1.8 F-Stop: It Rocks
A nice low F-Stop like this means two things: 1) More light can reach the sensor (Enables higher shutter speed and better exposure in low light situations) and 2) a very narrow depth of field. For many situations, the narrow depth of field looks really nice. You can always lower the aperture for a greater depth of field but that requires more light or a slower shutter speed.

The end result of this low F-Stop means that my photos have a more photo journalistic feel to them, like I’m really recording moments in time rather than just snapping pictures. It also means that I am able to capture those moments (without a flash) that I just couldn’t before. Like when my daughter is playing peek-a-boo under the kitchen table. Low light, but enough for this little lens to get the shot.

Getting Used to No Zoom
I was worried about not being able to zoom at all. You can shoot at 50mm and that is all. I have to admit, however, that it’s really no big deal. There have been occasions in which I wish I could have had a wider point of view or zoomed in closer but usually the 50mm is just great. I mostly use this lens for shooting indoors and you can get close enough to a subject with this distance that my images are often framed pretty well.

4 Ounces? Wow.
I’m not all that concerned about weight because I’m not hiking around the Himalayas lugging around equipment but the nice light lens is kind of enjoyable. I like the feel of a heavier bodied camera and lens but the light lens allows for greater agility and makes you feel like looking around a bit more. If you do travel with a camera and have to carry it on your back a lot, the light weight of this lens is a real plus.

Overall Performance
I’m an amateur. I’m not going to be able to give a bunch of info on distortion levels and focal accuracy, etc. My experience with this lens is that I am better able to get the low light shots that I want, it focuses quickly and the images come out great. I hate using a flash in most situations so this is a great way to capture the beauty of natural lighting without all of the blur that comes with the kit lens.

Sample Photos
Ya gotta post photos, right? Here are some examples of situations in which the 50mm F1.8 (aka Fantastic Plastic) really shines. Again, I’m no professional but these are the kinds of shots I was hoping for from this lens.

Conclusion
If you need a high speed lens and don’t have a lot of money to spend on it, this is the lens for you. For under $100, the Canon 50mm F1.8 EF is a fantastic little piece of glass. I’m really enjoying it and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to upgrade the lens set on a modest budget.

I created this collection of glossy photoshop gradients tonight to satisfy all of your gloss filled needs. Give yourself glossy hair. Glossy teeth. Glossy pants. Gloss it up and enjoy!
DOWNLOAD THE GLOSSY GRADIENTS PACK

PHOTOSHOP VERSION USED: CS3
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: MEDIUM
TIME TO COMPLETE: 30 MINUTES
IMAGE SIZE USED: 4272 x 2848 (12 Megapixel)

SHORT VERSION - Here’s the quick version. For details read below this section.
1- Duplicate the background layer, name new layer “original”.
2- Add a “Curves” adjustment layer. Darken the darks and lighten the lights.
3- Duplicate the “original” layer, name it vignette. Set blend mode to multiply.Invert (ctrl i, cmd i on mac) the layer, hit d then x to get a white brush. Hit b for brush, soften the hardness to 0 and make the brush pretty large then lower the opacity or flow of the brush for softer painting. Paint the outside of the image as desired.
4- Add a hue/saturation adjustment layer. Increase saturation to about 30.
5- Duplicate the “original” layer again and name it “blur”. Apply a fairly heavy gaussian blur (effects>blur>guassian blur) with a pixel radius of 10-15. Change blend mode of layer to screen. Lower the opacity of the layer until it looks good.
6- Tweak layer opacities and settings to your liking.

In case you’re not familiar with these terms, I’ll explain a bit. If you are familiar, feel free to skip ahead.

Non-destructive editing is the process of editing an image in a way in which each change made can be modified individually. It also means that the original pixel based image is not modified or destroyed, only added to. You may have a better definition than that but that’s the gist of it.

Adjustment layers are layers that you can add that will modify any number of things, like levels, curves, hue, saturation and more. They can also be used as fill layers to add solid colors, gradients, patterns, etc. The best part about adjustment layers is that they’re fully editable and non-destructive. This means that if you want to adjust the curves layer you’ve added, you can click on it and do so, or you can turn the curves layer off completely and - poof - no more curves. None of this affects the original image. To add an adjustment layer, just click on this icon at the bottom of the layers palette.

