How to use Focus Points Plugin for Lightroom

  1. Make sure you are in the Library Module of Lightroom.
  2. Select any photo from your catalog made with any Canon or Nikon DSLR camera. Make sure you select a photo (RAW, JPG, DNG) which comes directly out of the camera and has not been exported/saved in another format (photo which have changed Develop settings in Lightroom are OK), as that will often destroy the focus information metadata.
  3. Now, start the plugin by going to the „Library“ Menu. Select the last menu entry, „Plug-In Extras“, and there „Show Focus Points“. Important: Note that you need to use the submenu “Plug-In Extras” in the “Library” menu, not the submenu “Plug-In Extras” in the “File” menu. The plugin dialog opens (as in the screenshots above). When you are finished with looking at the information for a particular image, you can select another photo from the photo strip below, or from another catalog directory. The plugin dialog will load and process the new photo (which takes a moment).

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Data recovery, Windows OS Recovery, Networking, and Computer Troubleshooting on
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How to Install and Configure Windows, VMware, Virtualization and Cisco on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com

How to replace color using Pencil tool in Photoshop

  1. Use selection tool to select the area you want to be changed the color.

2. Choose Pencil tool.

3. Open Color Picker. Choose the color you would like to use and paint over the image. The color will replace the selected area color. The color doesn’t change the unselected area.

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Data recovery, Windows OS Recovery, Networking, and Computer Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Install and Configure Windows, VMware, Virtualization and Cisco on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com

Selecting focusing area in Sony A7R

There are eight focus area selections in Sony A7R.

  1. Wide: the whole screen is active, so the subject can be anywhere. The camera determines focus by picking the object that is either closest to the camera, in the center of the frame, or a face if there is one resent. Focuses automatically on a subject in all ranges of the image. When you press the shutter button halfway down in still image shooting mode, a green frame is displayed around the area that is in focus.
    Wide could be used in situations where your subject is by itself like portraits of one person or product photography. It is not recommend to use for multiple subjects or objects in the frame.
  2. Zone: With Zone area selected, you can now select a large chunk of the frame to focus on, but the camera will still help select focus in that area. There are 9 different areas or zones, so you can have more control over where to focus. The Zone is good because you don’t have to move the spot around a lot, but it’s bad in that you still don’t have complete control.
  3. Center: The Center Focus Area leaves the focus point in the middle of the frame, and that’s about it. You just have to put your subject matter in the center, and you will get it in focus.
  4. Flexible Spot: you have a dot or square that you move around the screen and put on your focus point. With Flexible Spot, you control exactly where the focus goes.
  5. Expand Flexible Spot: takes Flexible Spot M, but it allows the camera to try to help. When you’ve got your focus point on your subject, the Expand Flexible Spot will “expand” if needed outside of the focus point to grab focus.
  6. Lock-On AF Expand Flexible Spot: This focus area takes Expand flexible spot, but then it will lock-on and follow the subject once you have started focusing. It could be used for tracing birds and sport objects.
  7. It does what Lock-On AF Expand Flexible Spot does but in a different way. The first big difference is you have to activate this every time. You have to turn it on, put the subject in the center of the frame, and then select it. This makes it more involved than Lock-On AF Expand Flexible Spot. The other big difference is the way it works. Once you choose the subject, you don’t have to hold down the focus button. The camera just keeps following that subject.
  8. Eye AF Eye AF goes even further into autofocus and face detection and will automatically find a subject’s eye, focus on it, and follow it!

To select focus area, go to MENU → (Camera Settings) → [Focus Area] → desired setting. Or press Fn.

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Data recovery, Windows OS Recovery, Networking, and Computer Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Install and Configure Windows, VMware, Virtualization and Cisco on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com

Selecting the AF Area in Canon

There are six AF area selection modes. They are

  1. Single-Point Spot AF (manual selection) for pingpoint focusing.

2. Single-point AF (manual selection) for one point focusing.

3. AF point expansion (Manual selection) for using 4 surrounding AF points to focus.

4. AF point expansion (Manual selection) for 8
surrounding AF points to focus.

5. Zone AF (manual selection of zone) for 12
surrounding AF points to focus. The 61 AF points are divided into none zone for focusing.

