Photoshop Sisters

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Interview with a Photographer II

Today we have another interview with another favorite photographer, Yvonne Eijkenduijn. I've long loved Yvonne's fresh, bright, colorful photos of her lovely home, so I wanted to know more about how she takes her pictures. Here's what she had to say:

1.How have you learned about photography? Formal training? Books? 
Websites?
I started at a young age because my father was really into photography 
and he bought me my first camera when I was eight. Ever since I've 
been making photos. I'm trying to train myself by listening to other 
people and browsing the web for tips & tricks.

2.What kind of camera do you use?
Currently I'm using a Nikon D80 but honestly I miss my Canon 300D. It
was such a lovely camera.

3.What is your favorite subject to photograph?
Stock photos and interior shots.

4.Tell us a little about how you compose a shot, any rules you follow 
(or break)?
That's such a hard question because I'm always busy making
little corners and when I have a perfect corner I take a picture. Sometime 
the corners already exist and sometimes I create them moving things 
around. I try to find the right color combination, items and a setting 
that they fit in. Really I don't know how to explain this LOL!

5.Do you do any post-processing? What do you use (Photoshop version or 
other program)? What is your favorite action or effect?
I use Photoshop CS3 and I sometimes play a bit with curves but that's
it really. I try to get a perfect (to me) shot and try to keep it 
natural without any editing.

6.Share a favorite photo you have taken.
This one is actually a bit blurry but I just love it. I love Christmas! (Me too! This is one of my favorite photos of yours! ~Marné)

7.Share a favorite photo by someone else
I can't remember where I found this photo but I love it. This is just
everything I love and want for myself wrapped up in perfect happiness!

I want to hang out with you there, Yvonne! Thanks for taking the time to play along with us and sharing your secrets :o) I highly recommend a visit to yvestown and to her flickr stream for lots of lovely eye candy.

crossprocessed blossoms

Just because Keri asked, here's a little bonus post for you. I really like the way my Spring blossoms photo came out when I adjusted it so it looked like it had been cross-proccessed, which is a darkroom technique used in film photography (click that link for a much better explanation than I could ever give you). I think the effect looks like a scene from a 1950's technicolor movie, and who doesn't love 1950's technicolor movies? If you don't, I suggest you go rent The Quiet Man right now. We have it on dvd, if you want to borrow it.

Here's the original image, straight from the camera to my computer. the first thing to do is create a Curves layer, by clicking the black and white cookie icon at the bottom of the layers palette and choosing Curves. Remember that Seinfeld episode? "Look to the cookie!" Sigh. I miss that show.

I still don't know what curves are, but adjusting them is a lot of fun. For this particular effect we're going to adjust each channel. So select the red channel, and click and pull the right  end point over to the left slightly, and then adjust the rest of the line into a gentle s-curve. This is the kind of thing that you'll just want to experiment with, I think, until you get it looking how you want it to look.

I barely adjusted the green channel this time, but again, pull it into a very slight s-curve.

And the blue channel, you just want to move the right endpoint down a little, and the left endpoint up a little. 

That's all I did, and ended up with this:

You can easily stop right there, but if you want a little more turquoise-y glow, add a color layer (again, click the black and white cookie icon, and this time choose Color), and make it a greenish-yellow color. This layer should be the top layer. Now adjust the opacity way, way down. I think I went down to about 10%. It should be very subtle. 

Here's what the yellow layer did to it:

And that's it! Just play around with those curves, and adjust until you like the end result.

I think we should start a flickr group for everyone to share the results of trying all the stuff we're posting about, what do you think? I really want to see what you all come up with. Who's in?   

touching up portraits

I don't take a lot of pictures of people. I'd like to learn how eventually, but in the meantime it's good to learn what to do with portraits. This one was a pretty big challenge for me, obviously, as it's taken me two weeks to post it. Even with the constant nagging of my sister, who berated me for making an Easter Bunny egg cozy rather than posting the picture she sent me. I have been trying, but just couldn't figure out what to do to make this picture look better. Well, I finally decided to just do a little touching up, and then add a tiny bit of a glow. So here is what I did:

It's a nice photo to start with, so you can understand my dilemma, right? I decided to concentrate my efforts on the eyes, and referred to my handy dandy Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers, by Scott Kelby. I have to say, his Photoshop books are very helpful. There's not a lot of technical babble, he just takes a single technique, and walks you through it, step-by-step. So, if you don't know what Curves are, no big deal, you don't have to, he'll just show you how to adjust the Curves to get the effect you want. So I would recommend checking out his book for whatever version of Photoshop you're using.

