Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto, Natural Light, Natural Light & with Flash, M (Manuial), Movie
• Scene Modes: Portrait, Portrait Enhancer, Landscape, Sport, Night, Fireworks, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Underwater, Museum, Party, Flower, Text
• Movie Mode: 640×480 pixels / 320×240 pixels (30 frames/sec.) with monaural sound
• Playback: Face Detection (with Red-eye removal), Slide show, Trimming, Single frame, Multi-frame playback including Microthumbnail mode, Sorting by date, Image rotate, Voice Memo, Blog mode
• Flash Modes: Red-eye removal OFF: Auto, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro. Red-eye removal ON: Red-eye Reduction Auto, Red-eye Reduction & Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Red-eye Reduction & Slow Synchro.
• Focus Modes: Auto focus (Multi, Center) / Continuous AF
• White Balance: Automatic scene recognition, Preset (Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm White), Fluorescent light (Cool White), Incandescent light), Custom
• Metering: TTL 256-zone metering
Technical Data:
• 2.7-inch LCD
• 12 megapixels
• 5x optical zoom + 8.2x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 6.4mm – 32mm, Equivalent to 28 – 140mm on a 35mm camera
• Aperture: F3.3 – F9.0 (Wide) / F5.1 – F11.0 (Telephoto)
• ISO Range: 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 / 6400 / 12800
• Focus Range:
Normal: Wide Angle: approx. 45cm / 1.5ft. to infinity; Telephoto: approx. 80cm / 2.6ft. to infinity
Macro: Wide Angle: approx. 5cm / 3.9in. to 80cm / 2.6ft; Telephoto-Agle: approx. 50cm / 1.6ft. to 1.0m / 3.3ft.
• Continuos Shooting: Top-3 (max 1.7 frames/sec), High-speed Top-12 (max 5 frames/sec, 3M pixels or lower); Final-3 (max 1.7 frames/sec), High Speed Final-12 (max 5 frames/sec, 3M pixels or lower);Long-period
• Shutter Speed: 8sec. to 1/1500 sec. (depends on Shooting mode)
• Self Timer: 10 sec. / 2 sec.
• File Format: JPEG (Exif Ver 2.2)
• Internal memory (approx. 57MB), xD-Picture Card (16MB – 2GB), SD/SDHC memory card
• NP-50 Lithium-ion battery
• Dimensions: 97.7(W) x 58.9(H) x 23.4(D) mm / 3.8(W) x 2.3(H) x 0.9(D) in.
• Weight: 170g / 6.0oz.

Let’s take a look at how to add selective color to a black and white image using adjustment layers in Photoshop CS3.

In this first week of “photo critique” I received 2 wonderful images. Let’s see them.

Alexander Artemenko

Original Image

Technical Aspects

The image looks sharp, which is important from my point of view. White balance is good: the white is neither bluish nor yellowish. Everything is focused like a landscape should be. There are no overexposed areas, neither underexposed: every detail is visible. There is no visible noise (anyway, in this case, noise might have actually added to the mood of the scene). In other words, technically, this image is perfect.

Visual Aesthetics

The composition is just great: a perfect golden triangle. The scene is eye-catching: you got the wagon, a dramatic sky, snow over the railway. The perspective is somehow common but I can’t figure any better one for this scene. This image has a very dramatic look, which is a very good thing. The dramatic feeling can pop out even more by giving the picture more contrast over the levels adjustment, and then convert it to sepia. But the natural colors of this original image are nice too. There is one element in the picture that I might have removed it with clone and healing brush: the crane over the wagon. Overall, I like this dramatic shot! Keep it so!

Rick Veazey

Made with: Pentax K10D. Pentax DA* 50-135 f2.8 lens at f2.8 1/1000th sec shutter speed. ISO 800.

Technical Aspects

It’s a very good shutter speed you used there: neither the players nor the ball have motion blur. Even if ISO800 is not a low level of sensitivity, there is no visible noise so this is another bonus. I relay like the DOF: not too narrow to completely blur out the tribune, neither too large to make the busy background distract from the main players. White balance, colors and contrast look just fine.

Visual Aesthetics

The first thing I noticed about your image is that you really pushed the shutter at the right time: you got the player in a nice twisted position and you also got the ball in the scene. It would have been even better if you could catch this scene from the opposite position to surprise the player looking more toward you and the viewers of the photograph. However, there is one little thing that disturbs me: the second player is not completely inside the picture. I suppose you were very concentrated on the standing player and the ball and had to be quick to do not miss the opportunity, so you did not have the time to properly compose the picture with the other one inside the frame. Overall it’s a very good sports shot! Congrats!

