Innholdsfortegnelse for 3/28/2023 i Amateur Photographer

Spring is an optimistic season. Its arrival brings the promise of lighter evenings, warmer weather and the rebirth of nature after its winter hibernation. It’s traditionally a time when photographers dust off their kit, and upgrade or add to it. This week we offer some expert tips and inspiration for great spring photos. If you’re more interested in people than plants you’ll know that lighting is the key to great portraiture. So, Tianna J Williams kicks off a new series where top pros share the lighting set-ups behind a selection of their work, and there’s more inspiration from William Klein and Alison Jackson. Finally, if you’re looking for a lightweight mirrorless camera don’t miss Jessica Miller’s thoughts on the Fujifilm X-S10. Our spring cover image was captured in West Dorset…

7 daysA week in photography CANON UK & Ireland is hosting a week-long event for enthusiast photographers, taking place in selected retailers across the UK from Monday 27 March to Sunday 2 April. Activities will include talks from a range of pro photographers, including AP regular Ben Hall, and tips from Canon technical experts both in store and online. There will also be exclusive cashback and discounts on selected EOS R cameras and RF lenses, plus the chance to see Canon’s latest EOS R system releases and print products. Book appointments at bit.ly/canonretailerevent…

7 daysA week in photography When is the moon not the moon? Let’s consider all the fuss about Samsung’s S23 Ultra and whether it can really take crisp moon shots. Point the S23 Ultra at the moon and zoom right in, and you’ll be rewarded with a surprisingly detailed image. However, tests have shown that all this detail wasn’t necessarily captured by the camera itself. Instead, when the device identifies that you’re taking a picture of the moon, it adds in extra lunar features that Samsung’s ‘detail enhancement engine’ knows should be there. Some see this as sleight-of-hand. I see some intriguing psychology. We feel very attached to our phones, and we have a primordial affinity with the moon. It’s a reassuring constant in an uncertain world. There’s something special…

Guy Edwardes Based in his home county of Dorset, Guy Edwardes has been a professional landscape and nature photographer for over 25 years. His work has been widely published worldwide and he runs a series of popular photographic workshops. Visit www.guyedwardes.com Ensure front-to-back sharpness When shooting spring landscapes, you may wish to include an expanse of flowers in the foreground. Even when using a wideangle lens, you’ll still have to take great care to achieve perfect front-to-back sharpness. The simplest way is to employ hyperfocal focusing, where you focus on a precise point (that varies according to the subject distance and focal length used) that will allow complete sharpness throughout the scene at your chosen aperture. Alternatively focus-stacking can be used to achieve even better sharpness by using software to…

Street photographer. Documentary filmmaker. Painter. Fiction filmmaker. Abstract photographer. Writer. Fashion photographer. Illustrator. Maker of books. Designer of exhibitions. To have made original and influential work in just one of these fields would have been enough to secure William Klein a place in any canon of the visual arts. To have succeeded in them all, on his own terms, and to have sustained a creative output for over six decades, is remarkable. For a long time, Klein was known as either a fashion photographer or a street photographer or a filmmaker. That is to say, different audiences knew and valued different aspects of his work. Only in recent years has the scope of his achievements begun to be recognised. Versatility runs against the idea that artistic significance is based on…

SONY and the World Photography Organisation have announced the category winners and shortlist in the Open competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2023. More than 415,000 images from over 200 countries and territories were submitted to the overall awards, and over 200,000 were entered into the Open competition. Each category winner will go on to compete for the Open Photographer of the Year title and a $5,000 prize. Several UK photographers were announced as category winners. Mark Benham won through in Architecture for ‘The Silos’, a collage-like image of silos and surrounding buildings at the Port of Brest in France. Meanwhile, Sukhy Hullait won the Portraiture category with ‘Charlie’, a portrait shot centre-frame of a young teenager who, along with his friends, decided to turn an abandoned pub car…

7 daysA week in photography THE CENTRE for British Photography in London is inviting pros and amateurs alike to submit work for possible inclusion in an exhibition over the summer. Both individual images and portfolios can be submitted, and the theme is landscape/countryside/environment. This can include images tackling global environmental issues or relating to the UK. Submissions are free, but you need to be over 18 and British or UK-based. See britishphotography.org/news for more details and for how to submit.…

7 daysA week in photography £40, Bodleian Library, hardcover, 240 pages, ISBN: 9781851246090 We see a lot of books here at Amateur Photographer, and it’s safe to say that while many of them are excellent, it’s rare for one to give such pause for thought as Dark Room. At first glance, the abstract photography of Garry Fabian Miller might not be to everyone’s tastes, but to sit down and absorb the book, front-to-back, is a fantastic experience that is hard to beat. Taking the form of a memoir, Garry charts his photographic career from its early days right up to the present. He has become recognised internationally for his ‘camera-less’ work, made in the darkroom, where he sometimes spends many hours in complete darkness. It’s with some careful irony that…

● From £25.99 (10x8in framed print inc p&p)● www.thispicture.co.uk A LOT of photographers never get round to printing and framing their work. Maybe it’s the perceived cost or the complication of using printing services, but it’s a worrying trend. So, we’re testing a new online printing and framing service called This Picture, which is owned by One Vision, a Coventry-based company with a strong reputation in professional printing and framing. This Picture is run separately and is aimed at enthusiasts rather than the pros, with the emphasis on ease of use. As somebody who’s also guilty of not printing and framing enough, I was impressed how uncluttered and straightforward the site is. You simply click on the ‘Build your Frame’ icon to get started, and then it’s a five-step process:…

PANASONIC has announced it has been working on a new Organic Photoconductive Film (OPF) CMOS image sensor designed to improve image quality performance, and particularly colour performance in comparison to BSI CMOS sensors – the BSI (or Backside Illuminated) sensor is used in the majority of cameras today whether that’s full-frame mirrorless or compact cameras. According to the company, the new OPF CMOS image sensor will allow improved colour reproduction under a variety of lighting conditions, and this could be the next step in improved image quality, much like the transition from CCD sensors to BSI CMOS sensors. However, so far the firm is suggesting that the sensor could be used in a number of applications, but none of them are specifically digital cameras. The applications Panasonic said are suited…

7 daysA week in photography THIS powerful image is amongst the work featured in a new Brian Griffin exhibition at the historic National Justice Museum in Nottingham. The series of black & white photographs, entitled Darkness, showcases 12 portraits taken by the influential British photographer, which incorporate pieces from the museum’s collection of crime and punishment artefacts. The exhibition will run from 27 April to 23 July. See www.nationaljusticemuseum.org.uk…

AP picture of the week Brighton Rush Hour by Sarah Mott Sony A7, Tamron 70-300mm at 271mm, 1/400sec at f/6.3, ISO 1250 ‘I’m fascinated by these murmurations and have photographed them on many occasions in Brighton, Eastbourne, and even Tunbridge Wells. I had taken my son out for lunch in Brighton (where he’s at uni), and before heading back home, we went for a stroll along the sea front hoping for a good sunset and murmuration. My son always jokes that I’m really in Brighton to visit the starlings, and not him! It’s great when I get to see both though!’ Facebook: Sarah Mott: Photographer Instagram: @sarahmottphotographer #appic of the week Win! To congratulate the AP Pic of the Week winner, Fujifilm is giving the winner a £25 voucher* to…

Back in 2017 Tianna J Williams left behind the responsibility of bringing new life into the world for the challenge of the self-employed life of a photographer. Starting out with nothing more than a passion for photography, her photographic journey has taken her from shooting in her living room to creating beautiful portraits in her spacious studio in one of the trendiest areas in Birmingham. Initially dabbling in different genres, it was a masterclass she took in 2018 that reminded her of her underlying passion for women and convinced Tianna to use her experience as a midwife to leverage her business as a maternity session specialist. Tianna has built a multi-award-winning practice specialising in maternity photography, empowering her clients through beautiful portraits that capture their journey from pregnancy through to…

Tech Talk The twin lens reflex, or TLR is a style of camera design that is worthy of that overused term iconic. The form is instantly recognisable, even to a non-enthusiast, and its association with prominent press and fashion photographers immediately invokes a mid-20th-century feel. As the name suggests, there are two lenses, mounted one above the other, the lower lens being used to take the photo, and the upper used for focusing. The two lenses are linked, so when the top one is focused while the image is being viewed on a waist-level screen, the bottom lens follows suit. Unlike a single lens reflex (SLR) what you see in the viewfinder is not identical to what the camera sees, but unless you’re shooting at very close range, this isn’t…

Photography is not the only area in which originality is held up as an indication of merit. There are many other art forms that regard the generation of new ideas as a great thing, and those who generate them as masters. It is true too that in life generally we glorify those who come up with fresh ways of thinking, who stand out and those who diverge from the norm in what we consider a positive direction. Many of us may spend a little longer worrying not so much about originality but rather a lack of it, and that through our photographic art we are saying nothing new or of any interest – nothing that will draw the adoring attention of the world. Feeling that we have nothing original to…