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The "Help PKIDelirium with photo processing in CS1" Thread


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The "Help PKIDelirium with photo processing in CS1" Thread
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PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2007-07-30, 02:10

(Preface: 1. It's a legal copy of Photoshop CS. 2. I didn't put this in the GB because its more general than actual support, but if it belongs more in GB, feel free to move it.)

Anyway, this thread is mainly to ask for advice on my process for processing photos for my site's gallery. Here's my current process:

1. Browse originals. Opening the ones I want, I resize them to 800x600 (applying any needed touchups or fixes here) and use Save for Web to save them into a folder. Settings are Quality: 60 (High) with the "Optimized" box checked. Results here are just what I want.

2. Use Automate > Batch to run that folder through the action that applies the copyright stamp to the lower right corner. The action does this:

Open
Make Text Layer (Apply the stamp)
Flatten Image
Save As (Settings here are Quality: 8 (High) again with the Optimize box checked, then save with the same name, overwriting the non-stamped pics in the batching folder with stamped ones.
Close

Now here's the questions now that that's spelled out...

Is there anything that sticks out of that procedure as being wrong?

I've read that when I do the second save (the one in the action) I need to use the save quality level as the first, so other than where the stamp goes over, the rest of the image doesn't get compressed any more. Is this true?

Other part of that is... I can't do that apparently! The scale is different, so right now I use what I *THINK* is the same. On Save for Web, it's a double-digit scale. 60 is High. On Save As when the action is running, the scale is 1-10 and 6 is Medium. On this one "High" is 8, so I've been using that way.

Now...

This question has to do with antialiasing. What's best for the copyright stamp?

For the last year or so, I've been using Arial Narrow, bolded, with Sharp antialiasing. The problem is it's hard to work with. Letters like "l" "i" and "f" tend to look like crap, and to get them decent looking, I have to zoom in all the way and carefully shift around the type layer. It doesn't move the actual position of the stamp, but it shifts around the antialiasing a bit.

So the second main part of this thread is: What to do about the copyright stamp? I want a professional looking stamp and font, and I don't want the antialiasing on it to be a bitch. I've had absolutely no luck finding the right combination myself.

The last time I was actually satisfied with the stamp was when I was doing it manually (no automation) with Paint Shop Pro 7 in 2004, on my old Windows laptop. I used Tahoma and whatever was the default antialias, and it looked great. I just haven't been able to reproduce that properly on my Mac with Photoshop.

Okay, this was longer than I intended it to be. Am I just being paranoid? Maybe. TIA.
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PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2007-07-30, 20:47

Bumpity bump bump.

Maybe I'm just being too picky. Anyone have any ideas?
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PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2007-08-01, 15:28

Okay guys, I'm begging here. I reaaallllyyyy need to figure this out.
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Gargoyle
http://ga.rgoyle.com
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: In your dock hiding behind your finder icon!
 
2007-08-01, 17:51

Save the original at 100% quality (or even still as a psd).

Use a transparent stamp, it might look better and you wont need to worry so much about AA.

Save for web in your script at whatever quality you need.

Show is some examples!

OK, I have given up keeping this sig up to date. Lets just say I'm the guy that installs every latest version as soon as its available!
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PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2007-08-01, 23:48

Here's a couple photos with the current stamp, which I kind of hate and the AA on it is kinda rough:

http://kiextreme.com/gallery/albums/...7/IMG_5705.jpg
http://kiextreme.com/gallery/albums/...7/IMG_5676.jpg
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bassplayinMacFiend
Banging the Bottom End
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
 
2007-08-02, 07:18

Definitely don't apply any extra compression to the images until the final output.
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Moogs
Hates the Infotainment
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
 
2007-08-02, 11:00

Doesn't look like you've done any real damage, but in response to "what's wrong with the process", the answer is almost always, that you should do all of your retouching and layers-based work before you resize, and before you compress.

If your images are JPEG out of the camera, then it makes sense to save it as a TIF first, duplicate the background, then make all your adjustments. If you make your adjustments to the JPEG and do command-s as you go along, you are going to degrade the image slightly every time you do so.

In general my editing process goes this way, as does many other photographers' workflow:

1. Shoot RAW if you can, so you can remove any color casts, do some preliminary sharpening and preliminary contrast work in ACR, while leaving your original intact. I tend not to use ACR for camer JPEGS even though you can in CS3. In fact I only shoot JPEG when I'm running out of space on my CF cards, which happens a lot less these days given you can get fast 4GB cards for under $90.

2. After it opens in PS, Save as PSD or TIF

3. Duplicate the background.

3a. Do noise reduction with 3rd party tools here, if needed.

4. Retouch on background copy.

5. Make any further Curves, or Hue and Saturation type changes via adjustment layers.

6. Save

7. Duplicate image

8. Flatten duplicate

9. Resize (Bicubic Sharper for Web)

10. Sharpen if needed (typically not for web output).

11. Save for Web
(I always use 60 as a minimum and go 70 on shots with a lot of detail; one area to watch is around the tops of people's heads, tops of trees or other areas with lots of little details as that's where teh JPEG artifacts tend to show up below 70% quality.)

Hope this helps.

...into the light of a dark black night.
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PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2007-08-02, 21:12

Awesome thanks, that helps a lot!

I currently use Bicubic as the resizer, but I might switch to Bicubic Sharper.

Now... Anyone have any good settings for the stamp? I've had no luck with trial-and-error when it comes to finding simple font settings that look decent.
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