Friday, June 12, 2009
Update on pdf version of the guide!
I have to update some of the blogs post and remove "borrowed" pictures before I can in good conscience sell the pdf. I will do that this weekend and let everyone know!
Action!
Actions are very powerful tools, especially when you are just learning to use Photoshop. You really should rely on actions to teach you how to use photoshop and break each one down step by step so you can learn not to rely on them (but what’s the fun in that!)
An action is basically a recorded script of steps in photoshop. By pressing one button, you can play the action and transform your picture. Actions can be free (the best kind) or very very expensive, depending on what you need and what they will do. I am going to use actions to edit a picture of my son, using only Pioneer Woman’s free actions because they are amazing!
Step one:
Download the Actions. Go to http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/2009/05/actions-update/ and download set one and set two. Save them to a file you can find easily (I keep a folder on my desktop named PS Stuff with an Actions sub-folder.)
Step two:
Load the actions in Photoshop
Go to your Windows Menu and select Actions, or press Alt-F9. This will bring up a box with two tabs, Actions and History. The Action Tab should already contain a folder marked “Default Actions.” Next to that tab you will see an arrow pointing down next to three lines. Click this and you get a drop down box. Select Load Actions and navigate to your saved actions. After you load them they will show up in your listing of actions.
Step three:
Go to flickr and download this picture of my son, Cole. I love his expression but technically I didn’t do a very good job, lots to fix. I am going to take you through my fixes step by step.
Link to picture of Cole:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/burgranger/3619613401/sizes/o/
This link will allow you to download the full size picture.
Beginning:
Now I will take you through my edits, step by step using only Pioneer Woman Actions!
1. The picture is underexposed (too dark). So I will run the “Slight Lighten Action” in PW Set One. To run an action, highlight the action in your list and press the play button (sideways triangle).
Note that this creates a new layer on the picture, titled “Slight Lighten.” If you refer back to our layers lesson, you can adjust the opacity to make it lighten more or less. This picture really needs it so I am leaving it at 100% opacity.
You will need to flatten the layers before you run the next action—this is very important. Pioneer Woman was nice enough to give us a flatten action that just saves us a little time
2. The next action is an action I run on almost every picture. It’s called “Define and Sharpen” and its in PW Set One. It basically corrects what all digital cameras tend to do. It boosts the contrast and runs an unsharp mask. You will need to flatten this as well before moving on.
At this point I also noticed a little food next to his nose, I fixed that very easily with the healing tool.
3. Now, I look at the picture and I think it’s entirely too cool, my son has a much warmer skintone. So I got PW Set Two and run “Warmer.” Here is a good time to play with the opacity and see what looks best. I liked it a full strength so I left it at 100% and flattened.
4. I like the look of “vignetting” which is usually accomplished by darkening the edges, making the center of the picture the lighter focal point. I love PW’s “Quick Edge Burn” action, but its way too dark. I run it, then dial back the opacity to about 30%.
Here is Cole warmed up and with a 30% edge burn.
5. So I am pretty happy with the picture at this point but decide it could stand to be a little brighter so my last step is to run “Slight Lighten” again and flatten!
Here is our start to show you the difference
Upon second thought, I think I like this in Black and White better! Pioneer Woman has an amazing Black and White called B&W Beauty. I love it! I run it and flatten and voila! My picture is complete!
I hope yours turned out the same! Practice running ALL the pioneer actions on your favorite pictures and see what they do! I will list some more free ones soon!
An action is basically a recorded script of steps in photoshop. By pressing one button, you can play the action and transform your picture. Actions can be free (the best kind) or very very expensive, depending on what you need and what they will do. I am going to use actions to edit a picture of my son, using only Pioneer Woman’s free actions because they are amazing!
Step one:
Download the Actions. Go to http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/2009/05/actions-update/ and download set one and set two. Save them to a file you can find easily (I keep a folder on my desktop named PS Stuff with an Actions sub-folder.)
Step two:
Load the actions in Photoshop
Go to your Windows Menu and select Actions, or press Alt-F9. This will bring up a box with two tabs, Actions and History. The Action Tab should already contain a folder marked “Default Actions.” Next to that tab you will see an arrow pointing down next to three lines. Click this and you get a drop down box. Select Load Actions and navigate to your saved actions. After you load them they will show up in your listing of actions.
