Nikon 28mm f/1.8G AFS Review From FroKnowsPhoto.com

Nikon just released it's latest Lens, the Nikon 28mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR , and Jared Polin, A.K.A 'The Fro' from Fro Knows Photo put out his review.  Jared has an Amazing Photographic Talent who knows what us, 'Amateurs,' like to hear when it comes to reviews.  Since I don't have the ability, yet, to get my hands on the latest equipment, I will post Jared's reviews, along with a link to his website, as well as a link so you can purchase the type of equipment he is reviewing.  So enjoy the video.  Don't forget to visit my Amazon Store for all your Photography needs

 

Adam Lerner's Latest LR4 Video, HSL Color Picker

     Here is an awesome video brought to you by Adam Lerner.  He talks about the HSL color picker in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4, which can be amazing for Real Estate Photography.  Eventhough he focuses more on the couple in the photo, watch what the sky does.  

   

How To Properly Market Your Home or Property

      Marketing your property correctly is the most important aspect when trying to sell. The industry today is a lot different than it was 10 years ago. With so many people using the Internet and social sharing sites, professionoal high resolution photos are proven to be essential for marketing.  Real estate photography is being proven to be quite essential. Studies have shown that when people are searching for a property or home, they will frequently create a list of their favorites, depending on the photos they have seen. They will then notify their Realtor of those properties they are interested in. Even if your property is exactly what they want, their more apt to pass it by if you have undesirable photos. One other thing you might want to consider is, staging the house, this is important when your trying to get your buyers to understand the property and it's potential.

      A couple quick tips about staging;

  - First of all, de-clutter, this will make the spaces seem larger and more appealing.

  - Second, hide all your personal stuff, for example tooth brushes, soaps, pet supplies, etc...

  - Thirdly, make sure the yard is picked up and grass in mowed.  Make it appealing from the outside so buyers  will want to see the inside.

      Lighting a key element when capturing stunning photos for the property. Mid-day is usually good for interior photos, as long as you dont 'blow out the windows.' If you want to make a more dramatic look on the exterior, you may want to consider taking the photos at or near sunset. Also, make sure you take photos of both the front and back, or even do an Aerial shot. You will also want a wide angle lens, such as the, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras to make the spaces look as large as possible. As far as processing the photos, you will want to make sure you do your post processing in Adobe Photoshop CS6 , Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 or any other professional editing program. Make sure that when your processing the photos, they don't come out too unrealistic looking. You want to present the property as realistic as possible, but in a flattering way. I personally use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 , cause its quick, easy, and you can save your settings to use for multiple photos. I will be posting a video on LR4 shortly. When posting your listing, you will want to provide the most accurate and detailed description you can. The goal is too draw the reader in without boring them. For example, which description sounds better,  both are of the same house:


     - This Single Family 3br 2ba, 2942sq.ft. Contemporary home Built in 2010, has a spacious open floor plan with cathedral ceilings. The living area has a highly desirable southern exposure overlooking the caged solar heated pool and large lake. The Living room, kitchen, family room and master bedroom have hurricane proof sliding glass doors The living room features a wood-burning fireplace, and surround sound pre-wired for theater-like entertainment. A spacious den/office. AHS warranty plan. Mature luxurious landscaping, circular paver driveway and excellent "curb appeal". Two car garage. Located in a gated, 24 hour guarded community with an active family/social program."


    - Spacious floorplan, pool, lanai, updated kitchen, 3/2/2, gated community


I think you would agree that the first description is a far better choice.  You will also want to make sure that the description is composed properly, especially making note of the features.  Although you don't want the description so long that it bores the readers.


I hope this article helps
                                                                                                       -Michael Tesar
                                                                                                        Tesar Photo

The Swan & Dolphin Resort Photo Slideshow

Florida Sunset Photo Slideshow

So I put together this little slideshow featuring some of my sunset photos taken at Marina Jack, Sarasota, Fl on 05/11/2012.  I used my Canon EOS Rebel T3 , tripod, and a remote shutter.   My photos were edited using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 and made into a movie slideshow using Windows Live Movie Maker.

