14 DIGITAL CAMERA^ FEBRUARY 2022 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
Moore’s law: why you
should shoot to edit
It’s not about getting it right in-camera – for
Ben, editing is where the art shines through1 “I use Lightroom and Photoshop for editing
my images, and Premiere Pro for editing
video. For making video stories, InShot
is a great smartphone app.”2 “I always shoot to edit – some people try
to get it right in-camera, then tweak things
slightly, but I want to show the world what
I want it to see. If I’m shooting on a phone,
I’ll still put my edit on it.”3“I start with my preset. This adds colour,
a mixture of hues, and opens up the
shadows straight away, so I can see
everything across the image. It takes
things all the way down so I can see
what’s blowing out, and what isn’t.”4 “I try to keep my photos warm – if you look
at my images, you’ll see there’s a lot of
warmth. Generally, it’s a mixture of warm
hues: I love my orange and brown colours
and try to retain those. I love to shoot at
the golden hour because you get plenty
of warm tones, and you can play around
with them afterwards and tweak them
and fine-tune them how you want.”5 “I used to like super-moody images, but I’ve
come out of that. I prefer a slightly moody
element now, and try to keep things as
commercial as I can, rather than create
super-unique, super-moody images that
don’t have any commercial appeal.”Trust in the EVF^
“As you’ve seen today, I don’t put the camera
to my face much,” says Ben. “I really like the
electronic viewfinder on the Z 7, but the rear
screen is great, too – it’s so easy to use, and
what you see is what you get.” The relative
merits of an optical viewfinder over an electronic
one are at the core of the DSLR vs mirrorless
debate, but the Z 7’s 3.69-million-dot EVF was one of
the best at launch – we praised it for being super-sharp,
with negligible granularity. And the rear touchscreen is no slouch,
either, with a 2.1-million pixel resolution and tilting design.3.14pm
Camera Nikon Z 7
Lens Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 S
Exposure 1/250 sec at f/2.8, ISO 1250wedding photography. It’s multi-discipline
work, he notes, fusing portraiture,
documentary and fashion, and done
at such a high-intensity pace that you
cannot fail to improve your shooting,
editing and organisational skills.
One improvement I’m hoping for is in
the weather, as the last mile of our walk
takes place in torrential rain; none of it
dampens Ben’s spirits, though, and as
soon as we arrive at Leake Street, his
camera is out, and he’s off scouting forsome fresh artworks. These tend get
over-painted quickly, so it’s best to
capture something that moves you on the
day, rather than planning a return visit.
Ben shoots a brace of artworks,
including one of a Banksy-esque piece.
I see a parallel in the devotion of the
graffiti artist and the photographer to
their art. As Ben told me earlier, “The
main thing you need to have is drive.
That’s why you get up at 4am for sunrise- no-one else will do it for you!”