Innholdsfortegnelse for 09/03/2021 i Amateur Photographer

SIGMA has announced a lightweight standard zoom for full-frame mirrorless cameras, the 28-70mm F2.8 DG DN | C. It’s designed to be a smaller and more affordable alternative to the firm’s existing 24-70mm f/2.8, and a direct competitor to the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 Di III RXD. Its credentials as a carry-anywhere lens are reinforced by its compact dimensions: at 72.2mm in diameter, 101.5mm in length and 470g in weight, it’s the smallest and lightest in its class. Optically the lens is based on the excellent 24-70mm f/2.8, but with the narrower 28mm start-point allowing a more compact design. It’s constructed using 16 elements in 12 groups, including 2 ‘F’ low dispersion (FLD), 3 super-low dispersion (SLD) and 3 aspherical glass elements to suppress optical aberrations. Nine rounded blades are used…

WE’RE delighted to offer readers an exclusive discount on some of Eve Arnold’s finest images, presented as 16x20in posters. Arnold (1912-2012) was a pioneering US photojournalist and portrait photographer who shot Hollywood stars, notably Marilyn Monroe, whilst simultaneously exploring racial equality, religion, sexuality and human rights in a fiercely male-dominated industry. In 1957 she became the first woman to join Magnum Photos. The collection of 15 images includes Arnold’s last shoot with Monroe, which took place a year before the actress passed away. Each poster is priced £30, reflecting Arnold’s desire for her work to be made more affordable (prior to this, Arnold’s images were only available as prints retailing from £1,000). You can order the posters at www.evearnold. com/posters and get an extra 10% by using the code AP-EVE-A…

Amur tigers are the largest of the world’s big cats. They are also among the most endangered with barely 500 individuals living in the sprawling forests and mountains of Primorye Province in Russia’s Far East, with maybe another 20 or 30 roaming the remote borderlands into northeast China and North Korea. Also known as the Siberian tiger, new images of this beautiful and elusive predator are as rare as the animal itself. For that alone, Sergey Gorshkov’s prize-winning camera trap photo of an Amur tigress scent-marking a Manchurian fir tree was always going to stand out from the 49,000 other images entered in the 2020 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. But there is much more to his photo, ‘The Embrace’, than the fleeting glimpse of a legendary creature. ‘There…

‘THAT shot took me two months to get,’ says Neil Aldridge about his low, wideangle night study of an inquisitive rural fox. ‘That’s the shot I had in my head. I knew the spot, he’s in the woodland up the road from here. Interestingly, the light behind is not the last rays of sunset but the light pollution from Bristol!’ Though Aldridge knew the behaviour of the foxes that lived around this patch of woodland, it still took him two months to get the result he wanted with the fox in this specific position to make it the right size in the frame. First, he had to modify the PIR motion detector sensor with an active range of 180°. ‘When shooting with a PIR sensor that can pick up anything…

A passion for nature photography – and a desire to help the public become more engaged with science – led Pichaya Lertvilai to pursue a PhD in Oceanography in California, where he specialises in developing underwater imaging systems. ‘I want to use photography as a way to introduce my research about the ocean to a more general audience,’ he explains. Pichaya has a strong background in electrical engineering, so it’s no surprise to learn that he designs and builds his own illumination systems for macro photography. ‘In particular, I make ring illuminators that focus intense light on a subject without illuminating the background,’ he explains. This system allows Pichaya to reveal all the glorious detail in his subjects. As a student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Pichaya is presented with…

For many years, Adobe programs were the go-to for post processing, and whilst several new options have come along in the past few years, it’s still a key player in the market and preferred by many. With the Creative Cloud photography plan, photographers have access to both Lightroom and Photoshop, but for the new user, they can be overwhelming and confusing given the wide range of tools at your disposal. What is Mezzotint? Or Posterize? The truth is there’s a lot of ‘fluff’ on these programs: tools you’ll never need to use or even know what they do. It’s best to focus your attention on the ones you’ll use frequently which will have a noticeable impact on your images and workflow. Before you even get to post processing, I strongly…

EARLIER this winter, GuruShots, organisers of the world’s greatest photography games and communities, challenged its users to send in their best images on the theme of My Favorite Animal. Amateur Photographer is partnering with GuruShots and we are now proud to publish the 23 highest ranked photographs by members who entered. Don’t forget that you can see every image that made it into the Top 500 on amateurphotographer.co.uk. For more inspiring challenges to improve your skills and stay motivated, see gurushots.com.…

Canon isn’t short of 85mm prime lenses in EF-mount and produces three fine examples with different maximum apertures. Those who fancy an affordable, highly practical and lightweight lens are likely to choose the EF 85mm f/1.8 USM ahead of the heavier and more expensive Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 L II USM and Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM, which cost £1,999 and £1,489 respectively. The lens we’re looking at doesn’t boast Canon’s professional L-series status, but don’t let this put you off as it offers a remarkably strong performance for the price. What we said ● ‘It features excellent build quality and delivers sharp results’ ● ‘There are few better options out there for Canon users working on a strict budget’ ● ‘It is known to produce chromatic aberrations when…