Beginner Real Estate Photography Tips

Even with the recession, real estate is a billion dollar market in all the major developed and developing countries. What do you think is the first thing people see when scouting around to buy property? The answer would be the pictures of the property in question. Human beings respond better to visual stimulation. Therefore, quality and interesting photography matters a lot and if you are a real estate photographer you should take it seriously. Why? Because your livelihood depends on it! If you are trying to sell real estate photographs to realtors and they are not worth the dollars the realtor pays, your effort goes to waste. Real Estate Photography Tip #1: Capturing the Best Images The intention is to sell the property so your photography should definitely be appealing to the people who view them. Try to highlight the best features of the house; the features that potential buyers will like to see matter the most. The photography also depends on the nature of the property - residential or commercial. Actually the pictures should showcase your talent and skill. While searching for realtors to see the images, sometimes you need to provide samples so capturing the best of images will greatly help to clinch the deal. Real Estate Photography Tip #2: Selling the Images To earn a living in real estate photography professionally, give yourself 1-2 years of time for creating a solid base of clients. You can set up a professional website with your portfolio, current projects (if any), specialization, skills, and lots of high-definition clear pictures for prospective buyers to see. Of course, you need to do a lot of marketing for getting the clients. Begin by scouting the area you are living in and any others that you have easy access to. Contact the realtors in the area, show them sample images and if luck is on your side, you will land your first deal soon! Real Estate Photography Tip #3: Getting High Profile Clients Getting high profile realtor clients who will buy your pictures is not easy because there are always better photographers around you and also you lack experience in the beginning. So after working for a year or two with local realtors, think of migrating towards getting high profile clients. The pay rate is definitely higher but you need to have real skill and knowledge to get an edge over others. Question yourself - what is there in you that sets you apart from other real estate photographers? Once you answer this, build on that aspect for better projects.

What Type Of Content Do You Want To See

If you're new to this blog, or have been following me since I started, and you have some ideas as to the type of content you as a reader want to see.  Then I would like to hear about it.  I am fairly new to blogging and would like all the help I can get.  Do you like the site as it is or are there some improvements I could make.  I want to keep this as much of a real estate and resort photography blog as much as possible.  There isn't a whole lot of info about real estate photography out there, and there's a serious need for Good Quality photos in the Real estate business.

Please e-mail me your suggestions @ www.tesarphoto@gmail.com

Follow @Tesarphoto

My Favorite Photo From Epcot

My family and I went to Disney World a couple weeks ago and while we were there, visited a couple of the theme parks.  We found out that Epcot was hosting HGTV's International Flower and Garden Festival.  I brought my Canon EOS Rebel T3  and snapped more than 500 photos.  One of my favorites is of Epcot, I was so excited how this photo turned out, but it's nothing like seeing it in person.  There was so much inspiration there, my wife was actually trying to take the camera from me because I couldn't put it down.  I will be posting more and more of my best work, along with videos and tutorials.  I am going to keep this as a Real Estate and Resort Photo Blog, so check back often, I have some exciting changes coming soon.

1/160 sec, f/10, ISO 100, 32mm

Landscape Photography

Landscape Photography
by: Agnes celina

Very few of us are not inspired by majestic mountains, wide expanses of lush green grasses, fallen autumn leaves, sunsets or dewy glow on the land in the mornings. So, photographers thought that if human mind and heart is so pleased and attracted by these landscapes and scenes, then why not capture them and possess them. As this thought aroused interest, landscape photography emerged as a very fascinating hobby as well as career.

Landscape photographers try to pick up the feel and spirit of a scene, so that the person viewing it doesn’t miss on the emotions part. Now, a lot of us are interested in how to compose these landscape photographs. Well, you might go about a few instructions and make your photography improved.

First of all, try picking a really good time to capture the scene. As mentioned earlier, the reddish sunsets tinged with yellows and oranges or the soft, cool glows in the early mornings, are examples of the best time to shoot, as they create very unique impressions in the photographs. Try capturing the sky with cloud build ups or the ground covered with scattered leaves to include feel into the snapshots.

Just because its landscape, it doesn’t mean the photographs have to be horizontal all the times. In fact, you should go for the opportunity of changing the orientation to vertical whenever its possible or when you feel it would add to your variety without missing out on any element of the photograph.

