Category: Photography

  • Reddit Photographers Share the Coolest Pictures Ever to Blow Your Mind

    Today, it’s easier than ever before to put your photo in front of a huge audience by using social media websites like Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr and Reddit. All of them allow you to share your artwork with the public at once, ask for a piece of advice from some photography communities and just discuss any topic with like-minded people. Let’s Continue Reading

    The post Reddit Photographers Share the Coolest Pictures Ever to Blow Your Mind appeared first on Photodoto.


    Photodoto

  • A 16, A Southern Itallian Gem in Rockridge, Oakland

    Tonight, along with mrsth, I finally decided to check out one of the highly regarded Oakland restaurant newcomers, A 16, in the Rockridge District of Oakland.

    A 16 has been open for about 5 months now and is a sister restaurant to the popular restaurant with the same name in San Francisco’s Marina district. The restaurant took over the old Hudsons/Garibaldi’s space on College Avenue. Like their Marina counterpart, the restaurant focuses on Southern Italian Campania region food. A 16 is a highway in Italy that runs from Naples in Campania to Canosa in Puglia.

    Unlike their Marina relative, A 16 Rockridge has a liquor license allowing it a full bar and cocktail service to go along with their menu.

    Chef Rocky Maselli has put together a wonderful menu that focuses on pasta and gourmet pizzas, with lots of little extras worth exploring on the menu. Everything we had tonight was absolutely first rate. No dish disappointed. The fresh handmade pasta was the highlight.

    Before beginning our meal we started out with two cocktails from A 16′s creative cocktail menu. I had the Hemingway Negroni, which was served over a couple of giant ice cubes in an attractive oversized tumbler. It was made with papa pilar rum and was delicious.

    After cocktails we ordered the roasted beets and heirloom tomato salad. The salad was complemented with ricotta and generously dressed with olive oil. The beets, tomatoes and cheese, went well together and it was a refreshing end of a Bay Area summer salad.

    After we finished the salad, our main dishes arrived. For our main dishes we decided to share the capunti — pancetta, chanterelles, cherry tomato, smoked caciocavallo pasta and the montanara rockridge pizza.

    All three of these dishes tonight were recommendations of the very knowledgeable bartenders who took care of us at the bar. Mrsth and I always prefer sitting at the bar over a table and find that the bartenders frequently are the most knowledgable of a restaurant’s service staff. Tonight, especially, they did not disappoint.

    The capunti pasta was my favorite dish of the evening. The taste of the caciocavallo cheese in the pasta gave it a wonderful smokey taste. It was a rich, full flavored rewarding dish. The montanara pizza, named for the local neighborhood, was also splendid. We added prosciutto and arugula to the burrata (again at the bartender’s recommendation) on the pizza and it complemented it perfectly.

    Finally for dessert we decided on the fried apple turnovers which came alongside a rich caramel honey type sauce. Before serving us our turnovers, the staff brought us over a complementary plate of Italian cookies to enjoy. The three turnovers were the perfect amount of sweet to end our evening.

    We didn’t have any wine with our meal, choosing to stick to more cocktails and a beer with the pizza. The restaurant does have a wonderfully full wine list though. You can also bring your own bottle (with corkage charge). The menu said that they would waive corkage charge per bottle brought with each bottle bought from their list. They offered both tastes and full pours of wines by the glass.

    The ambience of the restaurant was very nice. The bar is large and oversized with plenty of room on a large marble slab. The restaurant is open and airy, and once the sun went down and they opened the shades, a rich, warm evening sunset sunlight filled the restaurant.

    The service for our meal could not have been better. Two bartenders managed the bar, and even with a full restaurant, were able to give us the highest quality of service. The recommendations of our bartenders were all absolutely spot on. Meals were promptly delivered and dishes quickly removed. They allowed us to sample taste some of the liquors used in the cocktails when deciding on which drinks to order. I usually find that I get better service at the bar, which is one of the reasons why I prefer the bar over a table, and it was especially true tonight.

    We were both delighted tonight with our A 16 experience and definitely will be back to this neighborhood gem to try even more dishes. The only downside to tonight was that they didn’t have a television set at the bar and so we had to rely on our cell phones to keep track of the A’s/Tigers American League Divisional Series deciding game. The restaurant also doesn’t have wifi service and cell service in the restaurant was spotty.

    Lack of a TV and good cell service, however, are probably a bonus for many. :)

    Hemingway Negroni, A 16, Oakland
    Hemingway Negroni, A 16, Oakland

    A 16, College Ave in Oakland's Rockridge District
    A 16, College Ave in Oakland’s Rockridge District

    MMMMM... Beets and Heirloom Tomato Salad
    MMMMM… Beets and Heirloom Tomato Salad

    Cocktail #2, A 16, Oakland
    Cocktail #2, A 16, Oakland

    Fresh Handmade Pasta, A 16, Oakland
    Fresh Handmade Pasta, A 16, Oakland

    Dinner at the Bar, A 16 Oakland
    Dinner at the Bar, A 16 Oakland

    Fried Apple Turnovers with Caramel Sauce, A 16 Oakland
    Fried Apple Turnovers with Caramel Sauce, A 16 Oakland

    A Little Prosciutto and Arugula to Complement the Pizza, A 16, Oakland
    A Little Prosciutto and Arugula to Complement the Pizza, A 16, Oakland

    Cooking Pizzas in the Open Kitchen of A 16, Oakland
    Cooking Pizzas in the Open Kitchen of A 16, Oakland

    A 16, Oakland
    A 16, Oakland

    Fresh Cocktail Ingredients, A 16 Oakland
    Fresh Cocktail Ingredients, A 16 Oakland

    Cookie Time, A 16 Oakland
    Cookie Time, A 16 Oakland

    Cocktail Menu, A 16 Oakland
    Cocktail Menu, A 16 Oakland


    Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

  • How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots [Before You Head Out]

    One of the simplest ways to capture great photographs is to prepare yourself for success before you head out the door. I’ve used this process of preparing for shoots for the last few years and it’s worked great for me – I’d love to hear what else people are doing to prepare for their own shoots in the comments below.

    How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots: The Day Before

    Virtually Scout the Location

    How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots

    Usually the night before a shoot I will open up Google Earth, Maps and/or various other apps to scout the location for things like parking spots, water features, sun angles and whatever else might be of interest to me for that particular shoot.

    It can be helpful to look through Flickr or another location based photography service to get an idea of what other photographers have found interesting before your visit.

    Charge Up

    It should go without saying, but make sure you’re camera is fully charged before you go to sleep. The last thing you want is to be ready to head out the door and find out your camera’s got one bar of battery life left in it. On the same note make sure your SD/CF cards are empty and packed as well – that’s a mistake you’ll only make once.

    How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots

    This step doesn’t just include the camera though – you should make sure that your own body is fully charged as well. Have a good sized dinner and get to bed early, eat a healthy breakfast and pack snacks to take with you. If there’s one thing that will ruin your photos faster than anything it’s an empty belly – you’ll start to get frustrated easy, you’ll care less about what you’re doing, and ultimately you will make mistakes which is the last thing we want to do when we’ve gone through all the effort to get to this location in the first place.

    How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots: Before You Leave

    Check the Weather Report

    How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots

    It’s easy to take for granted, but it’s important to get a weather report for the day and area you’re heading before you leave the house. If you’re planning to hike a mountain know that it will be chillier the higher you go and just because the weather is fair in your backyard doesn’t mean that it’s the same at your location of interest.

    Dress Accordingly

    How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots

    Hiking boots are a must if you want to get into locations off-the-beaten path, but you can do fine in comfortable sneakers if you’re not planning traverse any serious terrain. That said you should plan to wear comfortable and breathable clothing – jeans and cotton shirts are rarely a good option as they don’t keep you warm and if they get wet they will take forever to dry.

    How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots: On Scene

    Arrive Early

    I can’t stress this enough! The last thing you want to do is show up as the sun is setting or after it has risen. If you arrive early you can set up the camera and capture many different locations with the light that you have.

    How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots

    As the light changes you may want to revisit your previous locations or continue looking for new ones, but as long as you’ve gotten there early, you should end up with a bunch of shots to process when you return home.

    Take Your Time

    Rushing around will not allow your mind to think properly. When you rush your shots the odds are increased that you’ll get home to find out that you left your ISO at some unusable number or your aperture was at f/2.8 when it was supposed to be at f/11.

    How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots

    Take each shot as seriously as the last one you took and make the adjustments that are needed to get the best image out of the scene before you. Sometimes I find it helpful to even simply get up and walk away from the camera and give myself a break. Of course, when I do that, I still end up taking photographs with my phone, but those are more  for fun than anything else.

    Returning Home

    Processing the Results

    After all is captured and you’ve safely made it back to your house it’s time to process your what you’ve recorded. This part is truly up to you and your creative style, but here is my workflow as a basis point.

    How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots

    I will start with import the RAW files into Lightroom and going through to clean out the ones I absolutely don’t see any use for. I’ll then make my selections of the ones that are first on the list to get process and do just that. On occasion I will do more processing and clean up in Photoshop, but with how powerful Lightroom has gotten over the last couple iterations of the software I’ve seen less and less need to do so. If you’re curious you can also watch me edit select photos every week on my Let’s Edit series.

    To get even more information on landscape photography check out this amazing DPS eBook on the entire process.

    Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

    Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

    How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots [Before You Head Out]

    The post How To Prepare For Successful Landscape Shoots [Before You Head Out] by John Davenport appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • Q&A: Margo Seibert

    You had a lot of good questions after the Margo Seibert shoot last week, even to the point of telling me I was breaking a Scott Kelby Rule. (For the record, I lurve breaking Scott Kelby rules.)

    (And who is he to say you shouldn't shoot a portrait with a 50mm, anyway?)

    Besides — and believe it or not — that lens selection was totally driven by the light. No joke. That, and more of your Q's answered, below.

    Read more »
    Strobist

  • Using Smart Previews in Lightroom 5

    Smart Previews in Lightroom opener

    If you’ve ever encountered a “The Folder Could Not Be Found” message in the Lightroom Develop module or seen a question mark over a folder name in the Library module you’ll love the new Smart Previews in Lightroom 5.

    Smart Previews are an editable preview image and they make working with Lightroom when you are using removable drives a cinch.

    Here I’ll explain what smart previews are and why you might use them.

    Understanding the problem
    Lightroom can only work with images that have been imported into its catalog. When your import your images Lightroom notes where the images are on your disk so it can access them when you want to edit them.

    As Lightroom doesn’t store the actual images you will encounter problems if the drive the images are stored on is not connected to your computer when you try to edit them. In this case, you will see a preview of the image in the Library module but if you select the image and open the Develop module you will see a message saying “The folder could not be found”. The editing tools are all disabled and you can’t proceed.

    Lightroom 5 smart previews 2

    If you look at that same folder of images in the Library, the folder name will appear in the Folders panel but with a question mark over it. This is because the folder is on a drive that is not currently attached to your computer.

    Lightroom 5 smart previews 2

    In earlier versions of Lightroom, the only solution for this issue was to reattach the drive so the original images would be available to Lightroom.

    With Lightroom 5 the situation has changed to the extent that, with a little forethought and some spare disk space, you can edit images even if they are stored on a disk not attached to your computer. The solution is provided by the new Smart Previews feature.

    What are Smart Previews in Lightroom?

    Smart Previews are lossy DNG files which are a maximum size of 2540 pixels on their longest edge. They are created from the original raw files and they are stored in a folder in the same location as the Lightroom catalog.

    You can use these Smart Previews if the original images are not available not only in the Library module but also in the Develop module.

    If you have Smart Previews rendered for an images you will still see a question mark in the Library module indicating that the folder is not available but below the histogram there will be a small white icon indicating that a Smart Preview is available for this image. The Smart Preview can be edited in the Develop module just like the original image and it can be exported too.

    Lightroom 5 smart previews 3

    Smart Previews can be created for DNG and for Camera Raw images as well as for TIF and JPG. You can create them on import by selecting the Create Smart Preview checkbox in the Import dialog.

    Lightroom 5 smart previews 4

    You should note that Smart Previews and regular Previews are two different types of previews so you should continue to choose the same option in the Render Preview list that you have chosen in the past. So, I choose to Render Standard previews at a size appropriate for my monitor size – as well as rendering Smart Previews for those images I want to be able to edit even if the drive they are stored on is not connected.

