|
*Brum6y*
|
 |
« Reply #100 on: February 27, 2010, 05:07:06 PM » |
|
Getting carried away with the digital stuff and forgetting some basic photography!
Shyer has raised a very useful subject - depth-of-field...
Basically:
- wider aperture = narrower depth of field (and shorter exposure times)
- smaller aperture = greater depth of field (and longer exposure times)
For some shots, such as your insect above, having a narrow depth-of-field gives you a soft, fuzzy background, allowing the sharp image of the subject to stand out and draw the viewer's attention.
In other shots, having a very great depth-of-field is necessary to produce the desired result. Some of these are macro shots of the foreground subject, but with in-focus backgrounds. They can make for some very interesting pictures.
Getting technical ... depth-of-field is the range of distances where an image appears to be sharp.
I say 'appears' because an image is only ever focussed at a single distance. Any part of a subject closer or further away from the plane of focus will become progressively 'fuzzier'. The size of the aperture affects the rate at which this fuzziness occurs with change of distance. The smaller the aperture, the lower the rate of 'fuzziness' and the greater the depth-of-field.
However, while that fuzziness doesn't spill over into a neighbouring pixel on the sensor (for digital cameras) that part of the image will still look as sharp as it would be if it was directly focussed on. Even when this 'spilling over' does occur, the number of pixels that can be affected, yet still display a 'sharp' image, will depend on the resolution of the image, cropping, degree of enlargement, viewer distance and things like that. (The same principles apply to film cameras - but the grain size of the film is the equivalent to the pixel size in a digital camera.)
One other thing - if you have depth-of-field markings on your camera, understand they are only a suggestion as to the acceptable range. If you were to take photos that require high sharpness and were blown up to large sizes, you would soon see that this depth-of-field scale was far too generous - and you would need to observe a narrower scale for acceptable results.
So, while the maths and the physics show that true sharpness through the 'depth-of-field' is not the case, the human eye is the only thing that really counts - so that means it is real.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Ubbie Max*
|
|
« Reply #102 on: March 09, 2010, 05:20:42 PM » |
|
What a ripper Wheels. $10 wow. I just ordered it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Brum6y*
|
|
« Reply #103 on: March 10, 2010, 03:33:30 PM » |
|
Read the write-up on it.
For the money, to me it's worth getting to see if there are easier ways of doing things, confirming my own practices, getting some new ideas or picking up some more background information.
Even if you don't use that software, I reckon there will be $10 worth of ideas that can be applied to other programs.
Mine cost me $10.03 AUD with free postage to Australia... can't argue with that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Ubbie Max*
|
|
« Reply #104 on: March 10, 2010, 03:37:59 PM » |
|
Yep Brum6y, great value. I haven't got Photoshop cs4 but I've got Photoshop Elements (compliments of one of our GR8 members) so hopefully I will pick up some tips. I'm having difficulty understanding some of the applications available in PS Elements so maybe the book will lead me to a better understanding.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Brum6y*
|
|
« Reply #105 on: March 10, 2010, 04:14:11 PM » |
|
Good move.
Also, since I'm getting the same book, if you have any questions that can be referred to a section of the book, give me the chapter and verse and I might be able to shed some light.
No promises. I'm self-taught, but I'll help where I can.... but if your learning skills are as good as you demonstrated on the 'How to be a contender for the Last Word' lesson I sent you, you will do well. (Still can't get over that - one lesson and first shot hits centre bull and scores a win)
|
|
|
|
|
|
*wheels*
|
|
« Reply #106 on: March 10, 2010, 04:55:14 PM » |
|
$10.03! The exchange rate must have dropped! This same book is listed on eBay for over $40.
I still have it sitting in my shopping cart with a few other books so I better go and finish the purchase before it goes up again. I buy a lot from both their US and UK sites (same books listed but prices vary). Very good prices, good delivery times and well packaged. All books are sent individually, unless you buy multiples of the one book, so there really is no need for me to have waited to build up an order because the delivery is included in each price.
|
|
|
|
|
|
shyer
|
|
« Reply #107 on: March 10, 2010, 05:35:16 PM » |
|
I just ordered it too. I have been using photoshop business edition because I knew how to use. Abode stopped that version 10 years ago now and does not work on vile vista or new 7 so an update is needed soon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Brum6y*
|
|
« Reply #108 on: March 18, 2010, 09:03:01 PM » |
|
My book arrived today.
