Two essential and challenging Photoshop skills are Masking and Compositing.  Fortunately for all of us out in Photoshop land, Katrin Eismann has written a masterful book on developing these skills, Photoshop Masking & Compositing.

You will learn about selection tools and techniques, how to use masks and layers, advanced selection techniques for difficult subjects like human hair, and how to do flawless composites.

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Katrin Eismann is a world class expert on photo retouching. She is one of the best of the best. In 2005 she was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame. Anything she writes should be high on your reading list if you are serious about making the most of your Photoshop skills.

Adobe Photoshop Restoration & Retouching (3rd Edition) has become a classic and it is is now in its third edition. You would be hard put to find a better book on Restoring and Retouching photos with Photoshop. Once you’ve learned the basics of Photoshop, this book is a must read. Just look at all the 5 star ratings at amazon.com and read the glowing reviews.

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If you aren’t shooting RAW files with your digital camera (as opposed to jpeg files), you should think about the advantages of shooting in RAW. Read the article RAW vs JPEG Camera Files at my photography web site.

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).

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Everything you need to know about Dan Margulis is in Advanced Color Correction, Part One.

After you have devoured the book I recommend in that article, you will know why you need to get Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace.

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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). What Margulis teaches you to do with color is amazing. The before and after images will make your jaw drop.

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Updated December 13, 2009.

TRIPOD RECOMMENDATIONS – BEST TRIPODS – 2009

BEST TRIPOD HEADS – 2009

THE BEST TRIPOD HEAD QUICK RELEASE SYSTEM

BEST MEMORY CARDS FOR DIGITAL CAMERAS

THE BEST DIGITAL PHOTO STORAGE

BEST GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS

BEST BOOKS: NATURE AND LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

MASTERING PHOTOSHOP: ADVANCED COLOR CORRECTION, PART ONE

MASTERING PHOTOSHOP: ADVANCED COLOR CORRECTION, PART TWO

MASTERING PHOTOSHOP: CAMERA RAW

MASTERING PHOTOSHOP: RETOUCHING, PART ONE

MASTERING PHOTOSHOP: RETOUCHING, PART TWO

BOOKS: BASIC AND INTERMEDIATE PHOTOSHOP AND DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

BEST POINT AND SHOOT DIGITAL CAMERAS – 2009

BEST DIGITAL SLRs – 2009

GET THE BEST RESULTS FROM THE BEST ONLINE PHOTO LABS

It is the time of year that I get asked a lot of questions from people who are buying gifts for photographers, or from photographers wanting to drop hints. (In this post, “photographer” means anyone who likes to take pictures.) “What is the best book for . . . ?” “What are the best point and shoot cameras?” “Is there any really good image editing software for less than $100?” Many of those questions are answered in the posts above and below.

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Short List:

SanDisk
Lexar

Memory cards are the “film” for your digital camera. You don’t want to have a card failure and lose your photos. A reliable brand is important.

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Short List: Arca-Swiss

The Arca-Swiss quick release system is arguably the best quick release system and certainly the most universal among professional photographers. The system is simple and you can start for less than $80 and use almost any tripod head you now own. . . .

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The short list.

3-Way Tripod heads:

Manfrotto 056 3D Junior Head (replaces 3025)
Manfrotto 3025
Manfrotto 115 3D Super Junior Head (replaces 3028)
Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head

Ball Heads:

Slik Pro Ballhead 800
Kirk Enterprises BH-3
Kirk Enterprises BH-1
Really Right Stuff BH-40
Really Right Stuff BH-55

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Looking for a tripod? This is the place to find information, recommended models, and links to more information.

It is best to buy your tripod legs and tripod head separately. The best brands are interchangeable so you can match the legs you want with the tripod head that you want.

For years I have been recommending Bogen/Manfrotto and Gitzo tripods. . . .

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Short List:

Christopher Grey, Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers

Jeff Smith, Posing for Portrait Photography: A Head-to-Toe Guide

J. D. Wacker, Master Posing Guide for Portrait Photographers

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One of the best ways to improve your photography is to read some good instructional books and then go out and try what you just read about. My favorite landscape and nature photography books are here and here.

