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Posted on 05/10/08 9:04:58 PM |
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Paul 2007 thru 2010
Lego Legend Posts: 361 Reply |
Friday Challenge starting image resolution.
There have been many times that I have download the starting image for the Friday challenge and started work only to loose interest very quickly because of the poor quality of the original image. It would be much nicer to have a higher resolution image to start with. I know that Steve takes most of these images himself so he is in possession of much better quality images than he posts. Is there any possibility that the image could be at least double the current dimensions? I know we'd need to downsize for posting our results, but that is no hardship. |
Posted on 06/10/08 10:14:16 AM |
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maiden
Golden Gif Gagster Posts: 471 Reply  |
Re: Friday Challenge starting image resolution.
Paul you are downloading the link to the higher res image rather than the small displayed image? If you are downloading the hi-res link Steve puts up then I don't agree with your argument the image is suitable for montage as the final will always be resized to fit on the forums. I've never really had a problem with the resolution of Steve's photos as working with Googled images to use for montage can be far far worse. |
Posted on 06/10/08 4:00:55 PM |
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Paul 2007 thru 2010
Lego Legend Posts: 361 Reply |
Re: Friday Challenge starting image resolution.
Yes I am downloading the proper higher res image. This weeks one is particularly nasty. I thought the challenge this Friday was something that interested me and something I could actually make a good go at. I was going to spend many hours removing all traces of electrification in the image. I was going to go to town and and do some of my best cloning work. When zooming in to start it was just a mess of jpg compression artefacts. The final output of photshop work doesn't usually bear much resemblance to the size of the working image. If you were designing a 120x120 avatar I'm sure you would not work on it at actual size. I just find it hard to get excited when the starting images are so small. |
Posted on 06/10/08 4:25:23 PM |
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maiden
Golden Gif Gagster Posts: 471 Reply |
Re: Friday Challenge starting image resolution.
I understand what you mean but surely you might want to try masking the electric pylons with another image rather than cloning. I do agree that at times it takes far longer than necessary to do a montage after all this is "How to Cheat in Photoshop" not "How to take longer than any possible deadline to get a reasonable although not thoroughly convincing montage in Photoshop" 
Perhaps future Challenges could be summed up with a "How Steve did it" image. *shrugs* |
Posted on 06/10/08 6:47:27 PM |
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Paul 2007 thru 2010
Lego Legend Posts: 361 Reply |
Re: Friday Challenge starting image resolution.
I know what you mean about covering up rather than cloning out. That is a good/quicker technique than cloning something out in some cases. I guess it's all practice in working with the available images. I'm sure Steve in his professional work has to use less than ideal images a lot of the time. |
Posted on 07/10/08 07:29:53 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7047 Reply  |
Re: Friday Challenge starting image resolution.
I keep the starting images to below 100K, because that's the maximum allowed for uploading to the Friday Challenge. If I posted larger images, I'm concerned that many people - particularly new members - would have trouble posting their entries. Rather than reducing the size, most people would tend to just lower the jpeg setting, which would result in poorer quality. At least, this way, everyone will know what to do! Paul, you could always enlarge the images first! |
Posted on 08/10/08 02:20:19 AM |
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Paul 2007 thru 2010
Lego Legend Posts: 361 Reply |
Re: Friday Challenge starting image resolution.
I can understand your reasons for posting the images the size you do. I can't see how me making it larger is going to reduce the compression artefacts. I know photoshop has a magic wand tool, but it's not THAT magic  |
Posted on 08/10/08 08:22:59 AM |
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maiden
Golden Gif Gagster Posts: 471 Reply |
Re: Friday Challenge starting image resolution.
The Reduce Noise filter can often make a big difference however if over-used you can lose too much detail and end up with a cartoon-like effect but play about with the setting and you can reduce some of the artifacts and History Brush Back any important detail - However this makes the process even longer than before. |