Note: Photo courtesy of ivyfield via FlickR Creative Commons.

In the time leading up to a shoot, there is a lot that goes through the mind of a photographer. What if there was a device that could carry out dozens of the functions necessary to professional and amateur photographers in a single mobile platform? There are in fact two: Apple’s iPhone and iPad. These cell phones and tablet PCs can utilize thousands of apps for every single shoot. We have boiled down the half million or so iOS apps to these 7 that were built with the photographer in mind.

PosePad (iPad)

On top of getting all the supplies ready for a shoot, the creative end must also be taken care of to streamline the shoot itself. PosePad for the iPad was created to give serious photographers an edge. This app offers users a step-by-step program to organize every aspect of a photo shoot. The day’s work can be broken down pose by pose to include descriptions and even sample photos of what the photographer or designer is wishing to accomplish. Symbols, such as lighting equipment, can be attached to each diagram to help photographers remember what supplies will be necessary for every shot.

Easy Release (iPad/iPhone)

As a photographer makes that tough transition from amateur to professional, there are some behind the scenes steps that must be carefully navigated throughout every photo shoot. One of toughest aspects to organize during a shoot is the liability and legality issues. Contracts, agreements, and permission forms must be signed by all parties, and that is why Easy Release was created.

This app is available to both the iPhone and iPad and offers a streamlined digital alternative to stacks of paperwork. Within a simple interface, photographers, models, and property owners will be able to create, sign, and forward contacts to their email. It also can be used to keep an updated contact list of each of the parties involved on any particular shoot.

Filterstorm (iPad)

Most serious photographers will gawk at any app that claims to be a decent editing program, but Filterstorm is starting to change this mentality. This iPad app has begun to blur the line between professional editing programs run on desktop computers and the amateur programs that can be run on mobile devices. Filterstorm is one major step ahead of most editing apps as it includes everything from curves and brushes to color balancing and noise filtering.

Photoshop Express (iPad)

Photoshop has come to dominate the world of photo editing, and a transition to a fully mobile program has had many graphic designers and photographers skeptical. Luckily for iPad owners, this free app does in fact have a handful of features that make it exceedingly useful to the average photographer.

Photoshop Express utilizes all of the basic editing functions as the traditional Photoshop programming including cropping, lighting, and tones. This is not where this app begins to shine though. The standout feature of Photoshop Express it the ability to access a photographer’s entire library of work almost anywhere in the world. Instead of using the iPad’s precious memory, photographers can look up their pictures to get ideas about poses one moment and then show off their work to a potential client the next.

Scott Kelby’s Photo Recipes Live: Behind the Scenes (iPad/iPhone)

This app has been built for relatively new photographers, with cell phones, and a genuine interest in the intricacies of their trade. Scott Kelby has been a leading voice in the world of photography for over 20 years and is now sharing his knowledge with the rest of the world. This app can be used on the iPad or iPhone to cover video lessons on lighting that range from shooting flowers to deciding on the correct filter.

Instagram (iPad/iPhone)

The beauty of Instagram is in its simplicity and quality. Instagram is an iPhone and iPad app that can be used to create interesting photos right off of the device’s camera. Once installed, pictures can be taken with a wide array of colors and filters. These interesting photos can then be sent to Flickr, Twitter, or Facebook with a single tap of the screen.

Bonus App

Tattoo Shop (iPad/iPhone)

Tattoo Shop is another iPhone and iPad app that is not meant for the professional photographer, unless they have a good sense of humor. This silly app is used to superimpose tattoos onto willing or unwilling victims that have had their picture taken. While this app may not find its way into the world of high-end photo editing programs, it is fun, interesting, and a good way to crack a smile on most anyone’s face.

The Ideal Beauty of the Human Body in Art

The idea of the perfect human body is a result of culture: religious functions, economy, advertisement and other factors.

The definition of beauty is not an immanent and objective quality of things, since every age, place and social class formed its own ideal of it, ideal beauty is corresponding with the aesthetic feeling of people of a respecting period.

“History of art” as a relatively young science earlier was called subjectively “aesthetics”. Art was supposed to evoke religious contemplation and/or sensuos and mental delight., as the ancient poet Heliodor postulated.

