Minimalism, brutalism and architecture, three of my favourite things. So when I got the chance to spend a week in a converted WWII bunker, I spent much of my time exploring the objects, compositions and lighting in this strange but extraordinary environment.
Tutorials
Everyday edits: Bournemouth Pier, with Lightroom Classic’s Storm Clouds Adaptive Preset
It was a dark, blustery day in May. Bournemouth, on the UK’s southern coastline, was not looking its best. But I didn’t want to try to glamourise it, I wanted to make this place look exactly how it felt on that day – only more so.
Have I been looking at dynamic range all wrong? And how much is enough?
So until now I’ve been thinking of dynamic range recovery as being a combination of highlight recovery and shadow recovery. But actually, I’m starting to think that if my highlights are blown, that’s maybe not a dynamic range issue, but an exposure error on my part. I’ll explain what I mean.
Recreating a classic style digitally in ON1 Photo RAW: Josef Sudek
Josef Sudek was a photographer from what is now the Czech Republic who had a characteristic style, particularly later in his life, when he drew inspiration from the objects that surrounded him and the effects of light. His images were deep, soft and mysterious. But is it possible to achieve some of that look digitally without producing just a cheap, fake effect?
I edited this black and white image three different ways and I still can’t decide which is best
Editing processes are very selective, and different photographers will have different approaches. Even the same photographer can have different approaches at different times. Just as it’s not always easy to cull your images, it’s not always easy to decide on the best way to edit them.
3 reasons why I edited this in DxO PhotoLab and not Lightroom
I know Lightroom very, very well. I’ve been writing about it for years. A large part of this site’s content is devoted to Adobe Lightroom tips and tutorials. That means, though, that I also know its weaknesses, and there are plenty. So I thought I’d run through the editing steps I used on this photo and why I did them in DxO PhotoLab and not Lightroom.
This is how Capture One makes your wide-angle lenses even wider!
I’ve been puzzling over this for a while but now I think I know the answer. This is how Capture One (and DxO too, by the way), can appear to ‘see’ a wider angle of view than the camera can. It’s a particular characteristic of wide-angle lens corrections that looks like it shouldn’t even be possible but has a rational and extremely interesting explanation.
ON1 Photo RAW 2025 has a new Depth Map feature – here’s how it works
A depth map is a mask that can separate objects at different distances from the camera. Some phones have depth mapping built in, but cameras don’t. However, ON1 Photo RAW 2025’s new Depth Mask tool can use AI to analyse the objects in a scene and work out their distance. Imagine a luminance mask, but applied to distance not brightness!
Edit history: Stormy sky over pier
There’s this idea in digital photography that your gear or your software must be at the heart of everything you do. That’s not true. The art of photography lies not in the tools you use, but knowing what to do with them.
Capture One lens correction profiles: why they seem to keep changing
Capture One can apply automatic lens corrections to fix all the common lens aberrations – distortion, chromatic aberration and vignetting. But then why does it sometimes show Manufacturer Profiles or Generic profiles instead?