I thought I’d share some relatively recent natural light photos that I’ve taken. I would like to thank my makeup artist, Diana, as well as all of the models!

Recent Natural Light Photos is a post from: www.Photo-Manipulator.com

Why use image editing software?

A good digital point and shoot or SLR camera will suffice if you want to derive good quality photos, but if you want your photos to be known for its professional finesse, editing the pictures using a good photo editing software is essential.

Photo editing software has become a necessity in this era of online marketing and social networking. Business entities worldwide are capitalizing on the online media to generate sales leads and drive revenue growth. As digital cameras become cheaper and more user-friendly, adding or altering images is becoming more and more commonplace in the online world. Photos induce confidence in customers’ minds while adding value to the quality of the content. Whether you post them on your website or your Facebook page, a quality photo never fails to impress the audience. The true potential of a photo can only shine through by using photo editing techniques such as, image enhancement, image clipping and other photo manipulation techniques.

The photos shot from your camera might end up having images that are too bright or too dark, grainy or blurry, or with unnecessary distractions. Photo editing software allows you to correct the errors and remove distractions. You can remove red eye, adjust contrast and brightness, remove stains, and alter the background. Almost all photo editing software include adjustments such as cropping, brightness, rotation, contrast and resizing. A good image editing software can help you get the best out of your photo, and the desired result.

There may be plenty of reasons why you would want to use an image editor. Four of the most important ones are:

Image enhancement

Image enhancement techniques are used to display the depth in colors and properties, so that all the details in your image gets highlighted. Without enhancement, your camera image may look dull and lifeless. Using image enhancement features, you can accomplish the following effects:

• Increase or decrease contrast
• Make an image look lighter or darker
• Crop your image to a professional standard
• Remove reflections from glass, water and other reflective surfaces
• Resize images to a predefined size

Photo Restoration

Photo restoration is an image editing procedure which helps in adding life back to your old photos. Photos are prone to wear and tear if not preserved properly, or lose its luster due to the heat and humidity. Photo restoration methods are used to bring back the old glory to your faded and worn-out photos. This is achieved by taking care of:

• Minor cracks
• Fold lines or creases
• Fading of colors
• Tears
• Missing areas which need to be reconstructed
• Lost tonality and color which requires restoration

Image Manipulation

Image manipulation helps in adding necessary effects to your images to make it eye-catching and/or removing unnecessary distractions from the background. You may want to create an artwork or an element of deception in your picture, to make it appear like a completely different version of the original image. With the help of Image manipulation techniques, you can:

• Add color to a black and white photo
• Retouch photos to turn it into an art form, making it suitable for creative advertisements
• Add extra elements to your photo that would otherwise be technically impossible to shoot on location or in a studio
• Use multiple images to create a single composite image

Image Clipping

Image clipping becomes a necessity when you have a picture with intensity in unwanted areas, stealing away the focus from the subject or the area you wanted to highlight. You may have a background that is too gaudy, or a background that overshadows the image subject itself. In such cases, retaining the image in its right perspective becomes absolutely crucial.

Image clipping involves:

• Photo masking to remove background or to make objects stand out
• Removing the background image
• Adding realistic shadows to get a realistic look
• Retouching photos to reduce blemishes, scars or glare

Digital photos often have different image formats, like TIF, JPG, GIF, BMP and PDF. Most image editing software allows you to view, export or import any image format with ease. Hence, you can ensure you do not run into any compatibility issues in the future.

Businesses are increasingly gearing towards online branding in an effort to leverage the online market. Uploading photos on a social media site and sharing them with friends has become a regular online activity. An image editing software or an adept photo editing expert adds the wow factor to your images while keeping your main subject crisply in focus.

Four Reasons for Using Image Editing Software is a post from: www.Photo-Manipulator.com

A lot of people recommend using the Liquify tool in Photoshop for getting Photoshop Skinny.  However, unless it is a major project, I disagree.  Personally, I find that using the Warp tool is much simpler and far faster for getting thin with Photoshop.  Watch my video tutorial to learn how to shed unwanted  pounds using the Warp Tool in Photoshop.

Why Not Use the Liquify Tool Instead of the Warp Tool to get Photoshop Skinny?

There are many reasons that I avoid the Liquify Tool in Photoshop.  For one, it can be unpredictable about moving the pixels around the image.  If done poorly, it is obvious that you used liquify – which is great if you’re going for that look, but not so great if you are trying to achieve a realistic look.  Maybe this is a shortcoming of mine – I simply suck with using Liquify!

