how do you take screenshot of dramas in HD? did you use some software or what? can you tell me steps to edit picture like your dp and how to make gifs? if you're okay and free to explain it now to me! its okay if you dont want to
The HD part all depends on the quality of the video, which should be as high as possible, usually 720p or 1080p. I mainly download my dramas from tosarang or some similar site; for direct downloads, I use doramax265, but that has a lot of pop-ups. You can pretty much google “[insert name of drama] download” and find it somewhere. Right now, I’m using the Daum PotPlayer to watch everything. I suggest googling how to do stuff with the player because I’m still learning, and there are guides everywhere. But, at the very simplest, ctrl + E takes a single screenshot.
In Windows 10, you can also use the Windows button + prt scr, which I do if I’m taking single screenshots from DramaFever for a picspam like this one: http://arangs.tumblr.com/post/149405768784
(I generally don’t download cdramas and twdramas because they are usually hardsubbed in Mandarin when you download them. Also, they’re harder to find, and I can’t read Chinese at all. I can’t read Japanese either, but they’re still easier to find.)
I kind of explained how to use VLC to take screenshots here: http://arangs.tumblr.com/post/137908577909/how-do-you-gif-mkv-videos
editing for screenshots: http://arangs.tumblr.com/post/135606465174/can-you-tell-use-how-you-edit-your-screen-caps
to make gifs, @banghae explains it very well here, using the Daum PotPlayer: http://banghae.tumblr.com/post/132675106412/can-you-show-me-how-to-create-these-amazing-gifs
Over time, you figure out your own ways to do things, but it’s certainly helpful to go off of others’ advice and experiences. There are lots of tumblrs specifically for Photoshop advice and tips, so if you just google how to do stuff in the future, you’ll find a whole lot of great advice!
I have a question do you use VLC player for gifs? sorry I was reading through your faq/help tag and found about the player. Is it more helpful than photoshop, cause I know the recently my gifs have been coming out really grainy and unclear. but I guess that could be because of low quality video
Now I’m using the Daum PotPlayer, although I can use VLC. You have to use both the video player and Photoshop. I explain how I use VLC here. And @banghae explains very thoroughly how to use the Daum player here. Since I’ve used both, I have to say the Daum player is better for making gifs. All of my sets since this one have been made with screencaps from that one, and I can tell the difference.
As for graininess, that all depends on the quality of the video. Or, it could be if you’re making it too sharp/not sharp enough (gifs always look better before you upload them to tumblr because tumblr makes them grainier :/ ). I’d suggest just googling some PSDs or PSD tutorials on tumblr if you need help with that. But, like I said, it could be because of video quality, as well.
The same way I gif any video. You have to download the video, whether it’s by using a torrent or downloading the video directly using a video-downloader site (you can find a bunch just by googling). Then, once you have the video, play it in whatever video player you use. I mostly use the VLC player, but I also have the KMPlayer if I need to use it.
There are a couple ways of getting the frames from the video that I know of. With VLC, what I do is just take a whole bunch of screenshots in succession. You can set whatever key you want to use to take screenshots (I use Enter), and then just hold it down through the part you want to gif. Another way is to record a certain section. But I’ve had trouble with that way in the past and haven’t really used it. Then what I do is load the screenshots into a stack (under ‘File,’ then ‘Scripts,’ then ‘Load Files into Stack’).
Does that answer your question? If you want to know specifically how to gif something, there are tons of tutorials on tumblr you can find just by googling. I’m sure they would be much more informative than I could be because I’ve just been figuring things out as I go and looking up tutorials myself.
An anon asked me to make a step-by-step tutorial on how I make my icons, and you’ll find it under the cut :)
So, usually I’ll start out with a screenshot because most of the icons I make are from kdramas. After taking the screenshot, I open it in Photoshop, crop it so that it’s a square, and then I resize it to 300x300 (or smaller if I have to), like so:
Sometimes I’ll use auto tone to prevent any coloring issues that would come up later on. There are two ways to do that: first, make sure that the image is selected (it should look something like this x) (1) under the Image tab, select ‘Auto Tone’ or (2) use the shortcut, Shift+Ctrl+L (on a PC). That makes the image look like this:
Then I add a psd. I use one that I’ve downloaded and modified a lot and have different versions of. I can’t upload any of them because it’s technically not originally mine. I believe it’s by @bo9um, but I can’t find the original post.
