Are your ordinary photos making you frustrated? Do you find that no matter what you do your photos never move beyond humdrum? If it is your goal to take professional quality photographs then you should probably know the secret that professional photographers have been using for years, Adobe Photoshop CS4.
Of all the photo editing software programs on the market today, Adobe Photoshop CS4 is undoubtedly the most well known and most versatile. Photoshop CS4 is also the secret tool professional photographers keep in their arsenal to make every photograph look amazing, regardless of what the original shot looked like.
Common issues such as red eye and lighting affect everyone, professional or amateur alike, and Photoshop CS4 overcomes these obstacles easily, bringing the joy of photography back. Regardless of the problems you are facing with your own photographs Adobe will be able to fix the issue and give you amazing results.
Tools that were once available only in professional photolabs are now accessible to everyday individuals thanks to Photoshop CS4. Easily fix common photography nightmares such as red eye and lighting problems. With a few clicks of the mouse you can remove unwanted items, make your subject appear model perfect and even create amusing greeting cards.
No longer do you need to be a professional photographer to produce amazing photographs. No longer do you need to spend weeks learning about white balance, or exposure compensation. You don\'t even need to own a top of the line SLR camera. With today\'s technology all you need is a normal point and shoot camera and Adobe Photoshop CS4 you can easily create amazing photos.
Have old photographs rusting away in shoe boxes? With Photoshop CS4 you can easily repair water stains, discoloration and tears all with a few clicks of the mouse. All you need is a scanner and Photoshop CS4 comes equipped with all the tools you will need to save these cherished memories.
Send out holiday cards showcasing you next to the Pyramids of Egypt or even next to your favorite celebrity. Photoshop CS4 brings the fun back to photography by allowing you do to these easy and creative tasks. All you need to do is adjust the lighting and background effects to create a seamless photograph that will fool even your best friend.
Black and white photography is a timeless art and now you can convert your colored photographs using the tools provided in Photoshop CS4. Photos too light or dark are a thing of the past and you can easily adjust them using the built in brightness and contrast tools.
Do you have shaky hands that create blurred images? This is no longer an issue since Photoshop CS4 allows you to correct this problem using sharpening tools such as the smart sharpen. On the flip side, if you prefer that misty feel, you can blur your photos with smart blur.
After playing with the program a bit and familiarizing yourself with the tools you will even be able to remove distracting items such as trash cans or even overhead electrical wires. All your learning won\'t be for naught as once you master the program you will be able to market your skills and begin to make money using it to repair other peoples photos.
Discovering Photoshop CS4 tutorials online can be a nightmare, and so many people just end up giving up on what is some very expensive photo editing software, professionally produced by Adobe. Photoshop CS4 is the latest version, and to many a vast improvement on any other previous version, even though it is more complicated to figure out on your own. Adobe do provide some very basic guidelines on how to use this software, but they only manage to scratch on the surface of what really can be achieved.
Don\'t waste any time looking for quality Photoshop video tutorials, and have a look at a sample David Peters Photoshop CS4 video tutorial, and you will no doubt be impressed with his simplistic yet professional approach
There has been a lot of buzz recently about HDR photography, but many people assume that it's only limited to professional photographers. The reality is that just about anyone can take and process an HDR photo with most cameras and proper HDR software.
There are plenty of explanations of what HDR is and how it works, so we won't cover that here. If you want more background info, check out HDR explained so anyone can understand or Jon Meyer's popular HDR primer.
In this tutorial we'll go through the steps necessary to take your very own HDR photo and process it like a pro. What you will need:
- A camera that allows you to adjust exposure settings.
- Tone Mapping Software (In this tutorial we will use Photomatix, which is the most popular way to create HDR's.)
Step 1: Taking the photo(s)
TITLE: Quick and Easy steps to take HDR Photos with any camera
To create an HDR photo you need at least 3 differently exposed photos of the same shot. That's not as difficult as it sounds. Many cameras give you the ability to change exposures from shot to shot. Since all cameras are different you'll have to figure out how to change these exposure settings on your particular camera. Look for Exposure, AEB (Automatic Exposure Bracketing), A-EV, BKT (more on that here and here), or a little +/- graphic.
Important: Make sure the camera does not move between shots. Use a tripod or place the camera on a stable surface, minimizing movement as much as possible between shots. Below is an example of how this works using my girlfriend's simple point and shoot camera - the Sony DSC-W50. If you click on the +/- button you will see a way to adjust the Image brightness (EV) level for your picture.
1. Take one picture at EV 0
2. (press the shutter halfway to clear the preview), press the +/- button again and move the cursor down to EV -2. Take a picture.
3. (press the shutter halfway to clear the preview), press the +/- button again and move the cursor up to EV +2. Take a picture.
