Innholdsfortegnelse for 06-Oct-2018 i Amateur Photographer

Fans of variety will enjoy this week’s issue. We start with some of the most beautiful bird photography I have seen in a while, courtesy of Bird Photographer of the Year, and we’ve asked the winners for their tips for success. Then, with so many local newspapers ditching their photographers and getting their reporters to shoot supporting photos on their phones, we look at what the future holds for community press photography. Elsewhere we tell the story behind the creation of possibly Britain’s largest cyanotype, explain how to make easy Photoshop selections, and review three very different products: the latest Lumix waterproof compact, Rotolight’s top-end LED light, and a great wideangle lens from Samyang. There truly is something for everyone this week.…

Now in its third year, Bird Photographer of the Year is back with more entries than ever and an exceptional standard of photography. This global competition attracts entrants from more than 6o countries around the world, showcasing a huge and beautiful diversity of bird species. This year the grand prize of £5,000 goes to a Peruvian photographer, Pedro Jarque Krebs, for his explosive image of American Flamingos entitled ‘Black Friday’. Competition organiser and judge Rob Read says, ‘Black Friday is an image which is nothing short of explosive; it made an instant and lasting impression on a panel of judges who are determined to push the boundaries of perceived convention. This is photographic punk rock.’ AP got the opportunity to speak to some of the winners to find out what…

‘I set my alarm for 3am. When I arrived at the lake I worked out that the best position was from the west side, which meant a beautiful backlit sunrise. The Great Crested Grebes caught my attention with their graceful and interesting behaviour, and with the best light that nature can offer. It was truly a glorious moment.' JOHAN’S TOP TIPS 1 Shooting in aperture priority mode with a wide aperture to achieve fast shutter speeds is very efficient when your subjects are on the move. 2 It's important to show gratitude and respect for your subject. If you feel connected to your subject, it will show.…

‘These Grey Herons have become celebrities in the birding world. They are a part of a very special population that chooses to stay in their breeding grounds all year round. I took this image on a day where I chose to head out even though the weather forecast said heavy snowfall. I wanted to portray the conditions in which these birds chose to stay. The snow was falling very rapidly which made it hard for me to get an image where single snowflakes where visible. The relatively dark heron was silhouetted against the bright background. I found a solution when a street lamp suddenly turned on due to the fading light. The heron that stood below was lit up, which reduced the contrast. I waited for a moment when the…

How low can you go? Shoot at ground level – it's a surefire way of capturing an unusual image, as it forces you to play with angles and perspective. Fit a wideangle lens for an even more dynamic result. Go behind someone’s back We tend to photograph people from the front, but take time to check out the view from behind, too. This image is all about symmetry, and wouldn't be as effective if we could see the subjects' faces. Don’t forget the architecture Buildings can say as much about a place and its culture as the people do, so why not try making these your subject? Look for graphic shapes and include figures for scale, where possible. Look for blocks of colour It can be easy to be overwhelmed…

The past few years have seen a rise in the quantity and quality of LED lights. Originally appealing to DSLR video users for their flicker-free lighting ability, LED lights have gradually become more acceptable to stills shooters as their power output has increased, particularly if shooting with continual lighting. LEDs are now beginning to challenge the use of high-powered HMI lighting rigs, such as Arri for video or stills, or strobe for stills photography. Rotolight has leapt to the fore of the market recently with its range of dual-purpose lights that are able to output the continual lighting beloved of videographers and an increasing number of photographers, with the added advantage of flash. Features The Anova PRO 2 is the second unit from Rotolight aimed at the professional market. There's…

Easy Link Allows users to attach additional accessories to the tripod easily and conveniently. Carry bag The tripod is supplied in the box with its own red-and-black carry case. Leg locks The Befree GT Carbon features slim-profiled rubberised twist locks. Leg-angle selector The maximum height with the column down is 128cm compared to 151cm when it’s raised. • £399 • www.manfrotto.co.uk Manfrotto has recently refreshed its travel-friendly range of Befree tripods with three advanced models – the Befree Advanced Carbon, Befree Live Carbon and the Befree GT. The latter is the larger version of the Befree Advanced Carbon and, unlike the Befree Live that's best suited to video use with its large video plate and fluid pan head, we're looking at a set of sticks aimed at serious enthusiasts and…

