Tabla de contenidos para April 2019 en Practical Photography: Lite

LANDSCAPES #1 Always keep your eyes peeled A GOOD PHOTOGRAPHER IS always on the prowl for a shot. Just because you have one thing in mind, you shouldn’t overlook the unexpected – it could lead to an image like this one from Terry Spires (instagram.com/tspires75). “This image was taken by the Walton-on-the-Naze beach huts in Essex. While walking down to the beach for some long-exposure sunset shots I noticed there was a puddle in front of the huts left over from high tide. I took a few sample shots low to the ground and thought this might be a place to come back to. Walking around the beach, I took a few shots but I was drawn back to the beach huts. For maximum reflection I needed to get my…

CAPTURING EVERY EXQUISITE DETAIL OF PAINSTAKINGLY styled hair can be considered the ultimate test for flash photographers. Until you’ve stepped foot in a studio, you’ll never understand how difficult it can be to highlight everything you want to emphasise, while also casting the less favourable parts in shadow. Kai Wan has more than mastered this enviable skill. With unmatched creativity and impressive technical expertise, his work is inspiration incarnate for any studio photographer. Kai Wan is a hairdresser and photographer with a passion for hair, beauty and fashion. He runs workshops, collaborates with hairdressers across the country and works with industry-leading brands, such as Wella. instagram.com/kaiwanphotographer How did you become interested in photography? My dad had a Leica M3 that I was fascinated with when I was a kid. I…

Andrew Farrington is an acclaimed fashion and portrait photographer with years of experience and a host of top clients. Examples of his work can be seen at andrewf.com How many images do you shoot on an assignment? When I’m shooting hair and fashion images, the 18+ fps of my mirrorless digital cameras are churning out images in such volume that it becomes mind boggling just to sit and scroll through one model’s set with a client. Fortunately for me, I can pretty much tell at the point of shooting which is going to be the ‘hero’ image. We can easily shoot 4000 frames in a day and the differences between many of the images are so slight as to be inconsequential, but they can certainly change the viewer’s reaction if…

Q I’ve created a Layer Mask in Photoshop and I’d like to duplicate it onto another layer. Dragging it only seems to move the Layer Mask and removes it from the original layer. Is it possible to duplicate it instead? James Delaney, Greenwich Dan says: Duplicating a Layer Mask is entirely possible and can be very handy when you’ve spent a long time creating an accurate mask, as you don’t want to have to do that work all over again. To do it, go to the Layers panel (Window> Layers) then hold the Alt key and drag the Layer Mask onto the layer that you’d to add it to. You’ll now have identical Layer Masks on both layers.…

Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 SP Di VC USD £329 Tamron’s 70-300mm is a portable telephoto with brilliant optics for its price-point due to the inclusion of Low Dispersion (LD) and Extra Low Dispersion (XLD) elements. It also boasts an Ultrasonic Silent Drive for fast and quiet autofocus. tamron.eu/uk Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 SP Di VC USD £799 This full-frame lens from Tamron tops out at a massive 600mm, which will be more like 900mm when used on an ASP-C body. It also features Vibration Compensation for sharper shots when shooting handheld. tamron.eu/uk Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 SPORT DG OS HSM £1329 This advanced enthusiast optic from Sigma claims to be dust and splash proof and features a water and oil repellent coating on the front and rear glass elements. It also houses a…

■ If your model is coming out blurry this will be due to subject blur, where your subject moves during the exposure. As your camera is locked off on a tripod this means your shutter speed is too slow, so you need to make it faster in order to freeze your subject and get a sharp shot. To do this increase your ISO until you get a shutter speed of around 1/100sec or faster. ■ If the whole frame is blurry, this could mean the camera was knocked as you pressed the shutter. Make sure the 2sec self-timer mode is activated and switch off any image stabilisation as this can inject blur when using a tripod.…

