Hi {name},

Welcome to the Lenscraft in Focus August 2020 newsletter.

Whilst lockdown restrictions have eased significantly here in the UK, the weather has turned, and grey sky and rain have replaced sunny days. The result is that I’ve only made two short photography trips this month and I was soaked on one of those. This image was from the one where it didn’t rain.

But the bad weather has allowed me to write new tutorials including one that’s been on my list to publish for a long time. I frequently receive questions from photographers who spend lots of money having prints made, only to be disappointed by the results. In many cases I can trace the problem to poor monitor calibration, or rather lack of.

Because monitor calibration is a subject avoided by many photographers, I’ve finally published this calibration tutorial. It looks at different calibration options including online, the tools in your computer operating system and explains how I calibrate my monitors using a SpyderX Pro. If you have never calibrated your monitor, or you think you can rely on the manufacturer default profile, do please read this.

I’ve also found a few interesting websites this month which I’ve included in the newsletter. One especially caught my attention because it could solve a problem for people. I know that a lot of photographers would like to migrate their editing from Aperture or Lightroom to other platforms and this could help. You can read more later in the newsletter along with other articles.

I hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter. I think I’ve managed to find another interesting collection of things to share.

Robin

New Lenscraft Content

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

From Around the Web

This month, I’ve discovered a few things that you might find useful or interesting.

The Surprising Source of Ansel Adams Signature Style

I found this article interesting to read for two reasons:

• It’s interesting to learn about what influenced Ansel’s style.

• It turns out it was much more difficult to earn a living from photography back then.

Unlike many photographers imagine, there weren’t many opportunities when Ansel started out. Whilst there may not have been competition there wasn’t demand. Today we have far more opportunities but face different challenges like people not valuing photography.

It’s only a short article but well worth reading from both perspectives.

https://theconversation.com/the-surprising-source-of-ansel-adams-signature-style-131628

I Liked this Site but Don’t Know Why

Here’s a great little website that just catch my interest whilst browsing.

https://www.theweekendlens.com/

Be sure to look at the Mosco Metro shots. If you like photo gear, there are also a few great lens reviews including one for the Samyang 12mm; a current favourite of mine.

CYME Avalanche

I don’t usually write about things I haven’t thoroughly used, but I’m making an exception. I know a lot of photographers are locked into their software. Even I feel locked into Lightroom because of the years of effort I’ve invested in keywording and editing my photos.

I have switched to Capture One as the RAW developer for Fuji RAW files, but I have a lot of editing history in Lightroom using other RAW files. Whilst some photo management/RAW converters will read a Lightroom Catalog they leave a lot of the editing behind.

Is anyone still stuck on Aperture?

The solution may just come from a new product called Avalanche. It converts Photo Library catalogues from one application to another. For example, you could move all your Apple Aperture photos and editing to Adobe Lightroom. Or you could use it to migrate everything from Lightroom to Luminar.

But before you get too excited, there are a few limitations because this is a relatively new product. It’s currently only available for the Mac, so Windows users will need to wait. It’s also only available for Lightroom, Aperture and Skylum software. The developers are working on versions for Apple Photos and Capture One and hopefully they will add others in time.

I will find some time to investigate this properly and to publish my findings in the future. But if you want to find out more before then I recommend visiting their website.

https://cyme.io/

DxO Webinars in August

I’ve just received the list of planned DxO PhotoLab and Nik webinars for August. There should be something to interest everyone in the list. I particularly like the look of the long exposure seascapes session.

