Redbubble Customer Service and Community Liaison – RedBubble is looking for someone to join the team and help us look after all the bub…
Redbubble Customer Service and Community Liaison – RedBubble is looking for someone to join the team and help us look after all the bubblers out there even better ! Helping to answer the stream of emails and a few phone calls each day, taking a very active role on the site and in the forums, helping, moderating and generally making sure it’s all working. The job will also involve working with leaders within the RedBubble community helping it to grow, it’s about the vibe of the thing. Plus – The right person will make our office 10% more awesome – one of those people who just makes things happen. Based in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Email jobs@redbubble.com to express your interest. Update: The interest in this job is pretty high, with emails coming thick and fast – so please be a little patient as we work though them all. It’s going to be really difficult choosing someone, there are so many passionate and capable bubblers putting their hands up.
It all depends on the photograph that I am taking as to how I will work it to a finish. This may sound a bit long-winded, but to really …
It all depends on the photograph that I am taking as to how I will work it to a finish. This may sound a bit long-winded, but to really understand how my photograph is being worked, it all comes together in a picture that you see in my portfolio on Redbubble! Most of my photographs have been taken in RAW, with my digital camera, Canon EOS 350D and EOS 20D. Not that this should make any difference to the image. Sometimes I will create an image with Sophia’s camera which is a compact zoom 8. Megapix. “Trapped in the light” was taken with that camera and was taken in JPG for ease of use. As for “Searching for Spring” , this image was HDR processed. To do this I have taken three images of the same, making sure that the camera is solid on a tripod, to avoid moving it from position. I then take three exposures of the same image. / 1 photograph is taken two stop over exposed, 1 photograph is taken two stops under exposed and the other 1 is correctly exposed. The subject, in Sophia’s case had to remain absolutely still down to her eyes, which is hard for a five year old to do! But she was a very good girl and it has taken her all the concentration to do it, and it is that what has given her this serious look bless her. I had no intention to portray her as an evil child, so that is something to watch out for when using HDR on youngsters! I always prefer to use natural surroundings and available light from that surrounding. I don’t like using flash, because I feel it can destroy the mood that natural light can create for me. For instance, the HDR method that I have used on Sophia in the mentioned image, the sun is behind her. To use flash would have completely changed the feel and the mood of the photography. Try this for yourself and look at the difference in your pictures and see what I mean? The type of light you use determines the mood that you want to create! This is true for any kind of photography. To create HDR images, I have downloaded Photomatix basic from Google search, and this is FREE! Any one who is interested in HDR? There is a group in RB that may be very useful and helpful to learn. Enhance Photo > Photo Fix / After I’ve HDR’d “Searching for Spring” in Photomatix basic, I opened this picture in Corel paintshop pro XI. In this software, I have “Enhance Photo” and open to “Smart Photo Fix”. This tool has several applications to darken or lighten the shadow area without affecting the over all photograph. The Overall slider affects the whole of the image by darkening or lighting it. A little bit like fill in light. The Highlight slider only affects the highlights of your picture. Then there is the Saturation slider and Focus slider, when you’ve finished, you click OK! I use this on most of my photographs to improve the overall appearance. Selection tool/Lasso tool / Now, I want to isolate and section areas that I feel needs working on without affecting the rest of my photograph! To do this I love the lasso tool or the selection tool that looks like a lasso. I zoom right into the picture for maximum control but leave enough room so that I can still recognise the edges that I need to go around with my selection tool. To select the horizon or the sky, I try to avoid the trees and bushes if I can, for they can get to dark or even black and will ruin the picture. Feather / Before I lasso, I decide what effect I want with the Feather tool from the select tool. This will determine if the edges are going to be smooth and straight, which would be 0! Or if I want a layering or vignette effect around the subject? This would be from 1 – 200! I suggest you should experiment to get to know how the feather effect looks on your work. This is all down to personal preferences. It is a bit like, how much salt do you like on your food? Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Curves / Once the portion has been selected and I have lassoed around the sky, I will go into Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Curves, select curves! A box comes up and you see your selected part of the image in a window. This is the part that is going to be worked on. In my case, I want to darken the sky and bring out the drama of the clouds. In the box there is a diagonal line. Grab the middle of the line and move it about. You will see how the selected part is changing in contrast. I drag the middle of the line slightly down until I am happy with the result, and then click ok! Get familiar with the different tools and experiment with them! This is what I do and am still learning. I build up my experience through experimenting. The result is seen in my portfolio in Redbubble for all to see! Invert selection / If I want to save time and work on the foreground of the picture, while the sky is still selected. I go into Selection and click on Invert. Or you tap on “Alt + Shift + I” to invert my selection. Now my foreground is selected and the sky deselected. Experiment / In the case of “Searching for Spring” I only selected Sophia by lassoing all around her and the Feather on 0. I needed to bring out detail that would otherwise be lost. / I have tried several applications, like Levels, Curves and even Histogram Adjustment. / These can all be found in, Adjust > Brightness and Contrast. Trying very hard to keep her in harmony with her surrounding. The same was also done with the table that Sophia stood on. Finally to the black and white effect! Adjust > Color > Channel Mixer / This method applies to most of my black and white images, whether they are a straight shot or have been enhanced first. I go into Adjust > Color > Channel Mixer, tick the Monochrome box. Red will default to 100, while green and blue to 0. This usually turns the blue sky very dark, and the skin or anything that has red in it very pale to white. A good guidance that I have learned from someone was, to make sure that, which ever way you choose to move the slider to maintain a total of 100%. As an example only; / Red% -40, Green% 28, Blue% 112, and it adds up 100%! Play about with that to get a feel for how this makes your black and white photograph look. / If the red lightens red, the green slider should lighten anything green and the blue, blue! / Use your judgement and then click ok. But make sure you don’t burn out any highlights in your photograph. This can look ugly if it is overdone. Once I am satisfied, I click ok and move on to the next treatment. Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Histogram Adjustment. / To finish of my picture I will go into Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Histogram Adjustment. There is a slider on the side that will affect the contrast of the image. Slide it down, the contrast increases. Slide it up and it will decrease. I like to increase the contrast, trying not to burn out highlights in Sophia’s face. On the bottom of the box of the histogram there are little triangles, / Low Gamma High / Move the middle triangle Gamma towards the high, and will bring out details in the shadow area. While moving towards the Low, it will bring out details in the highlights. / That is where the selection tool will also be useful if you don’t want to affect the rest of the picture but only one aspect. Click ok and I am almost done! Final finishing touches! Learning centre > Home > Effects > film and filter / Corel Paintshop XI have this extra facility that I love t use for effects. It has a learning centre > home > effects > film and filter. I love the Glamour and Warming, which I have been using with “Trapped in the light”. And finally save the finished work which you get to see on Redbubble if I am happy with it! Thank you all who have shown so much interest in my work and wanted to know about how I did them? I hope it makes sense and is easy enough to follow? My best regards Sylvia!