Step three:
Go to flickr and download this picture of my son, Cole. I love his expression but technically I didn’t do a very good job, lots to fix. I am going to take you through my fixes step by step.
Link to picture of Cole:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/burgranger/3619613401/sizes/o/
This link will allow you to download the full size picture.
Beginning:
Now I will take you through my edits, step by step using only Pioneer Woman Actions!
1. The picture is underexposed (too dark). So I will run the “Slight Lighten Action” in PW Set One. To run an action, highlight the action in your list and press the play button (sideways triangle).
Note that this creates a new layer on the picture, titled “Slight Lighten.” If you refer back to our layers lesson, you can adjust the opacity to make it lighten more or less. This picture really needs it so I am leaving it at 100% opacity.
You will need to flatten the layers before you run the next action—this is very important. Pioneer Woman was nice enough to give us a flatten action that just saves us a little time
2. The next action is an action I run on almost every picture. It’s called “Define and Sharpen” and its in PW Set One. It basically corrects what all digital cameras tend to do. It boosts the contrast and runs an unsharp mask. You will need to flatten this as well before moving on.
At this point I also noticed a little food next to his nose, I fixed that very easily with the healing tool.
3. Now, I look at the picture and I think it’s entirely too cool, my son has a much warmer skintone. So I got PW Set Two and run “Warmer.” Here is a good time to play with the opacity and see what looks best. I liked it a full strength so I left it at 100% and flattened.
4. I like the look of “vignetting” which is usually accomplished by darkening the edges, making the center of the picture the lighter focal point. I love PW’s “Quick Edge Burn” action, but its way too dark. I run it, then dial back the opacity to about 30%.
Here is Cole warmed up and with a 30% edge burn.
5. So I am pretty happy with the picture at this point but decide it could stand to be a little brighter so my last step is to run “Slight Lighten” again and flatten!
Here is our start to show you the difference
Upon second thought, I think I like this in Black and White better! Pioneer Woman has an amazing Black and White called B&W Beauty. I love it! I run it and flatten and voila! My picture is complete!
I hope yours turned out the same! Practice running ALL the pioneer actions on your favorite pictures and see what they do! I will list some more free ones soon!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Miss me??? A book for you!
I have been so busy with my "real" job, my photography business and raising my two crazy kids! I promise to get more in depth with actions and photoshop over the summer. I am also going to share what I have learned about Lightroom, my new favorite program!
In the meantime, I have "published" this blog into a .pdf. The pdf file is chronological, it starts with the first post in January 1, 2009 and goes through present. It goes in order and can be printed or viewed online. I am using it in the face-to-face classes I am teaching and thought it might be useful to you all. I am asking a whopping $5 to send you the file to cover my costs. Please email me at burgranger@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing a copy!
In the meantime, I have "published" this blog into a .pdf. The pdf file is chronological, it starts with the first post in January 1, 2009 and goes through present. It goes in order and can be printed or viewed online. I am using it in the face-to-face classes I am teaching and thought it might be useful to you all. I am asking a whopping $5 to send you the file to cover my costs. Please email me at burgranger@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing a copy!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Layers---the Key to Photoshop
In order to go any further you must understand layers. To make sure you can see your layers window, go to Window, Layer and make sure there is a check mark there.
I can't think of a clever way to describe layers, the term layers is pretty good (those smart Photoshop people). Layers can be another copy of your picture or an item in the picture, such as text, shapes or parts of other layers.
Layers allow you to do so many cool things and make lots of adjustments independent. Most importantly, they allow you to use layer masks, which are the coolest thing EVER. They allow you to make changes without erasing and destroying parts of your picture.
Reading through this it might be easier just to show you. The easiest way to show you is by performing a technique called "selective color." This is basically turning a color photo black and white, leaving some areas color. Selective Color has its time and place, so use it sparingly!
anytime you need to see the screen caps bigger, click on them!
