Some simple guidelines to photographing panoramas
Tripod - Whenever possible, use a tripod. This will make the construction of the image in photoshop much easier. It will also slow down the process of photographing - allowing more time to contemplate the scene being captured.
Vertical (Portrait) - Whenever possible, make the photographs vertically (portrait). This will maximized the resolution of your final image. Think about it.
Overlap - For each exposure that is made, the next exposure should share about 20% of the frame as the previous one.
Start Simple - Avoid visually complicated scenes at first as they are more difficult to construct later.
What to turn in?
Photograph and construct three final panoramas, each consisting of no less than three images each. You will be turning in three digital files and one panoramic print. What you choose to photograph is up to you!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Assignment Two - Tools
For the next assignment, we will be learning three new techniques. Here they are...
Panoramas - Photographing, constructing, and printing panoramic images.
Scans - Scanning and resizing images from print (newspapers, postcards, magazines), translucent material (film negatives and slides), three dimensional objects, and photographic prints.
Retouching - Repairing faded, cracked, dusty and otherwise damaged or flawed images.
All three parts of this assignment will be due at the end of the semester. Use the extra lab time during print days to complete them. We will be reviewing the proper way to photograph for panoramic images on 02.24.2010. On 03.01.2010, the first hour of class will be spent going over the construction of the panoramic photographs using photoshop.
Panoramas - Photographing, constructing, and printing panoramic images.
Scans - Scanning and resizing images from print (newspapers, postcards, magazines), translucent material (film negatives and slides), three dimensional objects, and photographic prints.
Retouching - Repairing faded, cracked, dusty and otherwise damaged or flawed images.
All three parts of this assignment will be due at the end of the semester. Use the extra lab time during print days to complete them. We will be reviewing the proper way to photograph for panoramic images on 02.24.2010. On 03.01.2010, the first hour of class will be spent going over the construction of the panoramic photographs using photoshop.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Black and White Assignment Details
Work on all files in their original resolution, do not re-size them once they are downloaded from the camera. Save all working files as .psd to maintain all your layer masks. Remember saving a file as a .jpg, then re-opening it and making changes causes destructive edits!!!
Printing will begin on 02/17/2010. Three 8x10 prints will be due along with 6 full resolution .psd files. The due date will be announced on the 17th.
Don't be afraid of the computer.
Printing will begin on 02/17/2010. Three 8x10 prints will be due along with 6 full resolution .psd files. The due date will be announced on the 17th.
Don't be afraid of the computer.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Image Adjustment Tutorials
Here are three informative videos (all using pets) on image adjustment using Adobe Photoshop. They are made using a windows interface and a previous version of the software, but remember, all the same menu items exist on the Apple computers we are using in class.
Image Adjustments
Photoshop edits files in the following two ways. They are...
Destructive edits - changes modifying content in a way that it cannot be changed back to its original state. An example of a destructive edit would be to make a levels adjustment to an image by modifying a layer directly, thus altering it's content permanently.
Non-destructive edits - changes modifying content that modifies the edits rather than the original content. An example of a non-destructive edit would be to make an adjustment layer. Changes can be made to that edit, or adjustment layer without altering other layers or original content. A real world analogy would be walking outside and putting on sunglasses. In doing so you make the world appear darker without actually making it darker. Once you remove your sunglasses, everything is the same as when you put them on.
Destructive edits are BAD! They destroy data, which is information, which is ultimately resolution. Use non-destructive editing techniques whenever possible.
Here's a few types of Adjustment Layers you can add to your image using Photoshop. Please note, these are not all of them, we'll get to the rest later! If you only use adjustments layers to edit your images, you will be making non-destructive edits!
Levels - Adjusts the brightness and contrast using a histogram that represents the tonal values in an image.
Color Balance - Adjusts shifts of color in an image. If an image appears too blue you can make it warmer or more yellow using this tool.
Hue Saturation - Hue is the name of a color, saturation is a color's intensity. An image with no saturation contains no color information, only information on the brightness or darkness of each pixel. This tool adjusts the saturation of any particular hue in an image, or the overall saturation of all the hues.
How to make a New Adjustment Layer in Photoshop CS4?
Chose Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Levels (or any other desired type of adjustment from the list)
Destructive edits - changes modifying content in a way that it cannot be changed back to its original state. An example of a destructive edit would be to make a levels adjustment to an image by modifying a layer directly, thus altering it's content permanently.
Non-destructive edits - changes modifying content that modifies the edits rather than the original content. An example of a non-destructive edit would be to make an adjustment layer. Changes can be made to that edit, or adjustment layer without altering other layers or original content. A real world analogy would be walking outside and putting on sunglasses. In doing so you make the world appear darker without actually making it darker. Once you remove your sunglasses, everything is the same as when you put them on.
Destructive edits are BAD! They destroy data, which is information, which is ultimately resolution. Use non-destructive editing techniques whenever possible.
Here's a few types of Adjustment Layers you can add to your image using Photoshop. Please note, these are not all of them, we'll get to the rest later! If you only use adjustments layers to edit your images, you will be making non-destructive edits!
Levels - Adjusts the brightness and contrast using a histogram that represents the tonal values in an image.
Color Balance - Adjusts shifts of color in an image. If an image appears too blue you can make it warmer or more yellow using this tool.
Hue Saturation - Hue is the name of a color, saturation is a color's intensity. An image with no saturation contains no color information, only information on the brightness or darkness of each pixel. This tool adjusts the saturation of any particular hue in an image, or the overall saturation of all the hues.
How to make a New Adjustment Layer in Photoshop CS4?
