Welcome to Khuong's Blog

World Aids Day 2008

2009-01-11T01:32:00.000-08:00

Do you remember that this semester, we have a quite big event called World Aids Day 2008? I am a member of RMIT HIV group and I designed the poster, standy and ticket for this event. This was a job that i like most in this years because it is a meaningful job that i can do to help people realize that danger of HIV. Let me show you my works

Macro

2008-12-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

During last weekend, I also tried to take some Macro photos with my Tamron 90mm lens that I borrow my cousin. At the first time, it was hard to control this lens because it focus is to bad!. Anyway, please have a look on my macro photos.

My sister

2008-12-29T08:14:00.000-08:00

I'm so happy now because my sister has just come back to Vietnam from Australia last weekend. Therefore I did take her out to take photos. These following photos are not Photoshoped, they are all original ^^

Uncle Ho and Typography

2008-12-21T08:55:00.000-08:00

"Duong Kach Menh" is one of the most famous book of Ho Chi Minh who is usually called Uncle Ho, this book is now 80 years old. As I said in the title "Uncle Ho and Typography". why there is typography here? It is because of the title of the book "Duong Kach Menh" there is a spelling error here. "Kach" should be written as "Cach" even though the pronunciation is the same. Actually, people usually talk about the content of the book and they ignore the title. They don't try to understand why Uncle Ho write "Kach" instead of "Cach"? or they just explain that this is just Uncle Ho's writing style.

But I strongly believe that there is a relationship between the title and the content of the book. First of all, what does "Cach Menh" means? it means revolution. Moreover, in the first page of this book, Uncle Ho also explained that Cach Menh is that: the old and the bad one should be replaced by the new and the good one. That's why i believe that when he wrote the title, he played with the title by changing "Cach Menh" to "Kach Menh" which represent to the revolution and the replacement.

Painter of Light

2008-12-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

This is the picture of my Aikido Sensei, Ngo Khac Hoang, it is quite out focus and look like it was Photoshoped. However, this picture has not been touched by any software and it was taken with f6.3 and 25 second of exposure time!, Moreover, when it was taken, all the lights were turned off and the photographer only used a small flash lamp to "paint" on the model to create the light and shadow. How amazing is his technique!

This photographer is famous with the name "painter of light", his real name is Charlie Lim who is a Singaporean. For more information please visit his website: charlielim.com

Flash' Exercise (Typography)

2008-12-15T06:06:00.003-08:00

This entry should be belonged to week8, sorry for my lately. During last weekend, i was crazy and angry with Flash, i cannot tell you how much i was crazy with Flash, i cannot export my 5MB typography fla file to mov file to post into this blog. My flash get stuck everytimes i try to export my work in to movie even though i have tried to choose the other compression types. Moreover, I already try to reinstall my ADOBE CS3 but it does not help. And then i try to upload my swf into blogspot via another host( by using HTML code) but I CAN'T, Merde!

As you can see, even though the bar is full but Flash get stuck there, and of course i left it a whole night but there is nothing change. Why i cannot export just a 5MB fla file into Movie? Why i always have troubles with Flash ? Does anyone has same trouble like me?

Actually this work is showed in class last saturday, for those who was not in class this day you can click into the following link to see my work.

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/ss3175486rmit/images/detail/#262/allyeg4.swf

Playing with typography

2008-12-13T08:37:00.001-08:00

I created this Bag for Iceberry, which is an imagination ice cream shop, I used pure Typography and color harmonies to design this bag. It is not bad in my opinion ^__^. ( I'm fascinated with typography now ^__^ )
Note: I designed this bag based on the idea oh my friend, who is studying PR now.

Photomontage Assignment (In Process)

2008-11-30T21:53:00.000-08:00

I'm now working on the second assignment, the Photomontage. This work is based on the images of the ancient Japanese Samurai and it has been not finished yet and i am still looking around my house for the new elements that i could use to "plug" into my back ^__^.

Vinyl Record, Tape, Compact Disk and MP3

2008-11-26T09:27:00.000-08:00

I decided to use pure typography to combine Vinyl record, Tape, Compact Disk and MP3 into only one poster. The circle in the left is formed by the definition of Vinyl Record, the circle in the right is formed by a short definition of Compact Disk. Moreover, the line that is connect these two circles together represent the digitalization from analog to digital signal. Furthermore, together these elements create the form of the magnetic tape.

Before coming to this poster, i tried many different pictures to create a posters but they did not work well. So i turned back to the beginning and tried to use another way and i chose typography. Actually, i haven't used typography in my works in the previous semesters because i believe that a picture worth than thousand words. However, this semester, when i did the research on David Carson and his works, i was surprised by his works by the powerful ways he used his typography that's why now i am doing the research on typography and i hope that one day i can use the power of typography in my designs.

Carhartt (repost)

2008-11-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

After receiving the comment of Thierry in class i decide to redo the carhartt exercise again. I looked back the Gestalt theory, principles and element of design and i hope that this time my performance is better than the previous one.

Nokia Ads

2008-11-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

The Secret Sex Life of Plants (rePost)

2008-11-10T05:04:00.000-08:00

After receiving the comment of my lecturer, Thierry, I tried to work again on the Gestalt Exercise to make it better. Actually, The Gestalt Theory is quite hard for me to understand and digest therefore i have to keep working and doing the research on this Theory.

Carhartt

2008-11-10T00:06:00.000-08:00

This exercise cost me a lot of time, at the beginning, i tried to recreate the brand name "carhartt" with many different ways and many different mixtures but they did not work. Finally, I take the idea from the Shirt (you can see above) of carhartt to create this works.

The secret Sex Life of Plants

2008-11-07T00:15:00.000-08:00

This is my Gestalt Exercise, I try to illustrate the flowers by using the basic shapes and by applying the Gestalt Theory into it to make it more interesting. However, in my opinion, it is not as close as the Theories of Gestalt. If you have any idea to help me make it better, please give me your comments. Thank you very much.

Gestalt Theory

2008-11-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

This week i studied the Gestalt Theory which is very important and necessary for designers. After that i when to the internet to look for some the others Art Works that based on Gestalt. I finally find out some very interesting Art Works of Jesse Bransford on his/her blogspot. These art works were drawed by pen and ink directly on paper.Moreover, by looking at these works i can understand more about the Gestalt Theory. Jesse Bransford just used and combined the basic shapes together and How amazing Brandsford made these Art Works?. I really really love them.

Jesse Bransford, Gestalt No. 24 (Apocalypse: Abraxas Annihilation), 1999, 40x65", Pen and ink on paper

Jesse Bransford, Gestalt No. 11 (Drowning By Numbers), 1998, 60x80", Pen and ink on paper.

Jesse Bransford, Gestalt No. 17 (History Lesson), 1998, Dimensions variable, Latex, marker and graphite on wall.

To see more Jesse Brandsford works, please visit Brandsford's blog: http://jesse-bransford.blogspot.com/search/label/Gestalt%20Drawings

The Sun and The Moon

2008-11-01T08:38:00.000-07:00

In this entry, i will show you my design on The Sun and The Moon. This is an exercise from week2, our lecturer, Thierry asked us to design and to stylize the Sun and the Moon with our own style. Actually, this exercise is quite difficult for me because i have to draw by hand first (this is an extremely hard step because i can not tell my hands to do what i want !) and then trace my design again on computer by using Adobe Illustrator

When i designed my Sun and Moon and took the idea from the Sun of the ancient Aztecs. Actually, i did do the research about the Sun and The Moon of many different culture such as Japan, Egypt, China, ..v...v.. but i am really impressed by the Sun Stone of the Aztecs ( you can see the picture below).
I was socked when i did the research on the Sun Stone of the Aztecs, it was not only a amazing decoration but it was used as a calendar and an astronomical measuring system!

To see more information about the Sun Stone of the Aztecs, i strongly recommend you to go to this webstite : http://www.gizapyramid.com/CliveRoss4.htm

and Now go back to my design, i even though i simplified the Sun Stone of the Aztecs and combined it with the Moon, but i still keep the most important parts of the Sun Stone: earrings, 8 spears around the sun,... ( you should read the link the put above to understand how the Sun Stone "worked"). Moreover, when i design this work i also though about the shield of the Aztecs Warriors that they used in their wars

What is design?

2008-10-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

This is my first entry in Semester 3, now i am studying Electronic Imaging & Design that has another "illegal name" is DIM 2,5. In this semester, i also have to keep working on the blog with 24 entries in this semester and this is not an easy stuff for me because my entries should relate to the lesson that i studied in class. Now let's move to my first entry in this semester.

What is design? this is the question that my lecturer, Thierry, give us in class and ask us to illustrate the definition of design. That's a cool exercise, let's me show you my work.

