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If you want people to focus on the subject of a picture, a photographer would mention something related to the depth of field (DOP), which usually means that the subject needs to be sharp while everything else is blurred.  This can usually be accomplished by setting a large aperture e.g. f/2.8.  Sometimes I find my pictures lack this relationship, either because there is a limitation to my camera or I simply just forgot to adjust the aperture.

Fortunately, this effect can be easily accomplished using the lens blur filter in Adobe Photoshop.  I will walk through this using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and a picture of a giraffe which I took during my visit to Metro Zoo.

1. Open the image you want to edit in Photoshop and duplicate the background layer. From the “Window” menu, select “Layers” or press F7.  Right click on “Background” and select “Duplicate Layer…”.  Finally, set the original background layer to invisible by removing the eye.
   

   Duplicate background layer.

2. Click on the “Channels” tab, and click on the “Create new channel” icon at the bottom of the window.  The entire image will become black and a new channel named “Alpha 1″ will be created.  Set the RGB channel to be visible so the image reappears again.
   

   Create new channel.

3. Use whatever tool you please to fill in the shape of the giraffe.  For example I selected to use “Brush Tool” with white foreground color.
   

   In Alpha channel fill in shape of giraffe.

4. Go back to the “Layers” tab, and from the “Filter” menu select “Blur” > “Lens Blur …” to bring up the “Lens Blur” configuration window.  In the “Depth Map” section select “Alpha 1″ from the “Source:” drop down, and check off “Invert”.  In the “Iris” section adjust the “Radius” value to control the strength of the blur.  Click the “OK” button when done.
   

   Set lens blur filter settings.

5. Go back to the “Channels” tab and hide the “Alpha 1″ channel and you have successfully applied the lens blur filter.
   

   Hide Alpha 1 channel.

Before and After Lens Blur Filter

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled on to a website Lenmates that made custom filter holder adapters for the Canon SX10/20, and SX1, thereby allowing standard 58 mm filters to be added to the lens.  After doing a bit of research on prices and reviews I decided to purchase the filter holder adapter as well as the Raynox DCR-250 macro lens.  I also purchased the Hoya Standard Circular Polarize Filter from an eBay store.

When my new toys arrived I immediately took it out for a test.  The Lenmates adapter attached itself securely the same way as the LH-DC50 Lens Hood that came with the camera, and the len filters were easily screwed onto the adapter.

I first tried out the Hoya Polarize Filter by setting the camera into auto mode, and took a shot of a blue cloudy sky with/without the filter. I was amazed at the results of the polarize filter as it eliminated the over exposure and made the clouds appear 3D.

Cloudy sky without polarize filter

Cloudy sky with polarize filter

Another test I tried were taking pictures behind a window where the reflection of strings can be seen without the filter.

Reflection can be seen without the filter

Reflection is eliminated with the filter

The Raynox DCR-250 macro lens wasn’t as easy to take pictures with because it was very difficult to get a clear image due to my shaky hands.  It took me several shots before I could get a decent close up picture of the flower.

Flower shot with camera's macro zoom

Flower shot with Raynox DCR-250 macro lens

To really test the magnification power of the Raynox DCR-250 macro lens I took some pictures of a $20 bill.  The amount of magnification that could be achieved was incredible, but to get a clear picture was also a tough task to do with my shaky hands.

$20 bill with camera's macro zoom

$20 bill with Raynox DCR-250 macro lens at 20X zoom

A day later, I managed to borrow a light weight tripod and I tried taking magnified pictures of the $20 bill again.  With the tripod I had some new challenges:  It was difficult to get the $20 bill in focus and there was a lot of vibration when the camera was mounted to the tripod, especially after pressing the shutter button.  To resolve the issue I had to turned off my audio system (which was blasting away), and set the self timer to 10 seconds.

$20 bill with Raynox DCR-250 macro lens mounted to tripod

More pictures taken with my polarize filter and macro lens can be seen in my gallery.

Polarize Filter & Macro Lens Gallery

After taking pictures of stuff animals at my visit to the ROM, I visited the Metro Zoo last Sunday to challenge my camera even more.

The camera was able to give me all the manual control I needed, such as letting me focus on the animal instead of the fence like in this tiger shot.

Tiger behind the fence.

The 20X optical zoom was also very impressive and let me take very big head shots of the animals. This tiger was actually not even visible to the naked eye as it hid itself behind the brushes.

Tiger far away behind the brushes.

When it came to shooting inside a dark environment the camera had a lot of trouble, especially when the animal was moving.  I had to take a lot of shots before I was able to take a picture that wasn’t blurred of the beaver jumping out of the water when it was swimming from side to side.

Beaver swimming around in the dark.

Overall, I was extremely happy with the camera as I was able to take many decent pictures with it, probably even comparable to the SLR cameras.  The only disappointment was that I couldn’t take a good picture of the lion because it was sleeping behind a rock!

Last Friday, my fellowship decided to visit the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum.  It was a great opportunity for me to try out my new SLR like super zoom camera, the Canon PowerShot SX1o IS.  I got the camera a few weeks ago at a discounted price of $369, and only managed to take a few random test shots with it.  Unfortunately when we arrived, the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit forbid cameras to be used, but I still had fun taking many pictures of the other exhibits such as the dinosaur bones and mammals. =)

Last weekend I participated in my fellowship’s annual retreat.  During the retreat we had a small photography competition to take photos that represented God’s blessing.  It was hardly a competition since many of our fellowship brothers and sisters had heavy SLR artillery where I only had a Canon PowerShot SX110IS.  Regardless, I thought the activity was amusing.  Here are my favourites:

“God created man with dirt.”

“God blessed us to love.”

“God gave us widsom to evolve.”