Photos, Photo Tips, Digital Imaging Techniques and Comments

This is not the VR model and does not have AF-S. The new models are around $750-$800. I purchased mine in January 2006 for a little over $400 including shipping. I saw several of these on eBay recently selling for about the same price 2 years later, so they do keep their value. Although I have not taken it into the field much, it is super for tabletop work. I have sold a lot of micro-stock images using this lens.

I also purchased the Nikon 60mm AF micro and I have rarely used it. The 60mm lens costs nearly as much as the 105mm and I see little advantage of owning one other than that of limited space, but that seems highly unlikely. So, the main advantage of the 105mm is that you can distance yourself from the subject.  On the other hand, the working distance is down to 6″ at 1:1. This is a great lens for skittish insects that require a certain amount of distance before they are disturbed.  I am sure that the AF-S motor helps with faster focusing and the VR helps considerably because a micro/macro lens has such a narrow depth of field in close work; however, I always use a tripod when working in the close-up situations. This particular lens is very cost effective over the VR/AF-S model considering it is near half the cost of the new improved model. In addition, auto-focus is rarely used in close-up work as it is somewhat unreliable in the micro/macro arena.

This is a prime lens (not zoom - fized length), so it is tack sharp when focused correctly. It can serve as a portrait lens; on the other hand, it shows each and every pore of a person’s face and that may be undesirable for some that don’t do any post-processing in a photo editor. All in all, you can’t go wrong with this lens. It is definitely one of Nikon’s best. The filter size is 62mm and the lens weighs in at 17.9oz (about 1 3/4 lbs.). I highly recommend this lens as one that you need in your arsenal of glass.

Technorati Tags: nikon, lens, micro, macro, closeup, prime, 2.8, AF, 105mm, review

Sometimes, putting things into a different perspective gives us a chance to see things more objectively. The Discovery Channel’s “Fearless Planet” does just that. The series of hour long episodes portray the various stages of geological and biological deveopment over billions of years and is very enlightening.

I have often wondered why and how places that I have visited, such as the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York and Dale Hollow Lake in north Tennessee contatined fossils of sea creatures. These areas are far inland. In addition, I have often wondered why the dinosaurs became exstinct and other mammals survived and continued evolving. The “Fearless Planet” explains it in detail. It is a wonderfully executed series of episodes by the Discover Channel.

Technorati Tags: planet, earth, blue, geology, geological, universe, astronomy, evolution, biological, human, time

3380 Ashley River Road   Charleston, SC

Drayton Hall, in the Carolina “Low Country” near Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the most handsome examples of Palladian architecture in North America. The house was built for John Drayton, begun in 1738 and completed in 1742, using both free and slave labor. The seven-bay double pile plantation house stands in a 630-acre site that is part of the plantation based on indigo and rice. Drayton Hall is the only plantation house on the Ashley River to survive the American Revolution and Civil War intact. Seven generations of Drayton heirs preserved the house in all but original condition, though the flanking outbuildings have not survived: an earthquake destroyed the laundry house in 1886 and a hurricane destroyed the kitchen in 1893.

Nikon D80 - 105mm f/2.8
1/30 sec - f/25.0 using Alien Bees 400ws Strobe w/Softbox

Nikon D80 - 105mm f/2.8
1/30 sec - f/25.0 using Alien Bees 400ws Strobe w/Softbox

Nikon/Nikkor 105mm f/2.8mm Macro Lens Review by Ken Rockwell

Technorati Tags: blueberries photo image digital closeup macro micro

Using the following steps you can make a photo image look older:

1. Open your image in Photoshop

2. Desaturate the image: Image -> Adustments -> Desaturate

3. Make the image a duotone: Image -> Adjustments -> Variations (select the tone you like)

4. Create a new layer.

5. Select a foreground color from a mid-tone color your now variated image and make the background color white

6. Select Filter -> Render -> Clouds

7. Select Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur  (Make the angle 90 degrees and the distance Max to the right)

8. Now set that layer to hard light

9. At this point you may optionally make this layer more transparent

10. Flatten the image

11. Create a new layer

12. Set your foreground color to white

13. Select a Paper Damage Brush (you can download if you don’t have them ready to load)

14. Stamp the image with the brush. If the image is larger than the brush, use the Move, hold down the shift key and resize the it so that it covers the entire image.