Here is our beginning picture:
My kidlet, Anden
Here is the picture open, with the layers box pointed out. The layer of a picture you open will be called "background." Notice the eyeball on the left, that is showing you that the layer is visible. If you click on it, the layer disappears, click to have it return.
Our first step in this process is to duplicate the background. You can accomplish this by right clicking on the layer and selecting duplicate layer, or you can hit Ctrl J. Notice that the layer is highlighted in blue. You must click on that layer to have it as the active layer and duplicate it. This can be critical when you are working on a project, such as a Christmas Card, with lots of layers.
So from here I am going to turn my top layer black and white. Those of you with CS3 can go to Images>Adustments>Black and White. Since many of you have older versions of PS, i used the Desaturate command, found in the same menu. Make sure your new layer is highlighted. When at full opacity (more to come on that later) you can only see the top layer if that layer takes up the whole picture. If you were to desaturate background instead it would look like you didn't do anything at all. Don't believe me, try it! then undo it so the next step will work.
Now we will need to create a "layer mask." Hands down layer masks are the very best thing to ever happen to you. You will LOVE this tool. You create a layer mask by clicking on the square with the circle in it in the layers box. this will create a little white box on your layer.
Make sure that the top layer is selected and the layer mask (white box) is also selected.
So the concept of the layer box is this...wherever you have white, the top layer will show, whereever you have black, the bottom layer will show through. You use this black/white painting instead of erasing. you can get this effect by erasing parts of the top layer but when you make a mistake it can mean you have to start all over. where we paint black the color version will show through, if we do too much, we paint it back black (on the layer mask) and the black and white is restored. Try this! its fun!
So here I just painted in her little butterfly. You can see the black shape on the layer mask, this will help you make sure you did things completely.
Anytime you have multiple layers you are going to be working with a Phostoshop file (.psd) which is usually huge and pretty much unusable. You will want to save big projects as .psd files because you might need to make a change you notice later and you would have to start all over, but for the most part, you will still want a jpeg. To create a jpeg you must "flatten" the image, which is to merge all the layers. Once you do this you can no longer edit them independently, although you can always undo the flatten.
To flatten, right click on the layers and choose flatten. You may get a message to delete layers that aren't visible, which you would get if you had clicked on the eyeball.
And Voila!
A selective color!!!
Practice Practice Practice playing with layers. We will go over opacity, blending options and actions next!
I can't think of a clever way to describe layers, the term layers is pretty good (those smart Photoshop people). Layers can be another copy of your picture or an item in the picture, such as text, shapes or parts of other layers.
Layers allow you to do so many cool things and make lots of adjustments independent. Most importantly, they allow you to use layer masks, which are the coolest thing EVER. They allow you to make changes without erasing and destroying parts of your picture.
Reading through this it might be easier just to show you. The easiest way to show you is by performing a technique called "selective color." This is basically turning a color photo black and white, leaving some areas color. Selective Color has its time and place, so use it sparingly!
anytime you need to see the screen caps bigger, click on them!
Here is our beginning picture:
My kidlet, Anden
Here is the picture open, with the layers box pointed out. The layer of a picture you open will be called "background." Notice the eyeball on the left, that is showing you that the layer is visible. If you click on it, the layer disappears, click to have it return.
Our first step in this process is to duplicate the background. You can accomplish this by right clicking on the layer and selecting duplicate layer, or you can hit Ctrl J. Notice that the layer is highlighted in blue. You must click on that layer to have it as the active layer and duplicate it. This can be critical when you are working on a project, such as a Christmas Card, with lots of layers.
So from here I am going to turn my top layer black and white. Those of you with CS3 can go to Images>Adustments>Black and White. Since many of you have older versions of PS, i used the Desaturate command, found in the same menu. Make sure your new layer is highlighted. When at full opacity (more to come on that later) you can only see the top layer if that layer takes up the whole picture. If you were to desaturate background instead it would look like you didn't do anything at all. Don't believe me, try it! then undo it so the next step will work.
Now we will need to create a "layer mask." Hands down layer masks are the very best thing to ever happen to you. You will LOVE this tool. You create a layer mask by clicking on the square with the circle in it in the layers box. this will create a little white box on your layer.
