Table of contents for May 2019 in Digital Camera Magazine

Spring has finally sprung, so it’s the perfect time to offer tons of inspiration to get out outside and get shooting. If birds are your thing, head straight to page 8, where Tesni Ward shares smarts from many years spent as a leading wildlife pro. But if you’d rather shoot scenic views, then join Dave Fieldhouse (p40) for a masterclass in shooting landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes. Also this month, we unveil 10 new photo projects, demystify fill flash and field-test Panasonic’s Lumix S1R – the world’s highest-resolution fullframe mirrorless. Plus, as a spring treat, we’re running two cracking competitions: you can win a trio of top Sigma lenses (p60) or a copy of DxO’s powerful PhotoLab 2 Elite software (p90). Enjoy the issue. niall.hampton@futurenet.com NEW-LOOK TIPS CARDS! This month’s tips…

Having grown up in a family of bird-lovers, I was very excited to arrange this month’s shoot at the RSPB’s (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) flagship site, Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire. Every year, nearly half a million seabirds pack the cliff ledges between Bempton and Flamborough – including thousands of the UK’s largest species, gannets. Bempton offers six safe cliff-edge viewing platforms, giving visitors (and photographers) stunning close-up views of life on the edge. These are where I’m spending most of my day with Tesni Ward, as she guides me through her top tips for capturing coastal birds. As the RSPB explains on its website, the chalk cliffs of Bempton are an ideal habitat for a huge range of species: “From April to October, they support England’s largest…

Photo Active 10 things you can shoot this month, from pretty bluebells and lit-up drones to surreal self-portraits Commercial airlines carried nearly four billion passengers around the world in 2017, and there are now more aerial photographs being taken than at any other point in history. You don’t need to take a flight to get aerial images, of course: you can take aerial views of anything from just a few metres high standing on a ladder, all the way up to the furthest reaches of space with the help of a weather balloon. In this project we’ll look at how to make the most of whatever equipment you have, whether it’s a drone or a DSLR on a telescopic pole. When you operate cameras at height, with a drone for…

If you like your images with a surreal twist, Photoshop is one of the best programs out there! For this Photo Active project I’ll show you how to take two separate images and use Layer Masks to reveal one part of the image, producing a startling face-over-hands result. If you want to shoot the starting images yourself, it is simple to do. We have also provided my starting images on the disc that comes with the magazine, so you can use these to practise. To ensure all the images match up for editing, place your camera onto a tripod. I decided to use a dark background and lit myself using one external flashgun. I was after a heavy, dark look. Take the first image without any hands over the face.…

Sports photographer Mark Roe is used to capturing subjects in motion. Here, though, he wanted a series that was slightly different from the usual sequence shot – pro flash froze the action, but a modelling light produced colourful trails across the frame. “I decided to shoot in a studio setting, so there weren’t any distractions from backgrounds or locations,” Mark says. “This kept the main focus of attention on the movement created by the skateboarder.” Mark was using the Broncolor Move 1200L power pack and two MobiLED flash heads. “The bright modelling lights in the heads were ideal for the continuous light source, but they also have an incredibly fast flash duration for capturing the action across the frame.” A 24-70mm f/2.8 lens made for speedy framing of the skateboarding…

On your marks, get set, go! Essentially that’s what we want you to do for this month’s Facebook Photo Challenge! When it comes to capturing a sharp action portrait, it’s all about being prepared. To ensure you get a sharp shot, put your camera’s focus setting in Automatic mode and enable the subject-tracking feature. You may also find it easier to switch your camera into its high-speed burst mode so later on you can pick the best frame of the bunch. One of the biggest considerations to take into account when photographing action is your shutter speed setting. If it’s too slow (under 1/500 sec, but you may even need to go faster), your model will blur. In low-light conditions, it will be necessary to push your ISO setting to…

