Innholdsfortegnelse for 05-Sep-2020 i Amateur Photographer

The British landscape is by far the most popular subject to point a camera at among AP readers. It offers unparalleled variety in such a small area and the unpredictable weather, while irritating if you’re planning a barbecue, makes for an ever-changing canvas for the patient photographer. This week we ask leading landscape pros to name the top spots and to share tips for getting the best out of them. We also start an exciting new series: we asked 20 legends of music, and music photography, to pick the greatest album cover photos of all time, and over the coming months we’ll be telling the stories behind them. I can guarantee you won’t agree with all of the choices but that’s part of the fun, and the stories are fascinating.…

Shrouded by Wesley Kristopher Nikon Z 6, 200mm, 1/500sec at f/8, ISO 100 Wesley is lucky in that living in South Yorkshire he has the UK’s first National Park, the Peak District, on his doorstep. It’s where he has taught himself photography over the last five years. He says, ‘The Peak District is still my classroom and I’m always out there trying new techniques. I encourage others to get out into the Peak District with my Instagram@PeopleofthePeak. This was from a special morning at Winnats Pass when lockdown had eased. Pre-pandemic, I took a tumble here trying to retrieve my camera and tripod, which had blown over the top in a freak gust. Luckily I survived with just a wrist sprain. This return visit was closure for me, in that…

USED specialist MPB has announced the inductees to its 2020 Photo and Video Kit Hall of Fame – a celebration of the best photo and video equipment. This is the first year that the awards have been held and the inductees are as follows, with comments from MPB: • Classic category: Nikon D700 ‘Renowned for its incredible image quality, build quality and character.’ • Game Changer category: GoPro HERO ‘Revolutionised point-of-view filming for sports and otherwise impossible-to-capture activities.’ • Road Tested category: Nikon D810 ‘A near-perfect all-rounder, the Road Tested inductee brought high resolution to a familiar package, with reliable ISO performance.’ • Trendsetter category: Fujifilm X100F ‘Beautiful and portable… the retro camera everyone wishes they had in their kitbag right alongside their pro body.’ • Iconic category: Hasselblad 500CM…

Scotland Phil Malpas Phil is a freelance photographer based in Wiltshire. He leads photographic tours around the world for Light & Land. During the next 12 months Phil will be leading tours to all three locations pictured here. Visit www. lightandland.co.uk for more information. Traigh Rosamol, Isle of Harris Traigh Rosamol looks out over the Sound of Taransay and is situated on the north-western coast of South Harris in the Outer Hebrides. Access is easy from the car park just behind the beach. This view is from the north-eastern end of the beach just before dusk and I chose to exclude most of the sand as it was a mass of footprints from the day’s dog walkers. I wanted to create a peaceful image with a serene, blue feel so…

Ed Caraeff Nirvana’s Nevermind is an eye-popping, controversial, iconic image that’s perfectly suited for this grunge band’s original, groundbreaking, creative, innovative, imaginative record release. It’s never too early to start your pursuit of the all-mighty dollar! Peter Neill This was an obvious choice because›the photo is anything but obvious. You don’t, as a photographer, suggest taking a photo of a baby swimming underwater without guts, imagination and the professionalism to get the shot. The end result is flawless and stops anyone in their tracks. Howard Wakefield It has the fundamental elements of Hockney’s swimming pool paintings but captures innocence and serenity, oblivious to the lure of money and consumerism this child will encounter. The initial shock of a submerged infant means this iconic shot is far from the usual cute…

Ben Hawkins Ben Hawkins is the former editor of Practical Photography and an award-winning writer and journalist with almost 20 years of publishing experience. He’s currently working on his second book while combating Netflixitis. I remember the moment as if it were yesterday. My son, having spent the morning on Bamburgh beach building sandcastles worthy of a Time Team dig, had decided it was lunchtime and proceeded to march through the dunes to the car park with a single-minded determination that only a child in search of cheese sandwiches and rice cakes could muster. He was completely oblivious to me running alongside him, trying desperately to capture at least one shot that was both sharp and meaningful. Family holidays have become something of an ongoing personal project for me. Once…

THE EXPERT Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) is a group of 60 special interest magazines and websites from 29 countries around the world, covering six subjects: Hi-Fi, photography, mobile devices, in-car electronics, home theatre display & video, and home theatre audio. Each member is renowned for its expertise within its subject area, and for the rigour and integrity of its testing. As one of the organisation’s founding members, AP is an integral part of EISA’s Photography Panel. We work closely alongside 16 other magazines from Europe, India and the USA, all of which are among the most respected in their home countries. This year’s process for selecting the winners was necessarily rather different than before, being conducted entirely by videoconferencing due to the coronavirus pandemic. But one rule stayed the…

Can you use Canon EF lenses on an RF Camera? Q I’m a professional portrait photographer and longtime shooter of Canon DSLRs who, with the EOS R5, may finally be tempted to jump ship to a mirrorless body – it’s certainly got my attention! With over 15 years of investment in Canon EF glass though, I’m a bit begrudged to reinvest in a whole load of new optics to tell you the truth. What are my options when it comes to mount adapters? The ability to use the majority of my existing gear would certainly make me more likely to take the plunge. Mike Branigan A You’ll be pleased to learn Mike that there are some fantastic mount adapter options for Canon DSLR users looking to make the move over…

