Innholdsfortegnelse for 23-May-2020 i Amateur Photographer

There is always something new to try in photography, and it’s no surprise to hear from retailers that there has been an upsurge of interest in macro and still-life gear during lockdown. I am no exception, and have been paying a lot more attention to flowers and insects on my daily walks. So this week Tracy Calder shares tips for better still-life images, also bringing in her insights as co-founder of the Close-up Photographer of the Year contest. Another highlight is our round-up of the best new cameras you can buy at the moment; once you’ve found the right model using our guide, you can find some great deals from AP’s advertisers. In addition, check out our guide to Skylum’s Aurora HDR, which AP readers can get for FREE. Keep…

FOR OUR latest chat with key retailers to find out how they are coping with the coronavirus pandemic and get their sense of where the camera market is at the moment, we meet Jason Mitchell, managing director of CameraWorld. ‘We have found from day one that customers have got time on their hands, which is good and bad,' Jason notes. ‘Where people would normally pop into our London store during their lunch break to pick up a bag, lens, or even a new camera, doing a bit of price-checking beforehand on their phones, now they have all the time in the world to research their purchase. So price is king at moment.' Needless to say, this throws up challenges for CameraWorld, which already discounts. ‘Sales are buoyant but our profit…

If there's ever a heart-warming story for it never being too late, it's the tale of French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue. He first stepped into the limelight at the tender age of 69, when the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York showed an exhibition of his work in 1963. At the time, fellow photographer Richard Avedon wrote to Lartigue and said, ‘It was one of the most moving experiences of my life… You brought me into your world, and isn't that, after all, the purpose of art?' A pioneer of the ‘snapshot', Lartigue became well-known for his tendency to capture his subjects mid-gesture, giving them a more realistic, less formal or posed look that would eventually create a new visual language for the 20th century. This book celebrates…

Canon EOS 6D, 16mm, composite of 15sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200 for sky and 1min ISO 3200 for land (with light from smartphone torch) Chris is based near the New Forest. He says, ‘I find myself mostly capturing night landscapes and starscapes. I travelled up to the Brecon Beacons for a couple of nights with a view to capture landscapes at night. I wanted to capture a waterfall under the stars, and after a daytime walk along the footpaths taking in the beautiful waterfalls, I settled on a spot which I could return to safely at night. This image is a couple of years old – I revisited it during the #stayathome period, it's an ideal time to work through the many photos I've taken over the years.' See more…

Mix up materials Combining natural and man-made objects can work well, but make sure that every element adds to the story. Here I wanted to convey a sense of the abundance of autumn, while using the hot chocolate to remind the viewer how chilly it feels! Don’t be too neat Sometimes a scattering of crumbs or a few stray petals can bring something extra to the composition. Obviously you will want to remove any unsightly blemishes or ugly vegetation, but try not to ‘manage' the scene too much. Keep experimenting To keep a bunch of flowers going for a little longer I froze some petals and buds in a block of ice. Having removed the ice from the freezer I laid a sheet of plastic over an old battery-powered lightbox…

Harry Borden is one of the UK’s finest portrait photographers. He has won prizes at the World Press Photo awards (1997 and 1999) and in 2014 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society. The National Portrait Gallery collection holds over 100 of his images. His book, Survivor: A Portrait of the Survivors of the Holocaust, was published in 2017. The Richard Branson ‘wings’ portrait is in Harry’s book Star White (2000), which is available for £15 from www.harryborden.co.uk.…

When was the club founded? The club was formed in 1947 as a photo and movie club. The council built it a dark room charging a peppercorn rent. The club gained a poor reputation because it was showing risqué films and it had a bar serving beer. (We have changed a lot since then!) What does your club offer to new members? Hay Camera Club seeks to appeal to a broad spectrum of photographic skills, from the beginner to the more advanced. We have had young people working for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards join us and above all we try to encourage interaction, skill sharing and a friendly atmosphere where every comment or question is valued. Describe a typical club meeting. We meet weekly. The Chair opens with a…

CPU Intel or AMD Quad Core (4 Core) Processor with 64-bit support (which should be the majority), with a 2GHz or faster clock speed. Look for 3GHz and 8 cores if you need something more powerful. On the setup we build we are using an AMD Ryzen 7 2700 processor. RAM At least 4GB of RAM, but ideally 8GB, or 16GB if you are editing many high resolution images or video. In our build here we are using 16GB of RAM. GPU nVidia GeForce GTX 1050 or equivalent as a minimum. Look for a nVidia GeForce GTX 1650 or higher for more power. Look for 4GB onboard RAM, with 6GB+ for more power. In our build we are using an MSI nVidia GeForce GTX 1650 VENTUS 4GB graphics card. Laptop…

With this week's theme in AP being best-value cameras, allow me to present – all the way from the USSR – the Cosmic 35. In the1960s and '70s, the Soviet Union was in need of hard currency, and exported a range of technical and optical equipment to the West in order to obtain it. The Zenit SLRs and Zorki rangefinders are perhaps the best known, but at the bottom of the range came various iterations of the Cosmic viewfinder cameras. Back in the USSR they were sold under the Smena name, but abroad were re-badged as Cosmics. They were cheap then, and they're cheap now, and can easily be picked up on eBay for between £10 and £20. From a design point of view, the Cosmic 35 has a definite…