Most of the population lives in and around towns and cities. Why, then, is the built landscape so often overlooked by us? I stumbled into shooting the urban landscape only recently, and now wonder how I missed its potential in the first place. I have worked in a construction-related industry for 25 years, so it’s no coincidence I have an interest in architecture. My day-to-day working life often requires me to visit cities, so throwing a camera in the bag in case something catches my eye makes perfect sense. The summer months are harder work for outdoor photographers so reliant on that soft light associated with the ‘golden hours’ of sunrise and sunset. These hours are still great in the city too, but if you’re a bit of a night…

With a TTL (Through-The-Lens) flash exposure, the camera takes care of everything; it calculates the exposure and will, within reason, compensate for any changes you make to the aperture, shutter speed or ISO, and the distance between you and the subject, in order to maintain a consistent flash exposure. As the name suggests, with a manual flash exposure you have to set the flash power yourself. The camera won’t make any adjustments, so if you move the flashgun closer to the subject or further away, for instance, or you raise or lower the ISO sensitivity on the camera, the flash exposure will change. The camera doesn’t have to be set to Manual exposure mode to use a manual flash exposure, nor does it have to be in a semi-automatic mode…

Flash button In some modes, you can manually trigger a built-in flash by pressing the flash button located near the flash unit. It may also give you quick access to the flash control screen if you press it again. Flash control For in-depth control over the flash, head to your camera’s settings menu. You may also be able to control an external flashgun in the same way, once it’s attached to the camera’s hotshoe. Flash compensation Some cameras have a dedicated button that allows you to adjust the flash strength: hold this down and rotate the camera’s dial to do so. You can also apply this via your camera’s control screen. Flash power When the flash is set to manual mode, adjust the flash power or output to control the…

FREE! 16 water reflection effects Jon is a professional photographer and writer. He also provides one-to-one and smallgroup tuition in both digital SLR and Photoshop image-editing skills. This is a wonderful technique that emulates the effect of a water-flooded foreground. It works effectively on all kinds of scenes and subjects, but because it extends the height of the image, it’s best used with pictures that are in the horizontal or landscape format. For the technique to work successfully, you need to crop the image at a suitable point, as the bottom of the shot will serve as the ‘join’ where the digitally generated water meets the picture itself. For this reason, look for images with a clean baseline, as this will effectively become the shore of your new lake. If…

Reader David Baker Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mk II Location: Nottingham David has been a photography enthusiast since his teens and particularly enjoys taking pictures of landscapes, seascapes and wildlife. He got a good crack at all three subjects during a recent holiday in Australia and New Zealand – but with over 625 ‘keeper’ images to sit and edit, he was looking for a good excuse to get behind the camera again. So what better opportunity than taking some sunrise shots in Swanage? David was keen as mustard and arrived very well accessorised, starting with a plethora of filters to attach to his trusty Olympus E-M1 Mk II. www.instagram.com/dbsilverfox Mentor Claire Gillo Camera: Nikon D810 Location: Devon Contributing editor Claire stepped into the breach after we had a late cancellation.…

This raw file of some fun off-roading action is a little cool-looking, and the areas in shadow are losing details. 1 First, I want to warm up the whole photo by pushing the White Balance slider in the Basic Panel to the right until I am happy with the result. Alternatively I can try one of the pre-set dropdowns, such as Cloudy. To add drama to the composition, I am going to tilt the image with the Crop Tool. 2 This will also result in the main subject appearing larger within the frame. Now the biggest issues are bringing some detail out of the shadows, and creating more separation between the off-roader and the rest of the scene. 3 To sort this, I’ll take an Adjustment Brush and mask over…

Quintin Lake Roving photographer Quintin is past halfway in his 6,000-mile photo walk around the whole of the UK coast. www.theperimeter.uk This month’s route Acharacle to Beasdale 6 days, 53 miles Total so far: 4,159 miles There’s an entire flock of sheep, some black and some white, following me down the road. “Received a lot more followers today,” I tweet, along with a photo of my entourage. At first the company is amusing, then it becomes disconcerting. After a couple of miles of walking at the head of this woolly posse, they decide they’ve come far enough. Further along, I pass the Monster Midge of Ardtoe, a large boulder with painted teeth as large as a dinosaur and dripping with blood. I’m entering Moidart, which marks the start of the…