(I opened Group 1 so you can get an idea of what goes into this one.)
Make sure the group (whatever it’s named) or whatever you want to move is selected. Then click anywhere in the dark gray area or on the image of the psd and drag it over to the tab where your icon is. Drop the psd into the gray area or onto the icon in its tab. The gray area should be highlighted with a border. The icon will then look like this:
This one fortunately worked out well, but if it doesn’t--if it’s too bright or dark or anything--just edit the psd until you like how it looks. You can change the fill and opacity, in addition the different settings within each layer. This part is just a matter or trial and error until you get it right, so I can’t help you with that specific part.
Now, there are several ways I can take this icon. I’ll start with the simplest and work my way to the hardest.
The first way is simple. Just save it as it is. Easy-peasy.
Now, the next way is to make the background blurrier than the subject of the icon. To do that, select the background like x, right-click, and choose the second option, ‘Duplicate Layer.’ That will give you this thing x. Choose ‘OK.’ Deselect the background image and make sure the background copy is highlighted, like this x.
Now you get to use the eraser, which is over here x. You can choose the size, opacity, and other stuff up here x. Erase the subject, and it should look something like this:
Then, under ‘Filter,’ go to ‘Blur,’ and choose ‘Gaussian Blur.’ I use these settings x. Then check the box for the background image over on the right side so you can see the subject with the blurred area around them, like this:
You can also save it as it is here, or you can edit further. I’ll add a gradient to spice it up a bit. With the eye dropper tool x, I’ll usually select whichever color in the image I think would work well, or I just pick some other color (See those boxes, the purple and yellow ones? If you select the purple one, you can choose your own color. But I think the purple would actually do well with this image, so I’ll just stick with that one.
Under ‘Layer,’ go to ‘New Fill Layer,’ and then ‘Gradient...’ Select ‘OK’ when the menu thing comes up. You’ll get this confusing-looking thing:
Play around with the circle thing until you’re happy with the direction (you can always change this later by double-clicking the picture of the gradient over on the right). And I always select ‘dither.’ I don’t know what it does, but I always pick it. These are the settings I’ll use:
Select ‘OK,’ and you’ll be left with the image with all the purple on it, which doesn’t look all that good. I then edit the opacity and fill settings of the gradient layer until I’m happy with the result x. Those settings give me this:
(without the gradient)
(with the gradient)
Then you can save it. You can have the gradient showing more or less. I don’t like my gradients to overtake the image, but to each their own.
(You can also add the gradient without adding the blur. Just play around with it and see what you like.)
ANOTHER route you can take is a color fill (aka the bane of our existence which sometimes looks really nice). So, going back to a long time ago when I first dragged the psd over, and we have this image again:
Now, under ‘Layer,’ go to ‘New Fill Layer,’ and choose ‘Solid Color...’ A menu will show up. Choose ‘OK.’ Here, you can either choose a new color or go with whichever one is already in that box on the bottom left. Here are the settings I have with the purple without changing anything:
After playing around with it a bit, I got this:
Choose ‘OK.’ Now you’re left with a salmon-y colored square. What are you supposed to do with that, you ask? Remember how earlier I talked about changing the opacity? I’ll do that again here, like this x.
Choose the eraser tool again, like earlier with the blur. If you hover over the icon, it’ll take the form of a circle with a line going through it. Click the image, and you’ll get a warning about rasterizing the fill. Click ‘OK.’ (Make sure the color fill layer is highlighted over on the right.) Now you can erase out the image, leaving the background colored with the fill. This part could take a while or it could go smoothly. It all depends. (Another option is using the brush tool instead; just use whatever you’re comfortable with. For me, it varies from image to image. Usually, I end up having to use both.)
