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05/10/2004 09:32:38 AM · #1 |
I have an image which contains a sunspot (not sure what the proper nomenclature is). It's lacking in some technical areas, but still an intersting shot (to me) and more importantly a good example of my question.
I would appreciate two pieces of advice from the experts out there:
(1) I didn't have a lot of leeway when I took this shot as far as angles & timing. Is there any general technique to avoid/minimize these spots?
(2) Are there any good techniques for "fixing" the image in the digital darkroom? For reference, I use the GIMP as my editor, which seems to parallel PS at a high level. I also have access (for 28 more days) to an eval version of PS Elements on a Windows box if that helps to explain the technique better.
Thanks in advance! |
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05/10/2004 09:47:07 AM · #2 |
you crazy open-sourcers ;)
i really have no experience with any *nix boxes (and therefore no experience with the GIMP), but i've gathered from slashdot that GIMP really does not match PS.
//developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/30/217225&mode=thread&tid=152&tid=185&tid=92
in PS, however, the clone tool would make pretty quick work of this image. the nice sharp lines would make correction a breeze. i really like the lines in this photo.
as an aside, any recommendations for a starting linux user to get his feet wet? i recently burned KNOPPIX to a cd, but just havent found time to play. |
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05/10/2004 10:07:58 AM · #3 |
| Hi. You can prevent the spots a lot of the time if you use a lens hood to shade the lens. If you don't have one, put your hand or something between the light and the lens. Be careful to not include whatever you use in your picture. |
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05/10/2004 10:15:21 AM · #4 |
Originally posted by the-O-ster:
you crazy open-sourcers ;)
i really have no experience with any *nix boxes (and therefore no experience with the GIMP), but i've gathered from slashdot that GIMP really does not match PS.
//developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/30/217225&mode=thread&tid=152&tid=185&tid=92
in PS, however, the clone tool would make pretty quick work of this image. the nice sharp lines would make correction a breeze. i really like the lines in this photo.
as an aside, any recommendations for a starting linux user to get his feet wet? i recently burned KNOPPIX to a cd, but just havent found time to play. |
Great! I'll look into the cloning tool and its GIMP equivalent. I've been focusing (no pun intended) on learning the camera so haven't come close to mastering the editing software yet. Basic levels and unsharpen are as far as I've gone thus far. This will be a good excuse to add one more tool to my belt.
No argument about GIMP vs. Phototoshop (full), but based on my limited evaluation GIMP seems to have equal or more power than Photoshop Elements (albeit somewhat less friendly and less visually appealing), it's 100% free, and runs natively on my UNIX machines. I'm saving for a Digital Rebel at the moment, so software is tough to justify when the GIMP does most of what the average person needs once you locate the menus. I'm also *very* disappointed with the software which came with my Kodak camera. Linux with GIMP and gThumb/DigiKam runs circles around Kodak's basic tools.
Knoppix is a pretty decent environment, but I'm a UNIX Systems Engineer by trade, so I tend to prefer the more open roads. I use Fedora primarily, Solaris (sparc and x86), and keep a windows partition on my laptop for the few tools I can't run on UNIX.
Thanks again. I'm looking forward to fixing this image up!
-Chris
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05/10/2004 10:18:24 AM · #5 |
Originally posted by pcody:
Hi. You can prevent the spots a lot of the time if you use a lens hood to shade the lens. If you don't have one, put your hand or something between the light and the lens. Be careful to not include whatever you use in your picture. |
Ahh, now that I can do! As long as I'm not using the telephoto or wide angle attachments I have a shade on the lense adapter. As much as I hate to admit it, I never knew what to do with it until now. Thanks! |
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05/10/2004 11:10:55 AM · #6 |
I suppose, barring reshooting with the lens flare absent, you could either clone or crop?
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05/12/2004 06:38:42 AM · #7 |
Originally posted by dsidwell:
I suppose, barring reshooting with the lens flare absent, you could either clone or crop? |
I haven't leanred the cloning process yet, but plan to use this as an excuse to do so. I'm thinking about cropping this in a more narrow strip, but even with cropping I think the spot would still be (at least partially) within the region I'd keep. Hopefully cloning will do the trick.
Thanks! |
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05/12/2004 06:58:05 AM · #8 |
Originally posted by the-O-ster:
you crazy open-sourcers ;)
i really have no experience with any *nix boxes (and therefore no experience with the GIMP), but i've gathered from slashdot that GIMP really does not match PS.
//developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/30/217225&mode=thread&tid=152&tid=185&tid=92
in PS, however, the clone tool would make pretty quick work of this image. the nice sharp lines would make correction a breeze. i really like the lines in this photo.
as an aside, any recommendations for a starting linux user to get his feet wet? i recently burned KNOPPIX to a cd, but just havent found time to play. |
You can run GIMP on Windows as well. Sure, it doesn't perfectly parallel PS and from what I have heard is similar to a photoshop of many years ago. (Except that it isn't quite as userfriendly as it should be.)
Anyway, to get GIMP installed on Windows, you need to install GTK+ and I believe one other package... It's not terribly difficult to locate through www.gimp.org.
Knoppix is a bootable CD, there is nothing to install with it. Using Knoppix can be a great way to get your feet wet.
BTW, I don't use PS myself, because I find it to pricey for my current needs. Open Source or not, you can't beat the price of GIMP. (Although I have been using PS Elements 2.0 lately since it came with my camera.) |
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05/13/2004 03:09:34 PM · #9 |
With repsect to the GIMP, its recent 2.x releases seem to be much more polished than the 1.x releases which are still standard in most of the Linux distributions.
The menus have been laid out differently, and it's easier to organize the submenus you use into tabs now. I was able to drop the historgram into the main tool window for easy access which I like.
If you haven't looked at GIMP lately, look again... After demo'ing PS Elements GIMP stil doesn't have the visual appeal it needs, but it's very powerful, getting better all the time, and F R E E. I'd guess that it does more than the average person needs. |
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05/13/2004 03:13:40 PM · #10 |
| I think the light spot is cool - something else of interest in the picture |
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