First of all, i give you the definition of design ( this definition was given by Thierry): Graphic Design is the business of making or choosing marks and arranging them on a surface to convey an idea.

The key words in this definition are: business, making, choosing, arranging, a surface and convey an idea. And this is my illustration for this definition ^_^ ( i hope that you can figure out what i was trying to do)

New art works

2008-09-07T06:19:00.000-07:00

In this entry, I will show you my newest designs that I have just finished today.

My girl friend is now doing the marketing plan for Canon IXUS 80IS she asked me to design a cover of any magazine in which Canon IXUS 80 IS is promoted as a hot product to attract more customers. Actually, this is the first time I try to design the cover of a magazine so at the beginning I have so much difficulties and i did not know how and where should I start to design. In my opinion, the use of color and the compositon in this design are not so good but I am satisfied with my work.

The second work is the ads that I design for my team in BE2 class. The product is QGirl New York, a cosmetic line products of ICP Company. This ads was designed to promote QGirl New York on the magazines. I decided to use the very simple design but attractive so I only added the logo and the slogan of the product.

Sunny 16 Rule

2008-09-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

In photography, how to get o right exposure is very important and it is not an easy work to do. To day, with the help of new technology and the arrival of DSLR, photographers have much more ease to get the right exposure. However, even the newest DSLR of Nikon, Canon, Sony etc.. can just give photographer the acceptable exposure to their photos. In this entry I will show you how to use Sunny 16 rule as a guide to exposure without a light meter.

Set your aperture to f/16 and set your shutter speed accord to your ISO film speed.
For example: for ISO film 100 you should set your shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125. Actually, the shutter speed will not exactly equal to film speed but try to set it as close as possible to the film speed

There are the elaborated forms of Sunny 16 rule to use in different lighting conditions :

(source: http://www.camerareview.com/templates/sunny16.cfm)

Sadness....

2008-08-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

In the previous entry, I posted the newest pictures of Mai and now, in this entry, I will upload the pictures that were also taken yesterday but with a totally different style : Sadness... Moreover, I also tried to experiment a new style in editing picture called Infrared Film Effect. In these pictures, I do not only want to capture the pictures but I also want to catch the feeling, the emotion of Mai before she goes to Australia: .....

The Last Shots for Mai model

2008-08-30T20:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 30-August-2008. This day is a very special day since I took the last pictures for Mai model before she immigrate to Australia.
Since last semester when I have started to take pictures. Mai is the model who is very famous on Yahoo 360 with nickname : tokngan that impressed me much because of her profession. Moreover, she always gives me advice to make my pictures better. However,next Saturday, 6-Sept-2008, she will immigrate to Australia therefore these following pictures could be the last shots that I took for Mai.

Place: Trung Son- Phu My Hung
Date: 30-August-2008
Photographer: Khuong Tran

If you want to see the previous pictures of Mai, you can visit my 360 Yahoo Blog:

360.yahoo.com/tn_khuong

Completed Portfolio Assignment

2008-08-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

This is my portfolio assignment, I spent almost 2 weeks to finish it. This is probably not an easy work for me. I had so many problems and errors etc because in this assignment, I use tween motion instead of using action script.Moreover, I spent a lot of time and effort to do this assignment therefore I am proud of it despite the fact that it is not so nice Y_Y. Actually, after finishing this assignment, I don't have to touch Flash any more because I am tired now and I am scared of Flash even though the final big project is coming. I need time to refresh my mind to have more ideas for the Final Project.

Note: Because my portfolio is quite big, so please be passion if you want to see my work

Taking Portrait photos with Wide Angle

2008-08-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

As we know that, in photography, people usually take the Portrait pictures with tele angles to highlight the model by making the background blur. However, by using tele angles, the model is the dominant object in the frame, therefore the picture look narrow and the model look so lonely. For example:

In these pictures, even I gave space in front of the model to make the pictures become wider but the pictures are still look narrow and the models are still look "lonely".

Last weekend, I had a chance to take pictures for my new friend at RMIT Vietnam. I had a chance to experiment a new way to take portrait picture, I used Wide Angle! ( the following picture was taken with 17mm focal length, f2.8)

In this picture, the background is not blur so the there are much more detail about the environment therefore the picture look more interesting. Moreover, I can combine the low angle with the wide angle to make the model look much taller.

