Innholdsfortegnelse for 05-jul-2014 i Amateur Photographer

I admire the dedication of those photographers who go the extra mile in their photography. Not for them a sedate wander around town looking for abstract street shots, or the comforts of a home studio where the kettle is always within arm’s reach. I’m talking about those obsessives who put themselves in harm’s way, or endure all manner of discomfort to get that perfect shot. This week we feature three people who do just that. CJ Kale and Nick Selway dodge molten rock in their quest to photograph Hawaii’s active volcanoes, even if it means swimming in 110°F sea water. Closer to home, George Karbus dives with the sharks and jellyfish off the Irish coast, and is happy to spend years in pursuit of the perfect surf shot. I thank…

This image, from Yilang Peng of Madison, Wisconsin, in the USA, took first place in the Architecture category of the 2014 iPP Awards, a competition that further confirms the fact that smartphones are more than up to the task of producing great shots (see Viewpoint on page 8 for more thoughts on this). With the winning images in the 17 categories coming from all over the world, it would seem that smartphone images are becoming a universal language within the field of photography. The 2015 iPhone Photography Awards are now open, with a deadline of 31March, 2015. We’ll take a look at each 2014 category winner in an upcoming issue. Visit www.ippawards.com for more information. 100 billion Adobe’s estimate of the number of images managed by its Lightroom software Words…

Prime lens A standard prime lens with an aperture of f/1.8 or wider is perfect for interior portraits lit by window light. Zooms are good, too, but you may need to use a higher ISO to compensate for the smaller maximum aperture available. Monopod Damien’s lenses do not feature image stabilisation, so he uses a Gitzo monopod to keep his camera steady with a Really Right Stuff head and a Markins L-Plate for his Fujifilm X-T1. Diffusion filter Although not essential, Damien uses a Tiffen Black Pro Mist 1/4 filter as he finds the subtle highlight bleed from it gives his images more of a filmic look. Try spraying some hairspray into the air, then waft an old UV filter through it to create a diffusing filter. ND filter Damien…

Feeling of depth By skilfully building up the image with a range of elements and clever use of layer opacity, there’s a strong sense of depth Uniform lighting By shooting all the sections on the same day and at the same location, the images blend well together Additional elements While the focal point of the image is the boat, the other elements, like the fisherman’s hunt, add to the atmosphere Fine-tuning By darkening the bottom of the pebbles and adding a Gradient Map to tone the entire image, the final composite looks a lot more unified Lead-in line Integral to the success of the image is the anchored rope. The perspective and tension look authentic. Overall, it works very well…

AT A GLANCE, you would be hard pressed to spot the external differences between the three RX100 cameras. The differences often appear to be modest, yet with each incarnation the actual improvements are enough to make existing users want to upgrade to the new camera. For the majority of users, the larger aperture of the new lens and the shorter 24mm minimum focal length will be more of a benefit than the loss of 30mm, from 100mm to 70mm, at the furthest end of the zoom. The image-quality improvements also take the camera up another notch, offering excellent results where similarly sized compact cameras – but with smaller sensors – start to show their weaknesses. Add to this the built-in ND filter, which will help those who want to take…

PENTAX Colour Temperature Enhancement (CTE) Among the white-balance modes is the little-known CTE or Colour Temperature Enhancement mode. Unlike other white-balance modes that seek to ‘balance’ colour casts caused by unusual subjects, CTE seeks to keep and enhance these. Specifically designed for scenes that have a dominant colour, such as sunsets or landscapes, CTE enhances the colours to capture the sunset as warm as it is remembered. NIKON Compatibility with older lenses If you wish to use a manual-focus lens on your DSLR, you can improve compatibility between the camera and older lenses. This function is found in the custom menu of cameras higher in the range than the D7000/D7100, under Non-CPU lens data. You can program in your lens data so your camera knows which lens is mounted. PANASONIC…

As a generalisation, a larger sensor will give better image quality than a smaller one. The reason for this is that, at the same exposure settings, the larger sensor gathers more light. In the field of photographic technology, real life – particularly the commercial side – has shaped matters so that all else certainly is not equal. The research and development of sensors is often an expensive business, so the major effort is expended on high-volume applications – and nowadays that means the small sensors found in mobile phones. As fabrication lines for leading-edge small sensors are replaced by more modern ones, they become available for the smaller volume large-sized sensors. Thus, today’s DSLRs are using the kind of technology that was found in mobile phones five or so years…

