Innholdsfortegnelse for 26-Mar-2016 i Amateur Photographer

It’s that time of year again when the landscape comes alive with new growth, and as photographers we have a wealth of fresh opportunities to take photographs. But it isn’t just the new growth that makes this time of year full of opportunity, as the light can be fantastic as well. It is still low enough in the sky to make the first and last few hours of the day look fantastic, with long shadows and a warm glow. While this might be great for the landscape photographers among us, it has its benefits for other types of photography too, especially street photography. See how two photographers make the most of spring light on pages 20-25. And for those of us who like to get out in the garden, Paul…

MORE than a third of UK couples do not plan to use a professional wedding photographer on their big day, turning instead to friends, relatives and GoPro cameras. Thirty-six per cent of couples planning to wed do not want a professional photographer at their wedding, finds a poll of 1,000 UK consumers by Cheshire-based wedding venue Heaton House Farm. Professional wedding photography is ‘in decline', the venue claimed. Marketing manager Sarah Heath said the rise in editing apps has led to an increase in couples ‘turning to skilled family members and friends to photograph their special day'. The poll also found that one in five couples who had used a non-professional wedding photographer in the past three years were ‘disappointed with the results'. Subscribe to Amateur photographer  SAVE 35%* Visit…

Spring birds David Tipling One of the most widely published wildlife photographers in the world, David’s pictures appear on hundreds of book and magazine covers, and have been used from wine labels to being projected in New York’s Times Square; www.davidtipling.com SPRING is nature's rush hour. There is a hurry to create new life, with birds doing plenty of interesting things whether they are singing, fighting over precious territory, frantically courting or building the most intricate nests. Claiming a territory, finding a mate and then rearing a family requires a huge amount of effort. Photographing these various stages requires a bit of planning and plenty of effort too, but it can be hugely rewarding. My mantra, the ‘three Ps' of patience, planning and perseverance, is never more pertinent than during…

The maxim ‘a picture is worth a thousand words' is obviously a thing of the past. Take, for instance, the wonderful photograph used in many national newspapers recently of the Flying Scotsman on its inaugural run from London's King's Cross to York, in celebration of the locomotive's ten-year £4.2million refit. There were thousands of photographers, both professionals and amateurs, on the 200-mile journey, including myself who was at Colton, near York. Yet, in my opinion, only one image captured the true majesty of the locomotive on its historic journey, which was a perfect photograph in every way. Given the column inches devoted to the photograph in the media, you might have thought the photographer would have been acclaimed for his skill. Wrong. I had to read his name using a…

David Tipling David is one of the most widely published wildlife photographers. His pictures have appeared on hundreds of book and magazine covers, and have been used in other ways, from wine labels to being projected in New York’s Times Square. About the marsh harrier With their wings forming a shallow ‘V’ shape, the marsh harrier is the largest of the harrier family of birds. Females are larger than males and have a distinctive cream-coloured head. Location Found in the south-east and east England, although some can be found in the north-west and south-west Scotland. Size Slightly larger than a buzzard at 47-57cm in length with a wingspan of 115-140cm. Nest The birds can be found on the ground in large reed beds, but they also nest in crops. Diet…

Parked Car and Wet Tarmac ‘I shot this at dawn and was fascinated by the rich colours of the nearby neon reflected in the wet Tarmac,' says Tony. ‘While it is easy to assume I was exposed to the elements, I was sheltering underneath the canopy of my motel room.' Spanish Café at Night ‘It's quite amazing how rain, particularly when photographed at night, can transform an otherwise prosaic location into something more special,' adds Tony. ‘Seen earlier in the day, I barely gave this café a second glance.' The Blue Swallow Motel You don't necessarily need a torrential downpour to get an interesting shoot in the rain, says Tony. In this example, there was just a light drizzle, but it was sufficient to offer a reflective surface for the…

£209 www.tenba.com/uk Trolley strap At the rear is a strap designed to allow users to slide their bag onto a roller case and keep them together – a great feature for travelling photographers. Rain cover Included with the bag is a waterproof rain cover. This is black on one side, and silver on the other to reflect the sun. Expandable side pockets On either side of the bag is a small pocket with a zip. When unzipped, these expand, allowing users to store items such as a water bottle or lens. At a glance Large messenger bag Houses large DSLR, 15in laptop and up to four lenses Made from peach-wax canvas and leather Special quiet Velcro allows users to open the bag silently Quick access from the top as well…

