Table of contents for July 2016 in Digital Camera Magazine

IF YOU think of some of the world’s most celebrated and creative portrait photographers – names like Richard Avedon, David Bailey, Irving Penn – it’s their headshots that really stick in the memory. That’s because they do something all great portraits should: reveal the character of the subject. From the neck down, one person may be indistinguishable from another. It’s what’s up top that marks us all out as individuals. Our faces are our most expressive feature; a good headshot should celebrate this. Compared to some kinds of portrait, the humble headshot might seem a tad rudimentary. But there’s an art to getting it right, and it’s an important feather in any portrait photographer’s bow. Headshots are always in demand, whether it’s for a company website, school photos, actor’s headshots,…

STUDIO LIGHTING For this month’s Shootout, Ben Brain tasked two readers to get to grips with studio lighting and off-camera flash techniques READER 1 CAMERA: Canon EOS 70D LOCATION: Northampton, Northamptonshire WILL started taking pictures with a Minolta SR101 35mm film camera when he was a teenager in the late 1970s. “Life happened,” as he puts it – he’s now the managing director of a financial advice firm – and it wasn’t until three years ago that he got back into photography again. His core kit includes a Canon EOS 70D with Canon 40mm, 50mm and 85mm EF primes and a Sigma 18-35mm zoom. He’s also a keen user of Phottix Mitros flashguns. READER 2 CAMERA: Canon EOS 5D Mark III LOCATION: Poole, Dorset BEING a graphic design studio manager…

1 Create a Collection In the Library Module, go to the left-hand side of the interface and scroll to the bottom to find the pane marked ‘Collections’. Click on the + symbol and you’ll be given a number of options to choose from in a drop-down list. You need to select the option at the top – Create Collection – and then click on it. 2 Name your selection A grey dialog box will open. In the Name box, type the name you wish to give your selection. I’m creating a Collection for a travel photography talk, so that’s the name I will give it. I could place this Collection within a Collection Set, but as I don’t want to here, I’m not going to tick anything else in the…

AFTER more than 10 years working as a commercial photographer in Tel Aviv, Sephi Bergerson closed his studio in 2002 and moved to India with his family to follow his dream to be a documentary photographer. Since then, Sephi’s work has been featured in books and publications worldwide. Increasingly Sephi has been using his iPhone 6S Plus as the primary camera in his personal projects. He’s currently working on a book about Africa, shot entirely on the iPhone – and recently he used his iPhone professionally for the first time to shoot a grand three-day wedding in India… What was it about the iPhone that appealed to you to make it your primary camera for this project? I’ve been shooting on the iPhone for quite some time, ever since the…

SPECIFICATIONS Sensor APS-C format with 24.2 million effective pixels Focal length conversion 1.6x Memory SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-1) Viewfinder Optical covering 100% Max video resolution Full HD (1920 x 10800 ISO range 100-16,000, expandable to 25,600 Autofocus points 45, all cross-type Max burst rate 7fps Screen Three-inch 1,040,000-dot Clear View II TFT Shutter speeds 30-1/8,000sec, Bulb Weight 650g (body only) Dimensions 139 x 105 x 79mm Power supply Lithium-ion LP-E6N The 8oD’s screen is very good, but the viewfinder is still the most natural option for photographers to use when shooting stills THE EOS 80D is aimed at dedicated enthusiast photographers, a demanding group of people who want to be able to shoot a huge range of subjects in a variety of conditions. Inside is a new 24-million-pixel sensor along with a…

SOME say the lens is ‘everything’, but that’s not really true in the digital age. It’s more about how the body and the lens combine to deliver the results that you’re after – and that’s particularly true for portraiture. Full-frame bodies, for example, have an advantage over those with smaller image sensors, in that they can deliver a tighter depth of field at any given ‘actual’ versus ‘effective’ focal length. But some APS-C camera systems fight back, like Fujifilm bodies with the availability of a super-fast f/1.2 lens that also packs a secret weapon for enhancing bokeh (the quality of defocused areas in images). Then there’s the question of whether a ‘fast’ f/2.8 telephoto zoom is better than a faster 85mm prime lens for portraiture. The zoom might be better…

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How to balance the brightness At sunrise and sunset, the contrast between the sky and the foreground will be too high to record detail in both. One option’s to use a square graduated neutral-density filter to darken the sky. To position the transition, press the camera’s depth of field button as you look at the Live View screen. If hills and trees protrude into the dark section, ditch the filter and make two separate exposures – one for the land and one for the sky – then blend these later. [PROJECT 1] Fields of lavender Seize the opportunity to add a splash of colour to your summer scenics NOW is the time of year to get this landscape classic in the bag. Many lavender farms open their gates to the…

THIS MONTH: ANGLE OF VIEW How focal length and sensor size determine what your camera ‘sees’ ANGLE of view is a measure of how much of a scene or subject a lens can take in. Expressed in degrees, the angle of view can be measured horizontally, vertically or diagonally across an image. It’s the focal length that’s key: lenses with shorter focal lengths are able to capture more of a scene in a single shot, while longer focal lengths offer a much narrower view. You can, of course, move your camera further away in order to bring more of a scene in to the picture or move closer to produce a tighter shot – or stay where you are and adjust the setting on a zoom lens – but the…

