Photo Answers: Straightening Images in Photoshop

"Jon Adams, editor of Digital Photo magazine, reveals how to straighten images using the Transform command in Photoshop. This tutorial is also compatible with Photoshop Elements."

Ever taken photos of buildings, architecture or objects with the lens pointing at an angle? This tutorial will help you straighten them out. Click here for the video tutorial Web page on PhotoAnswers.com.

Spudz Helps Keep Lens Clean and Also, Can Help You Meter Correctly

Spudz is an amazing product. The handy design ensures that you will always have the lens cleaning cloth when you need it and that it stays clean as well. And here is the best part, the cleaning cloth is 18% gray color. So now you can calibrate the white balance easily and accurately. Don't worry about carrying those big paper cards. The cloth in its convenient pouch is much easier to carry. This 2-in-1 product is a must have item for every kit bag.

Buy them on Amazon.com: Alpine Innovations Spudz, the most Convenient 18% Gray Micro-Fiber Cleaning Cloth, Extra Large, 10" x 10".

Photoshop Lightroom Video Tutorials by Michael Tapes

Michael Tapes has created a set of helpful video tutorials on how to use Adobe Lightroom. In case you don't know what Lightroom is, then let me tell you one thing - go download the trial version of Lightroom from the Adobe.com, and give it a try for a few days.

Isolate One Color in Your Photos

"Many professional photographers and artists use various techniques to emphasize a certain color and make it stand out by completely isolating it. In this video, we will use photoshop to leave one color while converting the rest of the picture in to greyscale. After watching this brief tutorial, you too, will have this powerful tool in your arsenal. (Runtime: 2:09)"

Here is a nice video tutorial on isolating a single color/shade in your photos. Click here for the tutorial.

Digital Camera: How to Remove Unwanted Objects

"The truth is, this is an over populated planet, especially for the humble landscape photographer! In many shots, there will be a few unwanted figures or objects here and there. In some cases, such as here, removing all the unwanted paraphernalia can seem like a daunting task, but surprisingly, once you’ve harnessed the power of the Clone Stamp Tool, and used a little judicious copying and pasting, all it takes to clean up even the most cluttered shot is a little patience. The Clone Stamp Tool copies one part of an image to another area, so by choosing a similar image area, you can obliterate objects seamlessly."

I have used the clone tool a few times but only for small tasks. This article provides tips on how to go beyond the typical simple scenarios. Click here for the article.

Adorama: 100 Photography Tips in 100 Days

"Welcome to 100 in 100! For three months in late 2007 (Sept. 10-Dec. 18) we posted--100 tips in 100 days. Called 100 in 100, our goal was--and is--to help you become a better photographer...one day at a time. Each day, a concise, information-filled tip, written with as little technical jargon as possible, was posted. Although "100 in 100" is done, you can keep learning by bookmarking this page and returning often to the Adorama AIRC Learning Center (http://www.adorama.com/airc)."

Adorama has compiled a set of tips on a wide variety of topics. If you are new to digital photography, then this one site to check out first because you will a find easy to read articles on almost every topic you can think of. Check it out over here.

PopPhoto.com: How-to Edit Portraits

"If you want people to pose for you, it helps to give them pictures of them looking their best. Or even slightly better than their best. Here are four quick tricks to raise the self-esteem of your friends, family, or paying customers. Once you get the hang of it, the process shouldn't take more than 10 minutes -- depending, that is, on the amount of flattery you think they need. I'm using Adobe Photoshop CS3 to do this, but it will work with previous versions. Elements users can try my tricks for the eyes, smile, and wrinkles, but you'll need layer masks (only available in Photoshop itself) to smooth the skin."

Debbie Grossman has an easy to follow tutorial on how you can use PhotoShop to improve your portrait photoshoots. I now have to convince my dear wife to pose for a portrait so that I can try this out. The tutorial has everything from removing wrinkles to whitening teeth. Check it our over here.

What is DSLR.Improv?

DSLR.Improv is a site aimed at offering helpful tutorials and tips specifically for the Digital SLR users. As a DSLR user, I am always trying to learn new photo editing tricks and ways to improve my photos. There are a lot of helpful tutorials on the Internet and instead of bookmarking them locally on my computer, I thought I will list them out on a site. This way I can access them from multiple systems, during trips, never lose them if my computer dies and hopefully someone else also might find the list helpful.