Since posting my original Quick Reef Tank Photography Guide, I’ve received quite a few questions about how people can improve their reef tank pictures. In many cases, I’ve found that what’s more important than taking better pictures is properly processing those photos.
This video was made with those people in mind. (Click “Read More” to get to the video…) Continue reading »
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Noise Reduction software is now an integral part of the photographic workflow, just as much as yellow and magenta filters were in the days of the wet B&W darkroom. They are particularly important, though, for those of us working in photojournalism, wedding photography, and similar fields that require us to shoot indoors in poorly lit venues at high ISOs. Even images from the best modern sensors benefit from proper noise reduction (NR) treatment.
One of Photoshop CS4′s few shortcomings, though, is its weak noise reduction functionality. To get the best results, it is now necessary to use 3rd party software, either stand alone or as a Photoshop plug-in. Over the years, dozens of different NR programs have been released, but today, only a handful of them are really worthy of attention, either because of their popularity or effectiveness.
One wonderful site, MichaelAlmond.com, has already compared many of these programs, especially many of the older Photoshop actions, and I would not hesitate to recommend reading his information. I found, though, that his reviews were missing some key information and were, at the same time, not organized for quick reference. They’re also getting to be a little out of date (last updated in 2005). Consequently, I’ve decided to write some updated and augmented reviews of my own. I hope that you find them useful.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE MAIN ARTICLE INDEX
Screenshot of Noiseware in Photoshop CS4 on WinXP x64; click to enlarge.
Noise Ninja Screenshot, as a Photoshop Plugin on WinXP x64
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In this video, I show a couple of different techniques for using the gradient tool to create more interesting graphics. Starting with a blank canvas, I create the two simple web-style banners shown here.
To download the full length, HD version of this video (about 20M), click here. If you experience any trouble playing it, I recommend downloading Media Player Classic which is a small, free program with native support for virtually every video format that exists.
In this video, I explain the differences between the Spot Healing brush tool and the Healing Bush tool.
Download the High Definition version of this video here in mp4 format, which can easily be played with Media Player Classic.
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Rather than attempting to type everything out, I’ve created a video tutorial which I hope will be more helpful. For this subject, I strongly recommend watching a high definition copy, which you can download here in mp4 format. If you have any trouble playing the video, I recommend downloading Media Player Classic (a free, lightweight but fully featured player) to play it.
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A Quick Workflow for Landscape Photography
In fact, I made this video as a test to see how the software would work, but it’s complete enough to be worth posting. I’ve learned that in future videos, I’ll want to work closer in.
In any case, this workflow is very simple and quick, but flexible and generally produces bright, vibrant results, which is exactly what we want with stock and landscape photos.
I’ve uploaded this video to youtube so it can be seen by anybody, but I’ve also created a high resolution version of the file, which you can download by clicking here: Quick Landscape Workflow . If you have any trouble playing this video, I recommend watching it with Media Player Classic, a free and excellent video player, which you can download in a matter of seconds.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this video, or if you have any suggestions for future videos. Part two of the “Sharpening” series will mostly likely be a video tutorial as well.
