Tutorials

1) Photoshop's default colour space is "sRGB IEC61966-2.1". This is arguably the worse colour space for photographers. It was designed for the web and it's not what we want.

2) Press "shift>control>K" to bring up the colour settings. "shift>command>K" on a Mac. In the "working spaces" section from the "RGB" drop down menu, choose "Adobe RGB (1998)".



3) Click on "ok" and this is your new colour space.

4) Moving on, click on the "eyedropper" tool in Photoshop's tools pallet.



5)The eyedropper tool will be used for reading colour values from your images, so don't ignore this part.

6) The default sample for this tool is "point sample", this doesn't work well if your trying to read values in a specific area such as flesh tones. This is because it gives a reading from just one individual pixel rather that the area under the mouse cursor.

7) Go to the "options" bar and under "sample size" choose "3 x 3 pixel average" from the drop down menu.



That's all there is to it. If you found this tutorial of use to you, please let us know with a short email via our "contact" page.

This tutorial has been written for photographers using Photoshop Elements or CS as their image editing software and all keyboard shortcuts refer to this software.

1) Open the underexposed photo.
2) Press "Command+J (Ctrl+J on a windows PC) to duplicate the background layer. On the new layer (layer 1) change the blend mode to "Screen". This will lighten the photo.
3) If the image is still too dark, select the screen layer and duplicate it again (or as many times as you need too until it looks right).
4) If after duplicating a layer your image looks overexposed, lower the opacity on the last layer until the image looks ok.
5) The final step is to flatten the layers (layer>flatten image from the main menu bar) and save your photo.

In this tutorial I'm going to give you a basic insight into how to process Raw files. The majority of cameras can save images in 2 file formats, "Jpeg" and "Raw". The differance between these 2 formats are;
1) Jpeg files - In camera processing adds saturation and contrast/brightness to these files. This often results in images with un-natural colours and overexposure and is not what we see with the naked eye.
2) Raw Files - No in camera processing takes place, it is left up to the photographer to process the files in the appropriate software in order to produce the final image.

So lets take a look at our "out of camera" raw file. The image below was shot on a Canon 20D, with a 19-38mm lens and a 3 stop ND graduated filter. The image was taken early on a Autumn morning looking towards Mount Snowdon from the outskirts of Capel Curig in Wales.



The sun was coming from my left and at the time of shooting the scene looked quite vibrant and colourful. The above file does not convey this at present, but it does hold all of the data in which to allow the photographer to show how the scene looked to the naked eye in the final image.

I'm going to run through my basic workflow for processing this image using Adobe Lightroom V2.


The image has a strong "lead in line"



But too much "wasted space" in the sky and the left hand side of the frame. The image is also "flat" and un-inspiring, not the type of photograph that says "come and visit Wales"! We will address these issues in the raw converting software.

Crop for a pleasing composition.



I've now cropped the image and lost some of top and left hand side of the frame. The rock falls on a vertical line a third into the image and Mount Snowdon falls on a horizontal line a third down from the top of the image. This makes the overall composition more interesting and leads the viewers eye around the image without distraction.

You can see from the histogram, that the image data is pushed over to the left hand side. I would normally expose to the right of the histogram, but in this case there is a large expanse of water in the frame which is highly reflective. I have "highlight and shadow" warnings switched on in Lightroom and the software is telling me that only 1% of the shadow detail is clipped and 0% of the highlight detail is clipped. Therefore given the circumstances the 20D's meter has done a fine job here.

White balance - with raw you can adjust the white balance at will, Jpeg does this in camera. White balance adjustment effects if the final image will look warm or cold.



You can use one of your raw converters pre-sets to determine white balance or do what I've done in the screenshot above and use the colour picker. What I'm looking for is equal values throughout the red, green and blue channels in order to give me the correct colour temperature. In the above screenshot I have values of Red = 74.6, Green = 75.5 and Blue = 75.9. These are close enough to provide a true rendition of this scene.

As the Canon 20D has no built in sensor cleaning we need to address the dust spots that result from changing the lens.



I use Lightrooms spot removal tool and switch between clone and heal for this.