A DISTINGUISHED press photographer for the AFP agency in London, Adrian Dennis had to ‘think different’ when covering the Queen as she inspected a cadet Guard of Honour at Berkhamsted School in this, her 90th birthday year. “Because many of the ‘royal boys’ [the photographers that make their living shooting these kind of events] had filled the main areas allocated to the photographers, I chose a different position,” Adrian explains. “I’ll usually try and do this if I’m allowed – mainly because I can’t see the point of shooting the same picture as 15 other guys, but also I didn’t necessarily think theirs was the best angle.” He had to park half a mile away and wheel all his photographic gear in, but he says the effort was worth it.…

GET RATED! Email your shot to digitalcamera@futurenet.com (subject line: Rate My Photo) PAUL SAYS: This is a king vulture, and the shot was taken at South Lakes Zoological Park in Cumbria. There was something about the vulture’s rather ugly but colourful head that attracted me to it, and I knew it would make for an unusual shot. It was taken hand-held on my Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a 100-400mm lens at approximately 150mm. The exposure was 1/1,000 sec at f/5.6 and ISO 500. ANDREW SAYS: I feel sorry for the poor vulture. He wasn’t first in line for looks – and yet, as you’ve ably demonstrated in this shot, Paul, he has a charm all of his own. There are a number of things to be commended here.…

HOW did you get into wedding photography? My brother Nick got into photography, and gave me my first camera when I was 15. I got obsessed quickly and soon tired out my family and friends. I then did a four-year photography course, but I quit after a year, as I felt it was teaching me stuff I’d never use. After working at a few camera stores, I approached a studio in the Italian district in Melbourne, which specialised in weddings. I assisted and held the bags for a while, then I was taken on as a photographer. I shot my first wedding aged 20, and started my own business in 1997. So what is the attraction of weddings for you? I have always been a people person, I love having…

SPECIFICATIONS Sensor Full-frame (35.9 x 23.9mm) with 20.8 million effective pixels Focal length conversion 1 Memory Dual XQD or Dual CF Viewfinder Optical covering 100% Max video resolution 4K (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) ISO range 100-102,400 expandable to ISO 3,280,000 Autofocus points 153 and 99 cross-type Max burst rate 12fps with AF and metering, 14fps without and in live view mode Screen Touch-sensitive 3.2-inch 2,359,000-dot Shutter speeds 30-1/8,000 sec, Bulb Weight 1,235g (body only) Dimensions 60 x 158.5 x 92mm Power supply Rechargeable Li-ion EN-EL18a Real-world images look cleaner and sharper than those from the D4S THE D5 takes the top spot from the D4S in Nikon’s SLR line-up. It’s aimed primarily at professional news and sports photographers, and is designed to take photographs in challenging conditions. It comes equipped…

www.hillonphotography.co.uk Which photographer (living or dead) would you like to have round for dinner? Roger Fenton – to understand what it was like to make the first photos. What’s your favourite place on earth? The Derbyshire Peak District, although Yosemite really impressed me. What is on your memory card? Images from when I was volunteering with refugees in Greece; some from New York, where I exhibited in April; and a few New England landscapes. Who would you most like to thank for getting you where you are today? Brian Randle, who helped me get my first photographic job with the Birmingham Mail when I started freelancing. Also, my late wife Angela, who was very involved in setting up the workshops we started in 1976. Tell us a secret about your…

FREE! 9 All-new wedding tips cards Our series of tips cards offer pocket-friendly advice for photographers on the go. Just keep the cards you need in your kit bag. You’ll find settings for your first shot, plus tips for how to improve the results. Look for them after the magazine. INCLUDES WEDDING PHOTO CHECKLIST! WATCH VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc179video DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc179extra When you see this logo in the magazine, you can watch a related video via www.bit.ly/dc179video. See below for details. MASTER THE ART OF RETOUCHING EBOOK This month’s Photoshop Guide ebook shows you how to take your portraits to the next level with clever but accessible retouching techniques. Improve the look of skin, hair and eyes, add digital make-up, and more! You can also watch or download six videos…

GEORGIA DARLOW, UK “This was shot in Bagan, Myanmar, during a trip last year. I was lucky enough to have the most fantastic guide who knew lots of off-the-beaten-track locations, including this ancient temple that we had to persuade ‘the Keyholder’ to let us access. So with key in hand and an obliging young monk from a nearby monastery as the subject, I was able to capture this shot. It was a truly magical location and shoot that is by far the most enjoyable I’ve been fortunate enough to experience so far.” Kit Canon 5D Mk III with EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens Exposure 1/60 sec at f/5.6, ISO 3,200 SEND US YOUR SHOTS Your photograph could appear here! Send your best recent shot to digitalcamera @futurenet.com (subject line:…

PORTRAITURE is the genre that keeps on giving. There are always new skills to learn, new faces to shoot and new looks to achieve. Our advice over the next 16 pages will help see you through. There’s a heavy emphasis on lighting here – with good reason. Whether it’s from the sun, a flash or a continuous lamp, light plays a huge part in the success of a portrait. Learning how to find the right light – or create your own – lies at the heart of all great portraiture.…

