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Use this Photoshop trick to make sure you have a subject in your shot

Nov 5, 2022 by David Williams 2 Comments
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Adobe Photoshop introduced the Subject Select feature in a 2018 update, but it’s more useful to us as photographers than we may have first thought. The ability to select a subject on command is a great feature that can help us with our creative vision, too.

The subject of a photograph is the most important feature. The subject guides our composition, exposure, lighting, and all other creative decisions. Our subject is the main focus of our scene, both figuratively and literally. It should be the sharpest point across the scene as well as being the obvious main feature our viewers are compelled to look at. We can use a simple trick in Adobe Photoshop to check whether our image has a subject. Here’s what to do:

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Five innovative ways to isolate the subject in your photos

Oct 22, 2018 by Aaron Cederberg 1 Comment
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I have no idea where I first heard this, but it’s extremely true: “the main difference between painting and photography is that the painters need to work hard to put things into their images, whereas photographers have to work hard to take things out of their images.” Painters start with a blank canvas, and every single thing that ends up in the final piece of art is a result of careful craftsmanship, years of hard-earned skill, and raw intention. The photographer’s canvas, on the other hand, is all of the world’s visual chaos, and he or she must deploy an equivalent amount of craftsmanship, skill, and intention to weed out all the fluff.

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This video shows how focal length and zooming affect subject-background relationship in your photos

Sep 24, 2018 by Dunja Djudjic 1 Comment
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I believe you already know that “zooming with your feet” and changing the focal length can affect the relationship between your subject and the background. In this short video, you can see the effect of both coming close to the subject and changing the focal length, and how it affects the final look of your image.

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Should you create photos without dominant subjects?

Sep 25, 2017 by Dunja Djudjic 1 Comment
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One of the first things we learned about composition is that our photos need to have a dominant subject. Photographer Ben Horne explores the topic I find very interesting – should we step away from the “rule” and create photos that are quite the opposite, without dominant subjects?

I like to think that rules should be broken sometimes, and I find this video interesting because Ben tells us what we can achieve by breaking this rule. While it may not always be the solution, it can often produce an interesting photo that will keep the viewer engaged even without the obvious subject.

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How to fake the 2 stops magic bullet in Photoshop.

Oct 2, 2016 by Joseph Parry Add Comment
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Hey guys! Today I’m going to be showing you a cool tip for how to manipulate a natural light image within photoshop to be able to drag some of that control back between the subject and background separation that get’s stripped away when shooting with a strobe. Obviously you can find a better lit location but sometimes you find something great that doesn’t have the separation you wished for.

Here’s a great article on how to achieve the “real” effect with a strobe.

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Lighting direction as a tool: Popping vs blending your subject within a scene

Apr 30, 2016 by Joseph Parry 7 Comments
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As someone who shoots on location a lot I’m often given a choice on what I like to call “popping” or “blending” a subject into a scene, in short this really as as simple as using your main light source to either complement the direction of a natural / embedded light source in a scene (a candle, window, lights etc) or contrasting it completely so that the subject “pops” out and suspends the belief that they are illuminated within the scene naturally.

Here’s what I mean:

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1000 Beautifully Photographed Poses From Supermodel Coco Rocha

Oct 20, 2014 by Tiffany Mueller 1 Comment
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As much as we’d like for our clients to just naturally know how to pose for a photograph, we have to be realistic; it’s never going to happen. Part of the portrait photographers job, in fact, is to be able to tell their subjects how to pose and present themselves in front of the camera and, just like our subjects, we’re not always the best at posing, either. Fortunately, supermodel Coco Rocha (aka “The Queen of Pose” ) has teamed up with iconic photographer, Steven Sebring, to publish the super useful book Study Of Pose.

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Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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