Practical Photography - UK (2019-09)

82 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY

Balletin thedust

byGeorgeMarinakis

The idea wasto

combine ballet

with dereliction

and create a

striking contrast.

There was dust

and debris everywhere! Once

th e dancer started to perform,

her speed and movement were

quite a challenge. I was hoping

to capture an emotional image

wi th a hint of nostalgia. A basic

cr op was applied, along with

a contrast boost and Olympus’

Bl each Art Filter.

500px.com/georgemarinakis

Richard says: Sometimes

an image grabs your attention

and makes it really hard to

drag your eyes away from it.

George’s dancer in a derelict

building is one of those

photos. There’s the obvious

juxtaposition – the danceris

soft, feminine and vulnerable

while her surroundings

are hard, unforgiving and

unremittingly gritty. Butas

you gaze at the image longer

you realise that the contrast

between the subject and her

surroundings is somewhat

bl urred. The dancer is up

‘e n pointe’, which is a tough

te chnique and one that

demonstrates her strength

– so perhaps she is the

powerful figure in this scene,

while the building is weak

and crumbling?

Thisshotis a greatexample

of how to work with a strong

location. It would be all too

easy to overplay the harshness

of the building, but George

has hit the right note here

witha degreeof subtletythat

al lows thesubjectto shine.

Placingthedancerin the

beam of light coming in

through the open passage is a

masterful move, and my only

criticismis thatthere’smaybe

a li ttletoomuchdistracting

fo regroundin thecrop– an

easy fix. Great work George,

and let’s see more from you

very soon!

We always recommend shooting in RAW, and

George’s shot proves the point. Looking at

his straight RAW image (left) you can see that

George has been able to bring back a lot of

detail in the shadow areas, while brightening the

strip of light at the end of the corridor. Shooting

in RAW gives you much greater creative control

than JPEG. George has also used a filter in his

edit, which is a great way of adding an instant,

impactful effect. Another way to easily change

the look of your image is by using actions. We’re

giving away a free set with this issue – see p116.

Go RAW for control

This shot

is a great

example

of how

to work

subtly with

a strong

location

Ol ympus E-M1 MkII | 30mm | 1/125sec | f/2.8 | ISO 1000

ORIGINAL RAW