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3. Photoshop Tutorials - Blissful Landscape Photo Manipulation | Photo Manipulation | Photoshop Tutorials

Use the Magic Wand or Quick Selection tool to create a selection of the seagulls. Try to make the selection as accurate as possible. The seagulls in the distance are blurry so make sure that your selection covers the blurred edges. If you???re using Photoshop CS3 or later, you usually can use the ???Refine Edge??? tool in to refine the edges of the selection. However, in this case, we cannot use it because all the seagulls have a different edge softness. Instead, we???ll need to refine the edges manually using a variety of tools you???ll learn about after the next step.

9. Leading Lines in Landscape Photography Compositions - PictureCorrect Tips

Composition and good photography go hand in hand. Anyone can (with practice) perfect the technical skills to take a well exposed photo. It is your flair for composition that will set your photos apart from the crowd. The difficulty is, while technical photography can be taught using concrete rules and numbers, composition is a little more 'artsy.' A lucky few are born with a natural sense of visual style and balance. For the rest of us, it takes plenty of time and experience to develop a talent for composition. Luckily there are a few tips and guidelines that can make the whole thing easier. One of these, the Rule Of Thirds, I have already mentioned in a couple of previous articles. There is another principle of good composition that can add real impact to your photos; it just doesn't have a name. Today I want to write about using straight lines in a composition to lead the eye of the viewer. This is a simple technique that helps to control the way the viewer sees your photo. You can use lines to lead the eye of the viewer within your composition, and even add impact to a particular part of your photo. Imagine a photo with a panoramic landscape. You could think like a tourist and just snap the landscape with no thought for creative composition. But as a creative photographer, you have a better idea. You find an outlook that offers the same scene, but with a fence in the foreground. For your first shot, you photograph the fence running horizontally across the foreground. In this situation, the fence is like a barrier between the viewer and the subject. It does not help the composition; in fact it is probably an annoying distraction. People are likely to think "Nice photo - it's a pity the fence got in the way." Next, imagine the same scene shot from a slightly different angle. Now the fence runs diagonally away from the camera towards the landscape in the distance. This alternate view (if done well) will create a completely different impact. The eye will be caught by the prominent subject in the foreground (the fence), and it will follow the line of the fenceposts into the picture. In this way the two elements of your composition work together to make a stronger picture. The fence is no longer a distraction; in fact, it adds emphasis to the background subject by leading the viewer in that direction. There are many situations that can use this simple technique. A bridge, a jetty, a line of telephone wires, even railway tracks...there are all kinds of opportu...

10. How to Improve your Landscape Photography - PictureCorrect Camera Tips

Don't use a wide angle all the time though. There are times when scenes provide perfect opportunities to zoom in closer. You may be above a village with beautiful roof tops and a church spire above the trees - zooming in would allow you to record the most interesting area, effectively cropping the landscape and recording a scene 'within a scene'. Viewpoint and composition are also important when taking pictures. Try to create depth in the image - using a good focal point in the foreground is ideal to do this, such as a tree, boulder, or perhaps a bridge or stream. Consider the height you're taking the picture from and think: would this look better if I was lower down, or higher up? Don't just settle on taking all your shots from head height - try some variation. Try to include the most interesting parts in your picture, look for lines such as streams and footpaths which act as 'lead-in lines' and help draw the eye in to the frame. Diagonal lines tend to work best as they create more impact. Color can make a landscape image truly work. Try to look for any color you can, whether it be bright flowers, a bracken covered hillside, or perhaps a stone wall covered in vibrant green moss. Even a red telephone box might work, if it fits in nicely with the surroundings. In winter, there is less color around, but watch out for cold mornings where frosty areas that still remain in shadow, create a lovely cool blue shade, adding another dimension to your image. Depending how far you want to take it, there are a number of additions to your kit that will help improve your landscape photography. A tripod or monopod will make sure that all your images are sharp, and also slow you down, helping you concentrate on composition. Filters are also useful - a polarizing filter is ideal on sunny day where they cut through haze, increase color saturation and make the clouds leap out of the sky. Graduated filter are also popular, used to effectively darken the sky where the sky is too bright - this evens up the otherwise high contrast which all cameras struggle to cope with. If you really want to do the landscape justice then there is no substitute for doing your research. Walking a route, or even driving round an area is a surefire way of finding where the best pictures are. Think about returning at a better time of day, and try to judge where the sun will be. Also bear in mind the seasonal changes - one location may look pretty dull during late summer, but it could be completely transformed once the autumn colors arrive. All of this comes with experience, but the more time you spend out there, the more likely you are to bag some truly rewarding images. Paul Miguel is a professional landscape and wildlife photographer based in West Yorkshire. His work is regularly used by a number of magazines and publishers. He also runs a range of photography workshops. http://www.paulmiguel.com

11. Remove haze from landscape photos | online photo tutorials

In photography, timing is everything. Light changes often throughout the day, with the early morning or late afternoon lighting giving landscape photographs a soft appearance, without the harsh light of midday but with the edge definition that makes photos �come alive�. However, when traveling, you cannot always view landmarks when the light is best, and you often have to settle for hazy view that never appears as well in a photo as you remember it. With Photoshop, however, you can clean up your landscape images and remove the blue tint from the atmosphere seen most during over long distances at mid day.

13. Better Landscape Photo Tips - PictureCorrect Photography Review

Photography, and in particular nature photography, does not have to be over-complicated. Unfortunately, with so many features on a new digital camera, and a manual that is impossible to read, most beginners feel much safer with their camera set to automatic. If you read that and thought "That sounds like me!" read on; I have good news. There are some great ways to take better photos without having to learn the complexities of your camera. That's right - leave your camera on auto and still learn to take great photos. Of course I encourage anybody to learn and understand aperture and shutter speed, the settings you will need to understand to really improve as a photographer. However, the best encouragement is to start getting results quickly, so here are five easy tips to help you improve your photography...the low-tech way! Better Photography Tip#1. Take your photo in the best possible light. You may have heard that the best light for most photography is very early or very late in the day, when the sun is low, and the light is soft and colorful. This is a good rule to follow most of the time. Not only is the light more attractive, you can also avoid the contrast and heavy shadows of midday. Some subjects actually work better on cloudy days. For animals and people, cloudy weather softens the light and overcomes the problem of your subject squinting into the light. In the forest, overcast skies prevent the heavy contrast that is a problem on sunny days. Better Photography Tip#2. Landscape photos: create a more interesting composition. Many photos can be made more interesting not by zooming right in on the subject, but by zooming out, or standing further back to capture more of the surroundings. The important thing is to use make sure you use the surroundings to add impact to the picture. For example, let's say you are photographing an old rustic farmhouse. You could add even more character by using a line of fence posts, or a gravel driveway, to lead the eye into the picture. Or when photographing a waterfall, you could try going a little further downstream, to shoot the creek with the waterfall in the background for a more interesting angle. Better Photography Tip#3. Sunset and Sunrise. Everyone loves taking sunset (and sunrise) photos. A brilliant sunset sky can make a great photo, but you can make it even better by looking for a good subject in the foreground. The key is to find something that stands out against the sky, with a an outline people can recogn...

15. Digital Landscape Painting -- Art Tutorials at Epilogue

This step-by-step guideline is in no way the definitive process to create great landscapes with your digital software but is really an overview of one working method that has proven itself in the many pieces I have completed using it. The weapon of choice, for me, is Mac hardware running Photoshop with a Wacom graphics tablet. You can use pretty much anything you have at hand, since I will be describing painting techniques that are not really platform or software dependent. Corel/Procreate Painter is excellent software for this type of work and should be considered for serious digital painting. I was not as familiar with Painter as Photoshop at the time of creating the tutorial, so all of my examples are from Photoshop.

