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How to Remove Glare in Photoshop: A Step-By-Step Guide

14 Oct

The post How to Remove Glare in Photoshop: A Step-By-Step Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

Are you looking to understand how to remove glare in Photoshop? While glare does have its creative uses, when it’s just distracting from the main subject, it’ll only harm your images – and that’s where this article comes in handy.

Glare presents in many ways, so it can be removed with different techniques. Below, I’ll share the most popular methods to reduce or remove glare in Photoshop – as well as some tips to prevent it in the first place!

Let’s get started.

What is glare?

Glare is when light impairs visibility. For example, if you’re driving and the sun bounces off the metallic surface of the car in front of you so you can’t see, that’s glare.

Sometimes, glare occurs when the light reflects off a subject in the frame, such as water, glasses, or a metal object. That’s why you often encounter a glare effect when you’re photographing people wearing eyeglasses.

Other times, glare is caused by light bouncing around inside the lens. This usually happens when you photograph toward the light source (e.g., the sun). In such cases, you’ll often hear the term “lens flare” – but from a retouching perspective, it’s really all the same thing and can be fixed with some of the techniques mentioned throughout this article.

Glare on a photograph can be a single bright spot, a number of circles and shapes in different colors, or a light haze. Sometimes, glare can be used as a creative effect; other times, glare can ruin your picture.

So let’s see how to remove glare in Photoshop!

How to remove glare in Photoshop: 4 methods

Let me start with a quick clarification: Completely removing glare from a photo is very difficult. Most of the time, you can just reduce the glare, though it all depends on the amount of detail you have to work with.

Each photo will require a slightly different approach, so I recommend you learn all of these methods. Then, with each new image, you can apply different techniques or even combine them as needed.

Method 1: Adobe Camera Raw

Adobe Camera Raw is a digital darkroom where you can develop all the unprocessed data from a photograph taken in RAW format. It offers the best chance to recover glared-out detail because you still have plenty of information available from the shot.

How to remove glare in Photoshop using ACR

By default, if you open a RAW file in Photoshop, ACR launches automatically. Here, you can develop the picture before moving on to Photoshop. Of course, while ACR is designed for standard post-processing, there are a couple of tools that are particularly helpful when dealing with glare.

Dehaze: Sometimes, glare presents as a glow in the overall image, like there’s a fog (haze) over the shot. Here, Dehaze is your best friend. Simply move the Dehaze slider, and watch how the contrast increases (and the glare disappears!).

Whites: In the Basic panel, you’ll find the Whites slider. It adjusts the whitest whites in your image (also known as the white point). So by working with this slider, you can darken the brightest areas of your shot to regain some of the details.

By the way, if you’re not working on a RAW file, you can still launch ACR from within Photoshop. Just go to Filters and choose Camera Raw Filter. This will give you access to the same tools as ACR, but keep in mind that your photo’s information will be reduced compared to an original RAW file.

Method 2: Adjust Shadows and Highlights

How to remove glare using shadows/highlights

Shadows and Highlights is a tool that allows you to fix images with high contrast or restore details in overexposed and underexposed areas.

You can find this option in the menu Edit>Adjustments>Shadows/Highlights. I recommend you duplicate the background first; that way, you keep the original image intact, plus you can mask out different areas.

When you choose Shadows/Highlights, a pop-up window appears, which lets you control your adjustments. For further control, select Show More Options.

Then simply move the sliders to eliminate the glare in your image. Remember to check the Preview option to see the effects of your adjustments in real-time.

The Amount sliders control how much correction you’re applying. To remove glare, you’ll want to work on the Highlights. Of course, you’re welcome to change the Shadows as well, to decrease the contrast and make the glare less noticeable.

The Tonal Width controls the range of tones that will be affected by your adjustments. To fix glare, set a small value in the Highlights Tonal Width to restrict the changes to the brightest parts of the image.

The Radius changes the size of the area considered around each pixel when Photoshop considers whether it belongs to the highlights or the shadows.

Pro tip: If you want the adjustments to be applied to the glare and nothing else, add a Layer Mask. Then, fill it with black and paint white over the glare. That way, you’ll see the original image – but the layer with the Shadows/Highlights adjustment will be visible only on top of the glare.

Method 3: Dodge and burn

There are different techniques for dodging and burning in Photoshop. In fact, there is a Dodge and a Burn tool, but I prefer to use layers.

Here, I’ll show you a couple of ways to do this. You can use these dodging and burning methods on their own, but for my example image, I use both for a better result.

How to remove glare in Photoshop using dodge and burn

Dodging and burning with Curves

The goal is to darken areas where glare is present, so you’ll need to do some burning.

Add a Curves adjustment layer on top of the original photo. Pull the center of the Curve down to darken the glare. It doesn’t matter if the rest of the image becomes too dark – you’ll fix that in the next step.

When you have sufficiently dark glare, select the Curves mask, go to Edit>Fill and choose Black. That way, the Curves adjustment will be hidden. Then grab the Brush tool, with white as the foreground color, and paint over the glare. This will reveal the burning effect in select places.

Before/after of glare removal in Photoshop

Dodging and burning with Soft Light

Add a new layer on top of the original and change the blending mode to Soft Light. Now, everything you paint with white will get lighter and everything you paint with black will get darker – so paint over the glare with a black brush!

Remember: If you make adjustments and you don’t love the results, you can reduce the opacity to make the effect less evident.

Method 4: Clone and Heal

How to remove glare in Photoshop using the clone tool

If the glare completely overexposes certain pixels, leaving you without any information at all, or if you’re having a hard time matching the colors and level of luminosity, you can try the Clone Stamp and Healing tools. These take information from surrounding areas and either blend or replace the information for each given pixel.

The Clone tool copies the information from an area that you select and pastes it on top. There’s no blending, so you need to be careful about visible borders or creating patterns.

The Healing tools grab information from a different area and blend it with the existing information. If you use the Spot Healing Brush, Photoshop gathers the information for you, though the Healing Brush allows you to choose the source point.

Usually, a combination of both tools gives you the best results, though it really depends on the situation.

How to prevent glare in your photos

Now that you’ve learned how to remove glare in Photoshop, I’d like to go back to the beginning. Because the best way to improve glare? Knowing how to avoid it right from the start.

So here are a few quick ways to prevent glare in-camera!

Canon camera on a tripod with a lens hood

Use a lens hood

You can attach a hood to the front of your lens to block the light coming in from the sides. There are plenty of great options: cylindrical and petal hoods, rigid and rubber hoods with collapsible segments, and more. The specifics don’t matter much; no matter which hood type you choose, it’ll help you prevent glare in your images.

Position yourself in the shade

If you don’t have a lens hood, consider adjusting your position so you can shoot from the shade. If the glare is coming from a reflection of an object in the scene, this won’t help you. However, it will prevent light from coming into the lens from an angle.

Change your angle of view

Don’t be afraid to move your camera from side to side or even up or down. Try different positions that won’t majorly affect the framing of your shot but will change the angle at which the light is hitting your lens. This usually helps to prevent glare!

Use a polarizing filter

A circular polarizing filter helps reduce or remove glare. Just attach it to the lens and turn it until you see the glare disappear. Keep in mind that you will need to adjust the camera settings to let in more light.

How to remove glare in Photoshop: final words

Learning how to remove glare is a useful skill – after all, even if you’re highly vigilant, it tends to find a way into your photos!

So I hope this article was helpful, and that you can now confidently deal with glare in your own images.

