ISSUE 8, June 2018
INTERVIEW
WITH PAUL WHITHAM
INFRARED PHOTOGRAPHY
HOW TO CAPTURE: ALPINE LIGHT POST-PROCESSING PROGRAMS LIGHTROOM VS PHOTOSHOP THAT WANAKA TREE COMPETITION WINNER June 2018
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General Info: NZPhotographer Issue 8 June 2018 Cover Photo by Paul Whitman www.pwfotos.com Publisher: Excio Group Website:
www.excio.io/nzphotographer
Group Director: Ana Lyubich ana@excio.io Editor: Emily Goodwin Graphic Design: Maksim Topyrkin Advertising Enquiries: Phone 04 889 29 25 or Email hello@excio.io About NZPhotographer Whether you’re an enthusiastic weekend snapper or a beginner who wants to learn more, NZ Photographer is the fun e-magazine for all Kiwi camera owners – and it’s free!
WELCOME TO ISSUE 8 O Hello Everyone, I hope these cooler days find you well and catching up on all of your photo editing from the Summer and Autumn! I've had the privilege of working with some new content contributors over the past month to bring you some informative new content for issue 8... James Hickok is taking the reigns on a new post-processing series, starting with a Lightroom vs Photoshop article. We also welcome one of our long-term readers Emanuel Maisel to the pages with his article about Infrared photography. Of course, we also have the regular features; Brendon recounts his storm chasing days and Richard tells us how best to capture the Alpine light. As well as gathering all the content, we've been busy going through all of your Wanaka Tree entries for the competition and want to say a huge Well Done to everyone – Turn to page 35 to see who won!
Emily Goodwin
Editor NZ Photographer
CONTRIBUTORS
James Hickok
Brendon Gilchrist
Richard Young
James is an amateur photographer from the United States who recently moved to New Zealand for soccer. He has taken a keen interest in photography having lived in five countries over the past few years.
Brendon is the man behind ESB Photography. He treks from sea to mountain, and back again, capturing the uniqueness of New Zealand’s unforgiving landscape.
Richard is an awardwinning landscape and wildlife photographer who teaches photography workshops and runs photography tours. He is the founder of New Zealand Photography Workshops.
© 2018 NZPhotographer Magazine All rights reserved. Reproduction of any material appearing in this magazine in any form is forbidden without prior consent of the publisher. Disclaimer: Opinions of contributing authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the magazine.
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OF NZ PHOTOGRAPHER MAGAZINE
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Interview with Paul Whitham
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INTERVIEW WITH PAUL WHITHAM
Behind the shot with Travis Young
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CHASING STORMS By Brendon Gilchrist
BEHIND THE SHOT WITH TRAVIS YOUNG INFRARED PHOTOGRAPHY
Infrared Photography
By Emanuel Maisel
HOW TO CAPTURE: ALPINE LIGHT by Richard Young
FINDING A FRIEND IN PHOTOGRAPHY
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by James Hickok
POST-PROCESSING PROGRAMS LIGHTROOM VS PHOTOSHOP THAT WANAKA TREE PHOTO COMPETITION WINNER
How to capture: Alpine Light
Interview with Paul Whitham I bought my first digital camera in 2003 which ended up being a mistake. It was a Samsung point and shoot. It could take good images of anything that didn’t move but struggled to focus on things that did. Hence it was fairly useless to record a fast moving daughter who was very active in both netball and roller skating. About 18 months later my wife’s boss loaned us his Nikon D70 to have a play with and I was hooked. Within a month I had bought my first digital SLR but despite an investment in fast glass I was still very much at the mercy of the camera settings. Then, in 2007, I agreed to photograph my first wedding and that was the incentive to decide that the camera needed to come out of auto and I needed to take charge. I enrolled in a night class and at the end of it the tutor suggested that we should join a camera club if we wanted to continue to improve. Eleven years later, I am still involved in that camera club!
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU HAVE?
PAUL, CAN YOU TELL OUR READERS A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF? Photography is my passion rather than my profession (I’m an accountant), although some may say that my photography borders on an addiction. I have an artist wife and three grown children (all of whom have an interest in photography), so there is plenty of support for me to pursue my interests. I am currently on the board of the Hutt Camera Club as well as being a councillor in the Photographic Society of New Zealand. In this latter role, I am both editor of their online magazine CameraTalk as well as being the convention director for the 67th Annual Convention, which will be held in Lower Hutt in April 2019.
HOW DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN PHOTOGRAPHY? I have been involved in photography for a very long time. I was in the camera club at both school and university which at the time meant shooting and developing your own film. I still have a film tank in the roof! After university, the interest waned apart from taking family and holiday snaps which generally meant sending the film off for processing. Looking back now a lot of the shots were awful.
