Every once in a while in our life
we see the forest and the trees
we smell the ocean’s mist in our mind
we know who we truly are, once again
every once in a while we really live

Every once in a while for a time
we feel the warmth of the sun
we touch another person like they’re real
we breath in the air like it’s all brand new
every once in a while we really live

Every once in a while in a day
we know what we see and we look
we try to feel more than we feel
we strive to love others for real
every once in a while we really live

Every once in a while in a moment
we smile, feel free, and very alive
we taste each moment so sweet and precious
we live each second like it’s all there is
every once in a while, every once in a while

by Tom Warner

One Photoshop Action that I really like is the Duotone Dream action. It allows you to not only get an :old fashioned” sepia look to your image, it also adds a “dreamy, glowing effect” that is very attractive. In addition to the action applied to the image above, I also downloaded several “scratch” brushes that give the image a look similar to those where the old glass plate “negative” was scratched over time. I duplicated the base image and then applied the scratches. Then, I erased over the faces and other key areas of the women to bring out their faces. Some of the scratches were distracting in the image.

Here is a link to the ZIP file that contains the Duotone Dream action for those of you using photoshop:

Duotone Dream Photoshop Action

I have experimented with various techniques for touching up photo portraits. Simplicity is always key. It it saves time, it is easier to recall, and easier to execute. The important consideration is that the simplicity brings excellent results. Many touch-up techniques use the Gaussian blur to achieve the results of smooth skin; however, I honestly believe that the Filter -> Noise -> Median function actually works best. It leaves the edges of the image more intact which is vital to the realism of the original image.

The skin smoothing is only one aspect of the total work to be done. So, I will start at the beginning of a touch-up session:

1. Optionally, use the Healing Brush Tool to take care of any pimples, bumps, scars or other minor skin imperfections. These are usually color abnormalities. Don’t spend too much time on this. The next steps will clarify the skin a great deal as you will see. This particular image had no imperfections that needed this step.
2. Next create a duplicate layer
3. Click on the eye icon on this layer to make it invisible
4. Now click on the original background layer to make it active
5. Goto Filters -> Noise -> Median
6. Move the slider bar (you’ll have a preview) until the skin is smooth like you want it. Don’t worry too much if it is very blurred, just make sure it is smooth enough for your liking.
7. Click on the duplicate layer copy (top layer) and click on the eye icon once again to make it visible
8. You should have the original image you opened showing.
9. Set the Eraser Tool to about 40-50% You may have to move your maouse or pen over the areas several times to increase the smoothness. With more mature people, you may want to leave some slight impressions of any wrinkles. Removing them completely tends to take away the true character of the person and leaves them looking unrealistic. Experiment with the skin on the face to see what best results you can derive.
10. Begin erasing areas of the skin which will make those areas smooth. Adjust the size and opacity to suit your needs. Some areas will need more help than others.
11. Once the skin areas are smooth like you want them, flatten the image.
12. You should have only one layer now and it should be ready for the final touches.
13. For the eyes and teeth, you can use the Dodge Tool (this lightens the areas you pass over)
14. Set the opacity to about 25% and change the size of the tool to easily fit into the whites of the eyes
15. Begin stroking over the redness and other discolorations of the whites of the eyes they will begin to lighten (I used it on the right part of the left eye above as you can notice the difference between the before/after image above)
16. Do the same for the teeth - make the size of the tool is about the width of the tooth you are lightening - even strokes up and down seem to work best.
17. One of the last things that I do is work on the eye color a bit since they are usually the focal point of the photo.
18. Lasso the eye(s) and optionally increase the saturation a bit. Be careful not to overdo it
19. Another optional step (while both eyes are still lassoed) is to Filter -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen - Again, don’t overdo this; however, this shrapening step can often make those eyes really snap!
20. The only other thing that you may want to do is to use the blur tool to even up any areas that seem a bit posterized. If you have Corel Painter, you can use the soft blenders to even things up as well. Sometimes, the Filter -> Noise -> Median function will have a posterization effect where the skin shades are not graduated in a natural manner.
21. Save your file.

Technorati Tags: photoshop, portrait, skin, touchup, touch-up, portrait, finishing, post, processing, face, facial, digital, editing, edit, airbrush, tips, techniques

Light Angle
The angle of light should be taken into consideration when you need to create a specific effect. Shadows can be very powerful when cast over half of a person’s face. When you decide the angle you want to have the light coming from you are also deciding where the shadows will be cast. The angle of light can show texture when coming from the side because the shadows create the effect of more depth. It can add detail and mystery to a person’s face if you choose to keep half of their face in the shadows.
 

Effect of Light Rays
The effect of rays of light indoors and outdoors can be very spectacular. A brilliant part of some great photographs is the ability to actually see rays of light in a photo. Whether it is in the setting of a brilliant sunset, light pouring through a window or light from artificial lights almost all kinds have the potential to look amazing. Usually the only way to obtain something like this is a narrow aperture (high f/stop) and a very slow shutter speed. I have found rays of light to be very nice in architectural photography in the form of light streaming through windows or spaces.
 

