Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i Digital Camera Magazine

Mention ‘HDR’ to many photographers and you’re often faced with a look that combines shock and sympathy. But as this month’s lead feature shows, there really isn’t much to be afraid of. Granted, high dynamic range photography hasn’t had the best reputation since it arrived, but as the tech behind it has moved on, perhaps it’s time to give it another go. Find out how to do just that, plus other techniques to tease out the best from advances in camera resolution and software to help shoot your best-ever landscapes, on page 34. One camera that does HDR well is Apple’s iPhone, but is the new 11 Pro the best cameraphone for photographers (p110)? On other pages, we round up highlights from Wildlife Photographer of the Year (p56), release 10…

Bioluminescence is one of the world’s most intriguing natural phenomena. It describes the release of light from a living organism – and there’s nothing quite as spectacular as seeing it in the ocean. Bioluminescent plankton, also known as sea sparkle, create ethereal scenes along the shores of beaches at night. It’s a rare and beautiful sight, which is well worth capturing if you’re lucky enough to see it. Half the work of photographing bioluminescent plankton is actually in locating it. It occurs on coastlines all over the world, but is seen more frequently in the Maldives, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia. In order to increase your chances of seeing bioluminescent plankton, pro photographers Doug Perrine and Kris Williams have shared their advice on where to go in the world to find…

Cities are the melting pots of society. They contain variations on everything, from types of architecture that might be radically different from neighbourhood to neighbourhood–or from one side of the street to the other–to the people you see sitting at cafés and bus stops. In this series, I’m going to be sharing tips for successful urban photography, starting this issue with some general advice. Each aspect of urban photography comes with its own set of needs and kit considerations. For example, you won’t be able to successfully take a long exposure if you don’t have a tripod. As others have said before, however, the best camera is the one you have on you, so don’t get too hung up on equipment. In general, other factors are more important to your…

It’s estimated that around a billion cards will be given and received in the UK this Christmas. To make yours stand out and feel more personal, why not create a CEWE Personalised Card featuring your favourite photo? With prices starting from £9.99 for a pack of 10 greetings cards, it’s a simple way to make this season truly distinctive. CEWE Design Software and the Creator Assistant make it really easy to choose a card format and add your photo and message to it. CEWE Personalised Cards are printed to a high standard, using 300gsm card and a choice of finishes and effects, and are delivered to your door. Visit the CEWE site and get started today! Share your memories this Christmas with a CEWE Personalised Card Design with ease Using…

HDR, or high-dynamic-range, photography is a technique that’s used to hugely increase the dynamic range in images. If you’re not familiar with the term, dynamic range is simply the ratio between the brightest and darkest parts of a scene. When you shoot HDR, you simply take at least three bracketed exposures that are two stops apart so that the details in the highlights, mid-tones and shadows of the scene are all captured. When should I use HDR? In situations where the dynamic range of a scene is outside of that of your camera, when you don’t have ND graduated filters, or even when it’s raining or snowing so using filters is like holding a magnet over iron filings, HDR is the technique you need to use to maintain detail throughout…

Imagine an image that’s absolutely pin-sharp from less than a metre in front of the lens, all the way to the background that’s several miles away. Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? But the good news is that it’s not only possible, but it’s also actually a fairly easy technique to shoot and edit. Why should I focus-stack? The advantage of focus-stacking is that it allows you to shoot at the sweet spot of your lens, which is the aperture that produces the sharpest image it’s capable of. This is usually f/8 or f/11, which won’t produce the largest depth of field possible, but by focusing at several points within the scene then merging them together in post-processing, you can achieve a depth of field much larger than would be possible with…

What’s the big deal with 4K? Recording video in 4K Ultra High Definition doesn’t just fill up your memory card in ultra-fast time – it opens up a world of creative options How often do you use the video capabilities of your digital camera? Chances are, probably not enough, as the creative eye of a photographer, combined with the image quality and wide range of lenses we have open to us, has the potential for producing some beautifully crafted results. Nikon was the first company to release a digital SLR with video-recording capabilities, in the shape of 2008’s D90. But Canon changed everything with the launch of the EOS 5D Mark II, the first Full HD-shooting SLR, later the same year. One of the reasons that the 5D Mark II…

To view 4K footage as it was designed to be seen, you’ll need a 4K television or compatible display. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t: you don’t have to watch a movie at 4K resolution just because it was shot in 4K. YouTube gives you a range of lower-resolution options to stream footage in, for instance. In fact, ‘downsampling’ or downscaling 4K footage to Full HD 1,080p can bring a number of benefits. It can produce a sharper-looking, less noisy image than one shot natively at Full HD, in a similar way that reducing the resolution in Photoshop does for a photo. It also opens up a range of creative-editing options. such as cropping a smaller Full HD image from the 4K clip. This allows you…

There are lots of numbers to get your head around when it comes to movie recording. Two that are closely related and easily confused are frame rate and shutter speed. Both are measured in units of time, but frame rate controls the recording speed (in frames per second) and shutter speed determines how long each frame is exposed to light (usually measured in fractions of a second). Faster shutter speeds can make details in moving objects appear well defined, for instance, although the results can be a little choppy – particularly if you’re moving the camera. Slower shutter speeds can help motion look smoother, although the longer each frame is exposed, the more likely it is that the moving subject will appear blurred. As a rule of thumb, set a…

GuruShots is billed as the world’s leading photo game. It’s an online platform conceived to give global exposure to people who love taking photographs. GuruShots members start out as Newbies and compete with other photographers to win challenges, increase their ranking on the site and eventually progress to coveted ‘Guru’ status. Challenges are voted on by Gurus and the wider GuruShots community, and there’s a fresh challenge – for example, ‘Playing with Light’ – every day. Winners receive prizes from GuruShot’s sponsors, including Lowepro, Kodak and Lensbaby. Find out more at www.gurushots.com Honourable mentions More honourable mentions…

One of the main reasons to use Photoshop for image-editing over raw editors like Lightroom is its excellent array of selection tools. There is a host on offer, from simple freehand tools to clever features that do almost all the work for you. The Color Range command falls into the latter category. As the name suggests, it works by seeking out ranges of colour within an image. So if you want to zero in on a blue area, for example, you can isolate it in seconds. In this way Color Range is similar to the Magic Wand, which also works by seeking out similar colours within the frame. But Color Range gives you a finer degree of control: you can include or exclude any colours you like, keep the selection…

Bath is one of the UK’s most picturesque locations, with sweeping Georgian terraces, cobblestoned squares, a grand park and architectural gems aplenty. So what better a location for a fun photo walk on 14 November? Digital Camera has teamed up with Panasonic LUMIX and Sigma to host a programme that’s a must for fans of street photography… plus, we’ve secured exclusive access to the city’s most famous attraction – the Roman Baths – to conclude the day with an interior shoot in low-light conditions. Panasonic’s LUMIX S1R is a robust high-resolution full-frame mirrorless camera designed for professional photography. Its 47.3MP sensor allows it to resolve incredible detail, even at high ISO speeds. The S1R’s contrast AF and in-body image stabilisation mean that you’ll always get the shot – especially when…

Phase One XT packs 150MP Image quality from this high-end ‘full-frame’ medium-format is sure to impress Two issues ago we reported on Sony’s new A7R IV and its 61MP full-frame sensor. While many photographic industry observers and practitioners doubtless welcome the megapixels arms race that’s currently playing out, you’ll also find many a professional photographer who’ll tell you that you only need one third of 61MP. So what would they make of this 150MP camera from Phase One? The ‘full-frame’ medium-format XT packs a sensor that’s equivalent in size to the old 645 format and melds the Danish maker’s ultra-high resolution IQ4 camera system with a trio of lenses made by Rodenstock. The XT is designed for high-end professionals who need the ultimate in image quality, but in a portable…

£1,149/$1,099 The specs tell only half the story: what really matters are the real-world results from Apple’s triple-camera phone www.apple.com Specifications Image processor: A13 Max image size: 12MP Video: 4K at 60/30/24p Memory: Integrated, from 64GB LCD: 6.5in OLED multi-touch, 2,688 x 1,242 pixels Connectivity: 4G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, NFC, GPS Size: 158 x 8 x 78mm Weight: 226g (body only) Apple didn’t exactly set the world alight when it announced the camera setups on the new iPhone 11 series. Compared to what rival camera phone makers were doing already, the three-camera array on the iPhone 11 Pro and the two cameras on the regular iPhone 11 looked adequate but no more. What Apple camera phones have always been good at, though, is results. The specs may look ordinary,…

Street photography is all about reacting to your environment, anticipating events as they unfold and capturing the definitive moment. More often than not, classic street images will include people set against urban surroundings, photographed candidly as they go about their lives. You’ll therefore need a camera and lens combination that you can use discreetly. 35mm prime lenses have long been the most popular option for full-frame camera owners. They give a comfortable viewing angle and a natural perspective, while avoiding any time lost to zooming in and out. Manual-focus lenses have traditionally been popular, as you can set the focus distance in advance and shoot instantly without any fear of autofocus delays. But current cameras can autofocus with such speed and reliability that manual focusing is merely an option rather…

£479/$477 Cheap at half the price? Lens mount Nikon FX Compared with Nikon’s new Z series 35mm for its mirrorless cameras, this F-mount lens is smaller, lighter and much less expensive. Both lenses have an f/1.8 aperture rating. The ring-type ultrasonic system is typically quick and quiet, as well as enabling full-time manual override. There’s a focus distance scale, but it’s of limited benefit for manual focusing, as there are no markings between 0.7m and infinity. Optical highlights include one aspherical element, one ED (Extra-low Dispersion) element and Super Integrated Coating. Performance Sharpness is mostly very good, contrast is excellent even when shooting wide-open, and there’s pretty good resistance to ghosting and flare. However, the seven-blade diaphragm isn’t very well rounded and vignetting is noticeable shooting wide-open. Sharpness Sharpness is…

When we ran a standalone review of the Canon RF 35mm back in issue 214, we commented on its suitability for street photography. The combination of a fast f/1.8 aperture rating and effective five-stop stabilisation, wrapped up in a compact lightweight build, is hard to resist. While the RF 35mm lacks a focus distance scale, focusing aids built into the EOS R and RP bodies are arguably more useful for manual focusing, while autofocus works with smooth efficiency. Image quality is superb and the lens is keenly priced. The competing Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S is another fabulous lens with high-end design and superb centre-sharpness, but it’s pricey. For full-frame Canon DSLRs, our top choice is the Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM. For Nikon, we prefer the Sigma 35mm…

The roots of Stephen Wilkes’ Day to Night project lie in a 1996 assignment for Life magazine to shoot the cast and crew of Baz Luhrmann’s movie Romeo + Juliet. He was asked to produce a gatefold-format image, but when he arrived on set in Mexico, he was faced with a square scene. The only solution was to shoot multiple images and create a montage, much like the artist David Hockney had been creating since the early 1980s. It took approximately 13 more years for digital imaging technology to catch up with Wilkes’ vision for shooting day-to-night images that could tell the passing of time in a single final image, created after shooting over between 1,200 and 2,000 individual images over a period of time. What began as a single…

Stephen Wilkes Commercial/fine art photographer Alongside his commercial work, Stephen has been busy with his epic project. On page 130, he explains about Day to Night. Hannes Lochner Wildlife photographer Hannes’ lion photo is enjoying the limelight, and it’s now set to appear in a new collaborative book, Remembering Lions. Turn to page 67 for the full story. Dan Mold Creative photographer Dan demonstrates how to use a polariser and a computer screen to create your very own quirky abstract images. Check out his training on page 8. James Abbott Landscape/portrait photographer Award-winning photographer James shares his essential skills for capturing the great outdoors. His valuable advice is on page 34. Quintin Lake Roving photographer Quintin has set himself the task of walking all 6,000 miles of the UK coastline.…

When it comes to travel and photography, there are so many opportunities to capture new and exciting images. It might be that you want to focus on gorgeous stretching vistas or to zoom in close to native people living and working in the country. You’re spoilt for choice, really. If you want a way to combine great landscape shots with portraiture then a sub-genre of portrait photography worth exploring is environmental portraits. Jeremy Flint took this image on a trip to China; in it he captures the local traditional Chinese practice of a man fishing with a cormorant. Here he reveals his top five tips for shooting environmental portraits – and the pitfalls to avoid. www.jeremyflintphotography.com 1 Know what you want to achieve Depending on the type of environmental portrait…

