Innholdsfortegnelse for 23-Mar-2019 i Amateur Photographer

However confident you are as a photographer, there will always be niggling questions and queries that arise as your skills develop. So this week’s main feature attempts to answer some of these, and the questions are all from readers (with a bit of help from our friends at sheclicks.com). While we can’t hope to answer every common query, you’ll hopefully find some solutions and inspirations here, whether it’s to do with exposure, focusing or lighting. There’s a lot more in this packed issue too, including our major review of the Canon EOS RP. This full-frame mirrorless model is keenly priced, but has too much been simplified to keep the cost down? Another gear highlight is our review of the Tamron 17-35mm F/2.8-4 Di OSD, a compact full-frame lens that also…

BOOK Ex-Voto By Alys Tomlinson, GOST Books, £35, 98 pages, hardback, ISBN 978-1910401279 FAITH was never a core part of Alys Tomlinson's life, but after five years photographing Catholic pilgrimage sites in Ireland, Poland and France, she noticed a strength in those of faith that she came to respect, and even envy. To begin with, Alys captured the landscape, pilgrims, and ex-votos – physical offerings such as crosses and candles – in colour with a medium-format camera, but after years of frustration she switched to black & white and started using a Sinar F2 she bought off eBay. Alys then began to notice visual connections between the sites. Her efforts won her the grand title at the Sony World Photography Awards in 2018. This tactile book is the ideal home…

The Reader Portfolio winner chosen every week will receive a Manfrotto PIXI EVO tripod worth £44.95. Visit www.manfrotto.co.uk Lightweight and portable, the Manfrotto PIXI EVO boasts two different leg angles with a sliding selector enabling you to shoot ground-level images. It’s adjustable, with two-section legs featuring five different steps that adapt the footprint to uneven surfaces. With a payload of 2.5kg, you can tilt the camera 90° to capture incredible images. NOTE: PRIZE APPLIES TO UK AND EU RESIDENTS ONLY…

1 It's essential for the paper to slide smoothly into the developer, as partial immersion will result in uneven development. Lift the front of the tray at an angle of 30°, place the edge of the paper at the far end. Lower the tray and quickly coat the paper in an even flow as it is lowered. 2 Use a developing tray at least one size larger than the paper. The agitated flow of developer can form repeated patterns that can influence the processing of the sheet if held tight in the tray. It is also useful to include a large border to prevent the edges of the image from over developing. Agitation should be steady and constant. 3 It can be difficult to assess a developing print under a…

With the EOS RP, Canon has revealed its vision for how entry-level full-frame mirrorless should look. It's got a lot right too, with a body design that handles much better than its odd-looking profile might suggest. The JPEG output is excellent, giving images that are perfectly usable at sensitivities up to ISO 12,800, and while the limited low-ISO dynamic range is disappointing, it's not a problem for the majority of images. There's plenty to like here. Crucially the EOS RP works seamlessly with EF-mount lenses, which means existing Canon DSLR users can get started right away. This goes some way towards making up for the fact that the native RF lens range is still very small, and Canon hasn't yet made a low-priced kit zoom, with the least expensive being…

Resolution For our Image Engineering tests, our Nikon-mount sample was paired up with the Nikon D810. The results below tell us it’s sharpest at the widest end of the zoom range with the best corner-to-corner sharpness found when the lens is stopped down between f/5.6 and f/8. The drop in sharpness beyond f/11 is due to the influence of diffraction. Shading Corners appear 1.3EV darker at the edge than at the centre when the lens is used wide open (f/2.8) at 17mm. This gradually reduces to just 0.5EV at f/5.6. Vignetting isn’t as obvious at longer focal lengths, with corners appearing 0.6EV darker than the centre of the image at 35mm wide open at f/4. Curvilinear distortion Users should be watchful of the fairly strong barrel distortion the lens produces…

3LT has also revealed details about its latest universal L-bracket, named ‘Ellie’ (£65). It differs from most other L-brackets in the way the length of the base can be adjusted, allowing users to set up and position the L-bracket in the optimal position for their camera. On the vertical axis there’s an opening to allow users with L-shaped cable pins to connect accessories easily to their cameras, and you get two 1/4-20 threads to attach other accessories such as a microphone or mounting arm.…