Quite a few people have asked me recently how to post framed images of their work under the buy button or in the description area, as I h…
Quite a few people have asked me recently how to post framed images of their work under the buy button or in the description area, as I have done here I think it adds another dimension to your page and hopefully encourages people to go one step further than the buying a card option. Thought it might be a good idea to do a general post about this. Will also add this to the various group forums I’m in. Apologies if this has already been done elsewhere. Anyway, here’s how to do it! 1. click the “buy” button on your already uploaded image / 2. click “framed print” option / 3. right click and copy image address / 4. then go back to your ‘my bubble’ and click on your “art” tab and go to the pic you want to edit / 5. Paste image address in the description box / 6. add exclamation marks at the start and end of image address (don’t leave any spaces) / 6. Press save ...and voila! You have it! Bt the way this only works with pics in portrait mode not landscape (you can still insert landscape pics but the right hand side gets chopped off) Cheers & Good Luck / Loredana :-)
Tags Tags Tags. They help people find your work, improve you chances of being featured, and google search will love you more. So lear…
Tags Tags Tags. They help people find your work, improve you chances of being featured, and google search will love you more. So learning to do it right is a great idea. Excessive tagging does not work in your favor. You should only use tags that are obvious keywords that would connect a searcher with your work. Let me give you an example… Here is an image of a calculator (courtesy of google search) A good set of tags would be: calculator, numbers, mathematics, maths, buttons, machine, white, photograph A not so good set of tags would be: calculator, numbers, integers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, +, -, /, add, subtract, divide, mulitply, square root, screen, buttons, grey, black , white, maths, mathematics, science, finance, bookkeeping, nerd, office, administration, machine, technology, digital Why is the second set the weaker one? Because most of the terms tagged there only have the tiniest little thing to do with the image. This then goes on to pollute the searches of people who are actually looking for an image of a + symbol or an image of a nerdy caricature . The more polluted the search is, the more times people will just give up and go elsewhere. Anyway, hope that is some good general information for you.
hi all / / For those of you who have a little trouble with generating Redbubble code to create those lovely previews of framed prints for…
hi all / / For those of you who have a little trouble with generating Redbubble code to create those lovely previews of framed prints for your profile pages, or even if you would just like to have a handy list of all your Rebubble works, along with the ID code numbers for them, then look no further. / / The very clever Dave Pearson has created a little program that will do it all for you. / / The application can be found Here / / To instal it / / Click on the blue text – RBArtManSetup.msi and chose Run from the box that appears. Then you may get a message asking you if you are sure you want to instal it – Say yes, then keep cliking until the application has finished installing. / / Now for the magic / / To open the program, go to your start programs menu and click Redbubble Art Manager to open it up. / / A window like the image below will appear / / Click on New [up the top] as shown in the image below / / / / A new box will open [see below] / / / / Type your Redbubble username [not you real name] into the User ID box / / Click on Art [up the top], then on download as shown below / / / / A message box will appear asking you if you want to download a list of your artwork – Click yes/OK / The application will then look for your Redbubble work and generate a list of it – this can take a few minutes, depending on how many pages of art you have in your portfolio. / Once the download is complete, you will recieve a message saying it has completed. / / Click on the piece of art in the list that you want to generate code for to hightlight it. then click on Art [up the top], then Promote, then work [see below] / / / / A new window will appear which shows all the options for different types of preview that you can create. Simply choose which one you want to create, making sure that Textile [For Redbubble] is checked and the code will generate in the little window below. Once you have what you want, click on the Copy to Clipboard button [see below] / / / / The code is now ready for you to use and is copied ready for you – just go to where you want to use it on Redbubble, and right click and paste the code – save, and Voila – its done. / / You can also save the list for future use by clicking on file, save as and naming the file – Dont forget though – any art you add to Redbubble after you save it, wont appear on the list, and you will need to generate a new one Thank you Dave – its awesome.
Art Criticism: How to Criticize a Work of Art / A four step process This is what I give my students as a guide to art appreciation: / ...
Art Criticism: How to Criticize a Work of Art / A four step process This is what I give my students as a guide to art appreciation: 1. Description- What do I see? Study the work in detail carefully. Describe the work in full detail. Be factual. Mention everything you see. 2. Analysis- How is the work organized? Look for and talk about the elements and principles of art and design that seems to dominate the work. Look at how the artist has used The Elements of Art / • Lines- real and implied, curved and straight, direction of movement / • Shapes, Space, Forms- Are the shapes geometric or free-form? Where is the horizon? Where is your point of view as the viewer? (Above, below, in the work, or outside) / • Colors- Warm, cool, bright, dull, soft, bold, etc. / • Value- light: reflecting much light; dark: absorbing much light. / • Texture-Both the medium and the objects portrayed: rough, smooth, shinny, dull Look at The Principles of Design / • Rhythm- Are there repeats of elements or images? / • Movement- Is there an illusion of action? How does the eye move around the work? / • Balance- Formal or Symmetrical, informal or asymmetrical / • Proportion- The size relationships between one part to the whole or one part to another part / • Variety- Visual difference and contrast within the work / • Emphasis- What part is dominant, and what part is subordinate? / • Unity- Does the work hold together? 3. Interpretation- What is happening? This is more than storytelling. As in literature, you need to interpret and generalize from data given. You need to find the metaphor or allegory in the work. What is the artist trying to communicate? Use your intelligence, imagination and courage to explain and tell the meaning of the work. This is based on the facts you have observed and your own life experiences. You can express your feelings, but they must be backed up by the observations you have made about the work. 4. Judgment- What do I think of the work? Does the work hold together visually? Does it communicate with the viewer? Judge whether the work succeeds or fails. You give your opinion backed by the three steps above. To make a judgment, you need to be honest with yourself. You need to know why you feel the way you do. Three Theories of Judging Art Imitationalism -Some people believe that art should imitate what we see in the real world. / Formalism – Some people believe that the most important part of a work is in the use of the principles of design and the elements of art. A work is successful if the texture, color, lines, etc are organized properly. / Emotionalism – Some people believe that the most important part of the work is the mood the artist communicates. Perhaps it is best to use all three theories when judging a work of art. Adapted from many sources, including Arttalk by Rosalind Ragans
Adjustment layers are a great way to work in Photoshop, they give you the flexibility to go back and alter adjustments on the fly – makin…
