Innholdsfortegnelse for 1/9/2024 i Amateur Photographer

7 daysA week in photography AUSTRALIAN photographer Tony Hewitt has been named winner of the tenth International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition, beating more than 4,000 other entries from all over the world to win the top prize. The main title category is portfolio-based, and Tony submitted a series of colourful aerial images showing river beds and coastal scenes in western Australia. As the judges reveal, selecting the overall winner was a tough call. ‘We had a dead heat between two portfolios, each receiving two first places and having the same preference votes. Under our rules, the stalemate is resolved by asking the fifth judge (the only judge who hadn’t scored one of the portfolios in first place) to cast the deciding vote. ‘So congratulations to Tony Hewitt, and…

Making a photo book has become easier and more accessible than ever before. You can create a beautifully finished tome full of your favourite images with your choice of paper, binding and cover style, all without leaving home or spending a small fortune. But producing a book for your own pleasure is one thing; self-publishing is something else. Where do you start, what are the opportunities and, perhaps most crucially, what are the pitfalls? Vanda Ralevska has loved reading and owning books since her childhood, yet it was only recently that she decided to get herself into print with a view to gaining a wider audience for her work. ‘My photography started when I was a teenager,’ Vanda says. ‘I grew up in a coal-mining city in communist Czechoslovakia with…

Testbench CAMERA TEST Nikon has a particularly rich heritage in film photography, so it’s no great surprise to find many of its users hankering after digital models that resemble classic 35mm SLRs. Sadly, the firm’s previous attempts at such cameras have been somewhat underwhelming, with the Df DSLR from 2013 being awkward and bulky, while the mirrorless Z fc of 2021 was undermined by the lack of matching DX lenses. However, the Nikon Z f is a much more attractive proposition. Like the Z fc, the Z f’s design harks back to the classic Nikon FM film SLR. But now, it packs a 24MP full-frame sensor, along with all the firm’s latest imaging technology. As a result, it might just be the retro-styled camera that Nikon fans have wanted…

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. OUR GUIDE TO THE SUFFIXES USED BY LENS MANUFACTURERS AF Nikon AF lenses driven from cameraAF-S Nikon lenses with Silent Wave MotorAF-P Nikon lenses with stepper motorsAL Pentax lenses with aspheric elementsAPD Fujifilm lenses with…

A UNIQUE image of early morning light refracted through a blue tit’s wings earned regular AP contributor Andrew Fusek Peters a lot of mainstream media attention around new year, including a prominent slot on the BBC News home page. ‘Back in December, just after dawn, I was photographing a “boring” blue tit – I say boring as I wanted a greenfinch or one of the rarer birds! – and as its wings spread out, I captured this wonderful light refracted through them,’ Andrew explains. ‘You can only hope to capture this effect for a few minutes when the sun is at a particular angle. I can’t find anyone else in the world who’s achieved it with blue tits, and I love the fact that these garden birds are pretty common.’…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Take me to the bridge I was very interested in the article on bridge cameras (AP 12 December) because at one time I owned all those cameras together, or at least variations of them plus an Olympus Centurion APS and a Konica Aiborg, which was not really a bridge camera. The Fuji FZ3000 had a separate flashgun, my Samurai was the similar but smaller APS model, the Olympus IS was the IS 3000. As to the Riva Zoom 105 I once bid on an auction site for a white one (Rare). I had batteries in all of them and manipulated all at times but never put a film through them. The one I should have used was the Chinon Genesis III which appears to be the…

SMARTPHONES Testbench With the best budget camera phones, you can get a premium photography experience for a bargain price. While we’re all familiar with flagship phones and their high price tags, the truth is that you don’t need to spend a huge amount to get a respectable camera. Looking in the mid-range and budget ends of the market, you can find some real gems that still deliver top-notch photo and video quality. Looking at the specs of the phones we’ve listed here, one thing that might surprise you is how often you see features that seem to belong on more expensive devices. Multicamera arrays, 200MP pixel counts, and phase-detection autofocus; all these things can be found for less than £500. Alongside manufacturers like Honor and Xiaomi that focus on…

7 daysA week in photography The RSPCA Young Photographer of the Year contest has been won by Jamie Stewart, aged eight, from Powys, Wales. She’s the youngest photographer to win top honours in the competition’s 30-year history, beating 6,000 other entrants with her image of a turkey called Frederick. The image was entered under the ‘Pet Personalities’ category, and as well as its technical qualities, the judges noted that it gets us thinking about turkeys in a different way. ‘I’d definitely like to be a wildlife photographer and presenter when I’m older,’ said Jamie. ‘I really want to spread awareness and make a difference. I want to inspire people of all ages to get as many people as possible to help and conserve all these beautiful creatures… The shot of…

7 daysA week in photography £55, Thames & Hudson, hardback, 240 pages, ISBN: 9780500026212 The American photographer Deborah Turbeville made a name for herself as a major photographic and artistic talent in the 1970s – but it’s very hard to categorise her work as belonging to any particular style. That said, she became well-known for work with photocollages. This book focuses solely on that aspect of her practice and makes for fascinating reading, far removed from the typical pictures we see from the era. We don’t see full colour, glossy and highly stylised fashion images that we might usually expect from 1970s fashion photography, but something which, in the modern era, probably resonates far more. We get to see how Deborah eschewed the typical style of her contemporaries working in…

The German capital has lost yet another stunning relic of the communist era with the demolition of a grand, Soviet-era airport reception building that once welcomed Eastern bloc VIPs including Leonid Brezhnev, Fidel Castro and Yuri Gagarin to East Berlin. The so-called Generalshotel, built shortly after the end of the Second World War to cater for Red Army top brass visiting the divided city, has been demolished to make way for the German government’s fleet of jets. It was a controversial decision. Officials ignored furious protests that a piece of East German identity was being erased by an arrogant western elite. If the building didn’t have a communist past, it would still be standing, they complained. As a journalist working mainly for The Times, it’s part of my job to…

When was the club formed? The club was formed in the 1970s but only moved to its current meeting place last year. What does the club offer new members? We try very hard to offer a wide range of opportunities for all members, particularly those new to the club, to learn from more experienced colleagues. We have some excellent, highly experienced amateur photographers who are always willing to assist those who wish to increase their photographic knowledge. Describe a typical club evening We issue a club programme that includes full details of our winter events from September through to June the following year. A typical meeting starts with comments on past events and details of forthcoming meetings. The club holds an annual exhibition of members’ images, where visitors are asked…