Photography Blography

Art from a Lens

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:42:00 +0000

This week I've been trying to spend a little time in my mini-studio shooting a bunch of "objects" - mostly on white backgrounds, so not the sort of thing one would really consider to be photographic art in the classic sense. Just everyday objects, like watches and rings, or paperclips and newspapers. The sort of thing you find website owners and advertising companies using to illustrate an article or caption. Useful stuff, but not what most of us would consider "art".

There's a bit of a long story with this. My studio has been taken over by a bedroom set that my mother-in-law uses when she comes to visit, so I really don't have a studio any more, but I have my backgrounds set up, and my studio lights ... except I have to stand on the opposite side of the bed to avoid shadows and get my 200mm lens to focus properly. But yesterday, while looking for my Gary Fong diffuser, I ran across this little 50mm lens I'd bought a few years ago at Henry's out of their "used" bin.

I think I've taken two pictures with it - right when I bought it to make sure it was okay. Then put it away and forgot about. This is a fully manual focus lens with no chance of autofocus, so using it for outdoor work like birds and animals is cumbersome ... I tend to set my big lens on auto when I'm trying to shoot moving things because it's just easier.

What pushed me to buy this little lens in the first place is that it has a wide f-stop of 1.4, and was in new condition. It really looked as though it hadn't been used at all ... and the price was right at about $100. Anyway, when I came across it in my photo-closet I pulled it out and stuck it on my camera and ... bam. I fell in love with it. Beautiful little thing with a nice sharp focus and the manual options make you work for what you get out of it. Adjusting your f-stop and aperature and then focusing manually, being able to get close the subject when you want ... all of these things can work to create art from your photo.

And while I know that photography in and of itself is an art, being able to get something different every shot by making small adjustments with a manual lens brings a pleasure that you just don't really get using auto-focus option. Maybe it's just me. I've always said I'm a bit of a control freak, and while I can still just shoot an ordinary shot of an everyday object with my nice little lens, I can also turn that little lens into a purveyor of artwork, like these two shots.

Anyway, today, I just really wanted to remind all of you photographers out there to consider spending more of your time working with both manual lenses, and the manual settings on your camera.

As we get busy in the world of photography, most of us don't really have the time needed to stop and think about manual settings and manual focusing, and there are situations where those just don't work. But they do work, and work really well when you just want to do something different.

And, one more thing ... don't pass up a good buy on a lens just because it's only got a manual focus. That manual focus can be very satisfying.

Risk: Copyright Infringement

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Most of my visitors come here looking for photoshop templates for frames and calendars, but I still see a fair number of visitors each month digging back into my photography or photoshop tutorials, and while I know that the most popular articles here are those that deal with calendars and templates, today I'm going to step away from that for a short while to talk about copyright infringement.

For those who actually aren't familiar with copyright law, you can lookup "copyright laws for ______" and fill in the blank with your own country. Most countries have similar copyright laws, but they aren't exactly the same everywhere, so you need to be aware of the ones that apply to you. As well, if you sell imagery online, you need to check with your stock site because in some cases, you may also need to comply with copyright laws in the country the stock sites works from. This is likely to also be the case if you use any advertising to monetize your site - be sure to check.

What I really wanted to bring up was the risks each photographer may face, if copyright lawsuits continue to become as silly as these two following ones. One of the sites I read every day is TechDirt - they produce articles on a wide range of subjects from tech - to internet - to copyright.

A little while ago there was an article about a photographer (Janine Gordon) who had brought a lawsuit against another (Ryan McGinley) for having violated her copyrights. The images Ryan McGinley produced may have some minor similarities to hers, but (a) they are not HER images, they are his, and (b) one really cannot "copyright" ideas, or how a photo is framed. If that were the case there would be hundreds of thousands of images infringing on some very old photographs. In some cases in the images she claims as "infringing" the similarity is nothing more than what happens to be in the image (such as, a young couple kissing, or a young man jumping in the air with arms raised).

The court essentially told Ms. Gordon that there was "no substantial similarity" between her images, and Ryan McGinley's images, and that her conception of copyright law has "no basis in statute, case law, or common sense". She however, seems to think the judge doesn't understand copyright. Which could be so since many Judges actually don't, but in this case, I think the judge appears to be fairly well informed. These filings are usually public information, so you could look it up if you have an interest. (Another article on this from Artnet)

She's appealing. Of course. Why not waste a little more money and time on it? Well, Ms. Gordon isn't the only one whose filed such cases. In the UK a suit was filed in which, incredibly,the court has upheld the complainant's case. Even more surprising is that the images (at least the two I've seen) are actually quite different - the framing is not at all similar, nor is the viewpoint from which the images were taken from. The only thing of similarity is the location, and the fact that both have the familiar double-decker bus and landmarks (like Big Ben), and they are both black and white while the bus is red. UK copyright laws are actually different than Canadian and US laws, but I find this case not only ridiculous, but a little concerning, and somewhat unnerving.

If the second image can be considered infringing on the first ... then we photographer's are all going to be lost in a web of copyright infringements. Let's face it; how many "pretty young girl with dark hair against a white background" shots do we all make? These are all very similar, with the exceptions perhaps being the brand of clothing worn and the model used, but the style, layout, framing, background and editing could all be quite similar.

Take these older shots I have of some bmx bikers:

This is pretty standard stuff. If you are shooting stunt bikers, a lot of the time they'll be up in the sky performing tricks. How many similar images to those three above have you seen?

If I go looking (and I did) I can find all kinds of similar images - a bmx stunt rider against a blue sky wearing red and black. Seriously people ... a couple were so eerily familiar that I went to check them out to make sure they weren't mine. And they weren't. The positions were pretty much the same, even some of the suits and boots were the same colour, but they simply weren't my images.

Since they weren't mine, they are aren't infringing on my copyright. That seems plain to me, but I guess not to photographer's who think you can copyright stuff like this.

There are situations where you are going to get similar images - a bike rally, a wedding, a model shoot in a studio, somebody jumping up in the air with their arms spread. What in heaven's name makes that a copyright infringement? Um, nothing ... not as far as I can tell.

True, I am no lawyer and I'm not really a copyright expert either, but I've had my head stuck in copyright law documentation for years on end making sense of it, even to the point of paying a lawyer to unravel some it. I have a reasonably good grasp of copyright law - US and Canada (no, not UK), though I suspect even the guys who wrote copyright law don't understand it fully.

"Like that photo" just really isn't copyright infringement. I suppose what it really is (or could be) is lack of imagination but somehow, I don't think that's against the law. Besides, everybody whose been to a bike rally will have images like those ones I posted above. Everyone whose been to Paris will have similar pictures of the Arc de Triomphe or the Eiffel Tower, so where do we draw the line between infringing and coincidence?

Even if one actually sets out to purposely duplicate the circumstances, layout and framing in a photo (which is just really bad form for any professional) I still don't see it as copyright infringement. Bad taste, sure I suppose it could be, but that's about all. Artistic similarity is one thing, but copyright isn't about "artistic similarity". In general, it would be really bad form to directly copy someone else's work and most of us try hard not to do that on purpose, but creating a similar photograph based on it's elements (background sky, dirt bikers) is not even doing that. Sometimes, the camera just catches what it catches.

Whose going to sue who, er whom? See link below for photos just like that
Google Search: Barbed wire against blue sky

I am so tempted to take my grandson into the backyard and have him jump up in the air with arms spread ... then insert a blue and why sky background using my green screen ... just for the point of it.

Anyhow, sorry for ranting and not giving you any new templates, but for me this feels like a pretty important thing. If the appeals court reverses the judges decision, all of us could be up the creek without a paddle when it comes to copyright. Including Miss Gordon, because at least one of her photos appears to have drawn inspiration from a photograph by Arthur Fellig, c. 1938 (even if it didn't, it's probably similar enough to suit her own conditions of similarity).

