Tabla de contenidos para Spring Issue 2020 en Practical Photography: Lite

1 Shoot your flowers Set up your camera on a tripod next to a window. If you need to, use a reflective card to bounce some light back for even lighting. Switch to aperture-priority mode. Dial in an aperture of f/8 and set ISO to 400. Check the shutter speed is above 1/125sec. If it isn’t, raise your ISO until it is. Focus on your chosen flower, placing the focus point on the central petals. Half-press the shutter button to engage the focus then take your shot. Review your image on the back of the camera. When you’re happy, open your flower image in Photoshop. 2 Overlay a texture Go to File>Open and find your texture. Once it’s open, go to Select>All, then Edit>Copy to copy it to your clipboard.…

The appearance of your torch light’s brightness is determined by the aperture. The wider your aperture, the brighter the light trail will appear in the image. Conversely, the narrower your aperture, the thinner and dimmer the light trail will appear. The shutter speed has much less bearing on the brightness of your torch as it’s never in the same place long enough to make that point brighter. When choosing an aperture, f/8 is usually a good starting point, but you may need to adjust aperture accordingly if the lights are too dim or bright.…

Wireless triggers are so useful in setting up your flash off camera. Third-party versions are cheap to buy, and a set of triggers will consist of just the one transmitter with a receiver for each flash. The transmitter goes on your camera’s hotshoe mount and the receiver attaches to a flashgun. There are two main types to be aware of – infrared and radio triggers. Infrared triggers are the cheapest. They speak to each other with an infrared signal so need line of sight between transmitter and receiver to work. They will also struggle in bright sunlight. The other type are radio triggers that work off radio waves. They don’t need line of sight and have a much greater range, meaning you can hide your flash out of sight within…

1 Add and blend your textures in the right way ADDING TEXTURE IS A SUPERB way to give your portrait images a new look, and it’s really easy to do using Photoshop’s Layers palette. But the most important thing is that the textures you add don’t overwhelm the subject. To get a look that works well, you need to pick the right Blending Modes and use the Layers palette’s Opacity slider. Fine textures, like those of paper and stone, are a great place to start as they’ll add something without breaking up the image. So in this example we get a fine grain, before adding a wash of blurred tone and colour. Experiment and see what you can come up with. 1 Add a texture to the picture Open a…

PORTRAIT EDITING IS AN essential part of the creative process if you’re serious about your people shots. Knowing how to apply a few intelligent tweaks allows you to show your subjects in the best light. That said, this particular strain of retouching is often considered a rather complex process that uses some in-depth techniques and trickery to get the results. So we’ve taken steps to simplify the process to set you on the path to professional-looking results using nothing more than the Brush Tool and a bit of attention to detail. Taking your time and working on images at the pixel level, this technique lets you even out skin tones, blemishes and blotches to give the appearance of a professional make-up artist’s finest work. You can then add some depth…

ISO or ASA, whichever side you sit on, traditionally refers to the sensitivity of film stocks to light. The lower, or slower, the number, the less sensitive and vice versa. These days we still call it ISO, but the sensor can’t physically change sensitivity – it’s just a lump of silicon. In DSLR and mirrorless terms, ISO refers to the amount of digital gain the sensor applies to mimic sensitivity. Amplifying the signal beyond the base ISO number allows you to shoot at faster speeds or narrower apertures. The bonus of lower megapixels is that the individual pixels have more space on the sensor than a higher megapixel count, thus they collect more light per surface area. This in turn allows 24MP to generally perform better in low light than…

Video-capable mirrorless cameras Fujifilm X-T3 £1549 Fujifilm’s excellent APS-C is jam-packed with some of the meatiest video offerings on the market. The 26.1MP X-Trans IV sensor rattles off 4K video at 60fps and 400MB/s and offers 10-bit external recording. It’s also one of our favourite stills cameras. fujifilm-x.com Panasonic S1H £3598 Utilising the same L-mount as the fp, this is Panasonic’s video-centric powerhouse. Options such as 6K at 24fps, 4K at 60fps and external 10-bit recording mix well with 14 stops of dynamic range via V-Log and in-camera that has led this to be approved for Netflix productions. panasonic.com…

