All pixels

Worlds Fastest Compact Flash Storage

2011-01-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

Check this out $1499 for a Worlds Fastest Compact Flash Storage

Memory cards have come a long way in the past decade. My first cards were 256 MB and ran at 4X speed and cost $250 per card. Yes, that is correct! Not Gigabyte but Megabyte. And the speed was 4X not 400X. And the cost? Well we just knew that we were on the cusp of a learning curve, so we bit the bullet and ordered enough to cover our first event.

Back in 2001, our first digital cameras had 3.1MP sensors, so the file size was tiny at best. And since we were used to shooting film, exposure was not an issue, so we shot in jpeg. Computer hard drives averaged 20-40GB, so we always backed up the image files onto CD-ROMs that cost $1.50 – $3 each instead of leaving the files on the computer. Ah the early days of digital…

Fast-forward to today where everyone has 30GB of flash storage, RAW format is the norm, and our computers have enough storage to handle anything. If you still need more storage or want to move the file outside your location, cloud hosting may be the answer.

Video has also moved into the digital realm with most SLR cameras offering assorted video recording functions. Video put huge demands on memory and must move huge amounts of data into a storage area quickly. Compact flash cards have been the leaders in storage capacity and transfer speed for most professional grade cameras, and are now changing once again.

SanDisk brings the latest advancements to the forefront offering 128GB cards with the speed to match at 100MB per second. This will allow a capture of full HD video storage with today’s pro DSLR cameras. Advance features such as these do come at a price. SanDisk will be retailing the newest cards for $1499 so get your credit card ready.

Read the full press release at SanDisk

Kodachrome Is Dead

2011-01-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

A Fitting End To An Era: Kodachrome Is Dead

When Kodak stopped producing the film last year they gave Steve McCurry the last roll. He hand delivered that roll to Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas the last lab on the planet to process Kodachrome. On December 30 they discontinued the processing forever. Here’s a frame from that last roll and more can be found on McCurry’s blog:

There’s a fitting tribute to the Kodachrome Generation over on David Burnett’s blog (here).

Truth be told, the last ten or 15 years were not easy for anyone what actually WANTED to shoot KR. Kodak slowly closed labs around the world, and the mere act of getting your film souped became Herculean. (Actually, Hercules shot tri-x.) So when the marketing people at Kodak (this actually happened ten years ago at a dinner in DC) would say that “there is no demand for the film anymore… no one wants to use it..” I had to remind him that at some point anyone using the film — or any film — actually wants to be able to SEE WHAT THE HELL THEY SHOT! You can’t expect people to wait a week to see their work. The technology existed to create small mini Kodachrome processing machines which could reasonably be installed at any good sized one-hour lab in the country. But for reasons known only to the geniuses at Kodak’s planning department, no serious consideration was ever given to supporting that project. They sure could have sold a lot of film if only we’d been able to see it in a timely manner. Perhaps it’s a parable for what technology is doing to our society.

Before and After a photoshop tutorial

2011-01-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

These tutorials are from Lam Tran Photography

Before / After

Ok, I usually don't upload Before / After photo like this because the model could be upset to see her original photo hahah joking but this time is an exception. I just want to show how a photo can be fixed in a digital way. You can notice that I haven't changed the color tone as well. And I haven't fixed her hairs on the forehead edge although I can do it easily drawing some hairs with my Wacom tablet. I'll show another Before / After photo next time.

Model is Kakao (her real name is Tú Thanh but she prefer to be called as Kakao), although she doesn't work in the industry as a professional model but she's one of my favorite model that I've worked for a few photoshoot.
MUA is Trân

One of our published job, this was one of my very first magazine shoot, was done in Nov 2008

Before / After 2

Model: Ái Châu

MUA: Ghy

Hair: Tuấn

This is another Before / After image that I've said in this entry. The photo was from a beauty and hair shoot I've done in 2009. I wish I could do some tutorial vid for basic retouch like this but my laptop is really crap to capture screen motion. So I upload here 4 photos to explain some steps that I've done.

This is the original photo. As you can see the overal exposure is ok but I thought the photo looks a bit flat so I will adjust the Level to create some contrast.

In this photo, I used Level to adjust the contrast but you can notice that I still kept the hair's contrast as the same in the original. The hair somehow was the main key of this shot so I didn't want to loose the hair's details because of the contrast.

Then I used one of the most powerful tool (to me) to retouch her skin, that was: Patch Tool (shortcut: J) combined with the second most powerful tool: Clone Stamp Tool (S) to clean those shadow created between the cheek and nose.

Next step, I wanted her skin tone to look softer because it was so sharp (I shot at f10) then I used 3 filters to do this: Dust & Scratch, Gaussian Blur and Add Noise. I promise I will post another entry to explain more detail for this step although many of you have known about it already ad I've said, these are very basic retouch skill that you could find in any tutorial website.

After fixed her skin, then I wanted to make the photo look more eye catching by the contrast between shadow and highlight, I used 2 most popular tools: Burn Tool (O) and Dodge Tool (O)

Using Burn Tool apply into the shadow area to make they look stronger and deeper other while Dodge Tool could make the highlight area look brighter. (To do this, your photo first must have some distinguishable shadow and highlight)

The result looked like this:

You should remember that the result of this step depends on your style, your taste and your needs. There is no limit for making it look stronger or softer. Maybe some of you may say that I was overdo in this photo but this is something I like to create and to see. If you don't like it, just say, this is not your style.

You can also notice that I have played a little bit with the Liquify Filter to fix her nose and her hair, then a little bit contrast and saturation on her hair.

And when the photo was done as this step, I believed that it was good enough for print or web media but I'd like to try with B/W to see how could it look.

And here it is:

Well I kinda like this B/W version than the color version. But you should remember that when you convert a color photo into B/W photo usually it might be loose some color information then you can loose some contrast detail. You can fix that by adjust the level for shadow area then you can apply the Burn Tool to create more contrast.

Well, and that's it. Maybe some of you may think that the final photo look not too good. I didn't say it look good. But this is something I just want to show you about some basic retouching skill so it's not a big deal at all. Welcome all comment.

Được đăng bởi Lam Tran vào lúc 2:05 AM

Before / After 3

Model: Margo Yalkovskaya

MUA: Linh Doan

Stylist: Chu Sen

From what I've said in the last entry (http://lamtrancit.blogspot.com/2010/02/before-after-2.html), I keep my words and make another short tutorial here with more information for the "3 steps": Dust and Scratch, Gaussian Blur and Add Noise.

This is the original image from a shoot for Margo Yalkovskaya and model Kaleriya.

The images size is quite large (it was created from my Sony A900 body). Why should you care about the image size? Because depend on how large the area skin you want to fix, you might use the filter more variable.

Duplicate your Background Layer to have Layer 1 (shortcut: Command J or Ctrl J on Windows)

Use Patch Tool or Healing Brush or Healing Brush Tool or Clone Stamp Tool to fix some major spots on her face.

You will have some results look like this

Next, duplicate to new layer, the new layer will be automatically named Layer 1 Copy
Then you begin to make new skin tone for her.

Use Dust And Scratch filter to have a window look like this:

You can choose a suitable number for the Radius. In the picture above, I choose 50 pixels because I have a skin area need to work with. You can adjust the Radius by dragging the arrow then check / uncheck to Preview box to see the result.

Hit OK to apply the filter.

Next, use the Gaussian Blur filter:

Again, find a suitable number for Radius. This step will help to soften area between shadow and highlight.
Hit Ok.

And next, Add Noise filter, you can skip this step if you like to have her face look smoother and softer. But I suggest you should do this step to add some little texture on her skin

If you're not sure how much noise you need to add, see the picture above as an example.

After that, apply Gaussian Blur filter one more time to soften those noise. See the picture below:

Remember that all these filter steps was applied on the same layer (that would be Layer 1 Copy)
Add a layer mask on the Layer 1 Copy and fill Black color on the photo when you select at the layer mask. So now you hide everything that was display earlier on the Layer 1 Copy. (You can also hold Alt when click to the button Add Layer Mask so that no need to fill the black color)

And now, use the Brush Tool, choose Soft Round Brush (brush's opacity at 10%) to paint white color into the area on her face that you want to get them soften. Avoid to paint on the areas that you want to keep the detail (i.e: eye, noise, lip, hair ...). If you think you overdo and the skin look so soft, you can change brush's color to Black and it will have the reverse effect.

So let's make it simple:

- Paint White will reveal the effect that you've done on Layer 1 Copy

- Paint Black will hide the effect away.

You can look at the picture below as a reference to see how much you need to keep the effect:

Finish the paint job, you will have the result like this:

Now you can duplicate Layer 1 to have Layer 1 Copy 2, then merge both Layer 1 Copy and Layer 1 Copy 2 to 1 layer. You can do this or skip it, really doesn't matter.

Now the photo will look like this:

Now apply some more additional steps to make the photos look better for example, use Clone Stamp Tool to fix the area on her forehead and her cheeks

You will have result like this:

Now you can do the step with Burn Tool and Dodge Tool as I've introduce in the last entry and adjust the Level or Curve to have the final result like this (totally up to you lol):

And yes, we have just finished! Congratulations! Yay!!!!

Phew, so many steps for me to create this tutorial. I could say that this is the first time I do some thing like this hahaha I hope you don't mind if I made any mistake above. This entry, actually is just a litte sharing from what I've known for photo retouching. It's not a perfect way to do the skin job. You can use some plugin to create a complete new skin tone which could look so fake (but you can fix by using the layer mask). So if you know something that can give a better result or something that you want to correct what I've said above, please feel free to share with me. Thank you.

Được đăng bởi Lam Tran vào lúc 10:49 PM

Andrew's graduation

2010-06-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

Andrew's graduation

Strobist practice one speedlite and home make small soft box. Chân dung ban đêm với một flash tàu và softbox tự chế.

Manual fill flash and bokeh, this photo taking in manual mode speed 1/200 I immediately go all the way to my Canon XSi sync speed and set aperture to F/3.2 . Then adjust power on my flash to get the photo to my taste . Chân dung ngoài trời chụp bằng chế độ manual ISO 100, Focal 50mm, F/3.2, 1/200 sec (Canon Rebel XSi sync speed)

This photo without flash but speed at 1/400 sec

Andrew and Bin at Sea World

Andrew's graduation June 24th, 2010

The Pyramid

2010-05-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

The pyramid,Las Vegas taking with Canon Rebel XSi and Tamron 28-75mm

Exif: ISO 200, 1/250Sec, F/9, focal 28mm

My first boudoir phototography

2010-05-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

My first bourdoir taking with Canon Rebel XSi and Canon EF 50mm prime lens, ETTL flash bounce up from the ceiling.

Model: Lucy Le
Makeup: Lucy Le
Photographer: Chinh Minh Le @ Allpixels studio

Bé Bơ

2010-05-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

Bé Bơ 3 tháng tuổi chụp bằng Canon Rebel XSi và ống kính 50mm F/1.8 (Nifty fifty)

This is my son Be Bo , he is 3 months old my model for strobist practice. Canon Rebel XSi with nifty fifty and off brand flash ( can't afford Canon EX yet ) shoot thru umbrella with the following power setting:

This one with 1/16 power

This one with 1/8 power

This one with 1/4 power

Lê Bình Minh

2010-03-13T21:49:00.001-08:00

I love the nifty fifty lens want sharp photos you got it, want DOF not a problem.

Tamron AF28-75mm F/2.8

2010-03-13T20:31:00.000-08:00

Here are two photo I took with my Canon Rebel XSi and Tamron AF28-75mm lens. Just right click and save them to your PC, you can use them as wall papers.

Colors Of Life

Bears cutie

Las Vegas trip

2010-03-13T18:56:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago we took a two days trip to Las Vegas, we spend most of the time go from hotel to hotel just to see the beautiful design and decoration. Las Vegas has some of the most beautiful hotel casino in the world. The last day we stopped at the beautiful Wynn and Encore hotel and casino. I took a lot of pictures on the two days trip brought with me was my Canon Rebel XSi and two lens the Canon 17-40mm F/4 L and Tamron 28-75mm. As promise I post some of the photos taking with my Canon XSi and Canon 17-40mm F/4 L. Enjoy thanks for stopping by.

These two photos are at the Encore hotel casino what a gorgeous bar, may be next time I will get me a drink here must be expensive...

.

Canon 5D Mark II

2010-02-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

The Full frame Canon 5D is on my wish list.
Check out this clip...

Marrakech.Travel from Julien Widmer on Vimeo.

Shot with 5D mark 2 in Marrakech, Morocco with a home make helmet rig.

Music by Nikkfurie / La Caution "thé à la menthe"

Mr. Hitler not happy about the Canon T2i (550D)

2010-02-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

Hitler really pissed at Canon now for released Canon T2i (450D). The German declare war with Japan... he he.

Canon T2i " The terminator 2 invasion"

CMOS APS-C Sensor / 3.0" Wide LCD / LiveView / Full HD Movie / ISO 6400 / 3.7 FPS / Movie Crop / Self Cleaning Sensor Unit / SDXC compatible
The new flagship of the EOS Rebel line, Canon EOS Rebel T2i brings Professional EOS features into an easy to use, lightweight Digital SLR that's a joy to use. Featuring a class-leading 18.0 Megapixel CMOS Image Sensor and increased light sensitivity for low light photography, the EOS Rebel T2i also has an advanced HD Movie mode for gorgeous Full HD movies. Able to capture up to 3.7 frames per second, it's ready to go the minute it's picked up. Advanced Live View, a new wide-area screen, plus features like Canon's brilliant Auto Lighting Optimizer and Highlight Tone features ensure brilliant photos and movies, easily. With some of the most advanced features of any digital SLR, it's simply the best Rebel Canon has ever created.
• Box Contents: Rebel T2i Body, Eyecup Ef, Wide Strap, USB Interface Cable, AV Cable, Battery Pack LP-E8, Battery Charger LC-E8, EOS Digital Solution Disc & Instruction, Booklets
• 18.0 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C) sensor & DIGIC 4 Image Processor for high image quality and speed
• ISO 100-6400 (expandable to 12800) for shooting from bright to dim light
• Improved EOS Movie mode with manual Exposure control, expanded recording, new Movie Crop recording in 640 x 480 and external Microphone IN terminal for access to improved Sound quality
• Enhanced iFCL 63-zone, Dual-Layer metering system; and 9-point AF system utilizing a high-precision, f/2.8 cross-type center point
• Wide 3.0-inch Clear View LCD Monitor for improved viewing
• Improved layout with Dedicated Live View/Movie shooting button
• New compatibility with SDXC Memory cards, plus new menu status indicator for Eye-Fi support
• Compatible with the full line of Canon EF and EF-S lenses
• Specifications
• Type: CMOS sensor
• Effective pixels: Approx. 18.00MP
• Type: Digital, single-lens reflex, AF/AE camera
• Recording Media: SD memory card, SDHC memory card, SDXC Memory Card
• Compatible Lenses: Canon EF lenses including EF-S lenses
• Lens Mount: Canon EF mount
• Monitor: 3.0" TFT LCD monitor
• Viewfinder: Type: Eye-level SLR (with pentamirror); Coverage: Vertical/Horizontal approx. 95%
• Live View Functions: Still photo shooting and Video shooting
• Image Type: Still: JPEG, RAW (14-bit, Canon original), RAW+JPEG; Video: MOV (Image data: H.264, Audio: Linear PCM)
• Image File Size: Up to 24.5MB (5184 x 3456 pixels) in Large or RAW
• Video File Size: Up to 1920x1080 Full HD
• Built-in Flash: Retractable, auto pop-up flash; Optional External Speedlite: E-TTL II AutoFlash with all EX Series Speedlites
• Interfaces: USB 2.0, Video Out terminal, mini-HDMI OUT terminal
• Battery: One Battery Pack LP-E8
• Dimensions (WxHxD): Approx. 5.1 x 3.8 x 3.0 in.
• Weight: Approx. 18.7 oz.

Canon EOS Rebel T2i DSLR camera

2010-02-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

Canon announced its new Canon EOS Rebel T2i DSLR camera.

We’ve heard rumors for a week or two now about this new flagship model for Canon’s highly popular Rebel DSLR line: the Canon EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR camera. Most of the gossip seemed too good to be true—but it is true, and now we know what all the excitement was a about, especially after seeing the price tag. The T2i is only $799 (body only) and sports such advanced features like 9-point autofocus, a 63-zone dual-layering metering system, a 3-inch live-view smudge-resistant viewfinder, ISO of 100- 6400, and 1080p video shooting at 24, 25, or 30 frames per second with an external mic input.

