This week there is only a little bit of GIMP, but a lot more about the free video editor Cinelerra. I use it to make a kind of slide show video used to illustrate a short “bumper” for Martin Bailey’s blog and podcast about his (mostly nature) photography. Martin is living in Japan and has a lot to tell about photography and Japan. Highly recommended!
Cinelerra is a full “non linear” video editor for Linux – and so perhaps a bit overkill for making a slide show. Non linear says that the program does not change the video and sound data and that you can access all your media easy and fast because only references are moved around. I forgot to introduce it properly at the start of the video. There are programs around for Windows and MacOS which do the same, I am sure.
Cinelerra comes in a lot of different flavours. I take the version from cinelerra.org.
The final version of the bumper, the used images and the Cinelerra XML file are in the companion file.
And here are, as promised, my settings. Compare if you have problems, my setup is running, but I am not sure why….
Playback – check for “Stop playback locks up” if you encounter stutter – uncheck “Play every frame” for performance
Recording – Important is the last point about images
Performance
Interface – Check “Show Thumbnails”
About – for version information
This week we have a mobile version of the video again. It’s not on the feed, because I don’t know if this version fills your needs. So feedback please!
Sorry, I could not make a TOC this time, too much school stuff around.
Finally we have a new Focus-Ring Episode online! It’s #18 with a new concept. Four participants from the Focus Ring Network as before, but now with one topic for all of them. This time it’s “Light & Shadow”. Contributors Chris Marquardt (Tips from the Top Floor), Jeff Curto (The History of Photography and Camera Position), Martin Bailey (Martin Bailey Photography Podcast) and Ibarionex Perello (The Candid Frame & Shooting with Alas) join together to discuss the importance of shadow in the creation of a successful photograph. And to make the point, each of them presents two images.
Ibarionex Perello
Chris Marquadt
Jeff Curto
Martin Bailey
I haven’t heard it yet but it sounds promising!
“Meet the GIMP” is just stuck a bit in the production pipeline. I recorded a show twice about my try to contribute in the Challenge of the Digital Photography School – but it was simply not good enough. I’ll try do a piece about snow later this day, but I have some work for school still sitting on my desk. They simply pay more than you, so I have to set priorities.
It’s curves time again. This powerful tool is in the centre of the stage and I try to explain it’s nearly unlimited power over colours, contrasts and brightness. Worth to learn.
This week I visit a vineyard in Missouri (too bad – only via HTTP) and discuss the dangers of blowing out the highlights under overcast sky. Just underexpose a bit when in doubt, you can get detail out of dark areas but 255 white has nothing to save in it.
The overexposed sky has killed all the details in a tree that looked over the horizon. I use the curves tool on a layer copy to get the details back and integrate the fixed tree with a layer mask into the original shot.
Then I adjust the black and white points and give a little more contrast to the image – of course with the curves tool. Finally I have some fun with – of course – the curves tool and come to an image that is not suitable for a vineyard but for a LSD factory. But they don’t have websites….
The TOC
(Kevin, I made one! )
00:20 Wine, Missouri and the Church
02:50 One image – two views
04:30 The histogram
06:40 Diagnosing overexposure
07:30 DO NOT BLOW OUT THE HIGHLIGHTS!!!
09:25 Histogram details
09:40 Linear and logarithmic
13:50 Blown out tree branches
14:30 Curves tool sight seeing
15:10 The translation line/curve
15:40 Black point
17:50 Set contrast in the curve
18:40 Bend the curve
20:30 Inspector – eye dropper
22:30 Repairing the tree
25:30 Get the blue cast out of the twigs
25:40 Adding a layer mask
29:30 Copy visible in new layer
33:00 “HDR” in a very cheap way
34:30 Power of the curve
Today I talk about the Eraser Tool, Alpha Channels and Layer Masks – in short: about transparency. Jim got me onto this topic with an email. Jim, consider this the answer.
Norman sent me another mail about F-Spot and using RAW and XCF files. Up to the inclusion of XCF files in the database and an option to get images out of UFRaw in XCF or TIFF, just copy the path of the JPEG with a right click. Store your XCF in the same directory as the F-Spot images and add the tag “HasXCF” So you know that there is a XCF and can search for it.
