Photo Special Effects

Special Photography Techniques: How To Get The Best Natural Effects
Special Photography Techniques: How To Get The Best Natural Effects

4 Easy Photo Special Effects Techniques
4 Easy Photo Special Effects Techniques

Photo Special Effects – Making You A Better Photographer
Learning the techniques of creating photo special effects is one of the best ways to understand light and your camera

Photo Special Effects – The Basics Of Adding Illusion To Photographs
Learn the basics first.

How To Add LOMO Effects To Your Photos
Pictures look more alive with LOMO effects.

Special Photography Techniques: How To Get The Best Natural Effects

Published on April 25, 2013 in Photo Special Effects

There are times when you simply want to get the unsullied natural beauty of your subjects without the influence of extensive photo special effects.

If you’re a travelling photography hobbyist, or simply someone whose hobby is landscape or nature photography, you’ll always prefer to capture the pure majestic beauty of your subjects. But working to get what you want isn’t always possible for some reasons such as not enough light, wrong time of the day or night, among others. Here are three beautiful natural phenomenon and the special photography techniques that can help you create a pure depiction of these subjects.

Image By: Pinterest.com

Waterfall
The mass of flowing water rapidly falling over a steep cliff is a spectacular phenomenon. Waterfalls are among the most enchanting sceneries. To capture a waterfall’s pure beauty, you need to freeze the movement of the falling water. It will require you to adjust the shutter speed to at least 1/250 to achieve this effect. To have enough depth of field, use a wider lens and move closer to take a shot.

Fire Dancers
Fire dancing is a performance art form in which the performer skillfully spins/ moves a couple of equipment on fire while dancing. This dance is performed by many cultures in various forms. People love to witness a fire dance because there is something fascinating about the combination of beauty and danger involved in the performance. It is usually presented at night so that the audience can see and appreciate the full beauty of the dance.

Capturing a moving flame or streaks of fire is not an easy task. Remember that taking shots at night requires long exposure. Also make sure to increase your depth of field when there is not enough. Tripod is necessary since it is a long exposure and a flash unit to show the performer. You can actually take a variety of dramatic shots once you’re able to get the technique.

Glaciers
Glaciers lend a majestic panoramic view. The key to photographing glaciers is consistency of exposure, white balance and perspective. This will require you to set your camera to manual mode. Keep the whole image in mind to capture a panoramic view. Keep still while taking shots. To get appealing photographs of huge icescapes, take pictures when the ice is not melting.

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4 Easy Photo Special Effects Techniques

Published on February 18, 2013 in Photo Special Effects

You don’t have to be a professional photographer to be able to create striking photo special effects. There are easier tricks that even amateurs can also do to make their shots more interesting.

The use of special effects dates back when magicians discovered the idea of optical illusions to attract audiences. Modern photography uses the same technique to create the effect that can’t be achieved by simple photo shots.

In modern photography, creating special effects is also known as trick photography. More and more photographers are incorporating a wide variety of effects to make their photographs more interesting. There are actually a great number of photography tricks and techniques that can be used to add an attractive element to your shots. Following are some of the easy tricks that even beginner photographers can use to make their shots more interesting.

1. The shadow effect

An interesting photo tells a story and the shadow effect can be used to convey a certain story in your shot. There are basically two ways to create this effect. You can either use a fast shutter speed to the point of freezing the subject or slower speeds to create a blurring effect.

2. The ghost effect

This effect requires two exposures. One is with the ghost as your subject and the other is minus the subject. Make sure not to move your camera between the exposures of both subjects. You need to do this carefully because this is a tricky effect.

3. The underwater effect

Taking pictures underwater can be a little challenging. You will need a waterproof camera to create this effect. To take shots of your subject, your distance should be about ten feet away. To give intense illumination and beautiful color effect, use a strobe light.

4. The red and white light effect

To achieve this effect, you will need to take shots during night time.

For instance, when the cars pass through the frame using long exposures, the result would be red and white light effects. The little creativity on your choice of subject can lead to impressive effects.

Tags: Photo Special Effects, photography tricks, trick photography

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Photo Special Effects – Making You A Better Photographer

Published on November 6, 2012 in Photo Special Effects

Learning the techniques of creating photo special effects is one of the best ways to understand light and your camera’s potentials.

If you are still getting started with photography, this may not seem as easy as it sounds. But if you’re serious in taking your skill to the next level, learning photography and special effects techniques can certainly make you a better photographer.

Like any skill, photography also takes a lot of practice and experimentation to master its different aspects. Most beginners try to do it by going out and snapping photos of scenes and subjects that interest them. But why not make some clear goals then study some techniques and learn them. This process saves more time and gets you into a focused, quick way to your goals plus, you’ll learn a lot about your camera along the way.

