Innholdsfortegnelse for 09/08/2022 i Amateur Photographer

Drone photography may seem at best bewildering and expensive, at worst downright scary – who wants to have their collar felt for upsetting an airport? As drone expert Chris Gorman reveals in this issue, however, getting into this type of photography is not only fun if you exercise common sense, but it’s also affordable and a great way to add another creative tool to your imaging arsenal. You can get amazing results without having to go to pilot school. Coming back down to earth in a good way, we also share some great tips for summer festival and gig photography, while top pro and AP regular Denise Maxwell delivers a real-world test of Canon’s mighty EOS R5. We’ve got plenty for film photographers to enjoy too. Don’t forget to check…

After a certain number of hours at the helm of a busy picture desk the steady soft rhythm, phut, phut, phut, of expletives uttered under your breath sounds like some spluttering Seagull outboard motor. While the stress of avoiding the rocks has one urging to vent like some exasperated ship’s foghorn. Of course, you will dream of truly letting off steam which in its way is a release valve. So at the risk of sounding like an angry old man, which is precisely what I am, I feel the need to get this off my chest before I explode, frightening the newsdesk. Now, it’s been said that you can’t polish a turd, but even so, that’s not stopped many a charlatan making a nice little earner in rolling them in…

During this interview I discovered that Colin Watkins and I used to use the same enlarger. I don’t mean the same type of enlarger, but the actual same De Vere 504 cold cathode enlarger that was still in the same position in the darkroom at Southend College of Art and Design when I went there some years after he did. We were taught by the same tutors – some of whom are even still alive today – and spent quite a bit of time chatting about people we know in common. I won’t bore you with all that, but I might with our shared love of film photography, odd lenses and of Julia Margaret Cameron. ‘If I could paint I’d be a painter. But I can’t, so I use photography,’…

● £88 ● www.tenba.com/en-gb TENBA’S Fulton V2 16L is the largest in the firm’s revamped Fulton range, with 10L and 14L versions beneath it. All share the same daypack design, with a lower camera section and roll-top upper. It comes in black, black/camo (see bottom right), and a fetching tan/olive colour scheme which has some vintage appeal, looking much like an old haversack. But the comparison ends there, as this backpack is packed with modern features. It’s a well-laid-out and engineered bag, with lots of storage options. In the rear-opening camera compartment, I fitted a Nikon Z 7II with the Z 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, although I had to remove the battery grip when it was laid flat. On its side, it fitted, but only just, because this is not a…

When I hear mention of the ‘decisive moment’ it isn’t Henri Cartier-Bresson’s rather blurry figure leaping a Parisian puddle that is called to my mind, but rather this astonishing picture taken by his wife. If you aren’t familiar with Cartier-Bresson’s defining ‘Derriere La Gare De Saint-Lazare’ you might look it up. I wish he’d used a slightly shorter shutter and had worked a little harder in the darkroom to increase the contrast between the figure and his background. Martine Franck’s picture of holiday-makers by the pool might be somewhat less action-packed but to me it demonstrates a much more sophisticated example of a picture in which the subjects have arrived in their optimal positions. It has the added benefits of being skilfully composed in a beautifully designed frame, which makes…

Crowd and Zeppelin by Fox Photos The Hindenburg, Zeppelin LZ-129, being taken out of its hangar at Friedrichshafen before leaving for New York, 9 August 1936. The airship was in operation from March of that year until 6 May 1937 when it was destroyed by fire while attempting to land in New Jersey. The disaster claimed the lives of 36 people, and with public faith in the transport shattered by the accident, it signalled an end to commercial airship travel. The last international passenger airship flight took place the next day, when the Hindenburg’s sister ship, the Graf Zeppelin, landed safely in Germany. 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…

Peter Jeans, Cotswolds About Peter Peter is a retired geologist, now a student of landforms. Favourite subjects Landscapes – trying to understand how it came to look as it does – and flowers and gardens, for their beauty. How did you get into photography? Studying geology at university, I started recording the geological features I saw on field trips. What do you love about photography? Being out in the fresh air, and trying to capture the beauty and drama of the rocks, scenery, and skies. First camera A little Russian fixed lens. Current kit Fuji X-Pro2 with XF 18-55mm and XF 55-200mm; Sony RX1R; Ricoh GR III. Favourite accessory Circular polarising filter. Dream purchase A Ricoh GR III with a full-frame equivalent 75mm lens. What software do you use? Picasa…

