Table of contents for July 2018 in Practical Photography: Lite

WE’VE GOT SOMETHING for everybody in this gloriously sun-kissed issue. Landscape fanatics should turn to page 120, where Camera School takes a step-by-step look at the art of minimalism, with a little help from fine art favourite Steve Gosling. If animals are more your thing, join Dan Mold for a day out at West Midland Safari Park (page 56), where he shoots a varied and vibrant wildlife portfolio in less than six hours (the lemurs are super cute!). And if you’re one of the ever-growing throngs of street photography enthusiasts, you’ll absolutely love Chris Porsz’s incredible images from his seven-year Europe project (page 110). Oh, and there’s Richard’s in-depth guide to sharpness and blur (page 34), a fascinating look at the creative balance between artistry and precision.…

Camargue horses by Daniel Kordan Camargue in France is a paradise for those who love animals, nature and horses. I run workshops here and we interact with our private group of horses to photograph at some stunning locations. Sea shores with the waves breaking in and sand dunes at sunset with backlighting – this location has it all! Nikon D810 | 160mm | 1/800sec | f/13 | ISO 320 Daniel Kordan is a landscape photographer based mainly in Norway and Tuscany, whose key clients include Apple and Red Bull. danielkordan.com Xiapu fisherman by Daniel Cheong When I arrived at this beautiful location, based in Xiapu, China, I was lucky enough to see a colourful boat. I took a few shots, but I wasn’t happy with the look of the water,…

FROM ITS EARLIEST days, photography has engaged in a balancing act between science and art. The pioneers of the craft were certainly a mixture of the two – it was scientists like William Fox Talbot who worked out ways of capturing light on photosensitive emulsion and permanently ‘fixing’ the resulting images, while creatives like Julia Margaret Cameron established photography as the equal to any of the other visual arts from the outset. This dual aspect has followed photography as it has developed into the modern practice we all recognise.Photographers talk about f-stops, shutter speeds and focus, but also in terms of composition, play of light and the emotional power of a photograph. And nowhere is this dichotomy more apparent than in two of the fundamentals of stills photography – sharpness…

Lomo Petzval 85 Art Lens £459 Lomo was at the sharp end of the recent trend for ‘retro’ photography, but thanks to some buyer-led crowdfunding initiatives it has branched out into the manufacture of some really interesting lenses. This beautiful object(ive) is based on one of the earliest lenses ever designed for portrait work – dating back to 1840 – and this modern version delivers incredible sharpness in the middle dropping rapidly off to amazing swirly (and customisable) bokeh at the edges. lomography.com Lensbaby Velvet 56 Art £379 This manual focus lens is usefully versatile, being ideal for landscapes, portraits and even close-up work thanks to its 1:2 macro capabilities. Wide open at f/1.6 it lives up to its name with velvety softness, but as you stop down it changes…

DEVELOP PERSONA No landscape editing would be complete without the ability to tweak your RAW files. The Develop Persona gives you the flexibility to recover highlights, create selective edits and perfect your colours. ALL THE TOOLS Affinity’s strength comes in its variety. Instead of hand-holding, it allows you true creative freedom, meaning you can create the edit you have in your mind, without having to worry about constraints. EDIT AS YOU SHOOT The brilliant iPad app offers everything the desktop version does, including RAW editing. This means you can transfer your shots to your iPad as you shoot, and have them edited before you even get in the car. TONE MAPPING PERSONA Giving you the ability to create instantaneous HDR results from multiple or a single image, the Tone Mapping…

DRAMATIC Found under the Default tab, this punchy preset gives you an instant colour boost without giving you too much clarity. It’s ideal for bright images with a wide range of colours, and is perfectly suited to bring out the best details in your favourite summery blue-sky shots. MAXIMUM GRIT Found under the Extreme tab, this preset is unashamedly HDR. Packing in a huge amount of Local Compression and an increase in sharpening, it is perfect for gritty black & white portraits, especially on those subjects who have one or two wrinkles or furrowed brows. ARCTIC CHAMBER This James Ritson Custom is ideal to enhance those winter tones. Bringing the colour temperature down and increasing the Local Contrast, it’s perfectly suited to bring the most out of your foreground, making…

SINCE THE VERY FIRST incarnation of Photoshop the trusty Brush Tool has been key to helping photographers make selections, Layer Masks and brush strokes creatively in a hand-drawn style. The ability to mimic the stroke of a paint brush or stick of charcoal is ideal for creating realistic composites. But it’s evolved through the years, picking up new features, so this month we’re running through every aspect of the Brush Tool in Photoshop CC to show you how to use it and take your editing up a gear. The Brush Tool Options bar explained BRUSH PRESET PICKER You don’t have to use a circular brush – here you’ll find a whole host of presets that replicate paint brushes, charcoal and pens to name but a few. They can also be…

