On many social media sites, for various reasons, we are seeing a high degree of censorship and banning for anything considered "Mature".* Regardless of your personal feelings on the matter, for those of us producing fine art nude or boudoir photography, it's becoming increasingly difficult to share our uncensored work over the internet. Here is a quick tip on how to create a frosted glass effect that nondestructively blurs only the parts of your image you choose, to satisfy the interweb censors and people parts police. In the interest of … [Read more...] about How to Censor Your Photos For Social Media, Non-Destructively in Photoshop
Adobe
Adobe Brings Powerful New Features to Lightroom CC and Classic
This morning, Adobe announced updates to its desktop versions of Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC. While both programs have added a few new enhancements and features, Lightroom CC has also been updated to make it further in line with its Classic counterpart. Lightroom CC Adds Preset and Profile Syncing The big feature announced today is the ability for Lightroom CC to sync your presets and profiles between instances of the program. This works for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, ChromeOS and on the web, so you can have all your favorite … [Read more...] about Adobe Brings Powerful New Features to Lightroom CC and Classic
Quick Tip: Visualize Sensor Spots in Lightroom
Sensor dust is bound to impact our photographs at some time. But there's a quick and easy way to visualize these spots — and get rid of them. Click the Spot Removal (Q) brush in Lightroom, and then underneath your photograph, you'll see a checkbox and slider with the words "Visualize Spots." Click this checkbox and drag the slider up to the necessary point where you'll begin to see spots on your photograph. Then just click away with the Spot Removal brush to get rid of the sensor spots. … [Read more...] about Quick Tip: Visualize Sensor Spots in Lightroom
Using Photoshop Selections for Color and Tone Adjustments
Great image color and tone adjustments start with a great selection. Learn how to do this quickly and easily. Follow along with these photos (provided for educational use only). Starter image Ending Image Watch and Learn Using selections for color and tone adjustments from Photoshop Selections: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques by Richard Harrington Read Along Let's make some basic selections using a simple concept: tone. By limiting a selection to a particular area, such as the shadows or midtones, we can make precise … [Read more...] about Using Photoshop Selections for Color and Tone Adjustments
Quick Tip: Open Almost Any Image in Adobe Camera Raw
Want to open almost any image in Camera Raw? It turns out that you can! You can, in fact, open TIFF and JPEG files using the Camera Raw plug-in. Here's how... In Photoshop, choose File > Browse in Bridge to switch to Adobe Bridge. Select the desired files. Choose select File > Open In Camera Raw. While you won't see any of the major benefits for image quality a raw file offers, you can use the Camera Raw dialog box to adjust the images. This is also a much easier way to open several photos and sync the same settings … [Read more...] about Quick Tip: Open Almost Any Image in Adobe Camera Raw
How to Enhance Your Photos With Textures – Part 2: Blending
When using textures to enhance your photos in Photoshop, blending is how you reveal your image below the texture layer or tell the texture layer how to combine with the layers below it. If you just import your texture image in over top of one of your photos, whichever image is at the top of your layer stack is the only one you will see. In this article you will learn the three main types of blending: transparency, blending modes, and masking, and how to use each of them to produce cool texture effects for your photos. Be sure you have read … [Read more...] about How to Enhance Your Photos With Textures – Part 2: Blending
At Photoshop World? Come See Us
Are you in Orlando this week for Photoshop World? The Photofocus team is here and would love to chat or have a drink. You can catch up with several team members including: Vanelli Levi Sim Kevin Ames Jason Hahn Rich Harrington Scott Bourne Where to find us? Meet Our Editor Kevin Ames, our Managing Editor is at the show. He's got several free slots to meet. Just email him at [email protected] Share your ideas Request articles Sign up to write for Photofocus Learn about our upcoming … [Read more...] about At Photoshop World? Come See Us
Diving into Lightroom’s New Profile System
With Lightroom's latest 7.3 update, it introduced a new way to handle profiles. This combined the typical camera calibration tools that we were used to, along with a feature compares similarly to LUTs (lookup tables). How Do I Get My Old Camera Profiles Back? If you shoot in RAW, you might be used to using your camera profiles in Lightroom to restore some of the depth and color that you saw on the back of your camera screen. But in Lightroom 7.3, the camera profiles area has been moved, to the top of the Basic panel in the Develop … [Read more...] about Diving into Lightroom’s New Profile System
Quick Tip: What happened to “Camera Calibration” in Lightroom Classic Creative Cloud?