New Template for the New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:51:00 +0000

Over the course of the last month or so I've been digging out some of our old family photos and snapshots to use in personalized calendars, and while doing so I ran across a bunch of those photo envelopes that used to come with your photos and negatives from the various photo-print shops. Some print shops use generic type envelopes, while some of the larger ones had their own logos and designs branded onto the envelopes. Most of you over the age of 30 or 40 will remember these - there were hundreds of styles and designs and some of those were marvelous graphic designs.

What came to mind as I sorted was the possibility of creating one of these for handing out some of my own prints, so I put a few of them aside to look at later. These are not the sort of thing you'd likely want to mass produce unless you happen to provide photo prints from other people's digital files. In that case, you'd most likely already have a bulk-supplier where you can get these. But for those of us who produce proof prints or small prints from our own files, these branded photo envelopes can add a nice touch and provide something a little different to clients.

This completed envelope uses a few pictures from a couple's wedding on the front, with floral borders in orange and red (that matched their fall wedding colours). On the large back flap is a larger version of my business card. This example has the "front" with a white background, and while I'd normally print the background envelope as one solid colour, I've made the back and back flap black here, so you can see how you can adjust the folds to fit your needs.

The template itself is simple and basic - but be sure to remove the text and "fold" lines before you print your finalized photo envelope. Start off with a sample layout of your own, run a draft print on paper, cut and fold the envelope to see where you want to adjust the fold lines. The larger flaps are designed to fold back and forth like an accordian, which allows the portion of the envelope that holds the photos to expand to hold more photos than a single-fold tab would. If you don't intend to use these for larger numbers of photos, you can cut those larger tabs down to a single-fold tab. Once you are satisfied with your "envelope", run your print on 11 /x 17" paper - preferably a heavy-weight, smooth grained paper, or if you want a very heavy envelope, use photo print paper.

If you aren't planning to customize the envelope for an individual event or couple, you can take your final layout and design on a card or disc to a print-house and order the envelopes in bulk.

To download the template (only available as a .png file) use this link.

2012 Vertical Calendar Template

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:52:00 +0000

As we move towards the Christmas holiday season, and the end of 2011, I've got just one more calendar template for you folks. Looking through the calendars I posted for 2012, I couldn't find a vertical one, which I almost always produce so here is a vertical calendar template for 2012 (see the calendar section for more 2012 calendar templates). It is a very basic calendar with 12 months, and the header slots for the days of the week come in a variety of colours. I have these set up on separate layers in the .psd file (one layer for each colour), or for those of you who just want a transparent template to lay over a photo (or multiple photos) or background of your choice, you can download the .zip or the .rar file, which contains one template with each of the colour bands. (See the bottom of the page for download links.)

The text on all these files is black, but you can use these on a dark background by simply inverting the template (in photoshop, you can do that using "image/adjustments/invert" from the menu, on the template layer only). Keep in mind when you invert the template, you may find the colour bands a different shade too. As well, you can use the layer styles and add a drop-shadow of white if using the black text on a dark background, which will make the text readable on a dark background without inverting the template.

For those of you just looking for printable calendars for 2012, there are two calendars at the bottom of the page which you can download and print yourself - whether at home, or at a photo shop-kiosk, or whether you order them online. Please remember, while you have permission to print these for yourself, you don't have permission to upload them at any sales site (such as Zazzle or Etsy or any similar place), nor are you allowed to sell the printed calendars (except for the amount they cost you to print - please do not remove my copyright notice from the printables). This is for the "printables" calendars only (ie: The Heart Fractal and Damask Fractals).

Any calendar you create using your own images or designs using the basic templates can be sold wherever you like (you can't sell the template only, you must add your own designs).

This will most likely be one of my lasts posts for 2011. As Christmas draws closer, I find myself falling further behind with preparations - namely baking the mass lot of cookies I do every year. Each year I find it harder to get moving and start the baking. Once I get it started, I'm okay, but right now...I really need to get started.

If I don't post again before Christmas, I hope you all have a wonderful, happy and safe Christmas, and my wishes for a prosperous and Happy New Year!

DOWNLOADS

2012 Vertical Calendar Template in PSD format (for photoshop)

2012 Vertical Calendar Templates in PNG form - ZIP File

2012 Vertical Calendar Templates in PNG form - RAR File

2012 Printable Calendar in JPG Format - "The Heart of it All" - Fractal

2012 Printable Calendar in JPG Formal - "Damask Fractals

New 3-Year Folding Calendar Template: 2012 to 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:10:00 +0000

Here's a new 3-year folding calendar template for use in photoshop or other similar editing programs. This calendar is not available in .psd format, but is available as a .png with a transparent background, making it easy for you to place your own image(s) under the template.

The top of the calendar has a basic "waved" shape and wide black outlines. The shaped top can be used to imprint your own business/company name, or any other text you'd like. It is designed to print 17" wide by 11" high (so print on 11X17 paper), but can easily be resized in your editing program to fit an 11 X 8.5 page or card stock.

This calendar also runs for three years, beginning with 2012 (so, we're getting ready for next year with this one) and running to 2014. When you print the calendar itself, you can trim way the the excess white areas to create the shaped top: note that the gray area is meant to be used to join the two outside edges of the calendar after you fold it along the appropriate divisions (use glue, or two-sided tape).

If you plan to use these as mail-outs or hand-outs for promoting your business or website, you should leave them flat after trimming away the unwanted white areas, and use the double-sided tape option rather than glue.

You can download the full-sized png file from this link: 3-Year Fancy Edged Folding Calendar (2012 to 2014)

Here's a sample folding calendar created using this template, showing a wavy text across the top for two websites. Although this calendar has a summer scene, I've created the same calendar using one scene from each season, but you could use three individual photos behind the three different years if you want.

If you want to download this completed calendar to print for yourself, use this link: 3-Yr. Printable Folding Calendar of Smith's Bay/Invermara, in Orillia.

That's the newest calendar for this year. Be sure to check the "Calendars" section on our site (in the menu above) for other 2012 Calendar Templates for Photoshop.

2012 Calendar for Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:13:00 +0000

Well, after a bit of a summer break, we're back with a new calendar. This isn't exactly a "template" like I normally produce, this one is just a printable 2012 calendar page designed specifically for kids - the younger kids in your life.

This calendar has been designed to print at 30 X 36 inches (poster-sized), and in black and white. It contains a variety of graphics for kids to colour, so when you print one, you might need to buy some markers or coloured pencils to go along with it. At this large size, it can give the younger set something fun to do on a rainy day, and gives them the opportunity to have a calendar with their own choice of colours, and you can even add their name to the page before you print it by opening it in your image editing program and adding new text.

If you have younger kids who are computer-savvy, you can let them colour it in any paint program that accepts .jpg files (which is most of them). You can find a listing of free and open source paint programs from this link.

DOWNLOAD the full .jpg file here and have it printed wherever you like. Of course it's possible to resize it and print it yourself, but I have a feeling that an 8 X 10 print simply won't amuse the kids the same as a giant poster would.

You can download this 2012 Printable Kids Calendar from this link.

NOTE TO CHROME USERS: For some reason the Chrome browser doesn't always want to display the full size image when you click the link above. The image IS there, so to download it, right click the link for the .jpg file download and just save it to your computer.

2012 Pocket Calendar Template

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:59:00 +0000

I'm moving along slowly towards updating all of the 2011 Calendars for 2012. The current template being offered today is for the 2012 Pocket Calendar. This template does not contain the holidays on the back (the 2011 pocket calendar had the holidays), but instead carries a small 2013 calendar (full year) on the back, with a place on the front to use one of your own photos.

For those who want to edit the calendar, the main title (top left on the inside) and the business name reference (top right on the inside), as well as the names of the months and the copyright notice (bottom right, inside) are editable text areas in photoshop.