Adjustment layers are a great way to work in Photoshop, they give you the flexibility to go back and alter adjustments on the fly – making sure that you don’t have to lose any of the work you have done by undoing steps to correct an error. Another positive about adjustment layers is that they add very little size to your file, which is a bonus if you don’t have 8 gigs of RAM at your disposal :-) I’m going to give you a kind of example here using a Hue Saturation adjustment layer to add colour back into an image. What you need to bear in mind is that it applies to all of the adjustments that are available under adjustment layers. Adjustment layers can also be useful when using blending modes on a single image without having to duplicate the image and add to the file size. Try this one yourself. Open an image, duplicate it of course :-) and close the original – now go to the little ying yang looking symbol at the bottom of the layers palette and click on it to bring up the menu – click on levels for now. When the dialogue box opens, click OK without making any adjustments, then pick a blend mode …. lets say multiply …. your image will now have used itself, to darken itself …. or you could say that you have used the image to darken the image without having to duplicate the background and then apply a blend mode. Take a look at your file size ….. You can also turn the adjustment layer on and off, reduce the opacity, add a mask to darken certain areas, use a gradient to edit the mask or perhaps a brush. There are several ways that you can do just about anything in Photoshop, and bringing back colour into an image is no exception. By default photoshop has the history set at 20 states of undo, so if you reach 21 states any previous work will not be available to go back and edit without losing all of the work you have done. You can change the amount of history states available to you by going to Edit>Preferences>Performance and at the top right hand side you will see History States | Cache Levels – just change the history states to a higher amount if you like. Using adjustment layers, rather than permanent adjustments, will give you much more flexibility in your editing capabilities. Getting into the habit of saving your image as a .psd file right from the outset and then remembering to ‘save’ along the way … press Ctrl + S or go to the top menu bar and press ‘save’, will make sure that you are never disappointed if PS freezes or your computer has a hissy fit and dies. Lets get back to the tut :-) I’m going to add some colour back into an image that I have used a Hue/Sat adjustment layer to desaturate. Why not just go to the top menu bar and use Image>Adjustment>Desaturate you might be asking – because it is a permanent adjustment – one that I may decide that I don’t want there in the future and doing this change with an adjustment layer gives me the option of turning it on and off using the little eye icon, going back in and adding some saturation back into the image etc., If I try to do that 25states later using the permanent adjustment I will lose all of my later work. There are also several ways to add colour back into an image. You can start with your B&W image, place a new layer above that, choose a colour and fill the layer, change the blend mode to colour, soft light etc., add a mask, invert the mask, and then start adding back in the colour – but what if you decide that you don’t like that colour ? You then have to choose another colour, lock the transparent pixels of the layer, then fill with the new colour. You can also create a new blank layer, choose a colour to paint with, change the blend mode of the brush from the top menu bar and paint away – but still, if you decide you don’t like the colour then you will have to go through the process for the first method. What if you could just move a slider to create a different colour ? Now wouldn’t that be a whole lot simpler ? Here is our start image, just click through for the larger image. The first adjustment layer we are going to use is a hue/sat and we are going to desaturate the image. What you’ll notice in the below image is that I forgot to take a screenshot of the desaturated image and had to go back and take one after I had made several adjustments. Its as simple as turning off the adjustment layers. Next you are going to use a hue/sat adjustment layer again, but this time you are going to check the colorize button when the dialogue box comes up. Then go and adjust the sliders till you get a colour that you like. This is probably the most time consuming part of this adjustment until you become familiar with where the colours lie, and using the saturation and lightness adjustments. I chose a blue colour that was similar to the original image, you can choose whatever colour you like. Obviously that isn’t quite what we want to happen here :-) Adjustment layers come with a mask – that’s the little white box on the right hand side of the adjustment box – click on the mask to make it active and then press Ctrl + i on your keyboard to invert the mask to black (hide all) white is reveal all. You could also go to Image>Adjustments>Invert – just make sure that the mask is active. Grab your paintbrush and start painting back in the pants. You should now have something similar to the image below. I haven’t painted back in all of the pants, I’m just showing you how to achieve the adjustments. Just say that you had taken this image in B&W originally, and I pop over to your place and notice what you’re doing and say ….. the pants on that scarecrow weren’t blue :-) The easy way to choose another colour is to double click on the adjustment box itself – not the layer mask – and the dialogue box will open and you can adjust the colour to something new. What I would normally do when re-colouring an image is duplicate the blue layer, turn off the visibility of the original blue layer and then make the adjustment to the copy. This way you will still have the choice of reverting to the blue copy if you decide you want that one instead. In fact, you could make as many different coloured trousers/pants adjustment layers as you wanted. When doing something like this it is wise to get into the habit of naming the adjustment layers. You can do this by double clicking on the text next to the mask and renaming this what you want. You can see in the image below that I have carried on with a few more adjustment layers and named them. I’ve also done 3 different shades of red for the jacket, shoes and pocket on the pants. I would then do a different red for the scarf. I’ve also done the hair and the flowers, both of these more need more refining to make them look realisitic but I would do the refinements on adjustment layers. I’ve highlighted the file size at the bottom of the image. You may also notice as you progress with your design, composite, colourising etc., that the adjustment layers can start to get out of hand. This is where Grouping layers together can come in very handy. Select which adjustment layer you would like grouped together i.e. in this particular image you might group together the clothing as I have done – although I accidently added the hair and shoes to the group and couldn’t be bothered going back and grabbing another screenshot – so just ignore those 2 layers :-) Click on an adjustment layer then hold down your Ctrl key to select the next one etc., If your layers are one above the other you can click on the top one, then shift click on the bottom one to select them. Next go to the little downward triangle near the top right hand side of your layers palette, and from the menu select the option ‘New Group From Layers’ Each of the layers you chose will now be in a folder which you can name, I used Clothing in the example below. All you have to do now is open that folder using the little arrow to the left of the folder to have access to the adjustment layers, but more importantly you can still edit each of those adjustment layers. And that’s it really. Remember to save often while you are working on a file, as I said at the beginning of this.
PIMPING UP YOUR PROFILE PAGE TUTORIAL Adding Your Art Work On Your Profile Page Instructions 1…
PIMPING UP YOUR PROFILE PAGE TUTORIAL Adding Your Art Work On Your Profile Page Instructions 1. Sign Into Redbubble (Do this twice on 2 seperate pages) / 2. On one page go to Mybubble / 3. account / 4. Edit you profile / 5. Scroll down to About You box (this is where you will be adding / all of your stuff…. / 6. NOW…Leave that page as it is and go to the other one you have / pulled up. / 7. click Mybubble / 8. Now you will see a bar of things listed for you to use / 9. Ex.. activity,groups,account,art,clothing,writing,calendars,journal, / watchlist,favorites,promote and bubblmail / 10. You click on Art / 11. This will bring you up to all of your work that you have added to / Redbubble… / 12. Ex… of adding one and you can do this to however many you want. / 13. Say you want to add the first one on your list / 14. You will go beside that photo and click on Show public View / 15. Now, click on Buy/Preview / 16. Now… You should see cards,matted,laminated,mounted etc…. / 17. I usually pick laminated, but you can use any of them that you / prefer… / 18. Click on the one you prefer to add to your profile page / 19. That work will now show up, you may also choose a backing color / with a few of these and or frame/matted colors over to the right / also if your works are big enough you may choose a size. / 20. That will all show up. / 21. Now… On that work of art that you see of yours, you will now / Right click your mouse right on top of that photo. / 22. Another box will pop up and you will want to choose properties / by left clicking on properties. / 23. Another box should appear / 24. Where you see the address Url you will want to take your mouse / and hold down the left side of your mouse while moving it across / down being sure to grab all of that address url, it should highlight. / 25. Now With your mouse let go of the left and right click and then / left click copy and also ok… / 26. Now let thatpage stay there and we will go to the other page of / redbubble that we have pulled up. / 27. Go to where you see the about you box / 28. Let’s add this work into that box / 29. First you will want to add an exclamtion mark Example ! / 30. Now directly behind that, we will right click our mouse and then left / click and then paste. / 31. Directly behind this we will add another exclamtion mark Example ! / 32. This should all be in one with no spaces at all (NONE) / 33. Now if you want that work to connect and direct people back to / your comment page of