How-To Tuesday: Colour Calibration

This month’s How-To Tuesday is on Calibrating your computer monitor. First things first, if you are running on a newer Mac System, you won’t need this as it more or less does it itself.
I am going to show you two ways that I am able to colour calibrate my monitor, however, both methods requiring either specific software or hardware.
The first way is through Adobe Photoshop. If you have Photoshop CS3 or older then there will be a program called Adobe Gamma that does a subjective colour calibration for you. Adobe Gamma is a little hidden in CS3 so here is a YouTube video that really nicely shows you how to find and use the program:

Using Adobe Gamma in CS3

The other way I calibrate my monitor is through a piece of hardware called Spyder3Pro. Essentially you place this device on your monitor and run the program. It senses the lighting in the room and by displaying certain colours on your monitor can set a calibration to get the truest colours possible. It is made by Datacolor and is a little on the expensive side, mind you it is still cheaper than Photoshop.
You may be asking yourself, why does colour calibration even matter? Well, if you are into photo editing or photo manipulation, then you will want to ensure that the colours you are seeing on your monitor will be what others see and more importantly what will come out of the printer once you want a hardcopy – colour calibration can do this for you. I have found that my calibrating my monitor, I have to do a lot less work when I want to print.

Hot To Tuesday: Shoot Glass

No, no not that kind of shooting – this month’s How-To Tuesday is all about photographing glass.

Glass can be a little complicated when photographing because it takes on the colour of your background. The easiest way to deal with this is to place reflector of the opposite colour on either side of your object.

For example, if you are shooting on a white background, place black reflectors (or pieces of paper) just outside of your frame. This will make the edges distinguishable from the actual background.

The above photo has a reflector on the left side of the image and above it as well to reduce glare from the soft boxes that are lighting the subject. Another trick that helps is to put something in the glass itself (e.g. water).

The above photo has coloured water in the glasses and black cards on either side of the image.

How-To Tuesday: Make An Elf Ranger Costume

Last year I blogged about Dave’s Kisame Costume and it seems to be a rather popular post, though this may just be because it is based on a character from a fairly popular anime series. Either way, Halloween is coming up and being a big fan of the holiday I decided that I would do another Costume How-To.

My costume this year is more-or-less the same as last year, an Elf Ranger. I created the cape in a similar fashion to Dave’s Kisame cape by using the Simplicity pattern 5840. I made it using a heavy green material. I purchased a gold tassle for the hood and a wooden button to hold it shut (the loop was made with gold cording). I sewed gold cording around all the edges (around the cuffs, bottom edge, front opening and around the hood) and gold ribbon around the chest for added detail.

I got elf ears from a costume shop here in Ottawa, Malabar, and after gluing them on I put cover-up/concealer over them and my ears to blend the two together a bit better. (the trick to the ears is not where to buy them or how to get them on, but rather getting them off at the end of the night. It was a true ordeal last year that was incredibly uncomfortable, but apparently not too bad as I am wearing them again this year.) I

wore black yoga pants and a black shirt. I would have liked some sort of dark brown vest with a slot for a knife, but couldn’t find anything and ran out of time to make it myself.
For a bow, I actually used Dave’s bow but brought no arrows to the party as it is an actual weapon and that mixed with alcohol could have resulted in some very bad things.
I will be wearing the same costume this year but with the addition of

fantastic brown boots I purchased from Town Show at a discounted price recently. I may even get around to finding/making the vest I wanted last year.
Perhaps this year I will actually get around to taking some photos of me in my costume…but I wouldn’t place any bets on that.

How to Tuesday: Switch from French to English - Part II

A little while back I showed you how to switch back to English when you computer automatically changes your keyboard to French. Now I will show you how to stop your computer from doing this completely. As an added bonus, it is super quick and easy to do.

All you have to do is right-click that same keyboard icon down by your clock and then ensure that Auto Adjust is not checked. Tada – you are done.

But don’t worry, you will still be able to manually switch between language options – this just stops your computer from changing randomly on its own.

How-To Tuesday: Write in Windows Live Writer

With my review of the program now written, I decided to show you just how easy it can be to write a post in Windows Live Writer.

First things first, open the pro gram and select the blog you wish to work in.

