Indice dei contenuti per November 2017 in Digital Camera Magazine

To enter, head to www.photocrowd. com/dcpoty. Entries cost £1 to £3 per image, with Digital Camera readers receiving a 50% discount by entering the code: DCPOTY1850 YOUNG people (25 and under) haven’t been left out of the Digital Camera Photographer of the Year competition! In fact, they have their own division within each category, with a fresh set of prizes to be won, as well as a chance to be crowned the overall Digital Camera Young Photographer of the Year 2018. The same panel of professional photographers will judge your entries in the same themed categories as the main competition. You can enter as many times as you like. (You can even enter the main competition and this one.) Overall winner prizes YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR PRIZES INCLUDE Fujifilm…

[PROJECT 1] Vivid colour portraits Try the Brenizer method Fine-art and portrait photographer Ellie Victoria Gale shares how she played with colour to bring this portrait to life Harness the pops of colour in rust-coloured autumn leaves, winter berries and late-blooming flowers with this technique for capturing vivid portraits. This shot, ‘Dream Awake’, is part of my personal series The Flower Keepers. This is a portrait project based in a whimsical world filled with glorious colour and vivid blossoms, so I’ve been constantly on the lookout for backdrops like the blossom bush that inspired this shot. Initially this project was born as a way to recover from a long creative drought and to focus my creativity. My set-up is simple – I use natural light, a Canon 5D Mk III and a…

LIGHT painting is always a fun way to spend an evening outdoors improving your longexposure photography skills. But it can get a bit dull just using a plain old torch to draw shapes. For a fun change, why not swap your usual light source for a party sparkler? It adds a celebratory touch to the shoot, as well as a glittery quality to the light itself. It’s best to set up in a garden or quiet street, away from excitable pets or children – the key is to pick somewhere that allows you plenty of room to move the sparkler after firing the shutter. Because it’ll be dark, it might take a few attempts to get the composition and focus right. Using a wide-angle lens is the best way to…

SLR www.nikon.co.uk SPECIFICATIONS Sensor — 45.7MP FX-format CMOS (35.9 x 23.9mm) Focal length conversion — 1x Memory XQD, SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II) Viewfinder — Optical pentaprism, 100% coverage Max video resolution — 4K UHD 3,840 x 2,160 at 30/25/24p ISO range — 64-25,600, expandable to 32-102,400 Autofocus points — 153-point phase-detection AF, 99 cross-type Max Burst rate — 7fps (9fps with grip) Screen — Tilting 3.2-inch touchscreen, 2,359k dots Shutter speeds — 1/8,000 to 30 sec, Bulb, Time Weight — 1,005g (body only, with battery and memory card) Dimensions — 146 x 124 x 79mm Power supply — EN-EL15a lithium-ion battery (supplied) FOR a long time, professional photographers have faced a blunt choice. You can get a camera with great resolution, like Nikon’s D810, Canon’s EOS 5DS or Sony’s Alpha 7R II,…

NOTHING exaggerates perspective like a really wide-angle lens. Get in close and you’ll be rewarded with sensational creative effects. All of the zoom lenses we’ve selected for this group test go seriously wide, and are designed specifically for crop-sensor cameras. If you’ve not tried one before, you’ll be amazed at how much more you can shoehorn into the image frame, compared with using a standard zoom lens. Ideal for the great outdoors, these lenses can capture vast, rolling landscapes. They’re arguably even more useful indoors, when you’re trying to shoot architectural interiors. Not just for the bigger picture, these wide-angle optics tend to produce very little distortion at the long end of their zoom range. They can therefore be a preferable option to using your standard zoom at its shortest…

SOFTWARE Photoshop CC GET IT FROM www.adobe.com GET START FILES FROM www.bit.ly/dc196files DIGITAL DARKROOM ONE of the big secrets shared by professional designers and cinematographers is a thorough understanding of colour theory. This embraces both science and cultural traditions in the way that colours – and combinations of colours – are perceived. Most of us accept that cool colours like blues and cyans have a calming effect, while warm colours like reds and oranges push out from a scene and stimulate the senses. But when it comes to combining colours, there are specific choices we can make to lift a picture. This is best represented by the ‘colour wheel’ – a simple diagram that reveals at a glance which colours complement each other. By choosing complementary colours in your shots,…

