Innholdsfortegnelse for October 5, 2013 i Amateur Photographer

THE MAN at our town council who pays the electric bill has taken to switching off the lights in the street between midnight and 5am, as though he is the irate father of 53,500 careless teenagers. While I hope this recession-busting winter initiative will go some way towards filling the potholes created last time it snowed, I am also rather relishing the exaggerated experience of seasonal change it has brought with it. Townsfolk are not usually privilege to such darkness. I might remark, too, that the place is a good deal more appealing when obscured by night, with only the twinkling blue of the stars lighting the sky. Living in a town and working in an air-conditioned container in London, I find it easy to miss the cycle of nature…

● LEARNING TO PHOTOGRAPH VOL 2 by Cora and Georg Banek, £30.99 This second part of the Learning to Photograph series keeps up the standard. Now the basics are out of the way, authors Cora and Georg Banek focus on composition, application of light and use of colour. Towards the end of the book they even get into more theoretical territory, with a foray into image analysis. While expensive for what it is, the book is a pleasingly thorough tutorial. ● CANON EOS 6D by James Johnson, £30.99 The Canon EOS 6D was released late last year as a full-frame DSLR pitched towards enthusiasts. This unofficial guide lays out how to get the best results from the camera. It is quite light on illustrations, but the text is solid and…

BRINGING YOU ESSENTIAL EXPERT ADVICE EVERY WEEK THIS picture came about in an unusual way. I was walking home from the pub one night, and saw Robert – the man in this picture – trying to lift a huge plank from a skip at the side of the road. He was having a bit of difficulty, so I went over to ask if he needed any help. He was quite pleased that I’d offered, and perhaps a bit bemused as to why I wanted to help him. I was offering to help him pull the plank out, but he took full advantage of my offer and had me carry it all the way to his house! After carrying it for about half a mile, he took me up a small…

Round nine ENTER TODAY! Round 9 of this year’s Amateur Photographer of the Year competition is Going Abstract (textures, shapes and colours). The word abstract can mean many things. It can mean a departure from reality in the depiction of objects in art or it can mean something difficult to understand or something largely without concrete form. These are all correct and helpful definitions, but it’s important not to get lost in definitions. For this round we want you simply to think of ‘abstract’ as an exploration of the interaction between form, texture, shape and colour of any subject. We have thousands of pounds’ worth of fantastic Panasonic camera equipment up for grabs, as well as the chance to be crowned Amateur Photographer of the Year 2013.. The closing date…

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 Stewart McKeown Kent Stewart, 29, has been a photography enthusiast since he was 15 years old. His youthful passion for skateboarding led him to magazines…

Tech 21 Impact Mesh case for iPhone 5 £24.95 www.tech21.uk.com TECH 21 produces an enormous range of phone cases all dedicated to a single cause – protection, or as the firm refers to it, ‘impactology’. Dedicated photography-related apps mean that a phone is fast becoming an essential companion for photographers, and if you take yours on shoots with you then protection is essential. The essence of Tech 21’s ‘impactology’ is in thin orange strips around the edges of the case. These are made of ‘D30’, a non-Newtonian polymer that absorbs shock from impact, allowing it to dissipate evenly across the surface of the material. The case is reassuringly grippy, with a flexible shell that allows the phone to click into place and creates a secure hold. It’s very slim, and…

RRP Around ￡350 with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens Sensor 20.1-million-pixel, APS-C-sized (23.2 x 15.4mm) CMOS sensor Output size 5456 x 3632 pixels Focal length mag 1.5x Lens mount Sony E mount File format JPEG, ARW (raw), AVCHD/MP4 Compression 2-stage JPEG Colour space Adobe RGB, sRGB Shutter type Electronically controlled focal-plane shutter Shutter speeds 30-1/4000sec plus bulb Max flash sync 1/160sec ISO 100-16,000 Exposure modes iAuto, Superior Auto, program, aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, scene selection, sweep panorama Metering system 1,200-zone evaluative metering, multi-segment, centreweighted and spot Exposure comp ±3EV in 1∕3EV steps White balance Auto, daylight, shade, cloudy, incandescent, fluorescent, flash, custom and manual 2,500-9,900K White balance bracket No Drive mode Single-shot, continuous, speed priority continuous 3.5fps, self-timer, bracketing LCD 3in (7.5cm) TFT LCD (230,400 dots) Viewfinder type 200,000-dot QVGA Tru-Finder…

PHOTO TOUR FROM JUST £2,095PP DEPARTS 5 MARCH 2014 Your photo guides will be landscape photography expert Jeremy Walker and What Digital Camera editor Nigel Atherton Join us on a bespoke photo tour to Canada, accompanied by photo experts and a local guide for an opportunity to view and capture the breathtaking Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, and the Rocky Mountains’ natural wonders. This is a tremendous-value, interest packed, escorted photo tour. First, you’ll fly west to Calgary, gateway to the Rocky Mountains, and spend two nights in Banff. You will have time to capture images and benefit from inspiring advice for achieving amazing photos. There will be optional-extra excursions too! Then, you’ll journey by coach past beautiful Lake Louise and along the Icefields Parkway into Jasper National Park, to…

