Innholdsfortegnelse for 25-Jan-2020 i Amateur Photographer

Nobody can say the UK weather isn’t eventful, and while this can make planning a day out challenging, it’s often good news for photographers. Rain, mist, snow and storms offer a plethora of photographic opportunities. Our cover feature shares some great tips for getting better shots in ‘bad’ weather, with useful advice from winners of the excellent Weather Photographer of the Year competition. Staying with excellence, we’ve also got an exclusive look at Leica’s magnificent new M10 Monochrom. While it and a decent lens will cost more than many a family car, this looks like it might just be a dream camera for black & white photographers, according to testing sage Andy Westlake. We also check out the original Sony Alpha 7R, now something of a used bargain... Contribute to…

ESTABLISHED in 2012, the WEX Photographer of the Year is chosen from images submitted using the #wexmondays hashtag. Throughout 2019, approximately 15,000 images from photographers across the UK were submitted for consideration, all competing for the overall title, along with £1,500 in prize money. Every week, one winner, two runners-up and seven other shortlisted shots are selected by the Wex Photo Video judging panel based on technique and creativity, and allocated points on the #WEXMondays leaderboard. The top three photographers with the most points accrued throughout the year are presented with the first, second and third prize places in the competition. The top title for 2020 went to Andi Campbell from Devon – one of his images submitted over the year is seen here. The 46 photographs from the competition…

PRINTING specialist Fotospeed is again running ‘Academy' masterclasses at its HQ in Corsham, within striking distance of Swindon and Bath. The one-day workshops will take place in the new purpose-built studio, and will cover printing, Lightroom and Photoshop skills, mixing theory and practice. They will be led by Tim Jones, who is an Adobe Certified Associate. ‘There will also be exciting workshops led by Fotospeed photographers, sharing their wealth of knowledge across a range of photographic disciplines,' said a company spokesperson. Each day course will include refreshments, lunch and a finished image to take away on Fotospeed paper. Courses cost £95 and run throughout the year, with the printing workshop finishing on 11 November, the Photoshop course on 18 November and the Lightroom one on 2 December. For more information…

1914 THIS WEEK'S cover model also graced the cover two weeks earlier. Perhaps the Editor, FJ Mortimer, had the hots for her but, as she was wearing the same dress, a more likely explanation is that he was trying to squeeze maximum value out of a photo shoot. Our publisher would have approved. Six months before the start of the biggest global conflict in history the burning topics that vexed AP readers included the proliferation of ‘cheap and nasty' plates, methods of storing negatives, and the merits of sulphide toning. A regular series on the A to Z of photographic chemistry reached the letter P, with instructions for the mixing and usage of Potassium Phosphate, Potassium Permanganate and Pyrogallic Acid. Meanwhile, the Criticisms of Readers’ Prints page compared and dissected…

1 Calibrate for correctness All too often, your printed photos can bear little resemblance to the digital image you see on screen. The prime culprit is your computer monitor, which is likely to need calibration. Even screens that have dedicated sRGB and Adobe RGB modes can lack accuracy, and settings can drift over time, so it's worth investing in a calibration tool like the Datacolor SpyderX Pro or Elite. 2 Paper chemistry There's quite a chemistry between printer ink and photo paper. These two components are carefully formulated by inkjet printer manufacturers, so that they work together to give optimum colour and tonal accuracy, and the best definition without colours running into each other on the page. It's best to stick with the printer maker's own photo papers (or a…

I spent my first few years behind the lens shooting traditional landscape images and was lucky enough to gain recognition in several national photographic competitions. Having found it difficult to always find time to escape to the hills, I diversified into street photography and shooting the man-made environment (or urban landscape, as I prefer to call them), something that fits more easily around my busy day job and location. I enjoy the variety in the genres I shoot, although I admit it often leaves my audience a little confused, wondering what’s coming next. One morning I could be shooting in a misty woodland, and later that day on top of a city centre rooftop waiting for the sun to go down. It sounds glamorous, but it’s not. What it is…

‘A stunning image deserves the perfect finish, and certain subjects lend themselves very well to specific products. For example, in this beautiful architectural photograph by Dave Fieldhouse, you couldn't go wrong with WhiteWall's Acrylic ultraHD Metallic Print. This would emphasise the reflections of the water and building. The pearly shimmer of the Fuji Crystal Pearl paper intensifies the luminosity of the colours and brings out the best in the contrasts. Complete this work of art by adding a black Aluminium ArtBox frame. Another glossy and durable option is our HD Metal Print. These prints are extremely robust, but low in weight, even in large formats. They are also water-resistant, meaning they are even suitable for sheltered outdoor areas.' Jan-Ole Schmidt, Product Manager, WhiteWall.com…