Now over to you:

Which of these glare-removal methods do you plan to try? Do you have any tips of your own? Share them in the comments below!

The post How to Remove Glare in Photoshop: A Step-By-Step Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

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How to Blur the Background in Photoshop: Step-By-Step Guide

29 Jul

The post How to Blur the Background in Photoshop: Step-By-Step Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

Do you want to know how to blur the background in Photoshop? While it’s generally best to create a shallow depth of field effect in camera, there are ways to create a realistic blur in Photoshop.

In this article, I’ll share two easy methods to produce a Photoshop blur effect, and I’ll also discuss when and why you should think about blurring the background in the first place.

Let’s get started.

How to blur the background in Photoshop: Field Blur

Photoshop’s Field Blur filter allows you to place pins on an image, which will introduce a blurred background effect.

To begin, open an image in Photoshop. For this example, I’m using a starter image with a relatively even degree of sharpness. The image also has room for significant foreground and background blur, so with the right tools, the effect should look very realistic.

Blur the background in Photoshop Field Blur starter image — Canon 5D Mark II | Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM | f/8 | 1/40s | ISO 200

Step 1: Convert the layer to a Smart Object

First things first:

Before you create any blur, convert the Background layer to a Smart Object. In a moment, you’ll be applying a Field Blur filter – and if your layer begins as a Smart Object, you’ll be able to adjust your blur filter at any time (long after it’s been added to the image).

So right-click on the Background layer (in the Layers panel) and select Convert to Smart Object:

The layer name will change from Background to Layer 0. The Smart Object icon will also appear in the bottom right corner of the layer’s thumbnail preview:

Step 2: Add the Field Blur filter

With Layer 0 selected, click the Filter menu, select Blur Gallery, and then Field Blur.

The Field Blur window will open, and you’ll see an initial pin positioned in the center of your image, creating a uniform blurred effect.

To start customizing the blur, reposition the initial pin by dragging it around the image. Also, by dragging the outer ring clockwise and counterclockwise, you can increase or decrease the intensity of the effect.

Field Blur pin Photoshop — A Field Blur pin.

To build up the Field Blur effect in the background of a photograph, you’ll likely need more than one pin. In the Field Blur window, position your cursor over an area in the image and click once; this will add a new pin.

Then move the pin and/or adjust the intensity of the blur accordingly. To maintain sharpness in the foreground, place a pin over a foreground subject or zone and set the blur to 0.

(Note: You can delete pins by selecting them with the mouse and hitting the Delete key.)

As you work with the Field Blur filter, Photoshop will automatically assess the space between each pin to create an even result. In the example below, the difference in blur between the foreground pin (with the blur set to 0) and the background pin (with the blur set to 25) is blended to create a smooth effect that transitions across the entirety of the image.

However, some images will require more pins than others (depending on your desired outcome), so don’t be afraid to experiment a little.

Blur the background in Photoshop Field Blur Stairs pins

Also, the Filter Gallery screen does contain a few extra adjustment panels, including Bokeh sliders and a Blur slider. The Bokeh effect is a little hit and miss, but it can be used to enhance the appearance of points of light, while the Blur slider works the same as adjusting Blur on a pin. And noise can be adjusted through the use of sliders on the Noise tab.

Once you are happy with the Field Blur effect, click OK. To make additional adjustments to the filter at a later time, simply double-click on the Blur Gallery effect in the Layers panel. The Field Blur window will open again, and you’ll be able to add further refinement.

Here’s my result:

stairs with background blur applied in Photoshop

How to blur the background in Photoshop: Iris Blur

The Iris Blur filter is another tool included in Photoshop’s Blur Gallery. It enables the selective blurring of an image, and it offers a more customizable range of depth of field controls compared to Field Blur.

Step 1: Convert the layer to a Smart Object

As with the Field Blur effect discussed above, start by opening your image in Photoshop and converting it to a Smart Object.

First, right-click on the image layer and select Convert to Smart Object. The name of the layer will change from Background to Layer 0, and a Smart Object icon will appear in the bottom right corner of the layer’s thumbnail preview.

Here’s the image I plan to blur; it has a bit of background blur already, but we can make it more impactful with the Iris Blur filter:

Blur the background in Photoshop Iris Blur starter image — Canon 5D Mark II | Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM | f/4 | 1/125s | ISO 200

Step 2: Apply the Iris Blur filter

With Layer 0 selected, click on Filter>Blur Gallery>Iris Blur.

The Iris Blur window will open, and the first Iris Blur pin will be positioned in the center of your image.

You’re free to reposition the Iris Blur by dragging the pin. You also have a number of options for customizing the effect; by carefully manipulating the various handles surrounding the central pin, you can introduce a realistic background blur. I’ve labeled the handles below:

And here are the corresponding effects:

A = Roundness Adjustment. Dragging makes the blur shape either circular or square.
B = Blur Ring. Controls the degree of blur applied to the image.
C = Feather Points. Dragging adjusts where the blur effect begins.
D = Ellipse Handle. Dragging makes the ellipse rounder or more oval in shape.

As with Field Blur, multiple Iris Blur pins can be placed on the image to exaggerate or limit the spread of the blur effects. However, unlike Field Blur, the amendments made to each Iris Blur pin are global, so every pin’s blur level is adjusted to match the active pin.

To customize the blur of an individual pin, adjust the Focus dropdown slider located at the top left of the Blur Gallery window:

Iris Blur focus slider — The Focus slider is located toward the top left of the Blur Gallery interface.

When you are finished, click OK. If you want to go back and edit any Iris Blur effects later, double click on the Blur Gallery filter layer (beneath the main image layer) in the Layer Panel. The Iris Blur window will open, allowing you to rework your edits.

Here’s a slightly exaggerated example of the results obtained with Iris Blur:

When is blurring the background a good idea?

The Field and Iris Blur filters are simple and impactful Photoshop tools. But when should you use them to blur the background in Photoshop, and when should you leave the background as-is?

You might want to use Iris or Field Blur if…

you want to draw attention to a subject;
you want to delineate between a foreground and background;
you want to convey depth;
you want to create an abstract effect.

Of course, there are plenty of other times when a Photoshop blur effect will do the trick. In general, look for images that feature a strong subject and/or exhibit a degree of open space or perspective that helps differentiate between foreground and background. You might even select an image already exhibiting a moderate amount of blur and enhance the effect in Photoshop.

How to blur the background in Photoshop: conclusion

Now that you’ve finished this article, you should be able to produce a realistic background blur using Photoshop.

Of course, it’s generally best to create blur using in-camera effects (e.g., a wide aperture for a shallow depth of field). But the Iris Blur and Field Blur filters offer a simple and effective way to create beautiful effects in post-processing.

So experiment with the Blur filters. Test out different effects. And your photos are bound to turn out great!

Now over to you:

Do you have any tips for blurring the background in Photoshop? Do you have a favorite background blur method? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post How to Blur the Background in Photoshop: Step-By-Step Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

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How to Whiten Teeth in Lightroom (Step-by-Step Guide)

15 Jul

The post How to Whiten Teeth in Lightroom (Step-by-Step Guide) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

Are you wondering how to whiten teeth in Lightroom? Lightroom makes teeth whitening easy, thanks to a pre-installed preset that you can fine-tune to your liking.

Not every smile needs the same amount of whitening, though. That’s why, in this guide, I’ll show you how to use Lightroom’s preset, but also how to customize it and create different presets of your own.