31. Improving Digital Landscape Photos - PictureCorrect Photography Lessons

Shoot in Camera RAW Format Number One: If you have read any of my previous photography guides then you probably know that I strongly recommend shooting in RAW format. Why is this so important? The answer simply boils down to control. When you set your digital camera to automatically convert your images to JPEGs, you give up a great deal of processing control. Most digital cameras automatically apply sharpening, saturation, and tonal adjustments during the conversion process. The image is also compressed into an 8-bit file removing a great deal of the exposure latitude that you had with the original photograph (up to 16-bits for many cameras). Essentially the camera automatically applies a standard set of processing routines to the image and then throws out roughly one third or more of the data during the compression process. The JPEG file format is destructible in that it compresses and recompresses the image (and thereby removing file information) each time it is saved. If you do shoot in JPEG format, be sure to save your processed files as PSDs or TIFFs to avoid additional compression and to retain all of your Photoshop layers. Always be on the Lookout for New Locations Number Two: It goes without saying that traveling to exotic locations around the world is an exciting part of landscape photography; however you can find just as many wonderful places to photograph in your own area. Success as a landscape photographer has a lot to do with preplanning and scouting out potentially new locations. Scenes that you photographed during the summer have a whole different look and feel during the fall. Whether you are out photographing a specific location or just driving through a new area on unrelated business, always be on the look out for hidden gems. This might be a little known area where eagles are feeding or an abandoned farm concealed by years of overgrown weeds and brambles. Even while I am out and about hanging out with my family and friends, I always have my eyes open for new places to work. Shoot During Hours of Dawn and Dusk Number Three: Many of my favorite images were taken during the golden hours of dawn and dusk. A successful landscape photographer is usually willing to get out of bed well before dawn or to stay out late into the evening to capture the beautiful light of the setting sun. I have a good friend who is an exceptional landscape photographer. He recently paid a good deal of money to travel to exotic areas of South America with a small gr...

32. Digital Photography Tips - Landscape Photography

If you are serious about landscape photography, you should take a course. You may have already had a course in photography but you will want to take one specifically for landscape photography so you can learn how to get the best pictures possible. You will want to learn what film to use and how to work with the sunlight or other natural light. You will also learn about achieving a sense of balance and scale, how to photograph running water and similar issues that a landscape photographer might face.

33. The Essentials of Professional Landscape Photography - PictureCorrect

Landscape photography has the ability to take your viewers into another place without actually being there. Anybody can pick up a camera and take a photo of an interesting place, but it takes a careful and mindful photographer to take a landscape photo that is truly compelling. Most of the really impressive landscape photos that you will see have a few common elements. They have some type of foreground element, some type of framing element, and they all comply with the rule of thirds in some way. Foreground Elements In order to show the depth of a landscape it is very important to include some type of foreground element. Without something in the foreground, the viewer has no way to distinguish distances or sizes; everything looks more flat and closer to the camera. A foreground element adds a substantial amount of improvement to what would be a drab amateur photo. But when using foreground elements in landscape photos make sure you use a very narrow aperture (high f/stop) so the whole scene will be in focus. Just about anything can be used as a foreground element but of course some things work better than others. For example, when I am taking landscape photos in the Napa Valley I always include some grape vines close to the camera leading off into the distance. That way, the viewer's eye is drawn into the photo more effectively because the grape vines lead the viewer's eyes deeper into the photo. The vines also perform the function of providing the viewer with some idea of the size of the Napa Valley because the vines in my photos go from being large when they are close to the camera to being tiny as they lead off into the distance. Some photographers like to use foreground objects that are really more like subjects. One example of this would be a boat sitting on a long beach or a car staring down a long road. Other photographers like to use simpler foreground elements such as long grass with large fields in the background or a rusty railing with a city standing in the distance. Sometimes when foreground elements and background elements don't seem to fit together the result can be even more compelling. A good example of this would be photos taken from Central Park in New York City with grass and trees in the foreground and massive corporate buildings in the background. Framing Elements Framing is the tactic of using natural surroundings to add more meaning to your subject. It could be anything such as bushes, trees, a window, or even a doorway. A good exam...

