Photography Tip - Invert colors to make photos look psychedelic

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I often hit Invert in Photoshop by accident because the command for resizing is close to it and as I often work very quickly in Photoshop, sometimes a very crazy looking image flashes on my screen.  However, this also means happy accidents happen too.  

I was editing this ordinary pool photo from a real estate shoot and as I was finishing it and preparing it for web size, I went to hith CMD-SHIFT-I but missed the SHIFT part and instead only hit CMD-I resulting in the below inverted color version.

Looks much cooler, right?  So if you are needing something to spice up a photo, try hitting CMD-I in Photoshop next time and you may be pleasantly surprised!

Psychedelic Pelican of St. Petersburg Florida

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A psychedelic pelican composite image made using a layer mask in PhotoshopI had two images lying around in my random folder for months.  One was a graffiti wall I photographed knowing someday I would use it as a texture background.  Then I had this kind of wide-eyed pelican photo.  This afternoon I thought to combine them for a psychedelic looking fine art photograph.  In Photoshop I placed the graffiti wall image right over the pelican photo.  Then using a layer mask I was able to brush away the wall to reveal the pelican underneath, as well as choosing the blend mode for the overall look.  This is actually a fairly simple Photoshop skill.  To get more of an idea of how the combo process works, check out this blog post.

Photography Tip - when to leave space above subject in a portrait and when not to in composition

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During my 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessonsstudents often practice portraits, which means I often have to be the subject.  I alway let the student use their instict first for composing a portrait, rather than giving them composition tips first, so I can see their natural eye for composing.  A vast majority of the time this results in a portrait of me looking tiny and kind of in the photo by accident.  By that I mean I am usually dead centered (an issue for a future photography tip) and very low in the frame with lots of space above my head.  This results because I was composed to be dead center horizontally and vertically and most of the time was cut off at the waist.  I doctored the above photo to show excess space above the heads of the subjects that is just doing nothing.  It adds nothing to the photograph and in fact just makes the subject look smaller in the frame for no reason.

This is how the photograph looked as I shot it in the field, with minimal space above the heads of the subject allowing the subjects to fill the frame vertically and look like normal adult sized people and definitely in the photo on purpose.  

The rule here is:

--when photographing people from the waist up do not leave space above their heads

If you photograph someone from the waist up and leave a bunch of space above their head, then it looks like you might not have intended for them to be in the shot in the first place.  At the least, the person looks lost in the frame and tiny, which is not very flattering!

In contrast, when framing the shot to include the subject from head to toe, especially in portrait orientation, leaving space above the subject's head can add perspective to the shot.  The space above the head is then not just empty useless space.  Since you are showing the entire body of the subject, it puts the subject into a proper, normal looking perspective to the viewer.

Even in landscape orientation, if you show the subject from head to toe, leaving lots of space above the subject's head will help to show the scale of the environment the subject is being photographed.  In the example above, showing the wide open beach and water surrounding the children (shown head to toe) does show them properly as they are, small kids.  

The next time you make portraits, be mindful of the space above the subject's head.

Jason Collin Photography now focuses on professional photography services across the Monterey Peninsula including headshots, commercial photography, drone video, event coverage and real estate photography.

Silly Goose at Crescent Lake Park St. Petersburg Florida DSLR Photography Lesson with Stacy

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A goose being silly in Crescent Lake Park in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/320This morning I met long time DSLR Photography Lesson student Stacy in Crescent Lake Park, where I knew it was very likely we would be able to photograph a goose or two.  I suggested she bring a blanket so that she could lie down comfortably on the grass in order to be able to get at eye level to the birds.  I got down low myself for the shot above.  

In this lesson I pointed out even more to Stacy that the meter gives just a suggestion, as to get a good exposure of the geese in the deep shade they were standing in, it was necessary to use settings that the meter thought would result in an overexposed shot.  That was mostly due to the background being much brighter than the foreground.  Also, I recommended that there is no need to change aperture to fix the exposure.  The aperture should be set first (when shooting in manual mode) so to set the depth of field, and then the shutter speed should be set as needed to get the desired exposure.  

Lightning Fine Art Photography St. Petersburg Florida Snell Isle Composite

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Lightning over Smacks Bayou, Snell Isle, St. Petersburg Florida fine art photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 17.1 secMy after dinner twilight walk with Kiki was thwarted this evening by rain and lightning.  So after going back inside I mounted my Nikon to my tripod to see if I could get lucky and capture a few bolts.  Of course the lightning was striking much more frequently when I was out with Kiki than when I was actually out with my camera, but with some patience I finally got enough lightning in a shot to fill the frame.  The image above is a slight composite of two images to add just a bit more lightning.  

Black & White Silhouettes in North Straub Park St. Petersburg Florida Fine Art Photography

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North Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg Florida - inquire about purchasing a fine art print of this imagePhotographs I like to look at make me feel something.  They can also make me think of something, either something I see in the photo itself or that gets triggered in my mind from looking at the photo.  One does not need to travel far nor wide to make images that can provoke thought and feeling.  It does not even need to be a new place.  I have been in North Straub Park with my camera hundreds of times over the course of teaching 300+ photography lessons in downtown St. Petersburg, yet I could still make an image of the park that I liked and wanted to share.  I recommend going out this weekend and looking more carefully at a place you commonly go and see if you cannot make an image for yourself that makes you think and feel.

Photography Tip - watch out for horizon intruders

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When the horizon is contained in the composition of your photograph, a lot of attention has to be paid to it.  The first thing is to make sure it is straight.  Then where it is positioned in the vertical part of the frame is another thing to be mindful of (read about that photo tip here).  Add to your horizon checklist the search for intruders at the edges of the frame.  In the above photograph, only part of the condos on the left are shown.  This makes them intruders to me.  Either have the condos completely in the frame, or not at all.  Now, on the right of the horizon are some trees.  These are part of the natural landscape and I do not view them as intruders.  The trees do not breakup the natural flow of the horizon when looking at the photograph, but the condos at the edge do.  Buildings are what you need to look out most for at the edges of the horizon.  Overall, always pay close attention to the horizon when composing a photograph for the best results.