Innholdsfortegnelse for October 12, 2013 i Amateur Photographer

ONLY an idiot would choose to hold a camera at arm’s length to take a picture. Sensible photographers are aware of the benefits that come with jamming a camera to the face, with elbows tucked in, and the steady sniper’s breathing that makes possible handheld shutter speeds down to 1/15sec. However, those are the rules that have done service to generations of photographers. Cameras have changed since the 35mm SLR, but anyone who thinks live view is a new idea needs to look to the early days of our craft. Plate cameras and largeformat sheet-film cameras are usually also classed as ‘view cameras’ because one stands back to view the image on a screen before it is committed to permanency in silver particles. Seeing one’s image on-screen is a quite…

● THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S EYE: COMPLETE BOOK + DVD COURSE by Michael Freeman, £40 Michael Freeman: the man who spends his life freeing those threatened by the oppression of their own ignorance. You know where you are with a Freeman book and this time he’s transcended the shackles of the printed work to talk at you through your TV screen. As with many of his previous works, this is a recommended purchase. ● DIGITAL PHOTO WORKFLOW MADE EASY by John Beardsworth, £9.99 For many of us, actually taking a photograph is only 50% of the hardship. Now with software like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom you can seem to spend most of your time churning out various versions of a single image. This handy little guide makes the process a bit easier…

THIS image was taken in the Scottish Highlands. Just out of Glencoe there’s a little village with a loch, and that’s where I took this photograph. Actually, it was a special trip – my wife wanted to go to Edinburgh, so I said I’d go with her if she then let me go to Rannoch Moor to take photographs! We had our day in Edinburgh (a shopping day, with no cameras allowed) and afterwards we went for my day at Rannoch Moor. I got up early to be greeted by no sunshine and lots of rain. The morning was a washout, but it started to pick up in the afternoon. By then I’d finished my attempt at a morning shoot at Rannoch and I was driving around looking for things…

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 Sedge warbler singing Kingfisher feeding chick 3 Ravi has done a great job of capturing this rare interaction Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 500mm, 1.4x teleconverter,…

Typhoon Vicente Henry Slesser Canon EOS 500D, 10-24mm, 1/25sec at f/4.5, ISO 500 HENRY’S ‘photograph of a delivery man riding his bicycle in the rain, during the build up of category-10 typhoon Vicente in Kowloon, Hong Kong,’ is a great example of how panning the camera with a moving subject can inject a real sense of movement into an image. The shutter speed used has created just the right amount of blur – it’s slow enough to prevent the background elements from being a sharply rendered distraction, but not so slow that they are unrecognisable. At the same time, the relatively fast (in long-exposure terms) shutter speed has also enabled Henry to keep his main subject fairly sharp. We wouldn’t expect him to be pin-sharp when a moving camera and…

CAPTURING CYCLISTS Q Thrilled with the action at this year’s Tour de France, I am planning to head to Yorkshire for the British stages in 2014. What do you think is the best lens to use on my Nikon D7000 to capture the riders rushing past? As a oncein-a-lifetime experience, I don’t mind saving to get something decent. David Escott-New A It’s impossible to answer this question without knowing what type of shots you want to take. If you want to create an image that emphasises the claustrophobic, tightly packed nature of the riders, for example, then a telephoto lens would be my recommendation. The narrow viewing angle would really allow you to pack the frame with cyclists, while the ‘compression effect’ associated with telephoto lenses would enhance the sense…

ALTHOUGH I have already written a couple of articles about depth of field over the past couple of years (AP 7 May 2011 and 13 October 2012), it’s a subject that both fascinates and confuses photographers so it deserves further explanation. Depth of depth control is one of the markers that people will often use to recognise a photographer who has progressed beyond the beginner level. Modern cameras can automate exposure management and provide preset picture styles, but as yet they won’t automatically deal with depth of field. WHY MANAGE DEPTH OF FIELD? I have participated in discussions where the topic has been whether shallow depth of field is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. I believe this is all rather futile because a good photographer will utilise depth of field to get…

