February 2016 Photoshop Magazine

T H E A D O B E P H O T O S H O P
Learn how to capture

out-of-this-world images of
planets, galaxies, and nebulae
H O W -T 0 M A G A Z I N E
PHOTOGRAPHY
SECRETS
february
We go under the hood

to take an in-depth look
at layers in Photoshop
2016
PROVING
GROUND
IN-DEPTH
ST E P - BY- ST E P
TUTO R I A LS
P H OTOS H O P
DOWN AND
DIRTY TRICKS
NE WS, REVIE WS
A N D OTH E R
COOL STUFF
creativity
anywhere
Adobe Creative Cloud
mobile apps will help keep
your creativity in sync
The Official Publication of

The Official Publication of
Visit our website at kelbyone.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEBRUARY 2016
FEATURE
Layout: Jessica Maldonado
52
Creativity Anywhere
Lightroom Magazine
Current technology has given us the power to be creative no matter

where we are. From desktop computers to laptops to tablets to
smartphones, you now have the ability to capture and create in
just about any environment. Bryan ONeil Hughes, Adobes Head
of Outreach & Collaboration, shows us how to unlock all of that
creative potential using the latest and greatest Adobe mobile apps.
He even gives us a sneak peek at a cool app thats not available yet.
Bryan ONeil Hughes
LIGHTROOM WORKSHOP
Dodging, Burning, and Adjusting Individual Areas of Your Photo
UNDER THE LOUPE
Leveraging Slideshows
MAXIMUM WORKFLOW
Tethering in Lightroom
From the Editor
6 50
Contributing Writers
9 64
About Photoshop User Magazine
KelbyOne Community
Exposed: Industry News
10
12
PHOTOSHOP TIPS
Thats How the Cookie Crumbles
76
PHOTOGRAPHY SECRETS
An Introduction to Astrophotography
18 131
FROM THE ADVICE DESK
20 42
BEGINNERS WORKSHOP
DYNAMIC
RANGE
Commercial Sports Graphic
Mapping One Image onto Another
The Hateful Eight Poster Effect
DeVine
128
X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Video

Macphuns Aurora HDR Pro
Capture One Pro 9
Exposure X by Alien Skin Software
Picture Instruments Color Cone
StudioMagic I and II
Eddycam Fashion Strap
HP Z25n Monitor
Akurat Lighting A1 On-Camera Video LED Light

NEC MultiSync EA275UHD
129
Photoshop Book Reviews
Processing Realistic
Starscapes
Sean Arbabi teaches us how to capture starscapes, balancing the
light of the stars with the ambient light in the scene. He then takes
us into Lightroom to show us how to get the most out of those
images, taking them from great shots to amazing shots.
But WaitTheres More

110
PortraitPro 15 Studio Max Edition
Sean Arbabi
How-To
DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS
116
LIGHTROOM TIPS & TRICKS 118
DESIGN MAKEOVER
104 126
127
Reviews
Colin Falcon
Columns
LIGHTROOM Q&A
Ron Wetherell
98 124
125

Steve Damstra
Departments
89 122
123

KELBYONE.COM
30 46
PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND
Layers, Part 1: Opacity
36 70
KEY CONCEPTS
These icons at the beginning of columns indicate theres a short video on a tool
or function used in that tutorial at the Key Concepts KelbyOne member webpage
at http://kelbyone.com/keyconcepts.
Dodge & Burn tools
Lasso tool
Layer masks
Pen tool
Smart objects
Quick Selection tool
LIGHT IT
Portable Lighting: Lets Go
DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT
Whenever you see this symbol at the end of an article, it means

there are either downloadable practice files or additional content
for KelbyOne members at http://kelbyone.com/magazine.
All lighting diagrams courtesy of Sylights
Click this symbol in the magazine to return to the Table of Contents.
A FEW WORDS FROM
SCOTT KELBY
From the Editor

taff favorites and
s
instructor-led curriculums
We have an amazing issue for you here, but before we get to that, I want to take just a sec to tell you about some pretty exciting
things were adding to the KelbyOne site for our members.
The current workflow for our members is to log in and search for the topic theyre interested in (retouching, compositing,
lighting, etc.), and they get a bunch of full-length classes and quick-tip videos to choose from. In essence, it works like a search
engine for online classes, right? But when that list of results comes up, which classes should you watch first, which are the best,
which best suit your needs, and so on? In 2016, were working to help you along, and well soon be releasing the first step in
that journey by sharing our own picks for classes that we think will start you off on the right foot.
Youll see this new Staff Favorites section appear in the left-side navigation on the member site, but this is just a small step leading to even bigger things that were working on (but just right down the road timewise), which are instructor-led curriculums. This
is where our KelbyOne instructors break things down into categories, and give you a list of classes, in the order you should watch
them, to get you where you want to be. For example, if you want to learn sports photography, portrait retouching, or compositing,
instructors who are absolute experts in those fields will give you a complete curriculum of classes, in the proper context and order,
so you can learn the techniques and concepts you need to be a success. Were going to take things even further than that, but
these are some solid first steps to help guide you through the learning process and make learning even easier.
Beyond all the Photoshop and Lightroom online classes that we have, we also want to make sure that if you buy a new
camera, you can count on us having an online class ready and waiting for you on how to use that camera, so you can get up
to speed really fast. Also, keep an eye on the little bell icon at the top of your member dashboardup there, we share new
classes that have been released recently, along with any new member discounts weve negotiated and other stuff we hope will
make your membership more valuable. There will be lots of other great stuff coming in 2016, but I wanted to share a little of
our roadmap with you here (but again, this is just the beginning).
Okay, onto other fun stuff: Mobile apps are just exploding into the digital imaging space, and Adobe has really hit their stride
in the past year in that area with some really incredible technology (including some stuff I wish we could do on the desktop).
Thats just one of the reasons were honored to have Adobes own Bryan ONeil Hughes here in the mag with a feature on
Adobes latest mobile apps, along with a look at whats coming very soon. Its really incredible what theyre bringing to mobile,
so its worth checking out right now (it starts on page 52).
Also in this issue, our good friend Mike Olivella gives a wonderful introduction to astrophotography, including discussing
the equipment and techniques youll need to know to make amazing out-of-this-world images. If youre a Photoshop beginner
(or even a seasoned user), Scott Valentine, with part one of a two-part series on layers in Photoshop, takes us in-depth into how
p h ot o s h o p u s e r f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 6
layers work together, including layer and Fill Opacity, Blend If, Masking, and Clipping Masks. In our Lightroom mag within a
006
mag, Sean McCormack talks about the benefits of tethering, how to set it up in Lightroom, and some equipment that will
make tethering easier (and safer). But thats just a tiny bit of whats in this awesome info-packed issueour first since weve
gone all digital (youll be seeing some cool new stuff coming to our digital editions as well!).
Theres a lot going on, and its going to be a busy year of learningwere glad to have you here.
All my best,
Scott Kelby
KelbyOne President & CEO
Editor & Publisher, Photoshop User
PHOTOSHOPS MOST WANTED
FEBRUARY 2016 Volume 19 Number 2
EDITORIAL:
Scott Kelby, Editor-in-Chief

Chris Main, Managing Editor
Contributing Writers
Ajna Adams Sean Arbabi Steve Baczewski Corey Barker

Peter Bauer Pete Collins RC Concepcion Michael Corsentino
Sen Duggan Daniel East Rod Harlan Bryan ONeil Hughes
Jessica Maldonado Sean McCormack Mike Olivella Colin
Smith Lesa Snider Rob Sylvan Scott Valentine Erik Vlietinck
Jake Widman
GRAPHICS:
Dave Damstra, Production Manager

Jessica Maldonado, Associate Art Director
Margie Rosenstein, Senior Graphic Designer
Angela Naymick, Graphic Designer
MARKETING:
Ajna Adams Kleber Stephenson
WEB:
Brandon Nourse Mario Ocon Yojance Rabelo Aaron Westgate
PUBLISHING:
Scott Kelby, Publisher

David Moser, Executive Publisher
Kalebra Kelby, Executive V.P.
Jean A. Kendra, Business Manager
ADVERTISING:
Kevin Agren, V.P., Sales 813-433-2370

Jeanne Jilleba, Advertising Coordinator 800-738-8513 ext. 152
Veronica (Ronni) ONeil, Director of Circulation/Distribution
800-738-8513 ext. 235
HOW TO CONTACT KELBYONE:
U.S. Mail: 118 Douglas Road East Oldsmar, FL 34677-2922

Voice: 813-433-5000 Fax: 813-433-5015
Customer Service: info@kelbymediagroup.com
Letters to the Editor: letters@photoshopuser.com
Letters to the Lightroom Editor: lightroom@photoshopuser.com
World Wide Web Including the Photoshop Help Desk,
Photo Gear Desk, and Advice Desk: http://kelbyone.com/my-account/
helpdesk/
COLOPHON:
Photoshop User was produced using Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 and

Adobe InDesign CC 2015. Roboto was used for headlines and subheads.
Frutiger LT Std for text.
This seal indicates that all content provided herein is produced by KelbyOne, LLC
and follows the most stringent standards for educational resources. KelbyOne is
the premier source for instructional books, DVDs, online classes, and live seminars for
creative professionals.
| fuel for creativity
All contents COPYRIGHT 2016 KelbyOne, LLC. All rights reserved. Any use of the
contents of this publication without the written permission of the publisher is strictly
prohibited. Photoshop User is an independent journal, not affiliated in any way with
Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom,
and Photoshop are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. in
the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks mentioned belong to
their respective owners. Some of the views expressed by contributors may not be the
representative views of the publisher. ISSN Pending.
Contributing
Writers
SEAN ARBABI
has been a widely published commercial photographer the past 25 years. He authored
The Complete Guide to Nature Photography (Crown Publishing) and recently produced a
video series on the Nik Collection (Peachpit). For more info, visit www.seanarbabi.com.
STEVE BACZEWSKI
is a freelance writer, professional photographer, graphic designer, and
consultant. He also teaches classes in traditional and digital fine arts photography.
His company, Sore Tooth Productions, is based in Albany, California
PETER BAUER
is an Adobe Certified Expert that does computer graphics consulting for a select
group of corporate clients. His latest book is Photoshop CC for Dummies. He was
inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2010.
PETE COLLINS
is an education and curriculum developer and website overseer for KelbyOne.
He is one of the Photoshop Guys and co-hosts Photoshop User TV. With a fine arts
background, Pete is well versed in photography, graphic design, and illustration.
RAFAEL RC CONCEPCION
is director of content and education for KelbyOne. An Adobe Certified Instructor in
Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom, RC has 10+ years in the I.T. and ecommerce
industries. RC has held training seminars in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America.
MICHAEL CORSENTINO
is an award-winning wedding and portrait photographer, Photoshop and Lightroom
expert, author, columnist for Shutter Magazine and Resource Magazine, and speaker
and international workshop leader. Learn more at www.michaelcorsentino.com.
SEN DUGGAN
is the co-author of Photoshop Masking & Compositing, Real World Digital
Photography, and The Creative Digital Darkroom. He leads workshops on digital
photography, Photoshop, and Lightroom (SeanDuggan.com).
DANIEL EAST
is an author, freelance writer, presenter/trainer, and consultant with more than
20 years experience in photography, pro-audio, and marketing. Daniel is also founder
and president of The Apple Groups Team support network for user groups.
ROD HARLAN
is an industry veteran with 25 years experience as an author, educator,
photographer, multimedia artist, and Photoshop addict! He shares content at RodHarlan
.com and is a trainer for Adobe, NAB, FMC, WEVA, and KelbyOne, among others.
BRYAN ONEIL HUGHES

is Adobes Head of Outreach & Collaboration. He spent 15 years on the Photoshop team,
and then drove the expansion to mobile with Photoshop Mix & Fix. A keynote speaker,
author, and 4x MAX Master, Bryan was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2011.
JESSICA MALDONADO
has been art director of books at KelbyOne for more than eight years, has created
video tutorials for LayersMagazine.com and reviews for Photoshop User magazine,
and co-hosted Photoshop User TV in 2013.
SEAN McCORMACK
is the author of Essential Development: 20 Great Techniques for Lightroom 5.
Based in Galway, Ireland, he shoots subjects from musicians, models, and
actors to landscapes and architecture. Learn more at http://lightroom-blog.com.
MIKE OLIVELLA
has been a photographer for Florida State University Athletics, Unconquered Magazine,
and a stringer for two international wire services. His sports photographs are published
worldwide, and he has won numerous awards. For more, visit www.baselineshots.com.
COLIN SMITH
is an award-winning digital artist, photographer, and lecturer who has authored
18 books and has created a series of training videos. Colin is also the founder of
the online resource PhotoshopCAFE.com and president of Software-Cinema.com.
LESA SNIDER
is the author of Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual, Photos for Mac and iOS:
The Missing Manual, several eBooks, and more than 40 video courses. She also
writes a weekly column for Macworld. For more info, visit PhotoLesa.com.
ROB SYLVAN
is the Lightroom Help Desk Specialist for KelbyOne, on staff at the Digital Photo
Workshops, and the author of Lightroom 5: Streamlining Your Digital Photography
Process. You can learn more at www.lightroomers.com.
SCOTT VALENTINE
is an Adobe Community Professional and Photoshop author. His latest book
is The Hidden Power of Adjustment Layers (Adobe Press). Keep up with him
at scoxel.com.
ERIK VLIETINCK
founded IT Enquirer in 1999 (http://it-enquirer.com). A J.D. by education,
Erik has been a freelance technology editor for more than 20 years. He has written
for Macworld, Computer Arts, Windows NT Magazine, and many others.
JAKE WIDMAN
is a writer and editor who lives in San Francisco. Hes been covering the intersection
of computers and graphic design for about 25 years nowsince back when it was
called desktop publishing and Photoshop was just a piece of scanning software.
k e l b yo n e . c o m
The official publication of KelbyOne
009
ABOUT PHOTOSHOP USER
Image: Adobe Stock; Illustration: Corey Barker
Photoshop User
Magazine
Photoshop User magazine is the official publication of
KelbyOne. As a KelbyOne member, you automatically
receive Photoshop User ten times a year. Each issue
features in-depth Photoshop, Lightroom, and photo
graphy tutorials written by the most talented designers,
photographers, and leading authors in the industry.
About KelbyOne
KELBYONE
is the worlds leading resource for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and

photography training, news, and education. Founded in 1998 as the National
Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), KelbyOne has evolved from
NAPP and KelbyTraining to create a singular hub for creative people to learn, grow,
and inspire. From photographers to graphic designers, beginners to professionals,
KelbyOne is open to everyone.
Theres no faster, easier, and more affordable way to get really good at Photoshop
and photography. You can join for only $19.99 per month or $199 U.S. for a full
year of training. To learn more, visit www.kelbyone.com.
Member Benefits
PHOTOSHOP USER MAGAZINE
Ten issues of the best Photoshop tutorial-based magazine in the industry.
010
MEMBERS-ONLY WEBSITE
MEMBER DISCOUNTS
Save anywhere from 23 times your membership cost by using our many
industry-related discounts.
TECH SUPPORT
Fast, friendly Photoshop, Lightroom, and photo gear help; equipment

advice; and more from certified experts.
MEMBER COMMUNITY
KelbyOne members range from beginners to pros and love to lend each
other a hand. Together, we have built the friendliest, most knowledgeable
Photoshop and photography community on the Web.
NEWS & REVIEWS
Unbiased coverage on the latest equipment, plug-ins, and programs

in the marketplace.
Our extensive website features time- and money-saving content.
ONLINE CLASSES & EDUCATION
Thousands of Photoshop and photography tutorials, full online classes,

and quick-tip videos.
WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER
The KelbyOne Insider is your weekly connection to everything KelbyOne.

Its produced exclusively for members to keep you informed of everything
new in the industry and at KelbyOne headquarters.
FIND KELBYONE MEMBERSHIP DETAILS AT kelbyone.com or call 800-201-7323 MondayFriday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST.
KelbyOne Community

Inspiration, information, and member musings to fuel your creative think tank
BY AJNA ADAMS
The Winners of the KelbyOne

photo & design contest announced
The KelbyOne Photo & Design Contest was our most popular social media photo contest to date, culminating in thousands of
submissions from all over the world. We featured five categoriesLandscapes, Babies & Families, Illustration & Design, Pets, and
Wedding & Portraitand the response was astounding with nearly 4,000 entries!
Congratulations to our hand-selected winners: Colin Falcon, Karlen Mkrtchyan, Carla McMahon, Ron Wetherell, and Jack
Podlas. Wed also like to give a special congrats to our Peoples Choice winner, Hanna Salin! Check out the winning images starting
below and on the next three pages.
Each winner received an amazing prize package. Colin Falcon was our grand prize winner, and he received a Canon EOS 7D
Mark II with an EF-S 18135mm lens, a Canon PIXMA PRO-100 printer, one year of the full Adobe Creative Cloud, a one-year
KelbyOne membership, a $200 B&H Gift Card, an Airport Navigator from Think Tank Photo, and a 4-in-1 Lens from Olloclip.
The other category winners each won a Canon PIXMA PRO-100, a Canon PowerShot G9 X, a one-year KelbyOne membership,
KELBYONE PHOTO & DESIGN CONTEST >> BABIES & FAMILIES

KARLEN MKRTCHYAN | WWW.SILENTSHUTTERPHOTO.COM
one year of the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan, a CityWalker 30 camera bag from Think Tank Photo, a 4-in-1 Lens from
Olloclip, and a $50 B&H Gift Card.
And finally, the Peoples Choice winner, Hanna Salin, won a one-year KelbyOne membership, one year of the Adobe Creative
Cloud Photography plan, a Suburban Disguise camera bag from Think Tank Photo, and a 4-in-1 Lens from Olloclip.
KELBYONE PHOTO & DESIGN CONTEST >> LANDSCAPES
KELBYONE PHOTO & DESIGN CONTEST >> ILLUSTRATION & DESIGN
GRAND PRIZE WINNER
CARLA MCMAHON | WWW.CARLAMCMAHON.CO.ZA
COLIN FALCON | WWW.PIXVAULT.CO.UK
Social Media Moment:

its all about instagram
Right now in the world of social media, Instagram is whats
award at Photoshop World. Marks background is in graphic
hot. If youre a photographer, you need to be on Instagram.
design, and hes a successful animator and illustrator in his
The great news is that Scott Kelbys new course on Instagram,
day job, but his unique and creative images are what have
How to Build an Instagram Audience, has just been released on
captured the attention of everyone at KelbyOne!
KelbyOne.com! Follow Scott at Instagram.com/ScottKelby

and be sure to follow us, too, at Instagram.com/KelbyOne!
The Secrets to Capturing the Best. Dog. Photos. Ever. Taken.
And while youre at KelbyOne.com dont forget to check out
Join the fabulous Kaylee Greer, commercial pet photogra-
all of our new courses, including the ones listed below.
pher based in Boston, as she shows you how to capture the
Fresh New Class

released at kelbyone.com
best dog photographs youve ever taken. In this class, Kaylee

works with four different dogs in different locations, ranging
from the local park to the local animal shelter. Youll learn
Heres a roundup of some of our latest classes and tutorials
her tips and tricks for engaging with her subjects to bring out
that you wont want to miss. Log into your member account
their unique personalities for portraits that owners will love
at www.KelbyOne.com or check out these new releases on
for a lifetime!
our app.
Master FX: Real Movie Poster Effects in Adobe Photoshop
Inspirational Interview with Mark Rodriguez
Ready to learn the techniques used to build a Hollywood movie
Join Mia McCormick as she sits down with multi-talented
poster? Join Corey Barker as he leads you step-by-step starting
artist Mark Rodriguez, who recently took the Best in Show
with a simple studio shot and building it into a full design.
KELBYONE PHOTO & DESIGN CONTEST >> WEDDING & PORTRAIT

JACEK R PODLAS | HTTP://JACEKPODLAS.WIX.COM/JRP-CREATIVESTUDIO
MEMBER SINCE 2015
KELBYONE PHOTO & DESIGN CONTEST >> PEOPLES CHOICE
KELBYONE PHOTO & DESIGN CONTEST >> PETS
HANNA SALIN
RON WETHERELL | WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/WETHERELLRON

PHOTO FOR AD IN TALLY-HO MAGAZINE
KelbyOne Community
Who's Who
in the kelbyone community
Antonio Martez is an award-winning fashion, beauty, and
Speaking of Photoshop World, is there a particular
lifestyle photographer represented by the international illus-
instructor to whom you would like to give a special
tration and photography artist agency, Illozoo & Pictozoo.
shout out?
Antonio has graced the pages of Jamaque, Alchemist, INDIE,
Terry White: this man is an Adobe guru! He is truly one of the
and a host of other international lifestyle and fashion maga-
most amazing people I have ever had the chance of meeting
zines and fashion houses. Antonio Martez Photography is
and conversing with. He has truly became a great friend and
based out of his White Space Studio home in the Chelsea
mentor since our meeting at Photoshop World 2015.
area, the Art Deco epicenter of New York City.

