By Jodi Friedman of MCP Actions: Photoshop Actions and Training
There are literally dozens of ways to saturate your colors in Photoshop. For this post I am going to focus on one way to pop colors using “Channel Mixer” adjustment layers.
To start with, locate an image that could benefit from more vibrant color, overall or in selected spots. Of course, you likely will want to correct exposure and white balance prior to working on color. At this point, we will pull up a “Channel Mixer” adjustment. In CS4, you can use the adjustment panel – in CS3 and below, use the layers palette and go to “Channel Mixers.”
Once you pull up the adjustment layer, you will adjust settings in the dialog box. You will adjust all three output channels: Red, Green, and Blue. Use the same relationship for each. You want all numbers to total 100%. The higher your number for the output channel you are working on, the more saturated the colors will be.
For example, if you start with red, and put red at 150%, then you would split the difference to = 100%. So green would be at -25% and blue at -25%. Then you would drop down to green for the output. For this channel, you would do 150% for green, -25% for red, and -25% for blue. Lastly, you would drop down to the blue channel and do the same. Blue would be 150%, green -25% and red -25%.
Remember, all three outputs need to be treated the same. The output gets the high number in all three channels. The other two equally subtract the same amount so that the total is 100%. Using 150% is rather high, but if you will be painting your color on, as I am here, or if you want a lot of pop, this number may work well. You will want to experiment on your image to find the best settings. I recommend 116-120% for the main output channel light pop, 122-140% for medium pop, and 142-160% for intense pop.
When you saturate color, make sure you are not losing details and that your colors are printable. The printer I use handles intense color really well, so I mainly check to make sure I am not losing details or getting any color noise. Also, if photographing people, unless you are using low numbers, your skin tones WILL BE impacted. That is where “painting” comes in.
With masking, you have 2 choices. Either you can show the effect everywhere, white mask. And hide it on parts where you do not want it, such as skin. Or you can hide the effect everywhere, black mask. And you can paint it on specific areas, just where desired.
For this tutorial, I am going explain, hiding the effect and painting it on where desired. Either way would work.
So after getting your channel numbers set, you will invert your mask. The shortcut keys are PC: “CTRL” + “I” or Mac: “CMD” + “I” – which turns your white mask from black. You will not longer see the popped colors.
If you have never used layer masks before, this video tutorial and tips on layer masking will help you.
With the mask black, then select white as your foreground color, and pick a soft round brush. You will vary the hardness of the brush as needed. I usually set my opacity at 30%-35% and paint over the desired items where I want the color more vibrant. You can do this at 100%, but with a low opacity brush, you will have more control as you can build the effect by painting multiple times.
For the before and after image below, I painted on the image with the mask selected, using a 30% brush at 19% hardness. I painted over the entire image once. Then I painted on the truck until 100% of the effect was reached.
The only change in these two images was the channel mixer layer. I hope you learned a lot from this tutorial about using channels to enhance your color and about using layer masks.
About the Author: This post was written by Jodi of MCP Actions, the popular creator of Photoshop actions, training and of the MCP Blog. MCP Actions provides great products and resources for both hobbyist and professional photographers who want to improve their post processing and take their photography to the next level. If you are serious about the quality of your images or your photography business, visit MCP Actions.
You can also find Jodi on Facebook, Twitter, and through her RSS Feed.
Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.
How to Pop Color Selectively Using Channel Mixers and Layer Masks in Photoshop
Original post by Guest Contributor
Today we’re giving away 6 great little kits to help you create some stunning Bokeh effects from Bokeh Masters Kit. Thanks to Udi Tirosh (follow him on Twitter here) for this offer. Here he is to introduce the concept behind the kits and to introduce the competition.
The Challenge
A while back DPS had an article about creating and using shaped bokeh as a creative drive. Taking that concept forward I built a product called the Bokeh Masters Kit which enables creating “bokeh images” in an easy and convenient way.
When I launched the Bokeh Masters Kit I needed to create a strong image which will clearly show how distant blurred dots become shaped bokeh objects.
Process and Setup
To make the bokeh effect work you need to have some highlights that you can take out of focus. Each such out-of-focus dot takes the shape of the hole on the bokeh adapter. A common way to create those highlights is to use LEDs. This is a great option as LEDs are small, cheap and can be bought in a “string form” for holiday’s home decoration. Indeed I started with LEDs. My first images were of my little daughter using a Christmas LED string as backdrop.
I loved the effect, but wanted something more. I wanted hundreds of little distant blurred dots to become hundreds of little shapes.
While working on another project I noticed that wrinkled tinfoil reflects many, many spots of light. This is just what I needed. It took little time to create a screen made from foam board and tinfoil.
I used a very simple 2 strobe setup to take the image: one flash with a CPU cooler gridspot was placed above R2D2 to light it from above. Another gridded strobe was set on the floor for fill and spilling some light on the background.
This worked out pretty nice and I got literally hundreds of little envelopes.