I'm still amazed at the price.
Simply packed into a pre-formed book mailer which has extended ends, so the mailer gets the corners bashed in - not the book. 3.5 / 4 corners were bashed in. Book was fine.
Only had a quick look, but if you're starting out with Photoshop CS4, I'd put it down as an essential. Lots of step-by-step instructions. Lots of examples.
I've even come across a couple of things I do in several steps (utilising my experience) that Photoshop can do in one (by a numpty).
Might start looking for Photoshop.... right after I find the funding.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*wheels*
|
|
« Reply #109 on: March 18, 2010, 09:15:24 PM » |
|
Brum6y, Sounds like you're happy with the book.  The price has since dropped to $9.90! That site is great for bargains. I regularly troll through and look for books that are 50% - 80% off. Being in AU$ and including postage it's easy to keep track of spending whereas when I'm shopping on Amazon sometimes I forget until I'm at checkout that I've been adding up US$. |
|
|
|
|
|
*Brum6y*
|
|
« Reply #110 on: March 18, 2010, 09:29:01 PM » |
|
WHAT!!??? The price dropped..?!!! * ripping hair out ... stomping and screaming ... dog is cowering ... cat has disappeared ... the other humans are - are - are ..... Huh? 13 cents? Ohhhhhhh.......  |
|
|
|
|
|
*Ubbie Max*
|
|
« Reply #111 on: March 18, 2010, 10:23:46 PM » |
|
Yeah Brum6y, mine arrived today. I can't work out how they can make a profit, $10 including post from the UK. The book itself is excellent.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Ubbie Max*
|
|
« Reply #112 on: March 20, 2010, 08:06:48 PM » |
|
Enough to make a bloke give up surfing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Ubbie Max*
|
|
« Reply #113 on: March 20, 2010, 08:09:00 PM » |
|
Enough to make a bloke give up fishing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Brum6y*
|
|
« Reply #114 on: March 20, 2010, 08:48:35 PM » |
|
after reading their lips....
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Ubbie Max*
|
|
« Reply #115 on: March 20, 2010, 08:55:03 PM » |
|
Good one Brum6y. I wish I knew how to do that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Brum6y*
|
|
« Reply #116 on: March 20, 2010, 09:55:45 PM » |
|
Here's a visualisation I made up from the image I prepared.....
It shows 4 'layers'. The bottom one has the original picture and each of the three layers above has one of the speech bubbles with text. You will see that these upper layers are pretty empty - each one only has a speech bubble, the rest is transparent.
One reason (a big one) as to why you use layers is that you can select just that layer to do stuff - such as moving things around, changing colours or any of a hundered things. I created the text bubble in one layer and added the text (which also had its own layer - but I merged or 'flattened' those two layers together for each speech bubble layer... so, at one stage I actually had 7 layers!)
Because the speech bubbles were in their own layer, I could move each of them anywhere around the picture. When I was happy with their placement, I then added the pointy bit which went to each of the figures in the boat.
Layers allow you to do much cleverer things than speech bubbles. Merging parts of other photos to produce your own composite is one you can have fun with. The good thing is, the complete image in each layer is still preserved, so you can shuffle things around and not have to worry about 'filling in' bits of your picture that were covered up before.
Be aware, though, not all image file types support layers. JPG/JPEG is one that doesn't - just the one image. It can be very easily created by 'flattening' a multi-layer image in a program like Photoshop - but you can never reverse the process.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*wheels*
|
|
« Reply #117 on: March 20, 2010, 10:03:20 PM » |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Brum6y*
|
|
« Reply #118 on: March 20, 2010, 10:30:01 PM » |
|
Photobucket ain't Photoshop.
Photobucket speech bubbles are Photobucket speech bubbles.
An understanding of layers is a basic step to a whole lot more than just speech bubbles...
You're the one, Wheels, that put several of us onto that Photoshop CS4 book - remember!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
*wheels*
|
|
« Reply #119 on: March 20, 2010, 10:41:27 PM » |
|
I know, I know Brum6y. I used to spend all my working day working in photoshop. I just thought if anyone wants to add a speech bubble to a pic that they already have in photobucket then that is another alternative. |
|
|
|
|
|
