Reproducible size of old photos

When I'm restoring old photos for my customers, I'm frequently asked "Can it be enlarged?"

The answer is always "Yes".  All that's required is for me to scan it at sufficiently high resolution.  As long as I capture enough pixels, any photo can be enlarged to the side of a truck, if you wish.

(I will write about the technical aspects of "how many pixels is enough" in a future post.)

It needs to be clearly understood that nothing changes during enlargement.  The quality of the photo won't become worse, nor magically better.  It will be exactly the same photo, only bigger.

If it was a clear, well-focused photograph, it will be a clear, well-focused photograph at any size.  Conversely, if it was a bit blurry and out-of-focus, it will be equally blurry and out-of-focus at any size.  Not worse, not better, just larger.

Let's face it, not all of the old cameras had the amazing lenses and focusing capabilities of our modern devices (although some certainly did), so this is certainly something we need to consider.  I guess it's fairly simple to foretell how a photo will look when enlarged - just hold it at normal viewing distance, then bring it closer to your nose.  (I'm full of high-tech advice!  Ha ha!)

If you wish to enlarge your old photo, go right ahead.  Folk don't bring just any old photos to me - they bring photos that are rich with character and historical significance.  And that trumps technical imperfections every time.

That rich look

A while ago I was asked how to achieve "that rich dark look". I'd already mentioned it, in a roundabout way, in this post, but I think it's worth elaborating.

Obviously there are numerous ways to achieve any effect, and this is only one. I've taken all the following screenshots in Photoshop Elements 9, but the method is identical for all versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

I'll start with a standard "clean" photo, to which I've done a basic enhancement using a couple of Levels layers:

To commence the fun, I add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer:

And change its blend mode from "Normal" to "Multiply". This is the crux of the method.

Sometimes, you get lucky ...

I'm going to confess something ... I don't really know what all of Photoshop's layer blend modes do.  I mean, I have a vague idea about some of them, but I've never made any attempt to really learn them.

But that doesn't stop me from using them!  Not in the least.  More often than I care to admit, I find myself saying: "I bet there's a blend mode for this", and flicking through them optimistically, hoping to find one that does what I want.

This photo is a perfect case in point.  I haven't shown it all here, but it was a gorgeous shot of The Kiss ... marred by the second shooter standing behind them.  D'oh!  My client sent me this photo to ask me to "please clone out the second shooter".

Tutorial: Shapes

How to make the ubiquitous rectangle-with-two-square-corners-and-two-rounded-corners shape.
I've created this tutorial in Elements 9, and it's relevant to all versions of Elements and Photoshop as far back as I can remember.

I begin with a blank file:

This requires a bit of planning. It's a very good idea to use guides to map out where you want the shape to be. First, turn on the Rulers ...

... which appear at the left and top of your image window:

Something to try

I saw this question on a forum, and in an effort not to do any work this afternoon, I thought it would be fun to blog about it.

A photo covered with a coloured panel, but with the photo showing through the text, like this:

It's really easy, and a lot of fun if you haven't tried it before.  (I've done this in Photoshop Elements 9, and the method is the same for all versions of Elements and Photoshop).

Grids in Photoshop

Photoshop is full of little things that you don't need much in day-to-day editing, but it sure is handy to know where they are when you need them.

Grids are one such thing.  They're pretty self-explanatory - an overlay of gridlines on your image.

To turn on the grid, just press Ctrl ' (apostrophe), or View>Grid.  You'll get something like this:

Please be wary of CMYK

A few times in the last couple of weeks I've been on forums and noticed people who were (apparently) quite unaware or indifferent about the risks involved in CMYK conversion.

For photographers, CMYK isn't something that comes up very often.  And that's a good thing.  But now and then you'll be preparing photos for a magazine, or getting your business cards printed, or perhaps being featured in a newspaper.  In those circumstances, you might be asked to provide CMYK files.

(Note: Elements users can't convert to CMYK.  You'll just have to explain this, and submit RGB files instead.)

Too many people think that CMYK conversion is as simple as Image > Mode > CMYK.  Yes, that converts to CMYK, but it converts to the default CMYK profile that's set in your Color Settings (usually SWOP Coated v2).  And if that default CMYK profile isn't the correct one for your purpose, you'd better get a bucket ready, because you're going to vomit when you see the printed result.

Adding a scanned signature to a photo

This method will already be well known to a lot of you, but I hope it might be a little "a-ha!" moment to some.  I've done this in CS2, but it's exactly the same in all version of Photoshop and Elements.

The idea of placing your own genuine signature on your photos might seem great, but the prospect of cutting out around your scrawl to achieve a transparent background is too daunting, right?  Well, luckily you don't have to.

With a black pen (another dark colour should work too), sign a piece of white paper, then scan it.  (If you don't have a scanner handy, take a good sharp photo of it.)  Use a nice high resolution (at least 600ppi), to allow plenty of flexibility to use it at a large size if you want to.

Comparing Curves and Levels

To a degree, choosing Curves or Levels to make your tonal adjustments in Photoshop is much like choosing Coke or Pepsi to quench your thirst - it's a matter of taste. (Although neither Curves nor Levels go well with rum!)

Needless to say, Levels and Curves are the "heavyweights" of Photoshop - if you really want to be able to edit your photos, you need to be able to use one of them. They have some similarities, and some differences, and I'm going to discuss those briefly here.

I'll begin by saying that Elements users don't get this choice. Yes, there's a primitive Curves function buried in the Enhance menu in Elements, but the control it gives you is minimal, and more importantly, it's not available as an adjustment layer. Any functions that aren't available as adjustment layers should be avoided where possible, because they can't be re-adjusted, and they can't be masked. Elements peeps, you need to embrace Levels, and in some cases, Brightness/Contrast. Both of those are available via the little half-black-half-white circle icon in your Layers palette.

Ok, back to Curves vs Levels ...

Pesky pinks

I'm supposed to be doing all sorts of other work tonight, but I can't resist a good blog topic!

The lovely Rowena Field sent me a photograph that was troubling her.  In it, her daughter's pink shirt appeared quite blotchy and pixelated when viewed at 100%, despite the fact that all the other detail in the image was perfectly normal, and despite the fact that she'd got good exposure at only ISO250, which is a piece of cake for her 5D.

I know this is a problem for everyone from time to time (although not everyone examines their photos as closely as Rowena!), so she cautiously gave me permission to use the photo here.  Thanks, Ro!

Here's the shot: