PHOTOGRAPHY EXPOSED
by John Peters A.R.P.S.
PHOTOSHOP
Adobe Photoshop, it used to be my main editor of choice. Basically the industry standard for graphics or photographic editing.
TOP TIP Since Photoshop (latest version) only became available through rental, Ive tended to use Affinity Photo or one of two free editors. Covers 95% of all my standard editing between them.
Faststone is my favourite with Paint.net for layers, the simplest and most logical piece of software that handles layers. Beginners - you don't need some filters that we tend to rush out and buy. Want to gradually darken a sky, want to replace a sky, want to enrich colour in a sky, check out 'P' for PAINT.NET and a fuller breakdown. Just think out-of-the-box!
Originally a colour photograph, converted to monochrome in Photoshop. A simple lead-in, good D.O.F. with a small aperture makes for a pleasing landscape. A wide-angle zoom, a tripod and cable release finish the shot. On my own back door so to speak. Yes, the equipment makes some things easier, but it's the 12" behind the camera that saw the shot in the first place!
As I said elsewhere, I made use of Photoshop in my early days and the above photo is a composite or layered photograph. A nice snowy landscape improved by adding the highland cows extracted from another photograph. The shadows and footprints were a bit of a problem but as I sold the final image to a local greetings card company, it was worth me persevering. If adding a layer or photograph, make sure the lighting is from a similar direction and beleivable. Working at a high magnification, precise manipulation is possible. I now use PAINT.NET (FREE) for any layer work because of ease of use. The cutout of the highland cows can be done automatically by phones, computers and software and at low magnifications, a fairly good job can be done. You have to remember this was done in the early 2000's, before AI and similar suitable tools became available. Think out of the box. Shoot with composites in mind. This was good enough to be printed on a 7 x 5" xmas card, and sold well.