Innholdsfortegnelse for 15-mar-2014 i Amateur Photographer

IT IS estimated that every two minutes, more photos are taken around the world than were taken during the entirety of the 19th century. Some 3.5 trillion photos have been taken since William Henry Fox Talbot (and yes, Louis Daguerre too) invented the process, and we’re now living in a world so awash with imagery that it’s diffi cult to imagine what the world would be like if photography could be suddenly un-invented. So it’s great news that an archive of Fox Talbot, who is widely regarded as the ‘father of photography’, will be saved for the nation and made available to the public. I have often thought that if I could build myself a time machine; one of the most fun things to do with it would be to…

LEICA has kicked off its centenary celebrations by launching a special medium-format camera, the Leica S Edition 100, which has gone on sale in a ￡26,000 kit that includes two lenses. The Leica S Edition 100 is engraved with a centennial logo on the camera body and on both lenses - a Summarit-S 70mm f/2.5 Asph CS and Elmarit-S 30mm f/2.8 Asph CS. The kit comes in an aluminium ‘cabin trolley’ designed to be suitable for carrying as hand-luggage on flights. It celebrates 100 years since Oskar Barnack developed the Ur-Leica, marking the birth of 35mm photography. SNAP SHOTS • Leica enthusiasts are invited to a meet-up in London on 16 April. The free ‘Soho Soho Meef coincides with one in New York on the same day. The group will…

A PHOTO captured using traditional film, and another in digital format – both printed in b&w – have won student photographer of the year honours, beating hundreds of entries. Iman Tajik, from City of Glasgow College, won Ilford Photo Student Photographer of the Year 2013 with an image entitled ‘Socially Lonely’, printed in a darkroom and shot on Kentmere 100 film (top). Kieron Price, from Leicester College, was crowned Harman technology Student Photographer of the Year with a digital shot, printed on Crystaljet Elite inkjet paper. Both win £150 to spend at harmanexpress.com. SNAP SHOTS ● A man watched his wife plunge to her death in a Cornish river after he left their car to take a photograph without properly applying the handbrake. Rescuers were unable to recover the car…

Photographing Sculpture: How the Image Moves the Object 20 March-22 June. Upper Sculpture Study Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Henry Moore Institute, 74 The Headrow, Leeds LS1 3AH. Tel: 0113 246 7467. Website: www.henry-moore.org. Open Mon, Tue, Thur-Sat 10am-5pm, Wed 12am-5pm, Sun 1pm-5pm. Admission free AS DEDICATED photographers, we perhaps understandably don’t spend all that much time thinking about how photography can augment and represent other art forms. While a photograph these days can be shared across the web instantly, the same cannot be said of art forms more grounded in the realm of the physical. The new exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute investigates the relationship between photography and the more earthy field of sculpture, how the former can make the latter visible and present it to the world. Interestingly,…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a great shockproof, waterproof and dustproof 5-Proof Technology 16GB Samsung SDHC Plus memory card offering up to 48MB/sec transfer speed. www.samsung.com/memorycard A CAMERA IN THE HAND… After packing our bags on the last day of our holiday, we went for a walk before leaving the hotel and came across this stunning early morning reflection. My initial reaction was to rush back to pick up my camera, but I soon realised that my 28mm standard zoom would not be wide enough and that I should have brought my wideangle zoom on holiday. Also, by the time I had returned, the water might not be so still for such a perfect reflection. I decided to make do with my three-year-old Samsung Galaxy Note, using it in portrait…

OVER the past few years, the Adobe team who work on Camera Raw and Lightroom have worked hard to improve the lens-correction adjustments and catch up with programs such as DxO Optics Pro, which have long offered excellent lens-correction features. The most recent versions of Camera Raw and Lightroom (as found in Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5) now offer Upright adjustments, which can be used to autocorrect the perspective in an image. If you look at the Lens Corrections panel screenshot in step 7, you’ll see four buttons: Auto, Level, Vertical and Full. Without going into too much detail about what the differences are between these, you can simply click on each button to see which one works best with each image. It should be noted that an Upright adjustment…

