Post-Processing Workshops/Classes on Lightroom and Photoshop for Photographers in Delhi(India)

It's been long time that we have been conducting Workshops on Lightroom and Photoshop at various Photography Academies and Institutions in Delhi, India. So far, we have been involved more into 1:1 sessions as compared to group workshops. During one of the 1:1 session, we got to know that photographers are not able to find about us online and need to contact various academies. For the same we though of putting this blog entry here and soon will be hosting a separate website.

So if you are Photographer and  keen in understanding Lightroom or Photoshop, feel free to contact us at VJ@travellingcamera.com 

Before you contact us, we strongly recommend you to think more about your editing needs and also talk to our old students. This will help you in creating specific charter for yourself and will obviously be helpful for us to be more focused.

Simple Tips to decide your First DSLR !!!

1. Decide your Budget. (X)

2. Find out latest DSLR Models in the range of  0.8X - 0.9X (In the range of 20% less than your budget, because usually budget increases as you take final decision :) )

3. Think of Features you need and compare those features in Canon & Nikon or other brands you are looking for.

4. It should be enough for deciding, but following factor can further help in better decision for long-term.

- Lenses you may buy in future : prices, quality & which camera bodies support those.

- Post Sale service of different companies in your region.

- Value added services offered by dealer or Camera Manufacturer.

Why Photographers should choose Adobe Photoshop Lightroom ?

1. Lightroom is specifically designed for Photographers.
2. This is the only Software for Serious Amateur Photographers. (Be realistic for identifying in which category of Photographers you are.)
3. Lightroom encourage to continuously improve your Photography Skills and Styles. (This is one of the most favorite reason for me to choose it and I always talk about it during my workshops.)
4. Adobe Lightroom does Non-Destructive Editing. 
5.  Adobe Lightroom is Faster Organizer as compared to lot of others. Even Bridge :), which comes with Photoshop.
6. Price of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is Awesome !!!
7. Lightroom has wonderful workflows and extremely easy to use.

Do you understand Image Histrograms? || Understanding Histogram is very important while shooting or editing in Photoshop. : PART-5

We assume that you already have read first four parts of Reading Histogram before continuing this one. If that is not the case, we recommend to check HISTOGRAM-BASICS and come back here. 

So here are remaining three queries we didn't pick in our last article about Histogram Reading in Cameras or any Image Editing Software.

Adobe Photoshop (CS6) is following Lightroom, the youngest Digital Imaging product by Adobe !!!

This week Adobe has released Public Beta of Creative Suite 6 and folks have started sharing views on top new features in Adobe Photoshop CS6. The very first and basic feature enhancement is in CROP. And you will be able to appreciate it better at this point of time, if you have ever tried Lightroom Crop. I am huge fan of Lightroom and happy to see that Photoshop is learning from it's younger friend in Digital Imaging Space. If you haven't tried CROP of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, then I would recommend to try it now and compare the experience with CS5 Photoshop.

Google has decided to close down Picnik || Premium features of PICNIK are free till 19th April 2012

Although heading of this notification says - 'Picnik will be closing' , but I liked the part through which some of the premium tools are free and can be tried till 19th April 2012. After that Picnik will be discontinued by Google for more priority businesses. Slowly online Photo Editing, Sharing portals are being closed by major companies and it seems revenue is not significant to focus on these business lines. But how does it impact Photographers? Will such changes increse the market for Desktop Photo Editing software, which always offer more power? Let's see how this game changes the Photo editing software market.

Fun Photo-Edits with Dumpr Tricks

Check out http://www.dumpr.net/


What you need : Your Photograph :-)

How to Do:


1. Go to http://www.dumpr.net/
2. Select a theme
3. Upload your photo and Click Continue
4. You will see this pic in 10 seconds
5. Click Save button above this photograph and download to your machine.


Congrats :-) You are done !!!


I used this photograph...

How to create a video out of photographs || Adobe Photoshop Elements

Created during office workflow-exercise ...

This video has been created with different photographs of my office Friends. I have used Photoshop Elements 7.0 for this. IN PSE7 we have a feature called Sldieshows which helps you to arrange your pics in different ways. Moreover we can edit pics as per our convenience and different emotions and graphics can be pasted on different frames of the video.

When a slideshow is created we can export it as video or a PDF. Its really a cool feature which helps you to share some memorable moments with your family or friends.

PSE Features used:

- Slideshow Creation

- Editor Photo Collage

- Editor Artwork

- Transitions

- Embedded Audio

- Artwork Frames and graphics

Shrikhand Slideshow on Photoshop.com

THis slideshow has been created using Photoshop.com

Its very simple to add such slideshow to your websites..

- Create an account on Photoshop.com and get 2 GB free space to save your pics online

http://www.photoshop.com/

- Create an album online and Upload pics in that album

- Select this album

- Click Embedd Album in the bottom bar in Photoshop.com Organizer UI

- Open Notepad on your machine

- Click CTRL+V

Now you will get a code which can we added to your website for showing slideshow of all the pics in this album.

