TLW Photographers make your interest known

[withnail71]

Couple of tips for you novice photoshoppers and those playing with HDR

 

1) HDR serves little purpose in a scene that require HDR... basically, you need to be looking for shots that HAVE a dramatic contrast / range - because that's what you're trying to capture right? I know it sounds obvious, but sometimes you can see a really great scene and then (in your mind) visualise some great HDR version of it... but you never achieve the look you wanted - simply because the HDR was never there in the first place. That make sense?

 

 

 

2) Adjustments in Photoshop:

 

a) Place your image on a layer

b) Create a new 'adjustment layer' on top of the image

 

Do NOT just adjust the levels, or brightness and contrast... doing this will permanently change your image. But by using (b) - an 'adjustment layer' you can modify the adjustments as you like without compromising the original image layer.

 

 

3) Dramatic B/W

 

a) Place your image in a layer group/set

b) create a new adjustment layer (Hue/Saturation) in the layer group/set, just above your image layer. Desaturate your image (to make it B/W)

c) Duplicate the layer group/set (so you have two layers groups/sets of the same image

d) Change the blending style of the top layer group/set (usually set to normal, but try changing to hard light, or similar) - if the effect is too dramatic, simply reduce the opacity of the top layer to suit your taste.

 

You can similar HDR, or at least get more dramatic B/Ws this way.

Cheers mate. But im still fucking useless at photoshop.

[FanchesterCity]

Cheers mate. But im still fucking useless at photoshop.

 

Trouble with photoshop is that there's multiple ways to get similar (or the same) results, and it can feel very overwhelming with so many options.

 

The absolute top 5 things to master are:

 

1) Layers

Understanding how you can layer one image on top of another

 

2) Masks

Hiding bits of one layer so that the underlying layer shows through (i.e. making parts of the masked layer 'transparent'

 

3) Adjustment Layers

'special' layers where you can (say) brightness and contrast adjustments to your image that you can change as often as you like without ever ruining the original image layer. A great example of this is creating an adjustment layer for Hue/Saturation (to make a photo black and white). If you don't like it, you can just adjust it back to full colour again. Without using an adjustment layer (and just making the image black and white) you can never go back to colour.

Think of like this:

If you PAINT a sign on your van, that's that... there's no going back.

If you use a sticker on your van, you can take it off again later (that's what adjustment layers do)

 

4) Clone Stamp tool

This is THE tool for helping to get rid of the ugly woman in the background of your beautiful Anfield photo, or removing the cold sore on an otherwise perfect portrait

 

5) Any other format than JPG.

I'm sure you've heard this before, but I'll repeat it again... once you've got your camera image into your PC (as a JPG usually), NEVER save in that format again. Use 24bit PNG, or PSD, or TIFF. Otherwise, every single time you make an adjustment to your jpg file, and save it, the quality will worsen. Yes - it will get worse and worse every time. I can't tell you how many people don't know this and their beautiful photos degrade with each little tweak (and save) they make.

 

 

It's definitely worth getting into - even at a novice level, as it can rescue a dodgy image, and turn a fine image into a superb one.

 

But keep snapping away... I've seen some of your images and quite a few look great!

[withnail71]

Cheers mate. I understand the theory behing the processed you decribed, i just dont have a bloody clue how to implement them ! My pc skills are shocking.

[FanchesterCity]

Anybody seen this guys work?

 

Liverpool 1975 - a set on Flickr

 

It's a crying a shame that you just can't go around taking photos like this anymore.

 

This set are from 1975 in Liverpool - a bunch of cheeky young street urchins... I think they're brilliant.

[withnail71]

Anybody seen this guys work?

 

Liverpool 1975 - a set on Flickr

 

It's a crying a shame that you just can't go around taking photos like this anymore.

 

This set are from 1975 in Liverpool - a bunch of cheeky young street urchins... I think they're brilliant.

They are absolutely superb !

[FanchesterCity]

They are absolutely superb !

 

Takes me back to being a kid when you could kick a ball in the street without hitting a car, and you'd be shouted in your for tea by your mum!... the 'match' would stop at 23 goals to 18 whilst you scoffed your tea down in 5 minutes to get back out playing.

 

Those were the days!

[withnail71]

Takes me back to being a kid when you could kick a ball in the street without hitting a car, and you'd be shouted in your for tea by your mum!... the 'match' would stop at 23 goals to 18 whilst you scoffed your tea down in 5 minutes to get back out playing.

 

Those were the days!

same here mate, 20 a side, only stopping when it got so dark you couldnt see the ball. Happy days !

[Remmie]

I like to mess around with the various effects you can get on my standard point and click. Pretty pleased with these:

 

 

 

 

[raininblood]

Caribbean Princess at the clt!

 

 

 

 

others to follow !

[raininblood]

Few of the Queen Elizabeth at the clt.

 

 

 

Vlcc Bunga Kasturi Empat just out of Tranmere !

 

[raininblood]

Caribbean Princess bows north !

 

 

[coop]

Agree with Fanchester, steer clear of jpg like the plague.

 

It's alright if your just uploading images for shits and giggles to places like Facebook or Photobucket to share with friends and family but i much sooner use 16/32bit tiff images.

 

Photoshop is pretty easy to learn the basics and even with this knowledge you can turn average/decent pics into quality work.

 

You can get decent results at times purely by using the following adjustment layers and amending them to your taste, Levels, Curves, Colour Balance and then finally duplicating the original image and running a High Pass filter on it.

 

That is a pretty basic method but will at least give you a start and then as you further your knowledge of the software you can use different methods to suit your requirements.

