Innholdsfortegnelse for 07-Jul-2018 i Amateur Photographer

It’s shaping up to be a good summer, so now is the time to sharpen your outdoor portrait skills. Studio shoots are all very well, but there is nothing like skilfully directed and shaped natural light. See page 12 for expert tips on mastering the art of alfresco people shots, with inspiration and technical tips to get you creating your best-ever images. Our competition – APOY (Amateur Photographer of the Year) – is also looking for portrait entries, so this is a great way to kill two birds with one stone. Pentax fans, meanwhile, will want to turn to our field test of the rugged K1 (page 40), and there’s a great tutorial on combining the power of Lightroom and Photoshop (page 34). Add in some great features on documentary…

Sony and Rotolight team up for summer promotion Anybody purchasing a Sony A9, A7R II, A7R III or A7S II from Sony’s range of compact system cameras will receive a Rotolight NEO 2, completely free of charge. The all-in-one high speed sync (HSS) flash and continuous on-camera LED is worth £299. For more details see page 32, or visit rotolight.com/sony. Canon reveals world’s largest CMOS sensor At nearly 40 times the size of a 35mm full-frame CMOS sensor, it is safe to say that Canon’s giant sensor won’t be coming to any consumer-level cameras in the near future. Instead, the 20cm-square device has already been used in the 105cm Schmidt camera at the Kiso Observatory in Tokyo to record meteors. Lomography launches Diana Instant Square Inheriting many of the features…

A NEW BATCH of Lightroom updates has been announced, with a focus on synchronising presets and profiles across your devices. Lightroom CC introduces Batch Copy and Paste settings, enabling you to copy settings from one image and paste them to multiple images at once. An interesting feature coming to Lightroom CC Mobile (iOS devices only) is the ability to capture long exposures without a tripod. To do this, the Long Exposure mode takes a burst of DNGs or JPEGs, merging them together to create a long-exposure effect. The other upgrades include improvements to Lightroom CC Classic. Simply use the Adobe Application Updater to get the free updates.…

THIS WEEK we are going back to 10 July 2004. Fast rewind 14 years and we're getting excited about 5MP compact cameras. It's easy to be sniffy about this old-hat technology with the rise of the smartphone and high-resolution full-frame sensors, but some are still very usable today; indeed, the wonderfully streamlined Canon Digital IXUS is an underrated design classic. Other highlights in this issue include a big feature on Jacques-Henri Lartigue, who should be an inspiration to anyone who thinks they have left it too late to really make their mark in photography. Originally a painter, he claimed to have discovered photography only in 1963, aged 69. The old rogue had a penchant for racing cars and fashion models, and his admonition to photograph ‘everything that delights and amuses…

As I stood behind the camera shop's counter, customers often compared two or three SLRs side by side to decide which (ergonomics being very important) felt ‘right' and had the best viewfinder for their eyes. Then came a discussion about other features. Those who were buying an SLR for the first time would often say ‘I wish brand X had brand Y's lens mount'. Their ideal camera might have been the amalgam of several makes' best ideas. Yet the facility to have Nikon lenses on a Pentax body was not available. The ‘perfect' camera is probably a mirage and, of course, partly a matter of opinion. Yet Reflex, a new Kickstarter-funded film SLR due for launch at Photokina in September this year, will have a modular, interchangeable lens mount (Pentax…

1 If it's not possible to arrange a pre-shoot meeting, spend some time talking to your model before you begin taking pictures. It's important to understand how they like to work and connect with them, to build a rapport. Even if you only have an hour, dedicating half of that time to conversation will give you more keepers. 2 Make an effort to plan each of your scenes, as well as the looks you want to capture. A mood board can be really useful when discussing what you'd like from your model. Talk with them about how you'd like them to work and move within each of the scenes you have devised. 3 Physically walk your model through each of your scenarios to make it clear what you'd like them…

Program puzzler Thank you for the excellent articles on technique. I particularly valued the piece on focus stacking (AP, 26 May) and have used it with some success. I have read AP since the '60's – usually after my Dad had finished with it. It would often come to me with some articles torn out which he would keep in our loft darkroom for future reference. I am obliged to buy my own copy now and find myself doing the same, keeping a file of articles next to the computer, which thankfully is not in the loft! While the underlying principles of managing images in the darkroom and the computer are similar, I find the latter infinitely more powerful, complex and sometimes overwhelming. Having been nurtured on log tables, and…

