John Davi

Droste Effect Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:08:00 +0000

Yesterday, while searching for some Photoshop Tutorials, I found out a very good tutorial on how to achieve Droste Effect.

Now you might be thinking what Droste effect is ?

Let me not waste time in explaining Droste Effect. Just take a look at the images below and you'll understand what I am talking about.

Photo by Aragorn Frey

Photo by artan2009

Photo by Vaudevillian Veteran

As you can see images above, Droste effect can produce some really cool and interesting images. By looking at the images, it looks as if there's a lot of hard work behind them, but it is actually not. The most difficult part in achieving droste effect is selection of image which you want to convert into droste effect. Rest all the things are very easy.

If you have Adobe Photoshop CS4, then you can directly download a free plugin - ESCHER'S DROSTE EFFECT.

There's also a plugin available at the above link for Adobe AfterEffects using which you can create videos with Droste effect.

If you do not have Adobe Photoshop CS4, then there's an other option for you which is as easy as creating droste effect images with plugins. Just follow this tutorial on Flickr. But this requires Gimp which is available for free and also very small in size. You'll also need mathmap plugin for Gimp. Rest of the things you can READ HERE.

You can also take a look at more Droste effect images at Escher's Droste Print Gallery Flickr Group and you can also share your Droste effect images there.

If you have any doubt, you post it in the comments section.

Convert any image to Line art in photoshop in 5 steps

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:02:00 +0000

In this post, I am going to tell you how to convert any photo to line art in just few steps.

Below is the original image that I used for the tutorial -

Below is the result image -

Here's how to do it -

1. Make two duplicate layers of original image.

2. Select the topmost layer and then go to Image > Adjustments > Invert.

3. Now set its blending mode to Color Dodge.

4. Go to Filter > Other > Minimum. Then change the radius value according to the image. In this case I put 2 as shown below.

5. Now right-click on topmost layer and Click on Merge Down. There will only be two layers left. Select the top layer and change its blending mode to Luminosity. You're done.

It produces the image below.

I hope you like the tutorial. If you have any doubts, please leave it in the comments section.

5 Must Know Quick Photoshop Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:24:00 +0000

Here are some cool one step Photoshop Tips that every user must know. These tips will surely reduce your working time.

1. To fill your image or new document completely with background colour just press Ctrl + Backspace and to fill it with foreground colour press Alt + backspace.

2. To draw or trace a straight line press Shift and move your mouse in the direction you want to create your line. This trick works with Pen Tool, Polygonal Lasso Tool, Pencil Tool, Eraser, Brush Tool, History Brush Tool.

3. If you created many different paths with Pen Tool in an image and want to transform all paths to selections at once, click on Paths tab (next to Channels tab), then do Ctrl + Left click on the "work path" and all your paths will be converted into selections.

4. It works fine if you want to maximize your work area...

Hit TAB key and it hides all the palettes, Shift+TAB hides all except the Tools Palette, and if you have multiple images open, you can switch between them by pressing CTRL+TAB.

5. Suppose you have different texts layers and want to change the font of all text layers. If you don't know this trick, you'll have to select the Type tool, highlight the type, and change them one by one. But with this trick, you can chnage them all in one step. Here it is :-

Link all your type layers that you want to change. Make sure one of the linked layers is active. Now, select the Type tool. Hold down the Shift key, change the type settings (font, size, etc). All the Type layers will change accordingly. (Do not highlight anything with the Type tool...just go straight to the options and change them.)

Note :- To link Layers, press Ctrl and then Left Click on the layers you want to link without releasing Ctrl button. Then at the bottom of layers pallette there is a chain like icon, just click on it and all your layers will be linked.

Face Transplant In Photoshop - The Easy Way

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:47:00 +0000

Somedays ago I joined Freaking News (it conducts regular photoshop contests).

For a contest, I created an image in photoshop.

Below is the image I created for the contest.

In this post, I am going to tell you how I did it. Its really very simple.

Below are the images I used to get the above result.

After viewing the images you might have figured out what I have done. I replaced the face of the center person (in image in the middle) with the face of jack sparrow (left image) and face of left person (kevin harris, in middle image) with face of wolverine (right image). In the result image, there is one more difference, I made Goal II to Goal III.

Here's How To Do it -

1. Open all the images in photoshop.

2. Now select Rectangular Marque tool and select any person's head which you want to add to an image (in this case jack sparrow's head) as shown in image below.

3. Copy the selected part (Ctrl + C) and then paste (Ctrl + V) it on the image you want to make change to. Then press Ctrl + T and transform the image by dragging the sides to fit in the result image as shown below.

4. Now drag the image over the person's face you want to replace and if required again rezize the image to fit on the subject's body. You can also lower the opacity of the layer to view that the image is fitting with the subject's body completely. Remember, only the face should overlap the subject's face and not the things in side that got copied with the face. We will be deleting them in the next step.

5. Now select History Brush Tool (press Y). Move the brush over the places that you don't want and those things will automatically disappear. Follow all the steps again with the image of wolverine (right image above). Result you'll get is shown below.

6. Also I made Goal 'II' to Goal 'III'. To do this, select 'I' with pen tool and paste it next to 'II'. After that I used clone stamp tool and cloned the bottom line joining 'II' and put it on the top & bottom of the third 'I' I just created and done. Using the Clone Stamp Tool only, I removed "Living the dream" from the original image and with Text Tool, I wrote "Return of Heros".

Using this technique, you can transplant any person's face in photoshop in less than a minute.

If you have any doubt, post it in comments and I will surely answer them.

Have Fun!

Create your clone using Windows Movie Maker

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:55:00 +0000

Earlier, I posted an article - Create your own twin brother/sister in photoshop in two easy steps which describes to create your clone in photoshop.

But with help of above tutorial, you can only create your clone in an image but in this post, I am going to show you how you can create your clone with yourself in a video as you have seen in movies.

It is really really simple and you don't have to buy a software or any other thing for this.

Requirements -

1. Windows Movie Maker - it is free and comes bundled with windows XP.

2. Split Transitions - Download it and install. Install instructions are given on the download site. Its free and is only 34kb in size.

3. Atleast two videos of yourself in different positions with same background (to keep background same, keep your camera still, use tripod or any other stable surface and record two videos without moving camera).

Once you're ready with your videos and split transitions installed, watch the video below.

I founded the video on Youtube and is not created by me.

Fixing Common Image Problems in Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Let’s face it—sometimes, even when we take all the precautions to take a perfect picture, something doesn’t end up right. The snapshot may look fine on your camera’s LCD screen, but when you view it in full size on your monitor, you start noticing some problems. The good news is that most of such minor problems can be fixed in Photoshop. Here’s a look at some common issues.

