Some thoughts on selecting and warpage in Photoshop

Some thoughts on selecting and warpage in Photoshop

In General, there are several ways to make an ordinary function in Photoshop.And just because you learn a way to do something doesn't mean necessarily is the best way in each situation tampouco.com that in mind, I would like to take some time to discuss the pros and cons of the main ways of doing and feathering selections in Photoshop.

We must of course start this discussion with how to select an area on an image to want to work. After all, if nothing is selected, or if your entire image is, there's nothing worth and nothing to talk about this week. General selection techniques fall into two main categories: regular selections and masks.The loop and the magic wand are examples of regular. selection tools when crawling around an object with the Lasso or click on it with the magic wand, you select it. If your hand is not completely stable or the contrast between the subject and the background is low, your selection may not be as accurate as you want, but you can see what you end up with because the limit of selection is indicated by a line of dots "marching ants" overlay your image.

The basic form of feather a selection made with the Lasso or other regular selection tool is found in the Select menu. Going Select > to > modify > > Feather opens a dialog box asking you the "Feather RADIUS".This is quick and easy, but softens all edges of the same amount. is also a bit difficult to tell just what your selection by now really looks. Everything you see is the "marching ants", covering the area containing pixels at least fifty percent selected. If you apply a filter or to make an adjustment using the resulting selection, you can be in a rude surprise when areas that you expect to totally change not as areas you assumed were out of selection and therefore safe end up getting modification.

Masks do not have always been in Photoshop, although they have been there for some releases now. Its introduction heralded a revolution in the art of making selections. Users can now visually tell how selected or not was any point in your image. A mask is really just a different way to represent a selection.He lives in your document just like any other layer, except that instead of RGB colors is only shades of black and white: a channel, instead of three. any point on a mask layer that is completely white completely is checked. Any point that is pure black is not checked at all. Shades of gray between these two extremes are selected by analogy. Thus, an area that is gray-fifty percent is fifty percent selected and so on.

Each new adjustment layer automatically gets its own layer mask. If you make a selection with the Lasso selection tool or other regular and creates your new adjustment layer with the active selection, Photoshop will automatically transform this selection in corresponding mask layer. You can also add them to image layers by clicking on the small white circle icon (new layer mask) at the bottom of the layers panel with the target layer is selected. Layer groups may also have similarly added masks.Regardless of how you create your layer mask, you can modify it by painting over it with black, white or grayscale. Verify that the mask itself is selected before you paint though, or else you may end up painting directly on your image. If you screw up your image by accident, just use the history panel to undo it. As long as you're actually painting on the mask, your changes are not directly changing the image pixels, so you can adjust your mask infinitely without any loss until you do the right thing. While the effect it has his mask can be seen in the main image window. As I say, that was really a revolution in making selections.

Masks also represent a revolution in how to obtain the selections of feathers. Already mentioned that freely can paint the mask layer to control the degree to which any point is selected or not based on how near it white or black. But you can also use other tools to affect the mask too. The most obvious way of a penalty is to use a mask of obfuscation tools. But you don't need also blur the whole mask. Once a mask is just another layer type, you can use the faithful Lasso or any other regular selection tool to mask itself to limit the affected area, as you would an image layer. No, you cannot make a mask on top of a mask, but you can use regular selection tools and masks together freely.

Back in Photoshop CS4 revolution in broadcast had a second major step forward with the introduction of masks Panel. In the past, although masks allow you to change the appearance of the image without changing the actual pixels image, changes of masks were not themselves non-destructive.I.e. changes put a mask (for example) really changed pixels in the layer mask. of course, you could paint on the mask to effectively undo any changes that you didn't like, but not all changes were easy to undo. If you paint a mask with white, you can switch colors and inks back over the area with black, but if you apply a Gaussian blur to a mask, it really isn't possible re-sharpen it later. You would have dramatically paint the mask existing, or even delete this mask and create a new one. As of CS4, the masks panel lets you apply a blur to a mask that is non-destructive. Move the slider of Feather one-way and mask appears blurred.Slide it back the other way and your turn to be sharp again.Now how cool is that?

Thus, you should always create a mask and worth everything with the slider in masks Panel.Well, probably not.Some changes that you'll never want to undo make them (in some cases) secure with regular selection tools.Selections made with masks, sometimes lend themselves more to painting freehand with low opacity brush so that you can paint progressively in just the right amount of masking in each area.Even these though it may be useful to apply a little warpage masks Panel for when you're done to avoid any brush stokes causing visible borders in the final image. I guess my point is that there is a range of available technical selection and warpage. I often see users of Photoshop to develop the habit of doing private things the same way every time, without stopping to consider whether this way is the best for a given situation.

As I said at the beginning, Photoshop has many ways to do things just because you know a way doesn't mean that you have no need to learn new ways to Adobe presents them also means that when a new way of doing something that comes you should immediately abandon all old ways of doing this because they are obsolete or necessarily bottom. If a quick selection is all you need, go for it but if you really need more control to take advantage of all that Adobe put in the product; this is what is there for.

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What is a lens of gray market?

What is a lens of gray market?

A good SLR lens is not cheap, and a cheap SLR lens is rarely good.If you have been shopping around for a new lens, you may have come across the term "gray market" and wondered what it meant. This can be a somewhat controversial, but for my opinion about the lenses of gray market, read on.

First, let me say that I'm writing this primarily for readers in the United States, since that is what I'm obviously more familiar with given where I live.While my opinion on gray market relates to live and make purchases in the United States, I understand that at least some parts of the world have similar concepts. However, I can't speak to how they may be similar and more importantly, how they can be different. You should fully understand the specificities of lens purchase options where you live before you buy.

In the United States, at least, the great brand like Nikon and Canon keep official import channels for their products. these importers authorized are essentially companies in its own right since they use a fraction of the revenue they earn from sales to pay not only wages, but also for the market-oriented advertising they serve. They add their own costs with the basic price of the products they import and thus pass the overhead for the consumer. costs from you and I pay also factors in a small fee to help cover future costs should you buy require repairs during the warranty period.

The world today is not as great as it once might have seemed once and there are ways to import goods outside of such official channels. These parallel channels, unofficial but are not all equal.

The term "black market" refers to goods sold that are somehow outside the official economy of a country.These channels can be created to avoid paying taxes, or they can exist to serve even more extensive illegal activities, such as what is generally called "organized crime"; this is not what is meant by "gray market", although both names lend themselves to obvious confusion.

The "gray Market" goods are lawfully imported in all respects. The only thing that differentiates them officially imported goods obtained directly from Nikon, Canon or whoever they were imported by another person. That's it. But this difference has significant implications that are the point of this article.

If you have been shopping lens and to compare prices between official Nikon or Canon lenses and gray market ones, the most obvious difference is that officially imported that are more expensive. This represents the reason, since nobody in their right mind would define their own import channels if needed to charge more than the officially imported to stay in business. Unofficial importers save money by having less overhead. Many of your costs are likely to be comparable, but they don't have to pay for advertising, since they can ride on the coattails of official advertising produced by importers.By way of comparison, B & h is the largest online photo retailer and they both carry lenses officially imported, as well as the gray market (conceived as "imported" into your site). this writing, who sell the official Nikon AF-S DX 18-200 mm g ED VR II zoom lens for $ 764.95 and gray market "imported" one for $ 664.95 for a savings of $ 100. These are the exact same lens, both probably manufactured in the same assembly line in Japan, China, or wherever. They only difference is the channel import involved.

Gray Market importers also save money, generally, not including a warranty. This is something you need to be comfortable with seeing how the Nikon and Canon usually will not meet gray goods either.Since they don't import them they would lose money if they had to pay for any necessary repairs. Most marketers loading gray market, lenses also offer after market guarantees to compensate for modest prices.

But before you simply assumes that you should buy a security add-on, you can give some idea of how if it makes economic sense.If you take the money that guarantee would cost you and keep it in the database, you can save money. of course, you may lose money if you end up needing repairs.But most problems that is likely to have or will show up immediately, in time so you can return the lens to the retailer you purchased as defective, or if they happen later will probably be caused by his own bad luck or negligence.I've been dropping a lens on the sidewalk before needed repairs to fix, but still have problems of lens that would have been warranty repairs beyond the initial period "take it outside the box and try this new lens" granted, you are betting in odds here, but you can waive the cost of warranty repairs and finance any with savings.Keep in mind that if you buy several lenses it is unlikely that you would need repairs in all of them.On the other hand, many aftermarket guarantees include coverage for accidental damage to check the terms involved to make a conscious decision to your circumstances.

Manufacturers sometimes offer discounts on lenses officially imported that may affect your decision.Grey Market imports are not eligible for these discounts.If you buy right, manufacturer's rebate can also eliminate completely the price difference with the same grey market item.

The idea of gray market isn't limited to lenses also. you often can buy camera flashes and some accessories like gray market, although the cost gap between them and their fellow officers are generally smaller. camera bodies are also sometimes available as very gray market, but manufacturers usually have tighter export controls in the latest technology that prevent gray market availability, at least initially.

Of course you buy is with you. my goal here is just to provide some information that you can use to help you decide. personally, I have no hesitation in buying a gray market lens. I eschewed away from them for a while when Nikon first introduced its vibration reduction technology since VR have parties more mobile and were a bit unproven as to how well they would rise to use in the field. Nowadays, most new lenses have VR and myself now more than one that is marketplace gray. I also have not hesitate gray market purchase accessories and flashes when the cost works out favorably. I never bought a camera gray market body imagining that they have many intricate parts for risking. But that's just me.

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Some thoughts on display in the era of digital photography

Some thoughts on display in the era of digital photography

Digital cameras are everywhere these days. Get out your cell phone to make a call and chances are that you could take a picture as well. Point and shoot digital cameras that do everything for you but press the button are so common that the very idea of exposure control seems strange for many.Although this type of photography can be fun and it is certainly convenient, your chances of getting the best results climb dramatically if you can take control of exposure time but really haven't changed the rules of the game for exhibition in the modern era of digital photography, had to be changed to a degree.

A camera "full-featured" must have some equivalent array or evaluative metering, shutter priority and aperture priority, such as measuring modes fully manuals.Regardless of how much control your camera allows you have and how much you choose to exercise, is to attempt your camera to guide you towards a "medium" exhibition that on average 18 percent gray. This can be good if you're taking pictures of eighteen percent gray themes, but may cause frustration if the subject is supposed to be significantly lighter or darker than the average. Who hasn't taken photos of the snow just to have them turn out dull and grey?

