Photography Software Techniques
Move beyond the basics with advanced photography software techniques from our experts. Covering much more than how to use photo software, topics include color choice, file formats and hundreds of other subjects.
Monday, June 23, 2008Use Adobe Raw For B&WUsing the tools in ACR, you can work more efficiently and take advantage of RAW controls to make your black-and-white conversions Adobe Camera Raw offers a number of powerful controls for converting a color image to a black-and-white or split-tone image. Working from Bruce Fraser's original, Real World Adobe Camera Raw With Photoshop CS2, Jeff Schewe has updated the book, and a new version will be available this summer. In this article, we walk you through some examples of how you can take advantage of Adobe Camera Raw's black-and-white conversion tools. We look at the HSL/Grayscale Panel and Split-Tone Panel, as well as show the steps we went through to take an image from color to black-and-white. |
Monday, June 23, 2008The Battle Between Noise & SharpnessShooting at high ISOs and tweaking sharpness in an image can introduce excessive noise. Balancing these two aesthetic elements is an art. In the beginning of photography, most people were unaware or oblivious to noise, but with higher-ISO films, image grain became an issue; I look upon grain as a form of image noise. Grain occurs from film's granular structure and appears throughout an image, but most notably within the darker and higher-contrast areas. Understanding is important for the next stage of photography—digital! Read More... |
Monday, April 28, 2008XDR, Part IIExtend the dynamic range through this processing technique Reproducing the full range of tones or brightness values seen by the human eye is one of the most fundamental challenges in photography. Capture, display and print technologies are all limited when compared to the ability of the human eye to see a wide dynamic range. Recent advances in technology enable you to exceed these limitations. Read More... |
Monday, April 28, 2008DPP Solutions: Proper Contrast In Black-And-WhiteUsing your digital tools gives you a level of control that Ansel Adams would have readily embraced Contrast is critical to a properly printed black-and-white image. There's no color to define and structure a photograph. It all must be done in the monochrome tonalities from black to white. |
Monday, March 3, 2008Color Choice: Luminance, Chrominance And HueAmong the tools at your disposal, the LCH Editor gives you a powerful weapon for finessing the color relationships in your images In a previous article, I explained “Color Choice Isn't By Chance” (Digital Photo Pro, July/August 2007). The premise is that today's digital photography hardware and software provide a plethora of features and performance that interact to enable more control and creative options than ever before. When you understand how each tool operates, and how combinations of tools can interact, you have the opportunity to enhance original images as never before. Read More... |
Monday, March 3, 2008Introduction To XDRExtending the dynamic range in your images is possible with sound technique and a little software magic Reproducing the full range of tones or brightness values seen by the human eye is one of the most fundamental challenges in photography. Capture, display and print technologies are all limited when compared to the ability of the human eye to see a wide dynamic range. They're all advancing. As they advance, our methods for addressing this fundamental challenge advance with them. Read More... |
Monday, January 7, 2008DPP Solutions: Get Into MultimediaGiving new life to still photos with Apple Final Cut Pro 6 Today's technology makes it relatively easy to turn a series of photos into multimedia presentations with audio for even more impact. You can add audio to your still images to tell a story even better, and equally important, provide additional marketing opportunities—there are more places to sell multimedia presentations than there are to sell still images alone, including broadcast media. Multimedia presentations also are a great way to present what you do photographically to potential clients. They provide a new creative challenge, too. |
Monday, January 7, 2008Aesthetics Of Black And WhiteDigital technology and equipment give you more control and the ability to make the finest black-and-white images ever, but there's an art to coaxing the best print from your image files Black-and-white used to be the core of the photographer's darkroom. Now, ironically, as companies concentrate heavily on moving the darkroom onto the desktop, black-and-white photography has been slowly relegated to the sidelines of fine art and portraiture. New advances in technology, however, have given black-and-white printing a little more, pardon the pun, exposure. Read More... |
Monday, October 8, 2007Curving RGB ColorColor correcting by numbers is a combination of art and science
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Contender: Nicholas Mele
It can happen in an instant -
Contender: Cindy McDaniel
Going underwater for an unpredictable look -
Contender: Martin Christopher
“Angel Face” was photographed for a local hair salon’s ad campaign -
Contender: Bruce Roscoe
Meticulous attention to the lighting creates strong chiaroscuro and a dramatic effect -
Contender: Kevin Ziechmann
Reality and photography collide in this self-portrait -
Contender: David Miller
Rendering a split look in a “Frankenstein” photo -
Contender: Jeff Nadler
Black and white film and natural light gave this image its distinctive look -
Contender: Jessica Christie
Capturing emotions and creating a retro look -
Contender: Laura Bello
A little bling and vibrant color demand a viewer’s attention -
Contender: Dhrumil S. Desai
Style and substance came into play in making this warm-toned black and white portrait
