How to Produce Background Blur

What sometimes grabs our eye in a photo is the contrast in detail between one or more objects in a photo. This is commonly referred to as bokeh or background or foreground blur. There is that element in photography which we immediately recognize because this is exactly how we tend to see things naturally and when we see this in an image it grabs our attention. But how do we produce this most powerful photographic effect?



There are more than one element involved in this. First and most importantly your subject should minimally be a pleasing-to-the-eye subject and better yet a strong one. Here we have a most unusual subject, an old steel wheel off a farm implement no longer used. Rusty, hardly even noticed in a run-down farm field most passers-by would not give it a second glance. It is just another worn down piece of junk from days gone by. But when photographed using bokeh, it commands 1st place attention. The fact that this is in B&W may help a bit more to some, but the primary ingredient is the subject placement in the lens, or the sensor's field of view.

Can this be done with any camera? Well yes but perhaps not quite as well. The camera can capture this even if it is a consumer point & shoot pocket sized one, but the true effect is best captured using a Wide Zoom Lens and at the longest telephoto length. Say you are using a 17-40 zoom. The fact that it is fairly wide, 17mm coupled with it being in the longest length produces the very best bokeh possible. However in the above photo this can also be accomplished with a mid-range zoo as it was captured using a 70-200mm lens at an F-stop of 9 and a zoom length of 200. And further as I mentioned above this can involve the foreground or background blurred, in this particular case I have produced a blur in both. You see only a very tight range, for this subject, in the middle as pertains to it's Depth of Field.





Now here is another using a consumer level point & shoot, a Canon PowerShot S2 IS, captured at an F stop of 3.5 and a focal length of only 21mm. Imagine how much more blurry this would have been if the camera was able to capture it at a longer length, or I had backed up more & then refocused on just the pine flowers. So you see this technique of creating bokeh can be a regular part of your shooting expertise by simply using a couple of factors.

New Years: A time to Defrag your Hard Disk Drive

Prior to doing this make sure you have all of your work backed up, preferably on another HDD (Hard Disk Drive)or on DVD. Only then will you feel like soaring.



As 2008 runs out of steam, and 2009 is about to emerge, we are faced with some of the same challenges as well as some added ones. In considering these I always look at what I have done to my PC in adding tons of image files. If I had to consider only these images I should be Analyzing & Defragging our HDD's every 30 days. But there is so much more to consider when it comes to how well our PC's work.

Consider that every upload, every download, every file added or deleted, every profile change on your pc, every screensaver added or changed or deleted, every email written, received, read & trashed, then dumped, in short, every action a PC takes has potential for losing bits of data, albeit small amounts, but these add up. Now let's add what we do to our images; my workflow includes ingesting the files into my image browser, I use Adobe's Bridge, and adding the metadata, keywording, starring the ones I like, deleting the one's I don't, then naming the folders & opening and saving each image I wish to work on that I feel has potential for use on a magazine page or in an online gallery for sale and then by necessity, changing the actual format from Raw to whatever the market demands, JPG, TIF PNG and so on.

Each of these workflow actions acts also to defrag tiny amounts of data while we are organizing them. So if it were for only this we need to analyze and defrag our HDD's monthly. But as mentioned above it is for everything we do on our PC's that demand we continue to practice good management methods on a very regular schedule.

Oh what a pain you say. Yes there are some painful steps taken and you must not allow anyone on the PC when it is happening, meaning you can't check your email or go shopping or upload photos or download music, etc. While it is true that it is without a doubt best that you consider you PC OFF_LIMITS during the process, you can briefly and occasionally interrupt the defragging, by simply clicking on the Pause button. I hear it is fine to do this, just don't overdo it. Here I am adding the Overview directly from the Window's 'Microsoft Management Console:


Disk Defragmenter overviewDisk Defragmenter analyzes local volumes and consolidates fragmented files and folders so that each occupies a single, contiguous space on the volume. As a result, your system can access files and folders and save new ones more efficiently. By consolidating your files and folders, Disk Defragmenter also consolidates a volume's free space, making it less likely that new files will be fragmented. The process of consolidating fragmented files and folders is called defragmentation.

The amount of time that defragmentation takes depends on several factors, including the size of the volume, the number and size of files on the volume, the amount of fragmentation, and the available local system resources. You can find all of the fragmented files and folders before defragmenting them by analyzing the volume first. You can then see how fragmented the volume is and decide whether you would benefit from defragmenting the volume. For step-by-step instructions describing how to analyze or defragment a volume, see To analyze a volume and To defragment a volume.

Disk Defragmenter can defragment volumes that are formatted with the file allocation table (FAT) file system, the FAT32 file system, and the NTFS file system.

