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www.pclpublications.com
 DIGITAL

Y
ou would think that if you have a
camera in your hand, the choice of
subjects and genres to shoot would
be vast. Strictly speaking that is true but
even the most seasoned photographer
can find themselves in the doldrums and
feeling a bit aimless. It happens. One day
you are full of excitement at the prospect
of getting out and shooting a landscape or
doing some portrait work, the next you’re
feeling decidedly ‘meh’ about that. You
could even be sitting there with absolutely
no idea of what it is you actually fancy
photographing. In this issue, we have a
little section that we hope will give you
some ideas. We’re hoping to set off a light
bulb moment in your head and have you
feeling creative about trying something
new perhaps. In fact, some of the
suggestions don’t even require you to go
outdoors. Why not try learning a new skill
in Lightroom or Photoshop? We have a set
of ongoing guides on the subject of image
processing too, so stay with us.
 Take Your Best Shot The Handy Gear Guide
6 Another collection of great images to get you 30 Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III
fired up and eager to create your own 31 Canon EOS 2000D (Rebel T7)
32 Nissin Di700A
8 33 Nodal Ninja NN6
34 Bowens XMT500 and XMS

30
Some images to get you fired up about your photography

Knowledge Base
16 The origins of photography
18 The development of photography
20 How to see in black and white

20

A quick dip into some fascinating photography history 34

Photography Tips and Ideas

26
22 Some great hints and tips on how you can
improve as photographer

24

take yourself beyond the basics and find your own individual style

4
 CONTENTS

Learning a New Skill Creative Projects

38 Black and white photography 52 Shooting into the light
40 The power of mono 62 Great DIY photography hacks
42 Shallow depth of field portraits 70 Automotive rig photography
43 Cropping and converting to mono
52
38

Shooting into the light - the creative possibilities are endless

Editing Photos on the Go

Try something that you’ve never attempted before
82 Keeping it simple

Technical Quick-Start 84 Lightroom workflow example

86 The healing brush tool
46 Light it up with flash
88 Syncing Lightroom
47 Bounce flash and diffuser flash
48 Using external flash 84 96
49 Flash accessories

48 See your shots in a whole new light!

Elements: Get Started

92 The Elements home screen
94 The quick mode workspace
96 The Elements experience

5
Canon EOS 70D
EF50mm f/1.4 USM
50.0mm · ƒ/2.8 · 1/200s · ISO 250

TAKE YOUR
BEST SHOT
Grab your camera and get out and capture something cool

W
e’ve mentioned it before, but getting inspired
can sometimes be a struggle. When you first
start out as a photographer, everything is
new, full of possibilities and it’s all wonderful. Then
there are times where the next stage of photography,
namely being able to master it, has you scratching
your head and staring at your camera and wondering
why you can’t get the shot you want. Those moments
can feel like you’re going backwards, but if you
persevere, you will break through and find yourself
a better photographer because of it. Never stop
learning. Never stop looking at what others are
doing and always admit to yourself when a shot
is wrong. Break down the reasons as to why it is
wrong and then seek to do it again in a way that
works. There’s no magic to it, but it does take
some willpower. The other thing (and we tend to
say it a lot) is to keep it fun. When it’s a chore, it’s
never going to keep its appeal. With that in mind,
hear is some eye-candy to get you inspired. Q

6
TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT

7
Camera Nikon Z6
NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S
200.0mm · ƒ/2.8 · 1/1000s · ISO 100

8
 Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
EF70-200mm f/4L USM
154.0mm · ƒ/5.6 · 1/200s · ISO 2500

9
Nikon D750
16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0
16.0mm · ƒ/10.0 · 6s · ISO 50

Steady as you go
For those shots where longer exposures are not
only required, but sought after, you will need a
tripod. We’ve always maintained that after the
camera and lens, a tripod is the next must-have
item if you are serious about your photography.
No amount of photoshop work can save a picture
ruined by camera shake. For exposure times
measured in seconds and more, a camera
mounted securely to a sturdy tripod will eliminate
any movement and keep your long exposure shots
tack-sharp and shake-free.

10
 INSPIRATIONAL IMAGES

Nikon D7200
18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
18.0mm · ƒ/13.0 · 5s · ISO 100

11
 A matter of scale
There is no substitute for good composition
in your photography. Even simply adhering
to the rule of thirds can elevate your images
beyond simple snaps. There is another thing
that can make your images more interesting
to the viewer and that is providing scale. The
example on this page is a well-balanced and
beautifully exposed image with lots of great
light. As you look around, taking in the details,
you may suddenly see the figures sitting on
the wall. Suddenly, the image has an extra
dimension as you have now got a sense of
scale and depth. The image on the right would
b fine as an architectural capture, but without
the figures, it would not have any sense of
dimension. So, it pays to think about scale
when you are next out on a shoot.

Nikon D610
28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
28.0mm · ƒ/22.0 · 1/10s · ISO 100

12
 INSPIRATIONAL IMAGES

Nikon D90
18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
58.0mm · ƒ/6.3 · 1/640s · ISO 400

13
KNOWLEDGE
BASE
How about brushing up on some essential photography knowledge
R_U _UZ_X`fe^`cVRS`feeYZdWRdTZ_ReZ_XY`SSj0
P
hotography has been around for
a very long time. From its earliest,
most widely regarded inception in
the 1800s, photography has captured the
world around us and also captured the
hearts of so many devotees. These days it
can be easy to forget its historic past and
overlook many of the fundamental skills
16 The origins of photography
18 The development of photography
20 How to see in black and white
14
and accrued knowledge that make
image capture through lens to sensor
the art form it is today. Lets redress the
balance a little and devote a few pages
to some history and some knowledge
that can only serve to make you, the
photographer, a more rounded and
experienced person for it. Q
“These days it can be easy
to forget its historic past
and overlook many of the
fundamental skills and accrued
knowledge that make image
capture through lens to sensor
the art form it is today.”
KNOWLEDGE BASE

15
The origins of
photography
A small history lesson about how it all came about
Y
ou cannot talk about photography
without talking a little about the history
of photography itself. The two are
inextricably linked because all we had to begin
with, at the dawn of the medium, was black and
white. It goes without saying that the equipment
and techniques we have today are a far cry
from those early days when the pioneers of
photography were experimenting with how
to collect light, light-sensitive materials and
equipment to capture and focus the image.
The story of black and white photography,
although cited as beginning sometime in the
1800s, actually goes back much further in history
to the days of Aristotle around 384-322 BC.
Aristotle understood the principle of the camera
obscura (dark chamber), although at the time
there was no known method to ‘fix’ an image cast
by the camera, and so create a permanent record.
From the earliest principles that brought the
world the camera obscura, and the observable
phenomena that certain substances were
visibly altered by exposure to light, the course
of photographic endeavour has been well
documented and we owe those early pioneers a
debt of thanks for bringing us our beloved world of
photography.
The first recorded attempt to unite light
16
captured on light-sensitive material is
Thomas Wedgwood circa 1800. Although
it appears the attempt to capture light
via a camera obscura on treated white
leather or paper was unsuccessful, it paved
the way for Nicéphore Niépce in the mid
1820s. His attempt was very crude and the
exposure took several days. His associate
at the time was one Louis Daguerre,
who went on to create what is generally
held to be the first publicly announced
system, the daguerreotype. Unlike the
many days required by Niépce’s process,
a daguerreotype could be exposed in
minutes, with much greater clarity in the
final image on metal-based materials.
Henry Fox Talbot was soon to compete
with Daguerre’s system through his own
paper-based calotype negative and salt
print process.
As the development of the processes
continued and further innovations were
made, camera exposures were reduced
from days to hours, then to minutes,
seconds, and eventually fractions of
seconds. Black and white media became
A French manufactured
more and more accessible to the public, Susse Frères Daguerreotype
and the rest is history. Q camera, circa 1839.
 THE ORIGINS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

“You cannot talk about

photography without talking
a little about the history of
photography itself.”

17
The development
of photography
A brief guide to how photographic technology
transformed over the ages
F
rom its distant origins and development
through the 1800s, right up to todays’
most modern digital cameras and
software, the black and white image has left
an indelible legacy. It seems nothing can
diminish the power and allure of the black and
white image. Indeed, it can be noted that some
of the greatest and most iconic images ever
captured, were done through the medium of
black and white.
From a projected image appearing within a
darkened room or box, to the daguerreotype, to
gelatin-silver prints, to modern day advanced
digital imaging, this whole technology needed
a name. The term ‘photography’ is said to have
been proposed by the scientist and noted
astronomer Sir John Herschel. The word is
derived from ‘photos’, meaning light, and
‘graphe’ meaning drawing. Hence ‘drawing with
light’ was born.
At first, photography was regarded as a
technological curiosity. A plaything for the lucky
few. However, it very quickly became clear that
photography was a unique method of capturing a
moment of reality, removing it from the scene in
which it was taken, and preserving it, much in the
same way as an engraving or painting. A new form
18
“It seems nothing can
diminish the power and
allure of the black and
of communication was upon us.
In its earliest days, photography was limited by
the processes and extremely long exposure times
required to record static objects. Portrait sittings
were a form of torture where the subject was
seated and their head was clamped in order to
make sure they did not move during the exposure.
As the quality and speed of light-sensitive
materials progressed, and exposure times were
reduced to fractions of seconds, a popular form
of photography emerged where subjects were
captured in mid-air, jumping over a puddle, or
down some steps.
In 1847, a new design of bellows camera by
Sergei Levitsky made significant strides in
improving the methods by which an image could
be focused. It is generally held that his innovations
had a major impact on camera design, a legacy
that can still be seen today in the design of certain
cameras. Levitsky is also notable for being
forward-thinking in terms of retouching negatives
and even using interchangeable decorative
backgrounds in his shoots. He is even thought to
have been the one who proposed the idea of using
artificial lights to illuminate his subjects. Improved
and refined over the years since its inception,
photography saw a sea-change in its history
white image.”
around 1884 when George Eastman developed
the dry-gel on paper and film systems, effectively
rendering the photographic plate redundant. No
longer did you need to carry around large, bulky
equipment and boxes of photographic plates and
harsh chemicals. When it hit the market in 1888,
George Eastman’s Kodak camera was advertised
with the slogan ‘you press the button, we do the
rest’. Mass-market appeal was soon to follow with
their next development. The new camera was
called the ‘Brownie’ after a popular cartoon of the
time and went on sale in 1900 for $1. The mass-
market camera had been born with 150,000 sales
in its first year. The public had a relatively easy and
inexpensive way to experience photography for
themselves. In 1901 the ‘Brownie 2’ went on sale.
It produced larger photos and cost $2.
The continuing development of camera
technology meant that, suddenly, many people
were taking up the new art form and turning it into
a business. Cameras were now also recording
the realities of real-life world events. From the
early days of photography, where camera crews
recorded images from the American Civil War
and the Crimea, to shots of Al Capone and the
Hindenburg disaster, the camera was literally ‘life
through a lens’. Q
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHOTOGRAPHY

The Brownie Flash III. A later development

of the original Brownie design, which took 2
1/4 x 3 1/4 inch exposures on type 620 film
with a close-up filter.

An example of an old bellows camera

based on the work of photographic
pioneer Sergei Levitsky.

19
How to see in
black and white
Begin to train yourself to ‘see’ in black and white
Y
ou would imagine that the starting point
would be to grab your camera, set its
functions to black and white mode and
start shooting. Many photographers always
shoot in colour, in order to maintain as much
tonal variation in the Raw image as possible;
it just gives you more data to play with when it
comes to the conversion process. A key word
in the last sentence was ‘Raw’. Always shoot in
Raw format. You want to record as much scene
data as you can without your camera trying to
process the image for you. Although it might
sound odd, you need to develop the ability to
‘see’ in black and white. A great visual aid is to
shoot Raw, as we’ve said, but also to set your
camera’s picture style to black and white. It
displays a black and white image on your LCD
screen, but all the colour data is still there.
In its most basic form, a photo in black and
white is made up of several components.
Texture is a key ingredient; black and white loves
20
texture. Harsh midday sun knocks
everything flat, but the light glancing
across a scene at sunrise or sunset
makes texture pop out of the image.
Tonal contrast is another important “Shape defines how
consideration. A flat image with very little
contrast will not necessarily convert into a an object looks in
great black and white shot without some serious
post-processing; although in some cases, low its simplest form,
contrast images can be very visually appealing if
done well. as an outline or
Shape defines how an object looks in its
simplest form, as an outline or silhouette only.
silhouette only.”
Images based on shape alone can be graphically
intense. Form shows how something has depth
and dimension. How an object is lit and casts
shadows within its environment is the key to
showing its form. you through the rich, creative
So, we have introduced you to some of the core techniques that will enable you
concepts of black and white. Now, let’s explore to explore and enjoy the world of
it in more detail. The following pages will guide black and white. Q
HOW TO SEE IN BLACK AND WHITE

The shots shown here

are not dependent on
the inclusion of colour.
The shapes, forms and
textures are the key
visual stimulants that
draw the eye.

21
PHOTOGRAPHY
TIPS & IDEAS
Some tips that can help you improve as a photographer

P
rofessional photographers use some very simple tricks and rules-of-thumb that
have been developed over many years and even include rules of composition
that are inspired by classical art. That may sound a little off-putting but don’t
worry, we’ve got a few tips that once you’ve tried them out, will help you develop as a
photographer. There are more hints and tips than we have room to cover, but we’ve
got a few that should prove useful. Even if you focus on just a few favourites, they can
form the foundation of your very own photographic style that can stand you in good
stead for years to come. Q

22
 PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS AND IDEAS

“Have you been taking photos for

a while and wondered why they
still look like simple snaps and not
professional level images?”

