Suggestions for DD Assignments

cletus

Got an idea for a Digital Darkroom assignment??? Post it here!

DavidTO

Not sure what all you've done so far, but here's some ideas:

DOF-create a false, but natural looking depth of field effect with blur and gradient.

Clone/patch/repair--lose distracting elements from your image

Crop--on the photo challenges we've seen several images that have been greatly improved by judicious cropping. We could show the original, and several cropping choices and then discuss the merits of them.

Skin Toning--removing blemishes, wrinkles, freckles, etc.

Image combining--use two or more images to create one with a whole new perspective.

Antiquing--make a photo look like a vintage photograph.

Restoring--cleaning up old photos (scanned, I guess, so maybe that wouldn't work? Or if you don't have a scanner, you could snap a photo of it and retouch that)

We could have a "Guess what I did competition" where we do something to a photo (something beyond crop, color, levels, etc) and then we could all guess what we did, and then post the original when it's time to reveal.

ginger_55

Good ideas and one more..........

DavidTO wrote:

Not sure what all you've done so far, but here's some ideas:

]

And they were all fine ideas, I would go for any of them.

But sometime I really would like to know how to move people in a photo. Or to move a person, animal, plant, whatever, to a totally different photo.

ginger, who wants to send her dogs photographically to some exotic places.

wxwax

* Gradient tool
* Batch processing
* Creating actions
* RAW workflow
* Basics about image size
* How to use Channels and Paths

DavidTO

ginger_55 wrote:

But sometime I really would like to know how to move people in a photo. Or to move a person, animal, plant, whatever, to a totally different photo.

ginger, who wants to send her dogs photographically to some exotic places.

How about replacing heads? I've always wanted a body builder's body....



(not really!)

Shakey

Make a newspaper front page or newspapers section front page or a front cover magazine layout.



Tim

DavidTO

Shakey wrote:

Make a newspaper front page or newspapers section front page or a front cover magazine layout.



Tim

Or a movie poster! (a one-sheet, as they're called in the business)

Shakey

Ya that would be cool as well

wxwax

That would be great fun.

pathfinder

ginger_55 wrote:

DavidTO wrote:

But sometime I really would like to know how to move people in a photo. Or to move a person, animal, plant, whatever, to a totally different photo.

ginger, who wants to send her dogs photographically to some exotic places.

Apologies to Cletus - I do not mean this to be a thread hijack, but this answer to Ginger is pertinent because I think we might discuss compositing further including how we get the colors and the color of the light to match when compositing images.

Ginger - all you need to do to move part of an image is to select it - that is select with any of the editing tools like the majic wand or the magnetic lasso or the pen tool. For organic furry creatures the extract filter is easier to use sometimes but extrract only after you have hit ctrl-J to create a duplicate layer. Then use ctrl-left mouse button to drag the extracted image wherever you desire. Play with the extract tool a little bit - it is not real user friendly at first, but for irregular organic multicolored subjects there is no better tool to select objects for movement.
Rutt and I and Cletus and Hutchman and others discussed this a while back here http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=1011&highlight=Rutt It starts slowly but by the second page it gets detailed and interesting as we discuss the extract tool - once an object has been extracted it can be pasted into an other image by Ctrl-V just like pasting text. You may have to transform it after it has been moved to adjust size etc but it is fairly easy once something is extracted t save it or put in in any background you desire. I keep a folder of backgrounds and skies just for that purpose.

I just happen to have a picture of a dog in a cornfield for you


Once your dog is extracted it can be put anywhere, even in front of a neutral gradient layer


Stone lawn angels can fly.....







And you can find a V-1 in flight in an Indiana field along with a WWI staue



Like Andy says " Enjoy ( Photoshopping) Photography!"

ginger_55

Thanks Pathfinder
I am going to print that out! Great, and I will look at your group conversation from awhile back and probably print that out also.

I really appreciate it, and I like the dog.......... anywhere he is, smile.

ginger

AltPro

Frog at the Beach
Path...

Hope you don't mind... Here is one that I did a couple of months back...

"Frog at the Beach"

ginette

wxwax

That's very nice, Ginette. I like the light quality in the shot.

DavidTO

Idea for DD Assignment
Restore this photo:

I can supply the original.

wxwax

Toughie.

cletus

DavidTO wrote:

Restore this photo:

I can supply the original.

David,

Sorry I missed this post! Thanks for offering up the photo. I'll think we'll probably use it.

graflexTom

I remember learing a Process called the Sobotieha Effect. (please forgive the Spelling) It was in done by flashing a Print in the developer and then placing it in a Stop Bath. the Effect wa the black and white inversed nad made a very neat print.

So can we do this in Photo Shop?

gus

graflexTom wrote:

I remember learing a Process called the Sobotieha Effect. (please forgive the Spelling) It was in done by flashing a Print in the developer and then placing it in a Stop Bath. the Effect wa the black and white inversed nad made a very neat print.

