Matching Colors

Trying to get the colors in an image that you are working with on Photoshop the match the colors of something you are working with in another program, a video in Premiere, for example, can be a little tricky. However, with one of the recent Photoshop updates, it has become much easier. Using what are called 3D LUTs you can now create a custom color effect and get it to match something that you are working with in Premiere.

3D LUTs are basically a lookup table that lets you match colors from one photo to another. It takes the effects that you have created with all of the layers in Photoshop and lets you use that on a different project. To use them, you simply have to use the Color Lookup layer when you are selecting a new adjustment layer. A drop down menu will then appear and you can either select from there, or add your own new one.

Along with that, you can create your own 3D LUTs. All you need to do is edit the picture like you normally would in Photoshop. Adjust the brightness, vibrance, saturation, and anything else that you want to change to get the photo looking the way that you want using different adjustment layers. It is best to use LAB color mode when doing this because it is the most compatible when you go to export your 3D LUTs.

Once you have gotten a color effect that you are happy with, you need to export your 3D LUT. To do that all you need to do is go to Export, and then Color Lookup Tables. A box will appear that will allow you to put in a description and Copyright information if you want. Once you have exported the 3D LUT it will appear as a color adjustment option in all of the other programs that you use to edit photos and videos.

 

Converting Photos to Black and White

Using Lightroom to edit your photos is definitely a lot simpler than using Photostop. Lightroom is more streamlined, and organized (at least in my opinion). However, there are times when it can be difficult to figure out how to do something in Lightroom. Converting your images to a good black and white can sometimes be confusing if you are not familiar with the way Lightroom works, or if you are simply new to editing photos in general.

There are a few ways to get a black and white photo when using Lightroom. There are some presets that you can use that will just automatically convert your image. However, sometimes these don’t look the way that you want them to. There just isn’t enough contrast, or something just looks off. Along with that, you can set your camera to shoot in black and white, which will give you a black and white image from the get go. OR you can just slide the saturation and vibrance sliders all the way down (depending on your picture this won’t give you a complete black and white result). While these might be the easiest ways to get a black and white photo, it isn’t necessarily the best.

To get the best black and white photo, you are going to want to adjust everything individually. In “Develop” on the third panel down, you should see something that says “B&W”. This is where you can change the individual colors in your photo to get the desired black and white effect without getting a super flat and dull result. There are sliders for basically every color, so you should have no trouble getting a black and white photo.

If you still aren’t really liking the way that your image looks after adjusting each color individually, changing the clarity might help add a little depth to your photo. The best thing to do is to simply adjust the sliders until you find that sweet spot that works the best for your personal preferences! Personally, I am very picky when deciding what images I want to have in black and white. I tend to select the ones that have the most contrast in them because I find that they work better as black and whites. But again, photography is all about personal preferences, so do whatever works best for you!

I hope that this will provide some help when it comes to getting a nice black and white image. Be sure to stop back again tomorrow for another blog post! Feel free to share your thoughts with me, and to share my thoughts with the world!

Non Destructive Cropping

Cropping is a very important technique when editing photos. However, a lot of the times, when you crop something, and the crop is done incorrectly, the image is ruined. Luckily, there is a way to crop without ruining an image. This way, if you make a mistake, you can easily readjust.

In Photostop, you are first going to want to create a new layer, place it on the top, and then fill it with black. Then switch to full screen mode. Once you have done this, you will need to bring up the layers panel by pressing F7.

Click on the eyeball icon you see on the layer that you just made black in order to make this layer invisible. Next you are going to need to select the marquee tool and draw a rectangle where you want the crop to be.

Add a layer mask to the layer that you made black and then invert it. Once you have done that, you will need to click the anchor icon that shows up between the layer and the layer mask. Next, simply press and release “V” key and click and drag to move your marquee around to adjust your crop.

Remember, if you plan on printing your image, change the black to white. The white won’t get printed but the black will.

 

Clipping

Clipping is a very common problem when working on photos in Lightroom. It happens when there are areas in the photo with no information. Typically, this is caused when the lighting is either too bright or too dark. Most of the time, photographers call these areas “blow outs”. Having small areas with clipping isn’t really an issue, but when there are large areas of highlight or shadow clipping it would be in your best interest to fix it.

There are a few ways to fix clipping in your images. You can find presets made by other people and download them (sometimes these options cost money), or you can use the sliders in the Tone Curve Panel. However, the easiest and most cost efficient way to solve clipping is by using the highlights and shadows slider in the basic panel.

Lightroom will use either the color red or the color blue to show you that there is clipping in your photo. Red indicates highlight clipping, while blue indicates shadow clipping. Press the “J” key on your keyboard to turn these on if you do not already have it turned on. Along with that, there is a way to turn them on and off individually. On the histogram in the top right corner of Lightroom, there are two little triangles, one on either side. Simply clicking on those will turn the clipping indicators on and off. The one on the left is shadows and the one on the right is highlights.

