picture and photograph

Color Accent: B&W with a dash of Color

2010-01-20T00:16:00.000-08:00

Here’s how to turn an image into black and white, leaving only one color as the accent. There are a number of ways of accomplishing this selective coloring effect depending on the image editing software you are using. In this tutorial, I will use Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0.

Always make a copy of the image you want to work with, so you don’t muck up the original. Here is the image I will be using:

Original Picture

Use the Magic Wand Tool to select the area (color) you want to accent.

Select Color

Now, do Select – Inverse to select everything except the colored area.

Select Inverse

Everything except colored area is now selected

In the Layers window, click on the Create adjustment layer icon and select Hue/Saturation…

Create adjustment layer - Hue/Saturation...

Move the Saturation slide all the way to the left to remove all colors.

Desaturate all colors to B&W

Final Result

Et voilà!
Other examples:

In the example above, I selected the whole sail boat (instead of just one color) and let everything else go B&W.

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorials/tutorial-color-accent/

Selective Sepia

2009-12-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

Learn how to use Photoshop to create selectively add a dramatic sepia effect a photo. This Photoshop effect works best when used with Photoshop CS3 but will also work with Photoshop CS2 or older using an alternative method.

Preview of Final Results

Selective Sepia Photoshop Tutorial

Step 1: Open an image into Photoshop

Open the File menu and select Open. Browse for the photo you would like to add a selective sepia effect to and click OK.

Step 2: Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer

In the Layers pallet, click on the New Adjustment Layer icon and select Hue/Saturation.

A Hue/Saturation window should appear. With this tool, we'll specify where the sepia effect will appear. Decide if you want to select the sepia toned areas according to the color of the image or by manually painting the areas where you would like the sepia tone.
Choose one of the following:

A) Select by color

Selecting the sepia areas based on color will give the most natural effect.
First, decide which color in the photo that you want to keep. Then, select from the edit drop down menu the each color in the list except for the colors you want to keep and reduce the saturation to -100. For example, to keep the reds in the photo use the following settings:
Reds: 0 Saturation
Yellows: -100 Saturation
Greens: -100 Saturation
Cyans: -100 Saturation
Blues: -100 Saturation
Magenta : -100 Saturation

B) Select manually

Manually selecting the sepia toned areas will let you specify precisely the area that you would like toned.
Set the master saturation to -100 and click OK. Your image should now appear grayscale.

Activate the layer mask by clicking on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers pallet. Select the Eraser tool and erase the areas where you don't want the sepia tone to be applied to.

Step 3: Add a Black & White adjustment layer

In the Layers pallet, click on the New Adjustment Layer icon and select Black & White. If you are using Photoshop CS2 or older, select Hue/Saturation instead.

A Black & White (or Hue/Saturation if you're using Photoshop CS2 or older) adjustment layer should appear. Simply click OK without editing the settings. Then, change the blend mode of the top adjustment layer to Overlay. Double click back on the icon of the layer to bring back the tool.

Photoshop CS2 or older:
You will be using the Hue/Saturation tool to add a sepia tone. Checkmark "Colorize" and apply the settings below:

Photoshop CS3:
If you're using Photoshop CS3, you can use the Black and White adjustment to add a sepia tone. This will give you more adjustable settings compared to using the Hue/Saturation adjustment.
First, adjust the settings to get the black and white look that you like. Or, you can scroll through the presets menu to select one of your own. I chose the Red Filter preset to bring up the reds and darken the sky.

Checkmark the Tint and adjust the tone to create a sepia effect. Click OK when done.

Final Results

Red

Blue and Cyan

Yellow and Green

Red, Yellow, and Green

get from here

How to Create a Panorama with Photoshop and Photomerge

2009-12-14T18:58:00.000-08:00

This post on Creating a Panorama with Photoshop and Photomerge has been submitted by Matt Dawdy from www.TheRightPic.com.

A panorama is simply a wide-angled view of a physical space. To the photographer a panorama is usually several photographs that are stitched together horizontally to create a seamless picture.
This is going to be a pretty simple tutorial in which we create a panorama using Photoshop’s Photomerge utility.

Here are the tools I am going to use to create panoramic photos:

1. A digital camera
2. A tripod or a stable surface or platform to take pictures from that allows some horizontal rotation
3. A computer and Adobe Photoshop and the Photomerge utility
When I started thinking about this tutorial I began to wonder what I should shoot. Just about any subject can be used for a panorama, however traditional panoramic photography subjects are typically landscapes or city skylines. I will show you a few different panoramas that I created, some typical, some a little different than what you would normally see for a panorama.

Setting up for your shoot:

A stable position to take your panoramas from is important. Isn’t it always when taking pictures? Well, with panoramas it is more important because the Photoshop process that joins your photos together is good at what it does but it is not perfect and when it has trouble putting the individual pictures together it either leaves ragged white lines in between the photos or chops large sections out of the photos because it doesn’t know what to do with them.
I would recommend you use a tripod since it allows you to turn your camera slightly in order to take successive shots. If you can’t use a tripod some sort of flat surface like the top of a wall, fence or a board may work as long as it is possible to take a picture and then rotate your camera slightly and then take another picture without vertical movement.
Once you find your potential spot and set your camera up, rotate it to the extreme right and left edges that you want to include in your photo and make sure that there isn’t anything that is too big of a visual or physical obstruction. Something else to keep in mind is to try to set up so that the full range of your shot does not show shadows from you or your camera.

The actual shoot:

For the panoramic pictures I take I start at the extreme left of what I want to capture, set my timer and take bracketed exposure shots. I then stop and check the photos without moving the camera. If one of them looks OK I am ready to continue. If not, I adjust my settings and shoot again from the same spot.
When you have the settings you want and have taken your extreme left pictures it is time to grab a reference point in the viewfinder about 20%-30% away from the right side of your viewfinder. You do this because you are going to swivel the camera so that this reference point is at the far left but still in the viewfinder so that there is some overlap between your photos.

The green arrows show my chosen reference point, which is a point that I will use to make sure I don’t swivel too far to the right and leave a gap in between my two pictures. The dotted line represents the overlap that I am going to have between this and my next picture. The second picture is shown diagonally lower than the other one for display purposes only.
As far as overlap is concerned, you are shooting digitally so snap away, overlap 30-50% if you want, but err on the side of overlapping too much. If you don’t overlap enough, as Photoshop’s Photomerge app attempts to blend the shots it will not have enough of a fingerprint to blend well and your panorama will end up with the ragged white lines that I wrote about earlier or look like Frankenstein’s version of a panorama.
Once you mentally choose a reference point such as a tree or prominent peak swivel the camera to the right until your reference point is almost at the left edge of the viewfinder. Try not to move the camera position, vertical pitch or height. Once you have swiveled far enough repeat the process that you did to take the first picture.
Now simply repeat this process until you come to the extreme right end of your desired panoramic shot:
1. Choose a reference point about 20-30% away from the right edge of the viewfinder
2. Swivel the camera to the right until your reference point is at the left edge of the viewfinder
3. Take the picture
4. Repeat until you have taken photos that cover the entire area you wish to capture in your panorama

Make your panorama:

Now you are ready to ’stitch’ your photos together.
1. Open each photo that you wish to add to the panorama in Photoshop. Open them sequentially, starting with the leftmost one first.
2. In Photoshop CS3 (or CS2, not sure about other versions) go to File > Automate > Photomerge
3. In the dialog that appears choose Auto and then click the “Add Open Files” button
4. Check the filename numbers of the photos that are added, assuming you allow your camera to number your photos. If you started off shooting from the left of the panorama the lower numbers should be at the top. In other words, it should read something like this:

If the filenames are out of order remove all of the ones that are before the one that should be first. Now just click Add Open Files again and it will add the pictures back in. Keep removing files and adding them back until you have your files in order.
Click OK. Now Photoshop goes into action. It analyzes and blends the photos. This could take several minutes. Once it is finished you will see what Photoshop and Photomerge could make out of your photos.

Here is my neighbor’s fish tank. A lot of it got lost in the Photomerge process, in fact I would guess that I lost about 50% of my picture material which is probably due to the fact that the images are dark and very similar and Photomerge probably had a difficult time piecing it together. Still, the picture isn’t a total loss. One thing that did happen that is common with Photomerged pictures is that it is on a slight tilt to the left.
If this happens to you, first flatten your image and then do an Arbitrary rotation until the picture looks level.
Next, crop the picture. If you are unfamiliar with how to do this just press C. Click and drag a box over the area of the picture you want to keep. Press ENTER and the rest of the photo will be gone.
Next, you might want to adjust your saturation, exposure, hue levels, etc, until you are happy with the photo. Make sure you zoom in all of the way to 100% and look the photo over, zoom back out and move around. Look for obvious problems with the picture.
As for me, I have a fishtank with a couple of blurry fish but a decent looking photo that ends up being 88″ wide by 23″ long, give or take a little.
When you are done playing with the coloring and exposure do a Smart Sharpen by going to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen. I would set the Amount to 60% and set the Radius to 1.0. Click OK.
Go ahead and save your picture and you have a panorama! Here is mine with the default Photoshop frame action added (the photo has been shortened and saved at a low res to make it more web palatable) (click to enlarge the following image):

Given time I would add a couple of good looking fish from other photos and clean up some of the rough spots, but this is a good start.
Here are a couple of other panoramas that I took (click to enlarge):

A field near where I work. The actual panorama is 204″ x 24″.

Here are some homes and a range of mountains with the waste from a giant copper mine. Actual panorama is 94″ x 23″

http://digital-photography-school.com/creating-a-panorama-with-photoshop-and-photomerge

Camera Shake

2009-11-29T22:37:00.000-08:00

The phenomenon known as camera shake is caused by movement of the camera (hence the name :-)), which becomes noticeable as blur when using a slow shutter speed. The resulting blur is not quite the same as the blur caused by incorrect focusing.

How can we tell the difference between blurred focus and camera shake?

Have a look at the picture on the right. Here we have a mixture of blur caused by the subject moving, blur caused by the camera moving and the blur of the background which is out of focus. The focus is actually sharp on the main subject, but you'll have to take my word for that :-). You can see the difference between the two types of blur if you look closely, rather than a general fuzziness, movement blur looks more like a double exposure or a series of exposures. If you look at the back wall in this first picture you can see both types of blur. The wall is 'soft' due to being out of focus but also there is a double, or triple, image which is caused by camera movement.
Motion blur, whether it is caused by movement of the subject or movement of the camera, looks the same. Although some of the movement is caused by the guitarist moving, the microphone, which wasn't moving, is blurred too, as is the background, this is due to camera shake.

Take a look a this second photo, The photo is now generally sharp because I have used a flash, and therefore a much faster shutter speed, but the wall is still blurred because it is out of focus. I think if you look at the green tiles in both pictures you can see the different types of blur quite clearly.
Whereas blur caused by movement of the subject can be desirable, sometimes, to help create 'atmosphere' in a picture, camera shake should be avoided in all but the most 'arty' type of photos.

Why do we get camera shake?

No matter how careful we are, when we press the shutter button there is always some movement of the camera. At faster shutter speeds there is no noticeable effect on the picture but at slower speeds the blur becomes apparent. The way we stand, the way we hold the camera and how vigorously we press the shutter button all have an effect on the amount of movement we get.

How can we avoid movement blur from camera shake?

To eliminate the blur we can do several things:-

Use a faster shutter speed and/or a shorter lens.
Use a tripod with or without a remote release.
Brace ourselves as best we can against a wall or other object to minimize movement.

1) The most obvious way of eliminating shake is to use a faster shutter speed. Either by opening the aperture wider or introducing more light by using a flash gun for instance.

The rule of thumb for a sharp picture, free from the effects of camera shake, is to use a shutter speed which is at least as fast as 1 divided by the focal length of the lens. So if you are using your zoom set at 100mm you should use a shutter speed of at least 1/100 of a second. If you are using a 50mm lens you will get a sharp picture at 1/50th of a second.

