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Using Quick Control to Set Your Canon Rebel DSLR Camera Functions

June 2, 2018

If I had to guess, I’d say that one of the most important operational aspects of any camera would be its ability to change functions on the fly. I’m sure you’ll agree when I say that the easier it is to alter the settings of any camera, the better. After all, what’s the sense of having the ability to change those functions if it’s a real pain to access them?

In today’s post, I’d like to introduce you to something called Quick Control that’s available on many Canon DSLR cameras. In its most basic sense, Quick Control is a mode that you can enter to change many of the settings on the camera. While there are other, more spread out, methods for accomplishing some of the same types of things, the Quick Control screen has so many options available in one place. And changing the available settings is a snap. All it takes is a push of one button and a push or a roll of another. This area is so important to be aware of for both new photographers as well as more advanced ones because it can definitely help getting things done much more quickly and efficiently.

How to Access Quick Control

For this post, I’ve decided to use my very own Canon T7i. This is the latest iteration of the Rebel line and I really do enjoy shooting with this camera in particular. It’s all about quality and ease of use.

Okay, I’ve gone ahead and put the camera into Manual mode (M) so you can see almost everything that’s available on the Quick Control screen. Please be aware that you’ll have control over different functions while you’re in different shooting modes. Some functions will be available while others will be blocked out. For example, while in Manual mode, you’ll likely have the ability to change almost any setting, such as shutter speed, aperture, ISO, exposure compensation and so much more. While in Program mode (P) though, shutter speed and aperture are blocked out and are unable to be altered. And when you get to the even more automated modes, such as Creative Auto, Portrait, Landscape and so on, even more restrictions will be in place. Personally, I tend to forget which mode I’m in and I sit and wonder why I can’t change something. I do this all the time.

Canon Rebel T7i Manual Mode LCD Screen

Accessing Quick Control mode is easy. Since the T7i has touch screen, all I would need to do is touch the small Q button that sits at the lower left corner of the rear LCD screen. If I were on an older model camera that didn’t have touch screen, such as the T2i, T3i, T4i and so on, I would have to push the physical Q button that sits just to the right of the rear screen.

Quick Control Buttons on Rear Of Canon Cameras

Once I push one of those buttons, I’ll see a slight change occur. Any options that are able to be altered will be surrounded by light gray boxes. Here, take a look. Notice the boxes around the various settings.

Quick Control Menu on Canon Cameras

Remember, which settings you’ll have the ability to change depend on which mode the camera is currently in. Also, if you’ll notice, the functions that are able to be set are shown by popularity. Going from left to right, they’re listed in order of how frequently a photographer might reach for those settings.

How to Change a Setting

Now, the big question is how to actually change a setting. On a touch screen camera, simply touch the setting you’d like to adjust. After that, touch the new value and then when you’re finished, touch the curved return arrow that’s at the bottom right corner of the screen. This will change the settings and then bring you back to the Quick Control screen.

If you don’t have touch screen, you’ll need to navigate to the area you’d like to adjust by pressing the arrow buttons on the back of the camera. When you land on what you’re interested in, you can press the Set button to enter the settings area for that particular feature. Then, to adjust the setting, you would use the dial at the top of the camera to choose the new value and finally, you’d press the Set button to apply the change. After being applied, the camera should return to the Quick Control screen on its own. If you would like to exit this screen or any active settings screen at any time, you could always press the Menu button that’s above the rear LCD screen on the back of the camera.

An important shortcut to consider is one that cuts out the middle man. If you were to highlight any of the available options on the Quick Control screen and simply roll the dial that’s on the top of the camera, you could change that particular value without ever accessing its own screen. Keep this in mind when you’re in the field because it’s the fastest option available.

How to Disable Feature Guide

After using your camera for about a half hour, you’ll notice some rather annoying messages that continuously appear whenever you access many of the different areas of the camera. You can see one of these message in a gray box in the photo below. To turn these tips and guides off, head into the menu area by pressing the Menu button that sits above the rear screen. Then, once in that area, use the left and right arrow buttons to scroll back and forth until you see an option called Feature Guide. I can’t tell you where this option would fall because Canon keeps changing its location. On the T3i, it’s listed under one of the Tools headings, but on the T7i, it’s listed under the Display Level heading. Wherever it is, scroll to that option and then press the Set button.

Feature Guide Option on Canon T7i

Once you click on it, you can use the up and down arrows to change the value to Disable. Then, press the Set button again and finally, press the Menu button to exit the menu area.

Disable Feature Guide Option on Canon Cameras

PS – This post refers to almost all Canon Rebel cameras, including the T2i, T3i, T4i, T5i, T6i and the newest T7i.

——

I hope I clearly explained how to enter the Quick Control area on Canon Rebel DSLR cameras and how to change the values contained therein. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section down below. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Photography


Masking by Luminance Values in Adobe Lightroom

May 31, 2018

There’s this thing out there called “luminance masking” that’s sort of confusing. It’s a great feature that can be found in a number of Adobe products and it really shouldn’t be ignored. If you’re into using localized adjustment tools and have had issues with separating what you’re attempting to adjust with surrounding objects and areas, this may be just your ticket to success.

The luminance mask is one of the “range” masks inside of Adobe Lightroom. By range, I mean the mask will only work within a specified range of whatever that mask is. It’s actually sort of tough to explain this one, but I’ll do the best I can.

Let’s say I apply a Graduated Filter to an entire image in Lightroom. Pertaining to that graduated filter, I push a few sliders around to change the look of what’s behind it. So now, as it stands, I have an image with a filter over it that makes the image look completely different.

Let’s also say that the image I’m working with has some bright areas in it as well as some darker areas. What if I wanted to have the Graduated Filter only affect the bright areas? Can I do that? Well, with the Luminance Mask feature I can. What the Luminance Mask has the ability to do is hide parts of a filter, based on the image’s luminance. So, if you had a picture that was black and white and some parts were really bright and some parts were really dark and you applied a filter (Graduated, Radial, Adjustment Brush) to the entire image, you could easily hide some parts of that filter and protect other parts, based solely on how bright or dark those areas are. It’s really a very helpful tool and it’s one that should be taken advantage of.

I hope I explained the idea behind this feature clearly above. If you still don’t completely understand the concept, please read on down below. I think it will all come together.

In today’s post, I’m going to apply a Graduated Filter to an image of a mountain range. The reason I chose the photo I’ll be using is because there is obvious separation between the mountains and the sky above it. I’ll apply the filter and then push some sliders around to darken the sky. After that, I’ll activate the Luminance Range Mask in an effort to mask out the mountains from the filter. I don’t want the mountains affected by the filter at all; I’ll adjust the range mask so that doesn’t happen. Finally, I’ll smooth out the mask by pushing another slider, which will have a profound effect.

Today’s Demo Photo

This is the photograph I’ll be using for this post.

Mountain Range

Like I said, there’s good separation between the mountains and the sky. I suppose you could say there are differnt “luminance” values between those areas, which is what will help when using these tool I’m speaking of.

Applying the Graduated Filter

Since I’ve already written a nice post on how to use the Graduated Filter in Adobe Lightroom, I’ll just link to that below and go ahead and apply the filter. If you’d like to read about this topic, I encourage you to click through.

Beautifying an Image with the Graduated Filter in Adobe Lightroom

Okay, I’ve gone ahead and clicked the Graduated Filter icon in the right side of the Develop panel.

Graduated Filter Icon in Adobe Lightroom

After that, I reduced the Exposure and Blacks values so they are -2.04 and -20 respectively. Here’s a screenshot of the sliders.

Filter Sliders in Lightroom

And here’s the output of the image as it stands.

Graduated Filter Original Output

Here’s the problem. While it doesn’t look like anything is wrong with this image, there is. the “darkness” of the filter I just added is covering up many of the stars and it’s also slightly reducing the illumination of the tops of the white mountains. Someone probably wouldn’t even notice this if they hadn’t seen the original version of this photo, but since we have, it’s too late. We know what it’s supposed to look like.

Activating the Luminance Range Mask

To correct this issue, I’m going to move down to the bottom are of the right panel and click the Range Mask drop-down box. When the box opens, I’ll select Luminance.

Range Mask Drop-Down

After I do that, two additional controls will appear in the form of sliders. These two sliders are labeled Range and Smoothness.

Range & Smoothness Sliders

Okay, here’s the truth about these two sliders. They are going to need to be experimented with for you to get used to them. I’ll explain them below, but the results will still be unpredictable the first few times you use these things.

Think about the Range slider as a control for where you want the graduated filter effects to appear. As I stated up above, this slider can control which parts of this image the filter are applied to, so if I wanted the filter to affect only the bright areas, such as the stars and the white mountain tops, I can certainly make that happen. Of, if I wanted this filter to ignore the stars and white mountain tops, I can make that happen as well. All I need to do is push each of the small slider controls to the left or the right to find that sweet spot of what I’m after. In this case, I kept the left control where it originated at the 0 value and pushed the right control to the left until it had a value of 85.

The Smoothness slider does exactly what you think it should do. It smooths out the transition between the area the luminance mask is affecting and the area that mask isn’t affecting. The higher the Smoothness value, the smoother the transition. If I were to keep this slider all the way to the left so it had a very low value, the transition would be sharp and abrupt. Since I’m looking for something more realistic, I’ll push the slider to the right until is has a value of 65. That’s nice and smooth.

Now I’m looking at a much better result.

Image Adjusted With Luminance Range Mask

Here’s the final image, which is slightly more exciting than the original.

Final Image

I just want to tell you that there are a zillion different uses for this range mask and tons of different possible results you might see. You really need to play around with this tool to get a gauge of what type of effect you can conjure up from it. What I showed you above is a good start.

——

I hope I clearly explained how to use the Luminance Range Mask feature in Adobe Lightroom. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section down below. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Lightroom


How to Print From Adobe Photoshop: The Basics

May 29, 2018

One of the most oddly confusing tasks many of us undertake when working in Adobe Photoshop has to do with printing. We spend all sorts of time editing our photos and graphics, but when it comes time to output them to paper or another medium, so many of us play a guessing game. It’s understandable why we do this as the print setup process can be somewhat convoluted. While there are a lot of options and while they can seem overwhelming, there is a basic path to follow that’s much less complex. It’s that path I intend to share with you today.

In today’s post, I’ll work through the process of printing a photo via Adobe Photoshop, from start to finish. I’ll focus on the things that matter, such as image sizing, paper selection and printer selection, along with a few other important details. While there are many more options during this process that I won’t discuss, what I do cover should point you in the right direction and should assist you with printing out files in a straightforward manner.

The Demo Photo

I’m not sure if it’s important that I share exactly what the subject of the photo I’ll be using for this demonstration is, but I will anyway. The image below is of a bird landing. It has a default size of 6.4 inches by 4.267 inches and a resolution of 300dpi.

Large Bird Landing

For the purposes of this post, I’d like to print the image with a size of 6 inches by 4 inches.

Resizing the Photograph

The first and probably most important thing I’m going to do is properly size the photo for printing. This is assuming that I’ve already gone ahead and completed any edits I’d like to make to it. Basically, I’m at the point of output, so editing things isn’t even a question anymore.

To resize the file, since it isn’t sized the way I want it already, I’ll head up to the Image > Image Size menu item and click.

Image > Image Size Menu Item in Photoshop

When I do this, the Image Size dialog box will appear.

Image Size Dialog Box

As things stand, the image is sized in pixels. Because I’m going to be printing it out to a certain specification (an actual physical size), I’d like it sized in inches. To do that, I’ll click on the drop-down box that’s value is currently pixels and I’ll change it to inches. Because both the width and the height dimensions are locked to one another, both values will change to inches. Also, since the width is currently 6.4 inches, I’d like to reduce that to 6. When I do that, since the dimensions are locked, the height of 4.267 will automatically change to 4.

Inch File Dimensions

When I’m finished, I’ll click on the OK button and I’ll see the actual image size in Photoshop reduce slightly. This is normal, since I shrunk things a little.

Selecting the Printer & Printer Settings

The next thing I’m going to do is choose the printer that I’ll be using to print this image out. Since I only have one printer hooked up to this computer I’m using, that’s going to have to be it. To access the printer selection area, I’ll go up to the File > Print menu item and click.

File > Print Menu Item

When I do that, the Photoshop Print Settings dialog box appears.

Printer Setup Section

The area I’ll be working in first is the Printer Setup section and that’s in the upper right corner of the dialog box. I encapsulated it in red in the above screenshot. To choose which printer I’d like to use, I’ll click on the Printer drop-down box. In this case, I’ll be using my Brother HL-2230 series printer. This happens to be a black and white laser printer. If I were really printing this out for a legitimate purpose, I’d likely have a slick color printer that I’d choose.

The next thing that needs to get done is to choose how many copies of the print I’d like. In this case, one is fine. After that, I’ll choose the size of paper that I’d like the image to be printed to as well as the paper orientation. To access these controls, I’ll click the Print Settings button that sits directly below the drop-down. After I click that button, the Printer Properties dialog for the currently selected printer will appear.

Printer Properties Dialog

Okay, so this is where things get interesting. The dialog that just opened pertains specifically to my installed printer. It also pertains to the printer I selected in the previous step. Unless you have the same printer that I do, you’ll see a different dialog with similar but different available settings. Since what I’m doing in this step is fairly straightforward, you shouldn’t have any problem following along and making the same settings in your own dialog box.

For Paper Size, I’ll choose Letter, which is 8 1/2 x 11 inches. Since the image is landscape in its orientation, I’ll choose Landscape for the print Orientation as well. The number of Copies has already been set to 1 in the previous step and since the file Resolution has already been set to 300dpi in Photoshop (under Image > Image Size), I’ll make sure this same resolution is set in this dialog box. Depending on what type of paper I’ll be printing to, I’ll make an appropriate selection for Media Type. In this case, I’ll keep this option set to Plain Paper. If I were to be printing out a high quality image to sell or hang on the wall, I’d likely print to glossy photo paper. If I wanted to see a preview of the changes I just made, I could click the OK button and it would show in Photoshop’s Print Settings dialog.

Print Preview in Adobe Photoshop

That’s looking good, although there are a few more areas that need attention.

Choosing Print Quality & Alignment

The next step in the print process has to do with the two sections below the Printer Setup section. These two sections are called Color Management and Position & Size. In the Color Management area, I want to be sure to set the Color Handling drop-down box to Photoshop Manages Colors. After all, I did all sorts of work in Photoshop and had all the related color setting decisions made. Why would I want to bypass them and have the printer manage the colors?

Photoshop Manages Colors Option in Printer Setup in Photoshop

The Rendering Intent option is an important distinction to make as well. Please read below to learn about the options available regarding this. At this point in time, the options are Perceptual, Saturation, Relative Colorimetric and Absolute Colorimetric.

“For most images, Relative Colorimetric rendering produces superior results. For others, Perceptual will be far better. These cases include images with significant shadow details where a slight lightening of the print is acceptable to open up the shadows. Also images with areas of highly saturated color can benefit from Perceptual rendering. If you see color banding in the soft proof with Rel. Color. selected, try Perceptual. With experience you will get a feel for which images best pair with each rendering intent.”

If you hover over each option in the Rendering Intent drop-down, you’ll see some text offered by Photoshop in the Description box right below. If I hover over Relative Colorimetric, I’ll see this text:

Compares the white of the source color space to that of the destination color space and shifts all color accordingly. Out-of-gamut colors are shifted to the closest reproducible color in the destination color space. Relative colorimetric preserves more of the original colors in an image than Perceptual.

Depending on your printer, some trial and error may be called for. That’s the only way you’ll know which one of these options will give you the best result.

After I’m finished with the most critical options in this section, I’ll move onto the Position & Size section below.

I’d like this image to be centered in the print. So, I’ll click the checkbox that’s labeled Center. If you look to the right of this box, you’ll see more positioning options. If you have certain specifications, go ahead and fill those in there.

