Innholdsfortegnelse for 21-jun-2014 i Amateur Photographer

WELL, it’s been several months in the making and now it’s finally here: the all-new AP. Based on extensive research among AP readers and photography enthusiasts around the country, we have strived to retain the things that you liked best about the old AP, while expanding on those elements that you asked for more of, like technique. Over the coming weeks we’ll be introducing some new faces and features, more practical advice, more group and lens tests, and more great images, wrapped up in a fantastic new design that manages to look both classic and modern. And to make sure it all looks as good as possible, we’ve even invested in better-quality paper. Our aim was to produce the best photography magazine in the world and I hope you feel…

This is just one of the stunning photographs that has earned Nagesh Mahadev the title of USA Landscape Photographer of the Year 2014. ‘The quality of photography in this, the first year of USA Landscape Photographer of the Year, has been staggeringly high,’ enthused the driving force behind the competition, Charlie Waite. ‘It is my hope that the competition will grow in stature and continue to remind us of how vitally important it is to discover, be enriched by, and indeed preserve and celebrate the wonder of landscape.’ We’ll be showing more winners and finalists in AP 12 July, but for more information visit www.usalandscapephotographer oftheyear.com. 350 million Number of pictures uploaded to Facebook every day Words & numbersA photographer is like a cod, which produces a million eggs in…

Will higher and higher resolution video threaten stills photography? Why bother fretting about shooting the decisive moment, some argue, when you can easily shoot a few seconds of high-quality movie and select the right frame later? An interesting debate, perhaps, but two exhibitions this year have exploited the combined potential of movies and stills in much more exciting ways. The first, at The Saatchi Gallery, featured the winners of Google’s Motion Photography Prize. Motion Photography as defined by Google is a short series of stills linked together to form a video loop. Indeed, when you upload your stills to Google+ there’s now an option to combine a selection into a Motion Photo automatically. I was sceptical to begin with, but the results can transform stills into far more than the…

‘SHOOTING a rodeo is like having to photograph Audrey Hepburn… it’s hard to screw it up,’ says David. ‘The rodeos I have shot have been major events, but they take place on every level across the US. It’s a great spectacle: a cowboy on a bronco horse exits from a defined gate and all hell breaks loose for 2-8secs. Each rider starts from the same point, so working out the best angle is not so hard. The arenas tend not to be that big and with a press pass you can be anywhere around the fence at the bigger events. This puts you in a great position to capture the action, and my Nikon D4 with the 80-200mm f/2.8 lens is perfect for this. ‘Rodeos take place mostly in the…

This shot was taken above Austnesfjorden, close to the city of Svolvaer on the Lofoten Islands in Norway. I was there with two friends around February or March for some off-piste snowboarding and then decided to stay on for an extra week to take some photographs of the stunning scenery. On this particular day we had planned to head to the summit of Matmora, but instead we hiked up to the neighbouring summit of Durmalstinden, which stands at 828 metres. During our daytime exploration we found that there was one peak that looked incredibly photogenic. Once the sunlight dropped, we returned to the location in order to capture the Northern Lights. When we were on location, the Northern Lights were active all the time. That gave me a great starting…

Richard Hurst, Hertfordshire Richard has dipped his toe in and out of the waters of photography since he was a teenager. However, it wasn’t until 2012 that he began to take it seriously after completing a photography workshop. Richard is particularly keen on the solitude that the art can offer and the way in which the elements – the sun, wind and rain – can affect the final outcome of the image. Throughout the remainder of 2014 and into 2015, Richard intends to explore new locations abroad. He would also like to visit Skye and the Outer Hebrides. Shipwreck 1 Richard has wisely converted this shot to monochrome in order to make the best of the overcast and stormy conditions Fujifilm X-T1, 14mm, 1/40sec at f/11, ISO 200, tripod, 0.9…

Budget travel camera Q My girlfriend and I are going travelling for a few months and are looking for a decent camera, costing up to £250. We’re backpacking around India, Thailand and south-east Asia, so it needs to be light and small enough to fit in the side pocket of a rucksack. This probably means sacrificing a big zoom lens, which is a shame, but we can live with that. Joe Keene A While the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 is probably the best travel compact on the market, it’s well out of your budget and, by the sound of it, you’d probably be better off with a ‘tough’ camera. These rugged compacts are shockproof and drop-proof so they can take a few knocks, and more importantly, they’re waterproof, so if you…

Lomo’Instant Lomography’s Lomo’Instant Camera, touted as the ‘world’s most creative instant camera system’, is now closer to reality. The project has garnered more than eight times its $100,000 target on crowdfunding website Kickstarter. The camera is set to feature a host of manual and automated functions and it should be manufactured and ready for delivery in November. RSPCA deadline The RSPCA has called on youngsters to enter its Young Photographer Awards. Open to people aged 18 and under, the contest offers a top prize of a weekend photography break with a wildlife photographer. closing date is 25 August 2014. Visit www.rspca.org.uk/ypa. Splash of colour Celebrating the success of its OM-D E-M10 model, Olympus UK is releasing three brand-new Limited Edition models in a choice of green, black or orange. While…

