Monday
Creating Great Edits
Editing photos to bring the most detail and color out of
them is not a topic easily found online. Thanks to the internet everyone now
has access to free photo editing software that is almost as good as
professional grade. After doing some research I found the best editing software
for me as was GIMP. It’s nearly exactly the same thing as Adobe Photoshop
Elements except FREE!
It is important when editing photos to do your research for
the type of edits you want. Keep your edits simple and tasteful. Thanks to
Picnik everyone adds ugly glows, terrible coloring, and words to every photo,
taking away the true simplicity of a photo and ruining everything it touches. Things
to keep in mind while editing photos are:
- Cropping: Giving a photo a unique crop adds to the simplicity of the photo making it eye catching and interesting.
- Tone and Coloring: enhancing or muting the color can add to the mode and the feel of the photograph.
- Clarity: do you prefer nice sharp lines or a softer feel to the photograph
When
focusing on these main things it makes the editing process quicker and makes it
look much more professional.
The
most important thing to editing is making sure you achieve the look you want
out of the photograph. Not everyone’s taste is the same, but as long as you are
happy with the finished product that is all that matters. When creating a new
edited photo be sure to save the photo as a new name. For example: 002.jpeg
should be saved as 002-e.jpeg. This allows you to keep the original in case you
want to go back and change an edit. As we age our taste in styles change, so
keeping the originals is a good way to allow your favorite photographs change
with you.
How To Get The Most Out Of A Sunset
I’ve been interested in landscape
photography for about three years now, ever since my first cruise to the Caribbean
and I saw the most magical sunset. During my research and my path to becoming a
more educated amateur I learned there are a few things that need to happen
before I dive into landscape photography that are general rules that only make sense but work!
1.
Research
Your Locations
If you are planning a photography
trip then it’s important to do some research beforehand. Use the internet to
find as much information as you can about your destination. Try to identify
potential places of interest and find out the best times of the year to go –
some places are much more photogenic in certain seasons while others look great
all year round. Try to avoid peak tourist seasons though, as busy places mean
more people to get in the way of your shots.
There are some great tools to help
you prepare for your trip. Google Maps and Google Earth allow you to get a good
idea of exactly how things will look.
2.
Check the
Place Out
Once your trip has started the
research isn’t quite over yet. While the internet allows you to plan and
prepare for your trip, nothing beats being on location in terms of finding the
best spots to take photos from. Explore the area in the middle of the day when
the light is too harsh to take photos.
3.
Getting An
Idea
Once you have found a good location
you still need to decide how to compose your shot. This is a very subjective
area and it’s quite hard to describe what makes a good composition and what
doesn’t.
- Avoid clutter. Keep it clean and simple.
- Include the foreground. Foreground elements such as rocks, water, etc help to balance out the photo and also draw the viewer into the shot.
- Avoid placing the horizon or the focus of the photo in the dead center.
4.
Lighting
Once the hard work of scouting has
been done, it’s now a matter of turning up to your chosen location and waiting
for the right time to click the shutter. This is, however, when things become
out of your control and you are completely dependent on Mother Nature.
The best times for taking photos are
the hours around sunrise and sunset, commonly referred to The Golden Hours by
photographers, as these are when the light is at its best.
Using My Camera to the Best of My Ability
The first thing about improving your photography that needs
to be done is learning how to use your camera. Each camera brand and style is
different and therefore it is important to learn how YOUR camera works. My
camera is a Canon Rebel T2i; a fairly common camera in the last two years due
to its economical cost and quality. First thing everyone must do is read the
camera manual. I am not a fan of reading text that comes from a camera but it
must be done if you want to have the best photos possible. Putting your time in
and doing research on your camera is first and foremost the most important
thing anyone can do when want to enhance their photography. Once you’ve
finished reading the manual then I would suggest going online and reading supplementary
texts on specific topics you have questions on; such as posing, angles, lighting,
demos, and advice. Because I only want to use my camera for recreational
purposes lighting and angles was the biggest area I needed advice on, and boy
did I find it. But that will be included in a future post.
For my camera I was shooting everything in automatic, which
although seems the best for camera newbies, such as myself, it was actually
producing photos below the quality I wanted. I decided to shoot in Manual mode
for the duration of this assignment. It took a lot of getting used to but it
forced me to learn the most about my camera and how it works and which
functions affect which. In manual mode you are forced to control the aperture
and the ISO all on your own. Every time I shifted positions the lighting would
change which meant I needed to change either my aperture, ISO or both.
The aperture controls how long the light is let in, in terms
of fractions of a second. The ISO controls the amount of the light the camera
is should except while the aperture is exposed. Below is an example of what the aperture looks like when exposed for different settings. The lower the number the more light it will allow in and the more bright the picture will be.
Sunday
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)