Experience:
- Don't combine high angle with wide angle in the portrait pictures, because that combination make the model look extremely short.
- Be careful in choosing the background. Because the background can not be blur much so we have to choose the background that is simple, united and not so colorful.

reference: http://tinhte.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87589

Porfolio Assignment

2008-08-17T05:26:00.000-07:00

After 2 days "flashing" i finally almost finished my gallery, i put 18 images in this gallery(i will adjust some more art works to complete it tonight). At the beginning i use the high resolution pictures and their quality is so good but after a while i realize that my web run really slow even when i run it on my Mac. i checked the size of fla file and i was shocked because it was 150MB!, i have to reduce my picture to 800x600 and then my web run smoothly. Actually, I really love my gallery over the other parts. First of all because this is the most challenge part in my portfolio, secondly, you can see my best works in the gallery where i put the photos that i like most and the design works that i have done from Semester 1.

Now I have to start to do the intro. This part is quite difficult for me, because i have had a clear concept for my intro.
I wish that i can show you my portfolio as soon as possible. Even though my portfolio is not very creative and attractive, i am proud of my works.

Portfolio Assignment

2008-08-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

Actually, I have spent whole last week just to do flash, I spent a lot of time to do this assignment but what I have gotten is not that must. I am so tired now, there are the others works from other subjects that i have not finished. This is the snap shots of my portfolio, it is very simple, I use 3 color: black, red and white as the main colors of my portfolio. And I put the photo that I took into the background and it changes every almost 5 second by using fade in/ fade out effect. I only use the action script that I learned from Ms Li Ping in class, I searched the other action scripts on the Internet but they are quite complex for me so I cannot understand and I cannot know how to use them. So I decide to keep my portfolio web simple but clean. Enjoy

Photoshop Technique: The easiest way to make a photo brighter.

2008-08-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

In Photoshop there are many ways to make a under exposure photo to be back to its right exposure for example we can use curve or level as we learned in DIM2 class. But these solutions are quite difficult for the beginner. That is the reason why in this entry I will show you the easiest and fastest way to save an under exposure photo through out only 3 steps.

This is the original photo, as you can see, it is under exposure.

Step 1: open your photo with Photoshop, and then duplicate the original layer

Step 2: change the blending mode of the new layer to Screen mode

Step3: edit the opacity of the new layer until you are satisfied with your photo's exposure.

This is the photo after edited, actually it look so bad on the your screen because the blogspot does not provide an exact color of my photo. Just experiment on your own display.

Maybelinne New York Ad

2008-08-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

In this entry, I will analyze Maybelline- New York Poster that I find out on Vietnamese Student 2! Actually, this poster analysis is my work from Business Enterprise 2 (BE2) class that I have to analyze a poster of my company’s competitor. When I analyzed that poster, I found out that it was not applied the design principles but it also uses the promotion strategies to catch the attention of the viewers and convince them to buy the product.

First of all, I want to explain a little bit about the promotion strategy that is applied into this poster.

That strategy that is called Buyer Readiness, there are six steps in that strategy
1) Awareness: make consumer know who you are
2) Knowledge: tell consumers about your products/services
3) Liking: makes consumer like your product
4) Preference: make consumers prefer your product over the others
5) Conviction: make consumer believe that they make a right choice when they buy your product
6) Purchase: make consumer buy your product

Awareness: Using rule of thirds emphasizes the model and she is also the dominant object in this poster. Therefore, at the first look, this beautiful model attracts the viewers, after few seconds, the viewers would ask themselves why does this beautiful ladies appear on this magazine? And then The huge word MAYBELLINE NEW YORK catch the view of the viewers and show them that this is the ad of Maybelline that come from New York. But this company could not guaranty that everyone could know what is Maybelline therefore the company added a slogan under the word MAYBELLINE which is “ maybe she is beautiful naturally, maybe because of Maybelline”. By reading that slogan, the readers have an idea that Maybelline is a cosmetic brand.

Knowledge: The cycle that is placed next to the model is the sub dominant object in this ad give the viewers fully of information about the product: the technology that the company apply to that product, how does this product make works and makes women as beautiful as the model in this ad.

Liking & Referencing: Actually these two steps come together at the first time when the viewer look at this poster. Go back to the Awareness step, the beautiful model attracts the viewer and the slogan makes them more curious to this product, the word New York inform the readers, especially Vietnamese people who like the foreign products and believe that they always have good quality that this product came from the US and the quality much be good. Next, the cycle gives the readers a lot of information about the product, the technology. Then the price appears suddenly, and it is very clever to put the prices in the end. After being attracted by much information from the beginning, the viewers should be very excited and when they see the price they should thing that that price is acceptable because they don’t have time to compare the price with other brands. In fact, this product is not cheap; it is around 10.000vnd more expensive than the other brands.

