Photoshop This
is the expensive last word in raster
image creation and manipulation. You can download
from Adobe a
30-day trial
of this application, as well as Illustrator, Indesign, Acrobat,
Dreamweaver, Flash, and Premiere.
To get
good at Photoshop takes practice, but learning the tools and tecniques
shouldn't be too painful. This
tutorial focuses on the tools worth knowing without getting into the
nitty gritty of minutia rarely needed. It assumes no prior Photoshop
knowledge, just the ability to learn new skills. Photoshop is a
surprisingly simple program to use.
Photoshop actions can be a tremendous time-saving tool for designers and photographers. You can either create your own actions or take advantage of the many that are freely available from the community of Photoshop users. This post is a collection of 60 actions (actually more since many of them contain multiple actions) for touching up or enhancing photographs.
COLOR ADJUSTMENT: Hue/Saturation
Tutorial By Heathrowe
on New Tutorials.Com--a simple 'Adjustment Layer' technique on how to
alter a particular color within a photo, using the adjustment layer
'Hue/Saturation.'
Color Management
on Photoshop Tips--a list of resources on the subject.
Plug-ins, Add-ons &c.
FreePhotoshop--over
200 pages packed with over 300 freeware and commercial reviews, each
rated for usefulness and functionality. Over 90 companies and authors
are featured. You are able to search though and find links to many
informative and useful sites. In addition, there are plenty of free
Photoshop plugins, filters, styles, shapes, gradients, brushes,
textures and patterns to download.
Corel® Painter™ X
an imaging program oriented to traditional painting techniques.
PaintStar
is a
versatile digital image processing software suitable for
such tasks as retouching of photographs, composing and authoring
images, image morphing, screen capture, and displaying image thumbnail
in Windows Explorer context menu. It supports alpha, layer, path ,and
the most common editing techniques. PaintStar has many of the tools and
filters you would expect to find in commercial offerings, and some
interesting extras as well.
This application will open PSD files created in CS3. But the files are
flattened. PaintStar will also create its own layers.
Online Image Converter,
by Lonking Software. Convert most commonly used graphic image formats -
BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF or ICO.
No registration. This service is provided as a sort of advertisement
for the company's other commercially available conversion software.
Paint.NET
This
is a free Windows application that will fulfil most of the requirements
for image editing for the Web. No such free utility exists for the Mac,
because Mac owners have money to burn. Otherwise they would have
purchased PCs.
Gimp
This is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is
a
freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo
retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many
operating
systems, in many languages.
GIMPshop is GIMP in a format similar to that of photoshop. Information
about the application is available from a blog.
Much like Firefox, GIMP’s strength lies in
its
plugins, which are developed by the open-source toting community. Since
the users themselves develop them, they know all the needs and conceive
a plugin for everything (well, except making a coffee for you.
GIMP Resources
- An extensive List of GIMP Sites, Plugins, Tutorials.
Further reading:
Grokking The Gimp, by Carey Bunks is a Senior Scientist at BBN Technologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Working
with digital images requires some understanding of what needs to be
done. It's not a ``choose the right tool, one click, and you're done''
subject. Most books on digital image manipulation would have you
believe the contrary...and perhaps they're right. However, that is not
what this book is about. It is not about tips and tricks, and it's not
a collection of recipes for solving someone's favorite image
manipulation problems. It is first about understanding image
manipulation concepts, second about knowing which GIMP tools are most
effective, and third about the savvy use of these tools.
IcoFX is
a freeware icon editor for icon creation, extraction and editing. It
is designed to
work with Windows XP and Windows Vista icons supporting transparency.
With
a wealth of tools and more than 40 effects at your fingertips,
theres
virtually no limit to the icons you can create. You can convert your
favorite images into icons, or icons into images. With IcoFX you can
extract icons from other files, including Windows Vista files. You can
easily work with multiple files using the batch processing capability
of IcoFX.
Support for Vista icon with PNG compression
Create icons for Windows 98 / ME / 2000 / XP /
Vista
Support for transparency (alpha channel)
Batch processing for import, export and extract
Multiple language support
More than 40 effects + custom filter
Resolutions up to 256x256
Data types: 2, 16, 256, True Color, True Color
+ Alpha
Stripe Designer,
a personal project of Alex Le. The site is inspired from the idea of
having a tool to help making tiles and stripes in Photoshop easier and
faster. Thanks to the new Ajax technology, Stripe Designer has been
made possible.
A
project created and maintained by REH3design--a repository of high
quality texture photos that are free for personal and professional use.