Subscribe to Digital Camera and get 13 issues direct to your door, plus a handy travel bag for your gear… Find out more myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/dcm/vesta19 or call 0344 848 2852 and quote ‘Vesta 19’ “Subscribe today and get this compact bag – it is ideal for days out or for city breaks” NIall Hampton Editor, Digital Camera Your new Vanguard camera bag Compact and stylish – holds a small DSLR or CSC with medium lens, 2-3 additional lenses, and accessories All-round padding for protection Space for a tablet & travel documents Incognito ‘non-camera bag’ design Great reasons to subscribe now! Get a Vanguard Vesta Strive 30 bag A compact and stylish messenger bag for a small DSLR or CSC, and your accessories Great savings Subscribe from only £12.50* and receive 13…

Before you start recording video, the fundamental decision to make is which movie-recording size to use. This is largely determined by three functions: the image size or resolution, the frame rate (how many images are recorded each second) and the level of compression. The choice of resolution is key, as this determines how much detail can be recorded, with 4K being the highest resolution offered by the majority of current cameras. There are in fact two 4K standards: TV-friendly 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) and a wider, more cinematic 4K ‘DCI’ (4,096 x 2,160). If you have space available on your memory card or external recorder, it pays to shoot at the highest resolution your camera allows, as you can always reduce this later. That being said, shooting at…

While all cameras can record video, some have been designed as ‘hybrid’ stills-and video-recording machines Focus peaking This option adds a coloured highlight to edges of objects that are in focus on the Live View display or EVF, making it easier to manually focus. Internal recording 4K video takes up a lot of memory card space, and some of the first 4K cameras only allowed recording via an external device. The evolution of faster, larger capacity memory cards and more powerful processors means internal recording is now the norm. Full-frame sensor Larger sensors make it easier to achieve shallow depthof-field effects in a video clip, and separate the subject from the background. But not all cameras use the full width of the sensor when recording video. Electronic viewfinder Mirrorless cameras…

The movies that you record are the video equivalent to JPEGs, in that they are a ‘finished’ file with all the image-processing settings applied before they’re saved. This means that getting image-processing settings such as white balance, colour saturation and contrast right in-camera is important, as it’ll be harder or impossible to make changes later. If you will be doing lots of editing and ‘grading’ (colour correction with knobs on), aim to get ‘flat’, low saturation, low contrast footage out of the camera, as this will give you a cleaner base to work from. If your camera has a ‘Neutral’ setting, try this. Some video-focused cameras offer a ‘log’ (logarithmic) profile that gives a washed-out look, but it holds more details in the shadows and highlights that can be brought…

Recently I was asked to give a talk on travel photography. This got me thinking – what exactly is travel photography? The Royal Photographic Society’s travel group describes ‘travel photography’ as images that ‘communicate a sense of place’, while Wikipedia categorises it as a sub-genre of photography that’s concerned with the documentation of an area’s landscape, people, cultures, customs and history. Both are pretty ambiguous. A Google (image) search of travel photography will quickly reveal myriad colourful cliches of Cormorant fishermen, old and characterful Cuban women smoking cigars and so on. Are these really ‘travel’ photographs or rather to some hackneyed romanticised projection of what these places are like? I would imagine the truth of the matter is significantly more complex than this superficial interpretation. And many of these ‘classic…

This young male seemed blissfully unconcerned by the lightning and thunder rolling in across the Kalahari Desert, as well as the presence of the photographer Hannes Locher, who was taking night shots in the South African part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Hannes came came across the animal stretched out beside the track. “He raised his head to stare at me a couple of times,” says Hannes, “but he wasn’t really interested in either me or the dramatic goings-on behind him.” Hannes had to work fast, framing the lion against the illuminated night sky at the moment a bolt of lightning flashed to the ground. “Just after I took this picture” he adds, “there were a few more lightning bolts and then everything went still and dark again.” Shooting in…

When a photographer presses the shutter button there’s a satisfying finality, a commitment to the moment and to our choices regarding exposure and composition. But when editing an image later on, the options are endless. This level of choice can sometimes be crippling but thankfully there are features in Lightroom that can help, especially when it comes to making local adjustments to parts of an image – a key skill for landscape photography. Hidden within the tool settings is a set of presets that can kick-start our selective enhancements. Like normal Lightroom Presets, these are saved concoctions of settings, but rather than working universally across the image, they instead affect how the local adjustment tools (pick from the Adjustment Brush, Graduated Filter or Radial Filter) will behave. Once a preset…