Rights victory for photographer • Online photo used without consent PHOTOGRAPHER WINS £20K RIGHTS PAYOUT A PHOTOGRAPHER says he has won a £20,000 payout from a promotions company over a celebrity photo it published without his permission, having originally been offered just £150. As reported by AP earlier this year, the Patents County Court told photographer Jason Sheldon he was entitled to claim £5,682 in damages over an image published by Daybrook House Promotions Ltd without his consent, despite it having already appeared on a social-networking website. Daybrook has agreed to pay Sheldon £20,000 in an out-of-court settlement, the photographer told AP after a report by Editorial Photographers UK. Sheldon says that the ‘global-settlement figure’ includes his legal costs. Ahead of the preliminary ruling in May, the court was told…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a 20-roll pack of 36-exposure Fujifilm Superia ISO 200 35mm film or a Fujifilm 8GB media card* APOY CLARIFICATION In the top 30 winners of the Black & White World round of APOY 2013 (AP 28 September), there is an obviously composite picture on page 34. Andrew Wood’s waterfall image was taken with a 3sec exposure, yet it includes the more or less sharp image of a bird in flight. Obviously, the image of the bird has been inserted into the waterfall image as a focal point. I am not saying that Andrew’s image should not have been included in the competition, but I would like to know your editorial feelings on the inclusion of such images. My question has no personal relevance because I…

Five AP readers visit Kew Gardens with professional photographer Heather Angel to learn everything there is to know about photographing flora. Jon Stapley reports FLOWERS plus photographers is a recipe for stunning macro imagery, and this was on our minds when we arranged an AP Masterclass at London’s famous Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Five lucky readers – David Chamberlain, Lynn Jordon, Jonathan Kirby, Les Moss and John Sparrow – were invited to Kew to learn how to take macro and plant shots properly from internationally recognised nature photographer Heather Angel. We start the day meeting at Kew Gardens’ Victoria Gate. We are lucky enough to head out on what would turn out to be one of the last days of 2013’s summer. It’s pleasantly warm, but ever-present clouds make a…

Enter our competition and be one of five lucky winners to join AP Editor Damien Demolder for a high-speed ride on board a RIB on the River Thames AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER and Pentax have teamed up to offer five readers the chance to spend a day in London shooting with the weatherproof and splashproof Pentax K-5 II, while getting help from AP Editor and photographic tutor Damien Demolder. The day will take place on 24 October 2013. The five lucky winners will be taken out for a high-speed ride on board a RIB and each given a Pentax K-5 II to use for the day. They will be able to photograph the heart of London, including Parliament and Docklands close up, as well as running past the O2 Arena at Greenwich…

Cable-release systems From the classic cable release to the high tech, Callum McInerney-Riley tests six of the best cable-release systems Hama Timer Remote Release DCC System Base £45 uk.hama.com The Hama Timer Remote Release is very similar to the Phottix controller in terms of look and feel (see opposite page). However, the Hama remote has a detachable cable that uses a screw-locking jack. This means different cables can be bought so it can be used on different cameras without the need to buy a whole new remote. It doesn’t feature the slide-to-lock shutter button offered by the Phottix, but instead bulb controls can be started or stopped with the main button and gauged by using the second counter on the LCD. The remote has a designated button to illuminate the…

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 stay overnight in Jasper. From here, you’ll journey east to Edmonton, Alberta, the frontier trading city built on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River, then…

VICTORS, notoriously, write the histories. Well, usually, although if the victors were not famed for their literary prowess, and if the losers outlast them, we can get some very strange perversions of what actually happened. Much of what we ‘know’ about the Mongols comes from the Chinese and the Persians, both of whom were soundly defeated, and therefore demonised the superior armies that thrashed them. Once we accept that victors write the histories, it is not much of a leap of the imagination to the concept that histories are written only by people who can read and write reasonably convincingly. The most impressive example of this is summed up in just two words, the name of a species, created by that species: Homo sapiens. It comes from the Latin homo,…

