Rick Sammon's Digital Photography Secrets

Chapter 8. Top Digital Darkroom Ideas

Hey! This is not a Photoshop book with tons of screen grabs and step-by-step instructions. Still, I wanted to share some of my favorite creative techniques for digital darkroom fun. Good fast food for thought here. Enjoy!

Always Envision the End-Result

Digital photography is partially image capture and partially digital darkroom work/fun. When I am shooting, I am always thinking about the end result. I try to envision the possibilities that are available in the digital darkroom – using Adobe's Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom or Apple's Aperture – the latter being the application I use most often. I recommend that you think this way, too, as it will expand your creative horizons when you are looking through your camera's viewfinder.

Here is just one example of "thinking ahead." Knowing the kind of digital magic that's available in Aperture, I took the bottom snapshot of the Golden Gate Bridge during an early morning walk in a nearby park. Using the Crop and Straighten tools, and then using the Levels, Contrast, Black Point and Saturation adjustments, I was able to create the end-result that I had envisioned during my nice peaceful walk.

Envision the end-result, and you'll be able to turn your snapshots into great shots – even favorite shots from ...