Should I stay or should I go? This was the question very much on the mind of UK-based documentary photographer Jon Tonks just before he made this image from the pier in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands in late March this year. Jon had been lecturing on the Maasdam – the ship in this image – as part of an ‘enrichment’ program that’s strangely connected to this magazine in that Peter Dench of this very column, AP Editor Nigel Atherton and indeed myself have all visited the ship and talked about the art and craft of photography along with a bunch of other photographers who have also been featured in these pages such as Harry Borden, Paul Hill, Jo Bradford and Marc Wilson. It’s fair to say it was a good…

First Raid of the Blitz by Keystone A view east down the Thames towards smoke rising from fires in Surrey docks, following the first German air raid of the London Blitz, 7 September 1940. On the left is the Tower of London, and on the right is Tower Bridge. The Blitz (the German word for lightning that was coined by the British press) saw London bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 out of the 57 nights following 7 September. Other cities including Liverpool, Cardiff, Plymouth, Swansea, Southampton, Belfast, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Coventry were also targeted. More than 40,000 civilians are thought to have died as a result of Luftwaffe bombing. The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins to the…

There are a lot of big competitions around, but here is a new, smaller one we are happy to help promote. The Ellen Fitzgibbon Memorial Competition is being organised to honour the memory of Ellen, who was a keen amateur photographer from the US, as well as a vet. She died from ovarian cancer at the tragically young age of 49 in 2018. The competition runs from 1 September to 15 October, and is free to enter. Entrants need to supply digital images (one per entrant) of the natural world, along with a 500-word statement. The first prize is US$1,500 and the runner-up US$1,000. Winning images will be donated to US cancer hospitals. See www.efcompetition.org/apply.…

THE RPS has a new CEO, Evan Dawson, and AP was the first UK photography magazine to secure an interview. ‘For the past seven years, I was CEO of Live Music Now, where we trained hundreds of professional musicians each year to work in specialist settings such as care homes, special schools and hospitals around the UK,’ he explains. ‘It was music that brought me to photography, initially through the work of the great David Redfern. More recently, I’ve been photographer-in-residence at St George’s Bristol, where I’ve shot portraits of some of the world’s leading musicians and ensembles.’ Evan has only been in the job a few weeks but, as he explains, key priorities including boosting online services and making the RPS as inclusive as possible. ‘I’m learning how different…

Janette Beckman Janette Beckman is a photographer who has documented hip-hop culture, shot three album covers for The Police and has worked with The Clash, Boy George, Run DMC and more. Gered Mankowitz Gered Mankowitz is an English photographer who has shot hundreds of record covers. He has worked with music legends including the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Elton John. Jason Bell Jason Bell is a portrait and fashion photographer who has shot celebrities from the worlds of royalty, sports, film and music, as well as many publicity posters for films and TV series. Dennis Morris Dennis Morris is a musician and art director who took early images of Bob Marley. Formerly art director at Island Records, he designed LP covers for PiL, Bob Marley, and Marianne Faithfull. Ed…

As a native to Essex and a father to two young girls (aged 9 and 12), photographer Mark Massey wanted to change the narrative around what it means to be an ‘Essex Girl’. For his project Essexism, his main objective was to challenge stereotypes, ones that even find themselves in the dictionary. He tells me, ‘On a visit to my local library, I found that at least three dictionaries still contained definitions of “Essex Girl” that used words such as “unintelligent”, “promiscuous”, “devoid of taste” and “materialistic”. In recent years it has been perpetuated by the likes of the TV show TOWIE (The Only Way is Essex).” Mark believes that the Essex Girl stereotype comes from three separate biases – gender, geography, and social class. He himself fits into two…

1 Calibrate your monitor Colour calibration is one of the most vital aspects of image editing, if only for ensuring your images appear consistent from one device to another. Datacolor’s SpyderX series and X-Rite’s i1Pro 3 Plus are highly recommended. 2 Use dedicated software Always use dedicated editing software when printing. Basic ones like Windows Photo Viewer give you no control of output, resulting in poor prints, whereas the likes of Photoshop and Affinity Photo allow you to use a profile and select a rendering intent, media type and much more. 3 Use an ICC profile This tiny nugget of vital information tells your printer how much ink to lay down for a specific paper type. These profiles can be downloaded for most papers from most manufacturers…

