Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
Redeye is caused by the camera’s flash and is often difficult to avoid. Some photographers, and I count myself in that group, would prefer to have to deal with redeye if that means we get good photos. Often the redeye reduction feature on a camera signals to your subject that the image has been taken before it has – they relax and start moving and you get unwanted movement in the shot. When there is a balance to be struck between redeye and movement – I’ll take redeye everytime.
If your photograph has a subject with redeye you can fix it using the redeye tool in Photoshop Elements.
Click the Zoom Tool and click and drag over the eyes in the image to make them large enough that you see them clearly.
Click the Redeye removal tool and click on the red part of the eye. If necessary, adjust the Darken amount and the Pupil Size on the toolbar to get a good result. Fix each eye and then save the image.
Labels: Photo-editing workflow, Photoshop Elements, redeye
posted by Helen Bradley @ 5:09 pm0 Comments - links to this post
Monday, May 24th, 2010
Some images look much better in black and white than they do in colour.
Increasingly photo editing programs are shipping with very good tools for converting to black and white. These allow you to select which portions of an image become black and which become white which is necessary when you want to differentiate between colours which have the same intensity such as green and red values which would, otherwise, be converted to the same shade of gray.
In Photoshop Elements, choose Enhance > Convert to Black and White and select a style from the list at the left of the dialog. These include Infrared, Newspaper, Urban Snapshots, Scenic Landscape, Vivid Landscape and Portraits. While the names suggest the type of image they are well suited to it is a matter of personal preference as to which you use.
Once you have chosen the image type you can select from options at the bottom of the image to adjust the various colours to darker or lighter shades of grey. You can also select the more or less contrast options to adjust the image contrast.
When you have a result that you like, click Ok.
Labels: black and white, Photo-editing workflow, Photoshop Elements
posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:12 am0 Comments - links to this post
Monday, May 17th, 2010
There’s been a lot of excitement over the Content Aware Fill feature in Photoshop CS5 (Edit > Fill > Content Aware). It’s a big new feature but it’s often the little day to day changes that really make a difference. For me there are two big “little” changes that I love.
One is the ability to stop Photoshop wanting to save files to where they came from. So, now, when you choose Save As, Photoshop doesn’t have to default to where the file came from and it can be made to point to the last place you saved a file into. This could mean the difference between using Photoshop for day to day screenshots and not.
Until now I’ve used PaintShop Pro and I’ve done so for around 10 years because it defaults to the last save location which works best for me. Now, at last Photoshop can be configured to behave the way I want it to behave. You will find this setting in Edit > Preferences > File Handling – disable the Save As to Original Folder checkbox.
The other big plus is that the Ruler tool now includes a rotate feature. In the past you’d choose the Ruler tool, mark the horizontal line then go to Image > Image Rotation > Arbitrary to make the rotation. Now there’s a Straighten option on the tool options bar when you select the Ruler tool.
Still on my wishlist is a one step paste to new image option. I’d love to be able to have something on the clipboard and choose Paste to New Image and have a new image the size of the clipboard object automatically created for me. Shouldn’t be too difficult – really! For now I have an action which does it but it would be nicer to have a menu item.
Labels: Photoshop CS5, Rotate, ruler., Save As
posted by Helen Bradley @ 2:25 pm0 Comments - links to this post
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
On Sunday I spent the day in Harajuku and walking with hundreds of Tokyo residents in the beautiful Yoyogi Park. The park is slap bang in one of the busiest areas of Tokyo within spitting distance of Shibuya and Harajuku and around 10 minutes walk from Shinjuku a major shopping area and with the largest railway station you ever want to get lost in. Yet this park is a peaceful oasis where kids run and play, people walk, sit and throw frisbies and laughter fills the air. The Japanese laugh a lot – and the sound of laughter is something that I really noticed here.
Harajuku didn’t offer up quite the wealth of photo opportunities I had hoped for but I still got some great images. Click here to view the final Tokyo 2010 gallery.
