Innholdsfortegnelse for AP Advance Skills Spring 2016 i Amateur Photographer

A sensor is made up of millions of photodiodes, often called photosites or, confusingly, pixels. Each photodiode records the amount of light that is hitting that particular point, which results in an image map of where the light hits the sensor. Where no light reaches the sensor at all, the photodiode will record no information, resulting in a black pixel in the recorded image. Where the amount of light hitting the sensor exceeds what the photodiode can hold, a white pixel will be recorded. Between these two extremes is a range of grey pixels. Above each photodiode is a microscopic coloured filter, usually of red, green or blue. As we know, there are various different colour patterns for these filters, known as colour filter arrays (CFAs), but the most commonly…

If you want to produce high-quality black & white photographs, the only option is to shoot in raw mode. If the capture data starts out in colour, you’ll have the chance to make use of the colour data information to determine what is the most suitable black & white outcome. If, on the other hand, you shoot directly in black & white in JPEG mode, you’ll lose the opportunity to get creative. When editing raw files, the main things that affect the outcome of a black & white conversion will be the selected white balance and the black and white slider settings (such as in the HSL/Grayscale panel). When using Camera Raw or Lightroom, you may find it useful to select the Target Adjustment tool and use this to click…

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…

REMOTE RELEASE You’ll probably want to use a remote timer switch to avoid vibrations and enable easy long-exposure programming. Third-party switches are cheap to obtain on the internet. COMPATIBLE LENSES Checking your lenses against a hotspot database such as www.kolarivision.com/lenshotspot.html is highly recommended. Not all lenses perform well with infrared, particularly at smaller apertures such as f/11-f/16. INFRARED FILTER If you’re starting out, an infrared screw-on filter is the way to go. You’ll need to pick a filter size to fit your chosen lens, but the Hoya R72 does the job nicely. CONVERSION If you are confident that infrared is going to form a large part of your portfolio, consider a 720nm sensor conversion instead of a screw-on filter to avoid perpetual long exposures.…

Ideally, you should mount your camera on a tripod when shooting exposure sequences for HDR and fusion so it doesn’t move between frames, otherwise the images may not line up correctly when you combine them. The exposure increments you use depend on how contrasty the scene is. I tend to shoot -2, -1, metered, +1 and +2 stops, although if the scene is very contrasty, as it was for the street scene used here, I may bracket from -3 to +3 stops in full-stop increments so I end up with a sequence of seven images. I normally shoot in aperture priority exposure mode and adjust the exposure between frames using the camera’s exposure compensation facility. However, it is quicker to use your autoexposure bracketing, or to create a custom function…

BARN DOORS The metal flaps on a light fixture that are used to control spill or to create a rectangular-shaped light pattern. SCATTERGELS A screen-printed acrylic sheet with regular or irregular patterns used to break up the light and create a dappled effect. FRESNEL The name of the man who a compact lens made up of concentric rings is named after. These lenses are often found in lighthouses, on the front of flashlights, and in film and TV luminaires. LUMINAIRE The posh term for a continuous lighting fixture. KICK LIGHT A kick light glances the cheek of the subject from behind and to the side. It creates a light band, often blown out to white from the specular reflections off the skin. BACK LIGHT A back light is rigged on…

There is no doubt that post-processing, whether in the darkroom or on a computer, is one of the most important and complex aspects of photography – even more so with this artistic style of architecture. It is critical that the original image is captured with as much information as possible, but even then, this only provides a good starting point. Next comes what I consider to be the ‘art’ in the ‘art of photography’: the creation of your vision through technical post-processing techniques, which is often much more difficult and complex than anything you can find on your camera. This is a very personal stage, where your image becomes unique and takes on your individual vision, be that true to the original scene or as far removed from it as…

1 MOST OF YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS WILL SUCK Antonio says: ‘Taking photographs is like taking notes – you take a lot of them in the hope you will make one that’s amazing. A lot of people new to photography are disappointed by how many bad pictures they take. Well, here is a little secret: everyone, even pros, takes lots of bad images. Like a writer with piles of notes, the photographer must learn to edit his or her work and sift through a stack of pictures to look for that one strong image. I go out into the streets hoping to make one good photograph. Most of my images are a disappointment. Sometimes I try things and they just don’t work. ‘Photography for me is about learning to live with constant…