The reason why the focal length of the lens is important is that camera shake becomes more apparent as the angle of view gets narrower, the narrower the angle of view the more the shake is magnified. You will know this if you have ever tried to hold a telescope or a high powered pair of binoculars still.
2) Putting the camera on a sturdy tripod is the best way to keep it still and this is the way to go, especially when you want to get some movement blur from the subject like in the waterfall picture here. Even better is to get a remote release for the camera so you don't have to touch it at all.
3) If, like me, you didn't bring your tripod with you and you still want to take pictures in the dark, you can stretch the rule of thumb (above) by a few stops by bracing yourself and/or the camera against a tree or wall or lamppost. Also controlling your breathing can help quite a bit too. Here's a picture shot at a slow shutter speed using this technique.
Finally I just want to say that an inherent problem with a lot of today's smaller cameras, especially phone cameras, is that, because they have no viewfinder, we are obliged to hold them at arm's length to view the screen, often holding them only with our fingertips. This makes them infinitely more difficult to hold still and makes them much more prone to show the effects of camera shake. So even more care needs to be taken to get a sharp picture. If you are taking a picture with a phone camera (if you really must!), try to rest it on something, a table or wall, to help keep it still.

http://www.geofflawrence.com/camera_shake.html

Sharpening with the Unsharp Mask filter

2009-11-29T21:00:00.000-08:00

The unsharp mask filter in Photoshop can be used to save certain blurred pictures. Sharpening a photo in Photoshop will not save any shot that is very blurred, nor will it save photos where the point of focus is in the wrong place, but it may help with a picture that is a little bit 'soft' due to the use of a slower than ideal shutter speed.

In Photoshop, under the filters menu, there is a submenu called 'Sharpen' where you will find several choices.

The bottom two choices, 'Unsharp Mask' and 'Smart Sharpen' open boxes full of faders that you can twiddle.

The other choices are presets that will give you a quick fix in a hurry but do not have any adjustments, so we will ignore them.

At this point I have to confess that I am still using Photoshop CS2 so there might be new filters in CS3 that I am not aware of, in fact I have only just discovered the 'Smart Sharpen' option while preparing for this article.

I will leave the 'Smart Sharpen' option until later and start with my tried and tested favorite the 'Unsharp Mask'.

There are three sliders in the 'Unsharp Mask' window, the top one 'Amount' does what it says on the can, it adjusts the amount of sharpening.

The 'Radius' slider adjusts the width of the halos that are created. Basically the way sharpening works is that it finds the edges in your picture by looking for areas of high contrast and increases the apparent sharpness by adding dark and light halos. If you look at the edge of the apple in the picture on the left you can see a dark line, rather like a pencil line along the edge.

The 'Threshold' slider allows you to specify how much contrast difference there has to be before that area is sharpened. Set this fader too low and the picture will appear grainy as there will be a sharpening halo around almost every pixel. Set the value too high and only clearly defined edges will be sharpened which can make the blurred bits look even more blurred.

This filter needs to be used very carefully to achieve the best effect. Too much sharpening can make the picture look false. On the other hand, if you look for every single little tell-tale detail and every little line, you end up not using the filter at all.

How Much Sharpening? What Settings to Use?

The final adjustment of the sliders is down to you and will vary from picture to picture, but here are some guidelines to get you started. The amount of sharpening you can get away with, especially the 'Radius' settings, depend on the resolution of the image. If it is an image destined for viewing on the screen the resolution of the image should be 72 pixels per inch. (some say 96ppi) If the image is destined for print the resolution should be 300ppi or as near as you can get it to that.

If you are planning to change the size of an image, by this I mean the file size, make sure you do the sharpening after the sizing, especially with JPEGS. Sharpening should be the last thing you do in Photoshop.

For an image that is 72ppi you should use a radius setting of about 0.4 or 0.5 pixels. Use less than this and you won't see much happening, use more and the halos will start to look too obvious. For a print image, 300ppi, start with a setting between 1 pixel and 1.7 pixels.

I prefer to use as small a 'Radius' setting as possible and push the 'Sharpen' slider quite high.

I read somewhere a while ago that the 'Threshold' slider should be set at about 3 levels. But I find that I use it anywhere between 0 and 20 or so. This is one you have to play with yourself as it really does depend on the type of picture.

Here's a picture ripe for sharpening, although I used a tripod it was taken at a very slow shutter speed in available light. The depth of field is not great so we are never going to get the whole photo in focus but at least the middle apple should be sharp. I have made the pictures nice and large so you can see the effects better.

As we are using this on the web, the radius setting should be about 0.4 pixels. So set that first and then set the 'Threshold' slider to zero for now. Move the 'Sharpen' slider from side to side to see what it will do. Normally you need to move it past 80 to see anything happening at all. If you get all the way to 500 and the picture is still not sharp enough then you need to set the 'Radius' higher.

Below you can see the settings I chose and the result. Overall it is probably the best compromise. There is a white halo around the stalk which is a bit more obvious than I would like and the black line between the apples is a bit bold but, as I said before, if you look for every bit of evidence you would end up not using the filter at all. The low 'Threshold' setting has sharpened up the skin of the apple which is where we really wanted to see the improvement. The stalk of the middle apple is now as sharp as you could want.

Sharpness always used to be the ultimate goal in my pictures but nowadays I can see that you can sometimes have too much sharpness and soft focus has it's place too.

Here's a version that has been sharpened way too much, just so you can see all the bad things to watch out for. You can clearly see the black and white halos around all the edges. This is what we need to minimize. So, use the sharpening filter with great care, better still, get the focus right in the camera.

Finally a quick look below at the 'Smart Sharpen' filter. This has many more knobs and dials to play with and so is a bit confusing at first. The left tab is much the same as we saw before but we now have a drop down menu with three different types of blur to choose from. 'Gaussian Blur' is what we have been fixing with the other filter so 'Lens Blur' in this case or 'Motion Blur' when appropriate would be a better choice for photographers. The shadow and highlight tabs give you a chance to minimize the halos and, as you can see from the preview, they can be greatly reduced. The halo around the stalk is gone and the black line between the two apples is almost gone.

This filter then, used carefully, can give you a more subtle effect. Look at all three pictures carefully, the second picture is obviously sharper but with a few tell-tale signs of sharpening, the bottom picture is more subtle but does not appear quite so sharp.

In the end, the choice is up to you. You will probably find that you over sharpen everything at first, so make sure you work on a copy file and keep the original safely out of harm's way. I now keep all original files straight from the camera and only ever work on copies. That way, as my skills improve, I can go back to the original and try a new edit.

http://www.geofflawrence.com/photoshop_tutorial_sharpening.php

Bring Cool Colors to A Photo

2009-11-22T22:34:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial we will learn how to play with colors in a photo, turn it into a cool and dark style that can easily impressive your viewers

Let's start to Photoshop!
Step 1: Download the original photo and open it with Photoshop. First we should make it darker by going to Image>Adjustments>Levels and drag the black slider to the right to make the photo darker

Step 2: Duplicate the photo by pressing Ctrl-J. We will make the photo more contrastive by turning this layer to black and white for later effects. Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and use these settings:

This will make our layer become nearly black and white

Step 3: One again using the Levels tool(Image>Adjustments>Levels) to make our photo darker by moving the black slider to the right. You can also make slight adjustments to other sliders

Step 4: Change the blending mode of this layer to Screen, notice that this mode just lets light colors go through. Our photo now looks brighter and more contrastive

Step 5: Create a new layer and change foreground color to #1F768C (dark blue) and background color to #62bdd3 (light blue) and go to Filter>Render>Clouds to add random clouds to this layer

Step 6: Change the blending mode of this layer to Overlay to apply this layer's colors to the below layers

Step 7: Press Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E to create a new layer that is the result of all underneath layers. We will make lighting effect on this layer by going to Filter>Render>Lighting Effects and adjust the ellipse to create a light source from the top-left

Step 8: Our photo now looks great. This step is just optional to give the viewers a dreamy feeling.
Duplicate the current layer (Ctrl-J) and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use a small radius

Step 9: Now change the blending mode of this layer to Soft Light to make the photo a bit "softer"

Step 10: You can easily change the brightness and contrast of the photo by Curves tool (Image>Adjustments>Curves) or Brightness/Contrast tool(Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast)

Let's have a look at the result again to feel the difference:

In conclusion, we used some blending mode (Screen, Overlay, Soft Light) with adjustment tools (Curves, Hue/Saturation, Brightness & Contrast...) and Lighting Effects to greatly change the colors of a photo, making it cooler and darker. Maybe you have seen some photos of this style!

http://www.9tuts.com/Photoshop/Photo-Retouch/Bring-Cool-Colors-to-A-Photo.html

Dreamy Scene

2009-11-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial we are going to create a beautiful scene that works well with fairy stories. You can also use it in some posters which require dreamy effects as well

Let's start our tutorial!
Step 1: Download the original image or open your own image. Duplicate our image by pressing Ctrl-J. Before applying some effect on it, we should increase its contrast by going to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast and increase the Contrast slider to 100%

Step 2: Change its blending mode to Multiply to make the picture sharper

Step 3: Press Ctrl-Shift-Alt-E to create a new layer which is the result of its underlying layers. Next we will add a nice sky to it. You can cut out the sky from this picture

Place it on our castle picture. Make sure the sky covers most of our image

Step 4: Change the sky layer's blending mode to Multiply to apply the new sky to our image. This mode works well because we had a nearly white sky in the original image (notice that Multiply mode eliminates white areas and retains darker areas)

Step 5: Use the Eraser Tool with a soft brush (0% hardness) to erase the junction of two layers

Step 6: In this step we will add a light source to our image, a cold sun!
Create a new layer and use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to create a small selection area on the sky

then fill it with black

Go to Filter>Render>Lens Flare and choose 105mm Prime light source

and change its blending mode to Overlay

Finally use the Eraser tool with a soft brush to wipe out the edges. Now we had a beautiful Sun!

Step 7: Now we will add a dreamy effect to our image. Press Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E again to create a composited layer and press Ctrl-J to duplicate it. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set a Radius of 1.5 pixels

then change the blending mode of this layer to Overlay

Finally, you can use the Eraser tool to reveal some dark areas on the castle. Let's have a look at the final result again:

This is the end of the tutorial. I hope this lesson will useful for you!

http://www.9tuts.com/Photoshop/Effects/Dreamy-Scene.html

Area Focus

2009-11-18T19:46:00.001-08:00

Most of the newer digital cameras include three focusing modes: Center Focus, Area Focus and Multi Focus. If you are sometimes getting out of focus pictures even when your camera indicates successful focus lock, you need to understand the difference between these focusing modes.
Center Focus will focus on the center of the frame.
Multi Focus automatically selects between a number of AF frames and focuses on the most contrasty subject closest to the center of the frame. For example, if your main subject (i.e. the subject you want to be in focus) stands beside some other object (behind or in front of your main subject) of greater contrast, the camera will focus on the latter object and your main subject will be out of focus. So, if you use Multi Focus as your default focus mode, this may explain why many of your shots are out of focus.
Area Focus deserves some explanation. I believe it is a focus mode that few uses, but there are certain situations where Area Focus is perfectly suited for and can help you capture a sharply focused shot where the other focus modes fail.
Center Focus
If you look in the LCD of your digital camera, there will be a rectangle at the center of the screen, commonly called the AF frame. This AF frame depicts the zone where the camera will focus on.
If your subject is smack in the middle of the screen, well and good. But, what if your subject is not in the center of the screen?
Well, we use a handy technique called Pre-Focusing. Pre-focusing simply means that you center your subject on the center AF frame, depress the shutter release half-way (which will cause the camera to lock focus), then swivel the camera back to your desired composition, and finally depress the shutter release fully to take the picture. In other words, we “pre-focus,” compose, then we take the picture.

In the example above, the butterfly is not centered. If we take a picture using center focus, the butterfly will be out of focus. We move the camera so as to center the butterfly in our screen, half-press the shutter release button to lock focus on the butterfly, then recompose and depress the shutter fully to take a picture that is now in sharp focus.
Pre-focusing is used extensively in action photography when you know that you want to take the picture at a certain fixed spot. In this case, you can pre-focus on that spot by a half-press of the shutter release, then follow the action and depress the shutter fully when your subject reaches the fixed spot. Examples of a fixed spot can be a basketball hoop, a finish line, a spot right in front of you, etc.
Area Focus
Area Focus extends Center Focus by allowing the AF frame to be moved anywhere on the screen. So now, if your subject is to the left of center, instead of moving the camera left, pre-focusing and then moving the camera back, all you do is move the AF frame left instead while keeping the camera still!
On some cameras, Area AF is implemented very well and you can move the AF frame easily without taking your eye off the LCD or viewfinder. On others, you need to go into the menu, set Area Focus mode and position the AF frame where you want it to be using the four-way controller.
Most of the time, pre-focusing works as well as Area AF. But there is at least one photo situation where Area Focus is perfect for: macro photography. When taking a close-up you may want to compose your picture so that the subject is at one corner of the frame. Since precise focus is paramount in close-up shots (depth of field is very shallow), pre-focusing can be difficult to achieve since when you recompose you may end up moving the camera a little closer or further to your subject. The result is an out-of-focus picture (your main subject will be out of focus though other parts of the picture may be in focus).
This is where area focus comes in and saves the day.
By moving the AF frame on your subject to the corner of the frame so that it covers your subject, you can maintain your composition without having to move your camera, lock your tripod, set your self-timer, and take the shot — for a spot on, razor sharp image.
An Example
Here is an example of how Area Focus helps me achieve sharp focus in a macro shot. The AF frame in the center of the frame encompasses both the fir needles and the leaves. Where will the camera focus on: the fir needles (which is what I want) or the leaves in the background? In the first picture, using Center Focus, the fir needles do not come out as sharp as I want; instead the leaves get the focus.When I try to pre-focus, moving the camera back to my composition is enough to lose precise focus.

