When you received your DSLR camera you most likely received software to fix your photographs. Before digital cameras, we would process our photographs in a darkroom. I had so much fun playing with the photographs back then. Because of digital photography, the craft has changed, I now process my files using Adobe Lightroom and to detail the photo I use Adobe Photoshop. I always photograph in RAW format. Shooting RAW gives you more flexibility to change your picture. I will show you later how to batch process but today is an introduction to correcting your photos with the CD/DVD you received with your camera, so let’s start…

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Backlight using Natural light.

Just an fyi…after I have completed this series of Basic Macro Photographing techniques I have decided to keep this blog for my tips and lessons.

Thanks everyone that sent me emails on what they would like!

Cheers,

Janice

Again…to read on my Basic Macro lesson part IV  click here.

Happy Holidays to you all!!!

Sullivan J Photography

Cheers,

Janice

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• Macro Gadgets (sullivanjphotography.com)
• 10 Quick Tips for Professional Macro Photographing (sullivanjphotography.com)
• Macro Monday (maggiephotgraphy.wordpress.com)
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• Photographing Insects and Other Small Creatures (nikonusa.com)
• 20 Spectacular Macro Photography Examples (digital-photography-school.com)

This link begins my series of how to photograph macro:

How To Photograph Macro?

Thank you,

Janice

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Hello all,

Today I’ll give you 10 quick tips on photographing Macro style:

1.  Read Books!  Google “Macro Photography” books and check them out at your library.  If you love the book, buy it!

2.  Buy a Macro Lens & DSLR Camera (two for one on this tip)

3.  Use a Tripod.

4.  Use Mirror Lock up on your DSLR Camera.

5.  Pay attention to your Aperture, for more clarity use f22, be careful of reciprocation after f22.

6.  The closer you get to the subject the less depth-of-field you will have; play with that for artistic pictures.

7.  Play with lighting: want texture -light from the side, want saturation – light in front (built-in pop-up lights don’t work).

8.  Focus on your main subject and make that sharp!  Watch out for the background  - you don’t want it to take away from your subject.

9.  Manual Focus

and most of all….

10. Have fun!!

Cheers,

Janice Sullivan

Owner of Sullivan J Photography

A creative way to get up close & personal!

http://www.sullivanjphotography.com

Sorry if you have commented and it hasn’t posted to my blog.  There has been so much spam I had to delete all comments….they’re out of control!!  If you haven’t been approved previously, it will come to me for moderation.

Thank you.

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• Gadgetwise Blog: Macro Photography 101: Extreme Close-Ups (gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com)

Today I won’t be writing much, sorry a tad busy  Here are my steps focusing on a  Sepia look to my images.

Opened RAW file:

Increase contrast in various areas of image:

Refined my mask:

Sample of some refining adjustments:

Changed image to Black & White:

Changed tint:

Changed Blending:

Changed whites:

Don’t forget to name your layers…I had problems because I was rushing  :)

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Cheers,

Janice

Today I’m going to talk about Multiple RAW processing.  I’ve done it before but I know most of you won’t go through the archives to find it

As many of you know, photography has its limitations when it comes to exposure ranges.  In the past, we would dodge and burn areas to make the image look great in the darkroom. Today, we have RAW digital processing to help with multiple ranges.  You can also change your saturation and white balance, etc…

I uploaded my RAW files on Adobe Bridge (you can do this with Lightroom too).  Double click on your image to work in ACR (Adobe Camera RAW).

This is what I did:

Before:

After:

I worked on the photograph’s light to dark areas.  You can go from dark to light.  I do suggest you start with one of these instead of jumping around.  After the exposure process, I worked on the color of the images.

Example 1

Start by processing the best possible image you can.

Example 2

I started on processing the sky.  When you’re done, open a copy of the work by pushing the Alt key and open.  You’re in Photoshop now….move it off to the side and go back to Bridge, then work on lightening (or darkening) the next area of the image.

Example 3

I next worked on the river bridge.

Open a copy (alt open); you can now work on masking areas or keep processing.  I kept processing.

Example 4

I next processed the trees.   I added more contrast (color) to the trees.  I opened a copy of this.  I now have 3 files opened in Photoshop.  If you don’t have time to work on this further save them for later.  I kept going…

Example 5

I now wanted to merge my three files together.  I used the move tool on top of the toolbar holding my shift key and dragged my second photo on top of the first photo.  Don’t let off the shift key until you drop the photo; this will ensure that both photographs are lined up.

I next went to layer > layer mask > hide all.  I used my gradient tool and dragged it over the top of my image so that the lighter image focused on the bridge would show.

I then worked on my third pic that was focused on the trees (green).  I did the same thing – holding the shift key, I moved this photo on top of the first and went to layer > layer mask > hide all and used my brush tool on the layer mask to paint the trees and brush.  No worries if you feel it’s too drastic because you can always change the opacity of the layer.

These are some other photographs that I worked on using the same steps.   I also then added some curves and tweaked it a bit after I merged together via layers.

Before & After:

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So basically, in conclusion, Multi-RAW process one photograph to expand your exposure range and change-up colors and contrast to the image. It’s fun to be creative with your images; you’ll get hooked on this process, I promise!

If you have any questions feel free to email me or add a comment.

Janice