Digital Camera World - UK (2019-10)

OCTOBER 2019 DIGITAL CAMERA^101

Taken from a high point, this overexposed photo has

potential, but it needs some work. The overexposure

isn’t so great that a quick play with the Highlights,

Whites and Exposure sliders in Camera Raw can’t

fix it^1. Getting the exposure range under control

shows there are some interesting shapes and

patterns that could work well in black and white.

First I go to the Presets Panel and choose B&W

Punch. Immediately the different tones, previously

masked by all that green, come to life^2. Now I

can go to Tone Curve, choose Custom and set a

strong S-curve to give the image more contrast^3.

To tighten the composition, I select the Crop Tool

and crop in a little bit from each edge of the frame^4.

There you have it: a great arrangement of tones,

shapes and patterns that was lurking within the

overexposed starting photo.

Image Rescue

A strong mono image lurks within... 1

3

2

4

In the catalogue

Q

What is a Catalog

in Lightroom

Classic, and

should I be using one?

Ruby French

A

If you are using Lightroom,
you already have your images
within a Catalog. Most people
only need to use one Catalog:
it’s the easiest way to organise your
pictures, because you can only
view one Catalog at a time.
Think of a Catalog as an inventory
that holds all the information about
your images. It doesn’t hold the images
themselves – just a record of the
keywords, ratings or edits you
have assigned to each image.
Some people do use more than one
Catalog – for example, one for each year.
However, if you do this then want to search
for older images, you will have to switch
between different Catalogs, which can
become confusing.

Portraits not sharp

Q

I’ve just splashed

out on a Nikkor f/1.4

85mm lens, but

I find that my shots often

aren’t quite sharp when

I shoot at its widest setting.

Is this normal, or is the

lens at fault?

Roger Corden

A

The lens could be faulty, but I

think you first need to consider

your technique to make sure

that it’s not you! If you aren’t

used to shooting with such a shallow depth

of field, it will take getting used to. At

f/1.4 the area of sharpness is tiny, so

the first thing that’s important is that you

accurately pinpoint the place you want

sharp – the lead eye. That means a single

active AF point positioned right on it!

On top of that, make sure there is

no movement from you or the subject.

Even slight movement can mean the plane

of focus is shifted. I actually prefer to use

continuous focus for wide-aperture shots,

even with a static portrait, so try it.

Water blur

Q

I’ve been shooting

slow shutter speeds

for water movement,

but nothing seems very

consistent. Is there a simple

way to remember which

shutter speed works best?

Kevin Foley

A

There is a rule of thumb that

says the longer your exposure

and the faster the water is

moving, the more it will blur,

but that’s about as precise as it gets. It’s

impossible to find a shutter speed that

works for every shot, because water flows

at different speeds. If you are shooting on a

little stream with water tumbling over rocks,

anything from 1/15 sec

to over a second will

give you some blur.

Of course, how

much blur you want

is a matter of taste.

I like to give a sense

of blur without

everything going

to an indistinct

‘mistiness’, so I will

often shoot at 1/8

sec, 1/15 sec or

1/30 sec on fast-

moving streams.