Innholdsfortegnelse for November 23, 2013 i Amateur Photographer

IT TAKES a switched-on person, who pays attention, to choose the perfect gift. A little knowledge, as we all know, is a dangerous thing, and a surface engagement with another’s hobby or interest can only ever produce the most obvious gift – something that seems right, but which probably isn’t. We all have a well-intended photography book that we looked at only once, or an accessory that isn’t one we would have chosen. While there is great value in surprise, the desire to achieve it with success, as well as the unexpected, can take us into risky waters if we’ve neglected to do our homework. The wrong gift can be worse than none. New photographers are easier to buy for. Those with a few more frames under their belt might…

THE ONLY known recording of the voice of legendary war photographer Robert Capa has been discovered in a long-lost 1947 radio interview that appeared on eBay. Capa was interviewed on an NBC radio show called Hi! Jinx as part of publicity for his autobiographical novel called Slightly Out of Focus. It was broadcast on the morning of 20 October 1947, according to the New Yorkbased International Center of Photography (ICP), which has released the recording to mark the 100th anniversary of Capa’s birth. ‘Previous attempts to locate this in national radio archives were unsuccessful. None had recordings of this specific show,’ said the ICP in a statement. ‘The recording showed up recently on eBay from a seller in Massachusetts, who had discovered the recording and others several years ago in…

A FORMER pilot from Russia, who took up photography only when he retired, has won a global competition that was open to both amateurs and professionals. Alexandr Svistunov, 66, beat more than 37,000 entrants with his image (below), to win the Metro Photo Challenge, a contest organised by a newspaper published in 100 cities worldwide. Judge Alejandro Cartagena praised the spontaneity of Alexandr’s shot, which triumphed over 120,000 submissions. ‘The framing is right on the spot and the photographer has managed to make this simple act of playing an instrument a joy to look at,’ he said. Meanwhile, Dominika Wypych, 34, from Sweden, won the grand prize in a category that was subject to a public vote. Both win an eight-day trip to Ghana for a ‘life-changing photo expedition’, in…

AMONG the flurry of new cameras that have been announced recently, Fujifilm’s X-E2 has been sitting somewhat quietly in the background. However, as a successor to the highly regarded X-E1, it is just as important as the other new camera arrivals. You have to look closely at the X-E2 to notice any of the 60 improvements Fujifilm has made to the camera over the X-E1, as the cameras look virtually identical. However, there are some significant changes, some of which may even tempt those with an X-E1 to make the upgrade. NEW SENSOR Of the 60 new features, the most notable is the use of the 16-million-pixel, X-Trans CMOS II sensor, which is the same sensor as that used in Fuji’s X100S advanced compact. The sensor has the same X-Trans…

THINK of the number of occasions on which you’ve had to put your camera away for fear the environment might get the better of it. A voice in your head says, ‘Of course this would make an amazing picture, but it really isn’t worth risking the camera for. You’ll just have to try to remember it as best you can.’ It is heartbreaking sometimes, when the spray of the sea is glistening in the low sun, or the sand is being whipped up into beautiful patterns by the wind, or when the heavens have opened and transformed the landscape into a colour-saturated photographers’ dream. The fact is, though, that often it isn’t worth risking your camera taking a soaking or getting clogged with dust – just one picture could prove…

GENERALLY, when I find myself photographing an event it’s because I’ve been sent there by an agency or a magazine. However, the series of images I took in Egypt in 2011 – one of which you see here – was something I did off my own back. I’ve gone on several trips over the past few years when I haven’t had an assignment and I’ve been lucky enough to get the work published either during or after shooting the event. A lot of times when you are in a specific place with important or dramatic things happening, it’s easier to convince editors and get the work out there because they’re seeing the events as they’re unfolding. This image was taken during the revolution that grew out of the uprising in…

