Qualities of Light

Understanding natural light is a "must" for good outdoor images.

The job of a outdoor photographer is to record a scene. Yet, photographers often fail to capture what it felt like to be actually at a scene.

A good outdoor photographer arrives at a scene early, and waits for the scene to unfold. Waiting patiently for changing colors and changing mood, which all go along with the change of the weather.

Vital to all of this is light - natural light and all the elements it brings to a scene.

To be able to use light correctly and creatively we first must understand it. Once we understand it we can use it to our advantage in creating beautifully, dramatic landscape images.

There are three basic qualities of light: intensity, direction and color.

Intensity: refers to the strength of light. If the sun is high in the sky, light can be harsh and too strong. Cloudy days bring soft and defused light.

Direction: this refers to light placement. There are three categories of light placement: front, back and side-lighting. Side lighting produces more texture between light and shade.

color: the color of sunlight varies depending upon conditions and time of day. If the sun shines at the beginning or the end of the day, the color of the light will be much warmer, and will lead to a much more dramatic scene.

While all three are different qualities of light, they all have another important factor in common - time of day. Choosing the correct time of day is a foremost in capturing a scene at its best. The intensity of light brings out different colors in a landscape image. colors in landscape photography depend on light available and also what time you shoot a scene, and where you place your camera.

Early morning shots will cast a red hue in your images. This only lasts a few minutes after sunrise. As the morning progresses the red hue turns to yellow. This normally lasts while the sun is low in the sky. Long shadows are cast along a scene during these early hours. These can add mood to an image. Come mid-day the sun is high in the sky. The shadows are gone. This is the best time of the day for landscape photographers.

As the day turns to evening and the sun gradually falls in the sky, the sun casts stronger colors similar to morning. Sunset can be just as exciting as sunrise.

Time and light come hand in hand. Using both together will most certainly bring out the best in your landscape photographs. We ourselves decide what direction we use, do we use the sun at our backs, or is it better to use it at our side? I prefer side-lighting or facing the sun.

If you're unsure go to a scene and take a few images. Mark the ground so you can place the camera in the exact same spot and return a few hours later. Return to the scene several times and take notes of light direction. Record the different exposures you take your images. Compare the shots from the different times of day, and the answer will unfold in front of you.

Understanding natural light develops your ability to create better images. You'll then start to see the beauty of light and colours in a new and exciting way.

Adobe photoshop tutorials on Blending Images

Blending images is a process of putting two or more diverse imageries or photographs to form an exuberant frame. One of the ways to create a universally used effect in blending images is to try the layer mask.

To do an example of layer mask, follow the following steps:

First, find a photograph of a picture that is compatible with your other chosen photographs. When you blend you must pre-visualize and feel the design.

Second, select a background then right click and select inverse to close on the subject. Background is preferably white.

Third, select the Move tool and click inside of the selection and drag it over to your desired image. Dragging will create a new layer on the new document which is a replica of the original selection.

Fourth, create a layer mask on the layer of the object you drag over. Click on Layer > add Layer Mask or click on the Add a Mask icon in the layers palette. Choose the linear gradient tool with foreground to transparent and black as the foreground color and swipe. The longer the swipes you create the smoother the blend will be. Gradient layer masking allows you to create professional blends.

To add more character to the final image, you can create a gradient fill layer on the adjustment/fill layer icon on the bottom of the layers palette. Choose the settings in the dialog box. To see scale the possible output, change the blending modes and opacity. After those easy steps you can now have a glimpse of your blended masterpiece!

To be properly guided you can view rubylith by toggling the "|" key or going on the channels palette onto the layer mask channel. Click the eye on and off. For the beginners, the rubylith will teach you the right thing to do. To bring back your original pixels on the layer mask, select white but you can use any level of grey in between.

To practice with blending images, what you are advised to do is take a picture of a subject and drag it over to different backgrounds like sunset, beach or other significant backgrounds.

Make a good layer mask to cover the rough edges and put the blending mode on screen, lighten or overlay. You can use layer masking if you did not make selections beforehand. You can also use the star gradient tool to create starburst effect.

Open your mind to other possibilities and enjoy the blending power of Photoshop!

Master The Basics Of adobe photoshop tutorialsWith My 2 Hour Easy To Use Adobe Photoshop tutorials for beginners.

Make'em black & white

Do you want to convert your color photos to black & white? Richard Schneider presents his Photoshop Tutorial on Making Black and White Pictures in Photoshop. This is to help you learn how to turn regular color photos into professional black and white photos. There are many techniques of doing this but this one is surprisingly simple and is very effective.

Check it out here at Photoshop 911.

Smooth Photoshop Makeover

Photoshop can aide in the creation some great pictures. Check out this speed make over done on photoshop and set to music I saw on YouTube.

Engraver plug-in for Photoshop

Engraver is a very useful Photoshop-compatible plug-in, which allows you to turn your picturea into ancient engravings, lithographs, pencil sketches, etc. You are able to get really stylish and professionally made masterpieces in a very simple way. This plug-in can become very useful to computer artists, designers and even just those people who want to create real computer art masterpieces.

Engraver can take your picture and change it into a graphical image consisting of lines and hatches of various width and curvature. Those can be either straight lines, or waves, or different types of concentric circles and spirals. What is more, you can also present the source photo in the form of a set of dots or circles of various sizes. This way your picture can look like old newspaper print.

You can read the rest of this review here .

Inside Adobe Photoshop CS3 with John Nack

Adobe Photoshop is probably the best-known of Adobe's applications because it's used to edit much of the world's photographs. Here top blogger Robert Scoble meets with Adobe's John Nack and get an insider's look at the latest Photoshop.



