flawlessArt-mag1

Photographed by: Mussie @ Photo Berhan

Mixed media, in visual art, refers to an artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed.

There is an important distinction between "mixed-media" artworks and "multimedia art". Mixed media tends to refer to a work of visual art that combines various traditionally distinct visual art media. For example, a work on canvas that combines paint, ink, and collage could properly be called a "mixed media" work - but not a work of "multimedia art." The term multimedia art implies a broader scope than mixed media, combining visual art with non-visual elements (such as recorded sound, for example) or with elements of the other arts (such as literature, drama, dance, motion graphics, music, or interactivity).

When creating a painted or photographed work using mixed media it is important to choose the layers carefully and allow enough drying time between the layers to ensure the final work will have integrity. If many different media are used it is equally important to choose a sturdy foundation upon which the different layers are imposed.

A phrase sometimes used in relationship to mixed media is, "Fat over lean." In other words: "don't start with oil paints. Plan to make them the final layer."

Many effects can be achieved by using mixed media. Found objects can be used in conjunction with traditional artist media, such as paints and graphite, to express a meaning in the everyday life. In this manner, many different elements of art become more flexible than with traditional artist media.

It was a dream to me to start somthing can realy help people, i dreamed about this long time a go and i was realy waiting for the right moment to start working on it.. If us ask me now is it the right time ? my answer will be “ i have no idea ” i just feilt that i have to start with it and here it is !

FLAWLESS ART MAGAZINE .. for me it’s not just a magazine about ARTs & PHTOGRAPHY ... a gate to all the people who realy Love Arts and photos, ... it’s easy to be a designer , but it’s so hard to be a profishional .. easy to handle a camera, but hard to be a photographer. what i mean here ... hard work is so important to reach to the word ( PRO. ) so i hope this magazine will be the first step for each of you our readers . sorry for this simple Welcome loool .... but as u know it just our 1st. issu. hope the future will be full with new pro. issus.

Dynamic range is a ratio and as such a dimensionless quantity. In photography and imaging, the dynamic range represents the ratio of two luminance values, with the luminance expressed in candelas per square meter.

The range of luminance human vision can handle is quite large. While the luminance of starlight is around 0.001 cd/m2, that of a sunlit scene is around 100,000 cd/m2, which is hundred millions times higher. The luminance of the sun itself is approximately 1,000,000,000 cd/m2. The human eye can accommodate a dynamic range of approximately 10,000:1 in a single view.

This article is divided in two parts. In the first part, we will cover every thing you should know about HDR photography , What you will need to create HDR and how to set your equipment, and in the second part we will create a practical example for HDR, which covers Processing the image in Photomatix in details and the Final touches in Photoshop. let’s start with the first part .

Before we begin the tutorial you need to understand a little about High Dynamic Range Photography.

High Dynamic Range or HDR for short is a technique used to extend the tonal range of an image. It is achieved by taking multiple exposures at different exposure values (EV or Stops) of the same scene/image and then over laying them to extend the tonal range in light and dark areas. The technique is needed to extend the range because the human eye is capable of seeing a wider range than that of the camera and by taking multiple shots of the same image and processing them into one HDR image we are able to increase the exposure range and bring out details in shadows and highlights that without HDR would be lost.

You may ask why HDR is needed when photography has survived for so long with out it but HDR is not a new technique it is one that has been around for almost as long as photography itself and like photography, it has become far more accessible with the development of the digital age and therefore has grown in popularity, especially when coupled with Tone Mapping which increases localized details.

Hopefully you now understand a little about what HDR is so let’s create our first HDR Image.

Read more: http://www.photopoly.net/hdr-photography-tutorial-by-davidclough-part-1/#ixzz1wa80mnqy

Dynamic range is a ratio and as such a dimensionless quantity. In photography and imaging, the dynamic range represents the ratio of two luminance values, with the luminance expressed in candelas per square meter.

The range of luminance human vision can handle is quite large. While the luminance of starlight is around 0.001 cd/m2, that of a sunlit scene is around 100,000 cd/m2, which is hundred millions times higher. The luminance of the sun itself is approximately 1,000,000,000 cd/m2. The human eye can accommodate a dynamic range of approximately 10,000:1 in a single view.

Read more: http://www.photopoly.net/hdr-photography-tutorial-by-david-clough-part-1/ #ixzz1wa80mnqy

In this tutorial we will take a look at HDR photography. HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) was originally used in 3D and is now in full force in photography. Basically it's the process of taking multiple exposures and merging them together into a single 32 bit image. Let me explain: A camera is capable of capturing a limited amount of tones in a single photo. Typically we sacrifice elements in a photo when we press the shutter. For example there is a powerful cloudscape and some cliffs.

If we expose for the clouds the cliffs become dark. If we set the camera's exposure to capture detail in the cliffs, the brighter sky is blown out and detail is lost. This is because the human eye can see a larger range of tones than the camera can capture on the chip or film in a single photograph.

The solution is to take more than one photograph and bracket the photos. Shoot normal exposure, then under-expose a shot to capture highlights and over-expose a shot to capture shadow detail.

Finally, merge these photos together to produce a single image with a larger range of tones that can now show all the details in the shadows and highlights. This tutorial will show you how to complete this process with the minimum fuss.

First we need to get our source images. (You could begin with a 32 bit 3D image and then skip to step 6). Typically we will capture these with our camera. You will need to shoot a minimum of 2 photos with different exposure settings.

Its been recommended by Adobe to limit the bracketing by 1 stop and this will help reduce banding. You may also take 5 or more shots with a smaller gap in the bracketing. I personally get good results from 3 shots. I like to over expose and under expose by 2 stops. I know this is a bigger bracket than most people are comfortable with, but for the type of HDR images I like to create (cityscapes), this works great. If your shooting people, you may want to reduce this to even 3rd stops.

(Note: You can't use a single raw image and exposure it several times as some people suggest, for a true HDR photo.

This is known as pseudo-HDR. Photoshop will not allow you to merge these because there isn't sufficient tone detail captured).

STEP-1 Start with 3 images. One normal exposure, the second underexposed and the third overexposed. In this case I used 2 stop bracketing. As I shoot a lot of city scapes I can get away with 2 stops, because I'm mainly shooting flat surfaces and banding and posterization isn't such a problem. If your shooting rounded and curved surfaces you will want to lower your bracketing to get smoother gradients.

I set the bracketing on my camera to 2 stops. Then I set the shooting mode to burst. When I hold the shutter down, 3 photos will be captured. I shoot in RAW mode for the widest possible dynamic range.

You can still create HDR if your camera doesn't support RAW. Make sure you shoot in Aperture Priority or in Manual. You want to bracket the exposure time, not the Aperture. If you change the aperture, the depth of field won't be consistent and you'll get blurring. Also avoid any moving subjects in the photo or you'll get ghosting.

STEP-2 Time to merge the photos together into a single 32 bit image.

Choose File>Automate >Merge to HDR. This works on Photoshop CS2 and CS3. (CS2 Doesn't have auto align).