£3,399/$4,199 (body only) www.panasonic.co.uk Sensor: 47.3MP full frame CMOS, 36 x 24mm Image processor: Venus AF points: 225-area DFD contrast AF ISO range: 100 to 25,600 (exp. 500 to 51,200) Max image size: 8,368 x 5,584 Metering modes: Multi, centre-weighted, spot, highlight weighted Video: 4K UHD at 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p, 24p Viewfinder: OLED EVF, 5.76m dots, 100% coverage, 0.78x magnification Memory card: SD (UHS II compatible) + XQD LCD: 3.2-inch tilting touchscreen, 2.1m dots Max burst: 9fps, 6fps with CAF Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Size: 149 x 110 x 97mm Weight: 1,016g (with battery and SD card) We’ve waited quite a long time to get our hands on Panasonic’s new full-frame mirrorless camera. Announced at Photokina 2018 and rumoured long before that, the new Lumix S range is a big…

Hot on the heels of last month’s group test of 70-200mm telephoto zooms, we’re going extra-large. Money no object, a 400mm, 500mm or 600mm prime lens with a relatively fast aperture rating is likely to deliver unbeatable performance and image quality. However, they tend to be very heavy and unwieldy, and fiendishly expensive, usually with price tags of well over £10,000/$10,000. The lenses we’ve chosen for this group test are much more affordable, while adding zoom versatility. All can reach to at least 400mm. We’ve included the latest Sigma and Tamron offerings, some of which really push the envelope for this class of lens. The flip side is that we’ve not been able to include some own-brand lenses including the excellent Fujifilm 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR, the desirable…

Lens mounts Canon EF, Nikon FX, Sigma SA With its unique 10x zoom range, this Sigma enables you to shoot at everything from a fairly standard focal length to extreme telephoto, without having to change lenses. As such, it follows in the footsteps of the ‘Bigma’ 50-500mm – but is even bigger and 40 per cent heavier, at 2,700g. Upgrades are similarly sizeable. The optical path includes three top-grade FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements and one SLD (Special Low Dispersion) element. Fluorine coatings are applied to the front and rear elements, and the lens is extensively weather-sealed. Performance Autofocus is fast, stabilisation is effective and image quality is impressive, given the extra-large zoom range. However, there’s nevertheless a slight impact on sharpness, colour fringing and distortion. Sharpness Compared with Sigma’s…

Lens mounts Canon EF, Nikon FX, Sigma SA From the Sports sector of Sigma’s line-up, this lens aims for performance, with no concessions to compactness or shedding a few grammes. It’s nearly a kilogramme heavier than the Contemporary edition. It has a full range of dual autofocus modes, dual stabilisation modes, a two-position autofocus range limiter switch and two custom modes. More robust than the Contemporary lens, this one has a metal barrel and hood, and is comprehensively weathersealed. There are four additional optical elements, including largerdiameter elements and two top-grade FLD elements. Performance Sharpness and contrast are excellent in out test shots, despite the lens not performing quite as well in close-range lab tests. Fringing and distortion are very well-controlled. Sharpness The lab results don’t look like much, but…

For sheer clout and performance, the Sigma 150-600mm Sports wins out. It’s superbly wellengineered, has a wealth of features and customisable controls, and delivers excellent image quality. It’s also excellent value. However, there’s no denying that it’s a big, heavy lens. The Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary and Tamron 150-600mm G2 lenses are rather more manageable. The Sigma edges ahead for features and image quality, while the Tamron is more extensively weather-sealed. The Nikkor 200-500mm is also a great buy for Nikon shooters who like to stick with own-brand lenses. The Canon 100-400mm is smaller and lighter than any of the 150-600mm lenses; while it doesn’t give such long telephoto reach, it has a slightly faster aperture rating and superb build quality. Even so, the Sigma and Tamron 100-400mm are smaller and…

