Innholdsfortegnelse for 01-feb-2014 i Amateur Photographer

NIKON’S new D3300 (page 10) is the latest, and most affordable, model to date to do away with the optical low-pass filter that covers the sensor. Why does that matter? Well, for those unfamiliar with its purpose, the low-pass filter deliberately blurs the image on the sensor to reduce the risk of moiré pattern interference when photographing certain types of regular pattern, such as that found in some fabrics. You may have seen moiré on TV when presenters wear patterned ties or jackets, which morph into a mass of distracting wavy lines. The idea of introducing an element into the optical path to deliberately reduce the sharpness of every image taken, merely to lower the hypothetical risk of moiré patterns occurring in certain rare situations, and then to have to…

OLYMPUS may one day revive development of DSLRs if sales of mirrorless compact system cameras give the firm enough market share to enable it to expand its business. In an interview with AP at CES, Olympus’s SLR products planning manager Toshi Terada confirmed that Olympus has stopped DSLR development but he did not rule out its return. ‘Nobody knows ten years away… once we can get a very nice share [in mirrorless], we may expand the business to DSLR again, but at this moment we are just concentrating on mirrorless and we have no plan to go into DSLR.’ CSC SALES FLAGGING Overall, CSC market sales are waning. In September last year, for example, total UK sales fell 20% on the same month the year before. However, Terada declined to…

AN APPARENT lack of darkroom access has triggered the launch of a free-to-use website designed to allow film users to locate one anywhere in the world. ‘Public and community darkrooms are being encouraged to make a free listing of their location and facilities,’ says UK-based firm Harman technology, owner of the Ilford Photo brand. ‘Professionals who teach darkroom techniques are also able to make an entry. The secure website will also accept registrations from private darkroom owners who are willing to share their facilities.’ The website, at www.localdarkroom.com, followed surveys by Harman that suggested many photographers have no darkroom access. Steven Brierley, director of sales and marketing at Harman, said: ‘The surveys told us 35% of our film users had no darkroom access and a high proportion of those with…

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2013 Until 9 February. National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE. Open Mon-Wed, Sat, Sun 10am-6pm, Thu and Fri 10am-9pm. Tel: 0207 306 0055. Website: www.npg.org.uk. Admission £3 (concessions £2) THE TAYLOR Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize returns with its signature exhibition of winning portraits. The competition attracted 5,410 submissions from 2,435 photographers, and this has been whittled down to the eclectic selection that is now in its final weeks at the National Portrait Gallery. Some have complained in the past that it’s hard to know quite what the judges are looking for, the qualities of winning images seeming obscure and hard to define. It’s sort of true and sort of isn’t. The image of jockey Katie Walsh by Spencer Murphy (left) is no…

WHEN I was young, a brief interlude sometime between the last Ice Age and the arrival of colour television, my local camera shop kept a modest display of useful notebooks on the counter. Impressively priced at four shillings and sixpence, which would buy you a packet of developer in those days, they contained 50 or so pages each ruled into 24 or 36 lines with elegantly coloured columns denoting date, time, aperture, shutter speed, flash (yes/no), subject and location. More organised photographers than I used these journals to record the journey through their photographic life, allowing them in a moment to find a favourite image, the date of an excursion or to diagnose why the image rendered from frame 27 looks more like Impressionist art than a portrait of next…

TRYING to put a photographic label on Anthony Kurtz’s style is like trying to push a square peg through a round hole. It’s possible, but only if you hit it with a large mallet. ‘I’ve described myself as an environmental portrait artist,’ he admits. ‘But then I could be an art documentary photographer. I’m defnitely not a photojournalist in the pure sense of that term.’ The truth is, Anthony’s style borrows from many different areas and it’s one that is evidently still evolving. His background is eclectic. A German-American who grew up in Switzerland before studying in San Francisco, he’s now based in Berlin. is equally confused. He started studying psychology before switching to graphic design. ‘I don’t know why I was doing what I was doing,’ he says. ‘Then…

‘ONE Of my favourite images is the head-on portrait from the “Red Deer On White” series [above],’ says George. ‘I took it at my local deer park where the deer have a few thousand acres in which to roam freely, providing a wonderful environment for a photographer, and a constant challenge. ‘I usually prefer a side light for portraits with a dark background, but this stag was standing with his back to the sun, so I had to adjust and work with the light I had. The sun was fairly low in the sky, and it was lighting the grass behind the deer, but it wasn’t reaching his face directly. I decided to expose for his face, which was in the shade, and so overexpose the background for a high-key…

1 The filter stops around 2EV of light from reaching the camera’s sensor, so be careful of the resulting shutter speeds if you are shooting handheld 2 If you are shooting landscapes and want to enrich colours and boost contrast, remember that a polariser only works at 90˚ angles to the sun, so don’t be surprised if you see no effect with the sun behind or in front of you 3 The filter won’t work on a cloudy day, but you won’t have any blue sky to polarise anyway. However, it will still remove glare from foliage 4 Be careful with your lens choice when using a polarising filter. Not only do you need to watch out for the edge of the filter appearing in the corners of the frame…

