Innholdsfortegnelse for 23/10/2021 i Amateur Photographer

Macro photography boomed during the recent lockdowns, as people discovered the joys of close-up photography around their home and garden without having to worry about breaking any Covid rules. Interest in this genre continues apace, so we are delighted to present our Premium issue on close-up photography. Read on for lots of practical tips for getting memorable macro images, including how to light small subjects, along with plenty of inspiration from this year’s Close-up Photographer of the Year competition. We also reveal the best macro lenses and accessories for all budgets, along with essential editing software. Don’t forget to enter your best close-up images in the latest round of our APOY contest, which closes on 29 October. Great prizes from MPB are on offer and your images could appear in…

THE LATEST wall calendar from Café Art, featuring images taken by homeless people in London, is now on sale. All featured photographers earn money from the sales, with the rest of the proceeds going to support photography and art projects for the homeless. Contributors were loaned X-T30 cameras by Fujifilm (though not all the selected images were taken with this). AP’s late news editor, Chris Cheesman, was a big supporter of the project. ‘The December photo by McGinlay was chosen as the Chris Cheesman Award for Most Creative Photo,’ said Café Art’s Paul Ryan. Buy at www.cafeart.org.uk.…

THE WINNERS of the 57th Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition have been announced, with French underwater photographer and biologist Laurent Ballesta named overall victor for his spectacular image, ‘Creation’. Ballesta’s image captures camouflage groupers exiting their milky cloud of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia. Meanwhile, ten-year-old Vidya R Hebbar was named Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021 for his image of a tent spider as a tuk-tuk passes by. The shortlisted images from the 19 category winners, from which the two grand title winners were selected, spanned everything from rich habitats to animal behaviour to extraordinary species. Three new categories were added this year, including ‘Oceans – The Bigger Picture’ and ‘Wetlands.’ Both these eco-systems are under intense pressure from pollution and other destructive human activity.…

Japan 1900 by Sebastian Dobson and Sabine Arqué £150, Taschen, hardback, 536 pages, ISBN 9783836573566 We may now think of Japan as the epicentre of technological innovation and digital culture, but only 120 years ago it was still an agrarian-based society emerging from three centuries of feudal isolation. Hefty in size and price, this beautiful volume compiles a vast selection of hand-tinted and monochrome images from the golden age of travel to Japan, from the 1870s to the 1930s. Western photographers, particularly Felice Beato and Baron Raimund von Stillfried, feature, but we also see the development of home-grown talent such as Kusakabe Kimbei, Beato’s former assistant. Many images are posed for western consumption – the samurai caste Beato photographed was soon to become extinct – but the book is still…

On or off? The manual for my Fujifilm X-S10 clearly shows that stabilisation should be switched OFF when the camera is on a tripod. However, the manuals for both my stabilised lenses (XF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 and XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS WR say it should be left ON. They explain: ‘Because image stabilisation is effective in reducing blur caused by the motion of the mechanical shutter, we recommend you enable optical stabilisation even when using a tripod.’ I’d welcome some clarification of this. Simon Warren We asked Fujifilm’s Andreas Georghiades, who provided this explanation: ‘Some of our lenses with OIS have an automatic tripod mount detection function that can absorb minor shutter vibration even when they are attached to a tripod. Therefore, for these lenses, we always recommend leaving OIS…

1 Ian Bramham UK 100pts Nikon D800, 16-35mm at 30mm, 1/30sec at f/8, ISO 320 Ask someone to describe a typical travel shot and they might suggest something like a local market, lots of colour, and anything that looks different to our eyes. It’s unlikely they’d think of a black & white image taken in monsoon conditions. But that’s exactly why Ian’s photograph stood out – because it’s different from the average travel picture. The teeming rain makes the image seem almost like a pencil drawing, but there’s enough detail in the skyline to give the viewer a sense of place. These elements alone wouldn’t be enough, though, so the inclusion of the dock and ferry on the left helps anchor the scene. Great composition, hugely atmospheric, and a change…

Claire Gillo is a photographer from the South West of the UK. She specialises in commercial and food photography (shooting mainly pubs and restaurants) whilst making work for her fine art practice on the side. Find out more at www.clairegillo.com or follow on Instagram @clairegillophotography. I always outsource printing my fine art images to a professional company since I don’t have the time, skills, and equipment to do a good enough job at home. Printing at home is time-consuming, expensive to initially set up and I also don’t have the space for a large printer. When it comes to getting my images print ready, there are a few necessary steps I always take; with the most important being getting the tone, style, colours and brightness levels just right in my…

Look to the sky Light cloud cover can act as a wonderful natural diffuser, lowering the contrast in a scene and reducing glare on foliage. Check the weather forecast before you head out. Think big When you’re purchasing a diffuser for close-up work it’s tempting to buy the smallest you can find – you’re photographing tiny subjects, after all – but the background needs to be diffused too so make sure that your diffuser is big enough to cover both. Ask for a hand Holding a diffuser or reflector in place can be tricky – especially if you’re handholding the camera – so consider using an articulated arm, such as the Wimberley Plamp. Be aware of colour If you decide to diffuse light through clothing, or reflect it with a…

MPB has macro lenses to suit all budgets. Sigma has a great reputation as a third-party lens manufacturer, and this Canon-fit 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro is well worth considering. Purists consider 105mm the perfect macro focal length, and this one is a true 1:1 lens. Extremely sharp, it has a minimum focusing distance of 31.3cm. It goes for £239 at MPB, and can also be found in Nikon fit. As for own-brand lenses, there’s the Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro. This weighs only 280g and has a closest-focusing distance of 23cm. Like all macro lenses, it can also be used as a standard lens, making it a versatile choice. Pick one up at MPB for between £194 and £224. The Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS has superb…

It’s an unusual time in the lens market, thanks to the ongoing transition from DSLR to mirrorless technology. The choice for DSLR users is shrinking rapidly, and many of the macro optics we’d have recommended two or three years ago are no longer on sale. But this hasn’t yet been reflected in an explosion in options for mirrorless users, with most of the third-party makers still to produce lenses in Canon and Nikon’s new full-frame mounts. However, there’s still some good news for close-up photographers, thanks to the emergence of Venus Optics as a genuinely high-class lens maker. It produces an array of innovative manual-focus macro optics in its Laowa line-up that go way beyond offering just life-size magnification. Sigma still offers affordable but high-quality alternatives for the main lens…

The theme of taking pictures at funerals has been bubbling in our letters section in recent months, following Maria Falconer’s consideration on this page of Rachel Wallace’s beautiful photograph of a procession (AP 1 June). Though you didn’t ask for it, my opinion is that funerals are like any other event and thus suitable subjects for recording. As with all things though, it pays for the photographer to honestly consider for more than two or three seconds the motivation behind the desire to do so. We see a lot more of pictures and video footage of funerals than we might immediately appreciate. They are covered quite frequently on the TV, in newspapers and on news websites, though as very often those attending these events look different and wear different clothes…

Spectre HQ by Chris Ware The extensive film set at Pinewood Studios, London, representing the interior of a volcano owned by the criminal syndicate Spectre, built for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice designed by Ken Adam. Directed by Lewis Gilbert, the film was the fifth in the James Bond series. Sean Connery starred as Bond while the screenplay, based on the book of the same name by Ian Fleming, was written by Roald Dahl, more usually known for his children’s books. During filming of You Only Live Twice, Connery announced his retirement from the series – but he would later return for Diamonds are Forever and Never Say Never Again. The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins to…

CANON has announced the RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens, designed for use with the Canon EOS R5 to create high-quality VR video content. Key features include 180° VR stereoscopic capture and a 190° field of view, as well as two ultra-low dispersion elements per lens. The company is also introducing the EOS VR System, which it claims will simplify VR content creation. The new lens will be available for £2,099 while the EOS VR Utility and EOS VR Plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro are free to use for videos up to two minutes long. After this a subscription fee is payable.…

