Welcome to the 12th issue of the Digital Darkroom

Hi

This month, we have a colorful Featured Photo and Digital Before and After. If you have ever wondered how people put a splash of color into a photo, check these out.

We also wanted to give you a head's up about Tony Sweet appearing on Shutterbug Magazine Radio. See below for details.

If you are eagerly awaiting the February contest results, we apologize. The judges have been working overtime on it - there are just too many excellent images to choose from this time. Stay tuned... the finalists should be posted very soon. Thanks for your patience.

Enjoy the discussions in this issue of the Digital Darkroom. With talks on everything from sepia toning to creating noise to using special filters, this issue has something for everyone.

To read the online version of the Digital Darkroom at our Web site, visit http://www.betterphoto.com/digitalpics/

Have a great month!
Jim Miotke
http://www.betterphoto.com/MG.asp?ID=124

In This Issue: Wednesday, March 17, 2004

• Featured Photo: Colorful Jars
• Featured Article: Tony Sweet Talks Digital Darkroom on Web Radio This Friday
• Digital Before and After
• New Photo Discussion 1: The Luck of the Irish to You!
• New Photo Discussion 2: Directions
• New Photo Discussion 3: Bridged
• New Photo Discussion 4: White Caps
• New Photo Discussion 5: Cows On The Barn
• New Photo Discussion 6: Daydreams
• New Photo Discussion 7: Run to Catch the Wave
• New Photo Discussion 8: Abigail Elaine
• New Photo Discussion 9: Bath time
• The Next Step: Where to Go From Here

Featured Photo: Colorful Jars

Colorful Jars Done in Photoshop © Julie A. Abston JVC GC-QX5HD Digit...

Featured Article: Tony Sweet Talks Digital Darkroom on Web Radio This Friday
Tony Sweet is an inspiring nature and flower photographer, and a great instructor here at BetterPhoto.com. Join Tony this Friday for a fun Web radio show, where he will discuss Photoshop and digital darkroom techniques with Jack Warren of Shutterbug Radio. To hear the show, simply point your Web browser to http://www.wsradio.com/shutterbug at 2:00 pm Pacific time. With topics ranging from flower photography to sports photography, this promises to be an enjoyable show.

Learn how you can compose inspiring and beautiful images in Tony's excellent course, "Image Design: Revealing Your Personal Vision".
Read more...
 

Digital Before and After

Peanuts - Before

Peanuts - After

Wildlife Photo Adventure - Don't Miss This Great Opportunity

Join Triple "D" game farm in central California for its 2004 wildlife photography road show! This unique opportunity offers photographers the chance to photograph wildlife models in an array of natural settings, providing you with beautiful, convincing, and visually interesting backgrounds for your animal pictures. In addition, Triple "D" is offering a rare and exciting "Day On The Ranch" photo opportunity, where you can photograph colorful horses, roping activities, cowboys, as well as a cattle drive. This is an absolutely beautiful place to photograph animals. Just take a look at the image to the right, created by BetterPhoto instructor Lewis Kemper. I know I'll be there! I love the animals and I love the beauty of the California. There is no way I am going to miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  Learn more...

