Today we’re talking Art Photography as Bob Nolin from Digital Image Magazine shares some tips on creating an oil painting effect from a photo.

Imagine you had a magic paint brush, and when you painted with it on a blank canvas, it changed colors for you all by itself. You wouldn’t have to try to mix colors, or worry about drawing outside the lines. The magic brush would do all the hard work for you. It would allow you to become the artist you had always dreamed of being.

Well, there really is such a magic brush, and it’s called Corel Painter.

Today we’re going to create an oil painting, step by step, with Painter. Estimated time: one hour. A Wacom or other digital tablet is highly recommended.

How to Create an Oil Painting from a Photo with Corel Painter

The magic brush works by cloning (copying) color from a source photo to a target canvas (document). All you have to do to enable cloning is to open an image file (a JPG or a Photoshop file will work), and then go File > Clone. This creates an exact copy of the original file, and sets up the magic link between source and target. You could begin painting on this copy right away, which would be similar to the way traditional photo painters work with oils on a canvas-mounted photograph. But we’re going to start with a blank canvas, and pull color onto it from the original photo.

Photo by will hybridToday I’m pleased to present an introduction to High Dynamic Range Imaging (or HDR PHotography) that has kindly been written by Jason from Pixelens.com NOTE: Clicking on the images in this post will open them larger in a new window.

An Introduction to High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDR)

HDR, or High Dynamic Range Imaging seems to be all the rage these days. HDRI is described as:

In image processing, computer graphics and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows. (from Wikipedia)

More accurately however, the images that are commonly seen and referred to as HDR or HDRI images are tone-mapped.

Tone mapping is a technique used in image processing and computer graphics to map a set of colours to another; often to approximate the appearance of high dynamic range images in media with a more limited dynamic range. Print-outs, CRT or LCD monitors, and projectors all have a limited dynamic range which is inadequate to reproduce the full range of light intensities present in natural scenes. Essentially, tone mapping addresses the problem of strong contrast reduction from the scene values (radiance) to the displayable range while preserving the image details and color appearance important to appreciate the original scene content. (from Wikipedia)

Definitions and technicalities aside, I decided to look into HDR and tone mapping a bit closer to see if there really was a difference between different processes. I was curious to see if there was noticeable differences between generating HDR/tone-mapped shots from a single RAW, multiple RAWs, multiple JPGs from the camera, and multiple JPGs generated from a single RAW. For the purposes of the rest of this post, I will be referring to my final images as HDR images (even though we all now know that’s not exactly correct). Here is the original, straight out of the camera image shot with my Canon Digital Rebel XT/350D.

Honestly, not a bad image for SOOC! Anyways, the recommended way to produce HDR is to take multiple exposures using your camera’s Auto Exposure Bracketting (AEB) setting. I’m not going to get into the details on this, I’m merely posting my comparison results here.

Today I’d like to present a video on Colorizing Black and White images in photoshop. The video is part of a course offered by fellow Aussie Shane Goldberg at Pro Photo Secrets.

Shane has put together hundreds of videos like this one on his site. There are more free ones on his site here and then over 500 others are accessible as a member.

Whether you’re interested in signing up as a member or not – I hope you find this video helpful as you think about colorizing black and white images!

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See more of Shanes videos at Pro Photo Secrets.

This post on Understanding Layers in Photoshop has been submitted by Jodi Friedman of MCP Actions. MCP Actions offers customized one on one photoshop training, photoshop actions, and photo editing for photographers. To see more Photoshop tips and tutorials visit her blog at http://www.mcpactions.com/blog.

One of the most important keys to learning and mastering photoshop is using layers.

Why work on layers at all?

• They do not destroy your original photo.
• You are working on top of or on copies of that photo.
• You will have more control.
• You can use blending modes to change the way layers interact.
• You can change the opacity of any effects.
• You will have or can add layer masks so that you can work selectively on your photo with any adjustments you make.

There are a number of types of layers that I will discuss today.

New Layer:

(SHIFT, CTRL or CMD, and “N”) or under LAYER – NEW LAYER: This will create a blank transparent layer. This is useful when you want to add or change something on a photo and pixels are not needed. For example, adding a border. If you make a new blank layer, and then add a border by doing SELECT – ALL. Then EDIT – STROKE. You can turn the layer on or off by toggling the eye ball, add a layer style such as a bevel or emboss, or change the opacity by working on this type of layer.

Earlier today I had a reader ask me for a recommendation for a book on Photoshop. I decided to poll 10 of my good photographer buddies on their recommendations and they came up with the following Photoshop books:

Photoshop Elements 6

1. The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers
2. Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual
3. Photoshop Elements 6 For Dummies

Photoshop CS3

1. The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers
2. Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers
3. Adobe Photoshop CS3 Classroom in a Book

Other Photoshop Books

1. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers
2. Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature
3. Adobe Photoshop Restoration & Retouching

Got another Photoshop book to recommend? Let us know your favorites in comments below.