I Love Snapseed!

Hello everyone

I know that it has been a while since I posted something on the blog but I can ensure you that I had a few good reasons, some exiting I might say:)

So here's a brief overview on what has been going on behind the scenes at Lihtpulse. Here we go!

Lightcraft seminar on may 27th at Thessaloniki
I have been running like crazy the following month in order to prepare the Third lightcraft Show ( the one day photography workshop that I teach in ). The preparation madness included the following: a brand new website from the ground up, a total revamp of my teaching material regarding the seminar, graphic design for both the workshop the workshop's website, organization and execution of a full blown promotional campaign for the workshop and lot's lot's more.

Lightroom 4 and photo catch up
I have been shooting like crazy these days and as a result the main photography hard drive filled up. So I had to install and transfer all the files to a new 2tb monster drive. Once I did that I jumped on the Lightroom 4 train and started importing and organizing all the photos that I kept out of my collection these days. Full post on my mixed impressions regarding Lightroom 4.1 soon.

Olympus Pen E-P1
I have been putting my Olympus e-p1 through photographic hell as I prepare a full review on this baby. Photos and stories soon at Lightpulse.

Guest Takeover
For those who are new to this blog, the Guest Takeover is a series of interviews that I do with AMAZING photogs but the real deal is tha you get to ask them as well whatever he heck you want and they answer it. I have two mind blowing photographers down the pipeline that will appear here a Lightpulse so stay tuned for the relative date announcements. Trust me you don't want to miss this.

Photographer of the week.
I am still smiling like a drunk puppy because I was asked for an interview and was featured at Photographer of the week in the biggest, oldest,most respected photography magazine in Greece called "FOTOgrafos" (meaning photographer). Hurray!!

That's all folks for now.

Stay safe, keep shooting and see a soon.

Cheers!

Stratos

During the last weeks I have been experimenting with digital cross processing and I am loving the results.

What is cross processing some might ask?
Well cross processing is a procedure that goes way back to the film era and it’s about using the wrong chemicals deliberately in order to creatively and randomly alter the colors of a photograph.

Here’s the Wikipedia definition of Cross Process
“Cross processing (sometimes abbreviated to Xpro) is the procedure of deliberately processing photographic film in a chemical solution intended for a different type of film. The effect was discovered independently by many different photographers often by mistake in the days of C-22 and E-4. The process is seen most often in fashion advertising and band photography, and in more recent years has become associated with the Lo-fi photography movement.”

Today you can replicate, apply and extend the effects of cross processing using Photoshop plugins or Photoshop native tools.

Here are a few photos that I have digitally cross process using the methods above.

Why do I cross process you might ask? Well for starters it’s fun! Also you get unexpected results which can make a simple photo a lot more interesting through the color and white balance shifts that cross process can cause. Another reason is that I often need to cross process portrait shots but I want a different look from the one that plugins create ( if you use one or two plugins for cross processing you can easily identify which was used on other people’s photos ).

During the following days I will post a full tutorial on how to apply a cross process effect to your photos using three layers and a few easy steps.

Make sure you follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for updates as well.

If you want more info here’s an interesting list of links on the subject.

Wikipedia article on Cross Process

What the hell is Cross Process

CrossProcess Iphone App

Until next time stay tuned and stay safe :)

Cheers

Stratos

Last weekend my partner in crime Korina wanted to do a portrait session for a magazine and I joined her in order to participate, assist and grab a few shots of my own.
Here’s a breakdown of the whole thing, from preparation to post production.

Buckle up because we are about to start :)

Brief: The purpose for this session was to shoot Evi ( the model ) in urban environments, and since we only had 3-4 hours available with her we had to plan things ahead.

First we started by driving around Kavala city looking for interesting locations.After we checked out around 8-9 spots we brought down the list to 4 places that we thought would make great shooting locations.

Once we narrowed down our choice we grabbed our cameras and drove to each one of them in order to do some test shots and check out in detail the frames and compositions that we could use during the session. Since we were just the two of us, one was shooting and the other was doing the model. 
During the scouting shots we tested various lenses such as the Nikon 35mm 1.8, the Tamron 90mm Macro 2.8 and even the Tokina 11-16.

Below you can see some of the test shots we took while scouting.

Composition test using the rooftop as an element

A building / parking space with great lines. We ended up using this location.

Another test shot. That door was a probable composition element.