PICK UP ANY glossy magazine and you’ll expect to find countless images of models with absolutely perfect skin. But these people aren’t necessarily blessed with impeccably clear skin – it’s likely the images have been carefully edited by a skilled retoucher. While the edits made to these photos may look highly impressive, the techniques behind them can be easily replicated with a little know-how and practice. We’re going to show you how to create a shot worthy of a beauty campaign from start to finish, from shooting a portrait in the studio to crafting the skin to perfection in Photoshop. Don’t worry if you don’t have access to a professional studio for the shooting aspect of this project. The technique we’ll be using here can be achieved with a budget…

Effect 1 Super saturation Increasing the saturation of your image in Photoshop can break up the colours quite quickly. A good trick to get around this is to open your shot and hit Ctrl+J to duplicate the Layer. Now go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, then add a small amount of blur by dragging the Radius slider until the details are fuzzy – a value of 10-20px usually works well – and then hit OK to apply it. Now hit Ctrl+U to bring up the Hue/Saturation panel and drag the Saturation slider to +40 and hit OK to apply it. In the Layers panel (Window>Layers) change the Blending Mode from Normal to Soft Light. Effect 2 Colour pop Open your picture and hit Ctrl+J to duplicate your image Layer, then hit Ctrl+Shift+U…

• ENGAGE WITH YOUR SUBJECT There’s a living, breathing human being in front of you, so talk to them. Interacting and chatting with your subject can produce some wonderful ‘unguarded’ photographs. • WATCH YOUR SHUTTER SPEED You don’t want your pictures to be blurry so keep your shutter speed to the reciprocal of your focal length – if you’re using a 90mm lens make sure your speed is at least 1/90sec. • USE YOUR POP-UP FLASH It might sound crazy, but when the sun is shining it’s time to break out the flash. Your built-in light can be used as a ‘fill’ flash to soften any harsh shadows caused by the sun. Start with it set to half-power and go up and down until you like the results. • TRY…

VTech KidiZoom Duo £53 Aimed at the very youngest would-be Sebastião Salgado, this brightly-coloured, easy-to-hold camera also comes with five built-in games. vtech.co.uk Ricoh WG-50 £214 Styled like a Transformer, shock-proof and waterproof to 14m, this 16MP tough customer should have enough appeal to convince kids to ditch their smartphones. ricoh.co.uk Canon EOS 200D £489 A great camera for older kids who want more control over their photography, packing must-haves like Wi-Fi connectivity and video. Also consider Nikon’s D5600. canon.co.uk…

‘Railway Lovers’ was a natural choice for the front cover of my book Reunions . I remember standing there in 1980 and seeing the young students kissing goodbye. It reminds me of when my wife Lesley and I stood there as teenagers ourselves. I took one picture and walked away, never dreaming that I’d see them again. In 2009 I went on local radio and a man phoned in and told me that the couple were his brother and sister-in-law. On a cold morning, we met at the train station again. It was great to be reunited with these complete strangers who I now count as good friends.…

For your homework, we’re asking you to shoot one well-exposed minimalist landscape. Your image should be shot with a mid-aperture, be composed using the rule-of-thirds, and have one clear focal point. It should be in colour and unedited (except to be resized to the 10MB limit). Once you’ve got your photo, upload it to camera-school.com/module-2. The deadline is 4 July, so make sure that you’ve uploaded your shot before then. Good luck and have fun! COMPOSE EFFECTIVELY Frame up your shot using the rule-of-thirds for an effective composition. FOCUS ON THE FOCAL POINT For accurate results, choose Single-Point AF and position your focus point. GET THE RIGHT EXPOSURE Use exposure compensation to adjust the brightness of your shot. BEFORE YOU UPLOAD • Have you shot a well-exposed image? • Have…

Camera: Sony α 7 III Price: £1999 body only Effective resolution: 24.2MP Sensor: 35.6x23.8mm Processor: Bionz X LCD: 3in 921k-dot tilting touchscreen Shutter: Bulb, 30-1/8000sec Autofocus: Hybrid 693-point phase detection/425-point contrast detection ISO: 100-51,200 (expanded to 50-204,800) Shooting speed: 10fps for up to 89 RAWs Video: 4K UHD 30fps, 1080p Full HD at 120fps Pop-up flash: No Other features: Eye-AF tracking, 4D focusing, Zebra stripes, APS-C mode Battery life: 710 shots using the rear screen, 610 shots using EVF Card type: Dual slots for SD, SDXC, SDHC including UHS-II Size (WxHxD): 127x96x74mm Weight: 650g Web: sony.co.uk…

