Table of contents for May 2020 in Digital Camera Magazine

As lockdown continues, we want our readers to know that we’re here, we’re hard at work and we’re with you all the way. So this month, there’s an added emphasis on photography that you can enjoy at home. Photo Active (p10) kicks things off with a selection of fun, fulfilling projects to tackle indoors, and our new Stay at Home mini-series offers some suggestions for the photo housekeeping you’ve been meaning to do for ages. From page 37, find out how to scan prints with your camera, catalogue images like a pro, and take the first steps in building a photography website. Production constraints prevent us from offering physical gifts this month, but you can download Aurora HDR 2018, three photo bookazines, a gear guide, 12 Photoshop Actions and 48…

If you’re stuck at home, a great way to keep yourself entertained is to paint fruit. The trick with this type of image is to use a touch of bright colour teamed against a grey or monochrome background to make the remaining bit of colour pop from the page! For this easy project you will need some fruit, a piece of cardboard (an old cereal box is good), paint (I mixed child-friendly black and white poster paints together), a camera and lens (I used a 100mm macro lens, but a kit lens is fine). To light the shots, I bounced two external flashguns from the ceiling for even lighting; if you don’t have flashguns, you could simply place your setup next to a large window and use natural light. You…

Superheroes are omnipresent these days, jumping out of the pages of comic books and onto the screens of billion-dollar blockbusters. This makes superheroes a compelling subject to shoot – but as much fun as it is to photograph a cosplayer, you might struggle to get your favourite character in a suitably dynamic pose. So rather than a cosplaying model, try picking up an action figure or statuette of your chosen superhero instead. Flying or leaping characters work best, so we’ve gone for Marvel’s Spider-Man in an exciting web-slinging pose. We’re going to take a shot of Spidey, then superimpose him onto a cityscape image using chroma key compositing – the visual effects technique many people know simply as ‘green screen’. This enables you to replace a specific colour range, namely…

CHOOSE YOUR GIFT Subscribe today! myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/dcm/choose1 Subscribe to Digital Camera for a year and take your pick between these two brilliant bags! Editor, Digital Camera Choose from: 1 Lowepro Slingshot 102 AW • Carry a small DSLR or mirrorless with lens, plus 2-3 further lenses • Internal tripod compartment for a compact (33cm) travel tripod • Compartment for a 9.7in tablet, plus a secure rear document pocket 2 Vanguard Veo Go 34M messenger bag • Holds a DSLR/mirrorless, lenses, batteries + more • Comfortable sling design for easy access • Comes complete with an all-weather cover Top reasons to subscribe now! ✓ Vanguard Veo Go 34M messenger bag An ideal compact and stylish messenger bag for a small Nikon DSLR or Z-system mirrorless with tripod and accessories ✓ Lowepro SlingShot…

It may be one of those dull but important jobs, but if you don’t keep up with image cataloguing, you’ll regret it in the long run. Cataloguing is an essential part of the housekeeping that all photographers need to do, and applying the ‘little and often’ principle will prevent this routine task being overlooked and turning into something unmanageable at a later date. So what does image cataloguing entail? In its most basic form, it is importing your digital capture files onto your computer and adding relevant details to the information stored with them, before putting them somewhere they can be easily retrieved from later. When you acquire images from the camera, unless set up to do otherwise, your image capture or editing software will import the files using their…

With over a decade as a writer and photographer behind him, James knows exactly which Photoshop and Lightroom tools and techniques matter most. Like most photography magazines, our image-editing advice has usually centred around Adobe software. This isn’t because of bias, but because – with Photoshop and Lightroom – Adobe has consistently offered the best photo editing tools, and has done so since the dawn of digital photography. However, ever since Adobe embraced the subscription model in 2013, plenty of photographers – unhappy with the idea of paying for access to an image editor on a recurring monthly basis – have been looking elsewhere for their retouching solutions. Whether you’re a casual user or a pro, the good news is, there are other options out there – and some of…

