Video Tutorials » Elizabeth Halford Photography {the blog}

Category Archives: Video Tutorials

Does having your work critiqued sound scary? {video of two critiques}

January 22, 2012 Posted in Taking Pictures, Video Tutorials

When I posted recently to share the link to my Chic Critique, I got one response: “that scares me”. I agree. It scares me, too! I get emails quite a lot showing me photos and asking me what I think. I don’t usually answer them because I never know where the person is coming from,...

10 comments

Shasta Philpot - January 23, 2012 - 5:43 am

It is scary, I cringed at first, but I figure – what do I have to lose (besides my self respect). Haha Anyway, I’ll definitely submit one once my internet service gets restored! I live in the Pacific Northwest region of the US and we got hit with a pretty bad storm that out. :/

Shasta Philpot - January 23, 2012 - 5:46 am

Ugh- that knocked everything out, so I’ve been relying on my iPhone to stay connected the past 4 days.

Marion - January 23, 2012 - 2:27 pm

I so love the idea and wished I could take part of it… maybe some day (just not enough money for this at the moment). I am so thankful that you shared this and am looking forward to your next blog. You keep me going, Elizabeth! THANKS!

Rayleigh Leavitt - January 23, 2012 - 5:24 pm

I used to put photos on Flickr and I’d submit some of them to some of the groups for critique. But that was just frustrating because you get all these people who probably don’t really know what they are talking about, giving you bad advice. I love this idea of getting critiqued by photographers who know what they are talking about. Right now I kind of have a hold on spending any money on my biz because I’ve overspent and under earned. But I want to keep it in mind because it’s not a bad price and I think it would be worth it.

Catie - January 24, 2012 - 12:43 pm

Thank you so much! :) Great advice and I appreciate it immensely and will keep it in mind when shooting in the future. Thanks for choosing my image. It is one of my favorites of him because I had all of .7 nanoseconds to shoot it when he got home from school. When I was post-processing he was “helping” and when he saw it, he said I bet you love my freckles in that one SO much. He was oh so thrilled to see that picture pop up in the video as well this morning.
Catie

Natalie Jones - January 31, 2012 - 12:19 am

Are you going to be doing one each month? I’d love to do this, but it’s not quite photo season here in Michigan at that time.

Anonymous - January 31, 2012 - 12:23 am

This is the only one I’m scheduled to do. You can submit images you’ve already taken if you’d like feedback on those. Doesn’t have to be hot-off-the-press :)

Anonymous - January 31, 2012 - 12:24 am

This is the only one I’m scheduled to do. You can submit images you’ve already taken if you’d like feedback on those. Doesn’t have to be hot-off-the-press :)

Gina Young - January 31, 2012 - 12:50 am

Is the cost the same for those who just want to get their “toes wet?”

Anonymous - January 31, 2012 - 7:50 am

Nope – that’s $34 and it’s open here: http://chiccritiqueforum.com/classes/elizabeth-halford#p7

Choosing a look for editing your photos {video}

October 19, 2011 Posted in Photoshop & Elements, Video Tutorials

Oh my goodness. Most amazing.session.EVER last week. I restrained myself from looking at a set of the photos until I could do it while filming my process for you to show you how I go about filtering through my millions of actions in Photoshop and settling on a direction to take a session in in...

28 comments

Lorna - October 19, 2011 - 9:56 am

I loved this, very insightful and I love florabella too. Beautiful session as always Elizabeth.

Matthew Kunce - October 19, 2011 - 10:27 am

Amazing video. Thank you for sharing your workflow and thought process.

CindyY fm SA - October 19, 2011 - 11:01 am

Thank you so much for allowing us to see inside your work process. Awesome!

Michele Bird - October 19, 2011 - 12:23 pm

Thank you so so so much, I’ve been wanting to see someone do this process for so long. I really appreciate the time and kindness that you put into your sharing. Love your work, love your blog too!!

Shondra Walker - October 19, 2011 - 5:59 pm

Thank you so much for this video! I’m still in the portfolio-building process and continuity is something I’ve struggled with. Now I see where I’m going wrong. Looking forward to my next session where I can implement this.

Thanks again!

Sarah (AKA Mrs. Ruffled Flats) - October 19, 2011 - 8:49 pm

This is so helpful for me! I am new to the photography business and shot my second professional shoot last week and ended up doing my editing just like this, but I’m glad to know someone else does it the same way! The last shoot I did I just edited the RAW files because they were gorgeous straight out of camera and I loved how they looked without actions, but the one I shot last week, my clients wanted a warm, autumn feel which the photos didn’t have because of the overcast that day. I just warmed them up a bit and brought some life back into them which made my clients happy!

