Interview at DPE

Interview with Hal on The Digital Photo Experience website.

DPE Interview

Fiat Lux!

Tip of the Week: Using Color Lables in Adobe Lightroom and Bridge

One of the most overlooked features in Lightroom and Bridge is the Color Label. Both programs offer five colors (red, yellow, green, blue, and purple) to assist you in managing and organizing your images. These colors may be assigned a specific meaning in your workflow and when assigned to an image you will have a quick visual reference to your image "types."

To assign a Color Label in Lightroom, highlight an image or images, position the cursor over the image, and right click. From the flyout menu select "Set Color Label" and choose one of the colors. You may also use the keyboard shortcuts of 6 (Red,) 7 (Yellow,) 8 (Green,) or 9 (Blue.) Unfortunately, no keyboard shortcut for purple. In the Bridge, select just as above and then right click. At the bottom of the flyout menu choose "Label" and pick the appropriate option. You will notice there are no color names but instead text assigned to a color. To customize, go to Edit-Preferences (Win) or Bridge-Preferences (Mac) and select "Labels" from the menu. First uncheck the box at top to enable single stroke keyboard shortcuts the same as above then enter a meaningful description for each color.

You can use the Color Label anyway you prefer; as an example here is my system. Red = High Priority Yellow = Web Green = HDR Blue = Stitched Pano Purple = Expanded DOF

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Fiat Lux!

The Magic of Wildflowers on the Central Coast with Rob Sheppard

Rob Sheppard is coming back to Light Workshops April 11-15, 2011 for another awesome wildflower season! The Magic of Wildflowers is a flower enthusiast's dream. We will be going all over the Central Coast to our favorite wildflower spots.


Rob will demonstrate various ways to capture beautiful and unique images of California wildflowers. We'll look at using flowers as part of an overall landscape as well as getting up close with our macro lenses to focus on the details.

When we're not shooting out in the field, we'll be back here at the Light lab learning professional techniques for optimizing our images to create one of a kind photographs.

We are extending the Early Bird pricing, so register soon to get a killer deal on this fantastic workshop!



Fiat Lux!

A Few Shots from Macro Critter Day

Best of Light is in session and we had our world famous Macro Critter shoot yesterday afternoon.  Interesting creatures and some fun photography.

We had a mix of ambient light, small strobe, reflector, and studio strobe to light the "talent."  All of the attached shots are from a Canon 7D, EF 180mm f/3.5L, Induro C213, and Really Right Stuff BH-55.

For your best macro shots and the sharpest images remember to use Live View while on tripod. 

Flash again today with models in studio, on location, and at sunset on the beach.  Action tomorrow with horses for beach and sunset.

A hectic week but good living.

Fiat Lux!

Meetup Timelapse

A little time lapse movie from last night's Meetup event.

Shot with a Canon 40D and EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye.

Used my Promote Control for intervalometer duties.

Essential Gear (Thoughts after four shooting classes)

We recently finished a series of four shooting courses here at Light and there is one piece of gear that is consistently needed.  Regardless of subject, technique, camera, etc. the HoodLoupe is a must have.

I did a video last summer regarding the HL ( HoodLoupe Video ) and every shooting session reconfirms. 

There is such critical information available to us on the LCD whether in Live View before the shot or when reviewing images/histograms after the shot; try not to pass it up.  The loupe will help you eliminate distractions and overcome bright lighting conditions to focus on the LCD.

As you know, I am always a full disclosure guy.  Hoodman does not compensate me for endorsing their gear.  It is just the best stuff out there. 

If you do not have one yet, just do it.

Fiat Lux!

Bull

The Torn Edges Border Effect

In Adobe Photoshop CS5 there are countless ways to get creative with your photography. One of my favorite ways to make an image stand out is to use a cool border effect. One style a lot of people like is the "Torn Edges" look.

We'll start by opening a new image in Adobe Photoshop. In the layers panel double click on the Background Layer and rename the layer "Border Effect," and hit OK. The layer is now unlocked and editable. Next, add a layer mask to the Border Effect layer by clicking on the Add Layer Mask icon located at the bottom of the layers panel; the symbol looks like a square with a small circle in the middle. You should now see a white layer mask appear on the right of your layer thumbnail.

Select the brush tool from your tools panel or tap the 'B' key. Be sure to set the foreground color to black and the background color to white. Next, go to your Brush panel (if you do not see it go to Window> Brush, Or, click the panel button  on the left side of the options bar. With the Brush panel open you'll see a list of brush setting displayed on the left. Start clean by unchecking all of the brush setting options. Click on 'Brush Tip Shape' located at the top. Displayed on the right will be several brush tip shapes, select a soft, round brush from the menu. In the brush options find the Size slider and make the brush between 120-125px in diameter. Be sure that hardness is set to 0% and spacing is at the default of 25%.

Go back to the brush settings list and select Dual Brush (when selected a check mark will automatically appear next to Dual Brush). In the dual brush settings select the 60px Chalk brush, leaving the brush options set at their defaults. In the brush stroke preview at the bottom of the Brush panel, you'll see your brush shape change from a soft round brush to a textured, rough edged brush. For now hide or close the Brush panel.

Now that the brush is configured to give uneven edges and texture, go back to your Border Effect layer. On the Border Effect layer click on the layer mask thumbnail to be sure that it is selected. Be sure that your brush tool is still selected and that you are painting with black. Move your cursor into the image and begin to paint along all four edges of your picture. You will see the edges of the image turn rough and uneven. The beauty of using a layer mask to create the border is the fact that it's non-destructive.

If you look at the border and decide it's not quite what you had in mind you can paint with white on the layer mask and reveal more of the original image. You can always modify the brush by changing the size and opacity. You can also experiment further with the brush shape by going back to the Brush panel and adjusting the spacing, scatter or count settings of the Dual Brush. Once you have found a brush you like save it as a preset! At the bottom right of the Brush panel you'll see a New Brush icon (this looks just like the New Layer icon in the Layers panel) Click on the New Brush icon and give your brush a distinct name like "Torn edges." You'll now be able to find the brush you created in the Brush Presets panel and use it whenever you need.

To finish the effect, create a new layer and fill with your color of choice (or leave it transparent) and move under your background in the layer stack.

You can follow these steps to create a variety of brush presets to use for creating fun and original borders for your images. You can also use the other Brush Settings in conjunction with Dual Brush to make even more styles of brushes.

If you have any questions about this or any of the tips you see here on the Light Workshops Blog contact us at info@LightWorkshops.com

Fiat Lux!