Rule Britannia!

[Splitpin]

QUOTE (IslandBoy77 @ Aug 26 2010, 04:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey Marty - those are some nice looking screens. I had a question that I wanted to ask, but don't want to offer any offense, so please interpret that way - ok? I notice that there seem to be defined colour boundaries on some of the shots (not in these ones, but the ones on the Strikemaster in the other thread), in that there are not smooth transitions in a number of places. Also, on the Concorde shot, there is a pattern in the clouds that looks odd. Are these just "artifacts" from the screen-grab software you are using, or do your graphics actually look like that on-screen? I'm interested for 2 reasons: 1) I used to work as the production manager for an advertising agency for 9 years, so I notice "irregularities" in colours and images in general, and I'm being nosy about it and 2) I am thinking about screen shots myself, and wonder if this is a common phenomenon or if it can be screen / system-specific or just what the story is.

Thanks mate!

Good questions ....ok....its all to do with grapics card i think, only 512mb and i really push my poor old system to the limit....i will have to do some more "tweaking"
That strange patch work in the clouds only appears sometimes......the other thing is, i sometimes over sharpen the pics (Im using corel paintshop pro 4 and ,photoshop CS5)and this will make them look odd. Normally im just adjusting offset and gamma....and sometimes take the colour down a bit.
I should post a "raw" image and "cleaned" one so you can see.
If you have a good graphics card you wont have any problems Im sure.

My system is basic XP Home sp3, celeron 2.66, 2gbram,Radeon x1650 512mb......Im happy with 90% of the results....but still learning.
Not sure if that helps or not....and no offence taken at all.

Cheers
Marty

[Adamski]

I'm relatively careful with the sharpen tool. Never over 40-50% and hardly ever over the whole image. I usually lasso the area I want (with the polygon tool). Make sure you have "feathering set to around 5px for any lasso/selection, then you'll get a soft transition on your sharpened area. Apologies if this is a "suck eggs" thing ... even if they came from a "Speckled Hen"

Which reminds me - one of the local pubs in Gloucestershire (where I lived for 20yrs) had two local"real" ales ... labelled "Rotgut" and "Brain Damage" respectively. I think the properties/effects were interchangeable though!

[IslandBoy77]

QUOTE (Splitpin @ Aug 26 2010, 07:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good questions ....ok....its all to do with grapics card i think, only 512mb and i really push my poor old system to the limit....i will have to do some more "tweaking"
That strange patch work in the clouds only appears sometimes......the other thing is, i sometimes over sharpen the pics (Im using corel paintshop pro 4 and ,photoshop CS5)and this will make them look odd. Normally im just adjusting offset and gamma....and sometimes take the colour down a bit.
I should post a "raw" image and "cleaned" one so you can see.
If you have a good graphics card you wont have any problems Im sure.

My system is basic XP Home sp3, celeron 2.66, 2gbram,Radeon x1650 512mb......Im happy with 90% of the results....but still learning.
Not sure if that helps or not....and no offence taken at all.

Cheers
Marty

Thanks for that Marty. My FSX rig is pretty good - I've got it humming along ok (around 12-15fps) @ 1920 x 1080, 32-bit. My PC for FSX is Quad 2.67 (the old 775 socket, not an iCore), 8GB RAM and a Radeon HD 5750 with 1GB DDR5 RAM. I have most of my sliders maxed. I've just downloaded the recommended "Screen Hunter" software which I may have a lash with over the weekend - prob with Creator's excellent Christchurch or Abel Tasman scenery. What screen capture prog are you using? I use Photoshop 7 (have some small skills there) for any editing. I would love to see a "raw" & "cleaned" comparison to see how they look "side by side".
Cheers

[IslandBoy77]

QUOTE (Adamski @ Aug 26 2010, 07:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm relatively careful with the sharpen tool. Never over 40-50% and hardly ever over the whole image. I usually lasso the area I want (with the polygon tool). Make sure you have "feathering set to around 5px for any lasso/selection, then you'll get a soft transition on your sharpened area. Apologies if this is a "suck eggs" thing ... even if they came from a "Speckled Hen"

Thanks for that Adam. I generally use Photoshop 7 (full version - a bit old, but plenty for what I use) - for normal photos, I use an unsharp mask of 120-130% (so a 20-30% on your scale) with a radius of 1-2 and a threshold of 1 - this is a bit different to a sharpen, using boundaries between colours to create more delineation (or some such technical drivel... ). I will sometimes tinker with those, but don't like my stuff to be overly sharpened (using an unsharp mask - makes it sound like it's making it blurry, doesn't it?). What is the reason you don't do the whole image - does the background look too sharpened? On very rare occasions I will create a selection for a specific operation (tool), but I've never done that with an unsharp mask. Having said that, I've never done a screen cap from FSX (do I hear a collective gasp... ), so don't know what a "global" unsharp looks like. Any thoughts or comments?

Don't worry about the "suck eggs" thing - I'm still fairly new here, so you've got no way of knowing whether I'm a complete noob with imagery retouching or not. In fact, better for us all to presume that unless we know a person knows "x", that they don't. Far more useful for us to cover basics and on up into more detailed things when we don't know a person's ability. Different of course for you "regular chaps"...

Thanks again (I looked at yr Speckled Hen website link too - I take it that it's a bit of a connoisseur's brew, then? I don't know about these things as I don't drink alcohol at all).

[Splitpin]

QUOTE (Adamski @ Aug 26 2010, 07:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm relatively careful with the sharpen tool. Never over 40-50% and hardly ever over the whole image. I usually lasso the area I want (with the polygon tool). Make sure you have "feathering set to around 5px for any lasso/selection, then you'll get a soft transition on your sharpened area. Apologies if this is a "suck eggs" thing ... even if they came from a "Speckled Hen"

Which reminds me - one of the local pubs in Gloucestershire (where I lived for 20yrs) had two local"real" ales ... labelled "Rotgut" and "Brain Damage" respectively. I think the properties/effects were interchangeable though!

No eggs to suck here Adam....good tips, thank you very much....i learn something every day.Cheers

I love the sound of those ales.....arl av arf...ta