Begin writing the post. You will need to know a couple things to be able to format it the way you want. To get a new line you have to hit Enter while holding the Shift key (a little annoying but you get used to it pretty quickly). The reason for this is because just hitting enter gives you a break – this will separate text from an image so that it is all one giant link.
When you get to a point where you want an image in it, simply find it on the computer and drag it into the program (you can also click insert on the right hand side and follow the prompts, but dragging it is easier and faster in my opinion).

Place the image where you want it in the post and then select your style, etc on the right hand side (must have the image selected for the options to appear). I usually choose Text Wrapping of Centered, Borders of Inherit from Blog in the Picture tab and then under the Advanced tab, Medium for my Photography blog and Small for this blog. It is under the Advanced tab that you can edit your image as well, if you haven't done so already.

Once you have your images in the post and your writing is done, you can set up your tags. Clicking on the Set Categories bar at the bottom will bring up a list of your existing tags. Either scroll through the list and select the ones you want, or start typing and then hit enter as the list shortens based on your entry. Once you are done, click out of the list and your tags will be ready to go. If you want a new tag, simply write it in the box and click add.

Once you are done, you can either save the post as a draft or publish it directly to your blog using the buttons on the top left hand side, right under the normal file, edit, view, etc options. To schedule the post to publish later, select the date and time in the bottom right hand corner and then publish it.
You can also insert videos, albums and tables into posts. Either click the items in the right hand side, or drag the item (for the case of videos) into the post itself. For albums, you can once again use the list on the right hand side, or drag multiple photos at once into the post. Live Writer will prompt you asking if you want to insert them as individual photos or as an album.
It really is just that easy. Hope that helped.

How to Tuesday: Open JPEG as Raw in Photoshop CS3

Since I started taking RAW files with my camera I have learned just how powerful the Photoshop RAW dialog box is. It is a wonderful tool for getting your photos to look really great – and to fix up any little mistakes you might have made while taking the photo originally.
My point and shoot camera that goes pretty much everywhere with me,  however, only takes JPEGs and I am therefore not able to make the changes I feel are necessary. The changes are even more necessary considering the almost complete lack of control I have on most of the settings.
Recently I discovered a way to open JPEGs in Photoshop’s RAW box and feel I should share that here with you.
First things first, open Photoshop. Then once that is done, go to File and then Open As. 

Then select Camera Raw in the drop down box labelled Open As.Now hit Open and you are ready to edit it as you would a regular RAW image.

How-To Tuesday: Make a Kisame Costume

Every Halloween Dave and I make him a rather intensive costume. This past year the costume we made for him was Kisame from Naruto. The character is generally a man-shark with blue skin and pointy teeth. He has a large sword called sharkskin and wears blue clothing under an Akatsuki (a black cloak with red lining and red clouds on it - part of the coalition he is in) cloak. Below is an image from Google (as usual) of the animated character.Despite my disdane for sharks, I agreed to make Dave this costume - from scratch. The focus of the How-To Tuesday will be How to Make a Kisame Costume. Below is an image from the anime series to let you know what the costume is supposed to look like.First, the sword. Dave made this from scratch using styrofoam (the pink board kind). He shape it and then put a rake handle up it with about 2 feet sticking out for the sword hilt and handle. He then cut metal triangle (shark scales) out from a dollar store serving tray, fixed them to the end and spray painted them light blue. Bubble wrap was then wrapped around the non-pointy parts of the sword to make it the right thickness to let people think there were scales throughout the entire sword. He wrapped a white bedsheet around the bubble wrap, glueing it in place. This is not the final wrapping of the sword, merely a way to ensure no pink foam shows through the final product. Next came the tedious task of cutting/ripping strips from the remaining white bedsheet and wrapping and glueing them onto the sword - leaving the pointy bits uncovered. A few remnant pieces were placed on the edge of the pointy bits so it looked like they just ripped through. Wrap the handle with faux suede and place a skull on the end of the handle and you are good to do.

Second, the Akatsuki cloak.