The Rebel T2i Digital SLR includes some great new features for photography enthusiasts such as grabbing that action shot from the sidelines or creating memorable family portraits, including: 3.7 fps shooting, an ISO range of 100-6400 (expandable to 12,800), a 63-zone Dual Layer Metering System, and Canon’s DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor. In terms of movie making skills, the T2i’s video is quite exciting, with the addition of 30 / 25 / 24 fps 1080p, along with 720p at 50 / 60 fps and VGA at similar rates. The Rebel T2i DSLR captures video in both NTSC and PAL standards at selectable frame rates.

“There is no question that HD video is the biggest trend in DSLR technology and because of this we are seeing the creativity of still photographers transferring to the moving image. Still photographers are using the various lenses and accessories they are already familiar with to create amazing video footage,” stated Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A. “Taking that HD video quality and putting it in the hands of entry-level photographers with cameras like our new EOS Rebel T2i, we are seeing a new generation of creative digital artists emerge.”

The T2i is quite distinguishable from its predecessors but still takes a few features away from Canon’s EOS 7D—like an almost identical sensor, the selectable frame rates, and the stereo mic jack (which is natural). Canon says the new Rebel T2i succeeds in “bridging the gap between an entry-level camera and a true pro-sumer camera.”

As we reported above, the T2i will retail for $800 and will be available this March, with a EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens kit at $900.

Features at a glance:
18 Megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor
DIGIC 4 processor with ISO 100-6400 (Expansion to 12800)
Continuous shooting at 3.7fps
Full HD movie recording with manual control and selectable frame rates
7.7cm (3.0”) 3:2 Clear View LCD with 1,040k dots
iFCL metering System with 63-zone Dual-layer Metering Sensor
Quick Control screen to change shooting settings
Exposure compensation +/-5 stops.
Select maximum value for Auto ISO
External Microphone socket
Movie crop function
Eye-Fi connected functions compatibility

Very impressive I want this camera in my bag, this means no more lunch at the Hooter... he he.

Glowing tubes

2010-02-05T14:32:00.000-08:00

This is my tubes amplifier hand build from a kits. It put out only 8 Watts but it sound very loud and very clean. This photo taken with my Canon Rebel XSi and Tamron AF28-75mm I just don't remember the exif I will find the original photo and post the exif later.

Canon EF 17-40mm F/4L USM

2010-01-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

After months after months of research and reading tons of reviews I finally decided to buy me a Canon EF 17-40mm F/4 USM lens. I got it on ebay for very good deal $684.75 plus $35 shipping. It arrived just two day before xmas, I am so excited this is my first L lens. My first impression with this lens is it look solid and very wide at the front end (77mm filter). USM so quite and fast. I had taken about 20 photos with this lens already I will up load some sample on this blog later day.

Specifications

Lens
Focal Length & Maximum Aperture : 17 - 40mm; 1:4

Lens Construction : 12 elements in 9 groups

Diagonal Angle of View : 104° - 57° 30'

Focus Adjustment : Inner focusing system with USM

Closest Focusing Distance : 0.28m / 0.9 ft.

Zoom System : Rotating type

Filter Size : 77mm

Max. Diameter x Length, Weight : 3.3" x 3.8", 1.1 lb. / 83.5 x 96.8mm, 500g

Here is my Canon EF17-40mm F/4 L

New member of the Le's family

2009-12-30T16:45:00.001-08:00

New member of the Le's family. Baby boy born on Jan 7th 2010 at 13:03 Torrance time. These are taking with my Canon Rebel XSi and a nifty fifty.

Hilarious “Nikon Girl” Video Parody from Photographer Joey L.

2009-12-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

DISCLAIMER: The video I’m linking to below by Joey L. includes some adult themes, and definitely a naughty word or two. Really naughty. I’m talking “Broncos coach Josh McDaniels on NFL Network style naughty words.” You’ve been warned–naughty-adulty-stuff (and beer) lie ahead:

Famous photographer Joey L has created a very cute video called “Nikon Girl” and if you’ve got a couple of minutes, it’ll put a smile on your face (plus, Joey L is actually a pretty decent rapper). Enjoy!

My beautiful wife and son

2009-11-10T17:41:00.000-08:00

This picture taking at Fashion Island, California with my Canon rebel XSi and Tamron 28-75mm lens.
F/2.8
1/160 sec.
ISO 100
Focal length 45mm
Manual exposure

Big gun

2009-11-04T10:57:00.001-08:00

Taking with my Canon XSi and Nifty Fifty. Shutter speed 1/640 Aperture F/3.5 ISO 200 Aperture priority Pattern Metering.

Water meter

2009-11-04T10:05:00.000-08:00

Post process HDR in Black and white

Post process HDR in color

Original

My toys

2009-10-26T16:08:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of my toys: Canon XSi, EF 50mm F/1.8, Tamron AF28-75mm, Bower SFD926C, iPhone, Samsung phone the list still kind of short but I am trying to longer it.

Ha Long Bay

2009-10-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

This picture taking with my first DSLR the Minolta DiMAGE A2 (Konica Minolta Camera) on a trip back to Viet Nam. I did not learn any thing about this first DSLR, it pretty much a point a shoot camera for me at a time.

New Passport

2009-09-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

Using the LucisArt Plug-In for a Little Punch

2009-09-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

Using the LucisArt Plug-In for a Little Punch

Posted using ShareThis

Girls of Rocky Point

2009-08-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

Girls of Rocky Point at Bella Sirena from Jesse Hoekstra on Vimeo.

Girls of Rocky Point at Las Palmas from Jesse Hoekstra on Vimeo.

Girls of Rocky Point aboard the Amelia Rose from Jesse Hoekstra on Vimeo.

Girls of Rocky Point Weekend from Jesse Hoekstra on Vimeo.

Rocky Point photography from Jesse Hoekstra on Vimeo.

Adjustment Brush in Photoshop CS4

2009-08-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

Photoshop CS4 Retouching

2009-08-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

Lighting Essentials

2009-08-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

Before and After: Old Style Photo Lightroom Tutorial

2009-08-06T09:30:00.001-07:00

Photoshop Soft Light Layer Tutorial

2009-08-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

Shaping the model with light

2009-07-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

Night Photography Lighting Techniques

2009-07-03T20:45:00.000-07:00

Photographs Wildlife

2009-07-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

Shoots a Studio Portrait

2009-07-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Impressive Color Blending Technique

2009-06-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

The first, you open the photo below:

Go to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen to sharpen it.

Then go to Images > Adjustment > Level (or press Ctrl + L) and set options like this:

Duplicate layer and set blend mode to screen, opacity 39%. Go to Images > Adjustments > Color Balance, set options:

S: -62.+20.+47
M: +33.-17.+6
H: -9.+5.+27

Your result:

Create new layer, fill it with #faf2ca and change blend mode to screen, opacity 31%.

Continue to create a new layer, fill it with #bebebe. Blend mode color burn, opacity 31%.

You'll get this:

Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E to create a new layer like the previous result . Set blend mode screen and opacity 38%.

Go to Images > Adjustment > Color Balance, set option:

You've get this:

Create a new layer and fill it with #0d004c, set blend mode to exclusion, opacity 54%.

Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E again to have the layer with result that you've done before. Set its blend mode to soft light, opacity 50%.

Choose burn tool and set options like this:

Make some lighten areas to be darker (like cheek, hand, hair, etc.). I think you should fix her eyes too.

Ok, now duplicate the background image and put it on top, press Ctrl + Shift + U to make it be black & white. Set blend mode to soft light, opacity 47%.

Now you've got this:

The layers window at this time:

Add some brushes and text into your work to make it looks better.

Make Up Effect for the Face

2009-06-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

Make Up Effect for the Face

In this Photoshop tutorial I will be walking you through the creating new make up for the face.

Open up the stock photo you’ve chosen to be working with for this tutorial. First of all we need to make face skin softer. For this effect duplicate layer with Ctrl+D and apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with the next presets:

After that mess with the layer mode & opacity/fill. I tried Soft Light with opacity of 60%. Ok, now get out the Eraser Tool and make clear area out of face skin.

Merge two layers in one. See the difference:

After that I think we should add some lipstick on lips. So, select the Polygonal Lasso Tool and make selection as on picture below:

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate selected area and change the color with Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation using similar settings to these:

Now we have something like this:

To bring it real view find and get out the Eraser Tool and clear unnecessary parts of the layer out of lips. After that set opacity up to 70% for this layer.

Now I would like to change eyes color and add some eye shadows. Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and make selection as below:

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate selected area on the new layer. Now Image > Adjustments > Levels with the next presets:

To get the next picture:

Ok, now select the Eraser Tool again and a soft round brush to make a little clean work as on picture below:

After that create a new layer, then select the Polygonal Lasso Tool and make selection similar to the picture below:

Fill the selection with color of #a2ab8d and press Ctrl+D to deselect chosen area:

Apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with the next presets:

Change layer mode to Hue:

Looking pretty good! Isn’t it? And the last one thing, I would like to put on rouge. For this create a new layer, then get out the Brush Tool and a soft round brush and make not so big spots from the left and rights sides of the face using color of #ff94a8:

Now apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with similar settings to these:

Your picture should look as mine:

Now clear rouge out of face borders using the Eraser Tool and set up layer mode to Color for the layer:

That is it! Now we have cool make up effect for the face.

Design a Stylish Fashion Advert

2009-06-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

In this Photoshop tutorial we’ll be designing a simple but stylish fashion-themed advert. You know, so you can sell sunglasses and stuff

1. Document Creation

Get started by finding a nice, suitable stock photo to work with. For this you’ll want to use one of the following websites:

iStockPhoto (paid)
DeviantART (free)
Dreamstime (paid)
stock.xchng (free)

I used a stock photo that I bought/downloaded for free (can’t remember exactly) from iStockPhoto a while ago.

As you can see, I’ve chosen a photo of a pretty girl wearing big sunglasses (now the theme of the design). Open your photo in Photoshop and get to work by resizing it, copying it to a new document, or whatever you want to do with it.

2. Colourise

Create a new layer (layer > new > layer) then get out the Gradient Tool. Using the gradient tool, add a very bright radial gradient onto your new layer (like this):

Try a few different layer modes and see which one looks best to you (I chose Screen):

You might also want to try a few different Solid Color fill layers, then mess with the settings for those, but this will be fine for now.

Please note that the colors that I used in the radial gradient were roughly #f743fb and #6909d1.

3. Shapes / Details

For this part of the tutorial you might want to hide the layer we previously made (the gradient layer). Start by getting out the Custom Shape Tool and finding the heart shape (or any other shape you think would look cool). Create a new layer and make a few white hearts on your canvas.

As you can see in the above image, I also rotated a few of my heart shapes to make it look a little more interesting! Finish off with the hearts by adding a larger, pink-filled one in the background (behind your white shapes).

I finished up by lowering the opacity for the larger heart shape layer, and erasing a few of the edges from the smaller heart shapes (see in the below image):

Take note that this isn’t an exact science! Get creative here.

4. Halftone Effect

Now we want to add something really interesting on top of our hearts/shapes. Start by opening the Channels tab (window > channels) and creating a new channel (create a new channel by clicking the icon at the bottom of the palette). You might need/want to make a new layer before doing this channel business.

After you’ve made yourself a new channel, get out the brush tool, and using a large, soft brush, dob a few times onto your black canvas (making sure your new channel is selected).

Now to make an interesting effect out of these boring dobs — go to Filter > Pixelate > Color Halftone and use an appropriate setting (you’ll have to press OK and check if it’s good enough). Using 32 as your Max. Radius should be good enough.

Now, holding ctrl down on your keyboard, click on the thumbnail for your new channel, this will select the pixels. Go back to your layers palette and select a new/blank layer. Fill your newly-made selection in the fresh layer with the very bright & colorful gradient that comes with Photoshop.

To finish off with the halftone effect, you might want to erase the shape away a little bit, in case it’s hiding a bit of the face. Or you could go back to the channel and redo it so it’s a little more to your liking. Unhide your previously-hidden gradient layer and see how it’s looking now!

5. Image Adjustments

It would probably have made more sense to do the image adjustments at the start of the tutorial, but now we know what our outcome is mostly going to look like, we can make some photo adjustments to our stock. The main thing I did was add a levels adjustment layer below our screen gradient layer (note: layer > new adjustment layer > levels).

You may also want to adjust the photo in a few other ways, for example, you could make her lips sparkle a little more? I don’t know!

5. Add Text

This design wouldn’t be complete without some sort of text now, would it? Start by getting out the Horizontal Type Tool (just the regular text tool!) and write out some text, in this case I used two sets of text, one reading YOUR 2ND PAIR and the second set of text reading 50% OFF.

The beautiful font which I’ve used above is called Decker, and you can download it completely for free at Urban Fonts. For all of the text I used Decker Regular, except for the word OFF, which I used Decker Bold on. After you’re all done with the text settings, position it accordingly.

I’m not actually sure where would be the best place for this text. If you find your text doesn’t fit, you could always make it smaller and add a Drop Shadow to make it stand out a little more.

Additional Effects

Basically now you should get creative and throw whatever you’ve got onto the canvas, such as patterns, maybe textures, other stock photos, something to go with the theme you’re working with. One thing that I thought was a good idea was to add a scan line pattern into the corner and make it blend in nicely using the layer modes.

Just remember though, you can download the complete PSD file from this tutorial, so if there was something you need help with or want to check out, please feel free to download the PSD file. Another thing to do after you’re all done is change the colors used in your Screen gradient layer, you might come up with a surprisingly nice result!

Mission Accomplished

Well, we’re done for the tutorial! I hope you enjoyed it, even just a little bit. Now you’re equipped with the knowledge of designing a nice, fashion-themed advert, and the possibility of selling sunglasses will haunt you for the rest of your days

Retouching a Studio Portrait

2009-06-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

This Photoshop tutorial is written for experienced Photoshop users and will show you unique techniques for retouching photos. You’ll learn how to enhance backgrounds, dodge and burn, brighten eyes, and add hair shine while keeping a low count of layers. The techniques you learn from this tutorial can be used for other portrait photos.

Before and After

Retouching a Studio Portrait Photoshop Tutorial

Retouching the background

Here is the original image. As a photo it looks fine but it looks flat and boring. This Photoshop tutorial will show you techniques used to make the photo have a stronger impact. You can follow this tutorial with one of your own image or you can use the image below:

Creating the mask

The first step is to isolate the model from the background. I used the extract and color range tool to create this. First I used the extract tool (Filter > Extract) but it didn’t work very well for the hair.

I then use the color range tool (Select > Color Range) to select the areas that were hard to extract using the extract tool.

Now we have a mask in it’s own layer.

Adding a gradient to the background

With the mask created, I can add a gradient to the background. Adding a gradient to the background is a simple and effective way to enhance a boring background. Here is a preview of what the layers will look like in the end.

To create a gradient background, we’ll be adding a gradient fill layer using the mask that we just created. To do that, hold down the Ctrl key and click on the layer thumbnail of the layer “Mask”. It will load the selection of the layer. Choose Select > Inverse to inverse the selection. Then, choose Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient.

In the Gradient Fill tool, move the center of the gradient behind the head. You can do this by clicking and dragging on the document window.

To increase contrast, you can change the gradient so that it is like the image below.

Finally, adjust the opacity of the Gradient Fill layer. I set mine to 50% opacity.

Tone

Begin by creating a new layer for dodging and burning. Position the layer above the gradient fill adjustment layer. Then, change the blending mode to soft light.

Choose Edit > Fill and use the settings below.

The layer should now be filled with a 50% gray.

Add a layer mask using the shape from the Mask layer. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the layer thumbnail of the Mask layer . Then, click on the in the layers palette to add a layer mask.

Click back on the 50% gray layer thumbnail and use the dodge and burn tools. For the image below, I used the burn tool to darken the models right side of the face, hair, top, and her arms. Then, I use the dodge tool to brighten the other side of the models face.

Here is a before and after effect of the dodging and burning.

Eye Brightening

Brightening the eyes will have a dramatic effect. It can be easily done by using a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer. Choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast to add a new Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer. Rename this layer to Brighten Eyes.

For now, set the brightness to 50 and contrast to 33.

Select the layer mask and choose Image > Adjustments > Invert. This will invert the layer mask from white to black.

Using the brush tool, paint the layer mask where the eyes are. You should see the eyes brighten as you paint. Then, go back into the Brightness/Contrast settings and readjust the settings.

Hair Shine

Finally, we’ll add a shine to the hair. Start by using the quick selection or magic wand tool to create a selection of the hair around the area where you want the shine to appear.

