Digital Nature Photography and Adobe Photoshop

353 Pages·2006·21.88 MB·English

by  Kevin Moss

Digital Nature
Photography and
Adobe Photoshop
® ®
Kevin Moss
©2006 by Thomson Course Technology,a division of Thomson Learning Inc. All rights reserved. No Publisher and General Manager,
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Megan Belanger
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For the love of my life, Amy, and our children, Amanda, Emily, and David
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Megan Belanger for the opportunity to write this book on my favorite subject—digital
nature photography. I would also like to thank Laura Lewin at Studio B for lighting the spark for this book.
Writing a book is a team effort, and I would like to acknowledge Cathleen Snyder for managing the project and
editing my sometimes spaghetti-like wording. Technical books need great technical editors, and I have to men-
tion Ron Rockwell, photographer and Photoshop user extraordinaire, who always keeps me technically sound.
Special thanks to our graphics and layout guru, Bill Hartman, and our indexer, Kelly Talbot.
I could not have written this book without the love and support of my family, who always take really good care
of me when I’m working on my photography and writing.
I would also like to thank John Baker at Travel Images (http://www.travelimages.com) for his contributions to
the book and the help he has offered. Last but not least, my nature photography cohorts and cheering section,
Judy and Rick (Cookie Monster) Giberson, and Carmen Sewell. Keep those late-night e-mails coming!
iv
About the Author
Kevin Mossis a longtime photographer and author of digital photography and Photoshop books. With a back-
ground in computer and Web systems, Kevin has never left his photographic roots and has combined his years
of computer and photography skills. He has actively pursued his personal interests in fine-art nature photog-
raphy and has most recently started pursuing other photography disciplines and new technologies.
v
Contents
Introduction xi
Using Digital Cameras for Nature Photography 1
1
Advantages of Digital Cameras over Film in Nature Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Right Digital Camera for the Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Choosing the Right Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Computer Gear for Your Digital Darkroom 17
2
Computers and Software for Digital Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Desktop Computers for the Nature Photographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Laptops for the Nature Photographer on the Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Choosing the Best Computer Displays for Working with Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Monitor Calibration Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Auxiliary Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Choosing and Using Optical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Using Graphics Tablets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Faster Downloads with Card Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Outfitting for the Outdoors 33
3
Tripods for Nature and Landscape Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Different Tripods for Different Folks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
It’s All in the Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Caring for Digital Images in the Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
vi
Contents
Camera Backpacks and Bags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Clothes on Your Back and Shoes That You Wear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Ideas to Keep You Safer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Shooting Landscapes 53
4
Finding Locations and Beating the Crowds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Light Is Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Don’t Let Bad Weather Ruin Your Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Composition for Landscape Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Making Camera Settings for Nature and Landscape Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Shooting Workflow: Making Camera Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Shooting Panoramic Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Photographing Wildlife 91
5
Getting to Where the Wildlife Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Finding the Spots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Composition and Camera Settings for Wildlife Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Go on a Wildlife and Nature Photo Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Abstracts of Nature 109
6
Capturing Abstract Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Rescuing Lost Treasures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Choosing Abstract Subjects to Photograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
vii
Digital Nature Photography and Adobe Photoshop
Close-Ups and Macros in Nature 119
7
Close-Up Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Digital Macro Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Close-Ups and Macros in the Studio or the Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Using Bridge to Manage Your Nature Images 131
8
Creating a File Management System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Simple Steps to Managing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Managing Images with Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Customizing and Using Bridge Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Changing Bridge Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Working with Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Using Camera Raw 161
9
Advantages to Raw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Using Camera Raw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Getting the Lay of the Land and Opening Images in Camera Raw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Getting Started Using Raw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Raw Processing Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
viii
Contents
Setting Up and Getting Around in Photoshop 187
10
Getting Acquainted with Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
A Tour of Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
A Menu for Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
The Photoshop Toolbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Working in Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Implementing Color Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Calibrating and Profiling Your Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Setting Photoshop Color Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Assigning Color Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Proofing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Making Tonal and Color Corrections to Nature Photos 229
11
Correcting Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Adjusting Shadow/Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Levels Adjustment Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Curves Adjustment Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Color Balance Adjustment Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Finishing the Hue/Saturation Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
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