Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2024 i PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

As a photographer, if there’s one bar you have to hit, it’s the ability to capture a sharp shot – and that means an image with crisp, well-defined edges on the subject or area you want to be sharp. By ‘sharp’, we mean that there’s no trace of blur or double-image ghosting on the in-focus area. With today’s sophisticated and quick autofocus systems, this doesn’t sound like it should be too much of a challenge but if you have critically inspected your images, you may have noticed that a significant percentage are not pin-sharp in the places where they should be. This lack of sharpness occurs for various technical reasons, all of which we will explore over the coming pages. But along with the reasons why that crispness is lacking,…

When your subject isn’t going to move much, you can use One Shot autofocusing; once the focus is locked, the distance is not going to change. This allows you to focus, then move the camera slightly to recompose before shooting. When using One Shot it often pays to use single AF point, so you can be ultra-accurate with where you focus. This is particularly important when you are using a large aperture such as f/2.8 to create a shallow depth of field in a portrait, as you have little room for error and the area of sharp focus is so narrow. In this case, it’s best to focus on the closest eye so it is the sharpest point in the frame, leaving the focus to fall away behind the plane…

The cyanotype process is one of the earliest photographic techniques, yet it remains popular thanks to the simplicity of the process and the rich-blue prints that emerge. Paper is coated with the cyanotype solution, then exposed to ultraviolet light. Objects placed on the paper – whether natural things such as plants, man-made items or negative film – are reproduced in stark monochrome, the silhouetted details held backto white, while exposed areas bloom into shades of Prussian blue. In the past, its simplicity made it useful for reproducing documents of building designs, hence the name blueprint. These days, we can use the technique for enchanting arrangements and wall-worthy art. The process is cheap and easy. Cyanotype chemicals can be ordered online for under £20. You can also buy ready-coated paper, but…

Blue hour is one of my favourite times to shoot, although the light doesn’t last long. Despite that, night-time in a city is still a great time to take photos and, with processing, you can boost the effect. Older cities tend to have more appeal, especially those which still use tungsten streetlights; more modern cities are more likely to have LED streetlights, to save money. The light is not as warm, meaning that you lose the beautiful blue/yellow complementary colour scheme of blue hour. While you can use high ISOs to capture night cityscapes handheld, it’s far better to keep the ISO as low as possible. If you like starburst effects on street lights, you’ll also need to use a narrow aperture around f/16 to achieve that look. Low ISOs…

TOMMY Reynolds started his career by shooting artists and musicians, so he’s an expert when it comes to studio lighting and posing. But it’s with wedding photography that he’s found his true calling, where he relies mainly on natural light and rapport to make his couples comfortable. With an abundance of cheer and confidence combined with his cinematic style, Tommy has honed his portfolio, his approach, and his preparation to become a professional wedding photographer that any mother of the bride would be happy with. On your special day, he says, “I’ll never lose sight of the laughter, the shared glances and the warmth of your love you’ll share.” But what about all the technicalities of shooting weddings, the Canon camera gear, and all of the production work that comes…

Osprey’s lunch ROBIN BAILEY, EGHAM SAYS… This is one of my favourite images – I was on a wildlife photography holiday in Scotland. This osprey was taken on one of the last days of the trip, after a few unsuccessful days. I felt very lucky as the bird appeared late in our session in the hide. The osprey was quite cautious and soon after I took this picture it was ousted from the perch by a crow. I enjoyed the rest of my trip, but for me this was the crowning glory. I shot it at 400mm with a 1/800 sec shutter speed. My editing skills are basic, so this image is straight from camera. BRIAN SAYS… Wildlife photos are great when the subject is actually exhibiting some behaviour and…

With over 200 lenses we’ve listed for Canon EOS cameras, picking the right one can be tough. Here’s the lowdown! Choosing lenses Key factors to watch out for The main factors to consider in a lens are its focal length, maximum aperture and if it’s full-frame compatible or not. We’ve categorized lenses by focal length range from wide-angle to telephoto. The larger a lens’s maximum aperture, the ‘faster’ it is. 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 mirrorless cameras the dedicated Canon RF lenses are best, but using Canon’s Mount Adapter EF-EOS R enables EF-S and EF lenses to be used…

