Brilliant Prints Blog - Your Photos on Canvas

Edit photos for free online

admin — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:26:43 +0000

Edit Photos Online for Free

You have just received a set of photos from your recent vacation. You know your friends are eager to see those pictures. You’re about to upload them to your Flickr photostream when, while browsing through the photos, a thought hit you: they need editing. But you’re in the office and your office computer does not have Adobe Photoshop installed. And even if there is, you know you’ll get lost simply trying to adjust contrast. So what will you do?

All you need is an online photo editor. With it, you would not need Photoshop to perform simple corrections or enhancements on your photos. These online photo editors allow you to perform the following basic functions:

· Cropping

· Adjusting brightness and contract

· Sharpening

· Blurring

· Resizing

· Creating effects like sepia and grayscale

· Saving in multiple image formats

You have to take note though that since your photo editor is web-based, there may be limitations compared with standalone applications like Photoshop or Picasa Editor. But there are tools out there that give you almost everything you need. I’m going to present to you 3 of the most loved photo editors in the web today. And the best thing about them is that they are FREE.

If you use Flickr, you’re probably already familiar with Picnik. It’s Flickr’s completely integrated photo editing application. All you need to do is go to your Flickr photo, click the Edit Photo button to launch Picnik, and you’re set to play. Of course, if you don’t like to edit inside Flickr, it’s fine. Just sign up for free at the Picnik website. Then when you’re done editing, you can upload your photos to Flickr. Clever, eh?

Picnik is Flash-based. It is considered the fastest in the new breed of online photo editors and has the most intuitive user interface. It’s probably the best of the bunch. Thus, it is no surprise that its fan base grows with each day. For a handy set of Picnik Tutorials check out our previous blog posts.

While we love Picnik. It’s certainly not the only option available.

Unlike Picnik, Phixr is developed using Ajax. As such, it has the potential of giving users complete editing satisfaction. The most attractive feature of Phixr is its ability to make artistic Polaroid snapshots and to insert comment bubbles and effects in your photographs. Also, you can directly upload your edited work to a lot of photo-sharing websites like Facebook, Flickr, and Picasaweb among others.

And just when you thought online photo editors cannot even come close to what Photoshop delivers, think again. Formerly known as Fauxto, SplashUp is an intricately designed application that closely resembles most features of Adobe Photoshop, including its look and feel. It is completely developed using Flash, and it is the first online tool to introduce a layered editing environment. As a bonus, you can save your unfinished work in the application’s own file format so you can continue editing later.

What are you waiting for? Explore these online photo editors and begin transforming your photos now.

How to earn money from your photographs

admin — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:22:38 +0000

You have been pursuing this hobby for years now, and every day, when you turn on your computer, you do not fail to play a theatrical slideshow of the best shots you’ve taken. And then what?

Yeah, sure: the artistic satisfaction you get from staring at your photos every day, reveling at how you’ve mastered your craft, has always been enough to answer the question “Where do I (and my photos) go from here?”

Have thoughts of making money out of your photos crossed your mind? It does not have to mean you are selling your art. On the contrary, knowing that your work equates to good monetary value can encourage you to take your photography skills further.

Now is the time to convert your 50GB worth of photos into money that can fill your bank account. Get a list of the ways to sell your photos and find the one that suits you best.

But before you start doing that, you have to make sure that your photos are of superb quality: unique, dynamic, flawless. They should need no additional editing to conceal blemishes or mistakes.

It is also important that you know what kind of subject to photograph. There are a lot of things you can photograph but not all of them will sell for a good price. The kind of pictures that can make money for you are:

Travel and vacation photos that include landmarks, attractions, monuments, architecture, and scenic spots.
Sports events like soccer, wrestling, hockey, basketball, and others.
Local events such as cultural plays, musical concerts, trade shows, fairs, and car shows. Check your newspaper for upcoming events in your area.

Now here are the different ways to sell those photos:

· Sell online. You may upload your photos in many stock photo websites that will then sell the images for you. You will be paid depending on the number of people requesting to buy a copy of your photo. Before choosing a stock photo website, be sure to check feedback about the site. This will help you decide which site is best.

· Run an exhibition. Find a place big enough for all your works, but small enough to make it appear that your works are attracting a crowd of passers-by. You may show your photos in a pet shop or grocery store. There are also art galleries that give chance to new artists. If you have an impressive portfolio, you can have an exhibition in a mall or an airport. Brilliant Prints can always help you turn them into canvas prints, foam mounts or acrylic art.

· Join photo competitions. Send your best photos to themed competitions online or in art exhibits. If you win, or at least become one of the runners-up, people may come to you to buy your photographs. Make sure that your entry has your contact details.

· Send them to magazines. If your photos are chosen, you will get published and earn easy money.

· Print them on novelty items. Print your images on mouse pads, mugs, calendars, and CD covers. This approach works because the items you’re going to print your photos on are useful everyday accessories.

How to take a soulful portrait

admin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:58:56 +0000

Today we bring you the first in a continuing series of articles written by some of our keen staff photographers.

It is every photographer’s goal when taking portraits: to show the subject’s soul.

That’s the only way for your audience to grasp the entirety of the person on the photo, and get to know your subject than just the color of the eyes or the age of the skin. When you capture the soul of a person on a photograph, a lot of things naturally follow: personality, heart, strength, experiences, humor, and priorities.

When you take photos of your kids, your wife, your friends, and even strangers in the streets, do you attempt to bare the story of their lives, their souls?

How do you make that happen? Is there a button on your camera that can do that? The bad news is that there is none. The good news is that there are tips you can rely on to help you and your camera do the trick.

1. Go candid

Capture your subject’s normal, spontaneous behavior. Pre-arranged poses look unnatural and pretentious. Take their photos while they are around friends or family, while at work or playing, or while they’re doing something they love. This works particularly well when photographing kids.

2. Eye Contact

As they say, the eyes are the windows to the soul. Usually, your subject’s eyes look down the lens and that creates a sense of connection between your subject and your audience. But you can also make them look elsewhere.

Ask your subject to look at something not seen on camera. This creates candidness and a bit of intrigue on the part of the audience because they wonder what the person on the photograph is looking at. Could it be his love interest, his favorite food, or the horizon? Why does your subject look intensely interested?

3. Get closer

Tight shots reveal more details. Photograph faces real close. You can also choose just one part of the face or body—the lips, eyes, hands, hips, shoulder, or feet. These focused images will leave the viewers imagining about the rest.

4. Out of comfort zone

Stay away from cliché photo shoots: head and shoulder shots, desk shots, standing shots in front of the company emblem. Instead, push your subjects out of the box. Ask them to jump, make silly faces, bang their heads like rock stars, dive on their beds, or even do cartwheels. This will show how much a good sport the person is, and how much he can make fun of himself.

5. Take a series of shots

Set your camera to Continuous Shooting or Burst mode and fire away. When you do this, you capture more emotions and actions from your subjects. They also feel more at ease, and the photos become more real and candid. Plus, you get a lot of photos to choose from in case you need to capture the best shot.

5 best free photoshop plugins

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:39:25 +0000

Last time, you learned about basics of Photoshop plugins. Today, you are going to discover free plugins, filters in particular, which will improve the efficiency of your every Photoshop session and transform your average-looking images to extraordinary ones.

All the plugins that will be presented are Windows- and Mac OS-compatible. Also, the plugins were tested in Photoshop CS1 for this tutorial. But many of these plugins work just fine with lower Photoshop versions, and even with PaintShop Pro or PhotoPaint.

Here are 5 helpful and free Photoshop plugins from the thousands available online:

1. Luce

Photography is all about light. Change the quality of light on a cloud photo using this filter and insert beams of light shining through it. This can be done through a number of steps in Photoshop. Do it in one or two clicks using Luce from Amico Perry.

2. BorderMania

Adding borders to a single photo is easy, but it can be time-consuming if you have to put borders on all photos of a 50-piece portfolio. BorderMania filter allows for easier application of borders and frames. Tweak your image and play around with different types of borders. Make sure to increase the size of your canvas before you add frames so that the borders don’t cover parts of the image.

