Fall at Zoo

canon 550 D sample picture

Camera Model: Canon EOS 550D (…yes, I have a new camera. I’ll be talking about this a little later. Now I really need to spend some time crying …out of happiness. I hope you understand.)

Lens: Canon Telephoto 75-300mm (…yes, I’ve used telephoto to shoot almost macro. When I had a first look through the lens I could barely see one quarter of the leaf. I was standing that close to it. It’s actually not that smart to stand close to the photographed subject when you use a telephoto lens. To maneuver out of this peculiar situation I had to take a few steps back to achieve the dimensions of the photo above. This clearly describes how terribly lazy I can get – I decide to take a few steps back instead of reaching into the bag that’s hanging on my shoulder for a more appropriate lens because it just seems less energy consuming. Sometimes it’s hard to be me.)

Focal Length: 190 mm
(…the distance from the lens to its focus. This sounds rather technical. I have a distant and misty idea what this means but I am not sure I ever want to see into this fully.)


Aperture: F5.0 (…this is a quite small aperture value. The lower the aperture the blurrier the background. Petra loves blurry backgrounds. Sometimes she thinks she loves blurry backgrounds more than sweets. Sometimes she loves sweets more than anything.)


Shutter Speed: 1/100 [s] (…this is the fraction of time I have captured. It always amazes me. My brain isn’t even able to imagine a fraction that small.)

ISO: 3200 (…this is a very high ISO setting. ISO setting this high allows you to take pictures in rather low light conditions. And this number – I mean the number 3200 – is one of the reasons why I am crying with happiness when I think about my new camera. I can’t stop it! I was dreaming about this number for such a long time.)

White Balance: Auto (…the auto white balance of this camera must have been programmed by aliens. It is that good. Another tear of joy is rolling down my face.)
Post Processing: Photoshop Elements 8 (…I mostly played with the Pioneer Woman Action called ‘Soft Faded’.)

The moral of this story: ‘Even not so optimal equipment or settings can create quite an acceptable picture.’
…oh, and here’s the original picture:


How to Tint a Photo

how to use photo filter in Photoshop step-by-step tutorial

There are always many questions regarding photography and photo editing running around in my head.

And that’s awesome since I always have something new to learn or find out.

For example, for quite some time now, I’ve been wondering how to apply a color tint to my pictures.

Today, maybe because I still feel a little overwhelmed by the romantic atmosphere of the wedding we attended recently, I decided to definitely learn how that thing is achieved.

Of course, as with everything in the photo-editing realm, there are about 3 gazillion ways how to achieve certain effect.

In fact, I’m glad I found at least this one.

So if you know of any other approach, feel free to let me know.

I’ll be more than happy.

how to use photo filter in Photoshop step-by-step tutorial

This is the original picture.

I took it while I was house sitting (and dog sitting and canary sitting) for my parents about a month ago.

Those days were long, lazy and filled with taking scandalous amounts of pictures.

Scandalous, I’m telling you!

As I was choosing the picture to play with today, I noticed these flowers. They were literally calling for some romance to be brought into their lives.

So this is what I did to help them…

Note: I am using Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 here.

how to use photo filter in Photoshop step-by-step tutorial

I clicked LAYER  -> NEW ADJUSTMENT LAYER -> PHOTO FILTER.

how to use photo filter in Photoshop step-by-step tutorial

This is what appears on the lower right-hand side.

Right now, a wonderful time begins for you – just go and choose whatever color tint you want in your picture.

I went for ‘Warming Filter’ under the ‘Filter’ option. The filter option includes gorgeous preset tint colors.

Instead of the ‘Filter’ option, you can also click the ‘Color’ button (just under the ‘Filter’ button) which will allow you to choose from any color that basically exists.

 

Now that you have your color selected, you can adjust the intensity of the color with the ‘Density’ option. Dragging the ‘Density’ slider to the right adds more of the color to the image for a stronger amount of tinting, while dragging it to the left reduces the amount of color for a more subtle tinting effect. You can see a preview of what’s happening in your image as you drag the slider.

how to use photo filter in Photoshop step-by-step tutorial

When I was perfectly happy with the new tint of my picture I flattened it (LAYER -> FLATTEN IMAGE).

Then I decided to do one more thing – to lighten the image up a little. I clicked ENHANCE -> ADJUST LIGHTING -> LEVELS and dragged the slider to the left until the image was as light as I wished.

Ta-da!

how to use photo filter in Photoshop step-by-step tutorial

Here are both pictures side-by-side for you to compare.

Gosh, I LOVE this tinting game!

Just try it, it’s awesome!

Love,

Petra

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