I’m going to ignore the Scaled Print Size section because I already sized the image earlier in Photoshop. Because of this earlier work, I don’t see the need to do any additional scaling at this time. Of course, if you’re working on something special and it requires scaling after the fact, go ahead and make use of this option.

One very helpful feature that can be found in this print setup area is called Printing Marks. Let’s say I wanted to print this image out and then cut it out so all the extra white paper is gone and all I’m left with is the image itself. Sort of like a postcard where all you see is the photograph or drawing. If I were to do that, I might need some guides to assist me. I can set these types of guides up right inside of Photoshop. Take a look at this section.

Printing Marks Options

There are a few check boxes that control which marks can be added to the printout. They are currently Corner Crop Marks, Center Crop Marks, Registration Marks, Description and Labels. Obviously, not each of these options adds marks to help with trimming the paper from the image, but most of them do. The Description and Label options add text to the printout.

I’ll go ahead and check the Corner Crop Marks and the Center Crop Marks boxes so you can get an idea of what these things do. Take a look below.

Printout Crop Marks

Do you see those lines around the image? Those are the crop marks.

Previewing the Printout & Printing

Okay, moving on to the final set of options that I’ll discuss in this post. I basically want to talk about one more area that has to do with how this image might actually appear after it’s printed. If I take a look underneath the print preview (the large white box) area, I’ll see three check boxes. These boxes are labeled Match Print Colors, Gamut Warning and Show Paper White.

Print Preview Options

These three options are merely meant to give you an indication of what things will look like after they are printed. This is fairly advanced and is extremely helpful. If I check the Match Print Colors, in my case, I’ll see the preview image turn to gray. That’s because I’m using a black and white printer. If I were using a color printer, that preview would show what the color printout would look like. If I checked the Gamut Warning box, I’d see a gray overlay on top of any area that’s outside the capabilities of the printer being used.

“A gamut is the range of colors that a color device can display or print. A color that may be displayed on your monitor in RGB may not be printable in the gamut of your CMYK printer. For instance, the nice blue on your monitor that prints as purple.”

This option should be used every time you print and its advice should be heeded. There’s no sense in sending something to the printer that the printer can’t print.

Finally, Photoshop offers a preview based on the type of paper you intend to print to. If I check the Show Paper White option, the print preview will update its look depending on that specific type of paper. That’s pretty awesome.

Finally, after making all the settings changes and after looking at the previews, I’ll go ahead and click on the Print button that’s down in the lower right area of the dialog box. Once I do that, assuming my printer is turned on, the image will print out and I’ll be a very happy camper.

——

I hope I clearly explained how to set up and print an image using Adobe Photoshop. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section down below. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop


Reducing the Appearance of Deep Wrinkles With Adobe Photoshop

May 27, 2018

I have yet another technique for minimizing the appearance of wrinkles using Adobe Photoshop. I know I’ve written about this topic a good number of times already, but I think it’s a good idea to learn how to do the same thing by using different approaches. This approach is actually very similar to some of the others I’ve shared, but there are a few key differences. I’ll share those difference below.

This post is going to be about minimizing the appearance of wrinkles on the face, not removing them entirely. I think we can all admit that over a certain age, we’re all going to have wrinkles. In photography, the lighting can sometimes make those wrinkles stand out in a way that doesn’t look natural or very appealing (this is true even for younger people). As photo editors, it’s our job to help folks look their best while keeping any photograph we touch as realistic looking as possible.

In today’s post, I’ll be using an image of an older gentleman. In the photo, there are some wrinkles on the man’s face. Nothing too deep or awkward looking – just regular wrinkles. What I’m going to do is use the Healing Brush Tool and a new layer that sits on top of the photo layer to paint away the wrinkles. Then, I’ll adjust the opacity of the top layer so any changes I make blend right in with the image layer below. It really is a rather simple trick to learn, so let’s get on with it.

Today’s Demo Photo

This is the photo I’ll be using for today’s post. To keep things simple, I think I’ll primarily focus on the wrinkles on the forehead, under the eyes and around the mouth (the smile lines). Those are the ones that stand out the most to me. If you have your own photo you’d like to work on in a similar way in the future, just take the concept of what I’m doing here and apply it to your image.

Older Man

Using the Healing Brush Tool

I’ll be using the same principles I already discussed in the post I wrote about the Healing Brush Tool in this post. So, to avoid writing the same thing twice, I’ll be pointing you to that previous post and only be touching on the specifics of the tool today. If you’d like to learn all about the Healing Brush Tool, please click the link below and enjoy.

Working With the Healing Brush Tool in Adobe Photoshop

In general, the healing brush works like this; you activate the tool, find an area that you can use as a source and then paint over whatever it is that you’d like to “heal” with the brush. Of course, there are a few more minor details that need to be considered, but that’s really it. So think about it this way. If you had a photo from above of some train tracks and you wanted to paint one of the tracks on top of the other track to “heal” the one you’d be painting over, you would hold down the Alt key on your keyboard and click on the “source” track. This is the track you’ll be pulling from. Then, once that area is in Photoshop’s memory, all you would need to do is click and paint over the other track just the same way you’d paint over anything else. The thing you need to be most careful of is the movement of the source area. The reason I used train tracks in the example I just gave was because train tracks run in parallel. So does the Healing Brush Tool (if the Align option is checked). If you were to take a source sample and then brush in circles, the source would brush in circles as well. If you experiment with this tool, you’ll see that there is a ghost source mouse pointer that runs in tandem with the painting brush. Don’t worry, it’s pretty easy to understand once you start using the tool.

The first thing I’m going to do for this project, since the image is already opened up in Photoshop, is to create a new layer that will sit on top of the background layer. To do this, I’ll click the Create New Layer button that sits at the bottom of the Layers panel. This is what the layers will look like when I do this.

Two Layers in Layers Panel

After that, I’ll head over to the left toolbar and I’ll click on the Healing Brush Tool to activate it.

Healing Brush Tool in Toolbar

Directly after that, I’ll size the brush up in the options bar and I’ll be sure to give it some soft edges. Then, and this is the most important thing, I’ll make sure the All Layers option is selected in the Sample drop-down box. Since I’ll be doing the painting on an empty layer, it’s important that this option is selected because I’ll need to sample the layer underneath. In this case, I’ll also check the Align option that’s to the left of the Sample drop-down because I want to take advantage of the color gradients on this man’s skin. If I didn’t have the sample brush track the painting brush, things might look a little weird.

Once everything is all set, I’ll take a sample of an area directly above the left eyebrow by holding the Alt key down and clicking with my mouse. After that, I’ll paint over the wrinkle above the left eye.

Healed Area

Inside of the red circle is the area I just worked on. Next, I’ll go ahead and do the same thing over the areas I discussed previously. Here’s the result of that. Again, I’m not going overboard here. I’m merely doing this as an example of how the process works.

Completely Healed

You can definitely see how the wrinkles have disappeared.

Minimizing the Wrinkles, Not Removing Them

The goal now is to actually bring some of the wrinkles back. If I were to keep the photo as it is, I don’t think I’d be helping this gentleman at all. In reality, he does have the wrinkles on his face, so I don’t want to remove them completely.

To lessen the effect of my corrections, I’ll simply head over to the Opacity slider in the Layers panel and push it to the left until it reaches 50%. Doing this does a great job at keeping a less dramatic wrinkle. It allows the wrinkle to appear, but it removes the darkness or severity of them.

Opacity Slider

And here is the final photo.

Final Edited Photo in Adobe Photoshop

I think it looks pretty good. Photo editors for magazines do this kind of thing all day long.

The Lighten Blending Mode

There is one final tweak that one can make with projects such as this and this tweak can make a huge difference when working with troublesome images. If I were to apply the Lighten blending mode to the top layer, any pixels that are darker on the top layer than they are on the bottom layer would be removed. Conversely stated, only the lighter pixels on the top layer are kept when this blending mode is used. This is important because in cases like this, we’re trying to get rid of the darkness in the areas we paint.