Really there's nothing like a "correct" exposure. You can overexpose or underexpose sufficiently to make things go as bright or so dark as you want.The question is then what you want? I don't know who really want snow gray, but if you do, the camera is more willing to oblige. If you want the look of snow during the night, you can underexpose and achieve that look even in broad daylight. More often, though, you probably want to snow to look the way you do during the day: white. The camera didn't really want to do this because he thinks that everything is gray average, so it is necessary so that you can take at least some control for you.

Aperture and shutter speed are the two variables that traditionally used to affect the exposure.You can add a little to increase exposure, or subtract some of both to lower exposure. If you open the openness and want exposure to remain the same, you have to shorten the time the shutter is open to compensate. This is the basic theory of exposure. But modern digital cameras provide a third variable in the form of ISO that is increasingly viable as a means to affect exposure. Is not at all uncommon for today's digital cameras get excellent results at ISO speeds ranging over five or more stops.

Why is it important? While the shutter speed, exposure affects also determines how movement Gets registered in an image. Short shutter speeds freeze the movement as long cause objects in motion blur. A picture of a waterfall looks completely different with a change of shutter speed. And while opening affects exposure, it also has a great effect on the depth of field. Open the openness and blurs background.Close it down and everything appears highlighted for distances. Objects away will be clearly visible and can cause distractions in small openings but can be completely lost on blur in wider. In contrast with these two primary variables for exposure, ISO speed has little impact on other variables Besides image exposure. Granted, if you greatly increase the ISO speed, noise digital can create serious problems, but within the range that can handle the camera sensor, you can think of ISO as affecting exposure alone. This means that you can solve problems of exposure that used to vex endless film photographers. Mountain wildflowers on a windy day used to be revisited best when the wind was calm, but now a modest increase ISO can save the day and shot.

High ISO settings can change the experience of shooting night completely. When everything Tinea were ISO 100 or 200, night photography was only possible with wide openings or cooperative, unmoving concerned. Shooting at ISO 3200 changes everything. Help with normal lenses becomes possible. It still seems a little strange that I can do this sort of thing after considering virtually impossible not more than a couple of years ago.

In the old days of measurement required to use careful measurements before you have pressed the shutter release and careful patience after you waited to get your movie back, hoping that you did not have ruined what do you think will end up being a killer shot. Measurement is still an important tool to obtain the correct exposure, but is not the only tool. The histogram provides information not only about the overall exposure, but also about the statistical distribution of brightness within an image. You can tell at a glance how much of your image is how bright. You want the histogram to match the scene. Not every shot must result in a bell curve. If you shoot something that has only dark tones, clear and none in the Middle, the resulting histogram should reflect this.

Sometimes I wonder if the histogram means that the measurement is now less important or even maybe relatively obsolete. not for me at least. Monitoring allows me to be prepared to take the shot.The histogram allows me to check that I understood right after the shot.One is proactive while the other reactive.It is worth noting, however, that some cameras now allow histograms "live" so that you can use them before pressing the shutter release. still, I doubt that they will never make measurement by photographer obsolete.While a histogram Viewer also includes data from the entire field of vision, a meter can be defined as spot metering or Centre-weighted.This means that you can check with precision as specific points in a scene will be rendered, not just what the image exposure is global.

Many digital cameras offer a new way to check if there are specific sobreexpostos points within an image in the form of "flashing highlights".Activate a setting and you can see your image with an overlay that causes any burned in flashing highlights in a wide so that they stand out.If your patches only blinking specular over the edge of shiny objects or the glint of the Sun through the trees where you don't expect any detail, everything is fine. but if the whole sky flashes on and off, you have a problem. foreground may seem perfectly well, but a white sky burnt out can ruin an otherwise earn image.

But perhaps the most revolutionary advancement that digital offers is simply its ability to provide the photographer with instant feedback everyone. whether the histogram display, highlight intermittent or simply review the picture on the LCD display itself, it can be a huge advantage to get feedback while you are still there in the field, in the timeout get another shot if first did not work as you thought it would. This also provides for the freedom to experiment without fear and worry that you are wasting film or just wasting your time if you want to see what a shot would look like a little or inadequate for this purpose, go for it try yourself not think will exit, just to see if maybe do a few things. try everything. you can delete what is not working before arriving at home and only you will know.

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Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (MC531ZM/A)

With the iPad Camera Connection Kit, it's incredibly easy to download photos from your digital camera to your iPad so you can view them on the gorgeous iPad display and share them with family and friends. The kit includes two connectors, each with a different interface: The Camera Connector features a USB interface. Just plug it into the dock connector port on your iPad, then attach your digital camera or iPhone using a USB cable (not included). Use the SD Card Reader to import photos directly from your camera's SD card. Connect it to your iPad, then insert your digital camera's SD card into the slot. After you make the connection, your iPad automatically opens the Photos app, which lets you choose which pictures to import, then organizes the selected photos into albums. When you sync iPad to your PC or Mac, the photos on your iPad are added to your computer's photo library. iPad and the Camera Connection Kit support standard photo formats, including JPEG and RAW.

