Category Archives: How-to

How to

Lens Diffraction – all you ever wanted to know, and a lot more besides.

Posted on June 8, 2023 by Geoff Shaw

You have probably heard of lens diffraction and its effects of softening your images when the lens is set to a small aperture (large f-number). The image above illustrates diffraction effects (Click on the image to see an enlarged image … Continue reading →

Posted in beginner, How-to, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Kaleidoscope effect

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Geoff Shaw

Repeating patterns catch the eye, and the Kaleidoscope effect certainly provides plenty of repeating patterns. Kaleidoscopes use angled mirrors to produce repeated patterns (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaleidoscope), but this effect is easily achieved also in software like Photoshop or GIMP. There are lots … Continue reading →

Posted in Advanced Edits, Artistic, Basic Edits, compositing, How-to, Post-Processing, Software | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Geoff’s Photo Doodler

Posted on November 8, 2021 by Geoff Shaw

The notes below should help get you started using my “Photo Doodler” program. First there is some background on what got me started on this project, then I give some examples, and then some brief instructions. Programming credits are at … Continue reading →

Posted in Advanced Edits, Artistic, beginner, compositing, How-to, Post-Processing, Software | 2 Comments

Triptych making in Photoshop and Lightroom

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Geoff Shaw

Geoff Shaw’s suggestions For some general comments on triptychs see HERE. This post will give a couple of approaches using Lightroom and using Photoshop. I use an example with the three images below (screen grab from my LR catalog). Lightroom. … Continue reading →

Posted in Advanced Edits, Artistic, beginner, compositing, How-to, Post-Processing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The making of an intentionally blurred image (VIcki Moritz)

Posted on July 25, 2021 by Geoff Shaw

So you spent years learning how to shoot images in focus? Just for a change here is how to make an intentional blurred image such as the one below Source images- demonstrating you can make something out of not much! … Continue reading →

Posted in Advanced Edits, Artistic, compositing, How-to, Post-Processing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Face in the clouds How-To (Stephen Hilton)

Posted on July 25, 2021 by Geoff Shaw

This How-To covers Stephen Hilton’s approach to create his image Face in the clouds. Start with a sky as your background layer (below). If the clouds are little dull, brighten them up with a curves or levels adjustment. Tip: I … Continue reading →

Posted in Advanced Edits, Artistic, compositing, How-to, Post-Processing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Select Subject tool

Posted on July 25, 2021 by Geoff Shaw

Adobe’s select subject tool (and some other applications have similar functionality) is becoming remarkably good, using AI approaches to make sometimes fiddly selections automatically. Here is an example. This is a particularly challenging image – the background is mottled, not … Continue reading →

Posted in Advanced Edits, Basic Edits, compositing, How-to, Post-Processing, Software | Leave a comment

Up-Scaling images

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Geoff Shaw

Introduction From time to time you may find you just don’t have enough pixels in your image. For example you may want to make a huge print from your image (or a smaller print from a cropped part of your … Continue reading →

Posted in Advanced Edits, Basic Edits, How-to, Post-Processing, Workflow | Leave a comment

Creating realistic shadows

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Geoff Shaw

When compositing it is not enough to simply paste an object onto a background. If you do, it will look artificial and pasted. Shadows are what link the pasted object to the background. Creating realistic shadows requires some technical skills, … Continue reading →

Posted in Advanced Edits, Basic Edits, compositing, How-to, Post-Processing | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Twirl Effect

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Geoff Shaw

Twirl, found under Filters>>Distort in the Photoshop menu can be used to make some interesting effects. Consider the simple crossed lines image below. Activate the Twirl dialog, and adjust the Angle slider to achieve your desired degree of twirl. I’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in Advanced Edits, Artistic, How-to, Post-Processing | Tagged | Leave a comment