The Grey Line by Jo Metson Scott Dewi Lewis £30 IN THIS sensitive collection of images and text, Jo Metson Scott asks two difficult questions concerning the US-led invasion of Iraq. First, how does it feel to be a soldier taking part in a war that is so unpopular? Second, what happens when those same soldiers openly question the moral value of that war? Each of the young veterans depicted in The Grey Line spoke out against the occupation of Iraq and suffered the consequences. Some of the stories are heartbreaking. The Grey Line is a magnificent work. She Dances on Jackson by Vanessa Winship Mack £35 IN 2012, Vanessa Winship and her partner George Georgiou used the t30,000 grant awarded to her by the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation to fund…

‘View from the City Hall Tower’ Richard Peter’s photograph captures the utter devastation of the German city of Dresden at the end of the Second World War, writes David Clark IN FEBRUARY 1945, the war in Europe was reaching its final stages. The Allies were advancing on all fronts and German resistance was weakening. On 4 February, Winston Churchill, Franklin D Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin met at the Yalta Conference in the Crimea to discuss the reorganisation of post-war Europe. It was only a matter of time before Berlin would fall and the war would be over. With the aim of accelerating the German surrender, Allied commanders decided to bomb Berlin and other cities such as Dresden and Leipzig. This action, it was argued, would hamper the German troops’ organisation…

Delkin Fat Gecko Triple Mount Around £90 www.delkin.com A RUGGED alternative to a tripod, Delkin’s Fat Gecko mount was this year upgraded from two arms to three. Each arm has a suction cup on its end, which allows the Fat Gecko to adhere itself to non-porous surfaces – so securely, in fact, that when we tested it in AP 7 September we had difficulty prising it off! The three arms have six adjustable points that allow them to be arranged in different ways, and the stable support triangle can hold up to 8lb (3.6kg) of kit. Any travelling or adventurous photographer would benefit hugely from a Fat Gecko in his or her box of tricks. AP digital edition £79.99 (1 year) FOR THE photo-loving tablet owner, why not treat them…

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…

“The recording showed up recently on eBay” APNEWS News | Analysis | Comment 23/11/13 NIKON has introduced a retro look to its latest DSLR, the Df – a full-frame model designed to be compatible with vintage F-mount lenses dating back to 1959. The Nikon Df is a mid-to-high-end DSLR aimed at professional photographers and enthusiasts. Nikon UK product manager Hiro Sebata hailed the Df as a ‘fusion of great things past and present’ – the ‘f’ standing for fusion, and the ‘D’ denoting the camera’s DSLR status. The Df, which does not have a video function, will cost £2,749.99 and will only be available as a kit with a 50mm f/1.8G AF-S Nikkor lens. This ‘special-edition’ lens boasts ‘a retro look and feel to complement the Df camera body’. The…

BOOKHAM CAMERA CLUB The Surrey-based club is holding its 2013 exhibition until 30 November at Leatherhead Theatre. The show is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10am. The theatre is located at 7 Church Street, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 8DN. For club details visit www.bookhamcc.org.uk. PENTAX LENSES REVEALED RICOH Imaging has taken the wraps off two new Pentax lenses. The K-mount-compatible HD Pentax-DA 20-40mm f/2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR and wideangle Q-mount zoom will cost £849.99 and £429.99 respectively. The Q-mount zoom is designed to produce the 35mm viewing-angle equivalent of a 17.5-27mm lens. UK availability dates have yet to be confirmed. Last month, Ricoh announced the 23.35-million-pixel Pentax K-3.…

HANDS-ON PREVIEW NIKON DF We take a first look at Nikon’s latest DSLR, with 16.2-million-pixel CMOS sensor, Expeed image processor and extended ISO of 50-204,800 ON TEST PENTAX K-3 Richard Sibley tests the new enthusiast DSLR from Pentax, with 23.35-million-pixel CMOS sensor, 27-point AF and unique antialiasing system APOY RESULTS GOING ABSTRACT We reveal the top 30 winners from round 9 of Amateur Photographer of the Year EPSON EXPRESSION PHOTO XP-950 Vincent Oliver tests the image quality and usability of Epson’s compact all-in-one A3 printer…