I could switch to Manual Focus but I don’t trust my eyes (even with a central enlarged image). I could switch to Multi Focus and let the camera decide on the most contrasty area. But why leave this to chance? I decide to use Area Focus instead. In the second picture, I move the AF frame to the bottom left, completely covering the fir needles. Result: fir needles in focus, leaves in background nicely blurred.

So, why not try Area Focus next time if your camera allows it? You may find that, besides macro photography, there are other instances when it is the appropriate focus mode to use.

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorials/tutorial-area-focus/

Center AF

2009-11-16T23:04:00.001-08:00

Most digital cameras use contrast detection to auto focus (AF). Usually, the focus point is a small rectangle in the middle of the viewfinder frame (Center AF), though many digital cameras now also offer additional AF points (Multi-Point AF).
Center AF
If you look in the LCD monitor of your digital camera, there will usually be a rectangle at the center of the screen, commonly called the AF Frame. When your digital camera is set to Center AF mode, this rectangle in the middle of the screen is your AF point.
Multi-Point AF
Multi-Point AF automatically selects between a number of AF points (the most common seems to be 5 or 9 AF points -- i.e. 4 or 8 AF points clustered around a center focus point) and finds the most contrasty subject among those AF points.
An Example
If your default AF mode is Multi-Point AF and some of your shots are sometimes out of focus, it may be that Multi-Point AF is the culprit.
Here is an example of how Multi-Point AF focused on the more contrasty background well behind my main subject (the lone green leaf left on the bush).
Even though the green leaf is in the center of the frame, Multi-Point AF has chosen to focus on the more contrasty background around it instead.
The result is that the ground of fallen leaves come out in focus, while my main subject is out of focus.

Sony DSC-P150 Cyber-shot: 5 Area Multi-Point AF
Program AE, Multi-Pattern Metering, Macro ON
7.9mm, 1/250 sec., F2.8, ISO 400

I took a couple more shots with the same result before I realized what the problem was. I immediately went into the camera's menu to switch AF mode from Multi-Point AF to Center AF. This time, I got the result that I was after: the lone green leaf in focus against a nicely blurred backdrop!

Sony DSC-P150 Cyber-shot: Center AF
Program AE, Multi-Pattern Metering, Macro ON
7.9mm, 1/200 sec., F2.8, ISO 400

Summary
Multi-Point AF works pretty well usually but sometimes the camera will focus on something else besides your main subject if that something else happens to fall under one of the AF points and is also more contrasty than your main subject. In these instances, switch AF mode to Center AF, point the AF Frame on your subject and half-press the shutter release button to lock focus on your main subject, then reframe, if necessary, before fully pressing the shutter release button to take the shot.
Some more advanced digital cameras also allow you to move this AF Frame away from the center to other parts of the screen (so your subject does not need to be centered).

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_center-af.html

Night Photography

2009-11-16T22:26:00.000-08:00

Night photography has an attraction all its own. There's something about scintillating lights from office windows hanging in the dark of the night -- a modern version of the starry skies -- that appeal to us. Whether it's a city skyline, lamp posts on a dark and deserted street, or the front of your house all decked out with holiday lights, the challenge of capturing the mood of a night scene depends on whether your digital camera is capable of night photography and on a couple of simple techniques.
Can My Camera Do Night Photography?
For successful night photography you need a digital camera that allows you to keep the shutter open for a long time, anywhere from 3 to 30 seconds. Check your camera specifications in the User's Manual under Shutter Speed. The shutter speeds available will be given as a range, e.g. 30 sec. - 1/2,000 sec.
If you are seriously into night photography, then you would want to ensure you purchase a digital camera that allows the longest shutter speed possible, and even Bulb (where the shutter remains open as long as you depress the shutter release button).
But before you plunk down your money for that digital camera, there's two more features to verify -- and one accessory to purchase, if you don't have it already.
Shooting Modes
For an image to be captured by a digital camera's image sensor, the latter requires exposure to light. But at night, light is what we don't have enough of.
Some of you may have noticed that, if you select a shooting mode of Auto (A) or Program Auto (P), your night pictures always come out too dark. They are simply underexposed. But, why is that -- if your camera's shutter speed ranges from, say 10 sec. to 1/2,000 sec.?
Go back to your camera's User's Manual and look a bit more carefully. Are all the shutter speeds available in Auto or P mode? Ah-ha, many digital cameras (we're talking consumer models here) do not make the whole shutter speed range available in A and P mode! Perhaps the slowest shutter speed available in A and P mode is only as slow as 1/3 sec. That's usually not long enough for night photography. To access the longer shutter speeds, you may need to select one of the other shooting modes, e.g. Shutter-Priority, or even switch to full Manual mode.
So ensure that your digital camera has full Manual mode and allows access to the full range of slow shutter speeds in that mode.
Self-Timer & Remote Controller
Another feature that you want your digital camera to have is a self-timer or, ideally, a remote controller. The purpose is to allow you to depress the shutter release button without introducing camera shake. I particularly like the remote controller, but not every camera comes with one or even has one available optionally.
But almost all, if not all, cameras has a self-timer. Usually the self-timer counts down from 10 sec. I find that a bit long to wait, especially since you would need to take more than one shot and it's minus 10 with the wind chill outside. The cameras that additionally provide a 2 sec. self-timer have my nod of approval here.
Tripod
A mandatory accessory that you need is a sturdy tripod. When you let the shutter stay open for a long time, the camera needs to be kept rock steady, otherwise you end up with blurred images.
Examples
OK, so we have our digital camera and tripod, and are ready to venture forth into the night in search for interesting night shots. When we find one, we set up camera and tripod, frame and... what do we do now?
Well, the images below show what happens when you take the same shot using P mode, then in Manual mode with various different shutter speed/aperture combinations, all in search of the correct exposure. The camera was on a tripod for all three shots.

Programmed Auto Mode - Underexposed

Fujifilm FinePix E550
7.2mm, Programmed Auto, Pattern
Shutter Speed 1/4 sec., Aperture F2.8, ISO 80

In the above example, the camera uses the slowest shutter speed and largest aperture available in P mode and at the widest focal length. The picture is underexposed.

Manual Mode - Overexposed

Fujifilm FinePix E550
7.2mm, Manual, Pattern
Shutter Speed 3 sec., Aperture F2.8, ISO 80

Switching to Manual mode allows me to access the slowest shutter speed available on this camera, 3 sec. while keeping the aperture at F2.8 (the largest aperture available). The effect is immediately better, but it does seem a bit too bright, giving almost a daylight effect. If this is the effect you're after, then you're done. But if you wanted to capture the night mood, read on.
Now it is just a matter of adjusting the shutter speed and/or aperture to obtain the desired exposure. I choose to close down the aperture so as to increase the depth of field also.

Manual Mode - Correct Exposure

Fujifilm FinePix E550
7.2mm, Manual, Pattern
Shutter Speed 3 sec., Aperture F4.0, ISO 80

Closing down the aperture to F4.0, a more pleasant image is obtained with enough dark areas to indicate it is night time (dusk, really) and enough lighted areas to reproduce what my eyes saw at the outdoors skating rink at the Mississauga Civic Center.
ISO
For the three pictures above, I used ISO 80, the lowest ISO available for best image quality. But what if at 3 sec. and F2.8 (i.e. at max. exposure possible for this particular camera), the image still came out too dark? In this case, I would need to increase the sensitivity of the image sensor to a higher ISO. Do note that increasing the ISO also increases the amount of noise visible in your images.
Technique
Take a number of shots at different shutter speed/aperture combinations.
Immediately review the shot as soon as you've taken it.
Ensure your LCD brightness is set to Normal, not Bright, for a truer representation of your recorded image.
A good aperture to start with is F4.0 or F5.6 (for greatest depth of field), and adjust shutter speed up or down until you're satisfied with the shot.
For good measure, take an extra shot past your optimum exposure setting. For example, if you were progressively using longer shutter speeds, and you think you've find the correct one, take an extra shot with the next longer shutter speed. Conversely, if you were using progressively faster shutter speeds, take an extra shot using the next faster shutter speed.

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial-night-photography.html

Sharpen Your Photos For Display

2009-11-16T22:19:00.000-08:00

Most of us upload our pictures or print them the way they were captured by our digital cameras. We read and hear of a post-processing technique called "Sharpening" using "USM" (or "UnSharp Mask") and decide it is just too difficult for us. If you are comfortable using a computer and can load an image into an image editing software, such as Photoshop Elements, then be prepared for a pleasant surprise!

Most cameras -- especially in the "pro" category -- will capture an image without applying any sharpening to it, resulting in an image that appears "soft" or even slightly "out of focus." Others will apply a certain degree of sharpening to the images and output crisp looking images. Most beginners prefer the latter type, while most advanced photographers prefer the former. Here's why.
When a camera processes your images, it is in effect deciding the amount of sharpening to give your images without your input. Some cameras do a good job at it, others do too much of it. It is akin to processing labs a couple of years ago that treated all your negatives the same way, and all got printed with the same adjustments. If you go back and look at your old prints, chances are they all have a bluish tint to them. As competition heated up, processing labs started to examine each print individually and making adjustments and corrections to each, resulting in much better color rendition. This is akin to you sharpening your own images the way you like them.
Of course, if you have to do that for every single picture you take, it is really not worth it. Truth is, most pictures don't need it. It is only the few pictures you really want to highlight, either on screen or in print, that will benefit most from sharpening (and other adjustments).
If your camera produces "soft" images (because it does not sharpen for you), then you are in fact in luck. Using an image editing software such as Photoshop Elements, you can apply sharpening yourself to selected pictures for maximum impact, either for screen display or for printing.
In fact, if you are in the habit of printing unretouched pictures from the different digital cameras and then comparing the prints to see which camera is better, you are making a grave mistake. Unless you have sharpened the images individually first, the comparison is really not a valid one, and you'll end up with wrong conclusions.
Sharpening for screen display and sharpening for prints are also two different things. So, let's understand what sharpening is and how to do it for screen display. (I cover for screen display here, and for prints at a later date.)
What Is Sharpening?
Sharpening is enhancing the edges of an image. This edge enhancement technique is called unsharp masking and involves isolating the edges in an image, amplifying them, and then adding them back into the image. In Photoshop, amplifying the edges is accomplished by locating pixels of greatest contrast, lightening one side and darkening the other. Once sharpening is appropriately applied, people's reactions is usually, "Wow! It jumps right out at you."
Perhaps the simplest way to understand sharpening is to attempt one in Photoshop Elements.
Here is our original unsharpened image we will be working with in this tutorial. It is a "soft" image, even appearing out of focus in some places. Don't be deceived by appearances.

Original unsharpened image
Canon PowerShot S50
Program AE, Center-weighted averaging, Auto WB
7.1mm, 1/60 sec., F2.8, ISO 50, Flash ON

Make A Copy
Open Photoshop Elements and do File - Open - select the picture you want to work with.
Immediately, save it as a different name, with a psd (Photoshop) extension. For example, if your original image was named IMG0001.JPG, then save it as IMG0001.psd (i.e. use the default extension of the image editing software you are using). This way, you will preserve the original file (IMG0001.JPG).
If the Layers Panel is not on your desktop, drag it from the tabs at the top into your work area. If necessary, drag the bottom edge down so you can see more than one layer. You will see your picture (probably named "Background") in a layer.
Double click on that layer and rename it as original. (You could leave it as "Background" but renaming it is a good habit, since you may want to add a real background in some cases.)
Now, drag it to the new layer icon (the middle one at the bottom of the Layers Panel) to create a new layer, original copy.
Click on the original copy layer to select it as the one you want to work with. (Remember, we never want to muck with the original layer.)
Your Layers Panel should end up looking like this:

Sharpen
If not already selected, click the original copy layer to select it.
From the menu bar, select: Filter - Sharpen - Unsharp Mask... and type in Amount = 200%, Radius = 1.2, Threshold = 4. Click on Preview to view the original and sharpened version. Yeah!, I hear you say already. You may select different values, though the above values are a good starting point.
Separate Darken and Lighten Pixels
Now, copy the sharpened original copy layer by dragging it to the new layer icon. You'll end up with original copy 2.
Double click on original copy and rename it darken.
Double click on original copy 2 and rename it lighten.

