mainelady Loc: Portland, Maine

What are plug ins and when and how do you use them?
Also recs for editing programs, ie Aperture vs photshop, I have a mac.

notnoBuddha

I like Photoshop but then that is all I ever had so this is not excatly an unbiased opinion. Others can explain better then I but I believe plug ins are nothing more then an additional program made to work with your existing editing program to address a very specific proplem such as noise.

robtekirsch Loc: Bergenfield, N.J.

I'm looking for what I was told is a plug in called Pencil. I would like to take my 1700 reinactment pics & create them as pencil drawings. Any help?? Thank You.

jkaye65 Loc: Chico, CA

I have not seen or heard of "Pencil", but I use a plug-in called "Sketch" by Akvis with decent results

arphot Loc: Massachusetts

I've heard of Pencil for Gimp, but that's not my program of choice.
Plugins are little programs within the main editor that provide other functions that Photoshop or Aperture may not already have included. Or better versions of an already existing filter let's say. For instance, there may be a noise reducing filter in Photoshop, but it's only so good. So, you purchase something like Topaz DeNoise or Noise Ninja (both plugins - both have free trials), install it and them run them from within the main program. Other plugins may include something like what you're looking for. A program I use is Corel Painter Essentials (a smaller version of its big brother, Painter) . . . it has the ability to sketch out some pencil (colored and mono) from your images. Here is a rendition of one of my photos for reference.

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

If you have Photoshop you don't need a plug-in. Follow the instructions below.

STEP 1 - Duplicate The Background Layer
First duplicate the background layer. Go Layer> New> Layer via Copy. Now we have 2 layers, the Background Layer, and Layer 1.

STEP 2 - Desaturate The Photo
With Layer 1 selected, choose Image> Adjustments> Desaturate. This gives us a grayscale version of the photo.

STEP 3 - Duplicate Layer 1
At this point you must duplicate Layer 1. With Layer 1 selected, go Layer> New> Layer via Copy. Now we have 3 layers, the Background Layer, Layer 1 and Layer 2.

Next we'll be working with Layer 2.

STEP 4 - Invert Layer 2
With Layer 2 selected, go Image> Adjustments> Invert. This will make your photo look like a negative.

STEP 5 - Change The Layers Blend Mode To Color Dodge
In the Layers Palette change the Layers Blend Mode for this layer (Layer 2) to Color Dodge. This will make your photo almost completely white, but don't panic! Everything is going to work out just fine.

STEP 6 - Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter
Go Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur. When the dialog box appears start by moving the Radius Slider all the way to the left. Once you've done that you can start to slowly move it to the right.

Now here comes some real Photoshop magic ó because as you move the slider your sketch will start to appear. At this point take time to experiment and make sure you are getting the desired effect.

Bigger numbers create a more pronounced effect, but at some point this will turn your sketch back into a photo, which you don't want, so when you reach that point simply nudge the slider to the left just a little and that should do it!

For my apple sketch I used a Radius setting of 9.8 pixels.

Original - Unedited


Pencil Sketch

arphot Loc: Massachusetts

Well done and explained Bob!

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

I have this sketch on two black T-Shirts, one for Wilbur & one for me.

Adubin Loc: Indialantic, Florida

Plug-ins are applications that further enhance your photos and seamless made so they take your image back and forth between your main application such as Aperture, Lightroom, and Photoshop. A few of them can be used as a stand alone application too. Some examples of them are Nik, OnOne, and Photomatix. These applications will convert you color photos from color to B&W, stack them together to give a HDR image, increase the size of your over 100X and maintain good resolution and much more.

Bobbee

Hey Bob, where did you get your PS experience/knowledge. Years of experience? Education? or both? I use Photoshop after all my engagements but not to the level you use. I am impressed, jealous and thirsting.

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

Eat your heart out! LOL I've been at this since version 4.0 of Photoshop came out. My other secret is Kelby Training. I've been a student there for three years. Also my plug-in software from OnOne Software has great online seminars and video tutorials. Ditto Nik Vivesa 2 and Topaz DeNoise. I'm a student of photography, for 40 years.

http://kelbytraining.com/
http://www.ononesoftware.com
http://www.niksoftware.com/viveza/usa/entry.php
http://www.topazlabs.com/denoise/

notnoBuddha

bobmielke-" If you have Photoshop you don't need a plug-in. Follow the instructions below..............."


Great straight forward walk- through of the process. Another one that I have copied for a reference cheat sheet.

Do you have any respect or use for the magazine Photoshop Elements? They have a full court press being applied to me - you know the speil; save lots of money, free dvds that line blah, blah, blah.............

Thanks a lot for you time & effort.

Bobbee

Mucho gracias. I have no heart left, it has all been devoured!! Thanks for he links.

arphot Loc: Massachusetts

I don't know about elements, but I've had layers magazine in the past and I think they may be similar publications. I find that after a while the magazine have more fluff to info ratio. So, I ended up seeking them out @ my local book store (Barnes & Noble) and thumbing through them there. If there is something that interests me, I will buy that issue. I love Digital Photo magazine: http://www.photoanswers.co.uk/Shared/PageTemplates/Magazine/Detail.aspx?id=3519 . . . but, alas it is UK only, so no subs over here in the USofA. But I can get it @ B&N :) so there's the good part as I wouldn't subscribe, but can get individual issues as I' like.

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

I used to subscribe to the magazine when I owned & usedElements 6&7. I then discovered Elements Village Forum and didn't need the magazine anymore. The tutorials & tips on that forum are great as is the knowledge there. I'm still a card carrying member. I use the same screen name there as here so check it out.