Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2021 i PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

Over summer we’re treated to some beautiful light, which can make for all sorts of photographic opportunities, from longer days offering more time to take shots in glorious sunshine, to low sun casting super-long shadows and even changing the quality of light, so that it’s wonderfully soft and gentle around sunrise or sunset. To help you conquer this season, we’ve collaborated with four Canon pros, all leading in their own fields, that will reveal their top tips to make the most of summer sun. So whether you’re into landscapes, wildlife, sports and even travel photography, we’ve got you covered. You’ll learn how filters can be used to tame bright light in your images to create a balanced exposure; use accessories like mirrors and reflectors to bounce light back into shaded…

Wait for the perfect moment One of the biggest attributes that a travel photographer needs is the ability to be able to wait for the perfect moment before capturing a photo. Sometimes this might be just a few minutes for a person to walk into your frame to provide a point of interest. At other times you might have to wait for the light to change. You may even have to come back at another time. The key is to never settle for a photo, but instead, aim to capture the best possible photo that you can from any location. Get close to your subject Whether it’s environmental portraits or a head and shoulders shot that show more of a person’s surroundings, a well-rounded portfolio of a destination should include…

Otok Lokrum Island, Bosanka, Dubrovnik. 07:26am. July 2014 Lens Canon EF 70-300mm f/4L IS USM Exposure 1/100 sec, f/8, ISO100 It is the year 2014 and my wife and I are visiting Dubrovnik, to experience this much popular holiday destination. I am also exploring the potential of a photography tour, as this classic historical town is both photogenic and relaxing. Before Game of Thrones fever gripped it by the tourisms, this idyllic terracotta roofed getaway was sadly known for the 1991 Croatian War of Independence, getting caught in the crossfire and receiving worldwide condemnation. But standing, looking at the town through sunglasses, licking an ice cream, it's hard to imagine such moments of atrocity. We arrive in Split and take a trip south. Summer time along this beautiful coast is…

01 PROJECTOR Projectors like the Optima model I’ve used let you project images and videos onto any surface you like. When it comes to using them outdoors like this, the more powerful they are the stronger the reach will be. Of course, as well as being a great tool for creative photography, a projector can also showcase your finished images! 02 PROJECTED IMAGE Strong shapes, geometric patterns and contrasty photos tend to work best for this effect. Try projecting them onto different surfaces like trees, buildings and the ground. Look for scenes that have plenty of depth with foreground and background details, as this can make the projected image look more interesting. 03 LAPTOP You’ll need a laptop or phone to control the projected images. We had Photoshop running while…

WITH A light source as versatile as a projector, you have the freedom to try out all sorts of compositions. Shining the light at buildings and brickwork like this can add bold splashes of colour to the effect. You could also try making your projections interact with the surroundings by, for example, having the shapes and patterns lead towards the moon. Of course, on a smaller scale you can try projecting onto people – and this needn’t be done at night, all you need is a dark room. If you’re feeling artistic, you could even ‘live-paint’ your projection by using Photoshop or a similar painting app to paint colours and shapes in real time as they’re projected onto a scene.…

01 MAKE YOUR ADJUSTMENTS Open an image in Lightroom and navigate to the Develop module. The Basic panel will include sliders that will adjust aspects including your Temperature, Tint, Exposure, Contrast and Saturation. Set your sliders according to your preference. 02 EXPERIMENT WITH TONE CURVE The Tone Curve panel is a more sophisticated way to adjust the exposure of your image. You can either use the panel itself, or the sliders in the Region section underneath. Dragging the Shadows slider to the right to gives it a more muted look. 03 PLAY WITH COLOUR Navigate to the HSL/Color panel to adjust the colours in your image. Pick a colour and then use the Hue to shift colour, Saturation to adjust the intensity of the colours and the Luminance slider to…

When it comes to landscape photography, sometimes a single exposure simply isn’t enough. In high-contrast scenes the difference in brightness between land and sky can make it nearimpossible to capture fine detail in one frame, which could mean sacrificing shadow detail to preserve the highlights, or capturing shadow detail while blowing the sky. It’s often a problem encountered at sunset, as when shooting towards the brightest and most vibrant part of the sky and the land in front can appear almost black. Thankfully, by varying our exposure across a couple of frames (taken using a tripod to keep them in alignment) we can capture the optimum amount of detail and then blend our photographs afterwards. In this project we’ll show you how to blend your exposures in Affinity Photo for…

