Todays color manipulation involves removing a glass shower door.
Here is our original file. The new version of this digital asset required I remove some componets. Versioning is quite common in our premedia industry.
The client asked that I remove all the metal frame work as well as the textured shower door. Thus leaving a completely exposed tiled shower and all the accompanied hardware.
My first step was to do all the appropriate masking required to color correct, digial retouch, and digital image manipulation.
Once the image was masked I used Adobe Photoshops Content Aware Scaling, Vanishing Point, Object Transform, Delicate Airbrushing via a Wacom Intuos Tablet, and selective layers with precise masking.
Here is the final image with all premedia color retouch and digital manipulation applied:
Animated view showing different steps of the process:
Catatlog production services, color retouching, and robust prepress experience go into each and every one of these little gems.
Many of my premedia / prepress clients have digital assets that require image extensions based on different uses. Their photo studio might have shot a certain scene in horizontal format, and the image is now needed in vertical for a different purpose. Another scenario may be a picture box in a page layout program ( Quark / InDesign ) is expanded by a graphic designer. The newly formed "white space" needs image data created. As is the case below. My client had a very nice legacy image that was retrieved from the image management system. This image needed to be versioned for a new purpose. My job was to use my high end Adobe Photoshop retouching and color correction skills to expand the bounds of the digital image, filling the new required space. The extension of this room scene wasn't as difficult as the image I posted in the prior blog. The wooden floor boards were easily stepped and repeated as necessary. You can see I did some selective masking and color correction on our clients amazing products.
Before
After Color Correction and Extending the Lower Floor Boards
Many of my premedia / prepress clients have digital assets that require image extensions based on different uses. Their photo studio might have shot a certain scene in horizontal format, and the image is now needed in vertical for a different purpose. Another scenario may be a picture box in a page layout program ( Quark / InDesign ) is expanded by a graphic designer. The newly formed "white space" needs image data created. As is the case below. My client had a very nice legacy image that was retrieved from the image management system. This image needed to be versioned for a new purpose. My job was to use my high end Adobe Photoshop retouching and color correction skills to expand the bounds of the digital image, filling the new required space. This particular image may have been the "trickiest" background extension this post processor has ever tackled. Using tricks such as vanishing point, content aware scaling, healing brush, and good ole' fashion cloning. The contour of the tile, light fall-off, and scene elements made this image fierce competitor, but in the end, the results were superb.
Before
New Image with Background Extension and Additional Color Corrections Applied
Many of my premedia / prepress clients have digital assets that require image extensions based on different uses. Their photo studio might have shot a certain scene in horizontal format, and the image is now needed in vertical for a different purpose. Another scenario may be a picture box in a page layout program ( Quark / InDesign ) is expanded by a graphic designer. The newly formed "white space" needs image data created. As is the case below. My client had a very nice legacy image that was retrieved from the image management system. This image needed to be versioned for a new purpose. My job was to use my high end Adobe Photoshop retouching and color correction skills to expand the bounds of the digital image, filling the new required space. This was on of the more tricky images I have worked. Using tricks such as vanishing point, content aware scaling, healing brush, and good ole' fashion cloning.
Original Image
New Image with Background Extension and Additional Color Corrections Applied
Careful selections, masking, and photo composition skills made this image possible. We now have a new media asset repurposed via high end prepress production.
Create a Luminosity Selection Starting with a self portrait I created at the Armstrong Redwoods in the Russian River Valley of 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 lovely image with just the right amount of depth and movement.
Production artists face many challenges throughout a day. Maybe you need to clone grass from one document to another or quickly shift between brushes and sizes.
All of this can be done super simply with your keyboard, stylus, or mouse. Try these tips to make your life easier!
Resizing Brushes
Tapping the left and right brackets to increase / decrease your brush size is so last year. Try using the new Drag-resize brush cursor keyboard shortcut in Photoshop CS4 to make changes to the brush size. Ctrl + Option (Mac) / alt + right click (win) -drag will increase/decrease brush size. Add the Cmd (Mac) /shift (Win) to change hardness.
