By Stan Sholik

Without question, macro lenses are among the most versatile type of lens for general photography. All true macro lenses focus from infinity to half life size, and most focus all the way to full life size. That ability allows you to fill the frame with the subject’s eye if you desire. In portrait sessions, a macro enables you to frame and compose your subject without being restricted to the minimum focusing distance of a non macro lens. Don’t be fooled by zoom lenses with “macro” in their names. These are not true macro lenses as they don’t focus to at least half life size and are not well corrected even for close-up photography.

True macro lenses as a class are the sharpest lenses available. Sharpness can be a blessing or a curse in portraiture, depending on your subject’s skin. But with the vast array of software tools available for softening and smoothing skin, this is not really the issue it was in the days of film. With digital capture, it is far easier to remove blemishes and smooth skin in a natural way than it is to sharpen the subject’s eyes and retain a natural look.

The biggest photographic disadvantage to using macro lenses for portraiture is their maximum aperture. While there are many portrait lenses available with apertures of f/1.4 to f/2.5, there are only a few macro lenses available with apertures larger than f/2.8. If you prefer shooting wide open to give maximum separation of your subject from the background, or your portraiture style is journalistic or uses available light, macro lenses may not be right for you.

You must have precise focus with a macro lens, so it is always best to use a tripod or camera stand. Many of the latest macro lenses incorporate image stabilization now, and this is a real advantage if you have to hand-hold the camera for a portrait or you're not using flash as your main light. If you aren't using TTL metering, remember to correct your exposure as you move closer: increase exposure by one EV step at half life size and two EV steps at 1:1.

Full frame head and shoulders portrait with the D3s and Nikkor 105mm f/4 macro lens, hand held at f/11 with studio electronic flash. Skin retouched in Lightroom 4 by brushing on negative Clarity. ©Stan Sholik

Walking closer to the model, I took more photos at various distances. This is my favorite. Same lens and exposure with a small exposure compensation and skin retouching in Lightroom 4. ©Stan Sholik

Photography is a visual medium. Promoting photography requires a visual media, one that not only lives up to the aesthetic appeal of the imagery but also provides the functionality to help photographers succeed. In today’s world, that means a website—a striking, easy to use, secure, professional website. Whether you prefer a blog style setup or a traditional portfolio site—or both—the design and development of your Web presence is critical to your business.

With all this in mind, Professional Photographer surveyed some of the industry’s leading Web experts on what it takes to develop a professional presence in the virtual world. The following are their recommendations for photographers on the World Wide Web.

What are some common design mistakes that photographers make when they try to do their own design? What should they do instead?
What’s the best way to protect your online images from theft?
What resources can photographers use to choose their color scheme for their website if they don’t already have one for their business?
What information should be on my home page? What can be one or two layers in?
If I create a video slideshow without music, what’s the best pace for photo changes?
What do I need to know about Flash, HTML5 and how they affect my SEO?
Does a splash page hurt my SEO?
What sort of products work well if I want to use an online shopping cart for my clients?
What can I do to make my purchase options as easy as possible?
What can I do to make my website look good on a mobile device?
How often should I put up fresh content?

What are some common design mistakes that photographers make when they try to do their own design? What should they do instead?

"The most common mistakes usually come from the opposite ends of the design spectrum. Photographers either go too minimalistic and design a site that could belong to anyone, or they go overboard with custom elements and create something that’s very hard for their visitors to navigate.

Like a good frame and matting, a good photography website complements the photos displayed rather than distracting from them. Allowing the work to speak for itself is always a safe approach. Picking a color palette of three or four distinct colors and using them consistently throughout the site will create a professional, well-branded look."
—Nataly Livshits, Zenfolio, zenfolio.com

"Getting too fancy. The focus instead should be on usability. Does your site load quickly and without plug-ins like Adobe Flash Player? Do you have a separate site optimized for a smart phone?  Music can be very distracting, especially when your clients already have Pandora running in the background or try to watch a slideshow on your site that also has music. Keep it simple, and focus on getting a potential client to love your images and contact you."
—Mike Smith, MorePhotos, WeddingDetails, morephotos.com

"A common mistake is a gallery with too many images in it. Your portfolio site's galleries should be a display of your best images. Generally, 30 to 50 images per gallery is a good range. If you need to show an entire shoot, your portfolio site is not the best place for it. Those are better displayed through a proofing application or a slideshow tool."
—Mike Caston, BIG Folio, bigfolio.com


What’s the best way to protect your online images from theft?

"The best way is still watermarking the image using either a built-in tool from the website admin or from Photoshop. Right click protection provides minimal protection against the basic user, but anyone who truly wants to steal the image will be able to using a screen capture. One of the biggest reasons clients take the images off a website is to post them to social media sites. This has started a new trend of providing low-resolution (about 500 pixels on the longest side), watermarked images for use on social media sites with the request that the poster links them back to your site. This helps your clients to show off your images at the best quality while building a potential referral source."
—Jenifer Martin, Portfoliositez.com

©Amanda Gros Photography

Amanda Gros uses a discreet logo watermark on her gallery photographs that deters theft or uncredited posting of her photographs.

"There are services that can monitor your photos and tell you if they are being used anywhere on the Internet. That can help ensure that your images aren’t being used in a manner to which you object."
—William Bay, Flaunt Your Site, flauntyoursite.com


What resources can photographers use to choose their color scheme for their website if they don’t already have one for their business?
 
"Using color swatches that are already paired together will ensure your site looks coherent and professional. Some good options include Adobe’s Kuler tool (kuler.adobe.com) and Pantone (pantone.com)."
—Jenifer Martin, Portfoliositez.com

"Colourlovers.com is great site for color inspiration as well."
—Michael N. Caston, BIG Folio, Inc.

"If you're just starting your photography business, finding a web design that doesn't detract from your photography is really important, so a black or white background is most definitely the way to go. However, as your business is growing, you'll find that establishing a unique brand will get you the higher paying clients, and build more loyalty. At that point in your business, being different and being 100% custom is the most important thing. Smashingmagazine.com is a fantastic resource for both website inspiration and design tutorials, and for color combinations, Adobe's Kuler tool is really inspiring."
—Caroline Tien-Spalding, SmugMug, smugmug.com/pro

"The best resource would be a skilled designer. Not only could they help in a color palette creation for you, but they can also help determine where colors can be most effectively used on your site. They would also have an idea of what types of colors go well for certain designs (retro, art deco, classical, etc). For the DIYers, there are color palette generators online. You can start with a favorite color and it will define for you complimentary colors to go with it."
—William Bay, Flaunt Your Site

©Froxy Photography

Photographers Naomi Frost and Xanthe Roxburgh hired Flaunt Your Site to design their page. It uses bold colors to reflect their quirky image, and the keyword-rich and brand-building content on the home page helped it rise to the number-three result for "Newcastle wedding photographers" in the first month it was live.

What information should be on my home page? What can be one or two layers in?

"A slideshow of the photographer’s signature images on the homepage is the easiest way to capture the visitor’s interest and represent the style of photography. The logo should be clearly visible, so that the viewer can easily identify who owns the website. A tagline (whether part of the logo or part of the welcome message) will tell the visitors more about the type of work. A concise, keyword-rich welcome message will speak to the visitors and improve SEO. Contact information and a call to action are final must-haves for the homepage. Whether there’s a contact form directly on the homepage or a link to 'book your session,' the visitor should never struggle to find a way to reach the photographer.

“Additional information such as 'about me,' 'contact,' 'client area,' 'pricing,' and 'testimonials' can be listed on separate pages, but needs to be easily found. A consistent site menu with links to specific galleries, pricing information and other details will keep the homepage clean and the site information well-organized."
—Nataly Livshits, Zenfolio, zenfolio.com

"Any question you get within 10 seconds of introducing yourself in person should be available as level-one information, which should be visible on your home page or in the main site navigation. Who are you? Answer with 'About us' section. What kind of photography do you do? Offer links to categories of work. Do you have examples? Display a portfolio or gallery. How do I contact you? Provide a contact form. Things like accolades or side projects can definitely be a second level of content."
—Caroline Tien-Spalding, SmugMug, smugmug.com/pro

©Laura Tillinghast Photography

A good home page delivers a message to the reader and search engines. Laura Tillinghast Photography shows the photography in large format, with information supporting the images, but not competing with them visually.

©D. Host Photography

The D. Host Photography home page includes information about the studio, and the slideshow illustrates four styles: classic, creative, contemporary and cool.

If I create a video slideshow without music, what’s the best pace for photo changes?
 
"Rhythm for your slideshow is everything—go too fast, and the prospective client won't have time to savor your shots, and go too slow, and your prospect client will move on to the next photographer. I've found that .7 second per slide is a nice moving but relaxing pace."
—Caroline Tien-Spalding, SmugMug, smugmug.com/pro

"For a standard website portfolio slideshow, 2-3 seconds is perfectly fine. You just have to gauge interest levels of your particular audience. What works for some target markets or parts of the country might not work for others. This is where having tools like Google Analytics can help you figure that out. Are people getting bored and leaving your site before the slideshow is over? Well, the slideshow might be too slow, or too long. If you have access to this information, you can make informed decisions about it."
—William Bay, Flaunt Your Site

By David Saffir

Until recently, our main options in photographic printing lived in two worlds—analog and digital. It didn’t seem possible that we’d ever have an option that would let photographers easily move back and forth between them. HP has introduced a solution that extends a bridge between those worlds, one that lets us print our digital images using traditional, darkroom-based silver halide/silver gelatin process. HP calls this the Large Format Photo Negative solution.

It all begins with a digital image. This can be created using a digital camera, or a scan. This digital image can be edited and manipulated in Photoshop or similar application. This original image can start in color or black and white.

To create the negative, you load an HP Designjet Z3200 printer with a transparent or translucent inkjet film manufactured for this purpose. Companies like HP, Pictorico and others manufacture this material. It's readily available; I purchased a roll of the Pictorico material at Freestyle Photographic Supplies in Los Angeles. It's also available at online retailers like B&H Photo and Adorama.

©David Saffir

This image shows the film coming off the printer. I placed a white background underneath the film to help visualization. 

Additionally, HP has created special printing pre-sets that are used through the normal printer driver. Install these on your host computer before the next step.

in Photoshop, create a simple adjustment layer that alters the tone curve of the image, which will optimize the negative for darkroom printing. The positive image is inverted and reversed to a negative, and sent to the printer.

The result is a black-and-white negative printed on the transparent film, which can be used in a conventional darkroom workflow. A contact printing frame is used to "sandwich" the large-format negative and printing paper, and standard chemistry can be used. Any color balanced light source can be used, although I recommend using a color enlarger with a lens and dichroic head.

©Tony Zinnanti

©David Saffir

By Damon Tucci
All images ©Damon Tucci

Want to achieve a beautifully lit image in any conditions? Master three lighting techniques and you can make it gorgeous anywhere.

In today’s fast-paced world of photography, you have to produce on demand, no matter what the conditions may be. This is especially true for wedding photographers. You can’t change the date of the shoot, so you must be able adapt to ever-changing lighting and weather conditions.

But whether you’re a portrait or wedding photographer, time is money; the more efficiently you can use your surroundings and enhance the light, the more effectively you can deliver above average consistent results. We practice and perfect our capture and lighting strategies so that we can tackle any assignment. We know them backward and forward so that we can implement them seamlessly.

