Innholdsfortegnelse for 27-May-2017 i Amateur Photographer

There’s quite a lot of economic uncertainty at the moment, and camera, lens and accessory prices have risen markedly since last summer. So this issue is dedicated to innovative, creative and fun ways to save money. Rather than lots of lists of relatively cheap gear – which you can easily find at camerapricebuster.co.uk – we’ve contacted a selection of pro photographers and readers to get their thrifty tips. Pros really have to be cost conscious, as their business can depend on it, but our readers have come up with some great ideas too – turn to page 12. Once you’ve saved a bit of cash you can put it towards some of the fantastic new gear we review this issue, such as the Fujifilm GFX 50S – a revolutionary medium-format…

Tyler Udall Etudes is a new series by photo-artist Tyler Udall looking into gender, sexuality and the blurry line we walk between fact and fiction. The series challenges the cultural norms that dictate the way we look, talk and most importantly who or how we can love. Until 10 June, www.thelittleblackgallery.com Project Cleansweep The Roscommon Arts Centre Photography Award exhibition, which was developed by curator Linda Shevlin, aims to provide one photographer the opportunity to produce a body of work for exhibition at Roscommon Arts Centre as part of the Belfast Photo Festival. This show features a body of work by 2017 award winner Dara McGrath. 1-17 June, www.belfastexposed.org Voyages Photographers Anderson & Low have reimagined the Science Museum’s collection of ship models, which were displayed…

ONLINE travel specialist TravelBird has recently carried out a survey that reveals the most Instagrammed locations in Britain and around the world. The study ranks 470 tourist attractions around the world based on the number of social media tags. In Britain, Big Ben (Elizabeth Tower) takes the top spot as the most hashtagged location (see image above), with more than four times the number of mentions than Buckingham Palace in second place. Liverpool FC's Anfield stadium is third. Disneyland in the USA, the Eiffel Tower in France and the Berlin Wall in Germany are among the top five most hashtagged world tourist destinations.…

You answered… A Always – all my kit is second-hand 12% B Often – most of my kit is second-hand 39% C Occasionally – most of my kit is new 36% D Never – I buy everything new 13% What you said I wouldn’t buy a camera body second-hand, but I’ll buy lenses as long as I can inspect them first. I’ve been lucky with CeX shop and Cash Generator in the past. As and when necessary. Two of my 50mm lenses are second-hand, as are three of my film cameras. I wouldn’t buy digital bodies used, but I’ve recently bought two second-hand lenses from Wex Photographic and Calumet Photographic. I have bought more than 15 used cameras over the past 30 years and never had a problem with any…

Win a Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Macro lens and an EM-140 DG Macro Flash The Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM macro lens is a high-performance, large aperture medium telephoto macro lens with Optical Stabilisation. The SLD glass provides good control of aberration and the floating inner focus system ensures high rendering throughout the focusing range. The Sigma EM-140 DG Flash is ideal for photographing subjects in fine detail when the shadowless mode is used and is extremely effective for all your macro photography needs. That's a total prize value of £1,029.98 APOY 2017 In association with…

SO WHAT are Jodi Peckman's favourite covers from the past 50 years of Rolling Stone? ‘It's a hard question to answer, but I particularly like Annie Leibovitz's cover image of Fleetwood Mac from 1977,' she says. ‘It was the beginning of covers with more of an “idea” or concept behind them, more than a portrait. The band were all involved with each other off-stage and mixing partners at the time, so the image has a wonderful, journalistic feel.' As with many of Leibovitz's images, there is quite a story behind this image. Leibovitz explains on the Rolling Stone website that she turned up with some cocaine as a ‘gift' for the band, which apparently was perfectly normal for the time. She notes wryly that the gift lasted all of 30…

Paul Eustice Paul, from East Sussex, is a keen travel photographer who has been lucky enough to be able to travel for about half the year. He loves to photograph landscapes and cultures from around the world, often off the beaten track. Paul’s next trip is to northern Iraq in June, to the Kurdistan region. Matt Parry Matt is an award-winning travel photographer whose images and articles have been published in a range of leading travel and photographic publications. His wanderlust has taken him to over 55 countries and across six continents. See his images at www.mattparryphotography.com. AP READER Paul Eustice says: ‘I started with a Canon EOS 450D, but after a couple of years found it limiting. I moved on to a Canon EOS 5D Mark III in 2013,…

