Meeting 17

Il riso fa buon sangue

Creating an Electronic Woodcut and Other Tracing Techniques
Custom brushes
Making Electronic Contact Sheets
Make a Quick Web Portfolio
Picture Packages
Image Calculations
Working with Very Large Files (West Coast Imaging video)
Other Tips

Stump the Chump
Another toning challenge picture.

Creating an electronic woodcut
This exercise follows steps on pages 204-205 in the Photoshop 4 WOW book. Use Redtomato.tif and redtomato sketch.tif files (Exercises 5) for this exercise.

	+		=
Original Photo		Traced Photo		Electronic Woodcut

Steps:

Print out a copy of the original photo or illustration to be modified.

On a light table (or using thin tracing paper), trace the contours of the objects within the scan on the back side of the paper. Use a pen for black lines and make the overall appearance medium gray when you squint at it. There should be an equal balance between black line and white space in the tracing. Avoid making shadows heavy with ink and highlights lighter because following steps will do that automatically.

Scan the tracing. If you traced on the reverse side of the photo printout, be sure to flip the image (Image>Image Rotation> Flip Canvas Horizontal) to match the orientation of the original.

Slightly blur the tracing using Gaussian blur to put a bit of a gray edge to the drawn lines. Try around 2-3 pixels with the redtomato sketch.tif file in Exercises 5.

Select>All of the traced artwork, and Edit>Define Pattern.

Open the original photo or artwork (redtomat.tif).

IMPORTANT: The width of the two pictures, in pixels, should match. In this exercise, the scan is saved as redtomato sketch.tif in Exercises 5 and it is NOT the same size - it is substantially larger than the sketch picture.

Size information is needed to closely match the picture sizes of the two files. A quick way to check picture dimensions is to Option-click on the document size information at the lower left of a picture's window. The tomato picture is 1543 pixels wide. The sketch picture is 1157 pixels wide by 752 pixels high.  The mismatch between the width of these two pictures requires resampling in the Image>Images Size dialog box...

Image>Resize the red tomato picture to 1157 pixels wide to make it match the image specifications of the sketch picture. Resample image should be checked.

Duplicate it once. (Image>Duplicate)

Apply grayscale mode to the duplicate. Adjust gray tones to suit.

Image>Mode> Bitmap and choose Custom Pattern in the Method drop-down list. This should produce a black and white line-image having solid, blocked-up shadows and open highlights. It should bear a resemblance to the scanned tracing, but have varying line weights based upon the original image tones. Note that this alone might be suitable for a striking illustration that somewhat resembles a scratchboard illustration or a woodcut.

Select all of this image, and copy.

Close all windows except for the original photo or illustration.

Edit> Paste. This creates a new layer containing the line art.

Choose Screen as the method of interacting between the two layers in the Layers palette. Adjust Opacity to suite.

Experiment with Soft Light, Multiply, etc in the Layers palette.

Experiment with a Layer Mask filled with a black to white gradient. (Soft light, partial opacity, and the layer mask are good combinations.)

Other Tracing Options
Tracing a photocopy of a picture on a light table is an excellent way to begin an illustration if you want some degree of "handwork" to appear in the finished picture. This method differs from the previous example in that all the original traced lines remain intact, and are added to a modified version of the original photo.

	+		=
Tracing of photocopy		Original photo after levels and watercolor filter applied		Finished illustration combines both

Trace the original photo on the backside of the printout on a light table using a black pen. Sharpies tend to bleed too much - I like gel-ink ball-point pens best for this work. Scan the tracing and save it as a file.

Treat the original grayscale photo with a levels adjustment and a watercolor filter to render shaded gray areas without much detail. Erase, overpaint, blend, or otherwise remove unwanted detail by hand.

The files rucellai2drw.tif and rucellai2gray.tif in Exercises 5 are downsized versions of the original file to use in this exercise.

Copy the hand-traced picture (rucellai2drw.tif)  and paste it as a new layer above the grayscale version.

