My camera is never far away!
I’m so glad you’ve found my blog, where I share two of my life’s passions, travel and photography. Why did I name it Inside Out? I love to figure out how things work and then share what I learn. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it and, perhaps, learn a thing or two that you didn’t know before.
If you’re hoping to see more of my photos, I’m now posting on Instagram every day. You can find my page by clicking here. Hope you’ll follow me!
Let me know what you think in the Comments.
Caroline Maryan
This photo of an old windmill in Kinderdijk, Netherlands was shot in RAW, with my Canon 5D Mark III. The settings were: 1/200 sec, f/8.0, ISO 125, shot in Manual mode. I then imported it into Lightroom Classic CC to process it before exporting it as a JPEG. The RAW file is flat and dull looking. The processing allows you to turn that flat photo into art. To see a larger version of the processed photo, click here.
Welcome to the fourth post in this series.
In the first post, I explained what Photoshopping is and that, usually, an intention to deceive is involved. In the second, I talked about compositing, a method of combining photos to create something new. The third post exposed the myth of straight-out-of-camera photos being unprocessed.
With this post I address the art of processing. Ansel Adams, the famous photographer and environmentalist, said, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” He was referring to all the steps involved in photography, from visualizing to shooting to work in the darkroom. He also said, “Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.”
With those words to inspire us, it’s time to look at what you can achieve in the digital darkroom. Read more →
This shot is of The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, taken from the Kennedy Center in the late afternoon. If you slide all the way to the left, you’ll see the RAW file that the camera captured. To use it in the post, I had to save it as a JPEG in Lightroom, without processing. If you slide all the way to the right, you’ll see the JPEG that the camera created. You’ll notice that it is sharper and there is more contrast. However, the details in the darker parts of the image are too dark to appreciate. It’s a fine snapshot, but not a great image, in my opinion.
In parts one and two of this series, I’ve discussed photoshopping and compositing. Most photos don’t involve either of these treatments. It’s time to talk about the most important part of finishing a photo: processing.
All digital photos are processed. I bet that got your attention! Many people will argue that their photo is art because it is SOOC (straight-out-of-camera) and there is no processing involved. What they don’t realize is that those SOOC photos are processed by the camera. Let me explain… Read more →
Photo of the Capitol building in Colonial Williamburg, Virginia at dusk. The Cold Moon Super Moon is in the sky above. This is a composite of two photos taken together, with different shutter speeds, to show the details of the moon. Click on the photo to see it larger.
In the first post in this series, I wrote about photoshopping, and it’s emphasis on deception.
Compositing also attempts to distort reality by layering two or more photos to include elements in the final image that weren’t originally there or to remove elements that were there. Some common examples of this are replacing a dull grey sky with a more colorful one or placing the subject on a more interesting background. Compositing can also be used to expand the dynamic range of a photo, where movement within the photo wouldn’t allow an HDR to be created. I use this when trying to capture a full moon with foreground interest.
Designers frequently create composites for advertising. Read more →
If you follow photography on the web, you’ll find stories about photoshopping on a regular basis. Is it the same as processing, editing, or compositing? Or is there a difference? The answer, in a word, is yes… They are different. But, it’s not that simple!
This is the first of a four-part series about this complicated question.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: photoshopping. According to Merriam-Webster, to photoshop is “to alter (a digital image) with Photoshop software or other image-editing software especially in a way that distorts reality (as for deliberately deceptive purposes)”. The important part to note is the intent to deceive. (By the way, the elephant in the photo is not photoshopped. He really was grazing in the wild in Sabi Sabi, South Africa. I don’t photoshop my photos.)
Examples of photoshopped images abound. For years, models have been photoshopped to appear extraordinarily thin. Read more →
Vervet Mama and Baby at Lake Naivasha, in the Rift Valley in Kenya, taken with intention and my Canon 5D Mark IV, just before she decided to enter my room and have a look around… Can you guess what f/stop number I chose to blur the background. Click on the photo to see a larger version. (Photo details at the end of the blog post.)
I love my iPhone camera! Ever since Apple introduced the iPhone 4s in 2011, with it’s improved camera and technology, I’ve been hooked on the convenience and quality. Before that, when I traveled, I carried a small digital Canon Elph point-and-shoot camera, set to auto mode, to grab photos quickly. Now, I didn’t need to carry an extra camera. I had the perfect tool to feed my “shoot and run” habit. Read more →
Napoleon, the French Bulldog, posing for a portrait in autumn leaves. Click on the photo to see a larger version.
It’s almost December. Do you send out Christmas or holiday cards? Have you ordered them yet? (True confession… I have not… 😩)
I thought I’d share some tips for getting a good shot of your dog for your card. These portraits can also be printed and framed. You don’t have to use them for cards!
The perigee super moon shown rising above the Dreampalace building in Seoul, South Korea on May 5th, 2012. Click to see a larger version.
This weekend of December 2-3, 2017, the moon will be full. Best of all, it’s a perigee or super moon, which means that it will appear larger in the sky. On top of that, in the northern hemisphere, it’s winter, so humidity levels may be lower in the air. All in all, it’s a great time to go out and practice shooting the moon!
If you’ve ever tried this before, only to come home with photos of a glowing white orb in the sky, this time will be different. Here are some hints for getting the detailed shot of the moon that you wish you’d taken before.
Click HERE to see a larger version of the finished photo.
There are some important photography software updates to report this week. And, since I like to turn things inside out, I’ll pass along some advice on how to rename your Lightroom catalog, so that the name will make sense to you after you do your updating!
This week, Adobe announced changes to some of their products. The oddest change is that they have renamed our good old Lightroom CC or Lightroom CC 2015 or however you remember it… to Lightroom Classic CC. Just to confuse you even more, they have also renamed Lightroom Mobile, the version of LR that used to work only on your smart phone or tablet. It’s now Lightroom CC, and it also works on your computer.
You’ll find the new changes when you update your apps.
If you’re still using Lightroom 6, nothing has changed for you. That’s less confusing, but it does say that they are pretty much finished supporting that software. It’s probably time to update to the subscription-based Creative Cloud version of Lightroom. 😩
Here’s how I’m proceeding with these developments. Read more →
A skyline view from our room at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Christ Church Cathedral is below.
Have you ever been offered an upgrade when you checked into a hotel? I’m not talking about the upgrades that come with membership in the hotel chain’s frequent visitor program. I’m talking about the upgrades that have no reason to happen at all.
Did it make you feel special in some way? How exciting! Wow! Why me? Thanks so much!
Was the room as great as you thought it would be? Read more →
Hippos relaxing in the Hippo Pool in the Ngogongoro Crater, Tanzania, Africa
Do you know what kind of learner you are? People learn by seeing, hearing or doing. These three are called the Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learning Styles.
In my last post, Who’s On Your Team?, I wrote about treating yourself as an athlete. Let’s face it. Photography and travel can both be physically demanding. Who needs sore muscles and tendonitis to get in the way of a good day of shooting?
Today, I’m writing about another support team that you need. Read more →
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