emil_ems5

<p>Thanks a lot, that explains it very clearly!</p>

<p>I am downsizing a lot of photos at present for introduction into a book. Whenever I wish to downsize at constant pixels per inch, Photoshop asks me whether to check the box "Scale Styles". I have no idea what that means. Does anyone out there know?</p>

<p>Someone in the thread singled out one of the companies as being prepared to use InDesign documents. Just wanted to let you know that nothing prevents you from preparing your original in InDesign. I do this all the time with the Apple books that uses a very simple programme for placing pictures, as they all do. </p>

<p>I prepare my photo book in InDesign, preparing the pages with the size provided by Apple. I then export the files, page by page, into separate JPEG files in sRGB. Finally, I place those files in Apple's programme, using their format for pictures filling the page to the brim</p>

<p>I seem to do even more in ACR than any of the previous commentators. The technique I use is the one of layered "Smart Objects". This means that I have several layers in Photoshop, each of which is a raw image that I still can manipulate in ACR. This technique is especially useful, when taking pictures in the sun under high contrast, for instance, when parts of a face are in shadow and parts lighted by the sun. What you do is, first, to optimize the picture in ACR for the sun-lit parts (including white balance, exposure, contrast etc.). Then you add another version of the raw file as a layer on top of it, which you optimize for the shadow in ACR. In contrast to Photoshop, all the necessary adjustments on this layer (white balance, exposure, contrast etc.) can be done in one go. Photoshop comes into play when masking the sun-lit parts of the second layer, so only the shadow part from the that layer shows through.</p>

<p>Thanks Andrew! I suspected as much, but the quirky language of Eizo got me off track.</p>

<p>I recently bought an Eizo CG 243W screen and it is now time to do its first calibration. I use an Eye One Two as instrument and would like to use Eizo's own calibration programme (Color Navigator) in combination with this instrument. </p>

<p>When starting the calibration, the programme asks me to "Initialize the measurement device - Place it on the flat and opaque surface than click 'Initialize'"</p>

<p>What exactly does this mean? Should I place the Eye One Two on any old opaque and flat surface to calibrate it? Or is a special surface meant, which should have been delivered with the instrument?</p>

<p>Andrew,<br>

I understand that for proofing, in the sense of perfect alignment with the final offset print, you will need an independent RIP. But doesn't the EPSON 3800 driver with EPSON proofing paper, when provided with a CMYK-file through Photoshop, give you a rather close approximation, good enough for people like me who are not able to discern the last 2 per cent of quality in a print? </p>

<p>Let me quote a passage from a book about printing I read recently, "CMYK 2.0" by Rick McCleary:</p>

<p>"With a custom printer profile, the printer driver [that comes with every professional-level printer] can produce CMYK guide prints that are a <em>good visual match </em>as compared with the ultimate CMYK press sheet output. ... The printer driver can proof single images to a <em>good visual match</em>. It is not adequate for proofing page layout files in a professional environment."</p>

<p>Several commentators in this discussion mention that a RIP like Colorburst is necessary for proofing files for CMYK printing. Is this really true? Is it not possible to use, say, an EPSON 3800 with its own (RIP) Driver and proofing paper and enacting the necessary print commands through Photoshop?</p>

<p>Thanks a lot Francisco! That was illuminating. I gather that the same procedure holds when applying ordinary color brush strokes in the "Darken" mode?</p>

<p>I read somewhere that it is possible to clone over an area in the picture with a light substance without covering those parts within that area that are darker than the cloned substance. The procedure outlined was to use the mode "Darken" for the cloning tool. I have tried to do this but it does not seem to work for me. I am cloning on a new (empty) layer on top of the base layer and have unchecked the "Align" feature of the clone tool. The cloning substance is covering areas both darker and lighter than the substance, regardless of me choosing "Darken", "Lighten" or "Normal" as mode for the cloning. The layer merging is set at "Normal".</p>

<p>What am I doing wrong? Can anyone in the Community out there enlighten me?</p>

