Tutorials

February 1, 2026

Photography Basics – Creating and using Actions

by Mickey Rountree

As I usually do, I’m calling this article Beyond Basic because it involves Photoshop rather than just Lightroom.

When these articles are converted to PDF and sized for the newsletter, the resolution and quality of the images is seriously degraded. If you would like to read the article and see the images as I did, you can see this article on my website at this link.

https://mickeyrountree.smugmug.com/Articles/Basic-Photography-Series/

When you have things that you do frequently in Photoshop, or maybe things that are complex and time consuming that you are likely to do again more than once actions can be a real timesaver. In Photoshop an action is just a method of recording a series of steps in Photoshop, saving them and being able to repeat them with a single click. One of the bonuses is that even relatively simple actions happen much faster than performing the individual steps one by one. Also you’ll see plugins run without opening the full graphical interface, and this really speeds things up.

First we’ll learn how to create an action by recording a very simple action. Then I’ll show you a couple of more complex actions and some possible problems I’ve found and how to work with them.

First make sure actions are visible by going to window and be sure that there is a check next to actions. Everyone seems to lay out their work space differently, but I dock the button for actions on the palette to the right. Clicking the arrow icon for actions opens the expanded actions palette and shows any custom actions groups you have created.

To create a new action, open an image in Photoshop, and click on the arrow icon for actions. Then click on the three lines and choose create new action. If you like you can create a set to put icons in. I have a set of actions I use for portraits and a different set I use for scenics. That makes it easy to find the action you need.

$C:\Users\micke\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\create new action.jpg$

Once you choose create new action you will be asked for a name for the action and which set to add it to. After naming the action, click on record. At this point Photoshop will record and save all the steps you do until you tell it to stop.

Here I’m going to create a very simple action to open camera raw and add a vignette. This is something I do on almost every image so having an action is a real time saver. I’ll open camera raw either by going to filter/camera raw or using the shortcut CTRL-SHIFT-A. Drop down to the effects panel, and drag the vignette slider left to -12. (This is a very subtle vignette, so I also have created an action to vignette at -24 which is much stronger.) Click OK to create the vignette and close camera raw. Note that you could actually change lots of sliders and save that as an action, but here we only want a vignette.

After camera raw has closed, click on the lower left stop button and your action is created and saved. At this point it’s good to try your action on a couple of images to be sure it works correctly.

Here is an image before and after running the vignette 12 action.

Once you have recorded an action or a set of actions I recommend that you save them someplace where you be able to reload them if you have to reinstall Photoshop or install Photoshop on a new machine. Click the three bar menu, and then save actions.

Photoshop will ask you where to save them. I keep an external drive with all of my installation files so that’s where mine go. Once you’ve saved an action you can also share it with friends.

There are two ways to load an action if you are reinstalling Photoshop or someone has shared an action with you. With Photoshop open click the three-line menu and select load action. Photoshop will open a window for you browse to the actions location.

Or with Photoshop closed, browse to the action and double click it and Photoshop will open and load the action.

$C:\Users\micke\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\Load actions 2.jpg$

One plugin that I use frequently is Tonal Contrast, a part of Color Efex in the DXO NIK Suite. I have color Efex set to save its changes to a new layer allowing me to adjust opacity and masking later. When I created an action to run Tonal Contrast everyone thing worked as I created the action. But when I ran the action, Tonal Contrast was run on the base layer rather than creating a new layer. The answer was to re-record the action, but add a copy layer before opening and running Tonal Contrast. I have since found the same problem in other plugins that I normally set to save their changes to a new layer. For whatever reason Photoshop doesn’t allow the plugin to create a new layer, so when you create an action using one of these plugins just create a copy layer first. Below are the steps of my action, and you’ll see that I went ahead and created a mask as part of the action.

Here are the layers after running the action.

And here are the before and after images.

In a previous article I described how to create a pencil sketch effect. (https://mickeyrountree.smugmug.com/Articles/Basic-Photography-Series/Basic-Photography-94-Creating-a-Sketch) It takes several steps and I don’t do it often enough to remember all of the steps, so this is a perfect opportunity to create an action. Below you can see the action expanded.

And here you see all of the layers created by running the action. The last image is the final effect.

Whenever you find yourself doing the same steps over and over, or doing an effect that takes multiple layers and complex settings that you may not always remember, don’t forget the power of an action. The few minutes you invest in creating an action will save lots of time and frustration later.