Why train with KelbyOne?
I feel that training with KelbyOne will assist me in becoming the best artist and creative I can be in an ever-changing
market and industry.
Are you working on any cool projects right now?
Im currently working on several commercial campaigns
ranging from Petit Pois, a Miami-based ready-to-wear
apparel company, to an editorial cover and feature story with
Venue Magazine. I reallylook forward to the continuation on
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT STEVE DAMSTRA
my ongoing project, BLIND BEAUTY, which is my take on
MEMBER SINCE 2010 | HTTP://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/STEVE.DAMSTRA.9?FREF=TS
the world of beauty and how blind we have become to true
016
Antonio Martez
Antonio Martez
natural beauty.
Youre pretty new to the KelbyOne community. How

did you learn about KelbyOne and what has your
involvement been?
What is your greatest source of inspiration in both life
Im six months into the KelbyOne community. I learned of
and at KelbyOne?
KelbyOne through the various videos I watched on YouTube
My greatest source of inspiration comes from what I call
of Scott Kelby and his many guests on the Grid.
Zest of Life. The Zest of Life for me comes from doing

what I feel is my passion and purpose on a daily basis.
You went to your first-ever Photoshop World last year.
My greatest inspiration that I get from KelbyOne is that
What was your major takeaway from the event?
I can see myself being on the same platforms that many
Yes, the 2015 Photoshop World conference was the first
of those who I watch via YouTube are on. Being a part
one I attended. I was completely blown away by how acces-
of KelbyOne and having direct access to those whom
sible that many of the presenters were to assist with ques-
I watched over the years has truly made me appreciate the
tions or just for a general conversation.
KelbyOne community even more.
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT STEVE DAMSTRA

MEMBER SINCE 2010 | HTTP://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/STEVE.DAMSTRA.9?FREF=TS
Exp sed: Industry News

e x p o s e d: i n d u st ry n e w s
The latest news about photography gear, software, and services

BY CHRIS MAIN
On February 1, Canon revealed the Mark II version of its flagship EOS-1D X camera. With a new 20.2 megapixel 35mm Full Frame Canon CMOS sensor and Dual
DIGIC 6+ Image Processors, this new camera will be in high demand by everyone
from sports photographers to wildlife shooters. The EOS-1D X Mark II has a long
list of new features, many of which are firsts for EOS cameras.
Continuous shooting speeds are now up to 14 frames per second (fps) with
Auto Exposure (AE) and predictive Autofocus (AF) for viewfinder shooting, and
up to 16 fps in Live View mode. With the Dual DIGIC 6+ Image Processors, you
can capture up to 170 consecutive RAW images at 14 fps.
The EOS-1D X Mark II can shoot 4K video at 60p and Full HD video at 120p with
Dual Pixel CMOS AF. At 120p, videographers can produce high-quality slow motion video,
and with 4K Frame Grab, photographers can create 8.8-megapixel still JPEGs from 4K video right in the camera.
The camera also has a new, built-in Digital Lens Optimizer to help correct aberrations (which is kind of like having the Lens
Corrections panel from Lightroom inside your camera). It also has an improved 61-point High-Density Reticular AF II system with
expanded coverage. All 61 points are selectable by the user, and each point supports AF at maximum apertures up to f/8, which
means precise focus even when using super-telephoto lenses with an extendera huge benefit to wildlife photographers. It has
two card slots: one that supports CF memory cards up to UDMA 7, and another that supports CFast, which is especially useful
when recording 4K video.
A first for the Canon EOS-1D series, the Mark II also features a 360,000-pixel RGB+IR metering sensor with enhanced precision
and performance compared to its predecessor. It can also detect and compensate for flickering light sources such as sodium vapor
lamps that are often used in gymnasiums.
Other features include built-in GPS, an improved grip, and an enhanced AF sensitivity that works in much darker shooting conditions. The Canon EOS-1D X Mark II is scheduled to ship in April for an MSRP of $5,999 for the body only. A Premium Kit will list for
$6,299 and will include a 64-GB CFast memory card and card reader. For more information, visit usa.canon.com/EOS1DXMarkII.
The Odin II Trigger

by Phottix is now available
018
According to Phottix, the new Odin II Transmitter will give photographers more control than
theyve ever experienced before. With each of the five groups having its own access button, its easy to pick a light, make changes with the large control dial, lock in the settings,
and then shoot. A large, illuminated LCD panel shows all settings at a glance, and if you
switch off a group, it disappears from the screen for a streamlined viewing experience.
You can pick from 32 channels; the first four channels offer three groups and
are compatible with the original Odin receivers. Channels 5 through 32 use the
new functionality of the Odin II receiver, including user-set digital ID for secure
triggering. High Speed Sync with TTL flashes and OverDrive Sync with manual,
wire-connected, studio-type flashes, enable flash photography at up to 1/8000.
A built-in AF assist light helps with autofocus in low lighting. Other features include
TTL power control +/ 3EV; manual power control 1/1 to 1/128; second curtain sync
(Nikon, Sony only); flash zoom control; modeling light control with Indra500/360;
2.4 GHz, with a range of 332' (100m); and firmware upgradable.
The Odin II for Canon will be available in various countries throughout February and March. The Odin II for Nikon will be available a
few weeks later. The Odin for Sony will be introduced in late spring. For more information, visit www.phottix.com.
New High-Performance
64" fine art photographic printer from Epson
Epson recently introduced the 64" SureColor P20000 printer, the successor to its Epson Stylus Pro 11880. The SureColor
P20000 features an all-new, high-performance 10-channel PrecisionCore MicroTFP print head that delivers output up to 2.8x
faster than previous Epson models for production-level printing without sacrificing quality. This new 2.64" print head can
print at extremely high resolutions up to 2400x1200 dpi and supports variable size ink droplets as small as 3.5 picoliters for
excellent print quality.
Combined with the new Epson UltraChrome PRO nine-color pigment ink system, the SureColor P20000 provides exceptional color and black density. Epson UltraChrome PRO is the first pigment ink set to feature four levels of gray ink technology, including Gray, Light Gray, Dark Gray, and Black pigments to provide seamless transitions with less visible noise
and reduced bronzing for better grayscale output. In addition, the SureColor P20000 uses improved Resin Encapsulation
Technology for output with superior gloss uniformity, and exceptional overall contrast ratio and clarity. A new Yellow pigment formulation provides up to twice the overall print permanence and longevity when compared with previous-generation
ink sets.
The Epson SureColor P20000 will be available in March for $11,995 (MSRP). For additional information, visit www.proimaging
.epson.com.
Nikon Introduces
two new flagship cameras
At CES 2016, Nikon announced a new flagship FX-format DSLR and a new flagship DX-format DSLR. (Yes, thats two new flagship cameras.) On the FX side,
the new Nikon D5 features a Nikon-developed 20.8-megapixel CMOS sensor and an all-new AF system with Nikons first dedicated AF processor:
the Multi-CAM 20K AF sensor module. This system offers superior AF performance with 153 AF points, including 99 cross-type sensors and dedicated AF processor. The D5 is capable of capturing 12 frames per second
(fps) with full AE and AF, or 14 fps with the mirror locked. The EXPEED 5
engine dramatically enhances camera performance, delivering low noise
and high-speed image processing, including the power needed for
4K UHD video at 30p. The native ISO ranges from 100 to 102,400 but
is expandable from 50 (Lo-1) to 3,280,000 (Hi-5), offering near-night
vision capability. Other features include a new 3.2" 2359K dot XGA LCD
with touchscreen functionality and a built-in 1000 Base-T 400MBps Ethernet connection for image
transfer, with speeds up to 1.5x faster than the D4S. The D5 will be available in March 2016 (body only) for $6,499.95 (MSRP)
in two different versions: dual XQD card slots or dual CF card slots.
On the DX side, the new Nikon D500 features a new 20.9-megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor capable of excellent lowlight performance, with an ISO range of 10051,200, expandable to 501,640,000 equivalent. It can capture 10 frames per
second (fps) with full AF and AE with a buffer that allows for up to 79 shots. Fitted with the same AF system as the Nikon
D5, it includes the Multi-CAM 20K AF sensor module and 180K RGB metering system. It also has the ability to capture 4K
UHD video at up to 30p, as well as Full HD video at a variety of frame rates. The D500 will be available in March 2016 (body
only) for $1,999.95 (MSRP) and in a kit configuration that includes an AF-S DX NIKKOR 1680mm f/3.55.6 G ED VR lens for
$3,069.65 (MSRP).
Nikon announced several other new products at CES as well, including the Nikon KeyMission 360 (the first in their series
of action cameras), the SB-5000 Speedlight, the WT-6A Wireless Transmitter, and the WT-7A Wireless Transmitter. For more
information on the two new flagship cameras, as well as the other new products, visit www.nikonusa.com.
Canon Announces
the EOS-1D X Mark II
019
HOW TO
DOWN AND DIRTY TRICKS
Step One: Start by opening the image of the main subject

that you want to use, or if youre a KelbyOne member, you can
download the files with which were working. This subject is on
a white background, which will make her a bit easier to extract.
[KelbyOne members may download the files used in this tutorial at http://kelbyone.com/magazine. All files are for personal
Adobe Stock/.shock
use only.]
Step Two: We dont need the volleyball in this image, so grab

the Lasso tool (L) in the Toolbox and draw a loose selection
around the ball. Press D then X to set your Foreground color
to white. Then, press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill
that selected area with white. Press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D)
Step One
to deselect.
Step Three: Because our subject is on a solid white background, lets use my trusty channel method to extract her. Open
the Channels panel (Window>Channels) and click on the Green
channel, as this one is where the subject is darkest. Right-click on
the channel, choose Duplicate Channel from the pop-up menu,
and click OK.
Step Two
Step Three
Step Four: With the duplicate channel active, click the little box to the
left of its thumbnail in the Channels
panel to make it visible. Click the
Eye icon next to the original Green
channel to hide it. Press Shift-Delete
(PC: Shift-Backspace) to open the Fill
tents drop-down menu and change
commercial sports graphic

BY COREY BARKER
So the last thing I wanted to do was sign up for another social me-
the Mode to Overlay. Click OK. This

will make the gray areas darker while
leaving the background white. Do
this a second time to make them
even darker.
dia site, but I jumped into Pinterest because its a great resource for
Down
&Dirty
Tricks
dialog. Choose Black from the Con-
finding inspiration and ideas. This one came from a very cool sports
ad that I saw, and I thought it would be a cool technique for a high
school sports photo or something similar. Once you see how its
done, you can decide what to do with it. Have fun!
Step Four
021
Step Five: We want the subject to be solid black, but too many
lay and drop the layer Opacity to around 85%. Press Command-E
Overlay fills will roughen the edges. So instead, select the Brush
(PC: Ctrl-E) to merge the HDR layer into the Background layer.
tool (B) in the Toolbox and choose a round soft-edged brush.

Press X until the Foreground color is black, and change the Mode
Step Ten: Use the Green copy channel in this document to make
setting in the Options Bar to Overlay. Now paint in the light areas
a selection of the subject again, and then copy it to a new layer.
to force them to black. Some areas may need several strokes
Weve hidden the Background layer here so you can see the
to make them completely black. Again, this wont change the
extracted subject.
white background even if you paint into those areas. If there are
any areas that wont go to solid black, change the Brush Mode
Step Eleven: Create a new document (File>New) for the final
back to Normal, decrease the size of your brush using the Left
design measuring 600x800 pixels. Go back to the subject image,
Bracket key, and paint over those areas. Youll have to be care-
and using the Move tool, drag the extracted image to the new
ful, though, because in Normal mode, you can now paint on the
document. Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to enter Free Trans-
white background.
form, hold the Shift key, and drag a corner handle to scale
the subject in the composition as you see here. Click-and-drag
Step Six: Once the subject is solid black, press Command-I
inside the bounding box to reposition the subject. Press Enter
Step Five
(PC: Ctrl-I) to invert the image, making the subject white and
Step Ten
when done.
the background black. You can continue to adjust the channel

if needed. Now hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key as you go
Step Twelve: Here
under the Image menu and choose Duplicate. The Option (PC:
we have a texture that
Alt) key will create the duplicate file directly, bypassing the Dupli-
well add to the back-
cate Image dialog where you can rename the duplicated file.
ground. You can use

this texture thats part
Step Seven: In the duplicate file, go to Image>Adjustments>HDR
of the exercise down-
Toning. If youre using the practice file, then drop the Saturation
load, or you can use a texture of your own. I like this one because
to 100 before adjusting the other settings to those shown here.
it has a framing element inside. To keep good detail in the texture
Click OK.
while removing the color, set the Toolbox colors to their defaults
by pressing D. Then, go to Image>Adjustments>Gradient Map,
Step Eight: In the Channels panel, hold down the Command (PC:
Step Eleven
and click OK.
Ctrl) key and click on the Green copy channel thumbnail to load
the shape of the subject as a selection. With the selection active,
Step Six
press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to copy the subject to a new layer.

Step Seven
Step Nine: Back in the original subject file, click on the RGB
channel at the top of the Channels panel to make it active and
hide the Green copy channel. In the duplicate file, switch to the
Move tool (V), hold the Shift key, and click-and-drag the HDR
layer back to the original subject image. Holding down the Shift
key as you drag will center and align it with the original subject
022
Step Thirteen: Using the Move tool and holding the Shift key,
drag this image into the new document and then use Free Transform to scale the image to fit in the composition. Also, make
sure the texture layer is positioned below the subject layer in the
Step Eight
Layers panel.
Step Thirteen
PhotoArtTextures.com
layer. In the Layers panel, change the layer blend mode to Over-
023
Step Fourteen: Drop the
Step Seventeen: Once
Opacity of the texture layer to
again, remove the color
85% and then click the Add
using the Gradient Map
Layer Mask icon (circle in a
trick we used in Step
square) at the bottom of the
Twelve, and then use
Layers panel. Choose the Gradi-
Levels (Command-L [PC:
ent tool (G) in the Toolbox, click
Ctrl-L]) to boost the dark
on the gradient preview strip
contrast until most of the
in the Options Bar, choose the
background behind the
Foreground to Transparent pre-
cracks is black. In this
set in the Gradient Editor, and
example, we dragged the shadows slider to 168. Click OK to
click OK. Also in the Options
close Levels.
Step Seventeen
Bar, click on the Radial Gradient

icon. Make sure the Foreground
color is set to black by pressing
D then X. Now draw a couple of gradients in the document to
add them to the layer mask, which will hide parts of the texture
Step Eighteen: Using the
Step Fourteen
Move tool and holding the
so it doesnt draw attention away from the subject.
Shift key, drag this texture

into the main image and posi-
Step Fifteen: Now were
tion this layer just above the
ready to add some text. Select
text layer in the Layers panel.
the Type tool (T), click on the
Go to Edit>Transform>Rotate
Foreground color swatch near
90 Counter Clockwise. Press
the bottom of the Toolbox,
Option-Command-G (PC: Alt-
choose a red color in the Color
Ctrl-G) to clip the texture inside
Picker, and click OK. Click on
the text.
the canvas to set a new text

layer. I couldnt make out what
the original poster said, so Im
going to type SPIKE in a font
called BN Machine, but almost
any thick, bold font will do. Go
Step Eighteen
to Edit>Transform and choose

Rotate 90 Counter Clockwise.
Step Nineteen: In the Lay-
Then, press Command-T (PC:

Ctrl-T) to enter Free Transform
024
layer to Screen. Add a layer
the full height of the image area. Drag the text near the left
mask, and then use the Gra-
edge of the image and press Enter to commit the transforma-
dient tool like we did in Step
tion. Drag the text layer to the top of the layer stack in the
Fourteen to hide a couple of
Layers panel.
areas of the glass texture to

vary the look.
Step Sixteen: We want to add a cracked texture to the text

so that it looks like shattering glass. An image of broken glass
cise download).
should do the trick (this texture is also available in the exerAdobe Stock/alexkar08
and scale the text to fit almost
ers panel, set the broken glass
Step Fifteen
Step Sixteen
Step Nineteen
025
Step Twenty: With the text layer active, click on the Add a Layer
Step Twenty-Five: Click the top layer in the Layers panel to
Style icon (x) at the bottom of the Layers panel, and choose Gra-
make it active, and then click the Create a New Layer icon at
dient Overlay. Use the settings shown here to add a light effect
the bottom of the panel to create a new layer at the top of the
to the text. Be sure to click on the Gradient preview thumbnail,
layer stack. With the same brush still selected, Option-click (PC:
choose the Foreground to Background preset, click OK to close
Alt-click) on the red of the text to sample that color. Then, paint
the Gradient Editor, and then check on the Reverse box. Click-
shards of glass around the broken areas of the text. This will cre-
and-drag inside the document to position the center of the Gra-
ate the effect of fragments breaking off.
dient Overlay where the subjects arm meets the origin of the
cracks in the glass texture on the letter E. Click OK.
Step Twenty-Six: One last thing:
Step Twenty-One: We want to make the lettering look like
We want to bring most of her arm
there are shards of glass breaking off, so well need to make a
in front of the text, so Command-
Step Twenty
custom brush to create the glass shard particle effect. Create a
click (PC: Ctrl-click) the layer thumb-
new document (File>New) thats 500x500 pixels with a white
nail of the main subject layer to load
background. Grab the Lasso tool (L) in the Toolbox and draw a
her shape once again as a selection.
selection that looks like a glass shard similar to the one we have
Once you have the selection, click
here. Press D to set your Foreground color to black, and then
on the mask thumbnail on the text
press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the selection with
layer to make it active again. Select a
black. Then, go to Edit>Define Brush Preset. Name the brush
round, hard-edged Brush and paint
when prompted and click OK.
away the text in front of the arm.
Step Twenty-Five
Step Twenty-One
Step Twenty-Two: Switch back to your working document,
Step Twenty-Two
and select the Brush tool (B). The new brush you just created
should be selected, but if its not, go to the Brush Presets panel
(Window>Brush Presets) and select it from the bottom of the list.
Open the Brush panel (Window>Brush) and click on Brush Tip
Shape. Set the Spacing to around 229%.
Step Twenty-Three: Next, activate Shape Dynamics. Set both

the Size Jitter and Angle Jitter to 100%. Also, check on Flip X Jitter and Flip Y Jitter. Then, activate Scattering and check on Both
Axes. Lastly, push the Scatter amount to around 382%.
Step Twenty-Four: If youre using the practice files, youll want

As a finishing touch, drop in a players name using the Type
to set the size of the brush to around 50 px in the Options Bar
026
Step Twenty-Three
tool. Apart from any adjustments that you might want to make,
youre pretty much done.
to the text layer, and make sure

the Foreground color is set to
black. Starting at the arm of
the subject, paint around that
area so it looks like pieces of
broken glass are missing from
the lettering. Heres a view of
the mask. You can Option-click
(PC: Alt-click) on the layer mask
Final
thumbnail in the Layers panel

to see it in the main window.
Option-click (PC: Alt-click) again
to bring back the image.
Step Twenty-Four
(use a larger brush for higher resolution files). Add a Layer mask
027
HOW TO
Step One: For this design, we need a background image of a
Adobe Stock/Leonid Tit
snowy wilderness scene. Here, we have a nice shot from Adobe

Stock that will work, but we need to make some changes first.
[KelbyOne members may download the files used in this tutorial at http://kelbyone.com/magazine. All files are for personal
use only. If youre looking for downloads for a past issue, just
hover your cursor over the circles below View Previous Issues
to see the month and year of the various issues.]
Step Two: Remove the color from the scene by pressing Shift-
Step One
Command-U (PC: Shift-Ctrl-U). Open Levels by pressing Command-L (PC: Ctrl-L), grab the midtone slider below the histogram,
and push it to the left to around the 3.5 mark. This will greatly
lessen the contrast of the image. Then, go to Output Levels just
below and push the shadow slider to around the 39 mark. Click
OK when done.
Step Three: Select the Gradient tool (G) in the Toolbox. In the
BY COREY BARKER
Being a big Quentin Tarantino fan, I just had to have a go at his latest
movie The Hateful Eight. There were a lot of poster designs done for
Step Five: Now open the main subject image, which is also part
this movie, and this exercise examines one of the coolest posters.
of the exercise download. This is a gunfighter image shot on a

neutral background. We need, of course, to extract him from
the background, but first were going to do some HDR Toning
effects. Go to the Image menu, hold down the Option (PC: Alt)
key, and choose Duplicate. The Option (PC: Alt) key will bypass
the Duplicate Image dialog.
Once you have the technique down, it will be easy to repurpose it for
your own designs, plus its a lot of fun.
Step Four
Step Five
Down
&Dirty
Tricks
the hateful eight poster effect
Step Four: Now create a new document (File>New) thats

1000x700 pixels. Using the Move tool (V) and holding the Shift
key, click-and-drag the wilderness scene into this new document
(the Shift key will center it in the document). Press Command-T
(PC: Ctrl-T) to enter Free Transform, hold Shift-Option (PC: ShiftAlt) and drag a corner point to scale the scene to fit in the new
image window (Shift will constrain the proportions, and Option
[PC: Alt] will transform it from the center). Press Enter to commit
the transformation.
Step Two
Adobe Stock/ysbrandcosijn
Options Bar, click on the preview strip, choose the Foreground

to Transparent preset, and click OK to close the Gradient Editor.
Also in the Options Bar, make sure the Linear Gradient icon is
selected, and set the Mode to Overlay. Press D then X to set
white as the Foreground color. Now drag gradients from each
of the four sides about a quarter of the way into the image to
create a white fade all the way around the image. Do this directly
to the Background layer.
Step Six: In this duplicate image, go to Image>Adjustments>HDR

Toning. Set the Saturation setting at the bottom to 55%. Then,
up in the Tone and Detail section, set the Detail way up to around
140%. Drop the Exposure to about 0.50. Lastly, go to the Edge
Glow section and set the Radius to 67 px and the Strength to
about 1.08. Leave Smooth Edges unchecked and click OK.
Step Six
031
Step Twelve: Now were

going to use the same
white gradient that we
used earlier in Step Three
except select the Radial
Gradient icon and change
the tool Mode in the
Options Bar back to Normal. Add some gradients
around the edge of the
subject to create an edge
light effect to help him
blend into the scene better.
Step Seven: Back in the original image of the subject, grab

the Quick Selection tool (W) in
the Toolbox. Use the Bracket
keys on your keyboard to
change the brush size, then start
painting over the subject to create a selection. Continue painting until the entire subject is
selected, minus the background.
If you happen to select some of
the background, just hold the
Option (PC: Alt) key and paint
back over that area to remove
it from the selection. Be sure to
remove the small background
areas between his arms and
body from the selection.
Step Eight
Step Thirteen: Now were ready to add the brushstroke effect

similar to the original poster. Here we have a group of strokes,
also from Adobe Stock. These are also part of the exercise download. The color isnt right, but thats not important because
we can change that. We just need the shape of the strokes, so
remove the color by pressing Shift-Command-U (PC: Shift-Ctrl-U).
Step Eight: Click on the

Refine Edge button in the
Options Bar to open the Refine
Edge options. Since there are
no soft edges, just set the
Edge Detection Radius slider
to around 1.5 px. Then, set the
Output To drop-down menu
at the bottom to New Layer.
Click OK when done.
Step Nine: Go back to the HDR Toned version and use the
Step Nine
Delete (PC: Shift-Backspace)

to open the Fill dialog. Set
the Contents drop-down
menu to Black and the Mode
to Overlay. Click OK. This will
force the dark gray to black and leave the background white.
Step Fourteen
Step Fifteen: Open the

Channels panel (Window>
Channels) and hold down
the Command (PC: Ctrl)
key as you click on the RGB
channel thumbnail to load
the white area as a selection. We need the brushstrokes selected, so go to
Select>Inverse, which will flip the selection to the main objects.
Step Ten: When done, press Command-E (PC: Ctrl-E) to merge

the two layers into a single layer. Then, use the Move tool to
drag the subject into the wilderness scene, and use Free Transform to scale him to fit in the composition, as you see here. Press
Enter when done.
Step Eleven: Click the Create a New Layer icon at the bot-
Step Thirteen
Step Fourteen: Press Shift-
Move tool to drag it to the original. Hold down the Shift key
so that it lands centered and aligned with the original. Also,
make sure its positioned above the extracted subject in the Layers panel. Press Option-Command-G (PC: Alt-Ctrl-G) to clip the
HDR layer into the extracted layer. Also, change the layer blend
mode to Color Dodge and the Opacity to 55%.
032
Step Twelve
Adobe Stock/Roman Samokhin
Step Sixteen: Back in the Layers panel, create a new blank layer,
click the Foreground color swatch near the bottom of the Toolbox, select a deep-red color like the one shown here, and click
tom of the Layers panel. Set the blend mode to Overlay and
drop the layer Opacity to 75%. Also, clip this layer to the layer
below, as we did in Step Nine, by pressing Option-Command-G
(PC: Alt-Ctrl-G).
OK. Press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the selection

with red.
Step Ten
Step Sixteen
033
Step Twenty-One: Now, go under the Filter menu again and
Step Seventeen:
Using
the Lasso tool (L), make a
loose selection around the
top two horizontal strokes.
Then, copy-and-paste these
selected strokes into the
main layout image. Once
there, press Command-T
(PC: Ctrl-T) to activate Free Transform. Hold the Shift key and
click-and-drag outside the bounding box to rotate the object
90. Still holding the Shift key, drag a corner point to resize the
strokes, and then click-and-drag inside the bounding box to
reposition them on the left side of the subject as shown. Press
Enter when done, then drag this layer below the subject layer in
the Layers panel.
select Blur>Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 3 Pixels and click OK.
Step Twenty-Two: Press Command-L (PC: Ctrl-L) to open the

