Table of contents for Spring 2023 in Digital Camera Magazine

STEP 1 ENTER THIS URL www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc267 Enter the URL www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc267 into the destination bar of your internet browser – we’re using Google Chrome, but other browsers work in a similar way. Please do not enter it in any search field or search bar. This will take you to a page on our website. STEP 2 JUST CLICK THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK Click on the link labelled ‘Download the disc for Digital Camera 267’ and your download will start, delivered from our own server. Please override any browser warnings about downloading from a non-secure source – our server is safe! STEP 3 ACCESS YOUR FILES Open the .zip In your Downloads folder, or wherever you chose to download your files to, double-click the dc267-disc.zip file icon. Then when it expands, double-click Digital…

“In all genres of photography, attention to detail can make or break your shot. With a portrait, it might be a strand of hair across the eyes or a macro shot with specks of dust. Although 99 per cent of these problems can be fixed later in post-processing, it’s still best to get as much right in camera as possible. With automotive photography, you’ll most likely have to drive to your perfect shooting spot, unless you’re very lucky and can have the car delivered to the location. The main problem with this, of course, is mud and dirt and potentially adverse weather conditions when you weren’t expecting them, so I always carry a couple of cloths – one to clean and one to dry – and a water-spray bottle. The…

1 “With a fixed focal length, prime lenses mean you have to think more creatively to find the most pleasing framing and composition.” 2 “The biggest advantage of using primes is that they bring better image quality and sharpness, which make your shots full of detail and clarity.” 3 “To get the most from primes, you should invest in a variety of focal lengths – if you need to zoom in and out, then you have to move your feet.”…

While most lenses are suitable for taking pictures of flowers, one type is especially useful – the macro lens. With a magnification ratio of 1.0x or 1:1x, these optics can reproduce objects at full life-size on the camera’s image sensor. Consider the environment around your potential subject; if the flower you want to shoot is in a particularly sunny spot, you won’t tend to get an even exposure across the image. Try to take photos when there is some overhead cloud or a shaded area, as you’ll be able to see the details of the flower much better. “Fill the frame” is a popular piece of advice, so make your flowers touch the edge of the frame or spill over it entirely. Sometimes, when moving closer, you’ll find a more…

Last issue, we shot a focus stack using a macro lens and a Nisi NM-200 focusing rail. This month, we’re going to show you how to edit multiple captures together using a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop. The goal is to take as many in-focus slivers as you can and then merge them together for a far more in-focused composite image that is sharper, has a deeper depth of field and crisper lines than you would ever capture in the camera with just a single image. So read on to see how it’s done… www.nisioptics.co.uk 1 Start your edit in Lightroom Import your images to Lightroom and perform the basic adjustments (improving contrast, adjusting shadows and highlights, tweaking clarity and vibrance, and so on). It’s better to edit the first…

1 Shoot from the ground Get low to the ground using either a tripod with an articulating centre column for maximum support, or a beanbag to help keep the camera steady as you lay on the ground to shoot flowers. An alternative option is to use a mini tripod such as a Manfrotto Pixi or Vanguard Vesta Mini. 2 Focus on the right place Manual focus is often the most reliable focusing method when shooting close-up, so switch to manual focus and rotate the focus ring to focus on the flower’s stamen. Having focus peaking set to red is a great way to quickly and easily see whether the desired part of the flower is in focus. 3 Dial in camera settings To isolate the flower from the background, use…

Zoom bursts and camera rotations are fun, and they provide instant results that can be viewed on your camera’s LCD screen. This is important because achieving perfect blur with this technique will always require a few attempts. Shoot in Shutter Priority at 1/10 sec and ISO 100, with image stabilisation turned on if available, and aim your camera up at a tree or into a tree canopy. For a zoom burst, with the viewfinder held to your eye, zoom in to the longest focal length and begin zooming out as you release the shutter after auto focusing. For a rotation, hold the camera in front of your chest and begin to smoothly rotate as you release the shutter. Look for patches of light You’ll get the best results when some…

In his first book, The Tube Mapper Project: Capturing Moments on the London Underground, Luke Agbaimoni captured themes such as light, reflections, tunnels and escalators, and documented how the Underground is part of the identity of its users – a network of shared experiences and memories. The follow-up book sees Luke delve into his obsession with symmetry, seeking out powerful examples across the network in his quest to find beauty in the seemingly mundane. When we see a symmetrical image, it soothes us. It feels as if a puzzle has been completed in front of our eyes. London Underground: Symmetry & Imperfections considers such questions as what symmetry means and how to find it in your daily commute, and revels in the design of the newly opened Elizabeth line (Crossrail). “It…

