Edges of Photograph

How do you learn to take better pictures? Every time you make an exposure you make choices, either deliberately or accidentally. So your first step is to see your options.

Although it may appear obvious, an awareness of the frame of an image is extremely important. Scan the edges of the frame (edges of the picture) before clicking the shutter. Before you make the exposure, try to visualize the way the scene will look in the finished picture. As you look through the viewfinder, pretend you are looking at a print. But remember you can still change it. You can eliminate a distracting background by changing positions to a different angle, making sure it will be out of focus, and so on. Judicious cropping, can strengthen a picture. If background objects don't add anything to a picture except visual clutter, do what you can to eliminate them or at least minimize their importance. Use the background when it contributes something. Backgrounds can give scale to a photo etc.

Even if the edges are not quitly good, you can easily fix it using Photoshop and the next video lesson.

Change Photograph Edges - video powered by Metacafe

Some tips about lightnings

If you're looking for an exciting and rewarding hobby, taking pictures of thunderstorms just might fit the bill.

The photography aspect of catching lightning on film is extremely simple, and in most cases requires no skill or experience with a camera. But if you're interested in capturing a wide variety of lightning shots with different locations and subjects, photography is the least of the challenges.

Thunderstorms are an elusive phenomenon that rarely cooperate with a photographer. Not only that, but most storms won't come to you - you'll have to go to them. And so lightning photography, as a pasttime, will require a bit of storm chasing - an adventurous hobby in itself that involves forecasting, tracking, and driving to active thunderstorms, among other things. Due to this challenging pursuit, both storm chasing and lightning photography, for those who are so inclined, will likely become a lifelong hobby that will provide years of enjoyment.

It is worth mentioning the obvious that since lightning photography involves being outdoors in and around thunderstorms, it's an activity that can be dangerous if sensible safety considerations are not taken. But the participant who excercises common sense in the hobby will be just as safe as he or she would be collecting stamps.

This page will cover mainly the photographic aspects of catching lightning. A tutorial on storm chasing can get fairly deep, but we'll discuss some of the basics that will help you get started at the end of this article.

The Camera: In order to take photographs of lightning, you'll need to have a camera with a 'bulb' (time exposure) setting. Older model 35mm SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras with all-manual settings, such as the Pentax K1000 or Minolta SRT201, are relatively inexpensive (look on eBay) and work very well. These cameras are also more rugged and more resistant to the inevitable splashes of rain than expensive computerized cameras. Also, since your camera settings stay pretty much the same for every lightning photo session, all of the fancy automatic stuff isn't really neccessary.

Cameras used in any type of storm chasing will have to endure harsh conditions and lots of abuse (especially moisture), so you need to think twice before using your $2,000 camera to shoot lightning. Unless you've got a waterproof camera or proper protective gear, you're better off spending the $150-$200 on Ebay on a used manual SLR and lens that can take the heat, and won't be a big loss if it gets ruined. My old Pentax SLR has been dropped, rain-soaked, stressed, dirtied, shaken, baked in summer heat, frozen in winter cold, and taken years of abuse - but still catches lightning. All of the non-digital lightning photos on this site were taken with either the all-manual Pentax K1000 or the similar Minolta SRT201. Once again - your cameras will eventually get drenched a few times if you do this long enough - so plan accordingly.

Again, the Internet is one of the best places to find good deals on used, rugged camera equipment. I bought my Pentax K1000 body, a 28mm wide-angle lens, and a 75mm-205mm zoom lens on Ebay for under $200 total. [Read more...]

But if you cant spent some money to try or you do need your lightning photo urgently, simply create it with PhotoShop using the next video lesson:


Tutorial: Create Lightning In Photoshop - video powered by Metacafe

Adobe Photoshop CS Fast Track

This lesson will give the viewer an understaning of how layers work in Adobe Photoshop CS. training multimedia educational graphics compositing editing edit composite photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop CS Fast Track - video powered by Metacafe

Fast Cross-Fading Images

How To Fade Images Together - video powered by Metacafe

Actual movie on Skin Retouch

Skin Retouch In Photoshop CS2 For Beginners - video powered by Metacafe

Make clones even without Photoshop

Cool video about creating clones in 2 minutes. I was impressed when found it.