Choose either images or folder. I organize each set of photos in its own folder so I used the folder option.

Select your photos to merge. Turn on Auto Align in Photoshop CS3. Click OK. (Photoshop CS3 uses new Auto-align technology that even allows you to create HDR without the use of a tripod!)

STEP-3 Your images will now be merged into a single photo.

You can turn off individual photos by un checking their boxes on the left filmstrip. If you get some blurring caused by camera shake in the longest exposure, you may want to turn off that photo.

STEP-4 The merged result is a floating-point 32 bit image. You can adjust the overall tones by sliding the White Point slider. Easy with it, a little movement goes a long way!

STEP-5

STEP-7

Click OK to merge the photos into a 32 bit image.

Now is a good time to save your ďŹ le.

Change the Method to Local Adaption. (There are 4 available methods, but these are the only 2 with user input).

STEP-6 In order to use the photos, you'll need to convert them t 16 or 8 bit images. When we convert them we will create what I call interpretations of the photo. The reason I say this is because we have unlimited ways we can make the photo look. While we have this huge dynamic range available in 32 bit, we will no longer have those options after conversion. Always work from the saved 32 bit version, and then convert and save versions (personal interpretations). Avoid overwriting the 32 bit image, it's our master and we may want to go back to it many times.

With local Adaption, you can adjust the curves.

Set these like you would normally work in curves, but don't be afraid to clip the histogram a little. You can clip because your working with a larger dynamic range than you're used to. Bring out the detail in the image, but don't forget to put some shadow in there or it will look washed out and fake. Once your happy with the curve, adjust the radius and Threshold sliders to make sure there are no halos in the photo. (Badly converted HDR images have a glow around the areas of contrast.) The radius controls the mask blur while the threshold decides what gets blurred and what doesn't.

Choose Image>Mode>16 bit (or 8 bit). Now we get to play with some fun options. You're now at the tone mapping part of the process. This is were all the creativity can ooze.

(If you want to make the adjustments without converting, choose view>32 Bit Preview Options. You can use several of Photoshop's tools in the Image>Adjustments menu. The most important of these is the Exposure control)

STEP-8

You'll see an HDR Conversion Dialog box. Exposure and Gamma is the default option. Best way to approach this? Set the gamma ďŹ rst, then adjust the exposure to suit. If you want an image with lots of contrast, lower the gamma. For less contrast raise the gamma. Finally, adjust the exposure to get the desired brightness. If you want more control, read on... otherwise press OK to convert.

Here we have a merged image from HDR. The second image is a variation.

In the second variation, I applied exposure, curves and sharpening settings while in 32-bit mode (Highlight Compression Method).

Photoshop is great for producing very realistic HDR images.

STEP-9 If your desiring a more surreal result there are different plug-ins that you can use. My favorite is Photomatix pro from HDRsoft. You can just get the tone mapping plug in for Photoshop which works great.

Use the coupon code photoshopcafe to save 15%.

Using photomatix tone mapping plugin allows you to get highly detailed textures in your photographs. You merge in Photoshop as shown in this tutorial. Then choose Filter>Photomatix to apply tone mapping.

Convert and save as normal.

STEP-10 Here you can see comparisons between a single image, subtle Photoshop HDR and a radical Photomatix effect . Whatever result your after, hopefully this tutorial has helped demystify the HDR process.

Try this with deffrint pics. for buildings & also faces ....

An accomplished teacher and lecturer, Bert has served on the faculty of a list of institutions that includes The School of Visual Arts (New York), Center for Creative Imaging (Maine), California College of the Arts, the Lepp Institute of Digital Imaging (California) and currently teaches at San Francisco State University. Bert was a monthly regular on Tech TV for over three years. He recently hosted Pixel Perfect with Bert Monroy, a weekly Photoshop podcast for Revision3.com. Bert left the show after 160 episodes. He also consults with and trains corporate clients, including Pixar and Disney Animation.

His film credits include work for Industrial Light & Magic, Pacific Data Images, and R/Greenberg Associates. Bert also continues to serve his installed base of clients which include Apple Computer, Adobe Systems, Pioneer Electronics, Fujitsu, SONY, AT&T, Chevron and American Express. A popular speaker at many worldwide conferences, Bert currently teaches a national seminar: Photoshop CS5 Creativity Tour for the Kelby Media Group.

Bert is a member of the Photoshop World Dream Team. In 2004, Bert was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame.

1. A logo must be simple A simple logo design allows for easy recognition and allows the logo to be versatile & memorable. Good logos feature something unexpected or unique without being overdrawn.

2. A logo must be memorable Following closely behind the principle of simplicity, is that of memorability. An effective logo design should be memorable and this is achieved by having a simple, yet, appropriate logo.

3. A logo must be timeless An effective logo should be timeless – that is, it will stand the test of time. Will the logo still be effective in 10, 20, 50 years?

4. A logo must be versatile An effective logo should be able to work across a variety of mediums and applications.

For this reason a logo should be designed in vector format, to ensure that it can be scaled to any size. The logo must work in just one colour too.

5. A logo must be appropriate How you position the logo should be appropriate for its intended purpose. For example, if you are designing a a logo for children’s toys store, it would be appropriate to use a childish font & color scheme. This would not be so appropriate for a law firm.

3. Learn Off Others Success & Mistakes

Successful Logos Now you know what the rules of logo design are, you can distinguish the difference between a good and a bad logo… By knowing what other logos have succeeded and why they have succeeded gives a great insight into what makes a good logo.

For example, lets look at the classic Nike Swoosh. This logo was created by Caroline Davidson in 1971 for only $35 yet it still a strong, memorable logo, effective without colour and easily scalable. It is simple, fluid and fast and represents the wing in the famous statue of the Greek Goddess of victory, Nike – something perfect for a sporting apparel business. Nike is just one of many great logos, think about other famous brands that you know about and check out their logos – what makes them successful?

For more quality, lesser known logos I recommend checking out Logo Of The Day or going to your local book store or library and looking at a logo design book.

The Not So Successful Logos We can also learn off logos that have not been as successful such as the ones in the above picture or these bad logo designs. As seen in that post linked, some logos can depict things that may have not always be noticeable to the designer (as in the middle logo above) or they could just be plain bad design, as in the logo to the right.

4. Establish Your Own Logo Design Process

Now that we know what a logo is, what the principles and rules of logo design are and what makes a successful logo we can now finally begin the design process. This it hardest part of the 5 steps and is its own topic in itself – Each person’s logo design process is different and experience usually is the key factor in creating your own logo design process however check out The Secret Logo Design Process Of Top Logo Designers for a better idea.

In short, a logo design process usually consists of The Design Brief Research & Brainstorming Sketching Prototyping & Conceptualising (See Step 5) Send To Client For Review Revise & Add Finishing Touches Supply Files To Client and Give Customer Service If you ever get stuck before or during your design process check out this great article on How To Boost Your Creativity.

