when ever you need to stamp your logo.

Creating a Photo Composition for Social Media

Monday, June 1, 2009 by Premedia Arts

Give your Twitter page some serious style!

I have been so immersed in the land of social media over the last two weeks, that my husband and various co-workers are telling me to put down the mouse and step away from the tweeting. I just can't do that... everyday I learn something new about social media. I am embracing it with open arms!

Today I put together a little show on how I built my background for my Twitter page. Everyone should be doing this! Its a great way to set yourself apart from all the tweeters out there and maybe get a few more followers.

The first thing I did was start a new file about 26"x13" @ 72 dpi. Using a template made for Twitter backgrounds (I added a download for the template below, your welcome). You can pick the screen resolution you use and create the background so it flows well with your browser. Lots of people use lots of different screen resolutions and remember that your twitter stream will cover part of your background, but it also moves depending on the size of your browser window. Play with Twitter for a while and you'll get what I'm talking about...

You will want to bulid your background UNDER the template and make sure you turn it off before saving fo the web! You really don't want your template as part of your design... that's no bueno.

I added different elements to make my Twitter background reflect who I am and what I like to do... ART!

Try to add shadows to elements, for me, it is all about looking real. I made it in Photoshop, but I want it to look like I could have taken a photo of my workspace and uploaded it to Twitter. Badda Bing Badda Bang!

Now once you have your background all jazzed up and ready to go you will want to save for web. The trick here is to optimize to file size. You want your saved .jpg to be no larger than 800k. Save with extension turned on and get ready to upload.

Once you are logged on to Twitter go to Settings, then click the Design tab (the last one). At the bottom you will see Change background image, click this. Click Browse and locate your background. Sometimes it previews for you.. sometimes it won't.. click save changes and BAM your beautiful new background is now live and glorious!

Adding a background is a great way to add more information about you and what you do... You can use it for promotional materials, corporate branding or just for fun! Leveraging social media networks is an important part digital asset optimization.

Once your background is live start following @TwitterBGallery. They hold monthly contest on the baddest and raddest backgrounds on Twitter... and let me know too... I'd love to see what you gurus of greatness come up with for Twitter!

The possibilities are endless... now get tweeting and don't forget to stop and say HI @premediaarts

Download your Twitter Template here!

Wide Format Digital Printing at Widen

Monday, May 11, 2009 by Premedia Arts

Prior to working at Widen, I applied my expertise to color retouching for fine art reproductions. Creating exact reproductions of an artist's vision is not an easy task. Here are some things I have learned over the years to help achieve the best reproductions of your work.

Let's talk RGB

In the ever expanding world of Premedia Arts, digital is now the norm. Hopefully the fine art of printing will not become a thing of the past. With so many ways to get your digital creations out there we cannot leave behind the good feeling of holding a printed masterpiece in our hands.

Personally, I work the bulk of my files in RGB... sometimes I do ALL my work in RGB then convert for output. RGB as a color space has a much wider color gamut, you can change colors more easily and make larger changes to exposure and contrast too. Have I lost you yet?... boy, this can be pretty dull... lets liven it up with some fun images...

An image that is in RGB mode is optimized for display on a computer monitor. In order to reproduce that very same image using ink on paper, it must be converted to the CMYK. This is where we might run into trouble... If you have been working on a super vibrant RGB image and then convert your file to CMYK for output you might feel a little let down... Your super sexy colors in RGB are now a little drab and dull in CMYK.

First let's check your color settings... Go to Edit - Color Settings (command + shift + k on a mac) I always work in Adobe RGB 1998. You'll want to make sure your settings reflect your final output. If your goal is to display your masterpiece on the web or on a device (monitor, iphone, etc) keep with RGB. However, when your ready to print your CMYK profile should be the same as the output device you are printing to.

Of course, we are assuming that your monitor is calibrated...

You can use a number of methods to calibrate your monitor. Two low cost solutions are the X-Rite Colormunki for about $500, or the X-Rite i1 Display for around $200. Both solutions will allow you to calibrate and profile your monitor. The Colormunki is a full blown spectrophotometer that will also sample colors and profile a printer. Read more at Mark Pajari’s blog: Go Bananas with X-Rite's New Colormunki.

As far as settings go, a typical LCD display should be calibrated to a white point of 6500, gamma 2.2, and a luminance of around 120 cd/m2. You can increase the luminance a bit if you work in a brighter environment. A new monitor out of the box is usually set way too bright, often over 300 cd/m2. So calibrating it and bringing down the luminance is a very good start.

If you are still using a CRT display, as soon as you are done reading this blog, get in your car and go buy a new LCD display. Put it in place today. Really, if you care about the color of the work you produce from your computer, a good LCD display is a smart and cost effective investment.