Select the darken layer by clicking on that layer.
Set the blending mode to darken: See where it says, Normal in a drop down box at the top of the Layers Panel? Click on the down arrow and select "Darken":

Select the lighten layer by clicking on that layer.
Set the blending mode to lighten: Click on the down arrow and select "Lighten":

What we have done is separate the darken and lighten pixels into two layers. Now, we can control each layer separately.
Adjust Sharpness
If you are following this tutorial in your own Photoshop Elements and using our image, you'll notice that the lighten pixels (the highlights) are a bit too bright. (You might have to zoom in 200% to see things clearer.)
Click on the lighten layer to select it and adjust the Opacity until you are satisfied. (Ensure Preview is ON.) In my case, I select 26%.
Likewise, select the darken layer and adjust the Opacity until the darken pixels (the dark edges) just "jump out." I select 90%.
Each picture you sharpen will require different values, so if you are using your own image, adjust to your own liking.
Here is the original (unsharpened) version:

Original unsharpened image

And here is my final (sharpened) result:

Sharpened image

There, you have it. Pretty simple, huh?
Save this final work (in our example, as IMG0001.psd).

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_sharpen_display.html

Choosing the best Viewpoint

2009-11-11T19:45:00.001-08:00

taken from:
http://www.geofflawrence.com/photography_tutorial_viewpoint.php

Selecting your viewpoint, the position from which you photograph the subject, is a very important part of composition and one that some people pay very little attention to. When taking a photo of a group of friends, how often do you move around the group looking for the best angle?
The first, most obvious difference between one viewpoint and another is the background. If you are photographing a subject that cannot easily be moved, the only way to change what is in the background is to choose a different viewpoint.

The subject itself can look quite different viewed from different angles. Photos can be made to take on a whole new dynamic by selecting an extreme angle of view. I shoot a lot of pictures, especially sports shots, laying down, getting the camera as close to the ground as possible.
Also the perspective can change quite drastically, especially with wider angled lenses. If you photograph a person full length with a wide angle lens from a standing position, their head will be too big in proportion to the rest of their body. If, on the other hand, you kneel down and shoot the same picture from waist height, you will see that the whole picture is better proportioned.
When shooting outdoors, the viewpoint you choose also affects how the light from the sun falls on your subject. This is a whole new can of worms which is fully discussed under lighting.
Here are a couple of examples exploring the effects of high and low angle viewpoints.


Two full length shots from fairly extreme angles. A moderately wide angle lens gives a certain amount of perspective distortion, the first shot in particular makes her feet look very big in proportion to her head. This distortion enhances the effect of the flared jeans and the big shoes, whereas in the second shot the distortion of the shooting angle is working against the effect of the big shoes and flares balancing the picture. If we use a wider angled lens and shot from even closer, the distorted effect would be even more pronounced. In both cases you can see that the choice of angle has given us a nice plain background as a bonus.

These two shots were taken from more or less the same position as the first shot but, as we zoom in, the effect of the low angle is lessened. Less distortion but a pleasing angle giving us a slightly 'larger than life' feel to the picture. When shooting against a bright sky like this you need to pay careful attention to the exposure, the automatic metering system will render the face too dark so you need to compensate for this. Take a few shots with the exposure compensation at different settings or, better still, meter manually taking a reading from close in to the face. The shot on the right metered correctly because the face fills the frame more and is lit by the sun.

These two shots were taken from the same position as the top right and show the same lessening of distortion as we zoom in. What I didn't bargain for until I saw these two pictures side by side was that the apparent height of the camera changes with the angle of the head. I think you'll agree that the picture on the left appears to have been taken from a greater height than the one on the right. Weird!

10 Tips To Better Photography

2009-11-11T19:31:00.000-08:00

By Michael Colucci

Taking a good photo isn't as hard as you may think. You don't need the most expensive camera or years of experience, just 10 simple tips. Enjoy!

Tip 1 - Use All Your Available Space

Don't be afraid to use all the space in your photo. If you want to take a picture of something, it's ok for it to take up the whole shot with no or very little background showing. Keep distractions out of your shot

Tip 2 - Study Forms

This is a vital aspect to photography. Understanding forms in your photos. Don't see an object, she its shape and its form and find the best angle to photograph it from. Form is all around us and I highly suggest you read as many books on it as possible.

Tip 3 - Motion In Your Photos

Never have motion in your photos if you are photographing a still object. If there is something moving while you are trying to photograph a stationery object, your photo won't turn out anywhere near as well. Also never put a horizon line in the center of your frame.

Tip 4 - Learn To Use Contrasts Between Colors

Some of the best photos have shades of white, gray and black. You can take great shots with just one color on your subject, but the contrasts between colors in a shot is what makes you a great photographer.

Tip 5 - Get Closer To Your Subject

This is one of the biggest mistakes most photographers make, not getting close enough to their subject. Get up and personal and close the distance gap. You can always reshape and resize a good shot but you can't continue to blowup a distant object.

Tip 6 - Shutter Lag

Shooting action shots with digital camera's can be tricky due to shutter lags. What this means is, when you press the button to take the photo, it can take up to a second for the shutter to take a photo, by that time what you were photographing would have moved or changed somehow. This means you have to compensate for shutter lag by predicting what your subject is going to do and taking the photo just before it takes the action you want. More expensive digital cameras don't have this problem.

Tip 7 - Pan

If you are taking an action shot and your shutter speed is slow, pan with the object. Follow through with the subject, from start to finish and one of those shots will be a winner. You have more chance of getting a good shot if you take more then one photo.

Tip 8 - Continuous Shots

To pan like I suggested above you will need a camera that does continuous shots and doesn't need to stop and process after every shot.

Tip 9 - How To Take Fantastic Night Time Shots

Night time shots can be spectacular, almost magical.... if done right! If not they can look horrible. Really horrible. Without adequate lighting, even good camera's can turn out crappy photos if the photographer doesn't know what he or she is doing.

Tip 10 - Study Your Manual

If your digital camera has a special night time mode, read the manual and follow their instructions on how to use it properly.

http://www.photosecrets.com/tips.10tipsbetter.html

3 Fast Fixes In Photoshop

2009-11-10T21:50:00.000-08:00

Do you have some near-perfect digital photographs that are marred by overexposure, underexposure, or low contrast? If you’re itching to fix them, but reluctant to muck about with Adobe Photoshop’s Curves and other manual adjustments, Photoshop also offers some jiffy fixes.

Called Layer Blending modes, these use math to combine the pixels of one layer with the pixels of an underlying layer to create an improved image. First step: Duplicate the image layer, which stacks your picture on top of itself. Then click on the drop-down menu in the upper left corner of the Layers panel to change the blend mode from Normal to one of the following:

Multiply: This darkens images and increases highlight contrast, just what you want for an overexposed photo. It multiplies each layer’s pixel values together.

Screen: Basically the inverse of Multiply, this lightens images and increases shadow contrast, good for underexposed photos.

Overlay and Soft Light: These, in effect, multiply the shadows and screen the highlights, which increases contrast. Soft Light is a weaker version of Overlay.

You control the degree of the blend effect by adjusting the opacity of the upper layer—the lower the percentage, the more transparent the layer. When you get the look you want, merge the layers and you’re done. Duplicating and blending layers takes only a few keystrokes, so it’s well worth trying for quick fixes of your photographs.

http://www.popphoto.com/Features/3-Fast-Fixes-In-Photoshop

How To Shoot Panoramic Landscapes

2009-11-10T01:22:00.001-08:00

Shooting panoramic landscapes keeps getting easier. You don’t need special equipment, and virtually any camera will work. I like to shoot a sequence of verticals using a telephoto lens, then stitch them together in software. The long focal length delivers much more detail than a single wide-angle capture, and you’re still rewarded with a sweeping view. Here’s how, step by step.
1. Gather the gear.
You’ll need a tripod and, because it’s essential that the camera rotate across a level plane, I recommend adding a leveling base such as the Acratech Leveling Base ($150, street) between the tripod and tripod head. A spirit level is an adequate substitute, though—you level the rig by adjusting the legs individually.
2. Find your landscape.
Best are broad—with lines, patterns, textures, or shapes that draw the eye, plus points of interest throughout the scene. They should be evenly lit, without broad areas of dense shadow or bright highlights. Time of day is important. Panoramas captured around sunrise or sunset, when the quality and quantity of light changes rapidly and exposures times are long, often have different color balances and brightness levels from image to image—not good for beginners.
3. Set up.
Capture images in RAW format for maximum exposure latitude. Avoid auto white balance, because each image can show a different color cast. And, of course, make sure the camera pivots over a horizontally level base.
4. Shoot it.
Shoot slowly and methodically, making sure the shutter has closed before you rotate the camera. Overlap your shots between 10 and 50 percent of the image area to make them easier to stitch together. Key camera settings such as aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focal length, white balance, and focus should be identical. To achieve this, I avoid all auto modes, shooting in the manual exposure and focus modes. To determine exposure settings, I first pan the scene, taking meter readings continually along the way. These show me an exposure range from which I can determine a median setting.
5. Stitch it together.
I stitch the panoramas manually in Adobe Photoshop by dragging and aligning all the images in a single canvas sized to the approximate pixel dimensions of the final version, which equals roughly the dimension of a single frame times the number of component frames. I then use Layer Masks to blend the overlapping areas into a seamless whole. The Photomerge tool also does a really nice job.
Ready to try? Practice making a few before you shoot a panorama that you care about. Lots can go wrong, and it’s better to learn how to do it using throw-away scenes than landscapes that really speak to you.

http://www.popphoto.com/Features/How-to/How-To-Shoot-Panoramic-Landscapes

How To: Get Better Selections in Photoshop (photoshop tutorial)

2009-11-10T01:04:00.000-08:00

Make Your photo better one piece at a time.
By Debbie Grossman Posted September 10, 2009

Want to really harness the power of Adobe Photoshop to improve your photos? You’ll need to make a good selection first. Whether you want to extract a subject and place it on a new background, or just modify a portion of your picture, you have to start by selecting the area correctly. Here are step-by-step instructions for great selections, and a way to save them for later use. With the image here, we’ll simply blur the background to make the woman and her balloons stand out. But you can use your selection to make other changes, from tweaking the Levels on an Adjustment Layer to distorting the subject’s size.

1. Duplicate the Background Layer, and work on the copy.
Type W for the Quick Selection tool. Pick the Add to Selection brush (circled), then paint along the woman and the balloons to make a selection— Photoshop will do most of the work.
2. Although your initial selection will be a bit rough, you can keep using the Quick Selection tool to perfect it.
(This step is not pictured.) How? Zoom into your photo for a close-up view of one of the more complicated edges of the selected area, then shrink your brush size. Switch to the Subtract brush (it’s to the right of the Add brush), and paint on your image to remove the selection from areas where it doesn’t belong. To add a little of your selection back, hold down the Shift key to temporarily return to the Add brush.

3. Sometimes the software can’t quite get a grip on what you want to keep in your selection and what you want to take out.
When that happens, type Q to go into Quick Mask mode and tweak your selection manually. In Quick Mask, the red tint represents your unselected area. Type B for the Brush tool, then D to make sure black and white are in your color palette. Start with a brush at 90% hardness, then paint with white where you want to add to your selection, or paint with black to remove it. Zoomed in close, check all the edges, making sure you’ve selected only what you need. Type Q again to exit Quick Mask mode.

4. To further perfect your selection, go to Select > Refine Edge.
Zoom in to 100%, and choose the On White preview (circled) so you can really see how your edge looks. Use the sliders to improve it. Your Radius and Feathering should usually remain low. This selection needs some contracting because we captured too much of what was slightly outside the balloons. Finally, turn up the Smooth slider to iron out the bumps introduced by the Quick Selection Tool. Click OK when you’ve got it right.
5. After all that work, save your selection.
Go to Select > Save Selection. Name it, and click OK. Then hit Ctrl (Command on a Mac) + D to deselect. Don’t worry that your selection disappears. Since it’s saved, you can always bring it back.
6. Now that we have a clean selection to work with, we’ll use it to blur the background, but keep the main subject sharp.
Start by blurring the Background Copy Layer. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

7. To begin hiding the blur where you don’t want it, add a mask to your Background Copy Layer by clicking the Mask button in the Layers panel (it looks like a rectangle with a circle in the middle).
The blurring will look fake if there isn’t a bit of sharpness in the foreground, so hit G on your keyboard to get the Gradient tool, and draw a gradient to reveal some sharpness on the street. Then load your selection by going to Select > Load Selection. Choose your saved selection from the pulldown menu, and click OK.

