Bridge over a Creek

[wingspar]

New here, and not very good with CS3 yet, except for typical photo editing, levels, and so on. I’m a complete boob when it comes to layers, which is why I joined after being linked to the tutorials on the Layers Magazine page from another forum. I come from years of using Paint Shop Pro, but CS3 is so much nicer. So, I may have some green newbie type questions. In the meantime, I don’t see many photos posted here, so I thought I’d post one up. This was taken in the rain, and is my first attempt at stacking photos.

http://www.pbase.com/wingspar/image/91494357.jpg

[Paul C]

Nice colors Gary. Cool.

If you have questions there are some pretty knowledgeable folks here so ask away. You should post your question in the appropriate forum and you will almost always get some feedback in that day.

Now the pressure is on…;)

pbc

[wingspar]

Thanks for commenting. I’ll have to think about questions on layers before I ask them. There is so much out there as far as tutorials go, that sometimes I don’t have to ask questions, but then again, there is an occasion tutorial that I just can not get to work, no matter how many times I go thru it. Went thru one the other day when I found this place, and just as I was about to give up, I tried something that wasn’t even mentioned in the tutorial, and it worked. A very key piece of info that the tutorial made no mention of. I lucked out, but not before I lost some hair. :D

[kialua]

Very nice Gary. Why is it called Stormy Beach?

[ldrain]

Very nice Gary. Why is it called Stormy Beach?

haha, i was just wondering that.

and i agree, great colors, rich and vibrant.

[wingspar]

Very nice Gary. Why is it called Stormy Beach?

haha, i was just wondering that.

and i agree, great colors, rich and vibrant.

Thanks for the comments kialua and ldrain. The photo is titled Stormy Beach, as that was the photo I was going to post, then changed my mind. I changed the post to reflect this photo, but forgot to change the title. If you look at my first post, I edited it to try and change the title. It changed the title of the first post in this thread, but not the title in the thread listing.

kialua - if you can change the thread title to match the title I gave my first post in this thread, that would be neat.

[kialua]

Hmmm not sure how to do that. Repro? Move thread to a new one that we pre establish named Bridge over creek?

[The Repro Kid]

I can change the title, but please, tell me in plain english what the title should be. All this "title should be what my first post was first edited to be after my second post" is making my post-Superbowl head swim. :o

[wingspar]

I can change the title, but please, tell me in plain english what the title should be. All this "title should be what my first post was first edited to be after my second post" is making my post-Superbowl head swim. :o

The title should have been Bridge Over a Creek.

I made chili from scratch for the first time ever using an Emeril Laggasi recipe for the Super Bowl. I had nothing to drink, but the chili turned out excellent. It’s the people around me today who’s heads are swimming. :D

[The Repro Kid]

I was wrong about being able to change the title of the thread. I don't think I can do that after all. Sorry about that. :o

[wingspar]

Oh well. Win some, loose some. I just changed my mind on which photo to post after I previewed the post, but didn’t change the title, and didn’t even notice that till the next day. When you edit a post, you have the opportunity to change the title, but it really means the title of the post you are making, not the title of the thread, such as I did with this post.

[wingspar]

Indeed you took a very nice shot.
May I ask you if you used any layers in this image. If so would you please explain to me. The reason is I barely use layers. Only I use level and saturation and few functions only.
I would appreciate your input.

I used 3 shots taken at -1EV, 0EV, and +1EV, and stacked together to make this photo. I can’t explain it much better, as I’m a newbie when it comes to layers, and I really didn’t know what I was doing with this photo as far as the stacking, and working with layers. I just lucked out with this one by playing with the opacity of the different layers till I got what I liked, then flattened the image, and finished with the normal levels and other adjustments. I really had no idea what I was doing, and haven’t been successful at trying this since.

[Paul C]

If you're running CS3 you could also try making an image stack and then running median on the stack. I have seen a couple of amazing demos on that - since noise is different in each photo it really reduces it.

I also saw an image stack of a fountain with people walking by. By shooting from a tripod and taking I think 5 or 6 photos, making an image stack and then running median on it, the people were gone.

pbc

[wingspar]

If you're running CS3 you could also try making an image stack and then running median on the stack. I have seen a couple of amazing demos on that - since noise is different in each photo it really reduces it.

Yes, I am running CS3. Never heard of the median tool. Just tried it, and it seems to add too much blur, or waxy look to a photo, even on the lowest setting. If you have a link to a demo, maybe there is something I’m missing.

[Paul C]

Did you make it into an image stack or did you just run it on one of the layers?

Here's a tutorial:

http://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/

pbc

[wingspar]

True. I did not know about the align layers feature when I did this image. I do now, and use it every time I stack photos. Also, I didn’t know about the Load files into stack feature under the File Menu or the Edit >Auto-Align feature when I did this image. I just did a simple select all, and copy / paste.

I’ll have to take a closer look at the Median tool later. I was trying to use it with single layer images that had a lot of noise on them. Sports shots where multiple shots of the same player are impossible. Obviously, not what the Median tool is meant for.

[Paul C]

You can now load jpegs and tiffs into Camera Raw from Bridge. The Raw plug-in has some pretty good noise reduction tools in it - Luminance Smoothing comes to mind.

