Innholdsfortegnelse for 19-Mar-2016 i Amateur Photographer

We’ve got a real mixed bag of content in this week’s issue. With spring just around the corner, we take a frog’s-eye view of the world with David Tipling’s amazing images of these curious amphibious creatures. Look out for more spring wildlife in our Spring Special next week. Landscape lovers will be interested to read about the latest work from Joe Cornish, showing the very best landscapes Britain has to offer. If the countryside is too much for you this week, then be inspired by the surreal geometric images that our towns and cities can provide. And if ground-breaking cameras are more your thing, then read Callum McInerney-Riley’s thoughts having used the Canon EOS 5DS and 5DS R for numerous projects over the past few months. Finally, be amazed, humbled…

WINNERS of the Ilford Photo Student Photographer of the Year have ‘potential to reach the top', earning praise for their creativity and composition. Olivia Whitfield from Leeds College of Art won the competition, which pulled in around 1,000 entries, on the theme ‘Saturday Night at the Movies'. She used Ilford HP5+ for her print entitled ‘Amelie's love' (above). Mark Boulton from Leicester College won the digital category and was crowned Harman Technology Student Photographer of the Year 2015 for his shot called ‘Vesper Shower Scene'. Ilford Photo is the trading name of Cheshire-based Harman technology Ltd. Visit the organiser's Flickr account at https://goo.gl/LEbgXC. Subscribe to Amateur Photographer SAVE 35%* Visit amateurphotographer subs.co.uk (or see page 28) * when you pay by UK Direct Debit…

THERE is a lot more to think about when shooting split shots than simply focusing and taking the picture, whether it is all the little accessories you need to take with you or the technique you will need to employ on site. I am still learning, but listed here are some of the challenges I faced. 1 Topside interest The pond is surrounded by just a few bushes and trees, but I knew I needed to include something above the water to help give context. So I decided I would include a distant tree or the tops of the dead bulrushes within my compositions. 2 Weather and timing As the pond was clear and the frogs were on the surface, I chose not to use any artificial light. However, this…

At a time when we’re concerned about overpopulation, as well as the erosion and destruction of the countryside, it’s easy to forget the wealth of unspoilt landscapes that Britain offers. The mainland’s relatively small surface area encompasses great diversity, from the wild and remote mountains of Scotland to the lush pastures of southern England, and is bounded by just over 11,000 miles of extremely varied coastline. In addition to Britain’s natural geographical and geological variation, the landscape is peppered with locations of historical interest: ancient stone circles and hill forts, and, from the more recent past, ruined abbeys and derelict industrial buildings. Then there’s the great British weather, which, for those aiming to create stunning photographic landscapes, is definitely an asset. Admittedly, a bit more sunshine would not go amiss,…

Road markings Double yellow lines, painted arrows, ‘Stop' and ‘Give Way' markings can all be turned into works of art. Textures Rust and decay can be found in most areas. I've spent hours photographing rusty fence posts, rotting railway sleepers and peeling paint. Patterns You can find interesting patterns and shapes in the most mundane buildings. Lighting and framing are the keys to success. Reflections Puddles, glass-fronted office buildings and shop windows can all offer abstract potential to the sharp-eyed photographer with an imagination.…

Kept in the dark Bidyut Goswami Nikon D7000, 16-85mm, 1/8sec at f/4, ISO 640 IT CAN be hard to take successful pictures of big groups, as we need to find some way to prioritise the elements of the scene so the viewer knows where to look first. Bidyut has done well by getting close to the man at the front so we can focus on the light on his face. One of the big visual attractions of candlelit occasions is the warm glow of the little flames, and really this scene should be more orange than it is. Bidyut has used auto white balance, which usually does its best to remove warm glows, so I would always suggest using the daylight white balance in cases like this. It will really…

‘This picture is very old, but there’s something almost all of us can recognise in it’ Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget was born near Bordeaux, France, in 1857. He was briefly in the merchant navy but moved to Paris in his 20s, where he was unsuccessful as an actor and painter. He took up photography in 1887-1888 and enjoyed no great success until the late 1890s, but by 1906 (when he was pushing 50) he was getting commissions from such august organisations as the Musée Carnavalet and the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris. Fortune beckoned more than fame at first, but by 1920-21, when he was 63 or 64, he was able to sell thousands of his negatives, become financially independent and expand the scope of his personal photography to take…