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Tiffen 58mm UV Protection Filter

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Wacom Bamboo Pen Tablet

Bamboo Pen gives you everything you need to enjoy pen input. Start using the pen to edit, mark up documents to collaborate with others. Doodle, sketch and personalize your materials. Or use the pen with the included Corel® Painter® Essentials to paint and make digital art. The ergonomically-designed pen fits comfortably in your hand, and the tablet's textured work surface makes you feel like you're working with a pen on paper.

Bamboo Pen is a smart solution for anyone who strives for clear, visual communication. Write with digital ink, mark up documents and presentations with your own handwriting, draw quick sketches, and explore your creative side.

Bamboo Pen works with your existing computer: desktop or laptop, PC or Mac. Sleek and black, it makes for a stylish addition to your workspace. Attach Bamboo Pen to a standard USB port, set it comfortably by your keyboard, and let your ideas flow.

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Rear Window (Collector's Edition)

Like the Greenwich Village courtyard view from its titular portal, Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window is both confined and multileveled: both its story and visual perspective are dictated by its protagonist's imprisonment in his apartment, convalescing in a wheelchair, from which both he and the audience observe the lives of his neighbors. Cheerful voyeurism, as well as the behavior glimpsed among the various tenants, affords a droll comic atmosphere that gradually darkens when he sees clues to what may be a murder.

Photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is, in fact, a voyeur by trade, a professional photographer sidelined by an accident while on assignment. His immersion in the human drama (and comedy) visible from his window is a by-product of boredom, underlined by the disapproval of his girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), and a wisecracking visiting nurse (Thelma Ritter). Yet when the invalid wife of Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) disappears, Jeff enlists the two women to help him to determine whether she's really left town, as Thorwald insists, or been murdered.

Hitchcock scholar Donald Spoto convincingly argues that the crime at the center of this mystery is the MacGuffin--a mere pretext--in a film that's more interested in the implications of Jeff's sentinel perspective. We actually learn more about the lives of the other neighbors (given generic names by Jeff, even as he's drawn into their lives) he, and we, watch undetected than we do the putative murderer and his victim. Jeff's evident fear of intimacy and commitment with the elegant, adoring Lisa provides the other vital thread to the script, one woven not only into the couple's own relationship, but reflected and even commented upon through the various neighbors' lives.

At minimum, Hitchcock's skill at making us accomplices to Jeff's spying, coupled with an ingenious escalation of suspense as the teasingly vague evidence coalesces into ominous proof, deliver a superb thriller spiked with droll humor, right up to its nail-biting, nightmarish climax. At deeper levels, however, Rear Window plumbs issues of moral responsibility and emotional honesty, while offering further proof (were any needed) of the director's brilliance as a visual storyteller. --Sam Sutherland

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Somewhere in Time (Collector's Edition)

It's silly, it's superficial, it's so desperately earnest about its tale of time-spanning love that you almost wish for a cheap flatulence gag just to break the solemn mood. But there's something so unabashedly gushy and entertaining about Somewhere in Time that you can't begrudge its enduring popularity. The film has become a staple of romantic-movie lovers since its release in 1980, and endless showings on cable TV have turned it into a dubious classic of sorts--a three-hanky weeper that anyone can enjoy as a guilty pleasure or a beloved favorite, with no apologies necessary.

In his first film after the star-making success of Superman, Christopher Reeve stars as a contemporary playwright who visits a posh hotel and sees the portrait of an actress (Jane Seymour) who had performed there in 1912. He becomes obsessed with this beautiful woman and learns all he can about her, and then discovers a method of hypnotically transporting himself backward in time to meet her. "Is it ... you?" she says upon seeing the lovestruck playwright, and it's clearly a mutual attraction. But even the slightest reminder of the playwright's modern time can jar him from his seemingly real existence in the past, so his wonderful love affair is constantly just a step from being stolen away.

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Printing Tips for Adobe Lightroom

Printing Tips for Adobe Lightroom

When I work on an image, I usually end up in Photoshop so that is where I do most of my impression. But when Lightroom does everything you need to optimize a particular image, why go to the Photoshop just to print?For many print jobs, Lightroom does an excellent job and there cool tricks that Lightroom is able to print that Photoshop users can only dream of.

First, for those unfamiliar with Lightroom, much of the functionality of the product is divided into "modules".There is the library module to organize your pictures (think of it as a bit like Adobe Bridge but more), there is a module where you optimize your images (basically similar to Adobe Camera Raw), there are modules, slideshow and Web (two great ways to help you share your images) and there's the print module.Unlike some programs where "print" is not much more than a button to press to send data to the printer, the print module in Lightroom can do a lot cool. has many interesting features that would be difficult for me to go into detail about all things here to get it though, here are some of the highlights.

Adding photo information
In essence, Lightroom is a catalog of images that makes it easier to track all those great photos we shot over the years. It catalogs all EXIF data and allows you to add captions, keywords and other metadata IPTC. When you print these images out Lightroom also facilitates inclusion you want all the metadata. in column on the right side of the print module, select the checkbox "photo information" and have him you will be able to see the results in view of the main image. If you can't find what you're after, select "Edit …" at the bottom of the check box photo information to open a dialog box to give you complete control.