This one was my doing and I therefore have a better understanding of how it was done. First, I used Simplicity Pattern 5840 as a starting point. I cut out all the pieces for Robe B in both black and red broadcloth - except for the hood. I then sewed all the matching red and black pieces together. Following the pattern directions I then sewed the now two coloured pieces together using the black as the 'right side' (outside) and the red as the 'wrong side' (inside/lining). Once this was done, I cleaned it up by trimming down the seams and hemming it to Dave's height and arm length.

Now, that hood I had you not make. Essentially Dave and I took the hood pattern that came with the package and made it two separate rectangles instead of the one pointy quadilateral. This essentially makes a very high collar. Same as before, cut the rectangle shapes in both red and black but this time do not sew them together completely - Leave the tops open. Sew the two rectangles together and then to the neck of the robe according to the pattern instructions, including the pleats.
Next add the red trim detail to the front of the cloak by cut two long strips of red fabric about 2 inches wide and the length of the cloak from the top of the collar to the bottom. Fold these in half and sew them to secure the straight edge. Now sew them to the openings of the cloak using black thread so that they stick out about half an inch.
To get the hood to stand up you will need to cut some boxboard to shape (and size) and then slip them inside the top opening. Fold the black fabric down over the boxboard and the red down to match (this leaves a nice finished edge on the top) and run it through the sewing machine - make sure not to sew the boxboard but rather just the fabric itself.

Cut out four red cloud shapes from felt. Take white broadcloth and cut strips, fold them in half. Line the clouds with these either by placing them behind the clouds and sewing with red thread or by folding them over the cloud edges and sewing with white thread. Attach these to the cloak.
After you put on some velcro to the cloak you will have an Akatsuki cloak.

Third, the head piece and shoes.
Dave made the shoes by taking a very old pair of runners, cutting out the toes until they showed all but his pinky toe, and then sewing blue broadcloth around the shoes. He then took a white sock and cut it to fit under the shoe and up his shin.The head peice was made by taking a properly shaped winter headband and covering it in the same blue broadcloth making sure to sew it while the headband was stretched (if you don't, it won't fit over your head anymore). Dave then took a dollar store serving tray and etched in the markings for the head plate. Cut it out and then glued it onto the headband.

Fourth, the sash
The sash could have been made differently than it was by taking the faux suede fabric we bought and fashioning the sash from scratch. Instead, since we didn't think we would be able to find the right fabric, we bought a black sash and covered it in the faux suede fabric.

Fifth, the hair and makeup
Dave bought a blue wig and him and our friend Yan spray painted it with blue paint while hanging it upside down. This makes the hair stand on end. Dave then affixed it to the inside of the headband to enable the two to be put on easily - more like a tight hat then a headband.
The makeup was bought at Malabar hear in Ottawa. We applied it to Dave's face, feet and at the last minute, hands. We used black eyeliner for the gills and eye-wells (see image for headband for makeup and hair).This is the finished product. I think it came out really well. Dave's skill with the sword (and shoes) and mine on the clothing came together to make a really awesome (yet nerdy) costume.

How-To Tuesday: Make a Basic Collage in Photoshop

Chris asks me How to Make a Collage in Photoshop on a semi-regular basis, and though she wrote it down last time I told her, which was a while ago now, I figured I would post it here for anyone else who might be interested.
Step 1. Decide if you want a basic coloured background (1a) or a picture as your background (1b).
1a. Coloured Background
If you want a coloured background you can do one two things (i and ii):
i. After opening Photoshop, create a new image. Input the dimensions you want the final collage to be (the size of one of your photos might be a good place to start) and select the background colour desired, see below. Hit OK. You now have a blank canvas to start with. Proceed to Step 2.

ii. Another way to do this is to open any image in Photoshop. Then hit CTRL and the A key to select everything in the image. With the selection tool active (this may be the rectangular, elliptical, single row or single column marquee tool), right click the image and select Layer Via Cut, see below. You now have Layer 1 as the original photo and the background layer as a blank colour, see below (whatever your background colour was at the time). Proceed to Step 2.1b. If you would rather have an image as your background, open the image in Photoshop and then proceed to Step 2.

If you decided to use Either Step 1.a.ii or Steb 1.b then save your collage file with a new filename now as to not alter the original file used. You will likely have to save it as a Photoshop file (see end of post for description and helpful images).

