Innholdsfortegnelse for December 15, 2012 i Amateur Photographer

TECHNOLOGY either catches on or it doesn’t. It seems there are few halfway houses these days, and when a new idea is launched as the ‘big new thing’, it either has to stun the world and sell, or collapse and die within a couple of years. Having a genuinely good idea and a good implementation aren’t enough on their own, either – you have to appeal to that part of the brain that tells its owner, ‘You know, I really want that’. Generating desire is, I’m afraid to say, actually more important than creating a product that is as good as it is said to be, or as good as people expect it to be. The hand-in-the-pocket public are often poor judges of what is and isn’t a smart idea.…

MONO: VOLUME ONE Edited by Luca Desienna. Gomma Books, £39, hardback, 270 pages, ISBN 978-1-62050-421-5 THE WORK of a multitude of contemporary black & white photographers has been collected to appear in this book, which aims to promote exciting current work in this enduring medium. An enormous breadth of talent is packed into these pages. Standouts include Trent Parke’s almost theatrical compositions (above centre), Daisuke Yokota’s distorted representations of abstract shape and colour (top), and Chris Rain’s singularly dark images that feel like illustrations from a macabre storybook (above). Every reader will likely find different artists standing out for him or her, and some that don’t sit too well. However, analysing why such feelings, positive or negative, are being evoked is just what makes this book so gratifying. Lovers of…

CUTBACKS and higher prices everywhere can have an impact on our wallet, but not if you are determined to start sensible penny watching. Buying low-cost items – my wife calls them ‘cheap’ – can open up a new avenue without damaging your photographic enthusiasm. A basic shopping list helps, at least to give you a target. My aim to spend under £20 for bits and pieces was a key starting point. First port of call was a recent camera fair and an early arrival on the doorstep. One stallholder had camera bags under the display table just piled on the floor. ‘How much, please?’ I asked hopefully while holding up something almost brand new and perfect for my compact system camera and accessories. ‘Give me a pound as I’m keen…

WHEN you think of winter, what comes to mind? Crisp sunshine from a low sun, perhaps? Or long shadows raking across a snowy landscape, trees coated in hoar frost, frozen waterfalls and streams? These – and more – are the things we look forward to photographing in the final season of the year, but in reality most winter days are dark, grey and dismal. It’s more likely to rain than it is to snow and the shots we take often look black & white before we’ve even thought about removing any colour. You could admit defeat when yet another day like this presents itself. Alternatively, you could see imperfect conditions as an exciting challenge that has to be tackled head-on. I prefer to rise to the challenge. If I’ve made…

‘Apart from the exposure, this is a really lovely shot’ Christal Johnson Girl on swing Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 24-105mm, 1/125sec at f/11, ISO 100 THIS is a touching picture with a dreamlike atmosphere and a real sense of story behind it. The background is great – well out of focus and perfectly setting the scene for us to enjoy the little girl having fun on her swing. The problem for me is that Christal’s metering has left everything facing the sky very overexposed, and the detail in the girl’s face has been burnt out. It doesn’t always work, but on this occasion I opened the JPEG file in Adobe’s Camera Raw and was able to claw back some tonality in the highlights using the Exposure adjustment slider. Had…

IMPRESSIVE as they sound, each of the 8fps and 10fps tele-zoom high-speed burst modes on the Alpha 99 is available in JPEG format only, at medium or low quality respectively, and with autofocus and exposure locked from the first frame. For full-resolution raw and JPEG images, and with exposure and AF control during a continuous high-speed burst, the continuous high mode offers a reasonable 6fps rate. In good light and using a low ISO, continuous high provides a burst in excess of 20 frames in JPEG format only, which is solid. In low light with high ISO settings, the increased application of noise reduction reduces the number of frames in a burst. Having used the Alpha 99 for a low-light floodlit football match, the number of frames in a burst…