It’s not often that an upgrade brings so many new features to the table, while staying loyal to the heritage of the brand. Fujifilm’s X-T3 strikes a perfect balance. We’re highlighting our three favourite additions that caught the judges’ eyes, and made it such a popular choice. Huge 30fps blackout-free By applying a 1.25x crop, outputting 16.6MP files, the X-T3’s electronic shutter can capture a blisteringly fast 30 images per second. It’s also blackout-free, allowing you to watch the action as it unfolds. Shoot first, check later The Pre-Shot mode works by taking a series of rolling shots when you half-press the shutter. Upon taking the shot, the X-T3 will save the initial pre-burst to your SD card – perfect for high-octane action. From film to filming The X-T3 is…

#WINNER Gold Service Award If you’re like us, you’ll want two things in life – great gear and brilliant bargains. This is the mantra at the heart of retailer MPB. Specialising in buying and selling used gear, it’s the ideal way to free up funds from your kit, and to grab yourself a bargain on some of the latest models. It’s a philosophy that’s clearly working well for MPB, seeing the company once again scooping a Gold Service Award, as voted for by its customers. What’s MPB’s secret? While trade-ins aren’t a new option for punters, MPB has perfected the process of buying and selling kit. Its slick and simple website is 100% dedicated to helping you strike gold. You’ll be amazed at the number of cameras on offer, and…

I’VE ALWAYS HAD A KEEN INTEREST IN TECH gadgets, such as mobile phones or computers. One of the things I particularly loved about my mobile was the camera, because it never became old like the games did and I loved finding new things to photograph. When I was around 12 years old, I convinced my dad to buy me a compact camera. The very first shot I took was of a couple of sparrows just outside my window railings and I remember being so happy with the result. The camera felt like a piece of magic that I could hold in my hands. From that moment, I decided to take photography as seriously as possible. I enjoy shooting documentary images, as I love turning my camera on the individuals I…

For landscape images the default Linear mode is the most useful for tweaking skies, applying the foreground colour where you first click and the background colour where you drag your cursor. Photoshop graduates the tones between. The number of colours, tones and transparencies can be customised in the Gradient Editor. You may want to try the other modes (Reflected, Radial, Angle and Diamond) to apply your gradient in a non-linear way for different results depending on your image.…

CORRUPTED IMAGE FILES are the stuff of nightmares for photographers, rendering their precious haul of pictures unreadable. But if only some of the data is lost, a computer will sometimes fill in the missing pieces with chunks of abstract lines and patterns to patch the gaps between the pixels that make up digital images. It’s this abstract glitchy look that we’re going to recreate here. Glitch art mimics the visual effects of data corruption under controlled circumstances, and with carefully backed-up files. Using this tutorial your original image will remain 100% complete, as we’re supplying you with some glitch textures that you can combine with your pictures to easily get the effect without destroying any files or memory cards. 1 Open your image and make some duplicates In Photoshop or…

IF YOU’VE EVER SPENT TIME tracing around individual strands of hair in Photoshop using the Polygonal Lasso Tool, this is essential reading for you. Not only is that method very time consuming, the results can look terrible! Thankfully, there’s a much easier method that will allow you to accurately select your model’s hair with ease, and it takes hardly any time to achieve. We’ll be utilising Photoshop’s Select and Mask feature – called Refine Edge in Elements – to make a quick and easy selection of our model’s hair so we can place her on a new background. Follow the steps below to put this time-saving technique into practice. 1 Select your subject In Photoshop or Elements go to File>Open and load up the image of the portrait you’d like…

Drone: Parrot Anafi Lens: 23-78mm f/2.4 (35mm equivalent) Price: £549 Effective resolution: 21MP Sensor: 1/2.4in CMOS Gimbal: 180° vertically tilting with 3-axis hybrid stabilisation Shutter: 1-1/10000sec ISO: 100-3200 Shooting speed: 10 frames in one second Video: DCI 4K at 24fps, UHD 4K at 30fps Top speed: 34mph Max flight distance: 2.5 miles Satellite services: GPS/ GLONASS Max wind resistance: 31mph Other features: SmartDronies (such as Dolly Zoom and Boomerang), HDR, Pro Mode, CineShots (such as Reveal) Battery life: 25 minutes Card type: MicroSD Size (WxHxD): 65x67x244mm Weight: 320g Web: parrot.com…

