You put the left logo in...

This image was to celebrate Arthurs Day but as it was for general press required a less obvious 'drink' element so the pint up close had to be removed. Logos were then to be added to the laptops and the Guinness logo changed to the Arthur Guinness Fund logo.

'Arthur' on the right of the image had his coat and shirt cloned as much as possible and the rest 'painted' in to fill in missing texture.

Avatars, modern day Smurfs.

This is one of our photographers, Simon, who made the mistake of taking a holiday.

Pro Editing on a Shoestring Budget

Whether you're trying to recreate the state-of-the-art multi-screen workstation in your glass topped open plan office inside your bedroom at home or simply trying to create an effective workflow system you will need a minimum of equipment for professional editing. 
While you can work with considerably slower equipment than that of a professional studio you will find it hard to justify the additional time required for image processing created by your inferior processing power. 
The successful blend of 'cheap' and 'efficient' is the key to a fast workflow that won't infuriate you and keep your clients waiting unncessarily.

First we have to decide what sort of editing we will be doing. There's no point in purchasing the latest NVIDIA Quadro GPU if your workflow doesn't demand that level of power. At the same time you want to be sure you can process 1GB files without worrying about waiting 20 minutes for a filter to render. 
Make a list of the processing you NEED to do. As an example this is my own specifications for work.
Transfer pics from camera to computer
Manage up to 800 JPGs per shoot
Choose up to 20 key images for post production
Post production on multiple images at once
Print images
Photo restoration
Creative post production - very large file sizes, upward of 1GB per image
HDR blending
Manage RAW images
32bit post production
Large image printing (file sizes upward of 1GB per image)
Green/blue screen editing

I would also LIKE to be able to add in some 3D editing using CS5 Extended but I don't have a commercial need for it right now so I will make a list of future upgrades:
CS5 extended
3D graphics processing

3D image rendering
Video animation
Video special effects


Using the profits from my home image editing I will expand my equipment to accommodate the additional capabilities I would like to be able to offer. In this way I won't over extend my equipment or offer the client a service I can't complete in an economical time scale.


Now we know what sort of editing we're going to concentrate on we can choose our equipment. We'll look at the professional equipment then find the cheap equivalent that will do what we need.

First stop, monitors.
Professional monitors cost thousands of pounds and you will need at least two. One for the main screen and one for your toolbars and additional working space.
One of the best professional monitor manufacturers is Eizo. Their monitors are 'colour calibrated' which simply means the colours you see on screen are the true colours as captured in the image. Their colour, contrast, brightness etc can be very finely tuned as well giving you full control over how the colours are represented onscreen. This is particularly important for the home setup where your ceiling or desk lights are not going to be daylight simulation or a specially chosen bulb with a specific kelvin.

What we need is the cheap version of Eizo, or at the very least a monitor with good colour calibration options. There's no point in spending hundreds of pounds on a screen calibrator (this is a device that attaches to the front of the monitor and reads the light output) if your monitor can't be adjusted sufficiently to make the changes recommended by the screen calibrator.


At the lower end of the pro spectrum from Eizo is their more affordable FlexScan EV2333W. At £299 plus VAT it's a great price for a 22" monitor with high quality colours and plenty of controls. It also has an Eco option which saves power therefore costing you less but be sure and turn it off if you're editing images as the loss in colour quality is noticable.
Your second monitor can be anything you like. Amazon sells basic monitors from £80. This is for toolbars, your music player etc while you're working on the main monitor so it can be as cheap you like. I chose a 19" monitor and rotated it on it's side to give me an upright view for lots of layers and a long history box.
When it comes to VGA, DVI or HDMI connections choose DVI or HDMI. DVI is more common at the moment in monitors and provides a faster higher quality connection than VGA. You will normally get both cables with a monitor that has both connections. Just be sure you get a graphics card that matches the connections on both monitors. (Many modern graphics cards come with 2 connection ports, alternatively you can buy a splitter).


Next you need a computer. 

