You have filled your iPhone with thousands and thousands of photos over the last few years. Its a nice catalog of memories but now its time to move on. You are looking for a quick and safe way to delete all the photos on your iPhone but dont know how. Don’t despair. In this article we will tell you the Continue Reading
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Writing is not for photographers. This is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard, and as a photographer, I have heard many. Do you know what is even more absurd about this declaration? For a long time, I am the one who swore by it. This was following the demise of my first personal photoblog. You can say Continue Reading
The post 8 Amazing Hacks To Be A Pro Photographer Blogger: The Definitive Guide I’m Using To Write How I Shoot appeared first on Photodoto.
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Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have captured 3,200MP images, the largest photos ever captured in a single shot. The camera, an array that contains 189 individual image sensors, will become the future camera of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. The camera will be used to help shed light on some of the most intriguing mysteries of the universe, including dark matter and dark energy.
The 189 image sensors are charge-coupled devices (CCD) and each capture a 16MP image. To build the image sensor array, nine CCDs and supporting electronics were assembled into square units, called science rafts, by the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and then shipped to SLAC. Then the team at SLAC inserted 21 of these square units into a grid to hold them in place.
The completion of the image sensor array and focal plane earlier this year took six months and proved to be a difficult task. In order to maximize the imaging area of the array, the gaps between individual image sensors are less than five human hairs wide. If the sensors touch each other during the process, they could easily break. Damaging a sensor or raft would be costly, as the rafts cost up to $ 3M USD a piece. SLAC mechanical engineer Hannah Pollek said of the assembly process, ‘The combination of high stakes and tight tolerances made this project very challenging. But with a versatile team we pretty much nailed it.’
The focal plane features impressive specifications beyond even the 3.2 billion total pixels. The pixels themselves are about 10 microns wide and the focal plane itself has been constructed to exacting standards. The focal plane is nearly perfectly flat, varying by ‘no more than a tenth of the width of a human hair’ across its more than two feet of width. The optics through which light will reach the image sensor array is designed to allow the sensors to identify objects 100 million times dimmer than what the human eye can see. This is equivalent to being able to see a lit candle from thousands of miles away.
The images produced by the 3,200MP camera are so large that you would need nearly 400 4K UHD televisions to display a single image at its full size. The resolving power of the camera would allow you to spot a golf ball from about 15 miles away.
As mentioned, the camera will be installed at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. Once it has been installed, it will capture panoramic images of the southern sky every few nights for 10 years.
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| ‘The complete focal plane of the future LSST Camera is more than 2 feet wide and contains 189 individual sensors that will produce 3,200-megapixel images. Crews at SLAC have now taken the first images with it. Explore them in full resolution using the links at the bottom of the press release. (Jacqueline Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)’ Image and caption credit: SLAC |
Steven Ritz, project scientists for the LSST Camera at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said, ‘These specifications are just astounding. These unique features will enable the Rubin Observatory’s ambitious science program.’ Over the course of a decade, the camera will capture images of about 20 billion galaxies. Ritz continues, ‘These data will improve our knowledge of how galaxies have evolved over time and will let us test our models of dark matter and dark energy more deeply and precisely than ever.’
Before the focal plane can be used within the Rubin Observatory’s program, it needs to be rigorously tested. This includes capture images of a variety of objects, including a head of Romanesco broccoli. In order to operate normally, the sensors must be cooled to negative 150° Fahrenheit. Without a fully assembled camera, the team at SLAC used a 150-micron pinhole to project images onto the focal plane.
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| ‘Taking the first 3,200-megapixel images was an important first test for the focal plane. To do so without a fully assembled camera, the SLAC team used a 150-micron pinhole to project images onto the focal plane. Left: Schematic of a pinhole projector that projects images of a Romanesco’s detailed texture onto the focal plane. Right: SLAC’s Yousuke Utsumi and Aaron Roodman remove the pinhole projector from the cryostat assembly after projecting the first images onto the focal plane. (Greg Stewart/Jacqueline Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)’ Image and caption credit: SLAC |
SLAC’s Aaron Roodman is the scientist responsible for building and testing the LSST Camera. Of the successful test images, he says, ‘Taking these images is a major accomplishment. With the tight specifications, we really pushed the limits of what’s possible to take advantage of every square millimeter of the focal plane and maximize the science we can do with it.’
