Question of the Day:

Here is the question: Do people physically have to be in the picture for it to be considered a “portrait?” I worked on this image last night and I guess that is what made me think of it. I photographed Chris and Brittany in front of this old theatre downtown Greenville, but before they got there I made an image there without them in it. Then that lovely white frame just stuck right out to me and I had the thought of re-introducing another image of the couple into that space. I thought I might stretch the parameters of portraiture a bit with this one.  

Chris & Brittany…

I had an engagement session with Chris and Brittany on Sunday. It was a bit chilly, but we had a great time anyway. I even broke out the Polaroid camera. I knew when I met Brittany a while ago to discuss her wedding plans that they would be a great couple to work with…and they are! They were definitely troopers on Sunday, braving the weather and all the varieties of locations. I am definitely looking forward to photographing their wedding in August. It will be so much fun! What a cute couple they are! Here are some pics from our session:

Tuesday Tip ‘O the Day: Burning & Dodging on a Gray Layer

Hello again. It’s time for tip of the day Tuesday. Today we are going to be working with using a 50% gray layer to fine tune specific areas of your image(s).  I like this technique because you are not using the dodging and burning tool directly on the image layer. The burning and dodging tool really are not my favorite tools anyway. If there are specific areas in your image that need a little lighting or a little darkening this is a tip for you. It works for all types of pictures from portraits to collage to landscape. It just takes a little pre-visualization to think about how you want your final image to appear. So, the first thing you need to do (with your image already open) is click on your topmost layer and create a new layer by clicking on the new layer icon (looks like a piece of paper) at the bottom of your layers palette. Go to Edit>Fill>and choose 50% Gray from the contents menu, then click okay. Now your image box should be filled with gray. Change the blend mode of your gray layer to Soft Light (blend modes are near the top left of the layers palette). Now it should appear as if you have done nothing to your image. With the gray layer selected you will be “burning” with the black paint brush and “dodging” with the white paint brush. Burning and dodging are traditional “wet” darkroom techniques – where burning is done by adding more time to the print thus giving it more exposure and dodging is done by blocking the light to take exposure away. When painting on the layer I usually start my brush at about 15% then adjust from there. For example, if you want to dodge someone’s face a bit, get your white paint brush, set the opacity to 15% then start brushing on the face (with the gray layer selected). If you want to burn a certain area that perhaps is a bit too bright, get you black paint brush, set the opacity to 15% then start brushing the area you want to darken. You can adjust the opacity to make it less or more intense. Below is a before and after with this technique. I really wanted the pipes to stand out a bit more and wanted the brick to fall back, so I used a gray layer to bring areas in or out depending on their importance in the composition. The before image is on the left. The change is subtle, but just enough to give the pipes a bit of a boost.  

Save Polaroid Save the World

Sad news from the home front. It is true, Polaroid is discontinuing production of instant films. This upsets me. Polaroid has been a huge staple of my work. I have been doing Polaroid transfers using Polaroid 669 film for the past 6-7 years. If you want to do something about it – you can join the flickr pool – save polaroid. I plan on joining. Maybe it will help, or maybe it will make another company pick up the production of the instant film technology. Click HERE to go to the flickr pool.

My First Tom’s!

I first heard about Tom’s Shoes from my parents who bought a pair during a Christian conference they attended last year in Georgia. Ever since then I have been wanting to purchase a pair. I finally bought a pair online last week and they came yesterday! If you are not familiar with Tom’s Shoes, the concept is simple. You buy a pair and they supply a child in need with a pair of shoes. Check out Tom’s Shoes by clicking HERE. Here are a few pics of the shoes I got:

Tuesday Tip ‘O the Day: Soft & Sharp

My tip of the day for Tuesday is called Sharp and Soft. Have you ever seen those images that have a wonderful soft glow to them, but at the same time are really sharp. Seems like a contradiction, however they actually work really well together. This technique works well for dull and dark images. So, its a bit of a long one, so hang in there. Two before and after examples of this technique are posted below. The second example has a little added tlc beyond the technique. Here we go:
Step 1: Open you want to use in Photoshop
Step 2: Select your background image layer and go to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. In the Unsharp Mask dialog box enter 20 for the amount, 50 for the radius,  and 0 for Threshold. (for more sharpening enter 50 for amount, 20 for radius and 0 for Threshold). Click OK. Your image may look a bit over-sharpened, but this will change. 
Step 3: Add a Levels Adjustment Layer from the bottom of the layers palette (layer adjustment icon looks like a half black, half white circle). Immediately click OK, don’t make any changes.
Step 4: Change the blend mode of the Levels Adjustment Layer to Screen (the blend mode menu is towards the top of the layers palette). If this adjustment results in a really blown out image pull the opacity down…try 50% 
Step 5: Merge the Levels Adjustment Layer with the background image layer. (Keyboard shortcut for Macs is Command-E – or you can go to the Layers palette drop down menu at the top right and choose Merge Down).
Step 6: Copy the background layer two times (Mac keyboard shortcut is Command J or you can drag the layer to the new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette {looks like a piece of paper}).
Step 7: Change the blend mode of the top layer to Screen, then merge (Merge Down – Command-E) the top Screen copy with the copy of the background layer below. 
Step 8: Change the blend mode of the top layer (merged layer) to Multiply
Step 9: We are going to add a bit of a glow ( this is where the “Orten” effect partially comes in) by adding a Gaussian blur to the copy/merged layer (the multiply blend mode layer). Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. The resolution of  your image will determine the blur amount. If you have a high resolution image try anywhere from 5-20 pixels. Or just add an amount to suit your image.
Step 10: Duplicate the Multiply layer we just blurred and change the blend mode of that layer to Soft Light.
Step 11: Lower the opacity of the Multiply  layer down (should be the middle layer) to suit the tonal range of your image. You should now have a nice soft image that has still retained sharp edges. If you are working with a portrait you may need to bring the eyes back in by using a layer mask. Just remember…not every technique works for every image…so hopefully you can take this and adjust it to your needs.   after: 