January 1, 2026

Photography Basics – Removing People From a Scene

by Mickey Rountree

As I usually do, I’m calling this article Beyond Basic because it involves Photoshop rather than just Lightroom.

https://mickeyrountree.smugmug.com/Articles/Basic-Photography-Series/

I hate having people in my photo that don’t belong there, or add to the image. I will usually will try to wait (im)patiently until people are out of my scene if at all possible, but sometimes there are so many people moving in and out of a scene that there is always someone in the way. And the more popular the photo location, the bigger the problem. I did have a hard time coming up with images for this article, because I normally wait until the people are gone, or I just don’t take the shot.

I used to use a combination of content aware delete and cloning, but now there is a better, easier and faster method. This is the remove distractions/people option of the AI remove tool. In theory it goes over the image and finds and selects all people that it doesn’t consider part of the main subject. It’s the cousin of the “remove wires and cables” from my last article. Sometimes it works incredibly well, and even when it doesn’t it’s pretty easy to manually select the people it misses. Since I originally wrote this the remove people option has been added to the rome tool in Lightroom.

Here is a sunrise shot at a popular beach in Acadia National Park Maine. And it’s no surprise there are other photographers in my shot, especially as I’m shooting with a wide angle lens.

Just as in my last article on removing wires, go to the toolbar and select the remove tool.

Then on the top options bar select find distractions/people.

At his point AI searches through the image and selects any people it thinks are distractions and not part of the main subject and highlights them in red. Here it has done a really nice job. Hit enter and once again prepare to be amazed. The people are usually replaced very cleanly and if necessary the program will use AI to create replacement image where a person was.

Here is another example of a street scene in Santa Barbara. I was using my 2 second timer and that was all the time it took for these two people to walk into my scene.

$C:\Users\micke\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\Santa Barbara -0426-HDR.JPG$

Here is the image after using the remove people option. Notice that not only are the people gone, but AI has generated a whole chair where the people had been. Just a year or so ago this would have required some tricky cloning to replace the chair. Now one click and done.

$C:\Users\micke\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\Santa Barbara -0426-HDR-Edit remove people.jpg$

I originally shot this image to show how many photographers were out at sunrise in Acadia National park. The people were the subject, but let’s see what happens if I try to remove them.

$C:\Users\micke\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\Thunder Hole Acadia-1656-HDR-Edit.jpg$

When I first selected remove people only the group on the left were selected. I’m guessing the program assumed the people to the right were part of the subject.

Until you press enter the remove tool is still active, and acts like a brush. Here I painted over the other photographers to select them.

$C:\Users\micke\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\Remove tool people manual selection.jpg$

After I hit enter you can see how cleanly they were removed.

From now on, whenever there are people I don’t want in my shot, I may wait a minute or two, but if it looks like it’s going to be a long wait I can just take the shot knowing I can remove them later. I know there may be some purists among you out there who are gasping at the thought of removing people from an image. The purist in me just says “They don’t really belong there so I’m just making the image look as it should have without the people.”

December 1, 2025

Photography Basics – Removing Lines and Cables

by Mickey Rountree

As I usually do, I’m calling this article Beyond Basic because it involves Photoshop rather than just Lightroom. This technique doesn’t normally involve layers, but I’ll show you an example where using a layer and mask is necessary.

In the bad old days of film power lines were always a problem. We either had to compose to miss them, even if that hurt the rest of the composition, just not take the shot, or live with the wires because we couldn’t remove them.

Now there is a new AI powered tool in Photoshop that with just one click goes on a search and destroy mission to remove lines and cables. Most of the time it does an incredible job, much better than I do manually. Even when it’s not perfect, it usually takes only minor work to fix.

https://mickeyrountree.smugmug.com/Articles/Basic-Photography-Series/

Here I’ve selected an image with lots of power lines. These would be tedious to remove manually, and always seemed to leave artifacts that needed more work.

To use this tool, go to your tools palette and select the remove tool.

Then go to the top options bar and select find distractions/wires and cables, and prepare to be amazed.

I have a fairly fast computer, but this is a 50Mb in 16 bit depth, so it took about 90 seconds to run. Smaller images or 8 bit depth will run faster.

$C:\Users\micke\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\wires and cables working.jpg$

Here are the power lines removed. Once the cables were removed, it was easy to remove the poles using the remove tool.

This was an example of when layers were needed. When I first removed the wires, it also removed the ladder going down the left side of the tower. To fix that I first created a copy layer, and ran the remove wires on the copy layer. Then I used a mask to paint back in the missing ladder.

This is one of my favorite barns near Wartrace, TN, and the power lines are always a problem.

