36 9 November 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113

Technique

STEP-BY-STEP: FOLLOW THE STEPS DAVE TAKES IN LIGHTROOM

1 Convert to black & white
I always set my camera to take black & white
JPEG and raw fi les when I’m shooting daytime
street scenes. I fi nd that taking the distraction
of colour away helps me see contrast, and
create my compositions. Keeping the raw fi le
means when I’m sat at the computer later I
have the option to process in mono or colour.

2 Boost contrast

Straight away the image looks better in black

& white, but I want the image to be really

eye-catching, so I slightly increase the

exposure and boost the contrast. Now the man

really stands out almost silhouette-like, walking

into the brighter light fi ltering in from the back

of the scene.

3 Fix the hot spots

There were a couple of areas in the image that

were particularly bright and distracting, in

particular the car and metal fencing. Likewise

some parts of the image were too dark and

lacking detail. These have been ‘fi xed’ with

selective adjustments using the radial and

graduated fi lter tools.

H

aving spent the fi rst few years of my
journey into photography shooting what I
would call ‘traditional landscapes’ (where I
would religiously avoid shooting the human
form) it came as a shock as to how much I enjoyed street
photography when I fi nally plucked up the courage to
try it. Although it’s way out of my comfort zone, I was
soon bitten by the bug and began to play with colour,
abstracts and contrast. I even pushed the dehaze slider
past 10 (but shhh, don’t tell anyone!). All the things I
tended to frown at when trying to capture a realistic
landscape were OK when it came to street.
When out on the streets I keep my kit simple. I use a
Fujifi lm X-Pro2 with either the Fujinon 23mm or 35mm
f/2 prime lenses. Having a fi xed focal length gives you
one less thing to worry about when shooting reactively.

3

The contrast is good,

but I want to make it

stronger to give the image

some extra punch

4

I think this image would

suit a monochrome

conversion, so I’ll be processing

it black & white

2

The distant car and parts of

the steel fencing are

eye-catchingly bright, so they

need to be toned down

1

At 3:2 the image feels too

tall so I will crop to a more

favourable 7:5 ratio

Behind the

print

Dave Fieldhouse

An award-winning freelance photographer from

the Midlands, Dave specialises in landscape, street

and architectural photography for magazines

and corporate clients. See more of his work at

http://www.davefieldhousephotography.com or

on Instagram and Twitter as @davefphotos

Having got the shot, Dave

Fieldhouse reveals the necessary

steps for excellent prints

© DAVE FIELDHOUSE