This shot is roughly 30 layers in CS4 and finished up being 600MB when completed. I used both the 32 and 64 bit versions to create this image. The 32bit version of CS4 works fine in Windows XP64 (now that the Nik Select issue is resolved). The new UI for CS4 is great. It didn’t take me anytime to get up and running. Now, while this particular edit didn’t make use of any of the new wiz-bang features of CS4 I did get to enjoy the new UI and replacement of modal dialogs.
One of the new features they don’t mention online nor in the write-ups is the healing tool. With the new version when you ALT+Click an area to sample as you move the mouse over the area to be fixed you get a preview of the pixel pattern inside the circumference of the brush prior to placing the edit. This is a great new feature especially when you are editing areas that have lines or patterns in them and you want to make sure you place your cursor in the right place. The zooming in and out really is a huge improvement over CS3.
Despite the limitations of OpenGL in WindowsXP64 there is a very noticeable gain in speed when zooming, rotating etc. You do have to experiment with the GPU settings and your individual video card (in XP64) to find the sweet spot of performance but its well worth playing with. As I dive into CS4 more I will write about my experience as well as how the tool is performing and focus on some of the new functionality. As for right now, I am real happy with how this shot turned out and with my investment in CS4.
The original image was shot with my D700 and my 80-400mm f4.5-5.6 lens. ISO 800.
The goal of this shot was to visually depict what it’s like when an athlete is in the ZONE. This Zone is this mystical place where your senses are razor sharp and you isolate all distraction and focus on the play or the game. It’s like moving in slow motion and taking everything in while in reality a split second has elapsed. I had tried this once already, but this is a new effort and focuses on the top of the Heisman list Graham Harrell, the best quarterback in Texas Tech school history if not the country.
In The ZoNe!
As always comments and feedback are greatly appreciated.
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I like this shot. it is cool. Do you think that you could print some pics of me and this one?
That is just sick dude. Awesome Job! I just starting using PSCS4 after using PSCS2 it’s quite different.
[...] May/June issue had arrived. So, I started to flip through it and there it was…. my picture of Graham Harrell of Texas Tech on page 12. I got an entire page for my one image as well as a very nice write [...]