FOUR photographers have been shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2019: Laia Abril, Susan Meiselas, Arwed Messmer and Mark Ruwedel. An exhibition of the shortlisted projects will be on show at The Photographers' Gallery from 8 March to 2 June 2019, before touring to Deutsche Börse's headquarters in Eschborn/Frankfurt. The winner will then be announced at a special award ceremony held at The Photographers' Gallery on 16 May 2019. Particularly striking – and sometimes very shocking – is ‘On Abortion' by Laia Abril, a visual research project that draws on the past, present and current history of abortion to highlight the continuing erosion of women's reproductive rights. Documentary photographer and Magnum member Susan Meiselas, meanwhile, is nominated for ‘Mediations'. It is the most comprehensive European retrospective of her…

There is a poster above my desk that reads ‘comparison is the thief of joy' I look at this quote, attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, regularly, and I try my best to heed its warning. But recently I've been wondering if there are benefits to comparing myself to others in my field. Research suggests that when we know we are being watched, or pitted against someone, we tend to up our game. There are countless examples of this in the sporting world: sprinters who beat their best times when a competitor is about to overtake them, boxers who should be on the ropes but pick themselves up when the crowd gets behind them, Olympic medallists who take big risks when they know the world is watching. A little healthy competition can…

This week we wind the clock back to AP from 24 March 1954, featuring two very fetching lambs on the cover (it's spring, right, and ties in with the ad strap line, ‘a couple of kids'). The stand-out feature is a very in-depth piece on portrait backgrounds by Ricardo, which goes into some very deep analysis about why some prints are more successful than others – as he says, ‘Every square inch of the print should play its part.' Other highlights of this issue include another very detailed analysis of the competitions organised by AP at that time. It really was a different world. As editor AJ Sowerby notes: ‘Most of the colour entries still show too much evidence of colour for colour's sake, and it is interesting to note…

Now in its 28th year, the Amateur Photographer of the Year (APOY) competition is the first of its kind and – we believe – the best. With a wide variety of categories, there’s something to appeal to everyone. You might choose to enter just one category, or – like last year’s winner, Neil Burnell – you might set yourself a year-long project and create an entry for all eight rounds, with the big prize and title Amateur Photographer of the Year as the overall aim. It’s open to all amateur photographers * , and once again we have teamed up with Photocrowd, who will be hosting the competition on a simple and intuitive platform. Not only will your work be seen by our panel of experienced judges, but it’s also…

Go graphic This exquisitely framed shot is all about line, shape, shadow and tone. Every element is carefully considered, and the featureless sky ensures our attention remains on the architecture itself. Backlit brilliance Shooting into the light offers great opportunities to create striking silhouettes. Wait until there is some sort of movement in the frame, as the spaces between your subjects mean they won't be rendered as a solid block. Abstract elements This abstract image, devoid of distracting colour, could be anything from a close-up of the back of a leaf to an aerial shot of a parched riverbed. Monochrome is the ideal way of playing with people's perceptions. Long shots Black & white lends itself beautifully to long exposures, whereby all detail is smoothed out, and water and sky…

IN THE UK, Fotospeed and Moersch developers are available from main photographic suppliers or through their respective websites. Wolfgang Moersch has been producing specialist photographic chemistry for many years, particularly lith developers, and also manufactures a series of additives to expand the controls of the lith process. His website contains several resources and further information to explain the process as well as examples of many papers developed and toned with different processes. Visit www.fotospeed.com and www.moerschphotochemie.de for more details.…

AEOS This disc-like LED is ideal for shooting outdoor portraits. It offers both powerful, constant LED illumination and high speed sync flash, with a battery pack that lasts for up to five hours of use. NEO 2 The NEO 2 is the most portable light in the Rotolight range. Like the AEOS, it also offers a combination of bright, constant LED illumination and high speed sync flash. Rotolight softbox A softbox diffuses and softens the light, which smooths out the shadows and evens out contrast. As such, it’s the ideal modifier for portraiture. The Rotolight softbox here fits over the AEOS. Reflector Useful to bounce light back into shadows and even out the contrast over faces, a reflector is an inexpensive and invaluable piece of kit for any location portrait…