Show 100 is coming up. What shall be in it? I know about the intro, but nothing more. Discuss it in the forum or in the comments.
The TOC
00:18 Welcome
00:22 Ideas for episode 100 requested
01:10 The erase tool
02:57 The erasing with an alpha channel
04:05 The channels
06:40 Effect on the alpha channel when erasing
08:45 Un-erasing
10:30 Comparing with layer-masks
14:00 Historic and current images combined
15:20 Transparency menu
15:45 Colour to Alpha
17:00 Threshold Alpha
18:00 Alpha to selection
18:30 Summary
20:45 F-Spot and .xcf files
28:28 The End
This is a repost of Episode 84 – there seem to be some feed problems. there is no need for download if you have seen 84 already.
This week I start with a short introduction into autostereoscopic images, see two posts below. Then I cover the GEGL operation “c2g”, which converts acouloured image into a monochrome image with a lot of noise or other other effects. It’s a “try out” thing – up to now I have not found documentation. Perhaps one has to look into the source. Be warned – some parameters can kill the program.
Then Joseph tells us. how easy it is to make “HDR” images with QTPFSGUI. It’s not as complicated as I feared. I’ll try it soon myself. The website Joseph pointed me to is here.
The guys from Happy Shooting, Boris Nienke and Chris Marquardt, are reporting from the Photokina in Cologne. They have made an interview with Steven Sasson. He built the first Digital Camera, a toaster sized monster with 0.01 Megapixel and a cassette tape as data storage.
This week I have outsourced the show again! Philippe will take us all along to a ride to the stars – building an image like this one from scratch.
The TOC will follow when I have seen the video again – I was so absorbed that I forgot to make notes.
I promised a link for the “User Filter”, which allows to use Photoshop filters in GIMP.
Do you like this kind of GIMP usage in the show? I come from the photographic side and made this podcast according to the stuff that I can do. But with Phillippe’s help a lot more is possible. What do you think? Post your comments here!
Today I have a mixture of 3 topics for you. An other try to tackle the basics of the Zone System, a way to choose the right way through the maze of different ways to tackle a problem in Gimp and a method to counter vignetting and light falloffs with a layer in divide mode.
Before one of you comments about making vignettes: Just invert the mask and you have a vignette. Looks fine with a lot of images and John Arnold uses them all the time.
TOC
Setting display options 0:30
Zone System Philosophy 3:24
How to chose a way to tackle a problem in Gimp 10:20
Correct a vignette or light falloff 18:22
Using burn mode to emphasize colours 23:30
* Benoit Marchal – Declencheur
* Boris Nienke – nSonic
* Chris Marquardt – Tips from the Top Floor
Topics: How to become a professional photographer in minutes, how to get an all-access pass to the 24 hours of Le Mans car race and how to learn about proportion
It’s not the newest news – but due to the server problem I wasn’t able to post this before. We recorded a new Focus Ring and it was my turn to moderate and edit this time. It was worth the effort, I think.
This month John Arnold (PhotoWalkthrough.com), Jeff Curto (Camera Position), Paul Giguere (Thoughts on Photography) and Rolf Steinort (Meet the Gimp) are talking about goal setting and planning photographic
projects, taking pictures without a camera and with cameras that aren’t what you’re used to. We also talk about licensing images under the Creative Commons License as opposed to putting them under strict Copyright and the upcoming legislation in the US concerning orphaned works gets an honourable mention.
Running the Server costs 20-30€ a month and this is covered by your donations up to December 2010.
Everything that is donated from now on until I put the hat on the floor again in November 2010 will be used to finance books and other stuff that goes into the show.
The GIMP project is also happy about your donation!
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This week I start with a short introduction into autostereoscopic images, see two posts below. Then I cover the GEGL operation “c2g”, which converts acouloured image into a monochrome image with a lot of noise or other other effects. It’s a “try out” thing – up to now I have not found documentation. Perhaps one has to look into the source. Be warned – some parameters can kill the program.