Levels dialog. Push the shadow and highlight sliders way in
toward the middle as shown here to get an instant snow effect.
Feel free to tweak these settings to increase or decrease the
amount of snow. Click OK when done.
Step Twenty-Three: Change
Step Twenty-One
the layer blend mode to Screen,

and there you have it!
Step Seventeen
Step Eighteen: Switch to

the Move tool, hold down
the Option (PC: Alt) key, and
then click-and-drag a duplicate of the strokes to the right
side of the subject. Go to
Edit>Transform>Rotate 180 to
rotate this duplicate layer so it
looks different than the original.
Press Command-E (PC: Ctrl-E) to
merge this duplicate layer with
the original brushstroke layer
below. Change the layer blend
mode to Multiply to make the
strokes blend with the wilderness background.
Step Twenty-Two
Step Eighteen
034
blank layer at the top of the

layer stack and grab the Gradient tool again. This time change
it back to a Linear Gradient and
press D then X to set the Foreground color to white. Drag a
gradient from the bottom edge
of the image to above his belt to
add a white fade.
Step Twenty: Add another

blank layer at the top of the
layer stack and press Shift-Delete (PC: Shift-Backspace) to
open the Fill dialog. Select 50% Gray from the Contents dropdown menu, set the Mode to normal, and click OK. Go to
Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Set the Amount to 400%, the Distribution to Gaussian, and check on Monochromatic. Click OK.
Step Nineteen
Step Nineteen: Add a new
Step Twenty
Final
035
HOW TO
Step One: First, gather your main elements. For this, well be
using a generic bottle and a wooden log from Adobe Stock.
When youre looking for an image to use for the vines, you may
want to choose a log with nice bark texture; this will add character to the vines and emphasize their curves. Try different images
to see what kind of results you get and experiment to see if you
like the vines fat or skinny.
[KelbyOne members may download the files used in this
tutorial at http://kelbyone.com/magazine. All files are for personal
Adobe Stock/salita2010
Adobe Stock/Vankad
use only.]
Step One
Step Two: Youll need to remove the log from the white background. The Quick Selection tool (W) can make this quite easy,
and depending on how precise you want to be, you can go the
extra step and use Refine Edge to make sure everything is perfect.
Step Two
Step Three: Once you have the selection made with the marching ants dancing around the edge of the log, press Command-J
(PC: Ctrl-J) three times to copy the selection onto three new
layers. In the Layers panel, click the Eye icons next to the Background layer and the two lower copied layers so that youre only
working with the top log layer. Well use the other layers later.
BY PETE COLLINS
You may have seen various images that have vines or branches wrapped
Down
&Dirty
Tricks
devine
around products from companies selling anything from fertilizer to beer.
Its a great way to frame the product and draw the eye around the composition to where you want the viewer to look. The technique used to
accomplish this look is really easy to apply and has the added benefit of
introducing some folks to the power of Puppet Warp.
Step Three
037
Step Four: To transform the log into our first section of vine, go
Step Eight: Go back to your log file, hide the S shaped log layer,
to Edit>Puppet Warp. Youll see the log with a bunch of trian-
click on one of the copied layers below it, and click where its Eye
gular segments, and anywhere you click on the log will drop a
icon used to be to make it visible again. Repeat the Puppet Warp
pin. The pins act as holding points/control points for warping the
process for this log, but this time you only need to bend it slightly
object. If you just put down one pin and then try to move things,
since its going behind the bottom of the bottle and then out of
the object will more than likely just spin around that pin. You
the frame. After practicing on the S shape, this should be a snap.
need at least two pins so that you can keep part of the object
in place while warping the other pin. It may take a bit of playing
around to get used to it, but once you get the hang of it, its a
wonderful tool.
The key to Puppet Warp is to try to use as few pins as you
can because each pin works in conjunction with the others and
Step Nine: Now you could create a third section of vine for the
you dont want to add any funky edges or bends. If you mess
Step Four
up, you can undo or click on any stubborn pins and press Delete
Step Eight
top section by warping the third layer so that you have three
unique vines, but a shortcut is to use the same vine you created
(PC: Backspace) to remove them and try again.
in the previous step for the top and the bottom. Bring them over
to your bottle image and use Free Transform to reshape, resize,
Step Five: For the log to be turned into a vine, youll need to
and rotate them, as necessary. Once theyre in place, mask them
stretch it and give it an S shape so it will wrap around both edges
so they appear to be coming from behind the bottle.
of the bottle (or whatever product youre using). That way, when
you mask out the top and bottom of the vine, it will look as
if those sections are going behind the top and bottom of the
bottle. The more severe the curves, the more pins youll need
to strategically place along the log to help control the look. You
could make the whole vine by adding just a few pins and severely
stretching the log, but breaking it into sections will make shap-
Step Ten: To give more life to the vines, you may want to add a
ing it easier, and leave more bark detail. The more severe the
little greenery. This could be a patch of moss, flowers, or in this
warping the more likely those parts of the object will start to look
example, some little sprigs of a plant. Place one section so that it
funny. Press Enter to commit the Puppet Warp.
looks like its coming out of the vine and then make a copy and
move it to another location. Transform the copy so that the two
Step Six: Once you have the first section of vine shaped how
sprigs dont look identical, and use layer masks to hide any parts
Step Five
Step Nine
that should be behind the bottle or vine.
you want it, use the Move tool (V) to drag it over to your bottle
image, and position it in front of the bottle. Line it up, resize,
and rotate it by using Free Transform (Command-T [PC: Ctrl-T]),
making sure that the ends of the vine are completely overlapping
the bottle. You also want to ensure that theres space between
the bottle and the curves of the vine that are closest to the bottle.
038
Step Eleven: Once those pieces are in place, whats really going
Step Seven: Now we need to use a layer mask to hide the ends
owing. Youll want to add shadowing where the bottle and the
of the vine behind the bottle. Click the Add Layer Mask icon at
vine interact, along with dodging and burning any vine areas
the bottom of the Layers panel (it looks like a rectangle with a
that may be too dark or light, respectively, for the environment.
hole in the middle). Switch to the Brush tool (B), and press D
This is the art of compositing, a skill that has to be learned and
then X to set the Foreground color to black. In the Options Bar,
practiced. If you want to get better at compositing, youll need to
click on the brush preview thumbnail, set the Hardness to 100%,
learn where to put shadows and highlights, and then the Dodge
and then paint over the ends of the vine where they overlap the
and Burn tools (O) will become your friends. Dont forget to add
bottle. If you mess up and mask too much of the vine, press X to
shadows where the vine would be behind the bottle, especially
switch to white, and paint back any areas that were hidden by
at the top of the neck. Notice that we also darkened the bottom
of the bottle to give the appearance that you can vaguely see the
black. When youre done, the edges of the vine and the bottle
should be crisp.
Step Six
Step Seven
vine through the liquid.
to help sell the composite is to make sure you have proper shad-
Adobe Stock/jcsmilly
Press Enter to commit the transformation.
Step Ten
Step Eleven
039
Step Twelve: The bottle needs to be dressed with an appropriate label. Design your own or use a stock label, then place it
between the bottle layer and the main vine layer in the Layers
panel. A great tip to help the label look like its part of the bottle
is to lower its Opacity in the Layers panel to between 95 and
97%. Just that little tweak will let some of the bottles coloring
and contrast come through ever so slightly. Also, dont forget to
Label: Adobe Stock/DavidArts
Step Thirteen: Find and place a suitable background image that

fits with your product. If youre using the download files, click
on the lock icon next to the Background layer to convert it to a
regular layer, and drag your new background image to the bottom of the layers stack. Next, select the bottle using the Quick
Selection tool, make sure its layer is active in the Layers panel,
and click the Add Layer mask icon to mask out the white behind
Background Image: Adobe Stock/GIS
add a shadow where the vine crosses the label.
Step Twelve
Step Thirteen
the bottle, revealing your new background image below. Resize

and position the new background image as needed.
Step Fourteen: Depending on the scene, you could have the

bottle sitting on the ground, but oftentimes youll want to place
it on a base in front of the scene. If thats the case, a quick solution is to grab a grungy piece of wood and transform it with Free
Transform. Just Right-click inside the transform box and select
the Perspective option. Now when you drag a corner handle, it
will transform the object in perspective. After you transform the
base, remember to add the shadows of the bottle and vine on
top of the wood so that they look like theyre all together in the
same scene.
And there you have it, a great way to highlight a product thats
simple to do and has great impact. Understanding and practicing
with the Puppet Warp feature will allow you to bend just about
040
Wood Base: Adobe Stock/picsfive
any object to your will.
Step Fourteen
BEGINNERS' WORKSHOP
HOW TO
Beginners' Workshop
mapping one image onto another
Step Five: When you cycled through the different channels

back in Step One, Photoshop temporarily turned off the comLESA SNIDER
posite channel (the one that shows your image in full color).
So in the original document (the one you opened in Step One),
One of the slickest Photoshop tricks ever is to wrap one image around the contours of another. Its great for
creating conceptual imagery for ads or artistic purposes. To perform this feat, well create a displacement
mapa grayscale image that Photoshop uses to warp and bend one image to the curvature of another.
Read on!
turn all the channels back on by clicking the composite channel

at the top of the Channels panel (circled) or by pressing Command-2 (PC: Ctrl-2).
Step Six: Create a selection of the guys back. In this example,

well select the white background and then invert the selection
Step One: Open the image you want to map another image
to select his back. Press-and-hold the fourth icon from the top
onto and then choose Window>Channels. To make the best
of the Toolbox (circled), and from the resulting menu, click
displacement map, use the channel with the highest contrast.
the Magic Wand tool. In the Options Bar, set the Tolerance to
Click each channel to view it or, if youre in RGB mode (and
around 20. Mouse over to the image and click once within the
you probably are), you can cycle through different channels by

when you land on the one you want to use. With the highest
contrast channel active (Blue here), choose Duplicate Channel
from the Channels flyout menu (circled).
[KelbyOne members may download the files used in this
tutorial at http://kelbyone.com/magazine. All files are for personal use only.]
white background. Choose Select>Similar to have Photoshop

Adobe Stock/beautyblowflow
pressing Command-3, -4, and -5 (PC: Ctrl-3, -4, and -5); stop
select more pixels that match the one you clicked. Shift-click
bits of the background that arent yet selected (a plus sign
appears beneath your cursor). Dont worry about the guys
hair or towel; well deal with those spots later. Now invert the
Step Six
selection by choosing Select>Inverse.

Step One
Step Two: In the dialog that opens, choose New from the
Step Seven: In the Options Bar, click the Refine Edge button.
Document drop-down menu (circled). In the Name field, enter
Step Seven
In the dialog that opens, set the Smooth and Feather sliders
Map and click OK. When you do, Photoshop opens a new
to 1 pixel (or higher if youre working with a high-resolution
document containing the channel you picked in Step One.
Step Three: In the Map document, choose Filter>Blur>Gaussian
Step Five
image) and then set the rest to 0. From the Output To dropStep Two
down menu, choose Selection, and click OK.
Blur. In the resulting dialog, enter a value of 14 pixels (try

1 for low-resolution images and 4 for high-resolution images)
and click OK. The goal is to blur the image so the map is
Step Eight: Save the selection by choosing Select>Save Selec-
slightly smooth.
tion. In the resulting dialog, enter back in the Name field

(circled) and click OK. Now choose Select>Deselect to dismiss
042
Step Eight
Step Nine: Choose File>Place Embedded and in the dialog that

opens, navigate to the motherboard image and click Place. To
Enter. In the Layers panel, use the drop-down menu above
the layer locks (circled) to change the blend mode to Multiply
(when using your own imagery, experiment with other blend
Step Four: Choose File>Save As and, at the bottom of the
modes to see which one works best). Next, lower the Opacity
dialog, make sure the Format drop-down menu (PC: Type) is
setting (also circled) to approximately 50%.
set to Photoshop and that the Alpha Channels checkbox is

turned on. Click Save. Close the Map document by choosing
File>Close.
Step Four
Step Nine
resize the image, Shift-drag any corner handle and then press
Adobe Stock/Svetoslav Radkov
the marching ants.
043
#KelbyOneBooks
BEGINNERS' WORKSHOP
ALL OF THE HOW

NONE OF THE WHY
Step Ten: With the motherboard layer active, choose

Filter>Distort>Displace. In the resulting dialog, leave the factory settings as is and click OK. If youre not sure whether the
default settings have been changed in the Displace dialog,
Best-selling author Scott Kelby shows you the power of

Photoshop Elements 14 and how to make it work for you!
press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key to change the Cancel button into a Reset button; click it and youre back to the
defaults. In the next dialog that opens, navigate to the Map
document you saved in Step Four and click Open. If you watch
your document closely when you click Open, youll see the
motherboard shift to the contours of the back.
Step Eleven: Choose Select>Load Selection and, from the

resulting dialogs Channel drop-down menu, choose the selec-
Step Ten
tion you saved earlier (back, in this example) and click OK.
Step Twelve: With the motherboard layer active, click the

circle-within-a-square icon at the bottom of the Layers panel
Step Twelve
(circled) to add a layer mask. Photoshop hides the motherboard

from everywhere except the selected area.
Step Thirteen: While the mask is active, you can hide the
motherboard from additional areas (the hair and towel). Press
B to activate the Brush tool (circled) and press the D key on
your keyboard to reset the color chips at the bottom of the
Toolbox (also circled) to the default values of black and white.
Press the X key to flip-flop them so black is on top. Mouse over
to the image and then brush across the hair and towel. If you
hide too much of the motherboard, press the X key to flip-flop
the color chips so white is on top and then brush back across
that area. (When youre working with layer masks, using black
044
Step Thirteen
con-ceals and white reveals.)

Heres the final result, complete with the Layers panel.
As you can see, the end result is well suited for an ad for back
pain due to excessive computing. Until next time, may the
creative force be with you all!
Need to know the best ways to organize, correct, edit, sharpen, and retouch your photos
in Photoshop Elements? Plus slick workarounds for common image problems, and
the most requested special effects techniques? This book was designed just for you.
Final Image
Order your copy today

at kelbyone.com/books
HOW TO
SCOTT VALENTINE
Just so were all on the same page, you can think of layers
as containers that stack on top of each other. Each container
(layer) holds information thats split into two general parts:
content and instructions. Content is stuff you can actually
see in the layerpieces of your image. Instructions do something with content to change it, usually by looking at content
from lower layers.
The classic way of
looking at layers is
like a stack of transparencies or glass;
as you look down
on the stack, you
see the composite
of all the individual
contributions. This
painting is made up
of several layers that
combine to give you
what you see on
Photoshops canvas.
046
Adobe Stock/msdnv
So you know about layers, right? Theyre the building blocks of pretty much everything you can do in Photoshop,
from organization to detail work. Its a pretty basic idea, and its probably one of the first things you learned
about in the worlds most popular digital image-editing application. Rather than try and hash over things you
already know, Id like to present some ways of thinking about layers that should help your understanding of
what layers can really do for you.
Thats fine to describe content, but instructions are a
bit more challenging. Instructions in this case are mathematical functions, which take in information, do some
math to it, and return a result. The math that a function
performs is directed and manipulated by variables. If this
sounds complicated or boring, just hang in there; itll make
sense soon!
Lets put all of this in terms with which were familiar.
Functions in Photoshop are things such as adjustment layers,
transparency, and blending modes. Variables is another word
for content, so any image you have on a layer affects how
the function behaves, usually by getting combined with the
content from lower layers.
The simplest example would be two layers. The bottom
layer could be a photograph, and the top layer might be
some text. On the top text layer, the function says, Anywhere thats not covered up by text, show the content from
below; otherwise, show the text. The variables are the photograph and the text. When you combine them, the result is
exactly what youd expect: text over a photo.
1. Photoshop moves information up. Whatever is at the

bottom is processed first, then the output is moved up
as input to the next layer.
2. Each layer represents a composite of everything below
it. This is pretty important because it says functions
dont combine across layers.
The second point can be confusing, so think about it this
way: Each layer behaves as if its the top layer in the stack,
so if you turn off every layer above it, what you see on the
canvas is what Photoshop uses as input from that layer to the
layer immediately above it. There are no leftovers, only variables that werent affected due to transparency. Put another
way, 100% transparency on a layer is a unique set of instructions that say, Do nothing.
What do we get from these two somewhat academic
observations? Mostly this: order matters. That is, if you
change the order of layers, its likely that your results will
change. The output of any given layer is the input to the next
layer up, so changing the order of the layer stack will change
the total output.
The other idea we get is that of a virtual image. As I mentioned, the image you see on Photoshops canvas is the result
of performing functions on variablescontent and instructions being combined. The image doesnt exist until you
render it in some way. Even when you save and reload the
PSD or TIFF file, the canvas is the representation of all those
layers, not a single image by itself, so that means you can
change the output by changing something on any of the layers. When you flatten the layers or print it, then it becomes a
real image. This is less important to understand, but I felt the
need to include it for completenessand because Im a geek.
Alpha Instructions
Now that we have these fundamental ideas out of the way,
lets describe some features of content and instructions. I
want to define content as actual pixels on a layer. In the
example above, the text content is only the letters you can
see. All the areas where you can see the photograph are not
considered content on the text layer. Why should you care?
Because layer styles such as Drop Shadows, Bevel & Emboss,
and Stroke all depend on that definition. They apply to the
edges of the content on the layer.
Content can have opacity. Content Opacity, or how
much of the current content you can see through, is a feature of each individual pixel. Check out this gradient. The
white area (100% Opacity) is content that gradually fades

to transparent (0% Opacity) where you can see the checkerboard pattern. The pixels themselves carry transparency
information. Even if a pixel has 0% Opacity, its still content
on the layer.
There is a twist, however. Opacity is a special type of

instruction channel called alpha. Photoshop applies this
instruction in different ways depending on the content and
any other instructions that are being used. (Note: Alpha is
actually a channel, but would take more space than I have to
explain properly. Calling alpha a type of instruction is a necessary simplification.)
For now, you can think of alpha as a step in the stack of
instructions that gets shuffled around in different situations.
The practical use for this is that you can get different transparency effects by choosing different alpha tools.
Now that were clear (get it?), lets look at other alpha
instructions:
Layer Opacity: Layer Opacity applies to all content and layer

styles. As you drag the Opacity slider toward zero, everything on that layer becomes more transparent, including
layer styles.
Fill Opacity: A special version of Opacity is called Fill, which
does the same thing as Opacity, but its calculated only on
the content itself; it ignores layer styles. That means you can
apply a Drop Shadow to some layer content, then reduce
the Fill to zero and be left with only the Drop Shadow. The
content vanishes. If you did that with Opacity, both the content and the Drop Shadow would vanish. Fill also applies to
layers, part 1: opacity
While this looks like a trivial example, its the basis for
understanding more complex techniques. Here are two key
elements to think about:
Background: Adobe Stock/picsfive
Photoshop Proving Ground
047
content that already has lower Opacity, but Fill cant add back
Opacity to content.
Blend If: The third kind of layer alpha, found in the Advanced
Blending section of the Layer Style dialog, is called Blend If. This
alpha is only applied to specific kinds of content based on the
brightness value (either gray or individual color channels). Like
Fill, it only considers actual content; layer styles are ignored.
Blend If also has a trick up its sleeve. It uses a comparison

function (the if part). Blend If can use the current layer information (content and instructions combined), or it can use the
output from a lower layer. In plain language, it says to blend
this layers content with whatever is below if some criteria are
met. The criteria are the brightness values of either layer.
When using Blend If for This Layer, layer styles arent

affectedit behaves like a selective Fill Opacity. But when
using Underlying Layer, layer styles are affected.
Mask: There are two more features to talk about that concern layers and transparency: clipping and masks. Remember
above when I said alpha instructions are actually channels?
Well, heres where that information starts to make sense.
A mask is really an alpha channel attached to a specific layer
(or group of layers). An alpha channel is a grayscale image
thats applied to another image and provides instructions
about whats transparent and whats not. In the case of
masks, Photoshop treats white as opaque, and black as transparent. This is mostly independent of other alpha instructions,
and gets added on top of everything else. That means you
still have access to Content Opacity, Layer Opacity, Fill, and
Blend If, and then the layer mask gets added after all of that.
Clipping: Clipping refers to using the content of one layer
as a mask for another. A clipped layer has content and is
above a target layer with content. The clipped layers content
only shows up where the target layer content exists. Lets go
back to our first example and switch the order of the text
and image layers. The text is now obscured. But if we clip
(Option-Command-G [PC: Alt-Ctrl-G]) the image layer to the
text (target) layer, the image content now fills the text.
Next issue, well tackle blending modes and adjustment layers

in terms of how they behave in a stack. Its gonna get geeky
in here!
048
PHOTOSHOP TIPS
D E PA R T M E N T
Photoshop Tips
boost your productivity and creativity
COLIN SMITH
I have a grab bag full of tips for you this issue. I decided,
because brush presets override local settings. You can over-
because this tool also looks at luminosity, not just color, to
rather than have a theme, Id do it shotgun style and provide
ride this override, thoughhow meta! Go to the Shape
make a selection. You can select more colors or increase
a variety of tips, so theres something for everyone. Yup, even
Dynamics section in the Brush panel (Window>Brush) and
the Fuzziness when using Color Range, but this contami-
you. I hope you enjoy these and they serve you well.
turn off Pen Pressure in the Control drop-down menu for
nates the edges of the selection. Heres what I do: Make
Size Jitter. To apply this setting to all brushes, click the little
the selection with Color Range, and then apply Quick Mask
Colored Layer
padlock next to Shape Dynamics and it will be locked, even
(the Q key on your keyboard). Go to the Channels panel
There are lots of times when you may need a plain colored
if you change brushes.
(Window>Channels) and look for the Quick Mask channel. Click on it and open Levels (Command-L [PC: Ctrl-L]).
layer in Photoshop, for example, to unify the color in compositing. When making a colored layer in Photoshop, dont just
Change Brush Opacity
Drag the black and white triangles until the spots disappear,
create a new layer and fill it with a color; instead, its better to
To set the opacity of a brush, press a number key on your
and click OK to close the Levels dialog. When youre done,
use a Solid Color adjustment layer, Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid
keyboard. Theyre in 10% increments, so just press the 1 key
press Q again to get out of Quick Mask, and you now have
Color. For starters, it will keep the file size smaller. Also, its
for 10%, the 5 key for 50%, etc. For 100%, press the 0 key.
a cleaner selection.
easy to change the color: Just double-click its layer thumbnail
If you quickly type in two digits, such as 2 and then 5, you can
in the Layers panel and choose a new color from the Color
dial in an exact opacity.
flexible. One other thing is if you increase the size of your
Force that Type Tool
one by choosing the layer style at the bottom of the Layers
document, the adjustment layer will continue to fill the page.
If you work with a lot of text in Photoshop, one thing you
panel (the x icon). Dont waste your time using the Distance
might find frustrating is adding new text to a text-heavy
dow to put it exactly where you want. Try it: Its quite fun
dragging the interactive shadows on your image.
Reset Your Filter

When youre in a dialog, its easy to get carried away with the
settings; in fact, sometimes you get so carried away that you
create a huge mess and cant get out of it without exiting and
going back in againsystem abort! Theres a better way. If
you hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, the Cancel button
will turn into a Reset button. Click Reset for a mulligan and
try again.
Stealing Presets from Lightroom

Did you know that you can grab your presets from Lightroom and change them into Adobe Camera Raw presets
in Photoshop? Start by applying the preset to an image
in Lightroom and open it as a smart object in Photoshop
page. When you click with your Type tool, instead of cre-
Since last years update to Photoshop CC, you can now drag-
ating new text, it selects existing text. Annoying! If youre
and-drop multiple layers and adjustment layers between
clever, you lock the underlying text layers so they wont be
documents in tabbed view. Select the layers you want to
selected. If youre super-clever, youre reading this column
copy in the Layers panel and drag them up to the tab of
and about to discover a faster fix: Hold down the Shift key
the document to which you want to copy them. When the
while clicking with the Type tool and a new text layer will be
window opens, release the mouse button, and youve com-
createdevery time!
The cool thing is that it doesnt matter which image you use
Sharpen the Photo, not the Noise
image for any other purpose.
Lock Brush Settings
Have you ever sharpened a photo just to find that all youve
I use a Wacom tablet
done is drawn attention to the noise? Heres the thing:
all the time and I love
Digital noise is usually more apparent in the shadows.
it. One thing I dont
Before you go off and create some elaborate workflow
love is when pressure
with Blend If, lets just use the tool Adobe has provided
sensitivity is turned on
us: Smart Sharpen. Go to Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen,
for brush size when
expand the Shadows/Highlights section, and fade the
I dont need it. You can
shadows. Voil! Done.
(Photo>Edit In>Open as Smart Object in Photoshop). Now,

in Photoshop, double-click the smart object thumbnail in the
Layers panel to launch Camera Raw. Go to the Presets tab,
click on the Create New Preset icon at the bottom, name
the preset, and click OK. Thats all you have to do. Done!
for the preset to hitch a ride, because you arent using the
can click-and-drag the shadow right in the document win-
Copy Multiple Layers Across Documents
pleted the moveno U-Haul required.
050
Dragging Shadows
Drop Shadows are awesome and fun. You can easily apply
Picker. The adjustment layer isnt only faster, but its more
and Angle controls, though. With the layer style open, you
turn it off, but as soon

as you choose another
Cleaner Selections with Color Range
brush preset that, by
Color Range (Select>Color Range) is a great tool for making
default, has pressure
selections; you just click on a color and adjust the Fuzziness
sensitivity turned on for
to clean up the selection. The only thing is that sometimes
size, it comes back on
it leaves little unselected spots on the shadows or highlights
051
ALL IMAGES BY COLIN SMITH
EVERY APP SHOWN HERE IS FREE. Nearly all are available on
device or Web browser to access your work). If youre an exist-
both iOS and Android, and in the case of the former, they run
ing Creative Cloud member using our desktop software, youll
on both the iPhone and iPad. Each app requires an Adobe ID.
find a deep level of integration between mobile and desktop
If youre using a free membership, this enables access to your
platforms and all of the files between them.
files and projects across devices (you can sign into any mobile
Adobe Capture CC
Lets start on the phone with an app that stands
nicely on its own, but is pure magic for existing
desktop CC users: Adobe Capture CC. We know
that the iPhone is the most-used camera in the
world and a pretty amazing one at that, but
what if it could see more than just photos and
videos? Capture does just that, extracting harmonious color combinations, vector shapes, powerful brush tips, and color looks from the world
around us. Theres a lot to Capture, so lets just
look at one function.
The Shapes section of Capture is one of the
most magical and intuitive, but there are a cou-
Bryan ONeil Hughes
ple of tricks. Heres how it works:
STEP ONE: Upon login, go to the Shapes section of the app and
052
select or create a library for your creations to live in.
DECORATIVE BACKGROUND IMAGES ADOBE STOCK
053
iPhone vs. the iPad
Creative Cloud App
In moving from the iPhone to the iPad, I should explain

why I use each. The iPhone is with me always. While lim-
The iPad also makes a fantastic portfolio, so
ited in size, its the most convenient platform in terms
before we delve into editing, lets talk briefly
of its camera and connection (social). I can (and often
about access. The Creative Cloud app allows you
do) write long emails and edit photos on it. For editing,
to access any of the files youve created on the
given the choice, a larger screen would afford me more
desktop, your phone, or your tablet. This is a fan-
pixels and precision. The truth is, prior to the iPad Pro,
tastic way to share finished work with a client or
I was using the iPhone for almost all of my mobile editing.
to reference desktop files on the road. The app
But with more pixels than my Retina MacBook Pro and a
gives you much more than access, though; with
stylus (Apple Pencil) that just works, Im shooting on
a long-press on a thumbnail, you can rename,
the phone and editing on the iPad Pro. Nearly everything
move, delete, and share filesany of these
Im about to show you can be done on either your iPhone
changes will be reflected anywhere you find the
or iPad (no matter what size).
files (mobile, Web, and desktop).