A PROFESSIONAL APPROACH TO LONG EXPOSURE SEASCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY USING THE NIK COLLECTION 3 BY DxO STARRING DxO AMBASSADOR FRANCESCO GOLA

Hosted by Laurie Rubin

Thursday, August 6 – 6:00 PM BST

REGISTRATION: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3942465375775867405

A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON STREET PHOTOGRAPHY WITH NIK COLLECTION 3 BY DxO

Presented by PhotoJoseph

Tuesday, August 11 – 7:00 PM BST

REGISTRATION: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/887739499321393933

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED WITH THE NIK COLLECTION 3 BY DxO

Presented by Dan Hughes

Thursday, August 13 – 6:00 PM BST

REGISTRATION: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5119808133143634960

HOW TO USE CONTROL POINTS FOR SELECTIVE EDITING WITH VIVEZA

Presented by Dan Hughes

Monday, August 17 – 6:00 PM BST

REGISTRATION: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6040433617129617934

TIPS ON GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR RAW FILES WITH DxO PHOTOLAB 3

Presented by PhotoJoseph

Tuesday, August 25 – 7:00 PM BST

REGISTRATION: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2249380196717803276

Photographers You May Not Know – Candace Dyar

Candace was born and raised in Ohio but is now based in Washing State. She has some stunning photography on her website which is well worth browsing. I found the images in the Coastal Areas gallery particular inspiring, many of which feature the beautiful Oregon coast. I’ve only visited Oregon once but absolutely loved it and it’s nice to see such wonderful photography from that area.

https://www.candacedyarphotography.com/

Books & Course News

Latest book and course news.

Simply Lightroom Develop Course Launch

During July I launched my new Lightroom photo editing course and wanted to say thank you to everyone who has purchased the course. It’s a great encouragement to receive your positive feedback.

A few questions have also come up quite regularly, so I wanted to publish them here:

• The course price is in GBP, is there a USD option?

Yes, any payment in another currency converts at the rate on the day to the GBP price. But, following feedback, I’ve added a USD payment option. The course now has two prices (GBP and USD). Pick whichever works best for you, unless you want to pay using PayPal (see below).

• Why can’t I pay with PayPal?

It’s only possible to pay with PayPal when using the USD price option. This is a restriction of the course platform I use, and I have requested they add PayPal as an option for GBP.

• My country isn’t on the list when I try to pay with my card. Why not?

All countries are in the card payment list unless they are subject to sanctions. If you are struggling to find your country, try scrolling to the top. Whilst the country list is in alphabetical order, if the system detects your location it moves that country to the very top of the list.

• I don’t have Lightroom Classic CC. Can I use the course with an earlier version?

If you are using an older version of Lightroom, you may find that you don’t have some of the features mentioned in the course. There may also be a problem reading one of the course RAW files but there is also a DNG version of the file that older versions of Lightroom can read. Please remember, the course has 30-day guarantee, if you have problems with your Lightroom version, let me know and I will make a refund.

If you didn’t see the launch email, Simply Lightroom Develop is available now. As a Lenscraft subscriber you have a 50% launch discount until the end of August 2020 by applying the discount code LENSCRAFT50LAUNCH at the checkout. Alternatively, click the following link it will automatically apply the discount for you (this only works when you click the link in the email) https://courses.lenscraft.co.uk/p/simply-lightroom-develop/.

I Need Your Help for my Next Book

Having launched my Lightroom course, I’m turning my attention to something a lot of people have requested. A follow-up Affinity Photo book that’s a little more advanced.

My initial thoughts were to produce a book along the lines of my Photoshop Masks book or the Layers book. But if I did that, it wouldn’t address the wide range of questions that come in about Affinity. So instead, I’m adopting a different approach and will make this a “How to” book. The objective is to answer wide ranging questions about how to do something in Affinity Photo at all levels. And this is where I need your help.

I already have quite a few questions that people have raised but I need more. I want this to be the most helpful and useful Affinity Photo book available and I can’t do that without you. If you have any questions about how to do something in Affinity Photo, I would like to hear them please.

Please email me at [email protected] with your questions. It would also help if you could make the email title Affinity Book Questions. I will try to incorporate as many as possible into the book.

Until next month, stay safe.

Robin Whalley

Landscape Photographer & Author

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