Conviction: just to make sure that the readers will buy this product, Maybelline add a small powerful sentence under the price “there are three different colors that are suitable for Asian ladies”, “suitable for Asian ladies” make the Vietnamese viewers think that that product is not only has the US quality, new technologies but it is suitable for Vietnamese ladies.

Flash Exercises

2008-08-02T23:50:00.000-07:00

In this entry I will post the two Flash Exercises in DIM2 class. In both two Exercises, as the introduction of Ms Li Ping, I don't use the Tween effect to make the movements but I have to change the picture a little bit in the key frame (it is like the way people make Cartoon Films in decade years ago ^_^). The difficulty here is how to make the movements look smooth without the use of Tween effect. Let see how did I do these exercises.

Note: I did have trouble in posting swf file in blogspot. If you want to post the video in to blogspot without uploading your files into the other hosts, export your file into mov file that works perfectly with blogspot ^__^

Save The Tigers Poster

2008-07-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

This is the poster that I designed for the 2nd DIM2 Assignment. Actually, when I showed my poster to my friends, they always ask me that why did i choose the style so "kute" and the picture is so peaceful. How could that poster send the strong message to the viewer?. So sad!.

First of all, I will explain why I use that picture for my poster. People usually think that why should they save tigers? because tigers are the dangerous animals and people are scared of tigers so there are few people spend their time and effort to protect this creature. That is the reason why I choose that picture, I want to give the viewers the other face of tigers. The tigers do not only know how to hunt or how to kill the other creatures but they also have love and they also have their own family. For instance this picture show the love between a mother tiger and her baby, she is happy in protecting and taking care of her baby. That's a very beautiful picture about the lives of tigers. I hope that the use of that picture can give the viewers the other view and the other thinking about the Tigers. And after understanding more the Tigers, there would be more people attend to the saving tigers campaign. Secondly, I also add the information about the situation of tigers in the wild, especially South China Tigers, by giving the fact, I believe that these are the strongest messages to encourage people to participate in this campaign.

Photoshop Technique: Sepia color

2008-07-26T06:55:00.000-07:00

Photoshop again? Yes I do know that 2 Photoshop tutorials in just a week seem to be bored but according to the comments I find out that my Phototoshop Tutorials are quite interesting to my readers so I decide to keep writing a new Photoshop tutorial ^_^

In this entry I will show you how to make Sepia color to a picture. Actually, there are many ways to create Sepia color to a picture, but this one is the way that i prefer most.

Okey, now open the picture that you want to make it look Sepia.

Step 1: first of all you need to turn your picture to Black and White by going: Image->Adjustments->Desaturate

Step 2: press Command+L or Control+L in windows, a tab should be opened. Now you set the Input Levels at: 10, 1.00, 245 and then press Ok button

Step3: Go Image->Adjustments->Color Balance, and you set the value of Color Level: 50, 0, -45 and then press OK button

Note: To have a good color, before editing your picture, you could set your picture back to it right exposure by editing its Level, Curve, etc

Photoshop Technique

2008-07-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

I do know that we are turning to study Adobe Flash in class, but I am still fascinated with Adobe Photoshop. Therefore today, I want to write about a Photoshop technique that is applied widely in the photography.

This picture above is applied some effect to make it look colder by adding more the blue color. Now I will guide you step by step how to make this effect. Let's start with the original picture.

Step 1: Open the picture with Adobe Photoshop and then Duplicate it by going: Image->Duplicate

Step 2: on the copy of your picture, go Image->Mode->Lab Mode, and then you go to to the Channel tab
Step 3 (Working on Channel a): click on the Channel a to active it and then you go to Filter->Gaussian Blur , set 5 pixels

Next, you press Command+L or Control+L on Windows, and a tab should appear. Now you set the Input Levels: 77, 1.00, 255

Step 4: Click on the Channel b, for this Channel, you do not need to apply Gaussian blur effect ^_^. Next, press Command+L or Control+L on Windows, you should set the Input Levels: 77, 1.4, 255

Step 5: you should select all the channel in the the Channel Tab( as the picture below)

And then, press Command+C or Control C on Windows to copy these channels

Step 6: go back to your original picture, and then press Command+V or Control+V on Windows to paste

And then you set the Mode of new layer to Overlay, and then you would set the opacity from 60% to 80 %.

