September 3, 2010

How to Use a Polarizing Filter

What is polarized light

We see and photograph reflections of light from the surfaces surround us. If objects did not reflect light we would not see them. Upon reflection, however, the quality of the light may change with undesirable side effects for photography. Before it reflects from a surface, light wave moves in all directions very much like a pipe cleaner with its bristles coming out in all directions. When it reflects from a surface, depending on the angle, reflective surface qualities, our angle of observation, the part of all of the light may become polarized. A polarized light wave no longer moves in all directions but in one direction much like a recording tape, flat. [Read more...]

A convenient Way to Clean my CRT Monitor

The shiny surfaces on these monitors seem to be a magnet for all kind of grease, I have no idea how grease gets on the monitor screen. But, when it is turned off and the background is dark, I can see these spots and often they become quite annoying while trying to do work.

I tried using window cleaners, eyeglass sprays, moist towels with their unique shortcomings. All the liquids I mentioned run to the bottom of the monitor and the moist towels don’t have enough oomph. Then I stumbled on to the idea of putting a dab of Purell, or its equivalent on paper towel and wiping the glass with that. I tell you, it works like a charm, it stays where you put it with no runs racing to get between the monitor and the bezel. These hand sanitizers are thickened alcohol and do a great job on my monitor. I use it to clean the plastic exterior too.
BEFORE you use it on your monitor, try it on the outside edge to make sure that it will not cause any discoloration. Also, do not try this on LCD monitors, they may have a micro etched surface which may not like this treatment.

I am telling you what I do, what you do is up to you.

How I Discovered a New Approach Mood Control

As I tried to adjust a photograph I took last April (2003) from a moving train, I realized that I was not getting the right mood although the colors looked fine. The result was an uninteresting image. When I took the photograph, it was late afternoon with the golden tones of the sunset echoing off the surfaces. The image below (Figure 1) is the original converted from Canon RAW format and it does not show much of that mood at all. [Read more...]

Splitting Hair for Wider Range

(Before the advent of high dynamic range (HDR) processing I used to use the following method to extract a greater dynamic range from my images. It is still a perfectly usable solution and probably much more flexible thn the HDR processing, not to mention easier. Also, you will not be tempted to create “that HDR look” with everything in the midtones. I call them photographs with choked light. Photoshop CS3 offers a very useful adjustment tool, Shadow & Highlight which renders this method useless. However, for many users out there still using CS or CS2 this is a very useful and easy method to learn.)

I face situations where I may want to accommodate a wide tonal range in an image that has too much contrast. I picked a sample image to use here showing two garages with white paint under direct sunlight with a heavy shadow area behind a fence. [Read more...]

Digital Polarizer

Original PhotographA polarizing filter is an indispensable tool for most photographers. It helps remove reflections from most nonmetallic surfaces, increases the color saturation of foliage, darkens the blue sky for dramatic effects, and so on. I try to carry one with me anytime I go out to take photographs. The operative word here is “try” since I don’t always remember to pick one from the camera bag. Luckily, digital domain gave us some tools to compensate for our forgetfulness. This is how I developed a Photoshop technique that I call Digital Polarizer since the entire effect is achieved through digital manipulation. [Read more...]

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