Watermarks and identity plates
Lightroom also makes it easier to add watermarks to your printed output. you can select any text watermarks with complete control over the font or create a watermark image overlay to give you complete control. Identity Plates implement a similar concept, but with more complete control over the position and other attributes. Both allow you to save presets, so you can use the same settings in the future.You can create watermarks in Photoshop too of course, but Adobe makes you do it in a new layer image in Lightroom, watermarks and identity plates are added at the time of printing, so you don't need to modify their real image saved.

Custom borders and vignettes
This is not really a separate feature, but a creative way of applying a already mentioned. First, create a file in Photoshop with just a sticker or other border, leaving half transparent and save it. The size of the border does not need to coincide with the images that you eventually will use it in, but the proportion should be the same.Now select that file as a Lightroom identity card and drag it to fit into your image.

Print templates.
In Lightroom, you're not limited to print only one photo at a time. In fact, the program comes with a long list of pre-defined layouts, or "templates" to allow you to print multiple of the same image or print packages with any number of different images all on the same page. Want a 5 x 7 more four portfolio size images arranged on the page automatically, or perhaps a contact sheet with thumbnails generated from a group of images? no problem is just a few mouse clicks in Lightroom. These types of resources used are only available in high-end applications of RIP (Raster Image Processor) but Lightroom makes available to everyone. The templates include all print settings, rollovers, and so forth and are easy to select or create your own.You can develop a custom look for your prints and apply it automatically.

To print several images, simply select them in the filmstrip and then go to the print module. what to do next is with you. preview Panel at the top left will show you the basic page layout that you move the mouse over the list of templates currently saved.Click a list and display of the main image will layout your selected images using this template.If you don't like the results, you can select a different template so easily, or use the controls in the right-hand pane to modify things using your selected template as a starting point.

Sharpness during printing
The printing process inherently smoothes an image a little so that it is common practice to add the output sharpening before printing.In Photoshop, this is usually done in a new layer and then saved with the image or dropped without saving it after printing.Lightroom allows you to add an amount of sharpness in real time based on your current settings during printing. he already knows a lot about your image at the moment, so all you need to tell it is if you are printing matte or glossy paper and aggressive as you want to be in sharpness.There is no limit, Ray and all these other difficult-to-understand terms at all.This probably will come as good news for users frustrated by Photoshop sharpening.

Print to JPEG format
At the bottom of the Panel on the right side of the print module, you'll find settings print job. by default, the selector "Print" is defined as "printer", that makes sense is the other option in this drop-down that is what I want to highlight. instead of sending the results of your print job to the printer, instead you can print a JPEG file. the same template settings available for printing on a printer are also available for JPEG format printing possibilities. for this are endless. for example, instead of creating a page of printed sample to give someone for review, you can create a contact sheet JPEG and email for them. Definitely cool. to make it even more cool, change the background color of the page in page top right settings for the print job and create a JPEG with a custom colored background instead of white simply boring.

As you can see, print from Lightroom offers features not possible in Photoshop, at least not without a lot of extra work or third-party plug-ins you can only find yourself returning to Lightroom for printing even when you use Photoshop for editing. Tempting, it is not ...

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How to get your images color fall to look like the fall colours you see

How to get your images color fall to look like the fall colours you see

The leaves are changing again. It can be difficult to capture the experience of being there, but if you want to get pictures of them, they are unlikely that awaits you.Now is the time. here are some tricks to help you get the best images that you can.

Lighting
At least in the Pacific Northwest, time tends to be unpredictable at this time of year. He is often clouded. The only question is, is actually raining, or just threatening also. When we actually have a snippet of sunny weather, people leave run for fun.Some of them take cameras to photograph the colors of fall, but this can really be a time far worse than shooting when it seems that can rain at any minute.Clear, even lighting is much more flattering fall leaves than sunlight. harsh Lighting creates a huddle of confusion. It also causes you to lose some of the impact you are after when colored leaves end up rendered as pure black shadow or burnt reflexes whites. If the color is what you're after, start with the lighting conditions that facilitate their work.

Use a polarizer
Most photographers know that shoot with a polarizer can help improve color saturation, but few really understand why this is so. All we see reflects light.In fact, it is precisely because we can see things at all.The objects that reflect the light does not appear black. Some objects have uneven surfaces and reflect light randomly in all directions, while others act more as mirrors and reflect light predominantly only in a single direction. surfaces relatively flat sheets Act somewhat like mirrors, especially when wet with rain or dew morning. Leaves rarely reflect light from a coordinated and cooperative with each other, but instead, face every which way, causing light reflected to cut the contrast in the entire scene.Since a polarizer works to block the light that is not aligned with the axis of polarization, allows you to cut most of these reflections parasites, making the light that reaches your camera sensor appears purer in color and therefore more saturated.Blocking some light that costing up to two stops, but fortunately modern cameras do reasonably well at higher ISO settings. the days when these two stops of light could cost you the shot if the wind blew Fortunately are behind us.

Polarized Sunglasses
As well as a polarizer on your lens can help you get the color that is then wearing sunglasses polarized can help you spot the best photos faster. The same principles that leave your camera view colors more saturated also apply to let you see more saturated color. and if you see more colors, you will be able to find good shots when others could just walk right in by, unaware of what they are missing.