Blend the top layer with the bottom layer using the "Multiply" mode in the Layers palette. Multiply mode makes the white parts of the tracing layer disappear, leaving only the black tracing lines superimposed on the bottom layer.

A magnified detail of the illustration shows clearly how the line drawing layer is superimposed over the modified grayscale information. The white areas of the line drawing layer disappear.

Custom Brushes

Creating custom brushes and using extra Photoshop-supplied brushes in the Presets>Brushes folder.

Load a new set of brushes by clicking the upper right arrow in the brushes pop-up list and choosing Load Brushes.  Also listed in the menu are choices that include Assorted Brushes, Drop Shadow Brushes, Square Brushes, etc. You can choose these to replace the current brush set or append to it.

A new elliptical or circular brush can be created by first choosing the Brush palette (Window>Brush). Click the Brushes tab in the resulting dialog box, then click on the Brush Tip Shape in the left column. Adjust brush parameters to suite.  You may change several characteristics of the brush to create the shape you want. Size controls the size of the brush in pixels, Hardness changes the edge feathering of the brush, and Spacing controls the space between adjacent applications of paint. When Spacing is set to 25%, it looks like paint is applied in a continuous line when you drag the mouse - the adjacent dots of paint overlap enough to create the illusion of a continuous line. If you want a dotted line for example, make the Spacing greater than 100 %.

If you want to create a brush from a drawing, create the new brush shape from a grayscale picture, then click Edit>Define Brush. The new brush will be appended to the list of available brushes.

TIP: If you want to quickly change the size of a brush while working, simply press the keyboard bracket character ([) to make it smaller and the left-facing bracket (]) to enlarge the brush.

Making an Electronic Contact Sheet of Files in a Folder

Note: The steps that follow are a substitute for the older File>Automate>Contact Sheet command in Photoshop. It used to be very simple to make contact sheets from a folder full of files.

The new method uses Bridge to select the files, and it uses Bridge's Output workspace. You will make a PDF contact sheet using this method, and then print either from Acrobat, or after the PDF is opened in Photoshop.

In Bridge, navigate to the folder full of files for which you desire contact sheets. Select all the files you wish. For this example, I copied the contents of Exercises 5 except for the video about using CS5's refine mask dialog box (I don't think making a contact sheet of a video is the wisest thing to try!).

Click on the Output section of Bridge (top right), and click on the PDF button. Select the paper size, choose how many thumbnails you want in columns and rows (I chose 5 across by 7 high to mimic what I'm used to with 35mm film), choose a small typeface so all the filename has space to show, and click Save. You can click the Refresh Preview button near the top of the command stack to get a sense of the layout within Bridge.

To print, either print from Acrobat, or from Photoshop after you open the file in either program.

Creating a "Quicky" Web Page of a Photo Portfolio
 Adobe has removed another useful feature from Photoshop CS5. A quick way to make web sites (for portfolios, etc.) used to be found under File>Automate, but it has been eliminated. This capability, in changed form, is now part of Bridge.

In Bridge, navigate to a folder full of photos, PDFs, or other suitable content. Select all the pictures, designs, etc. you wish to include in the web site.

In the Output section of Bridge, click the Web Gallery button, and select any of the premade templates. There aren't as many templates as before, but that's progress.

Click the Refresh Preview button to get a preview of the web site's appearance. You can navigate down the command palettes to select other options (contact info, etc.) to include or modify. The stack of palettes is tall, so don't neglect to scroll to the bottom to see all the options.

Once you are ready, you can select a save location (folder on desktop, etc.), or it appears that Bridge will offer to upload the contents to a server using FTP. You would need access to a suitable server to use this function.

As an Ohio University student, you may have network storage space available to you, and it may include a hosting service for web pages. There will be a limit on how many megabytes are available - in the past it was 200MB on the older OAK system. Check the Ohio University OIT web page for details - http://www.ohio.edu/oit/webservices/personal.cfm

I run these web notes and other webs from the university server here at OU. More examples of Photoshop generated web sites (but sometimes tweaked be me) can be found at:

https://www.afterness.com/into_italy

https://www.afterness.com/digital_samples/index.html

https://www.afterness.com/yagi/

Picture Package
Sadly, this nifty automation appears to have been deleted from a standard CS5 install. It is available as a free download (10.4 MB) from Adobe though. Type in "picture package cs5" in Google to find a page that leads to downloads of several of the missing Plug-ins. The information below is included in case you wish to download and install that plug-ins on your own computer. Here's a screen shot of the download page at Adobe...