“The Lighten Blending Mode takes a look at the base color and blend color, and it keeps whichever one of the two is the lightest. If the blend colors and the base colors are the same, then no change is applied. As with the Darken Blending Mode, Lighten looks at the three RGB channels separately when blending the pixels.”

And that’s it! That’s all there is to it.

——

I hope I clearly explained how to minimize the appearance of wrinkles on someone’s face. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop


Adjusting White Balance For Night Photography in Adobe Camera Raw

May 25, 2018

Night photography can be very deceiving. The colors you’ll capture through your camera can sometimes be wildly different than those you’d expect to see in the real world. A lot of times, these altered colors are represented via a shifted white balance. Things can be much too warm or much too cool. The reason for this is that when a photo is taken under artificial lighting, a color cast can result. I’m sure you’ve seen photos like this. Photos that are way too orange and red or way too white and blue. While these images may look very cool (neat), effect-wise, they can be corrected quite easily if you’d like them to more accurately represent reality.

In today’s post, I’d like to use Adobe Camera Raw to work through correcting the white balance of a photo that was taken at night. As you’ll see below, the photo has an orange color cast that needs to be corrected. While this post will be brief, there is one critical tip that every photographer needs to know when making these types of corrections and I’ll cover that tip below.

Demo Photo

This is the photo I’ll be using for this post. As you can clearly see, it’s too orange. At first glance, I thought it looked pretty awesome, but as I continued to explore the image, I decided that corrections and other enhancements can be made to make things look a lot better.

Buildings in the City

Opening in Camera Raw & Using the Upright Tool

Whenever I open a photo that contains buildings in it in Adobe Camera Raw, the first thing I do to it is make sure it’s not distorted in any way. Even if the image looks good to the eye, it’s a good idea to use Camera Raw’s Upright tool so see if it can be straightened any. To read posts I’ve previously written on this topic, please click through below.

Fixing a Crooked Image in Adobe Camera Raw

How To Use Guided Upright to Correct Lens Distortion in Adobe Camera Raw

Also, if you aren’t familiar with how to open an image from Adobe Bridge into Camera Raw, please take a look at these posts.

How To Open Files & Photos Into Adobe Camera Raw

How Can I Open Multiple Photos From Adobe Bridge Into Camera Raw?

As it turns out, after I used the Upright tool on this photo, the buildings only shifted a small amount. I probably could have gotten away with not using the tool at all.

Correcting the White Balance of the Night Photo

Before I begin with this section, I’d like to point you in the direction (again) of another post I previously wrote. This time though, I wrote about white balance in general and since I’m discussing the same topic today, I think it’s a good idea you review the concepts behind things.

Can You Fix Photo White Balance With Adobe Camera Raw?

I cover a lot of material in that post, so it’s a good idea to give it a once over.

Okay, so I’m going to talk about three different methods for correcting white balance in this photo. The first method is to simply push the Temperature and Tint sliders back and forth inside of Camera Raw. Both of these sliders reside in the right column.

Temperature & Tint Sliders in Adobe Camera Raw

This actually isn’t a bad idea and I use it often. I do a lot of food photography and oftentimes all I need to do to correct the white balance of an image is nudge the Temperature slider to the left just a hair. Many food photographs end up being too yellow straight out of the camera, so this is a good correction to make. The Tint slider is more challenging to work with because it works in tandem with the Temperature slider. Pushing that one by hand isn’t the greatest idea.

The second and probably the most simple method for correcting white balance is to choose the Auto option in the White Balance drop-down box.

Auto White Balance Option

As you’ll notice, there are currently only three options in this drop-down. That’s because I’m working on a JPG file. If I were working on a RAW file, there would be many more. That’s not a concern right now, so forget about that part.

If I choose Auto from the drop-down, Camera Raw does a pretty good job at fixing things up. I’ll do that now. Let’s take a look at the photo.

Auto White Balance in Camera Raw

I think that looks pretty good. Since I have no way of knowing the true color values of the objects inside of the photo, I’ll have to live with this. This is what the new values for Temperature and Tint look like though.

Changed Temperature & Tint White Balance Values

The new values are -41 and -25 respectively, so we know there is definitely something wrong with the original photo. Camera Raw just told us there is.

The third option I’ll discuss today is to take advantage of the White Balance Tool that’s found up in the top toolbar.

Camera Raw White Balance Tool

The way this tool works is simple. It’s shaped like a dropper, so in essence, it takes a sample of any area that you would click on with your mouse. That sample is compared to neutral gray and if it’s found to be different than that gray, Camera Raw will change it accordingly. For example, if a neutral image had an orange circle in it and you clicked on that circle with the dropper, you’d be telling Camera Raw that the circle should really be neutral. Camera Raw would correct this situation by adding blue to the image in an effort to balance out the over-orange. This is the same if you were to reverse the orange and blue. Also, if you were to click the gray that surrounds the circle with the dropper, nothing would happen because you’re essentially telling Camera Raw that the gray is supposed to be gray, which it already is.

Night photography is tricky to deal with because of artificial light, as I mentioned above. It’s tough to determine what type of object is truly neutral when it’s being flooded with orange light, as things are in this case. The trick is to find something that you know is really neutral gray, white or black. As long as there’s no color in the original object, it’s okay to click on it to use as a grounding point.

To get an idea what what I’m dealing with in this photo, I’m going to refer to the one I just posted above. The one that I used the Auto White Balance option on. In that photo, I see that the buildings do indeed contain some orange, so I wouldn’t want to click on any of them with the dropper. The sky has blue in it, so that’s out. The only things I can see that appear to be colorless are the two gray rooftops that are located at the bottom of the photo and the tall thin building at the center of the photo. I’ll go ahead and click on the left rooftop, where there isn’t that much orange light.

This is the output of the image and the red circle is where I clicked. Also, the new values of the Temperature and Tint sliders are -50 and -45 respectively.

White Balance Corrected Photo

I think this looks very good. When compared to the original, I can see how much more realistic the corrected image is. I’ll keep things like this and move on.

I do want to mention one more thing before I head into the next section. Be very careful when clicking on what you think is black with the dropper. Oftentimes, what looks like black, isn’t black. To test this out, just try clicking on “black” a few times in a sample image and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Black is never black, unless you 100% know it is. Like, if you’re using a color card or something comparable to that.

Making the Image Pop

Just for fun, I’m going to apply some of the principles I discussed in one of my old posts to bring out some color and contrast in this photo. If you’re curious about what I’m referring to, please click through the link below. I explain everything and what I wrote can truly help you with making your photographs look much better while using Adobe Camera Raw.

How To Make A Photo “Pop” With Adobe Camera Raw

Let’s see what the final photo looks like.

Final Edited Photo

Now that looks good!

If you’re curious about the sliders values I used, take a look below.

Basic Panel Slider Values

I also cranked up the Amount slider in the Sharpening panel to 150, which is full throttle. I did this because the image is so small and it’s only being used for the web. I would never normally sharpen so much.

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I hope I clearly explained how to correct the white balance of an image that was taken during the night. If you have any questions regarding this post, please let me know in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Camera Raw, Night Photography


Some Tips For Setting Camera Exposure For Night Photography

May 23, 2018

One of the biggest issues for someone to deal with after they purchase a new DSLR camera is trying to figure out how photography works. I mean, let’s be honest here, there are a ton of buttons and levers to contend with on most cameras out there. On my Canon Rebel T7i, there are 15 buttons on the back alone. On the top, there are four more and that doesn’t include the dial or mode selector. What’s worse is that these buttons aren’t that well explained; they use small symbols and letters, which leaves someone who’s new at the sport doing a lot of guessing and trial and error.

Obviously, the best way to deal with all of this is to learn how your camera operates and how the fundamentals of photography work. It really doesn’t take that long to do. Give me a few hours and I could have you outside shooting away. The knowledge gained today would help you far into the future and with this new knowledge, you would have the ability to get as creative as you wanted to. No more guessing and hoping that a shot would come out perfectly. If you know what you’re doing, you’d set a goal and manipulate your camera to meet that goal. You can’t do that if you’re guessing.