23

City at night
The crisp, clean air of spring can often lead to
very clear nights. Take your favourite camera,
lens and tripod and go out and shoot some
night time urban scenes. If you are looking at
capturing a city skyline, you can actually shoot
after sunset whilst there is still some light in the
sky. This is known as the blue hour and cities
look amazing shot against the deep blue of
approaching darkness.
Long exposures
Another idea for a crisp, clear night is to shoot
a long exposure image that captures the
movement of the stars. You will be working in
the bulb exposure range from 30 seconds up
to tens of minutes. A robust tripod is essential
for theses ‘bulb’ shots. The shutter will be
open for a long time and you don’t want your
camera moving part way through and ruining
the shot. A programmable cable release is
also a great purchase so you don’t have to sit
there for ten minutes with your finger on the
shutter release button.
24
Morning dew
A clear and cold night can make for a lovely
dew-covered morning. Make a point of
capturing flowers and leaves covered in dew by
using a macro lens to get in very close to your
subject and reveal their beautiful and delicate
patterns. The light of the morning sun, low on
the horizon, can be used to illuminate your
subjects, casting shadows and causing bright
specular highlights on the reflective surfaces
and smattering of dew drops.
Shooting in fog
Learn how to control the underexposure issues
faced when shooting very bright fog-covered
scenes. Your camera’s metering system can
be confused by overly bright scenes and will
try to average the scene as 18 per cent grey,
or middle grey as it is known. By doing so, it
will underexpose your shot by as much as
1 or 2 stops. Use your camera’s exposure
compensation feature and set it to overexpose
by 1 stop or more to return the foggy scene to a
better, brighter exposure. You can check your
histogram too to confirm it isn’t too dark.
Get composed
If you and a group of friends are out walking in
the woods and three of you are shooting away
with your cameras, there is every chance your
photos may all look quite similar. You need to
set yourself apart from the crowd by thinking
about making some bold compositional
choices that the others might not have
considered. Be brave and don’t worry about
making mistakes when it comes to your
shots. Not every photo you take is meant
to set the world on fire with its staggering
compositional strength. The shots that don’t
work should be there as a learning tool for
getting it right next time.
Time to graduate
If your skies are full of pale grey clouds,
or it is just much brighter than the
ground, try using a graduated neutral
density (ND) filter to bring some detail
back into the sky. Cokin manufacture
many filters for landscape work and
the ND filter is probably one of the
most useful. A 2-stop ND filter for
instance, is dark at the top of the filter
and gradually fades to clear towards
the middle. When placed in front of your
camera lens, the top half of the image
is darkened by 2-stops and its effect is
reduced to zero in the middle.
 PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS AND PROJECTS

Dramatic conditions Spring cleaning

During the year, there are always likely to be Why not spend some time removing
periods with high winds. There are often some unwanted photos from your hard drive and
dramatic photo opportunities to be had down back them up to a portable USB drive. You’d
by the sea. Why not get down there at high tide be amazed at how much space you can
and check out the wave action? High tides and recover on your computer by pruning out
windy conditions can create some epic crashing all the unwanted shots you’ve accumulated
waves. Whether they are crashing over a sea over time. We recently totalled up how much
wall or smashing into rocks and cliffs, they are space was being taken up on our hard drive
a sight to behold. It goes without saying, but we with photographs. It came to over 500GB.
will say it, always keep yourself safe. No shot is We reckon that over 80 per cent of the shots
worth getting washed out to sea for. weren’t being used and that would save an
enormous amount of space. Moreover, we did
a grand total of everything currently backed
up and it came in at over six terabytes!

Photoshop mastery Be safe

If you use Photoshop, Elements or Gimp etc., If you are thinking of trekking out into the great
learn one new technique each month that outdoors, bear in mind that you need to plan
the pros use for improving a photograph, and your day, wear the appropriate hiking gear and
master it. As an example, Photoshop’s use of make sure someone knows where you are going.
adjustment layers is critical in eking out every Keep your phone with you and maybe even a
last pixel of detail from a landscape photo. It GPS tracker. Dressing in layers is important but
is also a non-destructive method whereby remember it’s better to be too hot than freezing
you do not alter the base image, so you can cold. Make sure you have all the gear you need.
always go back to the original if you need to. It would be pretty grim to arrive at an amazing
Photoshop cannot make a badly composed, location only to find you’ve left your memory
blurry image better or save you from bad cards behind, or your favourite wide-angle lens.
technique but it can enhance a good shot and
make it a ‘wow’ shot if done well.

Still life Go mono

Take the time to photograph still life objects
indoors. You can start with something as basic
as a sheet of white or coloured paper and a
single lamp as your light source. Grab an object,
it can be a bowl of fruit (we won’t tell anyone, we
promise!) or bunch of flowers, and spend time
learning how the different positions of a single
light affect the look of your still life and the
shadows it creates. Then you can use pieces of
white card as reflectors and bounce light back
into the scene to fill in any dark shadows.
Stark landscapes and amazing weather
conditions are ideal materials for black
and white conversion. Indeed, many
photographers like to shoot black and white
images on dull days as a lot more detail can be
revealed in the image when converted to mono.
There are plenty of mono conversion methods
you can learn to do in Photoshop. YouTube has
countless tutorials that can aid you. We would
recommend a third party app called Silver Efex
Pro, which is part of the Google Nik collection.
It is now completely free and many pros swear
by it for their mono conversions.

25
 Buy a tripod
The quickest way to improve your photography
is to invest in a decent tripod. For the best
combination of strength, rigidity and portability,
the ideal choice is carbon fibre. Carbon fibre
tripods start at around £120 ($175, €165)
and can cost ten times more, so if that’s too
expensive get a good quality aluminium one.
Features to look for include a ratcheted centre
column, portrait-format tilt and all-metal
construction. Avoid ones with plastic heads, as
they are seldom rigid enough to prevent camera
shake on long exposures.
Choose the right camera
When you’re looking to buy a new camera
for your photography, make a list of your
requirements and set yourself a budget.
Don’t forget to allow for accessories such as
lenses, a tripod and cleaning kit if you need
them. Don’t fall in to the trap of thinking that
a more expensive camera will make you a
better photographer. You’re much more likely
to improve your technique by overcoming the
limitations of cheaper kit than by spending
more money than you need to.
26
Early bird
Shooting a landscape in bright midday sun is
fine but if you really want your shots to shine,
you’ll need to get up early and catch the light
available just before the sun rises, and as it climbs
above the horizon. The shadows are long, giving
definition to objects and the light has that special
golden ethereal quality. The same is true at the
opposite end of the day, at sunset. The period
of time around sunrise and sunset is called the
golden hour. Simply switching the time you take
photos can have a dramatic improvement on
your shots.
Choose the right lens
If you’re buying a compact system camera or
DSLR, it will probably come with a standard
telephoto lens that is ideal for general
photography and snapshots but there is a wide
variety of special lenses available for other types
of photography. If you like to shoot landscapes,
get a good wide-zoom lens but avoid super-wide
lenses as these will distort the image. If you want
to shoot wildlife, you’ll need a high quality fast
telephoto but this will be expensive.
 PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS AND PROJECTS

Visual interest Pick a prime The holy trinity

The rule of thirds is a simple guide that can
help the composition of your shots and make
them much more visually appealing. When
framing a shot, you have to imagine that what
you can see through the viewfinder of your
camera is divided into thirds both vertically
and horizontally with lines, just like a noughts
and crosses game (or tic-tac-toe if you are
in the US). Placing your main subject on an
intersection where these lines meet is a simple
and quick way to improve composition.
Fast glass is much prized in the world of
portraiture. Fast glass has very large apertures,
letting in more light and offering faster shutter
speeds in low-light conditions. A good portrait
lens that has a maximum aperture of f/2.8 -
f/1.2 is fantastic at creating the background blur
so sought after by photographers. The quality
of defocused light this blurring produces is
referred to as bokeh. The ability to shoot at f/1.2,
for instance, means you can shoot more natural
light portraits, without the reliance on strobes.
ISO, aperture and shutter speed are the three
pillars of exposure. The main idea is that
altering one of these three settings has an
impact on exposure and therefore how your
image looks. One or both of the other settings
will have to be altered to maintain a balanced
exposure. As you develop as a photographer,
you will realise that once you are in control,
you can create images that look more as you
want, rather than what the camera thinks is
right when in full auto mode.

Use the histogram

A histogram is a graphic representation of
the tonal values in your shot and how they are
distributed. If the graph is bunched at the far
left, then your shot is very underexposed and
you risk the loss of a lot of detail to shadow
areas. If it is sliding off the right-hand side,
then it will be overexposed and detail will be
Depth cueing lost in the highlight areas. A good exposure
A photograph only has two dimensions and any will have all the major tones in the middle of
indication of depth in a photograph is purely the histogram.
optical. One of the simplest ways to add depth
is to use leading lines like the curve of sand
on a beach image or railway lines converging
towards the horizon. Another method is
atmospheric perspective where mist and fog
shroud distant objects making them lighter and
with less tonal contrast compared to darker
foreground objects.

Stop the shakes

Camera shake is the unwanted
movement of the camera taking
the shot and of the subject of the
shot. Modern cameras offer image
stabilisation and it can work well up to
a point but the lower the light, the more
the likelihood is that your shots will
be blurry as you need longer shutter
speeds to gather enough light for a
balanced exposure. If you buy one thing
to go with your new camera, make it
a tripod. Use a robust tripod and your
images will be rock steady in all manner
of challenging shooting situations.

27
THE HANDY
GEAR GUIDE
Check out another selection of great gear for your kit bag

D
o you need a new camera? Are
you upgrading from smartphone
photography and want a first step
into DSLR photography? Do you already
have a DSLR with interchangeable lenses
and want a great piece of glass for wide
angle landscape work? If the answer is
yes to any of these questions then take
a look at the following pages for some
insight into a few great bits of gear that
would be a great upgrade on existing kit.
When it comes to digital photography
and lenses, you can’t go far wrong with
Canon. If you already have a decent setup
but are looking to enhance your lighting,
then we also have a high-end studio setup
and a simple strobe for your daily image
capture. For something a little more left
field, we also have something for extreme
panoramic captures. Q

22 Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III

23 Canon EOS 2000D (Rebel T7)
24 Nissin Di700A
25 Nodal Ninja NN6
26 Bowens XMT500 and XMS

28
 THE HANDY GEAR GUIDE

“Do you already have a DSLR with

interchangeable lenses and want a
great piece of glass for wide angle
landscape work?”

29
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III
The latest incarnation of Canon’s iconic super-wide lens

Specification at a glance
I
f you are serious and truly love your
landscape photography then it stands to
Construction 16 Elements in 11 Groups
reason that among your arsenal, there will
be a wide-angle lens somewhere. A wide-angle Special coatings SWC and Air Sphere
lens is generally one that sits somewhere in the Weather sealing Full
12mm-24mm focal length range. If you are a
Diaphragm blades 9 (Rounded diaphragm)
Canon shooter then you have a few choices for
wide-angle lenses in this range. For some time, Max aperture F2.8
one of the most coveted of these was the EF Min aperture F22
16-24mm f/2.8L. It was a versatile bit of glass, Min focusing distance 28cm / 10.6in
with great sharpness, albeit with some issues
Filter size (mm) 82mm
concerning corner sharpness and chromatic
aberration at wider apertures. Canon Image stabilisation No
brought out the Mark II version of the lens Dimensions 111.6 × 88.5mm
which was a popular lens for many landscape Weight 635g
photographers. More recently Canon updated
Mounts Canon EF
the Mark II to the Mark III version.
The Mark III scores with some great Price £1999/$2199/€2300
improvements to overall sharpness, particularly
at 16mm and at f/2.8. It has been observed
that diffraction, the softening of an image due
to narrow apertures, starts to be noticeable
at around f/5.6. Chromatic aberration is
tamed in the Mark III and barrel distortion is
marginally improved over the Mark II. That said,
your favourite image processing software will
eliminate it without too much fuss. Overall, the
Mark III offers some great image quality and
performance hikes over its predecessors. As is
the way of all things photographic, great lenses
with great image quality come with a downside,
which is the price tag. You are going to have to
part with £2000 ($2200). There are cheaper
alternatives out there such as the EF
17-40mm f/4L at around £600 but
if you are a dedicated landscape
photographer looking for a
great performing lens, the EF
16-35mm f/2.8L III should be
at the top of your list. Q

30
 CANON EF 16-35MM / CANON EOS 2000D

Canon EOS 2000D (Rebel T7)

