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Archive through December 04, 2005

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: 2005 Dec. ~ 2006 Feb.: Digital Photography & it's uses: Archive through December 04, 2005 users admin

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Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 10:25 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
Ddr, you might do better to do as Landi suggests and not use the Easyshare software. I have a USB card reader. You just plug it into a USB port and then put your card in it. If the Easyshare software comes up and tries to take over, just close it (unless it automatically steals your pictures off your card, in which case you will probably have to go change settings on the software to make it ask you before it does that).

Then go to Start>My Computer and look for the new Removable Drive, probably F: or something. Open that, and there will be all your pictures, which you can then transfer to My Pictures, rename, etc.

Ddr
Member

08-19-2001

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 10:42 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ddr a private message Print Post    
Juju, I hope to have time this weekend to play with it. Or maybe my son will figure it out before then and tell me how to do it, lol. I love having a computer geek for a son!!!!!!!!

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 11:22 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jimmer a private message Print Post    
LOL Eeyore! I’ve found a couple of beers at the pub considerably improves my pool shooting but I’ve never tried it with photography! Maybe I should give it a try.

Your images turned out quite nicely considering the conditions. I hope you don’t mind but I did a little PhotoShop work with your last foggy snowy one. Let me know what you think?

Eeyore

Suz
Member

10-13-2005

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 11:48 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Suz a private message Print Post    
Nice job on the picture Jimmer.
I have a question. When I print out pictures on photo paper they don't look sharp and clear like they show up on computer. Do I need a special photo ink or is the ink that I use for everything ok? Didn't know if it was my camera, printer or ink causing shadows on pictures.

Seamonkey
Moderator

09-07-2000

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 2:47 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seamonkey a private message Print Post    
I do the same thing Juju does.. the usb card reader (mine reads 10 different card types) and read it like any other storage device.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 8:58 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
Hahahaha, I just did the same thing Jimmer did without seeing his post.

Eeyores, do you have a photo editing program? A lot of times the photo editing programs will correct foggy shots with very little work on your part. I took a lot of foggy shots from Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, and hitting the auto-adjust button on my photo editor was just miraculous. My icky, blah pictures were suddenly fabulous.

In the picture below, I just opened your picture in my photo editor and hit auto-adjust and got this picture:



Eeyores foggy

Jmm
Moderator

08-16-2002

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 9:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jmm a private message Print Post    
And here's the other one first using an old program called LView Pro and the second using Paint Shop Pro. LOL

lvp psp


Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Thursday, December 01, 2005 - 1:41 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jimmer a private message Print Post    
It is amazing what we can do to improve an image using digital photo correction tools. In the event anyone is curious, the auto-correction features in most of these programs work by redistributing the color and adjusting the black, white and grey points in the image. By that I mean that it makes anything darker than a certain amount, pure black and anything lighter than a certain amount pure white. It also tries to eliminate colorcasts. It also probably does the equivalent of an S-Curve in PhotoShop to increase contrast.

Suz, As a starting point, what make and model of printer are you using to print your images and what software are you using? Printers that are specifically made for printing photographs do a better job at it than general office type printers (though you can get pretty good results with a good general purpose printer). It is important to use the right ink and paper for photographs. Sadly, the best combination is usually the ink and paper that is made by the maker of your particular printer (I say sadly because it is usually more expensive).

Anyway, let us know the answers to the questions that I asked and maybe we can help you further.

Meggieprice
Member

07-09-2001

Saturday, December 03, 2005 - 10:48 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Meggieprice a private message Print Post    
We heard a great tip if you want to not use flash with a slow shutter speed and don't have a tripod or a surface of the right height- use someone's shoulder! Of course I would advise asking them first, lol! We have resorted to it a few times.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Saturday, December 03, 2005 - 11:11 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
Those are great adjustments! Juju and Jmm, which programs do you like? I have Irfanview, and Microsoft Office Picture Publisher. I don't like Ifrfanview for anything but screencaps. But Picture Publisher just lacks the features....

Photoshop is just too huge for me to even BEGIN to learn, so it's installed, and just taking up space on my computer. **sigh**

I used to have a GREAT editor that came with my old printer or scanner (back in 98). As for where the disks are now, I have no clue. It was called Picture Publisher, and I just loved the interface, and features. They were at the perfect level for my abilities.

Does that make sense? Some programs seem to be our of reach, and others seem TOO dumbed-down.

Thanks for the help!!

Jmm
Moderator

08-16-2002

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 12:02 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jmm a private message Print Post    
Eeyore, My number one favorite program is LView Pro. It has wonderful capabilities and is very user friendly. It is what I use on most of my Melodie pictures. It is downloadable for only $39.95 and worth every penny.

