NATIONALLY ACCLAIMED #1 FIELD OF SCREAMS MARYLAND ANNOUNCES MAJOR EXPANSION
HALLOWEEN’S “BEST HAUNTED ATTRACTION” ADDS HOLLYWOOD MOVIE-MAKING, NEW ATTRACTIONS AND MORE DATES
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Residential, Commercial, Interiors
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Landmarks, Cityscape, Urban, Architectural
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Hotels, Restaurants, Advertising, Editorial
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Traditional, Glamour, Lifestyle, Candid
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Portrait, Catalog, Editorial, Street
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CONCERT
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It’s really important to maintain consistent colors when processing your images, especially if you’ve developed a unique, recognizable style. This is also an essential goal when editing a series of photos from the same shoot.
This quick tutorial from the NPB Retouching Tools YouTube channel explains “one of the simplest things you can do in Photoshop to keep your color grading consistent across an entire set.” The oft-ignored trick involve involves a simple drag-and-drop method that anyone can master in in minutes.
Instructor Nino Batista is a photo retouching expert who begins this episode like this: “Let’s say you finish a couple new edits, but you’ve already done other edits from the same set, or maybe you’ve completed all the color work on the hero shot of the shoot.” Sometimes these edits involve several different layers, and you think to yourself, “now I have to replicate all this work with the remaining images in the series so that they all match.”
This can be a very time-consuming process, depending upon how many images are involved. It also turns out to be an unnecessary task if you follow Batista’s straightforward advice. All you have to do is pull up your edited image, side-by-side with another you haven’t touched. Then it’s a simple matter to drag-and-drop all the completed color work layers on the right side of the screen from the completed image to the other.
BOOM: The second image is now “edited” instantly in a way that’s consistent with the first one. You can obviously do this with as many photos as you want, while saving tons of time whenever you repeat the process. You can always make minor modifications whenever you want if the match isn’t perfect.
This is pretty much it, although Batista explains a few other refinements for making sure you get exactly the look you’re after. He walks you through the simple step-by-step process, explaining everything you need to know.
Batista also navigates to Photoshop’s Preferences panel, to make sure all your settings are appropriate for this fast and effective technique. All you have to do is compare his before/after images to appreciate how well this works.
After watching the video head over to Batista’s instructional YouTube channel where you’ll find similar lessons on just about any image-editing task you can imagine.
We also recommend watching a related tutorial we posted from another processing expert, with a simple color grading primer for those of you who are new to Photoshop.
Our craft is resplendent with so-called “rules” or “laws” of photography that you’ve no doubt heard repeated time and time again. Many of these pertain composition, like the Rule of Thirds, Leading Lines, the Golden Ratio, and others that sometimes are useful and in certain situations are meant to be ignored.
Today’s tutorial from the Hoffman Photography YouTube channel is a bit different, for a couple of reasons: First, these “universal” rules are useful for all genres of photography. And, secondly, what makes them so interesting is that you likely haven’t come across this advice in the past.
German Instructor Rainer Hoffman is a long-time professional photographer, educator and author. What often makes his tutorials unique, is that he often marches to a different drummer. Therefore, his lessons can be controversial, with plenty of room for you to disagree. Nonetheless, he says he formulated “Hoffman’s Three Laws of Photography “after many years of research and experience” and they’re being revealed for the first time today.
Hoffmann describes his laws in reverse order of importance, and #3 is sure to raise some eyebrows—particularly among mirrorless shooters who bought into the format (at least in part) for the convenience of small and lightweight cameras. But here it is: “The smaller the camera, the more cumbersome the handling.”
There are several reasons Hoffman make this claim, but he summarizes them like this: “As cameras get smaller, while the LCDs on the back get bigger, there’s less and less room for all the dials, knobs, and switches.” Therefore, all these physical controls get smaller as well, and often have multiple functions. In Hoffman’s experience this is hardly a recipe for great handling. He adds that many students in his workshops agree.
Hoffmann’s second Law of Photography is far less controversial, as he emphatically insists, “Your Camera has a viewfinder. Use it.” After a sigh of despair, he says this: “Don’t get me started. I keep shaking my head when I see people hold a camera with outstretched arms” while framing and capturing a shot using the rear LCD. As you’ll see, his disdain for this approach involves more than just the lack of stability that this style of shooting provides.
The tutorial concludes with Hoffman’s First Law of Photography, that he says is by far his favorite. Put bluntly, “Anyone who has understood the basics of photography will only need the Manual mode in rare, exceptional cases.” After listening to his reasoning, you might ignore purists who claim that you’re not a real photographer unless you shoot in Manual.
Put another way, Hoffman insists that “the Manual mode is way overrated.” And he has plenty of experience shooting with old manual cameras to back up this claim. Whether you agree or disagree with Hoffman’s “Laws,” this thought-provoking discussion is really interesting. So, hears him out before sighing and shaking your head.
There’s much more to learn on Hoffman’s popular YouTube channel, and in a tutorial we posted earlier with seven time-tested composition tips from a notable French pro.