Innholdsfortegnelse for 20-Jul-2019 i Amateur Photographer

Did you know that when NASA set out on its quest to reach the moon it had no plans for how it would be photographed? The first astronauts took cameras they bought themselves, from local drugstores. The Hasselblad debuted when Walter Schirra bought one from a Houston camera shop and had NASA engineers modify it for space. These are among the fascinating facts in this Collector’s Issue which brings you the photographic story of the 20th-century’s greatest achievement. And nothing conveys the beauty and fragility of our little blue home, or the importance of looking after it, like William Anders’s iconic ‘Earthrise’ – we tell you the story behind what I consider to be the most important photo ever taken. Finally, you may never get to visit the moon, but…

SONY has announced the FE 35mm F1.8, a lightweight, large-aperture prime for its full-frame mirrorless system. This new optic fills a gap in the firm's range between the large and expensive FE 35mm F1.4 ZA and the compact FE 35mm F2.8 ZA. Measuring 63mm in diameter and 73mm in length, and with a 55mm filter thread, it's the lightest lens in its class at just 280g. With 11 elements in 9 groups, the optical construction includes an aspherical element to help suppress distortion, while a 9-bladed circular aperture promises attractive bokeh. The minimum focus distance is 22cm, affording approximately quarter life-size magnification, and the barrel sports both a focus hold button and an AF/MF switch. Finally outdoor photographers will be pleased to hear that it boasts a dust and moisture-resistant…

Thelaunch of the Sputnik 1 satellite by the Soviet Union in October 1957 jolted the US Federal Government into action, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was formed on 29 July 1958… the ‘Space Race’ had truly begun. NASA absorbed and succeeded the 43-year-old National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and officially began operations on 1 October 1958. NASA’s remit was clearly set out in the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, which stated, ‘The Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of the United States that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind.’ In other words, NASA had no military objectives. In its initial years of existence, NASA was busy working on two overlapping programs: the X-15…

THE GERMAN Carl Zeiss company was founded in Jena in 1846, primarily to produce lenses, microscopes, binoculars and other optical instruments. As glass technology progressed Zeiss turned to photographic optics and built a reputation for quality, with lenses like the Zeiss Anastigmat in 1890, the Planar in 1896 and the Tessar in 1902. In 1926, following the end of the First World War, with an infusion of capital from Zeiss, four major German camera manufacturers came together to form Zeiss Ikon, and the cameras produced by that company inevitably used Zeiss lenses, furthering the company's reputation for excellence. In 1940, when Victor Hasselblad produced his first camera at the request of the Swedish government, he chose a Zeiss 135mm Biotessar as its standard lens. Although Hasselblad flirted with other lens…

AT THE 2019 AP Awards we honoured veteran photojournalist Marilyn Stafford, for her lifetime achievements in photography, and you can now see the winners of her own Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award. This award is granted annually to ‘a professional woman photographer towards the initiation or completion of a compelling and cohesive documentary photo essay which addresses an important social, environmental, economic or cultural issue, whether local or global.' The overall winner is Özge Sebzeci from Turkey, for ‘I Am Beautiful – But My Destiny…' (see picture above) and the two runners-up are Simona Ghizzoni (Italy) for ‘UNCUT' and Mary Turner (UK) for ‘Dispossessed'. Sebzeci's work looks at Syrian refugee child marriages in Turkey and how to stop them, while Ghizzoni covers FGM in Africa and Europe, and Turner examines the…

‘If you have decades’ worth of disorganised photos, go through them’ Of all the things I expected to wake up to on 1 January this year, it wasn't the news that my late grandparents' possessions had gone up in smoke. At around 7.45pm the night before, a fire broke out at the Shurgard storage facility in Purley Way, south London. By the early hours of New Year's Day, the entire building – which housed1198 rented units – had been razed to the ground. Nothing was salvaged. We were luckier than many. Some lost every last belonging; others their livelihoods. My grandfather died in 1995, and my grandmother (or, to be more accurate, my step-grandmother) continued living in their flat until 2016, when dementia meant she had to move into a…

I HAVE recently been catching up on Master of Photography, on Sky Arts. It's inspiring and thought-provoking to watch the contestants' differing approaches to the tasks set, and enjoyable to see the results. It's been great to see top photographers such as Martin Parr, Steve McCurry and Bruce Gilden, who have come in to advise the contestants. I was particularly impressed by Sebastião Salgado, who was so inspirational and a real gentleman. This is in stark contrast to the rather disdainful criticism at times offered by some on the show – and in particular, one of the judges. If you've watched it, you'll know who I mean! Having been through music college some years ago, I am very familiar with this style of criticism. The idea that it's helpful to…