BATTERY FOR SPOTMATIC Q I recently bought a second-hand Pentax Spotmatic SLR, but the Kodak KX400 battery inside was dead. Are these batteries still made? If not, is there an equivalent replacement that’s easily available? Brian Baxter A The Kodak KX400 is one of many different names for the ‘400’ mercury battery. These were used in countless cameras because they were consistent in their output, making them ideal for light-metering systems without the need for additional circuitry to regulate the voltage in-camera. However, mercury cells are no longer produced, so a direct replacement will be impossible to source. There are alternatives, though, all of which you will find at the Small Battery Company (www.smallbattery.company.org.uk). The first option is to use a silver-oxide S400PX (387S) cell, although as these produce 1.55V…

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL APOY 2012 APOY FINAL RESULTS AND WINNER We reveal who won the great Samsung and Jessops prizes in round 10 and the overall winner explains how he won this year’s event TECHNIQUE CHRISTMAS PROJECTS Five great techniques to try out, including painting with light, in-camera multiple exposures and one-colour collages PHOTOJOURNALISM TELLING THE STORY Andrew Testa talks about documenting some of the most dangerous parts of the world and the future of photojournalism AP’S EXPERT GUIDE WINTER ABSTRACTS Doug Chinnery looks at ways to create fantastic winter abstract and macro images FUTURE TRENDS WHAT LIES IN STORE What will 2013 bring in terms of camera technology? We consult the AP crystal ball…

News Analysis Comment PhotoDiary 15/12/12 “We have apologised to Mr White” Amateur wins police apology, page 7 Axed website images come to life • Users told to act fast PHOTOGRAPHERS RACE TO RECOVER LOST PICS PHOTOGRAPHERS are racing to recover pictures from image-sharing website Fotopic.net, whose owner went bust last year, leaving tens of thousands of photos trapped in cyberspace. Many photographers expressed outrage when their images vanished from the site without warning. It later emerged that owner Snappy Designs Ltd had ceased trading. Although the Fotopic.net server and domain were later sold, plans to revive the site were abandoned, leaving up to two million images irretrievable, according to one AP source. Now, after more than 18 months of uncertainty, ‘selected’ Fotopic.net customers have been told they can download images…

● ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY by Norman McGrath, £21.99 Norman McGrath brings the wisdom of years of experience to this handbook of the technical and practical aspects of a career in architecture photography. The book features an enormous selection of images from McGrath and others, and every aspect of the practice is given a thorough going-over. Recommended for anyone considering a career in this field. ● MICHAEL FREEMAN’S PHOTO SCHOOL: EXPOSURE by Michael Freeman, £17.99 In another of his superb technical guides, Michael Freeman lays out the rules of exposure, explaining all the key concepts. The challenges in each chapter give readers a chance to learn by doing, and the images throughout are excellent. ● HOLLYWOOD BOUND by Tony Nourmand and Peter Doggett, £19.95 One of the more niche titles available this…

THIS image was taken in 1989 on a very cold morning – something that I think is pretty evident from the shot. I took out my Mamiya RB67 and it was so cold that my hands were actually sticking to the tripod. There was a thin sheen of frost over the trees and grass that gave the area a real visual crispness. When I first happened upon this scene it struck me that there was a repetition of shapes. If you look closely, you can see the shapes on the edges of the cobweb echoed in the carved shapes in the gravestones. I also found it incredibly exciting that there was a distinct separation between the gravestones and the background. This was due to the thin mist that was hanging…

The Editor’s Choice wins a Vanguard GH-100 3-in-1 pistol grip ball head worth £129.99* Combining the smooth precision of a ball head with the impressive ergonomic control of a pistol grip, the award-winning GH-100 enables you to position your camera exactly where you want it. The ball head has an anodized centre ball and friction-control switch, while the pistol grip enables you to position your camera or spotting scope effortlessly. The GH-100 also has 360° of panning movement, with 72 clicks of 5°. www.vanguardworld.co.uk How to submit your images Please see the ‘Send us your pictures’ section on page 3 for details or visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/spotlight Martin Leighton Nottingham After witnessing a stunning winter sunrise about ten years ago, Martin realised that he wanted to share the profound effect that nature’s…

