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• Tee-shirt Isolations Help
  by Gracey

  Here’s a simple tutorial for those wanting to turn their photographs into tee-shirts without using the background – in other words, to ma…

  Here’s a simple tutorial for those wanting to turn their photographs into tee-shirts without using the background – in other words, to make your photo of a beer bottle or candle have a transparent background that will work on almost any colour of shirt. This will also help you isolate objects with transparent backgrounds to use in 3D images, or to pull into other 2D images (compilations or collages). You can download the tutorial from here (the tutorial is in pdf format): Isolating Objects with Photoshop’s Pen Tool I’m sorry but the directions are for PC users. If someone wants to send me the equivalent mac terminology I’ll be happy to add it to the tutorial. Any questions (or you just want to point out mistakes…which, like everyone else I do make, and sometimes miss), feel free to bubble me :)

• Photoshop for my mum. Lesson One. Portraits; goals, light, and DOF.
  by sunset

  how cool. My mum wants to learn PS. It’s going to have to be mostly distance-so I may as well share the tips! One-the goal Know you…

  how cool. My mum wants to learn PS. It’s going to have to be mostly distance-so I may as well share the tips! One-the goal Know your goal / Make a plan / Stick to the plan / If the plan doesn’t achieve the goal, make a new plan / Achieve the goal. Two-the goal Natural or nurture? Portraits Let’s pick natural first. Why do we like natural? It’s easy to relate to, we feel close to it, we’re familiar, we feel comfortable. If an image is ‘natural’, we accept it. Anything unnatural stand out. We jump on it. When using PS, less is usually more. Like film photography- Aim to get the best results in camera. That means good light, good subject and good angles. Because; What you see is what you get. What you see through the lens is what you end up with. Exception: the camera’s eye is not as good as our own. Light-It sees less when it gets dark, flashes drown out backgrounds and artificial light is, surprise! artificial (either yellow or green usually). example of different light (see dif angles/light-walking around the subject (Lara) in sunlight Exception-Depth of Field (DOF) this how much of the foreground/background is in focus. For portraits, its best to have just the face in focus. The background is distracting, unless it adds info about the subject being photographed. With an automatic camera, it depends on how much light. More light will mean more in focus. As it gets darker, the camera might not focus on anything, or it may too close to the subject. In PS, to get rid of distracting background, blur it. There is a blur tool. Remembering, less is best-use it subtly, and logically. Heavy handed blurring can detract. I suggest 50% to begin with. go look at portraits on the net and find ones that use varying DOF. Notice there are very few tips on PS here! That’s because the same thing can be achieved using the camera first, so get familar with the goals first! Then go on to lesson 2

• Another plea for help from Apophysis users
  by Chris Willis

  I have been working all day on trying to learn more about this programme….and have achieved some good results…BUT…when I rendered m…

  I have been working all day on trying to learn more about this programme….and have achieved some good results…BUT…when I rendered my first image, it’s been saved with a black background. For the past 6 – 8 months I have been saving them with transparent backgrounds, enabling me to layer one on top of another when I open them in PSP X. / My problem is…I can’t remember how I managed to get the transparent backgrounds. I know it wasn’t difficult…but the tutorial I got the info from is now no longer available. If anyone out there can help me I would be absolutely delighted and indebted to you….hugs, hugs and more hugs to anyone who can help me :-)

• What Cultural Background Are you?
  by Arletta

  Warning: This is meant to be humorous, but, truthful. Sometimes I get asked that, but, most people do not understand, or accept, the …

