Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

If you’re fairly new to photography, or have never fully understood how your Canon camera settings work together, knowing which aperture, shutter speed and ISO combination to use for the best exposure can be baffling. This issue we go back to basics, explaining in detail how different apertures, shutter speeds and ISO settings will affect your photos. Plus we’ve provided some essential tables and illustrations you can refer to time and again. With our guide, all the numbers will soon become second nature, and you’ll be taking better exposures with your Canon gear in no time. See page 28. This month I also arranged for our PhotoPlus Apprentice to learn how to take great exterior and interior architecture photos, with a special trip to Salisbury Cathedral with Canon pro David…

01 WINTER FIELDFARE BY GIANPIERO FERRARI WINNER 1ST “After a snowfall during the night, several fieldfares came into the garden to take advantage of the apple that I left out. This particular bird was aggressive and took over the entire garden. I took some pictures from the window of my house, but knew I could get a better composition outside by shooting at ground level. So I built a pile of snow to use as a background and then lay in the ground under a camouflage blanket, waiting for the bird to return to eat the apples.” 02 OXPECKER BY KEVIN ROONEY 3RD PLACE “I took this picture in Mara North Conservancy in Kenya. We came across a large herd of buffalo and soon found our Land Cruiser surrounded by them.…

The shutter speed is one of three fundamentals of your exposure for regulating the brightness of your pictures. The shutter speed setting works in tandem with the aperture (and ISO) to help you take a perfect exposure, in a variety of lighting conditions. Shutter speeds are easier to understand than apertures as the scale is more logical. Shutter speed – or length of time the shutter is open – is simply measured in fractions of a second. So 1/500 sec shutter speed lets through half as much light as 1/250 sec. The shutter speed range is also more extensive than the aperture range, as you control it with your EOS camera. The top speed on EOS cameras is usually around 1/4000 sec, while the longest automatically set shutter speed is…

FREE CAMERA BAG WORTH £29.99! YOUR FREE LOWEPRO PASSPORT DUO BACKPACK* Fits Canon EOS mirrorless cameras and compact EOS DSLRs Convertible design easily transforms from waist bag to backpack Ample padding and adjustable divider system protects your gear Two zippered pockets enable for quick access to smaller items Made from lightweight weather-resistant fabric ideal for travel Internal dimensions 27x11x15cm External dimensions 29x13x49cm “Subscribe to PhotoPlus and save money plus get this great Lowepro camera bag for free!” Great reasons to subscribe today FREE Lowepro Duo backpack RRP £29.99 SAVE Pay less than you would in the shops NEVER MISS AN ISSUE Get PhotoPlus delivered direct to your door or device every month NEW TIPS & INSPIRATION Subscribe to PhotoPlus for essential Canon techniques, tests and photography projects every month OPTION 1: SAVE…

From antibiotics to alcoholic drinks, organic decay to delicious food, fungi play an important role in all manner of things. They range from microscopic structures to the largest living organism on the planet. Underground, the ‘wood-wide web’ of fine tendrils creates a network that allows plants and trees to communicate. Above ground, the fruiting bodies form as mushrooms and other stunning structures, offering great opportunities for macro photography. Fungi – and mushrooms in particular – tend to prefer dark conditions like dense woodlands, crevices in rotten wood and shady areas. When photographing in these murky spots, a burst of flash can provide a welcome lift to the scene. But it’s not just about increasing the light levels, a flash also gives you the opportunity to enhance the mood. By firing…

Lightroom Classic CC’s Basic panel sliders work well in pairs, and their interaction can lead to some interesting effects. The often-used -100 Highlights and +100 Shadows give a faux HDR look, while blacks and whites can set the contrast. Each of those interact with exposure, and the combination of those can have different looks to what you’d expect. These can be used for cityscapes, night scenes and rainy photos, but here we’re thinking about portraits. Let’s take advantage of these edits in making a male portrait look really moody. Here’s a single light portrait shot in an underground car park, using a flashgun in a 16in softbox, so it’s as basic as it gets with lighting. Clean-up work has been done to heal spots, so this is only about the…