Blending modes determine how a layer will be shown. They’re primarily used on multi-layer files to blend layers together in a certain way. For example, do you want to add a neat texture to a solid background? Simply add the texture as a new layer over a solid color layer, then change the texture layer’s blending mode to multiply or overlay (or any number of others) and you’re in business. You can then adjust the opacity of the texture layer to fine tune. We’ll use similar techniques in this tutorial. The blending modes are located at the top left of the layers palette.

OK. Now you know what non-destructive editing, adjustment layers and blending modes are so let’s put them to good use. While driving to work the other day I snapped this photo a couple of blocks away from my house. Yes, like a true geek I keep my SLR with me at all times. This is why. I knew the photo needed some work but had great potential so later on I opened it up and set to work. Here’s what I did.

FULL VERSION

1) Duplicate the layer (ctrl j, or cmd j on the mac). I always start off this way so that my original is safe and accessible, in case I royally screw something up.

2) Add a Curves adjustment layer. To do this, click on the little adjustment layer icon and select curves. I try to adjust the curves to where there is sufficient contrast and interest in the image, but not so much that you lose important detail in the lights or darks. I went a bit heavy on the contrast here to make it pop.

3) Create a vignette effect by creating an overlay layer and then painting on a layer mask. To do this I duplicated my original layer (named the original layer “original” - original, I know - and the new layer “vignette”) then set the layer blend mode to Multiply. I then added a layer mask. Click on the layer mask (the new white box on the layer) and then invert it (ctrl i, cmd i on the mac). Hit D, then X to select your default colors (black and white) then reverse them, giving you a white brush color to work with. Activate the brush tool (b) and set the size to something pretty large - 1300px in my case. Turn the hardness all the way down on the brush by holding down the shift key and hitting the left bracket key ([) several times. Set the brush opacity to a nice low percentage, like 25%. Now whatever you paint will intensify or multiply so go ahead and paint your edges and corners as you wish for a nice vignette.

What’s that? You screwed something up? Don’t hit the undo key (ctrl alt z) fifty times, just hit x to switch your brush back to black and paint over the area you want to undo. Simple as that. This is the beauty of non-destructive. You’re editing extra layers, not the photo.

4) Add a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Just like the curves adjustment layer, click on the fill/adjustment layer icon but select Hue/Saturation this time. In this photo I started by hiking up the master saturation to about 30. Kinda heavy but I can then make individual color adjustments. Have you played with the different colors in the hue/saturation box? Click on the dropdown that says Master and play around with other colors. I selected the yellow and desaturated it completely to give it a cool blueish feel. The cool colors seem to look more natural in this type of scene than yellows and oranges do. Makes it feel cold and high.

5) Create a gaussian blur layer with a “screen” blend mode. This is one of my favorite effects. It’s quick and simple but makes a big difference, especially in photos that need a bit of a dreamy effect, like some portraits. Duplicate the original layer, name the new layer “blur”. Apply a gaussian blur (filter>effects>blur>gaussian blur) and make it fairly heavy. Enough that it’s visibly blurred. I used a pixel radius of 15 on mine. Now for the fun part. Set the blending mode on this new layer to screen and then drag the layer opacity down until it gives a pleasant glow without being overkill. I settled on an opacity of 38%. This step is optional but I think it adds a nice bit of interest to the image.

6) Tweak. Find the look you like by adjusting the layers you’ve created. Play with the levels, play with the opacity of each layer, try adding a couple more layers with different blending modes - just experiment and see what works for you.

In the end, I ended up cropping the top and bottom out to get this image that I was very happy with, considering the low contrast of the original. Non-destructive editing is the way to go. Give it a try and you’ll be sure to use it again and again. Good luck!

After two years with my beloved Nikon D70, I decided to sell her off and buy a newer, higher resolution SLR. This review discusses the pros and cons of upgrading from the D70 to the Rebel XSi (450D), as well as what to consider if you’re thinking of making the same (or a similar) change.