The Practical Photography team shows you how to get the most from your photo gear, whether it’s entry-level or pro spec... ■ Dan uses a reversing ring to fill the frame with intricate detail and demonstrates why macro photography needn’t cost the earth. ■ Louise and Richard head for the coast to show why entry-level can deliver the goods when shooting glorious landscapes. ■ Kirk turns his small garage into a high-end photo studio for less than £100 and creates pro fashion images on a shoestring.…

THE WHITE-THROATED DIPPER (CINCLUS cinclus) is one of my favourite birds. This is largely due to fond memories of riverside walks that were always enriched by the sight of a dipper, bobbing up and down on a rock or plunging into the flow. These aquatic songbirds prefer clean, fast-flowing water, and this can lead to some beautifully wild locations. When possible, I like to photograph subjects reasonably close to home so I was really pleased when I discovered a pair of dippers nesting on a little river not too far away. I visited the site several times during early spring hoping to learn more about the birds and their favourite resting places, looking for tell-tale droppings on the rocks. “LYING FLAT ON THE ROCKS, I HAD JUST ENOUGH ROOM TO…

There is a view among some photographers that using nothing but natural light will hamper your creativity. But while eschewing flash and other forms of controllable light might sometimes limit your options – especially when light levels begin to get very low – there are very few situations in which the use of natural light is impossible. Landscape photography is almost solely the preserve of the natural light photographer, while natural light is also capable of producing beautiful, impactful and creative portraiture. Limiting yourself to natural light needn’t be limiting at all. Instead, it can be quite cathartic to make a conscious decision to shoot with nothing but natural light. And once you’ve decided to make it your go-to source of illumination you are free to embrace all of its…

White card A1/A2 size £2 Most art shops stock stiff white card that can be used as a really good makeshift reflector. It’s cheap and disposable, and always worth keeping some handy in case it’s needed. hobbycraft.co.uk DIY insulation boards £8 Large polyboards are great for home studio setups, but can be expensive. Insulation boarding from DIY shops works really well, and you can paint one side black to act as a flag. diy.com Collapsible reflector kit from £45 A collapsible reflector is a key part of the natural light photographer’s kit and you can get 5-in-1 versions that offer a range of different types, from white, through silver and gold finishes. wexphotovideo.com…

Q Daft question alert! As a total photography novice who’s just bought their first proper camera, I’m wondering if there’s a right and wrong way to hold a camera? Alan Griffiths, Dundee Louise says: It’s not a daft question at all Alan! The latest batch of mirrorless camera releases have seen a move to position all of the vital controls within reach of the thumb and forefinger of the user’s right hand, which, coupled with the relatively lightweight nature of these cameras, has led to an outbreak of one-handed shooting. But while that might look ‘cool’, it’s far from best practice. Having the correct grip on your camera when you’re shooting is an important part of the process, both in terms of keeping your gear safe from being dropped and…

IT MAY BE 250,000 MILES AWAY IN ORBIT around our planet, but here we’re going to show you how to bring our closest celestial neighbour, the humble moon, much closer to home using some Photoshop magic. We’ve spared no expense to outline exactly how to create amazing abstract composite images like this one. You’ll learn how to take a simple one-light portrait, as well as capture a pin-sharp shot of the moon with your camera, a tripod and a long lens. No flash or fancy lighting setups are required, all you need are a few basic props and a paper lampshade that will be standing in as your moon until you complete the effect back at your computer. A technique of two halves We’ve split this tutorial into two parts…

Now it’s over to you! We absolutely love to see how you’re getting on, so whether you’ve given this tutorial a shot, or had a go at any of the other editing techniques in the magazine, send your results over in an email to ppsubmissions@bauermedia.co.uk with the subject heading ‘The Edit’ to be entered into our monthly image editing competition. The winner will receive a Manfrotto Pixi Mini tripod worth £26.95 and all of the entries will be displayed on our Facebook page. Send yours over for a chance to win!…

