February 8th, 2009 by Calvin Jung
Using Photoshop to give your image a Polaroid appearance!
1) Crop your image so that it’s shaped like that of a Polaroid
2) Filter > Noise < Add Noise…
a) I add ~10% noise w/ a Uniform Distribution
3) Filter > Brushstrokes > Crosshatch…
4) Image > Canvas Size…
a) *Note: Make sure your background color is white, so that when you extend the canvas it is white
b) Set to Relative
c) I do ~0.2″ Width and 0.85″ Height
5) Crop the top section off so that it is relatively even with the sides
You should get something like this:
This next technique was shared with me by a fellow photographer by the name of Cosmin.
*Note: All done in ACR
1) Crank Recover, Fill Light, and Clarity to ~+100
2) Set Blacks to ~+50
3) Contrast ~+75
4) Vibrance ~+40
4) Saturation ~-70
You should get an image similar to this:
Quick and fun technique that drastically changes the mood of the image!
Nothing more than using the Threshold tool.
1) Image > Adjustments > Threshold…
Cool Polaroid collage technique: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/polaroids/
February 8th, 2009 by Calvin Jung
The guidelines for project one were to shoot a graphic adult in broad daylight against a white wall or light backdrop. Unfortunately, the weather has been overcast and raining since the day the assignment was assigned. Luckily, the sun decided to peak out every few minutes this morning. So I packed my gear into my car and drove over to the closest location I could think of that fit the description in fear that if I spent too much time searching for the “perfect” location that the sun would disappear.
I’m pretty sure that this project was intended for me to be behind the camera during the shots, but no one else was available to shoot on such short notice. Therefore, I’m turning this into a self portrait project. Typically, I hate shooting in direct sunlight without any other light sources and/or modifiers. However, those are the guidelines for this project. Professor Carlson is interested in the contrast between light and shadows, so that’s what I gave him.
And since he wanted “graphic” people…
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On another note, I’ve decided it is finally time to take my lighting off camera! After a couple hours of research on POTN I have decided to go with Vivitar 285HV’s and Alien Bees’ CyberSync’s.
The Vivitars appear to be fantastic strobes, especially for the price. At $80-$90 each, you can’t beat them. A thorough review of the 285HV can be found here. It may not be the fanciest piece of equipment, but it certainly gets the job done if you know how to use it.
To get my lighting off camera I need some sort of wireless control system, and this is where it gets tricky. Some people swear by Pocket Wizards while others think they are overpriced. People that want something that works but don’t require the consistency and aren’t willing to pay hundreds of dollars go the Cactus route. And there are several other options in betweem, from Elinchrom’s Skyports to Alien Bees’ CyberSync’s. Radio Poppers seem to be another populat option. If I were using strobes that supported ETTL, then I would probably shell out the extra cash for something like the Radio Poppers. With that said, I narrowed it down to Skyports and CyberSync’s. Ultimately, I chose the CyberSync’s based on several reccomendations from fellow photogs, but it seems that either would be a good choice. Here is what Strobist has to say about them.
But to get the CyberSync’s to work with the 285HV’s, an extra cable (per strobe/receiver) is needed. For these I will be going to Lon @ FlashZebra. I was unsure of exactly which cables I needed to make the CyberSync’s fully compatible with my current 580EX II and my soon to be 285HV’s so I e-mailed Lon for his advice. Lon responded in a very timely manner (a few hours), especially for a weekend. He told me exactly what I wanted to know and didn’t try to sell me on some extra crap I don’t need. I’d highly recommened Lon and FlashZebra for your off camera flash cable needs, based on my experience and the several positive reviews I have read.