Indholdsfortegnelse for No. 278 i Digital Photographer

Sometimes in photography, as in life, intricate planning can be the route to success. However, in many cases, spontaneity is what yields the most inspirational results. Take composition, for example. You can follow the rules set out in all the photo textbooks but often we press the shutter button when the image feels right. In the moment, improvisation produces the most unexpected successes. To that end, explore our special cover feature starting on p36 of the magazine, where you’ll learn how to identify unusual framing opportunities for professional-looking shots that go beyond the obvious. Next, turn to p24 for our refresher feature on using your camera’s mode selector dial. As a pro, you might think you know your modes well, however, rethinking the way you put each to work can…

Matt Holland Matt specialises in long-exposure photography and astrophotography, whether it’s in the mountains or on the coast and in whatever weather. Based near the Dartmoor National Park in England, Matt is a committed lover of the great outdoors and is a long-term user of Olympus (now OM System) cameras. matthollandphoto.com As the legendary photojournalist Sir Don McCullin once said, there’s little point in shooting landscapes in the summer – the skies aren’t dramatic enough and the trees aren’t naked. So what does an outdoor photographer do in the warmer months? Matt Holland has a good way of preventing his camera kit from gathering dust in a drawer – he thought he’d give infrared photography a go and he hasn’t looked back since. Based near Dartmoor, Holland has on his…

Many photographers will know the importance of using tripods for capturing sharp images in low-light conditions. But while tripods are a must when shooting long-exposure images outdoors, in places where there are restrictions on their use, for example, in churches, cathedrals and museums or at events such as live shows, this can pose challenges. Even if tripods are allowed, sometimes it isn’t practical to use them, for example, when shooting in crowded areas. Not being able to use a tripod becomes particularly problematic in low-light conditions where longer shutter speeds increase the susceptibility to camera shake. Despite the many advancements in camera technology that have helped low-light photography, achieving sharp photos in these conditions is difficult. Without the necessary knowledge and practice, you may end up with a collection of…

After several years of preparation, I started leading independent photography workshops in 2018 and have since conducted over 20 courses, spanning the landscape and wildlife genres, both in the UK and overseas. Sharing my passion for photography while guiding others in honing their skills is a rewarding experience. Encouraging aspiring photographers through independent workshops, promoting creativity, skills advancement and personalised learning experiences has proven to be a gratifying mix of both personal and professional growth. However, leading a photography workshop is never easy. Successful workshops demand thorough preparation and this venture was only possible through years of hard work and self-teaching, giving me the confidence to cater to enthusiasts of varying abilities. Begin by defining your niche, whether it’s landscape, wildlife, portrait photography or another specialised area. Clarify your workshop…

Image sharing I’ve shot a couple of weddings for friends and family, and I’m hoping to do more in the future. In the past, I’ve simply transferred their images over to them via Dropbox but is there a better way to do this? What do other wedding photographers do? Andrea Green There are many different and creative ways you can present your images to your clients. The first (and a popular option amongst photographers) is to share them through a digital gallery. Platforms like Pixieset (pixieset.com), Pass (passgallery.com), ShootProof (shootproof.com) and Pic-Time (pic-time.com), to name just a few, are all free to set up and run in a similar way. If you need additional storage space, you can upgrade to a paid plan. They vary in price and features but…

Place: Moravia, Czech Republic Date: April 2023 Kit: Sony A7RIII Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Focal length: 180mm Landscapes undergo significant transformations throughout the year, influenced by the weather and the season, but Ryszard decided to capture this scene in spring. “I planned to capture this scene at this time of year as I really wanted to show nature coming to life,” he explains. “The lushness of the spring greenery is crucial in this photo.” Ryszard skilfully captured the light and shadow to highlight the different hues of green. This has resulted in a vibrant but harmonious frame that mesmerises with its vivid colours. Furthermore, this all-green colour scheme allows the tiny Chapel of St Barbara, found on the right of the frame, to stand out. Leading lines…

Photographer: Teresa Molinaro Title: Waning Gibbous at midday Location: Palermo, Sicily, Italia teresamolinaro.it  @teresa.fotografia_astronomia About the shot: “I’m an astrophotographer and the moon is one of my favourite subjects but I don’t limit myself to shooting it at night or when there’s a full moon. I always strive for a unique and original shot and, in this scene, the moon is in its waning phase at midday in broad daylight in the skies above Sicily. The shot was challenging since the sunlight dazzles the sky at that time of the day so the moon isn’t so evident. There were also different reflections and sparkles from the clouds but I decided to make them the focal point so I waited for them to get closer to the moon to add a…