ONE OF the stand-out images from Machine Gun Americana depicts a small child peering down the scope of a high-calibre assault rife. Naturally, it’s the image that people will gravitate to, but Pete is keen to clear up some issues surrounding the image. ‘I knew people would pick up on that image,’ says Pete. ‘This type of imagery of very young children being involved in this type of event naturally raises concerns. In a very iconographic sense, it demonstrates the perpetuation and attachment of these dangerous weapons being passed on and inculcated into a new generation. I get it and I see why the image is powerful for people, including myself. But the context is so important. ‘I consider myself a journalist in this regard in that I make pictures…

Painting and photography, despite their initial rocky relationship, have often informed one another in challenging and unpredictable ways, from the subtle (Cindy Sherman with her ironic evocations of classic portraits) to the explicit (the staggeringly crafted photorealistic brushstrokes produced by artists such as Chuck Close and Gottfried Helnwein). Yet it’s always interesting when a photographer is able to create a bridge between the two worlds and use the photographic medium to evoke and celebrate an artist they feel is a kindred spirit. Perhaps the most notable photographer working in this way today is New Yorker Richard Tuschman, who in recent years has created a body of work that seems strangely familiar. Richard’s project, Hopper Meditations, uncannily reproduces (or at least reimagines) the noir-tinged existential narratives of American realist painter Edward…

BEFORE we cast our eyes over Fujifilm’s latest creation, let’s refresh ourselves with the relatively swift expansion of the firm’s X-series models. In early 2011, Fujifilm launched the X100 with its fixed 23mm f/2 Fujinon lens, followed around a year later by what was considered the game changer, the X-Pro1. As the first interchangeable X-series model with its own XF-mount system of lenses, it marked an evolution that set out to target enthusiasts and professionals craving outstanding image quality from a more conveniently sized system, inspired by the classic styling of long-departed film cameras. Since 2012, Fujifilm’s objective has focused on expanding the X-series with slimmed-down versions of the X-Pro1, such as the X-E1 and the more recent X-E2. Other releases included the X-M1 and X-A1, which have made inroads…

MISSING MOVIE MODE Q We recently had a relative visit from Australia and she very kindly left behind her Nikon D40 and 18-55mm lens for my daughter. We do not have the manual and none of us can fathom out how you activate the camera’s movie mode. Can you help? Harold Price A Although the Nikon D40 isn’t a particularly new camera (it was announced at the end of 2006), its 6-million-pixel sensor is capable of producing some great results. With a small amount of interpolation, I’ve had some fantastic-looking A3-sized prints made from the same camera, so your daughter is very lucky. However, when it comes to shooting movies it’s not quite as accomplished. The reason why you’re struggling to locate the movie mode is because it doesn’t have…

LIGHT captured by a camera lens is projected and focused onto the sensing surface in the form of a spot of light. Image details are made up of countless spots of differing brightness and colour. Each spot is the sharp end of a light cone whose circumference at the widest end is defined by the lens exit pupil and aperture. At the centre of the frame, each spot is formed from a cone whose axis is perpendicular. Move that point away from the centre and the angle of the cone axis progressively changes. At the corners of the frame this angle can become acute, especially if, as with rangefinder cameras, the exit pupil of the lens is relatively close to the focal plane. The acuteness of angle towards the corners…

NIKON is being sued by D600 users who have complained about unwanted ‘spots’ appearing in their photographs. The 37-page class-action complaint was filed on behalf of customers against New York-based Nikon Inc, by US law firms including Zimmerman Reed, which says the spots appear in the ‘upper-left corner’ of pictures. Lawyers claim the move followed ‘lengthy investigation and speaking to numerous affected consumers’. The D600 – a full-frame DSLR – was launched in 2012, targeting high-end enthusiasts. The complaint alleges that ‘the oil and dust spotting in the D600 is the result of a defective shutter mechanism which consistently splatters oil and dust onto the camera’s image sensor’. The legal action, dated 19 February, appears to have been lodged shortly before Nikon promised to replace the shutter for customers who…

HOLMFIRTH CAMERA CLUB The club is gearing up for its annual exhibition at the North Light Gallery. The show takes place on 21,22,28 and 29 March; and 4,5,11 and 12 April. The gallery can be found at Brooke’s Mill, Armitage Bridge, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire HD47NR. Tel: 01484 340 003. UK STUDENT WINS SONY HONOURS A UK STUDENT who was nursing a broken camera has just won a brand-new Sony Alpha 7 after being chosen as a finalist at the Sony World Photography Awards. Scarlett Evans, a 22-yearold student at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, is among ten finalists named in the Student Focus category. Scarlett shot her winning image (above) in response to the competition brief that sought a single image depicting ‘Tomorrow’s News’. ‘I took the…