However according to the great historian Ranke the task of an historian is plainly “to tell as it really was..”, and not his own opinions or feelings.

Actually nowadays we are not any more allowed to call something objectively beautiful, only “to me it is beautiful” or “I like it”, especially since art expresse the disorder and confusion of mankind.

It seem, that there is no more ideals and “anything goes”…

- A Short Introduction to European History of Culture

I have always been fascinated by the “Death’s-head Hawkmoth” used in the “Silence of the Lambs” poster ever since the movie came out way back when. For those who are not familiar with it, these moths are easily distinguishable by the vaguely human skull-shaped pattern of markings on the thorax. But if you look closer, the image used in the movie poster incorporated an original sketch by Salvador Dali which he later collaborated with Philippe Halsman called In Voluptas Mors (1951) where he used actual women to form a large skull.

It is by some creative chance that I’ve stumbled upon a similar imaginative individual who celebrates the human body in all it’s glory, manipulating stock images to create a totally new concept. Let me introduce you to the dreamlike but artistically talented works of…

Cecelia Webber

Our featured artist for today once questioned why we are made to feel so ashamed of the human body especially in the Western culture and so much of the rest of the world? “Isn’t the body a beautiful, wonderful thing, deserving nothing less than to be celebrated?” Cecelia alighted upon a petal in her mind, a new-found platform from which she could quietly challenge the status quo: she created a digital image of a flower constructed entirely from photographs of the naked human body.

Caterpillars and Butterflies

Traveler

Reach

Chrysalis

Cerulean

Monarch

Fuchsia

Vivid

Flowers

White Dandelion

Sunflower

Sunflower (blown)

Blue Bell

Blue Lilac

Cherry Blossom

Jungle Pink

Dragon Flower

Note: Cecelia also dabbles in paintings as a medium, you can get a taste of her works of surreal cityscapes in black and white by heading over and viewing them all from her updated website.

Where to find Cecelia Webber on the web

Website: ceceliawebber.com

Blog: Cecelia Webber’s thoughts (NA)

Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook

Visit other prodigalconcepts.com features…

The picture details are so vivid that I wondered how it’s even possible to capture an image with that quality. So I crawled around Google and discovered that HDR or High Dynamic Range images are composed of multiple layers of the same image merged into one.

High-dynamic-range photographs are generally achieved by capturing multiple standard photographs, often using exposure bracketing, and then merging them into an HDR image. Digital photographs are often encoded in a camera’s raw image format, because 8 bit JPEG encoding doesn’t offer enough values to allow fine transitions (and also introduces undesirable effects due to the lossy compression). – Wikipedia

OK let’s try to understand this in layman’s terms, our vision can only focus on a set of details in a particular scene, we can’t see every detail with one look but we have our memory to remember the elements of what we see and we can combine it in our mind. This is the same with a camera lens, a camera can only focus on a set of details, not the whole scene. Which is why in photography we focus on a subject to make it stand out from it’s environment.

With the help of software apps we can create a detailed version of an image taken with a digital camera and combine them together to show all the details in one image.

To simplify here’s an example, let’s pretend we are shooting outdoors, we have the sky, clouds, water, buildings, statues, lots of textures and colors are everywhere. For this we need a tripod or any stable platform you can rest your camera on. Take a shot of the scene setting the exposure and focus for the sky + clouds, next shot exact same scene focus this time on clouds + water, then water + buildings and statues. So you will end up with at least 5 images of the same scene with different points of focus and exposure.

Then you need to blend all this together with the help of a software like Photoshop and Lightroom another software you can use for this is Photomatix. It’s not easy but with practice and a little investment on software applications needed to merge these, one can achieve a good quality HDR image in no time.

Helpful readings on “How to achieve HDR images”

HDR Tutorial – Everything you need to know about HDR photography

8 Easy Steps to Fake an HDR Look in Photoshop

Easy HDR Technique by Cristian Iancu

If everything I said sounds complicated (coz, it is) and if you feel that HDR photography is just for professionals, maybe, but then again that line of thought is totally wrong! Anyone (including you) who can use a 1. digital camera (even point and shoot), a 2. computer and tweak around with 3. Photoshop can create High Dynamic Range images with the help of an amazing Photoshop plugin called Topaz Adjust by Topaz Labs, you can even have mind blowing pictures using only one photograph.

