Innehållsförteckning för March 2020 från Digital Camera Magazine

Wildlife photography requires planning, patience and technique, but the rewards are substantial. A well-composed shot of your subject timed to perfection will have you purring with delight. So for this month’s cover feature, we reveal our hints, tips and hard-learned advice to capture birds, beasts and more like a pro. As ever, Digital Camera is packed with ideas, inspiration and insights – turn the page to discover our highlights of the issue. Something else we’re really excited about here at DC Towers is The Photography Show, which takes place in Birmingham’s NEC between 14-17 March. This four-day event is a must for anyone with a passion for photography and there’s an amazing range of talks, demonstrations and much more – we hope to see you there! Read more in the…

1 Phase One XT camera “My landscape camera body,” says Paul, “and the most digitally integrated field camera solution available on the market today.” 2 Rodenstock HR Digaron-W 32mm f/4 Wide and incredibly sharp, this lens has a precise carbon-fibre shutter. 3 Phase One XF camera Coupled with ultra-sharp ‘Blue Ring’ Schneider Kreuznach lenses, this is Paul’s main commercial body, and his first-choice camera for high-res images. 4 Schneider Kreuznach 35mm LS f/3.5 “My XF 35mm lens is my go-to for landscape shoots on the XF body,” says Paul. “One of the sharpest lenses that Phase One makes, this optic allows me to see almost impossible details way out into the distance while still delivering a wide-angle view in one shot.” Phase One IQ4 digital back 150MP “This is my…

We all have our own perspective on the world, and camera lenses aim to replicate these optical viewpoints as faithfully as possible. To record in a photograph what we see with our eyes, we choose the appropriate lens for the job, whether it has a fixed or adjustable focal range. But you can also use specific lenses to move away from simply reproducing a scene, instead flattening or ‘compressing’ it. And one of the best ways to achieve a flattened perspective for effective creative results is to use a telephoto lens. Here’s the technical bit. Flattened perspective is achieved when the visual depth between subjects is reduced; the relative subjects in the image will therefore appear closer to one another than they are in reality. Distances now become more important…

After the sun sets, cities become different places. Locations that were not particularly photogenic in the stark light of day begin to become beautiful under artificial illumination. These are places like the roads and tramlines that snake their way through a city; the lit backstreets; and the multi-coloured lighting from signage. All can be used as backdrops to your shots. There are a few things you’ll need to shoot the city at night. First on the list is a tripod, an essential tool when you are dealing with longer exposures. You’ll also want a camera that has a high ISO capability, and a fast lens for handheld shots. A torch would be useful to check settings on the camera (always use a red torch if you are doing any sort…

Recently I discovered a bunch of old black-and-white 4x6 prints. They were slightly was to throw them away – but then something stopped me. The images were taken at the beach, and were mainly of gulls sweeping down towards the camera. I can’t remember exactly what I was trying to achieve: I think I was experimenting with rear-curtain flash and moving subjects. Whatever it was, I couldn’t have been happy enough with the shots to do anything with them, and they’d been relegated to the back of a cupboard. However, the passage of time and the distance from my original motivation allowed me to see them in a new way. I couldn’t find the negatives, and there was something about the way the surface of the print had degraded over…

You get full control over the aperture, shutter speed and ISO in Manual, so you can choose precisely how bright or dark the image is. Manual mode is often used in conjunction with spot metering, as this allows you to base your exposure on a specific area of the picture. As you point the camera at different parts of the subject or scene, you’ll see the indicator move up and down the scale in the viewfinder. If the indicator is in the middle, the area covered by the spot meter will be a standard midtone value in the final image. To make this area brighter, move the indicator to the ‘+’ side of the scale by using a larger aperture, a slower shutter speed or a higher ISO. To make…

Steve McCurry Photographer Title: Mahouts sleep with their elephant Location: Rajasthan, northern India Date: 2012 magnumphotos.com/photographer/steve-mccurry Magnum Photos contributor Steve McCurry is a true legend of contemporary international photography. During a career spanning more than three decades, McCurry has shot no end of iconic images, but is perhaps best-known for his Afghan Girl portrait. With its subject’s piercing blue eyes, it has graced the covers of magazines and periodicals all over the world. McCurry was smuggled into Afghanistan by Afghan refugees, and was able to document the early stages of the Soviet invasion of 1979. Prior to that, though, the American photographer had been travelling around India, one of many visits he had made to the subcontinent. The images resulting from these various trips were curated for a 2015 book,…

FILE & VIDEO Download the disc: www.bit.ly/dc226disc With over a decade as a writer and photographer behind him, James knows exactly which Photoshop and Lightroom tools and techniques matter most. At first glance, the colours in an image can sometimes look disappointingly flat – and nothing like how you remember them when the shot was taken. If you want to give those dull colours a quick boost, one of the easiest edits to make is a simple increase in saturation. This is where Photoshop’s Hue/Saturation command comes in. You can use the command to increase saturation, either across the entire image or by targeting specific colour ranges. In my paint image, for example, I can enhance the greens in the paint to give the image a much-needed boost. The Hue/Saturation…

