a photo or two

Basic Photo Processing

2011-10-09T19:47:00.062-04:00

Hi everyone. Recently I've been asked questions like, "How do you get your pictures so clear and sharp?" So I thought I'd answer it. Mind you, it's a question with a long answer, but hopefully useful. It assumes the use of Photoshop, though you can use equivalent tools in other software.

To start with, let's select a photo as-shot, with no processing, either in our out of the camera. This means that the image was shot in the raw format, instead of JPG. This is the first step. It is not possible to do much processing on JPG images, as the format has already discarded a lot of the information we need to improve the photo. Here is our example image we'll start with in the raw format right out of the camera:

So what's wrong with it? A lot, actually:

Too light: it may be a little overexposed
Looks flat: there is very little contrast
Lifeless colors: not very bright are they?
A little on the dull side: it needs sharpening

We can take care of a lot of the contrast and color range problems with the Curves adjustments in Photoshop. Take a look at the photo above and notice that the blacks in there aren't very black. The whites are fine, they're nice and bright, though the clouds seem to lack detail (the detail is still there - we just need to bring it out). We will use the Curves dialog to tell Photoshop to make the darkest parts of the image black, which will also darken the rest of the image proportionally as well. Here's what the Curves dialog looks like before any adjustments (access the dialog using Ctrl+M):

The histogram in the middle of the box (the gray chart) represents color information in the image. Darkest colors are on the left, and lightest on the right. Notice along the bottom a large gap between the left edge, representing black, and the start of the color data. This means that black isn't really black. The same would hold true for the right side: if there was a gap between the data and the right side of the graph, it means the whites aren't really white. Our photo does not have that problem: The color information goes all they way to the right edge.

So what do we do about it? See the little black triangle under the chart at the bottom left corner? Use your mouse to drag it over to the point where the color information begins on the left. You're telling Photoshop to change the value it sees as black, and making it the same as the actual darkest point on the photo.

In addition, you'll notice the diagonal line through the histogram. You can use this to adjust colors. You can click anywhere on the line to create a new point that you can move around. For example if you click in the middle of the line you can adjust the midtones in the photo. If you drag the point up, it makes the midtones lighter. Drag it down, it makes them darker.

Click a point on the line about half an inch down and right from the upper-left corner and leave it there. We're doing this because we don't want the bright colors to change, and this point will keep the line in place. Now click another point about half an inch up and right from the lower-left corner. We're going to drag this point down just a little bit so we can darken the shadows in the photo. This is what it should look like when you're done:

The resulting photos should now look something like this:

We've already vastly improved the photo! Our shadows are darker, there's more contrast, and our colors are better (less washed out). So why bother with anything else? What else is there to do? Well, we're going to brighten our colors just a tiny bit more. Many people use the Saturation setting, but this can very easily over-saturate the colors in your photo.

The Photoshop Vibrance adjustment is what we want. It's more subtle, and works primarily on the midtones of the photo, instead of the whole thing. It's a simple slider. Access the Vibrance option from the Images/Adjustments menu. I set it to about +35, and got the following result (there's not a lot of difference, but it does add a subtle edge to it):

Lastly, we need to sharpen up the photo. Should we use the Sharpen filter? No! This filter is almost always too harsh, and gives you no control over the process. We'll use the unfortunately named Unsharp Mask filter. It actually does sharpening, and gives us more control over how much and what gets sharpened. Open the dialog by selecting the Unsharp Mask option from the Filter/Sharpen menu. It looks like this:

There are 3 settings to work with here: Amount, Radius, and Threshold. Start with Amount since it's the most obvious. The larger the number, the more sharpening that is applied. It works by looking for edges in the photos and sharpening them up. Drag the slider back and forth, watching the preview until it shows the amount of sharpening you want. This will vary from photo to photo.

The next setting is Radius. The higher the number, the more it sharpens around the edges the filter looks for in your photo, and the more obvious the sharpening looks. Usually a value between 1 and 2 is good, but drag the slider back and forth to see how it looks. Larger numbers make a more obvious sharpening effect.

The Threshold value tells Photoshop what defines an edge in your photo. Lower numbers mean that Photoshop will find more edges in your photo, and treat smaller variations from pixel to pixel as an edge. In effect, smaller numbers cause more sharpening. A value of 0 means sharpen every pixel in the photo. I usually don't use a value lower than 1, and often use higher values to prevent over-sharpening. As with the other settings, drag the slider back and forth to see what looks good for your particular photo.

I used the following values:

Amount: 75
Radius: 1.2
Threshold: 2

My biggest single recommendation with sharpening: don't overdo it. It will be tempting to sharpen a lot, but don't, or it will look over-processed and unnatural. Here's how our photo looks now, and it's pretty much done:

And lastly, let's take a look at what we started with and what we ended up with. Here's a version of the photo with the after version superimposed on the before version:

Now that we're done, let's have a little more fun and make a black and white version of this photo. There are plenty of ways to do this, but we'll use my favorite: the Photoshop Black and White adjustment. Access this feature by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+B (a crazy shortcut, but there it is). It's also on the Image/Adjustments menu. The dialog looks like this:

They way this dialog works is that it lets you lighten or darken selected parts of your image, based on the colors that were there before it was black and white. For example, dragging the Blues slider to the right with lighten anything in the image that was originally blue, and dragging it to the left will darken anything that used to be blue. Same for the other color sliders. Here's what the photo looks like before making any adjustments:

I darkened the blues, cyans, and greens to darken the sky, and lightened the reds and yellows to brighten up the rock. The result looks very different from the original:

Note that the conversion to black and white is a very subjective process, and this is just one of many interpretations for this photo.

So you've seen some of the standard processing steps I tend to use for most photos. Over time you learn what works and what doesn't, and you get a good feel for when to use a step and exactly how to adjust it to meet your needs. As a final bit of advice, I recommend playing around a lot and see what all your options are and how the various Photoshop adjustments work. The more you do, the more you understand your available options.

Good luck and good night :)

Just Because

2011-10-05T08:18:00.009-04:00

Not all your photography has to be planned, preconceived, thought-out, loaded with irony, angst-laden, or created as a commentary on the socio-political landscape. While these photos certainly have their place, you can also create images that are simply there because they're pretty. If you see something you like, capture it!

Photos like this can be highly liberating - they're easier to create because you're doing something you like, and because you're responding to something that strikes you emotionally. Example: I was wandering around a local park, and the sky was gorgeous - full of dramatic clouds and excellent light. I stopped and took about 50 photos in a matter of 20 minutes. It didn't take any planning, only enough experience and skill to be able to create a decent photograph from a beautiful scene. I caught myself smiling through the whole process.

As Bryan Peterson once told me, appreciate not only simplicity in a photo, but also the sometimes simple act of creating it.

So go take some pretty pictures. It will feel like vacation :)

From my afternoon at the park:

Nikon D300s, Tamron 10-20mm f/4, 1/1000 sec, f/16, ISO 200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves, vibrance

Nikon D300s, Tamron 10-20mm f/4, 1/320 sec, f/16, ISO 200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves, vibrance

Creative Photography

2011-09-23T08:45:00.010-04:00

The 366 Photos project is starting to have an effect. I've used up a lot of my old photography tricks, and am now being forced to think outside them, looking elsewhere for inspiration.

I started thinking about an issue many photographers talk about: is is right or ethical to stage a photo? People do it all the time, but how far can you go? I believe most of their objections lie in the area of trying to pass off a staged or edited photo as an un-retouched or natural image, and where the line should be drawn.

My personal belief lies in the area of intent. If you are trying to fool someone into thinking something false is true, this is the same as a lie. However, people stage photos all the time with no nefarious intent. Most portraits are staged, for example. The photographer is not trying to make you think it wasn't. Some portraits are staged, yet made to look more natural or candid. The photographer is often leaving the interpretation open to the viewer. Candid? Not? You decide.

In the end, photographers are almost always just trying to create compelling imagery. Their intent is rarely to deceive for immoral reasons (outside the areas of questionable journalism, anyway). When you approach photography in this way, you get into the realm of Creative Photography, which I'm just discovering can be a lot of fun. It takes a little while to open your brain to more possibilities, but when it gets there, you can create some fun and absorbing photographs.

I created the following image yesterday as part of my daily effort to stick to the 366 Photos project. I decided to think more along the lines of creative photography, rather than just capturing something that I saw. Yes, I staged the photo. But it is just a photo. There was no compositing or crazy editing in Photoshop. So it is still all photography. And it was a great deal of fun to create. Watch for more photographs from me in this vein - I'm hooked.

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, 1/5 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

More from the 366 Photos Project

2011-09-18T19:42:00.004-04:00

How many ways will I be able to say "another photo from the 366 Photos Project"? We're on day 12, and still have 354 days to go. I'll have to get creative.

I rather like how this one turned out. One thing I'm realizing is that you can get a lot of good photos, and become a better photographer, really quite quickly if you stick with it for an extended period of time. Hope this trend keeps up!

Nikon D300s, Tamron 90mm Macro f/2.8, 1/60 sec, f/3.8, ISO 200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask

Photography = Happiness

2011-09-15T12:25:00.006-04:00

I was having a discussion with one of my photographer friends recently, and he had shown me some photos he shot on vacation, from which he had just returned. He showed me a few, which were all excellent. Then he got to another photograph, and while also an outstanding image, he said it actually made him happy.

This photograph made him happy to look at, happy to have created it, and happy to share with others. Sometimes we create images that stand out so much, for any number of reasons, that they actually have the power to make you happy, more so than others of equal quality. You look at these photos, and for you, the photographer that created it, really hit home. They make the endorphins fire faster and more freely than other photographs.

