Innehållsförteckning för November 2024 från Digital Camera Magazine

If you enjoyed last issue’s overview of macro photography, then this month’s cover feature will help you get hands-on, with six ways of capturing small subjects (p50). More projects await in Photo Active (p16), and you can take a trip to the coast in Camera Clinic (p62). This month’s One to One (p8) sees us go for a ride on a heritage railway with top pro Jack Boskett, while Sergey Gorshkov shares his passion for photographing tigers (p102). Our new editing section continues (p79), with six new tutorials covering a range of genres, and the kit reviews for November include the Lumix GH7 (p106) and the DJI Neo (p116). Enjoy the issue. SUBSCRIBE AND GET A LOWEPRO TRUCKEE SH120 BAG WORTH £27!* Turn to page 40 Follow us or get…

The UK’s affection for heritage railways isn’t surprising – we love to ride on a mode of transport that departed from the station many years ago. The closure of one-third of the route network in the postwar period saw some of the abandoned lines criss-crossing the UK live on as preserved or heritage railways and they offer a nostalgic escape from our joyless national rail services. Someone who gets to see both sides of the coin is Jack Boskett, who shoots marketing and documentary photographs for national train operators as well as for the heritage railway sector. Based in Gloucestershire, his love affair with steam trains started in childhood at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway. This preserved line runs on the metals of a former Great Western Railway branch that…

If you want to be pedantic about it, the herds of ponies and horses you see on moors, steppes and grasslands aren’t actually wild horses, but feral domestic horses. However, for the photographer, rather than the equine scientist, it doesn’t really matter whether it’s an example of equus ferus or equus ferus caballus that we’re shooting. What we’re looking for are close-up detail shots of the horse’s features, mid-range shots showing herd behaviour or distance shots putting the horses in their natural environment. Five ways to capture wild horses 1 Where to find them In the UK, Exmoor and the New Forest are prime locations, while in Europe, there are the Karakachan mountain ponies in Bulgaria and the Konik horses in Germany. In the USA, you can see wild horses…

Macro photography is one of those areas where having the right equipment really helps. While photography kit can be expensive, the great news is that much of the essential kit you need to shoot top close-ups doesn’t break the bank. You don’t even need a dedicated macro lens to get started – check out the extension tubes, reversing rings and close-up filters below, which all help you get closer with your current standard DSLR or mirrorless camera and a basic kit lens or prime optic. Plus, you’ll likely have a tripod already, and accessories like a focusing rail (below) can be picked up for less than £/$100. If you’re unsure whether macro is for you, it’s definitely worth using one of these cheaper options to test the waters before you…

A focal length of around 50mm (full-frame) is considered to be around what the human eye can see, so photos taken at 50mm tend to have a natural look to them. Most macro lenses have a focal length higher than 50mm, commonly around 90 or 105mm for a short telephoto, or a more powerful 200mm for a full telephoto macro lens, which extends the working distance and narrows the field of view even further. There are, however, many wide-angle lenses with macro features, even if it’s only 1:2 (half lifesize). This can still be advantageous to all types of shots, including landscapes, city scenes and even more typical macro subjects including plants, as you can squeeze in more of the surrounding scenery to add context and help them stand out…

Shooting a focus stack is only half the story; you still need to align your layers and blend the sharpest parts together into your final image. We would recommend reducing the image size beforehand, otherwise your computer might struggle to process all of the data. FIND YOUR PHOTOS 1 In Adobe Bridge, click the first image in your stack then hold the Shift key and click on the last. You can cap the beginning of a focus stack sequence with a picture of your hand to make your stacks easier to find. LOAD THEM INTO PHOTOSHOP LAYERS 2 Now go up to Tools > Photoshop > Load files into Photoshop Layers. In Photoshop CC, go to the Layers panel (Window > Layers), click on the top layer, hold Shift and…

