Review Digital Camera World 07-02-2013

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Digital Camera World

Photo Retouching: how to make beautiful lips in 3 easy steps Jul 1st 2013, 23:01, by jmeyer In the second part of our Raw Tuesday series guide to photo retouching we show you how you can make your subject's lips fuller, colourful and more beautiful in just three easy steps! Lips are almost as important as eyes in a retoucher's list of priorities. A simple retouch would be to burn the line where the lips meet, then enhance the tones with an Adjustment Layer. Besides boosting the colours, there are other useful techniques to make the most of your subject's lips. If you'd like to alter lipstick colour, add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer – just as we did when retouching the eyes – or you can even make them fuller. Just draw a loose selection, feather it by 10 pixels then enlarge with Transform Mode. How to retouch lips 01 Burn the gap Press Cmd/Ctrl+C to duplicate your Background layer, then select the Burn tool from the Tools Panel. In the Options bar, set range to Midtones, and Exposure to 15%. Using a soft-edged brush, draw along the line where the lips meet to give them more definition.   02 Adjust the tones Click on the Create Adjustment Layer icon in the Layers Panel and choose Curves. Draw an S-shaped curve with two points to boost contrast, then choose Red from the RGB drop-down menu and push the curve up – use different colour settings for other colours. Hit OK.   03 Add a mask Press Cmd/Ctrl+I to invert the Curves Layer Mask and hide the adjustment, then grab the Brush tool from the Tools Panel. Hit D to reset white as your colour and paint over the lips to reveal the tones. Finally, play with the Opacity of the Curves layer to fine-tune the effect. READ MORE What is color temperature: free photography cheat sheet 54 Portrait Ideas: free downloadable posing guide Free family portrait photography cheat sheet Free f-stop chart: master your aperture Polarizing filter effects: the easy way to boost color Jul 1st 2013, 10:30, by jmeyer Fitting a polarizing filter will cut out glare and make the color in your images pop. Our quick guide explains how to use a polarizing filter in three simple steps. A polarizer is an incredibly useful filter to have as part of your kit, so if you don't own one already then it's well worth making an investment. And unlike many other filters, the effects of a polarizer cannot easily be replicated in Photoshop. polarizers work by blocking surface reflections from non-metallic objects and have a range of uses in different situations. They are very effective at reducing reflections from water and glass, enabling you to 'see through' the surface. They can also be used to great effect to create rich blue skies, which contrast well with cumulus clouds in landscape images. Their ability to reduce surface glare also means that they increase color saturation and vibrancy, and this is particularly useful when you're shooting foliage. The polarizing filter effect can be quite subtle to see through the camera, especially on an overcast day, but the results are very evident if you compare a polarized and non-polarized image side by side. The leaves of most plants and trees have a natural sheen to them, which can render them rather drab-looking in photographs. Fit a polarizer and this glare is eliminated, revealing colors that really pop and bring the scene to life. How to use a polarizing filter to boost color What do I need? Polarizing filters can be linear, for use with a filter holder, or circular. The latter is most common, and they come in specific diameters that screw onto the front of individual lenses. If you only buy one then get one that fits your most versatile lens.   How do I use them? The effect of a polarizing filter depends on the shooting angle. To reduce reflections from water, around 35° works best. For skies, shoot with the sun at 90° to the subject. Rotate the outer ring until reflections are reduced and colors look their most vibrant.   Watch the exposure Polarizing filters reduce the exposure by about two 'stops'. If the exposure was f/11 at /125th sec without the filter it will be f/11 at 1/30th sec with one fitted. In an Auto mode such as Av, the camera will adjust for this but in Manual you'll need to do this yourself.   READ MORE Camera filters: the only cheat sheet you’ll ever need to get beautifully balanced exposures 10 common camera mistakes every photographer makes The best photographers of all time. In the history of the world. 15 common photography questions from beginners (and how to solve them) 10 reasons your photos aren’t sharp (and how to fix them)

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