Incorrect Exposure Levels:

This is an exercise we advise for all images. Even if you feel that the exposure level is just right for your image, try playing around a bit with the levels in Photoshop and look at the difference. We’re not asking you to always make changes in your clicked photos, because sometimes, imperfect exposure works great for the feel of the picture. But still, seeing what a little level adjustment can do won’t hurt anyone, and can always be undone. So how does one adjust levels? Simple just open an image in Photoshop and press [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[L]. You will instantly notice a difference in the lighting and the colours of the image.

If you want a bit more control, you can adjust the Brightness and Contrast settings manually by going to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast. Move the brightness and contrast sliders around until you’re satisfied, and click OK— or just cancel if you think you’ve done something wrong.

Colour Correction:

There are times when a camera can’t seem to get the white balance of an image perfect, and sometimes you just wish to give the image a tinge of some extra colour that would enhance the mood of the overall composition. It’s times like these when the Color Balance tool comes into play. This is what you need to do:

1. Open the image in Photoshop
2. Press [Ctrl] +[B] on your keyboard to open the colour balance window
3. Play around with the sliders until you think you’ve got a dominant colour that adds more mood to the picture
4. Click OK to accept the changes or Cancel to undo

Cropping:

If there are some unwelcome distractions in your picture, like a man walking in from the edge, or if you seem to have captured so much background that the subject gets lost somewhere in between, the crop tool is exactly what you need. To use the crop tool:

1. Open the image in Photoshop
2. Press [C] on your keyboard to select the Crop tool
3. Select the area you wish to keep on the image
4. Press [Enter] on the keyboard, and you’ll have theimage cropped to the selection

Red-Eye:

Red-eye reduction can be very tricky. If not done right it can make eyes look very unnatural, which could get quite distracting. Earlier, I wrote published a post on Red-Eye Removal .

Read this post to know how to remove Red-Eye in photoshop.

Resizing Images:

There are many situations where you’ll need to get an image to fit into a specifically sized space. If you’ve been trying to resize graphics and they’ve ended up squished horizontally or vertically, this tip should help you out. Say the size of your image is 584 by 400 pixels. We need to resize

the image so that the final size is 200 by 300 pixels.

To find out the size of your image, select Image/Image Size from the Photoshop menu bar. This dialog box gives you the width, height and resolution of your image. You’ll see a checkbox next to the word Proportions. Don’t uncheck that checkbox—your image will be squished if you do.

You need to change only one dimension. Photoshop will then do the math for you and figure out how big the other dimension needs to be in order to retain the correct proportions for your image. Which dimension do you change? Select the dimension that will need to change the most. In this example, we’re changing an image that is 400 x 584 to 300 x 200. The height dimension in this example needs to change the most, so we’ll change the height from 584 to 200.

Photoshop scales the width size proportionately, making the image 137 pixels wide.

Now you’ll need to change the width of the image. You don’t want to use the Image/Image Size for this. Instead, we’ll use the Image/Canvas Size function. What the Canvas Size does is to add pixels to your image, and it fills them with whatever background color you have selected. Canvas Size changes the size of your image by adding to it, leaving the original image unchanged. The Image Size command changes the size of your image by anti-aliasing it.

Change the width number from 137 pixels to 200 pixels. The Placement graphic gives you a choice of where the extra pixels will go: to the left, to the right of your image, or on either side of your image. Leave the original image centred, which is the default. Your image should now be an almost-perfect rendition of the original image, constrained in its proportions.

Make Your Own Macro Lens For Your Camera - Do It Yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:55:00 +0000

Macro photography is very popular and can produce some really surprising photos. But to shoot good macro photos you need good wide angle macro lens for your camera which can be expensive and many people cannot afford it.

If you're among the ones who like macro photography but cannot afford macro lens, then you've landed on the right place.

This post is about how you can get your completely working macro lens in minutes without spending any money.

Lets start -

1. Grab one binocular (they are easily available and are not expensive). Do not worry about quality of binocular, any will do.

2. Unscrew a lens from binocular (big one which is far away from your eye).

3. Take out lens and take some tape and stick it to your camera lens as shown in the images below.

You're done. You just made a macro lens for your camera.

Photos by wvcoalminer

If your camera lens is smaller or bigger than the binocular lens, then it can create a problem in sticking the lens to camera. In that case try to apply more thick tape to join the end of the binocular lens and your camera lens and should try that your lens is stable and not loose.

The end result is some INSANE depth of field at only about 1 inch away from your subject and some awesome macro shots and it all costs $0 (if you have a binocular).

You must put your lens on MANUAL FOCUS and play with your zoom/focus to get your subject in focus but once you get it you will get some amazing shots.

Below are two macro images by wvcoalminer which were taken using this trick.

Note: - I am not the inventor of this trick, I found this trick on DPS Forum written by wvcoalminer and thought to share it here. However, I have written it in my words but all the images used in this tutorial are by wvcoalminer.

Create Panoramas Without Any Software

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:49:00 +0000

Panoramic images are those images which are made by stiching many images together.

Panoramas are created to make super wide angle shots.

For more imformation about panoramas, Click Here.

Now lets come to the main point.

There are many softwares available to stitch multiple images to create panoramas. One of them is Adobe Photoshop which is most widely used.

But what, if you cannot afford photoshop or other softwares or don't want to take burden of a software to create panoramas?

Here are two good and free alternatives to create panoramas and the best thing about them is that you can create panoramas online, without downloading any application.

1. MagToo - MagToo allows you to create panoramas and slide shows from photos on your computer or online photo-sharing sites like Flickr. You can also choose to overlap or not to overlap pictures. You don't need to register (it will ask but you can skip the step). Just add photos and the website will stitch them for you. You can also embed panoramas on your website.

But you can use Magtoo only in Internet Expolorer 5.0 or later because it uses ActiveX feature to create panoramas.

2. CleVR - CleVR also allows you to create panoramas online, like MagToo. The site works with your choice of Adobe AIR or Java. Unlike MagToo, you need to sign-up to create panoramas. You can also embed panoramas on your website.

Get High-Contrast Look In Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:16:00 +0000

This technique is very popular right now. High-contrast photos look more proffesional, as if they are shot in good studio. But before I show how to do it, let me tell you one thing. To make High-contrast photos, lightning has to High-contrast too. You cannot make a high-contrast photo without light on subjects body. It does not mean that you just blow off your subjects face with flash. I mean some parts of subject should be light and some should be more dark in order to make it more contrasty.

For this tutorial, I am using the image below -

As you can see, some parts of image are light and some are dark. Using photoshop, we will make darker areas more dar and brighter areas more bright to give the image High-contrast look.

Here is the final image that we'll get after following all the steps in the tutorial -

Here's How To Do It -

1. Create a Duplicate Layer (press Ctrl + J), then go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/saturation and move to saturation slider all the way to left i.e. make the saturation zero.

