#which. is clip studio and rebelle pro

[fabulouslygaybean]

when i get home from school i gotta start the frustrating process of registering my new laptop under the licenses of all my art programs and im not excited 😔

[empyreanmirror]

OK I have to know what program or brushes you use?? Whenever I try to paint digitally the edges look too soft if that makes sense??

Hello! i've a fair idea of what style specifically you mean, but let me know if I didnt cover what you're asking about!

I mainly use Clip Studio Paint (Pro 1.0?), on the side I use Rebelle 7 Pro. Rebelle is for the traditional looking stuff I occasionally do, and everything i used for that comes with the programme. If what youre looking at is traditional-mimicking, its that! Other than that, probably CSP youre here for so... for that:

Main brushes? I use a collection of Daub brushes! Pretty much exclusively this brush... like... outside my sketch brush I basically only use this one:

Rectangular, textured. This is how it came Im pretty sure, but just showing you the shape and stuff because the shape i find is key in cutting lines into paintings. I dont remember which daub pack its in, but I can try and figure it out if you want it!

You can see it here in these pieces, it gives that fuzzy frayed end to things. That's genuinely fine? I find it's good for making sure shadows and edges aren't too defined without giving the very artificial digital art feeling airbrushes give, like as an example I dont really notice it in this piece at full size but it's very distracting zoomed in:

I just. am not liking it personally, which... I tell you to let you know I actually kinda struggle to get it to work the job I want it to and ive been looking to replace it. Used it for years, but it has flaws. It's been decent for my recent couple years break from serious art because its loose and gets the job done, but its kinda tough to work with (as any traditional-mimicking brush would be)

I've recently started using it edited a little to get rid of the fuzzy texture, which really just involved taking away the texture in settings. Theres some places on the arms here where i was using the textured version, and... yeah this is roughly rendered bc it was a quick piece but you get the idea:

I find it really helpful because it has an edge - it can paint proper lines - but then can be smoothed

Rough textured vs untextured, and heres.. where you can see it falls apart for what i do. That was solid black I was painting on the grey and i was pushing hard (more so going over and over it), textured version's way better for painting and blending but texture gets in the way, uh, trade off

It's definitely... not actually ideal for my art, I can say that much. i took a detour into using this brush exclusively after losing my last muse, it's definitely.... how do i word this. its not good at laying down colours and blending - Ive been hoping i can even that out in settings so maybe if you grab it you can iron that out but. Thats what I use!

It's probably more helpful to tell you what works? Uh. given that the brush i use I struggle against so

For things getting back to the style I used before - which. unfortunately i dont think i have current (relatively) sfw examples, so time to dig up the literal at the time old style art.... - for example in this:

deviantarts quality is fucking abysmal holy shit. This is kinda... What my personal style is, which is blending stark lines and colours, juxtaposing textures and stuff. To do that? I recommend having two brushes, something like what I just showed you and then something like Clip Studio Paint's default watercolour brushes. Theyre like airbrushes blended with paint brushes

I also then go over things with my pen tool, which is my own brush. I dont know if i can properly share it in any capacity because I cant remember where I got the textures from, but you know, under the table passed along, its here, its meant to mimic how i draw with pens on paper (light and almost invisible if you go light and fast, proper linework if you slow down and purposely draw)

You can see the whole entourage (Daub brush, watercolour brushes, pen brushes, if watercolours were even used) here:

Didnt circle everything that was pen because Im sure you get the idea. Its basically just... that brush to paint, waters if i need to smooth something extra smooth, and then anything that needs contrast and oomf gets added in pen, if your brushes cant provide edges its probably best to mix them up, use your soft brush for blending, a harder painting brush for laying down colours and loose blending.

Something that lays down paints with an edge - I really do recommend a non-round brush head, and something built for painting - and then something to smooth it out.... honestly ideally thatd be the exact same brush, thats a key i used to like with the Daub square brush is that i could paint and blend with it, I think I maybe manipulated the settings too much and took it way too far out of what it was or something because i swear it used to be easier to work with but. whatever the issue is its never been ideal, honestly for a brush id say seek out something that: Is square/rectangular (probably rectangular is best); lays down paint without too much pressure on your wrist and blends smoothly so you're laying paint and blending in the same stroke; puts down colour when you're pressing down over a certain percentage of its pressure limit and then only blends when you're pressing under that percentage. CSP lets you do this. Best brush experiences Ive had ticked all of those boxes

uh. if youre shopping around (buying or getting for free) you dont need to look for the "paints over x blends under y" because in CSP and other programmes (do check) you can add that in yourself, but yeah Id suggest some kind of shaped brush that isnt shy with paint to combat the soft edges!

[silima]

Ik you've answered this/similar questions before but I've looked through some of ur tags and can't find it. I want to buy my sister a drawing tablet but really have no idea which ones are the best. Like I did look some things up, but I thought I'd ask for some people (who like draw on tablets) too.

no worries, for whatever reason my art advice tag is like 90% nonfunctional and it’s like, the only tag of mine that does that ☹️ i will say, i have only owned a couple different tablets (so obviously i’m not gonna be able to tell you if there are better models out there) but i’ve liked all of them!

i think this is the first tablet i ever used? it’s hard for me to be sure, because it was really long ago. basic wacom tablet with a black screen. it takes more effort to pick up the skill of putting your hand on a blank black surface while creating an image on the screen, but something cheap like this is nice if you’re not able to commit to something more expensive and aren’t sure how far you want to take the hobby.

(to be clear, it’s not like this kind of tablet necessarily limits you—ikimaru, who’s been a super popular digital artist for years, makes gorgeous art on a bamboo CTH-460 which is a model you can buy on ebay for $18. it’s just that it takes a little more getting used to.)

also, wacom is the brand i used for a basic tablet, and I didn’t mind mine, but i have heard wacom sometimes is a little sketchy with planned obsolescence type stuff 😵‍💫 like the pen nibs supposedly wear out way quicker than, for example, the huion brand, so you might want to check out what huion’s got. i will say: i used that wacom tablet for 1-6 hrs/day for several years and had no problems, BUT many people on the internet seem to prefer huion over wacom. up to you.

still, i honestly think you can do well with any tablet that has a stylus and pen pressure lol (which is basically all of them). like there are lots of different tablets with lots of different features out there, but the only feature that i found made a real difference to me was touchscreen vs. non-touchscreen.

non-touchscreen tablets are totally usable and usually way less expensive, but the touchscreen is really nice to have if it’s in your budget. it feels closer to traditional art and is easier to pick up.

