Innholdsfortegnelse for 28-Nov-2020 i Amateur Photographer

There’s something very special about the sea that speaks to our souls. Whether watching rays of sunshine dance on the surface on a calm summer’s day, or waves crashing violently onto the rocks in a storm, the sea has a hypnotic effect on many of us, but none more so than Rachael Talibart. She has built a career out of capturing the awe and majesty of the sea in all its moods, and this week she shares the secrets behind her wonderful images. Also this week, now that Canon has finally nailed full-frame mirrorless is this the end of the road for the EOS 5D series? From its debut in 2005 the 5D and its successors have been chosen by more AP readers over the years than any other DSLR.…

GOOD news for Pentax DSLR users, with Laowa announcing that its highly regarded 100mm F2.8 2:1 Ultra Macro APO is now available in K mount. The lens features manual focus and aperture setting, and offers a class-leading twice life-size magnification at its minimum focus distance of 24.7cm. It’s available to order from www.laowalens.co.uk for £469. The firm is also offering a Canon EF-mount version with manual aperture operation, in addition to the electronically controlled version that’s currently available.…

Unearthed: Photography’s Roots Opening date TBC - 9 May 2021, Dulwich Picture Gallery, £16.50 (adult), concession prices available. Book tickets in advance Dulwich Picture Gallery re-opens with a major new exhibition that explores photography from the 1840s to today. Tracing the medium through stunning images of plants and botany, the show features over 100 works by 41 international artists. It covers the technical processes and narratives behind the images, with innovations by key figures including William Henry Fox Talbot and Imogen Cunningham, and more overlooked figures like Japanese artist Kazumasa Ogawa and the English gardener, Charles Jones. The show culminates with more recent advancements, from the glamour and eroticism of artists like Robert Mapplethorpe, to Richard Learoyd’s experimentations with still life compositions. Visiting exhibitions feels like even more of a…

Fotospeed paper Rachael is a Fotospeed ambassador and recommends checking out the company’s website for tutorials. (Rachael also runs printing workshops via her company f/11.) One of her favourite papers is Fotospeed NST Bright white 315. Canon 100400mm lens Rachael predominantly uses four lenses, but the Canon 100-400mm is her favourite for picking out patterns and details. She also uses a 24-70mm lens for ‘proper’ abstracts, as it allows her to get close to her subjects and is sharp from corner to corner. NAUTIDE app For tide, wind and wave information the NAUTIDE app is hard to beat. Rachael used to use a simpler app that told her the times of high and low tide at locations, but it wasn’t enough. With NAUTIDE she can see tide heights and depths,…

Colour perception I have just read Professor Newman’s article ISO in the raw (AP 29 August). The part about ‘colour science’ triggered my single brain cell. It brought back memories of my Kodak training. In 1979 as an engineer I joined a new Kodak project in Europe on high volume copier/ printers. At the time b&w was the only option until they brought out full colour some years later. At the initial colour training a class of about eight engineers were presented with a wooden box containing numerous small coloured clay tablets. These were of the colour spectrum and varied in tone. Our task was to lay them in out in their right colour and in ascending order of tone. The trap was that in the blue spectrum there were…

About Dave Dave is from Lincolnshire and works in the construction industry. Favourite subjects I’m passionate about wildlife, particularly kingfishers and birds of prey – the latter for their hunting patterns, stealth and pure beauty. How did you get into photography? Over the years, I tried a few different cameras, but then fell out of love with photography and concentrated on cricket and angling instead. Then, nearly three years ago, I was given a Nikon D5600 with the basic kit lens and a 70-300mm. I started taking pictures of our German shepherds, then moved on to wildlife. Reading up on the subject helped me to improve and understand my gear, as did a one-to-one workshop with wildlife photographer Ben Hall. What do you love about photography? The great outdoors and…

PICKING a favourite model is difficult, as you can’t really judge the original by the Mark IV’s standards because of the time gap and advances in technology. The EOS 5D completely changed photography for me, helping me understand the power of full frame. Even now, I’m continually impressed by the quality and feel of its images. The resolution of the Mark II made a huge difference and allowed for far greater cropping without overly compromising image quality. For me personally, the Mark III didn’t include enough improvements so I would actually put it at the bottom of my list, although it of course still offered amazing image quality. The 5DS was both a blessing and a curse – although the resolution was (and still is) an engineering masterpiece, back in…

