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Crazy cool. TinEye here.

Workshops Scheduled for the Windjammer Angelique

We're continuing a long history of hosting Photography Workshops on board the Windjammer Angelique, out of Camden Maine!

More to follow, but we're looking at a four-day cruise, Sept 28 to Oct 1 of '09... Check back for details!

First "Review" of Color Pipeline

Just got this email from my Publisher:

From our production director...
------ Forwarded Message
From: (--production director--)
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:53:11 -0400
To: (--my publisher--)
Subject: Color Pipeline

M...,

My color separator in Hong Kong asked me this morning if I could get him a couple copies of Color Pipeline after it's printed. He read the proofs and wants his staff to read the book. Nice compliment.

T...
------ End of Forwarded Message

Damn! ...and those prepress guys are a tough audience, I tell you what!

Thanks guys...

Adobe LiveDocs pages

This is Adobe's encyclopedia of Photoshop information.

It's where I go to get the "micro" view of Photoshop details. Sometimes it's incredibly helpful, sometimes not so much. (Example: The "Stack Mode" explanations may make sense to some programmer somewhere, they don't mean crap to me...)

The search engine is kind of random too. I often just goog what I need and then try to find the "livedocs" reference.

Into every Life, a Few JPEGS Must Fall...

Even if this isn’t your first foray into the world of RAW shooting, you are going to run into some JPEGS you have to work with. You may be tempted to stray from the Smart Object process, to go back to your old ways, with either straight adjustments, or adjustment layers. (I can see one of my, well, “favorite” students going “OOOO! OOOO! SEE? It doesn’t work for EVERYthing!”. You know who you are, I’m not printing your name here, I don’t want to encourage you.)

Well, watch this.

Photoshop>Preferences>File Handling



Select “Prefer Adobe Camera RAW for JPEG files”.



Go open a JPEG.

Snap! Now, whenever you open a JPEG, it will open in Camera RAW.



All the usual rules apply. I hit “Open Object” and I got me my happy Smart Object layer. See Seth? (OOPS!)



OK this is a little misleading. You still are working with a JPEG, this is nothing so magical as working on a RAW file, and the JPEG is subject to all the usual restrictions and problems. Anything you do to it, whether through the normal adjustment process or through Camera RAW, is going to be destructive. You’re not going under the hood and working any magical secret sauce here. You’re just working in Camera RAW to apply the adjustments you need, rather than Levels and Curves.

I had a long chat with one of the guys at Adobe about this, and tried to figure out what this meant and why they did it. His answer was that they were just trying to give us an option for working with JPEGs if we liked the “handles”, or controls, of Camera RAW. It standardizes your process, and the Smart Object workflow is a great example that. Not only does everything work just as if it was a RAW file, but I can go back and re-adjust that, just as if it was an adjustment layer, since it’s a Smart Object.

OK, well, it doesn’t work with TIFFs. Or anything else. (sit down, Seth.)

Yet.

Book Updates: Color Pipeline goes to Press!

Final proofs are in! The Color Pipeline is at the printer, and the first samples should be here in October... The official release date is January '09.

Check back for details of my talk at the Griffin Museum in October for the Color Pipeline!

Book Updates: Smart Object Pipeline draft is in!

The Smart Object Pipeline manuscript just went to the Editor! Here's the intro:

Welcome to the New World of Smart Objects!

Smart Objects let you, for the first time, get right back to the RAW file in a seamless, efficient processing path – the Smart Object pipeline. You can use all the power of RAW processing, a constructive editing process, getting to the “digital latent image”, the unprocessed data that first hit the camera’s sensor, at the click of a mouse. Coupling that with a solid Layers and Mask workflow gives you an all-new, and remarkably powerful way to get the most out of any camera’s file.

This is a new process, but it is a fully evolved and complete process. Of course, it means changing the way you work. Most of the classes I teach are fairly advanced photography students, and by now everyone has a pretty solid footing in Photoshop. I usually start out my classes by saying, “…bear with me. I know you have your Photoshop skills well established, you have your favorite methods, and that’s great, but for this semester, I want you to do it my way. After that, after you learn the whole system, after this class is over you can go back to whatever your favorite tools and processes are.” (Doesn’t that remind you of your mother? “While you’re living in THIS house, mister…”)

Well, here’s the thing. I learn this stuff mostly by the “hacker” method. I tear into the program, try out stuff, sometimes I break things, most times not, and that’s how I learn. I often reference books like this, or, my favorite over the years, the late Bruce Fraser’s “Real World” series when I get stuck. This method is a long, random road to a good, solid set of strategies. Sometimes, left to hacking alone, you never get there.

I’d be looking over someone’s shoulder and see a new way to do something. I had more than one designer see me do what I always do, and say, “Why the heck are you doing it THAT way?” I’d listen to speakers, attend workshops, watch how students are doing things, and realize there is a faster, better, and more professional way to work. Unless you’re looking for a better way, you’re going to get stuck in your own habits, and that could be costing you a lot of time, and a lot of freedom.