Silhouette Lighting
The way to create a silhouette is to have significantly brighter light coming from behind the subject. Take your camera light reading off of the background instead of the subject so that the camera will adjust for an exposure based on the backlight. If you do this the subject will be successfully underexposed and the background should have a well-balanced exposure.
 

Scarce Light in the Darkness
Photography at night is completely different than photography in the day. At night there is most likely not enough light to handhold the camera if you are going to take a well-exposed photo (without flash). A tripod is very necessary and I always use a tripod when I am shooting at night to take away the risk of blur from hand shakiness. If you keep experimenting with different ways of using light you will find that you can get very interesting results. One favorite location of night photographers is on the roadside of a busy street. With a long shutter speed the photographer can use the car lights to make streams of light across the frame. The longer the exposure, the more fascinating the results with light most of the time.

Try This Technique to Make a Copy of Someone
Set the shutter speed for somewhere around 30 seconds, set the camera on a tripod and set the self-timer so you do not have to press the shutter button. Someone needs to stand next to the camera with a flashlight and someone else needs to be the subject of the photo in front of the camera. The subject then stands in one place while the flashlight is pointed at him and moved in an up and down motion. After around 15 seconds the flashlight is turned off and the subject is told to move to his left. Then the flashlight is pointed at him again and moved up and down until the camera finishes the exposure. If you do this successfully you can create the same person twice in one frame.

Technorati Tags: photographic lighting techniques tips light photo

1. Sunny 16
The basic exposure for an average scene taken on a bright, sunny day is f/16 at a shutter speed equivalent to one over the ISO setting—that is, f/16 at 1/100 sec at ISO 100. From this you can interpolate, and try f/22 at the beach, f/11 on a cloudy-bright day, etc.

2. Moony 11, 8, and 5.6
There are many different rules that work well when shooting the moon. One favorite for a proper exposure of a full moon is f/11 at one over the ISO setting. For pictures of a half moon, use the same shutter speed at f/8, and for a quarter moon, use the same shutter speed at f/5.6.

3. Camera Shake
The slowest shutter speed at which you can safely handhold a camera is one over the focal length of the lens in use. As shutter speeds get slower, camera shake is likely to result in an increasing loss of sharpness. So, if you’re using a 50mm lens, shoot at 1/60 sec or faster. Not enough light? Use a flash, tripod, or brace your camera against a solid object.

4. The Gray Card
Metering off an 18-percent neutral gray card is a good way to get a midtone reading that will give you a good overall exposure of a scene. Forgot your gray card? Hold your open hand up so it’s facing the light, take a reading off your palm, open up one stop, and shoot. (Various skin tones rarely account for even a full-stop difference.)

5. Depth of Field
When focusing on a deep subject, focus on a point about a third of the way into the picture to maximize depth of field, because the depth-of-field zone behind that point is about twice as deep as the depth-of-field zone in front of it. This works for all apertures and focal lengths, but the smaller the aperture and the shorter the focal length, and the greater the distance you shoot at, the greater the depth of field.

6. Largest Digital Print
To calculate in inches the largest photo-quality print you can make with a digital camera, divide the vertical and horizontal pixel counts (see your manual) by 200. For critical applications, or if you want exhibition-quality prints, divide the pixel counts by 250.

7. Exposure
The classic advice is, “Expose for the highlights, and let the shadows take care of themselves.” This works with slide film and digital. But with negative film, especially color negative, you’re better off overexposing by one stop.

8. Flash-fill
When using an automatic flash unit that doesn’t provide auto flash-fill ratios, set the flash’s ISO dial to twice the ISO you’re using. Meter the scene, select an f-stop, set the autoflash aperture to the same f-stop, and shoot. The resulting 2:1 flash-fill ratio will produce filled shadows one stop darker than the main subject.

9. Flash Range
Want to know how much extra flash range you get by going to a faster ISO? The rule is, “Double the distance, four times the speed.” For example: If your flash is good to 20 feet at ISO 100 (film or digital), it will be good to 40 feet at ISO 400.

10. Megapixel Multiplier
To double the resolution in a digital camera, you must increase the number of megapixels by a factor of four—not two. Why? The number of pixels in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions must be doubled to double the pixel density across the image sensor.

11. Action-stopping
To stop action moving across the frame that’s perpendicular to the lens axis, you need shutter speeds two stops faster than action moving toward or away from you. For action moving at a 45-degree angle to the lens axis, you can use a shutter speed one stop slower. For example: If a person running toward you at moderate speed can be stopped at 1/125 sec, you’ll need a shutter speed of 1/500 sec to stop the subject moving across the frame, and a shutter speed of 1/250 sec to stop him if moving obliquely with respect to the camera.

12. Sunset
To get a properly exposed sunset, meter the area directly above the sun (not including the sun). If you want the scene to look like it’s a half-hour later, stop down an f-stop, or, alternately, set exposure compensation to minus one.
