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Posted November 7th, 2008
by David Peters
by David Peters
1. Watch films. Hard work I know. Films have an infinite amounts of ideas for inspiration with different concepts for lighting and composition. With 30 images per second, you’ll have some great ideas in no time.
2. Enter photography contests online. Contests often give you topics or themes which can give you inspiration when you don’t know what to shoot.
3. Plan a trip to a local zoo. Zoos have loads of interesting things to shoot and animals are always photogenic.
4. Look at things through the eyes of creativity. Pick anything and shoot it just to see what it looks like: things around your house, in the refrigerator, etc. The subject doesn’t really matter all that much, what matters is how you shoot it. Shoot, shoot and still shoot even more. Digital is cheap.
5. Composition is the key. Think about what you are doing. Frame your photo in your mind. Look for interesting angles and light, go high, go low. The key is to shoot the subject in as many different ways, under different lighting, and try to make those images interesting. So, don’t just point and shoot, but consider composition.
6. Plan a trip to a local botanical garden or a zoo. Make sure to visit such places from time to time, - there are lots of things to shoot there.
7. Shoot boring things. Take a look around you in a whole new way. Make an effort to shoot things that you would never consider shooting. A bottle. A phone. A lamp. Anything, just shoot it in lots of different ways and see what comes out.
8. Explore the web. The internet is an amazing resource for visual inspiration. Type anything you can think of into the search engine and see what comes up. The internet gives you access to lots of amateur photographer’s work, among them some hidden gems, which will surprise you.
9. Shoot in different conditions. Shoot at different times of day for different lighting effects and atmosphere. Shoot in different weather for subtle changes of tone.
10. Shoot at different times of day to achieve different types of atmosphere. Experiment with dusk, noon, night and see what fits with your subject matter best.
Tags: advanced adobe, advanced fotoshop, advanced photoshop, advanced photoshop tutorials, Digital Cameras, Digital Photography, edit photos, editing digital photography, hobbies, internet, Photography, photography guide, software, software help Posted in Photography
Posted November 6th, 2008
by Amanda Maseko
by Amanda Maseko
The bride and groom are usually so busy on their wedding day that without photos to remind them, many of the days events would be forgotten. Because of this, the vast majority of couple arrange for a digital wedding photographer to be there for the most important part of the day.
Most wedding photographers have assistants so they can create a wedding album that will be memorable but if you want to take pictures of a friend’s wedding, who will help you?Fortunately for wedding photographers they can use an assistant to help them get the right shots but if you’re a friend taking pictures, then how do you take good shots of the day?If you want to take photographs of your friend’s or relations wedding then you will have to do it on your own because you won’t have an assistant like the professionals have. So, if you need some help for a wedding you are to attend and you are going to use a digital camera, then you may find some useful information in this article.
Many amateur photographers make the mistake of taking pictures with a boring background which is not something you want in a wedding photo. Often when there is a good background there are just too many people in the shot, so if this is the situation, just try and capture a nice head and shoulders shot of the couple.
Try to get guests that have spectacles on to either remove them or hold their head at an angle so that there isn’t a reflection obscuring their eyes. If there’s a couple or a group that you wish to include in the picture, you should use the zoom function in to get the ideal image but do not shoot against the light so that dark images appear.
Some of the best pictures you will take will be those where the subject(s) do not know the shot is being taken and the best way to do this is by using a zoom lens. You should be alert at all times when shooting digital wedding photography since you can seldom ask people to keep posing for you and the day is also about spontaneity.
The last thing you want to happen is for your digital camera to have half charged batteries and a memory card that is already half full as it will restrict how many shots you can take. A one gigabyte card should be the bare minimum you have if your camera is a six mega pixel model, a larger capacity if the camera has a higher mega pixel rating.
Always remember that the higher the resolution used, the larger the size of prints that can be made so always keep a secure copy of your work so you can re-use them in the future. You can do this by saving albums on your personal computer to free up the space on your memory card or burn them to a cd or dvd.
If you have a passion for photography and a good relationship with the two people getting married then your digital wedding photography images should come out just fine.
Tags: family, home, Photography, Wedding Photography Posted in Photography
Posted November 5th, 2008
by David Peters
by David Peters
Selecting Colors from an Image Quickly To take a color from your image and turn it into the foreground color Press I to activate the Eyedropper Tool and then click on any color in your image. To take that color and turn it into the background color, press the ALT Key and click on any color in your image.