The reason this is important, beyond the fact that happiness is good, is that these are the photographs we should pay the most attention to, think more carefully about why we like them. If you have a good grasp of how to make more photos like these, we can create more of them, drastically improve the enjoyment of our photography, and overall, achieve a lot more happiness.

And it's quite possible that our happiness can be infectious. If you love these photographs so much, then perhaps other viewers will also love them. So pay attention to those photographs that make you especially happy.

I was in downtown Washington, D.C. yesterday for most of the day, and came home with this shot, which like the one my pal shot, made me quite happy. When I saw it, I actually smiled outright for several minutes. So pick up your camera and make some happiness :)

Nikon D300s, Nikon 50mm f/1.4, 1/4000 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves, b&w

Another day in the 366 Photos project

2011-09-13T20:44:00.004-04:00

We're up to day 7 in the "at least one photo each day for a year" project. Here's the photo I came up with today after coming home from work.

I kinda like it.

Nikon D300s, Nikon 50mm f/1.4, 0.3 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves, b&w

It's been a while...

2011-09-10T12:02:00.012-04:00

...but here's the latest project.

On Sept. 7, I started a project with some friends whereby we all take at least one photo a day for a year. Insane? Impossible? No idea, so we're going to try it and see. But why? Why put ourselves through this?

The purpose of the project is multi-fold:

Keep the activity of photography in our minds all the time, so we can stay focused on it.
Force ourselves to do something creative each day; help keep the creative edge sharp. Already discovered a new technique for outdoor B&W.
End up with lots of photos. It's already working.

It's called the 366 Photos project. Here's a sample of what's been done so far. I'll occasionally post samples from the project here. You can see the whole pile, what's been done so far and what will be done in the future, at my Flickr account:

Tony Martin Photography Flickr Photostream

I would like to take a moment to encourage everyone to engage in a project like this. There are many variations on a project like this that you can make up for yourself, such as doing a year of self-portraits. And get some friends involved. It's much easier to complete a project like this with support.

From the 366 Photos project:

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR f/3.5-5.6, 1/160 sec, f/18.0, ISO 200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves, b&w

photo of the day no. 37

2010-03-07T18:37:00.010-05:00

A few nice colors for a Nice Day. And while you're at it, check out the song Nice Day by Persphone's Bees.

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR f/3.5-5.6, 1/25 sec, f/9.0, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Winter Wonderland

2010-02-07T18:54:00.021-05:00

OK, I will admit it. After today, I dislike the snow and winter a little bit less. Went out into the woods to create photographs with a good friend, and we had a great time! Got a bunch of good photos, too. I don't usually post this many photos at once, but it was a good day :)

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/200 sec, f/9, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/2000 sec, f/8, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/200 sec, f/9, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/250 sec, f/9, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/320 sec, f/9, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, levels

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/200 sec, f/9, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/200 sec, f/9, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/320 sec, f/9, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/250 sec, f/9, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/1250 sec, f/8, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/100 sec, f/9, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/160 sec, f/9, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm VR, 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Snowpocalypse

2010-02-07T09:22:00.012-05:00

I'm not a fan of snow, generally speaking. I hate digging my car out, I hate being trapped in the house, and I hate being cold and wet. But sometimes you have to set the bad parts aside and remember that everything (many things, anyway) has a good side. So in 14 degree weather, I popped out of the house for a bit to document the 30+ inches of snow we got here over the last two days.

Understand, though, that I was only out for about 15 minutes. My poor little fingers froze to bits. Maybe I'll go out again this afternoon when it's a bit warmer. Oh, wait, I need to spend three hours digging my car out. Never mind.

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200 VR, 1/320 sec, f/13, ISO500
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200 VR, 1/2500 sec, f/5.3, ISO500
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200 VR, 1/250 sec, f/10, ISO500
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves

No Equipment = No Problem (almost)

2010-02-03T08:38:00.015-05:00

This morning there was a lovely snowfall here in Northern Virginia, and by the time I got to work (and the day was becoming a little light), I was regretting not bringing my camera bag with me. Not being one to let anything just go at that, I remembered I had my little Canon Point and Shoot with me.

I little point and shoot? To try and capture snow? You must be crazy! The exposure! The lack of control! Are you mad? Well, it was either that, or come away completely empty-handed. I went outside in front of the office building and, using the little Canon along with the few exposure adjustments it provides, I was still able to get a few shots of the snowy setting.

Canon SD850 IS
Adjustments: size, curves

Canon SD850 IS
Adjustments: size, curves

Canon SD850 IS
Adjustments: size, curves

So if you're facing a complete (or nearly) lack of equipment, it's better to improvise with what you have than miss out. And *then* rememebr to bring your camera bag next time.

impressionism techniques

2009-04-09T11:12:00.011-04:00

A reader asked me a while back, "How can I get impressionist results from my camera?" I listed a few techniques (hopefully helpful ones). I'd like to add one to that list. For the purposes of this discussion, let's classify these techniques into two categories: in-camera, and out-of-camera. In-camera techniques are those you can use in the field with only your camera, such as changing the focus, using a slow shutter speed to blur the image, etc. Out-of-camera techniques are post-production alterations to the image done with software.

What I've discovered lately is that in-camera techniques used to achieve impressionist results are much more effective. First, you can see the results in the field. Second, they look more natural and less "gimicky." Out-of-camera effects are also usually easier to spot, making them feel very artificial.

In the end, though, being analog, natural, and honest, in-camera techniques and the results they reproduce feel better and look better. You even feel better about producing them. And using them is photography, while out-of-camera techniques feel more like manipulation, of both the photograph and the person viewing it. And, as a friend of mine puts it, overly manipulated photographs leave you cold.

I'll share an in-camera technique I developed recently and like a great deal. Here is a photograph I took this morning down at the river using this technique.

Nikon D200 (IR), Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 at 200mm, 1/320 sec, f/8, ISO200
Adjustments: size, curves, b&w conversion
Geotag: N 39° 3' 42", W 77° 22' 23"

This photograph displays some natural, sharp detail, but combines it with an ethereal feel, resulting in a sense of both reality and the surreal. Granted, part of this is due to the fact that it is an infrared photograph, but that's only a small contribution. You'll need a camera that can perform multiple exposures, like the Nikon D90 or D200.

The basic idea is to take multiple exposures of the same thing, but at different focus levels. Follow these steps:

Set your camera to manual focus.
Defocus your scene or subject until it's pretty blurry, and there are no recognizable details.
Set the camera to multiple exposure mode (this photo was done with 4 exposures).
Shoot your first exposure.
Shoot the remaining exposures, moving the focus each time a bit more towards being in focus, making sure the last one is in sharp focus.

Once your camera combines all the images, you should get a result similar to the one above.

This technique was used here in a nature photo, but that's because I happened to be at the river at the time. I plan to try this with portraits, still life, and other subject matter. Who knows what will benefit from this interesting surreal look?

One more for your impressionism toolbox. Experiment with it and see what changes to the technique work well. If you achieve any interesting results with this, let me know. I'd love to see them.

photo of the day no. 36

2009-04-06T07:50:00.006-04:00

Took my first real hike of the year this weekend on the Maryland side of Great Falls National Park. Found a nice little pond back from the river and shot this photo.

Also learned that the connector for the Nikon GPS unit on the D90 is in a very bad place on the camera body. Just a simple hike carrying the camera around resulted in a broken connector. It got knocked loose, and now the GPS won't work any more on that camera. Afraid to ask what it would cost to repair the body. Live and learn.

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-200mm VR f/3.5-5.6, 1/1600 sec, f/4.2, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves, b&w conversion

photo of the day no. 35

2009-03-22T12:53:00.013-04:00

Spent the afternoon and early evening yesterday out at Great Falls Park Maryland side. Not only had a great time with my pal Warren, but got quite a few photos with which I was pretty happy (see the rest at www.tonymartinphotography.com in the Infrared Photography section).

I decided to show this one to make two points. First, if you're shooting infrared photography, one of the nice benefits is that IR picks up more detail in clouds, things you and a normal visible light camera can't. Second, when capturing a sunset, you need not stick to color. Black and white skies can be just as dramatic and beautiful.

So with this infrared sunset, I one more time delve into my photographic obsession: capturing and presenting for the world that which the human eye cannot see.

Nikon D200 (IR), Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5, 1/125 sec, f/6.3, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask, curves, b&w conversion
Geotag: N 39° 0' 3.60", W 77° 14' 55.20"

photo of the day no. 34

2009-03-19T08:53:00.005-04:00

Just a quick one today. This caught my eye last night sitting at a friend's house. 90 seconds later, I had this nice abstract.

Nikon D90, Tamron 90mm f/2.8, 1/40 sec, f/4.5, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask

photo of the day no. 33

2009-03-15T14:08:00.010-04:00

Hi again. Back from a short break. Spent the morning (a cold morning at that) on the Potomac River at Riverbend Park. Every now and then, you do something and realize that much of your life is spent surrounded by the artificial - living room, office, strip mall, even the car. When you get out into the woods and stop to take a look, it feels real like so little else. What a great sensation.

Got this IR shot while I was out there. Still have some research to do with the IR camera and specific lenses, but getting there. IR photography is not simple and not a speedy process. Can't wait 'til spring!

Nikon D200, Nikkor 18-70mm f3.5-4.5, 1/2500 sec, f/13, ISO200
Adjustments: size, slight level adjust, B&W conversion
Geotag: N 39 1' 15.0", W 77 14' 41.4"

photo of the day no. 32

2009-03-05T17:46:00.020-05:00

Big day today - the D200 came home from Lifepixel, the place that converted it permanently to infrared (IR). So I ran out into the street when I got home, literally, and shot a few test photos. Lesson for today: converting your camera to IR takes care of some of the problems you encounter using an IR filter, but it still has many challenges. Learned about two of them today:

You can no longer use autofocus and have to not only focus manually, but make guesses about how much to change the focus.
Fast shutter speeds may be too fast for IR photography, resulting in images with the shutter still in the way.