Amateur Photographer UK Editor-in-chief Nigel Atherton Focus Netherlands Editor-in-chief Roos Schouw Focus Numérique France Editor-in-chief Renaud Labracherie Foto-Kurier Poland Editor-in-chief Krzysztof Patrycy Fotografi Norway Editor-in-chief Pål Otnes Fotomag Norway Editor-in-chief Toralf Sandåker FotoMagazin Germany Editor-in-chief Manfred Zollner FOTOobjektiv Austria Editor-in-chief Klaus Lorbeer Fotosidan Magasin Sweden Editor-in-chief David Elmfeldt FotoVideo Czech Republic Editor-in-chief Rudolf Stáhlich FotoVideo Magazin Hungary Editor-in-chief Sándor Benko Kamera-lehti Finland Editor-in-chief Kristiina Haaga PhotoNet Greece Editor-in-chief Konstantinos Floros Shutterbug USA Editor-in-chief Dan Havlik Smart Photography India Editor-in-chief Hoshang S Billimoria Super Foto Digital Spain Editor-in-chief Jorge Coma Tutti Fotografi Italy Editor-in-chief Paolo Namias…

Nikon Z 6 Sitting in the middle of Nikon’s full-frame CSC line-up, the Z 6’s 24.5MP back-illuminated sensor produces stunning quality images and fantastic full-frame 4K video. Its in-body image stabilisation system can combat up to five-stops of camera shake and it’s autofocus system covers 90% of the frame and will continue to operate down to an impressive -4EV. Throw in a speedy 12fps burst shooting mode for good measure and while it may be the most expensive option in this roundup, it’s a camera well worth considering! £1,549 body only ● 24.5MP full-frame sensor ● Full-frame 4K at 30fps ● 12fps burst shooting Canon EOS RP At just 485g, the Canon EOS RP is not only the most affordable entry-point into the brand’s full-frame mirrorless line but also a…

Raspberry + Soda Water by Richard Krawiec Leica Q, 28mm, 1.40sec at f/2.8, ISO 200 Richard ran his own printing company for more than two decades until as he explains, ‘the dual curse of the internet and non-payers made us close the doors’. He continues, ‘I took up photography to help weather the mental trauma during the company closure – I’ve been addicted ever since.’ His images cover a range of genres as he doesn’t like to confine himself to any particular one. He was a Nikon D90 shooter, then migrated to an Olympus Pen F, then on to an Olympus E-M1 Mark II and, as he describes it ‘a bucket full of Zuiko glass’. He also has a Leica Q. For this image he dropped two pre-breakfast raspberries into…

Research by NordLocker, a file protection tool from the people behind the NordVPN (virtual private network), reveals that Brits value their photographs more than any other type of files stored on their computers. A full 70% of those surveyed consider their images more valuable than all other types of data. No big surprises there, but rather worrying is the revelation that only one out of 10 of those surveyed use file-encryption tools to protect data on their computers. ‘To keep their information private, 75% of respondents claim they use some sort of file protection, with passwords being the most common choice (46%)... 12% reveal they hide their files on the computer manually.’ More storage tips coming soon.…

For months, I’ve been meaning to empty out all the accumulated rubbish from my camera bag. It’s a large backpack I’ve been travelling with as my aircraft hand luggage for about 10 years and, like me, it is starting to show its age. The sunlight of better climates than ours has faded some of the black fabric to a dull grey, questionable stains from a hundred trains and taxis linger on the base and the shoulder straps have accumulated a shiny patina built up from unsavoury layers of sun block, sweat and fast food. Perhaps inevitably, it also seems to have got steadily heavier over the years. Naturally, the major stuff gets swapped out fairly regularly, depending on the job, but I can’t remember ever having taken everything out completely.…

Is Vic there? I ENJOYED the 18 July issue of AP: not for the article referred to in your editorial about image stabilisation, nor the review of the new Canon R6, but for the monochrome photograph on page 3 taken in 1965 of the Wimbledon press pack. I sensed it was something special when my eye focused on the subject, then knew it was special when I read who the author was: the late great Victor Blackman, former AP columnist. I used to lap up Vic’s column when I was a teenager reading my dad’s copy of AP, and his hints and tips stayed with me for many years; he was with me in spirit when I bought my first camera (a Yashica TL Electro SLR) and his advice to…

1 Crop for impact I use Lightroom to process my Raw files, and the first adjustment I always make is with the Crop & Straighten tool, which features a handy rule-of-thirds grid overlay. Always hold down the shift key to retain the original dimensions when cropping. 2 Convert to mono Next, to get the moody mono look, I started by selecting a black & white profile, which you’ll now find in the Basic tab in the latest version of Lightroom. There are lots of options available, but subtlety is the key here, as this is just the start of the edit. 3 Add contrast There are a few ways to boost contrast, and I prefer to add localised dodging and burning in Photoshop with adjustment layers, particularly for retouching skin.…

● £89 ● shiftcam.uk THE SHIFTCAM MultiLens case promises to give your iPhone better photographic nous by transforming its existing camera set up. Available to fit a number of different recent iPhone models, we’ve been looking at the case designed for the iPhone 11 Pro. With it, you get an additional four lenses, plus a circular polariser for use with the iPhone 11 Pro’s ultra wideangle lens. It houses the lenses and polariser at the top of a case with a sliding mechanism. It is designed to allow you to quickly ‘shift’ the lenses out of the way if you don’t want to use them, and back again into place when you do – hence the name of the product. The case is available in either matte black or transparent.…