Amersham Beyond Group - 3rd Apr 2025
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 3:48 pm
MONTHLY CHALLENGES
Current and past Challenge images can be seen at Amersham Beyond Group on Flickr.
For APS Members only, the images are also available for viewing and commenting on Facebook here.
We enjoyed the current Challenge images which are;
#49 CHEER UP!
#50 PRIMARY COLOURS
… and the latest Challenge;
#51 INSPIRED BY PAUL KENNY
Paul Kenny has a very distinctive style. Most of his work consists of beautifully intricate macro images of corroded and distressed materials or arrangements of vegetation and flowers. The entry for this Challenge was lower than usual and we discussed possible issues with suitable subjects, methods of recording and presentation. Although Paul’s preference has become a scanner, this is not necessary for us and in fact mobile phones are particularly good at close-up photography with a useful depth of focus. He tends to scan with the lid open, producing a black background although he has also produced high-key images against white so this need not be a concern.
For many of us, the abstract studies of corrosion, salty deposits and bits of feather or seashore detritus were the most evocative, with the arrangements of vegetation and flowers being more mundane record shots. We also agreed a change to the #51 Challenge guidance, to allow the use of more post-processing to introduce elements to the image such as more colour.
Comments after the meeting left me feeling that everyone was more in tune with Paul’s work and inspired to have a go in April and over the summer.
As usual Bob’s images introduced us to more creative phone apps including) MoshUp (£free to £6.99 iOS/Android) , Adobe Paint Can (discontinued?), iColorama (iOS free + in app purchases) as well as old favourites such as Bluristic and Tiny Planets.
Laurie also reminded us of the value of the highly respected app Snapseed (£free - iOS, Android +Windows and Mac by emulation) for simple but sophisticated manipulation of images.
The next Challenge will be;
#52 ONE TO THREE
For this Challenge the idea is to create three distinctly different versions from one original exposure. Each can be cropped, treated, manipulated or processed by any means desired to create a different interpretation of the original.
To help with the organisation and display of the images, they should have filenames in the following form;
#52 NAME ORIGINAL by Freda Bloggs.jpg
#52 NAME 1 by Freda Bloggs.jpg
#52 NAME 2 by Freda Bloggs.jpg
#52 NAME 3 by Freda Bloggs.jpg
To assist with understanding we viewed six original images each followed by versions that had been cropped, rotated, turned to mono or filtered in a wide variety of ways to enhance or emphasise different aspects of the images. Many thanks to Peter for helping with these examples.
OTHER CREATIVE PROJECTS
London Landmarks. Viv showed us 13 excellent images on the theme of London Landmarks, seeking feedback on them. They were abstracted in a variety of styles and treatments from high key, low key, intentional camera movement, textured and distressed, any one of which could be the basis for an amazing set of images.
BACK OF BEYOND DIARIES
Blend If. Apart from Opacity and Blending Modes, Photoshop has another important way to combine two layers – Blend If. In the Layers Panel, double-click on a layer thumbnail or blank area to reveal the Layer Style Palette. At the bottom centre of this palette are the Blend If sliders. These control the visibility of areas of the upper or lower layer depending upon tone or colour. The result is a cleaner blend of the two layers without the changes introduced by Blending Modes. This is easier to do than to describe! Thanks to Maggie for pointing out an excellent PhLearn tutorial on the subject which also goes into additional capabilities that are not immediately apparent and that I had not previously discovered.
I used Blend If with my #51 Inspired by Paul Kenny images to combine a texture layer with a subject layer.
NB Blend If is not available in Photoshop Elements by default although the remarkable Elements+ utility adds it in, along with most other missing Creative Cloud tools for a small fee.
High Pass Sharpening. I mentioned the importance of sharpening in an APS talk recently. Almost all images need some sharpening, although jpgs sometimes have enough already. There are many ways to sharpen an image and everyone will have a favourite. Several people asked for my personal (old school) method so here it is;
I create a composite of all visible layers (Stamp Visible - see below) at the top of the stack then apply High Pass filter and a blending mode to it.
For a full resolution image for printing purposes I would start with 4.5px setting of High Pass and an Overlay blending mode.
For a copy downsized for projection (1600x1200px typically) I would start with 2px and a Soft Light blending mode.
Viewing at 100%, if the result looks good - you're done!