Download and register by 31 May 2023 1 DOWNLOAD For Windows, enter www.bit.ly/ff9pro_pc into the Location or Address field of your web browser. For macOS, you need to enter www.bit.ly/ff9pro_mac into the Location or Address field of your web browser. Don’t enter these addresses directly into Google or another search engine: they won’t work. 2 REGISTER Visit the registration page via www.bit.ly/dc267ff9pro_regn and complete the form to receive your licence code via email. Your details will not be passed on to other companies. 3 INSTALL You can install your copy of Filter Forge 9 Professional as soon as you’ve downloaded it: it will work as a trial edition until you receive your licence code via email. 4 GET CREATIVE! Use this guide to get started, and visit https://filterforge.com for more…

Luminosity masking is a powerful technique for selective tonal adjustments. It’s often favoured by landscape photographers because it offers a fine degree of control over the brightness of different tonal ranges. Essentially, Luminosity masking allows us to create selections of different areas of brightness. In our coastal scene here, it means we can target the bright areas of sky around the sun, or the dark groynes in the foreground, then enhance those areas with adjustments. There are several plugins that make luminosity masks, but to understand how they work, it helps to know how to create your own. We can do so by using simple selection shortcuts in combination with Channels in Photoshop. Our Channels panel lets us isolate luminosity by loading selections of different channel information. From here, we…

Poppies are ideal subjects for shooting images with a fine-art vibe. But this photograph is caught somewhere between looking warm and ‘muddy’. The framing is loose, so we’ll start by tightening it in the Transform panel 1 which you’ll find in the Develop module (the seventh section in the right sidebar). Using the Scale slider to improve composition leaves an edge of the seed head poking out of the frame, but we can remove it by using the Clone tool. 2 To isolate the poppy head, we’ll open the Masking panel 3 [Shift W] and select Range > Colour Range, using the eyedropper to target the colour tones. Now we can warm up the image by using the White Balance slider, as well as adding some Clarity. Staying in the…

This new optic takes macro lenses to a whole new level – while it has a 2x magnification/2:1 reproduction ratio as standard, because OM System/Olympus cameras use Micro Four Thirds sensors with a 2x crop factor, this equates to 4x magnification in 35mm terms. On top of that, the M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS Pro can also be used with the Olympus MC-20 teleconverter, which doubles the magnification to a 4x/4:1 reproduction ratio. Taking the 2x crop factor into consideration, this technically delivers 8x magnification / 8:1 reproduction, so you can get very, very, very close to teeny tiny subjects. The M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS Pro boasts up to seven stops of image stabilisation and is an IP53 weather-sealed optic. shop.olympus.eu; £1,299/$1,499…

Representing a substantial upgrade over the original Double Glass optic, the Double Glass II offers a range of enhanced features that provide new ways for creators to exhibit creative control over still and video imagery. It covers an aperture range from f/2.5 to f/22, which is a big upgrade from the original Double Glass, and features a 12-blade manually adjustable internal aperture, which provides a perfectly round diaphragm for easy control over the sweet spot size. A unique drop-in magnetic aperture system enables users to switch between round, internally adjustable aperture settings or choose from nine uniquely shaped creative apertures. lensbaby.com; £219/$200…

Tamron’s fast-apertured, wide-angle 11-20mm f/2.8 zoom is being ported to Fujifilm’s X-mount. First launched in Sony E mount in 2022, the 11-20mm f/2.8 offers an effective focal length of 16.5-30mm in full-frame terms. The Fujifilm X variant will weigh just 335g, therefore making a good choice for travel and landscape photography. Tamron’s development announcement stated that the forthcoming lens will be constructed of 12 elements in 10 groups and will boast an “exceptionally quiet” RXD stepping motor, which is something to please video users. www.tamron.eu; £/$ TBC…