3. Mosaic

Who can resist mosaics? Auto FX’s Mosaic filter took Photoshop’s built-in mosaic options and blew it out of the water with far more effects you can do with an image.

This plugin seems like a stand-alone application with its large and attractively designed interface. It also includes standard menu functions like File, Edit, and View. You can control mosaic options that include tile size, depth, neatness, color shift, and spacing.

4. Dreamy Photo

Remember the Photoshop tutorial on achieving a dreamy effect for your photos? That’s the long-hand; there’s another Auto FX plugin called Dreamy Photo that does the trick in one strike. Controls include scales for blur, blend, “ghosting,” tint color, and mask softness.

5. Harry’s Filters

Imagine having access to 69 image effects using one control window—the possibilities are limitless. Download Harry’s Filters ThePluginSite and start experimenting with the effects.

The 2 available dropdown menus provide plenty of options where you can change effects on color, noise, warp, and patterns. The plugin also includes a feature called “auto” that allows you to sit back, relax, and watch your photo transform from one setting to another until you find the look you want. The plugin automatically does the job for you.

That’s it: the 5 best free Photoshop plugins you can check out. Try it on your photos and let us know how you find them. If you have other plugin suggestions and tips, feel free to post them in the comments section.

How to Prevent Camera Shake

admin — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:19:28 +0000

Camera shake has always been an issue for photographers, whether novice or professional. This happens when you are shooting either at low apertures or low shutter speeds using a non-stabilized camera. The resulting image is blurry and discouraging.

This is not the kind of blur on photos that contain moving objects. In contrast to camera shake, motion blur is intentional and produces a fluid effect.

To help us get crisp and sharp images every time we press that shutter, there are 2 options to take: use Image Stabilization or get a tripod.

What is Image Stabilization?

DSLR manufacturers sell camera bodies and lenses that support a feature called Image Stabilization (IS) for Canon lenses or Vibration Reduction (VR) for Nikon.

These allow photographers to handhold their camera in poorly lit conditions, using longer exposures without having worry about camera shake. This is usually achieved by turning on a setting in the camera menu or flipping a switch on the lenses.

Cameras and lenses packed with IS will cost you more. But, if you often shoot under low light conditions (for example, if night photography is your expertise) investing in IS-capable tools is well worth paying the extra dollars for.

If you shoot at extremely slow shutter speeds, however, the IS in your lenses will not suffice; your hands will surely move or shake after 2 to 3 seconds. Here’s where a tripod comes in handy.

What is a tripod for?

A tripod is a three-legged stand that is used to elevate and stabilize your camera. Like Image Stabilization, it will help you prevent camera movement when taking a photo, especially when making slow-speed exposures.

For example, if you want to photograph the traffic on a busy avenue and you want to create that flowing lava effect as a result, you need to use a slow shutter speed that’s between 3 to 4 seconds. At this setting, you cannot trust your hand to give you the result you desire. You need to mount your camera on a tripod, and you can play around with the long exposure as much as you want.

You can also use your tripod to precisely frame a scene, or when you want to take more than one image of the exact scene at different exposures (which you can later process with HDR).

If you have been ranting about your blurred images since the day you started exploring your hobby and if you are serious about your photography, do yourself a favor. Get yourself IS-capable lenses and a tripod.

Beginner’s Guide to Photoshop Plugins

admin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:21:47 +0000

You probably already know that Adobe Photoshop is the magic wand of photo editing. But for more demanding image editing projects, Photoshop alone is not enough. There are tools out there that add more advanced capabilities like design blurring and color embossing to your Photoshop software. They are called plugins.

What are Photoshop plugins?

Photoshop plugins are supplemental programs that provide you with additional options to edit and enhance your photos, including actions or effects that are impossible to achieve with basic Photoshop commands. Also, they can make your work easier and faster by automating processes.

Photoshop is proud to have one of the largest collections of third-party plugins. Developed by Adobe and other independent corporations, plugins may require a fee, but there are also great ones that you can use free-of-charge.