In case, you use a telephoto lens, it is very hard to keep the camera very still for sharp, professional looking snapshots. In this situation go for a tripod and position it in such a manner that you don’t let go of any central object. Also, try capturing an old tree or fencing or something that conveys a meaning to the viewer as it adds to your landscape shot’s worth and interest.

Photographs with high color saturation and contrast usually capture more attention of the viewer. For this effect, you could attach a polarizing filter so that you capture the finest of details in every photograph you take. This is usually very helpful when taking photographs that have all light tones or dark tones that you might fear would merge together and not stand out as separate items.

You should balance the light coming from all sources in your snapshot and try capturing most of the landscape both far and near. A tip for all of the interested ones out there is try shooting the same landscape in different seasons or at different times to add to your variety and observe patterns and changes. It could be very interesting to notice how a place looks at different times of the day and the year.

A common frustrating problem which occurs in photography is leveling. For this purpose, you use a tripod with a built in level, as unleveled snaps do not seem very appealing or professional. So good luck to you with your photography experience!

About The Author Visit Landscaping Burlington, Snow Plowing Burlington The author invites you to visit: http://www.elpm.ca

HDR and Flash for Real Estate Photography

New Sunset Photos At Marina Jack, Sarasota, Fl 05/11/2012

These photos were taken on 05/11/2012 at Marina Jack, Sarasota, Fl with my Canon Rebel T3, a Tripod, and A wired Remote Shuuter Release.  I also attatched a CPL (Circular Polarizer) on the second shot.  The photos were edited using Lightroom 4.

ISO 100   0.8sec    f/29   37mm w/out CPL

ISO 100  1/25sec   f/4.0   28mm


Please feel free to download and share my photos, but please do not print or manipulate the photos in any way.  I also ask that you link the photos back to http://www.tesarphoto.blogspot.com Thank You Very Much for your understanding.

Whats New in Adobe Photoshop CS6



New Hard Drive = More Storage

Just picked up a 750 GB External Hard Drive today from Best buy, so now I have plenty of storage to house all my photos and videos. I'll be adding a link so you can buy the same one I did. Chow

The New Nikon D3200

Nikon D3200 Preview

Nikon D3200 Unboxing

For more videos like these please visit

http://www.froknowsphoto.com

My First Water Droplet Shot

Hey everyone, so I've had my new DSLR for a couple weeks now and have been experimenting with all the different settings.  I mostly stay in 'Manual Mode,' so I have complete control of the camera.  I have seen the water droplet shot before and thought, man if only I had a DSLR, well now I do, hahaha.  So I set this shot up in my garage with a single flourescent light and a bowl of water. 



Water Droplet, ISO 200, f/11, 1/200th @ 55mm

Please feel free to download and share my photos, all I ask is that the photo not be manipulated in any way. If you do share or copy my photos, please reference my site

http://www.tesarphoto.blogspot.com

Jared Polin, A.K.A. 'The Fro' unboxing the New Canon EOS 5D Mark III

New Camera = New photos, soon

I recently won a local photo contest with this photo

The contest is weekly, then the weekly winners get pooled together and a name is drawn for that month, the winner, can choose between either an Apple iPad 2 Tablet (16GB, Wifi,) NEWEST MODEL or Canon EOS Rebel T3 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm IS II Lens and EOS HD Movie Mode (Black), so I am choosing the Canon Eos T3.  As soon as i get it, I promise i will upload alot more photos, and I plan on doing some cool Macro shots with flowers, bugs, water, and more, so stay tuned in.

