Innholdsfortegnelse for 17/04/2021 i Amateur Photographer

More and more photographers these days are venturing out after dark and pointing their cameras heavenwards to capture the millions of worlds that lie beyond our own. Many are tantalisingly invisible to the naked eye, but make spectacular photos if you know how. This week Guy Edwardes and David Clapp share their tips. If you have an Adobe subscription, or are considering one, you may not be aware that among the extra tools it gives you is a powerful website builder that works seamlessly with your Lightroom library. If you’re looking at building a website this could be a big money saver. Richard Sibley explains what it can do. Also this week, Robert Darch discusses his award-winning long term project, Peter Dench explains how, as a photojournalist, he has covered…

Dark Mill by Jay Birmingham 720nm infrared converted Fujifilm X-T20, XF14mm F2.8, 1/200sec at f/14, ISO 200 ‘The picture is of Thurne Mill in Norfolk,’ says Jay, a teacher based in the Midlands. ‘I was using a recently converted infrared camera and I noticed that the sunlight had fallen on the side of the mill. This lit it up beautifully when looking through my viewfinder. I ducked down low to try to capture some of the grass, which in the sunlight looked eerie in infrared. It created quite a moody image despite being shot in the middle of the afternoon.’ Instagram: jaybirminghamphotography. Blue Tit by Dave Newman Sony Alpha 9, Sony 200-600mm, 1/5000sec at f/8, ISO 2000 Dave is from Sleaford, Lincs, and works in construction but his passion is…

19 April 1961 THE BEAMING blonde, with her red Father Christmas-inspired outfit contrasting beautifully against a rich blue sky, was the perfect bait to draw readers into the ‘Colour Number’ and the delights of a world free from the tyranny of grey tones. Sadly only the glossy 12-page Picture Parade section in the centre was in colour. In the rest of the magazine readers were treated to articles such as ‘Colour in the garden’, ‘Colour and Figures’ and ‘Colour Film: Calculating Correct Exposure’ – all in black & white.RJ McNally’s ‘When is Colour Worthwhile?’ spoke of the suffering inflicted by slideshows. ‘No longer do friends want to be entertained with our colour slides – they have at least 100 from their foreign tour alone. Even club members stir restlessly when…

1 Assembly You’ll need a wideangle lens, ideally a 16-35mm (or 11-22mm for APS-C). The camera often hangs off the tripod at a lot of awkward angles, so ensure that a good-quality tripod is used, with good weight. A ballhead will allow your camera to point in any direction without a lot of X-Y-Z style difficulty. 2 Go manual Use Manual mode to control the aperture, shutter speed and ISO independently. Make sure the camera is in manual focus with all image-stabilisation features switched off on both the lens and in-body stabilisation, if a modern mirrorless camera is being used. 3 Keep it neutral Make sure your colour temperature is set to a neutral setting. Access this through the camera’s menu system or use the K setting. Set the camera…

1 Do a recce Assess the location and choose your vantage point before it gets completely dark, if necessary using an app to determine the position of the Milky Way in your shot. Carefully set up your tripod making sure it’s as stable as possible and ensuring the top plate is reasonably level. 2 Align tracker Attach the sky tracker to the main ball head on your tripod. As soon as Polaris becomes visible align the tracker with the aid of the polar scope. Being one of the brighter stars, Polaris is usually easier to find in the polar scope before all the other stars become visible! 3 Attach camera Attach your camera to your second ball head atop the tracker and set your composition, ensuring all adjustment knobs on…

Since the software is designed for artists to create portfolio websites, there are some features photographers may want that it cannot do. The most obvious one is that it has no blogging features. It is possible to create individual pages that mix text and images, but there are no templates or any way of sorting and indexing these pages. So, writing articles or introductions to projects is possible, but to use it as a blog where you may want to write on a regular basis is far from ideal, and there are much better solutions out there. Having taken some time scrolling through the Adobe Portfolio help forums, the addition of a blogging feature seems to be highly requested, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this was added in the…

As a schoolboy photographer in the early 1970s, Russian cameras featured quite heavily. They were a relatively cheap way to try out different kinds of camera, and my school photographic society had a couple of different models. In those days, all new Russian cameras came with a little book entitled Discover Rewarding Photography which was written by Ron Spillman, a well-known writer on the technical aspects of photography at the time, and a regular AP columnist. The book was really an expanded catalogue for the export market the Soviets needed to cultivate in order to obtain hard currency, and it included detailed articles on around a dozen different cameras. I was always struck by the ‘Horizont’, a swing lens panoramic camera, which encompassed a 120° view as its lens swung…

San Francisco Earthquake and Fire by Arnold Genthe From a vantage point on Nob Hill, San Franciscans watch the approach of fires caused by that day’s earthquake, which took place on April 18, 1906. More than 80% of the city was destroyed by the earthquake, while more than 3,000 people lost their lives. The cost of the damage was said to run to more than $400million at the time, equating to over $11billion today. The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins to the founding of the London Stereoscopic Company in 1854, today it houses over 80 million images spanning the birth of photography to the digital age. Explore it at www.gettyimages.com.…