Another reason is that the Liquify Tool takes forever to load (depending on the size of your image).  Since I am usually working with RAW files, which are pretty large.  In the amount of time spent waiting for Photoshop to render your changes, you could run to the nearest coffee shop, make an order, drink it, come home and still be waiting!  Ok, slight over-exaggeration on my part there, but liquify is slow.  There is a trick to get around that, but that’s for another post.

Photoshop – Look Thin, Add Curves with the Warp Tool

In this video, I will be using the model from the natural light portrait photography post.  Honestly, she doesn’t need to lose any weight, but I just want to give you a quick demonstration of how this can make slight changes to improve a photo.  Usually, this just comes down to aesthetics or a feature that your subject has that they would like changed.  I am a believer in only ever making very small changes.  What you do with this is up to you.  I chose to remove some things, while enhancing her hourglass shape.

 Okay, so this is a pretty quick and simple process.  Here are the steps:

1. Using your lasso tool, select the area that you want to slim.  Start from the edge of the image and draw down the body part about 3/4 of the way in.  Continue with the lasso tool back out to the outside of the image.
2. Paste your selection onto a new layer by using CTRL+J
3. Press CTRL+T to enter free transform mode.
4. Right click inside of your selection and select “Warp”.
5. Adjust the Warp Tool to do what you want it to do.  Be sure not to disconnect the limbs at any contact points.
6. Press ENTER to finalize your changes.
7. Select your Eraser Tool and change the settings to Opacity 100%, Flow 10%-30%
8. Gently erase areas on the copied layer where there are obvious lines from the transformation.

Here’s the before and after:

It really is as simple as that.  Remember not to overdo it!

Thank you for taking the time to watch my get skinny in Photoshop video tutorial.  Keep practicing with the warp tool.  It’s much quicker and easier than the liquify tool in my opinion.

Please take the time to Like, Retweet, or share this tutorial.  Also, feel free to leave a comment below!

Get Photoshop Skinny Using the Warp Tool Video Tutorial is a post from: www.Photo-Manipulator.com

Thought I’d share this studio lighting diagram creator that I found with you.  If you viewed my Natural Light Portrait Tutorial, you’ll more than likely noticed that I added some lighting diagrams to give you an idea of how I set up the shots.  I plan on doing that in future posts as well.

This won’t be a very long post.  Just a quick link to the zip file and some advice.  When you get great shots with a certain studio lighting setup, you should make a diagram.  It will help you later if you’re like me and can’t always remember exactly what you did…

This was created by Kevin Kertz, so stop by his site and check it out.  The file is a PSD and will work with Photoshop and GIMP (I think) and it’s a free download.  I would also like to mention that it is extremely easy to set up your lighting diagrams after playing around with it for a few minutes.  Click to download it here (it’s small – about 160 kb).

Thought I’d show you an example of some of the images available for your use in the light diagram creator:

Studio Lighting Diagram Creator Download for Photoshop is a post from: www.Photo-Manipulator.com

It would certainly be nice to be able to afford some of this stuff… soon!

Nikon D4 16.2 MP CMOS FX Digital SLR with Full 1080p HD Video

You’ve got to admit, the Nikon D4 is certainly top of the line for their brand.  Barring that investment, I would be completely happy with a….

Nikon D3X 24.5MP FX CMOS Digital SLR

This is what I really wanted when I bought my used D300, but I just don’t have that kind of money to throw around.  Still, I love my camera and got a great deal on the D300. The seller gave me 3 lenses and some other decent accessories… so I have absolutely nothing to complain about

Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens

Now we’re moving into territory that I can actually afford!  Still, one must budget.  I’m sure I’ll be treating myself to this and the 28mm soon enough!

Personally, I love prime lenses over zooms because of the ability for wide open apertures.  This especially comes in handy if you’re a fan of bokeh (which I am under certain conditions).  The only negative about prime lenses is that you have to walk around all over the place to get your subject in the frame the way you want it!

Nikon 28mm f/2.8D AF Nikkor Lens

Again, this comes from shooting on a crop sensor camera.  My 50mm is more like a shooting with a 75mm.  By adding the 35mm and 28mm, I would be getting the equivalent of a 42mm with the 28mm lens and about a 52mm with the 35mm lens.

Or maybe I should just invest in a really expensive zoom that can encompass what I want/need out of it like the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G.