Camera: Nikon P950 Price: £799 Effective resolution: 16MP Sensor: 1/2.3in Processor: Expeed Shutter: Bulb, 60sec-1/4000sec at 24mm Autofocus: Contrast detection up to 99 individual positions Shooting Speed: 7fps for approximately 10 RAWs ISO: 100-6400 LCD: 3.2in 921k-dot fully articulated non-touch Video: 4K UHD 30fps, 1080p Full HD at 60fps Other features: Moon mode, In-camera time-lapse, Pop-up flash, Dynamic Fine Zoom, VR image stabilisation, Face recognition AF, Microphone input jack Battery life: 290 shots Card type: SD SDXC, SDHC Size (WxHxD): 140x110x150mm Weight: 1005g Web: nikon.co.uk…

Chris Weston He may be better known for his amazing wildlife images, but Chris is also one of the UK’s best educators. Find out more about this issue’s video on p6 Sean Weekly Once a Royal Marine Commando, Sean is now a very talented wildlife photographer with an eye for drama. Read about his adventures on p54 John Atkins Retired but still full of energy, reader John has turned his attention to his local bird population and loves kingfishers and starlings. Join him on p86…

CAMERAS & LENSES Canon reboots innovation After flooding our inbox with announcements, Canon is set to drop a series of exciting products. Starting with the latest in its range of full-frame mirrorless, the EOS R5 introduces the company’s first ever in-body image stabilisation system and the ability to capture 8K video – twice the resolution of the current 4K standard. Furthermore, the unnamed sensor, which is still firmly under wraps, is said to be able to capture stills at a rate of 12fps with the mechanical shutter, or 20fps with the electronic shutter. Further details, including price and release date, are sparse right now, though it’s a very exciting time to be in camp Canon. Alongside this news, the company also announced the 850D, an APS-C all-rounder that’s primed to…

OUR LIVES ARE PUNCTUATED BY THE changing of the seasons and inevitably they bring with them a sense of transition, mirroring that of the natural world. I feel that landscape photographers are particularly in tune with this cyclical process and many of us have our favourite season, or at least there are times of the year when we hope for certain conditions. This winter has so far not been the most inspiring. More wet than cold, it left me longing for the frozen landscapes I had witnessed a decade ago when I’d only really started learning how to use my camera and I walked past so many glorious scenes thinking, ‘Well, isn’t that just magic’ without having the know-how to capture it. This winter has also left me longing for…

To get your library of textures off to a flying start, we’ve supplied ten free rustic overlays for you to download and use with your images. They’re designed to be suitable for a wide range of shots in any genre, so once you’ve mastered the technique of applying them, you’ll be able to get creative across the board. They are available to download from bit.ly/pprustictextures and they can then be saved to your computer before you load them into your chosen editing software and combine them with your images.…

THERE’S ALWAYS great fun to be had with water splashes, as their unpredictable nature makes every frame a surprise. Adding flowers to the mix gives a bright, colourful, delicate subject for striking splash images. The combination of two natural elements creates photos that are eye-catching, but not incongruous. Working with water To limit the extent of the mess and to prevent the flower from getting damaged, this type of shot can be achieved by submerging the flower in a small fish tank, then pouring water over it. This method gives you a degree of control over the end result. These water splashes are still fast-moving elements though, so to make life even easier, you can employ the use of some off-camera flash to help freeze the action. TIP TRY FOOD…

1 Choose your location You are aiming to freeze your static subject among a moving scene, so choose a busy location where the moving subjects travel from one side of your composition to the other. 2 Minimise shake Reducing the possibility of camera shake is essential for any sort of successful long exposure photography. Reduce the risk of blur by using a sturdy tripod and an external cable release. 3 Use props Using slower shutter speeds to create the background blur can also result in slight blurring of your static subject if they move. Help your subject stay still by having them sit on a bench or lean up against a post or wall. 4 Set your focus Using autofocus, set your focus point to your static subject’s eyes and…