Make sure that the top layer is selected and the layer mask (white box) is also selected.
So the concept of the layer box is this...wherever you have white, the top layer will show, whereever you have black, the bottom layer will show through. You use this black/white painting instead of erasing. you can get this effect by erasing parts of the top layer but when you make a mistake it can mean you have to start all over. where we paint black the color version will show through, if we do too much, we paint it back black (on the layer mask) and the black and white is restored. Try this! its fun!
So here I just painted in her little butterfly. You can see the black shape on the layer mask, this will help you make sure you did things completely.
Anytime you have multiple layers you are going to be working with a Phostoshop file (.psd) which is usually huge and pretty much unusable. You will want to save big projects as .psd files because you might need to make a change you notice later and you would have to start all over, but for the most part, you will still want a jpeg. To create a jpeg you must "flatten" the image, which is to merge all the layers. Once you do this you can no longer edit them independently, although you can always undo the flatten.
To flatten, right click on the layers and choose flatten. You may get a message to delete layers that aren't visible, which you would get if you had clicked on the eyeball.
And Voila!
A selective color!!!
Practice Practice Practice playing with layers. We will go over opacity, blending options and actions next!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Photoshop Part One--Toolbars
*Please note I am using Photoshop CS3, I have no experience with Elements :( I also use a PC, not a mac. Shortcuts may vary with PC/Mac.
So I am going to assume you know how to open up a picture in PS and start with all those tools on the left hand side!
First thing to keep in mind, this really opened up PS for me. If you click on a tool and hold it down, a menu pops down that allows you to select other related tools. Also, when you do this you will see a letter to the right, this is the shortcut key, also a great tip!
From top to bottom
1. Pointer
The pointer is a neutral tool. If you want to move an object you will need to be on pointer. I use this a lot as a type of reset button.
2. Marquee Tools (shortcut M)
The marquee is a selection tool. If you open a picture and use the marquee tool, you will see that it draws a dotted line shape in the picture. This allows you to select that part of the picture. this has a multitude of uses. I use this to move heads, stretch backgrounds, trim pictures, you name it! You will see this used in tutorials I post later. Once you have an area selected, switch to the pointer tool and click the area and drag it around, see what happens? Now put it back and right click on the selection and note the choices, particularly deselect and selecgt inverse.
3. Lasso Tools (shortcut L)
These tools are used to select areas that are not a uniform shape like the marquee tools. These are use a lot in moving people off pictures onto others. I very very rarely use these tools, so I may not offer much on these!
4. Magic Wand/quick Selection (W)
These are yet another selection tool. I very rarely use this but it does have its uses. PS does the thinking and it selects similar objects. Play with it and see what it does.
5. Crop (C)
This tool is used a lot. A big beginner misstep is to use this tool without setting a crop ratio. You should not just crop as you see fit, make sure to set the crop ratio to a print ratio (4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, etc). You can change this in the top boxes that says width and height, then use 300 for the dpi. notice the two arrows between the height and width? That allows you to swap out the dimensions, from 5x7 to 7x5 (or horizontal vs vertical). To crop, you click on the picture and drag it, you can release the mouse and move it around, it won't actually crop until you press enter.
6. Healing (J)
The pimple remover! yay! The healing brush is a great tool to get used to. I used the spot healing brush the most. This brush works by sampling the area around it. For basic healing, make the brush the same size as area you want to "heal" (I use the bracket buttons [ and ] to change my brush size, you can also drag the size in the up top where you see the dot and a number.)
If you make the heal area too big it will sample the wrong things. This can also be used on background wrinkles. Play around with it, make it way too big and see what happens.
quick example of a mole removal:
one click later:
I don't use patch and very rarely need red eye but red eye does just like it sounds!
7. Brush tool (B)
This tool is used ALL the time. You will rarely paint a color on a picture but you will use this when we go over layer masks. Again, its worth noting the bracket buttons change the size. You also have a hardness/softness adjustment you can make this allows you to control the edges of the brush. You can also control the opacity. When you see something that says use a "soft" brush, that is a lower % number of hardness. You can also download all kinds of fun brushes and make your own, subject of a future post!
