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100 MEGA PIXEL Female Portrait PLUS Retouching in Lightroom and Photoshop (Hasselblad X2D)

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Here’s the recording of a recent LIVE Broadcast I hosted over on my YouTube Channel where I went through the lighting and retouchingsteps of a female portrait PLUS likes and dislikes of the cameraa I used … the Hasselbald X2D.

🎬 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎

00:00 - Introduction
01:21 - Hasselbald X2D
05:29 - Things I didn't like
11:11 - Lighting the Portrait
15:18 - Lightroom
20:33 - Remove Tool ( Photoshop )
25:10 - Dust & Scratches ( Clean Glasses )
30:42 - Even-Out Skin Tones
36:12 - The 20/10 Technique
39:17 - Dreamy Glow
42:34 - Presets in Lightroom
44:45 - Di Edwards Sees her Portrait
47:19 - Questions

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THIS is why I do what I do ❤️

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A few weeks back I took the portrait of the wonderful Di Edwards; wife of the late David Edwards ( World War 2 Veteran) and a family that, thanks to my 39-45 Portraits Project I have become very close to.

Well, yesterday ( 31st July 2023 ) I popped over to Abergavenny, Wales to see Di and her son Chris and to take the printed portraits over to them and I simply could noty have wished for a better reaction.

As the title of this post says … THIS is why I do what I do❤️

Here’s the portraits that I took; both of which were using natural light coming in through a large sliding patio door that leads out onto Di’s garden …

Di and her son Chris

When leaving, as always we had a hug but I’ll forever cherish that she said “I’m blessed to have you as a friend”

Ditto that Di ❤️

Di and her late husband, David Edwards … the best of human-kind right there !

WW2 Veteran David Edwards photographed in April 2019

My ULTIMATE Desktop Set Up for Photography, Content and Zoom ( YouTube LIVE )

I'm often asked about the kit / hardware I use every day for photography , content and live streaming so in this video I'll go through the lot; EVERYTHING I use that makes editing (photography& video) and streaming so much easier.

You can see all of the kit I go through over on my GEAR page.

RØDE Wireless GO II ... A small but BIG Improvement

*Note … this article contains Affiliate Links

I love my RØDE Wireless GO II microphones but just over a year ago I (temporarily) moved away from using them for 2 main reasons …

  1. The Clip

  2. No Charging Case

I ended up buying the DJI Wireless Microphone set which like the RØDE comes complete with 2 x Transmitters, 1 x Receiver BUT also a magnetic clip AND a charging / storage case.

So what’s the big deal about a magnetic clip ?

Well, it’s the fact that you can mount the transmitter so much easier onto your clothing.

With a standard clip you need a lapel for it to hold onto which is fine if you have one, otherwise you need to clip it onto your neckline / collar if you’re wearing a T-Shirt.

The problem doing this is that as you move your head a little, your chin / neck can rub against the transmitter.

Having a magnetic clip means you can put the magentic block on the inside of your clothing and the transmitter on the outside, attaches to it and you’re good to go.

This along with the charging / storage case you would think would make the DJI Wireless Microphones my go to, however I’ve never been happy with the audio quality from them.

The microphones seem to have quite a bad ‘noise floor’ in my opinion (and others I’ve seen) and this gets even worse when you increase the gain, which you need to do. This ends up with you having to do extra processing on the audio to improve it in Adobe Audition, and even then the audio just never sounds as good as the RØDE.

Happy Accident

So very recently whilst browsing the RØDE website looking at some new products (RØDE NT1 5th Generation Microphone and the RØDE Caster Duo) purely by chance I ended up scrolling through the Accessories section and that’s when I stumbled upon this … RØDE MagClip GO Magnetic Clip attachment for the RØDE Wireless GO II and Wireless ME …

This is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for; in fact I’d even drawn up a sketch of the very same and was going to get in touch with RØDE to see if they would make something like it, but it turns out they already have and it works a treat!

All you have to do is to slide the metal sleeve over the clip on the Wireless GO II and then use the the magentic block just as you would with the DJI WIreless Microphones to attach anywhere on your clothing.

Fantastic!

Now you might be thinking … “ Why not just stick the transmitter in your pocket and use a Lav Mic? “

Well there’s a couple of reasons …

  1. Convenience. Having to feed a cable through your clothing so that you can have a Lav Mic, is well, a pain in the a$$. The cable can get caught on clothing as you move, you have to keep taking the transmitter out of your pocket to turn it off and on inbetween recordings and all of this just makes it less user friendly and again being honest, less desire to use them. Just being able to quickly place the transmitter on your clothing and be up and running is so much better!

  2. A decent Lav Mic isn’t cheap. These transmitters are superb. The audio quality is outstanding so I don’t want or need to have to buy an extra Lav Mic to fit into them if I don’t have to. Plus the quality of the transmitters being as good as they are I wouldn’t want to use a cheap Lav Mic; that would be like having a VERY expensive lens and putting a cheap ND filter on the front of it.

The MagClip GO works so well and makes these great little microphones even better, and at around £15 I totally think it’s worth it.

Needless to say, I’m back using my RØDE Wireless GO II’s and VERY happy.

Oh and the charging / storage case … watch this space 😉

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Photographing a Storm with my iPhone

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One of the results I captured yesterday with my iPhone during the storm down at Lyme Regis.

I love how photographs instantly transport you back to the where, when, what and who.

Taken with my iPhone 14 Pro Max

This one will always remind me of the two of us laughing like excited children as the waves from the incoming tide pounded against The Cobb wall and then towered above us and crashed down. Yes we got soaked (one of us more than the other) but it was so much fun.

Dedication … right there! Strong winds, big waves on the incoming tide and this one was giggling like a good ‘un as a BIGGIE came crashing over The Cobb and swallowed her up … and all to help me take some photographs 😍

*Taken with my iPhone 14 Pro Max using the ReeXpose App by REEFLEX set to a 0.5 second exposure.

Edited in Lightroom Mobile and Photoshop Beta.

*If you’re interested, I have the kit I use (which in this case addition to my iPhone was a tripod and the BEST Mobile Phone Grip I’ve ever used) over on my GEAR / KIT PAGE

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GENERATIVE FILL A.I. in Photoshop performs Magic changing furniture! MIND BLOWN 😳

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This blows me away!

Just playing around experimenting in Photoshop last night and discovered that Generative Fill A.I. in Photoshop Beta is able to change furniture that even has people sitting on it and can blend it in PERFECTLY in seconds!

© Glyn Dewis 2025