Review Digital Camera World 06-16-2014

Digital Camera World

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Motion blur: how to use layers, filters and masks to create a sense of speed Jun 15th 2014, 23:01, by jmeyer Motion blur, which makes a subject look like it's moving quickly, has become a familiar effect in photos and movies – even though it doesn't exist in real life. Motion blur appears when a camera exposure is long enough for the subject to move across the picture frame, meaning the light coming from the subject hits the lens several times – causing the tell-tale blur effect to show in your picture. Motion blur may not be real, but it's a useful way of suggesting speed or movement in your images. You can choose to set your shutter speed to create motion blur when you take your shot, turning any moving subject into an impressionistic streak of colour and tone. However, getting the balance right between blurring the subject and not totally obscuring its details might require some trial and error – and sometimes the subject might not be around long enough for you to capture the shot just as you'd like it. SEE MORE: Raw Images: 10 tips every photographer must know before ditching JPEG Add your own blur In-camera motion blur is always going to give the rest-looking result, but if you weren't able to achieve this, you can still introduce motion blur, using Photoshop Elements and any shot where the shutter speed was fast enough to capture all the detail of the subject. In this workshop, we'll show you how to make Photoshop Elements' blur effects match the perspective of the train in our example image, so that the streaks of computer-generated motion blur flow in the appropriate direction. You'll then learn how to apply brush tips to the blurred layer's mask, so that you can selectively reduce the blur intensity to reveal details, such as the driver and the engine's ID number. We'll also demonstrate how to modify layer masks to help you composite in extra objects, so you can add foreground interest and extra colour to the scene. And we'll use blending modes to add plumes of steam to help unify the separate elements in the composite image. SEE MORE: Blend modes – the 10 best blends for photographers (and how to use them) How create motion blur in Photoshop: steps 1-3 01 Open the start file Download our start files and follow along! Open motion blur_before01.jpg. In the Layers palette, double click on the Background layer's thumbnail to unlock it. Grab the Magic Wand tool from the Tools panel's Select section. In the Tool Options bar, set Tolerance to 20. Tick Contiguous. Click to select the bland white sky. SEE MORE: Panning – how the pros capture motion (and the best settings to use) 02 Smooth the edge The edge looks a little jagged, so we need to smooth it. Choose Select>Inverse. Click the Refine Edge button in the Tool Options bar. Set View to On Black. Tick Smart Radius. Set Radius to 2.9 pixels. Set Feather to 1.7. Set Output to 'New layer with layer mask'. Click OK.  SEE MORE: Photoshop Layers Demystified – a beginner’s guide to smarter photo editing 03 Modify the mask Grab the Brush tool. In the Tool Options bar, choose a Hard Round tip from the Brush Preset picker. Set Size to 35. Set the foreground colour to white. Click on the layer mask. Spray white strokes to restore missing edges. Spray a black tip to hide unwanted details like the background lamp. SEE MORE: Shutter blending: how to combine images taken at different shutter speeds Top Tip To save room, some tools share a space in the Tools panel. When you look for the Magic Wand in step 1, you may find it's not the currently visible icon in the bottom-right box in the Select section. You can click the active tool (such as Quick Selection or Selection Brush), then pop down to the Tool Options bar. Here you'll find a Magic Wand icon to click on. Alternatively toggle through all the selection tools in the Magic Wand's space using the handy A keyboard shortcut. How create motion blur in Photoshop: steps 1-3 How create motion blur in Photoshop: steps 4-6 How create motion blur in Photoshop: steps 7-9 How create motion blur in Photoshop: steps 10-12 How create motion blur in Photoshop: steps 13-15 How create motion blur in Photoshop: steps 16-18 READ MORE Dodge and Burn: how to master one of the most vital photo editing skills Professional photo editing tricks: how to get perfect skies in ALL your raw photos Best photo editing tips for beginners: 18 quick fixes to common image problems 101 Photoshop tips you really have to know Image Sharpening: how to bring out more detail in your favourite photos This Week in Photography – news from 9-15 June Jun 15th 2014, 09:00, by jmeyer Welcome to the latest instalment of our new weekly photography news section, with the stories that matter to serious photographers, along with pithy comment and insightful analysis . Panasonic UK summer promotion It can be hard to believe it here in the UK, but summer’s here. To celebrate, Panasonic is giving away some cool extras with its Lumix G system cameras. Buy a Panasonic Lumix GH3 and you get a free battery grip and a Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 prime lens, which sounds perfect for portraits. Opt for the Lumix G6 or G7 and you get a Lumix G Vario 45-150mm lens for free, while those ponying up for the GM1 get a £100 cashback and free leather case. Offer valid until August 31st. Click here for details New Manfrotto compact tripods Nobody wants to be lugging around heavy tripods in the summer, particularly on holiday, so check out Manfrotto’s new range of compact consumer-spec tripods and monopods. The Compact Light weighs in at 800g but costs under £50, and is designed for compact system cameras, while the Compact Advanced is designed for entry level SLRs with a standard zoom up to 200mm. Full details at manfrotto.co.uk. Newbie wins street photography contest It’s always worth a shot at entering a photography competition, as rookie Mark Heathcote discovered when he won the major prize at the recent London Photo Festival. Mark won top honours for his image of a lone passenger on a London tube train. "What makes the picture is the juxtaposition of a red circular notice on the carriage window that completely covers the person’s face – making them look like some alien travelling around the Circle Line," said judge Colin O’Brien. Click here to see the winners. Panasonic’s bridge compact on steroids Bridge cameras – powerful compacts with long built-in zoom lenses – seem to have been around since the dawn of digital, but there is life in the old dogs yet. Panasonic’s most advanced bridge is the Lumix DMC-FZ100, featuring a 20.1Mp MOS sensor and a whopping Leica DC Vario-Elmarit f/2.8-4.0 lens with an equivalent focal length of 24-400mm – that’s a 16x zoom range. This is also the first compact camera able to record 4k video. This means 8Mp (3840 x 2160) still images can be taken from the footage. The FZ1000 is onsale mid July for £749.99. Click here to read our testing team’s hands-on review of the Panasonic FZ1000. Suckiest holiday photographers named and shamed Worried about your slightly soft shots or underexposure? Cheer yourself up by checking out some really bad photography. Cheap Holiday Land.com has curated a rogue’s gallery of point-and-click abominations, with everything from decapitated relatives to cack-handed compositions. This year’s gong (seen above) went to Jayne Boorman, who lives in Pembury, after her daughter in law Sally Boorman entered the shot on her behalf. The picture, which was taken on a family trip to Disney World in Florida, is a blurred shot of a character called Duffy the Disney Bear, a character the family took the trip to see. READ MORE Canon EOS cameras: 100 things you never knew they could do 100 Nikon DSLR tips you need to know right now 49 awesome photography tips and time savers 99 common photography problems (and how to solve them) 77 photography techniques, tips and tricks for taking pictures of anything

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