Man and Nature 1

Man and Nature 2

 

1. Change the Image mode to Lab Colour ( Image -> Mode -> Lab Colour)

2. Click in the layer palette “channels” and select the “Lightness” channel

3. Select All and copy the selection 

4. In channels palette click little arrow on right hand side “new channel” -> just click O.K. then -> edit ->paste -> rename channel “sharp” by double clicking on Alpha

5. Keep that channel selected and use the Find Edges filter (Filter -> stylize -> find edges)

6. Adjust the images levels so that you get a nice strong contrast (Image -> adjustment -> levels ‘left arrow: pull it towards the middle’)

7. Stay on that channel and apply the Gaussian blur filter with a radius of 1 (Filter -> blur ->gaussian blur)

8. Still on same channel go back into image -> adjustments -> levels: fine tweak the contrast once more

9. In channel list select the lightness channel

10. Go to select -> load selection -> “sharp” with invert ticked

11. Now apply the unsharp mask filter (Filter -> unsharp mask) with these settinga around 300 % radius 1 threshold 4

12. Go back into your channel palette and delete channel “sharp”

13. Click RGB in channel pallet

14. Click select -> deselect

15. Convert back to RGB (Image ->mode -> RGB)

Do mobile phones with camera’s have a place in photography or should we just stick to using them to take drunken pictures of our mates in night clubs or are they a useful tool for capturing those sudden photo opportunities as you always have your phone with you.

I couple of years ago a saw a TV series which each week took 4 pro photographers and gave them each a different type of digital camera. A pro DSLR, a mid range camera, a compact and a mobile phone and the results that they managed to get from the mobile phone cameras was really good.

Well I’ve taken the plunge and bought a ‘Smartphone’  the Blackberry Storm with a 3 Megapixel camera there are several groups on Flickr containing pictures taken with this phone and some of them are really impressive. I will keep you posted with my opinion once I have managed to take some pics. May even do a picture a day challenge.

1. Open image and duplicate the background
2. Go to channels and click them one by one through. You are looking for the one which gives the least clarity- quite often that’s the red one. Make sure you select that one by highlighting it in blue- just click on it (the image will turn black and white) and just click on “layers”
3. Make an adjustment layer “hue/saturation” > click colorize and create a sepia effect (good start is hue: around 50; saturation around 25)
4. Hold down ALT/Option and click the “create a new layer” button at the bottom of the layers palette; don’t click O.K. yet! Set Mode to “overlay” and tick below that: “Fill with Overlay-neutral colour (50% gray)” > now click O.K.
5. Filter > noise > add noise > gaussian > tick monochromatic > choose a pretty high amount somewhere around 20-40%
6. Filter > blur > gaussian blur > 1 pixel
7. Add a level adjustment layer and pull both sliders (the black and the white one) inwards over the edge of the histogram AND move the black OUTput sldier to the right to about 20
8. Click the original copy of the background layer and add a slight gaussian blur
9. Add another levels layer and this time drag the midtone slider to the left to lighten the image
10. Click on the layer mask of this levels adjustment layer > choose the gradient tool (make sure it is set from black to white by firstly clicking D on your keyboard) > now draw a gradient to simulate fading
11. When happy > flatten the image > choose the elliptical marquee tool and draw a circle nearly over the whole image > click Q > filter > blur > gaussian blur > drag the radius to the right- approx. 50 pixels and watch your quick mask softening at the edges > click O.K. > click Q again and you have a softened marquee > select > inverse > image > adjustments > levels > drag the sliders so that the outside of your marquee gets darker/ or lighter depending on your taste.

The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) has issued new ’stop and search in relation to terrorism’ guidlines, which includes a section on photography and photographers’ rights. Section 2.8, titled ‘Photography’, states that photography is a perfectly legal pastime.

Section 2.8 Photography

‘The Terrorism Act 2000 does not prohibit people from taking photographs or digital images

in an area where an authority under section 44 is in place. Officers should not prevent people taking photographs unless they are in an area where photography is prevented by other legislation.

If officers reasonably suspect that photographs are being taken as part of hostile terrorist reconnaissance, a search under section 43 of the TerrorismAct 2000 or an arrest should be considered. Filmandmemory cardsmay be seized as part of the search, but officers do not have a legal power to delete images or destroy film. Although images may be viewed as part of a search, to preserve evidence when cameras or other devices are seized, officers should not normally attempt to examine them. Cameras and other devices should be left in the state they were found and forwarded to appropriately trained staff for forensic examination. The person being searched should never be asked or allowed to turn the device on or off because of the danger of evidence being lost or damaged.’