Class Outline April 28th (week 4)

Shooting Demo: Shooting with Off Camera Flash

• Use Commander mode if your camera does that or use a cord from your hotshoe
• Afforadable lighting kits with umbrellas are available at B&H: bhphotovideo.com

Portrait Retouching Cont’d

• Skin Softening: make a duplicate of your retouching layer and call it “softening”. FILTER > BLUR > GAUSSIAN BLUR. Choose a radius of about “1”. Make a Mask of that layer by hitting the “layer mask” icon at the bottom of the layers palette (3rd from left). Invert mask (command i). Paint with a soft white brush wherever you want softness to appear. Decrease layer opacity to minimize overall effect.
• Sharpening: Click the layer on the top of the stack. All at one time press “Command Shift Option E” on a mac. This creates a new merged layer encompassing everything below it. Name this layer “sharpening. Go to  FILTER > SHARPEN > SMART SHARPEN. The numbers you choose will depend on how big your image is, but try these numbers: (Amount: 100 to 200) (Radius 1 to 2) (Reduce Noise 10-20). When done, hit OK. Make and invert a mask (see above) and paint with a soft white brush just over areas you want sharp (like the eyes/lips)

Adjustment Layers

• Black & White conversion
• Enhancing one color (via Selective Color or Saturation)
• Curves (S-Curve)
• Levels (Bring “carrots” close to histogram on either end)

Masking for Composites

Double Processing a RAW file for exposure

Printing: If you'd like to make some prints for our last class meeting on May 12th, you may think about ordering them in the next week or so. Bay Photo usually has a quick turnaround.

Bay Photo www.bayphoto.com

Adorama www.adoramapix.com

Crop Tool: W x H x Resolution

• this can be good when preparing to print, say, and 8x10 or 5x7 image. Most photos coming off our cameras are not exactly those sizes. Better to be in control of the crop than let the lab decide what areas to crop. Save as a duplicate JPG before printing.

Homework: Email me “problem” images, Think about Printing for week 6, take a night photo (using a long exposure and a tripod outdoors).

Printing Suggestions

If you'd like to make some prints to share with the class for our last meeting on May 12th, you may think about ordering in the next week. Here are some tips:

General Retouching Checklist (before you print):
 -Be sure you are working from your "Master" image (the one you've retouched) that is saved as a TIFF with layers.
-Does your image look OK overall in terms of color? The best way to fix a color cast is with the color temperature slider in Camera Raw initially, but it can also be done later via the "color balance" adjustment layer. You can add a warming or cooling filter via the "photo filter" adjustment layer.
-Did you remove spots or dust using patch, healing, or stamp?
-Did you remove any unwanted objects by circling them with a lasso on a background copy layer and then filling with content aware?
-Did you add an "S-Curve" adjustment layer to slightly increase color and contrast?
-Do you need to selectively sharpen any areas? (see the previous post)
-If it's a landscape or architecture shot, do you need to straighten out any lines (lens correction)? This can be done on a background copy layer via EDIT > TRANSFORM > WARP
-Do you need to increase just one range of colors (like just the reddish hues in a flower, or just the bluish tones in the sky?). Adjustment layer "selective color" or "color balance" work well for this.
-Would you like to increase overall vibrance of colors with the Vibrance adjustment layer?

Color Management:
In Photoshop go to EDIT > COLOR SETTINGS to make sure that you have sRGB selected for your RGB working space.

 *More advanced Photoshop users who have a fancy inkjet printer at home with their calibrated monitor may choose to use Adobe RGB because it has a larger color gamut than sRGB. ProPhoto has the largest gamut of all, and includes colors that may exist in the future! This is for more advanced photographers working in 16bit.

*CMYK is only for commercial offset printing and doesn't generally apply to photographic printing we are likely to use. If you are doing work for a magazine or book and working directly with the printer, they will give you CMYK instructions specific to whatever printer they are using. As photographer, we are really just concerned with RGB settings.

Calibration:
To ensure that the images look as close as possible to your screen when they print, it's best to make sure your computer monitor is calibrated.  The ColorMunki Display (approx $175) allows you to write a custom color profile for your specific monitor. Professionals (and printing labs) often re-calibrate every week or month.

Other things to think about: your ambient light in the room, the brightness you have your monitor set to, and the color your walls are painted.


Print-Ready Checklist:
For the best results,  start with your hi-res retouched TIFF (that was shot RAW). Or the JPG that you saved from the RAW file. View Image on medium monitor brightness.

