Monday, 16 April 2012

Fixing Red Eye with Adobe Photoshop

It is a common problem. Your have captured some adorable photographs of your new baby boy and can’t wait to show them off to your friends and family only to be disappointed, when you look at them on your computer or pick them up from the photo lab, by the terrible red eye.

Your precious child looks like a demon or something from a scary movie. This problem is commonly referred to as “red eye.”

Red eye is caused by the light from camera’s flash reflecting off of the retina in the back of the eye.

In low light conditions the iris of the eye is larger providing for a larger surface to appear red in your photos.

Unfortunately, it is in low light conditions that a flash is needed the most.

Red is becoming more and more of a problem and this is partly due to the emergence of digital photo technology. Since digital cameras do not need the same internal mechanics or space for film they are becoming smaller and smaller compared to their film counterparts.

This means that the flash is much closer to the lens. In fact, in most new point and shoot digital cameras the flash is directly above the lens.

This is the problem. When the flash is closer to the lens it causes the flash to enter the iris directly and reflect straight back to the camera causing the terrible red eye that has ruined your family pictures.

Most digital cameras have a red eye reduction feature built in which causes a pre flash immediately before the camera exposes the image.

This causes the iris to become smaller for the actual picture. Unfortunately, this function rarely completely eliminates red eye from your photographs.

Since most point and shoot digital cameras do not have a hot shoe allowing the photographer to add a flash away from the camera the only option for eliminating red eye is to fix it after the fact.

This is where Adobe Photoshop comes in. Photoshop makes it easy to correct even the worst cases of red eye in photographs.

Are you concerned that Photoshop is too complicated or difficult to learn? Don’t be. Even someone with no experience at all can quickly and easily learn to fix red eye like a pro using Adobe Photoshop.

Author David Peters: Master The Basics Of Adobe Photoshop In Under 2 Hours With Easy To Follow Instantly Accessible Online Video Tutorials.

Full Details Here: http://tinyurl.com/twohoursphotoshop

Transform you Old, Worn out Photos in Minutes with Adobe Photoshop By David Peters

Do you have old photographs that are faded, worn out, crinkled or even torn? Of course you do, everyone does. Many of these photos are likely very old family photographs that are simply irreplaceable should something happen to them.

In the past it was very expensive and time consuming to have old damaged photographed restored. It usually required a photo restoration expert and sometimes the results were not really that great.

Digital imaging, and more specifically Adobe Photoshop, has revolutionized the process of renewing and restoring old photographs.

It is amazing the results you can achieve with Photoshop. Old and damaged, even torn, photographs can be restored and renewed to their original colors and vitality using the tools available in Photoshop.

Adobe’s Photoshop is the number one choice digital photo editing software application among today’s professional photographers, graphic artists and web designers.

It is not only the best but easier to work with than you might think. Many shy away from Photoshop because there are intimidated by the complexity.

With the help of a good Photoshop tutorial you can begin to learn Photoshop within minutes and be on your way to restoring those old photographs and preserving your family’s memories for year to come.

There are less expensive digital editing applications but the problem is that they often have very limited capabilities when it comes to doing high quality digital photo restoration.

Those cheaper digital photo software packages often utilize a one size fits all approach to photo restoration and they just don’t have the functions to deal with all of the types of damage you may encounter in renewing your old photos.

The other benefit of using Photoshop to fix your old photographs it that you can work in layers.

The layers function ensures that you won’t waste an hours work with one little mistake. As you work your photograph you can save each new change as a new layer. If you mess up simply delete that layer and try again.

Photo restoration requires patience and attention to detail. Only Adobe Photoshop has the tools to do a quality job restoring your old photographs.

Learn Photoshop now and start bringing those old photographs to new life.

Author David Peters: Master The Basics Of Adobe Photoshop In Under 2 Hours With Easy To Follow Instantly Accessible Online Video Tutorials.

Full Details Here: http://tinyurl.com/twohoursphotoshop

Friday, 13 April 2012

The Best Things About Being A Photographer

Being a photographer, as an amateur or for a living, can be highly enjoyable. It is one of those pursuits where you are able to create something and have a record of it for as long as you want to. Indeed, if you can make some money out of it, photography can be one of the most enjoyable things in the world. There are many beneficial aspects to it as a career and as a hobby.

For one thing, there is the opportunity to make really good money if you are a talented enough photographer. For organizations and groups who hire a photographer – modelling agencies, advertising companies and even families with a special occasion on the horizon, a good photographer is worth paying top dollar.

If you do make a living from photography, the chances are that you will also get to travel and see some of the most beautiful sights in the world. Admittedly, you'll see a lot of them through a viewfinder and this leaves less time to really appreciate them, but on your down time you can see the best of the world.

