HELP!!! Please : P

[caffeinated.joy]

LOL Tenshii...I scrimped and saved for quite a while to get 1/2 what I needed for the computer I had built for me last year. Then...much to my glee, I made a good trade on some options I had with a company I worked for and got the rest of the money I needed. So, it was part spendthrifty saving and good deal of luck that got me my nice, droolworthy machine

[Theraven]

Sadie, I know there's a definite difference, because I save my images as TIFF files myself.  When I updated my GIMP, I noticed how BMP files would always open up blue/green/yellow and kind of oddish, in both GIMP and my main editing program (even though the thumbnail previews showed the shots in normal colors)... and PNG files had this "layering" about it that would screw up when you saved your edited image (for example, say you had hair and clothes that used alphas, and they were in your pictures.  Instead of the alpha channels staying transparent, where they're supposed to be, once you save your edited image, the "transparent" areas turn "grey").  I suppose this doesn't quite happen to everyone, but it has happened on my end... and annoyed me, because it never happened before until I updated.  :dontknow:

TIFF files open up without such issues for me, and they don't "compress" like BMP, JPG, and PNG files (even though PNG compresses less than JPG and BMP, it still compresses nonetheless)... meaning you won't loose the full quality from that after editing or cropping your shots and saving them as JPG files.  Plus the fact that they seemingly save at a consistent file size.  All of my TIFF images are less than 3MB, while I notice all my old BMP and PNG files are all over the place from 1MB-6MB.  May not be too noticeable at first, but I tried it out after I found out PNG are compressed a little after first saving.  Hardly any difference, except in file size. :smile bi:

good explanation, tenshii

I use TIFF instead of photoshop files now. My computer can't read the photoshop-files other than inside photoshop itself, but it can read TIFF files (for previews, I mean). After finishing everything on the picture, I save a copy of it without layers and resized (for posting) as PNG, while saving a TIFF file with layers too.

I always save the original untouched TIFF file (in case something goes wrong with the copies), a TIFF file with layers, and a PNG file for posting (or JPG sometimes).

[EKozski]

The one thing I can't figure out is, how you get that "glossy, glaze" effect on pictures?

Drives me batty.

[lewisb40]

I have to check this gadwin out. Thanks for the info.

[caffeinated.joy]

The one thing I can't figure out is, how you get that "glossy, glaze" effect on pictures?

Drives me batty.

Glossy glaze? Not sure what you mean...

[EKozski]

That shiney sheen on pictures. Makes it look like a 8x10 glossy photo

[caffeinated.joy]

Oh! I think I know what you mean...is it on the pictures I took? That's what happens when you use anything but the in game camera. The detail is much better with PrtScn or Gadwin. The in game camera loses alot of quality.

[EKozski]

OK.

I have Gadwin.

Thanks to Tenshii.

[Sam the T-man]

Oh, I know what you mean. It's known as the warming technique - different people do it different ways, but generally it involves these steps:

• Duplicate the layer
• Gaussian blur (set at 1-3)
• Change blending mode to soft light (some use overlay)
• Adjust the lighting (brightness/contrast or some other way)
• Flatten the image

Then the old sharpen and resize. There are different ways explained in Contest Central - think there's a separate thread for Photoshop tutorials, but it doesn't just cover that program

[EKozski]

Thank you so much for explaining that.

I actually copied your directions and pasted it in, Notepad. This way, I'll always have it.

Later on, I'll practice on a picture.

[caffeinated.joy]

With the warming technique, it's a good idea to be careful. If your picture has a lot of dark colour in it already, warming will just make the colours bleed together and make the picture too dark. I rarely use it.

A couple good threads to look at:

How to TAKE pictures

Photoshop Tutorials/General Photo Editing links and advice

[EKozski]

Very helpful stuff, CJ

I raise my coffee mug to you!

Thank you!

[lewisb40]

I am floored! OMG, I can see all the details in my pics now, since I got Gadwin!  I haven't used a paint program yet, all I did was cropped the pic and it is wonderful. Ooo, can't wait to play around with this. Now to learn how to use a paint program.



All this time, I thought I had a crappy video card. I don't even have my card turned all the way up!

[caffeinated.joy]

See? Didn't we tell you it was much better than using that crappy ingame camera! :clapp:

[lewisb40]

So much better! Thanks so much for the tips! Looks like I could understand it better in this thread. *dense*