Pike conjure up images of a fierce predator – one that drags children and Yorkshire terriers into the depths of rivers – but the reality is that they have a very tender side to them, says Jack Perks. His photos capture the less-liked species of reptiles, insects and fish (like these pike) and try to put them in more of a positive light. “Early in the spring, the larger pike females gather in the weeds with smaller males in tow. I knew I wanted to capture this behaviour on camera, and decided to go with natural light rather then a strobe. Using a fisheye lens (no pun intended) meant I could get very close to the pike and include some of the environment, which helps bring some context into the…

Landscape photography is all around us, and we are incredibly fortunate to live in such a diverse country, with beautiful and easy-to-access locations all around us. This isn’t always a positive, as it can lead to overcrowding at some of the more popular photo hotspots. This can leave us feeling a little unfulfilled when the images we capture don’t feel all that special or hard-earned. A great way to both find peace and solitude and create images that feel unique to you is to pack your rucksack and go for a hike. Not only will this give you many photographic opportunities, but it will help with your health and wellbeing and leave you with a great feeling of fulfilment and satisfaction, even if you don’t get the perfect light or…

Recently I found myself wandering the streets of Bintulu, Borneo. As you do. I was on a work-related trip and hadn’t factored that I might have some time off here, so I hadn’t made any arrangements to visit a ‘photogenic’ location. However, I did have several hours to aimlessly wander with my camera. Heaven. I think it’s fair to say that Bintulu isn’t graced with wall-to-wall photographic honey-spots. It’s an average-looking port town. Some of my travelling companions and budding photo-enthusiasts were bemoaning the lack of photo opportunities. I, on the other hand, relish in these moments and set about getting into the zone and wandered off by myself. I believe there are opportunities to make photographs just about anywhere. I get irritated by photographers with a blind hunger to…

Mountains, heathland, trees and forests are just some of the staple subjects for a landscape lover. The UK’s shifting weather patterns and changing seasons provide us with endless subject matter – and that’s before we even touch on style. Whether you’re a wide-vista warrior, or an intimate detail master, there is simply no excuse to say, “There’s nothing to shoot”. Two types of landscape shooter have emerged in recent years: the social photographer, and the one who goes the extra mile to find a unique viewpoint far from the crowds. I’d like to think I have a foot in both camps, though friends and family look at me with more than a touch of confusion if I mention my alarm is set for 3:30am (to drive to locations in search…

Pedro Jarque Krebs Animal photographer Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III Lens: 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM Exposure: 1/400 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1,000 www.pedrojarque.com Photographer Pedro Jarque Krebs describes himself as an animal photographer in the broadest sense of this definition. “This includes wildlife, but not exclusively. I create portraits of animals in any environment, be it in the wild or in captivity, in zoos and reserves.” This shot of a male sea lion was taken in a nature park in Germany. “My goal was to isolate the animal from any context that distracts”, says Pedro, “to focus attention on its shape, pose, colours, expression, look.” He has a series of images in this style, and places his subjects in the spotlight to arouse respect and empathy. “My initial aspiration…

The flash itself is a very short burst of light, with a duration that’s maybe as fast as 1/3,000 sec. When you’re using flash alone to light a scene, it’s this brief duration that is effectively the length of the exposure, rather than the time that camera’s shutter is open. This is why you can’t control the flash exposure by adjusting the shutter speed. The shutter speed cannot be ignored, though, as the flash sync speed – the fastest shutter speed at which the sensor is fully exposed to light – may prove restrictive when you’re using flash in bright conditions. (See ‘Getting in sync’, opposite). By default, the flash is fired as soon as the first curtain has moved out of the way, although you may be able to…

A pop-up flash can give decent results in a number of situations – it enables you take pictures when there’s little or no daylight, for a start – but it’s not very powerful. Its small size and fixed position gives pictures that obvious, ‘flashed’ look. Not only does a dedicated flashgun give you more power to play with, it provides more control over how a subject or scene is lit. You may get more creative options, such as being able to synchronise the flash with faster shutter speeds or create a stroboscopic effect, and you can usually rotate the flash head to bounce the light from a nearby surface, spreading and softening the light as a result. Freeing the flashgun from the camera’s hotshoe allows you to add a whole…

