Innholdsfortegnelse for 5/27/25 i Amateur Photographer

If I had a pound for every time I said ‘there’s something for everyone in this issue,’ I’d be driving a better car, but it’s definitely the case this week. If you are looking for new creative approaches, for example, check out Zak van Biljon’s stunning infrared work, or our feature on a fascinating new book about visual literacy and the ‘language’ of photography. Then, we reveal how to restore old family photos and if you are in the market for new gear, we test the budget Apple iPhone 16e and the Panasonic TZ99 – further proof there’s lots of life left in superzoom/bridge cameras. This is also your last chance to get tickets for our Festival of Outdoor Photography in London, which starts on 30 May. Miss it and…

FFORDES Photographic, one of the UK’s longest-established independent retailers, celebrated its 65th anniversary this month, and is offering readers the chance to win a £65 voucher to spend at the store (online or in person). The retailer was originally set up in Basildon, Essex, by Reg Byford – Reg was a keen amateur photographer and started Ffordes after an accident at his family’s building firm necessitated a change of career. His son, Stephen, took over in 1995 and decided to relocate Ffordes to Beuly, near Inverness, after falling in love with the area. Since then, it’s gone from strength to strength as a specialist retailer for new and used camera equipment and accessories. ‘We couldn’t celebrate our 60th anniversary because of Covid so it’s great to mark this milestone,’ said…

THE PHOTO London x Nikon Emerging Photographer Award has been awarded to two artists, Silvana Trevale and Gabriel Pinto, for the first time in its history. Trevale is a Venezuelan photographer whose work merges portraiture, documentary and fashion photography; while Pinto is an Afro-Venezuelan artist whose work dives into the depths of the identity and cultural roots of his land. Both win a Nikon Z camera and a choice of two Z lenses, with specialist training from the Nikon School.…

£50, Thames and Hudson, hardcover, 304 pages, ISBN: 9780500026618 Published in partnership with Autograph, the foundation which uses photography and film to explore issues around race, representation, human rights and social justice, this is a fascinating and important new book. The result of ten years of research, supported and championed by Autograph, this is the most comprehensive collection of 19th-century photography depicting Black subjects in the Victorian era, including some of the earliest-known photographs of Black people taken in Britain. In the book, we see superbly reproduced plate negatives, cartes de visite and cabinet cards and more, which have been uncovered after thorough investigation through public and private archives, including the Getty Images’ Hulton Archive, which includes the London Stereoscopic Company collection which has remained unseen for decades. Other images…

Is it okay to mess with nature? Purists will argue that a landscape photographer’s job is to creatively but authentically and honestly capture a natural scene that they actually saw with their eyes, whereas, unless the Swiss mountains have become a lot more psychedelic than they used to be, Zak van Biljon has been taking liberties. The South Africa-born, Switzerland-based photographer’s new book, Modernising Nature, is filled with eye-catching landscape images taken using near-infrared photography (NIR), a process that was originally developed for military applications, such as detecting hidden camouflaged objects in battlefields. The process makes it possible to capture near-infrared light, wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation that fall between what we see as red and the longer wavelengths used for thermal imaging. Using NIR, van Biljon creates images that highlight…

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 your mouse and select from a wide range of frames, window mounts and glazing options. Each frame comes with a three-year guarantee and FREE P&P within the UK. Visit thispicture.co.uk Green Shield Bug, Master of Camouflage and Quiet Survival by Louise Scriver Canon EOS 90D, Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens, 1/250sec at f/5.6, ISO 100 ‘I captured this shield bug in my garden hedge on a spring afternoon. I’m passionate about macro photography, especially insects, and aim to photograph them…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH OM System Tough TG-7 ● £499 ● explore.omsystem.com This latest model in a long line of class-leading rugged cameras is waterproof to 15m, shockproof against a 2.1m drop, crushproof and freezeproof. The 25-100mm equivalent lens is paired with a 12MP sensor, with in-body stabilisation to combat shake. Viewing is via a 3in LCD. The TG-7 is also one of the few cameras of its type that can record raw files. Reviewed 2 Apr 2024 Ricoh GR III ● £949 ● ricohgr.eu/en-gb A favourite of street photographers, the GR III combines a 24MP APS-C sensor and a sharp 28mm equivalent f/2.8 lens in a slim, pocketable body. It offers sensitivities up to ISO 102,400 and 4fps shooting, while in-body image stabilisation helps keeps image sharp. Viewing is via…

RICHARD SIBLEY AP’s former deputy editor shows how to use Photoshop filters and AI software to restore old family photos GEOFF HARRIS Deputy Editor Geoff talks to US photographer Ted Forbes, about his book on developing your visual literacy AMY DAVIES Features Editor Amy tests the Lumix TZ99 travel compact, and the iPhone 16e. Do they deliver? GRAEME GREEN The top pro finds out why there’s more than meets the eye with our cover photo by Zak van Biljon JOSHUA WALLER Online Editor Joshua tests the Polaroid Flip, a zone-focus instant camera with all the mod cons ANDY WESTLAKE Technical Editor Andy recommends great cameras and accessories from our test archives, in Best Buys…

€98, Lecturis, hardcover, 208 pages, ISBN: 9789462265332 Based in Amsterdam, the photographer Darren Smith spent seven years travelling across three continents in an attempt to capture the captivating and fascinating portraits featured in this book. It’s a bold and beautiful celebration of radical self-expression across a range of settings, including festivals, spectacles and cultural gatherings. In the book, there are 122 portrait studies of a range of individuals, all showing off their unique personas. Removed from any background or context, both the photographer and viewer are given the freedom to concentrate on total self-expression of the subject. The name of the book is inspired by the mayfly, which typically has a brief – but brilliant – life. As such, the people in this book are not afraid to show off…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Minolta memories My first Minolta was the 7000 which I first saw when it was featured on Tomorrow’s World on BBC1, focusing and shooting in complete darkness. I eventually moved up to a Dynax 9 which I loved – especially the facility to change films mid-cassette by leaving the film leader sticking out of the cassette then, when it was reloaded, you told it to wind on to the next unexposed frame. I also subscribed to Photoworld, the Minolta user’s magazine. One edition mentioned that Minolta were developing a digital back for the Dynax 9. I wasn’t aware of any such device from any other camera brand so this could have been another ‘first’ for Minolta. This intrigued me so I held on to my Dynax…

‘Can I stay in your caravan, Paul? I need to get away for a few days.’ ‘Of course you can, John.’ It was the late John Blakemore, who worked with me on the trend-setting diploma course run by Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham and Derby Lonsdale College, and on our photography workshops in the Peak District for over 20 years. He would be the first to agree that he had a complex personal life that was fortunately alleviated by the practice of photography, of which he was a master. At this time (1978) his work was landscape based, so it seemed reasonable to assume that my home in rural Derbyshire was an obvious choice if he wanted to escape. He wrote later: ‘To be alone in the landscape was a release, a…

VOIGTLÄNDER has announced the Portrait Heliar 75mm F1.8 for Sony E-mount, its first full-frame lens with a unique spherical aberration control. Via a control ring and aperture adjustment, users can set the under-correction and overcorrection of spherical aberration to produce a wide variety of bokeh effects. Other features of this manual focus lens include 6 lens elements in 3 groups and an all-metal body. The Portrait Heliar 75mm F1.8 for Sony E-mount is available for pre-order for £899 at bit.ly/newvoigtlander…

TRACY Calder, an accomplished macro photographer, regular AP contributor and co-founder of the Close-Up Photographer of the Year competition, has set up a new podcast called We Need to Make Things. In the fortnightly podcast, Tracy aims to address several key questions that many photographers and other creative people will have asked themselves at some point: Why do we make things? Where do ideas come from? How can we overcome creative blocks? What can we learn from criticism? How do we find our own voice? Tracy’s guests will include photographers, artists, writers, scientists, gallerists and other influential experts and she’ll be asking them to share their stories, tools and strategies for living your best creative life. Subscribe at www.tracycalder.com/podcast…

About once a year, I trawl through my archive of images, and without fail, I notice old photos that I seemingly forgot to edit or simply discarded as not worth the effort. What always amazes me is how raw processing, lens corrections, noise reduction and sharpening have evolved. Throw in new AI features, and the images that I shot on my Nikon D70 and D300 and discarded can be dragged back into something usable. Things that would have taken hours or simply been impossible in Photoshop years ago are now just a click away. But what would happen if I could apply these same techniques to even older images? This is the situation I found myself in when I last perused my archive, coming across some family photos that were…

Andy McDonald Took this picture of Loughborough Uni Library one dull Sunday whilst on a walk. Entered it for a club print competition and (selecting it as the winning image) the judge mentioned that he had worked at Loughborough University for years and had never once thought to take a picture of the library. This led me to my project on fine art black & white architecture featuring everyday buildings in the UK. I was awarded ARPS in Visual Arts for that project in November 2024. This picture was the central image of the panel as well as the inspiration for the whole project, a project that continues to this day. David Schmid @dschmidphoto Crazy night in Tokyo. I was out with a friend and we met up with some…