Most online print services specify a resolution setting and won’t accept images that are configured differently. But what resolution should you choose if you’re printing the image yourself, and does it really matter? The answer to the second question is: Yes, it matters because resolution choice can impact image quality. The answer to the first question is a little more complicated.

Resolution Defined
Unfortunately, largely because of camera vendors, the term “resolution” is rarely used correctly. For instance, people speak of a camera having “a resolution of 12 megapixels.” “Twelve megapixels” is not a resolution, it’s a pixel count.

Resolution is the measure of how many pixels fit within a given area. In other words, resolution determines how closely pixels are spaced. “12 megapixels of resolution” is an incorrect statement because it doesn’t tell you if those 12 million pixels are arranged so that they cover an inch or a mile.

An image has no inherent resolution—it’s just a grid of pixels. Instead, you get to set the resolution by specifying how closely spaced the pixels are. Depending on the resolution you choose, your image will cover more or less area (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The first example below has not been resampled. The second example has been resampled. For more on what that means, keep reading.

If your image will only be viewed onscreen, then the file’s resolution is irrelevant. A monitor has a specific resolution. Its pixels are spaced a certain way, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Resizing Revisited
When it comes to size, every image file has three properties:

1. Pixel dimensions
2. Print size
3. Resolution

Pixel dimensions are simply the number of horizontal and vertical pixels.

Print size is measured by how wide and high the outputted image is; for example, 3″ wide and 5″ high.

Resolution determines how closely those pixels are spaced, and a higher resolution will yield a smaller print size, because the pixels will be packed closer together.

Photoshop’s Image Size dialog box makes this relationship very clear. In Figure 2, you can se that I have an image with 3744 x 5616 pixels. My resolution is set to 300 pixels per inch, so when all those pixels are lined up that closely, my final print size works out to be 12.48 x 18.72 inches.

Figure 2. At 300 dpi, 3744 x 5616 pixels result in a final print size of 12.48 x 18.72 inches.

The Image Size dialog box gives you visual clues as to the relationship of the print size parameters In the Document Size Area, the black line thingy to the right of the Inches pop-up menus indicates that Width, Height, and Resolution are locked together. You can’t change one without changing another. For example, if I set the resolution to 600, the print size goes down, as reflected in Figure 3.

Figure 3. With an increase in resolution, the print size goes down because pixels are now more tightly packed.

Similarly, if I change print size to, say, 8″ x 12″, the resolution goes up:

Figure 4. Larger print size yields a smaller resolution.

At this point, I can’t change one of these properties without changing the other. So if I wanted to create a 4″ x 6″ print at 300 pixels per inch, I’d be out of luck.

Fortunately, there’s a simple switch to throw in the Image Size dialog box that allows this.

Resampling
The process of changing the number of pixels in an image is called “resampling”. To understand that term, think of it this way: If I have a 12-megapixel file, but I need an 8-megapixel file, then I need to take an 8-million pixel sample from those original 12 million pixels. I must keep some pixels and throw the rest away.

To do this in the Image Size dialog box, I simply check the Resample Image box. When I do, a few things change, as you can see in Figure 5.

Figure 5. With Resample Image checked, I have more options.

First, notice that the Width and Height fields under Pixel Dimensions are now editable. I can change the number of pixels in this image, which is great, because my original goal was to end up with fewer pixels.

Note too, that in the Document size area, the black line thingy is no longer showing a connection between Width/Height and Resolution. In other words, print size is now independent of resolution. Because I’m allowing Photoshop to resample, I’ve given it permission to discard (or create) pixels to get to an image with a specific print size and resolution.

Finally, The Constrain Proportions check box is now active. If I turn this off, I can change Width independently of Height, which lets me create a distorted image.

With Resample Image checked, I can now enter the exact size and resolution settings that I want.

Figure 6. By checking Resample Image, I allow Photoshop to discard pixels, so that I can shrink my file to a 4″ x 6″ image at 300 dpi.

Beneath the Resample Image check box is a pop-up menu that contains different interpolation algorithms. These determine how Photoshop goes about choosing which pixels to keep and which to discard. Each includes a parenthetical statement about its purpose. I’ve chosen Bicubic Sharper because Adobe says it’s “best for reduction.” And if Adobe said “go jump in the lake…”

What Resolution Should You Choose?
Now that you have the ability to choose resolution, what resolution should you choose? Your gut reaction might be to leave it as high as possible; more is always better, right? Wrong. If that were the case, there’d be no reason for this article.

Say you want to print your photo on a desktop inkjet printer. All inkjet printers have a native resolution. If the image you send to the printer is not in the printer’s native resolution, then the printer will resample the image to what it wants. If your printer has a native resolution of 300, and you send it an image with a resolution of 600, the printer will downsample it.

“In that case,” you might be thinking, “why should I worry about resolution if the printer takes care of it?”