The Leica SL3 is the first mirrorless camera from Leica that I’ve fallen in love with. I love using the M and Q cameras, but the SL series just never did it for me – and the fact they were similar to Panasonic’s S cameras, apart from the price tags, certainly didn’t help either. However, the Leica SL3 absolutely knocks things out of the park in ways that its predecessors never managed. While it might lack the soul of a Leica M11 or even the Leica Q3, this beautiful slab of sculpted black metal is a straight-up spectacular imaging machine. The Leica SL3 takes a number of technological cues from the Leica Q3, namely its triple resolution 60.3MP image sensor and phase detect autofocus – the latter being nothing short…

Photography is both an art and a science and, as such, there are a plethora of confusing technical terms to get to grips with. Luckily, we don’t often need to think about this jargon, except perhaps when buying a new lens or investing in new tech. However, understanding how your camera works and what these terms mean can improve your appreciation of the medium, help you make better buying decisions and shoot better images as you progress. Here are some of the ones we wish we had known from the beginning. Aspect ratio The shape of an image frame, defined by the proportional relationship between the width and the height of the image sensor. Acutance The subjective perception of the sharpness of a photographic image, as defined by the contrast…

READ OUR FULL REVIEW ON PAGE 104 Leica has announced the SL3, a powerhouse full-frame camera with a 60MP sensor, 8K 30p video, phase-detect autofocus and an app that downloads images to your phone in just seconds. Its predecessor, the Leica SL2, was a tough sell; while it was a beautiful camera, it had an uncomfortable amount in common with the Panasonic Lumix S1R – not least the sluggish contrast-based autofocus system. However, the new SL3 remedies both of those points by being technologically unique and introducing hybrid phase-detect AF – so the substance now matches its style. Its triple-resolution sensor offers 60.3MP, 36.4MP or 18.5MP shooting to accommodate your workflow and output needs, with a Dual Basis ISO that covers ISO 50 to 100,000. That sensor resolution is also…

Lensbaby manufactures lenses that offer users a wide variety of artistic options, including blurring and tilt-shifting effects. Its latest release, the Lensbaby Sweet 22, pushes this further, with the ‘smallest sweet spot with the most blur outside the sweet spot of any Lensbaby lens’. The lens creates a pin-sharp area of focus vignetted by a smooth blur effect and is compatible with fullframe and APS-C cameras available for Canon RF, Nikon Z, Fujifilm X, Sony E, and L mounts. The new lens is a 22mm pancake lens and therefore extremely compact. It’s surprisingly small considering it is constructed of four elements in two groups, but despite its small form, its all-metal body makes it robust. It’s a manual focus lens and provides a small focusing ring for precise accuracy. Lensbaby…

The mode dial is one of the most important and underused parts of any advanced camera. Usually found on top of the body as a physical dial or selector, it allows photographers to quickly switch between different shooting modes and adapt to varied conditions, subjects, and even creative preferences. PASM is an acronym referring to the four main exposure modes found on most DSLR and mirrorless cameras. In Program mode (P), which is semi-automatic, the camera selects the aperture and shutter speed but leaves you to adjust settings like ISO, exposure compensation and white balance. In Aperture Priority Mode (A or Av), you choose the aperture, and the camera adjusts the shutter speed to achieve the ‘correct’ exposure. Similarly in Shutter Priority Mode (S, Tv, or T), you set the…

When it comes to capturing images, either still or moving, white balance is crucial. This setting helps to regulate the colour temperature of an image, ensuring the most accurate representation of colour, which can vary depending on the light source used and whether it’s artificial or natural. When the white balance is set to the optimum, any white areas in the scene are rendered as ‘pure’ white and any colour casts that may affect the overall quality of the image are eliminated. Most modern cameras feature an automatic white balance setting, which can adjust the camera’s colour temperature between a range of approximately 3,000 and 7,000 Kelvin. This feature is particularly useful when taking photographs under changing light conditions or varying light sources. For instance, the colour temperature during sunrise…

For our latest competition in association with Photocrowd, we challenged you to submit your best creative colour images. After working through all the entries, the winners have been selected. As a prize, the expert winners will receive a licence for Affinity Photo professional editing software. Congratulations to all of the winners – as usual, the standard of submitted images was extremely high and it was a difficult task to select the best ones. 1ST PLACE WINNER Abstract Flag Photographer guentherja This a highly creative shot! We love the concept and it has been brilliantly executed. The basic alignment of colours is interesting in itself, but the idea to recreate the US flag in a stylised format is inspired. The focal length choice, exposure and framing all work together in a…