15. Make the layer as opaque as is effective

16. Flatten the image

One thing that you can optionally do is use the eraser on the paper damage brush impression layer to take away any “damage” that may hinder the details on your image. 

Here is the original image that I used:

Technorati Tags: photoshop technique tips tutorial old age aging image photo portrait digital editing alteration

We humans really can’t multitask. We actually only work on one thing at a time. As a seasoned professional computer programmer, I knew that. It has always been that way. I only wished that I could multitask.

When it comes to work, I always referred to what is misconceived as multitasking as “switching gears”. After I began to think about the real mechanism of what is thought of as human “multitasking”, I began to mentally verbalize the concept as “Sequential Time/Task Segmenting with Prioritization” and here is why:

1. Since we can only work on one thing at a time, obviously, the work is executed sequentially. For instance, we cannot hold a phone conversation, take photographs, work in Photoshop, and write computer code all at the same time (at least I can’t). Unfortunately, we as individuals, cannot do “background processing” like a computer can, at least not in the real sense. (Our cerebral synapses may be doing things that we don’t consciously know about - that is another subject).
2. These things are done in time segments of our own choosing (although the “choosing” may be based on customer or supervisor demands). These segments vary in length, but they hardly ever overlap and when they do, each of the overlapping tasks usually suffer. Obviously, it is best to focus on one thing to do it effectively and efficiently.
3. Under normal circumstances, we do what needs to be done first and that usually involves something mission critical. Sometimes, we prioritize based on how quickly we can get a task done. For instance, there may be an important, invoivled task that needs to be tackled; however, we decide that another problem can be corrected in a very short period of time. We may decide to quickly take care of the small problem before we tackle the big one which will take more time. We prioritize based on what will get the best results from limited time and capabilities that we have.

Now, I suppose there are exceptions to any rule. I think that a person who can spin multiple plates on sticks above their head could be called a multitasker. The same goes for a juggler. However, upon careful inspection, one realizes that the plate spinner gets each plate spinning one at a time and then focuses on holding the sticks steady. The plates are actually spinning on their own. A juggler is working with one ball at a time and the ball handling is done so rapidly that it looks like multi-tasking but in reality it is not. The juggler works with only one ball at a time.

There are various ways to touch up skin in Photoshop. Some seem more adept at specific areas of the face than others. I have tried various filters to show these various effects. I found that some of the filters do a much better job than others. Younger skin is much easier to touch up than skin that has weathered the years. The subject in my example image is a middle-aged female. Most ladies at this age want to have their skin look like it is 20 years old. That is a big order, but getting close to it is the challenge that may be met using a combination of the following filters with layers and the eraser tool.

Original image of portion of the face unretouched

The original image shows signs of natural aging. The pores are very visible. There are wrinkles around the mouth and below the eyes. In a senior person, wrinkles can be dimished, but should not be completely taken away. Should the wrinkles be completely taken away, the image does not look realistic at all. So, smoothing the areas where pores show can be done. The wrinkles can be diminished but not taken away entirely.

Skin Surface Blur Filter Applied
with a Radius of 36 pixels
and a Threshold of 32 Levels

The Skin Surface Blur Filter seems to smooth out skin pores very well; however, the shadows areas around the nose begin to pixelate and look unrealistic. When using the Surface Blur Filter, it is important to note that the radius controls the blur intensity while the threshold controls the sharpness. This filter can be appled and used with the following steps:

1. Duplicate the background layer

2. Make the duplicate layer invisible

3. Select the background layer

4. Filter -> BLur -> Surface Blur (change the Radius and Levels to suit your image skin requirements)

5. Make the duplicate layer visible

6. Select the duplicate layer

7. Set the eraser tool to about 30-35%

8. Begin erasing the porous areas of the skin until the desired smoothing is achieved

9. Merge the layers

Reduce Noise Filter Applied to Original Image 3 Times

The Reduce Noise Filter seems to work very well at preserving facial details. In this image example, the area around the nose has been nicely smoothed while the detail has not be overly diminished. Here are the steps that achieved this result when applied to the original image:

1. Create a duplicate layer from the background

2. Make the layer invisible

3. Select the background layer

4. Filter -> Noise -> Reduce Noise

5. Settings for this example: Strength=10, Preserve Details 0%, Reduce Color Noise 0%, Sharpen Details 0% 

6. Run the filter 3 times total for the effect

Noise Median Filter with a Radius of 8 pixels

The Median Noise Filter also works well for retouching the skin. If the eraser tool has the opacity set very low, this filter can work very well on all areas of the skin. However, this filter has to be used carefully as the final image may look too much like a cartoon with many important details getting lost in the smoothing.

My first attempt at re-touching skin in portraits was using the gaussian blur filter. I found that using the Gaussian blur filter works but it loses a lot of detail much too quickly. In addition, if the radius is set low enough to preserve important details, the skin does not get smoothed enough for the results that I am attempting to get. Here is the original image with the Gaussian Blur applied with a radius of 7:

Gaussian Blur Filter Applied to Original Image
with a Radius of 7

The great strength of Photoshop is using layers. Time is always of the essence, so choosing the most time/cost effective way to touch-up photos is key. Use the comparisons above to make your own decision on which filter works best for you. Using several of these filters with layers, erasing the “rough spots” will help make a very nice image. Since no single filter seems to do it all, using several of the filters on duplicate layers of the background/original layer may make a big difference in how you post process your portraits. Here is the “final mix” image:

The “final mix” image is a a combination of
the Median Noise Filter and the Surface Blur Filter

Technorati Tags: portrait photoshop filters touchup touch-up touch up skin tutorial tips techniques photo editing post processing

Original Image

1. Open your portrait image in Photoshop and create a duplicate layer

2. Select the duplicate layer

3. Use the eye dropper to select a portion of the color surrounding the highlight and set your small brush to about 30% transparency

4. Begin covering up the highlights within the eye by working small areas and going over. The highlights will begin disappear. You may have to select color areas in severl steps depending on the image

5. Once the highlights are covered, select the dodge tool (which lightens the image) and set opacity to about 30%

6. Make the dodge tool small enough to fit within the whites of the eyes and begin working the whites.

7. Make the lower portion of the eyes lighter than the upper portion and make sure that you lighten close the the edges of the iris

8. Once you are happy with the work you have done, merge the layers

Image with highlights covered and whites whitened (Steps 1-9 above)

1. Create a new layer - name it Highlight - Select it

2. Set a soft brush to white with opacity to 65%

3. Set the size of the brush to the size that you want the new highlight

4. Give the area of the iris where the natural light would fall a shot of white (shown below)

5. If the highlight is not bright enough for you hit it again

6. Do this for both eyes with the eye facing the light having more highlight

Image with new highlight (Steps 1-6 above)

1. Make sure you have the Highlight layer that you just put highlights into selected

2. Make the layer a layer mask by selecting the icon at the bottom of the layer panel

3. Make your colors default - black foreground, white background

4. Set a small soft brush to 30% opacity and begin to erase the highlight, especially in the pupil area

5. Continue until you are satisfied - You can change the color to white to undo some of your erasing

6. Merge all all layers

Image after cleaning up added highlight (Steps 1-6 above)

1. Create a new layer called Color Highlights

2. Select a color from the pupil, open the color selection box and select a color less muted

3. Select a soft brush that approximates the color portion of the iris and apply the color

4. Don’t worry about coloring areas that you don’t want color on - apply liberally

Image with color highlight applied to Color Highlight Layer (Steps 1-4 above)

