Innehållsförteckning för No. 600 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…

STARTING SETTINGS Chris suggested that Steve start out in Manual mode so that he could take total control over his exposures. Chris recommended starting with a shutter speed of 30 secs for pin-sharp stars when using his equatorial mount. He also suggested that Steve increase his ISO to 3200 to make the sensor much more sensitive to light, and open the aperture on his lens as wide as it could go to suck in as much light as possible. MANUAL FOCUSING Focusing at night can be tricky, and Chris explained that you have two options: focus on the foreground, or focus on the stars, depending on which you’d prefer to be sharp. To focus on the foreground he shone a bright torch on the church so that Steve’s camera could…

STEVE’S COMMENT Chris explained that instead of shooting pin-sharp stars, you can lean into the blur caused by the Earth’s rotation to shoot star trails. We framed up on a tripod, without the need for an equatorial mount. Chris pointed out Polaris (the North Star) in the sky, and explained that all of the stars will rotate around this point. We set the focus on the church and took a test shot at 30 secs, f/3.5, ISO1600. We then set the camera to continuous drive mode, inserted a shutter release cable, and locked it down so that it would fire 30-second exposures back to back. For this image we left the camera running for about an hour, merging a total of 60 exposures. EXPERT INSIGHT SHUTTER RELEASE CABLE A shutter…

1 BULB MODE While he primarily shoots in Manual mode, Chris is often limited to maximum shutter speeds of 30 secs. When he needs to shoot for longer he’ll use Bulb mode. 2 TURN THE SELF-TIMER OFF Any delay between shots when shooting star trails will appear as gaps in between the trails, so switch the self-timer off, and use a remote release cable. 3 AVOID LIGHT POLLUTION It’s best to travel as far as you can from the bright glow of city lights, as these can limit how ‘dark’ the sky is. Visit www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk to find a dark-sky zone near to you. 4 IN-CAMERA NOISE REDUCTION With low light levels and high ISO values, digital noise can be a problem. Many cameras have a Long Exposure Noise Reduction feature,…

CURVED LINES TO THE BIG MOUNTAIN MARIO OTTAVIANI “This is the typical ‘lunar’ landscape in the heart of Italy’s Abruzzo region. The mountain in the distance is the ‘Gran Sasso’, the highest of the Italian Apennines.” https://bit.ly/3Akm016 THE TUNNEL MARK GREENFIELD “I took this photo early in the morning, in an attempt to avoid being run over by cyclists in this bike tunnel near Rotterdam central station.” https://bit.ly/3v1BExW PRINCESS ZELDA SALVATORE VITALE “I took this photo at the 2023 Lucca Comics & Games fair in Tuscany. The model photographed is dressed as the character Princess Zelda from the video game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.” https://bit.ly/3zmSje4 BENCH JEAN-YVES BESSELIEVRE “The transition from sunset to the blue hour. Taken with my iPhone 13 Pro Max.” https://bit.ly/3N9H0NS FACEBOOK http://bit.ly/39py9lg…

1 EXPOSURE & APERTURE Set the camera to Manual mode with a 1/30 sec shutter speed at f/8 and ISO100. A mid-range aperture like this will give you the sharpest results; lenses tend to perform their best a couple of stops down from the maximum aperture. Even at f/8, the depth of field will be very limited, so precise focusing is crucial. 2 TRIPOD AND FOCUSING A tripod is a must for macro photography, not just because it lets you slow your shutter speed, but also because it means you can be really precise with your focusing. Manual focus is best. Use Live View and zoom in, then use the focus ring to ensure the front edge of the mushroom is sharp. 3 SPEEDLIGHT Fired at ¼ manual power, the…

N-PHOTO N-Photo is a monthly magazine for Nikon photographers, and is packed with technique and Photoshop video lessons every month. http://bit.ly/3atHLfO https://apple.co/2TNE26T DIGITAL CAMERA WORLD A monthly magazine that aims to improve your photography with an inspirational mix of amazing images and how-to articles. http://bit.ly/2RER7g6 https://apple.co/2RBrZqG  PHOTOPLUS PhotoPlus is a monthly magazine for Canon photographers that features expert advice, tips and video tutorials on all things Canon. http://bit.ly/30FoOlQ https://apple.co/2vaIdzw DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER The monthly kitbag essential for enthusiast and pro photographers, packed with tutorials, exclusive interviews and the latest reviews. https://bit.ly/3lH4ucX https://apple.co/2SJf6ff…

Capix, a UK brand that markets film processing and scanning equipment, has launched a pair of new, compact, and innovative hotshoe-mounted light meters, the KEKS KM02 OLED and KM-Q. The KEKS KM02 (pictured above) is the more advanced of these two new light meters. It has a metering cell at the front and an OLED exposure display at the back, with customisable options for shutter speed, lens aperture and ISO settings, together with the ability to shift exposure compensation from -3EV to +3EV. It’s powered by an internal battery offering 21 hours of continuous use, and you can create presets for up to three camera and lens combinations. We don’t have any more detailed specifications at the moment, except that it offers continuous and single metering modes and a VEML7700…