And here it is after using the remove tool to remove them in just one click. It may look like it would be easy to do this manually, but I’ve done it both ways and the remove tool looks much better and works faster.

Here two more examples from the Palouse.

And here is the final image with the power poles and fence posts removed.

$C:\Users\micke\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\Palouse 2025-7008-Edit glow.jpg$

If you do much landscape or even urban landscape photography you are going to love this tool.

October 15, 2025

Photography Basics – Photographing the Palouse

by Mickey Rountree

The Palouse is a region of rolling hills and deep soils located in southeastern Washington and parts of Idaho. The hills are composed of wind-blown loess soil. This loess cover spans over 50,000 square kilometers across the Columbia Plateau. The unique landscape is a result of wind-blown silt and dust deposited over tens of thousands of years. The Palouse is a major agricultural region, known for its high wheat production. Other crops grown in the area include canola, lentils, barley, and chick peas. The fertile soil and semi-arid climate make the region ideal for these crops.

There are three main “Towns” in the Palouse area. I stayed in Colfax which is about 65 miles south of Spokane, the best airport to fly into. Pullman is only 14 miles southeast of Colfax and has much more to choose from. You’ll probably drive a hundred miles or more each day, mostly on gravel or dirt roads. If you’re renting a vehicle be sure to get an SUV or pickup for ground clearance. 4WD is optional, but we used it a couple of times on steep muddy hills.

https://mickeyrountree.smugmug.com/Articles/Basic-Photography-Series/

Research and Planning

I searched for photographers who have photographed the Palouse and looked at their work to see what images are possible and if they have any recommendations. You will find several photographers offering workshops at different times of the year.

Teri Lou is a photographer who has created a detailed set of six maps showing points of interest throughout the Palouse area. These maps will save you a lot of time and frustration.

(https://palousemap.blogspot.com/)

I was also able to find a website where a photographer listed his favorite 25 locations, including GPS coordinates. Before I left home I had all of these plugged into GPS so we immediately had some places to shoot as we drove out of Spokane. (https://muralipix.com/2020/06/28/my-top-25-spots-in-the-palouse-as-of-june-2020-2/)

I used Weather Underground to check historical records for the month of May going back several days. As my departure date approached I was frequently checking the ten-day forecast to get an idea of what clothing to pack.

Where to Stay

I stayed in Colfax because it is in the center of the Palouse. It has two motels, three restaurants, a grocery store and a gas station. Except for the gas station, it’s like a time warp to the 60’s.

Pullman Washington is about 14 miles south of Colfax and has more Restaurants and Hotels since it’s a College town (Washington State University)

Moscow Idaho is in the Southeast part of the Palouse and has lots of hotels and restaurants, but it is at the extreme edge of the Palouse and that means more driving.

When to go

Late May to mid-June is planting time and the fields will be green with new crops. Late July and August is harvest time and fields will be golden with ripe wheat. In October you will see some Fall Color, but keep in mind that there aren’t a lot of trees in the Palouse. November through March are likely to be snowy and very cold.

Important Rules

There are not many convenience stores or restaurants in the small towns, so carry snacks and a cooler with drinks.

Sleep when you can, and maybe nap midday when the light isn’t great.

Get gas when you can. Many of the “towns” in the area don’t even have a gas station

GO WHEN YOU CAN! See Above. Carry some TP

SHOOT IT NOW! Things move from day to day or light changes.

Respect the land, the farms and the farmers. Don’t trespass or walk through plowed or planted fields. Don’t go into barns or other buildings (even abandoned buildings) unless you are invited. Remember you’re the visitor here; for them it’s their livelihood. Bad mannered photographers have left bad impressions and given photographers a bad reputation, so DON’T BE THAT GUY.

Equipment

Obviously you’ll need at least one camera Body and maybe a backup body or even a good cell phone camera. You may need a range of lenses depending on your style. I shot the whole trip with a 28-300mm Tamron lens. This also minimized lens changing which is important with all of the dust blowing around. I also had a 17-40mm in case I needed something really wide (I didn’t). A really long lens like a 100-400mm or 150-600mm might be useful shooting from Steptoe Butte, but it was closed this spring when I was there.

This is a great place for B&W Infrared, so I carried a converted Canon M50 and 24-70mm equivalent lens. Carry lots of extra batteries and cards. Remember it’s remote and it could be a long drive back to the hotel.

TRIPOD!

Carry cleaning Equipment because you won’t believe the dust and you’ll drive lots of dirt and gravel roads. I bring sensor cleaning supplies since I feel confident doing that myself.

