Generation Loss, What JPEG Compression Looks Like After 600 Saves

Generation Loss from hadto on Vimeo.

We all know that JPGs are a 'lossy' file format, but watch this video, it is shocking! While we are unlikely to save and re-save a photo 600 times, it does make you wonder just how much damage we are doing to our .jpeg files each time we edit a bit and save.

If working in photoshop, saving in one of the Photoshop formats, e.g. .psd (a lossless format) is a way to save images at various points during the editing, before saving the final image as a .jpg if that is the format you need for the final photo.

(NB it's lucky that blog posts are lossless, the number of times I've posted and edited this entry!!)

Photographing Out Aloud: Sheffield's Gay Choir.

Recently, I photographed Out Aloud, which is Sheffield's LGBT Choir.



It was a really interesting project, the key to which was meticulous organisation. I attended a week before I was taking the photos, so that I could get an idea of the room, the lighting, and do test shots, all of which I took a note of, with different lenses, focal lengths, and flashes.



This meant that I could attend on the week with confidence that I was as prepared as I could be. I had made notes of the shots I wanted too, which helped me reassure myself that I wasn't leaving at the end of the night, missing a crucial shot.





It's always worth remembering that, when the choir requests a 'silly photo' at the end, getting everyone to jump at the same time is trickier than it looks. Each photo represented various stages in what was essentially a mexican wave. I don't know why tenors and basses are so much quicker off the mark than the sopranos and altos, but it was consistently true.



All the photos can be viewed here in their flickr set, and if choir members or others want to buy individual prints, they can do so here.

A CD of the photos is going to the choir committee, for them to use them.

Prize Announced!

Lilith has spoken, and I will be getting her a print of Alternative Valentine's Card made up.

Bloggy Giveaway Winner

I am so pleased to announce that Lilith Silvermane is the winner of my bloggy giveaway.

I was so overwhelmed that 70 people entered, it made me happy :)

If I don't hear from Lilith within 7 days I may have to re-draw the winner, but hopefully she'll get back to me, and I'll post here about which photo she chooses.

This is the email I have sent to Lilith the winner:

Hi Lilith,

Thanks so much for entering my competition for the Bloggy Giveaways, at philippaphotography.blogspot.com.

You've won a 10" x 8" print of any of my photographs on my blog. In the comments, you mentioned you liked the Alternative Valentine's Card photo. Is this the one you'd like a print of?

Please let me know as soon as you can, which image you would like a print of, and your postal address.

I really hope this has made your day!

love Pippa x

====
hippieness.co.uk

Bloggy Giveaway

I am taking part in my first ever bloggy giveaway carnival!

One lucky reader of this blog will win an 8x10" photographic print, and you can choose which print you want from this blog - any one photograph of my own (i.e. not someone else's image I have used here**) will be professionally printed and sent to you, wherever in the world you are, if you win.

All you have to do, to be in with a chance of winning, is to leave a comment on this post, saying you'd like to be entered. Feel free to have a look round this blog to see my photography - you will see there is a wide variety of photographic and digital art here, so you should be able to find things you like if you win!

You can see my older posts via the links under 'Blog Archive' further down this page.



I will randomly choose a winner after the 1st February, and let you know. Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you from your comment.

**The vast majority of the photos on this blog are mine, if they are someone else's that will be obvious as they will have been credited.

Tutorial: Bring out Shadows and Highlights in Photoshop

This tutorial is for Photoshop but probably works in a similar way in other programmes.

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After


Before

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1. Open the photograph you want to improve in Photoshop
   
2. Duplicate the background layer
   
3. Filter > Other > High Pass
   
4. Set the radius to 8 pixels
   
5. Click OK
   
6. Set the Layer Mode to Hard Light
   
7. Right click on the top layer and choose 'Merge Down'
   
8. Save as... and you're done.

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After



Before

Wordle.net

Wordle.net's analysis of the words used on this blog.

Sir Trevor McDonald

A recent t-shirt design I did. I'm really pleased with it!

Season's Greetings!

I'm rather pleased with this image I created this afternoon. It started off as a photo of a wall display in a garden centre, then I cloned out the poster, price tag and marks on the wall, increased the contrast using levels and curves, then created a red fill layer and played around with the blending mode and opacity. Finally, I created an outline, using a colour from the red branches.

So, I hope this time of year isn't too stressful and is instead filled with cute red robins and nice lovey world peace stuff.

Success!

I can't believe I've done it! I have completed NaBloPoMo 2008 and posted daily on this photography blog and my other blog throughout November.

The Success! letters above come thanks to the fabulous Spell with Flickr! site.

You can see all November's photography blog posts and all November's incurable hippie's musings and rants blog posts.

Phew!


NaBloPoMo 2008

Rainbow Swirl

In my post, Popular Funk, I showed how I had made a funky abstract rainbow image out of a shot of a bag.

Using the same starting image I also created a fun, dizzying swirl. I like how you can still see the texture of the bag on the outside edges of the image.

Enjoy!

Behind a Wet Umbrella

More from Bradfield

Sewing II

Sewing

In Demand (2)

NowPublic.com wanted to use these photos for their article, Expired Medications Leech Ground Water.

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This time for Should Detox Clinics Have to be Smoke Free, along with this aforementioned smoking one.

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for Study Shows Smokers Try to Quit But Can't

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Get Lost Magazine, an indie travel publication in Australia, also wanted to use Smoking A Roll-Up for a feature on tobacco smoking being banned in public places in the Netherlands when cannabis smoking will still be allowed!

In Demand (1 - more tomorrow)

This photo of my hand holding a cigarette was used by Bill A. in this image of his own, and I also recognise my fags in this one!

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Dr Goulu used this photo for a post in French about algorithms, who'd have thought it?!

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NowPublic.com requested the use of these two cow photos in Wind of Change on Farms as Cows Help to Save the Earth.

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NowPublic.com also wanted the photo above for their article, Asthma Inhalers May Up Heart Death Risk.

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NowPublic.com also wanted these church photos for their article Church Attendance Boosts Students GPAs.