Please feel free to share my photos, all I ask is that you

link the photo back to http://www.tesarphoto.blogspot.com

Digital vs. Film

Most people today own a digital camera. The superfluous number of models on the market has made photography a hobby and activity that is no longer restricted to the professional. Furthermore, with social networking websites and the online world, digital photos are easily shared and stored. But as with most technological developments that signify a departure from traditional or longstanding practices, a dialogue has emerged as to the benefits of digital versus film photography. The portability and ease of the digital camera makes it a more popular amateur photography option. However for professionals, there is still an argument as to the merits of both film and digital photographic cameras, with both versions still in use today. Here’s a quick rundown of the advantages of both digital and film photography. Advantages of digital photography Instant review of pictures. Digital cameras allow photographers to assess the lighting and composition of their work immediately after taking a photograph. If need be, they can simply recapture the image. Fewer ongoing costs. Once a digital camera has been purchased, it costs very little to take, and store, hundreds or even thousands of digital photographs. Various functions and settings. Digital cameras can be used to capture videos as well as photographs, and there are a number of settings through which the photographs can be taken, such as sepia and black and white. Metadata. Digital cameras are embedded with metadata. The time, date and model of camera are all recorded with the image and form part of the image’s memory. Digital manipulation. Once a digital photograph has been transferred from the camera to the computer, it is easy to digitally manipulate, retouch or affect the image. Advantages of film photography Better to capture detail. Film photography can pick up and capture greater variations between light and dark, making black and white film photography preferable to digital. Photo quality. Film cameras produce photographs with higher definition than digital photography. For larger photographic prints, film cameras produce much higher definition and clarity than their digital counterparts. Cost. For amateur or hobby photographers, digital cameras are affordable, easy to use and perfect for capturing special moments. For the professional, however, quality film cameras are significantly cheaper than their digital counterparts. Furthermore, because new digital models are continuously hitting the market, digital cameras tend to lose value rather quickly while film cameras usually retain their value over the years. Aesthetics and tradition. Many photographers vouch for an aesthetic quality to film photography that cannot be replicated by digital cameras. Such advocates are also often drawn to the tradition and history of film photography. There are pros and cons to both film and digital photography. For many photographers, however, the final decision rests on their personal style and their budget. Or, many dabble in a little bit of both! To find out more about photography and the differences between digital and film, there is a range of photography courses available. If you don’t have time to attend classes, it is possible to study via distance education and learn the ins-and-outs of the trade on your own time.

Learn The Basics of Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop Environment

In the following tutorial you will learn about the overall scope of Adobe Photoshop CS5 . This program is used mostly to manipulate images. People that do web development, graphic design, and photography will probably prefer the use of this program to edit their images. Once you have grasped this basic knowledge of the software, you will be able to dive into Adobe Photoshop CS5 and quite possibly Adobe Fireworks CS5 , which works in a similar way. Adobe Fireworks CS5 is just a little simpler and has less features. Adobe Fireworks CS5 was originated as Fireworks MX 2004 . Enough of the chit-chat, lets get down to business!

When you first enter the Adobe Photoshop CS5 environment you will see a plethora of features and plug-ins to mess with. Fortunately, with a little training from me you won't have to be confused by these things. Go to the top left of the screen and select file/new.  Now you should see the picture above. This is the basic variables that you are able to change when you start a new file. You can change the name of Photoshop document to whatever you please. This is best suited when you are trying to organize stuff during your Adobe Photoshop CS5 training sessions on the web. The preset window lets you select what type of paper size, resolution, and color mode that you would like to have to start out with. Of course most will just go with custom so that they can personalize their specific project. Most of the time, the project you are working on won't fit into a category. Adobe has specifically put custom as the first on the list because of this fact.

For today session, let's change the preset to Web.
Following these steps will present you with a black window with the name of the file, percent of the resolution it is viewing at, and the color mode you have chosen at the top of the window.  From here we can learn about what some of the things you see on the left and right of the screen are.

We will start on the left side of the screen because this is the first thing you should learn when you starting to make and edit images in Adobe Photoshop CS5 . I am using Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended for windows , which is an older version, but has some of the same features as Adobe Photoshop CS5 . I will go over these briefly to educate you.

The first on the top left is the "move tool" It is an icon that has a cursor and crosshair on it. You can use this tool to move objects on the screen around to your liking.

The next tool is the rectangular Marquee tool. You can also just use this tool to make squares around areas in an image to cut them out easily. You can use that feature to cut out a piece of a picture and paste it somewhere else. I personally use this image a lot when I am working on images for my website or editing my digital photos.
This tool has four variations to it. Two of them are relatively new and you may know them or not. The second variation is the Elliptical Marquee tool that allows you to trace circles. The third is the Single Row Marquee tool. The fourth is the Single Column Marquee tool. These are great when you want to slice out the image of an excel spreadsheet and only post that specific data too an audience. It is most likely it will end up looking like an "L" shape and you will be able to write information around the image within a website. This is very useful for website designers with the proper knowledge of Adobe software products.