Round Five Persons of Interest For this round we are looking for images of people, whether that be in the form of a portrait, street scene, or carefully considered selfie. Bear in mind that there are expectations attached to portraits that can be intimidating. Drawing out the hidden qualities or the character of an individual is not easy. There are a number of things to consider, such as ensuring that the correct focus is achieved and making sure that your images are free of superfluous background details that might compete with your subject for attention. Great people pictures can be found in all walks of life, from family and friends to local shopkeepers and strangers. Plan your APOY 2018 year Below is a list of all this year's rounds including…

For some time now, Sony’s mirrorless cameras in the A7 and A9 ranges have been pushing the boundaries of what cameras can achieve. Meanwhile, Rotolight has also been striving to deliver an ideal lighting solution with the NEO 2. Pairing both together is the perfect match for those photographers looking for a highly portable, professional quality camera-and-light combination. This summer, anybody who buys a Sony A9, A7R II, A7R III or A7S II will receive the award-winning Rotolight NEO 2, worth £299, completely free of charge. Featuring a built-in Elinchrom Skyport flash receiver, the NEO 2 delivers ultra-reliable wireless triggering up to 200m away. Powered by six AA batteries, the NEO 2 delivers outstanding colour reproduction, with a gorgeous soft light output and Rotolight’s signature catchlight effect. It can be…

Pentax had a tricky job on its hands when launching the K-1 back in 2016. The full-frame market has always been a congested space and the ‘big two' of Canon and Nikon have enjoyed years of leading the market with tried-and-tested DSLRs from the 5D and D800 (latterly D850) line-ups. Plus, the emergence of Sony's acclaimed mirrorless A7 series added further traffic and choice. However, it could be argued that the lack of expectation on the brand freed up the R&D designers at Pentax to throw off the shackles and try adding some genuinely new features to its first full-frame DSLR. Pick up this camera and the first thing you'll notice is its weight and bulk. Users of ultra-lightweight mirrorless cameras may want to hit the gym for a few…

It's always refreshing to see a third-party lens maker venture into new ground, and with the 70-210mm f/4 Di VC USD, Tamron has spotted a gap in the market and made a genuinely interesting alternative to the 70-300mm lenses that Canon and Nikon offer as upgrade options from their entry-level telezooms. It strikes a very attractive balance between image quality, robustness and portability, making it a particularly tempting option for users of mid-range APS-C DSLRs such as the Canon EOS 80D or Nikon D7500. Unsurprisingly, this lens isn't quite as stunning as its f/2.8 sibling, but it comes pretty close, given that it costs less than half the price. Indeed, my main gripe is that the front-mounted zoom ring compromises handling. If you can live with that, though, it's a…

Which camera strap should I buy? Q I've been a keen photographer for a while now and have got to the point where I end up taking my camera everywhere with me so that I never miss a shot. I often wear my camera – a Sony Alpha 7 II – just with the strap, rather than putting it in a bag. I only have the original camera strap and was wondering if you can recommend something more comfortable and secure for wearing the camera for long periods of time? I'm happy to spend up to £70 to get the right camera strap. Alan Stennett A It is very important to find the right camera strap for you, as the right strap can make the difference between wanting the camera…

AF Nikon AF lenses driven from camera AF-S Nikon lenses with Silent Wave Motor AF-P Nikon lenses with stepper motors AL Pentax lenses with aspheric elements APD Fujifilm lenses with apodisation elements APO Sigma Apochromatic lenses ASPH Aspherical elements AT-X Tokina’s Advanced Technology Extra Pro AW Pentax all-weather lenses CS Samyang lenses for APS-C cropped sensors D Nikon lenses that communicate distance info DA Pentax lenses optimised for APS-C-sized sensors DC Nikon defocus-control portrait lenses DC Sigma’s lenses for APS-C digital DG Sigma’s designation for full-frame lenses Di Tamron lenses for full-frame sensors Di-II Tamron lenses designed for APS-C DSLRs Di-III Tamron lenses for mirrorless cameras DN Sigma’s lenses for mirrorless cameras DO Canon diffractive optical element lenses DT Sony lenses for APS-C-sized sensors DX Nikon’s lenses for DX-format digital…

