Using Adobe Output Module Adobe Output Module is part of Bridge CS5 that enables you to create various types of pDFs including contact sheets as well as slide shows and Web output includ
Trang 1For Photoshop Elements Users: Creating a Page of Business Cards (Continued)
3. Drag the layer Elements created in Step 2 onto the Create New Layer button to duplicate
it, and repeat until you have five layers worth of business card images
4. Select one layer and move it to where you want the top card to be (both on the top and left)
5. Select another layer and move it to where you want the bottom of the bottom card to be
6. In the Layers panel, select all of the layers you created in Steps 2 and 3
7. From the workspace buttons area, click Distribute > Vertical Centers Elements will spread the layers out vertically
8. In the workspace buttons area, click Align > Left Edges Elements will align the left edge
of the layers, as shown in the following graphic
9. With all of the layers still selected, choose Layer > Duplicate Layer and just click OK in the dialog window that appears with duplicate options
10. Select the Move tool, and use the right arrow key on your keyboard to nudge these layers
to the right to form the right column (use Shift+Right Arrow to nudge the layers faster)
By using the Distribute and Align commands, Elements will spread your images out over the page, aligned nicely so that you can make a straight cut against each edge By using the key-board in Step 10 rather than the mouse to create the second column of images, you ensure that the top and bottom of the second column stay aligned with the first column, thus making it easier to cut out your business cards
Using Adobe Output Module
Adobe Output Module is part of Bridge CS5 that enables you to create various types
of pDFs (including contact sheets as well as slide shows) and Web output (including web galleries, slide shows, and journals) the interface takes a little getting used to, but it’s pretty intuitive once you get accustomed to it
For Photoshop Elements Users: Creating a Page of Business Cards (Continued)
3. Drag the layer Elements created in Step 2 onto the Create New Layer button to duplicate
it, and repeat until you have five layers worth of business card images
4. Select one layer and move it to where you want the top card to be (both on the top and left)
5. Select another layer and move it to where you want the bottom of the bottom card to be
6. In the Layers panel, select all of the layers you created in Steps 2 and 3
7. From the workspace buttons area, click Distribute > Vertical Centers Elements will spread the layers out vertically
8. In the workspace buttons area, click Align > Left Edges Elements will align the left edge
of the layers, as shown in the following graphic
9. With all of the layers still selected, choose Layer > Duplicate Layer and just click OK in the dialog window that appears with duplicate options
10. Select the Move tool, and use the right arrow key on your keyboard to nudge these layers
to the right to form the right column (use Shift+Right Arrow to nudge the layers faster)
By using the Distribute and Align commands, Elements will spread your images out over the page, aligned nicely so that you can make a straight cut against each edge By using the key-board in Step 10 rather than the mouse to create the second column of images, you ensure that the top and bottom of the second column stay aligned with the first column, thus making it easier to cut out your business cards
Trang 2to begin, click the icon near the top left of the Bridge interface or go to Win-dow > Workspace > Output the interface changes to appear as shown in Figure 10.35
Figure 10.35 Choosing the Adobe Output Module accesses the Output panel, which contains options for PDF and Web output.
Note: If the Adobe Output Module does not load and/or the Output icon is grayed out, go to Bridge > Preferences > Startup Scripts and make sure that the Adobe Output Module script is checked
Contact Sheets
Creating contact sheets is useful when you want to create output with multiple images
on a page, such as a CD cover the Adobe Output Module contains a series of options,
as shown in Figure 10.36, that make this easy to create a contact sheet, follow these
steps:
1 Begin by selecting the images you want to use in the Content panel
2 In the Document section, specify the document size For example, if you’re
making a CD cover you might use 4.25″ by 4.25″ the page preset will change
to Custom automatically unless you are using a standard preset
3 Click the or icon to specify a horizontal or vertical layout
4 Normally we set the Quality pop-up to 300 dpi—this is referring to the
reso-lution of your image then we adjust the Quality slider to control how much compression is applied the higher the quality, the less compression So under most circumstances we set this at 100 unless we’re saving the contact sheet and want a smaller overall file size In that case we recommend a setting of 70
Trang 3Figure 10.36 The Adobe Output Module offers many options for creating contact sheets.
5 If you want a background color other than white, set that using the Background drop-down menu, or click the color swatch to access the Color picker to select a custom color
6 Since we typically do not need to add passwords for contact sheets, leave the Open password and permission password options unchecked
7 In the layout panel, specify the number of rows and columns to use then choose whether photoshop should place the images across rows first, or down columns
7 Check the option to use Auto Spacing Normally we leave the other two check boxes unchecked
8 If you want to have text appear with the filenames, complete the Overlay panel options
9 If you want a text or image watermark to appear over your images, complete the options in the Watermark panel We suggest using an opacity of about 20%
Note: In order to see a preview of the changes you make in the various panels in the Output panel, you need to click the Refresh Preview button near the top
The Output Module can only create contact sheets that are PDFs, not JPEGs Nonetheless, you can print from a PDF
to create any other type of pDF output of your images, you will follow simi-lar steps, beginning with choosing the template One of the less well-known types of pDFs is a slide show pDF this is just a basic slide show of images with transitions but
no music or other special effects
Trang 4Many programs are available for creating intricate digital slide shows, and we recommend you take advantage of them when doing a formal presentation But if you want to generate a slide show that someone might view on their computer, you can use
a pDF slide show
Note: As we discussed in Chapter 2, “Bridge,” you can quickly create a slide show in Bridge (by selecting images and choosing View > Slideshow) and even rate or delete images while viewing the slide show Some photographers find that quite helpful while editing However, you can’t save that type
of slide show and show it again later or on another computer Instead, you can create a PDF slide show
the pDF presentation dialog, shown in Figure 10.37, allows you to establish the settings for a basic slide show that can be played using the Adobe reader software used to read pDF documents Here’s how to create a slide show in photoshop as a pDF document:
1 Choose the Output workspace and click pDF
2 Select the images you want to use—for best results, presize your images to the size you want to use in the slide show You can use the Image processor for this (see Chapter 11, “time-Savers”)
3 In the Document panel, specify the width and height We recommend black for the background color
4 If you want to require a password to view the slide show, check the options and specify the password in the Document panel
5 In the layout panel, specify 0 for top, Bottom, left, and right
Figure 10.37 The Adobe Output Module contains options for creating basic slide shows that can be saved as PDF documents.
Figure 10.36 The Adobe Output Module offers many options for creating contact sheets.
5 If you want a background color other than white, set that using the Background
drop-down menu, or click the color swatch to access the Color picker to select a
custom color
6 Since we typically do not need to add passwords for contact sheets, leave the
Open password and permission password options unchecked
7 In the layout panel, specify the number of rows and columns to use then choose
whether photoshop should place the images across rows first, or down columns
7 Check the option to use Auto Spacing Normally we leave the other two check
boxes unchecked
8 If you want to have text appear with the filenames, complete the Overlay panel
options
9 If you want a text or image watermark to appear over your images, complete
the options in the Watermark panel We suggest using an opacity of about 20%
to create any other type of pDF output of your images, you will follow
simi-lar steps, beginning with choosing the template One of the less well-known types of
pDFs is a slide show pDF this is just a basic slide show of images with transitions but
no music or other special effects
Trang 56 Choose repeat One photo per page (unless you want to view multiple photos at
a time) in the layout panel
7 In the playback panel, check the option to open in Fullscreen mode, then specify how quickly to advance to the next page (slide) and whether to loop after the last page Choose a transition—we prefer Fade—and the speed of the transition Some of the effects are relatively amateur in appearance and can be distracting, so be careful
8 Specify whether to include filenames and extensions along with the images in the Overlay panel
9 As with a contact sheet, you can watermark the images if you choose When you’re done, click Save photoshop will generate a pDF that will play as a slide show You can then open that pDF file with Adobe reader (in most cases, you can simply double-click the file to do so), and the slide show starts automati-cally to return to a normal screen, use the Esc key
Note: It’s a good idea to create copies of your master images to use for PDF slide shows, resizing them down to roughly the display resolution you intend to use for the slide show Otherwise, the PDF file used for the final presentation can become very large It’s also a good idea to convert the images to the sRGB color space (Edit > Convert to Profile) to ensure the best color possible for monitor or projector display
Creating a Web Gallery
prints aren’t the only form of output nature photographers want to produce Display-ing images on the Web is becomDisplay-ing more popular, providDisplay-ing a great way to share your images with a large audience easily and affordably Although building a professional-quality website can require either many hours of learning and designing, or a con-siderable budget, photoshop makes it easy to create a basic gallery of your images to display on screen through the Output Module
to get started, choose Bridge > Output and click Web Gallery Choose a tem-plate from the temtem-plate drop-down menu, as shown in Figure 10.38
Figure 10.38 Bridge provides a variety
of templates for your web page, including web journal or gallery style pages with slide shows.
