Innholdsfortegnelse for 08-nov-2014 i Amateur Photographer

I HAVE just finished looking through our picks from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition (pages 24-29). The event always produces amazing images, but what is more astonishing than the creatures themselves is the quality of images taken by youngsters. The image featured on the cover is taken by Will Jenkins, who was a finalist in the 11-14 Years category. Also featured from that category is Marc Montes’s snake image, but it was Carlos Perez Naval’s double exposure image of a scorpion that was the grand prize winner for that category. Astonishingly, Leon Bohlmann’s beautiful image of cranes in flight made him a finalist in the 10 Years and Under category. I wonder whether the immediacy of digital technology has made it far easier to learn photography. Regardless, it…

Traffic trails At this time of year, there are fewer hours of daylight for photography. On the plus side, the winter gives us the perfect excuse to capture low-light images – in particular, traffic trails. It’s relatively simple to do, but the results are incredibly rewarding. The process involves finding a suitable location where moving cars can pass through your shot (usually this is on a footbridge over a busy road), then mounting your camera on a tripod and using a very slow shutter speed in order to create a trail of light. Although not mandatory, a wideangle lens is oft en a good choice, as it will allow you to pack a greater stretch of road and the surrounding scenery into your shot. 1 When shooting with long exposures,…

MAGNUM Photos president Martin Parr admits he takes many ‘rubbish’ photos in his quest for great shots. Speaking at a preview of an exhibition called A Birds Eye View, last month, Parr said he probably shot around 3,000 images for the project, ‘most of which are rubbish’. Parr, who has published more than 80 books during a career spanning more than four decades, said these were edited down to 30 for the show at a London gallery. Parr said the secret to a great picture is where there is a story within the picture, combined with a genuine interest in the subjects. However, he says he still hasn’t found all the answers.…

What’s Left? Photographers Evan Wood, Steve Bates and Martin Pick, as well as Doncaster’s New Fringe group, join together to examine the legacy of the 1984 miners’ strike at Doncaster’s Museum and Art Gallery on Chequer Road, South Yorkshire 8 November-4 January 2015. doncasternewfringe.wordpress.com Scottish Landscapes Celebrate the survival of the United Kingdom or lament the lost opportunity for independence by photographing the beautiful Scottish landscape for a chance to win the title of Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year (you don’t actually have to be Scottish to enter). Until 18 November www.slpoty.co.uk Shot at Dawn Chloe Dewe Matthews photographs the sites of military executions for desertion during the First World War. By reaching back in time for these missing men –executioners and executed – she shows us how misunderstood…

Ian Bramham Ian is an award-winning photographer and architect living in Poynton, Cheshire. His first love is black & white fine-art photography and he is inspired by Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Michael Kenna and Bill Brandt. www.ianbramham.com Landscape photography is very wide ranging, encompassing everything from industrial and urban cityscapes through to the more traditional rural and coastal scenes. There is something for everyone. The UK and Europe are both densely populated, and as a photographer I am fascinated by the way in which elements of the natural and man-made environment often merge to produce a landscape that shows our human influence stretching back through the generations. Expression What is it that raises the level of some landscape photographs to that of art? For me, it is when the photographer…

ICELAND is a fantastic location for mono landscape photography, with dramatic waterfalls and geysers, the northern lights and black volcanic sand beaches with dramatic cliffs overlooking the North Atlantic ocean. These two photos were taken early one morning on the coast at a place called Vik. I had been in the same spot on top of the cliffs with my camera and tripod since before dawn, photographing the towering basalt sea stacks. I was entranced by the changing light and cloud formations, and by the contrast between the white of the Atlantic rollers and the black basalt sand of the beach. After a while, I noticed that the composition could be simplified by excluding the nearest sea stack. Moving the camera slightly to the left has emphasised the lovely curved…

