“There are several advantages to the newly redesigned Crop tool in Photoshop CS6. In this video tutorial, Julieanne demonstrates the refined interface, new features, customizable presets, enhanced tools and essential shortcuts that will make cropping easier than ever.”
Plus find Julianne’s list of crop tool short cuts here.
View more Photoshop videos here.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.
Walter Chapelle’s Metaflora series is the kind of photography that fascinates me most. Rather than portraying things as we see them, it uses photography to extend our senses, providing new windows into the universe.
Chapelle uses Kirlian photography to look deeply into the world of plants. Kirlian photography (named after the Russian inventor Semyon Kirlian) is a form of camera-less form of photography, akin to a photogram, that records the effects of high voltages of electricity applied to objects in contact with light-sensitive material. An electric current separates the electrons from atoms and objects become ionized and glow, albeit faintly. Typically, nothing is seen by the observer during exposure, but an image appears when developed. The size and shape of the energy field are related to the amount of water, a prerequisite for life, in the object as well as the surrounding atmosphere. Plantlife loses moisture after it is harvested so the length of time between picking and exposure affects the intensity of the effect. Electromagnetic radiation penetrates beyond the typically opaque surfaces revealed by reflected light, itself one manifestation of a broader spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, and renders both the interiors and the immediate exteriors surrounding objects.
This glimpse into the invisible electro-magnetic fields that surround all objects, including our own bodies, generates visual effects that are reminiscent of the age-old idea of auras or the spiritual bodies of living things. Part science and part poetry, Chapelle uses this unusual perspective to speak metaphorically about seeing into the hidden dimensions of ourselves.
Veteran National Geographic photographer Sam Abell offers a look inside the heart and mind of a master photographer.
Then go behind the scenes and hear Sam Abell talk about his career, what inspires and influences his work, and his most memorable adventures.
View more photographer’s videos here.
A majority of landscapes include the horizon line. (It would be fair to say I’m obsessed with the horizon.) How the frame is divided (creating an aspect ratio within an aspect ratio) by this line speaks volumes. It directs the gaze up or down. It also creates an expressive ratio. Every proportion has a particular psychological inflection.
The ‘rule of thirds’ is an effective way of encouraging people to make images more directed, by prioritizing one element over another, and dynamic, through imbalance. But overlooking the power of other proportions is limiting, if not simplistic and insensitive. So too, is avoiding the middle or balance. Proportion is a visual force to be applied, rather than a rule to be adhered to.
There are a number of ways to achieve a desired effect; distort, crop, copy, or combine are four. Each method brings other effects with it.
How many ways can you think of dividing the frame for effect in your images?
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.
Distortions of the same image explore aspect ratio expressively
The proportion of an image’s frame is a fundamental part of its statement.
Unlike many documentary photographers who keep the proportion of their image frames constant to reduce their presence and suggest that their images haven’t been altered, I do the opposite for precisely the opposite reason, to more clearly highlight that my images have been altered by me. The question of whether an image has or has not been altered is a misleading question. Every image, whether documentary or artistic, has been altered, but to different degrees, in different ways, and for different reasons. Questions of method, extent, and intent are more revealing and interesting.
I use the proportion of the frame expressively. Because different proportions each add something different, I don’t standardize, I customize the proportions of my images. I distort the frame, crop the frame, and/or extend the frame through compositing and sometimes retouching, before settling on a final solution that creates the strongest statement.
How do you use aspect ratio in your images?
Read more on Digital Photo Pro.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.
39 pages of strategies and insights to improve your website’s search engine rankings and attract more clients – free.
Download it here.
Find links to more useful guides by Photoshelter here.
Noiseware 5 did an even better job than Noiseware 4 at reducing noise on a new series of images I’m printing now.
Noiseware 5 is now available.
– New algorithms are 25% more effective and retain more detail
– 64 bit compatible (Mac and Windows)(CS6)
– 4X faster with multi-core support
– New History feature with unlimited undos
– New Preset Manager for presets, notes, and import/export
The upgrade is free for registered users.
New users get a 20% discount with this code JPC2007.
Read my review here.
Download Noiseware 5 here.
Learn more about controlling noise in digital images here.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.
“In this Quick Tip, Julieanne quickly demonstrates how to create a 32-bit file from multiple exposures in Photoshop and then, using the Develop module in Lightroom 4.1 refines the image’s color and tonality both globally and selectively – all while still working in 32-bit!”
Read more about HDR here.
View more about HDR here.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.
I’m having a great time printing this series of images!
At first glance, they look like classic black and white images. In reality, they’re full color captures of a near neutral subject, processed and printed as color images. The trace amounts of color from the original subject make a very subtle but meaningful addition to the final image and print.
The trace amounts of color in the image are so subtle, I wasn’t sure which color management options would yield the best printed results; shadow detail, gradation, neutrality and graybalance all play major roles.
To get the final prints today, I tested multiple printer color management routes (Photoshop, Printer, Printer Adv B&W)(my ImagePrint tests are pending). Using Printer color management for color offered the results I was looking for – not Photoshop, which clipped deep shadow detail and not Printer Adv B&W which rendered warm grays by default and cool toning solutions added more cool toning to the highlights than the shadows making the prints look like they carried a faint color cross).
They’re really touchy images. I found out how touchy when I went from 4×6 proofs to 11×14 prints, which when enlarged looked slightly lighter and lower contrast. A contrast curve for enlargement solved this.
At larger scale the noise became an issue, which I’m sleeping on. On the one hand, the subject is made of particles of water, which you can see when you are there. On the other hand it looks distracting to people who don’t know this. Water blurs with motion but the motion is frozen in these very fast exposures. I polled other people around me (including my father). Then I settled on an unexpected solution. I let some of the noise come through only in the areas of greatest focus, drawing slightly more attention to them. (Some noise can makes images appear sharper.)
There was a another surprise. I tested the images on glossy paper (Epson Exhibition Fine Art Paper). The extra depth in the blacks made another improvement in the image, so much so that it was worth the trade off for the soft surface of the matte paper. I made a similar test with a related series, Fumo, and didn’t make this choice. But here it was clear. This is the first time I’ve made my final prints on glossy paper.
I made these images while scouting my 2011 Focus On Nature workshop with Ragnar Th Sigurdsson and Arthur Meyerson. Arthur and I, two colorists who love the colors black gray and white and talk about them as colors.
I’m looking forward to returning to Iceland (and this waterfall) this August to lead a workshops again for Focus On Nature with +Einar Erlendsson , +Ragnar Th. Sigurdsson and +seth resnick . +Arthur Meyerson Arthur Meyerson will join us at the end of our Iceland workshop for our Arctic Voyage workshop/cruise from Longyearben to Greenland and finally back to Iceland.
We have a few more spaces left our Iceland workshop.
There’s one space left in our Greenland workshop.
There are a two more spaces in my Fine Digital Print Advanced workshop.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.
Joyce Tenneson provides quick candid answers to 20 questions
What’s the best thing about photography?
Meeting new and interesting people.
What’s the worst thing about photography?
People always ask about equipment first!
What’s the thing that interests you most about your own photographs?
It’s like looking at a diary…I can see who I was 10, 20 and 30 years ago!
What’s the thing that interests you most about other people’s photographs?
Seeing how other photographers problem solve, particularly with the content of their portraits.
Read the rest here.
Read other photographer’s answers to the same questions here.
Find out more about Joyce Tenneson here.