  Warning: This is meant to be humorous, but, truthful. Sometimes I get asked that, but, most people do not understand, or accept, the answer. I suppose what they really mean to ask is what ethnicity my blood is and was I raised with any of the stereotypical/traditional values of persons from such ethnicities. Still, culture is what they asked, so culture is what they got: I’m Alaskan I wear flannels, by choice. Duct tape is my friend! Racists are for pointing at and laughing about, but not a good reason to leave a party! Unless they are really nasty about it, and won’t shut up, and try to kill people. Then they have to leave the party! So, see? I am Alaskan. That is my culture. It isn’t just where I was raised, but how I was raised, and what land and weather patterns and mixture of other cultures that were brewed together there helped to raise me. We are not like the people from Georgia, Alabama, Texas, California, Florida, etc. And, while I am mostly Irish by blood, I am certainly not just like the Irish from Ireland or the Irish-American sort, either. I wasn’t raised to be any of those things, or American, or anything but myself and in Alaska. That’s what makes me Alaskan. More on racism: Rocks will be thrown at heads. This is why you jump in the ditch. It doesn’t matter if it’s Natives throwing them at white people or vice versa: ditches are your safety zone. It’s not racism, unless children, elderly, or invalids are attacked or until they hunt you down after you jumped into the ditch, or they refuse to even drink with you. If you don’t like it, tough: it’s not your culture! On dress codes: Bunny Boots are to be worn to the Opera, Rock concerts, movies, romantic dates, casual family get-togethers, and the birth of your first child. No, you don’t have to wear them, but if you are wearing them, people should look at you with envy or amusement. If they don’t, it’s proof positive they aren’t Alaskan enough to matter. Only Alaskans can wear ‘Alaska’ t-shirts. We are not Calvin Klein, marking our territory and claiming ownership of people. If we wanted slaves, you’d be allowed to wear the t-shirts; but, as it is, we are the only ones that should be labeled as Alaskan. Go wear a t-shrt that labels you as being from Texas or wherever it is you came from! Exceptions, possibly, are for Hawaii. Yes, we will wear your t-shirts, but only as a joke and a bit of a culturally based Dare. It makes our skin crawl, and that makes us laugh. Exceptions are still, possibly, for Hawaii. D.D.T. is necessary and any environmentalist who does not concur should be immediately shoved into a nearby stretch of woods without it. Dynamite and machetes, both, are tools in the hands of Alaskans. They are not weapons and we do not care about the impact of either on the environment. The fact is, when a 2 ton, or so, enraged bear is coming after us, we want to make an impact on the environment. We don’t care about your silly, puny, little Elephant guns. Get it through your head that we usually stop playing with cap pistols by the time we are five or so! It’s not a blizzard, just because the roof blew off the house and you can’t find it, now, because of the snow that fell in the ensuing two minutes. It’s snow and wind! If it was a blizzard, you’d be in Michigan or someplace like that where they believe in blizzards! Rain is good! Rain means less dust in the air, less mosquitoes in the air, and less smoke from forest fires in the air. The only time rain is bad is when there is ice on the roads! It is not child abuse to walk with your child in the rain, without rain coats or umbrellas. It is child abuse to never let them out in it! Children should work. Adults should play. Also, vice versa. These are some of the many, varied social laws that make up the Alaskan culture. Another one is that only Alaskans are allowed to know these things, as stated herein, so, if you are not Alaskan, you must stop reading and erase your memory of this posting STAT.

• Props and Backdrops
  by Catherine Crimmins

  Word is getting around that i am doing photography , my sons daycare is having me drop off paperwork on how much i would charge package w…

  Word is getting around that i am doing photography , my sons daycare is having me drop off paperwork on how much i would charge package wise to do the portraits for parents of the children… i have that figured out….but now if i get it i need props and backdrops…any one know of good quality items at good prices?? i’m not wanting to do the ordinary run of the mill packages with the same boring backgrounds that you see in schools…i want child oriented, original, wow style shots!! / Any clue where i can get what i want??