Do you want your photo to receive a critique at photoaxe.com? Send your image at laurentia.fr[at]gmail.com and next week your photo will be commented here.

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto, Manual, Natural Light, Natural Light& with Flash, Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night, Auction, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Museum, Party, Flower, Text, Picture Stabilization, Successive Movie, Stamp
• Movie Mode: 640 x 480 pixels / 320 x 240 pixels (30 frames/sec.) With monaural sound
• Playback: Face Detection (with Red-eye removal), Slide show, Trimming, Single frame, Multi-frame playback including Microthumbnail mode, Sorting by date, Image rotate, Voice Memo, Blog mode (with Image processing function)
• Flash Modes: Red-eye removal OFF: Auto, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro. Red-eye removal ON: Red-eye Reduction Auto, Red-eye Reduction & Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Red-eye Reduction & Slow Synchro.
• Focus Modes: Auto focus (Multi, Center) / Continuous AF
• White Balance: Automatic scene recognition, Preset (Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm White), Fluorescent light (Cool White), Incandescent light)
• Metering: TTL 256-zone metering
Technical Data:• 2.5-inch LCD
• 10 megapixels
• 3x optical zoom + 5.7x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 6.3 – 18.9mm, Equivalent to 35-105mm on a 35mm camera
• Aperture: F3.7 – F8.0(W) / F4.2 -F9.0(T) , max 3 steps increment
• ISO Range: Auto / Equivalent to ISO64 / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600
• Flash Range:
Wide angle: Approx. 0.7m – 3.9m / 2.3ft. – 12.9ft.
Telephoto angle: Approx. 0.7m – 3.4m / 2.3ft. – 11.2ft.
Macro: Approx. 30cm – 80cm / 1.0ft. – 2.6ft.
• Focus Range:
Normal: Wide Angle: Approx. 60cm to infinity; Telephoto: Approx. 60cm to infinity
Macro: Wide Angle: Approx. 8cm to 0.8m; Telephoto-Agle: Approx. 0.6m to 3.0m
• Continuos Shooting: Top-3 (max 0.6 frames/sec), Final-3 (max 0.6 frames/sec), Long-period ( max 0.3 frames/sec)
• Shutter Speed: (AUTO mode) 1/4 sec. to 1/1000 sec. (All other mode) 3 sec. to 1/1000 sec.
• Self Timer: 10 sec. / 2 sec.
• File Format: JPEG (Exif Ver 2.2)
• Internal memory (approx. 45MB), xD-Picture Card (16MB – 2GB), SD/SDHC memory card
• NP-45 Lithium-ion battery
• Dimensions: 91.3(W)x 56.3(H)x 18.8(D) mm / 3.6(W)x2.2(H)x0.8(D) in.
• Weight: 110g / 3.9oz.

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto, Program, Scene, Movie
• Scene Modes: 39 scenes
• Movie Mode: MOV format, H.264/AVC, IMA-ADPCM (monaural); 848 × 480 (UHQ Wide/HQ Wide), 640 × 480 (UHQ/HQ/Normal), 320 × 240 (LP)
• Effects: Date and Time, Calendar, World Time
• Flash Modes: Auto, Flash Off, Flash On, Soft Flash, Red Eye Reduction
• Focus Modes: Auto Focus, Macro Mode, Pan Focus, Infinity Mode, Manual Focus
• White Balance: Auto WB, Daylight, Overcast, Shade, Day white FL, Daylight FL, Tungsten, manual WB
• Metering: Multi-pattern, center weighted, spot by imaging element

Technical Data:
• 2.7-inch LCD
• 10.1 megapixels
• 4x optical zoom + 4x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 4.9 to 19.6mm/Approx. 28 to 112mm
• Aperture: F2.6 (W) to F7.0*7 (W), auto switching
• Focus Range:
Normal: Approx. 15.75″ *3 to infinity (W)
Macro: Approx. 3.94″ to 19.69” *3 (W)
Manual: Approx. 3.94″ *3 to infinity (W)
• Exposure Compensation: -2EV to +2EV (in 1/3EV steps)
• Continuos Shooting: Maximum is 3 frames per second
• Self Timer: 10 seconds, 2 seconds, Triple Self-timer
• File Format: JPEG (Exif Version 2.2)
• SDHC Memory Card, SD Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, MultiMediaCard plus compatible + internal memory
• Rechargeable lithium ion battery (NP-40)
• Dimensions: 3.66″ (W) x 2.16″ (H) x .83″ (D)
• Weight: 3.92 oz