1 USING THE ENLARGER Once the chemicals have been measured out, place the negative in the enlarger carrier with the shiny side upwards and the numbers away from you. Set the enlarger at the correct height to give a projected image big enough for the chosen print size. Each time you alter the height, refocus the image. 2 POSITIONING Turn on the enlarger and alter the aperture ring of the lens until the brightest image is projected onto the baseboard. Focus the image on the masking frame. Turn the lens’s aperture ring until you feel two clicks and see a darkening of the projected image. This should be 2 stops darker than the lens’s maximum aperture. 3 CHECK SHARPNESS Check for critical sharpness by using a focus finder if you…

KIT LIST TOOLS • Rubber gloves • Changing bag • Bottle opener • Scissors • Thermometer • Large funnel • 1x 150mm and 3x 1l measuring jugs • Negative storage pages • Developing tank CHEMICALS • Ilford Ilfotec DD-X concentrate (1l bottle). Dilute 1:4 to use (70ml concentrate to 280ml of water) • Ilford Ilfostop Stop Bath (500ml bottle). Dilute 1:19 to use (17ml concentrate to 330ml of water) • Ilford Hypam (1l bottle). Dilute 1:4 to use (70ml concentrate to 280ml of water) Because home processing is less common these days than it was in the past, I think people are put off trying it in the mistaken belief that it’s difficult. It isn’t, and once you have seen it done or tried it yourself, you’ll wonder why you…

I USE an average of four sheets of paper (which includes dividing a sheet into smaller sections to save paper) to get a print just how I want it. Printing black & white images is more demanding on the black cartridges than it is on the colour cartridges, so it is worth keeping a stock of these. Expect an 11ml black cartridge to run out after 25 A3+ black & white prints, but this varies depending on the prints being made and the printer being used. A3+ printer recommended for black & white printing: around £650 Full set of proprietary inks: £200 (£20 per 11ml cartridge) Baryta paper: £26 for 20 A3+ sheets A2 printer recommended for black & white printing: from £1,100 Full set of proprietary inks: £500 (£40…

What’s your favourite filter for black & white photography? If someone had asked me that question a few years ago, I would have answered ‘red’. Today the answer is ‘ND grad’, because just as digital capture has changed our approach to black & white photography, it has also changed the filters we need to use. Coloured filters were the mainstay of monochrome photographers for decades. They used to change the way certain colours produced tones and were used to boost contrast. However, these filters are no longer required because you can replicate their effects digitally. This is just as well – there’s little point putting a deep-red filter on your camera lens when you’re shooting in colour, even if the final image will be black & white. Filters aren’t totally…

1 STARTING POINT This shows the colour original, which was shot outside the famous 72oz steak house in Texas, in the USA. The steak is free if you can eat one in an hour (I chose the Caesar salad). I selected this particular image to demonstrate a black & white conversion because it had a good mix of colours to work with. 2 CONVERT TO GRAYSCALE First, I went to the HSL/Grayscale panel and checked the Convert to Grayscale box. This converted the colour image to black & white using a default conversion, in which all the sliders in the HSL/Grayscale panel were set to 0. As you can see, there is not much drama in the black & white conversion this produced. 3 WHITE BALANCE I then adjusted the…

WEATHER-SEALED CAMERA AND LENS I get some of my best shots in unpredictable weather, so my gear gets very wet. It’s reassuring to know it will keep working. CABLE RELEASE My Nikon D800 camera doesn’t have built-in Wi-Fi, so I use a cable release for my tripod work. It’s a Nikon MC-36, which is very versatile. PHOTOSHOP Post-processing is an important step in the production of black & white photos. I use Photoshop CS6, which is an extremely useful program. CALIBRATED MONITOR I use a Spyder4PRO to calibrate my computer screen, and I prefer to use a commercial lab for my prints. The results I get back closely match what I’ve seen on my monitor.…

You’ll need to take extra care with focusing if you’re using an infrared filter, as lenses are designed to focus on visible – not infrared – light. To compensate for this, it’s advisable to offset your focus. While not so prevalent on modern lenses, many optics carry an infrared focus marker to indicate how far you must offset your focus to compensate for infrared light. This is merely a guide, as it will vary depending on the filter you use, and so long as an aperture of around f/8-f/11 is used it should be enough to ensure that the depth of field is sufficient to be maintained throughout the scene.…