Three lighting techniques should be part of any modern photographer’s repertoire: the use of available light, off-camera flash, and video light techniques.

Available light techniques revolve around working in open shade and using a reflector to accentuate and shape the light on the mask of the face. I use Radio Poppers and Nikon SB800 flashes for my off-camera flash and employ the camera’s high-speed sync capabilities to transform any average scene into a very dramatic one. Video lights enable us to capture images in modern hotels and subtly light the subject’s face without overpowering the background. This method is very fast and what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG).

In these two examples, you can easily see how good dim hotel lighting can look when you add a video light.

I was covering a wedding at the Waldorf Astoria in Orlando, and I was very attracted to the lighting fixtures in this restaurant. By borrowing the videographer's light, I was able to get my shot in three mintues.

I could not get the light right in her face, so I asked her to look down at her flowers, thus creating a cool full-length image that shows off her dress and provides an establishing shot of the wedding venue. I used a Nikon D700 with a 24-70mm lens at 38mm, and the exposure is 1/60 second at f/2.8, ISO 1250.

I chose the setting below to capture an image for a different hotel.

I had an assistant hold a Lowell id-light off camera, up and to the left, to light the mask of her face.

I used the Nikon D700 with 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, this time at 24mm, exposing for 1/60 second at f/2.8, ISO 800.

Look for more examples of Damon Tucci's location lighting in the February Wedding Issue of Professional Photographer magazine.

Damon Tucci has been a professional photographer in Central Florida for the past 20 years and has photographed over 2,500 weddings. His award-winning work has been published in Professional Photographer, Rangefinder, Studio Photography and Design, InStyle Weddings, People, Brides and a host of other publications.

Come learn from Damon Tucci at Imaging USA, January 15-17

In My Head: Tapping into the Photographer Mindset
Tuesday, Jan. 17, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Want to create beautiful images anywhere, anytime? Who doesn’t? Join celebrity wedding and portrait photographer Damon Tucci to learn a methodology and mindset for producing exceptional images on demand. He will delve deep into the psyche of the photo creation process to show you how simple it can be … if you have the acute understanding of timing and technique that he’ll share! You’ll also learn about modern posing and lighting techniques, including off-camera speed lights, available lighting, strobe and video. Come learn Damon’s tried-and-true formula (and reap the benefits).

By Damon Tucci
All images ©Damon Tucci

Want to achieve a beautifully lit image in any conditions? Master three lighting techniques and you can make it gorgeous anywhere.

In today’s fast-paced world of photography, you have to produce on demand, no matter what the conditions may be. This is especially true for wedding photographers. You can’t change the date of the shoot, so you must be able adapt to ever-changing lighting and weather conditions.

But whether you’re a portrait or wedding photographer, time is money; the more efficiently you can use your surroundings and enhance the light, the more effectively you can deliver above average consistent results. We practice and perfect our capture and lighting strategies so that we can tackle any assignment. We know them backward and forward so that we can implement them seamlessly.

Three lighting techniques should be part of any modern photographer’s repertoire: the use of available light, off-camera flash, and video light techniques.

Available light techniques revolve around working in open shade and using a reflector to accentuate and shape the light on the mask of the face. I use Radio Poppers and Nikon SB800 flashes for my off-camera flash and employ the camera’s high-speed sync capabilities to transform any average scene into a very dramatic one. Video lights enable us to capture images in modern hotels and subtly light the subject’s face without overpowering the background. This method is very fast and what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG).

In these two examples of off-camera light usage, you can easily see how underexposing for the ambient light and adding off-camera flash can dramatically improve the look of your image in bland lighting conditions.

Here we start behind my house against the fireplace on an overcast day. I used a Nikon D700, an 80-200mm lens at 80mm, two Nikon SB900 Speedlights and a RadioPopper to control the flash.  I underexposed for the ambient light 1 to 1.5 stops at 125-second at f/5, ISO 400. The overhead Speedlight is zoomed to 85mm. 

Below, I had a drab cloudy Orlando day to shoot this couple’s portrait.

By underexposing the ambient light 1 to 1.5 stops, I get a dramatic sky. I add light from the upper left with an SB800 Speedlight and use the RadioPopper and the camera's high-speed sync to make the exposure 1/2,500 second at f/4, ISO 400, to illuminate the couple. 

Look for Part II in December’s Web Exclusives, and even more in the February issue of Professional Photographer magazine.

Damon Tucci has been a professional photographer in Central Florida for the past 20 years and has photographed over 2,500 weddings. His award-winning work has been published in Professional Photographer, Rangefinder, Studio Photography and Design, InStyle Weddings, People, Brides and a host of other publications.

Come learn from Damon Tucci at Imaging USA, January 15-17

In My Head: Tapping into the Photographer Mindset
Tuesday, Jan. 17, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Want to create beautiful images anywhere, anytime? Who doesn’t? Join celebrity wedding and portrait photographer Damon Tucci to learn a methodology and mindset for producing exceptional images on demand. He will delve deep into the psyche of the photo creation process to show you how simple it can be … if you have the acute understanding of timing and technique that he’ll share! You’ll also learn about modern posing and lighting techniques, including off-camera speed lights, available lighting, strobe and video. Come learn Damon’s tried-and-true formula (and reap the benefits).

The following is excerpted from “Kevin Kubota’s Lighting Notebook: 101 Lighting Styles and Setups for Digital Photographers” (Wiley). Look for three more informative excerpts in the November issue of Professional Photographer magazine.

Kid In A Candystore

The final image was processed in Lightroom with my Vintage 2 preset, from the Vintage Delish collection. I like the added warmth in the shadows, which feels like chocolate!

One of the best ways to get children to cooperate on a photo shoot is with good, old-fashioned bribes. Candy works really well, so why not do the entire session in a candy store and save a trip! The image I had in my mind was of this little girl sitting on the counter licking a giant lollipop. When we got there, however, the lollipops they had were not actually very giant. I knew I needed a wideangle lens to exaggerate the perspective and make the lollipop look larger than life.

The RayFlash ringlight attachment is an innovative photo tool. It fits to the front of any camera speedlight and encircles the lens. Unlike most other ringlight setups, the RayFlash is completely portable, allowing you to move about and try different angles. It also allows for normal TTL flash operation, so you don’t have to worry about adjusting the light manually. Normally, the RayFlash is used with semiwide to normal perspective lenses, but I decided to use it with a 10.5mm fisheye lens, which has such a wide angle of view that it actually shows the edges of the ringlight. I loved the effect as it felt like looking through a portal to a fantasy world of delectable treats.

A portable speedlight was placed behind the subject to add an edge light and separation from the background. A PowerSnoot from Gary Fong was used to constrain the light to a narrow beam. I balanced my flash exposure with the existing light in the shop using TTL mode on the oncamera flash and manually for the backlight. The second speedlight was triggered by the built-in optical slave, which works fairly well when in close proximity and indoors.

After taking a few images of our little lady delightfully devouring the lollipop, the candy smeared all over her face and an even better image came to light than I originally imagined. Can you say “sugar rush”?

I asked Mom to stand very close and keep an eye on her daughter in case she started to scoot off the edge of the counter. Fortunately, she wasn’t going anywhere—as long as the lollipop lasted.

The original image from the camera

Exposure Info:
10.5mm lens setting
f/4.0 at 1/160 sec. ISO 500
Exposure comp. +/– 0

Tools Used:
Nikon D300s 10.5mm f/2.8 fisheye Nikkor lens
RayFlash ringlight from Rogue Imaging
Nikon SB800 Speedlight
Gary Fong PowerSnoot

Go to the jump for two more tutorials!

By Don Chick, M.Photog.Cr., CPP

I love creating beautiful portraits. When I create a portrait, the full-face and two-thirds view are my go-to views of the face. My clients never arrive at the studio saying, “I want you to create a profile portrait for me.” Usually, the profile setup happens by accident. I’ll walk around the subject, adjusting the lighting, then realize just how beautiful his profile actually is. Then with newfound enthusiasm, I position the lighting to create a profile of my subject. Often the subject doesn’t think he has great profile potential, but most of the time a little sincere encouragement is all that’s necessary for him to trust me.

Creating a profile portrait is so easy with a large light modifier. Most of the time I have a 4x6 foot soft box on my main light. You can see in Figure 1 how to position your subject. Bring the subject to the front edge (nearest the camera) of the soft box position turn the body approximately 45 degrees away from the camera. If the body is facing the camera, as in Figure 1, they are in a front profile position. If the body is turned away from the camera, then they are positioned for a back profile portrait. Sometimes I’ll photograph the subject in both positions as it adds more variety, and more variety can lead to increased sales.

Figure 1

There are two ways to control highlight-to-shadow contrast when using a large soft box. You can move the subject parallel to the soft box. Moving the subject away from the camera and toward the center of the soft box adds more light on the shadow side of the face, decreasing contrast. If you want more contrast—darker shadows on the shadow side—move the subject parallel to the soft box but closer to the camera. This will move the subject into the edge of the light from the soft box, and increase the shadows. A second way to control contrast is to use a reflector. In Figure 1 you can see how to position a reflector on the shadow side of the subject to control the amount of shadow contrast. Moving the reflector closer to the subject will decrease contrast, giving you lighter shadows, and moving the reflector back or away from the subject will increase contrast. Either method works well, but sometimes it’s easier to leave your subject in position rather than making him move and simply use the reflector to control contrast.

By Melissa Gallo

The tracing paper slider is one of the exciting new features of Corel Painter 12. That may seem like a small thing, but it packs a big punch. Now you can control the opacity of your tracing paper to the finest degree, allowing you to see the photo under your painting in varying degrees. This greatly increases your control over how colors and shapes are extracted from the photo underneath and applied to your canvas.

Look for Melissa Gallo's review of Corel Painter 12 in the July issue of Professional Photographer.

Melissa Gallo is conducting digital painting workshops on Sept. 16-17 and 23-24, Oct. 7-8 and 21-22, and Nov. 4-5. Classe size is limited to four attendees for each workshop. Please visit Gallo's Digital Painting Workshops page for more information. 

In "Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques for Photographers Using Photoshop," Scott Kelby offers 13 fantastic skin-retouching techniques in Chapter 2, plus practice images available for download from his Kelby Training site. These are not "plastic skin," super soft, glowy retouches. They are subtle and natural looking. And not only are there techniques for making skin look better, but reducing wrinkles, balancing skin tone, and reducing the stubble of men's beards.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of "Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques for Photographers Using Photoshop," by Scott Kelby.

This one takes a few steps, but it’s not hard at all. In fact, it’s simple, so don’t let the number of steps throw you. Also, at one point it does have a teeny, tiny bit of blur in it, but not enough to hurt anybody. It uses the Surface Blur filter at one stage, but don’t worry, the whole idea of this technique is to have loads of texture, so don’t freak out when you see the Surface Blur filter.

Step One: As always, before you do any skin softening, remove all the major blemishes using the Healing Brush (see page 86). Here, I removed them already, so we can just focus on softening the skin. Start by pressing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the Background layer, as shown here.

Step Two: Go under the Filter menu, under Blur, and choose Surface Blur. There are big advantages to using this filter over Gaussian Blur, and one is that it does a better job of preserving edges (rather than Gaussian Blur, which just blurs everything equally). I set the Radius (which controls the amount of blur) to around 39, and I make sure the Threshold slider (which controls the tonal values that get blurred) doesn’t get higher than the Radius amount (here, I have set it to 31, and I usually have it between 5 and 10 lower than the Radius setting). This gives a blocky, almost posterized look to your subject’s skin at this point. Go ahead and click OK to apply this filter to your image (it’s doing a lot of math to make some parts blurry while the edges maintain detail, so don’t be surprised if a progress bar appears onscreen, as this one usually takes a few extra seconds to apply).