Bring state and local maps (I found a Colfax area map on Amazon) Palouse Photography maps and of course GPS.

The Role of Luck

The more I shoot travel and landscapes the more I find Luck plays a role. You may be in a location at the wrong time of day, the light is bad, the weather is working against you, there are crowds to contend with, and the list goes on and on.

Luck can be good or bad. When luck is with you be grateful and shoot until you know you have the shot. When your luck is bad try to have a plan B or C, and be prepared to move on when there is no good shot. One of my friends says his goal is always to make the best shot ever taken of a location. My more realistic goal is to take the best shot possible given the existing conditions.

Wind Farms

There are about 60 wind turbines in the Palouse near Oakesdale and companies are lobbying to build an additional 80-100 turbines in the area. They can definitely ruin a skyline shot and are not part of the natural beauty that draws photographers. You can usually work around them by moving to change your angle. If all else fails, they are usually fairly easy to remove in Photoshop.

Steptoe Butte

Many of the iconic Palouse images you see on the internet are shot from Steptoe Butte State Park. It provides high elevation and sweeping vistas. When I visited it was closed due to the road washing out. It is scheduled to reopen in the Fall of 2025.

Palouse Falls

As a break from barns and farms head over to Palouse Falls near LaCrosse WA. I like shooting waterfalls on overcast days, but bad luck kicked in and we got a bright sunny cloudless day. I didn’t anything great, so it will definitely be on the list for the next trip to the area.

What will you see?

This is farm country so obviously you’ll see barns and more barns. The barn designs are quite different from what we’re used to in Tennessee. In addition, there are old farmhouses and abandoned buildings, silos and grain elevators and farming machinery. The classic Palouse look is rolling hills planted in wheat or yellow canola flowers. You may even get lucky and see a crop duster plane or two.

I’m not a wildlife photographer, but while I was there I saw hawks, rabbits, coyotes and pups, pheasants and mule deer. I saw moose crossing signs, but no moose. In warm weather watch for snakes, especially the Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, the only venomous snake in the region.

After seeing over 100 barns in 6 days they all began to run together. I tried to save GPS info when I remembered but my camera kept turning GPS off. It would be good to save good locations into your GPS for future trips.

Amazingly, I shot less than 2000 images in six days. This is not due to lack of subjects, but due to lots of driving between locations. After my first pass of editing everything looked plain and too ”documentary”, so I added lots of effects, glows, textures, and varied cropping to get something that felt more unique and personal. I would encourage you to work on editing your images to develop your own style and vision.

October 15, 2025

(Slightly Beyond) Photography Basics – Creating a Pencil Sketch Effect

Mickey Rountree

As I usually do, I’m calling this article Beyond Basic because it involves Photoshop and layers. If the idea of layers frightens you, just follow along step by step and you can make this work.

https://mickeyrountree.smugmug.com/Articles/Basic-Photography-Series/

We are going to take the normal photographic image below:

And turn it into the pencil sketch below.

Start by opening an image in Photoshop or by sending it to Photoshop from Lightroom. This will be our background image.

Duplicate this layer by entering CTRL J (CMD J if you use a Mac)

Enter CTRL U (CMD U) to desaturate this image. This will bring up the adjustment panel below. Drag the saturation all the way to the left or -100 and hit OK. We now have a Black and white layer.

Duplicate this layer by entering CTRL J (CMD J)

With this new layer selected enter CTRL I (CMD I) to invert it.

Right click on this layer to the right of the thumbnail and select convert to smart object. What this does is allow us to come back to the filter we apply next and change the value until we get the effect we like.

Go to filter/Other/minimum and in the dialog box select 2 PX and preserve squareness.

Change the blend mode of this layer to color dodge

At this point we have a basic black and white pencil sketch. Double clicking on the word “minimum” opens up the minimum filter and we can change the value. I find something between 1 and five usually works, but go ahead and experiment. Here I have used 1, 2, 4, and 6 to show how the image changes. If you like the Black and white sketch go to layers/flatten image and save it.

I usually like to take it a step further and add some color back into the image. To do this I first add a levels adjustment layer. Go to layer/adjustment layer/levels.

Moving the shadow, midtone and highlight cursors will change the brightness of the image and controls how the color layer we add next will look.

Go back to the background layer and use CTRL J (CMD J) to duplicate it. Drag this layer to the top of the layers and change the blend mode to color.

