"Tryptch" action in Photoshop. (Help!)

First of all, ... clients sure like those "tryptchs!"

Here is my question.

Does anyone know of a existing action that I can run in Photoshop to easily create a tryptch and to do it "quickly"?
If I have a client on the phone, and they would like to see what a particular image would look like as a tryptch, I now have to get off the phone, divide the pixel dimensions up and blah blah blah which takes time, sometimes to confuse myself in the process too, when I know there has to be a better way to do this that I have yet to figure out!
I would like to do this while the client is on the phone, something that could be done by simply taking the image, clicking on a particular action, boom ........ there it is, send it to the client, and just seconds later, we are discussing that tryptch image over the phone.

Ideas, thoughts anyone?
And, ... I work on Macs.

Any help would really be appreciated with a existing action, or the step by step method of creating one!

Thanks guys!!

Create an Action to do the following.

1. Create a new image.
2. Add the 3 images of the tryptich as layers.
3. Resize the image to 400 pixels high and 266 pixels wide (portrait format and 2:3 aspect ratio assumed).
4. Resize the canvas to 432 pixels high and 830 pixels wide and ensure the background is the color of your choice.
5. Select the layer 2.
6. Select all (CTRL-a).
7. Layer->Align Layers To Selection->Left Edges.
8. Select the layer 3.
9. Layer->Align Layers To Selection->Right Edges.
10. Resize the canvas to 862x432

And this takes a portrait format stack of three 3:2 aspect ratio images and generate a tryptich of them at 400 pixels tall and 266 pixels wide with a uniform 32 pixel mat about them. Rework the numbers to meet your needs.

enjoy,

Sean

Michael,

I understand what a tryptich style painting is, a three panel painting that tells a story. How does this translate to a photograph? How does it differ from a storyboard? Or does it? Could you post an example? I'm such a visual, I sometimes have a very hard time "picturing" a thing in my head until I've seen it.

Thanks friend,

-M-

Martin McLean said:

Michael,

I understand what a tryptich style painting is, a three panel painting that tells a story. How does this translate to a photograph? How does it differ from a storyboard? Or does it? Could you post an example?

Click to expand...

A triptych is any collection of 3 images in a frame/print. A Diptych would be two.


Please note, these are handy snapshots from a scouting trip and not photographs per se as all the good angles involved doing incredibly dangerous navigation of cliffs. Hence I got in a great hike and did not find any good photos.

enjoy,

Sean

Thanks guys!

I will get back in here as soon as I can to talk a bit more about this and check out Sean's action, as some things popped up unexpectedly.
(It's called "married with children!!") (insert shaking head & rolling eyes emoticon here)
Now, ..... where's the Tylenol?

OK, just a fancy (marketable) name for a story board. I would assume, displayed in an over sized frame with custom matte.

I would love to hear anyones ideas on turning this type of picture into a sellable print.

-M-

Hey Mike,

No worries man, I am off to play in the real world of income producing activity for the next 11 hrs. My J-O-B. Envy you your success.

-M-

Martin McLean said:

Michael,

I understand what a tryptich style painting is, a three panel painting that tells a story. How does this translate to a photograph? How does it differ from a storyboard? Or does it? Could you post an example?

Click to expand...

"The Aussie"

This fellow was an Aussie sailor (liveaboard) who was spending some time in Newport. He had a way of talking very earnestly and even angrily (left), pausing to see the listener's reaction (center), then delivering the punch line to what was actually a joke (right). These were taken in the cockpit of his sailboat, a dacron sunshade over the boom provided convenient light diffusion and background.

- DL

Mike,

I did a quick search on Google for 'triptch' 'action' 'photoshop' and came up with the following;http://www.atncentral.com/Zip_Actions/MW_Triptych_Frame_Action_1_2006.atn.zip
http://www.mikedubu.com/MW_Triptych_Frame_Action_1_2006_Vert.atn.zip

I believe both actions are by the same author.

It would appear as though the action prepares a virtual mat with three cutouts beneath which you can resize/crop a single photo or resize three different photos in place one under each cutout.

Sorry guys, ... still running around a lot from yesterday and I have to finish up some things quickly here to put them on the FTP site for someone.

Thanks again everyone, and Sean, ... really appreciate the time for the step by step. Cool!
As I take it though, (have not tried your steps yet), this would apply to using 3 seperate/different images for a tryptch.
I am interested in taking one image, and dividing that image up into 3 frames/sections and to be able to do it quickly for the client.
This image here that I just finished up for a client, I simply divided the pixels up and made the adjustments from there, ... with a touch of eyeballing as the last panel appears to not be equal to the rest, ... but it is close enough for a client to get a idea with the subject.
So, is there a way of taking just "one" image, and dividing it up real quick for that client? The way I am doing it now is way to slow!




