Planet
Photo
Your fresh fix of inspiration from the world’s best photographers
Morning softly awakens On first impression, this stunning landscape by Jaewoon U looks like it was captured in the lowlands of Holland. In reality, the talented photographer managed to frame up Sorae Ecology Park in Incheon, Korea on a misty morning with the colours of a new dawn bursting in the sky. Jaewoon captured the scene by shooting multiple exposures and then merging them together in Photoshop to create an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image that made the most of the view’s highlights and shadows. Camera Canon EOS 6D MkII & 24-105mm lens Exposure Various @ f/10, ISO 100 Software Photoshop Visit 500px.com/dyne999
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HEAD FOR THE COAST
Discover how you can...
In the UK, you’re never more than 70 miles from your nearest shoreline. Here’s how to capture it in all its glory
SHOOT LIKE A PRO P28
CONQUER RUGGED COASTLINES P30
FOCUS ON FOUND STILL-LIFES P32
CRACK COMPOSITION ON THE SAND P34
CAPTURE LIFE AT THE HARBOUR P36
E ARE AN ISLAND NATION. BUFFETED BY THE NORTH Sea, Irish Sea, the Channel and the Atlantic, the UK has a whopping 11,073 miles of coastline to explore. And every inch of it is dripping with scenes your lens will savour. Shoreline shooting serves up unique opportunities to capture wild waves, dramatic skies and stunning foreground interest all in a single, magical frame. Capturing shots in coastal locations is different to other forms of outdoor shooting. Your photography is not only governed by the light and weather, but also by tide times. Getting these variables in
ALESSIO PUTZU
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A trip to the coast should be a regular tick on every photographer’s list. This sunset shot of Durdle Door on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast was taken using an aperture of f/10 and a shutter speed of 25secs. 26 DIGITAL PHOTO
alignment is crucial for great images, and by following our tips and advice you’ll be armed with the knowledge you need to be in the right place at the right time. Whether you’re closest to golden sand dunes, rock-strewn beaches or concrete harbour lines, this feature will not only inspire you into a seaside jaunt, but will also reveal plenty of shooting secrets that will elevate your pictures to new levels. So gather your camera kit, charge up your batteries and get plenty of memory cards at the ready: we’re off to the magical places where land meets sea...
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SOMETHING
FOR THE WEEKEND
Required kit KIT LENS
MATTY GRAHAM / BAUER
No fancy optics are necessary – your kit lens will do the job nicely.
TRIPOD
A sturdy tripod is a must-have accessory when capturing sequence images.
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CAPTURE SPORTY ACTION SEQUENCES Tell the whole story of your subject’s movement by shooting multiple frames and merging them together in Photoshop
CTION PHOTOGRAPHY IS GREAT FUN to shoot and gives you the chance to capture dynamic images. To push your pictures to a more exciting level, shoot an action sequence where multiple shots are captured split seconds apart and then merged together using Layers in Photoshop. These sequence creations have a big advantage over regular single-shot pictures. By combining these files, the frame will have a start, middle and end point, telling a more complete story of the moment to the viewer. You can shoot an action sequence of pretty much anything
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that moves, and you’re bound to have a host of suitable subjects to hand. From a child jumping off a swing to a dog running around the park, and from a potted ball on a snooker table to a cyclist rounding a bend – all will provide enough movement to achieve an impressive sequence. What’s more, you don’t need any fancy kit to shoot one – just a camera, a tripod to keep it still and a copy of Photoshop or Elements for the imaging work. We’re going to capture a skateboarder pulling off a trick as he cruises through the scene, but the setup and technique is the same for any subject. Let’s get started...
TECHNIQUE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE OVER THE PAGE
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Lightroom Genius
GET GRITTY WITH YOUR PORTRAITS
MASTER BLACK & WHITE
AFTER By adjusting the controls offered in Lightroom, it’s easy to create gritty mono portraits, packed with contrast and character.
Take full control of the contrast, grain and vignette to give your portraits a cutting-edge finish TECHNIQUE & PICS BY BEN DAVIS LACK & WHITE PORTRAITS are widely regarded as the best way to capture the character of a person. The distraction of colour has been removed, leaving more room for the viewer to forge a deeper connection with the subject. It’s often said that if you want to capture emotion, then shoot in black & white. While mono images may be a great vehicle for emotion, shoot RAW and you’ve got a lot more choices for processing your pic. Creating stunning black & white images is easy in Lightroom. In the Develop module, simply press V on the keyboard to create an instant mono conversion. You can then adjust the sliders to boost contrast, inject grain to create a more gritty finish, and add other cool effects to add bags of impact to people pics.
