http://www.soaphoto.com/photogallery/academy/index.asp en-us ID: tidev F: 27 S: 3 ISO: 100
Every time I show someone photos I have taken of streams or waterfalls they immediately ask how I was able to make the water look "silky" while everything else is in crisp detail. I usually tell them I just got lucky! Well, sometimes luck does have a lot to do with it. I'm not a pro at this. But, someone was nice enough to tell me how they did it. I've had some success with it. Now, I'll share it. You'll need a camera that you can add lens filters to. You will need a Neutral Density (ND) filter. There are different types of ND filters. I happen to use a ND8 filter made by Hoya. This will act much like sunglasses for the lens, allowing longer exposures without letting too much light into the camera. Even with the neutral density filter, you can still get too much light coming in. I recommend shooting before about 10 in the morning or after 3:00 in the afternoon and not allowing much or any sky in the shot. There is usually less breeze at these times, also. I don't want leaves or tall grasses blowing around when I have a 3 or 4 second exposure. I DEFINITELY prefer overcast days to shoot. That reduces the light, hard shadows, and especially the glare from the sun on the water. Any glare will be really white and washed out after a long exposure. Try to avoid that. You'll obviously need a tripod. Choose your location and compose the shot. Get as close to the water as you can. The beauty of digital photography is that you can easily try different settings for this and get what you want by trial and error. At least that is my way of doing it. On manual setting, choose an exposure of at least 1 second. I have used as long as 4 or 5 seconds on waterfalls. It will vary depending on the speed of the water, lighting, volume of water, etc. I like wide shots, so I use an aperture setting that gives me the most depth of field. Experiment with close-up shots of water for interesting images. You don't want anything moving other than the water, so use a remote shutter control or put the camera on self-timer (that's what I do). You can get great effects even on the smallest waterfalls or streams. I actually avoid waterfalls that have huge amounts of water and streams that have lots of rapids, because that creates a lot of whitewater that will only show as a white overexposed blob after a long exposure. With these basic pointers, and lots of experimenting, you can get some terrific shots that most people only see in coffee table books. Have fun! I'll be glad to answer any questions you may still have. The shot shown here is in my December gallery.]]> ID: hayes077 F: 4 S: 1/2000 ISO: 200
welcome to SOA's experience tips section. today i will be giving a virtual class on how to correct the phenomena knows as "keystoning" if you are not willing to learn, then you can stop reading at this time. (sorry about the long intro, SOA said i needed at least 1000 characters)..... this is the method i use to correct keystoning (when buildings appear to be leaning backwards) this works in CS2, but im not sure if it works in any other programs. first, open the picture that needs to be fixed. grab the bottom right corner of the pictures window and drag it so the window is bigger than the pic. next press control A to select the picture and then press control T to use free transform. click and grab the dot in the center of the pic and drag it to the center of the bottom of the picture. now you can grab any corner of the picture and drag it till the keystoning is fixed. after that you will need to crop the picture. it sounds complicated, but its very easy and only takes a minute.]]> ID: hayes077 F: 6.7 S: 1/30 ISO: 200
as per special request from lmichelleb, this is my experience tip on partial color. all of my more recent submissions in my aa gallery and contest gallery have been in partial color. they arent quite black and white, but they are not quite color either. its very easy to do, but it takes alot of playing around to get it how you want it. first, open the pic in photoshop (this trick should work in all types of photoshop). look in the bottom right corner of the screen and find the half black and half white circle (adjustment layer icon) when you click on the adjustment layer icon, it will bring up a list of adjustment layers. the great thing about adjustment layers is that you can do anything you want and you can go back and adjust it at anytime. choose an adjustment tool to turn your pic black and white. i typically use the gradiant map (your paint color must be black and your background color must be white to use the gradiant map to convert to black and white) another one of my favorites is the channel mixer. when you click on the channel mixer adjustment tool, a dialog box opens. click on the MONOCROME check box, then play with the red, green, and blue sliders till you get the contrast you want. next, click on the new layer you have created (gradiant or channel mixer layer) if you click directly on the thumbnail for the adjustment layer, it will let you readjust the settings you just entered. if you click to the right of the thumbnail, you can then slide the opacity slider to get a good ballance between color and black and white. i also usually add a dark brown gradiant map as well as a black gradiant map, and i adjust the opacity on both till i get a sepia/black and white/color mix. after you flatten the image, you can create a curves adjustment layer and do a color correction to remove any heavy brown tinting while still keeping the partial sepia look. i will submit a tip on color correction using the curves adjustment layer shortly. if you have any questions, feel free to ask. good luck :)]]> ID: hayes077 F: 9.5 S: 1/100 ISO: 200
this is a very usefull trick, but it doesnt always work on every pic. first of all, you have change the size of your sample tool. first, click on the eyedropper tool. then go towards the top of the screen where it says SAMPLE SIZE. if it says point sample, change it to 3 by 3 average. now we will adjust the curves tool to correct color properly. open any color picture in photoshop. click on the curves tool. double click on the black eyedropper tool in the bottom right corner of the curves window. when the color picker window pops up, put in the following values. R:20 G:20 B:20, then click ok. next, click on the white eyedropper tool. when the color picker window pops up, input the following values R:244, G:244, B:244. then click ok. next click on the grey evey dropper tool. when the color picker window pops up, input the following values. R:133, G:133, B133. then click ok. now your curves tool is calibrated. when you open a picture that you want to do a color correction on, open the pic, click on the adjustment layer icon (white and black circle in the bottom right corner of the screen. click on curves. when the curves window pops up, click on the black eyedropper tool and then click on a black part of the picture. you may loose some black tones, so i usually dont click on anything thats completely black. then click on the white eyedropper tool and click on a white part of the picture. then click on the grey eyedropper tool and click on any part of the picture that is neutral grey. if you dont click on something completely grey, you may end up putting a heavy color cast on the picture, so you just have to play around with it. sometimes the grey eyedropper tool just wont give you what you want if there isnt any neutral grey in the pic.]]> ID: sweetjen34 F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
One cannot emphasize enough the importance of depth of field when shooting nature and landscapes. It can sound complicated but, basically, remember that the more depth of field you want (wanting as much in focus as possible from the closest object to the far distant one), the smaller the aperture, the less depth of field uses a larger aperture. Remember that the aperture is measured in f-stops, and they are fractions, so the smaller apertures have larger numbers. For example F16 is actually a smaller aperture than f4. So, I remember by saying "bigger depth of field, bigger number". See the Alaska Greens shot for an example of a large depth of field. Then, remember when shooting close-up nature shots, do the opposite to blur the background and concentrate attention on your subject. This gives a painterly feeling as a backdrop. Small depth of field, use smaller number on aperture (which is actually a larger aperture). Note the blurred background on the flower shot. Hope this helps!]]> ID: kat123 F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
I love photography, I always wish i could win a contest. But i guess you cant always have everything you ever wanted, I love nature pictures, M y favorite type is a macro of something. I love sunsets too their so relaxing and soft.Pictures are nice to have around, they bring back memories sometimes. For me when i see a picture i always gaze at it for awihle thinking of what i sould think of nexte, they also make me happy and cheerful.Here are my tips for you If you want a clear picture you need to focus and be calm be in a quiet room.If their is too much noise you will loose concentration and sometimes your picture can be blurry.also get a good amount of light,too little light and your picture will be dark, too much light will make your picture too bright. My opinion is to use natural outdoor light its the best you can get! You want something Attention grabbing, not boring.Try taking pictures of something you like best like your favorite food or car to start.I know this isnt much help but im trying too. I love photography, I always wish i could win a contest. But i guess you cant always have everything you ever wanted, I love nature pictures, M y favorite type is a macro of something. I love sunsets too their so relaxing and soft.Pictures are nice to have around, they bring back memories sometimes. For me when i see a picture i always gaze at it for awihle thinking of what i sould think of nexte, they also make me happy and cheerful.Here are my tips for you If you want a clear picture you need to focus and be calm be in a quiet room.If their is too much noise you will loose concentration and sometimes your picture can be blurry.also get a good amount of light,too little light and your picture will be dark, too much light will make your picture too bright. My opinion is to use natural outdoor light its the best you can get! I]]> ID: joefarace F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
Photographing cars is lots of fun and you ca even make a few bucks at it. They come in many sizes, shapes, and colors and each one is interesting to photograph. There are vintage cars with classic lines and strong vertical grilles; street rods have colorful paint schemes and swoopy lines, and sports and foreign cars with styling idiosynchracies and flourishes. All of these cars make great subjects and often gather together in car shows making possible to photograph many of them at the same time. Tip #1: Do not make photographs with the cars hoods—or bonnets if they are British—raised. Many cars like to display the cleanliness or sparkling chrome underneath, but that¡¯s not the best way to photography any vehicle because it breaks up the car¡¯s lines. Since he or she is probably nearby, ask the owner if they would close the hood so you can make a photograph. In exchange, offer them a print of the car. That offer can open many kinds of marketing opportunities. Tip #2: It¡¯s also a good idea to remove show placards such as the identification cards placed on the dash or under the windshield wiper. Ask the owner before touching any part of his or her car! It¡¯s best to have them do it, so ask politely. They want you to make the best possible photograph and this interaction can provide some potential print sales as well as a better photograph. Tip #3: Be sure to make images of parts of cars. Don¡¯t be frustrated by the lack of space and crowded working conditions found at shows. Use that to your advantage by finding small details, such as the delicate nature of a Bugatti¡¯s grille or the sensuous lines of a street rod¡¯s fender and capture them in sharp focus. Tip #4: Get close to the car. Begin by working in close and gradually back off until extraneous non-car details or people appear in the frame. Wide-angle lenses or wide angle zooms let you fill up the frame with part or even the entire car while making sure distractions are eliminated, but make sure your zoom lens allows close focusing. Tip #5: Explore unconventional views of the car. Tilt the camera to provide a dynamic image. The crowds at most car shows—although they are some of the most polite people you will find anywhere—make it almost impossible to use a tripod so I seldom bring one. Tips #6: Dress for success. Dress comfortably and wear the kind of clothing you won¡¯t be afraid to get dirty when trying to get an interesting camera angle. Wear a hat to keep the sun off your head and like the song says, ¡°be sure to wear sunscreen.¡± At the races bring earplugs; bring a couple of pairs and as Emeril says, ¡°make a friend.¡± Tip #7: Get to the races or a car show early to take advantage of the best light and stay late. As cars began to leave, space opens up allowing you to photograph entire cars as well as some of the environment. Tip #8: When photographing cars late in the day, ask the owner to turn on the parking lights to add a subtle glow to the side marker, taillights, and turn signals. Tip #9: Promote your automotive photography by making business or promo cards with photographs of yourself in action or examples of your work. While you have the photographs in digital form, place them on your website. If you don¡¯t already have a website, maybe it¡¯s time you did. Tip #10: Don¡¯t let your automobile photographs look like everybody else¡¯s.]]> ID: welaf F: 11 S: 15 ISO: 100
