gun porn in the morn.

I just downloaded the tryout version of Adobe Photoshop Elements, and tried out the enhancement filters on a few gun photos. Taurus M-44, S&W 629, and Bersa Thunder.

Joel.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=881845

Taurus M-44

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=881852

SW 629 I picked up used a few weeks ago.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=881858

Nice!

Please explain to a novice... what is Photoshop "Elements"? Is this a new version/edition of Photoshop, or an "add-on" package of things you can do with an existing copy of Photoshop?

BTW, nice photographs!

Yes, Elements is the new version of Photoshop. It has all the same old stuff, plus a couple of new filters that simulate studio lighting which I am finding pretty fun to use for gun photos. I just took these three photos on a tabletop with room lighting, and adjusted the color, contrast, and then used the fake studio lighting for what -- with little practice under my belt -- came out pretty well. You can even angle the lighting as if you were dealing with real lamps, and select different lighting configurations. 3 from above, 5 from below, 1 from the side, there's even a flashlight simulator which I am messing around with right now, and you can change the size and intensity of the beam. You can download the 30 day trial of it at Adobe.com. Took me about 30 minutes to download with cable. If you do a lot of photo enhancements, or even if you just play with snapshots, there's a lot you can do with it. And I think it's a little simpler than the last version of Photoshop.

Joel

Now Preacherman's got me going...

Here's the same 629 photo from above, done with the "Flashlight" setting, which simulates the lighting a flashlight would give. I also added the "Lens Flare" effect, and you can see the starburst and the halo right behind the cylinder release button. You can also change the size, type and intensity of the lens flare.

Too much fun, too little time.


http://thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=882038

"Neon Glow"

http://thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=882047

Very nice pics!

Thanks for the info. on the download.

Photoshop Elements is a trimmed down version of the expensive full version of Photoshop. It has less features and is more affordable. It is made and marketed mainly for the non-professional user.

Nik

That's some mighty find photography, birddog.
I'll have to considered purchasing a program such as Photoshop... my pics are usually in desperate need of something (some would say deleting :D ).

Thanks for the report and examples.

Well, thanks to your recommendation, Birddog, I went out and purchased a copy of Photoshop Elements. I haven't used it for "serious" stuff yet, as I'm just beginning to play with it, but so far it looks very good indeed. I had five other photo software packages on my system: they'd come with the computer, or with a camera, or bundled with other software, and I'd found myself using one feature out of one package, saving the result, opening it in another package, using a different feature, saving the result, and so on. It looks as if PE will happily replace all of the others. To cap it all, it was only about $57 at Wal-Mart - good value!

Thanks for the recommendation.

So who's up for a THR "Group Buy" of PE (good for gun photos) at a gun-friendly Wal Mart? :D

TC
TFL Survivor

Preacherman,
Glad to hear you picked the program up. I think you're going to like it. I am looking forward to some more free time to mess around with it this weekend. And 57 bucks? I gotta check out Wal-Mart here, because I think they were listing it more around 80 or so. I could have that mixed up with the Adobe website.

If you get to playing with Elements, post some pics!
Joel