After the Second World War, various German firms resumed camera manufacturing to cater for a growing market. The1950s was the decade that started to see the growth in popularity of 35mm cameras over medium-format models, and Carl Braun Camerawerk of Nuremberg had a foot in each camp. Its two main ranges were the 120 format Paxinas and the 35mm Paxettes, the latter running to around a dozen models, with varying degrees of sophistication, the better models having interchangeable lenses and coupled rangefinders. There were fewer variants of the Paxina, and this one, the Paxina 29 from around 1955, is at the top end of the range. For this type of camera, it sports a very fast lens, the aperture of f/2.9 being alluded to in the camera's name. ‘For this…

Alfred Hitchcock by Thurston Hopkins TAKEN from the Picture Post story ‘A Sinister Time Was Had by All', this portrait of director Alfred Hitchcock was taken outside the British Museum by Thurston Hopkins. The interview was conducted as Hitchcock passed through London, where he, the photographer and the journalist Kenneth Allsop looked around at a number of London scenes. The article, which talks – amongst other things – about Hitchcock's weight loss (he had dropped down to 13 stone from a previous high of 21 stone), uses a different picture, so this image must have been a spare that was left in the archive. The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins to the founding of the London Stereoscopic Company in 1854,…

Is it just me or does the world seem a little more toxic? There are more ways to connect and share than ever before but with increased access to good news, there's also an intravenous highway of bad. I'm not depressed but I feel a little less happy, the flames of joy burn a little less bright. My film-maker friend is depressed and has been for a while for a number of reasons: loved ones falling ill, career troubles and the isolation that freelancers often experience. The not-so happy snapper needed help and I, and hopefully you, have something to offer. They were looking to pull themselves out of it, to find an interest that would get them out of the house. Perhaps witnessing other people being happy and doing…

Another Defence The erudite Dr Dennis Low (Inbox, 11 January) makes his revealing observations with more than a touch of unfortunate acidity when he focuses on the recent Viewpoint articles by Nigel Atherton and Geoff Harris. While there's no doubt that he's entitled to his opinions, readers can only be left in doubt about his true motives. Talking about ‘kneejerk conservatism' is hardly a life-changer, and Nigel's comments about learning a subject's basics have more meaning to the majority. Photographic composition will always be a matter of taste, whatever the ‘rules'. Matt Mitchell A curiosity Some of your contributors might be interested in the Olympus PM-6 microscope camera I bought from eBay just before Christmas. It takes 35mm film and is in perfect condition, dates from 1955. Richard Bond I'm…

1 Frame the shot I usually crop the image towards the end of processing, but in this instance, I wanted to see just how much of that bright sky would need to be dealt with further on. This was also where I corrected the horizontals and verticals, literally twisting the image into shape. 2 Lift the focal area Protecting the highlights as best as possible resulted in an underexposed image. This suited the mood but meant that the shadows needed lifting in the key areas. I used the radial tool and added a little clarity to make the details on the buildings stand out more. 3 Balance the tones I added graduated filters to darken both the top and the bottom of the image, with the intention of drawing the…

Our cameras and lenses are tested using the industry-standard Image Engineering IQ-Analyser software. Visit www.image-engineering.de for more details The SL2 incorporates one of the best sensors around, and at low ISOs its raw files include stacks of detail and vast dynamic range, with lots of additional information recoverable in the shadow regions during raw processing. At high ISOs, noise is kept reasonably low considering the pixel count, and I'd shoot at up to ISO 12,500 with no qualms. It's not just the sensor that matters here; close examination of image files reveals that Leica's SL lenses are almost flawless. This ultimately is the pay-off for the system's price and weight. Resolution At ISO 50, the SL2 records about 5,400 lines per picture height, which is exactly as much as we…

Mark Banks As a professional landscape photographer, my equipment has to earn its keep, which is why I still use the Sony A7R for all my professional work. I've been committed to mirrorless cameras since 2008 when I purchased the Panasonic G1. However, I upgraded to the Sony when I realised I could attach a tilt/ shift adapter to it and use my older (Nikon F-mount) Carl Zeiss 25mm and 50mm lenses. This allows me to alter the plane of focus that I could only previously implement with my large-format view camera in days gone by. My equipment does get battered and I must say the Sony has been through many punishments since purchasing it in early 2014, yet it hasn't missed a beat and the quality of images it…

#appicoftheweek Göreme, Turkey by Rab Lawrence Nikon D850, 70mm, 1/1000sec at f/5.6, ISO 64 RAB IS a continental truck driver who delivers goods for oil industries around Europe. He says, ‘I always have my camera close at hand ready for any amazing views I see on my travels.' Although in this case he took this atmospheric shot of hot air balloons taking off in Cappadocia while on a recent holiday with his wife to Turkey. He did some minor adjustments to the raw image before converting to JPEG for Flickr. See more of Rab's images on his Flickr page at www.flickr.com/ photos/p300njb. Picked by Nigel Atherton, Editor, as our #appicofthewek Win!  Each week we choose our favourite picture on Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Twitter or the reader gallery using #appicoftheweek. PermaJet…

