Innholdsfortegnelse for 28-jun-2014 i Amateur Photographer

IT WAS nearly 20 years ago that I got my first modem, and I still recall the excitement as we all sat through a protracted series of dialling, hissing and buzzing sounds before finally connecting to the World Wide Web for the first time. Little did I know, at the time, how it would change the world and how quickly it would do so. On the whole the Web has been great, and few of us would now want to be without it, but we’re coming to realise that, just like cars, alcohol and power tools, it must be used responsibly. While we all like a bargain, none of wants to see the demise of friendly local shops. This week, news editor Chris Cheesman presents a report on internet shopping…

TRADITIONAL mail-order delivery means customers can research their prospective purchase in-store, but then leave without making a purchase. The growth of ‘click & collect’, where customers pay online and then collect their new toy at a nominated store, could be the saviour of the high street, it seems. It enables people to ‘re-engage’ with their local shops, says Futuresource – providing somewhere to go back to, as well seek advice on other services and buy accessories. This, coupled with camera makers’ focus on higher-end models – and away from low-spec compacts crippled by smartphones could play into hands of high-street specialists with knowledgeable, spec-savvy, staff. Bryant says some consumers are uncomfortable with a ‘faceless’ organisation. ‘People are spending more on cameras now than they did a year ago… albeit in…

WE’VE all heard the saying ‘less is more’, but it’s especially true with photography. A successful composition not only relies on what has been included in the photo, but what has been left out can be just as important. Harmony is the key to creating an eye-catching photo with a simple composition. Try to find foreground and background subjects that complement each other in some way, whether it be shape, colour or something else that links them visually, and compose your shot to include only those essential elements. Before pressing the shutter, remember to look around the frame for any distractions and adjust your position to try to remove them from the composition. A clean composition can really make a strong image, but you could try taking it a step…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Talking sense Yet another brilliant article from Roger Hicks in AP 24 May issue, who talks a lot of common sense. His key points are so accurate, about how we are all expected now to be entrepreneurs, run our own processing labs, be publishers and pay for it all. Many retail and service providers have been going that way for some time, such as supermarket automated checkouts, so the customer does most of the work and the business makes the profits. As Roger says, this creates unemployment. His other key point is so apt, about how one is considered inferior if you don’t enter the ‘rat race’. I have found this out in some circles because I still take pictures on film and use a computer…

Groups Look for groups of people. Groups are less suspicious, less self-conscious and more likely to be active. They can also have energy and that gives a real, exciting dynamic to photographs. Events Go to events where cameras are commonplace if you want to photograph people, as they will be less suspicious. And don’t forget, nobody said you have to photograph the actual event. Talk Talk to people. The general public are more relaxed about picture-taking if you chat to them, and it gives you an opportunity to show them who you are and that you are genuine. Viewpoint Don’t take pictures from eye-level. Try getting on your knees, putting the camera near the floor, or holding the camera above the subject/s. You don’t have to look through the viewfinder.…

SLT Following a long line of Sony SLTs, the Alpha 77 II features a fixed translucent mirror Video The Alpha 77 II features continuous phase-detection AF in video mode, and the ability to shoot full HD footage at 60p or 24p Weather-sealed body Weather-sealing is featured around main buttons, dials and the opening, so the camera is resistant to dust and moisture Multi-interface hotshoe The multi-interface hotshoe allows compatibility with flashes, microphones and other Sony accessories GPS GPS is missing from the Alpha 77 II, although it was included in the original Alpha 77. Perhaps Sony will add a Geotagging PlayMemories app that will allow GPS data from a smartphone to tag images Electronic viewfinder The XGA OLED EVF boasts 100% frame coverage and a wide 33° viewing angle Articulated…

WHAT YOU NEED Black drinking straws, cardboard, glue or tape, scissors or a craft knife, ruler A FLASH grid or honeycomb is usually placed over a studio flashlight to create a precise spot of light. It works by funnelling the light from the flash through a series of small tubes, arranged in a honeycomb-type pattern. This concentrates the light into a spot, making it suitable for adding highlights to a scene or portrait, or for simply adding a bright spot to a background. How to… The trickiest bit is measuring the height and width of your flash head and making a cardboard sleeve that will fit around this and then slide on to the flash. Make sure that the length of the sleeve is the depth of your flash head,…

