BetterPhoto Instructor Insights

Major Upgrade for Topaz Adjust 4!

By Tony Sweet

photo copyright by Tony Sweet

Topaz Labs has released an update to Adjust 4. It’s a major upgrade for this creative Photoshop plug-in - kind of a whole new ballgame.

The UI (user interface) is very cool and easy, and the effects are more profound and manageable, giving us even more ability to produce images we see only in our imaginations! Highly Recommended!

Note: The blog image above was created using the Dark-Ghostly filter preset, then further modifying manually in Topaz Adjust.

Editor's Thoughts: Learn creative photography techniques from Tony Sweet in one of his online photo workshops: Fine Art Flower Photography and Image Design: Revealing Your Personal Vision

Use Nik Viveza 2 to Enhance Your Digital Photos

By Kerry Drager

The Photoshop plugin Viveza 2 makes editing in the digital darkroom "easy, fast and effective!" So says Deborah Sandidge, a BetterPhoto instructor and top pro photographer.

Don't miss Deb's new Photoshop article, which offers many insightful tips and techniques for using the newest version of Nik's excellent Viveza plugin. Plus, she uses a captivating image of a Cuban sugar cane farmer as an example for turning a fine image into an outstanding one. Read Deb's article:

• Use Nik Viveza 2 to Enhance Your Digital Photos

Have fun discovering the creative potential from one of the most creative photographers around!

Kerry

Depth of Field in Digital Photography: Photoshop Solution

By Kerry Drager

After any big trip, pro photographer Jim Zuckerman gets to work in the digital darkroom. Besides simply processing the Raw files from his DSLR camera, he says, "I look for composite material that will allow me to come up with images unlike anyone else has".

For a scene he shot during Carnival on Burano Island - off Venice, Italy - Jim faced a depth of field challenge. His solution was to shoot two photos: "I first focused on the model and took the picture, and then I re-focused on the background and took the second image of the colorful houses and the canal. I then used Photoshop to put the sharp background behind the model."

The final image is a stunner (see below), but you'll want to read just how he did it in his fascinating new BetterPhoto article:

• Depth of Field in Digital Photography: Photoshop Solution

Have fun learning about Photoshop creativity from a top pro and one of BetterPhoto's top online instructors!

photo copyright by Jim Zuckerman

Photoshop Pen Tool for Creative Composites

By Jim Zuckerman

photo copyright by Jim Zuckerman

One of my favorite images of a photo workshop during Carnival in Venice, Italy, was this composite that I created of a costumed model in a palace.

I obtained special permission to bring our group into a 17th-century palace for a two-hour photo session, and unlike last year where I did some HDR, this time I photographed various paintings and wall panels for backgrounds - for use as Photoshop composites.

I then cut and pasted one of them behind the model you see here, and I was very pleased by the result. I used the Photoshop pen tool to carefully cut around the sofa and the model, taking extreme care (at 400% magnification) to cut around the feathers in the headdress.

The lighting, I think, is especially interesting with the tungsten sconces on the wall and the main light coming from a large bank of leaded glass windows.

BetterPhoto Digital Photography School: Jim Zuckerman teaches three outstanding online Photoshop courses: Creative Techniques in Photoshop , Advanced Creative Techniques in Photoshop and his new Photoshop: Thinking Outside the Box.

Learn to Create Works of Art in Photoshop

Discover how to turn your photographs into creative works of art in Jim Zuckerman's interactive online Photoshop course.

A top stock photographer, Jim shares many of the exciting artistic Photoshop techniques that he uses in his own work. As Jim says:

"Understanding the commands in Photoshop is the easy part. The hard part is knowing what to do next. In other words, how can you be artistic with this knowledge? For example, how do you turn a portrait into a stunning sketch? How do you create a 3D cube in a two dimensional photo? How do you simulate a traditional double exposure?"

In this class - Photoshop: Thinking Outside the Box - you'll explore many very cool effects that you will want to try with pictures you've already taken, or with new images.

Additional notes: BetterPhoto.com's digital photography school online features a number of courses on the fundamentals of Photoshop and Elements, along with Photoshop CS4 creative techniques. See the school listings: online Photoshop classes.

Online Class Covers Photoshop Layers and Layer Masks

In this BetterPhoto.com online course, you'll learn how to use one of Photoshop's most powerful tools!

Masks and selections allow you to work on a particular area of an image and make changes only to that area - a major benefit of digital photography.

Taught by Doug Steakley, a professional photographer and author, this 4-week online photo workshop - Basic Masks In Photoshop - covers the basic selection tools. You'll discover how to add to, or subtract from, a selection so it is perfect. Then using a mask layer, you will make changes to the area or areas that were selected.

Once you get a good working grasp of layers and masks, Photoshop becomes much less intimidating and more powerful and fun to use.

Note: BetterPhoto.com's digital photography school also offers a number of other online Photoshop courses.

Digital Noise Reduction: Reviewing the Options

By Rob Sheppard

I have often mentioned that Adobe products only do an adequate job with noise. Lightroom 3 has some promising improvements, but from what I have seen so far, I still find Nik Software Dfine to be superior.

There are other good noise reduction programs on the market, including Noise Ninja and Imagenomics Noiseware, but I find Dfine is easier to use and offers one thing that no one else does, the ability to control where and how much noise reduction is applied based on color and tone. Often noise is stronger in certain colors and tones, plus sometimes you don’t want to reduce noise in a color or tone because that can help hold sharpness better.

