Digital Focus
September 21st, 2004
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PC World
Technology Advice You Can Trust
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Photography expert Dave Johnson's tips will enhance your digital
camera, printer, and image editing expertise with recommendations on
digital challenges from shooting techniques to digital publishing,
answers to reader questions, and a photo contest.
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September 21st, 2004
In This Issue:
- Feature Story: Make Surprising Photos by Changing Your Perspective
- Dave's Favorites: Simpler Editing With Paint Shop Pro Studio
- Q&A: Specialty Film Scanners
- Contest: Submit Your Best Photo, Become Famous, and Win a Prize
- Newsletter Trivia: Reading Back Issues, Helping Friends Subscribe
Feature: Make Surprising Photos by Changing Your Perspective
Digital Focus reader Todd Fox recently entered the weekly Hot Pic
contest with a picture of a mountain near his home in North Carolina.
He submitted it with a question: "The Blue Ridge Mountains are some of
the most-photographed sights in all of North America. How on earth can
I compete with that? Is there any way to take a picture of a tourist
attraction that's different from all the other pictures of the exact
same scene?"
His question hit home, because I recently took my parents on a tour of
Washington state's Mount Rainier, which also ranks up there on the
nation's most-photographed natural wonders list. As a little test, I
packed my digital camera and decided to see if I could come up with a
few unique peeks at a mountain that everyone already knows pretty
well.
The Classic Landscape
When you find yourself on vacation--across town or across the
country--and you're standing face-to-face with a recognizable
photographic icon, be sure to take at least one traditional portrait.
Sure, it might be cliched, and everyone else who has ever been there
has pretty much the same shot, but it's proof that you were there. And
if you do it right, it will look good.
The best time to take a picture like this is when the sun is behind
you. If you're trying to shoot a westerly mountain, for instance, get
it early in the day when the sun illuminates the face. If you wait
till the afternoon, the sun will be overhead or behind the mountain,
and the mountain will be in shadow. Here's an example of what I mean:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755251/0/
Use Natural Mirrors
Another way to shoot a mountain scene is by framing it above a lake,
river, or stream. The advantage is that--if you are there at the right
time of day and with very little wind to disturb the water--you can
capture the vista's reflection in the water. Remember that symmetry is
a powerful photographic tool, as you see in this picture:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755252/0/
And don't forget that there are a lot of ways to capture a reflection.
You can go for nearly perfect symmetry, as in the image above. Or you
can throw the picture out of balance by taking a picture of the
reflection by itself--focusing on the water and eliminating the
original image and sky entirely. And since you're shooting digitally,
there's nothing wrong with recomposing the picture on your PC when you
get home.
If there are buildings nearby, you might even try capturing your
mountain in the windows of a skyscraper.
Think About the Big--and the Little--Picture
When people see mountains, they immediately think big picture and wide
angle. Most mountains are shot wide, with as much landscape included
in the scene as possible. That's why you should also try the opposite
and see how close you can get. I zoomed in as far as I could go just
to see if Mount Rainer was any more interesting up close:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755253/0/
If you zoom in for a tight shot like that one, don't forget to steady
your camera against a support like a tree or set it on a tripod.
Want to take a really impressive wide-angle shot like this one?
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755254/0/
You won't get it with the lens built into your digital camera--it's
simply not wide enough unless you get so far away that the mountain
becomes a dot in the distance. Instead, take a series of pictures and
combine them into a wide-angle shot with panorama software after
you're back home. Adobe Photoshop Elements has a simple stitching tool
built in. I found it for less than $100 at the PC World Product
Finder:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/238789/0/
Or you can try one of the many panorama makers on the market. Here are
a couple:
Panorama Factory ($59)
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755255/0/
Ulead Cool360 ($40)
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/94/0/
In the Car Mirror
And finally, try to come up with truly original perspectives--stuff no
one else has thought of. One of my favorite tricks is to catch a scene
in my car's side-view mirror. It's unique, and it makes a fitting
conclusion for my photo scrapbook:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755256/0/
* Dave's Favorites: Simpler Editing With Paint Shop Pro Studio *
Care to guess the most common complaint I hear about photo editing
software? If you guessed that image editors aren't powerful enough,
fast enough, or lack this or that essential tool, you'd be wrong. No,
the most common complaint is that they're too hard to use. When you do
happen to find an easy-to-use editor, it's often stripped to the bone
and has an embarrassingly goofy interface.
