08/01/22 – This subject has been updated in a new post – WITH VIDEO: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/color-management-101-for-photographers/ _____________ This is the 2nd of 3 posts on implementing proper Color Management into your Photoshop workflow. In the last post, we discussed the Three Steps to Successful Color Management as well as how to properly Profile your Monitor. Now let’s talk about Printer Profiles… Step 2) Use the Proper Printer Profile or Create a Custom Printer Profile A Printer Profile makes the most out of your printer’s capabilities by characterizing the behavior of your printer/ink/paper combination. With a Printer Profile, in combination
08/01/22 – This subject has been updated in a new post – WITH VIDEO: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/color-management-101-for-photographers/ By request, I am going to do a series of three posts over the next several days that should get you on the road to proper Color Management, allowing you to print with a great degree of consistency and repeatability, whether it is on your home inkjet printer or through a custom print lab. It allows you to print what you see on your monitor with a large degree of accuracy. The old adage, “WYSIWYG” (What You See Is What You Get) readily applies
WOW!! What a blast! Last Saturday, I gave two free seminars at the San Diego County Fair Exhibition of Photography. One was on Color Management in Photoshop and the other was on Photofinishing with Photoshop. Both were well-attended and productive, and we had a lot of fun. Not only did I meet someone that I made a print for about 15 years ago (she still loves it!), but I met someone whose work I admire, Tamandra Michaels, on the midway at the fair (I recognized her by her picture on her website). If you missed these seminars, here’s a schedule
Here’s a link to the first Book Review for my Photoshop E-Book, “Photofinishing with Photoshop” – – enjoy! Click Here for the Book Review… By the way, be sure to support the fine folks at Apogee – – Click here or on their logo above to visit their site. Cheers, John 🙂
Updated 09/01/21, and still relevant today … 06/03/2008 – A few weeks ago, I was again privileged to be a Judge at the San Diego County Fair Exhibition of Photography, always one of my favorite contests to judge (and one of the largest!). It is always lots of fun, and I get to spend time with other pros in the industry whom I haven’t seen all year. This year I judged in 2 categories: Nature (Plants) and Underwater Photography. My fellow judges in that category were two individuals; one that I’ve known for over 25 years,
03/10/22 – This post has been updated: https://wattsdigital.com/photoshop-book-e-book My Photoshop E-Book, “Photofinishing with Photoshop”, is now available for purchase and immediate download. It is reasonably priced at $30. Click Here to Purchase and Download the E-Book… Have you ever wanted to learn how to make stunning photographic prints at your home or office? Have you tried, but not been happy with the results? Then this unique E-Book is for you. This is not just another Photoshop E-Book: It is unique because I focus on what makes a good color print, and I will show you how to
Howdy, Last Sunday, I was privileged to be a Judge at the San Diego County Fair Exhibition of Photography. I’ll share my experiences and insights about the judging in a few days. I know some of you have been asking, so here is a ‘heads-up”: I will be giving free Photoshop and CoIor Management seminars at the Fair starting in a few weeks. In addition, I will be participating in a ‘Judge’s Roundtable”, an “Artist’s Reception” and a “Digital Dialogue with the Experts”. If you are in Southern California, I’d love to get a chance to meet you – besides,
Greetings, The title is self-explanatory, and they are in no particular order of importance, etc….. Apogee Photo.com – A good source for all things photographic, both traditional and digital. Tim Grey’s DDQ – The digital Darkroom Questions (DDQ) is a regular email providing answers to questions related to the digital darkroom. Chromix – One of the best sources for Color Management Hardware and Software. Solux – A great source for proper lighting for print-viewing. Fetch – FTP software for Mac – 15 day free trial, then $25. FTP Shell Client – FTP software for Windows – Personal version is free.