The latest iteration of the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s prestigious international competition saw 3,500 entries received from 58 countries – and a picture of the sun took the top prize. Distorted Shadows of the Moon’s Surface Created by an Annular Eclipse by Ryan Imperio is a composite of more than 30 separate photos captured in Texas during the annular solar eclipse in October 2023. As the overall winner, Imperio received £10,000 ($13,200) and his winning image is being exhibited at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, alongside a selection of the shortlisted images. Writing on his Instagram page, Imperio said that he was “beyond thrilled and honoured” to have been crowned overall winner after his photo topped the ‘Our Sun’ category. Distorted Shadows of the Moon’s Surface… captures the progression…

WATCH THE VIDEO! When we’re discussing editing our images in Lightroom as part of our new and improved Digital Darkroom section, we often talk about complex masking. However, we shouldn’t neglect some of the program’s more basic controls, such as the Exposure and Contrast sliders. Both exposure and contrast are key tools in controlling the impact and mood of your photographs – when we talk about exposure, we’re referring to the overall brightness of your image, while contrast denotes the difference between the light and the dark areas of your image. Mastering the Exposure and Contrast sliders will allow you to rescue underexposed photos and add depth to otherwise flat images, making them look more vibrant and engaging. The Basic Panel in Lightroom Classic offers a range of user-friendly tools…

Photo RAW 2024 from ON1 has a wealth of editing features that complement its file management capabilities, which we highlighted last month (issue 286), in the first part of our new tutorial series. The powerful editing capabilities offered by ON1 Photo RAW 2024 include non-destructive editing and the software supports raw processing for over 800 cameras. Combining Lightroom and Photoshop features, ON1 Photo RAW’s feature set includes layers, AI editing, sky replacement and noise reduction as well as extensive effects. So let’s take a look at using these tools, starting with basic contrast and exposure settings… 1 Make it Brilliant Choose your image, then go to the Develop Tab. Click the blue circle to activate Brilliance AI, which uses machine learning to apply better settings to the Tone and Color…

China’s growing dominance in the camera and imaging technology market over the past decade marks a significant shift in an industry once dominated by Japanese brands. ‘Made in China’ used to be a synonym for poor quality but in recent years, Chinese brands have positioned themselves as disruptive forces within traditional markets, offering competitive innovations. In the 1980s and 1990s, Japanese companies ruled the camera industry. “Chinese brands have been positioning themselves as major disruptive forces within traditional markets” Canon and Nikon were renowned for their high-end optics and reliable mechanics, while Sony and JVC dominated the consumer video world. But that began to change in the 2010s, with the rise of Chinese companies such as DJI, Xiaomi and Huawei. The Xiaomi Mi 1 was the company’s first Android phone…

ricohgr.eu Think of the Ricoh GR III and you think of a pocket-sized premium compact with an APS-C sensor, a fixed focal length lens and a serious reputation amongst serious photographers. Its size and quality make it one of the best point-and-shoot cameras for travel. But there are four distinct variants and some special editions that make the whole line-up confusing. Right now, there are two main versions. The Ricoh GR III is the original, with a 28mm equivalent f/2.8 fixed focal length lens. This has been joined by the GR IIIx with a longer focal length of 40mm equivalent f/2.8 lens for those who prefer a narrower angle of view. Build & handling The Ricoh GR III HDF is so compact, given its sensor size, that you never quite…

www.dji.com Let’s not beat around the bush. At its core, the DJI Neo is built around an idea borrowed from another company. The question isn’t how revolutionary it is because, for once, DJI isn’t the innovator here. The question is ‘Has DJI done it better?’ From that perspective, the existing rival that DJI is looking to unseat is the HoverAir X1 – though history records a much less impressive ‘selfie drone’ (or ‘follow-me drone’), the Snapchat Pixy. There are other ways we can look at the DJI Neo, though, because it does do a lot. With DJI in the unfamiliar position of being behind the market, the company has gone all-out in terms of features, including a 4K camera and the option to control the craft ‘properly’ using one of…

