Have you ever had an image that was cropped too tightly to print in two different formats? To help you out, Photoshop CS4 and CS5 have a tool called Content-Aware Scale.

Content-Aware Scale re-sizes an image by attempting to scale the background without changing the subject. While normal scaling affects all pixels uniformly when resizing an image, content-aware scaling mostly affects pixels in areas that don’t have important visual content. Using Content-Aware Scale, you can upscale or downscale images to improve a composition, fit a layout, or change the orientation.

In the example to the above, when I tried to apply a 5×7″ crop to the 8×10″ image, the crop lines were against the animal’s heads and feet. By using Content-Aware Scale instead, I was able to maintain a nice border around the image subject.

Here’s how I did it:

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Photography is a visual medium. That’s why it makes perfect sense to watch videos about photography instead of reading about it. Spending a few minutes learning a new technique or tip each day will help keep you on the cutting edge of your profession.

Below are 10 YouTube channels (think of them as weekly TV shows) I’ve reviewed and can recommend to photographers at all skill levels. Most of the videos are 2-10 minutes long, so they would be easy to watch in the morning with a cup of coffee or during breakfast.

Start by reviewing each channel below. If you find one you like, log into YouTube, click the “subscribe” button for that channel, and click “email each upload” so you’ll get an email reminder when a new video from that channel is uploaded.

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An all day workshop with Master Artist Kathy Falls

Class size is limited. Reservations must be made by May 30th!
Call JD Photo Imaging at 888-858-8084 today to guarantee your place.

Offered for the FIRST time you will have in in-depth, hands-on workshop that will teach you how to embellish your inkjet canvas and water color fine art pieces. Kathy will take you to the next level showing the latest techniques for creating ‘embellished giclees’ (enhancing your inkjet canvas image with painting techniques).   You will learn these  techniques using pastel paper, exotic papers, water color paper, and inkjet canvas.

This will be a hands-on learning experience using fine art products with painting and drawing applications. You will not be working with a computer, this will be painting directly on the finished image. Kathy will show you the appropriate materials to use for each substrate and how to finish them that will preserve the artwork and the image.

At the end of the day, you will take home two 11×14″ inkjet canvas and one watercolor image that will be artistically painted by you! Kathy will provide the images that you will embellish, a $115 value!

Kathy has utilized these techniques and has had her work in many galleries in Michigan and Indiana. Most recently Kathy was awarded “Best of Show” in the 2010 Hillsdale County annual juried art show for an embellished giclee, and one Loan Print in the Professional Photographers of America 2010 International Print Competition, which she created using these techniques.

Details:

The workshop will be held on Monday, June 6 from 9 am. to 4 pm.

Registration begins at 8:30 am. Please be on time.

Lunch is included.

Cost of the workshop is $120, and will be held at JD Photo Imaging in Flint, Mi.

All materials will be provided. Class size is limited.

Kathy Falls is a Master Photographer, Master Artist, Master Electronic Imaging, Photographic Craftsman, PPA Certified Photographer, Certified E.I., Certified Photographic Specialist

Thom Rouse, an internationally known artist, will hold a 3-day workshop entitled “Fine Art Portraiture in Celebration of the Feminine Image” May 15-17 at Hicks Studio of Fenton (map). Cost for the workshop is $425 for 3 full days, and is limited to 12 participants.

Thom combines photography and advanced Photoshop techniques to create his fine art portraiture. Here’s a tutorial he recently posted in Professional Photographer Magazine and an article on Shutterbug.com that gives you an idea of the techniques you’ll learn in his class.

According to Thom, on the first day photographers will work with live models using concepts for “dressing, lighting and posing that celebrates the feminine image.” Then, on days two and three photographers will learn how to apply different fine art enhancements using Photoshop layers. By the end of the third day, “photographers will have a full set of layered images as a reference for applying the techniques to other images.”

If you are looking for a new portraiture style – or to enhance your current style – you owe it to yourself or your graphics artist to take this class.  The ability to create and display images like these on your website and in your studio will help you to justify premium prices for all your portraiture.

For more information or to register for this class, contact Thom Rouse at (815)761-1358 or thom@thomrouse.com. To see more examples of his work visit his website www.thomrouse.com

Give me a camera, and by the end of a day of shooting I’ll take several bad images. I mean really, really bad. Even after all the classes and time spent reading manuals I still, somehow, end up with a few real stinkers.