The calendar comes in two pieces - a .psd file for the inside calendar template and one for the outside. For those who simply want to print a pocket calendar, it is also available in a printable .jpg file. Please use the download links BELOW the samples to download the full size template files, or the full size printable files.

DOWNLOAD THE 2012 POCKET CALENDAR TEMPLATE FOR PHOTOSHOP (OUTSIDE) IN psd FORMAT HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE 2012 PRINTABLE POCKET CALENDAR (outside - as shown above) IN jpg FORMAT HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE 2012 POCKET CALENDAR TEMPLATE FOR PHOTOSHOP (INSIDE) IN psd FORMAT HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE 2012 PRINTABLE POCKET CALENDAR (INSIDE - as shown above) IN jpg FORMAT HERE.

I guess that's a pretty short post for this time, but it's all you really need, right? Hope you all have a great week.

2012 Calendar Template 16 Months + 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 20:26:00 +0000

Back again after a week or so of preparing another new calendar template in .psd format (for Photoshop). This new calendar incorporates the last four months of 2011 (Sept-Dec), all of 2012, and a smaller reference calendar at the bottom for 2013. This large one-page calendar (prints 30 X 36 and smaller) should suit most needs: the addition of the last four months of 2011 will make it useful for school planning throughout the semesters from Sept. 2011 to June 2012.

The .psd file for the calendar is organized in folders - one for 2011, one for 2012, and 2013. Within each folder are one-layer templates for each month. This, unfortunately, makes the text non-editable but makes it much easier to change the layout of the calendar by simply dragging the month grid (including dates and days) into position where you want it. Below each month are two layers for the colour - one layer for the colour-stripe (behind the days of the week), and one layer for the dates. Each year has a different colour, which you can turn off or on, or change the colour if you like by filling the colour boxes with your choice of colour. You can adjust the transparency level of each colour to suit your liking. Or, you can replace the colour boxes with one of your own images if you'd rather do that.

As well, the .psd file contains a folder for Decorative Elements (two can be seen on the examples shown here on my blog) - there are four different offerings for Decorative Elements which you can use or discard, as you like. And you'll find the file also has the "guides" visible when you open it. It is a somewhat complex and fairly large file, so downloading it may take some time.

For those who don't have photoshop and can't make use of the .psd file there are two transparent .png files available for download instead. One is the calendar template with no colour backgrounds, and the other is the calendar with the colour backgrounds.

DOWNLOADS

And, for anybody who doesn't want to fiddle with their own calendar inserting backgrounds or making changes, you can download this printable calendar for your own use (use THIS LINK to download the file, do not click the image to download because the image is just a sample size).

With any luck, that should keep most of you busy for the next little while!

2012 Calendar Template

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:47:00 +0000

Note: Download links for all formats at the end of the article.

Okay, I know we're starting a little early in the year with this, but it seems that sometimes there just isn't enough time to get everything done towards the end of the year. If any of you are like me, you have good intentions of starting early to create your calendars, but end up looking for a template at the last minute. Yep, that's me, so this year (for once) I've followed through with my plans to get my calendar template ready a little earlier than normal. This is a basic template - available as a .psd file for photoshop, or as a .png file with a transparent background.

The photoshop .psd file has each month in its own folder, and customizable sections include the large 2012 text for the year, the dates for each month and the month names. The day names are part of the template, but if you want to change them to your own text, you can either erase the days of the week and put in your own, or use a white PS brush and "white them out" so you have a blank grid to add your own text. This .psd file has no images included - it just contains the basic template and dates so you can "do your own thing".

If you don't have photoshop, or don't want to change the text, you can download the transparent calendar template in .png format instead. It has everything on one transparent file so you can decide what background you want to use. This example shows it on a plain white background - you'll note that the text is black. If you want to use a dark background you simply invert the layer containing the template, which will change the black text and lines to white (in photoshop, that can be found under "image", then "adjustments", then "invert").

If you don't really want to do either of those things, there are also two (well 3 actually) printable calendars you can download and print yourself. The first is a dark calendar with a fractal background and the second one comes in two versions - waterlily light, and waterlily dark.

Please note that if you try to download the sample picture from my blog, all you'll get is the sample size (small, for web use). If you want a file big enough to print, you need to download it from the link below the picture.

DOWNLOAD THE 2012 CALENDAR TEMPLATE FOR PHOTOSHOP IN .psd FORMAT HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE 2012 CALENDAR TEMPLATE WITH TRANSPARENT BACKGROUND HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE ABOVE PRINTABLE 2012 CALENDAR (FRACTALS) FROM THIS LINK.

DOWNLOAD THE ABOVE PRINTABLE 2012 CALENDAR (WATERLILY LIGHT) FROM THIS LINK.

DOWNLOAD THE ABOVE PRINTABLE 2012 CALENDAR (WATERLILY DARK) FROM THIS LINK.

That's pretty much it for the time being. As the new few months go by I'll be adding other calendar templates for 2012 so be sure to check back!

More Photo Frames

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:42:00 +0000

I've managed to put together a new batch of photo frames for all you frame nuts. Most of these frames come from the late 1960s into the early 1980s (and one from the early 1990s), so they aren't really all that old even though some of them look a little grungy. The oldest one is the faux wood frame, with the floral fabric frame running a close second. These fabric frames were very popular in the mid-1970s, and you could find instructions just about anywhere for making them yourself. The oval frame is the newest of the bunch, and I have this one available in three colours (blue, mauve and pink). All of these frames are in png format with transparent backgrounds. I haven't offered .psd files for these and probably won't any longer - mostly because .psd files are very large and take forever to upload, and not every editing program will accept a .psd file. Nearly every editing program that supports transparency and layers will accept a .png file, and those that don't accept a .png will simply convert it into a .jpg, so the .png is a lot more versatile.

One thing I'd like to point out to visitors - I notice a lot of visitors trying to download the sample frames. These samples are very small sizes, just meant to be displayed on my blog to show you an example of what the frame looks like - they aren't meant for downloading.

If you want to download any of these frames in their full size with the transparent backgrounds, you need to use the download links BELOW the picture - not by clicking on the picture.

Download the Vintage Brown Faux Wood Frame shown above.

Download the Brown Floral Fabric Frame shown above.

Download the Octagonal Wood Frame shown above.

Download the MAUVE Oval Frame shown above

Download the BLUE Oval Frame shown above

Download the PINK Oval Frame shown above

Canadian Photographers - Please Take a Stand

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Mon, 16 May 2011 21:38:00 +0000

Today while reading one of my favourite tech-news sites (TechDirt.com) I came across a story about proposed levies and tariffs on digital media. Canadians will of course remember the taxes on blank media like CDs or VHS tapes, and you may or may not have been aware of the Copyright's Board last attempt to institute similar fees on iPods and even on ISPs.

Whether you remember of not, the Copyright Board is back trying to hawk a bill that will see fees (tariffs and levies...of course they aren't "taxes" right?) added to the sale of CF and SD cards, just in case someone wants to use them to store audio files.

In general, these are not things I write about in my photography blog, but today, I firmly believe it is time for visual artists to take a stand. Every tax or tariff added to media used in the photography industry sees our already reduced earnings reduced even more.

I am one of the most "non-political" people I know. I have little interest in following politics except in a general way, but I (like many other Canadians) have had enough. More than enough. On rare occasions I will write to my member of parliament, or to a local representative, and so today I have taken up my pen (well my keyboard actually) and written a resentful letter to Gilles McDougall (Secretary General, Ottawa) and given him the great benefit of my feelings about this.

Why should I have to pay a tax intended to support musicians, on a product whose primary use is the photography industry, not the music industry? Just because some one or two or a dozen people may choose to use those cards to store their music files on - this is not a supportable reason. Not in my books.

So, for all of you Canadian photographers (whether hobbyists, or professional or amateur) please, take the time to write Mr. McDougall with your feelings on being taxed (yet again) under the guise of a tariff to protect artists. The only artists this is intended to protect or support are musicians, and it is (according to the information provided) certainly not going to protect photographers or visual artists in any way.