I develop images in Adobe Lightroom Creative Cloud (LR CC) using a top-down approach, starting with "Basic". The one rule breaker was "Camera Calibration", the very last menu item. When working with RAW image files, I find starting with Camera Calibration can save time and energy. I shoot Nikon and Fuji and find that camera specific settings often outperform the generic Adobe presets in LR. I recently updated the LR Classic CC app (formerly called LR CC) to the latest 7.3 release and could not find "Camera Calibration". It seemed like a big … [Read more...] about Quick Tip: What happened to “Camera Calibration” in Lightroom Classic Creative Cloud?
Searching for a Lightroom Alternative: Is it Time to Switch?
Since Adobe changed some of its Creative Cloud pricing on Monday (4/16/18; note the Photography plans were not impacted), there's been a lot of discussion surrounding alternatives to Lightroom. And while Lightroom continues to be the industry standard for photo editing and organization, there's a lot of tools out there that are great alternatives for people who don't want to be married to a subscription model. Luminar $59 for Photofocus readers; available for Mac and Windows I've been using Skylum's Luminar 2018 since it first came out, and … [Read more...] about Searching for a Lightroom Alternative: Is it Time to Switch?
How to Enhance Your Photos With Textures – Part 1: Adding Textures
In photography a texture image or "texturing" is used to enhance or accent some part of the image in your digital darkroom. Although they can help you create eye-catching works of art, textures also can be very easy to overdo. In this article I'll explain my process for adding textures to my photography using Adobe Stock and Photoshop to create more impact, transform the mood of the image, or improve the composition. Origins Using textures originated in the days of film by using different techniques in the darkroom. Methods included … [Read more...] about How to Enhance Your Photos With Textures – Part 1: Adding Textures
Reminder: Adobe Increasing CC Plan Pricing, Photo Plan Unaffected
I just got an e-mail reminder from Adobe, which is increasing some of its Creative Cloud plan pricing starting April 16. Announced last October at Adobe MAX, the pricing changes are as follows: Creative Cloud for Individual Single App plans will increase to $20.99 per month (instead of $19.99 per month; $1 increase). This plan is for a single Adobe Creative Cloud app. Creative Cloud for Individual App Apps plans will increase to $52.99 per month (instead of $49.99 per month; $3 increase). This plan includes all Adobe Creative Cloud … [Read more...] about Reminder: Adobe Increasing CC Plan Pricing, Photo Plan Unaffected
How to Key Greenscreen Video in Adobe After Effects
There are several ways to get the job done when it comes to chromakeying or greenscreen. One of the most popular ways (in fact its even used on feature films and broadcast television) is Adobe After Effects. Pros turn to After Effects for the best results when keying. While there are several powerful tools that allow for accurate mask creation and refinement, there's one workhorse in the bunch that does nearly all of the work... Keylight. Keying in Adobe After Effects To get the job done in After Effects, we’re going to turn to a built-in … [Read more...] about How to Key Greenscreen Video in Adobe After Effects
Lightroom Live: Monochromes For Winter With Jim Welninski
You gotta join us live for our next Lightroom Live, totally free of charge. Not only will you learn terrific techniques, but if you tune in live, you can be entered to win excellent prizes to help you in your work. (Note: MUST BE TUNED IN LIVE TO WIN). We'll be giving away a copy of Perfectly Clear from Athentech. Plus you never know what else. We kick off Monday, January 8th at 1:00 pm Eastern, 12:00 pm Central, 11:00 am Mountain, and 10:00 am Pacific. 2 pm in the Virgin Islands. Check out the YouTube event here and it'll show your … [Read more...] about Lightroom Live: Monochromes For Winter With Jim Welninski
What Is Focus Stacking?
When you buy a fast lens with a bright aperture, like f/1.8, you go crazy making photos with a super-shallow depth of field. You photograph flowers where only one stamen is in focus, and you shoot people with super blurry backgrounds, and it's lots of fun using the thin slice of focus. However, there are many times when that thin slice just doesn't cut it. Sometimes you just need everything in focus, and even if you stop down to the lens's smallest aperture you still may not be able to get everything in sharp focus. That's where focus stacking … [Read more...] about What Is Focus Stacking?