    You can also create Smart Previews at any time – provided the original images are available at the time you are making them – using a menu option in the Library module. To do this, select the images to build Smart Previews for and choose Library > Previews > Build Smart Previews. You’ll be prompted to build smart previews for all photos or just one. Select Build All to create smart previews for all the selected images.

    Lightroom 5 smart previews 5

    You can also build smart previews using an icon in the histogram. For example if you select either a folder of images or a selection of images in the Library module you can learn the smart preview status of those images by reading the information below the histogram. You’ll see the number of images without smart previews and the number with.

    Lightroom 5 smart previews 6

    Click the originals without smart previews box and you’ll be prompted to build smart previews for these images. There is a slight glitch with the numbering – if you have a large number of images selected then the actual numbers in the histogram won’t be correct but the process still works for all the selected images.

    Lightroom 5 smart previews 7

    If you have rendered Smart Previews for your images and if you later decide you no longer want them you can delete them by clicking the smart preview indicator below the histogram.

    Editing Smart Previews

    You can edit an image for which you have rendered a Smart Preview in the Develop module. The smart preview will only be used if the original image is not available. Any changes you make to the smart preview will be written back into the original image when it is next available in Lightroom.

    In this case I am editing the Smart Preview as the original is not available:

    Lightroom 5 smart previews 8

    Here both the original and smart preview are available, so the original is being edited:

    Lightroom 5 smart previews 9

    In this case there is no smart preview available, the original is being edited and if it were not available, then editing would not be possible:

    Lightroom 5 smart previews 10

    If you store all your photos on the same drive as you store your Lightroom catalog then you may find you have no use for smart previews. However if you, like me, store your images or some of them on a drive other than the one on which your Lightroom catalog is stored then you’ll find that smart previews useful. Create smart previews for those images that are not stored on the same drive as your Lightroom catalog and you will have those images accessible and editable even when the originals are not available.

    Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

    Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

    Using Smart Previews in Lightroom 5

    The post Using Smart Previews in Lightroom 5 by Helen Bradley appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • How to Photograph Dramatic Clouds at Sunset

    The difference between a nice sunset and a dramatic sunset is all about the clouds.

    Of course, the difference between a dramatic sunset and no sunset is all about the clouds too!

    A clear sky at sunset might turn a shade of pale blue or pink, which is beautiful and calming, but with just the right amount of clouds the sky becomes alive with fire and drama as the day’s last rays reflect off the clouds making them red, orange, purple and pink.

    Desolation Sound Marine Park, British Columbia, by Anne McKinnell

    Not all clouds are created equal though. They come in many shapes, sizes, densities, and altitudes, and they all refract or absorb the light in different ways that can drastically change the quality of your photographs.

    Types of Clouds

    Clouds that hang low in the sky and form a band on the horizon or appear like a thick blanket covering the sky will block the sun’s high-flying rays and make the sunset pretty anti-climactic, if you can see it at all.

    Sometimes large and lumpy clouds that are brighter on the top and dark on the bottom can create a lot of contrast, making for a very moody atmosphere. Rain, snow, and hail clouds fall under this category, as the weight of the excess moisture weighs them down.

    Storm Cloud by Anne McKinnell

    The most radiant displays of colour emerge when the clouds are very high in the sky. They are usually smaller, whiter, and thinner than the low-lying clouds, and they are able to catch the sunlight from beneath, allowing us to view those fiery colours from the ground.

    These are more likely to occur when the weather is hot and dry, which is why desert landscapes are famous for their magnificent sunsets. When you want to create a dazzling sunset photo, these are the clouds you want to look out for.

    Mesquite Sand Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California, by Anne McKinnell

    Predicting the Weather

    Sunsets don’t last very long, so it takes a little planning and a lot of luck to have nature set up the perfect sky for you. You never know when the ideal conditions are going to present themselves, but if you tune your senses to the weather and its patterns, you will start to get an idea of when you can expect to see the right amount of clouds in a sunset sky.

    Watch the sky over the course of the day to see what kinds of clouds are forming and how fast they’re drifting overhead. Check your local weather forecast to find out when the sun will go down, and try to judge if they’ll be sticking around based on the time of day and the speed of their movement. Keep informed about any storms coming in that will bring low-hanging clouds along with them.