More on these in another article about IR as I learn more.

For now, I'll post a photo I shot in both IR color and converted to B&W. I'll post some photos in the near future that take more advantage of the IR. However, note that the wood pole lying in the snow was actually green, but in IR, it came out blue.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, 1/125 sec, f/8, ISO200
Adjustments: size, slight level adjustments

Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, 1/125 sec, f/8, ISO200
Adjustments: size, slight contrast, B&W

Whoa! Bonus photo for today! I shot this one as well, and it really struck me, though I'm still figuring out all the "why."

Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO200
Adjustments: size, slight level adjustments, B&W

This is gonna be fun!

photo of the day no. 31

2009-02-25T20:12:00.013-05:00

Stopped by the park on the way home to test out the new Nikon GP-1 GPS unit for the camera. We'll have a short review of that thing in the near future. As a result, from now on, I'll be posting geotag information for each photo of the day. Granted, they'll all probably be from relatively nearby, but you never know.

Today's photo, taken in the mud amongst obnoxious geese and lots of sticker bushes (ow). Let me know which you like better in this case: normal color (which is fairly subtle) or the b&w version. And, if possible, why. Thanks!

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-200mm VR f3.5-5.6 at 60mm, 1/2500 sec, f/13, ISO200
Adjustments: size, slight level adjust, minor color balancing
Geotag: N 39° 1' 5.83", W 77° 24' 18.58"

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-200mm VR f3.5-5.6 at 60mm, 1/2500 sec, f/13, ISO200
Adjustments: size, b&w conversion, minor contrast
Geotag: N 39° 1' 5.83", W 77° 24' 18.58"

review no. 2: lens baby composer

2009-02-23T18:15:00.019-05:00

For those of you who haven't heard of the Lens Baby line of products, they are special purpose lenses called selective focus lenses. They allow you to adjust which part of the composition is in focus (called the focal "sweet spot"), resulting in the rest of the image being blurred. The effect is very cool: one spot has focus, while the rest of the image gets progressively fuzzier the further away from the sweet spot.

Take a look at the image below. It shows the latest model, called the Composer, attached to my Nikon D90. It consists of the base, which attaches to the camera, a focus ring, a locking ring, and a tilting front, which you can move around on its ball joint.

Operation is simple:

Set your camera to aperture priority or manual mode (manual works best for me)

Focus manually using the focus ring

Move the sweet spot around by shifting the front of the lens

Check the focus on the repositioned sweet spot - adjust if necessary

If you want to keep the sweet spot adjustment from moving, you can lock it down by turning the locking ring to the left

Select an appropriate shutter speed on the camera and shoot the picture

It is important to note that this is an extremely manual lens. There are no computer chips, focus motors, electrical contacts, or even aperture blades. It takes no power whatsoever. It's up to you to set the aperture and shutter speed manually to get a decent exposure. And you'll have to rely on your own fingers to focus manually.

It's also worth spending a moment on aperture adjustment. Modern camera/lens combinations take care of it with easy-to-use adjustments on the camera body. However, to change the aperture on the Lens Baby line of lenses, you physically remove a small metal ring from the lens and replace it with another that has a hole of a different size. You get a set of aperture rings ranging from f/2.8 to f/22. They do give you a nice little magnetic tool to remove and replace the aperture rings, as well as a convenient container for storage. As you decrease the aperture (smaller hole), the size of the focal sweet spot increases, and vice versa.

So what kinds of results can you expect from the Lens Baby Composer? Make sure you stop by their web site and look at their gallery. In addition, I shot a few quick examples around the house, all shot with the f/2.8 aperture ring:

Focal sweet spot to the left side.

Focal sweet spot roughly in the center.

Focal sweet spot on the bottom right.

The Lens Baby is significantly different than just using a narrow depth of field with a regular lens. With the Lens Baby, some objects are in focus (in the sweet spot) and some aren't, even though all objects might be the same distance from the camera. As mentioned, the focus also gets fuzzier the further an object is from the sweet spot.

There are other models of Lens Babies. The 2.0 model is still available (now called the Muse), and instead of a focus ring and ball joint, the lens is mounted on a springy plastic bellows (often called the "squeezy" model). The Muse offers a more organic, fluid, and ephemeral feel to your photographic experience, while the Composer reviewed here offers a little more precision. I have both, and use them depending on my mood and need. I think I like the Composer a little more.

The Composer is a great lens, but like most products, is not without its flaws. The aperture system using the metal rings is a definite productivity problem. It takes a minute to change the little rings, they can get lost, and it's almost impossible to change them in cold weather with frozen fingers. In addition, the locking ring operation is not smooth and is a bit noisy. Don't use the locking ring if you need quiet. The little protective cloth storage bag that accompanies the Lens Baby Composer is too small and results in a very snug fit. You can't get it in or out of that little bag quickly. I left it in the box.

However, even given its minor drawbacks, I love the images you can create with the Lens Babies. It's a fabulous creative tool that allows you to see your subject in new ways. As an avid practitioner of photo-impressionism, this tool will be very valuable to me. I plan to spend a lot more time with mine in the very near future. Despite its minor limitations and inconveniences, I'm keeping it in my camera bag all the time. I'm off to try some portrait work with the Lens Baby Composer, so I'll see you later.

Further Information
Typical street price: $269.95
Filter size: 37 mm
Lens Baby's site: http://www.lensbaby.com
Mounts available: Olympus, Pentax K, Nikon F, Sony Alpha, Canon EF

q&a session no.1

2009-02-20T07:16:00.038-05:00

We're starting up a q&a series here at A Photo or Two. Feel free to send any photography questions to tonymartinphotography@gmail.com and we'll answer them here in the blog. Our first question...

Q: Do you have hints regarding obtaining impressionist effects using a digital camera? I have just begun to attempt this, so nothing is too basic.

A: There are many interpretations of what impressionism may look like in the world of photography. For the purposes of this discussion, I'm going to approach it as what sort of techniques can you use to make a photograph that shows something you can't see with your eyes. This has always been a fascination for me, since you can use a camera to see things in ways your eyes can't.

We could talk all day about what impressionism is and what it means to photography. We'll skip that for now, as it's beyond the scope of the discussion, and assume you've already thought about it to some degree. But once we know what sorts of impressionist images we want to produce, then as the question asks, how do we actually go about making it happen in practical terms?

Here are some ideas I've used in the past:

Use less than accurate focus.
Often you can get an impressionistic feel through using manual focus and ignoring what the camera says - defocus your scene as much or little as you need to help achieve the effect for which you are looking. Usually, however, this is something you do in combination with other techniques.

This technique worked well on this sunset, taking the scene and reducing it to its basic shapes and areas of color (I actually put this in very large format on my living room wall):

Look through something to distort the image.
I once shot one of my favorite impressionist images through some leaves of a tree that were very close and out of focus, which obscured parts of the image in very interesting ways and added to the tenebrous nature of the photograph. You may have seen it before on this site, but here it is again:

Try shooting through other things and materials as well. I once had good results, for example, from a hotel room shooting a photo of Chicago through the sheer curtains in the window.

Use a long exposure.
Long exposures can do lots of things to your photograph besides make things blurry. When used on a tripod, long exposures can make motionless things remain motionless, yet blur objects in motion. For example, a park bench would stay a normal park bench, but the wind blowing the trees will smear them across your photographic canvas, and make a river in motion look blurred or even completely smoothed over. Example:

Also see photo of the day no. 28 for another example. Long exposure doesn't have to mean very long. This photograph was shot with a handheld camera at about 0.4 seconds. I really liked the effect it produced.

Try out some double exposures.
Some digital SLR cameras will let you do double exposures, taking 2 or more photographs in succession and combining them into one image (both the Nikon D90 and D200 will do this). This is really only limited by your creativity, and I'm sure the imaginative photographer could make some nice impressionistic effects.

Use selective focus.
There's a great little gadget out there for DSLR's called a Lens Baby. It's a very simple (and very manual) lens that allows you to focus on selective parts of your image, blurring the rest. It's not too expensive, and makes a great creative tool to play around with. Lots of fun to use as well.

Shake that camera!
Who says you have to hold a camera still? Not me. Try a slightly longer exposure and shake the camera around while you're exposing the image. I did this with some fireworks and got this result (among others):

There are also many other things you can do once you get the image into a computer and an image editing program. If you're after an artistic look, some filters can help you out, especially if you combine them. Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and PaintShop Pro all have artistic filters built in, and you can get some extremely nice third-party filters that work in these paint programs as well, such as Alien Skin's Snap Art.

So now you have a few techniques to try out. However, be creative and experimental. Try them in different lighting situations (including night), and try combining them where possible. If you have decent image editing software, dive into that as well with further experimentation.

One last hint: keep notes on what you do so that when you find something you like, you'll be able to reproduce it. Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to repeat something that really moves you.

For more information about this topic, there are two books I'd recommend. The first is by one of my favorite photographers, Freeman Patterson, and is called "Photo Impressionism and the Subjective Image." The second, more about making art with your photographs using image editing software, is "The Art of Digital Photo Painting" by Marilyn Sholin.

A Photo or Two Impressionism resources:

photo-impressionism anyone?

photo of the day no. 2

photo of the day no. 3

photo of the day no. 5

photo of the day no. 10

photo of the day no. 19

photo of the day no. 26

Thanks for the question - keep them coming!

Tony.

tutorial no. 6: think ahead

2009-02-10T13:50:00.009-05:00

I don't know if you're the same as me in this respect, but I tend to overthink. About many things, photography included. Sometimes I associate the quality or value of a photograph with the amount of work I put into it. I feel like the more I think about or plan a photograph, the better it will be. And I'm not talking about technical thinking like exposure - everyone does that, and it's important. I mean about its intent, meaning, purpose, and other characteristics often associated with a photograph's artistic value.

