Digital Photo Restoration Service That Even Internet Novices Can Use

For consumers with old family photos to restore and enhance, there is now a new easy-to-use internet offering that provides an absolutely no-obligation service. Using only e-mail or the good old postal service to deliver photos to Caledonian Digital, even the most inexperienced computer users have nothing to fear.Glasgow, Scotland (PRWEB) August 18, 2006 – UK based Caledonian Digital launches a no-obligation Photo Restoration and Digital Enhancement service that even consumers with only basic computer and internet experience can use.

With no requirement to create an account, log in, upload files or download software, Caledonian Digital’s new online photo restoration service is easy to use. Using only e-mail or the postal service, even the most novice computer and internet user can feel confident using this service.Customers either send their photographs by post, which are then scanned on-site and returned, or they send scans of their photos or images from digital cameras by e-mail.Requests for service will be completed within 72 hours of receipt of photos or images, and all purchased orders include 1 free 6x4 print, with free shipping worldwide.

Customers get to proof their enhanced images in online private galleries, with web links, user names and passwords sent by e-mail, before deciding whether to purchase. Enhanced images are available for immediate download after secure online purchase through Roman Cart.

No money up front and no obligation to buy -- that’s how confident Caledonian Digital is in their ability to deliver.

The Caledonian Digital website is user friendly and offers extensive information relating to the services provided, as well as providing recent articles on various aspects of digital photography, and links to sources of hardware, software, and reference material for photo restoration enthusiasts.For additional information on the launch of Caledonian Digital’s new hassle free photo restoration and enhancement service contact Charlie Templeton or visit www.caledoniandigital.co.uk.

About Caledonian Digital:Based in the West of Scotland, Caledonian Digital was formed in July 2006 and uses Adobe Photoshop CS2.Contact:Charlie Templeton, DirectorCaledonian Digital0141-876-4521http://www.caledoniandigital.co.uk

Finally, a No-Obligation Digital Photo Restoration Service That Even Internet Novices Can Use

Make a Wanted Poster in Photoshop

There is something just plain fun about wanted posters - the fake ones, at least. I've seen wanted posters used in some of the most creative ways, from invitations to help wanted advertisements.

Of course, the stand-by is a framed photo.Making your own wanted poster is so easy in Photoshop, you'll want to make them of all your family members!

All you need is a photograph that you want to use, a wanted poster template that you can download here, and Photoshop. Any version of Photoshop from 7 on will work fine - and most graphics editors that can handle layers.Making the Poster1.

Open the photograph you want to use in Photoshop. Our first step is to turn this photo into a sepia-toned antique. How easy is it? Terribly. With your photo open, set your foreground color to a tannish orange.

Then, using your rectangle shape tool (make sure it's the shape tool, not the marquee tool!), draw a square that covers the canvas.

Now, change that shape layer's mode to "Overlay", "Color", or "Hue". Each layer mode will affect the final look differently, so just go with what you like best.

Now we get to start putting the poster together. Leave your sepia-toned photo open, and open the wanted poster template. Then, grab your "move tool" and drag & drop the photo onto the poster.

Resize until the photograph will fit easily in the upper portion of the template. Reference Illustration 02.3. I wanted to add a little style to the poster before going further. Photoshop has a very clean star shape built in - I used this shape to create a series of stars down each side of the photograph.

What's left?

Text, of course! I used Cleaver's Juvenia Blocked, which is available for download at most free font sites. Use some creativity with the wording you choose - the standard "Wanted Dead or Alive" is a bit overdone ...

(If you want to watch videos that SHOW you how to use Photoshop then follow this link)

I'm sure you can come up with something perfect. Reference Illustration 04.5. The last thing that I did was add a wood pattern to the background. Mayang provides dozens of free wood textures that you can view and snag from her site.And you're all done! Try printing the finished photo out and framing it - great work.

Make a Wanted Poster in Photoshop - Associated Content

Photoshop CS2 9.0.2 (#2): Downgrading to version 9.0.1 for printing issues; other problems

Last week Adobe posted an update to Photoshop CS2 -- version 9.0.2. The release was pulled shortly thereafter because it causes a significant issue with Mac OS X 10.3.9 systems that prevents printing.Unfortunately, several readers applied the Photoshop CS2 9.0.2 update before it was pulled from Adobe's servers Friday.

If you are experiencing this issue and need to print, its best to uninstall Photoshop completely, then re-install it from original media and re-apply the Photoshop CS2 9.0.1 update (resulting in an effective downgrade to 9.0.1)Photoshop CS2 can be uninstalled by deleting the following files:

* Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS2 * ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop CS2 Settings

* ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop CS2 Paths

MacFixIt reader Scott Mahaskey writes

"Using an Epson 1280 printer with Mac OS X 10.3.9, Adobe Photoshop 9.0.2 crashed immediately upon selecting the Print button within the dialogue window. I was forced to trash the application and reinstall back to CS 9.0.1. All appears to be working normally once again.