Probably the EOS RP's biggest draw is its compatibility with almost any EF or EF-S lens using the supplied mount adapter, which means that SLR users can use it with their existing lens sets. While it's naturally best suited to full-frame optics, APS-C lenses can also be used subject to a 1.6x crop that results in 10.2MP images. However EF-M lenses won't fit, and there's little chance we'll see an adapter. I tested the RP with a range of lenses, including Canon's original 50mm f/1.8 from 1987, the mid-2000's EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, the current, relatively affordable EF 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM, and third-party options from Sigma and Yongnuo. All of them worked fine, with the autofocus, aperture control and image stabilisation functioning correctly. However IS runs continually when…

The British firm Houghton-Butcher made a large number of cameras. Many were super-simple, ultra-cheap snapshot models for the mass market, though the firm also made the highly regarded Selfix series of medium-format folding cameras. The Ful-Vue is a simple waist-level metal box camera, taking twelve 6x6cm exposures on a roll of 120 film. First introduced in 1938, various cosmetic refinements ensued, most notably the change to a streamlined modern design immediately after the Second World War. As a boy I enjoyed tinkering with mechanical devices, and my first Ful-Vue came from a scout jumble sale in the 1960s. That one was in poor condition, and I certainly never put a film through it, but I remember being fascinated by the bright images to be seen in the convex glass viewfinder…

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 12. Via our online communities Post your pictures into our Flickr group, Facebook page, Twitter feed, or the gallery on our website. See details above.…

A NEW photography exhibition called ‘HOW DO YOU C M E N OW?' is challenging conventional notions of what makes a ‘beautiful' photographic subject by featuring people with a rare and untreatable skin condition called congenital melanocytic naevi (CMN). People with CMN have large, dark brown birthmarks which can cover as much as 80% of their body. The exhibition features portraits of 30 people from 13 countries across five continents, and were taken by photographer Brock Elbank. Brock had achieved global media interest for his project ‘Freckles'. As part of this, he had photographed a young lady from Barcelona who had CMN and, hence, he decided to work in partnership with the charity Caring Matters Now to raise awareness of the condition on a global scale. CMN is caused by…

Back in 2009 the Fondation Carmignac established the Carmignac Photojournalism Award, an accolade that funds the production of an investigative photo reportage project. The winners in the award's ninth year were Yuri Kozyrev and Kadir van Lohuizen, who received € 50,000 – funding that allowed the photographers to carry out a double polar expedition across the Arctic region. This incredible and epic project, much of which is collected in this new publication Arctic: New Frontier , allowed both photographers to explore and document the entire Arctic territory. In this way, they could effectively and emotively convey the devastating impact climate change has already had on the natural landscape of the Arctic. Kozyrev and Lohuizen's sweeping project takes in a multitude of locations and issues. Kozyrev travelled the route of the…

Every music-loving photography enthusiast thinks they’d like to be a gig or concert photographer. What’s not to like about combining your passions and taking some (hopefully) memorable shots of your favourite performer? The reality can be somewhat different – constantly changing stage lighting messing-up your metering, musicians jumping around like electrocuted apes, mics and stage clutter spoiling your compositions, other crowd members getting in the way, etc etc... Even getting a prized photo pass for a big gig and shooting from the pit right next to the stage can be a challenge; you’re jostled by other photographers trying to get the same money shots, and get turfed out after only three songs (if you’re lucky). So just imagine what it was like trying to get good gig shots back in…

Sigma is once again offering an array of top-end prizes to the winners of the Amateur Photographer of the Year (APOY) 2019 competition. Sigma's mission is to provide exceptional products at an affordable price. All its products are manufactured exclusively in the company's own dedicated factory in Aizu, Japan. Sigma's reputation for advanced cutting-edge lens design is demonstrated by its series of lenses, ranging from 8mm right up to 800mm. These lenses are designed for enthusiast and professional photographers alike, and all of them are backed by a three-year UK warranty when imported by Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd. Sigma's Global Vision range of cameras and lenses incorporates the latest in optical technology, with unique innovations such as the ultra-fast 18-35mm f/1.8 Art lens and USB dock that allows unrivalled customisation…

Positioning the light With outdoor LED lighting you can light the face from any angle you choose. If in doubt, place it slightly to one side, above the face angled downwards, then ask the subject to angle his/her face towards the light. Here, you can see the light on the left edge of the frame. Colour temperature The colour temperature controls on the AEOS here allow me to match the LED light with the ambient light. This is around 5,000-6,000K in daylight, but cooler in the shade, and warmer when the sun is lower in the sky around the hours after sunrise and before sunset. Catchlights These are tiny highlights that appear in the eyes when a strong and small light source is reflected in them. The eyes are the…

