Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2017 i PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

Use a tripod THERE ARE times on safari when you can step out of the truck and get set up for a landscape. Here a tripod is essential, especially at the start or end of the day when the light is low. It means you can use slower shutter speeds, which allows for narrow apertures – and thereby greater depth of ?eld – and also means you can use a low ISO for the best image quality. Photograph the stars THE LACK of arti?cial light means you’ll often get a great view of the Milky Way at night in Africa. Use a tripod and set a shutter speed of 30 secs (any slower causes the stars to blur). Use a wide aperture and high ISO. If any areas blow out,…

New projects with video guides Follow our Canon DSLR walkthrough guides and Photoshop editing videos lauren.scott@futurenet.com Welcome... OH, we do like to be beside the seaside! Summer is in full swing, and this issue we’re encouraging you to hit the beach with your Canon. It’s the quintessential sunny destination, and first up is a wave project idea that’s guaranteed to get you (but not your camera) wet. We’ll also show you how to capture pier scenes with a shallow depth of field. Trying out a new lens is always fun – get the kids involved and photograph them with a tilt-shift lens. Or, if you’d rather work with static subjects, take some macro shots with your very own DIY light table. Heading indoors, we have three editing tutorials for you.…

THE MISSION Photograph leaves on a DIY light table Time needed 30 minutes Skill level Intermediate Kit needed Tripod • Close-up filter or macro lens • Cereal box • Greaseproof paper • Tape • Fairy lights L ight boxes are designed to illuminate a subject from behind and are used for a variety of purposes in arts, crafts and design projects. They are also a great tool for photographers to have in their arsenal when shooting macro close-ups. When used with translucent subjects such as leaves, backlighting brings out textures and details that would normally go unnoticed. The results can be striking. In this project, we’ll show you how to illuminate a leaf from behind using your very own homemade light box. You can buy light tables from most craft shops,…

THE MISSION Learn how to create this text-based special effect with simple layer skills Time needed 30 minutes Skill level Intermediate Kit needed Photoshop CC DOWNLOAD PROJECT FILES TO YOUR COMPUTER FROM: http:// downloads.photoplusmag.com/pp129.zip M aster a few simple skills and you can create all kinds of amazing creative effects in Photoshop. Here we’ve combined three such features – layer styles, clipping masks and layer groups – to give us the ethereal text-covered portrait you see above. Layer styles are one of the jewels in Photoshop’s crown. They work by adding an effect to a layer, either across the entire surface of it, or more commonly around the edges. We’ve used the Drop Shadow layer style here. Beloved by designers for the way they help text stand out against a background,…

W e measure the maximum operating height of each tripod and its folded length for carrying. We also measure the combined weight of each set of tripod legs and head, using electronic scales, and measure the diameter of all leg sections, from the widest to the thinnest, using digital callipers. We check the ease of use, smoothness and precision of all available adjustments in each set of tripod legs and heads. This ranges from adjusting leg sections and pivot facilities (where available), to the locking mechanism of the ball head, as well as independent pan and friction damping adjustments, where fitted. To check overall stability, we shoot with a range of DSLRs fitted with wide-angle, standard, telephoto and macro lenses. We look for good resistance to flexing and vibrations throughout…

The original aluminium and carbon ?bre versions of this tripod come in a timehonoured black ?nish. Manfrotto has now launched a range of grey, red, blue and green colour options for the aluminium edition, our review sample being the grey one. With a folded length of 41cm and a weight of 1.5kg, the Manfrotto is one of the smaller and lighter tripods on test. With a minimalist four leg sections, compared with some of the other small-scale tripods in the group, it only manages to reach a maximum operating height of 144cm – the shortest of any tripod on test. The maximum load rating is also lower than in almost all the other tripods and heads, at 4kg. Unlike most competitors, the Manfrotto uses clip rather than twist locks, of…

Compared with regular tripods, travel tripods usually have a larger number of extending sections in each leg to facilitate a smaller carrying size without sacrificing too much in operating height. With twist clamps, it’s easy to grab the whole lot for each leg in one handful, at least when the leg is retracted, and either lock or release all of the clamps with a single twisting motion. It can be a real time-saver compared with operating many clip-style clamps. The MeFOTO and Velbon tripods use a modified twist clamp mechanism. Here, you grasp the foot of each leg and simply twist. Progressive amounts of twisting in either direction releases or locks successive internal clamps that operate on each of the extending sections. The MeFOTO tripod also uses the same arrangement…