There are often two side effects of this overthinking. First, it can actually hamper the creative process. You can easily become paralyzed if you can't think of a good purpose behind the photograph or reason to take it. For me, it usually sounds like, "I haven't really thought about what this photograph means to me, what it's about, or what I'm trying to say. Better rethink it some more." And as often as not, I end up shooting nothing, moving on to other ideas.

Don't get me wrong - it's important to think about your photography and why you do it. However, it's also important to enjoy the process. Read through Freeman Patterson's "Photography for the Joy of it" and you'll see what I mean. Photography can be both fun and relevant. However, for me, the thinking part works better if I do most of my pondering ahead of time so it doesn't slow me down (or shut me down) when I'm actually taking photographs.

I do lots of general thinking about photography all the time. What it means to me, why photography is important, photography as an art form, that sort of thing. I develop my own theories, figure out what photographers influenced me, and most of all, gain a better understanding of what kind of photography I like to create and what I like to say and do with it. Because I think through these issues in advance, they start to influence my shooting automatically, without shutting me down in the field by overthinking it. When an actor rehearses and learns his or her lines well,their performance is better - they don't have to overthink it while they're doing it - they've done that already.

I'm going to use a photograph I took a few years ago as an example. Here it is - you may have seen it already.

When I took this photograph, I just shot it without thinking too much. The whole thing was over in about 30 seconds. Initially, I was a little let down by it, since I didn't put a lot of effort into it. However, Bryan Peterson took a look at it and quite liked it. He had this to say when I told him of my dilemma:

"The reason you took that photo was because it was 'clean, colorful and graphic in its overall composition' and my hunch is you came upon it and simply shot it without much effort. If you associate 'feelings' with the amount of effort you put into a successful image, you will probably feel shortchanged by the reaction of your audience since they will always and most often ONLY respond to the finished image-regardless of how much time and energy (or lack thereof) went into the image - learn to appreciate not only simplicity in a photo, but also the sometimes simple act of creating it."

It was about then that I realized the photograph was actually influenced by my previous time spent thinking about photography. The photograph actually did have work put into it - it was just done well ahead of time. My photographic thinking had prepared me for the moment, and helped me quickly and easily recognize the shot as one which I would probably like. And I do like it. He also reminded me that I create photographs because I like to do it. I can appreciate the act of creating an image as much as the resulting image itself.

Bottom line: if you think about your photography well in advance of actual shooting, your photographs will come more easily, and they will start to automatically fit your photographic ideals. You'll like them better. You'll shoot more "keepers" at each outing. So invest in your photography in advance, and you'll get better results, in larger quantities, and have more fun doing it.

photo of the day no. 30

2009-02-08T20:11:00.007-05:00

Today, the case for VR (Vibration Reduction). Most people see them as a way to simply hand-hold the camera with less light. What about hand-holding the camera with lower shutter speeds when you need some motion blur? The windmill below was shot with a hand-held camera at 1/30 of a second. I was able to get some motion in the windmill (due to the low shutter speed), yet get the rest of the photo relatively sharp (thanks to the VR function of the lens).

Compared to a fast shutter speed, with the windmill stopped, this photo was much more interesting, and the motion of the windmill gave it some life.

Today's photo.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-200mm VR f3.5-5.6, 1/30 sec, f/20, ISO200
Adjustments: size, minor color correction

photo of the day no. 29

2009-02-05T13:57:00.011-05:00

So today I got my new Nikon D90. Only took a few shots with it so far, but one of them is a new abstract for the photo of the day today. The D90 will be my new "normal" camera, and the D200 is being sent off to LifePixel tomorrow for infrared conversion. Guess what sort of photos you'll be seeing here in the near future...

Today's photo.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 50mm f1.4, 1/3200 sec, f/1.4, ISO200
Adjustments: size, b&w conversion

Online Portfolio

2009-02-02T15:50:00.005-05:00

For anyone who wants to see more of the photographic work I've done over the past few years, stop by the new gallery page at:

http://www.tonymartinphotography.com

I'll be adding photos to the gallery site over time, so feel free to stop by often. And in the interest of shameless self-promotion (which I've never been good at), feel free to pass the site along to your friends. You can even buy prints of anything there (except for the people and portaits gallery).

Pop in for a quick visit and leave a comment or two. I'd love to hear from you.

Next: Another Photo of the Day.
Soon: A new post about getting good photographs by relaxing your brain.

photo of the day no. 28

2009-01-27T07:58:00.011-05:00

It's snowing here today, a reasonably rare event. So for the ice-o-philes out there, we have some snow in today's photograph. However, I chose to make a return to my impressionistic roots. Enjoy, and drive carefully.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 18-200VR, 0.4 sec, f/6.3, ISO100
Adjustments: size, minor color balancing

back from the dead

2009-01-26T17:21:00.009-05:00

Hi everyone. Or should that be, "Hi, anyone?" If you're still out there, we're back after a long hiatus, taking photos and helping to teach the world about photography! Just to get our feet wet, we're posting a photo of the day. This one shows just how easy it is to create some interesting stock photography in a matter of a few minutes (two and a half, to be exact).

So welcome back to anyone who's still listening, and I'll be posting more photos of the day and a new article soon!

photo of the day no. 26

2007-08-06T19:49:00.002-04:00

I promise we'll have a new article soon - working on one, but it's taking longer than expected. Until then, here's another photo of the day. Impressionist? Duh.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm, 1 sec, f/16, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask

photo of the day no. 25

2007-08-05T21:40:00.002-04:00

Zowie! We're up to 25 photos of the day. Not bad for someone as lazy as your host.

Sunsets are a bit trite, but when you frame one with some interesting shapes, in this case, nicely contrasting inorganic angles and lines, they can be improved. So here's today's photo:

Nikon D200, Nikkor 70-300mm, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, ISO200
Adjustments: size

photo of the day no. 24

2007-08-02T10:08:00.002-04:00

I admit it. I'm hooked on abstracts. And I love to get close - it's a great way to take an ordinary item and make it mystical, thought-provoking, or something else altogether. Get a macro lens and you'll love it :) Today's photo:

Nikon D200, Tamron 90mm macro, 1 sec, f/4.5, ISO100
Adjustments: size, minor color balancing

photo of the day no. 23

2007-08-01T16:18:00.002-04:00

As photographers, we usually try to remove any clutter from our compositions, as it tends only to distract from the subject. That Coke can on the fence next to your niece in the portrait you're trying to shoot is probably an element you could do without.

However, in some cases, additional content in your image can help. In today's photo, the clutter surrounding the window helps to frame the subject, a partially disassembled Super Connie behind the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. The fact that the clutter is dark and the subject is bright helps keep the clutter from becoming a distraction, and instead makes it into part of the frame. It also gives the photo a little context and back story (is that the closest he could get without being shot by security? Is up in the rafters of the museum the only place he could get the shot of the Connie?).

So keep an eye out for interesting framing elements. They can help an average photo become more interesting.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm, 1/320 sec, f/4, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask

mary's challenge no. 2

2007-08-01T10:27:00.001-04:00

We've successfully completed our first challenge, which had two submissions. It's time for the second challenge from our master of creative exercise, Mary. Her new challenge is:

Electrical Outlet

We have until Wednesday, August 8 to send in our photos that in some way involve an electrical outlet. The ideas are already flooding through my brain!

If you don't know what a challenge is, read about the challenges and how they work.

For your convenience, here are the submission guidelines once again. They're very simple.

Challenge submission guidelines:

Send your photos to tony@noeticart.com.
All photos must be your own creative work.
Size your photo so the long edge is 600 pixels.
Do all the color balancing and editing you want - I'll just be posting them as-is.
You retain all the copyrights to your photo. If you post a photo with a person in it, obtaining release forms or their permission is up to you, as is the responsibility should they cause a stink.
Include any information you want posted with the photo, such as your name, email, photo title, and exposure/editing information. All information is optional, so let me know what you want posted and what you want kept off the site.

photo of the day no. 22

2007-07-31T15:52:00.002-04:00

Had a couple days downtime. Back again, this time with some interesting industrial curves and lines. The color also gives it a real industrial look.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm, 1/40 sec, f/1.4, ISO200
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask

photo of the day no. 21

2007-07-28T23:26:00.001-04:00

Never liked traditional rainbow photos. Had to do something a bit different. Still, they're fun to see. Snagged this one with the cell phone camera.

Motorola RIZR Cell Phone Camera
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask

photo of the day no. 20

2007-07-27T08:04:00.001-04:00

I decided to give up photography completely and move to Arizona. I just don't see the point anymore.

Only kidding. Here's today's photo:

Nikon D200, Tamron 90mm macro, 1/45 sec, f/3.0, ISO100
Adjustments: size, B&W conversion, unsharp mask

photo of the day no. 19

2007-07-26T17:58:00.001-04:00

Not gonna say anything about this one. I'll let you make of it what you will. Today's photo:

Nikon D200, Tamron 90mm macro, 1/750 sec, f/3.2, ISO100
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask

tutorial no. 5: getting the photos you expect (and want)

2007-07-25T13:11:00.001-04:00

Many photographers are frequently disappointed when they view the results of a day's photographic work (or fun). They look at their photos and wonder why they don't look like they expected them to, or don't bear much resemblance to what they saw through the camera. The problem is that the camera does not see things like you do, and you need to learn the technical skills of photography in order to make the images you want.

The truth of it is, most artistic media have a set of technical skills you need to master before you can realize your visions. When drawing, you need to be able to use pencil, eraser, paper, and stub with proficiency, as well as be good at rendering (making your drawing look like something real). You need to understand and be able to recreate perspective, know how to practice various styles of shading, and learn how light affects your subject. Photography is very similar. There is an entire host of technical skills and topics to learn and become comfortable with before you can effectively create images that look like you want them to.