7`cj`fc cdedeVadZ_e`5D=CaY`e`XcRaYj

Specification at a glance
T
he Canon EOS 2000D is an entry-
level model designed for those
Effective pixels 24.12
looking to take their first steps into
the world of DSLR photography. It replaces Image processor DIGIC 4+
the EOS 1300D to become one of Canon’s ISO 100-6400
more affordable APS-C DSLR models. The
Max ISO 12,800
2000D keeps many features in common
with its outgoing forebear but has been AF points 9
given a megapixel upgrade. That said, at Viewfinder Optical
this price point, you’re not going to get too Video Full HD 30p
many exciting high tech features over and
Screen 3” 920k LCD
above that. This is basic DSLR fare, albeit at
pocket friendly prices. As mentioned, the Connectivity Wi-Fi/NFC
main difference between the 2000D and the Continuous shooting Up to 3fps
1300D is the pixel count. It goes from 18MP Battery life 500 shots
on the 1300D to a more respectable 24.1MP
Weight 475g
on the 2000D, offering larger print sizes and
a bit more latitude when it comes to cropping Dimensions 129 x 77 x 101
your images. Although not the cutting edge in Price (body only) £325/$499/€369
sensor technology, this 24.1MP APS-C CMOS
sensor can also be found in Canon’s more
advanced 750D.
When it comes to processor power, the most
up to date Canon cameras are using DIGIC 8
chips but the 2000D is using the older DIGIC 4+.
Not a surprise then to see older tech being used
to keep costs down but then the older chipset
in this camera can still handle basic shooting
requirements without any loss of performance.
What is more notable, at least for its absence,
is this camera’s lack of 4K video. With more
and more cameras offering this as standard,
it is likely to suffer at the hands of similarly
priced devices that do have it. The 2000D
has to make do with Full HD video. The
camera’s ISO range is a reasonable 100
to an expanded 12,800 and employs a
9-point autofocus system. It also uses
an optical viewfinder, rather than an
electronic one, which would have an
impact on battery life.
The 2000D is a simple enough
camera to use and that 24.1MP
sensor is a fair upgrade on the 18MP
of its predecessor. It has built-in Wi-Fi
too although no Bluetooth is present.
Image quality is fair if you give it some
good lighting conditions to work with
but its rather below par screen is
not touch sensitive and is unable to
articulate. If the megapixel count is
not too important to you, you might
consider getting the 1300D, which is
going to be quite a lot cheaper. Q

31
Nissin Di700A
2a`hVcWf]R_UWf]]WVRefcVU RdY
Specification at a glance
N
ot so long ago, if you wanted to shoot off
camera flash with any of the recognised brand
Guide number 177’ at ISO 100 and 200mm
manufacturers such as Nikon and Canon, you
were going to have to hand over a large amount of your Output 1/1 to 1/256
hard earned money for the privilege. If you were to Zoom range 24-200mm
seek out a cheaper third party solution, chances were
Wide panel 16mm
good that they were much cheaper for a reason. Third
party flashes and triggering systems were notorious Flash mode Manual and TTL metering
not only for being cheap but for being utter rubbish. Flash duration 1/800s - 1/30000s
They were likely to break after a few uses or worse still, Recycle time 0.1s up to 4s
not work out of the box. Thankfully, a few third party
Compensation -2 EV to +2 EV
manufacturers have emerged that have broken the
mould by creating products that are not only cheaper Bounce head -7° to +90°
than their big name counterparts, but are actually good Swivel head 360°
too. Nissin is one such company that has risen to the top Battery life Up to 190 flashes
with some great products.
Wireless 2.4Ghz RF
In recent times, they have turned their attention to
flashguns and wireless triggering systems. The Nissin Size 55 x 140 x 115mm
Di700A flashgun has a wireless receiver built into the Weight 380g without batteries
unit, which removes the need to team it with an additional
Price £176/$259/€179
receiver device. All you need is to get an Air 1 Commander
unit and you can control multiple Di700A units wirelessly.
You also have the benefit of TTL metering, which is
normally reserved for much more expensive systems. The
unit emits a small pre-flash which is used to determine the
correct power output of the flash before the shot is taken.
Although not as powerful as Nikon and Canon equivalent
units, the Di700A is a robust and inexpensive flash unit to
tempt currently available light shooters into the realm of
off-camera flash creative photography. Q

32
 NISSIN DI700A / NODAL NINJA NN6

Nodal Ninja NN6

See the big picture with panoramic hardware

I
f you are serious about shooting ultra-wide panoramas or even
360° pans for VR immersion, trying to shoot hand-held, or even
with a standard tripod, is not going to yield very good results. If
you shoot in this way, your images will suffer from parallax shifting.
Parallax shift is the difference in position of objects in a scene
relative to each other depending on how they are viewed. This
shifting is not helpful when stitching multiple images together and
can cause severe misalignment, ruining the image.
This is where panoramic hardware such as the Nodal Ninja comes in.
It gets its name from the term ‘nodal point’ which is the point around
which your camera must rotate in order to eliminate parallax shifting.
It is usually right near the front of the main glass element on the front
of your camera’s lens. The latest version of the range is the NN6. It has
been developed by Fanotec, who have been manufacturing panoramic
hardware for more than 10 years.
The NN6 is made from robust machined parts that are strong enough
to support a DSLR and telephoto lens. Using the NN6 you can accurately
level out your camera so your shots are perfectly aligned. The rails to
which you attach the camera allow the required adjustments, so you
can position your lens at the nodal point for optimum image capture.
You can also adjust the number of clicks per revolution the base rotator
requires to make a full 360° or partial rotation. The NN6 is also going
to be compatible with a motorised rotator due to be announced by
Fanotec, to transform it into a completely automatic pan and tilt head. Q

Specification at a glance
Level Amateur - Pro
Lenses 8mm - 200m+
Cameras DSLRs
Use General, landscape,
Panoramas, Gigapixel
Weight 920g
Lower rail 200mm
Upper rail 190mm
Detent options 90° (4 stops) - 5° (72 stops)
Price £443/$359/€509

33
Bowens XMT500 and XMS
Limitless lighting potential

B
owen is a renowned manufacturer of lighting equipment
for photographers and they are a byword for quality and
innovation. Bowen are cited as creating the first electronic
studio flash unit with its own built in power source, rather than
relying on a separate power pack from which all lights in use were
connected. These self-contained units were known as monoblocs
(or monolites) and have since become an industry standard
lighting method, used by studio photographers everywhere. Bowen
have now released their XMT portable location lighting system and
their XMS studio lighting system. Both systems give you the power
to light your scenes with amazing creative freedom. Q

XMT500
The XMT500 is a lithium-ion powered unit that is perfect for
photographers who need to be mobile but demand the very best when
it comes to their lighting needs. The battery pack can be swapped out
and lets you take up to 500 shots at full power on a single charge. The
XMT offers high speed sync, which means you can shoot with shutter
speeds up to 1/8000 of a second and they are compatible with Nikon,
Canon and Sony cameras. The flash also offers full adjustment from
1/1 power down to 1/256 power, allowing you to work in the brightest
conditions as well as the darkest.

Specification at a glance
Max Power(ws) 500
Battery Lithium-ion
Power range 9-stops
Recycle time 0.01s - 2s
Power adjustments 1/3-stop
Width 126mm
Length 368mm
Height 144mm
Weight 3.4Kg

34
 BOWENS XMT500 AND XMS

XMS500
The fully digital studio variant of the XMT, the XMS range offers the very
best for studio-based photography. Being fully digital means there is
complete consistency of colour temperature and flash output, meaning
there is less time spent trying to accurately colour grade your images at
the post-process stage. For even greater flexibility and control, you can
pair the XMS system with a dedicated 2.4GHz wireless system, allowing
you to alter all flash settings from the photographer’s position, rather
than having to alter each light’s settings manually. With a max power
rating of 500ws, you have enough light for most shooting scenarios.
If however, you need more power, then the XMS comes in 750ws and
1000ws versions too.

Specification at a glance
Max Power(ws) 500
Flash duration 1/2480 - 1/4000
Recycle time 0.2s - 1s
Power range 7-stops
Multi voltage Yes
Fan cooled Yes
Width 136mm
Length 485mm
Height 192mm
Weight 3.7Kg

If you need more

lighting power, then
the top of the range
XMS1000 has all the
power you need.

35
LEARNING A
NEW SKILL
We have some thoughts on new areas of photography you can try

W
e would always advocate the notion that you should
not be afraid to step outside your comfort zone
and try something new. This applies to all things in
general, and photography is no exception. Speaking from
personal experience, a career as a commercial photographer
can pay the bills, but you may find you’re shooting the
same things day in and day out. In one case: it was a career
spent shooting properties. This did not make for a happy
photographer who needed to find a new outlet that didn’t
revolve around shooting new build housing projects. Bearing
that in mind, we thought we’d talk about a couple of diverting
ideas you could try. Q

38 Black and white photography

40 The power of mono “We would always advocate the
42 Shallow depth of field portraits notion that you should not be afraid
to step outside your comfort zone
43 Cropping and converting to mono
and try something new.”

36
LEARNING A NEW SKILL

37
 “Whichever way
you look at it, colour
distracts you from the
heart of what should
make a great photo...”
Black and white
photography
See the world in black and white as we
introduce you to this timeless medium
A t the dawn of photography as we know it,
when everything was fresh and new, your
only choice back then was to shoot in black
and white. Exposing images onto glass or
metal plates gave way to the film and chemical
process. It wasn’t until 1936 that Kodak gave
the world colour photography. However, black
and white didn’t die off like the black and white
TV, in fact it flourished.
Whichever way you look at it, colour distracts
you from the heart of what should make a
great photo. Things like texture, composition,
form, lighting and good old storytelling can be
swamped and made inconsequential by colour.
It’s not to say colour is an invalid medium. Black
and white photography can be seen as your
interpretation of what is real, whereas colour
can feel more like a record of reality That may
all sound a bit mystical, but in essence, many
photographers would argue that black and white
is probably the purest form of photography.
We could fill an entire book on its own with
the intricacies of the black and white art, but
there are some simple tips that can help you
on your way to discovering why black and white
photography is such a prized, creative, medium.
You would imagine that the starting point
would be to grab your camera, set its functions
to black and white mode and start shooting.
Many photographers always shoot in colour, just
so you maintain as much tonal variation in your
Raw image as possible. It just gives you more
38
BEFORE
data to play with when it comes to the conversion
process. A key word in the last sentence was
‘Raw’. Always shoot in Raw format. You want to
only. Images based on shape alone can be
graphically intense. Form in a shot, shows how
something has depth and dimension. How
record as much scene data as you can without an object is lit and casts shadows within its
your camera trying to process the image for you. environment is the key to showing its form.
Although it might sound odd, you need to As mentioned before, we could go on, but
develop the ability to ‘see’ in black and white. A hopefully, this is a useful introduction to the
great visual aid is to shoot Raw, as we’ve said, but black and white world. Q
also set your camera’s picture style to black and
white. It displays a black and image on your LCD
screen, but all the colour data is still there.
In its most basic form, a photo in
black and white is made up of
several components. Texture
is a key ingredient, black and
white loves texture. Harsh
midday sun knocks everything
flat, but the light glancing
across a scene at sunrise or
sunset makes texture ‘pop’ out
of the image.
Tonal contrast is another
important consideration. A flat
image with very little contrast
will not necessarily convert into a
great black and white shot without
some serious post-processing,
although in some cases, low
contrast images can be very visually
BEFORE
appealing if done well.
Shape defines how an object looks in its
simplest form, as an outline or silhouette
 BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY

AFTER

This male portrait was shot with a 24-105mm f/4 lens. It was shot in colour and in Raw
format, but was converted to black and white using a basic mono conversion technique. It
was sharpened and some contrast added to boost the texture of the model’s skin.

This image was shot with a 50mm f/1.8 lens with a wide aperture to make sure the background
wasn’t a distraction. This black and white conversion was done with heavy contrast. No
sharpening was applied to keep the skin soft and grain added for a 60’s retro feel.

AFTER

39
The power of mono
Both images seen here are great examples
of how black and white photographs can
express themselves in the absence of colour.
They rely solely on composition, the use of
light, form and texture.

40
BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY

41
Shallow depth S hallow depth of field portraits, when
done well, are stunning to look at. The
main focus of the subject is sharp, but
everything else falls away into a lovely

of field portraits
Shooting with large apertures can
soft background that has no annoying
distractions. When shooting a portrait
with the idea of using a very shallow
depth of field, there are a couple of things
you need to bear in mind to make sure
you acheive the desired end result.
The correct lens for the job is your first

make for some very striking portraits
consideration. You will need to use a lens
that has a maximum aperture anywhere in
the range of f/2.8 up to f/1.2. Fixed focal
length prime lenses are much prized for
portrait work as they are generally the

42
 SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD PORTRAITS

The Canon EF50mm f/1.4 lens. A very

affordable prime lens that takes surprisingly
crisp images and has the benefit of that very
wide maximum aperture.

“It is generally held that a lens

with a focal distance somewhere
in the region of 50mm to 135mm is
considered a good ‘portrait’ lens.”

ones that offer the much wider apertures
and excellent image quality. It is these large
apertures that deliver the soft effect you are
after. Also, it is generally held that a lens with
a focal distance somewhere in the region of
50mm to 135mm is considered a good ‘portrait’
lens. This is chiefly because lenses with shorter
focal lengths, around the 16mm to 35mm
range, have a tendency to distort facial features
in a very unflattering way (imagine how you
look when you see your reflection in the back of
a spoon).
The immediate temptation may be to open
your lens up to its maximum aperture and snap
away. In most cases that is fine, as long as you
are keeping the eyes of your subject in focus.
The downside is the possibility that the eyes
may be the only thing in focus on your portrait.
Also, if your subject is not completely square on
to you as you take the shot, only one eye may be
in focus. Now, if that is your intent, no problem.
However, if you need more of the face and head
in focus you need to reduce your aperture size
to something in the order of f/2.8 - f/5.6. Take
care to remember your background. If you still
want it as out of focus as posssible, f/5.6 may
be too small an aperture and your background
too sharp.
At this point you could move yourself and
your subject further away from any background
distractions, or you could even open up your
aperture again but stand further away from
your subject. Distance also affects depth of
field so it becomes a bit of a balancing act to
determine exactly the best mix of camera and
lens settings, composition subject placement
and background.
A good rule of thumb is always take time to
stop and review your shots on your camera’s
LCD screen. Zoom in close to the pertinent parts
of the image to see if you are capturing the
image you want.
With a little time and practice, you’ll be
shooting like the pros. Q

TOP TIP!
Never undere
stimate the
power of crop
ping your
The portrait on the left was taken using portraits. A sh
ot can be
a 50mm prime lens with a max aperture transformed
if yo
of f/1.4. The shots were taken with the tight to make u crop in
the
aperture at its maximum of f/1.4 using a more personal image
. Also,
flash with a beauty dish attached, which converting to
bl
was placed directly above the camera white and incr ack and
easing the
pointing down at about a 30° angle. The contrast adds
drama, as we
depth of field is very narrow, as you’ll have done with
see by the fact the tip of the nose and the
the image
shown opposi
ears are blurred, but the focus is kept te.
on the eyes.