Open your shot into Photoshop or Elements and hit Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer. Now go to Filter>Other> High Pass. In the High Pass menu that appears drag the Radius slider to set how vigorous you want the sharpening to be. A value between 2-8px usually works well, anything more and you’ll start to see unsightly haloing appear. We set this to 5px for Cameron’s shot and hit OK to apply. Now hit Ctrl+Shift+U to turn it to mono and go to the Layers panel and set the Blending Mode to Overlay to see the increased contrast come through, which creates the illusion of a sharper picture. If there are any areas you don’t want to sharpen, you can use a soft-edged Eraser Tool to paint over them to undo…

Chris Parkes is a portrait and documentary photographer who has worked all over the world, including Nepal, Lesotho, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. His partnership with Street Child has produced a powerful portfolio of humanitarian photography. chrisparkes.photography “ WAS NEVER THE SAME AFTER MY FIRST TRIP TO SIERRA LEONE – IT CHANGED THE FOCUS OF MY WORK” FOR EVERY UNJUST WAR, mindless atrocity and act of terror, there are countless unsung heroes who work tirelessly to bring aid to those who desperately need it. Highlighting the work of these people is vitally important, but it can be difficult to balance emphasising the severity of a situation with maintaining the dignity of the victims. However, humanitarian photographer Chris Parkes captures emotive photojournalism in a way that respects his subjects. His powerful images…

NIKON D3500 #WINNER Best Entry-Level DSLR ALL THE MODES The top-plate mode dial allows you to quickly switch between auto and manual modes. COMPLETE WITH KIT LENS The kit includes Nikon’s 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-P lens – the perfect length for a range of situations. “THE D3500’S IMAGE QUALITY IS A HUGE STEP UP FROM YOUR SMARTPHONE’S CAMERA” POP-UP FLASH The built-in pop-up flash is great for that extra kick of illumination. STAYING IN CONTROL The new button layout, similar to the advanced Z 7, is simple, yet in-depth. It puts all your most often used features within reach. It’s great if you plan on switching genres on the go. With 2018 going down in history as the year that mirrorless truly made its mark, it’s great to see the humble…

If you’ve not tried these modes before, the best way to get to grips with them isn’t through theory, but through practice. This means getting out into the wild with your camera and experimenting with these new techniques. Check out these fun projects to start you off... 1 SHOOT AN ULTRA LONG EXPOSURE AT THE COAST Bulb mode is a fantastic creative tool, as it allows you to keep the shutter open for as long as you want. This means you can extend your long-exposure images beyond the 30secs ordinarily available in manual, aperture or shutter-priority mode. Opening your shutter for minutes (or even hours) at a time is a fantastic way to experiment creatively, but you’ll first need to ensure that you won’t be overexposing the scene. To avoid…

I took this photo when travelling near the banks of the partially dried-up river Brahmaputra. These little girls lived on the other side and were playing in the shallow water while waiting for their mother. They were amazed to see the camera in my hand, so I took some photos of them and showed them their portraits. They were so excited by the images that they immediately started to play again. I gave them some space, waited for the right moment and then was finally able to capture this photo of their excited expressions. Bangladeshi children always seem to love the river and the rain, so I wanted this photograph to show just how easily children can find happiness in the simplicity of the river.…

The Paint Bucket Tool is great for applying a colour of your choice to a particular area of your shot with very similar pixels – such as text, which will all come out the same colour. To colour individual letters in your text, in the Layers panel, right-click on the type layer then choose Rasterize Layer. This will turn the text into editable pixels, so be sure you’ve nailed down the type of font and the font size before doing this. Now click on the Paint Bucket Tool to make it active and set your foreground colour to the one you want to use for your text and click on each individual letter to load that colour, or change colours each time you click a letter, as demonstrated in the…