Let’s get started!

How to whiten teeth in Lightroom: the basics

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to teeth whitening (using Lightroom’s pre-installed preset):

Step 1: Import your image

Unless you’ve already imported your image into the Lightroom catalog, this should be your first step. Select File>Import Photos and Video, then look through your files and import the one you need.

Alternatively, you can drag and drop your image into the Library workspace.

Regardless, remember that Lightroom is non-destructive – so no matter how you import your file, you’ll be adjusting a copy, not the original.

Step 2: Move to the Develop module

Importing occurs in the Library module. So once your photo has been added to the Lightroom catalog, it’s time to switch workspaces and enter the Develop module.

Simply hit the Develop button at the top:

In the Develop module, you’ll find all of Lightroom’s photo-editing tools. If you want to add any general edits to your photos or you’re thinking of applying a preset, you’ll do it in the Develop module. It’s also where all the teeth-whitening magic will happen.

Step 3: Enable the Adjustment Brush

On the righthand side, you have your tools inside different editing panels. Toward the top, between the Histogram and the Basic panel, you’ll find the selective adjustment tools.

Click to enable the Adjustment Brush (or hit the K key):

Lightroom will open the Adjustment Brush panel, where you can create masks, adjust the Brush options, and edit the selected area.

Step 4: Select the teeth

You’ll start by preparing to select the teeth. First, scroll down until you find the Brush settings, then adjust the size and feathering (the best settings will depend on your particular image).

Note that you’ll probably need a smaller Brush when selecting near the edges of teeth. Fortunately, you can create two saved Brushes (with the A and B choices). Otherwise, you can use the bracket keys to enlarge or shrink the Brush size while working.

How to whiten teeth in Lightroom selection

I recommend you enable Auto Mask. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a tool that helps you select a specific area by recognizing edges.

You can also enable Show Selected Mask Overlay – you’ll find it under the image, and it will allow you to see where you’re actually painting the mask.

Finally, brush over the teeth. Zoom in if necessary and make sure you work very carefully.

Step 5: Apply the Teeth Whitening preset (optional)

How to whiten teeth in Lightroom by adding the Teeth Whitening preset

Once you’ve brushed over the teeth, go ahead and disable the Selected Mask Overlay; now it’s time to apply adjustments to the selected area.

Because teeth whitening is such a common retouch, Lightroom already has a Teeth Whitening preset. If you want to use it, open the Effect drop-down menu and select Teeth Whitening. Your subject’s teeth should get whiter, and if you like the effect, great! It may be all you need, in which case you can hit Done.

Alternatively, you may want to use the preset as a starting point, then make further adjustments (as discussed in the next section).

Notice that once you apply the preset, sliders will change. The exposure will increase to 0.40 and saturation will be set at -60.

Step 6: Adjust the edits

If you don’t want to use the preset, or if you want to fine-tune the preset’s effect, you can manually move the sliders.

First, adjust the exposure and saturation to fit your image. You’ll also want to check the temperature – if the teeth are looking too yellow, slightly move the Temp slider to the left.

Keep zooming in and out to check the overall result because you don’t want the white to look fake. You can see a before and after version by selecting View>Before/After.

Remember that the Before view will show you the imported image. So if you make general adjustments to your image, whiten the teeth, and display the Before view, the preview will be stripped of all its edits, not just the teeth whitening.

Step 7: Save the preset (optional)

If you like your whitening effect, you can save it as a preset. Head to the Presets panel, then click the plus sign and select Create Preset.

A dialog window will pop up where you can check the elements that you want to include in your preset. Then all you have to do is name the preset, and it will be saved for you to use on other photos!

When should you whiten teeth?

split tone applied to image of mouth — When you’re applying presets or making color adjustments to your photos, keep an eye on how it affects the teeth. Use the Adjustment Brush as shown in this guide to correct the color.

Now that I’ve explained how to whiten teeth in Lightroom, let’s see when you should do it. Teeth aren’t naturally fully white, and each person has different tones of teeth. So you shouldn’t add teeth whitening as a default part of your workflow. Instead, use it in specific situations:

When your edits changed the original color of the teeth

If you apply a color filter, change the white balance, or move the color settings of your entire image, you might end up with unnatural-looking teeth, in which case whitening is a good idea.

That said, when you whiten the teeth, make sure they still match the overall mood and ambiance of the picture. For example, if you apply a vintage filter and then make the teeth super white, they will stand out…in a bad way.

When the teeth weren’t lit properly

Sometimes, an unflattering shadow makes the teeth look dark or stained. But you can easily fix this problem by adding more light with the Exposure slider.

Also, certain lighting might cause yellowish teeth. For example, using tungsten light or a golden reflector might give a pleasing warm tone to the skin while also causing the teeth to look yellowish. In this case, a white balance adjustment selectively applied to the teeth will go a long way.

Another common problem: teeth reflect colors from objects that are nearby. So if your model has a colorful prop or object close to their mouth, the teeth might show a hint of color.

When your model asks you

As I was mentioning before, teeth might be underexposed because of a light problem during the photoshoot or because of color editing during post-processing. If you’re whitening the teeth to correct any of these issues, then there’s not much conflict.

However, sometimes the person has natural discoloration – and if that is the case, don’t automatically add teeth whitening as part of your workflow. Wait for your model to ask (and if they don’t ask, then don’t make any changes!).

You should never alter how a person looks without their consent. If the client hasn’t asked you for any aesthetic changes, you shouldn’t assume they want them.

5 tips for whitening teeth in Lightroom

By following the step-by-step teeth whitening guide shared above, you’ll be able to retouch your images without any problems.

But these extra tips will help you get even better results, starting with:

1. Understand editing pins

When you’re using the Adjustment Brush, you’ll notice that a gray dot (i.e., an editing pin) appears when you click on the image.

Anytime you need to go back to edit that selection, just click on the pin to make the selection active once more. (If the pins are distracting, you can press the H key to make them invisible.)

good and bad teeth — If you overcorrected or you’re somehow unhappy with the results, you can reactivate the selection by clicking on the corresponding edit pin.

2. Fix a selection

If you accidentally select the gums, lips, or anything that’s not supposed to be affected by the teeth whitening, don’t worry – you can always use the Erase tool!

Inside the Adjustment Brush panel, next to the Brush A B presets, you’ll see the word Erase. After clicking it, you’ll be able to erase your selection. (Alternatively, you can hold the Alt key, which will toggle the Eraser option.)

3. Keep in mind the person’s age

Remember that teeth discoloration is part of the natural process of aging. If you want to keep your photo retouching realistic, don’t overdo it. Consider that a younger model should probably have whiter teeth than an older one (this is one of the reasons you can’t use the same settings for every photo).

4. Take a break

This advice is useful for any type of retouching – whenever you’re done, take a break and come back later.

Sometimes you’re so focused on a specific part of the image that you lose track of the bigger picture. So close the computer for a while or go outside to get some natural light and rest your eyes. Then come back and see the photo again. If you’re satisfied, that’s great – but if you’re not, then just make some more adjustments!

5. Download presets

If you don’t love post-processing, or if you want to improve your post-processing without extra work, remember that you can always buy presets or download freebies from professional photo retouchers and fellow photographers!

How to whiten teeth in Lightroom: conclusion

Okay, now you know how to whiten teeth in Lightroom – and I hope you agree that it’s super easy!

So practice your teeth whitening. Improve your photos. And if you run into any problems while adjusting your pictures, don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments section.