Now I have said these things before and once received a comment from a photographer who felt that the program wasn’t that good and the only reason I said it so was because I must be paid by Nik. I am not paid by Nik, although I admit that I think so highly of their products that I would never feel bad about doing any work for them. From what I have seen of Dfine on my images, I have to think this critic either had not used Dfine or did not know how to use it. But to be fair, I should show you real results rather than just talking about it.

I took my Canon G11 to a banquet and decided to shoot a cheese cake sitting in front of me at ISO 3200. That ISO is really not usable straight from the camera, which is why I used it for this test. The resulting photo is not all that great (it has had some basic adjustments). Small, it will look OK here, but look at the magnified portion of the image. This would be good if you like special effects!

original image (above) - noise present but not visible due to small size

image (above) enlarged to show presence of noise

enlarged image but with Dfine noise reduction applied (above)

Editor notes: Rob Sheppard teaches many online photo courses at BetterPhoto's online digital photography school, including The Magic of F-stops: Choosing the Right Aperture, Guaranteed Better Photography and Impact in Your Photographs: The Wow Factor .

Creative Images with Photoshop Plugin: Snap Art

By Deborah Sandidge

photo copyright by Deborah Sandidge

If I could be a painter, I'd paint like this, dreamy, abstract, colorful ... until then, it's Alien Skin Snap Art!

This Photoshop plugin has an impressive collection of filters that create painterly and artistic effects for your photographs. The Cuban drummer (photo above) and the couple (photo below) were enhanced using the Watercolor filter. Within Snap Art, there are 10 filters, Color Pencil, Comics, Impasto, Oil Paint, Pastel, Pen and Ink, Pencil Sketch, Pointillism, Stylize and Watercolor.

photo copyright by Deborah Sandidge

Create a "rainy day" look with Color Pencil. Take a look at the photo below...

photo copyright by Deborah Sandidge

One of my favorite filters in Snap Art is Stylize. You can create a poster effect like the photo below of Trinidad, Cuba. I painted the car pink just because!

photo copyright by Deborah Sandidge

Some of the students in my online Photoshop course - Photoshop - Enhancing Digital Images and Creating Works of Art at BetterPhoto.com's online digital photography school - have made stunning images using the various features in the Photoshop plug-in Snap Art. It's a lot of fun to see how each person interprets working with the filters and their photos, and how creative everyone is!

Creative Photography with Lucis Pro

By Deborah Sandidge

One of my favorite Photoshop plug-ins is Lucis Pro. It's one of the most versatile tools to work with in Photoshop. It's simple, yet very sophisticated. You can optimize an image in a realistic way, or enhance an image creatively depending on the end result you desire for your image.

photo copyright by Deborah Sandidge

A great way to work with Lucis Pro is to create colorful interpretations with infrared photography. The image above was photographed with an infrared converted camera, R72 type filter and combined with a texture layer. The sliders can be used to sharpen or soften details, or both - with very artistic results. With the infrared photo below, I went for a surreal painterly look working with the color that was introduced in Lucis Pro.

photo copyright by Deborah Sandidge

The image below was optimized and enhanced using Lucis Pro. You can create an HDR type look by enhancing the the detail and color in the image. Working with the individual RGB channels gives you control over how the enhancements affect the image. I brought out color and detail in the architecture, and softened the sky at the same time, creating a vibrant composition.

photo copyright by Deborah Sandidge

Lucis Pro is a powerful tool, and a pleasure to work with. I cover more about Lucis Pro in my online photography courses: Photoshop - Enhancing Digital Images and Creating Works of Art and Digital Infrared Photography.

NOTE: Also at BetterPhoto.com's digital photography school online, there are many other online Photoshop courses and photo classes that cover creative photography techniques.

Photoshop Plugin - Try Topaz Lab Filters

By Deborah Sandidge

photo copyright by Deborah Sandidge

Topaz Labs caught the photographic world on fire with their amazing plug-in selections. One of my favorite Topaz Lab filters is Adjust. What do I like about it? Let me count the ways... or the presets, Spicify, Vibrance, Portrait Smooth, the list goes on... The photo above was enhanced using Spicify. Try blending the various filter effects, create and save your own presets, mix it up, have fun!

At left is the original image, what a difference! Spicify helped define the features of the fisherman and enhanced the sky and ocean with a pastel and painterly look.

Use a layer mask to remove or lessen the effect of the filter in selected areas as I did with this fisherman's face.

Following is an example (below) of using Spicify globally, which worked well for this particular photo. Spicify accentuated the weathered look in this gentleman's face, and brought out detail and color in the entire image.

photo copyright by Deborah Sandidge

Some of my other favorites in the Topaz Lab collection include ReMask, Detail and Vivacity and try DeNoise for excellent noise reduction. You can accomplish some pretty cool results using the various plug-ins. Try Clean 2 to create illustrative textured effects with your photos as shown below. You can use this code - deborahsandidge for a discount for anything Topaz. Have fun creatively enhancing your photos!

photo copyright by Deborah Sandidge

Editor's Note: Like these techniques? Deborah Sandidge teaches an outstanding Photoshop course: Photoshop - Enhancing Digital Images and Creating Works of Art. In addition, the BetterPhoto digital photography school offers many online Photoshop classes.