Innholdsfortegnelse for August 3, 2013 i Amateur Photographer

I WATCHED the royal baby emerge from hospital last night. He was greeted by the massed ranks of the world’s press, there to prove to the world that it really did happen. How many press photographers does it take to change a light bulb, I wonder, when it takes so many to photograph one baby? I can imagine the different focal lengths on duty, and the importance in the moment that a minutely different angle can make, and even the alternative compositions created by one camera upright and the next on its side. It seems slightly ridiculous, though, that we require 100 photographers and 20 TV crews to do essentially the same job. But how can we do anything else? Freedom and independence demands that we should ensure these occasions…

LYTRO’S new consumer light-field camera, designed to allow users to refocus an image post-capture, made its UK debut as we went to press. The camera’s light-field sensor records the colour, intensity and direction of every light ray entering the camera and thus offers users unprecedented ways in which to control their images. As well as post-capture focusing, the light-field sensor also allows for shifting of perspective in a scene. Lytro CEO Jason Rosenthal said: ‘With light-field technology there is a huge opportunity for creativity in photography that hasn’t been possible in the past.’ The camera features just two buttons, power and shutter, plus a touchscreen that can be used to adjust and refocus images in-camera. First announced in 2011, at the time the camera was touted by the firm as…

Sweltering summer temperatures seem to have been playing on the minds of AP staffers in 1955, because the 3 August issue is all about holidays. ‘Most keen photographers — those who are enthusiastic enough to be members of a club, at any rate — are inclined to take their holiday photography far too seriously,’ writes TE Gray. ‘While I do not belong to that vociferous band who decry all that is traditional in photographic art as “outmoded, stale pictorialism”, I do think a more lively, positive approach to picturetaking can be very rewarding and can add to one’s enjoyment of the hobby.’ SNAP SHOTS ● Impossible Project founder Florian ‘Doc’ Kaps has announced his retirement from the film-production firm, which hit headlines in 2008 when it bought the world’s last…

The Polaroid Years: Instant Photography and Experimentation By James Mundy, Mary-Kay Lombino, Peter Buse and Emily Kloppenburg. Prestel, £35, hardback, 224 pages, ISBN 978-3-7913-5264-0 ‘INSTANT photography’ doesn’t mean what it used to. The days of Polaroid may now be over, but it’s worth remembering when the instant square prints were an opportunity for creatives and artists to do something different. This formidable collection of artworks using Polaroids features images from Ansel Adams, André Kertész, Andy Warhol and David Hockney, to name just a few. As you might imagine, the styles are eclectic, and it’s safe to say that anyone who leafs through the pages will find several images not quite to their taste, but there is enough stimulating artwork to be found that it shouldn’t matter. This is a challenging…

MY FIRST thought on reading that World Press Photo had received complaints about the authenticity of an image (News, AP 1 June) – Paul Hansen’s Press Photo of the Year 2012 – was to groan, ‘Not again!’. Ultimately, the image in question – depicting Palestinians in the aftermath of a rocket attack on Gaza – was found by independent analysts Dr Hany Farid and Kevin Connor to contain nothing more sinister than global and local colour and tone retouching. But by then, the damage had been done! Another photographer has had his honesty questioned for all to see. And even though he’s been vindicated, he’ll hardly be cock-a-hoop about being singled out in such a manner. We’ve been here before with the tetchy subject of just how much image manipulation…

While many aspiring documentary photographers yearn to emulate the professionals and immerse themselves in a long-term photographic project of some kind, most of us would struggle to find the time to undertake such a task. However, amateur photographer Daniel Love has proved with his project 200 Hours that you can find time – and inspiration – in the unlikeliest of scenarios. A resident of New York City since July 2009 after emigrating from Britain, like anyone with a passion for photography Daniel had first documented NYC’s glamorous and well-trodden sites. However, he soon grew tired of the same old images and wanted to direct his lens elsewhere and focus his photographic efforts into something more significant. ‘I’ve always had a strong interest in photography – my dad had a Canon…

