Innholdsfortegnelse for 14-Nov-2020 i Amateur Photographer

In these tough times that we’re living through, our hobbies and interests play a greater role than ever in helping to maintain our mental well-being. Photography is almost unique in offering not only the distraction of creativity, but in also being a passport to so many other fascinating worlds. In this week’s issue alone we learn about the cameras used to record the major wars of the past century, find out how animals can help improve our mental health, and spend a few minutes in the company of former PM Tony Blair. We learn about church architecture and how to photograph it, and see the results you can get from moving the camera during exposure. If you haven’t yet gone mirrorless maybe the new Lumix S5, tested this week, will…

Siobhan by Brian Nicholson Canon EOS 6D, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art, 1/1250sec, f/4, ISO 160 Model Siobhan Abigail (@i_am_ siobhan_abigail) teamed up with her photographer friend Brian for a creative pick-me-up after the frustrations of lockdown. ‘These were shot using natural light on an early evening as the sun went down on the top of a multi-storey car park,’ they explain. Well it may not be a very exotic location but the resulting pictures evoke the style of great fashion photos by the likes of Peter Lindbergh and Herb Ritts, with Siobhan a more than capable stand-in for Cindy Crawford. Thunderbirds by Michael Turek Sony A7 III, Sigma 150-600mm, MC-11 Adapter, 1/2000sec at f/5.6, ISO 200 Michael is one of our US readers and captured this perfectly timed shot at…

THE HAMDAN International Photography Awards (HIPA) contest is now open for entries, with a whopping $450,000 prize purse. This year’s annual competition, which is the tenth and named after the crown prince of Dubai, is based on the theme Humanity and is open to amateurs and pros alike – even better, entry is free. Other categories include portfolio, ‘challenging photographers to showcase their storytelling skills through a series of photographs’, general (open to both colour and black & white images) and architecture. The closing date is 31 January 2021. Full details at www.hipa.ae/en.…

Cities of Silence: Extraordinary Views of a Shutdown World £15, TeNeues, hardback, 192 pages, ISBN: 978-3-96171-320-2 There’s only one dominant news story of 2020, which of course is the global shutdown as a result of COVID-19. Photographers have been keen to carry on during this strangest of times. We’re now very used to seeing pictures of empty streets, tourist destinations usually thronging with people unusually still and quiet. Cities of Silence brings together a vast collection of these shots, from cities across the globe. There’s background information on each place, and sometimes even a comparison shot with how the location usually looks. This is a well-collated book and one which serves as a record for posterity. One day we hope the world goes back to normal – whatever that is…

Stabilisation If permitted, a sturdy tripod is useful to have. If not, a camera or lens with image stabilisation. Both my Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II camera and Zuiko 12-100mm f/4 constant aperture pro lens have stabilisers and can be handheld successfully at shutter speeds unthinkable a few years ago. Selection of lenses Zoom lens over midrange for general work or specialist lenses such as extreme wideangle for dramatic perspectives or powerful telephoto for ceilings when using a tripod. Wide-aperture prime lenses are ideal for handholding. Software Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop for image adjustments, but any software that allows you to at least make raw adjustments will do.…

● £96 (including shipping) ● www.polarprofilters.com Leg locks A red ring is revealed behind the locks to visually indicate when they’re unlocked. Build quality The tripod is robustly made and features a 95% aluminium construction. Leg adjustment Each leg can be tilted and locked to eight different positions. Removable feet The rubber feet pull off to reveal spiked feet for better stability on rocky terrain. MINI TRIPODS are useful for times when you don’t want to lug around a full-size set of sticks, but fancy a lightweight and compact solution to supporting your camera. They’re a firm favourite of those who travel or enjoy city breaks, where space is often limited and a steady base is essential for certain shots such as long exposures. Polarpro’s Apex is a new design…

‘You can tell a lot from a person’s hands,’ my nanna once commented sagely. She could learn a lot from mine. My hands are baby bottom smooth, long elegant fingers, finely filed nails. My heart and life lines are gloriously elongated arcs across my palm. Three flattened knuckles on one hand the only blemish, an indicator of turbulent teenage years. Doctors can detect allergies, sleep deprivation and dietary needs from hands. A firm grip can administer respect. A simple single finger gesture, inflict rage. Hands can kill, induce orgasms or soothe a newborn to sleep. Nanna was on to something. Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918), 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, apparently once read in a crime novel, ‘any criminal with a thumb joint longer than the index finger joint, is…

V-Sign by William Lovelace A woman makes the sign for Victory during the Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph, London. The Cenotaph was first erected just after the end of the First World War as a temporary structure, to be replaced in 1920 by a permanent stone structure. Remembrance services are held there every year, the first modern ceremony taking place in 1919 following a suggestion by King George V. This year, the usual laying of wreaths will take place by members of the Royal Family and dignitaries, but for the first time, owing to Covid-19, the March Past has been cancelled and there will be no public attendance. The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins to the founding of the…

