Club Notices

Our Programme is now in full swing

Feel free to drop in and meet us when we are in the Church Hall  

 

If you would like to support our Club please consider buying a lottery ticket from the BH Coastal Lottery and designate the Club as your cause to support. Not only does the Club benefit but also the local community.

 Support Parkstone Camera Club when you play BH Coastal Lottery - BH Coastal Lottery 

*If you would like to join our meetings please contact us at chair@parkstonecameraclub.org.uk. to register your interest.

If you would like to join Parkstone Camera Club then please use the following link to our membership form.

https://airtable.com/appB3CDXo5sXRyqAq/shrLEfhxjt90bUtk0

Please visit the site regularly to keep in touch with the Status of the club's meeting programme.


Colour popping in Photoshop Elements

This tutorial - created by Malcolm Barents - consists of a pdf file for instruction and a test image for experimenting with.

DOWNLOADS: click on the links below to download the files.

WARNING: some of these files - especially the PSD files are very large and may take some time to download if you have a slow connection. 

Photoshop-Elements-ColourPopping.pdf

colourpop-example.jpg

Basic Lightroom by Anthony Scott-Morley

Anthony has produced a Power point presentation for our members.
Called 'Basic Lightroom' - it is all about the basic features and work-flow of Lightroom for beginners.

You can download it - it is a fairly large file (1.8mb) - but you will neeed MS Powerpoint to view the slides.

Download it HERE

ADD COLOURED BORDER to IMAGE

LR Print Module Settings
LR Print Module settings

Colour Picker Pallette
Coloured Stroke Pallette

This article shows you how to export .jpeg images that match the PCC Competition spec - with a coloured stroke border.

Currently our Competition spec for a PDI (Projected Digital Image) is as follows:
*LANDSCAPE ORIENTATION
1400 pixels wide (max) x 1050 pixels high (max) @ 72 ppi resolution

*PORTRAIT and/or SQUARE ORIENTATION
1050 pixels high (max) x 1050 pixels wide(max) @ 72 ppi resolution

*max filesize is 0.5 MB - and *Colour Profile is sRGB

METHOD:
we are going to use the LR Print Module to create a customisable preset which PRINTS THE IMAGE TO A FILE instead of the printer.
(see the screen shots below)

MAIN POINTS:
*Use the CUSTOM FILE PACKAGE layout (in the LAYOUT STYLE Panel)
(This avoids problems with page margins etc)

*RULERS GRIDS AND GUIDES Panel
IMPORTANT - set the Ruler Units to points
This effectively maps Pixels to Points - when set to 72ppi file resolution

SET UP the PRINT JOB Panel
*you set the 'Print To' option to jpeg File
*You set the 'Image File Resolution' to 72ppi
*You set the CUSTOM FILE DIMENSIONS (in points)
W1400 x H1050 is a good starting point for LANDSCAPE IMAGE
W1050 x H1050 is a good starting point for a PORTRAIT IMAGE
(you may need to know the finished pixel dimensions of a cropped image)


SETTING THE CORRECT SIZE FOR YOUR IMAGE:

Drag your Image onto the page.

Basically you first need to to set the CUSTOM FILE DIMENSIONS to fit your image first.
*You will need the finished pixel dimensions of your image to be accurate.
(especially if the image has been cropped)

(IT MAY BE EASIER TO EXPORT YOUR IMAGE FIRST - in the normal way using the LR File/EXPORT.... option.
Find it where you saved it - THEN WRITE DOWN THE FINISHED PIXEL DIMENSIONS)
*TYPE IN THE FINISHED DIMENSIONS (in points) OF YOUR IMAGE IN THE CUSTOM FILE DIMENSIONS BOXES IN THE PRINT JOB PANEL

CLICK ON THE IMAGE ITSELF (to set the selected cell)
IF NECESSARY THEN SET THE Adjust Selected Cell sizes (in the CELLS PANEL) to MATCH YOUR FINISHED PIXEL DIMENSIONS
(NOTE FOR SOME STRANGE REASON THE SELECTED CELLS SIZES ARE HEIGHT FIRST - THEN WIDTH)
*Remember to check the 'Lock to Photo Aspect Ratio' option

*NOTE: it is better to TYPE in your pixel dimension numbers - as slight rounding errors may occur when changing dimensions.
*NOTE: The *CUSTOM FILE DIMENSIONS and the *SELECTED CELL DIMENSIONS HAVE TO MATCH
*When set correctly there should be no white space around the image - unless you have specified a white Photo Border.


