Using Screencaps In Graphics
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are dark shows. By that I mean that the action essentially takes place at night. Therefore, screencaps are often dark. Too dark I find to actually work with. The caps you'll find provided by Freeze Frames aren't generally edited, so here's a few tips to bring a little light to your caps!Keep in mind that I use Photoshop CS (in French), but I think you'll still get the gist of what I'm saying if you use PSP, for example.
If anyone has some other tips they'd like to share, please do!
I never work with my base layer. That way if I go wrong, it's easy to go back. It also allows me to see the difference I'm making by messing around with layers. So my first tip is: duplicate your base layer and work on that one. By doing so, you can always get back to your orginal image.
The easiest thing to do to lighten up a cap is to set the top layer to screen. You can then play around with the opacity. You can also use the curves.
When you reduce the size of caps, they sometimes loose some of their 'crisp'. The sharpen tool comes in pretty useful for that - but take it easy, you don't want to make people look scary.
