Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2024 i PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

Let me be honest with you: I was a bit jealous when our deputy editor Dan Mold and Canon pro James Abbott headed to the Lake District this month! It’s one of my favourite places in the UK to photograph landscapes, and the perfect place for James to teach our PhotoPlus Apprentice how to use his Canon gear to take better scenic shots. But it was a pleasure to see the Hot Shots they took while there, and how they tackled the challenging and changeable weather. See page 8. This issue, we help you make more of the 25 Canon settings you should be using! Our EOS cameras are packed with incredibly powerful features, many of which you’ve probably never used – or possibly never knew about. Turn to page…

01 WINNER DRAGONFLY DAWN BY JAY BIRMINGHAM Jay’s fabulous shot of this stunning dragonfly against the rising sun deservedly takes the top spot in this month’s Nature Close-Up photo contest. His composition is minimalistic with the dragonfly perfectly centred against the diffused glow of the rising sun, and with plenty of space around his subject to let it breathe too. 02 BILL TAPPING BY STUART WILLIAMS Stuart’s captured a wonderfully tender moment between these two ‘love birds’. Zooming in on the details with his Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 II lens and a 2x teleconverter has allowed him to get super close for a really intimate portrait, which is dramatically lit, and expertly executed. 03 GREEN TREE PYTHON BY BRUCE SPERKA Bruce has managed to get an awesome tight headshot of this vibrant green…

Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 16:20pm. 25 October 2009 Back in 2009, I was lucky enough to get a contract that changed my life. In 2007, I had six images appear in an AA publication, a new competition called Landscape Photographer of the Year. My diversity caught their eye and this led to my first big commissions as a professional – shooting images for guide books. First up was a contract to shoot the Forest of Bowland, and after I hung up the phone, I immediately Googled where on Earth the Forest of Bowland was! The next contract was Flamborough, the highlight being the antics of intelligent and greedy seagulls as they dive-bombed pea fritters, to the anger of holidaymakers. When they proposed Boston, I thought they meant Boston in Lincolnshire, but…

From the roar of the vintage engines as planes race by overhead, to the fun of characters dressed up in period outfits, there will be plenty to photograph when you visit an airshow near you this summer. Airshows present a real opportunity to hone your photo skills and you’re pretty much guaranteed to come away with some great images. However, if you’re interested in elevating your aviation photography to the next level, some simple steps towards better technique will go a long way to making a big difference. Picking the right kit for airshows will also help ensure you get the best results, but any Canon EOS camera will do the job so don’t think your equipment will be the key factor. That said, some kit can’t be scrimped on,…

Photoshop has a new retouching tool – and it’s likely to become your go-to for many retouching tasks from now on. If you want to remove something from your photo, the new Remove tool will almost always do a great job. Simply paint over the offending details and it’s gone in a second. In our Jordan.jpg start image, it lets us transform a bustling tourist snap at the famous Treasury building of ancient Petra in Jordan into a wonderfully empty scene. Of course, it’s not quite perfect. But then what tool is? Before the Remove tool came along, we relied on features such as the Spot Healing and Patch tools. These all base their fixes on the existing content within the image. But the new Remove tool is different, employing…

01 EBOR FALLS Brian took a wider shot of this scene from further back, to give the waterfall scale and place it in context with the surrounding scenery Lens Canon RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM Exposure 30 secs, f/16, ISO100 Falling for you Brian found a photographer’s paradise when he visited Australia’s Waterfall Way I am a retired aircraft maintenance engineer, and I first became interested in photography around 1952. I now use a Canon EOS R10 fitted with an RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM lens, which is a good all-rounder and day-out lens. Waterfall Way is a 185km scenic drive between Coffs Harbour and Armidale, in the Northern Tablelands region of New South Wales. I’ve wanted to explore the area and take photos of some of the waterfalls for a while. I…

The range of AF methods on the modern EOS camera means that I’m often asked which is the correct method to choose. There’s no simple answer, apart from “It depends!” That dependency is a function of the subject being photographed and the photographer’s own skills. With Canon’s mirrorless cameras offering as many as eight different AF systems, the choice is wider than ever before. Even within the mirrorless models, the AF systems work in slightly different ways. The EOS R5 and R6 can only detect and track People, Animals or Vehicles in Zone and Face + Tracking methods, and Eye Detection only with Face + Tracking. Later models can identify the subject focus and track it around the frame. This would be simpler if all photographers had the same skills,…

CANON PRO NAME: JAMES ABBOTT CAMERA: CANON EOS R5 & R6 JAMES IS an editorial and advertising photographer who produces eye-catching landscape and portrait images for editorial, commercial and private clients. Despite being based in Cambridge – one of the flattest parts of the country – you’ll regularly find him exploring the UK’s hills, mountains and expansive coastline, shooting landscapes and teaching on his workshops. He’s also the author of The Digital Darkroom: The Definitive Guide to Photo Editing. www.jamesaphoto.co.uk APPRENTICE NAME: LASSE PETERSEN CAMERA: CANON EOS 5D MK IV BORN IN Denmark, Lasse, 67, has lived in the UK since he was 26, after meeting his now wife Jane. Like many, he first got into film photography back in the ’70s and ’80s, though working as a dentist, it was his clinical photography work…

Discover how to utilise your Can on camera’s settings for better shots EOS cameras have a wealth of hidden features, each of which can make photography that little bit easier or more enjoyable. Just like your smartphone, there are stacks of shortcuts that are designed to help you work faster, get better results, or create something unique. While many of these gems are easy to find, others are buried in sub-menus. Here, we’ve picked out a selection of 25 useful features that are worth using more often, if you’re not doing so already. Compared with Canon’s EOS DSLRs, there’s undoubtedly more to discover in Canon’s EOS R System mirrorless cameras, but we’re focusing on features that are generally shared more widely across the EOS range. So there’s something for everyone!…

