Innholdsfortegnelse for 03-Jun-2017 i Amateur Photographer

As I write this, 30 black & white films are currently available – proof, if it were still needed, that we’re in the middle of an analogue photography renaissance. Put it down to film die-hards from the pre-digital days, put it down to younger photographers wanting something more hand-crafted and sensuous than pictures on a computer, but there’s no doubt that film is thriving. This issue is dedicated to the glorious revival of the art and science of black & white photography, with plenty of practical tips and hard-won wisdom from film savants. However, if you’re solidly digital there’s no need to feel left out, as we’ve got a step-by-step guide to black & white toning in Lightroom and a hands-on test of the stripped-back but still cutting-edge Leica M10.…

Yan Wang Preston Mother River is a photographic odyssey taking the viewer on a journey along the Yangtze, often known as China’s Mother River. This exhibition, commissioned in partnership with Gallery of Photography Ireland, offers fresh perspectives on China, where traditional landscape clashes with present-day development. Until 24 June, www.impressions-gallery.com Michael Prince Michael Prince was commissioned by the BBC to shoot behind-the-scenes photographs for a recent BBC drama about the Brontë sisters and their brother Branwell. To Walk Invisible was aired last year. Michael’s images are on display at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth. Throughout 2017, www.bronte.org.uk Video editing Whether you’re a beginner or experienced editor, this course for budding filmmakers is designed to show you how to get everything you need from Adobe Premiere…

Canon Europe has announced ‘Live for the Story', a new campaign that encourages people to find special memories in all moments of their life. The launch includes a contest called ‘365 Days of Summer', where one storyteller will win a round-the-world trip, and will be tasked with identifying and living 365 inspiring stories as they chase summer through the time zones. According to Canon, the contest aims to reclaim the dying art of visual storytelling. The competition is open to all. Anyone who thinks they have what it takes can apply by sharing their most memorable summer story on Instagram, accompanied by 50 words, and tagging @CanonUK and #LiveForTheStory by 28 June. Visit www.canoneurope.com/live-for-the-story for full details.…

I still love and rate AP highly, but feel the only way I can continue to enjoy it is to stop reading your readers' poll, letters and so on. Why? I just can't agree with half the comments, and get fed up with nitpicking. For instance, the poll on film. As I have mentioned before, as an OAP who gave up film in 2005, the move to digital was a revelation. I am getting results that would never have been possible before. I can go out for a walk and take as many pictures as I want, come home and print the best straight from SD card to printer. In my opinion, it's much more satisfying than waiting on film/slides, as well as being a whole lot less expensive. However,…

‘With portraits you might want to blur the background’ You may have heard people refer to their camera as full-frame or APS-C format – these terms relate to the size of the sensor that the cameras use to capture the image. A full-frame camera has a sensor that's the same size as a 35mm film frame, 36x24mm, while an APS-C format camera has a sensor that is about the same size as the Classic frame of APS film. We say ‘about' because the film format actually measures 251x16.7mm, while the sensors are usually a little bit smaller at around 23.5x15.6mm. Moving down the scale a little further, Micro Four Thirds cameras have what is known as a Four Thirds type sensor which measures 17.3x13mm – and there are cameras like…

‘It was not much bigger than today’s iPhone and was instantly recognisable by its organic, curved design, enamel finish and black leather bellows’ It was not just their ‘troubles’ that many of the men – and women – who marched away between 1914 and 1918 packed into their ‘old kit bags’. Along with their absolute military essentials, they slipped another, unofficial, item into their pack or tunic pocket: the new, exciting, compact Vest Pocket Kodak camera – the VPK. Transported to battlefields around the world, these cherished VPKs were the tools by which the ordinary soldier or nurse would capture the significant events of what would be the single greatest adventure of their lives – in real time. No other army in history had been able to record its war…

Our bundle includes: • Rotolight AEOS light • Pro Aluminium Ball Head • Power adapter • 95 Wh V-Mount Lith-Ion Battery • Filter Holder • Filter Pack inc 216 Full Diffuser; 250 Medium, Half White Diffuser; ‘Cosmetic Peach' Diffuser; 1/8th Minus Green (Magenta) • AEOS soft case The closing date for entries is 5 August 2017 Competition open to UK residents only For your chance to win visit amateurphotographer.co.uk/rotolight…

Science-fiction writers sometimes write of dimensions being pulled out of shape. I always think of this in terms of some of Picasso’s more outré compositions, and when I first saw the image here I had to look at it hard to persuade myself that I wasn’t looking at a Picasso painting. The shapes, the colours, the composition, the hard-edge style, the blend of unexpected angles and curves, the odd and eclectic mixture of the old-fashioned (the ashtray, the bust) and the self-consciously modernistic, the cushions – so reminiscent of giant sponges (surrealistic pillows?), all combined to create a Picasso-esque impression. And yet, it appears to be a straight photograph. Brilliantly executed, yes, but (in a sense) no more than standing in the right place with the right lens on the…

Pin Mill by Shaun Mills Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, 24-70mm, 120secs at f/8, ISO 100, tripod, Formatt-Hitech Firecrest filter holder and ND13 filter AP reader Shaun Mills uploaded this atmospheric shot to our Twitter stream using the hashtag #appicoftheweek. ‘I went to Pin Mill in Suffolk specifically to photograph these old wooden wrecks abandoned on the banks of the River Orwell,' says Shaun. ‘I'd gone with the intention of using my Formatt-Hitech ND13 filter to get some nice long exposure shots. Having checked the tide times, I foolishly managed to arrive around ten minutes after the tide had turned, so there was a little less water around the wrecks than I wanted. While I may have missed out on a nice silky-smooth sea, the sky more than made up…