WITH its new 20-million-pixel sensor, the Pen-F promises improved image quality compared with older Olympus models, although it can't quite match the latest 24-million-pixel APS-C sensors for raw image quality. We don't yet have access to any third-party raw-conversion software that supports the camera, so we have to base our analysis on Olympus's own processing. The overall improvements look similar to those we saw from the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8, which we assume uses the same sensor. High ISO noise appears to be slightly improved, and there's perhaps a bit more scope for pulling extra detail from shadow regions of the image before noise becomes a problem. Most importantly, however, there are no apparent disadvantages from the increased pixel count. Dynamic range The Pen-F acquits itself pretty well in our Applied…

‘The longer you look at it, the more there is to see and to think about’ Les Krims (born 1942) is a strange and brilliant photographer, well known for his surreal ‘fictions’. When I first saw this image, I thought it might be one of them. It didn’t seem right, though: it’s not surreal enough, not fictitious enough, too crowded. As far as I have been able to discover, this is because it is, in fact, a straight shot of an actual artist at home – Frederick Seaton. His artwork is well worth seeing, and quite consistent with a room like this, although of course this picture was taken 27 years ago. Initially two things puzzled me about this image and made me suspect it might not be a set-up.…

Leaving the Nest Sony NEX-3, 18-55mm, 30secs at f/25, ISO 200 AP reader Matt Smart uploaded this atmospheric image to our Flickr group. It shows what can be done with the right subject, weather conditions and a little patience. Lone trees are a common subject in landscape photography and more often than not we find them standing solitary within sparse and lonesome landscapes. Here Matt has produced an image that is almost like a charcoal drawing, helped by the long shutter speed that has rendered the bank of grass and sweeping sky as a wash of wash of grey. To cap it off, he has succeeded in capturing another lone subject – the tick-shape of a bird taking flight from the canopy. It's a beautiful effect. Win! Each week we…

There's perhaps nothing more eerie than the aftermath of a disaster. With streets evacuated, homes empty and pavements peppered with dust and detritus, an area can take on a near-haunted quality. Here we see such an example from photographer Christopher Furlong – a lone house sitting on the scarred landscape, inside the exclusion zone, close to the devastated Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Namie, Fukushima, Japan. The area is now closed to residents due to radiation contamination from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The fifth anniversary of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that claimed the lives of 15,894 was on 11 March. The subsequent damage to the reactors at the power plant still forces 99,750 people to live as evacuees away from contaminated areas.…

‘We might have to wait until September to see the first intelligent dual camera’ Dual-camera set-ups on smartphones aren't anything new. The HTC One M8, Huawei Honor 6 Plus and ZTE Axon all use a secondary camera to measure the depth of a scene. Software algorithms in the camera app then let you fake a narrow depth of field, refocus the image after capture in a ‘Lytro-like' way or create 3D effects of rather dubious value. Unfortunately, image results are usually far from perfect and until now dual-camera features have not managed to be more than gimmicks, with an ever-decreasing novelty factor. However, the good news is that LG has just upped the dual-camera game significantly with the launch of the G5 flagship smartphone at the Mobile World Congress in…

HELLEBORES will flower from December through to April, and are among my favourite plants. The only problem with them is that their best bits are hidden, since the flower heads protect their stamens from the wind and weather by hanging down. I like to ‘go with the flow' and show a plant's character, rather than take an artificial view of it. I never clamp a plant to keep it in an unnatural position, although I will use pegs to move intruding foliage out of the way. Some plant breeders develop varieties of hellebore with an upright habit. To me, this is all wrong. It's like giving the Mona Lisa teeth whitening so she can smile properly. That said, getting low to the ground and manoeuvring the camera to include the…

