There are only 7 basic notes in music. There are only three colors on a computer screen. So, digital photography should not be that difficult. But ok, forget it, we all know it is too good to be true. When all you have is a set of bricks, building a castle does not become easier.
Enough metaphors for now – let’s talk about postprocessing.
“Good artists copy, but great artists steal”
Pablo Picasso
… Continue reading How to Steal without Stealing: Hack Your Post-Processing With Lightroom Presets
If you look closely at commercial photographs, you will probably notice that they rarely contain random power lines or vehicles in the way of the shot. You’ll probably also notice that the models always have flawless skin, and iconic tourist locations are tourist-free.
Photographers don’t spend all of their time searching for perfect-looking models or visiting deserted cities. Instead, they typically achieve this look by removing the unwanted objects after they have already taken the picture.
One of the easiest and most common techniques that photographers use to make their photos look more interesting and professional is to use a shallow depth of field. Depth of field refers to the distance between the nearest and farthest parts of an image that appear sharp or in focus. When a photo has a shallow depth of field, only a small portion is in focus, while the rest is blurry.
It may seem a bit counter-intuitive that photographers purposefully create mostly-blurred photographs; however the shallow depth of field effect is actually closer to the way we see with our eyes. As you look at this page, for example, only the text is in focus, while everything else in your vision blurry.
Taking photographs that have shallow depth of field usually requires a nice lens, or at least, an expensive camera. However, it is possible to digitally simulate shallow depth of field using Adobe Photoshop.
… Continue reading How to Digitally Add Shallow Depth of Field
Did you know that ‘getting organized’ is one of the top ten New Year’s resolutions? It’s true! So let’s roll up our sleeves and get to tidying up your lightroom editing process. Lightroom, after all, is an archive of your work, a database of your creative content.
Having a streamlined system will allow you to minimize your editing and post-processing time. Don’t let those digital dust bunnies pile up!
… Continue reading How to Get Your Lightroom Catalogue Perfectly Organized
Cell phone cameras and apps like Instagram have made it possible for anyone to practice and enjoy the art of Photography. The filters that come with Instagram do a great job of altering the mood or tone of photographs. They also add a flare of drama to otherwise boring images.
However, because Instagram filters lack the ability to customize exactly how the images will be altered, using these filters can actually lower the quality of your photographs.
If you want to create photographs with high-quality post-editing, it is much better to use photo-editing software that has more customization features.
This guide will show you how to add really cool Instagram-inspired effects to your photos using Adobe Photoshop so that you can Instagram the professional way. You will also level up your Photoshop skills and pick up some tips and tricks along the way!
… Continue reading How to Make Instagram Filters in Photoshop: Earlybird
Lightroom is a powerful editor with a huge set of tools, though we usually need a limited set for specific photo types.
So I’d like to go through editing of a landscape photo to see what cool things Lightroom offers us.
Let’s see what we can do on the example of one of my photos I took in the Carpathian Mountains this October.
… Continue reading How to Process Landscape Photos in Lightroom
Year 2013 is already at the door, and I still meet people who critique photos as “photoshopped” or “post-processed”, putting the very negative sense in this word. Like, “it’s not art, it’s not real, it’s not your merit”.
I don’t know if you have ever thought about it, but every single photo is post-processed. By you in Photoshop, or by point-and-shoot camera’s built-in processor, or by a film enthusiast who decides which chemicals in which amount should be used for film processing.
… Continue reading 5 Pillars of Post-Processing: Explaining The Basic Tools
All photographers dream of new lenses and camera bodies, professional studio lighting, carbon tripods, and so on and so forth. But what is strange, too many of them oversee some not too expensive stuff which will infinitely enhance their workflow – making it more comfortable, safe and productive.
Here are a couple of things I personally can’t live without:
… Continue reading 4 Devices to Make Post-Processing Even More Enjoyable
The Perfect real estate photograph is made up of three perfect sections which include; the real estate piece/unit in question, the surroundings or background and lastly the sky which hangs above them all.
The beauty of each these parts have their roles in real estate photography and we shall be focusing on the sky section and how editing skies in real estate photos can enhance the overall image.
… Continue reading How Sky Replacement Can Enhance Your Real Estate Photo
Both beginners and advanced photographers often encounter problems with blown-out highlights and underexposed shadows.
In two words, it’s when there is absolutely no detail left in dark and bright parts of the photo. It is also called clipping.