Time to fight back.

Gilles McDougall - pdf on the proposed bill and contact information here.

A copy of my letter - if you are not inclined to actually write your own, please...feel free to copy mine and sign your own name.:

Dear Sirs:

As a photographer and a member of the Canadian public - I have had just about enough tax on items such as this. These taxes affect my livelihood.

What purpose would these levies serve, except perhaps to mark the users of such cards as possible thieves and pirates? Shall we slink out of the stores with our items in plain paper bags, just in case someone might think we are using our cards for illicit purposes?

I am tired of being considered a possible thief, when these items are of prime importance to my work.

Since you expect to collect earnings in the protection of artist copyrights, will I receive some of these benefits? After all, I am an artist. If so, how? Rather than taking money out of my small earnings as a photographer, it would be pleasant to see money refunded to me. I would appreciate knowing how the collection and disbursement of these funds will benefit me, as an artist.

Having read your PDF, of course I note there is NO provision for visual artists. Thank you, but I absolutely refuse to support this. You are intending to apply a fee to a product used in the photography industry - where is our share of these fees?

According to your PDF, this is for the proposed sale of "blank audio media in Canada". Compact Flash and SD cards are used primarily for photography and digital visual media, so please help me understand how this ever became an issue under the proposed bill for audio media? And further explain why I should pay additional fees of MY form of media storage in order to protect musicians? I refuse. Point blank.

Do I oppose this proposed bill - you betcha, with every ounce of my being. Enough is more than enough. We do not need, nor do we want this since the chances of it even being remotely effective or helpful to photographers and digital artists hasn't got a snowball's chance in you-know-where. Oh, of course. I forgot, we as artists do not count.

J. Gracey Stinson
Orillia, Ontario
and still Canada, hopefully

Orillia Travel - Slices of Life
Photography of Grace, the artistry of life

Photoshop Quick Mask

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:59:00 +0000

Making a curves adjustment using Photoshop's "Quick Mask" function can help you even out the lighting in your photos. We've all had those images where the foreground is bright and the background is dark, or the background is nice and bright, while the subject (or foreground) is too dark. Using an overall curves or levels adjustment means that you are adjusting the brightness and tone over the entire image, not just the parts that are too dark.

For those of you who aren't sure how to make these corrections to .jpg images using the channels functions, an easy way to adjust a portion of your image is to use the Quick Mask in Photoshop to mask of the area you don't want to change.

Let's run through this very quick adjustment procedure. I wasn't able to find exactly the type of image I wanted but we'll use this one. The background on this snapshot is one that I'd really like to be white, not beige (which is the wall colour).

If I use the curves adjustment in photoshop, I can make it whiter, if I try to make it completely white it will also make everything else really bright too. To avoid making everything in my image really white I want to protect certain areas of the photo from being adjusted. In this case, I wanted to protect the metal hood and light bulb because those areas are mid-to-light tones. Without masking off the areas I need to protect, this is what I get.

To enter the Quick Mask Mode, click the little button that looks like a square with a circle in.

Select a hard paint brush of a size appropriate for masking off your area - smaller areas need a smaller brush. Begin painting the section you want to keep "as is". You'll notice the "mask" is pink or red. Even though you are "painting" directly on the image, this isn't an actual "paint" layer.

While in the Quick Mask mode, you can also switch to the eraser if you've gone over the edge, or painted on something you shouldn't have. Once you've got the "mask" completed you're ready to release it.

Click once again on the Quick Mask Button. You'll notice that the selection area is not the area you masked off, but the balance of the image. That's because the painted area is "protected" and won't be changed when we use the curves adjustment - it will adjust all the areas inside the selection.

Now I'm going to adjust the curves so my background is white - the results are that while the background has been pushed up to white, the subject we've "protected" (here the silver metal and light bulb) is still it's original colour. The black is still black even though I didn't mask it off, and that's mostly because I adjusted the midtones and whites when using the curves.

Using the Quick Mask Mode you can also brighten areas in shadow, while leaving the background in it's original brightness, such as in the image below. These are the same image (one is just reversed). You'll notice the image on the left shows the face in shadow, while the image on the right has been brightened almost to the level of the background tone, yet the background colour is the same in both images. Lightening the background would have blown it out to almost white, rather than it's natural colour.

This is achieved simply - use the quick mask and paint the face and hair. When you release the mask for the selection, you'll want to invert that selection so the area selected for protection would be the background, rather than the shadowed face. When you use the curves or levels to lighten the face and hair, it won't lighten the background. To invert the selection, once you release the mask choose "select" from your menu, then choose "inverse" or "invert" before you begin making the changes to your image.

A 3-Year Folding Calendar Template for 2011, 2012 and 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:05:00 +0000

Here's a new calendar template for photoshop (in psd format) that I've been working on. A little late, I know, but this calendar contains three years from 2011 right through to the end of 2013. Each part of the calendar can be edited in photoshop as everything on the template is still in it's text format - that means you can change the text styles and colours, and you can move things around a little (like changing the spacing for instance). This calendar template is designed to print on an 8.5" X 11" cardstock or heavy photo paper, and then gets folded into a triangular, three dimensional stand-up calendar.

(NOTE: the instruction images can be viewed larger size by clicking the image)

If you download the psd file to use in photoshop you'll find that all the separate layers have been grouped into folders in the layers palette. When you open the file you'll see a folder for 2011, 2012 and 2013, with a white background layer with fold lines, and a transparent layer. You can choose whether or not you want to print out the fold lines on your completed calendar or whether you just want a plain background.

If you open the 2011 folder you'll see a text layer for the date of the year (2011), and twelve folders (one for each month), with a thirteenth folder for the day headings (M, T, W, T, F, S). When you open one of the month folders you'll see layers for the name of the month (text layer) and then layers for each week (text layers) with the dates on them.

This organizing of folders within folders means you open only the sections you need open to work on, keeping the confusion to a minimum. This calendar template has so many layers having them all open at one time would make editing very confusing for most folks. As well, you can move an entire year from one part of the calendar to another simply by dragging the entire thing. Cick on the folder for 2011 - then click on the visible text on the image area, and drag it - you'll see that it moves everything together as a single image (even though it's text). That means if you want to put 2011 in the middle slot with the other two years on the outer sections you can do that very quickly. You can also delete a section if you want, and just put your own image in it.

The calendar has space at the bottom for your business or any other text you wish to include in your calendar. Because the layers are transparent, you can put images on your calendar - one large image that stretches across all three years, or three individual images (one for each year) under the text. However you want to set it up.

Once it's completed, you'll use a ruler and scribe along the fold lines to make the folding easier and the actual edges neater. It doesn't have to be a "scribe" - use anything that's got a sharp point like one side of a pair of scissors, or an ice-pick or an awl and run it along the fold line. Don't put too much pressure on it; you don't want to cut right through it, you just want to inscribe it a little.

Use double-sided tape along the larger folding edge (the wider gray area). Fold the calendar so the images and text are facing outwards. Pull the facing off the two sided tape, fold under the small gray edge and stick it to the tape on the wider edge. The result is a triangular stand-up calendar. I designed this to fit ordinary card stock or photo paper (8.5 X 11), but if you have access to larger pager (8.5 X 14) you can increase the width of the template in photoshop, giving you a wider text area for each year.

I also have this calendar in png format with a transparent background - this does not contain the fold lines, but because it is transparent you can place your own backgrounds on this. This was mostly created for those who don't use photoshop but who do have editing programs that support layers. As well, for those who don't have programs that support layers or transparency, there is a calendar template in .jpg format with the white background and fold lines. Make sure you download the right version for your program.

3-Year Folding Calendar Template in PSD Format for Photoshop

3-Year Folding Calendar Template in PNG Format

3-Year Folding Calendar Template in JPG Format

We typically receive calendars of this nature in the mail from various companies every year, so now...I'm about to send out a bunch of my own! I hope you can find a use for this too.