1.) Output Sharpening: It's good to give your image a bit of overall additional sharpening before printing (even if you've already done some selective sharpening on eyes, etc..)
On a merged layer on top of the stack (Select > All, Edit > Copy > Merged,  Edit > Paste)
go to FILTER > SHARPEN > SMART SHARPEN. Depending on your file, you will likely want an amount of 100 to 200, and a radius of 1-3. But use your own judgement- you want it to be just slightly sharper overall when making a print, because the printing process often blurs the image just a touch. Select "Lens Blur" from the remove menu:

 

 *Smart Sharpen is an alternative to Highpass sharpening which we did last week.

2.) Is your image 300dpi? (IMAGE > IMAGE SIZE). Be sure that this image wasn't formally web size (you cannot make a small image big again to print- it's stretches it and looks bad). Be sure this image came from a hi-res JPG or RAW file.

IMAGE > IMAGE SIZE: Your document size should match the dimensions (in inches) of your paper size for the print. If your image cannot be exactly the size of the paper offered. For example, most images coming off a DSLR would need to be cropped to become 8x10". So you can crop it, or add white borders.

*You can make the image slightly smaller than your paper size, then add borders evenly by going to IMAGE > CANVAS SIZE. Make sure you add white borders and keep your image centered.

*Another way to do it is to go to FILE > NEW. Make it the size of your paper. Then copy and paste your picture into this new document. EDIT > FREE TRANSFORM (while holding down shift and pulling from the corner) to make your image fit the "paper". This way you can control the white borders and not let the printing website arbitrarily do it for you (or accidentally crop your image!).


 3.) Save your layered TIFF or Raw file as Hi-Res JPG... then print from this Hi-Res JPG. If you have been retouching a layered TIFF, make sure you go to FILE > SAVE AS and save as a "quality 12" JPG before printing. This will make a duplicate flattened version of your file that's ready to print.

4.) ICC Color Profile: Most commercial printing services will give the best results when you leave your image in the "sRGB" color space. If your camera and Photshop are set to this, your image will probably already be sRGB. To double check, go to EDIT> CONVERT TO PROFILE. If the Source space says "sRGB...." you can just hit cancel- you're good to go.

Each paper/printer has it's own profiles. If you're using an Epson printer and paper, download the Epson profiles. To play it safe, it's best to use the same manufacturer's printer and paper. There's also the option to write your own profiles if you have a calibrator like the ColorMunki.

When downloading ICC profiles, on a PC you will need to put them in this folder to be able to apply them (EDIT > CONVERT TO PROFILE) in Photoshop:
Computer > Win (C:) > Windows > System32 > spool > drivers > color
On a Mac:
Library > ColorSync > Profiles

 A Note On Paper:
Think about the type of paper that would best suit your image. Is the subject matter better suited to something highgloss and shiny (like a shot of a race car?) or a more matte art paper (perhaps a portrait with a vintage filter applied).
Does your image have a lot of dark areas with detail? If so, you might want to choose Lustre or glossy.
*Glossy Paper shows more detail in shadows
*Matte paper is more absorbent of pigment and shows less detail in shadow areas

Print Lab Suggestions:
I suggest you avoid places like CVS and Kinkos when making digital prints and enlargements. The color quality you can get for a similar price from the places below is significant.

Adorama (based in NYC)
http://www.adoramapix.com/app/products/prints
Upload online on their website and prints are mailed to you. Fairly quick turnaround and affordable.
Color Profile: sRGB delivers fairly good results, but downloading their ICC profiles for specific paper types can produce even better results. Here's a tutorial on downloading and applying their ICC profiles. *Be sure not to check the box that lets Adorama make auto color corrections- this overrides the ICC profile.

Bay Photo (based in Santa Cruz)
http://www.bayphoto.com/bayweb/pro_standardsizes.htm
They have a wider variety of printing surfaces (including canvas) and a lot of mounting options. You have to download their ROES application to your computer to be able to order from them which is a small downside, but offers many additional options.
I suggest downloading the Economy Version of Bay ROES because it's for people (like you!) who know how to do your own color correction. 

For Photo Books:
Both Bay Photo and Adorama make books that are good quality, with the option to have the pages actual photo paper.