Changing Brush Opacity
To change the opacity of a painting tool, use the number keys on the keyboard. Tapping one number assigns the percentage of the hit number (1 = 10%, 2= 20% etc. and 0 = 100%). Hitting two numbers quickly will give you that exact amount (5 + 4 = 54%). Note: If you have a tool selected that is not a painting tool, these shortcuts will affect the Opacity on the Layers panel.
Heal and Clone Between Documents
You can use the Healing brush and Clone Stamp tools between two open documents: Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click in the source document and then clone in the destination document.
Heal and Clone Stamp to Multiple Layers
For added flexibility, use the Healing Brush and Clone Stamp tools to clone to blank layers by checking Sample "All Layers" in the Options bar. In addition, you can choose to Sample the "Current & Below" layers. This can be extremely helpful when cloning image layers and adjustment layer information simultaneously.
One More Tip
I recently became a fan of Adobe Photoshop on Facebook and you should too! They post fun stuff and everyone gets involved. From "What's Your Favorite Shortcut" to some interesting posts from NAPP!
Todays tip will involve using Lab color space in Adobe's Photoshop CS4. We'll make a curves adjustment layer, tweak the a / b channels, adjust the layer opacity, and BAM! Your photo just got more color than a new 64 pack of Crayola's ! Prepress color management and color manipulation done fast.
Step one, open your image and under "Edit" menu, use the Convert to Profile command, and choose Lab.
Step Two go to Layer, New Adjustment Layer, Curves
Next Select the a channel, click on the curve (straight line) and put a point right at 50,50
Next Select the b channel, click on the curve (straight line) and put a point right at 50,50
Now take the endpoint shown below in the a channel, and drag it over to a point just to the left side of the histogram. In this particular image, the data starts around the 0,30 point.
Now take the endpoint shown below in the b channel, and drag it over to a point just to the left side of the histogram. In this particular image, the data starts around the 0,30 point.
Our final step is to adjust the layer opacity. The curve layer adjustment at 100% is a bit too saturated. I'm going to set the opacity to 60% as you can see below. This produces a nice looking colorful image, which should standout from the rest of your digital - image assets. This simple color correction technique takes less then one minute, and you can easily automate the process for a group of photos!
*Tip for advanced users. If you select the midpoints we anchored (50,50), use the arrow keys to subtley offest the points position. In doing this you can add / remove color casts to images. Use the a channel for red / green, b channel for blue / yellow. DAM! Color Retouching isn't that difficult after all.
If you work in prepress production you are going to have to create a photo composition sooner or later. So I thought I would give you a few tips on how to make two images become one.
Even Lighting and High Quality Masks
It takes a bit of artistic know how and a dash of creativity to pull off a quality photo composition. This first thing I do is bring the two images into the same document. Now compare the lighting, tone, and "style". The final look might be directed to you from an art director, client, or it might come from your own artistic style. Dancing in the Street
In my example image I used a stock street scene and a model shot taken in my studio. I wanted the final image to look like the model was dancing in the street. On the model I added more hair, tattoos, make-up, a grounding shadow, some light rays in her new hair, and then to achieve a grunge look I added contrast, noise, and desaturated her slightly.
A High Contrast Background
For the street scene I added lens flare, highlights via a white layer set to overlay, noise and a simple S curve for contrast.
Bring it All Together!
Placement was key as was the grounding shadow for the model. Get these two things wrong and the final comp will just look like a great big cut and paste project. The key is to make it look like you photographed her right there on that street! So how did I do?
Have you made any photo comps that you just HAVE to share? Send me a link or a tweet (@PremediaArts) I 'd love to see what your creating!
On this St. Patrick's day, I thought I would pause to give props to the cool neural sensation we refer to as GREEN. This is "The Color Space", after all. Did you think I was going to discuss waffle makers here? No, for that you will have to see my blog called, "The Small Home Appliance Space".