INSTANT CLONES - video powered by Metacafe

Registrated @ BlogPhotoDirectory

Just registrated this blog in a catalog of photo-derived sites. Look for my link here. Waiting for thouthands of guests from there, hoping this will help you to find info I haven't jet found.

Portrait Editing

CREATE THIS MAGICAL EFFECT!! - video powered by Metacafe

More on backgrounds

Change The Background Of Ur Picture And Make It Real By Two Simp - video powered by Metacafe

Background Role in Photograph

The background in a photograph is the most important visual element, second to the subject. Hair, make-up, clothes, and the foreground, are worthless without the proper background. Photographers shouldn't ignore these other elements of an image, but they should always be aware of the background and how it will appear in the final photograph.

It is not uncommon to find "pictures" of models in bikinis posed next to a wooden picket fence in someone's backyard. Not only is this unprofessional photography, but a busy background detracts from the model and appear as junk in an image.Don't feel bad if you've done this, many photographers start out this way. If you must shoot a model in a bikini, and there is no proper background, use a plain white background and increase the background light source one f-stop more than the model's main light, and expose for the model.

Make it look like a fashion shoot with a glamour touch.I tend to shoot all my photographs in my natural surroundings, including my back or front yard, living room, bathtub, or any area I feel comfortable in converting to a temporary studio. My location is my studio. Because of this, backgrounds are always the first challenge.
One way to deal with distracting backgrounds is to use a shallow depth of field so the viewer will focus on the model, not the backgraound. In a good photograph, the background is separated from the model, unless there is a reason to give the background as much importance as the model.A photographer can achieve this subject separation with longer lenses that naturally have a narrow angle of view, providing for shallow depth-of-field and slight compression. Another way to subdue the background is to use a neutral density filter to allow a wider aperture for faster film speeds or bright backgrounds. Focusing is critical in these situations with no depth of field--focus sharply on the model's eyes.

If a photograper must shoot a model in a bikini in their backyard without a swimming pool, the photographer should make sure there are no picket fences, telephone poles, or tree branches growing out of the model's head. This is the second most common mistake found in "pictures." This is never found in "photographs." Photographers should always be aware of their background in a scene and know the role the background plays in the finished product--create photographs, not pictures. Prior to a shoot a photographer should pre-visualize the scene including the role the background plays, so the photographer can spend more time on the model's "smile." Photographers should always remember one basic rule, there will always be a background in a photograph and junk in a picture.

Indoor Photo Tricks

This article was created using the article. Feel free to use original source, I just fixed a link.

Indoor Photo Tricks
There's nothing trickier for a digital camera than taking a picture inside a room with a brightly lit window. You have to feel sorry for the camera. It tries hard, to be sure; but digital cameras simply don't have the exposure latitude to properly expose the dark scene in the room and the bright view out the window at the same time. Your camera can give you only one or the other. This week, let's see what we can do about it.

Capturing the Great Outdoors
Suppose you're a real estate agent trying to capture a beautiful view through the kitchen window. You want it to be perfectly clear that there's a majestic mountain view out back. You frame the scene, putting the window in the middle of the viewfinder, and take the shot.
The mountains look great, but the room itself is so dark that it looks like midnight. What went wrong? In a nutshell, the camera's exposure meter correctly exposed the bright outdoors and consequently underexposed the room itself.

Brightening the Room
All is not lost, though. You can brighten the room in an image editor, improving the picture overall. Before you do that, you should isolate the room from the window. Why? Because if you brighten the entire scene, you'll "blow out" the window, ruining the properly exposed mountains.
If you're using Jasc's Paint Shop Pro, find and click the Freehand Selection Tool, which is in the toolbar on the left, in the fifth slot from the top. (Since it shares its cubby with the Selection and Magic Lasso, you may need to pick it from the list. Just click the drop-down arrow on the right side of the cubby and select Freehand Selection Tool.) Set the Selection type to Edge Seeker using the Tool Options palette at the top of the screen, then set the Feather control to 10 pixels.
Next, use the tool to separate the contents of the window from the rest of the image. Select the bright areas inside the window, clicking each time you have to change direction to follow the sill and curtains. You'll create a "fence" around all of the outdoors elements in the scene. Double-click to close your loop. When the window is completely enclosed, choose Selections, Invert from the menu. You've just selected everything except the window--now we can modify the scene without blowing out the mountain view.

Continued on original site.