Photography - RevuAIR

Grumman F-14A Tomcat (I)

By fStop Fitzgerald | 27 May 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

http://bridgewaterfire.com/news/page/1/ http://stephanepereira.com/blog/wp-content/index.php Part I

Norman Polmar’s contribution to his Historic Aircraft series in the April 2012 issue of Naval History was one of his most ambitious. It covered three pages instead of the usual two and featured two of my illustrations. Could the F-14 Tomcat deserve anything less?

It also was the perhaps the most complex project for me because there is so much information available about the Tom. There was so much to work with that the first difficult aspect of the project was selecting a base drawing to work from. In the end, it turned out to be base drawings. I ended up with 15 folders of work that included nearly 40 base drawings and hundreds of photographs.

These are a few of my reference drawings.

I think the Japanese do some of the best line work and drew primarily on Famous Aircraft of the World Volume 83 of March 1977 and Volume 89 of September 1977. The Russians also do good work. I used a couple of their books as well. I’ve never been impressed by Kinzey’s work, most of his drawings are little detailed, but I did have his F-14 In Detail & Scale, as well as all the usual offering by Squadron Signal for generic information. Danny Coremans’s Uncovering the Grumman F-14 A/B/D Tomcat is a fantastic picture book that provides a wealth of detail information. Cannot recommend it highly enough.

Because again of time, I opted for 2D. This was a lot of fun because it forced me to work with the interaction of compound curves and light. Still not a master but the end results are acceptable.

Part II to come.

Use Photoshop? This is a Must Have . . .

By fStop Fitzgerald | 21 May 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Adobe Photoshop CS6 on Demand

by Steve Johnson

Perspection, Inc.,

Those of us who have used Photoshop for more days than we care to count tend to forget that once upon a time we were newbies to the program. While the CS6 version may be new to us, we bring a whole lot from the 12 previous iterations to the light table. Can any of us imagine what CS6 looks like to a first-time user? It has to be something approaching overwhelming. That said, there is a new book on the market that can address the needs of both ends of the Photoshop user spectrum and everyone in between.

Que Publishing’s Adobe Photoshop CS6 on Demand, by Steve Johnson of Perspection, Inc., is two things: It is the book that I’ve needed since Photoshop and I crossed paths in 1995. It is also the book that Adobe needs to package with the program.

This is not a traditional training manual in the sense of “select this,” “click that,” “drag here,” etc. While it is basically an explainer for each of the program’s many tools, it is much more. This is pointed out in the introduction; “You don’t have to read this book in any particular order.” It was designed for the user to “jump in,” get the needed information, and “jump out.”

Tools, or tasks, are on no more than two facing pages, accessed from the very detailed 11-page table of contents. The pages themselves are graphically not only pleasing, but utilitarian. The user will not fall asleep reading this text. The eye gravitates—after a little use of the book—where it needs to go. For each task, there are step-by-step instructions in the left column with corresponding illustrations in the right. These are supported by real-world examples.

Example files are available at a proprietary web site. Two files are provided for each example, a “start” file and a result. The user compares his results to that provided. Similarly, more intensive Workshop projects also feature start, result, and associated files that can be accessed on the web. The book can also be used as a training basis for Adobe certification. Specific tasks have been highlighted, which once mastered, will help the user to meet requirements for the two exams.

For the not-so-new to Photoshop user the additions to CS6 from CS5 are highlighted throughout with a “New!” icon. That will not prevent those users from learning more about their commonly used tools than they ever knew and investigating those that never seemed of much interest, utility, or confusing. I know that this book has expanded my personal tool kit.

This is a must-have book in any Photoshop user’s library.

Reviewed June 2012

(In the interest of full disclosure, Cue Publishing provided this reviewer a review copy of the book.)