Innholdsfortegnelse for August 24, 2013 i Amateur Photographer

BEFORE I started working at AP, I was very loyal to a particular camera brand. It wasn’t so much out of a particular love for the brand or camera, but because I had a system of lenses and flashguns. The only reason I went with that brand some 15 years ago was because it meant I could borrow lenses from a friend. I couldn’t afford to switch system every time I liked a new feature on a particular camera. Now I’m fortunate to be able to use almost every system camera that is released. I still have my own cameras and lenses, but these days I’m much more likely to grab whatever is in the AP cupboard when I am going out for the day. It has made me realise…

The Press Photographer’s Year 2013 Until 31 August. Lyttelton Exhibition Space, National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 9PX. Tel: 0207 452 3400. Website: www.theppy.com/content/exhibition. Open Mon-Sat 9.30am-11pm. Admission free THERE’S only a week left to catch this exhibition so you’d best get in quick. Press photography is an ever more competitive field, and while the upswing in jobbing photographers may be worrying news for those who earn their living this way, it’s great for fans of spectacular imagery. This year’s PPY did not disappoint and produced some spectacular moments from the past couple of years in the world of news. Some standouts include Jack Hill of The Times, who scooped the News Folio prize for a fantastic body of work, and Sean Smith’s features work for The Guardian, taken in…

WAY BACK in the early 1960s, I was a member of a nice friendly little camera club. Most of the members were 35mm rangefinder camera users, there were certainly no cliques, and nobody was bothered about the size of the other’s telephoto lens. We used to have talks on chemicals, developing and enlarging techniques. The person who ran the club was a friendly chap in his 40s, who had his own darkroom at home. I remember him well because he was always generous with advice and praise. Fast-forward about 20 years to my next club, and there were definite groups: those who took snaps; those amateurs who took photos and tried to make a little money from it on the side; and a small group who went out on trips…

ONE OF the most interesting things about developing your photography skills is seeing your own distinctive style gradually coming to the fore. Clive is a photographer who has become intrinsically linked with high-contrast, grainy, monochrome photography. Looking through Clive’s work, you can clearly spot the subjects he favours, such as graveyards and architecture. There’s something oddly melancholic about Clive’s work, which is surprising considering his obviously cheery nature. Clive is someone who is clearly in love with the medium of photography. It’s an infectious enthusiasm. Here we talk to Clive about his thoughts on monochrome, film, digital and how he fits his passion around his everyday life. AP One of the interesting things about shooting predominantly in black & white is that you have to learn to see the world…

Backlit flower Martin Topping Fujifilm FinePix S5700, 38mm, 1/100sec at f/3.5, ISO 64 MARTIN’S bold, colourful macro shot proves that you don’t need expensive kit to produce a striking photograph. Admittedly, it’s not the sharpest close-up image, most likely because Martin shot with the aperture on his S5700 wide open. With such a negligible depth of field, it’s all too easy for the focus to ‘miss’ slightly if the subject or camera is moved. However, this softness is actually what gives the image some of its appeal – it looks less like a flower and more like a supernova in space. Red tendonlike lines come in from all sides, drawing your eye into the shot as they change from deep maroon to shocking pink and are then absorbed by the…

EVF PROBLEM Q I have had my Sony NEX-7 for about six months. I prefer to use the viewfinder when taking photographs, rather than the LCD, but in bright sunlight the EVF sometimes cuts out and the display reverts to the LCD screen. I think sunlight is reflecting off my eyelid and other parts of the face and getting through to the eyepiece sensor inside the hood. For landscapes, it is not a problem since timing is not critical, but at a rugby match I’d be following the action for maybe 20-30secs through the EVF when it would blank out for a couple of seconds, usually at the most inopportune time – when I was about to press the shutter! I would like to set the EVF to be on…

‘Surely the purpose of pictures is to provoke memory, and nostalgia, and wondering “what if?”’ ON THE wall of my wife’s sewing room, there’s a photograph of all the people at her parents’ golden wedding anniversary. As well as her parents, now long dead, there are their children and grandchildren, along with their various husbands and wives and (in one case) a boyfriend. It doesn’t normally get a second glance: it’s just there. It’s a reminder of happy times past and loved ones no longer with us. It’s a long time ago, too: 1984. Just recently, though, I happened to notice it. No reason; that’s just the way these things happen sometimes. It’s quite a small print, not much bigger than postcard size. That’s fine. Photographically, it’s a fairly tedious…

“His bail, with conditions, has been extended” Man faces year’s bail over ‘indecent’ images, page 7 A BRITISH campaign to save the historic personal archive of photography inventor William Henry Fox Talbot has been thrown a lifeline and led to the unveiling of ‘previously unknown’ works. Oxford University’s Bodleian Libraries, which eight months ago launched an appeal for funds to acquire the collection, has won a £200,000 donation from the Art Fund and a crucial year-long deadline extension. The project aims to secure the archive as a future resource for photo-history scholars, artists, photographers and the general public. Campaigners launched the appeal last December, explaining that the collection had been transferred to a dealer in New York with a view to selling it on the family’s behalf. The news means…

● PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS SECRETS by Lara White, £23.99 Plenty of people who start out trying to build a photography business do forget that successfully doing so requires knowledge of the business as well as the photography. Lara White’s book is a good way to realistically assess how savvy you are and whether you’re ready to take the plunge into making your photography a profession. Welcome contributions from business insiders are an asset, and the ‘Fantasy vs Reality’ sections do some excellent mythbusting. ● ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CC DIGITAL CLASSROOM by Jennifer Smith and the AGI Creative Team, £33.99 More than just a book, the digital classroom series comes with a DVD and the option to register online, providing you with multiple media for getting to grips with Photoshop CC. Everything is…

BRINGING YOU ESSENTIAL EXPERT ADVICE EVERY WEEK RUPERT VANDERVELL London-based Rupert Vandervell has spent most of his life working in video and design and decided to return to photography recently at the age of 50. Working in black & white, he has spent the last year capturing life on the streets of his home city. Photography for him is a way of bringing together both the emotional and creative sides of his character. MY PROFESSIONAL career has been spent largely working in video design. My series Man on Earth was my return to stills photography. I love the idea of capturing a single moment that you can keep returning to and each time feel something different about it. Everyone views a picture differently and we can all put something of…

EISA Photo Panel members Austria FotoObjektiv Editor: Klaus Lorbeer www.fotoobjektiv.at Belgium Shoot Editor: Erik Derycke www.shoot.be Czech Republic FotoVideo Editor: Rudolf Stáhlich www.ifotovideo.cz Denmark Zoom Editor: Brian Dixen www.zoom-online.dk Finland Kamera-lehti Editor: Asko Vivolin www.kamera-lehti.fi France Chasseur d’Images Editor: Pascal Miele www.chassimage.com Germany FotoMagazin Editor: Thorsten Höge www.fotomagazin.de Greece PhotoNet Editor: Menelaos Meletzis/Konstantinos Floros www.nexusmedia.gr Hungary FotoVideo Magazin Editor: Sándor Benkõ www.fotovideo.hu Italy Tutti FotografiEditor: Paolo Namias www.fotografia.it Netherlands Focus Editor: Dirk van der Spek www.focusmedia.nl Norway FotografiEditor: Toralf Sandaker www.fotografi.no Poland Foto-Kurier Editor: Krzysztof Patrycy www.foto-kurier.pl Russia Foto & Video Editor: Vladimir Neskoromny www.foto-video.ru Spain Super Foto Digital Editor: Jorge Coma www.grupov.es Sweden Foto Editor: Jan Almlöf www.tidningenfoto.se United Kingdom Amateur Photographer Editor: Damien Demolder www.amateur photographer.co.uk Editor’s comment It gives me great pleasure to introduce this special section devoted…

The AP guarantee to you All our tests are conducted by people who understand the product area, as well as photography. We aim to discover any shortcomings, as well as finding those aspects that deserve praise. All our tests are thorough, honest and independent Hoya Revo filters From £35 (37mm) www.intro2020.co.uk WORLD-RENOWNED optical glass manufacturer Hoya has announced two new additions to its already extensive photographic filter range. The Revo UV filter and Revo circular polarising filters are available now. Hoya’s patented Super Multi-Coating (IS-HMC) has been improved upon further, which makes cleaning and maintaining the filters easier than in previous versions. They are available in a large array of sizes, from 37mm to 82mm, to ensure compatibility with most lenses. They are constructed from highgrade, low-profile aluminium, which houses…

EVF A decade ago, electronic viewFinders (or EVFs) were restricted to fixed-lens cameras such as the Minolta Dimage 7, but while they remain the staple viewfinder type for bridge cameras they’re now increasingly seen in interchangeable-lens cameras as well. The concept is relatively straightforward: rather than a mirror bouncing light from the lens through the camera and out through an optical viewfinder, a small screen is used to provide an eye-level view through the lens instead, in much the same way as a live-view image can be called up on the rear LCD screen. This has a number of distinct advantages over a traditional optical viewfinder. First, the EVF can show 100% coverage of the scene being imaged, rather than the 85-95% coverage that’s offered by a typical optical finder.…