The BP1500 Large Backpack by Calumet

This would just be handy when I’m carrying my gear around.  My girlfriend always wants me to come and do before & after shots of people that she does makeup on.  Convenience and portability (for me), haha

My Photography Wish List is a post from: www.Photo-Manipulator.com

I’ve recently become inspired to try natural lighting photography portraiture by seeing the work of  Sue Bryce.  Honestly, this is something totally new to me.  In the past I have always used studio flashes such as the Elinchrom D-Lites with softboxes, beauty dishes, and backdrops hung from the affordably priced Linco Background Support System.

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While this is great for certain types of shoots, it’s not always feasible or called for in portraiture… So I set out to teach myself some new techniques.  For this project all I used was equipment I already had available to me – with one exception:

I bought sheer white fabric from Joannes to cover the windows.  I wanted the natural light to come in, but didn’t want it to be to harsh.  This fabric helped convert the sunlight coming through the windows into a giant softbox.

I was lucky enough to have an aspiring makeup artist on hand (my girlfriend – thanks Diana!) and a volunteer model (thanks Christina).  I think they both did a wonderful job!

I’ve also included studio lighting diagrams to go along with the photos.  To help give you an idea of how each one was shot.

Tools Used in Natural Lighting Photography

The other tools I used were my standard equipment:

• Nikon D300
• Nikon 50mm 1.8 Lens
• Nikon 18-70mm 3.5-4.5 Lens
• Interfit 5 in 1 Reflector (that I’ll probably be replacing with 4′ x 8′ pieces of polystyrene from Home Depot for this type of photoshoot in the future)
• Photoshop CS5

Natural Light Portraits – Shooting Space and Placement

Click to Open Larger in a New Window

The shooting space that fits the requirements for this sort of set-up is relatively small.  This required me to use a zoom lens when shooting towards the wall, but I was able to use the 50mm prime lens when shooting towards the windows.  Since I’m shooting on a D300, which is a cropped frame, I really need to invest in a Nikon 35mm f/1.8 and Nikon 28mm f/2.8.  I know primes make you walk around a lot more, but I just have a thing for them (probably the wider apertures).

For model placement, I usually had her stand approximately 2-4 feet from the main light source (the windows covered in sheer white cloth).  This lets enough natural light to expose the side of her face, while a reflector can be placed to illuminate her other side.  For the reflector, I used the white reflector as opposed to the silver or gold to help further soften her features.  If it were a male I were photographing, I would have used the black reflector to give a more masculine and “hard” look to his features.

Exposure and Lessons Learned for Natural Lighting Portraits

I shot in full manual at ISO 100 and just metered from in-camera.  This didn’t always work the way I wanted, so I would often over-expose on purpose.  Especially when shooting with the windows directly behind the model!  This is because the the in-camera meter wants to expose for these bright light sources instead of the model.  Which means you end up not only with a blown out window highlight, but a very dark model (which is a pain to fix it post-processing/photoshop).

Personally, I have no problems with blown highlights in the windows.  In photos like these, I do not want the fabric detail ending up in the final shot.  The background should be soft and sensual… like the way your memories play out in your head.  Your memories are never tack-sharp, but I digress.

Post-Processing Portraits

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I’m not going to go into any great detail on this in this post, as it can be time consuming.  Although I may create a video and add it later.  I will say this:  I have a very specific workflow for portrait retouching, and this experiment caused me to re-think it and refine it quite a bit.

One major snag I hit was our textured walls.  I hate how these effect the overall photo, so I had to spend time masking and blurring the background into a softer, less textured whole.

Please leave any comments or questions below!  Also, if you enjoyed this post, please share it through Twitter or send a Facebook Like my way.

Natural Lighting Photography for Portraits Tutorial is a post from: www.Photo-Manipulator.com

Lomo photograpy (or Lomography) has been gaining popularity again recently.  Especially with the release of the Diana F+ Camera.  These “toy cameras” are pretty fun to play around with and can get some interesting effects.  Between the video above and the written version below, you should be able to replicate the Lomo Effect in Photoshop.

Between the video and the written tutorial, you should be able to create the lomo effect on your digital photos in no time.