As the list at the top of this post indicates, there are so many ways to convey the color green. It doesn't matter if you are a color scientist, color management geek, painter, photographer, school lunch lady, or St. Patrick's Day reveler, green has different meanings for everybody.
Quick Quiz: The image above is a) PMS 356C b) 59R 138G 73B c)GREEN, you idiot! d) The Libyan flag e) All of the above.... The answer of course is "e". Duh. Anytime you are given a choice of "all of the above", take it. This thought process never steered me wrong on multiple guess quizzes at John Marshall Senior High School. And I don't know if there is any truth to the rumor that the guy who designed the logo on the Cleveland Browns football helmets also designed the Libyan flag.
"The color green is everywhere in nature, satisfying our spirits and filling us with neutrality and peace. Green comes alive in clover fields, rolling hills, and the leaves of a tall aspen forest. Easy on the eyes and naturally calming, green symbolizes life, harmony and wealth. Soothing as green tea, or invigorating as fresh mint, green will create a restful environment and promote well-being in any home... "
No, I didn't write that last paragraph, thank you very much. It was written by some copywriter in the marketing department of the Pittsburgh Paint company. They want you to buy some green paint to put on your bathroom walls because it's better than that dull taupe color you have in there right now. What are you thinking? That Taupe doesn't even come close to matching the new soap dispenser and tooth brush caddy you bought at Bed, Bath and Beyond last month...
Green is the color of nature, trees and grass. Green is the color of spring and new life. Green is the color of Kermit the Frog who often crooned about the difficulty of being green. Green is the color of money and greed. Green is the color of envy and jealousy. Green is the name of the room that Lady Ga Ga waits in before she comes out on Leno. Green is the color of ecology and conservation. Green is also the color of those canvas bags at the grocery store that the Prius drivers want me to use instead of paper or plastic. Who needs all that canvas in the landfills? That seems wasteful. I'm sticking with plastic. Green is the color of youth. Green is the color we say someone is if they are new to something. Green is the color of the Libyan flag. That's it. Just green. Really. Green is the color of the jacket that Tiger left in the hotel room. Green Day is a good band. Green Bay Packers are a good football team. Green is one of the colors of Christmas.
As my friend Kermit the Frog sings, it's not easy being green. So next time you find yourself 89C 10M 98Y 10K with envy, pour a tall frosty glass of 59R 138G 73B beer or a nice cup of 3b8a49 tea, and relax in the naturally calming PMS 356C room.
Dry version for the more technical: (scroll past this paragraph if your sleepy or hungover) If you have ever worked with lots of RAW files under tight deadlines you know how important it is to have a streamlined workflow. Repetitious tasks must be identified and engineered into quick and fast solutions. If not, your going to be up for a laborious all-nighter, and that cuts into late night fun time. Whatever your late night fun time may be ... Recently with the release of Photoshop CS4 (also an earlier beta DNG version) Adobe has finally created a bit of parity between manufacturers in-camera photo settings and ACR's Camera Calibration-Profiles Tab. What does this mean for you? Less grief and head scratching, and more time at the beach. Rewind back to CS3 and before. Unless you did some complicated ACR camera calibrations with Macbeth target measurement and validations, your camera JPEG files never matched your RAW files when imported into ACR for processing. Also, you might have struggled to properly color correct files because of gamut shifts in certain color hues. (Saturated reds and greens) Now Adobe has kindly done their homework and provided us consumers with pre-canned discrete camera profiles.
Short and sweet version: I have created some camera preset profiles for the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV.
You will find the downloads for each of these below.
Install: Download and decompress the .zip file. You will see the current preset Adobe is offering per the camera model. This preset has naming parity with the in-camera picture styles. (I also thru in a fun one with more to follow ...) Loading these files is easy. There are a few ways to load these into Photoshop CS4. The easiest is to go to the Camera Calibration tab in ACR and click on the little triangular arrow, select load. Navigate to the decompressed .zip file and select load. Now you should see the loaded presets in the ACR Settings tab (which is right next to the Camera Calibration tab. You can also load these presets into the latest version of Lightroom.
