Digital Darkroom Assignment #10

cletus · July 20, 2004

Your Assignment: Focusing Attention

There are an unlimited number of ways to affect what part of an image grabs the viewer's attention. Techniques can range from very subtle to very dramatic. Changes can be made to reinforce the focal point, or create a different focal point.

Using the photo editing software of your choice, affect the focal point of an image. You may choose to re-inforce an existing focal point, or try to introduce a completely new focal point. You may use any technique you wish, but try to be creative! Be sure to post before and after versions of your work.

Hints

Take a look at Rutt's Making the Subject Stand Out and Distracting Backgrounds threads or Andy's Parking Ticket Man post over at dpreview. There is a lot of good information in these threads that relates closely to this assignment.

Where an object lies in the image has a big impact on how much attention it gets, thus the Crop tool can be very powerful.

Remember that your technique can be subtle or obvious.

wxwax · July 20, 2004

Hmmm. Using photographic and darkroom techniques to focus attention?

OK, I'm up for something new. But I'll tell you what, grabbing them by the shoulders and shaking them until their head hurts has always worked for me.

Andy · July 21, 2004

parking ticket man
good topic, cletus.

there should be some good poop in here

ginger_55 · July 21, 2004

cletus wrote:

Your Assignment: Focusing Attention

There are an unlimited number of ways to affect what part of an image grabs the viewer's attention. Techniques can range from very subtle to very dramatic. Changes can be made to reinforce the focal point, or create a different focal point.

Using the photo editing software of your choice, affect the focal point of an image. You may choose to re-inforce an existing focal point, or try to introduce a completely new focal point. You may use any technique you wish, but try to be creative! Be sure to post before and after versions of your work.

Hints

Take a look at Rutt's Making the Subject Stand Out and Distracting Backgrounds threads. There is a lot of good information in these threads that relates closely to this assignment.

Where an object lies in the image has a big impact on how much attention it gets, thus the Crop tool can be very powerful.

Remember that your technique can be subtle or obvious.

Eric, are there cash prizes??

Do you have examples? Oh, yes, I do remember the cop.

Well, then, the cash??

g hahahahahahha It is too early for news like this!

Noooooooooo, I Never make trouble, trouble make me, remember!

cletus · July 21, 2004

Using Color (or lack thereof)
Original:

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer added. Saturation set to -100. Layer mask used to keep adjustment from affecting subject:

Slight levels adjustment applied to subject only:

cletus · July 21, 2004

Oh no.... It's Almost Willie!
Original:

Subject isolated using Photoshop CS's ultra-super-way-cool Lens Blur:

ginger_55 · July 21, 2004

Isolating for effect......
Cletus, I am sorry. That is one thing I know how to do really well. I just figured out how to use the burn tool today, but I have been playing with isolating things for a long time.

Using Color, blurring, cropping, whatever I have to in order to show pictures of my dogs to people without showing my house, lol. And for other reasons.

That from this...........

I have many different ways of doing it, but I am afraid my pc will freeze, so I am just sending this one.

ginger

cletus · July 21, 2004

ginger_55 wrote:

Outstanding work ginger! Nice use of at least two tools (croping and bluring the background) to get the viewer to focus on your subject. Of course it helps that you had a good picture of a really cute subject to start with

Edit: Nice cloning work too!

cletus · July 22, 2004

Exposure Adjustment
Here's the original. Since the ground and the school seem to have a similar tone, they tend to blend together:

Levels Adjustment Layer masked to only affect the school:

It may not be much but I felt that it helped to seperate the school from the ground.

Mitchell · July 25, 2004

Though I'd give this one a try. I like to use color and the lack thereof to focus attention.

mitch

lynnma · July 26, 2004

Mitchell wrote:

Though I'd give this one a try. I like to use color and the lack thereof to focus attention.

mitch

Nice job mitchell.. the color really stands out... I like it

lynnma · July 26, 2004

Dont ask me ... I'm descending into photoshop hell....

Mitchell · July 26, 2004

Powerful image Lynn!! I really like the depth of field on the road.

lynnma wrote:

Dont ask me ... I'm descending into photoshop hell....

wxwax · July 27, 2004

lynnma wrote:

Dont ask me ... I'm descending into photoshop hell....

Wow, that's an eyepopper, Lynn!!

wxwax · July 27, 2004

Here are a couple of before and after images. In both cases, I darkened the image, then used a mask to make the subject bright again.

Before

After

wxwax · July 27, 2004

Here's another one. This one's kind of sloppy around the pedestrian.

Before

After

lynnma · July 27, 2004

wxwax wrote:

Here's another one. This one's kind of sloppy around the pedestrian.

Before

After

Yea I see it.. great stuff.. The first one with the woman and hair really pops out at ya.:D

pathfinder · July 27, 2004

lynnma wrote:

Dont ask me ... I'm descending into photoshop hell....

Great work Lynn - Do you have a color version of this image too? Care to share it with us?

lynnma · July 27, 2004

pathfinder wrote:

Great work Lynn - Do you have a color version of this image too? Care to share it with us?

thanks Path..

it's a total ps fabrication.. this is the original complete with dirt..
and the sky was seperate

lynnma · July 27, 2004

lynnma wrote:

thanks Path..

it's a total ps fabrication.. this is the original complete with dirt..
and the sky was seperate

sky

lynnma · July 27, 2004

lynnma wrote:

sky

makes this...

pathfinder · July 27, 2004

wxwax wrote:

Here are a couple of before and after images. In both cases, I darkened the image, then used a mask to make the subject bright again.

