Digital Photography

A Little DOF If You Please

Ok, like I said... I wasn't happy with the dof (depth of field) in the photos in my last post. So off I went for some practice. The roses in the little walking park near my house were the perfect subjects. I put my Nikon D40 on Aperature Priority and started shooting!

As you can see I remembered to change the angle by shooting the flowers at their level.

   
Click image for larger view.

Here are the camera settings for the above image:

ISO 200 | f 5.0 | 1/400

 
Click image for larger view.

Here are the camera settings for the above image:

ISO 200 | f 5.3 | 1/200

The only post processing that I did was an curves adjustment layer using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and a little bit of sharpening. 

Sharpening Steps:

1. Duplicate the image layer.
2. Select Filter>Other>HighPass. I used a radius of 5.0.
3. Change the Blend Mode to Overlay or Soft Light.
4. If the effect is too intense lower the opacity.

  

 

If you want to try this technique of enhancing your photos or you just want a nice image of a rose you can download the SOOC images (slightly downsized to reduce the file size) by clicking the links below.

Pink Rose - View this photo

Yellow Rose - View this photo

To save the image on a PC using Windows: Click on the "View this photo" link, right click on the image, and select Save Picture As option from the pop up menu.

To save the image on a MAC: Click on the "View this photo" link, CTRL+click on the image, and select Save Image As option from the pop up menu.

Did you enjoy the tip? Did you try the technique? Leave me a comment and a link to your version of the roses. I'd love to see them!

Change the Angle for Better Photos

One of the best ways to create interesting images is to change your shooting angle. I took my camera out to the garden to demonstrate. My garden ain't fancy. As you can see the Weedless Gardening is coming along fine. I say this to show that you don't have to go far to practice this tip. Just grab your camera and step outside your back door!

It's sad to admit but this first image is what I used to think was a good photo. This is pretty much SOOC. Just a little bit of cropping to make it fit the frame. All I did was stand there, point the camera at the ground, and press the shutter button. Note that the zucchini blossom which is the main subject of the photo is pretty much smack dab centered in the middle. HEY! I didn't even know about the Rule of Thirds until a few years ago.

BORING!

 
Click image for larger view.

Now here's my second shot. Still SOOC but I knelt down so I could take the shot at a much lower angle, switched the camera to macro mode, and zoomed in to "fill the frame" with the main subject. No model release was needed for this shot ;)

I hope you agree that this is MUCH more interesting than the first photo!

  
Click image for larger view.

I didn't achieve the DOF (depth of field) that I would have like so..... with the help of Photoshop here's my final presentation of the shot. You know me... I just can't help myself from playing around.

    
Click image for larger view.

Production steps:

1. Curves adjustment layer.
2. Selected blossom.
3. Inverted selection.
4. Hue/Saturation layer to tone down the leaves and straw.
5. Hue/Saturation layer to "punch up" the yellow tones.
6. Made a duplicate layer of all the layers I have so far by:
   • Selecting the first layer.
   • Shift click the top layer.
   • Press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E.
   • Press ALT and drag the mask to add it to this duplicate layer.
7. Applied Lens Blur filter based on mask to add some DOF then lowered opacity to 50% (or so).
8. Added some text and saved for the web.

I'm sure you've heard about this technique before BUT... do you remember to do it? If it's a new tip for you then you learned something new today and we all need to do more of that!

Assignment:

1. Grab your camera. 

2. Take several before and after photos.

3. Follow the Production Steps. (Optional)

4. Post a comment and a link where we can see your before and after images. If you need somewhere to post your pics I've started a Flickr Group for the assignments here.

Thanks for looking!

P.S. The font is Bleeding Cowboy available at Dafont.com.

Are you a Graphic Designer?

I consider myself a graphic designer and the opening question of this post really hit home. "Ever tell a non-designer what you do for a living and get a blank look that says you haven’t connected?" I always struggle when I try to tell people what I do.

If you are a designer, graphic or digital or web or whatever, then here's a good discussion about graphic design you might want to check out. Let me know what you think about it.

The Grass Must Be Greener

As I said in my last post... I have been bad..... very bad! I haven't taken hardly any photos all Winter long. Spring, too! So when Hubby and I went to the Fiber Fest recently I made sure to take my camera. I was pretty sure that there would be at least one photo op. If not I was just gonna shoot something... anything... just to get back into the practice of pressing the shutter button! 

But, of course, as in all things in life many good photo ops occurred. Here is one of the sweeter moments. While waiting his turn to be sheared this little guy was eating the grass that was as far away from the pen as he could get. It was too cute to pass up!

 

Like the frame? Get the free Layered PSD file here.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my photography blog. Here's the deal. I love taking photos but... I'm not taking any! So I'm starting this blog to encourage myself to grab my Nikon and start shooting some. Can't promise there will be one each and every day but hopefully it'll be often enough to make you want to visit often.

If you read my bio you know that I was once a member of the PSP Club. That stands for Point, Shoot, & PRAY I got a decent shot. I only a few steps away from there today but I'm getting better with every image.

Sometimes I might share a photo SOOC (straight out of the camera) for ya'll to critique. Sometimes it will be totally fixed up including a fancy frame. I am a digital designer after all. Who knows there may even be some free downloads now and then.

We'll be talking about all kinds of tips and techniques to enhance your photos. Pay attention there will be homework assignments!

Until next time, grab your camera and go out and shoot something!