An interesting wall we found but we did not use it during the actuall session.

( She is not as angry as she looks ;-) )

Once we had enough material we headed back and with the help of Lightroom, we isolated the photos that we could use as reference.

After that I exported the photos as Jpegs and imported them into my Archos 70 Tablet, which I had with me during the shoot and used it as a reference guide.

On shooting day we packed our gear which consisted of the following:

• Nikon D80 ( Yeap that old dog )
• Nikon D3000
• Tamron 90mm Macro 2.8
• Nikkor 35mm 1.8
• Tokina 11-16 2.8
• Olympus E-P1 with 14-42 zoom lens ( I thought I’d give it a try )
• Nikkor 55-200
• SB-600 flash
• Laptop 13.3 inch ( Toshiba )
• Various SD cards
• Some props for the model to use such as hats coats and an old vintage case

An hour later we were at the first location shooting some test shots with the model in order for everyone to warm up. Once we broke the ice and started to have some fun, the real session begun.
The first location was near a parking space with great lines that we used as composition elements. Here is a shot from there.

After that we moved a few hundred meters to the right because we spotted a red door which could be used as a framing element. After a few shots there I decided that I just wanted a red background and not a red frame after all so I used my Tamron 90mm to compress the image and fill the background with the door’s color.

Once we had our shots taken we moved to another location: a long straight empty road that gave depth and breathing space to the shots. I used again the Tamron 90mm for two reasons: I wanted to have a shallow DOF in order to separate the model from the background and also wanted to compress the background and drop out of the frame some distracting elements that existed left and right, such as cables and trash cans.

We nailed our shots and moved on to the third location which was outside of an old warehouse. There were some old rusty door that made a nice grunge background, full of rich detail and colors.
The Nikkor 35mm and Tamron 90mm were used in order to separate again the model from the background.

As the sun was touching the horizon we moved to the fourth and final location: a platform near the beach that provided a good view of the city’s lights that served an excellent backdrop for what I had in mind. TheSB-600 and slow shutter speeds were married in order to add motion and also keep the model frozen and tack-sharp.

45 minutes later we wrapped everything up gave the proper high fives to everyone and headed to a near cafeteria.

The same night we imported all photos ( raw files ) into Lightroom and let it create all the previews, something that would considerably speed up the editing process.

Once that task was done, we reviewed and rated each photo one by one. After the first pass we reviewed again every photo that had a 3 star rating or more and we began to choose the best of the bunch, which were later added to a quick collection.

The following day we returned to the quick collection and began editing the photos with the help of Lightroom and the Develop module. Basic tasks were carried out suck as contrast, level and color corrections. When we finished working with Lightroom we exported the photos in TIFF format to preserve all possible detail and information and we fine tuned each one of them in Photoshop.

Finally we resized all of them in web-friendly sizes and we applied the necessary sharpness and tonal correction filters.

Once everything was done, we backed up the final files in external hard drives and DVD discs, just right before final delivery.

That’s all folks.

Before I close this post a few advices that might come in handy:

• Always try to keep a communication channel open with the model / subject. Don’t just stand behind the camera silently pressing buttons and turning dials. It scares them and sometimes makes them loose their confidence.
• Never show a shot at them, unless you are absolutely sure that it’s a great shot that they will love. A good shot can strengthen the connection between you and the subject, but a bad photo can break their confidence, and once that happened you are in trouble.
• The only exception to this rule is when you think you are close to a good shot but you want to show them a photo that almost nailed it in order to explain them what they did wrong and how they can correct it.
• When you scout for locations try to scout each location during the time you are about to actually shoot. The light can change dramatically from one time to another and when you shoot in natural light this can be the key to success or failure.
• When you have a shot in mind but it’s not working don’t sweat it too much. If after 10-15 shots you cannot nail it move on. This way you can save the model and yourself from frustration.
• Always bring something for you, your assistants and the model to eat or drink. Thirsty models or photographers don’t perform well, especially when the nearest store is 20km away.

Thanks for reading and as always feel free to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for more updates and usefull content.

If you have any questions leave a comment below and I will come back to you ASAP.

 
Kidn Regards

Stratos

P.s. Some of these shots were tken with Olympus E-P1. I dare you to guess which ones :)

I recently got an Olympus EP1 camera and I officially have to say that I am IN LOVE with it. I have my DSLR home collecting dust for 7 days now because I constantly use the Olympus E-P1.
This little camera is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Really small, light, well build ( like a tank actually ) takes gorgeous photos, and it managed to ignite my inspiration at new levels.