this work. / 34. Leave this page as it is and go back to the other one you have pulled up / 35. Let’s click on the back button two times so it brings us back to our / comment page. / 36. Now… at the very top of that page in the address bar you will put your / mouse in this area and… / 37. Left click and it should turn this blue. / 38. Let go and now lets right click on that highlighted address / 39. And the left click copy / 40. Now… back to the other page you have pulled up where you added / the other work… / 41. You will now want to add a : directly behind the ! and then you will / 42. right click your mouse, then left click and paste. / 43. Now lets save those changes. / 44. You’re Done You can also add lines between any work on your page by simply / holding down the line button —-——- until it goes all the way across… Adding your favorite artsists on your profile page / Some of you may have some favorite artists that you would like others / to know about, so what better way of doing this than to add them on / your profile page and linking them, WANNA KNOW HOW? 1. Find your favorite artist and go to their page / 2. Now you can just click on any of their work / 3. Their work page will now show up with the comment page / 4. you will also see to the right a small icon of them / 5. You will Right click your mouse on the top of their icon / 6. left click properties. / 7. Hold left mouse while grabbing the whole address url again / like you did for your art. / 8. Now… right click, and then left click copy and ok… / 9. Go back to your about me box / 10. add you ! / 11. then right click mouse and then left click paste / 12 and another ! / 13. remember no spaces in between / 14. NOW.. to link that to their page… / 15. We will simply use our other page and go back to their profile page / 16. Now we will go back to the very top to the address bar / 17. now lets left click on that url so it will highlight in blue / 18. Now lets right click and left click copy / 19. go back to about me box where you just added their icon / 20. Lets add our : / 21. now simply right click and then left click paste / 22. save all changes / 23. Your Done! / / I do hope that this tutorial is of use to you all here… / ~Angi
Once you have signed in to Redbubble you will follow these steps to add and display your work on the side of your comment page… 1…
Once you have signed in to Redbubble you will follow these steps to add and display your work on the side of your comment page… 1. Click on Art (the one of yours listed between account and clothing) / 2. Now you should see the words My Art on the next page that pops up / 3. This page displays all of your works that you have uploaded / 4. Now from here lets choose edit right beside one of your image icons / 5. Now we are on our edit page / 6. From this page we will add those pretty little display images to the side of our / comment page. / 7. To do this we start by clicking on Buy/Preview / 8. Now you will see at the top all of the choices that you can choose from such / as Card, Matted Print, Laminated Print etc…. / 9. Click on the one that you wish to display on the side of your page / 10. Ex… I am going to choose laminated print / 11. So I simply click on Laminated Print / 12. Now you should be seeing your laminated print of your image in white / 13. you can choose to simply leave the border white or you may change it by / going over to the right side of the page and changing it in the border’s box. / 14.Once you have chosen which way you want the image either in white or black / 15. Lets now Right click on top of the image / 16. Left click properties / 17. another box will pop up / 18. Look where you see the Address Url and you will see the url beside this. / 19. We want to highlight this whole url by simply / 20. Hold down your left mouse and start at the beginning of the url at the http / while holding down the left mouse we will scroll all the way to the right and then / bring your hand down making sure that you pick up the whole url. (it will all / turn blue) / 21. Once highlighted we will let go of our left mouse and we will Right click and then / on copy and ok. / 22. Now we will click on the back button until we get back to our edit page. / 23. Once we have gotten back to our edit page we are now ready to add that image / 24. Simply go to the Description Box / 25. Type an exclamation mark / 26. ! / 27. directly behind this exclamation mark we will right click our mouse and the paste / 28. then directly behind this url we will add another exclamation mark. *DO NOT / SPACE BETWEEN, THIS SHOULD ALL BE IN ONE / 29. Then scroll to the bottom of this page and click on Save this entry / 30. your work is add / 31. if you choose to display more on the side just simply do the same steps but / chosse a different one to use. / 32. Now I know that you don’t see those pretty little image yet on this page so to see / them we can go to the right side of the page click where it says show public view / of this work / 33. This will brin up your comment page and you will see those display images to / the right of the page.
I love receiving comments and am overjoyed when someone favours my work, but it does not generate sales. Why is That? My questio…
I love receiving comments and am overjoyed when someone favours my work, but it does not generate sales. Why is That? My question to every RB’er , in particular those who are highly successful on RB, how does one increase sales. How do we get buyers from outside the RB empire interested enough to buy. RB does not market itself or our work very well, as it expects us to do this for them RB homepage* – does not look commercially attractive to potential non-member buyers. It does not target type of design, or art etc.. Search engine does not work very well. In fact there is no point directing anyone there, as they will never find you. Ebay – forget it prices are to high by the time you add printing, shipping, margin costs. There are no reasonable discounts available to us from RB. RB’s cards are good quality, but the price is too high for us to have a reasonable margin Personal website – this will cost money to look professional, with shopping cart direct to the merchandise. Additional costs include getting it on all the search engines as otherwise your website will remain a little atom in the sea of the www Anyone, got any good ideas, maybe even good ideas we could put forward to RB (including a 10% discount on 10 cards+ etc. ) I would like to hear from you that have made some good sales here, if you dare tell us how many cards, pictures or tees you have sold over a given time period. even send me a bubblemail and I will do a follow up journal without names if you prefer to remain anonymous I am not attacking RB, but it is no secret, that they expect either the members create sales for them within the community, or we market RB outside for them and ourselves.r People will buy cards , laminated or matted prints if they are priced competitively, even in a recessionary market. At this point it is not possible given the basic price RB charges in particular for cards, as this would not even cove our marketing costs or give us a reasonable profit. People love buying Limited Editions, well we can say that or prove that, so that is a no go. Maybe RB could devise / recommend something clever here. SUGGESTIONS SO FAR 1. Red Addiction – Spread yourself widely within RB which could generate a sale / 2. Alan Findlater -make up cards adn give to clients, friends , work colleagues . / 3. Alan Findlater – promote on social networks such as You Tube, Facebook etc., your own site / 4. Stephen Mitchell – Buy your artwork yourself. Sell it to friends, family and in local retail outlets. / (Alan Findlater suggested don’t buy on RB because cost to high,)
First select your image that you wish to work with and look at it and think about what it is that you want to bring out in the photograph…
First select your image that you wish to work with and look at it and think about what it is that you want to bring out in the photograph? Does it have burned out highlights? Or are the shadows to dark? Or is the contrast to grate? / I do a lot of my HDR work from a single image, because I fail to use a tripod and even then find some slight movement? / I work in Paintshop Pro XI. I open the image that I’ve selected which usually starts with a Raw photograph. / / illustration 1 Open Enhance Photo > Auto Fix / / illustration 2 I try to lighten the shadow area and darken the highlights to bring out more detail and when I am happy click ok. / / illustration 3 Save the copy as in JPG. Now I am ready to create two further exposure effects from this image for my HDR work. Go into Adjust > Brightness/Contrast > Level / / illustration 4 A box will pop up and take the slider to the right to give the photograph an underexposed effect and click ok. / / illustration 5 Save it as with a new name so that you don’t loose your correctly exposed photograph. To save you the hassle of opening your first photograph, just undo the last action of levels and you have the previous effect and open Levels again but this time take the slider to the left to give the photograph an overexposed effect and click ok. / / illustration 6 / / Again saving this one as with a new name so that you have three different exposed effects from the one photograph. Now I am ready to create a HDR in Photomatix. I have chosen to do this in Photomatix basic because I like the effect Photomatix basic creates. / / illustration 7 / / Click tonemapping and you see three basic sliders as well as bit depth output. I always sellect 16 / / illustration 8 Move the sliders around and if you don’t know what they do? Just move them from one extreme to the other. That way you learn what they are for and you can judge what you are looking for in your tonemapping and when you are happy click ok! Your HDR is finnished. But I chose to bring out the foreground out a little more and re-opened it in Paintshop Pro XI, using a selection tool and Feather of 200% / / illustration 9 I used the clarify tool which you find in enhance photo and clarify. I used about 5% / / illustration 10 Then I opened the Histogram which is found in Adjust > Brightness/contrast and Histogram / / illustration 11 By taking the slider slightly down and then click ok. Finally I sharpen the foreground in the unsharp mask / / illustration 12 and click ok and deselect the selection tool by right clicking the mouse and save your work as! / finnished HDR work / This is the original image before I had worked on it! I hope that this has helped? As I have been asked about my method of creating my HDR? And this is one way that I do it but not all of my work! Best regards to you all, Sylvia :-))
