TOOL Lingo

Industry is a sly bitch.

Imagine you're an intern. You get yelled. You reach for help. And you discover....

INDUSTRY LINGO 101 for Photosop.



1. J-Tool (Jay-Tool) : "Healing Brush Tool". It is too long and hard to remember.

• Shift + J: to switch, otherwise J is "Spot Healing Brush Tool" by default. Very different.

2. O-Tool (OH-Tool): Known as "Dodge and Burn".

• use lower % for Wacom tablet.
• Shift + O: before asking "how to switch between dodge and burn?"

3. B (Bee): Brush Tool. Can be used on ANY Layer. Most versatile.

• Often followed by "Press X" (Press-Ex): FOR MASKING.
• "B-Button": If someone says "B button" by accident, he's either an elderly or Geek Wizard ;))). 

4. Q-Mode (Qeue-mode): Press Q. It is Quick Mask "mode". Don't freak out when everything is Red. 

• "Don't freak out": Often people panic because it often turns everything RED. Press "Q" again.
• "Press B": Press B right after Q to make life easy. Check your Opacity and Hardness % before clicking. 

5. "Ask Google": Open internet. Google it. 

WRONG TERMS:


Clone Brush: It is Clone STAMP Tool. Often mistaken for J-Tool as results are similar (not really).

Healing Stamp: There is only 1 Stamp, and many brushes.

002

1200% is where you want to go if you need to go pro'er than pro.
It means, you really don't have to.




PIXEL is the new-age definition of imagery.

No longer chemical floating between plastic. Pixel.

Pixel means, first, you can zoom in.
Pixel means it is no longer physical.
Pixel means everything is numerical.

Each pixel is RGB (R=xxx, G=yyy, B=zzz)

ZZZ!.

Go to sleep. Class is over.

This is it. That's all. There is nothing beyond #002.
Use the knowledge for yourself !

000

New Year!

Happy. Be happy.

I was walking along the construction site to see a Jamaican-looking dude doing paint jobs.

Moments later when I walked pass by again, I smelled some hint of green (like the medicinal weed green).

This is the second out of second time (2/2) that the same thing has happened.

It made me happy. Don't ask me why.
The manager looking dude who came by also looked happy.

Ask them. :)



I'm posting photoshop 000 today.



This is called the "3-point curve".


It is the first thing a retoucher would learn.

Look at the dots.

I made 3 of them.

Along the Vertical lines.

This is how it goes:

The RIGHT one is the light one
The MIDDLE one is the base
The LEFT one controls darkness.

Cover the BASE, then control the Light and Dark.
Controlling midpoint (the middle dot) controls overall contrast when those other 2 dots are created.
Otherwise, you read the mountain (histogram) and do wut you wana do.

when sh$t is fuck@d up

It's hard to tell how color works unless you see it happening.

Sometimes, we fuFck things up.
Sometimes, that color on that corner is off.
Sometimes, the whole range of spectrum is just off.





Sometimes, life gets complicated and twisted.
It takes a lot to fix it.

It dwindles and cross turns.
Like that green getting in your way.

So this is how it look when shit is just fusked up.

There's always order somehow, and when you don't know what's 'right' or 'wrong', follow whatever that looks better/beauty ;).
And if you don't know what's beautiful... step out and look at nature.

posting curves.

This is photoshop 401.

What? You thought you graduated?


Please use this technique to recreate color that is specific.

I use my curve tool to its maximum limit.
Basically, if you have a car, you full speed max to the pedal. Non stop.

The first concept to understand when using curve tool is to use all adjustments.

There are 3 adjustments in curve tool.
Step 1 is to get out of normal.

don't be Normal!

know what you're choosing

Darken, Multiply, Color Burn... all those clustered are to darken pixels.
From Lighten to Lighter Color are lightening effects.
Overlay all the way to Hard Mix deals with contrast.
Rest is yours to explore.


Step 2 is the curve itself.
There are RGB, Red, Green and Blue channel.

changes are very delicate, because layer is no longer 'Normal'.

adjustment requires accuracy.  

with combined 4 layers,

changes no longer seem to be small.

The key is to use all 3 colors to adjust. 

While RGB channel seems perfect that controls all, it is easy for colors to add noise and/or reveal undesired color. 

notice the green between red and blue.

it is bridging the two, and thus therefore adjustment was needed.

