Hello Raw Shooters

December is always a busy month as we reach the end of another year.  From all of us at Omnilargess Services come wishes for your happiness and peace, and a safe holiday season.  Enjoy!

News of the month

We’re excited to announce that beginning in the New Year we’ll be adding more time-saving services to our web site.  These new features will cover many of your post-processing jobs, which frees you to go out and do what you really want to do!
Stay tuned for more info about these new services in January’s newsletter, scheduled to be sent on January 8, 2008.  
This month we encourage you to sharpen your Photoshop skills by creating new Actions.  If you find something interesting to share, we’d like to hear about it.  Send a copy of the Action to:
info@rawdigitalimageediting.com
We’ll publish it in our newsletter with your name, so everyone can enjoy the speed and ease of use of Actions.
Let's get to the Action!

I miss the infrared look in some of my images. How can I make a Pseudo Infrared Action in Photoshop? 

For the best results, choose a picture photographed in nice weather, with a uniformly blue sky, clouds, and green foliage. The effect will be strongest in this type of photo.

1- Open an image in Photoshop (you need Photoshop CS or newer).

2- Go to Action tab and select Create new action.

3-In the new action window, choose a name for your new action.  For this example I called it Infrared filter.

4- Click on the Record button and the actions you select will be recorded.

5- On the Layers palette, click Adjustment Layer (a black-and-white circle) to choose Selective Color mode.

At the bottom of the Selective Color Options window, set Method to Absolute, and change the color channels to the following values:

Reds channel: Cyan: -100, Magenta: -100, Yellow: 0

Yellows channel: Cyan: 0, Magenta: -100, Yellow: 0

Greens channel: Cyan: 0, Magenta: -100, Yellow: 0

Cyans channel: Cyan: -100, Magenta: +100, Yellow: -100

Blues channel: Cyan: -100, Magenta: +100, Yellow: -100

You don’t need to change the values for any other channels. At this point you have a nice Cross processing effects!

6- Make a new Adjustment Layer, this time selecting Channel Mixer. In the Channel Mixer window select Monochrome at the bottom, and set the color channels to the following values: Red –50, Green +160, Blue –50.

7- Select the selective color layer and adjust the opacity for final tone ratio. In this example I set it at 80%.

8-After completing these steps, merge the layers by clicking Layer/Flatten Image. If you like infrared images with a less digital feel, you can add a “glowing grains” effect with the Diffuse Glow filter. Filter/Distort/Diffuse Glow.

9-Go to Action tab again and click on stop button.

And that’s all there is to creating this unique effect.  To do more of the same type, just open an image, select the Infrared filter action and click the play button.  Your infrared image will be ready in no time!
Caution:  Because the color channels of digital cameras contain only partial information relative to the whole image, the above mixing and shifting of the channels may lead to a severe loss of detail and sharpness, as well increasing the appearance of color noise. 

December brings us crisp clear air, new snow and dramatic winter landscapes. 
Dress warmly and happy RAW shooting!

  
Ted and the Omnilargess Services Team