25 October 1967 54 YEARS ago this week AP columnist Victor Blackman was sent to capture a historic moment – the RMS Queen Mary docking at Southampton after her last Atlantic crossing from New York. ‘I was enjoying a day off, which makes no difference when there is a story to be covered in the newspaper world,‘ he recounted. ‘There came the inevitable phone call from the office and a few minutes later I was in an aeroplane on the way to Southampton.’ The Queen Mary made a ‘wonderfully majestic sight’ from the air, which Blackman shot using his 85-250mm zoom. Trevor Fry, meanwhile was more interested in photography at ground level, using available light. His advice was supported by a selection of his pleasing portraits, taken on Tri-X in…

I was fascinated to read the article by Amy Davies about Harry Benson (AP 21 August) I’ve been lucky enough to meet and photograph Harry several times; we have homes near each other in Palm Beach, Florida. Harry has not only photographed The Beatles, but performers like Michael Jackson, actresses like Elizabeth Taylor, sports stars such as Muhammad Ali, every USA president since Dwight D Eisenhower, and royalty including the Queen. I read with interest that he used to read his father’s copy of AP as a boy, something I used to do 30-odd years ago. I’m sure this, along with watching my dad in his darkroom in the loft as a boy, must have sparked my obsession with photography today. I don’t go anywhere today without either an old…

IT’S SAFE to say, opportunities for travel have been thin on the ground for the vast majority of us over the past 18 months or more. However, we’re pleased to see that entries into this ever-popular category of APOY haven’t waned as a result. As always, it encompasses a huge range of styles, from landscape to cityscape, reportage to portraiture – with originality and new perspectives characterising our top ten images. What’s clear is there’s no such thing as a ‘typical’ travel shot. Anything goes, as long as it gives a sense of place and atmosphere, and transports the viewer to the scene.…

1 Basic adjustments I imported my raw file into Lightroom and in the Develop module made some basic adjustments to tweak the exposure and tone. I decided to add a subtle profile effect with a cool tone, however I turned the amount down to 16 so it just tints the image slightly. 2 Crop I cropped the image to create a more pleasing composition with the butterfly sitting in the centre of the frame. To ensure the image is crisp and sharp I increased the Sharpness. When it comes to sharpness be careful not to over-sharpen. 3 Start proofing To soft proof I clicked Create Proof Copy to create a separate image file to work on. In the Soft Proofing control box I clicked on profile setting and selected the…

Tracy Calder Tracy Calder co-founded Close-up Photographer of the Year – a competition celebrating close-up, macro and micro photography – with her husband in 2018. She has written numerous photography books and her work has appeared on the walls of The Photographers’ Gallery and The National Portrait Gallery in London. To find out more visit www.cupoty. com, Instagram: @cupoty and @tracy_calder_photo. Understanding how light behaves and how to use it to your advantage is as crucial for closeup and macro photography as it is for landscape, portraiture or any other genre. You may well have found a rare beetle performing an elaborate mating ritual in a rainforest, but if the event takes place in dull, flat light, and you fail to address this, it can lead to pictures with no…

Kodak introduced the 110 format in 1972 under the name ‘Pocket Instamatic’. It consisted of 16mm wide film in a foolproof cartridge, which simply dropped into the back of the camera ready to go. It proved to be extremely popular, with thousands of mainly very basic cameras available in the 1970s and ’80s. There were also a few more sophisticated models, some with coupled rangefinders and advanced exposure systems. As far as I am aware, only two manufacturers produced single lens reflex (SLR) versions, Pentax with the Auto 110, and Minolta with its Zoom 110. The latter came in two very different incarnations, the Mark I, which was a horizontal design, and the Mark II, taking the form of a more traditional 35mm SLR. In April this year I used…

Vanguard VEO 3T+ 234CB ● £270 ● www.vanguardworld.co.uk When you’re choosing a tripod for macro photography it’s just as important to consider how low it can go and whether the central column can be positioned horizontally as it is to consider maximum load, extendable height etc. As luck would have it, the Vanguard VEO 3T+ 234CB delivers on all fronts. This carbon fibre tripod has a 10kg maximum load capacity, a central column that moves 360° and legs that can be splayed for ground-level shooting. Billed as a travel tripod, it folds to 46cm for portability and can be converted to a monopod. When you need a little height, it can be extended to 146cm using twist locks. Wildlife Watching Supplies C14.3 Standard Double Bean Bag (inc liners) ● £37…