8. Clone (s)
Cloning is basically selecting an area (Alt click) then painting that area on another part of the picture. You can control the brush size and hardness here as well. This can be a very powerful tool (and a lot of fun) but be careful to use it very sparingly because it almost never looks natural and sometimes you have cloning ghosts where you picked up a strange piece of something. Play with it, use it sparingly!
Here is a fun use :)
See the outline of the brush and her skin around the eye? Very sloppy if I wanted to make it look like a real third eye!
9. History Brush (Y)
I love the history brush! It can only be used if you haven't cropped your picture, but what it does is paint back a part of the picture to the original picture as you opened it. So if you go clone crazy and don't want to start over (by selecting undo) you paint just the area you want to undo with the history brush. Lovely!
10. Eraser Tool (E)
Just like it says, it erases. I have never used background eraser or magic eraser, so if someone wants to leave in the comments what they do, feel free. I don't use eraser because I use layer masks which i will explain later. Erasing destroys pixels, it gets rid of the part of the picture for good. When I blog about layer masks, you won't use eraser ever again!
11. Paintbucket (G)
Paintbucket is a filling tool. It allows you to fill in sections with a color. Used more for graphics than pictures. Gradient tool applies a gradient to your picture. A gradient is a blended area of colors.
12. Blur/Smudge/Sharpen (R)
Pretty self explanatory, I don't ever use it, but you might need them (?).
13. Text (T)
Here is how you write on your pictures. I found this difficult to use at first. The text tool creates a text layer, which if you don't know what layers are is confusing at first. You have font choices, size, etc. Lots of fun here. I will do a whole post on Fonts, font styles, text tools.
14. Dodge and Burn (O)
These control exposure in specific areas. You will hear a lot about burning edges, burning background etc. Basically, burn darkens, dodge lightens, sponge removes color. You can control the size and the exposure. A typical eye brightener is to dodge the eyes at 17% exposure just to brighten them a little. I use the burn to burn out all the wrinkles in black all the time, but for other lightening/darkening I use (you guessed it) layers and actions.
15. Shape tools (U)
You use this to add shapes to your image. Mostly for graphics, not so much for pictures. There is a cool rule of thirds shape I will share that in another post.
16. Eyedropper (I)
Eyedropper is a tool used to pick up a color. I use this a lot when doing graphics. I might be designing a card and want to match the color of the font to the color of someone's shirt or the background. No CLUE what the others do...should learn.
17. Hand tool
I only use this to move the zoom box (see next)
18. Zoom (Z)
Has to be the most used tool of all! You hit Z, then there is a plus/minus on top and you zoom in our out. When you do this, on the navigator window on the upper right hand size shows a red box drawn around where its zoomed in. You can use the hand tool to move that around. Something good to know is that if you are using the zoom tool you can draw a zoom box around an area, like an eye, but clicking and holding and outlining the area. Great way to get to those pimples, eyes, etc.
And there you have it first photoshop post! next time: Layers!!!
So I am going to assume you know how to open up a picture in PS and start with all those tools on the left hand side!
First thing to keep in mind, this really opened up PS for me. If you click on a tool and hold it down, a menu pops down that allows you to select other related tools. Also, when you do this you will see a letter to the right, this is the shortcut key, also a great tip!
From top to bottom
1. Pointer
The pointer is a neutral tool. If you want to move an object you will need to be on pointer. I use this a lot as a type of reset button.
2. Marquee Tools (shortcut M)
The marquee is a selection tool. If you open a picture and use the marquee tool, you will see that it draws a dotted line shape in the picture. This allows you to select that part of the picture. this has a multitude of uses. I use this to move heads, stretch backgrounds, trim pictures, you name it! You will see this used in tutorials I post later. Once you have an area selected, switch to the pointer tool and click the area and drag it around, see what happens? Now put it back and right click on the selection and note the choices, particularly deselect and selecgt inverse.
3. Lasso Tools (shortcut L)
These tools are used to select areas that are not a uniform shape like the marquee tools. These are use a lot in moving people off pictures onto others. I very very rarely use these tools, so I may not offer much on these!
