Photography Tips

Digital Photograph Editing Lesson with Danielle

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Danielle's original jpg digital photo on the left, our edited version on the right using Photoshop Elements 8/CS5

Some of my DSLR photography students have gotten to a point where their shooting is definitely improving, and it is time to now work on how to post process, or edit digital photographs.  Danielle is one such student.  I even wrote recently myself that one should develop shooting and editing skills simultaneously.  

Danielle brought her laptop to the lesson loaded with Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.  I worked on my own laptop using Adobe Photoshop CS5 showing her step-by-step how I go about editing a portrait.  I typically use a workflow in this order: 

  1. crop the image
  2. correct the exposure
  3. color correct the image
  4. edit the subject's eyes
  5. remove blemishes
  6. clone out unwanted elements in the image
  7. sharpen
  8. save! 

As you can see above, Danielle captured a very nice expression on the baby's face.  Since the right side of the baby's head was already over the edge of the frame, I decided to crop down the top as well.  The baby had a small cut on the inside corner of her left eye, we used the healing brush mostly to make that disappear.  

The baby also had dark shadows under her eyes.  We chose a soft clone stamp brush, set it to lighten, set it to 40%, sampled an area just under the dark spot, then made a gentle brush stroke horizontally over the dark spot.  Then we used the dodge tool set to highlights and 30% and clicked once or twice on each white area of the eye to quickly and super easily brighten the eyes without making it look too fake.

The last thing we did was remove some drool on her lips.  

Danielle did a good job in camera of getting the image.  We then used editing to make the photograph more polished and professional looking.  With practice those editing steps only take about 10 minutes to do, or less.  Danielle learned and practiced those steps side-by-side with me and more as well in just a 2-hour lesson.  I am looking forward to seeing how she does on her own, and if she discovered any new editing tricks herself!

Thank you Danielle for letting me publish your photograph. 

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    • 50mm DSLR Photography Lesson on the streets

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    Shooting with a 50mm prime lens is a freeing photography experienceMy DSLR Photography Lessons with Chris are a little different than others.  I find his photography questions push me and to answer them I have to reveal my photography secrets.  Though they are not secrets at all.  They are out there on every street in the world.  It's just up to one to find them, to feel them, to use them.  

    I learned DSLR photography, or rather what I know of it, out on the streets of Tokyo.  I took thousands of shots a month.

    The second lens I ever bought was a Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8D.  For at least ten days I was studying about it, building it up in my mind.  By the time I finally bought it was beyond stoked.  All this for a piece of kit that cost only around $100!  However, like most photography gear, there is no magic wand built into it.  There was a learning curve necessary.  However, once I taught myself to be competent with it, again by taking thousands of shots, I loved the lens and used it often, out on the streets.

    So during our third lesson (1st, 2nd) this morning, when Chris asked me, "how do you know what to photograph?" (paraphrasing), a question I have been asked before by students, I could not answer at first because I do not know what to photograph by words, I photograph by feel.  My mind is always framing the world in terms of shots.  I am never not looking at things like a shot, unless I consciously turn that thinking offline.  

    I ended up telling Chris to just shoot what looks interesting to you, what makes you feel good to shoot, and that will show itself in your shots.  I told him I shoot first and foremost for myself, to make photographs that I, myself, like.  If others like them, great.  If not, as long as I made a shot I liked, that is enough for me.  

    I very rarely see photos just standing, they are often at off angles.I took Chris into my favorite alleys in downtown St. Petersburg.  He had an interest in photograph shadows.  We found this fire escape pattern in foul odored section of a back alley near the postoffice, a place I purposefully shot in before.  I encouraged him to get low, to go at off angles, and to shoot at f/2 with his own 50mm f/1.8D lens.  Play with the DoF.  Find the angle that makes the shot a photograph of interest to your own eye.  

    I really enjoyed this philosophy of photography lesson and to be reminded of how much I like to shoot with my 50mm prime lens, a lens I almost never use in my paid work. 

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    • DSLR Photography Lesson with Kathleen & her Canon 5D Mark II

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    Kathleen wields her full frame Canon 5D Mark II during our DSLR photography lesson in St Petersburg

    My DSLR Photography Lesson with Kathleen was the first time a student had a full frame DSLR.  Her Canon 5D Mark II did not look that much different than past students' Canon 7D DSLRs to my surprise.  I thought it would have more buttons, etc.  Despite having such a powerful camera, Kathleen was still shooting in auto mode! (I was also surprised the 5D Mark II even had an auto mode.)  So we definitely had to remedy that right away to help her start getting the most of her full frame DSLR.

    Kathleen also had a very nice L series Canon f/4 17-40mm lens.  No limits with gear!  To get Kathleen off auto mode I explained how to shoot in aperture priority mode, set ISO and white balance, and choose the correct focus modes for a variety of shooting situations.  She had accidentally produced shots with bokeh in the past, but I taught her how to do it on purpose.  

    We ended the lesson with flash portrait practice.  I look forward to seeing the improvements in Kathleen's shots, as well as to our next lesson. 

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    • DSLR Photography Lesson #6 with Rosa at Westshore Mall!

