Digital SLR Photography - UK (2020-01)

4

5

“Thesecondchallengewastougherthanwe’d

envisagedthankstotrickydappledlight.Jon

wasn’tfazedanddrewontheskillshe’dlearned

justa coupleof hoursbeforewithconfidence.

HisabilitytorecallandexecuteHDRshooting

afterjusta briefexplanationanddemonstration

wasimpressive.Nottomentionhisfirstattempt

at processingHDRimageswasexcellent.The

mostinterestingshotof thischallengewasthe

beechtreeandmillstone– a classic– even

withoutfullautumncolours.Butthedetailshots

werea greatexercisein gettingin closerand

usingdepth-of-fieldtocreateinterest.”

CHALLENGE 2 Pro verdict

1) Jon gets in close with his 55mm f/1.8 lens to use differential

focus to isolate his subject. 2 ) Using a polarising filter to

reduce glare and to increase saturation. 3) Jon uses his LCD

screen to comfortably compose shots and to review the

results. 4 ) Dry stone walls can be great subjects for detail

shots. 5) Shooting wide open to isolate the fern.

Januar y 2020 Digital SLR Photography 83

so used to shooting 'on the fly' during family
walks, which rarely gave him the time to
slow down and focus on photography.
We first turned our attention on some
ferns below the beech tree Jon had just shot
with the millstone in the foreground, and I
suggested that Jon take advantage of the
f/1.8 maximum aperture of his 55mm lens to
isolate the fern and make it stand out from
the background. To show him why this was
better than stopping down, I asked him to
shoot an image at f/11 for a larger depth-of-
field so he could see how the fern would be
lost when more of the scene was in focus.
Once we’d experimented around the tree
for a while, we moved over to a dry stone
wall to the side of the tree and focused on
the patterns and textures present. I once
again suggested that Jon shoot with his lens
wide open because the shallow depth-of-
field would, paradoxically, accentuate depth
in the images despite not showing as much
detail as if he’d stopped down.