Camera Nikon D850 Lens 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 Exposure 1/500 sec at f/5, ISO 200 i OVERALL WINNER: MOTHER’S HOPE Edwin Ong Wee Kee This Vietnamese woman has a speech disorder, but it does not stop her from continuing her life as a mother. A mother’s love is unconditional so, despite her speech disability, this mother manages to overcome her daily hardships. Her life is full of hope when she is looking down at her children. THE KAZAKH EAGLE HUNTERS OF MONGOLIA Sarah Wouters These eagle hunters, living around the Ulgi province of Mongolia, preserve an old tradition that has been passed on from generation to generation. They tame eagles and use them to hunt smaller animals. i Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Lens EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM…

With a decade as a writer and photographer behind him, James knows exactly which Photoshop and Lightroom tools and techniques matter most. Photoshop offers a variety of tools that let even the most ham-fisted painter turn their photos into beautiful brushbased artwork. Some might look to Photoshop filters for this kind of thing, but they will usually look either generic or unrealistic. The problem with a filter is that it works uniformly across the image. Real paintings don’t work like this: they have areas of fine detail, and other areas that are less tightly depicted. For this kind of look, a filter just won’t cut it. Instead you need a good brush-based tool. This is where Pattern Stamp comes in. In essence, it lets you paint a pattern over your…

Our reader Jerry Burgan This image is a focus-stack composite of 31 images, taken using a Canon EOS 5DS R and a MP-E65mm 5x macro lens. I used a focus rail to advance the camera approximately 0.2mm per image, to secure enough images across the chosen area to give sufficient detail. The images were put through Helicon Focus to produce the final shot. If you aren’t sure what the subject actually is, they are bubbles inside a bottle, lit with a single LED torch. A number of artefacts can be seen in the image. These are caused by the upward movement of an occasional bubble as it breaks free from the glass during a shot. Our expert Andrew James Wow, that’s quite a setup, Jerry – but the results are…

Samyang’s Spring show Lenses for full-frame mirrorless lead a stampede of springtime releases Independent lens maker Samyang has certainly been busy of late, releasing a bevy of new barrels as part of a ‘Spring Collection’ promotion. Most of the new lenses are manual-focus primes for use on the new full-frame mirrorless camera systems from Canon and Nikon. With eight diaphragm blades, Samyang’s 85mm f/1.4 is well known for its bokeh characteristics. It is now available for the Nikon Z mount, Canon RF mount and Sony E mount. (The respective systems are designated by ‘Z’, ‘RF’ and ‘FE’ appended to the lens name.) There’s also an 85mm f/1.4 for Nikon’s F mount (full-frame DSLRs); unlike the others, this particular lens has autofocus. In addition to the 85mm lens, the Samyang MF…

£799/$899 www.ricoh-imaging.co.uk Specifications Sensor: 24.24MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) CMOS ISO range: 100 to 102,400 Max image size: 6,000 x 4,000 Metering modes: Center-Weighted, Highlight, Multi, Spot Video: 1920 x 1080p at 24p/30p/60p Lens: 18.3mm (35mm equivalent, 28mm), f/2.8 Memory card: SD/SDHC/SDXC LCD: 3-inch, 1,037k dots Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE Size: 109 x 62 x 33mm Weight: 257g with battery and memory card The Ricoh GR was first launched over 20 years ago… and the new GR III will be the 12th generation of a camera that was first conceived in the film era. The basics of the camera remain the same. It has a fixed wide-angle lens, equivalent to a 28mm in old 35mm terms. The GR series has a cult following, loved by travel photographers and street…