The D70 is a solid, well built digital SLR that shoots great pictures and has a fantastic layout. My D70 was my first DSLR and it got me hooked on photography. I took about 13,000 photos with it and owned it for two years. Here are some of the strengths of the D70:

• Excellent layout of commonly used buttons. I could easily turn on bracketing, adjust both shutter speed and aperture, set the timer, adjust the metering, set up a custom white balance or any number of other things without ever entering the menu. I loved the number of buttons on the camera as well as their logical placement.
• Dual Command Wheels. Being able to adjust one setting with your right index finger and the other with your thumb is great. It makes it easy to quickly change two things at once.
• Real SLR Feel. The Nikon D70 is a manly man camera with a full size body. I wasn’t aiming some wimpy point and shoot. I love a camera that feels like it’s expensive. Also, the finger grip area for the right hand is wide and made for hands like mine.
• The Secondary LCD Area on top of the camera. How many pictures do I have left on my card? What are my current settings? How’s my battery? All of this information and more is available on the upper LCD of the D70. I love how the number of remaining shots is always displayed on the LCD, even when the camera is off. The secondary LCD also saves battery power as it does not require the use of the larger LCD display.

Why did I give it up, then? Several reasons. When I considered upgrading, I was mostly looking to get a higher resolution camera. I wanted to be able to print larger images, crop more and have the uber-nerdy rush of shooting 12 MegaPixel images.

The D70 came out in March of 2004, and there have been a lot of changes since then. There are huge screens, faster focus times, new IS (image stabilized) and VR (vibration reduction) lenses, live view (allows you to use the LCD as a viewfinder, like a point and shoot… sort of), better processors and even some new RAW formats. My first thought was to upgrade to a newer Nikon. The D80 looked like a good option but if I was going to get a new Nikon, why not go to the latest greatest D90? Why? Price. The D90 body alone sells in the $1000 range (as of October 2008)- too much for my budget. The D80 is more within my price range, but why settle for a 10 Megapixel Nikon when you can get a 12 Megapixel Canon with a bigger screen and several new features for less money?

Obviously I bought the Rebel Canon XSi or 450D or Kiss X2 (international name). If you’re considering buying one, it might help to know that I scoured eBay, craigslist.org, local online ads, a dozen online stores (including Amazon) and found the best deal on Amazon.com. Here’s what I ended up with:

• Canon Digital Rebel XSi (450D) with 18-55mm IS lens
  • Price: $640
  • Bought from: Amazon.com
  • Condition: New
• Nikon 55-250mm IS Lens
  • Price: $239.50
  • Bought from:

    Condition: Refurbished

• Transcend 8 GB SD Card
  • Price: $17 with Free Shipping through Amazon Prime
  • Bought from: (you guessed it) Amazon.com
  • Condition: New

So all in all I spent $905 including shipping. Because I’m trying out Amazon.com prime (30 day free trial) I got the camera and SD card shipped for free Second Day Air. If you buy from Amazon and haven’t tried out Prime, give it a go, especially when making larger purchases - there’s nothing like getting free second day air with no strings attached.

So how about this new Canon XSi? I have now officially made the switch from Nikon to Canon. We have a Canon Digital Elph SD1000 point and shoot (that we love) and now the new Rebel. There are several things I noticed when switching from the D70 to the XSi - here’s what I think about the XSi:

• It’s SMALL. Honestly, this is probably the biggest difference to me. I’m 6′ tall and don’t have small hands so the XSi just feels small in my hands. However, I really only notice this when I pick it up and take the first picture. After that, it’s just a camera in my hands. Even after taking a couple hundred shots, it doesn’t bother me. The ISO button is located just behind the command wheel and isn’t very easily accessible to my index finger but it’s nothing I’m going to cry about.
• It’s FAST. The autofocus on this camera runs pretty quickly compared to what I experienced on the D70. For example, to go from an object 20 feet away to an object 6 feet away to an object 13 inches away just takes a split second. I can snap those three images in succession in about 4 seconds (I just timed it). For some reason there is a little bit more of a lag going from very close to very far but it’s still darn fast.
• One (Gigantic) Screen to Rule Them All. First off, the LCD on the XSi is a beautiful thing. Three impressive inches of preview glory. I have to admit, though, that I was very used to using my secondary, top mounted LCD for image specs and settings. I could see everything at a glance and, more importantly, it was always there. With just one screen, the LCD pulls double duty, switching back and forth from preview display to settings display. This is good and bad. It’s good because it’s nice and large and can be seen easily -both for preview and settings. No squinting to see settings. It’s bad because sometimes you have to wait for the preview to go away to see your settings again.
• The Image Stabilization (IS) Works Wonders in Low Light. The reviews I read on Canon’s (and Nikon’s) IS (and VR) were all over the board. It’s worthless, it’s great, it’s mediocre, etc. I have to say, though, I’m impressed. I shoot thousands of photos of my kids playing indoors so low light photography is always an issue for me. The IS comes through. I think it’s really a combination of the IS system and the lack of noise at the higher ISO. My D70 wasn’t a whole lot of good at higher ISOs - too much noise. The Canon XSi does well in this area. There is noise, just not very much. I’ve been shooting all kinds of images in dim light and have had terrific results. The IS won’t work miracles. You’re not going to take pictures of flailing kids in poor light and see freeze stop action, but it definitely improves low light and handheld photography.
• Live View is Fine IF You Need It. This is an SLR, not a point and shoot. The Live View feature, which displays on the three inch screen what it sees in the lens, is handy for when you can’t really put your eye up to the eyepiece, or if you want to check to see if something is in focus. Other than that it’s slow because it doesn’t use the same speedy focusing mechanism as you would without live view. Also it locks mirror for a moment before each photo, causing a lag in shoot time. If you’re comfortable with manual focus, however, it’s not too bad. I prefer not to use it, though.

CONCLUSION: The Canon Rebel XSi is a fine camera at a great price. I definitely miss my D70 and several of its features but I definitely love the screen, resolution and speed of the XSi. I would recommend this camera to others who consider themselves amateur photographers but I can’t imagine it being an ideal choice for professionals. Honestly, if I could afford a Nikon D90, I would have gone that route but it’s just too much. As far as bang for the buck goes, the Canon Rebel XSi gets two thumbs up.

EXAMPLES:

Quick Summary

Testing the Dust Level:
To see the dust on your sensor, set your fstop to F22 or as high as it will go and set the shutter speed to somewhere around 4-10 seconds. Then take a picture of something solid and bright, like the sky or a white piece of paper. It doesn’t hurt to move the camera around a bit while the shutter is open because the idea is to see what’s on the sensor - and that that will show up better if there is no detail in the image. When you’re finished, bring the image into photoshop or a similar program and crank the the contrast up or play with levels and curves to see what you’ve got. Mine looked something like this:

Pretty bad. After watching several videos and reading several articles on cleaning your camera sensor, I decided to try blowing it out first. I didn’t have the little rocket pump blower that I see all over the web and I’m a cheapskate so I used a small electric pump that is made to inflate air mattresses. I figured that would be better than me blowing into it and spitting on the sensor.

Blowing it out:
In order to gain access to the sensor, I had to set the mirror lock to ‘on’. This is a setting on the Nikon D70 menu and I would suppose that other cameras probably have a similar setting. This locks the mirror up and keeps it there until you power the camera off. With the mirror up I gave the camera a quick blow with inflater pump and then took another picture to see if it helped. Nothing. I blew it out some more but no matter what I did there was no effect. My sensor was just plain dirty.

Options:
1) Send it in to the manufacturer for cleaning. Cost: $60. Time: 1-4 weeks! Gimme a break.
2) Buy a cleaning kit. There are tons to choose from. Cost: $70. Time: Several days. I’m too cheap.
3) Call around and find someone to do it for you! Cost: $20. Time: 30 Minutes. Hallelujah!

In case you haven’t figured it out based on option 3 above, I started calling camera shops in the area. The first one said they’d send it to the manufacturer and it would take 4-6 weeks and cost $60. No thanks. The next shop I called said they had a guy in house who regularly cleaned sensors and had a cleaning kit to do it with. They used the tape version, which you place on the sensor then lift off (and hopefully lift the gunk off with it). I dropped it off, picked it up after running an errand and then shot the following image:

Nice, huh? I couldn’t believe it! It was perfectly clean. I was fooled, though, because when I looked through the viewfinder I saw dust still. Not nearly as much but some. As it turns out, none of that dust shows up on pictures so I figure it must be in the view finder.