Light for special effects

Let’s start with the most important aspect – light. Understanding how light behaves under different scenes allows you to take perfect photographs. You know that different qualities and amount of light create different scenes. It can either be soft, warm, harsh or cool. Photographers use light to create different illusions – either direct, backlit or side-lit in order to introduce a shadow or different details of a subject. Light is also an essential element for creating amazing photo effects and trick photos.

Studying how long exposures are used to create spectacular effects not only helps you introduce yourself to trick photos, it’s also a great tool that helps you master how to play with different light sources for different scenes. Of course, the more you experiment, the more you gain understanding of light.

Your camera’s capabilities

As a serious photographer, you know how vital it is to control how long your camera lets light in to create some effects and achieve the perfect exposure to your photographs. DSLR cameras make this job easier as they are equipped with a feature that allows you to press a button to take a picture and open the shutter for a specific length of time before it shuts back.

However, achieving the right exposure is not only the job of your camera’s shutter, the aperture, which controls the quantity of light that enters into your camera and ISO settings, which controls the sensor’s sensitivity to the incoming light are also very important elements that contribute to the over-all exposure and quality of your photographs.

Tags: Photo Special Effects

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Photo Special Effects – The Basics Of Adding Illusion To Photographs

Published on July 30, 2012 in Photo Special Effects

Seasoned photographers use photo special effects to create illusions that make images look very unique and impressive. Images with creative effects often look different from ordinary images. Most photos with special effects leave viewers wondering how a certain image was captured and whether it’s real or not.

Unlike in the past when adding special effects usually involves numerous camera settings, today, with new digital cameras such as the DSLR and with different photo editing tools, it becomes possible to add special photo effects in a snap.

But before you move on to the techniques, it is essential to learn the basics first.

Understanding light

Light is one of the most important aspects of photography. It plays a major role in creating different special effects. But it is often difficult to understand. Understanding and mastering the different effects of light in different shooting conditions will help photographers gain control of its effects and ultimately create a particular mood or special effect. Light produces different effects. It can be soft, warm, cooling and harsh. Both the direction and quality of light are equally important. Different illumination techniques such as direct, side-lit, backlit can add different details, texture and shadow to your subject.

The use of long exposure is one of the techniques to create light painting effects. This is done by manipulating the light source to create a particular effect. Be creative and experiment the effects of different light from any angle so you’ll have better understanding of light.

Understanding your camera

Most DSLR’s or Digital Single-Lens Reflex cameras have a shutter located along the camera lens and sensor. It opens for a desired duration of time when the button is pressed then shuts back after the image of the subject has been taken. This allows you to control how long light stays in the sensor, which in turn, allows you to freeze a moment.

While the shutter controls the speed of light that enters into the sensor of a camera, the aperture on the other hand controls the amount of light. This means that the wider the hole in your camera lens, the more light hits in. The aperture not only allows how much light enters in, it also controls the depth of field. The ISO Setting also lets you control the sensor’s sensitivity to the incoming light.

Mastering these basic camera settings involves practicing and experimenting. Begin by learning how to control the shutter speed to let you capture a good shot by freezing a moving object and experimenting with different amounts of light.

Tags: photo editing, photo effects, Photo Special Effects, special photo effects

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How To Add LOMO Effects To Your Photos

Published on April 26, 2012 in LOMO effects

LOMO LC-A is a compact automatic camera that produces unique and noticeable hue and blur to images. Photos taken with a LOMO camera have twisted colors, high contrast and obvious vignette characters. Pictures look more alive with LOMO effects.

It has grown into one of the most interesting photo special effects which earned a massive following by photography enthusiasts. Thanks to innovative techniques invented to simulate this special effect that can make a photo look as if it is taken with a LOMO camera.

Nowadays, it’s easier to apply this effect in your photos with a few clicks using a photo editing software like Photoshop.

Here are simple steps on how to create this special effect to your photos using Photoshop CS:

Step 1

Open your Photoshop lasso tool and load your photo.

Step 2

Create a new layer and set the feather to 90.

Step 3

Inverse the selection by going to – Select>Inverse or you can do it by pressing Shift+Ctrl+l

Step 4

Go to the Fill Tool window by pressing Shift+Backspace. Set the contents to Black and click OK to confirm the changes.

Step 5

Remove the selection, press Select>Deselect or Ctrl+D

Step 6

Go to Gaussian Blur filter tool window by pressing Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur. Gaussian Blur filter tool, check the “Preview” box and make the necessary adjustment to the “Radius” to create a vignette effect.

Step 7

Lower the “Opacity” to around 75% which is enough to get you good results.