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I am currently shooting two different systems, namely a Nikon D600 and a Lumix G9. As a result, I have a collection of lenses for both. I made the move to mirrorless at the start of the year and am really liking how the gear is so much lighter and therefore I am taking it out more often. The D600 is not fully retired though as I find it gives me better images in the studio environment so it will be used in that setting alone. I have an Elinchrom lighting system for studio work and have just ordered a Godox battery strobe for outside work.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE GENRE TO SHOOT? I am primarily a people photographer, although the shots range from simple fashion, models, and weddings up to creative composite images. Although I do dabble with the occasional nature or macro shot, the majority of my work involves people.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR TATTOO PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT... Despite the fact that I am too much of a coward to have any of my own, I have always been drawn to photos of people with tattoos. In fact, it is fairly unusual that I shoot a model who does not have any. After I achieved PSNZ Licentiate I started to plan the set I would submit for the next level up, and I decided to do a series of images of people with tattoos. I posted a casting call on Facebook and also visited a number of local tattoo parlours in my local area leaving a flyer. The response was not as good as I would have liked and I only managed to get four images shot in the first year. As a result, I have moved onto a different concept for the honours submission, but am still continuing with the tattoo series, now as more of a personal series.
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F6.3, 1/100s, ISO200
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WHERE DO YOU GET INSPIRATION FOR YOUR CONCEPTIONAL IMAGES? I am not sure that there is a single answer to this question, as the inspiration often comes from different things. I do spend a lot of time looking at images online and also looking at portraits from the past. In the case of my “Role of the model� image, the starting point was a comment I heard about the fashion industry treating models as merely walking coat hangers. I then saw an image online from Italian photographer Alessandra Favetto that had a subject hanging from a coat hanger that she was holding. Taking that concept further I thought of a coat rack that the models would be hanging from. I wanted three models so I posted a casting call and ended up selecting five. As it turned out only two turned up on the day, so one had to be shot twice. The models stood on a box and we raised the bar so that it looked like it was holding their weight. Then the box was removed and the models were reshot with them holding themselves up between two chairs. This provided the dangling feet. The completed image was a composite of seven images put together in Photoshop.
WHAT IS YOUR POST-PROCESSING ROUTINE? My post-processing regime really starts with trying to get as much right in camera. While I know that you can fix a lot of issues in post I find that spending 5 minutes at the start is much better than hours in post. I mainly use Lightroom and it probably does most of the adjustments that I do. Once I get the image the way that I roughly want it then they will be passed across to Photoshop to fix up anything that Photoshop does a lot better. Obviously composite shots are mainly put together in Photoshop. When it comes to retouching portraits I have a fairly simple approach. I will only retouch out any temporary blemishes (such as acne). Unless I receive a specific request from the model, I will not remove any features that are permanent. I will only use the liquify tool to reshape a body where the issue has been created with either the pose, or the clothing (such as a bump created from a bra strap digging in).
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT IN PHOTOGRAPHY? I would have to say that it was achieving my Licentiateship of PSNZ in 2017. This involved submitting a portfolio of ten images to the PSNZ Honours Board to assess. You have to demonstrate a high technical ability as well as a diversity of approach. At the Licentiate level, around 40% of the applications are rejected each year.
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WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU ONLINE? www.pwfotos.com
CAN YOU PICK A SINGLE FAVOURITE IMAGE? My favourite image in recent years would be the Reflections image. It was a combination of a concept that came together completely and the end result has always been received well by people who have seen it. The whole effect with the reflections was achieved in camera with a relatively simple lighting set up. Jason Naylor (who is an uber talented Wellington wedding photographer) was the perfect choice for the look I was going for.
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June 2018
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CHASING STORMS By Brendon Gilchrist
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2015 was an interesting year that found me travelling to the USA to go and look at clouds in the Midwest during the Spring storms. There was a funny incident when I arrived at U.S. customs, the customs officer asked where I was going and when I responded with the Midwest, he asked why I’d want to go there since most people know there’s nothing much in the region except flat plains. I got an even funnier look when I replied that I was going to look at the clouds in the sky! Perhaps he would have understood better if I’d said I was going to chase storms! A week into the trip, we found ourselves in a town called Gillette in Wyoming, close to where some severe weather was forecast. In the morning we went to the Devils Tower, a huge geological deposit of igneous rock that rises dramatically from the ground, measuring in at 265 meters from summit to base. This natural wonder is a really impressive sight and an interesting location to visit. After our walk around the rock, we got back to the car, headed down, and hung out with some prairie dogs for a while. They reminded me of meerkat’s except they have this cute bark if you get too close to their burrows. Once they got sick of us, we started to seek the clouds that we had come for though didn’t really think much was going happen on this particular day but we were wrong... As the day progressed the storm got bigger and bigger. We stopped at a few spots to take photos of some clouds and a nice hail core. As the storm moved so did we, stopping and starting and finding various roads to go down while keeping at a safe distance. The storm developed quite fast, either that or we were looking in the wrong place! As we were driving
along the storm seemed to develop into a supercell; a thunderstorm with a deep rotating updraft. We were lucky to find a high point in Rapid City overlooking the Black Hills and Badlands National Park from where we could see the storm rotating and letting out the odd lightning strike. It was one of those structures I really wanted to see while there. People do not realize how big these storms are until they see them first hand. They are monsters, one storm as far as the eye can see with another rotating thunderstorm on the edge creating a storm within a huge storm. Amazing! That night, as we were organizing accommodation, we heard gunshots – Turned out some guys drove past and shot our car with a paintball gun, luckily no one was hit. From one extreme to another this was an amazing day and one that I will not forget. The Midwest is a place I will return to again one day to do more storm chasing as I did not get the tornado photos that I would have liked. All the lightning shots I have are from time lapse sequences, this method allows me to sit back and enjoy the storm while capturing its raw beauty.
