Photo Ring

Loading your SRT camera with a fresh roll of 35mm film is a simple matter. If you are new to the camera, however, you should take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the process in detail.

Get in the habit of never opening the camera back unless you are absolutely sure there is no loaded film inside. If you open the back while film is outside of the metal cassette, the film will be ruined. To check, flip up the crank handle on the rewind knob. Carefully turn the crank in a clockwise direction. If the handle spins freely, there is no film loaded in the camera, or the film has been safely rewound inside it’s protective cartridge.

If the handle will not turn, there is loaded film in the camera. You will need to rewind the film so you can safely open the back. Turn the camera upside down and press down on the clutch button. You will find the clutch located inside a small triangular shaped recess in the bottom. Press it down until it clicks and remains depressed. Return the camera to the upright position, then crank the film clockwise until the handle spins freely.

Now you can open the back. Grasp the rewind knob and pull upward in a slow, steady motion. As you pull the knob upward, you will hear a metallic click and the back will spring open. Swing the back fully open. If there is an exposed cassette in the camera, pull up on the same rewind knob and lift the cassette out.

Take a fresh roll and pull the leader out from the cassette about five inches. Place the cassette into the left side of the camera with the plastic nipple facing down. Lift up on the rewind knob to allow the cassette to fit into place, then press down on the knob to secure the film cassette.

Now take the film leader and drag it across the film platen so it fits over the dual sprockets. Insert the narrow part of the leader into the slots on the take up spool.

Once the leader is snagged onto the spool, crank the wind lever one time, watching to see that the sprocket holes engage the sprockets properly. If everything looks OK, close the back, pressing on the left edge until you hear it click into place.

Now wind the shutter lever two more times. To advance the film, you will have to press the shutter release each time the lever reaches the end of it’s movement. At this point, glance at the film counter. It should be pointing at 1. Do not be greedy. If you try to stretch your film by not advancing the film advance the full two frames, you will probably find the first image is fogged. So make sure to wind the full two frames.

Although the SRT has a robust film transport, if you do not engage the film onto the take up spool properly, it is possible for the film to slip free. If this happens, the film will not advance. In essence, you will wind up taking all your exposures on one single frame.

Minolta obviously realized this could be a problem, as they included a “Safe Load” indicator on later models of the SRT series. Do not be concerned if you own one of the majority of the SRTs that do not have this feature. It is easy to check if the film is loaded properly.

Use the same rewind trick described to check for loaded film. After you have closed the back and cranked the wind lever twice, flip up the film crank and carefully try to wind the film counter clockwise. (Do not press the clutch button) If you can move the crank more than half a turn, the film has probably slipped free. Wind it backwards a few more turns, open the back and reload the film properly.

If the film appears to be loaded OK, glance at the rewind knob when you advance the film. If film is moving through the camera, every time you advance the shutter, the rewind knob will turn counter clockwise.

After you have taken all the pictures on the roll, you must rewind it back into the cassette before opening the back and removing the cassette. If you have been paying attention, you already know how to do this. Depress the clutch button, then carefully rewind the film using the rewind knob. You will feel the film when it tugs free from the take up spool. Spin the knob a few more times until it spins freely. Now you can open the camera and removed the film for processing.

For more information on the SRT model cameras, visit the SRT page on squidoo: http://www.squidoo.com/minoltasrt

For photography tips and ideas, try http://alphatracks.com where you will find digital cameras and general photography articles.

Tom Bonner provides photography and web design services to clients in the Gastonia, North Carolina area. You can find out more about Tom at http://adventuresindesign.com

Adobe Photoshop is one of the most popular imaging software packages around, but it’s expensive! Here are five ways you can earn money using Photoshop or Photoshop Elements — either as a business enterprise, for some extra money, or just to recoup your investment.

1. Offer a Photo Restoration Service. I’m sure just about everyone has a photo or two that hasn’t stood the test of time all that well, especially really old ones. Using the Healing Brush, Spot Healing Brush, and Patch tools, you can make old or damaged photos look like new again.

2. Become a Photograph Doctor. Whether it’s “red eye”, “pet eye”, poor exposure, or “finger over the lens syndrome” Photoshop can transform a ruined image into a pristine one. You can also use Photoshop to make a colour photograph look like a black and white one, or colour tint a black and white one to make it colour. Not everyone is a good photographer, so you need never be short of “patients”.

3. Design Greetings Cards. With the photo enhancement and graphic design qualities of Photoshop, designing greetings cards has never been easier. You can enhance photos, make them into drawings or paintings, combine photos for humorous cards, the possibilities are endless. Birthday cards, get well soon cards, condolence cards, Christmas cards or cards for other holidays like Mothers’ Day, the list goes on and on. You can easily find card blanks and envelopes from specialist suppliers.

4. Design T-shirts. Ever seen something and thought “that would look great on a T-shirt”? Well, you’re not the only one! With Photoshop you can make it a reality. You can get transfers from stationery shops, and plain, cotton T-shirts can be purchased from low cost suppliers and even some supermarkets.