Tags: LOMO Effects, Photo Special Effects

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Photo Special Effects – Infrared Photography

Published on April 25, 2012 in Infrared Photography

Infrared photography or IR photography has given a completely distinguishable dimension to photography. It is a technique in which films or sensors with infrared light sensitivity are used to create false color or black and white photos with unique, mysterious effect.

This photo effect has greatly evolved over the years in which modern professional photographers are using this technique to create a different kind of effect to their shots and for many other uses with the use of infrared lens filter on digital cameras.

Nowadays, it has become one of the photo special effects that can be achieved without the use of films or sensors that are sensitive to infrared light. By using the magic of Photoshop, anyone can now create the same extreme kind of effect to digital photographs.

Here are the basic steps for creating the infrared photography effect using Photoshop:

Step 1 – Photo Selection
Different types of scenes reflect different amounts of infrared light. Landscape shots with lots of greens and foliage usually work best. Therefore, in this tutorial we’ll be using a landscape photo with lots of greens.

Step 2 – Make a copy of the background layer
Making a duplicate copy will preserve your master copy of the image. To do this, simply press Ctrl+J on your keyboard. As Photoshop automatically names the layer “Layer 1”, double-click directly on the name of the layer if you want to rename it. In this tutorial, we will use the “Layer 1” name.

Step 3 – Choose the green channel
Go to your “Channels pallete”, click on the green panel to select it. This will turn the image temporarily into black and white.

Step 4 – Blur the green channel
Next is to apply the Gaussian Blur filter to this channel. You can do this by going to Filter Menu>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Increase or decrease the amount of blur by dragging the radius slider bar at the bottom of the box. Experiment with radius values so you can achieve a nice effect. Don’t forget to click “Ok” to save the changes.

Step 5 – Change the “Blend Mode”
Still on the green channel of “Layer 1”, change the blend mode from “Normal” to “Screen”. To do this, simply go up to the top screen of the Layers pallete and click the drop down arrow of the option “normal” to show the list of available layer blend mode. Select “screen” from the list.

Steps 6 – Use a Channel Mixer Adjustment layer
You will need a Channel Mixer Adjustment in this step. To select a channel mixer, click on the “New adjustment layer” icon located at the bottom of the Layers pallete interface. The Channel Mixer dialog box will appear where you need to change the “source channels values.” In this case, adjust the Red to -50%, Green to 200% and Blue to -50%. Check the monochrome checkbox to keep the image in grayscale mode. Don’t forget to click “Ok” to save your changes.

Step 7- Reduce the Opacity value
Since the infrared effect is likely intense due to the changes, you need to reduce the “Opacity” of “Layer1”. Select this layer in the Layers pallete>Opacity>click and drag to the left to reduce the value and you’re done!

Tags: Infrared Photography, Photo Special Effects

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How To Create High Dynamic Range Photos

Published on April 25, 2012 in High Dynamic Range Photos

High Dynamic Range or HDR is a post processing technique of adding photo special effects to a series of combined images by adjusting the contrast ratios to achieve a striking and painting-like effect. This special effect is virtually impossible to achieve with a single aperture and shutter speed.

High Dynamic Range photos are remarkably stunning and colorful which became popular in the last few years. This special effect resembles the effect of Fuji Velvia film.

Some might say that this processing High Dynamic Range photos are only limited to professional photographers. But just about anyone can actually do it. Processing an HDR photo like a pro only needs a camera that features adjustable exposure settings and a Tone Mapping Software. Though it is possible with Photoshop CS3-CS4, but the most popular tool for creating HDR effect is Photomatix.

Here we go with the basic steps for processing High Dynamic Range Photos with Photoshop CS3:

You will need:

1. A camera with autobracketing features

2. Photoshop CS2 or CS3

3. Photomatix Pro

Step 1

Begin with 3 images. One taken with normal exposure, the second one should be underexposed and the third overexposed. Shoot 3 photos in 3 different exposure settings as mentioned earlier. Shoot in Aperture Priority or in Manual.

Step 2

Merge the photos together into a single 32-bit image. Select File>Automate >Merge to HDR. Source files may either be form a folder or series of images. Select target photos to merge, check the auto align box.

Step 3

Images should now be merged into a single photo. Checkboxes on the left filmstrips provide an option to turn off blurred individual photos.

Step 4

Now you have a floating point 32-bit image. Adjust the overall tones by carefully sliding the white slider and click “OK” to confirm the merging of photos into a 32-bit image. Don’t forget to save your file.

Step 5

This is the time you create several variations of your photo. The huge dynamic range is available in 32 bit, but you need to convert your photos to 16 or 8 bit images to be able to use them. Simply go to Image>Mode>16 bit (or 8 bit).

Tip: Always work from your saved 32 bit file photo before you convert them and create several versions which you will save as individual files. Make sure not to overwrite the saved 32 bit master image as you need it many times.

