White balance is always trying to pull a fast one on you and sneak by with the wrong color in your photographs. Here's the case in point, today: It's a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, so you set the white balance to Daylight, which is just what the camera manufacturer advises you to do. But then you end up with a picture like this that has significantly too much blue in the skin tones. What the heck? Shade is sneaky The trouble is that although the subject is standing in the sun, the light shining on her face is actually coming from … [Read more...] about Portrait Tips: The sneaky secret of white balance
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Portrait Retouch Part 3 of 3: Adding a Finishing Touch with Luminar 2018
Part two of this three-part series on Portrait retouching with Luminar showed how to smooth skin, sculpture the face and remove blemishes. Read Part one here. The third part of this series shows how to add the finishing touches to the image. To start, I will apply a preset that adds a combination of four filters: Structure, Details Enhancer, Top and Bottom Lighting, and Vignette. This gives the image a modified version of my sports grit look style. Next, I'll desaturate the image then adjust highlights and shadows to complete the … [Read more...] about Portrait Retouch Part 3 of 3: Adding a Finishing Touch with Luminar 2018
Quick Tip: Dehaze Side Effects
The Dehaze adjustment in Lightroom is able to dramatically improve the appearance of haze in a photo, but not without some potential side effects. In this quick tip, you'll learn how to compensate for the most common issues caused by the application of the Dehaze adjustment. Want more tips like this? Check out my "Lightroom Quick Tips" course on GreyLearning, part of the "Mastering Lightroom" bundle of courses. … [Read more...] about Quick Tip: Dehaze Side Effects
Quick Tip: Shooting On A Grey Day – Color
A comment on one of my recent articles got me to thinking that I need to write some tips on how to make good looking photos on a grey day. This is the first in a series of challenges to get out and shoot even when the weather isn’t cooperating. Think In Color Assignment number 1 - On the next grey day, when you think there couldn’t possibly be anything pretty or compelling to make photographs of, go out and find color in your world. Muted colors can be nice, but I’m thinking big, bold and beautiful colors like Calder Red, Blue Bridge Blue … [Read more...] about Quick Tip: Shooting On A Grey Day – Color
Photographer of the Day: dizbin
Category: Street Photograph: dizbin "pop will eat itself" While last week I showcased a great black and white, minimalist street photograph, this week couldn't be any different. dizbin crates one of the most colorful street photographs I've seen, and does a great job with it. Everything in terms of subject matter is generic in this photograph. The word "SIGN" in the background gives no indication of where it was taken. The two men walking towards the edge of the frame show no emotion. While the subject matter is generic, the capture is … [Read more...] about Photographer of the Day: dizbin
History of Photography: Early Stages of Color
Since the beginning, everyone wanted color photographs. Images being black and white only was a chief complaint about photography. Initially, there were a few "successes"; Sir John Herschel was able to record blue, green and red on paper coated with a silver chloride solution, but he was unable to "fix" (make it permanent) it. This is very interesting as it was the first suggestion that color could be recorded directly on a chemically sensitive material just by the light itself. Levi Hill claimed to have created a permanent process in 1851 but … [Read more...] about History of Photography: Early Stages of Color
Fixing Problematic Colors with HSL
(Editor's note: This is a guest post by photographer and educator, Tim Grey.) There are many situations where the color in our photographs can be particularly challenging to get right. When a scene features a variety of different light sources, the different colors of light can combine to create colors that don’t look right and can seem impossible to correct. As you shift the color balance in one direction to improve certain colors within the scene, the opposite colors get worse, for example. Fortunately, these types of color issues can … [Read more...] about Fixing Problematic Colors with HSL
Photographer of the Day: Nic Taylor
Category: Street Photography Photograph: "Samyang AF 35mm F1.4 FE" by Nic Taylor Titled simply "Samyang AF 35mm F1.4 FE", this is one of a series of images Nic Taylor posted to the Photofocus flickr page. The brilliantly colored grid of umbrellas hanging against a drab sky grab both your eye and imagination. While it could have easily become too structured in this grid, this is balanced by capturing a portion of this street art display where the colors were randomly scattered. For what he labeled as simply a test shot, he has captured a … [Read more...] about Photographer of the Day: Nic Taylor
ViewSonic’s VP 2785-4K is such a beast!