First I decided to make the whites of her eyes a little brighter. I used the Polygonal Lasso tool to select one section of white, and then held down the shift key while selecting the other sections. Next I went to the selection menu and clicked Feather, and adjusted the feather amount to 3. Then I opened the Hue/Saturation menu (Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation). If the subject has a lot of red in their eyes, you  can first select Reds from the edit menu, and then slide down the Saturation level. Switch back to the Master edit menu, and to make the whites brighter, slide up the Lightness level. Watch the preview while you do this, because you want to keep it subtle, and it can turn into freaky alien eyes really quickly. Click Okay and deselect, and there you have it, whiter whites. If only it were as easy with my laundry.

Next I wanted to add a little sparkle to her eyes. I'm going to list this part step-by-step, because there are quite a few steps, but they're not hard, just follow along:
1. First I added an Unsharp Mask by going to Filters > Sharpen > Unsharp mask. You can play around with the settings a little. I used the following: Amount 150%, Radius 1, Threshold 10.

2. Reapply the Unsharp mask several times by pressing Control-F (PC), or Command-F (Mac), until the eyes start to look really crisp. At this point there will be some funny stuff going on with the rest of the picture, but don't worry about that, we'll get rid of it. I did it quite a few times, maybe 8 or so, but you may need as little as 4. You don't want to do so many that your history list only shows Unsharp mask, make sure you can still go back to the step before you started applying it.

3. Now, in the History list, click the last step you completed before you applied the first Unsharp mask.

4. Still in the History list, click the box to the left of the very last Unsharp mask you applied. This will give you the History brush, which you can use to repaint all those Unsharp masks only in the areas you want. Make sure it's a soft brush, and adjust it to about the same size as the iris, and just click once over each iris. Voila! A little extra sparkle!

The very last thing I did, which is super easy, and give photographs a nice dreamy glow, was to apply a blur layer. Just drag the background layer to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. Make sure your new layer is at the top of your layers, if you have more than just a background layer. With that layer selected, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Adjust the blur as much as you like. I think I set this particular picture to 25 pixels on the blur menu. Now adjust the Opacity of the layer and the Layer type from the drop-down menu next to the Opacity slider. In this case, I took the opacity down to about 25%, and used the Overlay layer. And finally, after all that, here's what I ended up with:

 

It's a pretty subtle difference, but I think it looks nice. If I were to start doing a lot of portrait photography, I would probably invest in some actions, like these. Touching up portraits can really take a lot of time, and they make it quick and easy to make the subjects of your portraits look fantastic. Seriously, click on that link and see what an action or two can do for a photo.

So, let's compare the before and after side-by-side, shall we?

Coming up this week: another photographer interview, this time with my friend Yvonne, who takes magical pictures of her beautiful home, and I'll explain how I edited the photo in this post.

Hard Light

I'm more than slightly jealous that Lucy is already enjoying the spring blossoms where she lives.  I live a bit more northerly than her and they are talking about some snow falling tomorrow. *sigh*  But we're here to talk about photo editing, not weather, so let's get to work.

Here are the beautiful blossoms in front of Lucy's local post office:

Last week, The Pioneer Woman showed one of her favorite, yet incredibly simple tools.  Hard light.  AND, you can do it on both Photoshop Elements, as well as Photoshop CS.  You can read her tutorial here.  She's a bit wordy at first, but if you stick with it, she finally cuts to the chase and shows you with lots of step-by-step pictures on  how to do it.  What it all comes down to is creating a new layer and then selecting "Hard Light" in the blending menu in the Layers corner on your screen.  Here's what it looks like on the blossoms:

It just gives a little punch and deepness to the colors.  When you add the feathering around the edging like we talked about a few weeks ago, here's what you get:

Before and After:

Lucy had to do her own editing session on this photo and she shows it on her blog.  It just goes to show you the endless possibilities of photo editing!