I personally have never used a touchscreen tablet that was just a drawing tablet—i’ve used a surface pro 4 (a touchscreen computer) and an ipad pro. both were very nice. honestly, I didn’t notice a huge difference in the feeling of drawing on the screens of the surface pro vs the ipad—the biggest thing for me was the art programs. some programs are only compatible with computers and some programs are only compatible with ipads. here’s what I personally noticed:

krita (nice for painting) and ms paint (fun for dicking around in) are both NOT available on ipad, at least as far as i know

rebelle 5 pro (supposedly a very cool program for emulating real painting), which is currently on a huge sale rn (it’s $20, normally costs $150) and is also NOT available on ipad

paint tool sai, as far as i know, is not available on ipad

clip studio paint is available on BOTH ipad and computer, but is more expensive on ipad (it’s a monthly subscription instead of a one-time purchase).

procreate is ONLY compatible with ipad, and is, personally, my favorite art program i’ve ever used. there’s a brush or two from krita that i miss, but for the most part, procreate is solidly better than any other art program i’ve used.

most of the nicest animation programs seem to be incompatible with ipad; the ones that work on ipad are quite basic. this is the only major sticking point for me lol

one thing about ipad that you might’ve read about in your research is this feature that lets you tilt the pencil and draw as if you’re using the “flat” side of it:

this is sometimes cool and sometimes inconvenient, so it kinda balances out to neutral. if you’re torn between ipad and a different touchscreen tablet then don’t decide off this feature lol.

if your sister already has an ipad (or if you’ve got a family one that she has decent access to), it might be a nice thing to just get her a compatible apple pencil, so you can save money on the tablet.

but yeah! those are the models i’ve used and i’ve liked them all. even if you get her a relatively cheap non-touchscreen tablet she can still make really cool art with it and have a lot of fun. good luck!

[ghost-toe]

i don't actually end up posting much art here, aside from fanart, but hey! the last time i actively posted any art to tumblr was when i was about 16. here's what my year in art looked like!

(more talk + an animation-free version that actually preserves the colors below the cut)

i did a lot this year! over the summer, i did a lot more traditional art. i didn't end up showing it here, but i painted a large wall mural in may. in june, i started making small custom dolls. made one for myself, one for my girlfriend, and three for various other members of the artfight mod team during the month of july. i was also knee-deep in hurdy-gurdy building around this time, which left a bit less time for art.

the work i selected for july looks a bit underwhelming, but it was actually a 2-3 minute long AMV i animated for a d&d campaign! i chose one frame of it, because it was too long to get a nicely-looping animation like the other gifs i included.

in august, i moved back into my dorm room and lost access to a lot of the materials i'd been using for traditional work. but i got new software! in august, i bought paintstorm studio, which i loved.

throughout the year, i've been doing animated icons. i actually started in january, but i had other work from that month that i wanted to show. i offer these as commissions, and by the end of the year, i was actually doing far more commission work than original work. the icon i chose to highlight for september was also a gift for my girlfriend, and was the last icon i made before upgrading to better animation software.

in october, i decided that having multiple bulk order commissions and my thesis defense wasn't stressful enough, so i also did an inktober challenge. i also caught rebelle 5 pro when it was on sale for $10, and completed most of inktober in that! this was the second full-month art challenge i've done, and the first time i managed to do one in october.

november was also very commission-heavy, so this is just a small headshot i painted of a friend's d&d character in exchange for a pizza.

i've been busy with commission work again this month, so i don't have anything flashy for december. just another animated icon! i think it shows how the changes in program really helped with animation, though. i had previously been limited to 24 frames max, so i had to go with 8 FPS for all my animations. i couldn't really use clip studio's tweening tools, since they looked really clunky with so few frames. but upgrading removed the frame limit, so i bumped all my animations up to 12 FPS! this meant i could do tweening and get a smoother result overall.

because of the framerate difference, to get this animated version to work, i changed both animations to 10 FPS. neither runs exactly how it's meant to, but it's as close as i could get! also had to change the pacing a bit for loopability, but y'know.

tl;dr i messed with lots of different programs, started running commissions, and have gotten more into animating. fun!

as promised, here's a static version of the image where the colors didn't get screwed up by exporting as a gif:

[loudmound]

1, 6, 25

smilink

1. Art programs you have but don't use

i have a whole host... sketchbook pro, krita, medibang/firealpaca (basically the same program, just for different bit operating systems), rebelle 5 (which i think had a sale when i got it? that or it was free; i can't remember, it's been a bit lol). i usually use clip studio, paint tool sai, mspaint, and samsung notes.

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

i feel like a lot of the formative anime that i was at least aware of but wasn't able to properly watch was a big one, both stylistically and narratively. same goes for video games. both the black rock shooter ova and 2012 anime did things to me as a 9 yr old. also yugioh dm (of which i still need to desperately read the manga).

25.  Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

great question, this has happened to me before, but the problem is is that i cannot remember an instance of who/what it was exactly. :-(

[down-with-the-shigness]

1 and 30?

Hey thanks for sending these!!

1. Art programs you have but don’t use: i recently got Rebelle 5 Pro for waayyy cheap but so far ive been too scared to really try and figure it out 😬 its supposed to be more true to working with traditional media which is GREAT in theory but boy. it is still super intimidating! i also got Flame Painter 4 at the same time for dabi purposes but have yet to run it even once lol. For now its just good ol’ Clip Studio

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated: I dont have much of a portfolio to choose from at this point lmao but i really like the sketch i did of shig gaming (my blog header). somehow the quick, no-thought pieces are some of my favorite ones! Also the oil painting i did of him (a year ago yesterday!) got some good attention, but I just love it so so much im mentioning it too!

