New photoshop video tutorial – Targeting colour with masks – Rubbing Pixels

Sure we have luminosity masks of all shapes and sizes to select, control and manipulate tonal value in an image but what about making detailed selections of colour.

We in this tutorial we bring your attention to a little feature tucked away in your panels that dose exactly that. Giving you this ability to make masks for colour just as detailed as the ones for tonal value will add a new dimension to editing workflow and another technique for your bag of editing tricks.

This tutorials can be found in the “Retouching Techniques” section of the site. It is free for members or available for viewing for $5.99 for non members. Click here to be taken to the tutorial.

New Tutorial – Trouble shooting digital panoramics

No matter how well you set up and align your gear to shoot your digital panoramic when your back putting it together there can always be serious problems with key parts of image not aligning correctly.

In this tutorial we look at two digital panoramics that had serious problems with sections not aligning correctly when run through Photomerge.

Instead of writing the panoramics off as duds we work through the problem and show you several different though processes / approaches of how you can tackle these problems and end up with a perfect panoramic just as you pictured when you shot it out in the field.

This tutorials can be found in the “Retouching Techniques” section of the site. It is free for members or available for viewing for $5.99 for non members. Click here to be taken to the tutorial.

Woy Woy – The Film Version – Fuji GX617 – Velvia 50 Slide Film

A few posts ago I showed you all a shot from this location on sunrise shot as a panoramic stitch shot on the 5D MkII. I even did a video tutorial for Rubbing Pixels on the post production involved to get the shot to it print ready status. Well this shot is the film version from the Fuji GX617 on Velvia 50.

CLICK IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW

New Tutorial – Setup / Align Grad Filters on a Rangefinder camera

When you don’t have the ability to look through the lens on rangefinder cameras such as a Fuji or Linhof 617 panoramic, your knowledge of how graduated filters need to be aligned can be critical to getting that correct exposure.

In this tutorials we cover the correct setting up of your Lee Filter kit and then the thoughts behind the alignment and set up of the graduated filters to give you the best result each time without the use of a ground glass.

The camera we use in this tutorial is the Fuji GX617 but the same principle can be used on any panoramic or rangefinder camera system.

This tutorials is for Members Only and can be found in the “Film Lovers” section of the site. Click here to be taken to the tutorial.

Rubbing Pixels Free “Classifieds” section now live

So here is one of two major updates to the site and it is our “Classifieds” section. This is a totally FREE service that we are offering people on the site. So have a hunt around for all that camera gear you have been meaning to sell and start turning it into cash.

To list and sell an item you need to have a free guest account or be a member. This ensures that all ad’s are done buy real people and will avoid spam listings. Only people with a member or guest account are able to see the sellers contact info. Again this is a security measure to make sure addresses are not collected by spam bots. All listings are vetted and approved by Rubbing Pixel staff to ensure that listings are quality and applicable to the site.

We have created a video explaining the service and it’s features. Click here to view the video on the site or click here to view it on Vimeo.

We ask that all users (buyers and sellers) read our Classifieds Policy that outlines our obligations, terms and conditions of listing items to sell and info for buyers.

Enjoy

New Masterclass – Woy Woy Dawn Panoramic

In this thirteen panoramic stitch we look at the full post production workflow from RAW editing through to stitching using PS5 photomerge and then in CS5 we look at the application of colour using the Joseph Holmes DCAM3 profiles.

With the DCAM3 profile we show you how to add the colour where you want it disregarding areas where the colour is too much, we then bring the colour under control and then process the image removing things like light bleeding by targeting the coloured area and removing it without damaging the photo itself.

We then finish off with a few changed in tonal areas to recapture highlights and expand shadows. The tutorial runs for 23 min and 28 sec.

This tutorial can be found in the “Masterclasses” section of the site and is available for members only. Click here to see the tutorial.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW

New Tutorial – Organise and Catalogue Your Images

This tutorial was done on request by a Rubbing Pixels Member wanting to know how I go about organising and cataloging the images I take on both digital and film, how I go about assigning codes to those shots for reference, do I keep RAW files if they have been converted to DNG’s and more. So here it is.

Like any system and method I will also discuss areas of improvement in this workflow that will make image identification easier for people who are just starting out should keep in mind.

This tutorials goes for 8 min and can be found in the “Tips and Tricks” section of the Rubbing Pixels website and is available for Members Only.

Refer a friend to Rubbing Pixels and save

Rubbing Pixels now has the feature for Members where they can refer a friend to the site and if that friend joins they will currently get 20% off their subscription joining cost and the member referring them will also currently get 20% off their Rubbing Pixels renewal. The percentage is accumulative as well so if you refer 5 friends in your subscription time you will get to 100% and your renewal is free. These ad boxes are throughout the site and a link with this feature can also be found in the “Your Account” section of the site which will also tell you how many people have taken up your offer and also the % you will receive off your renewal.

The system works by entering in your friends name and email address (none of which is stored or collected on our system) into the referral section and they are sent an email outlining deal and also a special link that does all the hard work, all they have to do is join when they want.

Give it a try and refer someone it is a pretty cool system.

Even more fantastic features and services are coming soon as well.

New messaging system and tutorial notifications

A few new upgrades have been added to the Rubbing Pixels website. First is the new notification system. When going to the site now you will see in yellow a message. These messages will be posted from time to time and can be targeted to general site visitors, logged in guests, members or all of them. The idea of the system is to keep people immediately informed of important information, new features, special offers and deals etc. To remove the message you just click on the X at the top right and you wont be troubled by it again, until a new message is added. This system will not tell you when new tutorials are added to the site. Which brings me to the next update…

The second update is to let site visitors (members or guests) who are logged in know how many new tutorials have been added to the site since they where last logged in. This feature is seen in the “Your Account box” at the top of the site and if you click on the link it will take you to a page that will list the new tutorials added.

More new cool features to come… so stay tuned.

Setting up and Shooting Digital Panoramics – now in production for Rubbing Pixels

After several attempts to record a video tutorial on shooting digital panoramic’s it has become clear that the topic is quite extensive to do all in one hit. I have decided that the topic will be broken down into numerous single tutorials to ensure that the information is as comprehensive as possible for that segment. This will also allow the individual tutorials to be upgraded in the future if needed when new and interesting methods become available and are developed.

The tutorials will cover panoramic set up, to capture, the do’s and dont’s of digital panoramic’s, the equipment, the comparison of digital panoramic’s to film panoramic systems like the Fuji GX617 and the Fotoman 6×24, how to pre visualize the final result and more. The tutorials will be a combination of in the field video integrated with on screen capture to illustrate techniques when and if required.

The videos when released will be contained under their own category on the Rubbing Pixels site and due to the detailed information contained and how they will be presented the tutorials will be for members only.

The videos are currently being story boarded and recording will be starting later this week. You can follow updates and detailed release dates via our facebook page.