On the face of it, the Canon Speedlite EL-5 looks like something of a bargain. It shoehorns most of the features of the flagship Canon Speedlite EL-1 into a more compact, lightweight build, including a 24-200mm motorised zoom head with a hefty Gn 60 maximum power rating, a secondary twin LED lamp for constant lighting, modelling and AF-assist, and advanced flash modes, such as high-speed sync, rear-curtain sync and programmable strobe. The EL-5 also runs on the same Canon LP-EL rechargeable Lithium-ion battery pack, boosting stamina and recycling speed between flashes. And compared with the Speedlite EL-1, the EL-5 costs less than half as much to buy. The EL-5 is the first Canon Speedlite to feature the new 21-pin ‘multi-function foot’, but that’s both good and bad news. On the…

Sony’s 24-50mm f/2.8 G lens is a souped-up version of its FE 28- 60mm f/4-5.6 lens, sacrificing a little reach for a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture, more manageable dimensions and a lower price. It follows a trend towards compact lenses with smaller zoom ranges but top-level features. Optically, the Sony 24-50mm f/2.8 G incorporates four aspherical elements to minimise aberrations and two ED (extra-low dispersion) glass elements to suppress chromatic aberration. It relies on digital corrections, as Sony notes that images are corrected by default in-camera but RAW files (and raw video) will require a correction profile in software. The autofocus specifications are similarly advanced, incorporating dual Linear Motors for fast, quiet AF with what Sony claims will be high tracking performance. Sony says that the new lens will be…

Have you ever wondered why some photos stand out from the rest? Of course, there are plenty of aspects that may catch our eye but it’s most likely to have something to do with the composition. With the rise of social media platforms, we’ve all seen countless shots that apply common composition strategies; but here’s the thing, however impressive or technically correct they are, these shots tend to get lost in a sea of similar-looking images. This is hardly surprising, as when we are first introduced to photography, the use of classic framing methods is high on the list of things we are taught. Straying from this path of tried-and-tested rules is not considered an option although, in reality, not every interesting scene can be captured at its fullest potential…

It is not unusual for wedding photographers to be paid via Bacs, however, some clients may not feel comfortable doing this as there are lots of untrustworthy T a people out there. Your best option is to use a payment system such as PayPal or Stripe. Both are free to set up but you pay a percentage charge on any transactions. On Stripe, you pay 1.5% plus 20p for standard UK cards and Paypal takes a fee of 2.9% plus 30p per transaction. So, for example, if your fee is £1,000, Stripe will cost £15.20, so you may want to factor this into your cost. For clients who don’t want to use Bacs, you could use Stripe or PayPal instead…

International Garden Photographer of the Year 17 With a panel of judges including the former editor of our sister magazine, Digital Camera and Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, the International Garden Photographer of The Year is a staple in the photography competition calendar. Launched in 2007 by five members of the Professional Garden Photographers Association, it attracts entries from all over the globe and culminates in a prestigious exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. For information on how to enter next year’s contest, visit igpoty.com…

PRICE: £1,149/$1,999 FOCUS DISTANCE: 0.18-0.29m (MF) WEIGHT: 440g Build and handling So-called ‘trinity’ wide-angle, standard and telephoto zooms with a constant f/2.8 aperture are highly popular but they’re often bulky, heavy lenses. The FE 24-50mm f/2.8 G is refreshingly lightweight – while the new lens weighs 440g, the full-size Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II weighs in at 695g – but comes with a compromise in the outright zoom range. It certainly has plenty of wide-angle potential, matching the more usual 24-70mm f/2.8 zooms, but doesn’t stretch to anything beyond a standard focal length, which makes it far less versatile. The lens also has an extending inner barrel, so while it’s compact at the 50mm mark, there’s a noticeable physical extension as you zoom out towards the 24mm wide-angle setting.…

The Heat Company Shell mittens Price £133/$163 Website theheatcompany.com The Heat Company’s Shell mittens are designed for use in seriously cold conditions, making them ideal for photographic trips to places like Iceland and Norway. They can be worn by themselves or over a liner for extra warmth and there’s a zip-close pocket for holding a hand warmer over your fingers should you need one. The Shell mittens are available in five different colours and four sizes, and are made from breathable microfibre with PrimaLoft insulation, plus goat leather over the palm and thumb for extra durability. Importantly for photographers, there’s a weatherproof zipper across the palm that can be opened to allow the top of the mitten to be folded back to allow your fingers to have direct access to…