Complete the Site Info panel with the information you want to appear on the page, as shown in Figure 10.39 In the E-mail Address box, enter your email address if you’d like it to be displayed in the contact information on the gallery you’re creating
this provides a simple link for people to use if they want to contact you with ques-tions about your images or (better yet) how to purchase an image
Trang 6Figure 10.39 The Web Gallery dialog box allows you to establish settings that enable Photoshop to create all the files necessary for
a basic gallery for your images on the Web.
the Color palette panel contains options for the appearance of items to change any of the colors, click on the color swatch A Color picker will appear Choose the
color you prefer and click Ok the color swatch will update to reflect your choice
the Appearance panel (you may need to scroll down on the right side of the interface if it’s not immediately visible) has controls for the web-page slide show, as
well as gallery image and thumbnail sizes, quality, and slide duration We prefer the
Fade transition and urge caution when choosing some of the other effects, as they can
be distracting
In the Create Gallery panel (again, you may need to scroll down on the right side of the interface if it’s not currently visible) name your gallery—presumably with
the same name you used in the Site Info panel Specify the locations to save the gallery
as well as upload location and Ftp Server information If you’re not quite ready to
upload it, you can opt to Save without entering the Ftp information
For Photoshop Elements Users: PDF Contact Sheets, Slide Shows, and Web Photo Galleries
Elements for Mac uses the Adobe Output Module and also has a built-in way to create contact sheets Elements for Windows does not have a specific Output Module, but nonetheless it’s pos-sible to create contact sheets, PDF slide shows, and web galleries using Elements Organizer
Continues
For Photoshop Elements Users: PDF Contact Sheets, Slide Shows, and Web Photo Galleries
Elements for Mac uses the Adobe Output Module and also has a built-in way to create contact sheets Elements for Windows does not have a specific Output Module, but nonetheless it’s pos-sible to create contact sheets, PDF slide shows, and web galleries using Elements Organizer
Continues
Trang 7For Photoshop Elements Users: PDF Contact Sheets, Slide Shows, and
Web Photo Galleries (Continued)
Contact Sheets
To create a contact sheet in Elements for Mac, choose File > Contact Sheet II A dialog appears, as shown here, in which you navigate to the files or folder to use In the Document section, specify the output size for the contact sheet Within the thumbnail section, specify the number of rows and columns There’s also an option to choose font style and size if you want the filenames included
To create a contact sheet in Elements for Windows, you must use the Elements Organizer Select the images you want in your contact sheet and choose File > Print Change the type of print (option 4) to be Contact Sheet, and adjust the layout using the options that appear on the screen
Continues
Trang 8For Photoshop Elements Users: PDF Contact Sheets, Slide Shows, and
Web Photo Galleries (Continued)
Note that on both platforms, you can use premade templates for CDs or DVDs from Create >
Projects > More Options
PDF Slide Shows
To create a PDF slide show on the Mac, choose Create > Projects > PDF Slide Show Elements will open the Output Module with similar options to what we covered earlier in this chapter
To create a PDF Slide Show on Windows, choose Share > PDF Slide Show Add items by select-ing them in Organizer and clickselect-ing the green Add button under the slide-show options, and remove them by selecting the images in the slide-show options panel and clicking the red Remove button Organizer’s options are limited, allowing you to specify only the image size, image quality, and PDF filename
Web Galleries
To create a Web Gallery in Elements for Mac, click the Create button at the top right of the screen, and under Projects, click the Web Photo Gallery button Elements will open the Output Module with similar options to what we covered earlier in the chapter
To create a web gallery in Elements for Windows, click the Share button at the top right of the screen, and click the Online Album button Organizer will automatically open
Select a pre-existing album from the list or click the Create New Album button to use a different set of images As a time-saving tip, you can select the images you want to include in your gal-lery before clicking the Online Album button, and then select Create New Album; Elements will automatically populate the new album with the images you selected
Next, select Hard Disk for the album destination so that Organizer will create a folder for your website on your computer If you have a www.photoshop.com account or know your server settings, you could choose one of the other destinations to have Organizer automatically upload your new album to a web server
Continues
Trang 9For Photoshop Elements Users: PDF Contact Sheets, Slide Shows, and
Web Photo Galleries (Continued)
Once you’ve selected what images you want, Elements will create an album preview and switch its display to look like the following graphic
Across the top of the main contents view are different templates that you can apply to your album Double-click on the thumbnail to apply a new template In the main contents view, Organizer shows a preview of your album Use the buttons at the bottom right to change the background color, image layout, and other settings The settings change depending on the selected template If the template provides a slide show, which you can start by clicking the Play button in the preview, there will be settings for the slide show, too
On the right side of the screen, give your album a name If you wish to change what images are
in your album, click the Content tab When you’re finished, click Done, and Organizer will save your album to your hard drive
For more information about creating a web gallery, please go to this book's companion website, www.sybex.com/go/photoshopnature