Astrophotography is the K-1 Mark II’s bread and butter, thanks to its high ISO and brilliant Astrotracer feature. This handy concept uses the camera’s in-built GPS facility to note your location and the direction you’re facing, but also records the position of the stars themselves. It then shifts the sensor to follow the path of the stars’ movements. This innovative feature means you can shoot for longer periods than other cameras allow while retaining the sharp stars and avoiding trails. It also means that you can frame up with a lower ISO and slightly slower shutter speed for increased image quality.…

Camera: Pentax K-1 Mark II Price: £1799 body only Effective resolution: 36.4MP Sensor: 35.9x24mm Processor: Prime IV LCD: 3.2in 1037k-dot Flexibe-tilt LCD Shutter: Bulb, 1/8000-30sec Autofocus: 33-point phase detection AF ISO: 100-819,200 Shooting speed: 4.4fps for up to 17 RAWs in full-frame mode, 6.4fps for 50 RAWs in APS-C mode Video: 1080p Full HS 60fps Pop-up flash: No Other features: Pixel Shift Resolution II high-resolution composite mode, Astrotracer, Electronic compass, GPS, APS-C crop mode Battery life: 670 shots Card type: Dual slots for SD, SDXC, SDHC Size (WxHxD): 137x110x86mm Weight: 1010g Web: ricoh-imaging.co.uk…

FOR MANY OF US, the budget price of a continuous lighting kit will be very tempting. Thanks to the promise of what you see is what you get, it’s a great way to learn about the nature of light, enabling you to simply set up and shoot, compared to the more detailed preparation process of flash lighting. However, despite this clear advantage, a lot of continuous lighting kits run the risk of being a false economy, often offering a very limited output power. This means you’ll usually need to shoot with wider apertures and slower shutter speeds, which can introduce camera shake. Of course, not all continuous lighting is low-powered, especially in the rapidly growing video market, and a lot of the products which are, still serve a purpose when…

NO, OBI-WAN, THIS IS NOT A LIGHTSABER, it’s the Westcott ICE Light 2. This unassuming tube houses a powerful LED light, capable of kicking out 1740 lumens at a daylight balanced 5500K, is an ideal kicker light, as well as perfect for close-up illumination of products or portraits. Thanks to weighing in at a touch under 567g, and featuring a comfortable hand-grip, you can simply hold this light in your off-hand, making it incredibly versatile. You also have the benefit of a 1/4in screw mount on the bottom, allowing you to attach it to a lighting stand for easy and hands-free operation. The battery allows 60 minutes of usage at full power, and you’re able to dim the output by 18 steps. Because of its 96 CRI (Colour Rendering Index),…

THE NISSIN DI700 FLASHGUN IS THE PERFECT camera companion. Featuring a powerful GN of 54, this flashgun offers TTL compatibility, automatically adjusting power based on your camera settings, making it perfect for anybody starting out. The Nissin also boasts a wide auto zoom of 24-200mm, allowing it to control the spread of light depending on your chosen focal length. You’re able to tilt the head 180° horizontally, or upwards to 90°, perfect for bouncing your light off nearby walls or ceilings. It also supports high speed sync with the additional Nissin Air Commander, and features a simple LED display screen at the rear to keep track of your settings. However, its recycle time is a bit sluggish, clocking in at around 4sec at the highest setting and 4 AA batteries…

Action cameras may be as rugged as they are popular, but carrying the masses of accessories is no small feat. This tough case from Manfrotto is the ideal solution to this issue. The rigid outer shell features a crush-proof and water-resistant design, and comes with padded dividers and plenty of space for up to two action cams. There’s also a handy zip pouch to add your smaller items, such as clips, grips and memory cards, making sure they’re easy to grab when the action is reaching fever pitch. manfrotto.co.uk…

THE TECHNICAL IMAGE PRESS ASSOCIATION (TIPA) IS the last word in photographic awards. Chosen by a panel of industry-leading journalists, representing 28 of the best photo magazines across five continents, including Practical Photography, the TIPA World Awards recognise the most outstanding releases of the previous 12 months. You can be sure that anything bearing the TIPA logo is a class-leading product worthy of your investment. tipa.com Best DSLR Enthusiast Canon EOS 200D The Canon 200D’s small form factor rivals many mirrorless cameras. This extremely affordable and ultra-compact DSLR incorporates an upgraded 24.2MP APS-C CMOS sensor with Dual Pixel CMOS AF. It has both an optical viewfinder and 3-inch Vari-Angle touchscreen LCD, the EOS 200D delivers up to 5fps shooting, a nine-point AF system, a pop-up flash (plus hotshoe), and easy…

“SHE RAISED HER HEAD INSTINCTIVELY AND I HAD THE SHOT I WANTED…” I’M VERY FORTUNATE TO LIVE JUST AN HOUR AWAY from the Yorkshire Dales National Park, which is at its beautiful best in summer when the heather is in full bloom. This wild habitat supports a wide variety of flora and fauna, but perhaps the most iconic is the red grouse. I’ve visited these upland moors each summer for several years now, hoping to capture the grouse among the flowering heather. I’d built up a nice portfolio of images, but felt some shots were missing. As with most of my subjects, I see the grouse as a long-term project and believe the more time you invest the better the results in the end. The red grouse is endemic to…