What are the types of plugins?

Photoshop plugins fall into several types:

· Filter plugin

It’s the most common type of plugin. It has an 8bf file format and normally provides special effects to images.

· Import/export plugins

These plugins acquire or write image data from or to certain devices. An import plugin is also called acquisition and uses an 8ba file format. An export plugin uses 8be.

· File format plugin

It opens and saves rare image formats that are not supported by Photoshop. It uses the 8bi file format.

· Automation plugin

Like macros, this plugin that uses 8ly file type automates certain tasks in Photoshop such as a series of contrast adjustments you need to apply on your portraits shots.

· Selection/parser plugins

Only Adobe creates these types of plugins. They use 8bs and 8by file formats, respectively.

How do you use these Photoshop plugins?

You need to install your plugins in graphics host applications or plugin hosts before you can use them. There are many graphics applications that support Photoshop plugins. Aside from Adobe Photoshop, some of the popular ones are:

Paint Shop Pro
Photoshop Elements
PhotoImpact
Corel PhotoPaint
Adobe Fireworks

To run the plugins in programs other than Photoshop, instructions are widely available online.

On the other hand, installing your plugins in Photoshop is fairly easy. First, make sure that your Photoshop is closed when installing new plugins. If your plugin package comes with an installer, you will be guided in the installation process and in a few clicks, you’re done.

But if you only have your plugin in, say, 8bf file extension, how will you install it? All you need to do is copy (or drag and drop) the file to the Plugins subfolder of the Photoshop folder.

For Windows, your Photoshop software is usually located in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Plugins; Mac OS stores it in Library\Applications\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Plugins. If however you installed your Photoshop in another location, you should look for the plugins folder there.

The next time you start Photoshop, the new plugins will be available in the Filter menu, waiting for you to experiment on them to create your masterpieces.

Achieving a Dreamy Effect : Photoshop Tutorial

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:07:56 +0000

Photo credit: chylinski

Have you ever wondered why some photos look ethereal and dreamy, like the swan photo above? It looks like it came straight from a scene in a fairy tale movie—softly lit, perceptive, fluid, vivid, and it touches something inside of you. You stare at the hints of light that gently touch elements on the photograph; you’re trying to convince yourself it’s a dream. But really, it’s not.

It’s just Photoshop.

Take a look at the original photo:

It’s a good enough photo already, right? Although the story and composition can be improved (notice the badly cut reflection of the swan on the water), it makes a great photo of a swan spending her late afternoon dilly-dallying on the lake. To help you turn “simple” into “surreal,” here’s a tutorial on how to achieve a dreamy effect for your photos.

Open your chosen photo in Photoshop. This effect works best with well-exposed pictures. You may first adjust brightness and contrast, or do any post-processing adjustment you wish to do with your photo.

Create a new layer. From the menu, click Layer, New, and then Layer via Copy. Shortcut: Ctrl + J (Windows)or Cmd + J (Mac).

A new layer labeled Layer 1 will appear on the Layers palette. This contains your foreground image, which is an exact copy of the background. You may rename your foreground layer if you wish to by double-clicking the layer name. In my case, I labeled it as Foreground.

Making sure that the foreground layer is highlighted in the Layers palette, pull down the Filters menu and select Blur, then Gaussian Blur.

On the Gaussian Blur dialog box, indicate the radius of the blur you wish to apply on your photo. The ideal scale value is when your photo is blurred enough to hide the details, but you should still be able to recognize the image behind it. Start with 5.0 and adjust from there. In the swan photo, I selected a value of 5.0 pixels.

With the foreground layer still selected in the Layers palette, select the blending mode called Multiply. In this step, watch as your photo instantly turns into something new!

From an ugly duckling to a glamorous swan, your photo has entered the world of dreams

This could already be the final image. However, depending on how heavily you want to apply the effect, you may change the blending opacity. By default, it is set at 100%. Move the opacity scale in the Layers palette to a lower value and see what you like best.