1 Import You’ve got the shots so it’s time to edit your sequence together. Import your multiple files into Photoshop by going to File>Scripts>Load Files into Stack and then select the required images. Your files will appear as layers in the Layers palette. Click and drag to order them in sequence with the first frame as the top layer and the last at the bottom. 2 Cut out each step Highlight your top layer by clicking it. Select the Polygonal Lasso Tool from the Toolbox and draw around your subject, allowing a generous radius. Right-click your cutout and select Layer Via Copy – this creates a new layer. Click the eye icon on the layer you made your cutout from to make it invisible and reveal the layer below. Repeat…

Standing slightly further away from your subjects and using a longer focal length gives the impression that the background and foreground elements in your composition are closer together – something known as lens compression. If you were to use a wide-angle lens on your subject, the background would appear much smaller compared to a longer focal length. It goes without saying that the longer the focal length you choose, the further you are able to stand away from your subject to achieve a much greater compression.…

USING MORE THAN ONE FLASH AT A TIME WILL ELEVATE your photography to the next level. Experimentation is key to discovering the different effects you can achieve, but for starters, here are three great portrait techniques to try using just two flashguns. 1 ADD A RIM LIGHT TO HELP DEFINE A SUBJECT’S OUTLINE A classic two-light portrait uses one flash as the key light to provide the main lift in the image, with a second flash to the rear and side to highlight the subject’s outline and create separation from the background. Set up your first flashgun and set it to Group A if you’re using a system with built-in wireless controls. Use a softbox, umbrella or diffusion dome to soften the light from the flash for more flattering…

MACRO AND CLOSEup photography are technically very demanding – there’s a lot to get right before you even think about creative compositions. One of the trickiest aspects is getting the whole subject in focus. This is because even though macro subjects, like the example flower here, are very small, so is the depth-of-field – the zone of sharpness at any given aperture – created by a macro lens. To show the subject in great detail, macro lenses need to focus on it closely, and the closer you focus, the thinner that zone of sharpness gets, even when using aperture settings that would create a much large depth-of-field when focusing further away from the camera. To hold more of the subject in focus we can use a smaller aperture (a higher…

KIT PRICE £2199 VIDEO 4K IMAGE RESOLUTION 24.5MP NIKON’S D750 has proven to be one of the company’s best-selling DSLRs ever. With a beloved 24MP sensor, rugged build and capable spec sheet, it’s found a home in the bags of enthusiasts and professionals alike over a wide range of photo genres. However, the camera market doesn’t tend to stand still for long and the incoming tides of progress dictated it was time for a change. Main features Having joined the CSC race with the Z series in 2018, Nikon has ramped up its innovation factor to 11. Not content with three mirrorless Z cameras, it has now applied the lessons learnt to its DSLR range, combining the best of both worlds in the new D780. It houses a 24.5MP BSI…

Highly respected full-frame shooters Canon’s entry-level full-frame DSLR offers a 26.2MP CMOS sensor, 6.5fps shooting speed and Dual Pixel CMOS AF with 45 points via the OVF, which steps up to 63 points using the Live View rear screen. It also includes a huge ISO range of 100-40,000. canon.co.uk Bearing a stunning similarity to the D780, this mirrorless full-frame boasts many of the same specs. There’s a full-frame 24.5MP sensor, 100-51,200 ISO range and 12fps continuous shooting. It also offers impressive video specs, stabilisation and an electronic viewfinder. nikon.co.uk…