Every month two of our resident Photoshop experts are challenged to interpret one raw file in any way they see fit. Over the following pages, they reveal their rationale and show how you can achieve their look… The original by Alistair Campbell This portrait make-up artist Rebecca captures an urban vibe through the styling and environment. It was taken on a Fujifilm X-T2 with a Fujinon 35mm lens; the exposure was 1/250 sec at f/2, ISO 640. Model: Rebecca Rose Robinson. Clothing: An Original Leroy FILE & VIDEO Download the disc: www.bit.ly/dc226disc James Abbott James specialises in landscape and portrait images, and is an advanced Photoshop user. Raw warrior 1 wants to create… A colour-coordinated portrait Jon Adams Jon is a professional photographer and writer. He also provides one-to-one and…

www.sony.co.uk The Alpha 6600 is Sony’s latest and greatest offering in its popular A6000-series APS-C mirrorless cameras. Its 24.2MP sensor and Bionz X image processor are nothing particularly special, but Sony has gone to town with the A6600’s advanced autofocus and subject tracking capabilities. Other new, high-end features include a weather-sealed magnesium alloy body that conceals in-body sensor-shift image stabilisation and a high-capacity battery. This is also a camera targeted squarely at video and vlogging. It boasts 4K HDR capture with no restriction on recording length, along with an integrated microphone socket for enhanced audio clarity, plus a headphone input for monitoring. At the heart of the A6600 is Sony’s venerable 24.2MP APS-C sensor. We’ve seen it before in previous A6000-series cameras; even the entry-level A6100 uses it. However, it…

www.sony.co.uk Sony’s Alpha 7 and 7R were unveiled in 2014, and were the world’s first mirrorless cameras to feature full-frame sensors. The Alpha 7R II followed a year later, and became Sony’s highest-resolution model, with an effective pixel count of 42.4 million. To push detail resolution even further, the sensor had no optical low pass filter (OLPF). As well as having the first full-frame backside illuminated (BSI) sensor, the A7R II was the first full-frame camera to feature in-body five-axis image stabilisation and the ability to record 4K movies internally. Other specification highlights included Sony’s Bionz X processor, which enables a maximum sensitivity setting of ISO 102,400; a 399-point hybrid autofocus system; a new 500,000-cycle life shutter unit that creates less vibration than before; and a 2,359,296-dot OLED EVF. Performance…

Marginally larger and heavier than Canon’s previous EF-S latest IS STM boasts some key advantages. Previous editions relied on a basic electric autofocus motor that was noisy and sluggish. Worse still, the manual focus ring and the front element both rotated during autofocus, impairing handling and making it tricky to use lens filters. The stepping motor in this lens addresses all of these issues and delivers fast yet virtually silent autofocus. The STM lens inherits the four-stop image stabiliser from its predecessor, while adding two extra optical elements and a more well-rounded seven-blade diaphragm. Performance Centre-sharpness is pretty good on the whole, but drops off quite noticeably at the long end of the zoom range, while corner-sharpness is merely mediocre. Digital Camera verdict Image quality is good rather than great,…

Easily manageable for an f/2.8 standard zoom, than two thirds the physical length of the competing Nikon, and shaves nearly 25 per cent off the weight. The Mark II represents a major revamp over the original lens, with an upgraded optical design that aims for greater sharpness. The Mark II is sturdier, better weather-sealed and has a more well-rounded nine-blade diaphragm, which helps to maintain the lens’s attractive bokeh. However, given that Sigma, Tamron and Nikon have built optical image stabilisers into their latest 24-70mm f/2.8 lenses for SLRs, it’s a disappointing omission here. Performance Sharpness is excellent, although it’s eclipsed by the competing Nikon lens, as well as Canon’s new RF 24-70mm f/2.8 lens for its mirrorless bodies. Digital Camera verdict This is Canon’s best SLRs, but the lack…

Building on the success of Nikon’s original AF-S edition has a constant rather than variable aperture rating and an upgraded stabiliser. It’s been on sale for a decade now, though, and the 3.5-stop stabiliser is less effective than in most newer Nikon lenses. At least VR comes complete with Normal and Active modes. Build quality is very good for a kit lens and includes weather-seals. Conventional internals include mechanical control for the diaphragm and a ring-type ultrasonic AF system. Performance Sharpness holds up pretty well throughout the zoom range, right out to the edges and corners of the frame. If uncorrected, however, colour fringing and distortions are rather noticeable, especially in comparison with new-generation Z-mount lenses. Digital Camera verdict This lens is well suited to the Nikon D750 and older…

Camkix Lens Cleaning Paper Tissue & Double Sided Cleaning Cloth From £6.20/$7.29 www.amazon.co.uk Tissue paper doesn’t immediately spring what you get in this kit, along with a 16cm-square microfibre cleaning cloth. The theory goes that you use a sheet of tissue paper to pick up loose dust and lint, then follow up with the microfibre cloth to clean away any residue and smears the tissue paper sheet didn’t catch. It may seem strange, but the system actually works. The paper sheet does a pretty good job of removing oils even without the cloth for backup, though neither quite leaves the same spotless finish as a wet cleaning system. The combo also consumes more kit bag space than a few handy Zeiss wipes. Camkix offers the kit with 300 papers and…