OK now that you have read this all that is left is to pick a time when you are not likely to need your PC. I like analyzing, which normally should'nt take more than 10-20 minutes (only a guideline) then starting the Defragmentation just before hitting the rack. Here's the steps you'll need to take to perform this necessary task (I apologize to Mac users as this is strictly for the PC environment):

Here is the most common route; Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> Disk Defragmenter. Another route is Control Panel> Performance and Maintenance> Administrative Tools> Computer Management> Storage> Disk Defragmenter> Analyze, then Defragment. What you most likely will see are Red, Blue, Green and White vertical bars all across the top bar left to right. What you want to see is mostly Blue and a lot of White. In order to get there Micorosoft recommends the following:

To open Disk Defragmenter, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings might also prevent you from completing this procedure.
You should analyze volumes before defragmenting them. This tells you whether you need to take the time to defragment them.
A volume must have at least 15% free space for Disk Defragmenter to completely and adequately defragment it. Disk Defragmenter uses this space as a sorting area for file fragments. If a volume has less than 15% free space, Disk Defragmenter will only partially defragment it. To increase the free space on a volume, delete unneeded files or move them to another disk.
You cannot defragment volumes that the file system has marked as dirty, which indicates possible corruption. You must run chkdsk on a dirty volume before you can defragment it. You can determine if a volume is dirty by using the fsutil dirty query command. For more information about chkdsk and fsutil dirty, see Related Topics (I'll add here that I know nothing of this utility so I avoid it, this is not a recommendation that you avoid it).

The time that Disk Defragmenter takes to defragment a volume depends on several factors, including the size of the volume, the number and size of files on the volume, the percentage of fragmentation in the volume, and available system resources.

You can defragment only local file system volumes, and you can run only one instance of Disk Defragmenter at a time.
To interrupt or temporarily stop defragmenting a volume, click Stop or Pause, respectively.

If you start Disk Defragmenter while performing a backup, Disk Defragmenter stops.

Ok that's about it. Then hopefully your PC (or Mac) will run faster and cleaner once this is done. And know that once done this becomes an easy routine to manage monthly. It should become one of the most common PC Maintenance Tools we use as Photographers. And while I am not a PC Guru, let me know if you have any questions. You can Comment below or go to About Me> About OutsideShooter for my email.

Merry Christmas Snow Shot

This is a shot of snow falling with the following body & lens settings:

F Stop/Aperture Value 4.0,
Shutter Speed 1 second
ISO 100
Focal Length 24mm (using a 24-105, 4.0L IS USM Canon)
Color Space Adobe RGB
Layer converted to mono

I took this using my outdoor security motion-detected light in it's 40watt lo-beam setting, hand held.

Makes for an interesting effect and is a much better capture once converted than in color as the lighting was very low. The only manipulation used after mono was a slight Curve adjustment. A lot more could be done with this but this is according to individual tastes.

Anyway I hope everyone is enjoying their Holiday.

Christmas Gifts, my Zazzle Products & more.......

OK you can stop Commenting as I have the 3 winners of a 5x7" photo of the image here. Thanks for entering & commenting on posts in my blog. You will receive your prints shortly after Christmas. Congratulations.






I've just recently opened a shop and here is one of the images I've been using to prepare gifts for Christmas. If you see anything you'd like me to create just let me know. There is no extra charge for customizing to your needs. But you'd better hurry if you want get this by Christmas. And thanks for linking to my new site.

The first 3 to arrive & Contact Me with a message that you have commented on a post or article here, and Pasted the url to your Comment, will receive a free 5x7" print (sure they're small but...they're free) of the above photo. You'll receive this in time for Christmas only if you are a rapid Commenter. I will also need a photo of you to add to my winner's Post on December 27th. Gooooooood Luck.

Sorry this only applies to those in the contiguous US, unless you cover postage.

Just for the Fun

While shooting from the base of Mt St Helens in Sept of this year I caught a movement to my left, as did it of me. Since the mountain had little snow, I chose this as my subject for the outing.

And by the way, don't forget the batteries this Christmas: Batteries.com

Should you delete from memory card in-camera?

Deleting images in camera

There has over the years been a lot of discussion about the safety or lack of same as involves deleting images from a memory card, be they Compact Flash, SD or any other format. It has to do with whether file corruption from the deletion can cause the next image to overwrite in a corrupted fashion. And that it is safer to download all images as is, even if you don't like them onto your PC, then deleting them as you view them in your camera's download software application.

I have done it both ways and while I cannot find any instances of overwrite corruption in either fashion of deleting images, whether in-camera or in-pc, the common consensus is to finish out a card, then remove & replace with another memory card. There is evidence that deleting & overwriting can occasionally corrupt the next file, and that next file, that next image could have been your best shot of the day. From all I have read though, and from all the photographers I have discussed this with, this concern is no more valid than an occasional corruption occurring from mere re-format corruption (a not so common yet normal part of preparing the memory card for receiving another round of file writing) which rarely occurs when deleting all the data on a card by zeroing out all the data on the card.

This is the more important concern. It is the re-formatting of the card that is of most concern. Should this be done in-PC or in-camera? Here you will find that most all professional photographers (and I have not spoken to a single one which disagrees with this) agree that reformatting in-PC is far riskier than reformatting in-camera. The reason involves using one software approach over another. It is reasonably assumed that by reformatting in-camera it is done utilizing the camera manufacturer's format technology rather than using the PC technology. And because of that it is nearly every proffessional's work habit to always re-format the card in-camera.

So if you find that you are out shooting and are close to running out of card space, feel free to delete and overwrite as you need. The chance of file corruption is minimal, certainly not enough to keep an unacceptable shot while missing the opportunity to gain one you will be happy with.

In addition you can easily backup online at Mozy Online Backup: 2GB
Free. Automatic. Secure.