Vintage PNG Frames for Photoshop - Round 2

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 20:01:00 +0000

As promised, we've got some more vintage photo frames that you can use in either Adobe Photoshop (or PhotoShop Elements), or other similar editing programs like GimpShop, PaintShop Pro, PaintShop Pro Photo, FotoFiltre Studio, etc. etc. etc. (basically any program that supports transparent images will allow you to use these templates).

This particular set of frames range from 1930 to 1975: it's rather interesting to see the progression of style and textures used on the frames, and the various decorations surrounding the frame opening. The oldest one from 1930 has a rather unusual shape for the image opening, and is somewhat unique - this is the first frame I've seen like this one. It contained a baby photo of my mother.

Frame 33/1940s

Frame 32/1975

The frame from 1975 is the most recent of the bunch, and the plainest. It contained one of our wedding photos. Not having time to hire a photographer, my dad took the photos for our wedding, and there are very few of them, but one was enlarged and set into this frame.

Two of them are from the 1940s. You'll note that these both have a similar art deco styling around the edges of the photos - these two frames might have been from the late 1930s (old stock perhaps?) but the photos in them were from the 1940s. One of my aunt (who married into our family) when she was a young woman (perhaps a teenager judging from the photo), and another of a different aunt, dressed for the wedding of her eldest sister (that's how I was able to date the photo in that frame).

Frame 35/1950s

Frame 36/1940s

The last of the frames has a quilted-liked texture with blue edging around an oblong opening: somewhat more simple than the oldest ones, with a cleaner look. The photo in this frame was from the late 1950s, so I'm guessing the framing was from sometime in the 50s too.

Looking at these older family photos has been really interesting - in the past, I've seen some of these photos but never really paid much attention to the framing from used by different studios. Not only are these far more decorative than most of the ones used today, but they are much heavier and very textured. All of these also have different texturing from each other, and different designs within the textured areas; some have stamped or pressed edges with what was once silver-tone or gold-tone, but over the years these have aged to a less-shiny surface.

Frame 37/1930

The images above are the samples, used with modern photos. You can download the full sized frames in png format below.

Vintage Photo Frame #32

Vintage Photo Frame #33

Vintage Photo Frame #35

Vintage Photo Frame #36

Vintage Photo Frame #37

Vintage Calendar Frame & Templates for Photo Frames

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:22:00 +0000

Well, here's a few more goodies for the template, frame and calendar fans. First up, a simple calendar template, uniquely vintage because...well the framing is vintage.

This is a scanned photo frame - the kind that fold over and cover the picture, like a small booklet. Turning the frame on it's side so the blank cover is on the bottom gives you room to add a yearly calendar. Which is what I did.

Although the calendar is for 2011, it has been given the same vintage feel as the original vintage photo frame. This template is in png format rather than psd, so to use it simply open your image in photoshop, then open the png and place it over your image, keeping in mind that since the entire calendar frame is going to be larger than your image size you may need to add some canvas to your image background.

Along with the calendar template, here are a few film slide frames - once again my dad's hobbies have provided me with some cool imagery. These too are contained on one large png (with transparent background), so you can copy whichever frame you want to use into your image file and adjust it to fit. There are four of these - the "ektachrome" marked frame is the same as the plain frame, the plain one simply being the "back" of the other. Please keep in mind that a couple of these contain trademarks, so if you intend to use them for any other purpose than personal use, you'll need to either remove the trade marks (clone them out) or you'll need to seek permission for the use from the trademark owners.

Okies...the final stuff for today are two vintage photo frames in png format - one is the same frame used above for the calendar (without the calendar) and the other is a very similar frame design. The designs on these frames are from the 1930s and early 1940s, as were the original photos contained in these folding frames.

If you print these frames on artist's rag paper, you get an "old time" feel from these and will be able to use the fold-over section. If you don't want the added section, simply crop it away at the fold and use just the frame portion. Print the slide frames on heavier card stock if you want a more authentic feel for the frames (print a front & back, cutting away the center sections) and insert your photo between the two pieces.

There are more of these frames coming...but everything takes time, so until our next post I hope you can find a use for these. As always, the links to download these are below (all in png format with transparent backgrounds).

Download the CALENDAR FRAME TEMPLATE FOR 2011 from here.

Download the FOUR FILM SLIDE FRAMES from here.

Download the two VINTAGE PHOTO FRAMES here: Vintage Photo Frame #30 and Vintage Photo Frame #31

4 Vintage Photo Frames in PNG Format

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:34:00 +0000

Today we've moved away from the calendar templates to offer you a set of four vintage photo frames that have been isolated and saved with transparent backgrounds as .png files. The .png format makes it easy for users of any graphic or photo editing program to use since the .png format is accepted by many different programs. If your editing program supports transparency and layers, then you should be able to use these.

To use them, open your own photo in your editing program and use that as your background layer. Open one of the frames and copy it into your current image file as the second layer. Use your transform or edit tool to resize the frame to fit your photo.

All four of these have been gathered from old photos my father took. The ages range from circa 1920s to 1960, and come complete with whatever bends, folds, wrinkles and stains that were on them when scanned. These files range in size from roughly 5" X 7" to 8" X 14" - you'll note that old photos come in a bunch of sizes and shapes that are no longer seen in most photo processing; some from the early 1970s were square with rounded corners, older ones from the 1950s were square or oblong with crenelated edges, even older ones were a mix of sizes and shapes, many with slightly rounded edges.

What gives vintage photo frames character are their various stains, folds and creases and some even have interesting textures.

Because my dad was an avid photographer, I have quite a large supply of old photos to select edges from, so as we head through this year, you'll find more collections being added every so often, and most of these will be in the PNG format with transparent backgrounds.

I hope some of you will find a use for these. Please note the images on the left are small samples on a black background, NOT the files to download. The four files can be download here:

Vintage Photo Frames 1 - in RAR format

Vintage Photo Frames 1 - in ZIP form

2011 Pocket Calendar Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 17:48:00 +0000

As you can tell, I'm still trying to catch up with my 2011 Calendar Templates. The two templates I've got for you today are for smaller pocket calendars - one is a folding calendar, and one is a simple "front and back" one page calendar designed to print on 4" X 6" card stock or 2-sided photo stock.

The first is basically a remake of the folding pocket calendar template from last year: for this year, the calendar is just a white background with black dates. There are two colour banners at the top which you can remove by turning off visibility on the layer, or change the colour of by selecting the shape/colour and filling it with a colour of your choice using the bucket tool. There are two parts to this template - the inside (with the calendars and text) and the outside. The outside has an updated holiday list (to reflect dates for 2011) on the back, and a place to put your own image on the front.

You can download the two parts here in zipped files format:

2011 Pocket Calendar Template in .zip file format or in .rar file format.

As well as the above .psd files, this calendar template is available to be downloaded in a ready to print .jpg format with flowered banner if you just need a simple calendar.

2011 Pocket Calendar Printable - the inside with calendars, and the outside with holidays and design.

The second 2011 Pocket Calendar Template in .psd form is a single page with dates/months on one side and a spot on the reverse side to put your own image and business information. The framing can be removed by turning off the visibility of the layer, and you can remove the text in the same manner, leaving only an image covering the whole of that side if you so desire. You'll note on the calendar side that you can edit and change the text for the months and the "2011".

Download this one-page template in 2 .psd files: the front with image and text, and the back calendar side.

New 2011 Calendar Templates for Photoshop can be found on these related posts:

More 2011 Calendar Templates

2011 Photoshop Calendar Template

Monthly 2011 Calendar Template

2011 Calendar Template for Photoshop

MOST OF OUR TEMPLATES CAN ALSO BE DOWNLOADED FROM FREE-3D-TEXTURES.COM (see the templates section)

Even More Calendar Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:15:00 +0000

Here's another free calendar template for those calendar fanatics out there. This one is a little different - it doesn't contain any dates - these are blank calendar grids, two on a page. The page layout is setup to print 17" wide by 11" high with two blank calendar grids to create your own "2-Per Page" calendars (later this month I'll be uploading a file using this layout that does have dates.)