Gasoline by David Campany. Mack, £27.50, softback, 100 pages, ISBN 978-1-907-94644-8 THE BEST projects and collections are those that are able to function as a whole yet are simultaneously able to stand alone as a series of single images. The image that adorns the cover of David Campany’s latest publication, Gasoline, is a singular shot that distills the central themes of the collection into a single frame. A young woman, her face buried in her folded arm, slumps against the steering wheel of her distinctly American car. It’s a powerful image, one that on one hand communicates the notion of the American open road, and on another, a contemporary political issue: our reliance on oil. David Campany has spent many years collecting these images. All of them – and some…

AP reader Mick Bidewell explains why he loves his photo albums and still flies the flag for prints IN AP 21 September, Editor Damien Demolder said, ‘A picture’s final destination isn’t the hard drive. If no one can see or enjoy service from an image, it might just as well have not been taken.’ The onset of shooting and sharing online may prove to be the death knell for the humble album, but thankfully not everyone has given it up for dead yet. Three hundred million images are shared online in the UK each month, but there are still diehard album lovers flying the flag for hard-copy images. I recently joined Facebook and the response to my photos – snaps and ‘serious’ images – has been positive. It’s not Appraisal,…

If you’ve never heard the name Gered Mankowitz before, there’s no doubt you will have seen his work. He has photographed celebrities including the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Kate Bush, to name but a few. His images are truly iconic. Mankowitz’s latest book, 50 Years of Rock and Roll Photography, brings together all these famous faces in one place. ‘That’s part of the purpose of doing the book,’ he says. ‘I’ve been so lucky in getting the reputation from the Hendrix and Stones stuff. But some of the other photos have been sitting in the archives for years, so I’m glad they’ve finally come to light.’ Taking five years to put together, Mankowitz says he is ‘thrilled with the results’. The pages are brimming with photos, all taken on…

REGULAR readers of Amateur Photographer will know the name Peter Fenech. He has been featured on the Reader Spotlight pages three times, as well as appearing in Appraisal, and it’s easy to see why. Describing himself as ‘young, keen and penniless’ on his blog of the same name, you can’t help but feel that the 21-year-old has missed the most obvious word to describe himself: ‘talented’. A biology student at Newcastle University by day, Peter spends his spare time behind the lens of his Canon EOS 7D DSLR. Although his website features a mix of genres, the one that stands out has to be his landscape portfolio, specifically his autumnal coloured scenes. ‘I like to go to locations several times,’ says Peter, as he explains how he captures his richly…

Live view was first seen on digital compact cameras because, as they lacked a traditional viewfinder, this was the only way to view a scene before taking a picture. As rear LCD screens on DSLRs got bigger with each new model, manufacturers soon saw live view as a must-have feature. The first interchangeable-lens DSLR to feature this was the Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro, although live view was only black & white until Olympus’s E-410 and E-510 of 2007. Today it’s pretty standard, even on inexpensive models. If it’s a feature you have yet to fully investigate, you should, because live view is a very useful addition to your camera with a great many uses. EXPOSURE SIMULATION WITH LIVE HISTOGRAM Being able to see an image immediately after capture is one…

WHEN you look at its specification, the Sony Xperia Z1 features an impressive camera for a smartphone. Crammed inside a body that is only 8.5mm thick is a 20.7-million-pixel, 1/2.3in (6.17x4.55mm) CMOS sensor. This is the same sensor size as that found in a typical consumer compact camera, and it is quite significant that larger sensors of this kind are starting to find their way into mobile phones. Of course, Sony isn’t the first to do this: the Nokia 808 PureView uses an even larger 41-million-pixel, 1/1.2in sensor, albeit in a significantly thicker phone. No only does the 20.7-million-pixel resolution of the Xperia Z1 promise a high level of detail and the ability to make large prints, but it also enables the camera to have an 8x digital zoom mode.…