With the selection, choose Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient. Position the layer above the Brighten Eye layer. Change the blending mode of the Hair Shine layer to overlay. You should have a layer like the image below.

Go back into the Gradient Fill settings. Set the gradient to white to black and style to reflected. Checkmark the reverse option then click and drag on the document window and position the gradient where you want the hair shine to appear. Adjust the scale.

In the Gradient Fill window, click on the gradient to edit it. You should have a window like the image below. Create a gradient like the image below. To do this, click and drag the top left input slider to the middle of the gradient bar. Do the same with the bottom left input slider. Then, click on the individual input sliders and adjust the settings as shown in the image below.

We now have a hair shine but it does not match the color of the hair. We’ll add back a little of the hair color to the shine.

Click on the bottom left input slider.
Click on the color setting and a color picker window will appear.
Click on the hair to capture the color of the hair.
Move the color picker towards the top left until the hair color looks natural.
Click OK three times to exit out of the gradient settings.

We have added the hair shine but if you look closely, you can see some artifacts.

We can easily fix this by blurring the layer mask. Select the Hair Shine layer mask then choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Adjust the settings until the unclean edge fades.

If the hair shine is overlapping the skin, use the Minimum filter to hide it. Choose Filter > Other > Minimum and adjust the slider.

Here is the before and after effect of adding hair shine. You can add emphasis to the eyes by aligning the hair shine with the eyes.

Final Results

Post Production Tutorial

2009-06-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

Another tutorial from our on going Post Production series, this time we’ll be creating a dreamy portrait effect. In the tutorial we’ll be playing around with gradient maps and color channels, hope you like it.

Final Preview

Original Stock

Step 1

Open up your selected photo and immediately create a new gradient map (image/adjustments/Gradient Map). Make sure the gradient map is set from black to white, then click OK.

Step 2

Duplicate the layer and then add some gaussian blur (filter/blur/gaussian blur). In the dialog box set the blur radius to 7px and press Ok. In the layers panel set the opacity of the new layer to 50% and then merge it with the background layer.

Step 3

Open up the curves dialog box (image/adjustments/curves) and set the RGB channel output and input levels to 87 and 139 respectively. Then Duplicate the layer, set the layer mode to Overlay and set the opacity to 75%. Finally merge the layers.

Step 4

Duplicate the background layer and again create another gradient map just like we did in Step 1. Set the opacity of the new layer to 75% then set the contrast of the layer to 15 (image/adjustments/brightness/contrast), and merge the 2 layers.

Step 5

Duplicate the layer and press Ctrl L to open up the levels dialog box. Inside the levels dialog box select the green channel and set the input levels to 7, 1.0 and 250. Then set the blue channels input levels to 5, 1.00 and 250 respectively and you’re done.

Quick and Effective Facial Photo Retouching

2009-06-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

Quick and Effective Facial Photo Retouching

Mar 5th in Photo Effects by Arik

Whether it's for a friend, family member, or client, retouching images is very common these days. In this tutorial, I will lay down the basics of retouching and take you through the entire process, layer by layer.

Author: Arik

Hey there! Well, I'm Arik and I have been designing for about 4 years now. I've worked my way up by reading a lot of tutorials and spending a lot of time using Photoshop. I hope that you will enjoy my contributions to psdtuts.com!

Sadly, I spent my money made from tutorials on 'Long Island Iced Tea cocktails' and therefore I am forced, yet again, to live in a box with a broadband connection and a computer. Therefore, I would like to thank Jean Scheijen for providing me with this beautiful free stock image. Free stock images, I love 'em!

Here's a before and after (just roll over the image to see the before):

Lastly, before we begin with the actual tutorial, I would like to show you my layer structure. For me, this setup works great. With this setup, I can navigate quickly through my layers and cut down on my work time. All of the layers will be discussed in the tutorial, so don't worry if the scheme confuses you at the moment.

Step 1

We begin by duplicating the original layer, and with a combination of the Clone Stamp (S) Tool and the Healing Brush (J) Tool, try to remove all spots and blotches that we can find. In essence, we smooth out the skin this way and prepare it for the brushing. It is very important to use a soft brush when working like this, so that the end result blends better with the surrounding skin. If an area is hard to tackle, use the Clone Stamp Tool first and then blend the treated area with the healing brush.

Step 2

Symmetry is naturally attractive to human beings, and there are certain 'lines' that run across the face that when these are symmetrical, the subject seems to be more attractive to the eye. So let's give our subject a little plastic surgery. Duplicate the layer, and using the Forward Warp Tool found in the liquefy gallery (Filter > Liquefy... or Shift+Ctrl+X), raise the area around the eyebrow just a little.

Step 3

Right now, we've come to the point where we can fiddle a bit with contrast, enhancing it further as we go. Let's use a modification of a well-known technique called the 'Angel face' technique...at least, that is what I always call it. Again, duplicate your layer and then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and give this layer about a 8-10px blur. After this we set this layer to 'Soft Light'. Since we do not want this effect to be visible everywhere, I added a Layer Mask and filled that with black, concealing the effect. Then I took a big white, soft, round brush set to around 30-50% Opacity and started brushing around the nose, cheeks, eyes, and hair to enhance their color. This effect can do miracles for blond hair since it can transform it from a dull yellow-ish color to a vibrant gold color.

Step 4

Now we're going to focus on the actual airbrushing. This is a delicate process that requires a certain amount of patience and experience. Depending on your wishes or your client's wishes you will have to decide how much airbrushing you want to apply. For instance, models in magazines and especially adult magazines are usually heavily airbrushed since they have to look 'perfect'. On the other hand there are cases where you might just want to tweak the face by removing a few wrinkles or smoothing out the skin in a few places. For this reason, when I do the airbrushing, I generally do it over a few layers which gives me the option to switch layers on and off depending on how much texture I want to preserve in the end. On this image, I did the major airbrushing in two layers and merged them afterwards.

The trick is to use a low opacity (between 10 and 20 percent) soft brush. The color we pick comes from the image itself. When we pick the color, set the sample size of the Eyedropper Tool (I) to 51 by 51 pixels. If I remember correctly, this feature has only been available since CS2, so if you are using a version before that you will sample the color from a single pixel. Try to select an area where the skin is more or less smooth or set a flesh tone manually. Brush over an area multiple times and watch it become smoother.

The change is significant, especially around the nose area, and it is even more noticeable when the image is viewed on a much larger scale.

Step 5

After the airbrushing, let's tweak the lips and the eyes. The lips have been slightly saturated using the same technique as in step 4, just pick a color from the lips instead. Then make a selection around the eyes and use 'Layer via Copy' (Ctrl+J), which can be found under Layer > New > Layer via Copy, to copy the selected part onto a new layer. Make sure this layer is on top at the moment. On the new layer, use the Dodge Tool with the settings shown below to lighten the iris.

Step 6

This is the final step before we apply our adjustment layers and bring this piece to life. In this step, we're going to focus on the eyes a bit more, since these are very important in any portrait photograph.

1. Using a low opacity (15-20 percent) black brush, we enhance the make-up around the eyes. Don't worry if the change seems small, it will pop as soon as we add those adjustment layers.

2. With the same technique as used in step 4, get rid of those wrinkles around the eyes. Yes, we all have them or we are going to have them, and yes, we all seem to hate them.

3. Finally, let's desaturate the sclera (the white part of the eye). There are several ways to do this, but I believe that the easiest is simply to create a layer, select a white brush, and go around the white bit of the eye and set the mode of the layer to color. It's quick, easy and gets the job done nicely.

Step 7

Time for the grand finale. This is the part where we make our picture stand out using the adjustment layers shown below. The adjustment might seem tiny but they make that crucial difference:

The levels and curves layers add contrast to the image as a whole and enrich the colors.

The brightness/contrast adjustment layer makes the make-up around the eyes and the lips pop out. As you can see, there's a mask applied to the layer. It is entirely black (therefore hiding the effect) except for the area around the eyes and the lips.

The lip hue/saturation adjustment layer adds a vibrant pink color to the lips. Again a mask is applied to limit the effect strictly to the inner area of the lips.

And finally, another hue/saturation adjustment layer to slightly remove the warm shade from the face.

And well, did all of this make a difference? You decide:

Conclusion

Well there you go, a complete overhaul. Oh, and just in case there's this voice in your head saying 'Well, she looks too fake,' send the image around to some friends and ask if they think that to. When you actually see the process take place, the person seems to look fake afterwards because you know what is wrong, but when you show the image to someone who doesn't know it's a Photoshopped image, you will get a completely different response. Download the PSD to see the larger image and you will appreciate the work even more (available via Plus Membership).

Have fun!

Really Cool Digital Make up in Photoshop in 10 min

2009-06-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

Why use real make up if you can do a digital make up and make the skin look pretty and smooth. It's simple, fast and very effective.

Well, on this tutorial you will learn step by step the basics of digital make up on a persons body.

First you have to get the photo you want to apply the digital make up, I choose a photo from the stock gallery of Samantha Draven.

After you open the photo you want to use, duplicate the layer.

And apply Filter > Noise > Dust & Scratches ( Radius: 5 pixels and Thereshold 0 levels ).

Now add a mask to your layer.

On the layer mask you just created, select a good size brush select the color black and paint the background and the hair, leaving only the skin area white as you see here:

( This way only the skin will have the Dust & Scratches effect we applied earlier)

And the photo will look like this:

Now with a smaller brush keep painting with the color black, but now only the eyes and the bikini so they will also have the original look as you see here:

After you do that, change the Opacity of your brush to 25%

Now paint all the curves on her skin little by little on her face and body, go over the nose, mouth, chin, and most curves of her face and body just so her real face appearance will start to show again but with the clean skin, this is how your mask layer should look when you done:

And this is how the photo should look:

Now go back to the background layer

And apply Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight ( The amount of Shadows is 50% and Highlights 0 ) so we can give more light to her hair.

Go back to the Background Copy layer and change the Fill to 75% so her skin can look more realistic.

Here is the final result:

Click on the Image to compare the final result with the original.

This is the basic of creating a digital make up and from here we can work on the color of her skin adjust the background and add more touches to it. I will try to continue the tutorial as a series to a even better and more advanced result.

I hope everybody liked it and if you did show some love and leave a comment, if you didn't let me know and leave a comment too, I spent some time doing this,so spend a minute leaving your thoughts lol. Thank you very much!

Professional Photographic Retouching Tutorial (40Mins, Start-To-Finish)

2009-06-26T21:33:00.000-07:00

Professional Photographic Retouching Tutorial (40Mins, Start-To-Finish) from Youssef Sarhan on Vimeo.

LOMO style fx: Photoshop

2009-06-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

High fashion fx: Cross processing (Photoshop)

2009-06-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

Caslys Editorial High Fashion Photoshop Technique

2009-06-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

Photoshop CS4 Retouching: Fashion Photography Projects

2009-06-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

Studio lighting for white backgrounds

2009-06-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

How to photograph drop of water

2009-06-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

Portrait photography in sunny weather using flash

2009-06-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

Learn Night Photography

2009-06-19T22:20:00.000-07:00

Photography is really about light. Night photography is just like any other type of photography except you don't have the sun to help you light up your pictures.

Mixed Light

To start with, you generally have to understand "mixed light". Often in a scene there are two (or more) types of light. One might be fixed (moon light, city lights) and another is variable (fireworks, flash lights, on camera flash). The goal is to balance them. Ironically, balance rarely means equal - generally you want the exposure of one light to be roughly 1/2 to 1/4 of the other. A few examples:

Entrance
Here a cave entrace (outdoors) is balanced with the lights built into this cave display. Balance is achived by how much of the scene is shown - more of the cave (the yellow part), the less green outdoors shows. Here it was just luck that they were roughly the same brightness.

Beam Of Light From Ceiling
Here there is a fixed light source (the sun coming through) and a variable source (my flashlight back filling the scene). The flash light was on for about 4 seconds at the end of the scene to fill in the cave. If I had not used the flashlight, the cave would be too contrasty - you couldn't see the walls.

Tent With Night Sky
It took 6 minutes to get enough star/city light to get a sky filled in. The flash light filled in the tent in 6 seconds. This would be an easy photoshop fix (there is complete darkness between the sky and the tent) but I didn't do that - promise!

Perhaps the hardest example of balance. The city has one proper exposure (say 6 seconds at f8). The fireworks are variable in time but not aperature. If you open the aperature (say 3 seconds at f5.6) the fire works trails will burn, if it's too closed (say 12 seconds at f11) the fireworks will be too thin. Balancing this is hard.

Cities (30 seconds or less)

Cities have a little bit of everything in the for light. They are generally pretty simple to expose - you are balancing the city against another element - generally a sky or a foreground element. Generally you are trying to pick up as many colours as possible. Of course you need a tripod or solid support for any photo this long.

Fireworks (4 - 12 seconds)

One of the most fun types of night photography is taking pictures of Fireworks. I have a page of just fireworks ph otos, but here are some favorites:

Fireworks are a great way to burn film. The formula I use is f8 for 100 asa film with a 4 to 12 second exposure. The exposure is hit and miss - using the bulb feature on the camera and a cable release, open the shutter when it looks like the fireworks will be good and hold the shutter open for as long as you need to fill up the image. (A tripod is a must - a clamp works in a pinch. If you can't support the camera, don't bother). Blue fireworks are difficult to capture (they are dim) and green fireworks are generally the brightest. Ideally, you want to combine low and high fireworks in one frame, but they don't have to be shot at the same moment - just inside the 4 to 12 second window you have the shutter open. I shoot two to three roles of film each time I attend.

If you are using 200 speed film, use f11. 400 speed film, use f16. If you get the aperture wrong, the fireworks will burn in to much or be two dim - you can't compensate by longer or shorter time. Like anything in photography, once you get good, get closer. Here that means zoom in. We are still at f8, but now we are in the < 4 seconds range.

Sparklers (3 seconds)

Another fun pyrotechnic source of light is sparklers. They are often available with birthday cakes and at Halloween. I have a page from one experiment, but here are some favorites: Jer CircleJohn Name These exposures were about 3 seconds long at f16 on 400 speed film. (f8 on 100 speed film). The trick here was to use a flash set on rear curtain sync (the flash fires at the last moment before the shutter closes).

Campfires (6 - 30 seconds)

Campfires provide a nice light. The two pictures below are about 6 seconds in duration on 50 speed film at f1.4 - just enough to light up the people. (It was actually metered from the camera)
But it doesn't have to be that dark. You can use a bigger fire and mix other light sources. First, taking photos just after the sun goes down, you can pick up the residual light. Second, you can hide a lantern to light people up.

Or you can just expose longer. Using 100 speed print film, f4 at 30 seconds yields a very different picture. The people have blurred out a little but the background has been lit up by the ambient light.

Flashlights ( 120 seconds )

Without a sun, you can leave the shutter open fairly long and compose how you want. This picture is a 2 minute exposure at f1.4 on 50 speed film. I set the camera on a tripod and with the shutter open used my flashlight to paint in Andrea. Once I painted here once, she moved and I painted her again. It was lots of fun! No on board flash was used - the light is hard, bright and difficult to control.

Star Light ( 300 seconds )

Stars aren't very bright this far away. These two pictures are 5 minute exposure at f1.4 on 50 speed film. Unfortunately, city lights often overwhelm stars so getting a good photography is often an issue of geography. Orion Above TreesStars Above House The trick is to keep the aperture at maximum - stopping down will make most of the stars disappear. The longer the exposure, the longer the trails.

Moon Light ( 300 seconds )

While visiting the Grand Canyon, I decided to take a night photo - roughly 5 minutes at f4 on 50 speed film. While I couldn't see very well, the film picked up something I missed - a forest fire on the north side of the valley. The smoke has descended into the Canyon - there a was a park notice the next morning. I haven't had another chance to use moon light, but I'll keep looking.

Moon light view of the Canyon

Learn Night Photography

How to Take Portrait Photographs

2009-06-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

Have you ever felt that you have far too many "snapshots" of your family, and want a more professional-looking photograph to hang on your wall? Or perhaps you've been roped in to take a photograph for your company's magazine or website. Whatever the reason for wanting them, you don't need a photo studio and a ton of expensive lighting and camera gear to take portraits. With intelligent use of your equipment, thoughtful framing and due attention paid to lighting, anybody can take good portraits. Here's how.

1. Set up your camera. Where circumstances permit, use a slow ISO speed (lower number). In natural light, use "shade" or "cloudy" white balance if you have it; this leads to much warmer colours.[1] See How to Take Better Photographs for further elaboration and advice.
2. Get the lighting right. Those fortunate enough to have a photo studio can precisely control their lighting. They also aren't reading this; the rest of us will have to go out and find the right light. What you're looking for is consistent, and diffused lighting.