Labels: Harajuku, Tokyo, Yoyogi Park
posted by Helen Bradley @ 3:42 pm0 Comments - links to this post
Saturday, May 8th, 2010
Yesterday I spent a few hours in Sekaido, a 7 storey art supply store in Shinjuku then headed out to Ginza as I hadn’t been there before. There are some seriously funky things here – it was Saturday so they close some of the main streets and put tables and chairs out for people to sit at. The neon is pretty amazing the shops – well let’s just say expensive and big name. In the Sony building the stairs play music as you climb them! All in all – fun and well worth a visit but it’s far from being my favourite place in Tokyo.
For my money, Shinjuku is far more interesting and colourful and there are way fewer tourists there. I’ve found some cool graffiti and sticker art around Shinjuku too which is an unusual find in Toyko.
But today is Sunday so I’m headed to Harajuku with high hopes of some amazing shots – it’s the centre of youth culture and dress up is the name of the game.
For now, click here to view a gallery of Ginza and Shinjuku street art images.
Labels: Ginza, graffiti, neon, Shinjuku, street art, Tokyo
posted by Helen Bradley @ 4:44 pm0 Comments - links to this post
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
I visited Ameyoko last night to get some Japanese crackers that are hard to find and cost a fortune at the duty free store at Narita. This is an old market – used to be a black market in WWII and it runs along the Yamamoto railway line between two stations. In the evenings it’s busy with commuters stopping by to purchase food for dinner or to shop for clothes - new and second hand. It’s a fun and vibrant place to visit.
This morning – early – it was fish market time. I’ve missed this the last two times in Tokyo once because it was closed to tourists and the other because it was closed for New Years. Today I got to see what all the excitement is about. It’s packed, noisy, smelly and so much fun. You really have to be on your guard as the market workers are there to work which means moving fish around at a blindingly fast pace and tourists aren’t given any priority at all!
Click here to view the first of my Tokyo galleries.
Labels: Ameyoko, Tokyo, Tsukiji Fish Market
posted by Helen Bradley @ 4:34 pm1 Comment - links to this post
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
Good morning! I’m in Tokyo for a few days and lucked into the best hotel I’ve stayed at here – ever. While I loved the Park Hyatt last time I was here, its location sucks big time. It’s a hike to Shinjuku station and then a total nightmare trying to find your metro line – I’ve asked station attendants and all I’ve got is shrugs saying “I don’t know” when asking the whereabouts of lines I know stop in that station! So, I bypassed the horrors of Shinjuku and headed out to Shidome – what a blast. Lots of great hotels here so lots of people and great places to eat and right on two lines – just enough metro access without having to deal with the confusion of trying to find your line.
This morning was breakfast at the neighbouring Conrad Hotel at Chef Gordon Ramsay’s Brasserie – on the 28th floor with great views and a breakfast to match this great location – and they had french press coffee – what is there not to like about this place!
Labels: coffee, Tokyo, travel photography
posted by Helen Bradley @ 4:05 pm1 Comment - links to this post
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
If you have a photograph of someone who has blemishes on their skin you can remove these by using the Spot Healing Brush tool.
Select the Zoom tool and zoom in onto the areas that require fixing.
Click the Spot Healing Brush tool and adjust the brush size so it is just big enough to cover the problem area.
Click once on the area and the blemish will disappear. If the fix is not perfect choose Edit > Undo Spot Healing Brush, adjust the brush size and try again.
Labels: blemishes, Photo-editing workflow, spot healing brush
posted by Helen Bradley @ 2:42 am0 Comments - links to this post
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
Often you will encounter difficulties when fixing colour problems in an image where there are significant areas of skin tones. Skin tones are more difficult to fix than general colour casts, in part because we’re all so familiar with what skin tones should look like that we ‘know’ immediately when they look wrong.
Luckily Photoshop Elements has a good tool for fixing skin tones. To apply this fix to your image choose Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust color for skin tone. The mouse cursor will change to an eyedropper and you should use this to click on an area of skin tone in the image.
If you don’t get good results sampling from a person’s face, try sampling on their neck or arm – sometimes makeup on the face can give poor results and skin not covered in makeup gives better results.
Once you have selected the skin tone, if the fix isn’t good enough, use the Blush and Tan adjustments until you match what the skin should look like. The Ambient Light temperature slider lets you warm up or cool down the colour fix.