CG Textures--literally
thousands of pictures, patterns and textures, completely free and open
source for any use, commercial or otherwise. The database of images is
member-supported, although anyone may download and use any of the
images. The site is thoroughly indexed.
Digital Forensics: 5 Ways to Spot
a Fake Photo,
by Hany Farid.
This story is a supplement to the feature "Digital Forensics: How
Experts Uncover Doctored Images" which was printed in the June 2008
issue of Scientific
American.
Draw Logic,
a blog is ato help document current technology,
programming, 3d, interface, media programming and design that we come
across and impact our capabilities. Excellent Photoshop and imagind
resources.
Smushit.com
is a service that goes beyond the limitations of Photoshop, Fireworks
& Co. It uses image format specific non-lossy image
optimization
tools to squeeze the last bytes out of your images - without changing
their look or visual quality. You'll get a report of how many bytes you
can save by optimizing your images and all the changed images as a
single zip for download.
In computer graphics and photography, high dynamic range imaging
(HDRI) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of
exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than
normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to
accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real
scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.
HDRI was originally developed for use with purely computer-generated
images. Later, methods were developed to produce a high dynamic range
image from a set of photographs taken with a range of exposures. With
the rising popularity of digital cameras and easy-to-use desktop
software, the term "HDR" is now popularly used to refer to the process
of tone mapping together with bracketed exposures of normal digital
images, giving the end result a high, often exaggerated dynamic range.
This composite technique is different from, and generally of lower
quality than, the production of an image from a single exposure of a
sensor that has a native high dynamic range. Tone mapping is also used
to display HDR images on devices with a low native dynamic range, such
as a computer screen.
WebHDR
High dynamic range (HDR) images store the information in a format that
has a range of many orders of magnitude. Additionally, they may be
photometrically correct. With this additional information, image
processing may be done such as advanced tone mapping or calibrated
false colour luminance images.
Cambridge in Colour--tutorials
and lectures on digital photography and on the topic of HDR.
The Flickr HRD Group. The
intent of this group is to feature pictures and discussion
surrounding HDR specific technology and tools (Photoshop >CS2 /
Photomatix / Maya / HDR cameras) used for creating or developing high
bit HDR images. (if it doesn't say HDR it's not HDR).
An Introduction
to High Dynamic Range Imaging
Adapted from The HDRI Handbook: High Dynamic Range Imaging for
Photographers and CG Artists (Rocky Nook)
By Christian Bloch, January 31, 2008.
Lighting Without Lights:
Creating HDR Images in Photoshop
By Kevin Ames
Excerpted from Digital Photographer's Notebook: A Pro's Guide to Adobe
Photoshop CS3, Lightroom, and Bridge (Peachpit Press).
How to create HDR Photos
- HDR/Photomatix tutorial.
There has been a lot of buzz recently about HDR photography, but many
people assume that it's only limited to professional photographers. The
reality is that just about anyone can take and process an HDR photo
with most cameras and proper HDR software. On Abduzeedo.
HDR: High Dynamic Range explained so
anyone can understand, on idigital photo.
There are dozens of articles and blogs on HDR on the Web, so why
another one? We decided to write up HDR for you because each new item
seems to be more complicated than the next. And those of you without
the latest Photoshop or flashy dSLR often seem left out of the loop.
HDR
images are composed of multiple shots that each capture a greater or
lesser range of light. Typically these images are composed of a darker
image, a medium range, and a lighter image. HDR combines these shots
into a final image that has a broader range of light to dark. Often,
the results are striking, visually rich, and full of details.
Qtpfsgui
is an open source graphical user interface application that aims to
provide a workflow for HDR imaging.
There
are times when a regular photo just doesn't cut it and you need your
photo to pack a punch. Here is one technique that you may find useful.
Image
Libraries
everystockphoto.com
is a search engine for creative commons photos, located in Vancouver,
BC. We aim to be a community for designers, developers, photographers
and other media publishers who want better, easier access to
license-specific media on the web.
We add value by providing a single integrated search, allowing users to
bookmark their photos with private and public tags, and increasingly we
will be offering advanced searching options, rating systems and other
tools.
Many Flickrusers
have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license,
and you can browse or search through photos under each type of license.
Attribution means: You
let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work
- and derivative works based upon it - but only if they give you credit.
Noncommercial means: You
let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work - and
derivative works based upon it - but for noncommercial purposes only.
No Derivative Works
means: You let
others
copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your
work, not derivative works based upon it.
Share Alike means: You allow
others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to
the license that governs your work.
The
Creative Commons
does not remove or replace copyright protection from your work — it’s
more of an addendum that allows non-copyright holders exercise
Copyright rights as specified by the specific Creative Commons License
applied to the work.