So can we do this in Photo Shop?

Similar to how i used to do my pinholes tom however i did them the other way round...the neg was in the camera (box) & i would turn the lights out ..put a photo paper under the neg (face to face of course) & then lay a thick towel over them...turn on the lights & lift the towel fast & drop it shut. Then drop it in some developer.

http://wadjelaphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/7096

Ends up dearer as you always use 2 photo papers...i eventually bought a scanner so i could just scan the neg & invert it in photoshop.

.

rutt

Make her more beautiful
The sharpening assignment has been useful in that it's gotten me to write two out of the three tutorials on the subject that I had in mind. I think I'll finish. But we don't seem to be getting much play.

So here's an idea that I think will be very popular. How about glamor? Make her more beautiful? People always want to play and we have some contributers who are really good at it: Yuri, Lynn, DJ-S1. Let's get some of them to co-host the way I'm doing with sharpening.

I making pictures of pretty women into pictures of beautiful women would attract a lot of players. It's a skill I'd love to have.

wxwax

Good suggestion, Rutt.

The DD assignments usually don't generate a lot of activty. I wonder why? Is it because PS or equivalent are so complicated? Or that not a lot of members have the programs?

Dee

Assignments

wxwax wrote:

Good suggestion, Rutt.

The DD assignments usually don't generate a lot of activty. I wonder why? Is it because PS or equivalent are so complicated? Or that not a lot of members have the programs?

I haven't really looked at the DD assignments so if I post something stupid here, please forgive me.

Is there a tutorial explaining how to achieve the assignment?

For example if you are going to take an object (person, animal, etc.) from one photo to another, do you supply a tutorial explaining how to do this?

Some people may be busy, or just not interested.

I once posted a neat photo of a blossom on some leaves and stuff and asked people to play with it -- I saw a distinct lack of imagination...

Maybe that's part of it?

As a graphic designer I have to have a lot of imagination, but it sort of gets dampened when I'm behind the camera, too concerned about getting a decent photo (sometimes!).

As a digital compositor most of the time it's an assignment from the client and has to be worked on quickly.

In photoshop there are so many different ways to accomplish the goal, it might be daunting for someone who doesn't use photoshop in a graphic design/composite way to know or learn how to do things.

Just some rambling thoughts here.

I had great fun playing with a cabin in the woods and making it a graffiti shack, but I spent quite a bit of time on it.

One site (I'm sure there are others) run contests by supplying several photos/patterns and saying you have to use 4 or 5 of the photos (or parts) of them to create a new image.

I also think it might be nice to have a gallery for the entries rather than having to scroll through the thread to see the "entries" one at a time.

I feel the same way about the Challenge too, wish there was a gallery for entries or that the host of the challenge would put them into a gallery so they could all be seen together. But that doesn't keep me from voting, so whatever works works I guess.

wxwax

Good post, Dee!

rutt

Unlike the challenges, the assignments are suppossed to more like learning excersises than competitions. When Cletus started them, there was a flurry of interest in a few of them, particularly on on B&W conversion. Then they sort of lost momentum. I hoped that the sharpening tutorial and assignment would help, but that was probably just to specific, dry, and technical.

Now I think that if we get some pictures of beautiful women going here and tutorials for how to make that kind of shot, well, we'd get a lot of interest, at least for that one assignment. And maybe that's a key. The point shouldn't be "sharpening" or "levels" or "curves", but "Beauty" or "Motion" or "Focusing Attention". The latter sort of topic leaves a lot of room for creativity and people can all contribute in different ways.

DavidTO

rutt wrote:

The sharpening assignment has been useful in that it's gotten me to write two out of the three tutorials on the subject that I had in mind. I think I'll finish. But we don't seem to be getting much play.

So here's an idea that I think will be very popular. How about glamor? Make her more beautiful? People always want to play and we have some contributers who are really good at it: Yuri, Lynn, DJ-S1. Let's get some of them to co-host the way I'm doing with sharpening.

I making pictures of pretty women into pictures of beautiful women would attract a lot of players. It's a skill I'd love to have.

Rutt,

Just want to let you know that your time is far from wasted, IMO. I've been supremely busy, and haven't even shot anything in over a month, let alone post-process. I've looked at your tutorial, and look foward to playing with it and learning more.

Thanks for doing it, and thanks for not quitting on us!

muddyknees

I've been reading your tutorials and have found them really informative, and have been meaning to participate, but I've just been so busy and know that I'd be committing myself to a lot of time as soon as I started.

I'm thinking that the topics here could maybe have a longer lifespan (slower pace) than the contests. That might allow more participation from busy folk.
Also, there's been a lot to digest here: I wouldn't mind seeing a few more "practice examples" to keep the thread "live" until I have as chance to participate.

