Goleta DeskTop Publishing User Group
Meeting Information

May 2 -- Cool Tools

Although image-manipulation programs like PhotoShop have many features, sometimes it is preferable to use other tools as well. Three major things that need to be done to many pictures are
 • Adjust brightness and contrast
 • Correct color casts
 • Brighten shadow detail, such as a face partially shaded by a hat

All these tasks can be done manually with the tools that exist within the photo-manipulation program, but there are some add-ons that make the task easier. We'll play with several of them at the meeting and discover their strengths and weaknesses.

The tools I'll be bringing include
 • iCorrect by Pictographics (www.picto.com)
 • ROC by Applied Science Fiction (www.asf.com)
 • SHO by Applied Science Fiction (www.asf.com)

iCorrect's focus is on getting the brightness and contrast right, as well as certain colors, such as sky and skin tones, correct.

ROC has a different approach and a slightly different purpose: it attempts to recover the original colors of the scene. To that end it addresses the issues of fading (as in old prints or slides) and color casts due to lighting (fluorescent or flash).

SHO's purpose in life is to make shadow detail visible and brighten the picture without blowing out the highlights.

As you can see, these tools tend to be complementary instead of directly competitive. Depending on the image it is not at all uncommon to use at least two of them, if not all three.

Please send email to gdtpug@troutcom.com with suggestions for topics you are interested in seeing covered. Or even better, volunteer to give a presentation!

The Goleta DeskTop Publishing Users Group is a SIG (Special Interest Group) of the Santa Barbara PC Users Group. We are not platform specific: some members have PCs, some have Macs, some have both. Linux and other systems are sprinkled in as well for good measure. We focus on the issues of publishing in all forms, be it on paper, web, CD-ROM, or some other medium.