Are you a
crafter of icons, sounds, backgrounds and splash screens, or
even window manager themes? Selecting the right license for your
artwork to coexist with free software is no trivial task. Creative
Commons (CC) and Free Software Foundation (FSF) licenses each have
their advantages, but they are mutually incompatible. The two groups
are beginning to move toward simplifying the situation, but in the
meantime there are several things you can do to make license
compatibility easier.
See also:
Yahoo Creative Commons Search
finds content across the Web that has a Creative Commons license. While
most stuff you find on the web has a full copyright, this search helps
you find content published by authors who want you to share or reuse
it, under certain conditions.
Browse and
download 2,000 (3.4 GB) free
stock images from 10 categories (view all
thumbnails below). Images are in the public domain. Links to the
company's commercial collection.
contains
free high resolution digital stock photography for either corporate or
public use.
Freerange
Stock was formed
with the goal to provide quality stock photos for commercial and
non-commercial use. For free. We feel that free stock photos can be
good photos. Freerange is an advertising revenue supported photographic
community - photographers get paid when users click on the ads that
appear next to their submissions.
Images on the site are
either shot by Freerange Stock, drawn from Freerange archives, or
contributed by a talented community of photographers.
WorldImagesprovides
access to the California State University
IMAGE Project. It contains over 60,000 images, is global in coverage
and includes all areas of visual imagery. WorldImages is accessible
anywhere and its images may be freely
used for non-profit educational
purposes. The images can be located using many search
techniques, and
for convenience they are organized into some 600 portfolios which are
then organized into subject groupings.
Digital
Image Resources on the Deep Web, by Sarah Perez,
May 14, 2008, on ReadWriteWeb.
This is an article describing visual resources on the so-called "Deep
Web" that are generally not accessible through search engines such as Google Images.
Many of the images are a parts of online collections created
by institutions in the U.S. Many are in the public domain.
Cut-out-people
an image library from VYONYX, a visual&design company
based
in London, UK, providing visualisation and design services to
architects, developers, artists and visual effects houses. This is an
image library of people on transparent backgrounds in TIFF format.
Stockvault.net,
a stock photo sharing website where designers and photographers can
meet to share their images. You don’t have to sign up to be able to
download the images. All images on this site are free for personal and non-commercial
usage.
Public-Domain-Photos,
all in the public domain. You may use these images for any purpose,
including commercial. But if some photo contains logos and products you
should be careful. Using someone else's trademark commercially can
result in a lawsuit.
Image*After, a large online free photo collection. You can download and use any image or texture from the site and use it in your own work, either personal or commercial.
Color
Tools
I like
Your Colors, a
Web
page color analysis tool (roll over for screen shot). I don't know. You
figure it out. In any case, it's fun to play with.
Pantone,
the Pantone Matching System. Headquartered in Carlstadt, N.J., Pantone,
Inc. is
the world–renowned authority on color and provider of color systems and
leading technology for the selection and accurate communication of
color across a variety of industries. The PANTONE® Name is known
worldwide as the standard language for color communication from
designer to manufacturer to retailer to customer.
In 1963, Lawrence Herbert, Pantone's founder,
created an innovative
system of identifying, matching and communicating colors to solve the
problems associated with producing accurate color matches in the
graphic arts community. His insight that the spectrum is seen and
interpreted differently by each individual led to the innovation of the
PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM®, a book of standardized color in fan format.
Over the last 40–plus years, Pantone has expanded
its color matching
system concept to other color–critical industries, including digital
technology, textiles, plastics, architecture and contract interiors. It
continues to develop color communication tools for a variety of
industries and aggressively adopts new digital technology to address
the color needs of design and production professionals.
Pixie is
a colour picker that includes a mouse tracker. Run it,
simply point to a colour and it will tell you the hex, RGB, HTML, CMYK
and HSV values of that colour. You can then use these values to
reproduce the selected colour in your favorite programs. Pixie will
also show the current x y position of your mouse pointer.
Color
Scheme Generator: While designing web pages, computer
applications, or house interiors, we need to find good color scheme -
set of colors producing the best impression. For every tint there are
colors which it can coexist with, and which it can't. Some combinations
are uncomfortable, or disturbing - while others are pleasant.
Experienced designers choose colors intuitively, many people can smell
which colors go together well and which don't. However, finding the
good combination of colors may be sometimes long and gruelling work.
The color theory makes the work easier. This tool will find set of
colors you can start with, and it may facilitate your looking for the
optimal color palette.
