I'm not the biggest fan of Photoshop, though I'm also not against the use of it either. When it comes to photography, I try to adhere to the words of my professor as much as possible. "If you get it right in the camera, you don't have to waste time at your desk." Words to live by. However, when it does come to using Photoshop, I generally stick to two different functions. Levels and Cropping. I don't really even use the Levels function all that much as a) I have more trouble with it than I do success, and b) it doesn't always improve the photograph. Cropping, though, is a whole other story. Sometimes due to either location issues or not having the right lens with you, cropping becomes a great tool in turning a regular photo into something much more interesting. By the way, 'not having the right lens with you' is never a good excuse. That's why back rubs were invented. The first key in order to do successful cropping involves making sure that the original file you're going to be cropping is large enough to survive the procedure. Whenever I shoot, I make sure that my camera is set to the highest possible quality. In the case of my Canon 30D, that's 3504pixels x 2336pixels.
By photographing at such a large size, you can freely crop away without any fear of losing picture quality. Personally, this frees me up to take pictures from a location where I can't get close enough either physically or with the help of a lens. Such was the case here as the original shot was taken at then end of a bicycle path on a wooden dock. So, here are five photographs to try and help me show you what I mean.
The first photograph is the original image. It was taken at f/7.1, 15sec. ISO 100 at 70mm. I'm not going to lie, I like the original photo on it's own, but I also knew that once I got it home and on the computer, I'd be able to cut out a few different views from this one. I generally try and stick with a crop of 2"x3" as it's the regular size that will allow me to print at 4"x6" or 8"x12" without losing anything from the image. However, I've recently started trying to crop my images at other sizes, and had success with the 20"x8" crop of Montreal that was shown at my recent exhibition. This photograph seemed like the perfect candidate to try a similar crop. When all is said and done, I managed to create four different photographs from one original shot.
I'm not the biggest fan of Photoshop, though I'm also not against the use of it either. When it comes to photography, I try to adhere to the words of my professor as much as possible. "If you get it right in the camera, you don't have to waste time at your desk." Words to live by. However, when it does come to using Photoshop, I generally stick to two different functions. Levels and Cropping. I don't really even use the Levels function all that much as a) I have more trouble with it than I do success, and b) it doesn't always improve the photograph. Cropping, though, is a whole other story. Sometimes due to either location issues or not having the right lens with you, cropping becomes a great tool in turning a regular photo into something much more interesting. By the way, 'not having the right lens with you' is never a good excuse. That's why back rubs were invented. The first key in order to do successful cropping involves making sure that the original file you're going to be cropping is large enough to survive the procedure. Whenever I shoot, I make sure that my camera is set to the highest possible quality. In the case of my Canon 30D, that's 3504pixels x 2336pixels. 
By photographing at such a large size, you can freely crop away without any fear of losing picture quality. Personally, this frees me up to take pictures from a location where I can't get close enough either physically or with the help of a lens. Such was the case here as the original shot was taken at then end of a bicycle path on a wooden dock. So, here are five photographs to try and help me show you what I mean. 
The first photograph is the original image. It was taken at f/7.1, 15sec. ISO 100 at 70mm. I'm not going to lie, I like the original photo on it's own, but I also knew that once I got it home and on the computer, I'd be able to cut out a few different views from this one. I generally try and stick with a crop of 2"x3" as it's the regular size that will allow me to print at 4"x6" or 8"x12" without losing anything from the image. However, I've recently started trying to crop my images at other sizes, and had success with the 20"x8" crop of Montreal that was shown at my recent exhibition. This photograph seemed like the perfect candidate to try a similar crop. When all is said and done, I managed to create four different photographs from one original shot.
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