glass glare

This boy has trouble with glare on his glasses... the first set, you can see how I minimised it... but I could not take it all away. The second shot I did not save the original so you can't see how bad it was but that is an eye that I had to redo the lash line. Here is another example of glare removal, using the same techniques...

This is the original...

Now can this count as a tutorial, so I am off the hook for a while!! :)

Reflection on glasses

This is the original shot:

Working with the reflection you have to be careful that you don't take the 'life' out of the shot. This was done a over four years ago and perhaps I should redo it and see if I have gotten any better! But you get the idea of what I did.

Can someone help or tell me how to get rid of the glare off eye glasses? Thanks!

Gradient Collage

I had been wanting to try something like this for a long time but I never could get the gradient tool figured out. Thanks Carl for the tutorial as it helped me to finally figure it out.

This is from a photo shoot I did this weekend. The dad really loves hunting and he was reading a Rocky Mountain Elk book to his daughter. Before I left I took a picture of the book by itself. That is where the Elk image on the right side came from .

I used the "foreground to transparent" gradient tool. I went at a slight angle to have the elk fall behind the dads legs.

What I am asking from anyone who reads this is some HONEST critiquing. Do you like it, dislike it, or is there something that would make it better?

*** EDIT***

I edited this one a bit more: I did a sepia effect on it and lowered the opacity. I also did a little painting between the dads legs and the book as well as just above the book so the elk showed more and the chair would show less.

Working with Gradients

Here is a quick tutorial on using the Gradient Fill tools...

We are going to start with the simple Linear Gradient Tool and learn a couple of things. First of all, there are many different gradients that can be made, as shown in the graphic below of the drop down gradient options. We can make a two color gradient, a single color to transparent gradient, multicolor gradients, etc. Lets concentrate on the single color gradient to transparent.

Open a new file with a white background and we will see what we can do with the gradient tool. Select the gradient tool with single color to transparent.Now click on the left side of the image and drag across to the right side, we want a long drag mark so we have lots of transition from color to transparent.Notice how too the left of where you clicked the color is 100% Opaque and to the right of where you stopped dragging it is 100% Transparent. The transition between the two colors (Blue and Transparent) happens linearly between the two endpoints of the drag mouse operation. The gradient change will always happen parallel with the drag line, so dragging at an angle will rotate the gradient to occur parallel to the drag line.
If the gradient doesn't come out the way you would like, just hit CTRL+Z (or undo) and try it again. The gradient tool is basically a special paint bucket that doesn't cover the entire canvas uniformly.

Now lets step it up a notch and get creative using the gradient editor. Clicking on the edit button on the Gradient toolbar will pop-up the gradient editor dialogue box. Notice down towards the bottom of the box is a sample of the gradient with some squares above and below the gradient. These boxes can be moved right and left to adjust how the gradient fill happens between the endpoints of the drag operation. So if one wants a biased transition, dragging the center small diamond with bias the gradient. The end squares change where the colors are 100%, and I find it easier to not adjust those squares since it is just as easier to control that using the mouse drag operation.We can add a stop, or color definition point by clicking above or below the gradient sample. This will allow us to define a hard point in the gradient. This can be a color change, a certain amount of transparency or just give a little more control over how the gradient is built. The color is defined below the gradient sample, while the opacity is defined above the gradient sample.

Those are the very basic operations of the gradient tool, hopefully this helps and is not just more confusing. Still confused? Here is another site that contains a tutorial of Gradients

Using Layers

Do you have a picture that you really like, but the color is slightly off and the picture is a little dark? I started with a picture taken at night of a fire crew training, because of the distance the camera flash was worthless and the truck flood lights made the color more yellow than normal.

Focal Length: 25mm F-number: F/4.2 Shutter: 1/3 Sec Iso: 100 Metering: Pattern Exp Program: Creative Biased Exp Comp: O Step

Using layers we can brighten the picture and adjust the 'white balance' of the picture slightly, and obtain a usable picture...

Layer 0: Original Image Layer 1: Copy of Complete image with 100% Opacity Screen Layer 2: Selective copy of Distance building up Sky with 100% Opacity Screen Layer 3: New layer, blue filled with 20% Opacity Layer 4: Signature Layer

We can apply the same steps I outline for sunsets to lighten and color correct any image. Just some of the tricks and tips I have learned, look forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with using layers to edit pictures.

Note:
It would be helpful to include a brief description of your layers along with a before picture....

Flowers DOF

Just if this qualifies as a DOF?
Not a perfect one, but wonder
if I'm on the right track? Thanks!