Digital imaging technology has made capturing sharp photographs more achievable than ever before. Across the board, from an entry level camera to a pro-spec DSLR, image sensors are capable of producing sharpness that would have been unthinkable in the days of 35mm film SLRs. In fact, with a modern sensor married to a quality lens, and as long as your focusing is on point, you can shoot sharp shots pretty much all of the time. But there are occasions when poor camera technique or sub-par settings will result in images that look soft. This can be frustrating if your main interests are photographing fast-moving objects, or subjects from distance, like wildlife. Although you may initially want to blame your lens when you come away with a soft shot, there are…

Vertical focusing Able to detect horizontal lines of contrast that ‘break’ the vertical sensor, this type of AF point is the most widely used. These sensors can struggle with vertical lines of contrast, although rotating the camera slightly can help. Horizontal focusing This type of AF point detects vertical details, such as the edges of buildings and trees. It’s rare to find these as standalone sensors in today’s cameras, though: you’re much more likely to find a mix of horizontal and cross-type instead. Cross-type focusing Essentially two standard AF points arranged at 90 degrees to each other, this sensor has a greater chance of detecting contrast in a wider range of situations. The centre AF point in a DSLR is typically a sensitive cross-type one. Dual crosstype focusing With two…

Specifications Mount: Nikon Z 12 elements in 10 groups Angle of view: 84 degrees Diaphragm blades: 9 Minimum aperture: f/16 Minimum focusing distance: 0.25m Maximum magnification ratio: 0.15x Filter size: 72mm Dimensions: 78 x 97mm Weight: 450g www.nikon.co.uk The Nikkor Z 24mm f/1.8 S has pretty modestsounding specifications by today’s standards, but there’s nothing wrong with that. While some lens manufacturers have been bulking up their offerings and creating heavyweight f/1.4 optics and even faster glass, Nikon has stuck mostly to a more modest f/1.8 aperture rating for the prime lenses in its Z mount S-line stable. Sharing the same 72mm filter thread as the Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 S standard zoom, the 24mm has a very similar size and weight overall. As usual for Z-mount prime lenses, there’s a…

Canon seems to be on a mission to compensate for the relatively slimline bodies of its new mirrorless full-frame cameras by launching big, heavy lenses. This 85mm f/1.2 is a prime example in every way; its price tag is pretty massive as well. Premium glass includes aspherical and UD (Ultra-low Dispersion) elements, along with high-tech Air Sphere Coating and BR (Bluespectrum Refractive) optics. The construction feels robust, with weather-seals and fluorine coatings. The ring-type ultrasonic autofocus system is much faster than in the older EF 85mm f/1.2 lens for DSLRs. Performance The BR optics do a great job of minimising axial fringing, virtually eliminating coloured fringes around outlines of objects in front of and behind the point of focus. Sharpness Centre-sharpness is pretty incredible, although there’s a drop-off towards the…

Nikon’s 50mm f/1.8 standard prime has been reinvented for mirrorless full-frame cameras, taking full advantage of the Z mount’s larger diameter and its closer proximity to the image sensor. Despite ‘only’ having an f/1.8 rather than a f/1.4 aperture rating, it’s considerably longer than Nikon’s popular F-mount 50mm f/1.4. The optical path is more complex, featuring 12 rather than eight optical elements, and includes two aspherical and two ED elements. Both lenses have a similar minimum focus distance of around 0.4m, but the newer model features a stepping motor instead of a ring-type ultrasonic autofocus system. Performance Due to its slightly narrower f/1.8 aperture rating, you can’t get quite such a tight depth of field as from the 50mm f/1.4 lens, but defocused areas can actually look a little smoother.…

We’d always considered this Sigma to be abnormally large and weighty for an 85mm f/1.4 lens – but that was before the Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 came out. Despite having a narrower aperture rating, the Sigma is still slightly longer than the Canon, and nearly as heavy. This full-frame compatible lens is available in Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony E and Leica L mounts. The build includes an aspherical element and two SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements, in an optical path that comprises 14 elements. Autofocus is courtesy of a ring-type ultrasonic system with the usual full-time manual override. Performance We’ve seen a slight ‘onion ring’ effect in the bokeh of some Sigma lenses. That’s not really an issue with this lens, which delivers super-smooth, high-quality bokeh. Sharpness Sharpness and…