43
TECHNICAL
QUICK-START
D`^VbfZT\ cVXfZUVd`_Y`he`cVR]]jS``dej`fcaY`e`XcRaYj

T
wo photographers are shooting a scene. Let’s say
it’s a wedding and the bride and groom want some
photos taken together. One photographer is a
professional and the other is John, the bride’s father, with
his latest purchase of a very expensive DSLR. Under the
same daylight with similar camera and lenses, the shots
may well look the same. How do you make your shots
different to those taken by John? In our experience, one
of the best ways to do that, is to employ supplemental
lighting. Your camera may well have a built-in flash, but is
that enough to really make your photos stand out? Q

46 Light it up with flash

47 Bounce flash and diffuser flash
48 Using external flash
49 Flash accessories

“In our experience, one of the best ways to do

that, is to employ supplemental lighting. Your
camera may well have a built-in flash, but is that
enough to really make your photos stand out?”

44
TECHNICAL QUICK-START

45
 !
TOP TIPrmation
e info
For mor ut flash
abo to
aphy, go
photogr gspot.com.
blo
strobist. great website
This is a d to passing
dedicate d tips about
an
on hints era lighting.
off- ca m

“You can normally

adjust the flash by
2 stops in either
direction in order to
fine tune the power
output.”

Light it up
with flash Flash exposure compensation (FEC) allows you to
increase or decrease the power output of your flash. Most
D`^VbfZT\eZad`_fdZ_Xj`fcTR^VcR|d RdY cameras allow 2 stops of adjustment in both directions.

I
t is a fair bet that your camera has a pop
up flash. This is a small flash unit that sits
on the top of your camera and, if you are
using it in automatic mode, you may have
encountered situations where it has suddenly
popped up as you were about to take a photo.
This tiny flash draws its power from your
camera’s battery and as such it has limited
power and range so as not to totally drain your
battery. A pop up flash usually has a range
of about .5m up to 5m. Anything further out
and you will not be able to light your subject
properly as you won’t have the range or power.
Full disclosure
Let’s be honest at the outset and say that the pop
up flash should be used as a last resort only. That
tiny light source will give your photos a harsh look
with sharp, dark shadows cast directly behind
them. They often tend to overexpose the subject
too and give them bleached out faces and although
there are systems that can reduce it, you run the
risk of getting red-eye in your subjects since the
flash is normally directly at eye level. Small light
sources create hard edged shadows and there’s
not much you can do to offset this.
Compensate
Since your camera may not always choose
the most optimal power for the flash, you have
the option to either increase or decrease the
power output yourself, in order to get a better
exposed shot. It is referred to as flash exposure
compensation (FEC) and it lets you reduce the
power if it is overexposing the shot or increasing it
if the shot is too dark. You can usually find the FEC
button on the camera, it is a small button with a
lightning bolt icon next to a +/- symbol. If not, you
can find it in your camera’s menu system under
flash control. You can normally adjust the flash by
2 stops in either direction in order to fine tune the
power output.
Fill flash
One area where the pop up flash can be quite useful
is during daylight hours oddly enough. If you have
a subject who is either backlit by strong light or has
dark shadows on their face, you can use the pop
up flash to add a fill light that reduces the depth of
those shadows and gives a much better exposure.
You can use the FEC setting to dial up the flash
The pop up flash is not the greatest lighting instrument
you will ever encounter. Its tiny flash unit produces
a harsh light with hard shadows that are somewhat
unflattering, but there are some tips that can help.

46

Some flash basics for better lighting
Bounce flash
Small light source
1 2
from pop up flash.
Light bounces off
card and onto ceiling.
1. Bounce flash, as the name implies, is a method used to
divert the light coming from the flash head upwards onto
a ceiling using a piece of white card; as it bounces off the
card and onto the ceiling, the patch of illumination becomes
larger. A larger light source creates softer shadows and
you will need more power since the light has to travel much
further than before.
2. Diffused flash uses a piece of translucent material in
front of the flash head. The larger the material, the better,
since you are trying to make the tiny pop up flash unit’s light
source larger by illuminating the diffuser, which in turn
illuminates your subject. You will need more power as some
of the light output will be blocked by the diffuser material.
3. Fill flash requires a deft touch in order not to overdo it. If
you are photographing a back lit or shadowed subject, you
need to use camera settings that deliver a normal exposure
for the background, with enough power from the flash to
eliminate dark shadows from your subject.
power if needed or reduce its power so it is affecting
just the shadows and not bleaching your subject’s
face out.
What about those shadows?
A lot of photographers have quite an aversion to
the pop up flash. They would much prefer to use an
external flash mounted to the hot-shoe attachment
of the camera. An external flash has the ability to
rotate and angle its flash head, so you can achieve
different effects that are not possible with the pop
up since it is fixed in one position on the camera.
With an external flash you can bounce the light off
a wall or ceiling to increase the size of the light that
hits your subject. A larger light source creates more
diffused light that in turn gives you softer, less harsh
shadows. The downside is that external flashes can
be expensive and you may not be ready to step up to
external lighting systems yet.
Diffused flash
Small light source
from pop up flash.
The light spreads
out creating a
larger apparent
light source.
Fill flash before
Some options
Despite your pop up flash being in a fixed position,
you can try a couple of techniques to alter the path
of the light. As an example, if you are shooting a
portrait indoors, take a sheet of white card or paper
and hold it in front of the flash at an angle so the light
from the unit is deflected upwards and bounces off
the ceiling. Since the light has had to travel further it
is now much weaker, so you will need to dial in more
FEC power to correctly light your subject. You will
need to experiment with flash power and the angle
of the card in order to fine tune the technique. This
is by no means a perfect solution but it is definitely
worth a go.
A diffuser
Yet another option for using softer direct flash is to
use a diffuser. Diffusing material is usually a semi
transparent white fabric, through which light can
LIGHT IT UP WITH FLASH
Light illuminates
diffuser giving a larger
lighting footprint.
Fill flash after
3
pass. In so doing, the light is scattered and softens
the light of the flash. The size of the material also
creates a larger source of light which helps take the
edge of the harsh shadows you’re used to. Just like
the bounce flash option, the power of the output is
diminished by passing through the material, so you
will need to use FEC again to add extra power to the
flash. Remember that you will need to be working at
close range to your subject to make the most of the
small amount of power at your disposal.
Use it well
The pop up flash does get a bit of a bad rap and it
is not an ideal solution for better photos. However,
with a little bit of experimentation and some cheap
materials, you can at least improve the output
you get from it a little. It’s not the same as using
dedicated off-camera flash units and big diffusers
and soft boxes, but it is a place to start. Q
47
Using external flash
Some useful info about getting more creative with your lighting
W
hile almost all digital cameras
have some sort of flashgun built in,
these are usually relatively weak
with a useful range of only a few metres.
The more advanced cameras, including all
DSLRs, most CSCs and several advanced
compacts and super-zooms, have the ability
to use an external accessory flashgun to
provide more illumination over a much
greater distance.
These cameras have a bracket known as
a ‘hot shoe’ (see image above), into which
the flashgun slots and includes electrical
connections that allow the camera to trigger
48
the flash. Most camera manufacturers make
flashguns designed for use with their own
cameras, which have more connections to allow
the camera’s light metering system to control the
output of the flash. These systems are known as
‘dedicated’ flash.
Flashguns
While older and cheaper flashguns are fairly
simple, providing a controllable flash of light
regulated by a basic photocell light meter, more
sophisticated and expensive dedicated guns can
produce effects such as strobe lighting, red-eye
reduction and multiple exposures. They usually

Hammerhead flashes are side-
mounted units and are not attached
to the hot shoe. The side-mounting
means the flash output is far
enough off axis to eliminate red-
eye in your subjects.
“More advanced cameras have the ability to
use an external accessory flashgun to provide
more illumination over a greater distance.”
have heads that can be twisted, or tilted, to bounce
light off walls or ceilings and they may also have
built-in diffusers and reflectors to produce softer
light for portraits. They also tend to have much
greater range and faster recharge times than
cheaper models.
Flash accessories
External flashguns are extremely versatile. They
can be operated remotely from the camera
by using an extension cable or a wireless flash
trigger. Some more advanced DSLR cameras and
dedicated flashguns have wireless remote control
built-in. There are flash accessories, such as
stands, tripod brackets and brollies, available that
will turn a couple of external flashguns into a basic
studio lighting system.
Flashgun power
The power of a flashgun is usually expressed as
a guide number (GN), which is calculated from
the gun’s range at 100 ISO, the higher the guide
USING EXTERNAL FLASH
You can make a simple home
studio flash by combining a
flashgun, a tripod and a few
cheap accessories.
number, the longer the range. Things to look out
for when buying a flashgun are features such as: a
bounce-and-tilt head, variable power and wireless
control. Don’t forget to check that any dedicated
functions are compatible with your camera.
Flash manufacturers
There are a number of third-party flash
manufacturers, such as Nissin and Yongnuo,
which make a wide variety of external flashes
to suit all budgets and requirements. The
older side-mounted flashguns, used by many
press photographers, are usually the powerful
‘hammerhead’ units. Third-party flashes often
have optional modules that will provide metering
dedication for various makes of camera.
flash tubes and reflectors mounted around
Ring flash the camera lens, providing shadow-free, even
A ring flash is a specialised type of flashgun illumination especially at close range. There
intended for close-up and medical photography, are similar devices, which place two normal
but which has also become quite popular for flashguns either side of the lens to produce
fashion photography. It uses an arrangement of much the same effect. Q
49
CREATIVE
PROJECTS
Fire up the camera and try some photo
projects to really expand your skill base

T
rying to take your photography to the
next level does not have to be a chore.
You can approach it at your own pace
and find out what works for you and what
doesn’t. The key is to dive in and get started.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Just enjoy
the fact that you’re learning a new skill or
perhaps ramping an existing skill up a few
notches. Next, we cover some ideas such
as shooting into the light and how you can
make that work in creative ways, as well
as some beautifully simple photo hacks to
achieve great results on a budget. Q

52 Shooting into the light

55 Control ghosting “The key is to dive in and get
62 Greaqt DIY photography hacks started. Don’t be afraid to make
mistakes. Just enjoy the fact
65 Quick and easy lightbox
that you’re learning a new skill
70 Automotive rig photography or perhaps ramping an existing
skill up a few notches.”

50
CREATIVE PROJECTS

51
 “Yes, you should never
‘look’ directly into the sun
or very bright sources of
illumination of course, but
why should you not let your
camera do it for you?”

Shooting into
the light
An introduction to the contre-jour technique

I
f you’ve ever been given any photography
advice and had some pearls of wisdom
passed down to you, chances are that
one of the main ones would have been that
you should not shoot into your scene’s main
light source or the sun. This advice goes on
to say that you should always have the sun at
your back or at least over one shoulder. While
this is one aspect of working with light that
works well enough for a variety of situations,
it doesn’t always have to be the case. Yes, you
should never ‘look’ directly into the sun or
very bright sources of illumination of course,
but why should you not let your camera do
it for you? Conventional wisdom states that
you should not shoot into the sun as you are
only going to end up with badly overexposed
photos or conversely, subjects in such dark
shadow as to make them unidentifiable.
Then there is the issue of lens flare. Lens
flare occurs when a very bright light source,
much brighter than the rest of your scene,
hits the front element of your camera’s
lens. The light causes internal reflections
amongst all the lens elements, producing
ghosting, haze, lack of contrast and orbs.
Think again
Although many would consider lens flare
and ghosting unacceptable in their photos,
there may be times when it becomes a
useful and creative addition to your shots.
The trick comes down to when you should
allow lens flare to be present in your shot
and when to eliminate it completely.
We’re going to explore a couple of ideas
and hopefully give you some pointers to
become more confident about shooting
into the light and when lens flare is your
friend, and your enemy.

52
SHOOTING INTO THE LIGHT

53
 Whilst the sun is below the horizon,
the light is softer, with less contrast.
If you need to, you can always use an
ND grad to balance out the difference
in brightness between the foreground
and the sky.

The sun is still below the horizon

Even when the sun appears there

should be no real issues; you can keep
shooting into the light for a while.
However, as the sun climbs, it will
increase in intensity and then you will
start to encounter flare and ghosting.