The R,G and B-channel controls will balance the effect of the curve even further, resulting in much controlled color in your photography.
Consider this minute control as a support to your daily curve tooling.


Step 3 is masking. You decide where it should go. ;))

industry term

Black and White is always about contrast.

It's easy to add contrast these days.
But it's hard to preserve beauty.

Top image has no pixel f'ucked around (*for skin brightening). This is a strict 'industry term' like the infamous Fxck-me-light. 

The term Fuch-me-light, according to Pulitzer award photographer David Turnley was invented by the National Geographics photographers.
It was always the shots those were shot during the magic-hour (twilight hour, during dusk or dawn: +-30min. of sunset/sunrise) that made to the cover, so-to-speak.
So when the question of "when did you take this photo?" became routine to answer "during dusk" or "during sunset", it allegedly evolved to "oh during sunset/rise when the light was like F8CK ME" then became to "I shot these during fvck-me-light."

Supposedly conversation in the industry became casual as editors asking "oh, $uck-me-light?"

and the response was,

"uh-huh."

fuuck me...

Pshop 301

In reality (industry/jobsite), you learn courses 101-303 at-the-same-time.

When you press (alt/opt. + click the 'create a new layer' button) you get the "New Layer" box.
There are more ways to get to this 'box'. Ask google.

Copy what I clicked.
My ex-NY photographer friend Taichi showed me this trick.

I created this 'Soft Light-neutral' layer to trick the computer. 

This is how it works. 

Layer (Neutral + Contrast = Nothing happens) + (burn'-n'-dodge tool) = Super-safe light-data quick Burn-n-Dodge layer that does not affect the pixel. It's an overcast. 

(**There are advantages and dis-advantages using any tricks. Please b smart)

Burn and Dodge tool affects pixel itself. This trick is to avoid direct interaction between the two. This trick is standard in some part of the industry. 

The advantage of Burn and Dodge tool is standard in retouching skins. 

It's the most delicate tool that has the versatility and ideal effect over pixels when recreating beautiful skin. 

 right image is brightened

compare and contrast

this is about 60-80% done

Usually, you would zoom to 400% and be using a wacom pen, at brush-size aligned to skin's each creases with strength 2-5% for burning, 5-10% for dodging ("It always burns faster").

That is for high-standard fashion and it takes x8-time to complete. 

For I-Don't-need-to-Cyborg photos, I only zoom to 200%, and would be using watevs that makes him look good. 

Photoshop 201

Did I give 101?

"My teacher said, it's all about the 'masking'."

Said the girl...

I'll mask you soft and hard. Get you excited, because it's twisted. That's Photoshop 101.

Photoshop 201 is putting layer on layer.
202 is putting layer on a layer on a layer.

Wow.

What does that mean?...

Let's explore...

I made two layers here. Screen and Multiply.
both layers are untweaked.
ON: Opacity - 100%

This is Marc Iserlis.
He is an aspiring young actor hopping around NY and Asia and stuff like that.

I put my 'Curve' on 'Screen'.
(My Curve layer "screeminator" is switched to 'Screen' whereas its usually 'Normal'.)
((I usually use 3 layers. Darkening, lightening and contrast. as standard...))
Then I do changes on the 'Curve' tool.

I control the wave so that 'Curve Tool' makes sense. (bottom image: I put 2 control points on my curve tool wave thingy)
You're supposed to make curves, "Duh, get it?" Right, I got it.
...
..
.

Marc Iserlis

step 3 is precision and control. 

The third layer is 'Masking'.

You select what where when why who and mask the shit out of it. Make it happen.



...NEXT...

bw and colour

Marc Iserlis, 2015

Marc Iserlis, 2015

I'm doing portraits to expand my criteria. 

People need basic shots, so I give basic shots. 

I am posting my first "cutting-the-mountain-curve". 

My effort to balancing the skin-tone ended in shaving off some edge. Or perhaps de-contrasted some (skin)tone. 

color contrast

You can create contrast between presented colors by adding contrast in Saturation.

Color is 3-dimensional.
Hue, Saturation and Tone. Tone is Luminance.

Lets cut the complicated talk #crap and visually understand things.

The coordination of the points presented in the graph above tells you that it basically looks like wave.
This one will make Yellow color more 'pop' because the dudes next to him are shorter.

Then the BPM is the side gangs that also pops out head high.

That's contrast.

The deviation between Aqua and Blue dictates the emphasized contrast of Blue due to ooh jee sleeping time has approached........

good night.

testing bw

1st edit. 

its not done.