Refinements; If you need to decrease or increase the sharpness you can change the blending mode. The range is Soft Light to Overlay to Hard Light to Vivid Light in order of increasing strength. You can also re-do the High Pass filter with a different pixel setting (I rarely go above 5 or 6) You can also reduce the opacity of the High Pass layer to reduce the strength.
Apply a layer mask if necessary to reduce or remove the sharpening from areas that should be soft like clouds or out of focus areas. I have further refined the process by making the Stamp Visible layer into a Smart Object so that I can easily tweak the High Pass pixel value. I have also recorded the process as a selection of Actions at different settings for different purposes.
Judging how much sharpening is appropriate comes with experience but a screen image should always be judged at 100% magnification and a printed image should always be judged after printing. Too much sharpening will result in edge halos becoming visible and the image being ‘crunchy’. You’ll get to know it when you see it.
Photoshop Stamp Visible. The most useful function in Photoshop for which there is no direct command or menu item. Stamp Visible creates a new layer containing everything visible in the existing layers (which remain intact). Very handy for applying filters or sharpening (as above). The ridiculous shortcut is; Press and hold the Ctrl + Shift + Alt keys, and then tap the letter “e” (Mac = Command + Shift + Option, then tap “e”). Yet another glaringly obvious shortcoming of Photoshop that has never been addressed.
Polygon Lasso Tool Bug. Whilst on the subject of Photoshop bugs, it should be possible to remove previous pins from a Polygon Lasso path with the Backspace or Esc key. However this has been broken for me for a couple of years. I discovered recently a couple of fixes that work for me and might work for you; Edit>Keyboard Shortcuts>Use Legacy Undo Shortcuts>tick. Another possible fix is to make the first point with the shift key pressed and the problem will then disappear (for the session only?).
Faststone Image Viewer. Just a periodic reminder that the most useful app for a photographer on Windows is Faststone (£Free). It is an image browser but does so much more: basic editing, cropping, bulk resizing and renaming, comparing, rating, tagging, contact sheets, slideshows etc etc. I use it every day and is one of the few apps for which I have paid a voluntary donation on a number of occasions. I find it pretty bullet-proof and the only feature it lacks (for me) is the ability to sort on all metadata.
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting is on Thursday 1st May 2025 in the Drake Hall at the Community Centre.
Cheers, Steve.
Current and past Challenge images can be seen at Amersham Beyond Group on Flickr.
For APS Members only, the images are also available for viewing and commenting on Facebook here.
We enjoyed the current Challenge images which are;
#49 CHEER UP!
#50 PRIMARY COLOURS
… and the latest Challenge;
#51 INSPIRED BY PAUL KENNY
Paul Kenny has a very distinctive style. Most of his work consists of beautifully intricate macro images of corroded and distressed materials or arrangements of vegetation and flowers. The entry for this Challenge was lower than usual and we discussed possible issues with suitable subjects, methods of recording and presentation. Although Paul’s preference has become a scanner, this is not necessary for us and in fact mobile phones are particularly good at close-up photography with a useful depth of focus. He tends to scan with the lid open, producing a black background although he has also produced high-key images against white so this need not be a concern.
For many of us, the abstract studies of corrosion, salty deposits and bits of feather or seashore detritus were the most evocative, with the arrangements of vegetation and flowers being more mundane record shots. We also agreed a change to the #51 Challenge guidance, to allow the use of more post-processing to introduce elements to the image such as more colour.
Comments after the meeting left me feeling that everyone was more in tune with Paul’s work and inspired to have a go in April and over the summer.
As usual Bob’s images introduced us to more creative phone apps including) MoshUp (£free to £6.99 iOS/Android) , Adobe Paint Can (discontinued?), iColorama (iOS free + in app purchases) as well as old favourites such as Bluristic and Tiny Planets.
Laurie also reminded us of the value of the highly respected app Snapseed (£free - iOS, Android +Windows and Mac by emulation) for simple but sophisticated manipulation of images.
The next Challenge will be;
#52 ONE TO THREE
For this Challenge the idea is to create three distinctly different versions from one original exposure. Each can be cropped, treated, manipulated or processed by any means desired to create a different interpretation of the original.
To help with the organisation and display of the images, they should have filenames in the following form;
#52 NAME ORIGINAL by Freda Bloggs.jpg
#52 NAME 1 by Freda Bloggs.jpg
#52 NAME 2 by Freda Bloggs.jpg
#52 NAME 3 by Freda Bloggs.jpg
To assist with understanding we viewed six original images each followed by versions that had been cropped, rotated, turned to mono or filtered in a wide variety of ways to enhance or emphasise different aspects of the images. Many thanks to Peter for helping with these examples.