The original raw by Jocelyn Gale This shot was taken from one of the most famous viewpoints in California’s Yosemite National Park, a landscape strongly associated with the mono prints of Ansel Adams. A Sony RX1 compact camera with fixed 35mm f/2 lens was used. The exposure is 1/1,600 sec at f/8, ISO 400. James Abbott James specialises in landscape and portrait images, and is an advanced Photoshop user. Raw warrior 1 wants to create… A classic monochrome scene Jon Adams Jon is a professional photographer and writer. He also provides one-to-one and group tuition. Raw warrior 2 wants to create… A punchy colour vista FILE & VIDEO Download the disc: www.bit.ly/dc222disc…

Challenge 2 Jocelyn Gale For our second challenge, we needed to cross the River Dart. The ferry from the North Embankment takes several minutes and takes you to the end of the platform of Kingswear Station. The southern terminus of the Dartmouth Steam Railway, the station was opened in 1864 and became a heritage railway in the 1970s, in the aftermath of the Beeching cuts. Today, Kingswear has everything you’d expect to find in a heritage railway station. Old-school platform furniture and signage recall the golden age of rail travel, there’s an impressive signal box and, for our visit, 4-6-0 steam locomotive 7827 Lydham Manor was hauling a rake of carriages from Paignton. “This image follows a similar symmetrical composition to the first challenge,” says Jocelyn, “to highlight the design of…

£1,200/$1,471 (body only) In a world of mirrorless cameras, why do they still make DSLRs? Well, when you pick up the EOS 90D and use it, you’ll know why… www.canon.com Specifications Sensor: 32.5MP APS-C CMOS, 22.3 x 14.8mm Image processor: DIGIC 8 AF points: 45 cross-type, Dual Pixel CMOS AF in Live View AF modes: Auto, single point, spot, zone, large zone ISO range: 100 to 25,600 (exp 51,200) Max image size: 6,960 x 4,640 Metering modes: Evaluative, centre-weighted, partial, spot Video: 4K UHD at 30p, 25p Viewfinder: Optical pentaprism, 100% coverage, 0.95x magnification Memory card: 1x SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS II) LCD: 3-inch vari-angle touchscreen, 1.04m dots Max burst: 10fps Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Size: 140.7 x 104.8 x 76.8mm Weight: 701g (body only, with batteries and SD card) The Canon EOS…

£799/$799 Impeccable image quality and tack-sharp results www.nikon.com Mount: Nikon Z Focal length: 85mm Maximum aperture: f/1.8 Minimum aperture: f/16 Lens construction: 12 elements in 8 groups Angle of view: FX format: 28° 30’, DX format: 18° 50’ Focusing system: Internal Minimum focus distance: 0.8m from focal plane No. of diaphragm blades: 9 (rounded diaphragm opening) Coating: Nano Crystal Coat Filter attachment size: 67mm Weight: 470g With the introduction of the Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S, Nikon has given the Z system a classic workhorse lens perfect for portrait, fashion, wedding and events photographers. With a fast f/1.8 maximum aperture, this lens delivers a beautiful shallow depth of field and enables you to capture photos in low-light conditions. While a maximum aperture of f/1.8 is certainly respectable, we wouldn’t be…

£519/$550 Perfect for full-frame Canon DSLRs Lens mount Canon EF Canon’s EF 40mm f/2.8 lens is super-small but has a focal length that’s a touch on the long side for street photography. At the other end of the scale, the EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM is massive in both size and cost. This 35mm f/2 IS USM is an ideal compromise. It’s quite compact and light, yet has a fairly fast aperture rating, ring-type ultrasonic autofocus and four-stop stabilisation. Build quality is very good, although the lens lacks any weather seals. The manual focus ring operates smoothly and enables fine adjustments. Canon’s hood costs an extra £50/$50. Performance Performance is impressive, with whisper-quiet autofocus, stabilisation that lives up to its four-stop billing and excellent image quality. There’s no lack of…

£749/$847 An expensive but high-tech lens Lens mount Nikon Z This Nikon Z-series lens is the most expensive in the group, despite a modest f/1.8 aperture rating. However, it’s much more high-tech than Nikon’s F-mount 35mm lens, taking the count of aspherical elements from one to three and doubling up on ED elements. Whereas the competing Canon RF lens has a customisable control ring, the Nikon only features a manual focus ring, but you can assign alternative functions to it when using autofocus. There’s no focus distance scale. However, directional focus assist lamps and a focus peaking option are available in Z 6 and Z 7 cameras. Performance Sharpness is simply stunning at the centre of the frame and remains very good towards the edges and corners. The large-diameter mounting…