Despite the successful tests, there is much more work to do. Over the next few months, the team will insert the cryostat used to reduce the temperature of the image sensors along with the focal plane into the camera body and add lenses, including the world’s largest optical lens. The team will then affix a shutter and a filter exchange system so that the camera can be used to capture the night sky in different colors. The team anticipates the SUV-sized camera to be ready for final testing in mid-2021 before it begins its final journey to Chile.
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| ‘Over the next few months, the LSST Camera team will integrate the remaining camera components, including the lenses, a shutter and a filter exchange system. By mid-2021, the SUV-sized camera will be ready for final testing. (Chris Smith/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)’ Image and caption credit: SLAC |
JoAnne Hewett, chief research officer at SLAC and associate lab director for fundamental physics, says, ‘Nearing completion of the camera is very exciting…It’s a milestone that brings us a big step closer to exploring fundamental questions about the universe in ways we haven’t been able to before.’
As one would expect, we are unable to display 3,200MP images here on the site. However, SLAC has five full-size images taken with the focal plane of the LSST camera which you can view at the links below:
• Head of Romanesco broccoli
• Photo of the Flammarion engraving
• Photo of Vera Rubin, courtesy of the Carnegie Institution for Science, where Vera Rubin spent her career as a scientist
• Collage of LSST Camera team photos
• Collage of logos of institutions involved in the LSST Camera project
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The post Creatively Using the New Lightroom Hue Control appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
Shop for items online and you’re often offered color choices. Would you like that hat in red, orange, blue, green, tan or teal? Click on the item, select your desired color, and the item will change to reflect your color choice.
Now, how about if you could selectively change the color of items in your photos without affecting other colors in the image? Maybe you bought the orange hat, took a photo of yourself in it, and wished you’d instead picked the blue one. No problem, don’t return the hat; you can change its color in your photo with the new Adobe Lightroom Hue Control.
Reach for the Exposure slider in the Develop Module of Lightroom, and slide it left and right. You will see the entire image get lighter or darker. Any of the other sliders will affect the image similarly. Controls which affect the entire image are called global.
What if you want to adjust just a portion of the image? Brighten up that one tree, do some dodging and burning, bring up the saturation of a sunset, make adjustments that affect only certain areas?
To you so you need to be able to make local adjustments. Lightroom offers three tools with this capability: the Adjustment Brush, the Radial Filter, and the Graduated Filter. Using those tools to add masks to the image will then allow you to apply the effects of the other sliders to just the masked areas.
In discussing the use of the Lightroom Hue Control, I’ll be using the Adobe product I typically work with: Lightroom Classic. (The new logo now shows LrC.)
This is the version that runs on your local computer and stores images on your own hard drives. There is another version that Adobe simply calls Lightroom (LR). It has a slightly different interface and stores images online in the “cloud.” Then there is Photoshop (PS) with its accompanying tool, Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). Both versions of Lightroom have the new Hue Control, as does Adobe Camera RAW, so what we cover here can be done with any of those programs.
(Just a gripe with Adobe: Could you not have avoided confusion and named these programs differently?)
Before we discuss how to change colors in an image using the Lightroom Hue Control tool, I want to briefly address the Photoshop devotees in the crowd. More than a few times when I’ve told seasoned editors that I use Lightroom to edit my images, they will scoff and tell me that “real” photo editors use Photoshop. So let’s get this out of the way, especially as we discuss changing colors in an image.