To celebrate AP’s 130th birthday, we’ve teamed up with some of the world’s leading photographers, the NSPCC and PhotoBox to offer you the chance to win one of 130 signed prints. We have limited-edition prints from the likes of Gered Mankowitz, Art Wolfe, Steve McCurry, Charlie Waite, Steve Bloom, Tom Stoddart, Joe Cornish and Clive Nichols, and many more, and you could own one simply by supporting our campaign. All of the photographers have kindly donated their photos to help raise money for the NSPCC. PhotoBox, our print partner, will send you an A3 print of your winning image*. PhotoBox is a print company with a twist – it’s personal. PhotoBox takes your photographs and prints them onto books, framed prints and canvases from small to large sizes (to name…

At the end of the 1980s, I was deeply disillusioned and seriously in debt. I’d believed photography could make a difference, and for five years I’d been making (albeit quite traditional) social documentary work about Britain’s poor and underprivileged. In those days photography galleries were few and far between, and photo books relatively rare. The traditional vehicles for documentary work were still the weekly magazines, but at the height of Thatcherism the press was in the pocket of the advertising industry: overtly political photographs, especially of a left-wing persuasion, were rarely seen alongside expensive ad campaigns. In short, my so-called career was heading backwards at an alarming rate, and I found myself facing a court appearance for crippling credit card bills. Faced with no other option, I decided to stop…

Instagram Hyperlapse ● Free ● www.instagram.com IF, LIKE me, you are fascinated by time-lapse videos, then Instagram’s new Hyperlapse app could be just what you need on your smartphone. While there are numerous timelapse apps available for Android and !Phone, they nearly all require the smartphone to be on a support to ensure that the resulting video isn’t jerky. And this is where Hyperlapse comes in. Each frame in Hyperlapse is aligned with the previous one. For example, if you are on a boat wobbling up and down, the app will make sure that the horizon in each shot is in the same place, with only other smaller objects in the frame shifting and showing the time-lapse effect. Similarly, you can now handhold the smartphone and use Hyperlapse while walking…

THE PANASONIC Lumix DMC-LX100’s four thirds sensor is unusually large for a camera with a built-in zoom lens, and this confers a distinct image quality advantage, especially at higher sensitivities. Image quality holds up very well to ISO 1600, with noise and noise reduction artefacts starting to become obviously visible at ISO 3200. Even ISO 6400 is quite usable, but the highest settings of ISO 12,800 and ISO 25,600 are essentially best used for emergencies only. With its 12.8-million-pixel effective resolution, the LX100 records measurably less detail compared to cameras that use smaller 20-million-pixel, 1in-type sensors, such as the Canon PowerShot G7 X and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 III. However, it’s still fully capable of making detailed A3+ (12 x 18in) prints. It offers less flexibility for cropping, though, which…

This is a not-to-be missed evening with Joe McNally! Watch Joe as he reveals, in simple and straightforward language, the secrets of lighting – LIVE on stage. From a single light to elaborate multiple light set-ups, Joe will empower you to take your photography and flash techniques to the next level. Light management with the latest light-shapers and constructing a photograph are demonstrated live, on stage, in real time, with all the results immediately projected on the screen. Working with subjects he pulls from the audience, Joe will build lighting scenarios (all with Speedlights) and show effective strategies, ranging from the simplest one-light set-up to the multiple lights used for a group photo. So sign up to the seminar and be inspired and motivated as you learn from one of…

Paul Gallagher Paul Gallagher has been a fine-art landscape photographer for almost 30 years. During most of this time he has specialised in black & white work. He has produced two books of photographs, Aspects of Expression (2008) and Chords of Grey (2010). He regularly runs photography workshops on both in-camera and post-processing skills through his company Aspect2i (www.aspect2i.co.uk). 1984 Olympus OM10 When I left school, I studied graphic design and photography at Southport College of Art, Merseyside, and my dad lent me an Olympus OM10 for the course. He never got it back. It was a step on technically from the Olympus OM-1 as it had an auto-exposure function and the Zuiko lenses were very high quality. I ended up buying several second-hand models at reasonable prices. I took…