A LONG SIDE COLOUR, SUBJECT MATTER AND composition, texture is a key component of an image with the power to turn our heads. If you find your pictures are lacking texture, fear not, we’ve been busy creating 25 unique textures you can use to add more depth to your shots. All you need to do is load up an image and blend the texture using the step-by-step below. If you like the effect, you can then start building your own library by taking a picture of anything that has an interesting texture to it with an aperture of f/8 for a strong depth-of-field and then converting it to mono to make sure the colours don’t affect your original image. 1 Open your image and chosen texture In Photoshop or Elements…

IMAGE QUALITY With sensor tech having a relatively long shelf life, gear that’s a couple of generations old can still produce stunning image quality, and help to do your work justice. HOW IT'S FARED AGAINST TIME Granted, this list won’t feature the latest techy innovations, but that doesn’t mean these cameras don’t have the goods. If the camera retains a reasonable price, we expect the features to reflect this. We also want to see strong ergonomics, quick and accurate autofocus systems and great value for money.…

Camera Buying Guide Unsure about which camera is best for your needs? Our ebook includes reviews, spec and prices for every interchangeable lens camera available right now. That’s 84 concise overviews designed to help you buy the best. 25 gritty textures Reinvent your favourite images with a range of grungy hi-res texture files. Follow the step-by-step on page 138 to find out how to add and blend them. Photoshop video lessons Select fly-away hair for more accurate cut-outs, merge multiple selfies for a fun-filled portrait, and hold the moon in your hands.…

Canon entry-level EOS R The EOS R features a 30MP sensor and a £2349 price-tag, putting it above both the Nikon Z 6 and Sony α 7 III. Many people expected the next entry to go after the high-end α 7R III and Z 7. However, we have heard that the new addition will be more entry-level. We think this would bring a 24.2MP sensor to the line-up, as well as more budget lenses. Fingers crossed it retains 4K video. canon.co.uk Canon RF 90mm Macro Although the EOS R launched last year, Canon hasn’t been too forthcoming with a lens roadmap. However, we believe that there is a 90mm f/2.8 macro in the works for the mirrorless camera. While its budding lens line-up hasn’t proven to be budget friendly so…

I’M A BIG ADVOCATE OF THE BEST CAMERA BEING the one you have with you, and with the proliferation of technology, most people have a camera with them at all times. Call me a little old fashioned, but I still find it astounding that the camera I have in my phone is more powerful than some of my first digital cameras, and with each new generation of mobile technology, that power increases. There are plenty of photographers in my field who use their phones to create artwork just as evocative as the kind of images you could produce with much more expensive kit. Some of my favourite photographers who create images with mobile phones include Mark Littlejohn and Julian Calverley. “THE HUMBLE CAMERA PHONE PLAYS A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN MY…

SO WHAT COLOUR IS sunlight? We instinctively think of the sun as yellow, and with a surface temperature around 5770K, it does appear as pale yellow to the naked eye. But when that sunlight is filtered through our atmosphere, bounced around a bit, then refracted and reflected for good measure, its colour can be dramatically altered. How hot is your light? The reason for quoting the sun’s surface temperature above in degrees kelvin is that this is also the scale used to describe the colour of light. It might seem odd to talk about colour in terms of temperature, but as the Kelvin scale is a measure of thermodynamic temperature, it is intrinsically linked to the colour an object appears to be. Photographers capture light on photosensitive materials which, unlike…

Window light portraiture is one of the most rewarding, yet simple, forms of lighting setup available to a photographer. Choose the largest window you can find, preferably north-facing to avoid direct sunlight, though if the day is overcast, this is less of a concern. Place your sitter between 90 and 45 degrees to the window. Depending on the angle of your subject to the light, you will get a more or less dramatic version of side-lighting. Ideally, switch to manual mode and take a spot reading from the illuminated side of your subject – this will let you expose for the highlights as it’s easier to recover shadow detail from RAW files. Making sure to focus on your sitter’s eyes, take several shots without a reflector to get a portrait…