Of all the buzzwords associated with sharpness and blur, none is more ‘buzzy’ than bokeh. Derived from the Japanese word boke, which means ‘blur’ or ‘haze’ and pronounced boh-ke or boh-kay, it is defined as ‘the effect of a soft out-of-focus background that you get when shooting a subject, using a fast lens, at the widest aperture, such as f/2.8 or wider’. Simply put, bokeh is the aesthetic quality of out-of-focus blur in a photograph. It is the lens that determines the shape and size of bokeh, and it is usually seen in the highlights. The word appeared less than a decade ago, but you’re not a real ‘photog’ unless you use it at least three times in any conversation about lenses.…

Here’s a couple of rules of photography: some part of the image must be in sharp focus, and foreground blur should be avoided. Decent rules, no doubt, but they are there to be broken. By intentionally defocusing part, or all, of an image a photographer can add an extra element of intrigue or drama to a shot or take a shot into the realms of fine art. Think about the way cinematographers use defocus in film scenes. Two characters will be talking, with one in the foreground and one behind, and as each character delivers their lines the focus will literally shift between them, often rendering the subject in the foreground out-of-focus. This visually challenging style can be usefully applied to street photography, where intentionally blurring a foreground figure to…

Hack 1 Go freelensing Have you ever wondered how photographers take those pictures where part of the image is pin-sharp and part of it is way out of focus? The effect can be achieved by using an expensive tilt-shift lens, but a cheaper alternative is freelensing. This involves unlocking your lens from your camera body, holding it in front of the body aperture with a cupped hand and moving it at an angle to the camera body. You will be able to see the effect through the viewfinder but you will have to use manual focus and full manual mode, with the aperture value at its maximum. Hack 2 Create customised bokeh Everyone has gone bokeh mad, but if you want your out-of-focus orbs to stand out from the crowd,…

Converting your DSLR or CSC camera to take pinhole pictures couldn’t be easier. All you need is a spare body cap (which you can buy online), a drill and medium-sized drill bit, some aluminium foil, tape and a sharp pin or sewing needle. • Carefully drill a hole through the centre of a spare body cap and clean up any loose pieces of plastic as you don’t want them to fall on to your camera’s sensor. • Tear off a small square of kitchen foil and securely tape it to the inside of the body cap. If you are worried about it coming detached inside your camera you can tape it to the outside of the body cap instead. • Using the smallest, sharpest pin or needle you have, carefully…

IF YOU’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT the possibility of photographing safari wildlife, but not so keen on the hefty price tag attached to jetting to faraway lands, get yourself a ticket to one of the UK’s many wildlife parks. Unlike photographing animals in the field, you don’t have to wait around indefinitely for a split-second of opportunity to get your shots. You’ll also find that animals bred in captivity are more comfortable with humans. This will help you get closer than you’d usually be able to in the wild, allowing you to shoot iconic animal portraits. Use the right kit A lens with a full-frame equivalent of 70-200mm or 70-300mm is perfect for this technique, as it’ll help you compress the scene. This makes it much easier to blur the background and…

TO ACHIEVE THE BEST results possible from your shots you’ll want to process them yourself rather than leave it to your camera’s built-in settings, which is what happens with JPEG images. For users of Lightroom Classic CC, the editing process begins by importing and organising RAWs in the Library module (which we covered in the last issue) before moving to the Develop module. Here is where you can start to have some fun with your imported pictures, taking full control of everything from exposure to contrast and colours to lens corrections and special effects. In fact, this module is so packed to the rafters with features that it can appear daunting to first-time users. Even if you’ve been using the program to edit your shots for years, it’s likely there…

TO ACHIEVE A STRONG COMPOSITION you’ll want a clean frame with few distractions so the viewer’s eye can gravitate towards your focal point unhindered. But this isn’t always easy to achieve, and it’s not uncommon to see unsightly pieces of debris in your images when you inspect them back at your computer. For this shot of a puffin with a beak full of sand eels, the colours and wistful off-camera stare were all too good a photographic opportunity to pass up, even though the dead flowers on the grass and the pole in the background cluttered the scene. Here, we show you how to tidy up an image, leaving the original subject unaltered. All of the tools covered are in Photoshop CC, though if you use Elements you won’t have…

