Lesson 8 Assignment

Exploring Plug-in Filters

I downloaded the following plug-ins and tested them out...cool stuff!

I made many, many images in my exploration of all these filters. These are a few that really the caught my eye. Using filters opens up infinite possibilities.

Original with
HTML Table Border=7

Filter Factory A: Kaleidoscope
BorderMania Filters: 3D Raised

Original with
HTML Table Border=7

FM Tile Tools: Collage/Linear
Cropped lower portion
Border Mania Filters: 3D Sunken
I use tables quite a bit to layout my pages. I find them indispensable for putting things where I want them...Most of my PSP class assignments are laid out using tables, sometimes with the border hidden so it's not obvious that they're tables. Above I used a table with no border to layout the images, and used a 2 separate tables within the original table, to create the HTML "frames" around the two "original" images.

TIPS!
Here's a trick that I use often. I use the BGCOLOR attribute within the tag to make the text more readable. This block of text has the bgcolor attribute set to "white" like this:

<TD BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">

Compare the readability between this text and the text above. You can also use this attribute in the <TR> tag if you want the whole row the same background color. This is a really good trick to remember if you want to use a fairly wild background but still want readable text. BEWARE! Only MSIE and Netscape v 3.0+ support bgcolor attribute within tables.

A Couple Other Tips:
Most people know this one, but in case you've forgotten....If I see a page layout I like or a new effect I haven't seen before, I check out the source code [In Netscape: VIEW > DOCUMENT SOURCE] and see if I can pick up some HTML layout techniques from the code. Similarly, if I see a really nice graphic effect that I'd like to emulate, I download the image, load it into PSP and zoom in on it to see exactly what the pixels are doing. I did this with the gradient fill on the green ball in Lesson 7 to figure out how to make the shadow. Once I zoomed in on it, it was apparent it was a gradient fill, I only had to experiment a little to figure out how to do it in PSP. I, of course, don't use the downloaded image without permission.

I always try and validate the HTML code on my pages before publishing using one of the online validation services, Web Techs or Kinder Gentler Validator. I do this to see what possible errors I have made. I hand code all of my pages and have a pretty good idea what will validate and what won't, but I still make errors and validation catches them. I have a personal dislike of WYSIWYG editors, unless the person using them has a good knowledge of HTML code and can go back in and take out the garbage these editors inevitably produce. Validating pages created with these editors is a must, in my humble opinion.

I must admit that I have been lazy in validating my PSP pages, because I know that most everyone is using Netscape or MSIE version 3.0 or better. It was nice to know my audience for a change!

Color Correction
There seems to be a very fine art to color correction. I'm still trying to figure it out. It's tough to look at a photo and know what it needs. For this photo, there wasn't enough detail in the face but I didn't want to blow out the highlights either and make the water too light. So, I gamma corrected it to 1.20. I played around with Highlight/Midtone/Shadow a little but couldn't get anything I really liked. ...I know you can go too far with it and I didn't want to. And, in the end, everyone's monitor will display images a little differently.

Original

Color Corrected Gamma 1.20
Sharpen Filter applied
Much better!

I still do not really understand the histogram. I know how to use it and what the values mean on the graph...I just don't know what is optimum as it seems to change for every photo/graphic. I tend to use gamma correction rather than brightness/contrast as b/c only stretches [equalizes????] the histogram. Obviously, I need to study and experiment with this more.

Things I would like to learn about PSP that weren't covered in this class.... maybe a PSP III class.
  • Masks
  • Clone tool
  • More exploration of color correcting and histograms
I was really very pleasantly challenged in this course. I was able to create and manipulate graphics for the pure learning experience which was a nice change. It was also nice to have feedback from classmates and to see everyone's sites develop over the course of 4 or 8 weeks! There are some really creative people in this class.

Check out this week's assignment by Jerry Haberer...I think you'll get a chuckle :-)

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pkalbaug@ptialaska.net

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