Innehållsförteckning för No. 381 från Photography Week

Welcome to the world’s No.1 weekly digital photography magazine. If you’re already a reader, thanks for your continued support and involvement; if you’re new to Photography Week, you’ve come to the right place! In addition to expert advice, brilliant tips and step-by-step tutorials, every issue features interactive galleries of the best new photos, how-to videos on essential shooting and editing techniques, and in-depth reviews of the latest camera kit. But that’s not the whole story. Photography Week is more than a magazine – it’s a community of like-minded people who are passionate about photography. To get involved, just follow any of the links below and share your shots and comments – your photo might even appear on our cover! JOIN THE PHOTOGRAPHY WEEK COMMUNITY AND START SHARING! FACEBOOK http://tiny.cc/7s2zgy TWITTER…

Portrait photography requires plenty of practice, and testing out new camera techniques with patient family and friends is a good way to develop your skills and gain experience. These portraits were all taken during an informal shoot with three generations of the same family; the photographer suggested a walk on the beach during which he could capture some informal portraits. Working on location can often yield more successful results than a studio shoot, as the environment is more relaxing for everyone and there are more options in terms of background and viewpoint. Here, the bright, overcast weather provided perfect light for portraiture. The subjects were asked to walk, chat and have fun while the photographer followed them and took candid shots.…

ROAM is an online community that was created to celebrate and share the best in adventure photography, filmmaking and writing, and it’s announced the winners of its inaugural ROAM awards, with prizes awarded in Photography, Essay, and Video/Film categories. ROAM describes the awards as “a way to discover, celebrate, and amplify emerging and established visual storytellers”. Prizes were awarded in each media category across five subjects: Purpose, Thrill, Lessons, Discovery and Awe, and above you can see four of the Photography winners, including Roie Galitz’s wonderful photo of a curious polar bear checking out his camera gear, and George Bruce Wilson’s vertigo-inducing shot of climber Ethan Pringle. Click the link to see the winning entries in all three categories, and to feast your eyes on some of the best travel…

Think portraiture, and you’re probably thinking an 85mm prime lens would be a good chouce. And you’d be absolutely right. Mounted on a full-frame body, the 85mm focal length gives a flattering perspective and enables a comfortable working distance, so you’re not crowding your subject, but you’re still close enough to engage and give direction. Even if you’re shooting with an APS-C format body, an 85mm lens works brilliantly for tight head shots and for head-and-shoulders portraiture; however, a shorter focal length is certainly preferable for Micro Four Thirds. Meanwhile, a ‘fast’ aperture rating enables a tight depth of field for blurring the background, literally focusing all the attention on the main subject. There are some fabulous top-end lenses from around £1,500/$1,600, including the Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM,…

When we buy a new camera, the first thing most of us do is shoot portraits of family of friends. Cameras are also dusted off on special occasions like birthday parties, christenings, weddings and Christmas to record the people present. Once our interest in photography grows, we usually want to start taking more serious portraits, and it’s then that most of us are hit with the reality of how tricky it can be to photograph people well. There’s a big difference between taking a quick snap at a party and capturing the true character of a person in a single, compelling image. Portrait photography demands relatively little in terms of technical know-how – the techniques involved are quite simple, and equipment can be kept to a minimum. However, to succeed…

Some people exude character naturally. The way they dress, the way they look, their hairstyle, their personality – all these factors contribute. Older people tend to have more character than the young simply because the older we get, the more wrinkled we look; it’s all part of nature’s aging process. People who spend their lives outdoors – farmers, fishermen, builders – generally have more characterful faces than those who’ve spent their career in an office. The same applies to people who live in extreme climates – heat and cold both take their toll and give us a pleasant patina! Often you can bring out this character using light alone – as we’ve already pointed out, side lighting is great for revealing texture and detail. But if your portrait needs a…