This might be the best small factor camera I have ever owned so far.

( Please note that I am not sponsored by Olympus in any way, I bought this camera with my very own Euros).

Testing close up photography of a flower with the Olympus E-P1

An 100% crop from the photo above Please note that the actual flower is really really small.

Here’s a quick list of simple things that I love about it:

• It’s always with me.
• It captures photos that are MILES away from compact cameras ( even high end compact ones like the Nikon P7000 )
• It is easy to handle and it’s easy to adopt if you own a DSLR ( it is not a stripped down version, easy to use automated with less buttons and dials consumer camera. This is the real deal. Full manual if want, full control over ISO WB and everything a DSLR has to offer. Without the bulk. )

A doll behind glass during nighttime shot with the Olympus E-P1. The detail and color is kicking @ss. Will post an 100% crop in my full review for you to see.

So far everything looks good with a few exceptions such as battery life and autofocus but I will let you know about everything in the following days, as I put the camera through hell and real world tests / situations

Stay tuned for full review and more photos soon, as I am constantly and everyday putting this baby to the test with real life scenarios and situations.

If you have any questions or you would like me to try something with the camera let me know by leaving a comment below :)

Cheers
Stratos

Check out this behind the scene videos on how Bulgarian photographer Nikola Borissov uses various glass pieces to create glare, glows and other optical artifacts to add emotion and depth to a shot.

Hello everyone from Kastoria again, at the end of day two of our photo trip.

Today had everything, excitement, majestic landscapes and accidents.

Keep reading and I will explain everything.

The view from our room

Today’s wake up call was around 08:00. We had breakfast and we hit the road in order to visit a location called Prespes Lakes. The area consists of two huge lakes, one which is near Greece’s northern borders and another one at the far side of the borderline. It’s s a very popular and beautiful location with huge lakeshores, small villages and many photographic surprises, but during summertime it’s full of visitors so we decided to hit the area this time of the year, in order to capture the wild landscape, visitor-free.

As we approached the lakes the scenery changed dramatically from rainy to snowy. Everything was in white: mountains, hillsides, even the lakeshore.

On the road to Prespes Lakes

View from the car

We took a few shots of the breathtaking landscape as we approached and we went on until we reached the lake.

Out first destination a very small island called Agios Achilles that is connected to the mainland with a unique huge floating bridge.

The floating bridge that connect the island of Agios Achilles with the mainland

Gregory and Korina shooting from the floating bridgeA fisherman next to the floating bridge and the majestic landscape

Once we got there I spoted an interesting tree next to a building that I tried to capture, but I got careless and I slipped on the icy floor. I hit hard the ground and so did my camera. At first everything looked to work fine but after a few shots the camera’s autofocus system died on me, plus the camera was unable to take a shot. After a dozen of resets the camera’s screen stopped working as well and the only way to take a shot was by switching the camera off and on again. Every time I would turn it on it would take a shot and then boom, dead again.

The shot that I was trying to take when I fell on the ice

Thankfully the Tokina 11-16 has a focus distance scale on it’s body so I set everything to manual focus, locked the lens’s focus to infinity and everytime I wanted to take a shot I had to compose it with my camera turned off, and then switch it on. Note that no preview was possible since my screen was also dead. Just like good old film times.

Although my camera was broken we stayed there until the end of the day, grabbed everything we could in terms of photographs and we headed back to basecamp ( the pension were we stay in Kastoria city ) in order to get some rest and plan the next and last day of our photo trip.

Me looking for a show at the snowy islandA shot I managed to take with my broken camera

Another shot that I took with my broken camera. I got lucky :)

Until next time stay safe and stay tuned for tomorrow update on our photographic adventure.

If you have any questions leave a comment and I'll answer ASAP.

Plus make sure you follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for live updates from the field.

Cheers
Stratos

P.S. (Since a few people have been asking, most of the shot were taken with Tokina 11-16 and my trusty D80. Nothing fancy really. Some say I need a better camera. I say I need to get better in my photography.)

Hello Everyone

This post is from an amazing mansion in Kastoria, a city which we are visiting for 3 days in order to photograph, do some work and have some fun along the way.

Hopefully I will be able to post information about the trip, photos and backstage info on daily basis.

So here we go.