Andoer AD-560II From £24 With an 18-month warranty and a three-second charging cycle, this budget flashgun is a great choice when setting up your own home studio. andoer.com Pixapro 240cm Light Stand From £27 Offering stable, adjustable support in the studio for lights, flash and other equipment, this aluminium stand is lightweight and easily transportable. essentialphoto.co.uk Lastolite Ezybox Speed-Lite 2 From £47 Designed for use with flashguns, this mini softbox diffuser is perfect for head and shoulder portraits and designed to soften harsh flash light. wexphotovideo.com…

You’ve set your exposure and properly composed your shot, but your camera refuses to fire when you press the shutter. But before you give up and send it off to the manufacturer for repair, here’s a troubleshooting list of things you really need to check… • IS THE MEMORY CARD FULL? Some cameras will refuse to take a picture if the card is full, while others may save one or two images to their internal memories, which can be hard to access. Make sure you always carry spare cards with you on every shoot. • IS THE LENS CONNECTION CLEAN? One common problem that can stop a camera shooting is a lens error. This can occur when the contacts between the lens and the body get dirt or dust in…

If you don’t have access to a telescope you can still try your hand at a bit of astrophotography. Simply lying your camera on its back, pointing at the night sky with a low ISO setting and an exposure of several minutes will reveal ‘star trails’ as the Earth turns. Put your camera on a tripod and you can combine a long exposure with some off-camera flash to get star trails behind an illuminated foreground. Check out the timings of meteor showers and, if there’s no moon in the sky, a long exposure will capture the trail left by these bits of dust as they burn up in our atmosphere.…

\\ MODULE 1 ARTISTIC NATURE Issue: June 2018 On sale: 10 May 2018 Homework deadline: 6 June Marks announced: 20 June \\ MODULE 2 MINIMALIST LANDSCAPES Issue: July 2018 On sale: 7 June 2018 Homework deadline: 4 July Marks announced: 18 July \\ MODULE 3 ABSTRACT ARCHITECTURE Issue: August 2018 On sale: 5 July 2018 Homework deadline: 1 August Marks announced: 15 August \\ MODULE 4 MONO STREET Issue: September 2018 On sale: 2 August 2018 Homework deadline: 29 August Marks announced: 12 September \\ MODULE 5 MOVEMENT Issue: October 2018 On sale: 30 August 2018 Homework deadline: 26 September Marks announced: 10 October \\ MODULE 6 PORTRAITS AT HOME Issue: November 2018 On sale: 27 September 2018 Homework deadline: 25 October Marks announced: 8 November…

In order to create a successful minimal landscape, you’ll need a clear focal point to draw your viewers’ eyes. Without this, you’ll find that your photograph becomes aimless, allowing the audience’s eyes to wander without a purpose. This will ultimately prevent them from becoming truly engaged with the image. Try to avoid capturing a cluster of subjects, such as three or four trees in a field, as this will make your image appear messy. It’s worth putting in the effort to find the perfect subject, as this will give you the best results for your minimal landscape.…

STEVE GOSLING Steve specialises in contemporary travel and landscape images. His work has won many awards and he runs successful workshops. Last year he published his second book, A Beautiful Silence, of images from South Georgia and Antarctica. stevegosling photography.co.uk • You specialise in minimalist landscapes. Is less really more? I take what I call a ‘reductionist approach’ to composition – stripping out as much as I can in the frame to take the shot back to the core essentials of what I’m trying to say about the subject or the scene in front of me. My aim is to simplify and thereby hopefully strengthen the impact of what’s left in the photograph. The great Austrian photographer Ernst Haas summed it up when he said, “The less information, the more…

Canon 6D MkII £1728 Canon’s revamped entry-level full-frame shooter brings a 26.2MP sensor and Digic 7 processor. It also packs in a 6.5fps shooting speed, 45-point AF system and brilliant Dual Pixel AF. You also have access to a 100-40,000 ISO range, which is expandable to 102,400, ideal for night shooting. canon.co.uk Sony α7 III £1999 An absolute powerhouse of a camera, the competitively-priced α 7 III packs a 24.2MP full-frame sensor, colossal 15-stop dynamic range and 693-point phase detection AF system. It also has a wide ISO range of 100-51,200, expandable to 50-204,800, and a 5-axis image stabilisation system. sony.co.uk…

BOTH A CONTINUOUS LIGHT AND A FLASH, THIS innovative unit is a marvel. Capable of outputting 1032 lumens at 3 feet, you can also use it as a flash where the power increases by 250% when using batteries, or a massive 500% when using mains power, which is ideal for adding extra illumination in dark scenes. Six AA batteries will give you 85,000 full-power flashes, or an hour and a half of continuous light – an impressive feat. A built-in Elinchrom Skyport receiver allows HSS at 1/8000sec, and the rear dial lets you easily cycle throughout the colour temperature range. rotolight.com PROS + Powerful flash feature + Energy efficient + High speed sync CONS - Requires 6 AAs - Elinchrom Skyport trigger sold separately SPEC Power: 1032 lumens Flash power:…

