If you know how to take photos, now it is time to learn how to edit them properly. If you want to learn how to give your photos a unique look and fine polished magazine quality finish, then contact me and I will design workshops according to your level and needs. My focus is portrait and architecture, as well as composites and photoshop manipualtions. I teach via desktop sharing so you can see what I do on my screen in real time, stop me or ask questions at any moment. All levels of photoshop users are welcome.  See this link for more details,

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model: Lena

Depth is one of very powerful tools in your photography tool box if you know how to use it to make your photos stand out even more. Depth adds dimensions, expands a photo visually, enhances the story telling, adds movement and helps the capture the viewer's attention for much longer, by creating a visual puzzle. Depth can be achieved by use of many techniques. One of them would be simply photographing your subject in a way that the background is visible but not detracting, still reading and adding to the story but not in an overpowering manner. The Other way would be working with contrast, sharpness and saturation, which can be done in post production, but not only. If you know or can control your light while shooting, those three elements can be captured on camera and then enhanced even further in photoshopp or lightroom.  You can achieve depth via other means, such as motion blur, compositing photos, photo manipulations, and so on. Naturally capturing as much as you can on camera will help a great deal, so whenever you are out there shooting, try not to focus only on your subject, but also what is in front of it, behind it, on each side, and also on what is about to enter or leave the frame. 

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We all love traveling and taking photos. The trouble is that most of the shots that people go back home with are mere snapshots. They do capture memories and fun moments, which is what photography is partially about. However, there is a huge difference between snapshots and photographs, and between photographs and art. Every single photo that I publish or or pass to my clients is not only a unique capture, but it is also fine tuned in post processing. I edit every single photo individually, without applying any presets or bulk editing methods, which is what most photographers do in order to save time. My approach to photography is artistic, and very emotional. Everyplace, angle or perspective is different, every person is an individual, every moment is unique, and so should be photos that document those. If you like snapshots you can ask anyone, if you enjoy art then you call me. 

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This new series of photoshop tutorials for beginners will cover all aspects of photoshop from practical point of view. I already created a video on how to tweak various PC and photoshop settings to improve performance of photoshop and speed up photo editing workflow. Today I have released first video of the series that should help anyone who is new to photoshop. In this video I cover the entire interface, explain photoshop menus, show you how you can set up your own personalized working space and save it as a default, and explain how various panels and menus interact with one another. In upcoming video tutorials I will teach you all the tools and menu options in depth, based on practical examples so it is much easier to learn and understand. Photoshop tools and menus are not that difficult to learn, the whole trick is in knowing how to use all those tools together to achieve the result you want. I am sure you will have solid knowledge base at the end of the series. Any suggestions / ideas - please let me know.

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There are two ways that you can improve performance of your photoshop. One is via upgrading and tweaking your PC hardware, and the other is through software settings of your OS, photoshop, and other related programs. In terms of hardware, the key PC components that may have an impact on the performance of photoshop are the amount of RAM, number of CPU cores and their speed, VRAM of your graphics card, type of hard drives you are using (HDD vs. SSD, and monitor size / type. In terms of software, one has to consider OS version, anti virus programs, hardware settings and their drivers, photoshop updates, photoshop plugin updates, how many programs are running in the background, and numerous settings that have to be performed inside photoshop. To learn more about how you can improve the performance of your photoshop, watch the video linked below, in which I go through all those items in depth.

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We all have photos that we are not sure what to do with. Most of them are casual emotional snapshots of something that we though looked cool at the moment of taking. Either that, or we just take shots with the photoshop compositing in mind. To the left is a photo of one of my photoshop workshops students, taken in Croatia. Below, you can see my photoshop manipulation of that shot, in attempt to redesign the entire composition and feel to the photo. I really like that wall, it adds a lot of the Continental feel, that fragment of an island is something to balance that wall with, but the original image had no clear focus or a self sustained subject of the photo. Success of a photo is based on balance between the shapes and light, and it can be weighted like on a scale. Half of the job is to capture an image, and the other half lays in post production. Either is equally important, though as you can see from this example, knowledge of photo editing can be more powerful that the ability of capturing a good image. I teach photography with the vision of post processing, and you can see why I put so much stress on mastering photoshop. If you are interested in improving your photoshop knowledge you can read more about it here, or contact me directly. 