Camera: Sigma fp Price: £1999 Effective resolution: 24.6MP Sensor: 35.9x23.1mm Shutter: Bulb, 30sec-1/8000sec Autofocus: 49-point contrast detection system Shooting speed: 18fps for 12 DNG RAWs ISO: 100-25,600 (expandable to 102,400) LCD: 3.15in 2100k-dot tilting touchscreen Video: 4K UHD 30fps, 1080p Full HD at 120fps, up to 12-bit RAW Cinema DNG external recording and GOP or All-I compression Other features: Waveform, Focus peaking, Histogram, in-camera HDR Battery life: 280 shots Card type: SD SDXC, SDHC, UHS-II Size (WxHxD): 113x70x45mm Weight: 422g Web: sigma-imaging-uk.com…

Fujifilm’s fixed 23mm f/2 lens has long been at the heart of the X100 series’ appeal. However, the V brings with it a new take on this ageing classic. With eight elements in six groups, it now includes a brace of aspherical elements, double the previous versions. It’s still compatible with the 35 and 50mm extensions and a new addition will screw onto the front to add weather-sealing to the arsenal. This is at an additional cost, however, requiring both an AR-X100 adapter ring (£33) and PRF-49 protection filter (£70). One thing that remains the same is the in-built ND filter that can be turned on at the flip of a switch. This works to give you up to 4 stops of light reduction, and is great if you want…

BAGS ARE THE unsung heroes of the photography world. Tasked with keeping your gear both safe and easily accessible, a good kit bag can make or break a shooting expedition. With all the careful forethought and planning that goes into choosing your kit for a shoot, the next step is to cut down on any needlessly heavy weight of your backpack’s design. This hand-picked collection of camera backpacks represent the perfect mix of compact build, handy features and impressive agility. Each comes with its own strengths that can help to expand your creative potential, as well as allow you to get mobile more easily with your gear. Whether you’re looking to take a long trek, snap away on a city break or pack a tripod and a couple of lenses,…

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO! CHRIS WESTON PHOTO COURSE Chris Weston is one of the UK’s most revered photographers. To celebrate the launch of his new ‘The Complete Photographer Masterclass’ course, he’s curated an exclusive compilation featuring excerpts from the course’s 50 videos. From visualising great photos to displaying your work, Chris covers the entire creative process. ■ PP readers get a special 33% discount at www.chrisweston.training/pp – that’s a saving of £50! PLUS! MORE FREE GIFTS TO DOWNLOAD Every issue of Practical Photography features a variety of bonus ebooks, presets and start images to help you create your best photos ever. To download your free gifts simply enter the URLs into  your web browser’s address bar not the search bar. 10 RUSTIC TEXTURES Add impact and intrigue with your exclusive texture…

Hotly-anticipated products we can expect in 2020... Canon 88D After announcing the 850D, it makes sense for Canon to follow suit with the 88D, successor to the 77D that was released around the same time as the 800D. This would include the 24.1MP APS-C chip, advanced Dual Pixel CMOS AF and uncropped 4K video. It would sit above the 800D in the market, and include a more professional-feeling body with a top-plate LCD as per the original release. canon.co.uk Fujifilm X-E4 With nearly every X Series camera boasting the latest X-Trans 4 sensor, it stands to reason that the quirky X-E4 is on the cards. The rangefinderstyled camera, similar to the X-Pro minus the optical viewfinder, would likely be the last update in the range and would benefit from the…

A FEW YEARS AGO, AT THE BEGINNING OF spring, I had a tip-off about a family of otters that were regularly spotted on a stretch of river that ran through a busy town centre in England. I have to admit that I was a little sceptical – freshwater otters are one of the most difficult animals to find, let alone photograph. After doing my own research, I discovered that this information appeared to be genuine. Otters were regularly being seen on this river in the daytime and were accustomed to the presence of people. “FRESHWATER OTTERS ARE ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT ANIMALS TO FIND & PHOTOGRAPH” In the late 20th century the UK’s population of otters declined catastrophically, primarily as a result of the use of organochlorine pesticides, but…