£659/$749 Almost a pancake lens Lens mounts Sony E With diminutive dimensions of 62 x 37mm, this Sony doesn’t quite qualify as a pancake lens, but it weighs a mere 120g. It therefore forms part of a very discreet package on an A7 or A9 body. Downsizing is enabled by the inclusion of three aspherical elements in the Zeiss Sonnar design. Autofocus uses a fast and quiet linear motor, with an electronically coupled focus ring that gives the option of manual override. Typical of this arrangement, there’s no focus distance scale or depth-of-field markers, but focus assist and peaking facilities are available in-camera. Performance This tiny Sony punches above its weight in terms of image quality, although vignetting is quite severe at f/2.8. Although distortion is of a fairly low…

10 things to shoot, edit or create this month, including polarised cutlery, autumn vistas and urban scenes There are some things that just can’t be replicated in Photoshop and this is certainly the case when using a circular polarising filter. This landscape photographer’s favourite tool is essential for cutting down reflections in water or glass, and also has the power to reduce scattered light – making blues in the sky look more punchy. But these wonderfully affordable and useful accessories can also be used to change the appearance of polarised light emitted by computer screens. If you have a laptop, tablet or even the smartphone in your pocket, the chances are it’s throwing out polarised light. In this project we’re going to take advantage of this special light to help…

In the past couple of years intentional camera movement (ICM) and layering multiple exposures has become more in vogue, and a growing movement using the technique is becoming ever noticeable. The technique, which requires you to take multiple exposures of a subject matter in a variety of ways, is highly experimental, and requires just as much thinking at the shooting stage as at the post-production side. To try this yourself, you first need to pick a subject. Natural scenes lend themselves well to the process, and offer an enjoyable opportunity to get out and about. However, there are definitely no rules when it comes to picking a subject, so be as experimental as you like. Some ICM photographers like to move the camera during a long exposure for a more…

Verity Milligan is an award-winning photographer and educator based in Birmingham. She is happiest when she’s outdoors at dawn, capturing landscapes in the UK and further afield. She’s also a big fan of power naps! Autumn is a great time of year to be out and about shooting. Not only are the colours vibrant and eye-catching, but the light is also perfect pretty much throughout the whole day. This image was taken at the Ladybower Reservoir in the Peak District one misty autumn morning. With soft light peeking through magical mist, it’s an example of Verity’s eye for excellence and attention to detail. Although this image looks as if it was taken very early in the morning, it was shot around 11am. www.veritymilliganphotography.com 1 The right lens Instead of using…

There is an entire world at our fingertips that we rarely have the time to notice – but anyone who studies objects and subjects at a closer proximity is often greatly rewarded! Macro or close-up photography is a fantastic genre to explore, whatever subject matter you choose – and once you start shooting, you will undoubtedly capture things you didn’t even know existed! For this challenge, we want to think about what subject you want to capture and what technical approach you are going to take. When it comes to having the right kit, a macro lens with a 1:1 aspect ratio is useful but not essential, as there are ways to get around it. A simple reversing ring enabling you to spin your standard lens around is a great…

Ansel Adams, arguably the most famous landscape photographer of all time, once said: “A good photograph is knowing where to stand.” While this remains true today, it’s safe to add that a good photograph is also knowing which technique to use once you’ve found that best viewpoint – the two things go hand in hand. There are several key techniques at the digital photographers’ disposal, and knowing what, when, why and how to use them is incredibly important. Despite having a dubious reputation, HDR photography is actually a great way of maintaining detail in high-contrast scenes, and can look so natural its use can be impossible to spot. Exposure blending is a way of merging images taken with different apertures and shutter speeds for creative effect; and focus-stacking guarantees pin-sharpness…

Digital cameras sensors are packed with many more pixels than the 8 million needed for a 4K image, so camera engineers use a number of methods to get around this. The basic option is a 1:1 pixel crop, where a 3,840 x 2,160 (or 4,096 x 2,160) pixel portion in the middle of the sensor is used, and the rest of the sensor is ignored. This isn’t ideal as it reduces the field of view, giving the effect of zooming in with a longer lens – as you can see in this example (right) of what happens on the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. Two alternative techniques that some cameras use are ‘line skipping’ and ‘pixel binning’, both of which can be applied to the full width of the camera…

