Table of contents for August 2016 in Digital Camera Magazine

WITH the Rio Olympics just around the corner and the action-packed summer holidays ahead of us, what better time could there be to hone your sports and action photography? In this month’s cover story (page 43), we’ve rounded up 34 skills and techniques for you to easily master. Whether you’re shooting motor sports, athletics or simply capturing the kids mucking around at the beach, I guarantee these killer tips will improve your shots. Our Kit Zone is jam-packed with advice on the best kit for action shots too. It’s not all sports and action, though. Readers Claire and Victor joined me in the wilds of Dartmoor for more fun-packed photo adventures in this month’s Shootout. Please drop us a line if you’d like to be involved in one of our…

TIP 1 Look for passion! Sport isn’t just about doing the activity: it is also about the passion of athletes and their supporters. It’s your task to capture the emotion of the event. Look for classic winner celebrations, but also turn the camera on the crowd, where colour and chaos often ensues. TIP 2 Resist chimping While checking histograms for exposure is useful, don’t do it after every shot – especially at sporting events! While you’re looking at the camera’s LCD, someone scores, a horse throws its rider or two cars collide – and you’ve missed the killer shot! TIP 3 Short bursts are best Pro SLRs have fast frame rates and fire continuously when required. But it’s often best to take shots in short sharp bursts. This will help…

NOT all stabilisers are made equal. Early versions of the technology were rated at around two stops, while the latest stabilised lenses boast up to four stops. A stop is one full step along the exposure scale. In shutter speed terms, this means moving to a shutter speed that’s half or double the one that you’re currently using: from 1/30 sec to 1/60 sec is one stop faster, while 1/30 sec to 1/15 sec is one stop slower. So, a four-stop stabiliser enables you to take a sharp shot at a shutter speed that’s four stops slower than normal. Your mileage may vary when it comes to hand-held shots, despite the advantage. 4 stops The rule of thumb for sharp hand-held shots is to ensure that the shutter speed is…

THIS memorable image of Terry Gilliam, an alumni of Monty Python turned famous movie director, was taken by Levon Biss, a leading editorial and commercial photographer. “It was shot in a small theatre in north London,” Levon explains. “The idea was to add a little distortion and play with the perspective, as a reference to the often surreal and strange nature of Terry’s work. Also, Terry tends to shoot a lot of his movies on quite a wide-angle lens, so I thought it would be nice to keep his portrait along the same lines.” Note the deliberate exaggeration of the hands... Levon took the image with a Nikon D800 and edited it with CaptureOne. “It was shot on a 16-35mm lens, set around 20mm, so quite wide.” The aperture was…

NAME: Fang Tong LOCATION: Canada SUBJECT: Cinematic portraits EQUIPMENT: Nikon D700 and D3X with Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8, 20-35mm f/2.8 and 16-35mm f/4 lenses WEBSITE: www.fangtongphotography.com PHOTOGRAPHY wasn’t Fang Tong’s first choice of visual media – she kicked off her career with oil painting, sculpture, installation art and 2D/3D design – but it’s the one that she’s developed a passion for. It’s the camera’s ability to isolate a moment rooted in reality but bordering on the surreal that Fang has exploited with aplomb. Her cinematic set-ups – designed, her website bio says, to “provoke audiences into creating a narrative” – are dripping with domestic tension. Although viewers of her work are free to interpret the scenes as they wish, Fang puts in plenty of character and plot development before she goes…

FRANCESCO Mattucci started taking photos as a child, and rediscovered his passion after the emergence of digital cameras. “I’m an amateur... maybe an evolved amateur,” he says. In the last few years he’s begun trying to shift his passion into his job and has found an immense following on Instagram for his quirky images. In particular, Francesco’s ‘kitchensuspension’ project has drawn legions of fans and gone viral on the internet, due to the images’ mindbending nature. How did you get the idea for the kitchensuspension project? Like many of my projects, the idea of kitchensuspension came to me by chance. The kitchen is probably the room I live in most. And I was thinking about this: about the time I spend here, how my family uses it, our needs… I…

