C. Underwood's Art of Photography Blog

New Website

2010-03-01T16:15:00.000-08:00

Here is the link to my new Zenfolio website:

http://underwoodphotography.zenfolio.com/

Gathering of Photographers Spring Show

2010-02-18T19:14:00.000-08:00

I will be showing 3 of my giclee prints at the Gathering of Photographers Spring Show in Downtown Austin, Texas on Saturday, February 20th. There will be many other new Photographers showing their work and all work is for sale. If you love photography and live in or near Austin I would highly recommend planning to attend. There will be food and drink served starting at 7:00PM. The location is 707 San Jacinto St. at the Alpha and Omega Gallery.
Please rsvp by clicking this link if you are coming: http://www.meetup.com/Gathering-of-Photographers/calendar/12191472/

See you there!

Chuck

Recent Work

2010-01-20T09:11:00.000-08:00

Sunrise on Ladybird Lake (Austin, Texas)

Yellow Rose With Water Droplets
Hello, again!
Here are a couple
of recent images I have been working on.
I spent at least a couple of hours on the Austin sunrise image. After
first making the usual adjustments (on a Raw image) in Adobe Lightroom,
I tweaked the white balance with the curves adjustment tool in Photoshop.
Still in Photoshop, I used the Topaz Adjust 3 plug-in to further refine the
image with the "adaptive exposure" and "adaptive saturation" sliders.
I then decided that I needed further adjustments to those adjusments because
certain parts of the image - i.e. the sky, were over - processed and needed to
be selectively toned back. I did this by creating a copy of the background layer,
and then created a layer mask on that layer. Using the brush tool at a low opacity
setting, I proceeded to mask out the areas of the sky that were overdone, until
it looked good to me. This is a common workflow pattern for me, especially on
my landscape and nature images.
Each image can present its own unique set of challenges. Sometimes, If the stars are
in alignment and I've been a "good boy", there are only a few minor adjustments I need
or want to make before I am happy with the way the image looks. that being said, no
image is ever considered 100% finished in my mind. As time passes, new processing
techniques and software will come on the scene, and I have to, am compelled to, is I guess
a better term, go back to earlier "finished" work and either start over from the original
raw image file, or take one of the unsharpened semi-finished images and try to come up
with something fresh and new that I may like as much or even more than the previous work.

2010 Wall Calendar is now available on Amazon.com

2009-12-14T03:47:00.000-08:00

My 2010 Nature's Splendor Wall Calendar is now available on Amazon.com.

If you want to see a full preview of all 12 pictures featured in the calendar, you can follow this link:

http://www.lulu.com/product/calendar/natures-splendor-wall-calendar-2010/6088399 (This is my publisher's website).

Thanks.

Chuck

2009-12-06T10:41:00.000-08:00

Before

Digital Sandwich (Sample 1)

This is a sample of some of my recent Digital Sandwich (it's addicting!) creations.
My cat Mia was kind enough to grant me several seconds of contented sitting on
my backyard fence, so I snapped some shots with my Canon 5D using an EF 70-200 USM 2.8 lens mounted to a 2x tele-extender.

I'll post more soon.
P.S. Scroll down to the previous post for a quick tutorial on how to create a Digital Sandwich.
- Chuck

2009-11-19T05:37:00.000-08:00

Step 1. Open your image in Photoshop. (this tutorial is for Photoshop only).

Step 2. Duplicate the background layer.

Step 3. Go to: Image>Apply Image.

Step 4. Change the blending Mode to "Screen".

Click "OK"

Step 5. (Important!) Duplicate the Background Copy layer.

Step 6. go to: Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur

Step 7. Set the radius to an amount of your choosing. I like it at somewhere between 14
and 17. I suggest experimenting with different settings until you find one you like.

Step 8. The last step is to go to the layers palette and change the Blend Mode to "Multiply".

Your Digital Sandwich is now complete. You may want to do a little extra tweaking to the image
if you feel it needs it. I may look a little too light(or dark) overall, in which case you could add a curves adjustment layer to darken (or lighten) it more to your own taste.

