Barr George. - From Camera to Computer: How to Make Fine Photographs Through Examples, Tips, and Techniques

How To Make Fine Photographs Through Examples, Tips, and Techniques

George Barr

George Barr (www.georgebarr.com)

Editor: Joan Dixon
Copyeditor: Mark Hall
Layout and type: Terri Wright Design, www.terriwright.com
Cover design: Helmut Kraus, www.exclam.de
Cover photos: George Barr
Printer: Friesens Corporation, Altona, Canada

ISBN 978-1-933952-37-6

1st Edition
2009 George Barr
Rocky Nook, Inc.
26 West Mission Street, Ste 3
Santa Barbara, CA 93111-2432

www.rockynook.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barr, George, 1949
From camera to computer : how to make fine photographs through examples, tips, and
techniques / George Barr. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-933952-37-6 (alk. paper)
1. Photography--Technique. 2. Photography--Digital techniques. 3. Example. 4. Composition (Photography) I. Title.
TR146.B3175 2009
771--dc22
2009030028

Distributed by OReilly Media
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Sebastopol, CA 95472

All product names and services identified throughout this book are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. They are used throughout this book in editorial fashion only. No such uses, or the use of any trade name, are intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with the book. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner. While reasonable care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Printed in Canada. This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs and illustrations are by the author.

Without the undying support of my trouper wife Isabelle Fox-Barr, this book would not have come to fruition. Youd think that writing the book would be the hard part, but truly, when you stop writing you are only one third of the way through the process, and I have not been there to do my share for more than a year now. Throughout, she has encouraged me without a hint of frustration or criticism, so I cannot thank her enough.

This is my second book with Rocky Nook and specifically with my editor Joan Dixon, who has been absolutely tremendous; in her enthusiasm when mine lagged, in patiently listening when yet again I came up with one of the all too many changes I wanted, and in her editorial skills of taking the rough edges from my prose.

Id like to also thank Andy Ilachinski, fellow photographer, who was kind enough to proof chapters for me and who offered several suggestions which have materially improved the book.

To you, the reader, we share a wonderful pastime, an outlet for our creativity, a challenge to our intellect, and not incidentally, an activity that is a whole lot of fun. I wish you the best of times and a bundle of wonderful images.

Doing what you must to get the image

Correcting and improving a landscape

Image editing using Curves

Highlight dodging

Selective color

Threshold highlight protection

Akvis Enhancer

Bringing out texture

Whether to stay with color or switch to black and white

Converting to black and white

Erasing skid marks

Comparison of an image with and without Akvis Enhancer

Working the scene

Use of separate exposures

Applying perspective correction

A Talk about perfection

Editing an image using multiple Curves

Adding highlights via Dodge Highlights

Removing noise with Gaussian Blur

Increasing local contrast with Akvis Enhancer and other tools

How to put some of yourself into images of objects that were originally designed as art or architecture

Why you might want to photograph art anyway

Some of the fine points of composing images

Making the environmental portrait

Managing your model

Composition and people pictures

Rescuing a portrait image

Model releases and etiquette

Coping with distracting backgrounds

Using Helicon Focus or Photoshop CS4 to focus blend for increased depth of field

Issues in cropping

Composition vs. substance

Repetitive patterns

Strong design