Innholdsfortegnelse for 11-May-2019 i Amateur Photographer

Strictly between us, as someone who has been a photographer for more than 30 years I find it mildly annoying when I come across someone who only picked up a camera for the first time three or four years ago but is already enjoying great success with work far better than I could dream of. I’m sure that you secretly feel the same way – don’t worry, I won’t tell. But at the same time I’m filled with admiration for their talent and more than a little curiosity at how they achieved such greatness in so short a time. This week we talk to three photographers who did just that, to find out their secrets. We also present our pick of the best images from the annual Food Photographer of…

ZEISS has released the Otus 1.4/100, a manual focus, short telephoto lens for full-frame Canon and Nikon DSLRs. Short it may be, but the price will be a tall order for many AP readers - £3,999, which is more than many people's entire systems are worth. This premium lens joins the Otus 1.4/55, 1.4/85 and 1.4/28, and is aimed at studio, portrait and commercial product photographers. Zeiss claims the lens offers high edge-to-edge resolution across the aperture range, with ‘harmonic' bokeh and a ‘3D pop effect' that makes subjects stand out crisply against blurred backgrounds. It also has a Zeiss T* anti-reflective coating to minimise stray light and maximise contrast, even when shooting into the light. As a manual focus lens, it features an ‘extended rotation angle' and smooth operation…

Larry Burrows A sincere thank you to AP and Roger Hicks for your respectful and skilfully written tribute to one of photojournalism's leading lights, LIFE magazine photographer Larry Burrows (Legends of photography, 16 March). I compliment you on the image used to illustrate the article. The photo of wounded soldiers being carried through the long grass near Dong Ha, Vietnam, (October 1966) is one that does not often appear in books or articles relating to Burrows or his work. Neither Larry Burrows: Compassionate Photographer (1972) nor Larry Burrows: Vietnam (2002) contain this image. To my knowledge, this image was first published by Newsweek in April 1985, marking the 10th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. In 1993, it was again published in a book titled The Face of Mercy: A…

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…

When and why did you first become interested in photography? It was during a fantastic month-long family holiday in New Zealand, three years ago. Before leaving, I borrowed my uncle’s old Canon EOS 300D. Inspired by the beautiful landscapes and wildlife there, I began to look into the basics and buying photography magazines at every opportunity, I was hooked! As soon as I got back, I started saving up for new gear. When did you get your first camera? After returning from New Zealand, my uncle’s camera broke, so I bought myself a second-hand Canon EOS 60D and used the 18-55mm kit lens and a 75-300mm telephoto. I realised that photography in the UK was very different and required a lot more time and effort! Gone were the fantastic vistas,…

Weather-sealing Both the SD card door and battery-tray release use twist-latch doors to prevent accidental opening. Olympus says sealing isn’t compromised when using a microphone, headphones or a wired remote release. Connectors On the left of the body you’ll find 3.5mm stereo microphone and headphone sockets, behind separate chunky rubber covers. The HDMI and USB-C connectors sit below, under a shared cover. Cable release Olympus has included a 2.5mm electronic release socket, cross-compatible with those used by Canon, Pentax and Fujifilm. Dual card slots It’s possible to use the two UHS-II SD card slots either sequentially or simultaneously, and choose which file types to record to each. There’s even a button for switching between cards, which is really handy for playback. Field sensors A GPS unit, thermometer, manometer and compass…

With the OM-D E-M1X, Olympus appears to have given its designers free rein to build the best camera they can, regardless of price. The result is an innovative and highly accomplished camera that's built like a tank and packed full of clever features, with its intelligent subject-detection autofocus being particularly impressive. But the question is, how many photographers will be prepared to shell out £2,800 for a large, high-end Micro Four Thirds body? Indeed in terms of value proposition, I suspect few cameras will polarise opinion quite like the E-M1X. In reality it's a niche product that will appeal mostly to photographers who shoot fast-moving, unpredictable subjects in demanding outdoor conditions, especially those who need to carry their kit long distances to get the shot. But one problem is that…