White balance
If you shoot raw, you can skip usually worry about the white balance in the House since you can adjust it easily later.If you work in jpeg, however, white balance can have more of an impact on what you end up with many photographers define their cameras in auto white balance and let the camera handle all issues resultantes.com fall colors though, or with any subject with a highlight color that you want to capture instead of neutralize, automatic white balance is best avoided.In fact, if you want to improve the warmer tones naturally found in autumn colours, set your white balance to "clear" or some similar "cooler" setting.

Ignore the filter improved
For some situations, didymium glass and other camera element exotic "improvement" filters can be very useful in much the same way as Polarized Sunglasses just described, but I would suggest resisting the temptation to shoot autumn leaves, with a. these filters normally boost colors red, more than other tones, and unless you have lots of experience in the use of these filters, it is very easy to push things too far.Floor looking shots with a, if necessary, but don't put it in front of your lens.A color capture polarizer helps you lose without one, but a filter tweaking merely exaggerates you can capture not color. you can get results much more enjoyable if you make this kind of image optimization in the digital darkroom on your computer, instead of trying to do it in the field.

Vibrance, not saturation
Now that you've captured hopefully after you were in the field, it's time to make it appear that you remember when you were there.But the open spaces, sometimes do not lend themselves to be confined to a PhotoFrame ™ and the mind sometimes exaggerates in as he recalls scenes that have impact on us. a little optimization in Photoshop can help make what could be a strictly literal interpretation of a look of scene as we should, on the basis that we remember. this type of optimization is not really lying to the Viewer, if done properly is just an effort to convey the full emotional impact as it was to be surrounded by nature can create that glory. we experience the world as a composite of all our senses, assembled together by our brains. a photograph but has to rely on vista just to convey his message to a viewer, and as someone who has lost other senses naturally has a heightened sense of those who continue to be, a little optimization of image can serve to compensate for the loss of these other senses in the mind of the Viewer.

But how to do this can make the difference between whether the result seems natural and pleasant or surreal and overblown. Traditionally, users of Photoshop would increase saturation as much as the film photographers used to using Velvia and other movies super saturated. but using vibration instead of saturation enables you to avoid increasing the colors that are already doing very well for own account proportionally affects color Vibrance. insofar they need help. less saturated Colors get boasted more than those already saturated. you can avoid going over the top when using a vibration adjustment much more easily than is possible with the Saturation slider.

Levels and other basic editions
Just as you would for other types of shots, don't forget to employ good techniques when working with images of fall color. Vibrance not takes the place of levels, curves and other basic editing techniques.

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Color management in Adobe Lightroom

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Color Management in Adobe Lightroom

As an application geared toward photographers, it's no wonder that Adobe Lightroom supports color management.Most of how Lightroom handles this is automatic without you needing to do anything. But that's not true for everything.

First, the application can do an adequate job of rendering accurate color unless you are working with a monitor that itself displays color accurately. That means you have to profile your monitor. There's no getting around it. The monitor can render accurate color without this.Creating a profile allows your system to compensate for any color response issues your monitor may have. And while LCD monitors don't tend to change color over time as much as the old CRT monitors did, it is still necessary to periodically re-profile your monitor, if for no other reason than to verify that the color it is showing you are still accurate. Once you know that the colors you see on your monitor display really are the colors found in your image files, you can turn your attention to the applications you use to edit them.

Overall, Lightroom makes color management fairly straightforward.Upon installing the program, Lightroom will already display previews on your monitor using the correct profile. You know, the one you created in the previous paragraph. Lightroom gets the needed information directly from your operating system without the need to ask you about it at all. Unlike in Photoshop, there are no color settings you have to fiddle with.

When working on the raw image in Lightroom, the data in the file are in a linear gamma color space that Lightroom converts on the fly for the on screen preview, much as Adobe Camera Raw does. If you are working on the Photoshop PSD, jpeg, TIFF or similar file format, Lightroom will make use of an embedded color profile if it finds one. Everything is as you'd expect.You don't even need to really think about the fact that this sort of thing is going on behind the scenes in Lightroom since it's all automatic and there are no configuration settings involved. And since you can't actually create new files from scratch in Lightroom as you can in Photoshop, there's no need for a "working space" profile either. On screen conversions are done using the Perceptual rendering intent.Untagged images are rendered assuming sRGB, which will likely be correct for web jpeg images but may not be the right profile for other untagged files. Take this as a lesson that if you care about the colors in anything other than sRGB files, be sure you save them with an embedded profile.

For efficiency, the images in the Library module are rendered using cached thumbnail saved in the Adobe RGB color space.This seems to be a great choice given that a number of current high-end monitors are capable of displaying colors beyond the basic sRGB gamut, with some approaching 100% of the Adobe RGB gamut. Keep in mind that regardless of the profile for the thumbnails themselves, what you see on your own monitor will have been converted using your monitor profile and will be therefore limited to its gamut.

When working on raw images, the histogram in the Develop module assumes you will ultimately output your images using the color space with a gamma of 2 .2. Lightroom does this to provide more informative histograms that would be the case were it to show you linear gamma values. The 2 gamma response curve is what is used by both sRGB and Adobe RGB. This is also the value you should have your monitor set to display, regardless of whether you are using Windows or Mac OS X.