MARK Heathcote, an amateur who had never had his work exhibited before, has won the London Photo Festival street photography competition with ‘Spotted on the Underground’. Commenting on the winning photo, judge Colin O’Brien said: ‘What makes the picture is the juxtaposition of a red circular notice on the carriage window that completely covers the person’s face – making them look like some alien travelling around the Circle Line.’ For the latest news visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk…

BACKLIGHTING and silhouettes are a recurring theme in Nordin’s images. The effect not only introduces depth and a three-dimensional feel to a picture, but also emphasises the translucent nature and sheer delicacy of many of his subjects. The simplest way to expose for a backlit subject is to switch your camera to spot-metering mode, take an exposure reading from your subject, lock it, recompose and take your photograph. However, if you have an entry-level camera, it may not feature spot metering. In this case, if you can, zoom into the subject and take a reading in partial metering mode, then follow the same steps as above. If your subject is slow-moving enough to allow it, bracketing is also an option. Simply take a series of pictures at 1/2 or 1/3-stop…

LETTER OF THE WEEK My weekly fix I just had to write and thank you for the fantastic 7 June issue. Your Photo Insight image by the portrait photographer Agenda just blew me away. Absolutely incredible. I wish we could see more great portrait photography, both environmental as well as studio-based. I also loved Lee Frost’s article on patterns – a subject that seems unfashionable these days. My other hobby is painting, and George Johnson’s dreamy landscapes in Reader Spotlight arecrying out for me to get out my watercolours. As I am 65 and physically disabled, and do not have any personal transport, I am restricted from attempting wild landscape photography. Therefore, I more than appreciate the skills of the photographers whose works grace AP. Previously, I have made the…

‘I ALMOST deleted this image as soon as I took it, as it was underexposed, but something about his position and the composition made me keep it,’ says David. ‘Using a piece of wire, the man is fishing out the saddle cinch on a bronco: you have to get the far side strap under the horse’s belly to secure the saddle, and putting your arm in is not a good idea. I like the composition, its simplicity and I love black & white, so without too much post-processing this was the result.’…

I tend to use a Nikon D800E with a 14-24mm lens. In fact, the D800E is my first DSLR and it can thankfully withstand all sorts of bad weather conditions. I’m also a big fan of the dynamic range of the sensor, coupled with the fact that it’s 36 million pixels. Lens-wise, I often show a large field of view in my landscapes and therefore the 14-24mm lens is my favourite. Nine out of ten of my images are taken at 14mm and only around one out of a thousand of my images have been taken with a different lens – a 28-300mm. I also have all kinds of filters for both lenses, but these days I only tend to use a circular polariser.…

How to focus the viewers’ attention THIS photograph, by Biswajit Patra taken at a Hindu Holi festival, contains a lot of action and vibrant colour. It was shot from an ideal viewpoint looking down on all the action. The timing here was critical too, because Biswajit has managed to capture the moment just as a huge burst of powder paint exploded above the crowd. To my mind there is a lot of interesting detail here. The wideangle view is good because it captures so much of what is going on in the frame, but I felt it needed some tighter cropping to focus attention more on the paint cloud and the people. Submit your images Please see the ‘Send us your pictures’ section on page 3 for details or visit…

Creating folders If you shoot several jobs or visit different locations in a single day, it is possible on most current models to save images to different folders to keep them separate. Within the Setup or Tools menu, you can create folders and select the folder in which the images you’re shooting will be saved. If you download your images by dragging and dropping the folders from a card to the desktop, this is a convenient way of sorting out images. Once on the computer, the folders can be renamed to something appropriate. Copyright information If you have ever worried about ownership of your images, there is a way to make sure your images have your name in the shooting data. Go to the Setup menu and under Copyright Information…

There has been a recent significant change in top-end lens design regarding what is expected of a standard prime lens. Since the1930s, the preferred design for a fast standard lens has been the symmetrical Double Gauss design, called the Planar by Zeiss, which produces a compact, economical and high-quality lens. Being symmetrical, the aberrations in each half tend to cancel each other out. The Double Gauss design can be elaborated to produce very high-quality results, with perhaps the ultimate example being the Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 Asph model (see figure1). The straightforward Double Gauss design has six elements and is absolutely symmetrical around the aperture stop. Leica has added two more elements – giving the designers additional degrees of freedom, which can be used to hone the image quality of…

A RARE salt print by British photography pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot is set to be showcased in London. The print, estimated to have been created around 1845, depicts the original Hungerford footbridge in London. The bridge was designed and built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and connected Hungerford Market on the north bank of the Thames with Lambeth on the south. The print will star in the Bridge exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands from 27 June to 2 November, and it will be displayed for the first month – under strictly controlled lighting conditions, due to its fragility. Admission is free to the exhibition at No1 Warehouse, West India Quay, London E14 4A. For more details, call 0207 001 9844 or visit www.museumoflondon.org.uk.…