5. Learn The Software & Complete The Logo

For more Logo Tips & Tutorials , you can visit the official page of the Designer @ : Let We see here what Jacob Cass sied about him self Hi, my name is Jacob Cass and I am the founder of ‘JUST™ Creative’. On this website you will find my personal graphic design portfolio (My design services are currently available for hire), as well as a blog on the main subject of graphic design which provides free graphic design tips, articles & resources on all subjects of design, ranging from, but not limited to; print design, logo design, web design, branding, typography, advertising & more.

For more Information just visit his page

Photoshop: Origins

Photoshop has been a part of every web designer’s life since they picked up their first mouse.

On February 10th, 2010, Photoshop turns twenty. To mark this anniversary, we’ve come up with an article that takes you through the evolution of Photoshop from its modest beginnings as a bundled program sold with scanners to its current version.

For each version and major feature listed, we couldn’t help but think “did Photoshop ever exist without that feature?”.

Some of the minor details are fun too, such as the one-liner Easter Eggs that Photoshop developers hid in some versions and the fact that the most current versions of Adobe Photoshop CS are equipped with anti-counterfeiting measures for multiple world currencies.

Please join us in thanking the Knolls and Adobe for making all of our lives more awesome, every day.

One of the most impressive things about the company is the fact that one gifted family, consisting of an engineering prof, a PHD engineering student, and a talented special effects whiz working at Industrial Light and Magic came up with the core idea of Photoshop.

Thomas Knoll, the PHD student, is still heavily involved with Photoshop years later.

Glen Knoll was a college professor with two sons and two hobbies; computers and photography.

He had a darkroom in his basement, and an Apple II Plus that he was allowed to bring home from work.

Thomas Knoll adopted his father’s photography habit throughout high school, while his brother, John Knoll, purchased one of the first Macs available to the public.

Fast forward to 1987: Thomas Knoll was a PHD student studying Engineering at the University of Michigan. His brother was working at Industrial Light and Magic.

Thomas Knoll wrote a subroutine for a program to translate monochrome images on his monitor to grayscale.

The successful subroutine led Knoll to create more and very soon he had a number of processes for achieving photographic effects on digital images.

After his brother John saw what Thomas was doing, he recommended that Thomas turn what he was doing into a full-featured image editor.

The combination of Thomas’ programming abilities with John’s pragmatic design background led to a collaboration between the two brothers to develop more processes and improve on the initial application.

Even though the process led to interruption in Thomas’ thesis work, the brothers released “Image Pro” in 1988.

John suggested that they begin to sell Image Pro as an application.

Within six months, the brothers had a partnership with a company that manufactured scanners, Barneyscan.

They purchased 200 copies of the program to ship with their scanners.

They called on Supermac and Aldus, but were turned away at both, a move that Aldus would come to seriously regret.

Shortly after, the Knoll brothers struck gold when they won over Adobe management with their product, and formed a licensing partnership with Adobe that was to launch their software and Adobe into the stratosphere.

In February of 1990, Adobe 1.0 was released.

This video, shot in January of 2010, is a great interview with John Knoll about the early days of Photoshop:

Photoshop Through the Years; Version Changes We’ve included major changes within each version and some minor ones. This is meant to be a fun stroll down memory lane rather than a complete version catalogue.

If you have a particular version change that got your hackles up or a feature that you’d to mention, feel free to add it to the comments section.

1990 – Photoshop 1.0 John Knoll, Thomas’ brother, wrote “special effects” for the program which were frowned upon by Adobe staff as being too “gimmicky”. Thomas and John found a way to sneak them into Photoshop as plugins, giving rise to what is now a huge cottage industry in add-ons to the popular program.

John and Adobe staff constantly pushed Thomas to make improvements until the final product shipped.

The first version of the Photoshop splash screen features just four Photoshop programmers. In subsequent versions, more and more names are added to the list. In more recent versions, a limited number of Adobe VIP’s appear in the splash screen.

1991 – Photoshop 2.0 Photoshop 2.0 included the Path feature, which allowed users to trim around an object easily and to save that path for future use. This feature was added by a second engineer, Mark Hamburg, that Adobe hired to work on the application.

Up until 2.0, Thomas Knoll was the only engineer working on it. Adobe called Mark the “Path Man”. 2.0 also featured rasterizing for Illustrator files, support for CMYK colour which led to widespread Photoshop adoption by the printing industry, and the Pen. Photoshop 2.0 also required 4 megabytes of RAM to run rather than 2, which really helped program stability.

Photoshop 2.5, released in 1992, was notable for being the first release for the Windows operating systems.The code had to be completely changed in order to accomplish this goal which meant that the first effort was slow going.

16-bit file support and palettes were added to this version as well. The initial Windows release had a “memory bug”, a bug which actually saw Mark Hamburg offer to make house calls. The patched version was released as 2.5.1. Filters got their own menu in 2.5 as well. The workspace shot below is of Photoshop 2.5 for the Mac.

1994 – Photoshop 3.0 The big story for Adobe Photoshop 3.0 was layers.

Layers were and are a lifesaver for any marginally complex design.

Prior to their introduction, designers would save different versions of designs so that they could go back and grab them if needed; layers made this practice redundant.

Layers are individual slices of the image that go together to make the final “sandwich” of the image.

Different images, such as those used in the image above in the 3.0 splash screen, are assigned their own layers, making it easy to work on those images without tampering with other areas of the image.

Thomas Knoll, the original creator of the program, was responsible for their development. Other engineers made improvements in the program’s performance with Power Mac chips and bringing the Windows version up to the same level as the Mac version. Tabbed palettes also had their debut in 3.0.

Adobe engineers included Adobe Transient Witticisms (ATW) with this version. They were little Easter Egg funny one-liners that would appear only when you pressed obscure combinations of keys.

1996 – Photoshop 4.0 Adjustment layers and macros were the two most notable features of Photoshop 4.0.

Adjustment layers allow the designer to apply one effect to a group of layers. Macros, or actions in Photoshop speak, allow you to map a series of commands to one command. This allows you to perform the same operation in much less time if you have a bunch of images to work on.

The most important change to 4.0 was the unification of the user interface with other Adobe products, a feature which Adobe has stayed consistent with right up to present-day incarnations of the program. This meant a less steep learning curve for Adobe products, a blessing for those who got their start with Photoshop 4.0.

Loyal users of Photoshop were not amused with the redesign, the common question from the community being “Why did you break Photoshop?”.

1998 – Photoshop 5.0 The two most important features released with 5.0 were editable type and the ability to undo actions multiple times in the “History” palette.

Previous versions of Photoshop allowed text to be added, but the fuzzy rasterized type didn’t make for pretty magazine mastheads or decent web menus. This was a huge step forward. Multiple undos via the History palette were very helpful, especially since designers were starting to use the new Adobe tools for increasingly complex designs.

Color Management made its debut with 5.0. Like other major changes to Photoshop, it was greeted with equal parts of praise and condemnation. It allowed colors to be managed natively within the application rather than relying on third-party tools that had been used, a huge improvement.

However, it also automatically converted the colors when opening files, a “feature” that engineers quickly eliminated after multiple user complaints.

