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D-SLRD SLRTECHNIQUES

HOW TO USE RAW LIKE A PRO

www.photoanswers.co.uk ISSUE 133 SEPTEMBER 2010 £4.99

ON TESTPANASONIC G2VS CANON 550DBUDGET LCD MONITORS

DO IT BETTER!

BRILLIANT FLOWER PICSGet studio-style fl oral shots in your own back garden

Get creative with focus. From blurred backgrounds to super-sharp scenics – all you need is right here!

Cover Sept 2010 ja KH.indd 1 26/7/10 11:06:24

ALL NEW D-SLR & PHOTOSHOP SKILLS!

SET UP

YOUR

CAMERA

FOR

CREATIVE

EFFECTS!

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022-039 Creative focus ja ks KH.indd 22 26/7/10 17:04:17

DIGITAL PHOTO

WHAT YOU NEED ANY D-SLRWHAT YOU’LL LEARN FOCUS SKILLS

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MASTERING FOCUS & CONTROLLING DEPTH-OF-FIELD are hands down the most important skills you’ll learn as a creative photographer. Fact. The ability to choose and control what is in and out of focus in an image is what separates considered pictures from snapshots – and it’s one of the easiest ways to mark out professional looking photos from more naïve compositions.

In this guide you’ll learn how to take control of focusing and use it to your advantage, so whether you want to reproduce pro-style narrow depth-of-fi eld eff ects or retain pin-sharp detail throughout the frame, we’ve got you covered.

If you want to get the best from your D-SLR and produce top-quality shots, you need to master focusing and depth-of-fi eld – just follow this simple guide to fi nd out how!

SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO MASTER APERTURE OVER THE PAGE

MASTER FOCUSING EFFECTS... but by controlling simple camera settings like aperture and autofocus you can produce pro-style pics with any D-SLR and lens!

DON’T SHOOT THE LAZY WAY!If you don’t harness depth-of-� eld control, you’ll always end up with so-so pictures...

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creative photographer. Fact. The ability to choose and control what is in and out of focus in an image is what

TAKE COMPLETE CONTROL OF WHAT’S IN FOCUSNOW!

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ADOBE’S Camera Raw interface sports an excellent selection of features, which allow us to control a wide range of variables, from basic exposure

adjustments through to lens-based defi ciencies in the Lens Corrections tab. Last month we explored the Basic and Detail tabs to fi nd out how they are used to rescue under-exposed images and high-ISO shots suff ering from digital Noise and a lack of sharpness.

This month we’re going to look at three tabs, starting with HSL/Grayscale. This tab off ers control of three main colour variables including Hue, Saturation and Luminance – great for adjusting specifi c colours as well as altering the colours of your main subject.

Another tab that has an eff ect on colour is the Split Toning tab. With Hue and Saturation sliders, the Split Toning tab lets you assign specifi c colours to highlights and shadows and is great for introducing subtle colour into black & white images – something we’ll be exploring how to do in another RAW project.

Lens flaws Our third RAW project concerns itself with the Lens Corrections tab, which is designed to minimise the eff ects of lens fl aws such as fringeing (chromatic aberration) – which shows itself as a coloured halo on a high contrast edge – and dark corners (vignetting) The latter is a common problem that’s often seen when shooting at wide apertures with less expensive lenses. We’ll see how this tab cures both types of lens-based defects. So, read through the three projects we’ve got lined up and make sure you watch the accompanying videos on the CD.

CONTROL COLOUR & LENS DEFECTS IN CAMERA RAW

DIGITAL PHOTO48 WWW.PHOTOANSWERS.CO.UK

PhotoshopMasterclass

» Your expert guide to the tips, tools & techniques that really matter...

LEARN

ALL-NEW

SKILLS

“ Read through our three projects and make

KNOWLEDGE THE THREE SEPARATE TABS

Camera RawDiscover how to control colour and fi x common lens-based fl aws with these three advanced RAW techniques... TECHNIQUES BY MICHAEL TOPHAM

The HSL/Grayscale, Split Toning and Lens Corrections tabs are found to the right of the Basic and Detail tabs. To cycle through the tabs in ACR very quickly, use the shortcut Alt+Ctrl and hit the relevant number on the keyboard. For example, to access the Split Toning tab, use Alt+Ctrl+5.

SPLIT TONING TABTo apply a fi ne-art toning treatment non-destructively to your RAWs, use the Split Toning tab. You can control the tone in Highlights and Shadows and fi ne-tune the eff ect with the Balance slider.

HSL/GRAYSCALE TABThis tab gives you masses of colour control. You can adjust the Hue, Saturation and Luminance of the colours in your RAWs with eight sliders under each of the three headings.

LENS CORRECTIONS TABThis is great for controlling chromatic aberration (fringeing) in your shots. It’s also used to remove (or add) vignetting eff ects – dark edges found towards the corners of your images.

Camera RawCamera RawCamera RawPART2

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sure you watch the videos on the CD “

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DIGITAL PHOTO 49WWW.PHOTOANSWERS.CO.UK

WHAT YOU NEED PHOTOSHOP CS OR HIGHERWHAT YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO EDIT IN CAMERA RAW

Adjust the HueLocate the � le named LAUREN.dng from the cover CD and open it up in Photoshop to load the Camera Raw interface. You’ll be welcomed by the Basic tab, but we’re going to be using the HSL/Grayscale tab to change the colours instead, so use the shortcut Alt+Ctrl+4 to access it. With Hue selected, set the Oranges to +10, Greens to +95, Aquas to +95, Blues to +50 and keep all the remaining colours set to zero.