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    Rosa wanted to practice indoor shooting, so we met in Westshore Mall

    Rosa is the second student now to take six DSLR Photography Lessons with me (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th).  She had some trouble photographing friends and family indoors, despite getting a very nice new lens, a Tamron 17-50mm VC f/2.8, the successor to a lens I use myself.  So to simulate indoor shooting conditions we came up with the idea of shooting in a mall.  I was a little concerned about breaking out DSLR cameras in a mall, but early in the lesson a security guard walked right by us and paid us no attention at all, which was a relief.  

    We started out trying to get the best results from the new fast lens she bought by shooting at f/2.8 with no flash and a somewhat high ISO of 800.  These settings, combined with firm camera holding technique, allowed Rosa and I to get acceptable sharpness in our shots, like the one featured above.

    Photo by Rosa, editing by me.This lesson was also a first for teaching photo editing also.  Rosa brought her laptop and set it alongside my MacBook Pro on the table above and I showed her how I would go about editing some of the portraits she took.  She had Adobe Photoshop Elements.  It was my first time to use it, but since I am experienced with the full version of Photoshop, I was able to figure things out eventually.  As important as it is to learn about aperture, ISO and white balance, I think it is equally important to learn editing skills too.  I look forward to having another hybrid shooting/editing with Rosa soon. 

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    • DSLR Photography Lesson with Indre in downtown St. Petersburg

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    One thing most students need to be reminded of is to shoot in portrait orientation too!

    Evening DSLR Photography Lessons are becoming more common as Florida's temperatures increase.  Thus I met Indre in downtown St. Petersburg at 6pm for our first lesson together.  She has owned a Nikon D40 for about six months, but had mostly been shooting in the pre-set modes, something one definitely does not want to do with a DSLR camera!  They are very poor in those auto settings.  After our two hour lesson finished, Indre had the knowledge to shoot in aperture priority mode in a number of different situations and if she is brave enough will not have to use auto modes again!

    At Vinoy Park I thought we would have a chance to photograph some dolphins feeding and intensely splashing around.  I had a feeling though that by the time we walked over the dolphins would be gone.  Of course, as soon as we got within range, the splashing stopped and the swam off into Tampa Bay.  Of course.

    Indre is a very interesting person, originally from Lithuania (I have also been having more international students lately) with family across Europe actually.  So in between photography talk I enjoyed hearing more about her life.  She is taking a trip to the Smoky Mountains soon so I look forward to seeing her landscape and others shots when she returns. 

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    • Work on digital photography shooting & editing skills simultaneously

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    Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/4 ISO 200 1/5000th processed in Aperture 3, Photoshop CS5, Nik Color Efex Pro 3, Topaz Adjust 3

    It is a source of pride still among pro, serious amateur, hobbyist and beginner photographers alike to get it right in camera.  By that they mean one should not need to do that much editing to images to produce a great finished shot if only the settings in the camera were optimal to begin with.  I used to think like that.  I still do not shoot lazily thinking I can fix this or that in Photoshop as much as I possibly can, the biggest exception being I know I will have to edit out my light stand's shadow in some backlit portrait shots.  However, I find myself more and more realizing having strong editing skills can mine gold from, well, a bland river (pun intended).

    The above shot was made while teaching a photography lesson to a student.  My full attention was not put into photographing the subject matter as best as possible as I was of course focused on helping my student make the best possible image she could.  Still, there was something about the shot I liked, mostly the one guy sitting down facing the opposite way, as well as the graffiti and color reflected in the Hillsborough River.  Basically, I saw the potential the image had.

    So I opened up my digital darkroom as Rick Sammon likes to call it, and mined a final shot that though technically not perfect (focus slightly behind rowers, etc.), has some pop to it due to the color Topaz Adjust and Color Efex Pro were able to bring out from the RAW file.  I then applied selective contrast adjustments to the wall and the water.  

    Therefore, I recommend working on your editing skills just as hard as you work on your in the field shooting skills.  Develop them simultaneously.  If I combined my shooting skills today, with my editing skills of even just one year ago, I would not be able to produce as many images that pop as I can now.  This is especially true for when shooting during non-golden-hour times.   

    One day soon I will return to this location to do a photo series of crew rowers, as I find it is a subject matter and location I am drawn too.  I made this photograph from the University of Tampa campus side of the river.  It was about 3pm on a weekday afternoon.

    Just the basic processed RAW file, as "straight out of the camera" a photo made in RAW can get

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    • DSLR Photography Lesson with April in St Petersburg

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    April and I had a very relaxed DSLR Photography Lesson in St PetersburgThe new late spring time I start my DSLR Photography Lessons at is 9am, in an attempt to beat the heat.  So that is when new student April and I met in downtown St. Petersburg.  Thanks to a decent breeze and low humidity, the weather for our lesson was almost pleasant.  

    April is a new DSLR owner, a Nikon D5000, a great budget choice for entering into the world of DSLR photography.  She had some exposure to a pro photographer in her past so she was familiar with photography terms and knew her way around her D5000's menus pretty well already.  In our lesson we focused on learning how to set the right aperture, ISO, white balance and focus mode for various typical shooting conditions.

    While we walked around the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront park area, the third largest in all of North America, I had a very good time getting to know April better as we shared a few stories about non-photography topics as well.  

    We ended up in Vinoy Park practicing how to compose landscape portraits, i.e. do not put the horizon across the person's head, get the person's head above the horizon actually, and while you are at it keep that horizon straight!  I look forward to more lessons with April in the near future. 

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