● £269 ● www.fotospeed.com IF YOU'VE ever tried shooting close-ups, you'll know that lighting can be troublesome. It's often necessary to shoot at small apertures to achieve sufficient depth of field, quite possibly combined with high shutter speeds to combat subject movement or camera shake. This generally means either using high ISOs or investing in a macro flash set-up. Another option is to use an LED ring light, which has the advantage of showing exactly how your shots should turn out. Last year I tested the £76 Kaiser R60 (AP 20 October 2018), which is a small lightweight AApowered unit that I found gave decent results. The KR90 is an altogether different beast: it's a chunky device over 3cm thick, with 30 surface-mount LEDS placed behind a frosted-plastic diffuser and…

Given that the image sensor is at the heart of a camera's performance, every camera manufacturer does what it can to ensure that its camera is built around the best sensor available. However given that sensor design and manufacture in quantity is an expensive business, and requires the retention of an active team of experienced (and therefore highly paid) specialists, in order to extract maximum value a sensor manufacturer needs to be continuously developing sensors. This factor gives the larger sensor manufacturers a worthwhile advantage over smaller ones. They can employ larger teams, which enable them to create, develop and refine new technologies. ‘Most of the connections to an image sensor are power lines’ One of the most important such technologies in the past few years was the column-parallel analogue-to-digital…

I was doing a spot of filming with rugby player James Haskell recently. He's one of the most enthusiastic blokes I've ever met with passions for everything from diggers to coffee - there's a JCB parked on his drive and his kitchen is resplendent with a whole array of coffee machines. I was delighted to discover that his latest interest is photography, and intrigued to note that he was drawn to his new Canon EOS M50 on account of one feature: its fully articulating screen. He uses it in his vlogging. I've long thought that mirrorless camera manufacturers are ignoring flip screens at their peril. It's not narcissism. You never know when a quick piece to camera or selfie may be required these days, for all sorts of reasons. A…

We're frequently reminded to back up our digital images in case of crashed hard drives or what have you. But what about our precious memories from our film camera days? I went to get some stepladders from my garage recently and was horrified by the sight that greeted me. The garage is situated 50 yards from my house and I hadn't been in it for about six months. Much to my regret. I found the roof was leaking and rainwater had landed on the cardboard boxes which contained negatives and prints dating back almost 40 years. The boxes were reduced to pulp and it was heartbreaking to discover piles of prints all stuck together and files of negatives awash with water. Sadly, all of my home-produced 1980s mono prints of…

Camera You’ll need to find a camera that can do the job whether it is a large-format, medium-format, or 35mm camera. Our 500C/M is easily tricked into taking two exposures in one! Film Consider the film speed (ASA or ISO) and whether you want to shoot in colour or black & white. The latter is more straightforward; however when it comes to colour film the results in tone and colour vary across the brands. Light meter There are a few options when it comes to metering. You can either use an external light meter, your film or digital camera (our film camera did not have one), or a smartphone app. We tried the app called Light Meter - EV for Photography on the app store for free.…

NOW HERE’S an opportunity you don’t get every day. Sigma has teamed up with AP to offer 10 lucky readers the chance to attend a workshop in London with top portrait and fashion photographer, Dave Kai Piper. On the workshop, you will get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to take portraits of a pair of traditional geisha, who have come over from Japan especially for the occasion. As fans of Japanese culture and history will know, geisha are women entertainers who are experts in dancing, singing, art and other traditional pursuits. Geisha have been a fixture of Japanese society for hundreds of years, and although their numbers greatly reduced as the country modernised, they can still be found practising their art in historic towns such as Kyoto and Aizu, home of the…

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.…

TOKINA has released its second autofocus lens for full-frame mirrorless: the Fírin 100mm F2.8 FE Macro for Sony E-mount cameras (pictured above). As well as offering a relatively fast maximum aperture, this macro lens has 1:1 life-size reproduction with a working distance of 114.3mm (4.5 inches) between the front of the lens and your subject. It has nine elements in eight groups, and Tokina claims that its ‘flat-field' optics prevent field-of-view curvature while ensuring sharpness across the aperture and focusing range. This is an AF lens, but manual focusing is facilitated by a large manual focus ring. An extending barrel takes the lens length from 123mm to 163mm and the lens weighs 589.7g. It is available now for £570. Meanwhile, Tamron has announced the 35-150mm F/2.8-4 Di VC OSD, a…