[whileiamdying]

Janis Joplin’s inner child

A tender documentary premieres in Venice, and portrays a singer who was ferocious but easily hurt

Asif Kapadia’s Amy Winehouse documentary, “Amy”, premiered at Cannes this year. But the Venice Film Festival has gone one better with “Janis”, which tells the all-too-brief life story of a music legend who is often spoken of as Winehouse’s spiritual forebear, Janis Joplin. Both were confessional singer-songwriters with preternaturally mature, rasping voices. Both were heroin addicts. And both died at the age of 27. “Janis”, which is produced by Alex Gibney and directed by Amy Berg, is a more conventional, less cinematic documentary than “Amy”. But its story of unfulfilled potential is even more poignant.

Berg’s tender film is subtitled “Little Girl Blue”, which seems at first to be a condescending label to apply to an artist who found fame in her 20s: no one would put “little boy” in the title of a Jimi Hendrix documentary. But what Berg conveys so touchingly is that Joplin did remain, in some respects, a little girl. She was ferocious on stage and shrewd in the studio—as we see in footage of her recording “Summertime”—and she indulged in as much sex, drugs and rock’n’roll as anyone else in the Summer of Love. But the woman we’re shown in 1960s television clips, and who is remembered by several former associates, is also guileless, easily hurt and desperate for approval. She isn’t out to change the world. She just wants to find her place in it.

Joplin was born in 1943 in Port Arthur, Texas, a conservative oil town. At school, she was harassed for being pro-integration, and kicked out of the choir because she wouldn’t do as she was told. But, according to her brother and sister, she wasn’t a natural rebel: she simply didn’t have the conventional cheerleader prettiness which she and her peers aspired to. At the University of Texas she was voted “Ugliest Man on Campus”. Fifty years on, a fellow musician is in tears as he recalls just how deeply the insult wounded her.

It would be nice to say that Joplin had the last laugh. After all, when she moved—or fled—from Texas to San Francisco, she was embraced by the Haight-Ashbury hippy community, and her gale-force voice stunned the audience at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. She had a number one album, “Cheap Thrills”, and she made regular chat-show appearances. But in one such appearance she mentions to Dick Cavett (also interviewed in the film) that she’ll be attending a tenth-anniversary high-school reunion. And there it is: footage of her return to Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur. Despite Joplin’s gold records, despite her stratospheric talent, despite her outlaw uniform of boas and bangles and oversized sunglasses, she is hardly the conquering hero. Sullen and subdued, she mutters resentfully that she wasn’t invited to the prom. She is still a little girl.

This girlishness is at its most heartbreaking in the extracts from Joplin’s letters and notebooks, which appear onscreen in her neat cursive handwriting, and are read out by Chan Marshall (aka the singer-songwriter Cat Power). Whereas Jim Morrison of the Doors was so completely estranged from his parents that he told reporters, falsely, that they were dead, Joplin kept writing to the folks back home. Often sounding as if she has just left for college, she assures them, time and again, that she is healthy, that she has met a wonderful man, that the recording sessions for her new album are going better than ever. Her letters are full of hope that her parents will be proud of her, alongside rueful acknowledgments that they probably won’t be. One of her final missives concludes, “Send criticisms to the above address.”

One difference between “Janis” and “Amy” is that, in Kapadia’s documentary, Winehouse is quickly disenchanted with success and bored of life, so the film becomes more depressing than tragic. Joplin, in contrast, never loses her youthful optimism and vulnerability, however many times a boyfriend leaves her or drug addiction claims her. That’s why “Janis” is so affecting. Up until the night when she takes heroin in a lonely motel room in 1970, there is always a chance that the little girl blue will grow into a happy woman.

— by Nicholas Barber

Janis: Little Girl Blue British release, October 13th

image: alamy

[sansaartimes]

Canon EOS Rebel T6 DSLR Camera Kit, EF-S 18-55mm is II Lens, EF 75-300mm III Lens, RitzGear Wide Angle, Telephoto Lens, 64GB and Accessory Bundle

Price: Make sure this fits by entering your model number. (as of May 15,2020 00:50:14 UTC – Details)

Product Description

Canon EOS Rebel T6 DSLR Camera Kit, EF-S 18-55mm is II Lens, EF 75-300mm III Lens, 64GB Memory Card and Accessory Bundle

Wireless Takes EOS Rebel to The Next Level 18 Megapixel (APS-C) CMOS sensor Built-in Wi-Fi EOS Full HD Video Hybrid CMOS AF III Fixed LCD Monitor High-speed continuous shooting Advanced Scene Analysis 9 cross type AF points Fun Creative Filters The camera with the quality your photos deserve, the EOS Rebel T6 can be ideal for smartphone or digital point-and-shoot camera users looking to step up their imaging game. It’s equipped with an 18.0 Megapixel CMOS image sensor and the DIGIC 4+ Image Processor for highly detailed, vibrant photos and videos even in low light. Whether you’re out on an adventure hike or snapping candids of your friends during a late night out, the EOS Rebel T6 can help you take photos you’ll want to show off.  

Kit Includes

Canon EOS Rebel T6 Digital SLR Camera Kit with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens (Black) Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras Canon 100ES Compact Gadget Bag  58mm .43x HD Wide Angle Lens With Macro Attachment + 2.2X HD Telephoto Lens Travel Kit 50″ Photo / Video Tripod 58mm 3 Piece Filter Set (UV, CPL, FLD) Pro Slave Flash Includes Mounting Bracket Lexar 64GB SDHC UHS-II Memory Card Vivitar 7-Inch Flexible Tripod with Flexible, Wrapable Legs, Quick Release Plate and Bubble Level High Capacity LPE10 Rechargeable Lithium Replacement Battery Wired Remote Control for Canon Camera Cleaning Kit Ritz Gear OTG USB / Micro USB Multi-Function SD / MICRO SD Card Reader / Writer For PC, Tablet and Smartphones Universal LCD Screen Protector, Memory Card Wallet and Lens Cap Strap

