Yesterday I posted this picture on my blipfoto journal and it got quite a bit of attention. Lots of people on teh internets and in the real world have been asking me how I did it so I thought I'd do a little explanatory blog post to show how relatively simple this kind of PS job can be. I'm by no means a photoshop expert, in fact this is the first time I've really attempted something like this. I'm sure there are better ways to go about it, but this is how I did it anyway!

First of all, here are the two images pretty much straight out of the camera. As I shoot in RAW I stop the camera from doing the usual adjustments to white balance, contrast, sharpness etc that it would otherwise do so as you can see they're pretty bland! For the shot of my head I was propping the camera up at an angle with blu-tac then trying to get myself into the right position before the self-timer ran out, so I had quite a few attempts just to get myself in frame! I don't know why I decided the comb-over fringe would be a good idea, I think I was looking for a dishevelled look :)

Before I import these images to Photoshop I do a few standard tweaks. These involve straightening (as you can see from the photo of the filing cabinet, my photos are regularly lopsided), adjusting the exposure, saturation etc. For those who use histograms I try to make sure nothing is being clipped at either the light or dark end, this usually means losing a lot of the contrast in the image but I want to take as much of the information as possible into Photoshop. I can adjust the levels afterwards. After importing, this is what the pictures look like, not much change there really!

The next step was to convert both images to black and white, simply by using Enhance > Convert to Black and White, and selecting "Portrait". I do a lot of my people shots in black and white because it's flattering, but this time it was simply because I didn't want colour to be another complication in the stitching process! Pure laziness really :)

Next is a bit of levels adjustment; on the histogram below I bring the top and bottom sliders in until they touch the edges of the graph. This makes the whites whiter and the blacks blacker. The difference this simple tweak can make to a photograph is amazing.

At this stage I used the magic selection tool to select the white background behind my head and the black folder, then deleted them. This is the result. As you can see it's a bit rough around the edges, but it's a start!

The picture of the filing cabinet would obviously be my background, so I copied and pasted this picture on top of it. In fact, I didn't do this, I cut out and copied the head part and the hand part separately, so I could treat each of them individually. Photoshop automatically makes these two new Layers, so I still had access to my hand, my head and the filing cabinet separately. I cut out the open drawer and made it a new layer by itself as well. I then arranged the layers in the order I wanted them to sit, filing cabinet on the back, then my head, then the drawer (overlapping my head slightly), then my hand. I found this looked a bit unbalanced so I copied the hand and flipped it horizontally, so it looked like I was crawling out with both hands.

The next job was to fix up my hair. For this I used the Smudge tool, selected a small brush size and basically smudged my hair out in little strands to make it look more natural. This was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I also applied a Gaussian blur to my skin (it's a bit more flattering) and sharpened the eyes a bit. This is standard practice for portraits, though I'd usually take a bit more care over it than I did with this one! So at this stage my head is finished, though I have got a bit of a wolverine thing going on. A quick bit of dodging (making lighter) and burning (making darker) on the hands so the light appears to be hitting them both from the same side and they're finished too.

The last step is to burn a few shadows onto the drawer; this will be behind the hands so it doesn't need to be precise, one of the benefits of working with layers! It looks like this:

Then I just put the four layers together and the picture is complete :)

I hope that was simple enough, I learnt some new techniques as I was doing this so I thought I'd share them. I realise I glossed over a lot of the details so if you have any questions, just ask :)

I'm in love. Really.

As some of you may know, I've been on the lookout for a replacement for my bog standard kit lens for a while now. I think I've found the lens for me but it's been discontinued so I'm currently bidding for it on eBay. I'll let you all know how it goes :)

In the meantime I've finally got round to buying this little piece of loveliness, the Canon 50mm f1.8 (also known as the nifty fifty, the thrifty fifty or the plastic fantastic). It's a teeny tiny little lens, fixed focal length, seemingly made by Fisher Price, but widely regarded as the best value lens of them all. At less than £100 new (you can pick them up a lot cheaper than that) it offers fantastic depth of field - good because I plan to use it for portraits - great low-light capability and pin sharp images.

I've been having a lot of fun with it over the past couple of days, I seriously can't get over how good the image quality is from this thing. It's temperamental so you have to know how to treat it, and be prepared for it to break if you give it any abuse at all, but for the money it's a star.

I might post up a few pics from it when I've had a proper play with it, in the meantime check out my last couple of blipfoto entries, they were taken on it. I love new toys :)

 

Just a quick post today.

I love painted signs and, dare I say it, graffiti. Sometimes when I'm wandering around in the rain, surrounded by grey, they provide flashes of colour that really cheer me up.

I've picked out a few examples taken over the years, none of them are particularly great photos, but here they are anyway. I plan to give shots like these more attention in future, I think they have potential.

1) Stencil art in Bergen, Norway

2) Shop sign, Bryggen, also in Bergen

3) Graffiti by the river, Lagan Towpath, Belfast

4) Fire Station, back of beyond, southern Ireland.
Confession: this picture really really annoys me because I wasn't standing square to the doors when I took it. I've put it in here as a reminder to myself - don't be sloppy!

Today, instead of doing my usual hour long sprint around the shops, I decided to nip down to the River Lagan to properly try out my new lens for the first time.

