Hi {name},

Welcome to Lenscraft in Focus for November 2023.

Thank you for the many comments I received following last month’s newsletter. There was a significant amount of interest in the article about Camera Diffraction. A few of you left comments on the article, but many more emailed me. I’m always happy to receive emails, but filtering systems can sometimes catch them. This appears to have happened to several emails this time (that I know about), so please accept my apologies if you haven’t received a reply. The best way to ask questions and share thoughts is in the comments section at the bottom of the article.

October was also a hectic month. I had to recheck the entire +70,000-word text of my book “Essential Adobe Photoshop CC” 3^rd edition, following the release of Photoshop v25. I’ve also been developing a new system for photo editing in Lightroom, which you can read about later in this newsletter. I even took a few trips out to do some photography.

I shot this using a Fuji XT5 with a Fuji 16-80 lens at 16mm. I had the camera mounted on a tripod for an exposure of 1/9 second at f/8.0 and ISO125. And here’s another image from October. I shot this at the end of a long day on Holme Fell in the Lake District.

This was a handheld shot, taken well after sunset, using the Olympus EM5 Mark 3. I used the Leica 12-60 lens at 32mm with an exposure of 1/10 second at f/5.6 and ISO800. I processed both images using my new Dark Image System in Lightroom.

Finally, I also traced the cause of my poor results using the EM5 High-Resolution mode, which you can read about later in this newsletter. I hope you enjoy it together with the other articles this month.

Robin

Dark Image System for Lightroom

Recently, I’ve been taking a different approach to editing photography, which I call my Dark Image System. As you can see above, it can produce a dramatic and striking look. Because I’ve been able to turn this into a system of editing, I’ve decided to release it as a course – but not quite yet. Instead, I will initially run a live lesson via Zoom, teaching the system to a small group of interested photographers (no more than 10). After that, I’ll be developing this into a course and book.

If you’re interested in attending the Zoom lessons or want to follow progress, I’ve created a registration form you can use. This is the only way to register your interest in attending a live lesson.

Please use the link (https://forms.gle/bFTWjm1MqhAw8dfS9).

Chester Photographic Society

Thank you to Chester Photographic Society, who recently asked me to present an introduction to Lightroom over Zoom. Having spent a previous lifetime doing daily video conferencing, I thought I disliked it. As it turned out, I had a great time, and the members received the presentation well.

Thank you.

New Lenscraft Content

Over the past month, I’ve focused on publishing new tutorials and updating old ones. Here’s the list of the changes you can find on Lenscraft.

From Around the Internet

Here are some interesting photography resources I’ve found online this month.

HDR In Lightroom v13

This past month saw the release of Adobe Lightroom v13. Whilst there were a few new features, one of the most interesting is HDR. If your monitor is HDR capable, you can switch to HDR editing. You can then extract additional detail from RAW file highlights that would otherwise be lost due to clipping.

While this sounds exciting, I have found it challenging to use, and I’m not entirely convinced of the benefit. If you want to know more, Greg Benz has produced an interesting tutorial with a video explaining HDR support in Lightroom.

AI In Photography

Having spent much of my life trying to capture beautiful images of nature, I’m not a fan of recent AI developments. Part of me is interested in the technology and its potential. But part of me dislikes it intensely and thinks it will ruin photography if we let it. Despite this, I found the images in this article an interesting use of AI technology and quite inspiring.

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/phillip-toledano-another-america-ai-generated-photos-from-the-1940s-and-50s

Photographers You May Not Know – Clyde Butcher

I suspect some of you will already know the work of Clyde Butcher. If not, look at the Bio page on his website. While there, spend a few minutes watching the two videos towards the bottom of the page. It will give you a good idea about his approach to photography.

Afterwards, head to his photography page for outstanding black-and-white photography. I found the navigation a little problematic but then found the “Expand All” link under some images. Until I clicked this link, I didn’t realise how many photographs were on the site. I particularly enjoyed the Everglades collection.

Books & Course News

Latest book and course news.

Essential Adobe Photoshop CC, 3^rd Ed.

The 3^rd edition of my popular book “Essential Adobe Photoshop CC” is now available on Amazon and my Lenscraft website. It’s priced at only £6.99 or similar in other currencies.

The book aims to teach you how to use Photoshop, especially if you struggle with the software. Importantly, it’s also written for the photographer wanting to edit photography.  It therefore doesn’t include the typical information about graphic design that you often find in Photoshop books.

The book is in two sections. The first is a crash course designed to build confidence in using the most important Photoshop tools, but it also provides a foundation for the second section.

In the second section, we look at Photoshop's essential tools and techniques for photo editing. This then builds into a helpful workflow you can use for editing photography.

I’m working on a print version of the book, which I expect to release in December 2023.

Until next month, enjoy your photography.

Robin Whalley

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