This application generates color schemes of several types. Every scheme
is based on one (base) color, which is supplemented with additional
colors making together the best optical imperssion - using one of the
authentic algorithms.
COLOURlovers"
is a resource that monitors and
influences color trends. COLOURlovers
gives the people who use color - whether for ad campaigns, product
design, or even in architectural specification - a place to check out a
world of color, compare color palettes, submit news and comments, and
read color related articles and interviews.
The COLOURlovers" community is regularly updated with
information and examples of the way colors are used in the real world
along with news articles on color trends and interviews
with top creative professionals.
ColorCop,
a screen color capture tool with many neat features, including the
generation of complementary colors to the one selected.
This
is a free online tool for color matching and palette design!
To get started, choose a preferred color using a
color picker, and a 6-color matching palette (a "blend") will be
automatically
calculated.
Using radio buttons you may switch to Direct
Edit mode to tweak or edit individual colors of your blend.
Blends can be saved for future use, and will be
available whenever
you return to the site from the same workstation, given that your
browser accepts cookies.
ColorZilla
is an advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker and other colorful goodies
Among many other things, ColorZilla allows quickly taking a color
reading from any point in your Firefox browser.
4096 Color
Wheel Hover over the wheel to view colors. Click
to choose a web-smart color.
hange saturation (left to right) and value (bottom to top) of the last
hue.
Lists named colors and their associated RGB hex codes. Displays each
color rendered by both name and hex code. Shows both black text and
white text on each color. Fills the screen with color swatches (chips).
EasyRGB
matches your computer generated RGB
values to color cards, paint lines, inks, fandecks and more...Find an
industrial standard match for your computer colors. Transform "virtual"
colors in "real world" references. This site is here to fill the gap in
between computer generated colors and real world colored products.
A discussion of Color Blindness.
According to Wikipedia there are an estimated 10.5 million American men
who are red/green color blind. On Critiquewall.com.
"If a
combination
follows the natural brightness of
colors, most people
will like it, if a combination contradicts the natural brightness of
colors, most people won’t like it."
"Color
choice is a crucial decision in every
website design. Sometimes you may be designing a site for an existing
business that already has an established color scheme, but many design
projects will require development of a color scheme. Fortunately, there
are almost endless resources online to help you find that perfect color
combination. We have gathered the resources that we feel are the most
useful and categorized them..."
Vector
graphics are resolution-independent—thus, their resolution is
determined only by the output device. Because vector elements are
mathematically-defined, scaling (enlarging or reducing their size)
simply requires modification of their component mathematical
descriptions.
Whereas
vector graphics are resolution-independent, raster images are
resolution-dependent—the number of pixels that occupy a given space
must be defined. Consequently, raster image resolution is specified in
pixels per inch (ppi). However, although the term is not effective,
image resolution commonly is referred to in dots per inch (dpi)—dpi
more appropriately is attributed to device resolution or output
resolution, where the number of dots an output device is able to
produce within an inch represents the resolution of the device.
Photoshop Quickies--quick
tips, tricks and tutorials for Photoshop and Illustrator.
Tutorials:
A FREE 30 days Illustrator crash
course,
created for beginners interested in learning Illustrator. Each lesson
will take around 20 mins to complete. Students will be able to learn
the
basic fundamental techniques before the 30 days trial ends. On iStockdiary,
a blog on vector illustration created by Tony Soh, a vector
art contributor to iStockphoto.
In this crash course, Tony will not be drilling
down in details how
each feature works. However, he will be covering all the essential
tools
that are commonly used so that you can get started and have a feel of
how illustrator works. At the 30 days you will be able to and draw your
illustrations, design your own logos and create special effects!
Lynda.Com $25/mo.,
an extensive, library of step-by-step video tutorials.
Adobe Illustrator Tutorials:
Step-by-step
Adobe Illustrator tutorials with original source file
download. These Illustrator techniques are intended for intermediate
users (require some basic knowledge of Illustrator).
Inkscape
is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to
Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics
(SVG) file format. Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text,
markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and
grouping. Inkscape also supports Creative Commons
meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap
tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. It
imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as
well as multiple vector-based formats.
UseBittbox
files in posters, website designs, cd covers, postcards, annuals,
flyers, business cards, branding, . . . DESIGN.
Use BittBox buttons as a part of a UI for a
software you are developing.
Use BittBox files as a learning experience to grow
and create your own excellent designs.
Vecteezy
is an index of Free Vectors available for download by some of the best
designers around the world. The site is updated every day, so be sure
to check back often. Want to submit your design? We only accept the
best so make sure it meets the guidelines.