Adjust the levels sliders and the opacity of the color layer until you like the look. Go to layers/flatten image and save your image with a new name. If you think you will use this effect often, you might record all of these steps as an action, so you can do all of these steps with a single click. Actions can be tricky and can be well beyond basic, but do a Google search to learn how.

While I use this effect often on portraits, it works on other types of images as well.

September 2, 2025

Photography Basics – Photographing Horses on the Beach

by Mickey Rountree

Back in 2016 Milton told me about the Birding and Photo Fest in St. Augustine, Florida, and in particular about photographing horses on the beach at sunrise. I’ve shot horses in Tennessee, but we’re short on beaches, so it sounded so unique I signed up for the 2017 Photo Fest and three sunrise shoots with horses on the beach among other lectures and workshops. After those shoots I was in love with this unique photo op and I’ve shot 14 times now; in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2024 and 2025. There was no Photo Fest in 2020 or 2021 due to Covid and I didn’t get to go in 2022 due to eye surgery (blowing sand and recent cataract surgeries didn’t seem like a winning combo) and 2023 due to schedule conflicts. I usually try to sign up for all of the sunrise shoots they offer. Why? Well the weather, light and clouds, riders, costumes, surf and number of riders are different each time. Some shoots are better than others, but the more shoots I go to, the better my odds of getting something really good or unique. I’ve been rained out twice, and while they usually have a make-up day scheduled, I usually have already scheduled something else.

Photofest is usually around the third week in April from Wednesday through Sunday. There are lots of lectures and other workshops available and vendor exhibits each day. Their Website is:

https://www.floridasbirdingandphotofest.com/

https://mickeyrountree.smugmug.com/Articles/Basic-Photography-Series/

In the past there have been evening shoots as well, but I don’t find the light and color as pleasing. It’s hard to get slow shutter speeds to pan and the riders are squinting into the sun or wearing sun glasses. But especially if this is your first horse shoot it may be a good intro and technically a bit easier. And if you like tack sharp high shutter speed frozen action, you may prefer an evening shoot.

Each sunrise shoot has a workshop leader, and the shoots may vary a bit with each leader’s personality and style. Most of them control the group well and the photographers usually work well together. It’s rare but unfortunately I have seen some rude, self-absorbed photographers who think nothing of walking in front of everyone. Sunrise shoots meet around 6AM and we’re on the beach shooting by around 6:15. Actual sunrise is around 7AM and we’re usually done by about 8:15AM.

Make sure you have a good camera strap and be sure it is firmly attached. You may wind up knee deep in the surf, so wear shorts and shoes that you don’t mind getting wet. I use a waterproof pouch for my phone, key fob and wallet. Keep a microfiber cloth handy for condensation or in case your lens gets splashed. A large floppy hat protects your face and ears, but also decreases glare in the viewfinder. It’s best if you don’t change lenses because there is always sand blowing around at the beach. This is one place I absolutely use my 28-300 all in one lens. You could use a 70-200, but you won’t get the big colorful sky. A 24-105 would work, but you won’t get the dramatic frame filling shots.

To me the shoots have four distinct parts and require different settings and techniques. For the first twenty minutes or so the horses and riders come by one at a time and move pretty slowly. This is the time to get great color in the sky, and also a good time for slow shutter speed and panning. If you aren’t experienced with panning, take some time to practice at shutter speeds of 1/8 to 1/30 sec before going to your first shoot. Not every panning shot will be good, but when everything works just right they can be great. For the first couple of years I concentrated on good color in the sky, and let the horse and rider become silhouettes. Modern sensors and software make it possible to bring out detail in the riders while keeping deep color in the sky.

As the light increases, the horses will begin to pick up the pace and start to gallop. Experienced horse photographers will tell you the money shot for horses is to have all four hooves in the air. This won’t happen until they are at a gallop or faster. At this point you have the option of panning with a slow shutter speed or trying to freeze motion with a higher shutter speed and higher ISO. This might be a good time to try Auto ISO. To get all four hooves in the air, shoot at least 8 to 10 frames/sec and delete the rejects. Usually you’ll find that one shot in each burst or two. Also your success rate improves with experience.

Most of the group leaders will try to do a shot of all of the horses and riders in the water in front of the rising sun. Contrast is very high and gets worse by the minute as the sun rises.

Usually the riders will take a break after the group shot to let the horses cool down. This is the time to get some portraits of horses and riders. The light is a bit harsh for good portraits, but if you pay attention to the light and have the riders move for the best light you’ll get some good shots.