"Although this is the first major problem I have had with the app in some time, it is worth noting that the Adobe website was completely useless in helping me identify the problem. Seems to me that a development error of this magnitude is worthy of a 'Flash' notice on the company's homepage.

"Other issues Meanwhile, users are reporting some other, less significant issues with the now-pulled Photoshop CS2 9.0.2 release.

MacFixIt reader Scott Brady writes:

"When a Photoshop file is open (either a newly created file or an existing file), a box appears after a short interval stating 'Unable to complete your request due to program error' even when no action has been initiated. Occurs with JPG and PSD files.

The warning goes away when the OK button is clicked, but then returns shortly even if the program is in the background. This renders the program unusable, although it appears to save files normally when the warning is not displayed.

MacFixIt - Photoshop CS2 9.0.2 (#2): Downgrading to version 9.0.1 for printing issues; other problems

News photography and Photoshop

News photographers routinely process images using Adobe Photoshop software. But there has been a basic premise in the world of photojournalism that what was allowed in making prints in the pre-digital days of darkrooms is all that is acceptable today. Back in the days of the darkroom, we used very basic tools to develop prints. In black and white printing, the contrast of a picture was controlled by a paper’s grade. The higher the number of the paper, the higher the contrast.

In the wire agency darkooms I’ve worked in, we typically used grades 3,4 and 5. We allowed “dodge and burn” to lighten or darken areas. A dodge tool was made by taping a small piece of cardboard the size of a quarter onto a paper clip. A burn tool was a piece of cardboard the size of an 8×10 sheet of paper with a hole in the center.

If a print had dust spots caused by a dirty negative, we used Spotone, a photographic paint that was dabbed onto a print with a very fine paint brush to eliminate the unsightly marks. One other tool that was allowed when printing color pictures was changing color balance. This was done by placing filters between the light source of the enlarger and the paper that the image was being printed on. When we moved to scanning negatives and then to shooting digital, we began using Photoshop.

This program allows us to do the same things we did in the darkroom. Changes in contrast, dodging and burning and color balance are now done with software. The most controversial tool in Photoshop that we use is the cloning tool. The only accepted use of this tool is to clear dust from the image. We have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to using the cloning tool to change content, and by that we mean removing something that exists in a photo, moving or replicating it or adding to a photo.

The tools we use in Photoshop are levels, curves and saturation for changing contrasts; and, color balance to bring the image back to the way the natural eye would see the color.

Here is what we tell our photographers in the Handbook of Reuters Journalism...

Photoshop is a highly sophisticated image manipulation programme. We use only a tiny part of its potential capability to format our pictures, crop and size them and balance the tone and colour.

For us it is a presentational tool.The rules are – no additions or deletions, no misleading the viewer by manipulation of the tonal and colour balance to disguise elements of an image or to change the context.

Photoshop is a powerful image processing program with many more tools to help photographers produce the best quality image they can for the type of photography they do.

There is not a Photoshop program for use by news photographers and another for advertising, where image-changing is tolerated. What we in the news photo community need to regulate is what tools are used for photojournalism and what are not.

Adobe Photoshop Versus Adobe Photoshop Elements

Did your eyes cross reading that headline? It's easy to toss off the fact that Adobe Photoshop is the premier image-editing application around (well, it is), but there's more than one Photoshop around. Adobe Photoshop Elements is the smaller, sleeker, cheaper (that's a major point) version of the big guy.

It's not about which is better. Obviously the Photoshop with more features is better (as any computer geek will gleefully point out). It's about which is better for the individual consumer. Because there's a few hundred bucks to be saved buying Photoshop Elements if you don't need the, well, elements of Photoshop that get left out.

If there was one word that could sum up the difference, besides ‘price’, it would be ‘professionalism’. The full version of Photoshop is geared toward the professional who’s gearing his images toward the print shop, not just the Internet or the refrigerator. The first thing that invariably comes up is that Elements does not support the CMYK color space. If you don’t know what CMYK is, it’s unlikely you’ll ever need it. This sort of philosophy can be taken all the way down the line for much of the technical specs: lab color, high dynamic range image creation, working with 16- and 32-bit images. Your correspondent doesn’t know what some of that means and he’s writing an article.

Yet to someone who needs those features, Photoshop Elements has immediately encountered its dealbreaker. It’s this sort of thing that makes the comparison easy in some ways; one thing you truly need that Elements doesn’t have, and you’re gone. And that’s okay.