I know a lot of purists will be shaking their heads just about now, and say in their big voice, “What? Use a plugin to make HDR images? That’s preposterous! An abomination! Get the torches and the forks, gather the women and children, assemble at the town hall!”

Well, we can’t all go back to the stone age can we? At least not until Sir Richard Branson pays for the development of a commercially available “Time Machine”. Anyway the more hardcore of purist still thinks post processing is not professional, they say that Photoshop is the work of the devil and pictures that were processed after being taken by the “Photographer” is not photography. Duh!

Moving on Topaz Labs came out with a wide array of software products you can use with Photoshop to make your pictures stand out. One of them is Topaz Adjust which I had the pleasure to test drive for a month and I just have to say “if it was a car it handles really well”. It’s fairly simple to use, its user interface is sleek and straight forward you will be able to navigate through the controls without a hitch and the result is just brilliant. Plus with the price that’s less than $50 I think we have a winner here (a 30 day trial version is available for you to wet your lips on).

Let me introduce you to Topaz Labs – Topaz Adjust 4

What does it do? Simply put it makes your photos pop in less time it takes a purist and a hardcore purist to say Photoshop Photography Post Processing. Adjust can optimize image exposure, it’s color, and detail strength for stunning image results. Topaz Adjust makes this process simple, fun, even highly rewarding.

Let’s have a short walk through on how to use Topaz Adjust. What you will need:

1. A nice image you want to play with preferably an outdoor scene with lots of textures and colors
2. A copy of Photoshop
3. and of course Topaz Adjust (use the 30 day trial version just for kicks)

Get your copy of Topaz Adjust here

Assuming you already have Photoshop installed (I’m using CS3 for this exercise) Run the setup file of Topaz Adjust and install it to your machine.

Here is our sample image

Immediately you will notice that our sample image is overexposed, and whatever details and drama the photographer saw when this picture was taken is now lost in all the brightness of the background.

When Topaz Adjust setup is complete open your image in Photoshop and create a duplicate image of your original layer, this way if something goes wrong you still have your original image. (You are welcome to use my image for this walk through).

Then simply go to Filter > Topaz Labs > Topaz Adjust it will take you to the Topaz Adjust interface.

As you can see it’s very self explanatory…

Left side panel

On the left side panel, from the Top you have your Preview options for the main image at the center of your screen. With it you can go back and forth from your original image to the modified image and vice versa.

The thumb preview screen is a cool feature, it allows you to see image changes as you hover over the preset menu. Only when you click on the Preset of your choice will it be applied on your image. It takes a lot of computer memory to generate a modified image especially if it’s a very large file (DSLR output). So this thumb preview screen will give you an idea how your image would look before you apply the changes.

Then you have the Preset menu options this is where the magic happens, each preset will give you an awesome photograph effect, from the simple Exposure Correction to the more artistic Psychedelic results and of course two settings for HDR that will make your ordinary photographs become extraordinary.

The Other Options buttons will allow you to add and delete presets, you can create your own preset using the manual sliders on the right side and save it in your Preset menu for future use.

Right side panel

On the right side panel you have your Information thumb screen, much like Photoshop’s information thumb panel it allows you to see which part of the main image you are working on if you are zoomed in.

Then you have your viewing options if you really want to get in there and see your main image up close or from a distance this buttons will let you specify your viewing preference.

Then you have undo, redo buttons we don’t have to go there.

Another juicy part of this interface is the Manual sliders, if you want to go without the presets and go old school using your gifted sight to achieve great results then this is your guy. You have sliders for “Exposure”, “Details”, “Color” and “Noise” to play around with. You can even save your settings to the Preset menu using the other option buttons on the left panel. And if your feeling adventurous you can even pick a preset and start your manual adjustments from there.

When you’re satisfied with your changes, just click “OK” and it will take you back to Photoshop, you can now save your new and improve photo as you wish or use it in a project while your still in Photoshop.