Understand how exposure works by following this simple three-pointed guide The relationship between shutter speed, aperture and ISO is at the heart of all photography. At one time, shutter speed and aperture were the only exposure variables you could change from one shot to the next, as the ISO was set by the type of film you were using, but the introduction of digital cameras has made it possible to change ISO on the fly rather than unloading film or switching bodies. Photographers now have more control over exposure than ever before. ONE EXPOSURE, THREE WAYS Aperture, shutter speed and ISO enable you to control the exposure of a picture. All three elements need to be balanced. This is where thinking about exposure in terms of stops helps, as you…

Most lenses use a standard scale of f-stops to indicate the size of the aperture, although the range of settings available varies depending on the lens being used. For instance, a 100mm macro lens typically offers an aperture range of f/2.8 to f/32, while a 28mm f/1.8 lens typically offers a range of f/1.8 to f/22. Each time the aperture is opened by one stop (from f/11 to f/8, say), twice as much light is let in. There are two key reasons for changing the aperture. First, it ensures the sensor receives the right amount of light. If you’re shooting in the dark, for example, or you want to be able to use a fast shutter speed to freeze a fast-moving subject, then you may need to use a wider…

When you press the shutter release button, there are a number of mechanical processes that have to happen before the light reaches the camera sensor and a picture is recorded. First, the mirror, which reflects the image into the viewfinder and allows you to focus and compose the shot, has to flip out of the way, which is why the viewfinder goes dark. Next, the shutter curtains, which prevent light from hitting the sensor, open and close… Photographers work very hard to get their subjects perfectly sharp, and to create just the right degree of background blur in their images, but it’s a mistake to imagine that focusing and lens aperture are the only controls that count. In fact, the shutter speed plays an equally important part in controlling sharpness.…

Histograms look rather daunting at first glance, but they are the most useful tool you have to help you capture the exposure you want, every time. the histogram is essentially a graph that illustrates the range of tones in your image, from black on the far left to white on the far right with a mid-tone (18%) grey in the middle of the range. When you fire the shutter, a preview of your picture flashes up on the camera’s LCD. You can instantly see if the shot is too bright or too dark, so it seems unnecessary to have a second, more scientific, way of judging the suitability of your exposure settings. So why should you bother looking at the histogram? First and foremost, displaying the histogram isn’t a replacement for…

The phase detection autofocus sensor can detect how far out of focus a subject is, and whether the lens needs to focus nearer or further – it knows the correct adjustment before it focuses Focusing is one of those tasks that sounds like it ought to be easy, but often it’s not. In the old days, you simply turned the focus ring until the image looked sharp, or turned a ring on the lens to line up the index marker with a picture of some mountains, a group or a single person. But today’s digital SLRs offer much higher levels of resolution, and the old techniques of guesswork and estimates aren’t good enough any more. We want our photographs to be razorsharp, so we need the precision and speed of…

Tripods are all but essential when there’s very little light, keeping the camera steady when the shutter speed is slow. but that’s just the start of the benefits. taking time to adjust the camera position very precisely can make a world of difference when it comes to good composition, for example. Tripods are also great for taking self-portraits; for time-lapse photography; and for using neutral-density filters to enable long exposures. Further possibilities include keeping the camera locked in position for a series of exposures that you combine to create an HDR image, or for precision panning for capturing a sequence that will form the basis of a panorama. In short, they are essential for anyone serious about making great images. You can save money on a tripod by buying a…

SWIM GYM LAURENT BALLESTA, FRANCE FINALIST, Behaviour : MAMMALS “We were still a few metres from the surface when I heard the strange noises,” says Laurent. Suspecting Weddell seals – known for their repertoire of at least 34 different underwater call types – he approached slowly. It was early spring in east Antarctica, and a mother was introducing her pup to the icy water. The world’s most southerly breeding mammal, a Weddell seal gives birth on the ice and takes her pup swimming after a week or two. The pair, unbothered by Laurent’s presence, slid effortlessly between the sheets of the frozen labyrinth. Adults are accomplished divers, reaching depths of more than 600 metres (1,970 feet) and submerging for up to 82 minutes. “They looked so at ease, where I…