*Direct, harsh sunlight will cause ugly shadows to be cast on the subject's face.
Avoid direct, harsh sunlight from any direction. Apart from a few hours of soft light in the early morning and afternoon, direct sunlight is largely unfavourable for taking portrait photos. Looking into the sunlight will cause your subject to squint, and harsh light from behind will make it more difficult to get a consistent exposure.[2] From any other angle, it will cast harsh shadows on the face (including the horrid "raccoon eye" effect from direct overhead light). Overcast days are best, as clouds will diffuse the sunlight;[3] although since making your own cloud isn't typically an option, head for the shade.
* Fill the shadows. Sometimes you'll have no choice but to take photos in direct, harsh sunlight. If your camera has a flash sync speed fast enough, use your flash to fill the shadows. If not, get your subject or an assistant to hold a piece of white or colored card to bounce the sunlight into the shadows. You could use your self-timer and hold it yourself.[4]
* Don't rely on your flash. That is to say, if you don't have a ton of studio lighting (and you probably don't, since you're reading this), don't count on your flash to illuminate your scene or your subject. Using it to fill in shadows is fine; depending on it as your only source of lighting is usually a bad thing. Go outside if weather permits, or get more natural light into your scene by getting closer to windows if it does not.
3. Make your subject comfortable. A comfortable subject will feel happier, more relaxed and less "posed". This will make for much better shots.
* Get to like your subject, and have them like you. If you have time, talk to your subject. Learn to be genuinely interested in other people (or if you're terminally sociopathic, fake it). As one photographer writes about the famous photographer Elsa Dorfman,

Elsa has the same kind of studio, background, lights, and equipment as a lot of folks with more technical skill. Yet those folks aren't portrait photographers and Elsa is. What's the difference? Elsa cares about people. She is genuinely curious about people she has never met and can connect with them in just a few minutes. After a one-hour session, she knows more about her average subject's life than I do about my sister's.[5]

* Get them comfortable with you having a camera around, time permitting. Many, probably most, people freeze up and feel awkward the moment you pull the camera out.

*Would you want to be on the other end of one of these?
Factor your subject's feelings in with your lens choices. This is not as strange as it might sound. A super-wide angle lens will require you to travel halfway up the nose of your subject in order to frame the photo properly. On the other hand, a subject might feel distinctly awkward at a monster Howitzer-sized telephoto pointing at them from 50 feet away.
* Give your subject something to play with. People with something in their hands will relax their shoulders more and feel less awkward than they would if they were standing around doing nothing.[6] If you're taking body shots, have them hold something relevant to them as a person (for example, an executive might hold a book,[6] a child might hold a teddy bear, a photographer might hold a camera, and so on). If you're not taking body shots, even better; find something to keep their hands occupied. Try a stress ball or something else that gives your subject something to do.
4. Choose your lens and frame your shot. There are three primary ways to frame a portrait; which you will choose is a matter of artistic judgment.

* The head-and-shoulders shot. If you're starting out taking portraits, this is probably the best place to start. For this, use a telephoto lens. Ignore the myth of a "portrait lens". There is no optimal lens focal length for portraits.[7] Longer lenses are good, because they force you to stand further back, and consequently, due to perspective, facial features like noses are de-emphasised (but see "factor in your subject's feelings with your lens choices" above). They also give the illusion of a shallower depth of field (i.e. blurring the background more).[8]
In accordance with the rule of thirds, have the subject's eyes one third of the way from the top of the frame. Set your camera to aperture-priority (Av) mode and use a large aperture to blur the background to make it less distracting (or if you have a "Portrait" mode on your camera, use that instead).
* The body shot. All of the above applies. Have your subject stand at a slight angle to the camera; they will look slimmer and more relaxed.[6]
* The "environmental" portrait, of people in action and in context. Compared to the above, this is difficult to get right and very easy to make into a mere snapshot, so tread carefully. Use a wider-angle lens for this sort of thing.

*Zooming in "too close" is one of many things which you can experiment with.
Everything else. The cost of experimentation with digital cameras is almost exactly zero. If you have time, try different and drastic angles, strange framing, zooming in "too close", and so on (see also "ignore this article", below).
5. Focus and take your pictures. If your camera has an auto-exposure and auto-focus lock, then meter and focus on the subject's face, lock, reframe, and then take your photo.

6.Sharpening hair and clothing and brightening eyes makes a subtle, but noticeable, difference.
Post-process your photo. Use advanced photo editing software like GIMP or Photoshop. Correct the colour balance and remove any haziness. You might want to sharpen features like hair and clothing; smooth out lines and imperfections in faces (this latter part might not be necessary; the sharpening of other features in the photo will make skin look smoother, because our eyes perceive sharpness and softness relative to other things in the photo). Brighten the eyes using the "Levels" tool.
7. Ignore this article. Photography is an art, not a set of methods. You can follow all these steps and still take an uninteresting photograph that you dislike. Technically "incorrect" photos can be the most stunning, such as those which are hugely over-exposed, harshly lit, packed with "distracting" background detail, strangely composed, and so on.[9] Know the rules, but know that you can, and should, break them whenever you see fit.

Tamron AF 28-75mm lens

2009-06-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday 06/06/2009 after fews months reading and looking on internet I decided to purchase I new Tamron AF 28-75mm lens. I am so excited with this new lens can wait to go out take some pictures with my new toy.

Tamron AF 28-75mm full name is: SP AF 28-75mm F/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF).

Specifications
Optical construction	16 elements in 14 groups inc. 3 LD elements, 4 aspherical elements and 2 XR elements
Number of aperture blades	7 (rounded)
min. focus distance	0.33m (max. magnification ratio ~1:3.9)
Dimensions	73x92mm
Weight	510g
Filter size	67mm (non-rotating)
Hood	supplied, petal-shaped
Other features	Zoom lock (at 28mm).

...more review on Photozone

Earning Money Through Photography-Top 10 Tips

2009-06-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

Earning Money Through Photography-Top 10 Tips

Author: ashwani kumar.ch

Photography the art of capturing a moment forever at the click of a button is a unique and creative medium of self-expression.it is an art form requiring aesthetic sense as well as technical expertise. Photography is also a hobby that can be made profitable. One of the best parts of being a photographer in the digital age is the freedom to shoot things that fall into your range of interests and abilities.

The beauty of photography is that no matter what you are interested in you can earn money by photographing it and selling those photos both online and offline. These photos can include anything from landscapes to local events, businessmen to bees and from children to celebrities

Starting to make money through photography is very easy and you can start off with a few basic tools like a computer with an internet connection and a digital camera.

Tips to get started and earn money

Exposure: The main requirement to earn money through photography is exposure of your work. No matter what kind of photography you are into, it is crucial to get as many people as possible to view your photos.

You can get your photos online either by getting your own website or by using existing websites. Setting up and hosting your own website is very easy and it has the advantage that it will establish you as a photographer and you can directly sell to your clients without other agencies taking a share of your money

Getting your Basics right: Before starting out to make money through photography you must get your basics right so that you can start on the right track and avoid the common mistakes made by an amateur photographer. You can join hands on classroom program or take up an online course. There are a number of websites dedicated to photography which can be of great help to an amateur photographer

Area of specialization: One of the secrets of earning lots of money through photography is not to specialize. Though you might be having your area of interest, you will be able to make more money by being flexible rather than confining yourself to a single area. Photograph what people want whenever they want and they will love you for it

Market research: Market research is crucial to make money by selling photographs. Before clicking pictures look at what the buyers are looking for and you must also make sure that you are able to meet the quality standards set by the buyer. Whenever you are trying to sell your photographs you must set your prices competitively neither too high nor too low

Stock photography website: It is the fastest growing area of photography. Stock photography agencies present a great opportunity for the amateur photographer who is making some part time money through photography. They provide an excellent platform to showcase your work and these can be viewed by millions of people.

If a person wants to buy your photos from these sites he has to pay you since you hold the copyright over your photos. The biggest advantage is that you can sell them over and over again making more money each time you do so

Building a portfolio: An important aspect of earning money through photography is to make the customer want to hire you rather than just taking pictures. To prove to your customers that you are good at taking pictures you must build and maintain an excellent portfolio of pictures that cover many different aspects of photography. Once you build up a nice portfolio you can easily make a lot of money.

In a micro stock photo site you should focus on pictures that are more worth to buyers and set aside a couple of hours a day to build your portfolio. To make a huge amount submit hot selling photos to the sites

Photosharing: You can also earn money through photosharing sites, marketing your photos in these sites will get you the attention that you need to make money with your photos since many people visit these sites frequently. Though you cant sell through these sites you can imply to the user that licenses to your photos are for sale so they can contact you further.

You can also post your photographs in online forums; you must take criticism in a positive way and improve upon your work

Selling offline: If you think you don’t have an artistic eye and can’t take quality photos, there are lots of people who will pay for simple click and shoot images like insurance agencies and sell it to various newspapers and editorial. Any picture that tells a story or documents an event can be useful.

Your best bet when selling you photographs offline is to find a particular niche and market to it. field service representatives is also a great job opportunity for you as a photographer

Restoring old photographs: An overlooked area of photography is the restoration of old photographs, you can make a lot of money in this field. Restoration is easy and a number of softwares are available for this purpose. Restoration of old and damaged family photos generally fetch a lot of money because of the sentimental value they hold.

It is essential that you keep a record of the work done by you to show your customers that you are good at restoration and you can even do a couple of restoration works for free to show the quality of your work.

Equipment used: The equipment you use contributes significantly to the money you earn through photography. The quality of your pictures to a very good extent depends upon the equipment you use. Equipment includes the type of camera, lenses used, the types of filters etc. The equipment you use can either make or mar your dreams of earning money through photography

It would be better if you have an idea of the type of equipment used for your area of interest. Put in simple words you are only as good as your equipment

About the Author:

photography might not make you millions overnight but can surely build you a regular source of secondary income.To know more and get started on the right track you can check this out http://www.productsupplycenter.com/web260915

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Earning Money Through Photography-Top 10 Tips

How to Compose a Great Photograph

2009-06-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

How to Compose a Photograph

Hasselblad H3D

2009-06-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hasselblad’s H3D line of products achieve a new level of digital maturity and integration with the launch of the H3D-II, the fourth iteration of the camera system and one that can now justifiably lay claim to be the world’s finest digital SLR camera. Offering unsurpassed image quality delivered through an outstanding combination of hardware, software and lenses, the H3D-II is the clear leader in the high-end DSLR category, now a recognized segment of the photographic market. The H3D-II is available immediately worldwide through Hasselblad’s national subsidiaries and channel partners with a retail price of $21,995 for the H3D-39II, $17,995 for the H3D-31II, and $27,995 for the H3DII-50 the ultimate DSLR

Hasselblad H3D-II DSLR - 39 megapixel
A complete DSLR that is much more than the sum of its parts, the H3D II is peerless in terms of its combined image quality and flexibility. While retaining its full digital lens line and the choice of 22, 31 or 39 megapixel capture units using CCD image sensors up to 48×36 mm - the largest currently available and more than twice the size of even the largest 35mm camera sensors - the Hasselblad H3D II now has a large, bright 3” display, which affords both improved viewing of captured images and lower power consumption.

Hasselblad H3D II SLR - Menu
Reflecting the higher level of integration in the system, all the key functions of the camera are adjusted via digital menus, which can now be controlled via the thumbwheel controls on the handle of the Hasselblad H3D-II DSLR, making the operation of the camera easier and more efficient. A new separate button for direct control of ISO settings and white balance has also been added to the camera controls.
Hasselblad STAR Quality images
To optimize the digital image quality of a DSLR, Hasselblad has identified the following key system components: an excellent optical system, comprising the best lenses twinned with the largest possible sensor format; full integration to enable lens correction and Hasselblad’s own Ultra-Focus; and the best possible RAW converter. With all these components in place, the result is Hasselblad’s STAR Quality images, photographic flexibility and professional appearance.
Hasselblad H3D-2 - Hasselblad HC and HCD lenses
In the Hasselblad H3D-II, Hasselblad has addressed each of the system components above to provide an unprecedented level of image quality that outperforms any professional digital camera system on the market today, delivering outstanding pixel resolution, better colors, and improved detail rendering. When used with Hasselblad HC and HCD lenses, the camera system offers full digital lens correction through its Digital APO Correction III software, which, in addition to color aberration and distortion, can now correct for vignetting phenomena.

Hasselblad RAW Converter - HRC
Image noise in the Hasselblad H3D-II has been significantly reduced by improving the cooling of the sensor, achieved by attaching to the CCD a physical heatsink, which dissipates the heat generated to the entire camera body and considerably lowers the temperature of the system. As a component of Hasselblad’s revolutionary forthcoming image processing software, Phocus, the Hasselblad RAW Converter (HRC) also has an amazing anti-moiré capability which will eliminate moiré from any 3FR files, including even reprocessed images shot in 3FR on previous generations of Hasselblad cameras.

Hasselblad H3D-II - Global Image Locator
Demonstrating Hasselblad’s drive for continuous technical innovation, the Hasselblad H3D-II also features Hasselblad’s Global Image Locator (GIL), a unique integrated GPS product that automatically records the camera’s exact geographic co-ordinates at the precise moment of image capture. This data is integrated into the metadata of a specific image file and used together with the Hasselblad’s new imaging software, Phocus, to allow images to be located on a map or found in a computer file system using the GPS coordinates as a search term. All the image files shot or stored in a specific location can be easily identified and found. As a direct link to Google Earth has also been built into Hasselblad’s Phocus software, it is also possible to establish via the internet what image files were captured at any particular location. With Google’s functionality, the user can also view their GPS tagged images, “fly” between them and even into them.
Hasselblad H3D-II professional DSLR camera
Christian Poulsen, CEO of Hasselblad, comments: “With the introduction of the Hasselblad H3D-II, we believe that the world’s best high-end DSLR camera has just got better. By further raising the level of integration by improving the controls, functionality and sensor cooling, and adding a new and more intuitive user interface, and a bright, 3” display, we continue to address the needs of professional photographers and to reassure them that, by investing in Hasselblad, they’ve made the right choice. The Hasselblad H3D-II continues the evolution of the world’s most advanced DSLR camera system and, will set a new standard for digital photographic quality.”

Hasselblad
Hasselblad A/S has developed, manufactured and delivered the very best in high-end camera systems for over 50 years. A Scandinavian company, headquartered in Gothenburg and Copenhagen, the company employs more than 250 people, has subsidiaries in the USA, the UK, Germany and France and is represented worldwide by more than 90 distribution partners, through which it reaches every segment of the professional photographic market. Inspired by the vision of its senior management to create the world’s best high-end digital SLR cameras and to become the market leader in that sector , Hasselblad continues to pursue its founder’s philosophy of combining the most advanced technology available with a passion for photography to give professional photographers the best possible tools to capture the best possible images.

Hasselblad H3DII-50

Hasselblad has introduced three new products - the 50 megapixel H3DII-50, a new 35-90mm zoom lens and the HTS 1.5 Tilt/Shift adapter. The new H3DII-50 features Kodak’s 50 Mpixel 36×48mm sensor, which measures, twice the physical size of the largest 35mm DSLR sensors.

Hasselblad H3DII-50 Key Features

Integrated 50 Mpix capture units with 3″ display
Ultra-Focus: integral optimization of digital lens performance
Hasselblad Natural Color Solution
Integrated CCD cooling sink for lower noise
Direct ISO/WB control
Thumbwheel control of digital menus
GPS accessory option
Full Digital APO Correction for improved image sharpness and detail.

Nikon's new D90

2009-06-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

New 12.3 megapixel Nikon DX-format CMOS image sensor with Integrated Dust Reduction System.
Low-noise from ISO 200 to 3200, ISO 6400 available.
D-Movie mode records in 320 x 216, 640 x 424 or 1,280 x 720 in AVI format.
Scene Recognition System based on 420 pixel RGB sensor for improved autofocus, autofocus and auto white balance, in addition to Face Detection.
Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus with 11 AF points.
3-inch, VGA Live View LCD.
4.5 fps continuous shooting, 0.15 second startup, 65ms shutter release lag.
SD / SDHC storage.
HDMI output
5.2 x 4.1 x 3.0-inches.
1 pound 6 ounces without battery.
$1,299 kit price.

Free Image Hosting by ImageBam.com

How to Make Great Photographs

2009-06-04T17:05:00.000-07:00

"Photography is the power of observation, not the application of technology." Ken Rockwell.

How have I made all my best shots? By noticing something cool and taking a picture. The important part is noticing something cool. Taking the picture is easy.