Widen Prints

Need a large print for promotional materials? Maybe something from your corporate image library? Looking to reproduce your best image as a small edition to sell at galleries or art shows? Whatever your needs, your files are in good hands with Widen.

We use either the Epson 9880s or the HPZ6100. The Epson uses K3 ink technology, the HP using their own version, called HP Vivera inks. The Epson has a max width of 44", the HP max width is 60". All of our devices are put to the test on a daily basics, printing everything from beautiful full color landscapes to subtle sepia tones creations. We are always checking for consistency and accuracy in all of our prints so you are sure to receive the finest quality print Widen can produce.

Substrates

We use HPs Premium Instant Dry Satin Photo Paper and are currently testing various papers with matte finishes. In the future we will be expanding our substrate list as the demand increases.

Color Space

Nothing traditional here...
Widen will print your images on both machines in RGB using Adobe'98 color space. We are still experimenting with 16 bit color and other gamuts that will help your images reach their fullest potential.

What do we need from you?

Simple. You supply us with your RGB file and depending on your level of expertise you can request just a print or have one of our experienced color operators give your file our undivided attention. We will convert the file, if needed, spot check for any flaws and complete any specific direction you might have for us.

Remember the past, live in the present, and plan for the future.

In the coming weeks I will be diving in deeper to wide format printing at Widen. For now, you can get more info and a price quote by clicking the link below:

Wide Format Prints at Widen

Psst... I will be interviewing one of the GREATS in the world of fine art reproduction! So stay tuned and follow me on twitter or Behance for all the latest and greatest in the great big world of Premedia Arts!

Fun with Photo Composition

Monday, April 27, 2009 by Premedia Arts

Make Your Own Fun!

That is if making a brush of your very own in photoshop is fun.. and to me its a blast.
(I need to get out more) I create brushes for all kinds of effects to use on photo compositions and in color retouching.

Create a new file that is 2500x2500 px this will give you the biggest brush possible. You'll be able to decrease the brush size later.

I like to start with a grayscale file, when you create a brush preset it will automatically make the brush grayscale. Anything white will be transparent and anything black will be opaque... of course this means that everything in between will have varying degrees of opacity.

I like to start in grayscale so I have better idea what my final brush will look like. This does not mean, if you have a reference file you want to use, like i do, that it has to be a grayscale image. You can convert any image to grayscale and go from there...

I am going to make a grungy frame like brush. I like adding frames and other artifacts to my images. Anything that takes my images from ordinary to extraordinary is muy bueno.

Here is my starter file

From here I am going to make my image grayscale, you can do this anyway you want.. you can convert the whole thing to grayscale or do like I did and just completely desaturate the image by pressing command - shift - U (on a mac). Because this file is going to end up as a brush you don't need to be super critical of how you get to grayscale... trial and error is a great thing and many great images are the results of happy accidents.

From here you can go a little crazy.. cranking the contrast... masking out areas you don't want to see on your final brush... adding noise or other filters.. I encourage you to get creative with this.. it is meant to be fun... remember?

Here is what i got after a few minitus of playing...

I added contrast.. some noise... and i inverted the whole image *** remember the white will be transparent and the black will be opaque *** and dragged it onto the document I made at the start of this madness... (2500x2500 px grayscale) Make sure your image takes up as much of the 2500x2500 as possible then crop out any white space, just to be neat and tidy.

now comes the really important step... actually making the brush

Edit - Define Brush Preset - a little window will pop up you can then give your brush a groovy name and click OK

Congrats! You just made a brush in photoshop... Now use it..

Here are a few pointers on how to get rockin' results with your new brush

Paint on a blank layer that is on top of your image. This way you will have more control over different modes as well as opacity of the effect.

In the brushes pallet you can take your brush even further by changing the spacing or flipping the x and y axis...

I like to build up in layers with different brushes to create a final "look".

One things for sure... You'll either like it or you won't... and I'm ok with that, as long as everyone is having fun!

ciao
-joy

Layer Styles and Layer Masks for Prepress Production

Monday, April 13, 2009 by Premedia Arts

Ahhhh its the simple things really....

When your building a photo composition or working in any premedia service doing color retouching you can use lovely creative software such as Photoshop to help you create all kinds of fantastic imagery...

Sometimes, now matter how smart you think you are.. there is something sooo simple that you think.. Why didn't I know this sooner... get ready here is that moment!

When I stumbled across this totally simple and easy tip I knew I had to share it with the masses...

I've set up this simple example to demonstrate just what I'm talking about...

Step 1

I created a simple recycle icon on its own layer and added some layer styles... drop shadow... bevel and emboss

Step 2

Next I am going to make a layer mask using the rectangular marquee tool..