Now over to you:

Do you have any tips for teeth whitening? Have you tried to whiten teeth before? How did it turn out? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post How to Whiten Teeth in Lightroom (Step-by-Step Guide) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

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How to Batch Resize in Photoshop: A Step-by-Step Guide (2021)

12 May

The post How to Batch Resize in Photoshop: A Step-by-Step Guide (2021) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Helen Bradley.

how to batch resize in Photoshop: a guide

What’s the easiest way to batch resize in Photoshop?

In this article, I’m going to take you through a simple, step-by-step process for resizing your images. It’ll take seconds – and when you’re done, you’ll be able to resize dozens (or hundreds!) of photos at once.

Let’s get started.

Batch resizing in Photoshop: step by step

Batch resizing isn’t hard, and it takes very little knowledge.

To start, make sure you open some files in Photoshop (though note that you don’t need to open all the files you’re aiming to resize; a random file or an empty canvas will do just fine). As you can see below, I’ve opened a blank document:

I’m going to cover the Image Processor method of batch resizing. Pretty much anyone can do it, and it generally works well. However, if you have more complex batch resizing requirements, consider writing an action; that way, you can tailor the resizing to your particular needs.

Now let’s take a closer look at the batch resizing process, starting with:

Step 1: Open the Image Processor

Choose File>Scripts>Image Processor.

The Image Processor dialog box will open, where you’ll see a simple, four-step process for resizing your images:

Step 2: Select your images for batch resizing

In the first section of the Image Processor dialog box, you’ll need to identify the images you want to batch resize.

You can choose to resize all open images by selecting Use Open Images:

how to batch resize in Photoshop choosing the images

Or you can pick a folder from your hard drive via the Select Folder button:

If you do select a folder, you can tell Photoshop to resize images in all subfolders as well; just hit the Include All sub-folders checkbox:

selecting the Include All sub-folders option

Step 3: Determine your export location

Now it’s time to determine where you want your resized images to go.

To save the resized versions alongside the originals, simply select Save in Same Location:

selecting the location for the resized images

Then, when the resizing begins, Photoshop will create a subfolder next to the original files. (Because your resized versions will retain the names of the original files, creating a subfolder – rather than simply saving the images in the original folder – prevents any overwriting.)

Alternatively, you can select a different folder for the resized files:

Step 4: Input your preferred image sizes

This is the most important step of the entire process:

The moment where you dial in resize settings for your files.

First, determine your output file type. You can choose from JPEG, PSD, and TIFF (JPEG is the default and generally works well, but if you’re working with layered files, then PSD is a good choice).

If you do decide to save JPEGs, you can adjust the output quality; 12 will give you large, great-looking photos, whereas 1 will give you tiny, low-quality results.

For better color when displaying your photos on the web, select Convert Profile to sRGB:

I also recommend checking the Include ICC Profile box at the bottom:

Finally, select Resize to Fit, and type in your preferred file size!

Note that the dimensions you dial in are maximums. So if you type in 300 for the width and 300 for the height, the files will be resized so that the longest side of every image is 300 pixels.

(In other words, the images won’t be cropped or skewed to fit your preferred dimensions; they’ll be scaled up or down for the most natural-looking results.)

how to batch resize in Photoshop typing in a width and height

Also note that the width and height measurements don’t have to be the same. You could specify a width of 400 and a height of 300 – then all images would be constrained to a width of 400 or a height of 300, whichever comes first.

By the way, you do have the option to save your images in a second (or third) format, as well. Just select the Save as PSD or Save as TIFF checkboxes, and PSD and/or TIFF folders will be created alongside your JPEG folder!

Step 5: Run the script

When you’re ready, click Run.

The images will be automatically opened (if they’re not open already), resized, saved, and closed again.

To find your resized images, simply head to the folder you specified in Step 3 (above). If you chose to save JPEGs, the images will be in a subfolder called JPEG; if you chose to save TIFFs, the images will be in a subfolder called TIFF, etc.

Like this:

How to batch resize in Photoshop: final words

Well, there you have it:

The easiest way to batch resize your images in Photoshop.

So whenever you need to resize a lot of images for uploading on the web, use the Photoshop Image Processor.

It makes the job quick and painless!

Now over to you:

Do you have a favorite method of batch resizing images in Photoshop? If so, share it in the comments below!

The post How to Batch Resize in Photoshop: A Step-by-Step Guide (2021) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Helen Bradley.

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How to Merge Photos in Affinity Photo: A Step-by-Step Guide

16 Dec

The post How to Merge Photos in Affinity Photo: A Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

If you want to merge photos in Affinity Photo, the process is surprisingly simple. But there are a few tips and tricks that will help you merge two or more photos – and help you make adjustments so your final image looks just the way you want it.

Digital imaging allows for endless manipulation and combining of photographs. Having a clear idea of what you want to achieve will make for a more efficient workflow. If you’re more interested in messing around and experimenting with how you can merge photos in Affinity, give yourself some time to play around. The possibilities are endless.

Getting started with merging photos may seem daunting. But the tools in Affinity Photo are designed to help you merge photos easily. The process can be completed quickly or it can take ages, depending on the photos you choose and the degree of detail you want.

What is a photo merge in Affinity Photo?

A photo merge in Affinity Photo is the combination of two or more images to create a new one. You can merge similar or very different images.

For instance, I love creating photomontages. This involves merging many photos to create a single, cubist-like picture.

Merging several near-identical photos with different exposure values is known as high dynamic range (HDR) blending. You can also take a series of photos to make a panoramic image and merge them in Affinity Photo. These are very specific merging techniques that will not be covered in this article – but you will notice there are options under the top File menu for these functions.

In this article, I’ll take you through a step-by-step workflow for how to merge two photos in Affinity Photo. This will be helpful if you have two similar images you want to combine into one final, great-looking result.

For example:

If you’ve taken some portraits and your subject has blinked in many of the photos, you can use this technique to select their eyes from a photo where they are open and merge them with photos where their eyes are closed. That way, you can combine the best pose and facial expression with the best shot of your subject’s eyes.

two photos merged of a woman blinking — © Kevin Landwer-Johan | Nikon D800 | 85mm | 1/800s | f/2.8 | ISO 400

How to merge photos in Affinity: A step-by-step guide

Now let’s take a look at how to merge two images in Affinity Photo, starting with:

Step 1: Select your photos

One of the most critical aspects of merging photos in Affinity is selecting suitable images. This depends on what your aim is. You may want to create a very realistic-looking merge, or you might want to make an image that is a complete fantasy.

Knowing what you want to achieve with your merge project will guide you in selecting photos. Picking photos taken with the same or a similar focal length lens is important when you want to achieve a realistic look. Trying to combine one photo taken with a 20mm lens and another with a 200mm lens will not look natural.

Photos taken from a similar perspective are also easier to merge for a more natural look. If you have one image taken from a low angle and the other taken looking down from above, then it will be very difficult to merge them so the final image looks realistic.

Lighting is also an important consideration. Having one of your photos taken in the shade and the other in full sunshine will make it more challenging to combine them for a natural-looking result.

To keep things simple, I am using two photos taken with the same lens and at the same location from a similar perspective:

Tuktuk driver in Bangkok for merging — This Tuktuk driver photo will be used for the background.
Nikon D700 | 20mm | 1/250s | f/5.6 | ISO 400
© Kevin Landwer-Johan

guy with a flaming wallet for merging — This guy with a flaming wallet will be merged with the background image.
Nikon D700 | 20mm | 1/125s | f/4 | ISO 400
©Kevin Landwer-Johan

Step 2: Combine and size your images

Select the photo you want as the foreground. Copy and paste it onto your background image.