Through the looking glass With photography being all about light, it’s surprising that glass and windows aren’t used more often when shooting. Why not try shooting an interesting portrait through the window of a building, or even a car or bus? The reflections and distortions from windows, especially from frosted, raised, patterned or rain-soaked glass, can add an interesting mood to your image. Make sure you shoot in Manual mode when doing this, in order to lock focus on your subject behind the glass. Everyday objects Challenge yourself to take interesting pictures of things you see or even use everyday. This is a great project to push yourself to improve your photographic eye by using only what’s around you. It’s all about light and composition. So if you have a…

WITH this technique, we’re going to show you how to go guerilla-style and make your own portable macro lighting setup that will work anywhere, at any time and save space in your camera bag simultaneously. No more clunky ring flashes or dual flash heads that sit on the end of your lens. You only need one flashgun, a DSLR, a lens, a flash bracket, a wired flash trigger and a light diffuser to make a mobile macro rig. By diffusing the light, you’re going the extra mile to make a studiolike portrait of your macro subjects. Step 1 A macro lens or even a kit lens is fine for this shoot, but we opted to reverse a wide-angle lens to keep this kit as light and cheap as possible. We…

DO’S WHILE there are a number of rules you have to adhere to when flying a drone, they’re pretty clear and easy to follow. The key thing is to keep your drone in sight – that means direct eye contact rather than through the video feed on your phone or controller. Don ’TS THE ‘don’ts’ might seem intimidating, but you can apply for permission from the CAA to fly closer to buildings or take off and land in certain areas. You can find out more and read the CAA’s drone code at www.dronesafe.uk NEXT MONTH In-camera processing explained…

Susan Meiselas is widely recognised as one of the major documentary photographers of the past 40 years. A member of Magnum Photos since 1976, her work has highlighted a range of issues from human rights abuse to mass murder. She has won several international awards for her work, including the Leica Award for Excellence (1982) and the Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography in New York (2005). What was her early life like? Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1948, Meiselas went on to earn a Masters in Visual Education from Harvard University in 1970. In the following years, apart from working as an assistant editor on the documentary film Basic Training (1971), she mainly worked in education, designing photography courses and running workshops. When did she start working…

CSC www.olympus.co.uk SPECIFICATIONS Sensor — 16.1MP Micro Four Thirds Image processor — TruePic VIII AF points — 121 (contrast AF) ISO range — 100-25,600 Max image size — 4,608 x 3,456 Metering zones — 324 Video 4K — UHD at 30, 25, 24fps Viewfinder — EVF, 2,360k dots Memory card — SD/SDHC/SDXC LCD — 3-inch tilting touchscreen, 1,040k dots Max burst — 8.6fps (22 raw) Connectivity — Wi-Fi Size — 122 x 84 x 50mm Weight — 410g It’s the entry-level model in Olympus’s OM-D range, although it’s actually a lot more sophisticated than most beginner cameras THE ‘old’ OM-D E-M10 Mark II came first in issue 194’s group test of travel cameras, and this new Mark III version is really more of an update and a refresh rather than…

Depth of field is an important consideration when you take a photo. It’s a measure of the extent to which the scene or subject looks sharp, and extends both in front of and beyond the point you’ve focused on. There are a number of factors that affect this, such as the distance at which the lens is focused and the combination of the focal length of the lens and the size of the sensor in the camera. However, the choice of aperture plays a significant role. In the examples here, the focus distance remains the same – somewhere in the middle distance – and it’s the change of aperture that makes more or less of the image appear sharp. However, the closer you focus, the shallower the depth of field…