1 Set up a water tank Place a fish tank on a table with a sheet of coloured paper directly behind it. Fill the tank with water deep enough to give some space around the flower. Mount your camera on a tripod and set it to aperture-priority mode. Switch to self-timer. Dial in an aperture of f/8 to ensure a wide enough depth-of-field to keep the flower sharp if it moves about in the water. Set shutter speed to 1/200sec and ISO to 200. 2 Position the elements Place an object such as a glass in the water where you want your flower to be. Focus on it and lock the focus off into manual so it doesn’t change. Remove the glass and mark that position in the tank with…

1 SHOOT AT EYE LEVEL  Research your subject’s behaviour and habitat, and then get down to their eye level. This will add a new dimension to your photos, enhance your depth-of-field and give you insight into your subject’s environment when you’re at the same level as they are. 2 BE AWARE OF BACKGROUNDS  This is one of the trickier aspects of wildlife because you’re limited to where the animals you’re photographing place themselves. However, paying attention to the background and positioning yourself in a spot you can shoot from that has a nice clean backdrop can avoid introducing distractions. 3 KNOW YOUR EQUIPMENT  Consistently taking stunning photos doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t happen to a photographer who’s struggling to adjust their settings. You need to know your gear inside…

1 Import multiple files Import your files into Photoshop with File> Scripts>Load Files into Stack and select your required images. Your files will appear as individual layers in the Layers palette (Window>Layers). Click and drag to arrange these so the earlier images are at the top and the evening shots are at the bottom. 2 Divide your frame In this example, we are transitioning from day to night using just two images. To help ensure both images occupy an equal amount of the frame, go to View> New Guide. Select Vertical in the orientation box and type 50% into Position. Click OK and a guide will appear in the middle of your frame. 3 Add a mask to merge the shots Click on the top layer to select it and…

Choosing the appropriate shutter speed will depend on two main factors – the amount of movement in your shot and the speed of that movement. People walking in the street are likely to be slower than passing traffic and will therefore require a slower shutter speed to achieve motion blur. As you can see here, combining two or more moving elements can wield unexpected results. A shutter speed of 1/15sec was just about slow enough to blur the moving traffic in the background, but at this speed it failed to blur the pedestrians walking past our stationary subject. It’s also possible for shutter speeds to be too slow for the amount of movement in your composition. A 0.4sec exposure created an effective motion blur effect on the slower moving pedestrians,…

Chris Parker PP’s deputy editor is an experienced tutor, landscape photographer and videographer. Kirk Schwarz Knowledgeable wedding, fashion and product photographer Kirk has an eye for finer details. Adam Atkins PP’s features writer is an accomplished professional sport and travel photographer. Where should I set the focus for reflections? Q Does it matter where I focus my camera when I’m shooting a reflection? Should it be on the subject or the reflection? Won’t they both be sharp? Dylan Smith, Rotherham Chris says: It does matter where you place your focus. Unless you are on a very small aperture you may struggle to keep everything equally sharp, so you have to choose to focus on either the subject or the reflection, leaving the other to go slightly out of focus. Why…

MY LOVE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY started five years ago through having a keen interest in nature. Realising that every time I got back home, all I had was a mental image of what I’d seen, I bought a ‘proper’ camera so I could view those memories any time I wanted. British birds are my favourite subjects, in particular kingfishers, long-tailed tits and starlings, along with any rare species that may appear from time to time. In the last year I’ve spotted northern wheatears and waxwings in my local area. I try to get out with my camera as often as I can – most days, in fact, as it’s now become more of a passion than just a hobby. I use hides where possible as they allow me to get closer…

■ SLAVE MODE Most flashguns feature a built-in slave mode. When this is activated, the flash will fire when it detects the light from another flash. If you only have means to trigger one flashgun with your radio trigger, you can set additional flashes to their slave mode to still create a multiple off-camera flash setup. ■ GROUP If you’re using an off-camera flash system that consists of a radio trigger to directly fire your flashes that have built-in receivers, you can assign your flashguns to different groups, usually A, B and C. This allows you to individually control the flashguns to change their respective power setting. ■ RX/TX Trigger and receiver units can be set to RX or TX mode. When RX is selected the unit acts as the…