How Do You Add Text To A Photo In Lightroom?
A friend asked me this question the other day. His website host doesn't allow him to show a picture's filename on the website which makes it hard to communicate with his clients about which photos they like best. He just wanted to be able to post the pictures with the filename showing, and he wanted to do this with several pictures all at once. Lightroom is not a terrific tool for adding text to photos, but there is a way this can be accomplished and it may be the fastest way to get it done even if you have another tool that could do it. Use … [Read more...] about How Do You Add Text To A Photo In Lightroom?
Lightroom Live: Monochromes For Winter With Jim Welninski
You gotta join us live for our next Lightroom Live, totally free of charge. Not only will you learn terrific techniques, but if you tune in live, you can be entered to win excellent prizes to help you in your work. (Note: MUST BE TUNED IN LIVE TO WIN). We'll be giving away a copy of Perfectly Clear from Athentech. Plus you never know what else. We kick off Monday, January 8th at 1:00 pm Eastern, 12:00 pm Central, 11:00 am Mountain, and 10:00 am Pacific. 2 pm in the Virgin Islands. Check out the YouTube event here and it'll show your … [Read more...] about Lightroom Live: Monochromes For Winter With Jim Welninski
Adobe Releases Last Stand-Alone Update to Lightroom; Is it Time to Subscribe?
Last week, Adobe released Lightroom 6.14, the last perpetual update to the photography organizer and editing tool. Going forward, updates will only be made available for Creative Cloud subscribers, who have access to the new Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC. This begs the question — is now the time to subscribe to the Creative Cloud Photography Plan? Lightroom has been around for just short of 11 years now, and up until this point, you've been able to buy it as a stand-alone product, and most recently as part of a subscription. While … [Read more...] about Adobe Releases Last Stand-Alone Update to Lightroom; Is it Time to Subscribe?
Frequency Separation for the Next Generation
I know, I know...Frequency Separation is a VERY hot & loaded topic to bring up, and no, you don't _have_ to use it. It's pretty easy to go way too heavy handed with F.S. and end up making your portrait client look like a plastic doll. But when it's used right, it's pretty much going to be your go-to tool for perfecting your clients' images. A lot of professional full-time retouchers, love it or hate it, use Frequency Separation on nearly everything, so let's ignore the arguments about what can go wrong with F.S. and just go into why this … [Read more...] about Frequency Separation for the Next Generation
Making Fall Colors Pop in Lightroom
Sometimes what you see and what your camera sees are very different. This was the case on a recent fall foliage hike I took a few weeks ago. It can really mess with your head - “my photos are terrible” and the like. Luckily with a few specific sliders in Lightroom, we can bring your fall foliage photos back to life. Let’s take a look. For the purpose of this article, we’re only going to start with a blank slate. We’ll walk through basic adjustments and then add the “finishing steps”. If you’ve already gone through basic adjustments, feel free … [Read more...] about Making Fall Colors Pop in Lightroom
Adobe Releases Lightroom Downloader App to Recover Images from Cloud
When Adobe announced their new cloud-based Lightroom CC app, one concern I had was that images weren't downloadable. The initial launch said this feature was coming soon. Well, fortunately... the wait is over. Adobe has released its Adobe Lightroom Downloader app. What is It? The Adobe Lightroom Downloader app is to download all your Lightroom photos and videos from the cloud as original files. Everything that is downloaded is placed into a date-based folder hierarchy on the hard-drive you specify. Additionally, any edits made to raw … [Read more...] about Adobe Releases Lightroom Downloader App to Recover Images from Cloud
Should You Update to Adobe Lightroom “Classic”?
A few weeks ago during Adobe Max 2018 some major updates were announced for the Adobe CC plans. While all of them were pretty exciting and amazing, (in theory), photographers were left pretty confused. The big question most of us had, was "What's up with this CC vs Classic thing for Lightroom?" and the more important one, "Should I upgrade/replace my currently Lightroom with the updated "Classic" and CC versions?" Making Sense of it All Well, to answer the specifics about Lightroom CC and Classic, I'll refer you to a few articles. What's … [Read more...] about Should You Update to Adobe Lightroom “Classic”?
