Innholdsfortegnelse for 16-Aug-2014 i Amateur Photographer

ONCE upon a time, not so long ago, it was perfectly normal to take candid shots of children in the street without having our motives questioned. Now, even innocent pictures of our own kids are often regarded with suspicion by the wider world, as we found when we posted one of our APOY winning images on our Facebook page (see News, page 6). Initially removed by Facebook for breaching their nudity guidelines, common sense eventually prevailed, but the incident does remind us, once again, how sensitive the world has become about photographs of children. While we’re understandably a lot less naïve about the motives of strangers, and TV celebrities, than people were back then, it would be a great shame if photographers could no longer aspire to add to the…

Telephoto lens Ideally, you need a lens that is 300-500mm in length, but light enough to handhold. However, a longer and heavier telephoto on a tripod may be better for more distant subjects. Remote trigger A remote trigger is useful when photographing smaller birds in the garden. It is often easier to set up a shorter lens focused on, or just before, the perch, which is connected to a trigger that enables you to fire your camera. Teleconverter If you want that extra reach but don’t want to invest in another lens, a teleconverter is a great compromise. A 70-200mm f/2.8 telephoto zoom with a 1.7x teleconverter will increase the work focal length to 119-340mm, although the maximum lens aperture is reduced by 1.5 stops. Gimbal tripod head I favour…

Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust These centres are particularly good for flight photography in winter, when ducks, geese and swans are present in large numbers. Top spots include Slimbridge Wildfowl & Wetland Trust reserve in Gloucestershire, Martin Mere near Liverpool, Caerlaverock in Dumfriesshire and Welney on the Ouse Washes in East Anglia. Visit www.wwt.org.uk Seabirds The UK hosts some of the world’s most impressive seabird colonies, and a few of the best for photography are the Farne Islands in Northumberland, Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire, Fowlsheugh RSPB Reserve in Aberdeenshire and Skomer Island, off the Pembrokeshire coast. Visit www.welshwildlife.org, www.rspb.org.uk and www.nationaltrust.org.uk Birds of prey Feeding stations at Gigrin Farm in Mid Wales and at Bellymack Hill Farm, near Laurieston in Dumfries & Galloway, are great for red kites. In…

Lightening an image I think the bird in this photograph is an Egyptian vulture. Photographer Birol Kirac used a Nikon D7000 with a Nikon 70-300mm f/3.5-5.6 G VR lens, at 1/100sec at f/5.6 and ISO 400. The ISO is high enough to allow a fast shutter speed, while not too high to compromise image quality. However, the image is about 1 1/2 stops underexposed. This can be corrected in post-production. I should point out that the image was captured in JPEG mode. It’s possible to use Camera Raw to edit JPEGs, but the outcome of the image adjustments is slightly different. 1 Lightening the exposure What this photograph needed most was to be made lighter. So the first thing I did was to drag the Exposure slider to the right…

Cameras are designed to be taken out and about, but accidents happen. If you want peace of mind when you take your camera on a shoot, insurance is essential. By taking out insurance for your camera kit, should your kit get damaged, lost or stolen, you can replace your camera and accessories easily. That’s why Amateur Photographer has worked with a well-known insurance provider to bring you fantastic comprehensive cover that can be customised so you are covered for the eventualities you are most concerned about. Whether you are trying to capture those precious family memories, a view you never want to forget or a simple snap, we believe that Amateur Photographer Insurance Services will be able to meet your insurance needs. The best bit about the insurance cover is…

ILFORD Galerie photo inkjet paper is to be relaunched in the UK. The range will be distributed by Tetenal, with shipping due to start at the end of August. Last year, the paper’s former maker, Ilford Imaging Switzerland, declared itself insolvent before Australian firm CR Kennedy & Company Pty joined forces with Japan-based Chugai Photo Chemical Company to launch a rescue bid. The new company, Ilford Imaging Europe, is separate from Ilford Photo, the trading name of UK-based Harman Technology, which produces traditional black & white photographic papers and film in Cheshire.…

Panning The number-one essential technique to master is panning, which involves simply following the bird in flight as it flies in front of you. Your most pleasing shots will be as the bird starts to draw level with the camera, so stop shooting once your subject is flying away. Motion blur By using a slow shutter speed, anything from 1/8sec to 1/50sec will result in some pleasing blurs that can elevate an ordinary flight shot into a piece of art! It can be a bit hit and miss, so vary the shutter speeds if you have repeated chances to find the shot that works best. Subject placement A shot of a bird that is stuck in the middle of the frame can be uninspiring. One option is to shoot the…

When did you start taking photographs seriously? I started when I was around 11 years old, using an Ilford 127 rollfilm camera. When I went to Northallerton Grammar School in North Yorkshire, I started processing my own black & white prints and progressed to 35mm. I was president of the school camera club and took the school photos one year, using 120 rollfilm, and made a profit for the club. I preferred creative photography and went on club trips to places such as York. I used photography for geography and geology field trips. Later, when I started hill walking and climbing, I carried a camera to photograph the locations. How important is photography to you when you’re climbing mountains? I can’t go out without a camera! However, I use a…

Sometimes it can be all too easy to get weighed down by kit. DSLRs are great tools, but add a few zoom lenses and they can quickly become a burden, especially if wildlife is your passion and you need a long telephoto lens. So rather than breaking your back, a bridge camera with a superzoom lens could be the ideal solution. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 The lens on the FZ200 has a focal range equivalent to 25-600mm and a constant f/2.8 aperture, so you can ensure that you get good images in low light, and a fast enough shutter speed to capture a moving subject in sharp detail. All of this is packed inside a body of around the same size and weight as an entry-level DSLR and kit lens. Electronic…

WITH its 36.3-million-pixel, full-frame sensor and no optical low-pass filter, the D810 delivers an impressive amount of detail that’s matched only by the D800E and Sony Alpha 7R. You’ll need impeccable technique to exploit this fully, though: using sharp lenses at their optimum apertures, perfectly focused, and shot either on a tripod or at high shutter speeds to avoid blur. On this note, the D810’s electronic first-curtain shutter should help to keep to a minimum any sharpness loss from mechanical vibrations. Dynamic range is very high at low ISOs, which in practice means you can extract lots of detail from deep in the shadows in raw processing. The camera’s highlight metering mode can help to get the best exposures for this approach to shooting, by minimising clipping in bright areas…

NIKON Use Command dials to navigate If you use your back dial to navigate around the menu system, there is a quicker way. Go to custom setting menu, F controls, customise command dials, menus and playback. If menus and playback is turned on, you can navigate around the menu using the front and back command dials. CANON Safety shift In DSLRs above the Canon EOS 60D, the safety shift overrides the user when shooting in AV or TV mode and a shutter speed or aperture is chosen that will cause the exposure to be out of range. It will adjust the setting to enable correct exposure while the light is wrong, and revert to the chosen setting when the light levels enable it. PENTAX AA simulator- bracketing The Pentax K-3…

LAUNCHED 1988 NEW PRICE WITH 35-80MM F/4-F/5.6 MINOLTA A LENS £540 GUIDE PRICE WITH 35-80MM LENS TODAY £40-£65 (body only £10-£30) THE DYNAX 7000i (sold in the USA as the Maxxum i) was the first 35mm SLR in the Minolta Dynax i range. It had program AE, shutter priority AE, aperture priority AE and metered manual exposure modes, plus TTL autoflash. Its fast AF system, 1/4000sec shutter speed and 3fps film advance attracted rave reviews. The 7000i used the Minolta AF/Sony A lens system, so is lens compatible with Sony DSLRs. The innovative Minolta expansion-card system provided a way to add features to the camera, such as multi-spot metering, or the sports action mode, which was good for less photographically skilled users. What’s good The Dynax 7000i is reliable and…

Death sentence An Afghan police officer charged with murdering Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus in April has been convicted and sentenced to death. The acclaimed German photographer died instantly when a policeman opened fire on the car in which she was travelling. Associated Press journalist Kathy Gannon was wounded in the attack. The officer, named Naqibullah, was found guilty by six judges at the Kabul District Court, reported Associated Press. Ditch ‘dodgy’ snaps Special ‘footstep’ marks have appeared near famous landmarks in London, Manchester and Birmingham, designed to show smartphone photographers the best places from which to take pictures. The scheme – dreamt up by Sony to promote its Xperia smartphones – aims to help users find the ideal position to capture photos of landmarks such as Big Ben and…

FACEBOOK has reversed a controversial decision to ban a photograph of a four-year-old girl planting flowers (see above), blaming human error. The move follows a backlash among photographers online. Photographer Penny Halsall was left distraught by Facebook’s removal of the portrait of her daughter Daisy. The image had won plaudits in the Amateur Photographer of the Year competition, but was removed from the AP Facebook page on 27 July on grounds that it breached Facebook’s rules on nudity. The black & white portrait shows the girl in her underwear. AP swiftly pressed Facebook to justify its decision, which led to the site claiming that the image had been removed in error by a member of its ‘community standards’ team who, seemingly, had misinterpreted Facebook’s guidelines. Facebook refused to comment on…