Win! Each week we will choose our favourite picture posted on the AP Facebook and Flickr communities and the AP forum. The winner will receive a year’s digital subscription to AP worth £79.99. ‘This image was taken with a Formatt Hitech ProStop 10 filter (Joel Tjintjelaar set),’ says Scott of this image taken from our Flickr page. ‘They really work well with black & white and they seem to show much more detail in shadows than any other filter I have used. ‘I thought I would go for a photo walk around the Bethnal Green/Shoreditch area of London to find some interesting urban shots and came across Sivill House, in Columbia Road E2, which was designed by the Russian architect Berthold Lubetkin. It really stood out to me with its…

Sometimes a single image can encapsulate an entire political event – something that can be particularly true of those images taken during wartime that evoke tragedy and the senselessness of conflict. This image comes from Getty photographer Abbas Momani. Here we see the grandmother of 13-year-old Palestinian teenager Bahaa Samir Badir mourn over his body during his funeral procession on the West Bank in October. Badir died after being shot in the chest by Israeli fire the previous day during clashes after Israeli troops raided the village of Beit Laqiya, north-west of the West Bank city of Ramallah. Words & numbers “I never cared for fashion much, amusing little seams and witty littlepleats: it was the girls I liked” David Bailey CBE British fashion and portrait photographer 20 billion The…

AP HAS launched a search for a cover star to feature in this year’s Christmas special issue. AP is looking for a photograph taken by a reader to feature on the cover of the 20-27 December issue. Like last year, the magazine is seeking pictures that typify the season. It could be a snowy landscape, the Northern Lights, winter wildlife – anything that you think best illustrates the festive season. Entrants should try to avoid the usual Christmas cliché images, however, as we’re looking for something stunning and eye-catching. It could be an image you already have on file, or maybe you want to spend time thinking about an idea and then go out to shoot it. All you have to do is upload your images to the ‘Christmas cover…

In press releases, smartphone manufacturers tend to put a lot of emphasis on camera features and performance. Usually some talk about ‘clearer images’ is accompanied by a list of new functions that supposedly make you a better photographer. However, when looking at the specification sheet, essential information, such as sensor size, lens aperture or ISO range, has usually been omitted. This goes to show that despite having identified camera performance as a key selling point, smartphone manufacturers largely cater for consumers and have not (yet) discovered enthusiast photographers as a target group. This becomes even more obvious when taking a closer look at the current device generation. The iPhone is arguably almost singlehandedly responsible for the mobile photography boom and the immense popularity of apps such as Instagram or Hipstamatic,…

THERE are many reasons why I love long-exposure photography. It is great as an aid to simplify composition, particularly near water or in the city, for contrasting cloud movement or light trails against a stationary subject, and for the lovely surprises that sometimes creep into the frame while the shutter is open. Above all, however, I’ve grown to love the way that it slows my photography down, giving me plenty of time to appreciate the landscape and to carefully consider composition and the way that the light is interacting with the subject of my photos. For daytime long-exposure photos I use neutral density filters. I have a 10-stop from Lee and a 6-stop from B+W. When stacked, they give 16 stops of light reduction, which allows me to take long-exposures…

At the end of 1916, trench warfare in Western Europe had reached a stalemate. The great Somme offensive had achieved little more than mass carnage. The front lines of both sides were roughly where they had been at the beginning of the year. The British and the French were aware that only massive reinforcements would enable them to overcome the Germans, and that only America coming into the war could provide those reinforcements. President Woodrow Wilson had just achieved re-election on a platform of keeping America out of the war, despite several German submarine attacks on US shipping. Something significant was needed to tip the balance of US public opinion. That something proved to be the Zimmerman Telegram. Arthur Zimmerman had recently been appointed German Foreign Minister and had ill-advisedly…

