The source image was a whole lot more than a sky and moon. In fact, it was a parking lot (with a sky and moon):

Though I took the photo because I thought the sky was nice, the rest of it could stand to be eliminated. So that’s what I did. I selected a crop area that cut out everything that wasn’t sky, while still giving a decent placement to the moon:

The problem we have now is the noise generated by a low-quality, 2 mega-pixel camera phone. The file is saved as a JPG with high compression (to save space, I presume), which affects the overall quality of the photo. High compression produces poor color gradients and a pixellated look, so we need to eliminate this with a photo editing tool. Enter Photoshop magic.

As I posted recently, there’s a simple filter to smooth out gradients and reduce noise. This filter is appropriately named “Reduce Noise…” and can be found in the “Filter” menu under “Noise.” For this particular noise reduction, the settings I used were as follows:

• Strength: 10
• Preserve details: 0%
• Reduce color noise: 100%
• Sharpen details: 0%
• Remove JPEG artifact: checked

By using extreme settings, the color should smooth out nicely. You wouldn’t normally do this, but there’s no detail to preserve and we want the best smoothing possible before adjusting the levels. NOTE: Before applying the reduce noise filter, duplicate the background layer and switch off the new duplicate layer. You’ll need it later. Here’s the image with noise reduction applied:

Once the noise is worked out, we’ll add an adjustment layer to control the levels by going to “Layer->New adjustment layer->Levels…” Be sure that this layer is at the top. Adjust the settings to your liking. In my case, the blue becomes much more blue and the dark areas become almost black. Almost there:

Now wait, there was a moon in this image. What good is a noise reduction filter if it is going to blur everything out? Good question.

Remember that duplicate layer? Turn it on then outline the moon using the polygonal lasso or whatever you’re comfortable using. You will notice that the noise reduction didn’t apply to this layer because it wasn’t selected at the time, which means the moon is still visible. Once outlined, right-click (CMD-click in OS X) on the selection and the choose “Layer via copy.” Now the moon is resting on its own layer, hopefully above the noise reduced layer. You will know this immediately because the moon will suddenly be visible. Add a watermark and you’ve got a finished product:

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• Silence the Noise in High-Compression Photos (0)
• Six Tips for Taking Better Camera Phone Photos at Night (5)

Visit the Wordless Wednesday HQ for more!

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I like Paynes Prairie, though, and I want to save this photo somehow. Photoshop holds the key. It holds many keys, but I’m going to use only a few this time around. Via the magic and awesomeness of adjustment layers, I’ll take the ordinary photo above and turn it into something moody and dark. The same could be done to make it happy and light, but I’m going in the other direction (which some might even call drab and plain!). The beauty of using adjustment layers is that you alter the photo’s appearance without altering the original photographic layer.

Open the photo in Photoshop and crop it to your liking. Using this cropped selection, add an adjustment layer to take out most of the color - in this case, everything except yellow - by going to “Layer->New Adjustment Layer->Hue/Saturation.” Take all colors down via the Saturation slider to their lowest value, then increase the yellow slider a bit to make the flowers pop more. You should have a semi-desaturated image at this point.

Next, add another adjustment layer for level adjustment by going to “Layer->New Adjustment Layer->Curves…” (or adding a Levels… layer). Adjust the levels to your liking. There are endless possibilities with this setting, just like the saturation layer, so don’t be afriad to play around with multiple variations. It comes down to personal preference.

To finish this off, we want to bring those clouds up a bit more, since there’s really no definition in the gray, overcast sky. This can be easily done with the burn tool. Make sure to burn the highlights, midtones and shadows in order to achieve maximum effect.

Now sit back and enjoy your creation!

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This particular shot was taken with the Nokia 5310. A quick trip through Photoshop made this image pop more than the original, due to the poor quality of the 5310. Desaturation, curves and a gradient map later, and we’re in business.

Though the palm tree was alive, the vines that had climbed all the way to the top had since died back, waiting for next spring’s rain to repeat their ascension. And they will be back, without a doubt.

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If you haven’t seen Alltop yet, go check it out. It’s Guy’s latest project which entails sorting sites in a way that resembles a magazine rack. There’s a load of topics now and the list keeps growing. My site feed was placed in the Gadgets section alongside sites like Engadget, Boing Boing, Gizmodo and many other high-profile sites. For my site to even be considered is an honor. Getting listed is beyond words.

I’ve placed a feed on the right column for the gadgets section that provides the latest posts from the member sites. Go check them out if you can. Thanks again, Guy!