THE NO.1 MAGAZINE FOR CANON USERS! FREE VIDEO GUIDES! In the next Canon Skills chapter… Stitch up sunset silhouettes Cool street photography tips Simple one-light setups for brilliant B&W portraits indoors New Photoshop, Lightroom and Affinity Photo tutorials PLUS ALL THIS… PhotoPlus Apprentice: Our Canon pro teaches a lucky reader how to take better shots with their EOS camera Super Test: The latest macro lenses Canon School: Solve your exposures Canon Profile: Canon photographer and content creator Matthew Perks ISSUE 218 ON SALE 23 MAY 2024 * Content subject to change…

Letter of the Month In your Photo Project 2 in issue 216 (page 50), I trust that the illustrations were shown on the different pages to give your readers an ‘idea’ on how the different implements should be used, but not how they would actually use them? When I worked in a private photography store, and later in Jessops, I hope that I imparted a method you seem to have “missed”: the lens and camera should be facing downwards. Any muck on the front element or resting on the sensor will then fall down, rather than being dragged over the delicate surface. Nik Watt, Edinburgh You’re absolutely right Nik and in the accompanying video tutorial, you’ll see that we do precisely that, for exactly that reason. It’s quite awkward to…

APPRENTICE NAME: GARY KIMBER CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D MK IV AFTER suffering a heart attack 10 years ago, which resulted in a triple bypass surgery, Gary is now semi-retired, and loves to get out shooting with his Canon cameras in his spare time. His passion is motorsports photography, but he’d love to take more landscapes if he was a little more confident with camera settings for outdoor scenes. He’s written to us asking for help understanding Manual mode and how to use filters for better landscape photos. CANON PRO NAME: JACK LODGE CAMERA: CANON EOS R5 BASED down in Wimborne, Dorset, Jack is perfectly placed for great landscapes and seascapes on the stunning Jurassic Coast. His image ‘Winter at Win Green’ was shortlisted in the Landscape Photographer of the Year 2022, and he runs…

We need to acknowledge that compelling and engaging photos don’t have to be sharp! After all, if your aesthetic treatment of a shot requires fuzzy or indistinct areas then sharpness may not be the intended outcome. But nine times out of ten, most shots require some part of the image to be crisply defined, so if you discover on close examination that you’ve missed the mark, then one of the three reasons outlined here is likely to be the cause. We say ‘likely’ because it is possible that softness in a shot is due to hazy or misty conditions, strong backlighting creating a ‘glow’ around the subject that doesn’t seem crisply defined, or the poor optical performance of a lens. We wouldn’t suggest you use the latter as an excuse…

There really is a right way to hold a camera if you want to maximize stability and be able to switch between landscape and portrait format in a smooth and efficient way. When you’re hand-holding, you want to make your body and grip as stable as a shake, so before you start shooting, make sure you’ve given yourself time to slow your breathing and heart rate.…

When your subject moves towards, away from or across you, you have to use continuous AF while you track it. It’s a trickier mode to use because as soon as your active AF point slips off target, it’s going to want to lock onto another part of the scene. A smooth panning action will help, and it’s generally best to use your most central AF points, as they’re the fastest and most accurate, even if that means recropping your shots later. It’s worth exploring the focus point options offered by your Canon, as this will enable you to choose the right set-up depending on the shot, whether it will be a single AF point for a static subject, continuous AF for moving ones or Subject Detection which also uses Servo…

No amount of post-capture sharpening can make a blurred photo sharp. This is why capturing your shot in sharp a manner as possible is so important. However, you can increase the apparent sharpness of an image in various ways in all raw processing packages. The exact techniques may vary, but essentially in every case you are simply improving the edge definition of your images, so the eye perceives greater sharpness. It’s important not to over-sharpen a shot or sharpen areas that don’t need to be worked on, or you’ll end up making a photo look worse!…

Brentor Church, Dartmoor, West Devon. 21:25pm. 23 June 2014 Sometimes you have to do a few oddball things to try to get the shot. Back in 2014, a potential shot I witnessed (without my camera) started to burn a hole in my head, after I saw an unexpected long distance spectacle unfold. Standing in a car park on Dartmoor, the distant Devon church of Brentor became a beautiful silhouette, as the sun set to its left. I began imagining a perfect Brentor church eclipse. I had to have this shot! The church is so far away, I am going to need the biggest gun I can get my hands on – a Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM super-telephoto prime, and I know just the people that make them.…