Solar FreeLoader Pro solar charger £69.99 www.johnsons-photopia.co.uk THE SOLAR FreeLoader Pro is a portable battery pack that uses two 200mA solar panels or USB to charge its 1600mAh internal battery. The company quotes a time of seven to nine hours in sunny conditions, or three to six hours using a USB, which I found to be accurate. However, in cloudy conditions or if the panels are behind glass, charge times soar. When fully charged, the FreeLoader Pro is able to power all manner of batteries, and provides a full charge for a Li-Ion DSLR battery. The USB cable supplied can also be used for input from a computer for a charge, and then for output from the FreeLoader through any one of the ten adapters supplied, including a mini USB.…

Richard Sibley Technical editor IT MAY not be the first camera to have Wi-Fi, or even the first camera to have an Android operating system, but the £399 Samsung Galaxy Camera is the best example yet of what happens when mobile computing and camera technology collide. In the past few years we have seen camera phones become more popular and their image quality improve dramatically, but the Samsung Galaxy takes things one step further. Rather than being a phone with a small built-in camera, the Galaxy is a fully fledged compact camera with a wealth of smartphone technology built in. What differentiates the Samsung Galaxy from the Nikon Coolpix S800c (which is also Wi-Fi-enabled and features an Android operating system) is that the Galaxy allows 3G/4G data connection. This is…

Best high ISO model MickLL asks Irrespective of budget, which DSLR is reckoned to have the best high ISO performance in terms of noise/definition? NosamLuap replies DXOMark (www.dxomark.com) suggests the Nikon D3S, but despite being a happy Nikon user, I do have to agree with some of the rumours that suggest this site is rather Nikon biased. Nikon sits in the top five places, and the Canon EOS-1D X is in sixth place. It may be true, but I’d be surprised if a previous-generation Nikon is that far ahead of the brand-new Canon. Also bear in mind that a change of a couple of hundred in the value of ISO at these sort of levels (>1600) means little to the overall performance. For example, my camera (a Nikon D300S) scores…

WHEN Wray Optical Works of Bromley, Kent, launched its Wrayflex II at the 1959 London Olympia Photofair, it was seen as an indication of a great future for Britain’s 35mm SLR system. Earlier Wrayflex models had been a considerable success, selling internationally despite being somewhat expensive, while many scientific research bodies had come to rely on the quality of Wray lenses. Yet, in the end, only about 350 examples of the Wrayflex II were ever sold, and the camera became a commercial failure. So what went wrong? The biggest reason for failure was that the launch of the Wrayflex II more or less coincided with the final relaxation of Britain’s import controls that had, since the Second World War, prevented mass importation of high-quality expensive cameras. Suddenly, the UK market…

Wednesday 12 December EXHIBITION Garden of Eden by Andrzej Maciejewski, until 4 January 2013 at Dimbola Lodge Museum & Galleries, Isle of Wight P040 9QE. Tel: 01983 756 814. Visit www.dimbola.co.uk. DON’T MISS Southbank Centre Christmas Market (German market-themed ‘wooden chalets’), until 24 December at South Bank, London SE1 8XX Thursday 13 December EXHIBITION E Chambré Hardman, until 17 February 2013 at Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool L3 1BP. Tel: 0151 236 6768. Visit www.openeye.org.uk. EXHIBITION Light from the Middle East: New Photography, until 7 April 2013 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London SW7 2RL. Tel: 0207 907 7073. Visit www.vam.ac.uk. Friday 14 December EXHIBITION The Vivisector, work by Cindy Sherman, until 26 January at Sprüth Magers, London W1S 4EJ. Tel: 0207 408 1613. Visit www.spruethmagers.com. EXHIBITION by Domingo Milella,…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a 20-roll pack of 36-exposure Fujifilm Superia ISO 200 35mm film or a Fujifilm 4GB media card* IT’S NOT THE CAMERA THAT COUNTS I would just like to offer Martin Topping (Letters, AP 1 December) and any other readers in his situation a few words of encouragement. Top landscape photographer Charlie Waite uses compact cameras, as well as his pro equipment, to take top-class pictures, while award-winning wedding and portrait photographer Annabel Williams uses her camera phone on photo shoots, as well as her camera. I also know a photographer who has won a few camera club competitions with photos taken on a compact camera, and that was competing against some members who use full-frame models and lenses costing thousands of pounds. My advice would…