In response to Dr Low's criticism of Nigel Atherton's and Geoff Harris's recent Viewpoint columns (Inbox, 11 January) it is worth noting that their views are in line with those of other opinion-formers in the photography world. One observed recently that some photographs he had seen in an ‘art' magazine looked as though they had been taken from the strip of film randomly exposed in a 35mm camera while winding to frame one! Dr Low mentions Henry Peach Robinson in his views on ‘kneejerk conservatism'. Robinson had ideas about composition but his real claim to fame was that, while believing photography was an art form, he produced most of his pictures as composites from more than one negative. At roughly the same period, Peter Henry Emerson also believed that photography…

Aaron Gekoski Adam Oswell Adrian Steirn Brent Stirton Brian Skerry Britta Jaschinski Bruno D’Amicis Charlie Hamilton James Chris Packham Christian Ziegler Daniel Beltrá Jim Brandenburg Joan de la Malla Jo-Anne McArthur Johan Marais Karl Ammann Klaus Nigge Marie-Claire Greve Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols Neil Aldridge Ole J Liodden Patrick Brown Paul Hilton Peter Chadwick Roy Mangersnes Shangzhen Fan Steve Winter Sudhir Shivaram Thomas P Peschak Tim Laman Tony Wu Vincent Munier Xiaoqun Zheng Yongqing Bao…

David Crossland is a British freelance journalist and photographer living in Berlin. He has written three novels and is working on a non-fiction book on Western Front sites. The Bouzincourt photos were taken with a Fujifilm X-T30 and Fujinon 18-55mm lens. Illumination came from a small Aputure Amaran AL M9 LED light mounted on the hotshoe and occasionally handheld to provide oblique illumination. ISO was set at auto, maximum 3200. He says, ‘I left my DSLR at home for this trip and didn’t regret it.’…

1 Calibrate your monitor Not just once in a while, every month. This can prevent any nasty surprises when receiving prints from the laboratory or even when producing your own. 2 Process against white Process against a white screen backdrop, not the default black or grey. This will help avoid an overly dark result that you might get away with on a digital screen but will suffer badly when printed. 3 Edit sensitively Don't go crazy with the sliders. Use them to create an image that looks attractive but realistic. Often the saying ‘less is more' is very true. 4 Careful contrast Contrast can make or break a shot but don't go adding some that isn't there or taking away what should be. Look to the…

Sensor 47.3MP CMOS, 36x24mm Output size 8368 x 5584 Focal length mag 1x Lens mount / Lens Leica L mount Shutter speeds 30min - 1/8000sec (mechanical 1sec - 1/40,000sec (electronic) Sensitivity ISO 50-50,000 Exposure modes PASM Metering Spot, centre-weighted, multi Exposure comp ±3 EV in 0.3 or 0.5 EV steps Continuous shooting 10fps, 6fps with AF Screen 3.2in, 2.1m-dot touchscreen LCD Viewfinder 5.76m-dot, 0.78x magnification AF points 225 Video 5K, 30fps; C4K, 60fps External mic 3.5mm stereo Memory card 2x SD, SDHC, SDXC; UHS-II Power BP-SCL4 rechargeable Li-ion Battery life 370 frames Dimensions 146 x 107 x 83mm Weight 915g inc battery…

Rain cover An all-over cover is included to protect your kit from downpours, and stows away in the full-width rear zipped pocket. Trolley strap A slim strap on the back can be slipped over the handle of a roller case for easy transportation. Media pockets Two flat pockets on the front can be used for memory cards or small batteries, and are marked green for fresh and red for used. End pockets Elasticated foldaway pockets at each end can hold an umbrella or small water bottle. ● £79 ● www.vanguardworld.co.uk WHEN we think about shoulder bags, the word ‘innovation' doesn't usually spring to mind. There may be plenty of differences in materials and styling, but most follow the same basic layout. Which is why it's refreshing to come across something…

It is very seldom that the two disciplines of a strong story and beautiful composition come together, but when they do the sheer power and beauty of an image can provide almost overwhelming emotion. Witness my all time favourite photograph, Dorothea Lange’s iconic ‘Migrant Mother’. The sheer power and sadness conveyed by this image and the story of Dustbowl California in the 1930s can somehow overshadow the absolute perfection of the composition. Lange herself admitted that she was somehow overawed by this image and she never managed to repeat it and, to some extent it haunted the rest of her impressive career. The photographs in Georgian photographer Natela Grigalashvili’s remarkable project The Doukhobors’ Land achieve this rare and remarkable combination time after time. Image after image. ‘Natela’s work is close…