Tuesday, April 24, 2012


 
Tilt-Shift (It's Just An Illusion)

The above photographs were processed in Photoshop CS5 as Tilt-Shit images. Tilt-Shift imagery is really an optical illusion. A Tilt-Shift image tricks’ the viewer’s eyes (and mind) in believing that they are looking at a photograph of a miniature diorama.

The following steps will assist you in creating your own Tilt-Shift images:
  1. Choose the right photograph (typically an image shoot from above works best).
  2. In Photoshop select the Edit in Quick Mask Mode (Q)
  3. Then select the Gradient Tool (G)
  4. Then within the Gradient Tool Bar select the Reflected Gradient icon
  5. In the Gradient Editor use the pull-down menu and select Foreground to Background
  6. Make sure in the Set Foreground Color that Black is the foreground and White is the background
  7. Now select your focus area by placing your curser on your image and click and hold your left mouse button and dragging it across your focus area then release your mouse button. Your focus area should appear in a transparent red glow.
  8. Now select the Edit in Standard Mode (Q) icon again.  You should see an outline of marching ants.
  9. Select Filter > Blur > Lens Blur.  This will open your image in a new window.
  10. In the Lens Blur windows adjust the Iris Radius (typically I find that 20-30 is a good number, but you’ll have to use your own judgment at this point).
  11. When you’re happy with your Iris Radius setting select OK.
  12. To remove the marching ants press CNRL-D.
  13. At this point if you have not done it yet, you may want to consider increasing the Saturation, Contrast and/or Structure of your image to increase the modeling effect of your photograph.
See my Facebook page for additional Photography and Photographic Art discussions.
 
To view my Photographic Art visit: Windows of Photography

Metadata: Nikon D3 with a Nikon NIKKOR AF-S 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G lens, Subject Distance: Infinity, Exposure: 1/60s at f/6.3, ISO: 200, Focal Length: 24mm, Filter: Circular Polarizer, Lighting: Natural Daylight, Post Processing: Adobe Photoshop CS5, Date: 07/31/2010 at 11:20 am

Copyright © 2012 Windows of Photography, All Rights Reserved

Saturday, April 21, 2012


Beauty Glow

One of the ways you can use the sun in your photographs is to place your subject directly in front of the sun as in the above photograph. In the above photograph, it was late afternoon and the sun was low over the horizon. The sun can create a desirable halo or glow effect as an outline to your subject. I did not use a flash to front light the model in the above image. I wasn’t having any problems with uneven shadowing because of the trees overhead. You may want to consider using some type of lighting at times to fill-in shadows if desired. Photography is an art form and the conditions and subject should always be speaking to the creative goals of the photographer.

Visit Brazos Bend State Park's web-site for more details.

See my Facebook page for additional Photography and Photographic Art discussions.
 
To view my Photographic Art visit: Windows of Photography

Technical Data: Nikon D3 with a Nikon NIKKOR AF-S 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 G lens, Subject Distance: 5.96 meters, Exposure: 1/60s at f/8.0, ISO: 200, Focal Length: 120mm, Filter: Ultra Violet, Lighting: Natural Daylight, Post Processing: Adobe Photoshop CS5/Nik Software, Color Efex Pro 2, Date: 02/25/2012 at 6:17 pm, Location: Brazos Bend State Park, 21901 Farm to Market 762, Needville, TX 77461, USA

Copyright © 2012 Windows of Photography, All Rights Reserved

Friday, April 13, 2012


Bronze Horse

The above photograph was taken at Hilton’s Waikoloa Village Resort on Hawaii’s Big Island in 2010. Simply put, the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort is beautiful. The resort is composed of 62 acres of recreational activities, shopping, restraints, ocean front views, extensive plant life and art. Yes, I said art. There are over 1800 works of art on display throughout the resort at an original cost of over seven-million dollars. The Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort could be considered one of the most beautiful art museums in the world. Photography is my chosen creative artistic outlet. But, I appreciate most forms of art. I enjoy photographing sculpture art if it has a suitable background. Photographing sculptured artwork is like photographing a still-life but in an action pose. I find that the bronze horse sculpture above gives a real sense of movement. My attempts to discover the name of the artist of the bronze horse unfortunately has gone unanswered. So, I am unable to give created to the artist at this time. If anyone out there knows of the above sculpture and the artist please e-mail me their name so that I can update this blog entry.

For more information see the: Hilton's Waikoloa Village Resort

See my Facebook page for additional Photography and Photographic Art discussions.

To view my Photographic Art visit: Windows of Photography

Metadata: Nikon D3 with a Nikon NIKKOR AF-S 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G lens, Subject Distance: Infinity, Exposure: 1/80s at f/5.0, ISO: 200, Focal Length: 55mm, Filter: Circular Polarizer, Lighting: Natural Daylight, Post Processing: ACDSee Photo Editor 2008, Date: 07/31/2010 at 8:46 am

Copyright © 2012 Windows of Photography, All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, April 10, 2012


Shades of Gray

I am enjoying monochrome photography more than ever. I love shooting in color but, sometimes a mundane color photograph can become an incredible Black and White image. It seems that the lack of color in an image can sometimes help to convey emotion to the viewer. With today’s post processing editing tools you can shoot in color and then process the same color image into an incredible monochrome photograph.

The above photograph was taken in Jackson Square, New Orleans.  I am currently using Nik Software’s, Silver Efex Pro 2 in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop CS5 to post process my Black and White images. Silver Efex Pro is a plug-in to Photoshop and Lightroom. In Silver Efex Pro you have many presets to choose from. The presets give you a starting point in the post processing of your monochrome images. If you are considering processing monochrome images and you are using Adobe’s Photoshop and/or Lightroom I would recommend that you consider taking a look at Nik Software’s, Silver Efex Pro 2.

For more information see Nik Software - Silver Efex Pro 2 and the Jackson Square web-sites.
 
See my Facebook page for additional Photography and Photographic Art discussions.
 
To view my Photographic Art visit: Windows of Photography

Technical Data: Nikon D3 with a Nikon NIKKOR AF-S 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G lens, Subject Distance: Infinity, Exposure: 1/400s at f/6.3, ISO: 200, Focal Length: 24mm, Filter: Ultra Violet, Lighting: Natural Daylight, Post Processing: Adobe Photoshop CS5 & Nik Software – Silver Efex Pro 2, Date: 01/17/2012 at 9:30 am

Copyright © 2012 Windows of Photography, All Rights Reserved