Digital Photo October 2010

A SE SU FA E B NT PA SC AS GE RI TI 44 BE C F OF O FE R R!

Britain’s best-selling photography magazine!

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ISSUE 134 OCTOBER 2010 £4.99

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OUR Y E R A PLUS AFE? PICS Sorage guide r st re!

Read ou the futu in t s e v and in

TESTED! COMPACT SYSTEM CAMERAS UNDER £500

GET Y READEW N FOR OTO PH LS! SKIL

START MAKING

PHOTO ART FROM YOUR PICS Why decorate your home with other people’s work when you can make your own? We’ll show you how...

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WHAT YOU NEED ANY D-SLR & PHOTOSHOP OR ELEMENTS WHAT YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN PHOTO ART

FRAMES IMAGE: IPHOTOSTOCK / STEPHANIE SWARTZ

ONCE UPON A TIME, the thought of producing art for your own home might have seemed quite daunting!

You may not have the skill of a painter or sketch artist, but here’s the good news – with a digital camera and Photoshop or Elements on your side, it’s remarkably easy to get your ideas into the frame and onto the wall.

Apart from the obvious savings you’ll make by avoiding shelling out on other people’s pictures, there’s an immense satisfaction in creating your own artwork and showing it off on the walls of your home.

In this guide you’ll discover all the camera and software skills you need to make your own artistic images and

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V LESIDEO S ON ONS TH CD! E

get results just as spectacular as fine-art pictures found in shops.

Follow each project and you’ll see how to create artwork suitable for any room in your home and before you know it you’ll have more great pics than space on your wall!

Plus! On the disc...

Along with special video lessons guiding you through the projects you’ll find free templates you can use to customise your photos!

TURN THE PAGE TO GET STARTED DIGITAL PHOTO

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START MAKING

T OTOURAPIR PHOM CS YO FR

NOW FRAME YOUR WORK!

Your photo art won’t be complete until you’ve added a suitable frame – here’s how...

VI LESDEO ON SON T CD!HE

ADD A SIMPLE FRAME It’s amazing how even the simplest of frames can improve the look of a picture and if you’re in any doubt about that, just head out to your local gallery or art shop – you won’t find many pictures there without one! Below you’ll find out how to add a subtle white frame to a picture – a simple and elegant framing technique that will perfectly prepare your shot for printing. Give it a try and you may never go back to borderless printing again!

PHOTOSHOP STEP-BY-STEP

ON THE DISC

START MAKE A BLANK PAGE. Open the picture you want to frame, then go to File ➔ New and choose A4 from the presets, making sure it’s also set to RGB color and that the Background contents are White. Click OK and the page will appear.

FINISH COPY & RESIZE. Go to Window ➔ Images ➔ Float in Window. Pick the Move tool then drag your photo onto the blank page while holding Shift.

Press Ctrl+T, hold Alt and drag the corner handles to shrink it so there’s a simple white border.

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FREE! 40 ART FRAMES FOR YOUR IMAGES

If you like the idea of giving your pictures an arty edge, ADD then you’re in for a treat – there are 40 to try out on this THEM month’s CD! They’re all brand-new and created by the TO YOUR Digital Photo team for use with your pictures and each OWN PICS! one is sized at A4 for easy printing. Just follow the step -by-step guide above or load up the video lesson to see how it’s done. And remember, you don’t need to use just one border at a time – combine them with Blending Modes and you’ve got an infinite number of variations!

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WHAT YOU NEED PHOTOSHOP OR ELEMENTS WHAT YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO PRESENT FINE-ART PICS

HOW TO USE YOUR FREE ART FRAMES Of course, frames don’t need to be simple – you can make them part of the creative process, too. Use a textured edge or a traditionallooking film rebate border and you’ll up the artistic ante even further.

Just check out the step-by-step guide below to see how it’s done...

PHOTOSHOP STEP-BY-STEP

4 0 FREE

A FRAMERT ON THES CD

START CHOOSE A FRAME. Load up one of this month’s 40 free arty frames from the cover CD and the picture you want to use. Choose the Move tool from the Toolbox, then click on the picture and drag it on top of the frame. Hold Shift as you do this and it’ll drop in dead-centre.

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FINISH BLEND LAYERS. Go to Window ➔ Layers, then make sure the picture Layer is highlighted, click where it says Normal, and choose Screen from the list. Next press Ctrl+T and drag the corner handles so the picture fits within the frame. Finally go to Layer ➔ Flatten Image. That’s it!

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RN W A E L L-NE AL ILLS SK

Photoshop Masterclass

Âť Your expert guide to the tips, tools & techniques that really matter...

The Calculations Command TAKE CHARGE OF CHANNELS The Calculations command offers extensive control of Channels and is perfect for turning colour shots into high-contrast mono images

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START IMAGE HAYBALES.DN G

TECHNIQUES BY MICHAEL TOPHAM

FINAL IMAGE

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WHAT YOU NEED PHOTOSHOP CS OR HIGHER WHAT YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO USE CALCULATIONS

C

ALCULATIONS is a rarely featured and often forgotten-about Photoshop command.

Accessed from the Menu bar underneath the Image heading, Calculations is closely linked to Channels, so first and foremost it’s important to know that all your images are made up of three key components – the Red, Green and Blue Channels. Referred to as RGB, they make up all the colour information in your shots.

Rather ironically, each Channel deals with colour by displaying different shades of grey and it’s the intensity of this grey that determines just how much Red, Green or Blue is shown in each and every pixel.

Calculations lets us control the way that these shades of grey in

each Channel react with each other, giving the opportunity to stack one Channel on top of another. The result of using Calculations is a high-contrast black & white image that packs lots of punch.

Superb for mono, Calculations is also great for outputting high-contrast Alpha Channels, which can be manipulated with adjustments such as Levels and Curves to create precise Masks and detailed Selections.