The word Instamatic was almost synonymous with family snapshot photography in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. With a couple of notable exceptions, the cameras were very simple and basic. Although over 60 models were made, and the appearance gradually evolved to suit the current fashion, the specifications remained remarkably constant. Kodak launched the Kodapak cartridge in 1963, and while it was given the number 126, it’s generally known as Instamatic film. By introducing foolproof drop-in cartridges, they sidestepped the need to load then rewind a 35mm cassette, which tended to put off those who considered themselves less technically proficient. Prior to its introduction, it was common for camera owners to ask staff in the shop to load their film for them, and to rewind it for processing. I was probably…

VW Beetle by Michael Ochs Archive A man reaches into the trunk of a Volkswagen Beetle in November 1962. Officially the ‘Volkswagen Type 1’, the ‘Bug’ car was made between 1938 and 2003. By 1972, more than 15 million Beetles had been produced, surpassing production figures of the previous record holder (the Ford Model T). By 1992, more than 21 million had been produced. The last Beetle was made in Mexico in July 2003, with the final batch sold in 2004. Since then, newer versions including the ‘New Beetle’ and ‘Beetle A5’ have been made, with the final third generation Beetle rolling off the line in July 2019. The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins to the founding of the London…

ROTOLIGHT has announced a new LED light called the Titan X1, aimed at both professional film makers and photographers. The light, which is designed for both studio and location work, features the world’s first electronic diffusion technology to control diffusion, focus and spread without the need for gels, whilst a full-colour touchscreen display saves time on set. The new unit includes the world’s first High Speed Sync RGB flash (up to 1/8000th), delivering a powerful output and zero recycle time. Price is £2,399 with various launch promotions – see www.rotolight.com.…

29 November 1986 A SERIOUS-looking Patsy Kensit stared out of this new look issue from 1986, in a photo taken by the late Bob Carlos Clarke. The week’s big test, by future editor Keith Wilson, compared three AF SLRs. The Minolta 7000 was the best of the bunch but Keith wasn’t overly impressed with any of them. ‘Autofocus is a wonderful concept but it’s still far from perfect,’ he wrote. ‘Its dependence on batteries means that, as power drains, AF becomes slow and less effective in low light and low contrast. It is far from satisfactory to be always loading your camera with fresh batteries to gain the optimum AF performance, but that is still a major problem of all three cameras. The human eye and hand remain quicker and…

Follow your passion Ask yourself what it is you love – it might be food, dance or, in Rachael’s case, the ocean. Find something you could spend a lifetime exploring without getting bored, and dedicate yourself to photographing it. The deeper you dig, the more you will find. It’s all in the detail If you shoot on a falling tide, interesting details will often be revealed on the rocks and sand. Rachael admits that she probably spends more time on these ‘quiet’ pictures than she does shooting ‘scary waves’. It’s also an ideal time to shoot because the sand will be free of footprints. Check the highlights While Rachael isn’t fond of ‘chimping’ (constantly reviewing images on the LCD screen), she advises checking the histogram occasionally to avoid blown-out highlights.…

Round Seven Light & Shadow KRAIPUK THANUDKIT from Thailand is the winner of Round Seven of APOY 2020. As category winner, he receives Sigma products of up to £1,000 in value as his prize (based on Sigma’s RRP), and if his choice is above this price, he can opt to pay the difference. The 24mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art (RRP £799.99) features virtually no distortion, while the 40mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art (RRP £1,099.99) with its unusual focal length, produces distinctive images of exceptionally high quality. 1 Kraipuk Thanudkit Thailand 20pts Leica M (Typ 240), 1/360sec at f/9.5, ISO 400 This is a photograph that immediately brings to mind the work of the legendary photographer Joel Meyerowitz. The golden strip of colour against the wall and pavement, with…

As the only 5D model to offer 4K video, many movie makers made a quick beeline to get their hands on the Mark IV. Capable of shooting 4K up to 30p, videographers also had the option of shooting Full HD at 60p and using it half-speed for a slow motion effect, although the 4x slow motion mode was limited to 720p. EOS 5D Mark IV users also had the option to capture 4K movies and save any frame as an 8.8MP JPEG, which was useful when trying to shoot fast action sequences that were too speedy for the Mark IV’s 7fps burst rate.…

AP: Tell us about your photography background. ED: I first took an interest in photography when I was 16. I loved to document everything around me and was fascinated about what I could see when looking back at the moments I’d captured. When I studied photography, I started shooting families, weddings and some product photography, which is when I knew I wanted it to be my career. Mark Twain once said, ‘Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life’. This is exactly how I feel when I am working – I love every second of my job. Since leaving university, I have built up my photography business and I specialise in portraiture, commercial and fashion. I also enjoy photographing landscapes…

