Tutorial & DIY: DIY Soft Box Example Pic

There are several reasons I love this photo. Why, I think I’ll count the ways…

1. It’s of Isla, and I’m biased when it comes to her cuteness.
2. It’s the first photo in a long time where I instantly thought, “that’s being blown up.” Normally, I have such a hard time narrowing them down and then I get stuck and then another day strikes and, before I know it, I’ve got folders upon folder to sort through.
3. It was really easy to take and get this result instantly.

Manual | f/3.2 Aperture @ 1/125 Shutter Speed, ISO 400, Exposure Bracket +1.5

This was taken in a part of the room where the sun doesn’t easily reach. (It was also taken on a part of the carpet that needed vacuumed and in front of a hallway that needed decluttered. But that’s neither here nor there, right?) 

It’s a problem lots of us face if we’re hanging out playing in an area where natural light doesn’t easily filter in. In order to get this setting to the level I would need to get this nice, bright picture with a smooth complexion. I solved this by busting out my DIY Soft Box lamp which I posted about the other day.

I carefully placed the soft box lamp on its side and ensured the cords were well out of reach as well as the bulb as it tends to get hot. The front was covered with a piece of winter white heat safe non-flammable fabric and clipped on with office supply clips.

The lamp was then placed securely on a side table which brought it to the same height as me, sitting on the floor, and aimed directly at her. If you look closely at Isla’s eyes, you can see two squares in each one; one of those squares is the window and the other is the soft box.

Has anyone else tried a DIY soft box?!

8 November 8 Permalink

Tutorial & DIY: Fall’s First Portrait @ Home

There is something about the approach of Fall that makes me think of portraits on the front stoop. Maybe it’s the whole “back to school” notion or the fact that the cooler weather makes backyard play less appealing and front yard bike-riding and exploring the absolute thing to do.

This week, we should all nab a picture of our little jam-faces at the front door, no matter how big or little they may be. I mean, why not, right? Point and shoot or DSLR or camera phone, a quick stop on the stoop before heading out for the day makes for a great place marker in any memory book.

Manual | f/3.2 @ 1/320, ISO 200

I wanted lots of bokeh/background blur so, because of that, I needed to control how sunny it was. With a wide aperture of f/3.2 the shutter speed went way up to 1/320 to reduce the flood of light, even though Isla wasn’t exactly on the move.

Manual | f/3.2 @ 1/320, ISO 200

Just by changing perspectives, see how much more bokeh there is? By tightening the frame to show just Isla, I lose the detail in the background as well as parts of her sweater. Sweet. But the 1/320 at this closeness was overexposing her face a little and her sweater a lot, so I quickened the shutter speed to 1/400 for the next round.

Manual | f/3.2 @ 1/400, ISO 200

I came in at a slight 45 degree angle and followed the rule of thirds to fill out the frame making a picture of her not looking at the camera hold more interest.

Manual | f/3.2 @ 1/400, ISO 200

Remember to mind your backgrounds (like if there is any clutter on the landing, etc.), keep tight but also grab a full body shot, rule of thirds for composition with just the head shot and, most importantly, to keep it safe if there are stairs. I was able to get away with this by using my 17-55mm lens rather than a 50mm which would have required me to be further back for the first and last photos and well out of arm’s reach. It meant I gave up a much lower aperture (could have done say an f/1.8 @ 1/640 or 1/800) with extra dreamy bokeh, but I’m a safety nut so there you have it.

Have fun!

xo Tamara

20 September 9 Permalink

Tutorial & DIY: High Contrast Colour Pop (Photoshop)

Today’s tutorial is yet another one about photo editing. It seems that’s all I’ve been thinking about this month, so next week we’ll be back on cameras, swearsies!

In the meantime, this is for Photoshop users to apply with layers. Again, I’ll reiterate in Photoshop there are a million different ways to arrive at the same result. I received a few emails asking why I did *this* and not *that* - there are no right or wrong ways to do something so long as you get the effect you’re looking for. I’m just showing a few tricks from my Mary Poppins-esque bag that I use, and it wasn’t meant to cause doubt on what techniques others use.

This trick in particular has been my go-to for quick (and I mean quick) and easy colour pops since I first started working on layout and designs at a magazine ten years ago. I still turn to it because a) I’m a creature of habit and b) have I mentioned it’s easy? And quick?

Av (Aperture Priority Mode) | f/3.2 @ 1/200, ISO 400, 17-55mm lens @ 35mm

This is a portion of the original image as opened up in Photoshop. I’ve had a few questions about what version of PS I use; I’m on CS5 but previous versions will definitely do the same work we’re about to examine here. As for light, it was a bright sunny day and the windows and back door were all open and behind me.

So, you’re going to go to the window that shows your layers and right click on ‘Background’ to reveal this menu. Select ‘Duplicate Layer…’

Je suis lazy bones and I don’t rename the layer, and so mine is called ‘Background copy’. Anywhoodles, you’re then going to click on the dropdown menu that is just under that ‘LAYERS’ tab. At the get-go, it should say ‘Normal’ but you’re going to ultimately select ‘Soft Light.’

Then, flatten the layers together and it should look a little something like this. All of those layer merging methods are worth playing around with, as well. This one just happens to be my default.

And, of course, it’s a method not without it’s faults. The skin tones can get oversaturated and need adjusting, and the colours may need fiddled with. But it’s a great starting point and an instant eye catcher.