QI recently bought a used Sony Alpha 7R II body only. I would like to get a standard range zoom lens to keep on most of the time. I know Sony makes a couple of 24-70mm lenses but a lot of photographers that I know use adapters with other manufacturers' lenses. I would like a fast aperture, sharp lens and am happy to pay up to £2,000 as this will be the main lens I use; however, I don't mind using an adapter. What can the Wexperts recommend? Amy Dern A The ‘take it with you anywhere’ fast standard zoom lens is probably the most popular lens on the market, so there are many to choose from. If you are going to use a third-party lens then picking the right…

Nikon D810, 24-70mm, 270sec at f/2.8, ISO 4000 This Milky Way scene was uploaded to Instagram with the hashtag #appicoftheweek. It was taken by photographer Gareth Jones. He tells us, ‘This was a shot that I had been trying to achieve for two years. After a few failed attempts and learning from them, I worked out the time of the Milky Way lining up behind Twr Mawr lighthouse and waited for a good forecast. This time I headed out to Llanddwyn Island with confidence. I had to shoot the scene twice, one frame for the foreground (4min 30sec exposure at f/4, ISO 800) and the second for the Milky Way (15sec at f/2.8, ISO 4000) and had to make slight adjustments in Lightroom on the images before blending them in…

A NEW 50mm f/1.4 lens has been released by Tokina as part of its premium Opera range. This fast prime is designed for full-frame Canon and Nikon DSLRs and is weathersealed; other key features include nine aperture blades and 15 lens elements in nine groups, along with a 40cm minimum focusing distance. A ring-shaped ultrasonic motor drives the AF and the Nikon version employs an electronic diaphragm mechanism, which is a first for Tokina. The Tokina Opera 50mm f/1.4 FF will be available from November for Canon EF and Nikon F mounts; the UK price has yet to be confirmed, but the US price is $949. For the latest news visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk…

Less than 20 years ago, the way we viewed news pictures was completely different from how we do now. A newspaper was delivered to the doorstep, next to the morning milk. Pictures were on a page. This was how we got the visual context to the story we’d heard the day before on the radio about the egg thrown at the prime minister, or that extra-time goal that sent your team down in the last match of the season. Fast forward to 2018 and few of us get the newspaper from the doorstep. Instead, when the alarm goes off, we reach for our phones and tap the news app of our choice. As for the photos and videos we view, chances are they weren’t taken by a press photographer at…

It was a pleasure to read the article Success on a shoestring (AP, 22 September). It brought back many happy memories of my own ‘grass roots' photography. It reinforced the fact that it's the photographer that counts, not the equipment. However, I feel that the photography press is at least partly to blame for prevalence of ‘Gear Acquisition Syndrome'. My first ‘serious' camera was a used Zorki 4K and I used second-hand equipment for years, winning competitions and selling images to magazines in the process. Now nearing retirement, I was last year able to buy a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. Not long after I bought the 5D, Nikon launched its D850 – without doubt, a stunning camera. I was still very pleased with my Canon, but I was astonished…

The SIGMA 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM | Contemporary lens is your perfect travelling companion. Lightweight, compact and versatile, its focal range means you can carry just one lens, leaving you free to concentrate on capturing the scenes in front of you. The USB Dock allows the user to update firmware and adjust lens settings, while the EF-630 DG comes with numerous functions to help you use flash creatively. Completing the line-up of goodies is the Flash USB Dock FD-11 – a user-friendly way of updating your flash's firmware. In total, these prizes are worth £1,000.…

WITH ITS circular array of multiple LED light sources spread over an almost 50cm diameter, the Anova PRO 2 produces a natural, but soft, light source akin to using a similarly sized softbox or brolly. Moving the light closer or further from the subject softens or hardens the light on the subject, exactly the same way as with a traditional light. The output from the flash is still bright, and my models struggled at times with the flashes, especially when the light was near. A softbox does reduce the glare, but as professionals they were happy to continue. We did take a few breaks, though – it's important for subjects to feel comfortable during a shoot.…

Resolution Tested on the 42.4MP Sony A7R III, our Image Engineering tests reveal an impressive level of sharpness in the centre of the frame at all apertures from f/2.8 through to f/16, with diffraction taking the edge away at the smallest setting. Corner sharpness is very decent too, with the best overall results obtained from f/4 to f/11. Shading Vignetting is unusually strong, with greater than 2 stops drop-off in illumination in the corners of the frame at f/2.8. Stop down to f/4 and this reduces to 1.6 stops, however from f/8 to f/22 we still measure 1.3 stops of vignetting. This imparts a distinctive look to images that some photographers will love, but others will prefer to suppress via software compensation. Curvilinear distortion Unusually for a 24mm prime, this…