Canon’s RF 200-800mm lens almost feels like a prototype by a mad scientist, yet thanks to hi-tech RF mounts and EOS R cameras with amazing AF and high ISO performance, Canon can make such lenses a reality. But there have to be compromises to make sure the lens isn’t super-enormous and super-expensive. This is why the RF 200-800mm lens has a variable maximum aperture that starts at a not-so-fast f/6.3 at the short end and goes to a not-fast-at-all f/9 at the longer end. These smaller apertures ensure this lens is a very manageable size and weight, which is impressive considering the huge focal length range. When retracted, it’s only 314mm long and it weighs just over 2kg. It’s relatively well priced, too, at £2299. It has a filter size…

If you have an image that looks hazy – either through atmospheric conditions in summer or shrouded in mist in winter – the Dehaze command does a great job of cutting through the mist, crisping up distant details and boosting hazy scenes. It’s easy to use: simply open your RAW image in either Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop CC, or Lightroom, and experiment with the slider. The slider goes in both directions so not only can we use it to cut through haze, but we can also add the impression of mist. One of the challenges with landscape photography isin reducing busy scenes into simple, strong compositions. Fog, mist or low-lying cloud can help in this regard as it fades out the background details so that the foreground elements stand…

Tommy is a photographer, filmmaker and educator based in Kent, UK. He decided to turn professional in 2013 – having graduated with a degree in television and film production a few years previously – and specializes in portraits and weddings with a cinematic style. With a background in filmmaking, Tommy loves sharing behind-the-scenes content from his projects in a friendly, encouraging and insightful way. He’s built up an impressive social media community, with over 50,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. His love of teaching and speaking has taken him all over the world, giving talks at trade shows, including The Photography & Video Show earlier this year, and teaching group workshops on lighting and gear. Tommy’s client list includes the National Lottery, Ben Sherman, the Eurovision Song Contest, Universal Music,…

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…

“Lens quality is better at the centre of the image, so will image quality be better with a camera with an APS-C crop sensor than a full-frame camera?” Per Homann Jespersen, Denmark BRIAN SAYS… Lenses have the best optical performance at the centre and it reduces towards the edge. Lenses designed for full-frame can be used on APS-C cameras, and those cameras will only make use of the better central part of the lens. RF-S lenses are designed for APS-C cameras so the edge performance might be less than a full-frame lens, though the RF-S lens is smaller and lighter. However, image quality is not only dependent on lens performance but also on the sensor itself. The smaller APS-C image sensors pack in smaller pixels, and pixel size is a contributing…

Peter Travers Editor • 5D Mk IV & R5 peter.travers@futurenet.com “I had fun with the monster Canon RF 200-800mm super-telephoto for my photo project this issue. Find out how I got sharp shots of birds from a distance.” PAGE 48 Dan Mold Deputy editor • R & 7D Mk II dan.mold@futurenet.com “Prisms are the perfect way to experiment with your portraiture and this month I tested out premium Fractals Filters that can elevate your creativity.” PAGE 52 James Paterson Technique writer • R5 james.paterson@futurenet.com “Discover how to make richly-detailed Prussian blue cyanotype prints of random objects and photos taken with your Canon gear in my photo project.” PAGE 44 Matthew Richards Technical writer • R5 photoplus@futurenet.com “I don’t like leaving bits of camera kit at home that I may…

01 WINNER YOUNG WARRIOR BY SIGITA PLAYDON Sigita has caught a brilliant portrait of her daughter dressed up as a Viking for a Halloween costume. The moody make-up, costume and props all come together wonderfully for a striking black-and-white portrait with strong eye contact that demands the viewer’s attention. 02 SUMAYYAH BY JANUS MACZAK Janus’ portrait is full of marvellous minimalism playing with light and shadow to keep his image dark and dramatic. Subtle highlights in the model’s skin, eyes and reflecting off the lips provide bright beacons for your eyes to lock onto and get sucked into this beautiful portrait. 03 BEAUTIFUL STARE BY JON MORRIS There’s a lot to love about Jon’s great B&W portrait here, from the intricate costume design and props, to the model’s striking pose with…

Now we know that camera shake – caused by physical movement of the camera during the exposure – is the biggest culprit when it comes to ruined shots. But the combination of slow shutter speeds and movement of the camera in your hands is something that is directly within your control. It’s important you understand what you can do to prevent accidentally blurred images. The longer your lens, the greater the chance of camera shake, because the slightest movement in your hands has a bigger impact on distant focal points with telephotos. It’s hard to say what shutter speed you need to prevent camera shake for yourself, but a good rule of thumb is your shutter speed should be at least match your focal length, so for a 200mm lens…

