Dark Side of the Lens

I have had several people ask me how best to be notified when I put up a new video, as I don’t email everyone to let them know (though I can do so if enough people request it).

Well, the best way is to to use the RSS links on the page and you’ll be notified via RSS whenever I do a new post.

However, some people do not use, or understand RSS, so I’ve put some though to how else I can let people know. I am a member of several social networks, so maybe that’s the way to go.

I would suggest Twitter is the best way to go here. Free account, if you don’t have one already, and easy to set up. I usually (and will do so always now) do a “Tweet” when I do a post. You can “Follow” me on Twitter via the following button:

Better still, if you are on Facebook, please come say hello there. I’ll even do my best to answer your questions. Don’t forget to “Like” the page while you are there!

Hopefully meet you there.

Simon

For years now I have absolutely loved seeing my photos printed on canvas.

Canvas is a very forgiving medium, with the ability to hide a wealth of sins in many photos, though it is still the usual case of the better the photo the better the end result. However, due to the nature, especially the texture, of canvas you are able to get large high quality prints from even the most basic of cameras.

What many (most?) people do not realise though is the huge variation there is in the quality of the canvases you can get printed via the internet, or indeed by walking into a store.

A couple of years ago I put quite some time and effort in finding a great canvas printing company for my own prints, and in doing so taught myself what to look for in a good canvas.

Rather than simply passing this information on to you entirely myself I decided to go an interview a real expert. It was fun to record and something new for this site. The quality of the video came out better than I thought it would (especially on the member’s version) but the camera did not do such a great job of the sound, mostly due to the high level of background noise. However, you should be able to hear it clear enough, though you may need to play a little with your speaker volume.

So, here you go, my first venture into the world of film making!

If people enjoy this one then I have several other similar projects in mind, so please leave feedback on this post for me.

Simon

http://darksideofthelens.com

Well, hopefully everyone has recovered from an excellent New Year by now. If not then good on you for having such a huge party!!!

As promised, here is the second video to complete our exploration of “levels” in Photoshop Elements

Questions, problems or comments please simply drop me a line.

Simon

http://darksideofthelens.com

P.S. There might be a small delay before the member’s version of this one appears. Don’t worry, it will be there shortly I assure you.

I remember when I was first learning digital photo editing and I stumbled across something called “levels”. Some of my photos had looked grey and dull, though I did not realize it at the time, and these suddenly sprang to life as I learned how to use the levels adjustments in Photoshop.

Although not quite as powerful as the “curves” adjustments in Photoshop (which also has the levels adjustments by the way) the levels adjustments in Elements are something you are going to find very powerful, in fact to me they are a “must check” on every photo I edit.

I have divided this tutorial into two parts simply due to the length. Some sites, such as YouTube prefer videos to be under 10 minutes. I’ll post the second half of this in the next day or so.

As always, I have supplied you a copy of the photos that I use in this tutorial, so you can follow step by step if you so desire, but do have a go with your own photos and let me know how you get on.

Oh, and have a really HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!:)

Simon

http://darksideofthelens.com

The tutorial images for the earlier tutorials are now available in the free member’s area.

I apologise that these took me a while to get up but things here have been somewhat out of control, to put it mildly. I still intend toi recommence producing videoa within the next week as I have a heap already planned.

So, go download the images if you want to use these rather than your own images to practice the techniques in the tutorials.

Simon

http://darksideofthelens.com

Yes, I have been slack over the last few weeks, sorry. But I do have a rather valid excuse

Our baby, Robert, decided to arrive somewhat earlier than we expected, over 4 weeks early in fact. He spent some time in the special care unit, but has just come home and is doing very well indeed. What with constant hospital visits and looking after my 2 year old while my better half was in hospital with Robert, I have not had time to scratch myself recently, let alone post here.

Can I be forgiven? Have a look at these couple of pictures and well, I think he is cute enough to have me forgiven

Hopefully I’ll get to produce some more videos starting next week, or the week after at the latest. So, hang in there please

Simon

http://darksideofthelens.com

I have been getting some great feedback, thank you all, as well as some excellent questions. However, the way I had the blog setup meant that they all came directly to me, when the questions will usually benefit others as well.

I have therefore slightly changed my feedback and questions system to more of a guestbook system, so your thoughts and questions may be shared by all.

I would also encourage people to leave comments/questions as comments on the individual posts/tutorials if they pertain specifically to one them.

If you still wish to contact me directly you are most welcome to do so via email. My email address is (split up sorry to avoid the spammers):

natator@ and then add this domain name (i.e. darksideofthelens.com)

I have taken the liberty of posting as few of the comments I have had already as if posted by their original owner. If you see a comment of your you wish to be removed please just let me know and I shall do so (but I doubt there will be any problems).

Thank you all once again for your comments and encouragement … it makes me feel like I am not just doing these for my own enjoyment.

Simon

http://darksideofthelens.com

For those with iPhones (boy do I love mine!), iPod Touch’s or other similar devices that can view video podcasts, you can now download my video tutorials from iTunes (for free naturally). The videos have been specially formatted for mobile devices.

Simply go to the iTunes store and search for “Dark Side of the Lens”.

At present the first two tutorials are there and I’ll be adding the rest periodically until I catch up. From then on I’ll publish each tutorial on iTunes the same day as they appear on my blog.

Things here are a little hectic right now with my 2 year old and the fact that his little brother is due in a few weeks. Hopefully though I’ll find the time to get back into video production again shortly.

Simon
http://darksideofthelens.com

Another in the series of video tutorials on layers in Elements 6, this time on “Adjustment Layers”.

There are several different types of adjustment layer, such as levels or hue & saturation. In this tutorial I demonstrate the use of an adjustment layer, using a hue & saturation adjustment layer as an example.

Don’t get too hung up on understanding the hue & saturation aspects of this tutorial, it is the use of the layer that is important here. I’ll be covering the hue & saturation settings, as well as the other adjustment layer types, in the future.

I have supplied you a copy of the photo that I use in this tutorial, so you can follow step by step if you so desire, but do have a go with your own photos and let me know how you get on.

Simon

http://darksideofthelens.com

As promised, here is the second part of the video tutorial on layer masks.

Photoshop Elements does not include the layer mask functionality, in its native form at least. However, it does include adjustment layers, and these little beauties have their own layer masks. In this video I show you a rather clever trick whereby you can hijack this mask and use it as you would a normal layer mask.

Best of all … it’s really easy to use.

If you are not already used to the concept of layer masks then please ensure you view the video tutorial prior to this one as that will give you the grounding you need to make sense of the one shown here.

Simon

http://darksideofthelens.com