Bath street 1 ‘Although just a street scene with some bins, the alignment of the bins, the bike, and the rows of houses and cars caught my eye,’ says Irene Nikon D7000, 18-105mm, 1/500sec at f/4.2, ISO 200 Manor House at Imber Village The shallow depth of field used here accentuates the mysterious quality of the mansion Nikon D7000, 18-105mm, 1/125sec at f/3.8, ISO 200 Tea break 3 This is a great moment, made into a pleasing image by the soft winter light. The image tells a story Nikon D7000, 18-105mm, 1/320sec at f/5.6, ISO 400, polariser London near Millennium Bridge 4 The underside of the bridge provides a clever twist on a normal cityscape. There’s a lot going on in this image Nikon D7000, 24-70mm, 1/640sec at f/3.5, ISO…

THE LAUNCH of the Leica X Vario was a much-anticipated event. Prior to 2 June when the camera was announced, the rumour mills, message boards and tech websites were in overdrive with news and speculation of a ‘mini M’ – a compact system camera with a cropped-frame sensor that would accept Leica M-mount lenses and cost less than an M-series rangefinder camera. What actually arrived was not a smaller M, but a larger X-series camera. The X Vario is the third in the company’s line-up of large-sensor compact cameras, and features a fixed 18-46mm f/3.5-6.4 zoom lens (covering the equivalent of 28-70mm on a full-frame camera) instead of the fixed 24mm of the X2 and 28mm of the X1. To those people expecting a mini M camera, this was a…

SHARP SOLUTION QI have a Nikon D800 that produces breathtakingly sharp 36-million-pixel images, but only when it’s used on a tripod with a cable release or with studio flash. I just can’t handhold it well enough for pinsharp pictures at 100%. If I wind the resolution down to 20 million pixels, will the images be acceptable, or would I be better off getting a 24-million-pixel D600 for non-tripod, handheld work? Jonathan Pearson AI’m not entirely sure what it is you’re trying to achieve (or expecting), but ‘pixel peeping’ in this way is almost guaranteed to reveal inadequacies in a camera – inadequacies that may be of little or no consequence when realistic viewing distances are employed. If you want to try reducing the resolution, then by all means do so,…

MULTIPLE EXPOSURES WITH YOUR SMARTPHONE IF YOU have a smartphone with the popular Hipstamatic app, you can experiment with double exposures, and its very easy. First, open the Hipstamatic app. On the rear of the camera in the top left of the screen is a slider control. Slide this to the left and it reveals a yellow icon of one square laid over another. Now take your first image and then take your second. Hipstamatic will simply blend them together and save them as a single image. The look is very much like multiple exposures made on film cameras because the images aren’t blended together, they are overlaid one on top of the other. Another smartphone app for multiple exposures, which allows more control and more effects, is OverCam. You…

PANASONIC has added to its FZ and XS ranges of bridge and compact cameras. The 16.1-million-pixel Lumix DMC-FZ72, priced £369.99, is described as a super wideangle and superzoom bridge camera with a 20-1200mm (35mm equivalent) lens. The 60x optical zoom is billed as ‘the industry’s highest’. Meanwhile, the Lumix DMCXS3, priced £119.99 and part of the compact XS series, offers a 14.1-million-pixel High Sensitivity MOS sensor in a body 14mm thick. Both cameras feature Panasonic’s Lumix DC Vario lenses. The FZ72’s 20mm ultrawideangle lens comprises 14 elements in 12 groups, including six aspherical lenses with nine aspherical surfaces and three extra-low dispersion lenses. The FZ72’s 20mm ultrawideangle lens comprises 14 elements in 12 groups, including six aspherical lenses with nine aspherical surfaces and three extra-low dispersion lenses. Panasonic claims that…