 

One of the first things i learnt on Photoshop is never touch your original image and only work with layers until the final composition is complete.

[Fink]

Im looking forward to the Nikon d600 coming out - the low light abilities of my cameras and its lack of decent auto bracketing is starting to get to me a little - anyone on flikr?

 

Ive got fuck all mates on there apart from Karl B - anyway - add me

 

Flickr: FinkStu's Photostream

 

 

Also - if you want some critiques on your work try 1x. Some really helpful folks.

 

Personally I cant stand HDR - i think it makes photo look too much like CGI. More natural the better.

 

Having said that - Ill probably go HDR mad as soon as I get my shit together with some bracketing.

Edited August 20, 2012 by Fink

[Fink]

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa278/keithg66/IMG_3333_4_5_tonemappedcopy.jpg

 

That is just fucking beautiful. Id buy that.

[Anubis]

Documentary about Life magazine's photographers. On iPlayer until the 6th March and well worth your time if you haven't seen it.

 

BBC iPlayer - America in Pictures: The Story of Life Magazine

[raininblood]

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa278/keithg66/IMG_3333_4_5_tonemappedcopy.jpg

 

That is just fucking beautiful. Id buy that.

 

Glad you like it !!;)

[withnail71]

[raininblood]

Jeez ,had to dig all the way to China to find this thread,anyways !

 

FUGRO SALTIRE @ Liverpool clt.

 

[stringvest]

I love looking at this thread. Some stunning images. Thanks to you all for sharing.

 

[PestiRed]

Not much of a photographer but have always liked these two photos that I think I got lucky with. Glaciers on Kilimanjaro

 

 

[Sugar Ape]

Jeez ,had to dig all the way to China to find this thread,anyways !

 

FUGRO SALTIRE @ Liverpool clt.

 

That would be a good picture if I couldn't see my place of work in the background. Spoils it somewhat.

[Anubis]

Thought I'd share this quite brilliant post from a photogrpahy forum aimed at the very modern compalint about continuous autofocus not being good enough to capture the escapades of children with anything less than  DSLR. 

 

 

 

Larry February 9

Posts: 204

As an historic note, photography of children in motion and motor racing began in 2007 with the introduction of the extremely quick Nikon D3 and Canon EOS-1Ds III. 

Prior to that time and specially during the era of film with fully manual cameras, all sports events were done in commercial studios, with the athletes assuming heroic poses for the cameras. All the action pictures of Jacques Henri Lartigue in the first decades of the 20th century were impossible due to the lack of tracking autofocus and were created in the early analogue versions of Adobe Photoshop. Since it was so early, it was still Stone-Cutter Photoshop.

Remember kiddies, that no authentic action photographs were possible prior to 2007. However the studio techniques of photographing auto-racing, basketball, hyperactive toddlers and football are still available to anyone with a large enough budget and a Fuji X-camera. With the glacial focusing speed of the new X-T1, you can still use the old techniques to fake capture action. 

My shots of NASCAR and international motor racing from the 1960s through the 1980s look as real as if they were done on location in real-time; including crashes with dozens of race-cars. Shooting the big pileup in the 1978 Daytona 500 cost our newspaper in the millions, but it looked perfect. The fire, smoke and dust effects alone required a crew of 32 special-effects technicians. A total of 13, million dollar race-cars, were destroyed and two drivers lost their lives. It could have been shot every bit as easily with the Fuji X-M1 as with the Nikon F2. You only need a studio large enough to enclose a 2½ mile oval and 42 race-teams willing to work with you.

Now patience is needed. However, Flysurfer spilled the beans—the Fuji team is working on an implanted RFID chip to be embedded in the shooter's optic nerve that will control the focus and zoom of all lenses made after 2018. No one will ever miss a shot because they have no clue about using aperture for depth of field, nor that as long as a subject is within the band of sharpness, they will be sharp. Just look at the action and visualize the composition. If you really have no idea of composition, the camera has a lookup table that will do it for you. 

The ability to anticipate a shot—which all photographers learned in the past—will be no longer necessary, since the EXR IV processor finally integrates the EXR III's TARDIS option, allowing the photographer to reverse time to completely eliminate the need for anticipation. For those with only gear-head skills, the reversal operation can be endlessly repeated until the peak of action is captured in a masterpiece of classic action photography. When this happens, gear-heads will no longer have to fake an appointment when a newbie asks to see their work.

WiFi capabilities will be enhanced with the new Fujifilm InterWebs Promotion Chip (FIWPC) that will publicise each exposure the photographer makes, to the point that Internet Amplification Syndrome kicks in. Instant celebrity will follow. Even the most block-headed snap-shooters will find galleries of their works everywhere, paparazzi following them around as if they were Bieber AND Cyrus, and hordes of teenie groupies offering chances for delicious scandals that could potentially end in jail.

Just be patient for another couple of years, and there will be no need to spend the 10,000 hours of study and practice that made photographers in the past. George Eastman, founder of Kodak, famously said, "You push the button, and we will do the rest." He was only talking about developing and printing your work. The next generation of Fuji cameras will take it the next step further, by making you famous with no effort or learning. How you spend your wealth and fame will be up to you however. No camera will ever convey good sense upon the user.

Yeah, right.

 

[Beansonafryup]

I've got a nikon 5300 dslr and just bought thev1.8g 85mm lens. The bokah is excellent on depth of field shots. Have to admit I think all the cs3 photoshop touching up is cheating. Anybody can make average photos look stunning with lots of post production. I prefer the unadulterated image myself, although I do accept good shop skills are an art form in themselves.