2. Change the layer blend mode to Luminosity.

You can see how much more contrasty and edgy the photo looks with just this one change.

3. Zoom the image, select "Spot Healing Brush", then click on any marks, pimples, blemishes on the face to remove them.

4. One of the big secrets to this technique is to dodge and burn (brighten and darken) the highlights and shadows already in your photo. You’re actually going to over-accentuate them, which gives the image a more three-dimensional, almost illustrated, look. I always start by burning (darkening) first, so get the Burn tool from the Toolbox (or press Shift-O until you have it). Go up to the Options Bar and, from the Range pop-up menu, choose Shadows, then lower the Opacity to 20%. In Photoshop CS4, dodge and burn tools produce very good results, much better than previous versions.

5. Before, you start burning your image, duplicate your layer (Ctrl+J).

Choose a medium-sized, soft-edged brush from the Brush Picker, then start painting over the dark (shadow) areas of your photo. In our example, I used the Zoom tool (Z) to zoom in so I would have a clearer view, then I started painting over his beard, the dark part of his left cheek, right under the center of his bottom lip, and any shadow areas of his face, his hat, and his neck. The goal is to make the dark shadow parts of this image even darker.

Here's how the image looks after burning. Shadows on his face now look more dark. You can even burn wrinkels or dark lines on the t-shirt.

6. Now get the Dodge tool (press Shift-O), go up to the Options Bar, and set the Range to Highlights (so it only affects the highlights), set the Opacity to no more than 20%, then start brightening the highlight areas of his face, hat, shirt, etc., by painting over them. Go through the

entire image, and everywhere you see a highlight, paint over it to make it more apparent. Here, I’ve painted over the highlights on his cheeks, his hat, the wrinkles on his shirt, and the bright areas on his neck, the left side of his face, etc. Anywhere that’s a little bright—make it brighter. Now, as you paint over these areas, some of them (like the areas on his face) are going to

get an orange color. Don’t worry, we’ll deal with that next.

7. Go get rid of colour problems caused by dodging and burning, change the layer blend mode to Luminosity.

8. Now again, duplicate the layer (Ctrl+J). Now you’re going to add some really intense sharpening, and when you add this much sharpening, it really magnifies any skin blemishes or spots your subject has, which is why we were careful to remove them earlier with the Healing Brush tool. Okay, for our hyper-sharpening, first we’re going to duplicate the top layer. Then, go

under the Filter menu, under Other, and choose High Pass. When the dialog appears, increase the Radius to around 110 pixels and click OK.

9. When you apply sharpening, the image turns nearly grey. To fix it, just change the layer blend mode to Soft Light.

At this point, the image is little dark. So, we'll use the layer mask to apply sharpening where we want.

10. Press-and-hold the Alt key and click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to hide your high-contrast layer behind a black mask. Now get the Brush tool, choose a soft-edged brush, make sure your Foreground color is white, and paint over detail areas that you want to appear super-sharp and contrasty. I painted over the wrinkles in his shirt, over the inside area of the mic, over his ballcap, his shirt, his hands, his beard, his earring, his eyes, his eyebrows, and his lips—just the high-detail areas (and not the areas we want to stay soft).

11. Some of the adjustments and tweaks we’ve made up to this point have made the color in the photo very vibrant—and in almost every case, too red. So, go to the Adjustments panel and click on the Hue/Saturation icon (the second one from the left in the second row) to bring up the Hue/Saturation options. Choose Reds from the second pop-up menu from the top, and then lower the saturation a bit by dragging the Saturation slider to the left, which removes some of the red and gives your subject’s skin somewhat of a desaturated look (as seen here).

12. To give the finishing touch, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to merge all your layers into a new layer. Now duplicate the top layer (Ctrl+J) and change its blend mode to Multiply. It will turn your image into a much darker image.

13. Lastly, click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a standard layer mask to your layer. Now, get the Brush tool, and choose a huge, soft-edged brush (this brush should be so big that it’s a little larger than your subject’s head). Press X to switch your Foreground color to black, then take the Brush tool and just click once over your subject’s face,

and it deletes the darkening over that one area. It may take five, six, or a few more clicks to reveal the brighter version of your subject on the layer below, which leaves you with the effect you see below in the photo.

Source - This tutorial is taken from Scott Kelby's ebook. However, in the ebook, the author used Camera Raw (he started with a raw image) but I modified it for common (JPEG, GIF etc) images.

Winner Of PhotoshopRoadmap contest - AutoFX Mystical lightning Give Away

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:49:00 +0000

Recently, a contest was held on PhotoshopRoadmap which was sponsored by AutoFx Software.

The contest was not about editing an image in Photoshop or any other Photoshop thing, you just have to enter your name and email address and you're done.

The prizes of the contest were AutoFX softwares whose details can be found on their main website.

A winner was selected randomly and that lucky winner was me (which i never expected). They provided me with an AutoFx software - Mystical Lightning - worth $179.

Let me clear for those who thinks that these type of contests are scam, they are not(very few are), especially the PhotoshopRoadmap one was not and I really got the prize.

I have not tested it right now but I will surely post a review about it in my next post.

Thanks again to PhotoshopRoadmap for having such a nice contest and also AutoFX for sponsoring the contest.

Update - The prizes will be given everyday until september 30. So go and subscribe to Photoshoproadmap newsletter. No one knows, you might be the lucky one.

5 Tips To Make Money From Your Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:05:00 +0000

There are many different ways to make money with your camera. The key is to start with one particular kind of photography that works best for you and stick with it. I will be highlighting some of the best known ways to make a lot of money with digital photography.

In this article I will be giving 5 tips on how to bring in the money with your camera. Before reading this article, just relax because it is a slightly long post.

Now, lets come to the point.

Tip #1: Get As Many People as Possible to See Your Pictures.

Get those millions to see your pictures instead of just thousands or just your circle of friends.

Exposure is crucial. Not only will having more people see your pictures help you make more money, but it's also good for branding.

If people begin to see your pictures in more than one place they will begin to see that you are a big name photographer. Suddenly, the demand for your pictures will go up and people will be willing to spend more to have your images.

Years ago it would be tough to get a huge amount of people to see your pictures if you were just starting out, but with the internet it's not only possible, but it should be one of your main priorities to make your pictures viewable online.

No matter what kind of photography you want to get into, if you don't have some samples of your work online, you will be shutting out what could be a huge portion of your income.

So how do I get those pictures online?

If you can afford to spend some money to put your pictures online, then you should buy a domain with a web hosting. There are many benifits of having your own website.

If you cannot afford to spend some money online, then still there are many other godd options. You can set up your own blog for free at Blogger.com. After registering your blog start posting your best pictures to your blog for sample with good titles. You can also put adsense ads or any other ads on your blog for extra income.

If you are not ready to setup your own blog, still there are other options.