These blanks grids allow the user to create their own calendar templates every year, using this master grid file. In the full .psd file you'll find text layers for the days of the week (you can change font style and colours in this template) and four calendar frames (the wider outside lines on the calendar grids) in Black, Blue, Green and Red. These are all on separate layers so you can choose what you use where. And the background is transparent, so you can use a background file under the white calendar grids - either a photo, artwork, abstract or a solid colour. How you design your calendar is up to you.

Although the two calendars are on one background, you can delete either of the calendar grids by using the square selection tool, outlining the one you want to delete, and then selecting "edit, and delete" from the photoshop menu bar. Once you've deleted one of them, you can replace it with anything you want, including images. In the sample I created, I made an advertising calendar for a Bed and Breakfast showing the events happening during the month. You can create any sort of promotional calendar using only one of the grids.

For those of you who aren't using photoshop, there are some blank calendar grids in .png format so you can still create your own. If your graphics editing program supports layers, you can add images under the calendar grids, as well as add your own text above.

For parents with kids, printing these blank calendar templates on paper and letting your kids fill them out with crayon, marker or coloured pencils gets your kids involved, and is a great way to teach kids about the months and days, and special holidays that your family celebrates.

NOTE: the seamless green and gray background used in the last example is available from Free-3D-Textures.com on Page 15 of the Abstract Textures Section

The complete .psd file is available for download from this link:

Blank Calendar Grids.psd

The individual .png files can be downloaded here:

Blank Calendar Grids in Red.png

Blank Calendar Grids in Blue.png

Blank Calendar Grids in Green.png

Blank Calendar Grids in Gray.png

Blank Calendar Grids in Black.png

New 2011 Calendar Templates for Photoshop can be found on these related posts:

A Pair of 2011 Pocket Calendar Templates

2011 Photoshop Calendar Template

Monthly 2011 Calendar Template

2011 Calendar Template for Photoshop

MOST OF OUR TEMPLATES CAN ALSO BE DOWNLOADED FROM FREE-3D-TEXTURES.COM (see the templates section)

2011 Monthly Calendar Template for Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 15:54:00 +0000

I'm a little late getting this calendar template out to you, but it's probably not too late, particularly if you print your own. This new calendar template is different than my previous 2011 Yearly Calendar Template, or my Forever Calendar Template. This one is monthly, with one page for each month and the last page of the calendar having a one year 2012 preview calendar, making for a total of 13 templates. I didn't include a template for a cover page, but the calendar is designed to print at 11 X 17 inches (a pretty standard paper size) and to be bound at the top (extra room at the top of template allows you to have it bound) so you shouldn't have any problems designing your own cover page if you size your image document to 11 X 17 inches. IF anyone really, desperately wants me to design a cover page, feel free to contact me.

This calendar is also not as flexible as the Yearly Calendar - the calendar portion of each month is part of the background, but the text for the month and year can be edited to your own choice of font and colour. The photo-frame templates are black and each psd file (one for each month) comes with a choice of three photo-frames. You can change the colour of the photo-framing by selecting the black using the "magic wand" in Photoshop CS (these are probably compatible with any CS version of Adobe Photoshop) and using the bucket fill to fill the seletion with the colour of your choice.

As well, the 2012 yearly calendar intended for the last page of the calendar has the same options as the months for changing text or framing colour.

At the moment, the templates are only available as .psd files, and are compressed into either .zip archive or a .rar archive, so you will need to have an "unzipping" program on your computer (like winzip, or a similar alternative).

I'll be working this week towards preparing these templates as .png files for those who aren't able to open .psd files, so check back later in the week if you need the templates but don't have Adobe Photoshop. Almost any reasonably modern imaging program will support the .png format. The fonts used in the templates are "Modern No. 20" and "Parma Petit SC Italic" - if you don't have either of these fonts installed on your computer you will need to choose one of the fonts available to you.

Download the 13 Calendar Templates in .zip file here.

Download the 13 Calendar Templates in .rar file here.

Samples

New 2011 Calendar Templates for Photoshop can be found on these related posts:

More 2011 Calendar Templates

A Pair of 2011 Pocket Calendar Templates

2011 Photoshop Calendar Template

2011 Calendar Template for Photoshop

MOST OF OUR TEMPLATES CAN ALSO BE DOWNLOADED FROM FREE-3D-TEXTURES.COM (see the templates section)

Photoshop CS5 In Review

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 11:42:00 +0000

This past week I finally caved in and upgraded my trusty Photoshop CS3 to the CS5 version, and immediately wished I hadn't wasted the $200 on the upgrade. From a personal standpoint, it was not worth the upgrade cost - not for my uses, although there will be many people for whom the ugrade is beneficial.

In particular people who also do a lot of 3D work will like that it has elements incorporated that allow them to use it to edit and even render some 3D projects. For a photographer, I'm not all that sure that CS5 is necessary. I have found perhaps one inclusion that I'll use, however, I've also discovered some things missing from CS5 that I used to use on a fairly regular basis.

In particular under the "automate" functions there is no longer the ability to create a contact sheet (proof sheets) for photographers, nor is there the ability to automatically create a "picture package" for printing, nor is the web photo gallery function available. Also missing is "export layers to file" and "export paths to illustrator". The "export layers to file" function is under scripting, so it should be simple enough to copy and install the script to make it work in CS5. I suppose what I find annoying is that I have to copy all these things into my new version.

The good news is that you can get these functions back by copying their folders from your older version of Photoshop into the same location in Photoshop CS, so if you copy the web photo gallery folder into the "automate" folder in CS5, you'll be able to use it again. The same goes for the picture package and the contact sheet. I loaded these into CS5 and tried them all - and they work just fine, thank you very much. I can only guess that they've removed them from CS5 because they incorporated them into Lightroom, but not having Lightroom, I don't know for sure.

There are some things in CS5 that I don't like - for instance the new brush selection. I think once I've spent some time using them I'll be a little happier with them, but at first glance into the brushes one might think "where's my brushes?" That's because the new brushes are simpler - round soft or round hard, shaped brushes for painting and design, and not much else.

With the new brush selection you pick soft or hard, and set the size of brush you want using the slider. That's slightly annoying to someone whose used to selecting a 300 pixel soft round brush quickly. The good thing about the brushes is that once you've selected your brush and set it's parameter you can save this brush with a click to your brush file. And of course, you can copy all of your old brushes into the brush folder of CS5.

In CS5 I'm having issues with the brush display when using a brush - rather than seeing the round outline of the brush I'm using, I can only see half of it. That doesn't happen for all brush sizes, but once I move the pixel size of the brush over 50 pixels, that's what happens. This makes it very difficult to work with and this is the one aspect I truly hate about the brushes. CS5 uses some openGL for display, and indicates you might have display issues since it uses more memory, and recommends changes to avoid that - I followed their recommendations and I'm still having display issues (and yes, I'm pretty sure I have enough memory for this).

The other thing I dislike a whole lot is the clone stamp - this does some funky stuff now. When you select the portion of image you want to copy FROM and hover over the spot you want to copy TO, it shows you what you're cloning (from). It's more than a little weird right now. It also seems to retain the copied sections so the next time you select the clone brush, you'd see in it's "preview" your previous clone selection. It's going to take some getting used to.

I also don't like what happens when you open an image. In Photoshop CS3 when I open an image into CS, the image window can be maximized to fit the workspace area of Photoshop. In CS5, whenever I try to do that, the image window opens full screen, completely covering the tools and menu in Photoshop. I continually find myself opening the image, then grabbing the window edge and dragging it open to space I want it to fill. I have changed the workspace and tried different options, but haven't had any luck in getting it to open the way I want.

