• How to Add a Film Rebate to an Image in Photoshop

    Published Wednesday, March 26th, 2014

    How to Add a Film Rebate to an Image in Photoshop

    In this tutorial I’ll walk you through the process of framing a photo with a fake film rebate in Photoshop. It’s perhaps a little ironic that with the rise of digital photography, many users are keen to fake old analog effects, but if you’re looking for an interesting way to present your photos, you might be interested in this technique.

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  • Amazing Lighthouse Photos

    Published Monday, March 24th, 2014

    Coastlines can often provide scenery for stunning photos, and in some cases lighthouses are a focal point. In this post we’ll showcase 20 examples from various photographers that will have you searching for the nearest lighthouse. Some of the photos have been taken and sunset or sunrise, some are black and white, some feature crashing waves, and some even showcase winter elements.

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  • How to Add a Simple Border Frame to an Image in Photoshop

    Published Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

    How to Add a Simple Border Frame to an Image in Photoshop

    Adding a border frame to an image is very easy in Photoshop and can help to add a little interest to your photos. It’s also a quick way to give your images a nostalgic feel by presenting them rather like printed photos or Polaroids of yesteryear. In this nice and easy tutorial, I’ll show you how easy it is to add a simple frame to a photo and even if you’re a complete newbie with Adobe Photoshop, you’ll have no trouble following along with this simple project.

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  • 27 Photos with Intriguing Lens Flares

    Published Monday, March 17th, 2014

    Lens flares from light and sun are something that photographers want to avoid most of the time, but in the right situation a lens flare can help to create an interesting and beautiful photograph. Instead of avoiding the flare you can embrace it and try to create an amazing photo.

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  • Find Free Video Tutorials at Photoshop Video Academy

    Published Friday, March 14th, 2014

    Photoshop Video Academy

    If you’re interested in learning more about photo editing there are plenty of tutorials online that you can follow (including our Photo Editing 101 course), but sometimes you may find the video format to be especially helpful. Photoshop Video Academy launched last year to provide quality video training, but they recently changed their format in a way that will benefit many photographers and designers. Originally, the videos were only available to paying members, but now all of their video training is free. They still have a membership option for users who want things like tutorial source files and personal support, but the change to free videos means that you can now get access to a lot of helpful tutorials for free.

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  • Introductory Gear For Portrait Photography

    Published Wednesday, March 12th, 2014

    Introductory Gear for Portrait Photography

    Introductory portrait gear is a difficult topic, not because it’s hard to explain but because there are so many ways to approach it. There’s gear for shooting portraits outdoors and, even though you can use the same gear for shooting indoors, it’s arranged somewhat differently. There are one set of recommendations if you’re on a […]

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  • Three Tips for Maternity Photo Sessions

    Published Monday, March 10th, 2014

    3 Tips for Maternity Photo Sessions

    Maternity portraits have become a huge trend over the last decade. Moms and Dads want to be able to remember such a special milestone in their lives and relationships and there is no better way to do it than to have portraits taken. Many parents do it for themselves, but many also do it so they have a keepsake for their child when they get older. It’s a great session to offer for your business, but it’s not as easy as it may seem. Pregnant women can sometimes be, ahem, somewhat cranky and down on themselves for feeling like a swelled up version of their former selves. With that being said, here are three things to keep in mind when you schedule your next maternity shoot…

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  • How to Create a Lomo Effect in Lightroom

    Published Wednesday, March 5th, 2014

    How to Create a Lomo Effect in Lightroom

    The lomography look can be replicated in Lightroom for creating fun, vintage-style effects for your photos. The colors and vignetting created by toy cameras result in a distinct look, and in this tutorial we’ll go through the process of creating a lomo-inspired effect in Lightroom. And if you want to save a little bit of time, you can also download a preset created in this tutorial and put it to use in your own work.

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  • 20 Amazing Black & White Landscape Photos

    Published Monday, March 3rd, 2014

    Color is often an important aspect of landscape photography. It could be stunning sunset of sunrise colors, vivid greens in a field, beautiful colors of autumn foliage, or even just bright blue skies. However, black and white landscape photos can be equally powerful and impressive.

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  • How to Create a Grainy Matte Effect in Lightroom, Plus a Free Preset

    Published Wednesday, February 26th, 2014

    How to Create a Grainy Matte Effect in Lightroom

    Matte effects are pretty simple to create in Lightroom and it’s possible to give your photos a stylish film-like appearance with these simple steps. In this tutorial we’ll go through the steps for creating this matte effect, but if you want to take a shortcut you can download a preset that includes all of the effects used in this tutorial. Keep in mind that the specifics of your settings and adjustments may vary a little depending on the specific photo that you’re working with, so don’t afraid to experiment a little.

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  • Basic Gear For Landscape Photography

    Published Monday, February 24th, 2014

    Basic Gear for Landscape Photography

    Landscape photographers are a special breed. They’re the ones getting up at zero-dark-thirty to hump their camera gear up trails and through the woods in a quest for the perfect light. They’re the ones hiking back to the car by the light of a headlamp because the perfect light was 30 minutes after sundown and it’s five miles back to the car.

    The great thing about landscape photography is the gear is pretty basic and you can get started for a very reasonable investment. Landscape scenes are typically not moving very fast, so you can avail yourself of a wonderful world of manual lenses that don’t have all the bells and whistles of brand name glass but provide amazing quality for the money.

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  • Introduction to the Reduce Noise Filter in Photoshop

    Published Tuesday, February 18th, 2014

    Introduction to the Reduce Noise Filter in Photoshop

    The Reduce Noise filter in Photoshop gives users reasonably fine grained control over noise reduction in their photos. Modern digital camera sensors have become very adept at reducing noise in photos, but it can still be an issue when shooting at higher ISO settings.

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  • Introduction to the Lens Flare Filter in Photoshop

    Published Monday, February 17th, 2014

    Introduction to the Lens Flare Filter in Photoshop

    The Lens Flare filter in Photoshop allows you to quickly and easily apply a simulated lens flare effect to your photos.

    As Photoshop filters go, this one has had a bit of a bad press, largely as a result of being abused by photographers and designers looking for quick ways to add interest to images. However, it can be used creatively and with care to help make images more evocative and, with the Instagram generation hooked on creative filters, there are still plenty of users who enjoy such effects.

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  • The Best Options for Processing HDR Images

    Published Friday, February 14th, 2014

    The Best Options for Processing HDR Images

    HDR tends to be a love it or hate it topic where many photographers stand on one side or the other. But HDR photos don’t have to be extreme and surreal. In fact, HDR can be used to produce realistic-looking images that simply represent the scene more acurately or are more lifelike than a standard photo.

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  • Introduction to Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop

    Published Thursday, February 13th, 2014

    Introduction to Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop

    The Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop is easy to overlook, but it can be a handy way to quickly make and refine selections. It’s perhaps the fact that the icon that activates the feature sits, almost as an after thought, at the very base of the Tools palette, that makes it easy to miss. However, once you’re aware of the Quick Mask feature, you should see how it can be a useful tool to add to your photo processing work flow.

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