PhotoPills app The PhotoPills app is a night photographer’s holy book, offering all the information you need for a successful shot, from the phase of the lunar cycle, to the time of rise and set and details of twilight phases. The app is very precise, which is why I teach clients how to use it in almost all of my workshops. Remote trigger A remote trigger is essential for a razor-sharp surface shot of the moon, as you need to avoid touching the camera at all costs. If you don’t have one to hand, you might be able to use the in-camera timer, depending on the technique you’re using. L-bracket To prevent camera movement you need to keep everything steady using decent, sturdy kit. A tripod with the legs splayed…

Strange as it might now seem, during the early days of space exploration, photography wasn't considered important. The first man in space was Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin who circled the Earth during a 108-minute flight on12 April1961. A weird stop-motion series of pictures of Gagarin during the flight have survived, but sights seen through the window of his spacecraft were never recorded. That same year Project Mercury, America's first human spaceflight programme, administered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), took Alan Shepard and Virgil Grissom on the first sub-orbital flights. Cameras were on board only to document instrument readings. First cameras in space The following year Colonel John Glenn made the first American orbital flight in space, leaving the Earth's atmosphere and circling the planet three times. Although…

Resolution Even a quick glance at our Image Engineering MTF tests reveals that this isn’t the sharpest optic you’ll find. At wideangle it records very respectable central sharpness, but the corners lag behind. In the middle of the range it’s not so sharp in the centre, and the corners are even softer. At full telephoto it’s simply not very sharp at all. For best results, select apertures around f/5.6-f/8. Shading On the whole, vignetting doesn’t present much of a problem. There’s no appreciable shading at wideangle or in the mid-range, but some does become visible at telephoto. Even then, you’ll probably only discern it with evenly toned subjects, where it’s not especially objectionable anyway. It also decreases quickly on stopping down. Curvilinear distortion The Micro Four Thirds system uses integrated…

CANON has taken a different direction with its G5 X Mark II and made a conscious effort to make it more travel friendly and convenient for those who want a camera that's easy to carry. The pop-up EVF is a stroke of genius, but you do have to forgo a hotshoe and it doesn't facilitate powering the camera up or down. The feel of the camera in the hand is good, but I did notice the finish of the lens control ring is rather plasticky and doesn't turn as positively as that on the original G5 X. Those coming from the G5 X are likely to miss the front-mounted dial, but by removing it the camera has a sleeker-looking aesthetic. It's great to see Canon answer the critics of its…

‘The book functions as a career retrospective that finds space to look at Drebin’s own career’ The nature of celebrity photography has shifted significantly. To this day, Terry O'Neill has continued to lament the shifts in the process that was, back in the 20th century, more about intimate collaboration than a simple PR necessity. It used to be that a photographer would spend real time with their subject, perhaps visiting them in their homes or taking them on location to shoot reel after reel of film. Now, agents and PR companies sit in the middle of the process ushering the subject in and out of the studio in minutes with barely a word spoken. This book from photographer David Drebin is notable for the fact that it is a collection…

WE'RE not quite sure what to make of this cover: maybe the art editor had just started a ‘hot yoga' class or something, or had a thing about leotards. The skimpy coverlines, meanwhile, look like they were rattled off on the way to a lunchtime pub sesh – AP used to be based near Fleet Street, so this is entirely possible. Fortunately, the package improves inside. We were particularly taken with the Dave Saunders travelogue on Peru, for example. The piece has a lot of period charm. ‘My budget gave me a choice of one or two hotels for just £2 or £3 a night….' This was a world without TripAdvisor, Booking.com and the rest, and it's easy to get nostalgic, but on the downside, getting to somewhere like Peru…

Plan for the golden hour Plan your shots to take advantage of the atmospheric light around the golden hour. This shot of the Dolomites shows the golden hour over Croda da Lago ridge in Italy. The viewing distance from the subject (the ridge) was approximately 8km. Try the dark sky technique Moonrise over Inner Farne Island Lighthouse, Northumberland. For this shot the viewing distance from the subject was approximately 5km. I used the grey-card technique – removing it from the top part of the frame during the last second of the exposure. Get to know your twilights Taken during a crescent moonrise at dawn (nautical twilight), this image shows earthshine over the arch of Durdle Door in Dorset. The final picture is the result of a six-shot multi-row panorama, and…

Talk: Historical View of the Moon 18 July, 6.30-7.30pm, £4 An insight into the history of moon photography, and how capturing it has always been challenging – even for astronauts. Talk: Soviet Space Dog Memorabilia from Martin Parr 24 July, 6.30-8pm, £4 Martin Parr and Debbie Ireland discuss Soviet space dog memorabilia. Workshop: Night Sky Photography First Steps with Lilian Hobbs 31 August, 11am-1pm, £6 Photographer Lilian Hobbs LRPS hosts a night sky photography workshop. Learn how to capture the cosmos and make star-trail photos. You can book tickets for all of these, and further talks and events, at rps.org/ spacestepsevents.…