Lens mount Canon EF Although Canon’s original version of this lens was a classic in many respects, it had a trombone-style, push-pull zoom mechanism that was generally unpopular. This second edition has a more regular twist-action zoom ring, plus new weather-seals. A neat feature shared by the Nikkor 200-500mm and Tamron 150-600mm lenses on test is the triple-mode optical stabiliser. As well as static and panning modes, a third option applies stabilisation only during exposures. The viewfinder image is therefore unaffected, making it easier to track erratically moving objects. Performance Autofocus is very fast, with strong tracking performance even under very dull lighting conditions. Sharpness and contrast are excellent at short to mid settings, but drop off more noticeably than with the competing Tamron lens. Sharpness The generally excellent levels…

Lens mounts Canon EF, Nikon FX, Sigma SA Noticeably smaller and only about two thirds of the weight of the competing Canon 100-400mm lens, the Sigma weighs in at just over a kilogramme. The zoom and focus rings work as you’d expect but the zoom mechanism is designed so that you can also operate it with a push-pull ‘trombone’ action. Unlike other Sigma zooms, the zoom lock can only be engaged at the shortest focal length. The optical path includes four SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements. Performance There’s no shortage of high-end features. You get the same range of dual-mode autofocus, dual-mode stabilisation, short/long autofocus range limiting and dual ‘custom’ modes as in the other Sigma lenses on test. The autofocus and stabilisation systems are highly effective, and image quality…

Lens mounts Canon EF, Nikon FX Announced in 2017, eight months after the rival Sigma 100-400mm lens, this Tamron is similarly compact and light. It’s actually 17mm longer but marginally lighter, both lenses weighing just over 1kg. Build quality is good considering the price, with a magnesium alloy barrel, comprehensive weather-seals and a fluorine coating on the front element. The optical path includes an LD (Low Dispersion) element and nano-structure coatings to minimise flare. Switchable static and panning stabilisation modes are available but, unlike in the Sigma lenses, there’s only one autofocus mode. Performance Autofocus is very fast. Stabilisation is worth about four stops and isn’t quite as good as the Tamron 150-600mm. The effectiveness also drops off a little more than usual in panning mode. Sharpness Sharpness is very…

With a name like Moose, it’s not surprising to hear that Moose Peterson’s first love was wildlife photography. But when I’m speaking down the phone to him in California, it’s a famous landscape view in Yosemite National Park that he’s framing in the early morning light. “Right now, I’m at a place called Tunnel View,” he says. “We’re watching the dawn mist coming in over the valley and looking at some cool clouds.” It is just a few weeks since devastating wildfires swept across the state, leaving more than 80 people dead and hundreds more homeless, while burning out thousands of acres of prime forest. However, the sight over Tunnel View appears unscathed… How much of the famous landscape of Yosemite’s Tunnel View has been affected by the wildfires? It…

NEW-LOOK TIPS CARDS! ✓ 9 subjects ✓ Techniques ✓ Settings ✓ Kit list 9 all-new tips cards Our tips cards are more colourful and collectable than ever, thanks to a bold new style. Fear not, though: they’ll still be offering the same useful advice and settings suggestions they always have (in a handy portable format that’s perfect for your kit bag). Look for this issue’s cards after your digital magazine. 16 reflection effects These Photoshop documents help you add convincing water reflections to all manner of scenes. Find them in the Gifts folder on the disc (www.bit.ly/dc216disc), then turn to page 74 for Jon Adams’ guide on how to use them. Camera Shopper ebook Camera Shopper is your in-depth buyer’s guide for cameras, lenses and accessories. Download the PDF via…

3.55pm Name Gannet gathering Lens M Zuiko 300mm f/4 + MC-14 Exposure 1/800 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200 1 “In changing light, I’ll use Auto ISO. For the most control, I set the aperture and shutter speed manually, then change my ISO to get the correct exposure.” 2 “Spend time just watching the birds, and revisit a location throughout the year as well as at different times of the day. I’ll often come to Bempton for a few days and sleep in my car just to capture species in the best early-morning light.” 3 “If you’re panning with the birds, aim to shoot them between 12 and 3 o’clock in the frame. This way, if you’re keeping the birds on the right side of your frame, at worst they’re going to…

