Digital BW, The Print

Carolyn,

Thanks for the neat techniques! This does bring up the subject of using
tablets with PS for photo editing. Like most I use a mouse which is often a
real pain when trying to refine masks. I gather that Wacom is still "the
brand" in this technology. What do you recommend in terms of minimum useful
size and any particular model?

Martin Wesley

http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html



----- Original Message -----
From: "Carolyn Frayn" <carolynfrayn@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 4:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Burning Skies (feathering)


> Rick wrote:
> >> This works fine most of the time but whenever I have open,
> >> evenly illuminated areas, i.e. blank sky, calm water, I get a slight
> >> to horrendous posterization. It's very subtle on the monitor but
>
> Martin wrote:
> > This will give you a gradient spread over a much larger area of the
image.
> > How smooth for your purposes I am not sure but worth a try. (Did I get
that
> > right Carolyn?)
>
> I don't remember.. <gg>. To make smooth transitions now, I do what you're
> suggesting, large - large brushes, they don't give that banding that
> feathering/blurring marque selections are known for.  I would have moved
to
> PS7 for the brush sizes alone.
>
> I usually create a curve adjustment layer, don't do any curve moves (it is
> simply acting as a dup image layer), attach a layer mask,  choose multiply
> blend mode and then with one large or various sized brushes (or wacomb pen
> with variable pressures) paint the the mask to effect the areas of the
image
> you'd like. This gives me the smoothest transition to date. Then adjust
your
> opacity to suit your tastes.
>
> Try two ways, keeping the large brush mostly off canvas, using only the
edge
> for the feather. Switch back to black, and paint inner areas where you
want
> to erase the effect.. you can achieve a very good smooth mask.
>
> Or, with the layer mask filled with white, select black, and paint with
the
> largest brush you can inside the image, with a steady hand follow your
edges
> (or go off the canvas altogether if you're just after the corners), the
edge
> of the brush creates a good rounded smooth transition at the corners
either
> way, no banding.
>
> You can also give the curves a tweak in multiply mode for different
> strengths and effects.
>
> sorry Rick, not much help here for earlier PS's.
> Carolyn
>