AS THE FIRST BUDS of spring begin to blossom, it’s the perfect time to dig out your telephoto lens and prepare to capture some beautiful garden wildlife photos. While there are some fantastic shooting opportunities to be found across every season, there’s nothing quite like sitting out with your camera in the brisk spring air, watching your garden neighbours come to life after the inevitable slow-down of winter. Welcome visiting birds As the ground thaws and days begin to grow longer, you’ll soon start seeing a variety of tiny creatures reappear in your garden. While spotting a few ants or beetles may not be overly exciting, this reappearance of potential food sources will attract other visitors popping by for a spot of lunch. At this time of year, birds start…

Ball head Manfrotto XPRO Magnesium £119 Rated to support up to 10kg of kit thanks to its robust magnesium construction, this head boasts precise control over the level of drag on the wheel. manfrotto.co.uk Pistol grip Vanguard Alta GH-300T £120 There aren’t many pistol grip heads on the market but this one is deserving of attention. The grip works really well for counterbalancing long lens setups. vanguardworld.co.uk Three way Manfrotto XPRO 3-Way £136 Surprisingly compact for a three way thanks to its retractable lever, this head also features friction controls on the tilt and landscape-portrait axes. manfrotto.co.uk…

Q Having used Elements in the past, I now subscribe to Photoshop CC. I understand that the Pen Tool is best for making selections, but when I draw all the way around my subject the marching ants don’t appear and I can’t seem to copy it either. Where am I going wrong? Martin Davis, Oxford Dan says: You’re absolutely right, the Pen Tool is the superior tool for creating selections, though it initially draws a path which can then be converted into a selection, or alternatively can be filled with colour or stroked with your Brush Tool – the latter two are more useful for graphic designers than photographers. When you’ve drawn your path all the way around your subject and joined it back up with the start you need…

1 Capture pin-sharp images We explain how to banish the blur to achieve super-sharp moon shots as well as fantastic indoor portraits at home. 2 How to use a single light source Recreate the soft and atmospheric glow of moonlight with a spherical paper lampshade and an LED bulb to illuminate your model and soften shadows. 3 Composite your moon realistically You’ll learn the secret to making your moon appear realistically in your scene with our detailed nine-step Photoshop tutorial. You can follow along with the provided video tutorial too.…

Teleconverters are optics that fit between your camera body and lens, increasing the magnification usually either by 1.4x, 1.7x or 2x. A 300mm lens with a 2x teleconverter attached (also called a ‘doubler’) will give you a focal length of 600mm, so they’re a cost-effective way of achieving a long focal length. Nikon’s TC-20E AF-S (right) is a 2x teleconverter that costs £469, whereas a 150-600mm lens is probably the most affordable way to get a 600mm focal length in a dedicated lens, but these optics cost upwards of £800. Beware though, as converters reduce the amount of light coming into the lens – a stop with a 1.4x and 2 stops at 2x, so they’re not ideal for fast action. They can also degrade image quality, so it’s best…

Clip-on light £4 This is a simple light bulb attachment that will allow you to insert an LED bulb and hang inside the paper lamp shade while it’s resting on your model’s lap. This Clip-On Light Mini 2m from Wilko is perfect as the clip screws off and out of the way. wilko.com LED light bulb £2 LED light bulbs are a must as they don’t get as hot as conventional bulbs. This makes them much safer to use if accidentally brushed against the paper lampshade when holding it between shots. This LED light from Toolstation is a great budget option. toolstation.com Paper lamp shade £2.50 These paper shades from Wilko are spherical and emit light evenly as well as diffusing it too. You’ll be able to place your hands…

Ben Hawkins With over 17 years as a photographic journalist, Ben is an experienced competition judge, picture editor and writer. Richard Collins PP’s deputy editor is a hugely talented journalist, photographer and tutor with an eye for the minimalist and abstract. Dan Mold PP’s technique editor is an Adobe Certified Associate and has a passion for wildlife photography. Dancer by Joe Belial “Joe’s done remarkably well to freeze his dancer perfectly – she hangs in the air as if time has stopped” I produced this image as a part of the InsightDproject, which has been created to provide dance programs for children without access to dance education. I wanted to capture Eleanor Stephenson in a fraction of a second, as well as the symmetry, simplicity and peaceful state of a…