AP picture of the week Flamborough Lighthouse by Alex Roebuck DJI Mavic Pro 2, 1/320sec at f/5.6 ‘This shot was taken during a weekend away in October,’ recalls Alex. ‘Having walked along the coastline trying to establish in my head how I was going to achieve the best angle on the lighthouse against a low sun, I came up with the idea that it would look best from the air. I set my alarm and was on the beach just as the tide went out. The aerial view, taken at 300ft, gives a different perspective and adds a little extra you wouldn’t normally see from the ground.’ It certainly does. This is a great view of a beautiful and dramatic stretch of coastline and really conveys a sense of the…

BESTSELLING author L J Ross (right), whose books include the DCI Ryan series, has set up a new photography prize to find the best images that capture the ‘spirit and heart’ of the North East of England. The inaugural Northern Photography Prize, in association with Living North magazine and sponsored by Dark Skies Publishing, is free to enter for amateur photographers of all levels. It consists of two categories: the Spirit of the North East for landscape photography and the Heart of the North East for portrait photography. The category winners will each earn a £1,000 cash prize and all winning and shortlisted entries will be featured in Living North magazine. The judging panel also includes award-winning landscape photographer David Taylor. The entry process will close on 30 June 2021…

For someone who describes themselves as ‘a poor swimmer and a poorly sailor’ it seems incredible that award-winning photographer Rachael Talibart chose the sea as her muse. ‘I’m afraid of the sea,’ she laughs. ‘I think it’s dead scary, but that’s part of its appeal to me. You feel very alive when you’re afraid.’ A former solicitor, Rachael has spent a large chunk of her life at university, where she studied the sublime – a term sometimes used to describe the delicious terror we experience when faced with nature at its most forceful and immense – think mountain ranges, deep chasms, raging seas etc. ‘My big wave pictures are hugely informed by the fact that I’m afraid of the sea,’ she reveals. However, this fear is matched by a deep…

Kraipuk Thanudkit, 1st My picture was taken in Nottingham, and is an example of the light and shadow we all walk past every day. It may look ordinary, but there’s a magic in the light that can transform a normal scene into a remarkable one. I consider this street photograph to be a combination of cityscape and landscape, and was careful to manage the light and frame. I used a tripod to compose and waited for people to walk past. Sabrina Garofoli, 2nd, 9th and 13th In every image we produce, it’s crucial to create the right balance of light and shadow. The same subject can appear completely different depending on whether we favour one or the other. With my bodyscape – a self-portrait – I wanted to create a…

With not even a whiff of a DSLR replacement for the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, we can only surmise that the line has come to the end of the road. Sad? Yes, but Canon has pulled out all the stops to soften the blow with the 5D’s spiritual successor. Step forward the EOS R5, a full-frame mirrorless masterpiece that catapults Canon to the very forefront of full-frame technology. Offering a 45MP sensor, the R5 can deliver maximum file sizes of 8192 x 5464 pixels and boasts a fantastic AF system with 5,940 points. Despite the high pixel count, the R5 is frighteningly speedy, offering a blistering burst rate of 20 frames per second, guaranteeing that it will be as attractive to wildlife photographers as it is to landscapers. And,…

● £250 ● www.benroeu.com BENRO has established a strong reputation for making tripods that offer excellent stability at keen prices. Now the firm has taken the wraps off its next-generation Rhino series, which promise higher performance at a lighter weight than their Travel Angel predecessors. This four-section carbon-fibre model offers a maximum height of almost 1.7m and is rated to support 18kg, yet costs £250 complete with a ball head. What’s perhaps most striking is the natty new styling. Gone are Benro’s signature black paint and blue accents, replaced by a gunmetal finish with matt silver controls to give a handsome, modern look. But in this case beauty isn’t just skin deep, as the design is excellent too. Each of the legs can be set to three angles, and they…

Caption: ‘The weekend is here, lockdown continues and Bernadette and Francis enjoy the garden. One Friday, as I finished emailing at the kitchen table, my wife had taken a chair and a drink outside to enjoy the sun. We were doing our best, like the rest of the country, with work, childcare and news of death tolls. Our son had taken to relieving himself on the plants, much to our initial amusement and then slight frustration.’ Half the skill of taking a good picture comes in appreciating when you are looking at a scene that will provide one. In case you aren’t sure what a good picture looks like I refer you to Robert Coyle’s entry for the Duchess of Cambridge’s competition for images depicting life under lockdown: Hold Still.…