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Welcome to the 24th issue of the Digital Darkroom
Hi
At BetterPhoto, we are busy preparing for our next set of online courses, which begin April 6th. Our stellar spring schedule also introduces new instructor William Neill, as well as several exciting new courses, including William's "Portfolio Development" and Jim Zuckerman's "Photoshop II: Advanced Creative Techniques". See the entire lineup at:
http://www.betterphoto.com/photocourses/categories.asp
Contest Update: We hope to post the February contest winners today (Wednesday)!
Workshop Update: There's just one spot left in my April 13th-16th Digital Photography Workshop - featuring wildlife in Utah, including Birds of Prey. For information on this exciting workshop, go to:
http://www.betterphoto.com/photocourses/_cws/digital-wildlife-photography-Utah.asp
In this issue, don't miss the excellent article on camera RAW by Ben Willmore, who teaches "Photoshop Mastery: The Essentials" right here at BetterPhoto. Also, check out the Featured Photo, the Before and After series, and some excellent 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: Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Featured Photo: ~ True Beauty ~
 ~ True Beauty ~ True Beauty shows it's flaws, and is proud of them. Gerbera petals 1/50 3.5 Window light Diffused and Craquelure texture added in Photoshop. © Casey A. Hanson Canon EOS Digital ... |
Featured Article: Camera RAW - Opening Up Your Photoshop Options ... by Ben Willmore
Shooting in the RAW file format will present you with many Photoshop options that are not available with other file formats, points out photographer and author Ben Willmore, who teaches "Photoshop Mastery: The Essentials" online course for BetterPhoto. In his excellent new article, Ben shares tips on making sure Photoshop recognizes - and opens - your RAW files!
Read more...
 The Painters View This is a photo of a very popular place for painter in the Botanical Gardens in Santa Barbara, CA. I started off with a Watercolor and after many other FX, I ended up here. |  Original of The Painters View |
| 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! |
March Madness: Sign Up for a Course ... and Get a Gallery!
| In celebration of our new Premium BetterPholios™ and our best-ever course schedule, we are offering this special deal: If you sign up for an online photo class anytime during the next week, you will receive a free year of our Premium BetterPholio™! Just enter the codewords "March Madness" in the Additional Comments field when you get to the order form. But act quick - this offer expires Monday, March 21st. Gallery limit: one year per member. For a complete list of BetterPhoto's online courses, go to: http://www.betterphoto.com/photocourses/categories.asp For more details about our awesome new Premium BetterPholios™: Learn more... |
New Photo Discussions
New Photo Discussion 1: Umbrellas
- Jeff Wignall See Jeff Wignall's Premium BetterPholio™ Take an Online PhotoCourse™ with Jeff Wignall: The Joy of Digital Photography with Jeff Wignall Response 1:Hi Jeff ... thanks for your comments on my photo! I just took this one on Mon the 14th. We were at the annual Flower and Patio show here in Indy. It happens every spring and is wonderful. I took a lot of pictures. These umbrellas were hanging in a garden display with water trickling down them - very unique design. I am trying to "branch" out a bit with Photoshop. I'm glad you liked it ... thanks again ... miss you and all the students! - Judy A. Lawhon See Judy's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 2: Going To A GoGo
- Linda Lester See Linda's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Thanks, Linda. I took this picture when she was playing a video game while dressed up in costume. I used Paint Shop Pro 9’s black and white sketch, pre set. Then to remove the speckling from her face, I simply clone brushed the speckle from her cheeks and neck. Then I used the air brush/spray can tool, to add the facial features/shadows. - Kevin D. Burns Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 3: Kentucky Country Road
- mitch Response 1:Hi Mitch I apologize, but I do not recall exactly where it was shot. I have traveled the entire U.S. a couple times - zipping up and down roads, shooting and moving on. I recall that there was a Civil War battlefield nearby as that is why I was in the area. The original image was pretty flat from the fog and so it sat in my files for years before one day I thought it was a good candidate for a Photoshop makeover. Thanks for asking! - Charlie Borland See Charlie Borland's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit Charlie Borland's Web Site - www.borlandphoto.com Take an Online PhotoCourse™ with Charlie Borland: Lighting for Commercial Photography Stock Photography Lighting for Commercial Photography: Course Extension Response 2:Mitch, By the way: The Photoshop was real easy and somewhat unorganized, since I started out randomly trying things and not really knowing where I was going. Then, boom, the effect started to take shape. I added another layer and converted it to grey scale. Then I went back to RGB, where I added the blue tone. Next, I made another Duplicate Layer and did a Blur for a little softness. Next, I used the burn tool to continue to work the large tree on the left and burning in a somewhat sloppy manner for effect. Eventually, I burned the tree to total blackness and left the guy on the road in a sort of bright tunnel effect. This is what makes Photoshop so much fun: Starting and not knowing where you are going. It's just as exciting as searching for the photo in the field! | |
New Photo Discussion 4: Time Travel
- Laura C. Ballard Response 1:Great train shot, and what you did with the effects is wonderful. Makes the image match the age of the train. Beautiful job, Claudine - Marsha S. Smith See Marsha's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Nice. Good shot and editing. - Ronald Lunn See Ronald 's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Excellent image, Claudine! I like the sepia look and the feel of this shot! - Leanne M.E. Boyd See Leanne's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 5: Old Barn
