Learning how to photoshop

I'm slowly trying to teach myself the editing techniques of Adobe Photoshop. It's hard because the language used in photoshop is hard to understand if you haven't been taught the definitions. I'm still learning step by step, slowly but surely. For the photos above, I tried to make the actual object (my car) stand out more than the rest of the picture. I wanted the background to look unreal. So basically, what I did was increase the contrast and sharpness of the object. Then I outlined and copied only the car itself. After I created a layer from my copy, I changed the contrast and saturation of the original image. After that's done, I pasted my copy of the car (2nd layer) over the original image that I just edited. This ends up being a perfect fit because the copy was taken from the original image. This is just a brief explanation of the process. There's a little more to it of course.

As you can see above, the top two photos are the original. They were taken with my girlfriend's point and shoot camera (Canon SD400). The picture quality of the SD400 isn't as good as the Rebel XTi but that's left for another discussion.

You can see the results of the photoshop in the bottom two pictures. My goal was to make the object stand out and make the background look unreal. I think I somewhat accomplished my goal.

There's a technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR) that can make your images look unreal. It's basically merging the same images taken at different exposures to bring out the color of your image. I think I will mess around with that technique next.

The Nifty Fifty!

I don't have much experience with camera lenses but I think the canon 50mm 1.8 lens is the best bang for the buck! You cannot go wrong with this lens at $80! It is a prime lens so that means that you lose the ability to zoom. However, this is a perfect portrait lens. I swear, this lens make any amateur look like they've been taking photos for years. It feels cheap and small compared to others but don't let that fool you. The picture quality on this bad boy is amazing. I guess that's why people call this lens the "Nifty Fifty." I highly recommend it if you're looking to add to your collection.

Dont look at the sun!

I am posting this shot because I thought it was very interesting. My girlfriend and I were having a picnic at the lake and I decided to take a snapshot of the sun. The photo somewhat looks like it was taken at night.

A few flower shots.

Here are some macro shots of a few flowers that were in my apartment complex. Flowers are probably the best subjects because they don't move! :) I have no idea what the names of these flowers are. My favorite picture would probably be the last one. I like how the green leaves in the background forces the flower to stand out. Right now, I'm just focusing on getting clarity in my macro shots. My next goal will be to take a photo of a water droplet after a rainy night. I've seen those shots on the Internet and always thought that they looked amazing.

Fire Red Dragonfly

This is my most favorite macro shot so far. It was taken on the Sigma 70-300mm lens. I finally learned how to use the macro feature. The auto-focus on the camera doesn't work too well so I had to use the manual focus to quickly get a clear shot. Now I find myself rarely even using the auto-focus. Sometimes, the auto-focus doesn't catch the actual subject but the background instead. I like the contrast and bokeh of this picture as well.

Fast Little Hummingbird

Here's a shot with my new zoom lens. The lens is a Sigma APO 70-300mm. It's a little better than the kit lens that came with the original camera. The price wasn't too bad, I bought it used on ebay for less than $200. However, it does seem a little soft at full zoom. I love this shot because I rarely had opportunity to see hummingbirds where I use to live (Sacramento, CA). These little guys are really quick. It was very hard just to get a decent shot. I think out of 15 attempts, this was the only decent one.

My New Hobby

I just recently bought a new digital camera because I've always loved photography. It's a Canon Rebel XTi. This is only an entry level SLR camera but I think it will suit my purposes perfectly. Currently, I'm still learning how to use the features it offers. I like the way the photos turn out without the flash on but you have to be really steady on the hands for the picture to turn out clear. I can see myself get better with every shot but there is still a lot to learn. Hopefully, I can make photography a life-long hobby. Who knows, maybe one day my shots can end up on the cover of a magazine (yea right!) The picture above is of my girlfriend and my little yorky.

I'm thinking about maybe taking a couple photography courses at a local community college. I want to learn everything there is to know about photography. The one thing I've always wondered was why photographers always use that horror-movie-like red light in the dark room to develop the pictures? I'm pretty sure there's a good explanation for it. I'm just too lazy to look it up on google :)

Here's a picture of my new camera.

Official First Blog

Well, this is my official first blog on blogger.com or any blog site for that matter (With the exception of Myspace of course). My goal for the rest of the day is to get familiar with the settings in this place, which shouldn't be too hard (I hope!). In today's day and age, I think even an elementary school student can figure out how to use something online if they play with it long enough. Even my little brother is more computer savvy than I am. I guess all of that online browsing, emails, and instant message has it's benefits after all. Well, time to get to work.