I have been doing a lot of night shooting lately and have learned a few things along the way. 1. A steady platform/tripod is essential. 2. Decide what you want to take a photograph of. 3. Plan your shot. 4. Know your camera. 5. Take your shot 1. Most night mode settings on cameras have extended exposure time to allow the light to be recorded longer. To prevent blurry/out of focus shots, a steady base should be used. I recently purchased a tripod for about 54$. If you can not afford a tripod a step ladder, car door, or guard rail will suffice. 2. Do you want motion? Do you want a still photo? Do you want headlights/taillights in a beam streaking across the scene? Do you want that florescent sign that is only lit on special occasions? 3. How are you going to achieve your shot? Where are you going to take your shot? When are you going to take the shot? How long do I want the exposure to be? What ISO should I use? What aperture setting should I use? Do i need the flash or artificial lighting?On a recent photo shoot I went to an over pass that had no lighting so I could take long exposures of traffic without interference from any out side source. I set my shutter to sixteen seconds, and my aperture to f11(highest setting camera has). I waited until it was completely dark with no moon. By setting a goal I was able to get the shot that I had imagined. Longer exposure do not require the flash or artificial lighting. I used a flash because i cant turn mine off ( it did not have an effect on the photo). You should also compose your night shots just as you would a day shot. 4. Can my camera take night photos? Can I adjust my camera? If I adjust my camera will I mess it up? Most digital cameras can shoot at night (in night mode) and most cameras are adjustable. If you bought your camera new it should have an instruction book that explains the features. I lost my book but I was able to use the compact disc that also was included with my camera. Spend some time looking at and using each mode so that you are familiar with what your camera can do. I found that if I look at one setting at a time I can practice it until I am ready to look at the next setting. You might find out that your camera has more functions than you need or you might find that you need more settings. 5. After taking your shot/s you might notice there are strange spots on it. I was studying some of my night shots and found these spots. After researching it I found out that pixels can become damaged. These damaged pixels do not show up in daytime shots because the pixels are stuck in the on position. To remove these you merely need to edit them out. Take a shot with the lens cap on as a control shot so you can find the bad pixels. I do not condone editing but if your camera has bad pixels and you cannot afford a new camera then you might have to edit a little. Make sure that noise reduction is on if that is an option on your camera. These are two examples of night shooting. One is intown with lots of light and the other is taken on an overpass ]]> ID: tidev F: 5.6 S: 1/500 ISO: 100
One of my favorite things to shoot is auto and motorcycle racing. I am fortunate to have a world-class road course just a few miles from my house. While some large tracks restrict where fans can go and shoot from, you do not have to be a pro with an enormous and expensive lens to shoot at this track and others like it. Because these often allow you to get fairly close to the action. I do use a Nikon D70 with a Sigma 70-300mm zoom lens, but still puny compared to the pros I come across at the track. The road course has many turns. It is very open and fences are often close to the track, allowing close access for even the amateur photographer. I now often get media access inside the track, which gives me some camera angles that only the pros are able to get. Because of this close proximity to the cars or bikes, I do not always need a longer zoom lens, and not carrying all that extra weight is fine with me! Also, because of the closeness of the track, the cars or bikes zoom by very fast, reaching speeds of 150-200 mph! You must be ready to shoot quickly, and move quickly if anything goes wrong. So, it is good to shoot some pics on the curves where they are slower (and the action often is more dramatic). My favorite type of shot is the panning shot. This is achieved by framing the car or bike in the viewfinder and moving the camera along with it as smoothly as possible, pressing the shutter button at a desired point and following through with that motion much like a batter swinging through a pitch. Many photographers use a monopod to help steady their camera, especially if they have heavier lenses. You can use a fast shutter speed or a slow shutter speed. Either one will give you a blurred background and, if done well, a sharp detailed subject. The slower the shutter speed, the more blur you will get. This gives a very nice sense of speed to the image. Another favorite technique is using a shallow depth of field on curved portions of the track. I focus on a certain point in a curve and wait until a car or bike gets to that point, then shoot using a fast shutter speed. The subject is in sharp focus while other cars or bikes in front or behind it are nicely out of focus. I do not stay in one place very long. I move around the track, getting a variety of shots and angles. After getting what I want during the race, I shoot as many different things as I can...closeups of vehicles, drivers, fans, vendors, etc. to show the flavor and atmosphere of the whole event.]]> ID: sullivan F: 16 S: 1.4 ISO: 100
As a general rule of thumb the full moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. This is very convenient because you can get the moon illuminated by the orange glow of the sun, with its color and size magnified by the atmosphere, low enough to place it near some of your favorite subjects on the ground (such as reflected in your favorite lake or fountain). Turn in any other direction, and you also have the sunrise/sunset itself to shoot, as well as subejcts side-lit by the warm, low-angled light! In practice however the actual moon set and rise times, and how they relate to sunset and sunrise, will depend upon the time of year, your position on the earth, and your position towards the east or west side of your time zone. Fortunately you can simply look up the time for your town. I'll get to that in a moment. First I'd like to point out that you often don't want to shoot on the exact full moon date. The moon's brightness can be too great unless the sun is still lighting the ground with enough intensity. Fortunately the moon rise and set times move a little later each day, so a day or two before the "official" full moon it will be rising while the foregroudn is still lit, or if you have mountains on the horizon it will be high enough to clear than the horizon while the sun sets. Similarly, the day or two after "full moon" is often best for dawn moon set shots, since after the full moon date it remains in the sky above the horizon as the sun rises and lights the scene. For example, in November where I live the sun is rising around 7am and setting around 4:46 (it changes a minute or so each day), so the November 24 moon rise at 4:24pm should be lit by the setting sun. Also that morning's moon set at 7195am will be right after the rising sun has started to light up the landscape around 7am. Here are examples of the rise and set times (in 24 hour military time) for October, November and December, with the link you can use to look up times for your location (assuming no mountains on your horizon of course): http://aa.usno.navy.mil/ SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA Rise and Set for the Moon for 2007 Pacific Standard Time Oct...............Nov..............Dec. Rise Set Rise Set Rise Set h m h m h m h m h m h m 24 1615 0432 1642 0719 1738 0818 25 1645 0550 1742 0835 1853 0906 26 1721 0710 1851 0941 2005 0943 27 1806 0831 2004 1034 2114 1014 28 1900 0949 2117 1115 2219 1039 If you have a PDA you can program rise and set times in, even months ahead of time, and don't forget to add an alarm 45 to 60 minutes ahead of time to remind you to get to the site 30-45 minutes early to plan and set up for your shots. Shooting tips: Set your camera on manual focus and focus it a little behind the closest object you want in focus (depth fo fiedl only comes a short way forward, longer towards the distance). Use a small aperture if you have a tripod and are taking a wide shot, but if the exposure gets long and your zoomed in on something, remember that the moon is constantly moving and it will blur, so consider widening to f/8 or more (best to bracket f-stop settings and get the shot than to wish the next day that you had done something different). The lighting will change very, very rapidly in the course of a few minutes, so bracket your exposures ligher and darker, and consider using your camera's exposure compensation to darken most shots (you can combine it with automated exposure bracketing in many cameras) so the moon won't be a blurry, washed out mess. Plan ahead to have a foreground subject, a scene that the moon and possibly sunrise/sunset simply adds another dimension to (the moon itself has been done once or twice before). If the exposure range is too great between the bright moon and your darker foreground subjects, you can expose differently for the two and combine the shots later. You used to have to spend a lot of time in Photoshop to combine differently exposed shots, but now specialized "HDR" software will do the work for you automatically (best to use 2 or 3 exposures AT LEAST 1.5 to 2 stops apart in exposure from each other). See the experience tip on HDR and download trial software at HRDsoft.com, but you can do that later as long as you bracket shots and use a steady tripod (and best to use automated exposure bracketing) so multiple exposures will line up and can be automatically processed. Consider trying some shots using fill flash if your subject is within the appropriate range (about 8-20 feet for most cameras). Dawn and dusk are also prime times for using graduated neutral density filters to darken the bright sky and bring out what's on the ground, enabling the camera to see what our eyes can see onsite. If you'll be travelling during the prime full moon days, the equator is 25,000 miles in diameter and completes a revolution in 24 hours, so it's moving at over 1000 miles/hour, so a rough estimate would be that every 100 miles you move east will be a 6 minute earlier change to the rise and set times, and 100 miles west will be 6 mintues later... more or less. You don't want to fumble around in the dark, so don't forget your tripod, flashlight, jacket, hat and gloves, bug repellent in the summer, and maybe a folding chair for long moonlit night or star trail shots. Now go look up the moon rise and set times for your area, and plan ahead to go nail some great shots in the 3-5 great shooting days that the moon gives us each month! Notes: - You don't need a fancy camera... my original example here was a dawn moon set that was cropped from a 5 megapixel compact camera with 4X zoom. - These examples are two shots that I took on two sucessive moonrises... the one in Yosemite Valley the day before the official moon rise (so the moon rose earlier and is higher in the sky while the setting sun is still shining), and the second shot was taken the next night right at sunset at Mono Lake, where I had a much more level horizon compared to where I was taking the shot from.]]> ID: sly100100 F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