Chose Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Levels (or any other desired type of adjustment from the list)
Photoshop CS4 Keyboard Shortcuts
I came across the COMPLETE list of Photoshop CS4 shortcuts. It's a bit overwhelming. Feel free to use it, but need some endless patience and a magnifying glass.
LINK TO EVERY SINGLE PHOTOSHOP CS4 KEYBOARD SHORTCUT
The handout provided in class provides a much smaller list of useful keyboard shortcuts. No magnifying glass required.
Here's a link to some Photoshop CS4 tutorials.
LINK TO EVERY SINGLE PHOTOSHOP CS4 KEYBOARD SHORTCUT
The handout provided in class provides a much smaller list of useful keyboard shortcuts. No magnifying glass required.
Here's a link to some Photoshop CS4 tutorials.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Assignment - Black and White
For this assignment, set the camera to make exposures in black and white. There not be any color information for this assignment, only luminosity. Images may be made in RAW or jpg format. Please set you camera to record the maximum number of pixels.
We will be looking at light. Photographing light. What hides in shadows, what makes your eyes squint. Photograph the things in the world that you can't touch, or see. Stop where it's warm or where it's cold and make a photograph. How is the temperature changing the light, if at all? Re-visit the same scene throughout the day.
For each exposure that you make, photograph the scene again, underexposing 1 stop, then two stops. Then overexpose the scene by 1 stop, then two stops. For each scene there will be 5 exposures.
Make no less than 300 exposures. Bring you images to class on Monday, February 8th. Three 8x10 inch black and white prints will be due at a date to be announced.
We will be looking at light. Photographing light. What hides in shadows, what makes your eyes squint. Photograph the things in the world that you can't touch, or see. Stop where it's warm or where it's cold and make a photograph. How is the temperature changing the light, if at all? Re-visit the same scene throughout the day.
For each exposure that you make, photograph the scene again, underexposing 1 stop, then two stops. Then overexpose the scene by 1 stop, then two stops. For each scene there will be 5 exposures.
Make no less than 300 exposures. Bring you images to class on Monday, February 8th. Three 8x10 inch black and white prints will be due at a date to be announced.
Monday, February 1, 2010
02.01.2010
Terms to know:
Resolution = Information
PPI
DPI
Megapixel
Monitor Resolution vs. Printer Resolution
Bit Depth
Grayscale
RGB
CMYK
JPEG
TIFF
RAW
PSD
Review basic camera operation
Downloading images to the computer
1. Turn on and plug your camera in the computer.
2. iPhoto may automatically launch and ask if you'd like to use it to download your photographs. You don't. Quit iPhoto when it launches.
3. Make a new folder on the desktop named with the date and your name. For example, I would make a folder named "8.24.2009_mcfarland".
4. Click on the hard drive icon on the desktop and navigate to the applications folder. Double click and open the application "Image Capture". It has a camera for an icon.
5. It should recognize your camera. From the "Download To:" drop down box, chose "Other", navigate to the folder you just created on the desktop and click the "Open" button.
6. Click the "Download All" button. Your photographs will begin downloading to the computer, into the folder your designated. You may chose to only download some of the images on the camera. If so, click the "Download Some" button, select the images you'd like to download.
Resizing images for the web using Photoshop
1. Save a copy of your image with a new name. You'll want to do this to avoid overwriting a high resolution image with your new smaller re-sized image. For example, the original file might be named "landscape.jpg", the new file could be called "landscape_for_web.jpg"
2. From the menu, chose Image -> Image Size
3. A dialogue box will appear. In the top of this box is a section labelled "Pixel Dimensions". Change the width to somewhere in between 500 and 800 pixels, make sure the "Constrain Proportions" option is checked.
4. Click "OK" and save your image as a jpg.
Blog set-up
1. Go to http://www.blogger.com
2. Click the "Create A Blog" link and begin setting up your blog.
3. Email me the URL of your new blog.
LTLYM
Post your images along with the assignment number on your blog.
Resolution = Information
PPI
DPI
Megapixel
Monitor Resolution vs. Printer Resolution
Bit Depth
Grayscale
RGB
CMYK
JPEG
TIFF
RAW
PSD
Review basic camera operation
Downloading images to the computer
1. Turn on and plug your camera in the computer.
2. iPhoto may automatically launch and ask if you'd like to use it to download your photographs. You don't. Quit iPhoto when it launches.
3. Make a new folder on the desktop named with the date and your name. For example, I would make a folder named "8.24.2009_mcfarland".
4. Click on the hard drive icon on the desktop and navigate to the applications folder. Double click and open the application "Image Capture". It has a camera for an icon.
5. It should recognize your camera. From the "Download To:" drop down box, chose "Other", navigate to the folder you just created on the desktop and click the "Open" button.
6. Click the "Download All" button. Your photographs will begin downloading to the computer, into the folder your designated. You may chose to only download some of the images on the camera. If so, click the "Download Some" button, select the images you'd like to download.
Resizing images for the web using Photoshop
1. Save a copy of your image with a new name. You'll want to do this to avoid overwriting a high resolution image with your new smaller re-sized image. For example, the original file might be named "landscape.jpg", the new file could be called "landscape_for_web.jpg"
2. From the menu, chose Image -> Image Size
3. A dialogue box will appear. In the top of this box is a section labelled "Pixel Dimensions". Change the width to somewhere in between 500 and 800 pixels, make sure the "Constrain Proportions" option is checked.
4. Click "OK" and save your image as a jpg.
Blog set-up
1. Go to http://www.blogger.com
2. Click the "Create A Blog" link and begin setting up your blog.
3. Email me the URL of your new blog.
LTLYM
Post your images along with the assignment number on your blog.
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