Innehållsförteckning för No. 418 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://bit.ly/39py9lg TWITTER…

Sony has announced the A7C, a compact full-frame camera that’s aimed at vloggers, content creators, and a younger generation of photographers. In the build-up to the A7’s launch Sony promised a “new concept” for its Alpha range. And while the A7C is more like a combination of two existing camera lines – the A6000 and A7 series – it’s still an exciting prospect for anyone who’s been waiting for a full-frame version of the Sony A6600. Despite having a 24.2MP back-illuminated full-frame sensor, the Sony A7C isn’t noticeably bigger than the highly compact A6600. In fact, the A7C weighs just 6g more than its APS-C cousin at 509g, and is only fractionally taller and wider. This is all the more impressive when you consider that the A7C packs in fiveaxis…

To ensure that your images are tack-sharp, you must choose the correct camera settings that fit with the kit you’re using and the environment you are shooting in. Traditionally, film photographers used a simple formula to work out the slowest shutter speed that they could use when hand-holding a camera to ensure that their images were sharp – and this formula is still applicable to most modern cameras. The idea is that you shoot at one over the focal length of the lens, so if you’re shooting with a 200mm lens, your minimum shutter speed should be 1/200 sec, and so on. Obviously, the faster the shutter speed that you use, the sharper your images will be, as there will be less chance for any movements to affect the capture.…

Sometimes post-processing is essential for producing sharp shots. Photoshop has an array of particularly effective sharpening tools that you can use to enhance your imagery: these include Unsharp Mark, Smart Sharpen and the High Pass sharpening filter. Matt Reynolds uses Lightroom to sharpen his imagery, however. “On initial import in Lightroom, I apply a Sharpening setting the range of 40 to most landscape images,” he explains. “I then bring the Radius down slightly – in most cases to 0.7. If I was using a lens known for being the sharpest available, I would go down to 0.5; if I was using a kit lens or one known for being not sharp, I would stay at 1.0. I always bring the Detail all the way up to 100. This will give…

We could all use a laugh in these troubled times, and right on cue the finalists for the 2020 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards have been announced, featuring the usual lineup of birds and beasts captured in a variety of amusing expressions and poses. We’ve picked a few of our favourite images above, and you can click the link to see more at the competition website, where you can vote for the Affinity Photo People’s Choice winner. The contest has its serious side too, as it aims to raise awareness of conservation issues, supporting wildlife charity the Born Free Foundation (www.bornfree.org.uk), as well as promoting ‘conservation at home’. The winners will be announced on October 22, and the first prize is certainly no laughing matter – a photo safari in Kenya’s…

Flimsy tripods from manufacturers you’ve never heard of can cost next to nothing, while range-topping models from premium brands like Gitzo can come with four-figure price tags. So how much do you actually need to spend to get a tripod that’s fit for purpose? The first thing to consider is how and where you’ll be using it. Most of us want a tripod that we can carry around easily, whether we’re in town, strolling through the countryside, or travelling to far-flung destinations. As such, ‘travel tripods’ have become increasingly popular, with current models almost exclusively featuring swing-up legs to minimise their size when folded down for carrying and storage. Indeed, a couple of the tripods in this test group fold down to just 32cm, so you can fit them inside…

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The GoPro Hero 9 Black has officially landed, and it comes with upgrades that include a new 23.6MP sensor and a front screen for extreme vloggers. Neither of these features is a huge surprise given the leaks we’ve seen in the run-up to the launch, but they do confirm that the Hero 9 Black is perhaps the biggest redesign of GoPro’s flagship action camera since the Hero 5 Black. That new sensor means the Hero 9 Black is capable of shooting 5K/30p video, a first for a GoPro, and taking 20MP photos. The new 1.4-inch colour display on the front is a direct response to the DJI Osmo Action, which was the first action camera to arrive with that vlogging-friendly feature when it landed in May 2019. While it looks…

All photographers strive to produce sharp imagery, but sharpness issues often plague even the most skilled photographers. Tack-sharp imagery is often the most striking and memorable, especially in the landscape and portrait genres, and ensuring that your images are as sharp as possible can help your work to stand out from that of your peers. Over the next few pages you’ll discover how your equipment can affect the sharpness of your shots, and why keeping your kit stable is essential. You’ll also learn about the importance of using the correct shooting, and the focusing considerations that must be made in order to produce sharp shots. Shooting techniques are only part of the sharpness process, so you’ll also learn essential Photoshop editing techniques, as well as important Lightroom edits and adjustments.…