Kastoria is a mind blowing super beautiful city that is build next to a huge lake. The location is fairytale like and has a gazillion photographic opportunities. 

Today we woke up at around 08:00 in the morning and by 09:00 we hit the road for Kastoria. We went through everything, from valleys with super dark skies, huge amounts of rain from time to time and fog at some point so thick that impossible to see cars that were 15 meters in front of us.

Although the weather came on us fast and hard ( the weather forecast show rain for all 3 days that we’ll be here ) we did not despair since we hoped for dramatic skies and super soft light that we could use to our advantage.

The weather conditions shot through the car window

The car mascot :)

 One of the many tunnels we had to go through.The fog has very thick as some points.

 Iphone shot of Kastoria a few minutes after our arrival

Kastoria moments after our arrival

After a 5 hour trip we finally arrived at Kastoria and we settled to a beautiful mansion where we booked two attics with a panoramic view of the city and the lake.

We grabbed some dinner and then we hit the lake and started shooting until last light. Fortunately the rain stopped for a while, giving us a window to grab a few amazing shots of the scenery.

Then we headed back to the hotel to unpack, backup the photos and plan the next day,

Shooting next to the lake

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update and photos.

Until then stay safe.

Cheers.

Stratos

Few days ago I was visiting a client and after the meeting I went out for lunch. Since I had a gap between the meeting and lunch I decided to pull another Ten Minutes series ( ten minutes = pure shooting time, not shooting and relocating time) while I was in the area.

I shot around 45 photos in different location and these are the best of the bunch.

The first photo you see is actually in a Greek tavern were I ended up for the lunch. The wall was filled with a bunch of retro stuff and this radio caught my attention. I thought that it might make an interesting B/W photo due to the light. I believe it worked out nicely.

The second shot was talen near me house. These power lines caught my interest and I tried to utilize them in order to get an interesting frame.

The third and final shot is near Peramos, a small village were I was about to go for lunch. This building was in my photographic list for a long time and I finally had the chance to capture it. Now here's the problem though: I cannot make up my mind which option is best, color or BW. That's why I decided to post both of them here. 

Here's the color version:

The black and white version has a great atmosphere and dark mood, revaling the scars of time on the building, while the color one brings to live the vivid blue colors of the sky and the sun's gold light on the plants at the foreground. Arghhh. I love them both so here you go. Both of them are available for you also to decide which fit's your taste more.

That's all for now.

I have to get ready for my 3 day phototrip at Kastoria city, an amazing place where a lake divides the city in two and nature's beauty is everywhere.The weather prediction sucks though:rain and show they say but I'l try to use the elements on my advantage.If I have the time I might make a couple of posts while I am there.

Time to pack. Stay safe and keep pressing that shutter button.

Cheers

Stratos. 

You want to know what it takes for your work to go viral and be discovered by thousands on the web?

Then you need to see this 7 mins TED speech from YouTube trends manager Kevin Allocca, who explains what can make a video skyrocket into viral heaven and be seen by thousands of people around the globe.

Think again if you think that Youtube super viral videos and photography have nothing in comment.
The advice he gives is 100% spot on for photographers as well.

Good stuff that you might want to know before you start your next photo project or promotional plan.

Looks like Adobe released today Lightroom 4, which is available for only 109 Euros + VAT or 149 USD. Looking forward to get my hands on it and try it out ASAP. Full review soon. 

A few weeks ago saw a report saying that Pinterest was driving more traffic to sites than Facebook and G+ combined so I thought I should check out what this Pinterest thing is.

For those you have not seen it yet, Pinterest is a platform where you can easily create virtual pin boards and “pin” photos and videos that you find while you browse the web ( even from sites such a 500px,flickr etch ). You can also follow other people and their pin boards of interest, browse all the latest pins from around the world etch etch.

My first impression was “Ugh, another social network slash micro blogging thing I have to keep up to date”. But once I signed in and began to dive into the photography section I was blown away.Hundredths of handpicked quality photos were right in front of me waiting to be consumed and pinned :) I did not had such an inspirational rush since the first time I saw X1.com and 500px.com. 

My personal Pinterest Stream

I immediately created a few pin boards and started to repin like crazy ( repin means to pin another person’s pin on one of my own pin board ).

Since that day I browse the web and whenever I find something useful or inspirational in terms of photography or design I pin it to the appropriate board. The procedure is dead easy and fast, which makes pinning stuff a breeze.

