What a strange plant. POTD 1-22-07
My aunt has this very interesting looking plant in her home. I don't know what it's called and it's not especially attractive in my opinion. But, the great thing is she sprays it with water-how PERFECT for this weeks challenge! Thanks Aunchie:) Natural light, ISO 200, Ap 3.2. 100macro lens.
And...here is Scott Kelby's fill flash technique for PS I told you about yesterday-it is truly a great saver in my opinion. I have posted the before and after...don't you agree? I'm not sure it will work in Elements, but I'm sure it can be adjusted to suit.
When you forget to use fill flash.
1. Open a photo where the subject appears in shadows.
2. Go to image, under adjustments and choose levels.
3. Drag the middle input levels slider to the left until your subject looks properly exposed.
4. If midtone slider does not bring out the subject enough, you may have to increase the highlights , so drag the far-right input levels slider to the left to increase highlights. You can adjust the shadow slider as well.
5. Go under window menu and choose history to bring up history palette.
6. Click on the state named open.
7. Click in the first column next to the grayed-out-state named levels.
8. Choose history brush from toolbox and choose a soft-edged brush from the brush picker in the options bar.
9. Begin painting with history brush over your subject, avoiding the background.
10. Continue painting with history brush until your subject looks as if you used fill flash. When you're painting, if it appears too intense, lower the opacity of the history brush up in the options bar.
11. After you finish painting, if it still appears too intense, go to fade history brush under the edit menu. Lower the opacity to decrease the effect.
Whola...you've just manufactured forgotten fill flash!
19 comments:
Wow- thanks for those detailed step by step directions, as well as your before and after!
I like the water droplets, too :)
Great directions and wow, what a difference. I gotta get full PS one of these days. The PSE version of fill flash isn't nearly as sophisticated. Great water drops too. If you have a bigger photo of the plant, maybe one of the green thumbed peas can name it for you. Not me...brown thumb all the way.
I love the detail of the water in your photo. Very nice. Thanks for the steps on the fill flash
Wow, what a differnce it makes. Definitely useful for this type of pic. I've always wonder what the heck is "fill flash"? Is it the same as the flash that pops-up? Maybe you can help me on that one. I've had that same book (PS)since Nov (I think) and have yet to open it. I'm still trying to read/master the Understanding Exposure one that I bought at the same time. I guess it would help to read them :(
Thanks for your comments on my blog. I usually run an action that has the USM included as the last step. Maybe I should be running it again (I've read you can do it twice if needed).
Great picture of the water droplets! My only CC would be I wish the droplets at the tip of the leaf were in focus, as that is where my eye wants to go.
And thanks for the detailed instructions!
Nice shot, good detail- and thanks for all the directions, too! I think it definitely looks better with what you did.
Thanks! I used this technique with the snow pictures on my blog. The snow capped mountains were shadowed against the gray sky. Thanks for the tip!
Great shots!!!
Thanks for the pointers. I'm off to try. I love your water picture too.
well that's just a great idea with the plant! and thanks again for e-mailing the fill-flash directions to me! they are great! great pics!
Awesome first shot! and thanks for the info on fill flash. I wish i could figure out how to use my flash as a fill!?!
btw...I looked for that toy camera today... no luck! I guess I need to look online
your captures are wonderful and thank you for all your tips!
Cari
Great water picture and thanks for the tips on the "forgotten fill flash"!!
Fabulous photos! The fill flash techinique is in the Elements 5 book. Have tried it yet. You did it really well.
great pictures! I love the macro shot! i wonder if I can figure out the fill flash technique on my PSE5...
First of all great shot for the water a day....but those cute shots of your ds are amazing. can't wait to try that technique.
wow, great water drops and thanks for the step by step I'll have to try that.
Thanks for the pointers here. I love this picture (all of them but right now speaking of the first) and those leading lines. This is a great shot!! The baby is adorable...those cheeks are precious!
Great photo of the water droplets!!
Thanks for the detailed directions - they made such a difference on your photos!!
Great instructions, I'll have to try it. Your little boy is adorable Great pics of him. I love the bird house and tree from yeaterday too.
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