The magnetic lasso tool debuted in 5.0, making selecting areas of an image to work on much easier.

1999 – Photoshop 5.5 Photoshop 5.5 featured the huge time saver, “Save For Web”. This feature allows those who choose it to save the image in a preset specifically designed for web use which allows the user to adjust image quality to achieve a smaller image.

Version 5.0 had failed to take the Web into account with all of its other major feature changes on the table. It was also bundled with ImageReady, a standalone program that was purpose-built to edit web graphics.

Most of the features of ImageReady were later incorporated into the full version of Photoshop and the idea of a simpler program was reborn eventually in the form of Photoshop Elements.

2000 – Photoshop 6.0 The layer styles panel made working with layers even easier in Photoshop 6. Vector shapes were also added in this release; the ability to draw vector shapes such as arrows into a bitmap was lauded by users.

There was also a new custom shapes palette that allowed the user to draw using vector shapes rather than just using lines. Text could also now be typed directly onto a picture, rather than being typed first into a text box.

Multi-layer functions made their first appearance with version 6.0. The Blending Options dialogue was also introduced which made blending various elements of an image much easier. 6.0 separated the crop tool from the marquee tool, making it that much easier to get to this commonly used command.

2001 – Photoshop Elements With the increasing complexity of the tools available to users, Photoshop was risking losing a significant market share that didn’t understand or need some of its more advanced tools.

In order to combat this, they released Photoshop Elements in 2001. The new product was a success, and designers continue to recommend it to clients for simple image resizing and other non-design tasks.

While its current interface, shown below, isn’t intuitive for those trained in traditional Photoshop, it is highly usable and labeled clearly for the average user. If there are any problems with it in terms of functionality, the simple answer is to upgrade to the full-featured Photoshop.

2002 – Photoshop 7.0 Version 7.0 introduced the healing brush and text that was fully vectorbased. More importantly to veteran users, it introduced a new file browser that let designers easily pore through folders to find the graphics that they wanted.

Files within a folder could be renamed using Batch Rename, plus a bunch of other helpful commands that made working with a high volume of files much easier.

Workspaces could also be created and saved, allowing you to save your file locations and groups for future use.

The brush palette also featured a number of changes, including the new healing brush tool, patch tool, and the ability to create custom brushes. Spell check and a find/replace feature rounded out the updates to the text tool.

A number of enhancements were also included for web use, including the addition of rollover effects for images and a web gallery feature.

One of the most important upgrades was under the hood; 7.0 was optimized for use with Mac OS X, virtually eliminating crashes in the middle of working on large files. The tool presets palette let users program presets for commonly performed tasks, increasing efficiency.

Photoshop CS – 2003 Photoshop CS was the first to employ the CDS (counterfeit deterrence system) which recognized and refused to allow duplication of paper .currency Scripting support for various web languages, including JavaScript, was .also new to this release Layer groups were introduced with this version, which allowed various layers to be grouped together for effects to be applied to some and not .others Improvements to the File Browser made images easier to work with, and the 16-bit and better large file support made CS much easier to work with for designers who constantly worked with larger images .and photographers

Photoshop CS2 – 2005 The red eye removal tool, previously exclusive to Elements, was popular enough to make an appearance in the core version of Photoshop. Smudging options and the ability to select multiple layers .also added to the functionality of Photoshop The Vanishing Point tool allowed users to edit images in perspective.

The largest moment of panic when upgrading to PS2 came for most when they tried to find the Paint Bucket tool, which had been classified under the Gradient tool. There were other significant changes to the UI .that prompted one writer to put out this “Where’s My Stuff?” column Layers and the layers palette were other areas of note. The “links” column was removed because CS2 included a link button rather than the small chains beside each layer. The “Smart Object” feature was introduced, which allows the user to scale a layer up without .significant loss of quality

Photoshop CS3 – 2007 A faster load was probably the most noticeable feature of this 2007 release. It included fine tuning to a number of its existing tools rather than .focusing on new ones The most notable new feature was graphic optimization for mobile devices, a feature which many web designers focusing on mobile design were thankful for. This version also saw significant feature updates to Adobe Camera RAW, a Quick Select tool, alterations to core commands like .Brightness and Contrast and Black and White conversion CS3 shipped in Standard and Extended editions. The Extended version was intended for high end video and scientific users. Improved performance for Intel-based Macs significantly improved the speed of Photoshop, while Windows users also enjoyed performance upgrades. The new Quick Selection tool put the rest of the selection tools in Photoshop to shame .with easy object selection with one or two strokes Cloning became easier in CS3 with the birth of the Clone Source palette which increased the options available to the Clone Stamp tool in an easily .accessible palette

Photoshop CS4 – 2008 The smoother pan and zoom allowed for fast drill down on the areas of an image that you wanted to look at. Prior to this, there was a lag time of a few seconds (depending on your system) if you wanted to zoom in .or out on an image The Masks and Adjustments panel was added, making working with masks easier. CS 4 also dealt with edges on masks more effectively. .Colour correction took a huge step forward with this release The user interface was significantly simplified in CS4. The support of tabbed documents made it much easier to use and the main tools were added to the title bar for easier access. Quick access for common actions .was made available in the panel area

Thomas Knoll Thomas was the lead developer of Photoshop right up until CS 4. He now leads up the Camera Raw plugin for Photoshop, which allows Photoshop to develop a smooth handshake between different models of camera raw image formats.

John Knoll John is still employed by Industrial Light and Magic as a Visual Effects Supervisor. He was the Visual Effects Supervisors for the recent efforts on the first three Star Wars prequel films. He also supervised work on two Star Trek movies, Star Trek episodes, and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Glenn Knoll Their father is a teacher at the University of Michigan in the Engineering Department.

Let’s all get together to wish Photoshop a Happy Birthday!

2

1

Open up Photoshop and create a new Document of 2270x3450 and click OK. Open the Cloud image and scale it down (Ctrl + T) so that it ďŹ ts the canvas. Create a new layer and name it 'Color_Gradient' and set the Layer Mode to Color.

Select the Gradient Tool (G) and set a grey-ish green color (#58686b) as the foreground color and a marine blue color (#394f61) as the background color. Drag the Gradient Tool (G) from the bottom left to the top right.

Create a new layer and name it 'Billing_Block_Shadow'. Grab a Soft Round Brush of any size and start painting the bottom of the image black. Set the Opacity to 50%.

Now we are going to add a whole bunch of color correction layers. Create a new Group and name it 'Color_Correction', add a new Curves Adjustment Layer and go to the Red and Blue Channel and try to simulate the settings shown below. Leave the Green Channeluntouched.

Add a Color Balance Adjustment Layer by clicking on the, as I'd like to call it 'Yin-Yang' button in the Layer Menu. By default, the Color Balance menu will open in the Midtones Channel. Set the Cyan color level to +60, Magenta to +4 and the Yellow Channel to +10. Go to the Highlights Channel and set the first level to -37, set the second channel to -3 and the third channel to +1. Drag this Adjustment Layer underneath the Curves Adjustment layer.