You can also add special effects to this slideshow using Photoshop.com slideshow templates. But these are available for premium users. So need to spend some money for that but really templates are cooool :-)

Preserving Memories with Canvera Printing Services || Online Photo Book printing

http://www.canvera.com/

Recently we had a small event at home and I clicked lot of photographs. Now I was getting calls for my parents everyday about sending the hard copies. I wanted to print them in some good pattern and I needed time for that. I was not getting enough time to give them a good presentable shape. I created few collages using Photoshop Elements and wanted to order a Photobook. I explored lot of options in India and found Canvera.

Even I didn't order Photobook from Canvera because I found the prices unreasonably high. But the main thing I liked that Canvera provides a light application to create Photobook with lots of options(Backgrouns, Frame designs, layouts etc). I have seen the quality in Photofair-2008 and its good.

Have a look at Canvera in case you ar looking for quick and quality printing solutions...

Adobe Lightroom 4 Beta is announced on Adobe Labs with some of the cool features !

Browsing through Facebook I found an update about Adobe Lightroom 4 and was wondering if this product is available in market. Lightroom is one of the most used software in my workspace. 

 More details about the release, new features, enhancements are available at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom4/ . Beta software can also be downloaded and used to get a feel of what we can expect from next version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

I am fan of Picnik editing these days

Recently I have started working on Picnik editing tools which are integrated with Flickr. I am really enjoying easy and wonderful editing.

Picnik has many free tools available and for some tools we need to have premium membership which is very reasonable. Picnic Premium membership is for $3 per month.

Here is one sample image I have edited in Picnic. I didn't share original because that was not worth viewing :)

INDU
Originally uploaded by Ripple S M

I liked following free tools on Picnic:


- Sharpness control
- Color &
- Fade effect with wonderful controls and results
- Frames
- Curves & some other advanced tools

Another Supermachine by Nikon is launched Today || Nikon D4, a 16 Megapixel Multi-Media SLR having speed of 10 Frames per Second

Just came across an article on dpreview.com about Nikon D4 - http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/01/06/NikonD4launched

Detailed information about the Camera can of course be seen on the link shared. Here I would want to share quick highlights of this camera and our take on the pricing w.r.t. features this camera is offering.

Let's have a quick walk-through of main features Nikon D4 is offering -

1. 10 Frames per Second.

2. 16.2 Megapixel

3. Maximum ISO offered - ISO 204,800 (with boost) .. 12800.

4. First Camera to make use of XQD memory card format

5. It's a Full Frame D-SLR

6. EXCEED3 CMOS Sensor

7. 51-point AF with enhanced Speed.

8. Full HD Video Recording

9. In Build Time-Lapse Shooting mode which gives a processed movie in the end.

....

There are lot more things to share about this Camera, but let me stop here and check out the videos below. First one is about Nikon D4 tour and other one is comparison between D800 and D4...

Nikon D4 and D800...

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Our first Lightroom Workshop at Academy of Photography Excellence(APEX), Vansant Vihar, Delhi

It started with a very informal discussion with one of my mentors during a Photo-Walk. We were just discussing about an exhibition he was planning to host and complexities of digital manipulation in terms of color management and printing. This topic extended to get professional editing services for Photographs...

Controlling Depth of Field while Photographying !!!

There are three basic facts to Depth Of Field. Holding everything else equal:

1. DOF increases as a lens is stopped down (i.e., the f/number is increased)

2. DOF increases as focal length decreases

3. DOF increases with subject distance.

Experienced photographers

PHOTOGRAPHS/PHOTOGRAPHY-SERVICES for FREE ?

It's been some time that I have been offering free Photography services to various companies, Friends (who comes in life for few days and go away), some reputed newspapers of country etc.  Apart from giving photographs for free, I have also been part of some events only because of my personal interest about those events. E.g. - I have covered few sports events.  You won't believe that three days were spent on a product shoot and that so called friend never came back and lost till date...

One fine day, I got another proposal from one  of the adventure sports organization that I have been selected as official Photographer of a three days event and it will be a sponsored trip with some conditions. Credits will be given to me but NO MONEY PLEASE :) ... Even I was ready as I needed not to take any leave for it. Then I called one of the experienced Adventure Sports Photographer and he asked me to say NO to these people who make crores of rupees out of these events and don't want to pay to Photographers. Although I had committed to those folks, but I decided not to do any such assignment for FREE !!!

On an average, I get 3 proposals in a month from people who have NO MONEY for photographers. Magazines, Newspapers, Corporates, Event organizers and Book publishers feel that Photographs are something which can be easily accessed without budgeting. At times it feels that they are doing me a favor by offering to use my work and giving credits :)

Initially I was not sure if I should reply to such queries or not. Most of the times I simply ignore and at times send them a nice reply in straight words, which they don't like. At times I try to find out the possibility of getting some money and then people disappear automatically...

