The actual photographs usually fade or disintegrate more rapidly than the slides and negatives. In fact, negatives could last for years. However, it’s not possible really to share your images with others by looking at the negatives. With the photos themselves, you’ll find the at the colors often fade and the photo paper tends to turn yellow. In addition, they often get damaged by fold marks and/or fingerprints.

Slides and negatives can go untouched for years and that’s why they can last so long. Plus, they’re usually stored in a dry, clean location.

For a recreational photographer, the easiest way to convert your film images into digital is to use a scanner. This will allow you to scan the photos into digital files.

Negative scanners are also available, which convert the negatives into digital files, but these devices can be quite expensive. You’ll find that you can purchase a regular photo scanner at a relatively inexpensive price, with some decent ones coming in under $100.

In addition, you can also use a professional photo service to transfer your images into digital files. They will take your photos, scan them, and then return the photos to you along with a disc of digital images. The option you choose could depend on your financial situation, the amount of time you have on your hands or the number of photos you need to transfer. If you have a lot of photos to scan, then you’ll definitely get your money’s worth out of the scanner.

However, if you’d rather use a scanning service, then the price of a scanner can be used toward the cost of the service. If you understand how to use a scanner it will help you decide and also help you scan the photos properly with enough resolution. The resolution of a scanner is represented as dots per inch (DPI).

A typical scanner will be able to produce an output of 1,200 DPI or higher. Most of them will let you choose the resolution settings you want to use, such as 300 or 600 DPI. Most people feel that 300 to 600 is fine.

The speed of the scanner should be considered as well. When scanning at a higher resolution, a photo generally takes more time to scan. If you have a lot of photos to scan, you’ll probably be interested in using a scanner that has comes with an automatic feeder. This will allow you to enter numerous photos at a time into the feeder by stacking them. It’s a lot easier and less time consuming, but this feature usually costs more.

In addition, once you’ve scanned your photos and saved them to digital files you’ll be able to use a photo-editing software program. This will enable you to restore the photos to their original state and you’ll be able to actually improve them in some instances. This is because you’ll be able to get rid of red eye, sharpen the images and manipulate and edit them in various other ways. Transferring film photos to digital files is an ideal way to preserve your images for years to come.

You will be able to use over 3800 community-created filters totally free but in case you aren’t able to find what you are looking for, you can always create your own filters by assembling them from their components with the help of the visual filter editor.

There is one interesting thing about the plugin: the company offers a free copy to the contributors. This means that you have to create some filters and in case they become popular among the users, you will be sent a free copy.

There had been an initial version released, but not so long ago, the company has released the second version. This comes with new lighting and shadows options through ambient occlusion. The new version also offers support for scripting; and regarding creating new filters, there are 40 new components. One of the most important features of the new plugin is the full HDR support that adds a plus to the level of realism of the photos.

One important pro of the plugin is that the trial version of Filter Forge is fully functional and free for 30 days. This way you can see whether it is worth to spend money on the product or not. Another pro is that this plugin can be used on the majority of the modern operating systems and it makes good use of the available hardware performance.

Also the interface of the plugin is user friendly and it has been built up in a logical manner. The program represents a valuable source to a large number of different filters that any photographer could make use of.

You might already have some graphical filters, so the Filter Forge could be a great alternative to modify them even if you don’t know anything about programming.

There are also different editions, varying in price range. These include Professional, Standard and Basic. Although the things that the different editions have to offer differ, all of them represent great value for the price that they have. In case you purchase an edition and you would like to have more features, you could upgrade anytime you want.

For the beginners it is good to know that the Help section has been written in a clear manner so that anybody would understand.

All in all, we can say that the plugin is a really useful one to give special effects to your photos. Whether you are passionate about photography or a regular Photoshop user, this is the tool you can’t afford to miss out on.

Although the majority of the work is done with software, everything starts in the planning and execution of the picture.

In case you would like to have some parts of the picture in focus and the rest out of focus, you might face the situation that the aperture will seem too big or too small and you won’t be able to achieve the effects that you want, simply because you can’t have everything in the same time.

In such cases the most effective method might be to take two shots of the same object. For this you should make sure that it is completely still, and the camera shouldn’t move, not even for an inch.

This is easily done with the help of a tripod.

In the first picture you should focus on the front, while on the second picture you will have to focus on the back. This way you will end up with two photographs that combined, cover the entire area.

In order to get the ‘final product’ you will have to work in with a software, for example, Photoshop. Open the two pictures, and drag the one that has the focus in the front over the other photo. You will get a new layer.

At this moment you can make some changes on the pictures. In order to make it easier to work with, change the opacity of the first layer by 50%. It is crucial in this process to make sure that the two pictures are a match up to the point where the focus changes.

You shouldn’t get worried in case the whole picture seems to be out of focus. This is because you have changed the opacity of the first layer.