Add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer and select the Deep Yellow preset. Keep the Density at 25% and check on Preserve Luminosity. Drag this Photo Filter Adjustment layer underneath the Color Balance Adjustment layer.

This next layer will be our noise layer which will help blend all of the images together. Create a new layer, name it 'Adjustment_01' and fill it with a grayish-black (#222222) and set the Layer Mode to Screen. Go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise, set the Amount to 7%, set theDistribution to Gaussian and check on Monochromatic. Create another layer, name it 'Adjustment_02' and fill it with a bright blue-ish color(#17d7ff), set the Layer Mode to Color and the Opacity to 15%. At this point of the tutorial, you should have a result similar to the image below and your layers should be kept as shown below.

PLEASE NOTE! From this point on, everything we are going to be working on needs to be placed below the color correction group.

3

Download the image of the F-15 Fighter Jet, ( go back to our page on facebook to do that ..please ) open it up in Photoshop and drag it into our composition. Scale and rotate the image just like the image shown below.

Once the path is turned into a selection, click on the Mask icon at the bottom of the Layer menu and you'll see that the entire background is gone.

Repeat this step with the image of the MiG-22 Fighter Jet and place the image as shown below. Make sure you ip the image horizontally! For better organizing, create two new groups with the names of the aircraft layers and put the images in the corresponding groups.

Because the aircraft has lots of curves and sharp corners, the best and fastest way to get rid of the sky is by using the Pen Tool (P). Try to get every detail of the aircraft including the smallest metal parts, it will look more realistic in your ďŹ nal design. When you're done creating a path around the aircraft, right-click within the path and click on Make Selection..., click OK.

Back to the F15 Fighter Jet. Because I want to add some vapor trails we'll need to create a copy of the masked layer, place it below the F15 and press Ctrl + U to bring up the Hue/Saturation menu. Set the Lightness to +100 and click OK.

Go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur, set the Angle to -52 and set the Distance to 999.

We'll need to remove the white motion blur in front of the aircraft. You can do this by clicking on the layer mask thumbnail, set the Foreground color to black and select a Soft Round brush of around 500px. Now paint away the white area in front of the aircraft.

You can now rename this layer to 'Vapor_trails'. The lines in this layer are too strong so I'm going to add a Gaussian Blur so it will soften up a bit. Select the layer thumbnail and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 15.

4

To blend the aircraft with the background even better is by using the Blur, Dodge and Burn tools.

We'll need to remove the white motion blur in front of the aircraft. You can do this by clicking on the layer mask thumbnail, set the Foreground color to black and select a Soft Round brush of around 500px. Now paint away the white area in front of the aircraft.

Blur tool (R): By using this tool you can blur sharp edges such as the wings of the aircraft which will make it look even more realistic.

Dodge tool (O): For highlighting the brighter areas of the aircraft, it is best to use the Dodge tool.

Burn tool (O): You can use this tool for darkening areas that you want to hide or to create shadows.

Select the Blur tool (R) and go easy on blurring the edges of the aircraft, don't go overboard!

Next, select the Burn tool (O) and set the Brush Mode to Shadows, set the Exposure to 10% and check the 'Set to enable airbrush capabilities' box on. By using these settings you can create a subtle difference when using the Burn tool. You need to 'burn' the shadows on the left part of the fighter jet image.

Download the 'Fire Flumes' image and open it up in Photoshop. Pick the first and fifth flume and cut them from the original stock photograph. Drag these on top of the 'Afterburn' layer and set the Layer Mode to Screen. You can rotate and scale these as much as you want or place them exactly like the image below.

5

Create a new layer and name it 'Afterburner' and drag this empty layer on top of the left fighter jet image. Grab a Soft Round brush of100px, go to the color palette and select an orange color (#fe8900). Click twice on each jet engine to give it a nice glow and set the Layer Mode to Linear Dodge (Add).

With the 'Flumes' layer selected, click on 'Add Layer Mask' in the bottom of the Layer menu. This way we can easily undo any mistakes that are created on the flumes layer.

Grab a black Soft Round brush of 50px and start masking everything away that's outside of the jet engines.

To intensify the heat of the flumes, go to Image>Adjustments>Curves and put the settings exactly as shown below.

6 I'm still not entirely happy with the aircraft as it looks like it is rather flat. So what we're going to do is adding new vapor trails but on top of the wings. You can simply copy the 'Vapor_trail' layer we did earlier, drag it on top of the flumes and set the Opacity to 60%. For organizing purposes, you should rename this layer to 'Vapor_trail_left_wing'. When moving this layer around by using the Move tool (V), you'll see that the layer has a sharp edge. We can use this to align it with the wing, have a look at the images below.

You can mask away any white areas you don't like or think it looks too much. For the right wing you should create another copy of this layer, press Ctrl + T and right-click within the image and click on 'Flip Horizontal'. Rename this layer to 'Vapor_trail_right_wing'. Rotate and place this layer on the right wing as you would like. Because we've put this layer on top of the aircraft the lower part of the plane still looks flat. We can fix this by making the upper tail wings looking less 2D, create a path around the left upper tail wing, right-click and click on 'Make Selection...' and click OK.

7

With the Layer Mask selected of the 'Vapor_trail_left_wing' layer, pick a large Soft Round brush and gently start masking away the top of the vapor trail on the top of the tail wing.

Do the exact same thing for the right tail wing. The difference is subtle but noticeable.

We are done for now with the F15 ďŹ ghter jet so let's move on to the Russian MiG-29. For the next step you should drag the MiG-29 folder below the F-15 folder. If you have followed this tutorial step by step, your order of layers should be exactly like the image below. Click on the image to view the entire order of layers.

Download the 'Explosion' image and open it up in Photoshop. What we're going to do now is masking the explosion from the background. Go to Channels and select the channel with the highest contrast which in this case is the Blue channel. Right-click on the Blue channel and create a copy, make sure you are working on the copied layer otherwise the masking won't work properly!

Go to Image>Adjustments>Auto Levels. By clicking on Auto Levels you can see that this helps us tremendously as we need to separate the black from the white but there is still quite a bit left to be masked. Go to Image>Adjustments>Levels and the Levels menu will pop up. Enter the settings as shown in the image below.

Paint this over with a white color in Normal Brush Mode. Now that the explosion is as good as being separated we can start working on the explosion. Grab a Soft Round brush of any size, set your foreground color to black and set the Brush Mode to Overlay. By setting the mode to Overlay we won't be able to mask away the black color but we can darken or paint away the white and grey colors. Gently start painting outwards of the explosion, the ďŹ nal outcome will proďŹ t from this. Make sure you switch from the RGB channel to the corresponding channels to see what's actually part of the explosion and what isn't.

To remove white or grey areas, simply switch your foreground color to white. When you're done painting on the layer mask, click on the RGB channel and head back to the Layers menu. Go to Select>Load Selection... and switch the Channel to the Blue copy Channel, make sure you check the 'Invert' box.

When you've done this, you will notice that the mask you have just created will be turned into a selection. Click on the Add Layer Maskicon and voila! A masked explosion has been created.