After the cool down/portrait time it’s time for some high speed passes with the horses coming at you. This is the time for high shutter speeds and high frame rates. The light is harsh, so you may have to work a bit in post.

If four hooves in the air is good, eight is even better.

Always keep your eyes open and be aware of what’s going on around you. This is important for safety, but also there are those unexpected actions that happen in a split second. With luck you may be in just the right place at the right time.

Once you shoot horses on the beach, I think you’ll be as hooked as I am. There may be other places to shoot horses on the beach, so keep an eye out for events on your travels.

August 1, 2025

Photography Basics – Using Auto ISO

by Mickey Rountree

The exposure controls on any camera are shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. In manual mode we set all three to obtain our proper exposure. We have total control, and the only disadvantage is the time it takes the photographer to evaluate and make adjustments.

In aperture priority we set the aperture and ISO, and the camera selects the shutter speed to set exposure. As light decreases, the camera selects slower shutter speeds. The problem here is that the camera may select shutter speeds that are too slow for handholding or to freeze subject movement.

In shutter priority, we set the shutter speed and ISO and the camera selects the aperture. As light decreases the camera selects a wider aperture, and as light increases it selects a smaller aperture. The problems here are that as the camera changes aperture, the look of the image mage change considerably, and once the camera has reached the smallest or largest aperture it has no way to make further exposure adjustments and images may be over or under exposed.

Sometimes there are situations where the light is changing so quickly and drastically and photographic opportunities happen and then disappear so quickly that we may exceed the useful ranges of shutter speed or aperture, or we just don’t have time to change settings. This is when Auto ISO can come to the rescue. With Auto ISO set, the camera will change ISO as needed to maintain proper exposure.

Once we set Auto exposure, there are some additional settings we can make to assure our shutter speed doesn’t become too slow, or our ISO doesn’t go too high. The issue of high ISO is less important than it once was. My earliest digital cameras were pretty terrible above ISO 800. Also in my early days of digital, we didn’t have the software tools to reduce the noise of high ISO. Most cameras made in the last few years are pretty good up to ISO 3200 or even 6400. Images shot at even higher ISO can be more than acceptable with any of the good noise reduction software available. The important thing to remember is that it is better to have a sharp image with noise than to have a low noise image blurred by camera or subject movement.

I’ll be showing examples of how to use Auto ISO on Canon cameras, since they are what I’m familiar with. If you use another brand Auto ISO probably works similarly, but the menus to set it will be different. Check your camera manual, or go to YouTube and search your camera model and Auto ISO and most likely you’ll find a tutorial.

Set Auto ISO either with the top camera controls or through the menu.

In the menu go to Auto ISO Settings and set the highest and lowest ISO you want the camera to choose from. I’m not afraid to go as high as 51,200 in dim light with moving subjects.

In Aperture priority the camera will lower shutter speed down to a shutter speed you select or automatically based on the focal length you are using. I prefer to set it manually and usually set the minimum at 1/250 sec because I can usually hand hold most of my lenses at that speed. I might set higher if I have fast moving subjects. Once it reaches this shutter speed it will increase exposure by increasing ISO. In Aperture priority you can still dial in exposure compensation as you normally would.

If you choose to let the camera select the minimum shutter speed automatically it will select the reciprocal of the focal length. So with a 100mm lens, it would select a minimum shutter speed of 1/100 sec. At least on my Canon, you can fine tune this to select faster or slower shutter speeds.

In Shutter priority, as light decreases the camera will select wider apertures until it reaches the lens’ widest aperture and then begin increasing ISO. There is no adjustment you need to make other than setting high and low ISO. In Shutter priority you can still dial in exposure compensation as you normally would.

When I use Auto ISO, I almost always use manual mode, so that I have the most control. I set shutter speed, aperture and the camera adjusts ISO using the minimum and maximum I have set. The biggest draw back on most of my cameras is using exposure compensation. Normally in manual we add over or under exposure by watching our meter in the view finder. But in Auto ISO the camera always adjusts for a “normal exposure”. If you want to increase or decrease exposure you have to go to the camera’s menu and select exposure comp/AEB and dial it in there. That can be pretty slow when things are happening quickly. On my R5 there is a third control wheel and I can adjust compensation quickly while looking through the viewfinder.

Here are a couple of shoots where I feel Auto ISO really helped me get consistently good shots. Back in 2018 I went to the Photographer’s weekend at the Durango Silverton Railroad. For two days the train would go to scenic locations, let the photographers off and back the train up and make a pass or sometimes two. I knew the light would be constantly changing, but that I wanted 1/250 to freeze the motion of the train and f/8 for adequate depth of field. For two days and over 1000 images I had very consistent images that required minimal processing. ISO ranged from 200 to 6400.