As many of you know, you can never be to careful with your photography work. Especially in the digital age it is all to easy for someone to "borrow" your image with out your permission. So putting a copyright on your image is a great idea, and is easy if you make a custom brush to do it. It's like have a stamp with your copyright on it. looks something like this <b>"© Sam Lamp"</b> But typing it out each time and selecting the font can be tedious. Now you can do this in <b>Photoshop CS, CS2 and Elements 4</b>. Will start with <b>Photoshop CS2</b> <b>1</b>. Open a new image by going to File> New. Any size will do, as long as it’s not tiny. Then choose the Type tool from the tool bar or get it by typing T on your keyboard. Click on your image to start typing (this will automatically put your text on a new layer). <b>2</b>. To make the © using a PC, hold down the Alt key and type 0169. On a Mac, press Option + G. Then type in a copyright notice (your name, your company, etc.) as you want it to appear. Pick a font you like -- you’ll be stuck with it. <b>3</b>. Now hide the Background layer. Do this by clicking the eye icon to the left of its name. Make sure your Type layer is still selected (click on it if not). Then select your text: Go to Select > Color Range, move the Fuzziness slider all the way to 200, and click OK. <b>4</b>. Then make your custom brush: Choose Edit > Define Brush Preset. Enter a descriptive name for the brush (like MyCopyright), and click OK. <b>5</b>. To use your new brush, select it. Grab the Brush tool (type B). Then, from the Options bar at the top of your screen, pull down the Brush menu and scroll to the bottom. Select the one you made, and stamp your copyright anywhere you want. <b>Photoshop CS</b> <b>1</b>. Open a new image by going to File> New. Any size will do, as long as it's not tiny. The background contents should be the default, white. Click OK. Set your colors to the default (black in the foreground, white in the background) by typing D on your keyboard. Then choose the Type tool from the tool bar or get it by typing T on your keyboard. Click on your image to start typing (this will automatically put your text on a new layer). <b>2</b>. To make the © using a PC, hold down the Alt key and type 0169. On a Mac, press Option + G. Then type in a copyright notice (your name, your company, etc.) as you want it to appear. Pick a font you like -- you'll be stuck with it. <b>3</b>. Now hide the Background layer. Do this by clicking the eye icon to the left of the Background layer's name on the Layers Palette. Make sure your Type layer is still selected (click on it if not). Then select your text: Go to Select > Color Range, move the Fuzziness slider all the way to 200, and click OK. <b>4</b>. Then make your custom brush: Choose Edit > Define Brush Preset. Enter a descriptive name for the brush (like MyCopyright), and click OK. <b>5</b>. To test your new brush, open an image you'd like to stamp. Grab the Brush tool (type B). Then, from the Options bar at the top of your screen, pull down the Brush menu and scroll to the bottom. The one you just made is the last on your list. Click on it to select it, then click the spot in your image where you want to stamp your copyright. If it's too small to see, increase your brush size. <b>Element 4</b> <b>1</b>. Open a new image by going to File> New Blank File. Choose the Preset Default Photoshop Elements Size. The background contents should also be the default, white. Click OK. Set your colors to the default (black in the foreground, white in the background) by typing D on your keyboard. Then choose the Type tool from the tool bar or get it by typing T on your keyboard. Click on your image to start typing. <b>2</b>. To make the © using a PC, hold down the Alt key and type 0169. On a Mac, press Option + G. Then type in a copyright notice (your name, your company, etc.) as you want it to appear. Pick a font you like -- you'll be stuck with it. <b>3</b>. Click anywhere on your image (other than on the type, that is) to get out of typing mode. <b>4</b>. Then make your custom brush: Choose Edit > Define Brush. Enter a descriptive name for the brush (like MyCopyright), and click OK. <b>5</b>. From the Options bar at the top of your screen, pull down the Brush menu (it's the down arrow next to the wavy line that shows what kind of brush you're currently using) and scroll to the bottom. The copyright brush you just made is the last on your list. Click on it to select it. <b>6</b>. To test your new brush, open an image you'd like to stamp. Grab the Brush tool (type B). then click the spot in your image where you want to stamp your copyright. If it's too small to see, increase your brush size.]]> ID: sly100100 F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
This is such a great technique and so easy to do. It takes only minutes and I thnk it can make almost any picture great. The Picture on the left is before "ortonizing" and the one on the right is after. The Orton effect is a photographic technique developed by Micheal Orton. Basically he took two pictures one out of focus and over exposed and one in focus and exposed correctly and then using slides placed them ontop of each other to get a wonderful dreamy effect. As you can see from my before and after pictures it really makes a huge difference on the impact of the photograph. I have always loved this picture and now I love it even more. The fact that we now have digital photography to make everything easier only makes this a 10 minute project! You can use a single photograph for this tutorial. You'll need a program such as photoshop or photoshop elements, something that uses layers. As I have said before you can get a trial version of both elements and photoshop from there site HERE. Heres the steps I did. 1. Open up your picture 2. create 2 duplicates of the background image by right clicking on the layer and selecting duplicate. 3. Name one of the new layers "sharp" by double clicking on the layer until the words are highlighted. 4. Name the other duplicate "sharp copy" . 5. with the "sharp copy" layer highlighted change the "blending mode" to "screen". It's a little drop down menu right above the layers. 6. Now right click on the image "sharp copy" and select "merge down" 7. Now duplicate the "sharp" layer and rename it "out of focus" 8. On the Filter Menu, choose Blur - Gaussian Blur I chose 15.5 for mine. but you can pick what works for your image. remember your going to merge this later so you want it out of focus. 9. With the "out of focus layer" selected changing the "blending mode" to "multiply" 10. You can adjust the opacity of the "out of focus" layer if you want to for your image. Basically thats it I suggest saving both in jpg and psd so you can go back to it latter if you want and make more adjustments. Just to recap you are going to make a total of three duplicates. One "sharp", One "Sharp copy" and one "out of focus" Once you try this you will get hooked trust me! :) Any questions let me know and I'll try to help. ]]> ID: architect F: 8 S: 1/100 ISO: 50
Hayes did a lovger version of this in the forum. Hayes did not use the term Dummies though. I hope he forgives me for stealing his educational article, but it was very helpful for me. Also check out “HDR, what is it and why should you care”, by sly100100. The purpose of this is to resolve high contrast situations, such as a bright sky with cloud detail, and a darker foreground with scenic detail. This can be done with two photos with different exposures taken on a tripod, or what I do is take one photo in RAW, metering for the bright areas, then process one file optimizing the highs, and one file optimizing the lows. 1. Open both images in Photoshop, click on the image you want to resize. click on IMAGE, then IMAGE SIZE. If you used my method, the photos are already the same size. 2. Make sure the image CONSTRAIN PROPORTIONS box is marked. change the pixel size to make the second picture what ever size you want. you will just have to play with it to get it where you want it, once you put the images together, you wont be able to change the two images independently. 3. Click on the move tool, then drag one image onto the other. 4. Go to LAYER then click LAYER MASK and then click on REVEAL ALL. 5. Select a paint brush. make sure you use a airbrush with a soft edge and a large size. also make sure that the opacity is at 100%, then click on the white layer mask thumbnail in the bottom right corner. 6. Click on the color palate and choose the color black. make sure you do this AFTER you click on the layer mask thumbnail, not before. 7. Make sure the layer mask thumbnail is selected and start painting over the top picture. everywhere you paint will bring the bottom layer through. if you get black paint on your pic, that’s because your layermask thumbnail is not selected. if you make a mistake, change your paintbrush color to white and paint over it to bring the top layer back through. 8. Select the zoom tool and zoom in and use a smaller brush to get smaller details and edges. you can click on the brush size icon to change the brush size. you can also click on the brush palate tab in the upper right corner to choose a different brush, use a small brush while zoomed way in to get extra close to the edges. 9. When you’re done, use LAYER and FLATTEN IMAGE, save your pic and be sure to save it as a jpeg. if you need to take a break, you can save it as a Photoshop document and go back and finish it later. ]]> ID: mtnman9 F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
When you have moving objects there are a couple of options for how to capture them. You can either 'freeze' the action or you can do what is called panning. The choice between these two is a matter of the desired effect of the photo or its eventual purpose. Freezing motion requires a shorter shutter speed and consequently a fair amount of light for fast moving objects. With modern cameras even incredibly fast moving objects (like a rotating helicopter blade) can be frozen. For the simple picture of the van I shot at 1/400th of a second and you can see that the tires do not appear to be moving and are crisp. Even the reflection of a tree on the rear passenger window is quite clear. This vehicle was only traveling about 25 mph, however, it illustrates how this method can be effective for freezing motion (great for many sports situations!). Another method is called panning. I really like panning because it can have some great effects and is especially useful when there is a cluttered backround that you would like to calm. Panning will keep the subject in focus and blur the backround. This creates a sense of movement by the subject and calms noisy backrounds. To pan I recommend using an AI servo mode if your camera has it (this mode constantly adjusts the focus for a moving object when you hold the shutter button down half way)...I find it very difficult to pan and manually focus at the same time. The actually panning is simply this: focus on your subject and follow it with your camera as smoothly as you can. Try your best to keep the subject framed in the same spot throughout your motion...this may take some practice. Also, panning is done with significantly slower shutter speeds than freezing. For my shot of the Lexus I used a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second. You can see that the major body lines of the car (especially the front hood and mirror area) are crisp, while the rims give the appearance of motion and the backround is very blurred which keeps it from detracting attention from the subject. This was my first try at panning but I think it turned out ok...so I'm pretty sure anyone can do it with a little bit of practice! Hope this helps.]]> ID: mtnman9 F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
When you have moving objects there are a couple of options for how to capture them. You can either 'freeze' the action or you can do what is called panning. The choice between these two is a matter of the desired effect of the photo or its eventual purpose. Freezing motion requires a shorter shutter speed and consequently a fair amount of light for fast moving objects. With modern cameras even incredibly fast moving objects (like a rotating helicopter blade) can be frozen. For the simple picture of the van I shot at 1/400th of a second and you can see that the tires do not appear to be moving and are crisp. Even the reflection of a tree on the rear passenger window is quite clear. This vehicle was only traveling about 25 mph, however, it illustrates how this method can be effective for freezing motion (great for many sports situations!). Another method is called panning. I really like panning because it can have some great effects and is especially useful when there is a cluttered backround that you would like to calm. Panning will keep the subject in focus and blur the backround. This creates a sense of movement by the subject and calms noisy backrounds. To pan I recommend using an AI servo mode if your camera has it (this mode constantly adjusts the focus for a moving object when you hold the shutter button down half way)...I find it very difficult to pan and manually focus at the same time. The actually panning is simply this: focus on your subject and follow it with your camera as smoothly as you can. Try your best to keep the subject framed in the same spot throughout your motion...this may take some practice. Also, panning is done with significantly slower shutter speeds than freezing. For my shot of the Lexus I used a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second. You can see that the major body lines of the car (especially the front hood and mirror area) are crisp, while the rims give the appearance of motion and the backround is very blurred which keeps it from detracting attention from the subject. This was my first try at panning but I think it turned out ok...so I'm pretty sure anyone can do it with a little bit of practice! Hope this helps.]]> ID: architect F: 8 S: 1/100 ISO: 50
My Canon S70 Point-and-shoot has an ISO range from 50 to 400. I have noticed unacceptable levels of noise at 400. And a significant difference between ISO 50 and 200. Whenever I possible can, unless the light levels are really low and I do not have a tripod, I use ISO 50. Photojay left this comment on my Curves photo "I don't know what kind of camera you are shooting, but ISO 50 is best utilized for the same purpose as an ND filter. Otherwise it doesn't give you any quality advantage over ISO 100." (I did not understand about the ND filter part at all) So I decided to experiment with ISO 50 and ISO 100. The photos are a tiny portion of a large photo of San Francisco, taken from a peak in Sibley with a 100mm equiv lens. The top one at 100 and bottom one at 50. Quite a difference I think, proving to me at least and for my camera only, that a lower ISO results in a higher quality (less noisy) photograph. I know that a lot of cameras do not go down to ISO 50, but the principle should apply...lower is better whenever possible. I welcome any comments or rebuttals.]]> ID: gesundheit F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
