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Monday, March 29, 2010
Photoshop CS5 & Content-Aware Fill | NEW TAMPA PHOTOSHOP RETOUCHER
In case you haven't heard, Photoshop CS5 (codename "White Rabbit") is right around the corner, and one of the hottest new features rumored to be included in this release is something called Content-Aware Fill (a.k.a. PatchMatch). I saw a demo of it during the keynote presentation at Photoshop World East in Orlando last week, and the crowd went wild. It's a truly remarkable innovation that will surely save photographers and designers boatloads of time. Check out the video HERE or by clicking the image below:
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Before & After, Episode 10 | NEW TAMPA BABY CHILD PHOTOGRAPHER
Here's a shot I grabbed of my daughter earlier today. Since you guys made it clear through your responses to my recent survey that you want more photography and post-processing tips, I decided to change things up this time around and include much more granular detail about how the shot was captured and my post-processing workflow for it. So here goes....
First of all, to get the shot, I was lying on my stomach near a patch of purple wildflowers we found down at a local park. I had my 70-200 2.8L lens mounted on my Canon 1Ds Mark II, and I was shooting wide open at 2.8, zoomed all the way in at 200mm. I asked my wife to call my daughter to walk through the flowers, and amazingly everything worked out just as I had envisioned it. I have to admit that it was a real treat to have my wife there assisting me, because when it comes to pics of my daughter I usually find myself in the unenviable position of trying to *create* the moments as well as *capture* them. Today I had the luxury of focusing on the technical stuff, and as a result the frames I got were MUCH better than usual.
Here's the SOOC (straight out of camera) image, which you can click for a larger view:
Next up was a bit of tweaking in Lightroom, which included adjusting the White Balance, adding a small amount of Fill Light, increasing the Blacks by 6, Clarity by 21, and Vibrance by 38. I also made some minor tweaks to the Tone Curve. Lastly, I used the Adjustment Brush to increase the exposure on her face just a tad. At this point I was ready to pull the file over into Photoshop. Here's what the image looked like with the Lightroom adjustments (click it for a larger view):
In Photoshop, below are the primary techniques I used to get the final product. There may have been a few very minor tweaks beyond what is listed here, but these are the steps I tend to include in most of my outdoor portraiture. By the way, I'm sure you've noticed that a good majority of pro photographers tend to shy away from revealing the "secret sauce" that makes their photos really pop. However, I really want to help you get to the next level with your post processing, so that's why I'm laying this out for everyone to see. As my photographer/idol Zack Arias recently told me at Photoshop World, "we all stand on each others' shoulders". So true, so true.
Oh yeah....if you're a Mac user, please substitute "Ctrl" for "Command" and "Alt" for "Option" (but you knew that already, right?) Anyway, here we go:
So here's the final before & after image (roll your mouse cursor over the top to see the changes). Please let me know if you have any questions, and if you enjoyed this post, please comment below or on Facebook. Thanks!
First of all, to get the shot, I was lying on my stomach near a patch of purple wildflowers we found down at a local park. I had my 70-200 2.8L lens mounted on my Canon 1Ds Mark II, and I was shooting wide open at 2.8, zoomed all the way in at 200mm. I asked my wife to call my daughter to walk through the flowers, and amazingly everything worked out just as I had envisioned it. I have to admit that it was a real treat to have my wife there assisting me, because when it comes to pics of my daughter I usually find myself in the unenviable position of trying to *create* the moments as well as *capture* them. Today I had the luxury of focusing on the technical stuff, and as a result the frames I got were MUCH better than usual.
