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Lightroom Spot Removal Tool
In this video I show you guys some advanced editing features in Lightroom using the Healing Brush Tool to retouch a portrait and demonstrate how you can adjust the opacity slider for great results.
Often times, you want to heal or clone a section of a photo without replacing the information. Meaning, you want to retain some of the original information from the image where you apply your edit.
When using the healing / cloning brush, Lightroom very intuitively samples from a similar region of the photo, however you can easily grab the pin from the sampled area and move the selection to better suit your needs. You can also adjust the opacity of the repair so that it will blend with the photo to keep it looking realistic.
Then there are times when you want the opacity at 100% so that when you clone / heal an area, you will replace the information from another area. This is great for removing blemishes.
I show you both techniques in this video by adjusting the opacity of the brush tool.
Here’s the keyboard shortcuts I use in this video.
Q for the healing / cloning brush tool
H to show / hide the pins
[ to decrease the size of the selector
] to increase the size of the selector
Z to zoom in or out of the photo
Click the link to see the edited photo 500px.
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I hope you study your METRICS on your Website, here’s why
Click Here to get your 14 day FREE trial of Squarespace and see why so many Fro readers are switching to it.
Metrics or Analytics as many call them are externally important to study on your photography website or any website for that matter.
They let you track not just how many people come to your website but how they enter, where they come from, what they interact with and a lot more.
When you understand what people are clicking on and where they are going you can focus more on that type of content or direct people to different content.
If you want to direct them to different content you can use something that Squarespace now offers which is the announcement bar. I have seen this work extremely well on directing people to whatever content I want to on my website.
You set up the bar simply on the back end editor of squarespace, type a message and let it link internally or externally, wherever you want. People will see it at the top of your site and you have officially directed them to where you wanted them to go.
Nikon D5500 Preview
Nikon has announced the D5500 which is replacing the D5300 that was initially announced on October 17th 2013. The life cycle for these cameras keeps shrinking time and time again.
You may be asking yourself why didn’t they name it the D5400? From what I have been told is that the number 4 is considered bad luck in certain cultures. But what about the D4 and D4s, did someone think that wasn’t bad luck? I think it has to do with consumers and not pros. Pros know the number 4 in the camera probably won’t effect anything but consumers are a different animal.
So what sets the D5500 apart from the D5300? The answer is honestly not that much. It has the same size sensor at 24.2 but the difference is the D5500 does not have an OLPF. This means images should be sharper and more vibrant right out of the camera.
The ISO range is now 100-25,600 Natively. No longer will you find an H1 or H2 setting which were considered not recommended but they were there.
You still shoot at 5FPS and have 39 AF points with 9 of them being cross type.
One of the largest changes has to do with the LCD screen, it’s officially Nikon’s first touch screen. They are far from the first company to do so with Canon, Sony and a few others doing this for years. Is a touch screen a major deal when it comes to a DSLR, not exactly. But it can play a part during Video if you can touch where you want it to focus and the camera responds well. Time will tell if this touch screen is something that will find it’s way into other models.
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What is a Macro Extension Tube and how does it work?
Did you know what an extension tube is or how it can save you money over purchasing a Macro lens? Todd likes to call them tube extenders but whatever you call them they have been around a long time.
In most situations your non macro lenses wont allow you to get super close to your subject. So how do you get closer with the lenses you already own and not have to spend a lot of money on a macro lens? The simple answer are extension tubes.
Extension tubes are literally rings that attach to your camera body and lens to “extend” distance from the lens and the body. There is no glass involved whatsoever in the rings. As you can see from the video using an extension tube gives you the ability to get extremely close to your subject.
There are different size tubes which allow you to get closer or slightly further away from your subject.
You may be wondering why would anyone purchase a macro lens if these extension tubes are so inexpensive? The simple answer is true macro lenses are sharp edge to edge. When you use extension tubes your sharpest area will be in the center of the lens with the outer part of the image getting slightly out of focus.
Tubes can range from $100 and up.
