When audiences at the Sundance Film Festival were told that "Tangerine" was filmed entirely on an iPhone 5S, people were not sure if they believed it. It soon became clear that this was a fact, and that mobile videography had reached a new plateau in the film world.
Our cameras today are extremely powerful with settings and features that help us archive stellar image quality. But sometimes the images we come home with just don't capture the true essence of what was photographed and what our eyes saw. The photo is just a bit overexposed or underexposed and doesn't capture what we felt in that moment we pressed down on the shutter button. We fiddle and tweak in Photoshop with sliders and brushes, but there is another tool to add to the arsenal: masks. Specifically, luminosity masks.
In Part 1 of our Dramatic Beauty Portrait Tutorial, we looked at the lighting setup, gear breakdown, and shooting of our dramatic beauty shoot. In Part 2 of the tutorial we will now look at two different ways of exporting and preparing your image for retouching. The first method involves creating versions in Lightroom and exporting directly to Photoshop. The other method utilizes Adobe Camera Raw and the ability to make variations within Photoshop. I will also discuss the overall goal of our pre-edit stage.
Coolors is a fantastic new app that I stumbled across the other day. It is an incredibly easy and intuitive way to generate a beautiful 5 color palette for any situation. Primarily developed for designers it has instant appeal to us photographers. We deal with colors in most of our work and knowing how to match and complement effectively can make or break the images we create.
Since its first version, Photoshop has changed quite a lot. The functionalities it offers are greater now than ever before. But plugins are legion and for beginners it is hard to differentiate the ones that are truly useful and those that are just a waste of money. The Retouching Academy Beauty Panel has been around for a little while and was revamped very recently. I use it all the time when retouching but I get many questions about it. I am frequently asked if it is worth its price and if it makes my retouching any better. Here is my take on the panel, why I bought it, and above all, why I keep using it everyday.
Adobe has released a YouTube video highlighting some of the retouching features that may be available in upcoming Adobe mobile apps. While no release date is given yet, the video shows off some pretty impressive abilities that accentuate the mobile device's touchscreen and makes the application more user friendly for quick changes or creative endeavors. This video has us excited for what retouching abilities are being brought to our mobile devices. Watch the video and have a look for yourself.
New technology from the University of Washington allows for millions of photos taken by different people over the duration of years and years to be sorted through, selected, and pieced together to create jaw-dropping time-lapse videos. Using photos from public databases, they were able to watch the progression and/or degradation of growing city skylines, receding glaciers, monuments, and more. Check out the video to see their amazing work!
With over 300 million users, Instagram is easily the best way of getting your images across to the world. Aside from its massive user base, Instagram's hashtag ability is one of the best ways of getting your images seen by the right people if used correctly. In its most recent update, along with three new filters, the social media giant has included the ability to hashtag emoji.
Lightroom has become the industry standard for editing images quickly but when it comes to viewing and culling images, it's still incredibly slow. On1 has recently launched Perfect Browse 9.5 as the fastest way to burn through hundreds or thousands of raw files and then import your favorites into Lightroom for editing. Oh, and did I mention, it's totally free for Fstoppers readers right now.
As a wedding photographer, I tend to shoot thousands of images at a time. Before I can edit anything, I need to go through each image one by one, delete the bad ones, and figure...
You have probably heard it a few times: photographers raving about how Capture One is awesome for developing portraits from raw files. However, just like when I first installed it, you might not see any advantage over the current raw processor you are using. Then I found a few functionalities that made my workflow that much quicker and my images look a tad better before even retouching them in Photoshop.
There are three things in life that photographers will clear their schedules for: Apple announcements, Nikon/Canon late-night pre-orders for new flagship bodies, and Adobe product releases. So clear your schedules, guys and gals; because Adobe’s Lightroom 6 is here with more speed (FINALLY!), more features, and rich mobile integration.
The popular Mac photography software company, Macphun, released a new application for the Mac that promises incredible noise reduction processing. Noiseless comes in regular and Pro versions, the latter of which include increased capabilities like RAW processing and included plug-in support for your other editing applications and both of which provide what is truly some of the best noise reduction available.
