Easy Photoshop Tips for Your Best Artwork Photos

So you take the photo of your artwork and then discover...it's crooked! Here are the simple steps to go from a "Do Over" to "It's Perfect." (This also works if you deliberately shoot at an angle to reduce glare off the painting surface.)

I am using Photoshop Elements, the pared down version of the big version for graphic designers. Still has everything I need. And I've given up on the fancy lighting. I just put the painting on the floor and shoot. (FYI - you can get photoshop for the MAC - I use mine all the time because it will resize when IPhoto won't.)

Open your image. Then click the View drop down menu and select "grid"


The grid is confusing to me at this point so I reduce the size of my image (roll the controller thing on the mouse) or use Ctrl - (minus sign) until only the bold lines are visible. Now you can see how far out of square your image is.


Next open the Image drop down menu and select Transform - then skew. You will be asked "background layer" say yes, then "layer 0" say ok.

Using your mouse, put the pointer on one of the corner circles and drag the image, using your grid lines to help you keep things square. This works in all 4 directions if you need them.

Now go back to View and uncheck the grid.

Then select the crop tool (Rectangular Marquee tool) and crop your now square image.

Next, you want to adjust for the lack of perfect lighting. Select Enhance, then Adjust Brightness/Contrast...then Levels.


This is the "Bell Graph" that opens up. By moving the outside triangle sliders to the starting and ending points on the graph, you keep the light to dark ratio while adjusting the lighting/brightness/contrast stuff. The triangle slider in the middle can be adjusted either way, play with it to see what it does, but usually I just leave it alone.
You're almost done. Now, open the Layer tab (most important) and look at the bottom. If Flatten Image is in bold (it will be if you skew), then select it.

The last step is "Save As" (found in "File" top left corner of the main menu bar). Save as a tiff. This will be the image you will use for every other copy you make. A tiff does not lose data each time you open it. Then "Save As" again as a jpeg so you now have 2 copies of your image.

If you need a smaller copy, go to your tiff, duplicate the image and resize that one, then save it as a jpeg. Or resize the original jpeg.

ALWAYS -- as the VERY LAST STEP -- go to filters, then sharpen, then to unsharp mask. Your program will probably have a default selection for amount, radius and threshold. The amount should be around 100 for digital, you can increase this for print. The radius is how many pixels in the "blob" of pixels to be sharpened, and threshold has to do with the degree of difference between one section compared to the adjoining section. It's all rather confusing, but I have mine set at 100, radius 0.9 pixels, and threshold 9 levels. Sometimes I run that up a bit. Experiment to see what happens if you want to better understand it.

Try this and see if it doesn't make life easier.

Lily Pads at Hosmer Lake

Lily Pads at Hosmer Lake
oil, 15 x 30
Sue Favinger Smith @2010

Hosmer Lake is one of the most beautiful fly fishing and kayaking lakes in Oregon. Surrounded by marshes and snow capped volcanic mountains, it is a very spiritual place, one of renewal and contentment. Surrounded by birdsong, buzzing and flitting dragonflies, the bitterns, osprey and bald eagle - it's as close to the natural world as you can get.

The Golden Hour - Sparks Lake

"The Golden Hour - Sparks Lake"
@2010 Sue Favinger Smith

Sparks Lake is large and shallow, perfect for human powered watercraft in the summer. We went hiking, wanting to follow the Ray Atkeson Trail - Ray Atkeson's beautiful photography books usually feature this lake.

We decided to venture on beyond the end of the paved section, then took what we thought was the short cut trail back to the main staging area. Unfortunately, I over-rode my husband's opinion at a crucial Y in the trail and we ended up on the longer loop trail. He graciously refrained from saying "I-told-you-so" and I got some better views of the lake from which to create this painting.

Most important lesson learned? Draw a map of the trail network, don't rely on memory. Oh, and wear insect repellent.

Near Mitchell - Oregon

This is one of the images I've entered in the OPA Western Regional Show - I enter every year but haven't gotten in, a story so many artists understand. The competition is intense and the artists who do get in are at the top of their game. I do it because it keeps me motivated to push myself into better and better work, to not be satisfied with what I've done before, and if I ever do get in I will then know that all this work is only starting to pay off. I doubt if I will ever paint at the level I aspire to, but that doesn't stop me from constantly working toward that goal.

Linden Trees and Water

Linden Trees and Water
oil on linen panel, @2010
Available at High Desert Gallery in Bend, Oregon and Sisters, Oregon

An excellent portrait accomplishes several things: it captures the personality of the sitter, it offers a suggestion of mystery, a conversation interrupted, and it is built upon a non-traditional compositional design. In my landscape work I try to approach each "sitter" the way John Singer Sargent or Sorolla might - looking for the personality, the immediacy of the moment, and a viewpoint with an unusual design.

Studio Lighting part Deux

Last fall I was so happy that I'd found a lighting solution for my studio. Ah...right. This was then.


And this is now. I figure I lose one light every three months. This is not your simple light bulb burning out. No, it doesn't matter how many times I replace the bulbs, how I work them in the sockets to get contact. I figure at the rate of failure I have six months left before I am totally in the dark...heh...some might say I'm already there.

In the mean time I have found this lamp that looks like a reject from the 60's. I call it the octopus. Actually it's very functional, and it was a lot less money than the fancy ceiling fixture.

Using Photoshop to Improve Your Reference Photos

While I love the idea of plein air painting, I'm more of a studio painter. I do go out and take my own reference photos, and have recently learned how to use the photomerge command in Photoshop Elements (I'm using an older version, 2.0, without a lot of bells and whistles). I've always struggled with the fact that the camera is limited in what it takes in, but by taking a series of shots and then combining them into one, I can come closer to recreating the feel of the location, the scale, the light, all those elements that make a difference. The image above is the result of about 4 or 5 photos merged together.