An idea from me how to get more people to know about your stuff…...... I create give-away promotion-cards from all of my work, p…
An idea from me how to get more people to know about your stuff…...... I create give-away promotion-cards from all of my work, print them out as 10×15 pictures in a photo-store, cut in two pieces and approach my customers with small handy product-cards with all useful informations…....... (did you have seen my easy redirected shop name down the card? Because I’ve made shops to put all the together belonging work together…) and the customer can find the interesting work now easier in all the “big internet world”..... :) HERE THE DOWNLOAD LINK FOR THE TEMPLATE which I have made… feel free to download it, use and share…. :) do you promote your work? greetings Nuh Sarche Read also: You can see live, who visits your site if you want… or I’m also a blogger now…. ;) or Telepathy
Karin Taylor, Jo O’Brien, Stuart Chapman, Lance Jackson, Ragman, Mark German, Steven Lippis, Simone Byrne and myself have added some v…
Karin Taylor, Jo O’Brien, Stuart Chapman, Lance Jackson, Ragman, Mark German, Steven Lippis, Simone Byrne and myself have added some very useful tutorials and links for those members who’d like some help in learning a few extra tricks to make their time on the bubble easier. I have this link in my profile, so it’s going to be easy to find. I’ll add to it as I learn of new helpful information. How to enhance your profile Text formatting Where to get help/critique/FAQ Help on how to sell your work How to TAG your work effectively Inserting image links easily with Stuart Add category lists How to make smoke photos Digital Infrared info Ragman’s excellent advice on all things arty farty Mark German’s fantastic photographic techniques Steven gives an explanation on how to utilise a flash modifier My experience with Neutral Density Filters My hints on shooting at the beach Explaning focal lengths for digital Polarisers – a visual experiment
I was recently asked how I make my watermark on my images so I thought this may come in handy for others too. Remember though, that this …
I was recently asked how I make my watermark on my images so I thought this may come in handy for others too. Remember though, that this is just my method. there may be other ways out there too. In a steps process of making a custom watermarking brush and then watermarking an image with it. (this is all done in photoshop) / Say you have your image, all ready… 1. Make a new layer on top of the image you want to add the watermark to, 2. Open a new page to make a brush on, 3. Get the text box and choose a nice neat font, 4. Type ’ © ’ (hot keys = press and hold down the ALT key while typing in 0169) / and your first and last name or business name, / then 5. Flatten that layer, customize that with a logo, an underscore above it for titles to sit on, etc, 6. Flatten all that when you’re done customizing it all, 7. Select the space it occupies tightly, / then go 8. Edit>Define Brush and save it as a brush in your photoshop. / then 9. Go to the image, get the paintbrush tool on 100% opacity, and on the new layer that on your image, put the copyright in the corner or wherever you want it, Option: Maybe add the title of the image with the text tool, / now flatten the title into the copyright by going Layer>merge down / and then 10. Right click on the copyright layer, go Blending options and make the layer less intrusive on the image, 11. Flatten all the layers, save it. / (i save the copyright version of each image separate so i can sell prints without the copyright on it at all if requested)
The best way to spread and promote your work is to add the social bookmark button to your profile and your artwork or t-shirt sites… / ...
The best way to spread and promote your work is to add the social bookmark button to your profile and your artwork or t-shirt sites… Don’t wait until someone finds your work between all the great RedBubble artworks! Just add this (remove the free space between the excalamation mark and the http) and spread it around….. ;) ! http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-share-en.gif!:http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20 I wish you a lot of visitors -> and many sales! With a lot of greetings Nuh Read also: Want to know what sells??? or deadly serious art… or Get a free artistic website and promote your work…
Making reflection in Photoshop is generally an easy affair, if you have a head on view of the image. Duplicate layer, Flip Vertical, Blu…
Making reflection in Photoshop is generally an easy affair, if you have a head on view of the image. Duplicate layer, Flip Vertical, Blur, Gradient, Opacity. What if you are making a design and the easy affair turns out to not be so easy …...... well as it turns out, it’s pretty easy to fix :) In the image below I’ve made a new file 800 X 600 @ 72 dpi and filled it with white. Created a new layer above that and made a selection toward the bottom of the image and filled it with a lightish grey, they inverted the selection and filled it with a darker grey. I then blurred that layer using Gaussian Blur at 3 or 4 pixels. I then created a new blank layer above that and with the Rounded Rectangle Tool (set to Fill Pixels) I drew out a shape, the f/ground colour was set to white. Ctrl + T to bring up the Transform tool and right click to choose Distort, I then distorted the image. Ctrl + J to duplicate layer, Locked the Transparency of the layer and then filled with a different colour. Ctrl + T to transform, lock the ‘maintain aspect ratio’ in the top bar and choose 95%. Do this twice more to end up with four different colours and then reverse the order of the layers. Drag out the three smaller layers to end up with something like the image below. You can use your own photos/images to do this with. Click on the top rectangle layer and then shift click on the bottom rectangle layer and then use Ctrl + E to merge those layers together. Duplicate the layer and then go to Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical. Duplicate the flipped layer and then hide it (just in case we make a dog’s breakfast of the next part) with the Move tool, drag the flipped layer down to somewhere similar to the image below. You can see the problem straight away – it’s gonna need some extra work. It’s an easy process. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and draw out a similar around the white part of the flipped layer similar to the image below. Ctrl + T to bring up the Transform Tool and then right click and choose Distort. Distort the image by using the top right handle and dragging it up, till it’s where you want it. Use the arrow keys on the keyboard for fine tuning. Ctrl + D to deselect. Use the Marquee tool again to select the Green (or whatever colour yours is) part of the reflection and do the same thing as you did with the white area. Take a little time to refine the edges. The very bottom of the image isn’t as important as the top area of the reflection. When you’ve done, Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use about a 3 pixel radius. Add a layer mask, and with a black to transparent Linear gradient start at the bottom and draw upwards. You might end up with something like the image below. Click back on the layer with the two different greys and add a new layer above this. Grab the Elliptical Marquee Tool and draw out an oval or circle and then go to Select>Modify>Feather I used a 50 pixel radius. Ctrl + D to deselect – change the blend mode to soft light and add a layer mask. Using a black to transparent linear gradient, draw from the bottom up, and take the layer opacity down if you like. You might end up with something like the image below. To tie all the elements together, click on the topmost layer and then Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E to stamp visible. I used a Lens Flare, you could also use lighting effects or something else to tie the whole image together. I then cropped some space from the bottom of the image, duplicated the layer and changed the blend mode to Multiply to come up with the image you see below.