Camera Features

18-55mm Lens The included lens provides a 28.8-88mm equivalent focal length that covers wide-angle to portraits to cover the majority of photographs. The lens also features image stabilization which minimizes the appearance of camera shake in your photos. The 9-point autofocus system with subject tracking allows for fast and accurate autofocus even if your subject is moving. This will ensure you will capture life’s precious moments as they happen. If you want to expand your options beyond the included lens the camera is compatible with the full line of Canon EOS EF and EF-S lenses ranging from fisheye to super telephoto.   18 MegaPixel CMOS Sensor and DIGIC 4+ Image Processor Behind the scenes of the Rebel T6 is the 18MP CMOS Sensor and DIGIC 4+ Image Processor that allows for both high image quality and speed. Captured images offer outstanding clarity and tonal range with enough resolution that photos can be printed or cropped without reducing image quality. The DIGIC 4+ image processor allows for up to 3 fps shooting, unlimited JPEGs in a burst and full HD video (1080p) at 30 fps. Ease of Use The Canon EOS Rebel T6 has a built in feature guide to help walk newer photographers through the cameras various settings, shooting modes, and effects with a simple description when each function is selected. Scene Intelligent Auto mode allows the camera to automatically adjust the camera’s settings based on the subject and lighting conditions without the photographer doing anything. This features makes it easy for new photographers to take better photos. Included creative filters allows you to change the feel of your photos with effects like: fisheye, grainy black and white, soft focus, toy camera and miniature effects. The camera also offers more customization and manual controls for more experienced photographers.   LCD Monitor The Canon EOS T6 features a large 3.0 inch (7.5cm) 920k dot LCD screen, that can be used to adjust settings as well as composing photos or playing back images for friends. The LCD screen also features a wide viewing angle of 170 degrees so you can frame creative shots from overhead or ground level easily. Wi-Fi and NFC Built in Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity allows you to connect the camera to your phone and share photos to your favorite social media site instantly. In addition to quick uploads connecting the camera to your phone allows you to take perfect selfies and group shots every time – with wireless control and framing on the phone. Full HD Video The EOS Rebel T6 has a dedicated movie recording mode that allows you to capture full HD quality that is unmatched by smartphones. Capable of shooting in multiple frame rates and sizes with easy to use controls. The Rebel T6 has a video snapshot feature that captures short video clips that can be combined to create an album that’s great for sharing or viewing on a HDTV through the cameras on board HDMI port. Camera Body Canon Rebel EOS T6 weighs in at a lightweight 17 oz (485g) so you can carry it with you everywhere. The Canon T6 has an intuitive control layout that makes learning to use the camera quick and easy.

Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens

Focal length range of 75-300mm​ DC motor powering the AF system in place of USM (Ultra-sonic Motor) 13 lens elements arranged in 9 groups Filter thread specification of 58mm Closest focusing distance of 4.9’ Great for long-range photography, such as sports and wildlife photography. This lightweight, 4x telephoto lens is compatible with both APS-C and full frame Canon DSLRs with a canon EF lens mount. The f/4-5.6 range provides you with good control over depth of field, giving you a nice, soft backgrounds when you zoom into a subject. There are 13 lens elements and they are arranged in 9 groups for optimum clarity.

Canon EOS 100ES DSLR Shoulder Bag

Designed with enough room to hold one camera body with up to two lenses and a flash, as well as an assortment of film or memory cards, batteries, and other necessities for photographers. This case is a great bag for the traveling photographer. Practical and attractive, it is a great way to protect your equipment from moisture and dust as well as the wear and tear that results from excessive handling.

Lexar 64GB Professional SDHC UHS-I Memory Card

Increases Workflow Efficiency Transfer Speeds up to 300MB/S Supports 4K Video Recording Handle Rapid, Burst and Sequential Shots with Ease

Extreme Speed to Catch Every Frame For super-fast continuous burst mode shots, maximum post-production workflow efficiency, and high-performance video recording, get SanDisk Extreme PRO SDHC and SDXC UHS-II cards. The high-performance SDHC and SDXC memory cards boast shot speeds up to 260MB/s (1733X) and transfer speeds up to 300MB/s (2000X). UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) supports 32GB to 128GB of Full HD and cinema-quality 4K video recording. Optimized for cameras that support the new UHS-II standard, SanDisk Extreme PRO SDHC and SDXC UHS-II cards deliver the uncompromising results that professional photographers demand.

Canon EOS Rebel T6 Camera + EF 75-300mm & 18-55mm Lens With all Canon Accessories + Full USA Warranties PREMIUM RITZ CAMERA BUNDLE INCLUDING Studio Series .43x Super Wide Angle Lens, Studio Series 2.2X High Definition Telephoto Lens 64GB Memory Card, Ritz Gear OTG USB Reader/Writer, Camera Bag 50″ Tripod, 7″ Tripod with wrapable legs, Pro Slave Flash, Ritz Gear 58mm Filter Set with Pouch Deluxe Cleaning Kit, Polaroid Screen Protectors, Wired Remote Control, Lens Cap Strap, Spare Lithium Ion Replacement Battery

from WordPress https://ift.tt/3czIA7y via IFTTT

[coppolafrancis]

How I photograph jewelry on myself

When it comes to shooting jewelry on the body, some would say leave it to the youngsters or leave it to the pros. Judging from the images we’re bombarded with at every turn, a woman should never attempt the jewelry selfie after age 40.

Trust me, it’s easier to get a good image of jewelry on a younger woman. But I don’t always have one handy, and sometimes I feel like… I don’t know, maybe we need a little reality? After all, it’s women my age who buy and wear much of the jewelry I show on this site. Is there not a way to find the beauty in my own demographic – or even my mother’s?

A few years ago, I began shooting jewelry on my hand. There were pieces that begged to be shown in context. I’ve been shooting jewelry on this hand since 2006 when I reported on a famous Christie’s auction. Here is an unretouched, unfiltered example from my Instagram a couple years ago. I’ve posted so many shots of this hand since then, I should start a #mylefthand hashtag. My right hand holds the phone.

Yup, after years of lugging around a Nikon and then a Canon Rebel, I’ve been shooting these with my iPhone and sometimes a little clip-on macro lens. The multi-talented Monica Stephenson of idazzle turned me onto that gadget at a World Gold Council conference one year. Be warned: it will not only show every inclusion in the stone and brush stroke on the metal but every pore and crease on your hand as well.

Now that’s what I really look like most of the time: scowling in concentration at a screen of some sort. This shot was taken at the AGTA Spectrum Awards press preview last year. That’s the little clip-on lens I mentioned. My oh-so-professional photography setup these days? You’re looking at it. Total cost (minus iPhone): $35.