34. Night Landscape Photography Lessons - PictureCorrect Tips

Capture Stunning Landscape Images During the Black of Night Many photographers assume that once the sun goes down, so do the opportunities to take spectacular landscape images. Some of my favorite photographs were taken under extremely low light or nearly pitch-black conditions. In fact, I have found that the darker it is the better results I usually get in my images. You are more likely to pick up unusual colors not typically visible to the naked eye while capturing wonderful streaks in the sky when shooting at night. Here are a few suggestions that will help you capture great nighttime landscapes. Scout out locations during daylight hours This is extremely important because it will be difficult at best to find good places suitable for nighttime photography during hours of darkness. I normally try to find several potential spots where I can go to shoot during a single trip out. Look for areas where it is safe to park your car and where you might be able to setup your tripod. I have found myself standing right next to lonely country roads, in deep ditches, and over irrigation sloughs to get just the right composition. Having a specific place to setup in mind before it gets dark can save you a lot of time and frustration. Find a strong subject to anchor your image A good landscape image typically has something of interest in the foreground to grab the viewer's attention. Whether it is an old barn, hollowed out tree, or windy creek, try looking for something to make your image visually interesting. Also keep in mind the rule of thirds when composing your shots. Avoid artificial light The farther away you can get from city lights, the better your images will turn out. I have found that shooting in nearly pitch-dark conditions using long shutter speeds pulls out colors and tones not generally visible to the naked eye. I typically drive an hour or more to get to locations that have few or no artificial lights. Nearby artificial lighting will not kill a decent landscape image; however it can overwhelm the subtle ambient light that is naturally present. Remember that you can adjust the color temperature of your images later in processing so do not let a nearby light spoil your evening. Do not trespass Nothing ruins a night of landscape photography faster than being contacted by the police for trespassing on someone's property -especially at night (I know this from experience). My general rule of thumb is if the area in question has a fence around it, a sign poste...

35. History of Architectural Landscape Photography - PictureCorrect Tips

There aren't many but some of us take an interest in architectural landscape photos. With a view to giving some insight on this subject I have created this article to give a basic understanding and supply some facts about its origins. Some of us become interested in architectural landscape photos later in life, it doesn't matter when you take an interest but when you do you'll be hooked. If taking architectural landscape photos is one of your hobbies, it might be interesting for you to read a brief history of architectural photography. Commercial portraiture was the main area of interest in the early years of photography. The ones who made architectural landscape photos were generally travelers, for different business reasons, not only especially for photography. At that time (the middle of the 19th century), photographers usually worked from a convenient window rather than at street level, as they do now. WHF Talbot, one of the first photographers, used to take architectural landscape photos from his hotel window, in the cities he visited. Roger Fenton, the first war photographer was the first one to take fine architectural studies, using calotypes, both in Britain, his home country, and in Russia (in Kiev, Moscow and St. Petersburg). He learnt the waxed paper calotype process from Gustave Le Grey, its inventor, in his journeys to Paris. Francis Frith was the first one to make the Middle East familiar to the civilized world, by the architectural landscape photos he took in his journeys. He beard with him very large cameras and used the collodion process, as he had to work in hot and dusty conditions. Samuel Bourne is another British photographer that became famous for his work in India. Most of the early architectural landscape photos give the subjects the impression of import and grandeur. The lenses needed for architecture were quite different from the ones used in portraiture. They had to give sharpness and linear drawing, but there was no need for high speed, as buildings sit still. In the late 19th century, photographers were advised to keep the camera back vertical and to photograph buildings from the normal eye level, instead of using elevated viewpoints, in order to suggest the normal impression of height. The frontage and a side of the building had to be both included in the architectural landscape photo. Camera movements were also considered essential, and the most important movement was the rising front. Frederick H. Evans is regarded as the fi...