CHRIS’S COMMENT I wanted to show Steve how to zoom closely into star constellations and interesting nebulae for mesmerising deep-sky photos. Steve had his Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM lens with him, which was perfect – we only needed to zoom into about 300mm on his full-frame Canon EOS R6 to fill the frame with this gorgeous North American Nebula. When choosing which nebula or galaxy to focus on you’re at the mercy of what is ‘up’ in the sky at the time of year: the North American Nebula was a good target for us to set our sights on and shoot continuously for an hour – the more images you take, the better. PRO TIP TURN UP THE HEAT Condensation will be your biggest enemy when shooting stars…

1 EQUATORIAL MOUNT Long exposures tend to pick up the Earth’s rotation and turn the stars from pin-points of light into trails, and this means Chris needs to track the stars at the same speed as the Earth’s rotation. He uses a battery-powered Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro equatorial mount on his Three Legged Thing Charles 2.0 tripod, which is lined up with Polaris, also know as the North Star. 2 MODIFIED CAMERA BODIES Chris owns a standard Canon EOS 7D and two modified bodies – an EOS 70D and full-frame EOS 6D. He’s modified the DSLRs by removing the internal IR and UV filter, which allows more red spectrum to be recorded and optimises them for astrophotography. On his 70D he’s also added a Skytech Quad band filter, which lets…

1 BRING A BEANBAG You’ll often need to be shooting low to the ground to capture mushrooms and fungi. As such, a small beanbag like this comes in very handy to prop up your camera. A flip-out screen is also hugely useful for shooting at low angles, and waterproof trousers will come in handy when you’re kneeling down on damp ground for close-in shots. 2 CONTROL THE FLASH Setting the right flash power can be a matter of trial and error. Begin by working out a manual exposure without the flash. Set an aperture f/8 and ISO100, and adjust the shutter speed until things look dark. Now turn on the flash and use it to lift the subject – here the flash is at 1/16 manual power. 3 CREATE DEPTH…

Few photography effects can beat the look of a long exposure, especially the beautiful motion blur you get when shooting moving water with a slow shutter speed. During daylight hours the slow shutter speeds you need can usually only be achieved with the use of a neutral density filter, which slows the flow of light into your camera. But sometimes you can be caught short without a neutral density filter, and the water comes out looking too choppy and detailed. If so, there’s another option. Using a tripod, you can shoot a series of frames of the moving water in quick succession and then blend the images together in Affinity Photo, and we’ll show you how it’s done in this issue’s video tutorial. It helps if the frames you intend…

PRO CHRIS GRIMMER CAMERA: CANON EOS 6D, 7D & 70D Chris was shortlisted for the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year in 2016, and he’s also been shortlisted for the UK Astrophotographer of the Year – so it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about capturing great shots of starry skies. Chris uses a whole host of equipment, from converted EOS cameras to tripod heads that rotate to track stars. You can see his work at https://bit.ly/3M2SBe8 APPRENTICE STEVE DYTHAM CAMERA: CANON EOS R6 Steve took up photography as a hobby over the Covid lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. He’s based in Peterborough, UK, and is often out with his camera shooting wildlife at some of his favourite local nature spots. While he has a passion for…

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From antibiotics to alcoholic drinks, and from organic decay to delicious food, fungi play an important role in all manner of things. They range in size from tiny microscopic structures to the largest living organisms on the planet. Underground, the ‘wood-wide web’ of fine tendrils creates a network that connects plants and trees. Above ground, the fruiting bodies form as mushrooms and other stunning structures that offer some wonderful opportunities for macro photography. Fungi – and mushrooms in particular – tend to prefer dark conditions like dense woodlands, crevices in rotten wood and shady areas. When you’re photographing in these murky spots, a burst of flash can provide a welcome lift to the scene. But it’s not just about increasing the light levels – a flash also gives you the…

1 SHOOT FOR A STACK To get macro subjects sharp you could try shooting for a focus stack. Focus on the closest point and take a shot, then shift the focus point backwards and take another, Continue until you’ve captured sharpness across the subject. Some cameras have a focus shift mode that can shoot the stack for you. 2 ALIGN THE LAYERS You can use Photoshop to automatically combine the sharp parts into a single image. Go to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack and load in your set of images. Once done, go to the Layers panel, highlight the top layer, then hold Shift and click on the bottom layer to select them all. Go to Edit > Auto-Align Layers. 3 BLEND THE LAYERS In the Auto-Align…

www.panasonic.com £999/$999 Panasonic cameras go from P strength to strength, and it was the fastest-growing full-frame camera brand in 2023. However, The company’s Lumix S L-Mount lineup still lags a little way behind the competition, with one major omission being the lack of a standard macro lens. The L-Mount Alliance has in the past saved the day for Panasonic shooters, with fellow members Leica and Sigma filling the gap with some superb choices, including the Sigma 105mm f/2.8 DG DN Macro, while Venus Optics and TTArtisan offer more affordable options. Key features But what is a camera system without good first-party lenses? Finally Panasonic has seen fit to plug this non-macro-sized hole with the new Lumix S 100mm f/2.8 Macro; although with Panasonic having a reputation of notching up ‘firsts’…