August, 2005
Photoshop Madness Continued
We continue this month's edition with...
"Ask The Experts"
Did you notice how all these new "blog" sites offer an "ASK THE EXPERT" style column? We were simply amazed at how many experts there are. Search in Google for "Photoshop + Ask the Expert" and you'll see. Except most of the time the column is a blog chat thread disguised as a "Help" column wherein the people with the problems are left to help other people with problems.
Here's one we found where the "Experts" helped solve a color problem...
- Victim: I was wondering if someone could help....it seems that with some of my images, the colors are different on the net than they were in the image as I was working on it. Is there any way to remedy this? (Using Photoshop version 5)
- Expert #1: It has something to do with the colour profile that you use, I don't understand to much about it Heres a link with more information. Also I'm pretty sure if you make the wrong changes it could fu*&k things up
- Expert #2: Manchester UK but I aint no manc oooh no sir-ree (you know it is the sunniest place on earth :oD) lol good advice serps.... but that truely is a useless example ha ha. we shall rise again one day...out of the ashes to become the masters of our own destiny...one day my friends...one day
- Victim: hmm...thanks for the link. i guess it's nothing i can really fix, because i don't think those options exist on 5.0. Oh well, thanks anyway...it's so frustrating
- Expert #3: I am NO PRO but I do know what you are talking about. I finish my chops, and then take the brightness WAY down. Leaving the contrast the same, and they come out closer to what I originally had once posted.
- Expert #4 It IS the colour profile, most fer sher! I just did a lot of research - I don't know about 5.0 but in 7, CS, CS2 there is a place to set the colour SPACE of your image. The web is basically sRGB standard. Adobe RGB 1998 will get all dulled down (as in that example above where the gold looks flatter and duller in Adobe RGB) if you save it as such to the web. There is a feature (I doubt 5.0 has it ;( ) in the newer PS where you can convert it. Again, SAVE FOR WEB allows you to see what is going on in advance.
Sorry that you are stuck with 5.0. It does cause some of these sucky issues due to its Mature Date of Creation - END of THREAD, Return to Ask the Experts
Whew. Glad we found those experts! Actually not, our "experts" don't agree with the above.
Facing Off with Photoshop
Then we got email from Jim Singer, who writes to tell us about the Photoshop Faceoff site. Here's another of those blog-driven, automated-by-robots sites that depends 100% on users for content, yet sells advertising. This one has an interesting diversion where members take a daily image and modify it in anyway they choose.. Other members then vote and comment on their favorite entries and at the end of each Face-Off a "winner" is declared! We have no idea what they win nor what incentive there is to participate other than seeing your art online. For instance, you are challenged to take this ordinary apple and turn it into something extraordinary like this yawning mouth or beautifully done cube. Our favorite is the Dog/Fish.
You will find lots of interesting things at the Photoshop Faceoff web site.
On the down side the site is fully automated, calling large images from their database repositories takes considerable time. We tested on Cable and it works okay, but DSL and worse dialup users bring coffee and perhaps lunch because load times could be as high as two minutes.
Richard Schneider is Back
We ran one of Richard's tutorials once before -- and we had a number of emails saying thank you. Seems Richard's are perfect for the rank beginner -- so if you fit that category, try these:
- Black and White Retouching - Learn how to retouch black and white photos like the pros. More specifically, how to create harsher darks and lights -- black, white, harsher, darks, lights
- Enlarge a Photo for Large Prints - This tutorial is to help you learn how to blow-up or enlarge a picture.� You might wish to do this to make a bigger print or for numerous other reasons.
- Basic and Advanced Photo Touch-ups - This section is to help you learn simple photo corrections and how to fix the minor imperfections and make a photograph look the best it possibly can.� Includes use of many adjustment layers and removal of objects using the clone tool.
- Photo Restorations in Photoshop - This section is to help you learn how to restore old photos that have chips, scratches, ink spills, or just things that you don't want in the picture.� Includes thorough instruction on using the clone tool in this situation.
- Diffused Black and White - This tutorial is to help you learn how to make a diffused black and white photo effect.� This is a great technique for giving black and white photos a kind of soft and surreal look.
And, that wraps up another edition of Photoshop Madness. If you'd like to participate, just submit a good tutorial that you've found or submit a good resource that you've found. If you are a Photoshop Professional and would like to be recognized in Photoshop 911, send us your brief profile. If you'd like us to come and visit your Photoshop Resource Site, just give us a jingle.
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