George lepp, one of the Canon Explorers of light and print Masters, has always been at the forefront of the digital evolution He has been experimenting with a new way to present digital images—High Definition time lapse photography He graciously shares his techniques in the following sidebar, and a sample of a movie he created is included on the companion website to this book, www.sybex.com/go/photoshopnature
High-Definition Time Lapse with DSLR Cameras
by George Lepp
You’ve seen the time-lapse imagery on the evening news where the clouds go screaming by, and the wonderful video on the Nature Channel where a day passes before your eyes in mere seconds Well, you can create the same kind of movies in high definition with your digital SLR (DSLR) camera
Continues
High-Definition Time Lapse with DSLR Cameras
by George Lepp
You’ve seen the time-lapse imagery on the evening news where the clouds go screaming by, and the wonderful video on the Nature Channel where a day passes before your eyes in mere seconds Well, you can create the same kind of movies in high definition with your digital SLR (DSLR) camera
Continues
For Photoshop Elements Users: PDF Contact Sheets, Slide Shows, and
Web Photo Galleries (Continued)
Once you’ve selected what images you want, Elements will create an album preview and switch its display to look like the following graphic
Across the top of the main contents view are different templates that you can apply to your album Double-click on the thumbnail to apply a new template In the main contents view, Organizer shows a preview of your album Use the buttons at the bottom right to change the background color, image layout, and other settings The settings change depending on the selected template If the template provides a slide show, which you can start by clicking the Play button in the preview, there will be settings for the slide show, too
On the right side of the screen, give your album a name If you wish to change what images are
in your album, click the Content tab When you’re finished, click Done, and Organizer will save your album to your hard drive
For more information about creating a web gallery, please go to this book's companion website,
Trang 10High-Definition Time Lapse with DSLR Cameras (Continued)
You’ll need a few pieces of equipment and some software, but after that it’s all about being creative The first tool you’ll need is a good tripod The camera needs to be immobilized during the filming sequence
In order to fire the camera at a specific timed interval, you need an intervalometer This accessory
is a timer that is either already in your camera or can be connected through your electronic cable-release input Some of the cameras that have built-in intervalometers are from Nikon—the D200, D300, D2X, and D3 For those cameras from Nikon that don’t have this feature, Nikon offers the MC-36 Multi-Function Remote Cord, which plugs into the camera Canon does not have any
built-in built-intervalometers, so for Canon DSLRs you will need the TC-80N3 Timer Remote Controller
The third item you will need is software to assemble the time-lapse movie from your images
One that I’ve used extensively is Apple’s QuickTime Pro Regular QuickTime is free from the Apple website, but you need to go one step further and purchase QuickTime Pro for $29.99 The advanced program has the needed assembly feature In QuickTime Pro, click File > Open Image Sequence and then click on the first image in a folder that holds just the series of images you want to make into a time-lapse movie A simple video program like Adobe Premiere Elements (Windows) or iMovie (Mac) will also assemble a series of stills into a movie
Start your project by choosing a subject, and determine the optimum firing rate for the camera, depending on the result you want to achieve It can be an image every hour or even one a second
I often use one frame every three to five seconds for a smooth yet time-lapse look Set the cam-era exposure to Aperture Priority and choose an f/stop that can be maintained if the time lapse goes into a low-light situation, as when you shoot throughout the day from sunrise to sunset, or
in overcast conditions Setting the camera to Auto ISO can be useful if the light changes will be radical You can obtain interesting results by using slow shutter speeds throughout the sequence,
a choice made possible by neutral-density filters Set the resolution of your DSLR to its smallest JPEG This resolution will be better than HD TV and will take up only the smallest space on your recording media I’ve taken a full day’s images (4,000) on a 4GB CompactFlash card
Your next problem will be power If you’re going to shoot for hours, you will run out of power from your camera battery The answer is auxiliary power, from an additional battery system,
a household AC supply, or an outlet or power inverter from a vehicle Now capture your series
of images To optimize my images I place all of them into Adobe Lightroom, choose one repre-sentative image, and optimize it You then sync all the images to the optimized one so all the frames are improved Place all your optimized JPEGs from the series in a new folder, and then compile your movie The program will ask you at what frame rate you will want to play the series; the normal video rate is 29.97 frames per second You can choose a slower rate if you want to slow things down, but it may be jerky When you play the rendered movie back in Apple QuickTime, be sure to check Play All Frames under the View menu to get the full effect
I’ve had great fun with time-lapse movies of such subjects as a balloon festival, traffic patterns, water filling and emptying a bay, and a few hours in the life of an elephant-seal colony With these tools and basic software, you’ll be ready for any great subject that comes your way
In this chapter we’ve explained methods for sharing your images after they have been optimized this is only a starting point for producing great output, and we
encour-age you to be creative in how you prepare your imencour-ages for display In the next chapter,
we’ll demonstrate some additional time-saving techniques for optimizing your workflow