OKDOTHIS Free (iOS only) www.okdothis.com WHILE there are already a number of different image sharing social networks and apps, such as Instagram and Flickr, OKDOTHIS approaches the medium from a different slant Rather than just taking a photo and posting it, OKDOTHIS has a series of tasks, or ‘Dos’: some examples include Take a shot of someone in mid-motion’, ‘Take a beautiful shot in an ugly environment’, ‘Take a picture from a moving train’ and ‘Give somebody an annoying amount of balloons and take their photo’. The tasks range from the enlightening to the downright daft, but there is something for everyone. Users can upload their images to the respective category and comment on other people’s photos, and you can add tasks of your own and see how others take…

Estonia is an up-and-coming destination for wildlife photography. The country boasts fantastic species such as European lynx, wolves, white-tailed eagles, wild boar and elk – all of which you may get the chance to photograph if you visit Estonia this winter. Visit Estonia, Estonian Nature Tours and Amateur Photographer are giving one lucky photographer the chance to visit Estonia this March to spend five days alongside top wildlife photographer and AP contributor Luke Massey photographing white-tailed eagles. Spending two days in a specialist hide, you will have eagles feed in front of you throughout the day. Ravens, foxes and even wolves also visit the hide! When not in the hide, you’ll be exploring the local area hoping to find elk, beavers, owls and many other fantastic animals. HOW TO ENTER…

Officer seizes camera and threatens arrest • Investigation launched PHOTO THREAT SPARKS POLICE MISCONDUCT PROBE A POLICE officer who is under investigation after apparently threatening to arrest a photographer and delete his images is still on active duty, AP has learned. Police chiefs are carrying out a misconduct investigation after a 12min video of the clash, recorded by the 26-year-old photographer using a mobile phone, was broadcast on YouTube. ‘The police officer is still working and still on active duty,’ a Gloucestershire Police spokesman told AP. The photographer, who declined to be named, accused the officer of abusive behaviour while he tried to photograph a crash scene in Gloucester on 19 November last year. An 86-year-old woman, who had been knocked down, later died from her injuries. The police officer…

SHEFFIELD PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY Members will stage their annual exhibition from 17-23 February at The Workstation Gallery, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S1 2BX. Visit www.Sheffield-photographer.org.uk for more details. SONY A5000 CSC REVEALED SONY claims its new Alpha 5000 is the smallest and lightest Wi-Fi-enabled system camera. Unveiled at CES, the Alpha 5000 carries a 20.1-million-pixel Exmor APS HD CMOS imaging sensor and a 180° tiltable screen for self-portraits. Speaking at a press conference in Las Vegas, USA, Sony president Mike Fasulo said the camera is aimed at step-up users and those seeking a DSLR alternative. The E-mount camera includes Wi-Fi and NFC wireless connectivity, plus a lever on the body to control zooming. It is said to weigh 210g, body only. The Alpha 5000 incorporates 25 contrast detection AF…

NEWS CES ROUND-UP All your need to know from the recent expo, as well as hands-on previews of the Samsung NX30 and Sony Alpha 5000 DOCUMENTARY TIMELESS James Whitlow Delano talks about his arresting black & white reportage ON TEST SIX OF THE BEST We look at softboxes designed for hotshoemounted flashguns LANDSCAPES SNOW PATROL Martin Leighton explains how he captures his wonderful winter scenes AP EXPLAINS PROCESSING RAW FILES Professor Bob Newman discusses raw conversion…

● YOUR CHILD IN PICTURES by Me Ra Koh, £12.99 The life of a child sometimes feels like a series of milestones. The loss of the first tooth, the first unaided bike ride, the first day of school, and so on. Accordingly, Me Ra Koh arranges his guide to photograph your children by event. In a nice touch, there are separate tips for using point-and-shoot cameras and for DSLRs, so the book caters for a wide range of photographers at different skill levels. ● IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ALEXANDER GARDNER AT ANTIETAM AND GETTYSBURG by Keith Steiner, £9.99 In pursuit of Alexander Gardner, a photographer known for his images of Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War, Keith Steiner travels around the USA armed with a DSLR. Presenting his own…

I took this photograph one afternoon in May last year at Cobbold’s Point in Felixstowe, Suffolk. This stretch of coastline takes a bit of a hammering from the North Sea, so the past couple of years have seen a host of new sea defences make an appearance. I find that strong directional lighting can really help to give form to subjects like this by adding to their contrast against the smoothness of the sea. I came across an image of this location on Flickr from a different angle and thought it would be a great place to play around with some long exposures. I loved the unusual shape of the concrete structures and the perfect spacing, but what attracted me most was the lovely curve sweeping out to sea. It…