Next up is the Lasso tool. This tool allows you to highlight an image that you have made in an image or an image you have opened in Adobe Photoshop. This marquee tool likes to have smooth hard edges to follow. If you have a photograph that doesn't have an easy to follow edge around objects you will find it hard to use this tool. You have probably seen this when people cut their heads out of a picture and paste it onto somebody else's body. It is a very funny feature and this is the tool that does it!  The lasso tool has three different variations. The second version is the Polygonal Lasso tool. This tool can make different shapes and curves when tracing around or cutting out a piece of an image. The third variation is the Magnetic Lasso tool that only works on images that have defined edges. The tool will clamp onto an edge and give it anchor points to shape the corners. This is good when you don't have that steady hand you used to have back in high school. I use this myself because I am not the man I used to be!

The next up is the crop tool. This feature does exactly what is says. It is like a marquee tool except it is made specifically for cutting square pieces out of images. That is pretty much all it does. However, this simple feature is used quite often to developed website images.

The next up is the Slice tool. This tool allows you to slice an image into smaller pieces. This is usually used in web design with the use of tables to display formatting on a webpage.

The next in line is a list of four tools that provide ways for the user to fix problems in images. The Spot Healing Brush tool first appeared in Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 . It was implemented into Adobe Photoshop CS2 after that. This tool allows you to fix areas of an image by replacing or blending the colors in an area so that it is like growing a new piece of skin over a bad rash. The Healing Brush tool allows you to fix problems in the image by sampling the surrounding area around the problem and trying to replicate the pattern in the area that is problematic. The patch tool is pretty much a mix of the Healing Brush and the Lasso tool. It is allows you to highlight the area that is scratched or empty and sample the surrounding area to fix the problem.

Lastly, the Redeye tool allows you to select the common problem of red eyes and correct them with sampling a piece of the black pupil area and replacing the red eye with the natural pupil color. This is a widely used tool by many consumers.

The next tools are made for painting on the canvas freestyle.

The first one of them is the Brush tool. The Brush tool is an old favorite for people that want to free hand draw things like they had a brush which they can decrease and increase the size of the contact point. You can also change the hardness of the stroke as well. This will show differences in contrast.

The Pencil tool is just like a real pencil with some added tricks. The modes can give you complete freedom or help you make straight lines when you are trying to make objects.

The last one is the Color Replacement tool. This handy tool allows you to select a color scheme on an image and replace it with something else. Unlike the bucket tool that will cover the complete area, this tool will allow you to draw in the replacement by hand as if you had a brush. Let's say if you had a blue cup in a picture. You can sample the blue color and decide to make it green. Then you just draw over the area of the cup and anything that is of the sampled color will turn green!

The stamp tools are a very nice addition to the Adobe Photoshop regime for photographers. Specifically it is great for editors that write tabloids and want to doctor the pictures. With the Clone Stamp tool they will be able to edit out an area of a picture and make it look like it was never there. They can do this by sampling the area around the object they want to not be there and adding it into the portion of the picture they want it too be in. The Pattern Stamp tool allows you to stamp a specific pattern at your desired brush hardness onto an image to make something unique. Like you can take a brick wall patter and make a complete building.

The History brush tool and the Art History brush tool are unique and sometimes overlooked. You can use the History Brush tool to restore the original image in only just section or part of an image. It is usually used when you take a color picture to black and white and then convert a part of it back to color. It's kind of like finding a dusty painting and then wiping it off to see the beauty that it holds underneath. It is a true treasure for the graphic designer or photographer that uses Adobe software product regularly. The Art History Brush tool allows you to copy the texture of an image through the use of art specific styles. Unlike the History Brush tool the Art History Brush tool takes the data from the image and creates something new out of it. It allows you to put a different style of art to an image without it losing its originality.

The next feature is the three types of Eraser tools. The most basic is the Eraser tool itself. You can change the size of the area that the eraser returns to the original background. The Background Eraser Tool does exactly what it states. It is able to erase the background without any use of changing layers. Once you have done this you can add in colors to make a new background at will. The Magic Eraser tool acts like the Magic Wand tool. It will erase an area based how it is clicked and verified.

