Innehållsförteckning för No. 360 från Photography Week

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As with so many elements of photography, there are very different approaches that you can choose to take when it comes to shooting portraits with character. One might argue that all portraits must convey character if they are to succeed. “Portraiture is a broad field of photography,” says pro photographer Jarek Duk (jarekduk.com). “It can be broken down into many more specific areas, like simple head shots, studio portraits, environmental portraits and so on. Each one of them will carry its own technical aspects, but one thing is true for them all: successful portraits need to have personality and character.” But what defines character, and how do you ensure that it’s captured in your portraits? Perhaps the most essential element is that you have to show something that’s real –…

I use spot metering specifically when I want a well-lit portrait to stand apart from a darker background, and also when there are marked contrasts in lighting. For example, for the shot below on the right I spot-metered on a highlighted area to ensure it was exposed correctly, while at the same time casting darker areas into shadow.…

How do you define character? I interpret it as capturing someone’s true personality, which has to be the hardest part of shoots – especially if you’re photographing people who aren’t used to being in front of the camera. For this shoot with Jay, who’s from a callisthenics group called BarSparta (look them up – it’s wild what they can do) I wanted to shoot some action shots but also get the portraits – this is my bread and butter, and capturing people’s character is why I get hired. I originally had planned to use a large octagonal softbox as my main light, but when we arrived at the location we were stuck with heavy winds, which meant we were forced to use smaller modifiers; luckily I love using the beauty…

1 ADJUST THE SLIDERS Head to the Basic tab to increase global and micro-contrast. The Clarity slider is useful for the latter, and it’s worth lowering the Saturation and tweaking White Balance. 2 ADJUSTMENT BRUSH This tool, which you’ll find in both Photoshop and Lightroom and most other editing applications, is ideal for making local tweaks to specific areas of the subject’s face. 3 USE GRADIENTS These are useful for tapering off the light, so that the sides of the photo around the face are darker. Do this with care, though, as you don’t want it to look too obvious. 4 ADD A VIGNETTE The Effects tab can be used to add a vignette to the edges of your image – useful if you struggled to achieve a completely dark…

International Garden Photographer of the Year runs a number of standalone contests in addition to the prestigious annual main competition, and the winners of the 2019 Macro Art Project have just been announced. German photographer Lizzy Petereit won first prize for her image of anemone flowers in her garden, entitled Panta Rhei – ancient Greek for ‘Everything flows’ (above, top-left). She says of the image: “The wonderful anemone flowers from my garden are apparently in motion – they constantly change their shape and structure.” Head Judge T. McGlinchey said: “The intent and dramatic impact has delivered a wonderful composition; a pair of spiral galaxies locked in an eternal waltz.” Click the link to see all the winning and commended images at the IGPOTY website, where you’ll also find details of…

I have been lucky enough to shoot a few of the same famous faces as Jane Bown, and I’ve been told a number of times that I’ve chosen the exact same spot that Bown chose herself. One example was Ian Hislop, who I photographed in the Private Eye offices when I was starting out. It was print day, and there was a lot of stress around the office. I tried a few different setups with him, but his mind wasn’t really with me. When my time was up I reviewed the images and I knew I didn’t have the killer shot I needed. In a move of almost Bown-like tenacity I crept up beside him while he was talking heatedly to the print manager, and asked nervously if I might…

Trevor Cole’s approach to travel and street photography involves deciding on both who to photograph and how to capture them. “With time I have come to select who I want to photograph, envisaging the outcome ahead of shooting,” he explains. “Taking portraits of people in the marketplace, street or in a tribal village requires interaction. There are clandestine shots that are often taken with a longer lens and are discreet, but most of my portraiture is a product of interpersonal moments; I like to get to know the characters I’m photographing. I always ask a subject’s permission, and even when my efforts are rejected I respect their choice. Sometimes, even with difficult subjects, spending a little time and using a little humour can yield positive results. “In Ethiopia, one of…

1 IMAGE SELECTION Begin by rating your favourite images with one star. Then review these and rate the best as two stars, then review and rate with three stars and so on – by the end you’ll have four to five levels of refinement. 2 RAW TWEAKS I boost the shadows a little, bring back the highlights across the scene and make sure I get an accurate white balance. I will also do lens correction and more general tweaks, before opening as a 16-bit TIFF file. 3 CONVERT TO BLACK & WHITE You can use any one of multiple methods – there are arguments for each of them – but I like to create a new Color Fill adjustment layer and adjust the opacity to choose the level of desaturation;…

