Lessfeet

If I was to start over again with graphics software I would not be using Photoshop. It is far to expensive. Hundreds of dollars! I would use the GIMP now. But I got a good deal on Photoshop CS1 a few years ago and watched Photoshop TV now Photoshop User TV. Unless you plan to use CS2 or CS3 I would not bother because these guys are all about promoting the latest product.

RSS Feed: http://www.photoshopusertv.com/?feed=rss2

A few of my favorite alternative software are:

1. GIMP – alternative to Photoshop (for Windows, Macs and Linux)
2. Inkscape – alternative to Adobe Illustrator (for Windows, Macs and Linux)
3. Open Office – alternative to Microsoft Office (for Winodows, Macs and Linux)
4. Ardour – alternative to Pro Tools or Adobe Audition (for Macs and Linux)
5. Foxit – alternate to Adobe Acrobat Reader (for Windows and Linux)
6. Firefox – alternative to Internet Explorer or Safari (for Windows, Macs and Linux)
7. Thunderbird – alternative to Outlook Express (for Windows, Macs and Linux)
8. InfraRecorder – alternative to Nero or Easy CD Creator (for Windows)
9. GnuCash – alternative for Quicken (for Windows and Linux)
10. Quicktime Alernative – alternative to Quicktime Media Player (Windows only)

Why would you use alternative software:

1. Price – The Adobe software while very good the cost of it is astronomical. Microsoft Office is getting creaper but it’s still not there.
2. Bloat – Lets take the example of Nero Burning Rom. It was a very good program. It had only one function and it did it well. Now it has turned into this massive program that does everything. It is now slow! It is to bloated! It is time to use something else!
3. Security – The bigger and more complex these programs get the more they open themselves up to many security problem. Example: There are always reports of some major security holes in Adobe’s Acrobat Reader. Recently the reader had a security hole in Javascript. Why does a PDF reader need Javascript. Short answer, it doesn’t! It’s a document reader! You see Adobe was not satisfied having a good document reader they had to start adding functionality to it. Adding functionality adds complexity thus security problems. Foxit is just a PDF reader it doesn’t know what Javascript is and doesn’t care! It displays documents!

Here is a recently restored photo that I have been working on. A lot of what was wrong with this photo was not fixed by Photoshop. It was very stained and very dirty. I had to remove the dirt covering the picture first. If you Google cleaning photos it will tell you much better techniques to do this. I was doing this for free so I did not want to spend any money so I used alcohol. I stared in a corner of the photo to see if there was any problems before using it before cleaning the entire photo. After cleaning the picture and scanning it into Photoshop as a color image I then used a “Hue and Saturation adjustment layer” to to take out the yellow cast. I used a second “Hue and Saturation” adjustment layer to adjust the the lightness of the yellow around the wheel area to remove a big yellow blotch. I fixed the contrast and brightness with a “Levels adjustment layer”. Then used the “Clone Stamp Tool” and finally the “Healing Brush Tool” to take out smudges, and scratches. That’s it! More Photoshop tips!

In April I submitted a post about creating a selection using the “Pin Tool” in Photoshop. Since I made that post I found a great tutorial on this subject. If you are Photoshop user this is a must learn skill.

After you close the path you must turn the path into a selection. Click on the paths pallet at the bottom of the pallet click “Load Path As Selection”. Now you have a selection.

This technigue works well with objects with defined edges. There are other techniques for hair and other things with less defined edges.

You have seen the Photoshop tips in some of the previous post. You have also seen that I always promote opensource when I can. You might ask, “Why aren’t you using GIMP?” The answer is I already know Photoshop because I’ve spent hundreds of dollars and numerous hours to learn to use it. Now I’m just to lazy to learn the GIMP! I know how to use Photoshop and I already own Photoshop. If I were to start over I would use GIMP.

Just like on the previous PhotoShop tip I use the “Pen Tool” to select the subject (fireplug in this case). Invert the selection. Open “Hue and Saturation”. I reduce “Saturation” to -100. This photo has a second “saturation layer” that brightens the yellows in the leaves in the foreground making them brighter and reduced the greens and blues in the background to darken the foliage.

This is a photo taken with my new Canon 50D but what I am most excited about is the Photoshop skill the I perfected. You see this photograph had terrible clutter in the background. (I think there was even a guy with his finger in his nose back there. Otherwise it is a great picture.) The cure of course is you select the background and then blur it. The question is, “How do I make an accurate selection?”. The answer is “the Magic Wand Tool”. Just kidding! The correct tool to use is the “Pen Tool”. If you practice with the “Pin Tool” you can make a very accurate selection. It is very difficult to get use to and you kinda just have to figuer it out. Here are is a tutorial that will try to explain it.

Oct 21, 2008

Change Eye Color

Bare Basics of GIMP and Brushes/Filters

Create an oilpainting from a photo.

Making a pencil drawing from a photo.

Create Lightsaber Effects

I found many GIMP tutorials on Youtube. If you don’t know about GIMP it is a great image manipulation (like Photoshop) program that is very powerful and absolutely free.

Photoshop Express – Edit, manage and share photos online.