Here are some free websites you can use to show off your pictures and your portfolio:

1. http://www.myphotofolio.com/

2. http://www.voodoochilli.net/

3. http://www.onetalentsource.com/

4. http://www.deviantart.com/

5. http://www.flickr.com/

Tip # 2: Use Micro Stock As Major Income Source

Setting up your portfolio will make you famous on the internet but it might not make a good amount of money for you.

The major part of your income will be generated by Micro Stock Sites.

Every month there are MILLIONS of people who visit micro stock photography sites with money in hand, ready to buy photos.

You just have to upload your pictures to these micro stock photography sites and sit back. People will come, buy your photos again and again and you'll make money doing nothing.

Here are some good micro stock sites below:-

1. www.Dreamstime.com

2. www.istockphoto.com

3. www.Fotolia.com

4. www.shutterstock.com

5. www.Bigstockphoto.com

Its not that you just upload 2-3 pictures and then you think to make money. You should try to make a huge portfolio at micro stock sites with about 100-200 pictures or more. Slowly grow your portfolio and make it bigger everyday.

The more photos you upload the more money you'll make.

Tip #3: Find those businesses that NEED a photographer like you.

Every business needs photos, but some are willing to pay big bucks for you to take them.

Not all businesses want to simply buy their pictures off of a micro stock photography website because they want a picture that no one else has.

When you walk into a business you can use all of the above points to show the company how they would benefit from hiring you to take photos for them.

Show them how having better quality pictures of their products would lead to better sales. Show them how more professional looking photos can make a huge difference from a clients point of view.

You can also opt for press release photography. When a business has a press release they want to make sure they have good pictures to represent them. Most of the people that see these pictures will only get that one shot to get the first impression of the business so you can advertise doing some press release photography to make some extra money. You can shoot some grand openings as well and then offer to deliver it to the newspaper company for submission.

Tip #4 : Take Newsworthy Pictures and Chase that Story

With more people having cameras today, the big name news companies are

often the last ones to get pictures and live coverage of a scene. Even when the terrorists hit Mumbai, it was Twitter users that brought us live updates of what was going on before the news even had a chance to get there.

This really makes the news agencies jealous, but rather than fight us, they are now willing to pay really good money for newsworthy photos, and they are not the only ones.

In fact, there is a website out there that will absolutely revolutionize the way editorial pictures are sold, and it's a site called Demotix.com.

What they do is accept all kinds of news photos and videos taken from

anywhere in the world, and then they pump them out to news organizations who in turn buy them. Demotix is currently paying out 50% of their profits to you and the pictures that sell will often bring in a nice chunk of change.

It's an amazing concept. This gives average, every day people the opportunity to be freelance photo journalists and make the same kind of money that the big names make.

This kind of business can pay very well, especially if you live in a bustling city where lots of news is happening all the time.

Tip #5 : Photograph Events that Pay Tons of Cash

Event photography is huge, and I am going to show you the markets that will pay you the most for your time.

But first some advice: When you are taking pictures at any event you really need to stay on your toes. It is not a very relaxing form of photography but it sure is exciting.

You have to keep your eyes roaming about constantly to make sure you are not just capturing what every one else is looking at but also their reactions to what they are seeing as well. Reaction shots sell the most in any event photography situation.

How to Get the Prints to Your Clients:

There are services online that you can use to upload the pictures from the event and then charge whatever you want for them. The customer gets on that site and orders different sizes of different pictures and the company will accept the credit card payment and print and ship the pictures for you! So all you have to do is upload the pictures and you are done.

The service I use is called Printroom.com, but there are others like Smugmug.com and Photoreflect.com as well.

I highly recommend using a service like this because then you can just concentrate on taking great pictures.

Here are some ways you can tap into the huge market of event photography:

Wedding Photography - Many photographers make their full time income from shooting weddings.

Amateur Sporting Events - This is another huge market right now.This

includes everything from tee ball, to little league, high school basketball, football, and any other sport that children play at their school, church or for a league. You can either be paid by the parents of the kid you are to take pictures of or sometimes coaches will want to hire you.

Birthday Parties – There are parents willing to spend big bucks on thei

child's birthday party, so this is another great opportunity. Be sure to capture all kinds of expressions as well, especially if it is a young child.

Business Special Days - Big days are great for businesses as they can have some of those pictures in the paper or just use them in their newsletters. So to take good pictures, they require good photographers and where you can come in.

Remove Red-Eye in Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:56:00 +0000

Red-eye refers to an effect in photographs in which the eyes of people appear reddish in colour. This occurs due to reflection of the flash from the subjects’ eyes in the picture.
To remove this effect in Photoshop, use the following steps.

1. Open the image.

2. Go to Image > Duplicate and close the original.

3. Go to Window > Documents > New Window. This will open a duplicate window of the same image.

4. Zoom one of the windows so that you can see the eyes as large as possible. Set the other window view to 100 per cent.

5. Arrange the two windows so you can see both the zoomed view and the 100 per cent

view at the same time.

6. Create a new layer.

7. Use the eyedropper to pick up a colour from the iris of the eye. It should be a fairly grey tint with a hint of the eye colour.

8. Paint over the red part of the eye on the new layer, being careful not to paint over the eyelids.

9. Go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur and give it about a 1 pixel blur to soften the edges.

10. Set the layer blend mode to Saturation. This will take the red out without removing the highlights, but in many cases it leaves the eyes too grey and hollow looking.

11. If that’s the case, duplicate the saturation layer and change the blend mode to Hue. That should put some colour back in, while still preserving the highlights.

12. If the colour is too strong after adding a Hue layer, lower the opacity of the Hue layer.

13. When you’re happy with the results you can merge the extra layers down.

Below are the Before and After images which is fixed using this technique.

Also keep the following in mind.

a. If you need to darken the pupil area, use the burn tool. It should only take a couple of taps with the burn tool to darken the pupils.

b. Before merging your layers, use the eraser tool to clean up any overspray from painting outside the iris.

Complete Guide to Layer Masks and Alpha Channels in Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:23:00 +0000

We already know that images are made up of three channels—Red, Green and Blue. But every once in a while, you will hear the words “Alpha” or “Alpha Channel” used in the context of digital imagery.

What are Alpha channels?

All channels are greyscale images that basically represent the intensity of that particular colour. For example, white areas in a Red Channel mean that those areas have full (100 per cent) red intensity Similarly, black areas mean that those areas have no red in them.

The Alpha channel, too, behaves this way, only instead of colourit represents transparency, or rather, the presence of the image itself So black areas in an alpha channel mean that the image is fully transparent (or not there) in those areas, while the image will show through the white areas. When you create a mask for a layer, you’re actually creating an Alpha channel for it.

Why Masks?