Now that this Layer Mask is done, drag it over to our poster canvas on top of the MiG-29 layer. Try to scale and rotate the explosion as shown below.

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We're going to start working on the burning wing but first, you need to set the Opacity to 70%. This will help us to see what exactly what we're going to be editing, have a look below to see how you should place the explosion.

Because of the explosion, I want the aircraft look like it is about to stall and crash down back to earth. This is why the fire (and later smoke trail) looks like it is burning on the wing rather than a fire trail. Grab a large Soft Round brush and start masking away the areas on top of the wing. Do this very gently!

In the image below you can see I didn't do a really good job masking the explosion but we can fix this. By clicking on the Layer Mask thumbnail, we can still edit the mask by using black and white colors. It still doesn't have to be perfect as we're going to apply color correction later.

We need to show a large piece of the wing to show through the fire so create a rough path around the right wing using the Pen tool (P), make a selection and create a copy. Drag this copy above the explosion layer. As mentioned before, masking is all about subtlety and you need to do this with patience! By creating a copy the wing got 'cut' from the other Layer Mask so you will need to add a new Layer Mask to the copy. In this case you can vary between brush sizes and brush opacity as we need to make it look as realistic as possible. This is my result:

We need to show a large piece of the wing to show through the ďŹ re so create a rough path around the right wing using the Pen tool (P), make a selection and create a copy. Drag this copy above the explosion layer. As mentioned before, masking is all about subtlety and you need to do this with patience! By creating a copy the wing got 'cut' from the other Layer Mask so you will need to add a new Layer Mask to the copy. In this case you can vary between brush sizes and brush opacity as we need to make it look as realistic as possible. This is my result:

Download the 'Smoke Cloud' image and open it up in Photoshop. We need to mask this exactly like the explosion image. If you're experiencing any trouble, try adjusting the settings yourself. Once you're done masking, drag it into our poster document and drag it under the explosion layer but on top of the aircraft layer. Resize and rotate the cloud as shown below.

The cloud still has some spill left from the masking but we can hide this by simply desaturating it. Press Ctrl + U to bring up theHue/Saturation menu and set the Saturation to -100. Click on the Layer Mask thumbnail and remove any leftover spill. Grab the Burn Tool (O) and set the Range to Shadows and the Exposure to 35%. With the Burn tool you can darken up the smoke cloud, this is especially handy to blend the explosion with the smoke cloud. Switch between those layers to blend them perfectly.

9

We're ďŹ nally ready for some color correction. Let's start of by selecting the Explosion layer, go to Image>Adjustments>Color Balance. Set Brightness to -55 and Contrast to +25.

Personally I think the overall poster colors look a bit bland so I'm going to add a new Curves Adjustment layer with the following settings. Try to place these as shown below.

When you've followed my instructions, you should have something like this.

At this point the poster is almost ďŹ nished but still needs some tweaking. I'm missing sparks, vapor trails and text. Later this week I will publish a tutorial on how to create the typical billing block in Photoshop but let's focus on ďŹ nishing this image.

10

Create a long and narrow white rectangle and rotate it so that it lines up with the angle of the F15 wings.

Go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur, set the Angle at -67 and the Distance at 463.

Set the Layer Mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 30%.

Remove the leftover part on top of the wing. Once you're done with this, create a copy and drag it to the other wing.

11

Open the Flumes image, drag it into our composition and set the Layer Mode to Screen. Focus on the smaller sparks surrounding the umes, these will be used for the explosion.

Create a selection around the sparks you want to move over to the explosion. Use the Move tool to drag them over to the explosion, place and rotate them anywhere you want.

Now.. you can add .. the movie name or anything you want

You first start with mastering Photoshop. You look for tutorials every day and study them thoroughly. You start making things on your own. You might not succeed the first time and the second time, but you do on the third time and then you think: Wow! I’m the coolest designer ever! However this is not it – this is just the beginning of the long journey ahead of you. You still have to learn so many things before stating that you are a designer and make money out of this. Meeting difficulties, overcoming different issues and mastering lots of things related to design and not only will make you be a successful professional designer.

This article is dedicated to all “young” designers that are new to this subject and would hopefully find these tips helpful. These 33 tips will help future designers avoid some common mistakes that they can make on their way to becoming pro’s in web design and be on the right path instead.

1. Practice makes perfect This is a universal truth that should be taken as granted in any profession you choose. In order for you to deal with your future projects you will have to master different softwares like Photoshop for instance. There are tons of tutorials on the Internet and many other online lessons that you can see and apply them in practice. The good part about tutorials is their composition – they are often explained step by step – which will make your learning process much easier. You can get them absolutely for free if you make a research and enjoy the watching and learning process. Start with the easiest tutorials – the ones that explain the basics and then move on to more complicated stuff.

2. Master Photoshop Photoshop is definitely a source of enhancing creativity and build something nice and original. It all depends on your imagination. Start with reading books about Photoshop and then you will see how much easier it will get for you to master it.

3. Patience is the secret Be sure to remember that every time you start something new, something might go wrong or not the way you expected it to be but this shouldn’t stop you. Remember that in design quantity will turn to quality once you put your heart in it. In half a year you will be able to do everything faster and in a year you can already become a professional. All you have to do is be patient and don’t get down if something goes wrong – start again and success will definitely come back to you.

4. Don’t let greed get to you One mistake that almost all beginner designers make is – if they see some cool brushes online they immediately download them. This way your computer will soon have no remaining memory because of the huge amount of useless brushes and plug-ins. The thing is that some of the brushes and plug-ins that you so wanted to download are already incorporated in Photoshop and you just don’t know about it so don’t rush – download only what you really need.

5. Systemize and classify Once you decide to download some brushes or cliparts, be sure to classify them into separate folders so that you can find them easily, otherwise you will have a messy desktop that will just get you more confused. Once you keep everything in order you won’t have to lose hours in order to find what you are looking for.

6. Be a follower Try to look at the works of as many designs as you can. This will help you get inspired and you will definitely learn a lot from other experienced designers that have already been in the same spot where you are now. If you have seen a website that you liked, try to follow the same techniques – in the end ideas will come up and you will make a totally different maybe even better website.

7. Follow but don’t copy One thing you should definitely remember is not to break any copyright rules. As I have mentioned before you can get inspired and maybe use some general elements that you can find in any web design, but other elements should totally belong to you and you cannot just copy them from other websites.

8. Analyze If you found a website to get inspired from try to analyze how it was made – start with analyzing the background, what fonts were used, what brushes or gradients have been used in order to create a certain effect. Try to figure out the order in what everything was done for the website.

9. Look at the world through the eyes of a designer Try to visualize everything you see and analyze it from a designer’s point of view. This goes for anything – starting with TV shows to billboards to magazines and ads. You can really find something really useful by just watching some ads on TV because some of them are really good and can fill you with a dose of inspiration.