Often it is desired to place a couple of copies of the same image on one page. For example, you may fit two 5x7 inch pictures on one 8x10 sheet, and cut them apart after they are printed.

The File>Automate>Picture Package function in Photoshop automates resizing of a picture and places multiple copies on one page. New in version 7 is the ability to specify several different page sizes for the printout including 8x10, 10x16, and 11x17 inches.

In the File>Automate>Picture Package dialog box, choose the picture that you want to use.

In the Layout part of this dialog box, choose one of the selections of different sizes and quantities of photos to be printed on the page. Choose a suitable resolution for the printer that you may use (i.e. 200 - 300 dpi for the Epson) and choose the mode that the printer uses (i.e. choose RGB for the Epson inkjets -- they work better with that mode).

Click OK and the program begins building the page with the pictures ganged upon it.

The picture below shows a typical output from Picture Package (2 ea. 5x7 and 4 ea. wallet size) ganged together on one sheet.(citation: picture from Adobe's web site)

Image Calculations
Using Image calculations:

Open Moosehead.jpg and Moosehead2.jpg. (Exercises 5)

With both files open, choose Image>Calculations.

Click to place Moosehead.jpg in Source 1. Choose the gray channel.

Click to place Moosehead2.jpg in Source 2. Choose the gray channel.

Click on the Blending choices, and pick Difference. This compares   the two images and displays their differences as lighter shades on a black background.

In Result, choose New Document to create a new image that contains the result.

Click OK.

Amplify any visible differences by going to Levels and adjusting for a higher contrast.

This method is a good way to check to see if a picture has been modified. I have used it to compare two Graphic Key assignments that were suspiciously similar. It is also a good way to see changes to the picture made when you use the JPG file format vs. a non-lossy format like TIF. Compression artifacts (areas that showed changed data) in the JPG files should show up easily.

It can be used also to check a scanner's repeatability on sequential scans. First scan an image and display it in a Photoshop window. Without changing anything, scan the same item again into Photoshop. Then compare the two scans using Image, Calculations to see how different they are. Most scanners will show a little variations, but too much variation is unacceptable. The best target to scan is one with much fine detail. Some use a twenty-dollar bill because of all the fine print found in the bill.

Production Tip: Working with very large files
West Coast Imaging employs an OU VisCom graduate, and they sometimes work with very large files scanned from 4"x5" or larger film. Because these files often exceed 300MB, working with them is very slow.

West Coast Imaging has produced a video showing how to create "Guide Files" where you work on smaller proxies, then upsize the guide file to match the original, and finally past the original in as a new layer underneath Adjustment Layers corrections. View the videos in the Guide File Workflow folder in Exercises 6 for details.

Production Tips: Reducing grain in Color Photographs
(Special thanks to Karl Kuntz of the Columbus Dispatch for these tips!)

The appearance of film grain is strongest in the Blue Channel of an RGB image. Because Photoshop can break an image into separate color channels, you can greatly reduce the appearance of grain by smoothing the blue channel to reduce grain and follow up with an unsharp mask on the red and green channels.

Open a grainy image

Select the Channels tab

Choose the Blue channel

Experiment with various small Gaussian blur settings in the blue channel to smooth grain. Check your work by either switching back to the RGB mode or by using a Window, New Window command to place another view of your image onscreen.

After blurring the Blue channel, try Unsharp Mask on the Red and Green channels to sharpen the image.

NOTE: If the Blue channel is excessively grainy, try using Filter>Noise>Despeckle as a last resort to smooth the image.

