Fading a background into a floor

I've written previously about replacing backgrounds, and here's another example, this time with a plain background blending into the floor. Thanks to Rebecca from California for her permission to use this photo.

This works best if your background and floor are very similar in colour and tone. If you try to work with vastly different tones, it will look nice, but not realistic.

1. Sample a suitable colour with your eyedropper tool. I chose a bit of wall near the child's torso (circled):

Preparing headshots to exact size

This is something that comes up from time to time, often for Senior Yearbooks. They ask for images of a certain size, and in particular they want the head sizes to be very precise. Here's an example from a while ago. The specs were:

Yearbook headshot images
2.5" by 3.5" 300ppi jpeg
Headsize: 1" from tip of chin to top of forehead

Here's a way to do it (in Photoshop, not sure about Elements):

1. Make a new blank document, 1 inch x 1inch @ 300ppi.

2. File>Place to place your photo into the new 1in document.

3. When placed, the image will have the "transform handles" to allow you to resize your photo until it fits the 1in height exactly as specified (chin to top of forehead).  (See notes below for more resizing info.)  Press Enter to commit the transform.

4. Image > Reveal All.

5. Choose your Rectangular Marquee Tool. Choose "Fixed Size" in the options bar, and enter 2.5in, 3.5in.

6. Place your marquee on the image, and move around where you want the crop to fall.

7. Image > Crop.

8. Ctrl D to deselect.

At the end of all this, it should give you a 2.5 x 3.5 inch image, in which the head is exactly 1 inch high. Obviously, you can modify the above instructions depending on the specifications you've been given.

By the way, don't forget to submit your jpegs in sRGB colour space, unless you've been given very specific instructions to the contrary. If they ask for CMYK, make sure you find out exactly what CMYK profile is required. 

Notes about resizing using the transform handles:

1. Make sure you only use the corner handles, not the side ones.

2. Make sure you hold down the Shift key while dragging the corner handles, to ensure the proportions are maintained.

3. Make sure you release your mouse button BEFORE releasing the Shift key.

What you see when you pixel-peep

Even though we usually view our images at arm's length, so to speak, sometimes it's necessary (and tempting) to view them up close - reeeeeeeally close - to see the pixel detail.

How do I "pixel peep"?

By viewing at 100% in your imaging program. 100% means that one image pixel is being represented by one screen pixel. If you view smaller than that, you're not getting a true representation of the pixels. If you view larger than that, you're getting an exaggerated representation, and that can make things seem worse than they really are.

Oh, gee, that's huge!

Yes, it is. 100% size on screen is much bigger than 100% size in print. If we make the broad assumption that the average print resolution is 300ppi, and the average LCD screen resolution is 100ppi, then your on-screen view will be three times longer/wider than the corresponding print view.

Selective sharpening?

I had an interesting snippet of conversation with one of my lovely trainees, Amy, today. We were discussing "eye pop" (using Levels, of course!), and Amy asked me if I ever found it necessary to selectively sharpen eyes. The answer is no, hardly ever. I've probably only done it once or twice in the last year. For one thing, sharpening is not the best way to make eyes pop. There are invariably better and more natural ways to do it. I don't think eyes should get any more or less sharpening than the rest of a photo. But that's the thing. When sharpening is done properly, it automatically applies most strongly to the areas of best focus. And what is the usual focal point of a portrait? The eyes, of course. So when I sharpen a portrait, I find that as long as I use the Threshold slider correctly in USM, the eyes get the main "hit" of sharpening, without having to trouble myself with selecting or masking.