Bending colours to make a sunset sizzle

Sunset portrait with impact

Last year on holiday the sunsets were absolutely fantastic. This year they were nothing to speak of, mainly down to the lack of clouds. Nevertheless, with a little creative thought it is still possible to make a great sunset portrait without resorting to Photoshop.

Take this image for example. The inset is the true representation of the scene but by bending the colours of the background you can create a cool portrait, in camera. Granted you can achieve the same in Photoshop, and indeed I’m not averse to that, but as this is so easy to do at the point of capture it makes sense to avoid having to manipulate if after the fact.

The secret to this image is to get the camera to change the colours in the background for you whilst leaving those in the foreground untouched. Sound complicated? Believe it or not it is incredibly simple and only takes a couple of minutes to do. Continue reading Bending colours to make a sunset sizzle »

Popping a little flash…

Simple technique for a fun effect

This is a great little technique you can use to give your subjects a little “pop” and really make them stand out from the background. It’s all done in-camera and takes moments to do.

I took these on a very bright, sunny day with no cloud cover. Normally I hate working in this kind of light as it is far too contrasty.

If you’re interested in how to create images like this, hit the “jump” to the full article. Continue reading Popping a little flash… »

The inspiring work of Joel Grimes

I recently came across Joel Grimes whilst listening to a LightSource podcast produced by studiolighting.net

Its well worth listening to the podcast and visiting Joel’s site too. His work is truly inspirational and he has some absolutely stunning results. What is even more incredible is the fact that he shares a lot of information about how to do this on his website through the articles and tutorials he has posted on his blog.

Continue reading The inspiring work of Joel Grimes »