On 12/1/2010 1:30 AM, SwissPace wrote:
> ... I agree though moose the software doesn't work well for the faces example
> you posted and viveza2 seems no better, but there are some things that make
> life easier, like a ratchet spanner in the toolbox, not necessary but saves
> time and effort.
I don't, and didn't, disagree with the toolbox analogy. My objection is to the
price/performance relationship. Viveza
alone is still overpriced and the combo package you bought is much more
expensive for PS. I'm not buying another editor
and, in one case, computer, to get the special deal. :-)
I've now looked more closely at your sky and trees example:
Pro: Viveza has done a very good job of selecting sky and separating it from
the branches and leaves. In an overexposed
shot with small, dark things backlit by something very bright, the edges of
the, in this case, twigs and leaves tend to
disappear. That makes selecting the sky very difficult. I think Viveza has done
as good or better a job on this image as
I could do in PS.
It's still not a great job. Working on an image like this is always damage
control. The correct answer is something over
-1 EV adjustment when taking the shot. Sure, I screw up and have to try to fix,
but it really is much easier to get it
right in the first place.
Con: Viveza has done a poor job of filling in the area it selected. That the
sky is brighter at the bottom than the top
is technically poor, but doesn't matter much, as that pattern is common in
images of sky. That it goes cyan on the left,
blue, leaning toward purple on the right, is not good. That it goes lighter and
darker depending on how close it is to
other subject matter, is just bad.
Look at the areas surrounded by leaves. The small ones are lighter than bigger
ones. And the large open area on the
right has an obvious gradient from light to dark going from edge to center.
That's OK for snapshots, but far from the "Pro" tool they claim. If they'd just
offer the selection part of the tool as
a $25 plug-in, I'd probably buy it.
> I do intend to try and get more out of photoshop, I am normally quick at
> picking things up but layers and masking in photoshop, like German are
> proving difficult for me to learn, although if truth be know I haven't
> devoted as much effort as I should ;-)
Try thinking of a drawing where you've messed up part of it. You overlay a
second sheet, draw the wrong parts again,
then have the ability to erase the parts of the top sheet where the one below
is fine.
That's layers and masks. No, it's not an exact analogy to the computer version,
and far less powerful and flexible, but
may help with getting the concept clear in your mind.
A layer is just that, a sheet on top of another one. It may contain an exact
copy that one then modifies, a different
images of clouds, other people or places, anything one can imagine.
A mask is transparency in the upper sheet that lets the one below show through.
Any part(s) of It may be partially or
fully transparent, and created by selecting objects and/or areas or by
painting on the mask itself.
The Masked Moose!
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