Innholdsfortegnelse for 2/28/2023 i Amateur Photographer

In general, most photographers strive for sharp shots, depending on their creative intent, but it’s even more crucial when you are selling your work to fussy clients. So this issue, we asked Will Cheung to talk to a range of pros in different genres to get their tips for razor-sharp results every time. Other big highlights include a round-up of the best free Lightroom presets – which will help you to spend less time in front of the computer and save money – and a review of the Samyang AF 12mm F2 X, the company’s first AF lens for Fujifilm X-mount cameras. Music fans will also love our Mick Rock tribute, where a range of top contemporary music fans pay tribute to his genius. Our stunning cover image this week…

WESTERN Digital has announced its highest capacity consumer drive, the 22TB My Book Desktop Hard Drive. If you need even more storage, the firm’s My Book Duo is also available, which features a 44TB capacity, equipped with RAID-optimised Western Digital drives. The 22TB My Book costs £594.99 while the My Book Duo costs £1,487.99. ‘In 2022 alone, the average household worldwide generated more than 20TB of data and we expect this number to continue to rise,’ said John Rydning, from market intelligence firm International Data Corporation, as the drives were announced.…

THE UK Black Female Photographers (UKBFTOG) community will be holding a group exhibition at the Fujifilm House of Photography in London, from 9 March to 7 May. Founded by Jemella Ukaegbu in 2017, the community has more than 300 members and has done tremendous work raising the profile of black female photographers in the UK. The exhibition, titled Living The Dream, will feature the work of 51 mid-career and professional photographers across different genres. These include AP contributors Shade O Thompson, Tianna J Williams, Tobi Sobowale and Dominique Nok, who is also the curator. In a statement the organisers explained, ‘The exhibition will cover topics such as identity and heritage as well as conceptual photography, as the image-makers seek to stimulate future generations and to pay tribute to inspirational women,…

7 daysA week in photography AP picture of the week Sunrise Mooring at Thorpe Bay by Terry Newman Nikon Z7, Nikon 14-30mm f/4 S, 1/13sec at f/11, ISO 64 ‘I took this sunrise shot at Thorpe Bay, Essex, while on a visit with fellow members of the Norfolk and District Photographic Society (NDPS). There were lots of moored boats to photograph and I thought the reflection and patterns in the sand made this a more interesting shot.’ Instagram: @terryjnewmanWebsite: terrynewmanphotography.com #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 print their image any way they like! Simply go to myFUJIFILM.co.uk, select what you want, then enter…

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 Early 2000 BD (Before Digital), noise was the number one enemy of any photographer. Fuji Velvia was amongst the most popular slide films for landscape photographers because it had the least amount of noise (at ISO 50). Night photography was virtually impossible, because you’d create entire galaxies of noise. Wildlife photographers would often stop at ISO 800, which explains why pan blurs were a popular technique when light levels were low…

Photo Critique I know I can occasionally be grumpy when discussing modern photography. Slightly disillusioned and despairing about where photography is headed. Occasionally disappointed about the watering down of contemporary reportage photography. So it is important that, when I see something that moves me, I praise it. I’m old now. Old enough to remember some seriously hard-hitting photojournalism. Old enough to remember the power that, for instance, the Sunday Times Magazine once had when it landed on our breakfast table on a Sunday morning. I particularly remember a quote from British travel writer and conservationist Mark Shand when talking about the work of the wonderful Don McCullin. ‘For many years this man’s eyes were our conscience.’ I do not want to get too overtly political here but, at the time…

OPPO has launched the Find N2 Flip, its first foldable smartphone for international users. Its flagship 50MP main camera, co-developed with Hasselblad, features a Sony IMX890 sensor with an f/1.8 lens, and the device also sports a 32MP selfie camera. The phone has also been independently certified to withstand over 400,000 folds and unfolds, at standard room temperature, according to Oppo. The Find N2 Flip is available to pre-order from Amazon, EE, O2, Virgin Media and others for £849, with contract details to be announced.…

THE COMEDY Pet Photo Awards 2023 is now open for entries, with the winner getting a £500 cash prize and a ThinkTank bag. This year there are seven categories: Dogs, Cats, Horses, All other creatures, Pets who look like their owners, Junior and Video. Entries are free for photographers under 16. The panel of judges includes TV presenter and conservationist Kate Humble, comedian and presenter Mel Giedroyc, professional award-winning photographer Elke Vogelsang and official competition vet Emma Milne along with competition founders Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam. ‘As well as championing all that is positive about pets and delivering a huge dose of light-hearted fun, the awards seek to support and highlight as many deserving animal welfare charities as possible,’ the organisers said. Entries close on 18 June. Visit www.comedypetphoto.com…

Adobe Lightroom Presets are a brilliant time-saver. Not only do they give you the chance to work quickly and efficiently with large batches of images, they also offer great opportunities to experiment with your processing style. The beauty of editing in Lightroom is that your tweaks are nondestructive. You can make as many changes as you like, safe in the knowledge you’re a one-click step away from a reset to your original image should you end up having a change of heart. Whether you’re working in Lightroom Classic or Lightroom (for Desktop, Mobile or Web) there are a huge variety of presets to gather and explore. Some of the higher-priced offerings from bigger studios work hard to keep on top of new features (i.e., Lightroom’s latest AI-assisted updates). But dig…

Tech Talk Since completing my ten-year project in which I used a different film camera each week, 522 in total, I’ve set myself less onerous annual projects. This year, mindful of the steep increase in film prices, I’ve decided to work through the half-frame cameras in my collection. I think I’ve got around 20 different ones. As the name suggests, these cameras manage to get twice as many photos per roll, as they produce negatives which are half the regular 35mm dimensions. The format became popular in the 1960s, when film was expensive and amateur photographers were keen to eke out as many photos from their films as possible. The Ricoh Auto Half was launched in the early 1960s and made for around a decade, with various slight changes over…

TAMRON’S 11-20mm F2.8 Di III-A RXD ultra-wideangle zoom is going to be made available in the Fujifilm X-mount, the company has announced. Originally launched for Sony E-mount, the lens offers a full-frame equivalent zoom range of 16.5-30mm and a maximum magnification ratio of 1:4. Optically it’s constructed from 12 elements in 10 groups, including one extra-low dispersion (XLD) lens element and two low-dispersion (LD) elements, as well as two glass-moulded aspherical lenses. Autofocus is provided by Tamron’s RXD stepper motor, and moisture-resistant construction and durable fluorine coating are said to provide extra protection when shooting outdoors. ‘The compact size, fast f/2.8 aperture, practical zoom range and superb image quality make the 11-20mm zoom an ideal choice for travel, landscape, street, and general photography,’ said Tamron. Pricing and availability are to…

US PHOTOGRAPHER Kat Zhou has been named winner of the Underwater Photographer of the Year 2023 competition with this eye-catching photo of a pink river dolphin breaching the surface of the Amazon river. ‘This is by far the best image we’ve ever seen of this species, whose numbers are declining at an alarming rate,’ said the chair of the judges, Alex Mustard. Over 6,000 pictures were submitted by underwater photographers from 72 countries. See all the category winners at underwaterphotographeroftheyear.com…

London-based sports and music portrait photographer Tom Oldham has shot some of the world’s biggest and best names in music including, Paul Weller, Muse, Arctic Monkeys, Elbow, Prodigy, Tinie Tempah, Plan B, Ed Sheeran, M.I.A., Rudimental, and Primal Scream, among many others. For his unique portrait project ON/OFF (to raise money for War Child UK) he photographed artists the moment before a big gig and immediately after. ‘Choosing one single image from this astonishing book full of absolute bangers was, I admit, a challenge, but it had to be this one for me. There isn’t a rock fan in the world who doesn’t know this portrait, and not a music photographer alive or dead who doesn’t wish they’d shot it. To capture iconography like this, graceful, noble, bold and –…

LETTER OF THE WEEK No, no, nomenclature I’ve been helping my adult daughter move from her mobile phone camera to my spare Panasonic GH2, with the idea of improving her photography. She has a certain eye. She was happy with auto exposure, but then we came to other options: aperture/shutter priority and manual. We were using my rather lovely Panasonic f/1.4 25mm lens. She could cope with the concept of 1.4 being both half of and four times 2.8 but was totally bewildered as to why the nomenclature wasn’t simplified. Mathematical is not necessarily logical. Then I must have panicked, saying, ‘The 25mm lens is equivalent to the 50mm one on your camera.’ She pointed out that equivalent is a synonym of ‘the same as’. ‘So why,’ she asked, ‘is…

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 the 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…