10. Get a diary And I don’t mean the kind of diary that you use for writing how your day was and your disappointments. I mean the kind of diary that you will keep for ideas and impressions. It is almost impossible to remember everything that seems to be interesting for you, so you can definitely put down your ideas in a notebook of your own. Once you get to design a website just open the notebook and you will be amazed by the large number of ideas you will get.

11. Don’t blame your motivation One of the most common issues for new designers is the thought that they have an inspirational crisis; hence they are not motivated to go on with their work and become depressed at some point – thinking if the path they chose was the right one.

It will all come with experience – your inspiration will definitely get stronger once you start working and putting your soul into what you do.

12. If you want to be a designer, blend with designers A beginner designer should always communicate with other designers if there is a chance. Never hesitate to ask your fellow designer for tips, if they are professionals they won’t avoid you. Also try to visit different forums where you can find other designers from different parts of the world and talk to them – you will be love the flow of information you might get.

13. Be trendy In order to be successful you will have to get acquainted with the latest trends in web design, otherwise you will lose the moment where Web 2.0 is already a thing of the past – and you wouldn’t want that.

14. Don’t be afraid of novelties If you have seen something new that other web designer uses, don’t hesitate to use it as well – just be careful to check it out first and get to know more information as it might totally not go well with the rest of your design.

15. Make it usable Once you know how to use Photoshop and start making different stuff, don’t hesitate to make it useful for your future website, otherwise your creativity might remain locked down somewhere in a folder on your computer.

16. Respect copyrights If you want to be professional, you should definitely think about your image. You don’t want to spot it with something stupid like not respecting the copyrights of the photos you use. The safest way is to buy them from stock photography websites and if you don’t want to do that, just make sure to credit the authors or use photos in a way so that you will not violate any copyrights. If you are not sure about the license of a photo, you should better avoid using it.

17. Get your freebies and use them There is plenty of free stuff you can download from the Internet. There are different customized plug-ins and brushes for Photoshop. Just make sure to choose wisely and go for it.

18. Master the theory If you want to get a good practice, you will first have to learn the theory. There are several basic rules for design in general that you should know in order to go on and make good websites. Plus, once you get a project, you will have to talk to the client and give him different tips for a better result – thus you will have to bring serious arguments. .

19. Be your own client first One of the most common mistakes a young designer makes is the lack of a portfolio; hence when a client is asking for a portfolio in order to see your works you cannot show anything. Break this cycle and be your own client at first. Think of a project you would like to implement and then make the website for it. This way you will have a portfolio to show off and some experience as well.

20. Don’t hurry the timing of your projects Once you talk to the client, don’t try to shorten the period of the finished project. You will have to sum up the days you will need for the project wisely and tell the real numbers. Add one or two days in advance, in case something goes wrong. If you manage to end the project before the deadline than this will be a really pleasant surprise for the client, otherwise I am not sure he will be really happy 21. Design all the time Try to take care of your passion daily. Don’t skip any days in between designing – because as I said – practice makes perfect. If you don’t have any projects to work on, then do something on your own, learn some new Photoshop effects – this will definitely be helpful for your future projects.

22. Don’t be afraid of critique I guess this is the hardest thing to overcome when you are a struggling designer. Once you get a bad comment on your work you don’t really have the motivation to go on. Once a client doesn’t like your work, it either means he would like to get it for a cheaper price or he actually didn’t like it. Designing has its ups and downs but this shouldn’t bring you down. The important thing is avoid being lead by your emotions; otherwise you will lose your client and your work. Don’t be rude but try to have a constructive discussion with the client and you will definitely come to an agreement.

23. Don’t use the default settings Try to create your own effects for your design. You can use the default settings but only for bigger objects, while for example you can use a creative effect on the typography that you use in your design. Also pay attention to the elements you use in your design – these will definitely have to be unique and default settings should be avoided.

24. Don’t overestimate your skills Once you take on a project, you have to measure your skills and use simpler but good looking design, without using elements that you have never even heard about or tried them on your own. Once you handle the simple things, you will definitely be able to pass on to more complicated design; hence you could state you are becoming more professional.

25. Enjoy your work When you start the design of a website try to concentrate only on the result of your work. Create and be creative, use your imagination. Don’t let thoughts like – “what a great designer I am”! or “how much money will I get?” and “what will I do with them?!”. Enjoy your work, after all this is what you chose so it has to bring you joy.

26. Don’t think about numbers When you start designing, you will have to skip thoughts like: how many projects will I be able to make in a week, how about a month?

This will just affect your performance and at some point you might get disappointed because you miscalculated something. You will reach the time when you will simply have no time to think about numbers because of the big number of projects you will have as a professional designer.

27. Don’t underestimate the details Details definitely give the design a special look. Pay attention to details, they are really important in a composition and will make your work unique. Think about details on your typography, your background, the logo, or menu buttons and you will see how amazing your design will look instead of the boring simple design.

28. Make your own cliparts You can sometimes lose tons of time searching for the perfect details for your design. This is not the saddest thing, because you can lose time but in the end find nothing good for your design. Instead of that – design what you want on your own. Remember that you’ve mastered Photoshop and you can do almost anything you want there.

29. Don’t make fun of beginner designers One feature that can be seen in beginner designers is the way they make fun of their fellows. They usually make it on forums and they are really mean about this thing. Try to be tolerant towards new designers, because you might not be too far away from them. Keep cool and just learn to be a good designer.

30. Critique your work instead Try to avoid comparing your work to some boring and ugly designs – this will make no good for you or your experience. Dream bigger – compare your work to better designs and see what you can do to make your design better. This way, you will have a constructive critique towards yourself.

31. Be more professional about your work When you sketch the design of the website you are going to make, don’t just make a sketch that only you could understand. The client might not get what you mean. The sketch is really important in order to show a preview for your website. Obviously you shouldn’t go for the details, but a good sketch is a must.

32. Believe in yourself Believe that everything will end up to be OK and don’t lose faith in yourself and your powers. This is very important actually and will help you get the right motivation.

33. Don’t listen to anyone no matter what Don’t follow people’s advice blindly. Try to experiment and find what works best for you; it differs from person to person. What turns out to be good for someone might be totally wrong for you, even if the person has the best intentions while giving you a piece of advice.

Photographed by: Mussie @ Photo Berhan

Behind the CAMERA

.....................................................................................

Mussie G. Berhan Mussie G.Berhan - Born: January 7, 1974

My First shoot: 1981, my dad and Older Brother (Binyam) who is my role model were out to shoot Graduation Pictures. I was alone in the store and I did my first studio shoot. The group I took pictures of just kept laughing since I was too young and they didn’t believe I could do it.

Sports: 1984-1990, Photo Berhan was the only contractor to cover all the sports Photography with in the city Asmara. My brother covered the first 3 years but then when he fled out of the country, I was the only one to cover all the sports Photography (1987-1990). The main sports covered were Football, Cycling and Basketball.

1990-1995: Lived in Sweden and studied Electrical Engineering.