A good deal of what can be accomplished by using masks is also possible with a few well-made selections here and there, so why use them? Well, for one thing, masks are treated just the same as any other layer—any effect you can apply to a layer can also be applied to the mask, giving you the ability to create some incredible effects that would take days to accomplish with just selections. Moreover, masks allow for completely non-destructive editing—that is, you don’t need to make any alterations to the layer you’re working on, and getting back to where you started is as simple as shutting off or deleting the mask.

Getting Started With Masks

Now that we’ve got an idea of what masks are, it’s time to see how we can create and edit them.
Creating a mask

To create a mask for a layer, ,click on the Create Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers Palette. By default, Photoshop creates a “Reveal All” mask, which is filled with white. The name is quite suggestive—the Reveal All mask lets the layer appear as is, and it is only after you paint on black areas in the mask that the underlying layer shows through.
To create the exact opposite, use the “Hide All” mask, holding down [Alt] before clicking on the Create Layer Mask button. You will now see a mask that is filled with black instead of white.

Alternatively, you could go to Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All or Hide All to create a new layer mask.

Switching between an active mask and an active layer

As soon as you create your mask, it is made active—you can now paint on it and apply filters to it. You will notice that the colours in the toolbox have changed to black and white, and the thumbnail for the default colours now show white as the foreground with black as the background. In the Layers palette, the thumbnail for the mask has a thicker border than the main layer.

If you’d like to edit the layer and not its mask, click on its thumbnail. Now, the layer’s thumbnail will have the thicker border, the colours in the toolbox will revert to whatever they were before
you started with the mask, and the default colours will once again be black foreground and white background.

Linking and unlinking masks

By default, layers and their masks are linked to each other—if you use the move tool to move a mask, the layer moves with it and vice-versa. The chain-link icon between the two thumbnails
indicates this linkage.
Mask and layer are linked in the image above

If you’d like to move or transform the layer and mask independently of each other, you can unlink them by clicking on the chain-link icon.

Mask and layer are not linked in the image above

Temporarily disabling the mask

If you want to see what an image looks like without the mask, hold down [Shift] and click on the mask’s thumbnail. A red “X” will appear on the mask’s thumbnai and the effect of the mask will now vanish from the layer. To get it back [Shift] + left-click the thumbnail once again.

The layer mask in the main document window

We’ve discussed how layer masks create new Alpha channels for the image—you can see this new channel in the Channels palette. By default, the channel’s visibility is turned off (there is no “eye” icon next to the thumbnail). However, it sometimes becomes a little annoying to have to edit masks and judge the outcome based on the corresponding layer.

To see the mask itself in the document window, turn on the visibility of the channel in the Channels palette. The mask will now appear in the main document window as a 50% transparent
red layer. You can change this appearance if you want by right-clicking on the mask’s thumbnail and selecting Layer Mask Options.

Gradient masks

Like we said before, the great thing about masks is that they can be treated like normal layers, and this means that we can even apply gradients to them. When you apply a gradient to a mask, you end up with a very interesting fade-out effect for the layer—the white part is completely opaque, the black part is completely transparent, and the intermediate areas fade according to the intensity of white or black.
Creating a gradient mask is as simple as using the gradient tool—just configure it as you would do so for any other purpose, and instead of filling the layer with the gradient, just fill the mask.

How to Photograph Travels

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:20:00 +0000

Even the most casual of photographers make the most of their cameras during vacation. The sad thing is, not many of them have anything new to look at, which can really take its toll on those forced to view your photographs. Let’s examine some dos and don’ts of vacation photography.

A Different Look At The Same Subject

The front shot of the Taj Mahal has been done so many times that even those who have never visited it can vividly describe the front lawns.

Photo by betta design

Instead, shoot from a different angle, say, lying on the ground, looking up at the main archway.

Photo by Joseph Mercola

Take a silhouette shot of the Taj Mahal—just don’t shoot the kind that you see on postcards. This extra effort will make your gallery unique enough for people to notice and remember.

Photo by ~faiz

Interact With Your Surroundings

If you are shooting a family member or friend with the backdrop of a monument, the one thing you don’t want to do is make your subject stand impassively in front of the monument staring at the camera. Shots like that are sure to elicit yawns from those who view your album. Instead, you should make the subject interact with his or her surroundings. Bring out the emotion that the subject is going through about being there, be it happiness or even gloom or boredom. Even negative feelings will make a better shot than just standing there with luggage and staring at the camera. Be careful of the type of interaction though, as some of those shots can be overdone. For instance, the illusionary shot of a person pushing the Qutub Minar to make it tilt has been done to death.

Shoot The Journey

You probably don’t need us telling you this, but it’s a good idea to take pictures of your journey too, not just your destination. Get a picture of you driving your car, getting up a train or just trekking with your backpack. Once again remember, the picture is not just about you, but about what you are doing. You driving the car will always make a better and more interesting shot than you standing in front of it and waving your hand.

Basics of composition

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:05:00 +0000

Here we talk about some basic rules in photography that can dramatically improve your composition or give it the right focus that it may lack. So we present a few suggestions that may go a long way—

The Rule of Thirds: Considered by many as a golden rule of composition, this rule states that you imagine the viewfinder is divided into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. This grid creates four intersection points around the centre. Place your subject where the lines intersect, instead of placing them right in the centre of the frame. There is no harm in thinking out of the box and making a brilliant piece of art that breaks all stereotypes but it never hurts to have knowledge of the basic guidelines.

Photo by geoff-in0z

Attention to Framing: A messy dumpster at the corner of your picture or a bunch of wires and cables cluttered at the side of your subject could ruin the entire photo. Keep an eye out for undesired elements around your subject or in the background that could mess up the end effect completely.

Angles and Perspective: A shot of a person smiling straight into the camera is so clichéd! Try clicking fresh shots of old subjects by selecting different shot angles. Don’t feel shy to crouch on the floor or perch on one leg to get a good picture. The end result is what will stay with you in the long run.

Photo by tengtan

Use Lighting to your Advantage: One major rule of composition is “Dark on Light and Light on Dark”. High contrast will usually make the composition stand out from the rest. You can also try

playing with lights and shadows to get interesting results. Most photographers like to believe they control the light that falls on the subject. This is truly the way to go. Light is what makes the

photo and if you can truly control the light that is falling on the subject, your expression—the intended one—will suely come through. Before this can happen, though, you need to understand and learn how light behaves. This can be as interesting an exercise as it can be frustrating. Light

tends to do things contrary to your liking... as though it were governed more by Murphy’s Laws

than any other!

Convert Colour Photos to Black & White - Basic method

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 10:17:00 +0000

Black and white photography is becoming common nowadays and if done correctly can add a new dimension to your image.

Nowadays, most of the cameras have a Black and White option which directly captures a Black and White image. If your camera have it, enable it and capture.

But if your camera does not support black and white, then you can easily do it in Photoshop.