Loading Presets for ACR
Loading Presets for Lightroom: You can easily load the Lightroom presets by right clicking on the User Presets text
Or, for Mac users, copy the presets into the following directory
Side Note! These presets incorporate Adobes default ACR settings, except when choosing a camera calibration other than "Adobe Standard".
Here is aslightly posterized animated .gif example visually displaying the differences for your viewing pleasure. I have also included a fun version called "Pseudo HDR" that works quite nicely on certain photos.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Example Beautiful Woman on Waile - Maui Beach Hawaii
Closing: I hope you find these presets helpful. Anyone can make these, the hard part is finding the time. If your like me, usually your in a hurry and process files from the seat of your pants. I try to slow myself down and hone my workflows for better asset management and processing. You will also find these presets handy for importing a large volume of files into Lightroom. Having the ability to quickly apply a preset on import to many files for fast previewing and cataloging is invaluable. Now, if only I could make presets for all the post processing and retouching that follows. I bet Adobe Photoshop CS5 will take care of that! Be the ball Danny ... LINK to ACR-Photoshop/Bridge Presets (.xmp) & Lightroom Presets (.lrtemplate) (.ZIP File)
I work in a small marketing team of about five. We have a designer, a product manager, a brand manager, a marketing assistant and an online marketer. We work closely with the sales and customer success management teams. We often collaborate with the account executives and project services teams on projects. Basically, anyone with a customer-facing role depends on Marketing and Marketing depends on them.
Like many organizations, our marketing communications programs include online marketing, public relations, brand management, event marketing, etc. We produce a number of digital assets that are put to use promote our brand, sell products and services and assist with customer relationship management objectives. These digital assets are owned and created by a number of different people across multiple departments inside the organization and externally. Each department has their own shared folder on the network and many employees also have their own folder as well. It’s easier for each department to work separately and for each employee to keep their work on their desktop. When we have a new project, we just start fresh in creating new materials. It’s just easier to re-create something than go digging through some archive somewhere or turn to someone else.
If for some reason, someone needs something that someone else has worked on, we’ll just email it or post it to the FTP. Sometimes, the materials get too large for email so we’ll just use web-based delivery programs like YouSendIt or something like that. There are all sorts of tools or methods we can turn to… no need to settle on one. If someone needs a logo or letterhead, they can always email our designer and she can stop what she’s working on and send them whatever it is they need. Sometimes it might take a few emails to get it right, but that’s ok she’s paid by the hour.
It’s common for teams to email a project file back and forth a dozen times and still see mistakes in the end. “She said this” and “he said that” and the project file morphs into something totally different than expectations called for. They should have given better directions and should have done a better job keeping track of changes. Version 1… version 2… version 7… Who cares what was done to which version and where they’re at? That’s just part of internal communication breakdowns that all businesses have. Why should Marketing care?
It doesn’t really matter to Marketing that different departments have their own libraries of materials and guidelines that they follow—we don’t have that strong of a brand presence anyway. Inconsistency is just part of business and “brand consistency” is a made up marketing term anyway… it has no financial impact. If companies would just spend more time selling and less time on branding then they’d be more successful, right?
Although it’s a pain in the neck, working with agencies or other partners is another part of marketing. If we work with an agency on a brochure, video or website we’ll just assume they’re keeping all of the original files, master assets and anything else they produced. If we need it later, we’ll just email the agency and wait for them to send a CD with the final files. Hopefully, they’ve kept all the files even though it’s been a couple years since the project. Why should we be care what happened to the files or if we have them later? ...Chances are we’ll never use them again.
If only Sales could do their job. It’s not Marketing’s problem to look after the crap sales teams put together. If our sales teams put together poor-quality presentations and lose a deal, then that’s their fault… they should have done a better job. They deal directly with our customers, they should get it right. If they’re putting together presentations on the road or working after five, then it’s not Marketing’s problem if there’s no one at the office to track down and send them the files they need. They should be better prepared.
