Photoshop Elements class

Hithergreen Center, where I teach my watercolor class, started a new session in Photoshop Elements 6 in November. The class is challenging, but so much fun. I've been into PSE since #1 came out, but my knowledge of the program has been limited to trial and error; I've gotten good results, but never could figure out how I did it. Reinventing the wheel, dontcha know? I've learned so much from Brook, the instructor, and her sidekick, Mary Lou, who have a firm grasp on the program. Some in the class have upgraded to PSE 8; my copy is sitting on my desk waiting to be installed. The class has a monthly contest based on one of the artistic filters in the program. My candy pic here was one of the winners this month. I tried something new I want to pass on, not related to PSE. When I set up the still life, I didn't want to use my flash (harsh shadows), so I dug out my little Ott task-light, which has full-spectrum fluorescent lighting. I turned out the studio lights and used only the task-light. It worked great. Wouldn't be good for a big setup, but perfect for this shot.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs

I'm trying very hard to shed some light (sorry about that) upon these new bulbs. I've read that it is energy efficient to use them instead of incandescent bulbs, and although they're more expensive, they last much longer. I bought a spiral fluorescent bulb several years ago, but it was too big for any of my lamps. Now they come in compact and mini sizes, so that solves the size problem. The next issue is to figure out the watts you need. Fortunately, the packages give the equivalents in both fluorescent and incandescent, but sometimes you have to search for it. The new fluorescents don't seem to throw light as far, as we discovered when we put them into our reading lamps, but since you're sitting still, that doesn't matter much. Also, they worked just fine for the living room lamps and for the one that's on a timer. But we did have to experiment with the temperature, as there's a whole different range out there. The "craft" light is 5000 Kelvin full spectrum, same as my studio overhead lights, but it doesn't work for a reading lamp. There's one that is "daylight" at 6500K that is way too cool for any uses I can think of. The one I liked is 100W daylight Sylvania at 3000-3500K and has a nicely balanced color that isn't too warm or too cool. I found the best selection at Lowe's.

Lighting by the Kelvin Scale

When I set up my studio in 1983 I consulted a lighting specialist who advised me to buy fluorescent lighting that was 5500 degrees Kelvin. Whatever that meant. I followed his advice and found that the lighting was ideal for my color studies and painting and have recommended to my students that they use this kind of lighting in their studios. A couple of weeks ago I showed my class what a difference it made in my color charts to see them under a portable Ott-lite. The classroom has regular fluorescent lighting in it. I went to the Internet and found several charts, which I combined into the one you see here. The best lighting for artwork is in the range of 5000-6000K. The Color Rendering Index (CRI) should be 70 or higher for excellent, 60-70 for good color matching. Anything under 60 is unacceptable. There are several companies that make lights that meet these specifications. Google full spectrum lighting to look over your options. Expect to pay more, but expect them to last longer and give you much better results than incandescent or halogen quartz lamps.

References: www.3drender.com
cameraguild.com

Seeing Red

Last Monday we explored reds in watercolors, as we did last week with blues. Here's the chart that I did in class, explaining the paint characteristics of each pigment and the relative temperature as I went along. I let the class help me decide where a color belongs. I wish we had full-spectrum lighting in our classroom, because the colors tend to look "off" and I have to remember to mention this. Lighting makes a huge difference when you're exploring colors.

This color wheel gives a better idea of where the colors fit in the continuum around the wheel. The ones on the circle are the best match I can make to the ideal colors. There may be better ones, but I'm just using the ones I have. The colors toward the center are darker, earthier variations of the wheel color. The center color will be black. Around the edges are variations of the main colors, some with weaker tinting strength. Way out at the edge on the left is Opera Rose, a color that is fluorescent and doesn't really fit with the others.
The completed color wheel is shown in my Exploring Color book, first published in 1985 and revised in 1998.