Fake Firefox update notice. Click for a larger version. Note the address bar does not include the word Mozilla.
Don’t click on that critical Firefox update notice! It could be a scam. Someone could be pretending to be Mozilla to plant some malware on your computer. So how do you know?
Roxy, one of the competitors in Top Photographer with Nigel Barker messed up and shot JPEG files in a once in a lifetime situation. Barker took her to task, waved his finger at her and said “Bad Photographer!” Why? Because RAW files have so many advantages over JPEG files.
My grandson inside using my laptop to control the tripod mounted camera outside.
CamRanger provides wireless image transfer from your Camera to your laptop or smartphone. CamRanger also give you wireless control of your camera with your smart phone or laptop.
Article posted Dec. 28, 2016. Updated Dec. 29, 2016.
Tennessee-Titans-Minnesota-Vikings-game. Photo by Sports Illustrated photographer David E. Klutho.
Sometimes when I see an interesting photo online I am curious what information is included in the photo’s metadata. Some photos get posted and re-posted by people other than the photographer so you don’t know who took the photo, or where, or with what equipment. If that information isn’t posted with the photo, I check the metadata to look for it.
Image and Pop-Up Window
PhotoME used to be my preferred online metadata viewer but it is no longer being updated. So I went looking for an alternative add-on for Firefox.
This laptop burned in a house fire. DriveSavers recovered the data.
So your hard drive crashes or is damaged in some other way. Where should you send it? The choice is important. If you don’t send it to one of the first rate data-recovery services (expensive as they are), a cut rate company could mess up your drive and make it impossible for a first rate company to retrieve your data.
If you want to master color in Photoshop, Dan Margulis is the best of the best. He is one of the first three persons to be named as a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame. And the book to get is Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction (5th Edition). It is well worth finding on the used market (which you can do via my photography store). What Margulis teaches you to do with color is amazing. The before and after images will make your jaw drop.
The Digital Negative, 2nd edition
If you shoot RAW camera files (and you should), this essential book should be at the top of your list. It is far and away the best of the best. You will be amazed at what you can get out of your RAW files. Your images will thank you.
A lot of the quality of your final image will be determined by what you do with your RAW files when you open them in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) which comes with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, and Adobe Lightroom.
Article posted Nov. 30, 2016. Revised and expanded Dec. 17, 2016.
Scott Kelby has written some of the best, most readable introductions to Elements, Lightroom, and Photoshop. If you are new to this software, this is a great place to start.
Lightroom & Photoshop: The Essentials
If you are serious about digital photography and you use Lightroom and/or Photoshop, these books are “The Essentials”.
Your photos will look their very best if you optimize them with high quality image editing software.
I get lots of photo questions and many of them begin with “What is the best . . . .” They usually come from photographers or someone shopping for a photographer.
Here is my list of “best of the best” of articles recommending the best photo gear, software, books, DVDs, calendars, online photo labs, and a whole lot more.
Posted Nov. 19, 2016. Updated Dec. 28, 2016.
Watch the video. Automatic sky replacement with a single click. This is impressive.
Dawn, scenic overlook. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Exposure for the sky.
In a single exposure your camera can’t capture everything your eyes see in high contrast situations with a wide range of tonalities. HDR photography gives you more options.
Update, November 18, 2017: An updated version of this article is posted here.
Photo by Adam Marc Williams
Adam Marc Williams has a “how to” video (link below) at The Breed on using the new face recognition addition to Photoshop’s Liquify Tool.
The Adobe software pinned to my start menu.
I have several version of Adobe software on my computer and some of them are pinned to my start window. Why? I am glad you asked.
Photoshop HSB Color Wheel with Hues in 30 Degree Increments.
Mastering color is important to mastering Photoshop, and the HSB color wheel will help. This tutorial will show you how to create your own. The HSB color system is explained in this article which you should read first if you aren’t already familiar with the HSB system..
Photoshop Screen Capture with Color Picker. Click to see a larger version.
To work with colors in Photoshop it is helpful to understand how Photoshop deals with colors and the relationship between the RGB, HSB, and other color systems. This series is a basic introduction to Photoshop and color.
This tutorial will guide you through the basic color selection tools in Photoshop. Other kinds of image editing software will have a different layout, but similar tools. Before you go through this tutorial, read Learning Photoshop Colors – A Color Picker Tutorial. It covers some Photoshop color information that is basic to understanding this tutorial.
Screen Capture: Color Picker at ColorPicker.com
Using a color picker is a quick and simple way to learn how software (like Photoshop and Photoshop Elements) identifies digital colors with numerical systems. You can follow along in this tutorial. To make this tutorial quick and simple, we will use an online color picker.
There is a convenient online color picker at ColorPicker.com. It is quick and easy to use when you are online and don’t want to take the time to fire up your favorite image editing software.
With excellent reviews, the Nik Collection of seven software plugins is highly desired. Discriminating photographers have been buying individual plugins or paying $499 for the whole set. Google bought the Nik Collection and dropped the price for the full collection to $150. Now you can download the whole collection for free. This is great news for everyone who has been wanting this powerful set of software editing tools but has been putting it off due to the price.
Screen capture from John Paul Caponigro’s web site.
Get it free while you can! John Paul Caponigro is one of the best of the best. This is your chance to learn from the master. Caponigro de-mystifies the challenges of getting beautiful, high quality prints that match the colors you see on your monitor.
Vermilion Lakes Sunset, new and old ACR “process versions”. Click on the photo to see a larger image.
Adobe has a new “process version” for Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). This means better image processing for your RAW camera files.
This article has been updated here.
Earlier this week I read about a professional photographer who lost a bunch of photos because they were all on just one external hard drive with no backups. The cost of recovering the photos, if they can be recovered at all, will run between $500 and $5000 depending on the number of photos and the complications involved in the recovery process.
Temple Image with GPS coordinates. Click for a larger version.
The GPS system is increasingly important to photography. It will help you figure out where you took some of your more obscure photos and help you caption your photos. More and more photo editors want GPS information for the photos they publish. A GPS communicator could save your life. This series will help you learn the ins and outs of GPS, plus keep you and your family safe.
Originally posted Jan. 29, 2016. Updated Dec. 29, 2016. This whole series has been revised and re-posted here.
“Mountain in Colorado”
What is the name of this mountain? Photo editors want to know. They like caption information. If you have a distinctive mountain in your photo, “Mountain in Colorado” won’t cut it with your friendly neighborhood photo editor. Here’s how to identify that mountain in Google Earth (and how to get GPS coordinates into Google Earth).
Posted Jan. 26, 2016. Updated Feb. 3, 2017.
O’Haver Lake, Mt. Ouray, Colorado.
You have heard it said a lot, and maybe said it yourself: “This picture doesn’t do it justice.” That is often true and for several reasons. One is that digital cameras do not capture reality. No matter how fancy or inexpensive, digital cameras simply do not capture what your eyes see. That is also true with film cameras. All color photographic films have different color characteristics. Some have better reds, others have better greens or blues. Some are more saturated and others less saturated. But none of them are totally color realistic. Why don’t cameras give you realistic images and what can you do about it?
Note: This article has been updated here.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 13, Adobe Photoshop CC, and Lightroom 5
Your photos will look their very best if you optimize them with high quality image editing software. Short list:
Adobe Photoshop Elements 13, 12, or 11*
Adobe Photoshop CC or CS6*
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC, 6, 5 or 4*
*The software versions listed above include all the versions that use Adobe’s newest “process version”. See the section below on Adobe’s new process version for more information.