You answered A Yes – if it was in the scenethen removing it is cheating 18%B Yes – but only in certain situations,such as journalism 18%C No – but only if it is insignificant, such as litter 30%D No – I will change major parts,such as swapping the sky 5%E No – but it depends on the contextof the scene and final image 26% FOther 3% What you said ‘I largely take architectural photographs. I Photoshop out objects because they are annoyances, such as distracting cars, people or signs on exteriors’ ‘Generally, any interference with a photograph is a distortion of what was captured at the time, so it could be accurately construed as “cheating”’ ‘Since I don’t do documentary or natural history seriously, I have no issue with moving/removing…

MAXIMUM landscape texture comes from some form of side lighting. It gives the highest visible contrast between lit areas and long shadows. As a rule of thumb, a sun elevation of between 10° and 20° delivers this well, so long as the air is clear. Look for this at the tail end of one of those cold showery fronts that pass through in the spring. Even so, don't rely on crisp light to last for a moment longer than you can see it, because when it goes, or a cloud moves in front, it disappears quickly. This shot is from spring in the high savannah surrounding Bogotá, Colombia, where the air is clearer because of the altitude of 2,600m.…

IF YOU resent spending money on a rain cover you might only use a few times a year, it's easy enough to make your own to cope with spring showers. Take a clear plastic bag, then position the bag over your camera and lens so the centre of the bag sits on top of the end of the lens (making sure your camera is completely covered by the bag). Secure the bag over your lens with elastic bands, then cut out a hole for the lens. Remove your eyepiece and make another hole before replacing it, or stick the bag around the eyepiece with tape if you can't remove the eyepiece. Next, attach your lens hood, ensuring the bag sits between the hood and lens body. Check the lens is…

How to recompose an image IT SEEMS Des Gardner's intention here was to create a symmetrical composition. The image was shot with a 24-85mm zoom lens at 24mm, which allowed him to capture the widest angle of view. This also helped to add more depth. However, I reckon the photo should have been shot from further back to include more of the surroundings. It could also have been composed better so the house appeared more central in the frame. The following steps show how I extended the canvas area to the right of the building and corrected the perspective. 1 Prepare the image The first step was to prepare the photograph for Content-Aware Scaling. I double-clicked the Background layer to convert this to a regular layer. I then selected the…

Tenba Cooper 8 £124, www.tenba.com/uk The smallest in the Cooper range, the 8 is designed for a small mirrorless camera with two to three lenses plus flash and accessories. There’s also space for an iPad mini too. Tenba Cooper 13 Slim £164, www.tenba.com/uk For the medium mirrorless kit, or even an entry-level DSLR kit, the 13 Slim has a lot to offer. It will house those with ease and has a special section for a laptop or tablet up to 13in. Tenba Cooper 13 DSLR £179, www.tenba.com/uk For those with a large mirrorless kit, medium-sized DSLR or even those who need to carry lots of extra bits, the 13 DSLR offers more space over the Slim – and, of course, room for a 13in laptop.…

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 Price £699 (body only) Sensor 20.3MP Four Thirds ISO 100-25,600 (extended) A very similar camera to the Pen-F, the GX8 also has 20.3-million-pixel sensor, in-body image stabilisation and a fully articulating touchscreen. It’s also weather sealed, can record 4K video and the built-in EVF tilts 90° upwards, but it’s rather bulkier. Sony Alpha 6300 Price £899 (body only) Sensor 24.2MP APS-C ISO 100-51,200 (extended) The brand-new Alpha 6300 is, on paper, one of the most sophisticated CSCs yet, with an extraordinary 425-point AF system built into its 24.2MP sensor. It has a tilting rear screen, 2.36-million-dot EVF, weatherproofing and 4K video on board. Fujifilm X-Pro2 Price £1,349 (body only) Sensor 24.3MP APS-C ISO 100-51,200 (extended) Fujifilm’s flagship camera uses a hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder for a unique take…

THE APPEAL of this lens lies in its incredibly fast aperture which, combined with its focal length, can produce stunning results with a super-shallow depth of field. For mirrorless users with a passion for portraiture or other subjects where a fast telephoto zoom is advantageous, it represents excellent value and there's nothing to suggest it won't last a lifetime in the hands of those who care for it. It's not ideal for all subjects and situations, though, and you'll want to ask yourself whether you're prepared to spend time refining focus manually rather than letting an autofocus system carry out the hard work for you. If the subjects you photograph move erratically and you can't control their speed, position or direction, you're likely to struggle to find focus fast enough,…