If you want to make a car go left, you need to know that you should apply some brake before making the turn, turn on your left turn signal if you don't want someone plowing into you in the intersection, and rotate the steering wheel counter-clockwise in order to make the car go left. These skills you get through observation or training. You also need to be comfortable with the amount of rotation you need to give the steering wheel to get the sort of turn you want, in combination with the right speed to make it safe. These skills you get through experience.

The same is true with the camera. For example, in order to photograph brightly-lit snow correctly, you need to know that the exposure should be opened up a stop or two. The amount you open the aperture to compensate comes with experience shooting snow in different lighting conditions. To do this, you need to know how to adjust your aperture without the camera changing it automatically on you. You may need to know how to switch your camera to spot metering to capture a light reading off a particular area (and that you should even consider such an option). And you need to know that, because a camera views the world as is if were all 18% gray, you have to compensate for bright or dark lighting situations in the first place (if you don't, your bright white snow will be underexposed and look gray).

Take some time to learn the technical side of photography. Some of the topics you should consider looking into or experimenting with (we may do some articles on these in the future):

What is an aperture and why is it important?
What is shutter speed and why is it important?
Using manual exposure to understand how shutter speed and aperture affect each other
Depth of field and how and when to use it
How to shoot sharp photographs
Getting correct exposure in dark settings
Getting correct exposure in light settings
What is underexposure? What is overexposure?
What is ISO and why is it important?
How to focus manually when autofocus just isn't working right
Many others

For example, many people know that your aperture setting controls the amount of light coming into your camera, and therefore the exposure. A subset of those people know that aperture also affects your depth of field. And even fewer people know that aperture affects the sharpness of your photos. How much of this do you know? If you know it, do you remember it and practice it in the field?

All these technical areas of photography are tools you can use to make the images you want. Whether you use them to make sure your photos accurately represent what you see, or to achieve some special effect or result you don't see, you need to understand and become comfortable with the technology involved. Pick one today and start learning and experimenting. Get to know these skills so you can use them instinctively, without having to think too hard about them.

Besides, experimenting and learning about it is fun and liberating! Give it a try - you'll love what it does for your photography.

Resources:

Understanding Eposure by Bryan Peterson. A classic that covers many different exposure situations and give you the experience of a master. Bryan is a very helpful guy, and quite good at putting things into words anyone can understand.
The BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Photography by Jim Miotke. Jim is an amazing photographer who can explain the essentials of photography is easy-to-understand prose. Topics oriented towards digital cameras.
Using Your Camera by George Schaub. Outstanding beginners guide to photography and using your camera effectively. Not specific to digital - concepts here apply to both digital and film SLRs.

photo of the day no. 18

2007-07-24T15:32:00.001-04:00

Experimenting with high contrast B&W. Dark jar, lighter hand. Thanks to my hand model, Jen! Today's photo:

Nikon D200, Tamron 90mm macro, 1/80 sec, f/3.2, ISO100
Adjustments: B&W conversion, curves

photo of the day no. 17

2007-07-23T18:51:00.002-04:00

What was I thinking? All I can say is that it's Monday, I had a busy day at work, I had to go grocery shopping (my most hated chore), and I really needed to listen to some music. Another abstract photo of the day:

Nikon D200, Tamron 90mm macro, 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO800, -1.33 ev
Adjustments: size, -0.04 green level

mary's challenge no. 1: complete

2007-07-22T09:41:00.002-04:00

Our first challenge is done! While we only got two entries, it was still fun and a great creative exercise. If you forgot what the challenges are all about, read about them here.

If you will recall, the first challenge issued by our perspicacious queen of creativity was Gravity. Our goal was to shoot a photograph that in some way captured an image related to gravity. The exercise was a great experience. It certainly made me think and work outside my normal subject matter. And it was a blast. Can't wait for the next one!

Here are our two entries, from myself and my astoundingly talented friend Warren. We were clearly thinking along the same lines, but with significantly different style and results. So our answers to the Gravity challenge are below. As a bonus, Warren and I thought both these photos would make great Gap Jeans ads. So if you roll over the photos with your mouse (Warren's isn't there yet, but is coming), you'll see our Gap ad parodies.

Gravity Photo no. 1

Photographer: Tony Martin
Photograph metadata: Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm, 1/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO100
Adjustments: levels, size, 0.7 degree rotation
-•-

Gravity Photo no. 2

Photographer: Warren Shaver
-•-

So join us next week when we find out what challenge no. 2 is, and we dive once more for our cameras and our imaginations. For now, feel free to comment on the photos - we'd love some feedback.

photo of the day no. 16

2007-07-19T15:57:00.001-04:00

This photo is dedicated to my friend David, whose favorite color is gray. Really.

Nikon D200, Tamron 90mm macro, 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO100, -1.67 ev
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask

photo of the day no. 15

2007-07-19T15:48:00.001-04:00

Being a programmer and a photographer, as well as despising preposterously large corporations just on principle, I devised the photo for today. It's completely contrived, but I enjoyed it.

Sorry. Couldn't resist. I'll do something better tomorrow :)

Nikon D200, Tamron 90mm macro, 1/20 sec, f/5.6, ISO100
Adjustments: size, levevls

time's running out

2007-07-19T10:04:00.001-04:00

For those of you participating in the first challenge, GRAVITY, time getting in short supply. All photo entries are due by the end of the day Friday - tomorrow. I'll be posting them on Saturday.

All it takes is one photo! So get out there and be creative.

review no. 1: alien skin's snapart

2007-07-18T18:41:00.001-04:00

I love photography. Passionately. The image, the creative process, the beauty, the style, and even the technology. Everything about it. And when I discover something new to do with photography, I get all giddy. It happened recently with Alien Skin's SnapArt plugin for Adobe Photoshop.

Photoshop has for several versions included some artistic filters such as watercolor, fresco, palette knife, and others, that turn your photographs into an image that resembles artwork of the specified medium. And while they're OK, the SnapArt filters do a much better job, with more realism, variety, and flexibility than the Photoshop filters.

SnapArt will take any given photograph and change it, creating a whole new type of image. You can use it to create oil paintings from a landscape, comic-style images from your portraits, or sketches from the snapshot of the family dog. Why would I want to do this, you might ask? Lots of reasons come to mind:

Create a work of art to enlarge and hang on the wall
Create illustrations from your photos for greeting cards
Use the changed images in the graphic arts world (for use in flyers, posters advertising a local operatic performance, or in your photographic newsletter - you get the idea)
Experiment with new ideas for abstract photographs (my personal fave)
Simply have fun with the creative process

I'm sure you can come up with some of your own. But to do that, you'll first need to see what it can do. Let's take a look at some of the styles the filter set provides. Below each sample photo are links that provide two different samples of each filter. Simply move your mouse over the filter name (like "watercolor 1" or "impasto 2") and the picture will change to show what the filter can do. There are so many options for each filter, I provided two examples of each.

Impasto Filter

Impasto 1 | Impasto 2

Pastel Filter

Pastel 1 | Pastel 2

Comics Filter

Comics 1 | Comics 2

Pretty cool, eh? The complete list of filters includes Color Pencil, Comics, Impasto, Oil Paint, Pastel, Pen and Ink, Pencil Sketch, Pointilism, Stylize, and Water Color. Each has a large number of presets you can use to simply select and apply immediately. In addition, each filter has manual controls you can use to generate a literally unlimited number of effects.

For example, the Oil Paint filter has settings that allow you to adjust the brush size, paint thickness, and paint stroke length. You can set the saturation, color, and brightness of the colors used. And you can adjust the attributes of the canvas and the lighting on the image. It's a pretty amazing array of options.

You can spend hours playing with these filters, creating all sorts of images and variations. SnapArt provides a whole new range of things you can do with your photographs. It's easy to use, plugs right into Photoshop or compatible programs (like Paintshop Pro or PhotoPaint), and is a great creative outlet. Personally, I've been in there for hours already. There's nothing not to like here.

SnapArt retails for $149, and is available from their website. I'll leave you with a couple more examples from this extraordinary filter set.

Color Pencil Filter

Colored Pencil 1 | Colored Pencil 2

Stylize Filter

Stylize 1 | Stylize 2

photo of the day no. 14

2007-07-17T18:22:00.001-04:00

Man, I'm tired.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm, 1/250 sec, f/3.5, ISO100
Adjustments: size, unsharp mask

photo of the day no. 13

2007-07-16T13:01:00.001-04:00

Sorry about the weekend - got really busy. Back to work with a photo of the day.

Pet photos can be memorable, or endearing, or cute. This pet photo is none of those. It says "creepy" to me (even though the real-life dog - Moxie - is adorable). You may not want to hire me to shoot that portrait of Fluffy destined for your mantle piece.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm, 1/40 sec, f/1.4, ISO100
Adjustments: Size, b&w conversion

mary's challenge no. 1

2007-07-13T17:52:00.000-04:00

Are you all geared up for the first challenge? Ready to stretch your creative muscle? I hope so, because Mary has come up with a good one to start with. So without further ado, the first challenge topic is:

GRAVITY

Who knows what was going through her mind when she came up with that one. So take any photos you feel like that somehow represent or capture your interpretation of the concept of gravity. You have a week, so submit any photos by the end of the day next Friday (the 20th of July). I'll post all the participants' images over the weekend.

For more information on the challenges, how they work, what they're about, or more importantly, the photo submission guidelines, See this explanatory post.

I'm so excited I'm going out shooting tomorrow to get my gravity shots. Later!