I've gone into bench marking in another post available here so I won't bore you with the technicalities all over again but the main points to keep in mind are processing power, RAM and hard disk size.
3Ghz is a good speed PC.
3GB or more RAM is essential (don't accept less, Windows alone requires 2GB).
300GB hard drives or bigger are required. Preferably get a machine with two hard drives. One to install software on and one to use as a scratch disk (working space for Photoshop).
An external hard drive is a good start of backing up images as well but don't be over charged by getting it with the computer. A massive external hard drive from a good brand name shouldn't cost you much more than £60.
A personally chosen mouse is also a good addition although most of your home-pro editing will be done with a graphics tablet but a comfy mouse will save you lots of pain in the long run. Pick a mouse that moves easily and feels comfortable. Try the mice available in the shops rather than online (even if you buy online later) and make sure you sit down to use it. Your wrist and arm will be in a completely different position when seated versus standing. If like me you have a mouse attached to your arm for around 12 hours a day you will want to be sure it's very very comfortable! Rechargable batteries are also a must or they will cost you a fortune. Avoid really cheap mice, they don't last. Equally avoid the £100 mice, I've worn out two top of the range mice from Logitech and Microsoft and my £100 keyboard only lasted a year as well. I now have a mid range wired keyboard for £30 from Microsoft and a mid range wireless mouse for £30 also from Microsoft. 


Essential Toys
People without graphics tablets will tell you they are not essential.
People with graphics tablets will tell you they are.
I have a graphics tablet now but I didn't for years until my brother kindly bought me one as a Christmas present. At around £300 for an A5 sized tablet they are incredibly expensive and initially you will think completely hateful to use. After a week however you will quite like it. After a month you will love it and your clients will be very impressed with your state-of-the-art equipment. Two monitors and a graphics tablet with some vibrant wallpapers will always impress a client. (Other designers will be more interested in your movie character collection underneath your monitor).
High end graphics tablets are of course spectacularly expensive.
Click here to drool over spectacularly expensive.
In my office I have the (now very old) Intuos 3 with standard pen and tablet mouse. Additional pens and nibs are available but at around £50 each even the pens are expensive. It works well for me however and until I'm fabulously wealthy I'll be sticking with it.
I did use the Cintiq (see link above) and the latest version of my own tablet at the Wacom stand at Focus 2010, the photography show in Birmingham, England this year and the differences are incredible. The new pens are superbly responsive and give massive control over your touch. It is this level of control that gives you fast and easy artistic results, especially when painting. The latest equivalent of my own tablet is the new Intuos 4 A5 model. Around £300 it's still a considerable expense for the home user. 
The new Bamboo models bridge the price gap nicely giving you an entry level price (and a cool toy to impress clients) but with good functionality. The basic 'pad' of the tablet can be configured to match your screen size so if you place the pen at the left edge of your tablet, your cursor on screen will be at the left edge of your screen. The bigger the ratio between tablet size and screen size and the more delicate you will have to be with your movements but even with my A5 pad and 22" screen it's easy to use. The new Bamboo models also include touch technology so you can simply use your finger, much like an iPhone. This model at only 10.5x7" is slightly smaller than A5 but at under £70 it's a no-brainer for pen touch editing and just plain coolness.

Playing with HDR and all things shiny

One of our photographers, Simon Graham was photographing the new Audi showroom this week including a selection of motors inside. All of the images were taken as HDR images to ensure the highest range of light quality and reflection. Taking the finished 32bit HDR image as combined in Photoshop (from JPEGs) this is the before and after with just 10 steps.

All at Sea

Things have been fairly busy with Photoshop work recently but mostly on the retouching side so much of the work can't be published. This project arrived this week however, the production of poster sized (over 4ft) images for a new office. The images were randomly shot to display the harbour and the ships with the full selection of JPGs arriving back with me. From there I designed a range of final images with differing finishes to compliment the variety of items photographed. All of the designs were completed within a couple of hours. This is a selection of the final images.
The first image above I particularly like. It resembles the old style images found on collectors cards inside cigarette packets, now only found adorning golf club walls in aging frames.