Canon’s RF 85mm f/1.2L USM for its mirrorless EOS R-series cameras makes the very most of its telephoto focal length and super-fast f/1.2 aperture to deliver simply the best bokeh of any lens in the whole group. Bokeh just doesn’t get any better than this – but the lens comes at a high price and, with the lack of sensor-shift stabilisation in current EOS R and RP cameras, camera-shake can be a problem even at f/1.2, under dull lighting. Although the Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S has an aperture rating that’s a full f/stop slower, it comes pretty close to the mighty Canon in terms of bokeh, and is more compact, lighter and far more affordable. For those of us who still shoot with Canon and Nikon DSLRs, our first…

The digital advantage Your digital magazines can travel with you – even if you delete them, they’re free to re-download at any time. Subscribe today by visiting www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/photo Binders for your print issues Prefer print? Keep your mags together with our binder, which neatly holds a year’s worth of issues. We also sell back issues… www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/photo ON SALE NOW Professional Photography 25 Todd Hido, Cindy Sherman, Peter Steinhauer and Brian Griffin. Plus: war photography aesthetics debated, and creativity meets sustainability www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/photo Available on the following: Apple iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch Get the free Digital Camera app for your iPad or iPhone at www.bit.ly/DC_app (UK) or www.bit.ly/DCW_app (the rest of the world), then browse through our back issues or buy a subscription using the app. Android, PC or Mac Zinio:…

Claire Gillo Creative photographer Photographer and writer Claire is constantly coming up with new ideas and approaches, and shares three of her latest projects in Photo Active. Craig McDean Commercial photographer Meet a British-born photographer whose focus on originality has helped him to build a glittering CV shooting high fashion in New York, London and Tokyo. Alex Probert Photographer A distinctive take on Bristol’s much-photographed Clifton Suspension Bridge made us want to know more. Alex gives us the inside story on how it was shot. James Abbott Photographer Award-winning photographer and writer James shares some of his intimate knowledge of Photoshop. Find his valuable advice about colour and brightness on page 52. Emily Shardlow Aspiring photographer She may be only 11, but Emily has already decided that she’s going to…

You might think that a plastic bag has nothing to offer apart from carrying your shopping: however, you’d be wrong! If you enjoy creating abstract results with your photography, then this is the project for you. I experimented with a few different types of plastic bags but in the end, I found the best bags for crinkles are the very cheap thin white ones. I then used two different coloured bags around the outside of the white crinkled one to create the coloured effect. You can be really experimental here, so keep trying different methods: there is a variety of ways you could make the bags come to life! When it came to picking the right optic, I found my 100mm macro lens to be the best for getting crisp…

Photography has been my career (and obsession!) since the 1980s. I’ve always been fascinated by images and the way that we see and react to the world. I believe that photographs are so much more than just a simple record of what’s in front of the camera: they can conjure up all sorts of thoughts, emotions and associations that keep us looking at them long after we first see them. I’m the group reviews editor across Future’s photography division; the shot you see here was taken on a Nikon D780 on an official press trip to Iceland to test this camera. This photo was taken when we visited one of the country’s most famous waterfalls: it was packed with visitors, tourists and other journalists and I saw a different picture…

Although there is much to recommend fancy studio lighting and expensive kit, you can still capture amazing images without using them. Daylight is an incredible light source and capable of producing professional-looking results. For this month’s shooting challenge, we want you to ditch the studio lights and capture a portrait using only natural and ambient light. There are many approaches you can take to this challenge, from shooting your subject outside to using a large window as your light source, as in this example. Where possible, we suggest you avoid shooting in direct sunlight unless it’s at the beginning or end of the day, where the light is much softer and easier to work with. Strong sunlight will produce harsh shadows that can appear distracting and ugly… Saying this, there…

s you’ve just read in Photo Active, we’ve been working hard to put together some fun photography projects you can tackle at home. Going out to photograph your bucket list of spring assignments may be difficult at the moment, but there’s nothing stopping you turning your attention to some of the tasks you’ve been meaning to do for ages – like image housekeeping, digitising some old photos or getting around to building that photography website you’ve always meant to do. And that’s what we’ll be focusing on in the next few issues, in our new Stay at Home projects mini-series. NEW SECTION Projects to do in the comfort of your own home! PLUS! Visit our website for more home-focused inspiration www.digitalcameraworld.com/tag/homephotography www.digitalcameraworld.com/tag/homeworking…

