Let's Talk More About Editing

I've talked about editing photos in the past, but this time I want to talk about how different a photo can look depending on how you edit it.  You can take the same photo and evoke a different idea or feeling from that photo depending on the effect you choose.  A photo can go from looking bright and cheery to dark and mysterious with a couple clicks of your mouse.  I'm going to stop typing now and let a few pictures do the talking.

For this demonstration, I will take the same photo and edit it in a variety of ways to show the endless possibilities.  Most of this editing (except for basic, maintenance editing) was done on Picnik.

The original, with very little editing.

The 60's effect.  Obviously, it gives it that aged photograph from the 1960's kind of feel. You can even choose to have rounded corners on the photo if you want.

This is "gritty".  It adds a harsher look to your photos.  I don't personally use this one much, but it can be interesting with the right photo.

This is the Ortonish effect.  It brightens the colors and gives everything a hazy, ethereal look.  I use this one frequently, though I often use the "fade" bar to lessen its impact.

This one is a little crazier.  This is the posterize effect, which gives photos the look of a poster or painting.

This is an effect I discovered recently called "Dramatic Sepia".   It can be found in Curves under the Advanced tab. It's basically a darker, gloomier looking sepia effect.

Another wild effect.  This is the HSL filter.  You can use it to play with the colors in the photo.  It allows you to slide the bar back and forth until you get the hues you so desire.

As you can see, you can choose from a wide range of effects which each present the photograph in an entirely different way.  You can make small, subtle changes, or go crazy with the wilder effects. As always, I really encourage you to try out different effects for yourself on www.picnik.com.  Photo editing can be a lot of fun with this website.  You will be shocked by how easy it is to use to site and will be addicted in no time!  Check it out!

Don't Be Afraid to Look Stupid

This blog post has a simple enough message: Don't be afraid to look a little silly (and possibly crazy) when trying to get a good shot.  I guarantee many great photos you have seen were not taken by someone standing straight up and holding the camera out in typical fashion.  There is a strong possibility that the photographer was lying flat on their back, on their stomach, crouching, twisting, reaching, or climbing when they took the photo.

I'm not trying to say that you can't take a good photograph in a normal position, but many times you can achieve a much more interesting angle using strange body positions.  You might look a little odd to passersby, but who really cares?  If you get the awesome shot you were seeking, it's worth it to appear a tad eccentric.

Here are a couple examples of my own work that I took in rather odd positions.  Most of these involved sitting, kneeling, or laying down.

I know for a fact that I was sitting in dirt for this shot.  Hopefully, not in white shorts.

I chased this squirrel 50 yards across a construction zone for this picture.  Talk about difficult...  I think he knows what a camera is and was trying to hide from the paparazzi.  He's the only black squirrel I've ever seen on campus, and people are always whipping out cameras to take pics of him.

I got the strangest look from a guy who was walking by as I took this photo.  He was probably wondering why I had my camera in an ashtray.

Once again, I encourage you to get creative with your body positions as well as your angles.  I think you'll find that you get more interesting shots that way.  However, I do want to make something clear.  I believe that you should not be afraid to LOOK stupid, not that you should go out and DO something stupid.  Standing perilously close to a cliff edge or a dangerous wild animal may not be worth the spectacular shot if you sustain serious bodily injury.  If you're willing to take the risk, that's great, but don't blame me if something goes terribly wrong!

To finish out this post, I want to share a few pictures I found of photographers on Flickr.  None of these pictures are mine, but I thought they would illustrate my main point quite nicely.  Take a leaf out of these people's books:

Depending on whether or not this guy can swim, this might an example of a risky photography position.

Clearly, this woman is not afraid to look insane.

Nice flexiblity.  She clearly stretches before a photo shoot...

Senior Picture Money Savers

In a few short weeks, there will be high school seniors graduating all over the country.  Along with graduation come senior photos, which are often taken professionally at a hefty price.  Some photographers are cheaper than others, but either way you'll be forking out a decent amount of cash.  I've known people that have spent hundreds (if not close to $1,000) on senior photos.  However, thanks to an idea my family got from one of my friends, we paid $0 for my brother and me to have our senior pictures taken (and only a small amount for them to be printed).