5. Web Design. Whether it’s a full website, or just a few buttons or banners, web design is a skill that’s in demand right now. You could take commissions, or design some generic “boilerplate” designs that people can download from a website and customise themselves.

Of course, you may need to get some extra equipment — like a colour printer, scanner, and digital camera — but you can usually pick this type of equipment up inexpensively on eBay or other websites. A DVD of royalty free images is also a must — although check the terms and conditions to make sure you’re allowed to sell products derived from them.

Word of mouth is always the best form of advertising, so ask friends, relatives, work colleagues, and other acquaintances if the need (or know anyone who needs) your products or services. You could also approach retailers with a portfolio of your work, and offer them commissions on any work they send your way.

About the Author:

Shaun Pearce is a writer and video maker.
His latest production, “Photoshop Master”, is an interactive video tutorial. It shows you how to get the most from Photoshop, and can be downloaded from http://www.learnphotoshopfast.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – 5 Ways You Can Make Money With Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is considered to be one of the best and the most popular photo editing software programs available in the market today. If you are a professional or an amateur photographer, you will definitely want to get the latest version of this software.

Why?

Well, first of all, Adobe Photoshop provides all the tools you need to enhance, edit, and alter photographs. The creative capabilities that this software gives to its user are virtually unlimited and you will have a lot of fun using the tools that Adobe Photoshop provides.

In addition to that, even if you took bad pictures, you will be able to make it look professional with Adobe Photoshop. So, what are the aesthetic corrective tools that you can use in Adobe Photoshop for your photography hobby?

The first and the most common problem that most photographers have is the red eye phenomenon. This particular phenomenon happens because of the wide open pupil of the subject reflecting light back to the lenses of the camera. Although some digital cameras have flash settings to eliminate the occurrences of the red eye phenomenon, it will still happen even if you are using the latest professional grade SLR digital camera. Adobe Photoshop has red eye tool that will be able to identify red eye in a photograph and completely eliminate its appearance.

Adobe Photoshop will be able to remove all red eyes even those of your pet dog or cat.

Adobe Photoshop will also be able to let you create clearer and brighter photos. You need to remember that Adobe Photoshop is a software program meant for cleaning up an image. If you took a picture in a bad lighting condition, you will be able to improve its appearance with Adobe Photoshop. With Adobe Photoshop, you will be able to increase or decrease contrast, brightness, huge, and even color intensity. Even if the photo you are working on was taken on a dark environment, you will be able to make it look as if it was taken on the best possible light condition.

It is also possible to remove objects in a particular photograph. For example, if your vacation group pictures were ruined by a complete stranger in the background, you can have them removed. You can use the clone tool to preserve the texture of the image and also on the area where you removed the object. For close up headshots or portraits, you can edit imperfections on the face.

For sure, you will hear complaints about their own close up pictures. Some will say that they look so old with the wrinkles on their face; some will say that they look too pale; some will even say that they look too fat or thin in the picture, and you will even hear some people complain about their acne marks and pimples. You can edit all these things according to the preferences of the people complaining about their own picture.

With Adobe Photoshop, you can make the face look fuller or thinner, remove wrinkles to make the subject look younger, get rid of unwanted acne marks and pimples, make pale faces look healthier, and it can even make the lips fuller or redder as well as give you the possibility to shave off the eyebrows.

These are just some of the fun things that you can do with Adobe Photoshop. As you can see, there are quite a lot of possibilities that you can do with Adobe Photoshop when it comes to image editing. So, as a photographer, you will definitely need Adobe Photoshop. With the tools provided, you will be able to make your work look clean and professional.
About the Author:

Did you like this article? Curious about learning photoshop fast? Well now you can by reading this free Guide…what are you waiting for?

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Adobe Photoshop Editing Digital Images Made Simple

Is Photoshop/digital photo adjustment part of photography?

A lot of people say it isn’t, but others say otherwise. Is digital photo adjustment “fair?”

It’s called “post-processing” because that’s what it is. It’s processing that happens after the photography part is all done. It’s not part of photography, but it is part of making the final image.

Is it “fair?” Of course, it’s fair. You can’t use it irresponsibly to create false journalism, but otherwise, why wouldn’t it be fair? Unless we are reporting a factual event, we are just making something that is pleasing to the eye.

Here’s my recent example… My son took a photo through the window of an airplane while crossing the Carpathian Mountains on a trip that he is not very likely to repeat. You can’t see to owell through airplane windows and it was an overcast day, but what was he supposed to do? Try again next time? You just take the picture in this situation and hope you get something to work with.

Here’s his original shot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1165244120/

Here’s my edit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1165264850/

He thought that this looked “unnatural” and asked me to back off a little bit and here’s where we are now: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1179100838/

Is this “fair?” Do they still look like mountains and clouds? Did I put any flames or mushroom clouds on the horizon? Of course, it’s fair. I just took the information gathered by his camera and located the image hidden behind the glass and haze. What if I DID put in a man waving from the mountain top? As long as I was not going to use that to misrepresent something, it’s just a picture. How fair is it to paint a scene and leave out something you do not like or add something that you wish was there? It’s all fair.