This design resembles those puzzles where you have to move the squares around to recreate the picture. The trick here is to break the image into sections and move them equally apart. Blending Options>Stroke gives an instant uniform border. It's also key to keep the branding on the ship visible.

I picked out three elements which could be found in the wider shot and tried them in varying positions around the image before settling on this one. Anything close to or on the top of the image took away from the leading lines running up to the control deck.

This design was very simplistic but included all of the elements required, 3 types of ship and a large harbour view. The smaller individual shots weren't strong enough on their own to make into full size images.

The original idea for this shot was to split it into two separate windows but after adding a centre line to test the idea I found I preferred it to splitting the image.

If it ain't broke... tweak it

Optimising your PC or MAC can be tricky enough but designing it to specifically suit Photoshop and your image workflow presents additional challenges. If like me you've already got a PC or MAC then you probably don't want to spend any more money on an upgrade which may or may not work. The best you can do is tweak the system you have now to get more out of it. 

I've started with a list of questions which normally arise when trying to increase the speed of any software followed by a search on Adobe.com for technical notes (TechNotes) and e-mailed the knowledgeable people at National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) for their take on Photoshop memory management.

My initial questions are below:

• Does Photoshop 'manage' memory or should I install a 3rd party memory manager?
• What graphics card should I install and will Photoshop use all, some or none of the memory onboard the card?
• How big a scratch disk do I need and will I run the risk of wearing out that drive by constantly reading/writing to it?
• How much RAM should I have?
• How much Virtual Memory should I allocate to programs over background tasks?
• Can I test the efficiency of Photoshop after I make system changes?
• Are technical specifications for Photoshop memory usage available?
• What features should I enable/disable in Photoshop to speed things up?

 My searches on Adobe.com led me to the following articles:

Optimize performance of Photoshop CS5 and CS4 on Windows 7, Vista, and XP
Optimize performance in Photoshop CS5 and CS4 on Mac OS
List of tested graphics display cards for Photoshop CS4
List of tested video cards for Photoshop CS5
GPU and OpenGL Support in Photoshop CS5 and CS4
Photoshop CS5 64-bit benchmarks

The first thing to do is work out how to benchmark your system, aside from the obvious changes of seeing filters apply quicker and images load faster I want to be able to definitively say whether a change has made a difference.
John Nack in his blog mentions a couple of benchmarking tools but if you don't want to go down that route the easiest test is to choose a typical file you would work with (typical being the normal size of image you would shoot, download and edit) then choose a filter or range of edits to perform on your image. For consistency you can add these functions to an action (Sample actions used for benchmarking are here) or simply repeat them manually. Choose a complex filter that will tax your machine sufficiently to see a real difference. 

In Photoshop open the Window>Info (F8) panel
Click the panel menu then Panel Options...
Tick Scratch Sizes, Efficiency and Timing
Click OK
You can now see these settings in the Info Panel. When you perform a function in Photoshop, the time taken (in seconds), efficiency of memory use and scratch disk space available will be shown. Some filters such as Unsharp Mask, Gaussian Blur, etc. use only processing power so if these run slowly you need a faster processor or to adjust your PC settings rather than your Photoshop settings.
Working with large images, multiple images or files with multiple layers will test your memory and the speed of your scratch disks.

For my own benchmarking I'm using the Photoshop Speed Test
Following the instructions I have set my History States, Cache Levels, Memory Usage and Processor Usage according to the Read Me file. To access these settings go to Edit>Preferences>Performance

The Read Me file says that no other program should be running when benchmarking but I will be leaving my background programs running such as Skype and anti-virus as these are the minimum programs which are ALWAYS running whenever I am using Photoshop. To close these would be to create a false benchmark for my personal system.