Production Tips: Working with Digital Cameras.
Digital cameras often produce CMYK images that have excessive Cyan. Use Image>Adjustments>Selective Color to reduce the cyan in the image.

Production Tips: Reducing the Green in Fluorescent Light Images
Fluorescent lights impart an excessive greenish cast to photos. (Allen green.psd in Exercises 4 will work for this demonstration). First, get the image close in color by using Image>Adjustments>Curves or by creating a new Curves Adjustment Layer. Correct remaining greenish hue by:

Choose Image>Adjust>Hue/Saturation. (Or create a new Adjustment Layer and choose Hue/Saturation)

Choose Green from the Edit list in the Hue/Saturation dialog box.

Move the eyedropper cursor found in the Hue/Saturation dialog box into the photo and select one of the more greenish tones. That places the selected color into the Sample patch of the Hue and Saturation dialog box.

Reduce the Saturation and adjust Lightness in the Hue/Saturation dialog box.

If the image is CMYK, then select only the Cyan and Yellow channels in the Channels Palette, use Image>Adjustments>Curves to make the changes. View the effect of any changes using Window>Documents> New Window showing the document with all channels visible (CMYK).

These steps will work on other photos with color imbalances, i.e., red casts in tungsten light scenes. Remember that these steps will work within an Adjustment Layer. An Adjustment won't alter the original scan in case something goes wrong, and they can be tweaked without accumulating data loss.

Production Tips: Degree of Unsharp Mask
The Columbus Dispatch uses the following settings in Unsharp Mask as a starting point for 200 dpi scans for the newspaper :

Amount - 100%
Pixel Radius - 1.5
Threshold - 5-10

Always use the preview to judge results of the settings. If the picture starts to have a halo around objects in the picture, you have too much sharpening.

Production Tips: Placing files in QuarkXPress or InDesign for  Printing Press
When placing Photoshop files in a QuarkXPress or InDesign document for separation and publication, pre-separated CMYK TIF or EPS files are preferred - not RGB pictures. Before you convert your images to CMYK, you MUST have the proper CMYK printing specification in Edit>Color Settings. While most desktop printers (Epson, HP Deskjet) prefer that RGB images be sent to them, printing press work demands CMYK color files.

A useful workflow is to keep images in RGB format for all color corrections and other modifications, and convert to CMYK mode just before placing the picture in a publication going to a printing press. The reason why is because CMYK presses and printers differ widely. Even the paper choice has an impact on color purity achieved. Once converted to CMYK for one press and paper, subsequent reconversion for another press may involve loss of color. That's why a toned RGB backup is good to have.

Some publishers desire pictures that have been already separated into individual CMYK files. Here's some information about using Desktop Color Separations (DCS) files from the Photoshop 4 help file:

"When you save a CMYK image in Photoshop EPS format, you have the option of saving the image in an extension of the standard EPS format, developed by Quark, called Desktop Color Separations ( "DCS). The DCS format enables certain applications, such as QuarkXPress, to read imported Photoshop files and print color separations. Saving in DCS format creates five files: one file for each of the color channels in the CMYK image and a fifth master file corresponding to the composite color channel. To save the file in standard EPS format without the DCS option, choose Off.

When you turn on the DCS option, you can choose to include a 72-ppi grayscale or color version of the image in the master file. You can then proof the image by printing this low-resolution file from the destination application. If you want to proof the color accurately, choose On (72 pixels/inch color); keep in mind, however, that this option may substantially increase the file size. If you’re certain that you will print directly to film, choose Off (no composite PostScript).

Photoshop 7's help file contains this additional information about DCS files:

"DCS (Desktop Color Separations) format is a version of EPS that lets you save color separations of CMYK or multichannel files.