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is a significant event in any photography enthusiast’s calendar, particularly those with a love of wildlife imagery. Every year the competition receives hundreds of entries and it’s the judges’ task to whittle them down and find those that display both individuality and technical excellence. Here we present some of our favourite images from this year’s competition (you can see the overall winning image in News on pages 6-7). These photographs are among the 100 finalists going on show at the Natural History Museum until 30 August 2015. Green Dragon Will Jenkins UK This image was a finalist in the 11-14 Years category. Relaxing by the hotel at the end of a Costa Rican family holiday, Will was planning on a laid-back day when…

Tightening the crop GOOD street photography is mostly about great timing and being able to react quickly as events unfold. The first thing that strikes you about this image by Eden Breitz is how the man who is walking through the frame has been captured just as his head has reached the key focal point of the graffiti composition in the background. In a situation like this, the photographer has to think ahead and predict what might happen next. The celebrated reportage photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson once described how he would sometimes anticipate certain events and would wait in a particular spot, camera poised, waiting to find the perfect moment – or, as he called it, the ‘decisive moment’. Submit your images Please see the ‘Send us your pictures’ section on…

At a glance ● 12.8-million-pixel, four thirds sensor ● 24-75mm equivalent f/1.7-2.8 lens ● ISO 200-25,600 ● Built-in electronic viewfinder ● 3in, 921,000-dot LCD ● Analogue control dials ● Price £699.99 For and against + Excellent image quality from four thirds sensor + Intuitive dial-based controls + Fast lens is useful for low light shooting + Built-in electronic viewfinder − LCD screen doesn’t tilt and isn’t touch-sensitive − EVF colour rendition can be misleading − Limited telephoto range Where in the range Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000 Price Around£750 With a 20.1-millionpixel, 1in-type sensor and a 25-400mm lens, the FZ1000 is one of the best bridge-type cameras currently on the market Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 Price Around£290 The ageing LX7 has no viewfinder and a much smaller sensor, but still has a very…

Fujifilm’s X-series compacts share the same aesthetic values as their compact system camera counterparts, and remain an attractive proposition for those wanting a classic and stylish model with full manual control. At first glance, the X30 – Fujifilm’s third premium compact – looks similar to those that came before, and while that’s no bad thing, it enters a market that’s thriving with new models and technology. This begs the question: does it have enough new features to be a serious contender when compared against three of its rivals – the Canon PowerShot G7 X, Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 III? Features A quick look at the specifications reveals that a lot of the X30’s innards are identical to the X20. The same can be said for the lens,…

● EXPERT ADVICE ● TIPS ● TRICKS ● HACKS ● Email your questions to: apanswers@timeinc.com, via Twitter @AP_Magazine and #AskAP, or Facebook. Or write to Technical Support, Amateur Photographer Magazine, Time Inc (UK), Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU Starburst effect Q I have been looking at some long-exposure night photography on Flickr and would like to know how these photographers get streetlights to have a large starburst effect. I have seen star filters for sale, but I don’t know how they work or what the technique is. How would I go about achieving this in my own images? HenryWetton A Although star filters can be used to get this effect, it is usually achieved when the photographer shoots with a very small aperture. Shooting at f/11and…

One of the standout features of the new Canon EOS 7D Mark II is its autofocus unit with 65 focus points, all of which are the cross-type. The specification of new cameras is one of the major factors in their success, and the provision of 65 cross focus points certainly outguns the competition. The Nikon D7100, possibly the EOS 7D Mark II’s closest competitor, has 51 focus points and only the central block of 15 are cross points. In this article I’ll look at why the designers of these two AF systems have taken a different approach. Some people believe that one company has access to superior technology to the other, but when you look inside an autofocus unit they are remarkably similar – and the number of cross points…

