Comments on: A New Beta Version, and an LAB Post

By: Dan Margulis

Dan Margulis — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 11:58:58 +0000

Bill,
That’s a pretty good line.
I hope that you can catch lightning in a bottle, as we say, during a peaceful, happy, and prosperous New Year.

By: bill bane

bill bane — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 18:40:54 +0000

Dan,
I have many if not most books regarding Photoshop. Comparing your books with them is like comparing lightning with lightning bugs.

I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year.

Bill Bane

PS. My wish is for more of your stuff in whatever medium I can get it.

By: Dan Margulis

Dan Margulis — Sat, 19 Dec 2015 18:56:32 +0000

Bart,

Thanks for the kind comments. We hope that things will run better now that 16.1.1 is out.

With respect to my writing style, more than ten years ago my publisher assured me that I had to lighten up on the Americanisms, because, they assured me, unless I did so, sales outside the United States would be zero. The result was nearly the opposite, as I said in an earlier blog post: my books do better in other countries than they do in my own!

By: Giuliana Abbiati

Giuliana Abbiati — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 17:05:05 +0000

HI Bart van Hofwegen

The bug of the sticky windows has been already submitted to Adobe. This Bug affects only Mac users. I have already found a workaround that will make them working waiting for the bug will be definitively resolved . The problem of the color is due to the new PS CC2015.1 interface and I’m working on it. Very soon there will be an update of the PPW panel.
I will reply on the forum too.

Thank you and kind regards
Giuliana

By: Bart van Hofwegen

Bart van Hofwegen — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 07:43:06 +0000

Dear Dan,

I posted a report about the reinstatement of the bug in 2015.1 on the Photoshop family community, and a Adobe employee answered that he needed a copy of the script/panel and/or a support contact for him to be able to look into it. I must say I had not expected that. I suppose that you might also have contacted Adobe, but nevertheless, it might be a good idea to help this Jeffrey Tranberry with his request. The link to the discussion on the PS forum is below.

http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/cc2015-1-update-reinstates-bug-that-prevents-using-dan-margulis-ppw-panel?utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=new_reply&utm_content=reply_button&replyid=16431018#reply_16431018

I have only recently come to know your work, and after working my way through two of your excellent books have learned more than ever before. I absolutely love your style of writing too. Thanks for that !

By: Dan Margulis

Dan Margulis — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 17:32:49 +0000

René and John,

Thanks for the kind words, we need all the encouragement we can get now that the latest (2015.1) release of Photoshop has broken the panel yet again, reinstating a bug that was found in 2015.0 but corrected in 2015.01. Sigh.

By: John Furnes

John Furnes — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 17:30:19 +0000

Dear Dan,
I must say “this is just perfect”!
I have been so utterly reluctant to go from CS5 to CC as I have seen all the trouble so many have experienced. Now I took the plunge, and everything went just smooth. The installation of the PPW is child’s play, just that.
Thank you for your teaching.

John

By: René

René — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 18:11:25 +0000

Dear Dan and team,

thank you very much for putting so much effort in the panel and that it is supported through all the PS versions. If I encounter something weird in CC2015 I’ll report it.

All the best, René

By: Dan Margulis

Dan Margulis — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 18:13:18 +0000

Jacek,

I do not have enough experience with introducing artificial casts or second light sources (although I am studying the question) to be able to say for sure when is the best time to do it. I would think that if it’s an overall cast it shouldn’t matter much, but that an artificial second light source might be best saved for the end of the process.

I am happy to hear that you are still finding out new things from the book.

By: Jacek Poplawski

Jacek Poplawski — Sun, 01 Nov 2015 18:02:39 +0000

Dan,

thanks a lot for replies!
My additional comments:

1) by cleaning the portrait I mean blemishes removal – I use frequency separation technique with healing brush for that

2) About blur – I found this sentence, and I agree this is not recommendation to blur the faces, just a statement, that blur is sometimes used. But since you are my number one authority in retouching, I was confused.

I was reffering to page 219 in MPCW:
“(…) it is common professional practice in pictures like this to soften the skin by blurring (…)”

3) I think I need to learn more what to expect from MMM action – in which direction colors will move, to control fleshtones. Because sometimes after MMM+CB colors of the face look quite good, and sometimes they are wrong. And initial LAB value of them is similar. So I assume it depends on what other colors are included in selection. BTW I found that adding inverted A channel as mask of CB often helps.

4) I would try to retype my question. I know you don’t like photos with unrealistic colors (I remember blue swan example), but there is a trend in fashion photography to introduce artificial casts, for instance face is almost white, hair become blue, etc. My question is: should I start with correct colors (neutral is neutral, fleshtone is red), execute MMM, then add special effects as last step, or should I set unrealistic colors first, then execute MMM? In Lab Color on page 113 there is artifical cast on Lincoln Memorial, it was introduced before MMM.

PS. I am reading both books again and again and I am still finding new things