The ISO scale is used to measure the camera’s sensitivity to light. although the sensor cannot be changed to suit the subject (unlike film), its sensitivity can effectively be boosted by the camera’s circuitry. this is done with the ISO control. the signal from the sensor is simply amplified, and this helps you get the fast enough shutter speed you want in low light. The ISO can be altered for each shot. This makes ISO a powerful tool for the photographer, helping you to get sharp shots in a variety of lighting conditions. The base sensitivity of DSLRs varies according to the model – some start at ISO 100, some at ISO 200. Doubling the ISO number doubles the sensitivity of the sensor. So increasing the ISO from 100 to…

Your SLR’s optical viewfinder enables you to see through the lens you’re going to use to take your photo. the light coming through the lens is reflected up into the viewfinder using a mirror, which you can see when you take the lens off your camera. Normally, the image you see in the viewfinder is shown with the lens at its maximum aperture, so it may not exactly match the appearance of your final shot. On many SLRs the viewfinder doesn’t quite show you the whole of the frame, because there’s an area around the edges of the image that isn’t visible. But because of the design and shape of an SLR, using the viewfinder with the camera up to your eye is often a more stable way of holding…

Hyperfocal focusing is an old-school technique that helps you maximise sharpness in a photo. a camera lens can only focus to a single distance at any one time, but there’s an area that extends from that point, both towards the camera and towards the horizon, where things still look sharp. this area is known as the depth of field. The depth of field isn’t a fixed distance: several factors can make it wider or narrower, including the lens’s focal length and the aperture you set. The distance to which the lens is focused makes a big difference, which is where hyperfocal focusing can help. The hyperfocal distance is the point at which everything from half of this distance through to infinity falls within the depth of field, and so looks…

There’s a time and a place for flash. It will often kill the atmosphere at a party, but there are other times when it’s the essential ingredient for a successful shot. the secret to success is to use the built-in flash on most SLRs with caution. the key to getting good results is often a matter of exposure, ensuring you use settings that make the flash look natural. Using flash complicates the usual problems of exposure. You not only have to choose the shutter speed, aperture and ISO to suit the scene, but you also have to add in the flash power too. A flashgun provides a brief burst of light – but the duration can be varied to alter how much light is added to the scene. The amount…

To enter, head to www.photocrowd.com/dcpoty. Entries cost £1 to £3 per image, with Digital Camera readers receiving a 50% discount by entering the code: DCPOTY1850 Now for some exciting news: we are launching our very own Digital Camera Photographer of the Year competition! With a heap of fantastic prizes up for grabs, and a panel of top professional judges at the ready, it’s set to be big, bold and brilliant. We want as many readers as possible to enter, so we’re revealing all of the categories now. You can enter as many times as you like, so start planning your photos today! There are amazing prizes for the winners of each category, and even more for the overall Photographer of the Year 2018 winner. Overall winner prizes PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE…

INFOCUS Photography news from around the globe WHILE the look of lighting gear is far less important than the looks it lets you create, there’s no denying the curved lines of the Profoto A1 are rather lovely. Available in Canon and Nikon fits, the A1 comes with built-in AirTTL for wireless communication with other Profoto lights, and it also packs an integrated modelling light. Rather than being rated by Guide Number, the A1’s power is listed in studio light format – 76Ws, with a nine f-stop energy rating – and it’s powered by a rechargeable li-ion battery pack, which is said to deliver up to 350 full-power flashes with a recycling time of 1.2 seconds between them. Profoto has opted for a round flash head for the A1, which it…

GHOST signs aren’t as spooky as they sound. It may be the month of Halloween, but ghost signs are more intriguing mementos than frightening spectres. They are faded signs that act as reminders of a town’s past, recording former shop fronts and advertisements for products long since discontinued. For the keen observer, there is always an intriguing way to document a place you visit, and ghost signs – along with clues to architectural changes, neon lights and graffiti – are interesting elements to focus on. In many cities you will find ghost signs painted above former shops, factories and dairies, dating back in some cases to over a century ago. Ghost signs are everywhere – some are even underground. Try to find ‘Little Compton Street’ on Charing Cross Road in…