LAUNCHED April 2012 PRICE £649 GUIDE PRICE TODAY £200 WHILE Nikon launched the 24MP APS-C-sensor D3200 barely four years ago, it has become a significant camera in the used DSLR market. It has since been replaced by the D3300, but it is not a revolutionary update so remaining stocks of D3200s can offer very attractive savings over new D3300s. What’s good The D3200's specification remains impressive four years on. In many ways, its sensor remains superior to anything comparable from, for example, Canon. You get a respectable 4fps burst mode and 1080P full HD video shooting at 30, 25 or 24fps. What’s bad With such a good sensor, Nikon is guilty of not equipping the D3200 with the ability to produce in-camera JPEGs of deserving sharpness. The ISO 6,400 limit…

iPhone deadline The deadline for entries to the 9th Annual iPhone Photography Awards is 31 March 2016. Last year, dozens of amateur and professional photographers won Apple prizes for images captured using Apple iPhones, iPads and iPods. The categories are: animals, abstract, architecture, children, flowers, food, landscape, lifestyle, nature, news/events, panorama, people, portrait, seasons, still-life, sunset, travel, trees and others. Visit www.ippawards.com. Park Cameras event Photographers can get their hands on the flagship Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR at a free event hosted by Park Cameras, ahead of the camera’s official launch in May. It’s on at the Rathbone Place store in London on 31 March. Wildlife photographer Andy Rouse (above) will present test shots and videos that were used to help Canon develop the camera. Visit www.parkcameras.com/events. Leica…

CANON has revealed a new entry-level DSLR called the EOS 1300D. Due out in April, priced £289.99 (body only), the Canon EOS 1300D carries an 18-million-pixel, APS-C-sized imaging sensor and built-in Wi-Fi. Features include a top ISO of 12,800 and a DIGIC 4+ processor. The EOS 1300D is built to shoot full HD video, while a ‘video snapshot' mode can be used to record a series of short clips that can be stitched together to make a ‘slick video sequence that shows a summary of your day'. The camera is also compatible with NFC wireless connectivity, allowing users to transfer images from smartphones, for example, or shoot remotely. For the latest news visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk…

Portraits Michael Freeman looks at how spring light can affect portraits, both candid and posed Given that it’s perfectly possible in Britain to experience the weather patterns of two seasons in the same day, the exact moment that spring arrives might be a matter for debate. Generally, however, we start enjoying more sunshine, and the midday sun gradually gets higher. If deprived of it, we crave sunshine and there’s a widespread feeling that it’s basically good for photography, however much we may justify the restraint and subtlety of soft grey light (otherwise known as ‘boring overcast’). Nevertheless, whatever it does to landscapes, and however much we like bathing our faces in warm sunshine, it can be a little problematic for portraits. There’s an inconsistency here. Why would crisp sunlight, that…

Tony Worobiec Tony is a well-known landscape, architectural and travel photographer, and the author of 15 books. He also runs regular courses and workshops. www.tonyworobiec.com Jim Richardson Photojournalist and teacher Jim is known for his explorations of small-town life. His work appears frequently in National Geographic. www.jimrichardsonphotography.com Alex Saberi Another National Geographic photographer, Alex turned his hobby into a profession with images now regularly appearing in the national press. www.alexsaberi.com…

Storm jacket There are lots of rain covers for your gear, but Jim Richardson swears by the Storm Jacket from Vortex Media (www.warmcards.com). ‘This has an adjustable elastic band to go around the front of the lens, and another at the back, so you can access the camera, he says.’ Mudder rain cover Alex Saberi favours the Mudder rain cover, available from Amazon and other retailers. It has a full-length dual zipper that provides bottom closure when your digital SLR is held by hand or mounted on a tripod. Lens hood A lens hood is another useful accessory for keeping your lens dry, and it will also help to prevent flare when shooting in sunnier conditions. Lens hoods are also great for protecting your lens from bangs and scuffs as…