Many photographers cite the importance of working on long-term projects. This image is taken from a collection of work called Ganga Ma, the result of a 10-year photographic journey along the Ganges by Giulio Di Sturco. Documenting the effects of pollution and climate change, Ganga Ma follows the river for over 2,500 miles, from its source in the Himalayas in India through to its delta in the Bay of Bengal. “The main character of my story is a non-human entity – a river,” Giulio says. “I decided to treat it as a human being, and create a flow that would document the river as if I was documenting the life of a person.” Images of India often present a sensory overload of colour and exotic busy-ness, but Guilio’s pared-back approach…

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Living in the Midlands, I don’t get as much opportunity as I would like to shoot seascapes. On the positive side, living on an island like the UK means I am spoilt for choice with the sheer variety of coastlines I can visit. Wide sandy beaches or rocky shorelines provide options that cater to all tastes. The changing tides, shifting sands and natural erosion continually change the landscape, meaning no two visits to a location will be the same. Seaweed, shellfish, fossils, or even just a colourful rock provide foreground features for your shots, and let’s not forget man’s influence on the coastline, which you can also use in your images. The coast can be dramatic or serene, calming or invigorating – all emotions you can try to capture. Words…

A TTL flash system might be intelligent, but it’s still limited by the ‘flash sync’ speed, also known as the x-sync. As we mentioned last issue, this is the fastest shutter speed at which flash can be used, and is in the region of 1/180 sec to 1/250 sec (depending on the camera). The reason you can’t use flash across the entire range of shutter speeds is down to the focal plane shutters used in SLR-type cameras. At the flash sync speed or slower, the full area of the sensor is revealed during the exposure. To get faster shutter speeds, though, the sensor is never fully exposed to light in one go: it is exposed through a narrow slit as the first and second shutter curtains move. If the flash…

Editor’s Pick ‘Dreaming’ by Younes Ezzentri Younes Ezzentri is a 25-year-old photographer who lives in Casablanca, Morocco. “Perhaps you haven’t been to an exotic locale, but photography can practically transport you there,” he says. GuruShots is a platform for people who love taking photos. GuruShots believes that taking photos is an amazing way to express yourself. Wanting photography to be fun as well as meaningful, GuruShots has turned the sharing of photos into an exciting game packed with plenty of opportunities to show off people’s talent. Every month almost four billion votes are cast in over 500 challenges. Winners get prizes from GuruShots’ sponsors, including Lowepro, Kodak and Lensbaby. www.gurushots.com Honourable mentions…

Every month two of our resident expert Photoshop experts are challenged to interpret one raw file in any way they see fit. Over the following pages, they reveal their rationale and show how you can achieve their looks… The original raw by Lauren Scott This classic springtime shot was taken on a Canon EOS 5D Mark III with an EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens. The wide f/2.8 aperture ensures great separation from the background. As is often the case with an unedited raw file, the colour is in need of some work to bring out the best of this image. James Paterson After a decade as a photographer and writer, James knows which Photoshop tools matter most. Raw Warrior 1 wants to create… A considered enhancement Jon Adams…

Adding a signature to a work of art has been standard practice for centuries, but digital artwork presents the problem that the original can’t be signed with a pen in the time-honoured way. Unless you have a pen tablet and can write directly onto a digital image, you’ll need to start with a photo of a signature, fashioned with pen and paper. To do this, write your artist’s signature in black ink on a sheet of plain paper, and take a shot of it. It doesn’t matter too much whether you use a DSLR or a smartphone to do this, but whatever you use, make sure the image is free of motion blur (caused by camera movement) and is sharp across the frame. Ideally, add +1.5 stops of Exposure Compensation…