Image open full in Photoshop CS3

Image open full in Photoshop CS5

There are a couple of my older plug-ins that don't want to work in CS5 (notably "Genuine Fractals PrintPro") which means another upgrade if I want to use them in CS5. The one thing that's really nice is that CS5 installs to it's own folder in the Adobe program files folder, so I can still open and use Photoshop CS3 (which I've already found myself doing), so for now, until I'm somewhat happier with CS5, I'll be using CS3 when I need to upsize an image for print.

Oh...and the one thing I thought I'd use in CS5? That would be the new "HDR Toning" - it's not bad. I had already purchased something that does this just fine for previous versions of Photoshop, but CS5 has it incorporated into the Image Adjustments menu. It has some pre-sets you can use, but the custom adjustments allow you to use (faux) HDR tone-mapping on a single image and get a "cartoon" type image, or photorealistic image, or fantasy style.

HDR Toning in Photoshop CS5

To be fair to Adobe...I am somewhat resistant to change, and I haven't really spent enough time with CS5 yet to be comfortable with it, but I suppose the whole idea for me is that an update shouldn't require a user to practically have to start over learning how to use the software. It just shouldn't. CS5 has a new look on the interface, which might throw some of the dinosaurs (like me) at first...I didn't like it at all, but much of the stuff is in the same place as the older version.

What I'd recommend for anyone who hasn't upgraded yet to CS5 is not to purchase the upgrade straight-off. Download and use the trial version for as long as it allows, and then decide whether the cost of the upgrade is worth spending for your particular use. For me...so far, I don't think it was. I wish I could get my money back.

Photoshop Calendar Template for 2011 in PSD Format

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 18:34:00 +0000

This set of 12 Calendar Templates (2011) for Photoshop will offer you a variety of options for change within the .psd file and is designed to print at 11" wide by 8.5" high. There are 12 individual calendar backgrounds (one for each month of 2011), and three sets of colour borders and texts: gray, navy and black. This template also includes holidays for the US and Canada, each on a separate text layer so you can pick and choose which holidays you want on your calendar.

The text for the Month/Yr and the Days of the Week has been rasterized into normal layers, so even if you don't have the fonts that were used for these, you can still use the text. The fonts used for these were "David" (a basic neat font); Cigno (a script style font); and Chocolate Box (a fancy-ish type of font).

The text layers for the holidays have not been rasterized, however the font used here is "small fonts", which most computers have on them, and is in red. Since the text layers are still in their original format you can change the text colour or even the font style if you want.

This set also has a blank layer below all the calendar stuff, so if you want to create an art calendar with this you can insert your image behind the calendar layer, and reduce the opacity level of the calendar layer so you can see some of the image.

As well, there are 3 "sidebar" sections (gray, navy, black) where you can set smaller images if you don't want to use a large image in the background. And, along with the sidebar sections you'll find a notes section with the title and blank lines, so if you don't want to use images, you can add lines to your calendar for adding handwritten notes after it's printed.

With all these options, you can also mix and match the colour themes to suit your own taste, or you can create your own colour choices and add your own text instead of using the text layers included with the .psd file.

Although getting all the layers in place for each of the three different colour themes took some time, creating each month's calendar is as simple as turning on the layers for the features you want, flattening the file and saving it as a .jpg.

As well as offering the free download for the master .psd file, there is a complete calendar (12 months) for 2011 in the Gray Theme, complete with both US and Canadian Holidays (available in a .zip or .rar file for download).

While it's just a touch late, it is still 2010 (for another day) and printing 12 sheets wouldn't take all that long!

I hope you find this .psd useful for the coming year - Happy New Year and may the next year be filled with peace, health, joy and blessings for all of you.

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE MASTER .PSD FILE FROM HERE: 2011 Art Calendar Master Template

Download the Gray Theme Complete Calendar for 2011 in .jpg format:

.zip file .rar file

New 2011 Calendar Templates for Photoshop can be found on these related posts:

More 2011 Calendar Templates

A Pair of 2011 Pocket Calendar Templates

2011 Photoshop Calendar Template

Monthly 2011 Calendar Template

2011 Calendar Template for Photoshop

MOST OF OUR TEMPLATES CAN ALSO BE DOWNLOADED FROM FREE-3D-TEXTURES.COM (see the templates section)

Exposure and Value

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:50:00 +0000

Most of us who've been in photography for a while have at some point been exposed to the "Sunny 16" rule. This rule generally allows the use of ISO 100 at 1/100th and f16 on a sunny day, and of course, this rule has been existence since the days of film.

The standard settings for ISO on a bright sunny day in the outdoors is usually 100 or lower - depending entirely of course on how low your camera will actually go. For instance, on my old Nikon D70, the lowest rating is ISO 200, which was essentially the equivalent of ISO 100 on other brands (back then). Outdoors on an overcast day, you might bump your ISO to 200 or 250, but the general rule was to use the lowest ISO possible. This instruction came from my exposure to microstock photography, where there was almost no tolerance for noise in submitted images.

But in the world of portrait and wedding photography, small amounts of noise are not such a huge issue. For the most part, family portraits, head shots, wedding photos are going to be printed in standard sizes, and most likely not going to be made into huge posters, so small amounts of noise are less of an issue than for stock imaging and will not likely show in the final prints.

S = Shutter Priority « A = Aperture Priority

Shutter Priority: The photographer sets the shutter speed, and the camera selects the most appropriate f-stop.
Aperture Priority: The photographer sets the aperture f-stop), and the camera selects the most appropriate shutter speed.

When using either of these settings, the photographer only gets to select two of the three camera settings - provided your camera isn't set for auto ISO, you can select your ISO, as well as either the shutter speed (in s setting) OR the f-stop (in a setting). You will not be able to set both shutter speed and aperture while in this mode - you'll need to move back into Manual to select both.

There are both pros and cons to using these settings. If you aren't comfortable yet with full manual settings, then this might something you'd consider, although you will lose a certain amount of control over the resulting image and it's lighting.

What I wasn't familiar with, was the options for changing the ISO to make changes in these settings. Yes, I'm well aware of how ISO works with f-stop and shutter speed, but I work almost entirely in manual settings, and surprisingly enough, using these semi-automatic settings create a different balance between these.

Another photographer mentioned using an ISO of 1200 outside in the daylight and I have to admit, I nearly flipped. Because my experience is mostly with manual settings, I couldn't imagine needing an ISO of 1200 outdoors in the sun - outdoors my ISO is nearly always 100 or lower. That's normal. I don't know another photographer who would use an ISO of 1200 outdoors on a nice sunny day. Then the photographer mentioned using Aperture priority. And when I later thought about it - about how ISO, shutter speed and aperture work together, I understand why that would work.

The idea with photography is to get enough light to the sensor to create an image that is properly lit. If the camera is set for Aperture Priority and you've selected an f-stop of f11, and the camera selects a shutter speed of 1/40 based on the lighting, the only way to change the shutter speed without selecting fully manual settings is to change the ISO. If you use a higher ISO, you can get the camera to select a shutter speed of 1/100 or 1/160 so you can handhold the camera and avoid the blur you might get at 1/40 if you aren't too steady and don't have a tripod. This seems like a roundabout way of doing things - you might as well use manual. But, for photographers who have to make settings changes in a hurry, it's a workable solution (probably not one I'd use, but it does work). Below you'll see some example images - sorry I took these sitting at my desk, with no tripod. The long exposure times resulted in blur, but you can see from settings on each one the results. The camera was set for Aperture Priority, with a f-stop of f11 and the starting point for the ISO was 400. Before each photo, the only change made was to the ISO rating, if you check each photo's settings, you'll note the change in the shutter speed as selected by the camera. The last in this series was an outdoor photo (overcast).

