What camera/s do you use for what shots?

[*Brum6y*]

Joining multiple images is called 'stitching' in Canon's software.  I've done it with multiple camera shots, but haven't looked at doing it with scans.

Also, I've only done it with panoramic shots - where photos are 'stitched' together in one horizontal sequence.  Not sure about stitching together a matrix of shots across and down.

Computationally, there is no reason why it can't be done - but I have no experience in software products on this.

Maybe Liisa would know...

[Poddy]

I use Corel Draw!,

I have found that software suite the most productive and easier to get used to then any other.

You can do some very complex tasks with it once you master the art of talking to it

For perspective distortion it has a number of tools

There is also a 'wire mesh' distortion tool

What that does is, the picture gets overlaid with squares or rectangles, you can choose the frequency of those and then there are 'handles' at each corner of those which you use to adjust that corner anywhere on the picture.

I'll do an example and post it later

[*Brum6y*]

You can do some very complex tasks with it once you master the art of talking to it

That's always fun - for any software...

For perspective distortion it has a number of tools

There is also a 'wire mesh' distortion tool

What that does is, the picture gets overlaid with squares or rectangles, you can choose the frequency of those and then there are 'handles' at each corner of those which you use to adjust that corner anywhere on the picture.

I'll do an example and post it later

The 'wire mesh' tool sounds very interesting - for those situations where even two axis perspective adjustment isn't enough!

[gr8-expectations]

THANKS GUYS, I LOVE CANON GEAR AND THEIR SOFTWARE, SORRY CAPS ON NOT SHOUTING , fixed. i will explore more, i am sure there is a lot more it can do as you say, i have this great scanner an 8800f is the model but thats about two years old, their high end products are amazing and the printers too, its incredible what you can do from the desktop now

[Poddy]

Original



Distorted




You can manipulate the distortion in any direction and to any degree

[*Yibida*]

Looks like the work of some of the builders around my area Poddy... LOL

[Poddy]

Salvadore Dali move over hahahaha

[*Brum6y*]

OK Podster ... here's a challenge - can you create the UNdistorted image from the distorted one?

[*Brum6y*]

The PaintShop Photo Pro software can do the following transform in ONE step.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[*Brum6y*]

Once straightened, it is an easy exercise to resize to a different aspect ratio if you need to.

The PSP Pro software has an auto crop feature too, but I turned it off for this example, since it would have chopped off the top of the building...

[Poddy]

Are 2 steps ok ? 

[*Ubbie Max*]

I've just installed Paintshop Pro 7 & I haven't got a clue how to use it. I whacked the fly phot o on the screen & no matter what tool or button I pushed nothing happened.

A mate gave me the program.

I thought it could compliment Photoshop Elements 5.

I might buy Photoshop Elements 8 in the near future. I can't justify spending hundreds of dollars on Photoshop CS4 when I'm battling to work out PS Elements.

[*Brum6y*]

I have a trial version of PaintShop Photo Pro X3 (Free to download for 30 days trial).

It has an image viewer active when it opens up - so no editing will be available.

I have a row of thumbnails across the bottom.  When you left click on one, the full image will be put up on the viewer but if you right click and select 'Open' it will go into edit mode.  Same for the menus up the top... 'File' => 'Open' => browse to your image and select.

If you've done that and it doesn't work, then I'm not sure what's going on - and I don't have that version to check.

[*Ubbie Max*]

I'm off to a camera club tonight. I don't know what to expect but I hope I learn something.

The President of the club rang me up the other day & invited me along. I don't know him but, apparently he knows of me.

I'm going to miss out on the Fly tying group meeting tonight, pity, I enjoy it.

[*Ubbie Max*]

This a photo of a 6 pound Trout I caught a few years ago.

Like all fisho yarns the size of the Trout has got bigger over the years. Look at the photo in the next post


[attachment deleted by admin]

[*Ubbie Max*]

The photo is a bit rough but it was a cheap camera I had in those days, that's my story anyway.

The trout is now a 20 pounder.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[*Brum6y*]

Isn't is amazing...!


The other thing I'm in absolute awe about is that you managed to find the same area of gravel and rocks with everything in the same places, except that rock near the tail - but even then, the bit that's still there is in exactly the same spot! How absolutely incredible...!!!