Alter the SaturationClick on the Saturation heading and you’ll � nd the same list of sliders to increase or decrease the ‘volume’ of the colours. Set the Oranges to

+35 to make the hair stand out slightly more. Reduce the Greens to -80 to diminish the green cast in the window re� ection and move the Aquas slider to +90 to boost the richness of the building colour. Increasing the Blues slider to +40 will enhance the colour intensity of the model’s dress.

Enhance with LuminanceTo change the brightness of the colour range click on the Luminance heading. To lighten the

skin tones fractionally, increase the Oranges to +30. Drag the Greens slider left to -80 and increase the Aquas amount to +90 . Take hold of the Blues slider and set this to -30 to make the colour tone of the dress match that of the background building. You can now click on Done to apply the changes and to dismiss the dialog without opening the image.

CAMERA RAW PROJECT 1 Change colours with HSL/Grayscale

MORE GREAT CAMERA RAW ADVICE OVER THE PAGE

VIDEOLESSONS ON THECD!When you want to adjust the colours in your images, or need a fast means of switching a colour shot to mono, you need to turn to the HSL/Grayscale tab. With 24 sliders in all to control the Hue, Saturation and Luminance, it gives you the option of getting really creative with colour. In this � rst technique, we’re going to switch the turquoise colour of the building and the model’s dress to a vibrant blue without a� ecting the natural colour of the skin tones. Best of all, any adjustments we make in Camera Raw are non-destructive, so we can easily reset the colours to Default at any time if we’re not happy with the e� ect.

FINAL IMAGE

START IMAGE LAUREN.DNG

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SHOOT FABULOUS FLORALS IN YOUR GARDENUse our tips on composition, lighting, aperture & shutter speed to get better fl ower photos!TECHNIQUE BY GAVIN HOEY

DIGITAL PHOTO52

PHOTOGRAPHY IS A GREAT EXCUSE for getting out of the house and enjoying some fi ne late summer weather. But you don’t need to travel far to get amazing photos. All you need is a garden and it doesn’t have to be big or amazing to yield top-quality fl ower images.

We don’t believe there’s a photographer on the planet who can walk past a

colourful bunch of fl owers without whipping out their camera for a quick snap. But snapshots are for the masses – if you want to create something truly impressive you need to spend time getting the best from your fl owers. To make that easy we’ll show you how to apply creative camera techniques that’ll transform any garden into a fl ower studio.

FLORALS IN YOUR GARDEN FLORALS IN FLORALS IN YOUR GARDENVIDEOLESSON

ON THECD!

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WHAT YOU NEED ANY D-SLR & PHOTOSHOPWHAT YOU’LL LEARN SHOOT BETTER FLOWER PHOTOS

DIGITAL PHOTO 53WWW.PHOTOANSWERS.CO.UK

VIDEOLESSON ON THECD!

EXCLUSIVE LIVE-ACTION VIDEO LESSON ON THE DISCWatch Gavin’s video on the cover disc, and see this entire technique ‘live’ on your computer. Once you’ve seen the video, give it a whirl yourself with your own � oral subjects!

DIGITAL PHOTO 53

By controlling your D-SLR’s creative exposure modes and improving your composition skills you can get great � oral shots.

ON THE CD

TURN OVER FOR MORE

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DIGITAL PHOTO82

GEAR

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PANASONIC G2 CANON EOS 550DVS CANON VS CANON EOS 550DVS EOS 550D

PANASONIC LUMIX G2 £599The Panasonic LUMIX G2 is our pick of the CSCs.

The Panasonic LUMIX G2 is an excellent Compact System Camera, but does it off er enough to tempt users away from a traditional D-SLR? We put it up against the DP Gold award-winning Canon EOS 550D to fi nd outTEST BY PHIL HALL

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DIGITAL PHOTO 83

PANASONIC LUMIX G2 VS CANON EOS 550D GEAR

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IF YOU’RE THINKING of upgrading from a compact in an eff ort to progress your photography, there’s now an extra layer to that decision-making process – which camera to buy. Until recently, it was what D-SLR to choose, but now there’s the question of whether to go for a D-SLR or a Compact System Camera (CSC).

With the mirror removed from the

internal workings of the camera, CSCs have a shorter distance between the lens and the sensor. This produces a much more compact solution compared to a D-SLR while maintaining many of the benefi ts, including a sensor with a similar physical size – and much larger than one found on a compact.

Panasonic was the fi rst manufacturer to

TURN THE PAGE AND DISCOVER MORE ABOUT THESE GREAT CAMERAS

CANON EOS 550D £689The best mid-price D-SLR currently available.

HEADTO HEAD TEST!CSC FIGHTS IT OUT WITH A D-SLR

g2 vs canon 550d test KH ja PH.indd 83 26/7/10 15:03:00

AFFORDABLE LCD SCREENS

FOR DIGITAL IMAGING

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GEAR

Does size really matter? When it comes to choosing a monitor for editing your pictures you bet it does! And with some large 24in displays now well under £200, there’s never been a better time to buy one…TEST BY PAUL CARROLL

» Acer S243HL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £255

» BenQ V2420H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £175

» HP ZR24W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £325

» NEC P221W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £300

» LG W2453TQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £180

» VIEWSONIC VP2365WB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £230

WHAT WE TESTED

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91 DIGITAL PHOTO WWW.PHOTOANSWERS.CO.UK

GEAR

GET ALL THE INFO YOU NEED OVER THE PAGE

MONITORS GROUP TEST

WE’LL MAKE SURE YOU GET THE BEST BUY!

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