Photography & Digital Design: Project “D2” 11/2014
Fine Tuning Digital Photos
This assignment is only done after completing Project D1- My Scanned Negative
1. Log into the M7 Server
2. You should have already created the folder…. Asst D gjk
a. In this folder should be your scanned jpeg image named Asst D Original gjk
b. You should have already rotated the image if it needed it
c. You should have already “flopped” the image if it was a mirror image
Making a copy of your JPEG image
3. Open the folder and select your JPEG.
a. Now zC, then zV (copy and paste)
b. You will see two files, the original one, and a “copy”
c. Rename the copy as Asst D Fine Tuned gjk
Converting a color image into a grayscale image
4. Open the “fine tuned” copy in PhotoShop
a. Go to Image – Adjustments – Hue/Saturation…. (in the future, the shortcut is zU)
b. Slide the Saturation Slider all the way to the left (-100)….. then OK.
c. Do a “Save As”…. Use the file name Asst D Fine Tuned gs gjk (we added gs into the file name to remind us it is a grayscale image. )
i. In the JPEG Options Window, JPEG Quality = 9 (High)
ii. Format Options = Baseline (Standard)
Cropping and Resampling the image to 8x10, 300ppi
5. Select the CROP tool from the tool bar
a. In the Option Bar, make the width = 8, the height = 10, and the resolution = 300 ppi
b. Drag a selection window over your photograph
i. Notice that it MUST always hold the correct aspect ratio of an 8x10 photo
ii. Notice that you can freely move the selection window all around the image
iii. Notice that you can always change the size of the window, but it always retains the correct aspect ratio
iv. You can have one or two sides of the selection window on the edge of the photo…. But….
v. Be sure that no part of the selection window runs off the edge of the photo.
vi. If you want to change back and forth between portrait and landscape orientation,
1. press ESC,
2. then press the back and forth arrows between the width & height in the option bar
3. then repeat the above steps.
c. Notice that the get the “Rule of Thirds” grid.
i. If possible, try to employ the “Rule of Thirds”
ii. Remember, however, to use your personal aesthetics.
d. Press the Return Key to apply the cropping
e. If you don't think that it looks “groovy”, then zZ to undo it, then try again.
f. When you are happy with the crop, do a zS to save your work.
Setting the “Levels” to get “Full Tonal Range”
6. Go to Image – Adjustments – Levels…. (in the future, the shortcut is zL)
7. You will now see the “histogram”
a. This is a graph showing the distribution of the tonal range
b. A grayscale image has 256 different levels of “value”
i. 0 is pure black, and 255 is pure white
c. Notice there are three triangles below the graph
i. A black one on the left side (shadows),
ii. a gray one in the middle (midtones),
iii. and a white one on the right (highlights)
8. Look at the histogram at the right……
a. It is a “flat” photo.
b. It has NO shadow values and it also has NO highlight values.
9. Slide the black triangle to the right so that it is just at the “base of the mountain”
10. Slide the white triangle to the left so that it is just at the “base of the mountain”
11. Adjust the midtone slider left and right to get the best look and the most detail.
a. This is very much personal aesthetic. There is not exact formula.
b. DO NOT just leave it in the middle….
c. Play around with it and find what works best.
12. When your happy with it, press OK.
13. When you are happy with the levels, do a zS to save your work.
“Dodging and Burning In”
14. Lighten or Darken certain parts of your image.
a. Use the Dodge Tool (Lollipop),
b. or the Burn Tool (hole) to lighten or darken
15. Tread Lightly ! You do not want anyone to know that you did this.
a. You must be very, very patient.
b. Adjust the size of the “brush” and
c. Adjust the “hardness” of the brush to be fuzzy
d. If you don’t like what you did, then zZ to undo.
e. If you are not 100% happy with what you have done, DO NOT SAVE IT.
i. You cannot go backwards once you save it.
16. If you are happy, then do a zS to save your work.
We are done with the fine-tuning!
Now we will do a few things to turn this project in to get it graded.
17. Do a partial “screen capture.”
a. We want to grab a picture of the new, modified histogram
b. zL to go to the “Levels” adjustment
c. Your histogram should be on the screen
i. Notice that now the histogram fills out the full tonal range
ii. Also notice that it is made up of lots of vertical black lines,
with white vertical lines mixed in.
iii. The computer had to do a lot of “guessing”
to fill in all of the missing information
d. Press z+ SHIFT + 4 all at the same time
i. The computer now wants to “take a picture” or part of your screen
ii. The cursor now looks like a little target.
iii. Move the cursor over the top left corner of the histogram
iv. Press the mouse and drag it down over the bottom right corner
v. When you release the mouse, you will hear the “shutter” sound.
vi. There is now a little photo of the histogram on your desktop.
18. We do not need the histogram anymore, so press Cancel.
19. Go to Image – Image Size
20. Grab a partial screen capture of the Image Size Window
a. Use the same steps we just did with the histogram
b. Your numbers should be very different than the window at the right.
21. We do not need the Image Size window anymore, so press Cancel.
22. Rename the histogram image as Asst D Histogram gjk
23. Rename the Image Size window as Asst D Image Size gjk
24. Move both of these images into your Asst D folder.
25. Go to the RHS/Krumm webpage and download Asst D Submission page
26. Replace the three items on the page with your own
27. Update the heading to your name, period, seat number, and date.
28. Save the page
29. Print it out to “John” (HP4100)
30. Staple this new page behind Project D1- My Scanned Negative.