ALTHOUGH many wildlife photographers work close to home and focus on local species, few can deny the appeal of capturing faraway locations and more exotic creatures. One challenge that nature photographers face is the cost of making trips away, and they often offset this by running workshops abroad or taking paid assignments. Passionate wildlife photographer Esteban Frey has taken a different route, however. For the last six years, he’s worked as a member of an airline cabin crew, and while travelling the world he’s been able to capture some of his best work on his days off. Taking photos of elusive animals requires time and patience, along with the passion to succeed alongside plenty of competition. Esteban grew up surrounded by family who were equally excited about the outdoors, and he…

We’re excited The Photography & Video Show 2024 at the NEC is coming soon – from the 16 to 19 March at the NEC in Birmingham. As well as being able to say hello to PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine team on stand H404, there’s loads more going on this year. There are some legendary speakers on the various stages, the kit deals at the show on the dealer stands are some of the best you can get, and you can watch a host of live demos and inspiring talks! Plus, Canon will be there with its huge stand, where you can experience first-hand the very latest Canon EOS cameras and gear. If you’re not looking for new gear, there are loads of great Canon experts and professional photographers speaking –…

THE CONTENDERS There’s been a lot of talk of trinity wide-angle, standard and telephoto zoom lenses. Indeed, we recently ran a Super Test of these RF lenses and more budget-friendly alternatives in issue 210. Naturally, zoom lenses have a lot going for them in terms of convenience, enabling you to change perspective with your wrist instead of your feet. But we know plenty of photographers who prefer the relatively compact and lightweight build of prime lenses, as well as their faster aperture ratings in most cases. And we often count ourselves in that group. This month, we’re focusing on Canon EOS R System prime lenses. They’re not necessarily expensive to buy, and some of them are great value for money. We’re kicking off with the ultra-wide-angle Canon RF 16mm F2.8…

Letter of the Month I love the astro photos and guides you’ve featured in PhotoPlus over the years. I have had only limited success in taking star shots, partly as I don’t follow the instructions in your guides as I tend to forget one or two important things. A lot more practice and learning from my mistakes would be prudent. Recently, some of your best night sky pictures have been produced by stacking many exposures to get more stars in the shot. Although I get the mechanics of producing these images, I do not see why stacking tens or even hundreds of seemingly identical short exposures gives you more detail than one long exposure? Thanks for the email, Andy, glad we are inspiring you! Canon pro astro photographer Chris Grimmer…

FACTFILE Salisbury Cathedral SALISBURY is home to one of the world’s most photogenic cathedrals, from its stunning early-English Gothic architecture, and tallest spire in Britain (123m), to breathtaking interior stonework, countless archways, and stained-glass windows. Built between 1220-1258, it has the largest cloister and cathedral close in the UK. Photography is allowed for personal use, but do not bring tripods unless you’ve made a group booking and have permission. For group bookings email groups@salcath.co.uk. More general information at www.salisburycathedral.org.uk CANON PRO NAME: DAVID CLAPP CAMERA: CANON EOS R3 LANDSCAPE, travel and architectural photographer David, 52, is based in South Devon, but spends much of his time travelling the world with his Canon cameras. He runs seminars for Canon and his own photography workshops, and was the perfect pro to show Pierre how…

The exposure triangle Aperture, shutter speed and ISO work together in harmony to produce the right exposure for you IMAGINE that aperture, shutter speed and ISO are three sides of a triangle. If we alter one element, then we have to compensate by adjusting at least one of the other two. For example, a wide aperture and a short shutter speed might produce the same exposure as a narrow aperture with a longer shutter speed, but the resulting images are different. Widening the aperture allows more light through the lens, so we compensate either with a shorter shutter speed to keep the capture of light brief, or a low ISO to make the sensor less sensitive to the light that hits it. The longer the shutter is open, the more…

