Innholdsfortegnelse for 4/9/24 i Amateur Photographer

There’s always something new to learn about the art of photography, which keeps it interesting – it’s a brave person who claims to have mastered everything. So this issue, we focus on essential camera techniques and I’m sure you’ll find it useful, whether you need to brush up existing skills or acquire learn ones. From metering to monochrome, all you need is here. Other highlights include the definitive review of the most eagerly awaited camera of the year so far, the Fujifilm X100VI; and we also test a power-packed, high-end smartphone, the Samsung S24 Ultra. And last but not least, APOY 2024 is now open for entries, with over £17,500 worth of prizes from Camera Centre UK, Adobe and ViewSonic. We can’t wait to see your entries! Our cover shot…

THE SO.CO Image of Music Awards 2024, designed to ‘celebrate the unsung heroes behind the lens,’ have been announced, with Fearghal McGlinchey winning top prize for a dramatic shot of Greta Van Fleet’s Josh Kiszka. Greta Van Fleet are famed for their on-stage pyrotechnics, and as Fearghal recalls: ‘As soon as I saw their pyros go off, I thought to myself, I have to be in the perfect position for these later on. Josh’s harmonica even looks like it could be a lighter!’ New York-based photographer Grace Prachthauser was Young Music Photographer of the Year, a category designed to reward emerging talent under the age of 23. AP’s Lifetime Achievement winner, Jill Furmanovsky, was named the So.co Legend, in recognition of her sterling 50-year career. Innovation of the Year went…

AP picture of the week Llandudno Pier by John Wakeling Nikon Z 5, Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4, 2.5sec at f/13, ISO 100 ‘This image was taken in Llandudno, north Wales, just after sunset in blue hour. I knew I wanted to make the pier the main feature for this photo, using the incoming tide and a long exposure to capture the water flowing between the rocks to make sure there was an interesting foreground.’ Instagram: @johnw_photographYouTube: John Wakeling Photography #appicoftheweek Win! The AP Pic of the Week winner will receive a beautifully framed print of their winning image worth up to £100. If you Love it, Frame it! ThisPicture.com is an experienced, high-quality framing company with a unique, easy-to-use website. Build single or multi-image frames with a few clicks of…

In our previous Affinity Publisher walkthroughs we’ve shown how to make a business card, letterhead and compliments slips, a banner for your website and an email signature. We’ve used the same building blocks and branding to create an exhibition poster and a leaflet describing your business. We’ll finish with something which could actually earn some money – an ebook. In fact, this could be either an ebook or a regular printed book – or both. The document we create in Affinity Publisher can be sold via your website, used as a promotional giveaway, or as training material if you teach photographic courses. But you can also send it to a commercial printer for regular printing – you just need to get proper print and sizing specifications from them first. Be…

RICHARD SIBLEY The former AP technical editor explains how to set your camera’s custom buttons for different genres STEVE FAIRCLOUGH The AP regular talks to six action pros about the best ways to capture action WILL CHEUNG Mono master Will Cheung shares all you need to know, to capture your finest black & white images yet ROD LAWTON Top pro Rod explains when you can be free of your tripod, and the situations when you still need one JOSHUA WALLER Online Editor Joshua reviews the Fujifilm X100VI, and also tests the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra PETER DENCH The documentary photographer talks to the curator of a touring exhibition on working class life today…

WEB-BASED design platform Canva has bought the Affinity creative software suite, which includes the Affinity Photo editing software. Back in January, Canva reported that it had around 170 million monthly users worldwide. ‘The one thing Canva don’t do is actually produce any tools for creative professionals – and that’s really why they ended up contacting us now,’ said Affinity CEO Ashley Hewson in a video. ‘And the great thing with this is that really nothing changes. All of our team is still here, there are no layoffs.’ Affinity is based in Nottingham, while Canva is a Canadian company which opened a European HQ in London last year.…

I’M Back and Yashica have announced the tiny MiMi Micro Mirrorless camera, described as the ‘smallest mirrorless ever’, on Kickstarter. The camera promises image quality ‘superior to most smartphones,’ which is quite a claim, and reached its funding goal in less than 30 minutes. The new camera has been designed with vloggers and content creators in mind and is designed for people looking for an alternative to smartphones. The kit includes three different types of lenses: a wideangle, a standard lens and a telephoto lens. There is also a Wi-Fi feature for transferring photos to a smartphone. To support the MiMi Micro Mirrorless camera’s Kickstarter page, and for more information about it, visit bit.ly/yashicacam. Kickstarter contributions start at $199 (around £157) and packaging and shipping are scheduled to start in…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Everyone chant OM… Further to John Wade’s ‘Film Stars’ (AP 26 March), in the summer of 1963 I purchased an Olympus Pen S 35mm half-frame camera, and upgraded to an Olympus Pen F, 35mm half-frame SLR in 1966. I shot mainly colour slides, and from January 1967 to July 1968, I documented the city of Cambridge, whilst working and living there. In 2008, my wife and I began making digital audio-visual (AV) sequences. Using a Nikon 9000 ED film scanner we digitised the half frame transparencies and produced an AV sequence based on our memories, entitled ‘Cambridge Remembered’. The quality of the scans was exceptional, considering the age of the original transparencies (see above Kodachrome 25 image of King’s College Cambridge taken on 23 March 1967),…

Andy Compton, Herefordshire About Andy Andy especially enjoys photographing people, but also has four or five mini-projects running at any one time. They vary from church interiors to street art, local characters and cats and dogs. See www.instagram.com/andycompo. How and why did you get into photography? When I was 15 I watched a film about a photographer who was travelling the world, taking pictures. I thought, ‘That looks fun, and I’d get paid!’ I then decided I would be a photographer. What do you love about photography? Photography enables me to keep my mind active in a positive way. It gives me focus (pun intended) and helps divert my mind away from the stresses of life. We all have tough times in one way or another. I make a concerted…

● £474 ● billingham.co.uk Billingham’s premium British-made camera bags have long been favoured by photographers in need of hard-wearing protection for their kit. The firm has now updated its long-running 5-series shoulder bags to ‘MKII’ versions, mainly by adding a trolley strap on the back and including a ‘V-Bridge’ divider. Here we’re looking at the second largest in the line-up – the Billingham 445 MKII. Measuring 43x25x30cm externally, this is pretty large as shoulder bags go, which means it can hold a considerable amount of kit. This is the main difference compared to Billingham’s popular Hadley models, which are slimmer and more discreet. So where Hadleys are perfect for walking around and shooting, the 5-series are arguably better seen as bags for carrying bigger outfits to a location or event…

Cameras Cameras come in three types: DSLRs with optical viewfinders, mirrorless models with electronic viewing, and compact cameras with non-interchangeable lenses ALMOST all serious photographers prefer to use cameras with interchangeable lenses, as this gives the greatest degree of creative flexibility. At one time, this meant digital single-lens-reflex (DSLR) cameras, but these have now been joined by mirrorless cameras that use electronic viewfinders. The latest models are true alternatives to DSLRs, offering the same image quality and creative options. Camera manufacturers offer a range of options, from simple, relatively inexpensive beginner-friendly designs, to sophisticated professional models. In the middle of the range you’ll find enthusiast cameras with more-advanced control layouts. Meanwhile the term ‘compact’ refers to cameras with built-in lenses, regardless of their size. Many offer excellent image quality and…

Photo Critique A lot of things make war difficult to cover as a photographer. Being shot at would probably be top of the list, as well as living in trenches, not getting much sleep and perhaps not having many opportunities to charge a camera battery. I’m guessing, of course – but I’d imagine those would be the primary concerns. The other issue, that mightn’t occur to me before I got there, is how that war, and the people fighting it, should be portrayed. However conscious of it we are, a lot of what we shoot is based on what we’ve shot or seen before. My visual experience of war boils down to movies, news reels and history books. If I didn’t think too hard, I might just automatically attempt to…

Until 15 December 2024. Burgh House, New End Square, London NW3 1LT Dorothy Bohm (1924-2023) had a gentle, understated photographic style but in her own quiet way was a pioneer of photography. Born in what was then eastern Prussia, she arrived in the UK as a refugee from Nazism at the age of 15. Drawn to photography as a teenager, she began by working as a studio portrait photographer before setting up her own business in 1946. However, she far preferred the spontaneity of working outside to the formal and controlled environment of a studio, and after her husband Louis established a successful business, she was able to pursue the work she wanted. She was happiest when photographing people in their everyday lives, as she said, ‘photographing what I saw’,…

The massive success of the Harry Potter movies catapulted their star, Daniel Radcliffe, to international fame at the age of 12. Most child actors struggle to establish themselves in adult roles and Radcliffe was in great danger of his career ending with the franchise. To avoid this fate, in February 2007 Radcliffe made the bold move of starring in the revival of Peter Shaffer’s controversial play Equus at London’s Gielgud Theatre. It was a particularly brave choice, because he was playing the character of a disturbed teenager who had a psycho-sexual obsession with mutilating horses and the role required him to appear naked on stage for a full ten minutes. At the time, he was just 17, so it was a high jeopardy move that could have been seen as…

explore.omsystem.com I have been having fun with frogs this week and wanted to test the focus stacking and push it to the limit. I began with the 150-400mm PRO lens to get a close-up of a pair of frogs and their eyes. The improved stacking algorithm, allied with the newly uprated IBIS (in-body image stabilisation), meant I could get a beautifully detailed result in-camera. Wanting to challenge the OM-1 Mark II even further I paired it with the incredible 12-100mm PRO lens. So I crawled nearer to the pool the animals were in, until the lens was only a couple of centimetres from another pair of obliging frogs. Again, IBIS was my friend and gave me a wonderfully rendered habitat shot where the frogs and the far buildings were both…

Tech Talk My dad would have been 100 this year, so for my annual camera project I’ve decided to use one of his favourite cameras each month. He lived to a ripe old age of 91, so had plenty of time to accumulate photographic bits and bobs. He had a particular soft spot for Zeiss Ikon, with the Contarex Bullseye being one of its more recognisable offerings. For much of the 20th century, Zeiss and Leitz were the giant rivals of German camera making, the former with the Contax range and the latter with Leica. The Contarex range was introduced in 1959 and was a true system SLR with a host of lenses and accessories. They were large, mechanically complex and expensive; and while capable of superb performance, the rise…