Your camera has NOTHING to do with making great photos. You have to master technique of course, but that's just a burden to get out of the way to free yourself to tackle the really hard part. The hard part is saying something with your images.

Photography is art. It's abstract. Therefore it's difficult for many people to grasp. It's easy and lazy to think a camera makes the photos. It's easy to blame bad photos on a camera. When you get better you'll realize you would have been better off to pay more attention to your images and less to your camera.

All cameras, especially digital ones, offer about the same image quality in real use. The real difference is how easy or possible it is to make the needed adjustments to get decent photos in each different kind of real-world condition. Test charts shot under controlled conditions completely ignore the real world and thus only compare performance for one limited aspect of performance under only one combination of conditions, which is why those tests have nothing to do with how your photos look. That's why I ignore lab test reports and just try for myself. Lab work is useful for sorting out minutiae otherwise invisible between similar cameras in real photography and that's it.

Photography is like golf. They are both fun, popular and require some equipment. Very few people can get others to pay them to do either one for the same reason. Each takes a lifetime of constant practice, getting better and better little by little. Most golfers play for decades and never hit a hole-in-one. Photography is more complex than golf. Why does anyone expect ever to make a perfect photograph?

PATIENCE

You can't be on a schedule. You have to go out, look around and wait for the light and inspiration.

Many great shots are made only after years of observing a subject, learning when it looks best, and returning to photograph it at its most spectacular. This is how real photographers make anything look extraordinary.

If you're traveling with non-photographers you're going to have to get your schedules straight, since you'll be out shooting while normal people are eating dinner or still sleeping in the morning.

I find it difficult if anyone is expecting me to return on any sort of schedule. You are out in, and at the whim of, nature and your own brilliant crazy ideas and realizations. Sometimes you'll be back in 10 minutes, other times you might be out all night if you get excited about something.

You cripple yourself if you have someone expecting you to be back at a certain time. I've made my best work when I let the group go ahead and I continued to work at something that excited me.

Brilliance doesn't work on a schedule.

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN

"Compositon is the strongest way of seeing." Edward Weston.

You see more if you're looking. The more you look, the more you see worth photographing. If you're not thinking and not looking you'll walk right past some of the most extraordinary opportunities.

For instance, I lived in the real Beverly Hills from 1995 - 1998. I was on Maple Drive, the same street as George Burns. I never saw any stars. I would see them listed as having lived in Beverly Hills when reading an obituary, and remark "how about that!," having never seen them even if they lived a block away. I would rarely notice them when I was in at the studios all day, every day. Why? I didn't care, and I wasn't looking for them. If I was a tourist or a housewife that reads People magazine and found actors interesting I'm sure I would have seen stars a few times every day. When I had guests in they saw actors all over the place.

The actors were all over the place, but I never saw them. Others did. If you care about something, you'll see it. If you don't, you won't. The best photos aren't obvious. Great photo opportunities don't stand out if you're not looking. That's why they're called opportunities: just like any other opportunity, you have to be paying attention to recognize them.

Photo opportunities are everywhere. Pay attention, keep your eyes open, and look for them.

PRIVACY

Creation is a solitary act. I can't create photos if I'm being distracted, watched or asked questions. I need to get out on my own and concentrate.

It's OK to go out and photograph as a group. You do have to split up and shoot on your own once you get there. Otherwise everyone in the group winds up with identical mediocre shots. S

plit up and see what you see, then meet up at the end for some socializing.

PASSION

Photography is communicating passion and sparking excitement in the mind and body of another person. If you don't care about the subject then the results won't get beyond the basics. Care deeply and incredible things happen. Don't care and you are quickly forgotten.

"If I feel something strongly, I make a photograph. I do not attempt to explain the feeling." Ansel Adams.

Photography is the art of communicating passion. You need to be passionate about whatever it is that you photograph. If you are passionate you'll get great results, if you don't care, you won't.

A photograph is not about technique. A photograph is communicating something, be it an idea, concept, feeling, thought or whatever, to a total stranger. For a photograph to be effective you have to be clear with what you're communicating. Ansel Adams said "There is nothing worse than a sharp photograph of a fuzzy idea." It is paramount that your idea, thought or feeling be crystal clear in the image. Merely pointing an expensive and masterfully adjusted camera at something doesn't make a good photo. Knowing what you're saying and saying it loud and clear is what makes a strong image people will remember. If it says nothing to you it will say even less to others.

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating." Cervantes, Don Quixote, 1605. Cervantes is observing that it's the end result, not the process, that matters.

Likewise, hardware has absolutely nothing to do with any of this. Craft is just a way to free your ability to communicate, not the communication itself. Many men blame their inadequacies on their hardware and think that simply buying more will solve the problem, excusing them from having to expend any precious mental effort in anything other than shopping for more hardware. You'd double over laughing if you saw the email I get from this site: 99% is from men who think all they have to do is spend some money and that great images will just pour forth. You need to get involved deeply and take your feelings seriously. You don't need money or any more equipment than you already have. Heck, I use crummy point-and-shoots and get great images, too.

Likewise you need to spend time at it just about every time. You usually cannot do it for just 5 minutes and do a decent job. It's odd how many times I'm someplace popular that I'll see a dozen different tourists get out, make a snap, and disappear while I'm still trying to concentrate, feel and understand the shot I'm going to make. You usually shouldn't rush these things!

It's all in your mind and imagination.

One cannot just keep doing the same thing. One needs constantly to innovate and discover new ways of doing what you've been doing. See and feel things from different angles and in different ways.

Not last nor least, you need to keep doing it with the same subject. The better you know your subject the better your results will be.

Sculptor Henry Moore said it best: "Art is the expression of imagination, not the reproduction of reality."

Photographer Elliot Porter said: "True art is but the expression of our love of nature" and "A true work of art is the creation of love, love for the subject first and for the medium second."

Charles Sheeler said: "Photography is nature seen from the eyes outward, painting from the eyes inward. Photography records inalterably the single image, while painting records a plurality of images willfully directed by the artist."

And even Albert Einstein offers: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

A good photographer makes great images with a disposable camera because she knows its limits and how to use it. On the other hand, plenty of poor photographs are made every day using very expensive cameras by people lacking passion and vision, regardless of how much technical skill they have and how sharp their lenses are.

People write novels, not typewriters. So why do some people think buying a different camera or learning all about shutter speeds will help them make better images? People make photographs, not cameras. Your choice of camera has NOTHING to do with anything. NOTHING.

"Photography is bringing order out of chaos." Ansel Adams.

Painting is the art of inclusion. Photography is an art of exclusion. Trying to "get it all in" guarantees a poor photo. Anything that does not contribute to a photo distracts from it. Keep your images clean and simple.

Less is more; the less in the frame the stronger the image. Simplicity is a strong virtue.

I'm going to spend a few sections explaining what's not important. If you already understand this then skip down to the important sections starting at "curiosity."

INTIMACY

It's critical to be familiar with every nuance of your equipment. You need to know exactly how it responds in every situation. You need to foresee the final results when you look at a natural scene. You need to know exactly how your equipment will interpret reality.

When you know this you can ensure that each photo you make will look as you intend. You'll know exactly how the photos render (look) and be able to make changes in the scene accordingly.

You can't use five cameras and know all of them well. Use one camera and one lens and one film and learn it's every nuance. Don't waste time chasing every new camera: if you do, you'll never learn it well enough to create great images, except by chance.

1.) GETTING STARTED

Don't buy anything yet. You can create magnificent images with ANY camera. Too many people think camera shopping is the first thing to do on a quest for great images. I need to explain that it's really the last. Some of us own fancy cameras because we are rich and these fancy cameras make photography more convenient. They have nothing to do with the final quality of the images.

Whatever you have is all you need, even point-and-shoot or disposable cameras. Thinking you need more makes you skip things today since you're worrying that "if you only had a..."

"Necessity is not a fact, it's an interpretation." Friedrich Nietzsche.

Go take art, painting, drawing, and design classes at your local community college. Learn to see. You may want to start by reading the books I suggest about art and composition. I never took any photo classes. Everyone learns differently; I learn by reading and doing and seeing.

The photographers whose work I admire most often are former painters or at least people who majored in art; not people with computer, engineering, science or technical photography degrees.

Ask artists for help when you are starting. Ask them how to see and show them your images and ask for suggestions. They will see things that you haven't yet, and will help open your eyes to making better images.

Avoid the friend, neighbor or co-worker who works in computers, science or engineering and always talks about cameras. These people's passion is usually just for the cameras or computers themselves, not about photography itself or art or expressing their imagination visually. Watch out for people who prefer to talk about tools instead of actually making photos. There are thousands of people who watch sports on TV and can talk endlessly about sports stats for every one athlete who actually plays professional sports. You want to talk to the rare guy who actually does it.

Likewise, forget the Internet. Starting out you need far more depth than the cursory treatments shared over the Internet and shared on my website. I'd love to help you out in person since this is all too deep to grasp over email. Learning is a two-way process, not a series of one-way emails or web reading.

Also be warned: the internet is still overloaded with the technical people who invented it. These are the last people from whom you'd want to learn, since they are usually equipment fetishists, not artists. They happen to be the ones most likely to post websites or waste their time in photo chat rooms and user groups. Beware.

Talk to professional photographers, not amateurs and hobbyists. If you don't know any pros, go look in the Yellow Pages or ask around at a professional photo lab. Some professional photographers actually enjoy their work and will talk your ear off for hours if you ask nicely.

Find people whose photos you admire and ask them. Find people whose art you admire and ask them, too. Avoid camera collectors and people who own a lot of expensive cameras. Don't talk to someone who can talk endlessly about film technology, but who never has made a photograph you admire. Talk to these engineers and you'll get so flustered worrying about your camera that you'll never get out and make good photos.

Try The Nikon School, which is a day-long slide show that costs $100 when I took it in 2001. It covers more in the very first hour than most photo courses teach in a semester. Pay attention!

You know the best classes to take? Forget fancy schools. Just look up your local community college or adult education program. There you'll find teachers who really enjoy what they do and will share the world with you if you just ask. Even better, these classes are never more than $100, if not free, depending on your location.

Don't waste too much time studying "photography." Most "photo" classes simply waste your creative time fumbling with obsolete concepts of f/stops and film speeds. Rarely do they teach you how to go create the images you really want.

It's important to be fluent with the technical concepts, but those are only a starting point.

People spend too much time worrying about gear and technique. They completely forget that mastery of technique & equipment is merely the first step in a much longer journey toward the creation of great images.

I teach photography very differently from the old farts. In the first 150 years, which were from about 1835 through about 1985 with the introduction of the first real Matrix exposure meters (as opposed to ordinary light meters), one needed to bridle oneself with many clumsy technical inconveniences before one could produce any photograph at all. Since it's only been about ten years now that many cameras know how to set themselves properly over a wide range of conditions, many old timers still haven't learned that for most people one may completely ignore camera settings. That's right, I usually shoot on autofocus and program auto exposure any time I can!

It's sad when people ask me to suggest a camera that fits the pathetic requirements for beginning photo classes, which usually require a totally obsolete manual camera. Good gosh, run away from those classes and learn to love your point and shoot. Automation is good: the camera is not thinking for you, it's just setting the rudiments of focus and exposure which rarely require creative thought. The auto cameras free your creative juices to concentrate on what is important, which is heat, passion, fire, composition, expression and lighting.

I suggest going out and trying to express your feelings carefully and see what you get. Once you get familiar with things you may want to seek out technical advice from someone who really knows. It's more important to go find things about which you are passionate and attempt to convey that fire through images first.

2.) FORGET TECHNIQUE

"I am not a scientist. I consider myself an artist who employs certain techniques to free my vision." Ansel Adams in his Autobiography, page 254

Worrying about manual exposure settings and technique distracts you from your passion, just as if your lover were to stop to answer the phone in the middle of a steamy one-on-one.

Many people still mistakenly think that mastering simple issues like shutter speeds and depth of field is all there is to know about photography. Those have as little to do with photography as typewriter repair has to do with composing a novel. They are necessary evils, and by no means the central point.

For larger format cameras like 120 and 4x5 you probably will have to learn technique because those cameras are not made in enough quantity for their manufacturers to justify the efforts in automating them, but for 35mm and digital almost all cameras can do this themselves better than most of the people who would insist you set the camera manually. Don't fret the technique unless you have to. Most of what you see in my galleries was shot in program automatic mode. Tell that to your photo teacher.

Watch out, I know people who actually enjoy having to fool with the settings on their view cameras. This is OK, but don't let that mislead you to worrying too much about it. Start with an automatic camera so you learn the important points of how to express your feelings first. You can learn f/stops later.

Old farts like to make themselves feel important by making you think that you need them to teach you the secrets of fiddling with your camera. They will try to get you to believe that all this crap is required to make photographs. They will insist you waste your time with manual exposure settings, and if you are stupid enough to believe this you'll also spend all your time worrying about which lens is sharper instead of having your own solo show at The Whitney.

There are 150 years of photo technology programmed into your 35mm camera. Use it.

My suggestion is to start off with your 35mm SLR set to matrix metering, program auto exposure and autofocus! Your images will actually be better than dispassionate people who waste their time with manual methods because most cameras have better programming inside them than most photographers do! Your modern SLR camera probably uses the Zone System to figure exposure, which very few photographers understand.

Like what you see on this site? Most of my photos are made in these automatic modes unless conditions dictate something else. I used to use all the manual settings and my photos were boring because I missed the magic moments.

I'll explain what you really need to know about the technical side at the very bottom of this page.

You need to worry about seeing, feeling, composition and lighting, NOT about f/stops as you start out.

Yes, technical ability, in fact, virtuosity, is absolutely required for successful photography, however, this ability is nothing more than a mandatory prerequisite with which one might then be able make great photos. Luckily much of this fluency today is incorporated into automated cameras, making mastery much easier. Technical mastery alone does not make good photos, it's just one of the necessary parts.

3.) YOUR CAMERA DOES NOT MATTER

Honest. If you believe me, just skip to the next section. If you don't then read the rest of this mandatory page here.

If you insist on going out today and buying a camera, see my page here for inexpensive 35mm cameras and here for digital cameras.

4.) CURIOSITY

Photograph subjects for which you have a true curiosity. You have to find them interesting if you want the people who see your work to find them interesting, too.

5.) FOLLOW YOUR OWN VISION

Don't follow gurus, teachers, me or anyone else.

You'll never be better than anyone else at being them. No one will be better at what Ansel did than Ansel, and likewise, no one will ever be better at doing what you do than you.

Be yourself. Show your passions. Don't try to duplicate someone else's.

You have to go out, be yourself, and your own style will develop. Never, ever think that because you like something done by someone else that you have to do the same.

Find something about which you are passionate and explore that. If you get off on figurines or wastebaskets or old people or beautiful naked girls or hubcaps or patterns left by tires in the snow or sewage processing plants or cute little animals, go photograph them.

There is no right or wrong thing to photograph. Just show us what excites you.

If nothing excites you, your photos will suck. Find what you like, and the heck with everyone else.

6.) SEE, DON'T JUST LOOK

7.) CONVEY WHAT YOU FEEL. ASK HOW YOU WOULD DESCRIBE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING TO A BLIND PERSON.

8.) THERE ARE NO RULES

There is no right and no wrong. The rule of thirds is not a rule and rules are for idiots. Just go make good photos. A good photo is one you or someone else likes. There are no formulas or grades or scores.

9.) ASK NOT WHY SOMETHING IS HERE, BUT HOW TO MAKE IT MEANINGFUL

10.) CREATIVITY

Creativity is nice, but all because something is creative does not make it art. When a baby reaches into his diaper and paints the wall with what he finds there, it is a very creative act, but it is not art.

TECHNICAL STUFF

Now that you've read this far let me give you some tips.

1.) LIGHTING

Lighting is absolutely the most important technical issue there is. Learn composition as well and you'll have just about everything you need to worry about solved.

First and foremost you need to develop a sensitivity to the way light feels while you are outdoors, and learn through experience how that will look on film. As you develop this sensitivity you will be able to understand when the light looks right to capture the look you want, and when to put away the camera and grab lunch. With this ability you also will learn to be able to modify light with simple reflectors and scrims to help create your look.

The smaller your subject, the easier it is to modify light. Portrait, bug and flower photographers do this all the time; landscape photographers usually have to wait for the right light.

A simple sheet of 8-1/2 x 11" paper can reflect enough sunlight to fill in shadows on a face.

To get the right light on a mountain you may need to wait for the right season, the right weather and the right time of day. This is how Ansel Adams was able to create such masterful works: he lived in Yosemite and only showed his works from when the lighting was fantastic. If you show up on vacation and snap away in whatever light is there you'll not likely get anything extraordinary.