KENRO has announced the UK launch of the new Di700 flashgun from Nissin, which features rotating lock-release buttons and auto zoom coverage of 24-200mm. The flashgun debuted at what was to be the last Focus on Imaging show in March of this year, demonstrating 180° of horizontal rotation and an expanded 7° of downward tilt. One feature that sets the Di700 apart is its external power socket, said to be unique in fl ashes of its category. Kenro says that operating the flash with the new Nissin Power Pack PS 8 (sold separately) will greatly decrease recycle time — the fi rm claims a minimum of just 0.1secs. Other features include a colour temperature of 5,600K, wireless connectivity and an AF-assist beam with an effective range of 0.7-6m. For more…

THE SOCIETY of International Travel and Tourism Photographers have announced an image taken at the Louvre in Paris as the winner of its annual photographic competition. Unni Brekke’s image (pictured), titled ‘At the Gallery’, was chosen over more than 300 other entries. The theme this year was ‘People Watching.’ The Society said it was looking for images that ‘define the moments that our lenses capture every day… from moments of joy to scenes of happiness, sadness and destitution.’ Unni, from Loddefjord in Norway, has earned himself 12 months’ membership to the Society. Runners-up Debashis Mukerjee from India and Alexandros Dalkos from Greece have both won six months’ membership. Eleven entries were highly commended. To see the winning entries, visit www.sittp.com/peoplewatching/index.htm. VISUAL ARTISTS TO SHARE £4 MILLION OF ROYALTIES IF YOU…

● WHY IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE IN FOCUS: MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY EXPLAINED by Jackie Higgins, £9.99 This should go without saying, but for some people it does bear repeating – photography is an art form as well as a technical exercise. Jackie Higgins selects 100 key images from modern photography to explain how an apparent lack of technique does not betray a lack of artistry, and how photographs can still be great despite falling short of technical rules. It’s a great book – inventive, and persuasively argued. ● CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY LAB: 52 FUN EXERCISES FOR DEVELOPING SELF-EXPRESSION WITH YOUR CAMERA by Steve Sonheim and Carla Sonheim, £16.99 A few little creative exercises are always welcome, and this book delivers 52. Some are simple, some more specialist, especially the ‘mixed…

ANDREW SANDERSON A renowned photographer, tutor, author and Ilford Master Printer, Andrew Sanderson offers practical tips on working with film and traditional darkroom techniques If you would like to read more about paper negatives, Andrew’s book Paper Negative Photography is available from www.blurb.com, price £15 THIS image is the view out of a window at night. It was taken in 1995 in the back room of a property I was refurbishing at the time. The place had been an antique shop and was to become an art gallery, and I was working every evening to decorate it and varnish the floorboards. The gallery was called Sanderson, George and Peach, in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, where I still live. I ran this gallery alongside my friend and artist, Debbie George, for ten…

IN PRIZES TO BE WON Your chance to enter the UK’s most prestigious competition for amateur photographers Round 7 of this year’s Amateur Photographer of the Year competition is Black and White World (mono landscapes). Anyone claiming that black & white imagery isn’t as popular as it used to be should take a look at the deluge of monochrome imagery that floods into the AP offices for every round of APOY. Photographers are as much in love with black & white as they were years ago, and in this round we want to see what you monochrome aficionados can achieve. The only caveat is that your image must be of a landscape, either natural or man-made. We have thousands of pounds’ worth of fantastic Panasonic camera equipment up for grabs,…

IN A CAREER spanning more than 50 years, Ian Berry has used photography to document and report on social issues, conflict and natural disasters around the world. Although perhaps best known in the UK for his book The English (1978), his work has focused on a diverse range of international subjects, including South Africa’s apartheid system, Russia’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, conflicts in Vietnam and the Congo, and famine in Africa. From the outset, Berry has believed that photography needs to have a purpose to be worthwhile. ‘It’s not enough to make a beautiful photograph,’ he said in the book Magnum Stories (2004). ‘You can go out in the courtyard and play with light and shapes and make something interesting, but for what? For me, there has to be both content…