Thanksgiving From Me, OutsideShooter

I read something today which caused me to write this, a podcast from Alyson Stanfield's artbiz blog

If I could thank you in person I would, but since that is not possible I just wanted to take today to thank you for your interest in my blog, for reading and occasionally taking the time to Comment, for linking to my Galleries at Imagekind, and for purchasing my Fine Art Prints there, for asking questions which I can help you with here, for sending me links to help me learn new techniques or info on updated equipment in the field or seminars in my area. This would be the proper day to thank you all, so thanks.

And for all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving too.

Tis Fall Again

Walking downtown the other day I was caught by this undisturbed cascade of mushrooms on a tree in the parking strip along a well-walked street. This is perhaps the largest display of mushrooms I have seen outside of a very large set, maybe 4 times this size, on a downed old-growth log some years ago. So here it is Fall again & out of nowhere comes this massive display within the city. I know it wasn't there last year because I frequent this street at least twice a week year-round. What a nice surprise and once again this just shows how convenient it is to often carry your camera and a walk-around lens with you. This was shot with a Canon 30D & a Canon 24-105 L lens on a bright sunny afternoon.

Soften and Sharpen a Face in a Portrait

So you have taken a series of photos for a client or a friend, a family member or partner, but because of a few facial flaws you want to soften the glow. How do you do that? Certainly you must have a piece of photo editing software/ I use Photoshop (PS). So I'll assume you have CS or better.

Open your image in PS, . Duplicate by dragging down to Create a new layer,then make sure your file is in 8 bit Mode by selecting Image> Mode> 8 bits per channel. This allows for manipulating a file with many more parameters. Next apply a Gaussian Blur within the Filter Tab to a Radius setting of 15. You should adjust as you feel but it should be a higher setting that appears acceptable as you will correct in the next Layer Adjustment.

Drop back the Opacity in the Layers Palette to say, 40%. Now pick a soft Brush, with a Hardness setting of Zero. Make sure before you begin painting, that you have pressed the 'D' key to select a black foreground & a white background so your brush is removing the blur with the black foreground. Begin painting around the eyes & lips so the brush size is in proportion to the area you are drawing back the sharp detail. You'll see the black appear in the Layer Mask.

Once you've painted around the eyes & the lips & anywhere else you want to appear sharper, then switch back to 16 bits, by going back to Image > Mode > 16 bits & Save As under File Tab.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Now Let's try a Reflective Text Tutorial

OK assuming you have watched the Oval tutorial below in my previous post, spent some time creating one and are now ready to try something different for another card of say just text, but want to make it look special let's take a look at Reflective Text. This is another very easy technique that any of us can master very quickly. Understand that the video is presented in a very calm & slow manner. Have patience as this is not a rocket style approach. But before you click on the video remember, if you don't wish to be transferred to youtube.com don't click on the center Play Button, click on the lower left Play Button.




As a reminder this can be used with isolated objects even within a photo if the object is first surrounded using the Lasso Tool & then placed into a New Document via the Control N (Option N Mac) then transfer via the Move Tool.

Don't forget to save this and consider an online source such as Mozy Online Backup: 2GB
Free. Automatic. Secure.

Creating an Oval in Photoshop

The link above by clicking on the Title will take you to a youtube video on how to create an oval surrounding a special photo you might wish to add this to. This is a silent tutorial with notes added so if you 'Pause & Play' as you read the notes you will learn a straight-forward method of learning a technique which you might use in creating a Birthday, Thanksgiving, Hannukah or Christmas Card.

Feathered Oval v4 by rubenflix

View many of my Prints for Sale

You can see a whole scrolling page of my prints right here at 1stAngel&Friends

If you feel like leaving a Comment please do so. And thanks for visiting.

PopShops Are Here

The Holidays are coming again & Imagekind has prepared a way to browse & select from some 90000 artwork items. Take a look.

What in Photography is Puzzling You ?

If you find that you are bewildered by anything related to photography and would like some help, I don't claim to be able to answer your every inquiry, but I'll try. I am better in some areas than I am in others but by answering your questions I too will learn. What have you been trying to get done and are struggling with?

So try your best to stump me. Maybe you'll be successful, maybe not. Either way you'll win.

Maybe your question is a simple one. Do I know the best way to choose a CF Card, a DSLR, a lens or a cataloging application to sort and rename digital image files? Are you wondering how best to shoot a waterfall? Is it important to shoot in the same light as your subject or can this vary? Where can one find the best price on a given piece of software or hardware? Which site writes the best reviews? Ask away but above all be detailed and specific , because I won't want to ask a series of questions. Leave no detail out.

See below this entry where it reads "Comments". Click and ask.

While you're waiting to think of something Start your FREE Trial
at Smugmug. SmugMug lets you create beautiful online albums that you can personalize with a click. Your photos (and videos) look better here, plain and simple. Choose fun built-in themes for events like birthday parties or Halloween, or sophisticated ones for professional photography. Unlimited storage means never worrying about which parts of your life to share.

SmugMug has become a trusted home to professional photographers, tennis
champions, Senators and soccer moms alike.

Orchid

Once in awhile a very pleasing image simply appears. Then with just a small amount of massaging a truly memorable one follows. I am particularly pleased with this one. I hope you like this as well. If you choose to purchase and place in your home or office I'd be honored.

Converting to CMYK, Great Idea or Disaster?

Why do we consider such a move? Well when we shoot a photo & then print it or have it printed, often we find that the colors are not what we wanted. We've heard that professional labs use CMYK color space, so if it's good enough for them why not for us?