4. Magic Wand/quick Selection (W)
These are yet another selection tool. I very rarely use this but it does have its uses. PS does the thinking and it selects similar objects. Play with it and see what it does.
5. Crop (C)
This tool is used a lot. A big beginner misstep is to use this tool without setting a crop ratio. You should not just crop as you see fit, make sure to set the crop ratio to a print ratio (4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, etc). You can change this in the top boxes that says width and height, then use 300 for the dpi. notice the two arrows between the height and width? That allows you to swap out the dimensions, from 5x7 to 7x5 (or horizontal vs vertical). To crop, you click on the picture and drag it, you can release the mouse and move it around, it won't actually crop until you press enter.
6. Healing (J)
The pimple remover! yay! The healing brush is a great tool to get used to. I used the spot healing brush the most. This brush works by sampling the area around it. For basic healing, make the brush the same size as area you want to "heal" (I use the bracket buttons [ and ] to change my brush size, you can also drag the size in the up top where you see the dot and a number.)
If you make the heal area too big it will sample the wrong things. This can also be used on background wrinkles. Play around with it, make it way too big and see what happens.
quick example of a mole removal:
one click later:
I don't use patch and very rarely need red eye but red eye does just like it sounds!
7. Brush tool (B)
This tool is used ALL the time. You will rarely paint a color on a picture but you will use this when we go over layer masks. Again, its worth noting the bracket buttons change the size. You also have a hardness/softness adjustment you can make this allows you to control the edges of the brush. You can also control the opacity. When you see something that says use a "soft" brush, that is a lower % number of hardness. You can also download all kinds of fun brushes and make your own, subject of a future post!
8. Clone (s)
Cloning is basically selecting an area (Alt click) then painting that area on another part of the picture. You can control the brush size and hardness here as well. This can be a very powerful tool (and a lot of fun) but be careful to use it very sparingly because it almost never looks natural and sometimes you have cloning ghosts where you picked up a strange piece of something. Play with it, use it sparingly!
Here is a fun use :)
See the outline of the brush and her skin around the eye? Very sloppy if I wanted to make it look like a real third eye!
9. History Brush (Y)
I love the history brush! It can only be used if you haven't cropped your picture, but what it does is paint back a part of the picture to the original picture as you opened it. So if you go clone crazy and don't want to start over (by selecting undo) you paint just the area you want to undo with the history brush. Lovely!
10. Eraser Tool (E)
Just like it says, it erases. I have never used background eraser or magic eraser, so if someone wants to leave in the comments what they do, feel free. I don't use eraser because I use layer masks which i will explain later. Erasing destroys pixels, it gets rid of the part of the picture for good. When I blog about layer masks, you won't use eraser ever again!
11. Paintbucket (G)
Paintbucket is a filling tool. It allows you to fill in sections with a color. Used more for graphics than pictures. Gradient tool applies a gradient to your picture. A gradient is a blended area of colors.
12. Blur/Smudge/Sharpen (R)
Pretty self explanatory, I don't ever use it, but you might need them (?).
13. Text (T)
Here is how you write on your pictures. I found this difficult to use at first. The text tool creates a text layer, which if you don't know what layers are is confusing at first. You have font choices, size, etc. Lots of fun here. I will do a whole post on Fonts, font styles, text tools.
14. Dodge and Burn (O)
These control exposure in specific areas. You will hear a lot about burning edges, burning background etc. Basically, burn darkens, dodge lightens, sponge removes color. You can control the size and the exposure. A typical eye brightener is to dodge the eyes at 17% exposure just to brighten them a little. I use the burn to burn out all the wrinkles in black all the time, but for other lightening/darkening I use (you guessed it) layers and actions.
15. Shape tools (U)
You use this to add shapes to your image. Mostly for graphics, not so much for pictures. There is a cool rule of thirds shape I will share that in another post.
16. Eyedropper (I)
Eyedropper is a tool used to pick up a color. I use this a lot when doing graphics. I might be designing a card and want to match the color of the font to the color of someone's shirt or the background. No CLUE what the others do...should learn.
