Jackie Matthews

Thanks Samantha

My RAW files are 5474 x 3648. I've recently been accepted to Shutterstock and I can't get my head round cropping and file sizes and when to do what - if I have an image which needs cropping to place items in the frame to look better, should I crop first and resize the image afterwards? I've been resizing to 3000px x 2000px (my choice of file size not theirs) for files that don't need cropping so I don't have a problem with that but for those that need cropping how would I go about that to maximise the pixel quantity please?

ok thanks for this. I haven't run the scanning tool yet but I'll get back to you when I do

Windows 10

Canon 70d, 8 GB RAM and 759GB free

Are there any steps I can take to make photoshop run faster? I use ccleaner to clean up my computer on a general basis I just wondered if there was anything I could do for photoshop as at times it runs more slowly than others. I have googled it but it's quite difficult to ascertain whether the info given is viable

Ok thanks

Thanks for that. I struggle when your icons look different or are in a different place but I've worked it out now. Just as an aside, when you place files, what types of files are acceptable or best to place? PSD's, jpegs? I am in your sharpening class and I've not ventured as far as canvas preparation as up until now I've not needed/wanted it. I'll have a read through there but thanks for the help with the storyboard anyway

I'm trying to follow the tutorial for creating intersecting shapes on a storyboard but I'm obviously doing something wrong. Your tutorial doesn't show the buttons that are available in CC so I think I've made an incorrect choice somewhere. I get a Swiss flag not what you show!!

It would be easier if they did! Thanks for the info though

Someone has just asked a question on a fb group I follow and I'm wondering why you would use the ctrl + b for a colour balance adjustment, ctrl + l for a levels adjustment etc etc. I was told that these are destructive adjustments. Is this correct? I'm not sure why you would want to do destructive editing but I just wondered what they were used for Thanks

Seems like it but I'm not overly concerned but thanks again

OK. My laptop is 15", my monitor is 19". By low resolution on the monitor I guess that it takes the resolution of the laptop and uses that until the monitor resolution has been set correctly. It's OK, I've sorted that. So as it stands at the moment when I use my laptop on it's own, all is good. When I plug the monitor into it to edit something the monitor is at the correct resolution and colour but the laptop shows an incorrect colour calibration. (monitor is 1, laptop is 2). I think that this is as good as I can get without purchasing another calibrator to get a dual profile so I think that your help has solved my problem as far as it can go at the moment thank you. I have just seen though that Firefox can only work on the primary screen (1?) correctly so I'll bear that in mind. Thanks for your input

I switched them round and I had a low resolution display on the monitor but it was the same colour as the laptop was showing. I'm using photoshop on the monitor and I can drag some of the options to the laptop

the monitor is number 1, the laptop is 2

No worries on the calibration. I may invest in another one at some point if you have a recommendation? Yesterday my laptop was totally blank and the monitor was working ok. Today however the laptop is on with the same desktop picture as the monitor but I only have icons on the monitor

I'd heard of this software but I don't really take images professionally so I didn't think it worth investing in more software but I'll bear it in mind so thanks

spyder 4 express and I cover the screens with a thick cover before calibrating to ensure no light leakage

OK, I've just had a chance to compare my prints to the monitor although would this be a fair test as the photos were edited on my laptop and I can't be sure that the screen was at the correct angle at the time? Would I be best to get some more prints done using the monitor to test it's accuracy or are the prints I already have of any use for checking this? I've got a batch of photos I want to get printed shortly but obviously if the calibration was wrong I'd need to check it first. In answer to your question, I extended the screen as you suggested and my laptop screen is blank, all the info is on the monitor which is fine, I don't need to see the laptop screen but when I unplug the monitor the laptop screen is very blue. If I correct that by recalibrating when I plug the monitor back in that is showing as very red. I don't need them to both be right at the same time as long as the monitor is correct

Samantha, you're a star. Worked through the other options and I'm now full resolution on the monitor. Just awaiting confirmation from Damien on the image I processed from it earlier and I'll be up and running. Thank you

I've plugged the monitor into the laptop. There are lots of settings to choose from but I have currently chosen to clone the screens (so they both show exactly the same thing). The laptop display is as it always has been with the correct resolution and pictures etc fill the screen. But with the monitor, as you can see, the screen is not full of the picture but as it is at the moment it at least has a correct resolution for it's size. If I change the settings to have the monitor screen full with the picture the resolution is poor and I can see no way to change that. Does my laptop need to upscale it somehow? It's a very old monitor (although I have just seen that it has a wide gamut - which I'm wondering - is that going to give me issues as my laptop isn't wide gamut?). There is no way on this screen to connect using hdmi, its the older type (sorry, don't know what it's called but it has lots of pins in). I have managed to calibrate the screen, albeit it looks totally different from my laptop. If I could connect using hdmi would that make a difference? It's not too much of an issue as the screen works fine other than that, I'd just like to use the whole of it if I can

I've just attached an external monitor to my laptop to alleviate problems associated with editing on a laptop. I have two questions: how do I get the optimal size and screen resolution from the monitor? I can either have it so that it's the whole size but poor resolution or if I want full resolution I need to have it displaying in the centre of the screen but then it's only covering about 75% of the screen second, the monitor needs calibrating. I'm assuming if I run the programme and put the calibrator on the external monitor that will work? Thanks

Perfect, thank you OK thank you