The next up on the list is the Gradient tool and the Paint Bucket tool. These are old favorites from the long line of Adobe Photoshop releases. However, for all the new Adobe Photoshop CS5 users out there these items are something that may not be so familiar after searching through the web for image editing software. The Gradient tool provides the user the ability to make colors stretch in all directions from high to low in intensity. It is similar to the way you would view the sunset as the colors transition from light to dark. You can also use this feature to apply to certain types of patterns and textures. These features are also available in Macromedia Studio 8 Win/Mac and Adobe Fireworks CS5 . The Paint Bucket tool is capable of filling in a space or a space inside of the Magic Wand tool to a certain color, patter, texture, or stamp. This is used as a quick way to change colors in a predefined area.
The following set of tools previously were found in another section of Adobe Photoshop, but are now offered conveniently on the left side of the menu. All three of these do pretty much what they say they do. I will still give you a brief explanation of their capabilities though. The first of them is the Blur tool. The Blur tool blurs the area where you paint. The Sharpen tool increases the contrast in the areas you paint. The Smudge tool blends the pixels where you paint. This is similar to when you drag something through wet paint that has various colors.

Oddly enough, three more features that were previously hidden to the human eye are now available for you to view on the left menu. This time though the names have almost nothing to do with what they do.

First up is the Dodge tool. This tool lightens an area on the image.

The Burn tool darkens an area on the image and the Sponge tool changes the level of saturation on an area in the image. These all have their special purposes that you will come to find out about. Burn and Dodge are usually used for making shadows or erasing shadows.

The next feature has a wide array of variations to it. This feature is the Pen tool. The pen tool allows users to create paths, curves, and anchor points to move lines around in weird shapes without the use of freehand drawing. Ironically enough, this leads to the rest of the tools.

The next is the Freeform Pen tool. Unlike the pen tool that automatically makes anchor points where you draw, the Freeform Pen tool lets you draw as if you really had a pen. After you have used either of the tools you can use the next feature, which is the Add Anchor Point tool to create anchor points for new lines or freeform drawing. This helps when you want to attach a line to another line that has already been drawing without overlapping incorrectly. The Delete Anchor Point tool gives you the ability to delete an anchor point that you are not satisfied with. The Convert Point tool changes vector shape masks and paths. This allows different types of anchor points to connect to each other even if they are composed of different types of corners.

The next tools are the Type tools. They specifically describe the Horizontal Type tool and the Vertical Type tool. These pertain to the angle that you are able to write in (Horizontal or Vertical). Unfortunately, when you use this you must turn it into a bitmap and that makes it non-editable after you are finished. The Horizontal and Vertical Type Mask tool allows you to write with text that is filled with a patter or an image as the font color. It can be a nice addition if you are writing against an odd background.

The Path Selection tool and the Direct Selection tool are both used for paths. The Path Selection tool will allow you to select a path component even if it is surrounded by many different paths. The Direct Selection tool will only select a segment of a path. This is a way to reshape a segment to a different path after it has been created and saved.

The following tools are some of my personal favorites. I have started one too many images with these objects. If you look at my website you can see almost exactly where I started when I created it. The first of these is the Rectangle tool that makes a rectangle of various sizes. The Rounded Rectangle tool makes rectangles that are rounded. I used to use this exclusively in Macromedia Fireworks before I purchased the Adobe CS series. The Ellipse tool allows you to make seemingly perfect circles. The Polygon tool allows you to make polygons. The Line tool makes lines with anchor points at the end so that they can be managed by the Pen tool if you want to get fancy.

Below these more popular features are some cool features that you may or may not find interesting. I believe these have been in all the Adobe CS releases, but I am not sure about the Macromedia MX series.

The first up is the Notes tool that allows you to add small notes to your images in the background. Also there is an Audio Annotation tool that allows you to add verbal notes to an image.

The tools described below are a set of useful features that you may find useful in addition to some of the other options. I believe some of these tools are used in conjunction with the other tools. However, this makes it a little simpler if you want to do it the old fashioned way.

First is the Eyedropper tool that helps sample color from an area. The Eyedropper tool is pretty basic though. The Color Sampler tool has a few more features that allow you to gather the color data from any layer without calling that layer. You can see levels of gradient or replace colors and shapes back to an image.