Have fun!

xo, Tamara

If you’d like to see more examples, there’s a whole post devoted to this series on my baby blog here.

14 September Permalink

Tutorial & DIY: High Contrast Black & White (Photoshop)

Howdy! Let’s keep playing with our pictures! One of my favourite ways to finish a photo is in a strong black and white with a lot of contrast, depth and a dash of sepia toning. And I get a lot of questions on how to do it, too. So, here we go!

This tutorial is for Photoshop users at this time.

Some colleagues and I were joking recently that, if there’s something you want to do in Photoshop, there are no fewer than 600 ways to get there. Yes, we’re a witty, fun and insatiable bunch! No ‘nerd alert’ required here, eh?!

But it’s true, and arriving at a nice black and white photo conversion is no exclusion. This is my preferred way for my personal photos; I find it fast, easy to remember and extremely visual and hands on, which is perfect for finessing the final details before saving.

We’re going to go from this (left) to this (right). Er.. I hope you don’t fall asleep like Isla did.

We’re going to work in Fill / Adjustment Layers, which is the ying/yang looking circle at the bottom of your layers window. It also looks like an Oreo dipped and milk and makes me hungry every time.

Click on that (yummy, delicious double stuffed-I-bet) Oreo and that menu will pop up. My easy faves to hang out in are in the second and third section down. Start by clicking ‘Black & White’ to get the above. I leave the settings as they are, but sometimes I play. Every photo is different. If you wanted to play, you would adjust those sliders under ‘ADJUSTMENTS’.

Next, click Brightness/Contrast.

It is here where I reveal myself to have OCD; I typically adjust to base increments of five, and I typically double my contrast as a rule of thumb to whatever my brightness was at. I’m also mentally capable of adjusting this practice should the photo need it. Swearsies.

The point is to adjust the sliders to increase or decrease the light and contrast as you see fit.

Next you’re going to want to play with curves. I typically make a little ‘S’ with my curve bar. Rather than start in the middle, I pick two points on either end and gently adjust them up or down. Here’s where the depth starts to fold into the batterrrrrr… (Clearly, I have baked goods on the brain. My apologies.)

You could stop here, and that would be just dandy. But if you’d like a little colour wash to your image, click Photo Filter and get playing with the various tones available. I’ve selected Sepia and changed it to a 30% opacity. Just enough to warm the walls and heart alike.

The finishing touch is to flatten your layers and touch up your lines. Before you flatten (see Layer>Flatten Image), you can always go back through to make further adjustments.

Ta-da!

Now, please excuse me while my heart explodes and/or I go find a snack…

xo, Tamara

31 August 16 Permalink

Photo Tutorial + DIY: Quick Picnik 101

We’re all still having a blast playing around with our cameras, but the resulting bounty is no fun if stuck on a hard drive all day.

One of the top inquiries I receive is how to quickly and easily edit photos in a post production manner to give them that extra pop and zing. We’re going to start taking a look at various programs and what to do. You may know it, you may not. You may need a refresher, or you may need reminding. Either way, it’s all about the fun of it.

We’re starting with the free version of Picnik today, and I dug out one of my favourite photos of Isla’s first few months to prepare it for her birthday album.

Picnik is so easy to use that, when I started, I actually thought I was missing something. Compared to other high function photo editing software apps, this is a wonderful tool for both entry-level photogs and experienced but time-crunched picture fiends alike.

Here is the photo straight out of the camera. Taken on my Canon 20D with a 50mm lens, and all I remember is that it was Aperture Priority mode around the 3.5 mark. Forgiveness on the memory front: it was eight months ago!

Picnik has a feature in which you can ‘auto correct.’ It never hurts to try it out, but it turned the pic rather cool in temperature. It’s all about your personal style, however. There is nothing wrong with stopping right here.

I decided to go in by hand to fix the main elements as best I could. This is auto exposure setting.

This is where I would have landed had I corrected the exposure manually.

And again with colour correction, I decided to let Picnik show me it’s robotic judgment.

Vs. By Hand. I warmed it up 13 points by increasing the temperature, giving it a warm tone rather than a cool one.

Oh, sharpening tool. Such a tempting treat. This is such a handy function to really crisp up an image or forgiving the odd lost focal point or aperture misjudgment. The problem is, you can really overdo it and fast. Increasing the sharpening mask too much can really sullen a baby’s complexion, age a mama’s skin or really pixelate a photo and well, we don’t want that! It’s important to exercise restraint on this one.

In the photo above, I went all the way to 40 to show what I mean about adding noise to the image.

Here? I hung out at 4.5. Restraint. If only I could apply the same practice to chocolate pudding…

And finally, filters. We’ll get into them much more soon but the number one favourite of mine that should be yours too is ‘boost.’ Again,  practice restraint. Here I’ve come in at 7% to just give an oomph of saturation. But, as you can see, her skin has swayed to the redder side of things, looking almost ruddy and overdone. And that’s just at 7%!

The art of editing a photo well is knowing when to stop, and I should have one step before the filter. But they’re so fun!!! They are! Yes! On the right photo.

Ooh, I’m a killjoy, I know. It’s important to remember, however, that editing shouldn’t be about fixing images, but enhancing them. This is why it’s key to master the image in camera first, rather than hoping for the best later. Keep that in mind, and you’ll be fine!

* Picnik has not contributed in any way nor form to this post. I’m just enthusiastic about their product and wanted to share! All opinions, views and steps expressed are my own.

23 August 11 Permalink