March Graphics SIG Notes

The season of Senior Portraits dictated my time and energy of late, and prepared me to cover what I have learned in order to make a sellable series of prints for graduating students. We looked at a .pdf file with all the steps Philip Filtz (a Tennessee photographer who shares on the www.DPReview.com lighting forum) uses to enhance his already excellent portraits. I admitted I did not use or even agree with all these steps, but most steps can be judged by each of us as we open our various programs and try the layers and masks on our own portraits.

After viewing the dozen or so steps, we opened a senior portrait my customer had narrowed down for final print consideration. A few correction suggestions were carried out in addition to the steps that were followed, and eventually, we had a much-improved portrait. Just as we were ready for the finishing touches, the library guard gently reminded us of the time and we hastily tried one more adjustment before closing down Photoshop. I promised the group that anyone wanting the .pdf would get a copy via email. In addition to the written instructions, Philip uses an action file he found that allows for sharpening of details, while magically blurring everything else, called SoftFocusLook. I call it, TFOWAA, the Friend of Wrinkles and Acne! Action installation can be found on Photoshop Help and I have not tried it in Paint Shop Pro, but if you have success, please let us know about it. An email of that .atn action file was also promised.

The senior portraits of Philip Filtz, aka pfiltz, can be seen at www.KeepsakePhotography.us. He also shares more often now at the smaller www.PaulCBuff.com lighting forum. Many thanks to Judy H. for faithfully toting her new projector to the meetings so we can see what we are doing! Come and join us at the Central Library in the Board Room upstairs where we meet monthly for fun with photos and other graphics at 6:30pm the third Monday.

Graphically yours,
Bruce Switalla