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Using a graphics tablet for photo editing (a beginners guide.)

Using a graphics tablet for photo editing

graphics tablet for editing photos

Something that a lot of digital imaging enthusiasts and professionals recommend is if you are getting more serious about your post processing then you will benefit hugely from picking up a graphics tablet. I must say I’m inclined to agree with that advice. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you have to rush out and buy one the first day you sit your Photoshop course, but it is something that you should have a look at as you move from the beginner’s phase of learning into the intermediate and advanced stage.

Trying to figure out what tablet to buy can be an absolute nightmare for somebody who is new to digital imaging and post processing, so here is a quick guide set out in a FAQ format that will help you. I’m also going to offer my advice for the best tablet on a budget, for anybody looking to buy their first tablet and stylus.

Graphic Tablet & Stylus FAQs.

How does a graphic tablet differ from a mouse?

This is the most common question and the simple answer is two areas, the first one is accuracy, the pen offers the ability for much more finer control when making local adjustments in Photoshop such as air brushing, painting, history brush, dodging and burning etc, the second area is the stylus can be set to be pressure sensitive so the strokes you use are much more natural looking creating a smoother looking effect.

What are good brands of graphic tablets and styluses?

Hands down the industry leader in graphic tablets is Wacom, but other quality brands include Huion, VT, and Ugee, however support for these other brands can be hit and miss depending on where you live. Other computer component manufacturers like trust and advent make tablets, but are not flagship products and replacement stylus’s etc can be hard to come by.

How much do tablets cost?

This is where most people trip up, the price of tablets range from about €50 to €2500, and most people have no idea how much to be spending on a tablet that will give them good quality and value for money without massively under or over spending.

How much should i spend on a graphics tablet?

For the average amateur or semi professional photographer it’s my opinion that you should be spending somewhere between €90 – €200, without buying a lemon or massively over spending, you may be tempted to spend much more, but may not get the use out of the features are these may be geared towards professional animators or digital artists.

Do I need to take a course to use a graphics tablet?

Not at all, essentially your just replacing your mouse with a much more accurate pointer, however your Photoshop skills will need to be in place first to get the most out of the stylus, my advice would be to focus on learning local adjustment techniques like portrait retouching and learning shortcut commands that allow you to scoot around the screen like the spacebar and ctrl + 0 ctrl + and ctrl -, to help you get the most out of your tablet.

Are they difficult to get used to?

For the first half hour using it you will find it tricky as you get used to such a sensitive tool, after that you will not notice that you’re using it at all. My advice is because when we use a pen we are used to looking at what we are writing. With that in mind, when you start using one your instinct will be to look at the track pad or tablet instead of the screen, don’t ! Just keep looking at the screen and it will become second nature in no time. Also don’t worry about setting pressure sensitivity straight out of the box, spend a week or two just using the basic functions and when you’re ready just do a quick Google search on setting up the advanced features. It’s really very simple.

What do I recommend to my students?

The tablet I recommend to my students is the Wacom Intuos Manga, it costs about €120 depending on where you buy.

Wacom Intous Manga for editing photos

It’s just over the size of an A5 page and is light and compact

Wacom Intous Manga is just over half an a4 page in size

It’s thin and slim so easy to carry around in a camera bag or laptop case.

Has quick access buttons to the modify keys like alt, control and shift.

Has quick access buttons to the modify keys like alt, control and shift.

Can be easily upgraded to a wireless device with wireless add on kit.

Can be easily upgraded to a wireless device with wireless add on kit.

If you enjoyed this article have a look at our free downloadable photography magazine Snapshot, for articles, tips, tricks and much more.

Stewart Kenny is a Photographer, educator and photography tour guide living in Dublin, Ireland. When not on the internet pretending to be a blogger, enjoys drinking tea and martial arts and zombie flicks! See more of his work on his photography site here.

March 22, 2015/1 Comment/by stewartkenny

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How to add Metadata to your images in Photoshop

Copyright theft is just a fact of the digital era, with that said, one of the hardest part of copyright theft is finding the infringement in the first place. A lot of the time companies will pay for content, but only if they can contact the author of the image. This alone is a great reason to add metadata to an image but here are some more great reasons.

Embed contact information
Embed copyright information
Add locations
Improve your own image workflow and key wording

Adding metadata sounds much more complicated than it is, and once completed once you can save an .xmp template to apply to your files quickly and efficiently.

While these techniques will not prevent theft of your images, it’s just one more step to protecting your work online, hands down the best way to detect copyright infringement is to use a digital watermarking service like Digimarc, but you will have to pay an annual Subscription fee.

Open Adobe Photoshop

Go to File>File Info

Once the dialog box loads it will be blank and look like this:

All you have to do now is to fill in the boxes, here is what the titles mean:

Document Title: this is name of your image, for online searches you can add a descriptive title such as ” Bantry Bay Seascape” “Acme Award Night” etc or for your own filing it can be as simple as “Johns Wedding”.

Author: Pop your own name in here, this can also be a business name.

Author Title: Type in your role in your job like “Editor”, “Journalist”or just put in “Photographer”

Description: this will help your image be found online by Google images etc, so make this accurate and used words that describe the image well. remember that the first 160 characters are often all a search engine will index so don’t over do it, just make the wording very relevant to the image.

Key wording & Organization

Rating: for your own records and programs like Adobe Bridge and Lightroom, rating an image will help you organize images by rating.

Description Writer: this only applies if your providing a image editing service for someone else. but you can add your own name if you wish.

Keywords: for your own records and programs like Adobe Bridge and Lightroom, but can also be used with certain reverse search engines like Tineye to help you track down stolen images, but often metadata is often stripped out as a mater of course for some sites like Facebook and twitter to save on file space.

Copyright Notices

Copyright Status: this allows you to state if the image is copyrighted, creative commons or just public domain material. for images like digital art etc that use multiple resources that are often creative commons, this will show that your not intending to profit from the work if using creative commons material.

Copyright Notice: this allows you to customize the details and contact for who owns the copyright to the image. to add a copyright symbol © you can either just copy and paste this one or hold down alt key and 0169 and it will appear.

Copyright URL Notice: this can either be just a link to your website or details where someone can get hold of you to talk about using the work, or could be a page on your website laying out your full terms and conditions on image usage and copyright.

Saving a Template

Now that you have completed the titles, copyright etc, you can save a template so you will just have to change the keyword on each image. click the export button on the bottom and save the xmp file, and when you reopen another file to add metadata click Import and select that file again.