Learning and Practicing my editing skills... selections

[Brownbear]

Here is a cute shot of an iguana, but the background is less than attractive... Therefore I thought I would try and improve it by making it black or white... How did I do?

[Shadowman]

You did very well.

[Brownbear]

Thank you John... Good to hear because I've been practicing my selection skills, a lot.. One day I will buy one of those tablets, and tackle this one again.

[Mike Buckley]

Very nice job, Christina. Now consider going one step further with the background by applying a slight gradient to it to make it more interesting. I'm not suggesting that it will make a great photo, but applying a gradient can be an important post-processing technique to learn.

[Brownbear]

Thank you Mike, and sorry to ask but what is a gradient?

I found them in Elements 9 but they are very strange looking... ie; psychedelic colours

And from playing around... Looks like Jurassic park!



What do people use these gradients used for?

[Mike Buckley]

Very good, Christina! Wonderful conversion! It's the best of the three versions in my mind.

Now consider cropping the top to eliminate about half of the space. By the way, as you compose photos in the view finder, keep in mind that though an intense crop such as the last one works fine on the Internet, the resulting image file will be so small that you will only be able to make a relatively small print.

A gradient is a post-processing technique that gradually (hence, the term, "gradient") becomes more and more intense, or perhaps less and less intense, depending on how you think about it. It doesn't matter what is being applied -- saturation, brightness, blur, or whatever. What matters is that it is being applied gradually.

The first photo shown below began as a poorly executed grab shot in which everything was perfectly in focus. I simulated the effect of having used a large aperture (small depth of field) by applying blur using a gradient. Notice that the background becomes more and more blurred as it becomes more and more distant.

Blur applied as a gradient




This second photo shown below actually has three gradients, though by design you might not notice any of them until I bring them to your attention. (Depending on the browser that you are using, they are so subtle that you still may not be able to see them.) Beginning in the top left corner, the background is darker and gradually fades to no darkening near the broken wine glasses. The same is true beginning in the top right and lower right corners.

Darkening applied to the background in three separate gradients

[Andrew76]

Hey Christina, you've done a great job selecting! I'm jealous, that's one of the many skills I don't (but should), get to practice more often.

Nice work!

[Brownbear]

Thank you Mike. I realize the photo is too, small... My only intent with this photo was playing to learn. I'll revisit this guy or a similar photo one day. Cropping is another skill I need to work on.

Beautiful photos and yes, I can see the effects of the gradients now that you've pointed them out. And so beautifully subtle! I will research to learn more about this process. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you, Andrew... Great to hear because a few months ago my selecting skills were very poor. Learning to select properly was very frustrating. (thank you Geoff) I still need to improve and intend to practice more, and I'm hoping that by the time I buy one of those tablets it will be a breeze.