Where have you been, beetch?

JEEZE. It's been a long time. Too long.

Just a quick update: Rom and I both got into NYU! I'm going to Tisch for photography, and Rom is going to Steinhardt for communications. Both are highly selective programs, a.k.a. we're both really great at life.

Hope all is well,

Sam/Kylie

80's Technicolor Space Odyssey

Here are just a few samples of some of the work I've done on Photoshop. As you may have noticed, I love Purple and Blue and Neon/80's inspiration. More work to come with this ongoing theme!




*Props to www.abduzeedo.com for the inspiration for the second one (although their tutorial for this effect on Pixelmator is severely lacking and missing many steps)

I will write and post a tutorial for this effect this weekend! keep checking!

~Rom

Maine-iac!

Hi everyone! Sorry posting has been kind of slow, but Rom has been busy enjoying his summer and I've been at photography camp in Rockport, Maine at the Maine Media Workshops. I wanted to post a few images so you guys can see what I've been up to. I also tried out Rom's HDR tutorial, so you can see how that turned out.

HDR, without HDR.

1. Open the image that you want to be working with. It is easiest if the image was well exposed but using an image that is over exposed or under exposed (like mine) also works well.

2. Duplicate the background layer and name it First HDR. (Layer>Duplicate Layer>Okay). We’ll bring the shadows and highlights up. So, on the new layer, go to:
Image>Adjustments>Shadows/Highlights...[check Show More Options].
[Keep in mind that other than the amount slider, some of the values that work for the image I've used here will not be the same as the one you will use.]
Change the value of both the Shadow and Highlights AMOUNT slider to 50% and the radius of both to 200. Now, slide the TONAL WIDTH slider for both shadow and highlights until you see that the areas that should be brighter or highlighted look the way they should and that the shadows are not too bright or dark. Move the Color correction slider until the colors are correct. And move the mid-tone contrast slider slightly up to get a more realistic look.
During this step we are not achieving the HDR effect, but are trying to get the image well exposed.
[In my image I had to play with the highlights more because it was dark, but if your image is brighter, you'll have to play more with the shadows]


3. Okay. Now your image may seem a little too bright/dark. So we'll simply apply a Brightness/Contrast and Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to fix that. (Layer>New Adjustment Layer). Try not to move the contrast slider or saturate the image too much.


4. Create a new layer (Layer>New...>Layer) and then apply the image (Image>Apply Image>ok).

5. Image>Adjustments>Shadows/Highlights... but this time we will move the AMOUNT slider all the way up to 100% and the radius should be under the value we had entered in the previous step. Refer to the picture for a guide as to what numbers you should enter. Usually the effect looks the best when the radius of both the shadows and highlights is almost the same. This time, though, move the tonal width sliders until the desired HDR effect is achieved.


Repeat step 3 if needed.
Also, sharpen the image a bid to give it an extra pop. (Filters>Sharpen>Sharpen)

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions about this or future tutorials please feel free to comment!

Cloud 9, Revolution 9

Tonight at the Americana Manhasset was the Morrison Hotel Fine Art Music Photography gallery opening. Featured are some of the most inspiring and iconic images of music from the 1960s-1970s. It's an amazing show, and anyone who lives nearby should definitely go see it. We would like to give a special thank you to David Hollander for inviting us and introducing us to everyone, we had the best time. To read more about the Morrison Hotel owners, go to http://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com.


Sales director, Jessica Blachley


Part of the gallery


Bob Gruen gave us some sound advice: "If you shoot 1000 images, at least three of them will be good. When they're good, they're good, and that is when the magic happens. Remember, never show people your bad images. If you only show people your great pictures, they'll think you are a great photographer." For more on Bob Gruen, go to http://www.bobgruen.com/.


Henry Diltz was extremely friendly. He was geniunely interested in what we had to say, and he even wrote down our link with a promise to see it. He also gave us a dvd documenting his career, which we can't wait to watch.


Pattie Boyd. She has the most amazing British accent.

HDR

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. I could type a Wikipedia-style definition of what it is and how this effect is achieved but there is no point. You have to see it to understand. Basically, HDR is an effect where the highlights and darks in an image, that would normally not be captured in a single exposure, are combined with the mid-range exposure in order to show the highlights and shadows as closely as they would appear to the human eye. This is sometimes necessary since a camera cannot capture the highlights and shadows exactly as they appear to the human eye in a single exposure, even if it is perfectly exposed.
Photoshop CS3 comes with an automation which combines the multiple exposures into a single HDR. But, it doesn't do as good a job or have as much flexibility as the reigning champion of HDR software, Photomatix (hdrsoft.com).
Trey Ratcliff is a photographer whose work is mostly done in HDR. His blog, stuckincustoms.com, is one of the most visited photography blog on the internet. On his blog, one can find examples of his amazing work and a detailed tutorial on how the amazing HDR effect is achieved using photomatix.
Here is an example of one of my own HDR images and one of Trey Ratcliffs.

Amy Dresser

Though she's only been working as a freelance photo retoucher and illustrator for the past five years, Amy Dressers amazing work can be seen everywhere. From everyday advertisements in magazines to our favorite pictures of our favorite celebrities. Her amazing retouching technique and style has been mimicked and emulated by photographers and graphic designers all over the world. With one simple search, hundreds of blogs and websites on the interned have whole pages and tutorials dedicated to attempting at explaining her ways. Her amazing career really  began after she was hired by Jill Greenberg as her full-time retoucher in 2000. Since then, she's grown to become one of the most well-known retouchers in the business.

Images courtesy of Amydresser.com