Deserted streets and historic buildings make great subjects for a retro photography take on a notable landmark or scene. One way of doing this is to process your images to give them an old postcard look, which enhances the retro effect.
When you take photographs on a hazy day, moisture particles in the air diffuse the light, causing distant objects to display a more subtle range of tones. This is a great way of evoking a sense of depth, due to the gradual change in contrast between objects in the foreground and those in the background.
The downside of shooting in such hazy conditions is that those more distant objects can be somewhat lacking in detail and definition. The haze can bleach distant colour, too, especially when shooting into the sun.
There are lots of ways to make a black and white conversion, but the number of choices depends on the software you’re using. Here we show you how to take control of the process by learning how to use your tools effectively to control the shade of great of each colour in your original image.
When it comes to portraits, everyone wants to look their best. But with today’s high-resolution SLRs, every spot, blemish and flaw can appear in startling detail. There are of course a few shooting techniques you can use to minimise these, such as bouncing light with reflectors to avoid strong shadows, and using off-camera flash to control the direction of the light to complement the model. However, you don’t need to get bogged down with different techniques and equipment to get great portraits, because Elements has a range of tools specially designed for seamless Photoshop retouching.
In our ongoing Raw Tuesday series we have taken you through some of the most common questions bout how to shoot and edit raw files, and now we are starting to look at some of the more specific ways in which the raw format can give you an advantage. This week we take a close look at how to edit raw files and manage your raw workflow in a way that makes sense for you. We’ll also follow on from last week’s discussion of the Adobe Camera Raw interface and explain how to customise the process of editing raw files using ACR.
Are you new to photo editing and trying to make sense of the Photoshop Layers palette? You’re not alone.
To help you along we put together this quick and handy photo editing cheat sheet that identifies what each little box and icon does, and what you might want to use it for!
Even the best photographers can find it a challenge to capture a perfectly focused photograph, especially when shooting with a camera set to a wide aperture. The resulting shallow depth of field can make it difficult to get all of the key areas in focus, which makes image sharpening in the digital darkroom all the more imperative.
When shooting a portrait you can flatter your subject by switching the camera to Portrait mode. This opens up the lens’s aperture to a wide value such as f/4.5. As a result of this wide aperture value the subject’s face will look nice and sharp, while allowing you to blur background and foreground details.
In this Photoshop Elements tutorial we’ll show you how to take control of your shot’s bokeh (background blur), so you can hide distracting details and draw the eye to your main subject.
Are you looking for new ways to enjoy your photos. One fun thing to do is to create a Photoshop Elements slideshow and add an audio soundtrack, which you can play back on your TV. All you need is Photoshop Elements 8 or above, which boasts a very good (and often overlooked) photo slideshow facility. Here’s how to do it…
Learn how to use Adobe Camera Raw to sharpen photos for printing without exacerbating noise or creating halos in our latest Photoshop Elements tutorial.
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