Once the major faults have been addressed it's then a case of using the image adjustment sliders within your raw conversion software. This will bring out the detail contained within your raw file and put it on a level to how your naked eye rendered the scene.





If you would like to learn more about Raw Processing, click on our "Workshops" tab were we have very competitive priced tution available.

Most people have a flash gun for their camera that’s seen the light of day maybe once or twice, produced poor results and now resides in the bottom of the bag or cupboard. If this is you then dig out that flashgun, it’s about to become your best friend!

The key to good photography is available light. I’m not talking about the ambient available light here, I’m talking about “any bloody light that’s available”. Let that sink in!

The 3 shots below were captured using the following gear;

1) Nikon SB900 & SB800 speedlight. If you haven’t got a flashgun for your camera look on ebay. A lot of folks buy these strobes then drop em like hot cakes. Look for a strobe that has a high guide number, is compatible with your cameras “through The Lens (TTL) metering and can be set as both a master and remote.
2) White/Black/Shoot through umbrella.
3) 5 in 1 reflector, White/Black/Silver/Gold/Diffuser.
4) Telescopic reflector holder arm.
5) Light stands or tripods.

The art of making good light is to get the flashgun off the camera, this can be done in a number of ways;

1) By using a TTL cord compatible with your camera and flashgun.
2) By using a radio trigger.
3) Nikon user’s can use their camera’s onboard pop-up flash to fire remote flashguns via the CLS system.

The first thing to do when shooting portraits either indoors or outside is to assess the situation;

1) Is the ambient light harsh and hard or soft and diffused and do we want to use it to build the exposure.
2) Is the background messy or does it compliment the subject and do we want it in the frame.

Once you answer the above two questions, you’ve already built 70% of your exposure without even picking up the camera.

By underexposing your background you will add mood, drama and saturation to the frame or totally kill off any ambient light that’s around. Try values between – 1.5 Exposure compensation (EV) to add mood and – 4 EV to turn the background black.

Your shutter speeds will be real slow with this, but just run with it as the short burst of flash will allow you to produce pin sharp shots still.

Tip – Run your camera/speedlight combo in Rear Curtain/Slow Sync flash mode. This won’t make any difference at all with shutter speeds around 1/200 but it will make a BIG difference at slow shutter speeds by letting you “drag the shutter”. Great for city portraits at dusk as it will capture the ambient light from the street lights and offices.

I shot the 3 images below in my living room at midday. The room has a large south facing patio door and a large north facing window. The room has coloured walls, carpets and furniture etc making for an overall riot of colour which the flash is going to bounce off and produce colour casts in our frame.

So we’ve just answered the two questions above. Do we want to use the ambient light to build our exposure – no it’s harsh and it stinks. Do we want the background – no it’s too messy and will do nothing for our subject. We are now 70% of the way home in just 30 seconds!

For 90% percent of the time I live in the land of Aperture Priority mode (AV) and matrix/evaluative metering. Modern cameras come fitted with top notch computer chips that make exposure calls in a split second. I like to make use of this technology cus it works a damn site faster than my brain.

Ok set the aperture on the camera to give me the depth of field (DOF) I’m looking for and dial in some minus EV in order to kill off the ambient light. Tried -3 EV first, not enough, went to -4 EV, BINGO – totally black frame on the LCD. Now 80% home in just 1 minute.

So now I know that my camera is going to give me a totally black frame, I need to use the flash to do the heavy lifting for me. Ok easy we ran with -4 EV on the camera so we just dial in +4 EV on the speedlight to bring the frame back up right? No wrong, we’re running at -4 EV on the camera in order to kill the ambient light, by running the speedlight at +4 EV (and I know you can’t dial up the speedlight any more than +3, stick with it and I’ll get there) your straight back to where you started – nasty background! Run the speedlight at 1 stop under what you brain is telling you to. In this case +3 EV, think “fill light” all will become clear.