Change Brush Tip Sizes Quickly With any brush selected you can press the Right Bracket Key “]” to increase the size of the brush tip, or Press the Left Bracket Key “[” to decrease the size of the brush tip.
The Move Tool & the Arrow Keys Getting in the habit of activating the Move Tool through the keyboard is a timesaver; you can do this using the shortcut, “V”. Once you have the Move Tool activated you can use the keyboard arrow keys to push a layer or selection in 1 pixel increments. You can speed things up by pressing the Shift key along with the arrow key to nudge in 10 pixel increments.
Hide Your Palettes To hid all your palettes press the tab key once. You can press the Tab key again to bring them back. To hide all your palettes except the toolbar press Shift+Tab.
Zooming In & Zooming Out You can zoom in on your image by pressing CTRL and the plus sign “+” (Mac: Command and the “+” sign). Conversely you can zoom out by pressing CTRL and the minus sign “-” (Mac: Command and the “-”sign).
Navigating In Magnified Images If you are magnifying your image using the zoom tool and lose your bearings you can jump quickly to specific views using the following shortcuts: To change the view to the top left hand corner of your screen or image press the Home Key. You will want to press the End Key to set the view to the bottom right hand corner of your image. To move the view down one full screen view press the Page Down Key. Press CTRL+Page Down (Mac: Command +Page Down) to move the screen view one full screen to the right. Press CTRL+Page Up (Mac: Command +Page Up) to move the screen view one full screen to the left.
Selecting Just The Pixels On A Layer An easy way to select an object that is on a transparent layer is to Press the Command Key (PC: Control key) and click on the layer with the object in the Layers Palette. This makes sure that only the opaque pixels (the pixels that are visible) will be selected with the marching ants, instead of the entire layer.
Tile Images for Better Visibility When you simultaneously open a bunch of files in Photoshop they automatically cascade, and it can be difficult to select individual windows within all the overlapping files. To eliminate this problem choose Window> Arrange> Tile and all of your open files will rearrange themselves to be visible all at once. When you’re ready to close the windows you don’t have to spend time closing them individually, instead use the Close All shortcut Control+Option+W (Mac: Command+Alt+W).
Getting Rid Of the Welcome Screen - And Bringing It Back I am sure you are familiar with the Welcome screen that faces you when you first open Photoshop. If you are like me, at some point you might want to stop this screen from coming up. If you look you will see a check box at the bottom of the screen that you can click to hide the screen at startup. If, at some point down the road, you change your mind and decide that you want to have it show up again, you can temporarily bring the screen back by clicking under the Help menu and choosing Welcome Screen.
Cycle through All of Your Open Documents At some point you may want to find one of your open documents that are hidden on your toolbar. You can easily press Control-Tab repeatedly (MAC and PC) to cycle through all of your open documents and switch between them.
Tags: Photography Posted in Photography
Posted November 3rd, 2008
by Anthony Galz
by Trina Rowde
Your plastic surgeon’s before-and-after photos can reveal much about both your surgeon’s ability as well as information about the procedure you are about to undergo. Most often, it is these plastic surgery photo viewing that will help you decide whether or not you want the procedure.
Always Ask for Photos
It’s always advisable to know much about the procedure before you undergo one. A plastic surgery photo viewing session is one of the best ways for you to get a glimpse of a surgeon’s sense of professionalism and skills and how you might just look like after surgery.
Don’t settle for just one plastic surgery photo. Ask your surgeon to present a gallery and explain to you which plastic surgery photo is most likely reflective of your condition and goals. You might also want to log on to websites and scour the net for numerous other photos. This will help you compare your surgeon’s work with that of others.
Assess Photo Quality
Most competent plastic surgeons should have more than a set to show you. Badly done photographs may be a sign that you may not have a very dedicated and meticulous surgeon. Make sure that you are viewing a high resolution plastic surgery photo gallery. Pictures however that appear too perfect are something to be wary of. Cosmetic plastic surgery cannot produce perfect results and you should be on your guard if all the pictures present fabulous looking models.
Look for Signs of Editing and Manipulation
Of course reputable and accredited surgeons do no more than cover a patient’s identity during minor plastic surgery photo editing. None of the surgical details are masked. It is still a good idea however to have a discriminating eye. You might end up in the hands of the rare surgeon con artist who might resort to plastic surgery photo editing.