By Marianne Drenthe

Vintage processing seems to be the hot thing right now. Vintage washes (where the image looks like a faded print) have long been a favorite of mine. These processed images may be popular because we long for simpler times when Polaroids ruled the instant gratification world. It could also be that creating a signature vintage look that’s all your own is a quick way to customize your own work to be unique to you. Either way the trend is hot.

Yes there are tons of ways to create this look for yourself, but my preferred method is right in my workflow. There is nothing easier than having your go-to preset created in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and just click on the drop-down menu and batch several images right there, saving your precious pixels in the process.

I use ACR for so many conversions—it’s truly an integral part of my workflow, so quick and easy (as well as non-destructive). Here is my quick and easy method to create beautifully washed vintage photos via ACR.

This image is from an on-location session, and I used bounced flash to capture some storytelling images in this little girls’ room. Your settings vary depending on your lighting situation and exposure.

1. Open your image up in ACR. Tweak your exposure as you see fit, adjusting for your usual color workflow. You can tweak for contrast, I usually bump mine down a bit and bump my brightness up just a notch when creating vintage-look images.

By David Saffir

You’ll get the best image quality from your inkjet printer using a color-managed workflow. This includes a calibrated and profiled display, correct software setup, and image-editing software that can handle application-managed color when printing. (In this article I’m referring to color, RGB-oriented workflow.)

This might sound like a lot of work, but once you get your color locked down and you’ve had a chance to practice a bit, you’ll find that color managed workflow requires little time in execution. And the results are worth it!

I have been working with a demo unit of the new Epson Stylus Pro 4900 printer at the Santa Clarita Valley Center for Photography near Los Angeles, and so far it has been a positive experience.

Out of the box, setup is logical and relatively easy. Image quality on photographic-style and fine-art media, in color and black and white, has been very good. Paper handling has improved from earlier models; the roll paper feeder, paper tray, the upper single sheet feeder, and the lower single sheet feeder all work well. The roll feeder accepts both 2- and 3-inch cores. The Stylus Pro 4900 can handle cut sheet media up to 17x22, and 1.5mm thickness.

The Stylus Pro 4900 has eleven 200ml ink cartridges using the Epson UltraChrome HDR Ink; this includes both photo and matte black. A switch from photo black to matte black ink requires the operator to push a button on the printer control panel. Switching takes a couple of minutes, and seems to use a small amount of ink.

The instructions regarding the hands-on operation of the printer are straightforward and clearly illustrated. Overall, a flexible, pro-level machine.

By Stan Sholik

Is portrait retouching software worth the investment or should you stick with what you have? We compared the process, advantages and limitations, comparing Anthropics Portrait Professional and Adobe Photoshop CS5 (and a subsequent comparison using Craig's Actions).

Portrait retouching is far more art than science. Even with a firm intent in your mind for the final form of a project, there are many paths to that end. This article will explore two popular portrait retouching paths, Anthropics Portrait Professional v9 and Adobe Photoshop CS5. I hope when we are finished that you will see the advantages and disadvantages of each technique and maybe learn a few tricks along the way.

The image I have chosen is a capture I made in the studio of a high school student. She’s a California girl with freckles and skin issues that will make the retouching interesting. My intent is not to produce a poreless high-fashion portrait, but rather one that is faithful to reality while minimizing any skin issues. Admittedly, once I was into it, I did take liberties to tweak reality. My goal was to complete the retouching using Portrait Professional and Photoshop in the same amount of time, though I doubted it could be done. I’ll start with Portrait Professional.

But before we get started I want to have the original image correctly color balanced. I had the model hold an X-Rite ColorChecker Passport for one of the captures (above, click image for large view). After importing the RAW files into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, I used the eyedropper to select a neutral balance with one of the gray patches. Then using the exposure slider I adjusted the lightest patch (red circle) to 95%/95%/95% and the darkest patch (blue circle) to 10%/10%/10%. But neutral color balance is always too cool for a portrait in my opinion, so I selected the eyedropper again and clicked on one of the warming patches (orange circle) for my final color balance. I then processed the portrait to an 8-bit RGB TIFF.

The following article includes additional content from Fay Sirkis that had to be edited for length in the January issue of Professional Photographer.

IMAGING USA
Fay Sirkis presents “The Art of Portrait Painting” at Imaging USA in San Antonio, January 16-18.

A picture's worth a thousand words, a painting is worth so much more!

There is no better way to capture the essence of a person than from photos of the subject, and there is no better way to portray a subject than through a beautiful painting.

From the beginning of art history, there has been a universal fascination with the representation of the human face. Many of the greatest and most endearing works of art ever created are portrait paintings!

When people refer to the history of art, they often mean the history of portrait painting. Many of the most famous paintings by masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Edgar Degas and John Singer Sargent, were portraits.

Digital artists face two main challenges in trying to simulate traditional art.

1. Achieving the blending of different colors of paint so that in the fine shading it produces soft transitions between colors and tones.

2. Having the brushstrokes look as realistic and as close as possible to traditional brushstrokes, no matter the medium.

In CS5, Photoshop has overcome both of these challenges in a very big way. With the new Bristle brushes and Mixer Brush, backed up by a powerful new painting engine, photo painting has never been as much fun and as accessible as it is now.

What is Photo Painting?

Photo painting, is a simulation of the painting workflow, tools and brushes, based on the traditional painting styles of the Old Masters and the lessons that we learned from art history.

For centuries, artists have been using the photograph as a reference for their paintings, and the camera or some form of lens to capture their image. Photo art, referred to today as photo painting, was and always will be a sought after art form, only accomplished differently at different times, according to what was available at the specific time period. With the introduction of new painting tools in CS5, it is possible to transform photographs into many different styles of art!

Using Photoshop to transform your photos into paintings is similar to how the Old Masters used the camera obscura, or to Norman Rockwell's technique, hundreds of years later. He used the photograph as a painting reference that enabled him to paint with such amazing detail. Using a balopticon, Rockwell would project a photograph of his subject onto a large sheet of canvas, then trace it in great detail, after it was all sketched out, he would begin adding in his paints, and that is how he created his masterpieces!

If you look back and study the art history of the Old Masters, you will see that nothing has changed, and yet everything has. One thing is for sure, we have not reinvented the wheel! Art today is the same as it was hundreds of years ago … we just use the tools available to us today to create it.

By Ron Dawson

Have you ever seen “The Greatest American Hero?” It was an ’80s television show in which a mild-mannered teacher is visited by aliens and given a suit that gives him super-human powers, but he doesn’t know how to use it. Instead of looking heroic when he flies, he flops and flails as he zooms through the air.

As a filmmaker who does quite a bit of work in the professional photography industry, I get to see a lot of videos shot by aspiring photographers-cum-filmmakers. But like the hero, they have this powerful filmmaking tool in their hands, but they aren’t quite “flying right.”

With the flood of HD DSLR cameras, many of you have taken on the role of capturing video segments to enhance your artistry. This article will help you with one of the most crucial aspects of video production: audio acquisition.

AUDIO CAPTURE: Perhaps the single most prevalent issue I’ve seen with HD DSLR videos by newbies is poor audio acquisition—the audio recorded and used in the final production. Many photographers are using only the on-camera microphone for audio acquisition. The resulting end product sounds echo-y, or there’s significant obtrusive ambient noise (air conditioners, traffic noise, extraneous conversations). Even if you use a directional microphone like the Rode (a popular choice), you don’t always get the best results.

The reason is that the audio captured by DSLR cameras is highly compressed, and in many models there is no way to control the audio recording level. Many DSLRs are set to auto-gain, which means the volume of audio you record will go up and down depending on how loud the source is. If the source is very soft, the camera will automatically boost the levels and you get a hissing background sound, which is to audio what visual noise is to a high ISO setting. Some of the cameras (like the Canon EOS 5D Mark II) have released firmware updates that at least allow you to set your audio levels. But even so, you still get the compressed audio issue and that echo-y sound.

The Zoom H4N is a popular video recorder choice
for filmmakers and videographers.

By Thom Rouse

Texture layers and blending modes have become a standard method for post-production image enhancement. When you find yourself using a favorite texture over and over, it’s time to save time, and streamline the production. Here’s a method for using textures as layer styles for speed and efficiency.

Step 1. Find and open a texture you use regularly. Either select the entire image (command/control + A) or select a portion of the texture with the rectangular Marquee tool. (Fig. 1)

Figure 1

Step 2. From the edit menu choose Define Pattern … and name it descriptively so that you can identify it when you are looking for it. For instance “beige rock” or “green stucco wall”

Step 3. Open a subject image and create a duplicate layer above the original (command/control + J). (Fig. 2)

Figure 2

By Kirk R. Darling

I’ve had a longstanding love-hate relationship with Photodex ProShow Gold. I love the degree of control it gives me over the slideshows I create as sales tools and final products; I hate the time and effort it takes to create even simple slideshows. I tried Animoto, which is quite quick and easy, but those slide shows always left me with a desire to tweak them just a bit here and there. I wished for something that would give me push-button ease with as little or as as much control as I wanted.

Photodex has released version 4.5 of ProShow Gold and ProShow Producer with a great deal of hoopla over their new Instant Show wizard. (If you're not familiar with the term, a wizard is software application feature that guides you through a process.) So I downloaded the upgrades and was off to see if Photodex's wizard could grant my wish.

The wizard operates the same way in both Gold and Producer. It opens with a default dialog box providing a choice of the Instant Show wizard, opening an existing show, or creating a new show manually (Figure 1).

Figure 1 

Creating a new show with the wizard is a four-step process. The first step is to add the images to the show. If you want a text-only title slide, click first on the Text button and type the text you want. You cannot format the text; the wizard will select a text format and style according to the show theme you'll select later. Press Add, and a navigator window opens to search for images. In the wizard window, you can drag images to the sequence you want or click the "Randomize button to let the wizard decide the order. The Rotate button allows you to rotate an image.

By Kevin Adams

Someone once asked me what you can photograph at night. I was dumbfounded. That’s like asking what is there to shoot during the day. The answer is everything! If you can see it, you can photograph it. But the really cool thing about night photography is that you can also shoot things you can’t see.

Night photography is unique in that many subjects look totally different in the photo than they do when you shoot them. The long exposures typically used at night cause any moving lights to record as abstract streaks. The key to making the best images is to pre-visualize the effect for any given subject. In fact, with many night subjects, planning ahead is the only way to get the shot.

I enjoy all types of night photography, but light streaking is my favorite. If an object emits light and it moves, it’s a candidate. Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Vehicle Lights

Recording lights from moving vehicles is the easiest type of streaking you can do. Like most nighttime lights, vehicle streaks do not normally make good photo subjects by themselves, but they can make a strong compositional element in any scene. Cars are the obvious sources, but think about other possibilities. Set up near an airport and catch the lights from arriving and departing planes (though be careful of the potential for a “photographer = terrorist” security situation). Shoot boats in a busy harbor. Catch a train crossing a trestle or coming out of a tunnel. Get the neighborhood kids to ride around on their bikes with a headlight attached.

