Hi {name},

Welcome to Lenscraft in Focus for February 2023.

Looking back at the past few years, I’ve done a lot of landscape photography despite the COVID restrictions. But what I haven’t done much is any urban photography. Up until this month, my previous outing was in May 2019. This means I’m well out of practice, but I didn’t realise how much.

On my recent first outing in years, I decided to switch cameras from my Fuji XT3 to a Fuji XE3. I also ditched my usual zoom lenses for a collection of primes. I won’t bore you with the details (you can read them on my Lightweight Photographer blog), but things didn’t go well. Despite the challenges, I did manage this shot which I’m very pleased with.

Whilst it looks like I shot this at night, it was really mid-afternoon. I converted the image to look like a night-time scene using Lightroom. If you want to see the original and learn how I did the processing, you’ll find the tutorial in this month’s newsletter. You’ll also find a few other tutorials and links to photography items that I’ve found interesting. I even have a great Affinity prize giveaway for anyone who hasn’t upgraded to V2 yet.

I hope you enjoy it.

Robin

Affinity V2 Prize Draw

What’s better than winning a license for Affinity Photo 2? How about winning a Universal License covering all Affinity products for all platforms?

As you’re a Lenscraft subscriber, you no doubt know that I love Affinity Photo and see it as a genuine alternative to Adobe Photoshop. What you might not realise is that I also use the other Affinity products in my business. These are top notch, and the Universal License allows you to use them all.

Here's how you can win a Universal License.

This is a free prize draw open to all current Lenscraft subscribers at the time the draw is made. All you need to do is register your entry on this page of my website https://lenscraft.co.uk/lenscraft-members-area/subscriber-competitions/. Entry closes on Friday 17^th February at 17:00 GMT and a winner will be drawn at random the following day.

New subscribers can also enter so please share this with friends who might benefit.

Good luck.

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.

Book Warning & Bargain

A couple of people have contacted me to say that the print edition of my Essential Affinity Photo 2 is priced at much more than I claim. I’ve traced the problem and want to share what’s happening so you can avoid a costly mistake.

When I checked Amazon UK, two retailers were offering new copies of my book. Here’s what I found when I clicked the options.

The first retailer is Amazon selling it at £18.76. There’s then a second selling it for £65. As Amazon are printing the books, I can only assume the second retailer is buying from Amazon when they make a sale and is why delivery is so long.

This probably isn’t a problem in the UK, but it could be in other countries. You see Amazon doesn’t print my book in every country. If they don’t print in a country, all you then see is the higher priced book.

If you do encounter this problem, please try another Amazon website in a different country. For example, I found my book on Amazon US for $33.99 and shipping was $9.14. Nearer to home, I could buy the same book on Amazon France for €33.76 including delivery.

Now for the bargain part. Did you notice the price on the UK site was £18.76? This is a sizable discount on my £24.99 selling price and it’s something Amazon does with popular print books. I don’t have any control over the discount, so I don’t know how long it will last or which countries it applies to. But if you were holding off buying the print book because of the price, this may be an ideal opportunity.

From Around the Internet

A selection of interesting photography related resources from the internet.

Martin Parr Exhibition

In last month’s newsletter, I was lamenting the lack of photography exhibitions, particularly in regional venues. Then this month, as if by magic, I receive an email about an exhibition by one of my favourite photographers, Martin Parr.

You can learn more about the exhibition (in Bristol) and view some of the wonderful images on the Creative Boom website.

https://www.creativeboom.com/news/martin-parr-chew-stoke/

Photography News 103 is Out

The latest edition of this excellent UK newspaper for photographers is out now. You can read it free online with the following link. It’s well worth subscribing to (for free) if you haven’t already done so.

https://online.bright-publishing.com/view/11714045/

Amazing Animal Closeups

I recently spotted this article on the Bored Panda website and was immediately captivated by the photography.

https://www.boredpanda.com/wild-animal-portraits-pedro-jarque-krebs/

It’s well worth a look, although you can see many more images on the photographer’s website below.

Photographers You May Not Know – Pedro Jarque Krebs

I don’t mind admitting that I hadn’t heard of Pedro Jarque Krebs until I found his work on the Bored Panda website. Despite this, I have seen some of his photos for sale and others have shared them with me. I probably shouldn’t feature him in both sections of the newsletter, but I’m in awe of his images. They are simply stunning. Please visit his website to enjoy more of his amazing photography.

https://www.pedrojarque.com/

Books & Course News

Latest book and course news.

What’s Next for Books?

Following the recent launch of “Essential Affinity Photo 2”, which is now available in eBook and print formats, I’ve been hard at work updating “Mastering Selections & Masks in Lightroom CC”. The update is to cover the changes and new features introduced by Adobe in Lightroom 12.

I expect the updated book to be available by mid-February. I will be giving a free copy to anyone who purchased the previous version from my website on or after the 18 October 2022. That was when Adobe release Lightroom 12. This offer is only available for purchases made directly on the Lenscraft website and I will be contacting everyone who qualifies directly.

You may also have detected a theme; in that I’m working to update my older books as a priority. This will continue through 2023, although I do have several ideas for new books. I will keep you informed of developments in the newsletter and announce new releases by email.

Planned Affinity Photo Course

Last month, I asked for feedback on the idea of an Affinity Photo course for landscape photo editing. Thank you for the many emails, and I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to reply to everyone. There were just too many.

In summary, there appears to be good support for a course like this, so I’ve started work. My idea is to produce a series of monthly “mini courses” of up to an hour in length. Each will focus on an aspect of landscape photo editing and will build on the previous courses in the series. Over time the courses will build into a “super course” for landscape photographers editing with Affinity Photo.

The courses will take a practical approach rather than try to teach individual features. They will be based on full editing examples for which the sample images will be provided. I also intend to price the courses low and make it possible for people to start, stop and restart the series depending how busy they are.

That’s an outline of my early plans and I have already identified six possible areas for the monthly courses.  I don’t yet have any dates for release, but it will probably be 6 months away. If you are a landscape photographer using Affinity Photo, I hope that this appeals to you.

Until next month, enjoy your photography.

Robin Whalley

{ip}-{email}