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Digital Photography Tutorials
Photoxels is first and foremost a digital photography
site where you will find digital photography tutorials
written in easy to understand language. Our One-Pager™digital
photography tutorials will help you select
the digital camera that is best for you
and make sense of difficult technical concepts.
Each digital photography tutorial is short, can
be read in one sitting, and is immensely practical
-- which means you can put what you have just
learned to use immediately. Enjoy!
Knowing
when to use fill-in flash can save a picture
from being underexposed in the foreground
but correctly exposed in the background. It
can also allow you to shoot against the light
for more pleasing effects.
The
use of a frame can turn an otherwise plain
picture into a pleasing one. In this One-Pager™
tutorial we show you what to look for to
create more pleasing compositions using
objects that can be used as natural frames.
Also, a word of caution about using artificial
frames.
If
you often wonder why your pictures (unretouched,
straight out of the camera) do not look
as sharp, crisp and lively as some of those
you see in photo galleries, maybe it's time
to learn about sharpening and USM (UnSharp
Mask). We apply the principles laid out
by Russell Brown in his excellent
Russell
Brown Tips and Techniques. It is really
quite easy. See for yourself.
Area Focus allows you to focus on a subject
that is not in the center of the screen. It
is useful in macro photography where depth
of field is very shallow and you need precise
focus. By using Area Focus, you can maintain
your composition and still obtain spot on
focus.
Your
camera is probably defaulted to Multi-Point
AF so that the camera will focus on any of
the multi (usually 5 to 9) points to obtain
focus. But what if your camera focuses on
a point that is not on your subject? In this
case, switch to Center AF. Rollover mouse
over the image to see the desired result.
This tutorial illustrates how this technique
works.
Digital Photography is more than just using
a digital camera; it also entails some post
processing in an image editing software to
the image you captured with your digital camera.
And it is often not as complicated as you
might think it is -- or as some make it to
be. In this tutorial, we look at "Levels"
and cover the basics of what you need to know
about adjusting levels in Photoshop Elements.
It's a simple 3-step process that takes barely
a minute to perform but that can help you
bring back to life pictures you thought forever
ruined.
We all know and love the story of Goldilocks
and the Three Bears. But did you know
that Goldilocks, now all grown up and using
a digital camera, can still teach us a few
things, especially about how to use the Histogram,
now appearing in many consumer digital cameras?
Don't believe me? Check out this tutorial
for yourself -- and see if you will not forever
remember how to read and use a histogram for
better pictures.
What
is White Balance? Reading what some people
write about it, it sounds like a difficult
concept understood and used only by professional
photographers. Fortunately, our One-Pager™
tutorial on White Balance sheds light on
this subject and makes it easy and practical
for anyone to use -- and no, Albert, you
don't need a degree in physics!
Just
for the fun of it, to learn something new,
to stop getting intimidated by all the "pro"
talk about the advantages of RAW, and to
earn forum bragging rights, you may want
to understand what RAW is, when to use it,
and whether to even bother with it.
What
is depth of field, what affects depth of
field, and how can we use an understanding
of depth of field to take better pictures?
This One Pager™ Tutorial will make
everything clear from near to far.
Night photography has an attraction all
its own. There's something about scintillating
lights from office windows hanging in the
dark of the night -- a modern version of
the starry skies -- that appeal to us. Whether
it's a city skyline, lamp posts on a dark
and deserted street, or the front of your
house all decked out with holiday lights,
the challenge of capturing the mood of a
night scene depends on whether your digital
camera is capable of night photography and
on a couple of simple techniques.
Adding
a border around a picture can sometimes
be an effective way to highlight the picture.
Instead of going automatically with borders
that look like traditional picture frames,
consider more original and elegant options.
One
way to create impact in a photo is to isolate
your main subject. In this tutorial, we
use the Radial Blur action of Photoshop
Elements to amplify the swirling action
of the children sliding down and running
back for one more go at the water slides,
all under the watchful care of the lifeguard
in sharp focus.
Adding
a signature to your images is easy and preserves
your copyright. In this step-by-step tutorial
we show you how to use the Type Tool to
create your unique signature -- and in the
process guide you into the basics of Photoshop
and demonstrate how to create and use layers,
select a foreground colour, fill a background,
and create a cool semi-transparent layer.
Convert a color picture into Black-and-White but leave one color as an accent. In this step-by-step tutorial
we show you how to desaturate all colors, except one, so that you get a Color Accent.
Below is our original tutorial.
What makes a great digital picture?
Unlike a silver halide film-based picture where
it is of the utmost importance that the picture
is properly exposed in the camera, a digital picture
is made up of digital pixels that can be manipulated
after the fact by an image editing software.
In this three-part series, we will look at some
basic principles of photography (Learn);
examine some of the techniques we can use to turn
a so-so snapshot into a great picture (Imagine);
and dabble in an image editing software, in this
case Photoshop, to put in the final touches (Create).
Installment
1 - Learn
In this first installment, we will review some
fundamental aspects of composition and exposure.
We cover three areas: basics,
composition,
and exposure.
Start here to immediately improve your pictures.
Installment 2 - Imagine
In the second installment, we go on a journey
of the mind, examine why some pictures stand out
from the crowd, and what it would take for our
pictures to shine. For example, how many [really
good] pictures of the Taj
Mahal have you seen in the last five years?
Probably not too many. You could count them on
the fingers of your two hands. The Taj Mahal is
perhaps one of the most beautiful building to
photograph, but it seems that all the angles and
viewpoints have been tried already. And yet, travel
brochures need fresh pictures of the Taj Mahal
(or the Statue
of Liberty, the CN
Tower, la
Tour Eiffel, etc. etc.) to include in every
new issue of their travel brochures. The challenge,
of course, is to take pictures that are not only
composed beautifully, exposed correctly, but also
original. We explore some aspects of this most
important element of picture taking here.
Installment 3 - Create
In the third, and last, installment, we dabble
in image editing to put in the final touches.
Being able to manipulate an image after the fact
is the great advantage digital photography has
over conventional film photography. After all,
even in conventional film photography, many professional
photographers have labored in their darkroom to
manipulate the final results using such techniques
as dodging, solarization, spot retouching, etc.
Just think of an image editing software as an
electronic darkroom that does not require messy
smelly solutions, darkness and a red light.
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