Recently, a client approached me with the idea of doing a photoshoot, but editing the final images in the style of a graphic novel or computer game. Growing up, I loved drawing comic-book images, and spent many years on DeviantArt. But those days are behind me and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to deliver. That’s when I decided to turn to AI image generation, a subject I’ve touched on in previous editions of Scanning Ahead. AI image generation uses machine-learning algorithms to generate new images based on text prompts and/or existing images. It has been around for a couple of years, but now it’s sophisticated enough to be a genuinely useful tool for photographers. With AI image generation, you can apply a style that’s completely different from the original…

www.canon.co.uk Canon might not be willing to admit it, but the EOS R50 seems to indicate that the EOS M experiment is over. If nothing else, it’s pretty inarguable that the R50 is the spiritual replacement for the EOS M50 Mark II. The EOS M range of cameras sold exceptionally well, being the favourite tool of many a vlogger and travel photographer who wanted a small social media-oriented camera. Whether Canon ever took the EOS M seriously is up for debate, releasing more camera bodies than it ever made lenses – and a new lens for the EF-M mount has not been released since 2018. However, Canon has avoided repeating the same mistakes with its second attempt at mirrorless cameras; in only five years it has released 13 EOS R…

Filters are particularly useful for getting the correct exposure in landscape photography, as seen in this image. But if you’re looking to invest in a filter system, then purchasing a decent filter holder is essential. Filter holders make it quick and easy to change between individual filters, plus you can stack filters on top of each other. While they may seem more cumbersome at first glance, square filter holder systems can be much easier to use than a collection of screw-in circular filters, as you can switch between different-sized lenses with ease. Some types of filter work much better in a square system – for example, graduated Neutral Density filters, where the photographer needs the flexibility to be able to move the gradient up and down in the frame. Here…

The use of magnets and filter frames is transforming filter holders and the way we use filters. There’s some short-term pain in fitting a frame to your filters, and it’s advisable to have a frame for every filter you use rather than swapping them around, but the long-term gains soon become apparent, as the filters are easier to handle. The Cokin NX Series Filter Holder is our pick of the bunch here – it’s very well-made and enables precise adjustments of the filter. However, if you prefer to avoid using filter frames, the Kase Wolverine Series K9 holder makes an excellent choice. Good Formatt Hitech Firecrest 100mm Holder Magnetic Kit Good value for money, and the holder’s rugged build quality inspires confidence. Better Kase Wolverine Series K9 Filter Holder Kit…

Benedict Brain Photographer As Digital Camera readers will know from his monthly column, Brain’s work has an artistic sensibility, which he explores in depth in his first book. Page 120 Sam East Photographer From luxury watches to fast cars, product photographer Sam East has certainly shifted up through the gears since starting out. We join him on location on page 8 Fiona Georgeson-Powell Photographer The best camera is always the one you have with you, which is why Fiona Georgeson-Powell uses her Huawei to shoot the street. See how she does it, on page 26 Jon Devo Photographer & writer Our resident tech columnist enjoys considering the latest developments in photography and digital imaging. Read his latest dispatch on page 94 Jem Southam Landscape photographer Fresh interest in Southam’s photo…

Today, we’re taking the scenic route to Devon with product photographer Sam East. Based in Bristol, Sam began his photographic career in 2013 by shooting ‘passion projects’ – portraits, products and powerful landscapes. More recently, Sam’s product work has expanded from luxury watches to some of the world’s most exclusive sports cars. This is why we’re motoring down to the Valley of the Rocks in the brand-new Maserati Quattroporte Trofeo. For any readers curious as to what’s under the bonnet, you’ll find an enormous 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8 petrol engine that produces 572bhp at 6,750rpm alongside a rousing 730Nm of torque, which is available all the way from 2,250-5,250rpm. We start our luxury ride early in the afternoon, setting off from Bristol to our final shooting destination, around 100 miles away…

10 things you can shoot, edit or create this month, from wildlife and scenics to colourful street scenes Having an understanding and control over your lighting is essential for all photographic genres, particularly when shooting portraits. Traditionally, you’ll want to get a good exposure on your subject’s face no matter what the environment is. Today, I’m out with model Ellie to tackle some slightly challenging backlighting. Being able to understand where light is falling and how it will affect your subject is a huge learning curve for all photographers. Backlight, as the name suggests, is when the main light source is emanating from behind your subject, which when under control can make for a beautiful glowing, warm and a creamy image. For me, natural light is at the very core…