2009-10-08T05:02:00.000-07:00

Image sharpened with TLR Pro Output Sharpening Panel

I want to share a new (and free) output sharpening panel for Photoshop CS4. from the folks at The Light's Right
I highly recommend it to anyone who has Photoshop CS4. It integrates beautifully with the Photoshop interface so you can access it anytime just like any other Photoshop panel.
One feature I really like is that it not only has a great unsharp mask filter, but it also has a high pass filter to add an extra dimension of sharpening that is easily adjustable to your specific tastes.
It has a variety of presets available in 4 categories: web, injet, contone, and halftone.
Even if you don't currently have Photoshop CS4 I still recommend checking out the TLR website. It's an excellent resource for free photography tips, tutorials, links, forums, Photoshop actions, the list goes on.

Enjoy!

Best Regards,
Chuck

2009-10-06T05:33:00.000-07:00

Grand Canyon - South Rim
I think I'm getting better at post-capture processing. This
image was shot in 2006, and I have re- processed it several
times since then. I often go back to images I have already
processed in Photoshop because I am always learning new
ways to improve on what I have already done.
One of the improvements I made to this image was made
possible by a new software program I discovered by reading
Tony Sweet's Photography Blog. The software is Topaz Adjust
I especially like 2 of the adjusment features, one is called adaptive exposure, the other is adaptive saturation. You use sliders to apply just a little adjusment, or a lot . I don't know exactly how it does what it does, but I have to say it has improved a lot of my work to a great degree. I highly recommend it!

Here is a website I just found that may be of some interest to those
who are new to digital photography and need a little assistance.
Digital Photography School It has a wealth of helpful free tutorials, tips,
camera reviews, ect. Check it out!

That's all I have for now.
Later on...

Chuck

Yosemite Falls Photo - Painting

2009-09-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

This is a recent photo - painting of Yosemite Falls. Using one of my photos as a reference, I painted it by hand using Corel Painter X and my Wacom tablet. Visit my Photo - Painting website to see samples of my family/pets photo - paintings.

Nature's Soliloquies - Second Edition

2009-07-07T06:03:00.001-07:00

Here is an updated version of my YouTube video slideshow, containing some added images. Tip:

Click on the YouTube icon to watch from the You Tube site. The size and quality is better.

New Photo-Painting Website

2009-06-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to announce the creation of my new Photo-Painting Website: Underwoodphotopaintings.com
This is a new artistic adventure for me. Actually getting paid for doing something that I absolutely love doing would be icing on the cake. I have been studying and practicing this relatively new art form known as "digital photo - painting", for well over a year now, and, (imho) I think I have become somewhat good at it . What got me interested initially was a great tutorial I had seen in Photoshop User Magazine by portrait artist Fay Sirkis entitled: "Transform a Photo into a Painting". It blew me away how she was able to import a photograph of a person into her computer and proceed through about 10 to 12 well defined steps to produce a beautiful finished portrait painting that looks as if it was painted the "traditional" way with brushes and paint on canvas. I decided that I definitely wanted to see if I could do this myself. And here I am, a little over a year later, with my new website offering my Photo-Painting service to the world.
If you visit the site you will learn more about the entire process of Photo-Painting and why it is much more than pushing some keys and telling a software program to "create a painting". It really is a "true" art form that requires just as much artistic talent and inspiration as the brush and canvas artist requires to successfully execute his/her craft.

Thanks for visiting!
-Chuck

Recent Panoramas

2009-05-31T05:46:00.001-07:00

Devil's Gulch

Inks Lake

Here are two recent "hand-held" panoramas that I have completed.
I was hiking at Inks Lake State Park, Texas with only my camera
and some lenses, with no tripod. I decided to try taking 4 shots with my
Canon 5D and my Canon i.s. (image stabilization) 70-200 2.8 zoom lens,
with the idea that I should be able to "stitch" them all together in Photoshop
using the "Photomerge" tool. Here's a quick description of the process: (I want to empahasize that it is better to use a tripod if you have one with you. it will guarantee that all of your shots will be tack sharp, you have more leeway in the range of exposure values to choose from, and your shots will all be evenly aligned).
First, you need to take the shots, however many you need to make the panorama.
Holding your camera as steady as possible, start from either the left or the right side
and take your first shot, maintaining the camera level, shift your upper body just enough
to move the camera over for your second shot. You should allow for some overlap, maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the first shot. Keeping the camera as level and steady as you can, repeat this process until you have covered the entire scene that you want to include in the panorama.