I did a second image with the same concept only using hundreds of tiny streetlight people.
The Giveaway!!!!
To kick things off, DPS will be giving away six Masters Edition kits.
To enter all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. Make sure that in the email field of your comment you leave a valid email address so we can contact you.
We’ll randomly select 6 winners from the comments 2 weeks from today and notify winners via email. If you can’t hold your breath that long, just order the kit here.
Lastly – here’s a quick picture of how the kid attaches to your lens.
Check out more of the type of images that you can achieve with this little bokeh kit here.
Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.
Win a Bokeh Kit: Competition
Original post by Darren Rowse
In this post, Steve Berardi from PhotoNaturalist discusses eight tips for photographing wildflowers.
To get the softly diffused light in this photo, I waited for an overcast sky. (Photo by Steve Berardi)
With spring on the horizon in some parts of the world, you may be thinking about photographing some beautiful wildflowers soon. So, here are 8 tips to get you started:
1. Use a tripod
Using a tripod will help you get sharper photos by ensuring your camera doesn?t move. But, the tripod helps in another way too: it forces you to be more careful about your composition.
When you handhold your camera, there?s a tendency to just snap away, but when you add the tripod, you?ll spend more time thinking about your composition and ensuring your camera is in a very precise position.
2. Wait for an overcast or cloudy day
Direct sunlight will cast harsh shadows and create bright highlights on wildflowers, causing a disaster for exposure.
So, the best time to photograph wildflowers is on an overcast day, because the clouds act as the perfect light diffuser: creating the most perfectly balanced light you can get.
If you can?t wait for an overcast day, cloudy days are good too: just wait for a cloud to cover the sun before taking your shot.
3. Position your camera?s sensor so it?s parallel to the most important plane of the flower
With every photo, you only get one geometrical plane of complete sharpness. So, to maximize sharpness in your wildflower photos, make sure your sensor is parallel to the flower?s most important plane, and carefully focus your lens on this plane.
To maximize sharpness in this photo, I carefully positioned my camera so the sensor was parallel to the flower?s petals. (Photo by Steve Berardi)
4. Use a shutter speed of 1/200 or faster
The most annoying problem you?ll face when photographing wildflowers is battling the wind. So, to help freeze the action of wildflowers (which never seem to sit completely still!), use a fast shutter of at least 1/200 sec. You may need to increase your ISO to 200 or 400 to get this fast of a shutter.
5. Find a flower with a good background
When photographing wildflowers, it?s easy to focus all your attention on the beautiful flowers and forget about the background. But, a good background will help your image by drawing more attention to your subject. So, take the time to find a flower with a good background: one that?s far away (to help get it out of focus), contrasts well with the flower, and has no distracting elements.
6. Find a flower that?s in good shape
Closely inspect each flower before photographing it, to ensure it?s not missing petals or has poor color. Some individual flowers of the same species will be more saturated in color than other individuals, so take some time to find that “perfect flower.”
7. Use a telephoto lens with a short minimum focus distance
A long lens will help you isolate a sharp flower against an out-of-focus background. But, make sure you use one with a short minimum focus distance (5 ft or less), to ensure you can fill the frame with the flower. You can use an extension tube to make your lens focus even closer for the smaller flowers.
8 – Use the RGB histogram to check exposure, NOT the LCD preview
When you?re outside, images on your camera?s LCD will appear much brighter than they actually are. So, to ensure you have a good exposure, rely on the RGB histogram. The histogram is a whole other topic by itself, but the basic idea is to use the histogram to ensure you?re not overexposing any of the color channels in your photo.
Remember to leave no trace…
When photographing wildflowers (or anything in nature), it?s also important to leave no trace. That means, be careful not to step on the flowers, or disturb the ground around them (many flowers depend on the soil structure around them). And, it may be tempting to attach some kind of clip to flowers to keep from swaying in the wind, but please avoid this because it could potentially kill the flower.
So, enjoy the wildflowers, take lots of photos, but leave them just as you found them, so they can be enjoyed by the next person (or butterfly, heh) too 
About the Author: Steve Berardi is a naturalist, photographer, and computer scientist. You can usually find him hiking in the beautiful mountains and deserts of Southern California. Read more of his articles on nature photography at the PhotoNaturalist and check out his new eBook, Digital Wildflower Photography.
Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.
8 Tips for Photographing Wildflowers
Original post by Guest Contributor
Tamron has announced the development of a 70-300mm f/4-5.6 zoom lens featuring image stabilization and an ultrasonic auto-focus drive. The SP 70-300mm F4-5.6 Di VC USD is the company’s first lens to feature its latest Ultrasonic Silent Drive (USD) autofocus motor, with full-time manual focus override. The optical design includes an element made from Extra-Low Dispersion (XLD) glass, said to have optical properties similar to fluorite. Designed for both full-frame and APS-C digital SLRs, the lens will be initially available in Nikon mount followed by Canon and Sony versions.
Original post by Andrew Barrow