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 A 16-million-pixel, Wi-Fi-enabled enthusiast DSLR that’s packed with features: we see how far it can punch above its weight LEARNING TO FLY Judge Oliver Atwell presents a selection of the 2013 RSPCA Young Photographer Awards PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-TZ60 We test an 18.1-million-pixel, ‘travel compact’ with a 30x optical zoom range, Wi-Fi, GPS and raw capture TO THE SEA Jonathan Chritchley tells how his characteristic fine-art images all stem from a childhood passion for the ocean CAMERA HARD CASES For ultimate protection, we test the best cases for your gear when travelling and on location…

● HOW PHOTOGRAPHS ARE SOLD by Alain Briot, £28.50 Alain Briot’s book reflects not only the changing landscape of the market, but also the needs of photographers in other genres. There’s a lot of practical, down-to-earth advice – the awkwardly worded tip to keep your temper, ‘Don’t feel angry’, is a good pointer whatever business you’re in. Simple and eminently practicable. ● CANON EOS 70D (ebook) by James Johnson, £10.70 An ebook available for Amazon’s Kindle editions, this guide goes into a lot of helpful detail when using Canon’s EOS 70D DSLR. It’s very much a camera-based guide as opposed to photographic – you won’t find many tips on the best things to shoot with your EOS 70D, but you will get all the help you could want on operating…

‘RETRO’ is a common word in magazines, brochures and advertisements, but sadly it’s meaningless. The clumsy phrase ‘rangefinder-styled’ has also emerged, which in most cases is just plain wrong. ‘Styled’, though, gives a hint of what manufacturers and their marketing departments are really thinking. OK, it’s consciously designed to look like a 35mm film rangefinder camera from the 1970s: the body has similar proportions; there’s a dial on the top; a ring around the lens; the base plates are made of metal; it’s probably black. Branding and model designation are discreet too, even down to the font. Yet few even have a viewfinder, and none except Leica is a genuine rangefinder. Few have dials for shutter speed or aperture, still less for ISO. What looks like a shutter-speed dial on…

PREPARE to feel very embarrassed about the last time you didn’t venture out for a day’s shooting because you felt a cold coming on. AP reader Ken Mayled has, for some time, battled degenerative arthritis, a condition that causes the disintegration of protective cartilage in joints. It makes movement extremely tiring and difficult, and is an effect exacerbated in Ken’s case by the fact that he walks on titanium hips. But did this stop Ken from getting out and taking street photos? Of course not. And, to be fair, this would be a rather short and depressing article if it had. Ken’s fast-and-loose style of street photography excels in capturing humorous little moments and clever juxtapositions of people and their surroundings. Advertising slogans, shop window signs, mannequins – any and…

Paul Budgen Surrey While Paul liked taking photographs from a young age, over the past two years he has discovered that it is a hobby that fits very well with his other passion – travelling. His favourite subject to shoot is wildlife, particularly birds. ‘I seem to be able to photograph these subjects with ease compared to landscapes, which I find more of a challenge,’ he says. Paul hopes to branch out into other genres of photography in the future, including landscapes and studio work. Woodpecker 1 There is some wonderful creative bokeh in this shot, effectively isolating the green woodpecker Nikon D7100, 200-400mm, 1/1000sec at f/4, ISO 800 Linnet 2 Paul spent a day in a hide to capture a series of birds in their natural habitat Nikon D7100,…

RICHARD has also created a series of still-life works that explore themes of loss, longing, vulnerability, growth and decay. ‘The fragile beauty of birds, flowers and small plants seems an apt example of the ephemeral nature, complexity and variety of life,’ says Richard. ‘For a long time I have been drawn to materials such as wood and oil paint for their primal physical presence. I had been working with these materials for years before digital technology came along, so it felt only natural to incorporate them into my digital work. I also like the way the early photographic techniques left artefacts of the process on the finished print, adding an abstract poetry and a reference to their creation. I suppose I am after a similar effect, but rather than working…