Canon EOS M lens Canon appears to have signalled its commitment to the EOS M compact system camera by releasing the first dedicated telephoto zoom lens. The EF-M 55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM will cost £329.99 when it debuts in July. In 35mm viewing angle terms, the focal length equates to 88-320mm. Features include a ‘3.5-stop’ Image Stabilizer, manual focus ring and Stepping Motor Technology (STM). Adobe plan Adobe’s £8.78 per month Creative Cloud Photography Plan now includes Lightroom’s mobile apps for Apple iPhone and iPad. The desktop Photoshop CC version has new Path Blur and Spin Blur features that create a sense of motion in a captured image. Visit www.adobe.com. OBE award Brett Rogers, who led a £9.2 million campaign to transform London’s Photographers’ Gallery, has been awarded an OBE.…

FORMER Home Secretary Alan Johnson MP has joined tributes to British photographer Roger Mayne, who died in June, aged 84. The British photographer, who wrote articles for Amateur Photographer (AP) in his photojournalism heyday, was best known for documenting working-class London in the 1950s and early ’60s. Born in Cambridge in 1929, Roger took up photography while studying chemistry at Balliol College, Oxford, from 1947-51. He began documenting street markets and ‘slum streets’ when he came to London as a freelance photographer in 1954, and soon gained a reputation as a photographer of children and social realism. His work appeared in many publications, including The Observer and Vogue. Alan Johnson MP spent the first nine years of his life in Southam Street, a working-class area of west London that Roger…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Thicker than water Two readers in your Letters pages of AP 10 May touched on the high cost of ink cartridges. This reminds me of the past practice of shipping oil lamps to China to encourage the purchase of expensive oil (not to mention opium). I always print mono, but have you tried to buy a mono inkjet printer lately? I was forced to buy a colour inkjet printer, but although my colour ink cartridge is never used, my printer pretends that it is, and whatever the actual contents of either cartridge, it stops printing when it decides that it is time that my colour cartridge is empty. I have discovered a simple cure for this: I refill my colour cartridge with water. Since I never…

Compose well You can be in a beautiful location and have amazing light, but your pictures will only ever be average if you don’t have an interesting composition. Use a tripod Having your camera on a tripod opens up the realms for greater experimentation. Try different exposure times and the use of ND filters. Shoot manually Set your camera up with manual exposure and shoot using manual focus for full control over your camera. Use a good-quality remote trigger. Bracket When you are shooting a backlit or high-contrast scene, use exposure bracketing or shoot different exposures to get the best results. Switch lenses Experiment with different lenses for full creative control. Don’t be afraid to use longer lenses like a 70-200mm for a change of perspective.…

The two Reader Portfolio winners chosen every week will receive a SmugMug Power account, worth £35 each, on which to host their images SmugMug is the world’s leading independent cloud-based photo website for a new generation of photographers. SmugMug Power account gives you a fully hosted, customisable website where you will receive unlimited photo uploads and gorgeous full-screen galleries. Visit www.smugmug.com Sean Batten, Surrey Sean became serious about photography back in 2010 after he took the plunge and bought his first DSLR. Sean particularly favours architecture and street photography, although he is always open to trying new things. In fact, he is currently experimenting with ultra-long exposure photography. Sean’s love of photography stems from his appreciation of how the medium stop us in our tracks and causes us to appreciate…

THE COLOUR information you see when a raw image is processed is dependent on how the white balance is defined in post-processing (as well as the colour profile that’s selected). This means you can apply any white balance setting you like at the editing stage, rather than in-camera. When editing a raw photograph, you can adjust the Temperature slider to assign a suitable colour temperature setting from cool to warm, and adjust the Tint slider to compensate for colour tint variance from green to magenta. Auto and preset settings are also available, plus you can select the Eyedropper tool described here to apply a measured white point adjustment.…