<p>Marten,<br>

I agree with the preceding answers that iPhoto is essentially useless for mor advanced picture processing. Better not import pictures from your camera into iPhoto. Better to use Lightroom or Photoshop Elements 7 (which includes the same raw converter as Lightroom) for that purpose.</p>

<p>Having said that, I find iPhoto eminently useful for compiling slideshows with music, in combination with another program on your Mac, called Garageband. For this purpose, I convert my finalized pictures (as copy) into 1200 pixel Jpeg´s in sRGB and import them as "event" in iPhoto. Slideshows made in iPhoto on the basis of these and the music of your choice (compiled in Garageband) can then very easily be exported with HDTV definition to Quickslide movies and forwarded to Youtube. Before using any of these Mac programmes, make sure to look at their video tutorials which can be found on the Apple Website.</p>

<p>You asked why I am eager to use this printing method. In fact, most high quality photo books, like "Ansel Adams at 100" have been printed in this manner. However, I don't know the exact printing method applied in that book. Maybe I have exaggerated the amount of gloss in that book and it is just the natural gloss of the printing colors, with the purely white areas of course being matte, since uncovered by print.</p>

<p>I am planning to produce a book with a lot of color images, many of them interspersed with text. I will have it printed on coated matte paper, so that the color images have a gloss only through the printed colors (the white will be matte paper white). If you have looked at high quality offset printed books with matte coated pages, you know what I mean. There is a gloss to the colors in the images, the more gloss the more color is laid on the paper.<br>

When preparing the pictures for the book I would like to print them out on an Epson 3900 printer (still has to be bought), on paper (preferredly Epson) that will render the images in the same fashion as described above. If this is not possible, the closest possible approximation will have to do. Are there any papers who have that character?</p>

<p>Jack,<br>

To be more precise about the method I mentioned, you can do the following:<br>

1 Load file into Photoshop from ACR, keeping colors in their natural shape<br>

2 Put a copy of that file as a new layer on top of the first.<br>

3 Load adjustment layer "Black & White<br>

4 Load adjustment layer "Color Balance". In that layer, put Red at (+)30 and Yellow at (-) 20. This puts by default sepia into the mid-tones, keeping neutral tones in the deep shadows and light highlights.<br>

5 Deselect the bottom layer, select all the layers above, and highlight all the layers above. Then enact in the menu "Layer/Merge Visible". This combines all colorisation layers into one layer above the original layer.<br>

6 Put a mask aside that colorisation layer and paint black or gray into that mask where you would like the original color to shine through<br>

I hope this helps</p>

<p>It seems to me that the photographer, at least in some of the pictures, made a b/w conversion turned into sepia in the mid-tones. This version was put as a layer on top of the original color version and the original color brought back selectively by painting on the top layer mask with a pen of varying opacity.</p>

<p>I am planning to make a book out of a recent travelblog (see emilems.blogspot.com) and have contacted a printer to that effect.</p>

<p>Since I will try to make the necessary conversion from Adobe RGB to CMYK myself, I asked the printer to send me their profile for four color printing. The answer I received (from a European company) was "to make a standard conversion according to ISO 39L for coated paper".</p>

<p>Could anyone out there in the community advise me which type of profile (for softproofing and conversion) this standard is corresponding to and where I could obtain that profile for downloading? Your help would be much appreciated!</p>

<p>I have in an earlier question (http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00X3dK) posed the issue, whether a Photoshop file, consisting of several smart objects, each of which being a processed version of one single raw file, could be downsized without risk for losing pixels.</p>

<p>The issue is important to me, since I downsized many such files for a book and did not save them in the original size. I would like to size them back up now without losing picture quality. </p>

<p>I have experimented with one such file and found, TO MY EXTREME PLEASURE, that the downsizing has not destroyed any pixels in the smart objects placed in the file. Upsizing gives me back the original size of the file without any quality loss. Just wanted to let you all out there share the good news!</p>