THE 1D X Mark II is Canon’s replacement for the 1D X, so it sits at the top of the manufacturer’s stills-orientated SLR line-up. It’s aimed at professional news and sports photographers. The 1D X Mark II has a full-frame sensor, but its resolution has been raised to 20.2 million effective pixels. Highlights include a standard sensitivity range of ISO 100-51,200, with expansion settings taking it to ISO 50-204,800; a maximum continuous shooting rate of 14 frames per second, with full exposure metering and autofocus operation; and a 61-point autofocus system boasting 41 cross-type sensors and five dual cross-type sensors. SPECIFICATIONS Full-frame (35.9 x 23.9mm) CMOS with 20.2 million effective pixels Focal length conversion 1x Memory One CF, one CFast Viewfinder Optical with pentaprism and 100% coverage Max video resolution…

THERE are plenty of affordable yet fairly fast standard primes for full-frame cameras, like the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM (£100/$125) and the Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8G (£170/$220). By contrast, standard primes for Sony’s full-frame E-mount system look very pricey, including Sony’s Zeiss-badged Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA (£620/$900) and Zeiss’s own Loxia 50mm f/2 Planar T* (£720/$950). A drawback of the latter is that it only supports manual focusing. SPECIFICATIONS Full-frame compatible Yes Focal length 50mm (effective 75mm on APS-C) Image stabiliser No Min focus distance 0.45m Max magnification factor 0.14x Manual focus override Yes Focus limit switches No Internal zoom/focus Yes Filter size 49mm Iris blades 7 Weather seals No Accessories Hood, caps Dimensions (D x L) 69 x 60mm Weight 186g Build & handling The new…

With a decade as a working writer and photographer behind him, James knows exactly which Photoshop and Lightroom tools and techniques matter the most to you. WATCH VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc180video DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc180bonus SOFTWARE Photoshop CC GET IT FROM www.adobe.com GET START FILES FROM www.bit.ly/dc180files STEP BY STEP USE FILL THE SMART WAY Improve the way Content-Aware Fill works by erasing the subject 1 SELECT THE MESS Duplicate the background layer with Ctrl/Cmd+J. Use the Quick Selection Tool to select all the messy patches of the image to be removed. If the tool goes wrong, hold Alt and paint to subtract. Once the area is selected, go to Select > Modify > Expand and set it to around 20px. 2 ERASE AND FILL Save the selection, then select the subject…

FREE! 228-page sports and action ebook Become an action pro photographer overnight with our Sports & Action Photography ebook, worth £6.99. Filled with incredible tips and shooting tutorials from the professionals, this ebook guides you gently through the necessary steps and skills needed to never miss that moment again! This ebook is provided as a PDF. Download it to your Windows or Mac computer via www.bit.ly/dc180sport. Also included are a selection of sports videos – download these and tutorial start files via www.bit.ly/dc180bonus WATCH VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc180video DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc180bonus When you see this logo in the magazine, you can watch or download related video training. 9 ALL-NEW TIPS CA RDS Add to or start your collection of tip cards! Handy advice at your fingertips from shooting at air shows…

THERE are a number of steps you can take to produce sharper photos, including using a tripod to support the camera and setting a shutter speed that’s fast enough to freeze any movement. Image stabilisation technology can also give you an edge. It’s designed to combat camera shake, enabling you to take sharp hand-held shots at slower shutter speeds than you ordinarily would be able to. This allows you to shoot in low light without having to increase the ISO or use a tripod. It can’t work miracles – you’ll still have to follow good hand-held technique to get sharp results – but it’s effective at ‘smoothing out the bumps’. As the name suggests, image stabilisation keeps the picture stable, but it can’t arrest the movement of individual objects within…

