How to Make a Timeless WEDDING Photo from a snapshot

Photoshop CS6 tutorial showing how to quickly transform any ordinary snapshot into a golden-hued, timeless image that will last forever. These techniques work especially well for wedding photos.

Ways to become skinny in 3 minutes

How to become skinny in 3 minutes: This is an Old Photoshop work to show the power of this program. This video would show only one of thousand possibility that Photoshop offer to us. After using Photoshop for long time you will have anyway something to learn.

Choose An Entry Level DSLR

People who own a point and shoot camera eventually want to move to having a DSLR. Other reasons could be you want clearer images, you want more control over your camera or you want to become a professional photographer.
Whatever your reason, you can start with having an entry level DSLR. This is lighter than the real DSLR and is more affordable as well.
So first things first. Consider the brand and you have many to choose from - Canon, Fujifilm, Kodak, Nikon, Pentax, Panasonic, Olympus and Sony. Most share the same features but if you often travel and take photos during special occasions, you need to pick a model that's easy to operate but at the same time one that can ensure image quality.

• The brand

For those who are serious in getting into photography, the two famous brand names you should consider are Nikon and Canon. Most, if not all, professional photographers use these brands.

• The sensor

As for the digital camera components, the camera sensor is an important consideration if quality images are your priority. Basically, there are two types of sensors - the CCD and the CMOS. The CMOS is present in the latest cameras today owing to its lower production cost while the older models utilized the CCD which provides better quality photos.

• The body

Consider as well the camera body. This is essential particularly if you have plans of purchasing high-end accessories in the future and because you will need to get accessories such as the lens that match the body.
Most entry level DSLR cameras today have quality plastic bodies. Weather sealing, however, is what gives the higher type or the professional DSLR the edge. Hopefully, this will be made available for the entry level models in the future.

• The material

When it comes to material, you have a choice between getting a metal and a plastic body. There's no doubt that the metal body is more durable and allows for better heat conduction notably while shooting videos. Nikon and Canon manufactures both metal and plastic bodied digital cameras.

• The resolution

Some people often prefer cameras that have bigger megapixels thinking that it will give them better quality images. But this is a misconception.
Do understand that you need a higher megapixel camera only if you would like to print large photos. This is because printing a large size image requires more megapixels to produce clearer and crisper photos. A higher resolution is also ideal if you do extensive post processing of your images such as cropping without affecting the quality.
But if you just want to snap and store photos on your computer and share them online, then a 3.5 to 5 megapixel camera will do.

• The price

The camera's affordability should be an important consideration. Know that you will not only be spending for the camera body alone but for other necessary accessories as well so make sure that you get only what you can afford. Calculating your expenses will help you choose the right entry DSLR camera that fits your lifestyle.

Web Designer and Web Designer Premium

Xara Web Designer is unlike any web design software you will have seen before; an easy template based solution that gives you total page design freedom, no HTML skills required. It comes in 2 versions, Web Designer and Web Designer Premium; Premium offers advanced web and graphic design features - find out more below

• There's no easier solution

The Web Designer approach is simple: You can either create your own page and site designs from scratch with the powerful page layout and design tools or simply:
1) pick your design from the templates
2) customize it with complete freedom
3) publish.
Absolutely no HTML or Javascript skills are required!
Templates include individual web graphics, complete pages and even pre-built multi-page sites.

• A one tool solution

ou only need one program for creating graphical websites - from design to publishing - and that's Web Designer or Web Designer Premium.

Web Designer includes customizable web graphic, webpage and website template designs plus tools for creating your own designs, for photo editing (an integrated ultra-fast, non-destructive photo tool), and for advanced text layout. The Designs Gallery also includes a collection of Widgets. Site upload is covered too and there's even a free web hosting offer!

• Flash & GIF animation

Web Designer Premium is one of the easiest tools for creating truly efficient Flash animations, which you can export as .swf or add to any page being created in Web Designer.

•  Extra Widgets

Web Designer Premium includes a larger selection of Widgets in the Designs Gallery, including the new, resizeable photo and content slideshow Widgets that can help give your website an edge, making them more interesting and dynamic. Plus there's a selection of interactive chart and graph widgets.
Premium also includes a choice of e-commerce Widgets and a neat 'embed a website' Widget - perfect for embedding blogs, microsites and other sites within your page.

•  Website and remote presentations

With Web Designer Premium you can easily create web-based 'slide-show' style presentations, that your website visitors can step through using the keyboard arrow keys. Plus you can apply animated transition effects as each step and page is displayed.
You can also easily remotely host a web meeting (a 'Webinar') to showcase your presentation, step by step and page by page, to a group of invited participants.

•  Animated page and layer transition effects

Web Designer Premium makes it easy to add a wide range of animated effects to the layers and page links in your website. You can add animated transitions to any page link or pop-up layer in your web pages.

• Advanced graphics tools

Web Designer includes many customizable graphic templates of course, and a good set of basic drawing tools, but Premium includes a range of additional graphic creation tools for those who wish to create their own graphics from scratch. These include freehand and quickshape drawing tools, bevel, mould and 3D extrude. Plus additional photo features such as content aware scaling and zooming, and masking, and the Live Effects tool which provides support for Photoshop plugins.

• Download

You can download or buy this product from xara website.

Pixelated Portrait Effect

In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to add a subtle and stylish pixelated effect to portrait photographs.

With your photo open in Photoshop, first duplicate it's layer by dragging it to the new layer button at the bottom of the layer's panel.

 

Select the copied layer and go to Filter>Pixelate>Mosaic.

The Cell Size you use will depend on the size of your photo, for this one I've used 25.