(I decided to repeat the photo submission guidelines here, since it's our first one)

Challenge submission guidelines:

All photos must be your own creative work.
Size your photo so the long edge is 600 pixels.
Do all the color balancing and editing you want - I'll just be posting them as-is.
You retain all the copyrights to your photo. If you post a photo with a person in it, obtaining release forms or their permission is up to you, as is the responsibility should they cause a stink.
Include any information you want posted with the photo, such as your name, email, photo title, and exposure/editing information. All information is optional, so let me know what you want posted and what you want kept off the site.

mary's challenges

2007-07-13T17:32:00.001-04:00

A couple years ago, a friend of mine challenged my to take an interesting photo of a bottle cap. The conversation went something like this:

Me: If you are exercising your creativity, you should be able to take a good photo of almost anything.
Her: Oh yeah? How about a bottle cap?
Me: Sure, why not?
Her: I'll bet you dinner you can't take a good photo of a bottle cap.
Me: You're on.

(Brief silence)

Her: Bet you can't.
Me: Can too.
Her: Can not.
Me: Can too.

And so on. So I met her challenge, and based on her analysis of the results, wound up with free dinner at Magianno's.

The point is that it was a great creative exercise, and I got a kick out of it. So I'm continuing the tradition. And my friend Mary (not the same person that issued the first challenge) has agreed to provide challenges to work on. Here's how it will work:

Every other week or so, Mary will issue a new challenge. It will be a thing, concept, etc. that will challenge your creative mettle.
Anyone reading this crap who wants to participate is welcome to. You (we) will have a week to come up with your best answer to the challenge. You can email the challenge photos to me at tony@noeticart.com (See below for submission guidelines).
When the week is up, I'll post all the photos here and we can all take a look. Comments will be very helpful, sort of like a workshop environment.
Mary will also add her comments as she feels up to it.
This is not a contest of any sort. We're doing it for fun and exercise :)

Trust me - this will get me and everyone else off their photographic asses and do something fun and challenging. See the next post for the first challenge! (Submission guidelines below).

Want to know what the bottle cap photo looked like? Well here ya go.

Challenge submission guidelines:

All photos must be your own creative work.
Size your photo so the long edge is 600 pixels.
Do all the color balancing and editing you want - I'll just be posting them as-is.
You retain all the copyrights to your photo. If you post a photo with a person in it, obtaining release forms or their permission is up to you, as is the responsibility should they cause a stink.
Include any information you want posted with the photo, such as your name, email, photo title, and exposure/editing information. All information is optional, so let me know what you want posted and what you want kept off the site.

That's it - see ya soon!

photo of the day no. 12

2007-07-13T17:15:00.001-04:00

We're on lucky number 12 today! Why is it lucky? Because I consider myself lucky that I've gotten this far and stuck with it. There may be hope for this site (and me) yet. Still playing with lights and abstracts. Today's photo:

Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm, 1/30 sec, f/1.4, ISO100
Adjustments: size, levels (slight green reduction)

photo of the day no. 11

2007-07-12T19:52:00.001-04:00

While "photo of the day" doesn't come in exactly every day, we're doing pretty well. Up to no. 11 in the "photo almost every day" series, we present yet another abstract photograph sure to, well, sure to, uh, make you sort of think about it for a few seconds anyway. As one of my dear friends said about it, "It's all glowy." This photo is dedicated to that friend and her pithy comment.

Nikon D200, Tamron 90mm macro, 1/3200 sec. f/5.3, ISO100
Adjustments: size, levels, unsharp mask

tutorial no. 4: how can i...?

2007-07-11T18:15:00.001-04:00

While this is more of a column than a tutorial, it can still help. If nothing else, it will help me, because I'm going to try to answer the one question I get asked more than any other. Unfortunately, I'm going to answer the question with another question. Two questions. Sort of.

The number one question that any given photographer is bound to trot out and ask me at a party, local cookout, air show, housewarming, in a psychiatric waiting room, at Burning Man, or some other event, is this.

"How can I take better pictures?"

I'm never sure quite what to say. There are many kinds of answers I can give. Discussions on the rules of composition, exposure, the art of seeing, the quality of light are all possibilities. I could go on for hours about technical skills, how to frame an image, use depth of field, and what f/stops are. However, these are not the answers people want or need. They're looking for a quick answer, not a series of lessons, and that's when I get tongue-tied.

What can you say in a few words to help someone improve their photography? Am I smart enough, eloquent enough, or experienced enough to answer this question? I can't say one way or the other. It is as much an inner struggle for me as it is a quest to help others. But I have been thinking about the question, and have had two ideas that I think will help.

Since I can't spend hours on technical skills or rules and guidelines of composition, I decided that I needed to come up with something that would, instead of teaching, point them in the right direction to help themselves. So here's the answer (after much knee-bent running-about and dancing behavior):

While technical and compositional skills are important, you can wait on them to begin with. The key is to answer two questions for yourself:

What do I like to photograph?
What do I want my photographs to do?

Answering the first question gets you taking pictures of things you are passionate about. It can be a particular type of subject matter, a concept, a cause, or even a style (like abstracts). For example, my friend and fellow photographer Mike is quite passionate about animal rights, so he photographs lots of animals, animal shelters, and animal rights events. You can do the same. The more interested you are in your subject, the more time you will spend with it, the deeper you will explore it, and the more interesting and insightful your photographs will be.

Answering the second question is optional and much harder. The first question will get you going taking more photographs and having more fun with it. This question will allow you to focus more closely on the types of photos you take. If the answer to question 1 is "I like to photograph people," then you can take zillions of pictures of people. But if you answer the second question, saying "I want my photographs to evoke emotions in my viewers," then you can concentrate on photographs of people expressing emotions or in situations that evoke emotion.

All this is not to say you should photograph only on one thing, of course. You may have several things you're interested in (I surely do). However, working with what you like and what you want to do will get you more involved in the photographic process, more interested in the result. In the end, this should lead to more interesting photographs. Interesting to who? First and foremost, they should be more interesting to you.

The last part of the answer is that once you have answered these questions, you may be at a loss as to how you should get started. If Mike wanted to encourage people to respect animals with his photographs, how could he make the images do that? What I do, and recommend, is to constantly look at the work of other photographers. They don't even have to be doing the same type of photography you are. You could look at what other people are doing to accomplish their photographic goals and get ideas about how you could do the same. While you wouldn't want to copy them exactly, they can show you some of the possibilities, which will help free your mind.

If you find that you just can't make the pictures look like you want them to, even after answering your questions, then you can go back and start working on your technical and compositional skills, which are just tools you may choose to help you create your vision. Feel free to stop back here whenever you like to pick up more tips and information in these areas.

One last point, and I'll shut up and let you talk to someone else at this party. If you are having trouble answering the first question, you can start taking photographs of many different subjects to help you discover what you like. You can also look at the work of other photographers to help you narrow the field.

Whatever you decide you want to shoot, make sure you take lots of photos, explore your subject deeply, and care passionately about the images you're making. The more interested you are in your subject and goals, the more interesting your photographs will become.

photo of the day no. 10

2007-07-10T17:53:00.001-04:00

I'm still firmly entrenched in photo-impressionism and abstract photography. Will I ever get back out? Tune in next time and see (not bloody likely though). Today's photo:

Nikon D200, Tamron 90mm macro, 1/50 sec, f/4.5, ISO100
Adjustments: size, levels

photo of the day no. 9

2007-07-09T17:26:00.001-04:00

Was out this weekend - Mom got out of the hospital and was spending time at her house. But we're back to work today with a new distinctly abstract photo of the day.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm, 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO100
Adjustments: size

get involved!

2007-07-07T10:17:00.000-04:00

While I create most of the content here at A Photo or Two, I would like to take a moment to encourage you, the readers, to get involved and make this your site as well. Contributions from readers in the form of comments, photos, and participation in events is the best way to get the most out of the place. Some specific ideas:

Make yourself heard. Agree or disagree with something said here? Feel free to add a comment to a particular post. Click the "comment" link at the bottom of any article.
Critique a photo. Find something interesting to share about any of the photos posted here? Again, add a comment to the post containing the photo.
Join an event. As soon as we get a moment, we plan on adding two new features: projects and challenges. Join in and stretch your creativity!
Help others. If you have a good tip or idea related to a posting, feel free to let everyone know what it is.

Any participation you can spare would be fabulous. Our goal here is to get people taking pictures, sharing their visions, and helping each other out. If you would like to post a photo, send it to me at tony@noeticart.com along with any text you'd like to accompany it.

I hope to hear from many great photographers out there in the coming days. Talk to you soon!

photo of the day no. 8

2007-07-06T17:30:00.001-04:00

Some days you just don't seem to have time to take photographs. This is when it's most important to stop what you're doing and pick up the camera. So instead of a cleaned up bedroom, I got today's photo:

Nikon D200, Tamron 90mm macro, 1/8 sec, f/4.5, ISO100
Adjustments: size, levels

tutorial no. 3: B&W conversion in photoshop

2007-07-05T11:06:00.001-04:00

Many cameras these days have black and white modes that let you shoot directly in black and white. However, that's all you get - no real control over the quality or shape of the black and white tones. Usually you can do better shooting in color and then converting to black and white in Photoshop. However, there are good ways and bad ways to do this.

The worst conversion mechanism is the Image / Mode / Grayscale feature. It simply discards the color information from the image, and the result is usually not optimal. Sure, it will be black and white, but you can lose contrast and other details. There are better ways.

The best method to start with and the one that does not require additional cash on your part (assuming you already have Photoshop) is to use the Black and White feature, located on the Image / Adjustments / Black & White menu. Let's start with this example photograph:

If we were to convert this to black and white the ulta-simple way, using the Image / Mode / Grayscale feature, we'd end up with the following result:

While this is certainly black and white, it's also lacking in certain areas: the trees are too dark, and the lake, sky, and mountains look flat and a little washed out. In this case, we want an image that "pops" a little more, with better contrast and more life.