Fisheye lenses are extremely seductive: who has not been fascinated by them? But all too often they seduce us into paths of unrighteousness: of poor composition, novelty at the expense of all else, and sometimes of dubious techni quality as well. Full-fram fisheyes are bad enough, b circular-image fisheyes are worse. And yet, when I saw this picture by Nigel Hayes, El_Sid on the AP forum (go there, and thence to his Flickr gallery), I was mightily impressed. So was my wife Frances Schultz, but she was more succinct: she just said, ‘Wow.’ Why, then, is it so successful? One reason, I suspect, is that it reflects the not uncommon experience of simultaneously seeing and experiencing both the near at hand and the far away: the far that we are…

SAMYANG has temporarily withdrawn its XP 50mm f/1.2 and XP 85mm f/1.2 lenses from sale in the EU. According to a statement from UK distributor Intro 2020 Ltd, this is because of a design dispute with Zeiss. Intro 2020 stated: ‘Samyang informed us that there is a design-related issue with the XP 85mm f/1.2 and XP 50mm f/1.2 lenses between Samyang and Carl Zeiss. Carl Zeiss applied for a temporary injunction to German and EU courts to hold the sales and marketing of XP lenses in the whole EU, and to their regret, it was accepted by the courts. ‘In order to prevent any further arguments, Samyang will stop shipping XP 85mm and XP 50mm lenses to Europe until this design issue is resolved. In accordance with the current situation,…

IT HELPS to use a camera with decent tracking AF, set to either face or eye priority, with a wide or centre group selection. This is especially helpful when your subject is constantly moving through the scene, so won't always be covered by the same focus point. DSLR users will usually have the advantage of more effective continuous autofocus, but the latest mirrorless cameras do have highly capable face- and eye-detection systems and are able to keep track of your subjects wherever they move within the frame.…

Go to work Taking a picture of someone where they work is a great way to tell a story about their life. What's more, when the subject is comfortable with their environment they are more likely to look relaxed and unposed. Keep it simple Sometimes the face of your subject will say it all, so keep the background simple and make sure that the colours really complement your subject. Here, eye contact was less crucial than capturing the lady's expression. Consider a crop Filmmakers are quite fond of cropping heads to draw attention to a subject's eyes and/or state of mind. But if you decide to do this make sure that it looks intentional, otherwise it just looks like poor framing. Capture relationships Humans are highly sociable beings, and some…

YOU CAN pick up your free NEO 2 with the purchase of any of the relevant cameras (Sony A7R II, A7S II, A7R III or A9) at the point of purchase. The NEO 2 kit, worth £299, includes: 1 x Rotolight NEO 2 1 x Rotolight Belt Pouch Carry Case 1 x Rotolight Universal power adapter with regional mains cable 1 x Filter Holder 1 x NEO 2 Filter Pack: - 1 x 216 Full Diffuser (1.5 Stops) - 1 x 250 Medium, Half White Diffuser (3/4 Stops) - 1 x 184 ‘Cosmetic Peach' Diffusion - 1 x 279 1/8th Minus Green (Magenta)…

IN JANUARY 2018 Pentax unveiled the K-1 Mark II and, while there are some improvements, an exploration into the spec sheets shows this was more of a refresh of the camera rather than a wholesale evolution. In fact, the new additions are mostly internal upgrades – so much so that K-1 users can actually pay for their camera to be upgraded and rebadged as a K-1 Mark II. Improvements to the camera's autofocus system are present in the Mark II, particularly the AF tracking mode. An accelerator unit boosts the signal to the 36-megapixel sensor which, in turn, helps reduce noise even further and improves overall image quality, but this results in a slight decrease in power duration from the D-L190 battery (670 shots, compared to 760 on the K-1…

Resolution Tested on the 50MP full-frame Canon EOS 5DS R, the lens reveals itself to be extremely sharp in the centre of the frame, especially when stopped down to f/5.6. The corners aren’t as great. However, curvature of field means that they are slightly out of focus in our chart testing. The best performance is seen in the middle of the zoom range. Shading Some vignetting is visible at all focal lengths when the lens is shot wide open using a full-frame camera, but it disappears on stopping down to f/5.6. The corner darkening effect is slightly more abrupt at 70mm, but even then, it’s not particularly problematic in real-world images. On APS-C cameras, you simply won’t see it at all. Curvilinear distortion The 70-210mm shows typical distortion characteristics for…