There are many ways to do it in Photoshop.

Many Photoshop users just desaturate the colours to convert a colour photo to black and white. But converting a digital colour photo into black and white goes beyond simply desaturating the colours. Simply desaturating the colours may create an image which appears washed out or lacks tonal range.

There are many good ways to convert digital colour photo into black and white. Here I am sharing one basic method.

The Channel Mixer tool in Photoshop allows the user tocontrol how much each of the three colour channels contribute to the final greyscale brightness. It is undoubtedly one of the most powerful black and white conversion methods. However, it may take some time to master since there are many parameters which require simultaneous adjustment.

Steps To Follow

1. Go to Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer in Photoshop.

2. Be sure to first click on the box entitled "Monochrome" for Black and White conversion.

3. It is good to get a feel for the distribution of each colour channel by first setting each of the colour channels to 100% individually.

4. Adjust each of red, green and blue sliders to produce an image to your liking. For even more pronounced effect, some colours can even have negative percentages.

5. The sum of red, green and blue percentages need to be equal 100% in order to maintain roughly constant brightness, although overall brightness can also be adjusted by using the "Constant" slider at bottom. If aim is to mimic the luminosity percieved by the human ey, set the values of Red, Green and Blue at 30%, 59% and 11% respectively.

6. Create two seperate "Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers" by the following menus:

Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation.

7. Each window will be named Hue/Saturation 1 or 2. Hwever, I have given these custom names for this tutorial.

8. Set the blending mode to Color on top adjustment layer and set the saturation to its minimum of -100.

9. On the bottom adjustment, change the "Hue" slider to apply any of the entire spectrum of colour filters. This is the main control for adjusting the look from this technique.

10. The saturation slider can also be adjusted in this layer, but this time it fine-tunes the magnitude of filter effect for a given hue.

11. Once all adjustments are made, merge/flatten the layers to make these final.

Here are some examples of Black and White Photographs.

Photo by rockartwolf

Photo by dreamcicle19772006

Photo by dagurb

How To - Sepia Effect In Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:35:00 +0000

If you take a photograph clicked 20 to 30 years ago, you are most likely to find that the colour has faded. This can be due to the dyes used in the ink, or the way photograph was processed.

The Sepia effect is just as desirable nowadays as it always was and more accessible techniques have been developed to give photographs this distictive appearence.

Sepia images have their characteristic brown nature.

The advent of personal computers and digital home photography has created a way for almost anyone to achieve sepia image toning. Digital photos can be edited using Photoshop to get sepia effect. However, there is no direct option in Photoshop to get sepia effect with one click. But you can do it in 3-4 clicks.

How to do it

Image used for the tutorial is

1. Open the Photoshop.

2. Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.

3. Go to Image > Adjust > Variations.

4. Move the Fine<->Coarse slider down one notch less than the middle.

In the image above, Fine<->Coarse slider is in the middle, move it one notch to the left.

5. Click on More Yellow once.

6. Click on More Red once.

7. Click OK.

Here's the result

Create and print your own passport-size photographs with photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:58:00 +0000

If you have a computer, a digital camera and an inkjet printer, you no longer need run to the nearest photo studio each time you want a passport-size photo. In this tutorial, I will show you how to create your own passport-size photographs very easily in minutes.

Requirements

1. Digital camera

2. Adobe Photoshop

3. inkjet printer

Shoot your photograph

1. Shoot a photograph with your digital camera.

If you are shooting a photo to put on a passport then shoot against a light or white background and full face of the person should appear without any hat or glasses etc.

Preparing Your Photograph

Find or shoot an appropriate photograph of yourself. The first thing to note is that a photo meant for printing needs a resolution of 300 dpi and a preset size. To ensure this, start Adobe Photoshop, open your picture. Click on Image > Image Size, in the dialog box that followyou will need to supply the 'Document Size': width of 3 cm and height of 4 cm; in 'Resolution' field type 300 pixels/inch. Now click on OK.

We will now create a blank image within which we will paste our resized photograph. The blank image should have a white background. Go to File > New and specify a 3 cm X 4 cm image with a 300 pixels/inch resolution and a white background. Head to the photograph, which we earlier resized, press Ctrl + A to select the photo, Ctrl + C to copy it, then select the new image file with the white background and paste it here.

Framing Your Picture

You will now need to create a 'frame' around the pasted image. To do this, press Ctrl + T then press Shift and resize the image, making sure that some white space is kept around it as the frame as shown in image below.

Printing Your Picture

This step will use a Photoshop Tool to create an A4 size page full of your passport-sized pictures.

Head to File > Automate and click on Picture Package

In the 'Picture Package' window that appears, here is what you need to do: Select a 'Page size' of 8.0 x 10.0 square-inch (this is standard photo paper size). Next in the 'Layout' drop-down menu select (9)2.5 x 3.25 inches-square (which is standard size of passport photo).

Now we need to select a Resolution of 300 pixels/inch. That's it! Click OK and you're done. Clicking on OK will create an 8 x 10 square-inch image which you can print to your inkjet printer.

Cut along the white frame and use the passport-sized photos as you desire.

Create your own Autostereogram - 3D images you used to get free with sweets

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:11:00 +0000

An autostereogram is a single image that gives an illusion of depth. A3d object pops out or, more frequently, pops in what looks like a plane of random dots or a pattern. The illusion is created because eye is tricked into focusing on an imaginary object that appears to be further depth than the plane at which the image is held.

Requirements -

StereoMaker - The site is in spanish, but the installer has support for english language.

An autostereogram works on two components, a depth mask and a pattern.

Making or Choosing A Depth Mask

The depth mask is an image which contains the 3d information in a greyscale gradient. There are many free depth masks available on the internet but you can create your own easily. A white word against a black background is a simple and effective depth mask. If you are looking to create something fancier, make a pattern out of different shades of grey in an image editing program. You can also use Photoshop. You can also make a depth mask using 3D software you are comfortable with. Keep it simple. Below is a example of a very simple depth mask.

Making or choosing a pattern

The pattern has all the magic of autostereogram. Choosing a tile like the logo of your company won't work. What you need is a pattern which is fairly malleable, or random. This is because the autostereogram gives the illusion of depth by shifting the pixels in the pattern by a different degree in different positions of the plane. It is not neccessary to choose a tileable pattern. One easy way to create a pattern in photoshop is to go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and deselect Monochromatic. Enlarge the resulting image a bit, tweak the colours or Hue/Saturation according to your choice. This will choose the appearence of your autostereogram. Selecting a pattern that ties with the 3D image makes sense. Sites like www.backgroundcity.com have a lot of free tileable textures.