Test 1: Default Benchmark Settings
Windows XP Pro SP3 (32-bit)
Intel Xeon CPU 3.00Ghz
2.00 GB RAM
For the stopwatch I used the stopwatch feature on my iPhone.
Test 1: 1 min 43 seconds - DEFAULT BENCHMARK SETTING

From this point onward I will make a change to the settings or system and rerun the test from a reboot. A reboot clears the RAM and temporary files so to keep things consistent I will have to reboot after each system change. 

Test 2: Run FreeRAM XP Pro
Normally I run FreeRAM XP Pro to manage memory while using lots of programs. On a busy day I can have around 10 programs running with up to 25 tabs open within FireFox and occasionally Internet Explorer at the same time. FreeRAM XP Pro manages this heavy memory usage very well but does warn that it can slow certain programs down. I rebooted with FreeRAM XP Pro on default settings, launch at Windows startup and AutoFree: Automatically optimize to balance speed and memory.
Test 2: 3 mins 21 seconds - FAIL

Test 3: Change Windows System Properties
Right-click 'My Computer', left-click Properties
Take a note of the RAM for your computer. (e.g. 2.00 GB RAM)
Under the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings
In the Performance Options dialog box click Advanced tab
Check Processor Scheduling is set to Programs
Check Memory Usage is set to Programs
Under Virtual Memory click Change
Here your system is most likely set to System Managed Size
If your computer is old or very well used it's quite common for RAM chips to fail. The whole RAM stick may not have failed but individual failed chips will contribute to slow performance and system freezes. If you know your machine should have more RAM try swapping the RAM sticks with new ones to boost performance.
The Paging File (Virtual Memory) is physical hard drive space used for processing information when there is insufficient RAM. RAM and the Page File can only be accessed independently, never at the same time so there is a delay between accessing the RAM and accessing the Page File. We can boost performance here in a number of ways. The first is to dedicate a hard drive to the Page File. Choose a fast hard drive that is not accessed very often. My system is by default set to C:\ drive with a custom Page File size of Intial Size: 2046MB and Maximum Size: 4092MB.
I clicked on D:\ then chose System managed size
Now drives C and D can be used for Page File access.
The more drives you can spread the Page File across the better your performance will be, but do not spread the Page File across partitions or Fault Tolerant drives as this will slow performance.
Ideally you want to put as much RAM into your machine as possible and lower the Page File access as much as possible. Turning off the Page File will cause your system to crash occasionally as it is used for other things as well as memory management though.
Detailed information on profiling your personal system can be found by clicking here.
For myself I have added drive D:\ and set it to System managed size. The system will require a reboot after you change these settings.
Test 3: 1 min 43 seconds - NO CHANGE
While there was no change in results for this test, the additional memory will definitely come in handy when working with larger and multiple files. It's also worth noting that defragmenting your hard drive will speed up Page File access but only if you defrag the Page File - this DOES NOT  happen when running a normal defragmentation. For details on how to defrag the Page File click here.

Test 4: Bigger Tiles
Bigger tiles is a plug-in that ships with CS4 that will improve the redraw time of your images on screen. It requires more than 1GB of RAM to be installed and can be good news if you work with large or complex images. As a Picture Editor this includes me but the majority of my work is minor fixes to multiple images (50-100 per day) so this plug-in will actually slow my system down. Installation instructions can be found here. For the purposes of the test though I will install it to see the results.
Test 4: 1 min 28 seconds - 15 SECONDS FASTER

Additional tests from Adobe relate to working with specific file types, how you preview and work with images and hardware. These are all useful settings and it's worth tweaking the options that relate to your workflow and type of image production. The primary tests above are the first tests I can perform without upgrading my hardware.
With an OpenGL graphics card already running and turned on in Photoshop (Edit>Preferences>Performance) I am utilising the memory on the graphics card. Other options such as defragging your hard drives and running system cleanup are also explained on the Adobe page but I perform these regularly so I won't see an increase in speed from running these now. Lots more information can be found on tuning your MAC on this page as well including details of the Bigger Tiles plugin and DisableScratchCompress which will significantly increase your Photoshop performance on a MAC.