The other part of this is that, throughout the development of a remarkable tool like Photoshop, the thing simply does not work like it did when you started learning it. I learned Photoshop on version 3. (I started on this stuff just to make a web page. I never thought it would set me free of the darkroom!) Most of the tools, including RAW processing, Layers, Masks, and even fundamental Color Management, did not exist. As these tolls evolved I was forced to re-learn my processing. As Photoshop continues to develop, you’ve got to re-examine your old ways of working. There's a point where you have to consider stepping back from your old habits and methods, and take a fresh look at where the system is today.

The Smart Object process is still evolving and being refined, but for the most part is a complete, mature way to work, using the highest levels of methods, and the core philosophy of the Adobe “Non-Destructive” workflow. My challenge to you is, bear with me. Let me take you through the foundation of this process, the RAW file, layers and masks, and show you a few working strategies that I use. Try it out for yourself. It’s a new way to work, and it means you’re going to break a few old habits and develop some new ones. This process is based on a very select set of tools, yet can be used for virtually any task a photographer needs to create and process remarkable images.

Remember, this is all new, and also keep in mind where we are in the history of Photography - at what I often argue is the most profound point in the entire development of photography, the RAW digital file. This has changed the way we see, the way we create, and the processes we use. Like the introduction of 35mm film, the RAW file has introduced a different way to make a photograph, and we have to learn new methods to handle that. The Smart Object process gives me a better way to get at that RAW file.

Ansel Adams, a photographer with a remarkable vision, yet also a consummate technician and teacher, said:
"I believe that the electronic image will be the next major advance. Such systems will have their own inherent and inescapable structural characteristics, and the artist and functional practitioner will again strive to comprehend and control them."

He said this in 1981, shortly before he passed away, but this belied his constant effort to stay on the very forefront of the photographic process. Even then, photography demanded a constant attention to understanding the latest tools, techniques and materials, and that is truer now than ever.

I don’t I feel this is a process that is only for the “Advanced” user. I’ve started beginner classes in Photo 1 right out with RAW file processing, Layers, Masks and Smart Objects, and they pick it up as fast, or faster than the basic Adjustment Layer process.

So, step right up, leave your preconceptions behind you, and enter the Smart Object Pipeline!

The Source of Creative Juices

hoo boy. Photographer salaries

nice.

This ain't some ASMP or magazine survey, where people lie about how much they make to make it look good, this is the US Dept. of Labor. (Hmm. Is this from the IRS, in which case people are lying to make it look BAD?)

Photographers details here.

What your neighbors are making, here.

article: The weird science of stock photography (Slate)

Great story on the stock industry.

...These vignettes were commissioned by a company that sells stock photos and video to various clients—including, in large part, advertisers. The hope was that footage like this would appeal to customers who need to visually convey a mood of modern disconnectedness.

Leaving aside the bleak and omnipresent nature of the subject matter—they could have just put a tripod on a random street corner—I was startled to realize that stock photo and video purveyors actually create material in anticipation of demand. (I'd somehow failed to consider that stock pictures could be made, not just found.)

These suppliers of the world's commercial imagery are making bets on what life will look and feel like in the near future. Which made me wonder: What else, besides an ongoing technological dystopia, do they imagine waiting ahead?...

read more here...

Charles? Are you seeing this?

(Charles is a student of mine who did a flip-book for a final project... a great analog device in this digital world!)

It looks like these guys might do the binding and all that stuff, but I'm not sure. They are here, Joe Freedman, from The Sarabande Press.

Layers and Blending Modes

The Blending mode is something I use pretty much not at all, but, should you want to head down that particular rabbit hole, again, I would refer to Photoshop Restoration & Retouching by Katrin Eismann and other resources. This, however, is an ever-so-brief explanation, and a list of blending modes and what they do.

Basically, the blending mode tells Photoshop how to blend one layer’s pixels with the pixels below that layer. Different blending modes give you different effects.

“Pass Through”, the default Blending Mode for layer Groups, basically gives you the result that anything you do inside that group, (like adjustment layers), gets applied to all the other layers and groups. For our purposes of making versions, that’s not a great strategy. If we chose “Normal”, then that keeps our adjustments and effects restricted to that Group alone.



Here, for the sake of thoroughness and courtesy of Adobe, is a complete list of Blending Modes and what they do:

List of blending modes

(Choose from the Mode pop‑up menu in the options bar.)
Note: Only the Normal, Dissolve, Darken, Multiply, Lighten, Linear Dodge (Add), Difference, Hue, Saturation, Color, Luminosity, Lighter Color, and Darker Color blending modes are available for 32‑bit images.

Normal
Edits or paints each pixel to make it the result color. This is the default mode. (Normal mode is called Threshold when you’re working with a bitmapped or indexed-color image.)

Dissolve
Edits or paints each pixel to make it the result color. However, the result color is a random replacement of the pixels with the base color or the blend color, depending on the opacity at any pixel location.