We recently read two great articles that feature RedBubble artists. Mindy McGregor Mindy McGregor is an artist and stay at home m…
We recently read two great articles that feature RedBubble artists. Mindy McGregor Mindy McGregor is an artist and stay at home mom. An art curator found her work on RedBubble. Since that connection, Mindy has displayed her work offline several times in Melbourne, and she now has a new solo show in Sydney, Australia. As part of the Sydney show, local and regional newspapers were sent information about Mindy and her upcoming show. Periodicals were also offered an interview with Mindy about her artwork. From the article: “Soon after joining RedBubble, an online artist group (www.redbubble.com), she was contacted by Andrew May, an art curator.” “The 30 photographs in the Sydney exhibit are mainly images from southern Saskatchewan, because McGregor loves to capture bits and pieces of province’s history.” More information: Mindy McGregor | The Leader-Post article Tom Baumker Tom Baumker is a respected US wildlife photographer who was recruited by an existing member to join RedBubble. Tom’s work was recently shown on his local CBS television affiliate as part of a story about the US holiday, Memorial Day. Tom also hands out “at least 20 business cards each day” in order to drive traffic to his RedBubble profile page. The local TV spot led to an article about Tom’s work in the TC Palm, a periodical focused on the coastal area of Florida, USA. From the article: “Baumker starting taking photos when he was 7 years old. His education in photography came mostly from the school of hard knocks and by reading as many books and magazines as he could get his hands on. Since then, he has taken thousands of wildlife photographs. Many of them end are on his Web site – redbubble.com.” More information: Tom Baumker’s RedBubble profile | The TCPalm.com article How can you secure press about you and your artwork? David Watts Barton, a 25-year veteran of The Sacramento Bee and well-known music and arts writer who’s currently the managing editor of SacramentoPress.com – a local online daily periodical that is mixing professional and citizen journalism, stated: “Start with the four Ws – who, why, what, and where. Beyond that, be sure to pique the writer’s curiosity. Most local publications want to write stories about local people. Just give them the hook and the basic information – don’t sell the subject. Just tell the story. If it’s interesting to the writer, they’ll bite. If not, no amount of hype will sell it.” Other tips include: 1. Make the information newsworthy by capitalizing on a trend, e.g., working from home, secondary income streams, networking online, etc. are hot topics right now. 2. Leverage events such as artwalks and current events such as holidays – tying them back to your work. 3. Provide thought leadership if possible. If your work documents a specific topic in which you have expertise, note that in your pitch. Offer an interview and be on time. 4. Build a relationship with newspaper and press staff. One isolated email won’t do most of the time. Send editors commentary, leads, feedback on past articles, etc. It’s easier to sell your artwork to a friend; the same goes for securing press. 5. Be consistent in both your tone and the frequency in which you write editors. Become familiar and there will be less hesitation on the editor’s part to engage. 6. And lastly, don’t send attachments without prior approval. Link to images whenever possible. Let’s conclude In Tom’s case above, you have a dedicated photographer whose subject matter matched the upcoming US holiday. With Mindy, you have an aspiring photographer who was “found” and whose work captures and space and place in the form of a collection. See how you go and let us know how you do. Also, if you were featured in a periodical or publication, please feel free to post the link and details below. If you already create articles about selling art, please point us to them below. More information about selling your art can be found under the Selling member name. Thanks. Regards, / Jason
*Your Profile page and Bubblesite are your consumer-facing galleries (some would say shops or storefronts). Here are some simple ways to …
Your Profile page and Bubblesite are your consumer-facing galleries (some would say shops or storefronts). Here are some simple ways to make them both visually appealing and sales focused. A brand called you / Your Profile page should contain an image of you. Many artists dislike this idea, but a happy, smiling image of you helps buyers connect. A photograph, painting, etching, drawing, etc. all work. People are naturally attracted to faces. . . . . . . . The elevator pitch / Tell buyers a bit about yourself. Where you live; your location as it relates to your artwork; your influences; your USPs (unique selling points), etc. For example, Ron Moss wrote: “I have been deeply interested in Eastern art and philosophy from an early age. I have pursued this interest through extensive reading and through the study of Japanese writing forms including haiku. [-] My poetry work has been translated in several languages and is widely published in journals and anthologies. I have won numerous awards both within Australia and overseas (including Japan). I enjoy using visual media and poetry in combination.” For anyone interested in Eastern philosophy, Ron’s description is spot on. The application / What have previous admirers and buyers loved about your work? E.g., “My work looks great in baby nurseries, shared spaces, etc.” You can also let this story be told through the pitch above, e.g., “My work features super hero characters from the 1940s – 1960s, and features an aesthetic reminiscent of the unbridled optimism of yesteryear.” Categorize whenever possible / If you have works that can be bundled by theme, location, application, subject, etc., you can fudge categories and link to them from your Profile page. For example, Scott Ward created categories by tagging work with key words, e.g., “Africa,” and then creating category URLs such as: http://www.redbubble.com/people/membername/art/everything/tags/keyword-tag/ Karin Taylor did the same, but augmented the strategy by creating categories for both topics and themes, e.g., “new baby” and “relaxation.” You can also categorize by holiday or event. See holiday calendars for the US, Australia and UK here. Be smart and efficient with these categories. Too much is, well, too much. See categories that art buyers search for often. RedBubble is a safe place to buy art / RedBubble repeatedly states that the website uses 128-bit encryption and that all sales are “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” This is good for members, as RedBubble carries the burden of complete satisfaction. I added this body of text in the Sales & Marketing Forum, but you could shorten to say “Safe and Secure checkout featuring 128-bit SSL encryption.” “My art sales are powered by RedBubble.com. Since February 2007, RedBubble has shipped more than 240,000 premium-quality works of art and t-shirts to over 70 countries worldwide. RedBubble offers a simple money-back guarantee, gold star customer service, and assures safe online transactions by using 128-bit SSL encryption – an industry standard. RedBubble accepts five different currencies including USD, AUD, CAD, EUR and GBP, and accepts credit cards as well as PayPal.” Kudos / It’s always a good idea to feature any kudos and awards that you’ve received, as well as a testimonial if possible. Causes / If you represent a charity or donate a portion of your earnings to a charity, your Profile page is