6. 61-point automatic selection AF. This is the default settings and all the AF points are used to focus.

To select the AF Area mode,

  1. Press the AF Area mode button.

2. Look through the viewfinder and press the M-Fn button to switch the AF area selection mode.

To select the AF Point manually,

  1. Press the AF area mode button.
  2. Move the points by pressing Multi-controller button or Main Dial or Quick Control Dial.

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Data recovery, Windows OS Recovery, Networking, and Computer Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Install and Configure Windows, VMware, Virtualization and Cisco on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com

Moto X4 doesn’t have signal

Q: After travel back to home in airport, my Moto X4 doesn’t have signal. If I enable Roaming, I might make phone call, but the quality is bad. In the home, I have the same problem and can’t access the internet and make phone call. I have turn the phone off and on. I also take the SIM card out and reset it, but all tries don’t fix the problem. What could be the problem?

chicagotech.net:

• Please dial the code same as ##344636## from dialer pad on the phone. It shows the current network information. It may be either T-Mobile or Sprint.
• When the current network shows Sprint, then dial ##34866##, it switches to T-Mobile.
• When the current network shows T-Mobile, then dial ##34777##, it switches to Sprint.

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Data recovery, Windows OS Recovery, Networking, and Computer Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Install and Configure Windows, VMware, Virtualization and Cisco on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com

摄影初级课程教学大纲

一. 教学目的与要求: 理论联系实际,重在实际操作,让学生掌握摄影的基本技能,表现手法,并能对照片进行后期裁剪,调光,调色处理。

二. 教学方法: 1. 实际操作为主,约占50%,授课为辅,约占30%,后期软件和处理技巧约占20%。 2. 走出教室,到实地摄影,比如Studio 拍人像,护照像,工作照;到附近公园拍人,拍花,拍风景;黄昏时拍日落,拍圆月,拍剪影,拍瀑布;到剧场拍表演,到体育馆拍比赛。现场手把手的教。 3. 通过不同摄影题材的具体案例分析和每次实拍结果,教会学生相关拍摄技巧,比如曝光,对焦,构图,后期裁剪,调光,调色。 4. 每次外拍后,大家回家做作业,然后群里分享,最后在课堂上点评,修改,出片,转发朋友圈。

三. 学生要求及器材: 无摄影经验到初级水平。学生自备相机(任何相机),电脑,最好有三脚架,闪光灯。

四. 费用:至少八人,每节课两小时,$160/8次课。插班生,旁听生一次$30.

五。时间:星期天(具体时间根据上课或者外拍再定)。

六。地点:上课在230 W. Cermak Rd. Chicago, IL 二楼. 外拍另行通知。

七。 老师:林然/Bob Lin, 美中摄影学会会员;风华摄影协会会员;Member of Lake County Camera Club. 注册,有问题请emial: blin2000@yahoo.com, 或者Wechat: blin2000.

相机和摄影基本常识

相机基本常识

  1. 曝光:曝光有自动曝光Full Auto mode( a green A or rectangle)和手动曝光 Full Manual mode (M)及其他,比如Program Auto (P), Aperture Priority (A or Av) and Shutter Priority (S or Tv).为什么要用手动(M)?举几个例子.

例一: 下雪拍人,相机会误读周围环境的亮度,人像主体会偏暗。建议用手动(M)过曝几档。

自动曝光,人脸偏暗。

两档过曝,面部有光。

例二: 虚化背景。拍人像时为了突出主题,虚化背景,我们会使用大光圈。

2. 直方图(Histogram), 直方图是表示图像亮度分布的图,横轴代表亮度,从左往右是由黑到白,即由暗到亮,共分为256个亮度级别;纵轴则代表处于各个亮度级别的像素的数量。一般情况下,理想的直方图应该是一种山脉的形状。

