The Creative Digital Darkroom

I love Photoshop books. I've got tons of them. But, other than the requisite book explaining how to use the new features when an upgrade to Photoshop comes out, I have pretty much stopped buying them. For some time, I haven't found any books that seem to be directed to a true intermediate to advanced level, and most of them seem to rehash the same old things. At the most, I found that I could get some interesting tidbits from continued book purchases, but generally would have to wade through a good deal of the same old stuff to get there....it just wasn't time effective.

On somewhat of a lark, I recently made my first Photoshop book purchase in some time, entitled The Creative Digital Darkroom. The reviews of the book seemed to indicate that it was for intermediate to advanced users and I decided to give it a whirl, despite the fact that I had heard that before. After all, this one was by Katrin Eismann and Sean Duggan, and if you can't give a book by Katrin Eismann a chance, whose book can you give a chance to?

Well, it turns out that it is superb! To be honest, I have not yet finished reading it....but that is only because I am going through it slowly and carefully. Even the 'basic' review portion has lots of tidbits that are useful, including various techniques that I hadn't know about and which I have already put into use. Going through the book, I can see that there is a good deal more information that will be put into use. This text really is directed to the intermediate to advanced Photoshop user.

If you haven't bought a Photoshop book for some time (and even if you have), do yourself a favor and have a look at The Creative Digital Darkroom. This one is four thumbs up!

More Rocks

It has been a bit busy for me lately and so I have not had as much time to photograph as I might like. However, I am continuing to work on my rock project, which I have previously written about.

I just finished processing this image, which I composed because of the strong graphic shapes and contrast.

Three Rivers
Copyright Howard Grill

Because of the abstract qualities of these rock images I have also been trying to make black and white versions of them. In this particular case, because of the strong contrast and dominance of the shapes in the composition, I much prefer the black and white version to the one in color.

Three Rivers
Black And White Version
Copyright Howard Grill

As an aside, this abstract reminded me of Pittsburgh! As you might (or might not) know, Pittsburgh is famous for its three rivers. As a matter of fact, the prior stadium where the Pirates and Steelers played, now demolished, had been named Three Rivers Stadium.

So what are these three rivers? The Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers come together to form the Ohio River right at a location called "The Point" in downtown Pittsburgh. The Allegheny and "The Mon", as it is known, come in and the Ohio goes out. Looks just like the black (or yellow/orange) shape in the image, except that the size of the 'rivers' are inverted as the single arm should be larger than the two that come together!

Adjusting The Color Yellow

I have frequently found adjusting the color of yellow flowers (or anything yellow for that matter) in Photoshop to be difficult. It seems hard to get the yellow color to be pure and saturated. Often, there tends to be a greenish hue to the yellow that seems hard to eliminate. Here is a great tip to help solve that problem.

Two Hot Photos Over At JPG Magazine

I received an e-mail yesterday from JPG Magazine that two images I had uploaded quite some time ago have become "HOT".

Check them out here and here. If you like them and are registered I would certainly appreciate your throwing a vote my way!

If you haven't discovered JPG Magazine, this is also a chance to familiarize yourself with it. It is, in my opinion, a magazine worth getting. I have a subscription myself and look forward to each new issue.

Big Companies Using Free Images

After my recent experiment with the microstocks (here and here), I had to wonder if it could get any worse than being reimbursed $0.25 per image. Unfortunately, the answer is that, yes, it can! See here. Who knows what the future will hold?

Photographer's Rights: The Wardrobe

I have previously written several posts regarding photographers rights in the city of Pittsburgh. They can be read here, and here.

I have recently found a 'solution'. I don't actually think it will make one bit of difference, but at least when I get asked to leave a location my point will be made without my even opening my mouth. And a bit of humor always helps get a point across as well.

So here it is......my new urban photography shirt. The image on Blogger is a bit small so let me tell you that it reads "I am a photographer (not a terrorist)"


Want one for yourself? I got it here. I have absolutely nothing to do with the company or sales.....I am just a satisfied customer!