•APS-C CMOS sensor • Fits in palm of the hand FUJIFILM LAUNCHES X-A1 FUJIFILM has added the X-A1 to its X-series of interchangeable lens cameras. Aimed at users looking to buy their first interchangeablelens camera, the Fujifilm X-A1 retains the compact feel of its predecessor, the X-M1, and includes a 16.3-million-pixel APS-C-sized CMOS sensor. The firm says that this sensor will allow the camera to create ‘rich tonal expression’, increase dynamic range and support a maximum ISO of 25,600. It also allows the user to produce a strong bokeh effect, and Fujifilm says its high ISO range will allow the X-A1 to deliver strong low-light performance. The X-A1 comes with Fujifilm’s EXR Processor II, which will offer a quick start-up time of just 0.5secs and a maximum burst speed of…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a 20-roll pack of 36-exposure Fujifilm Superia ISO 200 35mm film or a Fujifilm 8GB media card* TREADING MY OWN PATH Regarding the poll in AP 14 September (Who inspires you?), I can enjoy the work of others and, indeed, I could even describe some as being my ‘favourites’. However, I never want to work directly from the last point they left off, as it were, or even let their work affect that which is unfolding in my personal practice. I want to continue on my path unaffected by any other, even if it means that ‘my’ way may lead me to unknowingly tread over old ground. I cannot deny that my subconscious may pick up on traits from pictures, people and events, and inform…

WHEN photographing portraits, it can sometimes be a good idea to emphasise the facial features and at the same time soften the surrounding areas. In the following steps I explain how to do this by boosting the midtone contrast to enhance the skin-tone texture and features on the face, and soften the outer edges. The steps I applied here emulate the effect of shooting with a portrait lens that has built-in edge softening. It also helped that I shot the original portrait using a 50mm f/1.2 lens at a wide aperture to capture a shallow depth of field. The Field Blur filter I applied towards the end is only available in Photoshop CS6 or later. If using an older version of Photoshop, you could apply the Gaussian Blur filter in…

Going Abstract Abstract is a genre of photography that is gaining more of a presence on websites such as Flickr and 500px. While it’s clear that the term ‘abstract’ means slightly different things to different people, there are uniting themes throughout everyone’s images. Abstract photography concerns itself with exploring the world through details. That doesn’t mean just getting in close with a macro lens. It means shooting a subject in such a way that it is separated from usual representations of that object. It can mean shooting and framing your images so that the primary concern is squarely on the strange patterns, shapes and textures that make up the world around us. Take a look at some of the images on the opposite page and you’ll get a good idea…

IN THE mid-19th century, it was accepted practice for photographers to use several negatives when making a single print. Leading ‘art’ photographers of the day, including Oscar Rejlander (1813-75) and Henry Peach Robinson (1830-1901), perfected methods of ‘combination’ printing that seamlessly montaged as many as 20 or 30 negatives. In doing so, they overcame photography’s technical limitations and created results that were comparable with contemporary paintings. In 1889, however, the general acceptance of this approach was challenged by Peter Henry Emerson. His pamphlet, Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art, was famously described by one commentator as ‘a bombshell dropped into the midst of a tea party.’ In the pamphlet, Emerson scorned the use of multiple negatives as contrived and artificial. He argued that photography should be concerned with the…

Technical writer MANY people new to photography overlook compact system cameras (CSCs) simply because they don’t look like DSLRs. Commonly, there is a preference for DSLRtype cameras as some consumers assume they offer superior image quality. The small size of a CSC, on the other hand, can give the impression that it is just a step up from a compact. Of course, we know that many CSCs are capable of matching, if not bettering, similarly priced DSLRs. Into this environment steps the Sony Alpha 3000. It is, in essence, an addition to Sony’s NEX series, but it is housed inside a lightweight, compact, DSLR-style body. As a result, the Alpha 3000 sits somewhat unconventionally in Sony’s current camera line-up as being the first and only mirrorless camera included in the…

A SCANNER may not be at the top of most photographers’ lists of must-have items nowadays, given the popularity of digital capture, but many of us still have a large collection of photographs taken with film cameras that can be digitised. The best way to do this is to use a high-quality scanner with professional-quality scanning software. In this review we look at LaserSoft Imaging’s SilverFast Ai Studio 8. The software is available for most scanners and can be used as a stand-alone application or as a plug-in for Photoshop. We are testing it with the Epson Perfection V750 Pro, a top-of-the-range flatbed scanner with film-scanning capability. At first glance the SilverFast 8 interface looks daunting, but after using it a few times each function becomes a lot clearer. For…