• A Big Salute to photo ''Lovers ''
  by rog99

  Roger Baillargeon / from Quebec Canada …. my home is located near the Peaceful National Capital. I’m Retired as a Public Relation Agent…

  Roger Baillargeon / from Quebec Canada …. my home is located near the Peaceful National Capital. I’m Retired as a Public Relation Agent. My main Hobby is about re-arranging my photos in’‘Painted-Style Images ”...... Other Activities… I like to Write, RollerBlade,Play Hockey,Hike and Take Good Long Walks in the CountrySide…..... I’m easy living and I like to trade ideas and suggestions on all kind of topics. So feel free to get in touch with me on any given day at… rogerfern99@ hotmail.com Roger Baillargeon / Quebec, Canada… ...Hoping my photographs can help !! Warmly, Roger B.

• Background to " Breezewatchers"
  by Martin Mullen

  For those who may be a bit puzzled by it, Breezewatchers is a good old fa…

  For those who may be a bit puzzled by it, Breezewatchers is a good old fashioned “tranny “sandwich of two seperate images on slide film which I got scanned. The figures are sculptures which were taken on a quayside in Holland while the other image with the clothes was shot in Morocco.

• Landscape,Iceberg,blue sky,blue sea,flowers and countryside images
  by rog99

  Landscape,Iceberg,blue sky,blue sea,flowers and countryside images. ...my favorite combination in photograph…

  Landscape,Iceberg,blue sky,blue sea,flowers and countryside images. ...my favorite combination in photography. What’s Yours Friends ? Roger B. ( rog99 ) Roger Baillargeon / Qc. Canada / http://redbubble.com/people/rog99

• Recent Uploads
  by Robyn Carter

  You may have noticed I’ve been away on holiday at the beach for a couple of days. Notice because I’ve uploaded a few beachy scenes tonig…

  You may have noticed I’ve been away on holiday at the beach for a couple of days. Notice because I’ve uploaded a few beachy scenes tonight. If you’re interested in more background information about these images, you can check out the following link that tells you more about it… here You won’t be disappointed ;) Cheers / Robyn

• Notes on Night Rangers/Shadow Walkers Universe
  by Gayla Drummond

  Genre: comtemporary/supernatural fantasy. Currently, there are four separate groups of people in this universe. Two sets are guardians…