PANASONIC has taken the wraps off an array of firmware updates for both its full-frame Lumix S series and Micro Four Thirds G series cameras. To a great extent they’re focused on video capabilities, but stills photographers will also benefit. With Ver.2.0 for the compact full-frame Lumix S5, the camera will gain the ability to record in the Cinema 4K format, and output raw video to an external recorder over HDMI. It also acquires two new Photo Styles, called L.Monochrome S and L.ClassicNeo. Meanwhile, users of the S1, S1H and S1R will gain all the benefits of the new autofocus system that the firm developed for the S5. These include improved continuous AF and a subject-detection algorithm that now recognises heads as well as faces, eyes and bodies, which promises…

PANASONIC has launched a relatively compact and affordable large-aperture short-telephoto prime, in the shape of the Lumix S 85mm F1.8. It’s the first in a new line of L-mount primes that will all share the same dimensions, filter size and control layout, with 24mm, 35mm and 50mm siblings all promised for the near future. A wider-angle optic is also planned. Optically, the 85mm f/1.8 is designed to deliver high image quality, with a smooth transition from in-focus areas to attractively blurred backgrounds. It comprises 9 elements in 8 groups, including two ED glass elements to suppress colour fringing due to chromatic aberration, while the aperture diaphragm employs 9 curved blades. A frictionless linear motor is used for rapid, silent autofocus, and Panasonic claims to have specifically designed the optics to…

7 April 1971 THIS week’s trawl through the archive stops at one of AP’s strangest covers. It’s a mystery what the image relates to or who it is supposed to appeal to. Inside there was a 16-page cine guide, and AP kicked off the search for its next Cover Girl, in which readers were charged with the solemn task of talent-scouting and photographing amateur models. One lucky girl would be chosen as Cover Girl 1972 and the photographer would receive a host of prizes including a ‘super’ but unnamed camera, and an unspecified ‘sunshine holiday’ in ‘Europe’. Last year’s winning photographer, Norman McKay, showed off the Exakta RT 100 TLR that he won, while winning model Jennifer Summers enjoyed a VIP day out in London – with shopping in Mayfair…

1 For handholding, check that the image stabiliser in-camera and/or lens are switched on. Switch off for tripod use. 2 Save to raw for more flexibility in post-production. 3 Select Aperture Priority and set the widest aperture available. In Program mode, the camera should default to the widest aperture according to light intensity. 4 Because of mixed lighting – daylight, fluorescent, spotlight – it is safer to put White Balance on Auto and adjust in post-production. Although this doesn’t work so easily when saving to JPEG. 5 Manually focus about one-third into your composition for hyperfocal distance. Doesn’t matter if there is nothing to focus on, use the lens focusing scale if it has one. In its absence, tweak the focus by guesswork (and experience) back a bit from infinity…

Speed Graphic If ever a camera stood the test of time, this was it. The Speed Graphic was an American press camera introduced in 1912, two years before the outbreak of the First World War, where it went into regular service. It continued to be a popular workhorse during the Second World War for British press and American Signal Corps photographers and was still going strong during the early years of the Korean War. For its time, it was a relatively small, yet heavy plate camera, that required glass plates to be changed between exposures. Although best operated on a tripod, it was relatively easy to use handheld. Vest Pocket Kodak Launched in 1912, this was the first camera to use 127 film, which contributed to its small size. When…

A portrait’s popularity often corresponds with the fortunes of its subject. For example, one of my portraits of the Spice Girls was an asset to my portfolio in the 1990s, but ten years later my agent told me I should take it out, because people didn’t respond well to it any more. Now, the situation has come full circle and recently a very trendy magazine published all my Spice Girls pictures because it’s acceptable to like them again. For different reasons, my portrait of Tony Blair in front of a door in the garden at 10 Downing Street has also been in and out of my portfolio as the public’s perception of him has changed. The first time I photographed him was in September 2002, in a commission for a…

The crops shown below are taken from the area outlined above in red You get crisp, detailed images at low sensitivity settings, which is preserved high into the ISO range. Noise does creep in a little at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400, however the fine detail that is resolved at these settings is excellent. Even at ISO 12,800 files are usable, though images could benefit from a touch of extra luminance noise reduction over Adobe’s default settings. ISO 25,600 can be used if low-light situations demand it and it’s only when you encroach ISO 51,200 that colour noise starts to make its presence known. Fine detail suffers heavily at the top two sensitivity settings so they should be avoided.…

Spanish Señor by Michael Jennings Fujifilm X30, 1/1250sec at f/10, ISO 400 I was on holiday visiting Ronda, in Andalucia, when I saw this Spanish gentleman walking past the bullring,’ Michael tells us. ‘I don’t usually do street photography as my main interest lies in wildlife, with other cameras and lenses, but I was on holiday and carrying the X30 around for some casual shots when I saw this scene come together.’ This is a simple but lovely image, captured at just the right moment, and Michael’s decision to make it black & white was a good one. Colour would have added nothing to this composition.…