Cleaning your image sensor is an important part of keeping your camera working properly. Even if you’ve been very careful when swapping lenses, it’s inevitable that some dust or dirt will build up inside over time. Most cameras have a built-in sensor cleaning mode which operates when you turn the camera off (or on) – this is the easiest way of cleaning your DSLR or mirrorless camera’s sensor, and the best bit is that you don’t have to remove the lens. If that doesn’t quite do the trick, you’ll need an air blower, sensor swabs and a sensor cleaning solution (or a product like the Visible Dust EZ Sensor Cleaning Kit). Make sure you match the swabs to the camera’s sensor size; if they’re too big they won’t fit, and…

I grew up in the south of England, close to the South Downs National Park where creatures such as roe deer and brown hares were my main focus. It was here at just aged 10 that I first picked up a Nikon D80 DSLR and started taking images of the wildlife I spotted on my walks in the countryside. Now over a decade later, it’s fair to say that I have improved a lot since then. The peak season for photographing roe deer is between the months of May and September, in the run-up to their annual rut, and for a short while after. It can take weeks before you get the shots you want and you normally only learn by making mistakes. Please remember that the animal’s welfare is…

OVERALL WINNER 1ST PLACE, Breathing Spaces ‘Blue Tajinaste, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain’ Tony North “Echium thyrsiflorum (Syn. Echium gentianoides) is endemic to the mountains of La Palma island. From high up, there was a magnificent view of both the caldera below and the stars above. The UNESCO La Palma Biosphere Reserve encompasses the entire island, with the Caldera de Taburiente containing mountains with a highest peak of 2,426 metres – the Roque de los Muchachos.” 1ST PLACE: Beautiful Gardens ‘The Stream Garden, Waspik, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands’ Caroline Piek “The Stream Garden is an immersive naturalistic garden, designed by Noël van Mierlo of Van Mierlo Tuinen and landscaped by Totaaltuin Leende. “The watercourse is directly connected to the River Maas and is full of life. The garden has an irresistible…

One of the great things about winter is frost. Leaves and branches covered in hoar frost look almost magical, while puddles freeze to clear ice and encase whatever lies within the water. The problem, however, is the lack of bright colour. Sure, muted browns and oranges can look fantastic, but wouldn’t it be even better to have some of the vibrant reds, yellows and purples of spring? Frosts can be long gone, so the solution is to freeze colourful flowers in a tub of water to shoot an indoor still life that defies the seasons. The technique is incredibly simple, and while a macro lens is a great option for shooting, a kit lens zoomed in to its longest focal length can be just as effective. PRO ADVICE USE AN…

Woodland comes back to life in the spring, and although autumn is an equally spectacular time to shoot, bluebells bring a spectacular burst of colour to the forest floor for the briefest period. If you have bluebell woodlands near you, begin to keep an eye on how well-developed the flowers are towards the end of April, with peak flowering possible between then and early May. If you shoot on a misty morning, you can enjoy clean backgrounds with a pleasing mysterious quality, but even clear skies can yield interesting results. After the sun has risen, half-obscure the sun using a tree and stop down to f/16 to f/22 to capture a starburst. Images taken under these conditions will look different, but equally interesting. 1 Try these camera settings For woodland…

Time-lapse photography is incredibly easy – it’s simply a series of stills taken in Manual exposure mode, using manual focus to lock all camera settings. Simply expose for the highlights and use filters, and you’ll be fine. The only difference is that you use your camera’s intervalometer to capture a set number of images at a set interval. When judging how many frames to shoot, multiply the number of seconds the time-lapse needs to be by 24, because this is the frame rate of the video you’ll create. Set the interval – the delay between each shot – to one, two or three seconds if cloud movement is fast; set five, 10 or 15 seconds if it’s extremely slow. Bear in mind that for a 20-second video, you will need…

BONUS SOFTWARE EXTRAS: Another cracking collection: Actions for Photoshop and two Lightroom presets Page 82 This month… Tool School: Luminosity Masking Get to grips with this powerful technique for selective tonal adjustments in Photoshop, and make use of our free actions Fundamentals: Use colour grading for a cinematic look How to add movie magic to your photos in Adobe Lightroom Get the Look: Enhance moody landscapes Editing techniques that work well with captures of inclement weather Filter Forge 9 Professional: Deploy filters and photo effects with this month’s free download VIDEO TRAINING The issue 267 download includes video lessons that build on our tutorials, plus bonus videos with extra tips! www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc267 45 MINUTES OF VIDEO PHOTOSHOP Learn Luminosity Masking LIGHTROOM Add a movie look with colour grading LIGHTROOM/CAMERA RAW Make…

