Monthly Archives: January 2012
Awesome Frame Border
I was scanning Google + yesterday morning, a routine I love on weekends as I actually have time to do so, and spotted an awesome frame tutorial by Scott Kelby. I followed the tutorial to a T and loved the result I received from it. Of course I felt as if I were stealing in a sense, so I threw my own spin on it with some texture and a color sample overlay from the image being framed.
That is just what I love about Google +, is the ability to connect with great photographers, get a sense of how they work in Photoshop, and see just how they piece things together creatively. There are so many inspiring photographers sharing their secrets everyday on G+ and the best part, it is 100% free. I learned something new yesterday and I can thank Mr. Kelby for that (actually every time I see a video by him, Matt Kloskowski, or RC Concepcion I learn something new). Also after watching the tutorial I realized I should stop being so hard on myself when I make an error when recording my video tutorials. Mr. Kelby just ties his mistakes into the video in a clever way that makes you chuckle, I always trash those recordings and yell at myself for a bit. I will remedy that!
Check out the tutorial, add Scott Kelby to your circles and if you want to I guess you can add me as well! I promise I will try my best to give valuable photography information on a weekly basis.
Also check out Kelby Training. Everything I ever needed to know about Photography and Photoshop I either learned (or re-learned the right way) at Kelby Training!
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Forks Over Knives
Today is usually free tutorial Friday, but I have been extremely under the weather and quite frankly do not have the energy to put that much brain power into a post. So I am going to do something a little different, plant the seed if you will! I recently spoke with my old supervisor, Shawn, (I would say his last name but he’d probably throw a fit, he doesn’t care to much for the lime light) who told me about a documentary titled Forks Over Knives. This documentary changed his way of life through a newly adapted diet. As I was sick laying bed ridden on the couch, I finally decided to flip on the old Netflix and stream Forks Over Knives. I wont go into it too much, you’ll have to watch the documentary or you will have a biased opinion. However after it was over, I bought the book and looked further into it with ForksOverKnives.com.
So how does this relate to Photography? Well the better you eat, the longer you live and therefore the longer you will be around to see the future of photography. So instead of a tutorial this week, your homework is to check out this documentary!
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Farbspiel Photography, View, Learn, Connect
There is a new HDR tutorial resource on the web that is a one stop shop of HDR resources. Many of the top HDRtists have contributed to Farbspiel Photography home of the HDR Cookbook. I look forward to contributing to the site often. I am sure you will find something here that suits your yearning for learning more about HDR Photography! It just took off this week so it is relatively new, make sure you stop by often to see how the site evolves!
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Crazy Stairs at the Nelson Atkins Museum
I have been avidly working on the images from my last trip to Kansas City and the Nelson Atkins Museum. I took a crazy looking shot of the upstairs view looking down on the granite staircase. It turned out to be a very great HDR image, but I felt I could take it to the next level a bit. So I flipped it and rotated it a couple of times and thought I had something even better. However, a little birdy told me to continue playing with it so I did. I am happy with the outcome and have actually started doing more of these and will more than likely continue.
I don’t really know what to call them yet, I mean isn’t that what you are supposed to do, name the new thing you are doing with a photograph? Rotatographs, Flippozonatlverticograph, or I guess I could run them through Pixel Bender and call it a Paintograph or take an iPhone pic of it and call it an iPhonograph, isn’t that the new trend?
Tip For The Week:
If you ever flip or rotate an image around itself it is always helpful to reduce the symmetry where the copies meet. Use cut and paste, clone stamp, healing brush, or even the spot healing brush to cover up any obvious symmetry. This will have a significant impact on the way the viewer interprets the image. If there is too much symmetry the piece is easy to navigate. Try a gentle balance of asymmetry and symmetry, this will fool the viewer for a few extra seconds.
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Quick Tip: Duplicating a Project
I use a pretty slick technique all the time that I don’t think I have talked about yet on the blog. Have you ever been working on a project in Photoshop and wanted to duplicate the entire project without losing any data or layers? I do all the time. My old technique was pretty archaic, I would open a new document and re-size it to the current document size. I would then drag and drop all of the layers I was working with onto the new document, many times I would have to ensure all the layers were aligned and it took several seconds and brainpower to make it happen.
Not anymore! Next time you want to duplicate the project you are working on to make further edits, try this:
- Go to the History Palette of the document you are working on. If you do not have your layers palette open, on the menu bar click the Window menu, scroll down to History and click it. (Depending on your Photoshop setup, your palettes may not be set up like mine, don’t be alarmed if the screen shot looks different than your setup!)
- Now click on the first icon in the bottom portion of the History Palette, it should read “Create new document from current state”
- As soon as you left click it, it will open a new document at the exact state you selected from your history palette with all of the layers intact!
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NAPP Renewal, That Time Of Year Again!
My NAPP renewal ran out at the end of December, wait a second, you don’t know what NAPP is? That’s the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, an amazing online resource for anyone who is into Photography, Photoshop, and Design. So you still aren’t convinced are you, because you obviously know there are thousands of online resources for Photoshop. Alright I get it, how about I just tell you my top 5 reasons for being a member of such an elite online community:
- Photoshop User Magazine: By far the best Photoshop magazine publication around. I used to buy this magazine off the shelf for 10 bucks a pop, then I found out that NAPP members receive it at there doorstep for free with their NAPP membership! They ship the magazine 10 times a year and it is packed full with helpful Photoshop and Lightroom tips and tricks. Many photo magazines are packed full of useless adds and complete crap (I won’t mention any names), Photoshop User magazine however, gives you an absolute no crap guarantee!
- Quick Online Tutorials: NAPP members get online access to a plethora of free and most importantly quick Photography, Photoshop, and Lightroom tutorials. I don’t get much time to watch tutorials between making my own, up-keeping this blog, and a 9 month old, but I can make five or ten minutes here or there to freshen up on the latest and greatest with the easy access NAPP provides.
- Discounts, discounts, oh and did I mention More Discounts? NAPP members get exclusive access to discounts on very useful photo resources all over the web. Last year, I saved over $62 on products and shipping with MPix. There are too many discounts to name here, but check this out, free 3-5 day shipping in the US at B&H photo. That alone could save you hundreds if you are a gear hog like myself!
- Renewal Perks: I received the Adobe Photoshop CS 5 Book by Scott Kelby when I renewed my membership. That is a near 30 dollar value on Amazon, for free! The people at NAPP really know how to keep their followers coming back for more!
- The Help Center: Yep, an online help center dedicated to helping you with any questions you may have from Photoshop and Lightroom to Cameras and Computer Gear. They will take any question and give you the best possible answer.
So let’s do some laymen’s math here, a NAPP membership costs 99 US dollars, but you get ten $10 issues of Photoshop User magazine for free. So 99-100 = 1 dollar in your pocket, but how about the $30 book I just received with my renewal for free, $31 in my pocket. But then there is the $62 dollars I saved at MPix last year, that’s $93 dollars in my pocket. So yes, I am telling you that I spent $99 on my Napp membership, but that membership in turn put $93 back into my pocket, not including the money I saved on shipping last year from B&H photo.
If you have read this far without clicking on this >NAPP< link then you either really care about what I am saying, you already have a membership, or you have some kind of adversity to saving money and learning about all things Photography.