If one of the photos is bigger than the other, you’ll need to resize it. Select the Move Tool from the Tools panel (or tap the “V” key to select it).

Then click on the layer you want to resize in the Layers panel. Click and drag a corner of the bounding box that surrounds the photo. If you are resizing the background layer, you’ll first need to check the padlock icon in the Layers Panel to unlock it.

You can reduce the opacity of your top layer as you resize and position your photos. Drag the slider in the Layers panel down to about 50%. This makes it easier to see when your photo is the right size and in the best location. Then turn the opacity level back up to 100% again.

Step 3: Mask out unwanted content

Using the Selection Brush Tool (“W” on the keyboard), carefully select the areas of the foreground photo that you want to keep. This tool will auto-select based on contrast. So where there are elements with little contrast between what you’re selecting and the background, you may have to manually refine your selection.

Zoom in on problem areas and reduce the brush size, then select with precision. In places where the selection accidentally covers an area you don’t want to select, press and hold the Alt key (Option on a Mac) and paint over the area to deselect it.

Finally, look over the entire edge of your selection to ensure you’ve only selected areas that you want to be selected.

Once you’re satisfied with your selection, click the Refine button in the Tool menu above the image. A dialogue box will appear with various options, all designed to help you refine your selection. Use the various sliders to make adjustments. How much you need to move the sliders is somewhat based on the size and resolution of the photos you’re working on.

When you’re finished, click Apply.

At the bottom of the Layers panel, click on the Mask Layer icon. This is a light rectangle with a dark circle in it. The unwanted parts of your image will become masked out. You can make further alterations to this layer mask using the Brush tool. To remove more of the image, paint with a black brush. You can switch to a white brush to restore the areas you painted out.

Affinity photo screen grab illustrating refining a selection

Step 4: Make further adjustments

Now your two images should be merged and looking more how you want them to.

However, depending on the photos you’re working with, you may still want to make some changes. If the lighting in both photos is different, you can use a Linear or Radial Gradient filter to add light.

In my example, I used a Blur filter on the background image to help create a sense of depth. To do this, select Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur from the top menu. Move the slider until you have a satisfactory amount of blur.

I also used a Levels adjustment on my background layer so that it better matched the tones of my foreground photo.

This step can be endless. There are many adjustments you can make to get your two photos looking as similar or as different as you like.

How to merge photos in Affinity: conclusion

You can merge photos in Affinity Photo with great ease and effectiveness.

Note that having a clear idea of what you want to create helps speed up the process of merging images. When you are not sure of the final outcome, you can spend endless hours experimenting until you get a result you are happy with.

Practice with the various tools and learn how to use them well. Duplicating your layers and preserving the originals is a good safety step. If you’ve duplicated your layers and hidden them, you can always revert back to the original if you make a mistake or overwork a layer.

Have fun while you learn to merge photos in Affinity. Take your time, experiment, and be as creative as you like!

The post How to Merge Photos in Affinity Photo: A Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

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Step-by-step Guide to Long Exposure Photography

02 Aug

The post Step-by-step Guide to Long Exposure Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Francesco Gola.

In the past few years, thanks to the diffusion of useful accessories and photographic filters with good quality and low prices, the technique of long exposure has become increasingly popular among photography enthusiasts. Even if this technique can be used both in the studio and in an urban environment, the perfect playground for long exposures is landscape photography.

Unfortunately, it often happens that the result we get is far from our expectations, and we end up classifying the long exposure as an impossible technique. However, following this step-by-step guide to long exposure photography, you’ll see how easy it is to get a good result on the first attempt (or almost!).

Step One: Study the weather

A day with a cloudless sky is a good day to drink a beer with friends, not to make long exposures. Likewise, it cannot rain forever, so do not resign yourself to an afternoon with your PlayStation. You should study satellite images rather than the meteorological sites, trying to figure out if there is an incoming storm, or if the downpour is about to end.

Step Two: Visit the location well in advance

Scout the location ahead of time, as you need a lot of time to find the perfect composition, or at least more than the time needed for a “short exposure”. In fact, in a long exposure, the world is completely different from how you see it with your own eyes. You have to try to see it with your mind, looking for a harmonious composition that includes moving subjects, trying to predict the direction of the clouds or the force of the sea.

Try not to put the sun into the composition, because its movement will ruin the shot and it will create an area of overexposure that is not recoverable. If you cannot avoid the sun, wait for it to hide behind a cloud.

Step Three: Use a tripod

Mount your camera on a tripod and install all the accessories such as the remote shutter release and the filter holder (if you are using drop-in filters). However, wait to actually install the filters. This is very important!

Step Four: Compose the image and lock focus

Refine your composition, focus on the subject, and lock the focus. If you are using manual focus, go ahead and turn the lens’s focus ring.

If you are using your camera’s autofocus mode, you should focus by half-pressing the shutter button, and once the focus has been made, while still holding down the shutter button halfway, push the lever from Auto Focus to Manual. In this way, your camera will maintain the focus (alternately, you could use back-button focus).

Step Five: Set the exposure

Now set your camera to Manual (M) mode or Aperture Priority (A/Av) mode. Then set the aperture to an appropriate value for the scene (for landscapes I suggest between f/8 and f/11) and take a “test shot.”

The test is complete when you get a correct exposure. To determine if the exposure is correct, check the histogram (do not trust your display, it is too bright). It is true that there is no universally correct result on the histogram, but there are histograms that are universally incorrect, namely moved completely to the right or left side (the image is respectively overexposed or underexposed).

Once the test shot is successful, write down the shutter speed you used for that shot.

Step Six: Add your filter

Now add your Neutral Density (ND) filter. If the filter is very strong (10 stops, for example), you will not be able to see through the viewfinder or the Live View. Do not worry, because if you have followed the guide up to this point you will notice that we have already made the composition and the focus too. You are blind, but your camera will see everything perfectly.

Step Seven: Change to Bulb mode

Set the shooting mode to Bulb (B) in order to discard the thirty-second limit of the camera. Do not change any of the other settings (ISO and aperture) used in the test shot.

Step Eight: Take your long exposure shot

It is finally time to take our long exposure shot.

But how long will you need to leave the shutter open? It is less difficult than you might expect. First of all, recollect the shutter speed that you noted down from the “test shot” you did in Step Five above. Now you must compensate by the number of stops introduced by the filter.

For example, if your test shot was 1/15th of a second, adding 10 stops will get a shutter speed of approximately 60 seconds. Now you have your shutter speed!

(No need to get stuck in the mathematics: On the internet you can easily find conversion tables and applications for your smartphone that will do the conversion for you.)

Step Nine: Check the histogram again

Once you’ve taken the shot with the calculated shutter speed, check the histogram. If the new histogram is approximately equal to the histogram of the test shot, mission accomplished. If it is shifted too far to the right or to the left, repeat the shot again correcting the shutter speed.

Easy, isn’t it? Now fill your backpack with your camera and filters and go to practice in the field!

The post Step-by-step Guide to Long Exposure Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Francesco Gola.

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How to Repair Corrupted Videos Shot on Digital Cameras and Other Devices: A Step-by-Step Guide

18 Mar

The post How to Repair Corrupted Videos Shot on Digital Cameras and Other Devices: A Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Theodomentis Lucia.

