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Part 1
Once you leave traditional film-based processing and move into the world of digital editing, you enter a new realm of possibilities. Your power to control size, shape, color, light, and almost every aspect of any part of any image will enable you to do dazzling things. This is especially true if you learn to shoot images specifically for digital editing and then begin combining images. Therefore, to take advantage of the many features of the endless supply of new digital imaging software and hardware, you need to begin thinking differently about how to take photos. How do you think differently? The easiest way is to learn the following 15 techniques and then begin inventing your own.
Shoot objects When I first started digitally editing images, I was thrilled to see what could be done. I could place any kind of object in an image—it could be scaled, the perspective could be altered, and the colors and lighting could be changed to match that of the scene that it was being placed in. One object can be placed in front of, or behind, another object. Objects can be removed as well as inserted. They can be duplicated, blended, transformed, and manipulated in an endless number of ways. After a few of these sessions, I became very aware of the importance of shooting objects for the objects themselves.
Once you learn how much effort it can take to remove an object from one image to place it in another image, you'll start thinking about ways to diminish that effort as much as possible. Chapter 6, "Performing Digital Imaging Magic," covers masking for those of you who want to get into object creation. After reading that chapter, you'll know how to shoot objects—just for the objects themselves.
You'll also learn to pay close attention to light sources and the resulting highlights and shadows. For example, if the light is coming from the left and it leaves a shadow on the right of one object, and another object has a shadow on the left, you'll have a lot of work to do to remove one shadow and create another one to make the image look correct. Complex objects often make correcting shadows and highlights difficult, if not impossible. The solution to this problem is to shoot with the correct lighting.
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I keep a separate file directory just for objects. In it are butterflies, seagulls, people, cats, turtles, mushrooms, moons, boats, flowers—even LEGO models. Figure 2.12 shows the results of combining a North Carolina turtle (the Loch Ness monster), a South Carolina seagull, and an old wooden boat from Portugal into an image off the coast of Scotland! You might call this a very international image.
Shoot poses Several years ago, I watched as my kids jumped up and down on a trampoline. At the time, I noticed how cool they looked just as they reached the highest point in each jump. For just an instant in time, they were suspended in air—they looked as though they were floating. I quickly fetched my camera and took two photographs of them jumping. Several years later, I was able to remove the floating kids, find a moon object from my object collection, and create the magical image shown in Figure 2.14.
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The second technique, then, is to shoot people while they are posing in the right way. Think about the angle you'll want later. Perspective is a very important and sometimes difficult thing to show correctly. Our eyes are good at spotting image fraud if the perspective is not correct.
Shoot backgrounds just for a background Deep inside a cavern, I found a most amazing place. The colors were incredibly rich and the shapes were out of this world. I took a few time exposures (sadly, without the luxury of a tripod), knowing that someday I would want the images just for the backgrounds they might provide. Look for backgrounds that are more ordinary and take pictures just to be used as background images at a later time. After a few years of shooting such pictures, you'll find that your collection of backgrounds is quite valuable as you learn to combine them with images from other pictures.
Shoot to create fantasy Every now and then, shoot images that you know will just be fun to use. Once I shot a low-angle view of a few lily pads. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this image yet—but I took the picture simply because I know that, someday, I'll have the inspiration to do something cool with it. When I took the picture, I could imagine a few cats lying in the sun on several of the lily pads. Since my object collection has many sports objects, I might even create a practice area for lacrosse or soccer players on each pad. The point is that you have to use your imagination and think differently to create unique and creative images.
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Shoot just for color This might seem like an odd technique at first. Why would you want to shoot a picture just for the colors in the picture? It turns out that some digital editing applications enable you to create a color palette based solely upon the colors contained in an image. If you take a picture that has outstanding colors, such as the rich brown colors of a decaying log shown in the inset in Figure 2.18, you can then use it as a palette for another image such as the soccer player that has been transformed into a Graphic for a T-shirt.
Shoot sequences of images Once you see a series of photographs that has been taken in sequence for a digital slide show, you'll love this technique. By reducing the image size, you also can use the right kind of image series as animation on a Web site. A sequence you might want to try is to shoot a whole series of pictures of a person's face while they talk, laugh, and make faces. Played back as a slide show with an appropriate slide transition and speed, the series can be very lifelike—almost as if you were there.
If you want to shoot pictures of an old home that you have lived in for years, you could shoot a series of pictures as you walk up to the front door from the street. You could pause at the door, walk in, and take more pictures as you walk about the house. When you create the slide show, you could add sound files that add a doorbell sound, kids running around the house, or other sounds that make you feel like you are there.
Standing on the sidelines of a final state-wide, year-end soccer match a few years ago, I watched in complete suspense as the ultimate winner was to be decided on the last of ten penalty kicks. Methodically, I took a picture of each penalty kick and later created a slide show. Now, anyone watching that slide show can relive that winning event—one kick at a time! It is even more exciting for me, because my daughter was the keeper that made the stop! Yes, good pictures help you brag more convincingly!
Shooting sequences taken specifically for use with the appropriate digital presentation software can make a few ordinary shots become a fantastic show or album. You can view several sequences at www.reallyusefulpage.com/dcs/02-01.htm.
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About the author, Gregory Georges: Using medium
format, 35 mm, and digital cameras, Gregory has amassed a personal collection of
more that 12,000 pictures -- all taken purely for the fun of it. He has, in one
way or another, used computers extensively for work and at home since taking his
first computer class in 1969. As an experienced photographer and avid user of computer
technologies, Gregory has the perfect background and passion to write about
digital cameras and how to get the most from digital images. You can visit him
at his website: www.reallyusefulpage.com
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Digital Camera Solutions is published by Muska & Lipman Publishing of Cincinnati, Ohio. You can visit them at www.mlstore.com/camera.html to find out more about this book.
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