Pull down the Layer menu and choose Flatten the Image. This will merge the two layers so that you have just one image.

Finally, click File, save the image as JPEG and you’re done.

Project 365: Chronicle your life - one photo at a time.

admin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:37:20 +0000

Photo credit: balladist

Let’s talk about your blog. As much as possible, you write something in it every day: that déjà vu in the train, your lunch, your overly cheerful boss, your child’s questions, your favorite part of the day, anything at all.

One journal entry a day, 7 entries in a week, 30 in a month, 365 in a year.

Now imagine doing that—chronicling your life—with photos. At the end of the year, you will quite literally see your whole life flash before your eyes. Like how they say near-death experiences cause the same thing. This time, you force it upon yourself.

Taylor McKnight started a photo endeavor called Project 365. On January 1, 2004 he took the first photo. 365 days after and 365 more photos later, the project served as a great way to remember the passing year, and on a more profound sense, helped him appreciate and understand the important things in his life. Apart from that, he became a better photographer.

Are you up for the challenge? Do you wish to look back to see actual scenes of olden days, recall the feelings and thoughts, see whom you met and what you learned? If nostalgia is your cup of tea, this project is a great way to save you from forgetting. Here are tips to get you started with Project 365:

Bring your camera everywhere

You should always be ready to capture anything as the day unfolds hour after hour. Make it a habit to pitch your camera in your everyday bag. Take it to the office, school, grocery store, restaurant, birthday party, movie house, meeting and dinner. Keep this mantra in your head: there are photo-ops everywhere. And you don’t have to lug those bulky DSLRs; compact point-and-shoots and camera phones are good enough.

Allow for easy posting

Get a great place to post your daily photos. Blogger and WordPress both have built-in photo posting. One entry, one photo. You can also post through Flickr. One week worth of photos can be uploaded in about 2 minutes.

Don’t be afraid to experiment

Be creative. Today, take a photo of someone you meet. Tomorrow, perhaps get a snapshot of the restaurant you just discovered. Vary your themes. Take a photo of the adorable baby who made you smile. Take a photo of the yoga class you recently enrolled in. And don’t forget to take a self-portrait so you can see how you’ve changed.

Never give up

You may get tired of taking and posting photos every single day. It may be something nasty that happened at work or at home that would make you think of stopping halfway through. But hear this: don’t stop. Think of your goals. Achieving them is always worth the effort. Don’t think that there’s nothing left to take a photo of. There are always more things to photograph. Get out of the house. Take a short walk. Take a photo of anything. Just don’t stop.

Hang it on your wall

If you want to savor each year in your living room or right out of bed without having to turn on your computer, have your 365 photos resized to fit in a medium or large collage (we can provide this service at no charge). Get it printed as a canvas print. You now have a year in your life immortalized!

Advanced Guide to Flickr

admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:08:37 +0000

As promised, here are more tips on how you can have more fun on Flickr. Now that you’ve signed up, uploaded your photos, added your favorite contacts and joined fantastic groups, let’s take a look at some of the advanced features you can explore.

(If you’re a Flickr newbie, you may want to first read Flicker 101: A Beginner’s Guide for basic tips when starting out.)

Citizens of Flickrville, let’s take a tour:

Browse most interesting photos

With a mechanism to track all uploaded photos, Flickr comes up with cream-of-the-crop shots every day based on favorite tags, comments, views and others—they’re the best of the lot, handpicked by the gods, the blessed ones.

These great photos should be useful if you are looking for inspiration and diverse perspectives. It’s every Flickr member’s dream to find his photo land a spot on the highly desired Flickr-loves-you list.

Click Explore from the Flickr top menu to see random interesting photos. Refresh the page to see the next one. You can also check out more awesome uploads in the last 7 days or see them in a calendar-view of the current month.

Blog your Flickr photos

Surely, most of you maintain a blog. Although blog platforms like WordPress and Blogger have their own photo-posting capabilities, Flickr takes photo blogging to a new level by allowing you to post your new sunset shot directly from your photostream. Flickr can talk to your blog.