And there is also the advantage for an amateur that if you are taking photographs, you do not have to spend as much time on the other side of the camera with other people taking photographs of you. If you are shy, this is certainly good news, and it is also reassuring if you just aren't photogenic. It beats having to smile and pose, too.

Should I Get A Photographic Qualification?

There are many people who want to become professional photographers, and there is plenty of reason why they would. If you are a highly sought-after photographer, then you can get paid a lot of money to travel the world taking photographs of stunning locations, beautiful people and remarkable occasions. So is it worth getting a qualification in photography?

The answer to this question, frustratingly, is “it might be”. When you get down to it, there are not so many companies or agencies who will demand that you have a certificate to prove you can take photographs. The best way to document a talent for photography is by showing the photographs that you have taken. That said, doing a photography course may help in other ways.

It cannot be denied that, if you take a course in photography that is taught by a professional who has worked worldwide, you should learn a lot from them and may also be able to make contacts in the business. There is a major difference between being able to take impressive photographs, and being able to get the perfect shot when you are on the clock and conditions are being unkind.

It is not so much the certificate that will be given to you on graduation that will be important, but the things that you learn during the course. There are all sorts of tricks that can make a photograph look better, and make a good photograph great. Informing yourself about these is worth the effort.

Seeing It Through The Right Filter

There will always be divided opinion on the merits of “artistic” photography. For some people, a photograph which depicts an everyday face or item in a different way is worth looking at because it is interesting. For others, it will be considered the hight of pretentious idiocy. The view that you take on this conundrum will probably depend on how interested you are in photography.

There is a difference, one which needs to be noted, between taking such a photograph for artistic reasons, and doing it because you have seen it done elsewhere. The photograph may make the item look like something else, or it may show people a side of the subject that had not been seen before. If it is done because “it looks a bit arty” then it will usually be fairly obvious.

Many of the photographs taken to depict a subject in an unfamiliar way do so by making use of filters. Filters can be purchased and fitted to the lens of a more old-fashioned camera to provide soft-focus looks, a sepia tone or some other form of tinting. They may, alternatively, be added at a later stage to digital photographs using Photoshop. Some cameras, indeed, have specific filtered settings.

If you want to take a photograph that has an interesting look, give some thought to photographs you have seen. Are you bringing something new to the table, or experimenting with what you yourself are capable of doing? Or are you, alternatively, taking a photograph of a table through a sepia filter because you think it is what you are supposed to do?

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

When Everything Was Black And White

Color photography was actually invented a lot longer ago than most people believe – indeed, there were experimental color shots taken as long ago as the 19th century. However, the use of color photography was hugely uncommon until the 1960s, and it was another few decades after that before newspapers printed color shots with any kind of regularity.

This – combined with the presence of old-fashioned black and white movies – gives an impression of age and for some people an impression of depth to photographs taken these days using black and white film or filters. Many of the iconic photographs of all time, taken as they were in the early half of the 20th century, are known to us in black and white.

One of the most famous images – the assassination of President John F Kennedy, an incident that took place in 1963 – happened after color photography was introduced, but before it was widespread and before color photographs could be widely reproduced. Hence, it is an incident we “remember” in black and white.

Photographs of the first Moon Landing do exist in color, but the most iconic – of Neil Armstrong descending the ladder onto the Moon's surface – is also in black and white. Whether it is for reasons of historic grandeur, or because of the questions left unasked, many people even in this age of color photography still like to use black and white for more artistic shots.

Photoshop – Cheating Or Necessity?

Unless you have been hiding in a cave somewhere, you are probably familiar with Photoshop to at least some extent. Even if you have not used it, you will have seen photos that have been manipulated using this program, which has become a feature of many websites in recent years. The basic idea of Photoshop is that it can be used to enhance or add to a real photo.

For example, if a picture has been taken which, on closer inspection, carries traces of something that the viewer “should not see” - for example, blotches on the face of someone in the photo, or a stain on the carpet – the use of Photoshop can remove that undesired intruder. Similarly, Photoshop can be used to add things such as color or light.

A more esoteric use of Photoshop can be seen on countless sites around the Internet where photographs are deliberately and obviously manipulated for (usually) comedic effect. Whether it is putting someone else's head on the body of an animal (or another person), placing a person against a background with comic potential or creating the impression that someone is a hundred feet tall, this is a popular pastime.

You may love or hate Photoshop. Some people will use it to enhance their own photographs before putting them on social networking sites, and create the impression that they are more attractive than they really are. This may not have been the initial purpose of the program, but people will use it how they wish.