2nd: Now you have your shots which will need to be processed correctly to achieve a balanced exposure and tonal value when they are combined together. assuming you have shot in Raw format, open the first image in Camera Raw, optimize it to your taste, then save your settings to apply them to the other 3 or 4 images that you will open next. You can now open the image in Photoshop, then repeat the process for the other images. At this point, You should save the images, preferably in a new folder that you may want to name something like: "panoramas".

3rd: Now you are ready to combine the images together. Go to: File/Automate/Photomerge.
Below you will see the resulting dialog box:

As you see you can browse to the folder that contains your saved images. Once there,
click on all of them holding down your opt (Mac) ctrl (PC) key so they will all be selected.
on the left side you will see that you have a number of different layout options to choose
from. I usually use the first one, "Auto". It seems to work best for me. (You may want to
experiment with all of them to get an idea of what each one does and does not do).
Be sure that the "Blend Images Together" checkbox is checked, and click on "OK".

Be patient, it may take a while for the process to complete.

Your "stitched" together panorama will open up in Photoshop automatically once the processing is finished. Because the "finished" image will have imperfections along the outside edges, You will probably still need to do some cropping and maybe some cloning to correct the edges to your satisfaction.

That's basically it. I usually will do some more enhancements on the image (as I usually do) until it matches what I want it to look like as a finished product.

2009-05-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

Converting Your Images to the sRGB Color Space (Profile) for the Web.

With today's post, I want to explore the subject of posting photos to the web.

If you are new to the prospect of uploading one or more of your images to be viewed

on the internet, you may want to follow this short tutorial to insure that the images
you see on your computer screen (prior to uploading) look exactly the same - i.e. color
quality, after uploading them to the web. Before I learned this method, I know that I was often perplexed with how some of my uploaded images looked compared to how they looked on my computer screen before they were uploaded. They seemed to lack the vibrance of color that I remembered them to have. Well, I soon discovered the reason for this apparent transformation to dullness: I had not converted the images from the Adobe RGB 1998 color space (also known as "color profile", to the sRGB color space (profile). This needs to be done for the simple reason that the Web is unable to "read" the Adobe RGB 1998 profile, so it will automatically try to interpret the colors the best it can, which is usually far short of what your image should actually look like. You can fix this problem easily by always converting your images to the SRGB color space prior to uploading them to the web. This is very easy to do if you are using Photoshop. Here is how it's done:

When you are ready to upload your finished and sharpened (Adobe RGB 1998) image, there are actually 2 different ways to do this in Photoshop. Here is the easiest method:

Go to: File/Save for Web and Devices. The image below shows the dialog box.

If you look on the right side of the dialog box, you will see a box you can check called "Convert to sRGB". Check this box, and after making your other preferences, click "Save".

Your image is now ready to be uploaded to the Web!

"Converted" image.

So what's the second method, you may be asking?

The second method gets the same results, but requires additional steps, which have to be repeated every time you use it. Here is how it works: First, you have to convert your Adobe RGB 1998 image to the "web friendly" sRGB color space. Go to: Edit/Convert to Profile and in the dialog box find "Destination Space" and scroll through the color profiles until you find the sRGB profile and select it. Then Click "OK". Now Go to: File/Save As - then select "jpeg"
as your format. Your image is now "Web ready" and can be uploaded to be viewed online as it was intended to be viewed.

A Final Note:
You can automate this process easily in Photoshop simply by creating and saving an "Action" which will automatically perform these steps for you with one click of your mouse. I will be adding a tutorial on this soon.

2009-04-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

"Pecking Order"

I grabbed these 2 shots from my back window. After hanging the bird feeder on the fence I soon observed some of the unwritten rules of Nature regarding birds: There is a definite pecking order that favors bigger birds. (For this shot I used my Canon 5D digital slr with a Canon 70-200 zoom and a 1.5x tele-extender).

I have some free time this week to do with what I choose, so I think I will venture out and shoot some of the soon to be gone wildflowers that are now at about their peak for this year here in Central Texas. I should have some new images posted by the end of the week.

-Chuck

2009-04-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

"Tracks in the Sand"
Animal tracks in the white sand at Topsail Reserve State Park, Florida

Want to see some of the best photography out there submitted by both amateurs and pros?
I would like to suggest Photo.net as a great Photography site to bookmark and re-visit from time to time. If you are a photographer who wants to share your photography with other photogs and also, if you choose to, get some constructive criticism of your work, this is a great place to do it. You will also find a lot of great photography related information that is constantly updated and added to including a whole section called: "Learning" which has many tutorials, (free) online books, interviews with working pros, and more. This very comprehensive site also has camera and equipment reviews, user forums, classifieds, the list goes on. Take a look and see what you think.

