Learning the Adobe Photoshop “Patch” tool – Video Tutorial

I would like to thank all my visitors to my website. I hope you are enjoying the new design. The blog templates need a little fine tuning, but most of the functionality should be there.
In this post, I’m going to experiment with a new way of delivering tutorials to you … [...]

I Heart Faces Fix-it-Friday

I Heart Faces Fix-it-Friday

The wonderful folks at I Heart Faces has a weekly feature called Fix-it-Friday. Its a great opportunity to work on your post-processing skills and show off what you can do making a photo better.
This week’s photo is pretty good as is. The “Rule of Thirds” was followed. It’s making use of an [...]

Rob’s Rapid Photoshop Color Correction Technique

Rob's Rapid Photoshop Color Correction Technique

Of course I can’t take credit for this. I learned it from another photographer and I know others who use it as well.
The best way to color correct is of course to use a calibrated monitor, color management, but for many, color management is overly complex. Since we don’t all have calibrated monitors [...]

Using a Speedlight as an Off-Camera Flash

Using a Speedlight as an Off-Camera Flash

We all know on-camera flash stinks. Between the Red-Eye and the unflattering flat contrasty shadows, it can take a great photo and lower it to a “snap-shot”.

There are three main reasons why we want to get our speedlight’s off of our camera:

Eliminate Red-Eye.
Control the Angle of the Light
Control the Size of the [...]

Understanding “The Rule of Thirds”

Understanding "The Rule of Thirds"

One of the first things almost every photographer is taught early on is the “Rule of Thirds”. This is a very simple rule that will transform your snapshots into works of art.
Basically put, a piece of art, in this case a photo is more interesting when the subject is not centered, but instead off [...]

Understanding Lens Measurements

Many people wanting to learn photography are confused by all the numbers and acronyms involved in the craft and it can be quite intimidating.
Lenses are probably among the worst when it comes to cryptic meanings. Even the name that describes it, Nomenclature is a scary word.

Using Your Camera’s Meter to Set Exposure

Using Your Camera's Meter to Set Exposure

In the last post we talked about shooting in Manual mode and the key to being successful in Manual mode is a full understanding of exposure. That means understanding the relationship between changing aperture and shutter speed. We discussed how cameras meter to a middle gray and how that can be thrown off. [...]

Using Manual Mode on your Camera.

Using Manual Mode on your Camera.

In days of old, photographers had two choices: shoot with a camera with fixed exposure settings that was so generic it limited quality and creativity or shoot with a camera that required an advanced degree in mathematics to use but if you could master it, you had unlimited creativity and control over your photo’s [...]

Fix-it Friday — i Heart Faces Feature

Fix-it Friday -- i Heart Faces Feature

This week I had the honor to be the photo judge for a photo blog called I Heart Faces (http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/), a blog dedicated to portraiture.  This week’s theme was “Wonder” and after sifting through nearly 400 photos in both an adult and kid’s category, the top ten in each category was selected and the winners [...]

Making the most from your Black and White Digital Photos

Making the most from your Black and White Digital Photos

Part 2 of a 2 part series.
In part 1, we learned multiple ways to convert a color digital photo to black and white.  But frequently that result isn’t good enough.
Images frequently, such as our sample, have a very flat contrast.  That is, there are not a lot of black blacks and not a lot of [...]