an excellent space to feature your cause. Melinda Kerr has done a great deal of work in this area, and features calendars and cards. The real thing / I’m not one for cluttering pages with lots of large and heavy images that slow page load. However, there is something to seeing artwork and t-shirts in the real world. You can feature work on your Profile page as well as individual artwork pages by capturing an image of the work after configuring it on RedBubble. You can also add images to the Buyers’ Booth and link to them from your Profile page. ! My recommendation is to note the configuration details near the image, e.g., “Here is a large work X in a bright white mat and cherry box frame. You can buy this work here.” You can also show works that would make good diptychs and triptychs (pairs and threesomes) by showing them together and noting the links (URLs). RubyRed features a t-shirt of the month on his Profile page, as well as an image of the t-shirt on a person. I like both of these techniques, as they encourage repeat visitors. What’s the weather? / If your country is currently in the fall/autumn or winter seasons, note on your Profile page that your t-shirts are available in a long sleeve version (if you chose to reveal that option). The same goes for “girly fit” – which is a must for some buyers. Give buyers the idea to personalize their purchase by choosing a color, size and style. Develop fans / If you have Facebook Page, Twitter account, blog, or other resource that you use to communicate details related to your artwork, link out to them. These resources are a way to capture mind-share and leverage other communication channels – directing people back to your RedBubble Profile page or Bubblesite at a later date. Be sure to link from those sources back to your RedBubble Profile page or Bubblesite too. Let’s wrap / The formatting “code” for making links, displaying/linking images, etc. can largely be found here. Here are a few more resources. Rhana’s guide to making links Karin’s detailed Profile page tutorial Webgrrl’s unofficial RedBubble cheatsheet Before we go / We’re always looking for success stories big and small, so send them our way here. And finally, if you want to help other members sell, you can join our “You Can Sell Art and T-shirts” Group (by invitation). Bubblemail me with the topics you feel confident discussing. Thank you. Regards, / Jason
The Optimize Your Profile Page for Sales a…
The Optimize Your Profile Page for Sales article proved that customization is a popular topic. Today, let’s apply customization and optimization hints to the “show work” (your art and t-shirt) pages. First, let’s look at what a show work page should do. show work page example 1. Honor the art by displaying it in a clean, gallery-style environment 2. Enable the viewer to see the work at a distance and close up 3. Allow the visitor to learn about the work/have enough information to envision the art print or t-shirt in their space or on their body 4. Share the work with friends, family, others via email 5. Inspire/start the order process And for websites like RedBubble: allow the visitor to find other art and design that interests them; a next step rather than prompting an exit. Other ideas are welcomed. Simply list them below in the comments area. RedBubble addresses numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5. You can benefit greatly by sharing information about your work – #4. This helps you on two levels: 1. Relationships sell art – even a newly formed understanding about an artwork or design. 2. Search engines love to be right. Their job is to match a query (search) to a result (content), so any relevant information that you can supply on the show work page can help search engines find your page(s). E.g., if your browser title says that the image is of St. Kilda, and the title of the work is St. Kilda, and your show work page description is about St. Kilda, and the tags include St. Kilda … well, you have a pretty good shot at ranking in web search for St. Kilda. You could do even better by noting the medium (canvas, print, t-shirt) if possible. Here are a few “extras” that can help you merchandise your show work pages. Remember that you’ll need to use RedBubble formatting to make many of these items appear. You can show a detail of the artwork or t-shirt design. / Matt Simner placed a detail of his t-shirt design next to a full view of the design here. You’ll want to save the image for Web (making it lighter weight) with a width of no more than 335 pixels wide. How to? You can upload the detail image via MyBubble and choose not to publish it. After the image is uploaded, right-click (option+click on the Mac) and “copy the image location.” Paste the image location into the product description using the “!” mark at the beginning and end of the URL. See the RedBubble formatting cheatsheet here. Small images of the finished product. / We noted in the previous Selling article that examples of the real product help shoppers envision it in their places and spaces. Luxquarta also noted on their show work page that the image would look great as a “Laminated print, Mounted print or Canvas print.” And another example of the product in real life. Like this? You might also like … / RedBubble members can show small thumbnails of similar products on show work pages. Yanmos does this very thing here. The design for sale is also available as a free iPhone wallpaper too. With enough views of the iPhone image the shopper might just buy the shirt! You can also use the search category trick that we discussed in the previous post to provide visitors with category links that show a broader assortment of similar work. Small touches make visitors feel at home / It’s always the “little things” that make the difference – like RedBubble packaging, t-shirt inserts, swing tags, etc. Along these lines, Definatalie extends her design aesthetic to hand drawn headers and other visual touches that relate her Profile page to her show work pages. Added protection / Some members opt to manually place a copyright on their show work pages. While RedBubble adds a copyright to all pages, you can add a line reminding visitors about copyright. Rupydetequila added a softly-worded note, while boilerplate copy is available via Creative Commons or other reference websites., e.g., “This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia.” or “All rights reserved. Copyright Rupydetequila. Please do not use my images without permission. Feel free to convo me with any questions about this item. Thanks for checking out my work With love Rupydetequila.” Building your audience / RedBubble allows visitors to email a link to their friends. You can go a step further by asking visitors to: Subscribe to your newsletter Follow you on Twitter Become a Fan of your Facebook business page Matt Simner does this in his Stay in Touch section on each show work page. Building your network / We’ve all been beat over the head about Facebook and Twitter, so let’s just say that your profile and show work pages can include links to your Twitter profile page and Facebook Pages (fan pages or your personal profile). Go forth and personalize / I should reiterate that the goal is to show the work in the best light possible whilst not burdening the page load time with tons of heavy images. There are many other customizations that members have made to their show work pages. Feel free to share links to your ideas and pages below. Also, if you’re interested in helping all RedBubble members sell their work, hop on over to the Sell Art and T-shirts group here. Regards, / Jason
There’s a post in the feedback area...