Labels: adjust color, Photo-editing workflow, skin tone
posted by Helen Bradley @ 2:37 am7 Comments - links to this post
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Whenever you believe that there is something wrong with your photo’s colour or tonal range a good place to start fixing it is with your software’s automatic fix options.
In Photoshop Elements choose Enhance > Auto Smart Fix and preview the result. If you do not like it choose Edit > Undo and try one or all of the Auto Levels, Auto Contrast, Auto Colour correction options under the Enhance menu.
Each of these adjusts the image in a different way and if they work on your image then they’re a simpler way of fixing it than having to do it manually.
Labels: color cast, color fix, Photo-editing workflow, smart fix
posted by Helen Bradley @ 2:30 am0 Comments - links to this post
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
Images which lack a full tonal range (a range of colors from very light/white to very dark/black), often look muddy and the colour in these images will also look flat. To adjust the tonal range of an image to darken the dark areas and lighten the light areas thus stretching the colour you have over the widest possible range.
In Photoshop Elements choose Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Levels. The levels histogram shows the tonal range of pixels in the image – ideally the chart should stretch the full width of the area it is contained in. If it doesn’t reach from the very left edge to the very right edge, drag the sliders underneath the chart inwards so that they sit under the points where the chart data begins and ends. You can adjust the middle slider to lighten or darken the midtones in the image.
Labels: levels, muddy images, Photo-editing workflow
posted by Helen Bradley @ 2:28 am0 Comments - links to this post
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
If you have an image which is under exposed or over exposed you can recover some of the detail in the light and dark areas using the Shadow/Highlight adjustment.
In Photoshop Elements choose Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Shadows/Highlights. The default setting lightens the shadows but leaves the highlights untouched but you can adjust each of these areas using the sliders to bring back into the shadow and highlight areas.
Adjust the Midtone Contrast slider if necessary to get the desired result.
Labels: overexposed, Photo-editing workflow, shadow and highlights, underexposed
posted by Helen Bradley @ 2:18 am0 Comments - links to this post
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
A photo where an obviously horizontal line like the horizon or the foot of a building runs at an angle instead of straight across an image is disconcerting to the eye.
To straighten a photo click the Straighten tool on the toolbar and drag a line across what should be the horizon in the image. In Photoshop Elements when you let go of the mouse, the photo will automatically be straightened using the line you have drawn.
Before you draw your line you can choose one of the options on the toolbar to configure the tool. These include choosing CropToRemoveBackground which ensures that uneven edges of the image are cropped away in the straightening process.
Labels: Photo-editing workflow, step, straighten
posted by Helen Bradley @ 2:08 am0 Comments - links to this post
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Use the Crop tool to focus in on your subject and remove unsightly background.
To crop an image and remove the excess, click the Crop Tool on the toolbar and click and drag the crop marquee over the image.
Adjust the edges of the marquee so they surround the portion of the image that you want to retain. Double click on the image to crop the excess away and to leave only the portion of the image that you want to keep.
Keep the rule of thirds in mind when you crop your image and, where possible, place the subject off centre for a nicer resulting image.
If your subject is moving such as a car or if it is a person who is looking to the right or the left, make sure to allow plenty of room ‘in front of them’ when you crop.
If you put a moving object too close to the edge of the image it will send your viewer’s eye off the edge of the image in the direction of the movement.
Labels: crop, Photo-editing workflow
posted by Helen Bradley @ 1:47 am1 Comment - links to this post
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Save the image with a new name before you begin to make sure you never overwrite the original.
There is nothing worse than destroying an original image by being just a little careless. You will never do this if you don’t work on your originals.
So, before you begin any fix, open your photo in your photo editing software and save the image giving it a new file name. This ensures you do not overwrite the existing image when you save the file later on and ensures you’ll always have your original image.
To do this, choose File > Save As and give the image a new name. Check the title bar of the image window to ensure you are now working on the saved copy not the original. If not, close the original image and open the copy before continuing.
Labels: duplicate, Photo-editing workflow, steps
posted by Helen Bradley @ 10:24 pm0 Comments - links to this post