    If you have a great view from your back yard, all you have to do is keep your camera at hand so you can dart out when you see a great sky. On the other hand, if your aim is to travel to a more distant location to get your shot, you’ll have to be a little more precise in your calculations to avoid hauling all your gear up a mountain only to have the clouds dissipate. Your best bet is to choose a location that will be beautiful with or without clouds – that way, if nature doesn’t cooperate, you haven’t wasted the trip.

    Rio Grande, Big Bend National Park, Texas, by Anne McKinnell

    The Perfect Exposure

    The most effective way of bringing out the natural saturation of coloured light is to underexpose very slightly – between a half-stop and a full stop. This darkens the rest of the image, making the colour pop in comparison. Use your exposure compensation to adjust this.

    To make sure you get the best possible exposure, bracket your shots. This means taking several images at different exposures, so you can analyze them on your computer at home in order to determine which is the most successful. This can be done manually using your exposure compensation setting – take one image using the camera’s default settings, then take one that is underexposed by half a stop and one that is overexposed by half a stop. Some cameras will have an automatic bracketing option that you can utilize to change these settings for you.

    Another option is to create a high-dynamic range (HDR) image by combining multiple exposures as I did in this photo of a Joshua Tree. I made one exposure for the sky, another for the mid-tones, and another for the shadows and combined them in post-processing.

    Joshua Tree National Park, California, by Anne McKinnell

    If you want to soften the appearance of moving clouds, use a long shutter speed to blur them slightly. If they are drifting slowly you’ll need a longer exposure to achieve this than if they’re gliding swiftly across the sky.

    Foreground

    When you’re going after sunset-specific shots, there’s a good chance that your foreground is going to be silhouetted against the sky. When this happens, it’s easy to forget about the foreground all together. This is a mistake. Remember that every part of your frame is important. The darkened foreground is simply negative space, and should be composed just like the rest of the image. Look for interesting shapes or objects to place in the frame to create a focal point that enhances the picture. If you want your foreground to be more visible, use fill flash (flash with the brightness turned down) to lighten the subject slightly without overexposing.

    Fort Stockton, Texas, by Anne McKinnell

    Post-Processing

    When you bring your photos into an image editing program, you might have the urge to crank up the saturation and make the colours really bold. Resist the urge to go overboard on this feature; a 5% increase is all right, but much more than that can cause your image to take on a cartoonish look that could make it appear inauthentic. If your software allows you to, change the “vibrance” instead. This option is similar to saturation, but it focuses its effects on the pixels with lower colour intensity, preventing over saturation. Be ginger with your adjustments, and when in doubt dial them back a little bit to ensure the alterations are subtle and the final image looks natural.

    Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

    Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

    How to Photograph Dramatic Clouds at Sunset

    The post How to Photograph Dramatic Clouds at Sunset by Anne McKinnell appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • 23 Beautiful Dawn Images

    23 Beautiful Dawn Images 6

    Dawn is such a wonderful time to photograph life. Sun breaking the horizon, dew on grass, mist hovering over landscapes… of course, that’s only if you’re awake to see it.

    Here’s some shots taken at dawn to give you a little inspiration to set that alarm clock one day this week and head out with your camera before day break. Looking for some tips on how to do it? Check out our 12 Tips for Photographing Stunning Sunsets and Sunrises.

    PS: want to know more about a photo in this series? Click it to be taken to the photographers flickr page to see more of their work.

    Say you will

    Anticipation

    Dawn Images

    Autumn dawn

    Misty autumn dawn

    the gift of the moose

    Practice Yoga, Be Healthy! {EXPLORED}

    Two men in a boat

    Dawn bliss

    Sunrise

    Sunrise with Tree

    Morning Meeting at the Fish Market in Vietnam

    The Li River

    Standing on the Dune - Mungo NP

    Misty Morning Sunrise - Alaska Landscape

    Dawn over the Gibraltar strait

    Picture Peak

    Winter waves

    The Baha'i Temple at Blue Hour

    Ankor Wat Eyegasm

    Awaiting Sunrise

    The open Gate

    Dawn Images

    Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

    Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

    23 Beautiful Dawn Images

    The post 23 Beautiful Dawn Images by Darren Rowse appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • Ironic Typography Posters That Show the True Photographer’s Life

    There is a chance you’ve seen a few posters with quotes about photographers on Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr or other social-media platforms before. I’m talking about quotes like “Owning a camera does not make you a photographer” or others like “Life is like photography–we develop it from the negatives,” which all the photographers tend to share. Today, I’d like to bring Continue Reading

    The post Ironic Typography Posters That Show the True Photographer’s Life appeared first on Photodoto.