The Granny Alphabet By Tim Walker (photos), Kit Hesketh-Harvey (verse) and Lawrence Mynott (illustrations) Thames & Hudson, £24.95, hardback (two books), 148 pages, ISBN 978-0-500-54426-6 TEAMING up with poet Kit Hesketh-Harvey and illustrator Lawrence Mynott, fashion photographer Tim Walker has coauthored this light, fluffy and charming book all about grannies. ‘Book’ is in fact a slight misnomer – it’s two books in one cardboard sleeve, one filled with Walker’s portraits of grannies and their most prized possessions, accompanied by Hesketh-Harvey’s verse, and the other with Lawrence Mynott’s drawings of grannies representing different letters of the alphabet. Walker’s photography indicates a camaraderie with his elderly subjects, and his style is understated but always interesting. Hesketh-Harvey’s short poems have a sharp but gentle sense of humour, and often interact comically with Walker’s…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a 20-roll pack of 36-exposure Fujifilm Superia ISO 200 35mm film or a Fujifilm 8GB media card* MEGA HURT Nothing makes me feel robbed more than going on holiday with a new camera only to find that I could have bought a ‘Mega Filter’. The salesman said it would improve my pixel count to 19.2 million pixels, give me image stabilisation, infrared capabilities, HD movie, Zero Lux exposure and 3D imaging. I must have missed the test report for these little gems… Rob Deyes, East Riding of Yorkshire I have to admit, I want one – Damien Demolder, Editor DUST IN THE MACHINE AP reader Terry Armstrong makes some interesting points about sensor dust in digital SLRs (Backchat, AP 26 October). He is entirely correct…

NOW IN its fourth year, the Epson International Pano Awards competition aims to celebrate the finest in panoramic photography from both professionals and amateurs. Welcoming entrants from across the world and from both digital and film users, the event really is for anyone who enjoys shooting, stitching and showcasing wideangle photographs. Judged by a panel of professional photographers and photo editors, the awards attracted nearly 5,000 entrants for the 2013 event, making this its best year yet. And with prizes totalling $40,000, including $8,000 cash, it’s easy to see why it’s a popular competition. This year’s overall winner of the Open competition was Timo Lieber, from Britain. His winning photo of the Mojave Desert in the USA won both the overall Open competition and the Nature category (see above). Timo…

IT’S THE dream, isn’t it? Strike up a conversation with any amateur photographer and they’ll probably at least allude to it – the idea of chucking in the nine-to-five job, strapping a camera to our back and making our way in the world with just our photography. So why don’t more of us do it? Well, it’ll be too hard, it’s risky, we might really be no good at photography, and so on. Those are the usual reasons given. AP reader Drew Buckley probably had all these thoughts a few years ago, while working at his day job and pursuing photography on the side. His story should be at least somewhat familiar to any amateur photographer. ‘My brothers had cameras when I was younger, so I grew up around kit,’…

Firefighter Jasna Bozic Olympus E-510, 40-150mm, 1/250sec at f/10, ISO 100 WITH its billowing yellow/black smoke and hardly discernible figure, Jasna’s photograph of a firefighter in Pula, Croatia, has plenty of atmosphere and the potential to make a dramatic and exciting image. However, potential is the key word here, because I don’t think this is the best shot that Jasna could have submitted. The histogram is a useful guide as to what’s going on with the exposure. In this instance, the bulk of the graph is shifted to the left, which is usually an indication of an underexposed or dark image. Here, I think it’s the former, and it’s not helped by low contrast – everything’s just a bit flat. There are numerous ways that Jasna could remedy this, but…

REMOVABLE FILTER Q Why is it not possible to have an anti-aliasing filter in a camera that can be put in front of the sensor and removed when necessary at the touch of a button? Surely this would give the best of both worlds, with one camera for all occasions. I used to have a Tamron 17mm lens that contained filters in the body of the lens that you selected by rotating a dial, which was really convenient. If I’ve thought of a novel idea, let me know and I’ll patent it! Philip Kay A It’s an interesting idea, Philip, and one that would potentially solve a lot of the ‘with anti-aliasing filter or without anti-aliasing filter’ discussions. Unfortunately, it appears that Nikon has beaten you to it, and if…