TIP TIPS FOR CAPTURING LIGHTENING.
• Get near the storm – But not too close, remain a safe distance away! • Use the widest angled lens you have to capture a greater area. • Time lapse is one way to ensure you capture some bolts as well as a movie clip. • Invest in a lightning trigger, or use long exposure with a neutral density filter (these filters help increase exposure time).
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BEHIND THE SHOT WITH TRAVIS YOUNG TRAVIS, TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY... I grew up in a small town called Katikati in the Bay of Plenty. I studied Business information systems at Massey University and currently work as a fabrication and estimation manager for an ITM Building supplies business. I am recently married and we together have 3 amazing children between us. Growing up I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. My Pop always had his large video camera recording all the family events so naturally when I had kids, and an opportunity came up while I was working at Harvey Norman to purchase my first DSLR (A Canon 450d) I jumped on the chance so that I too could take photos of my family. About 2 years ago I upgraded my camera gear and started to take my photography more seriously and started to push myself to learn more. That’s what I love about photography, there’s always something new to learn.
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU SHOOT WITH? My main camera is a Nikon D750 and I also have a D7200. I have a sigma 35mm art which is on my D750 the majority of the time. In my bag, I also have a Tamron 70-200 F2.8 VC, Tamron 24-70 F2.8 VC, Sigma 85mm Art and a Nikon 14-24mm so I have most of my bases covered.
TELL US ABOUT THIS PHOTO... This image was shot on my Nikon D750 with a Tamron 70-200 F2.8 VC attached to it, my go-to combo when shooting sports. It’s an annual pre-season clash between Katikati and Waihi rugby clubs. It’s is a game that is always played in good spirits but at the same time, it's still treated as a fiercely contested local derby game between the two teams. I was wandering the
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sideline capturing the action and a line out formed in front of me so I knew there would be a good fight for the ball coming up. With the hooker positioned infront of me about to throw the ball in I could see the two forwards packs eyeing each other up, ready to fight for the prized ball once more. I felt this image best portrayed the battle between these two rivals in some horrible conditions as position of the ball was vital to winning this game.
ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE SHOT? IF YOU COULD RE-TAKE IT WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? Yes, I love the image. I like the tension in the photo as two teams are about to fight over the ball. There is one thing I would change though and that is because I didn’t quite nail the focus on the ball.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE KNOW ABOUT THIS PHOTO? This image doesn’t really show how bad the weather conditions were. The rain was very heavy and coming in sideways at times. I had my camera gear inside a plastic cover to protect it from the weather, however, the rain still managed to find its way in and I ended up with some wet gear. Lucky the Nikon D750 and the Tamron 70-200 F2.8 VC seem to be able to handle a small amount of rain.
ANY TIPS YOU CAN SHARE WITH OUR READERS ON CAPTURING MOMENTS IN SPORT? My number one tip is to always be ready to capture the action. The moments in games happen so fast you cannot afford to sit back and watch the game. Be prepared and anticipate the moments. another tip I can suggest, if available, is to have two cameras on you so that you’re able to capture the action be it far away or close to you.
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INFRARED PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMANUEL MAISEL
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nfrared (IR) photography is described as peculiar, special and unique. The camera captures a part of the light spectrum that we do not see with the naked eye so that a transformed world emerges with nothing about the colours, as we know them, making sense - Green becomes white, water and the sky a tone between black and blue. This is a world of surreal photographs that utilizes light to display its extraordinary shapes and characteristics. One of the reasons I got involved with IR photography, is the fact that not many photographers are doing it and appreciation for the images are limited as well. Although it’s not my main genre of photography, I’ve been shooting IR for some time now and it gives me a very different world to explore. Some of the images almost remind me of those early Noddy books with the round trees and shrubs.
I have three full spectrum IR cameras, a Canon Powershot SX20IS, a Panasonic DMC-FZ7 and a Panasonic DMC-TZ6 and my filters range from 590nm to 850nm. The 850nm produces some really nice black and white images though I have yet to embrace the like for B&W!
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INFRARED LIGHT IR light is measured in nanometres. The normal light we see every day ranges between 400nm, which is violet and 700nm, which is red. This band from 400 to 700nm is also known as the visible spectrum, which allows you to see the normal colours violet, blue, green, yellow orange and finally red. The 700 to 1000nm is your primary concern and the common 720nm filter falls into the IR Spectrum, allowing you to see this esoteric world. This is also known as near infrared as it is close to the visible spectrum and most digital camera sensors should be able to pick this up. Shooting infrared doesn’t differ that much from a perspective of composition, depth of field, exposure and F-stop. IR images range from nature, architecture to portraits. The latter becoming more popular, because of the wide range of possibilities, it is seen as a much less used medium for creating some unanticipated results. Normally, photographers would prefer not to shoot in the “avoid-the-time-of-day” zone but for IR photography, the sunnier, the better. RAW vs JPEG doesn’t count here either (in my opinion) as you are now relying on the neutrality of your
images, which can be processed either in Lightroom or Photoshop, each IR image bringing up it’s own unique challenge when processing.