Check out what happened to the sample image after modifying it in Topaz Adjust using some of the “Presets” options:

Sample

Our sample is an overexposed snapshot where almost all the details were lost.

Spicify

Psychedelic

HDR

These are just 3 of the presets I like to use, I didn’t even touch the manual sliders to get these results but as you can see the output is amazing compared to the original photo. Test it yourself, I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.

“If you use Topaz Adjust to modify your photographs share your work here at the comment section, just leave the URL for us to enjoy. Thanks”

Acknowledgements:

My wife Grace for taking that sample image, she has full rights to it but she’s generous enough to lend it to us for this exercise.

Of course Topaz Labs for the Topaz Adjust test drive.

And all the readers and friends who stopped by and shared this article.

Visit other prodigalconcepts.com tutorials…

Our featured artist and expert photographer today is the Montreal, Canada based Ken Kaminesky. Ken is a freelance lifestyle and travel photographer for stock photography agencies such as Picture Arts, Jupiterimages, Corbis and Getty Images. He loves to travel and has more than 15 years experience looking through the lens.

We are all lucky to have Ken with us today as I throw at him a few questions about his passion and his art of photography and Ken is even generous enough to share with us some of his master pieces for your inspiration and viewing pleasure. Scroll down and enjoy this rare and very educational one on one with Mr. Ken Kaminesky.

Florence-Via-Costa-dei-Magnoli

Q: I guess we would all like to know a brief background or perhaps a short bio of Ken Kaminesky. Like how and when did it all start for you? And what attracted you to photography in the first place?

I never had a camera as a kid, so I donʼt have one of those stories about me discovering my passion for photography at a young age like so many other photographers.

I kind of fell into this by chance. In fact in high school, art class was an optional class and when I signed up for it the teacher refused to let me take her course. She said that I had no artistic aptitude.

Come to think of it, I donʼt remember her showing us any of her work.

So my first experience with photography was when I took a course in my first year at college. After developing my first roll of film myself and working on my first darkroom photo, I was pretty much hooked. But even then I didnʼt think much of photography as a career. My plan was to get into cinema and I thought that photography would be a good base to help me develop an eye for composition, and being behind the lens.

After 2 years of school, I started working for some local photographers in Montreal and found that I was learning more from them, than I ever would in school.

I was really enjoying shooting my own work on the side while still assisting. At this time I was mostly working for fashion photographers and that was a fun situation to be in for a young guy. Pretty models, fun work atmosphere, and some travel all made me more certain that this is what I wanted to really do. 20 years later, here I am.

Q: Doing travel photography takes you all over the world, when I travel I hate lugging around any heavy luggage so my question is, aside from your personal choice of DSLR which gear canʼt you leave behind and can you tell us its importance to the work you do?

Other than the camera and lenses, I would be lost without my tripod and ball head, Macbook Pro, travel hard drives, rain cover for my camera, and my new camera backpack from F-stop.

In terms of non photo gear things, I would say that good walking shoes and socks are vital, since I can walk 20 to 30 km in a day easily. My iPod touch with maps, travel guides, subway apps, my portfolio, my music, translation apps and language tutorials is an awesome travel tool. Iʼm hoping that soon the iPad will be able to replace both the iPod and laptop when I travel. Iʼll get one when it can do all that I need it to do when Iʼm on the road.

Q: What do you usually look for in a subject or a scene to make a jaw dropping photo composition?

Iʼd like to think that itʼs a blend of intuition and experience that allows me to know when I have the right subject matter in front of me. To be honest though, I think that I can always do better. Iʼm often reminded of the quote by Samuel Butler:

“Think of and look at your work as though it were done by your enemy. If you look at it to admire it,
you are lost”

The scene will speak to me as Iʼm there taking the photo. Each scene has itʼs own story to tell, so there is no one true constant that I look for. Itʼs more of a feeling.

Jasper Maligne Lake Boathouse at Dusk

Q: How important is post processing to your final images?