Love the video – thank you so much!

Mark Jones - October 19, 2011 - 9:09 pm

Now, I’ve learnt from you for well over a year now and love your tuts. But this one… this one is the best yet! Thank you for kind sharing. I’m off to edit my first new born session! :)

Dan - October 19, 2011 - 10:20 pm

Love IT!!! thank you so much :D

Amieware14 - October 20, 2011 - 12:42 am

Thanks for the video… I have one question. When cropping your photos, what size do you crop them? I get nervous that if I crop them and they decide to order a large print, they will not look good…

Mia - October 20, 2011 - 2:32 am

I had to laugh out loud about at your comment about lying under the sheets at night, not wanting to wake my spouse. I’m so glad to know that I’m in great company. I enjoy your photos and teaching – great style.

Jessica - October 20, 2011 - 4:44 pm

Thank you soooooo much for posting this. Yes, it was long and you definitely needed to have time to do nothing but watch it and learn, but it was so amazingly helpful! It was like getting a free class or free one-on-one time with a photographer. Please do more like this. I LOVED IT!

Rayleigh Leavitt - October 20, 2011 - 6:03 pm

Hi! I really wanted to watch the video, but I couldn’t figure out how to turn the music off on your blog. And the music was too loud for me to be able to hear your voice on the video. Is there a way I’m missing to turn of the music? Thanks!

Anonymous - October 20, 2011 - 6:12 pm

I don’t have music on my blog did you have another website up in the background maybe?

Janie - October 20, 2011 - 6:34 pm

Thank you so so much! Great video,I learned so much.I have a request do you think you could make a video about saving and cropping at the right aspect ratio.Also walk us through how to send prints to the lab…etc I have learned so much from you,I really appreciate all that you do.. :)

Rayleigh Leavitt - October 20, 2011 - 6:58 pm

haha! So sorry. Actually, the music was from a different website. Not yours. But I had closed that other website and I only had yours open and somehow the music from the other website was still playing! spooky!

Stuart Doughty - October 20, 2011 - 9:13 pm

Can’t tell you how good this vid is! Fan-bloody-tastic!

Andie McDonald - October 21, 2011 - 6:06 am

Thanks very much for the video. As an enthusiastic amateur this is one part of the process I haven’t seen much about, so was great to get a feel of how it can be done. I really appreciate you sharing this with us.

Dale - October 21, 2011 - 6:31 am

Thank you so much for posting this. I really enjoyed watching how you go through and edit a set. I think I am going to purchase Florbella now…

Christy - October 24, 2011 - 4:42 pm

Loved the video, thank you so much for posting! It’s great to see your process and the photos are lovely.

Dayna - October 25, 2011 - 4:34 pm

So wonderful!! And thank you for the text….good to know I’m not the only one up late at night, annoying my hubby because I’m watching yet ANOTHER tutorial on my laptop ;)

Wetappocreek - October 26, 2011 - 3:19 pm

I can’t get the link….How I did it – Tuesday -Jan 19

Thanks
Kathy B.

Laura Appling - November 7, 2011 - 4:07 pm

Thank you for this video!

alicia - November 18, 2011 - 1:08 am

Thank you so much for this. I’m starting out with portraits and I find that editing portraits is so much different than landscapes and interiors (I edit real estate photography for a living). It’s nice to get an idea of how to do my portrait editing!

Abra - November 29, 2011 - 1:39 am

Very helpful! Keep these videos coming!

Simpleygrace - November 30, 2011 - 5:56 am

Thank you so much for sharing this video ~ I have just found your site and I love it ! This was so inlighting… I can read all day but when someone actually shows me it helps so much… just listening to your thought process is great… it is nice to know that I’m not crazy when I am trying to edit photos! I am self taught (or I guess you could say “self-teaching” ) so I always appreciate it when others share their knowledge.
Thanks again :)
Donna

Allyson - December 23, 2011 - 5:20 am

This is what I needed. I have been in a stump with started/re starting my business and with every passing day my confidence goes down about my abilities. This video reminded me that I am good at what I do, I just need to invest more time in learning the craft of editing to get the ball rolling again. Thank you for your time, and I think everyone kept listening even whrn you thought they weren’t!

anom - January 3, 2012 - 1:24 am

This was really helpful thank you so much for taking the time to make the video! :)

Jane - January 26, 2012 - 2:03 pm

LOVED it! helpful and yes i watched the WHOLE thing…on headphones…while holding my 10 month old and putting on a movie for my preschooler! lol THANK YOU!!!