Fuji 18-135mm lens Fujifilm has confirmed a July launch for its Fujinon XF18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR [weather-resistant] compact system camera lens. The new optic should deliver the 35mm equivalent of a 27-206mm zoom. First announced earlier this year, the XF18-135mm is expected to cost £749.99. For details visit www.fujifilm.co.uk. City heat If you have a shot depicting the ‘essence and reality’ of working life in the city, you could be in with a shout of winning Urban Photographer of the Year, with a top prize of a photo safari. The closing date is 8 August 2014. For details, visit cbreupoty.com. Compact tripods Manfrotto has released a new line of tripods and monopods, including Compact Light, which costs £49.95 and is the lightest in Manfrotto’s tripod stable at 800g.…

Wideangle lens A wideangle lens is essential for emphasising foreground elements. Zoom lenses with a range of around 10-20mm for APS-C cameras or 16-35mm for full-frame are ideal. Tripod and geared head A tripod is a must-have for landscape photography and a geared head will make light work of fine-tuning your composition. Hotshoe spirit level With the camera low to the ground, it can be particularly difficult to judge how level the horizon is and a hotshoe spirit level is an inexpensive way to solve this problem. Filters As the foreground will sometimes be several stops darker than the sky, a set of graduated neutral density (ND) filters will enable you to keep the exposure within the limits of the camera’s dynamic range and avoid blown highlights. Remote shutter release…

ALTHOUGH I’d usually caution against slavishly following compositional rules with your own images, the rule of thirds can be an incredibly useful starting point when shooting landscapes. When composing the image, try using the bottom third of the frame for a strong foreground element. This is so the viewer can then be led through to the middle ground and then on to the distant horizon positioned roughly on the top third of the frame. I find this can work particularly well with the camera in portrait orientation, which I think often adds greater depth and impact. A lot of this will depend on the subject you’re photographing. There are endless possibilities for adding depth to your photos using foreground interest, so if you are looking to give it a try…

Misty morning rower Karen Noble Olympus SP-800UZ YOU CAN’T beat a misty morning for atmosphere on the river, and on this particular morning Karen made the most of the weather to create a beautiful silhouette of this chap out for a bit of exercise. Metering can be tricky in the mist and fog, as cameras see lots of white and brightness and want to close the exposure down to create a grey scene. Usually we have to open up a little to get enough light on to the sensor, but on this occasion the greyness has worked out very well, creating a calm and peaceful atmosphere that is untaxing on the eye. There is a lot of space at the top and bottom of the frame that isn’t really adding…

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM • £295 (new) IF YOU’RE a Canon user struggling to come to terms with the price of the EF 85mm f/1.2 L II USM, the f/1.8 version here is an affordable alternative. It is an old lens design (it was released in 1992), but it remains in demand and features excellent build quality, delivers sharp results and is still available to buy new from most retailers. It is known to produce chromatic aberrations when it is opened to its maximum aperture, but there are few better options for those on a budget. Used examples often go for around £250. Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 D AF • £660 (used) THE NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4 D AF is the predecessor to the Nikkor G lens on test here. As…

Memory card reader Most printers will read SD and Memory Stick formats, although more advanced units will also read CompactFlash and USB sticks. PictBridge Connect a PictBridgecompatible camera to this port to control printing and file transfer from your camera’s menu. Wi-Fi Connect wirelessly to a printer with a computer, smartphone, tablet or camera. Some printers have a unique email to send photos or documents for printing via email. LCD screen Used for previewing photos and accessing features and menus. Advanced models have a large (88mm) touch-sensitive screen. USB 2.0 and Ethernet Connection ports for wired connectivity. USB is the most popular, though Ethernet is useful for a multi-user environment. Scanner Use the scanner to copy photos either directly for printing or to send them to a computer as a…