The McCartneys by Keystone Paul McCartney and his new wife Linda, née Eastman, an American photographer, leave Marylebone Registry Office with a police escort after their civil wedding ceremony on 12 March, 1969. The best man – Paul’s brother, Mike McGear – is on the right. Linda McCartney was well known as a music photographer and her 1968 photo of Eric Clapton was the first picture taken by a woman to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone. She also photographed iconic musicians including The Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, and Jimi Hendrix. Paul and Linda were married until her death in 1998 at the age of 56 from breast cancer. One of their daughters, Mary McCartney, is now also a successful photographer. The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of…

RICOH has revealed updated versions of its much-loved Pentax full-frame Limited-series primes. Based on classic designs that date back two decades, the HD Pentax-FA 31mm F1.8 Limited, HD Pentax-FA 43mm F1.9 Limited and HD Pentax-FA 77mm F1.8 Limited all gain improved HD coatings to maximise contrast and combat flare and ghosting, along with fluorine coating on the front element to repel grease and water. All three lenses boast aluminium barrels with traditional aperture rings, a circular diaphragm for attractive bokeh, and screw-drive autofocus driven from the camera body. They should be in the shops at the end of April, priced £649.99 for the 43mm f/1.9, £799.99 for the 77mm f/1.8, and £1,099.99 for the 31mm f/1.8.…

CANON has introduced an update to its entry-level mirrorless model, in the shape of the EOS M50 Mark II. This camera, which has been available outside of the UK for four months, uses essentially identical hardware to its predecessor, with a 24MP APS-C sensor housed inside a small and lightweight SLR-shaped body with a central electronic viewfinder and a fully articulated touchscreen. It sports a simple design that aims to be approachable for beginners, while providing a sensitivity range of ISO 100-51,200, along with 10 frames per second continuous shooting. New features are mainly centred on video sharing. The camera supports social media-friendly vertical recording for playback on mobile devices, along with Full HD live streaming to YouTube. It boasts a 3.5mm stereo microphone input, and can also be used…

Penguin: A Story of Survival by Stefan Christmann £35, teNeues, hardback, 216 pages, ISBN: 9783961712892 A testament to just how dedicated some wildlife photographers can be, this book follows the Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning photographer, Stefan Christmann, who spent 23 months accompanying a penguin colony in Antarctica. The results are a beautiful and fascinating look at this most beguiling of species – the emperor penguin. These penguins survive the relentless Antarctic climate, braving an average temperature of -49°, thanks to their special adaptation to the cold. As well as a stunning set of images, there are essays on personal experiences with the animals, with touching insights that help you to fall in love with these birds even more. Hill & Dale: My Shropshire Year by Andrew Fusek Peters…

FOR NEIL Aldridge, the greatest challenge about this image of a lesser horseshoe bat flying over a field of long grass was determining how many flash units he would need. His task was made more difficult by his decision to use red light instead of white to lessen any disturbance caused to the bats, which are a protected species in the UK. However, placing red gel filters over the flash heads reduced output by four stops, and simply turning up the flash output to compensate was not a solution. Aldridge explains: ‘If you go to full power the light is on for longer, so for a fast-moving subject like a bat you’re likely to get some blur. So, you need the flashes on a significantly reduced power and to have…

Mammals Kevin Morgans Kevin is a multi-award-winning wildlife photographer and photographic guide. His work celebrates the best wildlife the British Isles has to offer from its highest peaks to its beautiful coastline. See more of his work at www.kevinmorgans.com. Since the turn of the year, the nation has been on lockdown, making it difficult to get out with our cameras and do what we love most. While it feels like our lives have been put on hold, the natural world has not stopped. Wildlife is still going about its daily routines as normal, albeit under less pressure from humans. With the days now starting to lengthen, spring is just around the corner. This is one of the busiest times for our nation’s wildlife as they set about preparing for the…

A beautiful new book, Lion: Pride Before The Fall, documents the plight of the African lion, whose numbers in the wild are at a crisis point. In recent years, the wild population of lions has dropped from approximately 100,000 to fewer than 20,000. The life cycle of a lion is fraught with potential dangers. Only one in four lion cubs make it to adulthood, while most males die in combat with other lions. Males are lucky to make it past 12 years, while females have a long life if they live past 15. That’s before you add in human problems. George Logan has long had a fascination. ‘I can watch them all day,’ he says, ‘with or without a camera. That has fast developed into an obsession to do whatever…