GUY Schotte is a leading underwater portrait specialist from Belgium, who became hooked on the genre after experimenting one day with his daughter in a swimming pool. As well as individual portraits and commercial commissions, he shoots weddings underwater – a popular sub-genre in the US that is now catching on in Europe. “This image came from a project I did with the body painter Francois Rose,” he explains. “It was very tough finding the right kind of paint which would stay on the model’s body underwater, but one of Francois’ friends in the UK suggested that we try a new lab. Their paint was much longer-lasting and worked great.” Guy likes to use dancers for this kind of underwater portrait. “They are naturally graceful. This particular model, Dolores, had…

GET INVOLVED! If you’d like to take part in any of the features in Photo Active, please send us an email at digitalcamera@futurenet.com with one of the following in the subject line: Rate My Photo, Shootout, Portfolio or Photo Answers. Please include your full name, contact details (including a daytime phone number) and a sample of your work (max 10MB) Facebook www.facebook.com/digitalcameraworld Twitter www.twitter.com/digitalcameraw Flickr www.flickr.com/groups/digitalcameraworld…

MYSTIFIED BY MEGAPIXELS? VEXED OVER VIGNETTING? Send your question to digitalcamera@futurenet.com and let us provide you with a solution Our expert photo advisor is here to help Poppy love Q Can you give me any tips on how to get better shots of poppies? Petra Muir A I LOVE watching out for fields of poppies in the summer. They seem to appear overnight – and you never know where! If I spot one, I react quickly: they are delicate flowers, easily damaged by the wind and rain. One of my favourite ways to shoot poppies is to use a medium-telephoto lens and isolate individual or small groups of flowers from the masses. This also means that if you only find a small patch of flowers, the potential for creative photography…

FOR your next assignment, we want you to make a splash! There’s a host of different techniques that you can use to make water come alive visually, such as using backlighting, fill-flash or a slow exposure to blur its motion – but the challenge here is to also include people or animals as part of the picture. The summer months offer the perfect opportunity to head outside and capture images of water being enjoyed – everything from birds preening by a garden pond to surfers at the beach – but there are plenty of opportunities to get creative indoors as well. Show us what you can do and you could win a new backpack! ENTER TODAY! www.photocrowd.com/a/current Closing date: Friday 12th August How to enter Visit www.photocrowd.com/a/current and look for…

Also known as Rax, Ragnar Axelsson was born in Iceland in 1958 and started training as a photographer in a traditional studio, or atelier. At 18 he was already a staff photographer at the leading Icelandic newspaper, Morgunblaðið, and has ever since continued his life-long project to document the fate of the people and nature of the North. Since the early 1980s he has travelled all over the Arctic, documenting the lives of the Inuit hunters in Northern Canada and Greenland, the farmers and fishermen in the North Atlantic region and the indigenous people of Northern Scandinavia and Siberia. His stories have appeared in Time, Life, Stern, Geographical and Newsweek, and he’s exhibited widely. Rax has produced three books: Faces of the North (2004), Last Days of the Arctic (2010)…

THE Fujifilm X-E2S updates the wellregarded X-E2 with a modest collection of improvements. Many of these concern focus, with the inclusion of a 49-point AF system that can be expanded to 77 points, as well as the option to track subjects with new Zone and Wide/Tracking options and the promise of faster focusing speeds. A new electronic shutter permits near-silent shooting and a top shutter speed of 1/32,000 sec. These are joined by the same 16.3MP X-Trans CMOS II sensor as before, as well as a 2.36 million dot electronic viewfinder and a 3-inch LCD that dominates the rear. Fujifilm’s Film Simulation modes provide control over colour and tonality, while Wi-Fi connectivity means you can leave your card reader at home. SPECIFICATIONS Sensor 16.3MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS II Focal length…

