My favorite photo editing program is #Corel PaintShop Pro. I also have an old version of Photoshop but I tend to go back to PaintShop Pro since I'm more familiar with it. One of these days when I have a lot of spare time (yeah right!), I will work on learning Photoshop. My favorite plugin company is #Topaz Labs. I love everything they have. The newest plugin is Clarity and it's well worth the money. If you've never tried Topaz just go to http://www.topazlabs.com/ and download the free trial. The DeNoise is especially useful.
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How To Sharpen Eyes
This is a way to just give a bit of twinkle to the eyes. I use Paint Shop Pro but you could very easily do this in Photoshop or Elements. Here is my cat Marvin. I have already cropped, color corrected and used Topaz DeNoise.
=>You will need to use your Freehand Selection Tool. The settings are Point to Point, Add(shift), Feather 2, Anti alias selected. Click around the first eye. Holding down the Shift Key, select around the second eye.
=>You will want to make the eyes a separate layer. The way you do this is click Selections, Promote Selection to Layer.
=>The next thing I did was Adjust, Sharpen, High Pass Sharpen. Here are my settings:
=>Then you should click Adjust, Sharpness, Unsharp Mask with these settings:
=>Now you will click Selections, Select None. If you like you can try different blend modes. I left mine on Normal.
=>This is an important step. Zoom in and check out the edges of your selection. If you see any lines at all you will need to erase these with a very soft eraser brush. My settings are usually set to Hardness 20 and Opacity 30. You want your eye layer to blend in. Of course you can use any tool you like. Sometimes if it's very slight, I will just use the Soften Brush. In this image I didn't have to blend at all.
=>The next thing I did was Merge Visible. Then I used my Topaz Detail 3 and sharpened it just a tiny bit. Here is my result:
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As you can see, the effect is subtle but well worth the trouble. I hope you will try this out sometime.
Sharon
Homemade Light Box
After struggling all winter trying to take photos of my products during daylight hours, I decided to make a light box. I found a really good tutorial HERE that looked simple enough. So I went to my workplace (on my day off no less!) and scrounged up a large box. Mine was rectangular, but what the hey, it was free. Then I found some pre-packaged white fabric at WalMart for $2.99. I already had Duct tape that I planned to use. The most expensive part of this endeavor was the light fixture. I did find a really nice adjustable light at Lowe's for about $30 that I can also use in my craft room. It has a built in magnifying glass that could come in handy.
So here's the supply list:
Large box
White fabric- $2.99
3 Sheets of poster paper- $0.49 each
Glue - I used Nicole super tacky glue from AC Moore- $0.99
Masking Tape
Yardstick
Razor knife (you could also use scissors, but that's a lot of cutting)
Light fixture with Daylight fluorescent bulb
The first thing I did was get Hubby to mark off 2 inches from each edge of the box except for the bottom. Then he cut away the centers of each side. I also had him cut 2 inch strips from the poster paper.
Then it was my turn. I glued the 2 inch strips on the inside of the box. Pretty simple, really. Then I cut a piece to fit the bottom and glued that down. You want every surface of the inside to be covered in white paper. The last sheet of poster paper just slides inside the box. Depending on the size of your box, you may have to trim the width of the paper. Mine fit perfectly. I could have used a bit more on the height but I made some double-stick tape out of duct tape and stuck the poster paper so it fit all the way at the top. I left the bottom unattached.
Next I tore the fabric to fit each side and stuck it down with duct tape, pulling it nice and taught. It worked well for a couple of hours and then it started loosing up a bit. So I went over all the edges with 2 inch masking tape. I found out that not all duct tape is equal. Mine was white and not as sticky as the regular gray kind. Lesson learned. If I made another one I would probably just use the masking tape.
By the time I finished, it had gotten pretty dark. So I though I would see just how well this would work out. I set it up in my messy craft room. Nothing fancy. Just put it on a stool and hung the light over it. Had some difficulty getting my light to stay up, but I'll work on that later. Then I set up my camera and tripod.
As you can see, it's not very pretty to look at. But for about $36 including the light, and about 30 minutes labor, it was well worth it. I didn't really think there was going to be enough light. That room was really dark. I was totally surprised at how well it really worked! Here are my results.
I could have added an addition light on the left side of the box if I
wanted to get rid of that slight shadow, but I wanted the light to be
somewhat directional to emphasize the glitter. All in all, I'm happy with my homemade light box!
PHOTOGRAPHY JOKES
Q: How to you get a professional photographer off your porch?
A: Pay him for the pizza.
Q: How do you make a small fortune in photography?
A: Start with a large one.
UNDERSTANDING METERING MODES
Here is a really nice explanation of the different modes and where and how to use them.
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