The Ruler tool helps you measure things inside of an image if you are trying to be precise about how you do things. This helps if you are a web developer and you are trying to make every symmetrical and in order. I personally try to do this sometimes and have to slap myself. I like to be organized myself, but I don't want my websites to look so fine tuned that they would be passed up as not being original. The Count tool helps you count.

The Hand tool is used to move objects that are in a layer in anyway that you would like that is 2d in fashion.

The Zoom tool helps you zoom in on a picture or object so you can do fine tuning.
The Default Foreground and Background Colors tool lets you return back to black and white when you have gone totally out of whack with you colors you are thinking you are in the 1960s!

The Switch Foreground and Background Color tool lets you switch the colors you using at will. It is almost like have a painters tablet to hold your saved colors on.
I forgot to mention that each of these features has its sub-features displayed at the top of the program when you click on them.

You have probably noticed by now though. By now you have gained enough knowledge of the Photoshop CS3 for Windows and Macintosh basic features to jump in and start creating your own stuff. You will be able to find further information on each of these features in use with illustrations soon. I can tell you this because I am writing them right now. I believe the visitor will take from you if they can look at one person and know what type of information he is giving rather than it coming from a million different people that may or may not know how to effectively write information to people. Please check back often to view further updates to the website and even more great tutorials in various disciplines in Adobe Software.
Some of you may be looking for even further guidance or special programs that will help you through every step of the process. I would love to be there standing behind you pointing to everything you need to do, but that is just not feasible..... yet! However, my website has a growing amount of unique content written by yours truly and not randomly dispersed from random websites where you are not sure of the credibility of the author or not. The complete tutorial with picture of this tutorial is available at my webpage below. Remember, you can unlock the Adobe Guru in you!
http://learnphotoshopnow.com/main.html



Shooting the Sun

Sure, these pictures may border on cliches, but they are cliches that never fail to grab us. We're all suckers for that frame-filling drama of Ol' Sol looming large on the horizon. And we all know how to get those shots of big suns - just shoot the horizon with that fabulously expensive, super-speed, extralow-dispersion glass, apochromatic tele, right?

Wrong. You need a long lens, sure, but it needn't be a budget buster. Some very good 500mm mirror lenses come in under $200

 

There are all-glass 400mm, 500mm, and 600mm designs from major independents that sell for $300-500. And you can make an existing tele longer by using a teleconverter.

 

That fine 300mm f/4 you bought for nature work, for example, can be converted to a 600mm f/8 with a 2X converter. That's a pretty good focal length for big suns. Using a 3X converter will make a 900mm f/12, and so on.

Besides a tele, you need a sturdy tripod -

flimsy travel models need not apply. For one thing, focusing and framing through a long tele is far easier if the rig is well supported. For another thing, even a little shake can blur a long-tele shot.

A spot or limited-area meter helps, although it is not essential.

  An overall meter reading with an SLR will generally be far too high, resulting in a shot that's too dark - even if the desired effect is a silhouette. Most big-sun shooters use the strategy of spotmetering an area of the sky near but not immediately adjacent to the sun - an area in which some sky tone appears. This will give you a silhouette reading that will still maintain a little shadow detail.

And how do you focus and compose with that big burning disk staring you right in the eye? First, if everything in your frame is a long distance from the camera, setting the lens to infinity is the easiest way to focus without being dazzled. Otherwise, you may prefocuse the camera with the sun just out of the frame. You can often recompose the scene by holding your eye a little away from the finder to avoid being temporarily blinded by the sun. The best big-sun shots are the ones that don't rely solely on the sun; the big sun, in fact, is best used as a background. The landscape, the harbor scene, the city skyline - each picture should stand on its own for it to work with a big sun behind it. There is a pitfall here, though. Even with objects at a far distance, they can still be out of the plane of focus of the sun, due to the effective shallow depth of long lenses. Generally, the sun can stand to be a little soft, so try focusing on the nearest large object in the composition. Also, use small apertures and check the depth-of-field preview. Big-sun shots can, on occasion, be surprisingly colorless; the sky around the sun can range from blank white to dull gray. A filter is called for here, from the standard warming (81A and similar) for a warm sky tone, to amber for richer color, to full orange for an exaggerated effect.