Skills Dawn Photography Masterclass Your guide Jeff Morgan Discover the PhotoPlus method for Atmospheric dawn landscapes Make the most of misty winter mornings by using your Canon camera and Photoshop to create unforgettable scenic shots 76 PhotoPlus February 2012
The PhotoPlus Dream Team field your queries Page 88 ON YOUR VIDEO DISC There s perhaps nothing quite as magical as being out on a hilltop watching a fantastic dawn unfolding in front you! It s supremely peaceful, with the only sound you re likely to hear being the birdsong heralding the start of a new day. If you re lucky, you might even be gazing out over a valley shrouded in mist: a scene of tranquil beauty no landscape photographer can resist! So how do you go about transferring emotions into your images? That s what we re here to help you do, providing technical tips to enable you to get the best results and offering advice for planning your trip. As always, it helps to consult the weather forecast (BBC1 s Countryfile on Sunday evenings has a very thorough report) to work out which days hold the most promise in the days ahead. Then get out your OS maps and look for a nice hilltop with a public footpath, preferably with a view towards another hill that has trees or a tower something to provide a silhouette and centre of interest. It s not always easy, it has to be said. Even at this time of the year, dawn photography may still require an early start, and a vigorous uphill walk in the cold can take your breath away. But with effort comes excitement, the photographic potential building as you climb. That s exactly how we felt as we hiked up Quarry Hill, next to Colmer s Hill in Dorset, for this Masterclass shoot. Here s how we got on Checklist What you ll need Photoshop CS5 Tripod, remote release, bubble level and torch or headlight How long it ll take An early-morning shoot plus half an hour in Photoshop The skills you ll learn How to anticipate perfect conditions for a misty dawn How to bracket exposures How to fake ND grad filters by combining images PhotoPlus February 2012 77
Skills Dawn Photography Masterclass STEP BY STEP Magnificent misty scenes Top tips to help you get the best from your dawn shoot Camera setup We were going for quality all the way here, so we shot in RAW at ISO100. There were no significant depth of field requirements because everything was pretty much at infinity, so we opted for the sweet spot of the lens at f/11 (maximum lens quality is usually in the f/8 to f/11 range). A focal length of about 55mm on a full-frame sensor was an ideal angle of view so that Colmer s Hill was well positioned within the frame. Staying sharp With modern zoom lenses, you need to focus at the actual focal length you are shooting at. You can t zoom after obtaining focus, or your image won t end up as sharp as it could be. Another tricky aspect of zooms is their infinity setting; you can t simply wind the lens to infinity and assume it will be in focus as most lenses will actually focus beyond infinity! (See p89.) Also, when capturing a sequence of shots you need to use manual focus (MF) on your lens: if the focus changes even slightly between shots, images will not blend well later. Going Live For a landscape shot such as this one, you really have only two options. The first is to use AF on a bright, contrasty subject and then move the lens switch to MF, being careful not to then knock or change it. The other option, which we used here, was to manually focus with Live View. Why did we choose that option? Easy! On a misty morning with a lack of contrast not to mention low light there s a high degree of risk that the camera could misfocus. We used Live View and 10x magnification to manually focused on the trees. 78 PhotoPlus February 2012
Simple EOS D-SLR shooting solutions Page 32 Up the bracket We captured a set of images one stop apart, changing only the shutter speed. It wasn t necessary to accurately meter; we simply shot from a stop above and below the recommended exposure at f/11, we captured three exposures of 1-sec, 1/2-sec and 2-secs. By keeping a watchful eye on the histogram and overexposure warning on the sky, we were guaranteed to have a perfect exposure once we got back home. It s important to make sure you get all the detail you want in the sky, because sometimes photographers will use a 3-stop graduated neutral density filter, and you need comparable data to achieve the same effect using software. Silver linings We re quite lucky in the UK when it comes to early morning mist, especially between autumn and spring. Another advantage of these darker months is that you don t have to get up at such an unsociable hour to capture sunrises! So how can you predict when the best conditions will occur? Look for a period of wet or damp, overcast weather when the temperature is moderate and the forecast is for a clear or clearing night with temperatures expected to drop. With clearing skies and a colder night, the likelihood of a misty morning really increases. Hold steady You are capturing images that have to precisely align and you re adjusting your shutter speed on your camera between each capture so think solid tripod! Spread the legs of the tripod and level them so the tripod stands up straight. Don t elevate the centre column as this decreases stability. Instead, suspend a weight below it, such as your camera bag or a bag of rocks. Use a remote release, adjust the shutter speed, let go of the camera, then squeeze the remote release button, and repeat. Consider activating Mirror Lockup (see Phrase Book) if your bracket sequence includes exposures of 1/15 sec or longer. PhotoPlus February 2012 79