In this nighttime snow scene, the light path from hiker's headlamps is traced along switchbacks on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail north of Asheville, North Carolina. This section of the MST is located within the boundaries of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Exposure: 1,122 seconds at f/22, ISO 200.

Optimum exposure varies according to the brightness and number of the lights. Typically, you will choose aperture first, based on depth of field requirements, then balance the ISO and shutter speed. In some situations, even with the smallest aperture and lowest ISO, you can’t set a shutter speed long enough to record the light streaks without overexposing the overall scene. Try using a polarizing or neutral density filter to cut the light and allow longer shutter speeds. Also, shoot at twilight, when light from the sky is balanced with vehicle lights.

Star Trails

Back in the film days, we could load ISO 100 film in a camera and open the shutter for hours, never worrying about noise. Try that with digital and you’ll hit the delete button afterwards. However, pro digital cameras are fully capable of producing noise-free images at shutter speeds of several minutes. By shooting a lot of exposures and stacking them, we can achieve an even better result than we could with film.

Star trails streak across the night sky sky above the telescope known as 26-East. The radio telescope is on the grounds of Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) in the mountains of western North Carolina. Exposure: 41 exposures stacked, each 180 seconds at f/4, ISO 400.

A photo of nothing but star trails might look cool at first glance, but the novelty wears off fast. You need something interesting in the foreground. Try campsite scenes, lighthouses, bridges, and striking buildings. I typically shoot star trails at ISO 200 and f/4. Shutter speed is based on the sky-fog limit, the point at which light pollution or skylight causes overexposure. At very dark sites, you might get by with 30 minutes or more, which would allow you to shoot a star trail scene in one exposure if noise weren’t an issue. In a heavily light-polluted region, you might not get a minute before it blows out. At reasonably dark sites, I’ve found that an exposure of 4 to 6 minutes works pretty well.

Stacking star trails can be extremely simple. If you have a compatible Windows system, you can download the free Startrails application from the startrails.de website. Just load your images and let it do all the work. Or you can stack in Photoshop by loading the files into layers and setting the blend mode to Lighten.

By Lindsay Adler

If you have an HDSLR camera, video is a great way to add an extra dimension to your work and even offer value-added services to your clients. Some photographers are beginning to differentiate themselves through their video capabilities, and others are finding video an exciting new realm for creativity.

If you are just getting into video, here are a few basic but essential tips to keep in mind.

1. Don’t Forget the Rules of Photography: Don't forget everything you’ve learned as a photographer. That the same rules of composition and lighting apply here. Just because you add motion doesn’t mean you should drop in visual quality.

2. Add Movement: We are often used to posing our subjects to capture a still moment in time. If you try this same static approach to video, it might as well have been still images. Add motion, action and interaction to your video. You don’t just have to focus on the movement of the subject, but you can also try moving the camera, like including pans (lateral movement of camera). In video, using zoom may have an amateur look; used correctly, it emphasizes tension or intense focus on a subject.

3. Get the Angles: Try to capture all the different angles for variety. It is often suggested to capture a wide shot to establish the scene, a medium shot to meet the subjects, a close-up to interact with the subjects, and super close-up for visual interest and variety. Instead of zooming in, you capture different angles and draw the viewer into the scene. In many cinematic productions, each shot is only on screen for a matter of seconds, which helps keep up the momentum. Use your different lenses—everything from wide angle to macro.

4. Tell a Story: It is even more important to tell a story in video than with photography because you must engage the viewer for a period of time. When you are telling a story with a plot, quest or some end goal, you will be better able to hold the relatively short attention span of today’s Internet generation.

5. Prepare: Video requires more thought and preparation because the segments must be stitched together into a cohesive piece. Summarize the story you want to tell, and figure out what shots you need to tell the story. Consider drawing out a storyboard to figure out which shots you’ll need, and how you can accomplish these shots.

By Zack Davis

As typical image file sizes increase, many photographers are finding it harder to move, share or deliver their files digitally. Whether delivering the final edit to a commercial client, submitting a print-resolution image to a magazine, or wanting to send work to your home computer from the studio, there are simple solutions available. We’ll cover just a few of the more popular services here including Dropbox.com, Box.net, YouSendit.com and Me.com. These services allow you to send large files as easily as you send an e-mail and access your files from multiple computers whether you’re on Windows or Mac.

Dropbox.com works nearly seamlessly on Windows because it appears as a folder inside your computer. Anything inside this folder is automatically sent to the Dropbox servers, which allow instant online access on any Windows or Mac computer. Dropbox also has a complimentary iPhone app that allows you to access and edit your folders on the go.

If you’re using Dropbox and sharing a folder with other people, you’ll be instantly notified when a new file is added or modified as well. This is great if you often find yourself sending files to a few people over a chat program like Yahoo Instant Messenger.

By Philip Bloom

In general, uploading videos to websites is a fairly easy process but there are a few steps you should take to ensure your videos are uploaded properly and offer the best quality possible. Personally, I use Vimeo for sharing my video content and their process for uploading videos is quite easy.

There are many formats you can use to upload your videos, but it is always a good idea to compress your videos before uploading them to the web. Uploading raw, uncompressed files will take a long time and eat up a lot of bandwidth, and the quality will not be that much better than a wel-compressed file. For me, the ideal combination of quality and speed are .MP4 or .MOV files using the h.264 codec. Although Flash streaming is a good compromise of quality and speed, H.264 QuickTime MP4s is a great alternative for great quality.

I have outlined a video upload workflow based on the Mac computer platform, but you can easily apply it to a PC as well. While my own personal workflow is based around Final Cut Pro— and that process is very specific— the following steps will work with most systems.

STEP 1: Secure a free piece of software called MPEG Streamclip from Squared5.com. Once you’ve downloaded it to your computer, open the software and drag-and-drop your finished edit into its main window.

STEP 2: From the top menu of the software, choose Export as MP4 and click.

STEP 3: The next step is to determine which file format and resolution you’d like to use for your video. This depends on whether your video footage is in SD (standard definition), 720p (720 pixels vertical resolution) or 1080p HD (high definition).

My suggestion when using MPEG Streamclip is:
• Go to File, then Export to mp4.
• Select the codec you want the MP4 to be. MP4 is purely a “wrapper” for the video, allowing it to be compressed in all sorts of ways. Personally, I recommend you select H.264.

By Ellis Vener

SEO is Search Engine Optimization. After either working long and hard designing, coding, debugging, and selecting images for your website, or spending a lot of money for someone else to do the design and coding work, you want your website to be easily found and that means making sure it ranks high, preferably on the first page, on a search engine’s list for photographers with your specialty in your town and in your region. An effective SEO strategy can be a powerful and cost effective marketing tool as the investments you have to make are merely ones of intellectual capital and time. SEO is only one component of your marketing strategy, of course, and all marketing is about building awareness. The fundamental point of marketing is to let potential clients know you exist and then to show off what you can do. Even if you are the most talented and sensitive photographer within 100 miles, if potential clients can’t find you, how will they know you even exist?

After researching and examining a lot of available SEO expertise, Professional Photographer turned to two photographers who successfully use SEO marketing to consistently rank high in different specialties. J Sandifer of emilie inc., a location wedding photography studio based in Portland, Maine, who is also the wedding development manager at liveBooks, and Jon Cornforth, a nature photographer and teacher. 

By Stan Sholik

The Quantum Instruments Trio QF8/Pilot QF9/Qflash T5d-R equipment forms a powerful and versatile wireless system that can handle many of the tasks that up until now have required larger, less portable lighting equipment. I found that the system will perform extremely well when it has been set up properly. But I also encountered a fairly steep learning curve in setting the units up to perform the way I wanted.

For others who may be trying to work out settings for some common photographic situations, here is what I have found.

1) How to set up a Trio on the camera hot shoe and a T5d-R as a remote to use the camera’s built-in TTL system to determine the exposure.

The T5d-R remote flash must be set to the same Wireless Group and Channel as the Trio, in this case Wireless Group R1 and Channel 1. The remote flash must ALWAYS be set up before the on-camera Trio is turned on.

On the Trio, you set the mode to QTTL, the first setting in the menu bar at the top of the LCD.

By Jeff Lubin, M.Photog.Cr.

One of the most interesting and challenging but least-taught studio lighting patterns is the double profile. All effective portraits attract the viewer’s attention to where the artist wants to draw the eye. In the case of this portrait of 5-year-old twins, we want to enjoy the great expressions and interaction of the subjects.

In most portraits the photographer wants to light the mask of the face. When the subjects are in profile, the mask is a very slim area showing the forehead, outline of the nose, and chin. Because the subjects are facing each other, a single key light can’t outline each face, and the scene will require lighting from separate light sources. Let me take you through the setup and settings to achieve this high-impact but subtle result.

We are using four lights for this setup, a 60-inch Larson umbrella, a 36-inch Larson strip light and two Photogenic parabolics with white diffusers and 16-inch barn doors. The camera is a Hasselblad H2 with a 39-megapixel digital P45+ back by Phase One. The background was painted by Ron Dupree.

©Jeff Lubin

Press Release—Digital imaging master and unlikely crooner Deke McClelland tenders an original new love song to kick off the next round of his popular video podcast series, dekePod. Titled "The Droplet Song (A Love Song to a Lost Feature in Photoshop)," Deke's goofily romantic new tune honors one of Photoshop's most arcane but useful automation features.

Why devote a romantic ballad to Photoshop?

"I wanted to kick off the new round of dekePods with a kinder, gentler Deke. And what better way to do that than with a love song? A love song that just so happens to be about a Photoshop automation feature called droplets," explains Deke, author of over 80 books and a popular lecturer on Adobe Photoshop and the larger realm of computer graphics and design. Sponsored by O'Reilly Media and lynda.com, Deke's all new, sentimental yet laugh-out-load music video not only entertains, but also captures the intense enthusiasm essential to most (if not all) creative endeavors.

"The thing about droplets is that they're actually really useful, but there's virtually no documentation about them, which makes our music video one of the rare training pieces on the topic. And even though it's wrapped up in this over-the-top love song, the way you make a droplet, my recommended settings, and how you use the finished product are all there," adds Deke, the creator of O'Reilly Media's bestselling One-on-One book and video series. "I wrote the melody and lyrics, and my buddies at The Jellybricks put together the music. Someone showed me a few videos from 1960s folk singer Rod McKuen, and everything fell into place."

By Joe Farace

The use of texture screens is nothing new for portraiture and has been around for more than seventy years. In the traditional darkroom, a texture screen is a piece of film that has a texture printed on it and is placed over photographic paper or sandwiched with the negative during exposure. In the digital darkroom, you can accomplish this effect using Photoshop layers, but in a busy studio where productivity is as important as creativity, there’s an easier way.

IDC Photography offers a set of Photoshop actions and a plug-in that not only makes the job painless but lets you be creative, too. iDC Textures v1 Actions is set of 16 art textures that add interesting surface effects to your photographs, producing a layered Photoshop file for further processing. Included in the package are also seven workflow actions called Hollywood Glam, Silent Movie B&W, ShowBiz Snap, Faded Technicolor, Colortone and Uninhibited Resize.

Textures v2 is a Photoshop-compatible plug-in that includes 18 different textures and requires Adobe Photoshop CS3 or CS4. The interface provides a visual reference thumbnail for each texture. All you have to do is click on the one you want to apply, position it for the best effect, and brush away texture where you don’t want it.