Very! I can spend hours working on a single photo in Lightroom and Photoshop. I was doing the same thing in the darkroom well before I ever owned a computer. There is no image that has not been worked on in post in the history of photography. Everything that is done in the taking and developing of an image is processing or manipulating of some kind. Exposure, camera settings, lens choice, development of film, printing and computer work are all forms of processing. So I get a kick out of some people who call themselves “purists” and say that they donʼt use photoshop because itʼs cheating. To me they are just too lazy to learn how to use all the wonderful tools that we now have at our disposal. This is a golden age of photography and Iʼm loving it.

Quebec-City-St.-Jean-Baptiste-Church

Q: Can you share with us some tips of how to achieve the same quality of photography you end up with?

I could, but then Iʼd have to kill you.

Seriously though, Iʼd say passion, patience, practice and photoshop are my 4 Ps of perfect photography.

There is no simple method to get great images, itʼs hard work and experience that gets you there.

Q: And lastly how about some profound inspirational words of wisdom to the rest of us who could only dream of producing amazing photos like yours.

Believe in yourself, work hard, be nice.

Find out what you love to shoot and shoot the hell out of it.

When possible, walk, donʼt ride.

Embrace the tools that we now have at our disposal and learn to use them well. But always remember that itʼs photographers that take photographs, not cameras.

Stop, look up and around every once in a while. Youʼll be amazed at all the beautiful things that youʼve
been missing.

Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints.

“This is really a great day for us here at prodigalconcepts.com and on behalf of our friends and followers we would like to thank Ken Kaminesky for indulging us with this insightful interview, the experience is overwhelming. We wish you all the best, more power – stay cool.”

More high dynamic images from Ken Kaminesky

Here are some of the images Ken generously shared with prodigalconcepts.com, this is just something to wet your appetite be sure to visit his website or his newly updated blog for the image back stories, hi-res versions and more great photography from around the globe by Ken Kaminesky.

NYC Times Square

Rome Colloseum

Paris L'Ombre de Notre Dame

Paris La Defense KPMG

Ottawa Maman sculpture by Louise Bourgeois

Montreal Olympic Stadium

Milano Centrale Train Station

Barcelona Telefonica tower Olympic garden

Banff Lake Moraine

Badlands Hoodoo Rock formations

Where to find Ken Kaminesky on the web

Website: kenkaminesky.com

Blog: blog.kenkaminesky.com/

Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook

With baby photography one name stands out for me among the crowd and that would be no other than Anne Geddes, she’s well renowned for her baby portraits usually dressed up in fantasy styled outfits and garden settings. I was introduced to her work a while back (some time in the late 90′s) when I received copies of them printed as postcards and greeting cards, I fell in love with her concepts. Anne has an eye that can see babies from a very surreal perspective and presents them mostly during their earliest days of innocence, when one couldn’t help but be awed as the babies look serene and magical.

I’ve decided for this post to celebrate the birth of Iñigo and make a compilation of creatively portrayed babies in photography. Babies in different poses and scenes shot by Anne herself as well as some images by other photographers I stumbled upon along the way. I hope you all enjoy and get enough dose of inspiration to grab that camera and immortalize the little tykes at their age of innocence.

Anne Geddes and her Surreal Babies

Anne Geddes style of children’s portraiture broke some fresh ground in the early 90′s. She has a few published work and some awards in photography excellence to back her years of experience in the industry she has grown to love. And if being interviewed by Oprah doesn’t count as an achievement, then let her work speak for her talent.

Carrie Sandoval and her Babies in B&W

Carrie Sandoval was always into anything that has to do with arts even as a young girl. She worked as an Art Director for an advertising agency before she had her first baby, a boy who gave her a new career direction. “Becoming a mother was the catalyst that caused her love of photography to blossom.

Adele Enersen and Mila’s Daydreams

Adele Enersen is from Finland, I believe Helsinki to be exact. She’s not a professional photographer but makes this list because of her creativity. A copywriter and a concept designer by profession who took time off from work to have her baby “Mila”. To avoid disturbing Mila’s sleep Adele just takes a few minutes to create a concept and take a snapshot using a point and shoot Canon IXUS 750, then it’s back to the crib for the little angel. Adele Enersen will have a daydream-book out soon, inspired by her blog Mila’s Daydreams where she portray’s her daughter in a wide array of dream like poses and settings, using anything readily available at home she can get her hands on as props which is planned to be published sometime in 2012 by Balzer + Bray.