If you're a Mac user, stop what you're doing and download this. I'm serious. Digital asset management (DAM) isn't everyone's favorite topic but it's an incredibly important part of any professional's workflow. But when things go south, you need to have a recovery plan — that's where PhotoRec, the free text-based app by CG Security, comes in.
If you are a videographer or a photographer dabbling in video you know how much of a pain in the ass it can be cutting interview footage with just one camera angle. The feared "jump cut" in an interview can completely ruin the overall production and professionalism of your entire video project. Luckily, Adobe has recently debuted their new Morph Cut tool in Premiere Pro CC to help filmmakers fix this sometimes unavoidable problem.
Good news for Instagram lovers: The quintessential social photo sharing platform has announced the addition of two new tools, color and fade, to the in-app editing capabilities. These new tools build on Instagram's version 6.0 release last year which added a number of creative controls to fine-tune your images and eliminated the need for other photo editing apps for making basic adjustments.
I will soon be releasing a start-to-finish retouching tutorial video here at Fstoppers on my most recent fashion editorial photoshoot. But before I do, I wanted to start warming our readers up with a complete gear list. In this article, I share with you everything I used on my shoot, the breakdown of costs, and where to find all the gear and extras: from the Profoto Strobe all the way down to the gaffer tape.
As I spend more and more time around other photographers, I’ve had the opportunity to sit back and listen to everyone’s take on what makes a retouched image successful. Some photographers spend minutes retouching, while others spend literally hours on an individual image. Regardless if you spend 15 minutes or 3 hours retouching in image, it’s important to have a strong workflow so that you maintain your sanity.
This week Instagram released an all new photo collage app to the masses called Layout. Similar to their last development, Hyperlapse, it's completely separate from the original photo sharing application. Though I am glad Instagram is branching out into new ventures, it feels as though this one might be a complete waste.
TenOneDesign, makers of the popular Pogo and Pogo Connect tablet pens (among other things), are the first to market with a Mac desktop application that takes advantage of the Force Touch trackpads in Apple's new MacBook and refreshed 13" Retina MacBook Pro. Rather sweetly named Inklet, the application runs in the background to allow users with any capacitative tablet pen to convert the capabilities of the new trackpad into a pressure-sensitive writing and drawing pad -- no Wacom needed (sort of).
Phase One today released an update to their popular raw conversion and image editing software in the form of Capture One Pro 8.2. Version 8.2 seeks to improve the color grading experience for users of all skill levels with the new 3-way color balance tool. The update also adds support for more cameras and lenses, higher resolution image previews, and workflow improvements via “dynamic locations.”
Everyone has an album or shoebox full of old family photos, some of which rock a wonky, Instagram-filter-gone-bad style color shift. In this brief tutorial from Creative Live and Matt Kloskowski you'll learn how to quickly correct for these changes and can restore the photo to looking like new.
One of the most powerful, but often misused tools in Photoshop is the liquify filter. The liquify filter can help you restructure a subject’s shape, hair, or attire. In this introduction to using the liquify tool, I’ll cover ways to enhance your subject’s features so that they maintain natural body proportions.
It goes without saying, Photoshop is one of the most complex and difficult programs in Adobe's arsenal. I have been a designer professionally for over six years and used it for almost ten. I am far from a master and find myself constantly searching for foreign features that I can use within the software. It comes with great pleasure to bring you this hilarious video of eight legit Photoshop masters attempting to use Version 1.0 in all its glory.
Lens Distortions is a Photoshop plugin that allows you to easily add lens blurs and light leaks to your images for creative effect. With the continual proliferation of digital photography, there is still a great demand for the look and authentic feel of 35mm film. There are certain colors, textures, and tones that are unique to the format many of us grew up with. Lens Distortions Legacy Plugin allows you to build on the replication of analog photography by adding carefully placed imperfections to your photographs.
We’ve heard plenty about the death of the humble photo as video proliferates. But photography is still far more accessible than video, often because video editing is still so time intensive. Instagram introduced video more than a year ago yet it is still predominantly a platform for sharing still photographs. But all that could be about to change. Last month I shot video as Flixel partnered with Lindsay Adler and saw something very interesting take place that got me thinking - could we be about to usher in a completely new era for photography?