Jack Boskett Photographer Also known for photographing the royal family, it all started for Boskett on a heritage railway, and that’s where he returns for a One to One pro masterclass, on page 8 Will Cheung Photographer and writer A fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and the former editor of many photography titles, Cheung is the man behind Camera Clinic, which continues on page 62 Dan Mold Photographer & writer Experienced in many different genres of photography, Mold writes for our sister magazine PhotoPlus. He shares his macro photography tips from page 50 Sergey Gorshkov Wildlife photographer The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 winner and Remembering Tigers collaborator explains his love of big cats and how he captures them. Page 102 Jon Devo Photographer & writer Our resident…

“Just under 20,000 people follow me across the various platforms and my website is also quite popular – I get a lot of traffic on there. People enjoy looking at my photography so I try to keep the content on the site as fresh as I can. As well as the following I have for the railway scene, I’m also known for photographing our royal family. I took my first royal photo in 2007, of Prince Philip leaning out of a window on the royal train, and I was on the royal rota of the late Queen’s funeral and King Charles III’s coronation. Within the railway world, if any of the operators host a royal event, then I might be invited because I’ve built a reputation for photographing the royal…

10 things you can shoot, edit or create this month, from caverns and tin mines to horses and fighter jets 1/100 sec f/11 ISO 100 Some of my earliest memories of photography were with a disposable camera. From family holidays to school outdoor residential trips, my mum would put the trusty disposable in my bag and tell me to fill it up with photos. The new Pocket Dispo lens promises to resurrect those halcyon days in the digital camera age. It’s made by taking the lens from a disposable camera and embedding it in a 3D-printed mount, which is available for Sony E, Fujifilm X, Canon RF and EF-M, Nikon Z, Micro Four Thirds, and Leica L-mount. When it popped up in an advert on social media, I’d originally dismissed…

FIRST PLACE: TRAVEL  ‘Sahara Surfing’ Khalid Mahmood (Sweden) Erg Chebbi, Northern Sahara, Morocco. Captured on an iPhone 13 Pro. Focal length: 9mm Exposure: 1/120 sec at f/9 SECOND PLACE: PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR  ‘Pupils’ Anthony Maureal (United States) Ta Prohm, Siem Reap, Cambodia. Captured on an iPhone 15 Pro. Focal length: 9mm Exposure: 1/100 sec at f/2.8 FIRST PLACE: OTHER ‘What’s on your mind?’  Jun Hu (China) Ormou Athiniou, Santorini, Greece. Captured on an iPhone 7. Focal length: 3.99mm Exposure: 1/1182 sec at f/1.8 FIRST PLACE: LIFESTYLE  ‘Lifeguard Camp, SoCal’ Glen Wilbert (United States) Huntington Beach, California, USA. Captured on an iPhone 11 Pro Max. Focal length: 6mm Exposure: 1/335 sec at f/2 FIRST PLACE: PEOPLE  ‘Oompa Loompa’ Brooke Wilen (United States) Bates Motel, Silver Lake, Los Angeles, USA. Captured…

Light is the most important aspect of macro photography. The good thing about shooting small subjects is that your light source can be equally as tiny. In fact, you can often cast interesting light with a torch or the light on your smartphone. You don’t need the full power of a ring flash to illuminate small critters, although budget-friendly LED ring lights can be a good idea. Lighting is a brilliant way to get creative with your close-ups and put a stamp on your style. This can range from manipulating the natural sunlight with scrims, diffusers, reflectors and mirrors to adding light with flashes, LEDs or torches. Here, I’ll run through six of my favourite ways to sculpt the natural available light or add light so that it falls across…

Watches are packed with details that look fantastic up close. The Omega Seamaster Professional that we got our hands on has vibrant blue glow-in-the-dark features, while the Speedmaster Professional has the Omega logo etched into the face of its crystal. It’s always worth finding details specific to your timepiece to tell a story. It’s generally considered best to set the hands of a clock to ten to two (1:50) as this makes your watch resemble a smiling face, though if this covers important details, you might be better off with twenty to five (4:40) instead. Pull the crown out so the hands don’t move during shooting, then move it back into place during editing afterwards. Of course, any minute imperfections, scratches, dust and fingerprints will show up so clean your…