  Genre: comtemporary/supernatural fantasy. Currently, there are four separate groups of people in this universe. Two sets are guardians; two sets are those they guard. The first arrivals were Night Rangers and their Lights. The second arrivals are Shadow Walkers and their Powers. I’m not ruling out the possibility that there will be other groups showing up. I can’t foresee the future, even for my own works, people. =) What I do know: The Guardian types are ageless and immortal, from the time they accept being chosen until they are stripped of their powers. That can only be done by the one who created them, and I don’t know who that is just yet. There are only two reasons for power strippage: Either they screw up horribly, or they request it. Walkers are reborn and become Walkers again. Rangers are reborn, but seldom end up repeating the Ranger biz. What I know about Night Rangers so far: / They use magic, can hide themselves in shadows, and once they discover a Light, they instigate what’s called a Joining and welcome the Light. Immediately afterwards, they bind themselves to that Light. From then until the Light’s death, they belong to them. (from Pt. 3 of Night Rangers: Cassie and Cord: “They’d never be alone again. From now until their deaths, he was theirs: irrevocably bound to them and charged with their protection.” ) They’re more powerful at night, weaker by day (but still pretty damn formidable). Because they aren’t always bound, they’re allowed to seek companionship between the times they are. Once they are bound to a Light, they’re required to be celibate, unless an intimate relationship with their Light develops. The reason for that is because nothing is allowed to come between them and their duties to their Light. Lights are passive beings. They hold a purity of good inside themselves. Their existence is necessary for the balance to be maintained between good/evil, light/dark. They’ve become rather rare, or at least not easily discovered. They’re considered food by the Others. Lights are not always the same soul. The Light seems to pick and choose from souls at random. Lights age and die normally. What I know about Shadow Walkers so far: / They can use magic and shadow walk; travel by shadow from one place to the next. They aren’t allowed to move about in the daylight unless their Power is threatened by the Others or is being reborn. They are bound to one soul only: the woman who is their soul mate that they lose during her First Manifestation of Power. No Powers survive that first Manifestation. They all die. Shadow Walkers are required to watch their Powers as they live and die, but only at night, other than the two exceptions noted above. They aren’t allowed to protect them from human evil, only supernatural evil, until they are Awakened. They remain celibate until their Power survives a Manifestation and becomes Awakened. Once that happens, it’s pretty much a given that their former intimate relationship will make a re-appearance at some point. Also, then they can move about in the daytime; like the Rangers, they are weaker in daylight, but still very dangerous to anything/anyone who threatens their Powers. Powers are active beings. They can act against the Others when Awakened. Awakened means their Power Manifests and they survive it without going insane. Awakened, they are ageless; they are not immortal, however. They can be killed by the Others; they just stay whatever age they were when the Awakening occurred. The Power doesn’t Manifest in every lifetime they live. They don’t remember those past lifetimes; their time in the Abyss between them sort of resets them. Some do seem to retain just a sliver of memory of their Walker: ex. From Shadow Walkers: Excerpt 01_01: “An amazing number of those past loves had resembled him in some way. All had been dark haired, most had been gray-eyed. Not all had been as tall as he was; yet it had still been clear that some part of her remembered him. / That there was some part of her that still longed for him.” I’m relatively certain this universe is all about balance. I should say ‘The Balance”, that between light/dark and good/evil. The Rangers and Walkers are part of that balance; beings whose true strength is greater when darkness holds sway (which is when the Others strength is also greatest), that protect those who carry a portion of pure goodness, or Light, or those who can actively use the Power of Light they carry to fight the Others and disrupt their plans. Walkers and Rangers (heh, just noticed the shades of Chuck Norris in that, a la ‘Walker: Texas Ranger’) are always male. Powers are always female. Lights, however, can be either male or female. No, there won’t be any same sex pairings. Sorry ‘bout that. (Hey, Shady, you out for a walk? I’ve been meaning to talk to you about…hey, where you going? Get back here, you stubborn Wolven!) Where was I? :glares after Connor: Oh, right. I don’t have an overall title for the stories in this universe just yet. I’m toying with a few. I think what will happen is a series of novellas that interweave to complete a full length novel. I think. Don’t hold me to that statement, I go where they want me to go! =) All of the characters know or will know each other: the Stronghold, which I don’t yet know where it’s located, is where they all eventually end up. The Rangers and Walkers already live there; their Lights and Powers are taken there for safety. The Stronghold is just that: the place where both types of guardians (that I know of so far, lol) are strongest, because they’re all massed together. It’s the one place where Powers and Lights are perfectly safe from everything but old age for the Lights. Well, and personality conflicts with each other. =) I don’t know how many of each type there is just yet. I think there are fewer Rangers than Walkers, simply because finding someone that is a holder of pure Light is such a random and rare thing. I’m pretty sure that’s why Rangers get to have girlfriends in between bindings to Lights (which could also lead to some pretty interesting events if one happens to have a girlfriend at the time they discover their Light and bind themselves to him/her). Both types have to be pretty determined and strong-willed to deal with their existences. There’s a lot of grief in their very long lives, after all. They aren’t infallible; their Lights and Powers do get killed by the Others, while they have to soldier on and wait to fall across another Light or for their Power to be reborn yet again. Pretty rough lives, in other words. The Others are obviously evil beings. I’m thinking Cord was hunting a vampire or a demonling (human possessed by a demon) when he lucked across Cassie. What types of critters there are under the ‘Others’ classification is still something I’m – heh heh – in the dark about. So, there you have it, the sum total of knowledge I possess on this new universe and the people that inhabit it so far. =) See, it’s just as much an adventure to be a writer as it is to be a reader! And there’s more! A ‘Joining’ is a mental/mystical connection between Night Rangers that’s instigated by a new Light. It’s sort of an identifying ritual, so that the other Rangers will know about the Light in question and actually ‘feel’ the purity hidden inside that Light. It evokes an emotional response in Rangers when the Light accepts the extended invitation of their promised protection during a Joining. Only the Ranger who discovers a Light can instigate the Joining and extend that welcome. Unbound Rangers will always help bound Rangers protect their Lights. Bound Rangers will help protect each other’s Lights only if their own isn’t in danger at the time. Shadow Walkers, already eternally bonded to their Powers, don’t have such a ritual. There’ s no need for one. They concentrate solely on their Powers unless flat out ordered to help out, which seldom happens. It can happen if the Others grow strong enough to stage an assault on the Stronghold. Without the Stronghold, both types of guardians would find it impossible to protect their charges with any assurance of continual success. The Stronghold reeks of old magic and has centuries of protective warding in place. It’s the one place the guardians can relax completely; even a direct assault by the Others will result in a warning with enough time to prepare for battle. Night Rangers tend to wear Stetsons, dusters and western boots. Shadow Walkers, who are from older times, tend towards longer hair, motorcycle boots, trenchcoats or leather jackets. There is a leader for each group, or a leader of both, but I don’t have a clue who or what just yet. I’d really like to know who created them; that seems to be a bit piece of the puzzle! ____ / © GL Drummond, 2008 On another note: the reason I post entries like these – maybe they’ll prove useful to new writers settling into world building and character creation, as far as making themselves notes to refer back to as they go along. Then again, maybe I just like thinking ‘out loud’, lol. =) Current Excerpts Night Rangers: Cassie and Cord Part One Part Two Part Three Shadow Walkers 01_01: One