Then there is the fish itself - with the very same markings (must be a genetic thing or evidence of a cloning lab somewhere).



* yeah right *

Hint: Never show these two images side by side around any anglers......


Not a bad effort, though!

[gr8-expectations]

i've heard old anglers talk about those fish that keep growing after you catch them ... amazing ubie!

[*Brum6y*]

I'm off to a camera club tonight. I don't know what to expect but I hope I learn something.

The President of the club rang me up the other day & invited me along. I don't know him but, apparently he knows of me.

I'm going to miss out on the Fly tying group meeting tonight, pity, I enjoy it.

For someone as keen to learn as you, Ubb, you could find yourself becoming quite interested.  Let us know how it goes...

[*smee*]

there is something fishy about those photos !

[*Brum6y*]

Shhhh.. Smee.

(You're not supposed to notice.)

[*smee*]

oh ok so I am supposed to think they are to scale

[gr8-expectations]

i think thet fush drank too much pepsi, uts ges

[*Ubbie Max*]

I'm just back from the Camera Club meeting. They had photos (taken by mrembers) on display which were judged & critiqued by a judge. The photos were excellent. I found it a very informative night with regard to photo composition, light, etc.

Most of the photos were A4 size. Many were black & white.

I think I will join as they have workshops as well as judged displays.

Incidently Gr8, I like cold chips.

[shyer]

I found it a very informative night with regard to photo composition, light, etc.

Ubbie light and composition are the essence of photography no amount of computer edits can repair if those are really wrong. I only do basic computer edits more than that I find a waste of time.

The fish and its child both caught the same time, looking at light and background you should have released one of them!

The distorted flower is now a very interesting photo. Humans see curves as straight and straights as curves, distortion is our viewpoint.

[*Brum6y*]

I found it a very informative night with regard to photo composition, light, etc.

Ubbie light and composition are the essence of photography no amount of computer edits can repair if those are really wrong. I only do basic computer edits more than that I find a waste of time.

That is so very true.

It always pays to get the initial shot as close to ideal as possible. As a rule, the more post-production work you do on an image, the worse it will get.

[*Ubbie Max*]

I took the plunge & bought a Photoshop Elements 5  instructional book. I priced Amazon but found the website suggested by Wheels at post 101 (The Book Depositry) was considerably cheaper for the same book. I got Photoshop CS4 by Scott Kelby, which is very well written & illustrated (pictures), from this website. The Elements 5 book is by the same author.

Hopefully I will  know what I'm doing with PS Elements when the book arrives.

[*Ubbie Max*]

Check out this site. http://www.abebooks.co.uk/ I just bought The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paint Shop Pro 7. It's described "used very good condition" & at just under A$10, including post, I don't care what condition it's in as long as it's readable.

I have worked out that I can do things to photos with Paint Shop Pro & after saving the altered photo to my photographs folder & can then open the same changed photo in Photoshop Elements & do other things to it, what a ripper, there's no stopping me, I've just got to learn how to take good photgraphs now.

[gr8-expectations]

you're really getting into the programs ub well done, I am sure there are tons of hidden secrets there and you know what they say? when all else fails read the manuals

[*Ubbie Max*]

I'm into everything Gr8. I'm now going to learn how to cut my own Mat boards to put photos in. I can buy the cutter setup for around $125 for a basic one to several hundred for the top range one.

Matboards are the coloured cardboard borders we see around paintings & photos that have been framed.

[*Brum6y*]

My how time changes people.....


I'm sure that Ubb, in his past life, would have avoided any and all circumstances for someone to have claimed "He framed me!"

Now he's going out to buy the gear to frame as many people and other things as he can!

[*Ubbie Max*]

Shyer, Brum6y, Poddy, Gr8 & any one else who might know.

My digital camera has a whole bunch of picture sizes called aspect ratios.

They are 16.9, 4.3 & 3.2. These then have different sub settings such as 12M (4000 x 3000 pixels) down to 0.3M (640 x 480 pixels).

I've worked out (I think) that 3,2 at 4000 x 2672 pixels is the one that is closest to photo paper size 210 x 297 mm (A4). I have figured that using this setting requires less cropping when printing onto A4 photo paper.