36. Improving Mountain Landscape Photography - PictureCorrect Camera Tips

Why is it so difficult to capture mountain images like the ones we see in those lavishly-produced coffee table books? Is it just down to equipment, or is the photographer simply better at it than we are? Was he just lucky with the weather that day? And if so, why am I never that lucky? Well, luck does come into it, having the right equipment is a necessity, and if the weather's not right, there's not a lot you can do about it, but you don't have to be a John Cleare or Colin Prior to produce fantastic mountain images that will capture the essence of your perfect day in the hills. Mountains are by nature photogenic, but it is not always easy to capture their scenic grandeur in a photograph. Serious professional photographers have to use very expensive, large-format equipment to produce the image quality required for reproduction in a printed book or magazine, but for non-professional purposes, a decent 35mm SLR camera, preferably with a wide angle lens, will produce highly acceptable results. I use a Sigma 12-24mm wide-angle zoom lens on a Nikon D2X, usually at its wider settings, or a Tokina 20-35mm. Wide angle lenses are necessary to include the large physical area occupied by mountain scenes, and impart a sense of scale and space. It is a good idea to include some foreground detail like figures or buildings to emphasise the scale of the scene. But owning the latest Canon or Nikon 35mm will not turn you into Ansel Adams overnight. Ask any photographer what is the most important element in the picture-taking process, and he will reply - the person behind the camera. The camera should become an extension of your eye, allowing you to frame the image in the viewfinder the way you see the scene in your mind's eye. This is where viewpoint, composition, and lighting enter the equation., and although the best photographers do this instinctively, there are basic principles which you can adopt, and apply to your picture-taking, which will dramatically improve your photography. Viewpoint is the first consideration - most places and objects, whether they are mountains, buildings, people, or your prize begonias, have an optimum viewpoint, from which angle they are shown to best effect. With large objects like mountains, there will be several viewpoints from which interesting and often dramatic images can be captured. These viewpoints are often well known, and books like The Welsh Peaks and the Lakeland Peaks by W.A. Poucher contain specific information about the best v...

37. Composition in Landscape Photography - PictureCorrect Camera Tips

Beautiful subjects and technical ability are not enough to make a good picture. Photographers must properly compose the photo, too. Composition should be pleasing and harmonious; it should help driving the viewer's eye through our picture as we desire. Elements to consider for an attractive composition are dominant feature, balance and rhythm. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A composition looking harmonious to a person might look lackluster to another. So feel free to adapt the suggestions in this article to your needs and attitudes. Besides, try your best not to be stuck into rules and commandments, because they might be the loss of your creativity. Remember: photography is the art of seeing, not the skill of following the rules. Seeing things differently might convey different composing, which is good, because original and personal. Experiment with your creativity and inspiration; try breaking purposely the rules. This means that occasionally you will have to throw away a few shots and this is good, too. Indeed, if you have seldom some shots to dismiss, it means you are not experimenting enough. Having said that, let us list a few concepts we should refine our sensitivity for. Main Subject It should be self-evident that before shooting we should know exactly what our main subject is. We must do our best to convey the viewer's attention to it, without distracting elements. This does not mean that we must exclude everything except the dominant feature in our image. In fact, we have three options: 1) Macro-photography. Show only the main subject and nothing else. This yields the advantage of no distractions to the viewer. 2) Intimate landscape. Show the main subject together with its neighborhoods to give it a spatial placing. This can be useful to make it easier to recognize the subject or to say something more about it. 3) Grand scenic. Show the subject immersed in its entire surrounding. This can be done if the surrounding is meaningful to the feelings you want to convey. In any case, the viewer's attention must be attracted to the main subject first, and only then he can wander around the rest of the picture. If the viewer's eye does not go directly to the main subject as soon as he looks at the picture, the photographer has failed his mission. Here are a few useful tips in order to emphasize the dominant feature. Put your main subject in the foreground so that it appears bigger. Typically, this requires a large depth of field. Another popular met...

38. Styles of Landscape Photography - PictureCorrect Digital Camera Tips

There are many photographers in this world who seem to favor landscape photography more over any of the other types of photography. Personally speaking I like it when my photographs have some element of life in it be it human or not, but I can see where sweeping shots of rolling hills, toiling seas and endless skies does have an impact on the viewer. To my mind there are two distinctly different types of landscape photography around. That of the natural landscape photography, and that of the urban landscape photography. Both have their pros and both have their cons, and it's really up to the photographer and their sense of imagination to get across to us a grand scene. Be that as it may though, to get a decent landscape photography shot you don't need to travel to far and distant lands, in fact you don't even need to leave your home. To start your landscape photography you can just take a ride on out to your back, or front yard, and have a quick go there to see how well you can make this everyday setting into something extraordinary. Of course the fun with traveling to far and distant lands to get your landscape photography shots is that most of the hard work has already been done for you. The scenes have already been set to perfection and there's always going to be some really great vantage point that you can go to, to take your pictures. The trouble with going it at home is that you need to set the shot up for yourself. You need to see the good in your yard and you need to be able to translate that into something that doesn't look like your back yard. Landscape photography is not an easy task, but it is well worth the try as you open yourself up to the vast array of possibilities and you learn to think outside of the box. So the next time you go to far and distant lands you won't just be taking the same old boring shot that everyone before you has, instead you'll be looking at the various possibilities to be had from different angles and how you can possibly accomplish landscape photography. Like I said earlier there are two types of landscape photography and natural landscape photography is one of them. Landscape photography of this variety is what you see most of the time. Shots of lightning streaking down from the sky, tumbling waterfalls, roiling seas and densely packed green foliage from the middle of a rainforest, we've seen them all and yet we keep coming back for more. We never tire of seeing these glorious photographs, just as we never tire of s...