I will be the first to admit that Photoshop has more sophisticated and precise tools, the ability to make selections, create layers, use color channels, and bring much greater control to what we’ll be showing here. However, Photoshop also has a much steeper learning curve. It also requires more steps to accomplish the task. Can you do a better and more precise job changing the colors of things in a photo with Photoshop? Most likely. But can you often get acceptable results with Lightroom (LrC, LR, or ACR)? Learn the techniques in this article and then you tell me.
Ask a child to hand you the red crayon from the box and they can probably do so. They know what the color “red” looks like. But in the digital photography world, we have different ways of describing color.
Cameras can only “see” three colors: red (R), green (G), and blue (B). And there are only 256 values of each.
That’s why you can describe any color by its RGB value. Pure red is 255, 0, 0; pure green is 0, 255, 0; pure yellow (a combination of red and green) is 255, 255, 0.
In the printing world, where inks and pigments are used to make colors, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) are the primary colors, and any color can be created with a CMYK combination (i.e., red is 0, 100, 100, 0).
There is another way of describing color, and that’s the one we’re interested in when using the Lightroom Hue Control. This uses a Hue (H), Saturation (S), and Lightness (or Luminosity) (L) description. Here, hue is synonymous with what we typically call color. Saturation refers to the intensity of the color, with zero saturation being shades of gray. Lightness/Luminosity is how light or dark the color is, with zero being black and 255 being pure white.
So what we’re able to adjust with the Lightroom Hue Control is just that: the hue. We can make an orange hat blue without changing the saturation (S) or lightness (L). In doing so, we retain the tone and texture in an image while changing its hue/color (H).
Lightroom has had tools for globally adjusting color in an image, such as the temperature and tint sliders and the HSL/Color controls, for some time. But those tools worked globally or had limited control over color. With the newest version of Lightroom released in June of 2020 (LrC 9.3, LR 3.3, ACR 12.3), the ability to combine hue adjustment with other tools was added. Now, color can be controlled much more precisely, exactly where you want it, and in combination with other tools. Local control is the ticket.
Perhaps a good way to learn how to use the new tool is to work through a photo and use it to selectively change some colors. We’ll use the image below of my grandson, William, (who to me in this shot looks like the Peanuts cartoon strip character Linus in the pumpkin patch awaiting the arrival of the “Great Pumpkin.”)
Let’s take this step by step and change the orange hat to blue using the Lightroom Hue Control.
We want local adjustment control, and I mentioned Lightroom has three tools that allow this: the Adjustment Brush, the Radial Filter, and the Graduated Filter. The Adjustment Brush is the best choice for selecting only the hat.
Select the Adjustment Brush, and turn on the mask overlay by hitting “O” on your keyboard or by checking the box that says Show Selected Mask Overlay.
Start painting over the hat with the Adjustment Brush. You may find that the overlay is red and hard to see on the orange hat, so you can cycle through the overlay colors by tapping Shift and O on your keyboard. I’d recommend turning the mask overlay green, which is much easier to see on the orange hat.
You are going to refine your selection in a minute, so for now, don’t worry about being precise.
In Photoshop, we would likely make a selection of the hat using the tools provided. And once the hat was selected, we would see what has come to be called the “marching ants” dashed outline of our selection. Don’t look for the ants in Lightroom. There are no “selection” tools here. Instead, we use what are called masks to define where we want our effects applied. There are several ways to refine our selection. They are:
So let’s refine our selection of the hat with the Color Range Mask. Here are the steps:
Once we’re happy with our selection, it’s time to change the color. Here’s where we will use the new Lightroom Hue Control. Here are the steps:
While your mask is still selected, most of the rest of the Lightroom sliders can be used and will affect only the area in that mask. For example, if the new color is too light or dark, the Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks sliders can all be used. You may want to explore what some of the other sliders can do for the newly recolored area.
When you are finished with all the tweaks and recoloring, don’t forget to click the Done button.