FIVE THINGS LOOK FOR IN A POLARISER 1 THICK AND THIN A thick frame is no good on a wide-angle lens. The thinner the frame, the lower the chance of vignetting. 2 IN THE CLEAR You don’t want to get any water on your filter. Some brands have hydrophobic and anti-static coatings. 3 COLOUR CONTROL A polarising filter shouldn’t introduce any noticeable colour cast in your final image. 4 LIGHT TRANSMISSION Premium polarisers often use highertransmission glass to minimise blocking light. 5 SIZE MATTERS Don’t buy multiple filters: buy one to fit your largest lens, and use step-up rings to mount it to the others. www.schneideroptics.com B+W F-Pro S03 E Circular Polariser Filter £41/$43 (52mm) £65/$71 (77mm) THE F-Pro is B+W’s entry-level polariser, so it only features a single coating…

Glyn is a commercial photographer and retoucher, and is also an Adobe Community Professional trainer. He is the author of The Photoshop Workbook. www.glyndewis.com WATCH VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc180video DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc180bonus SOFTWARE Photoshop CC GET IT FROM www.adobe.com GET START FILES FROM www.bit.ly/dc180files AS PHOTOSHOP continues to advance, the ability to make great selections and cut-outs is certainly being made far less frustrating. The introduction of the Quick Selection Tool was a gamechanger for many photographers, making the ability to achieve accurate selections so much easier. However, despite the advancement in Photoshop’s selection tools, there’s still no ‘one-click fix’ – or rather, one tool that will work on every image. Each image is different and offers up its own challenges, so as a user of Photoshop it’s certainly a good…

Documentary and portrait photographer www.briangriffin.co.uk Which photographer (living or dead) would you like to have round for dinner? Weegee. What’s your favourite place on Earth? Poland. Who would you most like to thank for getting you where you are today? Roland Schenk, who was the art director of the magazine Management Today. To crop or not to crop? I do not crop my images. Tell us a secret about your photography that you haven’t told anyone before… Good photographs can be created when you need to go to the toilet. Whose work do you most admire? Rembrandt. What features at the top of your bucket list? I want to continue working on my photography. What kind of photography are you really bad at? Jewellery. What’s in your kit bag right…

AIR SHOWS For your first shot, try... Exposure mode Aperture Priority Aperture f/5.6-8 Shutter speed Automatically set ISO 400-800 TO IMPROVE YOUR SHOT … Be ready to dial in around +2/3 EV of exposure compensation when using Evaluative or Matrix metering. You can get away with 1/250 sec for helicopters and prop-driven planes. Fast jets will require speeds of 1/1,000 sec or faster for sharp shots. Top tip: Use your camera’s continuous autofocus and its high-speed continuous drive mode. Fire in short, sharp bursts. CROP FACTORS MADE EASY COMMON CAMERA IMAGE SENSOR SIZES AND THEIR CROP FACTORS HOW TO USE THE CROP FACTOR • The ‘effective’ focal length is the focal length required to give a view equivalent to a 35mm film/full-frame digital camera. • To work out the effective…

1 Modify brushes quickly When you have a brush-based tool selected (such as Brush, Eraser, Clone Stamp, Dodge, Burn or Sponge), you can quickly and easily change the size and hardness without fiddling around with the Options Bar. Simply hold down Alt+right-click, then drag left or right to decrease or increase the size of the brush – you can drag up or down to change the hardness. A helpful on-screen display will show you a preview of the brush tip as you drag it around. 2 Change the Brush Blend Mode When you have the Brush Tool selected, you can quickly cycle through the brush’s many Blend Modes by holding down Shift+Alt and using the + and – keys to navigate forwards and backwards through the list respectively. Alternatively, you…

TO get the most from an image stabilisation system, you’ll need to get to grips with the controls. Some systems give you a simple on/off switch. This might seem rather odd – after all, if image stabilisation is so good, why not leave it active all of the time? Well, for a start there’s little point in using it when you’re shooting with the camera mounted on a tripod – in fact, you can end up with more blurred images this way, as the system will overcompensate. Image stabilisation also draws power from the camera, so if you’re shooting at very fast shutter speeds, it’s worth switching it off. Your lens or camera may offer various stabilisation modes, such as being able to switch to a mode for panning shots,…