The verdict: I love it! :) As people from around here will know, the Belfast end of the Lagan isn't the prettiest place in the world, so it was a real challenge to get pictures I was happy with - the wide angle of the lens meant there always seemed to be something really ugly photobombing my shots!

I think getting to grips with this lens is going to be quite difficult, I definitely don't feel like I'm getting the most out of it yet. Hopefully as I get more confident with it I'll be able to start pushing it, trying to harness its possibilities to get more interesting shots. In the meantime I'm happy enough with these :)

1) This isn't really my usual style of photograph but I liked the footprints on the frozen river and the patterns of the ice.
2) The Harland and Wolff cranes across the frozen Lagan.
3) Anyone fancy a dip?
4) Wooden bridge
5) Just fooling around :)
6) Hole in the ice

When it comes to gifts, I like to be generous, never more so than when I'm buying something for myself. This year, I decided that since I had been a good girl all year, I really deserved a nice Christmas present. I got onto Amazon and started searching. Before long I had convinced myself that my life would never be complete until I owned a shiny new wide angle lens. So I guess my life is now complete, because said wide angle lens arrived today! :)

It's a Sigma 10-20mm, f4-5.6 lens, and it is gorgeous. It has a lovely chunky, sturdy feel to it, like it could survive the odd knock, and it feels very comfortable to use. I was dying to have a play with it so I rushed home after work.. well, slightly early but who's counting? I didn't factor in two things: (1) it was dark, and (2) I can't take photos in my flat because it just reminds me how untidy it is. So my playing will have to wait for another day, there aren't exactly many stunning landscapes around my house anyway!

Here's a little preview pic of me in my garden with a lamppost. Being able to get this much in the frame from arms length is amazing, and it's very cool taking a photo and realising that your feet have sneaked into the shot. I can't wait to get out and take some proper photos with it!

August 2007

Towards the end of my long post-graduation break, I was bored. I decided to go on holiday, as soon as possible, by myself. I chose Peru. In the words of Peter Kay: "booked it, packed it, fucked off".

It was fantastic, a real dream holiday, filled with photo opportunities. Everywhere you look there are amazing colours and textures, stunning landscapes and weird and wonderful animals. As I was a complete novice at that stage, the photos could be a lot better, but I got some shots I really love.

I'll just have to go back and get them perfect next time :)

1) sunrise over Machu Picchu
2) little girl on Taquile Island
3) Sacsayhuamán
4) Peru from above - flight to Cusco
5) Inca observatory built on a natural rock
6) Local wildlife

March 2008

A Royal visit to Queen's provided the perfect opportunity for me to try out my zoom lens. We set up camp as close as possible to the front of the University, but this being the Queen and all, we were pretty far away. My friend had his super-duper camera, humungous Canon telephoto lens and a monopod, I had my little 400D, my cheapo Tamron 55-200mm lens and nothing but my own musculo-skeletal system for stability. Under those circumstances I think the photos I got were respectable and stood up quite well against his.

I spent the morning trying to get the camera set up perfectly, playing around with shutter speeds, ISO settings etc. I needed full zoom to get any kind of shot of the Queen, and knew the photo would need to be cropped in as well, so minimising shake and noise was my main priority. It was pure trial and error, and it took a lot of patience, but I learned a lot that day :)

Camera: Canon EOS 400D & Tamron 55-200mm lens at 200mm
Exposure: 1/1000sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400

Summer 2007

I've always liked pictures of animals, so for one of my first photography trips I headed to Belfast zoo.

At this stage I had absolutely no idea how to use the camera, so most of the pictures were taken on the fully automatic setting. I had difficulty shooting through glass, I had difficulty with moving subjects. Looking back, a lot of my pictures were over-exposed, but I didn't even know what that meant! Histograms, apertures and shutter speeds were all alien to me. Post-production was almost impossible with my limited software. I just looked for nicely composed shots, and I was fairly happy with the results.

The kissing prairie dogs are my personal favourite :)

Summer 2007

Four months is a surprisingly long time, especially when you've graduated and have precisely nothing lined up to fill them. In an attempt to keep myself occupied in the summer of 2007 I made two purchases: a pair of high spec racing inline skates, and a digital SLR camera. The skates (impressive though they were) are languishing in the broom cupboard, thankfully the camera isn't!

Being technically unemployed my budget was limited, but I managed to stretch to a Canon EOS 400D. It came bundled with the usual 18-55mm kit lens, a 55-200mm Tamron zoom lens, some UV filters and a nice bag. I was happy :)

Firstly, and let's be clear about this, I am not a photography expert. I won't even call myself a photographer.

I own a camera. I like taking pictures.

I'd love to become a photographer, not a professional one, just a half decent amateur. I have no intention of producing a blog full of technical details, lens reviews or "top tips". I just want to document the fun I have with my little camera. I consider myself a beginner. I'm learning all the time and each time I try something new, or buy some new toy, I'll stick it in here.

There will hopefully be lots of pics in this blog, but they won't all be the best pictures I've ever produced. I'll stick in holiday snaps, first attempts with new lenses, photos that I think are great and photos that didn't quite work out. Hopefully, as the weeks and months go by, the quality will go up and up!

That's the plan anyway :)