Movie files, in general, eat up memory card space, and 4K files are especially large – in some cases, one minute of footage can work out at more than one gigabyte. Different cameras offer different types of compression to keep things manageable, although you still may need to invest in larger, high-speed memory cards. Some cameras can also stream uncompressed 4K files externally, via the HDMI terminal.…

Sleeping like a Weddell by Ralf Schneider Highly Commended, Black and White Hugging its flippers tight to its body, the Weddell seal closed its eyes and appeared to fall into a deep sleep. Lying on fast ice (ice attached to land) off Larsen Harbour, South Georgia, it was relatively safe from its predators – killer whales and leopard seals – and so could completely relax and digest. Weddell seals are the world’s most southerly breeding mammals. Reaching lengths of up to 3.5 metres – with the females somewhat larger than the males – their large bodies are covered in a thick layer of blubber to keep them warm above and below the icy waters. Shooting from an inflatable boat, Ralf tightly framed the sleeping seal, using the white backdrop of…

If you’re new to image-editing, you may find the learning curve to be steeper than you expected. Some enjoy the climb and relish the challenge of discovering how to adjust and fine-tune the various elements that constitute an image, whereas others prefer a broader approach that allows them to process, save and move on, picking up knowledge about finer details along the way. On this issue’s disc, you’ll find the Scenic Enhancer Kit, a pair of custom Photoshop files that produce great-looking pictures yet are super-fast to use. The kit also ensures you’re thinking about the building blocks that lay at the foundation of an image. This set is made for colour, outdoor images like landscapes and architectural shots, but there’s nothing to stop you using them for other subjects.…

James is a professional photographer who specialises in landscape and portraits. He’s an advanced Photoshop user and has created hundreds of tutorials. Bringing fine detail to life is much more than simply the result of your camera and lens combination. Of course, the best lenses will always do a great job of resolving detail, but there are definitely a few tricks you can place up your image-processing sleeve to further enhance this aspect of photography. In the techniques I’m covering here, I’m going to show you how to accentuate detail, control colour balance in different parts of the image, as well as using black-and-white to reveal unseen detail. The overall aim is to enhance different parts of an image to make them stand out more. The image selected here is…

Reader 1 Jocelyn Gale Camera: Sony Alpha 37 Location: Cornwall Photography student Jocelyn has one year left to go on her degree course, and recently completed her second spell of work experience on Digital Camera. So rather than helping us out with photo projects, setting up shoots, researching locations, writing photo tips cards and just generally being super-helpful, we thought she’d like to put her creative chops to the test on a Shootout. Although familiar with using a variety of different cameras on her degree course, Jocelyn kept things nimble by bringing her Sony Alpha 37 and standard lens to Dartmouth. www.instagram.com/joss_photo Reader 2 James Maloney Camera: Nikon Z 6 Location: Devon Our second participant has taken a contemporary path into photography – moving from action cameras straight to a…

Roving photographer Quintin is two thirds through his 6,000-mile photo walk around the whole of the UK coast. www.theperimeter.uk Crossing the border into Caithness, the wildflowers are in full bloom, forming a purple sea of heather and thistles offset by the fluttering of Common Blue butterflies. But today is all about puffins as I’ve heard there is a site nearby where they nest and I’ve never seen the wonderful creature before, despite many times trying. When I reach the clifftops, there are thousands of birds; many are standing just a few metres away on the cliff tops showing off their colourful beaks. There’s another photographer on site: Ian Herd, and he knows the area like the back of his hand. “They’ll be gone in a couple of days, you’re lucky…

How did you get involved with Project Z? After my ‘Habanaboy’ series [on Cuba] and book dropped, I got it premiered on quite a lot of big platforms. That was around September 2017. It was the first solid block of recognition and got the attention of art buyers and agents. I think Leica’s interest came from there. What are you expected to create for Project Z? We’re required to do a workshop and a photo walk. It’s great that five or six of us are involved. Now, any time I’m shooting, to walk on to set and have one of the high-end Leicas and lenses is great. What is the Mr & Mrs H project? It’s about a married bodybuilding couple, who have three children. I spent a month living…