Black and White conversions programs are a dime a dozen. You have the ability to do black and white conversions in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and also in third party software like Silver Efex Pro and Perfect B&W, but if you're just learning how to edit, I always recommend sticking with Adobe Lightroom because of the easy user interface.
How do you move beyond using someone else's actions and presets to tone your images? It’s a lot simpler than you’d think. There are so many different ways to achieve similar results in post-production, and having so many options can be extremely intimidating when you’re just learning how to edit. This is the reason that many photographers will rely on actions and presets to “color grade” and tone their images when they are first starting off.
A few months ago I wrote about Pixsy, a new online service, which promised to facilitate the process of dealing with copyright infringement. I have since been invited by the folks at Pixsy to give their Beta software a run through. After a few weeks of testing I am ready to share my opinions on this unique service!
The calendar just turned its pages to 2015. We have tiny and versatile cameras like the GoPro Hero 4 filming 4K video, camera companies making 50-megapixels DSLRs, and artists making mind-blowing stop-motion/hyper-lapse/time-lapse films. So why is it still so hard for artists and big brands to easily connect to collaborate on photo and video projects?
Today marks a special day for the beloved Adobe Photoshop, as today is it's 25th birthday. Even at only 25 years old, Photoshop has had a number of facelifts. From it's initial release, Photoshop was revolutionary in it's tools, and still remains to be the best tool for photographers today. So lets take a look at all the changes this iconic software has seen over these last twenty five years.
Last summer Apple announced that they were discontinuing both Aperture and iPhoto and we are now seeing the replacement application. Apple Photos solves the modern problem of what to do with the hundreds or thousands of photos you take, often with many devices and over a long period of time.
Adobe has been king-of-the-hill when it comes to high-end photo editing for as long as I can remember. With the exception of programs like Gimp (I only know one working professional who uses this, for reasons beyond me) Photoshop is the undisputed industry standard. That may be a thing of the past if Affinity Photo has anything to say about it.
After endless hours wasted, I found the solution for an issue I've had using the Intous tablet with my Macbook Pro. The brush would get stuck and I couldn't hit Photoshop shortcuts between brush strokes. I went through the hassle of reinstalling all drivers, buying a new tablet and setting all my Photoshop settings back to default before finding the following simple 30-second fix. This issue pertains to people using Apple computers with Photoshop CS6 or CC and a Wacom Intous tablet. The fix is for the following issues:
Branching off from their web-based portfolio service, Format has launched a free iPad app named Kredo. The app allows users to add and organize their images into portfolios, exhibit portfolios to clients in a sleek-looking presentation, publish their work to the Kredo Discover network, or share their portfolios with anyone else on any device with optional password protection. While up against the trusty tactile printed portfolio and other digital portfolio services, the unique features and dark, minimalist layout may be something worth testing out.
Patrick Hall shared some opinions about what features our professional DSLRs absolutely should have, but don’t, going into 2015. And he was right. But as happy as having those features would make us, not one or even all of them would allow any single company to become the next Apple or Google of the photography world. However, there’s something bigger that no one is thinking about — or at least there aren’t any signs of it. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Phase One, Hasselblad; no one seems to be doing what it would really take.
VSCO, Mastin Lab Presets, Florabella, and Pretty Presets. If you've looked for advice on retouching in the last few years, you've probably been recommended one of these preset and action systems at least once. They're designed to give you beautiful film simulation and color tones to make your images look great using a single click of the mouse - and I hate them all.
You read that right. It was rumoured late last year that Google was playing around with the Android camera API to include raw capability, and then we reported that this feature was rolled out with the latest 5.0 Lollipop update on many Android devices, but now we finally have an app that lets us access this feature and use it to our hearts content.
If you've been longing to make your photos a lot more interactive, there's a new app launching today that’s set to cure your itch. The mad scientists at Fyuse have come up with some incredibly cool spatial technology that blends photography and video to create a unique and interactive experience, all from your iOS or Android device.
For an app that brings the hipster out in everyone, Instagram showed it can really grow up today. Five new filter updates almost wouldn't matter. So what? We have a million other apps and editing tools and already sometimes too many Instagram filters. But today's update brings something that Instagram has lacked from Day One: subtlety.
