Archive for August 2003

Lynda writes about the web-safe color dilemma. Is it time to move forward?

Here’s a quick story about red eye. We flew to Vegas on a late night flight and I committed a malaprop in saying, “We caught the shut eye out of Vegas.” I guess that can be true, too, since we all want shut eye instead of flying the red eye.

I’ve been taking bad photos lately. They’re either blurry or have red eye. I have digital photos of the kids that are adorable except for the red eye. You can buy a plug-in to correct it, but I wanted to do it on my own. OK, yeah, I am cheap. It worked. This is exactly how to do it in Photoshop 7 though technique works in Photoshop 4+, Photoshop LE, and Photoshop Elements:

1. Open the image.
2. Right-click on the image’s title (blue box up top) and select Duplicate.
3. Close the original image.
4. Click Windows > Documents > New Window. This opens another copy, but whatever you do to the copy will happen to the image. In other words, it’s the same document with two views.
5. Zoom on one window to 100%.
6. Zoom on the other window as close a possible to get a close view of the eyes.
7. Have both windows in full view. Resize as needed to accomplish this.
8. Create a new layer (doesn’t matter which window).
9. Use the eye dropper to pick a color from the iris of the eye, which is usually a gray or black tint with eye color. I couldn’t do this since the iris was completely red, so I opened another photo with the same person and used the eye dropper on that photo.
10. Switch to the brush tool and select a soft-edged brush.
11. Resize the pixel as needed.
12. With the layer selected, right-click on the layer > Blending Options > Blend Mode > Color.
13. In the Layers box, click Opacity and set it low around 30%. Experiment.
14. Paint over the red part of the eye on the new layer.
15. When satisfied with the results, merge down and save or File > Save for Web > Save as a JPG file.

Other things to try in the process:

After painting the iris, click Filters > Blur > Gaussian and try a 1 pixel blur to soften the edges. With the layer selected, right-click on the layer > Blending Options > Blend Mode > Saturation. This takes the red out, but might leave the eyes too gray and hollow.

If so, duplicate the saturation layer by dragging the layer to the New Layer icon. Right-click on the new (copied) layer > Blending Options > Blend Mode > Hue. This should put color back while preserving highlights. If the color is too strong, lower the opacity of the Hue layer.

Sources:
http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshop/ht/apsredeye.htm
http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/2f10a.htm
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000q4o
http://faculty.jmc.ksu.edu/omalley/www/mc635/helpfolder/redeye.html
http://www.scrapjazz.com/resources/printer_121.shtml

The Web Standards Org has been talking about standards for mobile devices and Holly Marie and Anitra have provided good resources for those interested in the topic:

• Little Springs – mobile web design resources including a sample mobile style guide
• Openwave Studio Style Guides
• WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) Forum (consolidated into the Open Mobile Alliance)
• Wireless Developer page from Sun
• Microsoft Windows Mobile
• MacEdition Guide to CSS2 Support in PDA/Handheld Browsers
• Handheld media browser conformance
• @import handheld
• <style media=”handheld”>
• WAP problems
• Opera’s Making Small Devices Look Great

Ben sent me an email linking to a Making Light entry. Never thought about the d*mmit vs. d*mnit issue as I’ve always used d*mmit. This all started with a blog that’s all about copyediting. I get emails from folks who catch a grammar blip on my Web site because of my gotchas. I’ve admitted it (third paragraph) since the beginning, I make mistakes.

I didn’t want to go off and pronounce who’s right and who’s wrong. Instead, I’ll let you take a look at the evidence and let you be the judge. Enjoy the laugh, I did.

The Conversatron offers its Dilbert point of view. m-w.com doesn’t have either word. Dictionary.com has the double-m one. Look what happens when you enter d*mnit in Google. What does it suggest? Arguments at MutedFaith and disArray.

Time to shell out more bucks if you’re one of those who keeps up with every upgrade of Macromedia’s Flash.

Oh, and Macromedia Flash Player 7 is also coming in September.

Yesterday, Crystal and Nick Finck were united in marriage. Heartiest congratulations to the lovely couple. I wish them a long and happy marriage.

I started off my Friday with this and it put a smile on my face. Experience Mr. Otto’s Olympics, a mini-Flash cartoon.

From an email: “In New York City, the blackout had a significant effect on the public library.

None of the Internet terminals or other computers in the New York Library system were functioning, but the novels and non-fiction books somehow remained operational, according to patrons on the scene.

Older reference librarians were able to switch to print sources in order to maintain services, preventing any disruption. Seekers of pornography crowded the reference desks asking for help and were referred to a list of bawdy novels and assorted men’s magazines.”

There’s something to be said for books you can touch and feel.

webgraphics is back and with a brand new face. I wish I had Nate’s talent for creating such a nice and clean interface. That’s why I write about Web design instead of do it.

BBC has made its BBC News Styleguide – Online course details” href=”http://www.bbctraining.co.uk/onlineCourse.asp?tID=5487&cat=3″>BBC News Styleguide available for downloading (PDF file). It’s for BBC’s journalists, but it’s a great resource for anyone who wants to write well. Having a style guide especially in a large organization is a lifesaver in ensuring the organization is consistent in representing itself in words.

The last line of the description is funny. &#147…and how to avoid irritating your editor.” Amen. [Reference: PR Opinions]