The reality of it is that many folks don’t want to get all that deep into things. The questions most of us ask are, “How do I take photos at night?” Or, “How do I take pictures of star trails?” Or, “How do I get a good picture of the moon?” These are some of the most popular questions out there. And don’t get me wrong, I admit that I do this too. I ask questions like this all the time and then hunt around the internet in an effort to find the answer. Sometimes I simply don’t have the time to work through an entire lesson. I just want to know how to take a decent picture of the moon already. It’s 9pm, I have my camera in my hand, so what do I do? I get it.

I think I’m going to structure today’s post a bit differently than I normally do. What I’m going to do is show you a photo and then I’ll work through the considerations I would take if I wanted to take the same exact photo. I’ll set some goals for the type of photography that was used, based on what I see in the picture. Then, I’ll offer some suggestions that are based on the principles of photography. It’s easier than you think. Trust me.

Today’s Photo

This is the image I’ll be working from today. It’s of two young people kissing in front of some car headlights. This can be a tricky photo to capture, so hopefully we’ll all learn something.

Young Couple Kissing in the Snowfall

Setting to Consider While Taking This Photo

Let’s get into the settings now. I already know that you all have DSLR cameras, so that’s not a concern. You have Auto, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and full Manual mode at your fingertips. For this photo, you’ll likely need manual mode the most.

Now let me ask you a question. What jumps out at you when you look at the above photo? If you wanted to take a picture that resembles this one, what one setting do you think is an absolute must? If you had this image in mind before heading out into a snow storm, what one thing would you look up on the internet to help you capture this occasion?

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed. That’s the answer. Do you see the snowflakes suspended in mid-air? I certainly do. If you’ve ever taken photos of the falling snow before, you know that even though it looks like it’s lazily falling to the ground, it’s actually coming down pretty fast. If this photo were taken using auto mode, the camera may have gotten the lighting right, but it’s almost guaranteed that the shutter speed would be so slow that it would look like spaghetti is hanging from above. And honestly, this photo wouldn’t be nearly good if there were snow flake trails as opposed to independent flakes. So shutter speed truly is a priority. Hmmm…did I just say shutter priority?

This photo was actually take with a 1/400 of a second shutter speed. In my opinion, that’s the slowest you can go with snow like this if you wanted to see the individual flakes. Of course, it depends on what type of snow it is and how fast it’s really coming down, but around 1/400 of a second is good. If this were a daytime shot, I would make the speed even faster at 1/500 of a second because more light would be coming through the lens, but we’re not dealing with daylight here, so forget I said that.

Okay, so far, I could set my camera to use shutter priority and I could set a 1/400 of a second shutter speed. Would that be all I need to do? Probably not.

Now, I just wrote a post the other day that talked about using a slower shutter speed and a lower ISO for night photography. The reason for these settings was because I wasn’t dealing with movement. In a case such as the one in today’s photo, movement is the true priority. That’s why I led with this first shutter speed setting. Now it’s time to deal with two other areas; blur and lighting.

Aperture

So here’s a little trick you can use to take good photos in any priority mode. If you’re using shutter priority (Tv), go ahead and set up the shot with the shutter speed you’d like to use. Then, push the shutter button half way down to meter the shot. Be sure you can see the settings through either the view finder or on the rear live view screen. See what the camera likes and sets the aperture size to. I, as well as many photographers out there, think this is a great place to start. The camera has sensors built into it that will offer a pretty good indication of what type of light it needs to get a healthy photograph. After a few test shots, you can either open or close the aperture to meet your needs.

You can also reverse this and start off with aperture priority. Meter the shot to see what shutter speed the camera likes and then go from there. It’s the same concept for either priority. One more thing – you can also set up a shot using auto mode and record the settings the camera likes. Then, to get creative with your shot, you can jump to full manual mode and plug in the setting you just recorded. To get creative, move each setting until you get what you’re after. You’re going to need a starting spot, so the easiest thing to do is to let the camera choose if for you.

Just to let you know, even though there are headlights shining in this photo, it still doesn’t compare to daylight. If I took this photo in shutter priority, the camera would likely want a fairly decently sized aperture to compensate for the lack of light that fast shutter speed would cause. In this case, the aperture used was f1.8, which is rather large. If the camera chose that and the test photos made you happy, then stick with shutter priority. If you were getting way too much blur because of the shallow depth of field caused by this large aperture, then you’d have to switch over to full manual mode and then play with the ISO. Because of the way the headlights hit the snow in this scene, it appears that this aperture size worked well.

ISO

ISO can work wonders with night photography like this. I’ll tell you, in this shot, that large aperture size saved the day. The ISO used for this photo was only 800, which is pretty low, relatively speaking. It could have been a lot higher if a different lens was used. I have an 18-135mm lens that will only open to f5.6 when zoomed in. If I used that lens for a shot like this, the ISO would have shot through the roof. The camera needs to get light from somewhere and if it’s not getting it through the shutter or the aperture, it’s going to look for it in the ISO (sensor sensitivity to light). This is fine, but the issue we deal with when using high ISO values is noise. The higher the ISO, the more noisy the photo. Even though camera manufacturers have made great strides in reducing high ISO noise, it still exists and it still needs to be considered. When engaging in photography, you’ll need to make compromises here and there. Luckily, we’re in a day and age that offers cameras of such high quality at such little cost. As long as we have a general sense of what we’re doing, we all can take really great photos.

A Few Caveats

I want to remind you that there is no perfect photo. There is only a perfect photo for you. No one can tell you that you captured a scene incorrectly. If you’re happy taking every single picture in auto mode with your DSLR camera, then so be it. Enjoy. There may be times though where you’ll need to step out into a priority mode to acquire a special look you’re after. In these cases, you’ll need to formulate what your goal is. Take that mental image and then translate it into your camera settings. In the case of the photo above, the mental image was very still independent snowflakes, not much blur caused by the shallow depth of field (the odd lighting helped with this) and good enough lighting to make the photo look presentable.

Also, you’ll likely need to experiment with your settings in the field. It’s tough to do this on your couch at home because you can’t replicate what you’re going to experience outside. If you’re doing studio work, then sure, you can replicate that setting every time. If you’re taking pictures of elephants though, you’re going to need to work those settings like it’s nobody’s business. I hope you play around in your back yard before you go on safari though. You don’t want to miss out on those elephants.

Finally, please remember that you can really help out an image in post-processing. Applications such as Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom and Photoshop can work wonders on otherwise marginal images. In today’s photo, as long as those snowflakes were captured properly, there’s an area of correction that could take place. Not a huge area, but an area.

If you’d like to learn more about photography in general, I encourage you to browse through the posts I’ve written on the subject. In all honesty, there really isn’t that much to learn. Some people are intimidated by what seems like a lot, but if you can get the general concept of how the camera works, you’ll pick this stuff up very quickly. I promise.

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I hope I clearly explained how to set up camera exposure for a night time falling snow photo shoot. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section down below. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Photography Tagged With: Camera Settings, Night Photography


Should I Use Long Exposure Noise Reduction (LENR) When Photographing?

May 20, 2018

Most of us think of the noise we see in photographs as being related to the photographer using a high ISO when shooting. While that’s the case a good majority of the time, there is another type of noise that can be introduced to images that’s triggered when a photographer uses longer exposure times. Longer exposure times tend to heat up the camera’s sensor and can cause what’s referred to as “amp noise” or “fixed-pattern noise.” This noise can be seen as “bright, abnormally colored flecks of light in an image” and “fog-like brightening around the edges of the frame.” It’s location is generally consistent across photos in a shoot because the same areas of the sensor stay warm while shooting. The noise clings to the warmer areas of the sensor.

If I had to guess, 99% of us really don’t care what type of noise this is or how it’s caused. We just want it to go away. I’ll tell you though, it’s not a bad thing to learn as much about your camera and photography as you can because there may come a time that you need to troubleshoot something. If you once learned about what causes strange color flecks while shooting longer exposures, you might know where to look to solve the problem.

Chicago Long Exposure

The underlying issue with this very specific type of camera noise is that it’s terribly difficult to remove once the photo has been captured. It doesn’t look like other types of noise and post processing isn’t very good at solving the problem.

