Tutorial ideas

[Doug Nelson]

Here's where you post tutorial ideas for others to say "hey, I could write that!"

Stuff that you'd like to see a tutorial on, or that you simply feel needs a tutorial here due to its relevance.

And those who decide they'd like to try their hand at writing a tutorial can revisit this thread for ideas on what to write about.

[Doug Nelson]

I'll start us off:

I've always thought it would be a good idea to have several different step-by-step restorations. something like:

Starting image
First step (screencap)
Second step (screencap)
Third step (screencap)
...
Last step (screencap)
Side by side/before and after images.

We have lots of finished jobs, several of which have excellent descriptions, but I think this would clarify things a lot for many people.

[eronald]

I think the first/last pix should be shown at the beginning of the tutorial. This provides more motivation than just a title.

Edmund

[Jeff L]

I agree. The first/last photos pretty much sum the whole thing up. I just got around to publishing a tutorial on curves adjustments on my site. I have never done one before and thought I would give it a try. If I get good feedback on it I will put it here.

[roger_ele]

An interesting thought ;

We have a Tutorial section and a challenges section ...

If one could do a tutorial of a restoration of a challenge, with sreen shots, and link that challenge submision to the tutorial and the tutorial to the challenge ....

Maybe a tutrial category of challenges, and a sub category of each challenge # so that multiple tutorials could be written and they would all be grouped together and linked...

... I know ... I like to make things complicated, but maybe this idea will spark another idea, and so on ....

[Ed_L]

I still don't understand advanced blending (blend if) very well. I'd love to see an easy to understand tutorial on that.

Ed

[Doug Nelson]

Stuff I'd like to see in our Tutorials section:

Making actions
Custom brushes
Patch tool
Image-based selections
Displacement maps
More colorization techniques
Keystone correction
Perspective correction
Retouching wrinkles
Reconstruction of missing details
Using curves to fix skin tones

I'm sure there's a ton more. Add your own here.

[Doug Nelson]

I'd really like to see a realistic sky replacement tutorial using only PS native filters and tools.

This might have been mentioned, but a tutorial on selecting specific colors or a range of colors would be handy for those trying to remove stains.

And, of course, the old standby "tutorial on how to write a tutorial", only updated for our new automated system.

[Doug Nelson]

Here's another: show how to use stairstep interpolation with before/after examples.

Plus, don't forget any of our tutorials could be re-done using a different editor. So re-do a Photoshop tut for PaintshopPro, or translate them for Elements, or Corel Paint, or whatever your favorite editor is. If I get enough I'll separate them into their own areas.

[Rexx]

How to create "real" DOF?

Ok, silly newbie rushing in.

Is there a technique for creating realistic looking DOF? I don't mean the standard background-middleground-foreground, mask and Gaussian blur. It looks fake after a while. I mean something that looks like it was caused by a real optical lens. (Perhaps there is a plug-in?) Old analogue SLR photographers out there will know what I mean I think.

See this forum entry for an example:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1007&message=7175761

I don't know how long the images in that forum will be available. If they disappear, I can supply some of my own SLR photos for illustration purposes.

[Leah]

Vegard,

The photos in the particular post you link to have the problem that they are taken under very different lighting conditions and also that the second (blurred in Photoshop) photo hasn't had the blurring and masking applied very well - there are definite fringes around the figures and the fall-off isn't very gradual. And if you read the comments in the post where the originator of the photos actually posted them, it's clear that he didn't do the Photoshopping following the technique in the tutorial at the head of the thread (with a gradual falloff of focus) but rather a few years earlier in a "similar" manner.

The example image in the tutorial itself is a far better example of a reasonably good use of Photoshop for DOF.

I guess to explore this area effectively (and I agree it's worth exploring... hmm, might make a good challenge) we'd need to start with two SLR images of the same subject with the same framing under the same lighting conditions, but with one photo taken with a pretty wide aperture and one taken with the aperture closed right down for maximum DOF. Then explore techniques for making the maximum-DOF photo look like the minimum-DOF photo. That way there's a standard for seeing what "real" optical blur looks like in the context of a particular image.

If you've got images that fit these criteria then it would be good to see them. Otherwise maybe someone else can oblige? I'm stuck in work during daylight hours myself so it would be a while before I can get out and take some photos specifically for this purpose.

[Rexx]

Yes I agree, the second (Photoshop DOF) example wasn't very well executed, but I think my point about "one big Gauss fog" is still valid.

For the second part, I agree fully. That was exactly the way I imagined such a tutorial or challenge or whatever would have to be carried out.

Listen, I'm going on a company trip to Lisbon for the weekend. One of my colleagues has a 10D (affectionately called The Instamatic ) I can try to take those test shots with the 10D during the weekend. My own SLR is analogue, and has been collecting dust for nearly three years...

Yes, called him in the car. He'll take it. I'll hopefully be able to supply some 6Mpix samples on Tuesday!

[Rexx]

This is sooooooo embarrassing!

I forgot to shoot those photos in Lisbon!
But I'm working on a tutorial, based on another photo I took in Lisbon. As soon as the Tutorial Publishing System is up and running again, I'll publish it. Quite a lot of work, writing a tutorial!

[Juliana Ross]

Wish for a tutorial from Doug

I was looking at your other web site and saw the awesome job you did on the blurry image.

Could we get a tutorial on that or is it a trade secret

Or did I just miss it somewhere

Thanks,

Juliana

[Rexx]

I was looking at your other web site and saw the awesome job you did on the blurry image.

Could we get a tutorial on that or is it a trade secret

Or did I just miss it somewhere

Are you ... uh ... talking to ME???

Seriously, I am not sure what you're referring to here. My post above is one year old. After I posted it I have learned that Photoshop CS has a new lens blur filter that does what I am asking for, a blur different from Gauss.

No trade secrets, but could you be more specific?