If you need to recolor another area of your image, simply make new selections and repeat the same process:
In the example above, the color change to the hat was pretty dramatic; we took it from the original orange color to the complete opposite complementary color on the color wheel (blue). Sometimes, though, you only want a subtle change. Perhaps you want to change the shade of green on the leaves of a tree, take out a color cast on a certain object in your shot, or slightly change the color of portions of the sky.
You might also want to omit the step of refining a mask, and simply use the Adjustment Brush, change the color with the Hue slider, and start painting. Subtle color changes to portions of your image might be a way to get the look you want.
When working on an image in Lightroom and trying new things, it can be a good practice to make Snapshots as you go. That way, if you want to go back to any point in your editing process, you can.
Click the + symbol in the Snapshot panel (or use the shortcut Control/Command + N), give the snapshot a name, and then continue your work. Later, you’ll be able to go back to the snapshot if required. Perhaps you want to show the various color versions of an item but don’t want to save multiple files. Change the color, make a snapshot, change it again, make another snapshot, and so forth. Later, you can bring up the image, go to the named snapshot, and see that color version.
As Adobe adds new tools to its products, we have new ways of editing our photos. We can better achieve the creative looks we like and even have various versions of the same image (all without having to take multiple photos or make multiple copies of an image). I hope you’ll give the new Lightroom Hue Control a try.
And then post some of your before/after images in the comments. I look forward to seeing your creativity.
The post Creatively Using the New Lightroom Hue Control appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
The post How Using Instant Cameras Can Improve Your Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.
There is something magical about instant cameras. Depress the shutter button and a little image is ejected, slowly developing before your eyes. More than just a novelty, instant cameras have practical and artistic applications. Here’s how using instant cameras can help improve your photography overall.
First things first. What exactly is an instant camera? Generally, the term instant camera describes a camera that uses self-developing film to deliver a photographic image within minutes of pressing the shutter button.
The first commercially viable instant camera system was introduced in 1947 by the founder of Polaroid, Edwin Land.
A year later, Land’s Model 95 Land Camera and the corresponding film went on sale in a department store in Boston. The cameras, which dramatically altered the accessibility and creative possibilities of photography, sold out in mere minutes.
Land and Polaroid continued to develop instant camera systems. Originally delivering a sepia-toned image, instant film graduated to black and white and then to color in 1963.
However, up until 1972, using instant cameras was much less straight forward than the process we know today. Exposed Polaroid film required a photographer to peel back a negative sheet after 60 seconds to reveal the instant image. This often left chemical residue on the user’s hands.
Some earlier processes also required users to coat the developed film with a mixture of stabilizing chemicals.
The arrival of the Polaroid SX-70 in 1972 marked a turning point in instant camera technology. The SX-70 ejected film with no negative sheet or chemical residue, shaping the trajectory of instant camera models thereafter and realizing Land’s dream of a fully instant camera system.
Instant cameras may have been largely superseded by digital technology today. Still, the distinctive aesthetic and physicality of the instant camera process have seen a resurgence in recent years. Companies like Polaroid, Fujifilm, and Leica all offering up modern incarnations of the instant camera and corresponding film.
There are many ways using instant cameras can improve on a photographer’s process. Perhaps the most obvious impact of modern instant photography is the practical knowledge that a less-than-mainstream photographic medium affords.
Since their invention, instant cameras have presented an intriguing alternative to standard photographic practice.
Andy Warhol made famous use of the instant camera, as did Luigi Ghirri – a pioneer of color photography. By using both a familiar yet unique photographic technique, these photographers (and many more) pushed the boundaries of what was understood to be the accepted approach to photographic image-making.
Most modern photography is created and distributed digitally. But stepping away from the norm to negotiate the ins and outs of an instant camera presents new perspectives and challenges – broadening artistic experience and opening up creative opportunities.
The benefits of new photographic experiences are not exclusive to instant cameras. However, the process, inherent associations, and distinctive aesthetics of instant camera photography can contribute greatly to the many layers of visual language a photographer draws upon in the field.