8. Now fill the selection by going to Edit > Fill and choosing Use: Black.
This will fill your selection and reveal the sharpness beneath. Use the Brush tool to mask out sharpness where it doesn’t belong— this photo looks more polished with the distracting foreground details blurred out, too. If you want to keep editing (say, adding saturation to the balloons or brightening the figure), make those changes with Adjustment Layers and use your selection for more masks.

http://www.popphoto.com/Features/How-to/How-To-Get-Better-Selections-in-Photoshop

5 Things You Should Know About Your Camera's LCD

2009-11-10T00:44:00.000-08:00

You will be amazed at what you can really do with your camera's screen.
By Kathleen Davis Posted September 21, 2009
1. What You See May Not Be What You Get.
If you shoot RAW, the LCD actually shows you the JPEG preview. So don’t panic if the color, contrast, and exposure aren’t exactly what you were looking for—your file will contain more data and be more flexible. On the other hand, the LCD image may look better than your final print—images on LCD screens often seem brighter and sharper because they are smaller and backlit, so some exposure and focus issues may not be detectable.
2. You Can Zoom In To Check For Problems.
LCDs on both compacts and DSLRs almost always let you zoom in on areas in an image. Use yours to check for sharpness and depth of field.
3. It Can Help You Compose Your Picture.
Many cameras allow you to place grid lines over the image on your LCD during live-view shooting (and sometimes during playback). Use this grid to make sure your horizon is level, remind yourself not to place your subject squarely in the middle, or check to see that buildings aren’t keystoning.
4. It May Display Histograms For Both Exposure And Color.
The exposure, or luminance, histogram graphs the tones in your image from shadows (on the left) to highlights (on the right). The higher the peaks on the histogram in a given spot, the more pixels of that tone there are in your photo. A warning will blink over the areas in your image that are overexposed.
Many cameras also have RGB histograms—three separate graphs for each color channel. Find them in the custom functions or via the Info menu. These work the same way as the exposure histogram and can help you figure out if you’re losing detail in a particular color. Color histograms can help you make your black-and-white images look better, too. For example, if you’re shooting a red rose, check that your tones aren’t clipped in the red channel to get the cleanest image when you convert to monochrome—otherwise the reds may lack detail.
5. You Can Modify The JPEG Preview Of A RAW File Without Changing The Image File.
The LCD allows you to preview different versions of your image. For instance, you can compare how the image would look set for “natural” versus “saturated” color, or check it out with more or less contrast. Shooting JPEGs? You can modify the file itself through controls on the LCD.

http://www.popphoto.com/Features/5-Things-You-Should-Know-About-Your-Camera-s-LCD

Give your photo stunning depth! (photo edit tutorial)

2009-11-09T20:45:00.000-08:00

I know that lately I’ve been blogging a lot about… well blogging actually. However, I’m interested in covering as many topics as possible that are relevant and helpful to the design/webmaster community. This tutorial will be the first of hopefully many completely original photoshop tutorials that show some of my personal techniques for designing.
This tutorial will show you how to give fantastic depth to your regular flat photos in order to really liven up your graphics! I’ve used this technique, or variations of it countless times in my design work. The key is to give focus to your images, as far too many images appear unprofessional as the background has equal precedence to the more important parts of the graphic.
Step 1
Start by pasting your original image into photoshop. For this technique to work most effectively your image should already have some kind of depth or perspective, as we are going to work at exaggerating that existing depth. There are going to be two main elements to your image: your background, and your object. Your object is the part of the image that you wish to make stand out, whereas your background is all the unimportant data around this. Start by selecting your object, in this case a rock climber, and pasting it onto a new layer above your background layer. You should try to be as precise as possible when selecting your image (I used the lasso tool).

Step 2
Next, try to work out exactly which parts of your object you wish to bring to the foreground, and which you wish to send to the background. In short, which parts of your object are closer to you, and which are further away. In my example I want to bring the woman’s head, torso and right arm into the foreground, and send her bottom half and either end of the rope more to the background. You must be careful to look for parts of your object that combine both foreground and background areas as you will need to separate these. In my example the woman’s right arm and the part of the rope nearest to it are the only areas to cross over into parts of the object that I wish to ‘background’ and so I must select this, and paste it onto a new layer above my object layer.

Step 3
To add further depth to the photo you may want to consider areas of your background that you wish to bring forward. Simply repeat the step of selecting this area and then pasting it onto a new layer. In the example I wanted to bring forward parts of the rock face as these areas seemed closest in terms of perspective. I simply returned to my ‘original image’ layer, selected around the parts of the rock face that I wanted and pasted them as new layers.

Step 4
This is the part of the tutorial where things start to take shape. Select your layer containing your original photo and duplicate it, calling the new layer something like ‘background image’. This is done just so that you can play around with your background but still retain the original in case you need it later. Now, you want to create as much of a visual different between the background and foreground objects as possible without making your image appear doctored or unrealistic. To do this try out a few of the following effects, but use them subtly. For my background image I increased the brightness (around 20), gave it a motion blur in the direction of the falling water (strength: 4) and decreased the image saturation by 35. All of these effects are designed to make the foreground objects bolder, brighter and more colorful than the background image in order to give more depth to the image as a whole. You can see this starting to take shape in the image below (see the waterfall area):

Step 5
Select one of your layers with the foreground rock face cut out. Go to menu > layer > add layer mask > reveal all. Then select your layer mask thumbnail in your layers palette. Go to the gradient menu and create a gradient with foreground black fading to transparent. Drag this in the direction that you want to erase from in order to nicely blend your fore-grounded rocks into your background image. This will give your image a more natural perspective and get rid of any harsh lines between foreground/background. In my example I did the same with the top and bottom of the rope, to fade it into the waterfall background. As you can see the area of rock closest to us is now the clearest, thus foregrounding it.

Step 6
Select the layer ‘background image’ and go to menu > filter > render > lens flare. Position your lens flare centrally on your object, and choose the settings: 50-300mm Zoom, Brightness 100%. This is done in order to bring your object forward by creating an area of contrast behind it (remember your real object layers are above the ‘background image’ layer). Next apply some drop shadows to your object layer to create further distance from it’s background. Select the layer ‘woman copy’ and apply the following drop shadow settings: blend mode: multiply, distance: 2, spread: 0, size: 3. Then select your layer with the woman’s arm on it and apply the same settings. This will help to show that her arm is closer to us by having it create a shadow against her body.

Conclusion:
If you compare the final result with the original image the difference is not startling. But it is not meant to be. As I mentioned earlier if you play with the image too much it will appear fake. What this tutorial is designed to do is to cut out the overwhelming background noise in most photos, and highlight what is important. I use this often in my own website designs as it can help highlight important products or people. If you study the original image your eye doesn’t really know where to go due to the sheer detail present in the background. By manipulating the background and bringing forward the object you are not only creating depth, but controlling where your viewers look.
You can download the original .psd file here: imagedepthtutorialpsd.zip

http://pushstandards.com/2008/02/give-your-photo-stunning-depth/

The Orange Sky (tutorial for photoshop editing)

2009-11-09T20:05:00.000-08:00

This lesson will explain to you in all details the process of creation of a collage. By means of simple actions we will create a fantastic landscape from several simple pictures.

Let’s find a suitable photo for a background. I used a photo with the pure sky in which the orange shade predominates. Just that is necessary!

Now we make the duplicate of a layer, and we will change Blending Mode on Screen.
Merge Down the layers.

We choose Dodge Tool (Highlights, 50%), and clarify the horizon.

Then we take Burn Tool (Midtones, 50%) and black out the top part of a firmament.

The sky it is too empty. We will insert on the new layer a planet (http://ap123.deviantart.com/). We’ll adjust its size and arrange in the necessary place.

Let’s change the Blending Mode of a layer on Screen to make planet’s background transparent.

One heavenly body, let at be the moon - is too stereotyped. We will make our collage more interesting, and we will add on the sky one more “body”, but smaller.

Let’s change and its Blending Mode on Screen too.

We choose a hard brush with a shade more darkly than background, and we paint over planets inside that planets did not seem like glass.

Then by means of Eraser Tool we will mop up accurate the dark edges of a planet.

To add a tree, I used brushes Tree Silhouette with ready trees (http://xsy.deviantart.com/art/Tree-Silhouette-29527352). You can make it with any other way convenient to you.

Branches must not cover the planet. So we have to change a few arrangement of the last on the canvas. We will displace them a little more to the left.

We enter into Blending Options of the layer and changed them as it is shown on picture.

Using Smudge Tool, we make some branches smoother.

Let’s make the background softer. We will copy the layer with the background, and we will apply filter Blur – Gaussian Blur to a copy.

We have to reduce Opacity of the layer up to 50 %. Now distant trees do not look more precisely, than near to us.

Let’s add on the sky some shining stars. I used a simple brush of white color, changing the size with 14 pixels. Do not overdo, all should be accurate and with taste.

Now we make the duplicate of a layer with stars, and we will apply to it filter Gaussian Blur.

Let’s find a suitable texture of clouds (http://resurgere.deviantart.com), and we’ll copy it on a new layer. It will add beauty to our sky; will make it more perfect and more interesting. We will put such the size, that the texture would lie down exactly a top of a firmament.

We change Blending Mode of a layer on Soft Light.

By means of Eraser Tool and Smudge Tool we will correct the area at mountains where the texture terminates.

Let’s make little bit more fine boughs on the tree. We draw them by means of an ordinary brush, the size of 2-3 pixels.

We change color on brightly yellow (almost white) and we will draw petals. Some petals in flight to the ground, others are on a tree.

For the further work we have to save the collage in a format jpg, and to open it by Photoshop. In menu Image - Adjustments - Brightness/Contrasts we will put adjustments, as on picture

We put last touches. By Dodge Tool (Midtones, 100 %) we will clarify the area of planets on which rays of light fall.

By means of Burn Tool (Midtones, 50%) we will black out the top part of a firmament.

We choose Dodge tool (the same adjustments), and clarify horizon.

Well, that’s all. The collage is ready. Don’t afraid to experiment. I hope, you have learned something useful to yourselves.

View full size here.

from: http://www.adobetutorialz.com/articles/2985/1/The-Orange-Sky

Water drop photography

2009-11-06T02:07:00.000-08:00

Capturing water drops - Water drop images are great to look at and are quite easy to make. This tutorial will show you how to do it.

Now, you will probably see some spectacular photographs of still water droplets splashing in the water, or on its way into the water. These photographs are not too hard to achieve as long as you have patience, and the right gear.

Intoduction
Firstly, there are three main types of high speed photography: Birds in flight, Insects in flight and water droplets. The first two subjects require specialist kits, whereas the water does not.

Here are the pieces of equipment you will need:

A camera body
A lens that allows close focusing - an ideal lens would be macro
A tripod or a firm surface to lay the camera on
A flashgun OR you can try using the built in flash. However, a flash gun will prove more effective
A black dish about 1 or more inches deep and fairly big
A plastic bag which will hold the water that will eventually drop
A coloured background
Off camera TTL Flash cord

Pretty much most of those items can easily be bought in large shops.

Getting Started
So how do you lay it out? Well think of it like this: The camera must be positioned in front of where the drop will be dropped - about 1in above water level, and 5-8in away. Then, place your background at the BACK of the dish. So it goes camera, dish, bakground in a line. Now the flash. This has to be positioned to the right side of where the drop will drop using the off shoe camera cord, and facing towards the background. The flash will bounce of the background - giving a nice colour, depending on what colour the background is AND a lovely reflection.

Now, you need to place the plastic bag above the dish. You can tape it to a wall, a retort stand, a cupboard or anything really! Just make sure it is about 5in above the water dish.

Taking the photos
Next, you must make a small hole using a pin into the bottom of the bag. This should create a very steady flow of water. If you want the flow to be faster, then simply make the whole a bit bigger. Remember to fill the plastic bag with water first!

Now switch the camera to manual focus. Where the drops are falling, place a biro pen just on that spot. Then, with the camera simply focus on the biro. This will be where the drops fall - this is your predefined point of focus.

Now double check that the flash is facing the coloured background.

The settings I use are:

Manual Mode on the camera set at 1/60s and f/22
Manual mode on the flash also, set at 1/64 or 1/32 power setting. These power settings will make the flash duration really short - meaning you are able to freeze the motion to a shutter speed of approximately 1/40000 of a second even though the camera is set to 1/60!
Make sure you work in the dark as well - this improves the colour and the flash works better too. Remember there is a constant flow. Then just hold down the shutter for about 7 shots, look at them and then repeat the process.