IF YOU’VE MADE THE brave decision to skip continuous lighting and head straight into the dark art of flash lighting, we applaud you. Whether it’s flashgun, studio head or portable strobe, off-camera flash can be a very daunting prospect to many beginner photographers. The good news is that it’s not as complicated as it seems – though instant results aren’t always forthcoming, the theory is identical to using continuous lighting kits. This list covers the three main types of flash lighting, giving you everything you’ll need to either set up a working home studio, or just illuminate your granny’s birthday party at the dimly-lit Dog & Duck. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you’ll find the extra power flash lighting offers can be very advantageous, especially when you’re working in extremely…

ELINCHROM’S EXCELLENT ENTRY-LEVEL workhorse, the D-Lite RX 2, is a 200W flash head capable of taking a wide range of Elinchrom fit modifiers. This mains-only kit features a built-in EL-Skyport receiver, as well as the ability to alter the power throughout the 5-stop range, down to 12W, ideal for working at slower shutter speeds or wider apertures. It features a consistent 5600K colour temperature, as well as a 100W modelling lamp. The kit itself comes with two stands, one shoot-through, one reflective umbrella and a Skyport transmitter, meaning you’re ready to shoot straight out of the box. You also get a fast recycle time of 0.6sec, making it ideal for the more trigger-happy photographers among us. elinchrom.com PROS + Included modifiers + Powerful + Easy to use CONS - Requires…

• Best Professional Compact Canon PowerShot G1 X MkII • Best Expert Compact Panasonic Lumix TZ220 • Best DSLR Standard Zoom Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM • Best Professional Lens Nikkor 180-400mm f/4E TC1.4FL ED VR • Best DSLR Superzoom Lens Tamron 18-400mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC HLD • Best CSC Telephoto Lens Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS • Best Photo Bag Vanguard Alta Fly 55T • Best Photo Printer Epson Expression Photo HD XP-1500 • Best Inkjet Photo Paper Hahnemühle Photo Gloss Baryta 320 • Best Photo Print Service Cewe Photobook Cover with enhancement • Best Imaging Software DxO PhotoLab • Best Tripod Vanguard Alta Pro 2+ 263CGHT • Best Tripod Head Manfrotto 494 Center Ball Head • Best Storage Solution WD G-Drive mobile SSD R-Series •…

Camera Guide Unsure about which camera is best for your needs? Wondering whether to buy a DSLR or mirrorless marvel? Our ebook includes reviews, spec and prices for every camera available now. Skylum Luminar 2017 Download the full version of Skylum’s powerful editing software, worth £64, and give your best images an instant makeover. See p96 for a full user guide. Photoshop video lessons Selectively blur backgrounds with Lightroom’s Adjustment Brush Tool, clean up wildlife images with the Spot Healing Brush, and get a retro vibe fast. DOWNLOAD THE DISC CONTENT AT bit.ly/ppdisc1808…

Canon G7 X MkIII Canon is set to announce the latest entry into its premium compact range, the G7 X MkIII. We understand it will boast a 24.1MP 1in CMOS sensor, and wide aperture f/2.8 zoom lens with a 35mm equivalent of 24-100mm. It’s also rumoured to benefit from a high continuous shooting speed of 10fps, as well as including 4K video, which we’d like to see support Dual Pixel AF. canon.co.uk Nikon D650 Released in 2013, Nikon’s D610 is long overdue a complete overhaul. We’re expecting a total body update, to bring it in line with the D850 and D500, as well as an upgraded 24MP sensor, improved maximum ISO 51,200 and Expeed 5 processor. We are also led to believe that it will feature a 51-point AF system,…

“I WORK VERY HARD, BUT CONVERSELY, I’M ALSO VERY HARD ON MYSELF…” BECOMING A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER has been one of the greatest, and yet most disruptive, journeys of my life. Photography for me was a hobby, a creative outlet where I was able to truly express myself. It was a way back to a sense of connection with the land that I felt so strongly as a child. I never considered that it could become a career. One of the biggest challenges of turning professional is managing the distinction between my commissioned work and the images I create for myself. Creatives as a collective are prone to self-doubt and I’m no exception. I’ve always been a classic overachiever, top of my class, determined to succeed. I work very hard, but…

HAVING YOUR PICTURE TAKEN IN the earliest days of photography was a torturous affair. The long exposures required by the primitive emulsions meant that the sitter had to remain steadfastly motionless for several seconds, leading to odd contraptions like chairs with head braces being employed by enterprising photographers. The resulting images were rarely pin-sharp, but they did have a particular quality about them, thanks to the subtle amount of unavoidable movement. As the technical side of the practice rapidly developed, faster film emulsions, wider aperture lenses and the emergence of flash photography all combined to make portrait photography an instant process that froze the sitter in a split-second moment. But portrait photographers looking for more creative ways of presenting their subjects have continued to embrace the blur. The eyes have…