OTHER CREATIVE PROJECTS
London Landmarks. Viv showed us 13 excellent images on the theme of London Landmarks, seeking feedback on them. They were abstracted in a variety of styles and treatments from high key, low key, intentional camera movement, textured and distressed, any one of which could be the basis for an amazing set of images.
BACK OF BEYOND DIARIES
Blend If. Apart from Opacity and Blending Modes, Photoshop has another important way to combine two layers – Blend If. In the Layers Panel, double-click on a layer thumbnail or blank area to reveal the Layer Style Palette. At the bottom centre of this palette are the Blend If sliders. These control the visibility of areas of the upper or lower layer depending upon tone or colour. The result is a cleaner blend of the two layers without the changes introduced by Blending Modes. This is easier to do than to describe! Thanks to Maggie for pointing out an excellent PhLearn tutorial on the subject which also goes into additional capabilities that are not immediately apparent and that I had not previously discovered.
I used Blend If with my #51 Inspired by Paul Kenny images to combine a texture layer with a subject layer.
NB Blend If is not available in Photoshop Elements by default although the remarkable Elements+ utility adds it in, along with most other missing Creative Cloud tools for a small fee.
High Pass Sharpening. I mentioned the importance of sharpening in an APS talk recently. Almost all images need some sharpening, although jpgs sometimes have enough already. There are many ways to sharpen an image and everyone will have a favourite. Several people asked for my personal (old school) method so here it is;
I create a composite of all visible layers (Stamp Visible - see below) at the top of the stack then apply High Pass filter and a blending mode to it.
For a full resolution image for printing purposes I would start with 4.5px setting of High Pass and an Overlay blending mode.
For a copy downsized for projection (1600x1200px typically) I would start with 2px and a Soft Light blending mode.
Viewing at 100%, if the result looks good - you're done!
Refinements; If you need to decrease or increase the sharpness you can change the blending mode. The range is Soft Light to Overlay to Hard Light to Vivid Light in order of increasing strength. You can also re-do the High Pass filter with a different pixel setting (I rarely go above 5 or 6) You can also reduce the opacity of the High Pass layer to reduce the strength.
Apply a layer mask if necessary to reduce or remove the sharpening from areas that should be soft like clouds or out of focus areas. I have further refined the process by making the Stamp Visible layer into a Smart Object so that I can easily tweak the High Pass pixel value. I have also recorded the process as a selection of Actions at different settings for different purposes.
Judging how much sharpening is appropriate comes with experience but a screen image should always be judged at 100% magnification and a printed image should always be judged after printing. Too much sharpening will result in edge halos becoming visible and the image being ‘crunchy’. You’ll get to know it when you see it.
Photoshop Stamp Visible. The most useful function in Photoshop for which there is no direct command or menu item. Stamp Visible creates a new layer containing everything visible in the existing layers (which remain intact). Very handy for applying filters or sharpening (as above). The ridiculous shortcut is; Press and hold the Ctrl + Shift + Alt keys, and then tap the letter “e” (Mac = Command + Shift + Option, then tap “e”). Yet another glaringly obvious shortcoming of Photoshop that has never been addressed.
Polygon Lasso Tool Bug. Whilst on the subject of Photoshop bugs, it should be possible to remove previous pins from a Polygon Lasso path with the Backspace or Esc key. However this has been broken for me for a couple of years. I discovered recently a couple of fixes that work for me and might work for you; Edit>Keyboard Shortcuts>Use Legacy Undo Shortcuts>tick. Another possible fix is to make the first point with the shift key pressed and the problem will then disappear (for the session only?).
Faststone Image Viewer. Just a periodic reminder that the most useful app for a photographer on Windows is Faststone (£Free). It is an image browser but does so much more: basic editing, cropping, bulk resizing and renaming, comparing, rating, tagging, contact sheets, slideshows etc etc. I use it every day and is one of the few apps for which I have paid a voluntary donation on a number of occasions. I find it pretty bullet-proof and the only feature it lacks (for me) is the ability to sort on all metadata.
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting is on Thursday 1st May 2025 in the Drake Hall at the Community Centre.
Cheers, Steve.