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Posted on 30/11/07 12:21:38 PM |
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latchfordbob
* Posts: 12 Reply  |
Stock photos
Hi All This is not really a Photoshop question but can anyone help me with this one. I am currently writing a website to sell some of my paintings on-line and I am after pictures of various household objects so I can mock up a picture of say a living room (sofa, lamp, door, people) so I can dynamically place my picture above the sofa. The same for a dining room, bedroom, office etc. Does anyone know where I can obtain these photos, ideally royalty free as I am on a tight budget. This is more of a hobby than a business venture. many thanks |
Posted on 30/11/07 3:55:30 PM |
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Progenic
** Posts: 104 Reply  |
Re: Stock photos
Hi there to be honest speaking more as a photographer than a photoshopper its really very easy to take simple shots of what you descibe. As long as you have a modest camera, things like living and dining rooms are real day one type shots, i really wouldnt entertain paying for shots like that (personally i wouldnt pay for a shot ever) when its not rocket science as they say. Other than that there are a few stock photo sites out there, alot of them want you to buy the shots, although i beleive there are a few freebie sites around with very average shots for free. istockphoto sells mediocre images for a couple of quid (the actual photographer gets hardly anything from it btw) |
Posted on 30/11/07 4:01:33 PM |
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latchfordbob
* Posts: 12 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
Thanks for that I have thought about photographing (is that a real word  ) them myself but my problem is that my house is to small and I can't zoom out enough to get everything in the shot although I suppose I could take a series of photos and paste it together. |
Posted on 30/11/07 5:19:42 PM |
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tank172
ThreeDee Thriller Posts: 692 Reply  |
Re: Stock photos
Autostitch is a great (free) program for blending multiple shots together; although, it is said the Photomerge function in Photoshop CS3 has been through a bit of an overhaul producing more effective panoramic blending. I started interior photography with a cheap P&S, or P.O.S. I ended up frustrated with the same problem you describe, not enough field in the frame. So, instead of investing thousands in an SLR and wide lenses at the time, I resorted to Autostitch to produce the same effect. (More time consuming, easier on the wallet). I now have the SLR with a couple lenses, but could not have gotten there without those programs. You can download Autostitch here: http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html Here's one of my first shots with that P&S and the help of Autostitch.  |
Posted on 30/11/07 6:07:51 PM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply  |
Re: Stock photos
Photoshops Stitch program is magic. so easy to use that it really does away with the need for a wide angle lens. Here is a copy of 2 images I put together using Photoshop, I had not even thought of joining them when I took them. They were taken hand held, and it was only when I edited them I decided to put them together.  |
Posted on 30/11/07 6:09:34 PM |
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tank172
ThreeDee Thriller Posts: 692 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
Beautiful shot, Vibeke! |
Posted on 01/12/07 5:44:50 PM |
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Progenic
** Posts: 104 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
Bob as described autostitch is a good solution to being on the front of the zoom without enough field of view in the frame. You could always go to other houses (start with maybe family, friends ect who might have an odd bigger room or two). Also i find useful sometimes is ofcourse public buildings, pubs, clubs, libraries, stately homes anywhere really that might have a few really tasty 'rooms' to shoot. Of course you might need to poilitly ask if its ok to take the odd snap, and usually the answer is yes if your nice about it. Not only that you will find your photography skills develope as you go along, and you'll find yourself composing shots to suit your photoshop needs. best of luck |
Posted on 01/12/07 5:45:51 PM |
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Progenic
** Posts: 104 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
vibeke like the still water reflections, you must have a steady hand shooting hand held at night  |
Posted on 01/12/07 6:27:19 PM |
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katew
Virtual Virtuoso Posts: 681 Reply  |
Re: Stock photos
Tank, thanks for the recommendation. I've just downloaded Autostitch, and it's brilliant! |
Posted on 02/12/07 02:54:49 AM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
Surprised myself too, they were taken at respectivly 1/13sec and 1/15sec, f3.5, ISO1600. Didn't know I was could keep it that still. Here is a small part of the photo (unphotoshoped)  |
Posted on 02/12/07 5:57:10 PM |
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tank172
ThreeDee Thriller Posts: 692 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
Did you run a pass through Noise Ninja or a different program? |
Posted on 02/12/07 8:17:51 PM |
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Progenic
** Posts: 104 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
tank...noise ninja ? is that a PS plugin ? vibeke, yeah hand held in low light can be tricky indeed. I find high iso's give a little too much grain (noise) but photoshop can deal with most of that i know. Heres one i shot a few weeks ago at night (bonfire night if you didnt guess ), iso 80 , 1.5 sec, f2.8 zoomed at 200mm, though i was resting on my sons shoulders which helped.
