Innholdsfortegnelse for March - May 2019 i Photo Review

At Photo Review we’ve never really been ones for explicitly themed issues. And yet, despite our indifference to such conventions, it is intriguing how often some sort of thematic resonance emerges between articles in an issue. It’s not unusual for such connections to become apparent once we’re well along in the production process – as they did on this occasion where there’s an interesting commonality between our two Inspiration photographers, Alex Ellinghausen and Tom Williams. Like all successful photographers, Alex and Tom are not afraid of hard work. As you’ll learn in Steve Packer’s story on page 4, even when he’s just covering the action at Parliament House, Alex Ellinghausen can cover half-marathon scale distances in a single day. No slouch in the dedication stakes himself, Tom Williams, in addition…

Why visit Surrounded by the dramatic Atlantic Ocean and sitting between Norway and Iceland, the Faroes are an archipelago consisting of 18 islands connected by a combination of bridges and tunnels. It's a great place for photography and visitors can expect to see small villages perched on top of soaring cliffs, houses with sod roofs, abundant bird life and lush fjords with towering waterfalls. The Faroes are an ideal place to witness Mother Nature’s utmost fury with dramatic ocean swells lashing everything standing in their way. Remarkable cloud formations fuelled by the stormy weather make excellent photographic subjects in their own right. When to go Because the Faroe Islands sit so far north, they provide dramatic contrasts in lighting across all four seasons. No matter what time of the year…

While brightness histograms can be useful for determining exposure levels, they're not much use if you want to identify anomalies in colour reproduction. RGB histograms will show you three separate histograms, one each for the R, G and B channels, often with an additional brightness histogram. Some cameras use only the green channel when producing the brightness histogram display. The justification is that green represents the mid-point in the visible spectrum so, if that channel is correctly exposed, the red and blue channels should fall into line. You can check whether that's the case with your camera by opening an image in Photoshop and using the Levels control to display the histogram. Compare the RGB graph to the green channel graph; if they match, the camera ignores the red and…

Our film noir challenge asked photographers to imagine they were stills shooters on the set of The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity or some other classic of the noir genre. We were looking for darkly mysterious pictures that might easily have come from some long-lost 1940s movie and, as you can see, our Challengers obliged. Robert Morgan’s photograph from the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin manages not only to look the part but to also not be disrespectful of its deeply sombre location. Royce Holliday gave us two similar yet individually distinctive studies of thoroughly noir-esque Parisian streetscapes. And Ingrid Makowski has created a very cinematic scene around strong shadows and an intriguingly ethereal figure. Susan Shanta, too, has composed one of her trademark little-world scenarios, appropriately spiced with noir visual references.…

When Fairfax Media's Alex Ellinghausen was named Canberra Press Gallery Journalist of the Year last September, it was the first time a photographer had won Australia's most prestigious award for political journalism. "Alex's work consistently captures the fine detail and drama of political events,” commented the judging panel, comprised of press gallery peers. “It often does as much – and often more – than any piece of writing to analyse, break news, highlight the atmosphere and expose the unvarnished truth of a story.” Ellinghausen, who was born and grew up in Singapore, and did three years of military service in the Singapore Army, moved to Australia in 2006 when he was 23. He was a photographer at the Bendigo Advertiser in Victoria for three years before taking up his current…

Looking Thru Puddle By Lex Rudd Nikon D7200; Nikkor DX 18-55mm lens @ 18mm; f/5.6 @ 1/100s; ISO 400 Taken in Rutledge Lane in Melbourne. I asked a lady to stand next to a puddle holding an umbrella. I focused on the reflection. The image has been inverted. Don’s response Hold the magazine upside down... what do you think? I think the Lex Rudd's puddle picture is stronger with the orientation he's selected. When viewed the "right" way up, it loses something because the feet on the pavement are anchored to the figure in line with visual expectation. The way Lex has it, the eye focuses on the intriguing composition in the reflection, framed by the abstract quality of the street surface. Sometimes the wrong way can be the right…

Walk then shoot This is an exercise in patience. It’s really very simple: next time you go out picture taking, leave your camera somewhere safe and then walk around looking for potential pictures. When you’ve noted three distinct possible compositions, retrace your steps and find three more. Now, pick up your camera and capture all six. Choose your favourite outbound and inbound images for your submission. Please review the rules and email your entries to photochallenge@photoreview.com.au. Deadline for entries is 28 May 2019, winner will be selected 14 June 2019 and the winning pictures will be published in our Sep-Nov 2019 edition. HERE ARE THE RULES To enter the challenge all you have to do is send us your best image (we'll consider up to three images per photographer). 1)…

The progress from original photographic concept to finished prints framed and hanging on an exhibition wall is rarely a linear one. ‘I just had this strange, niggling idea of doing a large format, pinhole photography project of shopping centre carparks,’ said Tom Williams about the improbable origin of his exhibition at the State Library of NSW entitled Family Album: Stories of NSW - The NSW Arts Minister’s Award for Visual Storytelling. ‘Let’s face it, it was a pretty eccentric thing,’ Tom said, adding, ‘But sometimes when I have an idea, I’ve just got to start doing it. It’ll either be sort of silly and won’t work out, or something interesting will happen and you can follow it along.’ Equipped with a 4x5-inch format pinhole camera, he started visiting various carparks…

Autofocusing systems in cameras have developed along two lines: contrast detection (CDAF) and phase difference detection (PDAF). Although they operate quite differently, in recent years many cameras have included both types in the quest for faster, more accurate autofocusing. This Insider will concentrate on how they work; not the actual mechanisms used to drive autofocusing. (Readers interested in the nuts and bolts of autofocusing systems can find an excellent article by Roger Cicala of Lens Rentals at www.bit.ly/pr79-autofocus.) Contrast detection CDAF systems are technologically simple, relatively cheap to implement, and more likely to focus accurately. They work by analysing the pixel array on the image sensor and scanning through possible focus points, looking for edges with the greatest difference in contrast (which defines sharp focus). Focusing speed depends on how…

This article follows on from last issue's feature on using the histogram display to ensure correct exposures. In this feature, we'll take a closer look at what histograms can reveal about the tones and colours in images and how they can be used to calibrate exposures so you end up with the correct balance of tones and image colours. First we'll look at tonal distribution and how it is reflected in the brightness histogram. As outlined in last issue, a histogram shows the density of pixels at each level in the 0 to 255 range for a JPEG file. (Raw files are not used for histogram data.) When a shot is correctly exposed, the histogram should fall within the 0 to 255 range. The displayed graph will show peaks in…

Most devices support the consumer-level 4K UHD format, which has the same 16:9 aspect ratio as most TV sets and a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. However, some cameras provide the option to shoot 'Cinema' 4K, which uses the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) resolution standard of 4096 x 2160 pixels. These models usually include professional functions like high (and/or variable) bit-rate recording, colour sub-sampling and video-orientated profiles. Check the camera's manual to see what's available and how these features can be used. With the maximum resolution for a 4K video frame being around eight megapixels, photographers who are mainly interested in shooting video have no need for cameras with significantly higher resolution. Both Panasonic and Sony recognise this in their video-orientated 'hybrid' cameras: the Panasonic GH5S and Sony α7S…

Simply submit up to three of your favourite images for your chance to win one of two stylish Fujifilm X-A5 with XC15-45mm lens RRP $899 each. (See more on the X-A5 at www.fujifilm.com.au) Send your images to imagereview@photoreview.com.au • jpeg, minimum 200mm on the longest side, at 300 DPI • your name and image title in the jpeg file name • camera/lens used and image description/comments IMAGE REVIEW 10 Fourth winner will be selected 3 June 2019. See terms and conditions at www.imagereview.com.au…