• Sell, sell, sell!!!! I SAID sell.
  by Albert1000

  Hello people,’ Sell your photos here: http://www.123rf.com/src_albertttt Check it out. Or don’t. Heh. Albert

  Hello people,’ Sell your photos here: http://www.123rf.com/src_albertttt Check it out. Or don’t. Heh. Albert

• Collection of rays
  by sgame

  ...

• Where I Came From, Where I'm Going...
  by Jason Stengren

  (cross-posted to DeviantArt.com – http://jstengren.deviantart.com) My photography obsession began in high school… I took a lame phot…

  (cross-posted to DeviantArt.com – http://jstengren.deviantart.com) My photography obsession began in high school… I took a lame photo class as an elective (this was Los Angeles, mind you) where we learned how to develop 35mm film in the darkroom. Assignments were ill-conceived and half-assed, at best. “Go take a picture of someone playing sports.” was one, “Take a picture of something with sharp contrasting lines.” was another. There were crushes to be had, friends to be made, and since it was the last period of the day… shortened school-hours to be had. On to college where my dad let me borrow his manual Nikormat SLR. That was an interesting beast. Manual rewind, shutters as loud as your bedroom blinds falling unexpectedly in the middle of the night… but wow, the photos were incredible. I lived in Humboldt at the time (see Arcata, CA), home of the redwoods, hippies, and mud. I took a few field-trips with my dad’s camera into the various hiking trails surrounding the city and experimented with the finer aspects of technical photography – namely aperture and shutter speed. I also fell in love with macro photography, abstracting the hell out of anything I ran into. I took quite a few nice fern shots w/shadows, dew drops, ocean shots, and the likes. After moving up here to Portland, I bought my first digital camera – a Casio Exilim subcompact – and visited my friend back in Humboldt. I told him, “Lets go somewhere cool for a photo shoot.” We ended up at this weird junkyard near the bay where someone(s) had left tractors, car bits, etc. This is how I got my start in urban decay photography. If you framed a shot just right, you could accurately convey the lonliness and isolation of these machines, standing alone in the Northern California coastal mist, rusting, and being slowly, steadily overthrown by the sands of time. I loved it. I purchased a couple other cameras after that Exilim, briefly joining the megapixel war frenzy, and eventually ended up at the Fujifilm F30 subcompact. This camera, my friends, is fucking amazing. If you ever want a subcompact that takes awesome photos, has full aperture and shutter speed controls, excellent night time capability, and low low noise… this is the toy for you. I’ve used the F30 for countless club nights, raves, outdoor events, parties, and random photography wanderings. Unfortunately, I eventually ran into a wall in terms of what I could get out of this camera. I wanted those beautiful shots I saw on Deviant Art and Flickr, with the saturated colors and near-absent noise. I sunk my tax rebate into my very first DSLR, a Nikon D40x, and I’m in love. No doubt, I’m absolutely baffled by the amount of setups and features available, but the quality of the photos is amazing. I’ve created my first working portfolio using this camera, and have also become intimately familiar with Adobe Lightroom – an excellent digital photo archiving/editing application. My very first gallery is on June 19th at a local pub called Green Dragon, and who knows what’s next! For now, I’m just gonna play around here on Deviant Art and find other like-minded photographers to chat with. If you have any hints/tips on how to find cool spots for urban decay style photography, let me know! Right now, I just pick a direction and drive… hoping to stumble across something good.