DUE to land in UK shops ahead of next month’s photokina kit fest in Germany is the Pentax Q-S1, a new compact system camera by brand owner Ricoh Imaging. Expected out in early September, the Q-S1 has a 12.4-million-pixel, 1/1.7in imaging sensor and a top ISO sensitivity of 12,800. Other features include a 3in (460,000-dot) LCD screen and 21 scene modes, such as pet and backlight silhouette. The Q-S1 is due to cost £299.99, body only; £379.99 with a 5-15mm lens; and £549.99 with a 5-15mm and 15-45mm zoom. Pentax claims that the 183g camera can shoot at up to five frames per second. The Q-S1 measures 105x58x34mm and will be available in 40 colour combinations of body and grip. The photokina trade show takes place in Cologne from 16-21…

It occurred to me that you might be interested to see the photograph I took recently, a reconstruction of the famous photo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria taken shortly before his assassination (see Big Picture, AP 28 June). We pushed out our 1911 Daimler TD15 and my husband put on the old High Sheriff uniform that belonged to his great uncle when he held that post in the early 1940s. Our son kindly posed as chauffeur – although he did not get dressed up – and despite the rain we had much fun in this recreation. A little bit of grunge processing aged the photograph beautifully! Jayne Pochin, Leicestershire A fascinating picture, Jayne. It's good to see we're not the only ones recreating classic photos. Next time you'll have…

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 Submit your images Please see the ‘Send us your pictures’ section on page 3 for details or visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/portfolio Scott Chappell, Dorset Scott, 64, got his first camera when he was 15 years old and has rarely been without one since. Until recently, he shot mostly art nude imagery, but since adding a couple of Canon lenses to his kit he’s become hooked on wildlife and flowers. Scott finds…

Peak Design Clutch camera hand strap • $30 (around £18) pre-order on Kickstarter • www.peakdesignltd.com The Clutch is the only quick-connecting, quick-adjusting camera hand strap ever made, claims Peak Design. Andy Westlake tries it out At a glance Easily and quickly adjustable hand strap Unique design, protected by patent Made from durable premium materials inspired by climbing gear MANY companies are now using crowd-sourcing websites like Kickstarter to gauge user interest in new designs before putting them into production. Potential buyers can register their interest in a product, often by pre-ordering at a special price. If a project meets its target, it will go ahead. One user of this approach is US-based camera strap maker Peak Design, and it currently has a couple of new items available for pre-order: the…

Resolution It is easy to see here the progress of resolution as the aperture starts from wide open, cleans up a little as the aperture closes, and then slumps again at f/22. If there were a click stop between f/4.5 and f/6, that would be where you’d get the better performance, but nowhere is it good. Shading The relatively flat profile of the shading charts suggests that vignetting is unlikely to be a serious problem when working with this lens. In my experience, corner darkening did not come forward as a problem, even with a full-frame camera, but patches of flare were responsible for areas of low contrast and undue lightness. Curvilinear distortion Short telephoto lenses are usually very well-corrected for distortion, and the Kelda is no exception. There’s only…

Top underwater photographer Dr Alex Mustard, 39, has been a full-time professional photographer for ten years. He has won numerous awards and published two books, The Art of Diving and Reefs Revealed. He also invented Magic Filters, which are specifically designed for available light underwater photography. Visit www.amustard.com. 1988 Nikonos V This camera was a combined birthday and Christmas present from my father. However, I had to wait two more years to complete the system with an underwater strobe and the legendary Nikonos 15mm wideangle lens. The Nikonos V is a viewfinder camera, making it small and simple, but it leaves an element of guesswork in framing and focus. 1994 Nikonos RS The Nikonos RS is one of the greatest cameras ever made and also one of the biggest flops.…

The standout feature of Sigma’s cameras from the start has been the company’s use of the unique three-layer Foveon sensor, first as Foveon’s major customer and more recently as the owners of the sensor company. Whereas almost every other colour camera uses a Bayer colour matrix, with red, blue and two green pixels arranged in groups of four across the face of the sensor, the Foveon design stacks blue, green and red pixels with three colour pixels occupying the same space on the surface of the sensor. This works because light photons with different energies penetrate to different depths in the body of the silicon, which forms the sensor. Blue light penetrates the least, while red penetrates furthest. Thus, with three stacked pixels, the uppermost receives predominantly blue light, the…

Symbolism is best summed up in the sentence, ‘Things are not what they seem.’ Everything has a hidden, symbolic meaning as well as its obvious form. Symbolism and iconography are closely related – think of the Lamb of God, or the eagle of St John the Evangelist – but by the mid-to-late 19th century, a more secular symbolism was increasingly found in poetry (Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal, or Flowers of Evil, appeared in 1857) and photography. In this image by Roger Fenton, we see the durable, valuable, man-made, carefully worked tankard contrasted with the transient, God-given fruit. The pomegranate is split and spilling, while the currants stand in for pearls, perhaps as dissolved in wine by Cleopatra. The tankard is empty and on its side: an ending. At the…