What Can Be Done To Remove Long Exposure Noise?

While all of this is definitely a concern for those of us who enjoying shooting with long exposure times, there are surely some steps we can take to mitigate the issue. I’ll list those steps below.

1. Decide which brand of camera to buy. Different camera brands handle long exposure noise differently. Some handle it very well while others are terrible at it. From what I hear right now, Canon isn’t the greatest while Nikon fares very well. I’m hesitant to even write this because various makes, models and technologies are introduced constantly. If you’re looking for a new camera and you know you’ll be taking long exposure shots, be sure to look into this very specific detail. It can save you a lot of pain later on.

2. Let your camera cool between exposures. To be clear, I’m talking about exposure in minutes here, not seconds. If you take one long exposure shot and then take another one directly after it, you’ll likely end up with a lot more noise in the second photo than the first. The reason for this is that the first photo was taken with a cooler camera sensor. To reduce long exposure noise, it’s best to wait a few minutes between photos to give the sensor some time to cool off.

3. Take longer exposure shots in cooler air. Believe it or not, ambient air temperature can have an effect on sensor temperature. If you’re looking to keep the camera temperature down, it only makes sense to take certain types of photos during certain times of the day or during cooler seasons of the year. I know this advice doesn’t help a lot of people out there, but it is something to keep in mind. Or, at the very least, it will help your brain when you’re trying to figure out why some photos taken during the winter aren’t as noisy as others that were taken during the summer.

4. Remove the noise in post-processing. Sometimes, the individual flecks of long exposure noise are so large that you may be able to remove many of them by taking advantage of the healing and spot removal tools in Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom and Photoshop. Now, I’m not advising that you sit at your computer all day to remove the noise from a photo that you’re only going to post to Facebook, but if you really like a photo and you plan on selling it, perhaps the effort will be worth it.

5. Take advantage of built in Long Exposure Noise Reduction (LENR). Camera makers today are obviously aware of this issue and have done something about it. For many higher-end cameras, there’s an available feature called Long Exposure Noise Reduction that can help remove this type of noise substantially. If you’d like to know if your camera has this option available, you’ll need to take a look at your options under your settings menu.

The whole trick here is to remove the added noise before the user sees it. The way the camera manufacturers have accomplished this is to have the camera take a second photo, right after the first. The second photo doesn’t capture the scene though. Even though the same exact settings are used for both photos, the second photo is captured as if someone has their hand over the end of the lens. No light is allowed in. Because this noise is created by having a warm sensor and because it’s consistent between photos, it’s easy for a camera to compare both the first shot and the second blank shot. The second shot will still contain the noise and after the camera compares the two, it can remove any noise it finds in the second shot from the first. I know this sounds sort of confusing, but it works. I’ve seen tons of photos that have been helped substantially by using this approach. The only time I’ve heard of it not working is during photo shoots that require very high ISO levels. During those instances, other types of noise is introduced and you’ll be dealing with more than what I’m referring to in this post.

The pitfall of using this solution is that it doubles the time it takes to capture a scene. Because the camera needs to essentially take two long exposure photos that take the same exact amount of time each, you may end up doing a lot of waiting around. If time is of the essence, this may not be the option for you. Hopefully some of the above choices will work out.

A Special Trick

As I was studying up on this topic, I did some reading and found a great trick that truly helps with this type of “noisy” situation. Here is is. All you need is Adobe Photoshop. I tried it out and it really does do a fantastic job of removing this very specific type of noise in a photo.

First, open your noisy photograph in Adobe Photoshop. Drag the background layer down to the Create New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Doing this will create a duplicate of the that background layer. This duplicate should sit above the background layer in the panel.

Second, click on the duplicate layer in the Layers panel to select it. Then, head up to the Filter > Noise > Median menu item and when the Median dialog box appears, set the radius to 4. Depending on the size of your photo, you may need to go slightly larger or slightly smaller. Experimentation may be necessary. When finished, click on the OK button to apply the noise reduction.

Third, with the same layer still selected, change the blending mode to Pin Light in the Layers panel. What you’ll see after doing this is nothing short of magic. The noise will be (hopefully) gone.

Another Special Trick

I read this extra trick online. Basically, the claim is that if you are on a shoot, go ahead and take one shot at the same exposure time as all the others. For this extra shot though, place the cap on the lens or put your hand over it to make sure absolutely no light gets to the sensor. What you’ll get with this photo is just the noise. As you’re editing in Photoshop later on, you can use this image and place it as a layer on top of whichever real image you’d like to edit. After this, you can change the blending mode of the dark shot to Difference and use the Opacity slider to reduce the level of noise in the photo below. I’ve never tried this, but it seems to be a manual version of what the camera does during its long exposure noise reduction operation, without the added wait time experienced with that process.

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I hope I clearly explained how to deal with amp noise in photos as well as the benefits and pitfalls of using the built in long exposure noise reduction feature many cameras offer today. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them for me in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Photography


Combining Filter Gallery Effects in Adobe Photoshop

May 18, 2018

Most things in Adobe Photoshop don’t really need to be learned. They actually just need to be made aware of. In other words, none of this stuff I talk about on this website is particularly difficult to grasp. It’s more of a case of just letting people know that certain things exist. Of course, certain concepts need to be understood to be taken advantage of, but most of the time, just seeing what’s available is good enough.

In today’s post, nothing too challenging needs to be understood. This is one of those, “Oh that’s so cool” moments I’m hoping people have. I’m going to show you how you can add multiple effects (or filters) to am image inside of the Filter Gallery feature in Adobe Photoshop. If you’re a big filter user and don’t yet know about this capability, you’re going to love this. Let’s just say that it will add extra dimensions to what you already do.

I’m going to open a photo of a flower into Photoshop and then turn that flower layer into a Smart Object so anything I do to it will be non-destructive. After that, I’ll enter the Filter Gallery, where I’ll apply one of the many filters to the image. Then, and this is where things get good, I’ll apply another filter. And then another. Finally, I’ll change the order of those filters to achieve different effects. What I hope to convey is that there’s an almost infinite amount of flexibility when it comes to the Filter Gallery in this application. The final look of a photograph is up to your imagination.

The Demo Photo

This is the flower photo I’ll be using for this post. The reason I chose it is because I think it can sustain many of the available filters in the Filter Gallery. As a matter of fact, I think it looks fairly artistic the way it is.

Beautiful Orange & Yellow Flower

Creating the Smart Object

The first thing I’ll do after launching this file into Photoshop is to turn the flower layer into a Smart Object. As I’ve said many time, whenever working with filters, it’s a very good idea to use the Smart Object feature because it protects against destructive changes. Destructive changes are those that permanently alter a file.

To turn the layer into a Smart Object, I’ll right-click on it in the Layers panel and then click on the Convert to Smart Object option.

Convert to Smart Object Menu Item in Adobe Photoshop

Opening the Filter Gallery

Pretty much all of the work I’d like to complete today will be contained in the Filter Gallery workspace. So I’ll need to enter that gallery. To do so, I’ll head up to the Filter > Filter Gallery menu item and click.

Filter > Filter Gallery Menu Item

Once I click that, the workspace will appear.

Filter Gallery Workspace in Photoshop

Applying Some Filters

My goal today isn’t to make this image look wonderful. It’s merely to show you that multiple filters can be applied on top of one another right here in the Filter Gallery. To kick things off, I’ll go ahead and randomly choose one of the available filters from the Brush Strokes drop-down. The one I’ll choose is called Accented Edges.

Accented Edges From Brush Strokes in Filter Gallery

Now this is important. When I choose this specific filter, a “layer” for it shows up down in the lower right corner. Take a look.

Filter Layer in Filter Gallery

This is the layer I’m working in. I’ve decided to call this thing a layer because I’m not sure what else to call it. It looks and acts like a layer, but it’s in the Filter Gallery workspace. I’m not sure if that makes a difference or not. Anyway, if I decide to click on a different filter in this workspace, that layer will simply change to the new one I just clicked on. The new filter won’t get added to the area where the layer is. It will take the place of the first one I chose.

