2 Minute Photo Processing

[Steve Clarkson]

So I wanted to make one last Mother's Day gift this morning......so obviously I didn't have alot of time. And I wanted to engrave 31 different pictures (sons, daughters and grandkids......hey, we're Irish).

I wanted to engrave all these pictures on the border of a clear acrylic LED picture frame. I only had two hours to get it done.

But in the process, I really think I discovered something important.

So here's what I did:

First, I imported all 31 pictures into Corel.....and of course, they were all different sizes and shapes.

Then, one by one, I did this:

1) Edit Bitmap
2) Resample - 300 dpi
3) Crop - a simple square around the head/shoulders
4) Resize - (for me, in this case, it was 1"x1")
5) TRY Auto Adjust.....but if it doesn't make it significantly better, click undo.
6) Cut Out Lab - just get close, don't waste time here.
7) Paint Bucket - use black to fill in everything around what you cut out.
8) Convert to greyscale.
9) Paint brush - use black and zoom in.....paint everything black and get as close to the head/face as possible.
10) Invert
11) Adjust brightness/contrast - this is the CRITICAL step and you should spend most of your time on this step. All you are trying to do is to get as much contrast as you can, WITHOUT any area getting TOO BLACK or TOO BRIGHT.


I couldn't believe how well this simple process worked for me.....I'm telling you, it's no lie.....ALL 31 PICTURES came out GREAT!!!! (granted.....they were 1"x1").

There was one picture that I had spent DAYS working on trying to get it to engrave nicely. I just COULDN'T get it to come out right. But, believe it or not, this SAME picture came out GREAT doing it this way.

The key to making it look great was adjusting the brightness/contrast while the photo was inverted. Why this worked for me, I have no idea. But it worked REALLY well for me.

I'm not sure if this "process" will work well on other substrates, like marble, but it sure worked well on clear cast acrylic.

Try it out and tell me if it works for you. And time yourself and see if you can do it in under 2 minutes!

[Stephen Beckham]

Steve,

You do bring up an interesting concept - I adjust the brightness while still normal and it's always goofey when I invert it - I'm going to skip the brightness step next time until after inversion and see how well that works for me also...

Thanks for the tip.

[Dave Johnson29]

Then, one by one, I did this:

1) Edit Bitmap
...
11) Adjust brightness/contrast

Geez Steve, you are fast making your way to "picture guru" status. You may have Frank shivering in his shoes.

[Dee Gallo]

What, no pictures, Steve?

[Dave Johnson29]

What, no pictures, Steve?

Nah, it never happened, Steve knows the rules!!

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Adjusting it after inverting sounds very interesting Steve

Andrea

[onur cakir]

Anyone experienced "gold method" photoshop plugin ?

Steve's method is quick enough to give a try.

[Steve Clarkson]

Dave, I think "picture guru" is a little over the top.....but if you insist........

OK.....you didn't read the part about how I only had two hours to get this done? So, no, I didn't take a picture of it......to be honest, I had to steal my two camera batteries to use in the LED frame!!!!!!!! I must say, I was VERY prepared for Mother's Day this year!

I've really struggled with photo processing......no matter what I have tried......adjusting the tone curve, or using the brightness/contrast/intensity sliders, playing with dodge/burn, using Stucki and the two other guys.....I could never seem to get it right. I basically gave up because I didn't have an "eye" for it. Faces would be either too light or too dark, adjusting one area would/wouldn't adjust other areas.....it doesn't help that I'm color blind.....

By making the adjustments AFTER the conversion to greyscale and after inverting basically leaves you with two colors......black and white.....and somehow, I can "see" when an area is too black or too white.....and after a little work using the contrast/brightness.....I can get it adjusted just right......or well enough so that one area doesn't burn totally through the substrate while other areas barely burns at all.

All I know is that it worked for me in this situation, and I plan to keep trying this method with other substrates.......I think it will work, even in situations where you "un-invert" it.

All I know is that I really can't afford to spend two hours adjusting a photo and then still have it come out looking horrible when it is engraved.

So like I said, give it a shot and let me know if it works for you.

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Onur, I use the Gold method for my photos on acrylic - it works great for me

[Scott Shepherd]

I've really struggled with photo processing......no matter what I have tried......adjusting the tone curve, or using the brightness/contrast/intensity sliders, playing with dodge/burn, using Stucki and the two other guys.....I could never seem to get it right. I basically gave up because I didn't have an "eye" for it. Faces would be either too light or too dark, adjusting one area would/wouldn't adjust other areas.....it doesn't help that I'm color blind.....

Nothing to do with being color blind, that's the reality of trying to do photographs with a laser at this point in time. You can see all the demos in the world at every laser manufacturers booth and they all look amazing. They don't tell you how many hours they had tweaking that one image and getting it perfect. They don't tell you that the reps are all getting the same image and settings to use as a demo.

Many of us on this forum have said over and over to people looking to buy a laser, don't plan on making a living doing photographs of people on granite. It's near impossible to make a living doing it. In fact, it's a good way to go broke unless you are a master with graphics and manipulating photos.

It's just not as easy as they want you to think it is. They know there is an emotional hook created when people see it, and that's part of the marketing and they are all VERY good at it. Look through all the samples on manufacturers websites and let me know how many ideas out of 100 would actually make you money. Not many.

[Steve Clarkson]

I totally agree with you!

[sunil jain]

I use corel photo paint. decrease brightness by -20% and increase intensity by +20% and then convert to grey scale & then try the result.

[Dan Hintz]

I see the "decrease brightness by X% and increase contrast by Y%" suggestions on here all of the time for photos, but it's akin to saying "set your power to 35%" when you have no idea how many watts the laser is. Every photo is different, and a poorly lit photo is still going to look like junk at whatever settings people use for a regular picture. Image editing is an interactive process, not a big green 'Go' button, and while the Gold method (which does the aforementioned brightness/contrast change) may get you close enough on the typical image, you will always get better results if you learn what to look for and hand tweak it.

[Dave Johnson29]

it doesn't help that I'm color blind.....

Steve,

That may be an asset. During WW-II color blind people were much in demand for aerial photography evaluation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorblind

[Adam Orton]

I only have one question... It was Mothers Day????? Damn...