Photography

2008-07-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

I have fallen in love with photography since last semester when i started to learn how to use DSLR camera in ME1 group. Then i was spending all my time during the break between semester 1 and semester 2 in taking photos. Further, portrait is the genre that i chose to enter to the world of Photography since it is quite easier for me than the other genres. In this entry, i will post the pictures that i like most, some of them i have never shown before in any website or blog.

The pictures below are the original picture, they are not touched by any application

Tran Nha Trang: she is my girlfriend. She helped me passionately in the first days when i enter to the world of Photography. Actually, in these days, i did make a lot of mistakes and i did not know how to pose model etc but she always motivate me and help me being better.

Mai: she is my most professional model, she is usually goes out to be the model for the professional photographers therefore she act creatively and naturally in front of the camera. Unluckily, she will immigrate to Australia next month. I am really sad since she is not only a excellent model but she is also a very good friend.

Van: i met her the first time when we studied together in L6.1 class. Even though she was acting in front of camera for the first time when i took these pictures, the way she act is so natural and creative.

Illustrator

2008-07-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

This is my first work on Illustrator. I traced this Lamborghini in almost 20 hours by using just 12 layers. I do know that the more layers I add the more detail the car is but I will have more difficulties in managing these layers and my computer probably run extremely slow. That is the reason why I decided to keep the number of layers small. Next, the most difficult parts are filling color and how to make the car look realistic. In fact, when I traced this Lamborghini, I had many difficulties on drawing the shadow and the reflection so I spent almost 5 hours to play around with the effect tools and then I found out that the Gaussian Blur, the Feather Affect and the Opacity tool could help me solving these difficulties easily. And to help you having a better comparison, I also post the original picture of this Lamborghini. As you can see, there are many details for example the refection on the windows of the car that i cannot draw in illustrator

Photoshop Technic ( Only for Photoshop CS3)

2008-07-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, in this entry i will give you a brief introduction how to use Photoshop CS3 to edit JPG file as RAW file ! (how cool is it!). After that, i will show you how to use this fantastic feature to make the effect as the picture above.

First of all, to archive this feature:
1) In Mac OS X: Photoshop->references->File Handling->File Compatibility-> check the box Prefer Adobe Camera Raw for JPEG files. Press OK
2) Open a JPEG file, you should see the box below. This is the powerful tool to edit RAW file ( but now we can use it to edit JPEG file ^O^)

Now look closer to the right of this box you will see the Tab that allow you to modify picture. I will show you step by step how to go throw these Tabs.

Basic Tab:
Because the picture is not clear so i will write down these values and u just follow my instruction ^_^:

-Temperature:+64
-Tint : -66
- Exposure: -3.30
- Recovery : 0
- Fill Light: 5
- Blacks: 2
- Brightness: +150
- Contrast: +22
- Vibrance & Saturation: 0

Go to the next tab

Lens correction:

Lens vignetting: used to make 4 corners of the picture brighter or darker. In this case we set 4 corners darker (to focus to the object)

Camera Calibrication:
With this tab you can set the value of your image in 3 different channel colours: Red Grenn Blue

Shadows
Tint:-52

RedPrimary
Hue: -38
Saturation:- 16

Green Primary:
Hue:-38
Saturation:+8

Blue Primary:
Hue: -12
Saturation:-3

Presets Tab
By using the Presets tab, you can now save your settings for the next pictures.

Press the button in the right bottom ( next to the Trash).

IMPORTANT: If you now click on the Open Image button, Photoshop CS3 automatically modify your original pictrure!. To avoid that, press the alt button on your keyboard , the Open Image buuton will change to Open Copy, click on that and Photoshop will apply your settings to a copy of your original picture.

Now you can add border to your picture (by using Canvas Size tool) to make it look more professional.

Reference: Chỉnh tone màu ám xanh – phim nhựa :http://vnphoto.net/forums/showthread.php?t=17329

Bonus: Mai Model

Basic composition in Photography: Rule of Thirds

2008-07-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

After going around and reading my friend's entries, I find out that I write too much but not focus to the topic, so I have to change my style T___T

Today, I will write about the Rule of Thirds in Photography. This rule is applied in Photography as the basic knowledge about composition that every Photographer has to know before having any beautiful photos.