Check also the galleries’ lighting and angular inconsistencies. Before photo editing software was invented, clever photographers used lighting and angles to change the look of the same object. Some surgeons may not have intentionally employed such a practice. Real lighting difficulties may truly have resulted in a picture that looks better than the actual result. Simply ask your doctor about what you see if you notice differences in lighting or angle in before and after pictures.
Do Not Rely On Pictures
Don’t rely on photos alone to make your decision. You might be able to make a more informed decision if you requested for a computer assisted display of what you would look like after the procedure. You should also consider looking for real people you know such as friends and family and assess for yourself how much they have improved in their appearance.
The best factor to look into however other than pictures is a doctor’s accreditation or board certification. Researching about a doctor’s qualifications is the best way to ensure safety.
Tags: Photography Posted in Photography
Posted November 2nd, 2008
by Fabien Toulouse
by Herbert Reich
This famous group of San Francisco photographic artists all had similar philosophies and styles. Created in 1932, Group f/64 included such well known photographers as Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and John Paul Edwards, as well as many more. However, these people were not all considered members when the group began. Its seven founders initially announced a showing that included themselves and others, listed as guests. A few years later, however, many more photographers were considered members. Members, particularly Ansel Adams, went on to have an extremely significant effect on the way photography was and is performed, both in the US and worldwide. In 2006, one of his prints fetched more than $600,000 at auction.
Though the initial name of the group was proposed as the then-common Uniform System designation of US 256, the members decided to use f/64 as it was less likely to be confused with a nationalist name. F/64 is the smallest setting on large format cameras, securing the maximum field depth. This means that a photo taken on this setting has the same sharpness from background to foreground.
The general photographic rule of thumb is: the smaller the aperture, the longer the exposure. This required the subject of the photograph to be very still or a still-life. Better yet: a landscape. The group’s location in California meant that these long exposures were less necessary, as strong sunshine reduces the need for exposure time. Cameras of this size did tend to be large and clumsy, which limited subject matter to some degree, however. By comparison, the cameras used in 1930s reporting and action photos were much smaller and easier to maneuver.
At the time, pictorialism was all the rage in photography. This movement had its roots in the 19th century and chained photography to the mere emulation of etchings and paintings. Soft focuses, special lens coatings and filters, and heavy darkroom manipulation were all used to achieve this end, which Group f/64 found unnecessary. They strove for a clear, defined photographic image using simple, direct presentation and photographic methods only, a strong contrast to the pictorialist philosophy.
The goal of Group f/64 was to develop photography as an art form along lines defined by the medium’s limitations and possibilities, rather than comparing it to other, more established forms of art. They pointed out that the aesthetics and ideological conventions of painting and drawing, which were often used to judge photography, had developed before photography itself even existed, and could not take that medium into proper account. Members of Group f/64 went on to be some of the most influential photographers in the country, and their techniques and photographs are taught in many photography schools.
Tags: Photography Posted in Photography
Posted November 1st, 2008
by David Peters
by David Peters
Have you ever tried making use of a frame in your photography? Incorporating a frame into a picture can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. A foreground element is usually used to create the frame. Examples of this can be found in tree branches, a window frame, a fence, rows of trees, a door and many more.
The purpose of a frame is to separate your main subject and produce an appealing composition. A frame is many times a means of adding depth to an image. The appearance of the frame is up to you. You can opt to keep the detail of the frame, as in a wall, branch, or fence, or let the frame go dark, as in a window frame.
When you are composing a shot, keep your eyes open to foreground (and sometimes, even middle or background) objects that can be used as a natural frame. You may need to physically back up a bit, kneel down for a more pleasant composition, or zoom in to include your subject within your chosen frame.
You can also use image editing software to create a frame without the camera. By combining two or more pictures into one image, you can create spectacular effects. The possibilities are up to you!
Be careful when adding a frame through digital editing though. While you can certainly combine features of different images together, be cautious about adding artificial frames on familiar scenes and landscapes.
As an extreme example, don’t frame the Washington Monument with the Great Wall of China. Unless your goal is to create dissonance within your viewers’ minds, a picture with an intense difference will only come across as strange.