TOP TIP For off-camera flash, a speedlight only needs to offer manual power control and an optical slave: features found on even the cheapest models. NOW that anyone with a decent camera can take a competent photo, photographers are constantly looking for ways in which technology can help set their lighting and technique apart from the crowd. One such approach used increasingly by wedding and portrait photographers is to supplement ambient light with off-camera flash, giving their images an edge over natural-light portraits. Another approach might be to include a heavy dose of Photoshop in the workflow, not just with creative composites like the image above, but also with more subtle colour shifts and effects. Another technology that has come on in leaps and bounds is continuous lighting like LED…

MANY entrants to photography competitions think they need to go to exotic locations to get winning shots, but sometimes you only need to go down the road. Bath resident Mark Benham recently won Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year with this shot of Duncan Glendinning, who runs the Thoughtful Bread Company in, you’ve guessed it, Bath. “The wife of a friend of mine is a food stylist and writer, and she suggested I get in touch with Duncan,” Mark explains. “So I went along on a day when he was working a double-shift, as they were short staffed.” Mark took the images in the hot and cramped basement of the bakery, in less than ideal light. Fortunately there was a space with a clean background, against which Mark framed…

RETOUCH PORTRAITS WITH FLAIR FOR your wedding and portrait photos, the multiple award-winning PortraitPro is an indispensable tool. This quick and easy portraitretouching software will help you process the whole shoot in minutes. Run it as stand-alone software or use the plug-in and batch modes in the Studio Edition to process hundreds of images effortlessly. Extra 10% off any sale or list price: enter SM7847 at checkout. FREE TRIAL: www.portraitpro.com CREATIVE PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY COURSES IMPROVE your creative portraiture, develop skills and build your photography portfolio with Melencourses. This is an exciting and enjoyable photography course at Ashridge House, Hertfordshire, with decorative Victorian-style period rooms, beautiful gardens and gothic exteriors. You will take away a set of creative and beautiful images. Learn new flash and natural lighting skills with the confidence…

EVERY ISSUE, we challenge you to take a creative and arresting shot around a theme, and share it at the online community at Photocrowd (www.photocrowd.com). Here, you’ll be able to browse the entries and vote for your favourites. The best entries receive a critique from our judge – and one winner receives a special prize, courtesy of Lowepro! Your mission in issue 177 was to create cracking pictures at sunset and sunrise – and during all the dark hours in-between. Hundreds of night-time images were submitted and, as you might imagine, the Milky Way made an appearance in more than one shot – including the stunning overall winner from Marek Kosiba, pictured above. Don’t miss out! To be in with a chance of winning a Lowepro backpack, enter this month’s…

ROBERT Mapplethorpe’s work has inspired everything from reverence to outrage. He’s best known for his distinctive, masterly studies of flowers, which have been widely praised, as have his celebrity portraits of people including Debbie Harry, Andy Warhol and his close friend Patti Smith. However, his erotic and even pornographic images of gay fetishes have caused controversy, particularly when exhibited in the USA. How did he get into photography? Mapplethorpe was born in Queens, New York, in 1946. In 1963 he began studying drawing, painting and sculpture at college in Brooklyn. His work included collages made up of other photographers’ work, but he started to shoot his own images in 1970. He used a Polaroid camera but in 1975 he began using a Hasselblad. He started shooting portraits of friends and…

SPECIFICATIONS Sensor 24.2MP APS-C Exmor Focal length conversion 1.5x Memory SD/SDHC/SDXC(inc UHS-I)/Memory Stick Pro Duo Viewfinder 0.39-inch OLED EVF; 2.36 million dots Max video resolution 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,160) up to 60p ISO range expandable to 51,200 Autofocus points 425 points (phase-detect AF); 169 (contrast-detect AF) Max burst rate 11fps Screen 3-inch LCD, 921k dots, tiltable Shutter speeds 30-1/4,000 sec, Bulb Weight 404g (including battery and memory card) Dimensions 120 x 67 x 49mm Power supply Rechargeable Li-Ion battery (NP-FW50) The new 24.2MP Exmor CMOS sensor is more efficient at gathering light and reading out info than the A6000 Sony has done a stellar job to get its Alpha line of compact system cameras and lenses firmly established in the mirrorless camera market, with everyone from complete beginners to…

THERE’S a lot to be said for Sony’s lightweight yet high-performance compact system cameras, like those from the A7 and NEX series. So much so that users of relatively bulky Canon SLRs might feel tempted to jump ship. One thing stopping them is that their existing lenses won’t be compatible. But the new Sigma Mount Converter MC-11 goes some way to changing that. The high-tech converter enables you to mount 19 of Sigma’s current Canon-fit (or Sigma-fit) lenses on a Sony E-mount body. It ensures the correctly spaced physical coupling, and enables electronic control of autofocus, aperture, and more besides. In-camera corrections for peripheral illumination, distortion and lateral chromatic aberration are available, even though these aren’t supported when using Sigma’s Canon-fit lenses on actual Canon bodies. The built-in electronics and…