Here's the SOOC (straight out of camera) image, which you can click for a larger view:
Next up was a bit of tweaking in Lightroom, which included adjusting the White Balance, adding a small amount of Fill Light, increasing the Blacks by 6, Clarity by 21, and Vibrance by 38. I also made some minor tweaks to the Tone Curve. Lastly, I used the Adjustment Brush to increase the exposure on her face just a tad. At this point I was ready to pull the file over into Photoshop. Here's what the image looked like with the Lightroom adjustments (click it for a larger view):
In Photoshop, below are the primary techniques I used to get the final product. There may have been a few very minor tweaks beyond what is listed here, but these are the steps I tend to include in most of my outdoor portraiture. By the way, I'm sure you've noticed that a good majority of pro photographers tend to shy away from revealing the "secret sauce" that makes their photos really pop. However, I really want to help you get to the next level with your post processing, so that's why I'm laying this out for everyone to see. As my photographer/idol Zack Arias recently told me at Photoshop World, "we all stand on each others' shoulders". So true, so true.
Oh yeah....if you're a Mac user, please substitute "Ctrl" for "Command" and "Alt" for "Option" (but you knew that already, right?) Anyway, here we go:
- To add a bit of contrast, create a Black & White adjustment layer, change the Blend Mode to Soft Light, adjust the color sliders to taste, and reduce layer opacity to around 20%.
- To add even more contrast, perform a "Stamp Visible" (which creates a flattened copy of all of your layers at the top of the stack) by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E. Apply a Gaussian Blur at 5 px, change the blend mode to Soft Light, and and reduce layer opacity to around 30%. Then mask out your subject (with a reduced opacity brush, if desired).
- To lighten the subject a little, and make him/her "pop" a little more off the background, perform a "Stamp Visible" by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E, desaturate this layer (Ctrl+Shift+U), change the Blend Mode to Screen, and reduce layer opacity to about 25-30%. Then mask out the background (or alternatively you can start with a black mask and reveal the subject with white).
- Add a bit of midtone contrast-- perform a "Stamp Visible" by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E, then apply an Unsharp Mask with Amount at 60%, Radius at 20 pixels, and Threshold at 0. Reduce layer opacity to around 30-35%.
- Get your colors nice and saturated by performing a "LAB Mode Color Pop". This basically involves flipping over into LAB Mode, creating a Curves adjustment layer, pulling the ends of the line in, and then flipping back into RGB mode. You end up with a super-saturated layer that you can adjust the opacity of, and/or mask out certain parts. You will almost always have to mask out your subject's skin, because it'll be a nasty orangish/reddish mess. There are actually many different methods for popping colors in LAB Mode....click here for 5 of them.
- Lastly, finish off with some High Pass sharpening-- perform a "Stamp Visible" by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E, then change the layer's blend mode to Soft Light. Go to Filter->Other->High Pass and set the radius to about 5 or 6 pixels. Then reduce the opacity of this layer to taste.
So here's the final before & after image (roll your mouse cursor over the top to see the changes). Please let me know if you have any questions, and if you enjoyed this post, please comment below or on Facebook. Thanks!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
What's New in Lightroom 3 Public Beta 2 | NEW TAMPA PHOTO RETOUCH
I must say that I'm super-excited about many of the changes being introduced in the latest version of Adobe Lightroom, the *premier* image editing/digital asset management program in use today. The most significant additions include: the ability to tag, preview and organize your video files right alongside your images, much better noise reduction capabilities (also, it's worth noting that Luminance noise reduction is finally working), better vignetting and watermarking options, and last but not least, built-in tethering capabilities. If you shoot tethered like me, this last one is a game-changer. Here's a fantastic video overview of the new features, created by Adobe Creative Suite guru Terry White.
With all the new improvements and additions being announced, I have to admit that I'm still stuck using Lightroom 2.6 because there is no direct upgrade path from this version to the new one. Adobe doesn't want to be held liable for corrupting people's primary Lightroom databases with beta software (understandably), and I haven't been willing (yet) to completely jump in with both feet and make the switch. However, I think I may install 3.0 B2 on my studio computer (which is the one I shoot tethered to), and then just import those images into the database on my main computer after each shoot. How about you? Have you played with 3.0 at all? I'd love to hear your thoughts/impressions.