By Ellis Vener

Modern raw processing software is very capable. You can use it to manipulate both global and local tone and color; remove some image defects; and create Web galleries, Web-ready JPEGs, and prints. What does Adobe Photoshop CS4 (PsCS4) still have to offer the busy working photographer that these products—particularly Adobe Photoshop Lightroom—do not?

This tutorial covers the update of one of the more powerful Photoshop tools—layers—in conjunction with the new Adjustments panel (what we used to call a palette). If you do not already use layers in your way of working with photos, then you should, and PsCS4 makes working with layers and masks far more user friendly than before. Working in layers gives you the power to make progressive changes to an image without losing track of where and when you did what, which in turn makes it far easier to fine tune the photo and, as necessary, revisit a step. If you follow the strategy advocated by R. Mac Holbert of Nash Editions—work on global processing first before solving localized problems—and keep the layer stack tidy, you can substantially shorten your image processing time. The new Adjustments panel is a great boon in this respect.

There are 13 Adjustments panel options—Brightness/Contrast, Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation/Lightness, Color Balance, Black and White, Photo Filter, Channel Mixer, Invert, Posterize, Threshold, Gradient Map, and Selective Color.

Access each option through the icons in the Adjustments panel. Clicking on any of the icons creates a new adjustment layer for that effect, including a built-in mask, and converts the Adjustments panel into the menu pane for each. To return to the main Adjustments view click on the arrow in the lower left corner of the pane.  

Starting with a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II raw file made by former PPA president Jack Reznicki, the photo was opened in Lightroom 2.2. White balance was set to Flash and capture sharpening was done in Lightroom. The image was then exported as a 16-bit per channel TIFF using Adobe RGB (1998) as the color space, and opened in PsCS4, as seen below.

Image ©Jack Reznicki

By Jim Benest

The following is partially excerpted from Andrew Darlow’s "301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers" (Course Technology, PTR).

There are many ways to light artwork. You can choose different types of light (traditional halogen, fluorescent, LED and others), and many different strengths and focus types (direct, indirect, spot, flood, etc.). These tips offer some suggestions for lighting a commercial gallery, but the suggestions can be used for any location where artwork will be displayed, such as a doctor’s office, home or office building.

TIP 229
Determine how many pieces you will put on each wall.
Depending upon whether you will have one piece in the center of a wall or three or more stacked (like in our gallery), your lighting will be different. Also consider the mood you want to have in the space. You can choose from dark ambient lighting with dramatic spotlights on every piece of art, or you can select a more broadly lit effect, as we use in our gallery.

A view of one side of The Collective Fine Art Gallery, with multiple types of lighting shown in the track lighting system. Photo ©Andrew Darlow

By Gavin Phillips

High Dynamic Range Imaging  (HDR) enables you to capture stunning images that display all the vivid color and contrast that is usually only visible to the human eye. You cannot duplicate HDR by manipulating a single RAW image in Photoshop.

©Gavin Phillips

Business Applications

Contrary to popular belief, you can photograph people and moving objects using HDR. It requires more editing time in Photoshop, but not as much as you might think.

This significantly broadens the commercial applications for you in your business. You can offer your wedding clients unique images of the church and select outdoor locations. Your commercial clients will see the enormous differences between HDR and regular digital images.

Offering HDR also separates you from the competition, but more importantly, places you far ahead of the ever-growing amateur photography crowd.

©Gavin Phillips

How to take an HDR Photograph

HDR images are created by taking 3, 5, 7 or more photographs at 1 to 2-stop exposure increments per photo. The photographs are then merged into a single image.

I shoot sets of 5 or 7 images at 1-stop increments. I generally shoot in sets of 5 for outdoor locations during the day and sets of 7 for indoor settings, like churches or hotels. The darker the scene, the larger the set of images. Ideally, you want shadows blown out in the overexposed image and highlights made dark in the underexposed image.

A thorough understanding of lighting fundamentals is vital to your growth as an artist. Learn how to add dimension to your images with hair lights.

By Don Chick, M.Photog.Cr., CPP

[Editor's note: To our regret, the last sentence of this article was truncated in the September issue of Professional Photographer. This is the article in full.]

Third in a series on the fundamentals of studio portrait lighting.

We’ve discussed the use of foundational lighting in creating a portrait; now we’ll cover the use of additional lights to add impact to your images.

A hair light in a portrait setup adds dimension and drama to the image by accenting the shoulders and crown of the subject. Like adding spice to a dish, adding a disproportionate amount of hair light can overpower the other lighting and ruin the final image. The brightness of the hair light should never be the first thing you notice about a portrait (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The inset shows excessive hair light. The larger version shows hair light that complements rather than diverting attention. ©Don Chick

The hair light should complement the rest of the image, not divert the viewer’s attention from the center of interest. Notice in Figure 2 how the hair light adds a nice bit of separation for the hat, as well as the subject’s shoulder. Imagine how bland the image would be without it.

Figure 2
©Don Chick

Because the hair light is positioned above and behind the subject, its output should generally be less than the main light—one stop less is a good starting place. For example, if the main light at the subject’s position meters at f/8, you’d adjust the hair light to read f/5.6, one stop less. For the most accurate light measurement, turn off or block out all other light sources. Point the dome of your meter at the light source you’re measuring and take the reading. If the results aren’t to your liking, adjust the hair light output accordingly.

By David Ziser, M.Photog.Cr., F-ASP

Editor’s note: In his new column in Professional Photographer magazine, renowned wedding photographer and popular instructor David Ziser shares his insights on the art and business of photography.

I have to tell you that I'm becoming a really big fan of Lightroom 2. There are a couple of features in the new version that simply make it one of the most remarkable pieces of software on the planet earth. Watch this video from my blog and see if you don't agree with me. 

The full release of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is now available for purchase ($299, $99 upgrade), or you can download a free trial version.

Capture the essence of a male subject in a single image.

By Don Chick, M.Photog.Cr., CPP

Though colleagues often kid me about my portraits of “old men with hats and beards,” I’ve found photographing men to be interesting and rewarding. Images of beautiful women dominate magazines and exhibitions. When you do see a male subject, it’s most likely a child, high school senior or groom. Yet every man has a unique personality and a story all his own. A portrait should honor the man and the life that’s made him who he is.

Emerson, an elderly gentleman in our neighborhood, was surprised when I wanted to create a portrait of him. He had a compelling look I wanted to capture, I explained. I promised to delete my images if I didn’t make him look good. At my studio the next day, I asked him about his life as I photographed him. He spoke of the places he’d lived, of his family and the jobs he’d held, and about being in the Navy during World War II. Talking helped him to relax into his natural stance and unstudied gestures. From time to time I would ask him to lift his chin or turn his head to refine the pose. I was especially pleased with a particular image from that session (Figure 1).

Figure 1: "Old Habit" ©Don Chick

For character study portrait lighting, I use a 3x4 Larson Soff Box as the main light; a stand-up reflector with white fabric for fill light; a 10x36 Larson Soff Strip with louvers for a hair light; a Photogenic 1250 deep conical parabolic with barn doors as a background light; a 42x72-inch Larson stand-up reflector with silver fabric for accent lighting, placed on the side opposite the main light; and a Photogenic 2500DR in a 10-degree fine honeycomb grid to add a bit of spot light to the background (Figure 2). I prefer to handhold the camera for these sessions so I can capture angles and moods spontaneously.

Figure 2: Lighting diagram for character study portraiture

By Bob Coates, M.Photog.Cr., CPP

It’s not a bad problem when you’ve captured so many good images that the client can’t narrow the selections down. It gives you the opportunity to sell more and different kinds of product. You can use the techniques in this tutorial to design pages for senior, family and wedding albums as well as framed prints. These images are from a senior portrait session with Heather, who wanted lots of different looks, from casual to fashion.

©Bob Coates

Don’t use too many images on one spread. Usually odd numbers of images work better in design. This helps to keep the eye moving around in the image. Even numbers of images tend to make the layout too static. Here we’ve combined five images to show different composite techniques.

Open all the images you’ll include in the layout. Create a new document at the final print size and resolution you want. Select the Move tool (V) and drag and drop your base image(s) to the new document window. I chose two fashion images to be the base and blended them together using a Layer Mask and Gradient Tool (below).

©Bob Coates 

By Don Chick, M.Photog.Cr., CPP
Image ©Don Chick

Looking is not seeing.

Seeing involves asking what, why and how as your eyes take in a situation. Seeing is what an artist does while taking in the world around them.

The journey from looking to seeing is part of artistic growth. It’s a conscious decision at first, and with time and experience it becomes a subconscious act of the mind. If you are open to growth, the seeing process never ends. It’s when you think you’ve arrived that you lose the ability to grow and continue to see.

Growth is a uniquely personal experience, but there are ways to facilitate the process. One object lesson is an art classic: photographing a white egg on a white piece of paper. An egg is a perfect piece of sculpture, a gift of nature, that is most likely sitting right in your refrigerator. You don’t even need a large piece of paper.  Simply take a sheet from your printer to use in this lesson.

The first element of the lesson involves caring. “Why should I care about an egg?” you ask. The reason for caring is that if you don’t think you can learn anything from the egg, you’re right. You won’t learn a thing. If you think you can learn something from the egg, you will.

Henry Ford is quoted as saying, “If you think you can do a thing or you think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” Caring in the beginning and throughout the entire course of your career as an artist is crucial to growth.

By Don Chick, M.Photog.Cr., CPP

Have you recently purchased a new light modifier for your main light? Maybe you have one that you’ve had for awhile, but you’re still not happy with the results you are getting. Your pictures just don’t look anywhere close to those dramatic images shown at the seminar where you ordered the product. The light falloff (decrease in the intensity of the light) across the scene just isn’t right! The part of the subject nearest to the main light is over exposed, while the other side of the subject is underexposed.

You’re frustrated. Now what do you do?

Do you send your new light modifier back for a refund? Do you put it in the closet with all of the other pieces of equipment that “don’t work”? Before you do anything else, go right to your camera bag where you will likely find a very simple solution to this common problem. Your light meter.

A light meter is a professional photographer’s best friend. If you’re not getting the results you expect, stop first to measure the amount of light output coming into your scene. Think of your light meter as being like a thermometer. A thermometer tells us if a temperature is too hot or too cold. Too high or too low means that you have a problem to take care of.

In similar fashion, your light meter is a gauge to show you whether there is too much or too little light falling into your scene. The good news is that you probably do not need to return your new light modifier or stash it away. This tutorial shows how to use your light meter to determine how a modifier affects the light. This one simple tool may just solve your lighting dilemma.

As a special bonus for Professional Photographer Web Exclusives readers, we’re pleased to present two Adobe Photoshop Lightroom video tutorials from Chris Orwig and lynda.com, Applying presets and Converting to black and white, from Photoshop Lightroom 1.1 New Features.

Applying presets

Converting to black and white

In Photoshop Lightroom 1.1 New Features, instructor Orwig covers the latest additions to both version 1.1 and version 1.2. He explains how to work with each of the application's new features, including the updated interface, database catalogs, and modules. Chris also shares some useful tips and tricks along the way. Exercise files accompany the tutorials. The full set of tutorials is available at lynda.com, the award-winning provider of educational materials and online training.

Chris Orwig is a faculty member of Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA. He is a professional freelance photographer, interactive designer, educator, and consultant. Included among his clients are companies such as Disney, Nissan, Activision, and J-Records.

The lynda.com Online Training Library® and CD-ROM titles include such subjects as Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Office, digital photography, Web design, digital video, and many others. Library subscriptions begin as low as $25 a month, with no long-term commitment required.

