by Matthew Bamberg,MA
Your Full-Color guide to Creating Gallery-Quality digital Photographs
 |
| Digital Art Photography for Dummies |
Several years ago, Matthew Bamberg began to photograph for the articles he
was writing while working for the alternative paper, the Desert Post Weekly.
His writing focuses on popular culture: essays about topics from the Santa
Cruz, California surf culture to the mid-century modern architecture revival
around the world. Curious by light striking his lens (direct and bold or soft
and willowy) and the sounds (especially of the shutter opening and closing),
he struck a relationship first with film and then, like so many, with the digital camera’s sensor.
Aside from writing about f-stops, shutter speeds, and the fabulous job the
digital camera manufacturers have done that permit photographers to take
almost noiseless pictures in the dark at high ISO speeds, Matt has written
content and provided photographs for articles on Homestore.com, America
Online, and The Weather Channel.
Author’s Acknowledgments
First, cheers to Nicole Sholly and Teresa Artman, who guided the progress
of this book and offered dozens of solutions and ideas in its development.
To them, a heartfelt thanks. Thanks also to: Robert Stone for his patience
teaching me the ins and outs of landscape photography in Paris and Vietnam;
Robert Jones of Insightful Solutions for guidance for Internet and Web site
photography; Roger Vail for his wonderful nighttime carnival photography
(http://we.got.net/~rvail/recent/recent.html); the expertise of
sports photographer Drew Brashler; and Rich Glass and infrared photographer,
Robert Contreras (www.robertcontreras.com) who helped widen the
book’s focus. Also of assistance were the Borgan, Taylor, and Bodon families
whose ideas, photos, and patience modeling for dozens of shots made the
process not work but fun. I can’t forget the valuable assistance in shooting
provided by Dr. Suellen Evavold, Trixie Mauleon, and Kelly Lewis and son,
Chase. And keeping me on track, offering aesthetic advice on hundreds of
photos as they progressed through Photoshop and moved onto the printed
page, was Todd Larson. My experiences with all the staff of City Art (Van Nuys,
California) helped to make this book a completed cycle by giving insight to
one of the most important stages of the art photography process: framing an
image. Selling the image, too, needs to be recognized. To that end, I thank
James Claude and Miguel Linares of Palm Springs Consignment, a mid-century
modern gallery in Palm Springs, who took me in as a street photographer by
selling my mid-century modern signage series, a series that took me to some
dicey neighborhoods all over the world to capture a piece of the past. Thanks
also to John Bernard and Beverly Walker of the modern furnishing gallery,
Room Service, who brought and sold my work to the big city (Los Angeles)
and Jay Nailor of M Modern Gallery (Palm Springs) who took my work to the
gallery level and who was never more than a phone call away.
Introduction
In this book, I cover the art form of digital art photography. I start by giving
you an introduction to the world of film-based photography and how it
relates to digital photography. From there, I go on to cover the whole gambit
of digital art photography, from shooting great photos to tweaking them in
Photoshop to producing final output fit for a gallery wall. If that sounds intriguing,
this book is for you whether you’re film-based or digital-only or both.
About This Book
Here are some of the things this book will help you do:
Get a fabulous, well-exposed photograph, no matter what your shooting conditions
Tweak, edit, and enhance your images to create something entirely new—or just simply better than what you started with
Produce gallery-worthy art prints
Find out when it’s time to upgrade your computer to handle graphics work
Foolish Assumptions
I don’t like to be foolish, but to use this book, I assume that you know the basics
of photography, whether digital or film. (I do sprinkle loads of photography
tidbits throughout, so no one is stranded.) I also assume that you know how to
use a computer and have maybe played around with Photoshop or some photo
editor application. Most important of all, I assume that you have a burning
desire down deep inside to unleash your creative side by producing — and
even selling — truly artistic, awe-inspiring photographic prints.
Conventions Used in This Book
By conventions, I simply mean a set of rules that I employ in this book to present
information to you consistently. When you see a term italicized, look for
its definition, which I include so you know what that term means in the context
of digital art photography. Sometimes, I give you information to enter onscreen;
in those cases, I format what you need to type bold. Web site addresses and
e-mail addresses appear in monofont so that they stand out from regular text.