While your printer can resample on its own, its resampling algorithms might not be as sophisticated as your image editor’s. In theory, it’s possible that you’ll get a better-quality resizing if you do it yourself. In practice, it’s hard to find a visible difference.

More important to control yourself is sharpening. The sharpening algorithms in an image editor work by creating light and dark halos around the edges in your image. These halos make edges more acute and thus make the image look sharper. But sharpening should be applied precisely. Too much, and your image will be visibly degraded.

Consequently, it’s always best to apply sharpening at your final print size and resolution. When you do this, you’re creating halos of a particular width to achieve the sharpening effect that you want.

But if you sharpen an image, and then it’s resampled by a printer—that is, the pixel count changes—those sharpening halos may be enlarged, and therefore more visible; or smaller, and therefore less effective.

So before you send an image to your printer, it’s best to first size the image to the print size that you want, then to your printer’s native resolution, and finally apply sharpening. This prevents your printer from resizing the image and helps ensure that your sharpening remains effective.

There’s one problem. It can difficult to find out a printer’s native resolution. The manual probably doesn’t include that information, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find it on a printer vendor’s website.

I can give you some general specs, though. Epson inkjets typically have a native resolution of 360 pixels per inch. Canon and HP printers typically have a native resolution of 300 pixels per inch.

The best way to find out if one resolution works better than another is to output test prints. Proper sharpening and resolution choice is especially critical when you enlarge images, but a little testing should answer the resolution question.

Related articles

• Image resolution–the key to excellent prints (macworld.com)
• Digital Photography Tutorial on Resolution (brighthub.com)
• How To Resize An Image In Photoshop And Keep It Sharp (blogs.sitepoint.com)
• How many megapixels do I need? (theglobeandmail.com)

Christmas is next week, so I thought it would be fun to create a collection of gift ideas to buy for the photographer in your life (or even to treat yourself to)! From the plain to the bizarre, this collection contains something that matches everyone’s price range. Read on for some holiday inspiration!

Gorillapod

If you have ever read any of my articles before, you’ll know I am a massive fan of the Joby Gorillapod. What’s not to like? A flexible lightweight tripod that you can wrap around almost anything.

For more information about the Gorillapod check out my other Phototuts+ article: Quick Tip: Try a Tripod Alternative or alternatively see a few product examples through the image below:

Digital Photo Frame

An simple, fun way of showcasing your best photography in your own home. You can also purchase digital photo frames with built in Wi-Fi for easier updating of photos. You can usually purchase a decent digital photo frame from as little as $50.

Camera Cufflinks

For the well-dressed male photographer, how about a set of these camera cufflinks? They offer a little bit of fun to any shirt, and each cufflink is hand made.

Diana Mini Lomography Film Kit

Lomography is really fun type of photography. The images produced are unique, colourful, and often blurry, but despite this the little Russian camera is still very popular. You can pick up this modern day version from only $90, rather having to purchase a classic lomography camera which could can set you back several hundred dollars.

Wacom Tablet

Tablets allow you to control your image editing with the precision of your own hand. It makes editing photos much easier and often much more enjoyable. Prices start from around $67 for a small Bamboo tablet, ranging up to a Cintiq at around $2000.

Canon or Nikon Coffee Lens Mug

Canon released the 70-200mm coffee mug lens a couple of years ago and since then Nikon have also released their version. You or your friend can amaze on-lookers when you take a sip of coffee out of your $1000+ camera lens.

Priced at around $30-40, they are a fun novelty item to own.

Pelican Secure Digital Memory Card Case

Memory cards are getting ever-smaller, and are extremely easy to lose once you take them out of your camera. Placing them all in this secure memory case is one way to help prevent this problem. Pelican memory cases are available from $16, but you can find other cheaper cases from about $5.

Stuffed Pillow Applications

If you are a true nerd, or know of a friend who just loves Photoshop, then you can buy a pillow at $15. Check them out at My Suite Stuff.

Currently they are in the middle of revamping their shop, so orders cannot be placed for the next few weeks. There are plenty of these funky pillows to be found with a quick eBay search, so don’t despair!

Eye-Fi Wireless SD card

The Eye-Fi Pro wireless memory cards provide fast, wireless photo and video transfer from your camera to your computer and an online site of your choice. It works with most cameras including Canon, Nikon, Casio, Sanyos and more. It also saves the location of every photo you have taken.

The card is very impressive, but also quite expensive as a result. For an 8Gb card you will have to pay around $135.

Battery Grip

A simple accessory to increase the battery life of your camera. Disadvantages include the weight and size, but these are brilliant on longer shoots. They come in all different sizes for all different types of cameras and therefore range in price a fair amount.

Bush Hawk Shoulder Mount

Bush Hawk have created this awesome shoulder mount for use on digital SLR’s in order to allow users to capture smoother and stunning video. They also allow for perfect support of telephoto lenses.

Ranging from $150 to $250 for the premium package, these mounts are a decent price compared to their rivals over at Steadicam which often start at over $1000.