Jasc Software is trying another approach with Paint Shop Pro Studio. A
slightly watered-down version of Paint Shop Pro, it has pretty much
the same interface as its more-powerful older sibling and includes
most of the most useful features, but throttles back on the complexity
that can overwhelm beginners.
I've been playing with Studio, and have found that it has all the
basics: crop, rotate, clone brush, color correction, and automatic
exposure improvements. But the program also includes most of the best
stuff from Paint Shop Pro as well. There's layer support, the
background eraser, and even all the selection tools that I use each
week in this newsletter, like Smart Edge and Magic Wand.
So what makes Paint Shop Pro Studio unique? The program includes a
great help system that lives in a pane on the side of the screen. It's
easy to find instructions to "combine two photos" or "remove
backlight"; and it includes numerous links to tools you need.
Don't get me wrong: Some beginners will still have trouble with Paint
Shop Pro Studio, which resembles Paint Shop Pro just a little too
much. It has densely packed option palettes and too many choices for
folks just learning the ropes. But for anyone who doesn't want to be
patronized, Studio might be a great compromise between power and
simplicity. You can download a free trial copy:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755257/0/
Or buy a copy for $69 to $79:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755258/0/
* Q&A: Specialty Film Scanners *
Can you help me? I need to find a scanner that will accommodate narrow
110 film negatives. I am trying to compile all the pictures of my
daughter for her 21st birthday, many of which are on 110 negatives.
--Barbara LaMendola, Walden, Colorado
That's a hard one, Barbara. I've shopped for scanners for a long time
and I've never seen one that has an adapter designed explicitly for
old 110 film. Does that mean you're out of luck? Not really--there are
a couple of workarounds.
You can make your own adapter, for instance. Slide adapters for
flatbed scanners are pretty simple gadgets--all they do is hold the
film in place and allow backlighting to illuminate the image from
behind. If you're good with your hands (or know someone that is), it's
not out of the question that you could modify the negative adapter
that comes with the scanner to hold 110s well enough to get the job
done.
If you don't want to modify anything and don't mind throwing some
money at the problem, consider buying a film scanner like the Nikon
8000ED. It is compatible with a number of accessory film holders. One
of them, the FH-816, is designed to accommodate 16mm movie film, which
is similar enough to 110 that I think it's quite likely that you could
fit 110 film in it. The downside? The scanner costs $2500, which seems
like enough money to commission someone to build you a scanner from
scratch. Look around and you might find another scanner with a small
enough slide adapter to accept your 110 film negatives.
* Hot Pic of the Week *
Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite
reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality, and
technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize
valued at between $10 and $100.
A gentle reminder, folks: We disqualify some really wonderful pictures
every week because the submissions don't follow the rules. Be sure to
include everything we ask for in your e-mail message, including a
description of your picture and your complete contact information, or
your entry is wasted!
Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format at a
resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Our e-mail address is:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If
necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of
your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo
along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't
forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before
entering, please read the full description of the contest rules and
regs at:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/95/0/
This Week's Hot Pic: "Frankfort Morning," by Jim Patterson, Frankfort,
Michigan
Jim took this picture on a misty summer morning in Frankfort,
Michigan. Jim says that the mist was just starting to lift when he
captured this scene with his Kodak DX3900.
To view the photo, go to:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755259/0/
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* See Dave Johnson's previous Digital Focus Features at:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/237289/0/
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Top News From PC World
* WebEx Launches Sales Center
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For a full list of this week's Editors' Picks, go to:
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=====================================================================
* Reviews *
* Top 10 DVD Drives
A new crop of 12X drives joins the chart this month.
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755243/0/
Check the latest prices on DVD/DVD-RW:
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* Sizing Up Mini Audio Players
The pocket-watch-size Joybee and the lipstick-size Yepp offer
alternatives to the IPod Mini.
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755244/0/
Check the latest prices on MP3 Players:
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* Top 15 Notebook PCs
New this month: a wide-screen multimedia model with booming sound from
Dell, and a Ferrari-red entrant from Acer.
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/755245/0/
Check the latest prices on Notebooks:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/226592/21421679/83/0/
See all Reviews:
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