What You Don’t Have to Read
Because I structure this book modularly — that is, so you can easily find only
the specific information you need — you don’t have to read whatever doesn’t
pertain to your task at hand. You also don’t have to read the Technical Stuff
icons, which parse out uber-techy tidbits (which you might or might not be interested in).
How This Book Is Organized
Digital Art Photography For Dummies is split into five parts. You don’t have to
read parts sequentially; you don’t have to read each chapter in each part;
and you don’t even have to read all the sections in any particular chapter.
(But I think that you’ll want to look at every picture. . . .) You can use the Table
of Contents and the index to find the information you need and quickly get
your answers. In this section, I briefly describe what you’ll find in each part.
Part I: The Art of a Digital Picture
This part serves as an introduction to the world of art photography and how it
relates to digital photography. In Chapter 1, I detail the five essential steps to
creating a digitized masterpiece and provide a few essentials of composition.
Chapters 2 and 3 cover the digital side of digital art photography; I have to
admit, this information can get a little dry and techy. (Don’t say I didn’t warn
you.) When it comes time to purchase a new digital camera or to upgrade your
computer to handle all the heavy-duty graphics work you’ll be doing, however,
you’ll be glad you have these two chapters by your side. In Chapter 4, things
get fun again while I brainstorm with you to decide just what kind of digital
art photographer you want to be.
Part II: The Photo Shoot
Part II is all about getting great shots, and so I dive right into ISOs, f-stops,
exposure settings, and when to use a flash. This part runs the gamut, from
shooting great photos outdoors or indoors (Chapters 5 and 6) to photographing
people and animals (Chapter 7) to shooting for great color or outstanding
black and white (Chapters 8 and 9) to capturing stunning nighttime images
(Chapter 10) to achieving wonderful effects before you ever get to Photoshop
(Chapter 11) — whew! That’s a lot of photography!
Part III: Photoshop Art: Using Software
to Enhance or Create Art Photos
If you’re anxious to repair or jazz up some old photos, use Chapter 12 as
your guide. In that chapter, I discuss various Photoshop tools and techniques
that can bring back vivid color to images 50 years old or eliminate annoying
scratches and dust. Chapter 13 is where you can find out how to merge
images into one giant photograph, and Chapter 14 gives you the lowdown
on using Photoshop layers (a great tool for creating digital art photography).
I couldn’t not discuss Photoshop’s filters, so I include a whole chapter on them (Chapter 15).
Part IV: The Final Output: Gallery-Worthy Prints
Drum roll, please . . . the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Just itching to
click that Print button so you can hold your masterpiece in hand and admire
it lovingly? This is the part for you. In Chapter 16, I discuss all things that
have to do with managing electronic files (a tedious albeit necessary part of
digital art photography), and Chapter 17 covers printing prep and printing.
Then comes the really fun part: matting and framing. Chapter 18 has all the
information you need to make your art presentable to the world (and paying customers).
Part V: The Part of Tens
I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t include a Part of Tens. So here you’ll
find ten rules — or if you prefer, guidelines — of digital art photography
(Chapter 19) and ten snappy digital art tricks (Chapter 20).
On the Web site
I had so much to tell you about this exciting topic that I couldn’t fit it all into
the book, so you’ll find two bonus chapters at www.dummies.com/go/digital
artphotos. Bonus Chapter 1 discusses photo sets, which are a great way to
present, package, and reuse your saleable art. For example, if you have a slew
of dog images — say, several huskies — frame them as a set to create a collection
that husky-lovers will sit up and beg for. Bonus Chapter 2 covers using
text to enhance your art photography. Here I discuss manipulating text in
both Word and Photoshop and adding text to your image to create an entirely
new piece of art, like a poster, invitation, greeting card, business card . . . you get the idea.
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Product details
Price
|
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|---|---|
File Size
| 36,821 KB |
Pages
|
386 p |
File Type
|
PDF format |
ISBN-13
ISBN-10 | 978-0-7645-9801-2 0-7645-9801-5 |
Copyright
| 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc |
Table of Contents
Introduction.......................
About This Book..........
Foolish Assumptions .......
Conventions Used in This Book .
What You Don’t Have to Read .....
How This Book Is Organized..............
Part I: The Art of a Digital Picture ................
Part II: The Photo Shoot ..................