Though the Befree GT Carbon is lightweight for its size and is one of the finest travel tripods we’ve laid hands on, its £399 price is likely to exceed what many are willing to pay. If you like the design, want an excellent travel tripod that’s exceptionally well made and that features the same 496 aluminium centre ball head, try the Befree GT Aluminum. Identical to the Befree GT Carbon except for its weight (300g more than the GT Carbon) and leg material, the GT Aluminum is priced at less than £250.…

Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master This top-end lens comes in just under budget and is built for quality and speed. The f/2.8 aperture means you can shoot in low light, and with the newly developed extreme aspherical (XA) element, you maintain stunning resolution and clarity even in the corners. Inside, Sony's Direct Drive Super Sonic Motor (DDSSM) is smooth and quiet, allowing you to use quick, precise autofocus – even during video. Being a Sony lens there's no need for an adapter so all functions work to their optimum. £1,849 • Fast aperture for low light or allowing high shutter speeds • XA element helps reduce aberrations and maintain resolution in corners • DDSSM drives fast, quiet autofocus Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS II Canon's fast-aperture standard zoom is…

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…

CANON has announced a new flagship bridge camera pre-Photokina, the PowerShot SX70 HS. Its headline specs include a 65x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 21-1365mm), with an aperture range of f/3.4-6.5. Arguably more noteworthy is the inclusion of a 20.3MP CMOS sensor with DIGIC 8 processor, as found in the recently released Canon EOS R full-frame mirrorless camera. The new PowerShot also has a 10fps continuous shooting speed, along with 4K video (including frame grabs), a 7.5cm articulated rear screen and 2.36-million-dot electronic viewfinder. The Canon PowerShot SX70 HS goes on sale in November for £519.99.…

THE MORE things change, the more things stay the same... nearly 60 years on, AP is still reporting from Photokina, the massive German trade fair which has been a fixture in the fair city of Cologne since 1950. It was still a relatively new show when this issue of AP came out, and as an interesting twist, the editor asked the art editor to write a report on the various photography exhibitions on display. Man Ray, the famous surrealist photographer, was still alive in 1960, so it's no surprise to see his work dominating. The art editor, who doesn't get mentioned by name, observes: ‘There were a number of very interesting prints made without a camera or shutter at all. It was easily the most exciting and original monochrome section…

‘If photography is about storytelling, I would argue that it’s very much alive’ Back in August, famous German film director Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas etc) got a lot of coverage when he pronounced that photography as he knew it is dead, with smartphones sealing the coffin lid for good. It's well worth watching the video on the BBC website (bbc.in/2oB7b4x) and Wenders makes some good points, especially on the disposability of smartphone photography and the astute observation that ‘the trouble with iPhone pictures is nobody sees them. Even the people who take them don't look at them any more, and they certainly don't make prints'. It's certainly one of the ironies of the modern age that tourists from Barcelona to Beijing now have an almost manic compulsion to shoot what's…

‘I have been photographing a little-known Black Skimmer colony for years and this is my favourite photo taken. Every year I select a nest when the parents are sitting on eggs, and follow that same nest until the young fledge. The reason I choose one nest is because colonies are chaotic; you will miss shots by pointing the lens at hundreds of birds. I got into position one hour prior to sunrise and lay there for another hour, then a parent flew in to the chick and fed it. It was inches away from me, so I could not get the feeding photo. However, I captured it running up to the parent and displaying the behaviour pictured.'…

If you had to conjure up a mental slideshow of the most influential photographs ever taken, there are probably a number of obvious candidates. Steve McCurry’s ‘Afghan Girl’ would likely be one, as would Robert Capa’s ‘The Falling Soldier’ and Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’. Another certainty would be one image in particular that has gone on to influence an entire genre of photography – street photography – and has largely come to act as the purest example of one of photography’s most enduring terms, the ‘decisive moment’, an oft-repeated concept that illustrates the perfect moment to press the shutter in order to perfectly capture a candid scene. This image is, of course, ‘Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Pont de L’Europe’ from 1932, an image of a man jumping over a puddle…

Jill Flower has always had a passion for creative visual arts and crafts, and after completing a foundation course she began a BA in Fine Art: Printmaking. Now in her third and final year at Brighton University, Jill is gearing up for her final project. In preparation, she has been experimenting with a variety of printmaking styles: in particular, the cyanotype process. The images you see on this spread are actually sections of a 33ft long print that Jill created on the beach. ‘I thought it would be fun to produce a large piece of work using the sunlight, found objects and processing it in the sea.’ To create a cyanotype, paper (or any other medium that can absorb solution) is coated with light-sensitive chemicals and dried. To create the…

