Podcast Video (38.2 MB): [28:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 Torrent: Download
 The image as XCF file and the script: Download

Finally the “Zone Adjustment Plugin” – formerly known as “Meaningful Black Script” is shown in its full glory. You find it here and in the companion file.

EDIT: This plugin has evolved tremendously. Go to the Forum entry and search from the last postings backwards for it’s latest incarnation!

And I present a plugin for displaying EXIF information in an image, a split toning plugin and a plugin for applying the “Lazlo Dragan effect”. (Download should now be possible without need to register – sorry, made a mistake in the configuration.) All were published in the Forum of Meet the GIMP.

You can find information about the installation of these plugins there too. Basically you just copy them into your plugin directory (not the scripts directory) and make them executable. The last step is not necessary under Windows.

The show starts with a short introduction into the Zone System of Ansel Adams. Before we go deeper into this, we have to calibrate our cameras. Set your camera to manual mode, set the metering to spot or center based and shot a well exposed image of something middle grey or whitish with a bit of structure in it. I took a white door, but raw concrete is fine too. Then shoot two series of images, the first one closing down one stop in each image, the other in opening up one stop for each step. We’ll look at my images next week.

The TOC:

Ansel Adams and the Zone System 0:27
Calibrating your camera for the Zone System 7:00
Plugins in the Forum 9:36
Working with the “Zone Adjustment Plugin”, formerly know as “meaningful Black” 11:25
Detaching menues in GIMP 12:23
Sample Points 12:50
Finding the Dark and Bright point 15:25
Using the plugint 19:40
The proof: white is grey – and black too! 25:25

The image used in this podcast was made during a performance of Pascale Loiseau from the Belgian  WAZOVOL artists group. I found a video of her performance.

Edit: I changed “script” to plugin – there is a bit of confusion….

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany License.

Tags: python, sample points, script, Zone System
Posted in Gimp, Gimp video tutorial | 18 Comments »

 

 Podcast Video (37.2 MB) [25:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 Torrent: Download

What’s “meaningful black”? It’s a concept out of the book “Welcome to Oz” from Vincent Versace. It’s for this other program, but I try to convert it to GIMP. It’s not so easy – so we have to write a script to do the tedious work. This script is also covered here.

EDIT: This plugin has evolved tremendously. Go to the Forum entry and search from the last postings backwards for it’s latest incarnation!

Information about the Zone System is at Wikipedia and a lot of other sites. Chris Marquardt has made a simple version of it for digital cameras.

At the end of the video I do some ironing. I made some promotional images for our organic shop around the corner. The team had donned brand new aprons with all the creases from packing still in them. Awful! I show you a way to iron them out after the shot. BTW, this works too with wrinkles in the skin of a portrait model.

The “Old Ink Challenge is still open. Give it a try!

I also have some updates about the forum and ask for input with a new design for this web site. Daniel (DRB) is helping me a lot – and he has made a great interactive and collaborative storytelling site at StoryEverTelling.com . If you are into telling stories with a twist or reading them – check this out and help him to build this up.

The TOC

Old Ink challenge update (1:30)
Forum update (1:55)
Daniel’s “Story Ever Telling” (4:40)
Meaningful Black (6:25)
- Zone System (9:42)
- Finding the Black Point (12:00)
- Twisting the curves (16:05)
- Building a Plugin (19:00)
Ironing an Apron with GIMP (20:10)

This video has been rendered in a different way. Is the problem still there that it calls itself a MP3 audio file? Is it playing everywhere?

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany License.

Tags: curves, softening wrinkles, Zone System
Posted in Gimp, Gimp video tutorial | 12 Comments »