How did you first get into photography? I’ve always been creative rather than academic; at school I was more into art and design than maths and English. But it wasn’t really until I was 17 and I went to Canada on holiday that I really started taking pictures. It was my first time out of the UK, and I found myself inspired by everything I saw. It was the first time I was consciously aware I enjoyed having a camera in my hands, and it was a defining moment for me. I’ve also always been fascinated by natural history documentaries, and very quickly the creative photography side and the interest in animals collided. It was a natural progression for me. Were you inspired by any particular wildlife photographers? I take…

1 www.billingham.co.uk Billingham Hadley One £265/$399 THE retro-styled exterior hides a capacious and highly practical camera bag. There’s room for a laptop and day-to-day travel essentials too. The Billingham is pricey but desirable. 2 www.wacom.com Wacom Intuos Pro M £313/$350 YOU GET super-precise pen control of brushes and selections, but if you’ve spent years using a mouse the Intuos Pro might require a little more muscle retraining than you bargained for. 3 www.artisanandartist.com Ar tisan & Ar tist straps From £30/$40 THE cloth strap is the most affordable in this arty line-up. It’s neat, relatively inexpensive and folds up really well. The silk cord strap, however, is a little more exclusive at £110/$146! 4 www.manfrotto.co.uk Manfrotto Pixi 360 £125/$134 VIDEO PANORAMAS and timelapse movies are easy with this motorised head. It works with smartphones…

The concept of aperture can be tricky to grasp. The physical side of it is incredibly simple. Here’s what’s going on inside your lens barrel, where a motor keeps aperture under control… No matter which camera or exposure mode you use, there are just two main ways to regulate how much light reaches an image sensor. One is shutter speed, which we’ll examine on page 12. the other is aperture. Aperture has an important effect on depth of field, which we explore on page 11, but it can impact on the sharpness of your images in other ways, too. It’s also directly related to the working distance when you’re using flash, and maximum aperture is an important factor in differentiating lenses. Yet the concept of aperture can be confusing. For…

The camera meter measures a subject’s brightness so that the camera can determine how long the sensor needs to be exposed to record a picture. the problem is that the metering system doesn’t always work flawlessly, and you may end up with pictures that are either too dark or too bright. For more refined results, you can correct these errors using exposure compensation, or dial in aperture, shutter speed and ISO manually. Camera meters are calibrated to what’s called ‘18% grey’. The theory is that a mid-tone grey, halfway between black and white, reflects 18% of the light falling on it. Point your camera at a grey card or a rough mid-tone equivalent, such as a field of grass or a pavement, and the camera will produce a wellexposed result.…

1 First curtain sync flash the flash briefly pulses before the shutter fires (1) to set the flash exposure. the shutter is made up of two metallic ‘curtains’ (2 & 3). As soon as the first is open and the sensor is fully uncovered, the flash fires (4). At the end of the exposure the second curtain closes. 02 Second curtain sync flash If the camera or flash is set to second-curtain sync, the flash will fire at the end of the exposure (1) where the shutter blinds are fully open – rather than at the beginning of this exposure. this is useful with moving subjects, and with slower-than-usual shutter speeds 03 high-speed sync flash At shutter speeds above the SLr’s normal ‘sync speed’, the shutter is never fully open…

Whatever we do in photography, we need light to make our images happen. a reflector is simply a tool that helps us put that light where we want it. a reflector allows you to bounce available light – whether natural or artificial – back towards your subject, so you can change the way the light illuminates it. Reflectors come in various shapes and sizes, although the most common shapes are circular and rectangular. They are made from reflective material, usually in white, silver or gold for different effects. Some have handles or can be folded together for easy storage, while others are large and difficult to handle. You can even make your own reflector from white card. All photographers should have at least one reflector at their disposal, even if…

Silver reflector A silver reflector reflects a large amount of light. It’s best to use these at some distance if you’re working in the studio otherwise the light can look too harsh. If you want to make your own, silver foil works a treat. However, they’re not too expensive and most reflectors come with several covers, such as white, silver and gold, so getting one is a good investment. Gold reflector Gold is best avoided with studio flashlights, which are usually balanced to daylight, because the warm glow that it radiates is likely to create mixed lighting in your final images. This will only mean more work in the digital darkroom later on. If you’re working outside, using a gold cover warms skintones up beautifully. White reflector A white reflector…