My favorite quote is - "Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternative"

So people who come to me for Photographs, most of times they are not much concerned about Quality and money is more important for them. I have seen people earning crores out of an event and don't want to pay to Photographers even in thousands. My personal advice to these folks is to buy a Camera and click your photographs yourself ! Does it sound difficult? Ohh sorry, I forgot to add that you have to spend some time (In years) to understand Photography and also need to try out various photography techniques to start with. Ohh Yes, all this is free as you are owner of your time. Your time is Free it seems, BUT NOT MINE !

Even sometimes I feel guilty that I have snatched work of many Professional Photographers by doing some assignments for free, even after spending money on my travel and stay. Does it sound stupid as well? Yes, it's stupid and inhuman...

Here I would like to request all Hobbyst Photographers to avoid such clients who are nothong but short time opportunists who want to use you for saving very little %age of money, by killing a JOB of Pro Photographer. Think how we are spoiling Photography market and some of us aspire to enter into that. For getting an entry we are spoiling the same market by offering our services for free. As you know these folks are getting comparatively good quality photographs t no cost and they are not bothered about best by getting Pro folks.

Folks who look for free Photographs or Photography Services can't be trusted even if they offer very little after some negotiation. Even you can't be sure about the way they are going to use your Photographs.

One fine day, one of my friend who is running a Software company called me to provide some photographs of confident students who are well dressed with nice background of a good institution. Does this Photograph sound very simple to shoot? He simply asked me to email few photographs for his client. When I asked details about the client, his organization had $4.8 billion revenue that year. When I asked about money, reply was - Come on your photograph will be published on website of UK's reputed university. I said Thanks to him with a big NO.

I can keep writing about it, but would stop here by requesting Hobbyist Photographers to learn saying NO to such opportunists who are spoiling Photography Industry !!!

PHOTO JOURNEY: Taj - An Enigma

PHOTO JOURNEY: Taj - An Enigma: "Taj Mahal is an enigma. Not only in the aesthetic sense, but also from a photographer's point of view. While it is a monument of every phot..."

WORKSHOP ATTENDED on "Fashion Photography Redefined with Photoshop and Lightroom"

Fashion Photography Redefined with Photoshop and Lightroom 

This workshop was conducted by a delhi based organization. In was a two days workshop focusing on Studio Set-up & Photographing Models on first day and processing these Photographs in Lightroom/Photoshop on second Day. I participated on second day of this workshop. Here was overall agenda for second day:

1.    - Meaning of retouching for the commercial fashion photography Stages and logic of retouching. Not "how to do", but "what, when and why" to do.

2.    - Basic tools and using of them

3.    - Composition (framing and horizon correction)

4.    - Brightness and contrast

5.    - Basic filters

6.    - Work with a human portrait: shape, plastic, basics of anatomy, filters "plastic" and shadow/highlights

7.    - Work with skin: what to do before shoot, during a shoot, cooperation with make-up artist, correction in Photoshop

8.    - Color correction - different ways

9.    - Adjustment layers as a basic instrument of retouching

10. - Some other filters and using of them

11. - Texture layers

Trainers were from a well known Academy who trains Fashion Photographers in India and Europe !!!

Take-Away:

1.    Get to know about the workflow they follow to edit a Fashion Photograph

a.    Adjusting Lighting/Colors/White-Balance and Lens Distortions in Lightroom.

b.    Enter into Photoshop for specific editing using Layers, Masks and various Filters.

*** They had very little knowledge of Lightroom and Photoshop is main tool for them

3.    Popular tools of Photoshop used for Fashion Photo enhancements

a.    Sharpen Brush

b.    Blur Brush

c.    Spot Healing

d.    Gaussian Blur

e.    Adjustment Layers (HSL, Levels, Brightness/Contrast)

4.    There are different folks who do the editing. Photographers just shoot and pass the photographs to main editor. These Editors have good knowledge of specific tools which are used in their workflows. They are not Photoshop Experts and have fixed pattern to get best results!

THIS WORKSHOP GAVE ME A PERSPECTIVE HOW THESE PROFESSIONALS WORK !!! AND ANY CREATIVE PERSON WHO KNOW THESE TOOLS WELL, CAN DO FAR BETTER THAN TRAINERS I MET !!!

I was really disappointed when they were giving wrong theories about sRGB and AdobeRGB !

Now I know many of the folks who run workshops in Delhi and know about the quality of workshops they organize. In case you are planning to join any of the workshop in delhi, leave me a comment and I can try to find out if its worth for you or not... I don't want folks to waste money on such useless and over-hyped workshops !!! Sometimes they partner with big names like Nikon, Canon or Olympus... And have nice pages on Facebook !!!

So do proper research before enrolling for any Workshop

PHOTO JOURNEY: Sunny Photographs with Star Effects !!!

PHOTO JOURNEY: Sunny Photographs with Star Effects !!!: "Long time back I attended an exhibition on Night Photography by Anindo Ghosh and there was a photograph of India Gate with lot of stree..."