Great escape Army photographers have survived budget cuts, despite fears that two thirds would be made redundant. The armed services were forced to juggle finances after learning, in 2010, that Britain’s defence budget was to suffer an 8% cut over four years. The Ministry of Defence tells AP that the Army employs 40 professional photographers – the same as in 2010. Winner unmasked German photographer Marius Vieth has won the CBRE Urban Photographer of the Year title. Marius’s winning image, entitled ‘Masks of Society’ (left), beat 11,500 entries from 79 countries in a competition that carried the theme ‘Cities at Work’. Visit www.cbreupoty.com. Epson A3 printer Epson has confirmed details of a new A3+ photo printer it showcased at Photokina. The Epson SureColor SC-P600 features a new nine-colour UltraChrome HD…

A BLACK & white image of lions – photographed using infrared – has won Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014, on the competition’s 50th anniversary. The winning shot, by Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols of the USA, shows a pride of lions with their cubs at the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Entitled ‘The Last Great Picture’, it beat more than 42,000 other entries. Michael received his award from the Duchess of Cambridge at a ceremony held at the Natural History Museum in London. Commenting on the winning shot, Jim Brandenburg, chair of the judges, said: ‘Nick’s image encapsulated so many elements that demonstrated artistic and technical skill, the sort that takes many years of professional work to hone and craft as he has done.’ The photographer told how he had followed…

PHOTOGRAPHERS are urged to enter the Terry O’Neill Photography Award 2014, which offers winners £6,500 in cash prizes and the chance to have their work published in The Guardian newspaper. The overall winner stands to pocket £3,000, plus 50% of The Guardian’s syndication fees, and have their work displayed at the Strand Gallery in London next year. The deadline is 30 November 2014 and entries can be captured using film or digital – including mobile devices. Entrants must submit between three and ten images, as an exhibition series, and provide a short narrative of no more than 100 words. Images must have been shot between 30 November 2013 and 30 November 2014. It costs £12.50 to enter 1-5 images (£6 for students), or £25 for 6-10 images (£12 for students).Categories…

Black Country Stories By Martin Parr, Dewi Lewis Publishing, £30, hardback, 140 pages, ISBN 978-1-90789-363-6 MARTIN Parr has built a career on attempting to understand what makes the British tick. While he has at times ventured out of the territory of the UK and explored the geography beyond, it is his portraits of the British people that form the larger body of his work. With such a vast collection of images in his portfolio, you may wonder what corners he has yet to explore. So it’s refreshing to see that the Magnum President has produced another series of images that seem as fresh as when he first began. For the past four years, Parr has been working on commission for Multistory, photographing the Black Country. It’s an area that he…

IN THE UK and Europe, my favourite seasons for mono landscape photography are autumn and winter. Not only are sunrise and sunset times at a more sensible hour (I get to stay in bed longer), but also I love the changeable weather conditions at these times of year. When the weather is so changeable, there is always a great chance of capturing interesting light to enhance the resulting images. My office is in Manchester and the city is well known for its fog and mist during the autumn and winter months. Fog and mist can really help to isolate subjects from the background and add a wonderful sense of mystery. Trees are one of my favourite subjects for photography, and I find that they are at their very best in…

Email amateurphotographer@timeinc.com and include your full postal address Write to Inbox, Amateur Photographer, Time Inc. (UK), Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU LETTER OF THE WEEK Tree hugger A big thank you for the Wild wood article by Russ Barnes (AP 4 October) celebrating photographing families of trees within woods and forests, instead of the hackneyed ‘lone tree’ often seen in photography magazines and camera clubs. My lovely little house backs on to an old man-made wood called Lings Wood. And over the past 30 years I have been privileged to step from my home with my cameras into a beautiful wonderland that could be thousands of miles from any human dwellings. I have taken hundreds of photographs inside our wood, just like Russ’s, on film in…