YOUR CAMERA If you’re feeling intrigued and would like to have a go at IR photography yourself, you must first test the sensitivity of your camera to IR as not all cameras are compatible due to a hot mirror plate sometimes covering the sensor. Testing the sensitivity of your camera to IR is quite an easy process. Just point your camera to any remote control handheld unit and click the power button. Take a shot and you should be able to see the light emitted from the front of the unit. If you’ve tried in the past to shoot IR images and ended up with a red mess (like above), the hot mirror plate will have been the problem. Don’t give up just yet, this is where the magic starts... In order for your camera to see the invisible light, you might have to modify it, either by removing the hot mirror plate and replacing it with an IR filter with a specific band width, or by removing the hot mirror
plate all together so that the camera becomes full spectrum. A full spectrum camera allows you to fit any external IR filter. There are some companies who do these conversions for a substantial amount and replace the filter of your choice. Unless you have some skills, very special skills, do not attempt to do this on your own as it requires some very steady hands as well as an almost dust-free environment.
TAKING THE SHOT There are two ways of capturing your first shot, either have the filter screwed on the lens or placed over your sensor. Point your camera at anything green (please limit this to grass or shrubs) and go to the White Balance setting in the camera’s menu and do a Custom White Balance. I do not recommend Auto White Balance. Yes, there are those who do the correction in Lightroom using the dropper but I prefer the initial setting as it makes the final processing of the image so much easier. Now take your best shot and you will see your ‘Red Mess’ has turned into a much more acceptable image.
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POST-PROCESSING The Red & Blue Channel swap is one of the most common processing styles in IR, but it does not always work and your image can come out quite the opposite of what you expect. In Lightroom go to Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer and do the channel swap from there. From the Settings Output Channel – Red, set the amount to 0 and do a swap to the Blue Channel. Set the amount to +100
www.notbyintent.com/infrared
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At this point you can basically use any filter plug-in to do some good creative work. Unsharp and Denoise filters can also be applied at this stage. My favourite processing method is to use a downloaded action. Go to Windows > Actions and from there use the infrared action and you have a image ready to be tweaked.
LEARNING MORE I can recommend Youtube videos by Mark Hilliard and, if you can find it, the book Digital Infrared Photography by Deborah Sandidge. For inspiration, I hope you’ll enjoy seeing more of my own work:
www.instagram.com/notbyintent
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HOW TO CAPTURE: ALPINE LIGHT
Capture the best light in the mountains with these tips from Richard Young
Sunset over Aoraki/Mount Cook SUNRISE in the mountains is always magical to witness and pre dawn pink alpen glow bathing high peaks has to be some of the most beautiful light to capture. The dawn air is clearer than any other time of day, offering crisp views and vivid colours. As the sun then breaks the horizon, it casts a wonderful low and warm light across the landscape, offering some of the best lighting of the day. DAY TIME is best avoided for capturing views of snow covered alpine peaks. Especially the middle of a bright summer’s day when the light is very harsh, as the sun is high in the sky, making everything very flat. Shooting in the morning/afternoon will offer a more interesting light.
F11, 1/15s, ISO100 SUNSETS offer a softer light than sunrise, as the sky is full of wind-borne particles from the day. This thicker atmosphere at dusk can tend to dull the colours, leading to more washed-out sunsets. On the other hand, lots of dust can have the effect of scattering light across a greater region of the sky, creating a larger drape of colours. AFTER DARK the mountains can retain a very subtle light long after the sun has actually set. Once every last bit of the light of the day has slowly faded away, night opens up a whole new world of star filled skies. The light of a full moon on a clear night can also light up snowy peaks enough to capture the mountains in a whole different light.
CAPTURE SUNRISE AND SUNSET OVER AORAKI/MOUNT COOK ON A 4-DAY LANDSCAPE MASTERCLASS WORKSHOP: 14TH - 17TH SEPTEMBER WITH NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS
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FINDING A FRIEND IN PHOTOGRAPHY by James Hickok
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aving had a short yet nomadic career in professional soccer (I have played internationally at various levels in Sweden, Scotland, Spain, U.S.A, and now New Zealand) I often find myself moving to a new corner of the world alone with not much more in my suitcase than clothes, soccer gear, and camera. As you might imagine, at each stop of the way I have had to adapt to new cultures, players, languages, and landscapes, but for me I have always found comfort in having my camera by my side. Photography did not come naturally for me. Up until my graduation from Dartmouth College in the United States I was usually kept busy with all things soccer and getting my degree in economics, and frankly I never saw myself as an even remotely creative or artistic person. But they say boredom often breeds creativity, and things changed when I graduated and decided to pursue soccer professionally. In soccer not only are you expected to pick up and move on the spot to whichever team is interested in signing you, but you must also look for the best ways to fill your time in a new city or country outside of team commitments Enter my interest in photography! At first, my infatuation with photography came from traveling and simply wanting to share my experiences with my friends and family through a lens other than my iPhone so I purchased a Canon Rebel T6. For me, getting my first real camera was like finding the golden ticket in a Willy Wonka chocolate bar (or Whittaker’s, excuse me) – a feeling of pure elation.