Blurb is more economical, and colors generally come out good, although the pages are not made from Photo Paper (they are a bit thinner). This service is perhaps more equivalent to a book you might make on Shutterfly, but the color quality is better, and there are more sizes and layout options when you download their application to your computer.
www.blurb.com





    

Night Photography: HW Due May 5

Suggested Homework Due May 5th: Shoot a series of images outdoors at night. Here are some past student assignment examples: Below is a selection of images shot by students for the Night Landscape assignment.  Some fun things to try:

• Try using a High ISO (as high as your camera will go) and no tripod (remember to keep your shutterspeed at 60 or aboveso it's not blurry). This will create a lot of graininess.
• Try using a tripod and a lower ISO (like 200 or 400), but a very long exposure (perhaps a couple seconds).
• Try having some motion in the shot for a long exposure (like this flashlight motion around the tree, below)
• Try a long exposure combined with a flash (perhaps having the flash light up a person in the dark while the long exposure shows detail in the dark background). Try having the person run through the frame and the flash will "freeze" them.

Long exposure shows motion. Photo by Joel Stuckey

These 2 photos by Gary Prideaux perfectly illustrate the difference between a long exposure night shot and a high ISO night shot. A high ISO often produces graininess, but doesn't require a tripod:

Short Exposure, High ISO- grainy! Photo by Gary Prideaux

Long Exposure, low ISO, more clarity. Photo by Gary Prideaux

This long exposure shot by Mira Zaslove shows some motion on the water,
but the architecture is crisp since she used a tripod.

Here are a couple fun photos by Michelle Nguyen in our class using a long exposure, tripod and a flashlight:

Intro to Camera Raw & Photoshop

There are 3 main Adobe interfaces I work in. I start in Bridge to organize and star favorites, then I process my favorite RAW files in Camera Raw, then I retouch them in Photoshop. Each interface looks a bit different and we'll go over the basics of each together. (Camera Raw is part of the Photoshop application- Raw files automatically open up into it. Bridge is a separate application for organizing.)

WORKFLOW

Intro to Bridge:
When starting with a large group of images I've just shot, I begin by previewing them all in Bridge, Filmstrip view. I delete ones I don't want to keep, rename all the files, apply my copyright metadata, star my favorites, sort them, then open up into Camera Raw.

To open and process lots of images at once, highlight them, then hit Return/Enter and they should open up automatically into Adobe Camera Raw. Looks like this (see all the images stacked up on the left):

Some basic info about the sliders in Camera Raw:

When opening up a RAW file into Photoshop, it will initially open into the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) window. It looks like this:

Be sure to click the blue text at the bottom to set your resolution to 300. Leave everything on "DEFAULT" so you can control the quality of all aspects of the image. When you move each slider, the adjustments are saved into a "Sidecar" .xmp file that is stored in the same folder as your RAW file. If you toss this .xmp file, your image will go back to how it was when you had just downloaded it off your camera.

The main adjustments you want to make for most images are Temperature, Exposure, Highlights and Shadows. In the image below, I made it a bit warmer by moving the temperature slider to the right, and I brought out detail in the shadows by moving the shadows slider to the right. Notice it's a bit grainy because it was dark and I was at ISO 800.

After processing a large group of images, you usually hit "DONE" or "SAVE IMAGES". I generally save as JPGs, which creates a new folder.  I then photoshop/retouch the hi-res JPGs.

For a single image, when you hit "OPEN IMAGE" in the lower right hand corner, it opens up into "Regular" Photoshop, and looks like this, with a layers palatte:

Description of Tools:

Intro to Portrait Retouching

PORTRAITURE

*see the slideshows in the dropbox folder for some inspiration

Portraiture can mean many things. Environmental portraits of people show someone's surroundings and close up portraits can be more about a personal's expression or emotion. Stories are told in different ways.

environmental portrait by Joel Sternfeld

close-up portrait of Picasso by Richard Avedon (notice the side lighting)

Lens Choice:
Lens Length Impacts Portraiture!
In taking pictures of people choosing a longer lens (like above 50mm) is generally more flattering. Try standing farther away from your subject and zooming in if you have a zoom lens.

Image on left is a wide angle (like a 18mm lens). Image on right is a longer lens (like 85mm) Image credit here.

My favorite lens for portraits is the 50mm f1.8. You can find it at B&H here. You generally want to use a 50mm or longer lens when shooting a portrait (I'd say 50-100mm. Some say 80mm is the best.)

It's not very wide, so you will want a zoom lens as well. The more expensive ones that go to f2.8 are the nicest and assure that blurry background. Something like one of these.

I also have a fixed 28mm f2.8 lens I love. They say prime lenses (those that don't zoom" are a bit sharper. This is a bit too wide for a portrait, but great for group shots.