PART 1 OF 4 Photo website building 101! Image housekeeping is a prerequisite of one of the jobs you’ve been wanting to tackle for ages. Having an online presence is essential for promoting your photography, but as wonderful as Instagram is (see page 28), you don’t need to be at the mercy of its algorithms if you have your own photo website. Imagine having full control of the images that appear on your site, as well as how they appear… and if you incorporate some added functionality from the outset, you can post regular blogs to maintain interest in your site and keep things ticking over – all of which will improve your site’s rankings in organic internet searches. Although a personal website is a great way of allowing family…

1 Zoom controls Use these controls to zoom in and out as you check the details in your image – especially when sharpening or applying noise reduction. 2 Before and after Split the screen vertically into a before-and-after display so that you can check your progress against the original image. 3 History drop-down Work backwards through the adjustments you’ve made – very handy if you need to retrace your steps. 4 Panel displays These buttons control the visibility of the Tools panel on the right of the screen and the Preset Effects browser along the bottom. 5 Preset effects These offer a quick and convenient way of applying creative HDR looks via a single mouse click; they’re organised into categories. 6 Layers Aurora HDR 2018 supports both adjustment layers and…

Digital Camera’s technique editor first used a DSLR to shoot movies, but he fell in love with photography and has never looked back. One of the simplest pleasures in photography is when you set a shallow depth of field, focus carefully on your subject and take your shot. The look and feel of the resulting sharp subject and blurred background is deeply satisfying. Conversely, there are few photographic mishaps to rival the disappointment when you review a shot and realise you hadn’t adjusted the depth of field – or maybe you were using Shutter Priority and the camera stopped down the aperture more than you would have liked. So it’s a good job that Lightroom offers a simple way to fix the issue, and give you the blurred background you’d…

The most common cause of soft shots when you shoot handheld will be camera shake. This means that the camera moves slightly while the scene in front of it is being exposed to the image sensor. We can blame shutter speed for this – in particular the choice of a speed that’s slow enough to capture the movement (under 1/30 sec, for example). In the hands of a fine-art photographer, intentional camera movement is a useful creative tool, but for anyone aiming to get pin-sharp photographs, unintentional camera movement will be a catastrophe. While the shutter speed needs to be fast enough, the focal length of your lens also plays a big part in determining how fast the shutter speed should be. There is a straightforward way of making sure…

This technique can be used with any lens, and enables you to shoot using its ‘sweet spot’. Focus stacking blends several images that have been focused at different points, to produce a single image that contains the sharpest parts of each shot, and is therefore sharp from foreground to background. It is straightforward to do, and can be carried out in dedicated software or in Photoshop. STEP BY STEP: SET UP THE CAMERA 1 Camera support Steady the camera. Use an aperture of f/8 or f/11. Make sure the highlights and shadows haven’t been clipped. Set your focus points Starting at the bottom of the frame, focus on a relevant point and take a shot. Move up the frame and repeat. 3 Fire the shutter with care To avoid any…

Mirrorless cameras have to use the image captured on the sensor in order to autofocus, as do digital SLRs when they’re used in Live View or video mode. This is called ‘contrast-detection AF’, because the camera measures the contrast level in the area covered by the focus point on the sensor. It’s slower than phasedetection AF, as the lens has to be focused back and forth to make sure it’s achieved the sharpest image. To get around this, many cameras now include phase-detection pixels on their imaging sensors. Take Nikon’s flagship mirrorless camera, the Z 7: this has 493 phase-detection pixels on its 41.7MP sensor, and uses a hybrid autofocus system that switches between phase-detection AF and contrast-detection AF. Canon uses its sensor-based phase-detection system – Dual Pixel CMOS AF…

SHORTLIST La Lucha Luisa Dörr Elizabeth la Loba Corazones fights against Alicia de las Flores in a ring in the outskirts of El Alto, Bolivia. In traditional Bolivian dress, the cholitas launch themselves at each other, executing moves in a dishevelled quest to win. Series: The Flying Cholitas In Bolivia, a group of female wrestlers known as the Flying Cholitas are changing society, one fight at a time. Dressed in voluminous skirts, bowler hats and embroidered shawls, these indigenous women have merged wrestling with activism. Over the years, as these women have gained more power and freedom, they have become symbols of female empowerment. OVERALL WINNER Eyes KyeongJun Yang Julie shows one of her worst memories in middle school. “I used to hate my mono lids. They defined me before…