NEW SERIES! ON1 PHOTO RAW Page 88 MEET YOUR TRAINERS Edit like a pro with their expert insights James Abbott Specialising in landscapes and portraits, James Abbott is an advanced Photoshop user and has created hundreds of tutorials. James Paterson With over a decade as a writer and photographer, James Paterson knows which Photoshop and Lightroom tools and techniques matter most. Sean McCormack A photographer and writer based in Galway, Ireland, Sean McCormack is the author of books, including The Indispensable Guide to Lightroom CC. Wendy Evans LRPS The author of over a dozen books on the subjects of photography, CGI and Photoshop, Wendy Evans has used Photoshop since version 3.0.…

WATCH THE VIDEO! Global adjustments are those that are applied to the entire image. And although it’s often said that these can lack the precision of localised adjustments, which is true, it doesn’t mean that they can’t be used in ways that sometimes target different parts of an image. So here we’re going to take a look at several techniques that affect both the land and sky in landscape shots. Some of these techniques will indeed apply a globalised result, while others will target different parts of the image. In doing this, we’ll cover a wide range of non-destructive Photoshop skills that are used in many more techniques than those we’ll cover here. One of the great things about Photoshop is that, despite being huge and powerful editing software, joining…

Do you know how much a roll of film costs to get developed? It’s a lot and when added to the cost of the film in the first place, you can end up crying into your negatives if the results weren’t what you were expecting. Circumvent any emulsion-based trauma by using a film-stock app or plug-in to give you that retro feeling without straining your finances. There are several available, from DxO’s Nik Efex suite and Exposure Software’s Exposure 7 in particular, or the latest entry to this market, Dehancer Film, which we reviewed in the previous issue (286). 1 Get the image ready As film grading and colouring is something that tends to get done at the end of the digital workflow, and with Dehancer Film being a plug-in,…

www.panasonic.com Ultra-wide zooms are popular amongst landscape, travel and architectural photographers for their ability to squeeze everything into the frame even when you’re right up close. They are also useful for filmmakers and vloggers who need to film themselves at arm’s length and get the background surroundings into the frame, too. However, ultra-wide zooms for the best full-frame cameras are typically big, heavy and expensive. Either that or their performance is only mediocre. The Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 Macro turns that on its head. It’s not expensive, but it is rather good. In fact, for anyone trying to keep the costs down, it has to be one of the best L-mount lenses to buy. There are a few reasons why. First, it has a macro capability… well, sort of. It…

Since 1986, the US photographer Gregory Crewdson has been luring viewers into the eerie and evolving worlds of his cinematic, highly detailed, meticulously planned and staged photographs. His work began with the appropriately titled ‘Early Work (1986-1988)’ and was originally shot on film, with negatives overlapped to achieve sharpness across the frame. Crewdson is equally happy working with black and white or colour imagery and his pictures clearly show influences from the worlds of cinema and painting. He has recently had a major exhibition at the Albertina Museum in Vienna, curated by Walter Moser and accompanied by a book compiled and edited by Moser. To find out more about the complex approach and creative processes of Gregory Crewdson’s photography, Digital Camera spoke to Walter Moser… When did you first become…

The digital advantage Digital magazines can travel with you – even if you delete them, they are free to download again later. Subscribers can now access issues of Digital Camera going back to 2009 (iOS) or 2012 (Pocketmags). To subscribe today, go to: www.magazinesdirect.com/categories/photography-and-design Available on Available on the following: Apple iOS devices Get the free Digital Camera app for your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch at: www.bit.ly/app_DCM (UK) or www.bit.ly/app_DCW (outside UK) Then browse through our back issues or buy a subscription (see page 40 for offers) using the app. Android, PC or Mac Zinio www.bit.ly/DCW_Zinio Pocket Mags www.pocketmags.com Other options Digital Camera is available for Kobo, Kindle, Nook and more (see above). It can also be found on the all-youcan-read Readly magazine app: https://gb.readly.com/ Printed back issues Prefer…