It doesn’t matter if you’re a newbie to nature and wildlife photography, an enthusiast honing their skills, or a seasoned professional who is a master of their craft – choosing the right lens for the type of images you’d like to take is crucial. The saying ‘it’s more about the lens than the camera’ is particularly relevant to this popular genre of photography, but with so many lenses out there and so much money at stake, it can be difficult to know what to choose. The different types In this guide we’ve broken down our selection of the finest lenses for nature and wildlife photography into five different categories, with prices ranging from the more affordable end of the spectrum right through to expensive fixed-focal-length primes. In addition to covering…

Fallow in the Frost by Francis Smith Nikon D500, Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 lens, 1/640sec at f/8, ISO 1250 ‘I took this picture at Hillesden House in Bucks whilst on a lockdown walk,’ says Francis, from Brackley, Northamptonshire. ‘The house has a deer park and this was one of those beautiful cold, frosty mornings with some freezing fog. I spotted this deer on the move and I followed it around, shooting a sequence of pictures through the holes in the deer fence. I felt that the mono treatment gave it a rather bleak feeling, reflecting the harsh weather. I love the expression on the animal’s face – it seems to be peering into the distance, fixed on something we can’t see.’ Francis is active on Facebook and Viewbug as fransmiff. #appicoftheweek…

About Derick Derick is a graphic designer, originally from Glasgow and now living in California. Favourite subjects Wildlife is my primary subject. Exploring its fragile relationship with the land has given me a deeper connection with the place where I live. How did you get into photography? I owe my dad a debt of gratitude for letting me experiment with his camera and lenses at a young age. I started taking photos around Glasgow, where I grew up, but it wasn’t until I moved to the US as an adult that photography became a true passion. What do you love about photography? I love being in nature and I see photography as an extension of the outdoor experience. As an introvert, the moments of quiet solitude are so important for…

In the past few years there has been a growing trend for nature and conservation photographers to join forces and use the collective power of their imagery to attempt to influence key decision-makers around the world. The group Photographers Against Wildlife Crime immediately springs to mind and one of the latest projects in a similar vein sees the photographic work and stories of 12 top photographers – Joel Sartore, Paul Nicklen, Ami Vitale, Brent Stirton, Frans Lanting, Brian Skerry, Tim Laman, Cristina Mittermeier, J Henry Fair, Richard John Seymour, George Steinmetz and Steve Winter – featured in the book Human Nature: Planet Earth In Our Time. As well as showcasing sensational imagery of the natural world the book focuses on core issues such as climate change, biodiversity and the extent…

Walk around the perimeter of any of our great cathedrals in the late spring or early summer and there’s a good chance that you will hear the loud screeching of birds calling to each other. Look up and you may see some of the UK’s magnificent birds of prey hunting or passing food from adult to youngster in the air. These birds are peregrine falcons. Peregrines are reputed to be the fastest animals in the world – although this is only true when they dive (or ‘stoop’) vertically in the final stages of their hunt, reaching speeds of up to 240mph as they attempt to catch their prey. In level flight, they reach a much more ‘pedestrian’ 40 to 60mph – but even this is only exceeded by some ducks,…

Wimberley The Plamp II ● £52 ● www.wexphotovideo.com If you enjoy shooting nature and macro shots and feel like you could do with an extra pair of hands to support a backdrop, hold a reflector or keep a subject in place, this accessory can be a huge help. It’s designed to be bent any way you like thanks to its flexible loc-line tubing and, with a large orange clamp at one end and a smaller clamp at the other that offers adjustment over how tightly subjects are clasped, it can leave your hands free to control the camera and concentrate on getting the shot. Wimberley also makes a ground spike and plamp stake for anyone who’d like a stable, stand-alone pole for attaching their plamp just above ground level. Thermos…

Two of the latest lenses to be added to Nikon’s ever-growing Z-mount lineup are the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.2 S and the Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S. While the Z 50mm f/1.2 S (£2,299) slots in between the Z 50mm f/1.8 S (£529) and the astronomically expensive Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct (£8,299), the Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S sits above the Z 14-30mm f/4 S as the new premium ultra-wide-angle offering for Nikon mirrorless users. Given the success of the legendary Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8 G ED lens for F-mount, expectations of this optic are naturally high, so how good is it? Features The Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S and Z 14-30mm f/4 S are the two widest lenses Nikon offers in Z mount at the time of writing. The Z…

DSLR Lenses Interchangeable lenses come in a huge array of types for shooting different kinds of subjects IN GENERAL, the easiest way to expand the kinds of pictures you can take is by buying different types of lenses. For example, telephoto lenses let you zoom in on distant subjects, while macro lenses enable close-ups of small objects. Large-aperture lenses allow you to isolate subjects against blurred backgrounds, or shoot in low light without having to raise the ISO too high. Meanwhile, all-in-one superzooms cover a wide range of subjects, but usually with rather lower optical quality. Lens mounts Each manufacturer has its own lens mount and most aren’t compatible with one another. For example, a Canon DSLR can’t use Nikon lenses, although you can use independent brands if you get…