Updated 08/30/21, & still relevant today … 05/09/08 – So you need a print bigger than your inkjet printer can handle, or you need a print on a specialty surface like FujiFlex Super Gloss – that means you’re going to have to outsource your printing. How do you know what Print Lab to use? Recently one of my clients, Duane Chevalier (www.duanesphotogaphy.net), was having problems with the prints he was receiving from 2 different Photo Labs. They were way too dark and not even close to what the images looked like on his monitor. To say
07/01/21 – although this info is generally still accurate, this post has been further updated in a new post, WITH VIDEO: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/photoshop-cs6cc-setting-up-your-workspace-with-panels-with-video/ _________ Hello to all….What are Palettes? Think of Palettes as miniature workspaces, each accomplishing a different function. There are almost two dozen different palettes available to you. If you are new to Photoshop, then I would suggest, in the spirit of K.I.S.S. (Keep It Super Simple), that you start with just seven, and add those you deem necessary as you gain more experience. Below is a representation of the palettes I would suggest that
04/02/20 Updated here: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/?p=2283 ___________________ Here is a continuation of Part I concerning Adjustment Layers in Photoshop – – If you did not read the first post, I’d encourage you to do so. Two Ways to Create a New Layer: You can create a new Adjustment Layer by clicking on the “Create a New Adjustment Layer” button. An Adjustment Layer comes “pre–loaded” with a tool or function, as well as a Layer Mask (see this post and this post for more on Layer Masks). You will create your new layers with this button most of the
03/30/20 – this post has been updated: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/?p=2283 ________________________ Adjustment Layers are one of the more powerful features of Photoshop. The purpose of Adjustment Layers is to allow you to make adjustments to your image, both globally and locally, in a non-destructive manner. By the way, I define “destructive” as causing pixelization and posterization to your digital image, resulting in bad prints. Think of Adjustment Layers as “clear plastic overlays” over your original image, with each layer giving you the ability to control a particular aspect of your final image, such as contrast, color correction, and so on. In addition
UPDATE 04-27-08: Yup, I’m still behind schedule – – Bear with me, I should have the E-Book ready in a few days…Thanks for your patience, and for all of the interest!! _________________________________________ My apologies to those waiting for the release of my upcoming E-Book and Video Series entitled, “Photofinishing with Photoshop” (More info and a sample chapter & video here). As many of you know, I teach Photoshop “one-on-one” to clients all over the United States, but this is my first venture into education-based literature and videos available for all. I have been consulting with a few people more
10/01/21 – This post has been updated: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/?p=3561 So you’ve been out taking pictures and you’ve captured the killer image: Your exposure is spot-on, your lighting is right, but it’s missing something. How can you easily focus more on the main subject of your shot and eliminate unwanted objects? The answer is to experiment with cropping. In Photoshop, cropping is accomplished with the Crop Tool. You can find it in the Toolbox. In the Options Bar, you can select your desired width, height, and DPI. To start, put your mouse cursor in the upper left portion of
A thousand pardons if you’ve had challenges accessing my site in the last week, such as getting a text-only version, or you couldn’t get the RSS feed to work – – I was hit by some very malicious code last week – – I’m STILL having challenges with the RSS feed …. Hackers should be drawn and quartered, forced to listen to Lawrence Welk Polka music 24 hours a day, and then – – ? I hope to be back up 100% very soon – Thanks for your patience and patronage! Cheers, John 🙂
12/01/22 – although this post is generally still accurate, it’s been further updated in a new post: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/photoshop-cc-soft-proofing-plus-rgb-color-spaces/ • Further info on RAW files can be found in these 2 posts: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/the-philosophy-of-raw/ https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/video-camera-raw-12-3-radical-changes-to-the-user-interface/ ___________ 04/04/2008 – Here’s a great question from one of my clients, Adam Orr: John, I have worked with the CS3 Raw Converter, but couldn’t find a way to run the Color Gamut Warning until finishing with the Raw Converter and opening in Photoshop. Am I missing something? When I click on a Raw file, the converter opens and allows me to use all of the
This summer, I am again honored and privileged to be a Judge and Speaker at one of the most prestigious photographic contests on the West Coast – the San Diego County Fair International Exhibition of Photography. I will probably be judging one of the “Nature” categories or the “Scenic-Landscape” category. I will also be giving two free seminars every Saturday that the Fair is open – One on Photoshop in general, and one on Color Management. I’ll let you know when I have a definite schedule on those – I’d love to see you there. If you like the challenge
What is one of the best things about Photoshop? The amount of functions available to you, the user. What is one of the worst things about Photoshop? The amount of functions available to you, the user! If you are new or fairly new to Photoshop, one of the challenges of using the program is its overall complexity. Most of the time, you will only need to use 10% to 15% of Photoshop’s functionality to achieve the results you want. I’d suggest employing the K.I.S.S. method. K.I.S.S stands for “Keep It Super Simple”. Start with the basics of Photoshop, and grow
October 29, 2019 – Updated – although the info is still accurate, it’s been further updated here: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/a-better-way-to-sharpen-in-photoshop-2/ _____________ Having challenges getting your image sharpened properly in Photoshop? Try using this technique rather than the generic Sharpening tools, which are not as effective and prone to over-sharpening. In my opinion, Over-sharpening is one of the two most abused tools in Photoshop (see this post). Give yourself an edge and try this method – it is much harder to accidentally over-sharpen your image. This is a non-destructive technique. Without getting into total “techno-geek propeller-head” mode, it sharpens just
UPDATE 05-11-08: Sorry, this widget really slowed down my blog – – I’ll look for an alternative – – If you know of something to replace this, please let me know… I’ve got a new “toy” on my blog – – Live Chat via AIM’s WIMZI Widget (See the sidebar). It is not unusual for me to spend 4 to 6 hours a day in front of my computer, so I thought I’d experiment to see if this gadget is useful for all of us. You don’t need an AIM account to use it – If it says that I’m