If you’re starting to think that all this sounds increasingly complex, don’t worry, as it’s

something we’ll concentrate on in next month’s Masterclass.

Using Calculations Going to Image ➔ Calculations loads the Calculations dialog and although there’s quite a lot going on inside, it’s quite easy to learn.

The two Sources let you stack different Channels on top of one another and beneath these you’ll find the Blending, which governs how the Channels communicate with each other. If the blend becomes too contrasty you can pull back using the Opacity and under this there are three output

options - New Document, New Channel and Selection.

This month, we’re going to discover how stunning mono images are created using the Calculations command, then next month we’ll reveal how they’re used to produce the best Masks and Selections.

Before we get stuck in, cast your eye over the Calculations controls below for a better understanding of the dialog box’s contents.

“ The result from using Calculations is a high-contrast, black & white image, packing lots of punch “

GET TO KNOW the Calculations Dialog There’s no shortcut for Calculations in Photoshop, so to open the dialog you’ll need to go to Image ➔ Calculations.

LAYER

CHANNEL

If you’re working with an image that already has Layers you can select the ones you’d like to use here. If you only have a Background Layer, this will be set for both Sources by default.

Choose the Channels you’d like to stack on top of one another. The Source 1 Channel will sit on top of the Source 2 Channel, a bit like Layers in the Layers palette.

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SOURCE Unless you’re going to be merging Channels from two separate images (rare), the Source 1 and Source 2 names will always be identical.

BLENDING

RESULT

This governs how the two Channels blend together.

Click on the drop-down arrow to reveal the different Blending Modes.

There are three ways of outputting your Calculations – as a New Document, as a New Channel or as a Selection.

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Technique of the Month

Add a quick paint effect Liven up a snap by turning it into a painting!

TECHNIQUE BY GAVIN HOEY

VID LES EO ON TSON CD!HE

IF YOU’RE AFTER A QUICK and simple way to turn an ordinary snap into a painted work of art, then this technique is just for you. Using Layers and a combination of Photoshop filters, we’ll show you how to create an impressive digital work of art that’ll turn any of your images into paintings. It’s a technique that can be used on a variety of different subjects, so start off by following the technique with the image provided on our free CD, then move on to experiment with your own shots.

About the start image The image used in this technique can be found in the Start Images folder on the free CD. Use it to learn the technique then experiment with other subjects to create the best painterly effects.

AUTUMN TREE.JPG

“ it’s a quick and simple way to turn an ordinary snap into a work of art ” STEP-BY-STEP SIMPLE PAINT EFFECT

START MAKE SOME LAYERS This technique can work with any image, but looks particularly good on trees. Open AUTUMNTREE.jpg and press Ctrl+J to duplicate the Background Layer, followed by Ctrl+J again to make a third copy of the Background Layer. You’ll now have three identical Layers in the Layers palette (Window ➔ Layers).

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APPLY FIRST FILTER Starting with the top Layer, go to Filter ➔ Artistic ➔ Cut out. Set the Number of Levels to 8 and the Edge Fidelity to 1. Set the Edge Simplicity to 6 but bear in mind that this slider is likely to change with different images. Turn off the visibility of the top two Layers and click the Background Layer to make it active.

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WHAT YOU NEED PHOTOSHOP OR ELEMENTS WHAT YOU’LL LEARN MAKE A PAINTERLY IMAGE

APPLY SECOND FILTER Click Filter ➔ Sketch ➔ Bas Relief and use settings of Detail 12, Smoothness 4, and change the Light to Left. Now click the middle Layer to make it active and turn on its visibility. Change the Blending Mode to Color and press Ctrl+E to merge it with the Background Layer.

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FINISH BLEND THE PICS. We need to run one more filter over the lower Layer so go to Filter ➔ Artistic ➔ Cut out. Use the same settings as before for Number of Levels and Edge Fidelity but change Edge Simplicity to 7. Now click on the top Layer and change the Blending Mode to Overlay. That’s it!

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UN CA SY CO B E DE M ST M S R ER E PA T £5 A M C 00 S T

CSC GROUP TEST

There’s now a raft of affordable Compact System Cameras to choose from, and with such variety in design and specification, which one’s the pick of the bunch?

TEST BY PHIL HALL

WHAT WE TESTED Compact System Cameras (CSCs) costing under £500 with a supplied kit lens.

Olympus E-PL1…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£479 Panasonic LUMIX G10… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£419 Samsung NX10… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £499 Sony NEX-3…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £489

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custom framing services

digital photo

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THE VEAL FRA BEST M BUYING S

INTERIOR IMAGE: ©ISTOCKPHOTO/ IVAN STEVANOVIC

B GROIG UP TEST WE R !

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The traditional way of presenting a print is to have it professionally mounted behind glass in a frame. We placed an order with eight framing companies to test their services...

TEST BY MICHAEL TOPHAM

WHEN YOU CREATE an image that you’re really proud of, it deserves to be printed and showcased on your wall.

With so many ways to present images, it’s important to choose a display option that suits the style of your photography as well as the design of your home. If it’s a contemporary look you’re after, printing on canvas is one option, but if it’s a natural, traditional look you want, nothing quite beats the look of a print, window-mounted behind glass in a stunning frame.

We tested eight companies that offer online, mail order framing services to work out which offer the best value for money.

WHAT WE TESTED Eight framing companies that offer custom framing to photographers. www.eframe.co.uk www.epictureframes.co.uk www.ezeframe.co.uk www.fastframes.co.uk www.photographyframing.co.uk www.picframes.co.uk www.pictureframesexpress.co.uk www.pictureframes.co.uk

CUSTOM FRAMING SERVICES TESTED WWW.PHOTOANSWERS.CO.UK

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