1 SELECT FILES Launch Photomatix Pro and click on Load Bracketed Photos at the top of the Workflow Shortcuts box. Drag and drop the files you want to combine into the box that appears, or use the Browse option to find and select the relevant files. Click OK. 2 PREPROCESS IMAGES A dialogue box appears titled Preprocessing Options and has various check boxes and sliders. I just leave this in its default state of Align Source Images, Reduce Noise, Reduce Chromatic Aberrations and so on, and then click Preprocess. 3 TONE MAPPING It usually takes 30-60 seconds to combine the exposures. A tone-mapped image then appears along with sample images created using presets within Photomatix Pro. 4 CHOOSE YOUR PRESET There is an Enhancer-B&W preset worth trying, although I find…

Black & white portraits can have a classic quality that’s hard to match with colour. Here, we look at how to create two timeless portrait lighting set-ups that are perfect for mono photography. Studio lighting needn’t cost the earth – a budget kit can be had for less than £400 – while flashguns and the wealth of accessories available are ideal for simple lighting set-ups. While in the days of film, studio lighting may have been a bit of a dark art, striking studio portraits are incredibly easy to achieve with digital. As you can see your results instantly, you can review and adjust the exposure, as well as move and fine-tune your lighting to ensure you achieve the look you’re after. While it’s always enjoyable to experiment with your…

If you can’t afford the HMI or LED Fresnel spotlights from Lupolux, tungsten Fresnel spotlights are still available from Arri and cost less than a Canon Speedlite or Nikon Speedlight. I recommend the 650, 300 and 150 in the junior series. Flashlights with grids can get you 90% of the look, but without modelling lights they can be hard to set up and rely on test and measure to achieve a good power balance. Studio lights are a better option if you want to try to achieve this look with flash because they have modelling lights – but you might not be able to achieve f/1.4 even with the flash set to minimum power. There are expensive Fresnel adapters available for studio flash systems, but they don’t have the control…

Once I had got over the initial beginnersÕ hurdles of photography, I decided I wanted to create a wide and varied collection of images Ð something more than a single-style portfolio. I felt it was important to become a well-rounded photographer who could ply his art regardless of situation, style or environment. I hoped it would ensure my photography would stay fresh, challenging and, above all, interesting. As my journey continued, I veered more and more towards black & white. While it wasnÕt a conscious decision, the skew became increasingly obvious as time went on. This pull towards monochrome has never left me, and currently approximately 70% of my photographs are mono in one form or another. Black & white images, for me, contain a purity that their colour counterparts…

1 PREPARING YOUR FILM Using a changing bag, remove the film from its canister and feed into the spiral of the central reel from the tank. Cut off the thin end of the film (known as the film leader) and push the cut end of the film in where the lugs on the spiral protrude. 2 LOADING THE FILM If you can push the film in, continue in this way, but if it gets too stiff don’t force it, as you’ll crease it. If pushing isn’t possible, hold the spiral with one side in each hand and twist it backwards and forwards, drawing the film in as it’s gripped by the ball bearings. 3 PLACE IN DEV TANK When the full length of the film is almost loaded, cut the…

These days, a photograph can be viewed directly on a television, a computer monitor, a tablet device or even a lightbox, but for many people there is still nothing like producing a print. Before digital technology, black & white printing was achieved by hand in the darkroom on dedicated black & white paper. In the early days of digital photography, the quality of home digital black & white printing left much to be desired, with photographic labs producing the best results. Yet home printing has improved in the past few years, and there have been some significant developments for black & white printmakers. With a variety of options for printing at home, we look at the options. IMPROVEMENTS TO PRINTING FROM HOME Most home photo printers have a single black-ink…

Photography, whether analogue or digital, is all about exposure. To record a successful image you need to get a precisely controlled amount of light to the film or sensor inside your camera. How much light depends on the subject, the situation and whether or not you’re trying to create a specific effect. A ‘correct’ exposure is subjective, as intentionally giving an image too much or too little exposure may be necessary in one situation but not in another. It is important to understand how exposure works so you can control it rather than letting it control you. This applies as much today as it ever did, although in this digital age many photographers see exposure as something that can always be fixed later if they get it wrong. To some…

