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Welcome to the 22nd issue of the Digital Darkroom
Hi
Great news at BetterPhoto! The December contest results have just been posted, and once again, we are blown away by high quality of the entries. If you have not yet seen them, the winners are truly stunning! Congratulations go to Jordi Delgado for the awesome Grand Prize winning image, "Pool waves." Kudos also go to Ursula Abresch, Francis Cailles, Donna Eaton, Paul Stokes, Janet Skinner, Wendy Stevenson, David Savoie, Jan Stadelmyer, Danilo Piccioni, and Janet Skinner for their First Place photos. View all the contest shots at:
http://www.betterphoto.com/contest/winners/0412.asp
Be sure to check out this month's Featured Article. We have collected some excellent tips from four of our master photographer/instructors: Jim Zuckerman, Brenda Tharp, and Susan and Neil Silverman.
And, once again, our photo discussions involve a wonderful range of imagery: "straight" shots with a Photoshop "accent", fine pictures that are pure digital art, and just about everything in between.
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: Thursday, January 20, 2005
 Air Guitar I cut out this picture (and edge of shadow) of my brother jumping with his guitar and placed it on a background I created in PE. Also, one of his eyes was closed in the original image, so I pasted in an eye from another picture! © Brooke Peterschmidt Canon EOS 20D Digi... |
Featured Article: Three Top Tips from BetterPhoto Instructors
We have collected some excellent tips and tricks from some of our expert online instructors: "Avoid Contrasty Situations" by Jim Zuckerman; "Reducing Your Flash Output" by Brenda Tharp; and "Remember Your Camera Settings" from Susan and Neil Silverman.
Read more...
 I think I left it in here............... Studio floods, ISO 400, 3 light set up. Tinted in PSE2 |  I think I left it in here........color version same set up as the tinted version |
| Each month, the best Before and After will be featured in the Digital Darkroom. To participate, upload a Before (original) picture then start a discussion on it (using the Discuss This Photo link under the picture). After telling us how you did created the effect, select "1" or "2" from the Upload Image pull-down menu, and submit an optional intermediate image and a final (After) photo. Aim to educate and inspire by sharing a concise, detailed explanation of your technique. Enjoy! |
BetterPhoto's Short Courses: Next Session Starts February 2nd!
| The winter session of BetterPhoto's online courses is well under way, but some classes haven't even begun yet! These are the second sessions of our 4-week Short Courses: Tony Sweet's "The Four Essential Filters for Film and Digital Cameras"; Jay Forman's "Photography for Kids 101"; Jim Zuckerman's "Non-Digital Special Effects"; Brenda Tharp's "Mastering Macro Photography"; and Kerry Drager's "Details and Close-ups." These second sessions are not "extensions" of the first-round classes - rather, they are repeats, and they begin February 2nd with Lesson #1. Read about them at the following courses page (look for "2nd Session" in the class titles): Learn more... |
New Photo Discussions
New Photo Discussion 1: Pink Guitar
- Joannie M. Bertucci See Joannie's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:
- Amanda Olson Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | ||
New Photo Discussion 2: Amaryllis
Judy - Judith G. Secco See Judith's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Stunning image Paul and the color is outstanding!!! - Charlene Bayerle See Charlene's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit PictureThisbyChar.com - Charlene's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 2:Thanks, Judy and Charlene! Coming from two great flower photographers, the comments are very encouraging to me. I didn't mention that I increased the saturation of this shot using Irfanview in an effort to match the rich color of the live blossoms. - Paul Smith See Paul's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | ||
New Photo Discussion 3: Reflection of Patriotism 4
- Marcie Fowler See Marcie's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Nice idea and effect Kara! Is that the weave from Corel plugin? - Kip T. Berger See Kip's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Terrific image Kara! It looks very much like a Fourth of July picnic basket. Well done!! - Murry Grigsby See Murry's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit photomurrage.com - Murry's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 3:Thank you Marcie, Shirley, Carol, Cathy, Kip, Murry and Jessica!! Kip, I think I used this weave off of my Print Shop Pro 8. Thanks again everyone!! - Kara L. Hendricks See Kara's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | ||
New Photo Discussion 4: * Callistemon *
- Donna Pagakis See Donna's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Thanks very kindly for your comments, Donna!! I'm glad to hear that you have this beautiful Aussie flowering shrub growing in abundance in California, too!! ;) Many varieties of Callistemon, or Bottlebrush, were originally discovered in Australia by Lincolnshire-born botanist, Sir Joseph Banks. Banks introduced the Crimson Bottlebrush to Britain as a garden plant in 1789 ... http://www.anbg.gov.au/callistemon/ (scroll down for photo's) http://farrer.riv.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/callistn.html (scroll down for photo's) This site about Sir Joseph Banks: In the above two sites you will see the many colours of the Callistemon/Bottlebrush pictured, Donna!! Enjoy!! ;) | ||
New Photo Discussion 5: Holy Snowstorm!