1 Textures You might not use Textures too much – they’re made more with 3D artists in mind – but it’s still worth exploring this area. 2 Search Filters With thousands of effects to choose from, this simple search box can save you a lot of time when you’re looking for the perfect filter. 3 Filter Library Choose from thousands of effects in the online Filter Library: cartoon and watercolour effects, frames, distortions, glitches, and more. 4 Filter Editor Click this button to access a node-based Filter Editor. You can open library filters in Filter Editor to examine and tailor them for your needs, or create a Custom filter from scratch. 5 Presets & Settings Use the Settings tab to make tweaks, then save your favourite combinations of settings as…

Sometimes we all wish we could sprinkle a little movie magic on our photos. In fact, it’s pretty simple to do and there are numerous colour tools in Lightroom to help us. You could use the Tone Curve’s individual colour channels, or the oft-missed Calibration panel. Even the HSL panel can be used for creative rather than corrective means. Here, though, you’ll see the Color Grading panel in action. Located in the Develop module, Color Grading makes use of three colour wheels: Shadows, Midtones and Highlights. The dot in each allows for simultaneous Hue and Saturation changes, while a slider below handles Luminosity changes. Holding down Shift while dragging the dot limits you to Saturation; holding the Command or Control key limits it to Hue only. In the individual views,…

A people poser Q I love to travel and want to capture more of the sights, but I feel nervous about getting my camera out. Do you have any advice? Tanya Flowers A Having some anxiety when you are photographing people going about their business is perfectly normal. I’ve taken a lot of street-style images in this country and all around the world, and there are always a few moments of nerves when you put the camera to your eye and start taking pictures, because you just don’t know how people are going to react. I think it’s easier in really busy places where people are constantly coming and going. In fact, half the time they won’t even notice you. If I’m in a new city, I look for outside…

Building on all the features of the Instax Mini 11, the Instax Mini 12 features a subtle design update – a more rounded bubble-like look – from its predecessor. The lens structure has also been updated to provide a more intuitive experience to power the camera on and off, as well as accessing the close-up and selfie modes by twisting the lens. A new parallax correction feature will line up the lens with the viewfinder in close-up mode, which reduces object shift and creates a more aligned photo when shooting subjects near to the camera. Launching alongside the Mini 12 is the new INSTAX UP!, Fujiflm’s latest smartphone app, which is a one-stop solution for digitally scanning, storing and sharing photos. instax.com; £79.99/$79.95 (Instax Mini 12). £/$ free (INSTAX UP!…

To correspond to the year of Dr No’s release, only 1,962 copies of the D-Lux 7 007 Edition will be available worldwide. It features a trim made from a high-performance, rhombus-textured material, and the top plate is adorned with the famous 007 logo. The automatic lens cap sports the classic ‘gun barrel’ design from the opening titles of the films, and the camera’s leather case is styled like a pistol holster. Spec-wise, the D-Lux 7 boasts a 17MP Micro Four Thirds sensor and a fast Leica DC Vario-Summilux 10.9-34mm f/1.7-2.8 ASPH lens (35mm equivalent: 24-75mm). leica-camera.com; £1,750/$2,131 Go to www.digitalcameraworld.com for the latest news, reviews&techniques…

www.canon.co.uk The Canon RF 14-35mm L-series lens is compact and lightweight, but the RF 15-30mm is particularly small for its type. Designed with full-frame R-system cameras in mind, it’s also a good fit for APS-C format bodies. When you want to go wide, this lens obliges with a maximum viewing angle of 110.5º. Not just for expansive landscapes, the zoom range is also well suited to cityscapes and architectural interiors as well as vlogging and selfies. The 5.5-stop optical image stabiliser is a bonus when shooting indoors, especially given the modest aperture rating. It’s particularly useful when using the lens with EOS R-system cameras that don’t feature IBIS (in-body image stabilisation). On those which do, combined stabilisation is boosted to 7-stop effectiveness. Performance Autofocus is speedy for stills and enables…