Select subject To quickly select an object, try going to the Select menu and choose ‘Subject'. This command cleverly works out what the main subject in a photo is and creates a selection around it. It won't work for every image, but often does surprisingly well. Here, it selected nearly the entire car in one step. Magic Wand tool Clicking with the Magic Wand tool creates a simple selection based around the sampled colour where you clicked. If not all the desired pixels are selected, you can use Select> Similar to select more pixels of a similar sample colour based on the same tolerance setting as the original Magic Wand selection. Quick Selection tool The Quick Selection tool offers a superior Magic Wand style selection method. Click, or click and…

AS AN extremely robust and solidly constructed camera, the FT7 certainly has its appeal as a take-anywhere camera. There's plenty to elevate it above the older FT5 model that it replaces too: the addition of an EVF, albeit a small one, gives photographers the option to shoot at eye level. The rear LCD display is much improved too, although ours did inexplicably fog up during one outing into the sea. Last but not least, the FT7 also comes well equipped with a range of Panasonic-specific features and technology found on other Panasonic cameras, not least 4K Photo Mode with its innovative ways of capturing 8MP stills from 4K movie footage.…

I'VE BEEN keenly watching the rise of Rotolight over the past couple of years, especially with the sad demise of Bowens, and the dual capability of the Anova PRO 2 is a big selling point for many photographers and videographers. As a photographer, the ability to shoot either continuous or strobe light and with HSS is a bonus, beating single-use systems from even the top manufacturers. If you also shoot video, then using such a system becomes a no-brainer. However, the Anova PRO 2 is expensive for a single head and this cost is out of reach for many people, especially if you shoot with multiple lights. It's fine for a TV production company, but for a struggling professional, semi-pro or amateur photographer, they would really have to consider the…

With Sigma, Tamron and Tokina now all concentrating on making premium lenses, Samyang has an opportunity to claim a significant share of the lower end of the market. With the AF 24mm f/2.8 FE, it's made another lens that performs remarkably well given its relatively low price. It's quick to focus and gives sharp images, with its most significant weakness being its strong vignetting that persists even when the aperture is stopped down. Perhaps the biggest question is why you might need such a lens. Wideangle primes were popular when standard zooms started at 35mm or 28mm, but now that most extend to 24mm, its utility looks relatively limited. If you already own a 24-70mm or 24-105mm zoom, why buy a 24mm prime? The answer lies in whether you can…

Sensor cleaning Q A few months ago I purchased a mirrorless camera. I recently noticed some small circular markings on my images when using smaller apertures. I realise that this is probably dust on the sensor and that it's more likely to happen now that I have a mirrorless camera compared to when using my previous DSLR. Although I know how to clean sensors, I used to send my camera for cleaning at Fixation every now and then. Can you recommend some cleaning products I could keep on hand in case I am on holiday when the problem occurs? Jeffrey Porrett A Cleaning your own sensor is something we wouldn’t recommend you attempt to do without a professional showing you a safe way to do so. However, as you already…

To anyone familiar with cameras, the term ‘Reflex Box' sounds like an oxymoron. Generally speaking, reflex and box occupy opposite ends of the spectrum of camera types. Box cameras are ultra-simple, very cheap and aimed at the mass market; reflex cameras usually cost a lot, have plenty of different settings, and are the weapon of choice for enthusiasts or professional photographers. The Reflex Box was made in 1933 by the German firm Kamera-Werkstätten Guthe & Thorsch, a bit of a mouthful, usually shortened simply to ‘KW'. From one angle it looks just like a bog-standard box camera, but turn it on its side, open the shaded hood, and you have a single lens reflex, similar in appearance to the larger format SLRs of the day. Contemporary advertisements show the Reflex…

‘Would any photographic “purist”... say that this photomontage should never have been created?’ Marinus was the nom de plume (nom d’appareil?) of Danish photographer Jacob Kjeldgaard, 1884-1964. This image is from the 1 May 1940 front page of Marianne, a French political paper, as reproduced in a book called Hitler Blind, Stalin Lahm (Hitler Blind, Stalin Lame) published in 2008 by Steidl to accompany an exhibition at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne. A few may still be available new, and the usual second-hand dealers have it. The photography is unforgettable, not least because it goes to the heart of what photography is for, and what ‘real’ pictures are. The other photographer featured in the book is the Berliner John Heartfield (1891-1968), who changed his name from Helmut Herzfeld as a protest…