Welcome to the 13th issue of the Digital Darkroom

Hi

April has turned into quite an incredible photographic month! First, the spring lineup of online courses kicked off to a great start. Then it was on to California to photograph wildlife amid a beautiful backdrop: the Sierra foothills. And the workshop adventure didn't stop with mountain lion kittens, howling wolves, and other Triple "D" Game Farm animals. We also shot colorful horses and cowboys on our "Day on the Ranch".

That's not all: The March contest winners were just posted, and what a fantastic variety of images! Every month, this contest shows off the talent of BetterPhoto members - and March was no exception.

Of special interest in the March contest is Mike Wehrman's Grand Prize winning photo, "Bridge with a View," which rose all the way to the top in the Landscapes and Travel category. Congratulations, too, are in order for Bob Jones, Bob Garas, Nancy Chen, Dudy Ardon, and Karen-Jane Dudley for their wonderful First Place prize winning images. But the second-place finishers - as well as the finalists - deserve lots of recognition, too, and they should feel particularly proud since this is such a competitive contest! For a big burst of inspiration, view the winning shots at:
http://www.betterphoto.com/contest/winners/0403.asp

Now comes April's Digital Darkroom, which spotlights a striking Featured Photo, Digital Before and After, and terrific photo discussions.

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: Tuesday, April 20, 2004

• Featured Photo: Reflections of Endeavor
• Featured Article: Getting a Boost with Software Filters
• Digital Before and After
• New Photo Discussion 1: The Genie Goofed! That Wasn't Wish #2
• New Photo Discussion 2: Honey I'm Home #2
• New Photo Discussion 3: Just a Rose
• New Photo Discussion 4: A Softer Light
• New Photo Discussion 5: Deep Thoughts ...
• New Photo Discussion 6: Trendy Rubber Balls
• New Photo Discussion 7: Crimson Quest
• New Photo Discussion 8: Pyrotechnics Montage
• New Photo Discussion 9: Solarized Impact
• New Photo Discussion 10: Joyful
• New Photo Discussion 11: What Color Are the Balloons in Your World?
• The Next Step: Where to Go From Here

Featured Photo: Reflections of Endeavor

Reflections of Endeavor Two separate images taken aboard a replica of Captain Cook's ship Endeavor earlier today. The reflected image was taken from another angle, and enhanced and layered over the original image in Adobe Photo elements. © Karen-Jane Dudley Fuji FinePix S2 Pr...

Featured Article: Getting a Boost with Software Filters
When it comes to the digital darkroom, almost anything goes - as BetterPhoto shooters have shown! One technique involves software filters, which can "salvage" a uninspiring or otherwise flawed image; give an already-strong photo an extra visual oomph; and transform viewers into the wild world of digital art - abstracts and special effects. Here's more:

• Some filters duplicate the effects of "traditional" filters. Example: Lewis Kemper's "Digital Warming Filter" side-by-side comparison in the BetterPhoto gallery noted below.
• Other filters radically alter a photo's overall mood - with, say, a misty or dreamy effect.
• Still others take a "straight" photo and add a painterly look. Example: Jim Miotke's gallery shot, "York East Face - Watercolor."
• Need a tip? Then try this all-purpose one: Experiment!

Digital Before and After

Extreme Makeover!