1 STARTING POINT This shows the ‘before’ image. The photograph is ideal with which to demonstrate the following faux infrared effect because it contains a lot of green foliage, plus there are the bluebell flowers, which can all be made to appear lighter. In this first step, the White Balance setting was left at the default ‘As Shot’ setting. 2 WHITE BALANCE In this step, I kept the image in colour and adjusted just the White Balance sliders. Here, I dragged the Temperature slider to the right to apply a warm white balance and set the Tint slider all the way over to the left to -150. This made all the green colours (the foliage) as bright a green as possible. 3 CONVERT TO GRAYSCALE I then went to the…

LIGHTING Spotlights with Fresnel lenses are best. Fresnel lenses achieve the magnification of a much thicker lens without the weight. The lens rear is stippled to give the light a super-smooth, soft-edged fall-off. FILTERS I use a Tiffen Black Pro-Mist filter with quarter strength to give a subtle diffused look to my Hollywood images. An old lens from the 1950s or ’60s used via an adapter can also work well. SCATTERGEL I use a ScatterGel or other gobo (go between) to break up the light to create mood and ambience. This simple piece of kit can really deliver the icing on the cake in terms of lighting. BARN DOORS Barn doors on back lights stop the chance of flare and help keep the image shadows under control. Barn doors on…

Here’s how you get the look – by getting it right in-camera. Don’t rely on post-production to achieve magic. Lighting control is the key, so set your camera up first to show exactly what you need to see. Switch the LCD or EVF to black & white and the screen brightness to manual in the middle position. This will give you a preview of what lighting changes you’re making. You can use a tripod too, and I find it helps my fine-tuning of the shot. It also helps as I go back and forth, contrasting and comparing the subtle lighting changes made between shots. I share the images on the back of the camera with my sitter no matter if they are a client, a model or a celebrity. This…

TILT-SHIFT LENS Distortion is a major factor when photographing architecture. A tilt-and-shift lens can virtually eliminate this, meaning far less work in post-production. GEARED HEAD Lining up an electronic spirit level with a ball head is quite difficult. A geared head such as the Arca-Swiss D4 makes this an easy task. REMOTE RELEASE This is crucial for long exposures. I use a Hähnel Giga T Pro II, which provides me with many options, from basic remote release to wireless timer to intervalometer, to name but a few. L BRACKET When shooting in portrait mode, your camera and tripod are substantially less stable. I always use an L bracket to ensure my camera stays above the centre of my tripod.…

The Lake District is a great location to photograph or just visit, to appreciate the sheer beauty of the landscape. Photographer Steven Taylor has set up a two-day course in the area to take you through all things SLR and darkroom. One of the days will be spent in the darkroom getting the best from your negatives to make beautiful black & white silver-gelatin prints for you to take away. Handily, Steven will also give you a step-by-step guide to exactly what you’ll need to set up your own home darkroom. The two-day course costs £150. Visit www.thealchemistsworkshop.co.uk for more information.…

While there’s a good range of colour films on the market, there are more black & white film brands. You can turn to pages 84-86 for a thorough guide on choosing the right black & white film for you, but here we take a look at some of the black & white films you may not necessarily have considered, as well as few familiar names. ILFORD SFX 200 SFX 200 is a high-speed, high-contrast and infrared-sensitive black & white film for 35mm and 120. The film is used with either a deep red (Wratten 25) or completely visually opaque (Wratten 87 series) filter. Care must be taken when using it to prevent fogging. A stainless-steel processing tank is recommended. ILFORD XP2 SUPER 400 This is an fine-grained 35mm and 120…

I found there were a surprising number of choices available for photography portfolios; narrowing it down wasn’t easy, mainly because in the beginning I didn’t entirely know what I was looking for. I also made some mistakes by not thinking enough about how I would actually mount the images in the portfolio to construct the final product. Fortunately, through a degree of trial and error, I ended up with something I was exceptionally happy with. Though the journey wasn’t without its pitfalls and frustrations. The other thing to think about is whether to print your own images or outsource the process to one of a plethora of labs. In my view printing your own work is essential to appreciate fully the true craft of what, to many people, photography is…

There are ways to ‘authenticate’ an inkjet print that is created at home using the services of companies such as Epson, Hahnemühle and Harman. Those who have an Epson Stylus Pro printer, Epson inks and Epson certified paper can take advantage of Epson’s Digigraphie service (www.digigraphie.com), whereby the user can sign the Artist Charter and receive a personalised embosser to mark and authenticate their prints. There are four officially recognised Digigraphie labs in the UK.…