Anthony’s shot of a female Senegalese mechanic (above) was one of his first for the No Man’s Job series. But when he approached her boss to see whether he could photograph her, he got a fat refusal. However, after a small amount of cash exchanged hands, he was able to arrange the shot he wanted but had to work fast as the deal only gave him a window of 10mins. The lighting was typical of Anthony’s Senegalese set-up. With the main flash diffused through a softbox and used as a modelling light to create the shadow on the woman’s face, the second flash was fired through his makeshift magazine snoot (see below) to help balance the overall exposure and create a subtle separation between the subject and background. ‘I like…

EDITOR’S CHOICE SEE MORE ONLINE AT AMATEURPHOTOGRAPHER.CO.UK/SPOTLIGHT With such low-key lighting, Paul has done brilliantly to capture this confident and relaxed pose of British pianist Gwilym Simcock. The catchlights hitting his face and the back of his head lift him out of the darkness, while the intense gaze and classic mono treatment finish the shot off nicely – Phil Hall, technique/features editor Paul Bentley Greater Manchester In 1980, while on an extended business trip to Japan, Paul decided to buy a camera to record his visit. Thirty-four years later his photography is still going strong, branching out into wildlife, sports and – his speciality – jazz. Paul began exhibiting his jazz images in 2008. ‘It’s an engagement in something I am captivated by, and an opportunity to indulge two interests…

Kerala, India Ajay Viswanath Manickam Canon EOS 550D, 18-135mm, 1/500sec at f/6.3, ISO 100 AJAY’S photograph of two women at work in Kerala is a great example of ‘the decisive moment’ – that fraction of a second when the elements in a scene conspire to create a strong shot. I have to admit that I am not entirely sure what is being done in this scene, but the decisive moment occurred when the figure at the left threw the contents of her shovel. This simple act has created an incredibly strong and successful composition that is well exposed, sharply focused, and with an overall warmth and vibrancy that adds to its appeal. I would be inclined to crop more tightly on the figures, but cropped or not, the thrown material…

FOUR THIRDS CONFUSION QAs someone who has never handled a modern Olympus DSLR camera, or any of the lenses that would fit it, I’m confused about the Olympus four thirds and micro four thirds lens mount. What is the difference between the two, and why was the micro four thirds mount introduced? Is it because it is a better mount? And if I came across an Olympus digital lens in isolation, how would I be able to tell whether it is a four thirds or micro four thirds-mount lens? Douglas Thomson A The reason the micro four thirds standard was introduced has less to do with it being ‘better’ and more to do with it being smaller. In effect, it was a miniaturisation process that allowed smaller cameras and lenses…

NIK SOFTWARE’S Analog Efex Pro is a plug-in filter that simulates a look from various traditional camera types, including classic camera, wet plate, toy camera and vintage camera – or you can design your own with Camera Kit. The interface is well laid out and simple to use, which means you can start to experiment straight away without having to wade through pages of instructions. A drop-down list allows you to select a camera type, with presets displayed in a series of nine thumbnails. Click on a thumbnail and it will apply the selected preset effect to your photo. An Adjustment panel on the right of the main window gives you the ability to fully customise any of the presets. Options include basic adjustments, lens distortions, bokeh, zoom and rotate…

AP’s readership base was growing, much to the delight of its publishers, a little over three years after the journal was founded. ‘The ever-increasing interest taken in The Amateur Photographer is most gratifying to those who are engaged in its conduct,’ reported AP. ‘It has been remarked that it is too elementary, but a perusal of the correspondence columns during the past few weeks certainly disposes of that objection… Much has been said, from time to time, about our “Queries and Answers” columns; we are of the opinion that it is the paradise of many hard-working and struggling amateurs, who know that their questions, however simple, will be answered by some good-natured brother worker. The advanced men say: “Why don’t they look it up in books?” In the first place,…

MORE work must be done to highlight the benefits of compact system cameras (CSCs) as British sales slump, Nikon UK bosses admitted. Last year, Nikon was forced to cut back its forecasted global sales of CSCs and, in the UK, the overall market was well down on the year before. ‘If we look at the market worldwide it’s not so promising, but in the Japanese or Asian market [CSC] is still well accepted…’ said Hidehiko Tanaka, managing director of Nikon UK, in an interview with AP at CES in Las Vegas, USA. But, he added: ‘Talking about the UK market, there’s really a significant drop in terms of quantity and we don’t want to somehow artificially push this area.’ Tanaka admitted that the public may be confused over the benefits…