Lightroom Live: New Lightrooms Q&A
You gotta join us live for our next Lightroom Live, totally free of charge. Not only will you learn terrific techniques, but if you tune in live, you can be entered to win excellent prizes to help you in your work. (Note: MUST BE TUNED IN LIVE TO WIN). We'll be giving away a copy of Perfectly Clear from Athentech. Plus you never know what else. We kick off Monday, October 30th at 1:00 pm Eastern, 12:00 pm Central, 11:00 am Mountain, and 10:00 am Pacific. 2 pm in the Virgin Islands. Check out the YouTube event here and it'll show your … [Read more...] about Lightroom Live: New Lightrooms Q&A
Adobe Lightroom CC: The Best Features, And What’s Missing
Last week there was a lot of uproar about the changes Adobe was making to its Lightroom platform. And while I've continued to use Lightroom Classic CC for my everyday work, I've taken a look at Lightroom CC to see if I'm missing anything, specifically in its organization and editing tools. The Best Features There's actually a lot to like about Lightroom CC, even though I consider it to be Lightroom CC Classic's little brother. Intuitive Interface The Lightroom CC interface is like a breath of fresh air. All of the panels are organized in a … [Read more...] about Adobe Lightroom CC: The Best Features, And What’s Missing
Lightroom Live: New Lightrooms Q&A
You gotta join us live for our next Lightroom Live, totally free of charge. Not only will you learn terrific techniques, but if you tune in live, you can be entered to win excellent prizes to help you in your work. (Note: MUST BE TUNED IN LIVE TO WIN). We'll be giving away a copy of Perfectly Clear from Athentech. Plus you never know what else. We kick off Monday, October 30th at 1:00 pm Eastern, 12:00 pm Central, 11:00 am Mountain, and 10:00 am Pacific. 2 pm in the Virgin Islands. Check out the YouTube event here and it'll show your … [Read more...] about Lightroom Live: New Lightrooms Q&A
How to Finish Your Wild Animal Photos With Tone Mapping
Funny thing about animals is they move around, a lot. So a technique like HDR, which requires several images that are nearly identical in everything but exposure values, is usually not an option for wildlife photographers. Often thought of as mainly a tool for landscape and architecture photography, High Dynamic Range photography captures a series of shots at multiple exposures to provide detail in both highlights and shadows which a camera cannot capture in one frame. But, in the case of a running horse or flying bird, even at high shutter … [Read more...] about How to Finish Your Wild Animal Photos With Tone Mapping
Learn All About the Changes to Lightroom Here
We've set up a single page where you can keep track of what's going on with the new Lightroom CC and the rebranded Lightroom Classic CC. Be sure to head on over to see all the stories. We'll be updating this page several times in the coming days, so be sure to book mark it. … [Read more...] about Learn All About the Changes to Lightroom Here
What the Heck is (The New) Lightroom CC?
Adobe just announced that there are now TWO VERSIONS of Lightroom. There is the previous Lightroom (now called Lightroom Classic CC) and a new product called Lightroom CC. Let's try to make sense of the new application. What is Lightroom CC Lightroom CC is a whole new app that is built on the same imaging technology that powers Photoshop and Lightroom Classic. It offers a streamlined interface that's meant to be easier to use. Its approach to sliders is different, and it offers quick adjustment tools. It looks more modern and … [Read more...] about What the Heck is (The New) Lightroom CC?
A Re-Introduction to the New Lightroom Classic CC
When you open Lightroom Classic CC for the first time — a free upgrade to Creative Cloud subscribers — you won’t notice much that’s different. Instead, the new version of Lightroom focuses on under-the-hood upgrades, in order to make workflows faster and more efficient. While there are some new features that some photographers will love and take advantage of, the key here is to further optimize the great product that Lightroom has developed into over the years. I’ve been testing out the newly-released version of Lightroom Classic CC … [Read more...] about A Re-Introduction to the New Lightroom Classic CC
Lightroom Classic CC Updates Today (What’s New in the “Old” Lightroom)
In case you haven't heard... Adobe has renamed the existing photo editing application, Adobe Lightroom Photoshop Lightroom CC to Lightroom Classic CC. This name change is to make way for a new product simply called Lightroom CC. Adobe is positioning Lightroom Classic CC for users who want: A desktop-based (file/folder) digital photography workflows. A well-established workflow solution that is distinct and separate from their new cloud-native service To focus on the strengths of a file/folder based workflow The new Lightroom … [Read more...] about Lightroom Classic CC Updates Today (What’s New in the “Old” Lightroom)