WHILE the thought of an electronic viewfinder (EVF) might be offputting for many, the X-T1’s EVF is so advanced, and so large when it is held up to the eye, that it’s good enough to change even the most traditionalist photographer’s perception. It’s not too dissimilar to the EVF in the Olympus OM-D E-M1 in that it features a similar 2.36-million-dot resolution, but it has a higher magnification ratio of 0.77x, supported by a newly designed graphic user interface (GUI) that’s designed to relate to the camera’s autofocus and manual focusing options. The camera’s full mode makes use of the high magnification ratio, displaying a full field of view with shooting information displayed above and below the frame on a black background. I found it to be the best choice…

In digital photography, interpolation is used to refer to the process of introducing pixels into an existing image where they didn’t exist before. This typically happens when you enlarge an image by increasing its resolution, such as increasing the resolution of an image from 1800 pixels across to 2700 pixels across. In doing this, you are effectively asking the software to generate additional pixels (900 pixels in the example above) that aren’t there to start with. There are numerous ways that software can do this (Photoshop CS6 allows you to choose from six interpolation methods) and some are more accurate than others. The basic idea, though, is that the software determines where a new pixel is needed, assesses the pixels that are currently around that position, and then effectively provides…

IT WAS the only day it hadn’t rained since, well, what feels like 2006, and I wasn’t about to waste any time sitting inside. Since my chat with Eli earlier this year about being more productive with my photography, I’ve been obsessed with stock libraries. It’s not the money I’m concerned about – it’s taking my photography to the next level and fulfilling dreams I’ve long had for myself before I get too old. I’ve decided to focus my efforts on rising fuel costs because it’s an issue that’s always in the news, and it isn’t going away. The best way to conquer the stock market is to be the best at one thing. And rising fuel costs seems like low-hanging fruit. As I rounded the corner to the high…

AP issued a ‘poison’ alert over a toxic chemical used to develop photos this week in 1906, highlighting the dangers of confusing it with a medicine of the time. The warning, in the form of an anonymous letter to the Editor, warned readers: ‘There is a real danger in the way in which pyro developers are sometimes made in tablet form, exactly resembling the well-known Lithia tablets. Not only are the chemicals similar in shape and colour, but the glass tubes in both cases are exactly alike, and it is quite conceivable that a mistake might easily be made in the dark. Pyro, as most photographers know, is a deadly poison. Will you not appeal to some of the large firms of photographic chemists to alter the shape of their…

CANON has released a statement confirming that it may reduce its range of compact cameras. Canon was responding to online articles, published last month, claiming that it may axe compact cameras priced under 20,000 yen (around ￡117). In response to a report in Japanese business newspaper The Nikkan Kogyo, a Canon spokesman told AP: ‘Canon is considering narrowing the range of models in the low-end of the digital compact camera line, but no decision to withdraw from the market has been made and no price level was determined.’ Many camera makers have been forced to cut lower-end compacts as smartphones take over. Brands including Fujifilm and Olympus last year moved to pare back their compact ranges, focusing instead on higher-end models and interchangeable-lens cameras. However, last month, Nikon signalled that…

NIKON is once again staking its claim as the professional imaging camera manufacturer of choice with its new 16.2-million-pixel D4S. Based on its previous flagship model, the new D4S isn’t an entirely new camera, but rather a finely tuned incarnation of the award-winning D4. Since the D4’s release in 2012, the firm has been using feedback from professionals to test and explore new ways of tackling the tough and highly pressurised environments that they face. The D4S is the result of that work, and James Banfield, group support and training manager at Nikon UK, told me that the D4S will respond better than its predecessor to the demands and needs of the pro photographer, whether in terms of improving their workflow, capturing the action or operating in severe weather conditions.…

SIGMA and Amateur Photographer have joined forces to give you the chance to win a fantastic ultra-telephoto lens. The Sigma APO 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM covers a telephoto range up to 500mm and allows photographers to bring the subject close with short perspective. Three SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass elements provide correction for chromatic aberration, while the rear focus system minimises fluctuation of aberration caused by focusing. HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) is incorporated for quiet and high-speed AF plus full-time manual focusing. The Sigma APO 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM is available in Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Sony and Pentax fit. ABOUT SIGMA Founded in 1961, the Sigma Corporation is a Japanese company that manufactures cameras, lenses, flashes and other photographic accessories. All Sigma products are produced in the company’s…

