Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2021 i PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

APPRENTICE NAME: MANDIE LEE CAMERA: CANON EOS 1300D BASED IN Essex, Mandie has been into photographing landscapes and wildlife for the past eight years. She invested in a Canon EOS 1300D DSLR with kit lens as well as a 50mm f/1.8 about two years ago, but would like to know what settings she could use to take better landscapes. Mandie also wants to know what other bits of equipment she could purchase to make life easier and her pictures better too. CANON PRO NAME: CHRIS GRIMMER CAMERA: CANON EOS 70D & 7D IN 2015 Chris was shortlisted for the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year and was shortlisted twice for the UK Astrophotographer of the Year! It’s safe to say Chris knows a thing or two about capturing great shots of starry skies, and…

HOT SHOT #3 Lens Sigma 150mm f/2.8 APO Macro DG HSM Exposure 30 secs, f/2.8, ISO1600 (97 images stacked) ELEPHANT TRUNK NEBULA THE ELEPHANT Trunk Nebula is a part of a large nebula region in the Constellation of Cepheus. I used two bandwidth filters to capture light solely from hydrogen and oxygen. It had an exposure time of around four hours. ROSETTE NEBULA THIS IS a six hour exposure of the Rosette Nebula. It’s a large Emissions Nebula in the winter Constellation of Monoceros, which surrounds a central cluster of hot stars. These push the gas away leaving heavy dust behind. HALF MOON THE 50% illuminated moon, an object we all think we are familiar with and have spent our entire lives watching in the night sky. But the familiar…

Damian Waters is a Canon pro photographer who’s travelled to shoot landscapes in places like Canada, Norway, and the USA, however, he says that his true love is the British landscape and knows that even spending the rest of his career photographing it, he would only have scratched the surface. “Britain really does have it all, from wild and rugged coasts, to towering mountain vistas, capturing the variety with my Canon EOS 5D Mk IV requires patience, a number of different techniques, and a hint of luck too.” Here he shares some of his best tips and advice for getting the most out of your Canon EOS camera when capturing the British landscape. “I have over 25 years of photography experience and these tips will help people make the most…

Light painting is a wonderful way to make the ordinary look extraordinary, and you don’t necessarily need to travel far to create photos that look out of this world. In this project we’ll show you how to shoot eye-catching light-painted photos in your own garden after dark. You don’t need any special bits of kit, you probably have everything you need lying around the house. If it’s miserable weather, or if you don’t have a suitable garden, you could easily set this up indoors in a dark with a pot plant or any other interesting-looking objects you like. The technique for light painting is simple. We fix our camera to a tripod and set up a long exposure, then open the shutter and move a torch around the scene. During…

01 FLASHING FUNCTION If your torch has a flashing function it can give you a different light painting effect. The flashes will show up as a series of dashes and dots as you move the torch around the scene. You could take this further if you have two torches by creating separate, differently coloured, dashes. 02 SMOOTH MOTION The key to flowing light painted swirls is to use a smooth motion. So keep the torch moving throughout the exposure and make flowing movements with your arms. Some light painters like to tie a torch to a piece of string, or a long stick, and then wave it around for circular patterns. 03 SILHOUETTES OR DETAILS Remember that as well as creating the coloured patterns your torch is also lighting parts…

01 CANON EOS CAMERA A Canon EOS DSLR or mirrorless camera with a built-in intervalometer mode will definitely help here, but don’t worry if yours doesn’t have this as you can manually fire the shutter at your desired intervals instead. 02 LENS CHOICE A wide-angle lens, like 16-35mm on a full-frame, or 10-20mm on an APS-C body, will be a good option as the wide-angle will help you fit more of the sky and help you fit in more cloud for maximum impact. A kit lens will also work well in a pinch. 03 A STURDY TRIPOD Your various exposures will need to be perfectly aligned for the ‘stack’ technique to work best in Photoshop. Therefore a rock-solid tripod, like our Manfrotto 055 model, is a must to help cement…

Adramatic sky is one of the hallmarks of a great landscape image. However, it’s rarely the case that we get one, often arriving at a fantastic scene with either no clouds in sky or a totally overcast one. Both of these outcomes make for flat and drab looking landscape images, but fear not! We can use the cloud brushes, free with this issue, in Elements to paint a few picturesque and perfectly placed clouds around the sky to build it up and make the background look more eye-catching. We’ll be using Photoshop Elements for this, but they also work well in Photoshop CC and the step-by-step is mostly the same in both software. So download your free Cloud Brushes and the supplied free Landscape.jpg start image (see web link left),…

01 SMOOTH THE SKIN Open our portrait image in Photoshop and go to Filters>Neural Filters. Toggle on the Skin Smoothing Filter (if it’s your first time youxgx‘ll need to download it from the cloud). Experiment with the Blur and Smoothness sliders, then, once you’re happy, set Output>Duplicate Layer and hit OK. 02 CUT OUT THE SUBJECT Go to Select>Subject. Photoshop will analyse the image and make a selection for you. It’s nearly perfect here, but we need to add to it. Hit Q to enter Quick Mask mode, then grab the brush tool and paint with white to add to the selected area, or black to subtract from it. Once done, hit Q to exit Quick Mask. 03 DROP IN A BACKGROUND Click the Add Mask icon in the Layers…

Ihave dabbled in all sorts of photography from landscapes to astrophotography, and as a dentist, even clinical photos for my patients. I’ve found travel photography to be what I love most and I try to book a few trips abroad each year. Though I haven’t travelled recently for obvious reasons. I try to recreate the feeling I experience when capturing a moment; like the feeling you get after a relentless hike ina-30°C, spending hours in pitch black and then firing off a flurry of exposures when the sun rises. Moments like these are such an intense feeling of achievement and satisfaction that make it all worthwhile. I’d been to Iceland before in the winter, but was excited to visit it on this occasion in the summer – the prospect of…

WHEN YOU use AEB to bracket a shot in Aperture Priority, the camera will shift the shutter speed to make the bracketed shots brighter and darker. In order to make the brighter shot, the shutter speed will become slower, which may lead to a blurred result if you’re shooting handheld in low light or indoors. To get around this problem, consider using Auto ISO. The camera will then balance the ISO and the shutter speed to maintain a reasonably fast exposure time while still giving you a brighter shot. If the Auto ISO can’t select a high enough sensitivity, then there’s still a risk of blurred results caused by camera shake. Auto ISO can also be helpful when using AEB with Shutter Priority (Tv). If the camera can’t set a…

Carrying around extra lenses for your DSLR is no fun when they’re big, heavy and cumbersome. This offering from Canon is refreshingly small for a wide-angle zoom and tips the scales at less than half the weight of most directly competing lenses. Its 67mm filter thread is also a lot smaller than usual, so filters are quite inexpensive to buy. One weight-saving feature of the lens is that it has a plastic mounting plate, but it feels reasonably robust. Typical of many recent Canon lenses, it features an STM (Stepping Motor) AF system which is fast for stills, smooth for video capture and almost silent. Less than half the price of Canon’s old EF-S 10-22mm wide zoom for APS-C cameras, this lens adds the bonus of image stabilization. As usual…

It’s always nice to be able to quantify performance with numerical lab test data, but sometimes results don’t give a true reflection of ‘real-world’ shooting. By nature of their short focal lengths and very large field of view, wide-angle lenses need to be positioned very close to photographic test charts. A result of this is that lab scores for distortion can make lenses look worse than they really are for shooting at more typical distances. The Sigma 12-24mm and 14-24mm lenses in particular performed much better in normal shooting than in lab conditions, the latter producing virtually distortion-free images.…

Canon’s top-notch EF 16-35mm joins the latest EF 24-70mm and EF 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms, as the wide-angle lens in the ‘trinity’ collection. The max viewing angle is less than from the Sigma 14-24mm and Tamron 15-30mm full-frame lenses on test, equating to 108 degrees compared with 114 or 110 degrees. The Mk III is extensively redesigned compared with Canon’s previous edition. It gains a large and complex double-surface GMo (Glass Moulded) aspherical element at the front, adding to two UD (Ultra-low Dispersion) elements and a ground aspherical element at the rear. Upgraded, high-tech coatings include both SWC (SubWavelength Coating) and ASC (Air Sphere Coating) for greater resistance to ghosting and flare. The lens is physically quite long at 128mm, considering that it doesn’t have a built-in fixed hood, and the…

Colour fringing gives rise to coloured lines that can be noticeable around high-contrast edges in a scene, especially towards the corners of the frame. For example, in landscape images, colour fringing can be visible around dark branches and leaves of trees against a bright sky. You’ll often notice the same effect around the roofs and walls of buildings. This graph shows how the lenses compare, at short, medium and long zoom settings.…

With a max angle of view midway between that of the Canon 16-35mm and Sigma 14-24mm lenses on test, this Tamron combines a fast and constant f/2.8 aperture with the added bonus of optical stabilization. It scores highly for features, and also has up-market build quality and handling characteristics, complete with weather-seals and a fluorine coating on the front element. One drawback of the Tamron lens compared with the Canon 16-35mm lenses is that it’s heavier, at 1,100g. Even so, it’s a touch lighter than both of the Sigma full-frame lenses in the group. The zoom and focus rings work with smooth precision and, as usual, the ring-type ultrasonic AF system comes with a focus distance scale beneath a viewing panel. High-quality optics include a specially developed XGM (eXpanded Glass…

What to look for Canon EOS cameras Canon splits its EOS DSLR lineup into entry-level, enthusiast and pro ranges; the 4000D is the most basic, the 850D and 77D for intermediates, the 80D and full-frame 6D Mk II for more advanced enthusiasts, while the 7D, full-frame 5D and 1D lines have pro-level features. With more expensive models, expect greater handling, more robust build quality (weather-sealing and magnesium-alloy shells), more advanced features, and full-frame rather than APS-C image sensors. Over the page, we also have the full-frame EOS R mirrorless cameras, the EOS RP as an ‘entry-level’ and more affordable option, the EOS R and R5 for serious photographers. Plus not forgetting Canon’s smaller compact system (also mirrorless) APS-C EOS M camera range. DSLR CAMERAS PRICES QUOTED ARE BODY-ONLY UNLESS STATED…

Letter of the Month Thank you PhotoPlus for giving me the confidence to use my Canon EOS 90D and 70-300mm to shoot motorsports – when we’ve been allowed out! My husband is a devoted petrolhead and has dragged me to loads of races and track days over the years. A couple of years ago I decided to bring my camera and telephoto lens along to try and take some action shots. At first, my shots always appeared blurry in all the wrong places! After subscribing to PhotoPlus and studying all the advice, I’ve progressed to getting sharper shots of the cars. I’m particularly pleased with myself as I’ve been brave enough to take a few panning shots using a slower 1/60 sec shutter speed! Charlotte Bell, Wolverhampton It’s always a…

MANUAL MODE CHRIS SET up Mandie’s camera into Manual mode, shown as the M on the mode dial. This let her take total control of the exposure input – shutter speed, aperture and ISO values – when taking her photos. Chris opened the aperture as wide as possible, which was f/2.8 on his wide-angle lens, but f/3.5 on Mandie’s kit lens at 18mm. As Chris’s Samyang 14mm lens is fully manual (see page 12) he did this on the lens itself rather than the camera body, turning it to its f/2.8 setting. He also set the shutter speed to 15 secs – long enough for a good exposure of the night sky, but not too long so the stars look like streaky trails. Finally, he set the ISO on both…

01 OSPREY BY STEVE LAYCOCK Steve’s fantastic shot of an osprey flying towards us with its trout in tow takes the top spot this month. The image’s overall muted colour palette really helps the osprey’s vibrant yellow eyes to stand out, which he’s masterfully made sure are pin-sharp and the clear focal point. His rapid shutter speed of 1/1600 sec has frozen the bird in the air, making the water spray razor sharp, while the wide aperture of f/4 has blurred the background so all of our attention is directed towards this impressive bird of prey in action. Lens Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM Exposure 1/1600 sec, f/4, ISO1000 02 POWERED SIGHT BY CHRISTOPH SCHAARSCHMIDT Christoph captured the exact moment a fork of lightning hit the iconic sandstone…

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01 TRIPOD Our exposure will run to several seconds, perhaps even minutes. So we need to keep the camera still by using a tripod. If you don’t have a tripod to hand, then you can simply place your camera on any solid garden object, like a chair or a brick wall. 02 CAMERA SETTINGS When our camera is set to Bulb mode we need to set the aperture and ISO manually. We can set a narrow aperture of f/22, which restricts the flow of light into the camera. An ISO of 100 also allows for a long exposure and ensures a noise-free image. 03 PHONE OR SHUTTER RELEASE We need to trigger the camera and keep the shutter open. A cable or wireless release is fine, but even better if…

It’s hard to get the exposure spot-on when light painting, and you might find areas look too dark or blown out. To fix this, you may want to shoot in Raw, as Raws have greater dynamic range than JPEGs, which means you have greater headroom for recovering highlights or shadows. To do so, it’s worth getting to grips with the Adjustment Brush in Camera Raw/Lightroom. We simply paint over an area with the tool then tweak the tonal sliders to change it. Here it allows us to lift the darker areas and balance with the rest of the image. You might find with Raw files that the colours look slightly muted to begin with, so boost saturation and vibrance to make them stronger.…

This month we’re going to look at the historic printing process of cyanotypes – a great entry point into the world of printing, and a fun home project too. Cyanotypes date back to the Victorian era, when it was discovered by scientist and photography pioneer Sir John Herschel. It was adopted as a way to copy technical drawings – hence the term blueprint – but is perhaps most famous as botanist Anna Atkins’ medium of choice, creating the world’s first photo-illustrated book. Today, it’s a simple and cost-effective form of contact printing. And with the help of modern editing software, you can convert digital images to negatives fast. Cyanotypes are made using a UV-sensitive iron solution. We’re going to be using Fotospeed’s Cyanotype Process Kit, which has everything you need.…

01 LOAD UP YOUR CLOUD BRUSHES Open Landscape.jpg into Elements and go into the Expert Mode. Grab the Brush Tool from the Toolbox and click on the brush type in the Tool Options, click the settings icon and choose Load Brushes. Now open up the Cloud Brushes.abr file. 02 CREATE A NEW BLANK LAYER You’ll want to paint your clouds on a new layer so you’re not working on the original background layer. To do this go up to Layer>New>Layer. Then go to Window> Layers to see your Layers panel on the right side of the Elements interface. 03 START PAINTING CLOUDS IN With your cloud brushes now loaded into Elements you can scroll through them and pick one you like the look of. Hit D followed by X for…

For years this kind of composite could only be done using Photoshop, but these days Affinity Photo is just as effective at crafting fantastical scenes. In this project we’ll show you how to shrink the subject down to miniature size by cutting them out and perching them on an old camera. By utilizing Affinity Photo’s advanced selection and masking tools, it’s easier than it looks. What’s more, you can use the same technique to create all kinds of composites. We’ve provided start images for this project (link for downloads below), but why not shoot your own? If so, then a little planning will help to sell the effect. For example, it helps if the lighting is consistent across both images. So if the main light source is coming from the…

In 2018 I heard that Royal de Luxe, a crew of inventors and stuntmen that man giant puppets, would be visiting Liverpool for the third and final time. It’s estimated that 1.3 million people turned out to see the giant puppets roam the streets of Liverpool. I never truly wanted to go to big events like this because I suffer from psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, and ankylosing spondylitis, so moving around can be painful and leave me out of breath. However, a friend of mine was able to secure press passes and as this was the third and final time Royal de Luxe was visiting Liverpool it was a bit of a once in a lifetime opportunity that I just couldn’t turn down. It was difficult with my conditions, but sometimes you…

You can automatically bracket a picture taken with flash in a similar way to a regular exposure. You’ll need to be using a Speedlite that offers Flash Exposure Bracketing (FEB), which you can set either on the Speedlite itself, or via the External Flash Function Settings screen in the camera’s main menu. Once activated, the camera will take three exposures: one at the standard flash output, and two more that are up to three stops brighter and darker. You can also use the function in conjunction with Flash Exposure Compensation. FEB is not generally the best choice for shooting moving subjects though, as there can be a delay in the three-shot sequence when the Speedlite has to recycle between them. You will be unable to use FEB at the same…

PROFESSIONAL MACRO and product photographers often use a focus stacking technique to increase the depth of field and bring more of their subjects into focus. The process involves manually shifting the focus as you take a sequence of shots, then combining the sharp sections of each image in editing software. Some Canon EOS cameras, however, can automatically shift the focus for you. Focus Bracketing is available on a few EOS and PowerShot cameras, including the EOS RP, EOS 90D, EOS M6 Mark II and PowerShot G7 X Mark III. Once it’s been activated, all you need to do is focus on the nearest part of the subject then press the shutter release. You’re able to record up to 999 images using this function, and you can specify how much you…

What is the lock switch on the back of the Canon EOS 90D used for, and when would it be useful to me? Chris Waymouth, Beaconsfield BRIAN SAYS… Virtually all EOS cameras with a rear control dial have a lock switch, that’s designed to prevent an inadvertent change of exposure. The quick control dial on the rear sets exposure comp or the aperture value in Manual mode. If you are carrying the camera on the shoulder strap, or putting it in your bag while its switched on, you may unknowingly turn the dial. The lock prevents this, and you’ll see LOCK warning on the top LCD and viewfinder if you turn it while locked. However, if you are reviewing images or press the MENU button, the lock is ignored and…

The Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM is exactly what Canon’s RF ecosystem needed: an affordable nifty fifty. In fact, it needed more affordable lenses in general. Until this year, the RF system was dominated by prestige lenses and premium-grade, professional optics – but almost no everyday glass that non-professionals can actually afford. The new lens fills one of the few remaining glaring gaps in the EOS R lens lineup: a cheap, compact and capable standard lens to replace the venerable Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM. But don’t worry, though – this is far from a quick cut-and-shut of the old lens just with a new mount; the optical formula has been redesigned, the build quality has been markedly improved, and the result is a truly essential (and truly affordable) lens…

When launched back in 2008, Tamron’s original 10-24mm lens beat every other APS-C format competitor for outright zoom range. It’s successor arrived on the scene four years ago, with major enhancements throughout. The uprated optical line-up includes enhanced aspherical and LD (Low Dispersion) elements. There’s also a new HLD (High/Low torque-modulated Drive) autofocus system and VC (Vibration Compensation) stabilization, both of which were lacking in the original. The HLD AF is faster, quieter and more accurate. It also gives a big boost to handling, as the focus ring no longer rotates during autofocus. The Tamron is fitted with a set of weather-seals, including a rubber ring around its mounting plate, plus a fluorine coating on the front element to repel moisture and grease, as well as to aid easy cleaning.…

The Tokina ATX 11-16mm f/2.8 PRO DX was one of the first independently manufactured wide-angle zoom lenses for Canon APS-C format DSLRs, launched back in 2008 and given a minor update in the subsequent Mark II edition a few years later. A companion 11-20mm f/2.8 PRO DX was announced in 2015. Both lenses have recently been updated to ATX-i CF versions, the ‘i’ standing for ‘interactive’ and the ‘CF’ standing for Crop Factor. As such, they retain Tokina’s typical push-pull focus ring with a one-touch clutch mechanism for switching between AF and manual focus, and are again designed for APS-C DSLRs. The latest 11-16mm and 11-20mm lenses retail for around £419/$449 and £529/$529 respectively. They’re well built, deliver good all-round performance and are worth considering if you need a faster…

With a slightly more modest max viewing angle but a faster aperture rating than the Sigma 12-24mm Art lens, this one has a virtually identical size and weight. The lens is immaculately engineered and, unlike the Sigma 12-24mm Art, it gains a full set of weather-seals instead of just a sealed mount. Again, a fluorine coating is applied to repel muck and moisture. Typical of ultra-wide lenses, the built-in lens hood gives physical protection to the bulbous, protruding front element as well as helping to reduce ghosting and flare. Unusually, however, you can have this exchanged for a shorter, circular hood for minimizing shadows when using multiple cameras in video capture. Handling is excellent, with a smooth and precise feel to the zoom and focus rings, the latter enabling the…

Canon has made over 150 million lenses – nearly enough to wrap around the planet The 150 millionth Canon EF / RF lens has rolled off the production line! For more Canon news, see DigitalCameraWorld.com, more on this article via quick at link bit.ly/canon150 The best all-in-one printers for home working to suit everyone’s budgets Need a printer, copier and scanner for working at home? What you need is one of the best all-in-one printers! More great buyers guides our website DigitalCameraWorld.com via quick link bit.ly/home_printers The Photography Show gets set for Spring with its second virtual photo festival Hurry! Don’t miss The Photography Show & The Video Show’s Spring Shoots expo on 6-7 March. More info at DigitalCameraWorld.com via quick link for more bit.ly/tps_spring INSTAGRAM www.instagram.com/PhotoPlusCanonMag FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/PhotoPlusMag TWITTER…

1 Check the weather Use an app or website to check the weather in the area you’re planning to shoot in, and make sure it’s going to be a clear, cloud-free night. 2 Use a dark sky map There are ‘dark sky’ spots all over the UK with low levels of light pollution, so check these out and plan your shoot here for the clearest astro images. 3 Shoot during a new moon In this phase the moon reflects little to no sunlight – ideal for astro shots, as it will reduce light pollution and make the stars more visible. 4 Stock up on spare batteries Cold weather at night is sure to drain your camera batteries quicker than normal, so be sure to charge your batteries and take plenty…

New York, USA. 05:47pm. 8 January 2012 Lens Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Exposure 2 secs, f/8, ISO200 My obsession with architecture and cityscapes began many years ago, when I first realized an important fundamental… If I could sharpen my skills in a variety of different genres, alongside landscape, my potential to stay afloat as a professional would surely increase. Pure landscape can become so trite and I welcome the abandoned return to the spontaneity of city life. Let’s also remember that landscapes + portraits + architecture photography when taken abroad = an accomplished travel photographer. New York is one of the most interesting cities you will ever see. I deeply regret not going earlier in my life because, just like most cities in the UK, its heart has…

WHAT LENGTH EXPOSURE? When it comes to working out how long to keep your shutter open, it depends on the conditions. If there is dim light in the scene then this will eventually register in your exposure (conversely, if the scene is pitch black then you can keep your shutter open for hours). If you like you can use a stopwatch to time your exposure length, or simply count in your head. Timings needn’t be exact, as in a dim scene your torch will be the dominant source of light and there’s little difference in an exposure length of 30 or 60 seconds. Our times here typically ranged between 30 and 90 seconds. 01 PLAN YOUR COMPOSITION In any garden there are likely to be of spots for this technique.…

The beautiful light at sunrise and sunset makes it one of the most photogenic periods to shoot in. A single photograph can be impressive, but I’m going to show you how to take a whole series of images which capture the whole range of tones. From warm gold to brilliant pinks and blues in the blue hour, we’ll show you how to combine them in Photoshop to create an epic time-stack image. We’re essentially going to shoot a time-lapse sequence, firing the camera at regular intervals. Then we’ll merge them into a single image with Photoshop. This process is called a time-stack as we’re going to stack all of our different exposures together. You could also create a time-lapse movie with the images when you’re done too, or pick out…

01 CREATE A NEGATIVE Load your image into Photoshop and go to Image>Adjustments>Invert. Use the Burn tool to darken a few areas to help increase the detail a little bit. With negatives the darker areas will appear lighter. 02 COAT THE PAPER Set up in a dark room, free of UV light, and apply some sensitizer with a paintbrush over a sheet of Fabriano paper. Place this inside the Process Kit box to dry in the darkness. Repeat for the second coat. 03 A PLACE IN THE SUN Place your negative over the dried paper and expose to natural light in direct sunlight. We exposed for eight minutes and used a photo frame to help lock it down and stop it from lifting up. 04 ACIDIC SOLUTION Place 40g of…

If you’ve always found Photoshop to be a tricky program to master, then here’s some good news: it’s getting easier due to a raft of new tools powered by artificial intelligence. They employ machine learning to analyse image content and can carry out a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Tools like Select Subject, Sky Replacement and Skin Smoothing can be put to use in all kinds of projects. Here we’ll explore these three commands while crafting a moody composite portrait. Download our free start image moody _portrait_before.jpg from the web link below. We’ll begin by using Skin Smoothing, which is found amongst Photoshop’s new Neural Filter command. When subjects are lit strongly from the side like this the direction of the light tends to reveal the texture of…

01 SELECT THE SUBJECT Go to the portrait, then grab the Selection Brush from the toolbar on the left. Check ‘Snap to Edges’ in the options at the top, then paint over the person to select them. If the brush goes wrong at any point, hold Alt and paint to subtract from your initial selection. 02 IMPROVE THE SELECTION Click the Refine button at the top to improve the selection. Increase the Radius slider to expand the refinement so it covers all the stray hairs and edge details. If parts of the backdrop are included, click on background and paint over them to exclude them. 03 PLACE THE PERSON Once happy with the selection, set Output to Mask and hit Apply. Next, press Cmd/Ctrl+C to copy the cutout, go to…

WHEN MOLLY Darlington drives home from Stoke City on a wet Tuesday night she is living her dream. With a love for football going back to childhood and a passion for photography nurtured through school and university, she now works as a Canon professional football photographer for Reuters – and she’s still only in her early 20s. Dreams are rarely fulfilled in a lifetime, let alone for one so young, but this daughter of Cheshire has her feet planted firmly on the pitch and her eyes on the prize. By earning her place on the touchline alongside more seasoned pros in a male-dominated environment, some might say Molly is already at the top of her game. However, the truth is that she has barely begun, and there are plenty more…

TRUE GRIT The key to dark and gritty mono is contrast and plenty of it. Don’t be afraid to go too far with contrast settings and add it in multiple different places to achieve the results you want. Reduce noise reduction to enhance the grittiness, here luminance and chrominance noise reduction was reduced to zero, to create grit even though this shot was taken at only ISO1600. 01 MAKE IT MONO AND CHOOSE A FILTER Switch to edit image view, then choose the Monochrome Picture Style. Experiment with the filter effects in the advanced section of the tool panel. A green filter adds contrast and texture to skin tones as is needed for this shot. Sometimes with mono you’ll want to adjust the overall image brightness, depending on your source…

IT’S NOT just exposure that can be bracketed automatically, the white balance can be too. Like Auto Exposure Bracketing and Flash Exposure Bracketing, White Balance Bracketing can be accessed on the Quick Control Screen, as well as the main menu – look for WB Shift/Bkt. Unlike the other two, you only need to take one photo, which your camera will automatically process in three different ways before saving them. Rather than choosing three different presets such as Daylight, Shade and Cloudy, the White Balance Bracketing interface enables you to adjust the mix of blue, amber, green and magenta. You do this by moving the indicator around the grid, and then dialling in the amount of bracketing you want either side of this point. If your camera has a touchscreen, you…

There are other creative ways that you can bracket shots, albeit manually. For example, when shooting close-ups, I’ll often take a sequence of images at a range of different apertures, so that I have more choice when it comes to selecting a final shot later. It can be tricky to judge the nuances of depth of field when reviewing an image on the camera, so I’d rather hedge my bets and make sure I have options when I check them on a monitor. The choice of aperture can have a marked effect on the overall feel of the image. Although you can make details more discernible with a small aperture such as f/16 – a wide-open aperture like f/2.8 can produce a softer, more aesthetic look. I’d suggest getting a…

Whenever you select a creative shooting mode, P, Tv, Av, M or Fv, it’s important to set the right autofocus settings for the subject you want to capture. The most important decision is the AF mode, in reality this is a choice between One Shot AF for static subjects and AI Servo AF / Servo AF for moving subjects. For cameras with AI Focus you’re advised to avoid it, as you can’t tell if the camera has decided the subject is moving or still. Touch screen LCDs can be handy to move the AF point, but if you are using the viewfinder then it’s often easier to use the dedicated controls and buttons on your camera whilst you look through the viewfinder. Default camera settings for mid-range and advanced models…

This 10-20mm zoom predates Sigma’s ‘Global Vision’ line-up of Art, Contemporary and Sports lenses. It’s nevertheless a revamp of the company’s original 10-20mm lens for APS-C cameras. One of the biggest upgrades is the swap from a variable to a ‘constant’ aperture rating and, as such, its widest available aperture of f/3.5 remains available across the entire zoom range. There are no top-grade FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements in the optical path, but there are nevertheless two ELD (Extraordinary Low Dispersion) and an SLD (Special Low Dispersion) element in the mix. Build quality feels stronger than in the Canon 10-18mm lens but there are no weather-seals. This Sigma has a separate petal-shaped hood (supplied with the lens). As such, there’s a filter attachment thread that enables the easy use of…

This Canon lens has a lot going for it, especially in relation to the range-topping EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM, also on test. The f/4 lens has the same zoom range but is more compact and lightweight, has a smaller 77mm filter thread, and gains a highly effective 4-stop image stabilizer. For many, that combo of advantages will outweigh the extra f-stop in aperture rating of the f/2.8 lens, especially at this price point. Like most L-series lenses, it’s built to a pro-grade standard. As such, it’s robust and weather-sealed, with ace handling. Optical highlights include two UD (Ultra-low Dispersion) elements and Super Spectra coating. Fluorine coatings are also applied to the front and rear elements. For max viewing angles on full-frame cameras, the Canon lenses are the least impressive…

Sigma’s 12-24mm Mk II lens gained an excellent reputation for maintaining good image quality and handling with an incredibly wide max viewing angle. The newer ‘Art’ edition from the company’s Global Vision line-up retains the same zoom range but adds a host of improvements. A standout upgrade in the new lens is that it has a constant aperture rating, generally preferred by enthusiasts and pros. The revamped optical path incorporates an extra-large diameter aspherical element and five premium FLD (Fluorite-grade Low Dispersion) elements. Fluorine coatings are applied to the front and rear elements, and the mounting plate is weather-sealed. The makeover also includes an uprated autofocus system. It’s still an ultrasonic ring-type arrangement but with increased torque. Furthermore, the new lens is compatible with Sigma’s optional USB Dock for applying…

For wide-angle shooting on APS-C format cameras, the latest edition of the Tamron 10-24mm is the best buy. It has a robust, weather-sealed construction, and combines high-tech AF and image stabilization systems with high-grade optics to deliver excellent handling and all-round performance. For a top-value buy, the stabilized Canon 10-18mm is a compact, lightweight lens that punches above its weight. In the full-frame camp, the Sigma 14-24mm Art lens is our all-round favourite. It delivers stellar contrast and sharpness, even at its generously wide f/2.8 maximum aperture, produces virtually no distortion, and is a spectacular performer in all respects.…