1 Apple iPad 64GB There are few places I go without my iPad. It’s a great resource for keeping up to date with my emails, bookings and personal website when I’m on the move. Although it’s not 3G-enabled, I connect it to the internet using the personal hotspot feature on my iPhone and pull it from my bag when I need to rate images in Lightroom using the new, and excellent, Lightroom Mobile app. I also use it with Snapseed, Instagram and Photoshop touch apps. 2 Bowens Gemini 400RX I’ve had the Gemini 400Rx kit on a long-term loan from Bowens. In the time that I’ve had it, I have used it numerous times and it has made me wonder how I ever got by without one. Superbly made, reliable…

Very few photographers can resist trying to photograph terraced fields in general, and paddy fields in particular. They are the essence of the struggle of mankind against nature, being almost as primeval as the invention of agriculture. Yet they are hard to photograph. The basic rules are easy. You need a high viewpoint. You want people working in shot if possible. You rarely want a wideangle, as it can overemphasise the foreground. Three boxes ticked. Yet there is more to this picture. First, you cannot see the complete boundaries of any field as they all finish outside the picture. Not only does this convey the boundlessness of the paddies in space, but there is also a boundlessness in time. Rice has been grown like this since time immemorial, and it…

I have to admit I have a soft spot for Flickr as I’ve been an avid user for almost10 years now, I’ve made a lot good friends through it and it’s helped my photographic career. Something I hear a lot, however, is ‘Flickr is dead’ and ‘no one uses it any more, but I think those statements tend to oversimplify the matter. What has to be remembered is that when Flickr started, the likes of YouTube, Twitter and Instagram did not exist, and Facebook was only open to people in higher education. People have far more choice with what they do online than they did 10 years ago. In the first two months after I posted my photo of starlings (below) on Flickr, it was viewed 66,000 times – that…

Justin Minns Since taking up photography, Justin’s images have been published in numerous books and magazines. He also runs one-to-one landscape photography workshops in East Anglia for photographers of all levels, with workshops for small groups currently in the planning stage. To register interest in these, visit his website at www.justinminns.co.uk. As landscape photographers, we often go to great lengths to be in the right place at the right time to get the shot. We set the alarm for the early hours, drive for miles and then walk, head torch on, through semi-darkness to be set up and ready for the first shades of dawn colour to light the scene that we have usually spent many hours researching in advance. Every time we look at such a scene, we are…

Shoot in raw While you could be stacking 50-60 frames together, you should still shoot in raw as you will be able to recover lost highlight and shadow detail, as well as fine-tune the white balance and a host of other adjustments before stitching the images together. Just be sure to apply the changes to every image. Pose your subject If you’re photographing a person, it’s a good idea to get him or her in a relaxed and comfortable pose that they can hold for at least 30secs while you capture your sequence. Also, to ensure you get the facial expression you want, it’s worth shooting more than one frame of their face in the sequence. Start and end Before you start your sequence, take a blank shot (shoot with…

Lomography Smartphone Film Scanner • £49 • shop.lomography.com If you still shoot 35mm film or have an archive of treasured material in that format, this is a simple and innovative must-have tool, says Jon Devo At a glance • Compatible with all 35mm film• Portable, small and lightweight• Simple to attach smartphone and take pictures to scan• Backlit direct light panel illuminates film LOMOGRAPHY has developed an ingenious way to scan and share images captured on 35mm film by using a rudimentary lightbox design that can hold a smartphone, and which then allows the phone to scan your negatives by taking a photo of each of them. Build and performance The Smartphone Film Scanner is incredibly easy to set up. It takes two AA batteries and requires the placing of one to three stackers…

LAUNCHED 2008 PRICE AT LAUNCH: £2,000 GUIDE PRICE TODAY £950 THE D700 was Nikon’s first ‘affordable’ full-frame DSLR and only Nikon’s second FX body after the previous year’s D3 launch. At £2,000 it was, and still is, a lot of money, but it bought a lot of camera. Apart from the sensitive and low noise 12.1-million-pixel full-frame sensor, you got a tough, sealed, magnesium-alloy body and no major gaps in features and performance. The D700 was pro-standard for well-heeled enthusiasts and professionals. What’s good Much of the D700 was borrowed from the D3, including the superb metering and AF system, as well as the sensor. Today,12 million pixels may sound inadequate, but looking at the D700’s images reinforces the view that it’s not how many pixels your camera has but…