New Photo Discussions

New Photo Discussion 1: The Luck of the Irish to You! The Luck of the Irish to You! I'm a day early, but just wanted to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day and good luck in the BetterPhoto February contest. St. Patrick's Day is special to me because (1) it's my namesake day and (2) I was married on St. Pat's Day, 1999, on Maui, Hawaii. Hang Loose, everyone! I'm gone tomorrow through Sunday to Houston. See ya next week! --Patricia © Patricia Marroquin Canon EOS 10D Digi... Oh, I'm glad you reminded me. Have a good time on your trip!! - Carolyn Fletcher See Carolyn's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit PickYourShots.com - Carolyn's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 1:Happy Anniversary, have a great trip, and a wonderful image Pat!! - Charlene Bayerle See Charlene's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit PictureThisbyChar.com - Charlene's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 2:I appreciate your good wishes for my trip, St. Patty's Day and my 5th anniversary! Couldn't resist photographing these dyed, glittered flowers in the supermarket and turning it into a card. - Patricia Marroquin See Patricia's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 2: Directions Directions I used Photoshop to create IR-effect. © Olga Gabay Sony DSC-F717 Cybe... Pretty, Olga!! I would love to learn how to create the infrared effect with PS. Was it difficult? I used IR film in the past and it was a blast. - Donna Pagakis Response 1:Very interesting look. How did you create the IR effect? - Cathy I. Barrows See Cathy's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Very nice. I shoot IR as well. Both film, and digital. There is one digital camera I have found well suited to do this. It is the Nikon Coopix-990. The camera has to be modified to do this. Once done, the camera sees "only" IR. Needless to say this would not be your only camera. I will be happy to share the modifications if you like. Again, nice shot. - Anthony M. Aicardi See Anthony's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Thank you all! Well, making this effect is very simple. Just open your color image in "Channel mixer" (Image - Ajustments), check "monochrome," and change all RGB settings. Blue channel must me very low (from aprox. -50% to -120%), Red and Green -20%. Click OK, remove the noise (with Smart Blur or Quantum Mechanic Pro plug-in, for example), and colorize the image a little bit in green tone. I also used dodge and burn tools to emphasize clouds and flowers. ... I also want to note that I added artificial grain in this picture, but it is not necessary. - Olga Gabay Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 3: Bridged Bridged A play in PSE2. Scene was taken on the skytrain, goining over the skybridge. This is from the Surrey side looking back at NewWestminster. I set the sutter speed at 90, and let the camera find its own apt. It was a clear beautiful day. The filter I used was High Pass, along with the quick fixes, sharpening and colour burn.. © Leanne M.E. Boyd Canon EOS Elan II ... "The filter I used was High Pass" ... good idea, Leanne!! Great picture!! .. bravo, Madame!! - Dominique Declerck See Dominique's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Very cool looking scene. What is a High Pass filter? - Cathy I. Barrows See Cathy's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:The High Pass filter is in the filter section of Photo Shop Elements 2. This is the first time I have used it, and I find it quite dramatic. As I said, it was a brillant day, with blue skies, etc., but it looked like a postcard, so I tried the filter, and it brought out the bridges, and the reflections seemed to be charged. - Leanne M.E. Boyd See Leanne's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Wonderful leading lines and depth in this image, Leanne. You're right, the filter does bring out the details and contrast in this image very dramatically! - Carol Brill Visit cdubvarsityfootball.com - Carol's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 4: White Caps White Caps Taken in January when the noon sun doesn't rise high enough to light up the valley. It sure does light up the fresh snow on the mountain tops though! 4 photos stitched. © Gary H. Minish Sony DSC-F707 Cybe... A larger version for more detail. - Gary H. Minish See Gary's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Breathtaking. Do you know where to get large panos printed? - Cathy I. Barrows See Cathy's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Wow this is breathtaking!! Excellent reflections ... nice job Gary!! - Robin L. Wehrman See Robin's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Wow! guess I must have done something right with this one :-) Thank you all for your very kind comments! Cathy, I've been printing mine on an Epson 2200, with 13-inch roll paper (Epson Premium Luster is my favorite). I use the Epson high quality ink so they shouldn't deteriorate in sunlight. I've printed a few of them at 12" by as much as 44," and they look very nice matted and framed. - Gary H. Minish See Gary's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 5: Cows On The Barn Cows On The Barn Ok this is something different for me, thanks to Heather Jacks for helping me out. This is two images layered together. One image is my Barn Colors and Textures. © Darren K. Fisher Canon EOS Rebel 20... Outstanding! - Damian Gadal Visit gadal-imagery.com - Damian's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 1:It's always good to stretch your creative legs, Darren, and most at BP are willing to help :0) Nice work and