 

By Don Chick, M.Photog.Cr., CPP

Let’s face it, photography is about lighting. Yes, composition is important and emotion is important, but without lighting, you have nothing. Light is everything … almost.

As a piece of music has rhythm, harmony, and melody, so there are elements to lighting that must be included for the image to have impact. Light has the ability to invoke emotion on the part of the viewer. We relate emotionally to different types of lighting and even our moods are affected by light. Light is necessary to our very survival and existence.

Light is a force to be harnessed for our photographs as well. One difference between a professional and an amateur photographer is that the professional is in control of the light. On location, the professional photographer has to position the subject within the environment as it exists. They have no control over where trees have grown or where buildings have been built. They must utilize the existing surroundings and lighting conditions, and the client expects beautiful images. Most photographers make the environment the primary factor and then position the subject within that environment. They make lighting secondary to the location.

The correct approach makes lighting the determining factor for the location and then positions the subject within that environment. Often in the first scenario the lighting is flat and diminishes the features of a beautiful environment. By looking for the “sweet” light first and then carefully placing your subjects in the best possible light, you create a better portrait that has both elements working for it: pretty lighting and a beautiful environment.

By Josh Kill

As a serious modern photographer I am obsessed with controlling every aspect of color management, from camera to monitor to print. With careful attention to the details I can recreate the exact colors that I saw through the viewfinder or accurately print specially brewed color and contrast tweaks. Ahh … perfection!

It would be nice if portraying your images on the web could be that precise. But, alas, it is not so. As with most objects for mass consumption, the final quality is out of your hands. So … What do you do for all of those millions of people (real or imaginary) who will want to view your beautiful creations online? Online portfolios are essential, and you will be judged on the way they look, despite the known issues of onscreen viewing.

Is there any hope for our poor images as they go out to be viewed on monitors with stock calibration, laptops in direct sunlight, fluorescent-lit cubicles, Wii’s, PS3’s and cell phones?

Maybe. We can hope.

As I see it, there are two approaches that can help:

Approach #1: Denial.

This approach is simple and effective.

Step 1. Post images to your Web site (or Flickr, Smugmug, etc.)

Step 2. Walk away.
DO NOT view your images with a web browser (not even your own). Doing so will utterly ruin this approach and immediately force you into approach #2!


Approach #2. Process your images for the web.

A few extra steps will give your images the best shot at accurate web rendering. There are a few common issues that I come across when rendering my images on the web. I will now describe my personal methods for preparing images for the web.

Step 1. Initial edits.
Prepare your image from RAW (basic contrast, color correction, and input sharpening). Open in Photoshop as an 8-bit image with sRGB as your color workspace.

Step 2. Resize.
Since I am working on a copy of the image (you always work on copies, too, right?) I resize my images right away to enhance editing speed and give me a clear view of the image details at the target size. Typically, I stick to the standard resize method in Photoshop: Image > Image Size - set resolution to 72 pixels/inch, set the target width or height in pixels, and choose Bicubic Sharper in the Resample Image drop-down menu. The resized image will usually need a bit of sharpening at this point to bring out the little details that are lost in the resize. Something like Unsharp Mask (Amount: 30%, Radius: 0.5 pixels, Threshold: 0, will get you close)

Step 3. Preview your image without color management.
Selecting View > Proof Setup > Monitor RGB. You should immediately see some changes to your image on screen. Generally the image contrast and color saturation increase (which is pretty much the opposite of what happens when you are printing an image!)

By Karen Sperling

Many photographers now offer photos with brushstrokes added in Corel Painter as a special high-end product, but the application’s versatile tool set offers much more to the portrait photographer beyond this basic  technique.

For instance, you can create a painterly collage to commemorate the events in someone’s life. Take several photos, collage, paint and you have a fitting tribute for everyone from corporate executives to brides, seniors or children.

You might charge a premium for this sort of portrait above what you'd charge for the basic portrait with brushstrokes because of the additional work done for the collaged background. You can get the photos you need for the background by getting a variety during the photo shoot, whether it's in the studio, at the subject's location or at a wedding. You can also add old family snapshots or mementos, which you can scan, or favorite digital photos that the subject has on hand. The possibilities really are limitless.

I painted this portrait of Laurence Gartel to commemorate the debut of Digital Long Island (DLI), an event he founded to celebrate digital art.

Painting and photos ©2007 Karen Sperling

Please enjoy this bonus for Professional Photographer magazine readers, a free lighting lesson from Web Photo School.

By Norman Haughey, Web Photo School Contributor 

The impact and success of a portrait can be the result of lighting, composition, body language, lens choice, camera angle, clothing, color, texture or even luck. With a few portrait techniques, your luck will improve dramatically. There are many stylistic methods which can make a photographer's work a little unique and help your own style develop over time.

In this lesson, I will merely try to pass on some basic tips that will bring immediate positive results to your photography.

Many of the techniques shown are subtle and require only a slight adjustment to the subject to create a more pleasing and natural representation. I will touch on some common techniques to affect the viewer’s impression of the subject's personality.

Go to Posing and Lighting to Flatter Your Subject at Web Photo School.

A lesson produced by www.webphotoschool.com 

By Ellis Vener

There were three major problems to solve for this view of the State Capitol Building in Atlanta, Georgia:

• It is a large multi-level space with lots of fine detail.
• There were multiple light sources: daylight, fluorescent and tungsten.
• The interior composition spanned a broad EV range with important detail at both ends.

Solving the first two problems was straightforward, solved with a Nikon D3 and an AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED Nikkor lens set to f/8 at 14mm. I chose f/8 for depth of field and optimal resolution. I set the Nikon D3 to manual focus, ISO 200, and aperture priority 3-D Matrix metering. Once I secured, checked and doubled-checked the camera settings and position, I took seven exposures, bracketing from +3 to -3 stops in one-stop increments. Given the total spectrum hash of light sources, I thought it best to give Auto White Balance a try.

Image ©2007 Ellis Vener 

By Ellis Vener

“The map is not the territory” – Alfred Korzybski

What is a histogram and what does it tell us about a photograph?

A histogram is nothing more than a bar graph. It shows how the luminance values in a digital or digitized photograph are distributed. The linear scale in a histogram runs from black at one end to white at the opposite end. With the exception of a scanned negative, the scale runs from left (black) to right (white). About 99 percent of the histograms we use in photography today have 256 increments, corresponding to 8-bit data depth. The histogram maps the distribution of the luminance values either as a composite of the red, green, and blue channels or in each channel, as you may have seen in the histogram display on some cameras and as option in Photoshop.

The horizontal scale of the histogram measures exposure latitude, and the vertical scale measures quantity: it tells us how many pixels in the image have a specific luminosity value. While the horizontal scale is measured in absolute values  (0 to 255) the vertical scale is effected by several factors: the color space, bit depth, and if you are shooting jpegs, the compression level.  

Above, the histogram display from Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw shows channels represented by different colors.  

Excerpted by permission from the forthcoming book, "The Creative Digital Darkroom" by Katrin Eismann and Sean Duggan (O'Reilly Media), available Dec. 15.

Color is the musical score of the image, and just as the musical score changes how you feel about a movie scene, the image’s color treatment will influence or, more fittingly said, will “tint” the viewer’s emotional response. The ability to experiment with image adjustment layers and creative color interpretations is a source of inspiration for me, and it is often surprising how the subtlest color adjustment can shift the emotional impact of an image.

We’ve all made the effort to wake before sunrise to take pictures in dawn’s golden hour or skipped dinner to shoot during dusk when the light is raking across the landscape. Although Photoshop can’t change the time of day in which you shot the image, it can influence the image’s color rendition to infer moods and emotions.

Neutral is highly overrated

In most cases the goal of processing digital files is to create color-neutral and well-exposed images, but in many cases neutral is simply not the best choice for an image. Take a look at the comparison in Figure 8-33, which shows how Katrin saw, and the camera recorded, the pre-sunrise shot of the Brooklyn Bridge, and then how a raw converter set to automatic sucked all the passion out of the scene. Adding creative color interpretations during raw processing is a very subjective and emotional progression that can be a welcome break from the dogma of neutral, picture-perfect image production.

Figure 8-33. Raw conversion, set to automatic, can suck the passion from a scene.

Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop Lightroom are tremendous tools to enhance the emotional aspect of images by letting you bend the rules of reality-bound image processing to create subtle and moody images. The advantage of doing creative work in Adobe Camera Raw or Photoshop Lightroom is you can rework and reinterpret the same image many times without ever degrading the original file. Additionally, the benefit of experimenting in the raw processor is that all the controls to influence color, contrast, and exposure are close at hand, enabling you to work very fluidly as you tweak one setting and then refine another.

Before we dive into the world of creative color, always put on your water wings or life preserver to keep your head above the raw waters. In this case, we highly recommend working with Smart Objects, which in Photoshop CS3 with Adobe Camera Raw 4 (or later) is both an easy and convenient feature that gives you access to Adobe Camera Raw controls even after the image has been brought into Photoshop.

Rick Ralston's "The Designer's Apprentice" (Adobe Press, $39.99) shows you how to use the Automation tools in Creative Suite 3 to save time and effort, freeing you for more creative work. Though written for a graphic designer audience, this book has valuable information for professional photographers as well.

Though automation may seem intimidating, it doesn't have to be. You can make your computer and software work better for you. Learn how to combine your customer data with images for personalized communications. Learn how to record macro-like Actions with Photoshop and then reuse them with multiple files.

Also, keep an eye on the magazine for more information from Rick Ralston, written exclusively for the Professional Photographer audience. He'll explain what automation can accomplish for professional photographers, what ROI you can expect from incorporating automation into your workflow, and how you can get started.

In the meantime, enjoy this excerpt that teaches you how to make a Photoshop Action that gives your images the Reflecto effect, familiar from Apple's marketing and featured on the book's cover.

Download the Reflecto Action tutorial from "The Designer's Apprentice," by Rick Ralston 

Excerpted from "The Designer's Apprentice: Automating Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign in Adobe Creative Suite 3" by Rick Ralston. Copyright © 2008. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Adobe Press.

By Tony Hopman, Cr.Photog., CPP, API, FDPE, FSA
All images ©Tony Hopman

Prescription glasses for nearsighted people cause a distortion that makes the portion of their face seen through the lens look as though it's farther away than the portion not covered by the lens. Many people are so accustomed to seeing it that it doesn't register in face-to-face interaction, but it becomes more noticeable in a portrait.

“Can you fix that?” my client asked when she saw the distortion through her husband's lenses in their portrait. "Of course," I said. "We can fix almost anything!" That was easier said than done. After several unsuccessful attempts at cloning and painting the missing cheek within the glass frame, I decided there must be a better way. I finally arrived at a method that works well without adding too much work.

All contents and images ©Dan Burkholder

Digital negatives have pumped new energy into the alternative printing arena. Since the first edition of my Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing was published in 1995 (I call that long-past period the Paleolithic era in digital imaging), I've heard from people all over the world who are thrilled with their new power to combine the old (chemical-based photography) with the new (digital capture and control).

Today the friendliest way to make digital negatives is with Photoshop and modern inkjet printers, using these inkjet negatives to print on classic photosensitive materials like cyanotype, platinum/palladium, and silver gelatin. When we do the steps properly, we can make contact prints that rival the quality of prints made from camera-original negatives. You gotta admit, this sounds like fun!