Thanks guys, ......... gotta go!

Michael Brown said:

This image here that I just finished up for a client, I simply divided the pixels up and made the adjustments from there, ... with a touch of eyeballing as the last panel appears to not be equal to the rest, ... but it is close enough for a client to get a idea with the subject.
So, is there a way of taking just "one" image, and dividing it up real quick for that client? The way I am doing it now is way to slow!

Click to expand...

Well now, that's nice!

- DL

Thanks Don!

They also wanted it huge.
7' 8" wide, 5' tall.
That's a big'un!

My first thought ,when I saw the picture, was big print. I can only print 13"X19", so I wasn't thinking quite that big.

Is there any way to use the presets on the crop tool. I've not had time to try it, but was thinking, set the crop preset to one third picture size, crop left, save, crop right, save, crop out the middle, and save.

How will these be mounted? Framed? Dry mounted with a wrap? With a wrap the preset crop idea may be the way to go, as you can set the preset to overlap.

Are you doing you own printing? Mounting? Or will you out source the work?

Michael Brown said:

I am interested in taking one image, and dividing that image up into 3 frames/sections and to be able to do it quickly for the client.

Click to expand...

A touch trickier to do, but not impossible.



You can find the Action that did the splitting of the above at my site as there are some additional cropping steps involving subtle clipping of layers to get the sections right. Please note the Action is zipped as I have had past issues with the *.atn extension and web browsers.

enjoy,

Sean

Hi Sean
your link is dead:
http://www.envisagment.com/opf/Frame To Tryptich.zip
even http://www.envisagement.com/opf/Frame%20To%20Tryptich.zip
some spaces in the URL?

Thanks for checking

best

Nicolas Claris said:

your link is dead

Click to expand...

Thanks Nicolas. I already fixed it.

I should note the action assumes a 2x3 aspect ration landscape frame. Actually, slightly off from that as RSE generates extra pixels so you may love a row of vertical pixels.

enjoy,

Sean

Nicolas Claris said:

some spaces in the URL?

Click to expand...

I should note the forum here needs one to use the link button to do URLs with spaces AFAIK.

enjoy,

Sean

So Michael,

I guess we are talking about one print, with three images, from one picture. Not three prints of three images from one picture.

Also, what media are you printing them on? I bought an Epson R 1800, so that I can print off 13X19 on canvas. Hence the mounted with wrap idea.

You have me so hyped with these last few post.

Thanks,

-M-

Martin McLean said:

My first thought ,when I saw the picture, was big print. I can only print 13"X19", so I wasn't thinking quite that big.

Is there any way to use the presets on the crop tool. I've not had time to try it, but was thinking, set the crop preset to one third picture size, crop left, save, crop right, save, crop out the middle, and save.

How will these be mounted? Framed? Dry mounted with a wrap? With a wrap the preset crop idea may be the way to go, as you can set the preset to overlap.

Are you doing you own printing? Mounting? Or will you out source the work?

Click to expand...

Yes Martin, ... it's a huge print!

I do sometimes set the preset numbers in the crop tool to 33% or so and do it that way, ... but still it is slow when saving each one and putting them onto another layer, lining them up, blah blah blah. A pain!

This image is now being printed by a printer up in New York. The art buyer that I work with has a printer that she has been working with for years and they do great work for her and the various clients she deals with.
It will be mounted on canvas.

Still, from the different methods mentioned so far in this thread, ... there's got to be a better and much faster way of doing this. Yep, ..... still a pain!
The zip action file I can't work with unfortunately.

Think I will have to crank up my son's PC and try that zip file on their system Sean.
Thanks buddy!

This thread is timely for me as I saw some work in Boston this weekend (in the Banana Republic store on Newbury St., of all places) that got me thinking about just this sort of thing. There was a wonderful B&W shot of a river bridge done as a triptych. But this one appeared to me to be three shots, roughly "stitched" by eye, rather than one shot divided. They were framed separately in very narrow black frames without mats (I think) and mounted right up against each other. It was very effective. The prints (which were silver gelatin) had some "virtual mat" or simply reveal around them though; perhaps they were large contact prints? Not sure.

I was thinking of trying the same sort of thing with handheld or tripod-aligned shots, printed at 16x20 or 16x24 on my Epson 4800, framed and mounted side by side.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

Michael Brown said:

They also wanted it huge. 7' 8" wide, 5' tall. That's a big'un!

