The Photo Muse by DPM - Film, Flowers, and Fabulous Updates

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Hi Reader,

Fun and random fact about Darlene

I have been doing photography since I was about 13 when my parents gave me a Yashica 35mm film camera. My first one! It was similar to the one below, I even had a case like this.

That camera got me started on a lifelong journey and love affair with photography. I took photos of my dog and my family, and when I got to high school I was in the photography club and took yearbook photos.

A two-year photography program at our local technical school was next for me. Afterward, I was a working professional in the field and I've been involved in photography ever since in one capacity or another, mostly self-employed or as a contractor.

Here are some of my REALLY early photos!

The first two were taken when I was in photography school (circa 1987) as assignments for "glassware". I learned later that my instructor was using my images as examples of how to do this 10 years after I had graduated. Wow, I was blown away!

Please excuse the image quality - they are cell phone shots of prints in an old album behind plastic page covers.

So it's no surprise I wrote about how to do just that. You can read about how to photograph glassware here.

Ultimately, I ended up doing portraits and weddings and not studio product work as I had planned. The images below were taken around 1989 or so and as you can see, I was interested in Indigenous culture (left) and infrared photography (right) even then.

FAQs Answered

The first question from readers this week comes from Michael and Robert who both want to know how to cull or sort through images to find your best ones faster.

The short answer is to use the "edit in" method. When reviewing a set of images, instead of trying to eliminate all the bad shots, simply look for and flag only the best ones.

My entire culling process is here: How to Edit Photos Faster and Cut Hours from Your Digital Workflow.

The question above has to do with photo editing, and knowing when to stop. How do you know whether or not it's too much? Watch this video!

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I also answered that question in this article, 7 Deadly Photo Editing Sins That Could Ruin Your Images but here's a quick summary:

1. Using a vignette that is too heavy-handed and obvious.
2. Over-sharpening (using both sharpness and clarity).
3. Over saturation.
4. Pulling the shadows up too much (no blacks left).
5. Noise reduction is applied too heavily.
6. Not shooting in raw format.
7. Not doing any processing at all.

That last one is a huge debate topic amongst photographers and has been since photography was invented. Of course, before the digital era, we didn't use computers and Photoshop but images were still manipulated in many ways.

Did you know it was possible to create double exposures in the camera (with film) and the darkroom (see below)? I've done both. How about adding color to b/w prints using dyes, pencils, or oil paints? I've done all of those too.

Solarization, posterization, the Orton Effect, Lith film slides, cross-processing, sandwiched negatives, and more - were all techniques that were done pre-digital (I did most of those as well - I have experimented with many things).

This is a discussion for another day, but if you're curious Google some of those terms and see what you can learn about the history of photographic manipulation and editing. Also look up Lomo photography, sepia toning, etc.

Watch this short video about the work of the original photography composite creator, Jerry Uelsman. Read more here too. ​

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Sorry Trevor, I got off track! In regards to your question about how to prevent a halo on the horizon, I have a short answer. Scale back the adjustments. When you get a halo appearing it most often means something has been taken too far, usually the edits to the sky.

So dial it back a bit until you see the halo disappear, or if the sky has been masked you may need to refine it a bit more to get it just right.

Watch This!

Last Sunday I edited some really pretty floral images submitted by folks like you. Get some editing tips for your flower images, just in time for spring.

Here is one before-and-after example of what you'll see in this video.

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In the News - Luminar Neo Update Version 1.19.0

This week I got my hands on a beta copy, an early release of the latest update for Luminar Neo and it's a big one! It's so big, in fact, that they decided to update the app's style with a new logo and branding. Welcome the new Luminar Neo look.

Gone is the blue and pink triangle, in is a new golden starburst. It's reminiscent of the actual sun and many other design elements used in photography like a vanishing point, perspective, etc.

This is a quick list of what's coming in this update (which will be released on April 25th):

• Two new tools
  • Water Enhancer AI
  • Twilight Enhancer AI
• Two new (and awesome) masking options
  • Luminosity masking
  • Object Select AI
• Batch HDR processing (drag and drop up to 1000 images in sets - it's pretty slick!)
• New Export button
• New status bar with file name
• And lots of other small interface improvements

To see a full list and see the new tools in action watch this now:

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If you are currently a student in our Luminar Neo course, updates will be added soon. But it's our understanding that more changes to the app are expected to roll out over the next few months so we may have to wait until all the new stuff is released. Then I will update or redo any of the course lessons as needed to make it current.

So please have patience as we sort out the best way to move forward. You will have full access as always.

Lightroom course update

I am just finishing work on a new lesson for our Lightroom course. It is long overdue, my apologies. It covers all the new stuff that was released in update 13.

If you are a student of that course, you'll see the new video tutorial by the end of the weekend. Just look for Lesson 48. If you aren't sure how to find it, I'll send you another email with the direct link in a day or so.

Feature of the Week

If the Luminar Neo update has inspired you to do some HDR photography, check out our HDR Masterclass. Make sure you're doing it the right way!

Cheer, until next week,

Darlene