In 2008, Gilad Baram was a third-year photography student at the Academy of Art in Jerusalem, when he got a unique opportunity to work alongside the world-famous photographer Josef Koudelka. This came about thanks to a project called This Place – the brainchild of French photographer Frédéric Brenner. His idea was to get 12 internationally acclaimed photographers to explore the complex nature of Israel and the West Bank, as a place and metaphor. The impressive line-up of 12 photographers who took part in the project included Koudelka, Brenner, Gilles Peress, Stephen Shore and Nick Waplington. Koudelka was the first photographer from the group who came to Israel, and Baram was the first student to be picked out from his year as a photographer’s assistant. Baram reveals: “We were just kind…

PHOTO LIVE 10:30-10:45 15 minute image-editing workflow James Ritson 11:00-11:30 Fast-paced editorial portraits, featuring a Team Jamaicagymnast! Ki Price 12:00-12:30 Cinematic lighting: One light, two lights, three lights Tommy Reynolds 13:00-13:30 Streamlining your newborn shoots Elli Cassidy 14:00-14:30 Off-camera flash techniques made easy Steven Neeson 15:00-15:30 He shoots, he draws: Live Dave Clayton & Glyn Dewis 16:00-16:30 Explosive lift-off! David Lund BEHIND THE LENS 12:00-12:40 On the road: Life in sports photography Russ Ellis 13:00-13:40 Eyewitness: A global movement to preserve memory through print Fabrizia Costa 14:00-14:40 Through the night Lara Platman 15:00-15:40 Creating a pictorial legacy as a wedding and social photographer Kevin Mullins 16:00-16:40 100 tips for prize-winning close-up and macro photography Tracy Calder THE STUDIO 11:00-11:40 Understanding video-based timelapse technologies Lee Fairbrother 13:00-13:40 Building a career as…

1901 FOTOGRAFI Fine leather neckstraps, wrist straps and camera bags. 3 LEGGED THING Not just another tripod, but a culmination of smart British design and craftsmanship. See the range at the show. ACTION FOR CHILDREN ADAPTALUX Innovative miniature lighting studio that’s ideal for macro. ADVANCED CAMERA SERVICES Camera-repair specialists renowned for their infrared and UV sensor conversion services. AFX AV SERVICES Image transfer specialists. AFFINITY PHOTO Affinity Photo is a powerful, low-cost professional image-editing program that works on macOS, Windows or iPad. See it in action at the show, and find out how it can meet your photo-processing needs. AJ’S Providers of professional lighting and other studio equipment. ALAMY The world’s most diverse stock library, with over 155 million images. ANDY SKILLEN PHOTOGRAPHY Bespoke photo safaris with top wildlife photographer Andy…

Josef Koudelka Magnum photographer This mainstay of Magnum Photos has been visiting Israel and Palestine for a major panoramic project. He shares his experiences on page 134. Santiago Borja Aviation photographer Santiago is a commerical pilot, which gives him an unusual platform to take some stunning weather shots. Check out his work on page 24. Paul Reiffer Commercial photographer Paul takes ultra-high-definition photos for a genuine A-list of business clients. We join him and his Phase One for a very special photo shoot on page 8. Jim Cumming Nature photographer Jim has been photographing wildlife for over a decade. He shares his techniques for capturing critters in the snow and shares some photos on page 48. Quintin Lake Roving photographer Quintin is on an epic photo walk around the UK…

1 “Get up high if you can – but if not, get down low. We’ve all seen cities and landscapes from eye level, so there’s not much new to show from that angle.” 2 “Don’t rely on Auto White Balance. A small shift in colour temperature can completely change the feel of an image, so get comfortable with correcting it.” 3 “Don’t be afraid of shooting with small apertures at night – purists may cry: “f/8, f/11!” But when I’m shooting car light trails, I’m often at f/16 and a very low ISO – just for a longer period of time.” 4 “Only use long exposures when appropriate. It makes sense some of the time, but they can wash out sunrise colours in the sky, or turn sharp reflections to a silky mush.…

If you want to add a distinctive twist to your landscape shots, bring along a mirror the next time you’re out in the wilderness. Reflections are a visually an interesting topic to explore in photography – and even more so when you are in control of where you want the reflection to be! There are many shooting scenarios where using a mirror will add something to your shot: at the beach, in a woodland area, or when you have two visually contrasting scenes opposite each other that conflict, like a beautiful view and a power station. Even a simple block of sky in the reflection can look effective, though. When it comes to inspiration, look at artists Guillaume Amat and Murray Fredericks. Not only is their work visually engaging, but…