These rectangular are divided by two horizontal and two vertical lines (the blue lines). These lines that separate the rectangular into 3 equal area meet together at 4 points (the blue points).
In Photography, these 4 lines are called the 4 strong lines, and the 4 points are named strong points.
To emphasize the object, the photographers have to set the object as close as possible (or match) to the 4 strong line and 4 strong points.
I will use my photos to illustrate how this rule is applied into photography:

When I took that picture, I want to emphasize the flowers therefore I tried to set the flowers on the strong points and the strong line instead of putting them into the middle of the photo.

Okay, this picture was not taken by me (of course! because I was the main character in this picture^). As you can see, the 2 models were posed on the horizontal strong line therefore they are emphasized effectively. Moreover, the other horizontal strong lines also highlight the sky above.

To sum up, people usually assume that putting the objects into the middle of the picture will highlight the objects but it is not correct.

2008-07-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hi as i said in the previous entry, today i am going post my work on Clone Stamp Tool and Healing Brush Tool in Adobe Photoshop.

As you can see, this is the original picture that is tangled by the electric wires, the streetlamp, antenna, and the bird in the sky. Moreover, the car and two motorbikes also hide the doors of the church, and there is a little yellow crane at the right side of the church. These things are probably making the viewers confused and uncomfortable when they look at that picture.

My job is giving back the beauty to the church by removing this mess. It is extremely easy if I use Eraser Tool and erase everything out of this picture but it is probably destroy the picture. Therefore I have to use the other tools

After three hours hard working, I finally finished that work. Instead of using Eraser Tool I use Clone Stamp Tool and Healing Brush Tool and the reason is these two tools can make the picture look natural, soft and difficult to be discovered as an edited picture!

The electric wires, the birds and the yellow crane are easy to be removed. The streetlamp is a little more difficult. However, the doors and the wall in front of the church are ultra hard to deal with because they are hidden by the car and the motorbikes. Therefore I have to fix them slowly, patiently (actually I did have to zoom in to 800% to work with each pixels Y__Y).

Experience: I did have a lot of difficulties when I did this exercise just because I don't have a GOOD MOUSE T__T. Actually; this work requires the meticulousness so I have to be accurate in every "clicks". However my mouse makes me crazy when I even cannot control it. Buy a good mouse before you do these works is probably not a bad idea.

2008-07-02T01:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my first entry

This is the place that I will not only update my art works regularly but I also reflect my experience, my thinking about the world around me. In fact I have to post two entries per week or I have to write 20 entries in next 10 weeks. Therefore I am going to work hard to meet that requirement and also to satisfy my readers.

After studying two classes of Adobe Photoshop, I find out that Photoshop is not as difficult as I thought. During the break between Semester 1 and semester 2 I do hate Photoshop! Since I don’t know how to use that complicated software. I took a lot of pictures but most of them get wrong exposure or bad composition! And I did not know how to fix them (poor me Y_Y). However, now everything is difference since I can use Photoshop to bring my photos back to their right exposure, add new effects to make my photos look cool or I can get a good composition by dropping them ^0^. Okay let me show you what can I do with Photoshop now :)

This is the original picture that was taken in May-20-2008 in Phu My Hung and the model is Tran Nha Trang who is now studying B.Com semester 2. As you can see that this picture has many errors. First of all, it is under exposure since that day was a cloudy day but I set EV-0.3. Secondly, the composition of this picture is not good too because behind the head of the model there are many branches T_T. Don't laugh at me, I had learned how to use camera few days ago in ME 1 class.

I use Level Tool (image->adjustments->level) to bring this picture to its right exposure. In addition, I also add a little more contrast and saturation (I tried to make it look like a commercial photo) ^O^. However, I did not stop working here, keep reading and you will see that I did adjust fell more interesting effects on this picture.

This is the final work and I do love it (of course! because it is my work ^^). First, the Extract filter helps me separates effectively and easily the model and the background behind her. Next, I used Photo filter to change the background into old style. Then the blur motion set off the model and makes the branches behind her softer. Finally, the picture becomes more professional with the black border.

To sum up, after studying two classes I have learned many valuable Adobe Photoshop techniques that I can apply to make my photos much better than before. Furthermore, I am now fascinating in "playing" with Adobe Photoshop which was the software I did hate most in just few weeks ago.

The next entry will be the work on using Clone Stamp Tool and Healing Brush Tool in Photoshop.