Morning Star Creative Group

Best Work flow Practices!

Brian — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:29:55 +0000

In this new era of digital photography, everyone who takes pictures or uses them or even handles them, needs to understand and hopefully practice good work flow practices. What is “work flow practices” you ask? Simply put, it is the process of adhering to a set of practices to maintain the integrity of an image throughout its life cycle. That doesn’t sound all that simple! Let me break it down into smaller fragments so that you figure out where you are along the path and perhaps what you need to shore up in your work flow. And before I start, I must admit that what I am going over here is not new and I have not created nor discovered this information. In fact, all of it can be found at www.dpbestflow.org, a website dedicated to work flow processes. But in a nut shell here it is.

The life cycle of an image or the work flow that surrounds it is made up of five different stages. those stages are capture, ingestion, working, archiving, and output. Lets take a look at each of those stages and how best to handle them.

Capture: Regardless of what camera you are using, images need to be captured in the best quality possible. Nowadays, that is usually a RAW format. For some jobs JPEG is acceptable to use such as event photography and the like. But for most projects and uses, RAW format is going to be the best.

Ingest: this one sounds alot like eating and in a way it is the same idea. Ingesting involves downloading, renaming, adding bulk metadata, add develop settings, backup, send to viewer, and visual inspection. this is usually the spot where alot of people get stuck because they are not sure how to get it all done easily and so they might just down load it, develop it and maybe…maybe…do a backup. But the rest can be done quickly and effienctly with the right software. And most of it can be done with one or two pieces of software. My #1 choice is Adobe’s Lightroom. The little jewel will do everything for you except the back up part. And if you actaully do the renaming, metadata developing here, it will save you so much time in the future when you want to put your hands on it again. For my money, this is where the biggest time saver is and the part that can keep you sane. For the back-up I am going to suggest Chronosync. This software not only can back up your files and hard drives, but help you sync them to avoid duplicates and also provide verification for them as well.

Working: this part of the workflow is actually working with your files. it includes additional groupings, rating for quality, adjusting and final output. With this step it is more hands on work as you have to look at the images and make decisions on them based an quality and use. And this is where Adobe’s Photoshop will come into play as well. it seems everyone wants to get here as fast as possible so they can play with Photoshop…and I don’t blame them becasue i love it also! But if you don’t do the other work in front of this step then it will cost you time and money.

Archiving: This step can come into play at several different places because you might want to archieve master files, variations of developed files and final ones. Plus we all know (although we all dont do it) the importance of backing up our files and our hard drives. it is recommended that you use the 3-2-1 system for backing up images and hard drives. You make 3 copies of the data, 2 different media and 1 stored offsite. And again, if you are on the MAC, which I am so i am speaking to that platform, Chronosync is a wonderful piece of software to use for all of your backup needs.

And there you go in a nutshell. Of course there is so much more involved! I would suggest you take a look at the web site – www.dpbestflow.org for more information. Or if you want, we can come to your place of business and give you hands-on training in your own personal workflow. Give us a call and we would love to talk to you about your specific needs and how we can help!

A whole list of fun sites!

Brian — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:34:00 +0000

Here is a list of some fun sites submitted by one of my students ~Mili Mulic! Thanks Mili!

http://www.marcofolio.net/photoshop/ultimate_photoshop_design_resources.html – Photoshop Resources

http://www.tutorial9.net/photoshop/how-to-create-an-abstract-floral-explosion-in-photoshop/ – Cool Tutorial

http://www.adobetutorialz.com/articles/30970080/1/How-to-Create-a-Vintage-Radio-Poster-in-Photoshop – Same Kind of Tutorial

http://naldzgraphics.net/tutorials/30-photoshop-tutorials-in-creating-amazing-posters/ – Some of My favorite Tutorials

http://www.thephotoargus.com/inspiration/42-magnificent-photo-manipulation-examples-that-will-inspire-you/ – Great Inspiration, amazing photoshop techniques used in these

Scorching fire effects

Brian — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:47:20 +0000

Here is a Tutorial for Creating some very cool flame effects. And we all know that any photo is better when it hot!