Most of my time as a child was spent taking pictures and developing the film at home. Photography was purely a hobby until 2006, when I became involved in supplying commercial images to the construction industry on a full-time basis. I currently work in a multidisciplinary environment, and supply images for PR, promotions, top-flight sport and portraiture to private clients and the national press. I wanted to create a body of work that would give an insight into the daily roles of the paramedics and pilots of Wiltshire Air Ambulance, who provide a life-saving service. The aim was to raise awareness of the self-funding requirements of this service, which currently stands at £3.75 million per year – or over £10,000 every single day. One of my roles as a Sony…

Few areas of photography are as rewarding as photographing wildlife. It’s a little bit like fishing… You never know what you’re going to get – and sometimes you may not get anything at all – but when all the elements to produce a successful shot come together, the sense of achievement is really quite something. One of the best things about wildlife, of course, is that it’s all around us. For some species, the wilder the setting, the better; but you don’t have to stray very far to get acquainted with photogenic creatures, whether sporting fur, feather or fin. And contrary to what you may have been told, you don’t require a car boot full of specialist, high-end camera kit to get good results when you photograph wildlife. What you…

There are loads of fantastic photographic accessories and gadgets available on the market, from tripods to new camera bodies. Here are my three top tips to getting the most out of your equipment. AVOID BRIGHT DISTRACTING COLOURS If you’re trying to remain unseen by the animals you’re snapping, be sure to use neutral colours and avoid bright shiny accessories. A black or grey L-plate here would have been a better choice. BALANCE YOUR LENS THE RIGHT WAY If you’re using a telephoto lens that has a tripod collar and foot, make sure this is the part you attach to your monopod or tripod so that you don’t exert too much stress on the lens mount. EXPERIMENT WITH TRACKING AUTOFOCUS MODES On some specific cameras from Nikon, you’ll find 3D tracking,…

Britain is blessed with a rich diversity of wildlife, although some once-thriving species are struggling in modern times. Conservation has therefore never been more important – and fortunately it’s a global movement. So if you want to burnish your photographic portfolio with some non-indigenous animals, why not visit areas where wildlife is protected, and contribute to local conservation efforts? Here’s a brief guide to some exotic and photogenic species, and where you can find them. 1 REINDEER (LAPLAND) Track reindeer in the wild – Rovaniemi is the gateway to this huge expanse of land in northern Finland. 2 POLAR BEARS (THE ARCTIC) 2 These photogenic creatures only live in the Arctic. Canada, Norway and Alaska are just three places where you’ll see them. 3 SEALS (ICELAND) You can catch seals…

Camera Nikon D810 Lens Zeiss 100mm Exposure 1/1,000 sec at f/5, ISO 220 “I travelled to Iceland to photograph the spectacular ‘braided rivers’. As the mighty glaciers travel down the mountains, they grind up the rock underneath, and these suspended rock particles cause a slight milkiness in the water. The colours alter according to the presence of different minerals such as sulphur and iron, and the endless variations are absolutely breathtaking. It wasn’t until later that I saw the fire-breathing dragon in the photo, but now that I’ve seen it, I can’t see anything else!” Camera Sony Alpha 7R III Lens Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II Exposure 1.6 sec at f/8, ISO 100 Camera Sony Alpha 7 II Lens Sony 16-35mm f/4 ZA Exposure 8 sec at f/22, ISO 100…

Image correction and enhancement specialist DxO processing, lens correction and photo editing software. PhotoLab by DxO is already among the best photo editing programs on the market, and new features in this version include a DxO ColorWheel, for advanced colour adjustments and replacements; an optimised Repair tool, where you can now choose the repair ’source’ area; a Local Adjustments Mask Manager for PhotoLab’s extensive adjustment tools; and support for keywords in PhotoLab’s PhotoLibrary module. DxO PhotoLab offers all the tools of regular photo editors, but takes a different direction from many of its rivals, putting raw processing and lab-derived lens corrections front and centre. It can extract extraordinary image quality even from the most humble camera equipment, and DxO’s acquisition of the Nik Collection has brought powerful local adjustment tools,…

Quintin is two thirds through his 6,000-mile photo walk around the whole of the UK coast. www.theperimeter.uk After waking from a deep sleep amongst dunes near St Andrews, the first sign of life as I approach the town is a young man being stripped by a gang of friends on the famous golf course. His buttcheeks glow white against the putting green on which he stands. I turn the corner to see a woman with her arms bound, being led on a leash by a group dressed in angel wings and fluffy halos. Bemused and amused, I ask a passing student what’s going on: “Oh, it’s Raisin Weekend. It’s a small town here; we have to make our own fun. Sometimes pranks get repaid over the generations. It can get…

www.nikon.com The arrival of the Nikon Z 50 (reviewed in Digital Camera 225) has caused a stir all on its own, but its release has been accompanied two new DX (APS-C) Nikkor Z lenses. The camera’s ‘kit’ lens is the Nikkor Z 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR pancake zoom (reviewed in Digital Camera 225). However, if you’re a sports, wildlife or portrait photographer, you’ll be more excited about this telephoto zoom. The lens gives you a 35mm-equivalent focal range of 75-375mm, which makes this a fantastically versatile piece of kit. While the variable aperture of f/4.5-6.3 doesn’t exactly blow us away, there are a few interesting specs that definitely catch our eye. The first is the in-lens vibration reduction, which allows you to shoot at shutter speeds up to five stops slower…