Everyone has different tastes. This is art.

You either need to create your own lighting in a studio (or with ten tons of gear and generators as we do on movie sets), or you need to have the patience to wait for nature to supply the correct lighting.

2.) PATIENCE

As explained above, when photographing landscapes one needs patience to get the right light. Since you can't light up the whole outdoors, you just have to wait for the right light.

This is really important!

You may have to wait for hours or days or months or years to get the right light. You cannot have people waiting for you. If you rush you'll miss the good light.

3.) EXPERIENCE

With practice you'll learn what looks good in photographs.

No photograph is an exact reproduction. All photographs distort reality. As you become familiar with how your materials interpret reality you will learn to recognize under what conditions you get the results you want. Knowing that, you will start to photograph more under the right conditions, and also seek out those conditions.

You will learn what things need to look like to your eye to get the results you want in a photograph.

One hint is that the contrast needs to look very low to your eye to look OK in a photograph. Photographs pick up contrast.

4.) PRACTICE

You need to photograph often enough to see your results while you can still remember what the scene felt like when you were there. Polaroids are handy for this: you can see the results while you still are there!

Ideally you should develop your film and see the results the very next day while your memory is still fresh. If you wait around for months you'll never be able to correlate your results with what you were feeling when you made the image.

You need to know what results you are going to get when you are feeling something.

5.) EDITING

Only show your very strongest images.

Throw away most of what you shoot. I do. Most of my photos are awful!

Go through the few photos you save out of a roll, and then throw away all but the one strongest image.

Next time, go through the few you've saved from a few rolls, and throw more away.

This isn't painting. In photography it is a requirement to throw away most of what you do.

You'll see that if you only save or show your strongest images that your body of work will seem to improve. Guess what: as you show only the better images, your body of work as seen by others has improved!

Do you think I shoot a roll of film and get a roll loaded with the images you see in my galleries? Of course not. Most of what I shoot is crap. I'm just good enough to throw most of it away and only show the good stuff.

Ansel Adams said that if you can produce one strong image in a year that you are doing very well. Don't expect to turn out miracles every roll, or even every month. Ansel didn't, I don't, and I don't think anyone does.

6.) FILM

I wrote a whole page here. Your choice of film is very important to your look.

Avoid print film, which is what 95% of amateur photographers shoot and gives inconsistent results. I shoot slides, which is what you see on this site.

Go read the film page for much more on this.

7.) EXPOSURE COMPENSATION: your Lighten/Darken control

Forget this if you are shooting print film since no matter how hard you try to get the correct exposure it's usually messed up at the photo lab when your negatives are made into the prints you see. This is why I strongly suggest digital or slide film on my film page.

If you shoot slides or digital or do your own printing then pay attention.

Shoot enough to learn under what conditions your images look too light or too dark. If you find some things always come out too light or too dark (or if the shot you just made on your digital just came out too light or dark) then here are the amounts to compensate.

Don't be bashful. No camera is perfect and one almost always needs to adjust the compensation for some shots. It took me a long time to learn this; I thought my camera was always smarter than I was. It usually is, but not always. It is these times when you need to adjust the exposure compensation.

There are no rules here, just guides. Do whatever looks right to you.

Ideally you should learn the Zone System, since when you do you'll get perfect exposures every time with no guessing or bracketing. Knowing the zone system will make this exposure compensation much clearer.

Here is what each setting does. This is not a replacement for the Zone System:

0: If your photos look fine, then no compensation is required.

+1 Stop: This is a good start for things that usually turn out too dark, like white things on a overcast day. +1 stop will lighten a medium gray to a medium light gray. This is a common setting I'd often use on older cameras without modern matrix or evaluative meters. Use this setting if the subject is mostly light granite or California stucco, for instance. A subject that is completely yellow and fills your screen might need +2/3.

+2 Stops: This is a severe correction for something that would come out way too dark. If something came out a medium gray and you added +2 stops you will get white. On old cameras or with manual light meters you would use this much compensation to make sand or snow look white.

-1 Stop: I don't usually use this. This will take a medium gray and make it a dark gray.

-2 Stops: never used except with a broken camera. This will take a medium gray and lower everything to a very dark, almost black, gray. You'd only use this with a spot meter to set shadows here as part of the Zone System, not as a setting on a camera's exposure compensation dial.

8.) ALL ABOUT USING FLASH

WHEN TO USE FLASH

Most amateur photographers and all snapshooters use flash exactly at the wrong times, ensuring amateur-looking images. Proper use of flash is far more important than what kind of camera you have. Any point-and-shoot used properly will give far better results than any Leica, Canon or Nikon used the way most amateurs do.

Most people incorrectly leave the flash OFF in daylight which leads to harsh, ugly sunlight on their friends' faces. Turning the flash ON in bright sunlight will help lighten the shadows to make them look much more natural. On a P/S camera just push the flash button a few times until the little flash icon appears, on a Nikon just turn on the flash. Also in backlit photos you'll be able to see your friends instead of just getting silhouettes.

SYNC MODES

Most people incorrectly use flash indoors or in low light at night. Using the flash with the usual default sync mode indoors leads to the nasty black backgrounds and washed out people indoors. What's worse, those nasty black backgrounds confuse printing machines into making the prints too light, and then these poor photographers blame the camera for over exposing their flash shots!

If you are doing studio strobe work or macro photography lit only by the flash of course it's OK to use fast sync. This just isn't what most ordinary people photograph.

With disposable cameras this is your only choice. With most point-and-shoots and all Nikons you should either turn the flash OFF and shoot by available light if your subject is reasonably still, or for photographing people or moving objects use the flash in the SLOW REAR or SLOW sync mode.

These SLOW sync modes are also in many P/S cameras. In a P/S camera one typically pushes the flash button until a little moon and city icon ("Night Mode" in Japanese) appears.

The SLOW sync modes allow the camera to make a long enough exposure of the background (ambient) light for it to look natural. Otherwise it always looks way too dark at the usual 1/60 sync speed people use. Really stupid photographers use the 1/250 sync speed for indoor photos and make the effect even worse. Best to try the slowest speed you can, like 1/30, if you're setting the shutter manually.

Both SLOW and SLOW REAR give the same exposure and f/stops. SLOW pops the flash at the beginning of the exposure, and SLOW REAR pops it at the end.

This matters if you have an exposure long enough to blur anything. If you do, the effect of the flash popping at the start of the exposure makes the subject appear to streak backwards from the ghost image frozen by the flash. You see the ghost and the streak moves forwards from it, showing the ghost at the back of the streak. Bad. SLOW REAR reverses this effect and gives the illusion of the subject moving forward from the ghost. This is because you see a streak, and then the flash pops at the end (front) of the streak. It might make more sense to rename SLOW REAR to "front" sync, but that's another story.

Since SLOW REAR mode fires the flash at the end of the long exposure it serves another purpose: people think the photo is taken when the flash fires, so having the flash fire at the end (rear) of the exposure keeps them still and smiling the whole time the shutter is open waiting for your camera to go off. This trick goes away for digital and newer SLR cameras since most of them fire very visible preflashes before the exposure. (The camera companies lie about them being invisible.) Thus you'll get a double flash effect.

Of course if you are trying to freeze moving things you won't with SLOW sync. You'll get the blurry streaks behind people that you see all the time in National Geographic Magazine. These streaks convey a sense of motion and I like them.

FLASH DIFFUSION

Flash on the camera is the nastiest looking light you can get. For use as fill this is usually fine, however you'll get more natural results by using a cheap diffuser if your subject is close enough. Even many professionals don't realize this, and you'll often see famous photographers suggest turning the flash fill level down a stop or two. They have to do this because the harsh on-camera fill flash may look unnatural. If you diffuse the flash (as simple as bouncing it off a big white card) then you can let the camera use the normal amount of fill flash and it will both look natural due to the diffusion, and be more effective because it can be at the correct level and not turned down a stop or two.

I prefer the $20 Lumiquest reflector gizmo that folds flat in my case and attaches with Velcro. Note that the area of the reflector is much bigger than the lens of the flash itself, giving a much softer quality to the light.

GREAT FILL FLASH INDOORS

Here's how to get great, natural looking fill indoors with most SLR cameras:

a.) Set the camera to SLOW sync

b.) Point camera-mounted flash up at the ceiling

c.) Pull out a built-in little white card or rubber-band one behind the flash so a little bit of light will bounce forward off the card. This light from the card will give a nice catchlight to their eyes while most of the light goes up to the ceiling to fill the room with soft, natural fill light. (Hint: if the room light is too dark to give a reasonably short exposure time in SLOW sync you can try the regular sync mode, in which case the entire shot is lit only by the flash bouncing off the ceiling and the little off the little white card. In this case forget bothering with color compensation filters mentioned in e.) below.)

d.) Set flash to TTL exposure mode. This will vary with camera brand. You want the mode that will blend the levels of ambient and flash light automatically.

e.) Filter or gel the flash to match the color of the existing room light, and filter your camera to match it. This way both the ambient room light and flash fill match. With a digital camera of course you set the camera's white balance to match room lighting and then get a colored gel to put over the flash for tungsten or fluorescent. You can get these gel filters in sheets for a few dollars at theatrical stage and lighting stores found in every decent sized city.

9.) TIME EXPOSURES FOR WATER

1/500 shutter speed freezes anything. This does not look as it does to our eyes. This is usually what you see in surfing magazines where every wonderful drop of spray is frozen.

1/30 makes moving water look about natural, if that's the effect you seek.

1/8 gives a nice blur.

1 second starts to get really smooth like this.

Several seconds or minutes starts to make all the whitewater flow into what looks like a fog. Here's an example.

In these examples the usual waves continuously came in and crashed on the rocks.

10.) TRICKS FOR GREAT B/W PHOTOS

A yellow filter (K2, #8, Y48 etc.) is REQUIRED outdoors for B/W film, otherwise blue skies will be completely washed out. See also the filter page. A yellow filter is required to give natural results outdoors, since film has much more sensitivity to blue than our eyes do. The yellow filter makes film's response to color match our eyes, and thus prevents the darker blue sky from looking as bright as the clouds as it would without the filter.

Go read the tips about b/w film, exposure and processing and printing about halfway down my film page here. If you don't want to take the time for great results as explained on the film page, here are some basic suggestions:

1.) Set your camera for one stop more exposure than the film is rated. Most film ratings lead to a stop of underexposure and dull shadows. In other words, either set the camera manually to an ISO speed one-half of what the box says, or set the exposure compensation to +1.

2.) If you are finishing in digital, instead just shoot color film normally (no filters) and convert to B/W in Photoshop because A.) ICE (the dust and scratch removal feature of better scanners) works with color film but not b/w and B.) you can choose the mixing of the color channels in Photoshop to select filter effects after the fact without having to use a filter for the original photograph! In the old days you had to shoot b/w film through a filter, today color film effectively shoots the color layers with various filters and you may pick and choose (and even mix) later in your computer instead. In the old days I would sometimes shoot several images with different filters; today I just shoot it once on color film if my output is to be B/W digital.

11.) Gesture

The expression on your subject is everything. Want to see great examples of photos where the gesture makes the photo? Go look on the walls of any Buca di Beppo chain restaurant.

12.) Simplify and get closer

The simpler, the better. Anything that isn't directly contributing to a stronger image is weakening it.

When I happen upon a scene, each shot I make usually gets closer and closer, with fewer distractions and more of what's the most important element.

As photographers improve, their work usually has less and less in it, and what is in it, is far stronger. It's a little like the progress of painter Piet Mondrian's work throughout his life. His early paintings were ordinary paintings. They became simpler and more abstract as the years wore on. Eventually his work became became nothing but a few lines and colored squares, for which he now is remembered.

13.) Close one eye

Trees, flowers and bushes look great, but that's because we see in three dimensions.

As you look at a tree you're about to photograph, close one eye. The magic goes away, but that's the only way our cameras see!

To make a good photo of anything three-dimensional, like a tree, be sure to walk around with only one eye open as you look for a good angle. Often you'll discover that there isn't any way to capture what we see with both eyes open.

Doing this will save you the embarrassment of making photos that aren't going to turn out.

14.) Know when to say no

Much of photography is the ability to look at something scenic everyone else is shooting and say "Boring!"

Peak lighting and weather are just that: optimum peaks. Most of the time, things aren't very photogenic by comparison.

Anyone can take pictures today. Some things are simply boring. You can spend a lot of effort trying to make them look otherwise, or you can relax and go find better things to photograph.

As they say in ranching, "don't beat a dead horse."

15.) Shut up when things get good

Stop the BS session and shoot when the light gets good.

All too often I see guys want to chit-chat about Canon versus Nikon or whatever, just as peak conditions are arriving.

Shut up and go shoot.

16.) Don't bunch up; spread out!

The worst photographers are the blind ones who can't see for themselves.

You find these guys all bunched up in one spot, as if the first guy found the only good spot.

The best photos come from the spots no one else has found. If you get stuck in the pile-up, you'll all get the worst shots.

The good photographers are always out by themselves finding the best shots from the best angles.

17.) Forget photo backpacks

Why do so many amateurs carry heavy photo backpacks loaded with all their junk?

Not only is it a pain to carry everything, but they can't get to any of it unless they find a stable place to set it down and deal with it.

Use a photo vest, loaded with pockets, or better, only carry as much as will fit in your pants or jacket pocket. If you must use a bag, use a waist pack into which you can get while it's still around your waist.

18.) Amateurs care what you think. Artists only shoot to impress themselves.

Self explanatory: shoot what you love and forget what anyone else thinks.

19.) Don't worry, be happy

Don't worry if you miss a shot or aren't prepared. You can always come back again some other time, and if its a scenic location, probably will.

By not worrying, you'll be more relaxed and make far better pictures.

20.) Carry Less

Trying to be prepared for everything makes you prepared for nothing.

Carry less and you'll be more relaxed and have better time, again leading to more fun and better pictures. See Carry Less.

21.) Avoid Caffeine

Caffeine is an addictive narcotic, just like morphine and cocaine. The only difference is that caffeine isn't that dangerous, so it's still legal in most places since it's been grandfathered-in for so many decades.

The bad news is that coffee and soda companies love to keep you addicted to needing a jolt in the morning just to get up, and all day to stay alert.

This would be fine if you never needed sleep, but since you do, your morning jolt is still preventing you from getting to sleep fast and sleeping well.

I've never drank coffee, but I love colas.

When I finally got off the cola at lunch, I was amazed at how well I slept, and even more importantly, how much more alert I was all day since I had slept well the night before.

Taking caffeine screws up your body's natural rhythms. It hurts your sleep and makes you dependant on it. Sign off the drugs, and you'll look forward to getting to sleep when you want and getting up before dawn all excited and relaxed for making great photos.

You may have some headaches when you first try to give it up, but in a few days, you'll be much better off.

22.) Don't worry about offending strangers

Any photo that says something is bound to offend someone somewhere. Especially with the Internet's universal audience, it's almost a given that every photo that isn't completely boring will offend someone.

The only way to avoid offending anyone is to be sure your photos are bland and say nothing. That's why motel, office and corporate art is so boring: it has to be that way if the secretary who picks it out wants to be sure that it can't possibly offend anyone.

If someone finds your images disturbing or offensive, maybe they are, or maybe they're just good. There are a lot of weirdoes out there who take offense at anything. If you don't know them personally, ignore them unless you want your photos to bore everyone else.

Don't Think; Just Shoot

Color Balance. enlarge. (5D Mark II, 50mm f/1.4 USM)

I walked by and shot. I don't even know why: I feel and I respond.

Later I realized I was seeing the balance between the tan and teal, toilet and bag. If you're not seeing it; walk back five feet and see if you see the positive/negative space, the yin and yang.

This isn't a photo of a toilet; this work is all about color and balance.

Our subconscious minds perceive this far faster than our conscious minds can explain it. Don't think; just shoot.

Vary Your Shooting Volume with Conditions

I usually shoot as much all the time, whether things are boring or fantastic. I get into a rhythm, and shoot at about the same speed regardless of what's going on.

It s far better to put away the camera when things are boring, and to shoot like there's no tomorrow when light and conditions get exciting.

This way, in for the same amount of photos, a larger percentage of them will be exciting.

Travel Light

You need to be lightly loaded so you'll be happy moving to the best location instead of getting lazy and staying put.

Shoot only one camera; don't try to shoot everything on two formats for each shot.

See Carry Less.

How to Get Great Colors

2009-06-04T12:46:00.000-07:00

I snapped from a parking garage on my way out for something else. It's exactly as the JPG came from my D80. Here's the original 2.3MB file.

