Wednesday, February 23, 2011

In Awe of Adobe Photoshop Elements 9's Content-Aware

My photography workshop teacher said, in many occasions, that we are responsible for every millimeter, for every pixel there is in a photograph. He said that we should always be aware of what the camera sees because it can be different with what our own eyes can see. "You see a sheep on a pasture, loved the lighting, took the picture, assumed that you got the shot, only to find out when you view the photo in your monitor that the sheep is just a minutiae in the shot." I can say that I am also guilty of that: when I see something compelling enough to get my camera out of the bag, fling the camera and take the shot, I sometimes forget that what the camera sees is different from what I see.


Take the photo below of my friend in one of our trip to Atlantic City.




It was one muggy, grey afternoon but I noticed the place he was standing on and I definitely loved the lines surrounding him. But, when I got home to look at the photos taken that day, I suddenly noticed the "No Swimming" sign on his left. If I could repeat the shot, I would have asked him to take a step to the left to cover the sign. But that's that: we would have to go back to Atlantic City and hope for the same environmental conditions if I want to recreate the shot.


Enter Photoshop Elements 9.


I've read about Content-Aware for Photoshop CS5 and I got very happy when Photoshop included the technology in Elements. How good is Content-Aware? Look at the same photo below but with Elements doing its magic:




From People and Portraits



The sign disappeared and it was replaced by a portion of the fence! That was very, very nice!


How to use it? Click on the "Spot Healing Tool" (the one that looks like a Band Aid with a semi-circle) and click on the "Content Aware" radio button at the top. That's it. As simple as that. And let Photoshop Elements do its work.


I know that I should learn to see as the camera sees but for those times that I forget, Photoshop is a great, great help.


Photo made with a Canon Eos 7D with a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6. Settings at f/5.6, 1/10s, ISO640.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Labels

Photography Chicago There's Always A Shot Review Philippines Gadgets Outdoor Photography Accesories Metro Manila Street Photography Events Photography Inspiration Photo Journalism Summer Photography Advice Travel Winter Accessories Photography How-to Portraiture The Wife Apple Autumn Shot A Million Times iPhone Video Review Product Review Holidays Long Exposure Spring Architecture Princeton iPhone Accessories Inspiration Taguig Art Indoor Music iPod Canon Cameras Event Fireworks Photography Technique Photojournalism How-to Museum Product Photography Books Fine Art Fitness Health Personal iPhone photography Flowers Fujifilm Panorama iPhone Photo Blue Hour #MoreFunInThePhilippines Food Photography Landscapes Lenses Filipino Fujinon Launch Mac Shoes Sony California HDR Japan Makati City Musings Navy Pier Night Photography Photoshop Science iPad Android BGC Bags Blog Contest Family Fashion Fitbit Friends Internet Motion Blur Non-iPhone phone Road Trip Running Sunset USA iPad Accessories iPhone Apps Animated GIF Apple Accessories Battery Bluetooth Cebu Cycling Dance Earphones Food Garmin GoPro Gym Home Luzon Macro Natural Light Photography Outdoor Run Pageantry Parade Quantified Self Quezon City Smartphone Sports Tabletop Photography Time Lapse Video Videography Workout iOS 4K Advice Anime Animé App Review Apple Watch Architectures Asia Athletics Beach City Scape Cosplay Dining Drop-proof case Duathlon Editorial Emotion Flower Globe GoProMax HD Halloween Holy Sites Home Theater Hyperlapse Joby Laptop Accessories Learning Long Zoom Love Lowepro MacBook Manga Manila Milky Way Mind Museum Minnesota Mobile Phone Mobile Phone Photography Movies North Luzon Orange PSHS Pasay City People Photography Event Post-Processing Power Rain Requests SM MoA Samsung Satire Sound Speakers TPLEX Tagaytay Tanay Televisions Temples There is always a shot Walking Workshop iPhone Case iPhone Xs Max

Comment Guidelines

Keep all comments relevant to the original post. Do not post comments which contain profanity, hate speeches or solicitations of any kind. Posting comments to this blog constitutes your agreement to adhere to these guidelines.