HEXUS.creative - Getting started: Hints and tips
Last updated: 15/09/05
...Just thought that now we've got our own space to 'play and display' I'd say a couple of things. those that know this lot skip to lower down, otherwise this might be useful info for all :)
I'd like to suggest Maximum Image sizes...more like rough guide line so we don't take the mickey on the 56k guys and gals out there. I know I would like to show off lots of my pictures I take but realise that its a tad anti-social whacking in a heeeeooouuge picture, so squeezing it down to 800x600pixels is still going to give everyone a good idea of your work. And if we could keep it as close to 200k as possible.
People after Full Sized pictures can easily PM the author and request one (I've emailed several off recently)
Images for set sizes e.g. desktops could be displayed in the same way; example linked to full size or request via PM...?
[Read below for resizing info]
If you want to display pictures first you'll need a space on the web to host your pictures. there are lots but try these to start off:
www.photobucket.com
www.fotopics.net
www.imageshack.us
www.pbase.com (think you need to pay for this one...)
www.uploadit.org
www.deviantart.com
If you are a Yahoo user, you get free webspace which you can use for images
http://uk.geocities.yahoo.com/
(thanks dangerous_dom for that one)
now, to post you basically copy the loctaion of the image you have uploaded e.g. www.photobucket.com/mypicture.html <-not a real url!!
and around it put the tags [IMG] and followed by [/ IMG] <-take the space out though!
to make it [IMG]www.photobucket.com/mypicture.html[/ IMG] (again remove the space). then when you submit your message it'll come up as a nice picture in the thread :)
so, that should set you up nicely. Many hosting sites reduce file size to a limit, this would be a good thing for here if we're going to use this place sensibly...whilst many of us are on BB, there may be the odd 56K-er out there, sooooo with out wanting to sound too nit picky could we all try to keep images to a reasonable size? a linky off to a bigger one is fine. I think that would be fair... If its anything as big as 1024 x etc. is really rather large so please stay under that.
I hope this sounds reasonable and not p*ssing on anyone's bonfire.
I know I'll be using this place to show people what I've been upto reasonably regularly and I hope you lot will too. We've got 30 days to make this place hang around forever (yay \o/ ), so use it well, play nice - no porn or other nasty stuff or that'll be the end of it, and knoxeh will get hacked off at all the picture threads going up in GD...
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Photoshop Shortcut Keys
you can access menus and functions far faster using shortcut keys rather than plodding along with the mouse, go here for a decent list of them:
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/pho...ortcuts-glance
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Resizing Images for displaying on the web:
Photoshop:
Open your image (file>open), and go to Image>Image Size...
In the box that appears select the appropriate size you need - I suggest nothing larger than 800x600 to help acceptable times for the 56k endowed amoung us. you can select either pixel dimensions, overall percentage (of the original), image dimensions constrained (i.e. the 800x600pixel dimension is under a 10:7.5 ratio), and pixel resolution (typically 72pixels per square inch).
Once you've got the right size and clicked 'Ok' go to File>Save for Web...
Up on the right you can see a range of controls; file format (jpeg,gif etc), quality (high, med, low)...in the bottom left as you play with these settings you'll see the resultant size and time it would take on a particular internet connection (28 or 56k...or BB speeds if you like).
as suggested settings - since they vary from image to image - choose jpeg, medium, and blur to 0.1 to 0.2...the size will drop off as you add blur yet image quality will not suffer. obviously the best quality you can get away with is what your after so play with the settings to fit in the 800x600pixels/200k guide line I suggested above.
click 'ok' when you've got down to a decent size and then save where you want it... then upload to a server of your choice (several listed above).
It is possible to 'Batch Process' images for resizing (in fact if you know what processing you want to do you can batch process virtually any functions in Photoshop). If anyone wants to add a batch processing 'mini-tutorial' send it to me or add to the end of this thread and I'll stick it here. * < yup, right there!
Other Resizers you can easily get hold of [my thanks to Matt1eD]:
The GIMP, a free - almost like Photoshop - program and is surprisingly powerful, a worthy alternative to PS. get it at:
http://www.gimp.org
there's another free one here:
http://www.imageresizer.com/
I've never used it so can't comment (the download is apparently 56k friendly)
or there's the MS Photo Editor (the office one), bog standard, easy to understand resizing ...it does the job I suppose...
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Panoramic Stitching:
I will add a few bits on panoramics here, in the mean-time take a look over at
http://www.autostitch.net/
a program which I have found is onthe whole pretty acurate and automatically adjusts for lens distortion, focal length and partial vignetting. it seems good enough to me, which means it should be good for many of us here. give it a try if you have nothing else.
I will add more later
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Buying image processing software:
Photoshop Elements (a cut down version of Photoshop, which imho is v. good) available at ebuyer for 50 squid:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...d=84577&_LOC=UK
version two is only about £20 here (apparently there's little difference in versions 2 or 3 so maybe this would suit many fine):
http://www.softwareselect.co.uk/Mer...0&source=kelkoo
Alternatively try ebay.