You may not realize it but CMYK is not actually a defined 'color space', such as aRGB or sRGB, but a 'profiled color space' that you may or may not have created in your Photoshop Color Settings.

Clearly what happens when we choose to convert to that profile is we are limiting the colors (gamut) available to the image already embedded with a color space. CMYK offers a device profile that would be very helpful only if we know that the device, most often a printer within a printing lab, is one we have a lot of faith in.

Bottom line is if you are sending an image or printing an image in-house, leave it in the color space which has been assigned by the camera body settings, unless the print lab you are sending it to has requested the conversion.

Would love some feedback on this or questions so we can take this to another level if you wish.

Check out with PayPal at Imagekind

As usual I am right on top of things here, only 9 weeks late but as of the 1st of June (I believe) buying art at Imagekind .com is getting even easier. Buying art through PayPal is the safest way with all their security measures. This will move a large number of online shoppers for art of all kinds into the Imagekind showroom. At last count they claim to have 50,000 artists and photographers keeping galleries there. That's the largest collection for sale online that I know of and perhaps the largest anywhere.

And since I am one of the members I'd like to urge you to take a look at not only mine but of the many fine members there. There are an incredible number of really creative and talented members. Some of which have only a few of their very finest works, others who have thousands, while for the most part members have a few galleries. Here's the Home page from which you can browse members or do a search for whatever art or photography you are looking for while feeling really safe about purchasing your next wall art.

 

 

A Glitch in our 4th of July Celebration

 


An Independence Day Celebration of our Freedom from Great Britain. But is it on the correct date? Below from ]Wiki

During the American Revolution, the legal separation from Great Britain occured on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.[1] After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a committee with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.[2]

Adams's prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.[3

Crocosmia Prints for your walls

Soft Crocosmia #1

Soft Crocosmia

These are one of the very best flowers for attracting Hummingbirds to feed upon. 

These particular ones out of two in a set, resides next to my stream leading from the waterfalls to my pond. 

At rest I find myself facing South watching, awaiting the Hummingbird family's arrival to sip nectar. You can hang this as a set of 2 pieces one larger and two smaller or bring 2 other pieces in this 'Plants in My Lens' Gallery together of the same size, you choose, to create a striking ensemble.

These are prints that can hang in a bathroom or a bedroom, a hallway or in the kitchen depending on your available space. The idea was to create a soft set with strong background bokeh, or blur to break the flowers out of the surrounding area.

Do you have a special wall for these two standout Crocosmia?

The Tabernacle

Tabernacle

Available as a small print up to a 40"x60" wall hanging. Can be ordered as a print only, matted, or additionally it can be framed up to 20x30" only. I will limit this print to 100 prints no matter the photo paper, the matte or the frame.

The Answer to Color Spaces

sRGB, AdobeRGB, which one? And what about ProPhotoRGB?

The answer is directly relative to what you want to accomplish.

For many of us emailing occasional photos is a way of sharing life's activities with friends and relatives easily. Even for uploading to online sources, even assuming printing will be part of the goal, using sRGB for both of these situations works admirably.

Now let's take printing for a wall hanging, as opposed to a 4x6" or 5x7" photo. In this case most photographers have historically used AdobeRGB (aRGB) for a number of years and done so with very goods results. Even when printing for a customer Adobe RGB does a fine job of interpreting the color ranges within that space. So for the most part using aRGB is a valid space to continue using. It certainly has a wider gamut to utilize from the data your camera sends along for conversion to a particular Color Space. And all but Pro bodies use sRGB or aRGB, so unless you are currently using a Pro body DSLR, you won't have to read any further.

However it is when one begins selling prints that reach what is referred to as Fine Art that aRGB really begins to show its limitations. And unless you are using an ICC profile along with a Calibration Tool, and a Pro Body DSLR. you will most likely not be able to see the difference. However if the exact same print is set side-by-side, one utilizing aRGB, the other using ProPhotoRGB, then assuming the light is equivalent, the difference can be astonishing. This difference is often called Pop. A particular print which has Pop vs a print which does not, is usually quite obvious.

There are two reasons which, in my humble and simple interpretation, allow for this difference; saturation and a wider gamut of colors available. What allows for a wider gamut is partly due to the ability to convert to 16bit vs 8 bit when using ProPhotoRGB. This in itself gains, in all but the blue range, a much larger color space to print from the original Raw data sent from your Pro camera.

If you'd like to read further there is much more to this and here's a link to outbackphoto get started with. Otherwise keep shooting and enjoy. Or if you have any questions I'd be happy to help so long as you are willing to allow for the time it takes me to respond. Thanks for visiting.

Order Your Copy Now: Artistic Expressions

This book is a compilation of international artists, published by blurb, organized and edited by Elizabeth Edwards of 1st Angel website, Manchester England

'Artistic Expressions' book is a first from the celebrated series '1stAngel Interviews'. It contains artwork and photographs from talent artists assembled for this inaugural edition.

The artists and photographers in the book are The Blue Queen, Peter M Ridge, Rich Collins Photography, KCDesigns, Priscilla Turner, Aloramyst, Baiko, Art By Kinnally, Cathy Jones, Ink & Brush Creations, Sarah Lynch, Margarita Clewitt, tonyp and Elizabeth Edwards, with special notice to multiple award-winner Edward Kinnaly and Zeitgeist Gallery exhibitor tonyp.