Configure your Flickr account to allow posting photos to your blog. After you set it up, you can make a test post to see if everything’s working well. You should be able to post to your blog by clicking the Blog This button at the top of the photo. Presto! You’ve just blogged it.

Get a personalized URL

One, it’s easier to remember. Two, it creates personality. When you sign up, your Flickr address looks too generic, not to mention a little robotic:

http://flickr.com/photos/93376967@N00675/

By setting up a personal name, you change it to something like:

http://flickr.com/photos/brilliantprints/

Be cautious though. Once you set your new URL, it’s locked. You cannot change it again.

Show off photos on your website

Add a strip of Flickr photos on your blog or website. Let your visitors see—the instant you upload them—your recent Paris trip or your last gastronomic adventure in Melbourne. You can also choose to display the photo pool of a Flickr group that suits the purpose of your website, or simply show random photos from the whole of Flickr.

To do so, create a Flickr badge, copy and paste the generated HTML into your website’s source code and start showing off those photos.

Explore and discover

Flickr continues to evolve both in functionality and playfulness. There’s just a lot that can be done. Discover more Flickr treasures yourself and share it with us here. Feel free to post your suggestions in the comment section. Be assured that we’ll continue to post interesting finds as we go along.

Flickr 101: A Beginner’s Guide

admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:38:45 +0000

From its minimalist layout to its user-friendly functions, Flickr offers heaps of features that attracted hobbyist and professional photographers alike. Easily, it grew into a place where people can comfortably share their work, interact and learn.

So if until today you’re not yet Flickring then it’s about time you start. Registration is free. And to guide you on your Flickr baby steps, here are some beginner tips to help you move around.

Sign up using your Yahoo! mail account

And that’s it—no long bio forms to fill out, no secret password questions and no codes to confirm your being a human.

Upload photos with ease

The first thing you need to do—fill your photostream with as many photos as you want. There are a handful of ways to upload your photos in Flickr.

Use the web-based upload form right in the Flickr website. Ideal when you only post one or two photos at a time.
Upload photos straight from your desktop with the Flickr Uploadr 3.0. You can download the uploader for Windows (Vista/XP) or the uploader for Mac OS X.
When you’re on a vacation and there’s no computer within your reach, you can use your mobile phone to send photos to your account.
Email your photos to your photostream using an especially configured email address.

Add titles

After uploading, the filename of your JPEG file (e.g. IMG_076) automatically becomes the title of your photo. Change it to a more descriptive or artistic title like “Angelli sipping her coffee” or “Tonight I’m leaving my sky.”

You can also write a brief story behind the photo in the description box. Some users write (or paste) famous quotations that somehow describe their photo.

Use tags

Tags will help you search photos within your photostream, especially those belonging to the same theme. For example, you may choose to put the tags “travel” and “Sydney” on photos from your recent trip to Australia. Also, tagging allows other Flickr users who search for “Sydney” photos to discover yours.

Adding contacts

One of the great things about Flickr is its community. You’ll connect with photographers of varying expertise from all corners of the world. Some of whom would become your favorites, whose work you would want to follow and stalk. Here’s how you can add another photographer as a contact:

Go to his or her photostream page, say AusPhotographer’s.
Click Profile in the menu under AusPhotographer’s Photostream.
On the upper right hand part of the Profile screen, click Add AusPhotographer as a contact.
On the confirmation screen, you’ll be asked to add AusPhotographer as either friend or family. If the photographer is neither, leave the tick boxes unchecked.
Finally, click Add.

Join groups

Flickr is home to thousands of interest groups you can join. They usually have a field of expertise in photography.

You can find groups on portrait photography, Canon cameras , Nikon gadgets, beaches, insects, lomography, macro, kites, and just about anything you can take a picture of. Some also form groups based on their country or city. There are also groups specifically created for themed photo competitions.

Advanced Flickr Tips

There are more fascinating things you can do on Flickr and one post is not enough to lay them all down. But the above tips should be enough to give you a jumpstart. Come back soon for more tips on Flickring! In the mean-time make sure you check out our advanced guide to the Flickr photostream.