Colliding the Drops
I am sometimes asked 'How do you get the drops to collide'?

Well, the answer is, the hole in the plastic bag. If you make the hole in the bag the right size by experimenting, you will get a fast flow of drops. This will result in one drop coming up from its rebound, whilst another drop hits it! It is still very hit and miss, and very hard to achieve. Expect to get 400 wasted shots and 5 good ones.

Taking it further
You can experiment with different liquids and colours including Milk and Coffee! Once you know how to do it - you can use anything you wish!

Also, if you don't have any luck with collisions and you are that desperate - then you can buy a kit of sensors, programmable delay modules, solenoid valves and IR beams. In my opinion, you don't need the expensive kit - this method should work fine and if it works well for me it should work for you!

To see more of Jonah Surkes photos visit his website:www.jonahsurkesphotography.com

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Water-drop-photography-12434

What Is... Aperture?

2009-11-06T02:02:00.000-08:00

When you look at the technical specifications of a digital camera, one of the very first specification mentioned is its maximum aperture and/or its aperture range.
What is 'aperture,' what is a good aperture range, and how is aperture relevant when it comes to choosing a digital camera?
What Is Aperture?
The main function of a camera lens is to collect light. The aperture of a lens is the diameter of the lens opening and is usually controlled by an iris. The larger the diameter of the aperture, the more light reaches the film / image sensor.
Aperture is expressed as F-stop, e.g. F2.8 or f/2.8. The smaller the F-stop number (or f/value), the larger the lens opening (aperture).
[Note: Many camera user manuals today will refer to the aperture in terms of "aperture value" instead of f/value. I'm not sure when this trend started but don't get confused between "aperture" and "aperture value." Aperture value" is simply another way of saying f/value.]
In practice, unless you are dealing with a fixed-aperture lens (many simple point-and-shoot cameras have only one fixed aperture), the aperture of a lens is usually expressed as a range of fstops.
When you read the specifications of a camera, the aperture may be expressed in a number of different ways, the following three being the most common:

Maximum Aperture:

Max. Aperture

F2.8

This simply states that the maximum aperture for the lens is F2.8.

Aperture Range:

Aperture Range

F2.8-F8.0

This states the max. and min. aperture, the assumption being that there are standard increments between them.

Maximum Wide-Angle and Telephoto Apertures:

Aperture

F2.8-3.5 or F2.8(W)-F3.5(T)

This gives the max. aperture for the wide-angle (F2.8) and telephoto (F3.5) focal lengths of a zoom lens.

It is usually not too difficult to figure out that a stated range deals with maximum apertures and not max and min apertures: the mimimum aperture should be quite small at F8, F11, F16 or F22.
A "fast" lens is one that has a large maximum aperture (F2.4, F2.0 for current digital cameras; F1.4, F1.2 for 35mm film cameras).

Quick Quiz: which lens has a larger opening (aperture): one with an aperture of F1.8 or one with an aperture of F2.8?

Answer: F1.8 (remember, the smaller the F-stop, the larger the aperture)

A Good Aperture Range
My personal preference for a 'good' aperture range is:

F1.8 - F16

F1.8

F2.8

F5.6

F11

F16

This tells us that the camera has an aperture range of F1.8 to F16; the maximum aperture is F1.8, and the minimum aperture is F16.
There are 5 f-stops between the max and min aperture. If your camera's lens is currently set at an aperture of F5.6, closing it by 1 f-stop would mean selecting F8; opening it up by 1 f-stop would mean selecting F4.

F1.8

F2.8

F5.6

F11

F16

How Is A Large Maximum Aperture Relevant?
A large maximum aperture is preferable to a smaller one since it gives the photographer more latitude in the kind of pictures that can be taken.
For example, it is pretty obvious that the larger the aperture, the better your digital camera will perform in low-light situations, since a larger lens opening is able to admit more light than a smaller lens opening.
A larger max. aperture also allows you to use a faster shutter speed to freeze action.
So, let's say the light meter in your digital camera calculates that for proper exposure in that indoor arena, you need an aperture of F4 and a shutter speed of 1/60 sec.

1/60

To use a faster shutter speed (say, 1/250 sec.) to freeze action, you have to open up the aperture to allow more light in for that shorter amount of time.
For every shutter speed increment we go up, we need to open up a f-stop of aperture. From 1/60 sec. to 1/250 sec. there are 2 increments, so we open up the aperture by 2 f-stops, going from F4 to F1.8. Note that the camera would give proper exposure at 1/60 sec. at F4, 1/125 sec. at F2.8, and 1/250 sec. at F1.8, since all three aperture/shutter speed combinations allow the same amount of light into the camera. [Some digital cameras provide a 'Program Shift' function to allow that very shifting of aperture/shutter speed combinations in tandem.]

F1.8	F2.8	F4	F5.6	F8	F11	F16
1/250	1/125	1/60	1/30	1/15	1/8	1/4

Of course, in a digital camera set on Auto mode, you can select Sports scene mode, and the camera will automotically select a fast shutter speed and the appropriate aperture. Likewise, in Shutter-Priority mode, you can choose which shutter speed you want (fast or slow), and the camera will select the appropriate aperture for proper exposure.
In our example above, let's say the lens on your digital camera only opens up to a max. aperture of F2.8. If you now select 1/250 sec. (in Shutter-Priority mode), the camera will not be able to select an aperture larger than F2.8 (in our example, it really needs F1.8). It would then give you an "underexposure" warning. If you go ahead and take the picture anyway, your picture would be 1 f-stop underexposed (i.e. you really needed to open up the aperture by 1 more f-stop for correct exposure).
Similarly, if you select a shutter speed of 1/4 sec. and the lens only closes down to a min. aperture of F8 (in our example, it really needs F16), the camera would give you an "overexposure" warning. If you go ahead and take a picture anyway, your picture would be 2 f-stops overexposed (i.e. you really needed to close down the aperture by 2 more f-stops for correct exposure).
[Editor's note: There is a third variable in the above example which we have purposefully not introduced. This is the sensitivity of the image sensor -- the ISO. We'll cover this in a later tutorial.]
How Is A Small Minimum Aperture Relevant?
A small minimum aperture is preferable to a larger one since it also gives the photographer more latitude in the kind of pictures that can be taken.
Suppose we want to take a picture of flowing water. As mentioned above, to depict flowing water, we usually want to use a slow shutter speed so that the water blurs. It is this blurring that makes the picture so effective in depicting water motion.
So, let's say the light meter in your digital camera calculates that for proper exposure on a bright sunny day, you need an aperture of F8 and a shutter speed of 1/125 sec.

1/125

Well, if you decide to use a slower shutter speed (say, 1/30 sec.), this means that you have to compensate by closing down the aperture to allow less light in.
It makes sense really. Since you have increased the time the shutter remains open to allow light in, you must compensate by allowing less light in to expose the image sensor in that longer amount of time, if you still want a properly exposed picture.
But, what if the lens on your digital camera closes to a minimum of F8? You're stuck at the shutter speed of 1/125 sec. If you use 1/30 sec. at F8, your picture will be overexposed, i.e. burnt out. At 1/125 sec. and F8, your picture will be properly exposed but the fast shutter speed will freeze the water motion and you won't obtain the blurring effect you desire.
If the lens in your digital camera closed down to F16, presto, your problem is solved! 1/125 sec. at F8 is equivalent to 1/30 sec. at F16, which means that you would have a perfectly exposed purposefully-blurred-for-effect flowing water shot. [If your lens does not close down to F16, you could use a Neutral Density (ND) filter to reduce the amount of light coming into the lens, and thus allowing you to use a slower shutter speed.]

F1.8	F2.8	F4	F5.6	F8	F11	F16
1/2,000	1/1,000	1/500	1/250	1/125	1/60	1/30

[Editor's note: There is a third variable in the above example which we have purposefully not introduced. This is the sensitivity of the image sensor -- the ISO. We'll cover this in a later tutorial.]
Aperture and Depth of Field (DOF)
We mentioned this above but feel it is important enough to repeat in its own paragraph.
The Depth of Field is the distance wherein objects are in focus.
There are times when you desire a great depth of field, i.e. where objects both close to you and far from you are in focus. This is especially true when you are taking a landscape picture and want as much as possible to be in crisp focus.
Then there are times when you want to isolate your subject, as when you are taking a portrait and want your subject to be in sharp focus but the background to be out of focus. In this case, you desire a shallow depth of field.
One way to influence DOF is by selecting the appropriate aperture.
The rule of thumb is this:

Select a large aperture (or small f/value or small aperture value), e.g. f/2.8, to obtain a shallow DOF
Select a small aperture (or large f/value or large aperture value), e.g. f/8.0, to achieve great DOF

Here are some real images that demonstrate the use of aperture to influence DOF:

Aperture and Depth of Field (DOF) AF area is on yellow pistils of flower in front
Shallow DOF	Great DOF

Note how the use of a large aperture (small aperture value) throws the flowers in the background out of focus. Focus has to be precise.	Using a small aperture (large aperture value) extends the DOF from the foreground all the way to the background.
49.8 mm, Av, Spot, 1/30 sec., f/3.5, +0.7EV, Macro, Tripod used	49.6mm, Av, Spot, 1/5 sec., f/11, +0.7EV, Macro, Tripod used

Note: Since we are on the subject of DOF, DOF also changes with focal length. Use a small focal length to increase DOF, a longer focal length obtain a shallower DOF. I.E. if you zoom, the DOF decreases. [OK, to be technically correct, focal length does not really affect DOF, but gives the effect that it does. And, that's good enough for us since that's what we're after. We'll cover DOF in a later tutorial.]
Due to the small image sensors used, digital cameras use such small focal lengths that it is very difficult to obtain shallow depth of field even when using a large aperture. In the example above, we used a large aperture AND a long focal length (telephoto macro) to achieve a shallow DOF.
Recap
A large maximum aperture is a good thing. It allows more light to reach the image sensor, and so allows you to use a faster shutter speed. A faster shutter speed freezes action and negates the effect of camera shake, resulting in pictures that are not blurred.
Another advantage of a large maximum aperture is to provide a shallow depth of field. This allows the background to blur nicely thus isolating your subject (especially effective when taking portraits).
A small minimum aperture is also a good thing. It allows you to use a slow shutter speed on a bright sunny day. A slow shutter speed allows you to depict motion.
Another advantage of a small minimum aperture is to increase the depth-of-field. An increased depth-of-field allows you to take landscape pictures where as much of the picture in the foreground and reaching all the way to the background (usually, 'infinity') is in sharp focus.
We hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions, spot any errors, or have an article idea, please give us your feedback on this article. We will publish as many comments here as we can. [ email article to a friend ]
Our Readers Write Back
We don't pretend to be experts in all aspects of digital photography and therefore are very happy to learn together with our readers. Their feedback to this article are published below.
From: Robert Counts
The only unanswered question in my mind is about the recipes given for aperture and shutter spead at the bottom section of the "Good ApetureRange" section. My question along the line of: Are these aperture recipes set? I noticed that in the set of photos below where depth of field is being illustrated, the aperture/shutter specifications are different from the ones in the diagrams above, but the photos still look good. I know that this is an answer that will come with shooting experience, which is what I need to do on my own, on top of reading tutorials like this, but that further explanation would be really helpful for us beginners. Thanks so much for making this great tutorial available!
Editor: Notice that the article talks about Good Aperture Range. We are suggesting what a good range is. There is no such thing as a 'good aperture' -- an aperture is basically just a hole that allows light in.

As far as the aperture range is concerned, a large aperture allows more light in and therefore allows us to take natural light picture (i.e. without flash) when there's not much light to go around. That's good. A large aperture also allows us to shorten the depth of field, important for occasions when we want to blur the background and have our subject stand out
in sharp contrast to the background. That is very good!

A small aperture allows us to limit the amount of light that comes into the camera and this allows us to use a slower shutter speed in bright lights for occasions when we want to depict motion, e.g. flowing water. [When it's still too bright, photographers use Neutral Density filter(s) to reduce the amount of light coming into the camera.] More importantly, a small aperture also increases depth of field and ensures that objects from near to far are all in sharp focus, as we like to have in landscapes. That is very good!

The sample images show that we can take good photos at all apertures. But a good range of apertures allow us to take more good photos, especially those that depend on depth of field.

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_aperture.html

UNDERSTANDING CAMERA LENSES

2009-11-02T00:37:00.000-08:00

Understanding camera lenses can help add more creative control to digital photography. Choosing the right lens for the task can become a complex trade-off between cost, size, weight, lens speed and image quality. This tutorial aims to improve understanding by providing an introductory overview of concepts relating to image quality, focal length, perspective, prime vs. zoom lenses and aperture or f-number.