If you like to preview the first few pages of this inaugural issue, Go To Artistic Expressions PDF

Photo Use Acronyms Explained

Ever wonder what exactly all those acronyms mean? You know the ones we use daily,such as PDF, GIF, JPEG and so on. Well here are a few most of us run across occasionally.

* BMP – Windows Bitmap files
* DNG – Digital Negative files
* EPS – Encapsulated PostScript files
* FAX – faxes
* FPX – FlashPix files
* GIF – Graphics Interchange Format files
* HDR – High Dynamic Range Image files
* ICNS - Apple Icon Image Files
* ICO – Windows icon files
* JPEG 2000 – JPEG 2000 files
* JPEG – Joint Photographic Experts Group files
* OpenEXR – OpenEXR files
* PS – Adobe PostScript files (after an automatic conversion to PDF)
* PSD – Adobe Photoshop files
* PICT – QuickTime image files
* PDF – Portable Document Format files
* PNG – Portable Network Graphics files
* PNTG – MacPaint Bitmap Graphic files
* QTIF – QuickTime image files
* RAD – Radience Scene Description files
* RAW – Raw image files
* SGI – Silicon Graphics Image files
* TGA – TARGA image files
* TIF, TIFF – Tagged Image File Format files
* XBM – X BitMap files

And if you really want more just link to each for an exhausting, if helpful explanation from Wiki volunteers.

Alternatives to Adobe Products, FREE alternatives

At the point this article was created, Adobe Photoshop CS3 still cost about USD $649 per copy. I think it’s safe to say that not everyone will afford to get a copy or willing to get a copy if all one need to do is just basic image editing stuff. That’s probably one of the main reason why there’s still a fairly large crowd out there actively looking for free alternatives to Photoshop to help them in their daily basic design jobs. If you are not going into advance image editing, you should know that there’s always free softwares out there capable to perform what Photoshop can.



Gimp works across several different platform (Linux, Mac, Windows, FreeBSD, Sun OpenSolaris) and is perhaps one of the best free alternatives out there so far. Gimp has a large user community, with great list of tutorials on the official sites.

Download Gimp



[Windows only] This photo editor runs on Windows. It has a large and growing community of users, with lots of tutorials and plugins.
Download Paint



[Windows only] This free photo editor originates from Japan, with English versions to download. Supports layers, masks, and some basic tools of Photoshop.

Download Pixia





[Mac only] Seashore is an open source image editor for Mac OS X’s Cocoa framework. It features gradients, textures and anti-aliasing for both text and brush strokes. It supports multiple layers and alpha channel editing. It is based around the GIMP’s technology and uses the same native file format.

Download Seashore



Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format.

Download Inkscape



Xara Xtreme for Linux is a powerful, general purpose graphics program for Unix platforms including Linux, FreeBSD and (in development) OS-X. Formely known as Xara LX, it is based on Xara Xtreme for Windows, which is the fastest graphics program available, period.

Download Xara Xtreme



[Mac only] ChocoFlop is an image editor for Mac OS X, based on the CoreImage technology. It is currently in beta stage and available freely.

Download ChocoFlop



[Windows only] PhotoPlus is the amazing photo editing software that enables you to fix and enhance digital photos, create stunning bitmap graphics and even web animations.

Download Photoplus



CinePaint is a deep paint image retouching tool that supports higher color fidelity than ordinary painting tools.

Download CinePaint



Download Krita



[Mac only] You may think this is just any normal image preview tool, but the fact is Mac’s Preview can perform more. Folks at Usingmac describe how you can use Mac’s Preview tool to perform basic image editing.

[Mac only] You may think this is just any normal image preview tool, but the fact is Mac’s Preview can perform more. Folks at Usingmac describe how you can use Mac’s Preview tool to perform basic image editing.

(I could not find the Download Preview link for this one)However if you want to spend hours looking through Apple's developer links At Apple's Imaging & 3D feel free



[Windows only] It allows you to do simple or advanced adjustments to an image and apply a vast range of filters on it. It is simple and intuitive to use, and has an easy learning curve.

Download PhotoFiltre

I'd like to give full credit to Honkiat Online Tips for Tech Users, Designer, Bloggers

Understanding Camera Lenses

The world of lenses can be astoundingly confusing when considering terms such as Prime, Telephoto or Zoom, Focal Length: short or long, Depth of Field, Wide Angle, Telephoto, Image Stabilization, Aperture, F-Number, Shutter Speed, and so on.

After considering writing an article explaining all of this I ran across one by Cambridge Color which is simply unbeatable. If you have the time to absorb this it will refresh your understanding or give you data you have long been wishing you had.

An example of the information within this article which is valuable is the following tutorial on how to estimate how exposure time is relative focal length.

"A common rule of thumb for estimating how fast the exposure needs to be for a given focal length is the one over focal length rule. This states that for a 35 mm camera, the exposure time needs to be at least as fast as one over the focal length in seconds. In other words, when using a 200 mm focal length on a 35 mm camera, the exposure time needs to be at least 1/200 seconds-- otherwise blurring may be hard to avoid. Keep in mind that this rule is just for rough guidance; some may be able to hand hold a shot for much longer or shorter times than this rule estimates. For users of digital cameras with cropped sensors, one needs to convert into a 35 mm equivalent focal length".