Binoculars

Binoculars are a perfect accessory for those who do wildlife photography. Often lighter and easier to see through than a telephoto lens, they make a sensible purchase. Prices range dramatically from $50 to over $1000.

Sandisk All-in-One Reader/Writer

Check out this stylish all-in-one reader and writer for most forms of memory. If you don’t already have an in-built card reader, or you know your friend doesn’t, then I would highly suggest it. It can be bought at an awesome price of $22.

The Digital Photography Book

Scott Kelby tackles the most important side of digital photography – How to take professional quality shots using the same tricks as pro photographers. His book is easy to read and not full of the jargon that you often find in other books, perfect for someone interested in getting into photography. Currently a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/032147404X?ie=UTF8&tag=photo05e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=032147404X”>Amazon are selling it at $16.49.

Tuts+ Membership

How about purchasing a Tuts+ Premium membership for a friend? One payment of $78 for the whole year gets you access to all the Premium sites, tutorials and articles on photography, Photoshop, web development, motion graphics, vectors, music, computer graphics and flash.

Alternatively you can purchase Premium at $9 a month or $22 for 3 months.

A Brand New Lens

Every photographer loves getting a new lens. If your budget can afford it then go ahead, with thousands to choose from at least one will make a nice gift. If you’re on a smaller budget, how about picking up a fixed focal length lens?

Flash Guns

Ranging from around $20 to $1000, flash guns come in all shapes and sizes. They are extremely useful for portrait photography.

Focalware iPhone application

Focalware calculates the sun and moon position for any given location and date. Use the interactive compass to determine the path and height of the sun or moon. Photographers and film makers who are always asked by their clients for the sun, moon and stars, can now deliver. Focalware is only $5 and can be gifted to friend.

Prints

Why not print your friend a canvas, mouse mat or even a calendar? Various websites offer this service, but you could try Eye-On Designs, or make use of the service built into iPhoto and Aperture.

CyberShot Digital Camera TX9

How about a digital compact camera that can shoot 3D photos using just one lens? At just under $400, it is pretty expensive for a compact but the price is well justified due to sheer range of unique features.

Not Sold? A Few More Ideas…

• Film camera – You can pick up old film cameras for as little as $30
• Film scanner – To scan your old film slides into your computer
• Subscription to a photography magazine
• Memory – A tad dull but important nevertheless.
• Filters – How about a set of creative filters?
• Wireless Triggers – If they own a flashgun, a wireless trigger is always handy.
• Remote – A timer remote is handy for anyone doing long exposures.
• Light meter – Helpful for any photographer to use.
• Reflector – Used to reflect light onto a subject

Good Luck!

Hopefully, these ideas will help you to pick the perfect gift for the camera-lover in your life. Fortunately, it’s a gadget-heavy hobby, with plenty of different presents to choose from!

Are you hoping for a particular photography-related Christmas present? Let us know in the comments!

The long-awaited presence of the Nikon d7000 is now upon us. Look what else is in our reach: DP Review‘s first look at the machine: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond7000/

Check out the review for yourself. In my ongoing battle of trying to decide which DSLR camera I want to end up with, so far the d7000 is the big winner, even though I’ve always been biased towards Canon. I think I may be a Nikonhead in the near future.

Related articles

• 2010 Camera of the Year (photofocus.com)
• Video recording with D7000 (photoclicker.wordpress.com)
• Nikon’s D7000 Pricing Could Make You Turn Grey (gizmodo.com.au)
• Secrets of the Nikon D7000 (pixiq.com)
• Nikon D7000 Packs a Whole Lot of Pro Into a $1200 DSLR [Digital Cameras] (gizmodo.com)

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With the advent of affordable digital cameras and photo-editing software such as Photoshop, what used to be an expensive profession is more and more accessible to casual individuals.

There are many tutorials and guides on the web to help you become a photography master. This is a collection of 50 of the best tutorials and guides we could find for helping you capture better digital photos.

1. How to Capture Stunning Fine Art Landscape Photographs

Learn how to compose beautiful monochromatic landscape photos through this easy-to-follow guide.

2. Photoshop Quick Tips: Light Leaks in Photography (Video)

Process your photos to have a vintage-style appearance with the aid of this Photoshop tutorial video found on Abduzeedo.

3. HDR Explained

HDR is a popular photo technique. If you’re interested in this genre, take a look at this quick start informational tutorial on HDR.

4. Overprocessing in Photography

This tutorial aims to teach readers how to mimic photo-processing techniques inspired by popular photographer, Dave Hill.

5. Street Photography Explained

Nothing comes close to the unpredictability of taking photos in urban landscapes. This guide shares tips and basics for great street photography.

6. Hand Colouring a Black and White Photo in Photoshop

It’s quite simple to convert full-color photos to black and white, but how do you go in the other direction? Check out this Photoshop tutorial to find out.