To save a file in Photoshop DCS format:

Save the artwork, and choose Photoshop DCS 1.0, or Photoshop DCS 2.0 from the Format menu. (See Saving files.)
In the DCS Format dialog box, select the options you want, and click OK.
The dialog box includes all the options available for Photoshop EPS files. For more information, see Saving files in Photoshop EPS format (Photoshop). Additionally, the DCS menu gives you the option of creating a 72-ppi composite file that can be placed in a page layout application or used to proof the image:

• DCS 1.0 format creates one file for each color channel in the CMYK image. You can also create a fifth file: a grayscale or color composite. To view the composite file, you must keep all five files in the same folder.
• DCS 2.0 format retains spot-color channels in the image. You can save the color channels as multiple files (as for DCS 1.0) or as a single file. The single-file option saves disk space. You can also include a grayscale or color composite."

2003 Update
For the 2003 Dawn to Dusk project, we no longer used Photoshop DCS files. The Athens News requested a PDF document that included pictures in CMYK TIF format at 300 dpi. The CMYK ink specification we used was SWOP (Newsprint) selected from the Color Settings dialog box. Here's how to do it:

On the Mac, choose Edit>Color Settings. Click on the CMYK working space drop down list and choose Custom CMYK at the top of the list (see picture below).

This opens a new dialog box where all sorts of CMYK settings can be adjusted for various printing presses. Simply choose SWOP (Newsprint) in the "Ink Colors" drop down list and click OK. Don't change any other settings. See illustration below.

After choosing SWOP (Newsprint), Click OK in this dialog box, then click OK once again to close the Color Settings dialog box. You are now ready to convert toned RGB files to CMYK files (saved in TIF format) to place in Quark or InDesign pages destined for newsprint.

2008 Update - Athens News Publications Settings

For 2008 the Athens News has provided three files to employ when preparing InDesign pages for their press.

There are three files to deal with. I have placed these on my Fall2008>VICO371
BSa>Temporary Student Files server space. You will need a password to access these files.


1) PantherPro62.ppd (copy to system/library/printers/PPDs/contents/resources/en.lproj folder. This will require authentication using administrator access and password.) Install this file first.

2) ANews Presets.prst (copy anywhere, but perhaps we should standardize on the
applications>Adobe InDesign Cs3 folder

3) anews.csf (copy to the Library>application support>adobe>color>settings folder
to be made widely available to all Adobes apps through synchronization in Bridge).

Employing these settings files.

Open Bridge, choose Edit>Creative Suite Color Settings, click the checkbox "Show
Expanded List of Color Settings Files", choose ADD Inc. (This applies the settings
from the anews.csf file to all Adobe applications on the computer.)

Close Bridge.

Open InDesign CS3, choose File>Print Presets>Define. Click the Load button and
navigate to where you saved the Anews Presets.prst file (I had suggested the
Applications>Adobe InDesign CS3 folder above.) ADD INC will now show in the list of
presets, so click it, then click OK.

2009/2010 Update - printed at the Columbus Dispatch printing plant...
If you need to make the separations before I get into the office at 9:00am Monday (to send you our color profile - COLUMBUS_New_3) here are the color guidelines and tips. Check out the black and white details below. Sharpening is at the bottom.

Separating photos:


Keep the default color space in Adobe RGB

Don't CMYK the images until I send you the profile. Keep them in Color in a full range nice color, with detail in the white and detail in the shadow (if you want that). The press runs a higher dot gain in the cyan 4-7 points, higher in yellow 1 or 2 points then magenta. Black has a custom curve that allows GCR but it doesn't start until 35% then bows to 95%.

If you want to make a Photoshop color sep that will work. (screenshots attached)

CMYK

Custom Color
Ink color Swop uncoated
Dot Gain 25%
GCR
Black generation Custom (start at 35 end at 95%)
Black ink limit 95%
Total ink 235%
UCA amount 0%

BLACK & WHITE
The black and white is pretty straight forward - they are almost full range black and white.

From Memory
0 = 2
50 = 43
75= 80
90=89
95=92
100=100

Sharpening:

For an image about 4 columns / sharpen using Smart sharpen:
Image with Grain
Radius .85
Amount 85%
Remove Lens Blur

High Quality image
Radius 1.0
Amount 105%
Remove Lens Blur

Karl Kuntz
Picture Desk
The Columbus Dispatch
34 South Third Street
Columbus,Ohio 43215
614-374-9568