I shot my second rodeo in 2022 in Dunlap, and knew I’d be dealing with very fast action and pretty low light. I set my shutter at 1/1000 for motion and my lens’ widest aperture of f/2.8 and Auto ISO. ISO varied from 100 when there was still daylight to 16,000 when there was only LED lighting. I was shooting an older 7D Mark II and there was very obvious noise, but with Topaz DeNoise I was able to get very nice images.

This spring (2025) I went to the Okefenokee Swamp and took two sunset boat excursions. I was in a moving boat and often had to shoot between other passengers, so I had less than a second to compose and shoot. I was using my 28-300mm Tamron lens, so I set 1/320 sec and f/8 with Auto ISO. For the boat excursions ISO was between 100 and 4000. However, while I was waiting for the boat I shot a rack of life preservers in very heavy shade and wound up at an ISO of 51,200. The original was very noisy and flat, but after two minutes of editing and noise removal it was a very nice image.

In short, I don’t need to use Auto ISO all of the time, but there are those times when it is invaluable. Give it a test run so that you understand how to set it up, how it works and its limitations. Then when you have one of those difficult situations you’ll be prepared.

March 1, 2025

Slightly Beyond Photography Basics – Intro to Photoshop Brushes Part 3

by Mickey Rountree

As I usually do, I’m calling this article beyond basic because it involves Photoshop rather than Lightroom or other basic editing programs.

I’m going to let you in on a little known secret. When you see your favorite celebrity on a magazine cover or online image, it’s almost surely retouched; probably a lot. Shocking isn’t it? Besides all of the usual skin smoothing and reshaping, here are a couple of things you might not know could be done with a Photoshop brush.

Catch lights – It’s been said that the eyes are the window to the soul, but without catch lights that create that sparkle, the eyes look lifeless. Here the model moved her position so that the light no longer lit her eyes. Notice how dull the image looks.

I could just paint with a small round white brush to create catch lights, but I opened a group of catch light brushes that simulate common lighting tools and used one that simulates an umbrella light. Again they are on a separate layer so I can control opacity.

Freckles – This model has really nice freckles that add to her look, but my normal skin retouching pretty much removes them.

There is no “Freckle Brush” that I’ve found, but there is a spatter brush in the Special Effects Brushes that come with Photoshop. If I remember correctly, they don’t install by default, but you can import them. So I selected the spatter brush and resized it.

To get the right color for the freckles I alt-clicked on her face to bring up her skin color and then moved my cursor straight down to get a darker version of her skin tone.

I worked on a couple of new layers so I could use masking and opacity. The spatter brushes create random patterns and sizes so you may have to try several times to get a look you like.

And here is the final image with her freckles added in.

Lip Gloss – Most models seem to be constantly applying and re-applying lip gloss, but sometimes they forget or it dries out. The lips in this image are okay, but they lack the shine of lip gloss.

Here is my set of lip gloss for top lips. There is a separate set for lower lips. I always put these on a separate layer because even with brush sizing they almost always have to be adjusted with free transform to fit the lips just right. Always paint with white since these are highlights, and adjust the opacity until it looks right.

And here is the after with top and bottom lip gloss added.

Eyelashes – Some people just have small fine eye lashes and all the mascara at the cosmetics counter won’t fix it.

I have several sets of eye lash brushes, and they come in upper and lower lashes and right and left. Each eyelash goes on its own layer and it usually takes a lot of free transform to warp the eye lash to the eye. Once I’ve done the top lash on one eye, I’ll copy that layer, flip the lash with transform, move and warp it to fit the other eye. After getting everything positioned I can dial down the opacity a bit to blend them in.

And here is the final image with eye lashes added. I might have chosen some more subtle eye lashes, but where’s the fun in that? Besides, I wanted the eyelashes to be so obvious you couldn’t possibly miss them.

February 1, 2025

Slightly Beyond Photography Basics – Intro to Photoshop Brushes Part 2

by Mickey Rountree

As I usually do, I’m calling this article beyond basic because it involves Photoshop rather than Lightroom or other basic editing programs.

So, as I mentioned in the last article, one of the great things about Photoshop brushes is the ability to add new brush sets, often for free.

Birds – Sometimes you just want some birds in the sky to add balance, fill blank space or just add visual interest.

