Howard Millard

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Home-Grown Special Effects
Edges And Borders
Howard Millard  |  Nov 28, 2005  |  0 comments

Sometimes all it takes to lift your photo from the ordinary to the extraordinary
is a striking edge or border. Would a soft-edged vignette or a unique pattern
border take your image to the next level of dramatic impact? While there are
myriad software programs and plug-ins designed to add special effect edges,
borders and frames, you probably already have quite an array of possibilities
built into your current image-editing software. To get you started, here are
some effects that I created with Adobe Photoshop. You can use Elements for these,
as well. Earlier versions of these as well as other image-editing programs offer
many of the same effects. Now let's give some photos a new leading edge...

...

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Easy Infrared; Create Your Own From Any Color Image File
Howard Millard  |  Oct 25, 2005  |  0 comments

Could your portraits be enhanced
by the mysterious, otherworldly glow of a black and white infrared (IR) effect?
In the past, pre-digital darkroom, the only way you could get the IR look was
shooting special IR film, quite a challenge to expose, process, and print correctly.
Working digitally you can avoid many of the pitfalls and gain much more control
in the bargain. Here's how to emulate that exotic infrared look digitally:




You can start with a scan of any color slide, print, or negative you've
shot with your film camera or, even easier, with a color file from your digital
camera. If you're starting with a print, negative, or slide, scan it in
RGB color mode. Once you've got the digital file, open it in Adobe Photoshop
CS (or some earlier versions) to follow the steps outlined here. You can also
achieve the effect with Adobe Elements 2 or other advanced image-editing programs,
but the names of some tools or dialog boxes may be slightly different. Always
work on a copy to preserve your original scan. In fact, with this technique,
it is a good idea to make two or three copies in order to try different settings
in search of the effect you like best. Just follow these steps and you'll
be on your way to easy IR.

1.
I began with this original color file shot in Raw mode with a
Canon Digital Rebel 6-megapixel digital SLR with a Canon 18-55mm
lens at 55mm (equivalent to a 90mm lens in 35mm format). File
size: 18MB. (Model: Riley Messina.)

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How-To Create That Fabulous, Funky Fisheye Look
Howard Millard  |  Jul 26, 2005  |  0 comments

1.

It was the swinging `60s,
I was in college, and many wore a rainbow of tie-dyed colors. What had
been "normal" was being challenged on every front, and that
included photography. The bulging, startling perspective of the fisheye
lens added an otherworldly look to album covers for rock musicians like
Jimi Hendrix and Cream. Now, decades later, just as bell bottom pants
recently returned for yet another cycle, fisheye images have again reared
their heads in both print and television ads. A fisheye lens, of course,
is one that takes in an extremely wide angle of view, often 180º,
and appears as a circle within the black image frame. Yes, there are rectilinear
full frame fisheyes (which give a rectangular, not round image), but to
my mind, they're merely ultra-wide angle lenses. A true fisheye,
on the other hand, is a unique special effects tool which renders a unique
circular perspective of the world.



When I was a student, fisheye lenses cost a small fortune (some still
do). What to do? I drilled a hole in the center of a lens cap and glued
a brass door peephole from a hardware store to it. Snapping the lens cap/fisheye
lens over a 50mm or wider angle standard lens, I got a small 180º
circular fisheye image in the center of the black frame. Quality was not
great, but the effect was spectacular.
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Nine Steps To Create Realistic Reflections
Howard Millard  |  Sep 27, 2005  |  0 comments


1

Photos © 2003, Howard Millard, All Rights Reserved

Adding a reflection of your
subject can double the impact of your digital photo, transforming an
ordinary shot into something memorable and striking. Using tools in
Adobe Photoshop, Elements, and other image-editing programs, it's
not too difficult to double your pixel power. Just follow these nine
steps. I used Photoshop, and the procedure is similar in Elements or
other programs.


2

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How To Create A B&W Infrared Effect From Any Image
Howard Millard  |  Sep 27, 2005  |  0 comments


To
achieve the eerie, glowing effect of infrared black and
white film, I applied several techniques in Adobe Photoshop.

Photos © 2001, Howard Millard, All Rights Reserved

Are you attracted to the
mysterious, otherworldly glow of black and white infrared film? But
you've heard that it's a bit of a hassle to shoot and print.
Well, here's how to emulate that exotic infrared (IR) look digitally
starting with any color original.



Why not shoot IR film to begin with? Kodak High Speed Infrared film
is a challenge. First, to avoid fogging, it should be stored in the
refrigerator and must be loaded and unloaded in the darkroom or a changing
bag. Then, for the best effect, you must shoot with a deep red or opaque
filter over your lens. Once you've focused, you must re-focus
the lens manually to the infrared focus point. Since your camera meter
doesn't measure IR light, it's advisable to bracket exposures
widely. In the field, you must load and reload your camera in a light-tight
changing bag. After the film has been processed, the negatives are extremely
contrasty and often require extensive dodging and burning to get a good
print.


I
started with this original color 35mm slide shot on Fuji Sensia
II and scanned it on a Polaroid Sprintscan 35 Plus scanner
at 2700dpi for a 26MB file.

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Desktop Depth Of Field; Creating Selective Focus Effects, Digital Style
Howard Millard  |  Jul 26, 2005  |  0 comments


The
original photo, shot in the studio with Paul C. Buff electronic
flash on Fujichrome Sensia slide film, is sharp throughout.
Model: Heidi McAllister.

Photos 2002, Howard Millard, All Rights Reserved

In ads, book covers and magazines,
you've seen pictures where part of the subject jumps out at you
because it's sharp, but most of the image is way out of focus. The
technique really directs your attention to the part of the subject that's
sharp, and it adds a contemporary flair and sense of style. Traditionally,
this effect was achieved by using extremely shallow depth of field with
a medium format or large view camera. Today, however, you can create it
digitally in a few minutes and apply it to any existing photo made with
any camera, or to any print that you can scan into your computer.


I
selected the area I want to keep sharp with the Elliptical
Marquee selection tool.

Remember, once you've drawn the selection, you can
reposition it by dragging inside the selected area. Next,
feather the selection.

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Make It Move!
Create Digital Strobe Effects
Howard Millard  |  Jun 07, 2005  |  0 comments


#1. Starting with an original single image photo shot
in the studio, I selected the subject with the Magic Wand
tool. (Model: Tanya Perez.)

...

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Streakers!
Howard Millard  |  May 31, 2011  |  4 comments

In this article I’ll show you how to add dramatic movement to your images, as well as rich color and strong graphic design to create a striking impression. This is a trick you can do in Photoshop CS2, CS3, CS4 and CS5.

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Digital Panoramic Photography weekend workshop with Howard Millard
Howard Millard  |  Jun 26, 2007  |  0 comments


Learn how to shoot striking panoramas like this at Howard Millard's
DigitalPanorami...

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Workshop Spotlight; D-65 Seminars & Your Digital Workflow
Howard Millard  |  May 29, 2007  |  0 comments

Workshop Spotlight

D-65 Seminars & Your Digital Workflow

by Howard Millard



For anyone shooting digitally today, there are an almost overwhelming number
of elements to keep track of: capture, downloading, color management, color
and tonal correction and enhancement, captioning, storage,backin...

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