7. Self Portrait Photography Guide

Photographers often spend their time at the opposite side of the lens. If you want to make yourself your subject, this guide shares some useful tips for snapping self-photos.

8. Action Photography – The Tips You Should Use

This photography guide goes over tips, techniques and tricks for capturing dynamic subjects with your camera.

9. Water Photography the Easy Way

How do you capture water beautifully? This guide offers suggestions and techniques for taking photos of water.

10. Create a Colorful Portrait with Easy Lighting Effects

Spice up your ordinary photos by infusing interesting light effects into them. Learn how to do this through this easy-to-follow Photoshop tutorial.

11. Capturing The Smoke – Amazing Smoke Photography Tutorial

Ever wondered how you could effectively take pictures of smoke? Learn how to set up a stage that will allow you to take beautiful photographs of smoke.

12. Desaturated Film Style Photos

In this Photoshop tutorial, you will discover a method for processing your images to give them a desaturated and trendy appearance.

13. How to Create HDR Photos

This is a tutorial on how to make high dynamic range (HDR)-style images using Photomatix, a popular HDR software.

14. Retouching a Studio Portrait

Often, we need to retouch photos even if they are taken in professional studio settings. Learn basic techniques for correcting photos through this Photoshop tutorial.

15. A Guide to Nightclub Photography

In event photography, nothing is as tricky to cover as nightclubs. Here are a few tips to help you take great photographs in bars and nightclub scenes.

16. How to Make Your Twins

Have fun with photographs by learning how to compose photos that make it look like you have a twin sibling.

17. Edgy Style Photo Treatment

In this quick and easy Photoshop tutorial, you’ll learn how to give your photos a dark and mysterious appearance.

18. How to Create an Atmospheric Car Portrait

Learn how to take stunning photos of cars in this excellent tutorial that goes over the preparation, suggested equipment, and more.

19. How to Photograph Comets

Comets are rare and wonderful things. Make sure you don’t fudge up that sometimes once-in-a-lifetime event by learning the basics of photographing comets.

20. How To Photograph Wakeboarders & Waterskiing

Water, rapid movement, loud noises: taking photos of water sports is a tough gig. This basic guide shares tips for effective photography of water sports.

21. 5 Second Eye Enhancement

Learn to retouch the eyes of your photo’s subject quickly and effortlessly by reading through this awesome Photoshop tutorial.

22. Photographing Buildings – A Guide

There’s an art and science to capturing buildings in photos. For inspiration, check out this guide.

23. Dual View Photo Editing in Photoshop

This tutorial promotes the use of a dual-view workspace set up for efficient editing of images inside of Photoshop.

24. Color Blending Collection I

This is a particular post-processing technique for blending colors into photos to make them look more interesting.

25. Infrared Photography Technique

Infrared photography is a post-processing technique for giving images interesting — and often unpredictable — effects. Learn all about it through this guide.

26. Changing Hair Color

Photoshop’s Brush Tool and the Soft Light blend mode are utilized in this technique to change a person’s hair color.

27. Local Contrast

This tutorial shares a method for utilizing Photoshop’s Unsharp Mask filter to enhance the contrast of certain parts of a photo.

28. Retouch a Girl with Lighting Focus

This tutorial goes over retouching techniques, paying attention to accurate lighting considerations when photo-manipulating images.

29. Selecting & Extracting Hair

The most difficult part of selecting subjects in Photoshop — to isolate and superimpose them into another photo, for example — is the hair. This is a technique to help you better select hair.

30. How to Fake Reflections in Photoshop

Want to add a digitally-placed reflection in a photo? This Photoshop tutorial uses layer duplication, quick masking and the Gradient tool to get the job done.

31. Make Up a Girl

Give a subject’s face an appearance of having make-up in this Photoshop tutorial that involves Curves adjustment and the Gaussian Blur filter.

32. Basic Exposure Blending in Photoshop

Using layer blending and tweaking exposure can result in better images. This Photoshop tutorial walks you through a cool process of photo blending.

33. How to Create a Serene Panorama from Multiple Photographs

Learn how to piece together a beautiful panorama using multiple photographs in this tutorial on Psdtuts+.

34. Use Photoshop to Turn Day into Dusk

Realistically fake evening shots by following along this excellent Photoshop tutorial on how to convert day photos to look as if you took them just before nighttime.

35. Wedding Photography Explained

This wonderful guide goes over tips and techniques for taking professional-level photos at weddings.

36. Add a Realistic Rainbow to a Photo in Photoshop

This Photoshop tutorial will instruct you on how to add a rainbow into a photo with the use of the Gradient tool and the Screen blending mode.

37. Devil’s Eye

Learn how to process eyes to look dark and eerie with the help of the Burn tool, the Brush tool, and blending modes in Photoshop via this tutorial.

38. Add Dynamic Lighting to a Flat Photograph

Learn how to create a surreal scene that incorporates dynamic lighting by studying this Photoshop tutorial.

