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So, first I set up some chess pieces. The first six pieces are each set 3 inches apart. The last two are each set 12 inches apart from the previous.

All images are at ISO 400 and 55mm.

Okay, on this first set the lens is 30 inches away from the first chess piece. You can see the affects on focus as the aperture is made smaller. My focus point was on the face of the first piece.

I then moved the camera closer to the pieces…to 14 inches away. Notice how the closer you move the camera, the less DOF you get even with smaller apertures. I then moved the camera farther away to 60 inches. Notice the difference between the three distances. Remember these front pieces are only 3 inches apart…that’s not a lot.

f/2.8

f/8

f/22

Now, all of the previous pictures were with the focus on the first piece. How does DOF affect your focus when you focus in other places? Let’s see… For this next series I focused on the third piece. Again, notice how the distance to subject affects the DOF even though the aperture is the same.

f/2.8

f/8

f/22

So, some food for thought. Where are you focusing when you have more than one subject? Also, do you think of how far away you are from your subject when you choose your aperture?

This tutorial gives just a quick basis and overview of the pen tool and will hopefully give you enough understanding that you’ll be willing to delve in and start practicing yourself.  The pen tool definitely needs practice, but once you get a handle on it, you’ll find that it’s a very easy and effective tool to use in your Photoshop arsenal.

And on a quick note, I’ve still got some practicing to do when it comes to creating and producing tutorial videos.  Hopefully it’s not too apparent, but I’ll get better.  Enjoy.

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Here we go… First, you’ll need to create a new image. Your size, dpi, color, etc is all up to you and what you want to do. For this example, I created a 5×5 album page with a 0.25 inch bleed edge on each side.

Now, this is where I choose to do a little work up front. I set up my guides.

Go to your toolbar: View -> New Guide

You’ll want to set up vertical and horizontal guides depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. For this one, I set up my bleed guides at 0.25 inches and 5.25 inches both vertically and horizontally.

I also wanted 0.25 inches from the edge of the page to any images and 0.25 inches between the images. This takes a little math sometimes. Here’s my guides set up.

Okay, now that my guides are set, it’s pretty easy from here. Go to your shape tool and choose your shape. I chose a rounded rectangle with a 40 pixel radius for this shape. Making sure my foreground color is black, I draw a shape in the top left hand corner using my guides to know where to begin and end the shape.

You can then draw the rest of your shapes. Here I drew three more so that I’d have an even page.

Okay, now your template is pretty much complete as far as the template goes. If you want, you can save it as a PSD now with template in the name.

The rest of it is using clipping masks to put your images in.

Select the Shape 1 layer. Drag and drop your image onto the layer and it will create a new layer right above the Shape 1 layer. I rename it Image 1.

Then you right-click the new layer with the image on it and select Create Clipping Mask.

That’s it. Now you can move the image, resize it, do whatever needs to be done to get it how you like it.

Continue to add images by selecting the next shape layer where you’ll want the image to show, drag and drop, create clipping mask, rinse and repeat as necessary.

You can also save your PSD here for the template and just add new images on the already clipped layers. Either way, that’s one way to create a template.

So, what is BBF?  Well, it’s exactly what it implies: it’s using a button on the back of your camera to autofocus.  The default for most dSLR cameras is to press the shutter button halfway down to lock focus and exposure, then to fully press to actuate the shutter and capture the image.  However, using the default can be a little unreliable because if you lift up ever-so-slightly on the shutter button, you might accidentally lose your focus lock and end up focusing on something you didn’t intend to.  BBF solves this problem by separating the focus from the shutter, so once you lock focus, it’s locked until you choose to refocus again.

I’ll run you through setting up BBF on either your Nikon or your Canon, but if you have a different make or even the same make but different model, just refer to your User Manual.

We’ll start with the Nikon D300 pictured above.  You’ll see the AF-ON button is circled.  This is the button you’ll use to BBF. So, to set this let’s open the Menu and go to Custom Settings as pictured below.

Hit your OK button with Autofocus highlighted on the screen and then scroll down and choose ‘a5.‘ This will give you two options.  Select AF-ON only.  Hit your OK button again and exit the menu.  You’re done!  If you have another Nikon model, just look into the User Manual to see where the option is located and it’ll direct you where you need to go.

Alright Canon users, we’ll use the 40D for you.  You’ll see your AF-ON button circled below.

Alright, so now go into your menu and scroll over to the Custom Functions options.  Turn your dial to highlight C. Fn I – IV and press SET.  Turn the dial again to highlight C. Fn IV-1 and press SET.  Turn the dial again to set the value to ‘3 – AE lock/Metering + AF start’ and press SET one last time.  Then you can exit your menu.

Again, if you have another Canon model, just look into the User Manual to see where the option is located and it’ll direct you where you need to go.

Note: depending on how comfortable or easy it is for your thumb to reach the AF-ON button, you might find it beneficial to switch the operations of the AF-ON button and the ‘*‘ button to the right of it.  To do this, just set your C.Fn II button to value ‘1′ and you’ll use the ‘*‘ button to BBF instead of the AF-ON button.  It’s just a matter of preference, but don’t let it confuse you.

Alright, now that you have your camera set to use BBF, you need to practice a little bit.  The way I suggest doing this is to set your camera to use a focus mode of AF-S for Nikon or Single Shot for Canon and set your focus point to the center of the screen so that it doesn’t move.  This is just suggested for the practice exercise, so if you prefer AI Focus over Single Shot, then feel free to do what you like; do set the focus point to the center though.

Note: If you’re not used to this technique and have good lenses that are fast and quiet when they focus, you might not have confidence that the BBF is actually working.  Don’t worry, it is.

Choose your fastest lens (your nifty fifty will be perfect for this) and set it to its largest aperture.  Place a few things (3-4 small objects like coffee mugs will work) at different places on an uncluttered table.  Vary the distance of the objects to you and your camera, but be sure to place them so that they’ll all fit in your camera viewfinder.  The next steps describe the focus/recompose technique so if you’re already familiar, get to it.

Get as close as you can to your minimum focusing distance and center the closest object  in your frame.  Press the back button to focus on it.  Use the shutter button to activate your meter and dial in proper exposure, but don’t take the picture yet.  Once that’s done, recompose the image so that one of the other objects is centered in your viewfinder, but make sure that the original object is still in the frame.  Don’t refocus! Now, take the picture.

The object that you originally focused on should still have the main focus even though it wasn’t the object in the center of the frame when you pressed the shutter button.

It will take some time to get used to using BBF, but once you do, you’ll wonder how you ever took pictures without it.

Color correction, like many other things in Photoshop, is something that can be accomplished in different ways.  This way isn’t the only way, it isn’t necessarily the best way, and it’s only ever just a way to get you close.  If you’re working on your own images, then you’ll have to rely on your memory to know what the colors should look like or how you’d like them to look.

The one thing you should definitely have, though, before you start trying to correct the color of your images is a properly calibrated monitor. Hope this helps you.  And if it does, then be sure to Digg it!!

NOTE: I make reference in the video to the K in CMYK standing for Kelvin.  This is incorrect.  K actually stands for the color black.

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