Hi {name},

Welcome to Lenscraft in Focus for June/July 2021.

I’ll start with a mention that this is a combined newsletter for June and July. I’ll be taking some time out in June for a rest and to do some essential house maintenance. But don’t worry though if you need to contact me. You can still reach me by email although it may take me a few more days to respond. The next newsletter will be in August.

Something that I’ve often tried to highlight (also mentioned last month) is taking time to revisit your old images. Here’s another good example with an image I shot in 2014.

When I first tried to process this image shortly after I shot it, I couldn’t get it to look the way that I wanted. I remember the vivid pink sunset, but I couldn’t represent it without making the image appear false. I then forgot about the image until recently when I tried again, which is the image above. Now I’m satisfied and what I think made the difference were two things:

1.       I’ve improved my editing skills since 2014.

2.       The software has advanced and is now producing better images.

This last point is probably important if you’re the type of person who doesn’t upgrade often. I have no problem with not upgrading, especially given the cost of software. But if you’re still using Lightroom v4 standalone (and I know some of you are), it will struggle to produce the best image quality from your RAW files.

Software has become just as important to successful photography as your camera equipment if you are shooting digital. If you don’t believe me, try turning off the optical correction in your RAW converter and see if you are happy to your results.

Like it or not, most camera manufacturers prefer to correct images in software than produce an optically excellent lens. It’s cheaper and they make more profit that way in what’s become an extremely competitive market. But when your software doesn’t handle the correction process you won’t see the benefit of that camera and lens you just re-mortgaged your house for.

Give that some thought whilst I leave you to read the rest of this month’s newsletter.

Robin

New Lenscraft Content

Here’s a list of the new articles and tutorials published on Lenscraft over the past month.

Photographers You May Not Know – Erez Marom

This month it’s the turn of Israeli photographer Erez Marom. When I read his bio, I was struck by his youth and having started photography in 2008; it made me feel decidedly old. Not long ago, someone would not become this good a photographer at such a young age. And to validate his skill he has amassed quite a collection of awards dating back to 2013.

Be sure to view his Landscape & Travel gallery as well as his Macro work. It’s all stunning. I would also recommend reading some of the articles on his Blog. I found the articles on Landscape Photography with a drone fascinating. It’s not something I had thought about before, especially with all the bad press drones receive, but I love the shots he’s managed to capture.

https://www.erezmarom.com

Books & Course News

Latest book and course news.

Mastering Nik Color Efex Pro 4

I want to say a big thank you to everyone who purchased my latest book “Mastering Nik Color Efex Pro 4” and for all the great feedback. Producing a book like this is quite an undertaking so it’s wonderful to know the effort is appreciated.

The book costs only £4.99 (or similar in other currencies) from my Lenscraft website. It’s available in printable PDF, ePub and Kindle Mobi formats. The book is also available from Amazon, Google Play, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble.

As a few people have asked, I won’t be publishing a print edition of this book. The printing costs are too high and mean I would have to price the book prohibitively high just to break even.

Landscape Photo Editing

Having completed the rewrite of my Nik Color Efex Book, it’s back to my Landscape Photo Editing book. This is the follow-on companion to my “Landscape Photography: Shoot Like a Pro”. Originally, I planned to release this book in the first part of 2021, but the various lockdown and travel restriction put a stop to that.

I’ve had the book underway and then paused it a few times. My intention was to shoot a new set of images specifically for the book, but that won’t be possible in the available time. Instead, I have some new images for the worked examples as well as older images from my archives.

My aim for the book is twofold. Firstly, I want to share how I do my own photo editing and explain the techniques that I use. Secondly, I want to share full-length editing workflows with examples that you can follow to develop your own editing skills. This isn’t a beginners book but is intended for photographers who have some photo editing experience and are interested in how others produce their work.

I will share more about the book in future newsletters. And don't forget, the next newsletter will be in August.

Until next time, stay safe.

Robin Whalley

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