PHOTO CLINIC
02
The scene
contains plenty
of ‘layers’ of detail,
which lead the eye
through the scene from
the foreground to the
distant backgroundPHOTO CRITIQUE
01
It’s good
to include some
foreground interest,
but here we have too
much, and it
dominates the bottom
half of the frame03
The shot’s
colours and
contrast are a little flat,
and don’t do justice to
the dramatic subject,
so we need to give
them a boostWayne says “This was taken in the Lake
District near Glenridding and Ullswater,
which can be seen in the distance. I was
about 1,400ft up with no tripod and just a
polarising filter. I found some rocks to use as
foreground interest, and included the water
and mountains in the background to add
some depth to the scene. I used a narrow
aperture of f/13 to capture a broad depth of
field and keep as much of the scene in focus
as possible, and I set an ISO of 400 to ensure
my shutter speed was fast enough for a
handheld shot. In post-processing I tweaked
the contrast using Curves, and applied a
Black & White adjustment layer with a
blending mode and layer mask to boost the
colour and contrast. I also applied some noise
reduction, and sharpened the image using the
High Pass filter.”We say “What a cracking shot, Wayne! It’s
a shame you didn’t have a tripod, but well
done for increasing your ISO to ensure your
shutter speed was fast enough. Selecting a
narrow aperture of f/13 was a good choice,
as you’ve captured a broad depth of field,
and I like how you’ve included foreground,
midground and background detail to add
depth to the image, capturing ‘layers’ of
interest that lead the eye through the scene.
I do think there’s a little too much foreground
in the shot, however, so I’ve used the
Recompose tool in Photoshop Elements to
squash this area so that our main focus is on
the hills, lake and sky. I’ve also boosted the
colour and contrast even more, to really show
off this spectacular landscape.”Canon EOS 5D Mk II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Aperture f/13
Shutter speed 1/160 secLake View
BY WAYNE GIBBONS
03
0201