- Ed Heaton See Ed's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit edheaton.com - Ed's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 1:I love how the colorful church is nestled in at the bottom of these lofty pines and the impending storm! The steeple nicely lifts the eye upwards in this vertical composition. - Patricia A. Kuniega See Patricia's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Wow! I absolutely love this, Carol! Love how the motion of the snow leads the eye directly to the chapel in your unusual composition, your capture and the sense of scale! ... I'd bet we'll see this one again! - Dan J. Holm See Dan's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Ed, Colleen, Charlene, Carolyn, Kathleen, Janet, Claudia, Pat, Darren, Sanjay, Paul, Robin, Murry, Cathy, and Dan: Thank you all for such thoughtful comments! I was struck by the sense of scale, too, when I composed this, as well as the tall pointed spire of the church being mirrored in the surrounding evergreens. So nice to have such an appreciative and observant audience to share this with! - Carol Brill See Carol's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit brilliantproductionz.com - Carol's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | ||
New Photo Discussion 6: Plastic Net on a Frozen Pond - III
- Donna J. Taff See Donna's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:TERRIFIC graphic abstract, Piotr!! GREAT image!! Love it! - Dan J. Holm See Dan's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Thank you, both! This is the last image of the series. My gear is in the shop, so I had some fun with "digital darkroom". - Piotr M. Organa Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | ||
New Photo Discussion 7: Dahlias
- Carolyn J. Connolly See Carolyn's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Carolyn: Thanks for your positive comments on my photos. You might also enjoy seeing my Web site - www.bascomphoto.com - and watching the slide show movie of my images (complete with music!). The link is located at the bottom of my Nature Gallery page. "Poster Edges" is the name of the Photoshop filter that I use occasionally with some of my images, as it provides a graphic, textural enhancement to some photos. Another example of this effect is found on my Better photo.com Gallery Page at this link: http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallDetail.asp?photoID=670921&catID=&style=&rowNumber=2&memberID=95615. | ||
New Photo Discussion 8: Utah Range Pano
- Robert Andersen Response 1:Thank you, Robert, for all of your nice comments. I have the best luck with Panorama and stitching them when I use the same setting for each picture. Don't use an Auto setting, as they may differ and the exposure may mess up the stitching ... or you will actually see the stitching. Thanks again. - Robert A. Simpson See Robert's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit rasimages.com - Robert's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | ||
New Photo Discussion 9: Bridal Heels
:-) Donna (from "downunder") - Donna Roberts See Donna's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Wow, I am overwhelmed by the great response to this image. I am so appreciative to each and every one of you!! Donna, Dan, Sanjay, Danilo, Linnea, Stan, Donald, Donna, Colleen, Colette, Janet, Shirley and Kristi: Your support has been very inspirational!! This image was captured with existing light, in a low-lit restaurant. There was an overhead table light, and the backlighting came through a window. I used a tripod and captured it in color. The image was cropped and adjusted to b&w with the use of Photoshop. Another big "thank you" to all of you!!!!! | ||
New Photo Discussion 10: Power of the Courthouse
- Marcie Fowler See Marcie's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Thank you very much for the feedback, Marcie! I've been playing with previous images I've taken - due to the weather here that is still rainy and dreary. Hope you are having better weather; have a great day! Gotta get to work! - Kip T. Berger See Kip's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Terrific image and effects, Kip! I agree, it does make one think of "Back to the Future". :) - Judy S. Fung Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | ||
New Photo Discussion 11: Behind the Wheel
- Tommy Luca Response 1:Hi Tommy! Wow! Thank you ... I was excited to read your comments. First of all ... no wonder you haven't heard of the PS program mentioned ... there isn't one. I apologize: The program I used was Adobe Photodeluxe Business Edition. This was actually very simple. The original color photograph was taken standing outside of the car shooting through the driver's window while my model was looking in the rear view mirror putting on lipstick. Then I framed it with the Adobe program selecting the brick wall. I then added a directional spotlight. That's it. Thanks again for your compliments and curiosity, Tommy. - Ronda Chatelle See Ronda's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | ||
New Photo Discussion 12: Morning Light
- Katrina M. Scheidler See Katrina's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1: Yes, please share how you created this magnificent image ... I like it. It stirs the imagination! - Tommy Luca Response 2:Thank you both so very much! The dome was created from one of my photos of a marble. I removed the lower half and used selective transparency for the inside. The city is a combination of several variations on a single cityscape that I have. I warped some of it and cropped and cut and pasted and blended until it looked the way I wanted. I reduced the contrast of the city quite a bit. I added a large rainbow colored flare to the dome, which I spread over half of the picture, then I added the smaller, brighter flare. - Shirley Cross See Shirley's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | ||
The Next Step: Where to Go From Here
