The Yongnuo YN560-II is a cheap flash gun, and it’s also the perfect camera accessory, argues Ali from our testing team. Watch our short video demonstration to find out why.
You don’t need a movie mode function on your digital camera to make a motion picture. In fact, you don’t even need additional movie-editing software, such as Adobe Premiere. For this simple photography project we’ll show you how to use nothing more than your digital camera and Photoshop CS to put together a simple stop-motion animation sequence, then save it as a QuickTime movie. And seeing as today is Easter, we thought what better subject than to melt a chocolate Easter Bunny!
Using the basic principles of animation, we’ll take a series of images using our DSLR’s Interval Timer set to take a shot automatically every seven seconds, while the chocolate bunny is slowly melted by a hair dryer.
Learn how to use filters, brushes and masks to recreate Turner style watercolours
In this video tutorial you’ll discover how to transform your photos into watercolour masterpieces. By getting to grips with Layer Blending, the Stamp Visible tool, Layer Masks and Blending modes you’ll be able to recreate a classic Turner landscape using your own photos. Watch the tutorial to find out how it’s done.
Give your photos a creative bleach bypass effect with this Photoshop Elements tutorial
The bleach bypass effect is a popular look in both film and stills photography. The colours are muted and the contrast is high to give a cool, urban, gritty look to your portraits. In this tutorial you’ll find out exactly how to recreate the look in just a few simple steps in Photoshop Elements. Find out how to work with Adjustment Layers, Blending Modes, Filters, Magic Wand, Free Transform Layers, Eraser tool and more to recreate the bleach bypass effect on your own portraits.
Learn how to design your own Christmas cards using Photoshop Elements’ Resize and Effects tool in 6 easy steps.
With Christmas just around the corner, now’s the time to get creative and use your clever Photoshop skills to design your own Christmas cards. If you’re short on time, use the Photoshop Elements’ Greeting Card facility. There’s also an alternative that’s almost as quick and allows you much more creative control. Watch this video to find out how it’s done!
Everything you ever wanted to know about Adobe Lightroom 3 but were too afraid to ask. See the cool new sharpening, noise reduction and lens correction tools in action.
Lightroom 3 has been available from Adobe since June, after spending a few months in Beta. The latest version of the software offers faster performance and better image processing. In this video we look at what’s new and what’s been improved, giving you a complete run-down of how to use this popular package. Watch the video to find out more.
Give your portraits a dramatic makeover in the style of Andrzej Dragan with this video tutorial
This cool effect will only take a matter of minutes in Photoshop Elements, but will give your portraits an extra special look. HDR techniques were originally conceived as a way of combining multiple exposures to maximise tonal range. HDR software also allows photographers to produce a hyper-real finish, and it’s this that captured the imagination of the masses. But long before HDR came along, Polish photographer Andrzej Dragan pioneered this technique for hyper real style portraits, and his name has since become attached to the method. Pulling out every last bit of texture in a portrait image, so that each line, freckle, wrinkle and pore is emphasised you wind up with a hyper-real, almost 3D feel to your image. Watch this video to find out how you can recreate the look yourself.
Want to start improving your photos in Photoshop Elements, but don’t know where to start? Use this Elements video tutorial to learn essential tools and techniques
However good your shots, there are usually things you can do make them even better. Photoshop Elements is now in its 8th version, but in reality the most useful features that you’ll find on Elements 8 can be found (almost without exception) in Elements 5.0 and above. The Full Edit mode offers the entrance to the essential tools and controls for transforming and improving your pictures. In this tutorial we’ll take you through some of the most useful features that you may well find yourself using on practically every shot that you take. Watch the video to find out more.
Turn streets into model villages with this simple Photoshop technique
By minimising the depth of field in an image so that only a narrow band of the scene is in focus, it’s possible to take a photograph of a busy street and make it look like a miniature model. The illusion works because models are usually photographed using macro lenses, and these have a tendency to reduce depth of field and throw everything in the foreground and background out of focus. Our eyes are so used to this convension that when a scene with an extremely narrow depth of field is seen, we’re fooled into thinking that the objects must be tiny. Traditionally, the effect is created with an expensive specialist tilt-shift lens, but you can mimic the effect in Photoshop using layers and Layer Masks. Read on to find out more…
Record the full tonal range of any landscape with the Photomerge Exposure feature in Elements 8
High-dynamic range – or HDR – imaging describes the process of combining several exposures to record the full range of highlight and shadow detail in a high contrast scene, above and beyond the capabilities of your D-SLR’s sensor. Take the sunset image provided, a single exposure would leave us with either a correctly exposed foreground and a burnt out sky, or a well-exposed sky and a foreground that’s almost black. Combining your exposures is the only way of getting those highlights and shadows just right. The Exposure Merge feature is new to Elements 8, so those with older versions will need to upgrade, but watch the video to find out how easy it is to achieve!
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