Sony Alpha 7R II at MPB RELEASED: 2014 PRICE NEW: £2,599/$3,198 (body only) BUY NOW AT MPB.COM: ‘Excellent’ £1,069/$1,174 ‘Good’ £949/$1,044 MPB EXPERTS SAY… “The Sony A7R II was a game-changer, and was the first Sony full-frame mirrorless CSC to feature a BSI CMOS sensor, offering better performance at higher ISO settings than many rival cameras. This, plus hybrid AF and in-body stabilisation, ensured the A7R II was a hit, and it still gives much newer cameras a run for their money.” TRADE IN YOUR A7R II WITH MPB As excellent as the Sony A7R II is, we’re now up to the fourth iteration. The A7R III features performance enhancements, while the A7R IV has a 61MP sensor, and further spec bumps. Why not use MPB to trade up? We’ll…

This lens offers a wider maximum viewing angle standard zoom for APS-C SLRs. It also boosts telephoto reach, compared with the 18-55mm kit lens, with an effective range of 24-136mm. The design is comparatively old-school, which isn’t surprising as the lens was launched 10 years ago. Autofocus is driven by a ring-type ultrasonic autofocus system with mechanically coupled full-time override. It’s quick, but not as quiet as most of the lenses that use stepping motors. The focus distance scale is a plus point. Performance There’s good performance from the autofocus system and four-stop stabiliser but sharpness is a little disappointing. Our review sample delivered its best sharpness when shooting wide-open. Digital Camera verdict Build quality is better 18-55mm, and the wider coverage and telephoto reach are nice, but there’s no…

Available as a kit lens with or without VR, the stabilised one to go for. Both have a retractable design that enables a small carrying size. Unlike the previous AF-S editions, the AF-P models use a quiet stepping motor to drive autofocus, like the competing Canon 18-55mm. Unlike in previous designs, the focus ring remains stationary during autofocusing. However, neither autofocus nor manual focusing works with older Nikon SLRs. There’s also no VR on/off switch: you can only switch it off via the camera menu. Performance Nikon’s smallest kit zoom for SLRs boasts fast autofocus speed as well as four-stop VR. Outright image quality is very good in most respects, although colour fringing and barrel distortion are quite severe at the short end of the zoom range. Digital Camera verdict…

Measuring 155mm in length, this is one of the biggest on the market. You’d be forgiven for assuming it had an internal zoom mechanism, but it extends even further as you near either end of the zoom range. Redesigned a few years ago, this edition adds four-stop stabilisation; the previous incarnation had none. It also gains an entirely new optical design, incorporating four ED elements. The nine-blade diaphragm is also upgraded with electromagnetic control. Performance The lens is capable of magnificent results, and delivered the best scores for sharpness in our lab tests. Even so, it is somewhat eclipsed in this aspect of its image quality by Nikon’s new full-frame Z-mount standard zooms, and its colour fringing, distortions and vignetting are much more noticeable. Digital Camera verdict It’s built like…

DJI Inspire 2 £3,059/$3,499 www.dji.com Weight: 4000g | Dimensions: 605mm diagonal | Controller: Yes | Video resolution: 5.2K 24fps | Camera resolution: 20.8MP | Battery life: 23-27 minutes (4,280mAh dual battery) | Max range: 7km/4.1mi | Max speed: 94kph/58mph The Inspire 1 brought with it a jaw-out of most shots while allowing for a big, stable shooting platform. The Inspire 2 cements that professional quality with a magnesium hull and lots of dual redundancy for safer flight. One of these built-in precautions is the battery, or rather batteries. You need two to fly the drone, and they buy you about 25 minutes of flight time depending on the camera you choose. That’s great, but a spare pair is an eye-watering £360. The Inspire 2 can be specced with several different…

The digital advantage Your digital magazines can travel with you – even if you delete them, they’re free to re-download at any time. Subscribe today by visiting www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/photo Binders for your print issues Prefer print? Keep your mags together with our binder, which neatly holds a year’s worth of issues. We also sell back issues… www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/photo Available on the following: Apple iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch Get the free Digital Camera app for your iPad or iPhone at www.bit.ly/DC_app (UK) or www.bit.ly/DCW_app (the rest of the world), then browse through our back issues or buy a subscription using the app. Android, PC or Mac Zinio: www.bit.ly/DCW_Zinio Google Play: www.bit.ly/DCW_GoogleP Other options Digital Camera is available for Kobo, Kindle, Nook and more. It can also be found on the all-you-can read…