BORDERS
Borders and Coloured strokes are set in the IMAGE SETTINGS Panel
If you just want a white border then set the Photo Border option to 2 points
(make sure the Inner stroke option is de-selected first) 

if you want a COLOURED stroke border around the image
Turn off the Photo Border option.
and set the INNER STROKE option to 2 points

Selecting Stroke Border COLOURS

CLICK THE COLOUR BAR to set any colour you wish.
note: if you click the top RH colour square you get a color picker which allows you to select any colour in the image.
(using the eye dropper in the colour picker)

*PRINT JOB PANEL
*IMPORTANT
Drop the 'Print To' list & select JPEG File.
Set the File Resolution to 72ppi
Set Print sharpening to Low
Set media type to Glossy

Finally print your image to a jpeg file.
(making sure the filesize is below 0.5mb - see below)

MAX FILESIZE:
you may have to juggle with the jpg quality setting - as it DOES NOT KEEP THE FILESIZE TO 0.5mb MAX.
The only way to check it is to print the finished image to the desktop and check out the filesize.
If the filesize is bigger than 0.5MB then just lower the jpeg quality until it drops below this figure.
Normally a figure of 70%-80%-90% is ok.

This may take a bit of trial and error before you get it right.
Then print the image and overwrite the previous version - until the filesize is correct.

The jpg quality settings settings shown, have been used on a 32.2mb RAW file in .dng format to keep it under 0.5mb file size.


Once you have created the preset you can save it for later use.

  • To create the PRESET
  • For each Preset you want to make:
    • set the information in the Print Module dialog boxes as shown below
    • go to the preset list in the TEMPLATE BROWSER and press the '+' button
    • name the preset - so you know exactly what it is for and 
    • save it in the 'User Template' list for future use 

Bob Watson

Obtaining White Balance in Photoshop

Obtaining White Balance in Photoshop

  1. Open photograph in PS.
  2. Make a new empty layer and fill with mid grey (Shift + Backspace).
  3. Set Blend to Difference.
  4. Make a new layer and set to Threshold.
  5. Move the histogram slider to the left. Image now becomes all white. Drag the slider to the right until patches of black show. (approx. 20%).
  6. Open the eyedropper (“I”) and zoom to a dark area by holding Z
  7. Shift click on the dark area to place a marker.
  8. Ctr O to fit screen. Hide all layers and select the bottom layer.
  9. Add a curves adjustment layer. Choose the grey dropper and click on the marked spot.
  10. This will set the mid grey for the picture.
  11. Remove the marker. (V)

NOTES:

  • ** You might also wish to adjust the white and black points for a total colour balance.
  • Make another Threshold layer.
  • Move the slider to the right for white and to the left for black,
  • Use the eyedropper tool to place a marker (Shift + eyedropper) for both white and black.
  • Re-open the curves layer and with the “black” eyedropper (from curves)
  • click on the black point.
  • With the “white” eyedropper, click on the white point.

This protocol will set the correct colour balance.
You may not want to use all three (Black/White/grey) points.
Feel free to experiment.

(Ctr+Shift A to return to camera raw or return to Lightroom)

Anthony Scott-Morley

Change the Sky using Photoshop

Changing a Sky

  1. Open the image with the bland sky.
  2. Open a suitable sky image.
  3. Try to ensure that the light direction and colour match  the picture.
  4. For example, a Mediterranean sky would not match the Scottish highlands on a rainy day.
  5. Resize the sky layer to match the size of the picture. (Image – Size)
  6. Select all of the sky [Ctrl A].
  7. Copy [Ctrl C]
  8. Go to picture and paste in the sky [Ctrl V]
  9. This will probably obscure the underneath image.
  10. [Ctrl T] for Transform.
  11. Use the corners etc. to size the sky to fit the sky area of the image.
  12. Consider the blending options and the opacity to match as close as possible.
  13. Keeping on this layer (original picture) choose Blending Options (fX at the bottom of the adjustment layers.)
  14. A drop down menu appears. Choose Blending Options.
  15. A new window opens. Go to the sliders at the bottom.
  16. Choose the bottom slider (Background Layer) and drag the leftmost slider to the right.
  17. The underlying image now appears through the sky.
  18. Click OK
  19. Depending on the underlying image you might need to paint out any sky that interferes with the image.
  20. (Make a layer mask and using black paint over the areas where you do not want the sky to show).

Anthony Scott-Morley

Infra Red and Mono Conversion using Photoshop

On 4th March 2015 Ian Platt presented an interesting discussion about various methods on how to convert Colour Prints to Mono - including a faux Infra-Red conversion - using Photoshop.

Click HERE to see his presentation content.