Figure 1: Windmills, Spain, Platinum/Palladium Print from a Digital Negative, by Dan Burkholder

Ringflash becomes a more versatile lighting tool

By Ellis Vener

Popular with fashion and celebrity photographers, ringlights create a singular look. Typically ringflash illuminates the subject in a clinical light that looks like the camera was mounted in the center of a spotlight, leaving nothing concealed. The effect offers none of the tricks of shadowing and highlight and chiaroscuro we normally use to create the illusion of three-dimensional depth in a two-dimensional medium.

Until recently, most ringlights were designed the same way, with a circular or pair of semi-circular flash tubes wrapped around the barrel of the lens. Some ringlight manufacturers include a larger outer reflector and inner deflector to spread the light out a bit more and soften the light's hardness. But now at least three manufacturers—Broncolor, Profoto, and AlienBees—are looking to make the ring a more versatile lighting tool. AlienBees has been especially creative in this regard, devising an entire set of light modifiers to use with their ABR800 AlienBees Ringflash and the similar head for the forthcoming Zeus system. I’ve used the ABR800 for this tutorial.

AlienBees Ringflash photo above ©Stan Sholik

Professional Photographer magazine offers our readers free lighting tutorials from Web Photo School.

The basics of portrait photography could fill many large books. Many pro photographers who typically shoot using only available light want to advance their studio lighting skills. In such cases, it's always good to start with the basics. This Web Photo School lesson concentrates on one application with a few variations on the theme for this lesson.

Topics Covered:

• Using portable flash units
• Creating drama with one light
• Using reflective fill
• Background lighting effects

Go to the Basic Strobe Portrait in Studio lesson at Web Photo School.

By Stan Sholik
[This feature elaborates on "Hideaway," the masking software review by Stan Sholik in the March issue of Professional Photographer magazine.]

Every image that requires masking in order to composite it with another image, or to create a layer mask for image enhancement, seems to present a unique set of problems. Some of these problems can be handled with the tools in Photoshop, but the tougher ones are generally handled quicker and easier with third-party software optimized for the needed task.

onOne Software Mask Pro 4

This wedding image was made with available light in the church, but I want to eliminate the busy background and replace it with an Old Masters digital background from Owen's Originals. The problem is the original image has a lot of the same hues in the areas that I want to keep and the areas I want to drop. What I need to do is outline the couple with the Pen tool rather than try to use “keep” and “drop” colors. Mask Pro’s Magic Pen tool is perfect for this.

Open the image in Photoshop, unlock it by double-clicking and rename it. Then make a copy of it as a precaution. It’s always best to work on a copy rather than the original. I add a Layer Mask at this point and leave it highlighted. Mask Pro will create a layer mask. If you don’t create a layer mask, Mask Pro will eliminate the background in the image file itself. If you choose to work without a layer mask, be sure to work on a copy!

I also create a layer with my new background. When the mask is completed in Mask Pro, the software will then allow you to preview it against this background.

All images ©Stan Sholik; click for larger view.

All Images ©2007 Jeremy Sutton

The art of making "San Francisco Heart" with Corel Painter X

By Jeremy Sutton

[Due to space constraints, we could not include every step of the Collage Portrait tutorial that Sutton wrote for our March issue of Professional Photographer. Here, for our readers, is the complete version of that tutorial.]

I created San Francisco Heart, a collage portrait of San Francisco, using the recently released Corel Painter X . The principles, strategies, workflow and techniques shared here can be applied to creating a collage portrait of any subject—a person, family or couple; a vacation destination, event or city. My goal is to inspire and empower you to create your own personal collage portraits.

The term collage portrait refers to a portrait painting of a subject in which there is usually one main foundation image interwoven with a multitude of subsidiary images, some more subtle than others, but all relating to the subject and contributing to the whole in a harmonious and meaningful way.

San Francisco Heart was inspired by my experience of living in San Francisco and wanting to express my appreciation of the beauty, diversity, creativity, excitement and richness of this City by the Bay.

Read on or DOWNLOAD a PDF of this tutorial.

Professional Photographer magazine offers our readers free lighting tutorials from Web Photo School.

There are many things to consider when you leave the studio to shoot portraits outside: weather, time of day, and the background to name but a few. With its LitePanel system, Photoflex offers a way to take the control you have in the studio with you on location.

Topics Covered:

• Assembling an Outdoor Shooting Tent
• Adjusting the Tripod for Low Angle Shots
• Programming the Camera Settings
• Using LitePanels for Fill
• Balancing Light Outdoors

Go to the Shooting on the Beach with litePanels lesson at Web Photo School.

Professional Photographer magazine offers our readers free lighting tutorials from Web Photo School.

Modifying the standard approach to portraits can add more life and interest to your shot if you know what you're doing. When it comes to shooting glamour, rules should be considered guidelines.

The most interesting glamour shots out there are taken by photographers who have veered from the rules to come up with their own bag of tricks for shooting.

This lesson will show you a couple of simple modifications you can make to a standard portrait lighting setup to enhance the appeal of your images.

Topics Covered:

• Setting Up the Background
• Setting Up the Quantum Q Flash
• Installing the Radio Slaves
• Setting Up the Main Flash
• Programming the E-300 Camera Settings
• Setting Up the Fill Light
• Setting Up the Separation Light

Go to Shooting Glamour in the Studio at Web Photo School.

Professional Photographer magazine offers our readers free lighting tutorials from Web Photo School.

Achieving a pure white background may seem simple, but it's not so hard to foul it up. A new photographer usually goes too far in one direction or another when attempting to create a perfect white background.

A) An insufficient amount of light on the background creates a shade of gray.

B) Too much light on the background turns the subject matter 'milky' and saturation is lost.

This lesson shows you the techniques necessary to control your white backgrounds.

Topics Covered:

• How to prepare for an indoor sports portrait
• Setting up proper lighting ratios
• Techniques on using a light meter
• Special effects using Plexiglas

Go to Achieving a Pure White Background at Web Photo School.

4-Minute videos debut the December 1 in the Tamron Pro Learning Center

Press Release—If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a how-to video must be as good as a book, especially if it compresses the knowledge contained in a 45-minute lecture into a concise, well-focused, viewer friendly 4-minute format you can download to your iPod or computer. That’s the exciting concept behind the incisive, entertaining, and informative new podcasts posted in the Tamron Pro Learning Center at www.tamron.com.

Hosted by leading photographers, each one gives clear step-by-step pointers on shooting everything from surfing to portraits to macro in Central Park. The information is presented in simple, direct language with verbal hints and tips immediately illustrated by concrete visual examples. Watching one of these podcasts on the screen feels more like being at a hands-on photo workshop in the field than sitting in the classroom. And by mixing video footage with outstanding still photographs, each technique becomes crystal clear. It’s easy to hook up with this incredible learning experience—just make sure you’ve got QuickTime on your 'pod or PC, click on podcasts at the Pro Learning Center and take a few minutes to download the videos.

Press Release—Kingston Technology's ‘Icons of Photography’ Web site this month features award-winning documentary photographer Colin  Finlay, offering tips on making the most of existing lighting. “As a photojournalist I’ve learned to use whatever is available to me to capture my images—this includes lighting. I rarely have the luxury of bringing portable strobes on assignments, even my commercial advertising jobs,” Finlay notes. “Keeping the lighting simple is something I always tell students, whether in the studio or on location. Doing this minimizes complications and forces you to look at your subjects from varying angles and perspectives. Many of my best shots were produced because I was forced to move around a subject and change my perspective; the light was stationary and I was the one that needed to move. It is a great exercise and one I am constantly sharing with students.”

Give your portrait an infrared look with delicate digital hand painting (includes downloadable Photoshop action and Flash tutorial)

By Gavin Phillips

I've always been intrigued by the melancholy beauty of certain photographs shot with infrared. The only issue is you either have to convert a digital camera to shoot infrared or use infrared film. This is both cumbersome and costly. Enter Photoshop.

Whilst researching infrared techniques in Photoshop, I found many that worked well replicating infrared for landscapes, but not with portraits. After much experimentation, I created an action that has the speed of an 'action' along with the ability to customize crucial steps, so photographers can tweak it to suit their own photographs.

Photos ©Peter Roberts

Painterly Brushstrokes with a Click

By Karen Sperling

Corel Painter IX.5's Auto-Painting palette in the Window menu has many useful tools for turning photos into paintings. One technique for using the Auto-Painting palette is to deselect all the boxes under Randomness and then paint with the Artists’ Sargent brush.

Photo ©2006 Felicia Tausig
Painting ©2006 Karen Sperling

Professional Photographer magazine offers our readers free lighting tutorials from Web Photo School.

Using a softbox gives your subject the soft treatment, but sometimes you want more contrast. Because the umbrella is a bounced light the results have more punch. This lesson uses two Photoflex 45-inch umbrellas (the white ADW and silver ADH) and demonstrates the versatile look they can add to your photo shoot.

Topics Covered:

• Advantages to the umbrella
• Contrast comparison
• Umbrella as a key light
• LitePanel for fill
• Lighting a background with an umbrella
• Using an umbrella as a "split light"

Go to Using Umbrellas in High-Contrast Fashion Shoots at Web Photo School.

Professional Photographer magazine offers our readers free lighting tutorials from Web Photo School.

Fall is here, bringing a riot of rich, natural color. Do you want to push your color palette beyond khaki, denim and black? In this lesson, learn how to determine what color to use, how colors interact with other colors, and how to control saturation.

Topics Covered:

• Working with a stylist to create a specific look
• Setting up a high color-contrast set
• Using props to bind the look of a shot
• Shooting and reviewing images digitally
• Using Louvers to control soft light
• Creating a colored background spotlight with a Dedolight
• Tips on capturing natural-looking poses

Go to Contrasting Colors for Vivid Results at Web Photo School.

Adding drop shadows in Corel Painter

By Karen Sperling

Painter has an automatic drop shadow tool like Photoshop, but I find a manual approach works better. Read on to see how to do it.

Caption: Photo ©2006 Mary Wynn Ball. Backdrop ©2006 Laurence Gartel.

In this and future months, Professional Photographer magazine offers our readers free lighting tutorials from Web Photo School.

Project Runway is one of the hottest shows on television and New York Fashion Week begins Sept. 8. What better time to brush up on the haute couture of photographic technique by exploring the use of delicate, soft, flattering light?

This month's lesson covers the advantages of using stylists, setting up a white background sweep, setting up and positioning lighting elements, and using lighting ratios to knock out the background naturally.

Go to Finessing Soft Light for Fashion at Web Photo School.

Painting watercolor hair

By Karen Sperling

In Corel Painter IX.5 I used Digital Watercolor’s New Simple Water and New Simple Blender to turn this photo by Scott Stulberg (left) into this Winslow Homer-style watercolor painting (below).

Caption: Photo ©2006 Scott Stulberg

I made some adjustments to get brush strokes that blend more like watercolors, based on some discoveries by watercolorist Nomi Wagner. I changed the Stroke Type from Single to Rake in the General palette (Window > Brush Controls > General palette) and moved the Opacity slider to 20% and the Wet Fringe slider to 50% in the Property Bar. (You can also highlight the fields where you see the numbers, type in the values, and press return/enter.)

Caption: Painting ©Karen Sperling

I also accessed the Angle palette (Brush Controls > Angle palette) and moved the Squeeze slider to 39% and the Angle slider to 199 degrees.