    Photodoto

  • The Surreal Landscape: Long Exposure Photography

    Long exposure photography

    It seems to me that we live in a world orientated to a digital generation demanding instant gratification. This extends to photography, encouraged by the prevalence of camera phones and Instagram type apps. How many photographers, when they come across a beautiful scene, just stop and snap a photo with a camera phone and then move on?

    Long exposure photography is different. It demands patience, an appreciation of beautiful light and a deep understanding of composition. It is as much about the mind-set of the photographer as it is about the subject. It’s not brash or flashy – you rarely see long exposure photographers use techniques such as high dynamic range (HDR) photography or adding texture layers.

    What is long exposure photography? There is no precise definition. I think of it as involving shutter speeds of ten seconds or longer, but I’m sure some photographers will be thinking in terms of shutter speeds of a minute or more. But the aim is the same – to create beautiful and surreal images by leaving the shutter open long enough to record anything that moves within the landscape, such as water, as a blur.

    That’s why most long exposure photography tends to take place along the coast. The sea creates an interesting subject, helped by natural features such as rocks and islands, and man-made ones like piers and jetties.

    Painting with light is also a form of long exposure photography.

    Long exposure photography

    Contemplation and the landscape

    You may be wondering what one does while waiting for the camera to take a photo when the shutter speed is longer than a minute.

    The answer is that long exposure photography is a naturally contemplative pastime. While waiting, take some time to enjoy the beautiful location you are in. Breathe and enjoy the smell of the air. Listen to the sounds. Watch the light as it fades away. This meditative approach will help you notice things an instant gratification seeker will miss.

    Getting started

    Interested? How then, do you get started? One of the nice things about long exposure photography is that the basic requirements are not extensive:

    • A camera that lets you take control of the exposure settings and has a Bulb setting so that you can use shutter speeds longer than 30 seconds.
    • A tripod and a good ball-and-socket head. Beware of inexpensive models – they may be too flimsy to support your camera properly during long exposures. A good aluminium or carbon-fibre tripod is required.
    • A cable release or remote release so that you can activate the shutter without touching the camera.

    Filters

    A polarising filter is useful for eliminating reflections from shiny surfaces, such as a concrete jetty made wet by sea water. It also blocks between one and two stops of light, helping you obtain longer shutter speeds.

    Some photographers use neutral density (ND) filters, but they are not essential. You can get started without them by turning up late in the day and taking photos as the sun sets. During twilight you can obtain shutter speeds of thirty seconds or later by setting a low ISO and a narrow aperture.

    The benefit of neutral density filters is that they extend the period of time during which you can use long exposures. They come in various strengths; three, four, nine and ten stop ND filters are the most common. Nine and ten stop ND filters are designed to enable long exposure photography during the middle of the day – you won’t need them if you are shooting at dusk.

    Learn more about neutral density filters.

    Long exposure photography

    Noise reduction

    Shoot in Raw and turn off the long exposure noise reduction setting. The software you use to process your Raw files will take care of noise reduction for you.

    Resources

    Here are some more resources that will help:

    BW Vision

    Slices of Silence

    Interviews with long exposure photographers

    Long Exposure Photography: 15 Stunning Examples

    Eight Tips for Long Exposure Photography

    Photo Tutorial – Long Exposure Photography

    Final thoughts

    That’s a lot to take in, so don’t forget the most important thing of all – to go out and take some photos. It takes a while to get the hang of long exposure photography, so don’t be discouraged if your first attempts aren’t as polished as you would like. It takes time to master the techniques and develop the eye for graphical composition required for successful long exposure photography.

