Tutorials, Guides and Free Resources for Photographers
Dodging and burning is nearly as old as photography itself. Traditionally applied in the darkroom, dodging and burning techniques are used to selectively alter the exposure of photographic prints. Using the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop, we’re able precisely manipulate the brightness of pixels as if we’re working in a darkroom. Dodging and burning [...]
There are times when it is impossible to capture the entire dynamic range of a scene in a single image. Recently I ran in into this problem during a short trip I made through a beautiful farming valley. I found a lovely old shed and decided to stop to photograph it. After securing permission from [...]
Have you ever wanted to make a high resolution image look old and grungy, but didn’t know how? Have you ever considered adding scratches and a retro border to an image to give it a film-like feel? In this 21-minute video, Elias explains how to distress ordinary images using basic tools found in Photoshop. He [...]
How many times have you witnessed and photographed an amazing landscape scene just to discover later that your images look dull and lifeless? It’s as if somehow the vibrance you remember seeing wasn’t recorded in your pictures. This can be so frustrating This quick tip will show you how you can increase the contrast and [...]
I recently made a trip to one of the oldest districts of Kansas City, Missouri known West Bottoms. West Bottoms used to be the industrial crossroads for the city and the nation. Industrial goods and products were manufactured at West Bottoms during the turn of the century. At the time, railroad cars and ships came [...]
Getting Started For first timers, photographing smoke can be an extremely frustrating experience! Capturing delicate wisps of smoke is as challenging as it is rewarding. The key to success is having a basic understanding of the overall setup; that is, the camera in relationship to the lighting and background. Fortunately, you don’t need a lot [...]
Have you ever thought about adding textures to your high-resolution digital photographs to give them a worn or damaged look? Or how about adding scratches to make them less digital and more film like? Applying textures to crisp digital images allows you to create the illusion that your photographs were captured years ago with a [...]
Inserting digital images into any of the borders or templates provided on Paxton Prints is very easy. Since each border varies in size, the first step is to detirmine the size of the borders you are working with. Open the .PSD border/frame file in Photoshop and go to Image – Image Size. The border size [...]
I put together a quick comparison of three of the most popular HDR programs available to photographers while demonstrating how I processed the HDR image you see above. This guide should be especially helpful to newcomers just getting started in HDR photography. Let’s jump in! The Problem Most digital cameras (actually the sensors) are not [...]
Photoshop is an amazing program, but it does take a fair amount of horsepower to run effectively. There are several performance enhancing settings that can help you squeeze the most out of your workflow. Let’s take a look! Memory Usage Open up Photoshop and go to Edit -> Preferences -> Performance. This will open up [...]
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