Innehållsförteckning för No. 553 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 brilliant 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. JOIN THE PHOTOGRAPHY WEEK COMMUNITY AND START SHARING! FACEBOOK http://bit.ly/39py9lg TWITTER http://bit.ly/2vGadLP FLICKR http://bit.ly/2VIgsJO We’re more than just a magazine – read…

Due to their high-quality optical components, such as the sophisticated precision glass, telephoto lenses aren’t a cheap option. Therefore, it’s important to think about the different requirements that your projects will entail before you buy. The first question is whether you need a prime lens or a zoom lens. Prime lenses are mainly characterised by their low weight and precise sharpness, although modern zoom lenses are so technically advanced that the latter is becoming less noticeable. Prime lenses often provide bigger apertures, and can therefore give you greater control over depth of field. You’ll also want to check the f-stop range, as you want to be as flexible as possible – having that extra f-stop makes a difference to maximising light and sharpness when shooting handheld at fast shutter speeds.…

Telephoto lenses are an essential tool for a nature photographer. Not only do they allow us to take images of creatures that would unobtainable with wider-angle lenses, but they also compress the frame, and this perspective can yield more ‘focused’, intimate shots of the subject. The beauty of a telephoto lens is that it allows for simplification of the image; sometimes going too wide can lead to a ‘busy’ photo. If you aren’t careful, the target subject can be lost in the scene, or the results can be underwhelming. Shooting at a focal length such as 400mm allows me to significantly isolate my subject from the rest of the frame, even at mid-apertures. When photographing wildlife, I take careful consideration to align the creature between aesthetically pleasing foreground and background…

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Technically, true macro photography is when you magnify a subject by a ratio of at least 1:1, or life-size on your camera’s sensor, though we commonly refer to any close-up capture as macro. If you’re interested in pursuing this genre, you need to have the right gear. The most important tool, of course, is a dedicated macro lens, but that’s not the only solution – and it certainly isn’t the cheapest. If you’re on a budget, you may prefer to try extension tubes, close-up filters or the reverse-lens technique. The best time to photograph insects is early in the morning or late in the evening, when they’re roosting and so relatively inactive, as you can take your time and work around them without disturbing them. Read on for more tips…

Price: £619/$559 Canon’s original EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM had a strong fan base, but when we reviewed it, the lens didn’t overly impress us, with mediocre 3-stop stabilisation, sluggish autofocus and poor handling. The Mk II edition launched in 2016 with revamped optics, a new-generation 4-stop image stabiliser and revolutionary Nano USM autofocus, which is blazing-fast for stills yet gives smooth and virtually silent focus transitions for movie capture. Another key handling improvement over the original lens is that the front element and focus ring don’t rotate during autofocus, and manual override of autofocus is added, via an electronically coupled focus ring. As with the vast majority of lenses that feature motor-based stepping rather than Nano USM autofocus, there’s no conventional focus distance scale. However, the Canon features a…

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Nikon has announced a new ultra-wide zoom lens for its Z 50, Z 30 and Z fc crop-sensor DX mirrorless cameras – the Nikon Z DX 12-28mm f/3.5-5.6 PZ VR. With a 18-42mm zoom range in full-frame terms, it’s ideal for landscapes, interiors and any other shooting scenario where you need to squeeze more into the image frame. It’s not quite as wide-angle as the Nikon AF-S DX 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED for Nikon’s DX DSLRs, with an 18mm rather then 15mm maximum angle of view, but it does stretch quite a bit further at the telephoto end, at 42mm rather than 36mm. The ‘PZ’ stands for power zoom, which enables smooth zooming without the need to touch the lens. Best suited to video, it’s ideal when shooting vlogs or using…

Modern telephoto lenses are characterised by the fact that they show little lens distortion at long focal lengths. However, when using short focal lengths, so-called pincushion distortion will occur due to the compression effect. This means that straight lines appear to be curved outwards from the centre of the image; this is exactly the opposite effect to when working with wide-angle lenses. Here, prime telephoto lenses perform best. As a general rule, work with long focal lengths to reduce distortion as much as possible, and fine-tune small instances in post-processing. For this reason you should work with long focal lengths when shooting panoramas. When taking a series of images, mount the camera on a tripod and make sure the individual shots overlap by about a third. This way, the images…

Shooting action with a telephoto lens is about picking out the action, and the details of a specific subject among the bigger picture when looking to freeze a subject. Or it can be about conveying emotion in terms of a sense of speed. It can be exceptionally rewarding, as it produces emotive and dynamic images. Unlike shooting with wider lenses, the telephoto compresses the background, letting you focus on a subject and bringing details to the fore. They’re great for putting the viewer into the thick of the action; however, unless used properly they can cause you to miss moments due to their narrow field of vision. When shooting with any lens, but especially with a telephoto, keep both eyes open. After each shot, I’m looking for the next one…

