Check it out!

And don’t forget to update your subscription!  All my digital photography and Photoshop Tutorials will be posted there from now on.

I am so excited!

I have moved everything on this blog over to Texas Chicks.  And I’ve forwarded as much as possible so that your bookmarks will still work.  Let me know if there are any tutorials you can’t find, however.

Also, make sure you sign up for our new weekly newsletter over at Texas Chicks.  It’s called the “Rooster Roster.”  And don’t forget to resubscribe to the feed, either by RSS or email.

What will you find at Texas Chicks Blogs and Pics?

First off, all the wonderful digital photography goodies you’ve come to expect from Digital Photography for Moms and CoffeeShop Rita.  We will still publish all the free actions, tutorials, templates and tips you’re used to seeing on our blogs.  Check out the Texas Chicks Photog page here.

In addition to that, we are going to teach you to have a fabulous blog.  Yes, that’s right.  We will empower you to have a fantastic DIY blog with all the bling and none of the pricey design fees.  You can do it and we will guide you every step of the way.

What’s more?  Texas Chicks Blogs and Picks will have a forum where Rita and I will be available to help you!  Forgot how to install our latest free action?  We’ll help.  Curious about those cute little buttons that flash on and off that everyone else has on their blog?  We’ll tell you what they’re called and how to make them.

I’ve been out of the posting routine lately working on this new project, but we have got some great stuff in the works:

• How to get started with a blog.
• How to make money from your blog.
• Finally, that review of Nik’s Dfine software I’ve been talking about.
• And, the results of the Digital Photography for Moms contest.  3 of you will win 30 minute one on one tutorials with me in the next few days!

Can’t wait to see you over at Texas Chicks Blogs and Pics!  Check out the site and let us know what you think.

Probably because my camera produces tons of it and I’m always looking for the best way to get rid of it.  Of course, I could get a new camera, but then there’s no challenge in that!  Anyway, do you see all the pink tones and horizontal bands in this picture?  That’s noise.

I’ve always used Noiseware in the past to combat noise, but now that I’ve started using Nik Software’s collection of digital photography tools, I have converted completely to their Dfine noise reducing product.  I’ll do a full blown Dfine review/tutorial soon.  (If you have a digital noise crisis in the meantime, download their free trial or use discount code DPM to save 15%.)

I’ve learned a lot about noise by using my noisy camera.  Would you like to hear about it?

Digital Noise is an area of imperfections in a photograph that might cause it to look grainy, dirty, spotty, muddy or less than clear.  Removing the noise from a photograph reminds me of cleaning sunglasses that you didn’t notice were dirty.  There is usually a huge difference.

Noise is caused by a combination of the imaging sensor on your camera,  high ISO speeds and/or low light.  It can also take the form of JPEG artifacts, which are caused by compressing photos during the process of saving them as  JPEGs.

To Avoid Noise in Your Photographs

• Use the lowest ISO you can get away with.  Even when shooting in Automatic Mode, I keep my ISO to 100 or 200 in almost all situations.
• Save files as PSDs or in other non-lossy formats until you actually need a JPEG for online or email use.

Types of Digital Noise

There are two types of digital noise.  One is called Contrast (or Luminance) noise.  You can identify luminance noise by the lighter or darker spots appearing in a color of an image. Here’s a close-up of my daughter’s neck and chin.  She’s 5 and her skin is perfect, so those darker spots you see are definitely noise.

The other type is color noise (or chrominance noise).  The hallmark of color noise is out-of-place specks of red, green or blue on your image.  This type of noise is often apparent in files that have been saved multiple times as JPEGs.  (See my first picture above.)

Why does it matter what type of noise you have? Both of the noise reducing plug-ins that I have experience with adjust each type separately.  So, in order to have the most control over your noise reduction, it helps to know.

And why would you want to have control over this process?  Well, I mentioned it briefly last week.  Noise reduction is the opposite of sharpening – it blurs your image just a bit so that the noise becomes invisible.  So you will have to find a balance between getting rid of the noise while keeping the details of your photo.

Ok, I’ really needed to get all that noise info off my chest.    Thank you for listening!  I’d really like not having to deal with it at all at some point in my photographic future.

Subscribe to Digital Photography For Moms via email or RSS so that you don’t miss any fascinating updates on the status of noise in my photographs.

In case you haven’t used this action yet, here is a glimpse of what it does:

Straight out of Camera:

After Digital Photography for Moms Perfect Workflow Free Action:

After workflow action, vignette and sharpening.

So, here it is.  Click on the image for the reworked action.

