photography

PhLearn: Photoshop Tutorials

August 18, 2014 by Sébastien Grobelny Leave a comment

If you ever edited with Photoshop, you know there is not one and only one way to do the edits. You can go from the most complex and obscure to something very mundane and easy. PhLearn.com is an amazing source of photoshop tutorials. I just finished viewing all my backlog and instead of creating one post per tutorial I will today group them in one post.

How to create a sunset in Photoshop: Transform a regular picture in a photo with a gorgeous sunset light
How to clean background in Photoshop: A technique I had never seen used before based on the median blur.
How to create a double exposure in Photoshop: A artsy technique to blend 2 pictures.
How to create freckles in Photoshop: Always loved freckles and I am amazed how natural this technique is.
Change the color of anything in Photoshop: All is in the title…
How to create a lens flare: For all the JJ Abrams fans
How to change hair color in Photoshop: Not as easy as you might think due to highlights and color ranges…
How to remove anything from a Photo: A very detailed step by step tutorial to remove stuff you don’t want

I love these tutorials as you can understand the thought process behind it. Don’t hesitate to share your tips and tricks in the comments…

By Sebastien Grobelny

Filed under Photography, Tutorial Tagged with background, clean, color, double exposure, flare, freckle, hair, lens, phlearn, photography, photoshop, remove, sunset, tutorial, video

Macro

April 10, 2014 by Sébastien Grobelny Leave a comment

Macro is an extreme close-up.
I believe these links deserve a close-up 😉

Challenges: You can still submit, vote and see results on Celine’s blog.
Eyey Opener: New tutorial seen on PetaPixel, called How to ‘Make Eyes Look Amazing’ In Photoshop added to the Tutorial page.
May the 4th…: Another article on FStoppers that mixes photography and Star Wars action figures.
Here comes the sun: Another PetaPixel tutorial to add sun beams to a picture (also added to the tutorial page)
This is the end: I didn’t renew my Aminus account and don’t plan on adding anything new to it.
No Surprises: FStoppers listed the 48 photographers to follow on 500px and *shockingly* I’m not in the list 😉 I already followed a lot but added some more with that.

By Sebastien Grobelny

Filed under News, Photography Tagged with beam, celine, challenges, eye, fstoppers, petapixel, photography, star wars, sun, toy, tutorial

Weekly Photo Challenge: Street Life

March 28, 2014 by Sébastien Grobelny 19 Comments

The challenge this week on the daily post is Street Life.
Here’s a view from corner of Broadway and the 50th stret in NY. It’s always busy and buzzing.

Here are the submissions so far:

By Sebastien Grobelny

Filed under Photography, Picture, The Daily Post Tagged with new york, nyc, photography, street

Macro

January 9, 2014 by Sébastien Grobelny Leave a comment

Macro is an extreme close-up.
I believe these links deserve a close-up 😉

Challenges: PhotoblogChallenges is no more but you can still submit, vote and see results on Celine’s new blog.
Small: with this video you will realize that we don’t account for much
Skynet: Slightly unsettling this video shows a human player in the middle of a game fully created by a computer.
Sick: The title of this video is “Does being cold make you sick?“. Nothing to add, except that Celine taught me this long time ago 😉
Big Cats: Ever wondered what it was like to cuddle with lions? If so, quickly look at this post on PetaPixel
Speaking of big cats: Here’s is the selection from @500px of the best 2013 cats pictures. Pixie from Celine should be here don’t you think?
Commercial: In the same family, here are the best commercial work for 2013 according to 500px
Copyright: A must read on Petapixel with a lot of drama around composites, stock photos and copyrights.
Kyle Thompson: Can’t believe the creativity in these selfies by Kyle.

Bouncing cat tag from the NY High Line

By Sebastien Grobelny

Filed under News, Photography Tagged with 500px, cat, celine, challenges, copyright, cuddle, game, graffiti, high line, kyle thompson, lion, new york, nyc, petapixel, photography, portrait, skynet, terminator, video

Welcome 2014!

January 7, 2014 by Sébastien Grobelny 1 Comment

First and foremost, I wanted to wish you, dear reader, an Happy New Year. May your wish come true and your endeavors be successful. May you and your loved ones stay healthy.

Celine and I came back in one piece from our long trip around France (3684km in 4 driving days). We are sick but very happy to have made the journey and discovered the families and the past of each other. We came back as one of the last flights before the snow storm shut down the airports. We scrambled a bit with the luggage: we came in with just one big suitcase slightly under 20kg but came back with close to 46kg due to all various gifts we got. Among the photography gifts in no particular order:

Celine’s mother printed and framed 4 of our pictures. This one and this one from Celine and this one and this one from me. Thank you Adeline, can’t wait to hang these!
For my birthday, Celine offered me the 1.4x extender. Can’t wait to try it!
My father’s old equipment. The sound of the mechanics is astounding, I can’t wait to put a roll in it.
Arts and photography books for all year long 😉

I wish the best to Celine for this new year and highly believe in her. I hope you will find your way love! I’m glad and proud of your choice of letting PhotoblogChallenges go and hope people will flock to your new site! I hope you will get more time to expand your photographic horizon and do stuff you love.