Tethering The GFX 50S supports tethering via Fujifilm’s X Acquire software that’s free for Mac and Windows users. Alternatively, you can download Adobe’s Fujifilm Tether Shooting Plug-in PRO for Lightroom, but this does cost around £60. For more information on this plugin, visit https://creative.adobe.com/addons. Customisation There’s little you can’t customise on the GFX 50S. The command dial setting can be reversed, there are nine customisable function buttons that can be set to 36 settings and you can edit and save the settings on display in the quick menu. Wireless communication Wi-Fi can be assigned to any of the function buttons. From the camera’s wireless settings you can turn the resize image for smartphone setting on to downsize images to a 3-million-pixel resolution to save memory. Touchscreen It can be used…

‘His subjects have lost their country: no context, no comforting surroundings’ Tibet is about 2,500 miles from east to west and 1,500 miles from north to south. It is extremely sparsely populated. Since about 1950, it has been occupied (and heavily colonised) by China. Refugees still leave the country constantly. David Zimmerman’s book One Voice (Kehrer Verlag) consists of large-format pictures of the Tibetan diaspora. They are perfectly conventional portraits: beautifully executed, but not necessarily remarkable other than for their subject matter. I chose this one because it doesn’t immediately feed our orientalist preconceptions of maroon-robed monks, rosaries and chuba-clad women. Rather, we see Everyman, poorly shaven, wearing generic, slightly scruffy western clothes and a huge pair of glasses. He reminds us that refugees are ourselves, kicked in the stomach…

Research project I am a retired university lecturer and a practising photographer. I'm seeking some information for a photographic research project and am hoping AP readers might be able to help me or direct me to someone who can. Before digital photography became widely used, most photographers sent their films to photo labs for processing and printing. Occasionally, they would forget to include their name and contact address, and consequently films could not be identified and returned unless the photographer provided details of the images on their film. I recall that one printing lab (I think it was Kodak) developed a list of categories of photographic images (such as portrait, baby, group of people and landscape) that could be mapped against the photographer's list. This list – I think there…

‘The depth of field is spot on, the colours rich, and the rediscovered memory… priceless’ Tony Kemplen's recent column on the Olympus XA ( Tech Talk 8 April) reminded me of my own XA, which was languishing in an old camera bag at the back of my loft. I didn't know the heritage of the XA line, so eventually identified mine as an XA1, which I bought off eBay to replace the somewhat lacklustre XA2. However, Tony left me wanting an XA3. After fumbling around with the camera and reminiscing about how wonderful it was to have a focusable lens, adjustable aperture and metering – all in an amazingly small package – I then realised there was a film still in it. More rummaging through the loft uncovered my Pentax…

Resolution Our Image Engineering MTF tests reveal the lens to be a very creditable performer. Central sharpness is impressive, dropping just slightly on zooming from 70 to 300mm. The corners are notably softer at 70mm, but improve on zooming longer. Overall the sharpest results tend to be obtained at f/8 or a stop either side. Shading Our tests reveal noticeable shading at maximum aperture throughout the zoom range that disappears at f/8. While the magnitude is similar at all focal lengths, the pattern is noticeably more abrupt into the corners at 70mm. This means it’ll be more visually intrusive with images that should be even-toned across large areas of the frame. Curvilinear distortion Typically for a telephoto zoom, the lens shows mild barrel distortion at its short end, changing to…

THE CONTEST for the title of Environmental Photographer of the Year 2017 is now under way, and is calling for amateur and professional photographers to submit their best environmental photographs. Organised by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), the competition is now in its tenth year. With the aim of raising the public's understanding of the causes, effects and solutions of climate change and social inequality, CIWEM has this year enlisted a number of high-profile advocates for environmental protection – including TV personalities Stephen Fry, Ben Fogle and Steve Backshall – to judge the entries for 2017. They join renowned photographers Tim Parkin and Ashley Cooper. Prizes for each category winner include cash of up to £3,000. There is no submission fee, but entries are limited to…