A trial is available from the adobe site.
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Printing your pictures:
...because at the end of the day they look much nicer up on your wall than on the screen.
I can fully recommend www.photobox.co.uk for your printing needs. excellent quality results every time and they print in a wide variety of sizes. they've also got a good thing going if you order 100 7x5 prints where each one is 15p...thats £15 for 100 prints, sounds excellent to me! I have not had a problem with the orders I've made and I will order from them in the future...
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A bit on simple camera stuff...
try not to get too bogged down with all the talk off shutter speed and depth of field if you are new to photography. the beauty of digital is its essentially free to have a go and see what affects the changes you make.
Suggested in-camera (digital) settings: many of you probably know how to get the best pics from your camera than anyone else but I'd like to share a little info on how I use mine, perhaps it may help you also
1) Contrast: As a general rule I turn this setting down on my camera. It increases the dynamic range of your camera's sensor by not allowing it pick up more in the shadows and not get completely blown away by the highlights. if you wack this setting all the way up your pictures will lose a fair bit of life I'm afraid. You can always add more post-processing, but for capture its fairly important to get it right.
2) Saturation; as with contrast this can play a big part in the outcome of your pictures. I leave mine at its middle setting, again prefering to alter it later. This is very closely tied to the WB (white balance) setting currently in use. if increased too much the colours, although highly saturated, may look very odd - i know those on my P200 come out a little over the top for my liking...of course this may be what you're after.
3) White Balance (WB); try to get the right setting for this as its slightly harder to alter later on. cameras now often have many settings for WB e.g. sunny day, overcast, using flash etc. so, use the one which suits the conditions. I have found in bright sunlight the flash setting WB a bit better than the prescribed sunlight one in terms of resulting colours...they're a bit warmer - not over saturated but you can notice a difference.
for those who have a custom setting (by aiming the camera at something white to set it) this can be used to your advantage, many cameras now support several custom WB's, so if there's something white on you (t-shirt?) use that in the light conditions you're shooting in. It works for me. better yet would be a piece of grey card but I never carry one around and do ok...but if you have one use that!
ISO (film speed) Shutter speed and Depth of field - its all a balancing act!!;
ISO: basically this is the sensitivity to light that you set the sensor to, increasing in sensitivity as the ISO increases e.g. 100 is less sensitive than 200, in fact the way its set is through the chemical properties of film (back in the day), doubling in sensitivity with each 'stop'; typically found as either 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 or 3200. i did see a 25 ISO film once :eek:
The downside to increased sensitiviy is the increase in noise (or grain in films), though this is becoming better as newer sensors and the subsequent processors in cameras are released. and lower ISO's are generally very good quality.
The lower the ISO, the lower the sensivitiy to light the sensor is, to accomodate this the shutter speed must be set in conjunction with the lens apperture to allow the correct amount of light to hit it. too much and white out, not enough and black pictures result. what your lightmeter (in the camera) is trying to do is juggle the shutter and apperture to reach and average picture tone of something like 20% grey (0 being white 100 being black). so, if you increase shutter speed (less time available for light to fall on the sensor) you must increase the apperture through which the light travels accortingly. But there are no hard and fast rules, in fact by breaking them often to we get the best results...
The apperture of the lens also controls depth of field, or the range of what will be in focus in your picture, from very little to infinity. this is called an f/ number, why? I caouldn't find a reason why but reasoned it was this way because its a Factor of the available light that hits the lens, that gets through to the other side. so, a lens of F/1 is perfect. these don't exist.
anyway, using the DoF to your advantage:
if you want good sharp images of someone's face whilst the backgroud remains blissfully blurry, use as small an f/ number as possible. to have the person and the background in focus then make it as large as possible.
Be warned - as mentioned ealier - this will affect the shutter speed to require to get a 'correctly exposed' shot (as seen by the lightmeter). large f/ numbers require longer shutter speeds, whilst small ones require faster shutter speeds.
*quick bit of advice* try to keep shutter speed faster than 1/60 to avoid camera shake unless using a tripod. I can just about get away with 1/30, but only just. If you use a zoom you will need at least 1/125 to 1/200 to avoid blurred shots. And remember with a zoom the tube that light has to travel down is greater so the f/ number will increase (its that fractor of available light getting less...). you can correct this with a higher ISO but, yes you guessed it, noise appears.**
now, go play!!
SS
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Photographic challenge submissions:
entries for challenges when they are announced to are to be uploaded by the invidual to a server (see above) then send the location to the following email address:
hexus.creativephotos (at) gmail (dot) com
keep in mind the image size of 800x600 and less than 200k please.
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right, keep eyes peeled for more updates here
-my thanks to all those who suggested info who I've failed to mention...