Our version To recreate this wonderful image required some preparation. A set had to be built (see page 32) and an authentic-looking corset had to be acquired – our thanks go to stylist Britt Foe for the loan of the corset and for dressing our model. The lighting is fairly straightforward, with one light directed at our model and another for our recreated marble ledge. The original ‘Mainbocher Corset’ Horst P Horst, 1939 First appearing in Vogue in 1939, ‘Mainbocher Corset’ is now one of the most iconic fashion images of the 20th century. The picture has a wonderful timeless elegance to it, with the simple yet incredibly powerful light sculpting the model and leading the eye down to what is the main subject of the shot – the corset.…

Apple iPhone 6 ● From £539, phone-contract prices are available and will vary depending on size and contract terms ● store.apple.com Is the latest iPhone camera a worthy contender? Richard Sibley tries it out At a glance ● New 8-million-pixel iSight camera ● Phase-detection autofocus ● Powered by new A8 and M8 processors for low-light performance and detail reproduction ALTHOUGH it may look the same as the previous Apple iPhone camera, the iPhone 6 has a new, more powerful, A8 processing chip. The camera’s aperture remains the same at f/2.2, but the sensor now incorporates phase-detection AF photosites, which means faster focusing, especially when tracking while shooting portraits. Also new is the ability to apply exposure compensation by simply swiping your finger up or down to lighten or darken the…

Wi-Fiand NFC Used with Panasonic’s Image App on a tablet or smartphone, this allows both remote control and image transfer for sharing. Autofocus A comprehensive range of AF modes is on offer to cover every eventuality, including face detection, subject tracking and a pinpoint AF mode. iDynamic Panasonic’s iDynamic mode does a good job of pulling up shadow detail in high-contrast situations, without losing detail in the highlights. Hotshoe Accepts either the small flash included in the box, or more powerful external units compatible with Panasonic and Olympus four thirds system cameras. Filter button This dedicated button can be used to engage a wide range of image-processing filters. Unprocessed JPEGs and raw files can be recorded alongside filtered versions. Customisable controls Along with the three Fn buttons, the control ring…

Intelligent hybrid AF The X30’s phase-detection system has the ability to focus within 0.06sec and will automatically switch to contrast-detect AF according to the camera’s judgement of the subject, scene and ambient light available. Video The X30 uses a high bit rate of 36Mbps and shoots full HD movies at 60, 50, 30, 25 and 24fps. Manual exposure is possible during movie recording, as is the use of the X30’s film-simulation modes and scene-recognition functions. Mechanical zoom Uniquely for a compact camera, the X30’s zoom is controlled by a mechanically coupled ring around the lens. It is marked with 35mmequivalent focal lengths, and doubles as a power switch. When the camera is switched off, the lens retracts into the ring. Control ring The control ring allows the immediate change of…

LAUNCHED 2 March 1987 PRICE £280 with Canon EF 35-80mm f/4-5.6, £225 body only from Tecno in December 1989 GUIDE PRICE TODAY £25-£50 with 35-80mm lens THE CANON EOS 650 was a photographic landmark. It was the first of the Canon EOS series of cameras that use EF autofocus lenses, with the focusing motor within the lens, not in the camera itself. The EOS 650 remains an excellent film camera in 2014. What’s good The Canon EOS 650 has an excellent, fast, five-mode automatic-exposure system. It produces fine image quality from superb Canon EF lenses. It is also readily available second-hand. What’s bad Early EOS shutters (not just the 650) can get gummed up by decaying plastic foam buffers, which is not economically repairable. Watch the shutter fire through the…

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, 1894-1971, is one of the most fascinating politicians of the 20th century. A protégé of Stalin, he apparently fully supported the show trials and massacres of the 1930s. Immediately after Stalin’s death, though, he was one of the leaders of revisionism, pointing out Stalin’s many mistakes. In the power struggles of the early 1950s, he appears to have had few, if any, problems with the liquidation of Lavrenti Beria in 1953. Khrushchev’s role in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was legendary. Later he was displaced, but unlike Beria – the last major Soviet leader to be executed – he lived out his days in retirement, succumbing eventually to heart disease in his late 70s. So are we looking at a picture of a monster, an opportunist, an…