Some will tell you that hyperfocal distance focusing is the only way to ensure front-to-back sharpness, but this isn’t entirely true, and unless you have an advanced optical physics degree, we’d suggest you steer clear. Landscape enthusiasts typically use apertures between f/11 and f/18 to ensure acceptable front-to-back sharpness in-camera. Depending on the lens and camera combo, narrower apertures such as f/22 can cause diffraction, even though the depth-of-field is greater, which is why we often advise against shooting at your lens’ narrowest aperture. No camera or lens can achieve infinite depth-of-field, so you need to identify the area or object you want to be pin-sharp and focus on this, knowing that this may result in a lack of sharpness elsewhere in the scene. Focus stacking is a technique designed…

1 GET THE RIGHT GEAR Going to dusty locations can be tough on your kit. I’m a Nikon faithful – I bought into the F-mount system early on and I now shoot on a D750. I used to favour zooms, but their weight and size makes them awkward to travel with, so now I use primes. I use a 135mm for portraits, 50mm for standard views and 14-24mm for creating dramatic frames. My Profoto lights bring professional studio lighting into the field. 2 STAY SAFE Showing the truth is essential but not at the expense of safety. Be smart and do everything you can to reduce risk. 3 WORK WITH THE LOCALS If you’re capturing sensitive situations, especially in a foreign country where you’re not a native, it’s important to…

#WINNER Best Enthusiast CSC #JOINT WINNER Product of the Year Seeing out the year in style, Fujifilm’s X-T2 successor exceeded our wildest expectations. Packing in the company’s first BSI 26.1MP APS-C sensor design, and launching the fourth generation of X-Trans cameras, it includes a number of innovative and exciting features. The new X-Processor Pro 4 engine allows Fujifilm’s retro inspired CSC to belt out 11fps with the mechanical shutter, 20fps with the electronic shutter or a massive 30fps blackout-free using the new 16MP Sports finder mode. It also includes a 425-point phase detection AF system, which meters 1.5x more frequently than previous models. The improved face and eye-detection AF makes it ideal for portrait and wedding shooters, and a new low ISO of 160 allows for even more dynamic range.…

#WINNER Best Specialist DSLR Lens Sigma has arguably crafted some of the finest glass of the past decade. It boasts three distinct ranges, Art, Contemporary and Sports, and this superzoom, falling into the latter, is ground-breaking. Boasting a behemoth zoom range, excellent build quality and weather sealing, the Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM really wowed the judges. It handles like a dream Despite its size, including 4 stops of image stabilisation will allow you to shoot handheld, even at 600mm. You can choose between two modes, with the first suited to general photography, and the second designed for horizontal panning – great for action shots. Of course, it’s best paired with a tripod or monopod, which can attach to the sturdy tripod collar. Thanks to an internal focusing motor,…

■ BULB MODE This allows you to manually control the shutter, so it’s not limited to the camera’s predetermined shutter speeds. It can be found as its own exposure mode, or within the shutter speed or manual settings. ■ MULTIPLE EXPOSURE MODE This allows you to shoot several individual pictures and then combine them within the camera. The number of photos and how they’re merged can be manually chosen. ■ SELF-TIMER MODE One of the most useful drive modes, this adds a delay between pressing the shutter button and the image being recorded. ■ INTERVAL TIMER MODE The interval timer allows you ultimate control over the number, timing, and frequency of the images you’re taking. ■ TIME-LAPSE MODE This setting is a version of the interval timer where the camera…