1. Select the Color Highlight layer and make it a Layer Mask by selecting the icon at the bottom of the layers window

2. Make sure the default colors of balck foreground and white background are selected

3. Use a small soft brush at 30% opacity and use the black color to erase the portions of the highlight color

4. Do this until you begin the see the detail of pupil color variations begining to show

5. Erase all color from the outer edge of the iris, the pupil and the whites of the eyes

6. Merge all layers and you should have the eye work completed

The final image

Obviously, the more care and time you put into these steps, the better the final image will look. I honestly rushed through the steps for this blog entry. Critically speaking, I think that the white specular highlight should have a more crisp look to the right edge of the eye and I was sloppy adding the color highlight as well. However, using care and these steps will give you a very artisitc interpretation while maintaining the actual look from the original photo.

After going back to the image, I did one more step on the eye that is highly optional. I used the dodge tool to make the color highlight area more transparent and lighter. The image is displayed above. I like the effect. 

In addition, the skin needs to be smoothed to compliment the eye work. I have a tutorial which shows you step-by-step how to do this:

Skin Smoothing Tutorial

Technorati Tags: photoshop eyes portrait toughup tough up face post processing airbrushing technique tips tutorial

When we take a look at the long history of the earth and its varied evolution, humans have little effect (OK, long term effect) on the planet; however, we have a huge influence on how we affect ourselves as living beings, even in the short run.

In the “grand scheme of things” and given the extreme measures of time relative to how long humans have been effecting the planet, nature could care less about the effects that we have on it. When we look at how long it has taken geological and living aspects of the earth to arrive at its present state, we are merely an aggravation, at most, to the planet as a whole. We can take its resources, spend and waste them to the point where they seem scarce, and given enough time (barring some cataclysmic event such as a celestial body slamming into the surface of the planet) everything will heal on its own and have a whole new paradigm of life. We homo sapiens may not be so resilient. We think in terms of hundreds, possibly thousands of years. The planet works in a time framework of hundreds of thousands of years, possibly millions of years.

I believe that man is extremely vain and overly confident. Many humans seem to believe everything on the planet revolves around us.  Just because we have the ability to know what we know, we feel that we are superior to every other living thing on terra firma. However, we are not independant of the ecosystems that we rely on for our living.   Our superiority stops short at the microscopic level where we depend on bateria to keep us going and we rely on our own internal defene mechanisms to ward of illness in the form of other microsopic beings that live within us. Those creatures are merely the start of the huge chain of ecosystems that we carelessly play with each and every day in our modern society. Our human planning is extremely short term. We feel little responsibility to our kind far into the future. We only feel responsible for several generations ahead without noting the generations that may live beyond our thoughts and cares. Why should we care? Should we care? Heavy questions for beings that not too long ago were hunter gatherers.

So many large and seemingly disastrous things have happened to the earth since its inception, we are fly spec in the grand scheme of things. Nature mocks us by regurgitating the result of our actions based on our ignorance back upon us. We cut, burn, pollute, and dig and seem to have an enormous effect on the planet. In the short run, from our perspective as living beings on the planet, we do have an effect; however, from the perspective of millions of years, we are only a split second in the nature of things. When a vine is cut, it comes back even stronger and larger. When all is gone but microbes, given time, life usually returns in some new form of glorious, complex splendor.

When I venture into a natural setting devoid of the synthetic world that is all too familiar to most of us, I see more clearly how insignificant we really are in comparison to the natural world outside ourselves. Given our emotional makeup, we tend to take things to the extremes and lose sight of the natural world around us. Even further, we tend to ignore how the natural world really works with us. That is, when we allow it to. We think that we can shape the world ourselves to our own liking and it will bend to our needs. We have lost sight of the fact that the entire world is a system and that when we throw synthetic elements at it that are out of sync with the natural scheme of things, we are making things more hostile to our own livelihood.

Nature can and will heal itself. Do we have the wisdom to do the same? Only love, compassion and care can save humanity from itself.