The Graphic Mac

Robin Ryan shares some fantastic tips over at Digital Photography School for digital photography enthusiasts who want to try their hand at night shooting. The same composition rules that apply to day apply to night, except with night we have our long exposures to take advantage of, but in this article, Robin shares some great advice to help you get started.

Pets fill very quickly their place in our hearts and families and we enjoy having their pictures framed on our desk or wall! However taking pictures of your best friend is not always easy. Pets, unlike humans, do not understand what we are trying to do and won’t just pose for the camera!

Digital Photography School has 9 tips for photographing pets that will help you help you get the most of your photo session.

Digital photography fans can download the latest issue of PhotographyBB e-magazine in PDF format. PhotographyBB is a free online magazine composed by a hardworking team of volunteer contributing authors whose goal is to teach beginners all about digital photography and image processing. The June 2009 edition features articles on photography techniques and issues facing today’s digital photographer. Readers will learn tips on composition and how keeping things simple can lead to great photography. The issue also examines how to overcome “photographer’s block” when lack of inspiration occurs. Included is also a Photoshop® tutorial on creating an urban “grunge” type effect for dramatic impact.

A short while back, I reviewed Bokeh from Alien Skin Software, an excellent Photoshop filter perfect for simulating tilt-shift photography. The filter offers the maximum amount of flexibility and features available to simulate tilt-shift photography with your existing images, as well as much more in the way of adding the bokeh effect to your photos. But if your need for simulated tilt-shift photography is limited, the $199 price tag might be too much. A friend of mine recently informed me about a new tool to simulate tilt-shift on your images, and it’s absolutely free. READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE.

iPhoto is perfectly capable of displaying your photos as a slideshow or one at a time. But you’re limited to a flat display that doesn’t exactly “wow” anyone. With one simple download, you can view your iPhoto collection on a visually stunning 3D wall, right in your web browser. In my mini-review at The Apple Blog, I show you how you can avoid launching iPhoto to view your photos, including events, albums and the full collection using Cooliris, a plugin for Safari and Firefox. This is one of those plugins that is so utterly sexy, you can’t help but install it, even if you only use it once in a great while.

Macworld recently published my review of Alien Skin Software’s Bokeh plugin for Adobe Photoshop, Fireworks and Elements.

Part 1 of the review can be found here, and covers the bokeh effect to emphasize your subject by adding blur to the background and adjusting the highlights of your image. Part 2 of the article can be found here, and covers the ability to use the Bokeh plugin to simulate tilt-shift photography, which effectively allows you to turn your image into a miniature model as seen in the image above. If you don’t have the budget for expensive tilt-shift and bokeh lenses, this plugin might be just what the digital doctor ordered to enhance your images.

Many times I find myself having to mock-up designs on various items such as bags, DVD covers, coffee mugs, and other various gift items for clients. Having an archive full of blank photos of such items goes a long way in making the task easier. READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE.

Stuck In Customs, a unique photo site which features rich HDR images and reviews of photography equipment, has a great tutorial on how the HDR images are produced (such as the one above). While you can simulate HDR photos with nothing but Photoshop, the results are rarely as stunning as the ones produced using the combination of equipment and software in the tutorial. Aside from the tutorial, Stuck In Customs is just a great site to view some beautiful photography work. Also be sure to check out the Stuck In Customs photostream at Flickr.

Technorati Tags: High Dynamic Range, Photography, Tutorials