Next give the layer a layer mask by clicking on the layer mask button.

Select the Gradient Tool and use a black to white Linear Gradient.

With the layer mask thumbnail selected, draw the gradient horizontally across a small part of the front of the face, or wherever you want the pixels to begin.

Finally set the Layer's blending mode to Hard Light, and take it's Opacity down to 70%.

Here's the Final Result..

Three Ways to Select Your Image in Photoshop

This tutorial will introduce you to three very different and very simple ways to help select your image. Selection is the basis to running it all in Photoshop.

Method No.1. "Edit in Quick Mask Mode"

1. Open an image in Photoshop.

2. Select brush tool and set its size according to what you select on your image. For example, set the brush size to 8 pixels when you select something really tiny.

3. Foreground color must be black.

4. Before applying the brush to your image for selection, click on Edit in Quick Mask Mode. Now your brush is ready for selection. Notice that the areas you apply your brush to turn pink. If your selection goes out, you can fix it by first setting the foreground to white, and then using your brush tool to ‘erase off’ the unwanted selection. To continue your work, ensure that you reset the foreground color to black. To make it easier on your nerves, you might want to try zooming in and out on your image. It really helps.

5. To zoom in press CTRL +

6. To zoom out press CTRL -

  
7. When you’re satisfied with the selection you’ve made, click on Edit in Quick Mask Mode again.

8. Press CTRL+SHIFT+ I

  
9. Now press CTRL + J. A new layer consisting of only what you’d selected will be created.

That’s method 1.

Method No. 2. "Quick Selection Tool"

1. Open an image in Photoshop.

2. Select Quick Selection Tool.

3. You can change the size of the selection tool according to what you select on your image. Also, you must take note of two more important features. These are the angle and the roundness of the selection tool. You can change these depending on your selection needs.


4. To fix a selection, or to deselect a selection, use the Subtract from selection tool.

5. Press CTRL + J

That’s method 2.

Method No. 3. "Color Range"


1. Open an image in Photoshop.
Now I am going to select all flowers. For this image the best way of selection is Color Range.

2. Go to Select > Color Range.

3.  Pick the Eyedropper tool and click on the red color on your image. To select the different shades of red on your image, make use of the Add to Sample tool.

When you’re done, just click OK.

4. Press CTRL + J.

That’s method 3.

Now, to change the background of your layer with another image, you can simply load a new image and drag and drop it onto the selection layer.

Taking Memorable Photos of Children

By Nancy Hill

Children are a favorite subject for many photographers. Advertisers know a photo of an adorable child will grab people’s attention. Fundraisers know an image of a sick, wounded, or sad child will bring in donations. And parents cannot imagine a better subject than their child. Parents take cameras to sporting events, school functions, and parties. It seems like every moment of a child’s life is documented either in a still photograph or in a video. But how many photos of children are truly memorable?
Here are some tips on getting shots that draw total strangers into your photographs of children.

Take Time to Get to Know the Child
Most children let you into their world quickly. Before you start taking a picture, spend at least 10 minutes talking to the child. Ask questions about things that interest the child. Good openers include:
“Do you like bugs?”
“Would you rather be a giraffe or a butterfly?”
“What’s your favorite game?
Pay attention to how the child responds. Does he/she make eye contact? Capture that confidence when you take his/her picture. Does the child laugh at the questions or seriously contemplate them? Look for that sense of whimsy or pensive side when you take the picture. Does the child doodle when he/she responds? Then look for ways to show the child is creative. Does the child twist her hair while she’s thinking? Great. Include that in a photo.
If you’re taking photos of your own child, you already know your child’s personality traits, his/her habits, his/her facial expressions. Capture those instead of (or in addition to) a posed in-front-of-the-camera smile.

Observe, Observe, Observe
After you talk to the child, explain you’re going to get your camera ready and back away. The child will soon lose interest in you, giving you a chance to observe the child relating to the world. Inquisitive? Intent? Distracted? Capture that in your images.
If you’re taking photos of your own child, try observing your child as if you don’t know him/her at all. You’ll probably see some things you haven’t noticed before.

Be Unobtrusive
Use a telephoto lens. The best photographs of children are those when a kid is acting like a kid. To capture that and all the emotions that go with it, you need to be an unobtrusive as possible. Use a telephoto lens so you can have some real distance between you and the child. This will help the child tune you out and do whatever he or she does best, whether it’s play, dream, run around, make up stories. Capture that.
Alternately, move in close to the child to capture a curve of the cheek, curls tumbling down a forehead, eyes deep in thought.

Show the Child’s Environment
Try to take your photographs in a place that means something to the child. A bedroom, playroom, playground, field – all of these say something about how the child relates to the world. Does the child run freely across the open field or sit quietly reading a book? Does the child see how high he or she can climb a tree or does he/she prefer to lean against it and pet his/her dog? Is the child’s room spotless, showing the child’s organizational bent, or is it a wild jumble of clothes and toys?

Look for the Extraordinary in the Ordinary
Take photos of the child doing everyday things like eating breakfast, elbows on the table, hair not yet combed; sleeping, curled up with a favorite animals or spread eagle, blankets off, bold even in sleep; doing homework, scowling over a difficult problem or with one eye on the TV. These say a whole lot about who the child is, which is way more moving than a posed photo with perfectly combed hair and a brand new outfit.

Try Shooting in Black and White
This really adds drama. Check it out. You can have black and white prints made from color negatives. You can also turn digital prints into black and white either in your camera (depending on which camera you use) or in a photo software program.

Above all, respect the child’s world. It is complex, compelling, and very, very deep.