    Mastering Photography

    My ebook Mastering Photography: A Beginner’s Guide to Using Digital Cameras introduces you to photography and helps you make the most out of your digital cameras. It covers concepts such as lighting and composition as well as the camera settings you need to master long exposure photography and take photos like the ones in this article.

    Long exposure photography

    Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

    Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

    The Surreal Landscape: Long Exposure Photography

    The post The Surreal Landscape: Long Exposure Photography by Andrew Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) as a Photoshop Filter

    Photoshop camera raw filter opener

    One feature that is new to Photoshop CC is the Camera Raw filter. Using this filter you can make powerful nondestructive edits inside Photoshop.

    What the Camera Raw Filter offers

    The Camera Raw filter is new to the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop – Photoshop CC – so it’s not available in earlier Photoshop versions. It gives you access to most (but not all) of the features of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) from inside Photoshop.

    You can use it on any image – even those file formats that ACR doesn’t support – and on any layer. So, you don’t have to be working on an image that is in one of the formats that ACR can open. You can also use the Camera Raw filter at any point in your workflow not just when you first open an image.

    Combining the Camera Raw filter with Smart Objects also means that you can make an edit using the filter and come back anytime to revisit and change those edits, if desired.

    How the Camera Raw Filter works

    To see how the Camera Raw filter works open any image in Photoshop CC.

    So that you can revisit and edit the changes made by the filter, start by converting the layer that you want the filter to act on into a smart object. To do this either right click the layer and choose Convert to Smart Object or choose Filter > Convert for Smart Filters.

    Photoshop camera raw filter 1

    Either way the result is the same and you will have a layer converted to a Smart Object. Using Smart Objects ensures that the adjustments that you are about to make can be edited later on.

    If you have multiple layers that you want to apply the filter to, then select those layers in the Layers palette before converting them all to the one Smart Object.

    To apply the Adobe Camera Raw filter choose Filter > Camera Raw Filter. This opens the current layer inside ACR.

    Photoshop camera raw filter 2

    Now you can make your adjustments to the image using any of the tools in ACR.

    So you can, for example, adjust the white balance by clicking on the White Balance tool and click on something in the image which should be neutral gray. This is a fix that isn’t as easy to make in Photoshop itself. Other useful adjustments you can make include adjusting Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks and Clarity – settings which are easy to access in ACR and less easy (or not available in the case of Clarity) in Photoshop.

    The ACR filters are also available so you can use the Gradient Filter and the new Radial Filter to adjust the image. Once you have made your changes click Ok to apply the changes to the image and return to Photoshop.

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    Notice that the Smart Object layer in Photoshop has its own layer mask so you can, if desired, use the layer mask to adjust the effects that you just applied to the image. Paint with black on the mask to remove them and with white to reapply them. This feature is useful for adjusting the effect of a Gradient Filter where there are objects which fall inside the area affected by the filter that you don’t want to be affected by it.

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    You can also alter the Camera Raw Filter settings at any time by double clicking on the Camera Raw Filter entry in the layers palette. This reopens the layer in ACR so you can make changes to the settings.

    The benefits of using the Camera Raw filter

    The Camera Raw filter offers some real benefits to Photoshop users. One is that you can use the filter to sharpen an image and take advantage of the Masking slider when sharpening in ACR. This lets you limit the areas of the image which are sharpened to just the edges in the image and not areas of flat color.

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    You also get access to tools which aren’t available in Photoshop such as Clarity, and the Graduated Filter, Adjustment Brush and Radial Filter.

    The Camera Raw Filter also provides a handy way to work with a JPG image in ACR. You can, of course, open a JPG in ACR but, if you forget to do so, the Camera Raw Filter offers pretty much the same functionality at any time in your workflow.

    Other options that the Camera Raw Filter provides is access to the Split Toning effect sliders, presets, the new upright correction, post crop vignette, the new chromatic aberration and defringe tools, and the noise reduction sliders.

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    Provided that you save your image in a layered file format such as PSD then you’ll be able to come back at any time and edit the Camera Raw Filter adjustment that you made.

    Chances are that if you are familiar with using ACR for processing your raw images you’ll find that the new Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop CC is a welcome addition to your workflow.

    Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

    Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

    Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) as a Photoshop Filter

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