I really wanted to like the Rollei XF 35. It has a famous name, a fast lens and looks like a classic camera, but for various reasons it proved a disappointment. The Rollei brand was born out of the German company Franke & Heidecke established in1920. It went on to make many of the iconic cameras of the last century, but by1970 manufacturing costs in West Germany had become uneconomical, and much of the production was switched to Singapore. The XF 35 came off that production line between 1974 and 1980. First impressions are of an attractively designed, well-made, precision camera, albeit one aimed at the snap-shooter end of the market. With its fully automatic exposure system, the only thing you need to do is compose your shot and focus…

Underwater housing Housings are designed for individual camera models. When shooting split shots in freshwater, I try to keep my kit as light as possible. I purchased a long remote-release cable to use on a two-metre pole. Ewa-Marine bag These bags have their limitations but if you’re on a budget, and in situations where you can handhold and might simply want to try shooting split shots for a specific idea, it is worth buying one. Fisheye or wideangle close focus lens The fisheye or wideangle lens you use needs to be close-focusing as you are focusing on a virtual image projected a few inches in front of the dome. Confused? See the box over the page for an explanation. Strobes Flashguns can be attached to the outside of the underwater…

EVF advantages I need to wear specs to see the settings on my Nikon DSLR. This can be a bit of a pain, having to put on and remove my glasses during shooting, as I don't like wearing them when I look through the viewfinder. This put me on the hunt for mirrorless camera with an APC sensor, and after far too much deliberation I chose the Sony Alpha 6000. Admittedly, the electronic viewfinder could have really done with a higher resolution, but it is still good enough. The big bonus with an EVF is that once you have adjusted the dioptre to your liking, all settings can be viewed and changed via the EVF. No specs are required and you can review images via EVF as well. The Sony…

WHEN I first visited Budle Bay, I couldn't get over the wonderful view from the high dunes looking towards Ross Sands and beyond to Holy Island. It is a superb vista encompassing the wonderful shapes and contours of the bay that, in my opinion, are best photographed at low tide as the colours and shapes of the tidal channels viewed from above are marvellous. It is also worth turning your viewpoint slightly inland from these high dunes towards the Cheviot Hills – they make a lovely feature for the horizon of your image. Reaching for a telephoto lens at low tide works wonders. Zooming into the tidal channels and dunes, and picking out the patterns and forms from above, produces wonderful abstract images. The dunes at lower level are equally…

The Spiral Piano The image below was taken in a hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland. I was initially attracted by the twisting staircase, but it wasn't enough to justify making an image on its own. As I studied it a bit more, I noticed that the design and the way the light was falling created shadows that reminded me of piano keys (hence the title). That was the extra dimension required to make the image more interesting than just a simple architectural record shot. Wheels Within Wheels I took the shot below on a long weekend trip to Copenhagen, Denmark . Bicycles seem to be the preferred way of navigating the city centre, so I wanted to make sure I got a photograph that reminded me of that. The blue bicycle…

Around £100 http://tiffen.com/steadicamsmoothee/ Mount The phone mount has been designed to work with most smartphones, but especially Apple iPhones. Solid design The Steadicam Smoothee is built to a very good standard and should last a lifetime. Counterweight An optional counterweight can be fitted to the Smoothee to help balance heavier devices. At a glance For use with smartphones or small cameras Adapters available for GoPro cameras Counterbalance smooths out movements Optional counterweight for heavier devices IF THERE is one brand that is synonymous with keeping movie cameras steady, it is the appropriately named Steadicam. Like Photoshop for image editing, Steadicam has become a catch-all term for any device that stabilises a movie camera, but the original is still by far the favoured product for filmmaking professionals – and now there…

Intelligent drone The new DJI Phantom 4 features two on-board sensors that allow the drone to avoid objects in its path. A pair of forward-facing optical sensors scan for obstacles to ‘automatically direct the aircraft around the impediment when possible, reducing risk of collision’. The 4K quadcopter costs £1,229. Grays birthday book Nikon-only store Grays of Westminster has released a book to mark its 30th anniversary. Grays of Westminster – Exclusively… Nikon: The Legend and The Legacy charts the history of the shop, from humble beginnings to a highly regarded retailer. The book costs £30 (plus £6 for p&p in UK). Visit www.graysofwestminster.co.uk. Environment competition Photographers and filmmakers of all ages and abilities are urged to enter the Environmental Photographer of the Year 2016. The contest offers a top prize…

