New Tutorials
How to Photograph Lightning
Capturing lightning isn’t as tricky as one would think, provided you have the right equipment. The hardest part is finding the lightning and having said equipment with you at the time. My wife and I were in Cancun with my brother and his wife last summer and were lucky enough to have quite a light show the final night of our stay. Being on vacation, my brother’s wife Tina and I both had our digital SLRs so we were prepared when a surprise tropical storm rolled through on the final night of our trip.
What you’ll need is a camera you can control manually, a tripod, a cable release or timer, at the very least a semi-wide angle lens, and some serious cojones, balls, courage, machismo, chutzpah, or whatever your word for it may be. You may even call it absolute stupidity since we serve as electrical antennas when out in the elements during a lightning show. Always remember that any time you’re outside in a thunderstorm, you are risking your life. If it’s possible to be inside some type of shelter this would be ideal, but sometimes that’s just not possible. It’s also just fantastic, I might add in the most sarcastic of ways, that astrology books say I’m at risk of death by fire, explosion, or being struck by lightning.
So here we are sitting in the pool, enjoying some margaritas and tequila shots when the weather started getting a little weird. You could feel the electricity in the air and before long some rather ominous clouds could be seen on the horizon. As soon as I saw lightning I got out of the pool, grabbed my camera and since I didn’t have my tripod with me, found a hollow inverted pole I set my camera on so I wouldn’t have to worry about shake. At this point the lightning was far enough away that I wasn’t nervous about being wet and out in the open. This first shot was taken at this location. I had to take over one hundred shots before I was lucky enough to catch this since there was so much light I couldn’t use long exposures yet. This was taken with my Nikkor 18-200VR lens at ISO 100, f/11 – 1/3 of a sec at 18mm.
As the storm approached and the thunder grew much louder, we decided to get in doors. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed upstairs to near the top floor where my brother and Tina had a balcony with a perfect view. This time I had my mandatory tripod since it was starting to get dark. One of the first shots is the intro photo for this blog post. This shot was taken with my other lens, the Tokina 11-16 ATX at ISO 100, f/11, 7 seconds at 13mm.
Here’s a guide for reference, just adjust your shutter speed for correct light:
For dangerous lightning that is very close – 100 ISO, f/16-f/22
Relatively close, up to a mile – 100 ISO, f/11
Distant lightning 3-5 miles – 100 ISO f/5.6
Distant lightning 5-8 miles – 100 ISO f/4
Far away lightning 8-15 miles – 200 ISO f/4-f/5.6
Once it was totally dark, I was able to leave the shutter open for 30 seconds and since there were times where strikes would occur every 5-15 seconds, I would capture lightning just about every time and sometimes multiple strike in one exposure. Shooting lightning in conditions like this is not at all difficult. The camera and nature are really doing all the work, leaving you to sit back and enjoy the show, just be safe. At the very least, try to have some cover and only sometimes drink cocktails when shooting lightning. 
How to fake a tilt-shift or PC-E lens in Photoshop
Tilt-shift or PC-E lenses work by using two types of movements: rotation of the lens plane relative to the image plane, called tilt, and movement of the lens parallel to the image plane, called shift. Tilt-shift lenses can be used for architectural photography in avoiding convergence of parallel lines. Some photographers also use these lenses for shooting portraits as they can isolate their subjects easily by blurring-out negative space.
One of the most popular ways photographers are using these lenses is to make a scene appear as if it’s a miniature model. This is done by photographing a scene from above in a typical angle one would view a toy scene. These lenses are expensive and take time to learn, but you can do a pretty good job faking the effect by simply using Photoshop and an easy trick that only takes minutes.
First open an image that you’ve taken from a higher altitude. You want it to appear as if you are looking down on the scene. Here I’m using a photo I took last year at Lake Como in Northern Italy. It helps for the image to have something of interest taking up a small location that will be in focus. I’m going to want the town circle close to the lake, where there’s greater dimension to the buildings to be where I want the effect to take place.
Start by pressing the “q” button to enter Quick Mask Mode. Then press the letter “g” to use the gradient.
