There are many reasons why you may want do use local adjustments, but before we give you reasons we will have to explain what local adjustments are.  As you can figure it out from the title, they are adjustments applied to specific areas of the image, rather than global adjustments that effect the whole image.

Local adjustments come handy in situations where you want to bring an emphasis to specific parts of the photo.  For example, when you want to focus more attention on your athlete.  Shooting outdoors often exceeds the dynamic range of your camera, and in these situations you can use local adjustments to brighten the shadows or darken the highlights.. or both.  Sharpening could also be used as a local adjustment when you want to make your athlete stand out even more, without over-sharpening the whole image.  A similar effect can be applied when you want to bring out a lot of detail form the sky or clothing, but you don’t want your shot to look overdone.  Or may be you want to change the color of someone’s jacket, then you need to apply local adjustment to the jacket itself.  You can always apply any of these adjustments to the whole image, but you will either ruin the rest of the image or it is going to look ridiculously over-done.  Local adjustments are really important, and can easily change the overall look and feel of your photos for the better.

Many of the most popular photo editing programs have added local adjustments in their latest versions.  Now you don’t have to be a Photoshop guru to apply these.  Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw now have the Adjustment Brush and the Gradient Tool, Capture One has a whole Local Adjustments tab, as do most popular photo editing programs.  Of course, since the beginning of time Photoshop has had Layers and Masks that allow you to apply local adjustments.

The next time you start editing your photo, try to focus on specific areas of the image and apply local adjustments rather than global.  After you get the hang of it, we can guarantee you there is no going back.  Just like the example above, try to fix problems in specific areas.  Use the gradient tool in Lightroom to darken/recover the sky.  Mess with the Adjustment Brush and apply more sharpening to your subject.  You should be able to see the difference right away.  Overusing the Clarity slider for example, makes the your images look really over-done.  Try using the brush and apply it only to the clothing of your athletes to give them a nice 3D look without ruining the rest of the photo.

Article Reposted from ActionPhotoSchool.com:

http://actionphotoschool.com/local-adjustments/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ActionPhotoSchool+%28Action+Photo+School%29

All in all, a great day with a great subject… a phenomenal performer who loves what he does.

“Polaroid has been in the photograph business for as long as I can remember. The first camera I can remember having around as a kid was one of the old instant cameras from Polaroid. The company has unveiled a new line of accessory lenses that will work for DSLRs, camcorders, and cameras. It’s not exactly clear from the details released so far what specific cameras these lenses will fit.

Polaroid has unveiled the Studio Series 58mm 2.2x Telephoto and 0.43x Wide Angle Lens Travel Kit that sells for $49.99. The lenses mount onto the existing lens on your camera and converts it over or more zoom. The Polaroid Studio Series 0.3x HD Ultra fisheye lens adapter is also offered in 37mm and 52/58mm versions. They will fit on any camcorder or DSLR lens and offers 180-degree field of view. The lens is priced at $269.99.

The most interesting of the lenses is the 900mm Mirror Lens for outdoor and sports shooting. It uses reflection optics and lenticualr light refraction such as a telescope uses. The lens is priced at $299.99. These lenses are very cheap and should be appealing to photographers wanting more lens options at a lower price than buying a new camera or DSLR lens.”

Hotlips!

Named by 12-year-old Rachel Blackman, this vivid species gets renewed attention.

“They looked a bit like lips and I thought the name suited it really well because of the bright orange colour,” said Rachael. “It’s exciting to know it will always be called hotlips.”

These kids know how to make every basket the best thing that they have done in the last 10 years.  Excitement was passed to and from one kid to another then back to the volunteers.   When you looked into the kids eyes, all you could see in them was joy, pure and true.  They were peaceful for at least one moment because they had time to celebrate with their heroes, Stephen Jackson and D.J. Augustin of the Charlotte Bobcats.   These kids are so excited to meet each and every person, but these two are more special to them.

There is always one kid that standouts each year, and this year was no exception.  He was happy to meet each and every person, but he really wanted to see Michael Jordan.  He wanted to know everyone’s names.  This might sound like nothing special, but this really stood out to me.  It was how he approached each person with a caring heart and did something that most of us have trouble doing when talking to people; he looked deep into each persons eyes without blinking.  So hopefully, we can all learn from these little lessons, to be more considerate with the person next to us in line.

Stephen Jackson of the Charlotte Bobcats plays One-on-One

Studio Rental close to Uptown Charlotte

Photography/Video Studio Space for Rent in South End

Studio Conveniently located in the heart of South End only 5 minutes from uptown Charlotte, our space is ready for your shoot!  Find out why this is one of the most popular studios in town.

We offer:

40’ x 40’  Very Clean Studio Space

18’ Ceilings for Any Kind of Shoot

Large Sliding Wall (can accommodate a vehicle)

Modern Dressing/Makeup Area (with good lighting, large mirrors, and makeup table)

12’ x 12’ Waiting Area

Huge Multi-Speed Fashion Fan

Mens/Ladies Restrooms

Wi-Fi Internet/ Fax Machine/ Phone (local calls)

Stereo System (CD, iPod/MP3 Hookup)

Refrigerator/Microwave

24-Hour Alarm System

Drive in Entrance (with plenty of parking, easy access ground level loading)

RATES:

$250 half day

$400 whole day

$1400 week

15’ x 15’ multi purpose office that can be rented for an additional $125 which includes TV,  office desk, sound system, and chairs.

Uptown Charlotte Studio for Video Production or Photography

Photography studio for special day

Charlotte Photography and Video Production Studio for Rent

It's not as easy as people think.

I ask you this question:  What is the difference between a lawyer and a photographer?  It takes both years of actually studying their craft before they can actually call themselves professional.  Both are only as good as the last case or image that they make.   They are both chosen by people who use them because of their rare talents to describe and argue a point.  Okay, so some of you will say that it takes longer to become a lawyer than to become a photographer because of the many years of college.  I would have to say that you are correct on that point, but I would have to point out that it takes just as long to develop a style and art form in the photography world.

When I started out,  I remember hearing John Biever (one of the best follow focus photographers ever) say that it takes 1,000 rolls of film (36 frames to a roll) before you can really understand this craft.  That might sound like nothing in this day of digital images, but in the days of chrome slides, this was no small feat unless you had deep pockets.  The cost of one roll of quality slide film would cost between $14-25 to shoot with processing cost attached.  So basically,  it would take about 36,000 frames before you had actually developed your eye to capture the correct moments on that one piece of film.  Now take in to account, that you would not just hold down the button and shoot five frames per second, instead you would look for the image and then think about the image before actually shooting the picture because each frame cost you money.  So, you may ask yourself, what is the difference between the two?

Make sure to check out the flickr group.