The worst thing you can do in your workflow as a visual artist is to blow a whole lot of money on expensive camera gear, and skimp out on the equipment that is needed to view what you capture. Having a poor monitor is just as bad as having a super poor lens-- I mean, it's great if you're being spontaneously artistic and aren't expecting realistic colors. I've been given the opportunity to take a look at the ViewSonic VP2785-4K display, and I think that this screen is super awesome! Here's a few reasons why... Thought-out Features Like the … [Read more...] about ViewSonic’s VP 2785-4K is such a beast!
Photographer of the Day: Dave Cheresna
Category: Street Photography Photograph:Neon Nights by Dave (Dave Cheresna, @dscphoto) Street photography is so often about scaling down and capturing the small scenes and moments. Dave’s image, “Neon Nights”, is a great example of this, capturing a riot of color from a hotel sign reflected in a car window. The rainbow colors and rippled distortion of the sign in the reflection play a cool contrast to the sleek lines and deep red of the car. Seeing and shooting this small scene shows off the photographer’s ability to find and isolate … [Read more...] about Photographer of the Day: Dave Cheresna
The Color Calibrated Workflow, Part 1: Uncomplicating Color
Editor's Note: A special thanks to our partner Datacolor for helping us to bring more information about color calibration to you. The Color Calibrated Workflow, Part 1: Uncomplicating Color It should be pretty simple, I see a colorful flower, I take a photo of it, download it, print it, and it should look just like what I saw. Except, many times it doesn't. Capturing and reproducing accurate colors was once one of the most frustrating and time-consuming things in the realm of digital photography. It can cause no end of problems for both … [Read more...] about The Color Calibrated Workflow, Part 1: Uncomplicating Color
Product Review: Spyder5ELITE Monitor Calibrator
Editor's Note: A special thanks to our partner Datacolor for helping us to bring more information about color calibration to you. Monitor calibration does not have to be difficult with a solid calibration device. Special Deals on Datacolor Spyder Elite Spyder 5 Elite Datacolor's new Spyder 5 Elite monitor calibrator is dead simple to use. The software installs from Datacolor's website. The Spyder 5 device is the same for the three versions of the product: Spyder5EXPRESS, Spyder5PRO, and Spyder5ELITE. The difference is in the software. … [Read more...] about Product Review: Spyder5ELITE Monitor Calibrator
Living & Loving Color Calibration
Editor's Note: A special thanks to our partner Datacolor for helping us to bring more information about color calibration to you. Check out the links at the end of the article for more info and how to take advantage of Datacolor's upgrade pricing. Color management is a bug-a-boo to lots of photographers. It doesn't have to be a hassle at all. Once it's set up, it's mostly automatic. I say "mostly" because monitors have to be recalibrated every couple of months and that's no big deal. The calibration software reminds when it's time to … [Read more...] about Living & Loving Color Calibration
How I Calibrated My Monitor for the First Time
(Editor's Note: A special thanks to our partner Datacolor for helping us to bring more information about color calibration to you.) For years, I was uncertain of how to approach monitor calibration. I was trusting of my iMac 5K's screen, and knew that it got me (what I thought were) pretty good results. But after reading more and more about the benefits of calibration, I decided to bite the bullet, going with the Datacolor Spyder5ELITE+. Special Deals on Datacolor Spyder Elite Why I Chose to Calibrate As I've developed as a … [Read more...] about How I Calibrated My Monitor for the First Time
The Benefits of Color Calibration
Editor's Note: A special thanks to our partner Datacolor for helping us to bring more information about color calibration to you. Special Deals on Datacolor Spyder Elite A photographer walks into a bar... A couple of art directors are chatting over their beverages. The photographer, sitting nearby overhears their conversation. One of them says "Did you see those pictures we got yesterday? They were all dark." The other art director replies "Not a problem. I just made my monitor brighter..." The photographer shakes his head in sadness. … [Read more...] about The Benefits of Color Calibration
Benefits of Color Calibration