<p>Dear Mendel and Curt,<br>

Thanks a lot for taking an interest in my problem. From your answers I see that I phrased my question badly.</p>

<p>What I am doing, as a matter of routine, is to process the raw file in several versions in ACR and stack those versions as SMART OBJECT layers in a Photoshop file, masking off parts of each as appropriate. Since these several versions are not being saved in the original raw file (as obtained when opened in ACR) with the exception of the first processed version, I was interested in knowing whether downsizing had destroyed pixels in the other versions, saved as smart object layer on top of the first. If not, it would be a piece of cake to resize the whole file back to the original size without having to fear a deterioration in the image.</p>

<p>I think this question is crucial to the understanding of, how processed raw files placed as smart objects work in Adobe Photoshop. I will of course start experimenting now; just thought that someone else had investigated this and could give me a headstart. if not, It will be my pleasure to report back from my experiments.</p>

<p><img src="http://picasaweb.google.com/emsemil/Photoshop#5504545072826134018" alt="" />Here comes the picture now, I hope! <br /> HEY, why doesn't Photoshop accept pictures placed on Picasa? Is there a manual somewhere in the Photonet site about how to do it right?<br>

In any case, the web address for the picture is: http://picasaweb.google.com/emsemil/Photoshop#5504545072826134018</p>

<p>Trevor,<br />Charles did a splendid job with curves. I would suggest that you try also the alternative approach of cloning in some details from other parts of the picture. When you are cloning, do it on a separate new layer above the background layer. Don't worry about cloning over too much, you can always hide the "overflow" on a mask in a way similar to that described by Charles. I did the included adjustment by cloning in two layers above the background layer, masking each of them as needed.<br>

Sorry about the multiple postings. Tried to place a picture from my computer according to the rules, but the system did not accept it. Will come back with the picture as soon as I have put it on Picasa.</p>

<p>I have recently spent two months in Berkeley, California, on a very productive combined pleasure and production trip. If you are interested in my photo production from there, you are welcome to visit my blog emilems.blogspot.com.<br>

Now to the question: I would like to convert my blog (34 chapters!) into a book and have acquired InDesign to that effect. I have started to configure pages for one Chapter already and put in the corresponding photos in varying sizes. To make sure that the sizing does not destroy picture values I have done it in Photoshop before placing the pictures in the InDesign file. Unfortunately, I have not saved the photos in their original size, only in the final size as placed in InDesign.<br>

I am now in the uncomfortable situation that I would like some of the very small photos much larger instead. The good news is that my Photoshop files are based on layers consisting of differing raw conversions placed as smart object. Now, if I will resize a file back to its original size, will the raw files placed as smart object regain its original qualities from that size? Or will they have lost a lot of the original pixels in the downsizing that I will not get back? </p>

 

<p>I take some videos, from time to time, with my Nikon D90. I am using Apple's imovie programme for editing. Does anyone know how this compares with Pinnacles Studio software. Would I benefit from using that programme instead of imovie?</p>

<p>I will be visiting the Bay Area in Apri/May, staying in Berkeley. I would like to spend some time on a workshop, where the use of InDesign in preparing books (in particular photo books with text) would be the topic. I intend to produce a book with about 40 pages text and 80 pages b/w prints, printed with hight quality duo- or even tri-tone. Would like to make a beatiful book and learn the basics of using InDesign for that purpose. Does anyone here in the Community have a suitable workshop to propose?</p>

<p>Edward, could you please explain what is an "inverted layer" and how to obtain it in photoshop? I copied a file as new layer and looked for an "invert" command in "Layers" but could not find such a command.</p>

<p>I think Patrice has a point in mentioning PSD as a method for saving. My workflow involves loading a generally corrected version from ACR into Photoshop as smart object. Major additional partial retunings are then made on a copy of that smart object, and finer adjustments made by adjustment layers. Saving this file as PSD preserves the original raw file as well as all adjustments, done in non-destructive form.</p>