Wednesday 21 August EXHIBITION The Press Photographer’s Year 2013, until 31 August at the Lyttelton Exhibition Foyer, National Theatre, London SE1 9PX. Tel: 0207 452 3000. Visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk. EXHIBITION Soul of Coffee by Reza, a photojournalist, until 3 November at Kew Gardens, TW9 3AB. Tel: 0208 332 5655. Visit www.kew.org. Thursday 22 August EXHIBITION Pictures from the Real World by David Moore, until 15 September at Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff CF10 5AD. Tel: 02921 159 151. Visit www.thirdfloorgalllery.com. EXHIBITION Jesse Alexander: The Golden Age of Motorsport, until 24 August at Chris Beetles Fine Photographs, London W1B 4DE. Tel: 0207 434 4319. Visit www.chrisbeetlesfinephotographs.com. Friday 23 August EXHIBITION Mass Observation: This is Your Photo, until 29 September at The Photographers’ Gallery, London W1F 7LW. Tel: 0207 087 9300. Visit www.thephotographersgallery.org.uk. EXHIBITION…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a 20-roll pack of 36-exposure Fujifilm Superia ISO 200 35mm film or a Fujifilm 8GB media card* JUST SNOBBERY I had to laugh when I saw the price difference between the new Hasselblad Stellar (AP 10 August) and nearly identical Sony digital cameras. I suppose it will be bought by badge ‘snobs’, the same people who wouldn’t buy a Skoda car even though it is basically a Volkswagen but a few thousand pounds cheaper. The poor souls who bought the Leica-badged point-and-shoot cameras will realise their mistake when they come to trade them in: ‘But it’s a Leica, it says so on the badge!’ James Styles, Kent Many camera manufacturers share assets – sensors, EVFs and the like. It’s down to camera brand preference, as…

JON REID says his ultimate aim is to create imagery that will inspire others to travel. ‘Just like a headshot photographer creates a realistic portrayal of a person, emphasising their interesting features, I show a realistic portrayal of location, emphasising its features,’ says professional photographer Jon, as he describes his role when shooting locations for commercial clients. ‘I need to be able to show the unique features of a location,’ he adds. ‘While a landscape photographer might approach a scene with the intention of showing its beauty, I will approach the same scene with the intention of showing its uniqueness.’ Having grown up in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, Jon began photographing the ‘unexplored’ areas around him and ‘instantly fell in love with photography.’ He has now become…

Amateur Photographer’s… ICONS OF PHOTOGRAPHY ICONIC PHOTOGRAPH I PHOTOGRAPHER I CAMERA WILLIAM Henry Fox Talbot arrived in London on 31 March 1844 after travelling from his home at Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire. Talbot, at the age of 44, was a prominent scientist, inventor, polymath and an intellectual figure of the period. His early experiments in photography, beginning in 1834, led to the announcement of his ‘photogenic drawing’ process to the Royal Society in 1839. He announced it two weeks after the Frenchman Louis Daguerre had made public his own early daguerreotype images, although Talbot had produced images using his own process three years earlier. In 1841, he announced his calotype or talbotype process. Unlike Daguerre’s method, it involved the creation of a negative, made from paper, which could produce an…

AT A GLANCE ● 16.3-million-pixel, APS-C-sized X-Trans CMOS sensor ● 3in, 920,000-dot tilting screen ● Wi-Fienabled ● ISO 100-25,600 ● Street price: around £599 body only WHAT started with the Fujifilm X100 and a series of premium compact cameras has proved to be a big success for the company. From the initial success of the X100 compact came the X-Pro1, a compact system camera designed to look and handle like a vintage rangefinder camera. Both the look and handling of the X-Pro1 won it many fans, but it was the unique X-Trans sensor that convinced many to buy it. This sensor uses an unconventional colour filter array over the photodiodes that appears more random than the conventional Bayer pattern filter arrangement. This means there is less cause for an anti-aliasing…

AT A GLANCE ● 16.28-millionpixel, APS-C-sized sensor ● 81 weather seals ● 100% optical viewfinder ● 3in, 921,000-dot LCD screen ● ISO 100-51,200 ● Street price around £529 body only THERE was a time when Pentax SLRs were proudly worn round their owners’ necks. Now-legendary models, such as the Pentax K1000, Spotmatic and ME Super, were the cameras of choice for enthusiast photographers, which made the Pentax brand one of the biggest in the industry. These days it is Canon and Nikon that make the headlines in the DSLR market, while Pentax goes quietly about its business. Yet while Pentax may not have the market share of its competitors, that should be no reflection on its cameras. Over the past few years we have enjoyed using Pentax models, such as…