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When I was younger I hated school with passion. Not because I do not like to learn, quite the contrary, simply school was too intellectually confined, lacking finesse, and rather dull. I teach photography art the same way as I would like to have learned when I was a kid. I teach not what I know but whatever is that interest you, bearing in mind your current level and skill. I also teach with the vision of post processing and image retouching, as I believe that post processing is equally, if not more important than taking photos, and I really mean that. The technical side of photography, like setting proper ISO, shutter speed and aperture is not that complicated, and sooner or later you will pick it up naturally with practice.  Photography is an art, not a geek show. Leave the technicalities to those who cannot see a bigger picture. The most essential thing to master in photography is understanding the light (with the exception of portrait photography, in which case you also need to understand human psychology, to be able to evoke or comprehend their body language and reactions). You have to fall in love with light, learn how to adjust to it or control it. Light determines compositions, both during night and day. Photography does not exist without light, and good photography does not exist without understanding of how to capture it. I put a huge stress on composition, not in a technical sense, I rather emphasize the artistic  feel of composition and how to sense balance in the image. I teach how to find a photograph in a mess of nothingness, a scene that is loud and convoluted, how to appreciate art in what you thought was mundane, how to see and compose with energy and aura of a scene, rather than place items on the crossing lines of rule of thirds, because the book or article told you to do so. In addition, I also teach post processing and advanced photoshop manipulation online via desktop sharing, so once you return home with your images that you took in Tokyo or any other place, we can continue the education through the internet. My experience and scope as an artist goes far beyond photography, which allows me to see a much bigger picture. I do not just teach photography, I teach art. Contact me for details here. Available photography workshops:  portrait photography, street photography, architecture photography and night photography.

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I decided to go fucking nuts with this one and spend tons of time polishing the details of the engine parts, armor and then blending the image with a background. The most time consuming part was creating the armor and all adding all the details, joints, engines, lights, lines, and so on. The final image is about 10,000 x 6000 pixels, so I am posting two 100% crops of the original image, so you can see some close ups. Good composite photography and photoshop manipulation are all about matching the light, perspective, and color. Having some sort of idea or a artistic concept of which direction to go with the image is also very helpful. Although I haven't used any reference photos, it often helps to look at some examples in case you need to get inspired. I have recorded a video on how tis image was created, from start to finish, and I will post it tomorrow on my Youtube channel. If you want to learn advanced photoshop and photo manipulation / composite photography, then check my photoshop workshops (one to one and online via desktop sharing).

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I am working on a  new sexy cyborg girl photoshop manipulation, and it looks like this one will be by far the most complex one have created so far. I am about half way through and I already started a 145th layer in photoshop. The more details are in a composite image the better, and the more work you put into polishing those details the better, and those details take a lot of time. I ve been working on this 6h so far, and it seems that another 5h or so should do it. Regardless the time spent, I love working on my hot cyber girl army and sci fi projects. Very relaxing and keeps me sane in this more and more retarded world. Anyways, I thought I will share with you an something that is being created at the very moment. If you want to learn advanced photoshop and photo manipulation / composite photography, then check my photoshop workshops (one to one and online via desktop sharing). 

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details

This is a re-edited version of a photo that I took back in 2013 with one of my most favorite texts  - the Buddhist Heart Sutra. This is my copy of a classic by Wang Xizhi from the 4th century C.E. in semi-cursive script. I gave this photo an old distressed look, as if it was recovered from an old building or some forgotten drawer on an attic in the distant future. The scratched-like text to the right is in oracle bone script and reads "Tokyo 2015". I think the original mood of the photo fits perfectly for such a dramatic edit. This photo now tells many different stories.

Girls interested in boudoir / nude / body art shoot please contact me directly (Tokyo area).