Digital cameras, of course, do not use film – but the same ISO scale that was used for film is used to control your EOS camera’s sensitivity to light. As the ISO is increased, your sensor becomes more sensitive to light – and this helps you get that fast-enough shutter speed you may need in low light when hand-holding. This makes ISO a powerful tool, helping you to get sharp shots in a variety of lighting conditions. You’ll find ISO is a simple set of numbers. The base sensitivity of Canon EOS cameras is ISO100. But this can be increased by pressing the ISO button and then rotating the correct dial (on some cameras, ISO is changed through the red menu). The scale is simple, in that doubling the ISO…

A chance look at social media at midnight got David up and out with his new Canon EOS R3 shooting colourful aurora until the early hours Over the last four years I have been trying to steer my business without social media. It’s not been so straightforward, but I have never got on with any platform and the process. As a creative person I can imagine nothing worse than my audience digesting my imagery, along with updates from their grandchildren and photos of people’s dinners. That’s not to say I don’t use social media. I use the internet for what I believe it is intended for – following stupid stuff that makes me laugh! I like calamitous cat videos, American monster trucks, mountain biking mayhem. No news, no ‘doom scrolling’,…

Some of the world’s most popular and spectacular locations are unsurprisingly very popular as tourists flock in droves, whether it’s Rome’s Colosseum, the Eiffel tower in Paris or the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Even busy cities like Edinburgh, or seaside beach towns, are often full of people and tourists going about their day. As a photographer you may be able to perfectly wait for a time when there’s a gap and you’re able to take a shot without any people. However for many locations this just isn’t possible due to the high footfall. Another option would be to beat the crowds and arrive early but this restricts you to the type of available lighting you’ll get at those more unsociable hours. So, in this project, we look at two…

If you’ve been paying attention to photography news, you can’t have failed to notice the furore over AI image generation. Generators like Stable Diffusion, Dall-E and Midjourney make it possible to create artwork from nothing more than a sentence. This has caused great excitement and apprehension among photographers, and the way these tools gather and reassemble the substance of existing photos raises real concerns about intellectual property. Whether you see AI as groundbreaking or a threat to traditional photography, we’re entering a new era of image-making. Users looking to experiment with text-to-image generation will find an intriguing new tool within Photoshop Beta. The Backdrop Creator Neural filter lets you create a new backdrop from a few words. Of course, as it’s Beta it’s not the finished article, but it’s worth…

Winter wildlife Steve headed out to take top winter wildlife portraits of birds in his garden and local nature reserve I am an amateur photographer, and over the past couple of years, I have developed a keen interest in wildlife and bird photography. Winter tends to be thought of a bit more negatively as a season, to stay in and enjoy the warmth. However, a crisp sunny winter morning provides plenty of opportunities to capture images – the air is clear, light and very good, and you can capture the birds and other wildlife in the early frost. I often visit local nature reserves and primarily concentrate on areas near the birdfeeder hides or waterside. At the hides, I look for the birds in the bushes and trees as they…

What to look for Canon EOS camera ranges Canon splits its EOS range into mirrorless cameras and DSLRs. Its older DSLR line-up includes beginner, enthusiast and pro ranges; the EOS 4000D is the most basic, the 850D for intermediates, the 90D and full-frame 6D Mk II for advanced enthusiasts, and the full-frame pro-level 5D and 1D lines. Over the page are the two EOS mirrorless ranges: Canon’s smaller, older APS-C EOS M cameras, and Canon’s EOS R System APS-C and full-frame cameras that offer the very latest digital technology. The APS-C crop-sensor EOS R50, R10 and R7 are smaller, affordable entry-level options. While the EOS R8 up to the R6 Mark II, R5 and flagship R3 are full-frame for serious enthusiasts to professionals. Canon’s EOS R cameras are packed with…

BE OUR NEXT APPRENTICE Do you need help to take your Canon photography to the next level? Let us know what genre you’d like help with and we could pair you up with a top pro for the day! Send an email to photoplus@futurenet.com with ‘PhotoPlus Apprentice’ in the subject line, and include your Canon kit, telephone number and address. PIERRE’S COMMENT “Thank you PhotoPlus for giving me the opportunity to spend time with you and David photographing Salisbury cathedral. I really enjoyed it, and this PhotoPlus Apprentice workshop allowed me to step out of my comfort zone, and apply the things I learned straight into practice! For this shot at night, my lightweight tripod and head was tricky to adjust, but with David’s help and the hotshoe spirit level…