Beyond this powerful, standalone app, Creative
Cloud content can be opened in all of the Adobe
Mobile apps.
Step Two
Step Four
Step Five
STEP TWO: While the default is a live camera, remember that
the content is patiently waiting in your Libraries panel.) Suddenly
you can access any imagery from your camera roll, Creative
everythingmenus, fonts, signs, logos, or textureslooks a lot
Cloud account, and more by simply tapping the thumbnail in
more interesting. My favorite use of this app is converting my
the lower right.
sons napkin sketches into scalable, archival media.
STEP THREE: The trick to creating a great vector is tapping the

main image window to preview the effect, then using the slider
to adjust the intensitybe careful of shadows and overlapping
054
STEP FOUR: At the Refine screen, zoom in to remove (or add)

any pieces of your vector.
STEP FIVE: Shape then magically resolves a smooth, infinitely

scalable, vector shape from your live camera or pre-existing
photo. These vectors can be exported and shared, so that they
content.
can be used in any of the other Adobe mobile apps, or put to

great use on the desktop. (When you launch Photoshop CC, etc.,
Colors, shapes, and brushes auto-populate

the Libraries panel in CC Desktop apps.
Note the varied file types, which are all accessible anywhere
055
Lightroom Mobile
Lightroom Mobile has evolved from a compan-
amount of Lightroom editing power, right there
ion application to Lightroom on the desktop to
in the palm of your handeven features such as
a potent standalone, mobile image editor. Lets
Dehaze. Whether youre star-ranking, cropping,
look at both workflows and what they mean to
or deep in image editing, all changes are synced
anyone working with photos.
between devices and up to date, and everything
If youre an existing Lightroom desktop user,
is natively nondestructive so that cropped B&W
Lightroom Mobile gives you access to any of your
you made for Instagram is always an uncropped
synced desktop files by using a proxy-based system
color image under the hood.
(smaller files that pass the changes between plat-
Okay, lets say that youre shooting more
forms) that allows you to edit, nondestructively,
mobile than anywhere else, and youre new to
anywhere, anytime. Not only can you rank and
Lightroom. Here are a few tricks to get you pro-
sort on the fly, but you have access to an incredible
ducing gorgeous images, quickly!

The Enable Offline Editing option copies files locally.
Enable Auto Add will put any mobile captures in a
Lightroom Mobile collection.
iPhone 6S capture meets Lightroom Mobilebasic tonal adjustments,

a slight vignette, and Dehaze.
STEP ONE: Launch Lightroom Mobile and add selected photos
of you new to Lightroom, I suggest starting with one of the many
from your camera roll. These will come in as full-resolution files,
presets and then delving into Adjust. In addition to the default
automatically sorted by date and time.
Basic tonal adjustments, touching the far left icon in Adjust

will reveal more powerful controls for Curves, Vignette, B&W,
056
Dehaze, and more.
see three dots to the right of the collection. Pressing those dots
will reveal some powerful controls, such as Enabling Offline Edit-
STEP FOUR: One last tip: If youve applied settings that you like,
ing, which is a must for travelers. This is an opt-in because pho-
dont go through all of the steps again with the next (similar)
tos take up a large amount of space, but I cannot recommend
image(s). Scroll to the far right of Adjust and apply previous. You
this enough for those of you who fly or are often disconnected.
can also long-press on an edited image to copy settings, select

another image, long-press, and then paste settings!
STEP THREE: While theres incredible depth to the app, its

designed to be consistent and friendly with the desktop. For those
Familiar controls, such as Highlights, Shadows, Clarity, and Dehaze,
mean that powerful editing can be done on your phone or tablet.
STEP TWO: After youve added your files to a collection, youll
057
MIKE HILL
Photoshop Fix
Desaturate. Again, adjust the brush dynamics

as they work for you; I like small, soft brushes
set to low Opacity. You can always brush
The idea with Fix was to bring Photo-
over again to build up the effect, not unlike a
shops retouching to everyone, every-
toothbrush in this case. Notice how close Ive
where. That was a lofty ambition, but
zoomed to get the teeth, but not the gums. If I
I think the team went above and
did misstep, I have a Restore brush and several
beyond in their delivery. Not only can
levels of Undo to lean on.
Fix do a number of things that desktop users love, but it can also do a
STEP FOUR: You can use Color for digital
number of things that are unique to it.
makeup, changing the tones in a sunset, the
This is probably the most feature-rich
color of hair, or in this case, my eyes. My tip
1.0 app that weve ever turned out,
here is to select a very diluted version of
so I thought Id take you through a

quick portrait retouching. I found the
the color you like and set Opacity at 50% or

A nice photo by my good friend Mike Hill, but man, I need help.
model of imperfection: me.
less. With one eye colored, you can see the
Step Three
difference before and after. The Color Picker

shows how the selected color can be a bit
misleadingremember Undo and Restore are
STEP ONE: When it comes to any brush-based
your friends.
operation, Fix becomes more precise the closer

you zoom ina great example of more pixels
STEP FIVE: Clearly, I could spend a lot more
equaling more precision. With overlays turned
time on my tired, old, face, but the last thing
on, you can see that Ive quickly removed a
Ill do is apply a vignette. Note that these can
number of blemishes. Note that this tool is a
be applied off-center and you can control the
hybrid, which can also act as the Patch or Clone
shape and even color of the overlay.
Stamp tool.
STEP SIX: Heres the finished product shown

STEP TWO: Skin smoothing is unique to Fix
with some of the options I now have. Send-
and works extremely well. My tip is to reduce
ing to Photoshop will translate the image into
the Opacity to 50% or less. Fix knows the differ-
Step One
individual layers, masks, and adjustment layers,
ence between skin and detailed areas like hair,
and a full-resolution PSD file will await you in
so even if I scrub hastily, the result is applied
Photoshop CC.
Step Four
only to the skin. While slightly cartoonish when

Liquify is one feature thats much more
zoomed in close, I trust that I can still smooth
fun to try than describe! Take a picture of
058
yourself or a friend, bring it into Fixs Liquify,
STEP THREE: Youll notice that Light is the
and click on Face. Points are auto-magically
equivalent of Dodge and Burn, but this is a
placed on eyes, nose, chin, jaw, etc. Ill
great example of how bringing Photoshop
warn you now, this is addictive! All opera-
power to touch means not only an entirely new
tions in Fix are layers under the hood. Thats
interface, but a friendlier and more familiar
what allows you to revisit and edit each at
languageno scary, dated terms here. I dont
any point, except for Liquify, which flattens
need to adjust local tones, but I do want to
your image. For that reason, I recommend
a bit more aggressively.
Liquifying first.
work on my teeth. For that Ill use Color set to

Step Two
Step Six
059
Photoshop Mix
Similar to Fix, the idea with Mix was to
bring Photoshops powerful selection
and compositing tools to everyone in
a friendly way. Mix and Fix both take
full advantage of the GPU and thats
at the heart of what now allows Mix
to edit multiple layers and enjoy the
magic of blend modes. Let me show
you my favorite use of Mix: creating a
multiple-exposure effect.
Step One
STEP ONE: I began by isolating this image of

my wife in Mixs Cut Out. Selections are made
much like Quick Select in Photoshop: You select
the area that you want and then toggle to subtract and select the area that you dont. With an
image like this, I zoomed in and worked around
the edges I wanted to isolate. This gave me
more precision. While working an image like
this is time-consuming, the process can yield
very impressive results.
Step Four
STEP TWO: Next, I press the + icon to add the

image I want to blend. This technique enjoys
nondestructive, feature multiple undos, and are deeply integrated with Apple
imagery thats out of place, so I used a rotated
Pencil. Finally, all of these apps feature tutorials and guided edits within the app.
image of trains. Rotation and transform are simple pinch-and-twist gestures. The trick now is to
drag the thumbnail of my wife onto the thumbnail of the trains and choose Copy Mask on
Step Two
Adobe Post
060
trimmed in the shape of my wife in this image.
Post is a very recent release and is quickly rivaling Capture as my
STEP THREE: Here we see the effect with a
favorite iPhone app. (As of this writing, Post is only available for
Softlight blend and Opacity lowered to 82%.
the iPhone.) Post allows you to create very quick, beautiful, social
graphics (text on images).
STEP FOUR: My last step was to add a third

image with the + icon and use a Multiply blend
STEP ONE: Choose a photo from your local Camera Roll, Lightroom, or Creative
(see next page).
Cloud. Double-click to add text. Now, click Design to toggle through presets.
Like Fix, Mix files sent to Photoshop will honor
And heres where it becomes fun: You can now select the text and customize it.
all masks, layers, and blend modes. Tonal adjustments will even come in as Adobe Camera Raw
STEP TWO: You can toggle Palette and multi-click on each color combination,
smart objects! You may have noticed that theres a
but be warned, this will change the color of the text (which you probably just
common design language with Mix and Fix. They
changed). For this reason, I move to the Photo control and adjust its color, skip-
also share a project-based system that lets you
ping over the middle Palette control. Once finished, click on the watermark
begin on one device and continue on another
(#AdobePost), and youll be prompted with the option of removing the mark by
simply by signing in. Both apps are natively
Step Three
sharing with a friend.
Layer. Having done that, we now see the trains
061
Astropad
This app is a Labs effort, meaning it hasnt officially been released.
STEP ONE: Work the tools left to right,
Im a big believer in rethinking things for
You wouldnt know it to use it, though; PaintCan works great on both
zooming in for detail as you go. I often fin-
touch, and delivering apps in a native,
the iPad and iPhone. Personally, I prefer it on the phone, as the UI is
ish with a broad brush around the edges.
approachable, task-based fashion. While
more simplified, and I enjoy working with mobile captures to dramat-
I rarely use the last two brushes.
some people ask for Photoshop CC running
ically change their look. My first tip for success here is: Choose a solid
COURTESY OF ASTROPAD
Adobe PaintCan
on an iPad Pro, I think theyd quickly find
photo to start with, as the composition needs to work for it to become a
STEP TWO: The final output has a white
that driving around a thousand menu com-
good painting. Next, I suggest first running it through Lightroom Mobile
border with an app credit; both can be
mands via touch would be maddening.
to amplify the Clarity (midtone contrast) and Vibrance. From here, the
turned off in the settings control, found
There is, however, a use case that makes
steps are simple:
in the upper left-hand corner of the app.
perfect sense, and (for me) it took a stylus

to take this idea from being good to great.
The combination of the iPad Pros 5.6-million pixel screen and a pressure-sensitive
Astropad being used on the iPad with FiftyThree Pencil
Apple Pencil, both talking to a tethered

Photoshop CC, well, thats pretty awe-
So thats a brief introduction to just some of what Adobe is doing with
some. If youve ever used a Cintiq, this is
mobile. Weve built a number of other truly awesome apps: Comp for lay-
similar: The iPad becomes an input device.
out (imagine thousands of gorgeous fonts on a touch device), Photoshop
Astropad is so Photoshop-centric that it
Sketch and Illustrator Draw for raster and vector illustration, and much
comes wired with common PS controls.
more. You can learn more, and link to the free downloads by following
Designed and built by former Apple

engineers, the app is very nicely done. My
These apps are by no means static; were constantly updating fea-
only recommendation is to tether via USB,
tures and expanding platforms. I can promise you that all of this will
rather than Wi-Fi. I find the latter to be
continue to get more and more interesting. The feedback from our
spotty and have more latency, which likely
users has always been key to providing useful technology, so whether
has more to do with the connection than
youre looking to learn more or just share your thoughts on how we
the app. For anyone doing serious illustra-
can do better, please feel free to reach out to me.
tion or retouching in Photoshop, Astropad
Thanks for reading. I cant wait to see what you do away from
your desks!
BRYAN ONEIL HUGHES (bhughes@adobe.com) is Adobes Head of Outreach & Collaboration,

closely working with product teams, partners, influencers, and press. Bryan spent 15 years on
the Photoshop team, a decade as Product Manager (CS3CC), and then drove the expansion
to mobile with Photoshop Mix and Fix. Bryan is a regular keynote speaker, author, and 4X MAX
Masterhis videos have enjoyed more than 12 million views. He lives with his wife and two
boys in the Santa Cruz Mountains where hes slowly restoring an old truck. Bryan was inducted
into the Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2011. Check out his work on Instagram at bhughes222 and
Behance at Behance.net/bryanoneilhughes.

ALL IMAGES BY BRYAN ONEIL HUGHES, EXCEPT WHERE NOTED
is definitely worth a closer look.
062
this link: www.adobe.com/creativecloud/catalog/mobile.html.
063
DesignMakeover
JAKE WIDMAN
CLIENT
CLIENT
http://appcookieco.com
http://appcookieco.com
Appalachia Cookie Company
Appalachia Cookie Company
before
thats how the cookie crumbles
the problem
David Holloman opened his Appalachia Cookie Company (http://
We talked about not just bringing
the brand to a more current state but

also to a point where he could really
expand and build on the brand style
and brand system.Bateman
064
appcookieco.com) in the mountain town of Boone, North Carolina, in late 2013. The company started with baking cookies and
delivering them to students at Appalachian State University, Hollomans alma mater. Over its first year, the company saw dramatic growth, fueled in part by celebrity chef Paula Deen deeming the product one of the 10 best cookies in the country.
By the beginning of 2015, though, Appalachia Cookie Company was also outgrowing their original logo and image. The company launched with a logo born out of necessity, says Holloman. We were on a deadline to get something for the marketing
materials. They wanted something that said both cookies and
mountains, and they came up with a drawing of cookies with
bites taken out of them to leave jagged peaks. It captured what
we wanted, says Holloman. It looked good for the first year.
But it didnt suit an ambitious, growing company. Holloman
wound up chatting about his brand with Charles Bateman, who
at the time was working for a marketing and advertising company called High Country 365. High Country was doing printbased marketing work for Holloman, and when the two men met
one night at a bars trivia contest, they started talking about the
companys website and, soon, about the future of the brand.
We talked about not just bringing the brand to a more current state but also to a point where he could really expand and
build on the brand style and brand system, recalls Bateman. The
discussions gradually moved from just rebuilding the website to
ways to update the brand into something that could work across
different print media, digital media, and retail applications.
makeover submissions
Were looking for product packaging or labels, print advertisements, websites, and magazine covers that are currently in the marketplace for future design
makeovers. So if you or someone you know has a design that youd like us to consider making over, or if youre a designer and youd like to be considered for a
future Design Makeover, send us an email at letters@photoshopuser.com. (Note: This is purely a design exercise and the designers do not work directly with
the client, create functioning websites, etc.)
Well also be covering real-world makeovers in this column, so let us know if you recently had a branding makeover or if you did a branding makeover for a
client that youd like us to consider.
DESIGN MAKEOVER
When Holloman and Bateman first started talking about a brand

refresh, Bateman hadnt actually tasted any of the cookies. I knew
that the product was out there, he recalls, but Id never sampled
it. I think Daves done a great job in building a name, and he also
does a good job of marketing to the right demographic. I have
three children in the school system, and theyre all very aware of
the Appalachia Cookie Company.
But Bateman felt that the logo the company had launched with
was a little too cartoony. We didnt feel that it evoked enough
of a brand that was going to appeal to a long-term consumer, he
says. He thought the company could build a brand and a business
that could not just stand on its own but be taken nationalnot
just the business model, but the brand itself.
To that end, he thought it would be possible to reinvent the
cookie as a lifestyle choice rather than just a product. I wasnt
involved in the naming of it, Bateman continues, but I think
that intrinsically theres some power to the word Appalachia
as opposed to Appalachian. Appalachian is more of a proper
name for the mountain range, whereas Appalachia evokes more
of the community spirit. As a region, Appalachia is cohesive
despite spreading over a large area and multiple states, Bateman
believes, and its known for its entrepreneurial endeavorslike
the cookie company.
Bateman also wanted to come up with an identity that would
be Southern without being too distinctly Southern. The recent
trend in graphic design has brought in a lot of retro styling themes
and some elements that might be more easily recognized as
Southern, he says. But we wanted something that was going
to be bold without being overly bold, and be Southern without
being overly Southern, and be very distinctive without being weird
or too one-of-a-kind. We tried to find a balance.
about the client
APPALACHIA COOKIE COMPANY

Appalachia Cookie Company describes itself on its website as a late-night delivery service located in Boone, NC. The company specializes in offering cookies and
brownies baked to order and delivered while still hot, in particular to hungry students at Appalachian State University. The website also promises, We know that
you cant very well have cookies without milk, thats why we also offer cold milk delivery as well as hot chocolate and freshly roasted, high-quality, fair trade, organic
coffee.... We are proud to use high-quality ingredients and, when possible, locally sourced ingredients. Listen, we understand that sometimes you just want something
sweet and dont want to leave the house. Now, you dont have to.
The company also does catering and has a mail-order service for nationwide delivery. Its stated commitment is not only to bake and deliver a high-quality product
to our customers but also to better the community in which we operate. A healthy community means a healthy business.
COLUMN
065
DESIGNERS
DESIGNERS
www.charlesbateman.me / http://loganhalldesign.com
www.charlesbateman.me / http://loganhalldesign.com
Charles Bateman / Logan Hall
the process
066
DESIGN MAKEOVER
To carry out the redesign, Bateman enlisted the help of graphic

designer Logan Hall. Hall knew Bateman from doing an internship
at High Country 365 while he was in school, and even after the
internship, the company continued to give Hall design work.
For the Appalachia Cookie Company logo, I gave Logan a lot
of creative freedom, says Bateman. I would manage some of the
strategic direction and give feedback on how we would work with
a specific idea, but I gave him a lot of leeway with where we could
build the brand, what color palettes we should use, and how we
could start to apply the system to different applications.
Hall thought there were some good aspects to the existing
logo, but we wanted a more refined approach than that, he
says, something that hinted at the ideals of Appalachian living
and a high-end gourmet food brand without specifically referencing the mountain imagery. We were also going for kind of a
hip, modern look because the demographic is primarily collegeage kids. Halls initial approaches retained some kind of cookie
image, but he wanted to pair it with type that had a script-like or
handmade feeling.
Holloman turned out to be an exacting client, in Batemans
words. He wanted to see iterations, he wanted to understand
how the system could work.
So Bateman and Hall collaborated on putting together mood
boards to communicate different approaches to the logo. We
sent over probably about 10 or so preliminary ideas to let Dave
decide what direction he thought was working best, recalls Hall.
Holloman would respond with I like it or Keep working on it,
and the designers would move on to the next round. Eventually
they came to focus on a logo that was primarily a wordmark, without a lot of additional graphics.
Charles Bateman / Logan Hall
the result
The design team presented a lot of different typeface options,

recalls Bateman, including scripts, sans serifs, and slab serifs. But
they finally settled on one they felt had a rustic (but not too rustic)
feeling. For Appalachia, its kind of based on stacking logs, says
Hall. The design starts with the font Aventurathe one designed
by Jimmy Kalman. (There are multiple fonts with that name.) And
then theres a slab serif for Cookie Company, Hall continues. That
part uses the font Serific from Fontsite.
The new logo is slowly being rolled out across the product line.
People really like it, says Holloman. Were still in the process of
making the switch.
The first thing I saw the new logo on was a printed circular
that Dave sent out at the beginning of the new college semester,
says Bateman. And Ive seen it on a table tent and a tablecloth.
The website was recently finished, near the end of last year. The
website still shows a box with the old logo at the National Shipping
link, but that should change soon.
Bateman also found the project personally satisfying. I like
working with brands that have a vision for the future, he says.
And if anyone has that, its Dave Holloman. This redesign was an
example of being able to start from a small, Hey, we might want
to update our website and evolve it to, Hey, were going to overhaul your entire brand system and bring you forward to your next
growth phase.
about the designers

CHARLES BATEMAN / LOGAN HALL
Charles Bateman has more than 14 years of sales, marketing, and management experience in the marketing, advertising, and financial industries. As the director
of operations for Main Street Marketing, he managed all of the firms print, Web, and event promotion projects. He also oversaw the building of the firms online
media outlet, High Country 365, including its website and mobile apps. Charles is currently the principal of Bateman Consulting (www.charlesbateman.me).
Logan Hall (http://loganhalldesign.com) is a freelance graphic designer based in Boone, North Carolina. He has a BFA in graphic design from Appalachian
State University and specializes in branding, identity development, illustration, and motion graphics. Music is also a huge part of his lifehe plays guitar, bass, and
mandolin and has played in bands since he was 16.
DESIGN MAKEOVER
067
>>LIGHT IT
LIGHT IT
ncreased bandwidth, less expensive memory, powerful processors, a host of mature software titles,
competitive data rates, and robust cloud-storage
solutions have all helped usher in a mobile photography landscape that now includes file formats such as TIFF and PSD, once
the sole province of the desktop. The march forward is ongoing
and promises to continue unabatedgreat news for the photographer on the go!
Lighting manufacturers have done a great job keeping pace
with the never-ending quest for increased portability, bringing
exciting, first-of-their-kind, lightweight, battery-operated, TTLcapable, and wireless radio-enabled strobe and handheld flash
products to market. These, along with a plethora of high-quality
portable lighting modifiers designed specifically for photographers on the go, represent a revolution in location lighting and
its possibilities. Whether youre shooting with handheld flash or
small strobe, there are exciting developments and new products
in each arena.
The gear landscape is vast, so in this article Ill focus only
on the tools and techniques with which I have personal experience. Ill explain how and why I use these tools and share my
two favorite, no-fail location lighting patterns. Hopefully, youll
gain some insight into the exciting world of portable lighting.
Ill be talking specifically about off-camera flash, otherwise
known as OCF. Its how I work 99.9% of the time and its
what I recommend to anyone serious about lighting work. If
youre not already using OCF, start now! This topic alone could
fill an entire book, but suffice it to say that getting your flash
off your camera will dramatically improve your results with
artificial light. Dont be afraid, just jump in!
exposure modes, flexible groups, and super-simple interface.