39. Landscape Photography - Tips on Capturing Images with Character

The task is even greater if it is a popular location. When you photograph a place that is photographed a thousand times a day, you have to find a way to create something different from the everyday snapshot. Here are just a few tips for capturing the character of a landscape. Tip#1. You Don't Have To Fit Everything In. Some panoramic views are so huge that the only way to fit everything into your photo is to use a very wide-angle lens. The trouble is, this reduces everything in size, so that the grandeur of your subject is diminished. It can be more effective to concentrate your composition around one feature of the landscape; a feature other people will recognize. With this approach, you can use a larger lens to add size and prominence to the the subject. You may also capture details that could be lost with a wide-angle lens. Tip #2. Look For A New Angle. Why is it that so many photos of the great landmarks look the same? Simply because everybody photographs them from the same lookouts. It is easy to get a good shot from a major lookout; in fact, that is probably why the lookout was built in the first place. The trouble is, it is almost impossible to get a unique shot if your photo is taken from the same angle as all the others. If possible, search beyond the established lookouts to see if there is a more interesting angle to take your photo. This may take a little more effort, and you may have to do some bushwalking to find the best spot. I don't suggest risking your neck or trespassing, but in most cases there are alternatives to the established lookouts. Tip #3. Use The Surroundings To Your Advantage. Anyone can take a snaphsot of a mountain range. But what about a mountain range framed through the branches of a tree in the foreground, or with a river winding away into the distance, drawing with it the eye of the viewer? Every landscape can be photographed from a number of angles; the most obvious one is not always the best. By scouting around and looking for interesting foregrounds, you can add real character to your image and create something truly unique. Always try to remember that you are not the first person to photograph this subject. To produce a memorable photo, you need to put in some effort to create something a little different. Tip #4. Consider The Conditions. Capturing your subject in the best light can be a real balancing act. First you need to consider the time of day. Usually the ideal light is early in the morning and late in the afte...

40. Tips to Capture Great Landscape Photography - PictureCorrect Digital Cameras

Wide angle lenses are best suited for landscape pictures. A great landscape view for a picture depends largely on the amount of light falling on its location. Action, Lights and Location After selecting the location which you feel will enable you to capture a great picture, evaluate the amount of light available in the area. If this is for an important picture, make the effort to consider the effects of light at different times over the course of 24 hours and decide during which part of the day the light will be most beneficial. Once you have done this, you can then determine which features or additional components added to your camera foreground will help to produce a more enhanced effect and depth for the picture. Don't discount the possibility of using other nearby areas as well for an even better shot. Sometimes the greatest landscape backgrounds are available in locations you might not ordinarily consider. You might also try taking pictures from different angles to weigh their impact on the snapshots, positive or negative. To avoid any shadows or darkness appearing over the picture as you take the shot, it is best to capture a view early in the morning or in the latter portion of the afternoon. Once you have determined the time of the day to shoot, set up your camera using a tripod. After all, you don't want a shaking hand to diminish the beauty you are attempting to capture. Also, use a light meter to gauge the amount of light, and adjust the aperture and shutter speed accordingly. Using Natural Effects You can always add parts of nature in your pictures to help produce a very different, though natural, effect on your picture. For example, sunset moments can be best captured when the sun is touching the horizon. Take the picture about five minutes after this point. It is also advisable to take the picture from as high a position as you can find. And you can also make use of a polarizing filter to highlight sky color and tone. Making use of these techniques can produce an effect similar to a postcard. Equip Yourself with Necessary Supplies Normally, to capture a landscape view a photographer will likely need to travel out of the confines of city life. However, any time you travel some distance to take photos, bring extra personal and photography supplies, such as a water bottle, flash light, additional rolls of film, etc. You definitely do not want to migrate several miles from home only to discover you have neglected to bring a sufficient supply of a...