See more from Robert Scoble here at The Scoble Show

adobe photoshop cs2 abstract tutorials on the Clone Stamp Tool

You may be a pro when it comes to using the Clone Stamp Tool in the Photoshop program but have you tried working with the Healing Brush Tool?

The Healing Brush Tool is fairly new and while the Clone Stamp Tool is perfect in many design instances, the Healing Brush Tool can add something new to your work.

You have probably used the Clone Stamp Tool for many imaging jobs but there are times when the Healing Brush Tool is an even better choice.

If you are working on a surface that is textured it may be hard to disguise the involvement of the Clone Stamp Tool. It is just hard to hide its use and what you sample using this tool is what you end up with. The finished product is often not nearly as good as you had hoped.

We will look at how the two tools operate doing the same enhancement job. This is an ordinary cosmetic enhancement job, one that you may often encounter.

First you'll need a facial image with a freckle or dry skin blemish . If you use the Clone Stamp you can sample a clear patch of skin and spray it over the spot. The skin graft is rather noticeable because the area of skin that was sampled is not the same hue as the area that needed to be fixed.

The Healing Brush Tool can be used to do a much better job. If you are working on a minor blemish, the Healing Brush Tool will work by sampling both the destination pixels and the source pixels.

The two samples are then mixed to produce a much nicer blend. When you want to take a sample use it like the Clone Tool and proceed with [Alt]/[Option]-Click. At first glance you may have doubts.

As you begin to spray it may look odd but once you let go of the mouse button after you have sprayed some of the sampled pixels, you will see the results. You should not be able to tell that the image has been edited once the Healing Brush is finished. For even more healing you can reduce the brush size and you will be able to work on other areas like the red patch of skin by the nose.

Master The Basics Of adobe photoshop cs2 abstract tutorials With My 2 Hour Easy To Use Adobe Photoshop tutorials for beginners.

Photoshop 7 lesson plans

Photoshop 7 lesson plans on Layers. There are ways to use layer sets to create and label groups of related layers. When you do this you will be able to organize and streamline your work.

The first version of Photoshop didn’t have tools that allowed the users to create layers. Hard to believe that we could ever have managed without the ability to create artwork on many layers that could also be edited. Now that we take layers for granted we may miss or overlook some other options that are available.

One of the first things to take into consideration is working smarter.

That means when you are working with layers you should start by labeling each one. When you do this you won’t have the need to waste time scrolling up and down the Layers palette trying to remember where a certain element is stored.

You can group the layers into sets and also color-code them. This will help you be as organized as possible.

You can create layer sets as well. If you want to create a layer set quickly, click on the icon that looks like a chain and this will link a group of related layers together.

Then you can open the Layers Palette menu and make a choice from New Set From Linked.

Opening and collapsing the layer sets is not difficult. You can open layer sets when you want to do some editing and you can collapse them when you want to display a single folder icon. This is one way to save valuable screen space.

You will also be able to create a layer set using linked layers. Click the Create A New Set icon that is located at the foot of the palette. After creating a new layer you should label and color-code it.

It is not difficult to remove and reorganize the layer sets when you need to. You will right click on a set’s icon and this will delete the set, but at the same time the individual layers will be retained.

Master The Basics Of Adobe Photoshop With My 2 Hour Easy To Use Adobe Photoshop tutorials for beginners.

Photoshop nature image of the week

Great big thanks goes out to Matthew who has sent me this awesome Stoke image done in Photoshop. Please keep them coming in.

Understanding Digital Raw Capture

This is a topic I often get asked about, and here's the "best" explanation I've seen to date, and "straight from the horse's mouth":

Understanding Digital Raw Capture, by Adobe

(You'll need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this file)

Playboy evolution made by photoshop

This video just goes to show you anyone can be a supermodel with the aid of Photoshop. Enjoy.......

The Power Of The Gradient Editor

Photoshop users may be used to using many of the tools that are part of the program but have you used the Gradient Editor as a way to customize Photoshop’s default gradients?

You need to have a good working knowledge of Photoshop’s Gradient Tool if you want to be able to make the most of the possibilities and this means you have to be able to master the editing options.

No need to be overwhelmed because this is a fairly easy thing to learn and master, it will just take a little practice.

Begin by selecting the Gradient Tool and then click on the gradient preview located in the options bar. This will open Gradient Editor and you are ready to get to work.

When you have opened Gradient Editor you will see several preset gradients. You can choose from the default Foreground, the Background gradient and even the more complex Chrome gradient.

With some practice you will be able to use the preset gradients to create new ones.

You can edit the preset gradients and design new gradients. Some of the gradients have more color stops than others.

The Foreground to Background gradient has two color stops while the Spectrum gradient has seven color stops.

If you want to modify a gradient you can do so by changing the color stops.

Click on one and choose a new color from the color picker, it’s that easy.

You can also click on an image and sample a color for your customized gradient. When you do this you can use the Eyedropper Tool to customize or you may want to add new color stops to a gradient that already exists.

You just click anywhere along the bottom edge of the preview bar and you will be able to add new color stops.

Maybe you want to add different opacity settings so that you can have an image fade from solid to transparent.

This can be done when you use the opacity stops that run along the top of the preview bar. The black opacity stop will be 100% solid while a white opacity stop will tell you that this part of the gradient is 100% transparent.

The gray stops show you the values in between.

Master The Basics Of Adobe Photoshop 7.0 tutorial With My 2 Hour Easy To Use Adobe Photoshop tutorials for beginners.