Available in both Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw, the Hue, Saturation and Luminosity tools in the Color Mixer panel give you a fine degree of control over colours and tones in your images, enabling to subtly alter a single colour or a range of tones, or change them completely, In this video tutorial we’ll make use of the Color Mixer tools to recolour the backdrop without affecting our subject. This takes just seconds with a targeted Hue adjustment, and doesn’t require us to make any complicated selections; we simply drag over the backdrop to alter the colour. If you want to delve deeper into the options for controlling the hue, saturation and luminosity of colours in your images you can experiment with Camera Raw and Lightroom’s local adjustment tools, which…

Price: £629/$597 By way of context, the previous Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR was one of our all-time favourite budget telephoto zooms. It packed ring-type ultrasonic autofocus and effective VR (Vibration Reduction) into a robust casing, delivering good handling and performance. Nikon has since launched a few less impressive DX (APS-C format) budget telephoto zooms, and the FX (full-frame) lens has now been superseded by the new AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR that we have on test here. So what’s new? The optical path has been upgraded with the aim of delivering better sharpness throughout the zoom range, despite featuring just one ED (Extra-low Dispersion) element, whereas the old lens had two. The new model features additional weather seals, and is slightly lighter in weight. A new ‘Pulse’ (stepping…

Price: Sony E: £529/$499, Nikon Z: £699/$699 Originally developed for Sony E-mount full-frame and APS-C format mirrorless cameras, this Tamron lens has more recently been available in a Nikon Z-mount option. The most glaring difference between the two versions is the price, with the Z-mount edition being more expensive. But the closest own-brand Sony match is the FE 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G OSS which, at £1,100/$1,273, doesn’t qualify as a ‘budget buy’, and there’s no directly competing Nikon Z-mount lens. Plus points include a tough yet lightweight construction with an aluminium-magnesium alloy barrel and weather seals. Though the Sony version is lightweight at 545g, the Nikon edition is a weightier 580g. Autofocus is fast and precise, thanks to a linear stepping motor, and it’s compatible with advanced AF modes on Sony…

Telephoto lenses are among the most popular pieces of photographic kit, offering opportunities for stunning closeup shots, and making it easier to get close to the action and capture candid moments in rich detail. Due to their versatility, telephoto lenses have become indispensable in many photographic genres, such as wildlife, where a photographer benefits from being able to shoot animals from a distance without frightening them or risking their own safety. A big advantage of telephoto lenes is the compressed perspective, which makes backgrounds appear closer to subjects while excluding distracting elements. This is particularly useful when shooting action, as the compressed perspective also creates a sense of pace. The distance from the subject, combined with a wide aperture, makes backgrounds appear blurred, highlighting key features and drawing attention to…

Telephoto lenses are usually an expensive purchase, so it’s important to maximise their use through appropriate handling and care. The lens glass and its coating are sensitive, so to protect this surface, use a UV filter from the start. This not only protects against possible scratches, but also stops dust and moisture from getting into the lens to stop fungal growth, which is difficult to remove, and a death sentence for a lens. Make sure you use a quality UV filter, as this will affect the overall appearance and quality of your shots. When looking for new angles and compositions, carry the lens with the shoulder strap close to your body and the glass pointing to the ground. If prime telephoto lenses need to be changed, always keep the camera…

Stags rather than spiders probably come to mind if you think about the wildlife of Scotland, but that hasn’t stopped Frank Urban scooping the top prize in the Scottish Nature Photography Awards with a photo of a cucumber green spider that he captured in his back garden. The image also took top spot in the Wildlife Portrait category. Niall Irvine, who’s the co-organizer of the awards and one of the judges said: “Frank’s image draws you into the miniature world of the spider. It’s an excellent example of awareness of the proximity of nature in our immediate environment and an appreciation of its beauty.” The awards were launched in 2010 to showcase images that celebrate the nature, wildlife and landscape of Scotland. Click the link to see more images at…

A constant-aperture 70-200mm f/2.8 ‘trinity’ zoom is often the go-to telephoto lens for enthusiast photographers, but they tend to be big, heavy and expensive, and they’re certainly not the only option. The 70-300mm zoom range is something of a classic, stretching back to the 35mm film era. These lenses typically have a slower, variable aperture range of around f/4-5.6 but they give more powerful reach on a full-frame camera, and go further still on APS-C format bodies, with an effective range of around 105-450mm (112-480mm for Canon), which is stretching into super-telephoto territory. Other advantages of 70-300mm zooms are that they’re relatively compact, lightweight and easy to live with, especially for travel, action, sport and wildlife photography. The slower aperture rating compared with f/2.8 zooms isn’t necessarily a drawback, considering…

Price: £399/$347 Although this lens was launched at the same time as Pentax’s first full-frame DSLR, it’s designed exclusively for APS-C format cameras. The required size of the image circle is therefore smaller, and the lens has a slightly slower aperture rating than usual, at f/4.5-6.3. These factors enable a smaller and more lightweight build, but the compactness of this lens is further boosted by a clever design that’s based on a retractable barrel. With a retracted length of just 89mm, the Pentax takes up less than two-thirds of the room of competing lenses for stowage. And whether it’s in use or stored away in your gadget bag, it’s much lighter than the Canon and Nikon lenses on test here, and rather lighter than the Tamron, weighing in at just…