Interview with a Photographer I

Heylucy had the brilliant idea of interviewing photographers that we have both come to admire.  We thought a perfect person to start with would be our very own brother, Dean.  Within less than 24 hours of soliciting his participation, he had already e-mailed us back, with all of our questions thoroughly answered.  He's obviously very passionate about the art.  Let's see what he has to say (and show us):

PS: How have you learned about photography?  Formal training?  Books?  Websites?

I learned initially from books during my first year in college.  Kodak had a series of shortish books, probably 50 pages each, that covered various technical and compositional aspects of photography that I read in the university library when I should have been studying for classes.  I was so enthused about them that I made my way to the library at every opportunity.

Before heading back to college for my second year, I took a darkroom class at the local community college.  This aspect of photography appealed to me because I quickly became frustrated with the fact that the local processing labs often did not produce the prints or slides in the way I would have if I had control, largely because they were simply pushing the film through automated machines.  I loved the class because of the new control I had over the final print--the ability to dodge and burn or develop the print or film differently to achieve various effects.

Since then I have learned largely by listening to on line audio shows or pod casts and perhaps more importantly, by observing the work of others.  Often I will find a photograph that effectively conveys the feel of a place by using a technique I am not familiar with.  I with then research that technique on the web.

PS: What kind of camera do you use?

Let me first say that I am often tempted by the latest technology to focus on the technical and equipment aspects of the art.  You have to do this, obviously.  However, I often have to check myself to make sure I'm not letting the technical aspects get in the way of producing effective images.  Sorry for the rant.  It's mostly just for me.   ;-)

I use an entry level digital SLR, the Nikon D50.  Nikon stopped making it about a year or two ago but I'm still quite happy with the results it produces.  It's a mere 6 mega pixel DSLR that is compatible with the majority of Nikon lenses.  Currently I only have the kit lens, a Nikkor 18 - 55mm f3.5 - 5.6 DX that is not the greatest lens available but it produces pretty impressive results for a kit lens.  The primary thing that I don't like about this lens is that because the widest aperture is only f3.5, it is nearly impossible to produce shallow depth-of-field images when you want that effect.  I love that the camera can shoot in 12-bit RAW format and also includes many of the advanced features of higher-end models like automatic exposure bracketing.

In the past I often wondered why people rave about Nikon cameras.  Now I know why--the interface is intuitive and easy to use, the camera seems pretty durable as I've schlepped it around a good portion of the western world over the last couple of years.  The sensor captures a reasonably decent dynamic range and the lens is sharp and contrasty.  I'm sure Canon and other camera manufacturers make great cameras too.  I just haven't used them yet.

If I could have any camera that is reasonably priced (i.e., less than $2000), I'd like to try the Nikon D300 next.  The main thing that makes this camera appealing to me is the new sensor that evidently captures a wider dynamic range.  My next lens will likely be the Nikkor 85mm f1.8 which will be great for portraits and macro work and will allow me to get shallow depth-of-field when I want it.  Obviously it will also allow my images to benefit from the compression effect that longer focal lengths provide.

PS: What is your favorite subject to photograph?

My favorite thing to do is to capture the feel of a place, whether that be a landscape, architecture, or people. I started mostly with landscape because I loved Ansel AdamsS work, especially his Yosemite prints which I could relate to given my family's tradition of visiting the park when we were kids.  With my current job I get to travel so that has given me several opportunities to broaden my experience into architecture.  I love to capture a moment in time, especially when it involves the combination of people and place.

PS: Tell us a little about how you compose a shot, any rules you follow (or break)?