Mode dial This is seated on the camera’s top-plate and allows the shooting mode to be changed quickly. It includes the usual PASM as well as Sony’s Intelligent Auto modes. NFC Touching a compatible smartphone or tablet to this spot on the side of the camera allows instant connection between the two devices. Built-in ND filter The RX100 III has a 3EV ND filter. This should help when taking long-exposure images, but will also allow the f/1.8-2.8 maximum aperture to be used in bright conditions.…

Steve Bloom specialises in evocative images of the living world. Born in South Africa in 1953, he moved to England in 1977 and co-founded one of London’s leading photographic special-effects companies. He later began shooting animals and became an award-winning travelling photographer. He has published numerous books. Visit www.stevebloomphoto.com. 1961 Box Brownie I got my first camera, a Box Brownie, when I was eight years old. It had two strange mirror-based glass viewfinders, one on each side of the camera. The first viewfinder was for landscapes and the second was for portrait mode. It used medium-format film and black & white was the only film I had access in those days. It was a awkward Heath Robinson affair and a joy to behold. 1977 Canon FTb The FTb was the…

She is Vietnamese. He is Taiwanese. They are presenting proof of identity and marriage at the passport office so she can get a Taiwanese visa. The longer you look at it, the more terrifying this picture becomes. Are they deeply in love? Or have they no choice if they want to stay together? Are they betting – desperately hoping – that the marriage is going to work? I’ve been there. In 1982 I married an American. Both British and American immigration authorities are notoriously arrogant and insensitive. Frances and I are still together. But at first, it was at the whim of the immigration authorities. This picture brings tears to my eyes. Imagine yourself in the same situation. At first sight, the expressions are everything. She is not looking at…

WHEN there is no colour to separate the components of an image, the brain looks for contrast, shape and pattern to make sense of a scene. This is why, when you look at a monochrome image that is relatively featureless and tonally flat, it appears quite dull. However, any strong shapes and contrasting tones that accentuate the form of the objects within your image become more interesting to the human eye. It can also pay to keep the scene uncomplicated. Try experimenting with bold but simple shapes, as the tonality that helps to ensure light and shade is nicely balanced and will always work well in monochrome.…

YOUR DSLR probably has a highlight alert system that will help you see if you have clipped the highlights before you even study the histogram. When you look at the image you have taken, if your exposure is too far to the right and therefore the highlights are burned out, the offending areas will be identified. For example, on a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, overexposed areas blink on and off in black. If your image preview doesn’t do this, it is probably because you haven’t enabled the system. Take a look in your menu and switch it on because it is your first indicator that you have an exposure issue. Looking at the histogram will confirm that your highlights are clipped because the detail in the graph will be…

Black & white portraits can have a classic quality that’s hard to match with colour. Here, we look at how to create two timeless portrait lighting set-ups that are perfect for mono photography. Studio lighting needn’t cost the earth – a budget kit can be less than £400 – while flashguns and the wealth of accessories available are ideal for simple lighting set-ups. While in the days of film, studio lighting may have been a bit of a dark art, striking studio portraits are incredibly easy to achieve with digital. As you can see your results instantly, you can review and adjust the exposure, as well as move and fine-tune your lighting to ensure you achieve the look you’re after. While it’s always enjoyable to experiment with your own lighting…

1 Starting point This shows the ‘before’ image. The photograph is ideal with which to demonstrate the following faux infrared effect because it contains a lot of green foliage, plus there are the bluebell flowers, which can all be made to appear lighter. In this first step, the White Balance setting was left at the default ‘As Shot’ setting. 2 White Balance In this step, I kept the image in colour and adjusted just the White Balance sliders. Here, I dragged the Temperature slider to the right to apply a warm white balance and set the Tint slider all the way over to the left to -150. This made all the green colours (the foliage) as bright a green as possible. 3 Convert to Grayscale I then went to the…

I USE an average of four sheets of paper (which includes dividing a sheet into smaller sections to save paper) to get a print just how I want it. Printing black & white images is more demanding on the black cartridges than it is on the colour cartridges, so it is worth keeping a stock of these. Expect an11ml black cartridge to run out after 25 A3+ black & white prints, but this varies depending on the prints being made and the printer being used. • A3+ printer recommended for black & white printing: around £650• Full set of proprietary inks: £200 (£20 per 11ml cartridge)• Baryta paper: £26 for 20 A3+ sheets• A2 printer recommended for black & white printing: from £1,100• Full set of proprietary inks: £500 (£40 per 30ml cartridge)• Baryta paper: £40…