Creating The Autostereogram

StereoMaker works like a wizard. The opening dialogue has size and stereogram type options. 640 X 480 should be good for most purposes - like printing or uploading on the internet. Select the "Textured" radio button to use a custom texture instead of random coloured or monochrome dots. Then click on next. Choose the depth map in the dialogue box here. There are list of preset depth map that comes bundled with StereoMaker, choose one of these or navigate to folder where you stored your depth map, and choose that. Next, is the dialogue box for the pattern. You can choose any other pattern you deem fit for your purposes. Next comes the dialogue box for setting Advanced Options. For printing purposes, increase the dpi from 72 to 300. For displaying on web, change the observation distance from 36 to 30 cm. Lower the maximum depth to make shallow or subtle autostereogram. Click on next, and a pop-up with your autostereogram appears. Right-click on the image to save as JPG or BMP file. Choose 20% compression for print purposes and 60% compression for web use.

Other Resources

Head over to easystereogrambuilder for an online autostereogram generator. You can also make text-based autostereograms here.

Here is an example of autostereogram -

Photo by timtom.ch

Create your own crazy 3D photograph using any camera

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:04:00 +0000

A 3D photograph, also know as anaglyphic photograph, is a special 2D photograph which gives the illusion of depth and make it appear like 3D. To view these kind of photos, you will require 3D glasses which can be easily made at home without spending any money (you will find most of the things to create them at home only). You can also view them without glasses but a lot of concentration is required and many, even I, fail to see it. Therefore, it is advised to wear 3D glasses to view them properly.

For example take a look at the image below -

Photo by ookami_dou

It is an unusual photo with bluish and redish colour all over. Everything is in two colours, cyan and red. For a normal eye, it is not a good image but after using 3D Glasses it gives a real illusion of depth.

How to create 3D glasses

Its extremely simlpe. Just grab an empty CD case. Scribble blue and red marker pen on the CD jewel case about the width of your eyes as shown in the image below and you're done. Yoru 3D glasses are ready. Put them in front of your eyes and view your 3D photos.

How to create your own 3D image

Here comes the main part.

To take your own anaglyph or 3D photo, you can use any camera. Even the camera on your phone will churn out decent 3D images. What is difficult is choosing a subject that gives illusion of depth. There should be few elements in the foreground, a few elements in the background, and the object prominently in the centre.

1. Take a photo of the subject of whom you want to create a 3D photo.

2. After taking one photo, move the camera a little to the right or left and take another photo. How much you move the camera depends on the distance of the camera from the object. If you are taking the photo of a small object, you have to move only a little, say 10cm or so. If you are taking the photo of a tree at a distance of about ten feet, you have to move your camera a distance of about two feet. If you are on top of a hill, and want to take an anaglyph of a cityscape, you might have to move about ten feet to the left 0r right to get the illusion of depth. Experiment a bit, take a lot of photos, and have patience if you don't get it in the first try.

Now you have your photos, lets move on to the next step.

To create your 3D photo, you'll require photoshop. There are many other softwares which can automatically create 3D photos. One such software is "Anaglyph Maker" and is available for free.

However, for this tutorial, I will show you how to make the photo using Photoshop.

1. Open up both the photos in Photoshop.

2. For the righthand side picture, go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance then slide the cyan/red slider all the way to red. By default this is done to to the 'Midtones' radio button, do it for both 'Hightlights' and 'Shadows'. For the left hand side picture, go through the same procedure, but slide thecyan/red slider all the way to cyan.

3. Now copy and paste anyone image over the other.

4. Then go to Layer > Layer style > Blending options and slide the opacity slider to 50%.

5. Save the image and your 3D photograph is ready.

For more examples on 3D photographs, you can join Stereophotography flickr group.

Create your own twin brother/sister in photoshop in two easy steps

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:03:00 +0000

Do you have a twin brother/sister which looks exactly like you?

After following this tutorial you'll have one.

I will not waste time in explaining what I am talking about, just see the final result yourself and you'll come to know what I am talking about.

Here's the final image that I made using this technique (the boy in the image is my friend) -

Now you might have understood, what I was talking about. To do this trick, you must only know how to open Photoshop and how to shoot pictures from your digital camera. Even a 3 year old baby can do it.

Here's the Tutorial -

Before opening Adobe Photoshop, you will, first, have to take two images of yourself in two different positions, or with different dress or whatever you like but the background must be same. It means, your camera must not move even a little bit.

Therefore it is advised to use a tripod.

Also, you should select a nice place to clone yourself such as a series of chairs where you and your clone are sitting next to each other or a car or a park where you and your clone are sitting in different positions. Your imagination is the only limit.

1. Put your camera on your tripod and set a timer after which it will automatically take picture. Set it to about 10 seconds. After you set the timer, just go and stand or sit or in any position, go in front of the camera and camera will automatically take your picture.

2. Now, don't move your camera. Repeat step (1) again in different position. If you want you can change your dress or anything you want.

You can take many pictures. It depends on how much clones you want to make. Here I'll be creating only one clone.

Here are the pictures, I will be using for the tutorial -

Now you have finished taking pictures, lets move on to Photoshop.

1. Open both the images in Adobe Photoshop.

2. Now select any one of the image and paste it over the other. To select, press Ctrl + A and to paste, press Ctrl + V. When you paste one image over the other, Photoshop automatically creates a new layer for the pasted image and only the pasted image appears because the other image layer is below it.

On the right hand side of the image, you can see two layers in layers pallete.

3. Now, select History Brush Tool by pressing "Y". Just move your History brush Tool over the place where your clone is supposed to be. Just move your hand freely and brush. As you move your brush, you will see the other image which you took start appearing.

Continue moving your brush everywhere until your clone is complete. Be careful not to move your brush over the image which is already present. Only move brush in background because, background is same in both the images. If you move brush over your image, then the background of the image will start appearing as shown in image below(inside a red box).

You can move your brush as many times you want over your clone but not over your other image.

You're done.

So you have just created your own clone in two steps - copy-paste and moving history brush tool.

Here are some good clone examples that can be created using this method -

Photo by Chris

Photo by jurvetson

Time lapse photography - the easiest way

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:57:00 +0000

There are many tricks and experiments that can be done with digital cameras, and time lapse photography is one of them. Time lapse photography is great fun - capturing a time frame using single photos taken at intervals. All these frames are put together to create short video clip.

Requirements

1. A digital camera - any digital camera will do.

2. Tripod or a stationary platform where you can keep your camera for a long period.

3. VirtualDub - free application

4. Xvid or x264 or Lagarith Lossless Video Codec - Codec must be installed on your computer

What to do

First select a target object you want to take the time lapse photo shoot of. It could be anything - a busy street, a blooming flower etc. Place the camera on the tripod or stationary platform at a suitable distance from the target you are shooting. Be careful - you must not move the camera from that position at all.