When you export from the Slideshow and Web modules, Lightroom automatically converts all images to sRGB so they stand a fighting chance of looking correct on the majority of people's monitors whether they are profiled or not. The exported images are tagged as sRGB too so if you view them on a color managed system they will render as you would expect.

Where color management settings come into play in Adobe Lightroom is in the areas of printing and interfacing with external editors and other third party applications.

By default, the Print module in Lightroom has color management set to "Managed by Printer."To change this, click on the profile selector in the Print Job section of the right hand panel and select "Other ..." This will allow you to add installed device profiles to the the dropdown list. Check the ones you generally work with and click on "OK."Lightroom starts with just "Managed by Printer" and "other ..." but you can add others using this process and they will show up in the list too. Now you can make use of this dropdown to select the appropriate profile to print with. At first this extra step of adding profiles to the list may seem cumbersome, but you only have to do this to add new profiles not to make use of them. Personally, I like this since I have quite a few profiles installed that I rarely make use of and not having them clutter up the list in the print dialog seems like a great idea. Once you select the profile an option for selecting the Rendering Intent will magically appear immediately below this. Lightroom allows you the choice of only Perceptual or Relative since the Saturation and Absolute Colorimetric intents really have no use for digital imaging. As when printing with application color management in other programs, remember to turn off color management in your print driver to avoid nasty surprises.

Lightroom has no soft proofing capability. Hopefully Adobe will add this in a future release. Please.

When interfacing with external editing programs, Lightroom has to convert the raw image data to something another program can make use of.If you go to Edit > Preferences > > > External Editing Lightroom you can tell how to do this.You can specify the file format, bit depth, and color space.Choices for color space are limited to sRGB, Adobe RGB (1998) and ProPhoto RGB.ProPhoto has the largest gamut of the three so assuming you have also set the bit depth to "16-bit/component" (16 bits per channel) this would be a good color space choice to preserve the greatest amount of color information possible.Note that the choice here is the Resolution setting has no bearing on the actual data sent to an external editor and serves merely to tell the receiving application how to display what it gets.All the same date is there regardless of what resolution you choose.Lightroom gives you separate settings for exporting to Photoshop and an "additional external editor of your choice.

As I say, overall, Lightroom makes color management fairly straightforward.For those not intimidated by the variety and seeming complexity of Photoshop color management settings, this should be a welcome change.For the most part, Adobe has done a good job of getting rid of settings you don't really need and making intelligent choices for you when possible.With the exception of the lack of support for soft proofing, I think they've done an excellent job in this area.

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Earthbound Light-nature photo of Pacific Northwest and beyond

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Welcome to Earthbound Light, where you will find some of the results of my passion for nature photography. I hope you enjoy what you find, but please be considerate of the work it took to do all this. The entire site contents including all images and articles are copyrighted. I would ask that you honor this and not copy them. If you are interested in publishing any of my images or articles or using them in other ways, please contact me so we can discuss your needs.

Thanks,

Earthbound Light Comes to Facebook and Twitter!

After listening to friends incessantly extoll the wonders of Facebook, I finally joined and also set up a page for Earthbound Light. I'm still figuring out how best to make use of Facebook, but I've already connected with friends I haven't talked to in years. If you're a Facebook member, drop by the Earthbound Light page and become a Fan.

The NetworkedBlogs application on Facebook also gives readers one more way to follow my weekly PhotoTip articles. Read them on the Facebook Earthbound Light page or add them to your own Wall.

And now, you can follow me on Twitter as well, to get access to my occasional thoughts and observations that fit well in 140 characters or less.

This week's Photo Tip:
Dust Removal in Adobe Lightroom

Dust is less of a problem with current digital cameras than it used to be, but I was working on some older images that were not so blessed and had been inflicted with more than a few spots. After dealing with this mess, it seemed an opportune time to discuss dust spot removal in Adobe Lightroom. ... (more)

Book Recommendations

Over the years, I've accumulated a lot of books on photography. Click here for some of the better ones that may be of interest to site visitors. New titles are being added all the time. Buying through links on Earthbound Light helps support the site and is greatly appreciated.

Lower Prices and PayPal Checkout!

For your convenience, Earthbound Light now uses PayPal® checkout to safely handle credit card processing. Also, prices for archival fine-art prints in the Store have been lowered. Have a look - for the photography lover you know, or for yourself....

Earthbound Light Featured in New Audubon Society Book

The new National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography by Tim Fitzharris has just been published. Along with a lot of great information and Tim?s outstanding photos, the book features a list of resources as an appendix. Along with a selection of newsletters and organizations, books, and equipment providers, there are seven websites recommended as good starting places for further exploration. The first one is the website of Popular Photography Magazine. The second one is Earthbound Light, described as "Bob Johnson's informational website with nature, landscape, and digital photography tips." Sounds good to me.

You can find Tim?s new book at Amazon.com, and booksellers everywhere.

Earthbound Light and Northwest Magazine

In an agreement with Northwest, a bimonthly magazine dedicated to celebrating the Spirit of the Pacific Northwest, images from Earthbound Light were featured frequently in their pages and on their covers.

Northwest is a high-quality magazine that I am proud to be affiliated with.