• Busyness...
  by Scott Battye

  Hey all, It’s been busy the last few weeks, getting close to the end of my last school year, that means creating finals for Studio Art…

  Hey all, It’s been busy the last few weeks, getting close to the end of my last school year, that means creating finals for Studio Arts, finishing my second product for Visual Communication, and studying for all those exams =| As a result, it’s been hard for me to find much time to anything, and the time that I have had, has been dedicated to working on my latest website, the fourth coming in my list, in order of creation I’ve had the following: - United Galaxy, the long running personal website of mine, United Galaxy was a small community discussing random news from around the world. / - Squared, Only live for a small time, Squared was my personal space on the web that I used as a portfolio. / - The Nayble Workshed, only seeing around 3 months of existance, TNW wasn’t an overly successful site, it was a development community dedicated to spreading the word about a users project. / - BlueIrn, BlueIrn (Pronounced BlueIron) was created as The Nayble Workshed rethought. BlueIrn is now the revival of what once was, and hopefully, will be more successful than it’s Workshed companion. This site can be found at (http:// blueirn dot com, remove spaces and replace items as required) So as you can see, BlueIrn is a big project, hopefully I’ll find time to do it though :) Cheers, and goodbye for now, / Scott.

• Sunday morning coffeetime pleasure
  by angelheart

  Hi all, / I have been up and at it since 3:00 a.m. so I could get a head start on the day.I wanted to get some of my older work uploaded a…

  Hi all, / I have been up and at it since 3:00 a.m. so I could get a head start on the day.I wanted to get some of my older work uploaded and taken care of before I began my day.I really believe I am going to enjoy my time here and I have a friend to thank for that.I don’t know how many of you know Kellie Cranmer but she is one of my fellow artists and a very good friend who told me about Redbubble.Her and I have been fans of each others work for a while now and in many ways I feel she puts me to shame.But,we each have our own unique styles of work and that’s fine with me.I have a network site that I call Angels House at ning.com and will be working on that after the holidays and would like to get a lot more members to join in the fun.We just kick back and talk about all kinds of things,have a slide show for photos and art,music and I will be adding a lot of different interactive stuff to do.I’m hoping I can find a few of you who would like to join us there and just have some fun. / My birthdate may make it look like I’m an “Old Lady” but that’s so far from the truth it’s not funny.I like a lot of things that your ‘normal’ 50 something woman would never confess to liking but that’s just me.And I am looking forward to getting to know a lot of you as time goes by.So,when the holidays are past us and the New Year comes in,I will be doing my thing with my network,being an active member here and continuing on at FanArtReview,where I just signed on for my second year in September.That is where I have gotten up the ladder to second place in digital art.This coming year,I’m going to be dabbling in a lot of stuff,including traditional art,which I have done a couple of already.I’m going to check out some of your work today as you so graciously did so to mine,the first night I uploaded some. / Must go for now but I will return later as I have a bunch of other work to finish uploading.Hope you all have a great day and will talk to you all later. / Until then… :)