Innehållsförteckning för March - May 2016 från Photo Review

There it was, a spectacular desert landscape spread across a six-lane-wide billboard above the madness that is Sydney’s Military Road at rush hour. The only text that registered on my heavily distracted brain were the words ‘Shot on iPhone 6’ placed tastefully below the image. I’m sure I wasn’t the only person thinking just how amazing smartphone cameras are these days as I rolled slowly under the sign, trying to avoid an altercation with a 180 bus asserting its right to merge. It turned out that the picture in question was one of a series shot by iPhone 6 users – both amateur and professional – which was then running in major cities all over the world. We are told that the pictures were taken with the iPhone’s built-in camera…

‘Edwards has always considered himself a storyteller first and foremost, whatever the medium. But that urge has always been picture-driven.’ Tom Edwards seemed like the archetypal Pommy backpacker when he first set foot in Australia in 2009. After travelling in South East Asia for a year, he and girlfriend Helen bought a well-used van in Sydney and planned to head off on an outback adventure funded by fruit picking. ‘Actually, that’s probably the low point in the story right there,’ says Edwards. ‘We couldn’t wait to go bush, and we were in Sydney for longer than we would have liked because the van’s head gasket cracked on the way to the Blue Mountains. We returned to the dealer, refused to leave the premises until they fixed it and ended up…

How well-prepared is your camera before you start to take pictures? Some important choices should be made to ensure you obtain the results you want. Factors like the file format you use can play a key role, as can the drive mode setting, the metering mode, whether to shoot stills or movies (or both) and whether to take advantage of stabilisation (camera and/or lens) and built-in aids like face and eye detection or dynamic range adjustments. In this feature, we’ll examine some of these choices. 1. File Format JPEG is considered the ‘universal’ file format because it can be viewed on any screen, output to any printer or device and stored quickly and easily because it automatically compresses the data to reduce the amount of storage space required. Shooting JPEGs…

Two critical factors can influence whether you get good photographs when you travel: your choice of equipment and how you use it. Making the right choices will help you to enjoy your trip and knowing how to use your gear will enable you to come home with memorable shots. Packing a camera bag for a holiday trip is a very personal matter; we all have individual preferences and experience different constraints, depending on the type of holiday we take. People staying in one place will want different equipment from those who will be on the move throughout their vacation. Those holidaying by the sea will require gear that can withstand salt spray and sand, while those going inland may have to provide dust protection for their equipment. 1. Choosing a…

The Swimmer By Dianne English Second winner Image Review 5 Nikon D600; 28-300; f/7.1; 1/160s; ISO 250 Photographed at North Curl Curl Ocean baths NSW. High seas didn’t deter the locals who swim every morning. Don’s response I could easily imagine this slightly disturbing image by Dianne English turning into a quiet little earner in a stock photography library. The contrast between the purposeful swimmer powering through the still waters of the pool and that menacing explosion of spray under those foreboding dark clouds suggests all manner of metaphorical interpretations. By applying a little vignetting, Dianne subtly amplifies the tension. A well-composed, well-executed image. Yumi with pink rose By Zorica Purlija First winner Image Review 5 Nikon D4s; Nikkor 24-70mm; hand held Don’s response The best portraits make viewers believe…

Over the past couple of years, smartphones have decimated the fixed-lens compact digicam market, with sales in that category declining by an average of 20% year-on-year since 2013. That’s largely because the latest smartphones can meet most snapshooters’ requirements. Why carry two cameras when the one in your phone is simpler to use than your camera and can make and receive phone calls into the bargain? In the past, many photographers (including professionals) had a ‘walkaround’ compact camera for when their SLR equipment was too large, heavy and complex. However, today even professional photographers rely on a smartphone at certain times. In this Insider we consider the advantages and disadvantages of shooting with smartphones, when compared with dedicated cameras. Although cameraphones are growing in popularity and capabilities, are they really…

Our ‘spot of colour’ Photo Challenge really caught entrants’ imaginations. Indeed, such was the calibre of the entries that we decided to add an extra page or two to this section to show off our Photo Challengers’ creative responses. Choosing a winner was exceptionally difficult given the standard of entries. But choose we must and so we’ve bestowed top spot on Norman Shapro for his untitled geometric study of two chaps and a bright spot of colour. Our first runner-up, Amanda Keesing, got the nod simply because we found ourselves drawn to her simple yet vivid composition, whether it was being viewed full screen or light table style with all the others. Dennis Rickard is our second runner-up for his subtle landscape with its spot of green thanks to a…

‘I’m not there to change anyone’s view. That’s why I call myself a documentary photographer – I document whatever is there, whatever people created.’ When we published Nuran Zorlu’s work some 14 years ago, the young and unknown Turkish-born Armenian photographer had not long been in Australia. ‘When I arrived with my suitcase, there wasn’t any money in it,’ he said. ‘I’m a poor man. But the thing is, I brought my knowledge and my experience.’ And, he might have added, he also brought a talent for image making that was impressive enough to merit half a dozen pages in our fourth issue. Two children, an Aussie citizenship and many a move later, Nuran is still passionately committed to photography. Along with the usual mix of photo work, he’s developed…

In a little over five years, shipments of digital cameras from the Japanese manufacturers have plummeted by 65 percent. Given the word ‘decimate’ means to remove one in ten (ok - it’s a rough translation) then the camera industry has been decimated on an annual basis every year since 2010! But over the last 12 months or so there have been indications that the good people still involved in the photographic industry after all that decimation are not on their way to hell in a camera bag. The industry is actually recovering – but it won’t look quite the same when the dust settles and the post-digital-revolution industry takes its slightly altered shape. First signs that the downward trend in camera sales was not necessarily permanent came mid-way through last…

From time to time it pays to run through a checklist of the key steps in your digital photo editing workflow to make sure you’re including all the necessary processes that can make the difference between ‘keepers’ that look just right for sharing and printing and shots you’ll set aside. In this feature, we’ll outline the most important steps to incorporate into your workflow in the order in which they should be tackled. You may not necessarily use all of them every time you open an image for editing. But you should check them all as a matter of routine. 1. Monitor calibration and working conditions. Is your monitor calibrated – and is the calibration up-to-date? This is the best way to ensure that what you see on your screen…

Your challenge is to find a subject – or subjects – that remind you of a face. It could be in the form of a passing cloud, an old gas meter, a building facade, a potato or just about anything. The only rule is that it not be an actual face but an inanimate object not deliberately shaped to look ‘facey’. Our judging criteria will be heavily weighted toward pictures that make us smile, or better still, laugh out loud. à Please review the rules and email your entries to photochallenge@photoreview.com.au. Deadline for entries is 28 May, 2016 and the winning pictures will be published in our Sept-Nov 2016 edition. TAKE THE NEXT PHOTO REVIEW CHALLENGE HERE ARE THE RULES To enter the challenge all you have to do is…