1 PhotoLibrary panel Browse your photos to find the folder containing the images you want to enhance. The right side of the screen shows thumbnails of the images in the selected folder and, above that, a preview of the image you’ve selected. Optical lens correction profiles are located and applied automatically. 2 Dynamic search field This is a brand new feature – start typing in this box and PhotoLab will automatically offer matching search options. Enter the number ‘5’, for example, and the display will offer to show images taken at a focal length of 5mm, exposures of 5 seconds or a lens aperture of f/5.0. The search results are shown on the right. 3 Customise panel For detailed adjustments and enhancements, swap to the Customise mode. Your photo is…

Our reader Jimmy Elsdon My photo was taken on a recent holiday to India. The location was a mosque in Delhi, and as we were walking around the area we came across a man doing his prayers. I thought the scene portrayed a private tranquil situation, and the lack of vivid colour gave the image more of a visual impact. The camera used was a Nikon D3200 with an 18-55mm lens with a 1/200 sec exposure at f/5.6. The photo was processed in Lightroom, with a crop to remove distractions in front of the subject. Other adjustments included small tweaks to Contrast, Clarity, Blacks and Whites, together with a small vignette to make the subject more prominent. Our expert Andrew James India is a wonderful country for indulging yourself in…

£1,349/$1,299 www.nikon.com Full-frame compatible: Yes Image stabiliser: No Minimum focus distance: 0.28m Max magnification factor: 0.16x Manual focus override: Yes Focus limit switches: No Internal zoom: No Internal focus: Yes Filter size: 82mm Iris blades: 7 (rounded) Weather seals: Yes Supplied accessories: Hood, pouch Dimensions (dia x length): 89 x 85mm Weight: 485g A part from the notable exceptions of the 24-70mm f/2.8 and forthcoming 58mm f/0.95 Noct, Nikon has been restrained with the aperture ratings of its S-line lenses for the full-frame Z system. The 35mm and 50mm primes are rated at f/1.8 rather than f/1.4, and the first 24-70mm offering as well as this new wide-angle zoom are f/4 rather than f/2.8. Some say that these apertures are pretty meagre for up-market optics, but they make good sense,…

Lens mount Nikon FX It’s not often you find an own-brand Nikon lens that’s packed with sophisticated, lategeneration technology for about the same price as third-party competitors. Sturdily built with a weather-seal ring on its mounting plate, this Nikkor has a lot going for it. Optical highlights include three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements. The ring-type autofocus system is typically quick and quiet, and the Vibration Reduction system is rated at 4.5 stops. The ‘normal’ mode is really two modes in one, as it features automatic rather than switched panning detection. Performance Sharpness and contrast remain very good even when shooting wide-open, throughout the zoom range. The lens falls a little short in telephoto reach compared with some of the Sigma and Tamron models, but not by much. Sharpness Apart from…

Lens mounts Canon EF, Nikon FX, Sigma SA This Contemporary lens goes the full distance, stretching to a 600mm focal length, yet it significantly undercuts direct competitors for price. It’s also easier on your back than either of the Sigma Sports lenses on test, at nearly a kilogramme lighter. Posh glass includes one top-grade FLD element (lacking in the Sigma 100-400mm lens) and three SLD elements. Despite the price drop from Sports lenses, you still get the full range of dual autofocus and stabilisation modes, an AF range limiter and two custom setup modes. Performance Performance is very respectable, from autofocus speed and stabilisation to image quality. It’s typically a little sharper than the pricier Tamron 15-600mm G, but doesn’t quite match Sigma’s 150-600mm Sports lens. Sharpness Levels of sharpness…

Lens mounts Canon EF, Nikon FX, Sony A Tamron’s first 150-600mm lens was a pretty good buy, but the G2 edition is better. The optical path has been redesigned and now features three LD elements instead of just one. There’s a new mix of both regular and nanostructure coatings, and a fluorine coating is added to the front element. The G2 also features more extensive weather-seals and better overall build quality. An innovative zoom lock mechanism enables you to lock the zoom ring at any focal length. The autofocus system is faster and more accurate, and the Vibration Compensation system has a 4.5-stop rating and static, panning and ‘exposure only’ modes. Performance While the autofocus and stabilisation systems work really well, sharpness isn’t as good as most competing lenses in…