The sun is a few degrees above the horizon

Landscapes and light
The greatest argument for eliminating lens
flare from your shots becomes apparent when
shooting landscape images. Landscapes are all
about detail and composition. Nasty ghosting
and flare is not considered a good addition to
your shot. Straight away, you are going to hit
something of a roadblock because adhering to
the old rule and having the sun behind you can
be great for a lot of shots, but to really bring out
texture and character, you’ve got to try your hand
at contre-jour photography. Contre-jour basically
means ‘against the daylight’. This means putting
the sun, or the main source of light in the scene,
prominently within your shot. Now you need to
be aware of the sun, general light levels, lens flare
etc. and how to control its impact on your shot
as well as all the other factors such as metering,
focus and composition. Capturing a landscape at
dawn is a good example of how the character of
the light changes as the sun finally appears above
the horizon, and the problems it starts to cause in
your shots when it is glaring right down the barrel
of your lens.
Pre-dawn and sunrise
While the sun is below the horizon, everything
is rosy. Be aware that this is still contre-jour
photography since you are still shooting towards
your main source of light. The lighting is more
even and lower in contrast, and although the
sky is generally going to be brighter than your
foreground, a graduated neutral density filter
can even out the exposure difference between
ground and sky. You can happily snap away
and capture great contre-jour images. When
the sun’s disc does finally appear, you still have
no real issues. On a typical sunny morning,
while the sun is on the horizon, there is an awful
lot of earth’s atmosphere between you and
it. Any moisture and dust in the air will soften
and diffuse the sun’s light. Often, it will appear
as a red disk and have very little impact on the
landscape or your camera and lens. The reprieve
lasts only until the sun clears the horizon, then

54

it will gradually increase in intensity and make
its presence felt on the land. Now you will start
to encounter ghosting issues as the sun’s
brightness increases.
Control ghosting
The best you can hope for is that the impact
of the ghosting is minimal and it would be
something you could remove with a small
amount of cloning in Photoshop. If the ghosting
is much more pronounced then you need to
take control of it by trying a few techniques.
The first one is probably the simplest. Alter the
sun’s position in the composition by moving
your camera a little to the left or right, or up
and down, keep your eye to the viewfinder and
rotate the camera slowly. You may be pleasantly
surprised to see the ghosting reduce to the point
its impact is negligible on your shot as the path
taken by the light bouncing around in your lens
elements alters because of the change in angle.
Focal length
Another method to help subdue ghosting comes
down to the choice of focal length you are using.
This is a key factor because the longer the focal
length you use, the greater the impact the sun
will have in the shot. The more you zoom in,
increasing the focal length, the larger and more
impactful the sun becomes relative to the rest
SHOOTING INTO THE LIGHT
The use of short focal lengths found in
wide-angle or fisheye lenses places the
sun very small in the frame. With a clean
lens ghosting will be at a minimum and
exposure will be easier to control than if it
were dominating the shot.
of the composition. Conversely, if you use a
short focal length to get a much wider angle of
view, the sun will now occupy a much smaller
area in the overall composition and its impact is
reduced considerably.
Another alternative is to place the sun at the
very edge of your composition or actually just
out of frame. This is a great way to create warm,
dreamy lighting. Although the sun is not directly
in the shot, its brightness creates intense halos
that light up that area of the composition. It’s
a very popular technique used for portraits
and wedding photography. Since the sun is not
dominating the shot, exposures are easier to
control using this method.
55
 When it comes to shooting portraits, a lens like
the EF70-200mm f/2.8 is perfect. There is no
barrel distortion like you would find in wider
angle lenses; and the maximum aperture of
f/2.8 means you can drop the background out of
focus to remove any distractions.

56
 SHOOTING INTO THE LIGHT

Portraits in the sun

This shot of Ursula was taken on a lovely sunny evening about 2 hours
before sunset whilst the sun was still a way off the horizon. We used a
Canon 5DMK3 and the excellent EF70-200mm f/2.8 lens to capture
some simple backlit portraits. Because Ursula has blonde hair,
we were able to arrange the composition so that the light was
illuminating her hair to make it glow and add to the dreamy quality
of the photos. Although the sun’s disk is not present in the shots,
its presence is felt due to the strong rim light and the soft halo
effect it creates by just being out of shot. A bonus of not having the
sun in the shot is that you won’t have to dial in so much exposure
compensation to get a balanced exposure. The most we had to
use was +1 stop whilst shooting in a heavily shaded area where
the sun was filtering through the leaves. However, most of the
shots were taken with no compensation. You will most likely find
that shooting into the sun in this manner results in some
images that are a bit lower in contrast but you have the
option at the processing stage to add some contrast
if you feel the images needed it.

57
Cover it up
A simple technique that can reduce the sun’s
impact and the resulting ghosting is to frame your
shots in such a way as to put an object in its way.
This can be as simple as moving your camera,
altering the composition, and putting the branch
of a tree in the path of the sun for example. You
could also partially obscure it with a building, rock,
or even a person. If you use a small aperture such
as f/16, you can turn the point light of the sun into
a starburst. Using wider apertures will soften the
startburst, making it look more like a very bright
glowing spot instead.

Notice the difference in the sun between the shot above

and the one below. The first one was taken with an
aperture of f/4 and the sun just looks like an intense soft
glow. The shot below was taken with an aperture of f/22.
Now the sun looks like a starburst and adds a little more
To keep the glare of the sun under
interest to the sky.
control, there is a technique often used
to place the sun’s disc behind an object
in the shot; this reduces its impact from
an exposure point of view, whilst still
making a very dramatic image.

58

When all else fails
If the previous tips haven’t been successful, and
you have nothing in the composition to obscure
the sun, then there is a neat little trick you can try
that can work well. It takes the idea of obscuring
the sun with an object one step further and puts
it in your own hands - literally. Set up your shot,
frame it and set your focus to manual and lock
it to a point about a third of the way into your
scene to quickly maximise the amount of depth
of field in your shot. Use manual settings and
get the exposure dialled in to suit your taste.
Then you need to place a small object in front
of your camera’s lens that blocks the sun. You
could actually just use your fingertip and move
it into the frame and place it over the sun’s disk.
SHOOTING INTO THE LIGHT
Helping hands
Rather than using your finger, you can make it a
bit more user friendly by purchasing a helping
hand or magic arm. It is essentially a hinged
metal arm with a hot shoe attachment at one
end and a clamp at the other. You can attach it to
the camera’s hot shoe mount and place your sun
blocker in the jaws of the clamp. The sun blocker
itself can be nothing more complicated than a
small cardboard disk glued to a length of wire.
You can use the arm and blocker and angle it so
the blocker covers the sun, take the shot and then
just swivel it out of the way. This arrangement is
great when doing HDR sequences of 3 or more
shots. You can put your blocker in place, shoot
one sequence, then move the blocker out of the
way and shoot the second sequence.
You can process the two HDR
images as you normally
would, then combine
them in Photoshop as
mentioned previously.
You’ll need to be looking through your viewfinder
so you can accurately place your finger. Bring it
in from the top of frame and position it over the
sun, you should see any flare and ghosting in the
image vanish. Take a couple of reference shots
then remove your finger and take another shot
without it. You now have your main image with the
sun intact but with ghosting, and you also have
your ‘blocked’ image with no ghosting that you
can use to remove any unwanted glare from the
first one using the two images layered together in
Photoshop and a little bit of masking. This method
saves on having to try and clone out unwanted
ghosting artefacts from a single image in an image
editing program and is a much more efficient way
of doing things.
59
 1 2

Here are a few examples of how alterations to your exposure impact upon scenes with
the sun present in the shot. Image 1 used exposure lock to get a balanced reading of the
brightest area of the shot. The sun and leaves around it are reasonably well exposed but
the foreground is quite underexposed, almost to the point of being a silhouette. Image 2
probably represents the best average exposure but some might feel the foreground is
still too dark. Image 3 uses a slower shutter to begin to overexpose the brightest areas,
but now the foreground tree and foliage look correct. Some might take things further in
image 4, blowing out detail in the highlights to make the sun feel even more intense than
it actually was.

3 4

60
 SHOOTING INTO THE LIGHT

Metering your scene

Metering can be a tricky business when shooting
into the light. In a leafy wood, for instance, you
might be better off metering the scene with the
sun out of the frame. You can simply angle the
camera off to one side until the sun is not seen
and use manual settings to arrive at a balanced
exposure, then recompose with the sun back
in the composition and shoot. If the sun is at
least partially blocked, you can usually get an
average meter reading of the scene without
having to recompose the shot and dial in exposure
compensation if needed or fine tune your
aperture or shutter speed settings. If you want
the foreground to be a darker silhouette, then you
would need to meter the light source itself or use
much faster shutter speeds. To turn the sun into
a sharp starburst effect, remember to use very
narrow apertures of f/16 or more. Just be aware
that the narrower the aperture, the more likely you
are to encounter diffraction, which is a softening of
the image due to the phenomenon of light passing
through a very narrow opening. You’ll no doubt
find that metering will require a little trial and error,
but remember above all else, do not look directly
into the sun.

See the light

Contre-Jour is a great technique to use for
creating drama and breathing new life into your
landscapes. It doesn’t require any specialist
cameras or lenses, although we would always
recommend a good tripod as an essential
accessory to use when shooting landscapes. All
you need is to practice your metering skills and
because you are shooting into bright lights and
sun, develop an eye for flair, and of course, flare. Q

61
Great DIY
photography hacks
Creating amazing photos doesn’t have to be mega-expensive

A
nyone who has ever stepped up
from using their cameraphone
as their primary photo capture
device to a DSLR, will no doubt be aware
that it can be an expensive hobby. If you
find yourself wanting to add new lenses
and accessories to your current setup,
you’ll discover that the acquisition of new
gear for different effects, filtering and
lighting is not cheap. Higher-end gear,
such as full-frame cameras and mirrorless
full-frame cameras, is the cutting edge
in image capture; however the prices
they command are wallet emptying
and poverty inducing. That’s
before you even get to the lenses
or any accessories! Then you
have additional equipment
such as flashguns that can
be expensive, particularly
if you want to get into
creative, multiple light,
flash photography, plus
the other add-ons such as
light modifiers and filters,
all of which can command
high prices themselves if
purchased from reputable
brand leading manufacturers.

62
GREAT DIY PHOTOGRAPHY HACKS

63
 Yes, you can buy cheaper alternatives and
dare we call them ‘knock-offs’? The Internet
and online stores are awash with very cheap
equipment and accessories for all the major
brands of cameras and model variations. Some
third-party manufacturers such as Yongnuo
and Neewer have risen through the ranks and
made a name for themselves by producing
fairly reliable, cheap alternatives to major brand
manufactured equipment and accessories; be
aware, though, it is possible that what you pay for
is what you’ll get. A small softbox, shoot-through
umbrella, or collapsible reflector is not likely to
undergo catastrophic failure after one use and
is a reasonably safe purchase. More complex
electronic equipment such as flashes and wireless
64
trigger systems are the items that are more likely
to suffer if quality control is not rigorous.
If we could offer a modicum of advice, it would
be to get the best camera you can afford and one
or two good quality lenses that cover the bulk of
your shooting requirements. Bad or cheap lenses
may offer the temptation of saving money, but if, as
a result, the image quality suffers, you’ll never be
satisfied with any shot you take. If you are looking
to make some creative leaps into new areas, it is in
the arena of accessories where you can probably
save some money without compromising too much
in the process. Beyond that, there are a few tips
that will let you create some lovely looking images
at a fraction of the cost, or even for free! So, let’s
not max out the credit card just yet. Put it away and
look at a few ways that you can be creative with your
camera, shoot some cool images and save some
cash in the process.
 GREAT DIY PHOTOGRAPHY HACKS

Quick and easy lightbox

When we say this one is easy, we mean it. There
may be times when you want to shoot a still life
subject that has an entirely white background with
no shadows falling on it. This is where a lightbox
comes in handy. Photographer’s lightboxes are
usually large sheets of white translucent Perspex
through which light can pass. It is encased in a box
structure with a number of LED lights below it that
shine up through the Perspex and illuminate it. A
decent-sized A2 lightbox can set you back at least
£70, but you can emulate a lightbox for the cost of
an A2 sheet of paper and some sticky tape.
All you need to do is tape your sheet of white
paper or greaseproof paper to a window that has
plenty of light slanting through and then place
your subject in front of the sheet. Keep a good
200mm between the paper sheet and the subject
matter. Set up your camera in front of it on a
tripod and get the composition sorted, then set
the focus to manual and get your subject nice and
sharp. You can use the live view function on your
camera if you have it. Start with an aperture of f/9
and ISO 100 and then see what shutter speed the
camera requires. Since you are shooting a bright Lightbox 2.0
white background, you may find that your camera Other items you have in your home can also
averages the scene incorrectly and underexposes be pressed into service to act as impromptu
the image. Use exposure compensation and dial in lightboxes. A smart TV that allows you to display
anything from +1 to +2 stops of compensation until photos can work. A jpeg of a completely white
you have a nice bright image. If you need some image, when displayed on your TV, can instantly
fill light on your subject, you can always employ become a backlight. Just place your subject in
another sheet of white paper to bounce some light front of the TV and away you go. A computer
back onto the subject, or perhaps use a desk lamp screen is just as good an alternative, as is a large
to light the subject. tablet or laptop. Of course, you also have the
benefit of being able to display more than just a
plain white image. Any image that you care to use
can be turned into an illuminated backdrop for
your subject. The various sizes of each device will
determine what size objects you can shoot, but for
small still life items, it’s a neat little trick. Again, if
you need to add any extra light to illuminate your
subject, a small desk lamp shone through thin
paper can be used. Even a reasonably bright torch
can be used in a pinch.
Depending on the apertures you are using, you
may find that you are picking up moiré patterns
off the pixels on the screen. Keep your subject as
far from the screen as you can and use a shallower
depth of field such as F/3.5, or better still F/2.8, to
try to eliminate those annoying patterns.

