Digital Photo - November 2015

DIGITAL PHOTO NOVEMBER 2015 ISSUE 200

ISSUE 200 NOVEMBER 2015 £4.99

IMPROVE

EVERY PHOTO

GO WILD THIS AUTUMN GET THE WOW FACTOR IN PHOTOSHOP

GO WILD AUTUMN 34

YOU TAKE

THIS

creative photo projects & ideas you can do right now!

Imaging skills

CAPTURE WILDLIFE THE EASY WAY

Get the Photoshop ‘wow’ factor

Sunbeams Smoke Silhouettes

Camera techniques

Capture wildlife the easy way

Trusted tests

Bag a bargain

Six camera backpacks under £100 – we name the best buy

Shoot animal magic in a field near you!

NOVEMBER 2015 ISSUE 200 £4.99

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PACKED WITH GREAT IDEAS & INSPIRATION POLE POSITION

Meet the man who turns cars into art

FRAME SHOTS LIKE A PRO Use vanishing points for better composition

OUT OF THE ORDINARY

Create striking shots from everyday items

PLANET PHOTO

By including people in the frame, Tim added scale to this stunning landmark.

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

THE BIG PICTURE

Nature’s eye to the underworld Despite his youthful age of 19, Tim Buccue is an incredibly well-travelled photographer.

The American student was fortunate enough to travel with his family a few years back, taking in a whopping 33 countries. “This trip sparked my interest in photography. I could not put my camera down and my interest has only grown since then,” he explains.

One of Tim’s most recent journeys was to the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park and Tim did his research to ensure he captured a great image. “The most common way to view

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the spring is from the boardwalk, but while this provides a beautiful close-up view, it is hard to get the grander perspective and colour gradients that this massive spring offers. Using Google Maps, I found a trail which allowed me to get a higher angle, which showcases its larger patterns. I also decided to include people to show the scale of the spring.” In Lightroom, Tim increased the contrast and saturation to make the most of the rich colours in the scene.

What was used Camera Canon EOS 1Ds & 70-200mm lens Exposure 81/1000sec @ f/5.6, ISO 100 Software Lightroom Visit www.500px.com/lifeinpixels

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The Nest’s build is durable and high quality, made from waterresistant nylon.

T

he Nest Explorer 100S is a stylish, lightweight shoulder bag designed to safely hold a DSLR with a lens attached and up to two additional lenses. It also has several smaller compartments, inside and out, to take memory cards, batteries and other essential photo accessories. Another large internal pocket is perfectly-sized for a mobile phone, e-reader or small tablet, kept securely in place by Velcro fasteners. The Explorer has a premium feel thanks to its high specification, and is made using a durable, water-resistant 210D ‘Rip-stop’ nylon.

Add to that a strong, padded shoulder strap and an external rain cover to protect it from the elements, and you’ve got a stylish and practical camera bag ideal for everyday use.

EQUIPPED

The Nest includes a waterproof cover that’s easy to use for added protection in the rain.

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GO WILD AUTUMN

GO WILD THIS AUTUMN!

Shoot wild animals with our expert advice

THIS

DISCOVER THE ART OF CAPTURING FOXES P28

Get hooked on the joys of wildlife shooting with four easy projects you can do right now!

TECHNIQUES AND PICTURES BY DAN MOLD

USE DAWN LIGHT TO GET A GOLDEN GLOW P30

Y

ou may think you need professional long lenses and a trip to Africa to get brilliant wildlife pictures, but this simply isn’t true. There are some fantastic shots to be had locally, and if you have a creative camera and a modest telephoto zoom like a 70-300mm, you’re all set to go.

Now is the perfect time to take them, as autumn brings a wealth of animal action, from squirrels foraging for nuts to stags battling it out in the deer rut.

To sweeten the deal, the days are shorter, so it’s easy to get up at dawn when the light is magical and animals are at their most active. If you’ve never experienced the thrill of capturing a great wildlife shot, now’s your chance, as we’ll show you how to set up your camera to shoot this awesome autumn action.

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CAPTURE THE GRACE OF A BIRD IN FLIGHT P34

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DAN MOLD

SHOOT THE CHARM OF A SQUIRREL PORTRAIT P32

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

CREATE AUTUMN FINE ART

Combine capture and Photoshop skills to turn an autumn leaf into a striking still-life with a built-in frame.

Turn a leaf into a sublime still-life in your own back yard!

WORDS & PICS BY JON ADAMS

I

t’s not often you’ll need to take a blurred picture. But this fantastic project requires you to do it as part of the process. It’s a really creative technique that involves building a twig frame around a leafy subject, and the image that’s produced is a perfect blend of composition, camera craft and Photoshop.

It’s a great way to make use of natural light, and because the subject and surrounding twigs are so readily available, it’s the kind of project you can shoot in a back garden or local park. Even better, it only takes a few minutes to get the shots, and the Photoshop work is so easy you’ll be proudly viewing the new picture you’ve created in no time!

You’ll need a tripod to fix your camera in place, as the technique requires two shots taken from exactly the same position. One picture is sharp and the other is blurred, but when blended together as Layers, they fuse together to give a really artistic look that’s impossible to create any other way.

Of course, you can soften pictures in Photoshop using digital Blur filters, but by blurring in-camera with your manual focusing ring you get a much better result. This is because, when rotated, the focusing ring on a camera alters the focal length very slightly, and this subtle change produces a superb streaking effect that’s difficult to emulate in any other way.

Aside from a tripod, the only other kit you need is a camera and standard lens, so hunt down a good-looking leaf, grab a handful of small twigs, and you’ll be ready to go!

Required kit DSLR or CSC

Tripod Your camera can’t move between the two shots you’ll take, so a set of ‘sticks’ is essential.

