Digital Photo - December 2015

DIGITAL PHOTO DECEMBER 2015 ISSUE 201

ISSUE 201 DECEMBER 2015 £4.99

NIGHT SHOOTING RETRO PHOTOSHOP EFFECTS

SHOT IN THE DARK 10

DSLR shootout

We name the best camera kit under £600

top tips for striking images when the sun goes down

DSLR KITS UNDER £600

IMAGING SKILLS

Retro revival

Use the power of Photoshop to create all-the-rage vintage effects

Portrait secrets

CAMERA TECHNIQUE

Pro advice for perfect headshots

Take a load off!

GEAR ADVICE

Wave goodbye to sore shoulders with the ultimate DIY tripod sling

LEARN PHOTOSHOP & CAMERA SKILLS THE EASY WAY

WWW.PHOTOANSWERS.CO.UK

DECEMBER 2015 ISSUE 201 £4.99

PACKED WITH INSPIRING PROJECTS & IDEAS

STAY SHARP Master your AF system for fast-action images

CREATIVE COLOUR Fuse camera

BRANCH OUT Turn everyday items BUILD AMAZING COMPOSITES Make epic scenes combining multiple shots & Photoshop skills for tri-colour pics into photo art with our challenge

PLANET PHOTO

By getting close to the action, Russell was rewarded with dynamic motion in the waves.

Your fresh fix of inspiration from the world’s best photographers

THE BIG PICTURE

Capture an unstoppable tide Shooting at the beach doesn’t have to stop because we’ve moved into the colder months and Russell McGuire took advantage of an empty shoreline when he captured this image of the Newport Beach pier in California. Shooting with a wide-angle 10-18mm lens, Russell pushed the limits to get close to the water. “I had a number of waves hit me that morning that went a bit higher than expected and I ended up with more than just wet feet.” Russell got the super-saturated look by capturing five frames and merging them together in Lightroom. He then boosted the Shadows in the image to reveal the texture of the timber posts and pushed the Saturation levels to make the colours pop. By shooting with slow shutter speeds, Russell was able to blur the motion of the waves as the incoming tide flowed around the pier beams.

What was used Camera Canon EOS 7D & 10-18mm lens Exposure 1/15sec @ f/7.1, ISO 100 Software Lightroom Visit 500px.com/russellmcguire

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owepro’s Urban Reporter 350 is a versatile messenger bag with plenty of space for carrying your camera, lenses, laptop and accessories.

Outside, it has a classic, refined look. Inside, it’s fully equipped with padded inserts that are both adjustable and removable to suit any arrangement of kit-carrying load, all easily accessed via the main top opening, zipped front pocket and side cargo pockets. For carrying comfort, there’s an anti-slip, adjustable shoulder strap, designed with padding so that it stays securely in place when you’re on the move.

With its spacious interior and selection of storage options, the Urban Reporter 350 is the ideal companion for carrying all the kit you’ll need.

STYLISH

Leather detail, such as a lined business card holder and touchpoints are features of the design.

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TOP TIPS FOR SHOOTING

LIGHT AFTER DARK

LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY Mark Burban used a 30secs exposure to capture traffic trails in the hustle and bustle of Bangkok.

“WELCOME TO A WHOLE NEW WORLD OF CREATIVE PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES”

The photo fun doesn’t have to stop when the sun goes down. Read our ten golden nuggets of advice and inspiration to try out when the sun fades away...

WORDS BY MATTY GRAHAM

MARK BURBAN

Y

ou’ve drawn the curtains and are about to sit down with a nice cuppa on the sofa. But the flashing light from the battery charger has just turned green and now you get that familiar itch all passionate photographers feel. It’s nagging away – you should be grabbing the camera and flying out the door, but it’s dark outside...

Welcome to a whole new world of creative opportunities!

Low-light photography shouldn’t be scary, but it’s easy to understand why some back away from this fascinating genre.

As humans, it’s only natural for us to feel a little uneasy heading out into the darkness. Plus, many think capturing stunning images after dark is more difficult than

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in the daylight. With the right knowledge, both practical and photographic, there is nothing to fear, and by jumping into night photography with both feet, you’re guaranteed to bag some of your most creative images yet.

Our tips will arm you with all the skills and techniques needed to take your first steps into low-light shooting – or build on existing experience. Plus, there’s the allimportant practical advice that all photographers should consider to keep themselves safe and make a low-light shoot an enjoyable experience. You can own the thrill of the night and take advantage of the opportunities it presents, so now is the time to grab that freshly-charged battery and head out into the darkness!

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TOP TIPS & TECHNIQUES OVER PAGE DIGITAL PHOTO 27

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

CREATE A TRI-COLOUR PORTRAIT

With the right shooting and editing knowhow, a fresh and striking tri-colour portrait can be made in minutes.

Learn how to separate colour channels for a funky, pop-art look!

WORDS & PICS BY ANDY HEATHER

T

here’s a common fallacy that photo manipulation started with Photoshop, but the truth is photographers have been manipulating images since the birth of the camera and the tri-colour technique is a great example.

The process was pioneered in the film days and has now been plucked from the annals of history and resurrected by your friends here Digital Photo! Originally, this technique involved exposing three separate shots through red, green and blue filters onto the same frame of colour film. The camera didn’t move during the shots, so anything static in the scene would be recorded with regular colours as the red, green and blue light would be combined. Anything moving would be rendered in one of the individual colours.