Sensor 26.2MP CMOS, 35.9 x 24mm Output size 6240 x 4160 Focal length mag 1x Lens mount Canon RF Shutter speeds 30-1/4000sec + bulb Sensitivity ISO 100-40,000 (standard), 50-102,400 (extended) Exposure modes PASM, Fv, Scene, iAuto Metering Evaluative, partial, spot, centre-weighted Exposure comp +/-3EV in 0.3EV steps Continuous 5fps shooting Screen 1.04-million-dot, 3in fully articulated touchscreen Viewfinder 2.36m-dot, 0.7x magnification AF points 4,779 Video 3840 x 2160, 25fps External mic 3.5mm stereo Memory card SD, SDHC, SDXC (UHS-II) Power LP-E17 Li-ion Battery life 250 shots Dimensions 132.5x85x70mm Weight 485g with battery and card…

Canon has used the same sensor as that in the EOS 6D Mark II, and not surprisingly we see very similar image quality. In terms of detail, it's in much the same league as competing cameras with 24MP sensors, and its high-ISO image quality is as good as we'd expect for a modern full-frame sensor, giving perfectly usable results up to ISO 12,800. Its main flaw is limited dynamic range at low-ISO settings, which means that you can't dig as much detail out of the shadows from raw files before being confronted by unsightly noise. Resolution At low ISO, the EOS RP resolves around 3,900 lines per picture height before aliasing artefacts come into play, which is essentially as much as we could realistically expect from its 26MP sensor. Examining…

As a wideangle partner for more portable full-frame DSLRs, this is a sound alternative to more expensive constant-aperture options. Its compact build and light weight make it no issue to carry around all day or squeeze into even smaller kit bags, while optical performance is either consistent with, or better than, what we'd expect at this level for such a lens. The optical issues you're most likely to notice are easy enough to handle either in camera or during post-production. Some may consider the lack of Vibration Compensation to be a pity, particularly as the lens is only designed for cameras that don't offer this at the sensor level, but for traditionally tripod-based applications, you may not miss it. The variable maximum aperture isn't much of a concern when used…

• Real Leicas have a smoothness of operation in the film wind, lens focusing and shutter release. Operation of a fake is rarely as smooth. • The leather-like material that covers the body of a fake is usually a lot coarser than that on a real Leica. • Check the serial number against the body style. Most fakes are based on Leica II cameras, which had no slow shutter speed dial. When the Leica III was introduced, a slow speed dial was added to the front beside the lens. So if the camera looks like a Leica II, but has the serial number of a Leica III, then it's a fake. You can find a list of serial numbers here: www.cameraquest.com/ltmnum.htm. • Check the price. The going rate for a…

Camera strap There’s a strap connector on the horizontal aspect of the bracket. Cutouts Areas have been cutaway to ensure the screen can be pulled out easily. Colours The Zelda L-bracket is available in metallic slate grey or copper colour finishes. Modular functionality A tapped 1/4in thread in the vertical aspect enables other accessories to be connected to the bracket. • £89.99 • www.3leggedthing.com LAST year we witnessed 3 Legged Thing (3LT) enter the L-bracket market with a pair of universal models – the QR11-L and QR11-FB. These were intended for DSLR and mirrorless cameras as well as professional cameras, including those with an integrated grip or battery grip attached. The only issue with purchasing a universal L-bracket is that it's unlikely to be an ideal match with every camera…

Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) was one of the greatest illustrators of all time. Google his work if you are not familiar with it, though you will almost certainly recognise his ‘Salomé and The Peacock Dress’. One of a determinedly decadent late-Victorian coterie, he was described by his friend Oscar Wilde as having ‘grass green hair’, which rather makes one wish that this photograph was in colour. He also had incredibly long, slender fingers and a truly spectacular conk. Meanwhile, Frederick Evans (1853-1943) was a bookseller about to turn full-time photographer: which he did in 1898, the year of Beardsley’s death at the age of 25. He believed in ‘straight’ photography with no manipulation or retouching. You can take this as the antithesis of Beardsley’s hallucinogenic style, or as an exact parallel:…