The issue we’re going to solve today now becomes really obvious. I masked the recycle icon, but Photoshop has now automatically adjusted all the layer styles to fit with the layer mask. Now, sometimes you want this to happen… sometimes you don’t.

Ready for the tip???

Here we go...

If we open the Layers Styles dialog for the recycle icon layer we are by default opened to the Blending Options page. You’ll notice that in the center of the dialog is a section called Advanced Blending and inside that area is Layer Mask Hides Effects. By default this checkbox is not checked. Notice also that the next unchecked box is for Vector Masks, which means that this tip can work for both types of masks.

If I click on the Layer Mask Hides Effects box, you can see that now the mask is independent of the Layer Styles and is applied to the actual pixels on the layer AND the layer style in exactly the same way. WOO HOO!! no more bleeding shadows if you don't want them...

Have fun... and stay tuned... my next post will have some fun freebies for you to download!!

ciao-

joy

Hair Mask Quick Tip for Color Retouching

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 by Premedia Arts

Hair Mask Quick Tip

Masking hair can be a pain! When your trying to make a photo composition, by putting a model on a new background for example, or if your going to be doing any color retouching on your model you know you are gonna need to mask out the hair in order to color correct the flesh.

I have used this hair mask technique not only to mask hair but to mask out anything that has contrast. Its super simple and almost always gets you 75% or more of what your masking.

Lets start with this great picture of the wonderful Jerry Garcia. I need to put him on a new background.

The first step is to view your channels. Find the channel that has the most contrast between your subject and the background.

For this image the blue channel seems to have the best contrast. Duplicate that channel. Now working from that channel, set your colors to default colors by hitting D. Select a paintbrush. Set the mode to overlay. The opacity to 100% and the flow to 50%. Now your ready to paint the mask.

As you paint along the edge of the hair switch between foreground and background colors by hitting the X. Take your time and go back and forth along Jerry. You see that a dark overlay brush will only pick up the darker tones and the white brush will only pick up the light tones of the background.

Thats about it.. you might need to play with the mask some more by coloring with a normal brush here and there.

Never fear the overlay brush will get you there...

peace

-joy

Into the Light

Tuesday, April 7, 2009 by Premedia Arts

What the heck is Premedia Arts anyway?

With so many wonderful ways to utilize Photoshop it was hard to pick a good place to start. So lets start at the top... Photoshop can be used as a photography workflow management tool, to create logos for corporate branding, color retouching, photo composition, prepress production, or in what I like to call Premedia Arts.

I'm here to help you navigate through most of what Photoshop has to offer for the lost creative souls out there... I like to create photo compositions and take my photography to another level. My camera is a vehicle to get my "sketch" to Photoshop. This is where the magic happens for me. Now, I know all you old school photo cats and kittens out there are cringing right now.. saying "You can do that in the camera!" Well, I love photoshop and, honestly, I know photoshop better than my camera. So I use that to my advantage whenever possible. Sure I could go out and shoot with a Holga and get really cool and groovy shots. But, why?? When I can take the base shot with my Nikon and have all sorts of control over the final creation in Photoshop.

So lets get started and see what we can create together....

I like to call this little gem...

Light Rays

My hubby and I were walking in the woods one day... with the camera of course... so I snapped this shot:

After looking at the image more closely I thought, man I would really like to see more light coming through the trees... well as everyone likes to say.. I'll just photoshop it.

First off lets duplicate the background, just so we have an unedited version.. just in case we hate what we do and want to go back...

Most of this is total personal preference.... So if the light was coming in stronger through the trees, my hubby would have more of a back lit look to him... so I added a curve adjustment layer to the image and pulled the shadow end over until i got the effect I needed...

I like to use it as an adjustment layer so after we make the light rays we can make the shadows darker still or lighter if we want to.

Now, make sure your on the image layer and go to Select - Color Range. Use the eyedropper tool to select the white parts between the trees.. like so...

You don't need to be super exact here... you can see that Color Range will pick out the whites in the snow too...

Once you hit OK you'll see your dancing ants... subtract off any areas that are not in the trees... the snow... any foreground stuff... you know...

Then command J, this will take your selection to a layer of its very own... you can label this one light rays if you like.

Now its magic time...

Go to Filters - Blur - Radial Blur- use the info I used below.. You can drag around on the Blur Center to get a good starting point for your rays.. Also play around with the Amount I used 50, but you can totally push the limits here to see what sort of result you'll get.. you can also do this as a smart object.. but that is a blog for another time...

OK this and see your rays baby!

I did a little more after this... like duplicating the ray layer to get a more intense effect.

Now you can add that heavenly glow to your images too.

Coming soon.... I'll add a PSD file for you to download so you can see the complete package and flip throught the layers to get a better idea of how I built my file.

Ciao,

Joy

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