1995-1997: Liven in England and worked in the music industry. !997-1998: Took diploma in Sound Engineering, Toronto Canada

1998-2001: Me and 3 other friend opened a Record label company (BLaO: Beats, Love and Overstanding) During that time I worked as a Sound Engineer and Road Manager witch included traveling through out Europe for 6 months to promote albums. The main artist I worked with during that time is now very famous. Her name is Jaqee and you can listen to her music at www.jaqee.com 2001-2004: During the time I was in Toronto while studying Sound Engineer, in the last semester, I took one class in Photoshop. I kept thinking how much I loved that class and I felt that I belonged in the art world. So during those 3 years, I went back to Toronto and studied Graphic Design in George Brown College and graduated with honors.

2004-2009: I worked for different companies in the Graphics department.

2005-Present: I joined my brother who has been doing wedding and kids Photography in Toronto under the same company name as my dads (PHOTO BERHAN). It was all meant to be. After so many years, I went back tomy first love…Photography.

2009: Photo Berhan became my main focus and I translated the name to “Shine Photo” to target more audience. Shine(Berhan) now averages 15 weddings during the summer time in Toronto and around Canada. During the winter time, I work on video Editing for weddings and Movies. I also do freelance Graphic design work for few companies.

To contact me .. you can just visit my page http://www.facebook.com/fotoberhan

Photographed by: Mussie @ Photo Berhan

Photographed by: Mussie @ Photo Berhan

Photographed by: Mussie @ Photo Berhan

Read the camera's manual, and learn what each control, switch, button, and menu item does. At the very least you should know how to turn the flash on, off, and auto, how to zoom in and out, and how to use the shutter button. Some cameras come with a printed beginners manual but also offer a larger manual for free on the manufacturer's website.

Set the camera's resolution to take high quality photos at the highest resolution possible. Low-resolution images are more difficult to digitally alter later on; it also means that you can't crop as enthusiastically as you could with a higher-resolution version (and still end up with something printable). If you have a small memory card, get a bigger one; if you don't want to or can't afford to buy a new one, then use the "fine" quality setting, if your camera has one, with a smaller resolution.

Start off with setting your camera to one of its automatic modes, if you have a choice. Most useful is "Program" or "P" mode on digital SLRs. Ignore advice to the contrary which suggests that you operate your camera fully manually; the advances in the last fifty years in automatic focusing and metering have not happened for nothing. If your photos come out poorly focused or poorly exposed, then start operating certain functions manually.

Take your camera everywhere. When you have your camera with you all the time, you will start to see the world differently; you will look for and find opportunities to take great photographs.

And, of course, you will end up taking more photographs; and the more you take, the better a photographer you will become.[1] Furthermore, if you're taking photographs of your friends and family, they will get used to you having your camera with you all the time. Thus, they will feel less awkward or intimidated when you get your camera out; this will lead to more natural-looking, less "posed" photographs. Also, remember to bring batteries or charge it if you are using a digital camera.

Get outside. Motivate yourself to get out and take photographs in natural light. Take several normal 'point and shoot' pictures to get a feel for the lighting at different times of the day and night.

Go outside at all times of day, especially those times when anybody with any sense is sleeping, eating, or watching television; lighting at these times is often dramatic and unusual to many people precisely because they never get to see it!

Keep the lens clear of caps, thumbs, straps and other obstructions. It's basic, yes, but it can ruin a photograph completely. This is less of a problem with modern live-preview digital cameras, and even less of a problem with an SLR camera. But people still make these mistakes from time to time.

Set your white balance. Put simply, the human eye automatically compensates for different kinds of lighting; white looks white to us in almost any kind of lighting. A digital camera compensates for this by shifting the colors certain ways. For example, under tungsten (incandescent) lighting, it will shift the colours towards blue to compensate for the redness of this kind of lighting. The white balance is one of the most critical, and most underused, settings on modern cameras. Learn how to set it, and what the various settings mean. If you're not under artificial light, the "Shade" (or "Cloudy") setting is a good bet in most circumstances; it makes for very warm-looking colors. If it comes out too red, it's very easy to correct it in software later on. "Auto", the default for most cameras, sometimes does a good job, but also sometimes results in colours which are a little too cold

Set a slower ISO speed, if circumstances permit. This is less of an issue with digital SLR cameras, but especially important for point-and-shoot digital cameras (which, usually, have tiny sensors which are more prone to noise). A slower ISO speed (lower number) makes for less noisy photographs; however, it forces you to use slower shutter speeds as well, which restricts your ability to photograph moving subjects, for example. For still subjects in good light (or still subjects in low light, too, if you're using a tripod and remote release), use the very slowest ISO speed that you have.

Compose your shot thoughtfully. Frame the photo in your mind before framing it in the viewfinder. Consider the following rules, but especially the last one: Use the Rule of Thirds, where the primary points of interest in your scene sits along "third" lines.Use the Rule of Thirds, where the primary points of interest in your scene sits along "third" lines. Try not to let any horizon or other lines "cut the picture in half."[3] Get rid of distracting backgrounds and clutter. If this means you and your friend have to move a little so that a tree does not appear to be growing out of her head, then do so. If glare is coming off the windows of the house across the street, change your angle a bit to avoid it. If you're taking vacation photographs, take a moment to get your family to put down all the junk they may be carrying around with them and to remove backpacks or hip packs as well. Keep that mess well out of the frame of the picture, and you will end up with much nicer, less cluttered photos. If you can blur the background in a portrait, then do so. And so on.

Ignore the advice above. Regard the above as laws, which work much of the time but are always subject to judicious interpretation -- and not as absolute rules. Too close an adherence to them will lead to boring photographs. For example, clutter and sharply focused backgrounds can add context, contrast and colour; perfect symmetry in a shot can be dramatic, and so on.

Every rule can and should be broken for artistic effect, from time to time. This is how many stunning photographs are made.

for the full Tips go to : http://www.wikihow.com/Take-Better-Photographs

ERITREA

Asmara Streets

young girl smiling Asmara Opera House

Tilt shift Asmara

Massawa in the Night

Old man in front of a an old colonial villa at sunset, Asmara

Medeber Market in ASMARA

For more Great pics. & Info. you can visit the Photographer site http://www.ericlafforgue.com/eritrea.htm

http://www.facebook.com/abdalla.abdalla.9

PHOTO

Manipulation

It is a fancy way to describe retouching photographs and/or adding filters and special effects to photographs digitally. Most photographs do not need any retouching, etc however, touching up or adding subtle effects to special photographs, especially ones that will be printed larger than 8x10, can make a huge difference.

To my fans: I would like to send special thanks to you & I am humbled and feel lucky to have such inspiring individuals like you who give me energy everyday to want to do what i do best.

Thank you for telling me that I am encouraging…

It encouraged me in return! I really am just like you… I’m tired,stressed, worried, poured out, and so on, but I am full of love for art. and that keeps me going.

I’m glad I was given the platform in the form of tv to encourage my fans and alike to just keep going and do your best, always always always!

Flawless Art

http://www.facebook.com/flawless.art http://www.facebook.com/flawlessartonline http://www.m-aljabarty.deviantart.com

F L A W L E S S A R T M A G A Z I N E

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