Right-o, the sun is shining bright in your eyes and you can’t see. A fun thing to try is silhouettes. Grab a friend (or even an object to hold) and have them stand with their back facing the sun. You can blacken them out and have the light in the back, if you want to try it. Even throw in two people who are maybe embracing or holding hands. The photo here is simple, and was an experiment with the sun's position. Many effects can be achieved. Try different outlines or interesting edges of things; a spiral notebook, a pencil, a balloon maybe. And you can also throw the shot into a photo-editing program to lighten it or turn it b&w, it doesn’t take much. A list of more items: For people, top them off with… -a crown -some sort of frame -weird hairstyles For more items, you could always try… -your own hands (to squish or hold the sun?) -nearby lampposts or trees -buildings Maybe there is a name for this and you all know about it already and I look like a fool... Ah well. Just a simple idea. Oh, and sorry for the crumby image quality. They look better as their real size... ]]> ID: mliebhaber F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
Well Big shocker LOL several people have been PM ing me and wanting to know how I am getting my portaits to turn out the way they are so here it goes. Please be gentle this is my first time to do one of these! First of All I am using Corel as my edit program. I use the clarifier and clarify the image. Not too much because this can make the skin look soooooo dirty (unless that is the look u are going for) And sometimes I want that look but not very often. Then I start working on the eyes. I use the burn tool and burn the iris of the eye. Make it as dark as I can. Then I use the satuation tool and go over the iris (that I just darkened) and they eyes start to sparkle. Then I use the dodge tool and go over the white parts of the eyes (not too much ) Try not to overdo the satuaration thing cause it can start to look very fake. Then, depending on the look I am going for I sometimes go to the time machine tool and there u can make your shot vintage, black and white, sepia and ect. And last I go and remove digital noise. It is up to u how much u want to remove. I usually remove enough to make the skin silky and smooth. (I use this instead of the skin smoother to me it has a better effect). I hope this helps all of you wanting to improve your portraits. Trial and error is what it is all about. If u are not sure of something, just post for critiques on the CB and so great people can help u there. Thanks Melanie ]]> ID: sullivan F: 22 S: 0.5 ISO: 100
I recently received an email from someone who wanted to know how I took such nice shots, and she mentioned that she carried a point-and-shoot camera. I replied that you can get great shots with a compact camera, and I sent her suggestions that evolved into this list. I miss my 5MP compact (no dust spots to edit out of photos) and the examples on this page were taken with it. Even when the optics and features aren't the greatest, creative composition, how you treat your subjects, and your use of hard filters and tasteful software adjustments can make a shot. Here are some shooting tips and creativity ideas that can hone your technique or help you practice exercising your creative control over the results: 1. Read your camera's manual cover to cover. Be familiar with its options. After using the camera a few months, read it again to see what it has that you're not yet taking advantage of. 2. Shoot in RAW format if your camera offers it. On your most challenging and interesting images, adjusting white balance yourself may save your shot and you'll be glad you shot in RAW. 3. Use image editing software, at least Google's free Picasa software if nothing else. Play with it to get to know it. At some point consider Photoshop Elements. 4. If you're outdoors, use a polarizing filter most of the time, know why, and take the time to rotate it to improve color, adjust contrast, cut glare, and improve exposure. 5. Wear polarized sunglasses outdoors so you'll see what your camera sees. You'll be amazed at how many more great shots you'll find, and how much more compelling the colors will be. 6. Get a tripod. Carry it. Use it. Start with a tiny, tabletop one (the REI Ultrapod can be velcro'ed to upright objects such as fenceposts too) or even set your camera on a bean bag (beanie baby?). When you hike, when you get to your destination you can use your Ultrapod to convert a stick to a monopod. 7. For landscapes, particularly at sunrise and sunset, get to know what graduated neutral density (also referred to as "grad ND" or GND) filters are and how to use them. 8. Become acquainted with high dynamic range (HDR) software (free trial: HDRsoft.com). Use your camera's Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) to take normal, dark and light exposures that can be combined in the software to bring out highlight and shadow detail. 9. Be a control freak, for about 2 hours per day. Inform your travel partners up front that the first and last hour of light in the day is when you'll be taking a lot of your shots, so breakfast and dinner will have to be scheduled around photography. Then see if you can actually get out before dawn and stay 'til after dark a few times and get some incredible shots of your trip. 10. Yes, the first and last hour of light in the day is great for outdoor shots (the "golden hour"), but the 30 minutes before the sun rises and after the sun sets is the best time for sunrise and sunset shots. I can't tell you how many times I arrive at a viewpoitn just as everyone is leaving, and I capture amazing shots they just walked away from. 11. Shoot into the evening until you think the light seems to be gone, then shoot some more! Digital camera sensors are amazingly sensitive. You'll probably need to switch into manual focus, and use exposure compensation so your camera won't make the scene unnaturally light. The automatic exposure meter tries to make every shot average to a medium gray light density, as if it were in bright sunlight, so if your scene is darker, you'll need to tell your camera that and darken the shot. Use automatic exposure bracketing as well so you won't mis-guess how dark or light to make it (good thing you read the manual as Step 1). Shoot (on a tripod) well into dusk until your camera is up against its 15 or 30 second exposure limit. Assuming you started at a small aperture for broad depth of field, when your exposure times get too long (your call when that is), gradually open the aperature to its widest setting and raise ISO until you really can't shoot any more. Experiment with putting moving objects in your long shots, especially moving water (rivers, waterfalls, ocean waves), but also people, cars, blowing trees and tall grass, and so on. 12. Use autofocus if you want, but at least tell the camera where to focus (point the focus point there, half-depress the shutter release to focus, then reframe to trigger the shutter and complete the shot). Most of your depth of field is behind the focus point, so you get little to no benefit from the wide depth of field available from using a small aperture if the camera focuses on some object in the distance. 13. Have a clear subject in mind in every scene, and compose that scene accordingly. If you don't, and simply point the camera at a bunch of hills, that lack of intention will come across in the shot and it'll simply be a snapshot of a bunch of hills. The Rule of Thirds is a great place to start, but focus point and depth of field, exposure, leading lines, and your lense/zoom factor choice all come into play to help highlight your subject. If you can't find a clear subject, move. Walk around until you find one. Place an object in the foreground if you need to. The extra investment of 30 seconds will make your results much better. 14. Learn all of the photography rules you can find, then intentionally break them at times. To increase your flexibility and range of artistic expression, assign yourself homework to break one rule as much as you can for a period of time (perhaps until you fill one memory card), then break another rule. Shoot a variety of subjects while you make your horizon diagonal. Hand hold the camera during long exposures. Take long exposures of moving people. Take portraits of people with a wide angle lens. Just when you've mastered the art of being obsessive about everything you need to do to get a shot "right," see if you can break the narrow-minded control that that mindset and approach may have over you. You don't have to throw your knowledge and technique away, but take creative control over your approach. Get in the habit of throwing something creative and experimental, a "throw away" shot, into nearly all of your shooting sequences and even if only 10% of those efforts pan out, your results may get a lot more interesting. 15. Join a local camera club. Look on Meetup.com for photographers in your area who plan regular outings and photo shoots. It'll get you out shooting more and your exposure to other photographers will give you new ideas and skills. 16. Research your shooting locations ahead of time. For outdoor locations zoom in on Google Earth to see where there may be ponds or lakes to capture sunrise and sunset reflections, offshore rocks to appear in your seascape photos, and so on. Obviously each of these subjects deserves a lot of discussion and practice, but this list may provide you with some interesting starting points. Now that the secret's out, try some of these suggestions and share with us your results!]]> ID: davidlee F: 4.5 S: 1/500 ISO: 200
Hello all, My name is David Lee and I live in Columbia SC. I am an avid photographerand I especially doing portraiture mainly candids of available light studies. Recently i was shooting some pics of a friend of mine and after reviewing and looking at all the shots I noticed a strange artifact on one of the photos. It is the only one that has an artifact on it. I have tried everything I know to do to fix the problem but nothing has worked yet. Has anyone else out there experienced this? I want to try to do everything possible to save the shot, but it seems hopeless..... Plus i'm sort of proud of the shot Ha ha! The shot was taken outdoorsin the late afternoon but it was sunny out. It was taken with a Canon30D, F4.5 1/500th sec at an ISO setting of 200 . I would appreciate any help in this. I sure don't want this to happen again especially if it costs me another shot thanks for your help... David.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................]]> ID: racystcy27 F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
Several people have asked me how I create my fog. I am sure there may be several methods, but this is the method I use on Photoshop. First of all, make sure that the colors in the pic you are fogging are appropriate for fog. This may involve darkening, desat, and any other method of muting your colors. Next, creat a duplicate layer. Select Filter..Render..Clouds. Make sure your foreground and background colors are light gray and dark gray. You can play around with this until you get what you want. Add the clouds, then play with the opacity slider. Since fog appears thinner closer up, you can create this effect by either using a mask on the layer, then use a gradient tool, or you can use a history brush with a light opacity. If you use the history brush, make sure that if you did any adjustments and/or cropping, that you do a Save As then reopen BEFORE you add the fog. To get even more of a dephth appearence of the fog, you can do 2 or more fog layers, repeating the process. Each fog layer will now have its own opacity slider. When you are happy with the result, Flatten.]]> ID: sullivan F: 22 S: 1/100 ISO: 100
Thinking of getting out for some Fall shots? Here are some of the things that I do to capture the colors of the season: 1. If the sun is shining, use a circular polarizer and carefully orient it to cut glare reflecting off of the leaves. It'll expand the color in your shot, improve saturation, and enable a more accurate and appropriate exposure. It can make the sky a deep shade of blue as well, which looks good alongside the bright leaves. 2. Shoot close/detail shots early to avoid wind, especially if you're shooting aspen trees. 3. Shoot in RAW format if possible to enable you to adjust white balance of your shots towards warm as appropriate to reproduce the warm yellow, orange and red leaf tones you experience. 4. Use a small aperture such as f/22 for maximum depth of field. 5. Try some shots of backlit leaves, as they can be very intense in color. 6. Pick some westward and eastward views and plan ahead to catch sunrise or sunset over colorful trees. 7. Pick up some of the most colorful and interesting leaves you find and put them in your pocket. Arrange them as a still life shot on a rock, or when you come to an interesting object (stump, rock) or stream scene, scatter them around to enhance the color in the shot. In a pool in a large stream or river, sometimes you can find a circulating eddy to throw leaves into to take long exposures with the leaves swirling around. 8. Use a tripod. 9. Get into a dense stand of trees and shoot straight up towards the sky. 10. Try some 10-20 minute night shots under a full moon. You'll get Fall colros shots with star trails! 11. To capture shots with both light and dark areas or in challenging lighting conditions, shoot a lot of Automatic Exposure Bracketing sequences with 1 1/3 stop to 2 stop spacing between shots. Even if you're not using HDR postprocessing software yet, you can come back 1-2 years from now and benefit later from your investment of time shooting today. For more examples of the types of Fall shots you can capture using these techniques, drop by my new photoblog at: http://activesole.blogspot.com]]> ID: davidlee F: 3.5 S: 1/250 ISO: 200