SUMMER IS UPON us, and if you’re anything like us at PP towers, that can only mean one thing – taking as many stunning landscape shots as is humanly possible. Whether it’s sunrise, sunset or just an interesting location we’ve stumbled across, we’re never without our cameras. Of course, even the best shot in the world can benefit from a touch of editing, and that’s where the excellent Affinity Photo comes into play. Last month we journeyed through the five different Personas, taking a brief look at what this very powerful photo editing software could offer. This month, we’re going much more in-depth with a longer look at the Tone Mapping Persona. “THE JOY OF HAVING SO MUCH CONTROL IS THAT IT MAKES A SHOT YOUR OWN” Using a RAW…

BOKEH, THE JAPANESE WORD USED to describe aesthetically pleasing blur, is generally deemed to enhance images such as portraits, directing the viewer’s attention towards your focal point. This can be achieved with a shallow depth-of-field by shooting with a wide aperture. But if you don’t get the effect you’re after in-camera the good news is that you can enhance it further in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom. If you don’t have a RAW file you could also apply this effect to a JPEG in Photoshop CC by going to Filter>Camera Raw Filter. Here, working with a RAW file, we show you how to use the Adjustment Brush Tool to select the background and blur it, as well as select and sharpen your focal point. 1 Work up your RAW file…

THE RETRO FILM look has enjoyed a huge popularity boost in recent years thanks to social media sites such as Instagram, which allow you to add any number of creative lo-fi filters to your photos in an instant. While using these built-in filters is as simple as tapping an option, the results aren’t usually as powerful or as precise as applying the effect yourself, which means you could really be missing a trick. In some apps you also lack the option to save your images at high resolution, making them unsuitable for anything other than posting directly to social media. While this is a big drawback, the good news is that it’s incredibly easy to add your own retro edit with very little effort and some familiar tools. These eight…

• If you find that your image isn’t quite bright enough then you can either turn up the power on your flashguns (be aware that this will increase your flash recycle time and you’ll have to wait longer between shots) or simply move the flashes closer. Alternatively, if the skin is burning out and you’re losing detail, turn the flashguns down to even out your exposure. • If there are black bands appearing across your image, then don’t fret. You simply have your shutter speed too high. While different brands have different maximum flash sync speeds, if you set your shutter speed to 1/200sec then you shouldn’t have any trouble with banding.…

THIS MONTH WE’RE GIVING OUR loyal Practical Photography readers the full version of Skylum’s powerful Luminar 2017 image-editing software – and the great news is you won’t have to pay a single penny. This JPEG and RAW editing program comes packed to the rafters with presets that you can use to give your images a stylish look of your choosing in a single click. These presets are striking in themselves, but can also be customised for the perfect result – we’ll show you how to do this in the step-by-step below. You can also add extra pictures and Adjustment Layers to process your shots and build composite images. You’ll need the internet to download it and a Mac computer with the minimum specification to run it. Luminar 2017 can also…

Richard Collins PP’s deputy editor is a hugely experienced journalist, tutor and pro fashion photographer. Dan Mold PP’s Photoshop editor is an Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) with encyclopedic photo knowledge. Louise Carey PP’s features editor is an award-winning fine art and documentary photographer. Do I need a studio to get great portraits? Q I want to get into portrait photography but I only have basic kit and no access to a studio. Can I hope to get a professional look to my shots? John Summerville, Cheltenham Richard says: You really don’t need a pro studio to take great portraits. Indeed, the rather sterile atmosphere of a big studio, and all the intimidating strobe lights, can be too much for someone starting out. Instead, make use of the wonderful quality of…

Plants, trees and foliage Whether you process in colour or black & white you will see plants and trees rendered in eerie, glowing white tones. Clouds and skyscapes Drab or washed-out skies take on a dramatic look in IR – intense blues in colour and deep blacks in monochrome. Rocks and stone buildings Infrared light comes from just below the surface of stone objects rendering shots with an eerie, otherworldly look.…

DISCOVER MADAGASCAR WITH JOAKIM ODELBERG BOASTING SOME OF the world’s most unusual wildlife, shooting in Madagascar requires a camera that you can rely on. Swedish photographer and filmmaker Joakim Odelberg took his Panasonic LUMIX G9 with him to see how it fared. • Why did you go to Madagascar? My ambition is to capture fragments of time that will never happen again. For wildlife photographers, there are few places as incredibly unique as Madagascar. The beauty of its landscape and all the amazing wildlife make it an absolute dream to photograph. • How did the LUMIX G9 help your photography? The G9 captured every single vibrant and inspiring detail. Working with wild and unpredictable animals isn’t easy, but the G9 stacks the odds in your favour. With high-speed burst and…