Maybe give that a go.

pbc

[The Repro Kid]

I'm clueless to this ImageStack thing, although I've seen it mentioned in some of the photomerge stuff that wingspars interested in. Is this a standard photography technique or terminology?

I know Adobe has an annoying habit of "renaming" industry standard terminology, for instance "photomerge" really stands for the industry standard term "photo stitching." Can anyone enlighten me?

[The Repro Kid]

Oh well. Win some, loose some. I just changed my mind on which photo to post after I previewed the post, but didn’t change the title, and didn’t even notice that till the next day. When you edit a post, you have the opportunity to change the title, but it really means the title of the post you are making, not the title of the thread, such as I did with this post.I was wrong about being wrong. I figured it out!

[wingspar]

I'm clueless to this ImageStack thing, although I've seen it mentioned in some of the photomerge stuff that wingspars interested in. Is this a standard photography technique or terminology?

I know Adobe has an annoying habit of "renaming" industry standard terminology, for instance "photomerge" really stands for the industry standard term "photo stitching." Can anyone enlighten me?

Just from my observations, Adobe seems to use the term “Photomerge” for any of their processes that automatically merge photos together where more than one photo is used, whether it be image stacking, Auto-align, auto-blend, or stitching. It gets confusing to beginners with Adobe products. I had to ask in a forum as to how to stitch photos for panorama shots. I knew CS3 had that capability, but no amount of searching for stitching turned up anything withing CS3 as anything but “unknown”. I finally figured it out after someone in a forum told me it was the Photomerge command that stitched photos together. I don’t think Photomerge is a common terminology among photographers.

[wingspar]

I was wrong about being wrong. I figured it out!

Cool. Looks much better. Thank you. :)

[The Repro Kid]

Just from my observations, Adobe seems to use the term “Photomerge” for any of their processes that automatically merge photos together where more than one photo is used, whether it be image stacking, Auto-align, auto-blend, or stitching. It gets confusing to beginners with Adobe products. I had to ask in a forum as to how to stitch photos for panorama shots. I knew CS3 had that capability, but no amount of searching for stitching turned up anything withing CS3 as anything but “unknown”. I finally figured it out after someone in a forum told me it was the Photomerge command that stitched photos together. I don’t think Photomerge is a common terminology among photographers.But let me re-phrase that question, please forget any reference to Adobe or computers; is "Image Stack" a type of Photography terminology? I only know "Hard-Dot, Ortho-Neg, Graphic Arts" photography. I do not really know much about professional Continuous Tone photography, which is the type most people think of as photography. I am not familiar with the term "Image Stack."

[Paul C]

In Photoshop Extended you can make Image Stacks and then do some pretty cool things with them. It came out in CS3. Or perhaps you wrote this in jest…:cool:

http://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/...-cs3-extended/

pbc

[wingspar]

But let me re-phrase that question, please forget any reference to Adobe or computers; is "Image Stack" a type of Photography terminology? I only know "Hard-Dot, Ortho-Neg, Graphic Arts" photography. I do not really know much about professional Continuous Tone photography, which is the type most people think of as photography. I am not familiar with the term "Image Stack."

I don’t know if it’s as much as a photography terminology as it is a post processing terminology used by photographers. To me, image stacking is very new. I’m just beginning to experiment with it. I think, as far as photographers go, it’s only used amongst photographers who are advanced in their post processing skills, but more and more are becoming familiar with the terminology every day. Is it standard photography terminology? Probably not. Is it becoming standard post processing terminology for photographers? Probably. Those are just my thoughts and observations. I could be off base a little.

I do have CS3 Extended, so if the image stacking isn’t part of the non Extended package, this could be confusing to some.

[Paul C]

It is one of the wonderful features that CS3 Extended added to the professional digital photographer's arsenal.

As such it is going to become common terminology I believe.

pbc

[wingspar]

It is one of the wonderful features that CS3 Extended added to the professional digital photographer's arsenal.

As such it is going to become common terminology I believe.

I had no idea image stacking wasn’t part of CS3, just CS3 Extended. That’s probably why a lot of tutorials I’ve seen on the subject leave that step out. They have you dragging one image onto another.

[The Repro Kid]

In Photoshop Extended you can make Image Stacks and then do some pretty cool things with them. It came out in CS3. Or perhaps you wrote this in jest…:cool:

http://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/...-cs3-extended/

pbc*slowly pounding my forehead against my table* No Paul, I'm not joking, I really want to know if image stacking is a photography term/technique, pre, post, during, or otherwise.

Lets try some hypotheticals: Suppose Photoshop did not exist. Would image stacking still exist?

And now an example: Suppose Photoshop did not exist. Would Dodge and Burn still exist? Yes. Dodge and Burn would still exist because Dodge and Burn are photography terms/techniques.

Are you receiving me? :confused: :D

[Paul C]

No.

pbc

[The Repro Kid]

Don't worry, I did my own research, the two terms refer to the same thing, and like the term photo stitching, the term photo stacking came about long before digital photography.

If I had a copy of kialua's Saturday Night Live "Never Mind" photo, I'd attach it :o