Click to expand...

Hi Michael,

Congratulations on your project. I love your work. I visit Nature through your website.

Might you share with us the light, EXIF details, achieving the blur and how and why you chose a particular methodology for enlarging.

Also what is the final printing choice, paper, mounting and framing.

A lot of questions, but your picture is wonderful and the project exemplary for everyone!

Asher

Thanks for the info Mike. With my Epson R 1800, I can print three 13X19 canvans, for a 19X50 +/- triptych. Guess I need to get shooting.

BTW; Loving your new stuff.

Nill Toulme said:

This thread is timely for me as I saw some work in Boston this weekend (in the Banana Republic store on Newbury St., of all places) that got me thinking about just this sort of thing. There was a wonderful B&W shot of a river bridge done as a triptych. But this one appeared to me to be three shots, roughly "stitched" by eye, rather than one shot divided. They were framed separately in very narrow black frames without mats (I think) and mounted right up against each other. It was very effective. The prints (which were silver gelatin) had some "virtual mat" or simply reveal around them though; perhaps they were large contact prints? Not sure.

I was thinking of trying the same sort of thing with handheld or tripod-aligned shots, printed at 16x20 or 16x24 on my Epson 4800, framed and mounted side by side.

Nill

Click to expand...

Nill, I think that probably some of the most intriguing pieces I have seen to date are those versions in black & white and with a black frame. Some were simply stunning!
I recently viewed a huge black & white pano while visiting Atlanta also, which pretty much floored me when I first entered the room.

When you create your version, I certainly would love to see it.
Tryptchs are pretty cool, ..... and appealing!

Asher Kelman said:

Hi Michael,

Congratulations on your project. I love your work. I visit Nature through your website.

Might you share with us the light, EXIF details, achieving the blur and how and why you chose a particular methodology for enlarging.

Also what is the final printing choice, paper, mounting and framing.

A lot of questions, but your picture is wonderful and the project exemplary for everyone!

Asher

Click to expand...

Thanks Asher. Really appreciate the comments!

This shot is with natural light. A bit of a hazy morning with a touch of gray/blue sky.
The art buyer that I am working with mentioned something about their love of "minimalistic" images, which also got me to thinking that this would suit the client's needs if I were to soften things up a bit.
I used the Orton method which enhanced the colors and gave me more of a soft feel to it. The client also mentioned that they wanted something with grass and a blue sky included, ... horizontal. I added a touch of diffused glow with a very light coloring of blue for the sky, and that diffused glow also adds a touch of softness as well. Some levels/curves were used.
I shot this from a distance using a older Canon 75-300mm zoom, shooting right through some grasses.
I often shoot through existing foliage for that soft feel one can achieve.
Surprisingly, from a 6mp camera and at a ISO of 200, there was very minimal noise involved, except for some noticeable color noise in the darker areas.
After they mentioned the size that they wanted to make this print/tryptch, I did get a bit worried over that.
I used Noise Ninja which eliminated some of the noticeable noise in those dark areas, and also used a bit of selective blurring.
I did not worry much about details and interpolating up to that size, since the image was meant to be soft in appearance.
Actually, as far as interpolating the image, the printer in New York told me to simply leave that alone. What they use for interpolating any images would probably be far better than what I would use to do it. They do use RIP. All sharpening would also be done by them.
From what I understand, as of two days ago, they were still trying to decide what type of finish they wanted, so I don't have much of a answer there. A matte type finish at least I would think!

Anyway, the rest of the story.
Canon 75-300mm lens
f5.6 @ 1/500 sec. ISO 200
Exposure - Manual
Tripod, natural light
Photoshop, Noise Ninja
Centered Weighted Average

And, ..... some Advil!

Martin McLean said:

Thanks for the info Mike. With my Epson R 1800, I can print three 13X19 canvans, for a 19X50 +/- triptych. Guess I need to get shooting.

BTW; Loving your new stuff.

Click to expand...

Hey Martin, .......... get shootin' buddy!
Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Michael,

6MP? I love it! An old lens? Better!

BTW what is the "Orton" method. sounds like one could get arrested for it!

I'd get them to print 8x10 samples on different papers before the final print. My feeling is that it might be be really worth exploring a gloss paper in addition.

Wonderful project!

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Michael,
BTW what is the "Orton" method. sounds like one could get arrested for it!

Asher

Click to expand...

Asher, I'll whip up a couple of samples along with the info and post them in the next day or so.