2007 Environmental Photography Invitational

The winners of the 2007 Environmental Photography Invitational have been announced, and one of my photographs is among the one hundred selected images. The Environmental Photography Invitational, or EPI, is a premier North American photography event. The annual juried photo competition was created by Art Wolfe as "an event for the advancement of photography as a unique medium, capable of bringing awareness and preservation to our environment through art."

You can see the complete 2007 Environmental Photography Invitational gallery by clicking on this page.

2007 NANPA Member Showcase

As with last year, the North American Nature Photography Association has selected approximately 100 photos for their Members' Showcase gallery. They represent some truly excellent talent. And as with last year, one of mine was chosen to be among this elite group as part of the 2007 Member Showcase. A special "NANPA's Expressions 2007" showcase journal has been printed and distributed to all members including these 100 together with 150 additional selected images. All together, four of my images are included. A different photo will be selected each day from the Showcase to appear on the front page of NANPA's website.

Earthbound Light Effects for Photoshop Elements

Users of Adobe Photoshop Elements version 4 and above who are looking for looking for a way to add Curves now have an answer! I've explored a number possible ways of solving this problem and the one that stands out from all the others is the free easy.Filter SmartCurve plug-in by Alois Zingl. Click here to learn about it.

If you are using an Adobe Photoshop Elements version earlier than 4 and long for tools such as Curves to optimize image contrast and the Channel Mixer for black and white conversion, you can add them for free by downloading the Earthbound Light effects for Photoshop Elements. Don't let a silly little thing like Adobe not including them in the box stop you from getting the most out of your images. Works with Elements 1, 2 and 3 on both Windows and Mac OS. If you are running Elements 4 or above, you want SmartCurve instead.

2006 NANPA Member Showcase and Fine Art Galleries

Each year, approximately 100 photos are juried and selected by the North American Nature Photography Association for their Members' Showcase gallery. These represent some of the best work NANPA members produce. For the 2006 Member Showcase, one of mine was chosen among the top 10. These images plus an additional 150 runners-up were printed in a special "Impressions NANPA Showcase 2006" journal distributed to all members. All together, four of my images are included. A different photo will be selected each day from the Showcase to appear on the front page of NANPA's website.

The Summit also featured the first annual NANPA Fine Art Print Exhibit in cooperation with the Colorado Mountain Club. The 100 winning images jurried from those submitted including two of mine.

Earthbound Light Among Top 10 Coolest Sites of the Year!

Earthbound Light was selected by Cool Site of the Day as their choice for Saturday, May 7, 2005. The oldest and still the best, Cool Site of the Day has been picking cool sites they deem worthy of bringing to the attention of a wider audience since 1994. Thanks to everyone who took time to vote for the site.

Here's how Cool Site of the Day announced Earthbound Light to their mailing list: "Dynamic landscape photography by award-winning photographer, easy to understand weekly instructional tips on digital and traditional photography, extensive links and book recommendations. Extremely flattering feedback from visitors the world over. GORGEOUS stuff with some insight to each photo from the photographer. Very cool!"

Update: 2005 is now over and Earthbound Light has finished out the year among the top 10 coolest sites of the year. My thanks to everyone who has visited my site during the year and my congratulations to all the other really cool sites oout there.

Selected Nikonian of the Year 2004 - The Americas

Nikonians is a worldwide community of over 30,000 Nikon users.

In recognition of the team and their membership, they select three members to honor as Nikonian of the Year, one from the Americas, one from Europe, and one from the Asia Pacific Region. For 2004, I was privileged to be selected for the Americas.

"Bob Johnson: Nikonian of the Year 2004 - The Americas. In recognition of his outstanding commitment to the Nikonians community, his outstanding skills as a photographer, and his prolific contributions to the Nikonians forums. For his devotion to teaching and sharing his knowledge and skills with all members of the Nikonians community."

I am truly honored.

Better Photography Magazine

Published in Mumbai, Better Photography is the by far the largest selling photography magazine in India and South Asia. They carry a wide range of articles covering photography techniques, equipment reviews and tests, photo features, and interviews with amateur and professional photographers, along with the latest news in the industry.

The February 2005 issue features an extended interview with me under the title "Bob Johnson: Photographer Par Excellence." Spanning six pages, the interview includes thirteen of my images in full color. I think the article came out quite nice indeed and I?m flattered to be featured in their pages.

For those of you who (like me) live in countries where Better Photography is generally not available, you can download an Adobe Acrobat reprint of the article here (800KB pdf file). Those of you who do live in India and South Asia should pick up a copy, not just for the article covering my work, but also for the rest of their excellent content.

The Mountaineers is a great organization for those interested in the outdoors. If you live in Washington sate, click here to find more information.

See Earthbound Light on on these other fine websites!

Work is available for licensing as stock
and for sale as fine-art digital prints.

Entire site contents* copyright © 2000 - 2010 Bob Johnson, all rights reserved worldwide. No form of reproduction, including copying or saving of digital image files or articles, or the alteration or manipulation of said content is permitted.

* The extremely fine print: Logos and other images used for links to other sites are copyright by their respective owners. This entire domain and all associated e-mail addresses are located in the State of Washington (as are Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker and the North Cascades and the Olympic Peninsula which are my primary focus). Sending unsolicited mail to addresses at this domain is subject to the provisions of the Revised Code of Washington.

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