Innholdsfortegnelse for 01/11/2022 i Amateur Photographer

Documentary by PhotoBath Until 6 November, 44AD Gallery, Abbey Street, Bath. Free. See photobath.co.uk After a three-year break, the PhotoBath network returns with an exhibition of documentary photography. The show features the work of ten photographers, including some well-known names. Among those represented is Chris Roche, an award-winning photographer and film director who regularly travels to remote locations for his work; Hannah Mentz, who has recently emigrated to Bath from Cape Town and has recently published a book of her portraits of women of Zimbabwe; Chris Niedenthal, who has documented the massive changes which have taken place in Eastern Europe over the past 40 years; Carlo Chinca, who once photographed Salvador Dali and is known for his poignant images of New York immediately following 9/11; and Matt Stuart, the well-regarded…

Landscape Photographer of the Year has now been running for 15 editions. Founded in 2006 by the hugely well-respected landscape photographer, Charlie Waite, each year the judges have the unenviable task of looking through many thousands of images to decide on the best of the best. The competition is open to images of the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, but photographers can be of any nationality. As well as the main adult competition, a youth award runs alongside it, both sharing the same main categories – many of which you’ll see on these two spreads. The categories are Classic View, Urban Life, Black and White and Your View. There also special awards, comprising Coast, Historic Britain, Lines in the Landscape and Landscapes at Night. One of…

It took Nikon seven years to replace the D300S, but in 2016 a new APS-C DSLR arrived for Nikon users to get excited about. Aimed at pros and enthusiasts alike, the D500 inherited many of its features from the flagship D5. But it’s smaller and lighter while delivering greater reach with telephoto lenses, thanks to its 20.9MP DX format sensor. There’s a wide ISO 50-1,640,000 extended range, a 10fps burst rate and a 153-point AF system. This comprehensive feature set is supplemented by an ergonomic handgrip, intuitive menus, twin card slots and 1,200-shot battery life. What we said ● ‘The D500 shines brightest when it’s used as a conventional DSLR for shooting fast-moving subjects’ ● ‘Its excellent high ISO capability means it will deliver entirely usable image files in extremely…

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…

At a glance £1,199 body only £1,499 with 12-45mm lens ■ 20.4MP Four Thirds sensor ■ ISO 200-6400 (standard); ISO 64-25600 (extended) ■ 30fps shooting ■ 4K 30p video ■ 2.36m-dot EVF ■ 3in, 1.04m-dot vari-angle LCD Handheld Hi-Res A handheld high-res mode can be used to generate 50MP images in-camera. There’s also an 80MP tripod mode Weathersealing The camera body now has an IP53 rating, the best in class, and you can register to extend the warranty to an impressive five years Built-in ND LiveND lets you use a built-in (digital) ND filter for up to 4 stops, giving you an ND16 equivalent filter Image stabilisation In-body Image Stabilisation (IBIS) has been improved, with up to 7.5 stops when using a compatible Sync IS lens The OM System OM-5…

When was the club founded? In 1979. What does your club offer to new members? The club offers them a way to express themselves through photographic prints. New members often arrive seeking to have someone show them how to use their camera. They are intrigued to find that they have to learn how to compose and expose their images appropriately. They are mesmerised by the myriad possibilities to adjust their images in post processing. They fall in love with the techniques that allow them to solidify their vision onto paper. This facilitates presentation of their images to friends and family, other photographers, exhibitions and competition and even international exposure. Describe a typical club meeting Our club meeting can take one of four forms: • Members will share techniques and experience…

Technique LENSLESS MASTERCLASS If you want sharp edges and exquisite detail, there are plenty of high-resolution lenses available to choose from. But there is another way of looking at the world that presents a ‘dreamier’ view, captured using either pinholes or zone plates. Pinholes are nothing more than tiny apertures that can be made by creating a small and perfectly circular hole in a thin sheet of metal. Zone plates have patterns of tiny concentric black circles with clear space in between and are created using high-contrast film. In both cases, as the lensless label suggests, images are captured without the use of any glass elements. Provided that your camera will function with just a body cap in place, you will be able to explore the world of pinholes…

LENS TEST Testbench Creating a lens range to appeal to both videographers and photographers is a challenging prospect, but so far Panasonic has been delivering. The company embarked on creating a range of full-frame L-mount fast primes in late 2020, starting with the Lumix S 85mm F1.8. Since then it’s been followed up by 50mm, 24mm and a 35mm optics, all with an f/1.8 aperture and sharing the same length, diameter and 67mm filter thread. Now they’re joined by the £799 Lumix S 18mm F1.8. The uniform design of this family of lenses makes them ideal for people who plan to mount them on gimbals. Of the range, fitting the requisite glass for an 18mm ultra-wide lens with an f/1.8 aperture into such a compact and light configuration is…

Technique FINER FIREWORKS The word photography comes from the Greek for writing or drawing with light, and firework photography is pretty much that. With a dark sky as a canvas combined with a long exposure, fireworks paint their way colourfully into the night sky and can be captured in several different ways. We’re going to take a look at the shooting technique and different approaches for capturing fireworks. Far from being a one-trick pony, firework photography can take several different forms, so you may be limited to what’s happening in front of you, but you’re certainly not limited in the ways you can capture it. It’s almost that time of year again when autumn and winter present exciting opportunities to capture firework displays around bonfire night and New Year’s…

DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY While stuck in Italy at the end of 2020 due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, Giacomo d’Orlando was in search of a new climate-change-related story. Several weeks of research led him to the incredible untold story of Nemo’s Garden – an alternative system of agriculture for places where conditions make plant growth extremely difficult. ‘At the start of 2021, I contacted the Ocean Reef media team. They were really enthusiastic about the idea of a reportage that would cover all the phases of their project. We decided to collaborate and document Nemo’s Garden in Noli, Italy. ‘In response to increasing agricultural demands at a time where there is a growing crisis of desertification, Nemo’s Garden is the world’s first colony of underwater greenhouses for terrestrial plants. The entirely self-sustainable…

SMARTPHONE TEST Testbench The Google Pixel 6A is the firm’s latest mid-range smartphone, sitting underneath the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, but with a much more wallet-friendly price of £399 sim-free and unlocked. Offering both an ultra-wide camera and a wideangle main camera, is this smartphone worth your attention? Features The Pixel 6A may be £200 cheaper than the Pixel 6, but it offers a similarly impressive set of features. It boasts a 12MP ultra-wide camera, alongside a 12MP wideangle main camera with optical image stabilisation (OIS). But where the Pixel 6A differs from the Pixel 6 lies in the standard camera’s specifications, with the Pixel 6 offering a 48MP camera with a larger sensor, and an additional AI ‘motion’ mode. Almost all photography features and processing remains…

● £99 ● spyderx.datacolor.com FOR CERTAIN types of photography, such as products or portraits, getting accurate colours can be essential. This is where a colour reference tool like the Datacolor Spyder Checkr Photo comes in handy. By photographing its standardised colour patches and then analysing them in Datacolor’s software, it promises to give truly accurate colour. This is Datacolor’s first pocket-sized colour reference tool, making it a direct but cheaper rival to the Calibrite ColorChecker Passport Photo 2. It’s similar in size and design, except it’s made from white plastic rather than black, and is noticeably thicker. Even so, it’ll slip easily into a jacket pocket. One key difference between the two is that Datacolor has made the colour targets removable, which means that in principle, you can replace damaged…