Brian Haslam, Devon After several years as a wedding photographer, Brian decided to try his hand at tackling either macro flowers or landscapes. He eventually settled on the ample rewards of flowers, as his garden provides all the beautiful subjects he needs. To see more, visit www.brianhaslamphotography.co.uk. Protea 1 By getting right in close, Brian has created an almost explosive fractal view of the flower’s intricate inner workings Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 100mm, 2secs at f/13, ISO 160 Anemones 2 The detail of this shot reveals the delicate creases of the petals against the strong form of the anemone’s stamens Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 100mm, 0.5sec at f/32, ISO 160 Tulips 3 This is a great example of Brian’s forays into the realm of scanography HP PSC 1200…

Free play.google.com/store/apps YOU DON'T need to be Sherlock Holmes to guess what Quicosoft's Exposure Calculator does, but just in case you missed a few lectures at detective school, this app is designed to calculate your image exposures. The idea is you can set the ISO, shutter speed and aperture that you are using and from there you can calculate what the shutter speed would be if you added an ND filter. However, you can also reverse that to calculate what the exposure would be if you were to put on a lower-strength ND filter or take off an ND filter altogether. Under Current Exposure, the bit where you put all your current parameters, there's a New Exposure option as well as Tracking Options. This allows users to tweak their ISO…

Tripod mount This is placed in line with the lens axis but right at the front of the camera body, which can cause problems with some lenses and quick-release plates. Battery With the same BLN-1 as other high-end Olympus CSCs, the Pen-F is rated for 330 shots per charge. Connectors A flap on the handgrip covers a micro HDMI port alongside Olympus’s proprietary USB/remote release socket. Locking-mode dial A button in the middle of the mode dial can be pressed down to lock it in place. Hotshoe There’s no built-in flash, but included in the box is the compact hotshoefitting FL-LM3 flash unit with a bounce-and-swivel head. Articulated touchscreen This side-hinged unit can be set to almost any angle: facing up, down or forwards. Stereo microphones Built-in mics in front…

WITH the Pen-F, Olympus has come up with a rare thing in today's market: a camera that has a distinct personality of its own. It's perhaps not one that you'd choose on a rational analysis of specification and value for money. Instead, it's one that fires up your creative juices, and simply begs to be picked up and used. There may be technically better cameras on the market, but it's hard to think of one that's better designed. When it comes to raw image quality, it's certainly true that you can get more for the £1,000 that the Pen-F body will cost you. However, I'm not sure this matters. Speaking as a camera reviewer, it's all too easy to get carried away with the latest and greatest technology, and forget…

Resolution Our Applied Imaging tests tell us the sharpness is comparable at the corners and the centre at f/1.2. There’s a noticeable spike in sharpness in the centre between f/2 and f/2.8, with the sweet spot of sharpness at the centre and edge being located close to f/4. Close the lens down beyond f/4 and the centre sharpness starts to drop a little, but acceptable sharpness is maintained up to f/11. Shading Corners appear approximately 0.7EV darker than the centre of the image at f/1.2. This is impressive for such a fast prime, and corner shading is quick to disappear when it’s closed down. There is an obvious improvement at f/1.4, and by the time you reach f/2 edges are 0.3EV darker than the centre. Vignetting won’t be an issue…

I HAVE been around for centuries, but I really came into my own in the early 20th century. Although I am best known for being at the heart of single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras, I was also a fundamental part of twin-lens reflex (TLR) cameras. I am a reflex mirror. The arrangement of a mirror placed behind a lens in order to project the light from the lens for the convenience of viewing has been used since the 1600s in a camera obscura. Camera makers eventually miniaturised reflex mirror designs and the era of the TLR began in the1880s, when such cameras became small enough to be handheld with the photographer viewing downwards at the waist-level viewfinder, where a view of the scene was projected by the top of two lenses.…

Reasonably regularly, most camera manufacturers have a problem requiring a product recall. This is in part due to the complexity of a modern camera. Humans not being infallible, the camera's designers fail to foresee the consequences of their design decisions. A good example of this was a problem affecting early examples of the very successful Nikon D750 [see page 65 of this issue]. I use this as an example because it is a problem Nikon has acknowledged and issued the requisite product recall, and not to suggest that the company is prone to such issues. In fact, every camera manufacturer has had at least one similar episode in the past few years. The nature of the problem was that internal reflections from the autofocus sensor unit could cause glare in…