How to repair corrupted videos featured image

Earlier today, I thought about playing some videos that I shot on my digital camera during my last vacation. Sadly, every time I tried to play them on VLC or Windows Media Player, I got a gray or green display on the screen instead. I realized that my videos were corrupt and thought of digging up and finding an ideal solution for it. To be honest, after some failed attempts, I was finally able to repair my corrupted videos. If you have also encountered a similar situation in the past, then you may learn something from my experience.

Read on to find out how.

What could have caused your videos to become corrupt?

Before we head into the details on how to repair corrupted videos, it is important to discuss a few things in advance. You should know the major reasons why a video gets corrupt or damaged so that you can avoid it in the future.

These reasons include:

The transfer process of videos from your digital camera to the computer could be halted mid-transfer.
You may have restarted the system while the video was still playing in the background.
Sometimes, a third-party tool like a video editing software can also end up corrupting a file.
The location (drive or partition) where your video is stored could be corrupted.
The meta content or the header of the video might be tampered with as well.
If you have forcefully tried to change the video extension or type, then it can corrupt the file.
The audio-video components of the file might not be synced properly or could be missing.
You have played the video with an unsupported media player, or there could be an issue with the video encoding.
Other logical issues related to video playback, picture, sound, etc. can also cause this problem.

How to Repair Corrupted Videos Shot on Digital Cameras and Other Devices: A Step-by-Step Guide

How can you repair corrupted videos on Windows or Mac?

If your videos have been corrupted, then you need to look for the right tools to fix them.

Since there are so many tools out there to repair corrupted videos, I asked a friend of mine, who is an expert in the field. He recommended Recoverit Video Repair, so I decided to give it a try as well.

Ideally, Recoverit is a dedicated application to recover the lost or corrupt data of all kinds. However, it also has a dedicated video repairing tool that can fix various issues related to a video file.

After getting to know these features, I wanted to give Recoverit a try and found its click-through process pretty easy.

Once you have installed the Recoverit Video Repair application, you can follow these steps to fix your corrupt files.

Steps to repair corrupted videos and files

Step 1: Launch the Video Repair tool

If you have some videos to fix, then just launch the Recoverit application on your system and launch the “Video Repair” tool from its home page. Also, attach your digital camera to the computer and move your damaged videos to the system.

Step 2: Add corrupt videos to repair

Once you launch the Recoverit Video Repair application, you can just click on the “add” button to load the corrupted videos.

This will further launch a browser window, letting you locate and load the videos that are damaged. If you want, you can load multiple videos and repair them at the same time.

How to Repair Corrupted Videos Shot on Digital Cameras and Other Devices: A Step-by-Step Guide - Adding the videos screenshot

Step 3: Start the repairing process

After you have added the corrupted videos to the application, the interface will let you know. You can view the details of the added videos and even remove them from here.

If you are ready, then just click on the “Repair” button to commence the repairing process.

Step 4: Wait for the repairing process to be over

As soon as you click on the “Repair” button, the application starts fixing the loaded videos and displays the progress. Kindly be patient as of now and let the application complete the process.

How to Repair Corrupted Videos Shot on Digital Cameras and Other Devices: A Step-by-Step Guide - waiting for the repair process screenshot

Once the repairing process is completed, Recoverit will let you know by displaying the following prompt.

Step 5: View the repaired videos

You can now preview the results of the repaired process by clicking on the play icon adjacent to the video.

How to Repair Corrupted Videos Shot on Digital Cameras and Other Devices: A Step-by-Step Guide - View repaired videos screenshot

This opens a pop-up window with a video player that will let you play the repaired video. In this way, you can check the results of the application before saving the videos.

Step 6: Save the repaired videos

If you are satisfied with the results, then click on the “Save to Folder” button right next to the video.

If you want, you can also click on the “Save All” button to save all the videos. This opens a browser window, letting you select a secure location to save the videos.

Step 7: Run an advanced video repair (optional)

In the case that you are not satisfied with the standard video repairing results, then click on the Advanced Video Repair feature, which you can find at the bottom of the video player.

How to Repair Corrupted Videos Shot on Digital Cameras and Other Devices: A Step-by-Step Guide - Advanced video repair screenshot

To run an advanced repair, you need to load a sample video to the application. The sample video should be shot on the same device as the corrupted video and must be in the same format.

After loading the sample video, you can start the advanced video repair process and view its results as well.

Conclusion

When using Recoverit, it’s easy to repair corrupted videos. Recoverit is able to fix all sorts of issues related to videos like missing fragments, gray/green screens, video not loading error, and so on and supports a wide range of video formats like MOV, AVI, FLV, 3GP, MP4, MKV, MTS, and more. It can fix all kinds of videos shot on a wide range of devices like digital cameras, drones, camcorders, and smartphones.

The video repair tool is available in three different purchase options – $ 29.95 a month, $ 39.95 a year, or $ 49.95 (lifetime purchase) for the Windows version. If you get it now, you can get 30% off Recoverit for windows or 30% off for mac.

Download and Get 30% off Recoverit video repair now by using the exclusive coupon code: LENOP09

Disclaimer: Recoverit is a dPS paid partner.

The post How to Repair Corrupted Videos Shot on Digital Cameras and Other Devices: A Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Theodomentis Lucia.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro

02 Feb

The post A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

One of the reasons photographers hesitate to move from Lightroom to Capture One Pro is the learning curve associated with a new piece of software. The interface and the tools in COP are very different than those of Lightroom. Color grading in Capture One is one example of a process that is radically different than those found with Adobe products.

That being said, if you already know how to retouch your photos in Lightroom or Photoshop, then it won’t take you long to get up and running with Capture One Pro, which is recognized industry-wide for its superb color grading tools.

Color grading in Capture One Pro is a huge topic, but here are some tips to get you started.

The Color Editor

The Color Editor can be found in the left-hand side of the COP workspace, indicated by an icon as shown below:

color grading in capture one pro

Here you’ll find an RGB Histogram, a panel for White Balance, the Color Editor, and Color Balance.

There are three tabs in the Color Editor: Basic, Advanced, and Skin Tone. COP is recognized for its ability to render beautiful and highly realistic skin tones in comparison to other RAW editors.

These tabs allow you to modify the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness of individual colors.

You can also work in Layer Masks. These work similarly to local adjustments in Lightroom and allow you to modify individual colors more precisely.

The Basic tab

There are six color ranges represented in the color wheel under the Basic tab.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro

To work on a particular color, you first need to define the color range.

Choose the eyedropper to the right of the color wheel and click it on the desired color in your image.

In my image of the roasted cauliflower below, I clicked on the roasted tomatoes in order to work on the red tone.

color grading in capture one

The shading in the red segment of the color wheel shows you what color/colors have been selected.

You can further define the color range by clicking on the border of the segment and adjusting the width with your mouse.

color grading in capture one

To see exactly what the range includes click on View Selected Color.

color grading in capture one

Use the Smoothness slider to control the fall-off of the selected color into neighboring colors. This is represented by the shaded colored area around the boundaries. This will prevent hard edges.

The Basic tab is great in that it allows you to work on colors in your image individually. However, for maximum control when color grading in Capture One, use the Advanced tab.

The Advanced tab

As with the Basic tab, you need to define the color range you wish to work on with the color picker.

Click on the area you wish to adjust.

Then click View Selected Color Range.