INNOVATIVE Chinese maker Venus Optics has revealed the world’s widest-angle shift lens, in the form of the Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift. Designed for use on both full-frame and medium-format cameras, it provides +/- 11mm shift via a rotating ring beside the camera mount, with the direction of movement rotatable through 360° and click-stopped at every 15°. As a result, it promises to be an exceptionally powerful tool for architectural photographers. Optically the lens comprises 17 elements in 10 groups, including three extra-low dispersion glass elements and two aspherical elements to minimise optical aberrations. The ‘Zero-D’ badge indicates that curvilinear distortion has been practically eliminated, which is essential on this type of optic. The lens projects a huge angle of view (110°) across an image circle that’s 65mm in diameter,…

THE WINNERS have been announced in the Luminar Bug Photography Awards 2020, in association with Europe’s leading invertebrate charity, Buglife. More than 5,000 images were submitted from around the world, competing for a total prize pool of £23,000. The judging panel contained well-known figures including Buglife president, Germaine Greer; TV presenter and naturalist Nick Baker; and well-respected invertebrates photographer, Levon Biss. The grand prize winner, and Luminar Bug Photographer of the Year 2020, is Mofeed Abu Shalwa, a Saudi Arabian photographer who started photographing invertebrates as a way of overcoming his childhood phobia of insects. Alongside the title he wins £2,500 in cash, and additional prizes worth £2,000. Jamie Spensley from Solihull in the UK has been crowned Luminar Young Bug Photographer of the Year 2020. Jamie is 17 years…

Churches with unusual or singular features Church of St Michael and All Angels, Berwick, East Sussex 20th century paintings by the Bloomsbury Artists. St Giles Church, Cheadle, Staffordshire Pugin interior, amazing decorations. St Michael’s Church, Llanyblodwell, Shropshire Eccentric OTT interior decorations. St Chad’s Church, Shewsbury, Shropshire (pictured right) Circular church. St Botolph’s Church, Hardham, West Sussex Adam & Eve 12th-century wall paintings. St Mary’s Church, Painswick, Gloucestershire 99 yew trees. Tradition states that if a 100th is planted, it will die. Recommended locations Nave ceiling - Ely and Exeter Cathedrals Quire - Chester and Peterborough Cathedrals, St Paul’s Cathedral London Fan vaulting - King’s College Chapel Cambridge, Gloucester Cathedral cloisters and Peterborough Cathedral retrochoir Norman architecture - Durham and Rochester Cathedrals, St Mary and St David’s Church Kilpeck Herefordshire Reredos…

Too complicated I am approaching 74 years of age and am quite perturbed by what is happening with modern cameras. I am in the process of selling all my Pentax K-3II equipment because I simply cannot work out how to fully operate it. I’m tired of having to work my way through all the menus to take a simple photo. They are far too complicated for what should be an enjoyable pastime. Over the decades I took many professional standard shots, some appearing in magazines, using basic analogue equipment – Canon A1 mainly. Fortunately, an article in your 22 August issue mentions a Fujifilm X-T2 which closely resembles former SLRs, with easy setting knobs. So I’m trading in my Pentax kit for one of these. If this doesn’t work out,…

THE GOOD thing about Panasonic joining the L-Mount Alliance is that there are many more lenses to choose from than the current seven Lumix S lenses and two teleconverters in Panasonic’s line-up. Leica has five high-performance primes and three Vario zooms. It also makes adapters that allow R-mount, M-mount and S-mount lenses to be used with L-mount cameras. Sigma has been busy expanding its line-up of L-mount lenses over the past 18 months, which are more affordable than Leica’s expensive optics. The Japanese manufacturer offers 16 L-mount Art lenses and two Contemporary lenses covering focal lengths as wide as 14mm through to 400mm, with its latest arrival being the 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro (£699). In addition, Sigma’s MC-21 adapter allows Sigma SA mount and Canon EF mount lens owners…

THERE is a great deal to like about the S5 as a stills camera. Image quality, particularly the level of fine detail recorded in raw files at high ISO, is outstanding. This is backed up by an easy-to-use high-resolution mode and a superb 20-60mm lens that lets you squeeze more in the frame than most kit zooms do. Users get a well-thought-out arrangement of buttons and dials and Panasonic’s contrast-based DFD autofocus system has improved. This was evident tracking erratic subjects in AFC mode, however it did still struggle to acquire focus in some low-light scenes, which is where its phase-detection mirrorless rivals still have an upper hand. The big talking point is the S5’s body and handling, which addresses concerns of Panasonic’s full-frame S-series being too bulky and too…

Gareth Mon Jones It’s hard to know where to start when talking about the Nikon D810, which to this day is one of the best cameras I’ve owned. The positive reviews immediately caught my attention and I remember lots of reviewers speaking highly of it when it was paired with the Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED. What I particularly like about the camera is that it’s clearly built to last. The body is solid like a rock and you get sensational weather-sealing, which I’ve put to the test many a time when shooting in adverse weather conditions around Anglesey and Snowdonia. It never let me down in three years of demanding shooting, which is amazing considering the abuse it has taken. The picture quality from its 36MP full-frame sensor is…