- Kathleen F. Greer See Kathleen's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:This is great, Michelle. It really does look like an old picture! Great job! - Mary J. Criss See Mary's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Very nice composition and effects, Michelle!, Amalia - Amalia Arriaga de Garcia See Amalia's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Great image, Michelle ! Love the composition, and the effect used here. - Cathy Stancil See Cathy's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 4:Nice work, Michelle! I like not only the old look, but the composition is nice also. Thanks for sharing. - Alton I. Vance See Alton's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 5:What an interesting effect. I never would have guessed it wasn't a "real" old photograph! I love the tone. Thanks for your comment on my "Three Benches" photo. - DiAnna F. Paulk See DiAnna's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 6: Wish U Were Here
- Casey A. Hanson See Casey's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Hi Casey, Basically, I just played with layers, filters, and copied and pasted. There are three different photos (all mine): a butterfly, a bow tie, and crumpled paper. I used Photoshop 7 for the basic design and Photoimpact 5 for the final lighting. Of course, there's trial and error first ... I learn all by myself :-) Thanks for taking the time to view my works. Regards, Abdul - Abdul Kadir Audah See Abdul Kadir's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 7: Diversity
- Toni Hopper Response 1:Thanks, Toni! I made this in Photoshop Elements before I knew how to use layers. So, I used the selection tools to select each apple individually and then changed the hue/saturation adjuster. Finally, I used the distorted glow filter. The apples were taken in natural light near a window in Macro mode. Here is the original photo. Hope this helps, and best of luck in the digital world! Jess - Jessica Frolio See Jessica's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 8: Waves of Color!
- Arya Bandyopadhyay See Arya 's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Wowsa..... very beautiful, Stan! - Evy Johansen See Evy's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Very eye-catching, wild and beautiful!! - Donna Pagakis See Donna's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:You really rode the wave through the D.D. to get this striking result, Stan! Love the vivid colors, and the posterize filter gives them that extra kick! - Mary K. Robison See Mary's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 4:Stan, Expanding your artful abilities and it appears you were having fun in the DD I sea! Very interesting effects my friend! Love the colors!! | |
New Photo Discussion 9: Impression of a Rose
- Debra Booth See Debra's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Now that is very nice, Diane. How did you do that? Kathleen - Kathleen K. Parker See Kathleen 's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:I really like what you did with this, DIANE, and it is an excellent art piece! The textures and colors are just terrific as well! Love it! Much Aloha, Stan - Stan Contrades See Stan's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Thanks you, Debra, Kathleen, Stan and Kare, Kathleen: I don't remember all the steps but, here is what I do remember: crumpled with Alien plugin beyond edge with dc plugin Artworx a Xero plugin. - Diane Addonizio See Diane's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 10: Snow Angel
- Tonya Boles Response 1:I'd also like to know how you did this image. It's just stunning! And your model is beautiful! - Olivia Navarro Response 2:To create this picture, I used PS Elements. My first picture (model clutching her coat) was not wide enough for me to layer the 2nd picture, so to solve this problem, I went into File>open, Image>canvas size and typed in the width of the additional area that needed to be added on the left side of the image. I then selected and copied a portion of the background (snow scene) and pasted it into the new expanded area of the frame. With the aid of the clone tool and smudge tool, I was able to create a seamless junction between the 2 images. I was then able to paste my second photo onto the left. I reduced its visibility by going into Layer Styles>Visibility>Ghost. Hoped this helped and sorry, I should have added that this was a digital darkroom picture for those who may have thought it was something other. - sheila marie Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 11: Love Can Survive a Storm
- Leanne M.E. Boyd See Leanne's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Thanks, Leanne, I enjoy digital editing as much as photography. It's amazing how many images can come from one photo. - Ronald Lunn See Ronald 's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 12: Mystic Morning
I Love This, Neil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Leanne M.E. Boyd See Leanne's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Thanks - it is highly modified from the original. The water and background just didn't do the reflection justice - as the bird was so nicely silhouetted it made it easy to magic wand select - and then begin playing with the background - hence, the result. - Neil B. Ward Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 13: Aliens on a Rusty Planet
- Cindy Paquette See Cindy's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:LOL! Thanks Cindy! The tin can tourists were out scouting new varieties of flowers for me! : ) - Patricia A. Kuniega See Patricia's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:This is just GREAT! I love these Tin Can Tourists. >Superb editing, Pat bill - William C. Raco See William's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit williamracophotography.com - William's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 3:Love the textures, colors, and, most of all, the whimsical humor behind it! - Bonnie Lackey See Bonnie's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 14: At the Ready
- Jane Summa See Jane's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Fantastic composition and selective coloring, Larry! - Mellanie White See Mellanie's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
The Next Step: Where to Go From Here