I drew the line at photographing my hand until a couple years ago at the Couture show. I’d been trying on jewelry then photographing it on the 20something women who work those booths, until someone offered to take it on me. A couple of those shots turned out surprisingly well. (A good sales assistant these days not only knows the inventory but also how to style a shot, work a smart phone, and shoot for the Instagram crowd.) I posted one from the show floor and it got a warm response.

Here’s one taken by a male sales staffer at Todd Reed’s booth at that show. Since I couldn’t ask him to model these jewels for me, I handed him my phone, and sat on a stool.

Granted, that is an amazing collection and most people were “liking” the jewelry itself. But I believe a large part of the success of Todd’s work is that it looks as good on the female body as it does in the case. And, y’know, that is what it was designed for: to be worn by a living, breathing, non-airbrushed female. To me, that is the true test of a piece of jewelry.

I used a filter on that shot to bleach out the shadows. See that brown patch on my hand? I was in such deep shadow, it looked like a birthmark in the original. Trade show lighting is wicked. (My advice if you find yourself shooting indoors under track lights: back up a bit and get out of the spotlight.) The right filters do wonders to even out skin tone without erasing all detail. I hate that fake blurred effect left by overuse of the eraser tool. I like that you can still see my freckles and the texture of my skin. My goal is to show jewelry not in the photoshopped perfection of a magazine ad but the way it looks on a real, live woman.

This image of me wearing jewelry by Colette was taken by the playful sales staff who work that designer’s booth. It too was filtered and cropped but not retouched. It takes a few shots to get one I can use, but guess what? It always takes a few, even when you’re photographing flawless youth. A good assistant knows to keep shooting. A really good one adjusts your hair a bit and suggests you move your hand up or down slightly or shift your body to the left, out of the shadow.

Here’s a shot of me from Couture 2017 wearing a new black-diamond collection by Antonini of Milano (with my own earrings by Shana Kroiz). At the time, I posted this with a joke about how beautiful jewelry can light me up even after being up all night on a red-eye flight. My eyes were glazed but the smile was real. People responded to the jewelry – and this particular jewelry was made to be worn, with a simple linen dress like I was wearing.

Now I want to address another kind of self portrait most of us have to produce at some point: the professional head shot. If you look at the upper left corner of this site, you’ll see my most recent. I paid a pro and it took many shutter clicks to get a usable image. I’m not real comfortable in front of a camera and she kept saying, “Big smile!” Some people smile beautifully on demand. Me, not so much.

Nevertheless, she ended up with some great images I could never have produced on my own. I recommend springing for a pro, if you can. That shoot cost $350, including a stylist who did hair and makeup. I’ve paid half that for quickie head shots at conferences, where you can get in on a group rate. The speed-shoot on the sidewalk with a handheld reflector works fine for me. Studios make me nervous.

But sometimes you just don’t have time or cash for a professional shoot, in which case… you can do it yourself. I produced my own head shots for years. As a busy magazine freelancer, I had to provide 300dpi (print quality) images at a moment’s notice whenever an editor needed to fill their contributors page. At first, I relied on one I’d paid for at a photographer’s studio, but it looked like a mug shot you’d use for a passport. I needed images that could run large and made you want to turn to my story – the one my bio was referring to. So I started taking them myself to fit the subject matter I was writing about.

I shot this against the stucco wall of my balcony with my camera set up on a tripod. I was facing the late afternoon sun on an overcast day. A remote would have made my job easier and they’re available cheap now but I didn’t have one then. I would focus my camera on the wall, set the self timer, and run madly around to sit facing the lens, trying to look casual. Not ideal! But no editor ever complained. I used this image for stories on art and travel. I thought it said: smart, outdoorsy, not too formal.

As I began to write more about jewelry, however, I felt I should have one that showed… jewelry, and didn’t look so severe. As Jera Lodge put it in my last post on this topic, I was going for “serious but not pissed off.”

So I set up my camera again and came up with this one.

If I’d known my hand would end up in the shot I’d have put a ring on it. A gust of wind blew my hair in my face just before the shutter clicked and I kinda liked the result. I remember the designer I profiled in the issue of Art & Antiques where this head shot first appeared sent me a message raving about it. I thought, wow, maybe I really can pull this off. You can see the difference in quality between this and the professional shot on my About page, but it’s not bad.

If you have to rely on one head shot for everything – your website, bios, social media – consider investing in a good one. But if you need to produce them on an ongoing basis and know your way around a camera, experiment a little.

My flesh is more textured than it once was and carries souvenirs from various mishaps and decades in the wind and sun. I’m well-traveled and I’ve had my share of sleepless nights. My hands have worked hard, soaked in darkroom chemicals, dug up a dozen gardens. Mostly, I’m just getting older, like everyone else lucky enough to stick around a while.

But I’d like to think I have a different kind of beauty now, just as you do. It’s a little harder to photograph but I’m learning and, fortunately, I know my way around basic photo-editing tools. I’ve been touching up images for decades. With the tools that come bundled on your computer or mobile device, you can easily crop and sharpen and saturate. Worse comes to worse, there are these things called “filters.”

Where jewelry is concerned, good product shots are crucial. But for the same reason I’m always harping on about wearability, I believe there is something lacking when you rely solely on product shots. They present jewelry as an object to be admired in the abstract. But jewelry is not something we hang on the wall or put on a pedestal. We hang it from our necks, ears and wrists, pin it to our lapels and stack it on our fingers. And by “we,” I don’t mean just flawless 25-year-olds.

[maybe-eevee]

@dailydelphox​ Ah ! Pen pressure would definitely be -not- important ~ I specifically turned mine off for that brush :3 You can have it on but I’d say stick to (or make it) as bare bones as possible (not necessarily pixel but very basic), this will simulate having just a pencil / colour pencil and forcing yourself to work with just that one tool. Think of it as a practice in just raw drawing, move aside your airbrushes, calligraphy pens, glitter, and coconut husks, it is not the tools that make the artist.

That being said,

It’s a bit different when it comes to digital because first and foremost is how comfortable you are with the program you’re using. So in that regards I’d encourage you to try any and all available art programs, find the one you like working with the most because how smooth and responsive the brushes feel or how intuitive the interface is really does effect how you draw digitally.