I used to think that Instagram was full of pouty faces and people bragging about their lunch. I now realise that social media can sometimes be extremely useful. Last year I decided that I should have a better social media presence as I was doing more and more professional photography work. My rather invisible Facebook photography page just wasn't cutting it. Thus began an exploration that was incredibly illuminating and transformative, and has changed my outlook enormously. I previously viewed Instagram and Twitter as ‘something for the younger generation'. Whilst Facebook was useful for keeping in touch with people it wasn't that inspiring creatively. So I sought out Instagram, uploaded a few photos, waited for things to happen, and… not much really! But as I started following other photographers, it…

Tracy Calder Tracy Calder has more than 20 years of experience in the photo industry. In 2018 she co-founded Close-up Photographer of the Year – a competition celebrating close-up, macro and micro photography www.cupoty.com. She has written numerous photography books, and her work has appeared on the walls of The Photographers’ Gallery and The National Portrait Gallery in London. Instagram: @tracy_calder_photo and @cupoty. There is something incredibly soothing about still life photography. When the world outside feels out of control, simply arranging objects in an aesthetically pleasing way can be a real tonic for the soul. This genre of photography is great for refining your technical skills and also for testing new approaches and concepts. From finding inspiration in everyday objects to sourcing backgrounds, manipulating light and exploring a narrative,…

Building a PC isn't as hard as you may think as there are plenty of YouTube videos and websites that have step-by-step guides that can help. The PC I was building in this article took around 2 hours, but double this if it is your first time. Here are a few considerations if you wish to assemble your own machine. Case It may seem obvious, but this will affect the size. I would recommend a Mid ATX size case as they offer a good amount of space to keep things easy to build without getting fiddly. They also allow for heat to be dispersed more efficiently. Motherboard The motherboard has to fit in the case, so look for an ATX size one that will work with your chosen processor. Motherboards…

In the 1930s, in an attempt to assist the lives of rural communities suffering from what is now known as the Great Depression, the American government established the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and included within its parameters a photography programme. The programme was headed by Roy E Stryker, who oversaw the work of photographers such as Gordon Parks, Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange. One of the most critical aspects of any photojournalist and documentary photographer is the capacity for empathy. Often this is an innate quality, but for some, it’s a result of their own hardships. Lange, who was born in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1895 to second-generation German immigrants, understood early on what it was to have the cards stacked against you. While her troubles were comparatively small compared…

IF YOU'RE keen to digitise a lot of old film images during the lockdown, a new product called the Essential Film Holder (EFH) sounds intriguing. The EFH claims to keep your negatives perfectly flat and parallel to your DSLR sensor, whilst its integral diffuser makes sure illumination is even across the entire frame. The unit enables you to scan both 35mm and 120 format films up to 6x9 and is available now for £90 including postage. Full details at www.clifforth.co.uk/ap. For the latest news visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk…

Tripod A tripod will reduce camera movement and keep your hands free while you tweak your arrangement. A model with a centre column that can be positioned at 90° is ideal for flat lay photography. Diffusers & reflectors A diffuser softens light and reduces contrast, while a reflector helps to reveal detail in the shadows. You can purchase reflectors with silver and gold surfaces. Backgrounds The portability and quality of backgrounds produced by Photo Boards make them ideal accessories. The boards can be wiped clean with a damp, soft cloth and are really easy to store. Portable LED A small continuous light source, such as the Manfrotto Lumimuse, can be used to lift shadows. It is seriously lightweight, and surprisingly bright – it can also be dimmed.…

I couldn't agree more with the Jerry Seinfield quote in Richard Sibley's musings ‘Find the torture you're comfortable with' (Viewpoint, 4 April). I enjoy the art of pretty much all genres of photography and practice a fair few (definitely still practising). My main passion is for street photography, although my passion doesn't seem to give me as much ability as I would like. I think that we often see our favourite photographers' published work and forget that they too have a shot/show ratio, and for every finished image we see there are a number of others that we don't. I discovered quite a while ago that instead of just looking to the actual photos for inspiration, we should also look to the photographers. Therefore, on the subject of street photography,…

Luminar is a fully featured photo editor for Mac and PC designed for photographers of all skill levels, blending pro-level tools with remarkable ease of use and an enjoyable experience. A new Library feature lets you organise, find and rate images easily, while over 100 editing features, plus a suite of fast AI-powered technologies under the hood, will make any image stand out.…

ITS AN argument as old as time – and one that always raises comments. Buying or building your own PC allows for a lot more flexibility in terms of choosing your components and upgrading your computer in the future. It also can work out quite a lot cheaper when you compare the performance of a PC compared to an Apple Mac computer. What Apple offers is extremely slick, well-designed computers that look good, are highly functional, and with a more restricted line-up and number of components, the Apple OSX operating system and software should be a lot more efficient and stable. So which you should buy depends on what you value more. Most software, including all of Adobe's Creative Cloud programs, are available on both, however Final Cut Pro video…