Category: Post Production

Microsoft Image Composite Editor: Easy to use, good results

By John Watson
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Microsoft Image Composite Editor

Image Composite Editor is Microsoft’s over-engineered way of saying “panorama stitcher.” This software takes multiple images and stitches them together automatically, blending seams, cropping, the works. It’s extremely simple to use: just drag and drop a batch of images onto the interface and it gets to work immediately finding overlapping points, stitching the image together, correcting for distortion, and blending the results together.

To test it, I dropped two images from a simple two-frame panorama I shot a few weeks ago of Balboa Pier onto it. It worked quickly and did a fair job of compositing the images. It did have some blending trouble around the right-center portion of the photo. But overall the result was good and it was ridiculously easy. This is the easiest to use stitching software I’ve ever used.

Another nice feature is that it will export to multiple formats including JPG, TIFF, Photoshop, HD View Tileset, Deep Zoom Tileset, Windows Bitmap, PNG, and HD Photo Image. And you can export layers if the format supports it (for example, Photoshop) to help with additional post-processing.

Click here to download Microsoft Image Composite Editor (Free,

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Review: Wacom Bamboo Fun graphics tablet

By John Watson
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I'd purchased one of the original Wacom Graphire tablets a long, long time ago and it served me well. I remember I'd tried a different brand first because it was cheaper but returned it immediately because writing on it felt like crap. The Graphire had a very natural pen on paper feel which I liked a lot. As I said, that was a long time ago. The buttons had fallen off the pen and the surface was heavily scuffed and, let's face it, it was the only patch of light blue in my manly, all-black office space. An upgrade was in order.

So a couple of months ago I decided to try one of the new Bamboo Fun models. I simply can’t justify the expense of the large Intuos tablets for myself (though I’d love to have one if you, kind reader, are feeling generous).

The Bamboo line from Wacom essentially replaces the old Graphire line except for the Graphire Wireless 6×8. The Bamboo comes in two models: The Bamboo Fun and the Bamboo (business version). They are identical except that the Bamboo Fun comes with a wireless mouse and with some old software: Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Win/4.0 Mac,

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Print something. Print it BIG.

By John Watson
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The wall was framed
Photo credit: Leonski (cc-by-nd)

If you’re like most digital photographers, you probably don’t print photos very often. It’s become pretty common to go on vacations or day trips with friends and family and then exchange CDs full of photos or Flickr URLs or just send photos around as email attachments. I know lots of people still print photos, but let’s face it: lots of people don’t.

And, mostly, it’s a good thing. Back when folks had to print photos just to see them—and it was never free, not even to shoot them in the first place—they took a lot less photos. Granted, there’s a lot more crap we’re all subjected to. I heard a story recently from someone about how they’d casually send in photos to their kid’s school throughout the year. Photos of field trips and stuff. And how the people receiving those hundreds of photos used every single one for a slideshow that lasted an hour. Kill me now, right?

But there’s a lot more good stuff, too. Photography is partly a numbers game. The more you shoot,

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Review: Fine Art Printing for Photographers (2nd edition)

By John Watson
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Fine Art Printing for Photographers (2nd Edition)Fine Art Printing for Photographers (2nd edition, rocknook publishers) by Uwe Steinmueller and Juergen Gulbins, is an incredibly thorough, well-written, and interesting book about fine-art printing of digital photographs using ink jet printers. It covers all aspects of the craft and is written explicitly for the “ambitious amateur” and professional photographer.

Read on to learn more about the book and find out how you can get a free copy.

I must admit I didn’t know exactly what to expect when rockynook announced the second addition of this book. Before I received it, I’d completely missed the subtitle (Exhibition Quality Prints with Inkjet Printers). So my initial reaction was surprise followed by excitement as I scanned the table of contents.

Steinmuller and Gulbins make the case that today’s inkjet printers can deliver exhibition quality fine art prints and explain all of the details necessary to achieve that goal.

The authors devote entire chapters to the topics of printing techniques, paper and ink, color management, workflow, practical tips, printing packages and RIPs, black and white,

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“Photoshopped.”

By John Watson
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My photo blog (shameless plug: lightproofbox.com) has been getting some traffic from StumbleUpon lately which brings with it little waves of attention. 99% of it is positive. But invariably there are a few people who don’t seem to have anything better to do than to say trite, mean things (anonymously, natch).

Hey, I’ve been around long enough to know there are jackasses out there who, while not doing anything risky or creative of their own, will always be willing to bash what everyone else is doing. I let it roll off my back.

But the one that makes me laugh is when they claim a photograph has been “photoshopped.” Well, duh. That’s like looking at the ocean and denouncing it by saying, “Wet.” Photoshopped? Let me think… Um, yes, please!

I modify 99% of my published photos. Of the thousand I’ve posted to Flickr there are maybe a half-dozen that I posted as-is from the camera. My earliest photos had the least “work done.” Later, as I became more experienced with digital post-processing, I edited quite heavily (probably too heavily in many cases).

… Continue reading “Photoshopped.”

Poll: What software do you use to edit your photos?

By John Watson
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As one of our most recent polls shows we have photographers of all skill levels here from beginners to experts. We all have different reasons for taking photographs and a different workflow. Part of virtually every digital photographer’s workflow is editing photos in software. So I’m curious what software you use (primarily) to edit your photos. If you don’t see your favorite app in the list, click the link to add it.

{democracy:3}

… Continue reading Poll: What software do you use to edit your photos?

Screencast: Easy exposure blending tutorial with GIMP

By John Watson
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This 2 minute screencast shows an easy-to-use technique for blending multiple exposures (or in this case, two versions of one exposure) to increase the dynamic range of a photograph.

GIMP is free photo editing software for Windows, Mac and Linux.

I published the final version of this photo at Flickr.

Music by Pitx.

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Review: Adobe Photoshop goes online with Photoshop Express

By John Watson
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Photoshop Express featured Adobe has finally opened up the beta of Photoshop Express, the long-awaited online version of Adobe Photoshop. I’ve just finished running it through it’s paces and I am impressed.

Photoshop express requires registration to use. You get access to the online editing tool and a relatively meager 2 GB of space for photos at a custom URL which you can organize into a slick public gallery and slideshows. It won’t replace dedicated photo sharing like Flickr (no comments, limited interaction) but for casual users just being able to share a few albums and slideshows may be enough. By default, photos you upload to the service are private until you move them into your public gallery.

Photoshop Express

The interface should be immediately familiar to anyone who has used Adobe Lightroom. The default view of your photos mimics Lightroom’s browse mode and even includes the ability to rate and caption your uploads. Unfortunately it does not support RAW editing. That would have been killer.

Editing is also very much like Lightroom. Unlike Photoshop, it does not support layers, masking, or really any of the features that make Photoshop,

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Selecting foregrounds in the GIMP (video)

By John Watson
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This video is a quick demonstration of the foreground selection tool in the GIMP, a powerful and free image editing application. The foreground selection tool gives photographers a quick and easy way to isolate portions of a photograph for masking or other effects.

Music by sunbyrn.

… Continue reading Selecting foregrounds in the GIMP (video)

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