Note that when deciding what the black and white photo "should look like," the decision is mostly up to you. While I decided that the trees were too dark and the image was lacking contrast, you may decide something different. Decide what you want, then make adjustments to accomplish that. There are no real right answers about what to do with a photograph - it's largely up to you. The trick, of course, is deciding what you want.

If we were shooting with black and white film, without Photoshop involved, we'd use filters to work some of this magic, as photographers have done for many years. For example, we could put a red filter on the lens, which dramatically increases contrast on black and white film, especially in the sky and clouds. Yellow does the same thing, but not quite as radically. You can still do this with digital photography, and in fact, I do it quite regularly when shooting for black and white.

The Photoshop Black & White feature allows you to simulate the use of these filters when converting the image. In addition, you can apply several at once, which is more difficult to do with physical filters on a lens without vignetting the image due to stacked filters. Once you select the feature from the menu, the dialog looks like this:

Each slider represents a different range of colors to enhance or subdue. They start out neutral, but the dialog above shows some of the adjustments I made to the photo to get the end result (you'll see in a sec). You can even think of each as a filter you can use and tweak. The best bet is to work with one slider at a time and learn what it does to your image. Once you know how they work, you can start experimenting with combinations. When I adjusted each slider, it changed the contrast and/or brightness of certain areas of the photograph. I worked with one, then when I was satisfied, I moved to the next.

Here is the end result.

Note that the trees are now brighter, a feature of the image I decided I wanted (some people would prefer them dark, as they were originally). The lake has significantly more contrast and tonal range. Same for the mountains. The sky is darker without darkening the clouds, and is more dramatic. Once more, here they are side by side so you can better see the differences.

The photos are extremely different. You'll have to decide for yourself which you like better, but clearly I prefer the second. The point is that the Photoshop Black & White feature gives you a lot more control over the process, and more options to help you realize your vision. It's one of my favorite features of Photoshop.

There are two other sliders at the bottom of the conversion dialog in a box labeled "Tint." Use these to give your photo a color tint once you have taken care of the black and white conversion. Not something you'll use every day, but fun to experiment with.

There are other options available, such as the Exposure filter set from Alien Skin, which simulates the look of various types of real black and white film (and does a great job of it), or the Nik Color Efex Pro filter set (which has many filters for the photographer). You'll have to put out some of your hard-earned money for them, but they are quite powerful and useful. Maybe I'll review the Exposure filter set in an upcoming post.

But for now, you can dive in and work with the Photoshop Black & White feature right away. Try it on some of your existing color photographs, and see what magic you can work together.

photo of the day no. 7

2007-07-04T11:26:00.001-04:00

Hey - sorry about the absence there for a couple days. Had people over, and then had to rebuild a couple computers (I'm a codehead and computer geek as well as a photographer - I know, weird). But that's all done, and even though we celebrate today (and more people coming over), I managed to set you up with a new photo of the day. In addition, I'm working on a tutorial on converting images to black and white using photoshop. You should see that later today or (more likely) tomorrow.

For now, here's today's photo.

Nikon D200, 1/20 sec, f/4.5, Tamron 90mm, ISO100
Adjustments: size, levels

photo of the day no. 6

2007-07-01T10:05:00.001-04:00

Today's photo: some weeds and a fence involved in an exercise with limited depth of field and a black and white high-contrast exposure. It reminds me of a shrimp.

photography phun

2007-07-01T09:33:00.001-04:00

My very good friend Warren came by on Saturday (part of the reason there is no photo of the day for then). We did a little photography and grabbed some dinner while we were out. One of the little epiphanies that hit me recently is that a) there are places it is difficult to use a full size camera, and b) there are places it is inappropriate to use a full size camera. However, there are plenty of photographic opportunities in these places. What are we to do about it?

The answer to both: a cell phone camera (or a very small point and shoot, but these are more obvious and another gadget to carry around). Cell phone cameras are great to have around and can result in a lot of fun. You can be wild and crazy with them, you can take pictures in places where a full-size camera is too obtrusive (like in a restaurant), and due to the very small lens size, you can take pictures where a normal lens would not work. Let's look at a few examples.

When Warren knocked on the door, I grabbed the cell phone camera, pointed its little tiny lens through the peep hole in my door and snagged this shot of Warren:

Some very interesting reflections and colors in there. Later, when we hit the restaurant, we both extracted the cell phone cameras and started taking pictures of anything interesting. The small size, and the fact that it looks like a phone, allowed us to do this without attracting a lot of attention that could conceivably result in a request from the management to cease and desist. It also allowed us to shove the camera into odd places that a full size DSLR would not fit. This shot of Warren, for example, was take between the wall of the booth and the stuff they shove against it (like the salt shaker, the top of which can be seen in the foreground):

I placed the cell phone on the table amongst the junk on our table and played around with the angle of the camera. One of the shots I took was this very interesting juxtaposition of shapes, items, and clutter:

Cell phones are being equipped with increasingly better cameras. The one in my phone is a 2-megapixel model with white balance adjustment, exposure compensation, and even color modes (I used the black and white mode, as you can see above). While they certainly don't come close to the image quality of even a good point and shoot, they are perfectly serviceable for small photos that can be a great deal of fun to shoot.

The size of the camera and its clandestine appearance make it much easier to play around and have a blast, taking many photos of all kinds of fun things. I know we had a great time shooting outside the box sitting at a restaurant table. And talk about a great way to keep a camera around in case I see a new photo of the day...

photo of the day no. 5

2007-06-29T19:46:00.001-04:00

This photo is definitely in the impressionism camp. A little strange, but with some interesting colors and focus/no-focus contrasts. Kind of an organic/industrial look. Whatever. Here is today's photo:

photo of the day no. 4

2007-06-28T20:24:00.001-04:00

Even though I was really wiped, I took a few photos, but wasn't thrilled with them. So I laid down on the living room floor with my camera, ostensibly to clear my head, due to being tired and shagged out after a long day at work. I looked like a collapsed rag doll. My head lolled to one side, tongue hanging out like an exhausted dog, and I saw this. I shot it and then processed it in Photoshop to resemble Kodak Tri-X 400 pushed 2 stops. Thanks to the Alien Skin Exposure filter set for that capability. Today's photo:

part of the technorati

2007-06-28T10:09:00.001-04:00

We've joined Technorati, a giant blog clearing house and monitoring service. Feel free to stop by and see what it's all about (especially if you have a blog of your own). Click the greenish link over there on the left to add A Photo or Two to your list of Technorati faves.

Technorati Profile

photo of the day no. 3

2007-06-27T19:07:00.002-04:00

OK, so the "orange period" was short-lived. I don't even really like orange that much. So I've moved on, and despite having a migraine, I managed to come up with another photo of the day. Here ya go.

tutorial no. 2: what why how of color calibration

2007-06-27T13:44:00.002-04:00

Many photographers have heard of color calibration. More often than not (at least for we amateurs), it gets ignored, or seems too expensive to buy the hardware required to do it. At the same time, we wonder why our photos look different when they are displayed on different monitors. The problem stems from the fact that monitors are different between and within manufacturers, both CRT and LCD, and colors, even beyond the specific settings for a particular monitor, look different from one to the next.

How do we ensure that a photograph will look as you intend it to on other monitors? It would be nice if there was an established standard everyone could match, and in fact, there is. Unfortunately, it's up to you as an end user to make sure your monitor is correctly adjusted, through the process of calibration. If all the monitors on which a photograph is viewed are properly calibrated, your photograph will look as close to the same as possible.

Sounds simple, huh? Just calibrate all your monitors and Woohoo! You're done. Here are some of the complications involved:

To do a decent job of calibration, you need some new hardware
A calibrated monitor is only calibrated for a specific set of lighting conditions under which the monitor is being viewed
Monitor colors, including LCDs, drift over time, even when calibrated

You Need Some Hardware
You can do a simple job of calibrating a monitor with software. If you have Photoshop, you can use the Adobe Gamma tool that comes with it. Run the tool, follow the instructions, and things will be improved. However, not usually by enough. It's worth a try if you're on a budget, but it doesn't do nearly the job that a hardware device does.

What you need is a colorimeter. It's a gadget that you typically hook up to a USB port on your computer (usually after having installed the manufacturer's drivers and software), that you then hang on your monitor. The software goes through some tests, displaying known colors and other test information, and the colorimeter sits on your screen reading the colors and matching what it sees against what it knows these colors should look like. It then makes a note of the differences and adjusts your monitor by saving the differences in a color profile. The color adjustments for that specific monitor under those specific lighting conditions can be loaded at will (and usually is done automatically by the software when you start your computer).

That solves that part of the problem. The process can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the colorimeter in use. If you want to find a colorimeter, I have listed a few of those available at the end of this article. If you don't want to put out the cash, find a friend and borrow theirs (or convince them of how important color calibration is, talk them into buying it, and then borrow it).

The Monitor and Lighting Matter
The monitor part is obvious. Each is different, each needs calibration. However, the color profile the calibration process creates is also depending on the lighting conditions under which you are viewing the monitor. Is it in a dark room? An office with bright fluorescent lights? Or in a family room with incandescent lights and a TV?

If your monitor is always in the same place, such as in a desktop setting, you can usually calibrate the monitor and use one color profile. However, if you use a mobile computer, you may need to create multiple profiles, one for each lighting setup. This works, but can be a pain. You have to create a profile for each location, and even when that's done, and you're returning to a location for which you already have a profile, you still have to switch profiles manually.

Many people don't bother. Create a single profile for average lighting conditions and always use it. This works too, but gives you less than accurate results. It all depends on how picky you are about color accuracy.

Drifting Colors
As a monitor of any sort is used, the colors drift slightly. Over time, this can render your color profile inaccurate. The solution is to recalibrate regularly. Most colorimeter manufacturer's recommend and average of interval on once a month. I have found that every three months or so is usually fine. The point is to make sure you recalibrate every now and then to maintain accuracy.