3. 对焦 (Focus )。对焦是指使用照相机时调整好焦点距离。 通常数码相机有多种对焦方式,分别是自动对焦、手动对焦和多重对焦方式。 自动对焦 的好处是直接、速度快、容易实现。我们大部分时间都是用自动对焦。什么情况下用手动对焦呢?比如拍微距; 在颜色是纯色的时候,由于没有较大的明暗反差和对比;低光时比如夜晚; 拍摄烟花 。

4. 焦距。 镜头焦距是指镜头光学主点到焦点的距离。镜头焦距的长短决定着拍摄的成像大小,视场角大小,景深大小和画面的透视强弱。人们常说的大三元就是三个不同焦段的镜头。 16-35MM多用于风光,也可拍人像;24-70MM人像风光均可;70-200MM主要用于拍动物,体育运动,舞蹈。

摄影常识

1. 突出主体。在拍摄之前,心里要像绘画前那样首先“立意”,考虑照片画面中,主要表现什么,被摄主体安排在什么地方。然后通过光线、色彩、线条、形态等造型手段,来达到突出主体的目的。

@Bob Lin

2. 视觉平衡。一幅构图达到视觉平衡的照片、能给人以稳定、协调的感觉。平衡有对称平衡及非对称平衡两种、非对称平衡的构图,往往比对称平衡的构图更富有动感。景物的大小、形状、重量和方向、以及M8色彩等都对视觉平衡有重要影响。

3. 虚实相映。虚实是指被摄主体与空间前、后景的清晰、模糊的程度。运用的手法不外乎藏虚露实、虚实相间、虚宾实主、以虚托实。其目的是为了突出主体,渲染气氛,增强空间纵深感。实,主要是表现被摄对象的主体;虚、主要是表现被摄对象的陪体,以衬托主体,它是构成画面意境的重要环节。

讲究节奏与旋律摄影构图,被摄对象以相同或近似的形式交替出现,有条理地重复,便形成节奏;节奏如果表现出线条、舒畅、和谐、起伏等动态变化,就成为旋律,从而使画面优美、抒情而流畅。节奏与旋律是深化主题的重要环节,它们包含在线条、色彩、光线的反差与色调中。

4. ​线条运用。线条是构图的骨架。任何形象化的作品,都离不开线条。通常起线条作用的有树、草、电线杆、河流、波浪等,不同的线条能给人以不同的视觉形象,如水平线能表示稳定和宁静,垂直线能表示庄重和力量,斜行线则具有生气,活力和动感,曲线和波浪线显得柔弱、悠闲,富有吸引力;浓线重,淡线轻,粗线强,细线弱,实线静,虚线动,构图时可灵活地加以运用。

实拍:工作照,护照像,人像。

要求:拍清晰,有眼神光。

设备:相机,三脚架,闪光灯。

How to defog using Photoshop

Photoshop CC new version comes with dehaze feature. You can refer to this post: How to use Dehaze in Photoshop  

This is before

This is after

If you use old Photoshop or you want to control defog manually, you may have many other options.

  1. Exposure levels correction. To do that, go to Image>Adjustment>Levels.

In the histogram, move the left slider in towards the end of the histogram until the object becomes more visible. You can do the same with the right slider.

2. Unsharp mask. To do that, go to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask.

You may try a couple times starting Amount 10% and Radius 20 Pixel; then Amount 20% and Radius 40 Pixel; finally 20% and 80 Pixel.

3. Contrast. To do that, go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast. Adjust the Contrast, for example 60.

4. Some people say we can try High Pass and Overlay. To do that, go to Filter>Other>High Pass.

In Layers, change Blending Mode from Normal to Overlay.

How to duplicate one image into another in Photoshop

There are many options to merge one image into another image. Here are how to do it.

Open the source and destination images. Do one of the following:

• Drag and hold the layer from the Layers panel, move to the destination image and then release.

•Select the Move tool and move the source image to the destination image. 

•Choose Duplicate Layer from the Layers menu or the Layers panel menu. Choose the destination document from the Document pop‑up menu, and click OK.

•Choose Select > All to select all the pixels on the layer, and choose Edit > Copy. Then choose Edit > Paste in the destination image. (This method copies only pixels, excluding layer properties such as blending mode.)