Polaroid Rocks!!!

Back in the day I purchased a Polaroid Joy Cam and they discontinued making the film for that camera. Big bummer. So last weekend I went and purchased a Polaroid 600 camera because they were on sale at Walgreens and well, I just wanted one too. They are so much fun! I have been using Polaroid  for a while, mostly Polaroid 669 to make polaroid transfers. I went to visit my family this weekend in Whiteville NC, so we had a lot of fun testing the new camera out. My 2 year old niece even make an image…with the help of her Papa. I plan on using the Polaroid camera next weekend for an engagement session. It should be fun, so look out for more fun with Polaroids!

You gotta have Vision!

I often remind myself (and my students) that to be a good photographer/artist you have to have vision. Sure we are drawn to works of art for many different reasons – the color is beautiful, the composition is interesting, and the subject matter is unique – but really all those things are encompassed in a little something called VISION. We all know artists and photographers copy each other. I have definitely done it. They see something cool and they want to learn how to do it themselves. It is actually a great way to learn. That’s the way they did it back in the day…the whole apprentice-master model. But, I think often we get caught up in the “cool” aspect of certain styles and our vision of our own work gets lost. I read a blurb on Dave DuChemin’s blog about this very topic. I liked the way he discussed this dilemma (if you want to call it a dilemma). His link is below if you want to read about it. To sum up…I think it is great to educate yourself about how different artists accomplishe their styles/way of creating…but don’t forget YOUR own vision. It can be a struggle…one that I definitely have to work on. I just have to ask myself….what do I really want to accomplish out of this image and what tools/techniques can get me there. Dave DuChemin’s blog is HERE if you read all about what I just discussed…read the Feb. 09th post!

Tuesday Tip of the Day

This is for all you Photoshop lovers. This tip is pretty simple. If you are familiar with Photoshop you know there are often times many ways to accomplish one task. I am going to show you a quick way to make a toned image from a color image. I like this one because it is very flexible in terms of what you can do with it. We did this in my digital class last week and me students seemed happy with it. It is also great to set up as an action! Here we go:Step One: Choose a color image you wish to tone and open it in Photoshop. The image I will work with is one of my niece.She is so much fun to photograph! Step Two: Make it Black and White. You can use a gradient map adjustment layer for this or you can use a channel mixer adjustment layer. I am going to use a channel mixer adjustment layer. (Just don’t use Image>Mode>Grayscale – we want to stay in RGB mode). Go to the bottom of the layers palette and click on the adjustment layer icon (looks like a half white, half black circle) and choose Channel Mixer. This will open the Channel Mixer dialog box. Check on “Monochrome” and enter 60 for red and 40 for green. You can adjust the RGB sliders until you get something you are happy with as long as the numbers add up to 100. When you are satisfied with your result, then click ok.Here is the black and white conversion I got with the channel mixer: Step Three: Select the background layer, then click on the foreground color in the tool box to choose which color you would like to tone with. Let’s try a warm toned  image. So for this image I entered 124 for R, 105 for G and 60 for B. Then click okay to exit the color picker. Step Four: Once you have chosen your color (color to tone for foreground and make sure white is your background color), then click on the adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the screen and choose Gradient Map.  Then click OK to accept the Gradient Map Adjustment.  It will look very flat, but don’t worry it will look  a lot better soon.Step Five: Drag the new Gradient Map Adjustment Layer to the top, above the Channel Mixer Adjustment Layer. Now you can see the color, but it still looks flat. Here is what I have:Step Six: Change the blend mode (on the layers palette) to Soft Light, now you should have a nice warm toned image – very soft. If it is too saturated you can lower the opacity of the Gradient Map adjustment layer to lessen the tone. Here is what I have: Optional Steps:If you want to bring subtle color back in, drop the opacity of the Channel Mixer adjustment layer. If you drop it down all the way or discard it, you will be left with a more saturated version of your image. I often use the gradient map adjustment without the Channel Mixer to give my color images a pop in color….the end.    

Call for Entries for Alternative Processes Lovers!!

If any of you do alternative processes you probably know Christopher James. He is the juror for an upcoming show put on by the Smithtown Township Arts Council. Here is a link if you are interested: http://www.stacarts.org/exhibits