Next time you find yourself behind the camera lens, take in the whole picture to see if there is an object that you can incorporate as a natural frame. As an experiment, take one picture with the frame and one without. I’m sure you’ll find yourself drawn more to the one with the frame included!
Tags: Photography Posted in Photography
Posted October 31st, 2008
by David Peters
by David Peters
To best way to straighten images in Photoshop is by using the Measure Tool, which takes all the guess work out of it. As we’ll see in a moment, as long as there’s something in the image that should be straight, Photoshop will do most of the work for us! The Measure Tool, by default, is hiding behind the Eyedropper Tool in the Tools palette, so to select it, you’ll need to click and hold your mouse button down on the Eyedropper Tool for a second or two. A fly-out menu will appear showing you the other tools hiding behind it. Click on the Measure Tool to select it.
Look for something in your image that should be straight, either horizontally or vertically. We’re going to drag along its edge with the Measure Tool so Photoshop has something to work with when trying to figure out how crooked the photo actually is. In my case, I’m going to click and drag horizontally along the roof of the building directly behind Ms. Liberty. Obviously the roof should be perfectly horizontal, yet it clearly isn’t at the moment. I’ll simply click once on the left side of the roof, then hold my mouse button down and drag over to the right side of the roof. This draws a thin line between where I first clicked on the left and where I finished dragging on the right, and Photoshop uses the angle of this line to determine how far the image will need to be rotated in order to straighten it.
So, basically, to straighten something all you need to do is click and drag with the Measure Tool along the edge of something in the photo that should be straight horizontally or vertically. You can look up in the Options Bar at the top of the screen and see the angle of the line you’ve just drawn (it’s the number listed to the right of the letter “A”). In my case, we can see that my line is on an angle of 1.9 degrees:
The Options Bar showing the angle of the line drawn with the Measure Tool. Photoshop can now use this angle to determine how far to rotate the image in order to straighten it. Choose The “Rotate Canvas - Arbitrary” Command Go up to the Image menu at the top of the screen, choose Rotate Canvas, and then choose Arbitrary:
Go to Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary. I have to laugh every time I do this because the word “arbitrary” actually means “random or by chance”, yet that’s exactly the opposite of what we’re doing here. We’re not randomly rotating our image or leaving anything to chance. We’ve used the Measure Tool to find out exactly how much of an angle our image needs to be rotated by, and now Photoshop can use the information we’ve given it to straighten our image without any guess work. As I’ve said before, much of the problem with learning Photoshop comes from getting around the terminology, and in this case, I don’t know what Adobe was thinking.
However, life goes on. Once you select “Arbitrary”, Photoshop pops up the Rotate Canvas dialog box, and as we can see, all the work has already been done for us. In my case, Photoshop has already entered a value of 1.85 for the Angle option, and it even knew that the image will need to be rotated counter-clockwise, which is why the CCW option is also selected:
Photoshop Tutorials: The “Rotate Canvas” dialog box with the angle and direction already selected for us. You may be wondering why Photoshop entered an angle of 1.85 when the Options Bar showed an angle of 1.9 a moment ago. The reason is because Photoshop rounds off the angles in the Options Bar to 1 decimal place, so it showed 1.9 even though the angle of the line we drew with the Measure Tool was actually 1.85. The angle shown in the Rotate Canvas dialog box is the correct angle.
Finally all we need to do is click on the OK button in the Rotate Canvas dialog box to exit and have Photoshop rotate and straighten the image for us. You should see that the image is now properly rotated and straightened. Everything looks great, and thankfully the Statue of Liberty is no longer leaning to the right. We straightened the image without any guess work thanks to the Measure Tool and the Rotate Canvas command.
Of course, there is a small problem. By rotating the image inside the document window, we’ve added some white canvas areas around the outside of the photo. We’ll need to finish things off by cropping away those areas, and for that, we can use Photoshop’s Crop Tool. Select the Crop Tool from the Tools palette, or simply press the letter C on your keyboard to select it with the shortcut:
With the Crop Tool chosen click near the top left corner of your image and drag down towards the bottom right to create a border around the part of the image you want to keep. Fine-tune your selection by dragging any of corner handles or by dragging the top, bottom, left or right sides of the selection:
You can use the Crop Tool to drag a selection area around the portion of the image you want to retain. Once you’ve dragged out your cropping border, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to have Photoshop crop the image.
Tags: Photography Posted in Photography