BONUS SOFTWARE EXTRAS! Turn to page 92 ENTER THIS URL www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc287 Enter the URL www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc287 into the destination bar of your internet browser – we’re using Google Chrome, but other browsers work in a similar way. Please do not enter it in any search field or search bar. This will take you to a page on our website. JUST CLICK THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK Click on the link labelled ‘Download the files for Digital Camera 287’ and your download will start, delivered from our own server. Please override any browser warnings about downloading from a non-secure source – our server is safe! ACCESS YOUR FILES Open the. zip In your Downloads folder, or wherever you chose to download your files, double-click the dcm287-files.zip file icon. Then when it expands, double-click Digital…

Tin mining began as early as 3000BC, with the word ‘tin’ subsequently entering colloquial use for most metal containers. These days, most only contain a thin layer of tin to prevent rust and are actually made of steel or aluminium. In Britain, the tin mines of Cornwall are now part of the post-industrial landscape and that’s how you should approach them photographically. Place the buildings on the intersections of horizontal and vertical thirds for maximum impact and have the buildings face into the rest of the scene, especially if they’re on the coast. Use a narrow aperture such as f/16 or f/22 for depth of field across the entire landscape. Try to include some foreground interest and use lead-in lines where possible. Lens choice While there’s merit in using a…

1/25 sec f/5 ISO 1600 In times gone by, caves provided shelter for both animals and early human beings. Often created by acidic rainwater running down through cracks in the limestone and dissolving the rock, cave systems take many thousands of years to fully form. Features such as stalactites (the ones that hang down) and stalagmites (the ones that grow upwards) are created by rainwater loaded with dissolved calcium bicarbonate from the limestone above. As the water drips down, a small amount of calcium bicarbonate is left behind as limestone. This can form at the end of stalactites, in patterns down the walls, or on the floor as stalagmites, where the process gradually builds up into a flatter ring than the ones hanging down. The process is extremely slow, typically…

Located north of Swindon, RAF Fairford is home to the US Air Force for 51 weeks a year – but for one week in summer, Europe’s biggest airshow, the Royal International Air Tattoo, is held here and attracts aviation photographers from all over the world [see our ‘Capture the Action’ feature in issue 285]. As with most air shows, there’s a mix of ground-based statics and roaring displays in the skies. From 9.30am until 5pm on three days in July, the skies of Fairford are decorated with afterburners and turboprops from air forces across the globe. Aviation photography can be hard work, but the images captured are dynamic and incredibly rewarding. Nowhere is this more evident than when beautifully painted F-16s scream past the crowd lines, with high-speed manoeuvres and…

Macro photography allows you to put ordinary items under the microscope and turn them into the extraordinary, revealing a brand new world of fascinating detail otherwise hidden to the naked eye. One reason why macro photography is so much fun is that it’s accessible. While a dedicated macro lens is certainly worth the investment if you want to take it seriously, you can get astonishing results with budget-friendly accessories such as extension tubes, reversing rings or close-up filters, which turn ordinary kit lenses into macro ones – at around £/$100, they won’t break the bank. Over the following pages, we’ll look at these accessories, as well as more elaborate gear picks, in more detail. When it comes to macro photography, there’s a seemingly never-ending supply of subjects to point your…

Insects are some of the most popular macro subjects. Whether it’s the incredibly intricate details on a butterfly’s wings, the large compound eyes of damselflies or the iridescent colours of a beetle’s exoskeleton, there’s no shortage of unique and eye-catching features for us to magnify with our macro lenses. Butterflies are one of my favourite subjects for close-up photography – in the UK, we’re treated to a variety of colourful species, so you can see them outdoors during the spring and summer months. You’re never too far from a polytunnel, which are often home to a variety of species both endemic and from overseas. These can be shot all year round, even in the colder months. When it comes to photographing insects, it pays to get up early as they…

