Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

AUTUMN IS AWESOME It’s perhaps the most photogenic season of them all. Learn how to capture it on camera, from landscapes to wildlife to portraits. See page 30 Choosing your favourite season is like being asked to choose your favourite child – it’s impossible, as they’re all brilliant in their own unique ways. However, autumn (or fall, to our American cousins) surely wins for offering the most colourful landscapes when the leaves turn all shades of orange, yellow and red. This issue, we explain how to capture all things autumnal with your Canon DSLR in our big 12-page essential guide. From colourful landscapes to reflections of vibrant trees in lakes, foraging wildlife to arty abstracts and outdoor portraits, you’ll learn how to take better photos of it all, starting on…

WIN! £125 0 TOTAL PRIZE VALUE Gitzo, a pioneer in some of the most revolutionary technologies for pro tripods, monopods and heads, is celebrating 100 years of outstanding innovation by launching an exclusive, limited-edition travel tripod: the 100 Year Anniversary Edition, worth £1250. And we’ve got one to give away this issue in this great competition! Like all Gitzo products, this Traveler Tripod continues to set industry standards for excellence. Not just a celebratory photography support, it’s the ultimate high-performance professional tripod, featuring a unique design and the very latest technology. This flagship Gitzo support will be available worldwide in a limited edition of only 1917 pieces, referencing Gitzo’s year of foundation, with the number of each piece uniquely laser-engraved on one leg (1/1917 to 1917/1917). The 100 Year Anniversary…

ALL CREATURES great and small become more bold at this time of year as they take advantage of natural resources and build up stores for the colder months to come. You’ll have noticed the bountiful hedgerow harvest from September onwards – think berries, rose hips, apples, hazelnuts and seeds – and many species take advantage of this feast to build up reserves of fat for migration or for hibernation. Some animals such as squirrels are easy to spot out foraging, but you’ll need to learn the habits and preferences of shyer species. You could set up a regular feeding station on your local patch with your target animals’ preferred food source. As an example, badgers thrive on peanuts, dried pet food, fruit and mealworms (a pet shop will stock these).…

THE AMAZING colours of autumn make it a great time to capture some vivid outdoor portraits. Head to your local woods in early autumn just as the leaves are starting to fall. Use a fast telephoto zoom lens at around 200mm as it enables you to shoot from a distance without crowding your subjects – and a wide aperture of around f/4 will help capture a shallower depth of field for a more dreamy portrait style. Shoot handheld for more freedom, but as it can be fairly dark inside woods, you may need to raise your ISO to 400 or 800 to achieve a shutter speed of around 1/200 sec. Any slower when shooting at 200mm will likely result in camera shake and blurry shots. If your shutter speed is…

THE MISSION Build a surreal scene with a mirror and Photoshop compositing techniques Time needed Three hours Skill level Advanced Kit needed DSLR • Wireless release • Tripod • Circular mirror • Bucket • Spade We photographers love a reflection, don’t we? Whether it’s a mirror-like lake, a perfect puddle or a fleeting moment caught in a window, reflections are ripe material for dynamic shots. In this project, we’re using them in an unusual way, by creating an endless landscape of mirror-like pools. And all we need is a single circular mirror. Of course, we also need to harness a few essential Photoshop compositing skills. But, as with the best composites, the real work takes place in-camera. We’ll take several shots of our scene and subject, making sure the conditions…

THE MISSION Use the Lastolite Strobo Kit with coloured gels Time needed 30 minutes Skill level Intermediate Kit needed Lastolite Strobo Kit • Flashgun Shooting with a beautiful model? Tick. But what happens when you’re looking for a good portrait location, and everywhere seems a bit dull? Using a couple of coloured gels and two flashguns, it’s possible to make an image in the plainest of environments. In this project we had a model booked, but little time to find an attractive surrounding. There was no grand architecture or natural elements to use as an interesting backdrop, and we’d come to a local studio with a fairly industrial background. Fortunately, our Speedlites and the Lastolite Strobo Kit (with some coloured gels) were ready to liven things up. This kit snaps…

THE MISSION To add text or image watermarks to photos Time needed 15 minutes Skill level Easy Kit needed Lightroom 5 or later Watermarks are a constant source of debate, but whether you love or loathe them, they certainly aren’t a new concept. Even before the digital age, photographers and publishers would use print stamps on the back of images to identify the source. Embossing seals were even used to raise a mark on the print. More recently, you might have seen commercial photographers using a watermark when sending clients proofs of their images. These are usually small enough so that the image can still be seen, but they disrupt it so that it can’t be easily printed. We live in a world where all our photos are displayed and…

On your marks Capturing triathlons all over Europe has proven to be a perfect retirement pursuit 01 FAST CORNER Female World Champions Sprint qualifier at Dorney Lake, UK Lens Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 Exposure 1/800 sec, f/4, ISO100 Having worked hard to give myself an early retirement, I knew I’d need something more than angling and walking to keep my brain occupied. Photography looked like a good idea. Taking pictures was something I’d always had an interest in but had often been a side attraction. Then my son ‘volunteered’ me to take the Team GB age-group squad picture at the European Sprint Triathlon Championships, in which he was taking part. Praying that I didn’t let any of the squad down, I agreed. There were more than 300 taking part in this…

Sure it’s the career for you? Then it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty of business Last issue we looked at shooting weddings as a guest or second shooter. We don’t recommend you rush into shooting alone: the photography is crucial to many couples and they’ll be very vocal if they’re not happy with your work. If you go into it without being ready, you could kill your reputation before you’ve really got started. Once you have built up a portfolio of images and got a good idea of what is involved in shooting weddings, you’ll be ready and keen to go it alone and set up a wedding photography business. Many photographers start out thinking that it will take a short time to get started, and that it…

Tamron has a history of pushing the envelope in superzoom lens design. For sheer zoom range, its 18-250mm, 18-270mm and 16-300mm were all world-beaters when launched, and this new 18-400mm lens follows suit. The unprecedented 400mm telephoto reach is equivalent to a stonking 640mm in full-frame terms, when the lens is on a 1.6x crop-sensor Canon like the EOS 800D or 80D. It’s delivered from a surprisingly compact and lightweight package (710g), but even so the new lens is about 30 per cent heavier than Tamron’s 16-300mm superzoom. While you get an extra 100mm of focal length at the long end, you lose 2mm at the short end. That might not sound like much, but the reduction in wide-angle potential is very noticeable, shrinking from 82 degrees to 75 degrees.…

Charity starts with Canon As a charity event photographer I shoot three or four events over a weekend, from Katharine House Hospice in Stafford and World War I and II events, to the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. As a Canon camera user I really needed a new camera that I knew how to use from the start. After reading an article on the Canon EOS 6D Mark II in your magazine, I decided to buy it. Great, until I found I couldn’t open the Raw files… Feeling frustrated, I tr and all charities will get their photos. So a big ‘thank you’ to you. Paul Milgate-Scarrott, Stafford We’re here to help, Paul. Glad you got your Raw software updated with Rod’s help – it’s a common problem when upgrading cameras, but…

APPRENTICE NAME: VANESSA LINDA CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D Mk III VANESSA is semi-retired and an active Canon shooter from Dorset, England, with a passion for photography – landscape and nature in particular. Vanessa tries to shoot fully manually, but sometimes goes back to auto when she needs to snap something quickly before the subject has moved! She was keen to thrive and learn more macro tuition tips from our pro. CANON PRO NAME: TIM HUNT CAMERA: CANON EOS 5DS R WITH a passion for documenting the natural world, Tim has won a number of awards, including the British Wildlife Photography Awards and GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year. With the aid of his field studio and trusty Canon, Tim’s latest ‘Meet Your Neighbours’ project is a diverse selection of…

AUTUMN is perhaps the most photogenic season of them all, with misty mornings, fiery sunsets and a spread of red and orange foliage. Because sunrise occurs later and sunset begins earlier than in the summer months, shooting during the golden hour is a less tiring endeavour – at daybreak and dusk, use this warm light to add tranquillity to autumn scenes. While the changing of the leaves is the defining character of autumn, don’t feel limited to photographing dense rural woodland. Urban parks also have their share of mature trees, and by visiting regularly you’ll be able to document the transition more subtly. The usual rules of landscape photography apply, and it’s generally best to capture sweeping vistas with a wide-angle lens and narrow aperture (f/16 or above) for good…

Starling roosts begin to form in November. Long before dusk is the best time to arrive Intricate spider webs outlined in dew become more visible on an early morning walk Eat up! Autumn animals will be busy collecting, burying or hunting food ahead of winter Many birds form flocks ready for migration. Visit the coast in the early morning for a good spot…

THE MISSION Use a CD to bounce flare into a portrait Time needed 10 minutes Skill level Easy Kit needed 50mm or longer lens • An old CD or DVD Flare can add a wonderful touch to portraits, creating ethereal moods in otherwise plain settings. It’s often best achieved by shooting directly towards the sun. Your scene is washed with low-contrast light that contains bright sections where the light is most intense. Sunrise or sunset is usually the easiest time to shoot a flared portrait, because the sun hangs low in the sky. But you don’t have to wait for bright sunsets to get flare in your images. By bouncing sunlight from the sky back into the lens, you can introduce cool flare effects at almost any time of day.…

THE MISSION Learn how to use Photoshop Blend Modes and Layer Masks to add fireworks to an image Time needed 10 minutes Skill level Easy Kit needed Photoshop Elements DOWNLOAD PROJECT FILES TO YOUR COMPUTER FROM: http://downloads.photoplusmag.com/pp132.zip It’s that time of year when the night sky is regularly lit up with amazing firework displays – whether it be on Guy Fawkes Day, Diwali or New Year’s Eve. As such, it’s a great opportunity to head out with your camera and capture the colourful displays. But if you need a quick fix or if you’d like to add fireworks to an old photo, there is another way to light up the night sky. Using simple Photoshop Elements layer skills, we can blend photos of fireworks with any scene we choose. This…

01 GIANTS #1 A perfect exposure and composition captures both the sky and under the sea to show a large humpback and her calf Lens Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM Exposure 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO200 JEM CRESSWELL has spent much of his life in and around water, and that’s still where he does most of his photography. The 32-year-old Australian has shot a wide range of underwater wildlife, as well as lifestyle, boating and even underwater portraits. His personal projects have ranged from underwater nudes to abstract sub-aqua studies of shapes and patterns in sea water. His biggest personal project to date is Giants, a series of stunning black and white images focusing on humpback whales during their annual migration from feeding grounds in the Antarctic to the warmer…

01 ST MICHAEL’S MOUNT, DUSK Shot after sunset during the blue hour Lens Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Exposure 104 secs, f/16, ISO100 I was glad that I had decided to wear my wellies: to retain a full reflection of the Mount in the water meant wading out My collection of images of St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall has grown over the years, with sunsets, sunrises, low tides and high tides. I have photographed the Mount many times throughout every season and from every vantage point. One view on my wishlist was to shoot the Mount with the Milky Way above. It sounded straightforward enough until I realised how many elements had to come into play to get ‘the shot’! The viewpoint was the easy part. The old causeway at…

EOS cameras have an extensive array of features, and this makes them suited to a wide range of photographic subjects and styles. However, most people are not making use of functions that could simplify their photography. Take focus, for example. Older EOS cameras had two options for the arrangement of focus points: you selected one point, or the camera automatically made the selection from a few points. Once photographers switched from full auto, they selected the single point, often the centre one. The entry-level EOS 800D has 45 points to choose from, and four different groupings for AF points. Advanced models have more. Many people would like to just point the camera and have EOS technology make great photos. But expectation and reality rarely match. Take the EOS 800D –…

01 Canon PIXMA printers Canon unveils a whopping six new printers £TBA, $TBA www.canon.co.uk THE PIXMA TR7550 and TR8550 are 4-in-1 home office workhorses with an improved 5-ink printing system. The TR8550 adds an SD memory card slot and an Ethernet port. The other four new models are 3-in-1 printers, including the affordable and practical PIXMA TS5150 with a FINE single ink cartridge design; the 5-ink TS6150 and the 6-ink TS8150; and the top of the range PIXMA TS9150 for high-quality photo prints. 02 CyberLink PhotoDirector 9 Ultra Fun, feature-packed photo editing £80, $100 www.cyberlink.com CYBERLINK’S PC and Mac photo editor is now more versatile and easier to use than ever. 360x180-degree VR panoramas take centre stage, with numerous new editing tools available for easy straightening and tripod removal. Moving…

THE CONTENDERS: STUDIO Elinchrom D-Lite RX 4/4 To Go £725/$820 Interfit Honey Badger 320Ws 2-Light Kit £600/$700 Lastolite Lumen8 400W Twin Kit £590/$780 Metz Mecastudio BL-400 SB-Kit II £500/$600 THE CONTENDERS: LOCATION Elinchrom ELB 400 Pro To Go Set £1420/$1500 Interfit S1 2-Light Backpack Kit £1300/$1500 Phottix Indra500 TTL with Battery Pack Kit £1150/$1300 With prices starting at little more than a top-end flashgun, twinhead studio lighting kits give you a lot of bang for your buck. They’re vastly more powerful than a flashgun, and typically come with a full range of accessories, including lighting stands, cables and carrying bags, plus either softboxes or brollies. The Elinchrom and Interfit Honey Badger kits on test even include wireless RF triggers. We’ve split our lighting kits into two groups – regular mains-powered…

01 THE RHO OPHIUCHI CLOUDS BY ARTEM MIRONOV Stars & Nebulae Winner & Overall Winner Taken over three nights at a farm in Namibia, near GamsbergMountain, this image depicts the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex, sometimes known as ‘Rho Oph’ for short, or the Ophiuchus Molecular Cloud, named after a bright star in the region. It is a dark emission and reflflection nebula, about 14 light years across and situated approximately 460 light years away from our planet, in the constellation of Ophiuchus (the ‘Serpent-Bearer’). It is one of the closest star-forming regions to the Solar System. Lens Sky-Watcher 200mm f/4 reflector telescope, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount Exposure 15 hours, f/4, ISO1600 02 ONE STELLAR DAY BY ANDRAS PAPP Stars & Nebulae Runner-Up Although we measure a day as 24 hours,…

WHAT COULD be better than featuring one autumn palette in your landscape? Including two, of course! Double the colour by featuring a reflection. In terms of composition, one approach is to position the horizontal waterline in the centre of the frame, so that the reflection has equal weight with the landscape. If you’re feeling adventurous, climb to a higher vantage point and shoot downwards to include more of the scene. Lakes surrounded by forests are the perfect spot for these shots. The best time to shoot is during the early morning, when the light is golden and wind levels are lower. Any breeze will disrupt the surface and spoil your reflection. STEP-BY-STEP Our top tips for capturing reflections as Mother Nature intended 01 POSITION THE CAMERA Set a tripod to…

WHILE IT’S lovely to shoot with a wide-angle lens to capture an expansive autumn scene, it’s also the perfect season to get out your macro lens and get some colourful close-ups. Focusing on specific leaves on trees, or getting down and dirty with fungus in the forest, both offer great photo ops. When using a macro lens (see opposite) bear in mind that depth of field is radically reduced. This means that rather than shooting wide open at f/2.8, you’ll need to shoot at f/8 or even f/16 to ensure the whole subject is captured sharply. As you’re so close, however, even with these apertures you’ll still get nicely blurred backgrounds. NEED INSPIRATION? Try out these seasonal subjects for size! FREELENSING FOR LEAFY ART Think outside the box by taking…

THE MISSION Learn how to shoot reflective surfaces Time needed 45 minutes Skill level Intermediate Kit needed Sunshine and blue skies! • Sunglasses • Reflective surface As the days get shorter, it’s an ideal time to make use of the later rising sun and earlier sunsets. These times of day are great for lots of different photos, but for this project,we’re looking at reflections. Many surfaces are reflective, from lakes and architecture to cars and sunglasses. We’re using the latter for this simple yet effective photo project, but you can apply the techniques you learn to any of the other subjects and scenes. First of all, knowing which direction the sunlight will fall on a chosen location at a specific time is key to this project, because we need to…

THE MISSION Use a Curves Adjustment layer to adjust the exposure and colour levels Time needed 20 minutes Skill level Intermediate Kit needed Photoshop CC From simple adjustments to creative effects, such as adding light leaks, learn how to use the Curves command to apply a variety of tonal edits. Why not follow the video tutorial on your disc (or online at the link above), too? You can start this edit in Camera Raw, or head straight to Photoshop. We’re applying our curves as adjustment layers in Photoshop, because this gives much more control over editing each effect. It also means you can quickly delete the layers if you don’t like the result. You’ll see that the line in the Curves adjustment panel starts as a diagonal, which can be…

I love both sweeping vista images and more intimate shots, but my overriding passion is for seascapes Professional photographers reveal the top six tools of the trade they couldn’t shoot without Being a landscape photographer, I’m forever checking the weather and tides. Even though it’s not my full-time job, photography is never far away from my mind. I love both sweeping vista images and the more intimate shots, but my overriding passion is for seascapes. That being said, living Nottinghamshire can sometimes make things difficult with its location not being right next to the sea. I never let this bother me though, because I think if you want something enough and want that image you’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen – well, you do if you’re as…

Can you suggest an upgrade to the 760D and kit lens that will give better low light focus and image quality? Mark Bowen, Shropshire BRIAN SAYS… To improve low light focus, you could upgrade the camera, lens or both. The EOS 77D has the better AF system from the EOS 80D and would be an improvement. A fast lens, such as the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM, EF 85mm f/1.8 USM or EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM, would also improve AF. All EOS AF systems work best with f/2.8 or faster lenses, so the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM is a wise choice for longer reach. Image quality depends on the sensor and DIGIC image processor. There’s a small increase in image quality in the EOS 77D over the EOS…

Lens Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Exposure 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO200 MARILYN BURFORD, CANADA, SAYS… There is a beautiful area of farmland in Nova Scotia, Canada, with low, rolling hills. One of these is called Vinegar Hill, and there is a lone oak tree out in the middle of a farmer’s field up on the top of it. It is much-loved and oft-photographed. I shot this from a road that comes down the next hill over, Nelson Hill. I liked the way the road and the tree provided what I thought was an interesting juxtaposition, each being roughly equally off-centre. The road and the garden beside it provide some foreground interest as well. I also felt that the clouds provided a nice backdrop. BRIAN SAYS… Whilst I see the…

Whether you’ve got an Apple iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, or an Android, Kindle or Nook tablet, you can download PhotoPlus back issues. You can read them on your laptop or desktop computer as well. To see the full range of devices go to http://bit.ly/ppdigi Limited back issues of our print editions are available at http://bit.ly/getphotoplus Back issues available on your tablet, phone, PC or in print LAST MONTH Issue 131 October 2017 10th anniversary issue! 10 best-ever Canon DSLR skills • Apprentice: Morag Peterson and the Scottish Lowlands • Interview: Adam Pretty • Super Test: wide-angle zooms • Full Test: Elinchrom ELB1200 To Go • Mini Test: flashgun kits • Canon update special • Canon School: shooting outdoors • My Kit: Premjith Narayanan • David Noton: on the road…