PHOTO LIVE 10:30-10:45 15 minute image-editing workflow James Ritson 11:00-11:30 Quick set-ups for beauty portraits Rosella Vanon 13:00-13:30 How to shoot epic location photography Drew Gardner 14:00-14:30 Three portraits, one light Urs Recher 16:00-16:30 Colouring in for added flavour andkaboom! Jakob Gronkjaer BEHIND THE LENS 11:00-11:40 Making a living from leading photographic tours and safaris Toby Jermyn 12:00-12:40 Photography as adventure Karl Holtby 13:00-13:40 Light painting with a drone Carys Kaiser 14:00-14:40 The wonders of the night skies Alyn Wallace 15:00-15:40 Prime landscapes Jeremy Walker 16:00-16:40 As free as a bird Caron Steele THE STUDIO 11:00-11:40 Audio for video 101: Pro sound explained Alex Theakston 13:00-13:40 Understanding codecs, compression and colour Richard Warburton 14:00-14:40 Average to exceptional: Easy stepstotransform your dronefootage David Lund 15:00-15:40 Wedding videos, but not as we…

PHOTO LIVE 10:30-10:45 15 minute image-editing workflow James Ritson 11:00-11:30 The key to relaxed children’s portraits Saraya Cortaville 12:00-12:30 Creative catwalk fashion Jay McLaughlin 13:00-13:30 Creating shallow depth of field portraits with minimal kit Gavin Hoey 14:00-14:30 Getting it right in-camera Scott Johnson BEHIND THE LENS 12:00-12:40 From Mandela to Clint Eastwood Keith Bernstein 13:00-13:40 How pictures can save a species Margot Raggett & Will Burrard-Lucas 14:00-14:40 How to become a successful destination wedding photographer Pippa Mackenzie 15:00-15:40 Fine-art self-portraits: the making of an unknown series Steven Neeson THE STUDIO 11:00-11:40 Audio for video 101: Pro sound explained Alex Theakston 12:00-12:40 Fashion film: All you need to know Jonathan Edwards 13:00-13:40 Storytelling for action and adventure filmmaking Ellie Cartwright 14:00-14:40 Building a career as a visual storyteller Lilla Nyeki 15:00-15:40…

Paul Reiffer Commercial photographer Paul shoots and produces ultra-high definition images of vibrant cities and iconic landscapes for clients including Land Rover, CNN, National Geographic, Ford, British Airways and Hyatt. www.paulreiffer.com Last year was noteworthy for a succession of image resolution records being smashed, as a sensor-size arms race broke out in the digital camera market. From medium-format mirrorless (Fujifilm’s GFX 100: 102MP) to full-frame (Sony’s A7R IV: 61MP), and even a crop-sensor DSLR (Canon’s EOS 90D: 32MP), 2019 saw genuine technical progress. But the launch of the year was surely Phase One’s XT, a pro-grade full-frame medium-format camera designed to be used with the brand’s IQ4 digital back (sensor resolution: 151MP). Some may ask: does any of this really matter? Whether you’re using a full-frame or crop-sensor camera, a…

10 things to shoot, edit or create this month, including charity portraits and compressed cityscapes The human eye has the ability to see an extraordinary amount of colour and detail, outside of the visible light range is ultraviolet at one end and infrared at the other. We can’t see infrared light – but I can show you how to take a picture with it. You’ll need a DSLR or mirrorless camera and an infrared filter. This will ensure that only infrared light is coming through the lens and hitting your cameras sensor. Cheap models can be picked up online for around £20; just make sure you get one that fits the filter thread of your lens. Most modern digital camera sensors, however, have a filter on top of the sensor…

You may be familiar with the basics of the Brush Tool and mostly use it as a basic round shape – but it’s capable of so much more! Here I’m going to show you how to create your own bespoke creative splatter effect using layers, Layer Masks and the Brush Tool. A Layer Mask is a great way to perform a non-destructive edit (a change you can undo at any time) on your image. It essentially acts like an invisible mask you can add or remove. You use a black paint brush to hide the mask and a white brush to bring back selected areas. Go to Layer > Layer Mask to add your Layer Mask. Two of the options you’ll see there are Reveal All, which adds a white…

Born, raised and living in Quito, Ecuador, Santiago Borja is a pilot B for a major airline in the region. He has been flying long-haul between the Americas and Europe for years, shooting the natural surroundings of our planet. In 2016 he was the runner-up in National Geographic’s Landscape Photographer of the Year contest. “I have always done photography at an amateur level,” he says. “My father gave me a film camera I used to take with me all the time, even on my first flights as a pilot. I have been doing serious photography for about four years now, with a DSLR. “Initially cloud formations were not among my interests. It was only after some time flying that I realised about the unknown beauty of these phenomena and the…

The street right outside your front door is full of creative photographic opportunities, from capturing day-to-day social interaction between people to documenting exciting events. There is rarely a dull moment – but even when there is, empty street shots can be interesting in their own right! For this month’s shooting challenge, we want you to take ‘Street Scene’ as a starting point and see where you end up. It could be that you go down the traditional black-and-white route and document an everyday scene; or you could go for a more contemporary style and explore a new approach such as long exposure. Look at great street photographers such as Dave Fieldhouse (davefieldhousephotography.com) and Matt Hart (www.matthewhartphotography.com) for inspiration and tips. As long as you are in a public setting, you…