Related Articles

6 Baby Photography Tips for Beginners

Baby Photography 101

Baby Photography:21 Cute and Meaningful Black&White Baby Photos

30 Adorable Examples of Baby Photography

On a personal note Iñigo finally arrived around 11:50 am on October 25, 2010. He’s a handful but manageable and it’s really something else to hold him, it’s like magic.

Annie’s style of lighting combined with the use of bold colors and poses in the 80′s got her a position with “Vanity Fair” where she photographed celebrities for the American Express ad campaign that won her a Clio Award which is given to reward individuals for creative excellence in advertising and design. We all could learn a lot from Ms. Leibovitz’s style of photography or just be inspired by what she has already done. In this post I would like to share some of her work from 2007 when the Walt Disney Company hired her to do a series of photographs with celebrities in various roles and scenes for Disney Parks “Year of a Million Dreams” campaign.

So drop everything for awhile and let’s bring out the inner child in all of us, during the time when anything seems possible and worries are a million miles away. Let’s all just sit back and find inspiration in the photos of Annie Leibovitz.

Alladin

Jennifer Lopez as Princess Jasmin and real life hubby Marc Anthony as Alladin, this is obviously “A whole new world”.

Whoopi Goldberg as the playful Genie, is there still time for my three wishes Genie? There is? Whoppi! Hehehe, I couldn’t help it!

Alice in Wonderland

We have here Beyonce as Alice, then Grammy winner country crooner Lyle Lovett as the March Hare then last but not the least Mr. Oliver Platt as the Mad Hatter.

Cinderella

Scarlett Johansson accidentally left a glass slipper or is it a shoe in Cinderella.

King Arthur

Roger Federer traded his tennis racket for a sharper “Excalibur” as King Arthur.

The Little Mermaid

Julianne Moore dreams of feet as Princess Ariel while Michael Phelps practices his Olympic lungs in Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

Peter Pan

Mikhail Baryshnikov the Russian dancer daintily flies into the room as Peter Pan, while Gisele Bündchen looks ravishing as Wendy, and although she’s too small to be recognized at first glance Tina Fey spreads some magic dust as Tinkerbell.

Pinocchio

Julie Andrews poses as the Blue Fairy while looking at Abigail Breslin “Little Miss Sunshine” herself as the apprentice fairy in Pinocchio

Pocahontas

Run Forrest ruuuun, seriously it’s Jessica Biel and her obviously strong legs running through the forrest as Pocahontas.

Snow White

Rachel Weisz rolls around with some forest critters as Snow White.

And of course Snow White’s friend Princess Aurora better known as Sleeping Beauty wouldn’t be awake if it wasn’t for Prince Charming *slash Prince Phillip and who better to pose as a prince than David Becham.

And they lived happily ever after…

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this post, now I want to share with you my first wish to the Genie, I wish that if people likes this article that they share it with their friends using the social bookmark buttons and leave comments. Does that count as 2 wishes already?

Find Annie Leibovitz on the web

Vanity Fair Profile: Annie Leibovitz

PBS Photo Gallery: American Masters

Andrew Smith Gallery: American Music

A very Special Thanks goes to thedisneyblog.com and milliondreamphotos blog for the hi-res images I used in this post, you guys are awesome!

Must read for night photography

• 10 ways to improve your night photography
• Digital night photography tips
• Three Photography Myths About Nighttime Photography
• Night photography Tutorial by =ehlo
• Smashing Magazines – 60 Beautiful Examples Of Night Photography

Here is a collection of 30 photos that I hope will inspire newbies like me to not loose hope with night time photography, and continue practicing and sharing your work to rest of the community.

Jay and Sarah

The wedding pictures of Jay Contreras (frontman of the hard rockin’ Pinoy band “Kamikazee”) to Sarah Abad (actress) was leaked on the net a few years back and it created a lot of buzz among fans and friends. Now you can see why.

the Prenup

the Wedding day

Sarah and Banjo

Sarah Meier (MTV Philippines VJ) marries Banjo Albano (events producer)

the Prenup

the Wedding day

more prenups

Mango Red Rocks!

