Curved Text

Using curved text when creating a poster or something in Photoshop is a great way to create something that has a little more depth. Instead of having straight, uniform lines of text, curved texts provides something a little bit more interesting for people to look at. There are a few ways to create curved text, but knowing how to do it properly will save a lot of headache later on.

One way that people create curved text is by using the text warp tool. Now, the one downfall of creating curved text this way, is that is can make the text look deformed. Some of the letters can get enlarged and it just make whatever you were working on look sloppy.

The best way to create curved text is by using a curved path. The first thing you are going to want to do when doing this is select the ellipse tool (or whatever shape will work best with what you are working on).

Next you are going to want to go to the options bar in the Photoshop menu and select path. Draw a path on the image you are working with, if you need to reposition the path once it has been drawn, switch to the path selection tool and then click and drag.

Once you have a path, switch to the text tool and then click anywhere along the path. Then you just need to type in your text and position it the way that you want. You may need to position your text so that it is properly aligned. To do this, you go back to the path selection tool and move the start and stop points. Holding down the shift key while you do this will allow you to position the points perfectly in the center. If you need to change the size of your text, simply do that using the free transform tool.

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Rule of Thirds

Something that many photographers know is the rule of thirds. This is one of the most important rules when it comes to proper composition of a picture. Using it properly can help you create visually pleasing photos.

To properly use the rule of thirds, you can either utilize the grid when you are shooting, or you can imagine that the scene is split into nine equal sections. Our eyes are naturally drawn to where these sections intersect, so placing your subject there is going to create a more appealing image for the viewer.

A great way to use the rule of thirds is when you are photographing people. Close ups and head shots are easy to align because you can simply place one of the intersections where one of the eyes are.

Along with that, you can use the grids to line up parts of the scenery, which will help you to create straight lines in your image. If you do this now, you won’t have to do as much straightening when you are editing your work.

I also think that following the rule of thirds is a great way to show movement. When you place a subject that is moving, on the side away from the direction they are moving it shows motion. For example, if you take a picture of a runner who is running right, you should place them along the third on the left of the frame. This will give them space in the image to continue moving. It also works with animals. Giving an animal space to move in a picture (even though they aren’t) gives the illusion of movement and helps the picture tell a story.

While this is definitely one of the most important rules of composition, and it does help to make some powerful images, there are always times when the rule can be broken. Don’t try and force the rule of thirds in a situation where it simply won’t work. Along with that, if not following the rule is going to create a more interesting effect, then use your best judgement and break the rule.

Having a visually stunning photo is more important than having an image that follows every single rule of composition.

Long Exposure Photography

Taking pictures using a long exposure can create some very interesting effects. However, in order to get a nice long exposure photo, it is important to know what you are doing, and make sure you put the right amount of planning into the process.

One of the best ways to get a great long exposure photo, is simply by using a tripod. The slightest movement will be picked up by the camera and will cause your photo to become blurry. Along with that, using a remote for your shutter comes in handy. This keeps you from actually touching the camera and causing it to shake when you press the shutter. However, if you don’t want to use a remote, using shutter delay can definitely help with that.

Another way to make sure you get great long exposure photos is to plan ahead. This might seem like common sense, but thinking about the places you want to take long exposure photographs and whether or not it is going to work the way you want it to will save so much trouble. Along with that, you need to make sure that you are taking picture of something that won’t move all that much during the time the camera is going off. People and animals are not ideal subjects for long exposure photography.

Finally, when doing some types of long exposure photography, the camera makes a huge difference. Some of the less expensive Canon and Nikon cameras simply do not provide a slow enough shutter speed to get some of effects that you may want. For example, I have a Canon Rebel T5 (I can’t afford anything nicer right now), and while this camera does have quite a few shutter speed options, I cannot use it to take long exposure photographs of the stars because my shutter will just not go off that long. Getting a more expensive camera if possible will help you get some more interesting effects.

I think that the best thing you can do if you are trying to take long exposure images is be sure to use a tripod. Like previously stated, the vibration that you get just from holding a camera can ruin any long exposure photograph. Having a sturdy place to put your camera makes all the difference. Many of the other problems people face when doing long exposure photography can be avoided and planned around, however, tripods are almost crucial.

Be sure to stop back again tomorrow for another blog post! Feel free to share your thoughts with me, and to share my thoughts with the world!

Fixing Skin Tone in Lightroom

There are all kinds of reasons why the person in your photo could have a skin tone that just looks off. It can make them look almost like a different person, or not even real. Fixing skin tone is very important, and it’s not as hard as one might think.

Using the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) slider in Lightroom is going to be the best way to fix this, but there are some other ways to do it as well.