I will try to give my first experience tip here on Soaphoto! I have noticed when shooting kids portraits in a natural setting you need to get down on their level. Roll around on the ground, make them think you are just a kid also and they suddenly look at you as a playmate and not the Photographer. Another thing is to talk to them as you would an adult. If you don't want them to smile, tell them why... but always let them reseerve the right to taqke a few goofy shots doing exactly what THEY want to do. Above all BE PATIENT kids work on their time line so be prepared to have a little kid fun while trying to catch the little rascals doing what they do best...... being kids. But if you ever get tired of rolling around on the ground with a 7 year old..... disappear and snap on you r telephoto and try to catch them while they are tryng to find where you went!! I have found some of my best shots of kids have come when they didn't even know that i had the camera trained on them this also provides some great framing opportunities with certain articles in the foreground]]> ID: iceblue F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
Just a few pointers for those seeking critiques 1- make sure your title says please critique. Too many threads there are just playing with other peoples edits and it's time consuming to open so many threads to find that it isn't someone wanting a critique. 2- Posting your camera settings , time of day, etc will help a person give you pointers on what you can do to improve the image. 3 When you post the image it would be nice to also post a link to a larger version of the image (try photobucket for this purpose.) Sometimes in a image that has been squashed down to submit here on SOA the image will look noisy when in fact the larger image is not...or even vice versa.As well there may be faults showing in the large image that can't be seen in a small version. So to access a full critique showing both sizes is beneficial. 4- If you know of someone who does work similar to the image you would like critiqued, a pm to them asking for an opinion would not be out of line. Not everyone has time to spend on the CB, but I'm betting most of the more accomplished are willing to help out if they are asked. Anyway.. I hope this helps get the ball rolling so that more people can get the help they need. btw SOA reaaaaaaaaaaaally needs a place for people to just play with each other's images so that the CB is not over-run by those threads. I think it's awesome that people are doing this and it's a great way to learn, but it really impedes those wishing to simply help out and critique images. WHo wants to start a petition?! lol]]> ID: freesoul F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
Have you ever taken a close up of a flower, bug, leaves ect. only to find out that its blurry? Well I am going to explain how I get my close ups with my camera. I use a Samsung Digimax i6 point and shoot camera. MOST point and shoot cameras have a setting that is a macro/close up setting on them. Use this setting (it looks like a flower) on your camera make sure its selected. If you have a lcd screen it helps. Get close to your subject and pay attention to the screen look to see how the picture is going to turn out by pressing the shutter button half way everything will come to focus if you are positioned right and if it does then go ahead and click the shutter down all the way. Be careful not to move too much while taking the shot. When I take my up close pics I try to exhale while taking the shot instead of inhaling when I am crouched over and I inhale my whole body moves but when I exhale I can exhale slowly and the movement isn't as bad. If it doesn't come out focused on the lcd screen reposition yourself either back off a bit or move in a bit closer. Then press the shutter back down half way then if its how you want it click it all the way down. Hope this helps some of those struggling with taking close ups with their point and shoot cameras. I also shoot atleast two pictures of each subject. Try different angles.]]> ID: sullivan F: 22 S: 15 ISO: 100
You've probably noticed some wacky results lately that were produced with a technique called HDR (High Dynamic Range) or Tone Mapping software. You've probably noticed some nice, realistic results produced with it too. Maybe you've downloaded a free trial of software such as Photomatix from www.HDRsoft.com and played with it a bit, but found it difficult to get past the often low saturation, cartoonish results with weird light halos. Another Experience Tip covers basic HDR, this one is more of an intermediate tutorial for people who have tried it and want to get better results. Once you get past the novelty stage, here are some techniques and tricks I've learned that might help you better control HDR and get the results you want: Give the Software Enough to Work On. - Use Automatic Exposure Bracking if your camera has it, and always produce at least 3 exposures. Movement in the shot is the only reason to process only two of the three shots you produced. - Follow the recommendation to have the exposures be two f-stops apart from each other. The software expects that you want to seriously extend the exposure range of the shot. It's not designed to work on shots only one stop apart. The instructions allow you to go down to 1 1/3 stops, Try that and 2 stops on critical shots, since the results will be noticeably different. Always Use RAW files! Always. Seriously. - Sorry to introduce math into a fun hobby, but compared to JPEG which has 8 bits of color information, my RAW files have 12 bits, and the extra 4 bits provide 16X more shades of each primary color. Put in slightly more simple terms, that's 4096 levels of each color instead of 256! (The point being that 4000 is a lot bigger than 256, and your results will look much better too.) The difference can be very noticeable in the results, especially in areas with subtle shading such as blue sky and orange sunsets. Some new cameras just starting to ship now produce RAW files with 14 bit color depth, so you'll have over 8000 levels of each primary color instead of 256. Just trust me, shoot your photos in RAW format, and HDR-process your RAW files. - RAW also enables you to adjust the white balance setting. Want to better preserve the color in your sunset? If your first HDR run on a shot reduces the color too much, try running HDR processing again using the shade or cloudy white balance setting for a warmer (more orange/yellow) tone. Use Interactive Mode, not Batch - The default settings for Photomatix for example seem to overexpose images and leave them with halos of light around dark objects. Yuck. (Unless you just get lucky and the light areas work given the lines of the shot, like the first example above.) One function that can minimize the halos is Light Smoothing. Set it to its highest level then back it off a bit until the results look worse. The rest of the controls you can play around with until you get something usable. Eventually you'll find settings such as micro contrast and micro smoothing that can reduce HDR's unfortunate tendency to enhance noise along with the "real" detail in the photo. Postprocess in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements - Since your HDR software shifted light intensities and color tones, something as simple as Auto Contrast and/or Auto Color Correction can make a lot of difference when trying to restore natural-looking lighting and color. Noise reduction can be needed too. Consider Layering and Blending HDR with non-HDR - Sometimes my best results with HDR software are not acceptible, but neither are my results trying my best to balance the exposure and color in one of my single exposures for the same shot. Consider blending both your best single file "regular" edit in with your HDR result! The single edit will most likely have better color and shading and the HDR result will have more shadow and highlight detail. A 50/50 or 60/40 blend may still not be a perfect result, but it may be better than either of the two results before you blended them! Try Tone Compressor Processing - For images like my lighthouse example above that benefit from lots of color and won't suffer too much from a contrast look, try the Tone Compressor alternative. In my experience it produces better results on fewer of your images, but those few times can be nice surprises (I won seocnd place in a photo contest with the more colorful and contrasty version above). I'd be curious to know what other techniques people have found useful. Drop me a line!]]> ID: webdog F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
I was told that I should tell how I get my shots through glass with out the flash glare. Ok here it goes, First of all, I am by no means a pro, just a rookie trying anything to get a decent shot. what I did was very simple but effective. First I clean the glass if possible ( you should have seen the looks I got a the Dallas World Aquarium when I would be wiping off the outside of the small tanks to get a shot) and second I taped a piece of thin cheap white paper towel over the flash, the thin paper towel lets a lot of light through, but does away with the hard flash, third I take the shot close to the glass at an angle (at about 45 - 55 degrees) so that what light does reflect bounces the other way and not back at the camera, just make sure the angle is not too great or you will lose most of your light from the flash due to it bouncing off and it not penetrating the glass, this has worked for me on flat glass, on rounded glass like a fish bowl use a thicker piece of paper towel and take the shot straight on. I know this sounds cheap and cheesy but it has worked for me several times, you can see some of the results in my gallery, there is a fish I did in a fish bowl last month and the frog I did through a thick flat piece of glass this month, good luck and let me know how it works for you, if you give it a try. I am open to any suggestions or opinions on this subject, good or bad, I will listen to both, knowledge is knowledge, thanks for your time, Philip ps. ignore the settings at the top of the page, I use an auto focus camera on macro]]> ID: sly100100 F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
For me HDR (High Dynamic Range) it is a great tool to get all the color, highlits and nuances as I can in a picture. This tecnique works best if your camera does bracketing (taking the same picture using three different exposures, one correct, one over, and one under exposed) HDR - simply put is the blending of these exposures and adjusting the tone to get a photograph you like. For our purposes today we will talk about just using 3 pictures. But you can use as many exposures as you like. I am not a wiz at photoshop so I use another program that is made just for this purpose <a href="http://www.hdrsoft.com/"> Photomatix</a> this software is availbe as a free download although it watermarks your image, but it will allow you to see if you like hdr photography or not, before buying. First lets back up a few steps to getting the pictures. First you are going to want to have a tripod. Thats a must! Even the slightest move in a split second can ruin your picture set. Second your going to want to see if you camera does "auto bracketing" this features is great, it automatically takes 3 photos a stop a part one over one under and one exposure that is right. If your camera doesn't do this do frett you can do this manually if you are VERY careful when making the adjustments within your camera without moving it. It is very important that the camera not move. This will ruin the line up later on. Lets talk a minute about what to take a picture of. Well if you look at my HDR set on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/slysplace/">flickr</a> you can see I have taken hdr's of lots of things, buildings, cats, waterfalls. You can see just about anything will look great, as long as it doesn't move! LOL Now go out and get your pictures and then come back and we will finish. Good you have photomatix loaded on your computer and you have loaded your three pictures on your computer. Or as many exposures as you like,too make it look better they should all be different exposures though, the process is the same no matter how many exposures you have. 1) Open photomatix 2) Click on "HDRI" 3) Select "generate HDR" 4) In the window click "browse" 5) select your photos 6) Once you have selected all the photos from that set click "ok" 7) Keep the first option selected & check "Align LDR" 8) Now don't upset your only half way there, here is the photo you have made, now comes with fun part 9) At the top click "HDRI" 10) move down to "tone mapping" and click 11) now in this resulting window you will see lots of sliders and drop down windows. Now the easiest way to figure this out is to just jump in and start moving the sliders around and you'll see the results right there. Adjust things until you get the look you like. This is purely personal so your on your own. :) 14) Once you do get the picture you like click "file" and "Save as" there you will be able to save your image as a jpg. Well thats about it! I warn you though once you start you'll never look at things the same way! I would love to see your work after your done.]]> ID: petmagnet F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