www.jimbotography.com
All of a sudden, I had all the freedom in the world to express myself through pictures and capture unique perspectives of the amazing places I was seeing but I soon discovered I had so much to learn! My photography work originated in landscapes but over time has progressed into street photography, wildlife, and portraits. Outside of my original Canon EF-S 18-55mm kit lens I have made several important purchases: a Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III, a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM (“the nifty fifty”), and a multitude of accessories like a polarizing filter and tripod. There is nothing special about that list, but all of those products together have the ability for me to get the most out of every shot and also fit into my backpack with ease while traveling. I have only been living in Christchurch for two months, but it hasn’t taken long for me to be absolutely captivated by the beauty of the South Island paired with the friendly Kiwi culture. I have tried to explore all of Canterbury that I can by car, from Akaroa to Kaikoura to Arthur’s Pass. Right now, the top thing on my mind (aside from soccer) is working on further honing my editing software abilities with Lightroom and Photoshop, which is why I am so excited to be a part of NZP. There are an amazing amount of resources available online to help you unlock your full potential in using editing software, but there is no better way to learn than being part of a community of photographers who are all passionate about improving their work and seeing how they do it. Over the coming months I will be covering different post-processing programs, techniques, and tools to help you get more out of your photos and expand your creative sphere. www.instagram.com/jimbotography
POST-PROCESSING PROGRAMS LIGHTROOM vs PHOTOSHOP
T
hese days, the photos you see are rarely, if ever, a finished product that straight from a camera before being uploaded or printed. Even your neighbour’s Instagram post of her cat on a rainy day has been through some form of post-processing! Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop are the two applications that are synonymous with editing and can open up a whole new world of possibilities to bring more creativity to your work. But with all that room for creativity comes a lot of functionality and confusion, how do you decide which program to use to create your desired effect? Read on as I explain the fundamental differences between the two.
LIGHTROOM Pricing Options (only available as an annual subscription plan prepaid in full or paid monthly): • Lightroom CC with 1TB of cloud storage: A$14.94/month • Lightroom CC + Photoshop CC with 1TB of cloud storage: A$29.89/month • Lightroom CC + Photoshop CC with 20GB of cloud storage: A$14.94/month Lightroom is your bread and butter - you could only use Lightroom and create some absolutely fantastic photos from your imports. At a basic level, Lightroom is highly regarded for its ability to edit and manage RAW photos in a completely non-destructive way. That doesn’t mean that you have to shoot in RAW to use it, but it was certainly designed to handle the rich set of metadata that comes along with using the RAW format. If you don’t know the difference yet, shooting in RAW essentially provides the most detailed photo and set of information for your computer to process, while JPEG is a considerably smaller file and set of information that results in a less detailed photo to work with. If you are a beginner, Lightroom is without question the place to start honing your editing skills because it will provide the simplest platform to learn the ins and outs of postprocessing software while still creating magnificent photos.
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PROS One of Lightroom’s top benefits is its organizational capabilities which allow you to easily sort and catalog your images before editing them. This helps to keep your workflow consistent, something that is normally a nightmare in the post-processing phase when you have hundreds or thousands of images.
HERE ARE A FEW OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL TOOLS LIGHTROOM PROVIDES: • Create Folders and Albums (multiple albums can go into a folder) • Sort photos by Date Taken or Date Imported • Rate each photo from one to five stars • Add a list of Keywords to each photo • Choose between “Flag as Picked” or “Flag as Rejected” (helpful when you have imported multiple shots that are very similar, the rejected photo is greyed out) • Filter your search for photos based on Camera, Sync Status, Keywords, etc Another bonus is the ability to edit RAW images directly as opposed to needing any plug-ins to convert files (as needed with Photoshop). This builtin capability helps serve the purpose of making Lightroom the simplest and most user-friendly application out there. Lightroom’s dedicated set of basic editing tools are easy to navigate and allow you to adjust the light, colour, effects, and detail using simple sliders to create the aesthetic you’re looking for. Adjustments can easily be applied to many photos at once, and you can even save those changes as a preset to use on your future photos with the click of a button. If you’re not sure how to achieve a desired look, Lightroom provides you with default presents and you can also download presets created by professional photographers to use on your photos. Lastly, part of Lightroom’s larger purpose is derived from the fact that you can make all these edits and adjustments to a photo and not run the risk of ever destroying or damaging the original photo that was imported. The original photo remains intact and is always recoverable and Lightroom continuously saves your work as you go so you never have to worry about hitting the “Save As” button.
CONS While at a basic level Lightroom seems to check all the boxes, at an advanced level it, unfortunately, does not perform as well. Lightroom does not possess any of the high-level editing capabilities you can find in Photoshop. For example, the ability to clone objects, create multiple layers on an image, smooth/blend objects into a photo, stitch photos together, or edit at the pixel-level. It is also important to note that you can only edit photos in Lightroom – meaning that you must already have an existing photo to work with as opposed to creating something from scratch like in Photoshop.
PHOTOSHOP
Pricing Options: • Photoshop CC (CC = Creative Cloud) single app annual plan with 100GB cloud storage: A$29.89/month • Photoshop CC single app monthly plan with 100GB cloud storage: A$45.99/month Adobe offers multiple versions of Photoshop, ranging from the full blown Photoshop CC, to Photoshop Elements, and finally down to Photoshop Express, with the latter two being more pared down and simple to use than the first – Read about these 2 lighter versions below. Photoshop CC can do everything and more than Lightroom in terms of its editing capabilities. The Camera RAW plug-in feature in Photoshop has almost exactly the same layout as Lightroom (it just requires an extra import step), so anything that you can do in Lightroom you can do in Photoshop (from an image editing standpoint). If you’re willing to spend the money, Photoshop is known for being a best-in-class image editor/ creator used by professionals in creative industries around the world.
