Sometimes I’m disappointed with digital images. They just don’t seem to capture the granduer that I see when I visit a scenic vista like Myakka River. Fortunately there are tools to bring out the best in images, Photomatix is one such tool. I used Photomatix to merge three different exposures of this scene into an HDR image. Then I rendered the image using Photomatix Detail Mapping. Now this is what I remember  seeing when I clicked the shutter.

Painter has been around for a long time. I’m been using it since version 4. But I never could come to grips with the application and create images that looked like paintings. That all changed with Corel Painter X. In Painter X you open the Underpainting palette and choose a style. You can also add an edge effect. The next step is to make a Quick Clone of the image. In the Auto Painting palette, enable Smart Stroke Painting, choose a Smart Brush from the Brushes palette and click the Play button. Corel Painter X adjusts the strokes of the Smart Brush to match the angles and curves of the shape you’re cloning. Here are two examples of images that were modified using Auto Painting in Corel X.

The following is an excerpt from the first chapter of my recently published book, “Digital Photography Workbook for Dummies.”The book is targeted for beginning to intermediate photographers, but the advice that follows pertains to any photographer. To learn more about the book, click the following link: Digital Photography Workbook for Dummies
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Unless an image is horribly out of focus, grossly overexposed or underexposed, I keep it. You never know when you can use part of the image in a montage or collage. Or better yet, revisit the photo when you learn a new skill or get a new piece of software. When I upgraded to Lightroom 2, I revisited some of my old photos to see if I could make them better, or rescue marginal photos.

I always liked the image in this post. But it was getting late and the light was fading fast when I took the shot. To properly expose the building, I ended up with a sky that was brighter than I remembered it. I used the new Graduated Filter in Lightroom 2 to darken the sky and tint it blue. The result was a better image. As time goes by, I’m going to revisit lots of my older shots and see what I can do to make them better in Lightroom 2. To view some video tutorials on Lightroom 2, visit my podcast, Pixelicious.

Machinery that’s stood that test of time and exposed to the relentless forces of Mother Nature, ages gracefully. This gear and chain are part of an old piece of farm machinery. The rusted metal develops a wonderful patina and texture. When I photograph an object like this, I believe less is more. If I had moved back to frame the entire piece of machinery, the texure of the rust would be lost.

Another thing to keep in mind when photographing old machinery is your choice of lens and exposure settings. To isolate the gear and chain from the rest of the machine, I photographed the image with an 85 mm lens at f/1.8. The large aperture limited the depth of field to the parts of the machine I wanted to which I wanted to attract the viewer’s attention.

In Lightroom, I used the Direct Positive preset as my starting point. I increased Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation to make the image pop. I then applied Split Toning. To see some video podcasts on Lightroom 2, visit our sister web site Pixelicious.

Sometimes bad things happen to good cars. Sometimes they wear out. In both scenarios, they usually end up in a junkyard. The cracked windshield and vibrant colors attracted me to this old forgotten warhorse. I took a few pictures and moved on. When I opened the image in Photoshop, it looked kind of bland, and certain parts of the image were overexposed. Fortunately, the original image was a RAW file. I opened the image again as a Smart Object. I made a copy of the Smart Object, which meant I could edit both layers independtly. I tweaked the exposure on the top layer for the highlights, rasterized the layer, and then created selection based on luminance by Ctrl-clicking the RGB channel in the top layer. After feathering the mask, I pressed the Backspace key to delete the areas outside of the selection. The result was increased dynamic range. I then merged the layers, and created a duplicate of the merged layer. You can view a video tutorial of this technique in the Placing a RAW file as a Smart Object section of my Pixelicious podcast, episode 28. Click here to see the podcast: Episode 28.

To bring out the color I applied a 20-pixel gaussian blur to the duplicate layer and changed the blend mode to Soft Light. This gave the image a soft glow and enhanced the colors. To make the reds pop, I added a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, and increased the saturation of the reds. With a bit of imagination, and some pixel magic in Photoshop, you can turn photos of old objects into compelling iamges.

In an ideal world, a photographer would have a seamless background for every photo shoot. However, when you’re shooting portraits at a client’s location, the luxury of a seamless background is not always an option, especially if you’re shooting in cramped conditions.

Today I did a photo shoot for a medical clinic. My client wanted head and shoulders shots of the doctors and nurse practitioners. The only available place to shoot was a small break room. I set up the backdrop stand and unfolded a very wrinkled muslin background. Read the rest of this entry »