Dear {name},

Welcome to the Lenscraft in Focus February 2020 newsletter.

This month we take an initial look at the importance of colour in photography where I have a couple of videos to share. You’ll find links to some recently published Lenscraft articles which you might find helpful. And I have the usual articles of interest from the internet and another photography you may not have come across.

I hope you enjoy the February 2020 newsletter and the image below. It’s all about light and colour.

The Importance of Colour

Lots of photographers talk positively about black and white, but you don’t often hear them talking enthusiastically about colour. It’s as if colour is an accepted part of photography but that they don’t really value it in the same way.

Having good colour in your photos is critical but it’s not always easy to achieve. When I discuss photo editing, many of the photographers I talk to only use the Temp and Tint adjustments in their RAW editors to control it. You can achieve a lot with these adjustments, but they don’t allow you to control one vital aspect of a colour image. The relationship between the colours of an image are as important if not more so than the colour temperature and tint.

Look to the image above. Shot in the blue hour, it has wonderful blue tones that graduate towards violet and pink. Had they moved towards red (which is further round on the colour wheel) the image would probably lose it’s calming balance. It may even appear unnatural. So, if the relationship between different colours is so important, and you can’t properly adjust it with the Temp and Tint adjustments, how do you control it.

One way is by changing the Camera Colour Profile which many RAW converters will do. In Lightroom this used to be at the bottom of the adjustments in the Calibration panel. More recently Adobe moved it to the top of the list in the Basic Panel where it’s receiving more attention.

Whilst Camera Colour Profiles will change the relationship between the colours in your photos, they don’t offer much control. You could create your own individual profiles for images but that would be a huge amount of effort. A much better option is to use the often overlooked HSL tool.

For some reason, many photographers ignore the HSL tool when editing RAW files. Some will use it but often it’s to selectively increase or decrease the saturation in a specific colour. But when it comes to changing the colours and the relationship between them not many do. If you recognise yourself, I will ask you to consider trying the HSL adjustment. It can yield huge improvements to image colour.

If you’re unsure how best to approach using HSL for this I’ve created a couple of videos. These explain how I use HSL for my colour work using two different RAW converters. The first one is in DxO PhotoLab (https://youtu.be/qKEDT2xxicQ) and the other is in Lightroom (https://youtu.be/tI0WQybPeAY). These HSL tools are slightly different.

To subscribe to my YouTube channel, use the following link https://goo.gl/GCZq33. Alternatively visit my channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/robinwhalley) and use the Subscribe button. I publish a new video every week.

New Lenscraft Content

I’ve been busy over this past month adding new tutorials and rewriting old ones. Here are a couple you may find interesting.

Camera Club Presentations

After some shuffling of schedules, my next presentation is at the 85 Photography Group in Hazel Grove on Tuesday the 11^th February at 7:45. I will be delivering my popular presentation “Lessons for Landscape Photographers”. The club is very friendly and welcomes guest visitors. If you would like to attend, please contact the club via their website. There’s an email contact link on the “How to Join” page.

Following this I will now be at the Viewfinder Photographic Society on Monday the 16^th March in Skidby, near Beverley, East Yorkshire. I’m taking about and demonstrating different editing software in what I hope will be an interactive session.

From Around the Web

Snippets of news from around the internet.

The Photography Show 2020

Are you planning to visit the Photography Show at the NEC Birmingham in March? If you are and haven’t purchased your ticket, here’s a 20% discount code for day tickets from the team at Kase Filters.

KASETPS20

Just enter the discount code at the checkout on the shows website to receive the discount.

If you do visit the show be sure to call by the Kase Filters stand. They usually have good show offers and they’re a nice group of people to chat to about photography and filters.

Landscape Photography is Irrational

I’m now convinced that landscape photography and photographers are irrational; me included. We spend hours trying to capture great light and produce beautiful images that very few people recognise as being art, or even being valuable. We also spend lots of money on equipment and software to help us do this and when something new launches we want it.

I currently shoot with a Fuji X-T3 which is an excellent camera. I also own a collection of great Fuji and Zeiss lenses for my camera. Why then do I find myself lusting after the latest Leica M10 camera. It doesn’t even shoot colour.

https://www.engadget.com/2020/01/19/leica-m10-monochrom-camera/

To me, this camera (I’ve never owned a Leica) is a thing of beauty. I love the styling and think the look of the lenses is wonderful. I’m also certain that buying this camera won’t make me a better photographer, but it doesn’t stop me wanting one. Fortunately, the price of the camera and a few lenses is eyewatering. I think it’s an easy decision to prioritise buying a car over buying this camera, but it doesn’t stop me wanting one.

Photographers You May Not Know - Hillary Younger

I must be honest; I don’t know a lot about Hillary Younger. I think she’s based in Tasmania but quite a few of here images I recognise as from the US. But that’s irrelevant. What matters is her photography and it’s beautiful. She clearly has great skill for photography and post processing, and she loves the same subjects that I do. Her images from the coast, forest and mountains are excellent and I’d recommend visiting her website.

https://www.hillaryyoungerphotography.com/collections/all

And if you like her work, don’t forget to let her know. The internet can be a lonely place so it’s great when you receive a compliment.

Books & Course News

I had hoped to release my new Landscape Photography book around now, but I’ve decided to delay it for a few weeks. I wasn’t happy with a couple of the chapters and I’m revising them to make the book even more useful.

What I can share is that the book will help photographers at all levels but mainly beginner and intermediate. In it I share lots of practical advice about how to improve your landscape photography. I’m also confident that you won’t have read much of this advice in other books. To give you just one example, did you know that correct planning and preparation is a major determinant in shooting great landscape photography. Very few people discuss this, and even fewer set out the steps to follow. By following the advice in this book I’m confident you will be able to improve the quality and quantity of your landscape photography.

I hope to launch the eBook in February with the print version following a few weeks later. I’ll send out an email as soon as I have a release date.