I usually take 3 shots each spaced 2 EV exposure values apart - one at EV -2, one at EV 0 (which is the most correctly exposed photo), and one at EV +2. Here is an example of 3 shots I recently took:
The first is exposed just right (0), the second too dark (-2), and the third exposed too light (+2).
Step 2: Generating and Tone Mapping the HDR
For this step you will need Photomatix Pro. While it's possible to do this with Photoshop CS2/CS3 or other HDR software, Photomatix is a much better tool - it gives you better results and is much easier to use. You can download a free trial of Photomatix Pro which will leave a watermark on your picture, or you can buy it for $99.
Note: You can use Photomatix Coupon Code VPG8 to get an 8% discount..
Open Photomatix Pro and click on "Generate HDR image."
Click "Browse..." and select the 3 photos you took in step 1 (by clicking each one while holding down CTRL on a PC or Command on a Mac). Once you have the 3 photos highlighted, click "Open" then click "OK." Now you will see a set of options.
Keep Align source images checked. I also usually leave the "Attempt to reduce ghosting artifacts" option checked as well. If you have moving water in your shot, change the option to ("Background movements", otherwise leave "Moving objects/people) selected. Click OK. After a few seconds of processing you will see something like this.
It will usually look too dark - don't worry. The next step is where the magic happens. Click on "Tone Mapping". You will see Tone Map Settings panel and a preview of your HDR photo.
The settings toward the top will have the most impact on your photo. Adjust Strength and Light Smoothing settings to get your preferred "HDR effect."
Feel free to experiment with the rest of the tabs, controls, and settings to get your desired results. Some people prefer a saturated surreal look, while others like to keep the photo looking more realistic and natural. After you are happy with what the photo looks like, click "Process." Once Photomatix is done processing, it will show you the resulting HDR. Click "File" > "Save As..." and save your photo as a JPEG. Voila! You now have your very own HDR photo.
| If you have ever photographed a high contrast scene, you know that even the best exposure will typically have blown out highlights and flat shadows. The solution is High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing: | ||||||
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| View samples in the User Gallery |
| Get started with introduction video tutorial |
| Download a free trial version |
| Photomatix Pro and Photomatix Light are stand-alone programs that create and process HDR images, and run on Mac OS X and Windows. | ||||
| A free Lightroom Plug-in makes it possible to access Photomatix Pro directly from Lightroom, if desired. Some of the features of Photomatix are also available as a Filter Plug-in of Photoshop CS2 or higher and an Edit Plug-in of Aperture 2 or higher. | ||||
| One license for Photomatix Pro costs US$99 and one license for Photomatix Light US$39. | ||||
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| Benefits for professional photographers: | ||||
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Adobe Photoshop tutorials come in all different shapes and sizes, reflecting the many capabilities of the program. But it can be tough to find the right guide for your intended purposes as well as your skill level. If you're a beginner looking to use Photoshop to spruce up your personal photos, then there are a few common problems and techniques that you'll want to learn about. This guide is written specifically with these things in mind, and will teach you how to use Photoshop to make your photos look great.
Photoshop's popularity among professional designers makes it an industry standard. But this doesn't mean that Photoshop has no meaning for amateur photographers as well! Even if you're not breaking new ground in the world of graphic design and just want to make your personal photo collection look better, Photoshop can be a powerful tool
What is HDR?
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. The dynamic range of an image is the scale between darkness and light. The dynamic range of a normal photo is limited. Depending on exposure, different parts of the actual dynamic range are revealed: a low-exposure photo lets you see the highlights, but the shadows are blacked out; a high-exposure photo lets you see the shadows, but the highlights are whited out. An HDR photo lets you see the whole spectrum of brightness, from the brightest to the darkest.
Preparing the Photos
In order to create an HDR photo, you need several photos of the same object with different exposure. Some cameras have the option to automatically do this, so check your manual. If your camera doesn’t have this option, you can still adjust the exposure manually (but make sure to use a tripod). 3 photos should be enough in most cases.
Using the Software
The best program for HDR is the strangely-named Qtpfsgui. This program is free and works better than many commercial HDR creation programs.
Once you download and launch the program, click
New HDR and then open the images you took. Select “auto align images”, and then click next. It will take some time for the program to align the images with each other. After that, you will get a manual alignment screen, giving you an opportunity to correct any mistakes the program may have made (which is rare, but still possible).
The next step will show you some options. It is usually best to leave them as they are and click Finish.
Once the image is processed, you will see it, along with some options on the top frame (”Mapping”, and “Histogram”). They will let you preview how the image will look with different settings, but they won’t have an effect on the final result. The mapping mode that I think looks best is the “Linear” one. Once you are finished looking at the image with different settings, press “Tonemap the HDR” on the upper toolbar.
The Tonemap window has a lot of modes, each with their own settings. The ones I found to work best are the “Reinhard” ones. Be sure to experiment with the settings to find the ones which work best. Once you get a result you like, tonemap it with a high resolution, save it, and you are done.
