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It's amazing what a little Photoshop will do ...

By Glenda Cherry

Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty

January 03, 2010 06:55 AM

Photoshop Elements, actually. I love to take photos of the birds that come to our bird feeder, but the sliding glass door has broken seals which make it hard to shoot through. And, for some reason, it's especially hard to get pictures of the Blue Jays - they're very skittish and fly away as soon as I get near the door! Here's what I managed to get this morning:

And here it is after a little Photoshop Elements:

In case you're wondering what I did:

Processed the original JPG in Adobe Camera Raw to adjust brightness and contrast
Extracted the birds to a separate layer, then slightly blurred and desaturated the background
Used levels adjustment on the birds to brighten them up
Used Topaz Denoise on the birds to smooth them a bit
Used a high-pass filter on the entire image to sharpen.

Try doing that with Picasa! LOL!

Glenda Cherry
www.GlendaCherryPhotography.com
www.GlendaCherry.com

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Ted Tyndall

Davidson Realty Inc. - Saint Augustine, FL

I will help You find the Home YOU want to Buy

Glenda, Photoshop is amazing. I also use Lightroom which is a Photoshop add on.

Major difference in the two pictures.

Jan 03, 2010 07:01 AM

Glenda Cherry

Keller Williams Realty - Herndon, VA

Realtor / Photographer

Thanks, Ted! I tried Lightroom, but didn't really spend enough time to learn it (and couldn't justify the expense). But I know a lot of real estate photographers who swear by it. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet eventually!

Jan 03, 2010 07:06 AM

Emily Medvec

eXp Realty LLC - Santa Fe, NM

Broker | Realtor | Serving Santa Fe & Northern NM

Good tip on the benefits of using Photoshop Elements. Prior to real estate, I worked 24/7 behind the camera when film rules creating advertising images for a range of commercial clients. I was one of the first "photographers" to test this new tool as a beta tester and eventually could see the writing on the wall as film transformed into digital. Today, I use Photoshop Elements for everything because it is easy, fast, amazing, imaginative and always ahead of the curve. I highly recommend as a resource to anyone in business who needs to "sell" and needs an image worth more than a 1000 words.

Jan 03, 2010 07:09 AM

Thanks for commenting, Emily! I've been using Photoshop Elements since version 2 - I actually have Photoshop CS2 as well, but PSE does almost everything I need. It's a great tool for the price.

Jan 03, 2010 07:15 AM

Craig Richardson

National Realty - McLean, VA

Glenda, very impressive. Photo shop is a great tool. Wish I still owned it.

Jan 03, 2010 07:32 AM

Thanks, Craig! Photoshop Elements is very affordable ...

Jan 03, 2010 10:52 AM

Eric Lee

Realty Executives - Phoenix, AZ

e-PRO, SFR - Phoenix, AZ

Nice work on the photo. I have Elements but have never used it much since I can do 90% of what I want to do in Picasa. Couldn't resist the Picasa challenge though :-) Here's the best I could do in Picasa:

Glenda Cherry birds

PIcasa is lightweight and can't do everything, but it can do a lot of things within reason.

BTW in Picasa this is:

highlights, about halfway to make the snow really white
saturation, PIcasa's default
fill light, just over halfway
shadows, just under halfway
color temperature just a little blue
another shot of saturation, just under Picasa's default setting
sharpen, Picasa's default setting

Jan 03, 2010 03:49 PM

Eric, that just shows the weakest part of Picasa - the inability to separate a photo into layers. Everything you do is applied to the whole image so you can't isolate the background from the subject. In other words, nice try, but no cigar! LOL!

Jan 03, 2010 11:03 PM

John G. Wilbanks

John G. Wilbanks Photography, Inc. - Bellevue, WA

Nice photo Glenda. It's actually a great opportunity to give a tip on exposure. White backgrounds are tough because the camera wants to make everything a medium-grade exposure. When you have a bright background, tell your camera to over expose by a stop and you will start with a much better photo. If you're shooting something with more than 1/2 the photo is while, over expose by 1.5 stops. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but remember: If there's a lot of white, add light...that will bring your whites, back up to white from the medium-gray your camera wants to make them.

John.

Jan 04, 2010 12:13 PM

Sam Miller

RE/MAX Stars Realty - Howard, OH

Knox County Ohio Real Estate Specialist

Great before and after photos and they are compelling enough that something like that could be used in a listing appointment with a seller and I think doing so could create additional value.

Jan 05, 2010 12:32 AM

Thanks for the info, John - by the time I made those adjustments, the birds would have been history ... there are times when the AUTO setting comes in handy!

Thanks for commenting, Rick - sometimes it's surprising how much you can improve a shot!

Sam, do you think a potential client would be impressed with my Blue Jay photos? LOL!

Jan 10, 2010 12:47 AM

Gail Robinson

William Raveis Real Estate - Southport, CT

CRS, GRI, e-PRO Fairfield County, CT

Glenda - Amazing difference between the photos. Can you tell me what Topaz Denoise is? I have PSE, but have no clue about this. Thanks,

Jan 10, 2010 03:19 PM

Gail, Topaz Denoise is a third-party add-in for Photoshop (and Photoshop Elements). I use it on almost every photo I take .... it really makes a difference. You can get more information from their web site. Please let me know if you need more information.

Jan 14, 2010 11:35 AM

Don Stern

Realty Executives South Louisiana - Baton Rouge, LA

Greater Baton Rouge Real Estate

Thanks for the post. I use Photoshop Elements regularly but have not used the process you describe. I'm going to bookmark this and try the recipe on some of my photos.

Mar 03, 2010 12:16 AM

It's amazing what a little Photoshop will do ...

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Glenda Cherry

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