Everything that is not part of the selection will be shown on the image as black and white. The width of the selection on the color wheel shows the excluded colors.

color grading in capture one

When working in the Advanced tab, you have extra precision when controlling the depth of the selection, as shown in the image above.

Simply click on the border and move your mouse towards the center of the color wheel. You can grab the border to include other colors in your selection.

Now you can make adjustments to the Smoothness, Hue, Saturation, and Lightness.

Once you have made the desired adjustments, uncheck View Selected Color Range.

To edit certain colors and not others when color grading in Capture One, you can also work on layers.

Layers in COP work similarly to local adjustments in Lightroom.

The Color Balance Tool

The Color Balance Tool is a simple yet powerful tool for correcting color casts and also for color grading in Capture One.

It can also be found under the Color Tool tab.

Color Balance allows you to not only tweak color, but add luminosity to the highlights, midtones, and shadows individually to an image. It enables precise control over hue and saturation in your images.

It can be used to make local adjustments in conjunction with the Layers Tool.

The tool is split up into five tabs: Master, 3-Way, Shadow, Midtone, and Highlight.

The Master tab allows you to affect color throughout the image. For example, if you want to cool down or warm up your image.

3-Way allows you to conveniently see Shadow, Midtone, and Highlight all at once.

When working with the Color Balance tool, you might want to remove it from the side panel and have it float in your workspace. You can then enlarge it for more comfortable viewing to make extra fine adjustments as needed.

To do this, simply click on the panel and drag it to another area of the workspace with your mouse.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro

Then drag on a corner to expand it.

color grading in capture one

To use the individual color balance tools, click on the centerpoint and drag it around the circumference, towards the color you want to affect.

Moving the pointer away from the center towards the perimeter increases saturation.

color grading in capture one

The curved sliders on either side of the color wheel affect the density of the chosen color range.

To reset the slider, you can click anywhere in the middle.

After you have made your individual color adjustments, you can head over to the Master slider and tweak the overall color balance if you wish.

In the image below, I made a couple of adjustments to the exposure, contrast and brightness of my image but I wanted to improve the colors.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro

I used the Master tab to cool down the image overall and bring out the blue undertone in the peonies.

color grading in capture one

Then I added some blue to the shadow. To the naked eye, the plate was quite blue and I wanted to bring this out in my image.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro

I also added magenta to the midtones and highlights to bring out the pink.

To work on colors individually, like the green of the leaves, you can use the Color Balance tool in conjunction with the Layers tool.

To do this, click on the Layers tab and create a name for your layer so you know what it refers to. I called my “Leaves.”

color grading in capture one

Paint a mask on the selection of the image you wish to change. There is no need to be super precise.

Use the Master tab to make the adjustment to the color.

color grading in capture one

The image will be adjusted with the updated color.

color grading in capture one

Conclusion

Capture One Pro comes with a steeper price tag than Adobe products, however, their claim that they are the number one choice among professionals is not an exaggeration.

Take some time to play around with the Color Editor and Color Balance tool. You may soon find you’ll be abandoning Lightroom for color grading in Capture One Pro.

Do you have any other questions or tips for color grading in Capture One Pro? If so, please share them with us in the comments.

The post A Step-by-Step Guide to Color Grading in Capture One Pro appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

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Creative Water Photography – A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Water Monsters

22 Jan

The post Creative Water Photography – A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Water Monsters appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ramakant Sharda.

Have you ever watched an alien movie and wondered how they created those monsters? You’d need a very powerful computer, animation software, and some special skills to create an animated or moving monster. However, you can easily create a series of still monsters by using water. I’ll show you how some creative water photography can enable you to create your own water monsters. It’s simple to do, with great effect!

So let’s get started!

creative-water-photography-making-water-monsters

1. What you need to make water monsters:

To do your creative water photography, you will (obviously) need a camera. You can use any DSLR or Mirrorless camera. In fact, you can use a point-and-shoot camera if it is capable of firing an external flash.

A standard lens, like a 24-70 mm, is good, as you don’t want your splash to go out of the frame. You also don’t want water splashes on your camera.

In addition to a camera, you will need an external flash and a cable or wireless trigger to fire the flash. Then you’ll need a large diffuser. You can use the translucent part of a five-in-one reflector, or you can use a butter paper sheet and paste it on a wooden frame. A reflector is a better choice here, as you don’t need to make a wooden frame, and it also won’t get damaged if some water spills on it.

You’ll need a light stand to affix the flash and a tripod for the camera.

If you have a portable water tub, you can do this shoot in a room. However, if you don’t have one, you’ll have to do it outside.

Also, you’ll need to wait until night, as you can’t do this shoot in daylight.

You’ll also need an assistant to throw the water so you can click the beautiful water monsters.

Creative Water Photography – A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Water Monsters

2. Setup:

The setup is pretty simple.

If you are shooting your water monsters indoors, place your water tub in the room and hang the diffuser behind it.

Set the flash a little bit farther away from the diffuser. If you have a round studio light reflector, use it. It’ll give you a nice, round light effect. If you don’t have one, that’s okay. You can just use the flash.

Fix your camera on the tripod and place it far from the water tub. You don’t want water splashes on your expensive camera, so you’re going to use it on full zoom. If you don’t have a 24-70mm lens, you can use a 100mm lens and place the camera farther.

See the image below to view the setup.

creative-water-photography-making-water-monsters

3. Camera and other settings:

Now you have done that, let’s talk about settings.

Place a stick at the center of the water tub and manually focus on it. Don’t forget to set your camera on manual focus after that.

Now you need to finish your camera settings and flash settings. First, we’ll do flash settings.

Change your flash to manual mode and set the power to 1/32. We’re doing this because when the flash is on lower power, it produces the shortest burst of light, which helps to freeze the subject. You can’t go above 1/32 power, as then you’ll start getting motion blur.

Now set the camera to manual mode.

Set your ISO to 100, aperture to f/16, and shutter speed to 1/200 sec or whatever your camera sync speed is. These are the settings I used in all my shots, and they’ll work for you, too.

An aperture of f/16 will give you enough depth of field, and the entire splash will be in focus. Make sure you’re shooting in RAW, too, as this will help in post-processing later.

If you are firing your flash using a radio trigger, set it up. Or if you are using a cable to fire it, attach the cable.

Now your setup is ready, so let’s talk about the workflow and start creating these beautiful water monsters.

creative-water-photography-making-water-monsters

Workflow:

Earlier, you placed a stick in the tub of water. Now remove it and replace it with something like a glass so that your assistant knows where the focus point is and throws the water accordingly. Also, tell your assistant about the area where your frame is so they won’t throw the water outside the frame.

Now all you need to do is press the shutter when your assistant throws the water.

They can throw the water in different ways. For example, they can fill both hands with water and throw it upside. Just make sure their hands don’t enter the frame.

Your assistant can use a mug or glass to throw the water, or they can throw it using two or three cups together.

Different methods of throwing water will give you different results.

Even if you use the same method of throwing, you’ll get different pictures every time.

Take at least 100 photos – the more, the better.

creative-water-photography-making-water-monsters

Post-processing:

Post-processing is quite simple.

First, select good photos from the pictures you’ve taken. If you have clicked 100 pictures, you’ll get 10-12 good photos.

Now open the RAW files in “Camera Raw” and change the white balance to 3000. It’ll convert your gray picture to a blue tone.