Any camera movement that occurs as the shutter is pressed can result in an unsharp image, so it’s vital that you keep your kit as stable as possible. The most straightforward way to stabilise your kit is to attach it to a tripod, but Stefan Lackner says it’s important to remember that stability is reduced the higher the tripod is raised. “One should therefore avoid the middle column, because it costs a lot of stability,” he explains. Keeping your tripod as compact as possible will also help you to maintain the stability. “Also it’s recommended that you closely observe the ground. For example, small vibrations on bridges caused by traffic can harm the sharpness,” Lackner adds. “I always use a good strong tripod when taking every image, which ensures there…

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10 MINS Back in the days of film, if you had a gap in your camera body, light would leak in through the cracks and tinge the film with colour casts across the frame. This exposure to light, or ‘light leaking’, was originally seen as a problem to be avoided, but it’s caught on as a creative technique that enhances images beyond their standard exposure. Light leaks have become a popular ‘retro’ effect to add to digital images – it’s usually done in post-production using various techniques, but there are also ways that you can simulate a light leak in-camera, even in the digital era. By striking a match or igniting a lighter, we can create a warm orange flicker of fire, and if we place this close in front…

Travel tripods with swing-up legs can reduce carrying size, and some designs go further still to keep stowage size to a minimum. Naturally, a greater number of extending sections in each leg enables a decent maximum operating height while minimising the size. As such, most travel tripods have four or even five sections per leg, whereas most generalpurpose tripods have only three. The Benro, Kenro and Sirui travel tripods on test also feature dual-section telescopic centre columns, further increasing the difference between maximum operating height and folded size. The downside is that larger numbers of leg and centre column sections require the operation of more clamps for setting up the tripod and packing it away, and when you need to swing the legs up and down as well, you can…

Fujifilm’s family of instant cameras has a new member, with the launch of the Instax Square SQ1. As the name suggests, this model uses the Instax Square instant film format - which provides a larger image than the most popular Instax Mini film pack – providing an image area of 62 x 62mm. The camera is being introduced with two new Instax Square film types: a Monochrome pack, and a Rainbow pack that provides colour images with a darkcolored border. The Instax SQ1 is a back-to-basics version of the existing analogue-only Instax Square camera, the SQ6. The SQ1 offers a mechanical selfie-shooting mode, which enables close-up macro shooting optimised for capturing selfies at arms length. To get started you simply put in the two supplied CR6 batteries and the film…

The quality and condition of your kit is the most obvious reason T for your images not being as sharp as you’d like. The quality of the lenses you’re using will have an effect on how sharp your images are; this is down to the amount and quality of glass found in the lens, and how the light is able to pass through it. Generally, prime lenses will produce far sharper images than cheaper zoom lenses, because prime lenses have fewer internal lens elements. The quality of light will deteriorate slightly as it passes through each element, so the fewer internal elements there are, the better the image quality will often be. Pro photographer Paul Ewing (500px.com/paulewing5) says the correct equipment is essential to ensure sharp images. “Get the best…

A lot of sharpness issues come from failed focusing, or a lack of understanding when it comes to focusing correctly. Modern cameras generally have impressive autofocus capabilities, but for absolute precision you really need to master manual focusing. “I greatly prefer manual focus for landscapes,” says Matt Reynolds. “I think many new users are afraid of manual focus and hesitant to use it, but at closed-down apertures it’s actually not complicated and, after some experience, can even be faster.” “Mirrorless cameras have some built-in focus aids to help with manual focus, such as focus peaking and focus magnification. For me, the most used and helpful is focus magnification, where I can zoom into the scene and check focus at my current aperture settings with an assigned button.” Similarly, on a…

Nothing beats nailing a perfect long exposure in-camera, but sometimes this may not be possible. Perhaps you’ve seen the opportunity for a shot but don’t have your tripod or ND filter with you, or maybe you’d like to try the effect on one of your old landscape photos. Either way, you can mimic the look of motion blur in Photoshop using a combination of selection and masking techniques and filters, and we’ll show you how in this video tutorial. The key to the effect is the Radial Blur filter, and what’s great about this particular filter is the direction of the blur effects you can create. You can choose between Spin, which creates a circular, whirlpool-like blur, or zoom, and the latter option can be used to mimic the look…

Clicking all the right boxes, the Kenro Karoo Ultimate Travel tripod kit has a modern design with swing-up legs that enables a compact carrying size. However, unlike most travel tripods that have a distinctly limited maximum operating height, the Kenro beats even the conventional ‘full-sized’ tripods on test in this respect. Also, unlike the vast majority of travel tripods, it features a pivoting centre column for added versatility. The aluminium version is great value, as is the dearer carbon-fibre edition. For ultra-compact travel tripods, the Benro Slim Travel and Sirui T-005 both fold down to just 32cm in height, and each is light – just over a kilogramme. The Sirui has a greater load rating and operating height, but the Benro, constructed from carbon-fibre, feels a little more luxurious. The…