65
Plastic cup macro
Shooting a macro image hand-held can be a
challenge. You are focusing on an object where,
due to the very shallow depth of field with which
you are dealing, the slightest movement of either
the camera or the subject can throw it out of
focus. There is also the issue of camera shake
and lighting. Enter the plastic cup! This novel
little hack can make the process of shooting
macro that much easier. You will need a plastic
cup of course and scissors or a craft knife. The
ever-useful duct tape will be required as well as
your camera and the macro lens you are using.
Firstly though, we need a little information. The
macro lens you are using will have a minimum
focusing distance. In our case, we have a Canon
EF100m f/2.8 macro lens, which has a minimum
close focusing distance of about 150mm. A
standard plastic cup is too small, but you can get
a plastic cup capable of holding a pint that is tall
enough for a lens of this focal length. Otherwise,
you may have to stack cups to give you the extra
distance from your subject or possibly use a
plastic milk bottle to give you a larger volume
with which to work.
The idea is to cut out the bottom of your plastic
cup, tape it to the front of your macro lens and
then attach it to your camera. You now have a tiny
light tent attached to your lens/camera. You can
place the cup over your subject, focus and shoot. If
you’re outdoors, the cup acts as a little windbreak
to stop your subject (a flower, for instance) from
being blown about by the wind. If you’re shooting
in bright sunshine, the white translucent cup also
acts as a diffuser to soften any harsh shadows. If
you set the lip of the cup on the ground, or another
surface, you also have a way of stabilising the
Before using the plastic milk bottle cover. Milk bottle cover in place. Shadows are softened
camera while you take the shot.

Custom bokeh shapes shape from the centre of the disc. A heart, a star, a
Bokeh refers to the lovely points of out of focus snowflake, whatever suits your needs. The shape
light you see in shots taken with very shallow you cut can be about 25mm wide. The disc can
depth of field. If you focus on a foreground then be taped to the cylinder, which is placed over
subject, using a large aperture of f/2.8 on your lens. Alternatively, if you have an old UV filter,
your lens, and then place a string of you can use a disk of black card with a shape cut
Christmas lights some distance out of its centre and tape the disk to the filter.
behind it this will result in the Use a large aperture on your lens for shallow
points of light being out of depth of field and focus on a close foreground
focus and blurred; they with your background lights a distance away.
become large, diffused When you take the shot, those out of focus orbs
orbs. The effect is quite of light should now take on the shape of whatever
lovely, but it doesn’t is currently cut out of the disc taped to the front
end there. With a little of your camera. You can experiment with a range
ingenuity, you can turn of shapes and try each of them on the front of
those orbs of light into your lens.
specific shapes.
You can make a black
paper cylinder that wraps
snugly around the end of
your lens and tape it together,
so it is secure. The cylinder only
needs to be about 30mm-50mm deep.
You can then set it on another sheet of paper,
trace around the circumference of that tube and
cut out a disc that covers one end of the cylinder.
Use a sharp craft knife or scalpel to cut a custom

66

Flash diffusers
Using flash is a great way of creatively
adding additional light to your shots to
shape and highlight form that might not
be seen with the ambient light that is
available. The only problem is that even
the best flashguns from Canon, Nikon and
the like only have a small light source which
causes hard shadows. Softer shadows need a
large light source. You can purchase any number
of light modifiers that can be attached to the front
of your flashguns flash tube to make its footprint
larger and therefore give you softer shadows.
However, here is a cheeky hack that can give
you surprisingly good results and it begins
with a plastic sandwich container.
The sandwich box needs to be the
translucent variety, so it helps to diffuse
the light better. You can also use the
kind of translucent plastic containers
you get from your local takeaway
restaurant. You’ll need to trace the
outline of your flash tube along one side
Example of a bare bulb flash and hard shadows.
GREAT DIY PHOTOGRAPHY HACKS
of the box and use a craft knife to cut out
an aperture that the flashgun can slide
into snugly and secure it with a little
duct tape. Pop the lid off the container
and line the bottom of it with silver foil.
The idea here is that you want to reflect
as much light forward as possible and
not lose too much out of the back and
possibly the top as well. The flashgun then
slides into that aperture and, when it fires,
it illuminates the container and the silver foil
turning it into a small softbox. Because the
container is considerably larger in size than the
flash tube, shadows will be softer as a result.
You will, of course, lose some of your flash’s
output power since it is being diffused
and spread out, but an extra bit of flash
exposure compensation should make up
for the shortfall. It may not look pretty, but
it works. By the way, you can even make
a miniature version out of a translucent
35mm film canister that can sit atop your
camera’s pop-up flash.
With the diffuser in place, shadows are much softer.
67
Roasting pan beauty dish
This one is a variant on the flash diffuser hack and
does require one purchased photographic item,
as it avoids a lot of do-it-yourself assembling. The
item you need is called an omni-bounce diffuser.
This is a small plastic dome that fits snugly over
the flash tube of your Canon Speedlite, Nikon
Speedlight or various other units. It turns your
flash into a bare bulb effect light source. Luckily,
you can pick up an omni-bounce to fit your
particular flash for less than £4.99. The other
item you’ll need is a silver tin foil roasting pan.
These come in various sizes, but we are looking
at the kind of size that would be used for roasting
something like a turkey with reasonably high sides.
Trace the outline of the omni-bounce in the centre
of the pan. Slide the pan onto the omni-bounce
and secure it with some duct tape. You’ll then
need to cover the top surface of the omni-bounce
with foil to stop light escaping out of the top of the
dome. You want the light to be emitted from the
sides into the foil dish and then thrown forward.
The entire assembly can be attached to the flash.
This is another one that does not look pretty, but
you’ll be surprised how effective it can be. As an
alternative, instead of the silver foil pan, you can
try the very cheap white disposable plastic bowls
used at parties.

The baking tray beauty dish worked

surprisingly well. It did prove to be
a little flimsy, so working in windy
conditions might compromise it.

68
 GREAT DIY PHOTOGRAPHY HACKS

DIY snoot insert the bundle into the end of the snoot for a
In photography, a snoot is a tube designed to fit highly controlled beam of light. You can now shoot Homemade reflector
over a studio flash, or portable flashgun, to modify intimate portraits or even use the snoot on your A quick one to end with that is ideal for small
the light beam. In this case, the snoot controls the flash as a hair light. item product photography that you might
radius of the beam that is emitted and makes it want to display on certain online stores.
more directional as a result. If you were shooting This time, we’ll be showing you how to
a portrait in a darkened room and took one shot make a small silver reflector. It couldn’t be
without it and then one with the snoot in place, simpler. Take a piece of cardboard that is
you would see a marked difference between the cut to whatever size suits the area in which
two. The first shot would have a floodlit feel, while you’re shooting. Grab a roll of tinfoil from
the snoot would create more of a spotlight and the kitchen and simply tape foil to one side,
pick out a smaller area with the rest of the scene so it is covered. You can set up a tiny studio
falling into shadow. Crafting a homemade snoot by a window to use as backlighting (you can
is quite a simple task. If you happen to have an use the white paper taped to the window
empty tube of potato chips around, you can use hack for more of a lightbox effect). Then all
that. Alternatively, a cardboard tube designed to you need to do is angle your foil-covered
go through the mail is a good option, particularly if cardboard so light is bounced off it and back
it has plastic end caps. onto your product. Easy.
Cut the base of the tube out (the metal bases
can be removed with a tin opener) and use some
duct tape around the aperture to avoid sharp
edges. Some more duct tape can secure that end
of the tube to your flash head if required giving
you an instant snoot to focus the light into a
tighter beam. Great, but you can also make what
is called a grid to focus the light even more. A grid
is essentially a honeycomb disc that attaches
to the far end of the snoot. Making one for your
improvised snoot is quite easy. For a very small
sum, you can purchase a box of black plastic
drinking straws. Pack the straws into the end of
the tube, get them all flat and then use a wide piece
of adhesive tape to bind them all together tightly.
You can use scissors or a bread knife to cut the
bundle of straws down to a more manageable
height (say, 50mm-75mm high). You can then

Example of basic snoot arrangement.

The snoot can also be used as an effective hair light. With the grid in place. The spot light is much tighter.

What is so great about these hacks, apart

from being cheap, is that if you find any
indispensable and used regularly, you might
decide to purchase the actual gear your hack
is based on as it will doubtless be more reliable
or just better engineered. Or, you can just keep
hacking and save yourself the cash.

69
Automotive rig
photography
Photograph your car like the pros
H
ave you ever seen all those glossy
brochures and magazine adverts produced
by car manufacturers? There’s always
a very cool shot of their car taken from a low
angle, appearing to be traveling at a 100 miles an
hour. The car’s wheels are a blur of motion and
everything around it is streaking by, portraying an
amazing sense of speed. You might look at those
images and wonder just how it was done. Was it
just some incredible panning shot as the car sped
by? Was it taken from another chase vehicle, with
the photographer in the back snapping away as
both cars speed along a deserted road? Did the
photographer have to use settings that catch
the car in sharp enough detail, but with shutter
70
speeds slow enough to render the moving road
and background a complete blur? Although those
techniques are used to varying degrees, there
is one particular kind of shot that really looks
incredible. The high end automotive industry
has many trade secrets when it comes to the
photography of their products and there are
companies that charge huge amounts of money to
capture the latest models of cars in exciting ways;
but this is one kind of image you can produce
yourself and get professional looking results. It
is called car rig photography and we’ll outline the
process for you. It requires a couple of key pieces
of equipment but luckily it won’t put a huge dent in
your wallet.
 AUTOMOTIVE RIG PHOTOGRAPHY

“...this is one kind of image you

can produce yourself and get
professional looking results. It is
called car rig photography and
we’ll outline the process for you.”

71
 2
The view from the camera will look something like the
illustration above. The boom arm will be in the shot of
course but a little help from Photoshop will remove
it in no time.
72
1
The rig concept
Let’s reveal the magic of the car rig straight away.
The concept is fairly simple. You have a section of
pipe, or a photographic boom arm [1], that will act
as the main support. You will also need a couple of
suction cups [2] that are mounted to the surface
of the car and provides the boom arm with a stable
base to which it can be clamped. Your camera is
then suspended from a magic arm [3] beneath
the end of the boom that is furthest from the car,
and positioned to get the framing you require.
The position of the boom, the magic arm and the
camera is quite important but we will cover that in
more detail shortly. When suction cupped to the
car, the boom’s function is to hold your camera a
short distance away from the vehicle to allow you
to photograph it while it’s on the move. Before you
The automotive rig is a deceptively
simple idea. At its heart, it is just
a camera on a pole placed far
enough away from the car to get
all, or part of it, in the frame. The
camera is set for a 1-2 second
exposure and the car only has
to move a very short distance at
walking pace to produce an effect
3 that makes it look like it is moving
at high speed.
ask, there is no high speed risk to your camera
involved in this technique whatsoever. In fact you’ll
be pleasantly surprised. More on that later.
The parts list
The rig we have created uses some simple but
effective equipment. The suction cups we used
are quad suction pads that are capable of lifting
120kg in weight. The pad is placed on a smooth flat
surface and each cup has a lever that when clicked
into place, draws up the cup, pulling a vacuum that
holds it to the surface it is on. When each lever is
clicked in place, it can easily hold the weight of a
large person. The suction cups and the surface to
which it is attached need to be scrupulously clean
to make sure of a good seal. The quad suction
pad is a good idea, as in effect it gives you some

redundancy if any cup loses suction. These pads
are only about £10 each, so a very cost-effective
mounting system. The boom arm can be a length
of galvanised metal pipe from your local hardware
store about 25mm - 38mm in diameter and up to
2m long. Alternatively, you can get a telescoping
photo studio boom arm that is designed to hold
a studio light. They range in size and price but
you can get a 1.5m boom arm starting at around
£18. Some enterprising types have even used the
larger ends of carbon fibre fishing rods, albeit to
which much smaller cameras are attached. Next
you’ll need a magic arm. A magic arm is a metal
articulating arm that can be locked in position, one
end has a heavy duty clamp for gripping another
object or surface and the other has a hot shoe
adapter and a tripod mount screw attachment
8
to which your camera can be mounted. A
professional magic arm can be purchased for
about £14 and is very useful even when not being
used in a car rig. A couple of extra strong clamps
for extra security make up the parts needed to
assemble your basic rig.
AUTOMOTIVE RIG PHOTOGRAPHY
The suction pads required to secure the rig to the car
come in various configurations. You can get single pads,
or for more security; you can also get four [4] or two [5]
pad models. The magic arm [6] is the articulating metal
arm that allows your camera to suspend from beneath
the metal tubing [7] or boom arm [8]. Although the metal
tubing is likely to be heavier, it will also be more rigid.
You can secure the tubing to the suction pad handles
using a couple of two-way heavy duty clamps [9]. All
these items are surprisingly cheap to buy, but strong
enough to do the job.
73
Camera equipment
For shots of this nature where the camera is
suspended from a boom, the smaller and lighter
your camera the better. To be able to confidently
support a large, heavy DSLR and lens, the boom
arm would need to be very sturdy indeed, and
sturdy equals heavy. Smaller mirrorless cameras
like an Olympus OM-D E-M10 would work well. Small
DSLRs such as a Canon 550D or Nikon D5500
would also do the job. Better still, if you are the
owner of an advanced compact camera like the EOS
M series or an action camera, like the new GoPro
Hero 5 Black, then you have a very small, very light,
camera that can also shoot in 12MP Raw format
and with a very wide angle of view, that means you
don’t have to site your camera too far away from the
vehicle in order to get it all in the frame.
Lenses
The lens you use with your camera will
depend on how long a boom arm you are
using. The longer the boom arm, the further
away the camera can be, and therefore will
not require such a short focal length lens to
get it all in the frame. To shoot a medium size
four door saloon in a 3/4 view with a lens of
about 24mm (full-frame) or 15mm (APS-C),
you would need the camera to be about 1.5m
- 1.8m from the car. Use a 16mm (full-frame)
or 10mm (APS-C) lens and you can move the
camera to just over 1m. Action cameras like
the GoPro, when used on their widest angle of
view, are equivalent to a 14mm full-frame lens.
The wide angle lenses will produce distortion,
but that is something you can control when
you process the shots in your favourite Raw
editing program. For our shots, we decided
to try an old Canon 5D with a 15mm fisheye
lens and a GoPro Hero 5 Black on its Wide FOV
setting. You can have the camera much closer
if you want depending on how much car you
want in the shot. If you only have longer focal
length lenses, you can still get some great
shots. You will just need to be a little more
creative with your compositions.
Camera control
The next part is how to control the camera.
A lot of modern mirrorless cameras, DSLRs
and action cameras have the ability to
automatically shoot a predetermined number
of frames in sequence using whatever