PROS • Pixel-level editing • Removal and smoothing of objects (people, signs, major eye sores) • Cloning and addition of objects, people, animals, etc. to a photo • Use of image layers (can change position, opacity, distortion, etc. and use to preserve bottom layers) • Actions (save a sequence of editing actions to apply to other photos with one click) • Stitching multiple photos together (panoramas can now be stitched automatically)
• Major enhancements to photo aesthetics (think of ethereal, cartoonish, and movie-like effects) • Creation of advertisements, posters, and other media Although this is just a brief list that is missing countless tools, it is clear that Photoshop can do anything and everything you’re looking for in an image editing software. Professionals and amateurs alike love to utilize Photoshop’s powerful processing speed and wide array of advanced tools to not only edit their pictures but create art. One of the best aspects of Photoshop is how intelligent each of these tools are, as actions like refining, masking, stamping, filling, etc. all incorporate technology that can detect contrasts in your image down to the pixel-level to allow for remarkably easy and accurate adjustments. Another unique and defining feature of Photoshop CC is its use of adjustment layers, which not only aid in keeping your original image in tact, but allow for easy editing to top layers, objects, or smart objects without having to get into them and edit the pixels. Learning how to use all of these tools in unison to create your image takes practice, but having the power to control and adjust every pixel is hard to not see the value in.
CONS With so many photo-editing tools comes great responsibility… and a really steep learning curve. There’s no question that the biggest drawback to Photoshop is learning how to use all of its powerful features. If you were to just use Photoshop to perform the basic type of editing that you can do in Lightroom, everything would feel intuitive and you wouldn’t have any trouble but that would be like buying a brand new red Ferrari and only using three out of the six gears, because there’s just so much more power to take advantage of! The lack of an image management system means you are on your own when it comes to organizing your Photoshop images and a few additional complications can arise through this. With each progressive save of your image in JPEG format, the photo will lose information and its quality will continue to deteriorate each time. Thus, you must keep saving images in .psd format while you are still working on them if you want to hold the quality – The drawback to this is the massive amount of storage space that will be used on your computer.
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• Built-in processing of RAW photos • Organizational capabilities for thousands of photos • Easy retrieval of old photos with search filters, keywords, and ratings • Non-destructive photo editing (no need to "Save As")
• BASIC EDITING • HDR PHOTOS • PANORAMAS • Pixel-level editing • Removal and smoothing of objects • Cloning and addition of objects • Use of image layers • Saving of actions • Stitching multiple photos together • Creation of advertisements, posters, and other media
PHOTOSHOP EXPRESS This is a free, mobile-friendly version of Photoshop (also available for PCs) that has extremely limited capabilities but is fantastic to use for simple retouching and sharing of photos. It is a little more expansive than the default photo editing options that appear on every iPhone, so it is worth the download, but you definitely get what you (don’t) pay for.
PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS
Price: A$151.79 (Not available as a subscription) Photoshop Elements is a lighter version of the full Photoshop CC program, ideal if you’re not sure about the financial and/or educational aspects. It trims some of the unnecessary fat in terms of editing tools and also has many
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different Guided Edit tutorials that will walk you step by step through the actions needed to create your desired outcome. Elements also includes an Organizer as a way to manage your photos that the full version of Photoshop doesn’t because it expects you to use Lightroom too. It might seem like the inclusion of PS Elements confuses things more, but in fact, it is an app directed at a completely different audience. PS Elements is not directed at aspiring or learning professional photographers, but rather amateurs and families who need a post-processing program to be simple yet powerful. It has similar basic editing and organizational capabilities as Lightroom but is less powerful at processing RAW images in any sort of quantity.
WHAT PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS LACKS COMPARED TO PHOTOSHOP CC:
PAID ALTERNATIVES TO LIGHTROOM AND PHOTOSHOP
• Edit large batches of images, especially in RAW (the Camera RAW plug-in is different)
Luminar by Skylum – Mac and PC Price: NZ$101
• Accept a large number of third-party plug-ins
Another example of a software that skirts the gray area between Lightroom and Photoshop. It has advanced editing capabilities using layers and pixel-level detail, but that doesn’t make up for its complete lack of organization for your photos. That being said, it is a single image editor like Photoshop, and its competitive price certainly makes it attractive.
• Channel mixing • Record actions • No support for Duotone, CMYK, Lab, or Multichannel colour modes • Little 16-bit support (will limit use of layers and tools) • Fewer blending modes and vector-based tools
Pros: Price, support for layers, non-destructive editing, smooth design, unique filters
• Overall fewer panels (missing 3D, Brush, Character, Clone Source, Layer Comps, Paths, and more)
Cons: Lack of image management tools, slow data processing, no batch editing
IN CONCLUSION
Capture One by Phase One – Mac and PC
Many photographers use both Lightroom AND Photoshop to allow them to have the image management system plus the full range of editing tools. I’m the same, often times my editing work starts in Lightroom and then I’ll choose to open the photo in Photoshop from there which allows me to save the final, more significantly edited photo as a copy back into Lightroom when I’m done.