THE ENVIRONMENTAL Photographer of the Year 2021 competition has been launched by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), environmental video-streaming service WaterBear, and Nikon Europe. The contest, now in its 14th year, is free to enter and open to both professionals and amateurs. Entrants are asked to submit their ‘most provocative, emotive and captivating environmental photography’. There are eight categories to enter: Environmental Photographer of the Year, Young Environmental Photographer of the Year, Environments of the Future, Sustainable Cities, Climate Action, Water and Security, The Resilient Award and People’s Choice. ‘As part of the road to the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) and United Nations Climate Change Conference, the competition provides an international platform to raise awareness for the environmental issues that put our planet at risk,’…

This July 2020 example from St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall became a favourite coastal astro image for a number of reasons. Firstly, the island is usually bathed in sodium orange lighting, from lamps illuminating it at night. Owing to restaurants still being closed after lockdown, these lights were switched off, meaning the only light source was coming from Penzance, a few miles away. The night sky was therefore a lot clearer than normal. Secondly, the humidity was a lot lower than usual on this particular night. On the previous day the humidity was significantly higher, with an obvious hazy backdrop to the island itself. Persistence paid off by waiting another night, seeing the humidity drop to just over 80% which is very unusual at the coast. This meant more clarity,…

iOptron SkyTracker Pro This tracker is reasonably compact and is supplied with its own polar scope. However, the Move Shoot Move rotator is even more compact and is all that’s required for wide-field astrolandscape photography. This can be purchased with the necessary scope or smartphone (app required) attachment for precise polar alignment. Additional accessories It goes without saying you’ll also need a sturdy tripod and two quick-release ball heads. A battery-operated lens warmer will stop your lens misting up as the temperature drops. A head torch with a red light will protect your night vision and you may need a remote release if your camera doesn’t feature Touch Shutter.…

‘A refreshing image of a country in tumult’ Photographer Léonard Pongo works in the Congo DR. Once you know that it’s hard to forget. A good strong surname can be advantageous to a career. I’m on solid ground with Dench. Then there’s (and I’m by no way comparing myself), James Nachtwey, William Eggleston and Muir Vidler. You don’t even need two names: Weegee, Rankin, Platon and Normski are testament to the success of the singular. It’s even better if your name reflects what you photograph. I’ll never forget the wild horses of Utah photographed by Brian Clopp (AP 28 March 2020), the floral creations of Fleur Olby, portraits of Olympic divers by Richard Splash and the food photography of Victoria Sponge. I made up the last two but you get…

Lens hood Believe it or not, a lens hood is a very effective way of stopping moisture and dew from settling on the front of your lens element. Tape some chemical hand warmers to the sides for better effectiveness. Sky chart Get a laminated star chart and learn some of the key constellations before you head out. Match this with a compass and learn to orientate yourself with the night sky. It’s a source of great fascination. Head torch with red LED This is essential kit for the astrophotographer. Using modern LED torches at night cause ‘burn out’ to your eyes, making it difficult to see through the viewfinder. A red LED will fix that. Smartphone Essential for safety, star apps help you to find constellations, planets and much more.…

Guy Edwardes Based in his home county of Dorset, Guy Edwardes has been a professional landscape and nature photographer for over 25 years. His work has been widely published and he runs a series of popular photographic workshops all over the world. Visit www.guyedwardes.com. I SHOOT mainly wide-field astro-landscape images using a wideangle lens to capture both the night sky and some form of interesting landscape element in the foreground. I use a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with either an EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III lens or an EF 8-15mm f/4 and a star tracker. This involves mounting my camera on a device that, once aligned with the celestial pole (North Star), will turn it at the precise speed necessary to compensate for the Earth’s rotation. There are many advantages…

Post-Brexit duty issues Following up on your online article about VAT/ duty difficulties with the UK vs the Rest of the World repairers of all types may like to know about the new procedure. Parcelforce sends one a C160 form when, say, a camera arrives from anywhere. You fill that in and post it back saying, ‘It is a repair: I am not buying or selling the camera’ (or words to that effect). Parcelforce sends you another form to complete, a IPR which handles the repair itself. However, I was told by Parcelforce Coventry that ‘there is a system error and they [IPR] are not being cleared at the moment.’ It’s good news that there is a system to handle repairs, but bad news that it’s taking ages to sort…

SONY is often characterised by photographers as an electronics company that’s capable of building impressively high-spec cameras that are packed full of ground-breaking technology. But such a view risks failing to acknowledge just what an accomplished lens maker it has become. As the FE 50mm F1.2 GM shows, its high-end optics are extraordinarily good, and a match for anything else on the market. This is, in fact, a lens that scores near-perfectly in every department. Optically it delivers a giddying combination of impressive sharpness and lovely bokeh, backed up by rapid, reliable, and silent autofocus. It’s a pleasure to shoot with too, thanks to its comprehensive control set, and it’s not so large or bulky as to feel unwieldy. At £2,100, of course this isn’t an everyday lens, but instead…

After building up an impressive selection of L-series lenses in RF mount for photographers who demand nothing but the best, it’s good to see Canon trying to change the perception that its RF-mount lenses are too expensive by creating a more affordable lineup of lenses for amateurs and enthusiasts working to strict budgets. Though it’s dearer than existing EF-mount standard primes of yesteryear, for which I expected to see a lens hood included, it’s hard to argue with what it offers for the price. It can be used for a wide variety of applications and its fast aperture creates visually striking images. If this wasn’t enough, it’s super-compact and keeps your set-up 790g lighter than if you were to use the heavier RF 50mm F1.2L USM. Anyone who regularly switches…