In the Gradient Options in the upper-left make sure you are using a Reflected Gradient as seen here:
Now hold down shift and starting from where you want the center of your focused area, draw a straight line vertically as far as you want the focused gradient to go from your center. Remember that too much area in focus will lessen the effect while too little won’t be as interesting, so it will be a good idea to play around with this technique. When see how easy it is, you’ll have no problem experimenting. As you can see here, half of my gradient is from the base of the green tree in front of the tower to just below the white villa on the hill. Remember your line only makes up half of the gradient because it’s “reflected.”
When you finish drawing your vertical gradient and let go you see the mask here in red. Because it’s a gradient mask, the red area and your mask will not look as if it spans all the way to the end of your vertical line.
Now hit “q” again to exit Quick Mask Mode and you’ll see your selection.
Now click Layer>Blur>Lens Blur
The default setting in Lens Blur works pretty well depending on the resolution of your photo so play around with the Radius slider to change the amount of the effect. Next you can use Image>Adjust>Hue/Saturation and up the saturation a little until it resembles a colorfully painted model to give it added effect.
The whole process took about three minutes which is a great alternative if you want a miniature effect and cannot afford $2k for a fancy lens. Now you can have BIG fun making things look really little.
Make an easy photo mosaic in Photoshop
I’ll never forget the first time I saw a real photo mosaic. It was a photo of Marilyn Monroe on the cover of a magazine consisting of hundreds of images. It was one of the coolest things I’d seen at the time and wondered what kind of amazing technology was used to create such an amazing piece of work. I can tell you there is really only one place to get a true mosaic like the one I saw. This is at Picture Mosaics, but you will also pay a couple hundred bucks for it. There is a poor man’s method for producing a photo mosaic. It’s nowhere near the wow factor that a true mosaic is, but it’s still pretty darn cool and easy to do. Some companies out there will charge you for this, I’ll show you how to do it for free.
Start by copying photos into a new folder called Mosaic. I just copied and pasted images at random and ended up with 550 of them. Be sure the images in this new folder are copies and not originals.
Next, you want to start an action. To do this, open up the first image in your new Mosaic folder and open the Actions palette. (Windows>Actions) Now click the arrow in the upper right hand area of the palette and select new action. Go ahead and name the action, I named mine re-size.
Now go to Image>Image Size and check Resample Image, make the image size 1cm X 1cm at 200ppi and click OK, save the image and close it. Now go back to the Actions Palette and click stop. You’ve just recorded the image size adjustment.
The next step will be to turn your action in to a droplet. Go to File>Automate>Create Droplet. Click the Choose button and decide where you want to save your droplet, select the re-size action you’ve just created and click OK.
Now go back to the new folder of copied images you created, select them all and drag them over the Droplet icon. Make sure you are dragging the copies! This will convert each image to a 1cm X 1cm square.
Now that all the images have been reduced to their smaller size, it’s time to make the mosaic. To do this click File>Automate>Contact Sheet II. I wrote this tutorial years ago using CS3, so if you are using CS5 you make a contact sheet by switching to 32-bit mode. The following link explains how: Contact Sheet in CS5
Select the images you want to you use by clicking Choose and then enter the measurements you want to use. I used 55cm X 40cm and 200ppi. Now decide how many rows and columns you’ll need. I chose 50 columns and 30 rows and made sure to uncheck Auto Spacing so I could make sure there is no spacing between the images. Since the images are square they will fit together nicely. Check the Flatten All Layers box and click OK.
Here are the small images put together in the contact sheet. If you didn’t have enough images, simply copy and paste them to fill the canvas, just be sure to Flatten the image after you do by clicking Layer>Flatten Image.
Now decide what you’d like to use as the main image, but be sure it’s at least the size of your canvas. Now click File>Place and find this image. This will place the image in a new layer above the smaller ones. Set this image layer’s options to Hard Light.
That’s it! You can play around with the Curves on the bottom layer if you want to adjust the contrast a little. That’s up to you.
There are so many ways to do things in Photoshop. This method is one of the many I may use for a given project. You may have a better way. Always do what works best for you.