In this great project, we’ve taken the technique and given it a Digital Photo twist, so it’s now possible to recreate the effect with ease in either Photoshop or Elements.

When used with a landscape scene, moving features like scudding clouds or breaking waves will become a feast of colour, and when used for a portrait, your model will look like a pop-art icon.

Here, we’ll explain how to shoot your three exposures on a tripod, ensuring that your camera remains in exactly the same position. We’ll also give you all the info you need to be certain that your aperture and focus remain the same throughout. Once you’ve taken your shots, we’ll guide you through the Photoshop steps required to create a multiperson portrait that’ll delight your friends and family!

Required kit DSLR or CSC

Tripod The camera has to stay still between the three shots, so you’ll need to attach it to a tripod.

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ANDY HEATHER / BAUER

You can use any camera that can be set up for manual focus and aperture priority control.

TECHNIQUE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE OVER THE PAGE DIGITAL PHOTO 37

USE YOUR FREE LIGHTROOM PRESETS

PHOTOSHOP GENIUS

TRANSFORM YOUR PICS WITH JUST ONE CLICK!

After By using our free Lightroom presets, you can give your shot a wide range of radical new looks.

Import our 50 free Lightroom Presets and discover how quick and easy it is to give your pics an in-vogue, vintage aesthetic TECHNIQUE & PICS BY BEN DAVIS

W

ant to give your pics a stylish retro look, but don’t want to spend hours shifting sliders and tweaking tone curves? I guess you’d ideally want it to happen magically with just one click, and have 50 different options to choose from to boot. Well, with this month’s Digital Photo Lightroom Preset giveaway, your prayers are answered!

Our Lightroom Presets are a collection of special settings that can be applied to any image instantly, giving it an immediate transformation. Using them is a fantastic time-saver as the bulk of the work is done for you, but if you want to step in to alter exposure or contrast, we’ll show you how to do that too.

Believe me – these presets will change the way you process your pics!

At a glance You’ll learn How to import presets into Lightroom, use them to give your images a range of unique looks and make your own custom adjustments You’ll need Lightroom 5/CC Time required 10 minutes Difficulty level Easy

Periscope

On the disc Video lessons Watch as Ben runs through how to use these fantastic effects in Lightroom.

Start images The free Lightroom preset pack can be found inside the Start Images folder. Look for the folder called Retro Presets Pack.

Kozelek

Afterburn

Subterranean

Lemonworld

Before This photo was taken at a derelict farmhouse, somewhere in rural Mississippi. The lighting is rather flat, but as it’s a RAW file there’s plenty of image data to play with, so it’s easy to create a wide range of differing dramatic looks in Lightroom.

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Dark Hudson DIGITAL PHOTO 83

GROUP TEST

DSLR KITS UNDER £600 You get a lot of camera for entrylevel prices these days, so find out which of our trio deserves your hard-earned cash TEST BY DAN MOLD

CANON

PENTAX

NIKON

I

t would be easy to assume that entry-level DSLRs are exclusively for those just starting out in photography. Their relatively low prices and smaller sizes are less daunting than higher-spec enthusiast cameras, but don’t be fooled – today’s entry-level models offer an impressive array of features and deliver fantastic image quality.

In the camera industry, technology tends to trickle down from the top, so on up-to-date basic models, you’re likely to find features that were reserved for elite flagship cameras just a few years ago. These include powerful image-processing engines, built-in Wi-Fi connectivity for remote shooting via

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smartphone, image stabilisation for sharp shots at slower shutter speeds and better Noise control for cleaner shots at higher ISO values. These kinds of features serve up creative shooting options that professional photographers would have yearned for a few years back, so if you’re looking to upgrade an older ‘advanced’ camera, you may find all the bells and whistles you need at this more modest price point.

To find out how good these DSLRs are, we’ve rounded up the three top entry-level models from Canon, Nikon and Pentax.

They’ve all been released this year so they’re hot off the production line.

How we did the test The three DSLRs were put through their paces both in our test labs and out in the field.

They were all set up in an identical manner to ensure consistency, and the image quality of the files they produced was scrutinised back at the computer screen.

Features were compared to determine value and performance, and their builds and user interfaces were inspected. We also wanted to see how quickly each camera was able to write its JPEG and RAW files. For this, the same high-speed SDHC card was inserted, formatted, and a stopwatch was used to make a note of the average write times.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Stabilisation

All DSLRs on test feature image stabilisers to give sharper images at slower shutter speeds. Optical stabilisation is where lens elements move to counter vibrations, while sensor-based systems use motors to move the sensor.

Sensor

Entry-level DSLRs use APS-C sensors which are much larger than the chip you’d find in a point-andshoot compact.

The bigger size produces higher quality images.

AF systems

When looking through the viewfinder, a DSLR uses its faster phase-detection AF. But when using the screen in Live View, most switch over to a slower contrast-detect AF. Hybrid AF systems offer faster autofocusing when Live View mode is engaged.

Screen

Modern camera screens are much more than a window to review images. Some can be flipped out and rotated to help you compose while others have touch capabilities allow you to operate them like a smartphone.

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