LENS ELEMENTS & IMAGE QUALITY

All but the simplest cameras contain lenses which are actually comprised of several "lens elements." Each of these elements aims to direct the path of light rays such that they recreate the image as accurately as possible on the digital sensor. The goal is to minimize aberrations, while still utilizing the fewest and least expensive elements.

Optical aberrations occur when points of the image do not translate back onto single points after passing through the lens, causing image blurring, reduced contrast or misalignment of colors (chromatic aberration). Lenses may also suffer from uneven, radially decreasing image brightness (vignetting) or distortion. Try moving your mouse over each of the options below to see how these can impact image quality for extreme cases.


Original Image	Loss of Contrast	Blurring
	Chromatic Aberration	Distortion
	Vignetting	Original

Any of the above problems is present to some degree with any lens. In the rest of this tutorial, when a lens is referred to as having lower optical quality than another lens, this is manifested as some combination of the above artifacts. Some of these lens artifacts may not be as objectionable as others, depending on the subject matter.

Note: For a much more quantitative and technical discussion of the above topic, please see the
tutorial on camera lens quality: MTF, resolution & contrast.

INFLUENCE OF LENS FOCAL LENGTH

The focal length of a lens determines its angle of view, and thus also how much the subject will be magnified for a given photographic position. Wide angle lenses have small focal lengths, while telephoto lenses have larger corresponding focal lengths.

Note: The location where light rays cross is not necessarily equal to the focal length, as shown above, but is instead roughly proportional to this distance. Therefore longer focal lengths still result in narrower angles of view, as depicted.

Required Focal Length Calculator
Subject Distance:
Subject Size:
Camera Type:
Approximate Required Focal Length:

Note: Calculator assumes that camera is oriented such that the maximum
subject dimension given by "subject size" is in the camera's longest dimension.
Calculator not intended for use in extreme macro photography, but does
take into account small changes in the angle of view due to focusing distance.

Many will say that focal length also determines the perspective of an image, but strictly speaking, perspective only changes with one's location relative to their subject. If one tries to achieve the same subjects filling the frame with both a wide angle and telephoto lens, then perspective does indeed change because one is forced to move closer or further from their subject. For these scenarios only, the wide angle lens exaggerates or stretches perspective, whereas the telephoto lens compresses or flattens perspective.

Perspective control can be a powerful compositional tool in photography, and often determines one's choice in focal length (when one can photograph from any position). Move your mouse over the above image to view an exaggerated perspective due to a wider angle lens. Note how the subjects within the frame remain nearly identical-- therefore requiring a closer position for the wider angle lens. The relative sizes of objects change such that the distant doorway becomes smaller relative to the nearby lamps.

The following table provides a overview of what focal lengths are required to be considered a wide angle or telephoto lens, in addition to their typical uses. Please note that focal lengths listed are just rough ranges, and actual uses may vary considerably; many use telephoto lenses in distant landscapes to compress perspective, for example.

Lens Focal Length^*	Terminology	Typical Photography
Less than 21 mm	Extreme Wide Angle	Architecture
21-35 mm	Wide Angle	Landscape
35-70 mm	Normal	Street & Documentary
70-135 mm	Medium Telephoto	Portraiture
135-300+ mm	Telephoto	Sports, Bird & Wildlife

*Note: Lens focal lengths are for 35 mm equivalent cameras. If you have a compact or digital SLR camera, then you likely have a different sensor size. To adjust the above numbers for your camera, please use the focal length converter in the tutorial on digital camera sensor sizes.

Other factors may also be influenced by lens focal length. Telephoto lenses are more susceptible to camera shake since small hand movements become magnified within the image, similar to the shakiness experience while trying to look through binoculars with a large zoom. Wide angle lenses are generally more resistant to flare, partially because the designers assume that the sun is more likely to be within the frame for a wider angle of view. A final consideration is that medium and telephoto lenses generally yield better optical quality for similar price ranges.

FOCAL LENGTH & HANDHELD PHOTOS

The focal length of a lens may also have a significant impact on how easy it is to achieve a sharp handheld photograph. Longer focal lengths require shorter exposure times to minimize burring caused by shaky hands. Think of this as if one were trying to hold a laser pointer steady; when shining this pointer at a nearby object its bright spot ordinarily jumps around less than for objects further away.

This is primarily because slight rotational vibrations are magnified greatly with distance, whereas if only up and down or side to side vibrations were present, the laser's bright spot would not change with distance.

A common rule of thumb for estimating how fast the exposure needs to be for a given focal length is the one over focal length rule. This states that for a 35 mm camera, the exposure time needs to be at least as fast as one over the focal length in seconds. In other words, when using a 200 mm focal length on a 35 mm camera, the exposure time needs to be at least 1/200 seconds-- otherwise blurring may be hard to avoid. Keep in mind that this rule is just for rough guidance; some may be able to hand hold a shot for much longer or shorter times than this rule estimates. For users of digital cameras with cropped sensors, one needs to convert into a 35 mm equivalent focal length.

ZOOM LENSES vs. PRIME LENSES

A zoom lens is one where the photographer can vary the focal length within a pre-defined range, whereas this cannot be changed with a "prime" or fixed focal length lens. The primary advantage of a zoom lens is that it is easier to achieve a variety of compositions or perspectives (since lens changes are not necessary). This advantage is often critical for dynamic subject matter, such as in photojournalism and children's photography.

Keep in mind that using a zoom lens does not necessarily mean that one no longer has to change their position; zooms just increase flexibility. In the example below, the original position is shown along with two alternatives using a zoom lens. If a prime lens were used, then a change of composition would not have been possible without cropping the image (if a tighter composition were desirable). Similar to the example in the previous section, the change of perspective was achieved by zooming out and getting closer to the subject. Alternatively, to achieve the opposite perspective effect, one could have zoomed in and gotten further from the subject.


Two Options Available with a Zoom Lens:
Change of Composition	Change of Perspective

Why would one intentionally restrict their options by using a prime lens? Prime lenses existed long before zoom lenses were available, and still offer many advantages over their more modern counterparts. When zoom lenses first arrived on the market, one often had to be willing to sacrifice a significant amount of optical quality. However, more modern high-end zoom lenses generally do not produce noticeably lower image quality, unless scrutinized by the trained eye (or in a very large print).

The primary advantages of prime lenses are in cost, weight and speed. An inexpensive prime lens can generally provide as good (or better) image quality as a high-end zoom lens. Additionally, if only a small fraction of the focal length range is necessary for a zoom lens, then a prime lens with a similar focal length will be significantly smaller and lighter. Finally, the best prime lenses almost always offer better light-gathering ability (larger maximum aperture) than the fastest zoom lenses-- often critical for low-light sports/theater photography, and when a shallow depth of field is necessary.

For compact digital cameras, lenses listed with a 3X, 4X, etc. zoom designation refer to the ratio between the longest and shortest focal lengths. Therefore, a larger zoom designation does not necessarily mean that the image can be magnified any more (since that zoom may just have a wider angle of view when fully zoomed out). Additionally, digital zoom is not the same as optical zoom, as the former only enlarges the image through interpolation. Read the fine-print to ensure you are not misled.

INFLUENCE OF LENS APERTURE OR F-NUMBER

The aperture range of a lens refers to the amount that the lens can open up or close down to let in more or less light, respectively. Apertures are listed in terms of f-numbers, which quantitatively describe relative light-gathering area (depicted below).

Note: Above comparison is qualitative; aperture opening (iris) is rarely a perfect circle,
due to the presence of 5-8 blade-like lens diaphragms.

Note that larger aperture openings are defined to have lower f-numbers (often very confusing). These two terms are often mistakenly interchanged; the rest of this tutorial refers to lenses in terms of their aperture size. Lenses with larger apertures are also described as being "faster," because for a given ISO speed, the shutter speed can be made faster for the same exposure. Additionally, a smaller aperture means that objects can be in focus over a wider range of distance, a concept also termed the depth of field.

f-#	Light-Gathering Area (Aperture Size)	Required Shutter Speed	Depth of Field
f-#	Corresponding Impact on Other Properties:
Higher	Smaller	Slower	Wider
Lower	Larger	Faster	Narrower

When one is considering purchasing a lens, specifications ordinarily list the maximum (and maybe minimum) available apertures. Lenses with a greater range of aperture settings provide greater artistic flexibility, in terms of both exposure options and depth of field. The maximum aperture is perhaps the most important lens aperture specification, which is often listed on the box along with focal length(s).

An f-number of X may also be displayed as 1:X (instead of f/X), as shown below for the Canon 70-200 f/2.8 lens (whose box is also shown above and lists f/2.8).

Portrait and indoor sports/theater photography often requires lenses with very large maximum apertures, in order to be capable of faster shutter speeds or narrower depth of fields, respectively. The narrow depth of field in a portrait helps isolate the subject from their background. For digital SLR cameras, lenses with larger maximum apertures provide significantly brighter viewfinder images-- possibly critical for night and low-light photography. These also often give faster and more accurate auto-focusing in low-light. Manual focusing is also easier because the image in the viewfinder has a narrower depth of field (thus making it more visible when objects come into or out of focus).

Typical Maximum Apertures	Relative Light-Gathering Ability	Typical Lens Types
f/1.0	32X	Fastest Available Prime Lenses (for Consumer Use)
f/1.4	16X	Fast Prime Lenses
f/2.0	8X	Fast Prime Lenses
f/2.8	4X	Fastest Zoom Lenses (for Constant Aperture)
f/4.0	2X	Light Weight Zoom Lenses or Extreme Telephoto Primes
f/5.6	1X	Light Weight Zoom Lenses or Extreme Telephoto Primes

Minimum apertures for lenses are generally nowhere near as important as maximum apertures. This is primarily because the minimum apertures are rarely used due to photo blurring from lens diffraction, and because these may require prohibitively long exposure times. For cases where extreme depth of field is desired, then smaller minimum aperture (larger maximum f-number) lenses allow for a wider depth of field.

Finally, some zoom lenses on digital SLR and compact digital cameras often list a range of maximum aperture, because this may depend on how far one has zoomed in or out. These aperture ranges therefore refer only to the range of maximum aperture, not overall range. A range of f/2.0-3.0 would mean that the maximum available aperture gradually changes from f/2.0 (fully zoomed out) to f/3.0 (at full zoom). The primary benefit of having a zoom lens with a constant maximum aperture is that exposure settings are more predictable, regardless of focal length.

Also note that just because the maximum aperture of a lens may not be used, this does not necessarily mean that this lens is not necessary. Lenses typically have fewer aberrations when they perform the exposure stopped down one or two f-stops from their maximum aperture (such as using a setting of f/4.0 on a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.0). This *may* therefore mean that if one wanted the best quality f/2.8 photograph, a f/2.0 or f/1.4 lens may yield higher quality than a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8.

Other considerations include cost, size and weight. Lenses with larger maximum apertures are typically much heavier, larger and more expensive. Size/weight may be critical for wildlife, hiking and travel photography because all of these often utilize heavier lenses, or require carrying equipment for extended periods of time.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lenses.htm

DIGITAL CAMERA SENSORS

2009-11-02T00:31:00.000-08:00

A digital camera uses a sensor array of millions of tiny pixels in order to produce the final image. When you press your camera's shutter button and the exposure begins, each of these pixels has a "photosite" which is uncovered to collect and store photons in a cavity. Once the exposure finishes, the camera closes each of these photosites, and then tries to assess how many photons fell into each. The relative quantity of photons in each cavity are then sorted into various intensity levels, whose precision is determined by bit depth (0 - 255 for an 8-bit image).

Each cavity is unable to distinguish how much of each color has fallen in, so the above illustration would only be able to create grayscale images. To capture color images, each cavity has to have a filter placed over it which only allows penetration of a particular color of light. Virtually all current digital cameras can only capture one of the three primary colors in each cavity, and so they discard roughly 2/3 of the incoming light. As a result, the camera has to approximate the other two primary colors in order to have information about all three colors at every pixel. The most common type of color filter array is called a "Bayer array," shown below.

Color Filter Array

A Bayer array consists of alternating rows of red-green and green-blue filters. Notice how the Bayer array contains twice as many green as red or blue sensors. Each primary color does not receive an equal fraction of the total area because the human eye is more sensitive to green light than both red and blue light. Redundancy with green pixels produces an image which appears less noisy and has finer detail than could be accomplished if each color were treated equally. This also explains why noise in the green channel is much less than for the other two primary colors (see "Understanding Image Noise" for an example).