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High file compression is a given in the field camera phone photography, but I had not discovered a way to counter this efficiently, instead trying to manually reduce it through lighting and shot angles. Well thanks to the tutorial, “Reduce Noise in Photoshop CS3,” by Mike Rodriguez, I discovered a goldmine in the world of Photoshop.

The image above was taken some time ago (during Negative Week in August 2008), but it didn’t make the cut because of massive amounts of noise in the darker colored areas. Well, here it is now, cleaned up and much better for it. All this photo needed was a good dose of the “Reduce Noise” filter, a standard filter in the “Filter->Noise…” menu. I think I never noticed it because “Noise” implies making it, not taking it away. Now I know.

Give it a try and you’ll see how incredible this filter is. After viewing Mike’s tutorial, be sure to check out the rest of the detailed tutorials on the Layers Magazine site. They’re thorough, easy-to-follow and worth a look.

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The sand in the box comes from St. George Island, where you can find some of the best beaches in Florida. Most of the shells come from there as well, but the sponge comes from the Florida Keys. We visited some friends a few years ago after the hurricanes and picked sponges right off the ground. The storm surge had washed hundreds ashore, leaving them to dry in the hot sun. The box was purchased in an estate store along with about ten other boxes. Put it all together and you’ve got a great memory.

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In an attempt to test this theory of laughability, I took a series of photos in a dark parking lot illuminated only by a pair of floodlights and a nearby streetlight. While many of the photos turned out awful, some of them were surprising, given the poor lighting conditions.

Here’s six tips I picked out from my nighttime experience that you might find useful. The last two are editing tips, but I think they’re valid points.

Tip 1: LED flashes are useless.

Personally, I’m partial to photography using natural light, but that’s probably because I don’t know how to effectively use a flash. However, calling a tiny LED light next to the camera lens a “flash” is ridiculous and bit of an overstatement. You would probably have better results using a flashlight. A little trial and error will give you an idea of what dark conditions work best for your phone.

Tip 2: Don’t move.

This is a no-brainer, but seriously, don’t move. Try to position the shot so you have something solid to brace yourself against, like a wall or a tree. Trying to freehand a night shot (or any low-light shot) is hard enough - doing it with a camera phone is nearly impossible.

Tip 3: Avoid extreme light/dark situations.

If your camera phone isn’t that great, chances are good that two extremes of light will confound it to no end. The shot becomes under or over exposed, depending on how the camera feels at that moment. Instead, try to go with a middle ground to achieve decent results. (Note: In my experience, this problem is not nearly as bad in the daytime.)

Tip 4: Even in darkness, there are shadows.

Work with as much as the night is willing to give you. In many cases, there will be a light source somewhere, which means that shadows will probably be present. Use them to your advantage. Shadows add mystique any photo, but night shadows are even more mysterious.

Tip 5: Don’t auto correct in Photoshop.

Once you get the photos into your favorite editing software (Photoshop in my case), don’t reach for the “Auto Levels” adjustment. If you do, Photoshop will compensate way too much, thinking the photo is underexposed. Instead, take it into manual and try various level adjustments yourself until you find a happy medium. You took the photo at night for a reason, so don’t let Photoshop try to make it daytime.

Tip 6: Desaturate.

Since most of the color will be lost with a night shot, you might find it easier to manipulate the photo after desaturating it or changing the color mode to grayscale. Doing this turns the editing job into a simpler brightness/contrast edit and eliminates any poorly resolved color in the photo. We are talking about a camera phone, so simplifying the editing process makes for a better final product.

I’m speaking from a 2 mega-pixel camera perspective, so if you’ve got a better camera phone, try some night photos and let me know how they turn out. Now get out there and shoot!

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As I was waiting with my youngest daughter after school, I noticed the interesting patterns that were coming out of the sand and the shadows, so I started shooting. What I quickly realized is that the shadows acted as a natural vignette. To enhance this effect, I turned the brightness way down until the shadows begin to get that underexposed look.

Once in Photoshop, all that needs to be done is some minor color correction, level adjustments and a bit of burning to darken any of the lighter edges. That’s it! Stay tuned for more on brightness adjustment and working with shadows.

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It’s fitting that my wife took this photo because it pretty much sums up who she is: strong, solid and majestic as an oak, but not like the other oaks. And that’s why I love her so much. Who wants to marry a plain old oak anyway? Not me.

Photo credit: Nancy

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