Beach shots?

[sanchez11252000]

Hello all! 1st post here...
Im shooting a very pretty girl @ the beach here this weekend. What are the nessesities for beach photos, (im using a Nikon D50) and i was wondering if someone would be so kind as to refresh my memory ..if anyone has time on how to:
1- make vignettes
2-darken the person yet leave the background vibrant and colored
3-select a certain part of the photo to make the color stand out, ie the water
(im using photoshop elements)
THANK YOU THANK YOU!

[schrackman]

Hello Sanchez,

If you have Elements I believe there is inherent in the program a vignette "action" that you just click with your mouse after bringing the image into the program. It's been a long while since I've had to rely on Elements for post processing so I can't tell you specifically where to look for that action. If I remember correcty, however, it should be in one of the palletes in the upper right part of your screen.

As for darkening a person in your photo I'm not sure why you would want to do that...the person in your photo is your subject, not the background. But if that is what you wish to do then you can use the burn tool for that purpose. Start with a low percentage so that the effect is subtle with every stroke of your mouse. If you don't like it you can always undo whatever you "do" to the photo provided you don't delete your history.

For selecting you can use select tool, then once selected you can increase/decrease color saturation or levels to any degree. You have to be careful, though, as if you get a bit too eager your photo will become very unnatural looking.

When you do your photoshoot, it's best to use either early morning light or late evening light. And be sure to post pictures when you get them processed! Good luck.

[sanchez11252000]

Thank u soooo much! I will def. post pics!! Appreciate it...