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Welcome to the 30th issue of the Digital Darkroom
Hi
What an exciting month September has been! Starting things off was the first-ever BetterPhoto Summit ... and it was such a great success. Now, we have switched gears and are preparing for our awesome fall online school - our very best session ever. We have many fine classes on tap, including many new ones. But classes are starting to fill up, so you'll want to hurry. Check out the school schedule at:
http://www.betterphoto.com/photocourses/categories.asp
In this issue of Digital Darkroom, don't miss instructor/author Jeff Wignall's excellent article on camera Raw capture. Plus, we have a great Before-and-After series, and yet another outstanding collection of 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: Thursday, September 22, 2005
Featured Photo: In A Fairy Tale
 In A Fairy Tale Many adjustments from original. © Duane Carter Canon EOS Digital ... |
Featured Article: Get the Best Images Your Digicam Can Produce ... by Peter Burian
While the best JPEG recording options are great for digital photography, there's another alternative, points out instructor/author Peter Burian, who teaches Digital Photography here at BetterPhoto. Available with all digital SLRs and some compact digicams, RAW capture mode is well worth considering for serious digital photography. Aside from slightly higher image quality, a RAW file has much greater latitude for technical image correction. As Peter points out in this excellent article, you can make major changes to aspects such as white balance, contrast, exposure, and color rendition.
Read more...
 It's all a Dream Used a tutorial I found on the forums to change the background and PS7 to create a "dream-like" look. Original portrait taken with my Sony Cybershot, background image taken with my Nikon D70. |  Original Shot my daughter Amanda at Hodge Park |
| 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 Fall Class Schedule: Focus on Digital and Photoshop
We have so many excellent online photo courses on tap for the next session. Here's a small sampling:
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New Photo Discussions
New Photo Discussion 1: Bone Yard Treasure
- Amanda Price See Amanda's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Very cool, Kimberly! - Terry L. Ellis See Terry's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit terryellisphotography.com - Terry's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 2:You do these so good, Kimberly :-) A Great piece of work ! Love it :-) - Jill Odice See Jill's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Very particular color and great effect. Beautiful photo, Kimberly!!!! - Sergio La Spina Response 4:Thank you! I just enhanced the original colors a little. - Kimberly C. Miner Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 2: Old, But Still Standing
- Paul E. Earl See Paul's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Lovely work, Colette! LOL, Paul, you are not alone! - Bonnie Lackey See Bonnie's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Colette, lovely work, I like the composition and love the effects. Can you tell me which effect or plugin it was that you used please? - Paul Sikora See Paul's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Thank you all so much for the nice comments!! Effects are from optikVervelabs, virtual photographer, Paul. - Colette M. Metcalf See Colette's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 4:Oh Boy, I so love this, Colette! Your treatment on this image is superb! - Cindy Paquette See Cindy's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 3: Flamenco
- Jenny Bosmans See Jenny's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Wonderful image, Leanne !! Excellent PS work ! - Cathy Stancil See Cathy's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Oh, yes! fabulous colors. Awesome DD work. What Action! So vivid. - Laura Clay-Ballard See Laura 's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:You captured the true essence of this performance! So vivid and dynamic! - Susana Heide- Thiessen See Susana's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 4:When did you go to Spain? LOL< Fantastic work and PS too! - The Italian Eye See The 's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 5:Thanks so much, Donna and Dado! Don't I wish ... No, this is a Tapis Flamenco Bar on Cambie street in Vancouver. Nothing fancy, good tapis, load and colourful. - Leanne M.E. Boyd See Leanne's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 4: Faith
- Wendy Jones See Wendy's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit wjonesphotography.com - Wendy's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 1:I used Photoshop for regular retouching and then used Corel Painter using the soft cloner and blender brush ... just add water. - Tammy L. Bevins See Tammy 's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:Gorgeous!! Your effects are wonderful! - Sandy Landon See Sandy's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 5: ~A Bit Green~
- Tiffani S. LaNeave See Tiffani's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Having a good hair day! Cute image, Bob! - Leanne M.E. Boyd See Leanne's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 2:This is wonderful, Bob. It couldn't get any better. It's such a fun photo! - Jessica Hughes See Jessica's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 3:Thanks Tiffany, Leanne, Rakesh and Jessica! She is such a ham! ~:O) - Bob Cornelison See Bob's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 4:This is really cute:-)Well done changing the BG, I could not even tell ...:-) - Jill Odice See Jill's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 6: Watering Flowers 2
- Sandy Landon See Sandy's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Thank you Sandy, Paul, Kerby, Leanne and Diane! I truly appreciate your kind comments. Sandy ... I layered an image of my niece onto the flower image. I then used the eraser tool to erase the background of the top layer (of my niece). I flattened the layers and applied a little dreamy and buzz to it. By the way, the flower image was actually 2 images combined as well. They were both of the same flowers - one was in focus and the other was motion blurred. Once I layered the two, I played with the opacity of the top layer to get the abstract look. Hope I haven't confused you too much!! If you have any other questions, let me know. I would be more than happy to help! - Julie A. Abston See Julie's Premium BetterPholio™ Visit julieabstonphotography.com - Julie's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 7: Dream Come True ...
- Sandy Landon See Sandy's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:I was just wondering if you could help me figure out how to desat the whole picture but make the halter pink. I am quite new and am not familiar with the software yet. Thanx - Stacy M. Pratscher Response 2:If you are using PS, you go to Image and click on desaturate (you have to do this before making any other changes to the photo if you plan on using the history brush). After desaturating, you click on the history brush and brush over whatever you'd like to bring the color back on. If you don't have this option another way to do it is to use your paint brush. You may have to adjust the opacity a bit so that it's nto so abrupt. Good luck with it! Nat - Natalie Kimball Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
New Photo Discussion 8: Girl with the Dog
This is very nicely done, with intersting lighting. Maybe you used Mystical Lighting? Keep up the good work. - Lars Giusti See Lars's Premium BetterPholio™ Response 1:Wow ... what a response. Thanks. The effects were really simply done. Mostly by using hotlights reflected into umbrellas. I don't own Mystical Lighting. I would love to have a go with it, but my cash is going into better lenses right now. I make do with PS and experimenting. I find that using blurs and then fading with overlay gives me that look similar to Mystical Lighting. I obtained the bright white area around the dog by selecting, feathering and adjusting the levels. Jo - Joanne E. Barker Visit jobarkerimages.com - Joanne's Deluxe BetterPholio™ Response 2:I love the 90-degree lighting effect. Love the shadows which creates drama to your photo. Nice portrait. - Anderson D. Co See Anderson's Premium BetterPholio™ Read this discussion online Respond to this discussion | |
The Next Step: Where to Go From Here
