Innholdsfortegnelse for 8/15/2023 i Amateur Photographer

The technical team and I spent most of the first decade of this century writing about and testing digital cameras which by current standards weren’t great, to put it mildly. I wish I had a pound for every time I had to write ‘purple fringing’. So it’s perhaps surprising that anyone would choose to eschew today’s state-of-the-art models in favour of those old clunkers. They do so for a variety of reasons: nostalgia; a boredom with digital perfection; admiration for the innovation, variety and personality of these early cameras before they all started looking the same; the challenge of wrestling with their many shortcomings; and perhaps the fun of collecting something relatively affordable that will almost certainly increase in value over time. This week Joshua Waller presents a guide to…

THE WINNERS of the World Sports Photography Awards 2023 have been announced, with ‘Sky Drive’ by Getty photographer Patrick Smith being named as the overall winner. The image shows top pro Lee Westwood taking a shot on the driving range at LIV Golf Invitational. Second prize went to Portuguese photographer Octávio Passos, for a dramatic shot of French surfer Justine Dupont. The World Sports Photography Awards, in partnership with mpb.com, is the only dedicated sports photography competition, and this year’s 24 categories included American Football, Basketball, Cycling, Gymnastics and Football. More than 700 professional sports photographers from over 70 countries submitted their images. ‘The art of photography is about encapsulating emotions and feelings in an instant, and being able to tell a compelling story which aims to inspire the spectator…

THE SMART Shooter 5 tethering plug-in for Lightroom Classic has been announced by Tether Tools, adding support for Fujifilm cameras and enabling you to integrate bulk QR/barcodes into your workflow. ‘With new support for Fujifilm and Sony Alpha A7R V cameras… enhanced Lightroom Plug-in support for Sony, Fujifilm, and Nikon shooters, plus a host of new customizable features, Smart Shooter 5 is designed to work seamlessly in your tethered photography workflow,’ said CEO Josh Simons. The plug-in is already compatible with Sony, Nikon and Canon. It costs £100 and is available from bit.ly/smartshooter5…

Technique DOMESTIC LIGHTING Tianna Williams Tianna is a Birmingham-based photographer, specialising in maternity portraits. Her award-winning work has been featured both across the UK and internationally in competitions and exhibitions. Her recognisable maternity photography often features culture and bold colours as well as empowering elements to make her pregnant clients feel amazing. You can see more of Tianna’s work on Instagram and Threads @tiannajwilliamsphotography or on Twitter @tiannajwphotos What do you do when you want to start off with portrait photography but don’t have a lot of money to spend? Consider how you can get creative with what the large majority of homes have – domestic lights. This challenge pushed creative limits and a whole new way of working. However, the fundamentals of portrait lighting remain the same.…

LETTER OF THE WEEK AirTag idea I read Mick Bidewell’s letter about his lost camera, and felt a pang of sympathetic nausea in commiseration. More practically, to mitigate my encroaching senility (you can’t ever totally eliminate it) I now place an Apple AirTag in my camera bag. It tells me when I’ve left it behind (less useful on a bus, I grant) and also allows you to track it. This will undoubtedly be part of a wave of correspondence shouting ‘AirTag’ – but the wave will be right. Of course you’ll need an iPhone. Tile has a good product too, but having tried both, the AirTag crushes it. Sanjay Vijayanathan This is a great idea, Sanjay. At around £35 each, these seem like a good investment for Apple users. Have…

HOLLIE LATHAM HUCKER Technique Editor Hollie talks to pros to get their tips on using inexpensive domestic lighting JOSHUA WALLER Online Editor Joshua reveals the best vintage digital cameras you should buy – at bargain prices PETER DENCH The AP regular talks to three of the winners of the 2023 Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards JOHN WADE In his regular Film Stars series, our expert columnist on camera history looks at 35mm camera formats ANDY WESTLAKE Technical Editor Our resident camera and lens expert compiles our listings of DSLR lenses ROD LAWTON Editing pro Rod looks at focus stacking in Affinity Photo for better sharpness in close-ups…

When I mention to other photographers that I still shoot weddings, they often grimace or shudder, as if I’ve just divulged that I clean sewers for fun. Wedding photography is not for everyone, but I believe that a lot of my peers could benefit from giving it a go, at least once. Here’s why. 1 You need to be on top of your game technically, and you learn fast. If you foul up the exposure or focus, you can’t get everyone back in two weeks. Then there’s the wedding dress. If the bride wears white, you’d better not blow out the highlights on their expensive outfit. You learn to watch the histogram like a hawk! 2 Do you sometimes forget to back up memory cards, accidentally lose pictures or lose…

● £199 ● lexar.com When it comes to selecting SD cards, it can be difficult to navigate the confusing array of options available. Lexar aims to simplify things by colour-coding its cards, with the Lexar Professional 128GB 2000x SDXC UHS-II offering the second-highest capacity in its fastest Gold Series line. At £199 for 128GB, this card may look expensive, although it’s competitive with premium offerings from other makers. But with much cheaper UHS-II options also available, including Lexar’s own 1667x Silver Series card, you could be forgiven for wondering why you’d splash out on this one. The answer, naturally, lies with speed. While that 2000x label indicates a read speed of 300MB/sec, write speeds are more important for photographers. Here, the card’s 260MB/s rating trounces its Silver sibling, which promises…

Photo Critique I always urge students and camera enthusiasts to create bodies of work, as most of the time the whole is more effective than the parts, however engaging an individual image may be. But is it not possible to ‘tell a story’ in one image? Afer all, this is the function of Final Analysis! Of course it is possible, but still photography’s advantage is that, unlike painting, it appears to be an authentic and detailed record not an acrylic artifice. I know, the above statement can, and should be contested in this era of Photoshop and AI, but I only have 500 words! Challenge When Barbara Luckhurst from Palmers Green decided, as a mature student, to enrol on the graduate diploma photography course at University of the Arts in…

ADOBE has updated the Generative Fill AI tool, which enables you to add extra AI-generated imagery to photos, with a Generative Expand feature. As the name suggests, it can expand images, enabling users to change aspect ratios and fix a subject that has been cut off, for example. AI text prompts can now be entered in more than 100 languages, too. It is available now in the latest Photoshop beta. Full details at bit.ly/AdobeAIupdates…

7 daysA week in photography AP picture of the week The Great Ascent by Richard Kilby Canon EOS 550D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 III, 1/125sec at f/5.6, ISO 200 ‘This image was captured on a recent trip to Dungeness Lighthouse, Kent. It was taken looking up from one of the mezzanine floors, looking up to the top. I loved the pattern of the staircase as it winds around the shape of the walls.’ Instagram: @rjak_77 Want to see your pictures here? Share them with our Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook communities using the hashtag #appicoftheweek. Or email your best shot to us at ap.ed@kelsey.co.uk. See page 3 for how to find us. #appicoftheweek Win! The AP Pic of the Week winner currently wins a 3 Legged Thing Alan 2.0 monopod…

Tech Talk After the Second World War, there was a gradual shift in the amateur and enthusiast market from roll film to 35mm. Although it started to gain momentum in the 1950s, the 1960s was the decade that saw the changeover really take hold. All the major firms produced mid-range 35mm models, which continued to evolve well into the 1970s. A lot of these cameras were remarkably similar in appearance, and you could probably use them for one of those quizzes where logos are removed and the players have to guess the manufacturer. The Ilford Sportsman range, the Agfa Sillettes and the various Zeiss and Kodak offerings all looked much the same. Appearances changed over time, but the rival makers tended to be in step, so the rounded edges of…