CHINESE lens maker Laowa has confirmed the UK launch of a 105mm f/2 lens, on sale later this month. The Laowa 105mm f/2 (T3.2) STF is a manual-focus lens featuring Smooth Trans Focus (STF), designed to deliver ‘smooth transitions between crisp in-focus areas and creamy, defocused background or foreground'. Priced £649.99, the full-frame-compatible lens is built from 11 elements in eight groups, with a 14-blade aperture. It houses an apodisation filter for ‘superior bokeh rendering and crystal-sharp images', say UK Optics (Laowa UK). With a minimum focus distance of 0.9m, it's said to be ideal for portraiture. It will be available in the following mounts: Nikon, Canon, Sony A, Sony E and Pentax. For the latest news visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk…

SO WHY use a dome port as opposed to a flat port? In water, when a subject is viewed through a flat port, it works like a magnifying glass, increasing subject size by 25%. Due to its shape, a dome port compensates for this by correcting the refractive properties of water; light passes differently through water compared to air. Wideangle lenses used in flat ports will lead to image distortion towards their edges. The dome port is, in effect, a lens – it corrects these distortions for subjects below the surface and acts simply as a clear window for subjects above it. The dome projects a virtual image inches in front of the lens and it is this you need to focus on, not the image itself. This is why…

Phone favourite My iPhone and the very many clever – and inexpensive – post-processing apps now available have transformed and revived my passion for photography. Easily 95% of the photography I want to do, from street photography to still life, from macro shots to landscapes, can be satisfactorily achieved with my phone, and don't people say that the best camera is always the one we have with us at the time? As Amateur Photographer has been a constant companion during my photographic life, I'm sad that mobile-phone photography is not yet covered in any depth. Might we perhaps look forward in the near future to a regular column and regular features on this increasingly significant and undoubtedly popular new format in my favourite photographic magazine? The image (above) is a…

‘MY FIRST piece of advice, given slightly mischievously, would be: don't do any research on a landscape. Don't look on the internet. Don't come laden with the baggage of other people's pictures and expect to reproduce them. That's because, first, it isn't going to happen and second, because it shouldn't happen – otherwise how are you to form your own view? To be fair, that's almost an impossible task today, but I think it's a desirable aim. ‘I would go equipped with a paper map, for obvious safety reasons, and because I still believe it is a superior way to introduce yourself to the landscape than a GPS. Experience the landscape in real time, in the real world and park your assumptions. Where possible, explore it on foot.'…

Zoom lens One minute you could be taking a close-up image, the next a telephoto shot of a distant building or a wideangle view of a subject close by. To minimise the amount of time spent changing lenses, a wide-ranging zoom lens offers maximum flexibility and portability. Polarising filter A polariser is great for giving a boost to colours or removing reflections from non-metallic surfaces. Macro lens A macro lens is useful if you like doing a lot of close-up detail work. However, a lot of ‘standard’ zooms (and even compact cameras) offer a close-up (not true macro) facility, and this can be good enough for all but the most specialist applications.…

LAUNCHED February 2003 PRICE WHEN NEW £350 GUIDE PRICE TODAY £40 LAUNCHED with some fanfare, the mju 300 (known as the Stylus 300 in the US) was the first incarnation of the successful mju capsule-style camera in digital form. It featured an all-metal body and splash-resistant seals. Like its film predecessors, the mju 300 was very compact and featured a sliding front panel that covered the front of the 3x optical zoom lens. The mju 300 offered a respectable 3-million-pixel sensor and there was space for a basic optical viewfinder. What’s good You could just chuck it into a bag and not worry about it getting damaged; it is easy to use with a lithium-ion rechargeable battery; it is fairly rare and might be considered an outside bet as a…

‘With digital, the photosensitive material is doped silicon. With film, it’s silver halide’ Despite photographic film being very much a minority technology, many digital camera users aspire to a ‘filmic' quality in their photographs. At its root, photographic film depends on the photoelectric effect, just like silicon/digital technology. When a photon hits an atom of a photosensitive material, it dislodges an electron. Since this is a quantum mechanical effect, each photon releases an exact number of electrons – zero, one or two, depending on the energy (wavelength) of the photon. At the wavelengths of visible light, photons release precisely one electron per photon – unless the photon fails to interact with any photosensitive material, in which case no electrons are released. In the case of a digital sensor, the photosensitive…