Image straightening the easy way
Ever take a shot and didn’t check to make sure it was straight? This is an easier fix than manually rotating the image. The trick is using the ruler tool located behind the eyedropper tool in Photoshop.
Using the Ruler Tool, click and drag a line across the image going with the horizon.
Next, click Image>Rotate Canvas>Arbitrary.
A dialog box will come up showing you the degree of rotation necessary to straighten the image based on the line you made with the Ruler Tool.
Click OK, and your image is straightened out. Now all that’s left is cropping out the white edges.
That’s it! Cropped and straightened out!
How to restore a damaged photograph (Advanced)
I’ll be posting many restoration tutorials. Some will be easy touch-ups, while others will require some serious art knowledge. A restoration project that requires re-creating a face, for instance, will be far more advanced. This tutorial involves some expert art skills. If at any point you have further questions please contact me.
Last week my Grandmother asked me if I could repair an old, damaged photograph she had of my father when he was a kid. I told her I would try, but couldn’t promise anything. I knew there would be a possibility the photo would be beyond my ability, or at least beyond my technology. Upon receiving the photo in the mail, my worst fear became a reality; this was going to be no easy task.
As you can see, this photo was so badly damaged that a good portion of his face had been ripped from the paper. This usually occurs when a wet photo has time to dry and stick to other photos it may be stacked with.
I’ve supplied a list of tips for separating photos that have been stuck together here:
- Damaged photos for which you do not have negatives need to receive attention first. Once photos have stuck together or become moldy, it may not be possible to save them.
- Handle wet or stuck photos carefully because surfaces may be fragile. Try not to touch the image surface with your
- It is a good idea to take new photographs of all photos as soon as you can see a clear image just in case their condition worsens. Take new photos before and or after soaking (soaking explained below).
- Remove photos stuck to mattes, glass, or frames, if possible, without causing too much damage. If the photo is really stuck, follow the soaking instructions below. Take a new photograph before you attempt to remove the stuck photo or soak it. Also, if the stuck photo is in good condition, it may be possible to scan it in the frame as is and then send a digital copy to a restorer such as Image Master for restoration.
- If you have a number of photos stuck together, they can be soaked in slightly warm water. If the water becomes dirty, change it often. It could take about an hour to loosen them.
- Wet photos may be rinsed in clean water, if need be, and sealed in a plastic garbage bag with a tie or a Ziploc-type plastic bag.
- It is a good idea to place wax paper between each photo.
- If a freezer is available, freeze the photos immediately. Later, the photos may be defrosted, separated, and air-dried.
- If no freezer or refrigerator is available, rinse wet photos in clean water and dry them, face up, in a single layer on a clean surface such as a table, towel, or clean plastic laid out on the ground.
- You will reduce the growth of mold and mildew by reducing humidity. Increase air flow with fans, open windows, air conditioners, and dehumidifiers.
- Don’t dry the photos in direct sunlight.
- You may want to add weights to the tips of each photo corner to help reduce curling.
If the damage has already been done and you feel up to a challenge, here are some tips on repairing and restoring the photos using the methods I used. Keep in mind that unless you have an artistic eye and an ability to understand and see what the missing parts of a face should look like, don’t try to tackle a job like this, and always work from a copy of the original.
What you’ll need:
- A decent scanner. If you don’t have one, hit up your local Kinko’s or copy store.
- Any version of Photoshop.
- This isn’t necessary, but I used Alien Skin Exposure, which mimics actual film types and is a plug-in for Photoshop.
Step One: Scanning
Be sure to scan your photo at the highest resolution possible. I recommend, at the very least, you scan at 300dpi. The purpose for this is that you’ll be using other parts of the image to repair, and you can get unexpected results with lower quality (not to mention the fact that film resolution is a lot higher and you’ll have a loss in pixels. It’s likely, though, with small pictures that any loss in pixels won’t be noticed as long as you’re sure to scan at the highest possible DPI).
