Photo Composite – Photoshop
Doing photo composites in Photoshop can be a lot of fun! The image below has taken me about 15 hours to complete – plus the time to take each of these photos used in the composite. It’s a lot of time for one photo, and I’m grateful I had the time to do it, but it really pushed my Photoshop skills to a new level in attempting to complete the composite. The easy part was getting all of the photos together into one and to get a basic idea of what it could look like. The hard part was thinking of all the little details to add to the realism of the final product. The things that...
Read MorePhotoshop World 2012 – Portfolio Review
I’m going for it again. The Professional Portfolio Review offered during Photoshop World. Last year I had the opportunity to sit down with Helene Glassman, Wedding Photographer, who then introduced me to Dave Black after having showed some of my own light paintings. It was a great experience to have met them and hear what they think of my work! I wonder who it’ll be this year?! A link to my portfolio from last here is here: http://dustinolsen.com/photoshop-world-portfolio-las-vegas-2011/ What do you think of my work for this year? I’m thinking I’ll use Scott...
Read MorePSW Guru Contest Entries
I’m going to Vegas, baby! This September I am going be back at Photoshop World and I’m participating in the Guru Awards Contest. Below are the images I would like to submit! Please tell me what you think of them! Guru Category entries and rules can be found here: http://photoshopworld.com/guru-awards-rules/ Photo Retouching Before After Photo...
Read MoreFarewell Bannack
My sixth visit to Bannack Ghost Town was something to remember. It was also my last visit for a while.Every time I go, I try to focus on something new and different. This time it was portraits and it was my goal to help the students better understand how lighting and off-camera flash works when taking portraits. While these aren’t the best portraits you have seen – but they are some of my favorites! Tell me what you think! ...
Read MoreThe Bridges at the Bay Area
This is my final post from the San Francisco Area! I kind of waited for the best for last because I loved the Golden Gate Bridge and all the photos I was able to get. It was one of those things you save the best for last, but can’t wait any longer for it to be the last so you just go anyways – yeah – that was how it was with this timeless classic! I was with Zach Cooper and Andy Griffin when we ended up crossing the bridge on accident because we missed the quick exit that would take us down below on San Francisco side… but instead we found a lookout point from up...
Read MoreArtistic Ink Drops
You know… you really can never stop with what you can see on the surface of the water! After looking around and with added inspiration, I spent some time with Zach Cooper to come up with some very creative macro ink drops in water. I think they turned out pretty cool! My favorite are the ones with just a single drop making it’s way to the bottom of the glass against the white background! While we did experiment with several colors – they became very busy and very murky. I hope you enjoy these as well! Camera Settings: 1/200 f/5.6 ISO 100 2 Speedlites – One pointed at...
Read MoreImproved Water Drops
Even though I took nearly 2,000 of these types of images before – I knew I could get better shots! The biggest thing I changed with this shot is that I put my 18-135mm lens on all 3 of my macro extension tubes instead of my 50mm with one or two extension tubes. Another thing I changed was I made sure the water was ice cold because I heard that would give me better splashes, but also it wouldn’t fog up my lens. I am really pleased with the quality of photos I was able to get this time around. They are infinitely sharper and turning the camera vertical also made a big difference in...
Read MoreMacro Water Splash – Photo Series
Macro Photography is probably my new passion. When it comes to creating these photos, I have a creative artistic control over the colors that go in there. I can try and try over and over again until I get the one shot I am looking for! Here is a photo series of what water does as it is simply dripping into a pan of water. Using a speedlight and some colorful objects in the background these photos came to life! The only editing I have done is removing distracting bubbles and other “debris” that were captured in the photo. While these are some of my first attempts at these types of...
Read MoreInternational Truck – HDR
Using Nik Software HDR Efex Pro and in combination with Nik Software Color Efex Pro 4, this shot has become one of my absolute favorites! Every few months I find myself in Bannack, MT and it has become tradition for me to try and get a new and more creative shot of this old International Truck. This month, has probably been the best one yet for me. I hope you enjoy it has much as I have.
Read MorePhotoshop World Portfolio – Las Vegas 2011
As many already know, I have been to Photoshop World in Las Vegas a few weeks ago and while I was there, I was lucky enough to have a Portfolio Review session with one of the professionals there at the conference and have my worked critiqued. I was assigned to be with Helene Glassman. She gave me some great feedback and loved my worked. She loved it so much, that when Dave Black walked by she just started pushing my work towards him. Even Dave Black was very impressed with my work and loved the light paintings I had done. As a result, I have some new goals for this next year to get even...
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