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Home: Video University Forums: Adobe Photoshop for Video:
Using screen grabs for cover design

Bill Kinkle
Enthusiast

Feb 18, 2006, 2:50 PM

Post #1 of 7 (2338 views)
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Using screen grabs for cover design	Can't Post

Hi guys and gals,

I have a few questions for those of you that use screen grabs for dvd cover design. I am an extreme novice with PS and I am not sure if there might be a better way to pull stills off of dv footage to use. I currently just export as a tiff and bring it into ps and apply a de-interlace filter to it. The images often look pixelated and just poor. Is there anything I can do to get the most out of my screen grabs? Thanks in advance.

adtr
Veteran

Feb 18, 2006, 3:32 PM

Post #2 of 7 (2335 views)
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Re: [Bill Kinkle] Using screen grabs for cover design [In reply to]	Can't Post

Choose your frame with care. In ps duplicate the layer. Deinterlace each layer with alternate fields. Experiment with the blending and opacity of the top layer. Experiment with the different ways of sharpening. Don't forget to check the channels for noise. I find that blue on dv is usually the worst culprit. The green channel is supposed to be the best for detail. Go HDV Wink

CS2 is very good for noise removal and sharpening.

Colvin Eccleston
manchesterweddingstudio.co.uk

Bill Kinkle
Enthusiast

Feb 18, 2006, 5:37 PM

Post #3 of 7 (2331 views)
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Re: [adtr] Using screen grabs for cover design [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks, I really need to take a PS course. This program has intimidated me for too long.

TimK
User

Feb 19, 2006, 10:23 AM

Post #4 of 7 (2317 views)
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Re: [Bill Kinkle] Using screen grabs for cover design [In reply to]	Can't Post

Don't deinterlace the entire image. Go to each individual channel as mentioned already, but then use the marquee tool to select only the areas that need to be deinterlaced before applying the filter.

You won't be able to really make a frame grab of SD look good enough to fill a DVD cover because the resolution is not high enough. Some options would be:
Use a program like Genuine Fractals or Redhawk Vision to get better grabs (still not the best choice)
Use a still camera to take your own cover photos
Get a couple photos from the photog
Use high res graphics as the background and use the frame grabs in your design at a smaller size

adtr
Veteran

Feb 19, 2006, 10:31 AM

Post #5 of 7 (2316 views)
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Re: [Bill Kinkle] Using screen grabs for cover design [In reply to]	Can't Post

The classroom in a book is very good but gets outdated quickly when the version changes. The Total Training vids are fantastic and Russell Brown's site is good too.

Colvin Eccleston
manchesterweddingstudio.co.uk

videobear
Veteran

Feb 21, 2006, 5:01 PM

Post #6 of 7 (2246 views)
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Re: [Bill Kinkle] Using screen grabs for cover design [In reply to]	Can't Post

Don't blow 'em up too big. That image is only 720x480 pixels; anything much larger than about 3x5 will start to show the pixels.

Regards,
Doug Graham
Panda Productions

AndrewMSV
Veteran

Feb 21, 2006, 6:13 PM

Post #7 of 7 (2242 views)
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Re: [Bill Kinkle] Using screen grabs for cover design [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi Bill,

I posted a solution for this on another post. You can find it by clicking here.

Cheers!

Andrew
m o r n i n g__s t a r__v i d e o g r a p h y
sf chapter, vu california crew
I think we should turn that whole region into one shiny piece of radioactive glass. - CartoonChris