Posted by Clyde on 12/30/05 17:35

SpaceGirl wrote:
> Clyde wrote:
>
>> SpaceGirl wrote:
>> <snip>
>>
>>>> Here, let me try explaining to you the S..L..O..W way:
>>>>
>>>> Photoshop - select a box area, hold down CTRL, then move your mouse
>>>> slightly and hope to fuck you don't accidentally move the selection
>>>> out of place in the process.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Pretty much sums it up. What professional uses Photoshop with a
>>> mouse!? Really ends the discussion right there ;) Buy yourself a
>>> graphics tablet for gods sake :P
>>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> Professional what? I'm a professional photographer and I use a mouse
>> with Photoshop. I used to have a Wacom tablet and used it for years.
>> Everyone said that was the way to go. "All the pros do it that way."
>> Well, not necessarily.
>>
>> Years ago in college, I took a class in drawing. The mutual conclusion
>> that my teacher and I came to was "stick to photography". i.e. I have
>> the eye and the creativity, but not the hand for art.
>>
>> Guess what, tablets take that same hand skill. I kept frustrating
>> myself. For example, I would hit a spot using the Healing Brush or
>> Rubber Stamp and get a different result every time. That had to do
>> with the pressure sensitive feature of tablets. My hand couldn't get
>> just exactly the right amount of pressure consistently.
>>
>> With a mouse I automatically got the same hit every time. I just keep
>> my left hand on the [ & ] keys to quickly adjust the size of the brush.
>>
>> Since I only edit photographs and never "draw" or "paint" in
>> Photoshop, I don't need the pressure sensitive feature of a tablet. As
>> this is the big reason to use a tablet, I have found that a mouse
>> works better for me. So, I sold my tablet and lived happily ever after.
>>
>> I'm sure that most professional Photoshop users have artistic hands
>> and would find that tablets work better for them, not all of us. Once
>> again, broad, sweeping statements that declare universitality are
>> proven wrong.
>>
>> Clyde
>
>
> Okay. Well the ones *I* know - but that's not representative of the
> entire industry for sure. You dont need artistic skills to use a tablet
> - all you are doing is tracing (mostly) when you are editing photos.
> Once you have spent a day with a tablet you never look back - it's so
> much faster and more accurate. How can you do things like pressure
> without one? Well you cant, so right away you're massively reducing the
> tools available in PhotoShop to help you do your job.
>
> On the other hand I know lots of webby people who dont use a tablet, but
> they tend not to use PhotoShop quite so much.
>
> We dont do artworking here beyond graphics for web sites, or to be
> incorporated into multimedia - essentially most of what we do is
> retouching of promotional shots, gig photos etc - and for that I cannot
> imagine not using a tablet. I'm no artist!
>

Funny. It looks like you didn't read my message. One thing I said was
that I don't do anything that requires pressure sensitivity. That's why
I don't need a tablet. So you are right, you can't do pressure without a
tablet, but it's irrelivant for me.

It does reduce one tool (not massively) in Photoshop. Then again, I'm
not using all the tools in Photoshop anyway. There are lots of drawing
and painting tools that aren't important to my photo editing.

Tracing "when you are editing photos"?!? What are you doing tracing? I
don't trace anything when I'm editing photos. It would seem that
"retouching of promotional shots, gig photos etc" wouldn't require
tracing. The only reason I can think to do tracing is in manually
creating masks. However, that is the slowest and most painful way to
make masks. There are many better ways to make masks.

If you are doing a lot of tracing, a tablet would be a useful tool. I
don't do tracing or need pressure sensitivity. Therefore, I have no use
for a tablet.

Clyde

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