kasefilters.com Kase offers an extensive range of filters, with everything from 150 x 170mm filters to rear-mounted filters that slot into the back of some lenses. There’s also a choice of circular magnetic filters and square or rectangular filters that fit into one of the company’s holders. Kase offers two different-sized filter holders: a small one for 75mm-type filters that are suited to small mirrorless cameras; and two holders that are designed for 100mm-type filters. These are the Kase Wolverine Armour 100mm Filter Holder system, which has magnetic frames to surround 100mm rectangular filters, and the more widely known Kase Wolverine K9 100mm Filter holder, as reviewed here. Key features Although Kase offers the Wolverine Series K9 Filter Holder by itself, it primarily sells it as a kit with the…

www.canon.co.uk If you are enamoured with the features of the Canon EOS R6 Mark II, but it’s beyond your budget, then the EOS R8 is the camera to consider. It just does it all, for online content creators who want hybrid cameras for photography and video, enthusiast photographers looking to try a full-frame sensor or students on a budget, the R8 ticks most of the boxes. Sure, there are some compromises, but for the technology this camera offers, these all seem like fair trade-offs. Packing all the benefits of a full-frame sensor, such as shallower depth of field and expanded dynamic range but in a light and affordable package, the R8 is one of the most well-rounded cameras accessible to most people. Rival cameras Nikon Z 5 £1,349/$1,397 A very…

9 PHOTO TIPS CARDS TO TAKE ON LOCATION! Our latest selection of tips cards gives wallet-sized advice on how to take better photos Transform your images with the latest batch of software extras for Photoshop and Lightroom This month, choose from our latest selection of actions and presets to give your shots a professional look. Plus, we’ve also created a set of actions for creating Luminosity masks. See below for how to download all packs. FILTER FORGE 9 PROFESSIONAL FREE SOFTWARE WORTH $139! Take your photo editing to the next level with a massive library of filters and photo effects on tap – we’re giving away version 9, with a special discount offer to purchase version 12. See page 74 for more information. Buyer’s Guide ebook Over 300 pages of…

“This is an incredibly useful tool that changes the way your camera sees and captures light, particularly in relation to reflections and glare – a prominent problem with car photography,” says Sam. “By using a polarising filter, you can dramatically improve your automotive photography to create images that are vibrant and dynamic and which stand out from the rest. Polarisers have the effect of increasing colour saturation in some circumstances by reducing unwanted reflections such as the sky, clouds or glare from the sun. If you’re into shooting landscapes, then you’re likely to have a polarising filter tucked away in your kit bag already, and you can use it for photographing cars, too. The professional finish you get from using polarising filters can’t be replicated in editing, so for shooting…

1 “Always be looking out for fresh angles, as every car you photograph will have a slightly different design shape with its own styling details.” 2 “Don’t forget about the interior. When we think of cars, we usually think of them from the outside on a road, but there are plenty of details to photograph on the inside.” 3 “Try to create a sense of movement where possible – to get a shot with the wheels in motion with a 1/125 sec shutter speed, the car doesn’t need to be moving very fast.” 4 “Get low to the ground. This perspective will give the car a real sense of power, and will also often create a blurred foreground, bringing attention to the main subject.” 5 “Use a variety of wide-angle…

Like most of the population, I take a smartphone with me everywhere I go. This makes its built-in camera an obvious, and most available, option for taking photos quickly and easily. The smart autofocus and easy point-and-shoot style enables me to capture images even while walking. I can then edit or share the pictures on social media without having to lug my Fujifilm X-S10, along with the lenses, SD cards and batteries I would carry for more dedicated jobs. It’s really easy to use phone editing apps, like Photoshop, Gallery and Snapseed, to name a few – and many of these are free. I think the future for smartphone photography is exciting – particularly how many people are more than satisfied with the results. It has become a widely accessible…

I have lived and worked on the Isle of Skye as a professional photographer and guide for Skye Photo Academy for seven years now. I also feature on the YouTube channel Photography Online. There is no other place quite like Skye, with its diversity of landscape within such a reasonably small area, from its mountains and dramatic coastline, to the peaks and pinnacles along the Trotternish Ridge where lies the Quiraing and Old Man of Storr. The light we can get on Skye, which is also known as Hebridean Light, is something to behold, making it a photographer’s paradise. This particular shot was captured from the Quiraing on a mid-December morning, where I had been at a particular viewpoint to capture a shot at sunrise. As I was heading along…