This is, and can be quite a debatable subject. The majority of people you speak to, would comfirm that a 'snapshot' is an image with no aforethought in the structural planning of the capture. A image that is usually taken without regard for composition, distracting matter in the surrounding, lighting, etc. A photograph, on the other hand, is usually composed of these qualities and more. Time and thought are placed into what the photographer is expecting the image to be after the capture. Rule of thirds, settings on the camera adjusted accordingly, lighting, and most of all, a consideration to thought of the image before it is ever ventured into being captured are just basic things photographers and aspiring photographers use to make their images 'photography' quality in the eyes of themselves and viewers alike. Of course, even with the best of intentions, a greatly composed and thought out image can come off looking like a 'snapshot' or complete failure photography wise. That being said..The 'snapshot' can and is somtimes believed to be so much more than a 'snapshot' to another person or in the photography arena. It's all in the quality of the 'snapshot' or instantaneous moment captured. Even without knowledge of the composition, dof, lighting, etc., it is possible to 'grab' a great image unknowingly. There are those rare moments, when all the surroundings, lighting, and variable subjects work to ones advantage in a capture. Even with little thought, just the click of the camera gives you a image that is astounding. It is possible, but again.very rare. The reality of it all is...Those wonderful snapshots are usually only memories for the person capturing them and not viable for use in the photography field. There is so much more to capturing the perfect image, so therefore, not giving thought to technical elements is and always will be a downfall on the standard, quick, point and shoot capture. My advice for the novice that has the 'snapshot' they believe is the once in a lifetime capture is to learn about photography. Listen to and read what experienced photographers have to save about your image if you choose to post it on a website for critiques. Go back and reevaluate your image. Find what made it a good shot and learn to use those methods with your camera. And if the image is not to as good as you thought, do the same. Learn your camera! Even with only minimal knowledge, a person can make a difference in what is considered a 'snapshot' compared to a unique interesting 'photograph'. That flower in your yard can go from being a blurred mess of pink petals to a well composed, clear vibrant beauty, with just a few adjustments in settings and a second or two more of controlled forethought as to what you wish to convey in your image. I am not a pro, nor am I a great amatuer yet. I am working on it daily, though. That is the difference between my 'snapshots' and my photography. I now take more time in what I expect an image to be well before I turn the camera on. This is not to say, I don't do 'snapshots'. I do many, many 'snapshots..but because I have learned a little more with each passing day about photography as a whole, my 'snapshots' are even becoming 'photographs'....And yours can too! "These points of view are just my opinion, but Thank You for reading!" Pet :) Example: The picture I have posted IS a snapshot. This was my first image that I posted for true evaluation on a website. Although this was one of those 'rare' moments...It did not not compell me to say I was great, but it compelled me to say...How can I learn to do better. :) ]]> ID: hayes077 F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
this is a quicker way to make your copyright mark on pics open a picture in photoshop (any picture will work) choose the text tool. choose a font (you will not be able to change the font after this step) choose the color black for the text tool. click on the picture, then put in your copyright mark (you can cut and paste from ms word, however the font will not change from what you chose in the last step) click on the eye icon next to the picture thumbnail to hide the picture. now you are left with a checker board pattern with your copyright mark and nothing else. go to SELECT > COLOR RANGE move the slider all the way to the right (200) now your copyright mark should have a funny outline. go to EDIT > DEFINE BRUSH PATTERN. name your brush (ie. my copyright) now your brush is done. open a new picture. go to the brush tab in the top right corner. find your brush. now you can stamp it where you want. make sure to change the color and size before stamping it on the picture. once its stamped, it cant be changed. you can always undo it and change it then do it over. its a good idea to keep the original copy with out a copyright mark incase you ever want to sell your pic or submit it to a magazine or contest.]]> ID: cmd90 F: 4 S: 1/30 ISO: 100
I'd like to offer my advice to those who may not be too familiar with the "rule of thirds" rule. This rule generally applies for all types of photography, but more so with landscape photography. I'd like to point out up front that these are only guidelines. Applying the rule of thirds to a photograph is considered by many to make them more aesthetically pleasing and professional-looking. They help produce nicely balance scenes and are a pleasant sight for the eye's. The rule states that there are two imaginary lines that run vertical and horizontally forming nine evenly spaced sections. There are 4 intersecting points where important elements are placed in the composition. All four intersecting lines do not need to have an object/element. For example, if you have an ocean shot with just the sun, it's a good idea to place the horizon on the top third pane--unless you want to show more sky...then in that case place the horizon on the lower third pane); place the sun on one of the intersecting lines and you have a composition that many artist find appealing. There are some cases that the r.o.t. rules can be bent, such as in panorama's or a scene where you want to include a reflection. I have attached two diagrams. The first example shows a poorly composed shot without any focal point. This shot wasn't well thought out. This is a good example of a snap shot. The second example is depicting placement of key elements on the r.o.t. panes....you will see in this image that I placed the horizon on the upper third's pane. A good portion of the upper rocks are placed on the lower third pane. The subject (A lead in focal point) is placed on the lower right intersecting lines and the sun is placed on the upper left intersecting lines. Similiar shots will show the viewer that the photographer took time to orchestrate the composition. Once you get the hang of it, it's quick and easy. Most of all...It produces much better results in your image, which in turn will make you feel like a pro! Two other really quick tips... Focus on keeping your horizon's level and images SHARP! I hope this helps atleast one person, and if it does, I feel like this post has been worth while. Best of luck to all! Craig ]]> ID: shuttrdeye F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
I've had a request or two on how to do this type of image, so here's the write up. First: Shooting the actual images. You'll need to use your camera in manual mode. You can start in auto mode if you're not comfortable making the settings from scratch, just be sure that you note what settings the camera has chosen, and then use the same settings in manual mode for subsequent frames. If you don't use manual mode, your camera may meter the scene differently each exposure and that will be very obvious later on. Also, you'll need to use a tripod to ensure that each exposure is exactly the same. Essentially you'll take as many or as few frames as you want with your model in different poses around the scene. More frames add to the eye popping effect, but there is a maximum number of poses you'll be able to fit into one scene. The poses can overlap, but you don't want them to totally obscure each other. Second: The Photoshopping. I used Photoshop CS2 for this. I'm not sure what capabilities other software programs have, but do your best to follow along if you don't have Photoshop. First you need to choose which image will be your master image. I usually look for one that has a pose that is furthest in the background, or has the most complicated shadows related to it. (Shadows are the toughest part to conserve.) When you've picked your master image, open it, but don't make any adjustments to it at all. You'll want this image to be open through the entire process, so you may want to periodically save it as you work, so you don't accidently close it and lose everything. (Ask me why I recommend this. ;)) Next, pick another pose image and open it. Using the "lasso" tool, you'll loosely select around the model. Be sure to include any and all shadows. Don't worry about getting too close to the edges, we'll trim it later. After you have it selected, "cut" the selection in the edit menu. Now we'll transfer over to the master image, and select "paste" under the edit menu. It should paste right in the center, creating a new layer for the selection. Making sure the layer is selected (it should be by default,) use the "object move tool," and move the selection to match up over the same location on the master image. It should drop EXACTLY in place because they should be identical images taken from exactly the same POV. When you have it where you like, next take the "eraser" tool, select an appropriate brush, (start big, and get smaller for the details,) and start trimming the new layer around the edges to make it blend correctly. Work slowly and use the undo button lots. :) You'll repeat this process with each and every pose, working from the ones furthest back to the ones in the foreground for ease. I would choose to leave each selection in its own layer until the very end to maintain as much flexibility as possible. The key here is to be very patient, and work slowly and carefully. It's a lot of work but the effect is really cool. After you have each pose in place on the master image how you like it, and the edges trimmed clean, "flatten the image" under the Layer's menu. Now you can start with your normal workflow making any exposure, contrast, sharpening adjustments necessary. Hope that explains it, I'll try to keep tabs here to answer any questions you may have.]]> ID: yoza717 F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
I used Photoshop for this but most good photo editor programs will do the same thing as long as it has the capability to copy a selection, paste and mirror the image. First I took a picture that could use a better foreground. I took this one because of the unique cloud formation in the sunset. My first thought was to crop the foreground but I learned a better solution. To start, make a second copy of your image. In the first image, increase your canvas to approximately double the height of the picture (you can crop out the area you don't use later) In the second image, use the marque tool to select the area you will use as "the relection". Flip this selection vertically. If you have a Transform tool, you can use it to compress your "reflection". You can also change the color a bit by increasing blue, green or brown depending on the water color you desire. If you have filters (I used the ripple effect tool) feel free to experiment to get a slight blur in the reflection. Use the move tool to "slide" the second (flipped) image to the foreground area of the first image. Crop out the extra canvas you didn't use. And presto, no more ugly foreground!!!]]> ID: scannermom F: 1 S: 1/60 ISO: 200
Like myself, some people just don't have the money to buy fancy photography equiptment or studio lighting so I'm going to share what I do and use. 1. Find a room in your house that has the most sunlight. 2. A bed sheet, preferably black or white. 3. Tape the sheet to the wall. 4. A good photo editing program will fix all your flaws, such as Corel PSP XI. You can download a free trial and check Best Buy for sales, I got mine for $39.99. 5. Use props and differnet poses. You can check different photo sites to get some ideas. The background is very important, when I use a black background it never looks black. This is where the photo editing program comes in. I take the burn tool and burn the background to get rid of all the flawed areas. This gives it that professional look. If you want drama to your portrait...You have to use a fan. I LOVE my fan. I have some cheap fan I bought at Walmart years ago, it adds so much drama and beauty to have hair blowing in the wind. ]]> ID: aminao F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
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Picture top left untouched shot, top right overlay mode, bottom left softlight mode, bottom right hardlight mode. You will not see a major difference but a subtle one between each one. You will understand it more when you get a hang of it. Have you ever taken a photo to find out its a bit softer than expected? I find this and I am sure most do. I have learned about High Pass Sharpening in photoshop and thought I would share. First open your image you want to sharpen. Next hit CTRL J this will make a duplicate layer of our image. Nothing will happen yet. Next there is a Normal in the layers pallette. Click on that and a menu of different things will pop up. Go to overlay you have to click overlay cause if you don't the high pass sharpen layer will gray your pic out. The image will appear darker. Don't worry it does that. Next go to filters>other>high pass. A box will appear that looks like its gray with a bit of color. Adjust the radius to your likings. I don't go above 5 or 6 tho. If you move the radius up too much you will get a glow around areas in your pictures. After you get your radius set where you want click okay. If it isn't sharp enough for you, you can take the over lay off and use the hard light mode. If hard light mode is too much for you, you can use the soft light mode. Just basically have to mess with it til you get your pic how you want. I find sometimes that Sharpening with the Sharpen tool it sharpens to much so in my opinion you have more control over how strong it is doing it this way.]]> ID: sullivan F: 4 S: 0.5 ISO: 100