This shoT came about after McLaren spotted a picture of mine of a Bugatti Veyron that I took in a tunnel. Online car website Jalopnik featured the Veyron image, which resulted in quite a lot of exposure. I then got an email from the head of PR at McLaren asking if I’d like to meet him the following week for a chat about doing some photographs inside and outside the McLaren Production Centre in Woking, Surrey. After brainstorming with him about ideas, I shot the production line for McLaren’s MP4-12C sports car plus some low-light shots of the car outside with the exterior of the company’s amazing building as a backdrop. That was back in 2012, and then out of the blue last year I got a call from McLaren…

Trying to keep track of the political hot potatoes tossed around by a nation’s government can be somewhat bewildering. In 2013, former US Navy reservist Aaron Alexis walked onto a historic naval base in Washington, DC, and opened fire. He killed 12 employees before police shot him dead. Like similar events that preceded it (the Columbine High School shootings in 1999 that took the lives of 12 students and one teacher being a famous example), both US political parties – Republicans and Democrats – were quick to seize on the story. US President Barack Obama used the opportunity to call for stricter gun-control laws and did his utmost to fend off Republican howls of Second Amendment rights. The fact is, gun crime is something that is likely to taint the…

Sunrise Kris Lockyear Pentax K20D, 100mm, 1/800sec, ISO 100 THERE’S a lot to like about Kris’s sunrise shot, which demonstrates both technical and aesthetic excellence. From a technical angle, the exposure – made contre-jour – holds enough detail in the shadows to reveal even the darkest sheep’s face, while the highlights at the opposite end of the tonal range haven’t been allowed to burn out. So we have a full tonal range, despite the apparent high contrast. The colour is equally well controlled, with a lovely warm glow that isn’t gaudy or overbearing. It’s almost like a monochrome tint, rather than a full-colour image, and the perfect hue for this early morning spectacle. However, the look of the image owes as much to Kris’s processing prowess as it does to…

Boblbee Megalopolis M-180 Vortex E329 (around £271) www.boblbee.com SWEDISH bag manufacturer Boblbee has created an ultimate travel and outdoor action backpack, built to protect you and your kit. With a fully certified back protector, the Boblbee Megalopolis M-180 Vortex meets the Level 2 European Norm Standard (EN 1621-2:2003), which is the same as that applied to top-specification spinal armour for motorcyclists. Even when fully loaded, weight is distributed evenly across your shoulders and back, and thanks to thick adjustable straps this is a very comfortable backpack to wear while on the move. Apart from its protective qualities, another great feature of the M-180 is a detachable waist belt that allows you to take your arms out of the straps and swing the bag around to your front, making your kit…

RRP £1,049.99 (body only) or £1,399.99 with 18-55mm f/2.8-4 lens Sensor 16.3-million-effective-pixel X-Trans CMOS II Output size 4896 x 3264 pixels Lens Mount X Mount File format Raw (RAF) JPEG, raw + JPEG Compression Large, medium and small Colour space sRGB, RGB Shutter type Focal-plane shutter Shutter speeds 30-1/4000sec, plus bulb ISO ISO 200-6400, extendable to ISO 100-51,200 Exposure modes PASM Metering system 256-zone TTL metering system Exposure comp +3EV in 1/3EV steps White balance Auto, 7 presets, Kelvin, plus custom setting Drive mode 8fps LCD 3in, 1.04 million dots Viewfinder type 0.5in, 2.36-million-dot OLED colour EVF Field of view 100% Dioptre adjustment -4 to +2 dioptre Focusing modes Single, continuous AF, MF AF points 49 DoF preview Yes Built-in flash No Video 1920 x 1080 pixels (at 60p or…

IN THIS issue’s Classics to use, the spotlight falls on a lens that was designed almost 20 years ago but only discontinued in 2010: Leica’s Elmarit-M 24mm f/2.8 Asph, designed for use with M-series rangefinder cameras. Back in 1996, when this lens was first introduced, digital cameras were in their infancy. This Elmarit was designed for optimum performance on 35mm film, and by all accounts Leica and its customers were very pleased with its performance. The use of this lens attached to a digital body is a completely different matter thanks to the characteristics of digital sensors. Still able to command used prices in excess of £3,000, I wanted to see how relevant this lens actually is for digital photography; I tried it out on the full-frame Leica M-E and…