The site has an About page as a start
And if you have further questions Sean invites you to join their new Digital Forum here

Enjoy the read and the site. It is a wealth of information and resources.

Which New Camera to buy?

There are simply too many choices to make picking a new camera, an easy task. In the past we could simply walk into our local camera store, and see most all of the new cameras available. We could pick one up, take it outside with a suitable lens attached by the store rep and shoot a few shots just to get the feel. And in some cases we could come back next day to view the pictures we had taken. I'll assume many of us knew a couple of the store reps well enough to get this done.



Today whenever I walk into a store the cameras are either cabled down to a security board or the rep you are asking knows more about their cell phone features than the cameras they are supposed to be selling. So where does one start? Well to make things a little easier dpreview.com gives you all of the latest new camera reviews with a few simple clicks.

But here's a second choice if you want to see a website doing reviews using an Editor who has a physics major from the University of Kent. I don't know if that means he is using that knowledge base in a review but he certainly has the ability to research. That website you'll find at Camera Labs.

And yet a third review place is called Trusted Reviews.

You may find other reviews at places such as CNET.

Imaging Resources.

Or Digital Camera Review.

But no matter where you go, slow down and take your time if you are relatively new to DSLR's. Their is a lot to cover and in order to make the right purchase without going through a half dozen different ones before you land on one you are comfortable with and does the work you want it to do. Even if you have had a number of cameras, read the whole review.



Yah I know some of this stuff is boring, but trust that it all is relative and meaningful. Hey I hope this helps. Let us know what you think of the different sites I've listed above. One of them has a lot of flashing ads going on, but the rest are quite tame. Good luck and enjoy the reviews.

Here's the Answer to Shooting Outside Block

We've all heard of writer's block. But there is also OutideShooter's Block. I hear this all the time: "I am going to start shooting this year again. I just don't know what yet" or "I'll think of something soon" But the 'What' evades us. The answer is already in our heads, we just have to shake it out to reveal it.

Let's take for instance the last time you drove down the street, or walked in your neighborhood. You saw trees, your watched other people, their dogs, you noticed steps and staircases, benches, doors, old windows, the hardware on doors and windows, building styles, outside art perhaps, taillights, flowers, insects, leaves unfolding, cloud formations, curbs, I could go on until I prevented myself from actually shooting some of this myself. But I think you get the idea. While there are some really special sites and subjects to shoot, literally anything including rusted scraps of metal, mud puddles and so on can make for an interesting subject and even more enriching get us going again. One day I was sitting on my porch watching the water go by in my stream to the pond on a sunny day when of a sudden it began to rain.


It was just a simple thought. Rain & sunshine reminded me of John Fogarty's song "Coming Down Sunny Day".

So let anything at all inspire you. If you were to take a walk and shoot only steps & staircases for a day you would certainly find some of your images given the proper perspective and lighting, very interesting. Then with a touch of Photoshop even more so. You don't have to know what you want to shoot in every case, just get up and go. If you wish to link back to your shots, please just comment here and leave a link. I'll be sure to look them over and so long as they are not inappropriate, approve it. Good luck.

What to do First when Setting up a Shot DSLR style

There are two basic types of photographers, all Commercial photographers aside: the grab & shoot type, and the precise, "I don't care if I miss 100 to your 1 shot, I'm getting ths 1 shot right" (Precise) type. Which are you?

If you are the grab & shoot type, move onto another blog or website cause this will bore you and make you a better photographer.....ooops did I catch your attention?

OK grab-n-shoot types are perfectly fine for the weekend get-together, but then you won't need your Nikon D300 or your Canon 5D for that event. So no shame in that. But if you are of the Precise type, I want to discuss the mechanics of setting up a Landscape or Nature shoot.



All DSLR's have important settings which should be taken into account when setting up a shot. Think about the amount of light you have available. In most instances you will have adequate light and can easily create a good picture, but if what you are looking for is an exceptional photo you will be wanting to dial down the ISO. Doing so decreases the noise to the least that your camera body's sensor can manage.But it also introduces a slower shutter speed, if the light is not in-line with your camera's settings set by it's particular manufacturer. And you won't know how this affects your individual image captures without reviewing the Histogram. So start as low as you can reasonably expect to, I usually start at 100, then dial down to 50, & take a careful look at the graph. If it shows too much detail to the left, move it up one setting say to 100 or 200. The opposite is true if it loads up on the right. Then you can afford to shoot at a lower ISO. That is the ideal.

Next when metering lookk carefully at your Exposure setting. This is second nature if you are viewing on the LCD, but is even more precise if using the Histogram. But even before this you will notice the meter in the viewfinder. leaning left demonstrates you need to bring up the exposure setting & leaning to the right tune it down. The needle is supposed to be centered for the best exposure. But then you may purposefully want to expose to the right or left. So before you fire off a series of shots, make sure it is where you want it.

If your camera has available Picture Styles (Canon lingo-apology to Nikoon or Olympus owners) then dig into your Menu & choose the correct Style for your subject. Then too make sure your adjustments of any particular Style, say the Landscape Style is set with the proper adjustments for your shoot. Or leave at all 0's. Then too you might check to see if the Noise Reduction setting (if you have one) is set where you want it. I like mine set to Off, because I am always trying very hard to shoot with the lowest ISO already & don't want to have to sharpen anymore than I have to in Photoshop later.