Step 2. Start placing your collage images.
Open the image you want to place into your collage, make sure to keep your collage file open. Either hit CTRL and the A key to select the entire image, or using the selection tool, select only the part of the image you want in your collage. Hit CTRL and the C key to copy the selection then go back the collage file and hit CTRL and the V key to paste the image into the file. It will come in as a new layer, see below. You can move each layer around by selecting it (the currently selected layer is highlighted blue - layer 1 is selected above) and using the Move Tool, see below. You can resize the image by transforming hit, hitting CTRL and the T key will allow you to do this. Once you have resized it how you would like it, press Enter to accept the transformation. Proceed to Step 3.

Step 3. Adding the remaining images.
Repeat Step 2 with each image you want to use in your collage. Make sure to exit each photo after you are done copying them into your collage to keep your computer running efficiently. Also, remember not to save any changes made to the photos that might have been made in the process. Proceed to Step 4.

Step 4. Saving the collage.
When you save the image you get the option of what file you would like to save it as. If you intend on continuing work on the collage, you should save it first as a Photoshop file, see below. This will save all the layers and any other techniques you have used so that you can alter them later on.Once you want the image to be used in other programs, save it as a JPEG image, see below.

General Notes
Save your collage file on a regular basis to ensure you don't lose it at any time during the process.

How-To Tuesday: Switch from French to English

I get asked how to do this at least once a week by either co-workers or a friend. Every once in a while, Windows will switch from using the English keyboard to using the French one. You will not have asked it to, nor will you have any need of it but Windows has decided to switch the language randomly. It could even happen halfway through a sentence. The ? turns into É and the > turns into . - that's right, you now have two ways to make a period using the exact same key!
So, how do you fix this you ask? How do you turn the language back to English from French?
Right beside your clock are tons of little icons (they are different for most computers, but they are always there in some capacity). Next to these there should be a little keyboard symbol.When you click on the keyboard icon you will be given your language options. For Canadians, the options will be the same as mine, though they may be different in other countries - I am not sure. Either way, since French has kicked in, Canadian French will have a check mark beside it. To correct it, select US and all will be fixed.Now if you are like me, you will want a Canadian English so that colour is spelt correctly, etc. You might think that Canadian Multilingual Standard would do that, but you would be wrong. For all intensive purposes, Canadian Multilingual Standard is the same as Canadian French. I don't know why they are both there - another wonderful Windows feature I suppose.
Of course, this technique also works to switch to French. I hope this has helped some people - I know it frustrates a great number of people in my office on a regular basis. Now, if I could only figure out why it randomly switches then I would be a true office hero!

How-To Tuesdays

Another new feature I have been thinking about for a while - this one also a monthly one. How-To Tuesdays! There are quite a few things I do that I would enjoy sharing with my readers. This idea started with How to Wrap a Baby Gift, which I posted last month. I thought of starting it then but figured I would not be able to think of enough things. I have already written a few and therefore figure it could work. Topics will likely range from sewing projects and gifting ideas to random computer functions - perhaps even some Photoshop techniques. I will try to document them with photographs and/or screen captures as much as possible as I find this helps me when learning new things.

How to Wrap a Baby Gift

At the end of the month my childhood best friend Madison will be having her first child, a little baby boy. She had two baby showers, neither of which I could attend so instead, I mailed their present to them via Canada Post. But first, I had to wrap the adorable little clothes. My mom and I have a tradition when it comes to wrapping baby gifts and I have decided to share it.
Step 1: Purchase adorable little clothing, toys and/or baby necessities AND a baby's receiving blanket and diaper pins.
Step 2: Fold the clothing and arrange items in the middle of the receiving blanket (you may have to fold the blanket to make it a more manageable size). Step 3: Fold in corners of the blanket and secure with diaper pins.
Step 4: Finish folding in all the corners of the blanket and securing with pins until the package is all wrapped up!This is easier to do with items in boxes or individual items, rather than groups of items like here. I think this is a really cute way to present baby gifts - it also gives the mother another blanket which, from what I understand, you can never have enough of. It also happens to be a green alternative to wrapping paper, though my mom and I have been doing this for as long as I can remember, which happens to be before green was cool.