Today Pinterest for me is a new and fun tool to help me improve and promote my photography. Here’s why:

• I can create and maintain very easily collections of material that can act as an inspirational pool for me.
• There is a tight social interaction with Facebook and Twitter, so I don’t have to repost anything, because reposting of pins is handled by Pinterest. So once I pin something at Pinterest I get traffic from Facebook and Twitter as well.
• The Pinterest community is on fire right now. It’s user base is very active and constantly grows. So it’s a great opportunity to take advantage of it’s momentum to show your work to the world out there (I already got a great deal of visitors to my blog in just a few days. More that Google+ which is kind of weird for me since Google+ is a great and natural hangout place for photographers ).
• I can carry my boards with me using the official Pinterest app. So wherever I go my inspiration pool comes with me as well.

The only downside I have found with Pinterest is that their iPhone app is terrible. It keeps crashing on me from times to times, it freezes every time I try to pin something from my iPhone to my boards and once you Repin something, sometimes the app taes you to the top of the stream you were browsing, so you must scroll down again in order to pick up where you left.
I really hope that these issues will be resolved soon.

Update: The latest version seems to be free of bugs and everything work ok for now.

If you would like to follow my daily inspirational pins feel free to connect with me here.

Until nect time stay safe.

Cheers

Stratos

Welcome to The Ten Minutes Series project.

This was in my head for a while and I finally decided to put it in motion. The project's premise is simple: Since I almost have my camera with me if I find or see something interesting I pause whatever I do for ten minutes and try to get the best shots I can get within this time frame.

The results then have to be published here at Lightpulse under the category Ten Minutes Project, where I explain why I took these shots and why I like them. Plus I ask for your opinion about them and you are free to like them or rip them apart :)

Today's ten minutes project happened as I was driving back to my hometown from a client meeting. While I was driving I saw an old small building and I thought that there had to be a few shots around and close to it.

So I pulled over, grabbed my camera and began exploring the area for 10 minutes.

Here's the first shot I managed to grab:

There was an open box that got my attention with lots of cables and 3 smaller power boxes, in an almost symmetrical setup. I tried to capture both the loose symmetry as well as the decay of the whole scene. This is the shot that stood out for me from the bunch. I tried also a BW version of this shot but I like the color one better.

On to the second photo:

Here I saw the lines that were formed by the stone wall and the pipes on the right, pointing to the power line construction and the tree. I liked the juxtaposition of the man made "tree" and the natural one so I tried to use the lines to draw the eye towards them. I like the BW version more due to the fact that the lines, shapes and "trees"stand out better.

Onwards to the next photo:

A few meters away there was this small chapel which I found quite interesting. I tried a few shots from away using the rule of thirds but nothing special happened. So I went wide, close and low to get a dramatic angle / effect. I took a few random shots and once I had an idea from where I should shoot, I positioned my camera low and close to the chapel in burst mode and I slightly moved and tilted the camera in order to change the angle of each shot. This was my favorite from the bunch for two reasons: a) the small chapel looks gigantic compared to it's real size, b) it stretches upwards in a dramatic way and bonus reason: there's a color bond between the blue part of the chapel and the sky.

The last shot of the set is the one at the beginning of the post but in order to save you the scrolling I will repost it below:

Not much to say really about this photo, except that I switched to S mode ( Shutter Priority ) and took a few show by dragging the shutter ( long exposure times ) to capture motion and movement. Gotta have at least one tunnel shot  like this in your collection I guess :)

So this is it. Ten minutes shooting for some good shots and sometimes ( hopefully ) a keeper or two. Or just a pile of cr@p :)

Feel free to let me know which shot(s) you liked most and why in the comments section. Also if you have any questions shoot them below. I'd be more than happy to answer.

Until next time stay safe and happy shooting.

Cheers

Stratos

One of the most asked questions during my seminars and workshops is how I manage to have very sharp photos both on paper and the web.

The truth is that the images are very sharp by default due to the lenses I use ( Nikkor 35mm and Tamron 90mm macro ) but sometimes that Is not enough to bring out the finer details of someone.

So in this post I will show you my procedure for making my photos look gorgeously sharp, and how you can make your photos razor sharp as well, without using a dedicated plugin.