They’re nifty, but keeping an instant camera stocked with film can be pricey. This means that getting the most out of each frame is a priority. Even though price can be a downside to using instant cameras, maximizing the success of each shot encourages a more effective photographic practice overall.
Getting an image right in-camera makes the most of the technology at hand, refining photographic skill sets and saving time. By measuring an exposure against a limited amount of instant film frames, instant cameras slow the photographic process, inviting the photographer to carefully and deliberately consider creative and technical aspects before depressing the shutter button.
While instant camera photography often departs from the technical standards of digital and film photography, this ‘slow’ approach to photography inevitably translates to other facets of a photographer’s practice, honing visual awareness and sharpening technical skill.
An early proponent of instant camera technology, Ansel Adams maintained that pre-visualization was a critical component of strong image-making. As we’ve touched on, instant camera film isn’t cheap, but pre-visualization is a valuable way to minimize dud shots.
Pre-visualization involves mentally untangling the many components that go into executing an effective photograph before the photograph is made. By pre-visualizing, a photographer can take executable steps towards achieving an appealing image in-camera, often with greater efficiency and success.
The risk of wasting expensive film makes the need for pre-visualization particularly pronounced in instant camera photography. The more consideration that is put into an image pre-exposure, the greater the chances of a successful instant photograph.
Also, the immediate effectiveness of combining pre-visualization techniques with instant camera photography generates positive momentum. This then feeds better habits across all forms of photographic practice.
Instant photography was designed with fun in mind, so it’s no surprise that the simple, idiosyncratic cameras provide a well-deserved distraction from the effects of creative fatigue.
Paired back in design, instant cameras tend to have less in-built settings than their digital counterparts. This simplicity can encourage creativity in composition and subject selection over technical perfection.
In addition, the unique aesthetic of instant photography is viewed as the marker of a distinct and quirky artistic process. This means that some mistakes that would ruin a digital image are embraced in an instant camera photograph.
This loosening of technical constraints means that instant cameras can serve as an effective refresher for photographers looking to recharge creative batteries.
Using instant cameras isn’t just fun, it can inform and improve your image-making overall. With a unique aesthetic, limited film and paired-down design, instant cameras are an engaging alternative to the photographic mainstream.
Do you shoot with instant cameras? Share your thoughts and images with us in the comments below.
The post How Using Instant Cameras Can Improve Your Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.
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On the island of Mauritius, which is about 1,200 miles (2,000km) southeast from the mainland continent of Africa, Google has never sent a car for gathering street view data. Considering the remoteness of the island nation and its relatively small – but dense – population of nearly 1.3 million, Google’s neglect makes fiscal sense. However, Mauritian resident Reuben Pillay wanted to address the situation himself and he started his ReubsVision project.
Over the last year and a half, Pillay traveled around Mauritius with his DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone. As you can imagine, it’s a large undertaking. He told PetaPixel ‘We’re a small island – driving from my place to anywhere can take at most an hour and a half since I’m pretty much centered.’ Pillay also noted that the constantly changing weather on the island added a lot of difficulties.
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| A screenshot from ReubsVision showing Grand Sable. Image credit: Reuben Pillay, ReubsVision |
Pillay stitched the photos from his drone together to create a 360-degree image of each location he visited, covering the entire coastline of the island using more than 220 high-resolution photos. Each image took Reuben about 10 hours to create.
In addition to spending a huge amount of time and effort to capture and stitch together his images, Reuben also needed to learn how to code and set up the website for ReubsVision. He tells PetaPixel, ‘[It] was actually the first website I ever built…I had no prior experience in doing any of that.’
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| A zoomed-in view of the same location as above. Image credit: Reuben Pillay, ReubsVision |
It was an expensive project in terms of cost and time. ReubsVision is completely free to access and explore, and is a really great way to learn more about Mauritius. Pillay says, ‘All I want for now is that people discover my island.’
If you’re interested in capturing your own 360-degree images using a drone, you can refer to the following video tutorials from Atti Bear and Ben Claremont.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The post How to Create Sun Flares Using Luminar 4 and Photoshop (video) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
In this video from Anthony Turnham, you’ll learn how to create sun flares using Luminar 4, either standalone or as a plugin in Photoshop.