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto, Easy Shooting, Program Auto, Movie, High Sensitivity, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Soft Snap, Landscape, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, Smile Shutter, Underwater
• Movie Mode: MPEG VX Fine with Audio (640×480 at 30fps) (MPEG VX Fine requires Memory Stick DUO PROâ„¢ media), MPEG VX Standard with Audio (640×480 at 16fps), 320 (QVGA, 320 x 240, Approx.8.3fps)
• Effects: Black & White, Natural, Sepia, Vivid; Red-eye reduction, soft edge filter, cross filter, partial color filter, fish-eye filter
• Flash Modes: Auto, Forced On, Forced Off, Slow Synch
• White Balance: Automatic, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent, Flash
• Metering: Multi-pattern, Spot, Center-Weight
• Focus: 9-Area Multi-Point AF, Center AF, Spot AF

Technical Data:
• 2.7 inch LCD + Optical Viewfinder
• 10.1 megapixels
• 5x optical zoom + 2x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 5-25mm
• Aperture: Auto( F3.3/F8.0(W), 2 steps) / Program auto( F3.3/F8.0(W), 2 steps) with ND Filter
• ISO Range: Auto / 80 / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200
• Flash Range: ISO Auto: Approx.0.1-Approx.4.2(W) to ISO Auto: Approx.0.2-Approx.4.2(W)
• Focus Range: 19-11/16″(50cm) Normal, 1-5/8″ (4cm) Macro
• Exposure Compensation: Plus / Minus 2.0EV, 1 / 3EV step
• Continuous Shooting: Max 100 Shots at 2.0fps
• Shutter Speed: Auto(1/4 – 1/1,600) / Program Auto(1″ – 1/1,600)
• Self Timer: 10 seconds, 2 seconds
• File Format: JPEG
• 15MB internal Flash Memory, optional Memory Stick™ DUO Media, optional Memory Stick DUO PRO™ Media
• Lithium-Ion NP-BG1 battery

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto, Program, Scene, Movie
• Scene Modes: 39 scenes
• Movie Mode: MOV format, H.264/AVC, IMA-ADPCM (monaural); 848 × 480 (UHQ Wide/HQ Wide), 640 × 480 (UHQ/HQ/Normal), 320 × 240 (LP)
• Effects: Date and Time, Calendar, World Time
• Flash Modes: Auto, Flash Off, Flash On, Soft Flash, Red Eye Reduction
• Focus Modes: Auto Focus, Macro Mode, Pan Focus, Infinity Mode, Manual Focus
• White Balance: Auto WB, Daylight, Overcast, Shade, Day white FL, Daylight FL, Tungsten, manual WB
• Metering: Multi-pattern, center weighted, spot by imaging element

Technical Data:
• 2.7-inch LCD
• 10.1 megapixels
• 4x optical zoom + 4x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 4.9 to 19.6mm/Approx. 28 to 112mm
• Aperture: F2.6 (W) to F7.0*7 (W), auto switching
• Focus Range:
Normal: Approx. 15.75″ *3 to infinity (W)
Macro: Approx. 3.94″ to 19.69” *3 (W)
Manual: Approx. 3.94″ *3 to infinity (W)
• Exposure Compensation: -2EV to +2EV (in 1/3EV steps)
• Continuos Shooting: Maximum is 3 frames per second
• Self Timer: 10 seconds, 2 seconds, Triple Self-timer
• File Format: JPEG (Exif Version 2.2)
• SDHC Memory Card, SD Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, MultiMediaCard plus compatible + internal memory
• Rechargeable lithium ion battery (NP-40)
• Dimensions: 3.66″ (W) x 2.16″ (H) x .89″ (D)
• Weight: 4.2 oz

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto, Easy Shooting, Program Auto, Movie, High Sensitivity, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Soft Snap, Landscape, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, Smile Shutter, Underwater
• Movie Mode: MPEG VX Fine with Audio (640×480 at 30fps) (MPEG VX Fine requires Memory Stick DUO PROâ„¢ media), MPEG VX Standard with Audio (640×480 at 16fps), 320 (QVGA, 320 x 240, Approx.8.3fps)
• Effects: Black & White, Natural, Sepia, Vivid; Red-eye reduction, soft edge filter, cross filter, partial color filter, fish-eye filter, trimming, retro, radial blur, unsharp masking
• Flash Modes: Auto / Flash On / Slow Syncro / Flash Off
• White Balance: Automatic, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent, Flash
• Metering: Multi-pattern, Spot, Center-Weight
• Focus: 9-Area Multi-Point AF, Center AF, Spot AF