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30 MINS In this project we’re taking you through the looking glass by showing you a fresh way to shoot landscapes. Many of us love to shoot outdoors, but there are only so many ways to shoot landscapes traditionally. However, with a clear glass sphere from a company such as Lensball, you can unlock creative new ways to shoot vistas. Due to refraction, when you shoot an image through a glass ball, the landscape inside will appear upside-down. You can choose to leave it as-is, flip the entire picture in Photoshop so that the sphere is the right way up (go to Image > Image Rotation > 180º), or select just the image inside the ball and rotate that by 180º so that both the ball and landscape behind it…

Dispelling any doubts that an 85mm f/1.8 lens isn’t ‘good enough’ for top-level portraiture, the Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S is an absolutely stellar performer. Not only can it deliver a really tight depth of field, it can do so while maintaining stunning levels of sharpness across the entire frame for in-focus areas, along with deliciously soft and creamy bokeh for defocused areas, and super-smooth transitions in between. It’s a perfect lens for portraiture. Of course, not everyone has a Z-series body. For optimum image quality, all-round performance and premium construction, the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 Art lens comes up trumps for Canon and Nikon DSLRs, as well as for Sony E and Leica L-mount cameras. The own-brand Canon and Nikon 85mm f/1.8 lenses are much more compact and lightweight, but…

Body language is a potent form of non-verbal communication. If a person feels tense, you can usually see it in the way they stand or what they do with their hands; the same applies if they’re relaxed, confident, insecure, aggressive or threatened. Most people find having their portrait taken about as pleasurable as being eaten alive by ants, so they tend to become very ‘wooden’ in front of the camera and don’t really know what to do with themselves. Even if you’re shooting head-and-shoulders portraits, the pose adopted by your subject is important because it will influence how comfortable they feel, and this will show on their face. The worst thing you can do with a nervous subject is expect them to just stand there in front of the camera…

When you’re shooting portraits on location, you need to make the best use of the available light. Sometimes everything falls into place quickly, but often you have to work a situation hard in order to maximise its potential. These portraits are a good example of how a shoot can quickly evolve according to the light. They were taken inside a house during an impromptu visit to a small tobacco farm in Cuba’s Viñales Valley. 1 FIRST SHOT This first portrait is okay, and gives an indication of the potential the situation offers, but the subject isn’t really engaging with the camera, and the composition is a little too empty. There’s definitely room for improvement. 2 TIGHTER CROP Moving closer to the subject and zooming in to fill the frame produces a…

You don’t have to travel to the ends of the Earth to take great character portraits – members of your own family, as well as friends and their families, all make ideal subjects. Knowing your subject also makes the task of photographing them easier, because everyone feels more relaxed. Children can be an absolute joy to photograph, or a complete nightmare. Much depends on their personality and how you deal with them. Young children tend to be impatient and fidgety, so gaining and holding their attention can be tricky. If you’re struggling, give them something to do. Ask them to show you their favourite toy, their pet, their hobby; anything to take their mind off being photographed. The portraits you produce will be much better, as your subject will be…

HDR (high dynamic range) images are normally created from a series of individual images of the same subject or scene that have been shot at different exposures, then merged using software. This is done to maximise detail, from the shadows through to the highlights. Using this technique for portraiture is tricky, because if your subject moves a fraction the images won’t be in perfect register. Fortunately, there’s a solution. Raw files contain more tonal information than is visible in the unprocessed image, so you can reprocess a file, adjusting the exposure each time, then merge the set of images created to produce a pseudo-HDR image that brings out the texture and detail in your subject’s face. Here’s how it’s done… 1 CHOOSE YOUR IMAGE Open your raw file in ACR,…

Something as simple as a piece of fabric can add a burst of colour and drama to portraits, especially if you find a windswept location. Not only is fabric fantastic for conventional photos, it can also be used to create beautiful ethereal effects, like this ghostly figure, and in this video tutorial we’ll show you how it’s done using a combination of shooting skills and Photoshop techniques. The fabric we’re using is a shiny dress-lining material that’s light enough to get picked up by the wind and thin enough to define the shape of the figure underneath, but also not so transparent that it gives the game away by showing the person in too much detail. We’ll then use Photoshop to remove the legs and replace that area with a…