Flame on

Scorching Effects

Here is a fireball – but can you create your own?

And here is a picture of a Guy who is already hot!

Quick keys

Brian — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:38:43 +0000

One of the best ways to increase your productivity and keep your sanity is to learn and use quick keys. So to that end, here are some fun and useful ones to remember: (I am using Mac keyboard layout – if you use windows…and although we love you dearly…we do hope you get a real computer someday …you will have to translate for your keyboard layout. )

CMD J – Creates a new layer in your layer pallet.

A Zippy Little Car!

Brian — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:29:16 +0000

Here is a fun little tutorial that will allow you to create a “Fast & Furious” car of your own!

This Tutorial starts with just a picture of a car and you go from there. Be aware, this one has instructions but no pictures of the layers. A bit more challenging!
Below you will find links to pictures of cars.

Car #1, Car #2, Car #3, Car #4

How to Create a Speed Lighting Photo Manipulation

A Sureal Desert!

Brian — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:43:04 +0000

This image comes right out of the imagination of your mind. Or in this case some one else’s mind…but that is a minor point here. A fun and challenging photoshop tutorial!

Desert Scene

Here is the link to the Tutorial – http://www.tutorial9.net/photoshop/design-a-surreal-desert-scene-in-photoshop/#1

Here are the Clock brushes
Here are the Bird brushes

have fun!

So you think you know Photoshop?

Brian — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:10:07 +0000

Sometimes Photshop is taking an image and say…”Now where do I want to go with this?
Other times it is…”How do i get there?
Well here is one that says…”how in the world did he get there?”
Seem simple? “No problem..” you say? Well…..

Step one…down load this file: texture

Step two…create the above image in photoshop. (full size image)

Step three…either pat yourself on the back because you do know photoshop….or…ask for help! We would love to show you how we did it! (and yes…there is more than one way to get there…there alwasy is!)

Creating Text With Sizzle!

Brian — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:41:58 +0000

Here are two tutorials that will help you create some text with some snap crackle and pop!

Here is a 3-D treatment

And here is some fun with grass!

Have fun!

Two versions of a Hot Girl!

Brian — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:59:21 +0000

Here are two tutorials that give a slightly different treatment to the same image. Both are using variations of similar PS techniques but the end results comes out quite different! Some easy ways to add sizzle to your images!

1> Version one of Hot Girl

2> Version two of Hot Girl

Timing is everything!

Brian — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:49:22 +0000

It happens at just the right moment….click….flash….and you have captured the image, freezing time as if it were. And with this image of the water drop, timing really was everything. A moment too soon or a moment to late and the all you get is a ripple in the water. But when everything works like it should, you get the beauty of the drop and it ability to somehow defy gravity. This image might also provoke several questions..like, “How did you do it?” or, “why do water drops look like that?” or “it might look pretty, but what does this have to do with my business?”. So a few answers.
We started with a large tray that we lined with a black plastic and filled it with a inch or so of water. The trick here was to get the plastic lay as flat as possible so as not to create any unwanted reflections within the water itself. The blue in the water is a reflection off of a gray background with a blue light being reflected off of it. There is also one over head light in a softbox that is helping illuminate the drop as well. And all that is missing is the camera. We tried at first to use a motion detector to trigger the light but it was too much hassle. So in the end we just decided to use our eyes and anticipate the drop – which as you can see worked just fine for this image. The image was shot on a hassleblad with a 80mm lens and a Phase One P30 digital back.

Now why do water drops and the splashes look like this? Well, after the water drop impacts to form a crater, the surface of the pool collapses with inward-rushing water colliding and rising to form a column. Along the column, water surface tension effects create secondary drops. Circular waves ripple out from the centre of impact. That or it is just plain magic pure and simple.

And Business wise? Well we like to think we can provide the same type of service for our clients. The right timing, the right equipment, and an eye for detail and watching for just the right moment to capture the perfect image. If you would like to make a big “splash” with your next project, give us a call and let us provide the creative edge that can help you be a big success.