Part III: Photoshop Art: Using Software
to Enhance or Create Art Photos..........
Part IV: The Final Output: Gallery-Worthy Prints.....
Part V: The Part of Tens..........................
On the Web site..........................
Icons Used in This Book....
Where to Go from Here........
Part I: The Art of a Digital Picture..................................5
Chapter 1: Digital Art Photography 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Defining Digital Art Photography ...................................................................7
Mastering Five Steps to Creating a Gallery-ready Art Print......................10
1) Define yourself, your subject matter, and your audience...........11
2) Master your craft and hone your photographic skills ................11
3) The trek from camera to computer ...............................................11
4) Printing images ................................................................................12
5) Framing your masterpiece..............................................................12
Composing an Art Photograph.....................................................................12
Simplicity...............................................................................................13
Balance ..................................................................................................14
Rule of Thirds........................................................................................15
All about light, shadows, and shades ................................................16
Recognizing lines, shapes, and forms................................................18
Subject placement................................................................................21
Deciphering color.................................................................................23
Understanding positive and negative space.....................................24
Foreground, background, and depth of field ....................................26
Perspective............................................................................................28
In-camera cropping and framing ........................................................29
Chapter 2: Making the Digital Leap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
The Digital Path..............................................................................................31
Film versus Digital..........................................................................................32
Digital Camera 101 .........................................................................................36
Digital camera types ............................................................................36
How digital cameras work...................................................................38
The whole megapixel (MP) thing .......................................................39
Lenses ....................................................................................................40
Settings ..................................................................................................43
Flash and flash attachments ...............................................................44
Batteries ................................................................................................45
Supports ................................................................................................46
Memory and removable storage media.............................................46
Getting a Digital Image from Camera to Computer....................................49
Resolving Resolution Issues .........................................................................51
Understanding File Types .............................................................................52
JPEG .......................................................................................................52
TIFF.........................................................................................................53
Raw.........................................................................................................53
Chapter 3: Your Digital Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Exploring Your Computer .............................................................................56
Storage space........................................................................................56
Monitors ................................................................................................59
Calibration.............................................................................................61
Go-getter graphics add-ons.................................................................62
Choosing a platform.............................................................................63
Choosing a Printer and Paper for the Results You Want...........................66
Finding a printer that’s right for your work ......................................66
Paper and friends: Selecting the best medium for your prints ......70
Finding the right image size for your print .......................................72
Exploring the Ins and Outs of Scanners ......................................................73
Choosing a scanner..............................................................................73
Configuring your scanner....................................................................74
Chapter 4: Defining Yourself and Your Photographs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Defining Yourself as a Photographer ...........................................................76
Shoot what you like..............................................................................77
Study the masters ................................................................................77
Right-brain, left-brain...........................................................................78
All a matter of perspective..................................................................80
Finding the unusual..............................................................................83
Defining Your Audience: Creating Art That Sells........................................84
Choosing subject matter .....................................................................85
Presentation ..........................................................................................88
Part II: The Photo Shoot ...............................................95
Chapter 5: Composing a Shot Outdoors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
Shooting with Natural Light..........................................................................97
Proper exposure ...................................................................................98
Using auto settings when shooting outdoors.................................100
Using manual settings for creative control .....................................102
Foreground and background.............................................................102
Common Outdoor Lighting Situations.......................................................107
Creating a vivid shot with your back to the sun ............................107
Facing the sun.....................................................................................109
Avoiding and exploiting shadows ....................................................111
Shooting at noon, dusk, and dawn ...................................................113
Glare and flare.....................................................................................114
Shooting glare on water, ice, and snow ...........................................115
Weather and atmosphere ..................................................................117
Augmenting Natural Light ...........................................................................119
Using flash fill......................................................................................120
Shooting bright lights in daytime.....................................................120
Chapter 6: Composing a Shot Indoors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Setting Up to Shoot Indoors........................................................................122
ISO speed.............................................................................................122
Manual versus auto settings .............................................................124
White balance .....................................................................................124
Taking Indoor Pictures without Flash........................................................124
Using available light only ..................................................................125
Intentional blur ...................................................................................126
Taming available bright light ............................................................128