THE X VARIO’S zoom optic has raised a few eyebrows, although not for the reasons Leica perhaps wanted. The most frequently made comment about the camera’s lens design relates to its speed – or lack of it. A maximum aperture of f/3.5 at the wide end of the zoom is not going to set the world on fire, and f/6.4 at the 70mm end could be seen as pedestrian. However, it’s worth stepping back for a moment and considering the challenge Leica faced when developing the X Vario. The ideal zoom lens must be (1) small, (2) fast and (3) give great quality right across the image circle. In reality, though, only two out of these three ideals is achievable at any one time. Sure, you can get standard zooms…

D-Lighting Coz asks How can I get the same effect in Photoshop as I get by using D-Lighting on my Nikon D40? I can’t get the same effect using Lighten Shadows and I’ve tried fiddling with Levels, too. The problem is that I always bounce the flash when I use it to prevent it from being too harsh, but sometimes the images look a bit dull. If I increase the flash output by one-third, it looks overexposed. Can anyone help? Roger_Provins replies Have you tried using Curves instead of Levels? Incidentally, even if you used a lens with image stabilisation, it would have no effect on subject movement. PeteRob replies D-Lighting seems to be an in-camera setting that reduces contrast in the shadow and highlight parts of the tone curve,…

I AM WRITING this in an airport departure lounge in Milan as I’m about to leave Italy after a short visit. Believe it or not, this month’s camera has only been in my hands for a little over 12 hours. I found it on a stall at a flea market just a few steps from our hotel. Not only is this a record time between buying and using a camera, but it’s also the first time I’ve written anything more than a short text using my phone. Truly, I have arrived in the 21st century! Bencini Milano: now there’s a name to conjure with. Long before I knew what it meant, I remember seeing it emblazoned on a shiny metal camera in the 1960s. The Bencini company made many low-priced…

Wednesday 31 July EXHIBITION Cranium Architecture by Irving Penn, until 13 September, at Hamiltons Gallery, London W1K 2EU. Tel: 0207 499 9493. Visit www.hamiltonsgallery.com. EXHIBITION There’s no such thing as bad weather – only different types of lighting by John Gravett, last day, at Theatre by the Lake, Cumbria CA12 5DJ. Tel: 01768 774 411. Visit www.theatrebythelake.com. Thursday 1 August EXHIBITION Domus by Giorgio Casali, until 22 September at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London N1 2AN. Tel: 0207 704 9522. EXHIBITION The Smiths – Complete Collection of Original Promo Posters, last day at Barcelona NQ, Manchester M4 1NB. Tel: 0161 839 7117. Visit www.barcelonanq.co.uk. Friday 2 August EXHIBITION Prefabs – Palaces for the People by Elisabeth Blanchet, last day, at Photofusion, London SW9 8LA. Tel: 0207 738…

MEMBERS of the Royal Navy’s photographic branch have once again been recognised at the annual Peregrine Trophy awards. Leading Airman David Jenkins was crowned Royal Navy Photographer of the Year for 2013 for a portfolio of four photographs that showed a range of life in the Service. The panel of judges, which included Daily Telegraph picture editor Matthew Fearn and Professor Naren Barfield of the Royal College of Art, selected winners in ten professional categories as well as three that were open to amateurs. Leading Airman Jenkins also won the ‘Life Without Limits’ award for an image of two aircraftwomen aboard the HMS York, taken just prior to her decommissioning (pictured, above right). Other winners included Petty Officer Sean Clee, who took the coveted Peregrine Trophy for the best portfolio…