Let’s say I want multiple effects to be blended together in this Filter Gallery workspace. As you well know, just one filter is so boring. Let’s add some spice to things.

To add another filter to this same image, I’ll click the New Effect Layer button at the bottom of the palette.

New Effect Layer Button in Filter Gallery Palette

Once I do that, I can go ahead and choose another filter to add. And if I do it once more after that, I can choose yet another filter. Let’s see how these new effects layers look.

Effect Layers in Filter Gallery Workspace

As you can see, I chose to add Accented Edges, Crosshatch and Spatter. Now let’s check out how this photo looks with the applied filters.

Spatter Filter on Top

That’s kind of neat.

Changing the Order of the Effect Layers

Currently, I’ve got the Spatter effect as the top layer in the Filter Gallery workspace. You can see the result of that above. What if I want to change the look of the output and I don’t want the Spatter effect to be so prominent? Well, to minimize the effect Spatter is having on the overall image, I can just click and drag that layer to the bottom of the pile.

Crosshatch Effect on Top

Now, the Crosshatch effect is on top and the Spatter one is at the bottom. Let’s see what the overall image looks like now. I’ll click the OK button to exit this workspace and I’ll save the file out.

Crosshatch Effect on Photograph

Do you see what a difference that makes? Now the Crosshatch effect takes prominence. My point here is that it’s possible to add multiple effects to the same file in Photoshop, without much work. If I didn’t like what I saw, I could always click and drag one or more of these effect layers down the trash can below to remove them or I could add more layers if I wanted to.

I know I didn’t get into the settings for each effect. I didn’t think those were important for this post. I wanted to stay focused.

Before & After Edited Photograph

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I hope I clearly explained how to apply multiple Filter Gallery effects to the same image in Adobe Photoshop. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them for me in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop


Using the Pen Tool to Create a Vector Mask in Adobe Photoshop

May 16, 2018

Masking is an essential part of working in Adobe Photoshop. It allows us to non-destructively edit something out or into a photograph or a number of other things. While masking can be a tricky concept to pick up during the first few minutes of learning, things begin to flow rapidly after a few moments of that learning.

I’m sure you’ve heard of layer masks and layer masking. I’ve talked about these things a bunch on this website. The thing is, what I’ve primarily be discussing is the pixel based form of masking, which is great, but has its pitfalls. The greatest pitfall is that these types of masks rely on the pixels of an image, which, as you know, can look distorted if an image is resized.

An alternative to pixel based masking is something called vector based masking, which doesn’t rely on pixels. Like vector images, these masks rely on mathematical algorithms to produce crisp, sharp lines no matter the size. Here’s what Adobe has to say about vector masks:

A vector mask is a resolution independent path that clips out the contents of the layer. Vector masks are usually more accurate than those created with pixel-based tools. You create vector masks with the pen or shapes tools.

While I won’t be getting into how to use the Pen Tool per se in today’s post, I will be discussing how to use that tool to mask out the background of an image. In all honesty, the Pen Tool is a beast unto itself and this post wouldn’t be big enough to handle all I have to say about it. As a compromise, I’ve decided that I’d use today to focus primarily on the topic of masking something out. I’d like to keep it simple.

In today’s post, I’m going to open a photo inside of Adobe Photoshop. Then, I’ll use the Pen Tool to go through the process of masking the background out of a photograph that contains a camera. I purposefully chose the camera picture because it’s got more straight edges than curved. The reason for this is because the topic of creating curves with the Pen Tool, while fairly simple and straightforward, needs space to breath. That will have to wait for another time. I may touch upon it below though. What I really want to impress upon you is the fact that vector masks exist and that they are extremely simply to take advantage of for all types of purposes. One such purpose might include cutting an object out of one photo to include in another. You’ll see what I’m referring to below.

Today’s Demo Photo

Again, for this post, I chose a photo of a camera. Notice the straight lines.

Old Camera & 35mm Film

This image shouldn’t take too long to work with.

The Easiest Vector Mask Ever

Okay, so we already know that vector masks can be created with the Pen Tool. The issue is, there are many methods for using this tool in conjunction with the mask itself, so which one is best? In this section, I’m going to give you a quick example of how this camera photo can have its background “removed” from it.

The very first thing I’ll do (after opening the photo in Photoshop) is to head up to the Layer > Vector Mask > Reveal All menu item and click.

Layer > Vector Mask > Reveal All Menu Item

Once I click that menu item, I’ll notice a new vector mask thumbnail appear in the Layers panel, to the right of the layer thumbnail.

Vector Mask Thumbnail

Now, both the thumbnail and the vector mask thumbnail should already be selected. If I move over to activate the Pen Tool in the left toolbar, I can begin working.

Pen Tool in Adobe Photoshop

Here’s how it’s going to work. I’m going to click on the canvas with the Pen Tool a few times in an area that surrounds the camera. This will create what’s called a “pen path.” The first click won’t make a change. The second click will make everything disappear. The third click will bring back a portion of the photo and every successive click will shape the mask area. This is the final product.

First Vector Mask

While this method did the job, it didn’t do it well. First of all, who in the world clicks around a photo they can’t see? As I mentioned above, the image disappears after the second click. Also, because of the random way I masked this photo, I wasn’t near the target at all. I can see see a lot of the background and some of the camera has been removed. I’d have to spend way too much time editing the path if I did things this way. I do want to show you a few things before I go any further though.

First, take a look at the Layers panel. You can see the path I just made in the vector mask thumbnail.

Vector Mask in Layers Panel

Next, I’d like you to see the path in the Paths panel.

Layer 0 Vector Mask

And finally, I want you to see how each handle along the path can be manipulated. If I choose the Path Selection Tool (the black arrow) from the left toolbar, I can click on any handle and move the entire path area.

Path Selection Tool

Moved Path

And if I click on the Direct Selection Tool (the white arrow) in the left toolbar, I can select just one (or more) handle(s) along the path and move only it or them.

Path Handle Moved with Direct Selection Tool

So, as you can imagine, I do have the ability to modify the path after the fact. The problem is, that’s a terrible job to have. I’d have to add all sorts of anchor points and then try to fit them into small spaces. Trust me when I say this – there’s a better way.

Creating a Vector Mask, the Better Way

In this section, I’m going to create the path before applying the vector mask. Things will be much better this way. I’ll need to remove the path I just made though, so I thought I’d show you the process for doing that.

Basically, there are two really easy ways to delete vector masks. First, you can simply click and drag the mask thumbnail in the Layers panel down to the little trash can at the bottom of the panel or you can click and drag the vector mask path layer in the Paths panel I showed you earlier down to the trash can at the bottom of that panel. It’s up to you. They both do the same thing.

What I’m going to do now is reverse things. I’m going to first start off tracing the camera with the Pen Tool and then I’ll apply the vector mask when I’m finished. And after that, I’ll show you a few tricks that can really help when it comes to dealing with curves and the edge between the object and its background. This last part is going to slightly delve into how to use the Pen Tool, but I’ll try not to go too far.

To create the outline I want around the camera, I’ll use the Pen Tool. I’ll click at every corner I come across as I work around the circumference. Actually, the more I click right now and the more anchor points I include, the more accurate the outline will be. Here’s what I quickly came up with. I didn’t go nuts with this because I’m trying to save time.

Camera Pen Tool Anchor Points

Now that I have the outline done, I can create the vector mask. To do so, I’ll head up to the Layer > Vector Mask > Current Path menu item and click.

Layer > Vector Mask > Current Path Menu Item

Now look at the result. Isn’t this much better? With the menu item I just used, I told Photoshop that I’m working on a layer and that I’d like to create a vector mask within that layer. Then, I said that I’d like to use the current path I just created with the Pen Tool for that vector mask.

Vector Masked Out Camera

At this point, I can do whatever I want with this camera. I can drag it over into a new file or do something with it in the current file. It’s up to me.

