Wacom Tablet Magic

Amazing Woodwork - Annapolis Sailboat Show [before]
Kayaks from Chesapeake Light Craft
Boat Builder: Joey Schott
Annapolis, Maryland
http://www.clcboats.com

I've been using Adobe PhotoShop CS3 for some time now. I like using layers, adjusting levels and curves and the ability to correct dust spots, ever present branches in bird photographs and those nagging telephone lines that no amount photographer relocation can eliminate. But for all the power of the software, I often feel limited by my ability to apply techniques with the mouse. I can't refine it's movements well enough to get the results I want. Now don't get me wrong, the mouse is a great tool and I believe I have better than average mouse skills but the mouse isn't always the best tool for a job.

Amazing Woodwork - Annapolis Sailboat Show [after]
Kayaks from Chesapeake Light Craft
Boat Builder: Joey Schott 
Annapolis, Maryland
http://www.clcboats.com

Take a look at the two images at the right. You can see the wicked sun flares on the kayaks. I knew I'd have this problem when I took the shot. I'd forgotten my polarizer but I loved the contrast of the exquisite woodwork and the deep blue sky the moment I saw it. I tried all the PhotoShop tricks I could muster with the mouse to tone down the flares to no avail. My results looked terrible.I needed a better solution. Enter the Wacom Intuous4 Wireless tablet.

My good friend and talented Annapolis artist Bill Tongue has extolled the virtues of Wacom tablets for some time now. The results he gets are amazing. After chatting with Bill a few months back, I finally gathered my pennies and ordered a medium tablet. What a joy! The tablet is about the size of a standard sheet of copier paper but thicker of course. You manipulate it with a pen stylus. The motion is like writing with a pen or pencil as you have done since your first box of crayons. You can click and tap and drag to replicate all the mouse moves and use more drawing-like motions to apply PhotoShop techniques.

So, off I went on my adventure to remove the lens flares from the "before" image. Bill was kind enough to offer a little phone tutoring more PhotoShop than Wacom as I remember and I was off and running. I did have a few setup hitches. See the notes below the images for details. I'd still buy the tablet in a red hot minute. 

Detail of the "before" image with flare

Notice two things about the images shown above. In the first, my efforts to control the sun flares left me with a sickly color palette and yet the flares remained. I played with the Exposure, Recovery, Brightness, and other adjustments to the whole image without success. I applied the same just to the flare areas using brushes and the mouse. It looked terrible. Those flares had to be stamped out! In the end, that's exactly what I did. In the second image, I was able to use the clone tool [thank you coach Bill] with precision due to the Wacom. I removed the unwanted flares by replacing blown out areas with matching sections of the image and could then adjust overall the colors back to those I saw when I captured the shot.

This next image shows the major flare area in detail and the last shows the detail of the final image. If I could do this with a little phone coaching you can too. The tool and it was fun to use. Well... fun except for the bungee cords. That bottom one was a  bear.

Detail of the same area with the flare cloned away

The corrected image was awarded "Resident's Choice" at the Digital Photography Club of Annapolis' exhibition at Ginger Cove - an assisted living facility near Annapolis. That made me very happy to have taken the time to improved the image. The exhibit hangs until December 9, 2011. There are many wonderful photographs that would make super Christmas gifts. All are for sale.


TECHNICAL STUFF

My first attempt at installing the Wacom tablet was a bit frustrating but it wasn't Wacom's fault as it turns out. I was sitting on the sofa with my hubbie relaxing one evening. He was checking email on his laptop, I was installing the Wacom on mine. Both laptops had their radio's enabled. While the tablet installed easily and configured just fine, I kept losing Bluetooth connectivity between the tablet and wireless pen. It was frustrating. After all, I had actually read the directions not just glanced at the pictures as I am known for doing. It turns out I was just too close to another radio source - hubbie's laptop. There was a conflict. Like all computer problems, it seems easy enough once solved but will drive you nuts in the mean time.

And... nuts is where I am now. My second frustration emerged this week when I discovered that my HP Officejet Pro L7680 would no longer scan. It was working fine... hummm...now how long ago WAS that? Did I test it after installing the Wacom? No, I didn't think to do that; the L7680 printed without a hitch. Well it seems there is a conflict between the Twain driver for the HP scanner and the driver for the Wacom. I had no idea the two were linked until today. For almost a week, I've been combing the Internet and uninstalling, downloading, installing, booting, rebooting, etc. to repair the printer. The PRINTER isn't broken. The tablet driver is. I finally found an Indian tech board that discusses the problem. ( No! the continent of India, southern hemisphere... You'd think the HP forums here in the states would cover the problem wouldn't you? ) See: http://forums.techarena.in/vista-hardware-devices/859186.htm. I've downloaded the latest Wacom driver that may help. I betting at least one more cycle of uninstall, reboot, install, reboot is in my future. Is it too much to want a tablet and an all-in-one printer at the same time? I guess so for now. But, I'll say it again, I'd still buy the tablet again in a red hot minute -- a red hot, New York minute.

Cheers!

12/5/2011 -  After installing the new Wacom driver, the tablet continues to work and I can get the L7680 to scan to a flash drive inserted at the printer but I still can't get the HP software to work again while the Wacom tablet is installed.  Which means that I can't save scans from the printer to the PC or use the software adjustments offered in the HP application. This is a pain but better than no scans at all.

Please visit my Photostream at http://flickr.com/lbricephoto