I do also use Paintshop Pro, but mainly for the red eye fix. I don't find it as user friendly, however, it does have more technical features. But if you are just wanting to "fix" your digital mistakes (lighten, darken, etc.), crop, and resize then I'd go with LView Pro.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 5:37 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Jimmer--for a photo of people in front of a lit Christmas tree at night inside--what manual settings do you recommend? Meggie, same question--or any other photogrphers with an opinion... :-)

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 10:42 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
The biggest thing I like to do, is adjust only specific areas of the picture. Sometimes when you adjust the contrast for the WHOLE picture, you make the lighter parts look WAY too light, in order to get a satisfactory look in other parts of the picture. (I know maybe if I'd take a decent picture to START WITH, it would help. LOL)

The Picture Publisher program had a circle (or whatever shape and size you wanted, and you could "spot treat" the picture with whatever effect (contrast, lighten, darken, blur) you wanted.

Does that program have that option?

Jmm
Moderator

08-16-2002

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 10:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jmm a private message Print Post    
The really old version that I run doesn't have that capability, but the new versions says:

Adjustment Layers

There are two kinds of layers in LView Pro: regular Image Layers, that are blended into one another, and Adjustment Layers, that act like filters for color adjustments. By targetting specific areas of the image (like the windows in the car at the bottom), adjustment layers can be powerful image enhancing tools.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 10:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Eeyore, if you have photoshop you should take advantage of it. I know it is "huge" but maybe you could find some kind of Photoshop for dummies book. Cuz you can select certain areas of a photo and adjust the color on just that area.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 11:25 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
You're right JB, I really should. I just have so many things I "should" do....it's a matter of getting around to them. I think I might look for a Dummies book. that's a good idea.

Meggieprice
Member

07-09-2001

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 11:42 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Meggieprice a private message Print Post    
If you really want to capture ambient room light with no flash, then shoot on aperture priority on a tripod- f5.6 or so, let the camera select the shutter speed. Otherwise you need to use the camera meter on manual.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 11:47 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
Eeyores, I have Photoshop 5.0 LE that came free with a scanner and Photoshop Elements 3.0, which I bought at Costco. I don't know how to work either of them very well, but I just chip away at them a little bit at a time, learn one new trick here and there. I still have no idea how to do layers.

BUT, (and I taught this Landi, who also has Elements and doesn't know how to use it either) you can do some very simple things with your Photoshop that will make you look a whole lot better than your knowledge base should allow. And that is find and use the Auto-fix or Auto-adjust feature. That is the ONLY thing I did to your faded out picture. Open the picture, hit Auto-fix, Save As. Boom, you are a photo-genius. LOL.

On regular Photoshop, you will find it under Image>Adjust. On Elements, you will find it under Enhance>Auto Smart Fix.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 11:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Meggie, can you "dummy" that down for me? Not the first thing. Only the second thing--the camera meter thing. Like if I have no tripod. Guess I could try the shoulder thing... But if the room is relatively dark (average indoor night with a christmas tree)????

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 11:52 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Or Eeyore, you could try this: go under Image > adjustment > auto levels. Or even play with levels manually.

Landi
Member

07-29-2002

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 12:19 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Landi a private message Print Post    
photoshop elements, and juju walked me through the auto fixing of things, and well, it's JUST WONDERFUL!

Meggieprice
Member

07-09-2001

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 8:17 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Meggieprice a private message Print Post    
Well, first I need to know if you have a camera that does switch to manual. Generally if so it will also allow you to choose aperture priority- where you select an f stop ( generally based on wanting a certain depth of field- the lower the numeric value of f-stop the shallower the depth of field-leading to that sort of fuzzy look in the background that is often desired in portraits) and the camera selects the shutter speed to be the correct exposure. If the room is darkish the shutter speed selected is probably going to be slow enough that holding the camera in even very steady hands will cause blur- hence the need to have a tripod or brace yourself really securely agains a post or pillar, or try the shoulder thing. Holding very still is the key. I would select maybe f4, that will perhaps give you some more leeway in the shutter speed, but not much. Then look at your results. The light colors (if they are colored) will look correct if the exposure is correct. If the lights look white and are colored the exposure is too long and you can change the fstop to 5.6. If you do not have a camera that switches modes in this way just turn the flash off and brace yourself really really well. And hope for the best! ***ALSO*** if your camera allows you to switch to a higher ISO like 800 do that. This one was taken that way last year (with a wide angle lens).



Meggieprice
Member

07-09-2001

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 8:19 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Meggieprice a private message Print Post    
So was this one...

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 8:26 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Meggie, I have a Canon G6.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, December 04, 2005 - 8:31 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    


This is what I got with the automatic setting...