(If youre interested in learning how to unleash the power of this
exciting system, be sure to check out my forthcoming class on
KelbyOne. Yep, a shameless plug!)
Ill cover a few of my favorite Speedlite modifiers below,
but first here are my favorite ways to work with the 600EX-RT.
As I mentioned above, OCF is the way to go. Once off camera, I vertically orient and manually zoom the flash head to
200mm. I do this when Im working with bare flash. This
does two things: It creates a beam of light that more closely
matches the vertical shape of the human body, and it creates
a tighter pool of light with a natural, in-camera fall-off. (That
means less vignettes needed in post!) If youre working with a
light modifier, youll want to let the shape of the modifier dictate orientation, and zoom your flash head to a value that provides enough coverage for that modifier. The 600EX-RT also
provides a lot of flexibility with respect to exposure modes. Ill
discuss when its best to use manual, TTL, or High-Speed Sync
(HSS) below.
If youre a Nikon shooter or youre using an older Canon
flash and youre interested in wireless radio-based communication between your off-camera flash(es) and your
camera, look no further than the PocketWizard FlexTT5
system (http://www.pocketwizard.com). These rock-solid
radio triggers are reliable and provide both manual and
TTL capabilities.
HANDHELD FLASH
IN JUST A FEW SHORT YEARS, THE POWER, WORKFLOW, AND CAPA-
BILITIES OF MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHY HAVE EXPERIENCED NOTHING

SHORT OF A MAJOR GROWTH SPURT, GOING FROM PROMISE TO
REALITY. FROM STANDALONE MOBILE APPS TO THOSE THAT SYNC

WITH THEIR DESKTOP COUNTERPARTS, MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHY
HAS COME OF AGE.
By Michael
Corsentino
Canons 600EX-RT Speedlite has built-in radio-enabled wireless communication, an easy-to-understand streamlined interface, mix-andmatch exposure modes, groups, high-speed sync, and much more.
This cross-lit image perfectly illustrates the benefits of

radio-enabled communication between flashes and triggers.
Because radio signals are unconstrained by line-of-sight
requirements, Im able to easily hide and trigger an
accent light placed behind the wall, camera right. This is
something not possible with optically based systems.
LETS GO
Michael Corsentino
PORTABLE LIGHTING:
Lets start with handheld flash. There are a ton of great options out
there but my personal hands-down favorite is the Canon 600EX-RT
and ST-E3-RT Speedlite system (http://www.usa.canon.com).
This first-of-its-kind radio-enabled wireless flash-and-controller
combo is itself a revolution in handheld flash technology and
usability via its built-in radio, powerful features, mix-and-match
071
LIGHT IT
LIGHT IT
072
Profotos B1 delivers an impressive

500-Watt seconds of power and hundreds
of pops at full power. This compact battery-operated mono head offers a digital
interface, wireless control, and Manual,
TTL, and HSS exposure modes.
Profotos B2 packs a lot into a small package. This 250-Watt seconds battery pack
and head system offers Manual, TTL, HSS
exposure modes; wireless control; a digital
interface; and a line of OCF light modifiers.
Elinchroms new ELB 400 portable battery pack

and head system delivers 400-Watt seconds of
power, a digital interface, wireless control, and
numerous flash modes not found elsewhere,
such as stroboscopic, delay, and others. With
two heads available, one for action and one for
slower work, and Manual and HSS exposure
modes, theres something for everyone.
Cross light: This pattern is simply two lights (or one light and
the sun) facing each other along the same axis with the subject sandwiched between them. This arrangement provides a
key light with directional light and an accent that adds dimension. Rotate this pattern around your subject, placing the key
light on the right or left, with the accent light always on the
opposite side.
Underexposing the ambient light by one or two stops and

using flash to properly expose your foreground subject is a
great way to create dramatic portraits.
LIGHTING PATTERNS
Here are my two favorite, no-fail, mobile lighting patterns: cross
light and wedge light. Theyre both two-light patterns; however,
Heres an example of cross lighting. Im using two Canon

600EX-RT Speedlites. The accent light has a 1/2 cut of CTO
(color temperature orange) gel on it to mimic the setting
afternoon sun and warm up the models hair.
Cross lighting doesnt always have to be created with

two flashes. Here Im using one Profoto B1 as my key light
and on the opposite side Im using the sun as my accent
light to create a highlight on my models hair.
The three exposure modes I use most often are Manual, TTL,
and HSS, in that order. For some reason, Manual exposure mode
strikes fear into the hearts of burly men. I dont get it; it couldnt
be simpler. Do you want more light or less light? Thats Manual
in a nutshell. Dial it up or dial it downits that simple. Manual is best when distances between your subject and flash are
When it comes to creating dramatic portraits with moody skies

and ominous clouds, HSS makes it easy. This is because HSS allows
the use of shutter speeds beyond your cameras top flash sync
speed or X Sync rating, typically around 1/1601/200. With HSS,
you can use shutter speeds all the way up to 1/8000. This makes
the use of flash and wide apertures in mixed-light situations easy.
Remember, shutter speed controls the amount of ambient light in
an exposure. The ability to dramatically reduce the ambient light
allows you to underexpose the background, sky, etc., and use
your flash to expose your foreground subject properly.
Its important to think about flash and ambient light as
two independent light sources, each controlled separately.
I typically underexpose the ambient by around 12 stops for
given the right conditions, you can use the sun as the accent
light. Both can be used with bare flash or modifiers, or a combination of both bare and modified flash. So no excuses; get out
there and try these lighting patterns. Youll be glad you did!
Michael Corsentino
EXPOSURE MODES
HIGH-SPEED SYNC
this kind of look. Creating dramatic portraits is easy using

this method. (I cover this in detail in my class on KelbyOne.
Another plug!)
Michael Corsentino
Handheld flash units are great, but when you need more
power, nothing beats small strobes. The last few years have
seen amazing developments in this category. Profotos B1 an B2
(http://profoto.com/us/home) and Elinchroms Ranger Quadra
and new ELB 400 battery packs (http://www.elinchromus.com)
deliver between 5 and 10 times as much power as a Speedlite;
sport powerful, lightweight lithium batteries; and provide flash
counts reaching into the hundreds at full power, and thousands
at lower power. Add to this powerful and easy-to-navigate digital interfaces, wireless radio controllers, and highly portable
form factors, and you have a winning combo.
There are some important differences between each system
that are worth noting. Profotos B1 and B2 are TTL-capable
while Elinchroms Quadra and ELB are not. Ill cover exposure
modes below, but this honestly isnt a deal breaker because
I find myself using Manual the majority of the time. The Quadra
and ELB offer 400-Watt seconds of output over the Profotos
B2 at 250-Watt seconds. Profotos B1 is a powerful contender
at 500-Watt seconds and its a tool on which I often rely; however, its the heaviest and largest of the group. Each tool offers
different capabilities and trade-offs; its up to you to make the
call about which one fits your needs.
constant. TTL, on the other hand, is perfect when the distances

between your subject and flash are in flux.
Theres a misconception in some circles that the use of
TTL forfeits the users creative control; this couldnt be further
from the truth. Through distance and other calculations, TTL
does the heavy lifting for you, providing an exposure thats a
solid starting point. After that its up to you to make the exposure your own using a mixture of ISO, shutter speed, aperture,
and flash exposure compensation (FEC).
Keep these simple guidelines in mind in ambient light and
flash scenarios: Shutter speed controls the amount of ambient
light contributed to the exposure; and aperture and FEC control the amount of flash contributed to the exposure. Aperture
is nuanced as it governs both ambient light and flash, so youll
want to lean more heavily on FEC to fine-tune your flash output when using TTL.
Michael Corsentino
SMALL STROBE
073
LIGHT IT
LIGHT IT
Wedge light: This pattern is created by

placing two lights in a pie slice or wedge
shape relative to your subject. These lights
can then be rotated around your subject to
introduce more or less shadows.
Michael Corsentino
one catchall modifier, make it a convertible umbrella such as the

Lastolite 8-in-1 Umbrella.
One quick tip with modifiers: Most softboxes and octabanks
have a central hot spot. This is where the light is the strongest
and arguably the least pleasing. Working with the light at the
edges of these modifiers, youll get a much more pleasing result.
This is called feathering, and I recommend it.
In this image, Im using two bare Speedlites, each manually zoomed to

200mm and vertically orientated in a wedge lighting pattern to create a
key light on the models face and an accent light on her hair.
(http://www.lastolite.com). I use them constantly. They

extend from 2991" and have a 5/8 stud at the end.
074
More often than not, one light will do the trick. Here Im using
one Profoto B1 modified with an Elinchrom 27.5 Rotalux Softbox
Deep Octa. I love this highly portable modifier for its beautiful
quality of light and the variety of ways it can used.
DO A LOT WITH A LITTLE

Ive covered a lot of gear, but keep in mind you dont need a
kings ransoms worth of equipment to get started with mobile
lighting; quite the contrary, you can accomplish a ton with one
light and one modifier. In fact, I recommend starting this way.
Working with one light keeps things simple and allows you to
really get to know each piece of equipment and what its capable of before you add the next. Build your lighting kit slowly and
deliberately, picking up new pieces only as needed. When you
do, make it your business to explore all the ways to use your new
acquisition. This way youll be able to squeeze every last bit of
utility out of each of your tools.
Portable light modifiers: My go-to favorite light modifier is

Elinchroms 27.5" Rotalux Softbox Deep Octa. Its highly portable,
extremely versatile, and delivers a beautiful quality of light. Other
favorites include Lastolites Ezybox and Strobo line, Expo Imagings
Rogue system (http://www.expoimaging.com), and Chimeras
Octa 30" Collapsible Beauty Dish (http://chimeralighting.com)
its killer! You cant beat a beauty dish when it comes to creating soft light with just the right amount of contrast; however,
beauty dishes have traditionally been anything but portable. This
30" collapsible version changes all that and does double duty as
an octabank when needed. If youre just starting out and want
Combining bare and modified flash is a great way to

vary the quality of light used in an image. Here Im using a
Canon 600EX-RT modified with a Chimera Octa 30
Collapsible Beauty Dish for a soft yet contrasty key light
and another 600EX-RT, bare and zoomed to 200mm, to
eliver a punchy accent light on my models hair.
Light poles: When light stands arent allowed or youre on

the go, check out Lastolites Non-Rotating Extending Handles
solutions such as CamRanger (http://camranger.com) and Manfrottos Digital Director (http://www.manfrotto.com) allow
you to easily use your iPad as a large field monitor for real-time
proofing and camera control. [For more on shooting tethered to
Lightroom, see Maximum Workflow, p. 104.Ed.]
Michael Corsentino
Handheld flash meter: Dont even get me started! The reasons

why you need a handheld flash meter could fill an entire article; but trust me, despite what you may have heard, this is an
indispensable tool. My meter of choice is the Sekonic L-758DR
(http://www.sekonic.com).
MOBILE TETHERING
Everything looks great on your cameras small LCD screen; its
only later when viewed on a larger monitor that unseen mistakes
become painfully visible. For this reason, Im a huge proponent of
Michael Corsentino
MUST-HAVE GEAR
Reflectors and diffusers: These are easily the least expensive but
most useful pieces of gear youre likely to get your hands on.
Pick up a 30" Lastolite TriFlip 8-in-1 Reflector Kit and a 30"
Silver/White Lastolite TriGrip Reflector. With these youll be able
to diffuse sunlight, soften and broaden flash, and bounce light
wherever you need it.
shooting tethered in the field and studio. Great wireless and wired
075
P H OTO G R A P HY SE C RE TS
PHOTOG R AP HY S ECRE TS
GETTING STARTED IN ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY
Left: My first astro image, a full moon shot in 1980 through a telescope with a 35mm film camera.
Right: A full lunar eclipse shot in 2010 with a DSLR through a 400mm lens and a teleconverter.
A N
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Astrophotography doesnt have to be complicated or expensive. Most of us can drive an hour to get away from city-light pollution and
take photos of bright objects, such as the moon, simply by placing a cell phone camera on the eyepiece of a telescope.
T O
BY MIGUEL A. OLIVELLA, JR.
ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY IS MY PHOTOGRAPHIC
ESCAPE. AS A PROFESSIONAL SPORTS PHOTO
076
DSLR image of the Andromeda Galaxy
FREEZE ATHLETES IN MOMENTS IN TIME. FOR

THE PAST THREE YEARS, MY RELAXATION HAS
Naturally, the quality of the image wont be comparable to whats possible with more sophisticated gear, but theres a lot of astrophotography that can be accomplished with everyday photography equipment. Beyond that, the sky is literally the limit, depending
on your interest and budget.
BEEN ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY; THE YANG TO MY

YIN AS I SPEND HOURS IN MY OBSERVATORY
DURING NEW MOON WEEKENDS IMAGING
CELESTIAL TARGETS.
KEEPING IT CHEAP AND SIMPLE

Inside my dome observatory during an imaging run
Star Trails
Photographing star trails is one way to engage in astrophotography with basic photography gear. All you need is a camera body
capable of long exposures (Bulb mode); a wide-angle lens; a tripod; and a moonless, clear night at a location free from as much light
pollution as possible.
GRAPHER, IM PAID TO RUN AROUND AND
077
An intervalometer is well worth the investment, but not essential. This device will automate the imaging process by allowing you to
program shutter speeds, number of exposures, and exposure intervals. Once the imaging sequence begins, it does the rest. All thats
left for you to do is replace the cameras battery if and when needed.
For circular star trails, locate Polaris (the North Star) and compose the image with Polaris in the frame. All other stars will appear to
revolve in a circle around Polaris.
Perseid meteor shower composite
Eiffel Tower star trails composite
I created my Eiffel Tower composite using a Nikon D600, a 15mm Sigma f/2.8 fisheye, a Phottix TR-90 Intervalometer, and a tripod.
The star trails consist of twenty-four 15-minute exposures at ISO 1600, f/2.8, and then layered together. The Eiffel Tower image was
shot at f/2.8, ISO 1600, and 1/40.
078
The technique used to shoot star trails can also be used for capturing images of meteor showers. Because of the sporadic appearance of
meteors, numerous exposures are necessary to capture enough light streaks in the sky. To create a meteor shower in one image, shoot as
many images as you can, select the ones with light streaks, and then layer them together while masking out everything but the light streaks.
My Perseid meteor shower composite (see next page) was created with a Nikon D800E and a NIKKOR 1735mm f/2.8 lens piggybacked atop my Celestron NexStar 8SE computerized telescope to minimize blurry stars. Absent a motorized piggyback telescope,
keep exposures to a maximum of 30 seconds. I used ISO 1600 at f/2.8 with my intervalometer set to 60-second exposures every
3 minutes for 6 hours on two successive nights. I added a few longer exposures of the sky to capture the Milky Way. The foreground
image was shot during the day and then converted in Photoshop to simulate night, adding a faux-light painting effect.
The Milky Way Galaxy

The Milky Way is another astrophotography image that can be captured with basic photography gear. At a clear, dark site on a moonless night, locate the Milky Way in the night sky. A quick search on the Web should help you find it. The best views in the Northern
Hemisphere are from February through September.
The Milky Way
Using a tripod-mounted camera, start with ISO 3200 at f/2.8 with a 25-second exposure. Next, shoot several over- and underexposed images that bracket this exposure. Images shot with a shutter speed in excess of 30 seconds will show some blurring in
the stars, but no worries.
Finally, in Photoshop, layer your images one on top of the other. Mask out the poorly exposed portions from each image. Do
the same for any blurry stars from the slow shutter speed images. Then, merge your layers and make final processing adjustments.
Meteor Showers
079
TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Solar System Imaging: The Moon

Imaging the solar system is a natural progression from wide-angle sky images, and an easy way to delve deeper into astrophotography.
DEEP SPACE: THE FINAL FRONTIER

For deep-sky targets, such as nebulae and galaxies, a motorized mount is a must. There are
two types: Altitude-Azimuth mounts (Alt-Az) and
German Equatorial mounts (GEM). The GEM is
the best choice for astrophotography. Once the
mount is polar-aligned, lengthy exposures can
be taken without any target movement. Expect
to pay $500$1,500 for a quality GEM that can
handle a DSLR with long lenses and/or many telescopes. To ensure smooth operation while imaging, the mounts rated weight capacity must be
twice the weight of the equipment you intend to
use, so purchase wisely.
The Moon: Nikon D300, NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8 lens with 1.4x teleconverter, ISO 200 @ f/16 and 1/125.
Background: Nikon D3S, NIKKOR 1735mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 3200 @ f/2.8 and 25 seconds.
Saturn: Nikon D3S, Celestron NexStar 8SE telescope, and TeleVue 5x Powermate.
Ninety images @ ISO 800, f/10, and 1/2.5 to 1/6.
Star field: 1735mm lens @ f/2.8, ISO 3200, f/2.8, and 25 seconds.
Because the targets are bright, exposure times are short enough to prevent blurry star images. A tripod as a base will suffice
and a full-frame DSLR will yield better images than cropped sensor bodies. Added cost will come into play if you lack a long focal
length lens.
After setting up, find the moon in your viewfinder. Shutter speeds will typically be 1/250 for a full moon, 1/60 for a quarter moon,
and 1/15 for a slivered crescent moon at ISO 400 and f/16. Once you have the moon composed in the viewfinder, shoot quickly
because the moon wont stay in your frame for long.
080
Going from moon to planetary photography requires a step up in equipment. To avoid blurry, faint images of planets, youll need a
telescope that has a focal length of 2000mm or more to achieve the necessary magnification for these targets.
An investment of $500 or so in a used 8"
Schmidt Cassegrain telescope (SCT) will give
you the necessary focal length. Celestron and
Meade have been making SCT telescopes for
years and theyre plentiful on the used market.
Youll also need a T-mount attachment
for your camera to connect a DSLR camera
body to the back of the telescope. Finally, a
Barlow lens is a must. Barlow lenses increase
magnification without affecting f-stop value.
They come in various magnification factors
from 25x, and while you can scrimp on
these lenses, the only ones Id recommend are
TeleVue Powermates. These are optimized for
photography and are well worth the price tag
of approximately $200 for a new one, less for
used ones.
The imaging process is the same as the one
described for shooting the moon, with one
exception: because of the slower shutter speeds,
use a remote shutter release or the cameras selftimer feature to trigger the shutter. You should
Jupiter: Nikon D3S, Celestron NexStar 8SE telescope, and TeleVue 4x Powermate.
also lock your mirror in the up position. This
Ninety images @ ISO 800, f10, and 1/10th to 1/30th.
will minimize camera vibration, which produces
blurry images.
My imaging telescopes. Left: Celestron NexStar 8" SCT with Alt-Az go-to mount; Center: Takahashi TSA-102 4" refractor with Celestron
CGEM equatorial mount; Right: Astro-Tech 12" Ritchey-Chrtien truss tube telescope with Takahashi EM-400 equatorial mount.
Learning To Walk
Deciding how to shoot deep-sky targets will determine equipment selection that will, in turn, dictate
the size, quality, and detail of the targets being
imaged. Wide-field images can be captured with a
DSLR, a modestly priced 80mm (3") refractor telescope, and a Celestron Advanced VX GEM mount
(30-lb load capacity). Not counting the camera,
your investment would run approximately $1,500
$2,000 by the time you add desirable accessories
such as dew heaters and an autoguider.
This photo (right) is an example of whats possible with this setup, including the accessories. I
shot a total of 160 images at various shutter speeds
ranging from 1045 seconds at ISO 1600, and 10
images with 13 minute exposures to layer in a sky
Wide-field image of the nebulae in the Orion constellation.

Orions Belt is the diagonal line formed by the three blue stars
on the left, ending with the blue star in the center nebula.
Solar System Imaging: Planets
081
saturated with stars at the end of the Photoshop process. Before wrapping up, I shot ten flats at each shutter speed, twelve darks
at each shutter speed, and ten bias frames for the pre-Photoshop processing in software that stacks the images together.
Flats are images taken by covering the end of the lens with a white T-shirt and shining a flashlight on it. Theyre used by the
stacking software to correct any difference in brightness in the main images. Darks are images taken by covering the end of the
lens with the lens cap. Half of the darks are taken at the beginning and the other half at the end. Darks correct the dark signal
flaws in image sensors. Bias frames are images taken with the fastest possible shutter speed the camera can shoot and the lens
cap on. They contain only the noise generated by the cameras electronics on the sensor. This noise is subtracted from the data in
the darks to identify the true sensor noise. These extra images are time-consuming but theyll allow you to create the best possible
final image.
Sprinting
For comparison, below are examples of the Horsehead Nebula and the Great Orion Nebula through my 12" Astro-Tech Ritchey-Chrtien
truss tube telescope, Takahashi EM-400 mount, and a QSI 683 mono CCD camera with a full complement of filters.
Learning To Run
Adding more sophisticated equipment, such as a bigger telescope and mount, will yield larger, more detailed images of your targets.
For comparison, here are images of the nebulae in Orion taken through a 4" Takahashi refractor on a Celestron CGEM mount. The
equipment investment is now in the $3,500 (used) to $5,000 range (new). The targets are much larger in the frame with more detail.
Horsehead and Flame Nebulae with a 12" Ritchey-Chrtien telescope
082
Horsehead and Flame Nebulae in Orion
Running Man and Great Orion Nebulae
Great Orion Nebula with a 12" Ritchey-Chrtien telescope
083
The telescope has a 2,432mm focal length at f/8a bit shorter and faster with the flattenerand 12" light-gathering capability. The
CCD camera has a full-frame 8.3MP sensor and a built-in cooling mechanism that will cool the sensor down to 40 Celsius to minimize
noise. Finally, the Takahashi mount slews and tracks like a fine-tuned sports car. Here are more examples of what this rig can do.
Tadpole Nebula
Cone Nebula (left), Christmas Tree Nebula (to the right of the Cone), and Fox Fur Nebula (upper center)
Sombrero Galaxy
Sculptor Galaxy
Trifid Nebula
084
Eagle Nebula
Whirlpool Galaxy
085
086
Elephant Trunk Nebula
Lagoon Nebula
Moon
Veil Nebula
Astrophotography with friends: My 10' dome observatory (center) between a friends roll-off roof
observatory (left) and another friends pod (right) at the Chiefland Astronomy Village in Florida.
If youve been looking for a way to expand your photographic horizons and if you enjoy capturing images of spectacular objects,
astrophotography may be a new interest for you. You can do it alone or add a wonderful social element to the activity by doing it with
friends. Either way, the images that are possible are beautiful and limited only by your interest.
Miguel (Mike) Antonio Olivella, Jr. is a professional photographer based in Tallahassee, Florida. Mike has been a featured photographer for Florida
State University Athletics (for more than ten years), Unconquered Magazine, and a stringer for two international wire services. His sports photographs
are routinely published worldwide. Mikes wildlife, travel, landscape, and astro images have garnered numerous awards and have been exhibited in
various solo and joint gallery exhibitions. You can see more of Mikes work at www.baselineshots.com, on Google+ (Mike Olivella), or on Facebook
(Miguel Antonio Olivella).
ALL IMAGES BY MIQUEL A. OLIVELLA, JR.
Scott Kelby
Scott Kelby
Sean Arbabi
Sean McCormack
Rob Sylvan
Scott Kelby
89 98 104 110 116 118

BY SEN DUGGAN
&
&
Tips Tricks
BY SCOTT KELBY
Questions Answers
Dynamic Range
BY SEAN ARBABI
processing realistic starscapes
Maximum Workflow
BY SEAN McCORMACK
tethering in lightroom
Under the Loupe
B Y R O B S Y LVA N
leveraging slideshows
Lightroom Workshop
BY SCOTT KELBY
dodging, burning, and adjusting

individual areas of your photo
Lightroom
Workshop
dodging, burning, and

adjusting individual areas
of your photo
BY SCOTT KELBY
Everything you do in the Basic panel affects the entire

image. If you drag the Temp slider, it changes the white
balance for the entire image (its a global adjustment).
But what if you want to adjust one particular area
of your image (a local adjustment)? Then youd use
the Adjustment Brush, which lets you paint changes just where you want them, so you can do things
like dodging and burning (lightening and darkening
lightroom magazine contents
Excerpted from The Adobe Photoshop

Lightroom CC Book for Digital Photographers
different parts of your photo).
lightroom magazine
step one:
Heres the original

imageone of the amazing ceilings at
St. Peters Basilica in Vatican City, Italy. It
needs a lot of work. The bright sunlight
coming into the dome fooled the cameras metering system (and, apparently,
the guy holding it, as well. Ahem)
and underexposed most of the image
by quite a bit. Thats the keythere
are parts that are too bright, and areas I wish were brighter. This is where
the Adjustment Brush, which lets you
selectively dodge (make certain areas
brighter) and burn (make certain areas
darker), totally rocks. It was born for this
stuff, but I dont use it until I at least
get my basic exposure right, so lets do
that first. In the Develop modules Basic
panel, lets tweak the sliders to get us at
least in the ballpark.
lightroom magazine
step three: The Adjustment Brush

is found in the toolbox right above the
Basic panel (its the tool on the far right,
shown circled here), or just press the
letter K on your keyboard. When you
choose it, an options panel pops down
(seen here) and youll see that you can
paint using nearly all the same controls
you have in the Basic panel, except
that Vibrance isnt there. (Rats!) But, at
least we have other cool stuff, like noise
reduction and moir removal, so it kinda
makes up for not having Vibrance. Kinda.
With the Adjustment Brush, you choose
which adjustment you want to paint
with by dragging one or more of those
sliders, and then you just start painting
that adjustment right on your photo.
tip: changing brush sizes

To change your brush size, press the
Left Bracket key to make it smaller or
the Right Bracket key to make it bigger.
090
Since its way underexposed, lets start by dragging the