Editing the Mask

When using paths with vector masks, I think you’ll find things quite flexible when it comes to editing. The first thing I’d like to discuss is what to do when you encounter a curve in whatever it is you’re attempting to mask. Here’s the rule; when you get to a curve, click and drag. That’s it. Take a look below.

Curved Path

If you look closely, you’ll notice that I’m beginning to create a path around a curve. I clicked to set the first anchor point and then when I clicked a second time, I didn’t let go of my mouse button. I continued holding it down and then I dragged away from the curve. When the handles appeared, I knew I was on the right track. This technique will take some practice, but you’ll get it soon enough. You’ll also likely need to click to adjust other handles as you work. To do this while you’re in Pen Tool mode, simply hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard to switch from Pen Tool to the Direct Selection Tool. That’s the one you want to use when moving handles. Again, this line of thought is edging towards how to use these types of tools, which I don’t want to get into today. I just thought this one tip would help.

The next tip I have for you really will make your life easier when creating path based vector masks in Photoshop. As you can see from the camera above, the background is transparent. When it comes to refining masks (editing them later on), it helps to make the background somewhat opaque. To change how visible the masked background is, I’ll need to go to the Window > Properties menu item and click. I’ll need to make sure the mask thumbnail in the Layers panel is selected first though because Photoshop needs to know which Properties panel to open up.

Window > Properties Menu Item

Inside of this Properties panel is a Density slider. If I push the Density slider to the left, the background that’s been hidden will become more visible.

Vector Mask Properties Panel

Now, if I wanted to use some other tools to edit the path so it more accurately follows the edge of the object I’m trying to outline, I can do that with no issue at all.

I think I’m going to stop here. Rest assured though, I’ll be covering the Pen Tool and the other vector based tools a lot more on this website, so get ready!

——

I hope I clearly explained how to create a vector mask in Adobe Photoshop with the Pen Tool. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them for me in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Design Tagged With: Photoshop


3 Incredibly Easy Tips For Better Night Photography

May 13, 2018

I absolutely love night photography. I can remember the first time I took some night time photos and I was blown away by what I saw through the screen on the back of my camera. Apparently, digital cameras completely transform whatever it is you’re taking a picture of into something totally different. Brighter, more visible, more interesting and more creative looking are just a few ways I can describe what cameras can do to a scene.

In today’s post, I’d like to quickly talk about three ways you can take better night time photography in so many situations. I’ll be writing a lot about this topic in future posts that have to do with a much wider array of instances, but for today, I’ll keep things geared towards subjects and backgrounds that stay still. Of course, there can be moving objects in the scene and there probably will be, but most of what’s being photographed won’t be moving. The goal of this post is to let you in on a few secrets that photographers have been using for years. Small tricks that will help give you the most clear photos possible, because as you may well know, even the smallest camera shake or vibration can introduce blur. Especially when you’re photographing something that’s far away.

Beautiful Bridge at Night

Tip #1 – The Problem With Mirror Slap

You may not have ever heard of mirror slap before, but it’s a real thing. Basically, when you set up a photo and use the optical viewfinder (the little window you look through on the back of your camera) to do so, a small mirror inside your camera is used to give you visibility of your scene through that viewfinder. When you press the shutter button to take the photo, the mirror moves from the down position to the up position very quickly. When the mirror is up, the shutter moves to expose the camera’s sensor. Once the scene is captured on the sensor for the specified amount of time necessary for a good photograph, the shutter moves back into its original position and so does the mirror. The issue here is the very slight vibration that’s caused by both the mirror movement as well as the shutter movement. Since the mirror is a tiny bit more bulky than the shutter, the mirror creates more vibration. That vibration can cause blur during some types of shoots. Namely ones that use shutter speeds between 1/100th of a second to 1/4 of a second. While the blur may be slight and many of us won’t notice it at all, it’s there and it can make a difference in the quality of a photo if it’s enlarged enough.

So, how can you deal with the detrimental effects of mirror slap? Well, most photographers simply use Live View mode at night. That is, they use the rear view screen when taking a photo as opposed to looking through the little window. When using Live View, the camera positions the mirror so it stays in the up position because it’s no longer necessary to view the scene. If there’s no mirror movement, there’s no vibration caused by it.

There are also some cameras out there that offer a feature called “mirror lock-up.” This feature moves the mirror to the up position with one press of the shutter button and then takes the photo by moving the shutter with another press of the shutter button. This essentially negates any vibration caused by the mirror’s movement.

Tip #2 – The Problem With Camera Shake

I’m sure you’ve heard of camera shake before. If you’ve ever taken a photo inside or at night, you’ve most likely experienced a longer shutter speed duration than you usually do. With a slower shutter speed, blur almost always rears its ugly head. It’s for this reason the tripod was invented (I just made that up). If you have a slow enough shutter speed, it’s nearly impossible to hand-hold a camera and get a clear photo. As you may already know, slow shutter speeds can offer remarkably creative photos, so it’s important to figure out a way to deal with shake and blur.

First, when taking photos at night, you’ll likely want to use a tripod. That’s a given. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t use one at night. Also, since your camera will be sitting on top of the tripod, it would be a terrible thing for the finger that’s pressing the shutter button to introduce shake. Yes, it’s true, just the push of a button can shake the camera to a degree where it blurs a photo. As slight as it might be, it can be annoying and even costly.

What do do about camera shake caused by your shutter button pressing finger? For one thing, you can use a remote shutter release. All this does it separate you from the camera via a wire. You plug the release into the side of the camera and then press the button with your fingers. Since the plug side of the release and the button side of it are separated by a wire, there’s no way for your shake to be transferred to the camera. It’s that simple.

Some cameras also come with a shutter delay feature. You’ll need to check to see if yours does. A shutter delay delays the actual taking of the photo for a few seconds after you push the shutter button, thereby again separating the vibration caused by your body and the camera. Both are great remedies for this problem, but I would guess most people use the remote shutter release because it’s a relatively inexpensive solution and cameras that offer the shutter delay feature are likely higher end, therefore costing more.

Tip #3 – The Problem With Grain & Dynamic Range

Okay, this is a big one and it has to do with ISO. If you aren’t aware of what ISO is, please read through this post I wrote a while ago. It explains it in pretty good detail. Basically, ISO has to do with the sensitivity of your camera’s sensor. The higher the ISO setting, the more amplified that sensitivity is. Most people use higher ISO settings in darker scenarios because they need either their shutter speeds to be fast or their apertures to be small. High ISO adjustments are a great workaround for difficult situations.

The only problem is, the higher you push the ISO setting on your camera, in general, the lower the quality of photo you’ll get because of something that’s called “grain” or “noise.” You know, the little specks you see all over a photo that was taken in the dark. Grain is usually not wanted, so it’s a good idea to avoid it when you can.

A side effect of introducing grain into a photo is the reduction of dynamic range. Because the grain that’s present takes up so many pixels in the photograph, there can actually be a noticeable loss of dark blacks and light whites. Take a look at a photo that was taken in very dark circumstances for instance. You’ll quickly notice the blandness of the picture. Again, you won’t likely get the wide dynamic range we all look for in photography with a very high ISO setting.

When taking still photos at night, it’s a good idea to set your ISO to the lowest setting possible on your camera. On mine and many others, that would be ISO 100. Since you’ll be using a tripod and since you’re primary subject won’t be moving, the low ISO is fine. It’s actually more than fine; it’s preferred. Just remember, since your ISO will be set so low, your shutter speed will be markedly slower. For instance, with an aperture set to 4.5 and an ISO set to 100, it wouldn’t be surprising for the camera to automatically choose a shutter speed of eight to ten seconds. That’s actually perfect because the sensor will have all that time to soak up its environment and your resulting photo will have very little grain. If you’ll notice the photo at the top of this post, the aperture was set to 8.0, the ISO was set to 100 and the shutter speed was set to 30 seconds. This is quite common for this type of photography. Notice the water though. Do you see how silky smooth it is? And if you look very closely at the bridge, you can see the trails from the lights on the passing cars. I simply love this type of photography.

——

I hope I clearly explained some quick tips for better night photography. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Photography Tagged With: Night Photography

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