Skills Dawn Photography Masterclass Phrase Book Mirror lock-up A key feature of SLRs is a mirror that blocks light from reaching the sensor or film, instead directing it up into a pentaprism and out to your eye. When you release the shutter, the mirror flips up, enabling the image to form on the sensor. The problem is that the mirror moves very quickly, and the slap of it coming up can shake the camera. Some models have a menu function enabling you to lock up the mirror before firing, meaning vibrations stabilise for optimum sharpness. STEP BY STEP Feeling blue Open master2_start.dng in ACR. It s a little dark, so adjust Exposure to +0.5. At this hour before sunrise the light often looks best much cooler, so set Temperature to 3200 and Tint to -15 for a blue look. Set Fill Light to 25 to open up dark areas. Ensure Depth is set to 16 Bits/Channel; if not, click the blue text at the bottom centre of the screen to open Workflow Options. Now let s blend these images into Grad the sky Even though we have a darker image for the sky, we re still going to apply a half-stop grad this will be applied to all the images in the set. Zoom out a little so you can see most of the sky, and pick the Graduated Filter tool. Set Exposure to -0.50 and Brightness to -15. Click and, while holding Shift, drag from the top quarter of the sky to three-quarters of the way down and let go. Super Tip! While some photographers like to talk about getting the image right in the camera, there are actually certain disadvantages to using ND grads in situations such as these. If the horizon isn t flat, or if objects such as trees protrude above it, you can very easily end up with dark areas that look wrong. The magic light of predawn doesn t last for long and changes rapidly, so you can end up wasting valuable time trying to line up or change filters, instead of capturing images. And as the air warms after sunrise, condensation on your filters can be a real concern. Fringe benefits Pick Tone Curve (second tab below histogram), then click the Point tab below that and set the Curve drop-down menu to Strong Contrast. As the longest-exposed image is 2 secs, click the third tab, Detail, and set Noise Reduction Luminance and Colour to 20. Select Lens Corrections (sixth tab), and zoom in to 200%, centring on the trees. Click Manual and move the Red/Cyan slider to +10, keeping an eye on the trees cyan fringe. Set Defringe to Highlight Edges. Knock the spots off Zoom to 100% and move to the centre left of the sky, where you ll see two spots caused by a dirty sensor. Choose the Spot Removal tool, set Type to Heal, and pick a Radius of 4 and an Opacity of 100. Taking the larger, higher spot first, click on its centre then drag the green heal circle onto it to remove. Adjust Radius to 3 and tackle the smaller spot. Click to put the heal circle on it before dragging the source to the side. Crop it down Double-click the Hand tool to zoom fully out of the image. Grab the Crop tool and slice some off the bottom of the image, improving composition. That s as far as we can go with this image, so hit Done. In Adobe Bridge, right-click on master2_start.dng and choose DevelopSettings>CopySettings. Select both master1_start.dng and master3_start.dng by rightclicking and picking DevelopSettings>PasteSettings. Under Subset choose Everything, then hit OK. Red sky at morning Open master1_start in ACR. Let s warm up the sky a little on this underexposed image! Move the Temperature slider up to 4000, and then the Tint slider up to -5 but be very careful not to change any other settings. Now click Open Image in order to move it into Photoshop. Switch back into Bridge and open the other two images as well, but this time don t change any settings as you go through ACR; just click Open Image. 80 PhotoPlus February 2012 Download start image at: http://downloads.photoplusmag.com/57_11.zip
one for maximum misty effect! Next issue Learn easy effects in Photoshop Start the combination Click on the tab for master1_start and, with the Move tool, drag the image up to the tab for master2_start. Don t let go, but notice how the image changes to the middle exposure. Drag back down into this image and hold Shift to centre the images before letting go of the mouse button. Go back to master1_ start and close it without saving. Then click on the Add Layer Mask icon in the bottom of the Layers palette. Put on a mask Select the Gradient tool, and press D for default foreground and background colours. In the Options bar, ensure the gradient selected is the first one Foreground to Background and set Linear Gradient, Mode to Normal and Opacity to 100%. Draw a gradient from about a third of the way down the sky to just above the horizon while holding down Shift to ensure that your gradient is parallel to the horizon. Final blend Select the Gradient tool, and use the settings as in Step 8. Draw a gradient from just above the top of the foreground tree to just below the horizon while holding down the Shift key. This makes the foreground a bit too light, so in the Layers palette bring the Opacity on Layer 2 back down to 45%. Now click the eyeballs off and on for Layer 1 and Layer 2 so you can see what the other exposures contribute to the image. Prepare to burn To improve the composition, first let s select Image>ImageRotation>FlipCanvasHorizontal. Everything we ve done so far has been nondestructive, so let s continue in this vein by holding Shift+Ctrl+ Alt+E to Stamp Visible; this merges all the visible pixels up to a new layer. We re going to dodge and burn on this new layer, but if anything goes wrong we can always delete it and simply Stamp Visible again. Super Tip! When shooting mist, sky, and sunrise at dawn subtle washes of pale light it really pays to keep your equipment spotless. It s in just these conditions that sensor spots really show up, so it s important to do the maintenance and get your camera sensor cleaned. This is especially true with landscapes where you ll generally be shooting with a small aperture, which tends to highlight sensor spots. This applies not only to your sensor but also to your lenses and filters, not forgetting the back element of your lens as well. When shooting directly into the sun, it s best to have no filter on the lens at all. Filters can cause flare or a reduction of image contrast. Layer it up We ll now repeat Step 7 for master3_start, however, a quicker way to do this is to use the shortcuts Ctrl+A to Select>All, then Ctrl+C to Edit>Copy, then click into master2_start and head to Edit>Paste or hit Ctrl+V. You can close then the master3_start image by clicking the x on it s tab. Whichever method you use, finish by clicking the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. Finishing touches Select the Dodge tool with these settings in the Options bar: Size 400px, Hardness 0%, Range Highlights, Exposure 3% and lightly stroke the mist in the valley a few times just to make it stand out better. Now change to the Burn tool, keeping the same settings except for Range Shadows. Just even up the very top of the sky a little from the left to the middle and the foreground grass from the middle to the right. PhotoPlus February 2012 81