How was this possible?  The answer is simple: we took the pictures.  My mom was responsible for my pictures, and my brother's pictures were a combination of work by me, my younger sister, and my mom.  We took the pictures outdoors in our backyard, at parks, golf courses, etc. with our own digital cameras, uploaded the pictures, and edited them on Picnik.  To print the photos, we simply sent the photos to get printed at Walmart's photo center (these prints are very reasonable priced) and picked them up later.  

In other words, the pictures could be taken on our time, in a location we chose, and could be uploaded/printed as quickly as we wanted.  My mom would be better equipped to provide more detailed information on the exact cost of printing at Walmart, but I know it's not very much.   All in all, this is a great way to cut hundreds of dollars from the senior year budget.  I've included a couple examples of my brother's senior photos below.

This photo was taken in our backyard and edited by my mother.

This one was taken by me in a local park, and later edited on Picnik. 

Finally, this shot was taken by my younger sister (a freshman in high school) and later edited by me in Picnik.

You can also cut corners on graduation invitations, converting one of the pictures into a party invite. Below is a mock graduation invitation made from one of the senior pictures my mother took.  All of the editing and text was added in Picnik.

I'm not good with invitations, so the words I chose are a bit lame, but you get the idea.  Just like the regular senior photos, invitations can also be printed off at a local Walmart or Walgreens for a low price. 

Overall, I think taking your own senior photos is an ingenious way to save money.  The hundreds of dollars that you would have spend on photos can be put towards something else like college, textbooks, or other post-high school expenses.  One last thing I would like to point out, though, is that this method is not the best for studio portraits.  My family prefers outdoor shots, so this was not a problem.  However, you can still save money and get studio headshots.  My suggestion is to take your outdoor photos yourself and get a one or two studio shots at a professional.  It may not be as cheap, but it's not as expensive as getting ALL of your photos taken professionally.  

Taking a Picture of a Picture

If you're a member of the "older" crowd that was born in the era before digital cameras were common, you probably possess a large number of real, physical photos.  Most of my childhood photos (except high school and beyond) were taken with film cameras, so there are literally hundreds of hardcopies of photos in boxes in our basement.  Although I appreciate "real" photos, the fact that they are printed on paper is often inconvenient if you want to share them online, put them in a slideshow, or use them in some other project.  This is an easy fix for those who own a photo scanner, but is a bigger problem for those who do not.  In this post I will provide a simple way to digitize images for people who, like me, are too cheap to buy a scanner.

This solution is laid out pretty well in the post title: take a picture of a picture.  When you're in a pinch and don't have access to a scanner, you can use your digital camera to snap a picture of the picture you want to put on the computer.  Through trial and error, I've found that the best way to do this is to follow these steps:

1) Find a room that has a lot of natural light if taking the picture during the day.  If it is dark outside, find a room with a bright overhead light or lamp.

2) Lay the picture flat on a tabletop in a way that there is not too much glare on an important part of the photo from either sunlight or a light fixture.

3) Aim your camera directly above the picture.  Make sure your flash is OFF!  All it will do is create a massive bright spot in the middle of your photo, especially if the photo finish is glossy.  Using the macro setting might be a good idea for greater detail, as well.

4) Try to keep the camera as steady as possible.  I often use my elbows for stability when taking the picture.  Those of you who have a tripod will probably find it immensely helpful if you can get it positioned correctly.  

5) Take the picture.  Take a few different shots in case you moved too much and ruined the picture.  Just because the picture looks clear on the LCD screen, it doesn't mean that it won't be blurry when you upload the picture.

6) Upload and edit.

The first few times I did this, the results were not always spectacular.  However, now I feel like a combination of practice, using the correct settings, and mastering the art of holding the camera perfectly still makes my pictures of pictures look a lot more like something that was scanned onto the computer. In fact, many of the photos that my family and I have converted to digital in this way actually look better than they did originally. Here are a few examples of pictures of pictures taken by my mom, sister, and me:

As someone who knows what the originals look like, I can tell you that these look pretty much identical.  This technique is definitely not as consistent because the lighting/glare and how steady you hold the camera can affect outcome of the photo.  However, I think the benefits outweigh the costs in this situation.  This is a great cheat for those of us that don't want to pony up the cash for a scanner, and I strongly suggest giving it a shot!