Price: Either US$20/month subscription or US$299 one-time purchase
In short, it’s best to think of Photoshop as an advanced image editing tool while Lightroom is more of an image management tool with some limited image editing capabilities.
FREE ALTERNATIVES TO LIGHTROOM AND PHOTOSHOP GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) – Mac and PC An open-source photo editor (meaning it is constantly being developed and updated by the community of people who use it) that is definitely the most popular free alternative to Photoshop in terms of advanced editing capabilities. Pros: Offers basic assistance and tutorials Cons: Not as intuitive in layout or workflow (can seem even more complex than Photoshop), no adjustment layers, no RAW processing or CMYK support
Paint.net – PC Only
Best described as a significant upgrade from Lightroom, Capture One will feel quite familiar to amateur photographers and above as it can process RAW files while also introducing the use of layers, masking, and other Photoshop-like features. Pros: Easy to use, ability to use layers and masking, quick photo importing Cons: Not good for composites or extensive retouching, not supported by all cameras
Affinity Photo by Serif – Mac and PC Price: NZ$74.99 A high quality alternative to Photoshop that performs most of the same functions and boasts a similar easyto-navigate layout, Affinity Photo certainly gives you a bang for your buck, with the catch being reduced RAW processing ability and sometimes destructive editing. Pros: Price, batch processing, multiple editing “personas”, image stacking Cons: RAW processing and some editing features are destructive, exporting to other file formats will reduce image quality.
Paintshop Pro by Corel Price: NZ$134
Pros: Easy user interface, similar basic editing features to Photoshop, list of actions makes it easy to undo your mistakes
Another budget-friendly version of Photoshop that can handle advanced editing of almost any kind for beginner and intermediate photographers, Paintshop Pro has released a new update that addressed many of its previous concerns from users regarding its processing speed and outdated crop, clone, and dropper tools.
Cons: Not as powerful as Photoshop (no adjustment layers, no dodge or burn tools, and limited brushes), no photo organization or sharing features
Cons: Limited built-in RAW tools, occasionally slow editing
A fantastic alternative that will perform and feel quite similar to Photoshop, but is more user-friendly.
Pros: Price, “Essentials” workspace mode for easy use, customizable interface
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That Wanaka Tree PHOTO COMPETITION On the following pages, you’ll find the best entries to our Wanaka Tree photo competition. This was our hardest competition to judge to date due to having just 1 prize winner and a high amount of images of the same quality hence also having some highly commended picks. For the winning entry, we wanted a photo with the wow factor of course but we were also looking for something a little bit different. A big Well Done to all who entered.
WINNER
Kane Hartill
HIGHLY COMMENDED: DAVID BOWIE ROB DICKINSON ANUPAM HATUI WAYNE BOARDMAN CHRIS WATSON MARK HANNAH
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LAKE MYSTERIOUS F14, 1/25s, ISO100 Deepest winter... just two of us there to see this dense misty minimalism. Captured at first flush of brightness not long after the sun crested the mountains beyond.
Kane Hartill
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WINNER
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WANAKA TREE F8 ,121s, ISO80
David Bowie
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
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ONE CALM TREE F10, 100s, ISO200 A whirlwind trip around New Zealand's top landscape locations ended with a gloriously calm morning at Lake Wanaka. We'd travelled 1500kms in 5 days and slept barely 18 hours , finding our peace on the shore if only for an hour before the drive back to Christchurch.
Rob Dickinson
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
THE TREE ON A LAKE... The colors of Spring, the snow clad Buchanan Peaks, and the blue and clear Lake Wanaka make a complete frame. I loved capturing the beauty...
Anupam Hatui June 2018
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SERENITY F8, 30s A peacefull and calm sunset at Wanaka when the light and reflections perfectly match the mood.
Wayne Boardman
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
WANAKA TREE A very low angle (slightly under the water!) taken with my Samsung S8 Phone on HDR mode. TOO many people about plus I had the pleasure of being wheel clamped when I got back to my car!! (I didn't even stay the night!)
Chris Watson
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THOSE WANAKA PETALS F14, 30s, ISO64 I've waited a long time to share a shot of the Wanaka tree that I'm happy with. I try to avoid posting shots unless I can do something unique or apply my style to it to make it at least a bit different. Hopefully this is a bit of the latter by being able to apply my moodier darker style to the much loved tree. I tried to get a unique foreground for this composition, so I was pretty happy to find some petals on the shore next to the water. Actually taking this shot proved a bit harder than it might look. In order to get everything in focus I had to do some focus staking and due to how close I wanted to get to the petals, it meant I had to shoot this as a 5 shot vertical panorama. To get the water smooth I had to use filters too. So quite a few advanced techniques all going in to one shot.
Mark Hannah
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
AUTUMN REFLECTION F2.8, 2.5s, ISO50 This was shot on an Autumn morning with the famous Wanaka tree. The sky was clear and the lake a bit dried-out but it was perfect for reflections.
Dice Sales
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WANAKA TREE F22, 1/160s, 10mm Wide shot of the Wanaka tree
Colin Hall
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A CRISP SUMMERS DAY F22, 8s, ISO200 It was a beautiful day in Wanaka earlier this year. Having previously come down for sunset I wanted to capture the tree in daylight as well. I took this on a Nikon D7100 with a wide angle lens. I used a ND filter to get the long exposure and smoothness of the water. I was at the tree for about 45 minutes after setting up my shot waiting for a group of kayakers to get out of the way in the background. The tree was humming with photographers.