The Texture slider This new slider in Lightroom Classic and CC affects mid-range detail in an image, letting you either enhance textures and surfaces or smooth them out with a negative setting. As well as the option to apply Texture universally, you can use it in combination with the local adjustment tools. New Home on mobile Lightroom for IOS/Android has a new home screen. Alongside your recently added photos you will find an array of tutorials and image inspiration – with advice on how each image was edited, step by step. The home screen will soon appear in the desktop version of Lightroom CC too. Defringe in CC New to the cloud-based Lightroom CC desktop app, the Defringe command helps remove colour fringing. Found under the Optics tab, it offers…

VICTOR Hasselblad was a Swedish optical engineer and photographer, born in Gothenburg in 1906. In 1940, during the Second World War, he was asked by his government if he could manufacture an accurate copy of an aerial camera recovered from a German reconnaissance aircraft that had crashed in Sweden. It is not known exactly what that camera was, but it is likely to have been like a Luftwaffe Handkammer, a handheld aerial camera that used 80mm film. Hasselblad's famous reply was: ‘No, but I can make a better one.' The result was the HK-7 camera, which featured interchangeable lenses, shot 7x9cm negatives on 80mm-wide perforated film and, unlike later reflex cameras, had a direct vision viewfinder mounted on top of the body. It was the first of several military cameras…

How you take to this lens will depend on what you value most in your photography. If you demand critical pixel-level sharpness, or shallow depth of field, then look elsewhere. But if you value the creative potential of having a huge range of focal lengths in a single lens, it's a really interesting option. Optically it may not be perfect, but it's much better than it has any right to be. Indeed with its massive zoom range, impressive close focus and weather-resistant construction, this really is a lens that can tackle almost every kind of subject. But it's not well suited for low-light shooting, so I'd pair it with one or two of Olympus's small f/1.8 primes for a lightweight travel kit. Overall, if you like the idea of a…

Bubble level The quick-release clamp includes a spirit level to help set your camera straight. At a glance ● 165cm max height ● 46.5cm folded length ● 1.7kg weight ● 14kg load capacity Spikes The standard rubber feet can be exchanged for metal ground spikes, which can be useful when shooting landscapes. Hook A sprung, retracting weight hook on the end of the centre column can be used to hang a bag for increased stability. Carry bag A nylon carry bag is included, with a usefully long shoulder strap. But it lacks an internal pocket for tools or ground spikes. ● £249 ● www.benro.eu.com SERIOUS landscape photographers tend to become obsessed with resolution, and gravitate towards high-megapixel full-frame cameras and top-notch lenses, which often means using large, heavyweight kit. But…

Artisan Obscura soft releases ● $40 ● www.artisanobscura.com Artisan Obscura is a small American company based in Colorado and specialises in the production of handmade soft shutter releases. The job of a soft shutter release is to improve the feel of your camera's shutter button. The company produces ones that feature a tapered thread to fit cameras that have a screw-in type of shutter button such as those found on many Fujifilm X-series cameras as well as sticky-backed ones that can be used with any camera. Although $40 (excluding international shipping to the UK) might seem a little steep for what is the smallest accessory you're ever likely to buy for your camera, these beautiful soft shutter releases provide a unique and rustic feel to your camera while improving the…

The Apollo11 landing would not have been possible without a completed and detailed survey of the surface of the moon. This was achieved using series of surveying satellites with a camera system that had two lenses arranged in co-axial system so that both were aimed at the same point. The lenses projected images onto a 70mm monochrome film. One lens was a Schneider 80mm f/2.8, and thus provided a ‘normal' image. The other was a 610mm f/5.6 lens, and was thus a telephoto. When exposed the film was advanced and the used frames automatically developed using a single bath process. To return the image, it was mechanically scanned at what, at the time, was an extremely high resolution and transmitted back to Earth. The film thus served both as a…

In 1907, aged 10, Erwin Blumenfeld received his first camera; it was from his Uncle Carl. He explained, ‘My real life started with the discovery of chemical magic, the play of light and shade, the two-edged problem of negative and positive. I had a good photographer’s eye right from the start.’ But Blumenfeld’s journey to becoming a world-class photographer was far from smooth. Hit hard by the deaths of his father, from syphilis, and brother Heinz, at war, Blumenfeld planned to desert the German army before being reported by his Uncle Bruno. In 1918 he moved to the Netherlands and, after dalliances in the worlds of fashion and Dadaism, in 1921 he set up a leather goods shop in Amsterdam and started taking photographs, which he developed in a darkroom…