Unfortunately, some of these images mean a lot to me. I don’t want to throw them away, and I don’t want to send a single low-res image through ROES just for color correction. So I’ve spent years trying to figure out how to quickly get an image that looked bad on my monitor to look good on a print.

Then I discovered an easy Photoshop trick. Buried in the Curves window are three little eyedropper buttons that can fix the majority of density and color cast problems with an image. Here’s how to use them.

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Adding a vignette to an image is easy in Lightroom or Photoshop. In Lightroom, vignettes can be achieved in the Develop module. On the right column, there is a section for ‘lens correction’. In Photoshop, vignettes can be found in filter —-> correct camera distortion. Just like in Lightroom, there are sliders to adjust the lightening or darkening of your edges.

The problem with both these solutions is that if you crop your photos tightly, the vignette effect bleeds into your subject. To stop this from happening, you need to separate your subject from the background first.

Here’s what I do:

1. Make a copy of the background layer. Unlock it. Select it.

2. Use the lasso tool to outline the subject. You don’t have to be exact, just close.

3. While the “marching ants” are around your selected area, from the Select menu, pick “Feather” and set it to 3 pixels for low res images or 5 pixels for 300dpi images. This prevents hard edges.

4. Press Ctrl+J (CMD+J on Mac) to copy the selection to a new layer.

5. Click on the unlocked background layer. Apply your vignette (or any effect) to the background copy layer.

That’s it! Using this technique you don’t have to worry about your Photoshop effects bleeding into your subject.

The Professional Photographer’s of Michigan Photo Expo will be held on March 18-22 at the Westin Hotel, Detroit Airport.

PPM’s annual convention and trade show features seminars from industry leaders, print competitions and hospitality every night.

As a service to our customers, you can download and print free passes for the trade show held on Sunday, March 20 from 11am-4pm and on Monday, March 21 from 10am-3pm.

While you are at the trade show, be sure to visit our booth. JD will be showing all the latest products, as well as announcing our new Eureka! program for professional photographers.

More information about the show.

At JD, we are always on the lookout for ideas for new products that you can offer to your clients. Most of our ideas come from photographers like you, but frankly, we are open to getting new ideas anywhere.

For example, recently we were looking at a new iPhone app called PrintItUp that generates a mini accordion photo book from iPhone images. We wondered, how could photographers market this to their customers? Would a high school senior or a bride or a mom buy one of these if it only had the photographer’s images? We don’t know where we’re going with this, but would appreciate your input.

Which leads to my point:

• What new products or services would you like to see in our catalog?

• What kind of articles interest you? What do you want to read about?

• What seminars (online or in the JD classroom) are you interested in?

Let me know in the comments below, and we’ll use the list as we get ready for the new season.

Brad Hawks will present a “Creating the Image” workshop on March 14, 2011 at 7pm sponsored by the Mid-Michigan Professional Photographer’s Association. The program is free to MMPPA and DPPA members.

During the 3-hour program, Brad will show step-by-step examples for creating the effects that has made his senior portrait work so popular. This includes the latest image effects in Photoshop, Nix, Alien Skin, AutoFX and Painter.

He will also be giving away $1,000 free software to folks attending the workshop.

Details:
5:30pm: Dinner at The Frankenmuth Brewery, 425 S. Main Street Frankenmuth
6:30pm: Registration
7:00pm: Program at Rummel Studios, 130 W. Tuscola, Frankenmuth

For more information, contact Tina Timmons at tina@mich1.net or visit the Mid-Michigan PPA website.

Brad Hawks will lead a program entitled “Capture and Create” on January 11, 2011 at 7pm at the next DPPA meeting at the Birmingham Conference Center. Sponsored by JD Photo Imaging, the program is free to DPPA members. Non members are welcome to attend by calling (248) 388-6947.

During the 3-hour program, Brad will show you how to use the same successful workflow he uses in his full-time studio business, as well as step-by-step examples for creating the effects that has made his senior portrait work so popular. This includes:

• Creative thought – setting a theme, telling a story
• Light balancing and styles, including the latest techniques and equipment
• RAW vs JPG facts in the real world
• Working with Light Room presets
• Creating the latest image effects in Photoshop, Nix, Alien Skin, AutoFX and Painter

If you are ready to take your images to the next level in the shortest amount of time, you should plan to attend this workshop. You do not need to bring your laptop.