By Sebastien Grobelny

Filed under Editorial Tagged with celine, photoblogchallenges, photography

Macro

November 21, 2013 by Sébastien Grobelny 1 Comment

Macro is an extreme close-up.
I believe these links deserve a close-up 😉

Challenges: You can still submit for Best of 47 (11/11 – 11/17), Theme 47 : Rainy, Technique 24: Colorful Macro and Monthly Project 11: One Hour on Photoblogchallenges. You can still vote until Sunday too!
Still no winner for the question in Buds in Monument Valley. Next will I will issue you a new challenge.
Last week was mostly off for me: one day of work, beach and leisure with Celine and 2 photography seminars. On Wednesday was Better Photographic Composition – Beyond the Rule of Thirds at B&H Event Space and on Thursday was Shoot like a pro with Scott Kelby at Javits Center
Saw this on Gizmodo: You can browse some of the Smithsonian based on colors
The new bike from Kawasaki is insane. Comfort mode looks ridiculous though
Ad of the week : For FootLocker Tyson gives Evander his ear back!
Fascinating article with robot and tigers! Curiosity…Kitty…
If you follow me you know that I like birds. I’m delighted that Theme 46 was all about birds and you can still vote for your favorites until Sunday. Below is one of the recent bird pictures I discovered on 500px

Crested tit by Neil Burton

By Sebastien Grobelny

Filed under News, Photography Tagged with b&h, best of, bike, bird, celine, event space, footlocker, gizmodo, kawasaki, mike tyson, monthly project, petapixel, photoblogchallenges, photography, robot, scott kelby, smithsonian, technique, theme, tiger, video

Sébastien/Céline 2

November 19, 2013 by Céline 1 Comment

Thank you for the good feedback I received after my first guest post!

Here is the second installation of the “Difference series”, where I show you two photos, one taken by Sebastien, and one by me, at the same place, almost at the same time, sometimes with the same equipment, to analyze our different visions.

Sébastien’s photo

LENS: Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM – EXIF: 1/250sec f/10 ISO 100

Céline’s photo

LENS: EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM – EXIF: 1/320sec f/4.5 ISO 100

These photos were taken during the road trip we took for our fifth wedding anniversary. We were in Chicago, and went on a cruise on Lake Michigan to capture the skyline. I think if we could do it again, we would go later in the day, closer to sunset (but on that day we wanted to be at the restaurant on top of the Hancock Tower for our anniversary at that hour).

What I like in each of them: From the format, to how we composed the photo around the main subject, to the color editing, everything is different! I am not a huge fan of sepia/redscale toning in general, so I prefer the colors in my photo. I like the brightness and contrast in Sebastien’s, and the photo appears sharper overall. As for composition, I like mine better, and would even have cropped Sebastien’s differently.

Filed under Differences Tagged with celine, chicago, equipment, lake michigan, lens, photography, travel

Once more with feelings – Manhattan skyline

November 8, 2013 by Sébastien Grobelny 1 Comment

I was pretty proud of my recent picture of the Manhattan skyline below.

… and thenI had an interesting discussion with Celine about the role of an editor (thank you!). I tried to apply her directions and comments to a new version. Let me know what you think about it.

By Sebastien Grobelny

Filed under Editorial Tagged with celine, edit, hdr, manhattan, new york, nyc, photography, skyline

Macro

October 31, 2013 by Sébastien Grobelny Leave a comment

Macro is an extreme close-up.
I believe these links deserve a close-up 😉

Challenges: You can still submit for Best of 44 (10/21 – 10/27), Theme 44 : Subjects of Phobias, Technique 22: People in B&W and Monthly Project 10: Fall on Photoblogchallenges. You can still vote until Sunday too!
If you like light painting, you should check out this video about “Pixelstick“. If you want to help it they have a kickstarter campaign.
Speaking of light painting you should check at this.
I apparently missed on some Lord of the Ring maintenance in the NYC subway
WTF Animals?!
Another beautiful time lapse under the stars.
Courtesy of Celine and Gizmodo these creepy micro photos
Beautiful wildlife photographies.
Had a stressful week? Can stress kill you?
The Simpsons in the Shire!
Happy Halloween!

By Sebastien Grobelny

Filed under News, Photography Tagged with animal, best of, celine, gizmodo, halloween, kickstarter, light painting, lord of the rings, monthly project, photoblogchallenges, photography, simpsons, technique, theme, timelapse, video, wildlife, wtf

Photoblog Challenges : Results #10

October 28, 2013 by Sébastien Grobelny Leave a comment

This week on Photoblogchallenges, the winners are Ruimnm for Best of 42 (07 Oct – 13 Oct) and Xerraire for Theme 42 : Skylines. Congratulations!

Celine and I are permanent guest judges and since the middle of the year we switched the roles a little. She has to pick one favorite from the winning pictures and I have to pick several “non-winners”.

Each week I will try to shed some light on some of my choices.

For Best of 42 (07 Oct – 13 Oct) : I real liked Remus‘ submission here as I found it very original and telling. I’m glad it’s among the winners. I picked Klaus Neuner for the beautiful fresh look and Rue Du Lavoir.

For Theme 42 – Skylines : I picked Monica for once again great colors as she is used to to, Rue du Lavoir for a very strong picture that illustrates loneliness and Shaker for the strong lines and colors.