1 5

The smaller and lighter the camera, the better it will be

for the rig. Compact system cameras like the Olympus
OM-D range [1] are small but have great image quality.
Since they don’t have a mirror box like a normal DSLR,
they are lighter too. The DSLR cameras will be heavier
by comparison but if you have a smaller APS-C cropped
sensor camera such as the Nikon D5500 [2], these are
generally made from lighter less robust materials with
more body components moulded in plastic. There is
also the range of small advanced compact cameras
to consider such as the EOS M range [3]. They have
comparable image quality to DSLRs but in much smaller
bodies. An action camera is also a great option, being
2 the lightest and smallest of the lot. The new range of
GoPro cameras [4] can also shoot in Raw format which is
a great bonus for image quality. 6

Interchangeable lens camera systems often have the

option of using pancake lenses [5]. These are very
compact and very lightweight lenses. They come in
wide, medium and telephoto focal lengths and have
good quality optics despite their diminutive size. DSLR
systems offer much more choice when it comes to
lenses but they do come at a price. A good ultra wide
angle lens [6] or fisheye [7] is certainly not cheap, but
they have great quality optics and deliver crisp images.

3 4 7

74

settings you dial in. If your camera doesn’t
have that function you can always use an
intervalometer [8] which is basically a
programmable cable release that plugs into
the cable remote port of your camera. It
will mean that you’ll need to secure it to the
camera or the magic arm that it is suspended
from, but they are very light and easy to
secure. Beyond that, you can always use a
wireless remote control that you can either
program, or use the wireless manual shutter
release button at any time you choose.
Setting up
We decided to do a couple of test runs to
make sure everything was going to work as
expected. The first order of business was
8
11
to find a spot to shoot that was quiet and free
of traffic. We went to an old industrial estate
at sunrise on a Sunday morning, knowing the
place would be deserted and it had plenty of
level roads and parking areas off the public
highway. First, we took the camera, and using
the live view function, walked around the car to
figure out the best angle to shoot and therefore
where the suction pads could be deployed.
Once we knew the camera angle, we cleaned
both the suctions cups and the car where the
pads would go [9]. Many recommend wetting
the pads before you attach them as it helps
create enough suction to firmly hold them in
place [10]. Then the boom arm was clamped
to the suction pads and extended out to about
1.5m from the car [11]. The magic arm was
9 10
12
AUTOMOTIVE RIG PHOTOGRAPHY
secured to the camera hot shoe mount [12]
and the super clamp on the other end was
placed on the end of the boom arm and firmly
tightened [13] . The camera was adjusted to
get the framing right for the car and the magic
arm was locked in place. You will probably
notice some flex and some ‘bounce’ in the rig.
Make sure your camera isn’t so close to the
ground that any flexing will cause it to collide
with the road surface. Because the camera
is lower than the boom arm, you can usually
position it so that part of the car’s bodywork
obscures the suction pads and creates a clean
edge [14] that you can use when it comes to
the post process side of things; this will involve
a little Photoshop to remove the boom arm
from the shot.
13
14
75
How it works
The first order of business is to input settings on
your camera that will deliver a shutter duration
of about 1 - 2 seconds. This will mean setting
your camera’s ISO as low as it will go and using
very narrow apertures to reduce the amount of
light falling on the sensor. If you are struggling to
get to 1 - 2 seconds, then you can either wait and
shoot at dusk, when the light levels are low enough
for you to achieve the desired duration, or you
can use a screw-on ND filter. The neutral optical
density of the filter, reduces the amount of light
hitting the sensor and as a result, requires you to
increase the exposure times to compensate. You
can even get small ND filters to attach to the front
of the GoPro cameras in order to get those longer
exposure times. As an example, if all you could
get was a balanced exposure 1/4 of a second,
adding a 3-stop ND filter would require you to use
a 2 second shutter duration to achieve the same
balanced exposure. Make sure you are shooting in Unless you are shooting at night or at least
dusk, you will need a neutral density (ND)
Raw format if your camera allows it, to maximise
filter on your lens to reduce the amount
image quality. Then set your camera to manual of light hitting your sensor: enough to
focus and make sure your desired point of focus is produce an exposure duration of around
sharp. Then you can either program your camera 1-2 seconds. You can get ND filters that
to automatically take a number of shots with range from 1-stop of light reduction, all the
way up to 10-12 stops. For daytime work,
these settings or, as in our example, plug in the you will probably be looking at a 4-8 stop
intervalometer that was set to keep taking shots filter. You can even get ND filters for action
with the camera’s settings until we turned it off. cameras like the GoPro as well.

The need for no speed

Now the car needs to be moving while your camera
is taking those 1 - 2 second exposures. This is best 1 2
done with two people. One person can sit in the car
and control it, the other can monitor the rig and set
it going when necessary. The engine can actually
be switched off during the shoot. The driver simply
needs to release the parking brake and then you
simply push the car to get it rolling in a straight line
at a brisk walking pace of about 5mph. With the
camera shooting 2 second exposures, the car will
travel roughly 2m or more during each exposure.
This very sedate pace means the camera and
the rig shouldn’t bounce around too much as the
car is rolling. To be safe, you can actually shoot To get an idea of how slowly the car has to move, compare these 4 shots. Shot 1 is a stationary reference image. You can
see how blurred the driver is as they walk to the car. Shot 2 is the car starting to roll forward. Shots 2, 3 and 4 are actually in
a number of reference shots while the car is
sequence. If you look at the background, you can see how little distance the car has covered.
stationary just in case there is some camera shake
present in the moving shots. The combination of
long shutter duration and the car’s movement
will produce motion-blurred backgrounds that 3 4
will suddenly make your car look like it is going
ten times faster than it is. The background and
the wheels will be a blur and the illusion of speed
is achieved by going no faster than walking pace.
Having lots of nearby scenery to be blurred by
the long exposure is a good thing. No background
scenery will mean no blur and your shot will not
have such a great sense of speed. That’s why if
you look at the shots the professionals take, there
are always city streets, tree-lined avenues, or
mountain roads used as the backdrop.

76
 AUTOMOTIVE RIG PHOTOGRAPHY

Bright sunlit conditions on the morning of

the first test meant that we couldn’t quite
get to 1-2 second exposures. This shot was
taken with a shutter speed of 0.3 of a second
and it actually worked out quite well.

77
Smoothly does it
We switched to another car and tried a different
location, off the public roads. This was a bit more
successful as the road was a little bit smoother
and we got some fairly good shots of the truck as
it rolled down a small incline. Most of the shots
were still suffering from camera shake but we
could use our stationary reference shot to sort
out the worst of the blur.

The action camera’s turn

We then decided to switch to the GoPro HERO 5 Black and return
very early the next morning whilst it was still fairly dark. It was
mounted in the same fashion as the Canon DSLR and then it
was set to take a 2 second exposure every 10 seconds. To our
surprise, these came out just about perfectly. The very light
GoPro and the rigid steel tube of the rig gave us almost rock
steady shots that looked very cool indeed.

78
 AUTOMOTIVE RIG PHOTOGRAPHY

Post processing
Then it is a case of choosing your
favourite shots and taking a little time
to clone out the boom arm from the
shot. Once done, you will have the kind
of shots that can look amazing and have
people asking how you actually did it. Q

Disclaimer: We do not accept any liability for any loss or

damage which you may suffer as a result of your use of the
information or advice which is provided in this article. Great
care should be taken to perform these car rig shots in safe,
controlled environments away from public highways where
there is no risk to other road users. For further information,
contact your local authority regarding permits where
applicable before proceeding.

79
EDITING PHOTOS
ON THE GO
More essential info on the mobile version of Lightroom

F
or many years, the go to image
processing software was
Lightroom Classic. It is the main
desktop-focused application used by
photographers to wring every pixel of
detail and colour out of their images.
However, if you need a more streamlined
version that can be used both on a
desktop and on a mobile device, then
Lightroom is your next stop. Q

82 Keeping it simple
“However, if you need a more
84 Lightroom workflow example
streamlined version that can be
85 Detail adjustments used both on a desktop and on a
86 The healing brush tool mobile device, then Lightroom is
88 Syncing Lightroom
your next stop.”

80
EDITING PHOTOS ON THE GO

81
Keeping it simple
AFTER
You’d be surprised just how often a great
photo is edited using simple but very
effective techniques. These techniques often BEFORE
centre around the colour options within
Lightroom and through the tutorials we will
be showing, you can learn to apply these
subtle alterations to great effect.
Taking an image you may have recognised from one of our project guides about
shooting in to the light. The difference between the original capture and the final
result may appear fairly subtle at first glance but the exposure, saturation and colour
balance of the main image has been carefully tweaked using the Basic panel, found
in the top right sidebar of the Develop module. Sometimes, subtlety is key.

82
KEEPING IT SIMPLE

83
Lightroom
Workflow Example
All users of Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photography Plan get Photoshop,
Lightroom Classic and the latest Lightroom in their monthly
subscription. Let’s take a more detailed look at the mobile focused
version and show you what it’s capable of.

Start the process by opening Lightroom and, if you
1haven't already imported the photos with which you want
to work, begin to add new images by clicking the plus symbol
in the top left corner and then clicking on Browse. For our
processing workflow example, we browsed to a Raw file of a
rocky landscape and double-clicked it to continue.
Ranged down the right side of the screen are the all the
3 main tools for processing your photos. Click on the Edit
icon (E) to open the image editing tools. The Profile panel
allows you to add a number of preset colour and filter effects
to your image. These effects can be added on top of any
processing adjustments you may have made yourself.

The ‘example 2.NEF’ file will be imported to Lightroom.
2 In the top right corner of your workspace, click on the
Add 1 Photo button to add the image to your current library.
You have the option of importing to any of the named libraries
you may have created. You can view your most recently added
images under the Recently Added tab.
Beneath Profile you will find the Light panel. This panel
4 contains all of the main Exposure and Contrast sliders
for making basic adjustments to your image. We adjusted the
image to brighten it but retained detail in both highlight areas
and shadows. You can adjust all the sliders to get the image
looking precisely how you want it.

84

You also have the option to use the Tone Curve tool. The
5 Tone Curve tool works in much the same way as it does in
Photoshop. Dragging a point on the curve alters Shadow, Dark,
Light and Highlight values. You can also affect the values of the
individual colour channels of Red, Blue and Green by clicking on
the red, green or blue Edit Channel buttons.
Below the Light panel comes the Color panel. Here
6 you can alter White Balance manually by adjusting the
Temp, Tint, Vibrance and Saturation sliders or by using the
White Balance Selector (W). You can also use the Colour
Mixer and alter the Hue, Saturation and Luminance values to
the primary colours to achieve the desired look in your shot.
You can use the Colour Mixer tool in various ways. You
7 can choose to just alter the Hue of the primary colours,
adjust the Saturation of each primary colour or make each
primary colour lighter or darker. For our workflow example, we
altered the Blues Luminance to make them much stronger and
more vibrant.
LIGHTROOM WORKFLOW EXAMPLE
Color Grading is a colour control method that lets you add
8 a colour tint to highlight, mid-tone and shadow areas in
your image. You can choose the colour, strength and balance of
colours between bright and dark areas by using the colour wheel
tools. For example, you can add blue to the shadow areas and
then add yellow to the highlights of your image.
Next you can open up the Effects panel. This contains
9 the Clarity, Dehaze, Vignette and Grain sliders. Clarity and
Dehaze help control mid-tone contrast while Vignette gives you
a number of ways to darken the image edges. Grain lets you
add a film grain effect and choose the size and roughness of
the grain you are adding to the image.
The next panel contains Detail adjustments. This is
10 where you can control Sharpening in your image by
using the Radius, Detail and Masking sliders as well as using
the adjustment sliders for Noise Reduction and Colour Noise
Reduction. It is highly recommended that you work with your
image at 1:1 magnification to clearly see their effects.
85
 Below the Detail panels comes Optics. Clicking on the
11 Remove Chromatic Aberration and Enable Lens Corrections
buttons identifies which lens was used and then removes colour
aberrations plus any distortion created by that lens. You can
also use the Defringe controls to manually apply an amount of
Defringe to any purple and green fringing in the shot.
The last panel is Geometry, where you can physically alter
12 the shape, size and rotation of the image. It is particularly
useful for removing unwanted perspective and converging
verticals in architectural shots. You can choose to alter the
geometry of the image using the presets or use the Guided
Upright tool to adjust what is level and vertical.
Back to the main menu and the next tool is the one for
13 Crop & Rotate (C). You can crop your images manually
or choose a preset from a number of popular image aspect
ratios. The Crop & Rotate feature also allows you to rotate
and flip your images by using the provided slider. You can also
Constrain Crop the proportion of the crop once you've set it.
86
The Healing Brush tool (H) is useful for removing any
14 unwanted objects and dust or dirt from your photo. Simply
choose the Clone or Heal mode and brush over your target. It will
then use nearby image data to remove the unwanted item. You
can choose the Size, Feather and Opacity of the brush and click
Visualize Spots to help you see any offending blemishes.
The new Masking tool (B) is next. You can use it to
15 automatically Select Sky or Subject like you can in
Photoshop, or use the more familiar Brush, Linear and Radial
adjustments from previous versions of Lightroom. In this
example, we used the Brush tool to select an area of sky and
used the available adjustment tools to add warmer colours.
Linear Gradient (L) behaves like a digital version of the
16 graduated filters used by photographers on their lenses.
You can click and drag a graduated filter across your image, to
either darken or lighten areas based on your settings. The effect
begins at 100% density at the start point of the gradient and
then fades to 0% at the end.