There’s nothing worse than discovering that your shots aren’t critically sharp, especially if you only find out when you’re at home with no opportunity to reshoot the scene. Knowing the right focusing mode for the situation is the key factor to ensuring your images are sharp, and it’s a minefield ready to catch you out! Not only do you need the right focusing mode, but you also need to focus at the right place within your scene to get the most amount of sharpness in front of and behind that point. But get it right, and your images will display that important critical sharpness you’re after. PRO ADVICE How to choose the best focusing mode for the job All modern Canon EOS cameras feature a range of focusing modes. These…

If you need a lot of foreground-to-horizon sharpness in a landscape photo, then the hyperfocal distance is a technical way of achieving it: you identify a point at which you focus to maximise sharpness both in front of and behind that focal point. The hyperfocal distance varies with the lens and the aperture you use. It’s possible to work out the hyperfocal distance for a lens and aperture combo, but it’s easier to use a chart or app on smartphones. If you want an easier but less accurate method, choose a focusing point around one-third into your scene. Having a 3x3 grid visible in your viewfinder or on your Live View screen will help with this – all you need to do is simply focus on a point on the…

01 THE AREA TO BE SHARPENED With your image open in Photoshop, use the Lasso tool to select the area where you want the sharpening to occur and hit Ctrl/Cmd+J to punch this into a separate Layer. In the Layers panel, click where it says Normal and select the Overlay Blend Mode. The selected area in the new layer will now have a lot of contrast. 02 APPLY THE HIGH PASS FILTER Go to Filter>Other>High Pass and enter a Radius of around 3 to 5 pixels in the dialog box. Some images will require a higher amount than others, depending on the level of detail that’s present. You will see the well-defined edges become a little more crisp. Don’t worry if it looks too much – we’ll move on and…

There’s no shortage of photographic gear and gadgets on the market. Although while we often justify a new lens with an ability to open up new creative possibilities, we don’t always give accessories the same time of day. This month I’ve been experimenting with the Classic 3-Pack from Fractals Filters, which at £94 ($120) may sound a tad steep, but like a new lens, they open up brilliant artistic opportunities and allow you to take unique pictures. These prism filters can be held in front of the lens to refract and reflect light in interesting ways. Some create a glitchy pattern while others create a kaleidoscope of colour, making them perfect for portraits – giving your shots an edge that will stand out from the crowd. Of course, cheap prisms…

Lens flare is usually an element that photographers will take care to avoid. But on the right image, it can enhance the mood. It’s ideal for travel, portraiture and lifestyle photography, as what we lose in detail, we make up for in atmosphere. Of course, if you want natural flares then the best approach is to capture them in-camera by shooting into the sun. But sometimes the effect is difficult tocapture, or it can look too weak. In this photo here, there is a subtle lens flare in the original image but it’s too weak to register properly. Whether you want to add to existing lens flare like this or create it from scratch, then Affinity Photo has a range of tools that can help. Unlike Photoshop, there isn’t a…

Skye’s the limit Sue chased the best light for magical landscapes on the Isle of Skye I am an amateur photographer who lives in Suffolk and first picked up a camera in 2019, since then I have tried various photography genres, however I have developed a keen interest in landscape photography. In October 2023, myself and a group of like-minded friends visited the Isle of Skye. As you will appreciate, the landscape on Skye is hugely different to that in Suffolk, for starters there are no hills in Suffolk to speak of. At this time of year we were blessed with the shorter days, resulting in a later sunrise and an earlier sunset, plus the bonus of sites being less busy. So there were few very early starts, at least not…

Use Manual mode is common advice from professional and advanced photographers in this magazine and elsewhere. Recently, a photographer asked me why manual exposure was almost universally suggested. Manual exposure puts the photographer in full control, forcing them to choose how movement of the camera or subject is captured and how much depth of field is needed. If you are always in Manual mode (M), you don’t need to decide what mode to use. EOS R System cameras introduced another exposure mode, flexible priority (Fv) where the photographer chooses the most important parameters, letting the camera determine the others or takes full control – just like Manual. Cameras are designed to help photographers capture better shots; lots of great automated features ease the learning and reduce the potential for getting…