The UK has many nature reserves from which to photograph a wide variety of birds (see page 52), but don’t underestimate how many colourful and photogenic birds you’ll encounter in your own garden. Robins, blue tits, blackbirds, chaffinches and sparrows are just some of the most common visitors, and all will look good in photographs. The key to encouraging our feathered friends to visit is to provide food for them to eat. Feeders can be purchased from garden centres and some supermarkets, and packaged bird food – whether seed blends, nuts or suet balls – will soon have birds visiting, as long as the supply doesn’t get swooped on by flocks of crows, which will make the smaller birds take flight. Your bird table could be positioned at the other…

PRO SHOT Snowy owl Sadly these photogenic creatures don’t make it as far as the UK: their habitat is the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia. The males of the species are almost pure white, while the females have smatterings of black in their plumage. Snowy owls have wingspans of up to 150cm, and mainly feed on small mammals, as well as other birds. PRO ADVICE The reciprocal rule Capturing a stationary snowy owl won’t require a fast shutter speed, but if you’re using a long telephoto lens, don’t forget the reciprocal rule – your shutter speed should be the inverse of your focal length. So for a 300mm lens, you need to use a shutter speed of at least 1/300 sec. JIM CUMMING Resident in Ottawa, Canada, Jim…

Autofocus is fast and, in plenty of instances, accurate. But there are times when you need to give your camera a helping hand. In low light or when there’s very little contrast between the subject and the background, the autofocus may repeatedly ‘hunt’ backwards and forwards. You might also find the camera focusing on the wrong part of the scene – it tends to pick out the nearest object, which may not be the most important detail. If you’re shooting a portrait, for example, there’s a risk that the camera will focus on the person’s nose rather than their eye – although the ‘eye detection’ autofocus available on some cameras can help here. Manual focusing using a standard optical viewfinder is not easy, although you can place an AF point…

We’ve previously explained in Camera College that there are occasions when you might want to switch off the Auto white balance setting (often abbreviated to AWB on the camera). With AWB, the camera will remove colour casts from your pictures automatically. While this is really useful, it does mean that there may be subtle or significant variations in colours between images. Imagine you’re doing a fashion shoot, and you take a picture of one person in a blue T-shirt, followed by someone in a red T-shirt. The camera would probably see these as strong colour casts that need to be toned down, but it would treat each image differently. You can manually change the white balance to one of the presets, or even create your own custom white balance. This…

Reader 1 Brian Wakeling Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III Location: Surrey Keen amateur photographer Brian mainly shoots landscapes, wildlife and sport. A Canon user since the days of film, his EOS 5D Mk III is used with a combination of Canon and Sigma lenses, but for taking photos when out kayaking, Brian prefers an Olympus Tough TG-5. Although most of his photography takes place on family holidays rather than on dedicated photography outings, Brian will visit India later this year to photograph tigers. He’s also the photographer for his son’s Downs Syndrome football team, the Fulham Badgers, and regularly posts on Photocrowd. www.photocrowd.com/photographer-community/21018 Reader 2 Nigel Barnes Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II Location: The Wirral Travel is one of Nigel’s main interests, so taking up photography was an…

It’s show time again! Book your tickets now for next month’s must-visit photography event Award-winning photographer and entrepreneur Chase Jarvis was the first big name to be confirmed as a Super Stage speaker at The Photography Show next month. Other names were confirmed after we went to press, so visit photographyshow.com for updates. The event is a must for photography enthusiasts and takes place at the Birmingham NEC between Saturday 14 and Tuesday 17 March. Once again, The Photography Show is co-located with The Video Show, so this is truly a don’t-miss event for photographers and videographers. Chase Jarvis has shot advertising campaigns for Apple, Nike and Red Bull, and for athletes including Serena Williams and Tony Hawk. He’s photographed icons such as Sir Richard Branson and Lady Gaga. Chase…

www.sigma-imaging-uk.com The Sigma fp is a camera that defies labels. It is so small that you can actually carry it around in a trouser pocket. Admittedly, that’s without a lens fitted… but it does give you a fair idea of just how compact this camera is. But despite looking like a chunky compact camera, the Sigma fp is in fact a full-frame interchangeable lens camera that is designed for both serious stills shooting and 4K video. This is Sigma’s first full-frame digital camera, but already this 24.6-mega-pixel mirrorless camera has its own family of lenses and accessories. Thanks to Sigma’s partnership with Panasonic and Leica in the L-mount alliance, there is a healthy number of lenses already available for the fp, with the promise of over 40 primes and zooms…

www.venuslens.net Landscape lenses like the Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D don’t get the same column inches as their glitzy portrait lens counterparts. However, this rectilinear lens is worthy of plenty of headlines, combining a huge 110° angle of view with a fast aperture that’s significantly brighter and cheaper than rival lenses, such as the massive Canon EF 11-24mm F/4L USM. It’s a manual-focus lens, and it doesn’t have weather sealing or electrical contacts, but it can stand toe-to-toe with its bigger budget counterparts in terms of performance. It’s both a compact and impressively sturdy lens, pairing brilliantly with mirrorless cameras. Performance The Laowa 15mm performed well in the field. While the distance scale shouldn’t be taken as gospel when it comes to working out depth of field, this is very much…