PHOTOGRAPHERS can ‘test drive’ a Leica M (Type 240) digital rangefinder camera for 48 hours, as part of a Leica promotional campaign that runs until 27 September. It costs £80 for a two-day loan of the full-frame camera – an amount that Leica says it will refund if the user decides to buy a Leica M. Lens-wise, photographers can choose from either a Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ‘classic reportage’ prime, or a Summarit-M 50mm f/2.5, which Leica describes as a powerful, lightweight lens for capturing finer details. The kit will be available from Leica’s Mayfair store, and at its outlet in the nearby Burlington Arcade. The Leica M costs £5,100 to buy. For the full terms and conditions, and to book, customers should call 0207 629 1351 or email welcome›leica-camera.co.uk.…

Before I got involved with mobile photography and smartphone testing, I held the same opinion of phone cameras as many enthusiast and professional photographers: they might be a nice toy for selfie-taking teenagers, or useful for documenting a car accident and similar events, but they certainly weren’t the right tool for any type of serious photography. However, in the past couple of years mobile imaging has come a long way, and with device makers focusing on camera performance, feature sets and image quality have improved dramatically. Downscaling algorithms Many phones still use tiny 1/3in (4.6x3.6mm) imaging sensors, but the latest back-illuminated CMOS chips produce less noise and better detail than previous generations. Some manufacturers have moved to larger sensors in an attempt to achieve even better results. Nokia’s Lumia 930…

Damien Lovegrove You can view more of Damien’s work on his website, www.lovegrovephotography.com, where there are more than 2,000 images arranged in 23 galleries. Or you can join him on a photographic adventure. Visit www.passionphotographyexperience.com for more information. Few forms of lighting are more pleasing than window light. Ever since Rembrandt used the brightness from a single elevated window to light his paintings, it has been widely used for portraits. Its popularity continues today, with good reason: it is soft, natural and easy on the eye. Above all, it is familiar, which makes it a form of light that viewers can relate to instinctively. It’s worth considering the window not necessarily as an actual source, but simply as an aperture through which the light travels. Light entering a room can…

Baden Bowen Baden Bowen became interested in photography after moving from South Wales to Kent. What started as a hobby with a second-hand DSLR in September 2010 quickly became a passion, and he realised that he had a flair for imaginative editing. Baden loves nothing more than creating beautiful and thought-provoking imagery, and has recently started using large-format, medium-format and 35mm film cameras as he feels he needs to understand the genre to make him a better all-round photographer. www.badenbowen.co.uk I love to tell a story by giving the viewer the beginning and leaving the rest of the image open to interpretation. As a result, most of my recent work has involved creating surreal or conceptual composite images. ‘Low Tide’ is a composite created from 11 separate images and was…

How to remove distracting details ANGUS Taverner tells me that this photograph was shot at the Dubai Mall in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year, using a Fujifilm X-Pro1. It reminds me of a photograph taken by Vincent Laforet of skaters at the Lasker Rink in Central Park, called ‘Me and My Human’. The overhead view shows an interesting angle of this shopping-mall scene with what looks like a video installation on the floor and a mirrored wall behind. I like the backlit effect of the lighting, as well as the way the photograph was framed, with the lady in the green dress bending down to her child. The accompanying steps describe how I went about editing this image. 1 Crop the photograph The first step was to crop…

Our cameras and lenses are tested using the industry-standard Image Engineering IQ-Analyser software. Visit www.image-engineering.de for more details THE PERFORMANCE of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 III is all down to the 1in (13.2 x 8.8mm), 20.1-million-pixel backlit CMOS sensor. This offers not only a high resolution compared to many compact cameras, but also the larger sensor size allows for larger photosites. In turn, the greater light-capturing properties of the larger photosites offer an improved dynamic range, better low-light performance and reduced levels of noise compared to a compact camera with a standard-sized image sensor. The dynamic range is very good for a compact camera of its size, matching that of many DSLRs. The amount of noise at given sensitivities is also around 2-3EV better than a standard compact. The resolution…

