Archive for February, 2009
Faking a Tilt-and-Shift Effect in Photoshop
This is a really effective and deceptively simple process that is most commonly used to create a distortion of scale – makes any shot with buildings and people in look like a model village! But it’s also really effective for creating a false depth of field, and forcing a point of focus.
Basically you make a selection of the whole image, apart from a stripe across where you want the image to remain in focus. It works best with shots taken from a high viewpoint, with people and buildings in. …but I haven’t got any of those handy so I’m going to demonstrate on something completely different! A photo of two people walking down a canal tow path!
Open the image in Photoshop...
Open the unprocessed image in Photoshop. Work out where you want the in-focus strip to be in the photo and create a Selection with it. › Continue reading
Photo of the Week #6: by AB ..
photo by Abdurrehman Zia
Congratulations to AB .. for winning our sixth weekly photo contest! Here’s a bit more information about our latest flickrite of the week:
Name: AB ..
Location: Pakistan
The photo: “Have pretty deep thoughts associated with this one…”
Copyright…Protection?
Copyright by Uncommon Depth
I’ve been thinking today about how us photographers can protect our ideas and our work. The internet although a great place to share and promote our work is not hugely secure. Any image posted to the internet can be stolen without your knowledge and used by someone else as there own. There are some techniques out there that try to stop this happening but most of them aren’t that effective and can easily be by-passed. The only effective ways to protect your images online include using not very subtle watermarks in a prominent place or only posting very low resolution versions of your images.
There are laws in place to protect us but how effective are they? Have your images ever been stolen or used without permission? If so, what course of action did you take?
I’ve included a couple of links below for some factual reading on the subject regarding copyright law but obviously this is mostly UK specific I believe the laws do vary slightly depending on what international borders are crossed!! The whole subject is a bit of minefield but an interesting one for discussion…Do you have any useful links to add to this list?
UK Copyright Service P-16 – Photography and Copyright
UK Copyright Service P-05- Copyright Infringement: What to do?
Digital Photography School: How to protect your digital images online
Victory Could Be Yours
Just a quick reminder that Monday is the closing date for the current photographywired contest… This week the theme is Lost or Found! So get shooting! You’ve got to be in to win it!
Do you need some inspiration? Try here, here, here or maybe even here or here.
Ethel Whymark | Long lost relatives by Simon Pollock
Half Nekkid Thursdays
A Half Nekkid Thursday by S.Mackenzie (disco~stu)
Well it’s time to promote another flickr group again. This time its the turn of Half Nekkid Thursdays. I’ve chosen this group purely on the basis that it was all started by a good flickr contact of mine (le crustydolphin) whom I recently had the pleasure of meeting in the the real world….as you’d expect she rocks at photography and is a lovely kind person. So yes folks nepotism really does work around here and today we get ready to celebrate Thursdays in the half nekkid way…lol!
The Idea behind the group is to once a week take and post a picture of yourself (or others I guess) half nekkid. The key it seems though is to be nekkid and not naked….confused? don’t be the rules state…. › Continue reading
Flash Light: Direction Equals Mood!
1: 5º angle from camera
55º angle from camera
100º angle from camera
140º angle from camera
I thought I’d have a very quick play around today, with my Speedlite 580EXII flash handheld (fired by the Canon ST-E2 IR transmitter – which, of course, you won’t need if you’ve got a Nikon with it’s fancypants built in flash control system…). I just wanted to show how much the direction of your off-camera flash – in relation to the subject – impacts on the mood of a shot.
The shots here were taken one after another, with exactly the same exposure settings (“cabin crew, set cameras to Manual – thank you”) – f/5.6 and 1/160sec – the only difference is that I moved the flash about 30-50º between shots (holding it in my right hand). But, I think you’ll agree, that one small difference makes a HUGE difference to the final outcome! So think carefully above your flash placement 
Attack of the Clones
In Bed With Ya Bad Self by S.Mackenzie (disco~stu)
Haven’t you always wanted to be in two places at once. I know its something I’d find useful. Well here is a quick and dirty method to achieve just that using photoshop. There are other methods to achieve this effect, but this is probably one of the simplest. I’m sure you could approach this exactly the same in other editing software but I’ve used photoshop as it’s what I’m comfortable with.
Step 1. Shoot the two photographs that you are going to use to give the illusion of having an evil twin of doppelgänger. The important thing here is to get both photographs from exactly the same spot and using the same exposure. So set your camera up on a tripod and make sure you shoot in manual mode so the camera won’t try and be clever and alter exposure between shots. Once you have the photos load them both up into photoshop. (click on images to enlarge)
Step 2. Copy one photograph on top of the other so they are both on the same image but different layers, because you’ve shot them from the same place you should be able to lay one on top of the other quite precisely. › Continue reading
How Did You Learn?
Detention Time by S.Mackenzie (aka disco~stu)
Today I want to explore how you all learnt to use your camera and take good photographs. Photography in lots of ways is as much a science as it is an art form. Using a camera correctly and consistently to get great photos requires an understanding of photography that you’re not born with so how have you learnt it?
I’ve found that I’ve used a combination of resources to find out what I’ve needed to know. Mostly I’ve gathered information from reading (books and internet) and also by repeated trial and error and experimentation. I want to know from the options below which 3 methods you’ve found most effective? maybe elaborate on your answers in the comments and include any I’ve missed out.
If anyone has attended any photography courses please let us know how you found this experience. As this is something I’ve considered but so far not tried. Feel free to include links to good resources you’ve used.
Loading ...
Recent photos
- don't you love me baby, don't you love me wooooo-o-o-o #photowired #notdead #maybe #just #sleeping
- follow us on twitter