Missed a trick? I always read Roger Hicks' Final Analysis first, as I love the strange and interesting pictures he writes about. The excellent picture by Gerard Touren of a wet street in Tokyo (AP 6 May) is no exception. However, may I offer a far simpler analysis of how I think Touren achieved this image? I believe there is little or no trickery in this picture. It could simply be a straight shot inverted, as when studied upside down it makes perfect sense. The fuzzy area that Roger sees as possibly ‘out-of-focus bushes or plants' is simply an out-of-focus road surface. The people and buildings reflected are in focus because the water is acting like a mirror and correctly focusing objects that are further away. The dappling in the…

Ross Hoddinott Ross Hoddinott is one of the UK’s leading outdoor photographers. He is multi-award winning, and the author of eight books. Ross is recognised as a close-up specialist, and enjoys photographing insects and wild plants. Visit www.rosshoddinott.co.uk. Wimberley Plamp I think the latest version might cost closer to £40, but when I originally bought my Wimberley Plamp – around 10 years ago – they cost £29.95. For close-up photographers, this is a really handy, lightweight accessory. Basically, it is an articulated arm with a clasp at each end. One clamp attaches to your tripod leg, while the other can keep your subject steady or hold a reflector or light in position. It's like having a extra hand! Close-up diopter The best budget item I've ever bought is a humble…

Getting started If using flash, test its intensity and tune the exposure. You'll need a tripod if you're photographing moving insects or flowers blowing in a breeze, and perhaps get yourself a cable release. Colour and light Now that the days are long, you can make the most of the extra daylight. Early morning and evening are ideal times for macro photography, as the soft diffused light is an ideal way to bring out colour and detail. Focusing You may be better off using manual focusing rather than autofocus to minimise the chance of coming away with a lot of out-of-focus images. Depth of field becomes narrower the closer the subject is to the camera. Black & white It could be that you choose to convert your image to black…

As a magazine, Rolling Stone, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, has always been about much more than music. Far better to think of it as a bi-weekly chronicle of the popular and political culture of the day, with the sheer quality of the writing, photography and design explaining both its longevity and continued influence. The magazine also appeared in the right place at the right time, emerging from one of the most creative periods in history – the 1967 Summer of Love. Rolling Stone was the brainchild of eminent jazz critic Ralph Gleason and Jann Wenner, a 21-year-old unemployed journalist and music obsessive who remains at the helm of the magazine half a century later. As well as great journalism from the likes of Hunter S Thompson, PJ…

1 As with most wildlife images, forming a connection with the viewer is best achieved by focusing the camera on a subject's eyes and taking images at eye-level. With reptiles, this usually means getting down on the ground. At this level, the camera will be well supported by resting your elbows on the ground or on your kit bag. 2 The most striking images of snakes often depict the snake's tongue flickering back and forth. To capture this you're going to need a fast shutter speed of at least 1/400sec. The faster the speed, the greater your success rate. Shooting image bursts with the camera on high-speed mode will greatly improve your chances of capturing the flickering tongue in perfect position. 3 Most reptiles won't be found completely out in…

Rubberised feet These prevent the tripod from marking delicate surfaces, and provide a bit of extra grip Grub screws Small screws at each end of the two centre columns and on the head platform allow the various parts to be fixed together so they won’t undo Carabiner Can be used to clip the tripod to a bag strap or belt Kit contents The tripod comes with two interchangeable centre columns and a couple of allen keys, with everything fitting neatly into the supplied nylon carry case At a glance • Max height: 34cm • Folded length: 23cm • Weight: 440g • Max load: 4kg • £79.99 • www.sirui.eu/en CHINESE firm Sirui is one of the best-kept secrets in photography. Despite making a wide range of high-quality camera supports, it has…

Literally, photography means ‘painting with light. The name is in fact much more descriptive than many people realise. If it were kept well in mind, it would yield an often missing intuition into the nature of photographic imaging. Consider how painters work. They look at a scene with their eyes and then apply pigments to a piece of canvas. Their aim is that the light reflected from the pigments will produce a visually convincing representation of what they saw with their eyes. In effect, what they have done is to measure the strength of the light of each piece of the scene, categorised it as a shade, and then applied paint onto the canvas in a corresponding area, which matches that shade. The paint has two characteristics, colour and lightness.…