Digital photography tips and techniques

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Taking good pictures with a digital camera

Photography has been with us for a century, but in the past few years there has been a revolution. Digital technology has put all the creative power of the photographic process into the hands of the consumer, from pressing the shutter to turning out prints. With a digital camera, a Mac or a PC and a printer, you can get the exact picture that you want. Everything is in your control, reviewing the shot straight away on the LCD, editing out blemishes or unwanted objects, and making as many prints you want at any size you like.

Digital photo enhancement

Ordinary images taken with a digital camera can be transform into great pictures with a little help from photo editing software. Today, these software are easily available and at the same time affordable.

In this section, we will show you how you can transform your ordinary travel photos into great pictures that all your relatives and friends would envy.

Choosing a photo editing software. Adobe Photoshop

Why Adobe Photoshop? Most people are intimidated by the software, having perception on high level of difficulty using the software. The truth is, with a little instruction and little practice, you can create some very pleasant art. Examples below are edited using Photoshop ver. 7

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Achieve good contrast

To pull out optimal contrast, you'll need to choose

Image>Adjustment> Levels.

Pulling in the upper right and left sliders will increase the contrast. However, by doing this you will be affecting all colour channels in the image. To limit the amount of contrast without damaging the image, change the pop up manu at the top of the dialog box to Red. Now you can pull the upper right and left sliders until they touch th ebeginning and the end of the histogram. Repeat with adjustment with Geen and Blue. If the histogram is already extended all the way to the available area, the colour has already have good contrast and required no level adjustment.

Original image

The process we have gone through up to this point should improve the contrast of most images. If you found yourself moving the sliders quite a distance, then the colour might have also improved. Notice the colour of the sky and vegetation, comparing the original have improved.

Image after level adjustment

Blending of two images

To pull out Blending Options, you'll need to choose

Layer> Layer style> Blending Options

In this exercise we want to blend the image of the earth on to the image on the right. Open both images from the File menu and click on Move Tool on the Tool Options Palette. Drag the image (in this case the earth) onto the image you wish to be blended onto (in this case the tree).

Open the Blending Options and select the " Blend Mode" option to "Screen". The black area dissolved as this lighten up the underlying image. If you really want to see what Screen does to an image, just open your favorite photo and create a new layer that is set to screen. Now use the Gradient tool to set to Black, White and drag across the entire width of the document. You should notice that the black areas don't change the image at all, and shades of gray (brighter than black) brighten the image.