GoPro Hero 6 This tiny action camera takes up little to no room on your travels and can record up to 4K 60p and 240p in full HD for beautiful slow-motion movies. The GoPro's mounting system is universal across their platform, meaning you can get plenty of mounts to suit every activity from kayaking to skydiving, and they are widely available all over the world. A built-in touchscreen makes navigating the menu system far easier than on previous models and you can even shoot 12MP raw stills with the ultra-wide lens. £399 • Waterproof without housing up to 10 metres deep • High-quality 4K 60p video with 240p slow motion • Mount system available worldwide Olympus TG-5 Tough This ultra-tough compact is shockproof to 2.1m, crushproof to 100kg, freezeproof to…

If you’d like to see your work published in Amateur Photographer, here’s how to send us your images: Email Email a selection of low-res images (up to 5MB of attachments in total) to appicturedesk@ti-media.com.CD/DVD Send us a disc of high-resolution JPEG, TIFF or PSD images (at least 2480 pixels along its longest length), with a contact sheet, to the address on page 55. Via our online communities Post your pictures into our Flickr group, Facebook page, Twitter feed, or the gallery on our website. See details above. Transparencies/prints Well-packaged prints or slides (without glass mounts) should be sent by Special Delivery, with a return SAE, to the address on page 55.…

LOUPEDECK, the custom editing console designed to speed up working with photo-editing programs, has had a major redesign. Originally custom-built to work with Adobe Lightroom, the new console is now also compatible with Skylum Aurora HDR, as well as offers Capture One functionality (in beta). Customer feedback has been considered for the redesign, with physical upgrades including mechanical keys which have a more precise and sturdy feel, two dedicated customisable dials, a ‘custom mode' allowing full user control of all dials and configuration software which has been built from scratch for a faster and more stable editing experience. The Loupedeck+ will retail for £199 – and current Loupedeck owners can take advantage of a £35 cashback offer. For the latest news visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk…

Camera with fast AF Any DSLR above the Nikon D750 or Canon EOS 80D will have an advanced enough AF system to keep up. Rotolight NEO 2 The NEO 2 is portable enough to place anywhere within your scene or directed at your subject, offering continuous LED light and high-speed sync flash. Rotolight AEOS A highly versatile light, the AEOS is suitable for location shoots or studio settings. This powerful LED light comes with a V-Lock battery and handles, for ultimate portability. Elinchrom Skyport Trigger Rotolight’s suite of units have Elinchrom Skyport receivers built in, for high-speed sync flash mode with super-fast recycle times.…

EISA Maestro competition winners The theme of the 2018 EISA Maestro competition was nature photography. The winning entries from each of the 15 participating EISA countries were judged together at the Association's General Meeting in June 2018 and the final results will be revealed at the EISA Gala in August. The overall winner will take home a cash prize of € 1,500 and the EISA Photo Maestro 2018 Trophy. The overall winner from the UK, as selected by the AP judging panel, was Tom Lowe, whose impressive portfolio was published in the 23 June issue of Amateur Photographer. 2nd Trevor Cole Born in Northern Ireland, Trevor has a passion for travel and has spent most of his life living overseas including periods in England, Singapore, Togo, Italy, Ethiopia and Brazil.…

Short telephoto prime lenses don't get much better than the SIGMA 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art. This lens has been engineered for unparalleled image quality, and employs a new optical design and premium components. It features two FLD glass elements and one element with a high rate of anomalous partial dispersion and high refraction, resulting in a class-leading level of performance. What's more, the nine-blade diaphragm creates beautiful background bokeh. It's an ideal lens for portraiture, both in the studio and on location. The prize value is £1,199.99.…

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 PS vs LR – which is better? It depends. Photoshop is better for image-editing, as it can do everything Lightroom can do (in the Camera Raw plug-in), plus a lot more. For instance, you can’t blend images like this in Lightroom, or add other elements to your photos. However, Lightroom is less bloated than Photoshop. It’s designed solely for photographers so it’s easier to use and better for organising your image library.…

USB charge The built-in Li-ion battery is charged through a Micro USB port, which has a small push-in rubber plug that you’ll lose instantly. One-button control A single button on the side is used to turn the light on or off, change brightness and activate Bluetooth. Dual mount The small non-articulating mount will slide onto your camera’s hotshoe, and has a standard 1/4in tripod thread, too. Clip-on filters A diffuser filter and two strengths of warm-up come in the kit. They’re attached using a clip-on mount that fits neatly into the same protective case. Manfrotto's Lumimuse range of compact on-camera LED lights first appeared three years ago, and we like them a lot for providing good-quality light in a portable package. They come in three sizes, with three, six or…