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JON ADAMS / BAUER

Any camera that can be set up for manual focusing is perfect for this project.

TECHNIQUE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE OVER THE PAGE

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CREATE VIRTUAL SMOKE

PHOTOSHOP GENIUS

SCULPT SMOKE FOR FUN-FILLED PORTRAITS

Create authentic smoke effects using Brushes and filters to add a new dimension to your images TECHNIQUE & PICS BY ANDY HEATHER

S

o far in this section we’ve been focusing on adding realistic smoke to a shot to enhance the atmosphere. However, the same principles can also be applied in a completely unrealistic way to create out-of-this world images.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to create billowing plumes of smoke emanating from a model’s ears, as if they’ve just taken a bite out of a particularly spicy chilli. This is the kind of image you’d expect to see in a cartoon or kids’ movie, so putting it in a portrait makes for a striking and amusing shot.

You’ll learn how to create your clouds of smoke using nothing more than a few strokes of the Brush tool. With a combination of Blur filters and the Liquify command, you can push, pull and tease your smoke into pretty much any shape you like. It’s sure to spice up a shot of your kids or grand-kids and is bound to bring a smile to the family’s faces.

For a faster, jet plume, we’ll show you how to turn dots into streaks. These can be stretched with the Transform command until you have what appear to be blasts of steam shooting out of your model’s ears!

Run through the technique using our practice image first, then replace our model with a shot of someone you know to create an image of your own creation.

Best of all, once you’ve created a smoke effect you like, you can drag and drop it into other shots to add smoke to any image you like: a stubbed out cigarette, a smoking gun, an angry dragon – the only limit is your imagination!

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At a glance You’ll learn How to create the out-of-this world effect of smoke shooting from someone’s ears You’ll need Photoshop or Elements Time required 20 minutes Difficulty level Medium

On the disc Video lessons Watch as Andy runs through this technique on your computer screen.

Start image The shot used in this tutorial can be found in the Start Images folder. It’s called Chilli girl.jpg.

After The artificial smoke appears to be shooting from the ears, making for a whimsical and entertaining shot. It also clarifies the meaning of the model’s facial expression.

Before

1 For the start image, we shot our model holding a chilli on a fork, taking special care not to touch it with our bare hands!

We used an aperture of f/5.6 to make sure the chilli was recognisable, but slightly blurred to draw the viewer’s attention to the model’s face.

Brush in some curvy lines

Open your background image or use Chilli Girl.jpg from the Start Images folder. Make sure the Layers palette is visible (Window Layers).

Next, you’ll want to create a new Layer (Shift+Ctrl+Alt+N) and press B to select the Brush tool. In the Brush Preset Picker, click the small triangle in the top-left corner. In the dropdown menu, click on Calligraphic Brushes then Append. Select the brush named Flat 45 px. In Elements, it’s in the Tool Options at the bottom under Brush Calligraphic Brushes.

With white as your foreground colour (press D then X) paint a series of smoke wisps. Try to keep your lines smooth and in a shape resembling a teardrop.

2

Fade the edges of the smoke

With your smoke lines Layer still selected, go to Filter Blur Gaussian Blur and drag the slider to 20px.

Duplicate the Layer (Ctrl+J) and make a Selection around the smoke lines by Ctrl+clicking on its thumbnail in the Layers panel. Contract the Selection (Select Modify Contract) by 25px, then invert the Selection (Select Inverse) and press Delete. You’ve now created a small smoke wisp inside a larger one. Press Ctrl+T and shrink the smoke slightly. Now click on the original smoke lines Layer beneath to make it active, and reduce the Opacity to ­30%.

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BACKPACK GROUP TEST

BAG A BARGAIN! Every DSLR needs a bag to keep it protected so this month we’ve rounded up six of the best backpacks that cost less than £100 TEST BY DAN MOLD

NATIONAL

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photographic backpack is much more than a vessel you can use to transport your camera – it can totally change the way you shoot, and the images you capture. Taking all of the photographic equipment you need on a long expedition can be a struggle, and a photography rucksack is designed to make it easier to carry all of your gear as well as protect it from scrapes, scratches and inclement weather.

A shoulder bag is the option many of us choose as our first camera bag, and if you’ve ever used one you’ll know all too well the limits of their carrying capacities and 116 DIGITAL PHOTO

comfort. A good photographic backpack will carry all of your gear, including a tripod, extra lenses and filters, and will spread the load across both shoulders. These bags also serve as a solid, protective housing for your core gear when it’s not in use.

We’ve rounded up six of the best models on the market that cost less than £100 – the kind of amount you should be prepared to spend on such an important piece of kit.

How we did the test We fully packed each bag with the maximum load it could take and went on the same hike

with each. This allowed us to gauge the level of comfort offered by the pack’s harness.

Keeping your gear protected in a downpour is a common problem faced by outdoor photographers so we poured water on all the bags to see if they kept the contents dry.

Some models also have a weather shield which can be attached in the rain and these were scrutinised too.

It’s essential to get to your camera quickly when the perfect moment presents itself, so we also looked at the ergonomics of each bag – how easy they were to open, organise and get your camera out in a hurry.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR Access

Some bags open from the top while others open from the rear.

The latter is ideal for the security conscious as it’s harder to access.

Some bags even have a side entry-point for speedy access.

Straps

Look for padded shoulder straps, a waist strap to stabilise the load and an elasticated sternum strap to stop it rolling off the shoulders and allow your lungs to expand.

Rain cover

You’ll want your gear to be protected in all weathers, so a rain cover is essential if the heavens open.

Zips

These should open smoothly without getting snagged. If they do, it’ll slow down access to your camera.

Tripod holder

All good photography backpacks have a method of attaching a tripod to make it easier to carry to your location.

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