There’s nothing that quite beats the little thrill of anticipation you feel when you arrive at a beautiful location. When the weather is perfect, your camera battery is fully charged and the vista is ripe with possibilities, there’s no better way to enjoy nature than by indulging in some landscape photography. However, in the second module of Camera School, we’re going to be getting a little creative with our compositions by shooting minimalist landscapes. By stripping away distracting details, we can create strikingly effective photos. Whether it’s a lone tree, a lighthouse, or a windmill, so long as you have a clear focal point then you’ll know that you’re on the path to photographic success. Use aperture-priority mode The vast majority of landscape photography tends to be shot at a…

While a mid-aperture provides an unusual twist on the landscape genre, it’s unfortunately a little less forgiving on your focusing than a narrow aperture tends to be. This is because the zone of sharpness (the amount of your image that will be rendered sharp) has been reduced. Consequently, this means that creating an accurate focus is even more important than usual. In order to craft the perfect focus, you should first set your camera to Single-Point AF mode. This means that rather than having multiple AF points, you have just one that you’re able to move around and place wherever you like. This is perfect for the shallower depth-of-field that you’ll be using. While it may be tempting to leave your camera in Auto-Area AF, this will be detrimental to…

The α 7 III boasts a hybrid of 693 points of phase detection, and 425 points of contrast detection. The latter takes a reading from the sensor as the lens moves, picking the point of highest contrast to determine the image is in focus. In order to do this, it must overshoot, or hunt, to ensure it has the right reading. However, on-sensor phase detection means that each point receives a split image from the lens, with half receiving the left hand of the image, and others receiving the right hand. They then weigh up the phase difference between the two signals until they match up, meaning the image is in focus. Handily, it always knows which way to focus the lens, so you don’t get the hunting found in…

With so many differing types of lights, measuring the power output wasn’t enough. We also thought about the amount of different uses and the overall versatility of each unit. FUNCTIONALITY AND USE The other important aspect that we looked at was value for money in relation to functionality. Both continuous and flash lighting can get very expensive, so we judged each entry on the amount of features or the versatility they provide against the initial cost of purchase.…

THE MOST FAMILIAR TYPE OF CONSTANT LIGHTING, it’s ideal for the beginner thanks to including two heads, each with five bulbs outputting an 800-watt equivalent power and daylight 5600K colour temperature. As well as the heads, you also get two air cushioned lighting stands, ideal to create basic lighting setups, and a pair of large softboxes to control and soften your light output. Although it’s not the most powerful in test, it’s ideal for still life or shallow depth-of-field portraits in smaller studio spaces. interfitphotographic.com PROS + Cheap starter kit +Instant results +Softboxes CONS - Less powerful than flash - Requires mains power - Large SPEC Power: 1600W from two heads Bulbs: 10 Colour temperature: 5600K Battery: Mains powered only Modifiers: Two softboxes WxHxD: 260x165x165mm Weight: 600g RATING…

THIS PORTABLE FLASH FEATURES A MODULAR design, letting you use a Fresnel flashgun head, or a traditional flash bulb, which gives a wider spread. You can also use studio modifiers, though you’ll have to buy an additional bracket. The rechargeable battery gives you up to 500 full-power flashes and a quick recycle time of 2.1sec at full power. It also features a rapid 1/13,000sec minimum flash duration and an in-built receiver, which allows you to shoot HSS at 1/8000sec, though you will have to buy a £42 Pixapro Pro ST-III T trigger. For beginners, the Pika supports TTL shooting, with the flash automatically setting the optimum output power or in manual mode, where you have 8 stops of power. essentialphoto.co.uk PROS + Ultra-portable + Highly versatile + Competitively priced CONS…

EACH LIGHTING METHOD HAS its strengths and weaknesses. Flash is much more powerful, though requires additional triggers and receivers, whereas continuous light is often cheaper and easier to work, though lacks the same power output. Of course, one type of lighting may benefit your needs more than the other, so with this in mind, we’ve decided to split the categories up and award each a winner. Continuous light The Neo2 wins out here. It isn’t as cheap as the Interfit two-light kit, but the added flash feature, albeit not as powerful as a dedicated flashgun, is an enticing inclusion. The rapid flash duration and ability to shoot high speed sync makes it great for moving shots. It also benefits from having absolutely no recycle time, so you’ll never have to…

With summer bringing an increase in pollen count, the danger of getting dirt on your sensor during a lens change is ever-present. This miniature magnifier is ideal to help you spot even the smallest marks. Its three fused optical elements offer a clean and sharp view, and the included LED lamp perfectly illuminates those darker reaches. The lens itself folds out from a sturdy protective metal housing, which doubles as a handy grip and includes a loop to attach your own lanyard. It also comes in a leather pouch with a stud fastening, perfect for your storage needs. kiteoptics.com…