Step 1 – Copy the Image

Simply select your original image and press Control + J (copying the image so you aren’t damaging the original file)

Step 2 – Create a vignette

1. Before doing this, I suggest that you crop your image to whatever you want the composition to be for the final image.
2. Using the Eliptical Marquee tool, draw an elipse or circle onto your image.
3. Go to Select > Inverse (or press Shift +Control+I) to inverse your selection.
4. Feather your selection by going to Select > Modify > Feather.  How much you want to feather is based upon your file size.  If it’s large, you can go as high as 250.  For smaller images you’ll need to see what works best for you.  In this tutorial, I went with a feather of 100 pixels.
5. Create a new Levels Adjustment Layer. Move the Black and grey slider to the right until you’ve got the vignette as dark as you’d like.  This is a matter of taste, and you can always go back and adjust it later if you’d like.

Step 3 – Creating the Cross-Processed Look

1. Create a new Curves Adjustment Layer
2. On the first Curves Adjustment Layer, we’re only going to adjust the RGB channel.
3. Move the white box (at the upper right corner) to the left slightly and move the dark box (at the lower left corner) slightly to the right.
4. Create another new Curves Adjustment Layer
5. Red Channel
6. Change from the RGB to the Red Channel
7. Move the Reds up in the highlights and down in the darks (see curves picture for examples)
8. Green Channel
9. Change from the Red Channel to the Green Channel
10. Move the Greens up in the highlights and down in the darks (see curves example above)
11. Blue Channel
12. Change from the Green Channel to the Blue Channel in the dropdown box
13. Move the Blues down in the highlights and up in the darks (see illustration above)

Step 4 – Darkening the Image

1. Create a new blank layer
2. Fill it with black using the Paint Bucket Tool
3. Change the Blend Mode on this new layer to “Hue”
4. Lower the opacity on this layer (in this case I lowered it to 22%, although your may wish to play with this setting)

Step 4 – Adjusting the Hue & Saturation

1. This is completely optional, but I like to create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and add some saturation to the overall picture, as well as individual colors (via the dropdown box).  Just play around with it and see if it’s something you want to adjust on your picture or not.

Step 5 – Creating Blur

1. Make a copy of your original image (Layer 1 in my example) by pressing Control+J
2. With this new layer selected go to Filter > Blur > Lens Blur
3. On this image I set the Radius to 8.  You can adjust the amount of blur to suit your needs (larger images may need more).
4. Next we’re going to Add a Layer Mask to the blur layer
5.  With the Layer Mask selected, go to your Brush Tool and set the color to Black
6. Use a fuzzy/soft brush with the Hardness set to zero and the opacity set to 50% or so and paint on the Picture to remove the blur effect from the point of your image that you would like to be sharper/less fuzzy

Step 6 – Sharpening it Further

1. Make a copy of your original image (Layer 1) by pressing Control + J
2. Go to Filter > Other > High Pass
3. Play with the sharpness slider here.  Don’t go crazy with this, as you don’t want to oversharpen the image to the point of ghosting (getting halos).  In this case I set it to 0.9.  Your setting may vary based on what you want to see and your image size.  Usually something between 1 and 5 is ideal.
4. Move this layer above your blurred layer in the Layers Palette
5. Change the blending mode of this layer to either Overlay, Soft Light, or Hard Light
6. We are going to add a black layer mask to this layer by pressing ALT+Add Layer Mask
7. Select Your Brush Tool and set the color to White
8. Again, use a fuzzy brush with the opacity set to around 50% and the Hardness set to 0
9. With the black layer mask selected, paint out the areas where you would like additional sharpening on your image
10. You can further reduce the amount of sharpening by reducing the Opacity of this layer

Step 7 – Adding Film Grain

1. Our final step is to add film grain by adding a new layer at the top of your Layers Palette (above all of your other layers)
2. We are going to fill this layer with a light to medium grey (using the Paint Bucket tool)
3. Add Film Grain by selecting Filter > Noise > Add Noise
4. Make sure that the “Monochromatic” box is checked
5. Play with the amount of noise you want to add.  You don’t want it to be too big or too small.
6. After you’ve chosen your amount, press OK and set the Blending Mode to Overlay
7. Vary the opacity of this layer until it suits you

So now you should be finished.  Of course, you can always make small adjustment from here, but the bulk of the work is now complete.

Here are the Lomo Effect results:

For further examples of Lomo Photography, you can check the Flickr LOMO Pool or read up on Lomography.

If you enjoyed this tutorial on how to create the lomo effect in Photoshop please Like us on Facebook, Retweet it on Twitter!  Also, please leave any questions or comments below!  I would love to see any examples of pictures of yours that you edit using this tutorial.

How to Create the Lomo Effect in Photoshop is a post from: www.Photo-Manipulator.com