I first started taking pictures in sixth grade when the principal, Miss Gustafson, asked for a volunteer photographer. She explained that the volunteer photographer would get in free to all sporting events, and the rest is history.
Even though I was using a Canon SLR in sixth grade, my first pictures really were just snapshots of the sports team and crowds.
In high school and college, my photography became more serious. I endeavored to understand the relationship between shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Then throw in there film speed, film type, lenses, filters, and even film processing methods.
After college, I tried to develop a photographer’s eye for composition. Sometimes that meant sitting in the same spot for several hours waiting for just the right combination of things—light, weather, people (or lack thereof), etc. Sometimes I would take a picture and then go back several times over the next weeks and months, hoping to get a better picture.
Them days are gone………………………..
In today’s world of Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom, Corel Paintshop Pro, and many other digital photo software editing programs, I think I have come full circle, back to taking snapshots with my Canon 550D. I’m more interested in getting the picture and then making something out of it when I get back home. I think someone calls it “Photographic Art.”
For example, here’s a picture of two pigs sleeping at the San Diego County Fair:
It’s a cute picture, but I thought it could be better if I removed the bars from their pen, not to mention the food dish and the butt of the black pig in the other pen. I even thought about that while at the Fair because I took a picture of sawdust which I thought would be good to replace the bars with:
First I removed some sawdust from the pigs, as well as a few pigskin imperfections, by simple cloning, which Photoshop makes real easy. I cloned out some feathers from on top of the sawdust as well.
Then I masked the bars and deleted them. That left me with a huge blank space behind the pigs’ heads, but Photoshop also makes it pretty easy to insert just about anything into a picture.
Here is the result:
Isn’t it a lot better picture without the bars in there?
Lets you focus on the two pigs, especially the smiling pig, obviously in the midst of sweet dreams.
What you see at Russel Ray Photos might not be what you get. I just can’t be trusted.
Need a unique gift? Check out Photographic Art!
Visit Photographic Art by Russel Ray Photos at Fine Art America.
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Yes, it looks better without the bars 🙂 thanks for sharing your tips
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I really liked the first picture–until I saw the second. 🙂 Amazing.
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That’s often the way it is.
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I stood by and watched a goat slaughtered in Mosul, Iraq.
I cannot be trusted either.
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I am sure the pigs are much happier in their new surroundings too. 😀
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That is much better. This reminds me, I need to learn photoshop so I can take better pictures of my cakes.
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Yep. Photoshop can really help with small things like food, jewelry, and books.
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Awesome job!
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Wait! Zoey The Cool Cat shops at Trader Joe’s? lol
Which comes first: upgrading from a cell phone camera or learning Photoshop? xoxoM
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I’d say Photoshop because cell phone cameras can be quite good, and if it’s not, then Photoshop to the rescue!
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Thanks, Russel. That’s very helpful! xoM
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Photoshop has a 30-day free trial. Download it and try it out, and if you have any specific questions, let me know.
https://creative.adobe.com/products/download/photoshop
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Thank you, Russel. You read my mind! xoM
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Okay, did that. I’ve been using Picmonkey.com to do the editing and I think that’s hindering my “getting” how to work with Photoshop. I’m not good at understanding forums or YouTube instructions. Any suggestions for a book or more organic way of playing with this Photoshop? Thanks Russel. I’m very grateful for your help and excited to see if I can express my vision more accurately! xoM
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There are billions of tutorials–static and video. If you want to do something, Google what you want to do and you’ll have many dozens of options. I don’t like videos, but there are some pretty good ones at YouTube.
My favorite book is “How To Cheat In Photoshop” by Steve Caplin. It comes with a DVD with five hours of video tutorials.
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THANK YOU!!! xoM
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My experience is with Corel PhotoPaint, but have not used it for several years now. I have used it at work to fix technical photos and scans. I use CorelDraw and Illustrator for line art. I just do simple things and let an illustrator do the full scale heavy stuff!!
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Photo-Paint was my favorite in the 1990s between it and Photoshop. I thought Photoshop at that time was real clunky. I also preferred CorelDraw over Illustrator at that time. Part of it might have been that the Corel products were less expensive than their brothers and sisters at Adobe. I still use CorelDraw X6 and Photo-Paint X6, but because I can do everything in Photoshop now, I have not upgraded to X7.
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Yes, the Corel products were cheaper and seemed to do a little more, in the 90’s. I have not used Photoshop much. Photoshop can’t handle vector line art, I think Illustrator is the product for the type of art I mostly handle as a tech writer.
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Actually, Photoshop can handle vector line art, and quite well. I have totally quit using CorelDraw, PaintShop Pro, and Photo-Paint because everything I used to do in those programs I can now do in Photoshop.
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Interesting! Looking to see if in future we might do a month to month rental of Photoshop.
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Good post! 🙂
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The pic of the piggies is adorable. The one on top looks like it’s smiling. – LOL
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