Exposure slider to the right to help the
overall brightness. The light coming in
from the top of the dome and the windows is pretty bright, so lets lower the
highlights in those areas by dragging
the Highlights slider to the left quite a
bit. Finally, Id like to see more detail in
the shadow areas, so lets open up the
Shadows a nice bit, too (as shown here).
Okay, it already looks a lot better, but
the areas right around the dome are still
pretty dark, and the gold ceiling area on
the left is too bright. The ceiling area at
the top center is too bright, too, and so
are the columns on either side of it. As
is often the case, there are some areas
that need to be brighter and some that
need to be darker.
step four: Since you dont actually see the effect until you start painting on your photo, how do you know
how far to move the sliders? Well, this
is going to sound weird, but you dont.
You literally just make a blind guess at
how much you think you might want of
a particular adjustment, and then you
paint over the area you want to adjust.
Then, once you can see the adjustment,
you go back to that slider and tweak the
amount until it looks right. The good
part is you get to make your final decision after youve painted over the area,
so you can get it right on the money.
For example, here I (1) got the brush,
(2) dragged the Exposure slider to the
right a bunch, (3) painted over the dark
area on the right side of the dome to
brighten it, and then (4) went back to
the Exposure slider and lowered the
amount until it looked right to me.
step two:
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lightroom magazine
step five:
Once you stop painting, youll see that a little white circle
with a black dot in the center appears
on your image right at the spot where
you started painting. (If you dont see
the black dot, look down in the toolbar
under your image and make sure Auto,
Always, or Selected appears after Show
Edit Pins. If you dont see the toolbar,
press T.) Thats called an Edit Pin (shown
circled here in red), and it represents the
change you just made to the right side
of the dome. As long as you see a black
dot in the center, it means that adjustment is active, and if you start painting again right now it just adds to what
youve already painted. So, lets continue painting around the rest of the dark
areas surrounding the dome (as shown
here, where that area is much brighter
now). By the way, that little Edit Pin automatically hides as you paint.
step six: When youre done bright-
092
ening around the dome, and you now

want to adjust a different area (for
example, lets say you want to darken
[burn] the gold ceiling on the left center of the image, so its not too bright),
you cant just drag the Exposure slider
over to the left and start painting. Thats
because your Edit Pin for the dome is
still active. Moving the Exposure slider
will make the area you painted around
the dome darker. You have to tell Lightroom to Leave what I did around the
dome alone. Now, I want to paint a totally separate adjustment, somewhere
else in the photo, with different settings. You do that by clicking the New
button at the top of the Adjustment
Brush panel. Now, you can lower the Exposure amount and start painting over
that bright middle-left ceiling area without disturbing your original brightening
of the area around the dome. Each time
you want to paint with a different set of
adjustments (so that area is controlled
separately from the last area you painted), click the New button.
lightroom magazine
step seven: Okay, after you click

the New button, go ahead and lower
the Exposure amount and the Highlights amount, and start painting over
that middle-left gold ceiling area, so
its not so bright. I figured wed take
down the highlights at the same time
since theres a bright light fixture right
in the center of that ceiling area. When
youre done painting, move your cursor
out of the way (drag it over the panels
on the right side), and now youll see
two Edit Pins: (1) which is now just solid
graytheres no black dot in the center
because its not the active pinand represents the area brightened around the
dome, and (2) which represents the area
you just darkened (the gold ceiling on
the middle left). It has a black dot in the
center of the pin because its still active,
meaning if you move any sliders now, it
will affect that gold ceiling area.
tip: deleting edit pins

To delete an Edit Pin, click on it then
press the Delete (PC: Backspace) key.
step eight: If you want to go back

and work on the area around the dome,
all you have to do is click on that gray
pin. It becomes the active area, and all
the sliders automatically update to the
last settings you used on that pin, so
you can continue right where you left
off. Its not unusual for me to have five
or six Edit Pins in a photo (occasionally
more) because I needed to adjust five or
six different areas. Now, what do you
do if you make a mistake or paint over
something that doesnt look good? For
example, look at the light fixture in the
center of the gold ceiling area on the
left. It looks gray, which looks weird
(light isnt usually gray). To remove the
adjustment over just that light, pressand-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key,
which switches you to the Erase brush.
Now, just paint over the light fixture
and it erases the adjustment in only that
area, and the light looks normal again.
Above: Darkening the gold ceiling also darkened the light fixture, making it look gray
Above: Erasing the effect just over the light

fixture brings back the original natural look
093
lightroom magazine
step nine: Before we wrap up erasing, two quick things: (1) as with the
brush, you have complete control over
how your Erase brush works in the
very bottom section of the Adjustment
Brush panel. Click on the word Erase (as
shown here) and it displays the settings
for the Erase brush. You can choose the
Size, Feather (how soft the edges are),
Flow (whether it paints a solid stroke at
100% opacity or whether you want it to
build up as you paint), and you can turn
on/off Auto Mask (well talk about that
next). (2) You have two regular brushes to choose from, as well, called A
and B, and you can choose their settings. I usually make my A brush have
a soft edge and my B brush have a
hard edge (I lower the Feather amount
to 0), so if I run into a situation where
Im painting along a wall or other area
where a soft edge looks weird, I can
toggle over to my B brush using the
Backslash (/) key on my keyboard.
step ten: Im going to switch to a
094
new image for just a moment to talk

about Auto Mask (you turn this on/off
near the bottom of the panel). When its
on, it kind of senses where the edges of
things are and keeps you from accidentally painting where you dont want to.
Take a look at the image on top, here.
I want to darken the background, but
when I paint on it near the guards arm,
it also paints over his arm. However, look
at the image at the bottom. When I turn
Auto Mask on, it senses the edge and
lets me paint over the background next
to his arm without spilling over onto it
(pretty amazing!). The trick is knowing
how it works: You see that little + (plus
sign) in the center of the brush? That
determines what gets painted, and any
area that + travels over gets painted.
So, as long as that + doesnt go over his
arm, it wont paint over it, even if the
outer rim of the brush extends way over
onto his arm (as shown here). As long as
you keep that off the arm, it leaves that
area alone.
lightroom magazine
step eleven: Before we get back

to working on our church ceiling,
I wanted to mention one more thing
about Auto Mask. When its turned on,
the brush runs a bit slower, because its
doing math as you paint (determining
where the edges are). So, if Im painting over a big sky or wall or other area
that doesnt need the brush doing fancy
math, I turn it off so things go faster.
Okay, back to our church. I think that, at
this point, youve got the idea: In a lot of
images, there are some areas you want
brighter and some you want darker, and
this brush not only lets you do that, but
you can add any of the other sliders, as
well. This is awesome because you can
brighten an area and make it sharper,
or darken an area and make the color
more saturated, too (great for skies).
Lets go ahead and darken and brighten
a few more areas here (like darkening
the dome at the top center. Then, Id
brighten the area along the bottom of
the image, darken the two columns up
top on the sides, and even lower the
Highlights in the dome itself to bring
back some detail there. You can see Ive
got nine Edit Pins now).
tip: how do you know if

youve missed a spot?
Press the letter O on your keyboard
to show a red mask over the area you
painted on the active pin (to see it temporarily, move your cursor over the
pin). If you missed an area, paint over
it; if you spilled over onto something
you didnt want to, press-and-hold the
Option (PC: Alt) key and paint it away.
step twelve:
Okay, now, how

about a finishing move that I usually
use in landscape photos to add an extra kiss of light to highlight areas in
the image? Click the New button, make
your brush pretty large, increase the
Exposure to about 1.00, and then click
once over highlight areas as though
little beams of light are hitting them.
Heres a before/after.
095
lightroom magazine
step thirteen: By the way, dodging and burning isnt just for cathedrals
and it isnt just for travel and landscape
photos. I routinely use it for portrait
work, and heres a typical example:
when youre lighting an outdoor portrait and the flash not only lights your
subject, but spills over onto the ground
and lights that, as well (as seen here,
which looks lame because our goal is
to light the subjects face the brightest,
and then have fall-off so the light gets
darker and darker as it moves down
your subject until it fades away. In short,
it shouldnt make it to the ground).
Above: You can see the light from the flash spilling onto the ground.
step fourteen:
When this happens, heres a quick fix: get the Adjustment Brush, lower the Exposure
amount, and paint over the ground until
you dont see the flash spilling onto it,
which gives you a much more professional look.
tip: moving your

adjustment
096
In Lightroom CC, you can now drag a

pin to move it to a new location once
youve copied-and-pasted the Adjustment Brush edit onto other photos, like
similar ones from the same shoot. If you
didnt use a tripod, chances are either
you or your subject moved a tiny bit
from shot to shot. Now you can drag
the adjustment a tiny bit, too! To return
to the way clicking-and-dragging on a
pin used to work (when you dragged
over the pin, it moved all the adjustment sliders in tandem instead), just
press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key,
then click directly on the pin and drag
left or right.
Above: Heres the photo after lowering the Exposure amount and painting over the ground.
When it gets close to her boots, turn on Auto Mask, so it doesnt darken them (unless you
want that). If you did darken them, I would hit the New button, then dont lower the
Exposure quite as much, and then paint over just her boots separately.
ALL IMAGES BY SCOTT KELBY
A well-done slideshow has the power to emotionally engage

your audience beyond whats possible by viewing static still
photos alone. While Lightrooms Slideshow module is by no
means the most full-featured product for creating a slideshow,
the fact that its integrated into the Lightroom workflow does
give it a major advantage over competing products. With the
introduction of Lightroom CC/6 we gained the ability to add
multiple music tracks, a way to sync slideshow transitions to
the beats in the music, a method to preview the slideshow at
different aspect ratios, an automated pan-and-zoom effect to
liven up the display of still photos, and a number of smaller
tweaks to improve the experience.
My family recently said a sad farewell to our beloved dog of
(almost) 16 years. Sixteen years that spanned a significant part
of my marriage and the entirety of my 14-year-old sons life to
date. As you can guess, our dogs life was well documented,
and these photos told not only his story, but the story of our
growing family from our first home to our first move, to our
sons arrival, to his growth as a young man, and every trip,
snowstorm, naptime, and playtime along the way. I gathered
up a collection of these photos and decided to create a slideshow to share with family and friends who knew and loved
him, and in so doing gained a new appreciation for this part

of Lightroom. If youve written off the Slideshow module or
simply not used it at all, you might want to give it another
chance. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of
the experience.
start with a collection

While not required, it can make the start of the process a
lot simpler. I created a collection for this project and then
set it as the Target Collection by Right-clicking the collection and choosing that option from the contextual menu.
From there, you can go through your Library and add photos (and videos) to the collection by selecting them and
pressing the B key (shortcut to add to Target Collection).
I set the sort order of this collection to Capture Time, which
made sense for this project, but you can change the sort
order via the View>Sort menu (or use the Sort menu in the
Library Toolbar). You can even drag-and-drop photos while
in Grid view or the Filmstrip to create a custom sort. This
can always be changed later, if needed. From there, click
the Slideshow button in the Module picker to start creating
the slideshow.
leveraging slideshows
B Y R O B S Y LVA N
A slideshow can be a simple yet powerful means to display a

collection of photos in a variety of ways. Lightroom CC/6 introduced some welcome new tools to the Slideshow module that
really improve the final product.
Under
the
Loupe
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templates are starting points

The Template Browser (below) contains a number of basic
Slideshow templates that can serve as a way to jump-start
your project. Theres probably not one that is perfect for your
needs, but all are entirely customizable, so choose one that
looks the closest, and start tweaking. Before you start to
modify the layout, you might consider the answers to a few
questions, such as: Do you want to display text along with
your photos? Do you want to include an identity plate? What
do you want for a background? Will there be an intro and/
or ending screen in addition to the photos? Do you have the
music tracks in a supported format? The answers to these
questions will determine the choices you make in the panels
on the right side of the Slideshow module.
be aware of your content
this creation a meaningful name, choose where its located,

and configure additional options. These output module creations have unique icons displayed in the Collections panel
that can be double-clicked to jump right to the module where
they were created for ease of access.
metadata or can contain custom text. The key is to select

(or create) the right template for your needs. Heres how:
adding overlays
step two: Click the drop-down menu that appears to
I rarely get questions through the Help Desk (now Advice Desk
on KelbyOne) about how the layout controls work in Slideshow, as theyre very what-you-see-is-what-you-get intuitive;
however, there are a few things I think that are worth clarifying. The first is that in the Overlays panel youll find one of
the very few (and very small) differences between the Mac
and Windows versions of Lightroom. Youll only find the drop
shadow controls for overlays on a Mac. I dont know why, but
I do hear from Windows users wondering where those controls
have gone, so I just want you to know that they dont exist.
When it comes to overlays, you can add an Identity Plate,
a watermark, rating stars, and text overlays. The one type of
overlay that constantly confuses people is the text overlay, so
lets take a closer look at how this works. The text overlay is
driven by text templates that can pull text from each photos
select from a selection of pre-loaded templates, or choose

Edit to open the Text Template editor. Lets choose Edit to see
how templates work.
step one: Click the ABC button in the Toolbar to access

the text templates.
Before you go too far in your customization choices, its a good

idea to click the Create Saved Slideshow button in the upperright side of the interface. This creates a special type of collection that will remember not only all of the photos included in
the slideshow, but all of your customization tweaks as well.
This will open the Create Slideshow dialog where you can give
You may have started a collection, as I did, with the intention of

including all photos in the collection in the Slideshow; however,
there are plenty of other scenarios where maybe youll start by
selecting an existing collection of photos, and you only intend
to use a subset of those photos in the actual slideshow. Theres
an easily overlooked Use option in the Toolbar that, by default,
will be set to All Filmstrip Photos. Click that Use drop-down
menu or go to Play>Content, and choose from All, Selected, or
Flagged Photos based on what best fits your project.
create a saved slideshow
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step three: The Text Template Editor is very similar to

the Filename Template Editor in that it uses tokens to pull
different types of data from the photos metadata, or custom text, or you can type right into the template itself. Click
the Preset drop-down menu to look at how the preinstalled

templates were made. Clear the template window and create your own template using any combination of tokens that
suits your needs. Once youve included the desired tokens,
click the Preset drop-down menu and choose Save Current
Settings as New Preset, and give the template a meaningful
name. For this project Ill use a template that pulls the caption
from the photos metadata.
Note: Use the Caption or Title preset if you want to display
unique text for each photo in your slideshow, then enter a
caption or title via the Metadata panel in the Library module.
step four: Position the text overlay by clicking-and-dragging it to where you want it to display. A sticky anchor point
will appear to lock onto various corners and midpoints on
the photo or background, which determines where the text
overlay will display as the slideshow progresses. I chose a midpoint on the background to keep it consistent. Resize the text
overlay using the resize handles on the overlay itself. If no text
appears on your slide, make sure youve entered the text in
the photos metadata. The font color, opacity, and face can
be configured in the Overlays panel.
Deleting any overlay is as simple as selecting it and pressing the Delete key.
add music
Music is key to creating an emotional connection with your
audience. We now have the ability to add up to 10 tracks,
though one or two will probably suffice for most projects. The
first step is to make sure you have the music in one of the supported file formats (.mp3, .m4a, or .m4b), and the rights to
include said music based on where youre going to display the
slideshow. There are a number of affordable outlets for licensing music files such as Triple Scoop Music and Song Freedom
(to name a couple), but do your research before sharing your
slideshow with the public.
Click the switch on the new Music panel to enable audio to
be included. Once enabled, click the plus sign (+) in the panel
to navigate to the music files and select them. The Music
panel will display the duration of each track as well as the total
for all tracks. You can re-order the tracks within the panel by
dragging and dropping them into the desired order. Select a
track and click the minus sign () to remove it from the project.
control playback
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The Playback panel got the most attention in this latest version. Some of the sliders were given more intuitive names,
which is great. The most notable new features are the ability
to Sync Slides to Music and the Pan and Zoom function. You
can check Sync Slides to Music if you want the slide transitions to be based on the beats in the music instead of a set
time interval. Note: When checked, any included video files
will only display the poster frame in order to keep in time with
the transitions, so not a good option if you want video clips
to play.
The Fit to Music function (see above right) has been
improved, and does a better job of actually fitting the slideshow
to the music duration. Set the Crossfades time first, then click
the Fit to Music button to set the Slide Length. If your slideshow
does include video, youll want to experiment with the Audio
Balance slider to find the right mix of audio from the video clip
and your music soundtrack.
The new Pan and Zoom function, more commonly known
as the Ken Burns effect, can add a little (or a lot of) motion to
your stills as the slides transition through. This setting requires
experimentation to decide if its right for your slideshow, but
my experience says less is more as you cannot set it per slide.

You can use the Draft or Standard setting on the new Quality drop-down menu at the bottom of the panel as youre
experimenting with settings to speed up playback.
When the slideshow is ready, you can play it from inside
Lightroom with music or you can output it as a video, PDF,
or a series of JPG slides. Video is the only export option that
includes the music. I find exporting as a video gives me more
playback options even if Im going to run the slideshow from
the same computer. Its nice to have choices.
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ALL IMAGES BY ROB SYLVAN
lightroom magazine
The name tether conjures up images of ropes and lines

with a water skier. Its not too far from the truth with
Lightroom tether. You take a compatible camera, connect
a suitable wire between it and the computer, and turn on
tethering. As you shoot, each photo will be imported into
Lightroom and appear onscreen.
why tether?
Why would you even want to tether? An image may look
great on the back of your camera, but tethering allows you
to see the full-resolution RAW file on a large screen, so its
easier to see focus issues, motion blur, or composition errors
that could ruin the shot.
If you look at behind-the-scenes shots or videos of any
medium to large production shoot, youll see someone manning a laptop or computer, checking the files coming in, and
providing feedback. Youll often see the client standing at
the computer too, so theres no guessing if theyre happy
with the results. Just because you see tethering used in larger
shoots, though, shouldnt stop you from using it for smaller
Another great, must-have gadget from Tether Tools is

the JerkStopper. The JerkStopper attaches to the cameras
strap holder and to the TetherPro cable, allowing you to
create slack on the cable between the JerkStopper and the
cameras USB connector. This means that if someone trips
on the cable, it will pull the camera rather than break the
USB connection.
productions. Heres how to get tethering.
practical tether
First, get a suitable cable for your camera. For a full list
of compatible cameras, go to http://helpx.adobe.com/
tethering in lightroom
BY SEAN McCORMACK
Maximum Workflow continues to look at hardware and software to help your workflow in Lightroom, and in this issue, were going to discuss
third parties offer software for Pentax, Samsung, Olympus,

and Fuji (X-T1 only). By way of example, Im tethering with a
Canon EOS 5D Mark III, which has a USB Mini-B socket, so a
USB to USB Mini-B cable is required.
While you can get long, basic USB cables from just about
anywhere, I highly recommend a TetherPro cable from
Tether Tools for the following reasons. First, youll avoid
a trip hazardbecause of its color. Many years ago while
using a standard black cable on location, I managed to
catch the cable and send a 5D Mark II flying to the ground.
tethering, which is the process of connecting your
I saved the camera with my foot, but the USB cable broke
camera to a computer in order to view images as
the USB connection inside the camera during the fall. The
theyre shot. It can be cumbersome to set up, so
on set that youre connected, helping you to avoid tripping
bright orange of a TetherPro cable acts as a visual reminder
its not as frequently used as it could be, but were
on the cable. Second, TetherPro cables are thicker than nor-
here to show you how to get it up and running in
And third, theyre available in long lengths, which you gen-
Lightroom, and some items that make it easier.
mal USB cables, making them hardier with a better signal.

erally need for tethering.
Maximum
Workflow
lightroom/kb/tethered-camera-support.html. Additionally,
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Looking for an all-in-one solution? Tether Tools make
lightroom magazine
step one: Go to File>Tethered Capture, and click Start
step two: This opens the Tethered Capture Settings dia-
this extends the dialog to include a list of available collections.
Tethered Capture.
log. Each tethered shoot is referred to as a Session. Give
As this is a fresh catalog in this example, only the Quick Col-
you can mount your computer right beside your camera on
the session a name. You can opt to turn on Segment Photos
lection is available.
your tripod for immediate feedback. Its more than usable
by Shots, which will open an additional dialog after closing
on location as well.
the current dialog where you can name the shots.
table mounts to go on lighting stands or tripods. This means
step five: To make a new collection, click the Create Collection button. Give the collection a suitable name, and click
lightroom tether
Create. This new collection will be added to the list as the
You can start Lightroom tethering with or without a camera
chosen collection. It also appears in the Collections panel.
attached. While most cameras will tether without a memory
You can opt to put it inside a collection set, but youll need
card, some (like my 5D Mark III) need a card in the camera. If
to have the collection set created in advance (one of Light-
in doubt, use a card, and it can also act as a backup, which is
rooms foibles). You can also make this new collection the
always a good idea. If you have images on the card already,
Target Collection.
start Lightroom tether before attaching the camera to prevent Lightroom from opening the Import dialog.
step three: Naming allows you to choose from the standard filename templates, as well as allowing you to edit your
own naming templates. You can have the Session Name used
as part of the file naming, though you should use a uniform
step six: Finally, you can add a Metadata preset contain-
naming system on all your files.
ing information relevant to the shoot, such as copyright in-
step four: Destination allows you to select a location for
images using Keywords in the Information section. Click OK
the files on any connected drive. Click the Choose button to
formation, etc., as well as apply generic tags that suit all the
to start tethering.
change it. Next is Add to Collection, a newer feature. Clicking
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If youre in Loupe view, each image will display, replacing the previous one. A good tip is to press F to turn on Full Screen view,
especially for clients. The image fills the screen and hides Lightroom completely. Press F again to return to normal viewing.
Heres a quick look at the Grid from a recent shoot where I was using tether so students from a makeup class could see photos
of their models.
step seven:
If you selected to Segment Photos by
Shots, then youll see the Initial Shot Name dialog. Type a
name to begin.
these settings to each consecutive image that comes

into Lightroom.
4. T he Close dialog button will quit tethering.
5. This is the Session Name from the Tethered Capture
Settings. If you had Segment Photos by Shots selected,
this name would also appear here.
6. Click the Shutter button to take a shot remotely.
7. The Settings button opens the Tethered Capture Settings dialog.
The tether modal dialog will appear. Lets look at its parts:
Now youre ready to begin. (It takes far less time to get going
era Detected if it cant find one.
2. This displays the current camera settings. You can only
view them; you cant change them in Lightroom. They
can, however, be changed on camera.
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3. Here you can change the Develop Settings by choosing

a preset. Alternatively, you can edit the first image that
comes in and then choose Same as Previous to copy
than it did to read this far.) Start shooting. As you shoot, youll
see Transferring Files from Camera appear in the Module
Picker at the top left of Lightroom.
troubleshooting
Tether in Lightroom is great, but sometimes it can just stop for no reason. Once upon a time, the camera going to sleep
would break tether and only restarting Lightroom and reconnecting the camera would work. If it stops for you, here are
a few things to try. If a step doesnt work, try the next one! One of those steps will usually get tethering going again.
1. First, turn the camera off and on again.
2. Next, disconnect and reconnect the camera.
3. Restart tethering.
4. Restart Lightroom, start tether, then connect the camera.
5. Finally, if all else fails, restart your computer, restart Lightroom, start tether, then connect the camera again.
Tethering is a really useful tool and a great timesaver for knowing you have the shot. Tools such as those from Tether Tools also
make the process far easier.
ALL IMAGES BY SEAN McCORMACK
1. This shows the currently connected camera, or No Cam-
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ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
Lightroom Magazine
Lightroom Magazine
Dynamic Range
SEAN ARBABI
processing realistic starscapes
It never gets old staring up at the night sky. The mind wanders, the imagination runs wild, and the shifting stellar
canopy that never seems to change feels like an old friend joining you through lifes journey. Constellations were
the first calendar tracking of the seasons, as well as a latitude indicator for travelers navigating north and south
on our planet. For every outdoor photographer comes a challenge to capture this often awe-inspiring event that
occurs with every turn of our globe.
If you prefer to add detail and color, moonlight can illuminate your landscapes; however, as a light source, it can
also potentially obstruct stars. Clear skies are another option,
although some clouds can add a dynamic touch depending
on the scene. Finally, understanding where the Milky Way
is located and which way the stars move depending on the
direction you facenorth, east, south, or westcan also
assist your nocturnal compositions. From Dark Skies to The
Photographers Ephemeris, there are sites and apps to assist
with all of these decisions, helping you determine optimal
shoot dates and locations.
Step Two: Documenting scenes of nature can be tough, but

fumbling around in the dark to catch a night scene in all its
glory is yet another challenge. Make sure to include a headlamp for hands-free camera operating, and an extra flashlight
as a backup or to paint the landscape with a touch of artificial
light for additional detail. Also essential are a remote shutter
release and tripod, a sturdy easy-to-use model to keep your
camera locked in position for long exposures.
Creating a pleasing composition is another hurdle to
overcome, so previsualizing your final scene can give you an
idea of what lens you choose, direction to face, and what
you may or may not wish to include in the shot. Reviewing
your scenes on your LCD screen after the capture can help
you straighten horizons or force you to recompose to include
important elements.
Focusing is yet another issue to tackle since the accuracy
of the infinity mark on most lenses is off just enough to blur
stars, and autofocus fails in such low-light levels. Let your eyes
adjust to the darkness for a few minutes, enable manual focus,
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This issue, Dynamic Range focuses on

creating stunning nightscapes with the
goal of realism for the final image file. This
not only comes from your experience of
how these scenes appear through a pair
of human eyes, but also how contrast,
exposure, light, and detail manifest during these hours of darkness. Well discuss
how knowledge of the night sky can give
you a solid starting point, some of the
challenges you may face documenting a
extremely low-lit scene, and how to process your image file to maximize the detail
and tones captured.
use the infinity mark on your lens as a starting point, then look
through your viewfinder to fine-tune focus. The LCD can then
come into play to determine how accurate you are with sharpness by reviewing the image and zooming into specific star clusters. Live View may also help here, digitally zooming into a few
stars for tack sharpness through manual focus, avoiding any
bokeh effect. A tripod, remote, and LCD preview for sharpness
were all used for this image of Half Dome on a moonless night,
captured with a 70mm lens, f/2.8 for 8 seconds using ISO 6400.
Step Three: When operating in extreme low-light situations

such as star-filled skies, meters begin to fail; therefore, critical
exposure settings and camera functions must be considered
to capture the detail needed for postprocessing. Shooting in
RAW should be a given because of the amount of detail and
latitude the format offers. Using a solid DSLR or mirrorless
camera system with manual controls is another good tool to
have. The better your image sensor is with ISO, the less noise
and more detail captured.
Exposure charts combined with past trial-and-error experience can give you the proper settings needed since some
shutter speeds may take as little as 8 seconds, or run for hours
in bulb mode. A larger aperture setting, low f-stop number, is
preferred since the amount of light is so low; exposures can
lengthen greatly if you attempt to capture more depth-offield through a smaller aperture.
ISO, the measurement of your image sensors sensitivity to
light, for the most part should be set above 1000 but below
6400 since noise build-up can create a nightmare with star
detail. Higher ISOs also keep stars from becoming trails, due
to the rotation of the earth, by ensuring shorter exposures.
Step One: Before you become a photographic night owl, planning your outing
can give you a good head start. Travel
to an area far away from any major city,
often referred to as a green zone. Artificial city light can flood skies, casting an
orange glow of light pollution, diminishing the visibility of starlight and Milky Way
detail. A moonless night is another option
to consider for better star detail, as seen in
this 13-second exposure of Yosemite Falls.
The continued advancement of image

sensors has taken nighttime photography
to a whole new level, diminishing digital
noise and upping light sensitivity, while
vastly improving the dynamic range: the
stops of light a digital image sensor can
cover, from the brightest highlights to
the deepest shadows. These innovations
have given stargazing image-makers extra
latitude to create some wild scenes of the
dark expanse.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
Step One
Step Two
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Lightroom Magazine
Lightroom Magazine
tions panel of the Develop module: turn on Enable Profile