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HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and in photography it usually refers to a scene that has a massive differences between the dark and bright tones. Unlike a human eye, most of the digital cameras, or any cameras, cannot capture extreme dynamic range scenes, though the technology is drastically improving (Alpha Sony 7s comes to mind). So if you cannot dish tens of thousands of dollars for a medium format camera, then HDR editing software is the way to go, or at least it was for me. I used to work with Photomatix and HDR efex PRO 2 from Google software, but to be honest I never was fully satisfied with the results. The process is mostly automated and relatively fast, even if you will make final adjustments in photoshop, but when I started to manually blend layers in photoshop, my photos are clean, artifact free, without any crazy micro contrast or fake looking pale washed out colors (mainly red). Below is a short video that I made today, I am revising some of my older photos and I re-edit them. You can see below the RAW file, then my old HDR edit, and at the very bottom a manually blended image. For full length tutorial on manual blending see my 50 minute long video here. 

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Manually digitally blended image

In this photoshop tutorial I will show you how you can easily edit and convert a photo inside Adobe Camera Raw without having to do absolutely nothing inside photoshop. Adobe Camera Raw is a very powerful tool, and it has many amazing options. In fact Lightroom editing options are build around Camera Raw functions. This tutorial will teach you how you can control contrast and colors of your photo, perform some simple dodging and burning, manipulate with light to direct the viewers attention to the place you want them to go, and finally how to convert the photo into a nice crispy and punchy black and white. 

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256 tones as opposed to millions of colors - black and white photography is unsurpassed in its elegance and simplicity. There are no distractions, only the game of limited tones and textures. The eternal battle between light and shadow creating pleasing composition and shapes. To be able to create a great black and white shot, you really have to nail the composition, and make sure that you convert your tones properly by adjusting color levels of the photo in order to create contrast between tones. Here is a delicate portrait in black and white of lovely Rita - an artist from Hong Kong. We had lots of fun running and shooting, and she was absolutely amazing, so I thought I would share one of the shots with you guys!

If you are looking for a photographer in Tokyo for portraits or travel photography during your stay here, please feel free to contact me and we can schedule a photoshoot.

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Every day you are passing by things that never catch your attention, as they are plain and ordinary. Even views and scenes can seem usual and boring, but as a photographer you need to learn how to snipe and eye-crop those little precious things and convert them into art with your camera. Whenever I teach photography I try to point out those little diamonds, and teach how to train your eye to find them in a mess of every day of the usual. Here is a great example, it is a side of a fire engine that I took a picture of the other day. The truck and the surrounding were not really that special, but when I saw all those switches and pipes, my brain cropped the image in real life and I saw this shot. Photoshop and photo editing knowledge is very helpful in such situations, as you know what you can do with the photo. A bit of color management and dodging and burning and it suddenly looks great. As a photographer you should always be alert and keep your head turning in search of the image.

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I have launched a new service for everyone that wants to order a kanji tattoo that actually has the meaning that you wanted, and it is written in a skillful professional manner, in accordance with the ancient rules of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy. I can design for you a tatto of any length, from a single character to the entire body. All my tattoo designs are researched, studied and written the way I would write a calligraphy work, with a brush on paper. Each calligraphy work is very unique, and cannot be reproduced. I do not sell the same design twice, so you have my assurance that no one on Earth will have the same tattoo as you do. I adjust my writing style according to your sex, character, personality, the meaning of the text, etc. Tattoos can be ordered in few calligraphy scripts. You will find more details here. 

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Due to increasing amount of emails and inquiries regarding Japanese kanji tattoos written in calligraphic scripts, I decided to launch a new service page with all the details and prices. Tattoos are for a life, so when searching for a design we want something unique. Tattoos in Chinese characters are common, but I have rarely seen any decent ones, not to mention any good ones. If you are looking for a Japanese kanji tattoo design you should look for someone knowledgeable in the era of Chinese characters and Japanese or Chinese calligraphy. Tattooing computer fonts is a blasphemy, not to mention that such tattoos look really boring. IT may seem cool in the Western countries, but whenever you meet any native speaker of a language that utilizes Chinese characters, your tattoo will not be appreciated.  Below photo - calligraphy in ancient Chinese small seal script, reading 龍精 - dragon spirit. Model: Eccaia

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Here is a photo of me sitting with Grand Master Kajita Esshuu, having a chat about my upcoming Master Instructor exams in Japanese and Chinese calligraphy in one of his Japanese calligraphy studios in Tokyo. It has been a long journey up to this point, but a very colorful one. I am extremely lucky and very grateful to have found such an amazing teacher. Over the years we have become very close, and now I think of him more as of my grandfather, than just a teacher. I have 4 mandatory subject for the exam in 4 Chinese calligraphy scripts. Two of them are copies of the Chinese classics, and two are works that have set phrases to be written, but one has to write them applying his one calligraphy style. I will follow this up in my next article in details, so you can have a sneak peek into the world of brush and ink.