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Posted on 02/12/07 11:18:35 PM |
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tank172
ThreeDee Thriller Posts: 692 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
Projenic, Noise Ninja is both a Photoshop Plugin as well as a Stand Alone program for reducing noise & grain in an image. http://www.picturecode.com/ There's no better way to illustrate than to show by an example. Hope you don't mind me posting your image. I ran one pass of Noise Ninja on full automatic settings. Noise Ninja sometimes slightly softens an image, so I like to run the High Pass filter on a duplicate layer and set to Hard Light or Soft Light (adjust opacity as needed). I then have the Noise Ninja layer below the High Pass layer. (This also works wonders on any soft or slightly out of focus images) 
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Posted on 03/12/07 03:56:33 AM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
I usually use Neat Image for reducing Noise, but didn't use it on these photos. |
Posted on 03/12/07 6:30:04 PM |
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Progenic
** Posts: 104 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
tank thanks i'll have to have a look at that sometime. The original still from above has no noise in it at all, i created the noise myself by dodging the smoke in the fire, still the programme got rid of it all the same. Theres so many different plugins available you lose track whats what. So you dont rate photoshops own capabilities for jobs such as noise removal then i take it ? |
Posted on 04/12/07 02:53:46 AM |
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tank172
ThreeDee Thriller Posts: 692 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
I suppose it seems to be the case as I've posted links to multiple programs in a single thread. At the time I started providing wide angle photographs to Real Estate agents, I was having trouble with Photoshop CS2's Photomerge feature. It proved very fiddley with the way I was composing the images. Photoshop also hogged more resources than the computer could handle in order to merge the shots. (Not to mention Photoshop's occasional 'hissy fit' when it caugh's up a rediculous looking collage rather than a nicely blended wide-angle shot) Autostitch saved me the headache in that regard and it was also very efficient. For the past 8 months or so, I've also been providing low-altitude Aerial Photography from a helicopter. Due to the flight vibrations, I had to capture the shots at a reasonably high iso. Before I purchased Noise Ninja, I was reducing the noise in each image through a multitude of functions and layer masks. Now, I'll run Noise Ninja and the High-Pass filter for export to print...saving alot of tedious work. While all this could be achieved in Photoshop alone, I'm saving myself a tremendous amount of time in my overall workflow by using the additional software. Bear in mind there could be several hundred shots to process from a full day of flight or photographing multiple real estate properties. My personal experiences and success with these programs are why I recommend them. They're fast, and easy. 
Cheers, --Chris |
Posted on 04/12/07 5:18:37 PM |
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Progenic
** Posts: 104 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
Hi Chris thanks for the response, and to be honest your answer is what i expected although i have purchased quite a few books on photoshop CS3 (martin evenings being about the most detailed) it would seem although a hugely powerful tool, sadly on some basic tasks it falls down a bit. Maybe steve or someone else might jump in and explain a 2 click solution to total noise removal but i suspect not. Perhaps in CS4 adobe might acheive this as clearly its readily available elsewhere, and probably quite easy to achieve. I must admit generally in most of my photography noise isnt an issue, although there is always situations where high iso's / low light ect that may produce a little. i will give one of the programmes a go if i ever need a good noise removal tool. Johnny |
Posted on 05/12/07 4:13:46 PM |
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cy98
** Posts: 115 Reply  |
Re: Stock photos
I am new to this digital photography stuff, but it appears from my reading of the camera manuals, that taking a "noise reduction" and "dust off" photo will make removing noise and dust much easier. To be honest I have not tried that yet. Is that a workable option? |
Posted on 05/12/07 5:58:48 PM |
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Pierre
Constructional Confabulator Posts: 637 Reply  |
Re: Stock photos
Actually there is fairly simple noise reduction tool tha is part of CS3. It is in the Adobe Camera RAW filter that comes within CS3. By default this filter is made to open RAW files from you digital camera, not JPEGs. JPEGs can be work in ACR too, but not as much as RAW files (that's the nature of RAW vs JPEGs, but that's a different topic). To have JPEGs open in ACR, Set your preferences in CS3 (Ctrl+K); in the "File handling" topic, check the box next to "Prefer Adobe Camera Raw for Jpegs". CLick OK and reopen your JPEG file. It will open now in ACR; go to the "Detail" tab (3rd one from the left) and you can adjust your sharpness and noise here. Usually you adjust you noise, at the end, when you're done with you modifications, but this is an interesting work around. Unchevk the choice in your Preferences if you don't watn ACR to open your JPEGs all the time. Cheers! _________________ |
Posted on 05/12/07 7:06:47 PM |
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Progenic
** Posts: 104 Reply |
Re: Stock photos
Pierre i always shoot in .RAW format as it gives alot more control over the image and better all round quality, and i always start with adobe camera raw, i think its a great little tool (even for cloning and spot repairs too) |