• the Prenup of Jay and Sarah <- visit the gallery at mangored.com
• the Wedding of Jay and Sarah <- visit the gallery at mangored.com
• the Prenup of Sarah and Banjo<- visit the gallery at mangored.com
• the Wedding of Sarah and Banjo <- visit the gallery at mangored.com
• more… « visit the gallery at mangored.com

If you’re still here then let’s get down to business…

But wait, what is HDR?

In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. – wikipedia.com

A real HDR photo is composed of 3 images (I hear some takes up to 7) of the same exact scene but each having a different level of exposure, then using an image editing software like Photo Matrix or Photoshop you will combine these 3 images into one dramatic photograph. It’s a bit tricky to accomplish especially if you’re a noob like me. An amazing skill to add to your belt and if you get the hang of it you will definitely deserve those bragging rights.

HDR samples from deviantart.com

by Roy Katalan @deviantart.com

by Viktor Wronek @deviantart

by Kenant @deviantart

OK let’s have some fun

First we need a nice image, any image will do but the effect goes well with landscape shots and try to get one with a good enough focus. For this tutorial you can borrow mine. It’s a cool shot of the Mt. Pinatubo crater, (Just click the link and “save image as”). Or use any stock photo you have.

Open your image in Photoshop

Step 1

We’ll call the original layer “LAYER 1″, now duplicate LAYER 1 by clicking and dragging it to the “create new layer” button and place it above the original layer.

(rename this layer copy “LAYER 2″)

Step 2

Change the Blending option of LAYER 2 to “Overlay”

Output sample: after you apply the “Blending Change”

Step 3

Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate (SHIFT + CTRL + U)

Output sample: after you apply the “Image > Adjustment > Desaturate”

Step 4

Now invert LAYER 2: Image > Adjustments > Invert (CTRL + I)

Output sample: after you apply the “Image > Adjustment > Invert”

Step 5

And add a gaussian Blur to it (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) around 40 pixels

If you look at your “Layers” panel you should have something like this.

Output sample: after applying “Gaussian Blur”

Step 6

Now duplicate LAYER 1 and place it above LAYER 2,

Rename this layer “LAYER 3″

Step 7

Change the blending type of LAYER 3 to “Linear Light”

Step 8

Give LAYER 3 an opacity around 55%. And you’re done (For better results, tweak this percentage)

Now check this out

Our original image was taken with a Sony Cybershot Digital point and shoot, very handy to bring along on off road trails when going on nature hikes, lightweight and compact but the image quality is just adequate. With this tutorial originally by KolNedra we managed to go…

From this…

To this…

More faux HDR using this tutorial

You may notice that images with more colors to play with have better looking results.

A fishing boat in Mersing

Pulau Tioman weekend

pahang-street garden

sailboat

skyline

Disclaimer: This is not how a real HDR is done and the quality is just similar to the real thing (not even close). Still it’s not that bad for a project that takes less than 5 minutes.

I have always wondered how one separates amateur photography from professional photography, is it experience? Is it the process you go through to get those award winning shots? Is it public recognition? Is it the guy who came to my high school graduation asking me to pay for a picture taken of my back?

Professional photography is one of those self proclaimed titles, theres so much gray area on the subject matter its like an out of focus photo. With practice and a lot of passion plus the right equipment anyone can be a professional photographer these days. All the resources you need are literally at your fingertips. The web is full of resources that would help you get started and help you get better. We have a community of professionals and enthusiasts always willing to lend a hand to those who would be interested in taking up this visually rewarding skill and they are ready to share the knowledge they’ve accumulated through experience that you will need to turn this hobby into a full time career if you want to.

Some helpful readings:

• How to Differentiate Amateur From Professional Photography
• Mostly Lisa’s – My Photographic Journey
• 225 photography tips to inspire you
• Photography tips, tricks and tutorials
• Top 20 Photography tips on Shooting Macros

My wife and I are just hobbyists or week-end photographers, our love of photography is a by product for our love of travelling. Lately we’ve been hit by the camera shutter bug and we go on photo-walks just for the fun of it. I’ve compiled a few of our shoots and borrowed a couple from my sisters flicker account to share with you and I hope it will give you some inspiration on whatever project you are working on.