Here I used several different bird brushes with individual seagulls and flocks of gulls. You can adjust the size of the brush to suit the image. I also usually put each bird on its own new layer. That way I can move each bird or group of birds around, or use Free Transform to change the size and angle later on. You save the image with layers, but when everything looks right to me I usually flatten the image before saving.

Here is another before and after.

Perhaps the biggest downside to using brushes is that no one believes you when you actually don’t add items to your image. This flock of pelicans flew by at just the right time and place, but everyone assumes I put them there.

Bats – Maybe sometimes plain old birds just don’t send the right message and you need Bats. To me they were perfect for this Halloween image. Here I put the bats on their own layer and merged the image when everything looked right.

Stars – I often use various star brushes to emphasize lights. It’s the digital answer to the star filters we used in the 70’s and 80’s. Here’s the Pemaquid Lighthouse in early evening before the light was activated.

I’ll turn the light on in a couple of steps. First I duplicated the layer, set it to screen mode and added a black mask. I painted just the inside of the light in white on the mask and that lightened the light. I repeated this layer until it looked bright enough.

Then I selected a four-point star brush, resized it, and painted in white on a new layer. This allows me to tone down the effect by decreasing the opacity if I need to.

And here is the final effect.

Here is another example using the same steps. Again this is the Pemaquid Lighthouse at sunrise, and I had been helping a friend time the lighthouse pattern to get the light in his shot. But I managed to time it wrong in my shot.

Here I’ve lightened the inside of the light using the technique above.

And here I’ve added the star effect.

Water Drops– I shot this image for an earlier article on splash photography, used some water drop filters around the base of the glass for extra interest.

Fog – If you’ve ever worked with a fog machine in the studio, you know it has to be the last shot of the day, because once you’ve done a few blasts of fog, it takes forever to clear. And the fog is unpredictable, often blocking your subject, or not filling the areas you want. Here is a shot that thought would look good with fog, but my fog machine was broken. So I thought I’d try adding the fog later.

As you can see, I used several fog brushes on several different layers. This allows me mask the fog to make some fog appear to be in front of the model, and some behind the model. I can also change the opacity of each layer and blur each layer to get the effect I like.

And you can add fog to your scenic shots as well. This Smoky Mountains Cascade was shot in a light rain, and all that was missing was some fog.

Here I’ve opened a panel with a group of fog brushes.

Here I’ve added just a subtle touch of fog above the falls. And again it’s on a separate layer so I can control opacity and blur.

Here I’ve gone wild with several layers of fog. Which one is right or better totally depends on your taste as an artist. But with the fog brushes you are in control.

Light Rays – There are numerous light ray brush sets available. Here are a couple of before and after shots. As usual the light rays are on separate layers so I can control the opacity and blending mode.

December 1, 2024

Photography Basics – Themed Still Life Project

by Mickey Rountree

I recently worked on a project of studio still life images. While I shot 7 subjects, there are many more I have in mind for future shoots, so I don’t consider this project finished. The original concept came from a video by photographer Joel Grimes, and I put my spin on it.

There are several reasons for shooting a themed series of still life. One reason is to practice lighting techniques. Another is to produce a number of images, that while different, have a cohesive theme that allows them to be presented as a group, either as a print with multiple images, or as separate images that can hang together. Another reason is to work on processing techniques to create artistic images with a consistent look or to try varied looks with similar subjects. I shot with the intention of using multiple textures on each image, and to experiment with using scenic images as textures/backgrounds.

My basic setup was just a table top with either a black or wood grain foamcore board as a base, with a medium gray seamless paper background. Lighting was just a medium softbox and strobe camera left and a white reflector camera right. Once the proper exposure was determined only minor lighting adjustments were needed with each subject.

Probably the hardest part of the project was finding props. I had planned to use three kitchen scales as a unifying prop for the series. I wound up with four scales, one from a local thrift store and three from eBay. I also found a wooden butter scoop and a large wooden spoon. The rest of the props were fresh vegetables from the grocery store. I only bought one vegetable at a time, took a day or two to shoot and edit and then bought my next subject. This kept the food (and the photographer) fresh and kept me from having to shoot all of my subjects in a hurry to keep them from spoiling. By the time you read this, you may have seen some of my images in the PSC Gallery.

While I chose food as a convenient subject, you can choose whatever interests you. I could easily envision series based on old cameras, tools, flowers, musical instruments, sewing equipment, shoes, hats, medical equipment, and limitless other possibilities.

Here are a few of the images I shot. You will notice sometimes one image will have different textures in different edits. Trying different textures and processing was a major part of my plan for this series.