You’ve seen it many times before, in magazines, calendars and postcards. A surreal-looking sun sinking below the horizon or sliding behind a mountain peak, streaks of light emanating from the center. Last time I checked, I didn’t think those streaks were natural, so how did the photographer do this?

You might be thinking a fancy filter is required to get this effect, and yes, there are actual star filters you can buy. You could also use Photoshop with similar results. But why bother, when all you really need to do is adjust the aperture setting on your camera.

Photo stats: f/20, ISO 200, 1/250 sec

First, a quick definition of aperture:

The aperture of a lens is the diameter of the lens opening and is usually controlled by an iris. The larger the diameter of the aperture, the more light reaches the film / image sensor.Aperture is expressed as F-stop, e.g. F2.8 or f/2.8. The smaller the F-stop number (or f/value), the larger the lens opening (aperture).

You can read more about aperture HERE

The secret to getting the star effect is to adjust your aperture to the largest F-stop possible. In the case of the backcountry skiing photo above, I shot this at F/20. The sea kayaking picture below was shot at F/16. I wouldn’t go much lower than f/16 or the star effect begins to fade. f/18 – f/22 seems to work best. (Although you will continue to get the effect above f/22, generally speaking, the quality of the image will begin to deteriorate.)

This sea kayaking photo was shot at f/16, ISO 200 1/320 sec

If you have a digital point & shoot camera, attaining the star effect may be a challenge as most P&S cameras don’t allow you to adjust the aperture to the necessary level.

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As a photographer, I’m constantly on the lookout for ways to improve how my images are displayed on the web. Think about it, have you ever come across this amazing gallery of images but been slightly turned off by the fact that you could only view small thumbnails? Conversely, you may stumble onto some average-looking photos that are displayed in a way that really brings them to life on the screen. What’s a photographer to do? What’s an artist to do? (Wait, aren’t they one and the same?!?!)

It may not be the end-all-be-all, but a company has stepped up to the plate – Cooliris | Discover More – and I think they are doing a pretty damn good job at improving how we view media on the web.

There may be light at the end of the tunnel

Cooliris isn’t perfect. Images can appear grainy if the original copies (of the images) on the website you are viewing are smaller than how Cooliris displays them. Which brings up a point. The viewing screen doesn’t just happen…you have to download and install the Cooliris plug-in. Once it’s installed though, viewing images using this “player” is super easy, as every image you see online will contain a small box with an arrow in the bottom left corner. Click it and your screen comes alive. Say for example, a friend forwards you a link to some recent mountain bike photos on Picasa or Shutterfly. Instead of scrolling through each one (which we all know is super fun!) or watching a slideshow, Cooliris allows you to view all photos much faster. Sure, you can view them as a slideshow, but by simply dragging across the screen, you can scan images super quick.

I recently opted in as a beta tester for future versions, so once I play around with it a bit more I’ll let you know how it works. I’ve yet to use Cooliris for anything other than viewing images, but it should be noted that you can view video, TV clips and other media as well.

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I’ve been a Photoshop user since I picked up my first digital SLR many many years ago. Recently though, I made the switch to Adobe’s Lightroom software to manage my image workflow. So far I really like it, but there is a lot to learn, and learning takes time. In an effort to help others learn and use Lightroom more efficiently, I’ve put together a short list of some of the best Lightroom sites I’ve come across.

http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/

http://lightroom-news.com/

http://inside-lightroom.com/

http://www.layersmagazine.com/

http://www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom2/

If you know of others, please pass them on.

Next post…Adobe Lightroom plug-ins…how you can take Lightroom even further. Subscribe NOW

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