My main objective is usually to present the subject in a fashion that makes my audience think, "I've never quite seen [insert subject here] in quite that way," or, "Wow, I've never thought of [subject] as being so interesting or beautiful..."  I suppose that's why I enjoy the wide angle aspect of my lens and why I'm interested in purchasing a short telephoto lens next.  Both produce somewhat unusual ways of looking at your subject, ways that allow you to highlight your subject and eliminate or reduce the impact of distractions.

I can safely say that I don't try to reproduce reality in my images.  A lot of people seem to hold to the philosophy that "the goal" is to reproduce reality.  I think I started with that goal.  Now I realize that really I'm trying to highlight the beauty or interesting aspects of a scene and often that means finding ways to keep the distractions out whether that be through composition, lighting, depth-of-field, color or other means.

Light is obviously incredibly important.  I usually shoot in aperture priority mode because it allows me to expose for the tones that are most important for my image.  I learned this from Ansel AdamsS zone system which is too big a topic to cover here but might be a great item for some other time.

PS: Do you do any post-processing? What do you use (Photoshop version or other program)? What is your favorite action or effect?

I do a fair bit of post-processing but my philosophy is that it is best to capture the image in camera with an eye to the final effect you intend to create.  Ansel Adams was a master at this.  He exposed his film so that he could reproduce the effect he wanted in the darkroom.  I think a lot of people think of post-processing as the primary means to make a great image and I think that often results in less compelling images because then you have to compensate, e.g., tweak the exposure so much that you add unwanted noise to get the effect you want.  I don't think that post-processing is a very good way to compensate for a poorly captured shot.  And don't get me wrong, on a lot of my bad files I have tried to compensate so I'm not exactly a prime exemplar.  I like to think of this aspect of my philosophy as more practical than pedantic.

I primarily use two applications:  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and HDRsoft Photomatix Pro.

Lightroom works so well for me because I don't like to rely on post-processing for much more than tweaking "the basics;" Contrast, levels, saturation, sharpness and the like.  Lightroom doesn't support Photoshop filters and it includes only a limited set of "effects" so I don't really use them.  Some day I'll probably get Photoshop so that I can put those to use.  Maybe.  I'm having a lot of fun for now even without them.

Photomatix allows me to take an exposure bracketed set of the same image and produce a higher dynamic range in a single image.  I like this because it helps me get around the a barrier imposed by the sensor in my camera:  A significantly limited dynamic range.  This is a limitation of almost all of the digital cameras which are capable of about the same limited range as transparency film.  Mostly I like Photomatix because it allows me to expose correctly for both the sky and the rest of my subject and then merge them into a single image.

PS: Share a favorite photo you have taken.

I recently went to Madrid for a weekend while on a business trip and while downtown, happened upon this scene with an older woman standing out on the balcony of her apartment.  I have to give credit to my colleague MB for alerting me to this.

PS: Share a favorite photo by someone else.

I really enjoy Alfred StieglitzS "The Steerage."  It captures a moment in time so well and is brilliantly composed.

PS:  Any interesting photography story or experience you'd like to share with us?

Last year in the fall I made a business trip to Ireland.  I arrived in the morning and went straight to the office for work.  I don't sleep more than about 30 minutes on long plane rides despite my best efforts.  For various reasons I avoid the temptation to use drugs to induce sleep.  After the day in the office and despite the cloudy sky, I decided to take the camera and go to the beach before getting dinner in one of the smaller fishing villages a few kilometers from the city.    The sky miraculously cleared just a little, adding the perfect touch to some dramatic landscapes.  Likely also because of my sleep deprived state, I came away from that session with some great images--shots that I might not have tried if I were not so uninhibited.  I ended up eating at a little Italian place and nearly passed out from exhaustion at the table after my meal.  Fortunately I could rely on a taxi to get me back to the hotel because I would have dozed at the wheel for certain.

I suppose there are two themes in this little story for me:  challenge myself and take the camera even if it looks like you probably won't be able to get any good images.  It would have been pretty easy to just go to the hotel, order up room service and call it a day.  I think that my photography improves when I go for it regardless of the apparent barriers.

If you are interested in learning more about Dean or looking at some of his recent photos, head over to www.heylucy.typepad.com/dean.