My question is,  am I on the right track using this setting(3.2) or will the finished picture be of less quality than a picture taken using 16.9 at 4000 x 2248 pixels or 4.3 at 4000 x 3000 pixels?

The book, 218 pages of tech stuff, doesn't explain or suggest anything.

[*smee*]

possibly but it depends on a number of other variables

[*Ubbie Max*]

Ah Smee, such wisdom. I'm much wiser now.

[*smee*]

I thought that simple explaination might clarify the situation Birdie .... now someone will come and complicate the issue by talking sense

[*Brum6y*]

Aspect ratios are just the realtive lengths of the sides

3:2 is the ratio for old 35mm film.  The image was 36mm by 24mm, giving the ratio of 3:2
4:3 is the common ratio for old style TV and monitors.
16:9 is the ratio for high definiton TV and many widescreen monitors.

A piece of A4 paper has sides of 1:1.414 (the square root of 2, to be precise)  This is close to the 3:2 ratio (2.828:2)

What this means is, if you print the full image, a 3:2 image will fit pretty neatly on an A4 sheet with just a slight whitespace next to the long sides, a 4:3 image will have a larger whitespace and the 16:9 will have an even bigger white space there.

If you change the aspect ratio to fill a page, you will end up stretching your image one way or the other - which will make (for example) people either look tall and thin or short and fat.


Resolution is another thing ...(coming next instalment)

[*smee*]

see I told ya !!!

[*Ubbie Max*]

Ripper Brum6y, thanks. I'll change my camera's aspect ratio to 3.2.

I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

[*Ubbie Max*]

Yep Smee, you are very wise.

[*Brum6y*]

Before you rush off with that idea .... consider this.

Most cameras are built with 4:3 ratio sensors - including yours.  The maximum 3,000 pixels on the shorter side shows this.

If you set up to shoot only in 3:2 ratio, you will be ignoring a strip of 4000 x 328 pixels of image that is available to you.  Since the only overhead is storage space (and with memory cards so cheap and your new PC is likely to have TB range disk space) the only reason to not shoot in that aspect ratio is to avoid cropping issues.  That is, to make sure you don't take a shot that won't suit the aspect ratio you need in the final image.

For example, if you were taking a series of still shots to be included in a widescreen presentation or video clip, you might want to shoot in 16:9 so that you can see the actual 'pre-cropped' image (as it were) when you take the shot.  That way, you know you will have a full-screen image containing everything you want.

If you do a lot of printing to A4 and want to minimise the work in preparing an image for print - the setting to 3:2 would be helpful - but, personally, I'd be sticking to the maximum my camera could capture unless I had specific reasons to do otherwise.

The other option you might consider, if you are getting serious about image printing on a larger scale, is to get an A3 printer.  That will give you twice the area for printing.

If you want to get very particular on colour accuracy, then there are printers that use 8 different coloured ink tanks.  The extra colours are to more directly produce hues that are approximated by mixing of the other colours.  Particularly notable are the 'light' versions of colours like 'magenta' - these allow a larger droplet of ink to give better coverage and evenness, but still presenting a 'light' shade, such as you might find in a pale skin tone.

As you will no doubt already appreciate, the quality of the paper you print on makes a HUGE difference.  Good quality Photo Paper isn't particularly cheap (so you try not to waste too much) but the results are terrific.

[*Brum6y*]

Be warned, though.  Image printing uses a LOT of ink and an A3 printer is going to use more - simply because the pictures are bigger.  Also, you can expect to find them at around the $1,000 mark (Though it's been a while since I checked out prices, so it would be worth checking out.)

[*Ubbie Max*]

Good advise Brum6y, thanks. I'll change my setting to 4:3.

I'm looking forward to the next installment.

[shyer]

All these examples do NOT imply that petrol is cheap; it just illustrates how outrageous some prices are.
The last one might shock the socks off you.



Think a litre of petrol is expensive?




This makes you think, and also puts things into perspective.
 


Can of Red Bull, 250ml, $2..95 ... $11.80 per litre!
 
 

Robitussin Cough Mixture, 200ml, $9.95 ..... $ 49.75 per litre!

L'Oreal Revitalift Day Cream, 50ml, $29.95 .......... $599.00 per litre!



