Photoshop 101 | Black & White

© Safuan Shahril | House of Parliament | London

Hi everybody! As you know that the year 2011 is coming to an end but the best part we'll be looking forward to a new year of 2012. I'm sure everybody feels time flies away and us as a photographer would like to think we have learn and polished our skills in photography. But knowledge will never stop and we must learn new knowledge in order to succeed at what you want. So this post is going to be about quick ways to apply Black & White effect in Photoshop.


A quick glance through any photography or fashion magazine, or at the photos on social websites like Flickr, confirms that black and white photography is as popular as ever. With the coming of digital though, one important thing has changed. In the days of film photography, you shot on black and white film. Now, with digital cameras, you take photos in colour and then convert them to black and white.


Converting to black and white digitally has a number of advantages. With film, the black and white conversion essentially happened at the time of shooting. If you wanted to change the nature of the black and white conversion, you could only do it by placing a coloured filter on the lens (a red filter, for instance, makes blue skies much darker).


Now, by starting with a colour photo and converting it to black and white in Photoshop, you have complete control over the conversion. Darkening a blue sky is easy, once you know how, and you can decide exactly how dark you want it to be.


Most digital SLRs (and some compacts) have a black and white mode. The camera is making the conversion for you, and the results are usually poor, giving flat, washed out photos. Avoid this mode, and use the following techniques instead.

Street Photography | London Eye

© 2011 Safuan Shahril | Street Photography | London Eye

"Pictures, regardless of how they are created and recreated, are intended to be looked at. This brings to the forefront not the technology of imaging, which of course is important, but rather what we might call the eyenology (seeing)." 

- Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photoshop 101 | Curves

Hi guys! It's been a very long absence from me. Let's just say that I got plenty work from college al'right. Okay so this will be my first tutorial/tips of editing in Photoshop. I'm sure most beginners in Photoshop will use the Levels tool when it comes to increasing the brightness or contrast of the photo and I admit it's a pretty useful tool in Photoshop. However, today I would like to talk about the Curves tool. Basically, Curves is another tool that you can increase the brightness or apply contrast to a photo, which is similar to the Levels tool. In addition, I believe the Curves tool can give a lot of control when it's about enhancing your photo in Photoshop. With curves you are able adjust the over - all contrast or tonal range, adjust the local contrast and adjust the colour. 

Overview

This is how the Curves tool looks like in Photoshop. As you can see I've point out each part of the Curves. The point form the top (right) to the bottom (left) affects the whites, highlights, midtones, shadows and the blacks of the photo. Therefore, by moving the positions of the point will create tone to the photo. Leaving the lines in the centre will not alter any effect to your photo.

You start by changing the brightness values by clicking once somewhere on the line. This will then be selected as a "point"; the point can now be moved by dragging the point to a different place within the grid; which causes the tonal value to change either lighter or darker depending on whether you drag it up or down. The reason it's a curve is so that the change blends smoothly throughout the photo. A sudden change in value can be noticed very easily. The increasingly gradual change of the brightness values on either side of the change gives a very smooth and lots of adjustment control.

Note: However, that you can't increase contrast in one region without decreasing it in another. The curves

tool recreates contrast. Therefore think of the image having a contrast budget and you need to decide how it best suits your photo.

Quick Tip

If you want to keep the effects on adjustment or in a separate layers to enable quick adjustment during the process, go to Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Curves and it will appear at you layers palette. 

         

Photography Tips | Improve your Photography

"Your First 10,000 photographs are your worst" - Henri Cartier-Bresson

See the quote above? Probably one of the most famous photography quotes of all time. You would probably understand straight away the quote when you first time read it and is it true? You decide. I started my photography nearly about two years ago and a lot has pretty change based on my skills of taking photos. Some people they don't' have the natural instinct to take photographs nicely first time. They would probably tent to say the camera does it's job but I totally disagree with the statement because "it's not the camera but the person behind the camera". The fact that YOU control the camera and shoot the photographs, you are the one that makes the photographs happen. I mean 2 years ago I entered a photography competition with my school by just using a

small Nikon point and shoot camera and the last thing you know it you realized that you were able to learn new things by just using a point and shoot camera. It's not about expensive equipments. It's not about having the best camera in the world if you can't understand how to make photographs properly. But experience and skill is key of making a photograph happen. I'm just going to list down 5 things that you can improve your photography skills:-

Structure | Part II

Yes! Hello people! As I promised this is part II of the photos that I submitted for the photography exam. Just to take my time to wish Happy Malaysia Day to all Malaysians back in the country. I have heard that they had a really good day back there and I'm actually looking at the photos now as well. So, this post will be photos of structure from my secondary school; Brislington Enterprise College (ignore the name. it's just a secondary school). A little information about the building is that it was refurbished back in 2008 and now it has been one of the beautiful modern architecture in Bristol. Hope you enjoy the pictures! :)

Location: Brislngton Enterprise College

Structure

Hi people! It has been two weeks I start college. In addition, my results (yeah!) was pretty good and I was very pleased with it. Top at that now I'm doing Art & Design at my college, so life has been pretty good. In this post I'm just going to post my pictures from my photography exam that I submitted. And for your information from now I only have college on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday (half day!). Therefore, you're would probably be expecting me to post some stuff in this blog. So for my own readers sake I will (maybe) post something for you guys to see. Hope you guys enjoy the pictures!

Location: Bristol City Centre

Street Photography | The Decisive Moment

© Safuan Shahril | Street Photography | The Moment

"Think about the photo before and after, never during.

The secret is to take your time. You mustn't go too fast.

The subject must forget about you. Then, however, you must be very quick."

-Henri Cartier-Bresson-

Street Photography | Monument

© Safuan Shahril | Urban Landscape | Bristol's Old Market

"A desire arises in the mind. It is satisfied immediately another comes. In the interval which separates two desires a perfect calm reigns in the mind. It is at this moment freed from all thought, love or hate. Complete peace equally reigns between two mental waves."

(Sivananda)

Street Photography | Life

"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."

Martin Luther King, Jr

20th July 2011 | Dr. Sam Graduation Day!

As I promised I will upload my recent photo-job. I was ask to do a favor to a friend of mine to document his Graduation Day and so I did! The day didn't really started really well because it was raining. Since I wasn't the official photographer for him. Therefore, I wasn't allowed to enter the Graduation Hall. But instead I came back after about an hour or two to do the photoshoot with him. Enjoy!

Photos and Posts!

© Safuan Shahril | Landscape Photography | Beginning of The End

Hi! After a "pretty" long break, I decided and thought I would post a little message and what has been going on with my life. As you would know it is the Summer break. Tho I've finished school since mid-June. It's not that I've got nothing to post or anything it's just I've been lazy. I've to admit I've been pretty "busy" with some things to do. I've tried to apply for part-time job but failed. Therefore, I will promise this time that more Photos and Posts will publish in this blog in the coming future.

Well, England has been behaving quite awkward recently. You would have known the riot that happened in London recently. Since that it has been a spreading the crime in the country as well. The riot and looting did happen in Bristol but mostly in the City Centre area. School? I will begin my college on the September and my GCSE exam result is coming nearer. It's on the 25th August 2011 (wish me luck!).

Other than that, it has been nearly a year I made this blog and the it hasn't been quite great to be honest. So from now on more photos to come and I will be publishing more tips on photography.I will upload my latest photoshoot which was for a student that has just graduated for his PhD. Laters!