Thanks, Dean, for teaching us a thing or two, and showing us your gorgeous shot from Madrid.

Lots 'o stuff in one simple tutorial

Lesa Snider King might be my new best friend.

I discovered her while looking for interesting tutorials on Photoshop Elements to see what I might do with this photo that Lucy sent me this week:

I ended up at the Photoshop Elements Support website and learned how to use several cool features in just one tutorial by Lesa.

This is what I ended up with:

Kind of funky, eh?  What blows me away, though, is that when the photo is pulled up in Photoshop Elements (I'm assuming that all of this could be done in Photoshop CS, as well) you can drag the white framed section to other parts of the photo and make whatever part you want turn from black and white to color.  It's seems pretty fancy, but luckily Lesa gave some really clear instructions and even I was able to follow them.  Seriously, if I can do it, anyone can.

Go check it out for yourself by clicking here.

buttons

I very, very quickly made some buttons which I would love for you to steal and put on your blog, if you would like to link to us. Here you go:

I think this will work, if you just want the code: <a href="http://heylucy.typepad.com/photoshop_sisters"> <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2076/2299297728_c633dda2f4_o.jpg" border="0" alt="photoshop sisters"></a>

And for this one:  <a href="http://heylucy.typepad.com/photoshop_sisters"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3220/2299297714_7b85585f02_o.gif" border="0" alt="photoshop sisters"></a>

Grayscale and Sharpness

Hello folks, how's it going?  I'm really impressed with what Lucy did this week with the photo that I sent her.  Yeah, she says I'm being a show-off sending her all these exotic pictures, but it's really her that's the one that always has to one-up me.  Case in point - I got my Nikon D40 last spring.  Last Christmas, she got a Nikon D40x.  I decided that Photoshop Elements was perfect for my photo editing needs, and at a price of $70 at Costco, I thought it was great deal.  But Lucy, always wanting to be a little better than me, updated Photoshop on her computer so now she has the most recent version.  I can't keep up with her.  She's apparently into researching on the web about other neat ways to do her editing, while I'm still here, tinkering around in Photoshop Elements with some of the basic tools. Do you sense some sibling rivalry on my part?

Here's the "boring and domestic" (Lucy's words, not mine) photo that she sent me this week:

Lot's o' Lichen.  I actually think lichen is very pretty and whenever I see it while out hiking or snowshoeing I feel like it needs to have it's picture taken.  Lucy told me that in reality, there was a lot more color to it, but it just didn't show up in the photo.  I played around a bit with saturating the colors, but then I thought maybe we should just take out the color.

So I went to the Image menu at the top of the screen, then selected Mode, and Grayscale.  A pop-up window appears asking if you want to discard color information.  Select OK.

I got a basic black and white version of the photo, but decided to play around with the sharpness.  I went to the Enhance menu at the top of the screen, and selected Adjust sharpness.  This is a fun tool, as you can make some abstact images, or just do some minor adjusting to define or soften details.  On the pop-up window, I adjusted the Radius to about 1.0.  I added a little feathered edge in a shade of gray color instead of straight black, and this is what I came up with:

Before and after side-by-side:

So there you have it my friends.  Now you know a simple way to make old looking black-and-white photos.

other ways to edit your photos

I know we're all about Photoshop here, but there are other options out there. One of the funnest I've found is Picnik, a free web-based app you can use to do all sorts of fun things. You can upload photos from your computer to edit them, but what's even cooler is that you can connect to your flickr (or facebook, photobucket, picasa or webshots) account and edit your pictures stored there. Besides the basics, like cropping, rotating and re-sizing, you can also do red-eye correction and lots of fun effects. Here's this weeks' picture from my sister with the boost and vignette effects:

That took me about five seconds to create.

Flickr user beebee mod used the cross-process tool to create this image (check out more in her photostream to see lots of good examples of this effect).

It's free to register and use, but there is also a premium version for just $24.95 per year, which includes more editing tools, effects and fonts.

It's super easy to use, and quick. I could spend a lot of time playing around at picnik :o)