When I shoot a wedding, I almost always have had 2 cameras - one often set for outdoors, and one for indoors, making it easy to transition from inside to outside without having to retest the lighting a reset the manual settings. For those starting out with only one camera, I suppose I can see the benefit of using the Aperture Priority setting (though it still makes me shudder) because the only transition needed would be to alter the ISO settings, making quick work of the camera adjustments. The drawback of course, is that you lose some of the artistic license you have with manual settings, but on the upside, you'll probably be able to move pretty quickly from one setting to another, even though you might not have a lot of experience, you'll have some confidence that the images you produce can be properly exposed.

Exposure Valuation

There are other settings on a digital camera that can adjust the value of the light exposure without changing the shutter speed and aperture, and those are the exposure value settings. When using the flash, if you adjust the exposure value on the camera, you'll find you get different results using the same ISO, F-stop and Shutter speed settings.

If you've never made use of the EV settings on your camera, you might want to take some time to experiment with them and make note of the results. It can come in handy in a pinch if you need more light or less light in a hurry, without fiddling with your settings.

You'll note the results in these very quick snapshot samples below - no particular care was taken in the setup here. The photos were handled in a very "point and shoot" snapshot manner, but it pretty clearly shows the effect of the exposure value adjustments. The EV adjustments were the only settings changed after starting with a high ISO (1250) for shooting in low light.

The one thing you'll want to watch is the noise level - in general, you aren't going to be using an ISO of 1250, and if you need to, many cameras could generate a high level of noise. Make sure to check the noise in your sample photos.

More Free Photoshop Frames

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:31:00 +0000

Today we don't have a tutorial, but a couple of new photoshop psd templates for free photoshop frames. The first frame is black and white - white leaves and branches on a black background with white matte, and holds three photos. The overall size of the frame is designed to print at 11" X 17". You can adjust the size of the frame in photoshop before you insert your own photos, so you can print this frame with photos at any size you need it to be. As well as the frames you see listed on this page, you can find other designs on our Photoshop Frames & Templates page on our website listed below. All of these are free to use with your own projects.

This frame is available in .psd format for photoshop - you can download this template from this page on Free-3d-Textures.com, or in .png format for any photo editing program that supports transparency. If you have a photo editing program that won't support the .psd file, but does support layers and transparency use this .png file instead. If you need a .jpg file, please feel free to contact me and I'll email you the file in .jpg format without transparency.

You can download this .png frame by clicking this link.

This next frame is designed for larger poster-style images, and can be used with only one image under the framework, or you can insert five individual images. As well, this frame comes with a series of corner embellishments that can be turned on or off in photoshop. Each set of corner embellishments is on their own labeled layer in the photoshop .psd file.

Above is the basic frame - black with white matte edges which can be turned off in photoshop by hiding the layer style "stroke". At the bottom is room for adding text if you are creating a poster. This example shows three images rather than five - one in the middle spans all three spaces, with one image in each of the top and bottom spaces.

Below are examples of the corner embellishments included in the .psd file. You can use the frame as shown above, or add one of the embellishments shown below by turning on the visibility of it's layer.

Above: City Scapes Embellishments (nor corner designs, but interesting just the same).

Above: Foral Corners

Above: Swirl Corners

Above: Web Corners

Above: Art Deco Corners 1

Above: Art Deco Corners 2

Download the .psd template for photoshop with all the above embellishments from here.

The basic frame with no corner embellishments is also available as a .png file - download it from here.

Embossed Glass Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:53:00 +0000

This tutorial is based on one by Alli, and is published on the Tazzone so to get her tutorial and instructions, you can visit the page where it is posted.

My tutorial gives slightly different methods (a little simpler for my beginners) and the results are not exactly the same, but the original idea from the tutorial on the Tazzone was the starting point for this one.

Open an image of a glass, or window or bottle. If you don't have one, you can get one from the morguefile to use for this.

Open your image and duplicate the background layer.

Now select a custom shape from the photoshop shapes tools. The custom shape tool can be found in the tool palette and is designated by a little 'blob' shape. If your tool palette doesn't show this shape, you can find it under the rectangle shape; hold down the small black arrow next to the rectangle shape and the tool box with open with other options.

I use white as the shape colour and a filled shape style. On the shape layer, you may have a layer style effect for "stroke" - turn this off, we don't want the outline.

The next step will be to "rasterize" the shape layer. Right click on the shape layer and select "rasterize layer". This turns the shape layer into a normal transparent layer above the background.

Now set the blending method to soft light for this layer. The next step is to add a bevel to the shape. Select a bevel style - here I used outer bevel and set the contour style to "cove deep". I also reduced the white of the highlight mode on the bevel adjustments to 0% and the shadow mode to 58%.

When you are happy with the shape layer, drag the background copy over the shape layer. For the dark blue bottles, I set the blend mode of the shape layer to "darken" and adjusted the opacity to 70%. You can select your own opacity level to suit your image and taste. Once you've got a look that pleases you, flatten the layers and save your image.

The final results don't look too bad!

Here is a lighter glass image created using the same steps listed above - a glass of beer with the opacity of the final blending layer set to an opacity of 80%.

An even simpler method of applying effects to plain glass uses the "glass on glass" overlay. This is pretty simple, but you need a few things to use it. Namely, you'll need a variety of images of frosted glass types, so be on the lookout for windows with different glasses in the them, and photograph the glass when you run across some.

One of my hobbies is stained glass, and I have a crate full of different glass types. Glue-chip is one of the most useful glasses for using as an overlay - basically, it's a frosted textured glass, so it can be used for texture overlays. If you aren't sure what glue-chip is, it looks like the one below. Glue-chip comes with somewhat less design (single) and with more heavily frosted design (double glue-chip) - the sample below is a double glue-chip.

Using a photo of a sheet of glue-chip glass, I laid it over the beer glass above and used the soft light method to blend it with the beer glass layer.

That's it folks - a pretty simple one this time, but it can give your glasses some pretty interesting effects.

Black Photoshop Frames - Simple Elegance

noreply@blogger.com (Gracey) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:57:00 +0000

5-Photo Frame, also avail. in Black

I've had a request for a simple black photo frame with multiple spaces in it, so that's what we've got for this week. I've created three different frames with four, five, and six photo spaces for this request. The 5-photo frame has both a black frame and a white frame in the photoshop file, so if you opt to download the .psd file, you'll have a two-in-one file that will allow you to frame your photos with black or white. The remaining two files (the 4-photo and 6-photo) have black frames, with a white matte layer. Again, in the photoshop file you can opt to turn off the white matte layer if you don't want the matte, and in all of the .psd files you can choose to turn off the drop shadow as well. (Links to download pages at end of post)

Although I've created these files for use in photoshop, I realize that not everyone uses photoshop so the files are also available as .png files with transparency for the photo placements. Unfortunately, with the .png files, you won't have as much flexibility for changing the frames as you would with the .psd.

To use the .psd file, open it in photoshop. Each layer is labeled - the black frame, the white matte layer, and empty layers so you know where to place the photos. To place the photos, open your photo into photoshop, use the menu and choose "select", then choose "all" to select the photo. Next, select "edit", and then "copy". Minimize your photo, and maximize the frame template. Click on one of the photo layers, and select "edit" from the menu, and then "paste". To fit your photo to the space you want it in, select "edit", then "free transform" and use the "scale" option to fit your photo under the appropriate spot in the frame. Continue this until your frame is full, then flatten and save and you're ready to print.

Using the .png file is much the same - while you do not need photoshop to use it, you will need an editing program that is capable of handling layers. Open the .png in your program, and duplicate that layer so you have two layers. Move down to the bottom layer (or background), and then begin placing your photos - one on each new layer under the frame.

To download the files for these free photoshop frame templates, please visit the Frames & Templates page on Free-3d-Textures.com. (Please remember that .png files tend to be quite large and can be slow to download)

To download the .png files, you'll need to go to the .png section on Free-3d-Textures.com