Is This Really Necessary?
It all depends on how important your photography is to you, and how much of a perfectionist you are. The more important your photography is, the more retentive you are, the more important it is to make sure you calibrate your monitor and keep it calibrated. You'll want to spend a little more on a better device, as well. If you just want o make sure the colors are pretty close, you can do this with a less expensive device, recalibrate less often, and not worry about various lighting conditions.

My recommendation is to do it, at least with a basic device, and at least a couple times a year. This will ensure that when you post photos online, those viewers who also have calibrated monitors will be seeing the same thing you are. The same goes for when you are looking other peoples' photographs. I know I would be happier if I knew others were making sure their monitors were calibrated so my photos look right on their screens :)

In the end, color calibration is a valuable and important step towards making your pictures look consistently good. It will even save you frustration when posting photos to a web site or to a service (and photo services use really good monitor calibrations for their work – you want to get prints that look like you expect them too, yes?)

Besides, you didn't put all that work into getting a photograph just right in order to have its colors fouled up, did you?

Colorimeter Resources

ColorVision Sypder2 Express ($59 at Amazon)
ColorVision Spyder2 Pro ($179 at Amazon)
Pantone Huey ($79 at Amazon)
Pantone Huey Pro ($93 at Amazon)
Pantone One Eye Display 2 ($196 at Amazon)

photo of the day no. 2

2007-06-26T18:55:00.002-04:00

I'm in my "orange period," as well as photo-impressionism. Two days in a row so far; we're managing to keep the streak going. Here's today's photo:

tutorial no. 1: photoshop levels

2007-06-26T14:07:00.001-04:00

The first in our series of Photoshop tutorials involves understanding how to use the Levels command to improve and manipulate your photographs. This is probably the tool I use the most to adjust photos. It lets you play with the tonal range of your images, which means adjusting the color, brightness, and contrast all at once.

The basic idea behind levels is that any given photograph has a range of colors, from the darkest color in the photograph to the lightest, and a range of colors and tones in between. If your darkest color isn't really that dark, something brighter than black, your shadow areas will look muddy instead of crisp and dark. If your lightest area is well below (darker) than white, your photo's brightness is reduced and looks dull and lifeless. And the mid tones, colors between the dark and light, can be out of balance as well, further making your photo look too dark, light, or muddy. In addition, if your photo is too dark (underexposed), you'll be missing some of the detail in those darker areas.

The goal of the Levels tool is to stretch out the range of colors in your photo so that the darkest color in your photo is as dark as can be, and the lightest color the brightest. it then spreads out the colors in between to fill the space. Think of your colors as having values: black is 0 and white is 255. If the darkest color in your photo is 25 and the lightest is 190, then the levels tool will make the darkest color closer to 0 and the lightest closer to 255. The Auto Levels features takes your colors all the way to 0 and 255, while the Levels tool allows you to set those minimum and maximum values.

Of course, there are exceptions to all of this, such as when you want most of your photo to be dark and there are no bright areas. In a case like that, make sure you don't go crazy with the white point (more on this later). You'll have to make adjustments that make the photo look like you want it to. But for most photographs that need a wide range of colors and brightness, the use of Levels described below works well.

While all of this sounds complicated, in practical day-to-day use, it really isn't hard. The tool is very easy to use, as you'll see below.

Note. I use Photoshop CS3, and will for all the Photoshop tutorials to come (until the next version comes out). In this case, the Levels feature is pretty much the same for at least a few versions back.

We'll begin with a photo, shown here, that clearly has exposure issues.

It is too dark, the colors are lifeless, and the contrast is way too low. Levels to the rescue. Are you tempted to use the Auto Levels feature? Don't bother. More often than not, it doesn't get things right. I tried it on this image first, and here's the unbalanced, overly contrasty mess that I got:

Instead, we'll use the manually operated Levels feature and do it right. Open your image in Photoshop and select the Levels feature from the menu using Image / Adjustments / Levels option (or just press Ctrl-L for a PC, or Command-L on a Mac). Here's what the dialog box looks like when it comes up:

There are about four important things in this dialog:

The histogram, the big black curve in the middle. It shows the distribution of colors in your image. An evenly exposed image will show the curve stretched all the way from one end to the other, trailing off at each end. If it is more towards the left, it is underexposed, and more towards the right, it is over exposed (generally speaking). If the curve goes off the top, or butts up against either end without trailing off, you've lost some data (called clipping). In our photograph, the colors are to the left, meaning it's underexposed (which is what it looks like), and bunched up, not stretched out, so the color range is compressed and limited (which is also what it looks like - colors are not vibrant or bright).

The Black, Mid tone, and White point markers. These are the little triangle sliders right under the histogram. They are used to adjust the dark tones, the mid tones, and the light parts of the photograph, respectively. We'll use them in a sec.

The Black, Mid-tone, and White point values. They let you enter precise values rather than using the sliders. They also show the values as you change the slider positions.

The Channel selector at the top of the dialog. We'll deal with that last. For now, leave it set to RGB.

The standard way to generally start improving the photograph is to fix the exposure. You do this by stretching out the histogram until it looks right (Note that many of the operations in Photoshop do not have specific values you enter, and are adjusted until they "look right." The Levels command is a perfect example).

tutorial tip. Instead of using the Levels feature directly, you can create a Levels adjustment layer. Select it from the Layer / New Adjustment Layer / Levels menu item, give it a name when the first dialog comes up (click OK), and then you'll see the regular Levels dialog box. When you're done adjusting the levels, you'll have those in a layer you can turn on and off, being able to revert to the photo without the level adjustments. This is a way to make changes to your photo that aren't permanent. You can even create several, turning each on and off, seeing which you like better.

To make the lightest parts of the image brighter in our photo, drag the white end point slider to the left until it is right under the point where the right side of the histogram begins. To make the dark (shadow) areas darker, move the black end point slider to the right until it is right under the point where the left side of the histogram begins. We should already be seeing some major improvement in the exposure.

Now we need to improve the contrast of the mid tones. Move the mid tones slider (the grey one in the middle) to the right to darken up the mid tones a bit. You can see the final adjustments in the dialog below:

Now that we're finished, the new photo, much improved, looks like this:

Under many circumstances, you can just stop here if all looks well. However, you can also adjust individual color channels one at a time. For example, say we wanted just a little more green in the picture. Select the Green channel from the Channel selector drop down list at the top of the dialog. Drag the mid tones slider to the left until reads about 1.2. Now we have a much more green-tinted photo, as shown below.

You can also combine changes. For example, if you increase the red channel mid tone value as well as the blue channel mid tone value, you can give the photo a purple tint.

Levels also work on selections. I could easily change the yellow fire hydrant to red by selecting it and cranking way down on the green, and maybe up a bit on the red mid tones.

Give Levels a try; play with it to see how your changes affect the image. It can be an invaluable tool for a photographer, especially if you use RAW mode, bypassing all the processing in your camera.

Next time, we'll take a look at the Curves feature, sort of a super-charged version of Levels that gives you even more control over the tonal values in your photographs. See ya!

photo of the day no. 1

2007-06-25T22:04:00.001-04:00

I would like to try and post a new photograph each day. Will this be possible for an easily distracted procrastinator? We'll find out. Here's today's photo:

photo-impressionism anyone?

2007-06-25T21:10:00.003-04:00

I've written about photo-impressionism on my old photography blog before, but I just can't stop talking about it. I'll write more later about "climbing above the plateau," but for now, it's about getting out of my photographic rut, moving completely out of the box to a town where they don't even have boxes, and stretching yourself creatively and artistically. One of the realms I've been exploring is photo-impressionism, creating images that are impressionistic or abstract.

It's been an interesting experiment. The first photo here is an example of what I'm talking about. This could have been a normal, boring old sunset photograph. They're interesting in some small way, but not much. When you add some less conventional elements to it, the photograph becomes much more involving and stimulating. It makes you look at it twice, think more about it, or even whether you like it or not. I personally love it, but that doesn't mean you will. The sunset has become spooky, dark, and almost sinister. When was the last time you saw a sunset like that? One of the many things I like to photograph are images that you cannot see in nature with your eyes. Something like this takes a camera and a new approach to photography.

I've been working with photo-impressionism for several months now, and am completely hooked. You'll be seeing more of this to come in this blog (though plenty of other stuff as well). For now, I would encourage you to try it yourself. Instead of looking for perfect sharpness or the best pet photo, try something completely abstract. You can play with colors, shapes, gradations, all kinds of elements. Turn off autofocus, mess with the depth of field, and focus on something odd. In other words, break all the rules and see of you get something that stirs your heart. When you start seeing things you like, you can zoom in (sorry) on that type of photograph and shoot some more.

I'll leave you with one more photo I shot this weekend that also qualifies for this category. I liked the organic look to it, the curves and lines, as well as the interesting coloring (all natural - this photo was not modified except to size it). See if it does anything for you.

a photo or two premieres

2007-06-25T20:24:00.000-04:00

For me, half of what I get out of anything is sharing it with someone else, whether it is to impart some knowledge I've gleaned, to learn something from someone else, or just to share the excitement of it all. Put simply, that's what this blog is about. Expect to find stories, experiences, tips, essays, educational material, projects, exercises, and perhaps even a few photographs.

Basic overview of myself, photographically. I've been creating photographs since I was 12. That's 32 years, off and on (more on than off). It's only in the last five years or so that I've begun to take it seriously again and dedicate more time to it, and most importantly, think and feel about it. Part of the use of this blog is to help me clear my thoughts regarding photography.

Feel free to write back (comment) on any post you find here. Like I said, only half the fun comes from myself (I'm only so entertaining). So join in - I'm looking forward to it.