Some of these are out of print but they are still well worth finding on the used book market.

So you want to be a better photographer. Start here.

Some of these are out of print but they are still well worth finding on the used book market.

Don’t lose your digital photos to disc rot or a hard drive crash. Choose the best archival options. . . . .
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Check out the items on sale this week at Adorama. Be sure to note the Buffalo external drives (Buffalo external drives are my current favorite) and Nik Sharpener Software. If you like to do closeup photography, look at the extension tube set for Canon EOS film and digital cameras. There are special prices an Kata bags and Kata rebates, and much more.

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NASA Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin Walking on the Moon

Photo details: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the Moon near the leg of the Lunar Module (LM) “Eagle” during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA). Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Lunar Module (LM) “Eagle” to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the Moon, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) “Columbia” in lunar orbit.

Sending astronauts to the moon seemed like an amazing thing in 1969. They landed 40 years ago today. Like millions of others, I was glued to the TV set.

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“Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death, Cerro Muriano, September 5, 1936.”
Photo by Robert Capa

Robert Capa’s famous photo of a falling soldier during the Spanish Civil War, unquestioned for decades, has been the subject of a lot of controversy in more recent decades.

A recent Yahoo news item, based on an article in El Periodico (a Barcelona based newspaper) again question’s the authenticity of the photo.

Personally, I think biographer Richard Whelan’s article on the PBS web site is the definitive statement on the issue. Whelan maintains, based on a lot of evidence including the identity of the soldier and Capa’s whereabouts, that the photo is authentic. Read the article and see what you think.

Fireworks over Yukon Oklahoma on old U.S. 66. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

From the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776. Written by Thomas Jefferson (1762-1826). 3rd US President (1801-09).

To see an engraving of the original and George Washington’s personal printed copy, go here.

to read the entire declaration, click the page 2 link at the right

With the news of Farrah Fawcett’s death on Thursday morning, it wasn’t long before the media started talking about THE poster. With over 12 million copies sold, the iconic poster of Farrah is is one of the most popular of all time. One copy is in the Smithsonian. The photo was taken by Bruce McBroom.

McBroom: “Like any photo shoot, we did a lot of different stuff. But it was just Farrah and myself. It was before the days where you had to have stylists and hair and makeup and background art directors and assistants. It was just me and Farrah and my Nikon, at the home she shared with Lee Majors, a house on Mulholland Drive overlooking Hollywood, with a beautiful view.”

He tells the whole story in this online article for Time.

Afghan girl, Steve McCurry, National Geographic.

Today Kodak announced the end of Kodachrome slide film’s 74 year run. It is a sad day. It is the end of an era and the disappearance of an icon. Unlike all of the “E-6 process” slide films out there, Kodachrome was totally unique in both manufacturing and processing.

Some famous images have been shot in Kodachrome, including Steve McCurry’s “Afghan Girl” which appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. At Kodak’s request, McCurry will shoot one of the last rolls of Kodachrome.  The 8mm film of John F. Kennedy’s assassination was shot on Kodachrome.

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Lots of great deals from Adorama this week. Note especially the three refurbished Olympus digital SLR’s, the memory cards, the portable hard drives, and especially the first class software Nik Sharpener Pro 3.0.

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Irena Sendler, a Catholic social worker, saved 2500 Jewish children from the Nazi death camps during WWII. Like Schindler, she kept a list. She hoped to reunite the children with their parents after the war. Unfortunately, most of the parents had been killed at Treblinka. She was captured by the Gestapo and tortured but she never gave up the names of her helpers or the children. Sentenced to death, a guard was bribed and she escaped. With a new name, she went back to her work. She died in 2008 at the age of 98.

Her story is a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation tonight. Hopefully, it will be posted here for later online viewing. The movie is adapted from the book The Mother of the Holocaust Children” by Anna Mieszkowska.

You can learn more about Irena Sendler here and here and here.
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