Lately, I’ve found a great way to use black and white to improve my color photographs. So, you say, that doesn’t make any sense, right? Well, I understand your confusion, but it’s really quite simple. What I mean by this, is you can convert your photo temporarily to black and white and perform some editing to make your photographs more appealing in color.
This is a photo I took at Hanauma Bay in Oahu of a lady sunbathing. It’s a nice photo. I’m actually fairly happy with how it turned out. I had taken it a couple of years ago, so I though I’d try reworking it using my black and white trick.
Lounging on a beach chair in Tipumungo, margarita in hand, the waves lap at your feet. The far-off sun wanes, painting everything in brilliant color. It’s a postcard-perfect scene that any photographer would drool over.
And then there’s Sunburnt Stan.
There’s nothing like a pesky tourist with a sunburnt nose to ruin a beautiful vacation shot. What’s a photo-loving vacationer to do? It seems like everywhere you go, Stan’s there too, wading into the sea with his arm floaties or building a sand-castle on the beach. (Stan’s a persistent chap, he is.)
Never fear! An ordinarily grim situation turns to triumph, with just a bit of techno-whoozical magic in the form of these three nifty websites/programs. Vacation photos will never be the same again.
Sorry, Stan – we love you, but you’ve got to go.
Using layer masks (Photoshop required), photographer Darby Sawchuck shows how to combine the best of several vacation photos into one great photo, blissfully tourist-free.
It couldn’t be simpler: take a batch of imperfect photos, run them through the Remover, and voilá – not a tourist in sight.
Plug a series of photos into this free program, then select your favorite parts from each photo; in an instant, you’ll have a perfect composite photo with the best of the whole series.
p.s. The holidays are almost here, and . Submit your favorite photos for a chance at $8,000 in prize money!
So your barrel-of-toxic-sludge costume is ready to go. Check our before trudging out! (Speaking of ghouls, have you seen the recently?)
Linus is sure somebody to sympathize with.
Brimming with childlike faith and optimism, his belief in never falters — Every year Linus waits to catch a glimpse of the Great Pumpkin on Halloween, but every year he just misses it.
Man, we feel for him.
If pumpkin cheer is a bit elusive in your life right now, too, we’ve found the perfect something to make up for it — . Putting ‘em together couldn’t be simpler:
Step 1: Get a pumpkin
Rescue a gentle gourd from your nearest pumpkin patch, grocery store, or the shady-looking guy on the side of the road.
Step 2: Pound some nails all around
With your trusty hammer, tap small nails in (not quite all the way!) around the top of your pumpkin, about an inch apart. Alternate between the top row and another row slightly below it, to offset your nails – all the way around you go now. Repeat along the bottom of your pumpkin.
Step 3: Thread string in-between
Thread some thin string between your nails to finish things! Try alternating colors – dark on the outside nails, light on the inside ones. Play with patterns. Experiment to see what you like.
Step 4: Insert photos, show off!
Plop your pumpkin in the middle of the table, stick some photos behind the string so they hug the pumpkin, and marvel longingly as you wait for the Great Pumpkin to appear.*
Thanks to reader for this great tip. That’s her photo up above too!
* Disclaimer: Will only appear in the most Sincere of Pumpkin Patches.
For more than a year, Photoshop was the bane of my photographic world. I wanted to learn it, but each time I tried, I came away feeling frazzled, inept, and not too bright. I just wanted to master the basics. Perhaps I could learn to remove small distractions from an image or brighten a dark spot. For example, I took a picture of a couple with their dog, and an upturned chair in the background made it appear as if the dog had horns.
Picture before Photoshop
Many of my friends could use this program, so I began with optimism. First, I took a class. The instructor cheerfully zipped though his list of topics, while I watched, listened, took notes, and tried to follow the steps on my laptop. That didn’t work, though, because while I took notes, I missed details, and while I was trying to find a tool or command, he was often moving on the next topic. I finished the class but recognized that I needed to find another way to learn the program.
Green and yellow, orange and blue! We like popsicles, yes we do!
The fantastic flavors, the clever riddles on the stick, the menagerie of colors (and how they turn your tongue red/green/purple too)… IOHO, popsicles are the best.
Plus, we always use the popsicle sticks after all is said and done to make nifty stick people with our photographs. Cut head out of photo, paste onto popsicle stick. Easy, see?
Well folks, you now have one more thing to thank the Information Superhighway for. No longer is licking, cutting, and pasting required to get your friends’ fine faces on something with which you can perform Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.”
We’ve gathered of bucketload of shiny websites that let you use your photos to create talking avatars, dancing digital puppets, and singing telegrams — technology at its finest, yessir. Just don’t stop eating popsicles because of this — we’d hate that.
p.s. We’re very happy to have Kari, a Mom with a Camera, join the Photojojo team. Don’t be shy — !
Wait a minute, that’s no ghost! Before booking it back to the Mystery Machine, take a closer look: That’s just a man. In a bed sheet. In mid-air. (And he would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids.)
William Hundley’s “Entoptic Phenomena” photography series might look haunted at first, but trust us, it’s not. Hundley snaps shots of people as they jump while completely covered in sheets or fabric.
The results? Decidedly paranormal. Best of all, it’s just begging to be tried at home.
Scooby Doo, I guess we didn’t need you after all.
[via ]
p.s. Gonna give this a try?
p.p.s. If jumping underneath a bedsheet just ain’t your thing, check out this that will automatically add a ghost to your photos! Like, zoinks!
p.p.p.s. Amit’s gonna be at PhotoPlus Expo in NYC for a bit on Thursday and Friday. if you want to meet up!
Fall has up and arrived – kamikaze leaves crash down on unsuspecting passersby, is a thing again, and reports of rumbles coming from the Great Pumpkin have spread throughout the nearby towns and villages.
Any time of year is a great time to snap a photograph, but Fall is, of course, at least twenty times more so. (IOHO, of course.)
And since last year we wrote about , this year we’re tackling Fall. We’ve jam-packed this edition with tips for photographing our leafy friends and fun ideas for fresh-new Fall shots.
Grab your camera and enjoy this Autumnal Equinox to its fullest!