Original Scene (shown at 200%)	What Your Camera Sees (through a Bayer array)

Note: Not all digital cameras use a Bayer array, however this is by far the most common setup. The Foveon sensor used in Sigma's SD9 and SD10 captures all three colors at each pixel location. Sony cameras capture four colors in a similar array: red, green, blue and emerald green.

BAYER DEMOSAICING

Bayer "demosaicing" is the process of translating this Bayer array of primary colors into a final image which contains full color information at each pixel. How is this possible if the camera is unable to directly measure full color? One way of understanding this is to instead think of each 2x2 array of red, green and blue as a single full color cavity.

—>

This would work fine, however most cameras take additional steps to extract even more image information from this color array. If the camera treated all of the colors in each 2x2 array as having landed in the same place, then it would only be able achieve half the resolution in both the horizontal and vertical directions. On the other hand, if a camera computed the color using several overlapping 2x2 arrays, then it could achieve a higher resolution than would be possible with a single set of 2x2 arrays. The following combination of overlapping 2x2 arrays could be used to extract more image information.

—>

Note how we did not calculate image information at the very edges of the array, since we assumed the image continued on in each direction. If these were actually the edges of the cavity array, then calculations here would be less accurate, since there are no longer pixels on all sides. This is no problem, since information at the very edges of an image can easily be cropped out for cameras with millions of pixels.

Other demosaicing algorithms exist which can extract slightly more resolution, produce images which are less noisy, or adapt to best approximate the image at each location.

DEMOSAICING ARTIFACTS

Images with small-scale detail near the resolution limit of the digital sensor can sometimes trick the demosaicing algorithm—producing an unrealistic looking result. The most common artifact is moiré (pronounced "more-ay"), which may appear as repeating patterns, color artifacts or pixels arranges in an unrealistic maze-like pattern:

Two separate photos are shown above—each at a different magnification. Note the appearance of moiré in all four bottom squares, in addition to the third square of the first photo (subtle). Both maze-like and color artifacts can be seen in the third square of the downsized version. These artifacts depend on both the type of texture and software used to develop the digital camera's RAW file.

MICROLENS ARRAYS

You might wonder why the first diagram in this tutorial did not place each cavity directly next to each other. Real-world camera sensors do not actually have photosites which cover the entire surface of the sensor. In fact, they often cover just half the total area in order to accommodate other electronics. Each cavity is shown with little peaks between them to direct the photons to one cavity or the other. Digital cameras contain "microlenses" above each photosite to enhance their light-gathering ability. These lenses are analogous to funnels which direct photons into the photosite where the photons would have otherwise been unused.

Well-designed microlenses can improve the photon signal at each photosite, and subsequently create images which have less noise for the same exposure time. Camera manufacturers have been able to use improvements in microlens design to reduce or maintain noise in the latest high-resolution cameras, despite having smaller photosites due to squeezing more megapixels into the same sensor area.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-sensors.htm

Holding the Camera

2009-10-22T00:16:00.000-07:00

Holding the camera properly is the best way to avoid or minimize the effects of camera shake. A good firm grip with the right hand and support from underneath means that, when you press the shutter release, movement of the camera will be minimized. This will enable you to shoot sharper pictures at slower shutter speeds.

The picture on the right shows a good grip, the heel of the left hand supports the camera from underneath. When the shutter is pressed with the right hand, the camera tends to move downward, the left hand in this position will minimize the effect of this.

Some older cameras had shutter buttons that pushed in towards the body instead of downwards, but they seem to have largely disappeared nowadays, presumably because the position did not feel as comfortable as the downward movement.

Cameras were designed to be used with the right eye, although it is possible to use them with the left. The advantage of using the right eye (which feels more comfortable to most of us anyway), is that the left eye is not blocked by the camera body and you can, if you want, keep it open to see what is going on outside of your field of view. The natural tendency is to shut your left eye, the better to concentrate on your picture, but with a little practice, you can get used to keeping it open. Having the left eye open enables you to see what is about to move into your frame, a useful thing when taking action shots. Also you can see what happens at the time when the exposure is being made and the mirror is blocking your view in the viewfinder. Did the person you are photographing blink? Better check and take another shot.

Here are some examples of how not to hold the camera.

This is the way a lot of people hold their camera. But, as you can see, there is no real support under the camera, so camera shake is more likely. Also when you want to adjust the zoom, you have to reposition your hand.	Recently there have been a flood of cameras with no viewfinder, you have to look at the screen to compose your picture. As a result some people find it more 'natural' to view in this way. But now you are holding the camera in a very unstable way.	Ultra compacts and camera phones have made matters even worse. Now you have to hold the camera with your finger tips, away from your face. Even I find it extremely difficult to hold such a camera still. The only way is to find some support for your elbows as in the picture below.

When you use a telephoto lens, the need for support form underneath becomes more urgent. Not only because the weight distribution is now tipping the camera forward but also because the narrower angle of view will accentuate any camera shake.	The 'good' way of holding the camera recommended in this article translates very well to the portrait view as well. A lot of people take all their pictures in landscape format simply because it feels uncomfortable to hold the camera in the upright position. Holding it this way feels very comfortable.	Wherever possible I would recommend using any extra support available. Especially when shooting in low light or with a dreaded camera phone.
		Holding the camera by the body only, as in the picture on the far left, means that when you move your hand to adjust the zoom, the tendency is to do it 'over arm' with your finger tips, as in the picture on the left. This gives no extra support to the camera at all. She is, in effect, holding the camera with one hand. Whereas an under arm grip cradles the camera in the palm of your hand, taking all the weight.

Holding the camera in the right way might seem a little uncomfortable at first but in a very short time it will seem the most natural thing in the world.

You will notice that there are no camera straps evident in any of these pictures. I personally am not a fan of the camera strap and prefer not to use them. I find they get in the way especially when I turn the camera on its side, which I do an awful lot. A large percentage of my pictures are shot in upright format and the strap can often fall in front of the lens. That said, I am an extremely careful person and I never, ever drop things. If there is even the slightest chance that you might drop your camera, use a strap. Modern cameras do not bounce.

Even when there is plenty of light and the shutter speed is quite fast, you can see the difference between a well held camera and an unstable 'grab shot'. The difference may be subtle but it will be there to see. People often think that the sharper results from a well held camera are due to a more expensive camera or lens. Better equipment does give you better results but only when you know how to use it properly.

article gets from

http://www.geofflawrence.com/holding_the_camera.html

Photography tips for beginners

2009-10-22T00:09:00.000-07:00

Before going to our own ideas from dptutorial (with oddities and extremes), you should know there is a pretty standard list of useful tips. Here what we think that every beginner should learn as basics and every advanced photographer at least should keep in mind:

Choose a subject or message of your photo
. If there is no clear real subject, nothing of graphical interest and no mood to convey, it is probably not an interesting photo.
Remove things that don’t add to the photo
. Especially if they detract from the central message. Don’t only know what to include, but also what to exclude. Find a simple background and look for balance.
In this example the hand of the woman below and the colorful yellow and blue shirts are distracting elements. Waiting until the hand is gone and standing a few steps more to the left, so the people in the back are out of the frame, would both improve the photo.
Don’t be afraid to zoom in or get very close
. The most common mistake is that photos are taken from too far away and that there is just too much environment that doesn’t add to the message. Filling the image with the subject underlines what the intended subject is, and removes cluttered background. It achieves simplicity.
Don’t automatically center your subjects
. Beginning photographers massively center their main subjects on their photos. This is not illogical because the photographer aims at the subject with the camera viewer. If you rather place the subject outside the center it will often result in a more dynamic composition. Experiment with that.
A popular guideline is the rule of thirds. Imagine the frame divided into thirds, both vertically and horizontally, like a tic-tac-toe board. Then place the subject on or near one of the lines or intersections. This is called the rule of thirds, or the ‘golden mean’. However don’t follow this rule slavishly.
Remember that the eyes are most important for people and animals. When zooming in and the head fills the image, the rule of thirds applies to the position of the eyes.
Be sure to hold your camera level
. It will break the strength of your photo if the horizon appears with an apparent angle.
Sometimes photo opportunities appear in a split second, and you have just no time to control the angle of your camera. When at home your photo appears to be tilted, no problem. With imaging tools it’s easy to level the photo afterwards. However this gives a small loss in image quality. So practise your reflex to hold your camera level in the first place.
Eyes are exceptionally important
. They tell the story. When photographing people and animals everything else can be hidden or cropped out: the mouth, the nose, the hair. But the eyes must be visible.
In addition, the eyes have to be tack sharp. Unsharpness of the eyes will hurt the attraction to the eyes, and with that the quality of the photo. If the eyes are not sharp, the photo doesn’t look sharp.
Watch the distance with flash
. Don’t bother using flash over 30 feet away. Most non professional flashes just completely don’t function at this distance or greater. Flash works best with nearby subjects. When taking a scenery of a bridge at some distance, flash won’t help. Instead of flash, use longer exposure times and a tripod or, if necessary, a higher iso setting.
When photographing multiple people with flash, be aware that persons that are close will be illuminated by the flash much more than persons further away. So if you want all of them as prominent, have all at the same close distance from your camera.
As a rule make use the full range of luminosity
: from completely dark (black) to completely white. This makes photos dynamic and vivid.
On the other side don’t over expose with digital camera’s. The information of over exposed parts of the image will be lost definitively and can’t even be recovered by imaging tools. Under exposing is also unfortunate. Image tools can light up the darks and make the tonal visible, however with some or even considerable noise.
Directly after taking a photograph, reading the histogram can be helpful. If the histogram is pegged against the right end, the photo is over exposed. When pegged against the left hand, it is under exposed.
But adjusting the settings of the camera to capture the whole full range of luminosity without over or under exposing can be quite a struggle. Just be sure not to overexpose. Adjusting levels afterwards with an imaging tool will be the rescue.
Make a selection of your photos
. Don’t put all your photos, complete with all the flawed versions of the same scene, in your (online) photo album. The bad ones harm the attention that the best ones deserve. Make a critical selection of your photos, keep the very best. This will enhance your the overall quality of the album enormously.
The tree growing out of the subject’s shoulder or head
is a classic photographic syndrome.
As you position yourself for the photo look out for power poles, lamp posts and other objects behind the subject that can ruin your photo. When it happens, reposition yourself or the subject.
Also avoid objects in the background that visually merge with the subject because they have the same color. Let the subject be free-standing.

capture on:
http://www.dptutorial.com/photography-tips-for-beginners

picture and photograph

Color Accent: B&W with a dash of Color

Selective Sepia

Preview of Final Results

Selective Sepia Photoshop Tutorial

Step 1: Open an image into Photoshop

Step 2: Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer

A) Select by color

B) Select manually

Step 3: Add a Black & White adjustment layer

Final Results

How to Create a Panorama with Photoshop and Photomerge

Here are the tools I am going to use to create panoramic photos:

Setting up for your shoot:

The actual shoot:

Make your panorama:

Camera Shake

Sharpening with the Unsharp Mask filter

Bring Cool Colors to A Photo

Dreamy Scene

Area Focus

Center AF

Night Photography

Sharpen Your Photos For Display

Choosing the best Viewpoint

10 Tips To Better Photography

Tip 1 - Use All Your Available Space

Tip 2 - Study Forms

Tip 3 - Motion In Your Photos

Tip 4 - Learn To Use Contrasts Between Colors

Tip 5 - Get Closer To Your Subject

Tip 6 - Shutter Lag

Tip 7 - Pan

Tip 8 - Continuous Shots

Tip 9 - How To Take Fantastic Night Time Shots

Tip 10 - Study Your Manual

3 Fast Fixes In Photoshop

How To Shoot Panoramic Landscapes

How To: Get Better Selections in Photoshop (photoshop tutorial)

5 Things You Should Know About Your Camera's LCD

Give your photo stunning depth! (photo edit tutorial)

The Orange Sky (tutorial for photoshop editing)

Water drop photography

What Is... Aperture?

UNDERSTANDING CAMERA LENSES

LENS ELEMENTS & IMAGE QUALITY

INFLUENCE OF LENS FOCAL LENGTH

FOCAL LENGTH & HANDHELD PHOTOS

ZOOM LENSES vs. PRIME LENSES

INFLUENCE OF LENS APERTURE OR F-NUMBER

DIGITAL CAMERA SENSORS

BAYER DEMOSAICING

DEMOSAICING ARTIFACTS

MICROLENS ARRAYS

Holding the Camera

Photography tips for beginners

Choose a subject or message of your photo

Remove things that don’t add to the photo

Don’t be afraid to zoom in or get very close

Don’t automatically center your subjects

Be sure to hold your camera level

Eyes are exceptionally important

Watch the distance with flash

As a rule make use the full range of luminosity

Make a selection of your photos

The tree growing out of the subject’s shoulder or head