HAVING made several trips to Scandinavia, I know how cold it can get. Norway offers an extra chilling experience with its Ice Hotel and bars, such as this one in Oslo. The ice walls are backlit by LED lights, some of which change colour to create different lighting moods. Such scenes are challenging for photographers. It’s best to shoot raw to have more room to experiment when processing the photos, but even so scenes like this can easily fool a camera’s auto metering. This picture was underexposed, but once edited it became quite interesting. The usual rules of raw processing don’t always apply when editing photographs like this. For example, there’s little point adjusting the colour noise settings from the defaults since the image was mostly blue and it was…

This winter, London’s Tate Modern is showing the work of pioneering photographers William Klein and Daido Moriyama, but there is more to their photographs than meets the eye. Gemma Padley speaks to Simon Baker, curator of photography at Tate Modern, to find out more IF A VISIT to London’s Tate Modern has been on your ‘to-do’ list but you haven’t quite got round to it, now is the time to go. Tate Modern is hosting William Klein + Daido Moriyama, its most eagerly anticipated photographic exhibition in recent years that comprises two major retrospectives from two giants of 20th century photography. And without wishing to turn this article into an advert, you are unlikely to see a photography exhibition of this scale and magnitude in the capital again any time…

Tim Coleman Deputy technical editor A LOT has changed during the four years between the launch of Sony’s original flagship full-frame DSLR, the Alpha 900, and the arrival of its replacement, the Alpha 99. While both use the same lens mount and a full-frame sensor with an approximate 24-million-pixel resolution, there are few other similarities. The launch of the Alpha 99 means that Sony’s current Alpha range is made up entirely of SLT (single lens translucent) models rather than DSLRs. So, from the entry-level Alpha 37 through to the Alpha 99, all the cameras use a fixed translucent mirror rather than the moving mirror set-up of a traditional DSLR. When SLT technology was introduced two years ago in the Alpha 33 and Alpha 55, we went into detail about the…

THE SAMSUNG Galaxy Camera is laden with technology more commonly found on mobile phones and tablet computers, but what does it all do? WI-FI A Wi-Fi-compatible camera can be connected wirelessly to either an internet hotspot, or to another device such as a mobile phone or a computer. When connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot, cameras can send images via email or upload them to the internet so they can be seen on social networking sites such as Facebook. More importantly, Wi-Fi can allow images to be archived to an online storage account. The Galaxy Camera comes with 50GB of online Dropbox space for two years. This means that thousands of images can be automatically saved in a secure online account and then accessed via a computer or mobile phone anywhere…

In the Glossary in AP 8 December, we looked at sync speed and how it affects standard flash exposures. In a nutshell, you need to work with shutter speeds no higher than the sync speed to guarantee that the sensor or film frame is exposed in its entirety. If not, it will only expose the ‘slit’ created by the opening and closing shutter blinds. However, there are some flash units that offer a ‘high-speed sync’ option, which enables you to work at shutter speeds that are much faster than the camera’s sync speed. To achieve this requires a sleight of hand: as the flash can’t physically make the shutter open fully, it ‘pulses’ light, creating a near-continuous stroboscopic effect. As a result, the overall duration of the flash becomes longer…

I HAD my first experience with the paparazzi recently as I crossed paths with a D-list celebrity, who shall remain nameless (mostly because I can’t remember her name), in a club called Ultimatum in central London. ‘You can come in, but your camera stays here,’ the bouncer told me. ‘Ms (something or other) wants to have a quiet night out away from the paps.’ I snorted. ‘Do I look like your typical paparazzo?’ ‘They often dress like tramps, mate.’ ‘Touché,’ I said. ‘But I don’t even know who she is. I’m just here for my mate Eli’s birthday. I really don’t want to leave my camera here.’ ‘Sorry, bruv, Ultimatum rules. Take it or leave it.’ So I reluctantly handed over my camera, but not before slipping out the SD…