Corrections to correct for lens vignetting or distortion, and
Remove Chromatic Aberration, which is often seen in the
stars in the corners of the composition.
[KelbyOne members may download the file used in this
tutorial at http://kelbyone.com/magazine. All files are for personal use only.]
One general guideline to avoid star blur is known as the

500 rule. Simply divide 500 by the focal length of your lens,
and that equals the longest exposure, in seconds, you can use
before the stars start to trail in your shot. For example, using
a 20mm lens on a full-frame camera, divide 500 by 20, giving
you 25 seconds, the longest time you can expose before the
stars appear to move.
If you plan to capture star trails through a long exposure,
a lower ISO gives you much less noise, and the light absorbed
by the lengthy time exposure can capture the detail needed.
Wide-angle lenses work best to cover larger portions of the
sky, but any lens can be used; just recognize that the longer
the lens, the more opportunity for camera shake, as well as
a smaller aperture thats tougher to see through, requiring
careful focus and a higher ISO setting. Faster lenses, ones
with larger maximum apertures, are also a benefit since the
wider openings make it easier to see through the viewfinder,
allow more light to hit your sensor, and give you the option
to use lower ISOs for less noise.
To balance artificial light with ambient starlight, the artificial light you provide, or thats provided through another
source, must match closely to the extremely dim ambient
light level of the stars. Go outside that limited range and your
exposure is lost due to the difference between an extremely
bright artificial light and low-level starlight combined, hence
an unrealistic final scene or a ton of post work to recover
the image. Waiting for the campfire to lower to a flicker was
the key to this image, while artificial light from a headlamp
was used to add a touch of detail to the glacial erratic sitting
below a star-filled sky. The RAW file was exposed at f/4 for
15 seconds using ISO 1600 with an 18mm lens.
Step Five: Next, use the sliders in the Basic panel of the
Develop module to recover highlights and open shadow
detail. For this specific image, an extra step is taken by creating a Mask Overlay using the Adjustment Brush (K) to
recover highlight detail and correct white balance in the
tent, while not affecting the pinpoints of light in the sky. In
this example, Ive turned on Show Selected Mask Overlay so
you can see where Ive painted with the Adjustment Brush.
The letter O will turn the overlay on and off.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
Step Six: The second Mask Overlay using the Adjustment

Brush (K) covers the upper part of the scene to color-correct
the sky. Click the word New at the top of the Adjustment
Brush panel to add a new pin to your image. That way you
wont affect the Adjustment Brush settings that you just
applied to the tent. If your image only contains a silhouetted
landscape with the stars above, this step isnt necessary. A
Fluorescent white balance is often a good place to start, neutralizing greenish skies while offering a cooler sky tone. You
can also adjust the white balance manually in the sky using
the Temp and Tint sliders in the Basic panel. Skies are rarely
green (not including the northern lights) and, if youre a good
distance from any metropolitan area, shouldnt appear as any
other hue besides a deep blue, falling off to a slight orange
near the horizon. Its how we see most night skies, outside
of a stark black tone. Therefore, balancing your sky to match
this tone helps assist the lifelike aspect for the final scene.
Step Three
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file to work with, various postprocessing techniques in Lightroom CC can

help you stretch the capabilities of
your image sensor, pulling out extra
detail while correcting other imperfections. Using presets to fix night scenes
may not be the best option, as every
situation and exposure requires specific recovery and adjustments. Take
this Yosemite image of a tent below
the Milky Way. The balance of the tent
glow and the nighttime sky are a bit
high in contrast, but not enough to
lose detail in either area. Initial adjustments are done in the Lens Correc-
Step Five
Step Four: Once you have a solid RAW
Step Four
Step Six
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Step Seven: To maintain realism, there should

be a balance between what we can see with
the naked eye and what an image sensor can
record; however, at night when the sensor can
retain so much more detail, collecting the light
over a longer exposure, some artistic license can
be taken to enhance certain areas. The goal is
to bring out important detail while maintaining
a strong sense of a nighttime feel through dark
tones, solid contrast, and a proper exposure.
Adding contrast to the night sky brings out the
detail in the disk-shaped glowing band of the
Milky Way. You can either use the Lights slider
in the Tone Curve panel of the Develop module, or make adjustments by adding another
Mask Overlay with the Adjustment Brush using
the Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, and Whites
sliders in the Adjustment Brush panel.
Step Ten: Once your image has the look and feel you desire,
move into Photoshop (Command-E [PC: Ctrl-E]) to make any
final touch-ups and save a PSD or TIFF version of the final mas-
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
ter file. Be subtle in your approach and remember, photography, as an art, can be creative and subjective, but when the aim
is for a natural feel, nonfiction is better than fantasy.
Step Seven
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Step Nine: Once youve made all your major

adjustments, use Lightroom CCs new-andimproved Noise Reduction sliders in the Detail
panel of the Develop module. Reducing digital
noise created from higher ISOs removes the
gritty look of the final scene, but use these sliders cautiously so you dont remove many of
the stars in the sky. Zoom in to 1:1 or 2:1 in
the Navigator panel at the top left, adjust the
sliders, then turn the Detail settings on and off
with the toggle switch at the top left of the
panel to compare the before and after.
Step Nine: Before removing noise
Step Eight: In any night scene, you should

maintain a deep black area, what we use
to call D-max in film and print processing.
The Histogram can be a good tool to check
this. Just recognize that youll have quite a
bit of clipping, loss of detail in the shadow
areas, and this is okay. Were working with
a night scene and if you attempt to show all
detail in all areas, this can result in a bizarre
unrealistic-looking starscape. Knowing when
and where to enhance and brighten detail is
a critical step toward this realistic approach.
Step Nine: After removing noise

Final
ALL IMAGES BY SEAN ARBABI
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Questions Answers
116
SCOTT KELBY
When Im painting over large areas

with the Adjustment Brush, sometimes
the brush really lags. Is there any way
to speed this up?
A lot of times when I shoot products

on a white background, the white areas
have a bluish tint to them. Whats an
easy way to get rid of this?
Heres one thing that can make a big speed difference: Turn
off the Auto Mask checkbox in the Adjustment Brush (K)
panel. When youre painting over a large area with Auto
Mask turned on, its trying to detect the edges of things, so
its doing all this behindthe-scenes math, and
that slows the brush
down (and gives you
little gaps sometimes as
well). So turn it off when
youre well away from
areas you dont want to paint over, and this will really speed
things up a lot. What I do is keep Auto Mask off nearly all
the time, and only turn it on when my brush gets near the
edge of an area I dont want to accidentally paint over. Give
that a tryI think youll see an immediate speed boost.
As long as the rest

of the image doesnt
have a lot of blue in
it, you can try this
technique I use when
I run into this situation: Go to the HSL
panel, click on the
Saturation tab, and
click on the Targeted
Adjustment Tool (TAT) in the top-left corner of the panel.
Then, click-and-drag downward on the white background to
remove the bluish tint. It will automatically select the right sliders to reduce that blue tint.
In the Print module, in the Print Job

panel, how come when I drag the
Brightness or Contrast slider, I dont
see anything change?
Lightroom has a Quick Collection that lets you add any image
to it by clicking on the image and pressing the letter B. Some
folks use this as a temporary collection while sorting images,
but if youd prefer that a different collection be used when
you press the letter B, you can set any collection to be your
Target Collection (instead of the Quick Collection). Just Rightclick on the collection that you want to use in the Collections
panel and select Set as Target Collection. Once you do that,
clicking on an image and pressing B will send your image to
the collection you targeted, instead of to the Quick Collection.
Its because its not

actually changing the
brightness or contrast
of the image file itself
it just applies those
adjustments to the
version of the image it
sends to the printer, so
thats where you see
the brightness or contrast changes appear. It
takes a test print or two
to find out the right
amount of Brightness
and Contrast to match
what you see onscreen
to what comes out of
your printer.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
Heres how I use a Target Collection: When Im doing a

studio shoot, I create a new collection, set it as my target collection, and sync that collection to Lightroom Mobile on my
iPad. Then, I hand my iPad to the art director or client on the
set, and when I take an image during the shoot that I want the
client to see, I press the letter B, and the image goes into that
collection and over to the client on the iPad. That way, they
only see the images I want them to see, and not ones where
my subject didnt have a great expression, or where I messed
up the composition, or when the flash didnt fire, etc.
ment. If you look near the top-right corner of the Adjustment

Brush panel, youll see a little black disclosure triangle (boring
official name) thats aiming down, which indicates its already
displaying (or disclosing) all those sliders. Click on that disclosure triangle, and it tucks all those sliders away, but it reveals
something new: an Amount slider that lets you adjust the
overall amount of all the sliders at the same time. Dragging
it to the left will proportionally reduce all of the applied settings at once.
I keep hearing about new features

being added to Lightroom Mobile
(like Split Toning and Tone Curve),
but I cant seem to find them. Where
are they hiding?
In Lightroom Mobile, tap on the Adjust icon, then tap once on
the little lens opening icon on the far left of the screen, and a
pop-up menu of Develop module features will appear. Thats
where youll find Split Toning, Tone Curve, and more.
Sometimes the area that the Spot Removal

tool (Q) picks to sample is way off, and
the results look terrible. I know I can drag
the sample circle to a new location and it
will sample from there instead, but is there
a better way to do this, or is it just one of
those things you have to do manually?
What is a Target Collection and why would

I use it?
Theres a way to have Lightroom automatically pick a different

sample spot for youjust press the Forward Slash key on your
keyboard and it picks a new spot. You can press it multiple
times until you see a result that looks better than the original
one it chose.
If Ive used the Adjustment Brush on

an image, and Ive applied a number of
different sliders (for example, Contrast,
Highlights, Whites, Blacks, and Clarity),
and later decide that the entire adjustment
was a bit too strong, is there a way I can
reduce all those sliders by the same
percentage amount, or do I have to drag
them one by one?
Actually, theres a way you can move them all in tandem
so its more like turning down the intensity of your entire adjust-
Is there a way to pick which image appears

as the one thats visible in an image stack?
Absolutely. Start by clicking the two lines next to the image
thumbnail in Grid view (G) to expand the stack so you
can see all the images under that one thumbnail. Now,
move your cursor over the image youd like to have as the
cover thumbnail for the stack and its number in the stack
appears up in the top-left corner; for example, if you have
16 images in your stack, and you moved your cursor over
the ninth image in the stack, youd see a white box appear
that says 9 of 16. Click once directly on that number and
that image now becomes the thumbnail for the stack when
its collapsed.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
117
Lightroom Magazine
&
TipsTricks
One of the cool things about Lightroom and Photoshop is
that, since theyre both Adobe products, they play well
together. Because of this, its easy to take a file from Lightroom into Photoshop for additional editing. In this months
column, well take a closer look at the details of the back and
forth between Lightroom and Photoshop.
SEN DUGGAN
into Photoshop, the title tab for the file may still show the file
extension as the RAW file from where it originated, but at this
point its no longer a RAW file.
118
When you open a RAW file from Lightroom to Photoshop

using the Photo>Edit In>Edit in Adobe Photoshop command
(Command-E [PC: Ctrl-E]), Lightroom will apply any adjustments youve added in the Develop module and process the
RAW file into Photoshop. Note that when the file is opened
Once youve taken a file from Lightroom to Photoshop and

back, youre faced with a fork-in-the-road situation. Will further editing only be done in Photoshop, or will it be a combination of both newer Lightroom edits and additional Photoshop edits? The main thing to understand is that there are
some limitations to how the Photoshop edits (especially layers)
and any new Lightroom edits can work together.
reopening a psd, tiff, or jpeg file

into photoshop
The file will appear in Photoshop in the resolution, bit depth,

and color space youve specified in the External Editing Preferences (Lightroom [PC: Edit]>Preferences). When you save the
file in Photoshop (using the normal File>Save menu command,
or the Command-S [PC: Ctrl-S] shortcut), it will be saved in the
file format specified in this dialog, and placed back into the
same folder as the original RAW file. (Theres also an option
in the External Editing Preferences to stack this edited file with
the original.)
alternate paths into photoshop
to photoshop and back with raw files
There are also options for Merge to Panorama in Photoshop

and Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop. Lightroom CC also offers
its own commands for panoramas and HDR that dont require
Photoshop, and you can find those under Photo>Photo Merge.
the further edits fork in the road
why make the trip to photoshop?

Lightroom is a very capable program in terms of applying
global adjustments that affect the overall image, as well as
targeted local modifications that affect only specific parts of
a photo. These changes are nondestructive and can be modified
or undone at any time, which is one of the great things about
working in Lightroom. In my own workflow, a trip to Photoshop might be triggered because I need a much more precise
and specific local edit than I can create with Lightrooms local
adjustment tools, or perhaps I need to apply more intricate and
complex retouching, or I might want to use the photo as part
of a multi-image composite. For some people who are new
to Lightroom, but already well acquainted with Photoshop, a
trip into that program may occur simply because theyre more
familiar with Photoshop. My approach is to do as much as
I can to the file in Lightroom and then bring it into Photoshop
for those adjustments or modifications that I just cant do in
Lightroom, such as the precise layer mask seen here.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
Lightroom Magazine
Depending on what you want to do with your file, there are a

few other choices available in the Photo>Edit In menu.
Open as Smart Object in Photoshop will do just that,
extending all the nondestructive flexibility of smart objects (far
too numerous to list here) to the file when it arrives in Photoshop. If its a RAW file, youll be able to re-edit any Lightroom
Develop adjustments by double-clicking the smart object layer
thumbnail and opening the embedded RAW file into Adobe
Camera Raw.
Open as Layers in Photoshop is one of my favorite commands and is for opening multiple files as layers into one
document. This is ideal for when you want to create a multiimage composite and have Lightroom and Photoshop do the
basic layer setup for you.
When you choose to open a non-RAW file (i.e., a TIFF, PSD,

or JPEG) into Photoshop using the Command-E (PC: Ctrl-E)
shortcut, a dialog appears that asks you what you want to edit,
and it presents you with three possible options. These options
include an explanation, but some new users are still perplexed
by the choices, so lets take a look at these and deconstruct
exactly what happens.
Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments: As advertised, this

will create a new file and apply any Lightroom adjustments.
So, if youve already brought a file into Photoshop, added
layers, saved it back to Lightroom, and now youve applied
some more Lightroom adjustments, heres what youll get:
A file in Photoshop where your previous layers have been
flattened, but the new Lightroom adjustments have been
applied. The loss of my Photoshop layers is what makes this
option a non-starter for me most of the time, but it might
be useful if youre opening a JPEG from your smart phone
and want to apply any Lightroom adjustments and do further work in Photoshop.
Edit a Copy: This creates a copy of the original file, but Lightroom adjustments will not be visible in Photoshop. If its a
layered PSD file, then your layers will be preserved and editable. If you choose to save the metadata to the file (Command-S [PC: Ctrl-S]) before bringing the file into Photoshop,
you can make new edits in Photoshop and when you save
and close the file, the version that comes back into Lightroom will still have the Develop module adjustments that
werent visible in Photoshop.
Edit Original: The term original here is quite problematic.

Most people think it refers to the original file that the camera
created, but this isnt necessarily the case, especially with a
RAW file. It refers to the original file that was created during
the first trip into Photoshop, or to an original JPEG (possibly a
camera original, but possibly not), TIFF, or PSD file. All layers
will be preserved and, as long as metadata is saved to the file
before making the trip into Photoshop, any Lightroom edits
will be reapplied once the file arrives back in Lightroom.
the curse of the multiplying files

Since each of the first two options in this dialog create a copy
of the file, using them too many times with the same file is a
sure way to end up with lots of files that all look very similar,
and it can be easy to lose track of just which file is which.
Because the default behavior for Lightroom is to append
-Edit onto the original filename, if you see files that are
named something like Img_2384-Edit-Edit-Edit-Edit-EditEdit-Edit.tiff, then you know that youve probably invoked
that command many times on the same original file.
changing the way externally edited

files are named
In the aforementioned External Editing Preferences, the last
option in the dialog lets you modify how the filenames are
appended for files that are edited in external applications. For
instance, I use the naming convention of -M to indicate a
master file, which is how I think of the layered files I create
from a RAW original.
creating alternate edit in

photoshop presets
In the center section of the External Editing Preferences is where
you can specify an external editor in addition to Photoshop. This
is also the place where you set up some plug-ins. Ive used this
section to set up an alternate Photoshop editing preset that
I use for JPEG files from my iPhone. My default edit in the Photoshop configuration opens the images as 16-bit ProPhoto
RGB files, which isnt really appropriate for 8-bit JPEGs from
a camera phone. So Ive created a special preset for those files
that, when used, will open them as 8-bit Adobe RGB files. Once
youve chosen your application and file settings in the Additional External Editor section, select Save Current Settings as
New Preset from the Preset drop-down menu, name it in the
New Preset dialog that appears, and click Create. This preset
will now appear in the Photo>Edit In menu.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
119
ALL IMAGES BY SAN DUGGAN
Product Reviews
X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Video
P
ortraitPro 15
Studio Max Edition
Four Reference Color Targets in a Clamshell

Review by Erik Vlietinck
Review by Jessica Maldonado
An experienced Photoshop user can take hours of meticulous attention to professionally retouch a portrait from start to finish. But how
often do we have the luxury of giving our full attention to every
imageespecially for a large project or if were on a tight deadline? I reviewed and recommended PortraitPro back in version 12,
and now I have the pleasure of working with the PortraitPro 15
Studio Max edition. Its just as good as before, but with several
new features that are just plain fun to use. (In fact, I found it hard
to stop playing with it long enough to write this review!)
Before
PortraitPro instantly detects the faces in each image opened,

and its an easy process to make any tweaks: Just drag around the
After with Makeup
outlines to match the face in your image. Out-of-the-box after
ready to go in less than one minute. My lingering issue with the
122
even wider range of looks. All the skin sections let you view and
edit the skin area easily (think Quick Mask or Refine Edge).
automatic results is that they include Face Sculpt. While a few por-
Additional sections include Eye Controls and Mouth & Nose
traits will require adjustment, and some clients may even request
Controls, which give you sliders for each eye, the top and bottom
one (a smaller nose, perhaps), it irks me that its part of the default
lip, and teeth. You can brighten, sharpen, whiten, adjust eye and
even for children! But, its one click to remove, and easy to save a
lip color, and even add contact lenses (I found this handy in a stock
custom preset that doesnt include Face Sculpt (especially handy for
image where the iris texture was lost to noise).
batch work). And, speaking of batch adjustments, theyre impres-
New to this version are Makeup Controls. Although these may
sively fast, although they occasionally return some funkiness, so
not always be necessary, theyre totally fun to use, and they might
Id recommend taking a peek at each image in your batch before
come in handy if a photo shoot lacks a makeup artist or the mod-
closing out of PortraitPro, then you can tweak the face-detection
els makeup has worn away. (As with every section/slider, how-
outlines, where necessary, to avoid these aberrations.
ever, too much can look fake.) I especially like the mascara and
At the top of the control panel on the interface is a list of Pre-
false eyelashes, which remind me of brushes that Corey Barker
sets, including a few that add makeup (new this version). No pre-
created for Scott Kelbys book, Professional Portrait Retouching
set is perfect, but these make for good starting points. Everything
Techniques for Photographers Using Photoshop. Id love to see
is easily fine-tuned with sliders in each section, so it cant hurt to
PortraitPro partner with a cosmetics company for real-world color
flick through the presets rather than start from scratch. Again,
palettes, but for now its great to be able to sample color from
with a couple of clicks, you can save your favorite results as cus-
your photo or choose from the spectrum.

This is powerful retouching software at a very reasonable price.
tom presets.
The Skin Smoothing Controls give great results, with separate
The Studio and Studio Max editions can be used alone or as a
sliders for the left and right under-eye areas, around the mouth,
Photoshop or Lightroom plug-in, handle RAW files directly, and
etc. Theres a long menu of skin texture fills, so skin will still look
support different color spaces. PortraitPro 15 Studio Max edi-
like skin, not just blurred or noisy. For larger blemishes that the
tion takes what can be a tedious, repetitive task, and gives good
controls cant fix, theres the Touch Up Brush (cousin to Photo-
results quickly, so you can move on to other workif you can tear
shops Healing brush) for targeted zapping. Below that are the
yourself away from playing with it!
Skin Lighting Controls, where you can move the light source,
adjust shadows, even add Left or Right Kick lights. If you go crazy
in this section, you can create artifacts outside the face area, but
you can resolve that by backing off on the adjustments. Down in
the Skin Coloring Controls, theres a new menu of skin settings,
ranging from Illuminating Dew to Icy Frosting to help you get an
Company: Anthropics Technology Ltd.
Price: $239.90
Web: www.portraitprofessional.com
Rating:
Hot: Myriad features make retouching fast and enjoyable
Not: Hair-coloring features and presets could be improved
In December, X-Rite released its ColorChecker Video range of

products, including the ColorChecker Passport Video, which uses
a clamshell design with four targets rolled into one. It integrates
with Color Finale, a professional color grading plug-in for Final Cut
Pro X by Denver Riddle.
The ColorChecker Passport Video has a white balance target,
a 40 IRE midtone gray patch, a color target, and a focus target.
The color target has six chips specifically designed to align with the
color axis on a vectorscope.
The workflow is simple. Before you start your actual take or
shot, you place the ColorChecker for a couple of seconds somewhere in the frame facing the camera, making sure the reflective
black patch doesnt reflect into the lens.
When everythings been done correctly, you can shoot your
clip as usual. In postproduction you can now correct colors using
the card as a reference tool. The card makes the correction process a lot easier because youre dealing with primary colors.
The whole process becomes really efficient when its integrated with your video editor, such as with the Color Finale plugin for Final Cut Pro X. In color grading apps, such as Adobes
SpeedGrade, you miss out on this user-friendly integration. Even
then, its easier to get colors right using the target and the softwares vectorscope.
For DaVinci Resolve (Blackmagic Design), a Color Match feature
will soon integrate with the ColorChecker, while other apps will
integrate the ColorChecker in their correction workflow as well.
The white balance and 40 IRE patches allow you to improve
the color preview on your cameras display so your histograms are
more reliable. The focus target helps with edge focusing; however, users of cheaper lenses will benefit less with this target than
others because of moir problems.
The company also offers a large ColorChecker Video for studio work.
Company: X-Rite, Inc.
Price: $149
Web: http://xritephoto.com/video-targets
Rating:
Hot: Form factor; lightweight; 4-in-1
Not:
Macphuns Aurora HDR Pro

Advanced Color Control and Color Toning
Review by Steve Baczewski
Early HDR software gave photographers a process to combine

bracketed exposures of a scene and maximize the dynamic range
otherwise too wide to be captured by a single exposure. Sadly,
the results were often garish, lacking subtlety, and left a vacuum
for a more photorealistic look.
A collaborative effort between Macphun and HDR maven
Trey Ratcliff, Aurora HDR Pro has arguably the most powerful
comprehensive toolset on the market, providing users with a creative license to roam from the otherworldly to photorealistic. This
Mac-only Pro version works as a standalone and as a plug-in for
Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, and Elements.
Much of the Aurora interface will look familiar. The slider
names are appropriately descriptive; however, some sliders have
levels of complexity with fine distinctions, so Id suggest users
might benefit by reading the manual and watching website video
tutorials, including an hour-long video with Trey Ratcliff.
Aurora Pro supports all the popular proprietary RAW formats,
and you can drag-and-drop files on Auroras splash screen or
export them from your image editor. Initial processing includes
options for ghost reduction, alignment, and chromatic aberration. Five 42-megapixel Sony RAW files took two minutes to
process. There are 38 wide-ranging presets for use as a point

of departure, but Auroras power is in its vast toolset. Edits can
be done globally or selectively. Key features include luminosity
masks, advanced tone mapping, a sophisticated layers section,
blend modes, masking, brushes, and image detail enhancement.
A histogram tracks your every move.
Although I found using the split screen before-and-after mode
very practical, I hope the next version of this software will include
a history feature or an option to save snapshots for versions worth
further exploration. While you can dial it way up stylistically, Aurora
HDR Pro is great with creating a balanced, natural HDR look. If you
create HDR images, Aurora Pro is well worth looking into.
Company: Macphun Software
Price: $99
Web: www.macphun.com
Rating:
Hot: Multiple export options including social media
Not: No history or snapshot feature
Make Portrait Retouching Easy and Even Fun!
results are pretty good, so you potentially have a retouched image
GET THE SCOOP ON THE LATEST GEAR
123
REVIEWS
Exposure X by Alien Skin Software

Film Emulation and Effects Plug-in
Review by Daniel M. Eastr
The Best Keeps Getting Better!

