Teach_Yourself_Photoshop_Elements_2

PHOTO CLINIC

02

Thoughtful

composition,

with a ‘wide’ view at

70mm rather than a

more tightly cropped

image at 200mm

PHOTO CRITIQUE

03

The image feels

too cool, and the

shadow and highlight

detail could be

improved to enhance

the illuminated area

Dave says “After the recent record dry spell

in California we received some welcome rain

in February, and I ventured out with my nine-year-

old on a Sunday afternoon. The storm had just moved

on, and these hills south of San Francisco looked like

they were breathing a sigh of relief. I stopped the car

and took this shot quickly with my Canon 7D and

70-200mm zoom lens at 70mm; I didn’t use any

filters. After doing a little processing in Lightroom

(I pulled back the highlights and boosted the shadows

to bring out the ‘anger’ in the clouds), the area of

grass bank in the lower-left third popped out – it’s

illuminated by the sun coming through a gap in the

clouds. In hindsight I should probably have gone for

greater depth of field, as not everything is as crisp as

I’d like. I would love your expert view on any framing

and post-processing that could have developed this

into a hang-able living room picture.”

We say “This is a pretty good effort, Dave! Shooting

at a narrow aperture of f/20 has actually given you

sufficient depth of field, so the shot is sharp across

the frame. And I like the ‘wide’ composition, with

lots of really moody cloudy sky and forest, and not

much lake, while the light on the edge of the lake

provides a nice focal point. But it could certainly be

improved. If you shoot in the raw mode it’s easy to

lift detail and colour in Adobe Camera Raw. However,

you can also edit hi-res JPEGs very effectively in

ACR, and I’ve taken the liberty of making a few edits.

I’ve warmed up the image, boosted the exposure

and contrast, reduced the highlights, and boosted

shadows and whites, as well as clarity and saturation

to lift the colours. As I’m using Photoshop CS6, with

ACR 8.3, I was also able to add an ND grad effect to

the brighter top part of the sky. Then, in Photoshop,

I cloned out the distracting tree tops in

the foreground, and sharpened the shot. More details

in the step-by-step on the facing page!”

Canon EOS 7D

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

Aperture f/20

Shutter speed 1/50 secs

Storm Clouds

BY DAVE JEFFRIES

1

3

01

Well exposed to

retain detail in

the bright clouds and

forest; the f/20

aperture captures a

broad depth of field

01

02

03