Before

After

Nicely done waxy. You darkened the image with levels or curves or something and then used an adjustment layer to paint the gentleman back in brighter using a black colored brush on the adjustment layer? Is this technique faster, or more precise, or easier, or more subtle than darkening the background directly by using the BURN tool? Or have you tried used the shadow/highlight tool for this purpose? I posted an altenative to the default settings for the shadow/highlight tool in the hall of fame thread a few days ago. The more you learn about Photoshop, the more ways there are to perform the same image adjustment tasks.

I frequently burn in the edges and corners of my images with the burn tool or using a radial gradient mask and a curves adjustment layer. But I have not tried to correct for contrast with the technique you used here. I may give it a try.

lynnma · July 27, 2004

pathfinder wrote:

Nicely done waxy. You darkened the image with levels or curves or something and then used an adjustment layer to paint the gentleman back in brighter using a black colored brush on the adjustment layer? Is this technique faster, or more precise, or easier, or more subtle than darkening the background directly by using the BURN tool? Or have you tried used the shadow/highlight tool for this purpose? I posted an altenative to the default settings for the shadow/highlight tool in the hall of fame thread a few days ago. Thew more you learn about Photoshop, the more ways there are to perform the same image adjustment tasks.

I frequently burn in the edges and corners of my images with the burn tool or using a radial gradient mask and a curves adjustment layer. But I have not tried to correct for contrast with the technique you used here. I may give it a try.

Yes I'd like to know how you did that too Sid.

wxwax · July 27, 2004

Pathfinder, Lynn, on the Layers palette I clicked on the half dark/half light circle at the bottom, "Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer." From there I darkened the image - can't remember if I used Levels (I think I used the bottom slider) or brightness.

Then I made sure my color boxes were black and white. Had black on top. Clicked on Paintbrush, and swiped away the darkness from the figure. The cool thing about using the "Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer" is that it's automagically a mask. Just make sure you have the white/black paintboxes up, and brush away.

lynnma · July 27, 2004

wxwax wrote:

Pathfinder, Lynn, on the Layers palette I clicked on the half dark/half light circle at the bottom, "Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer." From there I darkened the image - can't remember if I used Levels (I think I used the bottom slider) or brightness.

Then I made sure my color boxes were black and white. Had black on top. Clicked on Paintbrush, and swiped away the darkness from the figure. The cool thing about using the "Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer" is that it's automagically a mask. Just make sure you have the white/black paintboxes up, and brush away.

very cool... I shall use it.. tanks ever so

pathfinder · July 27, 2004

wxwax wrote:

Pathfinder, Lynn, on the Layers palette I clicked on the half dark/half light circle at the bottom, "Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer." From there I darkened the image - can't remember if I used Levels (I think I used the bottom slider) or brightness.

Then I made sure my color boxes were black and white. Had black on top. Clicked on Paintbrush, and swiped away the darkness from the figure. The cool thing about using the "Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer" is that it's automagically a mask. Just make sure you have the white/black paintboxes up, and brush away.

Sid - I understood how you did it

eg: "Nicely done waxy. You darkened the image with levels or curves or something and then used an adjustment layer to paint the gentleman back in brighter using a black colored brush on the adjustment layer? Is this technique faster, or more precise, or easier, or more subtle than darkening the background directly by using the BURN tool? Or have you tried used the shadow/highlight tool for this purpose?"

But you did not answer my question about how it compares to the BURN tool or the shadow/adjustment tool. I know that using an adjustment layer you can use black or white to reverse or correct your adjustment layer changes. So maybe your technique allows greater precision? Just trying to learn a new trick here is all. Thanks in advance

wxwax · July 27, 2004

Sorry mate, you're right, I didn't read your post carefully enough.

I don't really like using the burn tool. I have a hard time making subtle changes with it - when I use it, the effect is crude and obvious. I see swipe marks, uneveness, lots of strokes, lots of effort. I used the burn tool on the CNN image, on a duplicate layer, and I wasn't thrilled with my results. I haven't tried Lynn's airbrush technique, though.

And I've never tried using the shadows/highlight tool to darken large portions of an image.

I like the way I did it because it was so simple to darken everything by moving one slider, then quickly wipe off the darkness from the hair guy. Even his edges were simple. It seemed to involve few brush strokes/steps.

Perhaps the burn tool or the shadow tool would have produced a more sophisticated and nuanced dark area? Nuance wasn't really a concern in this particular shot.

Did I get any closer to the mark?

pathfinder · July 27, 2004

wxwax wrote:

Sorry mate, you're right, I didn't read your post carefully enough.

I don't really like using the burn tool. I have a hard time making subtle changes with it - when I use it, the effect is crude and obvious. I see swipe marks, uneveness, lots of strokes, lots of effort. I used the burn tool on the CNN image, on a duplicate layer, and I wasn't thrilled with my results. I haven't tried Lynn's airbrush technique, though.

And I've never tried using the shadows/highlight tool to darken large portions of an image.

I like the way I did it because it was so simple to darken everything by moving one slider, then quickly wipe off the darkness from the hair guy. Even his edges were simple. It seemed to involve few brush strokes/steps.

Perhaps the burn tool or the shadow tool would have produced a more sophisticated and nuanced dark area? Nuance wasn't really a concern in this particular shot.

Did I get any closer to the mark?

Thanks for your answer - I suspect that for evenly darkening all except a subject area your adjustment mask is easier and quicker and I anticipate using it for this purpose in the near future.

I like the BURN tool also - but you have to dial back the opacity to only about 7-12% Much higher than that and it becomes a crude tool like you said. But at the lighter levels it can be used to paint in density nicely as needed in various areas. The same opacity settings are necessary for the dodging tool and the sponge also.

Different strokes and we all keep learning a little along the way.

Digital Darkroom Assignment #10

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