People see my work and wonder how I get such saturated colors. Here's how.

Most people never see colors like this because they live indoors, work in an office, drive to and from work, and live in a house. These colors happen outdoors in nature. The peak color, which are the shots I show, only exists for 60 seconds at most, if it happens at all, any given day. I'll make series of images, and only one of them is at peak color.

Sunset, Las Vegas, 04 October, 2006.

I take a long time to find colorful things at which to point my camera. This takes an artist's eye and a Saint's patience. No amount of equipment or playing in Photoshop can duplicate it. It takes me a long time to find things that look wild.

Spend as much time as I do out there hoping for great conditions and you too will see the wild colors that less experienced (or more sane) people have never seen in nature. That's how I get my photos: patience, not technology. I was getting these crazy colors long before Photoshop was invented.

Photography is the power of observation, not the application of technology.

CURIOUSITY, PATIENCE AND FORTITUDE

I spend a lot of time and effort searching out times and places where colors explode. It takes a lot of patience and planning to wait for nature to do her thing. Like a nectar-crazed insect, I spend my photographic efforts looking for wild colors in nature.

Color is my subject. I'm not a nature or portrait or landscape or sports or architectural photographer. I'm a photographer of color. I don't care about the apparent subject so long as it's in glorious light or is vividly colorful. Why do I photograph toilets as often as trees? Simple: if they are vivid and have an interesting play of color, they're my subject.

Most people have never experienced the colors I photograph. This is why they think something's fake. Other photographers get the same feedback, which is why Galen Rowell's gallery has a light table with original transparencies as examples. Galen was also doing this long before Thomas Knoll wrote Photoshop.

Glorious light only happens for 60 seconds or less any particular day, if it happens at all. If it happens at all, it usually happens sometime in a window 15 minutes before or after sunrise or sunset. See actual examples at The Importance of Timing.

Glorious light doesn't happen in the day. It happens at sunrise and sunset. We call this "magic hour" in Hollywood.

Most people sleep through sunrise. They lose half their potential shots. I have to get up at 3 AM, get out at 3:30 AM, get to the location at 4:30 AM, set up by 5 AM and wait for a 6 AM calculated sunrise. I'm crazy. Are you?

Sunset is as tough. Most people are eating dinner while I'm out shooting. I have to jerk around my schedule, as well as the schedule of normal people with whom I travel, to be out at sunset. Photographers have dinner at 4 PM so they can be shooting at 6 PM.

Even photographers fake themselves out. A bunch of us were photographing at sunset, and I thought something interesting might happen. The rest of my photography group took off for dinner while I stayed around in the dark. I got this shot, one of my all time favorites, while they were having dinner.

If you sleep at sunrise and eat at sunset you'll miss the only light that shows things the way I, and many others, like to see them. That's why most people have never seen colors I show and think I'm making all this up in Photoshop. If I could get these results artificially I would, however one still has to trudge out and get this from nature the hard way.

PERSEVERANCE

These colors don't happen every day. They may happen once a month, once a decade, or once in a lifetime. This shot got the orange color in the sky 20 minutes after the sun set because of ash in the upper atmosphere from the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. This shot took on a magenta cast for the same reason. This colorful natural disaster has not repeated itself. Galen Rowell was unhappy with colors at sunset after the eruption, however the colors were pushed back until 15 minutes after sunset each day.

9 times out of 10 the sunrise is dull and a complete waste of time. While everyone else is eating dinner I'm out setting up hoping for great light at sunset, and again usually I get nothing. That's why this takes patience.

You can't predict nature, even 5 minutes before. I can try, but I never know what's going to happen. I have to be out there and set up every time. Sometimes what I expect to be dull turns out to be explosive, and sometimes what I expect to be incredible never happens. Nature changes minute to minute.

You can't expect God to create miraculous color any particular day just because you took that day off for vacation in Yosemite. You need to be out every single day.

You don't need to be in Yosemite: most of my shots are from my own neighborhood. It's all about the light and color, not the subject. Ansel just happened to live in Yosemite and waited for clearing storms. It's not Yosemite; it's that he was there every day.

Michael Fatali calls this "waiting for the light," which he lists for each of his shots. Sometimes he has to wait for months for the right light. Click on his images in his portfolios and then select "Field Notes."

Predicting sunrise and sunset times is easy. Almost any $75 GPS will do it for you anyplace on Earth. Many websites, like the US Naval Observatory, can give you the same data presuming you tell it where you're going to be. These devices predict sunrise and sunset at a virtual horizon, ignoring any mountains or buildings.

NIGHT

An easy way to get wild colors is to photograph at night.

Our eyes are much less sensitive to color at night. Digital cameras and film retain the same sensitivity. Therefore photos made at night have much vivider colors than what we see under the same conditions. This makes it easy to get wild colors.

Photograph before the sky turns completely dark, typically a half hour after sunset, to get a sky instead of a black hole. Skies at night turn funny colors from whatever street lights are miles away. Make your shots while there is still light in the sky for better results.

Photograph any neon or artificial lighting. Artificial lighting, either as an object in your photo or as a source of illumination, adds wild colors. Every kind of light, mercury, sodium, fluorescent, tungsten, renders as a different weird color in photographs. I use this to my advantage.

Here's a cheat sheet:

Sodium: looks yellow or orange to us. Looks gold or orange or yellow in photos.

Tungsten: Looks white to us, looks orange in photos unless you select Tungsten film, an 80A filter or tungsten White Balance.

Mercury: Looks bluish-white to us. Looks green in photos.

Fluorescent: Looks white to us. Looks greenish in photos.

DAY INTO NIGHT

There is a sweet spot of only a minute or so when the sky and land have just the right balance as day fades into night. With practice you'll learn when conditions are the most spectacular.

As an assignment, set up your camera and make shots of a landscape every minute during and after sunset. You'll be astounded at how things change from minute to minute, and how some of these images are so much stronger than others in the same sequence. You won't see this while you're shooting, which is why it's so important to do this exercise. It becomes obvious when you play back the photos.

Photograph a landscape from sunset (or before) until it's completely black, which is about an hour after sunset. Also try this photographing an actual sunset. Sunsets vary from second to second. Pay rapt attention!

Doing this has shown me that as the sun rises I make photos before the sun comes up, but I never like the results compared to when the sun has risen above the horizon.

SCHEDULE

0 dark 30 (predawn): Typically I have to get up well before dawn. This gives me enough time to get to wherever I need to be at dawn. I'm showered and fed from last night.

Dawn: shoot.

8AM: Have breakfast on my return at a reasonable hour. Shower for the day. If I'm tired from being up since 3 AM I'll nap.

Day: Scout new locations, goof off.

Afternoon: Have lunch and/or dinner.

Sunset: Shoot.

After Dark: later dinner.

After dinner: Shower and get to sleep early. This way I can arise well before dawn tomorrow, all showered and fed.

TECHNIQUE

Technique is the easy part. 90% of my work is being at the right place at the right time. If you're there, then technique is easy: just make the picture. Since I'm there I make a lot of pictures and pick the best later. You never know if the light is going to get better, or if haze is going to roll in and kill the party.

If you missed the sunrise by 5 minutes then no amount of photoshop jerking around will replace the shot from the other guy who woke up on time.

Shooting - Digital Cameras

I set my digital camera's saturation to whatever looks right, usually "plus" on SLR cameras like my D200 and D70. See How I set my D70. I set my Canon point-and-shoots (like my A70) to "Vivid." My Casios are saturated already, so I leave them at "0."

Exposure is tough with digital cameras. The slightest overexposure destroys saturation.

The best way to determine correct exposure is to look at the color image on the LCD. Ignore any single-channel histograms. Be sure your bright reds are red, and have not started to blow out towards yellow, orange or pink. If you need a lighter image, lighten it later in Photoshop. If you lose your highlights you can never get them back.

It's fine to underexpose and lighten later.

It's futile to attempt recovery of an overexposed color image. There is no highlight latitude in digital. If you blow it (hee hee) you'll have to revert to painting color back into the highlights the hard way! Photoshop's Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight is the most practical way to attempt recovery of blown highlights, but it's not going to restore lost color.

Histograms are useless unless they include separate red, green and blue curves. Single-channel (curve) histograms, like those in the Nikon D50, D70s and Canon 20D, are worse than useless because they will indicate correct exposure while saturated colors are overexposed!

Saturation, by definition, is when the three RGB channels have different values. The greater the saturation, the greater the differences. Single channel histograms usually only show the green channel (not the sum), so they ignore the red and blue! I love saturated reds and yellows, and the histograms in the D1X and D70 and D100 are completely blind to any saturation in the red channel! Your histogram may say everything is fine while your red is completely blown out. Blowing out the red channel both desaturates and shifts the color! With these cameras look at the image itself on the playback LCD.

The newest cameras, like the Nikon D200, Canon 30D and all my Casios have four-color histograms. I use these histograms. Be sure none of the graphs for any of the colors run off the right-hand side of the graph. See my page on RGB Histograms. When you use these you'll see one or another channel has much greater values than the others. Don't worry that some of the channels appear much lower. That's good and means you have saturation!

Shooting - Film

I prefer the look of Fuji's Velvia 50 professional slide film over every other film, including the new Velvia 100s. Choose a film that sees things they way you want to see them. If you want bold hit-you-in-the head color, then use Velvia as I do.

Almost everything you see on this site was photographed with Velvia 50, without filters and without playing in Photoshop. I get similar results in digital; however you folks ask for articles like this which keeps me too busy to keep my Gallery up to date. As of 2006 I shoot both film and digital.

Printing

I scan my film. I print digital and film images the same way.

I use the glossiest paper I can get. Glossy prints retain vivid color. Matte prints lose it. I prefer Fuji paper over Kodak, and prefer Fuji Super Gloss polyester-base paper to the usual Fuji paper. Super Gloss only comes from professional places, you won't get it unless you look. Super Gloss' base has a pearlescent 3-D look. You can see depth, just like a pearl! Super Gloss always looks like it's still wet.

I send everything up to 12 x 18" to Costco to print on regular Fuji glossy paper, and bigger prints in Super Gloss to Calypso.

Inkjets went obsolete in 2003. Current HP. Epson and Canon inkjets are bad because the gloss of their prints varies from light to dark! Look at an inkjet print at an angle to se the gloss and you'll see it vary all over the image. There is expensive polyester based film for inkjet printers which can look good, but costs 4 times what a real print does. See my pages on printing.

A transparency, slide or computer screen glows with color and can be more vivid than a reflective print.

Artists make their tools do whatever they need to to create the final image. An artist directs his or her efforts to create based on what's available. Casual photographers have the misimpression that they are at the mercy of whatever tools they have. Snapshooters don't realize that it's up to them to take charge and make the tools do what they want, not the other way around.

You can't get these colors from print film unless you make your own prints. If you have a lab make your prints the colors are usually interpreted incorrectly. Prints from negative film usually come out the wrong colors unless you print them yourself.

SUMMARY

Being there is 90% of getting great color. If you don't see great colors when you make a shot, no amount of photoshop is going to fix it. Cranking saturation or contrast in Photoshop makes an image more vivid, but won't make a so-so image sing. You have to go out and seek color. You can't make it, unless you're a painter.

100 Things I’ve Learned About Photography

2009-06-04T11:52:00.000-07:00

Martin Gommel is a photographer on Flickr that I’ve been admiring for a while. Martin also has a blog called KWERFELDEIN (German) and has generously offered to to translate one of his photography articles for Digital Photography School. I’ve also made a few minor
amendments/translations - and hope that between us we’ve created a helpful article for you. PS: the images in this post are all Martin’s - enjoy.

Since I found photography two and a half years ago I have learned different things which I would like to share with you today. These lessons have made me richer and I hope that you will find them refreshing and inspiring on your journey with the camera, too.

1. Never do photography to become a rock-star.
2. Enjoy what you are shooting.
3. Prepare well for your shooting, realizing that your battery isn’t charge when you’re setting up for that sunrise shoot is too late!
4. Always take one warm garment more than you actually need with you
5. Pay attention to your thoughts and emotions while you are shooting
6. Set goals you can achieve
7. Write tips about photography, because writing is also learning
8. Never go shooting without a tripod
9. Be pleased with the little prosperities
10. Build relationships with potential photo buddies

11. Watch the place you want to shoot first with your heart then with the camera
12. Always stay calm
13. Know that you tend to overestimate yourself
14. Perspective is the killer
15. Dedicate yourself to photography, but never browbeat yourself too much
16. Take part in a photography community
Treeklein17. Keep your camera clean

18. Never compare yourself to others in a better or worse context
19. Find your own style of photography
20. Try to compose more and to hit the shutter less
21. Seek out and learn to accept critique on your images
22. Do something different to recover creativity
23. Get inspiration from the work of other photographers
24. Criticize honestly but respectfully
25. Get feedback from your lady
26. Don’t copy other photographer’s style
27. Be bold
28. Take care of the golden ratio
29. 10mm rocks!
30. Take selfportraits
31. Read books about photography
32. To give a landscapephotograph the extra boost, integrate a person (maybe yourself)
33. Every shooting situation is different than you expect
34. Pay attention to s-curves and lines
35. Always shoot in RAW

36. Keep your sensor clean, so you can save some work cleaning your image in post production
37. Discover the things you think are beautiful
Redgreenklein38. It takes time to become a good photographer
39. The best equipment is that what you have now
40. You can’t take photographs of everything
41. Break the rules of photography knowingly, but not your camera ;)
42. Pay attention to the different way that light falls on different parts of your scene
43. The eye moves to the point of contrast
44. Clouds increase the atmosphere of a landscape
45. Start a photoblog
46. Accept praise and say “thank you”
47. ‘Nice Shot’ is not a very useful comment to write
48. ‘Amazing!’ isn’t useful either. Try to describe specifically what you like or don’t like about an image.
49. You are not your camera
50. Ask a question at the end of your comment on a photo to get a ping-pong conversation with the photographer
51. Do a review of your archives on a regular basis, the longer you photograph - the more diamonds are hidden there
52. Always clarify what the eyecatcher (focal point) will be in your image

53. No image is better than a bad one
54. Everyone has to start little
55. Your opinion about photography is important!
56. Leave a funny but thoughtful comment
57. Speak about your experiences with your photo buddies

58. Limit your photograph to the substance
59. Participate in Photocontests
60. Post processing = Optimizing your image to the best result
61. Shoot exposure latitudes as often as possible
Wideklein62. Use photomatix as seldom as possible, HDR’s always have a synthetic flavor
63. Always remember what brought you to photography
64. Never shoot a person who doensn’t want to be photographed
65. Always turn arround, sometimes the better image is behind you
66. It’s who’s behind the camera, not the camera
67. Mistakes are allowed! The more mistakes you make, the more you learn!
68. If you have an idea and immediately you think : No, this is not going to work - Do it anyway. When in doubt - always shoot.
69. Understand and look to your histogramm while shooting. It delivers very important information about your image
70. Know your camera, because searching the menu button in the night is time you don’t want to waste
71. Shoot as often as possible
72. Believe in yourself
73. Don’t be afraid of getting dirty
74. Pay attention to qualitiy in your image
75. Your photographs are a personal map of your psyche
76. Re-check your ISO-Settings. It’s aweful to detect the wrong settings on your screen.
77. Be thankful for long and thoughtful comments on your images
78. Never trust your LCD. Normally it is brighter and sharper as the original image.
79. Provide for enough disc space, because it’s cheap and you will need it.
Autoklein80. Learn to enjoy beautful moments when you don’t have a camera with you.
81. Always arrive at least half an hour earlier before sunrise / sundown, composing in a hurry is a bad thing.
82. Try to amplify your mental and physical limits. Takes some extra shots when you think “it’s enough”
83. Pay attention to structures in the sky and wait until they fit into structures in the foreground
84. Visit the same place as often as possible. Light never shows the same mountain.
85. Print your images in big size. You will love it.
86. Calibrate your monitor. Working with a monitor that is not accurate is like being together with someone you can’t trust. It always ends badly.
87. Don’t think about what others may say about your image. If you like it, it’s worth publishing.
88. Never address reproaches to yourself. Learn from your mistakes and look forward, not backward.
89. Fight your laziness ! Creativitiy comes after discipline.
90. Ask yourself : What do you want to express in your images ?
91. Always try to think outside the box, collect new ideas about photographs you could do and ask yourself : Why not?
92. Search for a mentor.
93. Photography is never a waste of time.
Fogklein94. Every community has it’s downsides. Don’t leave it out of an emotional response.
95. There will always be people who will not like what you are doing.
96. Henri Cartier-Bresson was right when he said that “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.”
97. A better camera doesn’t guarantee better images.
98. Always have printing in mind when you postprocess your images.
99. Photography is fair : You gain publicity with the quality of your images. Unless the images are stolen, there is no way of cheating yourself higher.
100. Write a 100 things list

Do you have learned something that I didn’t mention ? I would be glad if you let me know it as a comment, so I can learn from you !