If you’re an advanced photographer and you can set custom white balance settings in your camera, set it to 3000 kelvin before the shoot. Then you won’t need to do it in post-processing.

Creative Water Photography – A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Water Monsters

Now you just need to clean up some extra water droplets, crop if needed, and sharpen it. Your water monsters will be ready.

When you’ve finished editing the photos, check out the other images one more time. You’ll find some images that you can merge and use to make something unique. For example, I made this butterfly using three images.

creative-water-photography-making-water-monsters

So, let’s do some creative water photography and make these amazing water monsters!

We’d love to see your results, too, so please sharing them in the comments.

Also, if you run into any problems, just comment on this post, and I’ll help you solve them.

Creative Water Photography – A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Water Monsters

The post Creative Water Photography – A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Water Monsters appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ramakant Sharda.

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Create Awesome Reflections in Photoshop with Ease (Step-by-Step Guide)

18 Nov

The post Create Awesome Reflections in Photoshop with Ease (Step-by-Step Guide) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Attractive reflections can be challenging to capture naturally in your photographs. Sometimes it’s easier to create reflections in Photoshop. You will have more control over how the photo looks and you can avoid the difficulties that photographing reflections can bring.

Often you can’t find just the right place to stand to catch the best reflection. Sometimes the light is wrong and a natural reflection will look too dark. Choosing to make reflections in Photoshop gives you much more flexibility to get the look you want.

It’s really not that difficult to do. In this article, I’ll walk you through a series of steps you can use to make a mirror image in Photoshop.

Step 1: Selecting your photo

When making reflections in Photoshop, it’s important to start out by choosing a photo that’s suitable. Not every photo will look good or natural when you make a mirror image of it.

When you’re looking for a photo to use with this technique, think about how it will look. You ideally want to use a photo where the main subject has a distinct line along where the reflection will appear.

Open your photo in Photoshop. You may need to crop the bottom of the photo to create a clean line where the reflection can be placed.

Step 2: Adjust the canvas size

You need to adjust the canvas size to make room for the reflection you will create.

Go to the top menu and select Image->Canvas Size. In the pop-up that appears in the box next to the Height option, click the drop-down and choose Percent. Make the Height percentage 200.

Click the top center of the Anchor options grid. This will force the new canvas space you are creating to appear underneath your photo.

Click OK.

Create Awesome Reflections in Photoshop with Ease (Step-by-Step Guide)

Step 3: Duplicate the layer

In the Layers panel, unlock the base layer. To do this, click on the padlock icon. Now you can duplicate this layer by going to the top menu and selecting Layer->New->Layer Via Copy.

Convert both the layers to Smart Objects by right-clicking on each of them and selecting Convert To Smart Object. Now rename both layers to make it easier to keep track of which one is which.

Reflections in Photoshop

Step 4: Position the new layer

Drag the new layer to the space you created under your main image.

Now you need to flip the lower layer. This will be your reflection. From the top menu select Edit->Transform->Flip Vertical and press Enter.

Reflections in Photoshop

Step 5: Add blur to the reflection layer

With your reflection layer selected, from the top menu select Filter->Blur->Motion Blur. Set the Angle to 90-degrees and use the Distance slider to add a suitable amount of blur. How much you add is up to you and will vary depending on the resolution of the photo you are working with. In my example, I have set it to 30.

You may need to reposition your reflection layer by nudging it up slightly if a gap has appeared between your two layers.

Create Awesome Reflections in Photoshop with Ease (Step-by-Step Guide)

Step 6: Make a new file

Duplicate your file by going to the top menu and selecting Image->Duplicate. Crop the image so you are left only with the reflection.

Delete one layer so you are left with a blank canvas. Resize the canvas to 30%, otherwise, it will be too big to manage easily. Select the paint bucket and fill the image with black.

This file you have created will be added to the reflection layer to make it look more realistic like water.

Reflections in Photoshop

Step 7: Add blur and noise for texture

From the top menu select Filter->Noise->Add Noise. Make the amount 350% and check the boxes Uniform and Monochromatic. Click OK.

Now add some blur. Select Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur from the top menu and set the Radius to 1.5 pixels and click OK.

Create Awesome Reflections in Photoshop with Ease (Step-by-Step Guide)

Step 8: Emboss your texture

In the Channels panel click on the Red channel.

Next, go to the top menu again and select Filter->Stylize->Emboss. Set the Angle to 90, the Height to 5, and the Amount to 500. Of course, you can experiment with any of these amounts. Click OK.

Now select the Green channel and Filter->Stylize->Emboss from the top menu. Set the Angle to 0, the Height to 5, and the Amount to 500. Click OK.

Turn on all the channels by clicking RGB. Go back to your Layers Panel, right-click the layer and Convert To Smart Object.

Create Awesome Reflections in Photoshop with Ease (Step-by-Step Guide)

Step 9: Stretch the perspective of the distortion

Select Edit->Free Transform from the top menu. Right-click inside the image and select Perspective. Make sure you are zoomed out a long way so your image is small in the center of your monitor.

Click on one of the bottom corners of the frame and drag it out horizontally. This will stretch and distort the lower part of the texture. Don’t worry if it looks weird, once you incorporate it into your reflection it will make it look more natural.

Zoom back to 100%. Save this image as a .PSD where you can find it easily and name it something recognizable.

Create Awesome Reflections in Photoshop with Ease (Step-by-Step Guide)

Step 10: Make an adjustment layer on your main image

Click on the reflection layer on your main image and duplicate it by pressing Ctrl (Cmd)+j on your keyboard. Name it “Reflection Copy.” With the new layer selected (which should be above the other reflection layer), from the top menu, choose Filter->Distort->Displace. Set the vertical and horizontal scales to about 10.

You may need to alter these if it does not look good, depending on your image size and resolution. Click OK.

From the window that opens, find and select the distortion image you just created and saved. This will use the texture image as a displacement layer. If the ripple effect is too large or too small, undo that step. Redo the step again, but this time choose a higher or lower number for the displacement scale.

Experiment with this until you are satisfied with the way it looks. It’s entirely up to your taste.

Reflections in Photoshop

Step 11: Adjust the reflection

With your Reflection Copy layer selected, click on the layer mask icon, which is at the bottom of the Layers Panel. Select the Brush tool with the color set to Black and a large brush size and Hardness of 0%.

From the options panel above your image, set the brush opacity to 20%. Select your layer mask, not the main reflection layer. Paint from side to side over the top half of your reflection layer, where it meets the top layer until it looks natural.

What you are doing is erasing 20% of the distortion each time you paint. You want to make the reflection look smoother in what appears to be the distance.

Reflections in Photoshop

Step 12: Merge the reflection layers

Select both the reflection layers in the Layers Panel. Right-click on one of them and select Merge Layers. Make sure your main image is not selected. You should now have one reflection layer and your main layer.

Step 13: Darken the reflection

With the reflection layer selected, go to your top menu and choose Image->Adjustments->Curves. Click in the middle of the curves adjustment line and drag it down to darken the reflection. Adjust it until it looks natural. A reflection in water is typically darker than the scene it’s reflecting.

Reflections in Photoshop

Conclusion

Follow through these steps a few times and experiment with the variables. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Your personal preference and the photos you choose will determine the outcome.

You will find reflections in Photoshop look better on some images than on others.

Try out this technique for making reflections in Photoshop, and share your images with us in the comments below!

The post Create Awesome Reflections in Photoshop with Ease (Step-by-Step Guide) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

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