Personally I’m using clip studio, its not free but there is a trial (save disabled) to try. If it’s something you kinda like I’d suggest subbing to their newsletter and waiting for a discount, they do it fairly often (3-5 times a year).

Other notable drawing / painting art programs include:

- The grand diddly daddy paint tool sai [win] (I hear they’re making a sai 2)

- Firealpaca [win mac] (The good guy greg in the room always free and small footprint, there’s also medibang paint which runs on the same engine but looks different and few extra features)

- Manga Studio [win mac] (the 5th MS is actually the same engine as clip studio, the 4th MS was a completely different animal which heavily focused on manga line arts)

- Artrage [win mac] (Built to simulate traditional media, their oil and dry brushes look good)

- Rebelle [win mac] (Also a traditional media simulator, their watercolours and wet media look nice)

- Mischief [win mac] (Boasts an ‘infinite canvas’, their inks and calligraphy pens look fancy)

- Krita [win mac] (Another notable free one !)

- Tayasui Sketches [win mac] (Bare bones and primarily dry media inks but nice and responsive to draw with)

- Autodesk Sketchbook [win mac] (Hooooboy, if you’ve ever used an art program before throw everything out the window the interface for this is wildly different, but if you can get into it it claims you can get more paint strokes for less keystrokes. There’s a free limited version but the pro is subscription based)

- Black Ink [win] (Never personally tried this but their brush generator looks impressive)

Other weird notable programs:

- Microsoft Paint 3D [win 10] (I think this is hilarious, it’s like the vapourwave of 3D art)

- Glitché [ios] (Although if you want to make like artifact arts this is worth trying)

[funtubeweb]

Ariel Nasr Unspools Afghanistan’s Forbidden Reel

The headquarters of Afghan Film occupy unassuming premises, one of many bullet-scared structures in central Kabul, with little indicating its vital role in Afghanistan’s cultural history.

Yet it was from this modest two-story building that ‘Engineer’ Latif Ahmadi and his peers brought forth a vibrant cinema culture in one of the most underdeveloped societies on earth, working in circumstances that would unnerve the most seasoned western director.

And it was here, in an episode worthy of Le Carré, that a small gang of heroic cinephiles pulled off a remarkable coup, saving their nation’s cinematic heritage from the iconoclastic fanatics who would later destroy the great Buddhas of Bamiyan.

With The Forbidden Reel, the Afghan-Canadian filmmaker Ariel Nasr is bringing his own account of this story to the screen. Currently in production in Afghanistan, the feature-length documentary is co-produced by Montreal’s Loaded Pictures (Sergeo Kirby, producer) and the NFB Quebec Atlantic Studio (Kat Baulu).

A veteran of numerous Afghan shoots and something of an expert on Afghan cinema, Nasr has been developing the ambitious project for several years. “I’m particularly invested in this project,” he says, having recently returned from a three-week shoot in Kabul. Two additional Afghanistan shoots are planned for later this year.

“In recent years I’ve spent extended periods living and working in Kabul, often in collaboration with Afghan Film, and I’ve established strong relationships with Latif Ahmadi and other Afghan filmmakers. I have an enormous amount of admiration for them, not just for their work but for their personal courage and perseverance. In the process I’ve also unearthed surprising new information about the thirty year-period during which they were active.”

“We’ve assembled the elements of a gripping story, but I also get to challenge the received wisdom about Afghanistan. Mainstream western media often represents Afghanistan in a reductive manner. Whether it’s the Afghan-Soviet War or the current struggle with the Taliban, it gets presented as a simplistic good-vs-evil narrative. I try to paint a more complicated picture, to deliver a more authentic, and ultimately more interesting, account of Afghanistan and its artists.” Pictured above and below: Nasr interviewing Latif Ahmadi in the wartorn Darul Aman Palace near Kabul, currently undergoing reconstruction.

Afghan’s tradition of progressive auteur cinema

The very existence of a sophisticated auteur tradition in Afghanistan comes as a surprise to many. Yet during the 1970s and 1980s the country witnessed the emergence of a fascinating national cinema, one focused on telling Afghan stories and putting Afghan concerns onscreen.

At the centre of it all was “Engineer” Latif Ahmadi, who rose to prominence during the 1980s. Raised by a movie-loving single mother, Ahmadi began experimenting with film as an engineering student, soon abandoning his studies altogether to establish his own production company. Starting with commercials and animation, he quickly graduated to features, scoring a major hit with Gonah, a drama about class and gender that he made with help from Siddiq Barmak, another emerging talent. Ahmadi was still a young man when he was appointed president of Afghan Film, a state-funded agency that had been established in 1968 during a period of relative liberalism.

“It was a hugely ambitious project, yet the people at Afghan Film succeeded in creating a national cinema,” says Nasr. “They nurtured creative debate, encouraging filmmakers to draw on multiple influences, and the result was unique, as close to Italian neorealism as South Asian or Iranian cinema. It was an auteur cinema that championed women’s rights and other progressive ideas, filling cinemas in Kabul and Herat – something that seems unbelievable now.”

Following the communist coup of 1978 and subsequent Soviet invasion, Ahmadi proved adept in navigating the new political context. “Some filmmakers joined the Mujahedeen resistance, but Ahmadi chose to stay on as president of Afghan Film. Yet even while overseeing production of pro-Soviet propaganda, he was able to create independent auteur work. He made some of his most important movies during the Soviet occupation, films that were subject to censorship yet still somehow managed to paint a compelling picture of ordinary Afghan life. Films like Akhtar the Joker, Immigrant Birds, and Escape provide a fascinating window onto Afghan history and the whole late Cold War period.”

“Their passion for cinema transcended politics”

Actress Yasmin Yarmal, a frequent collaborator of Ahmadi’s, would take on some of her most memorable roles during the Soviet occupation, but Siddiq Barmak, Ahmadi’s old friend and collaborator, ended up working with the Mujahedeen resistance, and later directed Urooj, a groundbreaking feature made in collaboration with Ahmad Shah Masood’s forces.