Are you interested in taking photos of a lunar eclipse such as the one coming up on August 28? Here's a great source of information if you might want to take pictures during an eclipse: Lunar Eclipse Photo Examples and Shooting Advice: www.mreclipse.com/LEphoto/LEphoto.html Feb 21, 2008 Lunar Eclipse Phases & Times: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2008Feb21T.GIF I really like the examples of a wide angle lunar eclipse sequence, in a particular setting. The trick is getting the exposures right. I've seen an estimate that the moon's brightness can go down a factor of 10,000 times from the full moon to its full eclipse ... greater than 2 to the 15th power... 15 stops! Putting that into more specific exposure numbers, that exposure chart at the first link above shows that at ISO 100, f4.0, the exposure could vary from 1/2000th second under the full moon to 1 to 4 minutes during the darkest phases of totality. In other words, exposure time adjustments won't be enough if you want the moon fairly crisp... ISO changes will be needed as well. It can help to take the time to understand the chart and have it handy to predict the approximate exposure. The chart enables you to estimate exposure based upon how much of the moon's surface is eclipsed: "During the partial phases, just estimate the eclipse magnitude or fraction of the Moon's diameter eclipsed (Mag. = 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75) to determine the recommended exposures. As an example, let's say you're using ISO 100 at f/5.6. Then the table would recommend a shutter speed of 1/500 as the partial eclipse begins. The shutter speeds for eclipse magnitudes 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 would then be 1/250, 1/125 and 1/60, respectively." To estimate how much of the arc of the sky will be covered during the eclipse, look at the Maui/palm trees example on that site. Again, there's a wide variation in exposures: "The basic exposure of 1/125 second at f/5.6 was increased to 1/8 second within 15 minutes of totality and then set to 4 seconds throughout totality." Note that the moon will start to be eclipsed then pass through the shadow, but the shadow moves, since you're on the surface of the earth, moving around in its rotation at over 1000 miles per hour, and the earth is rotating around the sun at a healthy clip. The bottom line is that the shadow, the moon, and your viewing location all move between shots. That's why the moon starts to enter the shadow of the earth, but that line where the shadow starts moves in your photo's frame before your next shot. Print and understand the exposure chart, and good luck! Jeff P.S. - I'll repeat that second link to point out that it contains a chart of lunar eclipses from 2007 - 2012, so you can plan ahead for the ones in your region: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2007Aug28/TLE2007Aug28.html ]]> ID: petmagnet F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
Since coming here in January, I have learned so much from the more experienced and technically proficient photographers who surround us on SOA....But..I have also learned a lot from the inexperienced and not as well equiped people who participate here. This 'experience tip' is a testement to those who have help me on my journey, and for those just beginning their own in photography. That being said..learning to see something out of what you may normally look at as nothing can be as self fullfilling and creative an effort as any 'perfect' image you may take. I know I have found simple, fun ways to turn a ordinary image into what I really find interesting and unique on occasion. (All due to the extrodinary images that I get to see on any given day and reading their descriptions or details.) By watching others usage of editing ideas, (even with my limited knowledge of the subject), I find myself taking images and trying to find the one aspect that I can change or create my own uniqueness of. Playing with the highlights, contrast, softness, glows, etc. in any form of editing program can be the key to making your image what you wish it to convey. Changing the scenery in which you shoot a composed object can set it apart from the norm. Getting lower or higher, angling from a sometimes awkward position, or maybe just capturing the subject straight on with no special positioning is the way to get the shot you least expect. Try them all. Step outside you comfort zone when you can. Change the settings on your camera. Never be afraid to be different in what you want to convey in your images. After seeing many images that may be similar in subject, I have yet to see two exact images taken by two different photographers. This is because photography, (in my opinion), is a independant type of hobby/obsession or career which cannot be duplicated by any two people. Every image is it's own unique perception of what a photographer sees at the moment the shot is taken. What one does with the image after the shot is taken, to either enhance, broaden or manipulate the image, is also part of the creative individual process that every photographer possesses. How you use it is up to you. Financial issues can become a part of the type of photography one does. I don't travel much, so my rural surroundings become my scenic shots. Myself, my children, pets and friends become my subjects for portraits and candids. My dishes, glasses, cars, tables, blinds, walls, yard, etc., become parts of my composed images or backgrounds. Even the insects I swat can be of interest with the right creative idea for a image! So always look around you..Be open for the less obvious things which may be helpful to make your shot what you want it to be. This is not technically a topic to give advice; for I am limited, advice wise, being that I am still very much a amatuer. But this is an experience that I have been having for 6 months now, and have grown tremendously from. Many new folks may worry about doing great or gaining experience...It comes, believe me. I have learned that there can always be something to shoot, whether it be the typical somewhat expecting image, or the out-of-the-box type image caught or created because you wanted it it to be that way. And if your love for photography is like mine, you will grow and become more versed in photography because of this passion to be creative and capture images the way you see them or want them to be seen. I started with nothing but a camera..Now I find myself always looking for something to make me use it!]]> ID: trusso1441 F: 5.6 S: 1/60 ISO: 400
Do you get the animal version of Red Eye when taking pictures of dogs and cats? This is what I do. When taking photographs of dogs or cats make sure there is a lot of natural light. This is so their eyes do NOT dialate. If there is not adequate lighting their eyes dialate to let as much light in as possible. When your flash goes off their eyes don't have enought time to adjust and you get those giant bright pupils. When their is a lot of light their eyes look normal. Also, if possible try not to direct the flash into their faces. If you have a zoom lens try to put some distance between you and the animal. You don't want the flash to go off in their faces. I have a seperate flash that can be set at different levels. I usually bounce the flash off the ceiling or wall. (I also do this when shooting people.) It`s extremely hard to correct "animal red eye" because of the shape, brightness and colors. Red Eye Removal just doesn`t do it. Hope this helps someone]]> ID: micreusa F: 1 S: 15 ISO: 50
If you were to look in my gallery, you will see that a few of my better shots have a definite blue tone to them. The majority of these are not color enhanced, and come from the dusk/dawn setting on my Nikon Coolpix 7600. I have noticed that the settings on other POS cameras react the same way. I know this is not an advanced tip, but there a plenty of people here that just bought a camera and don't know these things. On sunset setting, you camera is going to bring out the reds and oranges primarily in your shot. The dusk/dawn setting will bring out mainly blue tones (example pic shown). Both shots are unedited. The first taken with the normal setting, the second with dusk/dawn. Play around with thes esettings, and you will find vast color differences in your photos. Depending on the available lighting, these two setting will help bring out such subtle color nuances that may have been otherwise not captured. When I do edit my pics, I use 3 different programs. For cropping and resizing and such I use Microsoft Picture Manager. For color, straightening, and subtle effects I use Picasa 2. An awesome program in my opinion. And finally, for anything else I use Paint Shop Pro 7. Hope this helps someone. :)]]> ID: sullivan F: 8 S: 1/30 ISO: 100
Polarizing filters are fairly well known for being able to darken a blue sky and increase contrast with white clouds in a scene, for reducing glare and reflections (off of water, cars and so forth), and for cutting haze and bringing out more subtle shades and detail in clouds. What some people don't know is that they can improve the color and saturation in fall color photos by reducing glare and reflection off of the leaves, improve detail in outdoor photos with a lot of sandstone or granite in them, and improve the color saturation of other objects that can reflect light shot in the sun (such as hot air balloons, buildings, even insects). In addition, reducing glare on peoples' skin may save some of those shots that were marginal for you in the past because the camera closed down another stop or two and faces came out too dark. The first key thing to pay attention to is that you buy a circular polarizer, not a linear polarizer. A circular polarizer should be compatible with your camera's autofocus system. When you're using the polarizer, you can rotate it to increase or reduce its effects on the photo. For even more control, there's a mark on the rim of the filter and the light is cut most in that orientation (from that direction). For example, if you point that mark straight up, you can virtually eliminate a reflection on a reflective surface such as water. If you point that mark straight sideways, the reflection on water in front of you will be preserved, but glare on objects from light coming from the side of you (a rising or setting sun) will be dramatically reduced. The easiest way to use a polarizing filter is to simply try to point that mark at the sun (or other main light source), then perhaps make a minor adjustment to affect any desirable reflections in the photo a little more or less. A slightly more advanced application might be to try one for shots involving clouds, whitewater, steam, or snow, to see if you can get more finely-tuned shades of white and gray and more detail in your photo once you reduce the glare. You may be amazed at what polarizers can do for clouds. You may have to bracket exposures and try various angles on the polarizer to get just the right combination to bring out the subtle detail, and you may not be able to tell any difference among those shots until you get back home to your PC. The circular polarizers I've bought tend to be in the $20-30 range for a fairly small and common filter size, but they do get more expensive with size and they cut the light coming into the camera about 2 stops. Two stops usually isn't a big deal in sunlight, which is when you most often need these filters. I don't trust the cheapest, I tend go with a reasonably priced option among brand names. On a clear, blue sky day, polarizers tend to have the most applications in bright light and in mid range shots. Wide angle lenses cover a lot of the sky and the polarization of the sky varies across the shot, resulting in the filter's effect being applied unevenly and the color and darkness insonsistent across the shot. I hope you can see that circular polarizers can have a range of applications and don't have to cost a lot. They tend to be the second filter that nearly all shops recommend that you buy, right after a UV or Haze filter to protect the front surface of your lens. In these examples the zoomed shot was taken with the polarizer pointing sideways towards the sun, cutting glare on the balloons and enabling a more even exposure of them without killing the reflection. In the second, wider example the filter is rotated further off of horizontal and the polarization of the light reflected off of the lake varies, enabling the texture of the bottom of the lake to show through. Options include thin polarizers for wide angle lenses, which are less likely to cause vignetting the corners of in your shots. Some still have front filter threads, but many wide angle filters require a special snap-on filter cover. Some polarizers have extra coatings to reduce flare and ghosting, which may be particularly worthwhile if you expect to have the sun in some of your shots. You can also use a polarizer as a neutral way to cut light (as a neutral density filter), to enable you to artistically blur rivers and streams, waves, trees blowing, or boats rocking.]]> ID: architect F: 3.5 S: 1/30 ISO: 50