Once you have the indicator turned on, you will just need to move whichever slider to up or down until you do not see the color anymore. If you fix all of the clipping and are not satisfied with how your photos looks, then just stop the slider in a place where you have most of the clipping gone but still like the way the image looks. Like I said before, having some clipping isn’t a problem, it’s just the large areas that you should be on the look out for. Along with that, when it comes to editing pictures, a lot of what you do depends on personal preference. It is important that you are satisfied with your work!

Be sure to stop back again tomorrow for another blog post! Feel free to share your thoughts with me, and to share my thoughts with the world!

Disappearing Tools

What do you do when you are editing something in Photoshop, and your brush tool (or any tool for that matter), just stops working? This is a problem that many people face when they are working in Photoshop. You were busy working on a project, painting away, and your brush tool just isn’t marking on the canvas. So, you switch to something else, and still have the same problem.

Now, there are a few ways to fix this. You can try saving the project and opening it again (the good old “have you tried turning it off and on again” technique. You should also check to make sure that you do not have CAPS LOCK on. CAPS LOCK will only cause the brush cursor not to work though, so if you are having trouble with a different tool, this isn’t the problem. Another thing that you can try is simply resetting the tool.

However, I think that one of the best ways to solve this problem quickly and efficiently is to go to Select and then Deselect to make sure you have nothing selected by accident that you cannot see. After that, go to the channels panel and make sure that you are working in the combined RGB or CMYK channel.

If that does not solve your problem, then you are most likely working in Quickmask mode and simply need to use the shortcut (Q key) to fix it.

Banners

Good afternoon! While at my internship today, I was required to make a banner to use on the team’s website. I’ve made banners a few times, and oddly enough, it took me a while to figure out the best way to make one. Now, everyone is going to have their own personal preference when it comes to making banners, but I’m going to explain I like to make them.

The first thing that you are going to want to do is open Photoshop. Then, select ‘File’ and then ‘New’. Now, it is time to choose the dimensions that you want to use. Typically for banners, I use 700 pixels by 100 pixels. However, depending on what you will use it for, you might need to make some adjustments.

Once you have decided on the dimensions, it’s time to start designing. The banner that I made today was extremely simple. The dimensions that I used were 500 pixels by 100 pixels (this was so it would line up with everything else on the webpage). Now, it’s time to decide what you want the background to be. For this example, I just put a blue rectangle over the background, just in case I wanted to do a gradient effect later one.

After deciding on a background you will use the text tool to make the banner say what you need it to say. I used a free font that I found online called Impact, but use whatever will be best for your needs. Once you have the text done, it is time to format it and make it look a little bit nicer. You can add an arch, or any other text designs that you want by going to the layer section in the bottom right corner. Once there, click on where it says ‘fx’ and decide what you want to do.

If there are any graphics that you would like to use, simply add them once you are finished with the text. For my banner, I used the Tomahawks logo to make it look a little more complete. I duplicated that layer in order to have it go completely along the bottom. Sometimes, when making a banner less is more. Because of this, I just used a white font on mine without any fancy edits.

When you have finally designed your banner the way you like it, it is time to save! I always save my work as a JPEG and then save the Photoshop file as well. That way if I want to go back and change it, I have that option.

Here is my final product for reference!

Black and White

Hello and welcome to my first “official” blog post! In case you didn’t know, I am currently doing an internship with the Johnstown Tomahawks hockey team here in Johnstown. The internship is marketing and public relations based, so I have been learning a lot of things that I didn’t know before due to my production background. While I have been familiar with Photoshop, I do not know how to do everything when it comes to making flier and other marketing materials. I am more familiar with Lightroom, so I am learning new things to become more familiar with Photostop every day.

Now, I know that many people already know how to do this, but on the off chance that someone does not (like me this morning) I want to explain a quick and easy way to make part of a photo black and white, and part of it color. I have been working on designing ticket voucher booklets to be used throughout the year as a flexible season ticket alternative. A few weeks ago, I designed the book and tickets and my supervisors have been reviewing it and decided that they wanted a different ticket design for all 10 of the tickets that would be in the booklet.

I was working on a design today that looked very good in color. However, I noticed that it would look a lot better if the people in the photo were the man subject, rather than all of the people in the stadium around them. So, I decided to make the background black and white and to leave them in color. The only issue was that I didn’t know how to do this in an easy way.

So, after some research, I found a very simple solution. The first step, is to open the photo in photoshop. Now, when you open new picture, a lot of times the background layer is locked. Make sure that you have that unlocked and that it says ‘layer 0’. Next, you are going to want to right click and select duplicate layer. Once that is done, select the new layer, ‘layer 0 copy’ and then go to where it says image on the top left corner of the screen (the menu bar). From there, you are going to choose adjustments and then select black and white. A thing will then pop up that will have you adjust those colors individually if you want. However, if you just click on okay, it will convert the photo to black and white. The next step is to take the eraser tool, and simply erase the spots that you want to show up in color. Because you have the colored layer underneath, that is was is going to show through.

Finally, save your picture as a JPEG, or whatever file type you prefer, and you should have a black and white picture with some color peaking through.

Hello!

Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Rachel and I just wanted to use this post as a short introduction. Not only is this going to be a site for blogging, but it is going to list my resume and have my portfolio as well.

Keep a look out for posts that will be coming in the next weeks!