Depending on the type of object of the time lapse shoot, you need to decide an interval, after which the following shots will be taken. A time lapse of a flower blooming in the morning could happen in 5 hours, for example, so you need a sufficient number of frames to make up a good length time lapse. In this case, you would need to take a photo every 2-3 minutes of the object. The time interval may vary according to the target.

Now it's just a matter of time and patience and clicking the photos in the time after every 2 minutes. Make sure you have a sufficiently large memory card and the battery fully charged so you don't have to disturb the camera anytime. Remember, you don't need to take photos at 8MP resolutions. Anything up to 3 MP should be good enough. Don't change any settings between photos.

Creating the Time Lapse Video

Once shoot is done, copy all the images fom the camera to a single folder on the computer. Make sure to delete all previous photos taken on the camera.

From here on, things get really get simple.

Open VirtualDub up and click on File > Open Video File. Make sure the checkbox for "Automatically load linked segments" is checked. Browse to the folder where the photos are stored and choose the first image of the sequence. Click on Open. Just be sure that the images are numbered properly.

Its time to select the codec we want to use to export the video. Click Video > Compression and then select a codec from the list. If you have Xvid, select it and choose the quality or bitrates at which you want the video encoded. You can also select any other codec you have.

If you want a short audio clip, you can add by clicking on Audio from other file. Select the file and click Open. You can also add basic effects in virtualDub by clicking Video > Filters. When you are happy with your clip, click File > Save as AVI. Choose a location and click on Save.

Here are some examples of time lapse photography -

For more time lapse photography videos, you can join Time-lapse flickr group.

You can also search Youtube for tons of videos on time lapse photography.

Basic Overview of layer blending modes

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:56:00 +0000

My previous post was about the concept of Layers in photoshop which is a brief intoduction of layers. In this post I will be going in more detail and will be explaining Layer blending modes.
Understanding Layer blending modes is slightly difficult, you can only master them by practice and not just by reading various tutorials. But before you start, you should have a basic overview of different layer blending modes.

(The image on the left is provided by Sanctu.)

Layer Blending

Layer blending refers to the extent the overlapping layers interact with each other to yield the broader final picture. So say you have a layer containing th image of a lady, while on thesecond layer you have the image of a fish, you can easily create the effect of a mermaid by reducing the opacity of both layers and adjusting the layer blending mode. Effectively, the two layers merge down the centre.

Layer Blending Modes

Here are some popular blending modes :-

Normal

As the name suggests, in this mode, the layers blend normally and is set by default. When a pattern is set at 100% opacity, we would'nt see the base image at all. To get a glimpse of base layer, you have to reduce the opacity of the upper layer. After reducing the opacity of the upper layer to 50%, which effectively means half transperency, the base layer begins to show up.

Dissolve

In order to use Dissolve, the opacity of the top layer should be less than 100%. It gives a dissolve like effect as if upper layer is dissolving in lower layer.

Multiply

Multiply blending mode multiplies the base colour by the blend colour to yield the resultant colour. It always results in darker hues. But how could the colours get multiplied? It's precisely the multiplication of the values of the colours.

Screen

Now that you have seen how the multiply effect works, you will notice that the Screen effect is exactly opposite. Screen performs the xact same multiplication steps as Multiply, except that every numerical value is replaced with its inverse.

Overlay

The overlay effect is between the results of Multiply and Screen. However, it lets the base image stand out more - this is because it uses Multiply mode on shadows and Screen mode on highlights.

Soft Light

The soft light effect works by using the blend image as a light source (a soft light) for the base image. So, if the blend colour has a brightness of more than 50%, then the base colour gets lightened . Similarly, if the blend image's colour is darker than 50% then the base image's colour gets darkened.

The Concept of layers in photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:50:00 +0000

Among important features of photoshop, one of the most important is "Layers". Many or, I should say, most of the photoshop users (beginners) have problem in understanding the concept of layers, even I also faced many problems. They have some or the other confusion which leads to unwanted problems in image editing.

"Layers" is one of the most important features and very easy to understand. Without the knowledge of layers, one should not even imagine pro like image editing in photoshop. At the end of the post you'll surely say that how I was confused with such an easy thing.

Here was some introduction, now, lets directly come to the point without wasting any more time.

The Concept of Layers

Layers are used to reduce the effect of mistakes, and preventing the original image from being damaged. You can protect the image by creating a new layer. To create a new layer go to Layer > New > Layer or press Shift + Ctrl + N. After creating a new layer, whatever changes you will make in the image will be applied on the layer and if something goes wrong just delete the layer and you'll get back your original image. To delete the layer, just select the layer from the layers panel on right and press delete or right click on it and select delete layer and you're done. In other case, if you do not create a new layer before editing then editing will be done directly on the image and if any wrong thing happens you'll not be able to recover the original image.
Also layers can be used to make changes only to a particular part of an image. Let us take some example. Suppose you have a person's portrait in which you want to make changes only to eye. So, select only the eyes using any of the selection tools and then copy them to a new layer. To copy the selection directly to the new layer, press Ctrl + J. Now any changes made by you in the new layer will only be applied to the eyes and rest of the image will remain untouched. In this way you can edit many different parts of image by creating as many layers. Your background will remain untouched until you make any changes to background layer.
Layers are also very helpful in combining or adding two or more images to the original image. For example, if you have a garden background image and want to add plants or trees to it just select the appropriate image or cut it out from other image and paste in the original image. When you paste a different image in original image, photoshop automatically paste it on new layer. Also, you can move layers above or below other layer by just dragging them up or down according to your need. If suppose you pasted two different objects "A" and "B" on an image and want object "A" to appear below "B", just move the object "A" layer below "B", you're done.

There is a lot more you can do with layers. To get familiar, practice creating them and moving them around.

Introduction to Camera Raw

noreply@blogger.com (Ankush Rajput) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:49:00 +0000

If you are the one who have heard about camera raw or people saying recording in camera raw is better than in any other image format but wondering what is camera raw and why it is better than other image formats than you have landed on the right page.

Camera Raw
A raw file contains all the processed data collected by your camera's sensors. It's the most accurate representation of the photograph you took, and contains more colour information than common image formats. Only high-end cameras record raw data, so you'll probably not work with this format unless you own a DSLR.

Unlike standard formats like JPEG or TIFF, however, camera raw formats are specific to manufacturers, and would originally work only with software that was provided by them.

Here are some popular camera manufacturers with there raw image formats -

Fuji - .raf
Canon - .crw, .cr2
Kodak - .tif, .kdc, .dcr
Minolta - .mrw
Nikon - .nef
Olympus - .orf
Adobe - .dng
Pentax - .ptx, .pef
Sony - .arw, .srf, .sr2
Panasonic - .raw

For all practical purposes, a raw file is digital equivalent of the film negative, and just like you can use chemicals to develop the film the way you want, you can use software to "develop" your camera's raw. In either case, the negative remains intact, so you can start over if you don't like the results.