Editor's Note: A special thanks to our partner Datacolor for helping us to bring more information about color calibration to you. Special Deals on Datacolor Spyder Elite A photographer walks into a bar... A couple of art directors are chatting over their beverages. The photographer, sitting nearby overhears their conversation. One of them says "Did you see those pictures we got yesterday? They were all dark." The other art director replies "Not a problem. I just made my monitor brighter..." The photographer shakes his head in sadness. … [Read more...] about Benefits of Color Calibration
How to Match the Color of Two Objects in Photoshop
In this tutorial, I show you a little-used command in Photoshop which makes it easy to match the color of two objects. This is great for product photography, matching two skies, or even skin tones on two portraits. This quick tip will unlocl a whole new way of thinking of color. https://youtu.be/LmqRggkoORs … [Read more...] about How to Match the Color of Two Objects in Photoshop
Lee Varis’ 10-Channel Workflow – Part-3
Picking up where we left off in part-2... Now for the really fun stuff... make a new empty layer at the top of the layer stack. Then select Image-> Apply Image... from the menu bar at the top... We are going to grab a copy of the b channel from the Lab document and put it into that empty layer. Set up the resulting dialog as shown... The grayscale "b" channel has a unique tonal rendering that makes it especially well suited to applying it in Overlay blend mode... This final Overlay blend darkens the sky … [Read more...] about Lee Varis’ 10-Channel Workflow – Part-3
Lee Varis’ 10-Channel Workflow – part-2
Picking up where we left off in part-1... Now lets look at enhancing the color saturation. Of course this could be done with a Hue/Saturation adjustment, but we will do this another way to gain access to the channels of the Lab version of this image. Duplicate the document (Image-> Duplicate...) check the Merged Layers checkbox & rename with Lab... Convert this duplicate to Lab... Now we will use a little trick to boost the saturation. First apply a Curves adjustment layer, but don't make any changes to the curve. Then … [Read more...] about Lee Varis’ 10-Channel Workflow – part-2
Lee Varis’ 10-Channel Workflow – part-1
Despite the wishes of most avid photographers, the photographic image is not really finished at the moment of capture. Every image can benefit with some level of post processing, even if it is just a modest adjustment in white balance or contrast. Most people never realize the potential of a captured image because they stop well before exploring all the enhancements that are possible. It is my belief that you don't know how good an image can be until you've pushed it too far! Meet the 10-channel Workflow I have a basic image enhancement … [Read more...] about Lee Varis’ 10-Channel Workflow – part-1
How to Desaturate Shadows in Photoshop, for 3D Contrast
Digital capture technology is really awesome and has truly changed photography, improving it in a multitude of ways. But sometimes, digitally captured images have a certain exaggerated colorfulness, that just looks a little off, for those of us raised on the old fashioned film days! I have found that this has to do with the way color gets saturated as contrast increases. Even standard rendering presets increase contrast a bit through a global RGB composite curve, often indirectly. It seems that when contrast increases this way a … [Read more...] about How to Desaturate Shadows in Photoshop, for 3D Contrast
Photographer of the Day – Paul
Photographer: Paul - Raphael Hey everyone!! It’s me, Kristina Sherk, back with today’s Photographer of the Day! Today I want to highlight a man named Paul. I came across a couple images by Paul in the Photofocus Flickr community and I am so impressed! He truly has a gift for capturing joy within his subjects. Each image has more emotion than the one before it. Awesome work, Paul! I love how sharp this image is, and all of the detail in the man’s face. As a DC headshot photographer myself, I love portraits that help you connect with the … [Read more...] about Photographer of the Day – Paul
Photographer of the Day – Regina Pagles