Make sure you clean any dust or fingerprints. Loose dust may be removed before scanning with compressed air, a soft paintbrush, or one of the optical quality dry cleaning cloths can be used for both dust and fingerprints.
Step Two: Color Correction
There are many ways to color correct in Photoshop. The one
I use most often is Threshold, which is found by creating a new adjustment layer.
- To do so, create a new layer with the photo in it by selecting all (control-A), copy (control C), and paste (control V), then click on the little yin-yang symbol at the bottom of the layers palette and click on Threshold. This will bring up the threshold window and everything will look black and white.
- Slide the little slider all the way to the left, and then slowly bring it back. The first black pixels that appear in the window are the darkest part of the image. Click ok when you first see them.
- Now zoom in to these pixels and place a color sample marker in the middle of one of these black areas. The Color Sampler Tool can be found by holding down the Eye Dropper tool.
- Once you’ve marked the dark area, you can now get rid of the Threshold layer by dragging it in to the trashcan located at the bottom of the layers palette. You’ll now be back to the normal view of the top layer, but your new sample marker stays visible.
- Next repeat the steps for Threshold, but slide the slider to the right. This will be the lightest point in the image.
- Sample that, throw the Threshold layer away, and it’s time to color correct.
- Click Image>Adjustments>Curves to open the Curves palette.
- Once in the Curves window, click on the Black Eyedropper tool and click within the dark area sample you made in the Threshold step. You may need to zoom in to get an accurate placement.
- Do the same for the light sample, but obviously use the white Eyedropper within Curves. These steps will find black and white within your image and will help you correct your colors.
Step Three: Repairing and Restoring
Start with the Clone Stamp Tool in Photoshop and set the mode to Darken. This clones pixels from one area and replaces all the pixels of another area that are too light. I used this tool in the right side of the forehead and parts of his hair. I made sure to use a soft edge brush of different sizes for this technique so the areas b
lended well.
In my particular case, I then focused my attention to the huge torn-out area in the middle of his face.
- Here I used the Clone Stamp Tool with the mode set for normal. I used a large feathered brush and cloned along the jaw line. This allowed me to clone the area from dark to light along the jaw line and in to the area that’s missing, giving it a natural flow with the rest of the image that’s visible.
- As I work, I use different brush sizes and will use a lot of Undo’s (Control-Z) as I go along if I feel I made something that doesn’t look natural. You can also use the history palette to go back some steps.
- Once you fill the torn-out area, you’ll need to go back in and fix trouble areas with the clone stamp to even out the shadow and light in areas so they fit with the rest of the image.
It’s important to have a good artistic eye, because an image as damaged as this will require you to create what’s not there; for instance, re-creating the right side of his mouth and lips. The great thing is, the left side is there so you can copy and paste that area, flip it horizontally, rotate it slightly, and place it where it would need to go. Then use the Clone Stamp to even out the edges. The background areas in this case were easy to restore and I wanted to restore the image back to a rectangle as it was without the paper frame, which had stuck to it.
You’ll notice that as you fix areas with a soft edge clone stamp, they’ll appear smoother than the rest of the image since this particular photo had a lot of grain in it. For this I simply clicked Filter>Noise>Add Noise and clicked the box in the bottom left that says Monochrome. I them adjusted my noise until it looked like it was close to the original.
At this point, I was happy with what I had done, but there were some areas where the color of his skin didn’t look right, it didn’t have a natural overall look to it. To fix this, I used Alien Skin Exposure. In Exposure I was able to mimic an old black and white photograph while also adding a natural sepia tone. For this I used the setting Sepia – Mid Band Split. I actually couldn’t believe I was able to do the job I did on this restoration considering it’s really my first time with an image this bad.
Step Four: Printing
This part’s easy. Send it to White House Custom Color for all your printing needs. A photographer friend told me about them a couple months ago and I’ve received such beautiful prints from them at unbelievable prices. For about half the price of local printers for the same product, I can have this photo printed on metallic paper and have it sent back within two business days. The best part is, your photos will be processed by real photographers, not some lab clerk at the local drugstore who doesn’t care about quality.
Good luck to all, and happy repairing!
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