Since this is the tone mapping process part, this is the chance for your creativity to be at its peak. You’ll have some fun options in Photoshop’s tools. Go to Image>Adjustments menu. Remember the most important part here is Exposure Control.

In the HDR Conversion dialog box, you’ll see exposure and gamma as the default option. The best thing to do here is to set the gamma first so that all that you need to do is to adjust the exposure settings.

Step 6

Set the method option to Local Adaptation. Work with the histogram like you would normally do with curves. This is where you bring out the detail you want to focus in the image. Just don’t forget to put some shadow to make it look real. When you’re satisfied with your curve settings, adjust the radius and threshold sliders to make sure there’s no glow around the areas of contrast. The radius is responsible for the mask blur while the threshold decide on the areas to be blurred.

Step 7

If you want more fantastic effects, you may want to use the Photomatix Pro or the Photshop plug in for tone mapping. If you want highly detailed photos, you will need Photomatix Pro. To use tone mapping with Photomatix Pro, simply select Filter>Photomatix. Convert and save as normal.

Tags: High Dynamic Range Photos, Photo Special Effects

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Tilt-Shift Photo Effect – Photoshop Tutorial

Published on April 25, 2012 in Tilt-Shift Photo Effect

Tilt-shift photography is a technique in photography in which the outer edges of an image are blurred which tricks the eye into looking at everything in the unblurred area as miniature. The tilt-shift photo effect is the result of focusing the lenses on a single part of the photo and shifting (blurring) the surrounding area to create an optical illusion of miniature scenery.

To produce such kind of photos, tilt-shift lenses are used to overcome the limited depth of field and perspective that normal lenses do. Tilt-shift lenses are quite expensive, but it doesn’t mean that it is impossible for the average photographer to get a similar effect. The magic of Photoshop has again proved that just about anyone can do this impressive photo effect without using expensive lenses.

Following are basic steps on how to achieve a tilt-shift photo effect to your shots using Photoshop CS2.

Step 1 – Choose a photograph for this effect

What you are trying to achieve here is to create a miniature scene effect. Miniature models are viewed from above, so choose an above ground image with enough wide angle of view to maximize the best effect of this technique. Cityscapes, crowds, roads, railways, traffic and similar images would be excellent.

Step 2 – Select Quick Mask Mode

Open the image in Photoshop and select “Quick Mask Mode” (Press Q on your keyboard) or click on the “Quick Mask Mode” icon.

Step 3 – Gradient Tool Selection

Go to Gradient Tool options (Press G on your keyboard) or click on “Gradient Tool” icon. Choose the “Reflected Gradient option”.

Step 4 – Draw an imaginary vertical line

It’s the start point (the center of the in-focus area) up to the top of the window, release the mouse button and a red transparent line will appear.

Step 5 – Go back to “Standard Mask Mode”

After reviewing the position of the red mask to check the start point of your focus area up to the out-of-focus part, return to “Standard Mask Mode”. (Press Q on your keyboard to get out of the Quick Mask Mode”). You will then see a broken line that marks the area to apply the focus effect.

Step 6 – Go to Lens Blur Interface

In Photoshop CS2 or CS3, it would be Filter > Blur > Lens Blur. In this window, select the amount of blur you’d like. Use your creativity to experiment with the radius value to achieve the best blur effect. Don’t forget to click “Ok” if you want to save your effect.

Step 7 – Improve Hue and Saturation (Optional)

If you want to improve the saturation and contrast of your photo, simply Press CTRL-U on your keyboard or go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and adjust the saturation.

Step 8 – Boost Contrast (optional)

To boost the contrast of your photo, simply go to curves adjustment window. Press CTRL-M on the keyboard or go to Image > Adjustments > Curves.

Tags: Photo Special Effects, Tilt-Shift Photo Effect

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Why Learn Photo Special Effects

Published on April 24, 2012 in Photo Special Effects

The world of photo special effects has greatly evolved over the years. With the emergence of digital cameras that come with abilities to create special effects, it is now easier to enhance and make photographs more exciting for various purposes.

More effects have been added with the launch of high-end cameras in recent years that made it easier to add interesting characters to photographs with the use of different camera capabilities similar to those included in DSLR cameras.

The use of special type of lenses, special kind of films and sensors, infrared lens filters, tilt-shift lenses and other camera features can be expensive. Not all photography enthusiasts can afford all these. Fortunately, with the advent of Photoshop and other photo editing software, simulating photo special effects has become possible and more affordable.

Today, the Photoshop Photo Special Effects made it affordable for anyone to learn how to simulate photographic effects without spending a hefty budget. What was once only for those who can afford it is now available to all!

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