The Radial Gradient Tool (R) is a circular version of the
17 Graduated Filter. It can affect anything inside it or be set to
only affect anything outside the area selected. We used a bright
yellow Radial Filter to create a swathe of warm light across
selected parts of the photo. You can add a number of these
filters or erase parts of the existing ones.
You can also alter the proportions of the Radial Filter
18 effect by dragging the control points.. You can also make
targeted adjustments to your photos by using the Color Range
and Luminance Range tools to select areas by their colour or
their brightness. See the front of this manual for more details on
the new Masking feature and its suite of masking tools.
Finally, if you click on Presets at the bottom of the
19 toolbar, you can access the full range of filters for a one-
click creative effect to dramatically alter your photos. They are
presented in thumbnail form and range from Black and White
conversions to Aged Photo and even Grain effects. Hover over
each one to see the effect on your image in realtime.
LIGHTROOM WORKFLOW EXAMPLE
While you work on your image, you have the option to
20 save snapshots of your progress. Click the Versions button
in the lower right of the workspace and then add versions as
you go. You can also have it save automatically. When you're
ready go to the Share/Export button. This will call up the Save
panel. Choose from either Original + Settings or JPEG.
If you choose Original + Settings, your Raw file will be
21 saved locally to your computer, along with an XMP file.
This file contains all the non-destructive edits made to your
image. This is a non-destructive method that allows you to
open the file up again at any time and make new adjustments
to the image.
If you choose JPEG as your image option, you have the
22 ability to select a Small reduced size version, Full Size or
a Custom image size as you see fit. When you have chosen
the size of the image you want, you can then press the Save
button to download a JPEG to your machine with all the edits
you have made in place.
87
Syncing
Lightroom
To get the best from Lightroom and the desktop version, you need to set
up a sync between the two. This way, you’re able to easily upload images
whilst you’re out and about and can apply the more powerful features of
the desktop version when you get back to the desk.

Enter your Adobe username and

2 password, the same one that you
used when you signed up for Lightroom
or the Adobe Cloud. When ready, tap the
Sign In button to log in to the Lightroom
app and the Adobe Cloud.

You can begin the set up by
1searching for the Lightroom app
on your device’s application store and
tap the relevant button to install it. Once
the installation is complete, open the app
and you will be prompted to accept the
Adobe agreement and tap the Sign In
button or Sign Up.
After a few moments you should be
3 logged in; if not, double check your
connection to the Internet and username
and password for any mistakes. The
Lightroom interface appears a little bleak
to begin with. Let’s begin by adding photos
to a collection for uploading. Tap the Add
Photos button at the bottom of the UI.
You now have a list of all the
4 photographs that you have taken on
the device. Now you can scroll through
them and select a few examples to test
the syncing. You can select them by
tapping the circle in the top left of the
image thumbnail. Tap Add when you’ve
made your selection.

88

You will then be returned to the
5 main Lightroom front screen
interface. You will be informed of the
upload progress of your images. You may
need to tap the cloud icon located in the
upper right of the UI and re-enter your
Adobe login details. We needed to do this
just the once, yet another device we were
using didn’t require it.
On the desktop version of Lightroom
6 Classic or Lightroom, click on the
Help option from the top menu followed
by Updates. This will open the Creative
Cloud update manager window. If there
are updates for Lightroom, or any other
Adobe product you own or have on trial,
then apply the updates.
Updating Lightroom Classic and
7 Lightroom versions ensures that
both versions are working to valid version
numbers. Often, an error in syncing is due
to one version not recognising the other
because of an update from one or the
other. You may need to restart Lightroom.
Now, click on your name in the top left of
the Lightroom desktop version.
The menu expands under the cloud
8 icon in the top right corner of the
workspace. Clicking the gear icon lets you
view your Lightroom Sync settings. This
may ask for an updated username and
password again, so be prepared to enter
it. The syncing process will start and it will
show you a progress bar.
SYNCING LIGHTROOM
Specify the location and any sub
9 folders for the Lightroom images
that will be synced between the device
and the desktop. Click the OK button
and in Lightroom, click on the Cloud icon
again to force an update. There will be
a small icon with a check mark in it to
indicate that your images are now synced
and backed up.
Your synced photos from Lightroom
10 should now be uploading into the
desktop version of Lightroom Classic.
They can be located in the Catalogue
pane, under the All Synced Photographs
section. You can see the status of synced
photos from the Lightroom tab in the
Preferences window.
89
ELEMENTS:
GET STARTED
?VVUe`VUZej`fcaY`e`dSfeU`_|eYRgVAY`e`dY`a0

P
hotoshop is everywhere. You
can’t move for photos that have
been edited in some way by it. The
problem is that many casual users don’t
necessarily want to be tied in to a monthly
subscription in order to use its features.
That’s where Elements comes in. Think of
it as Photoshop’s baby brother. You can
own it outright for a one-off payment and
enjoy its surprising amount of features.
Although it is not as advanced as
Photoshop, it has plenty of tools
and features that the hobbyist
photographer and image editor can
enjoy. It even has its own version of the
Raw photo processing application so
you can adjust your own photos. It is
layer-based just like Photoshop and
we thought we’d dive in and start to
explore it in some detail. Q

92 The Elements home screen

94 The quick mode workspace
96 The Elements experience

“Although it is not as advanced as

Photoshop, it has plenty of tools
and features that the hobbyist
photographer and image editor
can enjoy.”

90
ELEMENTS: GET STARTED

91
The Elements
Home Screen
We start the journey by becoming more familiar with all the module
environments you will be working with.
Welcome Home 1
When you open Adobe Photoshop
Elements 2019, you are presented with a
Home screen. This simple screen is your
gateway to the Photo Editor program or
the Organiser. The third option available
is to activate the Adobe Premiere
Elements Video Editor, if you have
purchased that as well. If not, it will ask
if you want to download a trial version.
You also have the option at the
top of the Home screen to search for
help on things you want to achieve in 2
the programs or to click on any of the
featured Try This guides and What's New
items and Inspiration articles ranged
across the screen.
On the extreme top right of the page
are buttons for Facebook and Twitter
and a Help button that takes you to
Adobe Customer Support.

3
1 Search Option
From the home page you can can search
for things you need to learn more about.
If you want to learn how to make a
calendar for instance, type that in the
search bar and it will show you links to
help files that can tell you more.

2 Featured Guides
Ranged along the top of the home page
are a number of clickable guides and
inspirational media that gets you into the
heart of what Photoshop Elements 2019 4
is all about. There are several themes
you can access. Try This are guided
tutorials that help you create exciting
media and art. What's New highlights all
the step-by-step features that are new
to this version. Inspiration is a collection
of stories and articles to get you in a
creative mood.

92

3 Auto Creations
When you open the home page for the
first time, you will be prompted to add
media for Auto Creations to make a
series of personalised creations, such as
slide shows that use your own photos
and videos.
4 Add Media
Auto Creations are created with media
(photos or videos) that you've imported.
If you haven't imported any media yet,
click Add media under Auto Creations on
the Home screen and relaunch the app.
You can open and edit any Auto Creation
and instantly share it with your family
and friends.
5 Program Chooser
To the right of the home page are the
icons for Organiser, Photo Editor and
Video Editor. You can click on these to
activate the relevant program. If you do
not have the Adobe Premiere Elements
video editor program for instance, it will
ask you if you want to try if for free with
the option to purchase later if you wish.
6 Recent Files
Any images you have been working on
recently will be displayed here for quick
access. Click on the image you want
to continue working on and it will be
opened within the relevant program.
7 8 9
THE ELEMENTS HOME SCREEN
7 Facebook Button
Click this button to go to the Adobe
Photoshop Elements Facebook page.
8 Twitter Button
When you click this button, it will take
you to the Photoshop Elements Twitter
feed where you can view, reply to,
retweet and like tweets.
9 Help Button
If you need further assistance, you can
click this button to be directed to the
Adobe Customer Support webpage.
Explore the Guides
For those who are in need of more guidance, or just
some creative inspiration, go ahead and click on any of
the featured guides and articles to explore more of the
online world of features Adobe Photoshop Elements has
to offer.
93
The Quick
Mode Workspace
For fast and simple edits, this is the mode to get you editing
quickly, with one-click results for better photos.

One-click Power 1
3 2
Although this mode is designed to
be quick and simple to use, it is still a
powerful method to rapidly improve 7
your photos with easy one-click
presets that give you instant feedback
on how your image will look with the
new adjustments applied. There are
many filters to choose from and many 4
ways you can adjust your image to
make it perfect, so you can share it
with the world.

1 The File Menu

Although a number of file menu option 8
will not be accessible, the main ones
that you need will be available. All the
Enhance options are there as well as the
Filter Gallery presets.

2 Mode Selector
Here can you can exit the current mode
and choose to enter the Guided or
Expert modes.

3 The Open Button

This is a simple button to specify a new
project to work on. Click it to create a
new document at the size you want.
When you click OK, the document will be
created and can be worked on in either
Quick mode or Expert mode.

4 The Toolbar
The Quick mode toolbar has a core set
of tools to get your image looking great
with minimal effort. You can make quick
selections to specific areas of the photo,
crop it, straighten the horizon, whiten
5
teeth and fix eyes as well as adding text
and a number of varied filters, textures
and adjustments.
6

94

5 The Tool Options Bar
For every tool you activate in the toolbar,
you have another panel called the Tool
Options bar that gives you many more
choices as to how that tool can be
modified and controlled. There are also
additional tools that can be accessed in
the Tool Options bar.
6 The Taskbar
The taskbar is situated at the bottom
of the workspace and contains all the
most frequently used actions, which are
displayed as buttons. Click each one
and you can see all the images you are
working on at that time, display or hide
the Toolbar Options bar and Undo or
9 the right hand panel bar. Items such as
redo any steps you have performed on
your image. You also have the option
to rotate the image and activate the
Elements Organiser if you need to.
7 View Options
Clicking on this button reveals the View
options. This is useful if you want to
compare a before and after view of your
currently active image, to see how much
the image has changed from its original
untouched state.
8 Active Image Area
The image you are working on is
displayed in this area. It will either be as
a single image or, if you have chosen a
10
11
THE QUICK MODE WORKSPACE
different view option, as two images that
represent the before and after state of
the photo.
9 Zoom Slider
This slider lets you quickly zoom your
image from 1% all the way up to 3200%.
10 Create and Share
These two dropdown menus display
options for creating slide shows, photo
books, greetings cards, calendars,
Facebook Covers and much more. You
can also share your works of art on
Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.
11 The Panel Bar
This panel changes content depending
on what adjustment or effect you are
using. If you are using the Adjustment
tools, then they will be displayed in
Smart Fix, Exposure, Lighting and Colour
will be available here and each can be
clicked to reveal its available options. The
Effects menu, Textures and Frames are
also available to be accessed here.
Create and Share
Don't forget to check out the Create and Share
options. Whether you want to share your creation
online and on social media or make prints of your
photos or even calendars, click the buttons to
explore further.
95
 AFTER
The Elements Experience

Open Closed Eyes

Now you need not consign a photo to the
trash just because your subjects eyes are
shut. Thanks to this handy tool in Elements, BEFORE
you can tackle the problem with ease.
If you have another example of a face
where the eyes are open and they are not
too different in terms of their colour and
lighting, you can swiftly replace those
closed eyes for open ones. This works in
both the Quick mode and Expert mode.

96
 THE ELEMENTS EXPERIENCE - OPEN CLOSED EYES
Open your photo by going to File > Open
1 and navigating to where your primary
photo is kept and either double-click the image
or select it and press the Open button.
Just in case, there is a small selection
3 that you can try straight away, with two
female and two male sets of sample eyes, on
your photo.
When you have found a likely candidate,
5 double-click it to load it as an eye source
and then click on its thumbnail to apply it to
your main photo. Click OK when done.
Go to Enhance > Open Closed Eyes and
2 you will see the Open Closed Eyes dialog
box. Here you can choose your Eye Source to
open your subjects eyes with.
For best results, find a photo that roughly
4 matches the lighting and colours of your
original photo. You can select Choose from >
Computer and locate a suitable image.
The new eyes you found will be mapped
6 over your existing image and blended as
seamlessly as possible. If you like the result, you
can save it under a new name.
97
 In our next issue of
DIGITAL

On Sale
March 2023
via digital platforms

The hints, tips and guides continue with more

great in-depth photography knowledge ready to
be passed on to you. Are you ready to shoot your
best photos ever? Join us and find out how to
master your camera!
 


        

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