When I heard that Boots was closing 220 of its in-store mini-labs, leaving just 100 nationwide, I was a trifle despondent. The high-street one-hour photo lab does so much to make film photography accessible, and Boots' cull was surely evidence of a declining demand for film photography. However, after giving it some thought I'm not so sure. When I tested a variety of film-processing services a few years ago, from specialist labs and postal services to walk-in high-street operations, Boots didn't rate particularly highly. The colours were poor, the company didn't always keep to the promised collection time and the service didn't seem good value. Close to perfect I much preferred the results from the independent Palm Labs in Birmingham, run by the enthusiastic Steve Jones. C41-processed 35mm negatives are…

You answered… A Yes, a 35mm manual SLR 19% B Yes, a 35mm AF SLR 12% C Yes, medium format 17% D No, I buy them second-hand 15% E No, I’m now fully digital 37% What you said ‘I have a variety of film cameras in different formats. If something I considered to be worth having comes along, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a brand-new one.’ ‘I would like to buy a medium-format rangefinder that’s not too expensive – say, half the price of the Fujifilm GF670.’ ‘I was brought up mainly on black & white film and it was a sorry day when I got rid of my film cameras – but now I could never go back to it.’ ‘Yes, definitely. A Pentax 67 III with soft mirror…

David Healey ARPS David is the photography tutor at King Edward VI Aston School, a multicultural grammar school for boys in Birmingham. He is also chairman of the Analogue Group of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) and a volunteer photographer at Lichfield Cathedral. Visit rps.org/special-interest-groups During the announcement that Kodak would soon restart production of colour slide film to meet rising demand, Steven Overman, the company’s Consumer and Film Division president, said: ‘We are seeing a broad resurgence of excitement about capturing images on film… an irreplaceable medium for image creators to express their artistic vision.’ Similarly, the continued availability of more than 30 different black & white films is witness to the renaissance of, and enthusiasm for, silver-based photography. If you are new to film, or haven’t…

Steve Schapiro picked up his first camera when he was nine years old. It was a 127 Kodak, and he was at summer camp. However, what influenced his career most was Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Decisive Moment. He explains, ‘I would go out and try to photograph that way – capturing the exact moment that was the height of action or emotion.’ From these beginnings, Steve went on to study with the legendary US photojournalist W Eugene Smith. He recalls, ‘I stayed with Eugene Smith in 1961 and he really taught you how to make prints in terms of getting intense blacks and intense whites. Sometimes he used up to 250 sheets of paper to make one master print.’ Printing wasn’t the only thing he mastered from working with Eugene Smith. ‘I…

James Paterson James is as skilled a photo editor as he is a photographer. His work has appeared in countless magazines and books, and in 2014 he was appointed editor of Practical Photoshop magazine. His subjects range from portraits to landscapes, architecture and underwater scenes. For James, Photoshop is more than just a work tool. Visit www.patersonphotos.com 1 Apply selenium toning In the traditional selenium process the metallic silver in a print is converted into silver selenide. The resulting colour changes range from reddish-brown to purple, depending on the strength of the solution and the type of paper. To get the selenium look in Lightroom try the in-built preset, or experiment with Split Toning. 2 Convert to mono first The starting point for most black & white toning effects is…

Delivery All ultraHD Photo Prints are rolled before they’re packaged in a tube for protection. Upon delivery, prints should be left to rest and flatten out. Colour fastness Colour fastness is a term that characterises a material’s colour resistance to fading. This print service offers a 75-year colour fastness. White border There’s the option to add a white border around the edge of prints. Options vary from a 1cm up to a 12cm border, but this does add to the price. At a glance • Sizes from 9x9cm to 248x122cm • Standard, express and premium express delivery • Sample pack of paper available via the website • Price £10.95 (40x30cm) plus £4.95 delivery • www.whitewall.com IF YOU don't possess your own printer, but like the idea of having a few…

Smith and Parr in fashion collaboration Designer Paul Smith has teamed up with Martin Parr to launch a new beach range. This collection seamlessly blends Parr’s iconic beach-life photography with Smith’s trademark photo-print style. The collection features a scarf, two pocket squares and two pairs of swimming shorts, and is available from London’s Dover Street Market or www.paulsmith.com. High-capacity Verbatim storage devices Verbatim has announced its highest-capacity desktop and mobile hard drives to date. The Store ‘n’ Save 10TB USB 3.0 Desktop costs £529 and the Store ‘n’ Go 5TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive, which is the largest capacity available on the market for portable hard disk drives, costs £269. Visit www.verbatim-europe.co.uk. Manfrotto reveals Manhattan collection Manfrotto has launched the Manhattan range of camera bags. The three models –…

HTC has introduced its latest flagship smartphone, the HTC U11, with a 12-megapixel rear camera that has a wide aperture of f/1.7. Auto-HDR boost aims to provide quick multi-image capture, and HTC is promising optical image stabilisation and autofocus speeds of 0.3secs. Users looking for more control over their shots will also be able to use manual settings and shoot in raw. The front-facing camera features a 16-megapixel sensor with f/2 lens, and comes with ‘UltraPixel' mode for better low-light performance. The HTC U11 is out in June, priced £649. For the latest news visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk…

Matt Doogue, Edinburgh As a young boy, Matt was fascinated by the natural world and this interest was reignited in his adult years. He started teaching himself photography after being inspired by his wife's uncle's pictures. At the time, Matt was suffering from depression and stress, and the creative process of photography was a key part of his recovery. A while ago, he began to attend photography gatherings where he met people who shared his interest. It got him out and about, socialising with a group of enthusiasts he might never have engaged with before. But most importantly, he started to get better at photography. www.facebook.com/mattsmacro 1 Opilione Matt took this image in his back garden during a light rain shower. He has captured the drops of rain perfectly as…