Innholdsfortegnelse for 22/11/2022 i Amateur Photographer

In mid-August 2020, a lightning strike ignited what would become a ferocious 43,273-acre wildfire that burned through the Joshua tree woodland of Cima Dome, California. Snakes, lizards, squirrels and rabbits fled. Ranch buildings, water tanks and troughs burned. Cactuses, shrubs and grasses disintegrated. There was a small fire team on site, but most resources were committed to more-populated areas, where other fires raged. About 1.3 million Joshua trees were destroyed. Reports suggest if the top third of Joshua trees are unburned they may survive. As the fire fully scorched most of the plants in its path, the National Park Service (NPS) says it’s unlikely many will recover. Photographer Darin Boville explored the forest in the Mojave National Preserve for four weeks in 2019, with no premonition of what was to…

Now is a great time to turn your attention to getting your best images off the hard drive and into print – whether it be personalised greeting cards, mounted and framed prints as presents for the family, or a photo book of your year’s best shots. Of course, with so many options available, you’ll have to funnel down your ideas to suit your needs. Perhaps if you don’t already have one, the biggest investment is to get yourself a photo-quality printer. An A4 or A3+ printer can be had for decent money and some of the units have a compact footprint so won’t take up a great deal of space. There’s also a vast range of inkjet media available to cover all tastes. PermaJet printer cover ● £25-35 ● www.permajet.com…

Sam Kemp, Cornwall About Sam Sam is a laboratory technician from Newquay. Favourite subjects I have a natural affinity with the coast and find seascape photography the most enjoyable and accessible subject. Surfers were my first ever subject, and I try to shoot surf photography whenever the elements are kind enough. How did you get into photography? Living in Cornwall, I spend a huge amount of time at my local beaches. On one walk in winter at Watergate Bay about three years ago, I spent a while watching the surfers during a big winter swell and decided to buy a camera to try to capture them. What do you love about photography? Photography forces you to observe your surroundings more intently. I find myself searching for a composition almost everywhere…

Testbench CAMERA TEST At a glance £2,100 body only £2,500 with audio handle ● 26.2MP APS-C sensor ● ISO 125-32,000 ● 4K / 120p recording ● Full HD / 240fps ● 3in, 921k-dot vari-angle touch LCD For and against + Great-value entry point into Sony’s Cinema range + Ability to use LUTs in-camera + Excellent autofocus + 4K at 120fps + Multiple mounting points - Requires expensive CFexpress Type A cards for best results - No 6K recording option Data file Sensor 26.1MP CMOS, 23.8 x 15.6mm Output size 6192 x 4128 Focal length mag. 1.5xLens mount Sony EShutter speed 30-1/8000secSensitivity Video: ISO 100-32,000 Photo: ISO 125-102,400Exposure modes PASM, B Metering Multi-segment, Centre, Spot, Average Exposure comp. ±5 in 0.3EV Step Continuous shooting No Continuous ShootingScreen 3in, 921k dot…

RICOH Imaging has announced the Pentax KF, its newest APS-C DSLR camera. Described by the company as an ‘extension’ of the 24.2MP Pentax K-70 DSLR, this camera is a slightly tweaked and fractionally lighter-weight successor. The most significant change is to the articulating LCD display, which now features 1.04m dots, compared to the 921k-dot display used on the K-70. There are some software tweaks too, with the addition of three new custom image modes – Bleach Bypss, Cross Processing and Satobi. According to the company, Satobi ‘provides a finishing tone similar to colour photos from the ’60s and ’70s with colours such as distinctive cyan blue, dull yellow, and faded red.’ The special edition Kyushu and Katen custom image modes have also been added – Kyushu is designed to enhance…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Clubs losing their way? Has camera club photography lost its way? Each month AP shows amazing images submitted to APOY but are those from camera club members who have elected not to go with the flow? In the early 1980s I attended a number of courses about portrait/glamour photography run, on behalf of AP, by Victor Blackman and as a result that style became something that I am happy with. But if submitted to a club competition the judge says the style is old fashioned, so marks it down whilst giving a very high score to a male model covered in body gel. In my opinion the judge will have no proper qualification. To have a qualification awarded by a body who require an annual fee…

Claire Gillo Claire Gillo is based in Devon, and covers everything from food and drink to product, architecture, portraiture and events. See www.clairegillo.com or follow @clairegillophotography on Instagram This image was taken for the Sea Change Festival (seachangepresents.co.uk) in Totnes in May 2022 and the image shows the lead singer from the band MELTS. When the band came on stage, the characterful look of the lead singer caught my attention right away. His clothes and hairstyle could easily be from another era, so in the edit I wanted to ensure I kept the retro feel of his look. When photographing bands at events such as a festival you get to know the best places to shoot from and what lens to use and when. This image was taken on the…

Technique MEMORY CARDS Which memory card should you buy? All the different labelling on the cards can be baffling. But by reading through this guide, you’ll quickly understand all the options. Here, we dive into the various options available when buying, and help give you a better understanding of memory card technology, so you know all you need to know when choosing a memory card. SD cards SD memory cards are the most commonly used memory card in digital cameras. There are multiple ways in which companies will tell you how quick an SD card is. Originally it was simple, signified with a large C with a number in the middle, the ‘Speed class’. However, this was replaced after they reached Class 10. V30/V60/V90 – This is the Video…

If you have a computer, a memory card reader and some editing software, surely you have everything you need for fine-tuning your photos, without having to flash any more cash? Well, yes and no. These are the essentials, but you also need to make sure your screen is properly calibrated, for example. How can you edit the colours on your images properly if they are not being displayed accurately in the first place? However good your monitor, it will need calibrating at some point. There are also accessories that make the actual editing process easier and more intuitive, such as editing consoles and graphics tablets, which often give you a finer degree of control when working on images. Calibrite ColorChecker Display ● £155 ● calibrite.com This is a powerful, yet…

Somewhere over the Atlantic, 36,000 feet up, an entomologist is fretting about his luggage. Aside from the usual toiletries and underwear in his bag, he’s responsible for some very special cargo. Rare insect specimens, some more than 100 years old, too valuable or fragile to be trusted to the postal system, are being transported from New York to the UK, and it’s his responsibility to ensure they arrive safely. The specimens will enjoy a brief spell at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History before heading to the studio of Levon Biss, an extreme macro photographer who impressed audiences with his book and exhibition Microsculpture in 2017. Levon’s studio has the air of a cabinet of curiosity that houses antiquities and exotic specimens. The walls in this room are grey,…

Many AP readers will have built up a large archive of film photographs and even if you weren’t shooting film back in the day, the analogue revival shows no sign of petering out (especially amongst younger photographers, which is very gratifying). Many of us want to digitise our negatives and slides, however, either to give the images an extra tweak in editing-software, or just to make them easier to share on social media or websites. As you’ll see below there are several options. For the quickest high-quality results, you can shoot your film using a DSLR or mirrorless camera, via a copy stand and a lightbox. This is a great way to get even more from your digital camera, assuming you have a suitable lens, but you will need to…

FAVOURITE ACCESSORIES 2022 Testbench NiSi Clever Cleaner for square filters ● £7 ● www.nisioptics.co.uk If you’re a regular user of square filters, you’ll know how easy it is to get them covered in fingerprints from sliding them into the holder and removing them after use. This handy device springs open to reveal a rectangular felt cleaning pad, to help keep their surfaces clean and in perfect condition. Packed up it measures just 8x4x1.5cm, so will slip easily into your camera bag. Ilford Simplicity Starter Kit ● £16.50 ● www.ilfordphoto.com If you’ve acquired the bug for shooting black & white film, this kit contains the chemicals you need to start out with home developing. It includes sachets of developer, stop bath, and fixer, sufficient for two rolls of 35mm film, or…

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 On the whole, each manufacturer uses its own proprietary lens mount. Notable exceptions are Micro Four Thirds, shared by Olympus and Panasonic, and the full-frame L-mount that’s used by Leica, Panasonic and Sigma.…