BARRY CAMERA CLUB Two members of the club have successfully gained the Licentiateship of the Royal Photographic Society Award. Jamie Archdale-Smith won for pictures from his trips to Italian cities, while Frank Cleland’s images were a mixture of Hong Kong, Australia and his home in Wales. Visit www.barrycameraclub.org.uk. PHOTOS INSPIRE ARTIST HUNT A PHOTOGRAPHER’S exhibition of images of street art has elicited a call for the artists behind the pieces to step forward and be recognised. Valerie C Burton’s show, ‘Street Fare’, which will debut at Ottawa’s Guild 420 later in August, features a number of images of street art taken in various places, from Canada to Portugal, the Azores Islands and England. The curator of Guild 420, Brenda Warner, is urging anyone who thinks they might be responsible for…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a 20-roll pack of 36-exposure Fujifilm Superia ISO 200 35mm film or a Fujifilm 8GB media card* CONFIDENCE BOOST May I thank you for the safe receipt of my Editor’s Choice prize of a Vanguard GH-100 pistol-grip tripod head, following my images of Abu Dhabi appearing in Reader Spotlight in AP 13 July. My immediate reaction upon seeing my images on the printed page was one that I’m sure both amateur and professional photographers experience on a regular basis in similar circumstances. It was not, I would assure you, ‘What have I won?!’, but one of exhilaration with the recognition by, and empathy with, the viewer of my shots, such that they felt inclined to share them with others. As an amateur this is all…

MARTIN EVENING Martin Evening is a Londonbased advertising photographer and noted expert in both photography and digital imaging. As a successful photographer, Martin is well known in London for his fashion and beauty work, for which he has won several awards. In 2008, he was inducted into the NAPP Photoshop Hall of Fame. Martin has worked with the Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom engineering teams over many years and is one of the founding members of Pixel Genius, a software design company producing automated production and creative plug-ins for Photoshop. His recent books include The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book, Adobe Photoshop CS6 for Photographers, as well as the Adobe Photoshop for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop series, which he co-wrote with Jeff Schewe. Martin Evening’s Retoucher’s Guide Martin Evening explains…

For what reason would anyone wish to remove colour from an image? It’s a fair question and one that many photographers find themselves asking. Many would argue that the presence of colour in a photograph can act as a distraction from the emotional impact of an image. When we see a black & white image, we are put into a position where we must focus and consider what we’re seeing. Some photographers feel that colour draws us too close to the reality of the scene. It makes things a little too real. The removal of colour allows us to engage with the scene through shape, texture and light. This is a particularly interesting way of looking at landscape photography. Black & white images can instil a real sense of atmosphere…

Thule Perspektiv messenger bag £119 (street price) www.thule.com/en/g THULE produces a great range of camera bags, one of which is this capacious messenger bag. The Perspektiv is designed to hold a large enthusiast DSLR with an attached zoom lens – the manufacturer recommends sizes of up to a 70-200mm f/2.8. The bag also contains a padded sleeve for a 15in laptop. A removable insert houses the DSLR, adding an extra layer of security as well as allowing the bag to be customised. The Perspektiv is very well weather protected, with Thule employing its somewhat obliquely named Cloudburst construction. Essentially, this means that the seams have been insulated and the fabric treated against bad weather. Given the multiple layers of protection, I would feel very comfortable with this bag protecting my…

Columns Graham Smith Canon EOS 7D, 16-35mm, three frames shot at f/22, ISO 100THISfl THIS is a classic looking down-apassageway-style shot, with everything drawing us to the door at the end. Graham has done a great job in terms of framing the shot: the repeat pattern is broken only by the rock at the left (which provides us with a natural ‘focal point’), and geometrically everything is as it should be – adding a few guides shows that the floor is level and the columns are as perpendicular to the frame edge as they can be. However, I wonder whether Graham made the most of the 16-35mm zoom on his Canon EOS 7D. Using his lens at a 35mm focal length (56mm equivalent) gives a ‘standard’ focal-length equivalent that approximates…

Continuing last week’s look into the world of computing jargon and acronyms, storage forms this week’s Glossary: HDD: Hard disk drive (or simply ‘hard drive’). This is a built-in or external storage device that typically contains all your programs, files and folders. A hard drive is a mechanical device containing a disk that spins and is read in a similar fashion to a record. Like its vinyl counterpart, a sharp knock while it is operating can result in permanent damage and a subsequent loss of data. SSD: The Solid State Drive is an emerging storage technology that looks likely to supersede the traditional hard drive (or at least fight it out with cloud storage). Its main appeal is that it is ‘solid’ rather than mechanical, so there are no moving…