Behind
Edits or paints only on the transparent part of a layer. This mode works only in layers with Lock Transparency deselected and is analogous to painting on the back of transparent areas on a sheet of acetate.

Clear
Edits or paints each pixel and makes it transparent. This mode is available for the Shape tools (when fill region is selected), Paint Bucket tool , Brush tool , Pencil tool , Fill command, and Stroke command. You must be in a layer with Lock Transparency deselected to use this mode.

Darken
Looks at the color information in each channel and selects the base or blend color—whichever is darker—as the result color. Pixels lighter than the blend color are replaced, and pixels darker than the blend color do not change.

Multiply
Looks at the color information in each channel and multiplies the base color by the blend color. The result color is always a darker color. Multiplying any color with black produces black. Multiplying any color with white leaves the color unchanged. When you’re painting with a color other than black or white, successive strokes with a painting tool produce progressively darker colors. The effect is similar to drawing on the image with multiple marking pens.

Color Burn
Looks at the color information in each channel and darkens the base color to reflect the blend color by increasing the contrast. Blending with white produces no change.

Linear Burn
Looks at the color information in each channel and darkens the base color to reflect the blend color by decreasing the brightness. Blending with white produces no change.

Lighten
Looks at the color information in each channel and selects the base or blend color—whichever is lighter—as the result color. Pixels darker than the blend color are replaced, and pixels lighter than the blend color do not change.

Screen
Looks at each channel’s color information and multiplies the inverse of the blend and base colors. The result color is always a lighter color. Screening with black leaves the color unchanged. Screening with white produces white. The effect is similar to projecting multiple photographic slides on top of each other.

Color Dodge
Looks at the color information in each channel and brightens the base color to reflect the blend color by decreasing the contrast. Blending with black produces no change.

Linear Dodge (Add)
Looks at the color information in each channel and brightens the base color to reflect the blend color by increasing the brightness. Blending with black produces no change.

Overlay
Multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the base color. Patterns or colors overlay the existing pixels while preserving the highlights and shadows of the base color. The base color is not replaced, but mixed with the blend color to reflect the lightness or darkness of the original color.

Soft Light
Darkens or lightens the colors, depending on the blend color. The effect is similar to shining a diffused spotlight on the image. If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened as if it were dodged. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened as if it were burned in. Painting with pure black or white produces a distinctly darker or lighter area, but does not result in pure black or white.

Hard Light
Multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the blend color. The effect is similar to shining a harsh spotlight on the image. If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened, as if it were screened. This is useful for adding highlights to an image. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened, as if it were multiplied. This is useful for adding shadows to an image. Painting with pure black or white results in pure black or white.

Vivid Light
Burns or dodges the colors by increasing or decreasing the contrast, depending on the blend color. If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened by decreasing the contrast. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened by increasing the contrast.

Linear Light
Burns or dodges the colors by decreasing or increasing the brightness, depending on the blend color. If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened by increasing the brightness. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened by decreasing the brightness.

Pin Light
Replaces the colors, depending on the blend color. If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, pixels darker than the blend color are replaced, and pixels lighter than the blend color do not change. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, pixels lighter than the blend color are replaced, and pixels darker than the blend color do not change. This is useful for adding special effects to an image.

Hard Mix
Adds the red, green and blue channel values of the blend color to the RGB values of the base color. If the resulting sum for a channel is 255 or greater, it receives a value of 255; if less than 255, a value of 0. Therefore, all blended pixels have red, green, and blue channel values of either 0 or 255. This changes all pixels to primary colors: red, green, blue, cyan, yellow, magenta, white, or black.

Difference
Looks at the color information in each channel and subtracts either the blend color from the base color or the base color from the blend color, depending on which has the greater brightness value. Blending with white inverts the base color values; blending with black produces no change.

Exclusion
Creates an effect similar to but lower in contrast than the Difference mode. Blending with white inverts the base color values. Blending with black produces no change.

Hue
Creates a result color with the luminance and saturation of the base color and the hue of the blend color.
Saturation
Creates a result color with the luminance and hue of the base color and the saturation of the blend color. Painting with this mode in an area with no (0) saturation (gray) causes no change.

Color
Creates a result color with the luminance of the base color and the hue and saturation of the blend color. This preserves the gray levels in the image and is useful for coloring monochrome images and for tinting color images.

Luminosity
Creates a result color with the hue and saturation of the base color and the luminance of the blend color. This mode creates the inverse effect of Color mode.

Lighter Color
Compares the total of all channel values for the blend and base color and displays the higher value color. Lighter Color does not produce a third color, which can result from the Lighten blend, because it chooses the highest channel values from both the base and blend color to create the result color.

Darker Color
Compares the total of all channel values for the blend and base color and displays the lower value color. Darker Color does not produce a third color, which can result from the Darken blend, because it chooses the lowest channel values from both the base and the blend color to create the result color.