Taking advantage of color imbalance ..............................................129
Augmenting Indoor Light ............................................................................130
Comparing shooting with and without flash...................................131
Combining indoor and outdoor light...............................................132
Using whiteboards..............................................................................133
Adding extra light sources; studio set up .......................................133
Shooting Indoors with Flash .......................................................................136
Chapter 7: Photographing People and Animals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Photographing People.................................................................................138
Traditional posed portraits...............................................................139
Candid portraits .................................................................................147
Capturing portraits of inanimate objects........................................149
Wildlife Portraiture ......................................................................................150
Pet Portraiture..............................................................................................151
Chapter 8: Shooting for Color in Art Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Discovering How Light Makes Color..........................................................154
Positioning yourself and your camera.............................................156
Using complementary and contrasting colors ...............................157
How Your Camera Interprets Light and Color ..........................................160
Setting ISO speed for maximum color .............................................162
Setting white balance.........................................................................163
Using an f-stop to Enhance Color...............................................................167
Advanced Color Techniques.......................................................................168
Underexposing your photo to enhance color.................................168
Shooting colors in the shade ............................................................171
Color and the atmosphere ................................................................172
Chapter 9: Crafting a Quality Black-and-White Art Photo . . . . . . . . .173
Why Shoot in Black-and-White? .................................................................174
A brief B&W perspective ...................................................................176
Shooting architecture ........................................................................176
Shooting portraits ..............................................................................181
Shooting for journalism .....................................................................183
Capturing Black and White .........................................................................185
Creating a B&W image .......................................................................186
Manipulating a color image to become B&W .................................187
Getting the best quality image..........................................................189
Understanding the 256 shades of gray ............................................190
Defining highlights, midtones, and shadows ..................................193
Printing for best quality.....................................................................197
Chapter 10: Night Art Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
Taking a Shot in the Dark ............................................................................199
Creating a blur-free, flashless night photo ......................................204
Using fast film and high ISO settings................................................210
Shooting with a flash..........................................................................211
Other Nighttime Art Opportunities ...........................................................212
Light your subject from beneath......................................................212
Shoot the moon ..................................................................................212
Seek nighttime landscapes................................................................215
Use reflections ....................................................................................216
Seek out shadows and weather ........................................................216
Chapter 11: Achieving Creative Results When Shooting . . . . . . . . . .217
Tweaking Automatic Modes and Settings
to Achieve Creative Results ....................................................................218
Playing with Light.........................................................................................222
Come Get ’Yer Effects Here! ........................................................................223
Double exposures...............................................................................223
Panoramic shots.................................................................................224
Reflections...........................................................................................225
Zooming while shooting ....................................................................225
Intentional lack of focus ....................................................................226
Intentional underexposure/overexposure ......................................227
Making flowing water turn to silk.....................................................228
Using filters .........................................................................................230
Part III: Photoshop Art: Using Software
to Enhance or Create Art Photos ...................235
Chapter 12: Adding New Life to Old Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237
Using Automatic Adjustments to Refresh Older Prints...........................237
Using Manual Adjustments for Fine-Tuning..............................................240
Dodge...................................................................................................240
Burn tool..............................................................................................242
Smart Sharpen/Unsharp Mask commands......................................243
Sponge tool .........................................................................................243
Dust & Scratches filter .......................................................................244
Blur tool...............................................................................................244
Color Balance......................................................................................245
Removing a horrible shadow............................................................246
Healing Damaged Photos ............................................................................247
Making the Corrections ...............................................................................249
Tweaking Color in the Digital World ..........................................................252
Enhancing Sepia and Other Tones.............................................................253
Enhancing Shadow, Highlights, Hue, and Saturation...............................255
Chapter 13: Combining and Manipulating Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259
Preserving Detail ..........................................................................................260
Making an Image Whole Again with Photomerge.....................................261
Seamlessly Introducing Backgrounds in Photographs............................266
Creating Art Photos through Symmetry ...................................................268
Chapter 14: Using Layers to Create a Theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271
Using Layers in Photoshop .........................................................................271
Feathering............................................................................................272
Creating a simple two-layer project .................................................273
Creating a More Complex Layer Project ...................................................277
Chapter 15: Using Photoshop for Special Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .283
Photoshop Filter Effects..............................................................................284
Gaussian Blur filter.............................................................................285
Unsharp Mask filter............................................................................286
Plastic Wrap filter ...............................................................................288
