Archive for the ‘Digital Photography’ Category

Every Photoshop user at some point or the other needs to adjust the properties of their images. Properties like color balance, levels, hue/saturation or something as simple as brightness and contrast. Usually, we all would apply the change on the image or the specific layer itself, which is a very easy way to do it. However, sometimes we need to revert back to the original image, which can cause problems… Continue reading

Do you have freckles? Do you wish you could take them away sometimes? Or maybe you have a child or grandchild that would like to see what they would look like without freckles. Although freckles are kisses from angels, it’s sometimes nice to change your look, at least in photos. If you’re interested in that, this tip is just for you!

Let’s start… Continue reading

Wouldn’t it be great if you could put your personalized stamp on all of the images that you take?

It would be nice especially if you are an avid photographer and share your images online using a service like Flickr. After all the hard work you do while taking those lovely images, you surely don’t want someone else to post those images on their Web site without giving you any… Continue reading

Restore Damaged Photos

Do you keep old photographs no matter what shape they’re in? Most of us have pictures of our ancestor’s stored away somewhere. They are preserved carefully away from the dust and the kids. These are the same black and white pictures that have gone through years of wear and tear and they show clear signs of it as well. If only you had a penny for every… Continue reading

Depth of Field

If you find yourself asking what in the world is “depth of field,” don’t worry, you’re not the only one. Even if it sounds like something professional photographers use while they fire up their big bad expensive cameras, depth of field is something all photographers can use.

Here is an example. You are taking pictures of your daughter at the Eiffel Tower (if you happen to be… Continue reading

A few weeks back, it was my friend’s birthday and I wanted to draw a pencil sketch of her for her birthday card. The only glitch was that I have two left hands when it comes to sketching. So, what did I do?

No, I didn’t bribe my next door, art school student neighbor. I just went back to my trusted friend: Photoshop. So, how would you like to learn… Continue reading

500 Reasons to Experiment With Adobe Photoshop

Reason #178: “Post-Production Miracles”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned after years as a professional art director, it’s that great photographs don’t always just happen. Occasionally, you’ll land on a perfect setup with the lighting just right and you’re even lucky enough to have your camera with you. But, for the most part, great photos take a lot of thought and planning.

When… Continue reading

So, here’s the scenario. You are the proud owner of the latest digital SLR camera on the market and you have been deemed the official photographer of the family for all events. You have your neat collections of lenses and you think you have the art nailed down to a tee. Still, you wonder why your pictures aren’t as good as the ones you see in the magazines. Well, did… Continue reading

Digital Camera Buying Guide

We’ve had some people ask us what the best digital camera is to buy these days and so I thought I’d give you a little guide that may (or may not) help you in buying the right camera for your needs.

I found some recent reviews done for digital cameras and here is a list of some of them that sounded the most reliable, the most… Continue reading

The 12 Minute Photoshop Makeover

Let’s face it, we live in a “total makeover” society. Television is filled with redo programs that never fail to enchant us. We want to see people’s spaces traded, their rides “pimped” and their bodies reworked into swans. Honestly, I’m no different. I absolutely love a transformation. But with change, comes cost.

That’s why I’m crazy about Adobe Photoshop. With it, you can affect great… Continue reading

Avoid the Convert to Grayscale Mode “Crutch”

Some photographers may question why you would want to convert a color picture to black and white in the first place. Well, sometimes your subject matter will call for that type of rendition. The most common use is for portraits. Some digital cameras save black and white (or sepia) type images in an RGB (red, green, blue) mode, but not all will. In… Continue reading

A reader asks:

“I noticed my camera has a setting on it for shooting in B&W. If I want B&W photos, can’t I convert them in my imaging software? Is it better to use the camera instead?”

First off, B&W from the camera isn’t any better than B&W converted via your imaging program. I really think that sometimes manufacturers of cameras – or any electronic gadget – like to add… Continue reading

Q:
Whenever I get pictures ending with “.jpeg” I can’t get them to open. Is there a way to fix this?

A:
JPEG is an acronym that stands for “Joint Photographic Experts Group”. The reason that the PC uses .JPG is that the old DOS filename limitation.

Rather than the three-digit “.jpg” used by Windows and Linux, Macintosh uses the “.jpeg” file extension. If you get an image… Continue reading

As you probably know, JPEGs are the most common type of file format for digital photography. They do a fantastic job at compressing an image and maintaining good quality. For more on image formats, check out:
http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/546

Now, when you go to save a file as a JPEG, your imaging software may give you some options—that’s what we’re going to look at today.

The first and most… Continue reading

A reader asks:

“I noticed my camera has a setting on it for shooting in B&W. If I want B&W photos, can’t I convert them in my imaging software? Is it better to use the camera instead?”

First off, B&W from the camera isn’t any better than B&W converted via your imaging program. I really think that sometimes manufacturers of cameras—or any electronic gadget—like to add as many “easy from… Continue reading

Watch out!

Much as I hate to admit it, I very seldom buy any of my camera equipment from the local camera stores here in town. I’d really like to, but the deals I get online save me hundreds of dollars. In fact, on a recent purchase of a camcorder, we saved over $140 by purchasing the equipment online! And it really wasn’t anything fancy, just a middle of the… Continue reading

We all know that digital photos take up gobs of hard drive space, but how much RAM do you need in order to work on those images? 256MB? 512MB? 1 Gig? More??!

When it comes to RAM, more is always better. How much you need is going to depend on how large your photos are. For example, a Windows XP system with 512 MB of RAM is probably going to… Continue reading

Have you ever noticed when you resize a photo, there’s usually an option to “constrain proportions”? When you uncheck that option, you can plop in any height and width dimensions you please. With constrain proportions checked, changing one dimension changes the other. So what’s with all the proportion constraining? Read on.

Although the term Constrain Proportions sounds like something used in a medieval torture chamber, it’s actually pretty simple.

When… Continue reading

Has this ever happened to you? You take an amazing shot with your digicam, it looks great on the camera’s LCD monitor, and you think you have a real winner. However, when you get back home you’re disappointed when you discover that it wasn’t quite as sharp as it looked on the LCD screen. Is there a way to have averted this tragedy? You bet!

Most (not all, but most)… Continue reading