HISTORY: Dodging and burning are basic film darkroom editing techniques used to control light and dark values in a paper print. A film negative is nearly clear in shadow areas of a subject, and nearly opaque in highlights of a subject. Light passing through the negative develops the opposite values in the emulsion of the print paper. Using a slow exposure…a minute or so…gives the photographer time to control the amount of light reaching the paper from the enlarger. “Dodging” refers to holding and waving a disc on a stem (think lollipop shape) above the areas to be lightened. This reduces the light reaching the emulsion, and make the area lighter. “Burning” refers to a solid mask with a hole in it, allowing additional light from the enlarger to reach the emulsion through the hole, while holding light back from the rest of the image, making that portion of the image darker. IN PHOTOSHOP OR OTHER EDITING SOFTWARE: “Dodging” is used to lighten areas of the photo, and to bring out detail in shadow. Select the “Dodge Tool” (it shares the “Burn Tool” button), and select the “Brush” size, Hardness (1% to 100%), Range (Shadows, Midtones or Highlights) and Exposure (1% to 100%). You will see a circle based on the brush size you selected. Wave it over the selected area holding the left mouse button down. Experiment and practice. “Burning” is used to darken areas of the photo. Select the “Burn Tool”, and select the “Brush” size, Hardness, Range and Exposure as for the Dodge Tool. Again, experiment and practice. Here are my recommendations on settings. I welcome other opinions. • Choose the largest brush size possible for the area to be refined. • Lower the Hardness to around 25% to give a soft transition with adjacent areas. • Range will depend on what you want to lighten or darken. • Use a low Exposure, around 5 to 8% so changes are gradual. If you use RAW, I suggest that you consider lowering the Contrast when processing from RAW to JPEG or TIF. This will allow you maximum flexibility to adjust contrast locally using the Dodge and Burn Tools. In a flat image, Dodging the Highlights, and Burning the Shadows will increase contrast just where you want it. Warning, overuse of these tools can be obvious and may introduce noise in the areas where they are used, so use with discretion. Burning blown out areas will just turn them gray, so avoid blown out areas by exposing your photos for detail in the light areas, letting the dark areas fall where they may. ALTERNATIVE METHODS: I love the Dodge and Burn tools because they remind me of my darkroom days, sans safelights, and chemicals. There are new tools to do the same thing, I am told. Please feel free to add comments below, and I will correct this Tip. ]]> ID: architect F: 4 S: 1/250 ISO: 50
OK, I know some of you call me the Horizon Nag. So I want to show you how to do it, and hopefully shame you all into looking out for the flaw of unlevel horizons in your photographs. Artsy Fartsy types (and you know who you are) can choose to ignore this advice. Why is this important? Because the source of gravity is exactly perpendicular to the horizon, and if you don't do this right, you will slide off the edge of the planet. It is also the professional thing to do. In the example at the top, the horizon is not level. To fix it: Step 1: Choose the Measure Tool (hidden under the Eye Dropper Tool) Step 2: Drag the cursor from one side of what you want level, to the other side. Shown above as from A to B. Step 3: Go to Image/ Rotate Canvas/ and click on Arbitrary. A dialog bow will open up and the angle and direction your line deviates from level will be shown. In this case 1.94 degrees Clock Wise. Step 4: Click OK, and you will get the bottom image. With the horizon level. Step 5: Now all you need to do is crop out the rotated parts shown in blue. I have PhotoShop CS, and some steps may vary for version to version. So now you know. Also, please see my Experience Tip on Correcting the Perspective, a related issue. Dinah1215 uses Picasa to do the same thing. It's under the basic fixes in picasa. Go to "straighten" then use the grid lines to either move it left or right till the horizon is even with the level grid line of your horizon. Thanks to nickscala and mlcarc for leading me to the Measure Tool. Gary]]> ID: hayes077 F: 3.5 S: 1/60 ISO: 50
The biggest thing that causes problems for begining photographers is shutter speed. shutter speed has a huge effect on the outcome of a picture. if you know how to control your shutter speed, then you can make your pictures much more interesting. all setting decribed below are estimates that i typically use for my equiptment. they are not guidelines. you should practice as much as possible to fine your own preferences. In digital photography, shutter speed is the amount of time that the sensor is exposed to the light passing through the lens. on point and shoot and super zoom cameras, it is done electronically, there isnt an actual shutter. in a DSLR, there is an actuall shutter that opens for the specified amount of time, however at higher shutter speeds (ie somewhere around 1/1000th of a second or higher), it is done electronically. on some cameras (especially DSLRs) the shutter will not be diplayed as a fraction. ie. 1/30th of a second will be shown as 30. speeds that are not a fraction will have a after the number. ie. 30 seconds will be shown as 30. some cameras will show fractions as a fraction and whole seconds as whole numbers. be sure to watch out for this, it can become confusing if you accidentally lower your shutter to whole seconds. using a slower shutter speed (ie 1/60sec or slower) will usually show blurred movement from objects that are moving. if you are taking a picture of some one running or a moving car, they will be blurred. this can be usefull for taking pictures of running water, or for trying to imphasize or exaggerate a subjects movement. using a slow shutter speed can also make the entire picture blurry. this is from slight movements in your hands causing the camera to move while taking a picture. the more you zoom in, the worse it will get. if you are using a focal length (focal length is the amount that you are zoomed in) between 12-50mm (17-70 equivalant) then avoid using a shutter speed slower than 1/30sec without a tripod. if your focal length is 50-100mm (70-140mm equivalant) you should avoid shutter speeds less than 1/50sec without a tripod. as you go above 100mm (140mm equivalant) then minimum shutter speed needed for a clear shot goes up rather quickly. Many new lenses and cameras are available with Image Stabalization or Vibration Reduction IS or VR senses the movement of the camera and counter acts it using a glass lens mounted on electric coils. these electric coils work similar to the way a speaker works. VR alows you to shoot at a slower shutter speed than normal with out as much chance of getting a blurred pic from camera shake. using a faster shutter speed will freeze motion. if you want a clear shot of a fast moving subject, then you will need to raise your shutter speed. also, if you are using a very long focal length, around 300mm (420 equivalant) or longer, then you will need a higher shutter speed to avoid camera shake. basically the further you zoom in, the faster your shutter speed should be, unless you are using a tripod and have stationary subjects. the shutter speed greatly effects the amount of light that reaches the sensor. using a slower shutter speed will allow more light to reach the sensor, so you must compensate by stopping down (larger Fstop number/smaller hole). if you are using a faster shutter speed, less light will reach the sensor, so you will have to open up your aperture (smaller Fstop number/bigger hole). anytime you change your shutter speed, you will have to adjust your aperture to compensate. any time you change your aperture, you will have to adjust your shutter speed to compensate. this is where the light metter plays in. the light meter will tell you how much light will reach the sensor. if its too much, then you will have to stop down or raise your shutter speed. if its not enough, then you will have to open your aperature or lower your shutter speed. the light meter may not always be acurate, especially if you have a bright background and dark subject or vice versa. as always, check your shots as you take them and try many shots at different settings. flash photography. on most cameras, you dont have to adjust your shutter speed when using a flash. usually the flash will be the main source of light reaching the sensor, so the amount of movement shown by the sensor is limited to the duration of the flash. most flashes have an extremely short duration, so there will be very little movement shown. most cameras will give the best results at 1/60th to 1/90th of a second. you can lower your shutter speed (ie 1/30sec) in a room with some ambiant lighting to give a warmer feeling and more color. also, if you have a fast moving subject, you can raise your shutter speed to avoid any blurring. as a rule of thumb, i almost always leave my shutter speed at 1/60sec for flash photography in a dimly lit area. i highly recommend using a flash for people pics out doors in natural light. this will remove harsh shadows or dimly lit subject. this is called fill flash. When using fill flash, you dont have to follow the same rules for flash photography. usually the ambient light will be stronger than the flash, so you can adjust your settings according to the light meter and the desired DOF. the flash will simply enhance the natural light. again, you must review your shots and take many shots at various settings. most importantly, do not be afraid to mess with your settings. your not paying for film, so spend the money you save on a bigger memory card so you can take hundreds of shots. practice, practice, practice. you can go back later and look at your EXIF to find the settings on shots that worked well. The EXIF will tell you what shutter speed and aperature was used. you can also use the EXIF to find out what settings didnt work, so you can learn from your mistakes to find your EXIF --- right click on the picture > properties > summary > advanced. happy shooting!]]> ID: hayes077 F: 27 S: 1/60 ISO: 200
it seems to me that most people dont know how to use a camera manually. If you have a DSLR, superzoom, or a high end point and shoot camera, then chances are you can make all your adjustments manually. making manual adjustments will give you more flexability and better creative control over your shots. Today I am going to explain what Aperture is and how to use it. the aperature is a hole in the middle of an adjustable diafram towards the rear of the lens. this diafram opens and closes like the iris in the human eye. the aperture itself would be just like the pupil in the human eye, and it works the same exact way. it controls the amount of light that passes through it. this, in combination with the shutter speed ( more on shutter speed in tomorrows lesson ) will adjust the amount of light that reaches the camera's sensor. the size of the aperture is measured in Fstops (sometimes refered to as Fnumber) the larger the Fstop, the smaller the aperture, the smaller the aperture, the less light is alowed to enter the camera. to some people this will sound backwards..... it is, but there is a reason for it and it just takes a little bit of getting used to. eventually it becomes second nature. the smaller the Fstop number, the bigger the hole and more light. the bigger the Fstop number, the smaller the hole and less light. when you cloose a larger number, your aperture gets smaller, this is called stopping down. any time you adjust your aperture, you will change the amount of light reaching your sensor, so you will have to compensate for this by adjusting your shutter speed. if you stop down (bigger number = smaller hole = less light) you will have to slow your shutter speed to allow the smaller amount of light to reach the sensor for a longer amount of time. if you open your aperture wider ( smaller number = bigger hole = more light ) you will have more light reaching your sensor and you will have to choose a faster shutter speed to allow the larger amount of light to reach the sensor for a shorter amount of time. this is called the law of reciprocity. tomorrows lesson will be about shutter speed. just remember, if you change your aperture, you have to do the opposite to your shutter speed. the aperture also effect the distance the you camera will focus on. this is called Depth of Field (DOF). for instance, if you have a very shallow DOF, the subject will be in focus and the background and foreground will not be in focus. if you have a high DOF, the subject will be in focus, and the background and foreground will also be in focus. Stopping down (larger number = smaller hole = less light) will give you a deeper DOF. the larger the number, the more of the picture will be in focus. if you choose a wider aperture ( smaller number = larger hole = more light) you will get a shallower DOF. the smaller the number, less of the picture will be in focus. zooming in or out will change the DOF also. the more you zoom in, the less DOF you will have. the more you zoom out, the more DOF you will have. this of course can be adjusted by changing the aperature to control the DOF. the aperture will also effect how sha