-Chuck

2009-03-14T03:10:00.000-07:00

Floral Artistry #2 - Oriental Lily

Here is another image relating to the previous post.
It's amazing to me how many different interpretations
of one subject, such as this Oriental Lily, can be created.
In essence, one is limited only by his or her own imagination.

What's New?

If you are interested in keeping up with the latest innovations in anything related to photography, the Digital Photography Review website has posted an article covering the recent PMA 2009 (Photo Marketing Association) show. I also like to check out their Blog from time to time for interesting posts: To quote directly from DPR - "...an informal channel by which our editorial team can record their thoughts and ideas as well as give you some insight into what goes on behind the scenes at Digital Photography Review".

2009-03-13T03:30:00.000-07:00

Floral Artistry

On days when the weather is bad - i.e. cold and rainy, I like to create my own photographic opportunities indoors. One subject that is a favorite of mine is flowers. They are readily available at your local grocery store, home center, or florist, and cut flowers will usually last at least a week before wilting. The above image is one of many images I have been working on for the last couple of days while the rainy weather does it's thing outside. This is a still life of an Oriental Lily and ceramic vase, which I placed on a makeshift table. The table has a reflective board on top, which serves to reflect light back up on to the subject, while at the same time reflecting the object itself. To acheive an artistic impressionist look I used my "Lensbaby" lens, which has a sharp, in focus "Sweet spot" that you are able to move up, down, left, or right to math your own creative needs. I have found that using this lens can help get your creative juices flowing and I highly recommend it for that purpose.

- Chuck

2009-03-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

Oriental Lily

The image above is one of several recent floral images I have been working on. This was shot in my studio using one lighting source - a 500w hot light rated at 3200 color temperature.

Below is some new information regarding the best way to mount fine art inkjet (giclee) papers and canvas. If you are a photographer who is printing and mounting your own work this is some valuable new info on what is and what has recently been found to not be "archival" mounting substrates: (Click on the links to read the articles)

http://www.superiorarchivalmats.com/sam/Article.html

http://www.inkjetart.com/news/archive/IJN_08-19-04.html#2

2009-03-04T04:09:00.000-08:00

There's magic just outside your back door!

Today's post demonstrates how sometimes great photo ops just appear out of nowhere. I spotted these two mourning doves perched on my backyard deck railing as the sun was just showing up on the horizon. I will return later today to add the second image that is related to this post. (hint: it involves my cat, Mia).

Here's the image I was talking about. Mia was verrry interested in these 2 birds.

-Chuck

2009-02-24T05:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my "Art of Photography Blog. Today I am posting a new tutorial entitiled: "Basic Raw Image File Processing In Adobe Camera Raw" This tutorial is for anyone who is new to Photoshop and Camera Raw, the Photoshop raw image file processing tool that is included with most of the more recent versions of Photoshop. If you are new to digital photography, you may not know the reason it is common knowledge among photographers that shooting raw image files from your digital camera will produce an image with more potential uses now and in the future. While it may be tempting to shoot jpeg or tiff files because you can skip the initial processing that a raw file requires, (which really only usually takes about 1 or 2 minutes max), you will be rewarded with a file that is much richer in pixel data - and this ultimately translates into an image that has a much broader potential for commercial and high-end printmaking.

Please keep in mind if you are using the tutorial that this is just a basic workflow for processing a raw image file, and there are a multitude of additional adjustments and refinements that can be made while in Camera Raw. I suggest that you try experimenting with some of these too, so you will gain your own knowledge about what this powerful image processing tool can do for you. The steps I am showing here are the steps I use consistently on a daily basis to prepare my raw files for further processing and final output in Photoshop.

That's it! Your raw image is now ready to be saved (usually as a .psd or .tiff )

I will be posting more tutorials soon that will cover further processing of the

image in Photoshop. While the image may look quite good already, you may be

pleasantly surprised how much better it can look with some additional targeted

"tweaking".

Thanks for viewing my tutorial. I hope it was useful to you.

Keep shooting!

Best Regards,

Chuck Underwood