Despite finding themselves on opposing sides in the civil war, Ahmadi and Barmak never viewed each other as enemies. “There was never any antagonism between them, “ says Nasr. “Their passion for film transcended politics. Afghan culture and politics are never as simple as they appear — and that’s an underlying theme of this project. Even at the height of the conflict, Ahmadi was able to negotiate with Mujahadeen rebels. Cinema tended to be respected by all sides.”

“That was true even during Taliban rule,” says Nasr. “The Taliban was a repressive regime, but they were not uniformly unenlightened. That’s one of the many remarkable aspects of this story.”

Making use of Afghan Film’s vintage equipment

Nasr’s key interviews include the ‘Engineer’ himself, who recently returned to Afghanistan after a long exile; Ibrahim Arify, the current president of Afghan Film; Siddiq Barmak, Yasmin Yarmal, and a number of inside players who are speaking out for the first time.

Interview footage will be cut with clips from the storied Afghan Film archive, many of them from films that are unknown to the wider world, along with stylized recreations that evoke key episodes in the story.

“Afghan Film has generously given us access to their camera equipment, the same sturdy Russian-made cranes and dollies that the Engineer and other filmmakers would have used back in the 70s and 80s,” says Nasr. “We’re shooting selected sequences on 35mm, referencing the sweeping style and feel of those classic movies, and we’ll be using the same gear.”

Among Nasr’s producer credits is the Oscar-nominated short Buzkashi Boys (2012), a powerful coming-of-age drama filmed in Afghanistan. His wrote and directed his first film Good Morning Kandahar in 2008, when he was still learning Dari. The film turned a critical gaze on Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan — exploring the paradox of “my country Canada is bombing my country Afghanistan” — and marked the start of his association with the NFB. He continued exploring various facets of Afghan life in two subsequent NFB productions, the Gemini Award-winning The Boxing Girls of Kabul (2011) and Kabul Portraits, (2015), an interactive project which counts actress Yasmin Yarmal among its six featured subjects.

“Ariel is a visionary, a completely committed filmmaker,” says producer Serge Kirby. “It takes determination to make a film like this, and The Forbidden Reel is a real labour of love. He’s telling a powerful and nuanced story, one that completely reframes our understanding of Afghanistan.” Kirby’s Loaded Pictures credits include H2Oil, Roadsworth, and Wal-Town.

As part of its involvement in the production, the National Film Board is assisting Afghan Film with its ongoing preservation work. “The Forbidden Reel is all about the power and importance of cinema – its precarious and precious place within Afghan culture – and it’s great that we’re able to share with Afghan Film some of the knowledge and expertise we’ve developed during the digitization of our own collection, ” says Kat Baulu, producer for the NFB’s Quebec Atlantic Studio.

The NFB has a long tradition of producing work that looks onto the wider world through a Canadian lens, going back to Churchill’s Island (1942), the first film to win an Oscar in the newly created Documentary Short Subject category. Often directed by filmmakers who’ve grown up in diaspora communities, tracing their heritage to other parts of the world, these films bring nuance to international stories and issues. The Forbidden Reel follows in the line of titles like The Apology (2016), Tiffany Hsiung’s acclaimed film on sexual slavery in WWII Japanese-occupied Asia; Up the Yangtze (2007), Yung Chang’s epic feature doc on the monumental Three Gorges Dam; and Four Women of Egypt (1997), Tahani Rachid’s study of the complex divisions that mark contemporary Egyptian society.

The Toronto-based cinematographer Duraid Munajim, whose credits include work on The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, is director of photography on The Forbidden Reel, with Nasr himself operating the second camera. Saleem Mohammed Yousofzada is the Kabul-based production assistant. The Forbidden Reel is co-produced by Loaded Pictures (Sergeo Kirby, producer) and the NFB Quebec Atlantic Studio (Kat Baulu, producer). Executive producers are Sergeo Kirby and Annette Clarke. Production continues through 2017. Photography courtesy of Loaded Pictures.

The post Ariel Nasr Unspools Afghanistan’s Forbidden Reel appeared first on NFB/blog.

Ariel Nasr Unspools Afghanistan’s Forbidden Reel posted first on http://ift.tt/2sCUYNt

[workreveal-blog]

Edit videos Like a Pro : Camera Tips

New Post has been published on https://workreveal.biz/edit-videos-like-a-pro-camera-tips/

Edit videos Like a Pro : Camera Tips

The top aspect you need to reflect consideration on is the target market – something you significantly should consider at the start of the whole method as it will decide how the video is made, the level of trouble in the language you operate, in truth the whole tone.

Once you have edited your video and perfected the soundtrack, the question is a way to present your work. So how to edit your camera videos like a pro. The common possibilities are:

· Ship, the edited DV, returned to the virtual video digital camera’s tape

· Copy it to VHS or Betamax tape: to technique it so that it can grow to be a web video

· Replica it to a CD or DVD

· Save it at the PC tough disk

· Create a streaming video (Movie in a format you can email).

If you want a day video, you will need reminiscence space. The social preference is to put the edited video directly to disk. You could output your video as a video CD or a DVD directly for your disk-burning force for playback in a well-matched tool. Short movies are first-class on CD. DVDs are steeply-priced but have more reminiscence area. If you want a new power especially for virtual video-making, make certain the one you purchase can write DVD-R discs readable in DVD players and drives.

You can additionally make a streaming video (RealVideo, Quicktime or Windows Media documents) to electronic mail to your buddies or to put on a web page. These take appreciably less space, although the photographs are of lower first-class. In all likelihood, the high-quality manner to present material is on an interactive whiteboard. It gives a cinematic feel and ensures the target audience stands a great danger of being immersed in the work.

John Davitt adds: Apple’s QuickTime is a mainly useful software device for publishing finished video clips around faculty networks. Just pop the completed record within the shared place at the college intranet and each different station on the network can view it. As a layout for digital video, it works similarly correctly on Computer and Macintosh computer systems, and even big video files will begin gambling before they are completely downloaded.

If you purchase a licence, you may turn your free QuickTime player into QuickTime Seasoned (£25 from apple.Com). It permits you to edit QuickTime clips entirely using highlighting and slicing and pasting – just as you would textual content in a phrase record. Youngsters love this because they can deconstruct the films – recording a bit of themselves – saving it as a QuickTime clip, after which passing themselves into a movie trailer of their desire.