I’ve been meaning to seek out a really good bird hide in my local area for years to try to capture some great shots, but I’ve never found the time, or a good spot, until recently. After extensive research, I worked out there were some remote bird hides dotted around the large Chew Valley Lake, not too far from me. The key was finding out where to pay to get a permit to access the hides, and more importantly, getting a map to show where the best hides for the best bird photos were hidden! A visit to the local lodge, and I was armed with this crucial information. I then needed to get hold of the best Canon kit to make the most of this great opportunity, so I…

Sometimes you can walk away from a location with the feeling that you didn’t quite find the best angle on it. It happened to me in Iceland here. I took lots of shots of the famous Kirkjufellsfoss mountain and waterfalls, but it was a struggle to capture the waterfalls and mountain from my position. I simply couldn’t frame the foreground waterfall without leaving the mountain looking puny in the distance, when in the flesh it felt huge and imposing… mountainous! This is often the case when shooting landscapes with a wide-angle lens. We want to capture the details in the foreground, but the exaggerated perspective you get with a wide angle can leave the distant elements in the scene looking small and insignificant. The only way to make the distant…

C’mon heal the noise! Canon’s DPP tools can be the solution for sharp shots in low light When you raise the ISO, or let Auto ISO do it for you, the camera is amplifying the signal from the image sensor. Like all forms of amplification, the more you amplify a small signal the more you also amplify any noise within that signal. Use the right camera settings and processing options in Canon’s DPP software will minimize the noise and let you capture pictures when you might have simply put the camera away. Low-light shooting doesn’t have to mean blurred images and tripod time, choose the right camera settings to give you the best opportunity to capture images that will clean up well. When shooting JPG images, the camera’s high ISO noise reduction…

THE CONTENDERS The cost of living crisis has become a familiar phrase around the world. Many of us nowadays are having to be more careful with our spending than we can probably ever remember. Canon’s top-flight L-series lenses might remain on the wish list rather than in the shopping basket for quite a while but there’s a little light relief for all of us who are enthusiastic about our photography. For starters, Canon offers some seriously good cameras that are supremely affordable. Conventional DSLRs kick off with the EOS 2000D/Rebel T7, while the mirrorless EOS R100 is a revelation at the price. Better still, all of Canon’s budget-friendly EOS cameras come as a ‘kit’ option, including a discounted kit standard zoom lens that further stretches their value for money. But…

THE NO.1 MAGAZINE FOR CANON USERS! FREE VIDEO GUIDES! In the next Canon Skills chapter… ■ Make a splash with your garden-bird photos ■ Stroboscopic action photo tips ■ Learn ‘explosive’ photo skills ■ New Photoshop, Lightroom and Affinity Photo tutorials PLUS ALL THIS… ■ PhotoPlus Apprentice: Learn to take your airshow photos to new heights! ■ Canon Profile: Polish landscape photographer Paweł Uchorczak ■ Super Test: Which are the best lenses for landscape photography? We test eight contenders so you don’t have to! ISSUE 221 ON SALE 15 AUGUST 2024 * Content subject to change…

LASSE’S COMMENT “ En route to Ashness Bridge, we passed Ashness Jetty and noticed it had been damaged, making it all wonky. James explained it was a rare opportunity, as once repaired, you’ll never be able to shoot it again. There was only room for one tripod on the pier, so we took it in turns to shoot, with the other holding an umbrella to stop rain landing on our filters. James took the best shot here using a 10-stop ND filter and Bulb mode for a shutter speed of 80 secs to create loads of moody movement in the water and sky. Thank you PhotoPlus and James for an incredible day in the Lakes. It’s been an invaluable experience and I can’t wait to put all of the advice…

FREE CAMERA BAG WORTH £29.99! YOUR FREE LOWEPRO PASSPORT DUO BACKPACK* • Fits Canon EOS R mirrorless cameras or 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 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!”Peter Travers Editor 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…

Warhammer was – for me – something my little brother used to do when we were kids in the ’80s. But a few months ago my 11-year-old son got into it. Now the house is littered with paints, brushes, plastic sprues and all manner of lovingly crafted miniature figures. I wanted to get involved, but the dice-throwing was all beyond me. Whether you’re interested in capturing miniature scenes like this or any similar close-up photography (perhaps Lego or toy soldiers), you’ll find a host of tips and tricks to try over the following pages. These figures are painstakingly painted by hand, a process that often takes days or weeks. So to do them justice we need to take a similarly in-depth approach to our photography. It starts with the composition.…

There’s nothing like the look of shallow focus in a portrait. Whether you’ve used natural light or flash via high-speed sync, the creamy look as the face fades into the background is sublime. When you nail focus and exposure, all the parts naturally come together for a beautiful, soft portrait. The trick to this look is using fast primes; it doesn’t have to be expensive, as most makers have budget prime lenses with an aperture of f/1.8. While not as sweet as their f/1.4 or f/1.2 counterparts, they do enable you to get closer to the look without breaking the bank. It’s worth investing, though, and many photographers use these lenses for their signature style. You need to take care in the edit. Natural light shots look better overexposed when…

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“I found that AF can be stopped by pressing a button on the back of my camera, but when would be useful?”Ash Godden, Lancaster BRIAN SAYS… Some Canon photographers like to control when autofocus happens independently of when the shutter is pressed. Often a technique known as back-button focus is used, where the shutter button half-press only activates exposure, and the AF-On or AE-Lock buttons are used to imitate AF. An alternative, as you have found, is to use one of the back buttons to stop focus. One situation where this can be useful is while using a long lens to photograph distant birds in bushes or trees. Once the bird is sharp, AF can be locked by pressing the back button; then the shutter button is pressed as needed…

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…

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