Review Digital Camera World 08-30-2013

Digital Camera World

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Best photo editing tips for beginners: 18 quick fixes to common image problems Aug 29th 2013, 23:01, by jmeyer Getting to grips with your photo editing software can be quite a challenge if you’re just getting started. In this tutorial we’ve compiled 18 of the best photo editing tips and quick fixes for photographers who want to beat some of the common problems photographers face with colour, tone and composition. Your camera's Auto function lacks the intelligence to know which areas in the frame you want to prioritise in relation to exposure, so you might end up with important details being left in the dark. When it comes to capturing correct colours you can give the camera a helping hand by choosing specific WB presets, but with changing weather conditions, a particular preset may add unwanted colour casts to some of your shots. Due to cloudy weather conditions, our location in the start image has dull lighting in the background. As a result, the bridge is under-exposed, has a flat contrast and suffers from a cold colour cast. However, the foreground rhododendron bush is being lit by direct sunlight, so has a better contrast, stronger colours and a healthier colour balance. These contrasting lighting conditions mean that we need to use Photoshop Elements to make local (rather than global) corrections to fix the shot's exposure and colour problems. In this tutorial, we'll demonstrate how to use adjustment layers to boost the strength of weaker colours without over-saturating stronger ones. You'll also learn how to selectively target and warm up cold colours by editing an adjustment layer's mask. We'll show you how to sharpen up delicate details while keeping noise at bay, as well as demonstrating how to remove distracting objects with a quick swipe of the Clone Stamp tool. Best photo editing tips for beginners: 1-3 01 Open start file and improve composition Download our start images and follow along! In Photoshop Elements, go to File>Open. Browse to fix_before01.jpg and click Open. The shot will open in Photoshop Element's Expert workspace. Before we tackle our problem colours and tones, it makes sense to improve the composition first.   02 Set up the Crop tool Grab the Crop tool [C]. In the Options bar, choose Use Photo Ratio. This enables you to produce a cropped shot that has the same shape as the original image. Set Resolution to 240 pixels to produce a detailed, high quality print. Click and drag the crop window to cover the entire shot.   03 Rule of Thirds Click the Rule of Thirds option. Drag the bottom right corner handle left to tighten the crop window around the bushes. Drag the top left handle right to lose the edge of the tree. Drag inside the grid to position the bushes in the Rule of Thirds column on the right. Place the bridge in the grid's middle row. PAGE 1 – Best photo editing tips for beginners: 1-3 PAGE 2 – Best photo editing tips for beginners: 4-6 PAGE 3 – Best photo editing tips for beginners: 7-9 PAGE 4 – Best photo editing tips for beginners: 10-12 PAGE 5 – Best photo editing tips for beginners: 13-15 PAGE 6 – Best photo editing tips for beginners: 16-18 READ MORE 10 reasons your photos aren’t sharp (and how to fix them) 34 Photoshop effects every photographer must try once Crop photos the right way: classic mistakes and how to avoid them 3 selective adjustment tools your raw files can’t live without Adobe Lightroom: what every photographer needs to know about the ‘alternative Photoshop’ Avoid dull landscape photography: simple in-camera tricks to add a feeling of depth Aug 29th 2013, 10:21, by jmeyer You can do almost anything on the computer these days. And while we certainly extol the virtues of the digital darkroom, there is a sense of satisfaction in achieving a desired effect in-camera. In this tutorial we’ll show you three simple in-camera tricks for avoid dull landscape photography by giving them a feeling a depth. Words and images by Mark Hamblin However technically competent they may be, many landscape images fall down because they lack interest. Wide dramatic expanses may look great to the human eye, but that same view doesn't necessarily transfer well to your images. The main reason for dull landscape images that looked great to your eye  is that our brain processes what we see through our binocular vision and provides us with a three-dimensional view of the world, allowing us to perceive depth. But because a picture is two-dimensional, it's necessary to introduce the illusion of depth using a few in-camera photographic techniques. Simply changing your viewpoint or composition is often all that's needed to totally transform your dull landscape into something stunning. Here’s how…. 3 easy ways to avoid dull landscape photography Add foreground interest If you shoot a mid-distant scene without any foreground elements, it will usually look very two-dimensional or flat. By including something of interest close to the camera you can introduce a sense of depth, and lead the eye from the foreground to a focal point in the distance.   Change the perspective A greater sense of depth can be achieved by exaggerating the perspective in a scene. One way to do this is use a wide-angle lens and shoot from a closer viewpoint. This will alter the scale of the objects in the scene, so that those closer to the camera appear larger, and vice versa.   Compose cleverly You can cleverly add a three-dimensional look to your images by guiding the viewer through the scene using leading lines. These could be a row of trees, a stone wall, a shoreline, a city street or a river, for instance – all of which will help the viewer explore the picture by directing their eyes. READ MORE 10 landscape photography mistakes every photographer makes (and how to stop making them) Creative landscape photography: master the dark art of shadows and shade Depth of field: what you need to know to make successful images 3 simple ways to affect depth of field: free photography cheat sheet Golden Hour Photography: tips for making magical landscapes at dawn

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