One of the other ways to fix skin tone, is by using the level of exposure. If the image is overexposed or underexposed, then your subject could look weird. Fixing your exposure using the exposure slider can make your image look a thousand times better. Once you have made sure your white balance is correct, you just need to move the exposure slider around until you have found the sweet spot where your image looks the way that you want it to.

Speaking of white balance, that’s another thing you want to check when you are fixing skin tones in images. If the white balance is wrong, it can make someone’s skin look too red or too blue, depending on the color temperature of the image. I discussed how to correct white balance a few days ago, so if you think that is the problem, then click here and follow the steps to on correcting white balance.

Now, like previously stated, one of the easiest ways to fix skin tones is by using the HSL slider. To do this you are going to want to find the HSL tab on the right side of your screen. It should be located near the color and black and white tabs. Once you are there, you will click on luminance. Slide the orange slider to the right. Next, move on to saturation and slide the orange slider to the left. Finally, select hue and slide the orange slider to the right. REMEMBER the amount you move the sliders is going to depend on the skin tone you are working with, it’s going to be different with every subject and every image. It will take some practice, but using these steps will help you get a skin tone that works better for your photo.

White Balance

White balance is a very important part of a photo. Basically, all white balance is is the way that colors are balanced in your images to look natural. Sometimes, you can have a warmer white balance, which will create a redder tone to the image, or a cold white balance which is going to give you some more blues. Having a correct white balance will help you edit your pictures better, and there are many ways to ensure your settings are correct.

One of the first things that you can do is to set the white balance manually on your camera. There are all kinds of charts online that will tell you what your white balance needs to be set at based on the type of lighting you are shooting in. This is a good way to get an accurate white balance because it won’t require you to do any white balance editing later on if you find the correct setting. Although, it can be rather difficult if you plan on moving around a lot during your shoot.

Another, fairly simple way to set your white balance is by using a white piece of paper. All you will need to do is set up the paper where your subject will be and focus on it. Using the paper, you will be able to have a reference point to what the white balance needs to bee and it shouldn’t change all the much when you are shooting your actual subject.

Finally, you can change your white balance settings in Lightroom when you go to edit your pictures. To do this, you are first going to want to shoot in auto white balance. When in develop, you are going to want to select white balance in the basic drop down menu. Next, you are just going to find a neutral area in your photo. Finding a naturally white area will bring down your temperature slider, which will help you get to the correct white balance.

Along with that, there is a custom drop down menu where you can select what kind of light you shot the photo in, and it can automatically adjust the white balance for you.

Be sure to stop back again tomorrow for another blog post! Feel free to share your thoughts with me, and to share my thoughts with the world!

Noise Reduction in Lightroom

Grainy looking photos can be a huge problem when you are first learning photography. You think that you are doing everything right, and then BAM! your image is grainy and not nearly as sharp and professional looking as you had intended. This is definitely an annoying problem for photographers that are experience and new, but luckily it is easy to fix.

The easiest way to solve noise reduction is to shoot at a lower ISO. The higher the ISO, the more noise you will have in your image. Now, sometimes there is no option when it comes to shooting in a high ISO. You could be somewhere where the lighting is simply too dark for the camera, and you need to bump up your ISO in order to see the subject in the image. So, simply adjusting your ISO to fix noise isn’t always going to be a solution.

When this happens, you are going to need to fix the image in Lightroom.  In the detail panel in the develop module, you will see a section for noise reduction. There are two different types of noise, Color and Luminance. Depending on which one you need to fix, you will move that slider. Color noise is when you see flecks of different colors in an image when you zoom in and it typically happens when you use a high ISO. Luminance noise is caused by the brightness in an image. Adjusting the luminance noise slider will fix the overall noise in an image, but you still might have to fix the color luminance as well to get the desired look in your picture. Just play with the sliders until you have found something that you like in your image.

Low Light Photography

When taking photos, there are always going to be times when the lighting is limited. You can’t always carry around an arsenal of lighting equipment to make sure that everything is working in your favor. There are many ways to use low lighting to your advantage though. Sometimes these photos look unique and original. When shooting in low light, there are many things you can do to make your images stand out.

First, try and position your subject so that they are in some type of light. Whether it be a street lamp, or even just a lamp. The light will help you focus, so it will keep your subject from being blurry and soft.

Along with that, you are going to want to adjust the settings on your camera for the lighting. Opening up the aperture will allow more of the light that is available into your camera. Using a slow shutter speed is also going to help when the lighting is less than perfect. It will allow more time for the light to get into the lens when you are taking a photo.

You may also need to use a higher ISO, but that can cause your images to look grainy, so if that can be avoided that might be in your best interest.