Photo industry rallies around content creators Major players including Canon, Nikon, Sony and Fujifilm have stepped up to help beat the coronavirus outbreak, and to provide help for photographers in lockdown New product launches have been delayed and leading shows postponed until later in the year, but the photographic industry has stepped up during the coronavirus pandemic, putting its ingenuity and know-how to good use. Canon Medical is developing rapid genetic testing for Covid-19; Fujifilm’s medical division has created a drug that has found to be successful in treating the virus; and Sony has established a $100 million Covid-19 Global Relief Fund. Nikon has launched a Create Your Light social media campaign to keep photographers engaged and motivated during lockdown (#createyourlight), while photographers can participate in Fujifilm’s Stay Creative At…

www.fujifilm.co.uk Specifications Sensor: 26.1MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS 4 Image processor: X-Processor 4 Autofocus: 117-area hybrid phase/contrast AF ISO range: 160-12,800 (exp. 80-51,200) Max image size: 6,240 x 4,160 Metering modes: 256-zone, multi, spot, average, centre-weighted Video: C4K/4K UHD, 30/25/24p Viewfinder: Hybrid OVF/OLED EVF, 3.69m dots Memory card: SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS I) Max burst: 11fps Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Size: 128 x 75 x 53mm Weight: 478g (including battery and memory card) The Fujifilm X100V is part of Fujifilm’s X-Series camera range, but a bit of an outlier. Unlike its siblings, it doesn’t take interchangeable lenses. Instead, it has a fixed 23mm f/2 lens (35mm equivalent), which offers a classic focal length for everyday use and street photography, and a design that’s slim enough to slide into a jacket pocket. The X100V is…

Canon EOS-1D X at MPB RELEASED: 2012 PRICE NEW: £5,299/$6,799 (body only) BUY NOW AT MPB.COM: ‘Excellent’ £1,599/$2,089 ‘Good’ £1,204/$2,034 MPB EXPERTS SAY… When launched, the Canon EOS-1D X was miles ahead of a lot of cameras we’d seen before. The most impressive features were all-new autofocus, offering six presets for different shooting situations (and something that all high-end Canon cameras still offer to this day), and dual Digic 5+ processors that offered 12fps shooting. The combination of these really raised the bar in Canon’s professional DSLR range. TRADE IN YOUR EOS-1D X WITH MPB Canon recently launched the third version of its prospec workhorse, which means that now is a great time to upgrade to the model it replaces – the EOS?1D X Mark II. With a new sensor,…

Some of us get obsessed with the sharpness of lenses, and how much infinitesimally fine detail they can resolve. But for soft and dreamy images, bokeh is more important. Bokeh is a measure of the pictorial quality of defocused areas within an image. The trouble is, you can’t really measure it, as there’s no scientific test for good bokeh. It’s more a matter of subjective opinion, but there are still some rules. As with most things in photography, however, rules are only there to be broken. For starters, if you’re after good bokeh, you’ll need a tight depth of field. When you choose a lens, it’s therefore only natural to pick something with a telephoto focal length and a wide aperture rating. Both of these factors will help you to…

Tailor-made for Fujifilm’s APS-C format X-mount camera bodies, this lens has an effective focal length of 84mm in full-frame terms, thanks to the 1.5x crop factor. Because depth of field is more dependent on actual rather than ‘effective’ focal length, though, you can still struggle to get really smooth bokeh. Aiming to solve the problem, this lens not only has a super-fast f/1.2 aperture rating but also adds an apodisation filter, absent in the more basic edition of the XF56mm. The aim is to give so-called bokeh discs from defocused lights a softer edge and make them less obtrusive. Performance A drawback of the apodisation filter is that it reduces the transmission of light through the lens. Bokeh is beautifully smooth, but bokeh discs can still have fairly hard edges.…