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Photo by Jenny Ponte

Out again today to the streets of Tokyo for capturing some night portraiture. If you follow my blog you know that I love night in the city, and consequently I love drama and deep strong shadows in my photos. Portrait shots are no different. So we popped outside today to capture a few urban portraits, in a semi glamor slash fashion feel to it.  This portrait was shot at a funky angle, with one speed light lighting my model, the rest of the lights are reflections or ambient light on the scene. If you wish to have your portrait photo taken, feel free to contact me directly. To see more of my work, simply browse my portfolio.

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model: Eccaia

... for a photoshoot ;-) So, book a session with me now before I am too old to hold the camera. Currently I am looking for portrait and folio shoots, urban portraiture and body art. Contact me for more details!

Self portrait / photo by Jenny Ponte & Ponte Ryuuri.

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Nude photography requires a lot of trust. Body art requires even more trust, as I have to touch my models to write on them, and sometimes I can write for a few hours, depending on the length of the text. Erotic photography goes further into the personal space of your model, so you really have to have her trust to be able to capture something truly exciting, but at the same time natural and not staged. Photography is the art of capturing the light and telling story with highlights and shadows. Why not convey something that entangles the mind, making you wander into the realm of eroticism. 

model: Eccaia

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Working on photos and editing tons of shots may lead to tunnel vision and resulting in similar type of edits. Lots of people use presets, not even knowing what they do. That includes the professional photographers as well. Some people don't even possess the skill to edit their own work, which is pretty scary. It is like a cook who buys veggies on the market and calls for help to cook the meal. Learning and studying will develop your artistic vision, and it is most likely to change over the time. I learn new skills on a daily basis, and my photoshop techniques improve quite rapidly. I am often revisiting some of my favoring works and re-editing them applying what I have learned since I worked on them. Sometimes I give photos a new twist. All in all I love editing 1 photo in many different ways. It leads to amazing discoveries. In this case the reason for editing is complex. One, is that I love this shot. Two, is that I love this calligraphy classic, and three is that this very classic is one of the mandatory subjects for my Master Instructor exams in calligraphy this year. 

model: Asuka / Japanese calligraphy - my copy of a Chinese classic Shu Pu from the early Tang Dynasty (7th century) by Sun Guoting, who was an absolute genius of cursive script. 

Tokyo, for architecture photographer, is like a candy store for a kid. Especially if one enjoys modern architecture, or architecture that is unique or even wacky. There are some old traditional structures, but it is nothing like back in Europe. Almost all of those buildings are made of wood, and are recent reconstructions of the original buildings. I do not think you can find a 1000 year old architecture in Japan. Anyhow, the modern structures are superb, the Tokyo is massive, and the infrastructure is mad dense, so you simply turn around and shoot some more. Tokyo might be intimidating for new comers, or even for those who just moved in. If you are into architecture photography, regardless of whether you are a beginner or intermediate, and you wish to discover places to take great photos of, the feel free to check out my photowalk, photography workshops, and the rest of my photography service menu, or simply contact me and hire a photographer in Tokyo, who will show you all the goodies, teach you where to shoot from, and even how to post process your images to make them look amazing.

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photo by Jenny Ponte

I wanted to do this photoshop manipulation for a long time, just needed a self portrait photo to be able to create it. Last week we were shooting some portraits with my wife and she took the photo you can see at the very bottom of this post. So today I found some time and changed myself into a werewolf. First I thought to composite myself into some horror scene or some dark dungeon, but all werewolf photos are the same, so, I sat down and wrote the calligraphy for it. It read 激情 which means FURY. I recorded the editing and photoshop manipulation so I will post it later on. Enjoy!

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