With all the new improvements and additions being announced, I have to admit that I'm still stuck using Lightroom 2.6 because there is no direct upgrade path from this version to the new one. Adobe doesn't want to be held liable for corrupting people's primary Lightroom databases with beta software (understandably), and I haven't been willing (yet) to completely jump in with both feet and make the switch. However, I think I may install 3.0 B2 on my studio computer (which is the one I shoot tethered to), and then just import those images into the database on my main computer after each shoot. How about you? Have you played with 3.0 at all? I'd love to hear your thoughts/impressions.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Protect Your Facebook Photos! | NEW TAMPA HEADSHOT PHOTOGRAPHER
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Survey Results So Far | NEW TAMPA PHOTOGRAPHER
As you can see, we have a clear leader, but there are three others in a deadlock for second. If you haven't voted, vote! If you have, vote again! :-)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Controversial Photo in Glamour Magazine | NEW TAMPA MODEL PHOTOGRAPHER
A photographer friend of mine pointed out this article to me earlier today, and I couldn't resist putting up a blog post about it, since I do quite a bit of fashion/glamour work myself (see here for examples). Once my models leave the studio and the REAL work (the image editing) begins, I often find myself in a position where I need to exercise a certain degree of....shall we say, "artistic discretion". I've certainly performed my fair share of digital plastic surgery, from something as simple as removing bags under eyes to changing eye and hair color to completely reshaping a person's body. It's amazing what can be (and is quite regularly) done in Photoshop to achieve a more flattering appearance, but the real question here is, how much is too much?
Just the mere fact that this photo in Glamour Magazine is causing a "controversy" speaks volumes about our society's perception of what is beautiful/acceptable/realistic/etc. What are your thoughts about it? Please sound off with a comment....I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Giving Credit Where Credit's Due
I've gotten quite a few comments lately from fellow photographers who correctly identified some elements of my work as drawing heavily from a certain "white seamless" tutorial made available by Atlanta-based photographer Zack Arias. Well, the truth is, not only did I base my current studio setup on Zack's amazingly informative 5-part blog post on the subject, but long before I even decided to take the plunge and build a studio in the first place, I actually learned the core fundamentals of off-camera lighting from his OneLight Workshop video. So to say that Zack has been instrumental in my photographic journey would be the understatement of the century-- the guy has taught me more about lighting than all other photographers combined. His down-to-earth style and unique way of explaining things jump-started me from pretender to contender almost overnight.
It would quite simply be a disservice to Zack, as well as to my fellow photographers to move forward without a proper shout-out to him and a firm acknowledgment of all that he has done for me personally and the photographic community at large. So here it is....my official shout-out: Zack, you rock, dude, and I can't wait to see you speak at Photoshop World Orlando in a few weeks! :-)
It would quite simply be a disservice to Zack, as well as to my fellow photographers to move forward without a proper shout-out to him and a firm acknowledgment of all that he has done for me personally and the photographic community at large. So here it is....my official shout-out: Zack, you rock, dude, and I can't wait to see you speak at Photoshop World Orlando in a few weeks! :-)
Emerging Photographer of the Year! | NEW TAMPA PHOTOGRAPHY
I was thrilled, humbled, and quite frankly taken aback by the recent announcement that I have been named as a finalist for "Emerging Photographer of the Year", which is a contest being held on Scott Bourne's excellent blog, Photofocus.com. I always find it very enlightening to hear other photographers' perspectives on my work, both the good and the bad. Scott refers to my general style as "Relationship Portraiture", and he feels that my fashion/glamour work is my strong point. Do you agree with his assessment? Please sound off with a comment below.
Oh, and if you haven't seen it already, you can view my portfolio here.
Oh, and if you haven't seen it already, you can view my portfolio here.
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About Me
- Tampa Band Photos
- Tampa, FL, United States
- I'm a commercial photographer in Tampa, FL specializing in band & musician promos, CD covers, press kits, posters, and the like. Please feel free to check out my website/blog using the link below, and give me a shout if I can be of service to you!
http://TampaBandPhotos.com