original

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New Photo Discussions

New Photo Discussion 1: The Genie Goofed! That Wasn't Wish #2 "The Genie goofed! That wasn't wish #2" Combination of 4 photos using PSP8 - my granddaughter sitting on the floor; a ceramic teapot deformed and "bronzed"; the Great Wall of China (taken from a higher spot on the wall, not from the sky); one of our carpets (the only one we have that really can fly). All with available light and the same camera. © Wally Orlowsky Olympus Camedia C-... How fun Wally! Nice job blending and what a look on her face! The title fits perfectly! Nice job! - Lori Ditlefsen See Lori's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Excellent work and image Wally!! Great expression on your very cute grandaughter's face. ... Love this!! - Shirley L. Carpenter See Shirley's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit scarpenterphotos.com - Shirley's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 2:Wow, great editing, Wally - really like the overall effect. I agree with Shirley ... love the expression on your grandaughter's face. I guess she's used to riding a flying carpet ;-) - William Raco See William's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 2: Honey I'm Home #2 Honey I'm Home #2 This is another of several star trail shots taken outside my house. I think this is the most dynamic. You can compare by looking at my site. Anybody agree or disagree? Thanks. © Art Rosch artsdigitalphoto.com Canon EOS 10D Digi... This shot has an energy about it that sets it apart from #1, Art. The star trails are more dramatic and fill the sky with some mesmerizing curves! - Carol Brill Visit cdubvarsityfootball.com - Carol's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 1:Hi Art! Brilliant! What a perfect night, house, surroundings. May I ask how you achieved this effect on the photo? - Nicole S. McGrade See Nicole's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:This is done by using the remote timer switch on the Canon 10D. I set it to take 16 shots, each six minutes long, no more than one second apart. The shots can then be stacked with software (in Pshop, I use the Lighten blending mode), thus accumulating the sum of all the shots since the foreground hasn't changed at all. It's just as simple as it sounds! - Art Rosch See Art's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit artsdigitalphoto.com - Art's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 3: Just a Rose Just a Rose Took this into PS. It was pink, and when I changed it to red the gray showed up. I kind of like it. Now to find out if you all do? © Darren K. Fisher Canon EOS Rebel 20... Darren, the effects are stunning. PS is really a great product, but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear - you need a terrific photo to start with, and this certainly is one of those. Extremely well done, my good friend. - Allan L. Whitehead See Allan's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit ArrowheadFotos.com - Allan's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 1:I do like it, Darren! I think the effects emphasize the softness of the petals and also give a little bit of an antiquated feel to the photo. Reminds me of velvet or suede cloth with the subtle color variations. Very cool image! - Marie C. Fields See Marie's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Gives it a different flavor than the usual red rose. I like it! - Lori Ditlefsen See Lori's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 4: A Softer Light A Softer Light Used with a Hoya R72 infrared filter; shot in the Skagit Valley annual tulip festival in Washington state. © Paul A. Harrett Nikon D100 Digital... Really good picture. I like this a lot. Great Job. - Brock A. Willis See Brock's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Nice IR, Paul. My IR's just don't seem to come out this nice. I use a G2 and they have a purple tint or are washed out. Did you touch this up in Photoshop? - Ellen A. Crownover Response 2:Yes, I did edit this in Photoshop CS. However, not all of my infrared images turn out the same way. What I do that might help you out: 1. Desaturate not grayscale. 2. Adjust your histrogram levels (no blank gaps). 3. Go to Saturate/brightness tab and check the colorized box and adjust the bar. 4. Make some minor ajustments in channels. 5. Shadow adjustments might help. Experiment with P/S and you might be surprised with the results. - Paul A. Harrett Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 5: Deep Thoughts ... Deep Thoughts........ My first attempt of creating a Portrait of my son Zakariya. This was taken sometime back in 2002. I liked the way it turned out and thought I would share it with all of you. © Naveed Sheikh Minolta Dimage X ... Very nice, Naveed - love the reflection :-) - Theresa McCloskey See Theresa's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:This is beautiful! Can I ask - is it a mirror with everything black around him, or is it black plexiglass? I am doing a reflections project for our photo club and would love to try this out. - Lorelei A. Hoffarth Response 2:Thanks for the wonderful remarks. Lorelei, to answer your question, it probably would have been easier to do it the way you think I did. But in fact, in the original image Zakariya was laying on our rug, and the background was filled with a TV, sofa etc. With Photoshop, I simply colored in everything black. I then selected his body, made a new layer, rotated it and changed the perspective. By altering the opacity of the second layer, it gave it that "reflection" look. It took a lot of work, but the end result is why I am hooked on Photoshop now! So you see, your method would be a lot quicker. Hope that helps. Thanks again for the comments. Good luck. - Naveed Sheikh Response 3:Wow ... I never would have guessed! I love Photoshop too, but don't think I could accomplish that! It's lovely, although I was kind of wondering how the black was so "seamless." I'm gonna have to re-think this as my presentation is using slides - might have to try some Photoshop, and then have a few made into slides if they turn out. But I hear it's quite expensive to do that. - Lorelei A. Hoffarth Response 4:Lorelei, it really is pretty simple. To get the "seamless" look, just select the colour for the background - in my case I selected black - and as an amateur that I am did it the hard way. I simply selected a large enough brush with feathering for the outer extremities and then a smaller brush size for the inner. I am pretty sure that if any Photoshop pros see this method they will probably think I'm crazy, but it worked for me. ... - Naveed Sheikh Response 5:Wow, Naveed, hearing how you did it makes this even more impressive! That reflection looks real! Nice work! - Dale Ann Cubbage See Dale Ann's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 6: Trendy Rubber Balls Trendy Rubber Balls F/5,6 - 1/160 sec, Composition of two photos. Flipped, copied + motion blur © Evy Johansen Olympus Camedia C-... Your creativity