Standard zoom lenses cover most eventualities for day-to-day shooting, so it pays to have a good one. You can buy most Canon and Nikon SLRs as complete kits with a standard zoom. In the APS-C format camp, the most popular option is a light and fairly unassuming 18-55mm lens. The main full-frame kit zooms are the Canon EF 24-105mm IS STM and the Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4 ED VR. They’re all solid performers, so why would you need to upgrade? Some kit zooms feel like they’re built down to a price. Only the Nikkor 24-120mm features a nano-structure coating, weather-seals and a focus distance scale, while both of the Canon and Nikkor 18-55mm lenses have plastic rather than metal mounting plates. If you decide to shift up to a more…

Compared with Nikon’s 24-120mm VR kit lens, this the EOS 6D Mark II) is little more than half the price. It lacks some of the Nikkor’s finery, though: it’s not a constant-aperture lens, it has neither weather-seals nor a focus distance scale, and you have to buy a hood. On the plus side, the Canon lens has a refreshingly lightweight build, a fast and near-silent stepping motor-based autofocus system and a more effective four-stop stabiliser. Build quality feels rather better than in Canon’s 18-55mm kit lens, with a sturdy barrel and a metal mounting plate. Performance This full-frame kit lens punches above its weight in terms of image quality. There’s plenty of sharpness on tap, even when shooting wide-open. Distortions, colour fringing and vignetting are well-controlled. Digital Camera verdict For…

New meets old in this lens: it combines an effective ultrasonic autofocus system with a new-generation, electromagnetically controlled diaphragm. This helps to maintain consistently accurate exposures in rapid continuous drive mode. The zoom range is an ‘effective’ 24-120mm, which works out the same in practical terms as Nikon’s full-frame kit lens for the D750. However, while that one has a constant-aperture rating of f/4, the DX lens is up to a full f/stop faster at short zoom settings. Like current kit lenses for DX-format SLRs, it has a seven-blade diaphragm and a four-stop stabiliser. Performance Sharpness is exceptional at all but the longest zoom setting. However, lateral chromatic aberration can be visible when uncorrected at the short end. Digital Camera verdict For performance is the best DX-format standard zoom on…

When you trade up from a standard kit lens to a more often little or no improvement in autofocus speed, nor in facets of image quality like sharpness, colour fringing and distortion. The biggest difference you’ll usually find is that top-flight lenses typically have a faster aperture rating, delivering a tighter depth of field and giving you more creative freedom. Premium lenses are generally more adept at keeping ghosting and flare to a minimum. Build quality also tends to be much better, catering to the demands of professional photographers. The Nikkor 24-70mm is the most impressive lens in this test. Even so, if you’re got the excellent Nikkor 24-120mm kit lens, there’s little need to upgrade unless you really feel the need for that extra f/stop. Trading up from the…

PHOTO LIVE 10:30-10:45 15 minute image-editing workflow James Ritson 11:00-11:30 Creative location portraits Ben Bentley 12:00-12:30 From capture to print Rocco Ancora 13:00-13:30 Food stories: The inside scoop Kate & Brent Kirkman 15:00-15:30 Fine-art studio portraits Rory Lewis 16:00-16:30 A character portrait: Bringing the set to life with light! Hannah Couzens BEHIND THE LENS 11:00-11:40 Approaching wildlife photography trips like a pro Tom Mason 12:00-12:40 Being in the moment Vanda Ralevska 13:00-13:40 Bettertravel photos Laurence Norah 14:00-14:40 Portraits of mental health Alex Benyon 15:00-15:40 From weddings in Sussex to speedboats in Switzerland Lisa Beaney THE STUDIO 11:00-11:40 Raw video: Using compact system cameras for high-end video Richard Warburton 12:00-12:40 Wildlife filmmaking from the perspective of a photographer Tesni Ward 13:00-13:40 Doubling up Rick Bronks 14:00-14:40 Making your workflow work for…

BEGINNERS’ MASTERCLASS: PHOTOGRAPHY Saturday, 14 March or Sunday, 15 March (repeated), Masterclass Stage £10 Start your photography journey by learning some essential lessons from the experts. There’s a charge of £10 for this four-part programme, in addition to the show entry fee – choose either Saturday or Sunday morning. 10:30-11:05 Settings and exposure de-mystified A jargon-busting session covering the fundamentals of camera settings and theory. Ross Grieve 11:05-11:40 Zero to flash An introduction to flash, plus budget-friendly kit ideas and techniques to start using straight away. Chris Ord 11:50-12:25 Getting started editing photos Editing techniques for beginners to help you get the most out of your photos, and how to get started in Lightroom. Lisa Beaney 12:25-13:00 The art of seeing: Crafting and composing your images Different approaches to image-making,…