I've converted this image to BW to see if I can see something new.

Cutting down information (color) to see some more.

That's Black and White.


Ansel Adams was the man who mastered Black and White back in the days.
He created this system that almost everyone followed. Nowdays it's a trend to break the system.
The system was called the Zone System.

Zone System is a system of Black and White photography that are expressed through the full spectrum of grayscale.

What the fu@k that mean?

It means two things.
1- It uses ALL grays between black and white.
2- I don't know why but 100% white (overblown) is looked down with a frown.

2 things happened in photography.
Daido Moriyama and color photography.

First, color photography advanced and Ansel later said he shudda' explored color more.
Second, Daido Moriyama broke the rule and made 100% (white or black) hot as f.

It is only now, that hot photographers like Jacob Aue Sobol (Magnum) started homaging Moriyama that made breaking rules prestigious.

Breaking the Zone became one of the hottest standard in photo.

People say "that grudgy contrast look" not knowing what is what.
Paolo Pellegrin had that look before Jacob is not the know in the knows.
It's "that grudgy contrast look" and the name "Daido Moriyama" was all that mattered.

Because people do not know what push two stops on a T-Max 3200 means anymore.
Everything is now Click, Post and Like.

So, the art of 1-tone (BnW) is that, information is cut down.
Contrast of presented information results as a result.
It means we focus on different things, like shapes. Figures and symbols.
Because there are no more pretty colors to distract, so then the subject speaks.

And contrasts add more attention to subject captured.
So Daido learnt all from Eikoh Hosoe, an unmatchable figure in Japan's Black and White photography.

And we are learning to lose all from click-post-likes.

Or not... as we transcend, sharing informations.
Such become influences; cultures shared among humanity.
Like, William Klein being Daido's influence in photography too...

Photo, the subjective world

choice of A or B, between A to Z...

Color is key to color photography.

Duh...


Color comes in 3 dimensions. Hue, saturation and tone.
But photography is not a painting.
It captures reality. Photon.

To correctly photongraph you have controls of; color balances, exposure and something else.

focus?
ya' mean, aperture?

or is it, style or attitude?

All you know, is... that color is key in color photography.

photography is

Photography is confusing. 

It is something people pay for, but not really. 

Photography is real. 

It is something that doesn't really exist. 

Reality is shady. 

It is like photography. 

It is a reflection of time, moment and watever material (photons, to be droll). 

So no wonder people don't want to pay. 

When 90's was still present, people paid for the "power of photography".

That is something fantasy. But real. 

 http://bambookstudio.com

Architecture is by: BAMBOOK http://bambookstudio.com

Lombok House, Gerupuk, Indonesia

architect - Paula Hueta (Bambook Studio)

http://bambookstudio.com/

Photoshop becomes geekish.

When your curve is hitting the mirror of your mountain (histogram), it means something. 

It means I can cut time, work faster and better. 

I don't care the rest but it works out like its like the other you , trapped in you, trying to come out, so I mirror the pattern and somewhere in the color, that missing link comes back to you. In color. 

Oh that photo (mirror reality) had this much color (realness)!

Is the effect I end up with. 

Of course you cannot do consciously because each mountain (histogram) makes a different story. 

Sometimes it doesn't look like a double-helix. But just like dancing. 

curves

I like to make my curves reflect color data. 

This is how you read computer. 

The white line controls the effect you want. The grey silhouette symbolizes the captured information in graph format. 

In 2-D scale, all you see is 'darks' and 'lights'.

In 3-D scale, we would additionally see 'hue' that determines colour. 

Curve tools are control format in 2-D scale. Up and down. Light and dark. 

This guy (picture) had a mountain full of information in the center (data in neutral grey tone). The zig zag creates a contrasty effect, but if you look at my white line, the curve reflects the grey mountain in the back.

What does this mean?

Now this one, I made it so my white line reverse-reflects the grey mountain.
It is hard to see in curves, so you can read the numbers below.

Actually, I'm not thinking while doing this, but rather just making the picture better-looking.
Somehow, the curve I cast reflects the grey mountain. And it feels extra good when it does.

It is peculiar to feel that something matters, or makes sense, when you tract it retrospectively... especially when it is not controlled.

It must be destiny, el-oh-el.

But if every image has their own destiny, maybe the curve can show a glimpse of their story, in their binary sense.

That catches my attention.