41. Micro Landscape Photography - PictureCorrect Macro Photos

When I began making pictures of the landscape, it was always the big picture that figured and I suppose it's the same for most of us. It was a case of a few exposures and then move on to the next grand view. Then came the day when I 'needed' to make some pictures - photographers will know what I mean - and the weather was against me. Uniformly grey cloud and lousy light are no recipe for great landscape shots. With the itch in my shutter finger unsatisfied, I had to find a subject so I began casting around the area and, what do you know, there were dozens of them. Of course there were for those who have eyes to see. The big picture is made up of thousands, maybe millions of smaller pictures and this is what I had been missing. And, it's not only the weather that can be against the making of the big picture. Sometimes it is hard to avoid the crowds in a popular spot for example but if we are attuned to looking within the scene for its components and are able to recognise potential pictures among them then our frustrations at not being able to make pictures because of situations that are beyond our control can be relieved. And the same applies when the big picture just isn't right. Maybe it's the light that is wrong - from the wrong direction, at the wrong time of day - or something in the scene is just not photogenic and it can't be got around by moving it or moving our viewpoint. This happened to me recently when I went to the Snowy River in the New South Wales high country in Australia. The attractive scenes that I knew from five years ago had disappeared in the disastrous bush fires of January 2003 and the area had not fully recovered. There were dead trees everywhere and the whole area had a scrubby look about it. Its former beauty will come back but it will take a lot more time. Big picture scenes were out, so I concentrated instead on close ups of some of the spring wildflowers that were brightening the river bank. And, when I spent a week last year on England's Cumbrian coast the weather was less than kind but nevertheless I found subjects to shoot between the bursts of sunshine by looking into the landscape. It was the weather that first forced me into exploring for the smaller pictures but now it is my natural approach to landscape photography. I do not shun the big picture but now I am loath to leave a place until I have made some images that show something of its intimate details. I have learned to not only look but also to see. And, that is the ...

42. Photoshop Masking & Montage Tutorial ? Using Masks To Improve Landscape Images | PhotoshopSupport.com

Get all your Photoshop upgrade options and the best prices at the Adobe Store. Find the latest Photoshop CS3 tutorials on our Photoshop CS3 Tutorials Page. Photoshop Masking & Montage Tutorial ? Using Masks To Improve Landscape Images Adapted from "Photoshop CS3 Essential Skills" by Mark Galer and Philip Andrews Tutorial Work Files You can download the images needed to work along with this tutorial. Visit Mark Galer's site (link opens in a new window) for instructions on how to access them. The images are high resolution and will make it easier to reproduce the exact effects from this tutorial. Original Venice image by Craig Shell (sky by Mark Galer) Drama in Venice Venetian classical painters had a passion for moody and tempestuous skies (just Google the Tempest by Giorgione to see one such example). I now find it hard to look at an image of Venice with a featureless sky. The sky is an essential ingredient of any memorable landscape image. Unfortunately it is not something the photographer can control unless we have limitless time and patience. The commercial photographer is often required to deliver the goods on a day that suits the client rather than the photographer and weather forecast. In these instances it is worth building a personal stock library of impressive skies that can be utilized to turn ordinary images with bland skies into impressive ones. The digital compact set to a low ISO is ideal for capturing these fleeting moments. The most useful skies to collect are the ones that include detail close to the horizon line, i.e. captured without interference from busy urban skylines, such as can be found at the beach or in the desert. A stock library of skies is included on the DVD of the new Photoshop CS3 Essential Skills book (published by Focal Press) to help you start, or add to, your own collection. In this project we explore how a sky can be adapted to fit the landscape so the montage is not immediately obvious. Step 1 Select the Magic Wand Tool from the Tools palette and set the tolerance to 20 in the Options bar. Select the Add to Selection icon in the Options bar or hold down the Shift key as you click multiple times to select all of the sky. Zoom in to 100% or 'Actual Pixels' and select Quick Mask mode from the Tools palette. Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to select the tops of the buildings that were not included in the mask because the Magic Wand may have become over zealous. Fill this selection with black (if Black is the foreground color...