I'm Looking for the Best Photo Advice - From You!

February 20, 2011

Cool shot in Hot 'Lanta.

(Update: Thank you all for posting your comments here. Many other comments were posted on facebook and twitter. If you guys post a comment here, it's easier for other to read/learn/enjoy all in once place. Thank you again!)

Hi All,

I am looking for some advice - the best photo advice that you ever received.

But wait, I am not asking you to share a technical tip. Rather, I am asking you to share, here on the blog (rather than on facebook or twitter), non-technical advice - a photo philosophy that will help others.

Before I share with you the best photo advice I ever received, here's the best advice I received when it comes to playing guitar. It's not a technical tip, as you will read. I share it to give you an idea of a philosophy, rather than a tech tip.

The advice: Every blues guitar player wants to be able to play solo - laying down basic chords while filling in with lead. Like a one-man-band.

That advice helped me tremendously. This concept helped me think, and of course play, differently.

And here is the best advice I received for playing the piano: It's not the notes you play, it's the space between the notes that are important. Again, it was the concept that helped tremendously.

Massai kids, Kenya

Okay, here is the best photo advice I received: The camera looks both ways; in picturing the subject, you are also picturing a part of yourself. That concept made me realized something very, very important about making pictures - that we are mirrors, and that our pictures are a reflection of ourselves - and of our personalities.

Left: Old Havana, Cuba. Right, Lake Powell, AZ.

Take a look at these pictures, and you'll gain some insight into my personality. Take a look at your pictures, on your blog and web site, and know that others will gain some insight into your personality.

So my friends, post your best advice here on my blog in the Comments sections. I am sure others will enjoy and learn from that advice. Me, too!

Explore the light,

Rick

Add Action (and Fun) to a Still Image

February 20, 2011 in Adobe Photoshop, Apertuer, Lightroom, WACOM

I'm going to try to post Photoshop tips all this week here on my blog. I have something else cookin' that may postpone this idea. :-)

Today's tip: Add action to a still image with the Radial Blur filter.

Here is how to do it:

• Go to Filter > Convert to Smart Filters.

• Go to Blur > Radial Blur > Zoom. Play around the the position of the blur point and the amount of blur.

• In your Layer's panel, click on the Smart Filters Layer Mask.

• With black selected as the foreground color in the Color Picker, choose a soft brush and "paint out" the blur over the main subject or subjects. However, before you start "painting," reduce the Opacity of the brush in the Options bar at the top of your screen so your "painting out" happens slowly, which gives you more control than when you "paint out" at 100 percent Opacity.

Above is the original image. As you noticed in my enhanced image, I also added a "sun" courtesy of the Lens Flare filter in Photoshop.

Below are two more examples.

I teach stuff like this on my workshops, when we are not shooting and making more traditional enhancements in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Explore the light,

Rick

P.S. For the ultimate control over painting in Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture, check out a Wacom Pen Tablet.

Photoshop's Content-Aware Scale Feature is Fantastic

February 19, 2011 in Content-Aware Scale, Photoshop CS5, Photoshop World

Photoshop CS5 has a way-cool feature: Content-Aware Scale. Basically, this feature lets you scale a picture . . without affecting the main content (subject). This is important when you need to add some extra room in an image, such as when you need to add type.

I had to use Content-Aware Scale recently for a project that I am working on. (Info on this project to come soon, but I can't let the cat out of the bag quite yet.)

My friend Julieanne Kost at Adobe explains now to use this feature best.

Following Julieanne's advice, I was able to create the image above from the image below.

Yes, I also took advantage of the Clone Stamp tool. And yes, I was actually falling through the air at 125 miles an hour. Just take a look at my face!

After adding the type, by the way, I chose a Gradient Layer as the Layer Style, which allowed me to add some cool and fun colors to the type.

The key to making this work is to choose Content-Aware Scale (of course) and then to make a selection of the subject you don't want stretched, and then to save that subject as a selection.

Hey! I hope to see you - and JK - at Photoshop World in Orlando this March. Click here for the list of my classes.