Looking through my images, I realised that I was framing in the landscape orientation more often than not. It wasn’t deliberate, and this made me curious as to why. Despite thinking about it a lot, I’m not sure. However, I did decide to try to make more images in the vertical orientation and see how this affected my image-making. It was liberating in a way, and I sense that my creative process has opened up as a consequence. Of course, I’d taken vertically oriented images before, but I was holding on to some sort of horizontal hang-up, and it was good to be free of it. It occurred to me retrospectively that one of the unexpected and delightful aspects of shooting upright was how it felt much more natural from…

Every season brings something unique to the photographic table, but as the natural world begins to awaken from its winter slumber, it’s always spring that reignites our motivation. The landscape once again becomes bathed in lush greens, and our gardens start to fill with colour and play host to birds and insects. So whether you’re a landscape, macro, wildlife or even still-life photographer, spring has something to offer everyone. Photographic opportunities are almost everywhere, and you don’t even have to travel far to enjoy them. From birds feasting on the feeders in your garden and colourful flowers to indoor projects when the weather isn’t on your side, spring is the season we’ve all been waiting for – and that’s why the next 12 pages are full of ideas and inspiration…

1 Freeze the flower overnight Pop the flower in a plastic tub – as many flowers float, you don’t have to cover the flower completely (using shallower water and a spoon to hold the flower down will work well). Place the flower face-down in the water so that its front is encased in ice. 2 Set up your mini studio Place the ice block on a small white plate, with the flower facing the camera. Put black – rather than white – card behind and to the sides to add definition and block natural light. Now, put a sheet of white paper under the plate to act as a reflector. 3 Start with these settings Shoot at f/8 and ISO 100. Position the light and turn it on – here,…

There are many different ways to shoot flowers, and one that always produces pleasing results is to capture floral abstracts. Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that the example we’re using here is a rose, and those with gardening knowledge will also know that roses begin to flower in early summer rather than spring. Roses are available to buy throughout the year, though, so if you want to shoot an abstract of a rose, they’re easy to get hold of. Place the rose on a windowsill so it’s well lit. Shoot handheld straight down into the petals, filling the frame so there’s no background, and using an aperture of f/2.8. If the shutter speed is too slow, increase the ISO to 400. PRO ADVICE SHOOT QUALITY CLOSE-UP SHOTS ON A BUDGET…

1 ‘Malham in the Spotlight’ by Ben Dale “Setting up on the extraordinary limestone pavement at the top of Malham Cove, I waited for the sunbeams to sweep over – it was some of the best light I could have hoped for!” Digital Camera says: Superb work, Ben. Leading lines ground a stunning composition and those shafts of sunlight provide further visual interest. 2 ‘Say What?’ by Agata Pietrzak “As challenging as it can be to take photos of your pet, I love it most of all – capturing their personality and funny faces as they try to please us!” Digital Camera says: We love this photo, Agata! It’s very well lit and the depth of field draws sharp focus to the subject’s muzzle and right eye – and eyes…

There’s one thing in photography that you can’t control: the weather. For landscape photographers, this is part of the challenge that helps to make the subject satisfying when the elements do come together. But even when the weather isn’t great, unless it’s pelting down with rain, moody weather conditions are fantastic for capturing interesting images, and we’re going to focus on some of the editing techniques that work perfectly with this style of photography. For this set of techniques, we’re going to take a progressive approach where the layers for each technique will be kept in place. Each one will build on the previous step, although they can also be applied in isolation. Many processing techniques can be used with moody landscape images and – as shown here – one,…

What is grayscale? A digital image that has been converted from colour to mono in Photoshop using Image > Mode > Grayscale shows each pixel as a value of brightness only, with all colour information removed. This is an image purely rendered to grayscale. Is this the best way to convert a digital colour file to mono? It’s quick and easy, but it is not the best, because a grayscale conversion gives you no opportunity to create the right balance of tonal contrast using the original colour information. By using a grayscale conversion, you can end up with an image that appears flat and lifeless. How should I do the conversion, then? It would be better to convert via Image > Adjustments > Black & White, because this will allow…