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At a glance YOU’LL LEARN How to instantly convert a RAW file to mono, and add powerful contrast and effects like grain and a vignette YOU’LL NEED Lightroom 5/6/CC or Photoshop CS6/CC TIME REQUIRED 15 minutes DIFFICULTY LEVEL Medium
On the disc VIDEO LESSONS Watch as Ben runs through this must-learn Lightroom technique on your computer screen. START IMAGE Try out the project using the Yangshuo man.dng RAW file. The picture can be found in the Start Images folder.
BEFORE This posed shot of a cormorant fisherman in Yangshuo, China, lacks any real impact when viewed in colour. It does however benefit from direct eye contact, and a good overall exposure, so will make a great black & white character portrait.
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BIG STOPPER GROUP TEST
GEARFOCUS
NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTERS
SHOW STOPPERS
Hoya PRO ND 1000 £32 - £79
A 10-stop Neutral Density filter is the most creative accessory you can own. With lots to choose from, we find out which is the best...
SRB ND 1000 square £54.90
SRB ND 1000 circular £22.50 - £37.50
TEST BY BEN DAVIS
LEE Big Stopper £172.99
F YOU’RE SERIOUS ABOUT shooting landscapes, then there’s one essential accessory that should always be in your kit bag: a 10-stop Neutral Density filter. These filters allow you to capture creative motion blur effects. Flowing water is transformed into a misty smear, clouds become scudding streaks and passing people are blurred into invisibility. These artistic qualities are impossible to achieve in daylight without the use of an ND filter, and they will instantly give your images the ‘wow’ factor. ND filters are essentially a blackened plate of glass or optical resin, and reduce the amount of light entering your camera. As a result, they allow you to use a much slower shutter speed. They either screw directly into the filter thread on your lens or are held in place with a filter holder. They’re available in a variety of strengths – measured in ‘stops’ – and for the most creative effects, you’ll need a 10-stop ND filter. This is also known as a ‘Big Stopper’, an ND 3.0 or an ND1000. A ‘stop’ is a measurement of light, and each 1-stop increase or decrease represents a
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doubling or halving of the amount of light in the exposure. A Big Stopper reduces the light entering your camera by a factor of 1000 (or 1024 times, to be more precise). It’s not possible for your camera to meter a scene with one of these dark filters attached, so you have to set the exposure manually. To do this, you need to multiply your shutter speed by 1000, so an exposure of 1/30sec without a filter becomes 30secs with a Big Stopper in place. If your maths isn’t the sharpest, there’s a panel on p109 to help out, plus a variety of free smartphone apps that will calculate the right exposure time. The length of the shutter speeds involved means you’ll often need to use ‘Bulb’ mode, where your shutter remains open for as long as you dictate. For this reason, a tripod and shutter release cable are also essential items, and will ensure your shots remain pin-sharp. Although getting kitted out to shoot ultra-long exposures isn’t cheap, it’s certainly a worthwhile investment if you like the effects. We’ve put four of the most popular Big Stoppers to the test, so read on to find out which one gives the most bang for your buck!
How we did the test We put all four of the 10-stop Neutral Density filters through an identical series of tests to rate their performance and image quality. We inspected the images for sharpness and colour accuracy, and examined the filters for build quality and ease-of-use. Finally, we weighed it all up against their total system cost to see which offered the best value for money.
Four of the best Big Stoppers were put through their paces in the field and the studio.
TYPES OF FILTER SYSTEM CIRCULAR These circular-shaped filters screw directly into the thread on the front of your lens, meaning you don’t need to buy any additional accessories for them to work. One of the benefits of screw-in filters is they are light-tight, so there’s no chance of light leaks around the perimeter. The downside is you’ll need a circular filter specific to the size of each lens (pricey), or a selection of stepping rings to adapt the sizes (fiddly).
SQUARE
FILTER HOLDER
Square filters are designed to be slotted into a dedicated filter holder, which needs to be purchased separately. The good news is you only need to buy one filter, provided you get one big enough to cover all your lenses. One drawback is that it’s not possible to use existing lens hoods with square filters, so it’s best to shoot away from the sun to avoid flare.
Filter holders come in a variety of sizes, so you need to make sure you get the one designed to be used with your specific filter. Most have a number of slots allowing multiple filters to be used simultaneously. You’ll also need to get an adaptor ring that matches the filter thread of each lens you want to use it with.
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