Thea Betts
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DIFFERENT VIEW WANAKA TREE This was taken April 2017 when the lake was low and the tree exposed and out of the water.
Lindsay Muirhead 54 NZPhotographer
MINIMALIST WANAKA TREE F22, 3.2s, ISO50 The little Wanaka tree has been photographed, and then some! This is my attempt at something a little different. I'm a minimalist at heart.
Annemarie Clinton
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WANAKA TREE F14, 1/40s, ISO100 That Tree. Taken while filling in time waiting for a flight to Milford Sound. Fortunately nobody else was around!
Dominic Stove
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WANAKA TREE F8, 1/800s, ISO200 My two dogs having a drink down at the tree on a late January morning in 2017. We can get snow on the mountains at any time down here. It really improves things for landscape photography too.
Geoff Perry
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THAT TREE F16, 1/40s, ISO100 'That Tree' with a stormy sky in Wanaka
Jan Macpherson
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BIRD IN THE TREE F4.8, 3s, ISO200 That Wanaka tree early one morning. The long exposure made the lake a milky white and the bird remained still long enough to remain sharp.
Jim Jefferies
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WANAKA TREE 2018 F9, 1/200s, ISO100 Taken over Easter on a windy day. Raw file processed in Lightroom Classic, I added an Infrared Profile for a different look.
John Moore
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INTERNATIONAL LINEUP IN WANAKA F10, 1/80s, ISO1000 The Wanaka Tree is a lone small willow growing in the shallows of Roy's Bay, at the southern end of Lake Wanaka. It's a photographer's dream and at every dawn and dusk you'll see scores of snappers setting up tripods, or crouching in front of viewfinders, clamouring for the perfect shot. The morning we were there was a perfect example of just how popular the tree has become with international visitors.
Julie Simpson
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BURNING SUNRISE AT THE WANAKA TREE F11, 50s, ISO100 This was the first time I had ever photographed the Wanaka Tree and I was treated to a sunrise I will never forget. Not sure if I will ever be lucky enough to get vibrant light like that again!
Laurie Winter
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THAT WANAKA TREE F4.5, ISO400 This photo was taken during one winter evening. It was my first time to Wanaka. This infamous tree was definitely on my list to see when I was in Wanaka.
Stephany Rachman
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THE WANAKA TREE F20, 15s, ISO800 This photo was taken on a cold winter evening. There certainly weren't as many people photographing it then as there are now! I wanted to take a photo of this popular tree, but I wanted a photograph that was different to the many taken before, so I decided on a portrait orientated image and to use the rocks in the foreground to add some depth to the photo.
Michael Sutton
June 2018
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THE DUCKS AND THE TREE F10, 1/30s, ISO800 I was trying to get an early morning shot of "That Wanaka Tree", hoping for calm water and beautiful light, when these two curious ducks came out of no where troubling my water...
Nils-Olaf Kuellsen
June 2018
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DAWN REFLECTION F8, 1/125s, ISO100 It was a cold morning in August 2016, me and my friends went to Wanaka for a ski trip. The weather was a bit cloudy but very peaceful, I used a very low angle to shoot this reflection shot.
Phil Qi
June 2018
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BLACKBIRD F8, 1/1250s, ISO200 "All your life...You were only waiting for this moment to be free..." Every single image I've seen of 'That Wanaka Tree' is beautiful and different.That moment when you stand on the shores of Lake Wanaka is a moment we don't forget soon. The willow tree is a witness to that moment. A companion to share the majestic beauty with.
Tanya Wallis
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WANAKA TREE F20, 1/3s, ISO100 I had heard so much about this famous tree and thought that so many people had photographed it that there was no point in doing so myself. That was until I saw it on this glorious early morning and was drawn to taking my own creation of this.
Linda Cutche
AMAZING CLOUDS AT WANAKA TREE F11, 2.5s, ISO200 I was with a photography group and was at the Wanaka tree the evening before this picture was taken. It was a huge disappointment as there were at least 20 photographers, no clouds or colors in the sky, and no reflections. We went again the next morning for sunrise and I was not having high hopes. But then as the sky slowly got brighter, the colors were getting more intense and red donut shaped clouds suddenly became very visible. That was the time I got completely overwhelmed by sheer excitement and joy.
Carrie Cheng
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WANAKA DAWN TWILIGHT F11, 3s, ISO100 The Wanaka Tree, shot at dawn in late autumn, complete with pied shags happily roosting in the branches.
Neil Protheroe
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SENTINEL Taken on an early autumn morning, the sun rising over Mt Iron and the light shining on the tree. It grew from an old willow post which was left in the lake when the fences came down.
Jacqui Scott
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MY WANAKA TREE F11, 10s, ISO400 The world famous Wanaka Tree with a solitary bird resting on a branch within the tree and the snow capped mountains as a backdrop. This tree is world famous in photography circles and when taken, there were eight photographers there, I was the only New Zealander!
Bruce Brodie
June 2018
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"WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME WHAT PHOTOGRAPHY EQUIPMENT I USE - I TELL THEM MY EYES" ANONYMOUS
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