  The editing software program works with a storyboard and a timeline and, like the other programs, It will realise scene breaks and separate them into clips.

The SmartCapture part of this system is precise. Instead of bringing in the video at excessive great, it records at a decrease resolution to store in the storage area. A 30-minute DV tape takes up 6.5Gb of disk space; SmartCapture takes 75Mb, lowering it to around 90%. You edit your video at the decrease resolution and, when you’ve finished the program, routinely recreates the video at its authentic quality stage. This makes the whole thing a great deal faster and simpler to deal with.

editor

other Computer editing packages:

Dazzle MovieStar five track Maker 7 Ulead Video Studio MGI Videowave Electricity Director Seasoned

  Windows Movie Maker (free)

Edit videos free! This confined software program comes with Microsoft XP and ME working structures. It’s going to seize, organise and edit video clips, then export them for Laptop or Internet playback. It supports each timeline and storyboard views, and robotically segments enter the video into clips by detecting scene adjustments. This is Edit software free.

It’s miles designed for Developing Windows Media streaming video and does not support importing and exporting video in different non-Microsoft codecs. There are no video outcomes or transition outcomes however you could trade the audio stage. Its original use is providing you with the danger to find out if video modifying is for you. Maximum of what you study will observe to different packages.

Pinnacle Studio DV8 (£80)

It can be set up on RM and Viglen virtual enhancing computer systems (consists of firewire card and cable) and comes pre-hooked up in both businesses’ new dev machines. Canon is bundling the software with its new camcorders.

You could use it to edit older VHS videos, and edit sound with greater precision than other rival merchandise. Except for software, A few Top products come with a firewire card and lead, allowing you to conform a Laptop and link to the digital camera.

  camera

  Lawyers for the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have accused a newspaper editor of espionage and want him jailed for life, the paper said, the latest salvo in a bitter dispute that has alarmed defenders of media freedom in Turkey.

In the countdown to a parliamentary election on 7 June, the Cumhuriyet newspaper infuriated Erdoğan by publishing video footage it said showed the MIT state intelligence agency helping to send weapons to Syria.

In an article posted on its website, Cumhuriyet – long critical of Erdoğan and Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) – said its editor, Can Dündar, was now facing charges that included “crimes against the government” and “providing information concerning national security” over the video footage.

Cumhuriyet said Erdoğan’s lawyers had lodged a criminal complaint with the Istanbul prosecutor’s office. No one from Erdoğan’s office was immediately available to comment.

Speaking to the state broadcaster TRT on Saturday, Erdoğan said the journalist behind the publication of the video would “pay a high price” for his actions and vowed to take legal action.

Reuters reported on 21 May, citing a prosecutor and court testimony, that MIT helped deliver arms to parts of Syria under Islamist rebel control in late 2013 and early 2014.

The witness testimony contradicts Turkey’s denials that it sent weapons to Syrian rebels and, by extension, contributed to the rise of Islamic State, now a major concern for the Nato member.

Syria and some of Turkey’s Western allies say Turkey, in its haste to see President Bashar al-Assad toppled, let fighters and arms over the border, some of whom went on to join Isis which now controls swaths of Syria and Iraq.

You can use any of a vast range of devices to make YouTube videos. A laptop with a built-in webcam is probably the easiest option, but the obvious alternative is a smartphone. Most digital cameras can now shoot video as well.

The fact that so many people have the equipment must be partly responsible for the huge number of videos uploaded to YouTube – 300 hours-worth per minute.

Watch a few, and you’ll notice that the quality ranges from execrable to professional. However, sick videos can’t always be blamed on inadequate equipment. In fact, professional video makers can produce excellent videos with the indifferent kit, while beginners can produce mediocre results even with the best equipment.

  video

Doing it right

Good YouTubers pay attention to things like image stability, lighting, picture composition and sound quality. They start by mounting the smartphone or camera on a tripod because a stable image looks better than one created with a shaky handheld camera.

They also make sure that their subject – especially if it’s just one person speaking to camera – is well lit. Digital cameras produce excellent results when there’s plenty of light: your brilliant holiday snaps probably look great. They struggle in low light conditions, often producing images that look grainy due to digital “noise”. They also struggle with high-contrast lighting, though experts can use manual controls to exploit that.

If you’re a beginner, the best free option is a well-lit, white-walled room, but try to declutter the background. Putting a desk lamp above and behind the camera is better than nothing. If the result looks harsh, put some greaseproof paper or tissue paper in front to soften the light. (Keep writing well away from incandescent bulbs: they get hot.)

  Neewer makes a range of dimmable, battery-powered LED light arrays that you can fit into a camera hot-shoe or mount on a tripod. They’re cheap – they start at around £20 to £30 – and work well, but there are several alternatives. (Batteries are usually not included: buy rechargeables.)

Serious YouTubers often work hard to capture good quality sound, and high-end microphones like the Rode NT1-Aand Heil PR40 are often conspicuous. However, even a cheap lapel mic like the Boya BY-M1 (£14.99) will produce better results than a built-in mic, partly because it’s much closer to your mouth. Alternatives include gaming headsets and some earbuds if you don’t mind wearing them.

You can also use a camera, make a separate digital recording, and combine the sound and visuals later. Most video editing programs, including Windows Movie Maker, can do this.

Use what you have

Rather than buying a new camera, get your son to experiment with devices that you already own. Any laptop with a built-in HD webcam – one that shoots 720p video – should be good enough to start with. If it doesn’t produce good results even in decent lighting (some of them don’t), you can buy an external USB webcam. If it’s the sound that’s the problem, try an external microphone such as the BM-800 (£17.99) or Blue Microphones’ Snowball iCE (£48.98).

When buying a webcam, look for Full HD resolution – one that shoots 1080p video. The Logitech C920 HD Pro is familiar with YouTubers and reasonably priced at £57.98. There are cheaper alternatives, such as the Papa look PA452(£19.99). The Logitech C525 (£30.79 or £44.99) would also work well, though it only does 720p video.

Most smartphones can do the job, too, especially if you can add an external microphone. The smartphone should be mounted on a small tripod, such as the Everest Flexible Octopus (£11.99), for stability. Amazon has lots of alternatives. Either way, it must be horizontal. On YouTube, vertical videos are an abomination.