How do I work my images?
It all depends on the photograph that I am taking as to how I will work it to a finish. This may sound a bit long-winded, but to really understand how my photograph is being worked, it all comes together in a picture that you may see in my portfolio on ThinkCamera!
Most of my photographs have been taken in RAW, with my digital cameras; a Canon EOS 350D and EOS 20D. Not that this should make any difference to the image. Sometimes though, I will create an image with Sophia's camera which is a eight megapixel compact zoom.
To create HDR images, I have downloaded Photomatix basic from Google search, and this is FREE! Any one who is interested in HDR should check it out (as well as looking at Xinya He's HDR feature. Here's one of my HDR examples:
Enhance Photo > Photo Fix
After I've HDR'd “Searching for Spring” in Photomatix basic, I opened this picture in Corel Paint Shop Pro XI. Then, I clicked on 'Enhance Photo' and pulled down 'Smart Photo Fix':
This tool has several applications to darken or lighten the shadow area without affecting the over all photograph. The 'Overall' slider affects the whole of the image by darkening or lighting it, similar to fill in light. As you might expect, the 'Highlight' slider only affects the highlights of your picture. Then there is also the 'Saturation' and 'Focus' sliders to play with.
I use this on most of my photographs to improve the overall appearance. When you've finished, click OK!
Selection tool/Lasso tool
Now, I want to isolate and section areas that I feel needs working on without affecting the rest of my photograph! To do this I love the lasso tool or the selection tool that looks like a lasso. I zoom right into the picture for maximum control but leave enough room so that I can still recognise the edges that I need to go around with my selection tool. To select the horizon or the sky, I try to avoid the trees and bushes if I can, for they can get to dark or even black and will ruin the picture.
Feather
Before I lasso, I decide what effect I want with the Feather tool from the select tool. This will determine if the edges are going to be smooth and straight, which would be 0! Or if I want a layering or vignette effect around the subject? This would be from 1 - 200! I suggest you should experiment to get to know how the feather effect looks on your work. This is all down to personal preferences. It is a bit like, how much salt do you like on your food?
Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Curves
Once the portion has been selected and I have lassoed around the sky, I will go into Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Curves, select curves! A box comes up and you see your selected part of the image in a window. This is the part that is going to be worked on. In my case, I want to darken the sky and bring out the drama of the clouds.
In the box there is a diagonal line. Grab the middle of the line and move it about. You will see how the selected part is changing in contrast. I drag the middle of the line slightly down until I am happy with the result, and then click ok!
Get familiar with the different tools and experiment with them! This is what I do and am still learning. I build up my experience through experimenting. The result is seen in my portfolio!
Invert selection
If I want to save time and work on the foreground of the picture, while the sky is still selected. I go into Selection and click on Invert. Or you tap on 'Alt + Shift + I' to invert my selection. Now my foreground is selected and the sky deselected.
Finally to the black and white effect!
Adjust > Color > Channel Mixer
This method applies to most of my black and white images, whether they are a straight shot or have been enhanced first. I go into Adjust > Color > Channel Mixer, tick the Monochrome box. Red will default to 100, while green and blue to 0. This usually turns the blue sky very dark, and the skin or anything that has red in it very pale to white.
Make sure that, whichever way you choose to move the slider, to maintain a total of 100%. As an example only;
Red% -40, Green% 28, Blue% 112, and it adds up 100%! Play about with that to get a feel for how this makes your black and white photograph look.
If the red lightens red, the green slider should lighten anything green and the blue, blue!
Use your judgement and then click ok. But make sure you don't burn out any highlights in your photograph. This can look ugly if it is overdone. Once I am satisfied, I click ok and move on to the next treatment.
Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Histogram Adjustment
To finish of my picture I will go into Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Histogram Adjustment. There is a slider on the side that will affect the contrast of the image. Slide it down, the contrast increases. Slide it up and it will decrease. I like to increase the contrast, trying not to burn out highlights in Sophia's face. On the bottom of the box of the histogram there are little triangles,
Low Gamma High.
Move the middle triangle Gamma towards the high, and will bring out details in the shadow area. While moving towards the Low, it will bring out details in the highlights.
That is where the selection tool will also be useful if you don't want to affect the rest of the picture but only one aspect. Click ok and I am almost done!
Final finishing touches!
Learning centre > Home > Effects > film and filter
Corel Paintshop XI have this extra facility that I love to use for effects. It has a learning centre > home > effects > film and filter. I love the Glamour and Warming.
And finally, here is the final result. Hope you like it:
