Saturday, October 06, 2012

A FEW MORE PICASA TIPS & DON’T FORGET TO ‘SAVE’ THOSE CHANGES

DSC_0003-3

FIERY AUTUMN WINDOW REFLECTIONS…BEN MILLER, ONTARIO

DSC_0001-2 DSC_0002-5

EXAMPLES OF COMPOSITION & LOOKING FOR A PHOTO WITHIN A PHOTO

Had us a cloudy overcast day with cold winds. One of those days I prefer to stay inside where it's warm & toasty. Also a good kind of morning to be inside having coffee with one of my two best friends. Met Jim at a Tim Horton's coffee shop in Clinton this morning for a four & quarter hour coffee. Now that is a long time to sit on a hard plastic seat without getting up. Of course we once again solved every one of life's little problems…..with no problem at all. This was my second coffee blow out this week. Wednesday night saw my other best friend, Richard & I spending nearly 4 hours once again discussing all the infinite details of life. Should mention that 'coffee blow-out' is an old term. Jim doesn't drink coffee at all anymore, I only have one de-calf & Richard might have two coffee's at most. I generally see my way clear to gobble myself down a carrot muffin at these events as well. The term 'coffee blow-out' comes from the old days when Jim & I would spend hours together in coffee shops hashing things out over multiple cups of coffee & endless packs of cigarettes. Both Jim & I gave up cigarettes many, many, years ago as did Richard:))

DSC_0004   DSC_0004

ORIGINAL ON LEFT… ‘STRAIGHTEN, HIGHLIGHT, FILL LIGHT, SHARPEN’ & ADDED A HEALTHY DOSE OF YELLOW ‘COLOR TEMPERATURE’ TO GIVE THOSE PINE NEEDLES THEIR TRUE COLOR

Couple important things to remember if you use any of the Picasa tools to edit your photos. You have to remember to 'SAVE' those changes. If you do not ‘SAVE’ the changes the photo will revert back to it's original state when you close the program. To ‘SAVE’ changes to an individual photo just right click on the photo with your mouse & click ‘SAVE’. To ‘SAVE’ changes to a bunch of photos all at once just go up to Edit & click. From the drop down menu chose Select All, right click on any one of the highlighted photos & click SAVE from the drop down menu. Remember, if you don't SAVE your changes, you will not be a happy camper. Also know that you can easily undo any of your changes & don't worry about screwing up your pictures. You can easily un-change any changes you have made to your photo.
DSC_7119   DSC_7119
ORIGINAL PHOTO ON LEFT IS 300mm FROM INSIDE OUR SUNROOM…USED, ‘STRAIGHTEN, AUTO CONTRAST, CROP, FILL LIGHT’ & ‘SHARPEN’ TO OBTAIN THE PHOTO ON RIGHT

Donna C from CAVE DWELLINGS in her comment wondered....."When you enter photos into a contest, can they tell if you have edited it with enhancing the colors, etc...We have a photo contest at our county fair..I am always afraid to edit any photo for a contest"………………………. Not being a photo contest person I don't really have an answer for this question except to say that each contest probably has it's own set of 'rules.' I do however, have an opinion about why photo editing is a realistic & integral part of photography.

DSC_7141   DSC_7141

NORTHERN FLICKER WOODPECKER…’STRAIGHTEN, CROP, HIGHLIGHT, SHARPENING, & A TOUCH OF SATURATION’  ALSO USED ‘RETOUCH’ TO TONE DOWN SOME HIGHLIGHTS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE WOODPECKER…PHOTO IS A BIT GRAINY BECAUSE I HAD TO BUMP UP THE ISO UP TO 1600 IN THE AFTERNOON’S FAILING LIGHT

First, the myth.....A camera records your subject exactly how the human eye sees it. Not so. No matter what make, model, or technology is packed into your camera, it does not compare to the human eye. The human eye can instantly take in scenery around you with great detail in the clouds as well as details in shadow areas right in front of you....a camera can't do that with the perfection the human eye can. At least not yet. If you include two thirds bright sky in your photo the camera's meter will adjust for that & give you detail & correct exposure in your sky. If two thirds (rough estimates) of your photo includes darker ground subjects, camera will adjust for that & give you the correct exposure for your ground subject, but.....your sky is likely to be washed out. On days with the exact right mix of of lighting, you can get the proper exposure in both scenarios. These perfect lighting days are rare & unless you are in a studio with perfect lighting, you are probably going to have to do some work on your photo to return it as close as possible to what you actually saw.