composite. Thanks, Heather, for sharing! - Murry Grigsby See Murry's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit mcgphotocards.com - Murry's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 2:Fabulous image!!! So very unique and colorful!! Well done. - Heather L. Jacks See Heather's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Wow, this is so creative and fascinating, Darren! The techniques and effects you've used are incredible! And superimposing cows on a barn is true to the theme. Excellent work! :-) - Patricia Marroquin See Patricia's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 4:WOW. Thanks, you guys, for the way kind comments. You are right about the BP community - always a helping hand and only seconds away. - Darren K. Fisher See Darren's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 6: Daydreams Daydreams © Amanda E. Radovic Pentax MZ-5N I LOVE LOVE LOVE this! I really like the grainy film, it's really beautiful! - Amy M. Parish See Amy's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit amyparishphotography.com - Amy's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 1:Thanks so much, Amy. The film is actually APX100, which is pretty fine grain, but if I scan it through with my film scanner and adjust the contrast and levels accordingly it gives this grainy effect. It actually highlights the actual grain, so I prefer to do it this way than to "add noise." - Amanda E. Radovic See Amanda's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 7: Run to Catch the Wave Run to Catch the Wave ~Nothing like a beautiful day at the beach~ © Bob Cornelison Minolta Dimage S30... Nicely done! - Kasia Elser See Kasia's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:I really like this. Now, I want to know more about it. What was the shutter speed? Was the blur added after the fact or at the time of the exposure? It's a beautiful image. - Dean Sandifer See Dean's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Kasia, as always, thanks! Dean, this was a cropped shot of my daughter running with her dog, and this seemed to be better without the dog in it. I shot this at approx. 250th sec. at f8, being mid day at the beach. I used the DreamSuite plug-in filter (free on the net) in PS. Thanks for your nice comment. - Bob Cornelison See Bob's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 8: Abigail Elaine Abigail Elaine natural light, converted to b&w and then history brushed back some color, lowered saturation. © Angela E. Wright Sony DSCS75 Cybers... How sweet! This is adorable! - Ann H. Belus Visit annbelusphotography.com - Ann's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 1:Very nicely done. You mentioned art history brush - are you using Photoshop? I am so addicted to Photoshop 7. I get lost in time when working on photos. - Liza M. Franco Response 2:Angela, this is truly a fine photograph. I love the mood created with the b&w & the things you selected to bring color back in. This is one of my favorite things to do with photos of kids, and you mastered it here. Great job! - Dale Ann Cubbage Response 3: Maggie Before and After Using PhotoShop 6 Lowered saturation to - 65, softened the purple rings under eyes, defined her eyelashes with the burn tool, straightened her crooked pouty lip a bit with the liquify button as well as straighten out h... read more © Angela E. Wright Sony DSCS75 Cybers... Thank you all for your nice comments! Liza: I am using Adobe Photoshop - the 6.0 version and 2.0 elements. I just posted a photo the other day called Maggie Rose that I did a lot of small tweaks to in PS. Here it is for you to see ... the before and after! One of my favorite things to do in PS is lower the saturation in the photo, I think it gives it a nice antiqued or hand-tinted look (w/o all the work). And as you can see in the before and after, that red shirt was just SO red ... Dale Ann: The reason this photo even came about was because I was trying out my new free standing backdrop stand and backdrop. I was just being silly with my daughter Abby - the photo props look a bit more formal than her! I absolutely love spot coloring. I think that the key is to lower the saturation in your color so it isn't so contrasting with the black and white part of your photo. - Angela E. Wright Response 4: I'm Mr. Blue, wha wha oooh © Dale Ann Cubbage Fuji FinePix 4900Z... Angela, here is a pic of my son I did in PS. I did brighten his eyes up a little because I liked the contrast with the b&w in this one. - Dale Ann Cubbage Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 9: Bath time Bath time studio lights, antique enamel tub, sepia tone done in PS © Amy M. Parish amyparishphotography.com Fuji FinePix S602Z... Nice capture Amy!Two adorable little ones. - Jackie Weeda Response 1:Amy, the enamel tub is awesome. What a great prop. I have never seen an enamel piece that large. ... Kids are great subjects, you never know what you're going to get. - Liza M. Franco Response 2:Thanks, everyone. Just got this tub, and couldn't wait to use it. Liza, are you ready for this? $14 at an antique store! I was pretty happy with that find - it just screamed at me from the shelf! - Amy M. Parish See Amy's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit amyparishphotography.com - Amy's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 3:Wow, what a find. You really lucked out with that one. It's such a great feeling when you find a great prop at a great price. I go to auctions to find a lot of my props. I live in a really small town and I like vintage-style photos. - Liza M. Franco Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

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