39. How to Smooth Skin without Losing Texture in Photoshop

Learn how to realistically smoothen the skin of your subject with the help of blending modes, image adjustments, and more by reading this Photoshop tutorial.

40. Remove a Person from a Photo with Photoshop CS5

Photoshop’s Content Aware feature is full of awesomeness. One way to use it is to remove a person from an image; this tutorial will walk you through the process.

41. Glisten in the Sunshine

This Photoshop tutorial will cover how to give your photographs that popular “Bokeh” photography effect, among other techniques.

42. How to Use Lines in Photography Compositions

Effective knowledge of photocompositions involves the use of lines in the scene in question. This guide will discuss the usefulness of lines for better shots.

43. How to Capture Really Sharp Photos

If you’re having a hard time taking photos that aren’t blurry, it might be best to read this guide on how to take crisp photos.

44. Look More Muscular

You can beef up your photo subjects with the Liquify filter in Photoshop; discover how in this step-by-step tutorial.

45. Tilt Shifting Miniature Photography with Photoshop

Tilt-shift photography is a popular style of photography that simulates miniature scenes. This tutorial utilizes Photoshop to mimic the effect produced by tilt-shift lenses.

46. Color Correction Basics in Photoshop

An important part of photo-processing is the ability to enhance and correct the colors of a digital image. This guide will go over the basic tools on color correction in Photoshop.

47. Infrared Photography: Tips on How to Get Started

This multi-part guide discusses the hardware, techniques and tricks for capturing beautiful infrared photos.

48. 13 Steps for Shooting the Perfect Water Droplet

This tutorial on Phototuts+ shares tips, tricks and techniques for capturing water droplets with your camera.

49. How to Create a Radical Photo Sequence

Learn how to take those stylish and dynamic photo sequence shots with the use of “Burst Mode” capabilities found in many digital cameras, and Photoshop to compose the image.

50. How to Shoot a Sequence Photo

This 3-minute video tutorial goes over tips and techniques for capturing professional-level sequence photos.

Leaf Imaging today introduced the world’s highest resolution, one-shot medium format digital camera back. The Leaf Aptus-II 12 (and Leaf Aptus-II 12R with internal rotating sensor) delivers the world’s highest-quality image capture. It is both a major technical advance and another important illustration of the benefits of medium format camera technology – namely, the ability to support a very large image sensor, with enormous light sensitivity and high dynamic range.

The powerful new full-frame 53.7 x 40.3mm 80 MP CCD sensor is at the heart of a system specially designed for a range of photographers such as commercial/advertising pros, archivists digitizing and persevering rare treasures, and fine artists. Whether the subject is architecture, landscape, portraits or product advertising, the sheer quality of detail is unsurpassed. This level of resolution eliminates moiré and more perfectly renders objects – from the texture of fine fabrics to the smooth curves of car metal.

“There’s no question that more megapixels in an image sensor offers significantly higher detail and larger output sizes,” said Tim Grey, photographer, author, and respected digital imaging expert. “While there are software products that can enhance and enlarge a photo, the result will never truly be more information than was captured by the image sensor. For photographers who need maximum detail and the potential for particularly large print sizes, medium format digital backs represent ideal tools.”

With built-in SensorFlex technology, owners of the Aptus-II 12/Aptus-II 12R back can choose to shoot images either at full resolution or they can “dial down” to select an aspect ratio, such as the 1:1 with 60MP resolution, that will satisfy their particular project requirements – enabling faster processing and smaller file size.

“The Leaf Aptus-II 12 and Aptus-II 12R represent just another step in delivering our customers both the power and the flexibility they need,” said Dov Kalinski, CEO of Leaf Imaging, Ltd. ”Today’s professional photography requires great flexibility – infinite detail, rich color and razor sharpness. These systems deliver all this and more.”

Technical highlights:
CCD: 53.7 x 40.3mm 80 MP
Dynamic range: 12 f-stops
Largest file size: 480 MB 16 bit TIFF
ISO Sensitivity: 80-800
Capture rate: 1.5 sec/frame

The Leaf Aptus-II 12 and Leaf Aptus-II 12R support a wide range of camera brands including Phase One 645DF and AF and Mamiya 645DF and AF cameras, most Hasselblad V models and a selection of large format cameras via adaptors.

For full product specifications, including all supported cameras, please see http://www.leaf-photography.com/products_aptus212.asp
Leaf Aptus-II Product Family
The Leaf Aptus-II series of digital backs offers professional photographers the speed, image quality and flexibility to allow their work to keep pace with their imaginations. Designed to support photographers wherever they are shooting, Leaf Aptus-II series backs offer the largest display, 3.5” (6×7 cm), and only touch screen display controls in the medium format market

Pricing and Availability
The Leaf Aptus-II 12 and Leaf Aptus-II 12R digital backs are priced at €23,995 / $31,995. Both of these camera backs can be ordered now from Leaf Partners worldwide. For the Leaf Partner nearest you, please see: http://www.leaf-photography.com/findaleaf_nam.asp.
The Leaf Aptus-II 12R and Leaf Aptus-II 12R digital backs ship with Leaf Capture workflow software.
About Leaf Imaging

Leaf Imaging has been a pioneer in professional digital photography. In 1992, Leaf introduced the world’s first commercial digital camera back. Today, Leaf Aptus-II digital backs are the choice of leading photographers. Leaf is dedicated to improving the quality of its products, technologies and services to support the advancement of professional digital photography. Leaf Imaging is a Phase One company.

For more information, visit the Leaf website at http://www.leaf-photography.com. You can also follow Leaf on Twitter.
All brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Related articles

• Leaf Aptus-II 12 – the world’s highest resolution digital camera back (gizmag.com)
• Leaf Camera Back Hits 80MP, Is Not For You (crunchgear.com)
• Leaf wants to kill film’s resolution advantage with 80MP camera back (geek.com)
• The king of cameras and its royal pricetag (techsmart.co.za)
• Leaf Aptus-II 12 snaps 80 megapixels of awesome on the back of your pro shooter (engadget.com)

Adobe has released Photoshop Lightroom 3.2, Camera Raw 6.2 and DNG Converter 6.2. These are final versions of updates that were originally posted as ‘release candidates’ on the Adobe Labs site, and are now available for immediate download. The latest versions provide final RAW support for sixteen recent cameras, including the Canon EOS 60D and Sony Alpha NEX-5. The updates also add more than 120 lens profiles and fix a number of bugs.

Click here to download Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v3.2 (Windows)

Click here to download Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v3.2 (Mac)

Click here to download Adobe Camera Raw and DNG Converter v6.2 (Windows)

Click here to download Adobe Camera Raw and DNG Converter v6.2 (Mac)

Lightroom is a pretty diverse program, which is simple to start learning, but contain hidden depths. Here’s some shortcut tricks that use modifier keys to access hidden features.

1. Straighten your Photo: Press ‘R’ to go to the crop mode in Develop. Press the Control key on PC, Command key on Mac. Then click on a point and drag to a second to let Lightroom rotate to make that line straight.

2. Quick Develop. You can access hidden settings in Quick Develop by holding down the Alt Key on PC, or the Option Key on Mac. This will change the Vibrance and Clarity controls into Saturation and Sharpening.

3. Print. In Custom or Print Package, hold down the Alt Key on PC, Option key on Mac, and drag a cell to make a duplicate copy of the cell, image included.

4. Catalogs. Hold down the Control Key on PC, Option key on Mac, when starting Lightroom to bring up the Select Catalog dialog box. From here you can choose between recent Catalogs, pick an alternative, unlisted, Catalog, or even create a new one.

5. Web. In the Web Module, you can cheat to access settings not available to you via the normal UI. Use the shortcut ‘Shift Control Alt /’ on PC, ‘Shift Command Option /’ on Mac, to turn the Appearance panel into a list of internal CSS tag items. To go back to normal, simply use the same shortcut again.

6. Color Picker. When you’re using the Color Picker in Slideshow, Print, or Web, sometimes you’d like to keep consistent colours between the work you’re doing, for example, using your brand colours. Find the colours via the Hex (or click on the word HEX to change to RGB) settings, then Alt/Option click on the swatches to save the colour for reuse elsewhere.

7. Setting your clipping points. Hold down the Alt/Option key and go to the Basic Panel in Develop. Drag Exposure, Blacks and Highlights in turn to see the points that are currently clipping. For example, clicking Exposure with Alt/Option held down will make the central area black. As you drag the slider, you can start to see the areas that are clipping. The colour represents the which channels are clipping, so red means the red channel is clipping etc. Recovery also makes the screen black, whereas Blacks will make the screen white.

8. Reset. Holding down Alt/Option will turn titles into Reset buttons. For example Presence becomes Reset Presence. Clicking this will reset all the Presence sliders.

9. Delete. Delete brings up a Remove/Delete box, or removes from a Collection. What if you want to get right of it no matter where it is? Here’s a dangerous shortcut to learn. ‘Shift Control Alt Delete Shift’ on PC, ‘Shift Command Option Delete’ on Mac. This is the ‘terminate with extreme predjudice’ command. It even deletes from within a collection. Use with care. Undo does not work with this command.

10. Change Import and Export. Holding down Alt/Option in Library will change the Import to Import Catalog, and Export will change to Export Catalog.

Related articles

• Review: Adobe Lightroom 3 (geek.com)
• The Best Plugins for Lightroom (brighthub.com)
• Lightroom 3: Sharpening Tool Tutorial (brighthub.com)
• Round Tripping with Lightroom (digital-photography-school.com)

Flawless skin can be key to successful portraits of ladies. Make their skin creamy soft by tapping the K key in Adobe Camera Raw 5 to call up the Adjustment Brush. Set the Clarity slider to ~40 for starters. Brush over the skin you want to smooth. Want it smoother? Drag the slider farther to the left. This is a great way to get proofs out quickly without losing gallons of time with the Healing Brush tool in Photoshop.

Sometimes when you take a photo the result isn’t quite what you expected, it could be overexposed (too much light), underexposed (too dark), or simply is out of focus. The principal settings you have to adjust when taking a picture are the film speed, shutter speed and aperture of the camera.

If you read the paragraph above and couldn’t understand what I was talking about, well don’t worry, this article intends to guide amateur and beginners in the world of photography.

Please note: in the paragraphs to come there will be values for different camera settings. These values are not standard in all cameras but they are the most common ones and will serve as reference.

Film Speed and Light Sensitivity

First, a little bit of history. Back when cameras needed to use photographic films, they came with different ASA (American Standards Association), DIN (German Institute for Standardization) or GOST (state standard, from Russia) values according to the film sensitivity to light, where lower numbers are less sensitive and higher numbers more sensitive. This means that lower values were used in situations with a lot of light and higher values in darker environments.

For example, to take a picture on a sunny day it would be recommended to use an ASA 100, if you had to take a picture in a not so bright environment, such as a room with mild light incoming from a window, you could use an ASA 400 (and for night shoots you could use films with higher ASA value).

Now imagine this; the film is composed of grains, each of them store a part of the picture you took. The lower the ASA value, the smaller the grain diameter, so an ASA 100 film will have finer detail compared to an ASA 400 and thus, the quality would be better. But, as the 100 has more grains, it needs more time of exposure to store the same information as it would take in a 400, so the first film is considered slower than the second.

Film grain comparison could be illustrated like this:

Nowadays digital cameras use a plaque instead of an organic film, it could be a CCD sensor or a CMOS sensor. The sensor captures the image, registering the quantity of light, then the camera stores it in memory. The international standard for film speed in digital photography is called ISO which can be selected even in some cell phones.

Screenshot from the Camera settings of a Samsung Omnia SCH – i910:

Which ISO Fits Your Needs?

Low sensitivity, ISO 25 – ISO 50

Pros: Excellent definition and great contrast, the best range to use when you need to amplify an image.

Cons: Used in places with good illumination only, use of tripod is recommended.

Recommended seasons: Summer and Spring.

Medium sensitivity, ISO 100 – ISO 200

The most popular range for beginners and professionals, maintains a good proportion of definition and contrast and can handle decent amplifications.

Used in places with normal illumination.

Recommended all year around.

High sensitivity, ISO 400 – ISO 3200

Pros: Ideal for indoor photography, night shots, concerts. When using with flash you can achieve greater depth.

Cons: Contrast and definition can be a little poor, and the big grains associated with high speeds are notable (meaning your photos can appear pixelated).

Recommended seasons: Autumn and Winter.

Now let’s see some examples. The following photos were taken at night without flash, just a common light bulb on the wall.

ISO 100

ISO 200

ISO 400

As we expected, there are notable differences between all three. In the first one it’s too dark to appreciate anything. The second one has a better light distribution and you can see the environment. The third one shows you more of what’s surrounding the tree and even caught the TV light from the room at the back.

Shutter Speed (V)

The shutter speed is the length of time we let light pass through the camera, or the time we expose the image to the sensor. This time directly affects the illumination degree in our photo. That’s the reason we use the term underexposed when a picture is too dark and overexposed when it is too bright. In both cases the problem was incorrect exposure time.

Example of Overexposure

Example of Underexposure

To avoid these problems, it’s common to use slow speeds in places with poor light because these situations require a longer exposure time to achieve a good result. On the other hand, if our location is well illuminated we should use a fast shutter speed, or short exposure, so the camera can capture the correct colors without the interference of light.

These speeds are measured in fractions of a second, like 1 / x where x is the number you can select. For example if you see a 500 speed available, the time the shutter remains open is 1 / 500 or 0.002 seconds. Other example, a value of 2 means the shutter remain open for half a second as 1 / 2 equals 0.5.

If you see quotation marks on the right side of a number (like 1″) it means the shutter will remain open for a full second, so please take a good look when selecting the speed since 2″ is very different from a single 2. The former means the shutter will remain open for two full seconds and the latter, as we said before, will remain open for just half a second.

In some cameras you can also find a “B” or “T” speed available, these letters stand for:

B (Bulb): Keeps the shutter open until you release the button.

T (Time): Keeps the shutter open until you press the button again.

Commonly, the shutter speeds are divided in two ranges: slow and fast. The first one is for speeds from “B” or “T” up to 30, and the second is for speeds from 60 and above. When shooting with slow speeds it is highly recommended to use a tripod to avoid involuntary movement of the camera, one of the main causes of blurry pictures!

As a summary we can say:

Aperture (F)

Your camera has a diaphragm, the function of which is to control the amount of light that passes though its aperture. It is located in the lens or objective. Most cameras have an adjustable diaphragm with a mechanism of blades that can open or close according our needs.

The aperture is responsible for the Depth of Field (DOF). This is how sharp the focal point in the picture will appear, and the amount of blur that other areas will take on. Aperture is measured in what is called an f-number. The relation between the diaphragm, depth of field and f-number is the following:

So, with f1.4 selected, the blades of the diaphragm are wide open letting more light pass through and we get a poor/shallow depth of field. As the f-number increases, the diaphragm blades reduce the aperture letting less light pass and resulting in a greater depth of field. A common mistake is to assume a high f-number means a bigger aperture when reality is the complete opposite.

Example of open diaphragm:

Example of closed diaphragm:

Notice in the first picture how only the bricks in the front are well focused and as the image goes back the objects start to get blurry. In the second picture you can see how all the objects well defined; this was achieved by using a smaller aperture.

Photometer

Illumination is the key factor in photography; according to it we select the ISO, define the shutter speed and regulate the diaphragm to let an adequate quantity of light reach the sensor.

Fortunately there is a device that measures the amount of light in the environment. It’s called a photo meter, or light meter. It meters the light that passes through the lens and lets us know if it is adequate or whether we need to make some adjustments. If your camera displays a photo meter you should be able to see a little indicator like the following:

- 2 . 1 . 0 . 1 . 2 +

An indicator will let you know you if your current settings are right, normally if it’s around “0″, you are ready to shoot. If the indicator is at the right, the positive side, it means there is too much light. If it is on the left side, the negative, it means you need to let more light pass though. In both cases you can change the current ISO, shutter speed or aperture until the indicator is around the 0 – it really is up to you which one to move.

In cameras, this metering is called TTL (Through The Lens), calculating the light reflected from the object. The most common modes are matrix and spot. The first one calculates the average light in the entire scene, like pieces in a puzzle, and each one has its own value. The second one just meters the spot you are pointing at and excludes all of its surroundings.

Exposure Value (EV)

Almost every camera comes with this tool; it’s the combination of the shutter speed and aperture that let us adjust the exposure by adding or subtracting light gradually without changing any other setting previously made. This tool is mostly used for quick fixes, but if you can’t achieve the desired amount of light, you need to adjust the traditional way.

Take a look at this photo, the flower in the meddle is the “original” picture taken with 0 EV, the one on the left was took with +1.0 EV and the right one with –1.0 EV.

Theoric Examples: Apply What You’ve Just Learned

These specific figures may not be accurate for your camera – the values and situations are for practice purposes only.

Situation 1: Imagine you are visiting a new town and you just saw a building you want to photograph. Your current settings are: f 4.0 v 250 ISO 200, your photo meter is slightly toward the right side and you don’t want to lose quality.

Solution: When the photometer is at the right side it means you have excess light, so you can select a faster speed (lets say v 500), or you can simply close the aperture a bit taking it to f5.6. As you don’t want to lose quality you don’t change the current ISO.

Situation 2: You are a motor sports fan and want to take pictures in a race. The current settings are: f8.0 v 100 ISO 400 and your photo meter is again heading to the right side.

Solution: You know cars will pass fast, so you need a faster speed like v 1000. That will make the photometer come down a little bit, but it still is on the right side and you notice your ISO is too high for the occasion so take it down (let’s say to ISO 200). Finally the photometer is at the middle, and you can sit down and wait for the cars to pass by!

Situation 3: Your friend is playing with his band in a pub and the only illumination is candlelight in the tables and some low light in the venue. Your settings are: f11.0 v100 ISO 200. The photo meter is heading to the left side, and flash is not allowed.

Solution: It is really dark so you may need to adjust everything. Choose a lower speed like v30, and increase your ISO to around 500. Still at the left? Finally, open the aperture. Take it to f2.0, and now you are ready to shoot (but remember you have low speed settings so you may want to use a tripod or something to lean on!)

Other Advice

People learn in different ways. Some find easier to understand their camera by learning to change one setting at a time, while others like to experiment with all the things they can. Do what makes you feel more comfortable!

If you can, write down the settings each time you take a picture. It’s the best way to know your camera and will let you analyze the results later. If it went right, you may want to use those settings in the future, if it wasn’t quite what you expected you can analyze and try to figure out what went wrong.

The photo meter is there to help and should not be taken as the final word. If you are just beginning, it’s better to take multiple pictures of the same situation and see which one ended well.

Take some extra memory cards, as there’s nothing worse than going to take a picture and realising that you have no space. Well, actually there is something worse… a camera without battery! But you already know what to do to prevent that.

Conclusion

Sometimes you’ll find something you want to highlight but the object itself could be a little problematic due the quantity of colors and light involved; thankfully you can configure your camera according to your needs.

I hope this tutorial has helped introduce you to a few new concepts in an easy way – feel free to ask any questions in the comments, and we’ll do our best to answer!