THE LANCASTER Instantograph is certainly the oldest camera I’ve used, although it is by no means an early camera. When it was patented in 1898, photography was already in its sixth decade. The model name ‘Instantograph’ at first suggests perhaps the Polaroid cameras and other instant systems that followed on as the 20th century unfolded. Yet here the name is referring to the ability to take a photo in ‘an instant’ that is a fraction of a second, rather than the much longer exposure earlier photographers had been used to. This was a pivotal era in popular photography. Faster (more sensitive) emulsions were allowing shorter exposures, and flexible supports (film to you and me) were starting to replace glass plates. So, while the ensuing processing wasn’t instantaneous, the actual exposure…

My Kennedy Years: A Memoir By Jacques Lowe. Thames & Hudson, £24.95, hardback, 256 pages, ISBN 978-0-500-51679-9 THE LATE Jacques Lowe’s work photographing the Kennedy family during John F ‘Jack’ Kennedy’s campaign and presidency was thought to be lost for ever when the negatives were destroyed in the 9/11 terror attacks. However, thanks to the heroic efforts of his daughter Thomasina Lowe, the images have been restored to accompany his rich, detailed memoir. Through Lowe’s intimate, prolonged association with the Kennedys, we see Jack blossom and transform from a political hopeful into a true statesman. Lowe is a gifted raconteur, with highlights including stories of running after the family as they flew to their next destination and an altercation with a jealous local press photographer. Lowe had an all-access pass…

I’VE BEEN using a DSLR for some years now, and I’m very impressed with what it can do, both technically and in inspiring me to do more with my photography. However, I’ve been using it less since my latest mobile-phone upgrade – I now have a Samsung Galaxy Note 2. This large-screened phone has an 8-million-pixel camera of good quality, and I’ve found myself using it more and more now I’ve discovered the potential of Android’s impressive array of apps. Quite apart from the ability to edit photos on the device, there are so many ways to share photos, from Facebook and Instagram to sites like Photo4Me, where you can upload a portfolio of photos that others can view and purchase as high-quality prints. Let’s just say that at the…

If you’ve ever wanted to capture a perfect lightning strike or a towering tornado, pro weather shooter Mark Humpage can help. He talks to Debbi Allen about the best techniques and how to stay safe, with additional advice from Tim Moxon and Cammie Czuchnicki of Weather Studios We Wouldn’t be very British if we didn’t all moan about the weather. Too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet; there’s always something to say about it. Not British photographer Mark Humpage, though. Where others see weather as something to hunker down and shelter from, he sees an opportunity to get out and take photos. ‘I recall, back in the mid-’90s, watching a documentary about tornados tearing apart communities in a place called Tornado Alley, America. I was fascinated. However, the movie…

MAN-MADE ABSTRACTS Abstracts are everywhere. It really is just a matter of keeping your eyes open. Perhaps one of the simplest places to find abstracts is in a man-made structure, such as a tower block. Take a look at this shot from previous APOY entrant Peter Amies. It’s a simple shot, but one that works incredibly well. He has presented just enough information so we have a general idea of what we’re seeing, but he has withheld just enough so we can still get lost in the tones and shapes. While shots like this are not difficult to find, they are not always immediately apparent. The trick is to see the scene in small sections. What will a particular area look like separated from the environment? Take some time to…

Old Soldier John Hall Canon EOS 5D, 75-300mm, 1/250sec at f/6.7, ISO 100 SOME images are almost ingrained on our collective psyches. We may not have photographed them ourselves, but the mention of certain subjects will immediately conjure up a mental image – the lone windswept tree, for example, or the wooden jetty with misty water. The ‘craggy old man in monochrome’ is similarly enduring, and its success relies on a set formula consisting of a tight crop on a (creased) face, a direct ‘to-camera’ stare (through slightly tired eyes) and high, almost lith-like contrast. A slightly warm tone (again, like a lith print) is optional. With this shot, John hasn’t strayed from this stylistic path, so all the key ingredients are in place. In addition to the monochrome conversion,…

ONE OF the assets of the Sony E mount is its very short flange depth – the distance between the back of the lens mount and the sensor. Due to this, the distance can be extended using an adapter to allow almost any SLR lens to be used with an E-mount camera. A range of adapters is available from www.srb-griturn.com, and other companies online. These adapters allow users either to mount lenses they already own, or to buy new lenses cheaply and get an adapter to make them fit. I used a manual Nikon F-mount 50mm f/1.4 lens, which cost around £80 second-hand. Connecting the lens to the adapter and the adapter to the camera was perfectly straightforward, and I was then able to shoot portraits with a fantastic lens.…

VIEWING OR TAKING LENS? Q As well as shooting digitally, I still use my Yashica 635 TLR. I recently picked up a starburst filter and a +1 close-up lens for just £4, but I don’t know if the +1 lens is for the viewing or the taking lens as it doesn’t say on the holder rim. From the above picture, can you tell me which lens the +1 fits? Richard Mean A The lens in your picture is the one intended for the taking (lower) lens of your Yashica 635 – the one for the viewing lens incorporates a prism to eliminate the parallax effect of being close to a subject with a twin-lens reflex, and is therefore much thicker. Your picture shows a 1-dioptre lens, so if you look…