Digital Innovations

In The Dark?
Some digicams have a projected light source that illuminates the subject so it can focus under low light. Many digital SLRs use accessory flashes to project light to focus with, but what happens when the light is not bright enough to allow the camera to lock focus? CameraBright!'s (www.camerabright.com) X1 provides a constant light source so the camera's built-in flash can focus and take the picture. The extra light also reduces the problem of redeye so no retouching is needed. The X1 measures 2.5x1.5x.625" and weighs 2 oz with batteries, making it is small enough to keep attached to your camera all the time. A single on/off switch (with automatic shut off) controls the unit. Four coin cell batteries provide about four hours of continuous use (about one year for the typical digital camera user). The X1 costs $29.95 and can be purchased from CameraBright!'s online store.

With the small flashes built into digital point-and-shoot cameras, CameraBright!'s X1 provides a constant light source so the camera's built-in flash can focus and you can take the picture.

One-Click Split Toning
Split toning is a traditional darkroom technique where liquid toner acts only on certain parts of the print, leaving the rest with no color change and producing prints with greater depth. In the wet darkroom, this process can be messy but it's easily accomplished digitally using PixelGenius' PhotoKit Color. My original photograph of Jamie-Lynn Larsen was captured directly in black and white using Canon's EOS 20D and a 28-105mm EF zoom set at 48mm. Exposure was 1/60 sec at f/5.6 with an ISO of 800. Lighting was from a large window to the left and fill flash from a Speedlite 550EX with STO-FEN diffuser.

Choosing PhotoKit Color (File>Automate>PhotoKit Color) brings up a simple dialog box with many choices for split toning and other effects (see text) as well. For this image I chose the Blue/Sepia Split.

No selections were made in Photoshop to indicate what color would be applied to which area of the image; PhotoKit Color automatically makes all those decisions. All of the PhotoKit Color Effects create a new layer or layer sets, leaving the original underlying image untouched, so it's always safe to experiment.