Technical Data:
• 2.7 inch LCD + Optical Viewfinder
• 8.1 megapixels
• 5x optical zoom + 2x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 5-25mm
• Aperture: Auto( F3.3/F8.0(W), 2 steps) / Program auto( F3.3/F8.0(W), 2 steps) with ND Filter
• ISO Range: Auto / 80 / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200
• Flash Range: ISO Auto: Approx.0.1-Approx.4.2(W) to ISO Auto: Approx.0.2-Approx.4.2(W)
• Focus Range: 19-11/16″(50cm) Normal, 1-5/8″ (4cm) Macro
• Exposure Compensation: Plus / Minus 2.0EV, 1 / 3EV step
• Continuous Shooting: Max 100 Shots at 2.0fps
• Shutter Speed: Auto(1/4 – 1/1,600) / Program Auto(1″ – 1/1,600)
• Self Timer: 10 seconds, 2 seconds
• File Format: JPEG
• 15MB internal Flash Memory, optional Memory Stick™ DUO Media, optional Memory Stick DUO PRO™ Media
• Lithium-Ion NP-BG1 battery

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S750
• 2.5 inch LCD
• 7.2 megapixels
• 3x optical zoom + 2x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 5.8 to 17.4 mm
• Aperture: f2.8(W) – f4.8(T)
• Exposure Compensation: Plus / Minus 2.0EV, 1 / 3EV step
• File Format: JPEG: Normal, Burst
• 22MB internal Flash Memory, optional Memory Stick DUO Media, optional Memory Stick DUO PRO

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S780
• 2.5 inch LCD
• 8.1 megapixels
• 3x optical zoom + 2x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 5.8 to 17.4 mm
• Aperture: F2.8-F9.7
• File Format: JPEG: Normal, Burst
• 22MB internal Flash Memory, optional Memory Stick DUO Media, optional Memory Stick DUO PRO

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto, Program, Movie, Scene, Manual
• Scene Modes: 36 scenes
• Movie Mode: 848 x 480 (UHQ Wide/HQ Wide, 30 fps), 640 × 480 (UHQ/HQ/Normal, 30 fps), 320 × 240 (LP, 15 fps); MOV format, H.264/AVC, AAC (monaural)
• Effects: Date and Time, Calendar, World Time
• Flash Modes: Auto, Flash Off, Flash On, Soft Flash, Red Eye Reduction
• Focus Modes: Auto Focus, Macro Mode, Pan Focus, Infinity Mode, Manual Focus
• White Balance: Auto WB, Daylight, Overcast, Shade, Day white FL, Daylight FL, Tungsten, manual WB
• Metering: Multi-pattern, center weighted, spot by imaging element

Technical Data:
• 2.7 inch LCD
• 10.1 megapixels
• 3x optical zoom + 4x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 6.3 to 18.9mm/Approx. 36 to 108mm
• Aperture: F2.8 (W) to F7.9 *9 (W), auto switching
• ISO Range: Auto, ISO50, ISO100, ISO200, ISO400, ISO800, ISO1600
• Flash Range: Normal: Approx. .66′ to 9.19′ (W), approx. 1.31′ to 4.9′(T)
Flash Continuous Shooting: Approx. 1.31′ to 5.91′ (W), approx. 1.31′ to 3.28′ (T)
• Focus Range:
Normal: Approx. 15.75″ *6 to infinity (W);
Macro: Approx. 5.91″ *6 to 19.69″ (W);
Manual Focus: Approx. 5.91″ *6 to infinity (W)
• Exposure Compensation: -2EV to +2EV (in 1/3EV steps)
• Continuos Shooting: Approx. 1.2 second intervals on normal speed, and, Maximum is 4 frames per second on high speed
• Shutter Speed: 1/2 to 1/2000 second (Night scene: 4 to 1/2000 second)
• Self Timer: 10 seconds, 2 seconds, Triple Self-timer
• File Format: JPEG (Exif Version 2.2)
• SDHC Memory Card, SD Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, MultiMediaCard plus compatible + 11.8MB internal memory
• Rechargeable lithium ion battery (NP-60)
• Dimensions: 3.71” (W) x 2.15” (H) x .59” (D)
• Weight: 3.99 oz