ONE OF the biggest camera releases unveiled at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show was the Nikon D3300 – an entry-level DSLR that sits above the D3200 and D3100 in the manufacturer’s line-up. Although the image sensor remains the same as that found in its predecessors, the D3300 uses Nikon’s latest Expeed 4 image processor, which was first introduced a few months ago inside the D5300. The latest processor allows an improved sensitivity range and faster continuous shooting – an ability that has been achieved with each new release of a Nikon D3000-series camera since the D3100’s launch in August 2010. KEY FEATURES The Nikon D3300 features a 24.2-millionpixel, DX-format CMOS sensor, and while it may not seem any different to the D3200’s sensor on paper, the newer model lacks an…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a great shockproof, waterproof and dustproof 5-Proof Technology 16GB Samsung SDHC Plus memory card offering up to 48MB/sec transfer speed. www.samsung.com/memorycard WEIRD SCIENCE I like reading technical articles in Amateur Photographer, but find Professor Bob Newman’s contributions adhere to a pattern. They start off simply and become more and more complicated. Take his recent one on colour perception (AP 11 January). The first paragraph or so gently leads me in using plain language. Then he’s talking about rods and cones, which I remember from my youthful studies. So far, my thinking ability is not too far stretched. Then things start getting sticky: I can tell science has moved on. Suddenly, I’m reading about photons of any wavelength dropping into one of three bags (massage temple),…

THE TECHNIQUE shown here is one that was devised by Mac Holbert at Nash Editions. Mac specialises in making fine-art prints from digital files, where his task is to create photographic prints that match the punch and contrast of the digital original. This is particularly important when making prints on a mattfinish paper, where the print contrast range is somewhat subdued compared to what is displayed. In response to this, Mac came up with the following steps to boost the midtone contrast in subjects where the midtones might otherwise look rather flat when printed. It also works well for boosting the contrast in landscape subjects where the contrast in a scene is soft due to the atmospheric conditions. There are a couple of things I should point out. here The…

GEORGE Wheelhouse’s approach to photographing wildlife is a little different to most. While the vast majority aim to capture nature at its most raw and authentic, often pushing conservation or political messages to the forefront, George has a more ethereal approach, one that is as much art as documentary. ‘For me, photography is a creative endeavour,’ he says. ‘My goal is to produce art that showcases the natural world.’ It was a mission that George did not arrive at immediately. ‘After a few years of shooting with my DSLR and seeing the standard of my images improve, I came to realise that actually I wasn’t into wildlife photography as a means of documenting natural history and that there was no point simply trying to replicate the wildlife photos I admired…

WHILE filters have always played a part in photography, it was Cokin that really helped to popularise them in the 1970s. The ability of filters to control exposure, colour an image or add certain effects has made them essential accessories, and even though the more hideous and gimmicky versions are thankfully long gone, there are still several that are still as important today in the digital era as they ever were with film. Some photographers would argue that you can replicate the effect of some filters, such as that of an ND grad, quite easily in Photoshop. However, there is one stand-out filter that has characteristics no amount of post-processing can copy and has so many uses that it is worth its weight in gold. That filter is, of course,…

Mathew Brady is regarded as one of America’s most important 19th century photographers and a founding father of photojournalism. His portraits of notable Americans, including Abraham Lincoln, together with his documentation of the American Civil War, mark him out as one of the key pioneers of the medium. A charismatic figure with a fair for self-publicity, Brady was, at his peak, one of America’s most famous photographers. Yet, through a combination of errors of judgement and tragic events, he died penniless and largely forgotten. Ironically for a photographer, Brady was plagued by problems with his eyesight from an early age. Around the age of 12, he suffered from an ‘infammation of the eyes’ that almost resulted in him going blind. While being treated in Saratoga, New York, Brady met William…

Digital imaging has been with us for many years, but image resolution can still be slightly confusing, especially when it comes to the terms dpi and ppi. Indeed, I’ve read on countless occasions that the two are interchangeable, when they are not. This and next week’s Glossary entries will clear this up. PPI Ppi stands for pixels per inch and relates to the resolution of a digital image. Specifically, it tells us how the pixels are distributed in the image. Take, for example, a 6000x4000-pixel image. It doesn’t matter if the image has a resolution of 1ppi or 1000ppi, it will still contain 6000x4000 pixels. The only difference is that at a resolution of 1ppi (1 pixel per linear inch) the image would print at a whopping 6000x4000in when scaled…

IF I LIVED on the coast, I’d be a regular beachcomber, checking the strand line for whatever goodies the tide had washed up. However, as I live 60 miles from the sea, I have to content myself with visiting charity shops. I find it fascinating to see the range of objects on display, and the sometimes bizarre or amusing juxtapositions you stumble upon I’m always on the lookout for cameras, but recently I was drawn to a pile of old copies of Which? magazine, dating from 1950-1980. I must have spent nearly half an hour crouched down scanning them for photography-related articles. In the end, I selected four copies that included reviews of cameras that I’ve got in my collection – which brings me to the Agilux Agimatic. The Agimatic…