P.s. The terminology for the unsharp mask tool and its options that will be used may not be the “official” or the “correct” ones but I believe will better serve my purpose which is to explain in a simple and straight forward fashion how someone can make his photos appear sharper. This is not a technical tutorial, nor a pixel peeping one ;-) I try to keep it as simple and plain as possible.

Here we go.

Step One: Make sure you have the sharpest photo possible straight from your camera.

This means that you must use the sharpest fstop for your lens and enough shutter speed or a tripod to eliminate motion blur. Also shooting in raw format will help a lot, since you can get the sharpest photo possible by using Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw.

Step Two: After you finish editing you image, save the file and resize for target.

Resize the photo to the desired dimensions

 
This means that once you are done with the post production and corrections ( except sharpening of course ), you have to resize for the desired target. For example if you are going to print the image in A4 size that you resize it down to A4 or if you are going to use it on the web then you resize it accordingly ( My photos get resized down to 700 pixels width before I go on with the sharpening).

Step 3: Flatten your image and duplicate you flatten layer

Flatten your image my mergin all layers

Duplicate the flatten layer so you can work on a copy instead of the original

Go to Layer menu and click on Flatten Image.

Then open the Layers pallete by hitting F7, or by going to Window - Layers, right click on the flatten layer you just created by merging the photo and click on Duplicate Layer...

Give a name to the new layer ( something like "Working layer" or "Copy layer" ) and hit ok.  

By duplicating your photo you work on a copy so if something goes wrong you can always revert to the original one.

Step Four: Go to Filter – Sharpen – Unsharp Mask

The menu where the Unsharp Mask resides

( The unsharp mask tool, despite its name, is your best sharpening option in Photoshop because it allows a greater degree of control over the simple standard Sharpen command )

The Unsharp Mask tool dialog

A new popup will appear that has the following dials:

• Amount: The amount of sharpening you wish to apply
• Radius: The “intensity” of the sharpening algorithm
• Threshold: Never mind. Forget about it.

Make sure the Preview option is checked and begin the sharpening process.

Step Five: Start sharpening your photo

The first dial you need to play with is the Amount. Increase it at will until you are happy with the result. 
If you go over 60-80% and you are not getting enough sharpness then bring it back down to around 40-60% and leave it there. Now move on to the Radius dial and begin to increase it slowly until you see some sharpening happening. Once you begin to see some sharpness happening, leave the sharpness dial as is and pump up again the Amount dial.

Check out the examples below:

Very little to no sharpening at all

Nice overall sharpening

Even more nice sharpenning. Pushing the Amount to 200 with this photo is ok as you can see

Too much sharpening. You can see artifacts and a loss in image quality, even though the Amount is only 90%. This is due to the Radius which is 4,0, a very high number

Once you have reached the desired amount of sharpness by changing the Amount / Radius ratios, save the file and you are good to go :)

See? That wasn’t so hard after all.

This techique can be applies to all kinds of photos: from landscapes to portraits. Try it on a senior portrait photo of yours and you will be amazed ( especially if it's B/W ).

Now a few important pointers:

• Beware of artifacts. Over sharpening your image might create artifacts that will degrade the quality of your photo. I suggest to check your photo for sharpening artifacts at 50% or 100% zoom (depending on the photo size) once you finish with the sharpening procedure. 
• If you want to produce copies of the same photo in different sizes then you should always create a copy of the original processed unsharpened photo and repeat the procedure from step two and onward. 
• If the sharpness of the photo looks over the top sharp then instead of restarting the procedure you can try to reduce the opacity of the sharpened layer

That’s how I sharpen my photos. I hope this small guide is useful and of you have any questions feel free to post them as a comment and I will answer promptly.

Also if you have any photos to which you applied this procedure share them at the comments section below. I'd love to see what you came up with :)

Before I close here's another photo with sharpening on the left and without sharpening on the right. The difference is quite visible.

For the history of it I dragged my D80 with the Tokina 11-16 into the sea in order to capture this shot. No need to say that people around me looked at me in a weird way, since my body was 80% underwater at this point :)

If you want to be informed regarding new tutorials feel free to subscribe to the RSS feed here or follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Cheers

Stratos

P.s. DISCLAIMER: I know that there are better and more advanced ways of sharpening ( high pass filter method, channel sharpening, LAB sharpening, smart sharpening, selective sharpening with the usage of masks etch blah blah blah .... whatever ) but for starters this is a nice and quick method to get results FAST. I will be posting more advanced sharpening methods in the future so stay tuned.