The closer to your subject you focus, the more limited your depth of field will be. The opposite is true of landscapes, where the focus distance is usually set far into the scene so landscapes usually have a deep depth of field. While closing the aperture down usually helps boost depth of field, this isn’t always the best option. The ‘sweet’ spot of a lens is usually around f/5.6-8, so pushing the aperture too much higher than this can lead to image-softening diffraction. Here, focus stacking is usually your best bet. This is where you take a series of photos focused on different areas around the frame and then merge the sharpest pieces from each picture together for a single, totally sharp shot. 0.5 sec f/11 ISO 800 PRO TIP SPRAY…

1 ‘Lone Tree of Llanberis’ by Robin Bennett “This shot was taken on a trip to Wales, during which we planned to camp and take shots of the Milky Way over Tryfan mountain. We were close to Llanberis, so we got up early and arrived at the location at dawn just before sunrise. I set up the camera on a tripod and used a twilight filter to capture this image.” IG: @creative_photography_online Digital Camera says: This is a famous lone tree, captured by many visitors to Snowdonia. However, we particularly liked this composition, with the tree filling the gap between the hills on the horizon and, of course, the tremendous colours from the sunrise. 2 ‘Nature’s Abstract’ by Maruša Uranjek “This unique aerial perspective allowed me to capture the vivid contrasts of Iceland’s…

WATCH THE VIDEO! The Layers Panel is the nerve centre for pretty much everything that goes on in Photoshop. With it, we can create and organise layers, craft effects with blend modes, make masks to aid us in compositing, add tonal adjustments and much more. Just as importantly, it helps us to keep each element or edit in our workflow separate and independent from each other, so we have the freedom to change a setting, tweak an effect or go back to an earlier point in the workflow at any time we like. In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at the fundamental features of the layers panel and how these can be used to craft a simple effect, such as the vintage cyanotype brushed border portrait shown here. You…

A self-taught photographer of the natural world, Sergey Gorshkov won the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in 2020, for his photo of a tiger hugging a tree in his native Russia. Passionate about conservation, Gorshkov chooses to photograph only subjects that profoundly affect him. He was a natural choice for joining the judging panel of the Remembering Tigers photo competition earlier this year, where Digital Camera readers were invited to submit their best photographs of tigers (see the winning images in issue 281, p92). With the Remembering Tigers book now on sale (p101), we caught up with Gorshkov to discover more about his craft… and that winning image. Why do you love big cats? I’ve been photographing wildlife for more than 20 years and with my photos, I’m trying…

www.panasonic.com For many people, when they think of Panasonic cameras, the GH line might be the first model that pops into their heads. The GH lineup of hybrid cameras has long been renowned for its video pedigree, with the Lumix GH6 especially being a fan-favourite for independent filmmakers. However, despite the GH6’s brilliance, there was one glaring omission – phase detect autofocus. The GH6 was released just a few months prior to the Lumix S5 II, which debuted Panasonic’s modern autofocus system and finally brought Lumix AF into competition with the likes of Sony and Canon. But this left many observers and potential buyers, wondering why Panasonic didn’t delay the GH6 release to include this feature. Panasonic is finally on course to correct this misstep with the GH7, which features…

www.sony.co.uk The original Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM was one of the first three G Master lenses that Sony ever produced for its Alpha full-frame mirrorless cameras. It was well received and I was so impressed that I gave it a five-star review rating. It’s a terrific lens that’s ideally suited to portraiture and still-life photography. However, things have moved on in the past eight years and Mark II aims to answer a couple of criticisms that have arisen over time. Some photographers felt that the lens was a bit on the weighty side and that autofocus could be quicker. Sony has taken the feedback on board and used it in the design of the Mark II edition of the lens, which aims to be one of the best lenses…