Why should Marketing care what materials are accessed by whomever, used wherever and what impacts they had. All we want to do is create content and move on. If that old logo was used for the new proposal, that’s not Marketing’s fault. If that image for the new campaign was used before it was to be available for general use, that’s not Marketing’s problem. Why should we care what materials were used the most or had the greatest impact? We know what’s best because we’ve always done it that way. That’s Marketing for you… the department that doesn’t require accountability or intelligence.
This is the thirteenth video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. After 21 years, Widen has never let Edge down. Edge thinks of Widen as a partner in providing digital asset management solutions and services. Cheryl explains that there is not another company that can provide the capabilities and service levels that Widen provides to the Edge catalog publishing workflow. Widen has delivered DAM tools and services that provide a huge impact to the catalog production process. Widen has helped Edge cut page production timelines down by 20-30 minutes per page. Edge has been able to reduce freelance time while increasing efficiency with their internal staff. Watch the video to learn more about why Edge has stayed with Widen through 21 years of working together.
This is the twelfth video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. At the start, Edge did not have a lot of IT resources. They needed to figure out a system to make up time and be better prepared and “always on.” The Widen SaaS structure ensures Edge will always have their images and other digital assets available. As a DAM software as a service provider, Widen provides Edge with business continuity and disaster recovery. Watch the video to learn about the extraordinary example of service Widen brings to a partner in need.
This is the eleventh video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. There isn’t a challenge relating to the catalog production and digital asset management workflow that hasn’t been looked at. Cheryl is amazed that Widen is a company that doesn’t stop coming up with new ideas. “Widen is a color house that doesn’t stop coming up with new ideas.” Watch the video to learn more about meeting client challenges with DAM services.
This is the tenth video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. A partner is someone that will let you know when there is good news or bad news. They let you know when there’s a problem. They let you know when there’s a solution. They let you know when there are better ways to do things. The relationship between Edge and Widen is more like a partnership than a vendor-client relationship. All employees are working together for a common goal. Watch the video to learn more about working with Widen as a partner.
This is the ninth video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. The trust factor is the people. The trust factor is that Edge will always know that if something needs to be fixed, it will be fixed, and they know when they can expect the fix. The trust factor is doing what you say you can. Watch the video to learn more about the trust factor between Edge and Widen.
This is the eighth video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. Every company believes they have great people. We certainly do. When looking at a technology implementation, it’s important not to forget about the people behind it. Widen people have a work ethic that is very similar to the work ethic at Edge. Honest, approachable and open-minded are a few qualities that Cheryl uses to describe Widen’s people. Widen and Edge have essentially grown up together in their maturity of developing catalog production efficiencies. Widen has been providing services to Edge Advertising for over 21 years and the people behind the operation are big part of it. Watch the video to learn more about the people at Widen.
This is the seventh video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. The most recent addition Widen has provided to Edge is the Project Collaboration application. This application has helped provide a soft proofing workflow to create efficiencies in the collaboration processes and speed up catalog production. Watch the video to learn more about the soft proofing impact of digital asset management.
This is the sixth video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. It’s done in steps. The step by step process allows Edge to be more careful. Edge has very strict deadlines that they must adhere to with their catalog production output. Widen has helped Edge rollout new features and advancements in their digital asset management implementation with a phased approach without biting off more than they could chew. Watch the video to learn more about taking steps in the digital asset management implementation.
This is the fifth video in the series of Widen customer interviews with Cheryl Rugland, Agency Director for Edge Advertising. Edge is a small office with a small IT department. Over the tenure of the relationship, Widen has been there to provide ideas to improve Edge catalog processes… some worked, some didn’t. Widen and Edge have been exchanging ideas and adding new technologies to create efficiencies in the catalog production process for quite some time. Watch the video to learn more about how Widen and Edge go about putting ideas in motion.
I work in a small marketing team of about five. We have a designer, a product manager, a brand manager, a marketing assistant and an online marketer. We work closely with the sales and customer success management teams. We often collaborate with the account executives and project services teams on projects. Basically, anyone with a customer-facing role depends on Marketing and Marketing depends on them. 
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