So, I’ve erased Han Ye Seul (that’s who this person is, by the way--I got the ask when I was watching Madame Antoine) out of the color fill. Now I change the opacity back to 100% to see how I’ve done--sometimes, I do well; other times...
Okay, so this isn’t too bad:
But you’ll notice that you can see some of the background on the outside of her head/hair. To fix those spots, I use the brush tool that I mentioned earlier x. This tool is similar to the eraser tool in that you can change the size and everything up at the top. To fix the areas where I erased too much, I just use the brush tool to fill it in (it should already have the color of the color fill; if it doesn’t for some reason just use the eye dropper tool on the fill). Make sure the color fill is still highlighted over on the right and not the background. The brush will still do its job, but if you decide after the fact that you don’t want a color fill after all, if you use the brush tool on the color fill, you can just get rid of the color fill and whatever you’ve done with the brush by either deselecting or completely deleting the color fill layer.
You may also notice that you still need to erase some areas. That’s okay, as long as the color fill is still highlighted on the right.
So, at this point, I'll use the hard round brush tip (it’ll tell you what it’s called if you hover over the choices) thing under the dropdown menu at the top if I want a cleaner edge, which will give me this:
If I want a ‘fuzzier’ edge, I’ll use the soft round brush head that kind of looks like it’s glowing. If I use that brush head, it’ll be easier to cover imperfections because it’s not as exact--it’s also easier when it comes to dealing with hair, which can really be a pain (sometimes I have to change the opacity of the brush/eraser just to get the hair in the image the way I want). That brush head will give me a result like this:
There are other ways to get this result, but I think this way is the easiest for me. I think doing it this way makes the image look softer and not as sharp. It all depends on how I want the icon to look.
After this point, you can save it like it is.
Or you can add a gradient. When I have a color fill, I usually use the same color for the gradient that I used for the color fill. To do that, just follow the instructions I gave for the gradients earlier in this post. I used these settings: x for the gradient and x for the opacity and fill.
Here is the final result:
Personally, I like this last icon the best, so I’ll save it as a .jpeg and add it to my icons page here x.
I hope all of this makes sense, and good luck making your own icons!!
can you tell us how you make your content? Like the source and the editing. It's all very pretty and the quality is great!
Aww, thank you so much!! That makes me feel really great, and it makes all the time I spend on them worth it :)
I almost always download the raw episode as a torrent via either tosarang (public Korean torrent tracker) or avistaz (formerly asiatorrents, a private tracker which you need to register for, and I’m not sure if registration’s open right now or not). I’ve also gotten direct downloads sometimes. Just google the show name and episode number and 720p or 1080p, plus download of course. Then I play them with the VLC player and take screenshots with that (you can set which key you want to use, I use the enter key). For gifs, I sometimes need to slow down the speed of the player to 0.8x or even 0.5x if the scene or part I want to gifs is really short–this is especially true of photoshoots videos because everything is so quick in those (I had to slow down the video for almost all of the gifs in this set). Oh, and that reminds me. For photoshoots and music videos, I download the YouTube videos with keepvid, which is super easy to use and self-explanatory.
As for the editing, for edits and picspams and the like, I either take screenshots or save an hq version of a picture (always greater than or equal to 540px for the width because that’s what tumblr uses). I usually make my own psds. If you use Photoshop, just play around with the layers until you like what you see. The adjustment layers I almost always use are curves (1 or 2 or these), levels, brightness/contrast, possibly a selective color if need be, some gradient, maybe a color fill or two (adjusting the opacity and fill), and sometimes exposure. But you’ll need to account for day vs. night scenes (Twenty Again night scenes are awful to color). You can find a lot of tutorials on tumblr. Right now, I sometimes use a psd I got from somewhere (don’t remember where, sorry) that I’ve modified to suit my tastes. I use Photoshop CC.
For gifs, I do the same thing when it comes to coloring, although typically my edits will look more…realistic? What I mean is that I play around with the color fills more in gifs than I do in my still stuff. For example, here is a gifset I made for She Was Pretty ep. 6. I remember I used a purple color fill on that one (in addition to some other stuff, but that’s what sticks out). And here is a picspam I made for Sassy Go Go ep. 1.