Macro lens True macro is defined as the subject being reproduced at a ratio of 1:1, or lifesize. A 105mm focal length is a good starting point because the lens-to-subject distance isn’t too close to become a problem. Cheaper alternatives include reversing rings and extension tubes. Tripod If you don’t have the luxury of Borneo-standard light levels, a tripod is essential. Look for one with a horizontal centre column, which will allow you to get down to ground level. A monopod is worth considering in order to track subjects that are likely to move. Remote release To help you avoid both camera shake and disturbing your subject, a remote release is invaluable, especially when shooting in low morning and evening light. If using a cable release, the longer it is,…

IT IS easy with macro photography to concentrate so hard on your subject that you forget about the background. This can lead to unwanted and distracting elements impinging on the image – something that, more often than not, isn’t noticed until you’re back at home and in front of your computer. Blending background and foreground images in Photoshop gives you control over the final image and the message it conveys. A good backdrop gives a sense of depth and perspective, and should complement the main subject without overpowering it. It also allows you to ‘lift’ the main subject, giving it a three-dimensional quality that might otherwise be missing. The most important aspect of blending two images in Photoshop is that they should appear as natural as possible and give the…

Never change a lens If you can, always carry two camera bodies – one with a wideangle lens and one with a longer telephoto/ zoom lens. Do not change the lenses, as there will inevitably be dust or rain at events! Look for the details Keep an eye on everything that is happening around you, and always look for the details. It’s often the small things that can add interest and extra dynamics to an otherwise ordinary scene. Be prepared Always carry spare cards and batteries that are fully charged, as it’s generally a long walk back to the press room/car and you don’t want to miss a shot. Frame it right When composing your image, allow 10% wastage in the frame for cropping in post-processing but not much more.…

Fujifilm TCL-X100 tele-conversion lens £219 www.fujifilm.co.uk The TCL-X100 teleconverter for the X100 and X100S increases the effective focal length from 35mm to 50mm. Phil Hall tries it At a glance Magnification 1.4x Lens construction 4 lenses in 4 groups Weight 180g Filter size 67mm FOR ME, the Fujifilm X100S is one of the standout cameras of the past few years. I love the relatively compact size, classic styling, handling and the results it produces thanks to the excellent sensor and 35mm equivalent lens. With the TCL-X100 teleconverter, the focal length is increased to 50mm for times when the lens is a bit too wide. As the TCL-X100 screws directly onto the front of the X100S, there are no electronic connections, while the large front element means the combination is a…

Resolution The MTF resolution chart shows clarity on the vertical axes and the number of line pairs per picture height (lp/ph) on the horizontal. As the lp/ph increases, the lens is less able to define them, hence the typical downward curve of an MTF chart. Shading To show vignetting, we use a 3D rendering. The brightest part of the lens, in the centre, is measured at 0EV. As the edges get darker, the corners drop, representing the scale of the darkening. A 1EV difference in brightness is shown in red. Curvilinear distortion The red arrows on the distortion grid show the direction and strength of the shift in the image, compared to the original point on the photographed chart. The Mean and Max values are given to show the average…

LAUNCHED 1967 PRICE (WITH F/2 NIKKOR) IN 1969 £176 9s 6d (£176.47) GUIDE PRICE TODAY £30-£85 (chrome f/2 lens) Nikkormat 35mm SLRs with open-aperture TTL metering were Nikon’s lower-cost workhorses for more than ten years. They were extensively used by professionals because they could use virtually all Nikon pre-AI lenses. What’s good Nikkor lenses were probably the best of their period. Nikkormats were usually sold with the 50mm f/2 HC Nikkor, but sometimes come second-hand with the 50mm f/1.4. The 28mm f/3.5, 35mm f/2.8 and 135mm f/3.5 or f/2.8 Nikkors are recommended. Nikkormats are usually mechanically reliable and optically excellent, but check the shutter and automatic diaphragm carefully. What’s bad A resistor under the shutter-speed ring can cause erratic meter readings. No spares are available, so only pirating parts from…

There are two good reasons to start this new column with a picture by Alfred Horsley Hinton (1863-1908). First, in April 1892, he co-founded the Brotherhood of the Linked Ring. They reacted against what they saw as excessive and tiresome realism: they wanted mood, not detail, and argued that photography was (or could be) a fine art. This was Pictorialism: it was the era of -isms. Then, in 1893, he became editor of a photography magazine established nine years before: The Amateur Photographer. His prints were typically rich and striking, often made from two or more negatives. Many were pure nostalgia. He subscribed to the very English idea that the present is never as good as the past: he preferred to photograph an England without cities but full of villages,…