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Specialization is for Insects.
Posted on Jul 31, 2009 - 12:34am by John P. in Photography
I’ve been an avid amateur photographer for many years, but I’ve never been a big fan of Photoshop. It is a big, expensive, slow program with a steep learning curve. But I’ve gotten to the point where my photos just don’t have much room for improvement without digital manipulation. So, I finally broke down and decided to study Photoshop.
It began with signing up for a college course called “Photoshop for Photographers”, though my travel has kept me out of class for a couple of weeks. So I’ve been studying my book, The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers
Well, I’ve been posting some Photoshopped images recently of my travels, however I thought I would demonstrate the power of the tool by sharing a couple of photos that I took of people, to illustrate the difference it can make…
First of all, thanks very much to my two brave SuperModels! Jennifer Conley and Cali Lewis both kindly consented to allow me to post before and after photos to demonstrate my new found powers. Here we go.
For those of you who don’t know her, Jennifer is the mastermind behind ILiveInDallas.com, where she catalogs all of the city’s goings-ons so that the rest of us mere mortals can have something to do on the weekends! Well, the evening of our big WordCamp Dallas party I handed her my camera with a fisheye lens on it and asked her to take the following self portrait.
Well, here is the “after” image:
Now, we all know Cali… Well, one evening after getting a new lens I was over at the house snapping photos of her and Neal. I snagged this one in her kitchen, which she was none too pleased about I’m sure. However, she did tell me I could post it here for like 1 million people to see, so it couldn’t have been too bad!
However, if you ask me, this “after” image is pretty darn cool:
So, that’s about it. I will tell you that the camera also makes a difference. Images shot with higher end equipment can be manipulated to a greater extent. And they need to be shot in RAW for maximum editing flexibility.
Nice..Even I have been trying photoshop for some time now..I have to admit that its very huge…Lots of things to learn, I always learn something new whenever I go messing around with it… I think its the best way to learn ;)
Photoshop is extensively used for airbrushing celebrities, models in magazine covers for changing oily complexions, lightening hair and face, its amazing… well two of your supermodels are perfect examples :)
Surely photoshopping can make a big difference. Cali looks quite bored in the pics but your PS work makes it look all good.
Hmmm, who needs doctor 90210 or a professional make-up artist when you can do this! The funky thing is that this technology is there for us plebians to explore, and as such it is accessible on a reasonable budget.
Wow…don’t you just love photoshop? I’ve been learning to use it in my spare time. Pretty cool!
I lovePhotoshop. I find that only the imagination is the end of the road w/ photoshop. I have been using it for just over 5 years and I still learn new things all the time.
The fisheye lens has a great effect. Although PhotoShop has a number of ways to apply a fisheye effect, it is simply not as good as when the actual source was created with a fisheye lens.
Aaron,
I agree with you 100%. Nothing takes the place of a great fisheye lens. The one in question here is the Canon 15mm f2.8. Fantastic piece of glass, even though it’s a little pricey.
john
I just started a new online course on how to use photoshop. I have to date been using Fireworks from Macromedia. Photoshop has so many options it is frustrating for me, but I have no choice. Most of my buddies, and clients use photoshop so what choice do I have. Using it for photo’s is a must and opens a whole new world for me. Great post, thx jon
Looks really amazing with photoshop, and the pictures like a pro. Please add a guide so that we can learn too.
Nice shots to begin with and then fantastic manipulation! I guess it helps to have two gorgeous models to work with, too! ;)
Photoshop is great! I have a few buddies who photograph for a living and do not know what they would do without it! I love how you can change anything you like to a photo….cool post, thanks!
Good work and fantastic efect. I saw once on youtube the man who changed photo with PS and I think that you are better :)
I like the ability to edit my photos without all the complexities and huge learning curve of the full version of Photoshop. I use adobe’s Photoshop Elements and it does a great job. You get a ton of bells and whistles but you don’t need a college course to use it. I also love the video editing counterpart – Premiere Elements.
Blessings,
Wendy
I love Photoshop so much!:) I can’t live without PS. PS is all my life ;)