11th December

[azziria]

We bought the Christmas tree today.

Comments

[kare.livejournal.com]

So beautiful! BTW, what kind of camera do you use? Because all of your photos are just stunning!

[azziria.livejournal.com]

It's a Canon EOS 400D (I think it's called the Digital Rebel in the US). It was the best we could afford at the time, and we tossed up between a Canon and the equivalent Nikon - the Canon won because I have quite small hands, and it 'sat' better in the hand for me. All my lenses are either kit or relatively cheap ones, because we bought the camera etc when I wasn't working. One day I'll be able to afford some better kit...

Once I've taken the photos I post-process in Photoshop; you can't make a bad photo into a good one with Photoshop, but the right crop and some careful dodging and burning can sometimes get a photo from almost-there to there, if you get what I mean. A big part of the fun of photography for me is opening up the files on the computer and seeing what I've got and what I can make of it :)

[kare.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info! I use Photoshop Elements (I have Photoshop, but I find Elements more...well..simple to use).

My poor camera is just kinda crappy. Very pixilated and grainy photos, but like you it was all I could afford at the time and it was small and portable. I need an upgrade!

[azziria.livejournal.com]

I love Photoshop, but it can be a total time sink for me!

The interesting thing is that D and I both use Photoshop quite extensively: me for processing photos and producing graphics, him for testing experimental print heads, and we use it quite differently and use quite different features. So every now and then I'll do something and he'll go "How on earth did you do that?" and I'll be amazed that someone who uses Photoshop as much as he does doesn't know that. And vice versa, I gather.

[kare.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm completely self-taught with most programs like this, so I'm constantly learning new things.

[azziria.livejournal.com]

I must admit that I've been really pleased with the quality of the kit lens that came with the camera.

As for Photoshop, I'm pretty much self-taught. I've never been on any sort if course, but I do read tutorials and tips in magazines and books from time to time, and then just play :)

[stellarmeadow.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! I love how bright the colors are without the tree being that off-green you get when you have to jazz up the colors in Photoshop, it really shows how colorful it must be in person!

[azziria.livejournal.com]

Really, the secret with Photoshop is to play. I even learnt stuff from my daughter, who sat down with Photoshop aged 8 with no preconceptions or limits at all and just experimented :)

[azziria.livejournal.com]

It's a pretty good representation - I just saturated the colours a little (especially the green) by duplicating the image, blurring the top layer slightly and then setting that layer to Soft Light. It just lifted the image slightly :)