The secret to painting hair is just to suggest it rather than paint it strand by strand. Painting the girl’s hair was a three-step process.

In this and future months, Professional Photographer magazine offers our readers free lighting tutorials from Web Photo School.

In this lesson we show how you can rig your portrait gear to save time and make lighting those school portrait jobs (or any set of similarly posed individual shots) a snap. All the preparation you need to make this lesson work for you is a quick and cheap trip to a hardware store.

The "String" method refers to simply attaching a length of string to each piece of gear you use to shoot your portraits.

Go to the String Method lesson at Web Photo School.

An excerpt from Kevin Ames' "Photoshop CS2: The Art of Photographing Women" (Wiley Publishing, Inc., avail. Sept. 2006)
All photos ©Kevin Ames

In our August issue of Professional Photographer, we printed an abridged chapter excerpt from Kevin Ames' informative and instructional "Photoshop CS2: The Art of Photographing Women." The following is a collection of sidebars, tips and notes that we couldn't include due to space limitations.

By Karen Sperling

Corel Painter IX.5, the latest version of Painter, has new tools that speed up the process of turning photos into paintings, making them ideal for the professional photographer who wants to offer his or her clients painted portraits. These tools let you automate the blending and painting process so that you can produce unique portraits without having to close your photo studio for three months while you paint them.

This tutorial shows you how I turned this photo by Mary Wynn Ball into a painted portrait.

Photo © 2006 Mary Wynn Ball; Painting © 2006 Karen Sperling

"Secret" oil-painting brush revealed!

One of my favorite oil-painting brushes in Corel Painter is not filed under Oils but hiding in the Blenders brush category—the Water Rake variant. As a Blender brush, the Water Rake blends colors in an image in the form of oil-paint strokes.

You can also use it to paint color. To do so, set the Resat slider in the Property Bar to 33%, choose a color in the Colors palette and paint. The brush stroke resembles an oil painting technique.

The image at right shows the strokes as I began to turn a photo into a painting in the style of artist Pino Daeni. On the left is a detail of one of his paintings. You can see that the Painter strokes on the right are a good facsimile of the ones in the painting on the left.

Blending the "Smart" Way

Corel Painter IX.5, a free download from the Corel site for owners of Painter IX, has some nifty new palettes for speeding up the steps for turning photos into paintings.

The new Smart Blur feature streamlines the process of blending, which many photographers use to give faces a painterly look. Blending involves painting stroke-by-stroke with one of the Blenders' category brushes. Now Smart Blur does the blending for you. Here is a photo by Mary Wynn Ball before and after Smart Blur was applied.

In this and future months, Professional Photographer magazine offers you free lighting tutorials from Web Photo School. To kick off the feature, we've got two great lessons.

Senior Portraits Using Litediscs Outside

and

Outdoor Bridal Portraits

Please use the Comments section below to let us know if you found the lessons valuable and to offer topics for future lighting tutorials.

In the May issue of Professional Photographer, color management columnist Andrew Rodney references his column from Sept. 2004, "Soft proofing explained." For your convenience, we provide it here for download (PDF).

Charcoal shading

Shading is one of the nicest ways to add a painterly effect to photos and paintings in Corel Painter.
I like to use the Charcoal category's Charcoal Pencil 3 variant as my shading brush.  I have altered it slightly, lowering the Grain slider in the Property Bar to 12, which puts more texture into the stroke.

   
Click the painting for a larger view. Photo and painting of Laurence Gartel ©2006 Karen Sperling.

Concluding in April, Professional Photographer magazine ran Making Eyes, a three-part tutorial on eye enhancement in portraiture from Jane Conner-ziser. Click here to download the custom set of brushes Jane uses in Adobe Photoshop. To use the brushes, navigate to your Photoshop application folder > Presets folder > Brushes folder. Place the file JanesRetouchingBrushes.abr in the Brushes folder. From Photoshop, choose your Brush tool and click on the Brush Preset dropdown menu in the Options bar. Click on the reveal triangle to the right of the Master Diameter slider and choose Load Brushes.... In the Load window, navigate to the Brushes folder where you placed the file, choose janesretouchingbrushes.abr, and click Load. The brushes will appear at the bottom of your current brush preset selection.

Why one photographer loves the sun

By Steve Bedell, M.Photog.Cr.

For years, photographers have extolled the virtues of taking portraits on overcast days or during the magic time that occurs near the beginning and end of every day. On cloudy days, the contrast range is reduced, allowing you to capture detail throughout the image, from the brightest area to the deepest shadow. Near sunset, you also get a reduced contrast range, with the added benefit of directional lighting, a wonderful bonus. And while I won't argue that the first and last light of the day offers perhaps the best lighting conditions, I can tell you that I actually prefer sunny days to cloudy ones when shooting. Let me 'splain.

Caption (above right): Sun bouncing off a yellow building across the street created my main light for this image, with trees also blocking overhead light. Open sky behind her also creates a little kicker light on her hair.  This is one of my favorite shooting situations. Model: Alyson Perreault

Seeing Stars

A quick way to add a special painterly touch to your photos and paintings with Corel Painter IX is to paint in stars using the F-X category’s Fairy Dust variant. You can just pick a color and paint, but for a more interesting result, add the stars in varying intensities by adjusting the Resaturation and Bleed sliders.

With some color already in the background, I chose the Fairy Dust variant, and I turned Resaturation down and Bleed up in the Property Bar and painted some strokes, creating very subtle stars. Then I raised Resaturation and lowered Bleed slightly and painted again, which brought in the stars with more color. I proceeded to raise Resaturation, lower Bleed and paint until I had varying degrees of stars.

A Wedding Photographer's Dream: How to effectively organize and edit your photos

By Paul Ellis

Shooting digital photography is both a blessing and a curse. For example, following a wedding party from 5am until late in the night can easily leave a trail of photographs numbering in the thousands; even more so when you factor in a second shooter and an assistant. Throw in the ever-demanding goal of trying to capture all the moments, unexpected delights, and emotions of a wedding day and you end up with a lot of hits and misses. The wedding may be over, but your work has just begun. Reviewing all of these images to identify the keepers, toss the rejects, and ultimately make the client happy are not easy tasks. The end of the shoot marks the start of the tedious post-production workflow process.

This “how-to” will help explain how ACD Systems’ new professional product, ACDSee Pro Photo Manager, can facilitate easy organization and editing of your photos after the shoot.

Read the full tutorial.

Impressionist style

Painting ©2005 Karen Sperling

This is a painting I created in the Impressionist style in Corel Painter IX from a photo by Zarek. I wanted to put the little girl into a chair in a garden, so I composited the original photos before painting it.

Composites

By Karen Sperling

When I turn a photo into a painting in Corel Painter, I often composite the photo, adding elements from other photos if necessary, before painting. If you want to combine photos, do the compositing as your first step.

For instance, I wanted to add flowers from another photo I took to the original photo from a wedding I photographed with a Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro digital SLR and a Nikon 24-120mm lens from Alkit.

Painting ©2005 Karen Sperling

In this full-color, easy-to-use book, award-winning designer and best-selling author Colin Smith teaches the fundamentals as well as the more advanced features of Photoshop. Smith shows how to use traditional drawing and painting tools ranging from pencils to airbrushes, how to add and manipulate text, retouch photos, create special effects, and more. A bonus "Behind the Scenes" gallery demonstrates the Photoshop techniques used by professional artists. Read more of Smith's Photoshop tips at www.photoshopCAFE.com.

"How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS2" by Colin Smith, publisher McGraw-Hill Osborne, ISBN: 0-07-226160-9, $29.99 USA

Read Chapter 9: Save time with automation.

The trick to painting hair

When turning photo portraits into paintings in Corel Painter, photographers frequently wonder how to paint hair. The trick is to keep in mind three traditional art concepts:

1. Simplify. The difference between a photo and a painting is that a painting has less detail. The natural tendency when you first start painting is to paint every strand of hair you see. Instead, simplify. The way to simplify brings us to the second art concept.

2. Paint areas of light and dark. Instead of painting each strand of hair, identify the areas with the highlights, midtones and shadows, and paint those.

3. Use the colors in your color scheme. Another difference between a painting and a photo is that a painting has a chosen color scheme. Paint hair using the colors in your color scheme instead of the colors that are in the photo.
Painting ©2005 Karen Sperling

Create custom palettes in Corel Painter IX

Creating custom palettes in Corel Painter IX is useful for choosing brushes without having to go into the Brush Selector menus.

Unfortunately, you can’t name the brushes in the custom palettes. So if you have several variants from one Brush Category, you will have a bunch of indistinguishable icons in the custom palette.

Instead of putting all the brushes on one custom palette, create a custom palette for each brush and name them individually.

By Kathy Falls, PPA Certified, M.Artist, MEI.Cr.; Photography ©Dan Falls

With the new digital tools available, it is now possible to copy old glass plates, negatives and transparencies with great results. There are a few principles in the process that you must follow.

But with a little practice you can be well on the way to saving those old negatives!

The materials to use:  Adobe Photoshop CS or CS2, a digital camera that can shoots in RAW format, a Logan A-6A Slim Edge Light Box (www.loganelectri.com) that is balanced at 5400K, an ExpoDisc (www.expodisc.com) for creating a custom white balance, white gloves.

To begin with, I used the Fujifilm FinePix S2 Pro camera with a macro lens. I chose the Logan A-6A Slim Edge Light Box. model because it is color balanced at 5400K and closely  matches the balance of film (5500K). I purchased my light panel from B&H Photo Video (www.bhphotovideo.com 1-800-947-9950), but Logan light boxes are available at many art supply and photographic stores. I really like this panel because of its even light, and the 5x7-inch size is easy to handle.

Read the full tutorial.

 This is a commissioned portrait I painted in Corel Painter IX from a snap shot taken by the child's father.

When turning a photo into a painting, one of the things to keep in mind is that a painting has a chosen color scheme, unlike a photo, where the colors are random. I chose a red-orange/blue-green color scheme for the painting as these colors are complements, or opposite one another on the color wheel.

Traditional art concepts
If you want to give your photos a painterly touch, whether you use Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter, or both, knowing some traditional art concepts can help.

For instance, there are millions of random colors in an average photo, so the more you limit the colors, the more your image will look like a painting.

That’s why just cloning an image, where you paint brush strokes using the colors from the photo, really doesn't make the photo look painterly.

Instead, choose a color scheme in which the colors are related to one another and repeat throughout the painting, creating what's called color harmony.

A simple rule for choosing colors is to pick one color and its complement, meaning the color opposite it on the color wheel. If you want to add more colors, I find including the complement pairings gives the image a pleasing look.

The benefits of photographing anywhere but your studio

By Fuzzy Duenkel

Your clients reveal themselves where they're most comfortable, in their own homes with familiar surroundings—so why drag them into the foreign territory of your camera room? Try making a house call.

Here are three more images illustrating the places where inspiration might lead you outside your studio.

Hallways often provide an interesting lighting mix. With cross-lighting, it's usually best to have the subject turned to directly face one of the lights. Halls with bare walls allow for creative montages.

See more examples.

Souders Studios is a commercial house of photography in Denver, Colo. Rick Souders' food and beverage imagery appears worldwide in advertising print campaigns, cookbooks, annual reports, and the Internet. His most recent book is "The Art and Attitude of Commercial Photography" (Amphoto Books). To see more of Souders' work, go to www.soudersstudios.com.

Download the original article from Professional Photographer.