Innholdsfortegnelse for 15/11/2022 i Amateur Photographer

I’ve always said there is no such thing as the perfect camera, but Fujifilm may have just proved me wrong. Read our first impressions of the new X-T5 over the page. We test the latest incarnation of Rotolight’s superb NEO 3 and AEOS 2 LED lights, which just get better with each new generation and make flash ever more redundant. With Christmas coming up we look at a selection of creative ways to turn your photos into much more personal, thoughtful gifts than anything you can buy in town. And with inflation devaluing our savings we consider whether you’d be better off collecting fine art photography, which has proved a good investment in recent years as well as looking a lot better on the wall than a bank statement! Our…

We’re often told that for relatively noise-free shots in low light you need a sensor with fewer, bigger pixels. It’s is one of the reasons behind the success of low-pixel-count cameras such as Sony’s Alpha 7S series and the Panasonic Lumix GH5S. It’s tempting to say it’s obvious. Those bigger pixels will gather more light and create less noise because there’s less need for electronic gain. But is this mantra still true? What prompted my doubt was Apple’s launch of its first 48MP-sensor iPhones – the latest 14 series (see our review on page 47). It’s generally believed Apple stuck with 12-megapixel sensors, while the competition was indulging in ever higher resolutions, to help low-light performance. There must be a good reason for its change of heart. When a friend…

LETTER OF THE WEEK No moral compass I read in the 15 October edition a comment by David Price in your Inbox section, entitled ‘Doom and Gloom’, where he talked about newspapers making sales out of emotional blackmail headlines and the dark tactics that they use. This struck a chord with me because I recently took part in a photoshoot for a breast cancer awareness campaign (Tickled Pink) where my photo was featured in Asda as part of Breast Cancer Awareness month. When I took part in the photoshoot back in July, my top half was uncovered and I revealed my mastectomy scar from eight years ago, but covered up the other breast with my hand. It was all very tastefully done and nothing else was on show. The local…

In November 2007, Time magazine commissioned me to photograph the Conservative candidate in the running to be the Mayor of London: Boris Johnson. He was 43 and the MP for Henley as well as a columnist for The Telegraph. However, he was perhaps best-known to the country for his appearances on the BBC’s topical news quiz, Have I Got News for You. I knew who he was and was aware that it was a good opportunity to shoot portraits of a public figure that would further augment my portfolio. At the time, however, it seemed unlikely that he would defeat Ken Livingstone, who had been London’s Mayor since 2000. Johnson’s dishevelled hairstyle and apparent disorganisation, which later became very familiar to the nation during his time as Prime Minister, were…

THE HOLIDAY season is almost upon us, and so once again we’re excited to launch the annual Amateur Photographer Christmas cover competition. Here is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have one of your images featured on the front cover of the world’s number one weekly photography magazine over Christmas! You are free to interpret the theme in any way you choose: naturally we are happy to see shots of baubles, trees and lights, but we also want pictures that show the creative potential of the season in general, so feel free to submit winter landscapes, indoor portraits, frosty flora and fauna etc. If you think you already have something on file, great; if not try to shoot something specifically for the competition. Don’t forget that to succeed as a cover photo,…

Mark McColl has had a passion for photography for more than 15 years and lives in Scotland. More images and information about his workshops can be viewed by visiting www.markmccoll.com and on Instagram @markmccoll photography where he currently has 12.5k followers. AP: Tell us a little about your photography background MMC: My interest in photography started in the early 1980s, when I bought a Zenith SLR camera. It was built like a tank and almost indestructible. It was also very rudimentary – it had manual focus, and even a manual lens aperture. My first roll of film was ruined as I kept forgetting to stop down the aperture. I graduated as a doctor from Glasgow University what seems like a lifetime ago. Photography has kept me sane during a pretty…

Tech Talk My last article was about selecting a lens based on the criterion of background blur. Following that, I’ve been asked to write something on choosing aperture, focal length and shooting position to achieve the desired background blur. Of course for many such things, practice and experience is the key, but some like a theoretical approach. First, consider the diagram below. This is a copy of the one in the previous article, with one addition, of which more later. The ring at L represents the entrance pupil or aperture of the lens, with diameter a. At F is the point of focus. The disc at B represents the blur disc or ‘bokeh ball’ caused by a point source in the background, with a diameter b. The overall blurry background…

Photo Critique Passengers must not: Speak to or otherwise distract the attention of the driver without reasonable cause whilst the vehicle is in motion; Leave luggage in the alleyway; Stand forward of this notice whilst the vehicle is in motion. So says the sign on the coach window. That’s two violations by Martin Parr in taking this photo, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he had left luggage in the alleyway, too. It’s not easy to take photos on a bus or coach. There’s contrast in brightness between inside and outside, and in colour balance. There’s motion, the seats are cramped, arm rests are a compositional nightmare. The front seats offer the most open view and using his Mamiya 6, Parr has exploited that space with aplomb. ‘Elsie and me,…

The Unseen Saul Leiter by Margit Erb and Michael Parillo £35, Thames & Hudson, hardcover, 160 pages, ISBN: 9780500545560 At the time Saul Leiter was producing the bulk of his work, he was relatively unknown. A new-found appreciation for his work came when he was in his early 80s, and since then it has been re-evaluated for its contribution to the genre of street photography. Although we’ve seen many thousands of images of mid-century New York, one thing which marks Leiter out is his use of colour, used at a time when most of his contemporaries were shooting in black & white. His impressionistic photos also aim to create an atmosphere or a mood, again a departure from the typical ‘decisive moment’ type of street photography. Leiter’s studio in New…

Tracy Calder A former editor of Outdoor Photography, Tracy co-founded Close-up Photographer of the Year and this year was awarded a Gold medal from the RHS for her Plant Scars series. Her work has been exhibited at The Photographers’ Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and Saatchi Gallery. Instagram @tracy_calder_photo and www.cupoty.com When New York collector Sondra Gilman Gonzalez-Falla spent $750 on three Eugéne Atget prints in the mid 1970s her family thought she was insane. Thankfully, the art lover (who was working on the Junior Council at MoMA at the time) was unrepentant and together with her husband, Celso, went on to create one of the world’s finest private collections of photography. By the time she died in 2021, the collection contained prints from the likes of Imogen Cunningham, Henri…

Cameras Cameras come in three types: DSLRs with optical viewfinders, mirrorless models with electronic viewing, and compact cameras with non-interchangeable lenses Handgrip DSLRs traditionally have relatively large handgrips, while many mirrorless models have much smaller grips to keep size down. However, some can accept accessory grips to improve handling with larger lenses. Lens mount Each camera brand uses its own lens mount, and mirrorless cameras use different lenses to DSLRs even from the same brand. However, mirrorless models can often use DSLR lenses via a mount adapter. Controls Entry-level cameras tend to have simple, easy-to-understand controls, while more expensive models add lots of buttons and dials to give quick access to settings. Viewfinder The biggest difference between DSLRs and mirrorless cameras is that the latter use electronic, rather than optical…

AN EXHIBITION of late Magnum photographer Peter Marlow’s images of all 42 Anglican cathedrals in England will be touring English cathedrals. It is currently at St Alban’s Cathedral until 1 December. Next it will go to St Paul’s Cathedral in London, from 6 December 2022 to 26 January 2023, and the exhibition is set to be featured in other cathedrals during 2023 – in Hereford from 31 January to 2 March, Newcastle from 19 April to 24 May, Bury St Edmunds from 4 to 30 July, Wakefield from 2 August to 1 September, and Lincoln from 11 October to 5 November 2023.…

AP picture of the week Last Light, West Mersea by Noel Lysons Fujifilm X-T3, Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS WR at 10mm, 1.2sec at f/8, ISO 640 ‘I grew up by the sea in Cumbria and have always found myself drawn to the coast. Now living in Essex, Mersea Island is one of the places I keep returning to. The combination of high tide and sunset gave me plenty of opportunity to experiment with different shutter speeds to try and capture some movement in the waves without completely flattening them. The analogue controls on the X-T3 make it easy to adjust the ISO, aperture and shutter speed to get the desired effect.’ Instagram: @lysons_photography #appicoftheweek Win! To congratulate the AP Pic of the Week winner, Fujifilm is giving the…

A panel of judges looked through 4,462 entries from 1,697 photographers to come up with the top three photographers for this year’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. They are on display – as well as several of those shortlisted – at Cromwell Place, a new arts hub in South Kensington while the National Portrait Gallery is still closed for renovation. Viewers are often left divided over the winners. While some share the judges’ position on whether the images are worthy of winning, they’re often also met with derision, or confusion, from others. They always get people talking though – and that’s probably no bad thing. The overall winner is Clémentine Schneidermann for two of her portraits from the series Laundry Day. Taken during one of the UK’s national lockdowns, they…