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For this tutorial you will need:

1 x Photoshop (I used CS4 for reference)

1 x Lightroom (not essential)

1 x flash (or other source of directional light)

1 x photograph (definitely essential)

I used a bare SB600 with a gridded snoot to get this shot but I imagine you could get something similar with a desk lamp or something similar if a flash isn’t readily available. Or go completely the other way and try this technique out on something the exact opposite. I’ve no idea if it’ll work but you’ll never know until you try it.

I’ll start with opening the photo in Photoshop – I tend to make initial adjustments in Lightroom first then switch to Photoshop for ‘finesse’ processing but it depends on your own workflow:

Step 1: Find yourself a photo. This is the image I’m going to use straight out of camera:

Image straight out of camera

Click - drag - duplicate

Surface blur menu with my settings

Step 4: You’ll be left with an image that looks like you’ve gone nuts with noise reduction.

Image with surface blur set to 100%

Image with surface blur at 35%

Step 5: Add a layer mask to the duplicate layer (Layer menu > Layer Mask > Reveal All). Select the Brush tool, make sure you’re using a black brush and start to unmask the layer underneath to bring back the sharpness in the eyes. Make sure you zoom in close for this so you can see what you’re doing and try adjusting the brush opacity for a subtle finish. I usually use 100% opacity for the bits I know I want completely rid of and then work outwards with less opacity as I reach the edges where I need to be careful. For my photo I also unmasked my mouth which seemed to help add just enough sharpness. Experiment a bit to see what works and what doesn’t. And the beauty of using layer masks is that if you hate it you can easily fix it.

Image with eyes unmasked

Step 6: Open the photo in Lightroom and adjust the Clarity slider upwards. I pushed mine all the way to 100 but don’t take my word for it, see what you prefer. It should give you some extra definition between light and dark areas, but because we’ve applied the blurring above it doesn’t accentuate wrinkles, just creates some depth.

And that’s about it. I think this tutorial will work best with a close up portrait and I’d advise caution if you already have a shallow depth of field as applying this tutorial on top of that will probably ruin your photo.

If you find that after you’ve applied the blur and your photo loses contrast, try creating another duplicate layer from the base layer and setting the layer blending style to Overlay. Dial the opacity back to around 40 - 50% and see if that helps. It helped improve contrast in my photo and also added some saturation to warm the photo up a bit.  You could also try messing with levels and tone curves – I’d switch back to Lightroom for this because that’s how I work but if you do this in Photoshop make sure you make the adjustments to the base layer (or a copy of the base layer) otherwise you’ll wipe out the effects of the blended layers.

Image with Overlay layer for extra contrast

Camera

Focal length: 50mm (using a 50mm prime)

Shutter speed: 1/200

Aperture: f8

ISO: 200

Flash

Power: 1/8

Zoom: 24mm

Gridded snoot

The flash was at a distance of about 1 metre to camera left.

And this is what I ended up with:

The finished image

So over the last few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of playing with a new camera strap for my DSLR courtesy of my good friend CocoaPop Dave and the lovely people at Blackrapid. This is my story of the why’s, how’s and whatever’s.

I’ve been using the camera strap that came with my camera since the dawn of time and it does the job…and it does the job in a reasonable fashion. I have found though that as I shoot more that it can be pretty uncomfortable over long periods of time and it puts the camera in a position that is often in the way when I’m trying to do other activities (like setting up light stands and backdrops or picking up fallen children). I also find that it is not very discrete which means that I stick out like a sore thumb as a guy with a camera rather than blend into the background. I always assumed that camera straps were camera straps and apart from colour and length there wasn’t really a “better way”. It turns out I was wrong.

Black Rapid stock a range of innovative and quality camera strap products that suit a range of photographic activities and personal preferences. I was given a blackrapid RS-7 with Brad MOD to try out. This is essentially a strap that is worn diagonally across the body from shoulder to hip with the addition of a small extra strap which fastens from front to back under the arm for extra security and stabilisation (thats the Brad MOD bit). It sounds simple and in essence it is….but whats good about it is the quality of the product and the little details.

