Dark Side of the Lens

Canvas is a very forgiving medium, with the ability to hide a wealth of sins in many photos, though it is still the usual case of the better the photo the better the end result. However, due to the nature, especially the texture, of canvas you are able to get large high quality prints from even the most basic of cameras. What many (most?) people do not realise though is the huge variation there is in the quality of the canvases you can get printed via the internet, or indeed by walking into a store. A couple of years ago I put quite some time and effort in finding a great canvas printing company for my own prints, and in doing so taught myself what to look for in a good canvas. Rather than simply passing this information on to you entirely myself I decided to go an interview a real expert. So, here you go, my first venture into the world of film making!

As promised, here is the second video to complete our exploration of “levels” in Photoshop Elements.

I remember when I was first learning digital photo editing and I stumbled across something called “levels”. Some of my photos had looked grey and dull, though I did not realize it at the time, and these suddenly sprang to life as I learned how to use the levels adjustments in Photoshop. Although not quite as powerful as the “curves” adjustments in Photoshop (which also has the levels adjustments by the way) the levels adjustments in Elements are something you are going to find very powerful, in fact to me they are a “must check” on every photo I edit.

I remember when I was first learning digital photo editing and I stumbled across something called “levels”. Some of my photos had looked grey and dull, though I did not realize it at the time, and these suddenly sprang to life as I learned how to use the levels adjustments in Photoshop. There are several different types of adjustment layers, such as levels or hue & saturation. In this tutorial I demonstrate the use of an adjustment layer, using a hue & saturation adjustment layer as an example.

Photoshop Elements does not include the layer mask functionality, in its native form at least. However, it does include adjustment layers, and these little beauties have their own layer masks. In this video I show you a rather clever trick whereby you can hijack this mask and use it as you would a normal layer mask.

Within the topic of layers there are two specific areas that I would define as being the most powerful aspects of layers. These are layer masks and Adjustment layers. In this video, and the next, I will address the former of these, the wonderful layer mask. As you may have discovered by now, layer masks are not available in Elements in their native form. I will therefore be using Photoshop CS3 to demonstrate the use of layers. However, fear not, as there is a way you can “cheat” in Elements and work with layer masks the same way you would in Photoshop CS3 … but that is something I will address in the next video. Even though you may not be using Photoshop do watch this video as it explains the principles involved, which you will need an understanding of to then apply them in Elements.

I have had several requests from people (thank you) for some tutorials on using layers in Photoshop Elements. I had intended to leave this until a little later in the piece, but there’s no harm in bringing it forward a little, so here we go. This first video explains the basic principles. Some of you may already know layers at this level but I want to make sure that everyone has the basics mastered so we can attack the more complicated stuff in the next few videos.

Unless you frame every shot perfectly (can anyone outside of a studio?) you will inevitably want to “reframe” some of your photos where your subject is not quite where you want them, or maybe to take out distracting objects close to the edges. If these adjustments can be made by retaining a rectangular section of your photo, and disregarding the rest, then that is exactly when cropping comes into play. This tutorial shows you several ways to crop your photos, a process that is far easier than many people realise. All the techniques shown can be applied in Photoshop or Elements (with one exception with the guided learning feature in Elements).

The most commonly used color space in Photoshop Elements is RGB. This tutorial explores the meaning of RGB and how to make sense of it all. With an increased understanding of this color space you should find it far easier to make subtle color changes to your photos when required.

The first of a series of podcasts on Photoshop Elements 6. This week I give a basic introduction to the user interface in Photoshop Elements 6 with a tour through the Welcome Screen, Organizer and Editor.