At the Photo Plus Expo a couple months ago in New York, a new photo management software solution was introduced to much fanfare: Mylio. Mylio aims to solve a lot of problems that other companies seemed to be floundering around. It would give us complete access to our images no matter what platform we were on, and would regularly back them up across platforms and in the cloud or through whatever system you were currently working. It also brought something else to the table that immediately caught my interest: an in-house, custom built raw editor that worked on iPad, iPhone and desktop computers.
I feel like I'm constantly hearing about new shortcuts in Lightroom that make my workflow increasingly painless. This is one that's been around for a while, but you have probably never used it. This short video is an easy to follow tutorial from photographer Matt Kosklowski about an exposure feature that will surely speed up your editing process.
Ever since the first mention of the Lytro camera system, I have been intrigued by how exactly it works and what possibilities it opens for photographers wanting to have complete control over their image, right down to the depth. With Lytro's announcement of the new Focus Spread feature built into their new software you can now pick and choose, in post-production, which sections of a photo that will be in focus.
This week, Alien Skin announced version 7 of their wildly successful editing platform, Exposure. Along with a beautiful UI, several new film-stock emulations, new non-destructive tools (including a new straighten tool), new texture overlays (some of which were made by Lara Jade and Parker Pfister) and new file browsing interface, the most exciting addition to Exposure 7 is new comprehensive raw file support. Exposure 7 is available now for $149, existing Exposure 6 users can nab a copy as a free upgrade for people who purchased after June, 2014 or $69 for other Exposure 6 owners.
Through Premiumbeat.com's Vimeo channel and blog, motion graphic designer Kevin Gater did the world a huge favor by recently providing a tutorial on creating realistic, falling snow with RED Giant's After Effects plug-in. There are a ton of settings in After Effects, let alone in the RED Giant Trapcode Particular plug-in, that would take forever to navigate; but Gater does a great job going through which settings to ignore and which ones to pay attention to so you'll know exactly what to tweak for your needs. Thankfully, in 15 minutes, you can be ready to add great snow effects for the holiday season or that high-mountain horror short with just a few careful clicks.
As a relatively recent convert to Instagram, a former outsider-looking-in, there are a few things about the app that I don’t particularly care for or make use of. Like most people I know, I’m not at all tempted to make use of the built-in, over-cooked, HDR-gone-wrong filters. When I do post a photo taken on my phone, it’s been edited in VSCO Cam. I’m also not a huge fan of the user interface in Instagram. It’s a little clunky, oft overwhelming, and features a rather uninspiring design. For a better viewing, browsing, and exploring experience I’ve turned to a seemingly unknown app, Primary.
While photographers have been able to upload their RAW files to Google Drive for quite some time, apparently, we’re now one step closer to being able to process those in Photoshop directly through our browsers. An almost two year effort on the part of Adobe and Google has brought Chrome-based Photoshop to fruition. They’ve got a version called Photoshop Streaming that they’ve sent out to educational institutions to test out over the next six months.
I absolutely love seeing the photos I have taken hanging up in my client's house. However, I dread the time it takes to get together and try to sell large prints or canvases as I know I could be using the time for other things. Finally, I've found a solution that I am super excited about that will make the experience for both my clients and I enjoyable, quick and easy. The end result is a win-win for both of us. Swift Galleries is about to change everything!
I’ll never forget the email; I was on a plane somewhere over the Florida coast, on my way to the Bahamas for the Fstoppers Workshops 2014. Just before I left the States, I had signed on with the artist consulting firm Wonderful Machine. The first step in preparation for a press release was to tear my website apart. The critique was tough and they slashed it hard… here I am in one of the most beautiful places in the world, feeling a truck load of anxiety. For years, I had thought I had a clean and straight to the point website, but it turns out I needed to strip it down even more.
Go behind the scenes with one of the worlds top high-end retouchers, Pratik Naik, in this two part video as he walks us through his process of working with a model shot by David Geffin. Exploring the fine line between retoucher and photographer you can see his passion for what he does and the understanding it takes to capture the photographers vision perfectly.
The guys at VSCO - Visual Supply Company - are at it again. Today they released Pack 6 of their wildly succesful Lightroom/ACR/Photoshop-based film emulation presets. They've dubed the set the alternative process collection, which includes films that have been pushed, pulled, and cross-processed stocks.