The camera is positioned off of the hip which immediately makes carrying your camera more comfortable and it is fastened to the strap using a very secure but quick release pin/fastener thingy to the camera’s tripod mount. This can then freely and easily be lifted along the strap to the shooting position. I initially thought this would be quite cumbersome but was pleasantly suprised at the ease and range of movement it provides. If anything this system seems to give a much more stable shooting platform over a regular strap as the camera feels more anchored to my body. On the strap itself are two ‘bumpers’ which provide a means of securing the camera in a fixed position on the strap so that when you are not shooting the camera is not sliding up and down the strap. There are also a couple of places where you can fix on other accessories and such if you’re that way inclined. I’ve probably explained this all really badly so I would encourage you to visit the black rapid website and check out there videos.

The Black Rapid strap is so very much more comfortable than my old strap and has the advantage of being discrete, versatile and just darn right clever. Definately one of my new favourite things. I used it on a portrait shoot last weekend and it was amazing how much it just freed me up to do more things without my camera getting in the way but likewise meant I was always in a position to shoot when I needed to. It just works….and ok it’s just a strap…big deal….maybe….maybe not. No more neck ache, no more camera flapping around, no more standing out in the crowd (I tend to wear it under an open shirt or jacket)…I loves it…You should too. Nuff Said. The best things come in small packages….oh and on that subject it come with it’s own neat little bag. 

This is pretty much my first Lowepro bag. Well that’s not true It’s my first lowepro bag big enough to put a DSLR in. I have a small pouch designed for a compact which I sometimes just use to carry a film camera or a flash. I’d also like to make it clear I am in no way affiliated to loweproUK who I won the bag from. This review is my honest opinion.

First impressions were very good. The build quality is top notch, rugged fabric on the outside and soft finishes with plenty of padding on the inside to protect your gear. Each buckle and strap is well made and stitched and the zips have nice leather pull tags on them.

Sizing the bag up for the first time I really didn’t think it was much bigger than my current crumpler rucksack but I was wrong. It really is quite the tardis. On the outside it looks reasonably small and it holds quite a slim profile which is nice as I don’t find it’s bashing on walls and people when I’m walking through the sometimes busy streets of Weymouth. On the inside though it holds an almost ridiculous amount of kit! The main compartment happily holds my D80 and 3 lenses (1 attached to body) and my sb600. That doesn’t sound like much but I still have room for approx another 2-3 lenses! which is fairly impressive for a small bag which is the right size for carry-on luggage.

Above the main compartment is a long pocket which runs the length of the lid. This quite happily stores a bunch of gels, two sets of AA batteries and a spare camera battery. It also has several specific slots for memory cards which are really handy and so easily accessible. There is also another pocket at the top of the bag which happily fits a mobile phone, wallet, notepad, pens, business cards etc. The front of the bag has a netbook pocket. It’s certainly big enough for that but I currently don’t have one to fill it. Instead I use it for a compact film camera, six rolls of film, a magazine, 500gb hard drive, leads, ipod, keys, filters, snoots and anything else I happen to find lying about. Yes it really is quite a big pocket!! and YES I really am impressed by this bag….but whats more impressive than both the size and build of this bag though is the design.

The design of this bag just rocks. I think someone has really thought about this bag for some time, if they haven’t they’ve certainly given that impression. It’s a sling bag so they’ve made entry to the main compartment through the side of the rucksack. This means you can access the bag without removing it just by swinging it around off your shoulder. They’ve kept the shape simple – It’s pretty much a rectangular box but this means when you want to use the bag you can place it on on the floor or a table and easily work out of the bag,. It doesn’t fall over and access to the contents is easy and not hindered. The pocket on top is genius and because its actually formed by one of the central compartment dividers it can be re-sized if required. the front netbook pocket is really spacious and again each to access. The adjustable straps have sleeves to hold the trailing strap pieces out of the way. It’s these little details that make the bag work. On one side of the bag you have a tripod holder and a pull out tripod foot. This very handily tucks away into a compartment on the side of the bag if not in use. It also has a weather cover that is also attached to the bag but hidden away. Zips are well placed and easy to use, and each pocket has two zips (even the smallest pocket) which is great for access and also means you could padlock them for security. Yes I really love this bag!