Bundy Rum, 1250ml, $51.00 .... $40.80 per litre!
 
 

 
Visene Eye Drops, 15ml, $5.69 ... $379.00 per litre!
 
 

 
Britney Spears Fantasy Perfume, 50ml, $29 ....... $580.00 per litre!
 


 


And this is the REAL KICKER.

Evian water, 375ml, $2.95 ...$7.86 per litre!
$7.86 for a litre of WATER!!
 
and the buyers don't even know the source

(Evian spelled backwards is NAIVE!!)
 
 

Ever wonder why computer printers are so cheap?
 
So they can hook you for the ink!!
 
Someone calculated the cost of the ink at, you won't believe it but it's true; $1,040 a litre.


 


$1040.00 A LITRE!!!



So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car doesn't run on water, Red Bull, Robitussin, L'Oreal or, God forbid, Printer Ink!!!!!
 
 

[*Yibida*]

All these examples do NOT imply that petrol is cheap; it just illustrates how outrageous some prices are.
The last one might shock the socks off you.

Think a litre of petrol is expensive?

This makes you think, and also puts things into perspective.
 
Can of Red Bull, 250ml, $2..95 ... $11.80 per litre!
 
Robitussin Cough Mixture, 200ml, $9.95 ..... $ 49.75 per litre!

L'Oreal Revitalift Day Cream, 50ml, $29.95 .......... $599.00 per litre!

Bundy Rum, 1250ml, $51.00 .... $40.80 per litre! 
 
Visene Eye Drops, 15ml, $5.69 ... $379.00 per litre!
  
Britney Spears Fantasy Perfume, 50ml, $29 ....... $580.00 per litre!

And this is the REAL KICKER.

Evian water, 375ml, $2.95 ...$7.86 per litre!
$7.86 for a litre of WATER!!
 
and the buyers don't even know the source

(Evian spelled backwards is NAIVE!!)   

Ever wonder why computer printers are so cheap?
 
So they can hook you for the ink!!
 
Someone calculated the cost of the ink at, you won't believe it but it's true; $1,040 a litre.

$1040.00 A LITRE!!!

So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car doesn't run on water, Red Bull, Robitussin, L'Oreal or, God forbid, Printer Ink!!!!!
 

That is so amazing Shyer ! ... I think Ubb's would be very interested the true value of Pepsi max...LOL

[*Ubbie Max*]

Yeah Yib, I just worked it out.

If I buy a 375ml can at a shop for $1.80 it equates to $4.79 a litre but if I buy a carton of the beloved stuff it works out at 52 cents a can which equates to $1.38 a litre.

There is a message there, Pepsi max is a cheap healthly beverage & is comparable with petrol costs at the bowser on weekends & is much cheaper than plonk & perfume (perfume tastes shocking anyway).

So there ya go, how about that!

[*smee*]

ok so logically then ..... when I fuel up the car I should ask for a carton of pertrol !

[*Ubbie Max*]

Yep, that's the go Smee. Your car will run beautifully too.

[*Ubbie Max*]

I was telephonicaly dialoging with the Sister in Law this morning & it occured to me that her husband is a Graphic Designer. We discussed that & it turns out he uses Photoshop all the time & knows all the tricks.

I'm going to ask him to give me a lesson or two on Photoshop especially layers which has got me confused.

[Poddy]

Ubbie, think of a layer as being a transparent film over the original picture so that what ever you do on that layer is seperate from the original.

You can have many layers one on top of the other and that gives the finished product.

In Corel, and I expect the same all graphics applications, you can fuse all the layers into one and that is the finished product

[*Brum6y*]

Remember this ? (see below)

It is my rough depiction of some layers I used (four in this example) for the image you will recognise.  The resultant image is viewed by looking straight down from a position above the top cell.

Each layer is an image that can be independently manipulated, moved, etc. and will usually have transparent areas, so that parts of the layers underneath can be seen.  (In this example, the top 3 layers are almost completely transparent. Only the speech bubbles are not.)


If you think about the early days of cartoon animators, they have been doing the same thing with clear plastic 'cells' that they draw a character on and then place over the background to photograph the frame.

Layers work just like multiple cells stacked on top of each other.

Once you get the hang of it - you WON'T be able to work without them!!!

[attachment deleted by admin]