ON1 rolls out Photo RAW version 2023.1 The latest update adds a host of new helpful tools for retouching and refining images, including an enhanced healing brush, sky swap AI modes and advanced uses of the healing brush tool. Support for newer cameras is included. www.on1.com; free for existing owners Canon launches new community for creators Canon Club is a new space for “like-minded, passionate creatives” who use the brand’s ecosystem of products. Earn rewards for new purchases, learn from your peers and Canon pros, plus much more. www.canon.co.uk/canon-club Samyang/Rokinon AF 75mm F1.8 X for Fuji X Compact and weighing only 257g, this new prime offers an equivalent focal length of about 112.5mm in full-frame terms. The optical path comprises 10 elements in nine groups, and autofocus is delivered via…

Introduced as a replacement for the ageing Zeiss Planar T* FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA, the Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 is one third lighter than the Zeiss lens, at 516g. Optical construction uses 14 elements in 11 groups, with one ED element to suppress colour aberrations and distortion. An 11-blade aperture should ensure a very round bokeh and a smooth, even falloff from focused areas, while an internal focusing mechanism means that the lens dimensions won’t change during use, which is handy if you plan to use filters. www.sony.co.uk; £1,500/$1,298…

Software house DxO recently released the third version of its raw processing software. For any readers not familiar with PureRAW, it is essentially an upmarket Adobe DNG converter; it takes regular RAW files and applies DxO’s high-powered DeepPRIME demosaicing and noise reduction technology, plus its advanced in-house lens correction profiles, to produce part-processed Linear DNG raw files, which offer the extended tonal and colour data that photographers like to exploit. Features new to PureRAW 3 include the roll-out of DeepPRIME XD, which DxO says takes noise reduction and detail recovery to the next level; it delivers more than the equivalent of an extra 2.5 stops of ISO. A new queueing system offers more options for batch processing images and there are enhanced customisation controls, including adjusting the strength of lens…

www.panasonic.co.uk As someone who’s used the Lumix S1 since its launch in 2018 and the original Lumix S5 since 2020, I’ve watched Lumix full-frame steadily grow into a system that has every right to be revered among photographers and videographers. The one thing holding it back from capturing the attention of the masses was the contrast-based Depth-from-Defocus autofocusing system that Panasonic developed and championed for years, despite much of the competition adopting phase-detection-based AF setups. Uncharacteristically late to the innovation party, Panasonic is aiming the phase hybrid AF-powered Lumix S5 II squarely at “creators” – that annoying tribe of people who make content for a living or a pastime, in the hope of someday turning it into a career. People like me. To tick the right boxes the S5 II…

www.venuslens.net Quite compact for a 90mm macro lens, the Laowa is nearly one and a half inches shorter than the previous 100mm mirrorless lens, but only a fifth of an inch shorter than the DSLR version. As with its predecessor, it has a fixed physical length, so there’s no externally telescoping inner barrel. 2.0x macro magnification is available at the shortest focus distance of 20.5cm, or eight inches. As always, that’s measured from the focal plane of the camera rather than from the front of the lens. The fact that the lens focuses internally means it avoids cutting down the working distance between the front of the lens and the subject when you’re shooting close-ups. In practice, while the front element remains in place, the inner elements are deeply recessed…

www.formatt-hitech.com UK-based Formatt Hitech is not the most widely known filter manufacturer, but it’s a respected brand by those in the know. The Firecrest 100mm Magnetic Holder is an update to the Firecrest 100mm Holder MKII, and introduces a magnetic attachment for the polariser, which on the old system was hard to unscrew in the cold. Key features Like other filter holders, the Formatt Hitech Firecrest 100mm Magnetic Holder mounts onto a lens via a magnetic adapter. The supplied circular polariser is mounted via magnetic attraction, while the holder for square and rectangular filters is attached mechanically. Formatt Hitech supplies two magnetic adapters in the kit: one for lenses with an 86mm filter thread, and another for lenses with an 82mm filter thread. There are also two step rings in…

leefilters.com Lee Filters is one of the best-known names in photographic filters, and its 100 Filter System is very popular. In March 2019, the company introduced a new filter holder and polariser; some photographers were surprised because the old holder had served them well for years. However, the new LEE100 Holder looks and feels more modern and does away with the need to use fiddly little screws to attach the filter guides. The LEE100 Holder is compatible with all existing Lee Filters 100 filters, as well as same-sized filters from other brands. However, as I’ll explain later, the (old-style) LEE Filters 105mm Landscape Circular Polariser Filter can only be mounted via an adapter ring. Key features Lee Filters makes the LEE100 Holder from injection-moulded composite, and has clip-in filter guides…