Moral of the Story:
Call around and find a camera shop that has someone who has experience cleaning sensors and let them give it a shot. If you don’t feel comfortable with this, there’re always options 1 and 2. If you’re like me, option 3 is great. They will forewarn you that they may not be able to get it all the way clean. In my case, they were able to. Yippy!

If you live in Utah County (UT):
Go to Allen’s Camera. The kids at the counter may not know what you’re talking about so call ahead and make sure. I visited the Orem store and the owner took care of it. $20!

• Photoshop Version Used: CS3
• Difficulty Level (out of 10): 5
• Time to Complete: 25 minutes

Sometimes images just need a little something extra. While playing around with brush settings in Photoshop one day I realized that you could really have some fun when you combined the power of a stroked path with different brush setting combinations and layer effects. This tutorial was created in Photoshop CS3 but should work for the last few versions (and hopefully upcoming versions) of Photoshop as well. Let’s get started.
Note- I did this on a laptop with a trackpad (no mouse, no tablet) so no special hardware is required.

The Original Image
If you’d like to follow along with this image, click on it to view the full size version and then download it.

1. Create a Path with the Pen Tool.

Using the pen tool (P), click on the path button in the toolbar (see image above). Start to create a path, point by point, keeping in mind any areas that might wrap around or travel through the existing objects. To create smooth bezier curves, just click and drag as you create a new point. This will extend handles from the point that you can manipulate to adjust the path. ideally, you’ll want to keep your curves smooth and graceful. Below is the start of my path.

Continue the path until it is complete. The images here show the points and handles used to make my path. If a point doesn’t come out just how you’d like it to, simply use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to grab either the points or their handles and drag them until you’ve got a good looking path. Be sure to use the white arrow direct selection tool- the Path Selection Tool (black arrow) will not work.

2. Prepare the Brush Settings

Once the path has been created, we need to get our brush ready. We’re going to start by selecting a solid orange color. I used #ff8a00 in this case. Set it as the foreground color.

With the color loaded, select a brush shape that has some unbalance to it. The grass brush, the leaf brush or one of the faux finish brushes will work fine. If you select a round brush, there won’t be much texture or flame on the path. The next set of adjustments will vary based on the size of the image you’re working on and how big a flame path you want.

Open the brushes palette (F5) and check the Shape Dynamics box. Set the Size jitter to 100% and the Minimum Diameter to 30% or less. Set the Control method to Pen Pressure. This will allow the ends of the path to taper down. Set the Angle Jitter and Roundness Jitter to around 10-20%.

Next, click on Scattering and set as shown below. Adjust as necessary to get a jagged path.

3. Create a New Layer(Shft Ctrl N). For the sake of reference, I’ll name this layer brush1.

Activate the Paths tab (Windows>Paths) again and right click on the path that you created. Select “Stroke Path”.
Make sure that the “simulate pressure” box is checked as this will cause the tapering at the ends. Voila! You should now have a textured line of orange fire.

Because the paint that we just laid down is on its own layer, we can manipulate it at will without effecting the path that we have stroked. In this example, I’ll actually be manipulating additional copies of the original image rather than the stroked path.

Copy the iphone image layer (layer 1) using ctrl j (command j on a mac) and drag this newly created layer above the brush1 layer. I chose to rename this layer “coverup”.
Using a selection tool, such as the marquee tool (m), polygonal lasso tool (l) or any other method you choose, create a selection around the object that the fire will wrap around. You really only need to focus on the areas where the fire will go behind or in front of the object.
Then, use the eraser tool (e) to erase the section of the object where you want the fire to be visible. Once that is erased, invert the selection (ctrl i, command i on the mac) and erase the rest of the path that is outside the object, as shown below.
The object of this layer is just to cover up part of the path where the object is (the iphone in this case) to make it look like the fire wraps around the object.

The next step is to apply an outer glow to the fire whip. To do so, double click on the ‘brush1′ layer (the fire layer) and select “outer glow”. I chose a red glow with the settings shown below:

Now it’s time to create the next part of the fire path. Duplicate the brush1 layer and name it brush2. Delete the contents of the layer by selecting all (ctrl a, command a on a mac) and hitting the backspace key (delete key on a mac). Now activate the brush tool (b) and select a round solid brush, about 9px in diameter.
Choose a nice orange or yellow color as your foreground color. Open the paths palette and stroke the path just as you did the first time. You may want to go back to the layers palette and play around with the transparency of the brush2 layer that you created. We’re just about finished.