Add a layer mask to the first layer and add black to mark those spots that you want to use from the lower layer. This technique might be used in a variety of cases, for example with flowers.

You might use it in case you have an object facing the camera but which is just too deep to focus on. In this case you could use the painting technique, but you have to be really careful.

Larger objects might also require this technique. For example when photographing cars or trains, you need the whole frame to be in sharp focus. You could make two shots of the same object while changing the focus.

In case of really large objects if you need depth, you might need to take three different shots to make sure that you have focused on the left side, right side and also on the middle. This way you could ensure that you have covered the entire range and there is no section out of focus.

Use a flatbed scanner

If you want to repair an old image, you should use a flatbed scanner. You’ll need to use a quality scan when transferring the photo to a computer. This means that if your scanner isn’t capable of scanning images at high quality then you may want to use the services of a professional scanning outlet.

Save in TIFF format

When scanning the photos you should disable the sharpening and color settings and save the scanned image as a 16-bit TIFF file. This will keep all of the information needed on the file and it will be a large file because of this.

Use separate layers

The best way to restore a photo on an editing program is to use a separate layer for each editing operation. If you do this you can repeat a step without having to restart from the beginning. Be aware of the fact that it might take a few hours to restore a single photo, depending on how faded or damaged it is. You’ll need to be patient and go through the process step by step.

Editing tools and the features required

The editing tools you’ll need also depend on the condition of the photo. The program’s clone tool will allow you to copy a small portion of the image and paste it somewhere else on the photo. This is ideal for filling in cracks or empty spots. You just have to find a spot in the photo that matches the damaged portion and then fill it in.

Some of the other editing tools you may need to learn how to use include saturation, contrast, curves, levels, and sharpening. The sharpening process should come at the end and it can be used to sharpen the whole image at the same time, affecting the contrast.

Also remember

Make sure that you don’t merge or flatten the layers until you’ve completed the restoration job. If you need a single layer file, you can make a copy and flatten it. It’s advisable to keep all the layers because when you keep all the layers, you can always go back to redo a specific part of the restoration.

A boring weather could make an interesting picture look boring as well, but with the help of Photoshop, you might correct this small problem. Naturally you should think in advance.

In case you see a nice sky, you should make some shots. Be sure that you have photos made in various moments.

An important thing when changing the sky on a picture is to have the same focal length in both cases and the sky to be lit from the same direction as the landscape. In case they aren’t, you could always flip the picture.

The first thing that you have to do regarding editing the picture, is to replace the old sky. To do so, double click on the background layer in the “layers” palette and turn the background layer into “layer 0”.

This way you will be able to delete the layer with the old sky, and add the other picture as a new layer under the main picture.

Selection is one of the most important steps in the process. This will determine whether the picture is believable or not. The quality, smoothness and the position will make the picture a good or bad one.

The software offers a variety of tools to choose from. In case the color of the sky is about the same, you might opt for the “magic wand” tool.

Set the tolerance to 32, and the tool will make the selection on its own, since the contrast between the sky on a picture and the landscape is pretty big. Although everything seems to be moving on its own, there is still some work to do. You should expand the selection with a few pixels to make sure that there won’t be a bright line in the middle.

Since you will nibble a bit from the top of the landscape, you should use the feather tool to soften the edges. Although the edges might seem sharp enough, at a 100% magnification, you might realize that it isn’t quite so. This is why you need the “feathering” for.

Some of the objects on the picture might disappear, but this could be even better than the original photo. Once you are happy with the selection, just hit the escape button.

Open both of the pictures in the program, and drag the photo with the sky over the main photo. Most probably this will be considered main photo, but you can move it in the back using the “layers” palette.

In the end all there is left to do is to blend everything together. This is easily done through masking the layers, another tool in the “layers” palette. Through this you can do the editing to make the two pictures fit together.

Most of the digital cameras, except compact cameras, the “point and shoot” types, offer two types of files for storage: JPEG and RAW. Keeping in mind that the photographer is the one behind the final look of the picture, it is important to know what format to choose.

The most common and of course the most used file format in digital imaging is JPEG. The first aspect to be noticed about it is that JPEG offers a good balance between the quality of the image and its dimensions. This is why JPEG has become a standard in image story fulfilling the purpose it was created for.

This format uses a mathematical algorithm to compress the image achieving this with the minimum loss of image quality. Here is how this compression is done.

The compression algorithm proposed by Joint photographic Expert Group is based firstly on the sensibility of the human eye, which grows at the small variations of light and color. The compression algorithm offers a higher influence to the fine modifications of light in comparison with the modification of color.

How big is the image compression depends mostly on its content, meaning that the images with a lot of details or a lot of noise will be less compressed than the images with a simpler texture without the necessary details. A useful aspect of the JPEG algorithm is its capacity to have a variable compression rate that the user can manipulate freely.