But don’t think Elements is all about stripping down Photoshop. It builds up, too, with a couple of nifty features like an easy one-click red-eye correction; something the average photographer can learn without much effort, whereas the digital professional would handle such an issue step-by-step with his own techniques. One might compare Adobe's goal for Photoshop Elements to Apple’s iMovie and iDVD, programs that try to make creative tasks easy and fun. Even kid-friendly. Take Elements’ exclusive Cookie Cutter tool, which is as cute as it sounds, fulfilling all your cut-something-out-in-the-shape-of-a-pawprint needs.

Does Elements work? Yes. Adobe is a respected producer of graphics software for good reason, and wouldn’t tarnish the good name of Photoshop. Still, there are some things in Elements that this reviewer considers too vital to go without. The last straw here is layer masks. A layer mask is a powerful tool that allows one to non-destructively select which parts of an image to hide or show, and is an essential part of making a good Photoshop project. Once you understand a layer mask, you’ll never go back to the old Eraser tool again. Is it worth the extra price? Here’s one reviewer that felt so, and opened his wallet accordingly.

Maybe your dealbreaker is different. Because, unless you’re desperate for that cookie cutter, there’s nothing wrong about the full Photoshop except the price, and in an ideal world we could all get past that and move on.

Adobe themselves seems oddly reluctant to post a convenient comparison on-site; one might expect the Elements site to be plastered with things Photoshop had, in an effort to steer the consumer toward the pricier option. And indeed the price is considerable; Adobe Photoshop can be around five times pricier than its sleeker counterpart, depending on where and how you shop. In the end, it comes down to your setup and your individual needs.

If you’re at home enjoying sticking your dog’s head on your mother-in-law’s body, you don’t need the highest-end software. If you’re in a professional graphic design environment, you need the best—but, then, didn’t you know already? Whatever the case, remember that ultimately it’s not the computer software that makes the art good, but the artist.

But, then, didn’t you know that already, too?

Adobe Photoshop 9.0.2 update available

A new update for Photoshop CS2 (for both Mac OS X and Windows) is available via the Adobe Updater which you can access from the Help menu within Photoshop.So far, no stand alone updates have appeared on either the Mac Photoshop Updates or Windows Photoshop Updates pages, nor the New Downloads. As there are no Read Me’s provided when installing updates via Adobe Updater, there is no additional info regarding the issues addressed with the 9.0.2 update, according to PhotoshopNews.com.

In Mac OS X Photoshop no longer crashes when encountering unsupported file types through the Acrobat Touch-up workflow. Supported files that incorrectly produced an “unsupported color space” message now open as expected. TIFF files with layer data greater than 2GB in size now open correctly. And a printing issue that could cause banding when using ink jet printers with Mac OS X 10.4 has been resolved, according to PhotosopNews.com.

Macsimum News - Adobe Photoshop 9.0.2 update available

Merging Two or More Images in Photoshop: ­ First Things First

Have you ever noticed how magazines, newspapers and some web designers are able to combine multiple photographs together to create cool collages of merged images?

Merging two or more images into one image has become the standard. Everywhere you look you will see examples.

Whether you are a web designer, graphic artists, or photographer you can benefit from the ability to merge photographs.

Photo merging techniques will allow you to create original logos, advertisements, backgrounds for web sites, and much more.

If you have Adobe Photoshop then you already have everything you need to create amazing digital collages from multiple photos. Photoshop is the professional’s choice for digital photographic editing and manipulation.

Before you start merging two or more photographs to make a digital collage it is important that you spend a little time planning your final image.

While technical knowledge in how to use Adobe Photoshop to merge photographs is essential don’t downplay the importance of planning your final image before you even start working in Photoshop.

With that being said, the layers function in Photoshop is perfect for allowing you to experiment with different options.

The following are areas to consider when planning a photo collage image.

Choosing Photographs

The most important part of merging multiple photographs is as simple as choosing the right photographs for your photo collage. The photographs you choose can compliment each other in terms of a general theme or color scheme.

Try using the eyedropper in Photoshop to check colors and look for complimentary colors.

Composition

Once you have chosen the right photographs for your photo collage it is time to think about your composition. Browse the Internet and look for example of digital photo collages and look for images that you feel are particularly effective in relaying the message intended by the advertiser or artist.

Pay attention to the composition of the images. Consider what makes the images blend well together.

The great thing about Adobe Photoshop is that you can work in multiple layers which will allow you to play around with your composition before permanent placement.

To learn more about Photoshop join my Photoshop Tips Ezine and then be sure to check out my Photoshop online tutorials.

Regards,
David.