Tom Clark - Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

When you shoot a scene, you probably concentrate on many things at once. You figure out what your subject is, make sure it's in focus, determine how to fit it into the scene in relation to the other elements, make yourself aware of how light affects the entire scene, pay attention to the compositional rules (see Chapter 5), and ensure that you use your equipment correctly. Whew. Even with all that attention to detail, however, chances are high that you'll still create some photographs that can use a little help looking their best compositionally. So, in the following sections, I show you the tools you can use to edit out flaws and other unwanted elements and how to change your perspective.

It's a smart move to make a duplicate of your background layer before making any changes to your image. Changes made to the duplicate layer won't affect the original image. Doing so enables you to go back if you make a mistake; it also gives you the option to compare the original with the new version of your image.

The first and most basic function of most photo-editing software programs is getting rid of unwanted blemishes, flaws, and distracting elements in a photograph. To use this function, generally scan your frame for anything that takes attention away from the subject. If something is distracting and serves no purpose in your message, get rid of it or blend it further into the background.

When working on images in Photoshop, you have the following tools in your editing arsenal: the Clone stamp, the Healing brush, and the Dodge and Burn tools. Other advanced programs sometimes have similar capabilities with different names. See your program's owner's manual for details. In the upcoming sections, I show you how to use the Photoshop tools to remove elements you'd prefer not to have in your shot.

No matter what tool you use to retouch a person's face, remember to keep it real. Leave enough detail in the skin so the person doesn't end up looking like a cartoon or a mannequin.

If you're a photojournalist, your images are expected to be truthful. Don't get caught compromising the integrity of news photographs by removing unwanted elements in postproduction. It's okay to remove dust and scratches and to make color corrections, but don't change the truth in the scene by altering the reality of it.

Duplicating pixels with the Clone stamp

The Clone stamp enables you to copy pixels from one area of an image and duplicate them in another area of the image. To use this tool, you simply select the area you want to copy by dragging your cursor to it and holding the Option key (on a Mac) or the Alt key (on a PC) while clicking on it. After you select the area, you drag the cursor and click to paint the new pixels over the area where you want them. Photoshop allows you to change the size of the Clone stamp so you can work on small or large areas.

Some things to keep in mind when using the Clone stamp include the following:

• Pay attention to texture.You don't want viewers to notice that you cloned something out of an image. Even though everyone knows photo-editing programs exist and are used frequently, people still like to believe that what they see is real.

When cloning over something, use a source area that has a similar texture as the area you're retouching. If you want to clone a pimple off someone's face, for example, duplicate pixels from skin that's as close as possible to the problem area. The forehead, cheeks, nose, and neck all have different textures.

• Keep focus in mind.If the area you want to fix is in sharp focus, select pixels from another area with similar texture that's also in sharp focus (and vice versa). A blurry area doesn't blend in well when surrounded by sharpness.

• Avoid creating patterns.Because you duplicate areas when cloning, you need to mix up your source points enough that you don't create a pattern. To do so, select a source point that's similar to the area you want to clone and begin to make your changes. Before cloning the entire area, occasionally select a new source point that's also similar to the area you're changing but is different than your original source point. Doing so helps create a new, original area rather than simply duplicating the one from your initial source point.

A journalist was busted once for cloning extra smoke into a photograph of a hostile environment. He wanted it to look more dramatic than it actually was. People knew what he did because the smoke had easily identifiable patterns.

To see how you can use the Clone stamp to your advantage, compare the two shots in Figure 18-1. The top image has a cleaner composition. My client wanted this photograph to seem as if it had been taken in someone's home. Using the Clone stamp, I made the following changes to the original picture (bottom) in order to give the message of the image center stage:

Removed spots on the ceiling that had been caused by light fixtures:The spots weren't recognizable in the image and distracted the viewer's eye from the monitor, which is the subject of the image.

Took out the dark reflection in the computer monitor:This reflection showed up in the image as a flaw in the screen, so taking it out was important to eliminate distraction.

Scrubbed out the writing on the wall behind the monitor:

The writing on the wall gave away our location as an art gallery instead of a house, which is where the client wanted to portray the photo as being taken.

24mm, 1/30 sec, f/3.2, 320

Figure 18-1:If something in your frame is distracting and unnecessary, you can remove it to create a cleaner composition.

Using the Heating brush to Blend the tonality of duplicated pixels

Similar to the Clone stamp, the Healing brush uses a source point to copy pixels and duplicate them in a separate area. However, the Healing brush also blends the tonality of the resulting pixels with their immediate surroundings. This tool is useful when you need to make a change in an area with varying shapes and tonalities. With the Healing brush, you can choose a source point that's much brighter and darker than the area you want to retouch. As long as the textures are similar, your results will be fine.

In Figure 18-2,1 removed the model's tattoos by using the Healing brush. I chose to use this brush rather than the Clone stamp due to its ability to blend the tonality of changes with their surroundings. The Clone stamp provides literal duplications and would have been more difficult to work with in this instance.

I selected areas of skin that were ink free and then painted over the tattooed areas. Also, I cloned out the cloud merging with the model's head in the background. (Read more about merging background elements in Chapter 9.)

50mm, 1/1000 sec, #3–5,50

Figure 18-2:Tattoos removed from a model with the Healing brush.

Amending exposure utith the Dodge and Burn toots

The terms dodge and burn are borrowed from the darkroom, where light is directed through a negative and onto a piece of photo paper to create a print. Dodging is the art of lightening an area on a print by blocking it from the light for a time period during the exposure. Burning is the art of allowing light to affect one area for a longer period of time than the rest of the image in order to darken it.

Similarly, the Dodge and Burn tools in a photo-editing software program such as Photoshop come in handy when you want to brighten or darken specific areas in an image without affecting the entire thing. For instance, you may want to brighten a person's face but keep the background dark in order to make the face stand out more.