Professional photographers reveal their top six tools of the trade they couldn’t shoot without “My Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L Mark II is a stunning piece of glass and I take most of my portraits with it” My photography journey began a long time ago, when I was a childcare provider, back in 2004. I would photograph the kid’s daily adventures, so their parents could see what they’d been up to while they were at work. But it wasn’t until my own fourth child was born many years later that I learned how to use a camera properly. I took it upon myself to take full control of my settings and forced myself into Manual mode to get better pictures. The real game changer for me was prime lenses, as they…

Advanced Canon cameras, including the EOS R6, EOS 90D and EOS 7D Mark II have a standalone HDR Mode that can be enabled in the red Shooting menu. Selecting this option opens up a sub-menu that gives you control over the look of the HDR image, the exposure difference between each of the source images, and whether HDR shooting is cancelled after one shot, or continues to run until it’s disabled. When HDR Mode is activated, the camera doesn’t control other aspects of taking a picture in the same way as the Creative Filter and HDR Backlight Control options do. This means that you’ll need to choose your preferred Creative Zone shooting mode, such as Aperture Priority or Manual, and set everything up to get a standard exposure first. HDR Mode…

You don’t have to use a camera’s built-in HDR options. As long as you have three separate exposures of a subject, then you can combine them via the HDR Compositing Tool in Canon’s free Digital Photo Professional 4 software. They don’t even have to be Raws, as JPEGs can also be merged in this way (but you will get better results when you use Raw files). You’ll find the HDR Compositing Tool under ‘Tools’ in the top menu. Once you’ve selected the images, you need to decide if you want them to be aligned or not. You can lose a bit of the image area if you choose to have them aligned, but it can fix any slight shift in framing between the separate shots caused by the camera not…

AUTO SAVE RECIPES Recipes are part of each image you edit with DPP, and they are saved inside the Raw file, normally DPP prompts to save the file. Open the DPP preferences, and choose, add to file automatically so that when you close DPP you don’t have to click through the prompts for each file to be saved. 01 EDITING A PHOTO CREATES A RECIPE Creating the recipe is easy, you just edit your photo. Make all the changes you need with the tools in DPP. Change the white balance, lift the exposure, make sure shadows and highlights are well controlled, even apply a different crop. You’ve now created the recipe for that one image. The power comes from being able to apply that recipe to other photos. 02 APPLY…

There are already two ‘macro’ lenses in Canon’s RF line-up, in the diminutive shapes of the RF 35mm F1.8 Macro IS STM and the RF 85mm F2 Macro IS STM. They’re both excellent and refreshingly affordable lenses but, crucially for extreme close-ups, they only deliver 0.5x magnification at their closest focus distances. Most true macro primes give you a full 1.0x magnification, but the brand new RF 100mm goes above and beyond, with a whopping 1.4x magnification at its closest focus distance of 0.16m. Not just a one-trick pony for extreme close-ups, this lens is a true all-rounder, taking macro, portrait and video shooting in its stride. It’s actually the world’s first 1.4x macro lens that features autofocus, and it’s a particularly fast AF system as well, based on a…

Spectator sports are back on track, and with actual spectators in tow. It’s time to rediscover the joy of nailing the action and capturing definitive moments with your Canon camera, or maybe trying something completely new, if you’ve never been into sport photography before. Pretty much any Canon DSLR or mirrorless body will suffice but, when it comes to a suitable lens, it certainly pays to choose wisely. One thing that practically always holds true is that, unless you’re fortunate enough to have a media pass, you’ll be shooting sport from a spectators’ enclosure and probably won’t be able to get as close to the action as you might like. To really cover the distance and not miss a single moment, super-telephoto lenses are the order of the day. They’re…

There’s a wealth of super-tele zooms that you can fit to an EOS R-series camera via an EF-EOS R mount adapter but, as an RF lens, the 100-500mm is naturally a perfect fit. It adds an extra 100mm of telephoto reach, but the aperture rating at the long end is two-thirds of an f-stop slower, at f/7.1. But there’s nothing slow about its AF system, which is based on dual Nano USM motors. The optical path incorporates no fewer than six UD (Ultra-low Dispersion) elements and one Super UD element, while the image stabilizer is rated at an impressive five f-stops, the effectiveness of which is further boosted when used in conjunction with the in-body stabilizers of the latest EOS R cameras. Handling is enhanced by a similar torque adjustment…

The Sigma 60-600mm on test goes shorter than most but the typical focal length extremities offered by super-tele zooms tend to be 100mm, 150mm or 200mm at the short end, and either 400mm or 600mm at the long end. The Canon 200-400mm with its built-in extender works out to 560mm at the long end, which is pretty close to the 600mm mark. This sequence of shots shows the amount of pulling power that each major focal length gives you.…

Sigma and Tamron advertise that their super-tele zooms can be used with the latest tele-converters. The same goes for the two Canon RFs here. The advantage is outweighed by a narrowing of aperture in the Sigma and Tamron lenses towards the long end of the zoom range, to f/9 or f/13, using a 1.4x or 2x tele-converter. For DSLRs, the 1.6x crop factor of an APS-C like the EOS 7D Mark II gives no loss of aperture, and image quality will be better.…

From the Sports sector of Sigma’s Global Vision line-up, this lens aims for all-out performance, with no concessions to compactness or shedding a few grams. It’s bigger than Sigma’s 150-600mm Contemporary lens, and nearly a kilo heavier. Even so, it still packs away much smaller than the Canon 200-400mm lens with built-in extender. As you’d expect, the Sports lens incorporates all of the features from the lower-priced 150-600mm Contemporary model. You therefore get dual autofocus modes, dual stabilization modes, a two-position autofocus range limiter switch and two custom modes. With these, you can alter AF speed, the amount of the stabilization effect that’s visible in the viewfinder, and more besides. As well as being physically more imposing, the Sports lens has a more robust build. Its barrel and hood are…

Pro sports photographers often opt for prime super-telephoto lenses. They generally give better image quality and have faster aperture ratings, more ideal for freezing the action with rapid shutter speeds. But they tend to have a big, heavy build and can be expensive to buy. Top choices include the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM (£12,129/$11,999), the EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM (£9599/$8999), while there’s also EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM (£13,409/$12,999) and the EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM (£13,549/$12,999). Sigma offers a cut-price alternative with its 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM | Sports lens (£4699 /$5999). For EOS R-series bodies, there’s the new RF 400mm F2.8L IS USM (£12,499/$11,999) and RF 600mm F4L IS USM (£13,409/$12,999). COMPARISON TABLE…

What to look for Canon EOS mirrorless cameras When it comes to choosing mirrorless EOS cameras over DSLRs, there are pros and cons to consider. Canon’s full-frame EOS R cameras are packed with the very latest tech including IBIS, Animal AF and 20fps via the electronic shutter in both the EOS R5 and R6. Without the mirror, R bodies are smaller than their DSLR equivalents (but only a fraction lighter). Compared to Optical Viewfinders on DSLRs, using an R’s Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) is slower to focus due to lag and refresh rates, yet focusing via Live View with AF points all over the touchscreen is better. EOS R cameras can also use the next gen Canon RF lenses and their superior image quality (and superior size), but most R cameras…

Limited back issues of PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine print editions are available on our new MagazinesDirect.com secure store at www.magazinesdirect.com/photoplus-magazine-single-issue But if you’ve got an iPad, Android, Kindle or Nook tablet, or iPhone or Android smartphone, you can download PhotoPlus back issues from the following digital edition options: • Got an Apple iPad or iPhone? Get the free PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine app in the App Store or at bit.ly/photoplus_app then browse through our back issues or subscribe through the app. • Kindle Fire or Nook HD? Simply search for PhotoPlus on Amazon’s Newsstand or in B&N’s Nook store. • Windows or Mac? Use Zinio to read PhotoPlus on your laptop or desktop computer or via the app! Go to www.zinio.com and search for PhotoPlus where you can buy back…

STAY UP TO DATE More sessions to be announced soon – check out www.photographyshow.com BEHIND THE LENS 12:00-12:40 Answers to frequently asked food photography questions Donna Crous & Bea Lubas 13:00-13:40 From portrait to print Rory Lewis 14:00-14:40 Everyone can do fine-art photography Simon McCheung 15:00-15:40 How to witness the world around us Sarah G Ascough 16:00-16:40 Contextual wildlife photography Alan Hewitt THE STUDIO 12:00-12:40 Sounds better: Upping your audio game Rick Bronks 14:00-14:40 Go live now! Gavin Hoey 15:00-15:40 Professional audio for absolute beginners Tom Lewis SHUTTER STREET 10:30-11:00 The science of creativity Lisa Devlin 11:30-12:00 Street photography with an iPhone Jeff Ascough 12:30-13:00 The all-weather garden photographer Andrea Jones 13:30-14:00 10 killer tips for street photography Brian Lloyd Duckett 14:30-15:00 Street photography and monochrome in the modern age…

CANON PRO NAME: DAVID CLAPP CAMERA: CANON EOS RP ARCHITECTURAL, landscape and travel photographer David, 50, is based in South Devon, but spends much of his time travelling the world with his Canon cameras. Our PhotoPlus columnist and regular contributor also runs seminars for Canon and his own photography workshops. As such he was the perfect pro to show Linda how to capture great architectural and city photos in Bristol. For more of David’s work, and for info about his upcoming workshops, visit www.davidclapp.co.uk APPRENTICE NAME: LINDA MEATON CAMERA: CANON EOS 80D LINDA IS a recent PhotoPlus subscriber, and a 70-year-old retired computer-aided design and visualization lecturer, formerly from Bristol and now living in Portishead. She’s been an active amateur photographer since 2014 and with her designer background, she has…

Don’t be afraid to boost the ISO When the sunlight starts to dip it would be tempting to pack your camera away and call it a day, but some of Marc’s favourite images have been taken in low light. To avoid camera shake and achieve sharp images, he’ll happily boost the ISO on his Canon EOS-1D X Mark III to 6400 or even higher to freeze the frame. This makes the sensor more sensitive in lower light available after sunset and helps pick up the action under floodlights at football and rugby matches. It may add slightly more grain, but means sharper image. Alternatively, he’ll intentionally shoot at slower shutter speeds to capture creative blur (see tip below). Look for the bigger picture Sports photography isn’t all about zooming in…

Last month in part two of our landscape photography skills series, we covered aperture and the role it plays in depth of field as well as exposure. Another, equally important setting is your shutter speed, which determines how long the shutter is open and your camera’s digital sensor is exposed to light. Your shutter speed is an integral part of the exposure triangle, along with aperture, and ISO value which sets how sensitive your camera’s sensor is to light. We’ll cover all this, and how these values can be used to make images lighter or darker, in more detail later on in this series. A longer shutter speed will allow you to inject a sense of motion, and blur moving objects within the frame, although it will cause camera shake…

01 SET THE TIME Look at watch adverts in magazines or jewellery shops and you’ll likely find they’re set to 10 minutes past 10. This is considered to be the most attractive positioning for the hour and minute hands, because they’re symmetrical. 02 PICK YOUR PROPS Our Seiko SNK809 is based on classic military field and ‘flieger’ pilots’ watches. Its tool-like aesthetic works well with outdoorsy items, hence the rope and canvas rucksack. The latter’s burgundy colour complements the olive green strap. 03 SPIT AND POLISH You’ll probably have to remove bits of fluff or dust on your props, scratches on the watch casing or smudges on the crystal, but make your life easier by polishing your watch beforehand and using an air blower to blow away the majority of…

Photo essays from PhotoPlus readers and professional photographers alike Lens Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Exposure 1/2000 sec, f/11, ISO500 With snowcapped mountains, beautiful valleys with meandering rivers, Switzerland is a picturesque paradise for photographers of all skills levels. Nestled in the centre of Europe, Switzerland is the most mountainous country on this continent. Myself, and my sons Jathin Premjith and Nithin Premjith, thought of photographing the Alps in a region called the Bernese Oberland in a chartered flight, while also capturing the other prominent peaks. The best time for this is in summer on a clear sky with the sun shining down, helping you get a contrast between the rich green highlands and the snow capped mountain peaks. We had planned a trip to the volcanic country…

Fresh out of the camera, HDR images can look a little flat due to the way that highlights are tamed and shadows are opened up. To provide a more punchy result, Canon provides a selection of ‘Art effects’ that can be applied via a drop-down in the HDR Mode menu, or be choosing the corresponding Creative Filter. You’ll need to do this before you start taking the source images. The Art effects can also be applied when you use the HDR Compositing Tool in Canon’s Digital Photo Professional 4 software. At least in DPP you can preview the result before you commit. There are five options to choose from, and it’s fair to say that some are a little… garish. The Natural choice is as close as you’re likely to…

DID YOU know that you can view Raw or HEIF images in HDR on an HDR TV? The function is not enabled by default though, so you’ll need to activate it in the main menu. It’s the ‘HDMI HDR output’ option you’re looking for, which you’ll find either in the yellow Set-up menu or the blue Playback menu, depending on which camera you’re using. You’ll need to make sure that you’re using an HDR compatible input on the HDR TV, and the images may not look quite as you were expecting, compared to what you see on the back of the camera or in the EVF. Some info and image effects may also not be displayed correctly. If you’ve got a large, good-quality HDR screen though, it’s worth persevering… PART…

“How do you stop tall buildings from appearing to fall over when photographing them with a wide-angle lens?”Claire Jenkins, Oswestry BRIAN SAYS… Tall buildings appear to be falling over when shot with a wide-angle lens as the top of the building is further away from the camera than the bottom, so it appears smaller; an effect known as perspective distortion. You can avoid it by positioning the camera at the mid-point of the building, but invariably this is not possible. A solution that Canon pro architecture photographers use is a tilt-shift lens. Pictures are captured with the camera back vertical and then the lens is shifted up to correct the perspective distortion. For occasional use, you can correct verticals with Photoshop or Lightroom afterwards, but the results aren’t ever as…

ERIC POLSON, OREGON SAYS… I had ventured out on a photo trip last fall. I wanted to capture some of the waterfalls with a smooth flowing texture to the water. When I arrived at the spot where I took this shot, it was rather hazy as there was a large forest fire not too far away. I setup my tripod and selected Shutter Priority with a 1/10 sec exposure. I used a focus point on the side of the frame to focus part way in to the scene to maximize the depth of field. This shot is direct from the camera, without any edits. BRIAN SAYS… I can see you have managed to get the flow of water captured as a smooth stream, without going to an extreme long exposure…

PHOTOGRAPHY CAN benefit from long exposures, which will smooth out water, get rid of any moving pedestrians in city scenes, and capture light trails at night. But you may often find it’s too bright for the superslow shutter speeds needed. Enter the neutral density filter. The best ND filters come in different density options that are defined by several numbering scales. The different numbers might seem confusing at first: for example, ND 1.8 and ND64 both describe a filter that cuts light by six f-stops. This means that you’d be able to use a shutter speed that’s six stops slower than without the ND filter. Six stops of reduced light should be plenty when working in low-light conditions, such as dawn or dusk. If you’re working in direct sunlight and…

Canon’s original 100-400mm IS USM lens was launched way back in 1998, with film cameras in mind. It continued to be desirable with the advent of digital SLRs, both for full-frame and APS-C bodies, having an effective zoom range of 160-640mm on the latter. Less popular was its trombone-style, push-pull zoom mechanism. That’s been changed to a more regular twist-action zoom ring in this second edition, which replaced the original in 2014. Weatherseals were also added. The optical path includes top-grade fluorite and Super UD (Ultra-low Dispersion) glass, and is more sophisticated than in the original lens, with four additional elements. Another neat feature is the triple-mode image stabilizer. As well as the more usual switchable static and panning options, the third mode applies stabilization only during actual exposures. The…

Unlike many wide-angle and even standard zoom lenses, distortions tend to be minimal in super-telephoto zooms. Of the Canon zooms here, the EF 100-400mm gives the worst barrel distortion at the short end, and they all have slight pincushion towards the long end, which is even less in the RF 600mm prime. The Sigma 60-600mm has the worst short-end barrel distortion, whereas the Sigma 150-600mm Sports has negligible pincushion throughout its entire zoom range. The Tamron 150-600mm has a little more pincushion distortion at all zoom settings but it’s still of a low order. Distortion…

This is by far the most compact and lightweight lens in the group, partly due to a retractable design that shrinks the physical length down from its operating length of 270mm to just 200mm for stowage. At 930g, it’s also easily manageable for even long periods of handheld shooting and, indeed, it’s the only lens in the group that lacks a tripod mounting ring. Other major factors enabling the downsized design include the use of diffractive optics and a narrow aperture rating at f/11. Given that you’re unlikely to want to shoot at a narrower aperture than this, Canon has saved further weight, complexity and expense by not including an aperture diaphragm, so there are no iris blades nor an electromagnetic mechanism. Controls are basic, with just an AF/MF switch…

This Contemporary lens goes the full distance, stretching to a 600mm focal length, yet majorly undercuts competing zooms for price. It’s also easier on your back than either of the Sigma Sports lenses, being nearly a kilogram lighter. It’s also more compact than the 150-600mm Sports lens, being a more similar size and weight to the Tamron 150-600mm G2. The tripod collar is removable and can be replaced with a protective rubber ring. In the Sports lenses, only the foot is detachable, leaving the ring and a fairly large stub still attached to the lens. Glass includes one FLD element and three SLD elements. It’s not as weathersealed, but still has a rubber gasket on the mounting plate, along with fluorine coatings on the front and rear elements of the…

For handheld shooting, it’s said you should use a shutter speed that’s at least the reciprocal of the focal length of a lens. This can be hard, with the widest available aperture often being f/6.3. Image stabilization enables sharp results, usually with shutter speeds up to four stops slower. Image stabilizers with a switchable panning mode are ideal for creating motion blur with slower shutter speeds.…

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. 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 DSLRs, but crop-sensor lenses aren’t compatible with full-frame cameras. For Canon EOS R System mirrorless cameras you need dedicated Canon RF lenses. WIDE-ANGLE ZOOMS TELEPHOTO ZOOMS STANDARD ZOOMS SUPERZOOMS WIDE-ANGLE PRIMES STANDARD PRIMES TELEPHOTO PRIMES MACRO Contacts Canon www.canon.co.uk Peleng www.digitaltoyshop.co.uk Samyang www.samyang-lens.co.uk Schneider www.linhofstudio.com Sigma www.sigma-imaging-uk.com Tamron www.tamron.co.uk Tokina www.tokinalens.com Zeiss www.zeiss.co.uk…

Letter of the Month PhotoPlus is full of great articles, information about Canon cameras and lenses, as well as how-to guides. I loved the ‘Make the Move to Mirrorless!’ and ‘Canon EOS R3’ articles in the June issue 179. I made the move from Canon DSLR cameras to mirrorless last August with the Canon EOS R5. Your articles hit on many of the reasons why the Canon EOS R series cameras are so great. The best reason for changing to mirrorless is that you have a single shooting experience. With DSLRs, you have different ways of shooting and controlling the camera when using the viewfinder or Live View on the LCD. On the Canon EOS R cameras, the look of the screens, the info you can display, the camera controls,…

STAY UP TO DATE For the latest news and details of any new sessions as they’re announced, check out www.photographyshow.com BEHIND THE LENS 11:00-11:40 Finding your story: Creating fine-art imagery EJ Lazenby 12:00-12:40 Exhibition-quality photographic printing Nat Coalson 13:00-13:40 The art of composition Karl Holtby 14:00-14:40 Wild and untamed: A journey to Mongolia’s Altai Julian Elliot 15:00-15:40 Wayward wildlife Tesni Ward 16:00-16:40 Landscape photography from start to finish Laurence Norah THE STUDIO 13:00-13:40 Creating feature films with heart Daniel Peters 16:00-16:40 Professional audio for absolute beginners Tom Lewis SHUTTER STREET 10:30-11:00 Down the garden path: Back-garden wildlife and nature photography Victoria Hillman 11:30-12:00 365 Day Photo Projects: Grow your photography and love where you live Jo Bradford 12:30-13:00 Hunting for photo stories during the pandemic Peter Dench 14:30-15:00 Looking for…

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Lens Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Exposure 1/250 sec, f/8, ISO200 Lens Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Exposure 1/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO2000 Lens Lensbaby Composer Exposure 1/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO100 All the images in this gallery were entrants to the PhotoPlus ‘Macro Garden Safari’ competition hosted on Photocrowd – a website where a public vote on the best-liked images is pitted against expert opinion. To enter our current contest, and vote on your favourite photos, simply visit www.photocrowd.com Lens Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Exposure 1/250 sec, f/8, ISO200 Lens Laowa 25mm 2.5-5x macro lens Exposure 1/50 sec, f/2.8, ISO1600 (38 images stacked) Lens Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Exposure 1/60 sec, f/5.6, ISO100 Lens Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM…

Use the right lens Guy uses a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens for wildlife and even for macro photography of small insects, as it’s super sharp, fast at autofocusing, and has a narrow field of view which makes it easier to pick a ‘decent’ background for his subject. However, if he needs to get closer, he often switches over to his Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, which has a reproduction ratio of 1:1, meaning he can capture much closer shots of subjects that aren’t as easily spooked. Shoot towards the sun One technique Guy loves to take advantage of is shooting towards the sun. This will backlight subjects and provide a beautiful rim light too for dramatic, atmospheric, photos. Shooting close to his subjects, like…

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01 MERGE TO HDR If you’ve shot a bracketed sequence you can merge to HDR in Camera Raw / Lightroom. Highlight the set of photos then right-click and choose HDR Merge. Choose a level of deghosting to correct for any movement between the frames, then hit OK. 02 ENHANCE THE TONES After merging to HDR experiment with the tonal tools in the Basic panel to enhance the image. You’ll find there’s a lot more headroom for lightening or darkening areas thanks to the HDR effect. You can also choose a Profile to skew the colours for something more atmospheric. 03 FIX THE EDGES The edges of the projection may be brighter than the surroundings, leading to a hard edge between the projected area and the rest of the scene. Try…

01 PAINT OVER THE SKY Navigate to the start image in Adobe Bridge, rightclick and ‘Open in Camera Raw’. Make initial changes to boost the tones in the Basic panel, then grab the Adjustment Brush from the toolbar on the right. Hit Y to toggle on the mask overlay, then paint over the sky. 02 SAMPLE THE BLUES Go to the brush settings and pick Range: Color. Use the eyedropper tool in the range mask settings to click on the sky, hold Shift and click to sample colours until the sky is isolated. Hold Alt and drag the Color Range slider for a black and white view that shows what is included. 03 MASK THE BUILDING Hit Y to toggle off the mask overlay, then lower Exposure and Temperature, and…

Lens Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Exposure 1/1250 sec, f/4.5, ISO200 LISTENING to Emmett Sparling’s story and looking at his portfolio, you might think he is a young man in a hurry. The self-taught photographer has already worked professionally in fashion, travelled extensively to shoot landscapes and cultural portraits, won commissions from blue chip brands to photograph cars, beer, airlines and hotel rooms, as well as produce videos for big ad campaigns. On top of this, the Vancouver-based photographer is a budding film-maker with aspirations to direct feature-length movies. And did I mention his underwater photography? Yes, Emmett has even found time to learn freediving, so he can swim with whales. All this and he’s still only 22! Given what he’s packed into his life and career so far,…

Lens Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM Exposure 2, 5 and 13 secs, f/16, ISO100 In early 2020 I went with my partner on an expedition to Aldabra Atoll in Seychelles. We had no internet on our boat, and we didn’t know about the pandemic. When we docked at the main island Mahe in March, the world had turned upside down. We could not return to our home in the Czech Republic, as we didn’t have our residency permits with us. When Seychelles closed its borders, we knew our holiday would be much longer than expected. Our two week trip turned into 140 days! I am a landscape photographer and visited Seychelles twice before and fell in love with the wild beauty of the granitic islands. For five months, I…

The majority of EOS cameras have an option for creating HDR images automatically. Some beginner-level bodies have HDR effects available in their Creative Filter mode, for example. These effects give a similar look to what can be achieved using the dedicated HDR mode that’s available in more advanced EOS cameras. But you’re a limited with the settings (WB and Picture Style are set automatically, for example), and only the final HDR JPEG image will be saved. HDR Backlight Control mode may also be available as an option when the camera’s mode dial is set to SCN (Special Scene mode). As with all the other in-camera HDR modes, HDR Backlight Control requires three pictures to be taken at different exposure levels, so you need to keep the camera stationary in order…

AS WELL as having a dedicated HDR mode, the EOS R5 and R6 mirrorless cameras have an extra ‘HDR PQ settings’ option in their Shooting menus, This enables the cameras to produce Raw or HEIF images or movies that conform to the PQ (Perceptual Quantization) standard for HDR display. It’s the same standard used by HDR TVs that offer Dolby Vision and HDR10. Because the screens on cameras aren’t HDR compatible, Canon uses some rather clever processing, so that the files are displayed in a way that resembles what they’ll eventually look like on an HDR TV. You won’t be able to use the histogram in quite the same way to judge the exposure of the converted images, but the sub-menu of options that you get under ‘HDR PQ settings’…

Ask Brian! Confused with your Canon DSLR? Email EOSSOS@futurenet.com Flexible Priority (Fv mode) was the first significant new creative zone exposure mode in decades. Introduced with the EOS R, it’s now a standard mode on R-series cameras and also on the EOS M6 Mk II. It’s time to learn what the Fv mode is, and how it could be the only exposure mode you need for creative work. Flexible Priority derives its name from the way you determine the balance of control you take and how much you allow the camera to help you. There are four individual parameters to choose; shutter speed, aperture, ISO and exposure compensation. By default, exposure comp is zeroed, and the other three are automatically set based on the meter reading of the scene. There…

01 Canon RF 14-35mm F4L IS USM Go wide with your EOS R-series camera £1749/$1699 www.canon.co.uk THE NEW Canon RF 14-35mm F4L IS USM offers as a slower, wider and more affordable alternative to the pro Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM in Canon’s line-up of RF-mount ultra-wide zooms. As you’d expect from one of Canon’s L-series lenses, the 14-35mm is fully weather sealed and it boasts a sophisticated optical path, with 16 elements in 12 groups featuring sub-wavelength structure coatings to control flare and ghosting. As an image stabilized (IS) lens, it’s capable of 5.5-stops of stabilization as standard on any RF-mount body – this IS can be useful for a lens with ‘only’ f/4 as its widest aperture. 02 Parrot Anafi Ai A drone that can fly itself…

To test real-world performance, we use lenses in all sorts of lighting conditions, both indoors and outdoors. We check for good build quality and handling, smooth and precise operation of all controls, the speed and accuracy of autofocus, and the effectiveness of image stabilization, where fitted. We typically test full-frame compatible lenses on a range of full-frame and APS-C format bodies, whereas lenses that are designed specifically for APS-C format bodies are, of course, only tested on the latter. In-camera corrections for chromatic aberrations and peripheral illumination (where available) are disabled throughout all testing, to better reveal the true performance of each lens. We also run a full range of lab tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master and DxO Analyser suites. Photos of test charts are taken across…

A real whopper, this lens is nearly twice as long as the Canon 100-400mm and two full kilograms heavier, weighing in at 3620g. It’s main claim to fame is that it has a built in ‘extender’ or tele-converter, which you can bring into play via a lever at the rear. It’s quicker and easier than removing the lens from the camera body, attaching an extender and then refitting it. The f/4 aperture rating shrinks to f/5.6 when engaging the extender but that’s still wider than in Sigma and Tamron super-tele lenses, as well as the Canon RF 100-500mm, at the long end of their zoom ranges. The max focal length stretches to 560mm, or an ‘effective’ 896mm on an APS-C format body, almost matching the 150-600mm lenses on test. As…

Sigma often bucks the trend, creating lenses with no direct competitors from other companies. The 50-500mm was one such lens. It combines super-telephoto reach with a 10x zoom range, enabling you to shoot right down to standard focal lengths without needing to swap lenses. The recent 60-600mm Sports is part of Sigma’s ‘Global Vision’ line-up. As such, it’s compatible with Sigma’s USB Dock, for creating custom user modes, finetuning AF accuracy and applying firmware updates. It’s even bigger and 40 per cent heavier than its predecessor, at 2700g, but represents a sizeable upgrade. The optical path includes three top-grade FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements and one SLD (Special Low Dispersion) element. Fluorine coatings are applied to the front and rear elements, to repel water and grease, and the lens is…

The Sigma 60-600mm exhibits the worst colour fringing of any lens here, at least at its shortest focal length. Even so, fringing only tends to be noticeable at the short end of the zoom range and is even less apparent at mid to long zoom settings. The second worst is the Canon EF 100-400mm, but there’s virtually no fringing at the long end. The Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens produces similarly negligible fringing in the mid sector of its zoom range. Fringing…

Tamron’s first 150-600mm lens was a good buy at the price, but the G2 edition is better in every way. The optical path has been redesigned and now features three LD (Low Dispersion) elements whereas the older lens only had one. A new mix of coatings features both regular and nano-structure varieties, and a fluorine coating is added to the front element. The G2 also features more extensive weather-seals and better build quality. Helping to keep pace with the action in sport photography, the AF system is uprated for greater speed and accuracy. In our tests, AF proved better at tracking moving objects. There’s another headline upgrade for the Vibration Compensation system. Not only does it deliver superior 4.5-stop effectiveness, but it gains three switchable modes. These now include static,…

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. ENTRY-LEVEL PRICES QUOTED ARE BODY-ONLY UNLESS STATED CANON…

THE NO.1 MAGAZINE FOR CANON USERS! FREE VIDEOS! In the next Canon Skills chapter… ■ Get creative with motion blur in wildlife photos ■ Use filters for better landscape photos ■ Image-editing guides in Affinity Photo, Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop CC PLUS ALL THIS… PhotoPlus CanonSkills VIEW THE VIDEOS ISSUE 183 ON SALE 14 SEPTEMBER 2021 * Content subject to change…

As always, your favourite brands and a raft of exciting newcomers will be on the show floor. For the first time in months, you’ll be able to test the kit you’ve been dreaming of trying, buy the gear you’ve wanted (at unbeatable prices) and get that all-important face-to-face advice. Online just isn’t the same! Brand-new to the show is our Shutter Street Stage, which will feature a range of talks dedicated to urban photography, and the Analogue Spotlight, where sessions will explore the realm of film and processing. These programmes will run alongside Behind the Lens, The Studio, Photo Live Stage, Video Live Stage and the Editing & Post-Production Suite. In addition, the Pro Masterclass will cover business and creative skills as always, but with a focus on navigating the…

BEGINNERS’ PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASS Saturday 18 September or Sunday 19 September (repeated), Toute Suite (outside Hall 1); £10 Start your photography journey by learning some essential lessons from the experts. There’s a charge of £10 for this four-part programme, in addition to the show entry fee – choose either Saturday or Sunday morning. 10:30-11:05 Understanding the exposure triangle Exploring the fundamentals of camera settings and theory. Laurence Norah 11:05-11:40 Equipment to get you started A jargon-busting session covering the essential kit for beginners, and showing the advantages in choosing the right gear. Angela Nicholson 11:50-12:25 Zero to flash An introduction to flash, plus budget-friendly kit ideas and techniques to start using straight away. Chris Ord 12:25-13:00 Fundamentals of editing Editing techniques for beginners to help you get the most out of…