Glowing Edges filter ...........................................................................288
Watercolor filter..................................................................................288
Sketch filters .......................................................................................289
Emboss filter .......................................................................................291
Constructing a Composite à la Warhol Using Photoshop Filters ...........292
Making a Background for Your Images......................................................296
Part IV: The Final Output: Gallery-Worthy Prints .........299
Chapter 16: Managing and Preparing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .301
Transferring an Image from Your Camera to Your Computer ................302
From film/scanning.............................................................................302
From a JPEG file ..................................................................................302
From a Raw file....................................................................................303
Are Raw Files a Raw Deal?...........................................................................305
Understanding the Relationship between File Type and File Size .........306
Defining and constructing a TIFF file in Photoshop.......................306
Creating a Web Gallery in Photoshop..............................................307
Resolving Resolution Issues .......................................................................309
Interpolation .......................................................................................309
Resampling an image .........................................................................310
Changing resolution without resampling ........................................312
Chapter 17: Printing Prep and Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .313
Discovering Proofs and Printing the Final Product .................................313
Preparing for Output ...................................................................................316
Making a Contact Sheet...............................................................................317
Previewing Your Print..................................................................................319
Chapter 18: Framing and Matting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .321
Takin’ It to the Mats .....................................................................................322
Comparing mat options.....................................................................324
Cutting your own mats ......................................................................324
Creating a mat in Photoshop ............................................................325
The Great Frame-Up.....................................................................................329
Buying retail ........................................................................................332
Buying online; finding Internet deals ...............................................332
Buying for the bargain .......................................................................333
Putting Together the Frame........................................................................338
Part V: The Part of Tens .............................................341
Chapter 19: Ten Photo Digital Art Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .343
Create with Classic Lines and Colors ........................................................343
Start with a Good Camera ...........................................................................345
Exploit the Right Light for Your Photo ......................................................345
Keep It Small and Spectacular ....................................................................346
Balance Items Onscreen and on Paper......................................................346
Organize Your Photos into Sets by Themes .............................................347
Know the Art Techniques of Thine Masters .............................................347
Create a Story or Message ..........................................................................348
Capture the Unexpected or Unreal ............................................................348
Always Have Your Camera with You..........................................................349
Chapter 20: Ten Digital Art Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .351
Overexpose and Underexpose ...................................................................351
Emulate the Masters ....................................................................................352
Shoot on a Cloudy Day ................................................................................353
Create a Matching Background ..................................................................354
Meld Layers to Create Motion ....................................................................355
Build Your Archive of Backgrounds...........................................................355
Don’t Overdo Effect(s).................................................................................356
Use the Edit➪Fade Command ....................................................................357
Keep Your Image in High Res on All Platforms.........................................357
On the Web
Bonus Chapter 1: Telling (And Selling)
a Story Using Photo Sets . . . . . .On the Web
Crafting a Photo Set from a Storyboard......................................................B2
Classifying Your Shots...................................................................................B5
Related subjects...................................................................................B6
Black and white....................................................................................B6
Color ......................................................................................................B6
Composition .........................................................................................B8
Timelines...............................................................................................B8
Patterns .................................................................................................B8
Media .....................................................................................................B9
Theme/emotion....................................................................................B9
Historical perspective .......................................................................B10
Archiving and Storing Your Shots..............................................................B10
Preparing a Set of Prints for Sale ...............................................................B10
Size.......................................................................................................B11
Printing/polishing in an image editing program ............................B11
Text ......................................................................................................B12
Framing/matting.................................................................................B12
Pricing .................................................................................................B12
Bonus Chapter 2: Enhancing Art Photos with Text . . . .On the Web
Fonts 101........................B14
Serif and sans serif.............................................................................B16
Font styles...........................................................................................B17
Font size ..............................................................................................B18
Font color............................................................................................B18
Mixing fonts ........................................................................................B19
Using fonts effectively .......................................................................B19
Creating and Tweaking Text .......................................................................B21
Text in Word........................................................................................B22
Text in Photoshop..............................................................................B22
Tweaking text to make it readable...................................................B24
Marrying Text and Photos..........................................................................B25
Creating an Ad with Text and a Photo ......................................................B26
Making Art out of Text ................................................................................B30
Index........................................................................359
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