Also, no reason to have just one topic going at once - and there could be "cross-polination". For example, I've been doing a lot of experimentation with both the USM radius and Shadow/highlight radius parameters and notice striking similarities. In both cases there seem to be unwanted artifacts (eg halo's) produced at certain settings that actually can be masked by using larger settings. I've been meaning to start a thread discussing this (but have hesitated because I'm afraisd I don't have the time to follow through with proper replies.

So, yeah, the beautify" theme sounds neat. It could build on and at the same time serve as practice-exercises" for the more basic technique threads.

Gary

rutt wrote:

The sharpening assignment has been useful in that it's gotten me to write two out of the three tutorials on the subject that I had in mind. I think I'll finish. But we don't seem to be getting much play.

So here's an idea that I think will be very popular. How about glamor? Make her more beautiful? People always want to play and we have some contributers who are really good at it: Yuri, Lynn, DJ-S1. Let's get some of them to co-host the way I'm doing with sharpening.

I making pictures of pretty women into pictures of beautiful women would attract a lot of players. It's a skill I'd love to have.

cletus

Thanks guys!
Thanks everybody for sharing your thoughts on how we can improve the digital darkroom assignments!

I'm the first to admit that I've been neglecting the assignments for a long while now. I promise, as soon as time permits I'm going to get them back up to speed.

I want to leave the basics of sharpening up a bit longer and then we'll do an assignment based on rutt's advanced sharpening tutorial. After that we can move on to some more 'open' assignments.

ginger_55

rutt wrote:

Unlike the challenges, the assignments are suppossed to more like learning excersises than competitions. When Cletus started them, there was a flurry of interest in a few of them, particularly on on B&W conversion. Then they sort of lost momentum. I hoped that the sharpening tutorial and assignment would help, but that was probably just to specific, dry, and technical.

Now I think that if we get some pictures of beautiful women going here and tutorials for how to make that kind of shot, well, we'd get a lot of interest, at least for that one assignment. And maybe that's a key. The point shouldn't be "sharpening" or "levels" or "curves", but "Beauty" or "Motion" or "Focusing Attention". The latter sort of topic leaves a lot of room for creativity and people can all contribute in different ways.

I learned alot on the sharpening ones, both of them. I don't usually do these assignments anymore, but that one seemed like a small price to pay to make my photos better. I was getting so paranoid over possibly over sharpening that I all but abandoned sharpening. Totally, didn't do it and waited for someone to say I over sharpened, but I did do Rutt's tutorial and I usually sharpen again now, knowing alot more than I did.

I asked him to do one on shadows/highlights, he said someone else might find that an area of expertise, or something like that. But I would love a tutorial on this new tool that is soooo fantastic, but as Andy says is powerful, we need to use care.

I am getting afraid of that tool now, too. When I am using care, I would like to know what to watch out for.

Repeating myself, I would love a tutorial on shadows/highlights.

ginger

ginger_55

Dee wrote:

I haven't really looked at the DD assignments so if I post something stupid here, please forgive me.

:lol4

For example if you are going to take an object (person, animal, etc.) from one photo to another, do you supply a tutorial explaining how to do this?

In photoshop there are so many different ways to accomplish the goal, it might be daunting for someone who doesn't use photoshop in a graphic design/composite way to know or learn how to do things.

I had great fun playing with a cabin in the woods and making it a graffiti shack, but I spent quite a bit of time on it.

One site (I'm sure there are others) run contests by supplying several photos/patterns and saying you have to use 4 or 5 of the photos (or parts) of them to create a new image.

I also think it might be nice to have a gallery for the entries rather than having to scroll through the thread to see the "entries" one at a time.

I feel the same way about the Challenge too, wish there was a gallery for entries or that the host of the challenge would put them into a gallery so they could all be seen together. But that doesn't keep me from voting, so whatever works works I guess.

Dee, why don't you do a tutorial on putting things together. I have trouble cutting them out, to say the least of putting them somewhere else.

All that neat PS stuff you know could be interesting to some of us (me).

And blending, too. I am still trying to learn ways to smoothly take one photo, shrink it, put it in another photo (I can get that far), but it is just a square, even if it is a less opaque square, it is still a square. I did one in the nature thing the other day, my last post. I can't do it any other way.

Just a thought,

ginger

ginger_55

Oh, Dee, if you want to see something about how a particular challenge is going to be approached, wait til after the first few days, or the first weekend, there will be threads posted for comments on that Challenge and you can get an idea of what people are doing.

I have been doing challenges all along, but with the light challenge, I had to wait. Then I just knew I couldn't do it. I did something anyway, so there would be entries, but that is actually better than a gallery. IMO.

A gallery just shows a bunch of winners, or really good final products. They can be scary.

g

Bendr

graflexTom wrote:

I remember learing a Process called the Sobotieha Effect. (please forgive the Spelling) It was in done by flashing a Print in the developer and then placing it in a Stop Bath. the Effect wa the black and white inversed nad made a very neat print.

So can we do this in Photo Shop?

I think you mean the sabatier effect

read more about it here -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabatier_Effect