Photography Q&A

QWhat editing and processing software do you recommend (I use an Olympus micro four thirds camera)? I’m guessing Photoshop? B Murray, Tatenhill

AIf you’re not currently editing your photos, a great place to start would be the free OM Workspace software that can be downloaded from the OM System website. With it, you can process your Olympus Raw files and perform a wide assortment of edits such as sharpening and de-noise. Photoshop is professional software, so will ultimately offer a wider range of options with complicated edits, but does cost a monthly fee and is not very easy to get to grips with. Topaz Labs software is another one that is worth looking at. These programs use very clever AI to enhance images and has become a favourite of many bird photographers in the last year.

QI photograph birds at dawn and dusk a lot – how do I use the settings to get the best results at these times?

P Howard, Bristol

AThe golden hours of just after dawn and just before dusk are a challenging time to photograph birds, but can yield some excellent results. The low and defused lighting will give your images a warm and soft light but at the expense of shutter speed. To counteract this, the two main tools within your settings to ensure you have the maximum shutter speed are ISO and aperture. Photography is all about compromise, so it’s important to understand the limitations of your gear and use settings you know will still provide you with a useable shot. For example, a higher ISO setting will give you a faster shutter speed and in turn give a sharper image, but at the expense of noise on your image. A lower f-stop will allow more light onto the sensor, but at the expense of your depth of field. The perfect balance between these will vary depending your camera and will take some trial and error to master.