is limitless, Evy! Excellent composition, great color, and very creatively done with the flipping, copying and motion-blurring! A winner in my book. :-) - Patricia Marroquin See Patricia's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Evy - this is wonderful!! My daughter has one of those balls and it is on my list to photograph but I never would have been as clever as you! Great work!! - Sharon E. Lowe See Sharon's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit photosbysharon.com - Sharon's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 7: Crimson Quest Crimson Quest Carlsbad, California © Donna Pagakis Olympus Camedia C-... Cool image, Donna! - Leanne M.E. Boyd See Leanne's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Thanks Leanne!!! This has to be one of my favorite images to date. I shot it yesterday. It was actually taken in macro mode and the colors adjusted with PS. I really appreciate the feedback!! - Donna Pagakis Response 2:I can see why you love it so much - great image, Donna. What did you do to adjust these colors? - Jim at BetterPhoto.com See Jim Miotke's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit Jim Miotke's Deluxe BetterPholio™ - Miotke.com Take an Online PhotoCourse™ with Jim Miotke: Jim Miotke's Online Photography Classes Response 3:Great image, Donna, and a good question. What did you do to adjust these colors? - Laurie Meehan-Elmer See Laurie's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit LMEimages.com - Laurie's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 4: Original Crimson Quest This is for comparison only © Donna Pagakis Olympus Camedia C-... A special thank you to Laurie and Jim for the great comments. I used Photoshop to adjust the colors in this image. First, I used curves. Then I fine-tuned it with the color balance. I will enclose the original for comparison. Thanks again!! - Donna Pagakis Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 8: Pyrotechnics Montage Pyrotechnics Montage Canon EOS 10D - *MY* fireworks photos in montage form © Cynthia M. Anning cma-photography.com Canon EOS 10D Digi... Very cool! - Dale Ann Cubbage See Dale Ann's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Outstanding, Cynthia!! - Joy E. Brown Visit enJOYphotography.com - Joy's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 2:Great colors. Must have been a lot of work combining shots! - Steven F. Son See Steven's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Thanks everyone! Yes, Steven, it was a lot of work combining those shots, and a lot of patience. I had each burst on a different layer in Photoshop, so it was interesting to say the least! LOL - Cynthia M. Anning Visit cma-photography.com - Cynthia's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 9: Solarized Impact Solarized Impact This was taken as the final rays of light were disappearing some time after sunset over Newcastle harbour (NSW Audtralia). The solarize filter in PS provides colourful impact. - 1/13 sec F2.8 Hand Held © Carolyn J. Connolly Olympus Camedia C-... Nice image, Carolyn!!! - Colette M. Metcalf See Colette's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Thank you Colette! This was initially quite an acceptable evening shot - it's amazing the difference a little work in Photoshop has made to it though! Thanks again for your kind comment... - Carolyn J. Connolly Response 2:So how exactly did you create this cool effect, Carolyn? Did you do anything else other than the solarize filter? Either way, you did a great job! - Jim at BetterPhoto.com See Jim Miotke's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit Jim Miotke's Deluxe BetterPholio™ - Miotke.com Take an Online PhotoCourse™ with Jim Miotke: Jim Miotke's Online Photography Classes Response 3:Thank you very much for your comment, Jim - I'm glad you appreciated this shot! I will try and describe how this effect was achieved. I always like to take up a challenge when taking photographs, so I managed to somehow hold the camera still enough to get this one reasonably sharp - given the low light-level at that time! The sun had already been set for some time, but the western sky was still holding the afterglow ... hence, the graduated layers arising from the horizon line. The lights were on at the harbourside promenade, and the "noise" increased towards the top of my photo due to the diminishing light in that part of the sky. All of these factors contributed to the interesting effect when the colour saturation was manipulated in PS "curves," and possibly "hue/saturation/lightness" - sorry not to be more definite on that! The finishing touch was to then use the "solarize filter" ... Hope that helps! Some may think my image a little "wild," but I really like the end result ... and the dramatic impact it affords! - Carolyn J. Connolly Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 10: Joyful Joyful © Maryam S abstractpicturesstudio.co... Canon T50 35mm SLR... Very cool psychedelic abstract, Maryam. Excellent lighting. Would love to know how you created this. :-) - Patricia Marroquin See Patricia's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Thank you for your kind comments! The original photo was a picture of a texture with parallel different colors. Then I used the effect "Enamel" and afterwards I just played with colors. And at the end I used the illumination effects to give this type of lighting to the image. I hope my explanation was helpful! - Maryam S Visit abstractpicturesstudio.com - Maryam's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

New Photo Discussion 11: What Color Are the Balloons in Your World? What color are the balloons in your world? selective coloring © Margaret Z. Wolff Canon A-1 35mm SLR... This is just outstanding, Margaret!!! - Charlene Bayerle See Charlene's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit PictureThisbyChar.com - Charlene's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 1:Charlene, I love you to bits! - Margaret Z. Wolff See Margaret's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Very clever, Margaret! Please tell, how did you do it? - Kat Pokora Response 3:Thank you all for taking the time to comment. :o) Kat, I have the directions saved since I have been asked so many times. Here you go. To bring back all of the color. 1. Open an RGB image. 2. Drag the background image to the new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette. 3. Working on your background copy, go to Images > Adjustments > Desaturate. 4. At this point, go to background copy and adjust levels for more contrast. 5. With your zoom tool, enlarge your image to between 100-200% to see detail. 6. Click on Eraser tool in the tool bar. Select a small to med. size soft brush and set it at 100% opacity. 7. Erase any black and white area of the image you want the color to be restored. You can also change the opacity level to give a more hand-painted look. - Margaret Z. Wolff See Margaret's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion

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