I guess though one reason for loving this bag is I didn’t have to pay for it…..that helps right? yeah I guess but it seems you can pick one of these up on amazon for about £80 and I reckon its worth every penny. It’s a well thought out design. Its big enough for most amateurs (and even pro’s who don’t pack the kitchen sink) and it’s great build quality will protect your stuff and as a bonus it hold a tripod well (something I’ve been needing in a bag for ages). Sure they do bigger bags but I would advise people who don’t need to carry lots of long zoom lenses or a full laptop check this bag out first. I give it 9 out of 10 and that’s only because of one very slight annoyance which the extra stability strap causes me but that’s being nit picky.

You can find out more of the technical stuff  about the bag here

Click here to view the embedded video.

Deep Freeze (Photo by Paul Broome)

Very interesting  article on the BJP website today, exciting news from the Netherlands!!

The Impossible Project and their UK-based partners Harman Technology (owners of the Ilford film brand) have announced that they’ve produced and tested the first run of a new black and white integral film – and while it doesn’t quite work as they’ve planned (has sepia tones apparently – which actually sounds quite cool!) it’s still a major step forward on their quest.

And as if all of that weren’t enough they’re also now planning to ressurect the 8×10 Polaroid format as well!!

And in related news, Impossible has also partnered up with clothes retailer Urban Outfitters – who are going to start stocking Polaroid Type 779 film and ONE600 Classic instant cameras in their UK and US stores.  I think that counts as somewhat of a result!

It really seems as though their mission has captured the imagination of a new generation

Soften Skin in action with overlay

Soften Skin is one of the presets on the Adjustment Brush – and it’s quite well hidden, which is a shame as it’s a great feature!

Open a shot to work on, and go to the Develop pane, then click on the Adjustment Brush tool (the far right one of the five icons under the histogram – looks kind of like a thermometer on its side).

Once selected, a new set of menu options appear below – click on the arrows next to the current Effect to get a drop down list of effects and presets. Select Soften Skin from the list.

Now you could just go ahead and paint over the areas of skin you want to soften – but it can be difficult to see which areas you’ve selected. So instead I recommend that you press O before you start painting, as this will turn on the Overlay option, which makes everything MUCH easier! Now go ahead and paint the areas you want to soften – obviously just select skin, not hair, eyes or lips – if you go over the edge and want to delete a small area of selection, just press and hold the Alt key and paint over the area you want to delete.

Once you’ve finished your selection press O again to turn off the overlay and see the effect applied. The default full Amount of 100 can be a little obvious at times, so try lowering it until you get the desired combination of softened and natural (I find a figure of around 60 to 80 looks natural, but flattering).

Figaro by the Sea

“Less Is More”:  It’s not a new concept or suggestion, but when it comes to the visual arts it’s one that should never be far from your mind.  A cluttered frame is not a frame that’s pretty to look at – in fact, it’s pretty much an instant turn-off.  Most of the photographs of my own making that I’m happiest with tend to be the most simple and unfussy.

Take this ‘environmental’ shot that I took at a recent wedding.  In essence it’s just a car in a field by the sea – but I think it’s actually quite an evocative shot (feel free to disagree!).  Even if you don’t know that it’s a Nissan Figaro (a car built by Nissan in the early 90s, styled very much on a 50s design – which has since acquired a huge cult status, mostly due to the limited run of 20,000), and that it’s the bride’s car parked up at the reception venue.  Despite it’s simplicity there’s a lot here to stimulate visually, and plenty of space to allow the eye to circulate around the frame – with the early evening sunlight helping the whole ambience.

Which leads me to another pointer:  if you’re shooting a wedding, don’t just get caught up photographing the people, make sure you get plenty of shots of the surroundings (landscapes, details, signs, etc) as when everything is put together in an album, book or slideshow at the end of the day it all serves to evoke quality memories of the occasion.