Unlike the Nest Traveller, the newer Novo tripod is only available in carbon ?bre, so there’s no cut-price aluminium edition. Most of the leg sections are a millimetre thinner in diameter, and the combined weight of the legs and head is 50g less, at 1.8kg. The folded length is 3cm longer, matching the Kenro at 48cm, but the Novo has the tallest maximum operating height of all the tripods in the entire group, at 174cm. The maximum load rating is beefy too, at 15kg for both the legs and ball head. Attractions also seen in some competitors include four sections for each leg, complete with twistaction clamps, three lockable leg angles, and one removable leg that can be used as a monopod. The tripod is supplied with interchangeable rubber feet…

A part from the Benro legs and ball head, which are sold separately, all of the tripods in this test group are supplied as complete kits, featuring legs and a ball head. Adding to the speed and ease of setup, a single locking screw is all that’s needed for adjustments to vertical tilt, horizontal panning and landscape/portrait orientation pivot. The flip side is that a ball head can be more fiddly to use if, for example, you want to keep everything locked off apart from making a panning adjustment. For this reason, all but the Manfrotto and Velbon ball heads on test feature a separate panning lock/release knob. The Benro, Kenro, Nest and Novo ball heads go one better, with the further addition of an adjustable friction damper. This enables…

Choosing lenses Key factors to watch out for THE MAIN factors to consider in a lens are its focal length, maximum aperture, and whether or not it’s full-frame compatible. We’ve categorized lenses by focal length range – from wide-angle to telephoto. The larger a lens’s maximum aperture, the ‘faster’ it’s considered to be – allowing you to control depth of field more, and offering better options in low light. Zooms are more flexible than primes, but tend not to have such fast maximum apertures. Full-frame lenses will also work with ‘crop-sensor’ EOS D-SLRs, but crop-sensor lenses aren’t compatible with full-frame cameras.…

Peter Travers Editor • 5D Mark III peter.travers@futurenet.com “I’m not keen on rules. So I was more than happy to break the traditional rules of depth of field for my scenic pier photo project this month.” Page 52 Lauren Scott Staff writer • 7D Mark II lauren.scott@futurenet.com “For my photo project this issue, I embraced a chilly surfin’ safari and learned to catch some waves with my EOS DSLR in a waterproof underwater bag…” Page 48 Rod Lawton Head of testing • 6D rod.lawton@futurenet.com “Much as I admire the impressive miniaturization that’s gone into the new 200D, it’s the new 6D Mk II that has really caught my eye. Well done Canon!” Page 104 Adam Waring Operations editor • 7D adam.waring@futurenet.com “It’s great knowing what makes you lot tick, so…

THE MISSION Shoot a portrait with a tilt-shift lens Time needed One hour Skill level Intermediate Kit needed Tilt-shift lens Tripod T ilt-shift lenses are usually thought of in terms of architectural and landscape photos, as the ability they give you to correct collapsing verticals comes in useful for photographing buildings, interiors or wide scenes. However, these specialist lenses can also have an equally interesting impact on other types of photography, such as portraiture. When we turn a tilt-shift lens on a person, we can use the tilt feature to change the angle of the plane of focus, either to intentionally blur parts of the frame, or to extend sharpness across the subject. A tilt-shift lens gives you two dials that let you change the angle of the lens in relation…

THE MISSION Use a Graduated Filter for essential landscape edits Time needed 15 minutes Skill level Easy Kit needed Lightroom 5 or later T he Graduated Filter is one of the most useful tools that Lightroom has on offer. It works by creating a graduated tonal blend between any two points in an image. The area behind your ?rst point is completely affected, and beyond your second point remains unaffected, with a blend in between. What makes it such a powerful tool is the fact that, just like the Radial Filter and Adjustment Brush tools, you have complete control both over the area it affects, and the type of tonal changes that you’d like to make in that area. You can click and drag a line in any direction to create…

One of the great things about photography is being able to share your view of the world. We go panoramic to capture the full majesty of the Lake District, then turn it up to 11 to fight low light while photographing rock gigs We want your photos and stories! For your chance to show off your images in PhotoPlus, send three to five high-resolution JPEGs, along with a brief synopsis – explain why you took the shots, the location, whether they’re part of an ongoing project or a one-off shoot, and anything else unusual or interesting. Also include Canon DSLR, lens and exposure details. Email photoplus@futurenet.com Online www.facebook.com/photoplusmag www.twitter.com/photoplusmag Post PhotoPlus: The Canon Mag Future, The Ambury Bath BA1 1UA, UK…

EXPERT Peter travers Canon expert Peter’s been a passionate photographer for well over 20 years. He’s worked on PhotoPlus since the very first issue, back in 2007, and has been the magazine’s editor for the past six years. Set up an online portfolio Having an online presence is essential for promoting your work – let’s explore the options Getting your images online is the best way to get your work noticed, gain new clients and even sell prints to customers that you could never reach in any other way. The Internet gives you the chance to showcase your work in a way that’s accessible to people around the world, not just on your doorstep, and even to be found by magazines and professional picture editors. Of course, the web can…

I T’S NO secret that lighting can make or break a photo, and this is especially true when it comes to macro work. Delicate close-up shots need careful illumination, preferably with shadows kept to a minimum, yet this is a tough ask for a regular ?ashgun. The problem is the distance between the ?ash head and your camera lens. For even, shadowless lighting, you need a system where ?ashes are ?red from either side of the lens, or from a ring completely encircling it. Dedicated macro ring ?ashes do exactly this. They usually consist of the control unit from a conventional ?ashgun, connected via a cable to a ring ?ash head that attaches to your lens’s ?lter thread via a screw-in adapter. But there are macrofriendly lighting alternatives to the…

THE CONTENDERS Benro GoPlus Travel FGP18A + B0 £220/$215 Kenro Karoo Ultimate Travel £230/$300 Manfrotto Befree £140/$180 MeFOTO RoadTrip Air £140/$175 Nest Traveller NT-6294CK £190/$300 Novo Explora T10 £250/$320 Vanguard VEO 235AB £120/$130 Velbon Ultrek UT-53D £150/$200 Whether you’re hopping on a bus to tour the city, or flying to the other side of the world, it can be a hard task to pare down your camera kit to sensible proportions. A prime candidate for getting left at home is that big, hefty tripod that’s just going to take up too much space and weigh you down. But what if you could buy a tripod that’s relatively small and lightweight, yet still offered stable support? Pretty much all popular makes of tripod now include ‘travel’ models in their lineups, which…

Like the competing Benro, the Kenro is available in both aluminium and carbon ?bre editions. However, there’s less of a price difference between the two, making the carbon model a more attractive buy. The Kenro carbon out?t has an identical weight to the Benro, and the same maximum load capacities of 10kg for the legs and 8kg for the head. Being made of lighter carbon ?bre, however, the diameters of the Kenro’s four leg sections are noticeably wider, ranging from 19mm to 28mm. A further similarity to the Benro is that you can pivot the centre column for use as a horizontal boom. It’s convenient for low-level shooting, as well as for ultra-wideangle photography and extreme close-ups. However, the Kenro’s pivot mechanism is more clunky and doesn’t enable you to…

Chunky and strong, the carbon ?bre edition of this Nest tripod boasts the biggest maximum load rating of any set of legs on test, at 20kg, and the ball head isn’t very far behind at 15kg. It’s remarkably inexpensive for such a well-made carbon kit, and the aluminium edition costs even less (see ‘Speci?cations’ below). While the girth of the carbon leg sections is among the widest of any tripod in the group, the Nest nevertheless undercuts the Benro and Kenro for weight by 100g, the complete kit tipping the scales at 1.85kg. The maximum operating height of 166cm is about the same, and the folded carrying length is pretty small at just 45cm. As in some of the other tripods, one leg is removable for use as a monopod.…

All of the tripods on test feature multiple locking leg angles, so you can splay the legs wider than their normal angle to the centre column. This gives greater stability when using the legs at the lower end of their operating height, as well as enabling even lower-level shooting. However, the minimum height is generally limited by the height of the centre column. Even if you splay the legs, you can only go so low before the bottom of the centre column hits the ground. Some tripods come complete with a short tube that you can fit in place of the centre column, although you might need to remove the head from the centre column and fit it to the tube instead. Another possibility, available in all but the Vanguard…

Folding down to just 30cm in length, the Velbon is only a couple of centimetres longer than the tiny MeFOTO on test, yet reaches a respectable maximum height of 158cm. This is thanks, in part, to having no less than six sections in each leg. As in the MeFOTO, there are no external clip or twist clamps. Instead, there’s the same internal mechanism that releases and locks each section with progressive twisting of the foot. In the Velbon, there’s also a separate twist-action lock for the uppermost section of each leg. Compared with the other tripods on test, a design difference sees the addition of a horizontally rotating clamp where the centre column meets the legs. By raising and twisting the clamp, the legs are locked in their operating position,…

Posing animals ANIMALS are most active at dawn and dusk, so make the most of these times. On occasion you’ll need to be quick enough to capture things at a moment’s notice, like a bird lifting off, a sprinting giraffe or, if you’re very lucky, a big cat chasing down prey. But more often things happen at a leisurely pace. Lions will lounge in the long grass, zebra will line up and elephants will amble by, giving you time to find the best angle and pose. Game drives MOST photography occurs from within vehicles, as it’s forbidden to get out. In eastern Africa – Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda – the vehicle is likely to be an open-sided Land Rover or minibus. In southern Africa – Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique,…

THE MISSION Capture shallow depth-of-field scenic shots Time needed 45 minutes Skill level Easy Kit needed Fast standard prime Traditional landscape and seaside shots are usually taken using a wide-angle focal length, such as 16mm (or 10mm on an APS-C sensor), and narrow aperture, such as f/16, so you can capture a large part of the vista, and ensure it’s sharp from the foreground to the horizon. In this project, however, we’re going to show you how creative your scenic shots can look if you do the opposite… We’ve come to Weston-super- Mare’s Grand Pier, in Somerset, as it offers a clear focal point with lots of sand for our foreground. We have timed our visit so that the tide is out – it’s easy to check tide times in…

THE MISSION Learn to fix rips, remove scratches and restore a broken old photo Time needed 30 minutes Skill level Intermediate Kit needed Photoshop Elements DOWNLOAD PROJECT FILES TO YOUR COMPUTER FROM: downloads.photoplusmag.com/pp129.zip R estoring an old photo is one of the most satisfying Photoshop jobs you can do. There’s something deeply rewarding about breathing new life into damaged ancient prints, so that they can be cherished for years to come. Whether you do it for your own family or as a favour to someone else, it leaves you with a glow as warm as the luscious sepia tones in these beloved old photos. It might look like a magical transformation, but restoring a print to its former glory is usually quite a simple Photoshop task, even when it comes to…

EXPERT Marcus Hawkins Photo expert Marcus has been passionate about photography for more than 25 years. A former editor of our sister publication Digital Camera, he has written about photography and cameras for a wide range of clients, including Canon and Jessops, and uses a Canon EOS 5D Mk III. Correcting your exposures Why your camera meter can get things wrong – and steps you can take to deal with it T rying to achieve a good exposure with a digital camera is world away from the occasional fingercrossing that came with shooting film. Being able to preview the results on your Canon’s rear LCD screen and check the brightness range with the histogram means that you know exactly what you’re getting straight out of the camera, and can make any…

EXPERT BRIAN WORLEY Canon Pro Brian is a freelance photographer and photo tutor, based in Oxfordshire. He has unrivalled EOS DSLR knowledge, after working for Canon for over 15 years, and is on hand to answer all your EOS and photographic queries www.p4pictures.com My kit lens doesn’t make things big enough for close-ups, what do I need? Dorothy Price, Wendover Brian says… The kit lens is okay for general photography, but as you’ve found it won’t magnify things very much as the lens can only focus on subjects as close as 25cm. To get the subjects to look larger you need to use extension tubes or a macro lens. Extension tubes are a good idea for a first step in close-up photography. They move the lens further from the camera…

Rod Lawton Head of testing rod.lawton@futurenet.com om Welcome... THE big news this month is the EOS 6D Mk II launch. For many of us, moving up to full-frame is the ultimate dream, and while the old 6D was good value, it’s pretty dated. We get our hands on a 6D Mk II preview sample – see page 104 for our early verdict! In our Super Test, we look at compact-butsturdy travel tripods, while in Mini Test we test the best macro ring flash options. HOW WE TEST Lens tests are carried out with Imatest suite, with specially designed charts and data analysis to test lens performance We test cameras in laboratory conditions using DxO Analyzer hardware and software to check dynamic range and image noise TESTS & AWARDS WHEN IT…

Unlike all the other tripods on test, the Benro isn’t sold as a complete kit, but as separate legs and ball head. When coupled with the ideal B0 ball head, the total weight is pretty much the same as that of the carbon ?bre Kenro, Nest and Novo tripods, despite the main construction materials being aluminium and magnesium alloy. The carbon ?bre version of the Benro legs is 600g lighter in weight, but costs about double, before adding the cost of the head. The metal edition is better value. spikes are supplied, along with a high-quality padded soft case. One leg can be unscrewed for use as a standalone monopod. Performance The diameters of the leg sections range from 15mm to 25mm and enable a ?rm and stable support, even…

A bright idea has been copied, to the extent that almost all recently launched travel tripods have a very similar method of folding away for stowage. This involves extending the centre column as far as it will go, then swinging the legs vertically upward until the feet encompass the head. It’s a bit more time consuming than setting up or folding away a regular tripod, but typically reduces the carrying length by about 20cm. All the tripods on test fold up in basically the same way, apart from the Vanguard VEO and the Velbon Ultrek. In the Vanguard, the centre column rotates through 180 degrees, instead of the legs swinging upwards, but the result is similar in that the feet end up surrounding the head. The Velbon uses a twisting…

Weighing barely more than a kilogram, the MeFOTO is the lightest tripod on test, and folds down the smallest, to a length of just 28cm. Nevertheless, it stretches a decent maximum operating height of 156cm, thanks to having ?ve sections in each leg, rather than the usual four, plus an extending centre column. Like the Velbon tripod, there are no external locking clamps in the leg section. Instead, you simply hold the foot of each leg and progressively twist it to release successive clamps for each section. To lock the sections, you twist again but in the opposite direction. Unlike in the Velbon, however, the centre column is made from four telescopic sections that extend and lock with the same twisting action. A bonus for taking self-portraits is that you…

Small and lightweight but well-engineered, the Vanguard weighs in at 1.5kg and measures just 38cm long when folded. However, despite having ?ve sections in each leg, rather than the usual four, it only reaches 147cm at full extension, taller only than the Manfread. It’s a shame that this rotating centre column does not include a horizontal boom mechanism. You can only use the centre column in vertically upward or downward orientation, the latter for ultra-low level shooting. At least it saves the need to remove the centre column, invert it, and re?t it. However, you need to retract the centre column upwards a little when inverted, so that it can be locked in place, which proved rather ?ddly in our review sample. Plus points include retractable spikes within the rubber…

Compared with the tripods in this group, the Gitzo Series 1 Traveler GK1545T- 82TQD is something of a ‘Rolls Royce’ product. It’s much pricier, at £650/$960, so what exactly do you get for the extra cash? The Gitzo is impeccably well made from premium-grade carbon fibre, and beautifully finished. It folds down pretty small, to 43cm and is quite lightweight at 1.45kg, despite rising to a maximum operating height of 165cm, and having a hefty load rating of 10kg. It’s elegantly simple yet highly effective. However, the Gitzo lags behind some of the tripods in our test group, in both specifications and features, and it’s no more rigid than some much less expensive travel tripods. It’s supplied with a basic bag instead of a padded soft case, and doesn’t have…

Kangaroo Island For many years, my wife and I had wished to visit Kangaroo Island – Australia’s third-largest island, off the southern coast. Finally, in May 2017, we had the opportunity, which gave me the chance to photograph the diverse scenery of this beautiful island. Upon arrival by ferry, we drove to Kingscote, and that evening at sunset, we walked to the Kingscote Pier and were well rewarded with an amazing palette of colours. I had my trusty Canon 5D Mk III and EF 24-105mm lens at the ready to capture the gorgeous ‘blue hour’. The following day we drove to the southwestern end of the island to visit the rugged land formations of the Flinders Chase National Park. Through misty rain, we negotiated a zig-zagging boardwalk down to Admirals…