£1,200/$1,470 This updated Sony compact is an amazing technical achievement, but only makes sense if you’re going to use all its features www.sony.com Specifications Sensor: 20.1MP 1-in Exmor RS CMOS Image processor: BIONZ X AF points: 357-point phase AF, 425-point contrast AF ISO range: 100 to 12,800 (exp. ISO 64) Max image size: 5,472×3,648 Metering modes: Multi-pattern, centre-weighted, spot, average, highlight Video: 4K UHD at 30p, 24p Viewfinder: Pop-up EVF, 2.36m dots Memory card: SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS I) LCD: 3-inch tilting touchscreen, 921k dots Max burst: 20fps (90fps short burst mode) Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Size: 101.6 x 58.1 x 42.8 mm Weight: 302g (body only, with battery and SD card) The Sony RX100 Mark VII is the latest iteration of Sony’s diminutive RX 100 series cameras. This pocket powerhouse combines a…

£899/$899 This EOS R system superzoom sets new standards www.canon.co.uk Full-frame compatible: Yes Image stabiliser: Yes Minimum focus distance: 0.5m Maximum magnification factor: 0.26x Manual focus override: Yes Focus limit switches: No Internal zoom: Yes Internal focus: Yes Filter size: 72mm Iris blades: 7 Weather seals: No Supplied accessories: Hood, tripod foot, soft case Dimensions (dia x length): 80.4 x 122.5mm Weight: 750g Want a single lens that can do the job of two or more individual optics, that saves weight and space, and the bother of lens-swapping? Then the Canon RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM could be for you. Superzoom lenses don’t usually set high standards for optical performance, but Canon says the performance of the RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM is ‘RF quality’, meaning that it exploits the…

£498/$450 Canon’s most sensible RF lens Lens mount Canon RF Bucking the trend of most Canon RF lenses to date, this 35mm prime for EOS R and RP cameras is conveniently compact for street photography. It’s actually smaller and lighter than the EF 35mm, despite its faster aperture rating. As usual for lenses with stepping motor autofocus systems, there’s no focus distance scale nor depth-of-field markings, which are often preferred for ‘zone focusing’ in street photography. However, distance scale, focus peaking and focus guide options are available in Canon’s R and RP bodies. Performance Both autofocus and manual focusing work wonderfully well when you use the electronic viewfinders or vari-angle rear screens of EOS R-series cameras. Image quality is outstanding, while handheld shooting benefits from a five-stop hybrid image stabiliser.…

£489/$499 A ‘manual’ lens in varying degrees Lens mount s Canon EF, Nikon FX, Pentax K, Sony A, Sony E Badged as Rokinon in the USA, this manual-focus Samyang lens is available in a wide variety of mount options. Most have no electronics, so you can’t control the aperture from the camera body. Instead, you need to use lens’s own aperture ring, and the viewfinder image gets progressively darker with narrower aperture settings. The exceptions are the AE versions in Canon and Nikon mounts. The focus ring has a long rotational travel and operates with smooth precision. Zone focusing is enabled by the focus distance scale and plenty of depth-of-field markers. Performance As an f/1.4 lens, the Samyang is comparatively big and heavy, but sharpness and contrast are disappointing at…

£699/$599 A Tamron lens with street smarts Lens mounts Canon EF, Nikon FX Tamron’s f/1.8 lens is a third of an f/stop slower than the Samyang and Sigma 35mm lenses on test. An upside is that it feels smaller and lighter, but it’s still weightier than the Canon and Nikon lenses, at 480g. It doesn’t claim any macro credentials but focuses down to 0.2m, giving an generous 0.4x maximum magnification factor. A neat feature is the three-stop Vibration Compensation system. Rain needn’t stop play either, as the lens has weather-seals and a fluorine coating on its front element. Like the Sigma lens on test, there’s an optional USB docking station for fine-tuning and updating firmware. Performance Autofocus and manual focus work well, although the focus-distance scale lacks any depth-of-field markings.…

Delkin SensorScope Travel Kit £71/$56 www.delkindevices.com Delkin’s kit is equipped to remove loose particles and stubborn contaminants. The SensorBulb blower puffs dust away, albeit in the same uncontrolled manner as any blower, meaning dust can just be blown around and onto the sensor, not necessarily off it. Should this happen, you can always switch to the included cleaning swabs and solution. You get 15 double-ended wands and a decent supply of streak-free fluid, but the results are mixed. The wands have a tendency to simply move some particles across the sensor, rather than picking them up. An LED loupe is included in the kit and it shines brightly into the camera chamber, however, we found the sensor surface to be slightly out of focus when compared to the LensPen loupe,…