Amateur Photographer - Ken Gilbert

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Original Edited
Dance in Centenary Square
Martin Singleton
Nikon FM2, 35mm, 1/125sec at f/8, Fujifi lm Acros
This shot of dancers in Bradford’s
Centenary Square is a great photo,
and I’m sure that if Martin had sent
us his negative we’d have seen a
lovely tonal range from black to white.
Unfortunately, though, this doesn’t
really come across on the scan as it
has come up too grey. So, to correct
it, I’ve made some minor adjustments.
First, I opened the Levels tool, in which
you can see (ringed in red on Step 1
to the right) that there is space on the
left-hand side of the histogram. This
shows there is no black in the picture.
A black tone would benefi t the picture
by creating more impact. To do this, I
moved the left-hand slider in to meet
the bottom of the histogram.
The midtone contrast also needs a
boost, so opening up the Curves tool
in Photoshop I gave the curve a tweak
in the middle, darkening the dark
tones and lightening the light tones
slightly. This gives the picture a boost
in the foreground without affecting
the black and white points.
One of the fi rst things I noticed
about this picture is that the clock
tower is tilting. While it’s a grand
statement and it gives an idea of
location, the fact that it’s leaning
makes it diffi cult to concentrate on
the real subject – the dancers in the
square. So, using Photoshop, I used
the Ruler tool to run down the middle
of the central corner of the tower
and mark where the straight line
should be (Step 2). I then selected
Image>Rotate Canvas>Arbitrary
to get the software to straighten it.
Rotating the image leaves white areas
around the edges that need cropping.
I couldn’t crop from the top as it would
have meant losing the top of the
tower, which already has a tiny part
missing. So, I’ve cropped off the white
areas at the bottom, and fi lled in the
white areas at the top by cloning in a
bit of the clouds (Step 3). I also added
a little to the top of the tower.
Credit should go to Martin, because
he identifi ed the picture and got in
close to shoot it. He just needs to be
careful of a few things in order to make
the most of his observational skills.
42 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 28 November 2009 subscribe 0845 676 7778
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