Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

Excuse the off-topic but there haven't been any postings for several days. Always look forward to reading them each morning. Fred and Terry do such fine work.

Don

Yes - I enjoy Fred and Terry's work also.  Always learn something.  Bot no postings means that all is well - no one is having any problems; no one has anything to say - especially me.

Ummm ... sorry to disturb the quiet ambience (and I agree it's a welcome lull that reflects the maturity and stability of this superb product  :) ) , but I'm about to post a query!

It'll be my first post, so please allow me a few more minutes to get it together, and hopefully Fred and/or Terry will tell me where I've goofed, and we can quickly restore the peace  :D

Colin P.

Hi Don,
Usually, I think because of my enthusiasm and total commitment to Qimage, I come across as a zealot.
That's good, because I am!!  ;D

So many of my start up posts end up as lead balloons!

 Terry is quiet because the Olympics are almost in his back yard and he is enjoying them being close by. He knows the areas and terrain and has a greater appreciation than someone who lives elsewhere.
He hardly speaks to me. anymore.!!

I am quiet because I don't want to appear over bearing, but I love my QU.

So here's what I was up to so far this week.
Took a few pictures early (before sun up) on Monday.

One of them was as shown below.  ( I cropped it so the file would fit on here)  It is essentially a heron that is standing quietly as the dawn breaks and some beautiful pink light crosses the scene.

My task was to sharpen the heron ONLY. The heron is in the shadows... to lighten, would spoil the effect of the lighting.
As most of you know, if you sharpen trees, leaves, or water,  it will be easily noted as over sharpened. Makes it look fake!

So I selected Tone Targeted sharpening; Target the SELECTED RGB, and clicked on the heron as my sample.
Magnifier in preview set to a minimum of 1X, I set a radius of 4 and a strength of 250 to start.
Using the RGB mode, you will find it hard to see any change, the the selected RGB values are tight.
No I moved the EQ slider from (default) 100% to 95%, take a peek, move it to 90%, and 85%. Each increment widening the RGB values a little more.  
85% looked fine.
That was the bird! Now I recheck my pink water and my blue and gray water.   Nothing at all. No sharpening!

Terry has gone over this before but there are so many uses and so many ways to attack!

Second example:
A shot of the bay!   The way the light was slanting in, the ripples in the water were already appearing too sharp.
Task: sharpen the shoreline and the boats.

I used Sharpen selected TONE. The tone was the water. (Wait a minute! You said that was too sharp already!)
Right!  So I set Tone Targeted sharpening to a radius of 2 and strength of -100 (minus 100)
Then I added the extra click: Sharpen UNTARGETED AREAS.
That told QU to reverse the -100 to a +100 and apply to everything except the water.
Worked very well.

Try this stuff on your own images, and for those who still sit with the old versions, "C'mon man!  Time to stop cranking those car windows open. Get Electric Power Windows!   8) ??? :o

Fred

Don,
Did you open a can of worms?

Here's another thing I like to do with Qimage Ultimate.

My friend sent me a really poor shot of a neighbor. It's poor because it has a garage door, laundry on a clothesline, some trash pails, and the front of a car, and oh yes, his neighbor, a pretty young lady!
In under 5 minutes, I did some cute work in the Editor.
I sharpened her eye area using Tone Targeted RGB to make you look at her.
I cropped the image and added a Black Oval cutout.
I sent it back to my friend, Jack, who promptly printed a bunch of 4 x 6 prints for the girl.
His camera was an old Point and Shoot, and after cropping, we were limited by the lessening of pixels to 4 x 6.

Look at the before and the after.
I know *we* would never take a picture like that, but know someone that does.
 :D

Have fun with Ultimate!

Fred

Fred, I don't regret opening that can of worms, the contents could not have been better. Your tutorials are appreciated.

Don

Great examples, Fred, as usual.  Your heron example makes me think that I should re-visit some of my heron photos from Florida trips a few years ago.

An oval cutout is indeed a great way to cover up distracting elements and direct the viewer's attention to the main subject.

A "D" cup would work even better.

Fred :-)
 :D

Agreed, and that's an enhancement which should be applied manually, rather than through a Photoshop action, even though it might take hours of tweaking to achieve the desired result.

Must be another craft moment, how do you enhance without PhotoShop :) :) :)

Jeff

Jeff,
I am not supposed to give away any hints for Qimage 2013,  but I heard there were new size buttons.
After 11 x 14 would be "B", "C", "D", "DD", "DDD", and LOM.

Keep this between us.

Fred

As a traditionalist, I suggest that most of the tweaking of these enhancements could best be carried out under red light in the traditional dark room.

LOL Owen...

Same to you for the "size buttons" comment.

Thouht you or Jeff would have asked for a definition of the LOM button.
You had the B, C, D, DD, DDD, LOM.... "Look Out Mamma"

I was about to google LOM when "dark room" popped into my head, and at my age, every time I get an idea, something else goes flying out of my head.

Some years ago, cannot remember when (craft) I was having trouble with A B C DD etc so devised my own scale based on the horse measurement.

One hand, two hands and WaHey y'bugger man.

   

Jeff,
You just reminded me that I had not mentioned an "A" button in that list of enhanced sizes.
That was, primarily, due to the fact that Mike had placed the "A" button in the appropriate section; the downsized, email web size copies!

Sorry about my mis-'handling' of the information.

Fred

No matter what level of automation we achieve, there will always be a place (such as a dark room) for "hands-on" craftsmanship.  Such work can be rewarding...even stimulating...providing a release from the tensions of modern life, assuming that one has the basic skills which will allow him to rise to the occasion and fulfill the demands of the craft he practices.

Owen,
I think the jury is out on your premise.
When I met my wife, I was working in the Photo Finishing industry in NYC. 
I walked up to her and said, "Excuse me! My name is Fred. You look really pretty. Let's step into my Darkroom, and we can see what develops".

Now things are so much more advanced, more sophisticated, more learned, on a much higher plane.
Now they send their fake avatars around. You see a pretty gal on your i droid or blueberry, and you text, "WHADDUUUPPP!
You send your picture, not of your face, but of your stomach muscles.
She types to your stomach 6-pak, Wanna live together as Friends with Benefits? Major stipulation though!  Toilet seat must be down when finished in bathroom.

"Well I have a stipulation too, ya know. Will you drink beer from a can that does not have that extra air vented pouring hole?"
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

The next text says, "GOTTA GO!"

Owen, I really wonder about the continuation of growth in the new versions of software.

Fred

Someday there will be an app for that.  See Frederik Pohl, "Day Million."

Is it any wonder that no one is posting?

I dunno!
It brought out 2 pages of posts and it even brought you out for your first post.

Welcome!

Friendly and knowledgeable group on here....

Come on in and say Hi, and tell everyone what you like to shoot or print.

Fred