May 03, 2008
Here's 5 sites I believe every digital photographer should add to their bookmarks. I visit these sites on a weekly basis as they inspire, educate and allow me to be a better photographer.

Scott Kelby
Also known as the godfather of Photoshop. Scott's website is regularly updated and filled with generous advice from everything on how to be a better photographer to becoming an expert in Photoshop and Lightroom.  

Digital Photography Review
dpreview.c ...



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May 02, 2008
Here's a handy little tip to apply develop settings to multiple files all at once. I often want to apply a certain preset to a bunch of files all at once, and this tip is a great time saver.

You can do this either directly via Bridge, or by opening a bunch of files in Camera Raw and applying the same settings to them from within Camera Raw.

Here's how to do it from within Bridge :

1) Select the file which develop settings you would like to copy, ...



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Filed under Camera Raw

April 30, 2008
What is Camera Raw?

When you shoot in Raw, the files your digital camera produces are unprocessed, uncompressed sensor data, as captured by your camera.

Tonal Information

A typical Raw file has at least 12 bits of tonal information per pixel - with newer cameras having up to 14 bits of tonal information per pixel. Jpeg files only have 8 bits of tonal information per pixel. When you shoot in Jpeg you are letting your camera’s built in Raw converter de ...



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Filed under Workflow, Camera Raw

December 23, 2007
We have compiled 5 amazing film effects that you can achieve in Photoshop CS3. These effects are all really easy to achieve and most of them can be achieved through Camera Raw.

1.) Film Grain
To simulate film grain from a high ISO film in photoshop, simply go to Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise.

Select an amount of 4.4, and make sure Gaussian and Monochromatic is select.

2) Antique Vintage
Get ...



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December 19, 2007
This set contains 15 free presets for Adobe Camera Raw. It can be used in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Adobe Bridge.

To install these presets open up Camera Raw, click on the presets tab and then select load settings. Then point to the directory where you unzipped these presets. Alternatively you can unzip all these settings files to your presets folder.

These presets are meant as a starting point for your black and white photography. Feel free ...



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Filed under Black and White, Camera Raw

December 16, 2007
I have decided to share my set of black and white presets that I use in Adobe Lightroom. The set has 3 black and white presets and then 4 split tone presets for each black and white preset, making a total of 15 presets which I am giving away free.

The beauty of using presets is that they are really easy to use and results are instant.

To install the presets, switch to the develop module in Adobe Lightroom, right click on the presets pane and select import.
< ...



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Filed under Workflow, Black and White, Lightroom

November 19, 2007
The Canon 135mm f/2L has a reputation for being one of Canon's sharpest lenses. I spent a weekend doing model portfolios with a 135mm and decided to write a review based on actual experience when photographing people rather than writing about technical data.

I have worked extensively with the 70-200mm f/2.8L and my normal portrait lenses are the 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.8

Results are perfectly usable at f/2 at closer distances - one of the benefits of buying a L seri ...



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August 11, 2007
While Digital Cameras are good enough to replace film cameras in terms of their ability to print at large sizes, they are still lagging behind in the color department. Digital cameras produce pictures that appear somewhat flat and hazy straight out of the camera when compared to the punchy colors combined with high contrast, better color saturation and increased dynamic range that slide films like Fuji Provia and Fuji Velvia produces.

In my efforts to create punchier colors with b ...



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August 10, 2007
People account for the most photographed subject of all, yet very few of us know how to take good pictures of people. None of these tips are difficult to accomplish - in fact all of them are really simple and will instantly improve your ability to take pictures of people.

1) Keep it simple
Keep things simple - the less technical aspects you have to worry about, the more you can focus on the person you are photographing. Using flash can easily over-complicate things unnecess ...



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July 01, 2007
Getting sharp pictures are just as important as light and composition in photography, but are often overlooked. There's nothing worse than spending time and energy on pictures only to discover that your pictures aren't tack sharp.
Follow these 10 tips to get tack sharp pictures.

1) Focus on they eyes
Always focus on the eyes of the person you are photographing. If the eyes are out of focus the whole photograph will appear out of focus.

2) Shutter spe ...



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