Tip – In any exposure mode other than manual, when you dial EV into the camera this transfers directly to the flash. You can’t see because the back of the speedlight isn’t displaying it, but it’s there alright. So by running our speedlight at +3 EV against a Camera setting of -4 EV we are actually producing “fill flash” at minus 1 stop off what should be the base exposure. A nice soft fill flash ratio is around minus 2 stops off the base exposure, but we’ll stick at minus 1 as we’re going to diffuse the flash and lose another stop to make our light nice and soft.

Tip – If you dial in EV to your cameras pop up flash it will directly transfer to the speedlight. Most pop up flash’s will allow + or – 2 EV which in turn will give you + or – 5 EV worth of control on the speedlight.

Ok, first up is a simple two light setup (you can do this with 1 speedlight, crank up the power and move the subject nearer to the diffuser panel). This works best on the older ladies, do it right and they will love you forever!


1/25 @ f5.0, ISO 200. Camera at -4 EV, flash at +3 EV.

Throw 2 speedlights on a light stand/tripod and group em as close together as possible. Zoom the flash at 105mm and fire it into a white umbrella that’s at ceiling height and angled down towards the subject. Run up a diffuser panel at a height halfway between the ceiling and your subjects face, again angled down. It’s important here to keep the diffuser panel around 70cm from the umbrella. Place your subject around 30cm away from the diffuser panel and you’ve just made your frame.

Tip – You can also produce this light with just 1 speedlight. Zoom the flash in a little and add around another +1.5 EV to it.

Granny still not looking at her best? Add another layer of diffusion, you’ll be amazed at just how much these small strobes can take. Fit a dome diffuser to the speedlight’s and zoom them out a little further to compensate. You now got 3 layers of diffusion and silky soft light.




Next up is the “oyster shell” rig, works great on folks in their twenties and thirties who have strong facial features.


1/8 @ f4.8, ISO 200. Camera at -4 EV, Group A flash at +3 EV, Group B flash at + 1.7EV.

Think of an open oyster shell, we’re going to place the lights on the open ends of the shell and the subject on the closed seam. Look at your diffuser panel and shoot through umbrella, which is the biggest? Take this and use it to fire your top light through, use the smaller one for your bottom light. Position the diffuser high and low around the subjects face ( I like to leave a small gap between them which I shoot through). The top light is doing all the heavy lifting for you, so run this at +3 EV. The bottom light is providing the soft fill, almost rim light like. This is lifting the shadows around the eyes and definition to the bone structure of the subjects face. Feel free to dial this light up and down to taste/suit the subject.
It’s important here to keep the subjects face as tight as you can against the diffuser panel/umbrella.




Last one – Teenagers!
Ok this is my better half Ang, who ain’t a teenager but was the only person who I could press gang into posing for this tutorial – thank you Ang.


1/13 @ f4.8, ISO 200. Camera at -4 EV, flash at +3 EV.

For anyone who has a teenager, here’s the deal. You have around 30 seconds to 1 minute in order to photograph em depending on whether their having a good or bad day right? If you catch em on a bad day by the time you’ve set this rig up their already dragging their knuckles on the carpet and making their way back up to Xbox heaven in that hell hole they call a bedroom.

So you gotta get em on a good day, pick your moment. In the time it takes em to think about and blurt out that immortal phrase “whatever - am I bovverd” you got your shot.

Drop a speedlight on a light stand or tripod with a dome diffuser fitted. Now take a diffuser panel and flag off the bottom half by attaching the black outer covering back on with 2 clothes pegs. The idea of this is to kill the f stop in the bottom half of the frame. Light falls naturally so put it where you want it to be (on the face) and let it fall on its own accord. The centre of the diffuser panel needs to be around the height of the subject nose, this allows the light to cover the chin and neck before it starts to fall off quickly. Ideally the majority of the light created by the flash should spill over the subjects head and into dead space which in this case is being killed off by the -4 EV on the camera. If your using this on the lads, take the dome diffuser off the flash to produce a harder more gritty type of light.

Take a moment to look back over the three images and make a mental note of the light.
There you have it, 3 very quick and cheap portrait light rigs that can be set up in seconds and each produce a very different type of light.

If you are struggling to understand any part of this tutorial, drop me a line and I will get you up and running.



If you found this tutorial of use to you, please let us know with a short email via our "contact" page.