WAGON WHEEL WORKSHOP STEVE STANGER “I took this photo at the Historic Walnford park in Upper Freehold, New Jersey, USA.” http://tiny.cc/456eaz BULLFROG MICHAEL ATKINSON “This was taken at the Coast To Coast Exotics reptile store in Darlington, County Durham.” http://tiny.cc/1iq27y THE FACE MIKE THORNBERRY “This image was taken in my sister’s home – she has great taste in interior design. I shot it in natural light, and used a fisheye lens to emphasise the surreal quality.” http://tiny.cc/62nyzy WELCOME TO THE MACHINE ROSS FARNHAM “I created this panoramic image from 30 images captured using my DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone.” http://tiny.cc/dzrw9y PRAYING MANTIS BARB D’ARPINO “A praying mantis preening on wild grass in Wasaga Beach, Ontario, Canada. It seemed to be adjusting its antennae.” http://tiny.cc/yml68y FACEBOOK http://tiny.cc/qi0oey FLICKR http://tiny.cc/rn0oey PHOTOGRAPHY WEEK…

2 HOURS All you need for this project is a string of LED lights and a couple of batteries. With your camera on a tripod and set to a long exposure, you swing the lights around while triggering the camera to capture the light trails. You’ll need to find a suitable location before sunset so that you can set yourself up in a safe spot to shoot when it gets dark. For the shutter speed you need to either set a long exposure length like 10-30 secs, or use Bulb mode. Bulb mode is the best option, as it enables you to have the shutter open for as long as the shutter release button is depressed, and is ideal if you have a wireless remote release or are pairing up…

Capturing portraits that make the viewer want to look twice is something every photographer desires to achieve, and very often what’s required in order for that to be the case is plenty of visible character in the image. Character is obviously a rather nebulous subject, and something that can be interpreted in a number of different ways; what defines character to one person isn’t necessarily what defines character to someone else, and there are many different methods and approaches that one can adopt when it comes to capturing a portrait with impact. Over the next few pages, however, you’ll discover some of the key considerations and skills that photographers can utilise in order to increase their chances of success in this respect. From lighting on location to simple setups that…

I try to shoot in the golden hours, or at least where there’s shade from the sun, and I always use natural light. Most of my portraits are shot while travelling, and I strive to use light in a variety of ways. The soft, warm light at sunrise and sunset is unquestionably the best, as the lower angle of the sun creates glow, and shadows are less harsh. In some cases side lighting can be used very effectively by the photographer, using spot metering to highlight contrasts. Where the subjects are facing the warm light their faces take on an inimitable glow, which enhances the portrait. In situations where the light is overhead and generates shadow it’s still imperative to shoot if the opportunity arises, and it’s here that the…

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Both Photoshop’s Camera Raw plugin and Lightroom have long offered separate HDR and Panorama features, but there’s also a relatively recent option that combines the two commands into one – the Merge to HDR Panorama command. Before this tool was added you had to merge your HDRs first, and then stitch them together to create a panorama, but this command performs both tasks at once. It produces a detail-rich raw panorama with a greatly expanded dynamic range, making it easier to tease detail out of the tonal extremes – and in this video tutorial, we’ll explain how it’s done. There are many situations in which making a HDR panorama might be a useful technique. More often than not, the point of a panorama is to capture a sweeping landscape, achieved…

FIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR… 1 If you want a big zoom in your pocket, a small sensor is a necessary sacrifice. Quality will be good, but not great. 2 A 1-inch sensor has about 4x the surface area of a 1/2.3-inch sensor, giving better low-light performance. 3 An EVF is nice, but most here are uncomfortably small at 0.21-inch. The RX100 VA’s is better at 0.39-inch. 4 All the cameras on test have manual and semi-auto modes, and all except the Canon SX740 can shoot raw images. 5 The Panasonic TZ95 can manage 380 shots per charge, the Sony RX100 VA just 220 – so get a spare battery. Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II £339/$399 www.canon.co.uk Canon makes several compact cameras with a one-inch sensor, the G9 X…