IF YOU’RE contemplating spending almost £1,500 on a macro lens, you’ll want to know that it’ll deliver the goods. Thankfully, the Canon RF 100mm F2.8 L Macro IS USM most certainly does. This is a sensational optic that surpasses any other macro lens I’ve used in terms of its all-round abilities, while also making an excellent choice for portraits – as long as its sheer size doesn’t make your subjects run a mile. What really impressed me is the way the lens works together with the EOS R6’s amazing autofocus system and superb high-ISO performance to deliver images that would be extremely difficult to get with lesser technology. I was able to shoot extreme close-ups, using fast shutter speeds to freeze subject movement and with the lens stopped down for…

AP picture of the week My Prince Has Come by Tash Berbank Nikon D7500, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 Macro, 1/200sec at f/11, ISO 500 ‘I mainly do wildlife, macro and landscapes – basically anything that doesn’t involve people!’ says Tash, an amateur photographer based on the border of Essex/London. ‘I got into photography about four years ago but only really got serious in the last 18 months when Covid forced me to discover the wildlife on my doorstep!’ She adds, ‘This little guy is one of the many frogs and toads that return to the same puddle that floods a path in my local park each year. To get this shot, I laid down in the swampy puddle during golden hour, with my lens on the water surface towards the sun.…

PHOTOGRAPHIC retailers have not had an easy time over the past 18 months as a result of Covid-19 lockdowns, global supply shortages, the economic impact of Brexit and other challenges. We’re now inviting AP readers to reward the retailers who’ve been particularly customer-focused and helpful by voting for them in our annual Good Service Awards. You can nominate both online and bricks-and-mortar stores, and the retailer who gets the most votes will be presented with the sought-after Platinum at our annual awards ceremony. The closing date for voting is 17 January 2022, and you can vote securely at bit.ly/apgoodservice.…

There’s close-up, and then there’s really close-up. Taking the art of macro to the absolute extreme, Yogendra Joshi’s use of a cross-polarised light telescope results in beautiful imagery, usually completely unseen to the naked eye. To find out more about Yogendra’s background, and the process behind crystal photo micrography, we caught up with him to discuss his inspirations and his techniques. AP: How and why did you get into photography? YJ: I was fascinated by nature, especially the nature at a small scale. I love the textures and the interplay of light on those textures. I soon realised that it’s not just on a large and small scale but also at a microscopic scale that we find fascinating colours and textures. AP: What are your favourite subjects? YJ: Back in…

Last month, Ian Bramham wasn’t even in the top ten. This month, he has leapfrogged everyone else into the lead. However, with only 70 points separating first from tenth place, there is still everything to play for as we head towards the final two rounds of this year’s APOY. There’s more of a range within the scores of Young APOY, with Muhammad Hossain holding onto his lead with another overall winning image. He can still be caught, however. Launceston Camera Club remain in the lead, but nothing’s certain in this competition, and a good couple of rounds for other clubs could still see them knocked off the top spot.…

1 Paper selection Spend time considering the right paper choice for your image. Order a sample pack of paper with alternative finishes from the printers to see the different available options. 2 Install the correct ICC profile for your paper This is very useful for proofing so you can match the colours, brightness and tone levels correctly. WhiteWall has ICC profiles ready to download from its website, which is handy. 3 Get a test print It’s worth paying extra to see a test print. That way you can check the colours, tone and brightness levels under the light conditions that you want to frame or present your image in. Remember your image will appear different under different light and framing conditions. 4 Make it your own…

Continuous light With continuous lighting what you see is what you get – as the light remains on all of the time, you can observe its effect on the subject and make adjustments accordingly. Customisable set-up Adaptalux makes customisable and adaptable lighting products that are specifically designed for macro photography. You can build your own lighting environment, selecting from multiple arms, filters and diffusers. The company also recently launched a flash lighting arm. Extra illumination The travel-friendly LED light series from JOBY is intended for vloggers, but neat cubes like the Beamo are ideal for illuminating the inside of flowers or dark patches under mushrooms. The light can even be fitted with a diffuser. Best of both worlds If you want the predictability of continuous lighting, but the flexibility of…