New Video Tutorial on Dodging & Burning

[gmitchel]

I have reworked my video tutorial on dodging and burning via an overlay layer and the brush tool.

It is nearly seven minutes long with a 720x576 window and high quality audio.

It is a Windows media movie (a .WMV file). I have tried many different audio and video codecs with Quicktime and Flash. Similar quality for Flash is twice the size, nearly 20MB. Quicktime is nearly 30MB.

This video is a template for forthcoming videos, so I am very interested in feedback. It includes zooms, cursor highlight, visual and sound effects for mouse clicks, and sound effects for keypresses.

The file will stream if you use Microsoft Media Player, but if you use a slower connection, you'll need to be patient. The file is 9.8MB.

If you need Microsoft Media Player, there's a link on my site. There are versions for different flavors of Windows and Mac OS.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/DigitalDarkroom/VideoTutorials.htm

Enjoy!

I look forward to comments from people who view the video. :)

Cheers,

Mitch

[mapollo]

Ok Glenn I viewed your video.

An important point I guess is that it learnt me how to dodge/burn using an overlay layer and I only had to watch the clip once. I found the "summary" towards the end useful as I missed the shortcut keys reqd to make a new layer during the main part of your tutorial. I have watched a few tutorials and I always seem to remember shortcut keys better when I see them written.

I found the screenshot of PSCS a little small on my monitor (800*600) but you made up for that by highighting the cursor and by using sound effects. The sound effects in particular I liked for I could hunt round the screen to see what effects your keystrokes were having (like when toggling Black or White for example).

It wasn't a problem really but when you were setting up the "brush" with a low opacity I wasn't sure what setting to apply for the "fill" . I had to get close to the screen and squint to see it looked like you used 100%.

I think all in all you have a good template for future tutorials and I thought the screen at the end (with your website details on) made a better way to finish than reading out your website addy like I think you did on the last of your tutorials that I watched and commented on.

Hope that helps...... David.

[tim]

That's a great video lesson Mitch, thanks! :)

[gmitchel]

Thanks, Tim and David.

David -- did you have your Microsoft Media Player set to full screen? The file is 720x576. That's nearly full screen for an 800x600 monitor.

Realize that Photoshop CS does not work with 800x600. You need at least 1280x1024. That's the native resolution I used for the video. it was downrezzed to fit in a 720x576 window.

Cheers,

Mitch

[Moppie]

I just watched and used it on a candid of my g/f done when I was a little tipsy. It has great composition a beutiful expresion on her face, but its back lit and she is a little under-exposed.
It worked amazingly well, very very helpful video, watched it once and put it to use.

Thank you.

[gmitchel]

I just watched and used it on a candid of my g/f done when I was a little tipsy. It has great composition a beutiful expresion on her face, but its back lit and she is a little under-exposed.
It worked amazingly well, very very helpful video, watched it once and put it to use.

Thank you.

Super! Glad the tutorial was helpful! :)

Cheers,

Mitch

[chris.bailey]

Glenn

Very nice and not a method I had come across so its very useful. The only thing I might consider adding is setting brush dynamics to opacity of you are using a pen tablet.

Chris

[gmitchel]

There's a new version of the video available. It incorporates comments from this forum and other forums.

Thanks to all who offered constructive suggestions. :)

Changes include:

(1) New opening sound loop that's less jarring.
(2) Much quieter keypresses and mouse clicks.
(3) Layer is toggled on/off to show the effect of the changes
on the image.
(4) Two additional shortcuts explained: changing brush size
and opacity while you work.

It's now nearly 8 minutes long and almost 11MB. Best viewed by those with a high speed connection. The window is 720x576. So it can take a while to load on slower connections, although it does stream.

Cheers,

Mitch

[TammieO]

Mitch,
Thanks for the great PS tips!
Tammie

[lost]

Great Tutorial. I am new to PS and was able to get the hang of this IMMEDIATELY. It explains every detail! Thanks again.

[Scottes]

Great job Mitch! The Overlay layer one of my favorite techniques, and you did a heck of a job running through it. nice!

[gmitchel]

Glad I could help folks!

I added a Quicktime .MOV version of the dodge & burn video.

http://************/58a6g

Now Mac and Linux users can easily take a look, too. ;)

Cheers,

Mitch

[mphoto]

Mitch:

Thanks a bunch for the free training. I had read about this technique in Scott Kelby's book, but there is nothing like seeing it work in a tutorial such as this to make a believer out of me. I also appreciated some of the keyboard shortcuts. They are a lot more efficient than trying to do everything via the PS menus.

Very nicely done. Cheers!