SEEING A RAINBOW SPREAD ACROSS the sky instils a sense of wonderment into a landscape. Rainbows only appear under a very specific set of circumstances – when sunlight bends through raindrops – and those conditions aren’t always conducive to landscape photography, so that’s where this technique comes into its own. Using Photoshop’s built-in gradient presets, selective blur and some layer masking, you’ll be able to apply your very own slice of natural magic to a scene. While you’re free to apply this technique to any shot, it works best with a cloudy or moody landscape that already has the look of the type of stormy conditions where a rainbow would occur naturally. It can also be used as an addition to an abstract composite to give it a touch of…

Camera: Nikon D780 Price: £2199 Effective resolution: 24.5MP Sensor: 35.9x23.9mm Processor: Expeed 6 Shutter: Bulb, 900sec-1/8000sec Autofocus: 51 points via OVF, 273 points via Live View Shooting Speed: 7fps via OVF, 12fps via Live View for 68 RAWs ISO: 100-51,200 (expandable to 50-204,800) LCD: 3.2in 2359k-dot tilting touchscreen Video: 4K UHD 30fps, 1080p Full HD at 120fps Other features: Negative digitizer, 4K Time Lapse, Eye-AF, Focus Stacking Battery life: 2260 shots Card type: Dual slots, SD SDXC, SDHC, UHS-II Size (WxHxD): 144x116x76mm Weight: 840g Web: nikon.co.uk…

Bit depth is a term that’s thrown around in stills photography and videography alike, though it refers to the same thing. The bit depth is essentially how much information your file contains and is sometimes referred to as colour depth. Most new cameras offer 14-bit files, with some even championing 16-bits. However, video gives you 8-bits, with a select few offering 10 and above. The higher the number, the more colour information is found per channel, and the more details can be manipulated through editing software. For 8-bit files, there are a total of 256 colour values, leading to possible banding. For 10-bit this jumps to 1024 and for 12-bits it becomes a whopping 4096 RGB colour values – essential for smooth exposure and colour grading.…

Focus stacking is a great technology of the digital age. To put it simply, it means you create a series of identical shots, though you alter the focus point in each frame. Once you have your series of differently focused images, you can then move to Photoshop or a dedicated software to merge the sharpest parts of each image into a single ultra-sharp file that gives you a massive depth-of-field. The Olympus can actually create a focus stack in-camera. It does this by taking eight consecutive shots at different focus points, some in front and some behind, and then creates a finished shot without the need for added software. It’s a great feature to eke a little more depth-of-field from close-up shots and can be fully customised to suit.…

■ FEATURES VERSUS WEIGHT We set our sights on backpacks and sling bags that come in under 1.5kg maximum. This means we’re looking at everything from day bags to some meaty enthusiast backpacks. However, it’s important to note that we didn’t sacrifice too many features to gain the weight advantage. ■ FUNCTIONALITY & VALUE We wanted to be able to transport a camera and at least two lenses, as well as small personal items and accessories that you would expect to carry on a usual shoot. We also wanted to ensure that the bag would be able to stand up to regular use and appear discreet for low-key shoots to avoid drawing attention to expensive camera gear. Finally, each had to represent value for money, so we’ve stuck to bags…

FLASH IMPRESARIO ELINCHROM prides itself on excellence, and is one of the most reliable names in professional studio lighting. With the latest range of releases, which includes the ELC 125, it’s also a company that’s opening up a world of possibilities for beginners by including TTL metering in an entry-level strobe head. For a compact flash unit, it kicks out a lot of light, though is less powerful than larger studio heads, which is forgiveable considering it’s also less expensive. This makes it perfect for smaller spaces, like your home studio, and capturing images with wide- open apertures. It also means it has an extremely practical recycle time between 0.06 and 0.45sec. We were shooting at 5fps and the flash head easily kept up at half power without dropping a…