Photographer: Regina Pagles - Captain Spaghetti Head Hi everyone! Kristina Sherk here – I am excited to present today’s portrait photographer of the day, the very talented Regina Pagles! This is such a great shot, it totally made me smile this morning when I found it in the Photofocus Flickr community. Regina has amazing vision and excellent compositing skills, see for yourself! The subject of this image is a local owner of a restaurant in town. We agree, Regina, Alex looks great with spaghetti on his head! I’m definitely inspired to have … [Read more...] about Photographer of the Day – Regina Pagles
Instant Replay: Enhancing Color in Lightroom with Wes Maggio
This Lightroom hangout is all about making your color images look their best. Wes Maggio will join us to share his favorite tips along with Rob Sylvan and Levi Sim. Lightroom has several ways to adjust color, and we're going to show you all of them--even the secret tools which are hidden in plain sight. Hosted by: Rob Sylvan and Levi Sim Produced by: Rich Harrington and Photofocus.com https://youtu.be/nw8hnn3G_RM?t=2m4s … [Read more...] about Instant Replay: Enhancing Color in Lightroom with Wes Maggio
Manually Set Your White Balance For Accurate Color
Photography Basics - Learn How To Set Your WB All photographers need to know at least something about white balance. You can set it in the camera or you can fix it in post. If you want to fix it in post, I generally recommend that photographers shoot in RAW mode, which means that you can easily reset your white balance in post as if you had done it in the field. But that does mean that you spend (waste) time in post when you could have easily done the right thing in camera. I have come to a point in my life where I realize that I … [Read more...] about Manually Set Your White Balance For Accurate Color
Free ColorChecker Webinar with PF Author Kevin Ames
The X-Rite ColorChecker is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. It was originally created to help photographers get consistent results in color balance and exposure from one film emulsion lot to another. Today, the ColorChecker has become the photographic industry standard for obtaining accurate color and perfect exposures too. I'm presenting The Beginner Photographer's Secret Weapon: Why + How the Pros use ColorCheckers as a free webinar Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at !2:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time. Register for this free webinar … [Read more...] about Free ColorChecker Webinar with PF Author Kevin Ames
Photo of the Day: Path to the Unknown Destination
Category: Architecture/Landscape Photography by Nadeem Ahmad Originally shared on the Photofocus Flickr page. There's no denying the power of autumn's colors when you look at images like Nadeem's. The smattering of reds and oranges draws the eye and the trail pulls us in. The stark grey tree trunks enhance the image's charm. To learn how your work can be featured on the site, please https://photofocus.com/2015/10/02/photofocus-puts-the-spotlight-on-you/ … [Read more...] about Photo of the Day: Path to the Unknown Destination
Lightroom Hangout: Lies Cameras Tell
You gotta join us live for our next Google+ Hangout, 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 2/15 at 2:00 pm Eastern, 1:00 pm Central, 12:00 pm Mountain, and 11:00 am Pacific. 3:30 pm in Newfoundland. RSVP here and it'll show your local time. This Month: Conquering … [Read more...] about Lightroom Hangout: Lies Cameras Tell
Extracting From A Green Screen – The LAB Trick
If youre shooting in a studio for compositing with Photoshop then you may be using a grey or green backdrop. I was spending a long time making masks until I saw this cool tip from Photoshop trainer Dave Cross, the time its saved me, thanks Dave! Open the images For this example Ive got two images, one of a wall and then one of a young lady listening to music, if youd like to work along theyre both available from Fotolia. The wall is a black and white image, but Im looking to have the image in greyscale so this shouldn't be an issue. It should … [Read more...] about Extracting From A Green Screen – The LAB Trick
ColorChecker Now for Video!
The color management mavens extraordinaire at X-Rite have just announced two new products for photographers who shoot video with video cameras or with DSLRs... ColorChecker Video and ColorChecker Passport Video. Color management comes to video Frequent Photofocus readers know I am a huge proponent of using X-Rite's ColorCheckers to ensure my still photographs are color accurate. I have used the standard 24-patch target since 1981 when I purchased my first one (still have it.) Then, I used it to determine the filter pack for a given emulsion of … [Read more...] about ColorChecker Now for Video!