DAMIAN Shields, winner of the Sunday Times Choice Award in Landscape Photographer of the Year 2015, took this glorious image from the mighty Red Pike in Cumbria. ‘The fell you can see in the image is part of a ridge walk that separates Ennerdale and Buttermere and offers wonderful vistas all around,” he says. While he was scouting the area, Damian noticed patches of light drifting over a village. “I dropped down a few yards on the eastern side to avoid my tripod being buffered by winds whipping around me on the summit, and tried to take in as much detail as possible by shooting four horizontal frames. I later stitched these together in post-processing.” damianshields.photoshelter.com Peak of photography As he wasn’t completely safe from the vibration of the strong…

What is your favourite place to shoot in the whole of Iceland? There are many favourite places, but I always have fun photographing in the Jökulsárlón ice lagoon and the nearby area. The Landmannalaugar region is great; I see something new to photograph every time I go there. I did my book Behind the Mountains there, and it took 25 years to finish. How do Icelandic people feel about so many photographers now showing up? I love it – and I think everybody feels likes that. It is good to see images from foreign photographers. They see things differently from the natives. That is wonderful.…

Reviews you can trust Digital Camera is brought to you by the UK’s most experienced team of photography journalists, which means you can trust everything you read, and compare kit with confidence. We believe the best way to test a product is to use it as it was intended. Our real-world testing involves taking equipment on a proper shoot – whether outdoors or in the studio – and using it exactly as you would, to let you know if it’s fit for purpose. Scientific data won’t tell you everything, but it’s a great way to make comparisons and sense-check our real-world conclusions. We have a series of controlled tests for cameras and lenses that deliver objective benchmarks. You can download the high-resolution test images and resolution charts we shoot from…

SONY’S Alpha 77 II made quite the impression when it was launched in 2014, and proved that there was plenty of life left in the company’s SLT systems, despite the popularity of Sony’s full-frame CSCs. That camera remains in the Alpha stable – although with the Alpha 68, Sony is now looking to tempt those wanting similar functionality inside a more affordable body. SPECIFICATIONS Sensor 24.2MP APS-C Exmor CMOS Crop Factor 1.5x Memory SD/SDHC/SDXC (inc UHS-I), Memory Stick Pro Duo Viewfinder 0.39 inch OLED Tru-Finder, 1.44 million dots Max video resolution Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) up to 60p ISO range 100-12,800 (expandable to 25,600) Autofocus points 79 points Max Burst rate 8fps Screen 2.7 inch LCD, 461k dots Shutter speeds 30-1/4,000 sec, Bulb Weight 596g (body only) Dimensions 143…

Sean McCormack is an experienced photographer and writer based in Galway. He is the author of The Indispensable Guide to Lightroom CC. seanmcfoto.com SOFTWARE Lightroom CC/6 GET IT FROM www.adobe.com GET START FILES FROM www.bit.ly/dc180files ANYONE who’s ever picked up a camera has probably shot a landscape photo at some stage. We’re just drawn to the beauty around us. Sometimes the shot can be fantastic; other times, not so much. Using external accessories like graduated neutral-density filters can help get the shot looking really good in-camera, but most images will benefit from a little TLC in Lightroom’s Develop Module. Rather than looking at just one Lightroom panel here, I’m going to jump around using a few different tools to bring out the best in our landscape photo. With each step…

WATCH VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc180video DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc180bonus SOFTWARE Photoshop CC GET IT FROM www.adobe.com GET START FILES FROM www.bit.ly/dc180files The basics of 3D in Photoshop You can be adding objects to your photos in minutes While the 3D tools in Photoshop can initially look daunting, there are a few key points that will help you on your way. First, get to know the 3D Panel – this houses all the 3D shapes within the selected layer. A layer can hold several editable 3D shapes. (When merged together, they all occupy the same 3D environment, so they start to cast shadows on one another and fit the same perspective.) Below each shape name are listed different materials. These relate to the surfaces that make up the shape. When you click on…