Daisy May, Lockington, Leicestershire This portfolio has a poignant story. Daisy tells us, ‘10 years ago, I was suffering from anorexia and was very ill. Fear of food was overwhelming and my biggest enemy. I recovered, miraculously, and began to see food in a new light. My husband (and biggest fan) bought me a Nikon camera and a day's photography course with a wonderful tutor, Caro. This started a new chapter in my life and the food that once took away my joy of living became my inspiration.' See more of Daisy's work at daisymaydefined.smugmug.com. Submit your images Please see the ‘Send us your pictures’ section on page 3 for details or visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/portfolio…

The competitive edge CUMBRIA-based farmer Amy Bateman recently won the British Life Photography Awards with her image ‘Lambing Intensive Care’ (see AP’s Big Picture, 30 March). What few people know, however, is that she only picked up a camera and, as she puts it, ‘turned off auto’, three years ago, after her husband bought her a course at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal as a gift. ‘I am extremely competitive,’ she says, laughing. ‘I’ve never done anything in my life if it’s not to the best of my abilities. As soon as I started doing photography, I got a subscription to AP and swallowed it up every week, trying out all the techniques. I now live for photography, along with my family and the farm.’ Entering Twitter-based competitions such…

Monochrome or colour? Some argue that black & white film works better for the double-exposure technique as the shapes and tones are easier to blend together without the distraction of colour; however we found that really it's just a case of experimenting and seeing what works! It's all down to personal preference. Light and dark areas When exposing your frames remember that white or bright areas will destroy the information on a negative. Anything that is dark will maintain it for the next frame. So if you take a silhouette of a figure, underexpose the figure/face first and then this area will be filled with what you shoot in your next image. Remember where you place objects Your first image will be your primary subject. Remember where you place key…

Our cameras and lenses are tested using the industry-standard Image Engineering IQ-Analyser software. Visit www.image-engineering.de for more details. With its 20MP Four Thirds sensor, the E-M1X is capable of easily resolving enough detail for an A3 print. It may not quite match its 24MP peers in this respect, but the difference is of little practical importance. The smaller sensor does mean that it lags behind its rivals for image noise when comparing ISO-for-ISO, but in some situations this can be offset by its outrageously effective image stabilisation. While you'll get best results at ISO 1600 and below, I'd happily shoot at up to ISO 6400 as a matter of course. Resolution At low ISOs, using the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro at f/4, the E-M1X cleanly resolves at least 3600 l/ph.…

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning one of the 10 places is to upload your best portrait(s) to the Photocrowd website via amateurphotographer. co.uk/geisha. The geisha event will take place at the Ham Yard Hotel in central London on Thursday, 27 June, between 11am and 2pm. Dave will focus on everything involved in portrait photography, from posing and lighting to lens selection. Sigma will have a selection of products there for the 10 winners to try during the shoot. The images will be judged by AP staff and the 10 winners will be contacted by email. Before you enter, please note you must be free to attend the experience and portrait workshop on Thursday, 27 June, between 11am and 2pm at Ham Yard…

If we know one thing about photojournalism it’s this: ‘Photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world.’ This quote not only speaks a powerful truth about the command of visual media but also perfectly encapsulates the career of the speaker, Moroccan photographer and Magnum member Bruno Barbey. Through photography, the alien and unknowable become familiar. Nowhere is this truer than in photojournalism and in the hands of Bruno Barbey. His journeys to photograph enigmatic cultures have provided the photographer endless opportunities to show that we are all one people, despite our disparate customs. It’s unsurprising that Barbey would feel so strongly about using his work to create an inclusive view of the world. While he was born in Morocco, he possesses dual nationality, both French…