Innholdsfortegnelse for 8/27/24 i Amateur Photographer

There are around 8.1 billion people in the world today, and 7 billion smartphones. These devices, which didn’t exist at the turn of the century, have transformed and democratised the way people take pictures, making photography accessible to everybody. Their ubiquity has killed the point-and-shoot camera market, but on the other hand they are a ‘gateway drug’ to a photography addiction, inspiring many smartphone users to upgrade to ‘proper’ cameras. In skilled hands, good smartphones are capable of making great photos but they are not all equal and they have their own quirks and unique features that need to be learned to get the best from them. Almost everyone owns a smartphone, even pro photographers, and this issue is dedicated to helping you to choose the best ones, and then…

Veteran music photographer Jill Furmanovsky has received the ICON Award in the Abbey Road Music Photography Awards 2024 (MPA). Jill, who also received AP’s lifetime achievement award earlier this year, has a special connection with the world-famous studios, having shot Pink Floyd recording Wish You Were Here there in 1975, and Oasis laying down the tracks for Be Here Now in 1997. As a teenager and Beatles fan, she would hover outside Abbey Road in the hope of seeing the Fab Four. Fast forward to 2017, and she was named Abbey Road’s first Photographer in Residence; and joined the judging panel for the inaugural MPA In 2022. Rankin, who is on the judging panel for this year’s awards, praised Jill as ‘one of my favourite music photographers of all time..…

Vanguard has released the Vanguard Alta Pro 3VLT lightweight travel tripod. Weighing 1,190g and folding down to just 54cm, this aluminium tripod has a levelling base instead of a central column and is designed to be easy to pack away. It also features a VEO PV-12 Arca compatible video head with a 5kg load capacity. The Vanguard Alta Pro 3VLT is available now for £269.99. For more information, visit www.vanguardworld.co.uk…

Round Four Action Action is one of the trickier rounds in APOY to judge, perhaps because it has the potential to encompass so many different subjects. In many ways it’s almost an open round in terms of genre, where anything goes – within reason. Everything from sports to wildlife to street photography can make a great action shot, but imbuing the image with imagination and creativity is where the challenge lies. We want to see more than just great panning technique coupled with an ultra-fast shutter speed. As with every round in APOY, we want something memorable that fuses technical skill and originality – be that shooting from an unusual angle, a treatment of a subject that we may not have seen very often, or glorious light that lifts a…

If you wanted to show a recently landed alien how far we Earthlings had come with photography, you’d whip out your phone at some point. Camera purists may moan, but the most photographs are now taken on a smartphone, and it’s not hard to understand why. As well as ‘always with you’ convenience, it has never been easier to capture perfectly good pictures on handsets, thanks to clever, auto-fix algorithms, AI features that remove background distractions, and a host of other computational photography aids. There’s nothing wrong with all this, but as with conventional cameras, it’s useful to know how to shoot raw on your phone (assuming it allows this). When you shoot raw minimal processing is appplied, enabling you to fine-tune the image as you want, and it makes…

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…

AMY DAVIES Features Editor Amy’s expert guide to the best phones for every genre; best used phones; plus iPhone tips PETER DENCH The AP regular talks to some professional smartphone photographers and pioneers ZACH LEON Digital nomad Zach Leon and AP’s Geoff Harris reveal the benefits of shooting raw on your phone JESSICA MILLER Dep. Online Editor Jessica presents readers’ stunning shots in the Best of Smartphone Pic of the Week ISABELLA RUFFATTI Online Writer Isabella recalls going on a portrait studio shoot, using just smartphones AILSA MCWHINNIE Our APOY project manager unveiis the top ten images in the APOY Action round…

7 days A week in photography £20, Hoxton Mini Press, hardcover, 208 pages, ISBN: 9781914314483 Greenery and concrete. Not the most natural of bedfellows, you might assume. However, if the success of the @brutalistplants Instagram account – now turned into a book of the same name – is anything to go by, you’d be pretty wrong about that. Olivia Broome has curated this selection of intriguing juxtapositions. Photographers from across the globe are featured on the account, and they also find their way into this delightful little book, too. Depending on your outlook, you’ll either find the type of buildings featured here to be an eyesore, prime for the developer’s bulldozer, or you’ll find them strangely charming. Personally I veer between the two depending on the skyline context, time of…

Pretty much every flagship smartphone you can buy these days will deliver excellent results across a range of genres. But, it’s true to say that some phones particularly excel at certain things, so, if there’s one subject that you favour over everything else, it can be worth thinking about your options to capitalise on that. Across the next few pages, I’ll take a look at common genres and how the current flagships handle them, with some recommendations for each type. At the end, you’ll find my recommendations for the best all-rounder, so if you’re someone who is genre non-monogamous, then that’s where you should head. BEST FOR… LANDSCAPES Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ● 4x back sensors, 200MP, 50MP, 12MP, 10MP● 4x back lenses, 24mm f/1.7, 13mm f/2, 67mm f/2.4, 111mm…

Geoff Harris Geoff is the deputy editor of Amateur Photographer and a keen travel, documentary and street photographer, both for work and pleasure. He has been taking smartphone pictures for longer than he cares to remember but has only recently started shooting raw, for the extra latitude that it provides. Geoff is also an Android phone user – so when it comes to shooting raw, you shouldn’t feel left out if you don’t have an iPhone. Shooting raw is easier than you would think Shooting raw on my current Android phone, the Xiaomi 14, is actually very easy – indeed, ‘Pro’ is the first option you see on the camera app interface and just about every editing app or program can open the raw DNG files it generates. A live…

Adobe has announced a new beta version of its Frame.io collaboration platform which enables Fujifilm and Panasonic camera owners to send photos directly to Lightroom. ‘By introducing a direct connection with Lightroom through Frame.io, photographers can now instantly access their images, edit them, and deliver them,’ said Adobe. ‘There are no tethers required and no need to remove camera cards.’ Full details at bit.ly/frameiobeta…

7 days A week in photography AP picture of the week Frozen in Flight - Barn Owl at Dusk by David Robertshaw Nikon Z9, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S, 1/125sec at F6.3 ISO 1000 ‘As the light faded just before sunset, I adjusted my shutter speed to 1/125sec to capture the barn owl mid-flight. The result exceeded my expectations – its face is crisp and sharply focused, while the wings have a gorgeous motion blur, perfectly conveying the speed and grace of its flight.’ www.DavidRobertshawPhotography.co.uk Instagram: @yorkshireimages #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…

Top-line smartphone models from the big names can cost £1,000 or more – with some coming in at eye-watering prices. That can be a lot to bear, especially if you’ve already spent a load of money on your ‘real’ camera gear. What’s worse, smartphones have a much swifter release cycle than cameras. So that top-line model you splashed the cash on will usually only stay current for around 12 months. However, the flipside of that is that if you’re prepared to wait and pick up last year’s phone (or even older), then you can get a much better deal, without having to compromise too much on features. To save even more money, it pays to look at the second-hand market. You might be surprised by the bargains you can find.…

LAUNCHED 1959 PRICE AT LAUNCH £39 2s 3d (about £39.11) GUIDE PRICE NOW £20-30 This is a 35mm camera which, surprisingly for its year, was the first with programmed exposure automation. It operates mechanically and without the aid of electronics, controlled by a selenium cell meter above the lens and what was referred to as the camera’s ’Magic Lever’. Film speed is set between 10 and 200 ASA (what we now call ISO) on a dial in the top plate. Focus is adjusted by a ring around the lens engraved with three zone focus pictograms for close, middle distance and far distance. Look through the viewfinder and press the ‘Magic Lever’ with a left-hand finger. If a red signal appears in the viewfinder the light level is too low. If…

Akinola Boluwatife Tecno Camon 30 ‘Smartphone photography is more than just a hobby – it’s my way of sharing my perspective, telling stories, and connecting with others. I’m honored to be featured in the smartphone picture of the week and can’t wait to share more of my stunning images with the world. Her beauty, strength, and grace shine through in this stunning image. Her confident gaze is to inspire us to embrace our own unique beauty and power. A true celebration of black womanhood!’ Instagram: @akinolaboluwatife X: @I_am_tife James WardiPhone 13 Pro ‘This image was taken on my iPhone 13 Pro at Gellért Baths in Budapest on a trip there with my wife. It is a fabulous place to visit when in Budapest because of its Art Nouveau architecture…

When I tell people that I brought two mid-range phones with me to a studio portrait photoshoot, I almost feel like there should be a punchline there, somewhere. Except I really did bring two mid-range smartphones that I’ve recently reviewed to a photoshoot. They were the Motorola Edge 50 Pro and Honor 200 Pro, both of which have been released with extra goodies for portrait photographers in their respective Portrait modes. The Motorola Edge 50 Pro gives you the option to shoot in various focal lengths: 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm (equivalents). The Honor 200 Pro, meanwhile, uses AI and a series of filters developed with the French photo studio, Studio Harcourt (which are meant to replicate the professional studio photography look) that are part of its Harcourt Portrait mode.…

In this guide, I’ll take you through the best photo-editing apps to download now. There’s a wealth of choice out there, both in terms of paid-for apps and free options, and if you want to give your smartphone images a bit more of a high-grade look, this is the way to do it. With 15 years spent in the magazine industry working as an editor for various publications, and as a professional photographer and videographer specialising in landscape and automotive imagery, I use a range of smartphone apps to aid me on shoots and edit on the go. But as smartphone app stores are awash with photo-editing apps, I know it can be a real headache to find the ones that are actually worth downloading. Photography apps can be powerful…

Photo Critique The world is divided into photographers who plan their pictures down to the last detail and those who head out with nothing much in mind while hoping something worth pointing a camera at will happen. Where these two hemispheres meet is an equalising equator at which we all come home with pictures we hadn’t expected to take. Almost always something compelling comes up and, if we are ready, we take the chance to shoot it. Even on the most organised shoots things occur that weren’t in the plan. If we choose, these occurrences can divert our enterprise down a different, and frequently more attractive, route into the realm of surprise and chance. When you have nothing planned, of course, anything that happens is an unexpected bonus. Be ready…