Something that people may not think about when shooting in a low lighting situation is focusing on an area that has contrast. These areas are where the light meets the darkness. Focusing here will help your camera focus and maybe even prevent the need of using a higher ISO.

Finally, in case you didn’t already think of this, just try adding more light to your image. This can be as simple as having someone come with you and holding a flashlight or using the light on their phone to provide a little bit more light to the scene. Using an external flash can also add more light, but if you are on a budget or simply do not have one, having friends that are willing to help you can come in handy.

Blurry Background

Creating a blurry background in your photos can sometimes add a dreamlike element to your images. Along with that, the background in images can sometimes be distracting, so making the background blurry will put more of the focus on the actual subject of the image.

There are a variety of different ways to create a blurry background. Using a long focal length when taking a picture will give the background a blur. The longer the focal length, the more blur you will get. An 85mm lens or anything longer will be the best way to create the desired look, however if you don’t have that option, it is still possible to get a blur using a different lens.

The aperture settings are another way to create blur. With a wide setting you will get some blur in the background. The wider the aperture, the more blur you will get. A good starting point would be f/3.5, but you can go lower if needed. Along with that, simply changing the positioning of your subject can help add some blur. The further they are from the background, the more blur you will get.

Finally, it is possible to add blur in your photos using an editing software such as Photoshop. However, it is much easier if you create the blur before you go to edit your photos. If the aperture and everything else did not give you the level of blur that you wanted, then using Photoshop can definitely help you get there.

When adding blur in Photoshop, you are going to want to duplicate your layer, and then select blur, then Gaussian blur. Once you have done this, you can play with the settings until you have achieved the look you want. In Photoshop though, you will most likely blur your entire photo, so you will need to add a layer mask in order to get the blur off of your subject. Using the brush tool, you can erase the blur.

Be sure to stop back again tomorrow for another blog post! Feel free to share your thoughts with me, and to share my thoughts with the world!

 

Resizing Images

Resizing an image can be very important when you are preparing them to be printed, or just need it to be a little bit smaller in order to upload it online or to send to a client. There are a variety of ways to do this in all kinds of different editing programs, however, I believe that using Photoshop to do this is one of the easiest ways.

Using Photoshop is the ideal way to resize images, because it makes it possible to resize an image without messing up the pixels and resolution. This way, the image is the exact same quality, but just smaller. On top of that, there are a variety of ways to change the size of an image that is going to uploaded to a website. You can resize the image itself, or just change the resolution, which will make the size of the image smaller.

The first thing that you are going to do when altering the size of an image, you will need to open that picture in Photoshop and then select Image and then Image Size. A small box will then pop up which will allow you to change some aspects of the picture.

When you simply want to change the resolution, you are going to go to the section that says resolution and then enter the desired value.

If you want to change the image size, you will want to enter new values into the Width and Height boxes. In order to keep the original ratio, be sure you have constrain proportions selected. If you want to adjust the sizes independently, then just deselect constrain and adjust based on your needs.

Along with that, it is important to remember that in order to change the size of the image without altering the number of pixels in the image, you will need to have Resample deselected. Resample will allow the pixels to adjust according to the size you are changing the image to.

Personally, I prefer adjusting the image size and then letting the resolution match up based on the changes I made. However, resizing an image is going to depend entirely on your needs.

Be sure to stop back again tomorrow for another blog post! Feel free to share your thoughts with me, and to share my thoughts with the world!

 

Removing Objects

There are many different ways to remove something from your photo when you are working in lightroom. There’s the healing tool and the spot removing tool. Along with that, you have the option of working in heal mode and clone mode. Now, it is going to depend on what you want to take out of your image in order to know which one is going to work the best.

Typically, I like using heal mode. I believe that this option is easier because it will adjust the area so that it will blend in. When using the clone mode, you are just taking something from another part of your image and copying it.

To start, go to develop mode and click on the spot removal tool. If you are removing something small, like sensor dust, then you can keep the removal tool small. But, you can resize it depending on how large you need it to be. Next, you are going to want to click and drag and cover the area that you want to eliminate. You selection will be marked, along with an area that Lightroom is going to steal from in order to replace what you are taking out.

If you need to change the selected area, you can simply click and drag until you have found something that will work better for you. Removing objects from photos is actually a lot simpler than most people think, and if you are using the heal mode, it should automatically blend everything for you. Spot removal really comes in handy when there are power lines in your image. I use it all the time, and I hope that explaining this makes things a little bit easier for someone!

Be sure to stop back again tomorrow for another blog post! Feel free to share your thoughts with me, and to share my thoughts with the world!