Camera Cufflinks £12.66 with no box, up to £21.16 with box www.hotcufflinks.co.uk THESE camera-styled metal cufflinks have a lovely level of detail, with dials and buttons for settings carved onto the ‘topplate’, a little shutter button and even clear plastic in the ‘lens’ for that authentic look. They’re available on their own or with a range of boxes – if you pay a few pounds extra, you can even have one engraved. Camera Pen £5 shop.tate.org.uk THIS £5 camera pen is a perfect stocking filler from the Tate Modern shop. The model camera mounted on top, which to our eyes looks thick enough to be a medium format, flashes and makes shutter sounds when pressed The Egg Carton Film Case $20 (around £12.40) or $49 (around £30.40) with three rolls…

The vast scale of the First World War afforded many more opportunities to photograph ‘hand-to-hand conflicts’ than the Boer War of 16 years before, where most of the fighting was ‘long-distance’, noted AP, ominously, this week in 1916. ‘Many of these photographs have obviously been taken under circumstances which have exposed the photographers to risks equal to or greater than those of the combatants…’ AP alluded to ‘controversies in the press’ at the time of the Boer War as to whether ‘the artist’s sketch or the photographer’s plate gave the truer idea of a battle’. Meanwhile, the journal paid tribute to the army’s reconnaissance photographers during the First World War, saying, ‘we owe a great deal to the section of the Royal Flying Corps which has systematised in so able…

CANADIAN rock star turned photographer Bryan Adams has taken portraits of 40 wounded soldiers, who were injured while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, for a new book. Bryan Adams first turned his hand to professional photography in the late 1990s, having spent years taking pictures on tour as a musician. His latest book, Wounded: The Legacy of War, features more than 100 ‘raw and unsettling’ images. AP What was the most rewarding aspect of this project for you? BA Two things: getting it going and getting it finished. This whole thing started out as a possible exhibition and now it’s a book. I’d still love to do an exhibition of these photos in the UK some day. I also love the title of the book – Wounded: The Legacy of…

SONY’S RX fixed-lens cameras certainly caused a stir. The premium compact cameras hit specific gaps in the market, such as a genuinely pocketable camera with a larger-than-standard sensor in the shape of the Cyber-shot DSC-RX100, but most notably a compact camera with a full-frame sensor in the form of the Cyber-shot DSC-RX1. Now Sony is tackling bridge cameras by introducing the premium Cyber-shot DSC-RX10. FEATURES The RX10 has the same 20.4-million-pixel, 1in sensor as the RX100 II. The RX100 II compact impressed us when we reviewed it in AP 27 July, and if the RX10 matches the RX100 II it could be one of the best bridge cameras for image quality that we’ve seen. However, it isn’t just the sensor that looks great on paper, as the Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar…

● ESOTERIC LONDON by Roger Dean, £20 Available to buy on the popular blog that inspired it (esotericlondon.com), Roger Dean’s exploration of the quirky, littleknown side of London is packed with reams of information belied by its pocketable size. Pulling together several years’ worth of work, along with excerpts from historical and scholarly works, and primary sources like old newspapers, Dean has created a photo tour of London without a single thing you’d expect to see. It’s an impressive achievement. ● INSIDE PHOTOGRAPHY by David Brittain and Clinton Cahill, £12.99 With more about the photographic magazine editing process than you ever realised you wanted to know, this book of extended interviews with editors from publications throughout the years makes for lively, fascinating reading. What’s most interesting is how ad hoc…