DSC_6992_thumb[3] 

SOME MAY REMEMBER THIS PHOTO I TOOK A MONTH AGO ON ONE OF MY COUNTRY DRIVES

DSC_6992_thumb[9]

AGAIN, USING PICASA’S TOOLS I TURNED IT INTO THIS OLD PHOTO… ‘STRAIGHTENED’ &’ CROPPED’ THE ORIGINAL TO IT’S PRESENT STATE THEN INSTEAD OF USING ‘SEPIA’ I CHOSE ANOTHER PICASA TOOL CALLED ‘CROSS PROCESS’ TO GIVE THE PHOTO AN EVEN OLDER LOOK THAN SEPIA WOULD HAVE GIVEN IT… DIDN’T ADD ANY CONTRAST TO THIS PHOTO BECAUSE I WANTED IT TO HAVE A SOFTER FADED LOOK…ALSO ADDED A WHITE PICASA BORDER. 

We all oogle over those great National Geographic type perfect photos & for sure those photographers are just about the best there are. But, they also have the best equipment money can buy & they also have the best photo editing programs money can buy as well. Many, if not all of those great magazine shots do not come straight out of a camera & onto a magazine cover or professional website without first going through a photo editing program to correct for the cameras shortcomings. In my opinion & for me personally, the trick is to edit a photo with the idea in mind of making it look as close to natural as possible.   Just the way my eye saw it & not overdo the editing process & end up with artificial looking colors. Be very, very, careful with those so called...'enhancements'. Now, having said that, may I be quick to add......this is not a hard & fast rule when it comes to creativity. And, photography is all about creativity.

DSC_0002 DSC_0003 

WITHOUT & WITH FILL IN CAMERA FLASH…BUT NOTICE THE FLASH REFLECTION IN THE GLASS TOP LEFT OF CENTER

DSC_0003 DSC_0003

USING PICASA’S ‘RETOUCH TOOL’ I TOOK THE REFLECTION OUT OF THE GLASS

Many of we RV’ers have a habit of taking photos through our windshields as we motor our way through the scenic countryside.  That’s fine unless you have a bug splattered windshield.  Nice scenic mountains ahead…..with bug splatters.  Easy fix here when you get onto using your ‘Retouch’ tool.  Just a couple clicks on each bug splatter & it’s gone.  If anyone needs an explanation as to how to use some of these Picasa tools just let me know & I’ll do my best to help ya out…………….:)) 

DSC_0001

TAKEN THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD OF THE JEEP

DSC_0001 

TOOK ME ABOUT 10 SECONDS TO REMOVE THOSE SPLATTERS SO IT JUST SHOWS YOU HOW EASILY YOU CAN DO THE SAME

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A 54 year old woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she had a near death experience.. Seeing God she asked "Is my time up?" God said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live." Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a face-lift, liposuction, breast implants and a tummy tuck. She even had someone come in and change her hair color and brighten her teeth! Since she had so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of it. After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was killed by an ambulance. Arriving in front of God, she demanded, "I thought you said I had another 43 years? Why didn't you pull me from out of the path of the ambulance?" God replied: " I didn't recognize you."

---------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .
https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

10 comments:

  1. I have come to find it very obvious when someone 'overdoes' the saturation feature. It just doesn't look natural. Good tips overall. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your explanation of the light and dark aspects of sky & ground make more sense than anything I've ever read about touching up photos. I have wondered for a long time if the long ago photographers such as Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange had any way of correcting their photos. I'm asking this in all sincerity, and as I said, I have thought about it for a long time. Does modern color photography make a bigger difference, or did the same principles apply in the old black & white days?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I totally agree with you about retouching photos, especially digital. It seems the colors are often harder to capture digitally than they were with good old fashioned Ektachrome. But even in the days of slide and negative film, enhancements could be accomplished in the processing and printing if the right equipment was available.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great Picasa tips!!! Am going to to have to be BOLD & try some of them!! The bug splatters always bugged me :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. You sure helped me out over a year ago when you told me about the "save" feature...... You have some great pointers AL,,,thanks...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Picasa really is an amazing program and the best part it is free, love it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I started using Picasa when I started my blog earlier this year. I have fun experimenting with the various tools but probably use straighten and cropping more than the others. One thing I can't figure out is how to change the resolution in Picasa. My cameras are set for a high resolution, but when I insert a picture in an e-mail or blog I like to reduce the resolution to 72. Any suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
  8. thanks for all your suggestions, Al...I think it is fairly obvious when too much editing has taken place..The idea is not unlike a facelift...You want people to see things sharper and cleaner, but not obvious!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Many of the tricks available on Picasa are what we used to use in the darkroom (and yes, no doubt Ansel Adams used them!). Back then lightening an area was known as "dodging" or using a piece of cardboard to prevent exposure, and darkening was "burning" or adding exposure to an area of the print. No shame in using whatever tools are available to help your artistic vision come to life!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Excellent little series. Although I'm a photoshop user myself, this is a really good roundup of the Picassa tools.
    Nina

    ReplyDelete