AV News 193 - August 2013
Adobe Photoshop - Third Image
Keith Scott FRPS
Frequently requests are received from fellow photographers and AV workers
for some information or help about computer hardware or software issues,
especially about Photoshop. Although most of these queries are answered
directly to those seeking help I thought that the following e-mail request could
be of some interest to other readers of AV News, hence this article.
Hi Keith. On the last AV day at Snods Edge the subject of Third images
came up, and it was noticed that not many AV'ers actually use them. I have
looked through all of my back numbers of AV News and do not think it has
been covered by one of your very good tutorials before. I for one do not fully
understand how to do it within photoshop as I think there are many ways to
achieve them. Would you consider perhaps to summit an article in a future
news, as I think it would be very well received. Kind regards. [sic]
This request raises several interesting points. Firstly I don't generally
encourage queries because frequently they arrive at inopportune times and
can be time consuming to answer, although I do try to help wherever possible.
Secondly I don't consider that anything I write within 'AV News' to be genuinely
tutorial, I write articles that contain information that some readers may find
useful, especially about updates, new features, or plug-ins. My articles also
help the Editors to fill otherwise blank pages when they run out of genuinely
interesting AV related articles! There are lots of splendid glossy monthly
magazines available that specifically provide very good tutorials on just about
every aspect of Photoshop, although I don't actually buy such magazines
because they're usually expensive, I cannot therefore recommend any
particular magazine to buy. However, if your budget stretches sufficiently then
why not buy them and try them out? Many are accompanied by 'free' CD's or
DVD's containing useful examples, samples, lessons, and utility files, although
if you use the internet wisely such information can be obtained at no cost at
all.
The third interesting point is regarding third images. Quote 'and it was
noticed that not many AV'ers actually use them' unquote. This observation
may be correct in some instances, however if you attend major National or
International festivals and study the finest examples of competitive AV you
will see that third images are used extensively, very skilfully and artistically
applied by the best workers. Perhaps so skilfully applied that they are seen
and enjoyed but without the viewers attention being drawn unduly to them.
Fourth point of interest. Quote 'I think there are many ways to achieve them'
unquote. This is correct, like so many other aspects of Photoshop there are
different ways to achieve the desired result. Different workers will from
personal preference choose different ways of working. It doesn't really matter
which way you go about doing something as long as the end result meets the
envisaged requirement, although it's good practice to aim for the most efficient
way of working wherever possible. Efficiency with Photoshop comes with
experience, practice and of course, learning from past mistakes.
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