The
Open Clipart Library
aims to create an archive of user contributed clip art that can be
freely used. All graphics submitted to the project should be placed
into the Public Domain according to the statement by the Creative
Commons.
A
project of
the Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
research project by James Diebel and Jacob Norda, traces bitmap images,
turning them into vector format. The site is currently tuned for
tracing photos and logos. File formats supported, Input: All major
bitmap formats. Output: EPS, SVG.
Here's
a JPG representation of a picture of the
Curmudgeon run through the Stanford applcation. The image on the left
is the original JPG, the right is the Stanford SVG (rasterized back
into JPG).
Miro is free,
open source, and built by a non-profit organization. Our goal isn't to
make money off of you. Our goal is to give you the best possible video
experience.
Open
Source Movies You
are invited to view or upload videos to the Open Source collection!
These thousands of videos were contributed by Archive users and
community members.
You Tube has a page
on how to upload videos. Once you have created and uploaded your video,
embedding a link to the video within an HTML Web page is a fairly
simple task. I was going to explain this process, but a quick Google of
the topic produced this
complete explanation.
Summary:
A working knowledge of Final Cut Pro is essential to any aspiring
filmmaker. As the most widely used software program in video and film
editing, Apple computer's Final Cut Pro can give a professional
appearance to any film project from basic digital video to HD material.
Because it's relatively affordable and easy to use, Final Cut Pro has
become extremely popular with broadcast stations and independent
filmmakers. It offers a wealth of effects and functions, like dissolve,
iris, distortion, and ripple, rolling, slipping, sliding and other
editing functions, as well as color correction filters and audio
filters.
Social networking
gets your videos noticed
WeShow
brings an editorial approach to selecting and organizing the best
online videos available from sites such as YouTube, DailyMotion,
Metacafe, Google Video and others. The site also offers the monthly
WeShow Awards, billed as the
worlds biggest online video contest
where users get to vote on content from each country WeShow has a local
version for (US, UK and Brazil). WeShow TV rounds out the offering by
providing a review style show featuring some of the
worlds best
videos.
Free
online video converter. Convert and
download videos from YouTube, Google Video or directly from .FLV file.
Play
it on your PC, Mobile, iPod, PSP and enjoy!
A
Comparisonof the a single screencast encoded
by different
video sharing sites.
Video Toolbox:
150+ Online Video Tools and Resources on Mashable.
Screencasting
CamStudio is
opensource
software, able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer
and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF
Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly
Streaming Flash videos (SWFs) This application is about to receive a
new release--version 2.5. We hope that issues with Vista will be
resolved in this new release.
Webinaria
produced the video screen capture from which the youTube video, shown
below, is made. The original video is full-screen, but has been reduced
to the size shown by youTube.
Click
on the icon to the left to get a full-resolution, still screen-shot (a
snapshot) of the AVI movie playing in the Windows Media Player.
Register & use it anywhere, anytime
No download. Compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux.
Capture videos of onscreen action in one click
Record screencasts, tutorials, demos, training, lectures and more.
Share and stream videos online in Flash
Embed them on blogs and webpages or send them by email.
Screencast-O-Matic,
a browser-based screencast utility, includes free hosting.
A tutorial
made by the Curmudgeon using Screencast-O-Matic
Wink is a
Tutorial and Presentation creation software. You can capture
screenshots, add explanations boxes, buttons, titles etc. to generate a
tutorial.
AviScreen
is an application for capturing screen activity (ScreenCast) in the
form of AVI video or images. Beside the usual options defining the
capture area, AviScreen has a unique feature called “follow the
cursor”. Using this mode you can produce a video or image of relatively
small dimensions while covering all mouse activity over the whole
screen area. *untested
by the Curmudgeon.
Debut Video Capture Software, proprietary, freeware. Record video from webcam, capture devices or screen
Easy to use video recorder program to capture video files directly on a PC. Debut will record video from any of the following:
Webcam (eg. to record a video camera)
Capture device (eg. to transfer from video input).
Computer screen (eg. screen recording).
oRipa Screen Recorder, proprietary freeware. Record your Windows desktop activities in real time and save it as a video file. oRipa Screen Recorder also captures anything you can hear on your PC, such as, music and talking through the PC's microphone.
Many 
Browse and
download 2,000 (3.4 GB) 
Vector
graphics are resolution-independent—thus, their resolution is
determined only by the output device. Because vector elements are
mathematically-defined, scaling (enlarging or reducing their size)
simply requires modification of their component mathematical
descriptions.
Use
The
You Tube has a 
Final
Cut Pro 5 
Social networking
gets your videos noticed
