Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2018 i PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

Being able to swap lenses to suit whatever subject or scene you’re photographing is one of the big benefits of using a Canon EOS DLSR. But knowing which lens is best, and how to use them effectively can baffle most beginners. Sometimes to the point of religiously sticking to their Canon 18-55mm kit lens, and never trying any new lenses! In our main photo skills guide this month, we’ll explain in layman’s terms all you need to know to get the best out of your lenses – from which angle of view suits different shots, and how your focal length and aperture affects depth of field. Turn to page 28 to start mastering your Canon lenses. Also in this issue, our Apprentice spends a day in a photo-studio with a…

CANON PRO NAME: EMMA FINCH CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D Mk III MANCHESTER-BASED professional Emma has had a passion for photography since she was a little girl. After becoming a mother she retrained from accountancy and received a double distinction BTEC in Photography; soon after she was exhibiting her work and having her images licensed. This gave her the confidence to launch her photography business, Belle Privé. Now she runs a studio and is the official photographer for Vintage Life Magazine. To learn more, visit www.belleprive.co.uk APPRENTICE NAME: RICHARD TILSTON CAMERA: CANON EOS 7D Mk II RICHARD, a 62-year-old civil servant from Wolverhampton, got a Brownie box camera when he was ten years old. After owning Kodak point-and-shoot film cameras and an SLR that he only used in auto, he went…

As much as it’s about skill, perseverance and downright nerve, skateboarding is also about creativity – which is something we photographers can relate to. Both pursuits rely on a combination of imagination and technique – just as a skater adopts the right line and strives for perfect execution, a photographer chooses the camera angle and considers the best way to capture the moment. Perhaps this is why the best skate photography has a visual poetry to it that most other action sports can’t match. Or maybe it’s simply because the motion of a talented skateboarder in full flow is so visually appealing. This is especially true when we combine several frames for a sequence photograph like this one. Photographers have always wrestled with the challenge of conveying a sense of…

Paying attention to the background of your style life shots can instantly transform them from boring to beautiful. The most successful lifestyle photographers and bloggers have got a style – they know how to arrange scenes and match colours to make the most enchanting scenes. They also use complementary textures and props behind their subjects to complete the mood of an image. To instantly transform small scenes, buying (and shooting with) a dedicated background is a good place to start if you want to follow suit. In this project, we’ll show you how stunning Photo Boards (www.photoboards.org) can be used to create and complete a mini still life set. Photo boards are small photography backdrops that have been designed to look like real textures in small scenes, where the background…

Lightroom’s Clarity slider can be seductive and troublesome. It works by adding contrast to the midtones, which has the effect of crisping up flat details and enhancing textures. As such, it’s easy to use and even easier to abuse… unless of course you want to create an intentionally rough, hyperreal treatment like this, in which case it performs miracles. We can use it here universally and selectively to achieve great textured effects. A treatment like this will often benefit from selective saturation tweaks. We’ve desaturated the overall image and then selectively strengthened the greens and reds in the train. Lightroom offers several excellent tools for this kind of colour control. We can target and adjust the saturation of eight colour ranges using the HSL panel’s on-image tool, then further enhance…

Tom Jenkins studied documentary photography under Magnum great David Hurn in Newport, South Wales. After graduating in 1989, he freelanced for the UK national press, before securing fulltime work with The Guardian and The Observer. Tom has covered five World Cups, four summer Olympics, four Rugby World Cups and more than 20 Wimbledon tennis championships. He is a Canon Ambassador and his awards include UK Sports Photographer of the Year (five times) and a first prize in the 2017 World Press Photo awards. In the Moment, a retrospective of his work, was published in 2012. www.theguardian.com/profile/tomjenkins Next issue: Multi-award winning nature and travel photographer Jasper Doest…

In the 1940s and 1950s there was little pop music to be heard on radio, and none on TV. So one of the only ways to hear the current hits was to pop your sixpence into a jukebox and select the tunes you wanted. A far cry from the instant music of today! Jukeboxes were placed in bars and cafes around the country in order to attract customers, and so they could pick the music available to play. They were designed with bright, colourful lights and chrome and made to impress. The dome-topped jukeboxes of the ’40s had bubble tubes to add to the effects, while the ’50s jukeboxes were heavily influenced by the chrome and curves of contemporary American cars of the day. Since my early years I have been…

Lens Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Exposure 1/800 sec, f/7.1, ISO400 Thingvellir, Iceland JACOB TURNER, NORTHAMPTON SAYS… I recently visited Iceland where I took the tourist standard Golden Circle tour from Reykjavík and stopped at Thingvellir, which is in the rift valley between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t the best, and the Icelandic saying, wait five minutes until different weather arrives, didn’t bring sunshine to the landscape. As a major tourist stop, there were lots of people present, and it was hard to get a clear shot. I used my Canon EOS 80D with the EF-S 18-135mm lens and processed my photos with Adobe Lightroom. BRIAN SAYS… I visited this location many years ago, so your photo brings back some memories. I think…

“This could be the EOS M camera where Canon has finally got the balance right” There are strong rumours that Canon will launch a full frame mirrorless camera range in the near future, but for now its mirrorless ambitions are confined to its APS-C format EOS M cameras. Canon’s EOS M cameras are tempting as a smaller alternative to a full size EOS DSLR, because the lack of a mirror mechanism means the cameras are smaller and lighter. Rather than having an optical viewfinder they offer a full-time ‘live view’ either on the rear screen or, in the M50 in an electronic viewfinder. The smaller design means these EOS M cameras have their own EOS-M lens range, featuring lightweight, affordable lenses rather than professional optics – though you can fit…

£520/$550 The mighty EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM has professional-grade build quality and a fast f/1.4 aperture rating. But it’s quite heavy when compared to the Canon pancake lenses. The 35mm f/2 IS USM is still great for street photography however. Its f/2 aperture should prove fast enough even under dull lighting, and this enables a fairly compact and lightweight build of 78x63mm and 335g. Manual focusing benefits from a more generously proportioned focus ring than in Canon’s pancake lenses. The ring-type ultrasonic autofocus system is quick and quiet. While the manual override and fully manual focusing can be applied at any time, thanks to a mechanical rather than electronic linkage. Impressively, the rotational travel of the focus ring is quite long, enabling precise adjustments despite the speed of the…

£430/$480 There are many Samyang lenses available in a Canon-mount but, apart from the most recent 14mm, all are purely manual-focus. That’s not necessarily a drawback for street photography, as manual-focus lenses tend to have a long rotational travel in their focus rings, and a fluid feel to their movement. The Samyang is typical in this respect, and features a focus scale with depth of field markings for apertures of f/2.8, f/5.6, f/11, f/16 and f/22. For enhanced focusing accuracy, the lens also features built-in electronics that activate the focus confirmation lamp in the viewfinder. Many Canon-fit Samyang lenses require you to set the aperture manually, using an aperture ring on the lens body. With no electronic linkage, the aperture can’t be displayed in the camera’s viewfinder or LCD, and…

TAKING CONTROL WHEN working in a studio environment, where you can control all the variables, shoot in Manual. Using lights means that you can stay at ISO100, because they are doing the work for you, so you don’t need to go any higher. Start at f/8 to get a nice sharp image, as obviously you don’t need to worry about creating background blur, with a shutter speed of 1/125 sec so you don’t get any camera shake. STAY SHARP RICHARD observed that his images weren’t as sharp as they might be, which is something he had experienced previously. Emma noticed he had a filter on his lens. “Lenses are valuable pieces of glass, then you’re placing a cheaper piece of glass or plastic on top and it’s degrading the lens…

01 AN ICE MOMENT BY PAUL NICKLEN Paul’s image placed second in ‘The Moment’ category: “That split-second occurrence that could happen in the blink of an eye and yet have a profound visual effect”. His shot of this proud Antarctic emperor penguin, returning after weeks fishing for its young, certainly achieves that. “Polar regions contain some of the harshest, yet most fragile, ecosystems on earth,” he says. 02 SPRING IN ALEPPO BY MOHAMED ALRAGHEB The Grand Prize Winner in ‘The Moment’, Mohamed Alrageb’s astonishing image captures the aftermath of a car bomb attack in Western Aleppo. A photojournalist, Canon camera still in hand, rushes an injured child away from the devastating scene. These are winning Canon images in the 2018 Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Makthoum International Photography Awards…

16mm CROP CAMERA A seemingly wide-angle focal length of 16mm on a crop-sensor Canon camera (eg 800D or 80D), shows that it isn’t that wide at all when the 1.6x crop factor turns it into 26mm. 200mm CROP CAMERA What you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts. A crop-sensor camera with a lens at 200mm gives you an effective focal length of 320mm for better reach. 16mm FULL FRAME Whereas a focal length of 16mm on a full-frame Canon camera (eg 5D Mk IV or 6D Mk II) without any crop factor to consider, captures a really wide angle of view at a true 16mm. 200mm FULL FRAME Conversely, 200mm remains 200mm on a full-frame Canon camera, thereby not giving you as much reach at the telephoto…

There’s something magical about black and white, especially when applying it to portraits. By removing colour we draw attention to expressions and form. As such, every photographer should know how to convert to their work into monochrome. There are numerous ways to remove colour in your photos, and some are better than others. The best conversion techniques, like the Convert to Black and White command in Photoshop Elements, give you control over colour during the conversion by enabling you to choose from a series of black-and-white presets. Why worry about colours when converting to black and white, though? Let’s talk about greys… Typically there will only be a few pixels in any monochrome image that are entirely black or white; the rest are varying shades of grey. By controlling colour…

UNSURPRISINGLY, there are plenty of copies of the morning’s paper in the foyer of The Guardian’s modern head office overlooking London’s Regent’s Canal. The national daily recently underwent a redesign, including a change of format to tabloid, the latest attempt by management to reduce print costs and stem the decline in copy sales. Flicking through the back pages I soon spot a closely cropped portrait of former Chelsea and England star Frank Lampard, with the picture credit I was looking for: Tom Jenkins. A few minutes later the photographer himself appears, a slight figure with a big smile. It’s taken three attempts to fix a date for this interview, such is the unpredictable nature of the sports photographer. But the past week has been a busy beginning with a Champions…

There’s something about a bridge over water. However, it doesn’t always have to be troubled… Living abroad for many years can have a profound effect on you; it gets in your blood, takes over your life and becomes almost impossible to shake off a sense of adventure. In this instance, part of my adventure is taking pictures of all the magnificent bridges I encounter on my travels. The small walkway in front of Seljalandsfoss, Iceland, with the stream it generates plus its rugged backdrop, is a great bridge opportunity for any photographer. The misty sprays it creates can be a challenge at times for your lens, so you need to be patient and bring plenty of cleaning fluids and microfibre cloths! Rain or shine, overcast or blue skies, London can…

Chris Giles Quirkly wedding photographer, Chris Giles, talks kit and lighting setups I exclusively shoot weddings and do so in a fusion style, because so many aspects and angles need covering. I’ll use almost every lens to do this. I’ll use a 70-200mm, a 35mm and 85mm for prep shots. For portraits, I’ll use a 35mm, 50mm and 85mm trinity. In the evening I might use a 85mm f/1.4L, a 16-35mm and a set of strobes are invaluable. Low light and night shots are my ‘thing’, so I’ll strobe up multiple flash heads that are lithium powered. This is ideal as a fast recharge on the dancefloor allows me to shoot at 7fps. I’ve been impressed with the power of the Godox AD200’s for sheer output. Similarly, I’ve become uber…

Street photography means different things to different people. We don’t like shoehorning photographic styles and genres into small boxes with constraining labels, but rules tend to apply. For example, street photography doesn’t have to be in a street, although it’ll typically be within urban an setting. It also tends to feature people, shot candidly as opposed than being posed. It might sound like street photography is merely taking snapshots as you wander around town, but it’s a demanding style of shooting that requires practice. The most poignant images are those that capture people at an optimum moment, set against their surroundings. You’ll need a keen eye for composition, immaculate timing, and an almost clairvoyant ability to see things unfolding before they happen. What makes an ideal street lens? For the…

£1650/$1650 This is a heavyweight lens in every way. It goes large in aperture rating at f/1.4; boasts top-grade, weather-sealed construction with a fluorine keep-clean coating on the front element; and features the best glass that Canon can make. Indeed, it was the first lens to feature BR (Blue spectrum Refractive) optics, based on an organic optical material that Canon engineers at molecular level for optimum performance. However, it’s also a physically big lens, and the heaviest in the group, at 80x106mm and 760g. Suffice to say this lens isn’t exactly stealthy for candid street shots. Typical of 35mm f/1.4 lenses, the wide aperture enables a reasonably small depth of field when shooting close-ups, despite the fairly short focal length. Whether or not that’s an advantage in street photography is…

£650/$900 Sigma’s 50mm and 85mm f/1.4 ‘Art’ lenses are notoriously big and heavy, both of which featured in last month’s super test of portrait lenses. At 77x94mm and 665g, the 35mm edition is more manageable yet retains the same, fast f/1.4 aperture rating. It’s still lighter than the Canon and Samyang 35mm f/1.4. On the other hand, the Sigma is still a lot chunkier than Canon’s 35mm f/2 lens, and nearly twice the weight. It also lacks the Canon’s prized image stabilization. Build quality and finish are immaculate, although the lens isn’t weather-sealed. Autofocus is fast and very quiet, while manual focusing is super-smooth and precise. There’s a generous amount of rotational travel and the focus ring itself is comfortably large. The focus distance scale is useful, with markings at…

£935/$1120 Along with the Samyang 35mm, this Zeiss is a manual-focus lens with no autofocus facility. It’s beautifully styled, immaculately engineered with a metal barrel, and feels very robust. Although it’s only slightly bigger than the competing Canon 35mm f/2 lens, it’s more than twice the weight at 702g. Like the Tamron lens and Canon’s up-market 35mm f/1.4, it features weather-seals that include a rubber gasket around the mounting plate. Zone focusing is made simple thanks to a long-travel, silkysmooth focus ring that comes complete with a distance scale and depth of field markings for f/4, f/8, f/16 and f/22. Even so, without microprism or splitscreen focusing aids in DSLRs, accurate manual focusing can be tricky. Again, like the Samyang, the Milvus has built-in electronics to light up the focus…

Are you getting the most from Canon DSLR lenses? What lens you pick to shoot a subject, and how you use it, has a big influence on the quality of your photos. Your lens’ focal length affects how much of the scene you can include, which will influence the viewpoint and composition. Furthermore, the apertures available on your lens – from f/1.4 to f/36 – will affect the depth of field, which will also determine the shutter speeds that you have available. The main reason for switching lenses is to choose a one that suits certain subjects or scenes. A wide-angle lens is the natural choice for landscapes as you want to include as much of the scene in your frame; while for sports and action you’ll want a telephoto…

✓ Get a great Vanguard bag Discreetly carry your camera and two spare lenses, plus laptop/tablet and drinks bottle ✓ Great savings Subscribe from only £60 and you’ll receive 13 issues a year, plus this great camera bag ✓ Free Video Disc Each issue, you’ll receive a Video Disc packed with fantastic photo projects SUBSCRIBE TODAY! FIND OUT MORE www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/php/havana36 OR CALL 0344 848 2852 and quote HAVANA36PHP TERMS AND CONDITIONS: This offer is only available for new UK subscribers. Gift is subject to availability. Please allow up to 60 days for the delivery of your gift. In the event of stocks being exhausted we reserve the right to replace with items of similar value. Prices and savings quoted are compared to buying full-priced print issues. You will receive 13…

Crashing waves, glistening rocks and endless horizons are irresistible for many photographers. As such, coastal shoots present plenty of opportunities for great photos, especially if you know how to blur the motion of water. To achieve this we need to extend our shutter speed, but there’s more than just technique at play here. Landscape photography can be enjoyed at a leisurely pace. In most cases the scene will not change from one moment to the next, so urgency isn’t necessary. When waves get involved, though, it can all change. One moment the waves will come crashing towards land in a spray of foam, the next they recede back to the sea. As you can see with the two images here, this opposing motion can result in dramatically different photos. Often…

This ‘broken backdrop’ effect is easier than it looks. And, if you’re new to blending and combining photos, it offers a gentle introduction to fundamental Photoshop features like layers, masks and selections. You could use the images we’ve supplied to practice the technique, but it’s much more fun to go out and shoot your own pictures. We need three shots for this effect; two of them are quite obvious, while the other is not as clear-cut. For the first shot, ask your subject to stand behind the fence (or any other surface with holes that you think might work), holding their hands up to grasp it, fingers splayed to cover more than one opening. For the next (not so obvious) shot, ask your subject to keep their hands and fingers…

Despite Tom’s perfect setup for the celebration shot, positioned by the coach and family, Murray turned away, his back to the photographer’s lens. “Typical,” he adds, “he’s gone right into the corner and is celebrating the wrong way. It was a lovely sunny day, but he’s in the shadow! I found out later that his grandparents were in that corner, but he didn’t know what he was doing.” Did he get it right when he won again in 2016? “He did. He got it completely right, he knew exactly what to do. I’d never ever thought I’d see it – a Brit winning Wimbledon, very special indeed.”…

Produce accurate colours Counteract colour casts and tints caused by different colour temperature light sources Occasionally a photograph might suffer from a blue colour cast, making the subject look cold. Alternatively the colours may be too warm, causing skin tones to look orange. These colour-related problems occur because different light sources produce different colour temperatures. To put it simply, daylight can add a blue colour cast, while indoor light can add a wash of orange. The colour temperature of daylight also changes due to the time of day and with varying weather conditions. When your camera is set to Auto White Balance (AWB), it looks for objects that should be white (or a neutral grey). If these areas have a cold colour cast, the camera warms them up to create…

£200/$180 Without reading the numbers printed on the barrel, it’s hard to tell the EF-S 24mm and EF 40mm pancake lenses apart. Both have the same physical dimensions and the 40mm lens’s weight gain of 5g goes unnoticed. Both have the same filter thread and optional ES-52 hood. Even the viewing angles are similar, at 57 degrees for the 24mm on an APS-C camera, and 59 degrees for the 40mm on a full-frame body. The gear-type autofocus system is the same as the one we described in the 24mm lens review. Again, manual focusing can only be applied when the camera is switched on, as the tiny focus ring is electronically, coupled. Conventional zone focusing or accurately setting the hyperfocal distance are impossible, due to the lack of a focus…

£600/$600 Tamron’s recently launched 35mm, 45mm and 85mm ‘super performance’ prime lenses all combine a fast f/1.8 aperture and highly effective optical stabilization, or as Tamron calls it, ‘Vibration Compensation’. This 35mm edition is definitely the best fit for street photography. It’s a little wider, but is shorter than the competing Sigma 35mm lens, and lighter at 480g. Build quality feels almost as good as in the Sigma lens, in terms of robustness, but the Tamron adds weather-seals. A big plus point for rainy-day street photography. The Tamron is two-thirds of an f/stop slower than competing f/1.4 lenses on test. However you might well feel the 4-stop stabilizer compensates for the narrower aperture rating, especially for handheld shooting in street photography. As with the Sigma lens, the Tamron is compatible…

Frustrated photographers I’ve been a subscriber since I bought my first Canon (a 550D) about five years ago. I’m now using the 70D and wondering if I should go to the 80D… Anyway, the reason for writing in is this: Many of your articles and interviews are very useful and informative. However, a lot of the exploits of the pros are well out of my, and I guess many other reader’s range. I would love to have the time for regular photo-focused trips; to be able to be in the right place at the right time; with the right light and weather conditions; and to do what all the tips and experts say we should, but sadly it isn’t possible. The pressures of work, lack of transport and also the…