Make sure you have set your image format to where you want it; JPEG, RAW or both. And what quality do you want? For me I never ever take it off Large for highest resolution images. But I sell my work. You may want to have many shots vs fewer.

White Balance. I leave mine set at Automatic because no matter how much I fiddle with it I find that Canon has done a really fine job at designing this feature. Somw will agree and some won't, but for me I leave the setting alone.

Bracketing: this may or may not be a matter of relevance depending upon your subject and the available light. I find that when I am teetering on the edge of good to not-so-good light I find that setting for 1 below and 1 above center gives me 3 shots to choose from. If I want I can also manually adjust the exposure as much as I like.

When shooting for a particular DOF capture, I may choose to change the AF point by using the Multi-Controller button and wheel. Say I am shooting a grove of aspen. There is a desire for me to pick out one individual tree which I think will make for a better shot than Evaluative or Partial, so I'll either choose Spot & center on that or I will move the AF point where I want it in the Viewfinder.

For the time being I won't go into any other details as I think these are enough to overwhelm even a veteran photographer. Look these over, then if you have any questions, read your Manual. Grab your camera and your manual and go outside for a practice or test shoot. Move through each of the above settings, one at a time, while taking at least 3 shots at each setting. I like finding a comfortable place such as a park bench or a log, depending on your location.

You will begin to produce better photography when researching just a bit with your settings prior to shooting. And the above will get you there much quicker.

Daily Free Stock Photo

Ever found yourself wishing you had a quick photo to work with without having to go through all the work of resizing and converting to JPG. Here's your chance to get a daily free stock photo. What's the catch? Well of course you'll need to register. Check it out. Get The Crestock Daily Free Stock Photo Here

Retouching For Smooth Skin

OK you're probably wondering why I would place a tutorial about how to smooth skin on my site, which I call Shooting Outside. But I can easily justify this, (tongue in cheek) as this was shot, yup, outside. No matter. The important thing is here's how to smooth out skin in nearly any shot if you are using, and here's the key, Photoshop CS3. Take a look & let us know how you like it. Would it be worth spending $650?

The Chief Print available now

Click on the Title above to be taken directly to 'The Chief'.

If you are looking for something just a little bit different, a bit out of the ordinary, you might want to take a look at this print. Or for that matter the entire Gallery of Black & White Color images.

This one is called simply 'Chief'. A Giclee´ Print available on nearly any paper you wish. This print on Photo Luster Paper starting below $50.

Calling Artists, Authors & Photographers

Calling all Artists, Authors and Photographers.

My site is for artists / authors / photographers to be interviewed by myself and so to show off their work.

This site was only started in February of this year, but it already has got a good following and we have had well over 2000 unique visitors since we started.

We have also generated sales through the interviews.

I have 10 interview spaces for artists. 10 for Photographers and 19 for Authors.

These will be published over the next 4 months.

If you are interested, please email me direct at iam [@] 1stangel.co.uk with a link to view your work and a small introduction.

Guest bloggers also welcome.

If anyone would like to guest author now and again about art and, or literature, please email the above address, again with a link to view something your have already written and a small introduction about yourself. No payment but you are able to link to your work in a signature at the bottom of your piece.

Thank you for your time.

1stAngel
1stAngel

Adobe Photoshop Express Beta Site

You may or may not find this site performing well but it is worth a look. At no charge you will be able to tweak your photos, with a 2 GB space. I can already hear you. "That's not much room", but it is free. And since Flickr may not end up being the same as usual, IF it ends under the ownership of Redmond WA's Microsoft, this may turn ou to be quite a nifty site for those of you who are not professionals, but still need minimal photo editing software.

You can take a peak here but I'll warn you as of this post the site is in Full Metal Jacket Beta state. There are others but with as much clout and membership in Photoshop currently, it is hard to believe this site won't eventually lead the pack, rock the house, command center attention. So click on over for a look.

Just try it at a time when most of the free world is sleeping, and I don't know when that will be, yet.

Uhoh...WARNING...It appears Adobe has let slip by some terms involving any of your content uploaded:
But there's a policy pothole on the ramp that almost broke my axle: Adobe's claims on your publicly shared photos. From the Terms of Service: Adobe does not claim ownership of Your Content. However, with respect to Your Content that you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Services, you grant Adobe a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, derive revenue or other remuneration from, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other Materials or works in any format or medium now known or later developed.

But as ZDNet reports Adobe attorneys have been apprised and are working on a rework. Wait till this gets worked out before uploading any of your work, as you'll want to maintain all rights to your work or risk giving it all away.

A Guide to Shutter & Aperture Settings

Interview on 1stAngel.co.uk

I am tooting my own horn here if you don't mind. 1stAngel has been interviewing a number of artists and photographers from ImageKind and I was fortunate enough to be included. There are a number of really creative people at her site and the interviews are well done. Take a side trip on over to read a couple and you might be impressed by their work. Of course my link is to mine but it is just a right column link away to read more or even better if you are also a photographer or artist to get an interview for yourself

Tell us how you liked the read.

Take a Look at Prints for Your Home or Office

When you are looking for something new to hang on your walls, often you can search for days or weeks before you land on something you really like. Here are 2 Galleries you'll find which might offer you something that fits within 5 minutes.

Take a look and if you don't agree, leave a note for a reminder the next time a new gallery is placed.

See Prints for Your Home or Office

Just Beginning to Learn Photo Shop?