Different apertures affect sharpness See how a narrow aperture compared to wide captures sharper scenes Making sense of aperture f-stops Your at-a-glance guide to aperture scales and what settings mean Wide apertures The widest apertures have the f-stops with the smallest numbers. The widest ‘maximum’ aperture available depends on the lens you’re using – ‘fast’ lenses could be f/2.8, ‘slower’ lenses might be f/4. On many zooms, the maximum aperture gets smaller as you zoom in. Mid apertures The middle apertures on your lens tend to give you the best quality images – usually around f/8 to f/11 – although they may not give you the amount of depth of field you require. Narrow apertures Most lenses have a minimum aperture of f/22, although some may offer smaller settings of…

Macro is an amazing genre to get stuck into that allows you to magnify your subject for super-detailed close-ups, revealing a brand-new world, otherwise hidden to the naked eye. But, if you’ve ever tried to take a close-up using a standard lens, such as an 18-55mm kit lens, you might be a bit underwhelmed. A dedicated macro lens is usually required to take close-ups. These special optics come with reproduction ratios of at least 1:1, also called lifesize, because you can capture your subject at the same size as if it was laid across your Canon camera’s sensor. However, macro lenses can be pricey and won’t be in budget for many in the current cost of living crisis. Luckily, in this project we take a look at a cheap and…

With their angular lines and bold shapes, architectural photos and cityscapes are the perfect subject for a creative makeover in Affinity Photo. In this project we’ll explain how to transform the iconic New York skyline into a bold array of painterly splashes and drips. This involves a cunning combination of selection skills and layer blending. We begin by preparing our photo of the city, converting it to black and white and boosting contrast so that we have a bold foundation to work with. Once done, we use the Pen tool to isolate each vertical street, so that we can apply different colours to each. This helps to tailor the painterly effect to the image, as the streaks of paint we add will match up with the shapes we create for…

“Why does changing flash settings on my Speedlite transmitter not instantly show on the remote Speedlite?” Amanda Fielden, Wolverhampton BRIAN SAYS… This is a common confusion, and has been noticed more frequently since some independent brands have adopted an alternative method in which the setting on the transmitter is instantly reflected on the remote flash. Canon’s wireless flash system sends the required settings for mode, power and sync just before the photo is captured. It is also sent when the test button is pressed on the transmitter. This is because the system is designed for the possibility of multiple photographers with transmitters, or sender units, working with the same remote flashes. Since the system works the same for optical and radio wireless triggering, it means that when changes are made…

Access our amazing discount offers on our digital editions. Scan the QR code to get the app today! It’s easy to get PhotoPlus for your iPad and iPhone Wherever you are in the world, you can get new issues when they go on sale in the UK! 1. GET THE APP Scan the QR code (left) or go to the App store on your Apple device and search for ‘photoplus’ and then install the app. Now you can open the app on your iPad and/or iPhone. Any issues you buy will be stored in My Library. 2. USE THE APP In the app you can then buy any single issues, preview the current issue, scroll to find and buy any previous issues, as well as buy a selection of our…

THE NO.1 MAGAZINE FOR CANON USERS! FREE VIDEOS! In the next Canon Skills chapter… ■ Creative cross polarisation ■ Get the toy town / tilt-shift look ■ Spring clean your Canon camera kit ■ Photoshop, Lightroom and Affinity Photo image-editing guides PLUS ALL THIS… ■ PhotoPlus Apprentice: Pro Catherine O'Donnell’s tips for family portraits ■ Profile: Scott Kelby, the travel photographer, editor, author, the 'Photoshop Guy' and CEO of KelbyOne! ■ Super Test: Canon’s popular EF lenses vs RF lenses in big head-to-head tests ISSUE 216 ON SALE 28 MARCH 2024 * Content subject to change…

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