THE DEBATE regarding manipulation of digital files isn’t complete without reference to the now (clichéd) argument that enhancing images in the darkroom is much the same thing. A digital photographer may drop in a new sky to enhance a landscape. That’s no different to my own tactics in the darkroom when I print a landscape through a gradetwo multigrade filter, then burn in a menacing-looking sky through a grade-four – a sky that had looked in no way menacing when I took the shot. Few, if any serious darkroom workers – past or present – are ever satisfied with a straight print. Dodging, burning in and even stinky old sepia toning have always been part of the armoury of enthusiastic darkroom fans. I know. I did it for more than…

Mark Sykes West Yorkshire Mark has always loved taking holiday snaps, but he got seriously into photography after he bought a digital camera. He considers himself to still be in the ‘learning phase’, and enjoys architectural photography and taking landscapes in the USA. He loves the way that photography gives him a reason to visit places he never would otherwise, and particularly likes using his architectural shots to give craftspeople the credit they might never receive. To see more from Mark, visit his website at www.marksykesphotography.co.uk. Pipes 1 The ornate organ pipes make for a timeless photograph Canon EOS 5D Mark III, 24-70mm, 0.8sec at f/8, ISO 100, tripod, cable release Altar Altar 2 Multiple exposures capture the dynamic range here Canon EOS 5D Mark III, 17mm, 10secs and 1sec…

Kittens £9.99 teNeues, 30x30cm THIS is one for the cat-lover in your life – or potentially an antagonistic present for the dog fanatic driving you up the wall. The monochrome images are genuinely sweet Wild Nature £14.99 Northern Light, 20x19cm THIS nice diary features shots from some of Britain’s top nature and wildlife photographers. It’s a perfect way to get day-to-day inspiration Colin Prior Colin Prior, 58x34cm, £11.99 COLIN Prior presents his stunning panoramic shots of some of Scotland’s most picturesque scenes. A truly magnificent set Vogue £10.99 teNeues, 22x17cm RENOWNED for its iconic and enduring photography, Vogue magazine’s lavish diary contains some of its greatest images National Geographic £9.99 teNeues, 30x30cm ENJOY the breathtaking images from various National Geographic photographers in this calendar Mapplethorpe teNeues, 30x30cm £9.99 THESE images…

The best of six of the best 2013 Over the course of the year we have endeavoured to discover first-rate photographic accessories, and there have been some real standouts. Here Jon Stapley looks back over the finest products we saw in 2013 Tiffen ND 3.0 Around £28.99-£103.99 www.tiffen.com As part of our AP 8 June special on taking your photography to its limits, we looked at 10-stop ND filters, which are vital tools for long-exposure landscapes. While all of the filters impressed us, the new ND 3.0 from Tiffen stood above the competition. Testing the filters for vignetting and colour temperature alteration through the use of an 18% grey card, evenly lit to 3,200K with tungsten lights, we found that the ND 3.0 proved to be very good indeed, with…

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 £57.64 (upgrade) £102.57 (new) (RRP) www.adobe.com/uk ADOBE’S raw-editing and imagecataloguing software continues to go from strength to strength. The latest version introduces some significant new features, such as localised Patch and Healing Brush tools, and an automatic perspective and straightening correction. Combined with the existing colour and contrast editing, noise-reduction, sharpening and lens-correction tools, Lightroom 5 is one of the most comprehensive raw-editing packages available. But it isn’t just about editing images. Lightroom 5 can also help to organise your images into folders, libraries and collections, and you can create slideshows, websites and books all from within the software. It is also worth noting that Lightroom isn’t just for raw files; you can also edit JPEGs and TIFFs. In fact, unless you plan to do very…

PRETTY much any piece of electronic equipment needs an on/off switch. So do some pieces of mechanical equipment. Think of a stop clock, for example. Two important consequences flow from this. One is that the on/off switch should be obvious and easy to use. The other is that where it is not needed, it should not be there. The latter, fortunately, is quickly dismissed. Mercifully, such switches are much rarer than they used to be. The loathsome infinity lock, which had to be depressed before you could focus your lens closer than infinity, had pretty much disappeared long before autofocus became the norm. So had the mechanical shutter-blocker. There’s some logic to the latter if it’s also the on/off switch on an electronic camera, where the battery would run down…