Sleeklens - Through The Woods Workflow Review

Introduction

A few weeks ago Jane from Sleeklens got in touch with me about checking out their 'Through The Woods Workflow'.  I selected a couple of my images and decided to process them using the presets and brushes and see how well the product performed.

Installation

The workflow consists of 80 Presets and 42 Brushes and took a couple of minutes to download and install into Lightroom. The installation procedure was very well documented and the presets and brushes installed perfectly.

Before/After

Presets used

Warm Shadows, Deep Blue Sky, Sharpen

Brushes used

Water Definition, Subtle Clarity, Brighten Shadows

Before/After

Presets used

Calm Sunset, Deep Blue Sky, Exposure Darken

Brushes used

Subtle Clarity, Brighten Shadows, Brighten Highlights

Conclusion

I hope my images have given you an idea of what you can achieve with the product.  I found them really easy and straightforward to use and enjoyed using them in my workflow and will undoubtedly continue to use them.  

Product

Through The Woods Workflow

Supplier

www.sleeklens.com

Check out the Sleeklens website for handy tutorials and the complete collection of Lightroom Presets, Photoshop Actions and Photographer Templates.

Useful links

Tutorials

Lightroom Presets

Pinterest (SleekLens Lightroom Presets Examples)

The Moon

8th April 2015

I have loved photographing the moon for quite a few years now and I'm still fascinated by it.   Some of my images have also attracted attention from the BBC so I guess I might be doing something right ;)

My friend Mike Browne is planning on filming an episode of his popular photography show on how I do my moon shots but I thought I'd share a couple of things with you first as well as a couple of my recent images.

I use a DSLR, a tripod and my longest lens (70-200mm) for extra reach I may add my x2 teleconverter.   If I have my remote handy I will use it otherwise I will use the timer (2 seconds to reduce camera shake and give me a sharper image).   Live View is my friend and I use it to determine my focus and my exposure for the photograph.

I shoot and focus using manual settings.  On the lens I set IS off as it's on the tripod and switch to manual focus as I prefer to tweak the focus myself.  On the camera I switch to Manual,  White Balance set to Tungsten, ISO is 100 and my Aperture will be in the f8 to f11 range from there I use the dial to set my exposure generally around 1/8th or 1/15th second (foreground), 1/100th second for the Moon.   I always use Live View and will be zoomed in (x10) to set my focus and exposure (the moon is incredibly bright so unless you are lucky to have the moon and sun in the sky at the same time you will find the sky will be very dark)   The Live View will also flick the mirror up, if you don't use Live View I would use mirror lockup as the exposure is in the danger zone (1 second to 1/15th second where the mirror can introduce vibration and effect sharpness).  When I'm happy with the image in Live View I will take a shot using the remote or using the 2 sec timer (this reduces camera shake and will give you a sharper image)

I always shoot in raw and I use Lightroom as my post processing software.  I may use Nik Silver Efex to bring out more detail in the moon and  I will use Photoshop if I am doing a digital blend of 2 exposures (Moon and Foreground (clouds, trees etc)) but the simple moon shots are generally just processed in Lightroom.   If you plan on introducing foreground interest I find the digital blend technique works a treat (all camera settings the same except the exposure duration - moon will look blown out) but you will need software that allows layers e.g. Photoshop.

Below are a few of my recent images, I hope you like them :)

Social Media - Facebook, Twitter, Google+

5th April 2015

It's always nice to have a shout out on Social Media from companies you respect and over the last year I've been very lucky :)  

Nice shout out from Canon UK on Twitter :)  Back in March Canon UK contacted me on Facebook and asked if they could use one of my portrait images to use on their social media channel.  This is the second time Canon UK have requested one of my images, they used one of my Lightning shots that had a Perseid Meteor on Google+ back in December 2014.  

On Easter Sunday they tweeted my image as one of their #CanonTip series :)

#CanonTip for best close-up portrait photography, use a wide aperture to create a blurred background ©Linda Enfield pic.twitter.com/MjHGAz6gdN

— Canon UK (@CanonUKandIE) April 5, 2015

Oh and here is the Google+ link just in case you're interested :)

Back in December 2014 on Twitter the BBC Sky At Night (@BBCStargazing)  used one of my images of the Geminid Meteor shower to encourage other sky watching photographers to get out and shoot :)

Why not add your #GeminidsMeteorShower pics to our Photo Group here: https://t.co/cWIEgDG2Py (pic by @LindaEnfield) pic.twitter.com/akF8Lizi5M

— BBC The Sky at Night (@BBCStargazing) December 14, 2014

Food Photography

24th March 2015

When the weather is cold and raining it's a great time to experiment indoors with food photography :)

Interview With Mike Browne

1st March 2015

In November 2014 my friend Mike Browne of www.photographycourses.biz dropped by to interview me about my photography for his YouTube channel.  Mike and Lorna quickly put me at my ease as I must admit I am far more comfortable behind a camera than in front of one but after a while I forgot it was there and we just had a nice chat about photography.  

Mike puts a lot of hard work in creating his videos and over the years I've learned a great deal from him about photography so please do check his channel out (https://www.youtube.com/user/photoexposed)

Winchester Photographer Linda Enfield has been a regular on our Facebook page for a couple of years. I've always been impressed with her images - particularly of the elements such as weather - and especially the moon. So I went along to have a chat with Linda, see what inspires her and find out more about her photography.