Just in case you haven’t yet heard, there is only 18 days (and counting) until the launch of the new Adobe CS5 Creative Suite, obviously including the new Photoshop. So make sure you go to the Adobe CS5 launch page and register (using your Adobe ID) for all the up to the minute info or just check out some of the buzz.
Personally I’m still happily using CS3 but perhaps upgrade time is coming soon. From what I have seen so far there are some pretty cool new features to play with, including the incredible and very cool Content-Aware Fill feature which in my mind is alone worth the money. Here’s a clip I came actoss on John Nacks blog which demonstrates it.
Watch it full screen to better see all the details, and make sure you watch it to the very end. AMAZING!
the proof will be in using it though… I’d really like to see how you still end up with crisp detail after doing one of those edits. If it does that then I’m upgrading from 3 as well. You don’t always have the circumstances for the perfect blemish free photo, so this is a great feature.
Michael, I’m thinking that nothing is perfect straight out of the box. My thoughts are that once the original ‘hard’ work is done, the result might still require some final finessing to make it faultless. I’m happy to investigate though.
In Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) make the curves adjustment (strong contrast) and back on basic tab check for blown highlights. These shots were pretty good so no worries there.
Opened image in Photoshop, first thing I noticed was that the hem of her dress on her right thigh was a little high and showed the dark elastic at the top of her tights. Not very attractive. So I cloned the hem in to hide this.
Next I lengthened her legs a touch. Now Olivia is tall and leggy but probably my perspective was wrong. To do this I made a large selection using the rectangular marquee tool. I select a large rectangle from one side of the screen to another (starting just below hem of dress) and as far down the pic as possible whilst still leaving me a little room to crop within that bottom line later. Then I selected free transform and dragged the bottom of the box down a touch.
I then cropped the picture to my liking, cleaned up the skin (not that she need much) and take away one or two creases in the skin(around the armpit) Sharpened her eyes and mouth and saved.
Open image in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), adjust the curve to strong contrast. Back to the basic tab and adjust the temperature to ‘flash – 5500′ Then open image in Photoshop
Cropped to get the perspective I wanted.
I then cleaned the skin on the models face and leg using the clone tool. Whilst on the skin I then run a small home built action called high pass that smooths it a little.
I also used color efex pro to add a little glamour glow.
Next I cloned the background a little to added a little smoke and to hide a little more the leg of the background light.
If her eyes had been more open I sometimes run an action to increase contrast but not in this case.
Last thing I do is size and then sharpen. I only sharpen selectively on a separate layer so I can see the effect. Normally with a feather @20-40 I select eyes/eyebrow area and the mouth and then run a little action I got from the world famous ‘Manny Librodo’ If you want to build this the steps are:
Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski the photoshop gurus of ‘Photoshop User TV’ fame, have now added Nikon DSLR‘s to their evangelical repertoire. Great news indeed for Nikon users.
No doubt funded by Nikon, ‘DTOWN TV’ is a weekly show for Nikon DSLR Users, with plenty of camera tips, photo techniques and Nikon Capture info. The production value of the episodes is quite high so it makes for some very addictive viewing, even if you’re a Canon user. Already up to Episode 24 my suggestion is, break out the popcorn and the Nikon and settle in for a nice stint.
Big thank you to Matt Collinson for sending through the lowdown. Enjoy!
Already up to Episode 24 my suggestion is, break out the popcorn and the Nikon and settle in for a nice stint.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:44 am
that content aware fill is amazing! I want!
March 26th, 2010 at 9:08 am
I’m sold – that is absolutely fantastic! Look how fast it makes the changes. That alone is worth the price. Thank you Adobe
March 26th, 2010 at 10:39 am
Bring on CS5!!!
March 26th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
I’ve got my wallet ready to go!
March 26th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
the proof will be in using it though… I’d really like to see how you still end up with crisp detail after doing one of those edits. If it does that then I’m upgrading from 3 as well. You don’t always have the circumstances for the perfect blemish free photo, so this is a great feature.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Michael, I’m thinking that nothing is perfect straight out of the box. My thoughts are that once the original ‘hard’ work is done, the result might still require some final finessing to make it faultless. I’m happy to investigate though.