It is good to know that a successive post processing of a JPEG image will reduce significantly the quality of that image. The first compression step when the image is transferred from the way the camera has stored it and transformed into the JPEG format you want to keep as memory, will not affect the quality. However, if you process the shot in question using Adobe Photoshop or any other photo editor software and save the result as JPEG, you lose an impressive amount of quality.

JPEG is good for pictures you want to take and send via email, especially if you need to send them in a smaller format. This is why this particular format is the favorite of news photography.

There are a few things you can try when hoping to get good shots. If you do capture that one magnificent photo, remember, it’ll be hard to print off in high quality if your camera’s settings are in low resolution.

True, you’ll be able to take more shots on the memory card, but you’ll have fewer options if you want to print them.

If you just plan on emailing the photos or posting them online then low resolution is fine. However, if you want to print them off, you should be using high resolution (bigger files and more memory used). This will give you more flexibility when cropping, and enlarging the images.

You don’t have to take just one shot at a time. If the camera allows you to take continuous photos you should take advantage of the option. This will give you better odds of capturing a perfect photo.

You should try and clear off old photos whenever possible. If you realistically know you’re never going to use the shot for anything, there’s not really any reason to keep it. If you keep everything you shoot, you’ll have an awful backlog and will need a lot of digital memory to keep them. It’s a good idea to load the images often to your computer screen to see which ones are worth keeping. It’s very hard to tell just by looking at the images on the camera’s screen.

Take the time to read your user’s manual and practice taking photos in different scenarios and lighting conditions. If you do this you may be able to turn a good photograph into a great one.

It takes its time to load in the exposures but it does more than makeup for that time thanks to the excellent results that it produces.

Even the default images that the HDR Express comes up with (when you command it to merge and edit chosen images) are excellent and require just a little tweaking. In fact the results are so good that one needs to spend minimum time tweaking the images in Photoshop.

The software works in 32 color bit and has a fantastic balance of color and the white balance is nearly perfect too.

If one is not completely satisfied with the images thrown up by the HDR Express, one needs to adjust 10 sliders that help modify histogram, brightness, highlights, shadows, black point, contrast, saturation, white balance, warmth and tint. Usually very minor adjustments need to be made to get the perfect image.

As the software website claims, HDR Express is a sure game changer that demystifies HDR Photography.

Curves is in essence an equation able to translate the luminosity levels from the initial photo into the final photo.

Initially the luminosity level read by the original file is translated accurately in the resulted file and the translation “curve” is actually a straight line with a 45 degrees inclination.

Sometimes, because of the conditions in which the photo was taken the image does not have the contrast we desire.

The Curves tool allows us a smooth modification of contrast through changing the segments belonging to the entry value. We can choose a set of reference points that when modified will increase or decrease the contrast between two neighbor levels of luminosity depending on the curve’s slide.

An abrupt slide of the curve will produce a bigger contrast and a smoother slide would generate a smaller contrast.

With the help of the mouse we can create up to 16 reference points in the curve between X and Y axis. Through creating this reference points we can adjust the photo so that a certain luminosity value from the original photograph is increased or decreased.

The adjustment is done by pulling up or down the reference points. We can change the local contrast by curving the straight line in the graphic.

If you Google royalty free stock photos there is a very good chance that you stumble upon a “Search & Win Campaign” hosted by 123rf.com. You will notice for sure that for a simple image search you conduct on their site you can be the lucky winner of an Amazon coupon. The procedure is quite simple when you think of it. You simply have to register, search and if the winner thumbnail appears, follow the instructions and claim your prize. Simple, isn’t it?

123rf.com is one of the best as royalty free stock photo sites go. It appeared on the market not very long ago and grew extremely fast, focusing on making the image selling business cool, legit and lucrative.

What makes them so competitive in the business? Probably the price charged from that of downloading your work.

Just take a look at their “Sell Images” section. Here the average photographer can sell images and vector illustrations with an average price of $0.30-$2.50 each. The number of photographs that one can upload is unlimited; and the more photos you upload, larger the commission you get from the pictures you sell. The accepted formats for the pictures you can upload are Bitmap-JPG and Vector-EPS.

When you have gathered $50 you can request a payout via PayPal.

If you are a contributor at 123rf.com you can always become and affiliate too using their affiliate program. The affiliate section can offer you 15% commission for any new client you refer. The beauty of it is that you can refer both customers and subscribing members and you get paid a fee every time they buy or sell images on 123rf.com.

If you think that this site can’t be cooler than it already is, you should have a look at their “Photoshop Tutorials” section. The guys do their best to teach you all about the significant post-processing effects that can give your photos a professional look.

Why would you want them to look professional? Well…selling photos is a very profitable business and high quality processing will allow you to be as original as possible.

Keep in mind that you can master Photoshop only with the right training; so make sure you check out the “Photoshop Tutorials” from 123rf.com for some awesome lessons that will make your shots perfectly fit to be sold for considerable profit.