There’s a post in the feedback area about a new t-shirt preview. We’ve been working on one for a while – so I thought I’d share a sneak preview (below). / The date for release is yet to be settled … and along with this we’re working on hoodies and kids t-shirts. Cheers, -Peter
I was recently asked to explain how I use layers. So while trying to put my thoughts together, I decided I might as well share it with ev…
I was recently asked to explain how I use layers. So while trying to put my thoughts together, I decided I might as well share it with everyone who’s interested. I’ll show how to do very basic adjustments so you get a feel for how layers work. Once you’re comfortable with that you can move on to using layers to create art effects. Please keep in mind that I’m a Photoshop user... I’m in no way an expert! / This is just my way of working with layers. There are many different ways, & they all work. Why use layers ? : / Our reasons for using layers are many & varied. We might be doing vector-like illustrations, Or composing an intricate fantasy photomanipulation. / It may be a simple matter of applying text over an image. / You may just want to do basic tone & colour adjustments of your photographs. / Whatever your reason, using layers is almost essential. / I say this for one very important reason. If you apply adjustments of any type to your original image, you will be altering it permanently. There’s no going back. Pixels get moved around & destroyed, every brush or keystroke seriously alters the quality of your image. / However, working in layers is non-destructive. The original image sits at the bottom of your stack, untouched, unaltered, safe from damage. / All of your edits are stacked on top of the original, & then “flattened”, usually upon completion, or when you’re ready to move on to the next stage of editing. I’ll use this image of a bunch of people looking a Trojan warplane, to demonstrate the basics of using layers. / I’m using PS CS3, & I’m not sure how similar the layout of PS Elements is, so this will either be helpful to you, or just confusing…. it should be fairly similar though. Let’s get started : 1) Open your image in Photoshop, & save it straight away as a psd (Photoshop file format) I’ve decided to call this one “enter the trojan”. / 2) Now have a good look at the image & decide what needs doing. / Does it needs cropping? Some people choose to crop at the start, but for some strange reason I’ll often wait until I’m somewhere through my editing process. I like to wait to see how the image is evolving…. Does anything need cloning out? / This image has a rather annoying person disappearing out of the left side of the frame, so Ill be getting rid of him, as well as cleaning up a few distracting white spots on the airfield in the background. 3) Look to the right of your screen & you’ll see your layers palette. / At the top right of that you’ll see 3 little horizontal lines stacked on top of each other with an arrow next to them. Left click on this & you’ll get a drop-down box. this is your most important box for using layers. Click on duplicate layer, & rename it as you wish. / I’m calling it “clone”. / / You’ll see the duplicate layer appear above the background layer in your layers palette. / / Make sure the clone layer is selected (it’ll be highlighted in grey), & you’re ready to work on that layer. / Now select your clone tool & go to work. All done? If you’re happy with your work make sure you save. Now, remembering what I said about your background (original) layer remaining untouched, here’s a little demo. / Do you see that little eye beside your “clone” layer? / Click on it…. Hello!! Your cloning has gone! Click on it again….. it’s back!!! / OK, we could have fun with this all day, but do you see how the background image is unchanged? Cool huh? Let’s move on…. I’ve got blown out highlights in my clouds which are a problem & the mid-tones are a bit too dark. / I’ll deal with the clouds first by using a curves adjustment layer. 4) All the way down at the bottom of your layers palette, you’ll see a toolbar. look for the circle that’s half black & half white. / This is the “create new fill or adjustment layer” button. / Click on it & select “curves”. / 5) Grab the little white dot on the line in the top right corner. Now drag it a smidgen down to the right. That should take care of the blown out clouds. / Click OK. / / Do you see you now have a curves layer? / (Because I use CS3, it automatically gives me a layer mask box on this layer. It’s that white box in your curves layer. But we’re not going to get into masks today) Now to fix the mid-tones. For this I’m going to add a Levels layer. / 6) Just like in step 4), click on the “create new fill or adjustment layer” button & this time select “Levels”. / 7) This will open a box with a levels histogram in it. / To lighten your mid-tones slide the grey arrow in the middle of the histogram to the left until you’re happy. / Click OK, & you’ll see your levels layer sitting above the curves layer. Now, what if you wanted to do some dodge & burn? / There’s a number of ways to dodge & burn, so I’ll show you one that I use quite often. 8) Remember those 3 little horizontal lines that you clicked on to duplicate the layer? (step 3) / Click on that again, & this time select “New Layer”. / 9) In the dialogue box, change the name to “dodge & burn”, / click on the “mode” dropdown box, & select “overlay”, / then check the box “Fill with overlay-neutral color (50% gray) / it should look something like this : / / Then click OK. You’ll now see a layer called “dodge & burn” in your layers palette. It should be on the top of the pile. If it isn’t, simply drag it to the top. / Any work you do to the top layer will be carried over to all the layers below. 10) Select your burn tool, set your range to Shadows, & Exposure around 20 (this will depend completely upon the type of image you’re working on), then get to work burning out the areas that you feel need deepening. 11) Then take your dodge tool, set your Exposure to around 20 & work over the areas that you think need a little more highlighting. I’ve decided this image needs a bit more saturation. 12) Go back to the black/white circle (as mentioned in step 4), & this time look for Hue/Saturation. / / Adjust your sliders as you see fit, then click OK. / At this stage I’m happy with my basic adjustments. It’s now at the stage where it’s ready for me to use it as a background image for something a little more creative. 13) If you haven’t been saving until now, you really must do it now. 14) Now we’re going to Flatten the file. / Go to those 3 little horizontal lines with the arrow again (step 3), & this time look for “Flatten Image”. / / Click on it. You’ll see that all your layers have been “flattened into just one layer, & it’s now become your new background layer. If you’re planning to print this, you’ll need to give it some sharpening. / There are so many ways to sharpen, but at the moment I’m a bit partial to using the “high pass” filter. 15) To do this you’ll need to use a duplicate layer (remember step 3?) / I’m re-naming it “High Pass Sharpening”. / 16) Go to your “filter” drop down box on your top tool bar, & select, “other”, “high pass”. / 17) Adjust your radius slider until you see a good amount of line detail while keeping the tones in gray. Click OK. / You’re probably wondering what’s happened to your image. We’ll fix that right now. 18) Look above your “high pass” layer, & you’ll see Opacity set at 100%, to the left of that the word “normal” in a drop-down box. / Click on that drop-down box & select “overlay”. / / Presto! You’ve got your image back, & it’s been sharpened. / Toggle the “eye” off & on to see the effect. 19) If it’s too sharpened for your taste, you can adjust the opacity of that layer. / Find the “opacity” slider above the layer, & adjust it as you like. / I’m setting this one to 50%. / 20) Save this as a new psd file ( I’m calling this one “enter the trojan HP sharp”), & flatten it as before. / 21) Now all you need to do is save it in the Format of choice. / I routinely save all my images as TIFF files, & then save again as JPEG. / Remember to do all you backups now so you don’t forget later. All finished! Now you have an image that is fine as is, or ready for you to get a little creative & do further editing. / The final image : / You might also want to look at Texturing an Image in Photoshop for Absolute Beginners for further editing ideas. [ One last point : I put a lot of time & effort into creating these tutorials. Please don’t disrespect me by claiming them as your own.]
35/50cm / paper, colour pencils, pen / !http://a…
35/50cm / paper, colour pencils, pen / / / / /
This journal contains the second in a series of tutorials I have written. Each page is A4 size @ 100 dpi for easy printing. There are …
This journal contains the second in a series of tutorials I have written. Each page is A4 size @ 100 dpi for easy printing. There are five pages in all. Just click on the image to download each page as a .jpg file. Note that this tutorial is for private use only and copyright protection is in force. If you would like to upload it to your blog, please bmail me first for permission, do not just assume you have it. Thanks very much, I hope you find it useful, Simone :) Disclaimer Please bare in mind this tutorial was written for those who have very little experience with, or knowledge of Photoshop. It is in no way a definitive guide to using photoshop, it is however a great starting point for those who are just beginning and feel overwhelmed with the complexities of more advanced tutorials. It is also NOT a substitute for good sound photography skills. It will not magically turn a poorly taken image into a spectacular one, only time, experience, patience and practice with your camera will do that.
I have been following a Jounal posted by Iris Greenwell a fellow photographer and very good friend / Some of the works was removed from…
I have been following a Jounal posted by Iris Greenwell a fellow photographer and very good friend / Some of the works was removed from her Gallery here on Rb. / Iris Greenwell / I may come across a bit upset…YES I am. because if this could happen to Iris Greenwell it could happen to any of us. / Iris is in the process of closing her acoount and that is not a good thing to lose another promissing and gifted photographer from this community. / Someone Copying our work is one thing but totally removing it… Now that is a new one to me. / My question is has any one else found any thing of this sort happened now in the past? Peter
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