What would you do if your ND filter got severely cracked? Throw it away, of course. But don’t do it just yet – you can still make something awesome with it even when it’s broken beyond repair. Photographer Parker Rice experimented with a smashed filter and he got some really cool effect in his photos.
These variable lens filters come with built-in creative effects
You can achieve all sorts of cool in-camera effects by placing different stuff in front of your lens. Building upon this idea, Jakob Owens of TheBuffNerds presents you PrismLensFX’s variable filters that already have these effects built in. You can snap them onto your lens and get different kinds of flares and effects in an instant.
Here are five lighting tricks you can do with a smartphone flashlight
When it comes to lighting effects for photography, only your imagination is the limit. In this video, Derrick Freske will show you five tricks that require nothing but your smartphone flashlight as the light source. They’re simple and cheap, but they can give many creative effects to your images.
Here are some ideas for photos you can take with a $6 shiny purse and your smartphone flashlight
Mainly, I do photography for fun, and I like experimenting with random stuff to get unusual effects in my photos. For my birthday last year, a got a brilliant shiny cosmetic purse from a friend. It instantly became my favorite traveling companion, but I also immediately saw the potential for using it in my photos.
There have been a few occasions this year that I have used this little purse for photography, combining it with the LED flashlight on my smartphone. And I must say: I’m surprised by the funky lighting effects you can achieve with just two everyday items!
This town in Iceland has a floating zebra crossing to slow down drivers
Of course, it’s not really floating, it’s an optical illusion. Painted on a road in the fishing town of Ísafjörður in Iceland, the crossing appears to float in the air. At least, that’s how it appears to drivers coming up the road. It’s sure to make those who haven’t seen it before think twice before speeding through it, especially if people are waiting to cross. Well, many of them, at least.
How to fake realistic background blur in Photoshop in 3 simple steps
Shooting with 200mm f/2, 135mm f/1.8 and 105mm f/1.4 lenses is the dream of many portrait photographers. But such lenses are not inexpensive. We may only have a kit zoom that will never give us the look we really want. But, there are other options. Stop down for sharpness, then simulate that shallow depth of field in post. It won’t look quite the same as doing it optically, but it’ll can get you pretty close with a little effort.
In this video, Unmesh Dinda from Piximperfect shows us an easy way to simulate a shallow depth of field in Photoshop. The technique involves using a depth map. This tells various plugins how far away something is. This allows us to get that blur falling off as we get further from the camera. It allows you to get that soft blurry background in just three simple steps.
Create amazing night portraits with orange gels and white balance tricks
Using gels to correct your flashes to match the ambient, or as creative effects is common. It’s something many of us do from time to time. Sometimes we use creative gels want that cool colour contrast. At other times we just have to deal with really horrible lighting and need to compensate with corrective gels. But, corrective gels can also be used creatively.
Japan based Photographer, Ilko Alexandroff regularly brings orange CTO gels along with him to his night shoots. They allow him to get a little more creative with the harsh sodium glow of the background while still getting perfect colour on his subject. In this video he talks us through how and why.
How to create “The Ring of Fire” effect in-camera
In late 2014 I was given a few pieces of piping. What you might call trash, but I call the ring of fire. It ended up being an incredibly useful tool in my photography. I quickly decided to add it to my (now literal) bag of tricks along with Prisming, Lens Chimping, my Broken Freelens, Anamorphics, etc).
A Sneak Peek at Lightroom CC’s Upcoming Dehaze Tool
Lightroom CC was announced just over a month ago, and Adobe is already offering a sneak peek of a yet-to-be-released feature that could become a landscape photographer’s best friend.
Adobe Evangelist Terry White walks viewers through the new dehaze slider, showing just how incredibly effective it is, but also how other photographers can use it for a dramatic effect.
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