Photo Answers

Our expert answers your questions, plus Tech Check and Image Rescue

To answer this, Joe, we need to clarify the difference between getting your image sharp by accurate focusing and ‘sharpening up’ an image by the use

Aof processing. No amount of software sharpening will truly make an out-offocus photo in focus!

Accurate focusing therefore remains critical, coupled with the right choice of aperture that governs the band of sharpness (the depth of field) within your image, and a shutter speed that is fast enough to freeze any motion from your subject or the camera itself.

Your Nikon D500’s Picture Control settings enable you to select a ‘style’ of image that you like – whether that’s Standard, Neutral, Vivid and so on. Within each setting you can make further adjustments to how the camera processes the file. Increasing the slider for Sharpening will only apply extra contrast to edges and won’t make any difference to the actual point of focus and amount of throughthe‑image sharpness created by your aperture choice. If you oversharpen the image, it can also degrade its quality.

To be honest, the best way to ‘sharpen’ an image in processing is generally to shoot raw files rather than JPEG, then take control of the amount of sharpening applied in the post-processing software you use.

If you are shooting JPEG, a small amount of additional in-camera sharpening might help the image a tiny bit, but I wouldn’t advise pushing it too far.

Does my Nikon D500’s Sharpening adjustment setting in Picture Controls really have that much of an effect?

Natural light doesn’t always do what you want it to do – but when you are able to harness it effectively, then I think that it frequently yields the best results. Bright but diffused daylight is often best, especially if you want the lighting to be flattering; as a general rule, avoid direct light that will cause harsh shadows, and look for more subtle transitioning from highlight to shadow.

With black-and-white imagery, you are relying on tonal shades to create your

Ashapes, so it’s really important you take time to consider how the natural lighting affects the contrast within your scene and move your subject around to make the most of it.

It can be useful to change your camera’s JPEG Picture Setting to Mono, while still shooting in raw. This way, the preview you get of your photo on the rear screen will be in black and white, but the final raw image you transfer to your computer will have all the colour information, which you can then process as a more tonally rich monochrome. The other option is simply to look at your subject and squint, so that you lose the focused shape but can see the tonality of your subject.

Using a reflector to bounce daylight back into your subject will also allow you to manipulate daylight to some extent, as well as adding some catchlights to the eyes. Asking your subject to move their head even a few centimetres can sometimes make a huge difference, so give clear instructions so they know what you want them to do.

I want to shoot some black-andwhite portraits, without the hassle of additional lights. What’s my best approach?

my settings to improve the exposure.

If I am underexposing, there will be a big gap between the tonal peaks and the right edge of the Histogram. I can dial in exposure compensation to move the Histogram to the right and brighten the image.

If I can’t use Live View for any reason,

I’ll still check the Histogram regularly to ensure there are no major exposure issues that are catching me out.

Replacing skies in Photoshop

The simple answer here is yes, The Sky Replacement Tool in Photoshop CC 2021 is incredibly easy to use, and allows you quite a lot of additional adjustment options to get the ‘new sky’ added as perfectly as possible. I have found that in a lot of occasions during

Atesting, the automatically added new sky blended impressively with the rest of the image; only on relatively few images did I need to play around with the Refine Edge Brush to make the blend even better. You can add one of the skies that Photoshop includes or, better still, use a shot of a sky you’ve taken.

The ethics surrounding the compositing of a different sky come down to an individual photographer’s personal beliefs. Other than for fun or, in this case, to try out the functionality, it’s not something

I do; but I know a lot of photographers who enjoy the process and create some great images using the technique.

My advice is that if you do use sky replacements, then do it so that it looks as natural as possible, and this means being aware of light direction and intensity. Matching the chosen sky to the image so that the combination doesn’t jar requires some objective thinking, but the Sky Replacement Tool allows you to instantly preview the effect so you can look through lots of combinations quickly.

Once you’ve committed to the sky you want to add in, the Photoshop adjustments appear in the Layers Panel as Adjustment Layers, meaning you can refine your selections even more.

Is Photoshop’s new Sky Replacement Tool easy to use? And what are the ethics around adding a new sky into your image?

This semi-abstract shot needs some post-production TLC

It’s amazing what interesting abstract images you can find if you go hunting outside old sheds and huts. Where there is weathering and general decay, there are always some rich pickings. This shot has potential, although it doesn’t look that interesting in its initial flat raw file state.

In Lightroom we’re first going to crop and slightly rotate the image so the corrugated panelling is straight . Although the exposure is actually very balanced, we need to bring out some of that pleasing detail in the darker paint on the right of the photo , so we’ll select an Adjustment Brush, paint over the area we want to affect and increase Shadows to + 60.

We need to give the colour a hefty boost , so in the HSL Panel we’ll select Saturation, then push Orange and Red to the right until the paintwork looks a bit sexier.

Finally, we’ll add a slight Vignette in the Effects Panel

No IS blur

by pushing Amount left to -15; then we’ll go to the Basics Panel and push Texture to +30, then do the same with Clarity so the detail pops .

I read that you should always switch off Image Stabilisation when doing long exposures, but I recently forgot. My images are still perfectly sharp, so is IS a load of nonsense?