Nifty Fifty

2009-06-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

This Nifty Fifty is my first prime lens, I paid $88 on Ebay two months ago. Don't let the price fool you the pictures I took with this lens come out very good and sharpness is very decent. This lens very sharp at F/4 and up, it is super sharp at F/6.3 I took some pictures of my sons they come out so sharp you don't need to sharpen it in photoshop at all. I love this prime lens small, cheap in a might package.

Canon EOS Rebel XSi

2009-06-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

Last year around xmas time, after few months looking at the local stores and on the web I decided to purchase a new Canon Rebel XSi DSLR at the local store, price was $699 plus tax brand new in the box include EF-S 18-55mm kit lens. This is my second DSLR after the burglary at my house it also happened around xmas time (Dec 12th, 2007)
I felt in love with my Rebel Xsi right away, light weight and small fit with my small hand, huge 3" LCD on the back of camera make it easy to see all the setting, the Rebel XSi is quite simple to operate. I took it to Viet Nam trip took about 200 pictures but only a few come out good. I know it was not the camera it was me just did not how to operate the camera yet, so after came back to the state I started to read more about the camera: how to focus , how to use spot meter, how to compose... etc. Now my photos start to come out little bit better, I am still learning every day hopefully one day I will be come a pro ... :0)). But for now I am happy with my Canon Rebel XSi I plan to get me few more lens when I save enough money.
Any way here the complete review and specification of the Canon Rebel XSi.

Manufacturer Description
For stunning photography with point and shoot ease, look no further than Canon’s EOS Rebel XSi. The EOS Rebel XSi brings staggering technological innovation to the masses. It features Canon’s EOS Integrated Cleaning System, Live View Function, a powerful DIGIC III Image Processor, plus a new 12.2-megapixel CMOS sensor. The EOS Rebel XSi’s refined, ergonomic design includes a new 3.0-inch LCD monitor, compatibility with SD and SDHC memory cards and new accessories that enhance every aspect of the photographic experience.

Canon EOS Rebel XSi Highlights

New Technology for Outstanding Images

12.2-megapixel APS-C Size CMOS sensor

New Canon 12.2-megapixel CMOS sensor and DIGIC III image processor Canon’s CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensor captures images with exceptional clarity and tonal range, and offers the most pixels in its class. It offers many of the same new technologies to maximize each pixel’s light gathering efficiency that were first seen with the professional EOS-1D Mark III model. It’s an APS-C size sensor (22.2 x 14.8mm), and there’s an effective 1.6x increase in the lens’s marked focal length when attached. Canon’s DIGIC III Image Processor dramatically enhances image quality and speeds up all camera operations for intuitive operation. It works in concert with the EOS Rebel XSi’s sensor to achieve unprecedented levels of performance in all lighting situations.

14-bit A/D converter With the EOS Rebel XSi, analog to digital signal conversion is executed by a 14-bit processor, which generates digital data with incredibly smooth tones. Formerly a feature only present in top-of-the-line pro digital SLR cameras, the 14-bit conversion gives incredibly smooth transitions from light to dark colors, with far less risk of “banding.” A sky at sunset is a perfect example. With this rich 14-bit gradation the EOS Rebel XSi offers RAW images of the highest quality that can be processed with Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software. Even JPEG files, which are always finished at 8-bits per channel, use the full 14-bit conversion initially to generate the best possible color and tonal detail. Another huge benefit of the 14-bit conversion is the Highlight Tone Priority option, which allows critical shooters to increase the level of detail in bright areas of a scene up to one stop, without affecting overall exposure.

Auto Optimization The EOS Rebel XSi’s Auto Optimization is yet another image-quality tool that comes to the rescue in tricky lighting conditions. It can actually lighten dark areas of a scene while ensuring that bright areas maintain tonal detail. It’s now available in all shooting modes, including P, Tv, Av, and Manual.

DIGIC III image processor Developed to maximize performance between the capture and recording stages of digital photography, the EOS Rebel XSi’s latest-generation DIGIC III Image Processor works in concert with Canon’s CMOS sensor to achieve even higher levels of performance. The entire electronic system is totally redesigned, giving the camera its incredible combination of speed and image quality. Digital noise is significantly reduced in shadow areas, and color reproduction is superior.

Speedy, Precise Operation

Excellent performance with 3.5 fps continuous shooting, up to 53 full-resolution JPEGs or 6 RAW images in a burst The EOS Rebel XSi operates with such effortless speed that operation is nothing short of intuitive. With instant startup times, speedy autofocus and minimal shutter lag, the EOS Rebel XSi is one of the fastest cameras available today. It can shoot up to 3.5 frames per second, in bursts of 53 JPEGs or 6 RAW files, so you’ll never, ever, miss a shot.

See the image in large LCD with Live View Function The EOS Rebel XSi has a huge, bright 3.0-inch TFT LCD monitor with 230,000 pixels and a viewing angle of 170 degrees. It’s perfect for Live View composition or viewing camera settings like AF, ISO, Metering, AF Point selection and flash options. And the maximum brightness of the EOS Rebel XSi LCD monitor is about 30-percent greater than its predecessor, which is a big benefit when you’re using the camera in bright sunlight.

Live View Function Live View Function enables you to view your subjects directly on the huge 3.0-inch LCD monitor. It’s easy to magnify any part of the scene 5x or 10x for precise manual focus. And now, there are two ways to use Autofocus along with Live View Function in the EOS Rebel XSi. You can even choose a grid overlay, perfect for keeping straight lines in your subject straight in your pictures. In the studio, Live View Function can be used remotely via a computer through the EOS Rebel XSi’s USB connection.

Fast 9-point AF system, and two types of AF during Live View Function The EOS Rebel XSi has a high-precision 9-point wide area AF sensor for fast, accurate focus even in dim lighting. It has a number of focus modes, including One-Shot AF, AI Focus AF, AI Servo AF and Manual. In Live View Function, the EOS Rebel XSi has two AF modes: Quick mode, which uses the camera’s standard 9-point AF system, and Live mode, which is a contrast-based AF system that reads the sharpness of subjects right from the imaging sensor, and can be overridden by pressing the AF mode selection button. A familiar feature in PowerShot cameras, Live mode AF uses similar technologies to achieve focus, while Quick mode is more appropriate for capturing action or for shooting in low light.

Compatible with compact SD and SDHC memory cards The EOS Rebel XSi is the first EOS Digital SLR camera to use popular SD and SDHC memory cards only. Compact, inexpensive and available in increasingly large capacities, SD and SDHC memory cards are a perfect complement to the EOS Rebel XSi’s compact and lightweight body design.

Advanced Features for Advanced Photography

New advanced features include spot metering, external flash settings on the camera’s menu, and a new higher-magnification viewfinder The EOS Rebel XSi’s 35-zone evaluative metering system with improved white balance analyzes light based on each zone in the viewing area, enabling the camera to choose the overall best exposure for the entire scene. It now features a spot meter, which reads a tiny area (about 4 percent) of the picture for extremely precise metering. It also provides Center-weighted average metering and partial metering for accurate exposure no matter the situation. The EOS Rebel XSi also has an improved, high magnification viewfinder that provides a larger overall view, and increased brightness and clarity. And the EOS Rebel XSi has a Display-Off sensor that automatically turns the LCD monitor off whenever the camera is at the photographer’s eye. All relevant shooting information, including ISO, is displayed right in the viewfinder so it’s easy to change settings without moving the camera away from the eye.

EOS Integrated Cleaning System Photographers who must change lenses in dusty environments will find the advanced Canon EOS Integrated Cleaning System a tremendous time saver. Dust that settles on the sensor surface is removed using ultrasonic vibration. This Self Cleaning Sensor Unit routine is automatically activated whenever the camera is powered on or off. (It can also be manually activated.) A special collar positioned around the sensor collects the loosened dust. Dust particles can also be automatically removed via software. By shooting a plain white subject, the photographer can acquire dust position data that is transmitted along with the image (whether JPEG or RAW). Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP) version 3.3 or later software can be used to manually or automatically erase the dust spots. It’s not one feature, it’s a built-in system to minimize the effect of dust in high-resolution digital images.

Self Cleaning Sensor Unit A key element of minimizing dust is preventing it from clinging to the front surface of the imaging sensor. To combat against this, the EOS Rebel XSi features a Canon-designed Self Cleaning Sensor Unit. The low-pass filter at the front of the sensor shakes off dust automatically with ultrasonic vibrations, removing dust from the sensor assembly. The EOS Rebel XSi has a new coating on the front surface of the low-pass filter, to increase its resistance to dust sticking to the sensor.

Dust Delete Data Detection Dust that may still remain on the front of the sensor can also be erased with software included in Digital Photo Professional (DPP) Version 3.3 or later software. A simple test shot of a plain, white object can be taken, using a menu setting. This Dust Delete Data image is analyzed in-camera, and the location and size of any remaining dust is added to any subsequent pictures taken. This data is transmitted along with the image, whether JPEG or RAW, and can be either manually or automatically erased in Canon’s DPP version 3.3 and later software. This added software option ensures the cleanest possible image, perfect for printing or archiving.

Picture Style settings With the EOS Rebel XSi’s Picture Style technology, photographers can change the look of their digital photographs. Color, saturation, sharpness and contrast settings create noticeable variation in the saved image. Changing a Picture Style setting is almost like a 35mm film user switching from one type of color film to another. In addition to six preset Picture Style settings, Canon offers additional downloadable “Picture Style Files,” that can be installed into your camera for even more imaging options at your fingertips.

Highlight Tone Priority This vital Custom Function lets photographers get even better detail in bright highlights, even in contrasty lighting conditions. It’s beneficial for nearly any type of picture, from mid-day shots on a safari to portraits in sunlight, where a user may encounter bright highlight areas where he or she wants to preserve details. Finally, there’s no impact on the camera’s shooting speed or burst rate when Highlight Tone Priority is engaged. It takes full advantage of the EOS Rebel XSi’s new 14-bit per channel conversion, meaning there are 16,384 distinct colors from darkest to lightest in each color channel.

Shooting and Sharing Made Easy

Fully compatible with over 60 EF/EF-S Lenses and a wide range of EOS System accessories EOS Rebel XSi is compatible with all Canon lenses in the EF and EF-S lineup, ranging from ultra-wide angle to super telephoto lenses. Canon lenses employ advanced optical expertise and micron-precision engineering to deliver unprecedented performance in all facets of the photographic process. Special optical technologies, such as Aspherical, ultra-low dispersion, or fluorite elements are featured in the universally acclaimed L Series lenses, and Canon’s Optical Image Stabilizer technology are featured in select lenses to minimize the effect of camera shake. Through Canon lenses, photographers can truly maximize the quality and liberating performance of the EOS Rebel XSi.

Flash Photography The EOS Rebel XSi features the acclaimed E-TTL II flash metering system. With any of the flashes in the EX Speedlite line, E-TTL II provides reliable flash output whether shooting fill-in flash pictures in sunlight, or using flash in total darkness. With E-TTL II, the exact same 35-zone metering sensor used for measuring ambient light is also used for flash metering — giving even finer metering command of the image area. If you prefer a broader area for flash metering, there’s a menu setting to change to “Average” flash metering, where the entire 35-zone area is measured evenly for flash exposure.

The Canon Speedlite 430EX is the ideal step-up accessory for powerful flash shooting with the EOS Rebel XSi. It has excellent flash power (maximum guide number of 141 ft./43m at ISO 100), and is the perfect way to get great flash pictures when you can’t get right up to the subject. The 430EX is also great for bounce flash, with its tilting and swiveling flash head. It automatically zooms the flash head to cover lenses ranging from 16mm up to 105mm or longer with the EOS Rebel XSi. Of course, it works with the camera to provide full E-TTL II automatic flash exposure. And the 430EX has a powerful AF-assist beam, which allows the camera to autofocus even in total darkness on subjects as far as 32 ft. from the camera.

Included Software

Canon EOS Digital Solution Disk (Version 17.0) The EOS Rebel XSi comes bundled with an updated Canon EOS Digital Solution Disk, which features powerful software programs designed to extend the EOS experience to the computer. These include Canon’s ZoomBrowser EX for Windows (Version 6.1), ImageBrowser for Macintosh OS X (Version 6.1), Digital Photo Professional (Version 3.3), the totally new Picture Style Editor (Version 1.0), Canon’s EOS Utility (Version 2.2), RAW Image Task (Version 2.8), PhotoStitch, and PTP TWAIN Driver. Each application is designed to perfect the captured images and streamline the digital workflow. ZoomBrowser EX v.6.1 and Digital Photo Professional v.3.3 for Windows are compatible with the new Windows Vista operating system.

Digital Photo Professional (Version 3.3) is an image processing program that enables high-speed RAW image processing, high-speed previewing for real-time image adjustment and support for sRGB, Adobe RGB and Wide Gamut RGB color spaces. Because it’s CMS (Color Management System) compatible, Digital Photo Professional allows for easy image layout and printing in Adobe RGB in conjunction with Easy-PhotoPrint and PictBridge printers. It also features the Dust Delete Data Detection tool for cleaner images.

EOS Utility (Version 2.3) for Macintosh or Windows handles the connection between the camera and computer, whenever they’re connected via USB. It allows remote controlled shooting from the computer, handles downloading of images from the camera to the computer, and allows seamless linking to either Canon’s ZoomBrowser/ImageBrowser or Digital Photo Professional software once images have been copied to the hard drive. Furthermore, it’s used to upload settings back into a USB-connected camera.

ZoomBrowser EX (Version 6.1) for Windows and ImageBrowser (Version 6.1) for Mac OS X are the easy, user-friendly options for viewing and editing of JPEG and even RAW image files. Both allow viewing of numerous types of images including finished TIFF and BMP files. Both also have a variety of search options for finding images, allow re-naming of single images or batches of files, and offer a variety of options for printing without using a separate image-editing program.

RAW Image Task (Version 2.8) for Windows/Macintosh This software is an integrated component of ZoomBrowser EX (Windows) or ImageBrowser (Mac). It allows processing of RAW images from EOS cameras, including the new EOS Rebel XSi, with a variety of adjustment possibilities. These options, as well as the overall color, contrast and “look” of RAW Image Task, closely mimic the characteristics of Canon’s in-camera JPEG processing.

What’s in the Box

Canon Rebel XSi camera, rechargeable battery pack and charger, USB and video cables, a neckstrap, an EOS Solutions Disk CD, and a 1-year Canon U.S.A., Inc. limited warranty

Product Description
For stunning photography with point-and-shoot ease, look no further than Canon’s EOS Rebel XSi. The EOS Rebel XSi brings staggering technological innovation to the masses. It features Canon’s EOS Integrated Cleaning System, Live View Function, a powerful DIGIC III Image Processor, and a 12.2-megapixel CMOS Sensor with Optical Image Stabilizer. The EOS Rebel XSi’s refined, ergonomic design includes a 3.0″ LCD monitor, compatibility with SD and SDHC Memory cards and accessories that enhance every aspect of the photographic experience. Image Format – 22.2mm x 14.8mm 3 – 2 Horizontal – Vertical Aspect Ratio Color Filter System – RGB primary color filter Low-pass Filter – Located in front of the image sensor, non-removable Recording Format – Design rule for Camera File System 2.0 Image Format – JPEG, RAW (14-bit Canon original) RAW+JPEG White Balance Settings – Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, White Fluorescent Light, Flash, and Custom Focusing Modes – One-Shot AF, AI Servo AF, AI Focus AF, Manual focusing (MF) Metering Range – EV 1-20 (with EF50mm f/1.4 USM lens, ISO 100) Exposure Compensation – Manual 2 stops in 1/3 or 1/2-stop increments and AEB 2 stops in 1/3 or 1/2-stop increments AE Lock – Automatic when focus achieved with evaluative metering and One-Shot AF, and Manual by AE lock button Shutter Type – Electronically controlled and focal-plane shutter Shutter Speeds – 1/4000 seconds to 1/60 seconds, X-sync at 1/200 seconds, 1/4000 sec. to 30 seconds, bulb Self-timer – 10-seconds, 2-seconds delay or 10-seconds delay plus continuous shooting Brightness Control – 7 levels provided Dimensions – 5.1 x 3.8 x 2.4 (128.8×97.5×61.9mm) Weight – 16.8 ounces (475 grams) body only.