This effect can be a great addition to any landscape photo or portraits, especially if you feel your image is lacking something special. This effect can possibly give your image extra life and dynamic.
Anthony takes you through this tutorial in an easy-to-follow way, making it easy for you to create your own sun flare.
Try out this technique and share your resulting photos with us in the comments section.
Do you have other methods for creating sun flares? Share those with us too!
The post How to Create Sun Flares Using Luminar 4 and Photoshop (video) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
The post Tips For Editing the Colors in Landscape Photos Using Lightroom (video) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
In this video from Nigel Danson, you’ll gain some invaluable tips for editing the colors in landscape photos using Lightroom.
While Nigel uses Lightroom Mobile to show you his editing tips, these tips also apply to Lightroom classic.
The features that Nigel discusses to improve the colors in your landscape photos include the:
So try out some of these tips for editing the colors in landscape photos using Lightroom and share your results with us in the comments section! Furthermore, if you have some tips for editing colors in landscape photos, please share those with us too.
The post Tips For Editing the Colors in Landscape Photos Using Lightroom (video) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
The post How to Create Mandalas in Photoshop Using Stack Modes appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.
There are so many facets to Photoshop that even regular users can sometimes be surprised by new ways to use particular features. Stack Modes is one of the tools in the Photoshop repertoire that I’ve only just started really playing with recently. And, it turns out, the function is great for generating intricate patterns and even mandala-like designs. In this tutorial, I’ll guide you through the steps to create mandalas in Photoshop with Stack Modes.
First things first – unfortunately, Stack Modes aren’t available in all versions of Photoshop. For this tutorial, I’m going to be using Photoshop CS6 Extended. Doing a little research, it looks like Extended and CC versions of Photoshop have the stack mode function. However, if you don’t have the Stack Modes tool required for this tutorial, you can try creating something a little similar here.
So what exactly are Stack Modes?
The Stack Modes function works by combining a group of image layers with similar content into the one image. For example, astrophotographers may use Stack Modes to combine hundreds of shots into one frame.
Stack Modes can also be used to reduce noise and remove people and objects from photos. It’s a pretty nifty function!
Throughout history, mandalas have seen numerous incarnations and applications. Meaning circle in Sanskrit, mandalas are a geometric array of symbols and designs made for spiritual, meditative and artistic purposes.
In modern terminology, mandala is a phrase sometimes used to describe other circular visual arrangements like spirographs and scientific diagrams. The term mandala may also be used to describe the meditative or visual quality of an artwork.
To create mandalas in Photoshop, the first step is to pick a single photograph to work with. Something with a few colors and small details is a good bet. I’m going with the flower seen below:
Open your image in Photoshop and right-click on the image layer in the Layers Panel. Select Duplicate Layer… and click OK at the prompt.
Select the Background layer in the Layers Panel (not Background copy) and hit Delete.
Next, click on Image on the top toolbar. Select Canvas Size… and (roughly) double the height and width of your canvas so we have room to expand the design.
Click OK.
Drag your image to the top of the canvas. Right-click on your image layer in the Layers Panel and select Duplicate Layer… hit OK at the prompt.
With the Move Tool selected, click on the image on the canvas to select it (one layer will be behind the other).
Hold the Shift key on your keyboard down and drag the selected image by the top-middle transform control icon towards the bottom of the canvas, flipping the image to mirror the remaining photograph so it looks like this:
Select both layers by depressing the Shift key and clicking on each layer in the Layers Panel.
Right-click on either layer icon and select Merge Layers. The two layers will merge into one. Drag the merged image to the left edge of the canvas.
Right-click on the layer in the layers panel and hit Duplicate Layer… and Click OK at the prompt. Hold down the Shift key and click the left-most transform icon and drag the duplicated layer towards the right edge of the canvas, flipping the second layer to mirror the first. Like in the example below:
We have a pretty cool image now, but we aren’t finished yet!