On cameras supporting this feature, you will find a button  which sets the focus when you press it.  On my Olympus E-Volt 500, this button says “AEL/AFL.”  Other cameras use asterisks or “AF-On”

Think about this.  The way most of us use our cameras, we press the shutter button down half-way to lock the exposure and the auto-focus.  Separating the focus from the exposure is a good thing so that you can focus, then compose your shot, and finally measure exposure and shoot all as the last step.

Why is this a good thing? 

• First off, you can shoot more quickly.   That’s always a plus when shooting your kids!
• And, you can get more creative composition.  You know that rule of thirds that says that the focal point of your picture shouldn’t be in the middle, but at the intersection of lines dividing your photo into thirds horizontally and vertically?  It’s hard to manage that and set good focus at the same time.  Especially if your camera measures focus in the center of the lens like mine does. 
  •  
    • Instead, use the back button to set focus first. 
    • Then, move your camera to recompose your shot. 
    • Finally, press the shutter button. 
    • Using this method, you can take as many photos of your subject as you like, without being worried that your camera will try to reset the focus onto the background if your subject moves just a bit.
• Motion shots?  Back Button Focus helps here too.  If your subject is moving but is staying about the same distance from you, use the button to set the focus, then press the shutter button to meter exposure and shoot.  This allows for a quicker picture because the camera isn’t constantly re-focusing.
• Shooting at an event like a concert or a sporting event where someone might come between you and your subject from time to time?  If you have locked your focus with this button, your camera won’t focus on the intruder and then re-focus on the subject

How do you configure your camera to use the back button focus button?  My best advice would be to consult your camera’s owners manual.  On my camera, I use the Custom Settings Menu and the AEL/AFL submenu.  On your camera, AEL and AFL might be separate functions, unlike mine. 

Now, I have to say that shooting like this feels crazy at first.  It definitely takes some getting used to.  And I know that my husband will miss some good shots when he uses our camera until he gets it figured out.  Also, some cameras don’t allow the BBF to function in the Auto mode, so be prepared to make the big leap!

Take my word for it – it is worth it to make the transition!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Clickin’ Moms so that you can enter my contest for $150.  Details are here.

I just couldn’t resist adding a heart-shaped vignette to this shot.  Photoshop makes it too easy to be cheesy sometimes!  These girls were so sweet and loving, and their pose really was naturally heart-shaped.  Sometimes, you just have to do it.

Are you interested?  This is how I did it.

Creating a Heart-Shaped Vignette in Photoshop Elements

• After editing the picture in Photoshop, select the Shape tool, and locate the heart shape.
• Drag a heart over the area of your picture you don’t want to be darkened.
• Press control and click on the resulting layer thumbnail to load the selection.
• Go to Select/Feather to soften the vignette.  I used a value of 30 on this image.
• Delete the shape layer.
• Create a new blank layer.
• Hit shift+control+I to select the heart’s inverse.
• Press D to select default black and white colors.
• Press X until Black is the foreground color.
• Press alt+backspace to fill this selection with black.
• Adjust opacity to taste.

 That’s it.  It’s quick, easy, and sweet!  Happy day after Memorial Day, everyone!

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This free action automates the first half of my Perfect Photoshop Elements Workflow tutorial.  It’s great for processing lots of images that you don’t want to add any special effects to.  Or, if you do want to add those effects, running this action is a great way to prepare your image for CoffeeShop or other actions.  Or for preparing pictures for one of Rita’s fabulous storyboards or other templates.

To make this action compatible with Photoshop Elements, I had to flatten the image after each step.  That means that you can’t go back to tweak layer opacity or adjustment layer settings after the action runs.  But you can set the amount of these adjustments as the action runs.

Click on this image to link to the download page with instructions for use.

There was no way to get the entire workflow into one action.  That means more actions are in the works! Stay tuned to Digital Photography For Moms so that you don’t miss the updates.  Subscribe by email or RSS.

It was created by JudithShakes Designs.  What an easy and fun process. And surprisingly affordable as well!

A word of apology to my readers who might not be into frilly and pink.  I just couldn’t resist!  I know that a lot of you aren’t even moms.  Some of you are dads, grandads or just talented photographers.  Thank you so much for reading.  I assure you that my content will continue to be the highly intellectual and weighty photography resource you have come to expect.  BIG GRIN. 

I haven’t decided yet whether my next post will be my workflow action for Photoshop Elements (which will come in parts) or the conclusion of the tutorial on Raw conversions.  We’ll see whether I’m in an action-creating or tutorial writing mood tomorrow.

Have a good night!

Rita worked her magic to conjure up a fully adjustable punch of color, contrast and sharpening and even included layer masks so that you can apply the action to all the right spots!

Now my husband understands why I let those flowers wilt on the dining room table for a week. 

Instructions for installing this action are on my PSE Help Page.  And if you need a refresher on using layer mask, check out this tutorial for the CoffeeShop Perfect Portrait action.

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

Erin