Review by Michael Corsentino
Capture One Pro 9, Phase Ones new full-version update

to their flagship RAW conversion and image-editing
software, continues its history as an imaging tool
worthy of love, something users have come to expect.
I use this software every day and am a big fan of
its elegant design, powerful toolset, and best-in-class
RAW conversions.
This is mature software, so the majority of enhancements,
additions, and updates in any new version arent earth shattering, reinvent-the-wheel revelations, but rather those that build
steadily upon and improve Capture One Pros already solid foundation. This isnt to say that there arent a slew of exciting new
tools and compelling reasons to upgrade to version 9, because
there are. Heres a look at some of whats new and improved.
124
Keywords: Two new tools have been added to Capture One

Pro 9: the Keyword tool, which enables the addition/removal
of keywords to individual or multiple images; and the Keyword
Library tool, which can be used to create and manage multiple
keyword lists or import them from other sources.
Improved Contrast Engine: The Exposure Contrast slider can
now add contrast, while at the same time preserving hue, saturation, and lightness values. Curves has a new Luma mode that
constrains contrast changes to Luminance only, also preserving
hue and saturation values. Making contrast (and its impact on
color) independent goes a long way toward better, more accurate color fidelity.
Local Adjustments and Masking: Masking Brush Settings now
include Flow and Airbrush sliders, both welcome additions. Flow
and Airbrush controls are especially useful when it comes to
creating complex masks and dodging and burning. Straight Line
Masking lets you create a mask outline by first clicking to define
the desired square, rectangle, or similar straight-line shape, and
then filling it to complete the masked area.
Updated Color Editor Interface: The Color Editor is now a tool
palette that can be undocked from others and resized, when
needed, for improved visual feedback when selecting color

ranges. With the Create Masked Layer from Selection option,
you can now use color range selections to create Local Adjustments Masks. This very powerful feature makes all the tools in
the Local Adjustments toolset available for use with masked
color range selections.
Rescaling Engine: Capture One Pro 9s Rescaling Engine for
reducing or enlarging images from their original dimensions has
been completely overhauled, allowing users to preserve the quality and sharpness of their images regardless of output size.
Tethered Shooting Battery Power Status Indicator: A batterypower status icon has been added to Capture One Pros Tethered Shooting toolbar, thus helping to prevent unwanted interruptions from loss of power.
Import DNG Catalogs: For those considering, or now in transition from Lightroom to Capture One Pro, theres good news!
Lightroom catalogs containing DNG file-format images can now
be imported easily into Capture One Pro.
If you havent dipped your toe into the Capture One Pro 9 pool
yet, now might just be the perfect time to download the free
30-day trial. Just sayin.
Company: Phase One
Price: $299 (Upgrade: $99); $15/month

single-user subscription
Web: www.phaseone.com
Rating:
Hot: Keyword tools; revised contrast engine; color editor masks
Not:
the original offers countless options for your final outputs look.
Even after years of working with all of the previous versions, Exposure X is so much fun to use that I want to go back to some older
images just to see what they might look like with these new filters,
effects, and controls.
Exposure X is all of the things that made every preceding version a photographers favorite, but it adds even more options,
control, and speed, thus providing the potential for more timeless
images in the creative photography market.
Company: Alien Skin Software, LLC
Price: $149 (Upgrade: $99)
Web: www.alienskin.com
Rating:
Hot: Faster; new features; file management
Not:
Picture Instruments Color Cone

Color Correcting in the HCL Color Scheme
Color Cone is a new app that enables you to correct colors and
create color lookup tables (LUTs). The app is based on a terrific
concept, but its design could be better.
Color Cone consists of one window with four segments. The
preview window shows your image and the adjustments made
to it, while the other three segments deal with the adjustments
themselves. Color Cone renders colors in the HCL scheme using
eyedropper samples on the interface.
The eye catcher is the dual cone in the center of the right
panel; however, the cone cannot be rotated or otherwise
manipulated. You can manipulate the samples, but that quickly
becomes unwieldy when there are a lot of them.
Although the app has a clumsy design, the workflow is simple: You use the eyedropper to select a color you want to adjust
in your image, fine-tune the selection, and a mask shows your
selection. Lastly, you adjust the color using the Target controls.
When youre done, you can either save the adjustments as a preset, or as a 3D LUT in any of half-a-dozen LUT file formats for use
in other apps such as Photoshop.
Unfortunately, the process is only straightforward if correcting images with easily discernible colors. For example: When
colors bleed through to the background, youll need so many

samples to get it right that it makes selecting them incredibly
hard. Its especially difficult when theyre close together, as you
have to scroll through all of them to find the one you need.
Thats inefficient because there are no layers or even a list to pick
from directly.
In addition, the app doesnt support RAW images, which in
my opinion doesnt make sense. Color Cone is really a brilliant
idea that in practice leaves much to be desired.
Company: Picture Instruments, UG
Price: $189
Web: www.pictureinstruments.com
Rating:
Hot: Concept; HCL scheme; 3D LUT export feature
Not: Interface; no RAW support; no numeric feedback on sliders
Capture One Pro 9
Its always a huge plus when a developer strives to improve upon

one of their flagship products, and its especially true when theyre
listening to their end users along with their own research and
development. As they always do, Alien Skin Software steps up
their game with a major update to their popular Exposure plug-in/
standalone software with version X.
Theres a lot to love, but lets focus on whats new and
improved. My personal favorite is seamless access to photo files:
Exposure X lets you preview, view, select, and organize your
images, saving a lot of time. You can work at will with a folder
of images from within the launched software. While theres no
specific button to apply your effect(s), a simple export shortcut
does the trick (for Mac users, its Command-E).
Another great feature is that you can make edits in other software and immediately see those results in your previewsand the
previews are really fast. The one stumbling block (and its not a big
one) is that the preview window doesnt seem to use the same
color profile as the image once youre back in Photoshop (or your
preferred editing software); but its just a preview.
The controls are more accurate, have more abilities, and effects
can be stacked in a nondestructive layer, so blending effects with
125
REVIEWS
Eddycam Fashion Strap

When a Camera Strap Isnt Just a Camera Strap
Review by Michael Corsentino
One-Click Compositing Suite for Photoshop
Review by Rod Harlan
126
StudioMagic I & II is a full-fledged, robust, compositing suite built

into Photoshop panels. For novice Photoshop users, StudioMagic
will allow them to push the limits of their creativity beyond the
level of their Photoshop skills. For advanced users and working
professionals, it will save time and money by greatly accelerating
their visual effects workflow.
The StudioMagic Designer Set caught my attention as much
for what its not than for what it is. Its not a collection of actions
or a big pile of filters to further clutter up your Photoshop panels. It is a very clever group of lengthy Photoshop scripts tied to
one-click buttons on grouped Photoshop panels, which all work
together to make dramatic images as quickly and easily as possible. Basically, StudioMagic harnesses the power of Photoshop
under its hood, and reduces many of its most complicated tasks
to a few simple mouse clicks, so that anyone can create the look
of Photoshop masters in a fraction of the time.
It starts with StudioMagic I Pro-Panel that includes CutOut,
ShadowCaster, and LightBrush, the foundational tools needed
to ready your subjects for compositing.
CutOut takes the guesswork out of Photoshops Refine Edge
command by using industry-tested professional defaults, simple
sliders, and checkboxes. CutOut can cut out and replace skies
or remove subjects from backgrounds in seconds, even with
detailed edges or flying hair.
ShadowCaster is the logical extension of CutOut. It easily
creates an accurate shadow so your subject is believable and
anchored in its new scene. Change a shadows direction, opacity, and softness to match scene lighting, or create shadows
based on time of day, and then copy the same shadow settings
to multiple subjects in the same scene.
LightBrush takes flat-looking images and adds focus and
drama by painting with light (which is really just a layer mask).
If you make a mistake, just click a key, and paint back the light
you removed.
StudioMagic II includes the following five major compositing
toolsets for enhancing your images or working with StudioMagic
virtual sets:
Enviro turns a summer landscape into a snowy blizzard, creates a drenching rainstorm, or fills a field with thick morning
fog. You can even change daytime to sunset! The Enviro toolset
includes: Season Shifter, Let it Snow, Rain Maker, Fogged In,
and Sunset.
LightingEffex creates that magical moment when light breaks
through the clouds or a sudden beam streams through a window. The LightingEffex toolset includes: Color Match, LightRays,
LightBeams, LightBursts, and Edge Light.
Reflections is one of the most powerful scripts. In just a matter of seconds, it creates slick mirrored effects and controllable
water ripples that usually take much longer to produce. The
Reflections toolset includes: Water Reflect and Mirror Image.
Compositor places a selection of commonly used photographic enhancements at your fingertips so you can add them
to an image with a click of the mouse. The Compositor toolset
includes: Cloud Creator, Moon Clock, Over the Rainbow, Starry
Night, Lightning Strikes, and Birds & Flocks.
HyperZap is a module inspired by contemporary sports images,
magazine covers, and movie posters. Its the closest thing that this
package has to a filter set, but it delivers an image style thats both
contemporary and commercial. The HyperZap toolset includes:
Grunge Boost and Color Pop Effects.
All in all, the StudioMagic I & II Designer Set, bundled with
12 Virtual Studio Sets, is a good deal at $249, both for Photo
shop novices who want to produce better work than their current skillset, and for advanced users who want to save hours
producing these same effects from scratch. And if you use the
special Photoshop User magazine promo code PUser-2016,
you can save 20% through March 30! And if youre a KelbyOne
member, be sure to visit the Discounts section at KelbyOne.com
for even more savings on LayerCake products.
Company: LayerCake Inc.
Price: $249 Designer Set
Web: www.layercakeelements.com
Rating:
Hot: Simple buttons/sliders work fast; excellent results
Not:
Ive been using my Eddycam strap for several weeks now with
my Fuji X-T1, and I can tell you firsthand that these straps live up to
their hype. Theyre well built, very comfortable, and great looking
too. Keep in mind the strap I tested, as well as a large part of the
Eddycam line, is best suited for lighter cameras, such as mirrorless,
rather than larger DSLR bodies.
With more than 100 versions in 8 colors and 17 different color
combinations, each available in three widths, lengths, and configurations, Eddycam Fashion straps have a lot to offer.
Company: Eddycam
Price: From $135
Web: www.digitalback.com
Rating:
Hot: Five-year warranty; beautiful design; high-quality components
Not: Best suited for lighter cameras
HP Z25n Monitor
Narrow Bezel, 25" IPS Display
Review by Daniel M. East
As the displays for design and photo professionals improve their

technologies and overall quality, one might imagine that a new,
slim-profile, energy-efficient model from HP would be just what
the doctor ordered for your latest upgrade. Unfortunately, in a
market that now boasts 4K displays from brands such as Dell and
Acer for around the same price, the HP Z25n has a bit of catching
up to do.
On the plus side, the screen has a 2560x1440 resolution with
a 16:9 aspect ratio that is clear from all angles of viewing, but it
stops short of the 3840x2160 4K resolution thats quickly becoming the standardfor now. While the screen quality is good
the images are very sharp, clean, and clearthere is variation in
the appearance edge-to-edge. Contrast and saturation are neutral but theyre not consistent. With a 1000:1 static contrast ratio,
there is less true black where one might want it. The deepest
black tones seem slightly artificial relative to the very good white
balance. The picture-in-picture capability is nice in theory but, in
this size, a second display might offer better options.
The Z25n has a full complement of ports for HDMI, DVI-D,
DisplayPort 1.2, mini-DisplayPort 1.2, and four USB 3.0 connec-
tions in its roughly 16 lb. structure. It also has a very stable feel
to its pivot positions for both horizontal and vertical viewing. In
spite of its nice design, the Z25n is pricey compared to similar
products from its competitors, and it lacks the control over color
that is so critical to this industry. Overall, this is a good monitor
that simply needs to step ahead of the competition instead of
running behind.
Company: HP
Price: $429
Web: www8.hp.com
Rating:
Hot: Sharp image; lots of connectivity options; slim design
Not: Lacks color control; contrast varies edge-to-edge
StudioMagic I and II
There are those who would argue that a car is just a car. As long
as it gets you from point A to point B, whats the difference?
While this is basically true, theres a clear difference between a
Porsche and a minivan, not just in price but also capability. The
same can be said of camera straps; but considering that theyre all
that stands between your much-loved camera and Newtons law
of gravity, having a strap thats up to the task is critical. If you can
also find one thats sexy, even better!
German-based Eddycam is the Porsche of camera straps, producing handcrafted elk skin camera straps in a variety of colors
and styles. Their marketing materials say their straps were developed with the individualist in mind, coming with small scratches
and imperfections inherent in the rugged frontier environment
where theyre sourced.
Eddycam prides itself on using high-quality components, craftsmanship, and paying attention to detail, such as quintuple-stitched
webbing and special 4700-N tensile-strength thread; non-breakable stainless-steel adjustment clips; and sturdy polypro
pylene
connecting elements. Made from elk skins up to 2.4 mm thick,
Eddycam straps provide stability, elasticity, and comfort using the
proprietary treatment process at Eddycams Finnish tannery.
127
REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS
PETER BAUER
A
kurat Lighting A1
On-Camera Video LED Light
Highest Color Rendering Index with V-WHITE
Violet Chip Technology
The barndoors and diffuser option are meant to control the

light. Using magnets on the front bezel, theyre extremely easy
to attach and detach from the unit. The diffuser glass sits loosely
between the unit and the barndoors and does double duty as a
protection for the LEDs. You dont lose f-stops when using it.
The A1 comes with a jointed mounting system that gives you
more accurate targeting of the light. It lets you aim the A1 only in
the horizontal and vertical plane. This system is also made of metal
and can be replaced if desired.
Company: Akurat Lighting, Sp. z o.o.
Price: $449.95 (Barndoors: $79.95)
Web: www.akuratlighting.com
Rating:
Hot: CRI values; luminous output; size; quality of build
Not:
NEC MultiSync EA275UHD

27" 4K LCD Desktop Monitor
Review by Daniel M. East
128
As the design and digital imaging industries continue to move

into 4K as the standard for displays, the product choices are
becoming more competitive. As one of the leaders in this migration, NEC delivers an excellent option for those who want to balance form and function with a price-point that wont break the
bank: Enter the MultiSync EA275UHD 4K monitor.
While your best view with this display is head-on, the nearly
180 of clear viewing is impressive. In fact, its one of the first
things you may notice before calibration. Like its larger sibling,
the PA322UHD, the EA275UHD has touch controls and a clarity
that cannot be ignored. This is an excellent display with natural, neutral contrast, plus excellent light and human sensors to
accommodate nearly any ambient lighting situation.
The EA275UHD has an ECO mode that saves more than 50%
of power consumption on an already lower power drain monitor.
Further, its Energy Star, TCO, and RoHS environmentally compliant. The closest competitor to the EA275UHD is the Dell 27 Ultra
HD, which is $100 less, but its image quality isnt as balanced, nor
does it have the viewing angles or vertical viewing capabilities of
the NEC. The sound quality of the internal speakers is the only
Photoshop Masking & Compositing,

Second Edition
Achieving Your Potential As a Photographer:

A Photographers Creative Companion and Workbook
While theres no doubt that this book is worth sixty bucks,
This book is also less expensive at www.barnesandnoble.com
theres no need to pay that much. You can purchase the paper-
and www.amazon.com, and is also available as an eBook on
By Katrin Eismann, Sen Duggan, and James Porto
By Harold Davis
back directly from www.peachpit.com for $47.99 or from
Amazon and the Apple iBooks Store (but at the list price). Much
www.barnesandnoble.com for $44.99. Peachpit.com also offers
of the book is designed around the workbook. The author dis-
digital versions in the formats EPUB, MOBI, and PDF (reviewed
plays many of his own photos, often with information about
here) for $38.39. The Barnes & Noble Nook version runs $30.49.
how he took the photo and what decisions he made in the
Okay, now lets talk about the five-star rating: If you do anything
process. Other images are for illustrative purposes. This book
more than red-eye correction and color balance to an image,
is intended for photographers who want to spend disciplined
buy this book. Youll learn to make selections that isolate part
time and effort in order to improve their work. The introduc-
of an image that needs a specific adjustment, how to combine
tion explains the authors intent. Some of the chapters provide
multiple images into a single piece of art, and do those things
very specific information about a technique or process, while
that separate common photography from great compositions.
others (such as the Artisanal Print Making chapter) offer only
With red-eye correction, youre isolating one part of the image
some generalities. Likewise, some of the exercises in the work-
(or two) for adjustment. Imagine being able to do that to any-
book have very specific instructions and goals; others (like the
thing or any part of an image!
exercise on printing) arent related to the chapter content.
stumbling point for this display (as it is for so many manufacturers). The barky 500Hz2Khz sound is barely listenable and
harsh to the ears so, in this case, the real purpose of this monitor
is sight over sound.
When its time for an upgrade to a new monitor that provides
more features than its competitors at a midline price, the NEC
27" EA275UHD is worth your consideration. While it may not be
as inexpensive as some of their competitors models, the overall
image quality, features, and functions of this monitor make it an
excellent choice and a standout in this category.
Company: NEC Display Solutions
Price: $799
Web: www.necdisplay.com
Rating:
Publisher: New Riders
Pages: 487
Publisher: Focal Press
Pages: 257 (including 48 page workbook)
Hot: Image quality; text clarity; viewing angles; fast startup
Website: www.peachpit.com
Website: www.focalpress.com
Not: Speaker quality
Price: $59.99 Rating:
Price: $34.95
Rating:
With dual color balance using two sets of diodes and the ability to
mix color temperatures in various combinations, the A1 manages
to achieve the highest CRI values in the industry with an Ra of 98
and an R9 of 97. The A1 throws about 1100 lux on your subject.
The A1 is small enough to fit comfortably on top of a video camera, be it a professional ENG camera or a Sony A7. Made out of aluminum, it weighs next to nothing. Optional barndoors use strong
magnets for mounting and include a separate diffusion glass.
The A1 can be powered by any type of battery used in the video
industry. I chose to have the Sony NP-F adapter fitted. Equipped
with an NP-F970 battery, the light has about 46 hours runtime.
You can also power the A1 with an optional power adapter, or by
using your own 614 Volt DC adapter.
I tested the A1s luminous output and its color accuracy with
a spectrophotometer. The A1s claims are no exaggeration, with
only slight differences between whats on the control knob and
the measured temperature, even when using the mixed color output settings.
129
COLUMN
Photoshop
From The Advice Desk
February 2016
O F
A D V E R T I S E R S
For advertising information, please contact Kevin Agren, V.P. Sales, at 813-433-2370.
email: kagren@kelbymediagroup.com
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While every attempt has been made to make this listing as complete as possible, its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
Answers to Photoshop and gear-related questions
Im a little confused about the difference between the Image>Adjustments commands and using
adjustment layers. And now we have Camera Raw and a Camera Raw Filter inside Photoshop.
Whats the difference?Kathleen
To: Kathleen
From: KelbyOne Advice Desk
The key is flexibility, the possibility of going back to a layered PSD or TIFF file and making changes to the changes
you already made. If you use an Image>Adjustments
command, the pixels are changed forever. If you use
an adjustment layer, you can re-open the adjustments
dialog and apply different settings.
This might happen if you change your mind about
how the image should look, or it may be because you
want to create a custom copy of a particular image
because this print will be hung in an area with unusual
lighting. If, for example, you have a client who will be
hanging your print under fluorescent lighting and you
want it to look as good as it does under daylight, you
may need to add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer
(or make changes to an existing adjustment layer),
play around with the settings, and create small sample
prints until you get exactly what you want. If the print
will be hanging in a very brightly lit room, you may
need to work with a Curves adjustment layer to get the
exact look you want.
Remember, one of your most important advertising
tools is the people seeing your work. If it doesnt look
good because of the lighting in the room, you may
be missing a sale (or several). I like to see where my
prints will hang (or at least a photo of the area) and a
paint chip of the wall color so I can judge the lighting
before making a print for that specific spot. I also like
to know the distance from which people will first see
the image so that I can sharpen appropriately. Unfortunately, the various sharpening filters arent available as
adjustment layers, so each print is a separate file. When

working with adjustment layers, you have a couple of
options so that you dont end up with several copies of
the same file.
You can, for example, add a single Hue/Saturation
adjustment layer and use the Note tool (nested in the
Toolbox with the Eyedropper tool [I]) to keep track of
what settings you used for each print. Alternatively,
use a series of Hue/Saturation adjustment layers,
each appropriately named, and have only one of the
adjustment layers visible at the time you make that
specific print.
The Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop is simply a filter
that offers you most of the capabilities of the Camera
Raw plug-in. But, its a filter and the changes it makes
to an image are permanentif you re-open the filter,
all the sliders are set back to their defaults. And keep
in mind that using the Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop
doesnt convert your image into a RAW file.
The Camera Raw plug-in, which is used with RAW
image files, is used prior to opening the image into Photoshop. You do have the option of opening images from
Camera Raw into Photoshop as smart objects rather
than as image files. Doing so enables you to go back to
the Camera Raw plug-in to make changes by doubleclicking the smart object layer thumbnail in Photoshops
Layers panel. Filters applied to a smart object are applied
as smart filters so, much like an adjustment layer, you
can double-click the filter in the Layers panel to re-open
it and make changes. Flexibility!
The KelbyOne Member

ADVICE DESK
Are you taking advantage of the Advice Desk at the KelbyOne member website? This is the place where you can get all of your
Photoshop and Lightroom questions answered by our Advice Desk experts. Not only that, you can get photo and computer gear
help and advice, as well. What are you waiting for? Visit the Advice Desk section under My Account on the KelbyOne member
site today!
w w w. p h ot o s h o p u s e r . c o m
I N D E X
131
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From the Editor

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FROM THE ADVICE DESK

Commercial Sports Graphic

Mapping One Image onto Another

The Hateful Eight Poster Effect

X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Video

Akurat Lighting A1 On-Camera Video LED Light

Photoshop Book Reviews

But WaitTheres More

PortraitPro 15 Studio Max Edition

LIGHTROOM TIPS & TRICKS 118

PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND

Layers, Part 1: Opacity

Quick Selection tool

Portable Lighting: Lets Go

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A FEW WORDS FROM

From the Editor

PHOTOSHOPS MOST WANTED

FEBRUARY 2016 Volume 19 Number 2

Scott Kelby, Editor-in-Chief

Ajna Adams Sean Arbabi Steve Baczewski Corey Barker

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