WHEN YOU EDIT AN IMAGE IN PHOTOSHOP, YOU’RE working on a digital canvas, to which you can add digital ‘paint’. Back in July 2018 we covered the Brush Tool which allows you to apply paint a bit like a paint brush, but in this feature we’re going to look at two different options. The Gradient and Paint Bucket Tools add colour to your shots in completely different ways and are excellent for easily filling your canvas with large swathes of colour. Here’s everything you need to know. The Gradient Tool Options Bar explained GRADIENT EDITOR Click this icon to bring up the Gradient Editor where you’ll find a whole host of presets that you can use. Alternatively, you can manually set the colours you want to appear in your gradient…

WHEN IT COMES TO BUYING a camera, one of the first things we look at is the number of megapixels, as these determine the resolution of an image. With huge resolution cameras on offer in the entry-level markets, we have the ability to zoom in on digital pictures to inspect their superb quality. But this also makes it easier to spot the optical distortions that degrade images. Chromatic aberration and barrel distortion are due to lens imperfections or poor optical design, while flare or haze occur from shooting into the sun or fog. Fortunately it’s easy to banish these distortions for good and boost image quality using the methods below. 1 Fix barrel and pin cushion distortion Wide-angle lenses can cause barrel distortion – where your shot appears to balloon…

THIS MODERN DIGITAL TAKE on multiple exposures is as simple as they come in terms of kit and technique, but still offers a great way of injecting some instant humour and narrative into your shots. Once you’ve decided on a strong concept and planned out the poses, props and outfits, the key is to fix your camera to a tripod and lock off the focus and exposure, and then set about creating a scene that lends itself well to interaction – the more entertaining the better. With nothing more than a camera with self-timer, some shots of yourself and a touch of Photoshop know-how that we’ll supply here, the only limit is your creativity. Watch the accompanying video lesson for a full run-through. 1 Shoot your individual photos in series…

This is a term which has gained a lot of popularity since the Sony α 9 debuted. It’s a very simple concept, though there are two main forms of execution. Essentially, it means that the EVF doesn’t go black between shots, allowing you to see your subject’s movements in real-time, and adjust accordingly. Some cameras achieve this by displaying the last shot taken. However, this can lead to slight disorientation, since you don’t always know the true location of your subject. Conversely, the Olympus manages to offer a 100% live and uninterrupted feed to the EVF, meaning that while you’re taking a magnitude of shots, you never lose sight of the scene. This makes tracking subjects a lot more simple, helping to get a better hit rate.…

WHILE SOME PEOPLE LOVE getting their hands on new gear, we’re more excited to see what happens to their old kit. The secondhand market is the perfect place to grab a bargain, with many amateurs and enthusiasts trading up, or selling off their secondhand gear. Often, the cameras in question have had relatively little use, and will behave like a brand new camera... for a fraction of the price! Thanks to retailers offering trade-in bonuses on your old kit, sites such as Wex, LCE and MPB are festooned with quality gear at enticing prices, just waiting for the savvy secondhand buyer to come and grab a bargain. What should you look out for? We’ve included a list of the most common issues when buying a camera, such as lens mould,…

The main concern when buying secondhand is knowing the exact condition of the camera. Luckily, sites such as Wex, LCE and MPB give you a scale to work with, meaning you know the exact condition. Wex rates on a scale of 1-10, though you won’t see below a 6. It also includes + and -, as well as OB, meaning it’s been taken out of the box, but returned before general use. MPB features a more simplistic scale, using terms such as good, excellent and like new, and LCE uses a 5-star rating to guide you. This helps you know the exact quality of the goods you’re buying. All three sites also include images of the actual item, which helps to add a another layer of transparency and peace of…

One of the best parts of landscape photography is that you get to explore somewhere new and exciting. However, with unfamiliar locations comes uncertainty about the direction of the sun and the best places to witness sunsets or sunrises. Enter The Photographer’s Ephemeris, an app that helps landscape photographers get the most out of their vista. The locations feature allows you to pinpoint your current location, search for a specific place or scroll through Google Maps. These locations can then be added to a saved list, allowing for easy access so that you can look through them later. Another handy feature is the light direction tool, which uses yellow and orange lines to show you the sunrise and sunset positions. Light blue and dark blue lines also show where the…