Resolution There is always some distance between edge and corner sharpness in this lens; the wider the focal length and aperture, the greater that distance will be. Edge sharpness remains mostly constant, but the centre is best at f/8 and 16mm. Shading Corners darken by a noticeable 0.4EV at the widest setting of the lens, when used at f/4. Things improve with smaller apertures and longer focal lengths, but only to 0.2EV. Curvilinear distortion Good drawing is hard enough in a fixed wideangle lens, but in a zoom the problem is multiplied. Quite heavy barrelling turns to pincushion at about 24mm, which provides a relatively undistorted haven.…

Email your questions to: apanswers@ipcmedia.com, via Twitter @AP_Magazine or #AskAP, or Facebook. Or write to Technical Support, Amateur Photographer Magazine, IPC Media, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU Increasing contrast Q How can I get more contrast out of my negatives when making prints in the darkroom? Alex McQuade via Facebook A The first thing I would suggest is to try using a different grade of paper. Photographic papers are graded between 0 and 5, with 0 being the lowest contrast and 5 being the highest contrast. Most photographers use a grade 2 or 3 paper or, if using multi-grade paper, a grade 2 or 3 filter when printing. If this is the case, try switching to a higher grade. Grade 5 can look a little harsh,…

LAUNCHED 1966 PRICE (WITH F/1.7 ROKKOR) IN 1967 £119 19s 6d (£119.97) GUIDE PRICE TODAY £25-£65 Minolta’s SR-T 101 open-aperture TTL metering SLR had ground-breaking exposure meter technology in the late 1960s. This attracted press photographers, who discovered the quality of Minolta lenses and the reliability of the system. What’s good The CLC multi-cell metering and foolproof quick lens interchangeability make for fast working, especially in poor light. SR-T 101s were usually sold with a 55mm f/1.7 Rokkor MC, and all MC and later MD lenses can be used. The 50mm f/1.4 MD, 28mm f/3.5 MC, 85mm f/1.7 MC and 135mm f/2.8 Rokkors are particularly recommended. SR-T 101s are usually mechanically reliable. What’s bad The meter switch on the base of the camera can be troublesome, and the wiring from…

I HAVE loved shooting black & white images ever since I started printing my own photographs at school. By stripping back the colour, I find I can really focus on the tone, contrast and, most importantly for me, the mood conveyed in my images. Much has changed since I saw my first print appear in the dev tray, as the smell of chemicals and the glowing red light of the darkroom have now been replaced by my computer screen and a copy of Lightroom. However, there’s still the same creative challenge that needs to be mastered and understood to produce a stunning mono print. Just like getting your black & white prints back from a photo lab rather than hand-printing them yourself, there’s so much more to black & white…

THE HISTOGRAM is nothing more than a graphical display of the pixels in each image. The graph represents the 256 RGB tones, starting at 0 (black) to 255 (white). When you look at the graph, you have the shadow areas to the left, the midtones central and the highlights right. The vertical peaks of the graph are the number of pixels. In fact, there is no perfect histogram shape, but it’s important to try to expose so that neither shadows (left) nor highlights (right) push against the side of the histogram rectangle. Try to expose so you make the most of the right side of the histogram. Images that have a histogram bunched to the left will be underexposed (dark), while those with the same to the right will be…

HDR, or high dynamic range to give it its full title, can be an incredibly powerful technique for mono photographers. Some high-contrast scenes make it impossible to record the range of tonal details in a single shot captured with a digital sensor, but HDR allows you to display the full dynamic range of a scene by blending a series of shots at different exposures into a single image. Results can be impressive, although sometimes less is more with HDR. If you’re overzealous with the technique and attempt to retain detail in every element of the image, it can result in an overtly surreal picture that isn’t to everyone’s taste. Use it subtly, though, and you can retain detail in a scene and produce a more natural result. While a single…

THERE are ways to ‘authenticate’ an inkjet print that is created at home using the services of companies such as Epson, Hahnemühle and Harman. Those who have an Epson Stylus Pro printer, Epson inks and Epson certified paper can take advantage of Epson’s Digigraphie service (www.digigraphie.com), whereby the user can sign the Artist Charter and receive a personalised embosser to mark and authenticate their prints. There are four officially recognised Digigraphie labs in the UK.…