• In conclusion additional RAM will be the first upgrade I make to my PC to bring it up to 4GB unless I move to Windows 7, 64-bit in which case the amount of RAM available is limited by your motherboard RAM chip spaces and your budget.
• My additional memory manager slows Photoshop down substantially.
• Changing the Windows Page File settings improve memory usage for large files and multiple files or when working with lots of programs open.
• The Bigger Tiles plugin speeds up redraw times substantially but making lots of smaller changes to multiple images may be slower.

 

Make mine a pint

These shots (by John Harrison) were taken for the anniversary launch of Tennants lager. The shots were deemed too risqué so the skirt was lengthened and the top raised by painting in additional fabric before adding shading and softening the cleavage line. Finally the 'T' logo was added and weathered using a custom created brush to give the water damage effect in line with the other damage on the barrel. The layer was then given a new blend mode to match it into the colour which conveniently let the sand shine through making it look even more attached to the barrel.

Face Up To It

New business card portraits for a local client.

Quick Switch

This quick fix was to make a copy of the first image (top) but with another lady on the left who was photographed later. The only tricky part was bending the new arm to fit the pose, I suspect Puppet Warp in CS5 would have come in handy there but I haven't upgraded yet...

Minx Airlines

Shot (by John Harrison) for Anglewise to promote the new Manx2 flights I've changed the lighting on the catsuit to make it more sleek looking, enhanced the sky and adjusted the lighting on the plane to make it stand out more. The models skin tone and hair has also been deepened to make them stand out from the background.

Formula 1/3

Shot in the street (by Marie-Therese Hurson) this is Andy Hawthorns new race car. It was taken just outside his garage and we didn't have room to move it so I removed the background completely and created the zoom effect background using 'render clouds' and the zoom filter. A shadow was painted in to finish it off.

Poster girl

Shot (by John Harrison) for a drinks promotion we were asked to remove the girl at the front of the group as she was too young to be featured in an alcohol advertisement. I started by cloning out her head and legs then replaced the main part of her torso with the poster from the right side of the image. The final touches were cloning in the rest of the hand and painting in legs to complete the body of the man behind the girl.

True blue

This was a straight forward sky enhancement using a mask and cloning in new tree edges. The sky colour was selected using 'replace colour' then masked to keep the colour enhancing to just the visible sky areas.

Saturday morning oysters

I took these images during a walking tour for Belfast City Council which included a stop at Mourne Seafood Bar. The lady trying the oysters is Sheila Dillon from the BBC Good Food programme. Originally shot in colour I changed them all to black and white, removed a distracting ventilation grill on the shop front and cropped the images to suit the layout. The final print is hanging in the Mourne Seafood Bar in Belfast. The only posed shot was of Andy Rae, the owner, standing in the doorway.

Diet Coke Break

A new project for Coca Cola called for a combination of PR/artistic imagery showing 'Coke People' so working with John Harrison he shot the people in a range of poses in their new bottling plant with a view to Photoshopping some of the images.

These are a selection of the shots.
In this shot I've selectively removed the colour to leave a black and white background with the red lighting remaining on the bottles which were originally clear plastic. The face has been enhanced slightly as well.



In this image I've cropped out the light in the background, reduced the green hue of the image and boosted the red to give a stronger glow on the face. Admittedly it looks better in print than on here. Fly away hairs have also been removed from the left side of the face.



In this shot I've straightened the image, removed the price tags and replaced the green hue with a red one. The plastic wrapping on many of the cans has also been cleaned up.



This was a simple case of skin smoothening, sharpening and eye enhancement:

Montage Season Returns

Commissioned once again for montages I was asked to place a number of images onto 800x600mm display boards for a trade show stand by Balmoral Furniture. Iris Colour did the print proofing and final printing, producing excellent high quality boards.
Each board was designed to display a specific venue: