Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT PhotoPlus editor Peter Travers shows you how simple it can be to use flashguns and studio lights to brighten up your photography on page 30 The idea of using off-camera flashguns to light a subject can be enough to scare off some amateur photographers. Mention studio lights and they’re likely to run away and never come back. I can understand why some of you might struggle to get to grips with lighting setups, however, as I demonstrate this issue, it’s a lot easier than you might think. The big benefit of using lights is they give you complete control your photography, rather than being at the mercy of natural light, plus there’s the smug satisfaction of using your Canon DSLR and wireless triggers to fire your…

01 MORNING WALK BY CERI JONES This shot illustrates that, even in the depths of winter, there are magical photographic opportunities. This was one of those; it was a freezing,mistymorning in the Oxfordshire woodlands around Woodcote. The sun was just starting to rise and provided a beautiful glow in the morning mist, with the ghostly shapes of beech tree trunks providing structure to the scene. The image was complete when a dog walker appeared; it was just too good an opportunity not to take some shots. Lens Canon EF-S 17-55mmf/2.8 IS USM Exposure 1/25 sec, f/11, ISO100 All the images in this gallery were entrants to the PhotoPlus ‘Wrap up warm’ competition hosted on Photocrowd – a website where a public vote on the best-liked images is pitted against expert…

THE MISSION Learn how to set your white balance for accurate colours in differing lighting conditions Time needed 30 minutes Skill level Intermediate Kit needed Canon DSLR • White background board • Tungsten household lamps • Grey card • Lightroom or Photoshop Believe it or not, both these shots were taken using the same flower in front of the same background, a simple piece of plain white board. We haven’t used Photoshop to change the colours, and there’s no complicated lighting involved. The only difference is that one was taken indoors, the other outdoors. On the left, the flower is captured indoors under tungsten lighting from two household lamps, while the white background board is outside in the garden, illuminated by daylight. On the right we switched things around, moving…

THE MISSION Create a Facebook banner in a matter of minutes Time needed 10 minutes Skill level Easy Kit needed Photoshop Elements 13 or above Elements 13 and beyond offers a tool that makes it very easy to create Facebook cover layouts, simplifying the process of resizing images and fitting them into specific layouts. These can then be uploaded to your Facebook page with a couple of clicks. There are a range of themes to choose from, with options to add more or fewer images as well as graphics and type. Here we’ll show you how to create your own custom cover. If you want to make a layout like the one shown here then you’ll need two images. Other themes will require more or fewer. We’ll start by adding…

01 COOLING DOWN Dave focused on Ma’a Nonu of the New Zealand All Blacks drenching himself during the 2010 Tri Nations match in Johannesburg Lens Canon EF 400mm f/2.8 IS II USM Exposure 1/1000 sec, f/3.5, ISO1250 Dave Rogers had a busy 2015. As one of the senior photographers in the Getty Images team, he not only had a hectic domestic and European rugby season, but was on duty before and during the Rugby World Cup. But unlike the England team, which had a disappointingly early exit, Dave saw the competition through to the final where he photographed New Zealand’s triumph over Australia. During the past 40 years, rugby has progressed from being a relatively minor sport to the internationally popular spectacle it is today – and Dave has been…

01 OVER THE SHOULDER Looking to central dome of Il Duomo di Firenze, but with the building running across at an angle for a more dynamic composition Lens Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Exposure 1/30 sec, f/16, ISO100 02 THE BROODING DOME This shot was taken early in the morning and then converted to monochrome for a more imposing feel Lens Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Exposure 1/80 sec, f/8, ISO100 03 REFLECTIONS Late evening after a thunderstorm had left small puddles Lens Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Exposure 1/30 sec, f/8, ISO2500 04 SUN STAR AND THE TOWER Taken as the sun sets behind the Giotto’s picturesque bell tower Lens Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Exposure 1/30 sec, f/16, ISO125 PROJECT INFO NAME: Anthony Plancherel…

Thanks to the brilliant Italian photo kit brand Manfrotto, we have over £700-worth of gear up for grabs in the shape of a pro backpack to carry your Canon DSLR, lenses and other kit, along with a winning tripod-and-head combo. The strong and sturdy Manfrotto Pro Light RedBee-210 BP backpack is a professional lightweight bag that can hold two Canon camera bodies and a 400mm lens, or two to three bodies and smaller lenses and flashguns. Versatile dividers enable you to configure your photo gear, and there’s space for a laptop or iPad in the easily accessible back panel. The RedBee-210 provides both side and top access so you can instantly grab your DSLR. The new Manfrotto 055 carbon fibre four-section tripod provides maximum rigidity from super-light components, to ensure…

THE MISSION Shoot sunset scenes with a set of flash-lit foreground frames then blend them together in Photoshop Time needed Half a day Skill level Advanced Kit needed Tripod • Speedlite • Wireless flash trigger • Cable release • Photoshop CC or Elements A beautiful sunset is a thing of wonder, such that anyone with a camera feels almost duty-bound to capture it. But what really elevates a sunset photo is a carefully chosen foreground; a structure or shape that dominates the horizon provides context, making the frame more about a memorable moment at a particular place, rather than just a snap of a pretty sky. However, this presents an exposure problem. The most impressive part of the sky is where the sun drops, and shooting into that lovely light…

THE MISSION Create HDR images with enhanced shadow and highlight detail using Camera Raw and Photoshop Time needed 20 minutes Skill level Intermediate Kit needed Photoshop CC DOWNLOAD PROJECT FILES TO YOUR COMPUTER FROM: downloads.photoplusmag.com/pp110.zip Of all the ways to create High Dynamic Range images, Photoshop’s ‘Merge to HDR Pro’ command has always lagged behind the best. Like all HDR tools, it lets you combine a set of exposures into a single image that expands the dynamic range beyond what your camera is capable of. But it suffers badly in comparison to dedicated third-party offerings, such as Photomatix Pro, and almost all of the HDR presets it offers are, to put it bluntly, rather horrible. It’s not completely without merit, as it does let you create 32-bit HDR files, but…

JOIN IN THE FUN! One of the great things about photography is being able to share your view of the world. This issue: one reader unveils the results of a five-year project to document abandoned homes in America’s Midwest; an adventurer goes off the beaten track to get tranquil shots of a jetty at an old quarry; and a keen traveller explains how he attempts to capture different views of oft-photographed locations. We want your photos and stories! We’ll pay you £50 for every project we publish. Please send them to… 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 01 CHEVY TRUCK, QUENEMO I came to a screeching halt right in the middle of the road; it was the rusting pickup…

SHOT OF THE MONTH Barn Houses I live in northern Finland where these old barns are very common. The land is quite flat, and the open skies give plenty of opportunities to photograph the long-empty buildings. The sadness of abandonment is emphasized by bad weather, and the barns are perfect models as they stand still! I shot this at 1/250 sec, f/8, ISO400 with my Canon EOS 50D and EF 40mm f/2.8 STM – the lens is fast, sharp and easy to carry. I’ve sharpened the photo just a little and reduced noise in Lightroom 5. The dramatic sky was created with the Graduated Filter tool. I added another graduation at the bottom to emphasize the details of the ground a little bit. Jukka Heinovirta, Finland Every month we invite…

They’re a bit like buses – you wait ages for a Tamron prime lens to turn up (macro optics aside), then two arrive at once. The new 35mm and 45mm lenses have essentially the same design criteria and look incredibly similar, apart from the 45mm lens being physically longer by 11mm, and 60g heavier. Here’s what they have in common. Both have pro-grade build quality which includes metal lens barrels, weatherseals and a wonderfully refined and well-engineered feel to the two lenses. Switches are large and easy to operate, even with icy winter fingers, while the manual focus rings are silky-smooth and very precise. Overall, handling is a complete joy. Unlike the pricier Sigma f/1.4 Art series of prime lenses, the Tamron duo are two-thirds of a stop slower with…

Whether you’ve got an Apple iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, or an Android, Kindle or Nook tablet, you can download PhotoPlus back issues. You can read them on your laptop or desktop computer as well. To see the full range of devices go to http://bit.ly/ppdigi A limited number of back issues of our print editions are available at http://bit.ly/ppprint BUY A BINDER! Prefer a printed magazine? Keep your copies of PhotoPlus together with our binder, which neatly holds a year’s issues www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/photoplus-offers Issue 109 February 2016 Go wild in winter – pro wildlife photography tips l Apprentice: studio portraiture l Interview: Sebastian Copeland l Canon Gear of the Year l Mini Test: acrylic prints l Full test: Photoshop Elements 14 l Canon School: macro photography l My Kit: Anna Burn…

www.digitalcameraworld.com APPRENTICE NAME: STEVE WHITE CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D Mk III & EOS 7D STEVE, 59, is a building site supervisor from Milton Keynes. He bought his first DSLR 18 months ago and started shooting landscapes. With a keen interest in sport and family involvement in motocross and trials bikes, he thought it would be a good idea to widen his skills and learn how to capture great action shots CANON PRO NAME: JAMES CHEADLE CAMERA: CANON EOS-1D Mk IV & EOS 5D Mk III CANON pro photographer James, is a sports, portrait and reportage photographer and travels to all four corners of the globe to photograph Hollywood stars, sports personalities and athletes for publishing, television and advertising clients. To see James’s work, check out his website at www.jamescheadle.com EXPERT…

Iguazu Falls, Argentina. 6:40am local time. 28 January 2014 I have, in my time, shot some of the biggest falls; Victoria and Niagara for example, as well as countless lesser-known cascades, from British Columbia to the Brecon Beacons and Iceland to Tasmania. The famous Iguazu Falls are reckoned to be one of South America’s must-see wonders, along with Machu Picchu, Torres del Paine and Perito Moreno Glacier, but given that I’ve made many a long exposure (who hasn’t?) of water rushing over precipitous drops in evocative settings to produce all too many of what is, let’s face it, a bit of a photographic cliché, what could I possibly achieve of any note here? I mean, how many more pictures of waterfalls could the world want? It’s a question tempering my…

THE MISSION Use the multiple exposure feature in some Canons for creative portraits Time needed One hour Skill level Intermediate Kit needed Canon DSLR with Multiple Exposure mode: EOS 6D, 70D, 5D Mk III, 1D X, 7D Mk II • Tripod • Flashgun • Radio trigger • Remote shutter release Back in the days of analogue photography, creating a double exposure was a bit hit-and-miss. You’d have to underexpose each individual shot by a stop to take into account that the film was going to be exposed twice, and on many cameras would have to manually wind back the film, which required a degree of guesswork to line up the frames precisely. But today, newer digital SLRs, such as the Canon EOS 6D we used, can blend multiple exposures in-camera,…

THE MISSION Learn how to use Lightroom’s lens correction and Upright controls Time needed 5 minutes Skill level Easy Kit needed Lightroom DOWNLOAD PROJECT FILES TO YOUR COMPUTER FROM: downloads.photoplusmag.com/pp110.zip All lenses will naturally suffer from some kind of distortion. Barrelling – where the edges of the frame appear to recede – often occurs in wide-angle lenses, while pin-cushioning – where the edges of the frame appear to bend closer – afflict telephoto lenses. This is known as optical distortion, as it’s a consequence of trying to either squeeze a wide view onto your sensor, or stretch to a distant view. Then there’s perspective distortion. Objects that are closer appear larger in the frame, especially at wide angles, so distances are exaggerated. If you shoot while angling your camera up,…

01 LOADING BAY Looking across to the loading bay and cropped to 16:9 Lens Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE Exposure 721 secs, f/13, ISO50 02 JAGGED ROCKS A natural rock formation alongside quarried rocks used to build up the sea defence Lens Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE Exposure 239 secs, f/9, ISO50 PROJECT INFO NAME: Martin Mattocks AGE: 51 LOCATION: Dean Point near St Keverne, Cornwall MISSION: To show how, over time, the remnants of industry can blend into the landscape KIT: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE, Lee Big Stopper, Lee 2-stop Hard Graduated Neutral Density Filter www.martinmattocksphotography.com www.flickr.com/photos/48402686@N07 My reason for visiting here was to document the jetty and surrounding coastline. At the time the quarry had been closed for over…

“If items don’t fit into my bag they don’t go – it’s as simple as that “ WHAT DO I DO? Simon Butterworth www.simonbutterworthphotography.com MY landscape, architecture, travel and documentary photographs are used for editorial, stock and fine art prints. I’m based in the Scottish Borders but my work involves travelling around the world. The basic requirements for a piece of gear to get a permanent place in my bag are flexibility and ease of replacement: if I’m working on the other side of the world and drop it, I want to be able to walk into any camera shop and replace it without fuss or delay. Simon Butterworth Globetrotting landscape, architecture and documentary specialist Simon prefers to keep things simple, so shares with us his bare essentials for travelling…

It’s often said that you need the finest lenses to get the best out of any camera body. However, if you’ve only spent, say, £280/$400 on an EOS 100D body, it’s completely disproportionate to spend £1400/$1800 on a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. Considering that a key advantage of DSLR photography is the ability to use multiple lenses, so that you can pick an optic that suits the shooting scenario, there’s an ever greater case for not spending over the odds on a single lens. Another factor is that most current and recent Canon EOS DSLRs have options for in-camera corrections, which can flatter the performance of lenses in terms of colour fringing, peripheral illumination and, in some cases, distortion. Bear in mind that this is only available for genuine Canon lenses…