Reader Photo Friday {B&A with Video}

August 5, 2011 Posted in Before & Afters, Photoshop & Elements, Video Tutorials

Thank you SO MUCH to Debbie for this totally wonderful specimen of a shot for Reader Photo Friday. This shot was edited using the completely new, hot off the press Photoshop plugin, RadLab from Totally Rad. RadLab is going to completely change the way I do Photoshop. This was the first shot I’ve ever tried editing...

4 comments

Photoshop Edit Start to Finish {Video Tutorial}

March 28, 2011 Posted in Before & Afters, Photoshop & Elements, Video Tutorials

This photo was sent to me back in December and it’s been in my inbox staring me in the face ever since. I had fun playing with it so keep ‘em coming! One of the service I offer to my readers is to take images they send me and, via Skype, talk to them about...

1 comment

ACR {Adobe Camera Raw} – What is it?

March 23, 2011 Posted in Photoshop & Elements, Video Tutorials

You may see the initials ACR thrown around but not know exactly what that means or what it does. ACR is the mechanism by which you open raw files in Photoshop or Elements. When you want to open a raw file, ACR pops up first with a load of options for editing and adjusting your...

6 comments

stef - March 23, 2011 - 11:10 am

AHHHH! I wish you had posted this before Monday past…a friend suggested I try my next photo shoot in RAW and so I did but not looking into whether or not my editing software could support it..which it did not…so I had to convert them but knowing nothing about converting images and RAW there was a lot of tears before thankfully it was figured out!

Your site is so informative and helpful-I am very grateful for the info you share!
Thank you for this post, it was very clear; which is a great blessing to a non techy mind like mine :)

Christina - March 23, 2011 - 1:06 pm

Thanks for this! Even though I only shoot JPEG, I love using ACR! I actually have access to it in Photoshop Elements 8 (I was told it’s only available in PSE8 if you’re on a Mac, which I am). Anyway I just open the jpeg in PSE, open up Bridge, then click the little aperture icon and voila! ACR opens up. Pretty cool :0)

Kassi - March 23, 2011 - 1:07 pm

My problem is that the RAW files from my new Nikon D7000 aren’t supported by my version of ACR in CS4 or my version on LR….so I will have to upgrade one of them….

Margie Duerr - March 24, 2011 - 8:45 pm

I always shoot JPG. I had no idea that ACR was so much like Lightroom! And I really didn’t know about ACR presets. Nice video and thank you very much! :) You have a pretty voice too, makes me sad that mine sucks so bad. Ha!

Kathy B. - March 31, 2011 - 3:33 pm

I’m trying to start shooting JPEG & RAW. I’ve always shot JPEG but seems you have much more editing power in RAW. My problem has been opening up RAW images. And, in addition, I’m @ pre-school level….LOL! I have CS5 and Photoshop Elements 7. Is ACR included as a part of either program or is that something in addition to the programs?

And, when you shoot JPEG and RAW…..is there one pic to open up and edit? Or are there supposed to be 2 different shots to choose from a JPEG and RAW?????

Emma (Oscar and Rose) - April 28, 2011 - 8:09 pm

I initially shot in RAW and jpeg on my Canon 450D, just so I could compare.
And then I mastered editing RAW in PSE7 on a PC with Windows XP.
So then I thought “nah, don’t need jpeg anymore” and only shot in RAW.
And then I found Windows XP does not show RAW files as thumbnails which meant I was faced with having to open each and every shot in PSE just to view it.
So I did some research on the web, and downloaded this software (for free!)
Faststone Image Viewer (http://www.faststone.org/)

Just posting in case any of your readers go through the same process!

Video Tutorials This Week

February 12, 2011 Posted in Video Tutorials

This post is best viewed on the website, not in the RSS feed or email inbox. Well seems most of my readers watch video tutorials on YouTube, not Vimeo. So I’ll keep both synchronized with the same videos but looks like YouTube is where all the action is! So I’ve also made a channel over...

1 comment

Using the Wall Display Plug-in for Lightroom 3 {video}

January 22, 2011 Posted in Video Tutorials

Wow far out dude! Ariana Falerni has now made her famous wall display templates into a plug-in for Lightroom! See the video below for how easy it is to help your clients ‘picture their pictures’ or even plan walls for yourself!

7 comments

A few video tuts from this week

January 12, 2011 Posted in Video Tutorials

Just a few random video tuts that I threw together this week for vol25 and Eye Candy overlays. If you want to know how book templates in Photoshop or Elements works, watch those ones because they’re super educational!

no comments