In this Photoshop video tutorial, I’ll show you 2 ways of creating the Orton Effect. The Orton Effect was created by a photographer called Michael Orton back in prehistoric times the days of film. He would combine a properly focused and exposed image with an out of focus and overexposed image to get a special dreamy effect. A blurry, slightly saturated photo that still looks Continue Reading »

I was shooting long exposures the other day in my studio and I accidentally went into the infamous BULB mode while selecting my shutter speed on my D300. As I was getting out of BULB mode, I got a flash (no pun intended)! This would make for a great tutorial!

So… In this tutorial, I’ll look at what BULB mode is, the equipment needed to get great long exposure shots and some ideas for when to use it. So let’s get right to it, shall we?

What is BULB mode?

BULB mode (or BULB setting) is a shutter speed setting that gives you complete manual control of the duration of your shutter speed. Most often it’s used for shutter speeds of more than Continue Reading »

HDR is one, if not THE biggest craze, out there right now when it comes to image post processing. It’s been around for a while but with some pretty cool software like Photomatix making it easy to do, it took off.

I think this is the post processing tutorial that was requested the most since YPS started!  And I finally got around to it. Better late than never, right? Yes, there are a few HDR specific programs out there but Continue Reading »

I don’t know about you but not long after playing with my brand new Nikon Coolpix 4500 many years ago, I was already dreaming of owning a DSLR. Then the day came…. my very own Nikon D70! Boy, was I a happy camper! Off course, I took it with the kit lens which was a Nikkor 18-70mm. I didn’t know much about lenses back then. But I had read that this lens was a good (but not great) average lens.  And I was happy with it most of the time. But….

Owning a DSLR means you’ll eventually be getting more lenses so that you can explore and develop your creativity. But which lenses to get? There are so many out there. And Continue Reading »

My most watched video tutorial of all time with over 16000 views has been “Adding a Reflection in Photoshop”. It’s a great tutorial and a technique that I’ve been using for some of my stock shots. What I found interesting is that many of you emailed me asking if it was possible to make the reflection look more real because it just looked too perfect. That made me think a bit Continue Reading »

Today’s Photoshop video tutorial is all about the Refine Edge tool. The Refine Edge tool made its debut in Photoshop CS3 so if you’re using an older version, you won’t have this tool to play with.

If you’re a stock photographer shooting  isolated people or objects, I think that after watching this video, you’ll want to upgrade to CS3 or CS4 if you haven’t already done so. I use this tool all the time when I want to refine Continue Reading »

Time for the March Off Campus Links!

I’ve been a busy bee of late working on post processing roughly 400 images for a new Spa Book coming out this fall. I should be done in a week or so. I’m getting ready for my next book shoot over in Albany, NY in mid-April. I have to say 2009 is starting with a bang and I’m grateful everyday that my job seems to be Continue Reading »

After Cancun, I made my way up to Miami to finish the shots for the Spa book but mostly for some R&R before heading back to sub zero temperatures. Brrrrrrr…. Another great thing about staying at my friend’s place is that they own 2 Thai restaurants! And after spending 7 months in South East Asia a while back (wayyyyyyyyy back) I developed a soft spot for Thai food. Since their 2nd restaurant had just opened a few weeks before, they asked me if I could shoot a couple of food shots Continue Reading »

Many of you might have heard of “The Best Job in the World” advertised by Tourism Queensland. Some of you might have even applied!

Well, I have to let you in on a little secret…. I applied as well! Today was the announcement of the short list and… I didn’t make the cut. But that’s alright. I had such a blast filming it and putting it all together with my good friend and Continue Reading »

Here’s a tutorial request from Claudette and a few others who wanted to know how the color range feature worked in Photoshop.

Basically, I use the Color Range feature in Photoshop when I need to quickly select and object from its background. But it does have its limits. Since it makes a selection according to color, your object will have to be a different color than your background if you want Continue Reading »