AP picture of the week Haweswater Sunrise by Phil Howell Sony A7R IV, Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 at 25mm, 1/60sec at f/16 ‘I took this image one recent weekend above Haweswater Reservoir in the Lake District, looking back down towards said reservoir from a point on the path between Harter Fell and High Street. Having set off on the Friday afternoon, the walk was a real challenge in the heat of the day. But a few hours later camp was established and this image was captured after an excellent night’s sleep on the hillside.’ Website: www.philhowell.photos Instagram: @phil.howell.photos #appicoftheweek Win! To congratulate the AP Pic of the Week winner, Fujifilm is giving the winner a £25 voucher* to spend on any photo prints or gifts at myFUJIFILM.co.uk, so that they can…

Chris Gorman Chris (The Big Ladder Photographer) works as a drone photographer for The Daily Telegraph, The Times, the RHS and many more. He also runs one-to-one drone workshops and gives talks. Visit www.bigladder.co.uk for more details. Instagram @bigladderphotographer, Twitter@bigladderdrone, Facebook: The Big Ladder Photographer Take the test On first look, getting into drone photography can seem to be a little daunting. Beginners need to firstly register the drone with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). This involves a simple online test based on the ‘drone code’, but it’s not like a driving test, so don’t worry. Then you obtain an operator ID which must be attached to the drone by law. See full details at bit.ly/droneregsuk Hey Mr DJI By far the most popular drones are the DJI Mavic range.…

Fisherman’s Wharf Fisherman’s Wharf on Vancouver Island is noted for its colourful house boats and I was attracted by the reflections. The finished image here comprises a series of exposures, merged to create a time-slice image that combines multiple reflections. This was achieved using a post-processing technique I have devised that makes use of Stack mode processing on the Smart Object layers in Photoshop. I have learned to refine the way I shoot the sequence and have gone from using a tripod to shooting handheld, as it makes for better photo merges. It also helps if the water is calm, which will produce smoother reflections. There is no set image processing formula; I may make use of different combinations of stack modes and layer blending modes and it mostly depends…

Marsel van Oosten Marsel van Oosten was born in The Netherlands and worked as an art director for 15 years. He switched careers to become a photographer and has since won Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Travel Photographer of the Year. He’s a regular contributor to National Geographic and runs nature photography tours around the world. Visit www.squiver.com Arguably the biggest difference between images made by amateur photographers and those shot by professionals is the backgrounds. Most beginners are so focused on their subject that they can forget to pay attention to the background. When I look back at my images from the early days, that certainly applied to me. The background seemed unimportant, something I simply ignored. It wasn’t until a professional wildlife photographer told me that backgrounds…

Tech Talk You wait ages for an article about a barn door design camera, then two come along at once! Last month I wrote about a cheap and cheerful camera which used ‘barn doors’ to protect the lens when not in use. This month’s camera, the Chinon Bellami, is a step up the ladder in terms of build quality and specifications. It’s one of those cameras that I hadn’t been aware of until I spotted it in a charity shop. It’s not in perfect condition, the rewind crank is missing, and the battery compartment hosted a leaky corroded mess, but at £3 I thought it was worth a punt. A true collector would have given it a wide berth, since to describe its condition as scruffy would be generous. But…

Olympus Tough TG-6 ● £369 ● www.olympus.co.uk Olympus’s Tough compacts have habitually won our underwater camera group tests, and this latest model is still the best of its type. It’s waterproof to 15m, shockproof against a 2.4m drop, crushproof and freezeproof. The 25-100mm equivalent lens is paired with a 12MP sensor, and viewing is via a 3in LCD. This is also one of the few rugged cameras that can record raw files. Panasonic LX100 II ● £749 ● www.panasonic.com/uk A high-end compact for creative photography, the LX100 II is based around a 24-75mm equivalent f/1.7-2.8 lens and a 17MP Four Thirds sensor that features a true multi aspect-ratio design. It also boasts a full range of traditional analogue control dials, and the corner-mounted viewfinder is complemented by touchscreen LCD. Reviewed…