When our resident digital guru's Digital Darkroom Resource CD appeared in 2003 it debuted to much fanfare. The first volume included 11 chapters; shortly thereafter, Brooks released a second volume containing 16 chapters. He's now outdone himself with a new, third volume that contains 26 chapters, totaling 318 pages in PDF format plus a folder of images for print test...
Black & White In previous versions of Photoshop, the most common method for converting a color image to black & white was to use the Channel Mixer. It was a clunky, counter-intuitive process that forced you to think like Photoshop instead of allowing your brain and eyes to naturally digest what was being done to your image. The new Black & White...
Have you ever wanted to draw and paint but didn't feel that you had the technical skill? Well, Photoshop can help you awaken the artist within to transform one of your own photos into a pencil sketch or line drawing. A fine black and white rendering may be exactly the effect you're seeking to create a unique, elegant look for your subject, or a new service to offer to...
OK, you've done all the right things--you've calibrated your display using one of the hardware devices such as the X-Rite i1Display 2, Pantone huey, or ColorVision Spyder2. You've set your Photoshop work space up correctly, using Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB as the color space for your documents, and you've made all the right selections in the printer...
The old-style picture stories once popular in newspapers and magazines seem to have fallen out of favor. That's a shame, because picture stories remain a very effective and powerful means of expression. When you are preparing pictures for publication, exhibition, or even a personal portfolio, you will need to spend some time comparing, selecting, and juxtaposing photographs...
I had a thought (it happens!) back in the `80s. I was thinking how great it would be to create a portrait piece of someone that combined several images together to show the many facets of that individual. Let's take an example. Suppose you were commissioned to do a portrait of a young man. His interests may include playing football, swimming, sailing, playing guitar...
No matter how careful you are, soft happens. Your subject, whether a femme fatale or a flower, may move. The light level may be low so you have to shoot at a slow shutter speed, and camera movement blurs the photo slightly. Or you may be photographing under bright overcast conditions outdoors--plenty of light for most situations--but you're shooting soccer...
If you have ever had the experience of trying to convert your favorite slide or color negative to an electronic file you have probably run into the problem called “noise.”...
Retouching a portrait using film used to be a pretty simple task. Send the negative to your lab, check the “retouch” box, pay $5 or so, and the job was done.
In digital photography, exposure control is sometimes considered irrelevant. “You can easily fix any problems in your computer,” some friends will suggest.
Have you always been intrigued by panoramic photography but couldn’t bring yourself to pony up for a dedicated panorama camera? Well, today you don’t have to.
Both fiber-based and RC photographic prints have been around for many years, and the materials and processes to mount and frame them are well understood.