As a predominantly studio based Canon photographer, exposure compensation pretty much passed me by. I understood it would alter the way the camera metered a scene, but never quite grasped why I would use it when I could do the job manually, and in the studio that’s fine. Why bother? It was only when I…
Sometimes sharp focus front to back is not achievable straight out of the camera. Combining focus stacking and exposure blending to achieve vibrant realistic colours and sharp focus with Affinity Photo is much easier than you might think. The principles I explain here will work just as well in Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop and will deliver tack…
A couple of weeks ago I posted a video on YouTube in which I mentioned focus stacking. I’ve had a few questions about it and a friend mentioned that he intended to use a combination of DxO PhotoLab and Affinity Photo instead of my favoured workflow (for layer based editing) of Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop….
I’ve been meaning to write this article for years now, but never got around to it as the weather here in Spain keeps me outdoors, shooting! The unholy trinity of Aperture ISO and Shutter speed. Three settings that are inextricably linked together and absolutely determine how your photograph will turn out. An overview of this…
DxO PhotoLab 7 and the Nik Collection Creating depth in landscape photography is a challenge that can be resolved in a few different ways, ranging from point of sharp focus, through leading lines to foreground interest. These solutions happen in camera, but what can we do in processing to increase the perception of depth in…
Getting the best out of HDR Photography involves knowing how to set up bracketing in your camera and how to use an HDR processor such as Nik HDR Efex or the Merge tool in Adobe Lightroom to blend the photographs together. What is HDR? HDR the technique stands for High Dynamic Range and the technique…
Color Efex and Viveza I’ve been looking closely at Color Efex and Viveza, two plugins from the Nik Collection recently. I’ve dabbled with Color Efex in the past, but in terms of a coherent Color Workflow with Nik Collection plugins, well I didn’t really have one. Until now. Video I have a playlist on YouTube…
Windmills, Snow and Gigapixel Panoramas This week, with the help of the Mountain Nomads, I found a location that has eluded me for months: the Atalaya de Marchal. The Atalaya de Marchal is a watchtower built by the Moors on a hilltop outside Conchar, just off the Albenuelas road. Its purpose was to spot incoming…
This article explains how to approach printing like a pro in DxO PhotoLab 7, using the Soft Proofing tools. In truth, printing has long been a tortuous task for me, I believe that printers and photographers are different beasts and rarely are the two skills combined. There’s always Ansel Adams to disprove this theory, but…
Creating a signature in photoshop suitable for use across many images is quite straightforward in Photoshop, this is how it’s done. Video New Photoshop Document Choose a layout that is large and approximates to the shape of your signature. So if you are called Archibald Merryweather Smyth , then choose a template such as the…