Try this site, "http://epaperpress.com/psphoto/index.html and you'll find a wealth of How To's to gain the beginning ground for your journey through Adobe's Photo Shop techniques. It is also a great refresher course for those of us, of which I am too am guilty of, who have learned a way, stuck with it because it works, yet forgotten the other ways in which the same technique can be applied.
When you open the first page you'll see this

This site is based on Photoshop CS2. For Photoshop CS3 read the New in CS3 section. All downloads, including Photoshop Actions, have been verified in Photoshop CS3. Looking for a book? A search for "Photoshop" at Amazon.com returns 8,822 entries! Here are a few of the best.

It's simple but thorough. Post a comment here when you get a good look and let our readers know what you think of the site.

Is Unsharp Mask Still the Gold Standard?

Some of us who've been using Photo Shop for a long time now have come to rely on certain tools we know work in the way we like them to work, for example, if we want to bring some overall light to oue images we simply click on Image > Adjustment . Brighten/Contrast and we notice that by dragging the Brightness slider to the right that we get the effect we want. And that by choosing Filter Unsharp Mask that we can easily sharpen an image. However for those of you who haven't taken the time to look into the tool added in CS2 called Smart Sharpen, we can choose not only from from Amount, Radius & Threshhold, but a host of other options which I think you'll find somewhat more appealing and adjustable. Take a look at this video and see for yourself.

Lunar Eclipse

Did any of you get the chance to shoot the recent Total Lunar Eclipse? I set a tripod on my deck and used a remote shutter release. And I got a decent shot but even with sharpening I wasn't able to capture a saleable shot. I have a Manfrotto 190 set of legs with a 141RC Head which is more than adequate for the 30D with a 70-200 F2.8L IS with a Canon 1.4xTC extender. The problem was that the center rod, with legs fully extended, still had to be raised beyond the extension connection and with the turning of the earth or the decks boards movement, or that I didn't use mirror lock up as Peter mentioned from the forum at Ik, even as still as I was I could not quite get a sharp focus. And yes I remembered to shut off the IS. This one is just as soon as the Full Eclipse had passed and I could get a good orange color.



Leave a Comment with a link if you have one or you've seen one. If it's yours let us know the settings. Mine was captured using Manual, F Stop was 4.0, Shutter Speed was 1 sec, Focal Length was 280mm, and ISO was 1600. We have about a year if I recall until the next one. If anyone has a more accurate date, let me know.

Point & Shoot? Or SLR?

Pretty hard to imagine any point and shoot camera that can make my mouth water, and this one is no exception. The writer makes this Sony sound like the answer to all photographer's dreams. And I have to admit it is something to imagine that all which is packed into this little gem is so affordable. Read it all and make up your own mind but in the end the question, if you are a creative photographer, is "Will it give me the ability to CREATE an image that I can then give or sell which will impress?"

The other question is if you want to rez up and print at a larger dimension how then will the IQ be translated through Photo Shop or your printer?

Take a look and after thinking about it let us know how you feel. Just click on the Green Title above.

Decadent Rhubarb

This week's featured art is by OutsideShooter, just click below on the link below'View Larger'. You'll find yourself asking if you recall seeing a Rhubarb quite this way. We all remember the reddish stalk and the giant green leafs. But this one is not quite the same. It is I think a real treat, even if it is in a state of decay.

by — View Larger

Decadence in art transformed into photography. A Rhubarb.

Prices for begin at $21.22, subject to change.

Tags: Imagekind,

Trip to Mt St Helens Foiled by the Clouds

I often wonder what it is that takes me back again and again to the same places. The dream of any self-respecting photographer is to capture the best he can do every time out. Unfortunately more often than not when I set out specifically to capture a subject, in this case, Mt St Helens, weather or great light makes the shoot untenable. We can push exposure to gain brightness, we can open Aperture to add light, but many times it simply isn't up to my demands.

Oh I know there are many photographers today who seem to sell by using the dark, smudgy technique, and that is a fine space to produce good work in, but for me if I need good light there simply is no substitute. On this particular trip I had heard the weather was going to be sunny as the morning progressed, so we left around 9:30 am for a 90 minute drive to the mountain. By the time we got within 6 miles of the base, we came to a screeching halt. The roads were closed to every vehicle but snow mobiles. Well not literally, if one had traction devices they could have made it another 3/4 of a mile or so, but we walked nearly a mile and found ourselves walking in 24-36" of snow. Without snowshoes or snow mobile we took what shots we could and headed back.

We never saw even the base of the mountain. The sun never appeared, the clouds never lifted. But the fog, lower down around 7 or 8 miles, lifted so we could shoot some of the valley. Still it wasn't like we had hoped for.




I guess what keeps me going back is the hope that eventually I'll get more of those incredible shots I have before. What is it that keeps you going back? And for those of you who have decided not to, what is it that would get you to try again?

This week's featured art is by

If you can imagine a more downtown "NYC Life is For Real" you must let me know, because I have found myself deep in thought and pleased immensely while viewing this piece of art by my good friend Walter Bebirian.



This artist is without a doubt the most prolific I have ever had the pleasure of conversing with. He leans in every direction of creativity, at times diffusing reality with intelligence and at others settling into the plausible realm of minimalism.



Take a look at this by linking to the word 'by' just below

by — View Larger

Tags: , , Imagekind,