17. Hand tool
I only use this to move the zoom box (see next)
18. Zoom (Z)
Has to be the most used tool of all! You hit Z, then there is a plus/minus on top and you zoom in our out. When you do this, on the navigator window on the upper right hand size shows a red box drawn around where its zoomed in. You can use the hand tool to move that around. Something good to know is that if you are using the zoom tool you can draw a zoom box around an area, like an eye, but clicking and holding and outlining the area. Great way to get to those pimples, eyes, etc.
And there you have it first photoshop post! next time: Layers!!!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Photoshop for Cheaters!!!
I am working on our first photoshop lesson for this Thursday. Just a warning though, if you are looking for a technical, thorough detailed exploration through photoshop, you are in the wrong place!!! I am self taught and know just enough to be dangerous. I love actions and use them a lot. So hold on tight and be ready to be totally confused!!!!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Lesson Eight: Simple Studio Setup
Here is instructions for a cheap, easy way to set up a studio in a small place!!
Materials needed from the plumbing section:
2 3/4inch elbows (17 cents each)
2 3/4inch PVC Male terminal adapters (38 cents each)
2 3/4inch galvanized floor flanges (2.87 each)
3 3/4inch 5 foot (or wider/taller) PVC Conduit (1.18 each)
2 pieces of 3/4inch thick plywood, 2ft by 2 ft (5.72 each)
8 wood screws (98 cents)
Tools needed:
Drill/power screwdriver
Directions:
Draw an line from corner to corner on the wood. Line the flanges up in the center and drill in all four screws in the flange. Make sure its lined up in the center.
Screw the male terminal adapters into the flange
Insert the PVC conduit in each terminal adapter
Put one elbow on top of each
Insert the PVC conduit in the other end of the elbows.
Thanks Jessica, I stole a picture of yours!
The Paper on the stand is called Seamless paper. Its basically a big roll of paper. This stand will hold a roll of paper that is 53 inches wide. The Savage brand is very popular. Some popular colors are:
White
Black
Thunder Gray
Coral
Sky Blue
You can also buy the paper much wider (107 inches). This stand will not hold paper that wide. For my wide paper I just have two heavy duty hooks in the wall.
Here is an example of a picture I took of the kiddos on the white this weekend.
This is pretty much just sharpened. You can see the paper laying behind them.
Here is a crop and I just cloned out the sides to make it all white.
Here I stretched the background to make it look like a bigger studio! With a simple background like this and a little PS, you can fake a huge studio!
You can use your speedlight and bounce off your ceiling for this or do what I used to do, put in your garage for indirect natural light!
P.S. I will show you how to do those things when we start Photoshop work.
Materials needed from the plumbing section:
2 3/4inch elbows (17 cents each)
2 3/4inch PVC Male terminal adapters (38 cents each)
2 3/4inch galvanized floor flanges (2.87 each)
3 3/4inch 5 foot (or wider/taller) PVC Conduit (1.18 each)
2 pieces of 3/4inch thick plywood, 2ft by 2 ft (5.72 each)
8 wood screws (98 cents)
Tools needed:
Drill/power screwdriver
Directions:
Draw an line from corner to corner on the wood. Line the flanges up in the center and drill in all four screws in the flange. Make sure its lined up in the center.
Screw the male terminal adapters into the flange
Insert the PVC conduit in each terminal adapter
Put one elbow on top of each
Insert the PVC conduit in the other end of the elbows.
Thanks Jessica, I stole a picture of yours!
The Paper on the stand is called Seamless paper. Its basically a big roll of paper. This stand will hold a roll of paper that is 53 inches wide. The Savage brand is very popular. Some popular colors are:
White
Black
Thunder Gray
Coral
Sky Blue
You can also buy the paper much wider (107 inches). This stand will not hold paper that wide. For my wide paper I just have two heavy duty hooks in the wall.
Here is an example of a picture I took of the kiddos on the white this weekend.
This is pretty much just sharpened. You can see the paper laying behind them.
Here is a crop and I just cloned out the sides to make it all white.
Here I stretched the background to make it look like a bigger studio! With a simple background like this and a little PS, you can fake a huge studio!
You can use your speedlight and bounce off your ceiling for this or do what I used to do, put in your garage for indirect natural light!
P.S. I will show you how to do those things when we start Photoshop work.
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