To create mandalas in Photoshop, we need to extend the canvas further to accommodate the rest of the layers we will be making.
Click on Image->Canvas Size… and add an extra hundred-or-so cm’s to the height and width of the image. Don’t worry if the canvas looks too large, we can always crop it back down once the mandala is finished.
Okay. In the expanded canvas, select our two layers by holding Shift and clicking on both layers in the Layers Panel. Right-click and select Merge Layers.
Next, right-click on the merged layer and click Duplicate Layer… Click OK at the prompt. Hold down the Shift Key and rotate this newly created layer to form a cross-like structure.
Duplicate one of the layers again and rotate it so that it looks like mine below:
Duplicate the layer again and rotate it so that your image looks like this:
You can continue adding layers with the duplicate/rotate process until you are happy with the look of your image, or you can leave it as is.
When you are ready, select all the layers in the Layers Panel by holding Shift and clicking on the first and then the last layer in the Layers panel. Right-click on the selection and select Convert to Smart Object. This will combine your layers into a single Smart Object.
With all this duplicating and rotating, the final step to creating mandalas in Photoshop is pretty straight forward. With your Smart Object layer selected, click Layer (in the top tool bar) then click on Smart Objects->Stack Modes. A range of options like Entropy and Kurtosis will become available.
You can look up the exact mathematics behind each setting here, but basically, each option is an algorithm that blends the layers together a different way. Select one and see how it looks…and if you don’t like it, simply undo it and try a different mode.
Here’s my result using the Maximum Stack Mode:
Now you have your mandala, the rest is up to you! You can adjust the colors of your creation or increase/decrease the contrast…you can even invert the colors via the Curves Adjustment Layer and see what that looks like.
You can create mandalas in Photoshop forever – the possibilities are endless! It’s a great opportunity to experiment and explore.
If you’ve created a mandala with this method, go ahead and share below!
The post How to Create Mandalas in Photoshop Using Stack Modes appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.
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Huawei has once again been caught using an image captured with a DSLR to promote its mobile cameras. This issue was discovered on Chinese social media website Weibo, where Huawei published a video that contained multiple images allegedly snapped using its smartphones. According to the South China Morning Post, some of the images were traced back to a 500px user.
The issue was first spotted by photographer Huapeng Zhao, who recognized some of the images and traced them back to a 500px user named Su Tie. Rather than having been captured with a Huawei smartphone as the company’s promotional video claimed, Su Tie’s 500px account indicates the images were captured with a Nikon D850.
In a post on the matter published on Weibo, Huawei said that a ‘negligent editor’ had ‘incorrectly marked that [the DSLR images] were taken with a Huawei smartphone.’ The company thanked Huapeng for spotting the issue and apologized to the community. An updated version of the video without the DSLR images has been posted on Weibo.
This is not, however, the first time Huawei has been caught passing DSLR content off as images captured with its mobile phones.
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In early 2019, for example, Huawei used stock images of a volcano captured with a DSLR to promote the zoom lens capabilities of its P30 Pro smartphone. Before that in 2018, the company was caught using an image captured with a DSLR to promote its Nova 3 smartphone. Sadly, this practice isn’t limited to Huawei — Samsung has also been caught passing off DSLR images as mobile images.
In 2018, Samsung Malaysia was caught using an image captured with a DSLR on the website for its Galaxy A8 Star handset, failing to state on the page that the image was not captured using its mobile camera and software. Before that, Samsung Brazil was caught using selfies captured with a DSLR to promote its Galaxy A8 model.
At this point in time, it’s unclear whether Huawei had received permission from Su Tie to use the images in its promotional video. The discovery highlights the importance of taking manufacturer promotional images with a grain of salt, particularly ones that look too good to be true. Though mobile camera technology, including both hardware and software, have improved considerably over recent years, they’re still no match for expensive professional camera systems.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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