To finish the image off, we’re going to create a reflection of the fire whip at the bottom of the object. To do so, use the polygonal lasso tool (l) and select the area just outside the iphone. Be sure to select more of the fire whip than you think you’ll need as we’ll be erasing a bit of it.
When you’ve got it selected, copy merged (edit>copy merged or ctrl shift c, cmd shift c on a mac) then paste it (ctrl v, cmd v on a mac). Make sure the newly created layer is above the other visible layers.

To make it look reflected, Transform the reflection layer (ctrl t, cmd t on a mac), right click on it and select “flip vertical”. Hit Enter to apply the transformation. Use the move tool (v) to drag it just below so it lines up with the existing iPhone reflection.
With the new fire whip reflection in place, activate the eraser (e) and soften the edges all the way (shift [) and make sure the eraser is large enough to create a soft and light erasing. You may decide to adjust the opacity of the brush to make this task smooth but even at 100% opacity you should be fine.

That's it! Hopefully your "fire whip" turned out well. Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions below. Thanks and have fun designing!

Head & Shoulders, Pert Plus: For many years I just used Head and Shoulders or Pert Plus along with some conditioner and that kept the flakes under control. When my scalp needed some variety, I would switch it up a bit. Eventually neither of these seemed to do the job.

Selson Blue: For the past couple of years I have been using Selson Blue and have been pleased with it. I’m a dry scalped guy but the Blue seemed to keep it in check. I used it every day and then conditioned afterward. This has been all fine and dandy until about six months ago when the Blue just wasn’t cutting it.

Denorex: Thinking that my scalp may have grown accustomed to Selson Blue and perhaps needed some shock therapy, I bought a bottle of Denorex. I used it for several months and noticed that my dandruff only seemed to get worse. It got really bad. Itch my head all night kind of bad. Wipe my shoulders every two minutes kind of bad. Could make a black sheet of paper turn white with a few scratches kind of bad. Anyway, I was none too impressed with Denorex. It sits in my shower caddy still, unused, unwanted.

Neutrogena T-Gel: After doing some internet research I learned that some others have had success with Neutrogena’s T-Gel shampoo. I tried it out and have been using it for about a month now. I’m pleased to announce that the dandruff is mostly controlled now. It’s not totally gone but it is better.

Nizoral: My next step is to move to Nizoral if the T-Gel doesn’t completely cut it. Nizoral has a patented ingredient proven to be effective against dandruff and the early disposing of skin cells. I think it’s more expensive than the others but they’re all pricey if you want the good stuff. At this point, I’ll happily pay $15/bottle if it means not having do deal with the flakes.

LESSONS LEARNED

• Keep it Fresh - Your scalp (or at least mine) tends to grow somewhat immune to certain shampoos. Changing things up once in a while might do the trick.
• Not Just Your Scalp - Your scalp is not the only thing effected by Pityrosporum ovale, or P. ovale (the wee little fungus that causes dandruff) - it can effect your face (especially by the nose), neck, shoulders and chest, too! I have dry flaky spots on my face on either side of my nose and sometimes just above my nose. These have been almost directly correlated with my dandruff but I never made the connection until reading this article. So if you’ve got dry spots that are dandruff like, but not on your scalp, use the dandruff shampoo on them, too!
• It Takes More than Shampoo - Many things can contribute to dandruff including stress, lack of sleep, poor hygiene, diet and many more. In my case, I only sleep about four or five hours a night and I can’t just fix that. I’m a busy guy. So I hope to overcome the effects of improper sleep by finding the right shampoo - if that’s even possible.
• Let it Tingle - If you’re in the habit of applying shampoo, lathering it in and then quickly rinsing it out, break the habit. In order for dandruff shampoo to work effectively it needs time to work its magic. Let it sit for a few minutes. Sing a song. Repeat your daily affirmations. Shave something. Do whatcha gotta do to let the stuff work.

If you have any insightful advice or experience to share please leave a comment. Like so many others, my quest to conquer dandruff is far from ended.

-Nils