Magazines How To – What’s missing
(Click on the photograph to purchase prints (a variety of sizes and formats) or greeting cards)Don’t get me wrong. How’s that a way to begin a blog?
I learned a lot from magazine how tos. Typically, these articles take one small facet of photography or a program like Photoshop and concentrate on one aspect. The instructions seem straight forward and easy to follow. Yet, the results aren’t always perfect or even near where you might imagine.
What’s missing? Context is missing. For instance, An article on how t use to two elements i Photoshop layering some time ago lead me to believe that a simple click could fix an under or over exposed images. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Screen works to correct under exposure, Add a layer to the background and select Screen from the drop down box and the image is instantly lighter. Take an image that is over exposed and elect multiply and, suddenly, there’s a transformation from a light, uninteresting image to one that is darker and more saturated.
The perfect image? Maybe, maybe not. What it takes is practice and experimentation. For instance, the article neglected selecting a portion of the image, feathering it (another skill that takes practice) so the effect applies gradually. This can result on a light or dark part of the image blendingin to the entire photo in a more pleasing way.
The tips are terrific and with practice, you can perform miracles. You can even use such techniques to simulate Neutral Density filters after the exposure. Now, that’s a neat trick. Unfortunately the results are sometimes horrendous.
Thank god for undo.
What magazine miss out on is the practice, patience and persistence it takes to produce a good image no matter how wonderful the new trick is. Tricks and Tips – the real trip is dedication until the final images jumps out at you and says a loud “YES!”
Have fun and get up and strectch every 20 minutes.
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