PHOTOSHOP TOOLS for portrait retouching:

QUICK SUMMARY: Retouching a portrait:
Process the RAW file and open it in Photoshop.
-Layer 1 (bottom of stack) = Background
-Layer 2 = Background Duplicate (Duplicate the background, call it "retouching" or "patch and clone stamp". Fix skin here) You may also like to use the Healing Brush Tool for skin.
-Layer 3 (top of stack) = Curves "brighten layer" for brightening under eyes, whites of eyes, teeth, etc:

THE DETAILS: Basic Portrait Retouching **be sure to zoom in to 100% or 200%

We work from the bottom layer up. Each time you add a new layer, it should get added to the top of the layer stack. It's important to work in this order and add new layers to the top of the layers stack as you move along. 

1.) Retouching Layer/Blemishes: Duplicate background layer by dragging it down to the little icon at the bottom of the layers palette that looks like a page with the corner folded. This duplicate layer is where you should do your blemish and spot removal. Using a combination of the following tools, Clone Tool, Healing Brush Tool, Spot Healing Brush Tool, Patch Tool and filling with content aware to rid of all blemishes and stray hairs. Turn brush hardness all the way off, to 0% so that your brushes are soft. Experiment with the opacity of each tool as well.  (Clone & Healing brush tools also work on empty layers if you choose “sample all layers” from the bar at the top.)

2.) To Add Slimming (optional) : FILTER > LIQUIFY. Add this to the above retouching layer, or if you think you may want to "turn it off" later, do it on a separate layer by Duplicating the “retouching” layer and call it “Liquify”.  Liquify minimizes double chins, chubby cheeks, odd facial angles, crooked bangs,  bunched up clothing, etc. Set Brush Pressure and Brush density to “17”- this is a good starting point. Use a fairly large brush.

3.) Decreasing Wrinkles: Make a new empty layer (click icon at the bottom of the layers palette that looks like a page with the corner folded). Using the healing brush, option click a "good" source area and heal over the wrinkles. Or try the spot healing brush. Make sure "all layers" is selected from the drop down menu at the top (otherwise it won't work to heal on an empty layer). The advantage of healing on an empty layer is that it won't increase your files size too much. The advantage to working on wrinkles on a separate layer is that you can decrease the layer opacity without affecting other retouches.

4.) Decrease Redness: You may need to selectively decrease redness in certain parts of the face. To do this, make a new "Hue/Saturation" adjustment layer from your adjustments palette. Change "Master" to "Reds" and move the slider to the left on the Properties panel. Invert the mask that has been created for you on the layers palette (command i for a Mac/ control i -PC). Paint with a big, soft white brush (B) on the mask to reveal the change (and decrease reds in certain areas).

5.) Brightening with Curves. This is great for brightening under eyes, brightening shadow areas and adding highlights to hair. Make a new curves layer, push the curve slightly from the middle to the top left corner (see below), invert (command i) the mask and paint with a soft white brush on the areas you want to become brighter. You can always decrease the opacity of the layer if the effect is too strong.

6.) Teeth: you can take some yellow-ness out of teeth and brighten them up a little using a Hue Saturation layer. See step #4, except change "Master" to "Yellows". And move the "Lightness" slider to the right to make the teeth brighter. (*note: you can select the teeth first using the lasso tool, or you can simply paint over the teeth on the mask)

Here's an overview of the final layers palette incorporating all the steps I mentioned above:

image source: Lynda.com 

WHEN DONE....Save as TIFF of PSD to maintain layers. Save another copy as a JPG to be able to email it, make a print, upload it, etc. The TIFF/PSD is your Master File and if you want to make any edits layer, you'll go back to the TIFF/PSD.

Portrait Exercise (Window Light)

Let's take a look at the differences in quality of light a simple window can offer. Window light looks different when coming from the side, behind or directly at your subject's face. Use of a fill card (reflector or white poster board) can alter the light dramatically and fill in shadows to reveal more detail.

 In Class Demo Exercise: Taking a Portrait with Window Lighting

1.) SIDE LIT: Take a photo with side lighting from a window. Take one with and without a fill card.   Try having the subject's face pointing toward  and then away from the light.

Examples of (what could be) window side-lit portraits:

by Annie Lebovitz

by Annie Lebovitz

 When shooting portraits, pay close attention to the direction the light is coming from and the quality of the shadows. Generally softer shadows are more flattering (i.e. shooting near a window with diffused light, or in the shade or on a foggy day).

2.) BACK LIT:
Try taking a picture with your subject's back to the window. Camera faces window. How does this affect your exposure settings and the light on the face?

3.) FRONT LIT:
Try taking a picture of someone where they are facing the camera and the light is hitting their face directly (window behind the photographer, subject looking out window)

*Note that the window we used did not have direct sun coming through it- the light was diffused so the shadows were softer.