For the ultimate in bokeh, look no further than the Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct. Sadly, few of us can afford to blow £8,300/$8,000 on a lens, however special it is. The Z 85mm f/1.8 S is currently the next best thing, with a useful focal length and a more modest aperture rating. This lens has no aspherical elements but still retains two ED elements plus Nano Crystal Coat. The construction is fairly compact and lightweight, but the build quality is equally good, with the same comprehensive set of weather-seals. Performance The quality of bokeh is deliciously soft and creamy. Defocused areas actually look smoother than from Nikon’s older AF-S 85mm f/1.4G for SLRs, despite the Z-mount lens’s narrower aperture rating. Defocused lights also look better rounded. Sharpness Centre-sharpness isn’t…

In a bid to take bokeh to the max, Sigma has created a 105mm telephoto lens with a super-fast f/1.4 aperture. Nikon also makes an AF-S 105mm f/1.4E ED lens, but in our tests, we’ve found that the Sigma produces slightly better bokeh. It’s also considerably less expensive than the Nikkor 105mm. The Sigma 105mm is big and heavy, and comes with a tripod mounting ring. Optical refinements include an aspherical element, three top-performance FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements and two SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements. Performance Both axial and lateral chromatic aberrations are negligible, and the overall quality of bokeh is beautifully soft. If anything, the depth of field generated by the focal length and f/1.4 aperture can be a little too tight, but bokeh remains very good. Sharpness…

When you buy a macro lens, your photography takes on a whole new perspective. It’s easy to think that macro is all about capturing close-up shots of insects or plants, but macro can be just as creative as any other genre of photography. By adding some miniature models, for example, you can turn a bowl of cereal into a macro swimming pool and produce some fun and inventive images. You don’t need fancy lighting, but you will need good midday light if you’re using natural light. If you own a light tent or lightbox, your cereal bowl will fit perfectly inside and the shot will really benefit. You could also use a macro ring light if you have one, although this will produce very directional light, and might create shadows…

Although we often try to fix our photos to make them look polished and squeaky-clean, there is also an art to making them look old, grungy and messy! This can simply be done by including a grunge-style border, which you can easily create yourself and use on multiple images. There are many stock websites out there where you can download them from (some for free, some for a fee). To create my grungy border, I used the Brush Tool in Photoshop, a textured image of some stone, and a piece of burnt paper I’d scanned. There are many options when it comes to creating your own border. Scanning or taking images of textures is one of the most effective methods, so get your thinking cap on! 1 Build it up…

NEW SERIES Instagram Inspiration Part 2 of 6 Social media has become so ingrained in our daily lives that it’s almost impossible to be a photographer without getting on the bandwagon. Many brands and manufacturers use the Instagram platform to attract new followers and customers with stunning imagery. Social media is still relatively new to some of us, and it’s hard to know how to navigate through these ever-changing platforms, understand what content people want to see and how to use it to share and promote our photography. Over the next few issues we’ll be providing 10 milestones to help you turn an Instagram account into a beautiful portfolio and community opportunity, attract views and hopefully grow your presence online to a social media-savvy generation. 1 Choose your account First,…

If you’re social distancing or self-isolating, you’ve got a lot of time on your hands right now. So this is the perfect opportunity to get round to sorting all those slides and prints that have been sat in a box, waiting for you to digitise them! Whether you have drawers full of fading prints that you took yourself, or boxes full of prized transparencies that were handed down from parents or grandparents, now is the time to get best of these shots onto a computer, where they can be shared with a wider audience via the internet. So what’s the best way of getting your old pictures onto Facebook, Flickr or your photo website? The most obvious answer is to use a scanner. Flatbed scanners for prints are built into…

HDR (high dynamic range) photography can produce spectacular images. It’s a way of capturing scenes with a tonal range so wide that you can’t capture them with a single exposure. By merging a series of different exposures, however, it’s possible to bring out extreme shadow and highlight detail in sunsets, night shots, interiors and other situations where you’re wrestling with wildly different light levels in different areas of the scene. HDR image capture and processing can seem technically daunting, and it can be difficult to get satisfying images that don’t look over-processed – but Skylum Software changed all that with the introduction of Aurora HDR. Not only can it merge a series of exposures seamlessly, it can then apply a huge range of HDR ‘looks’ via its presets and image…

LOOK! 12 great actions on your disc Jon is a professional photographer and writer. He also provides one-to-one and small-group tuition in both digital SLR and Photoshop image-editing skills. There’s an old adage: “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” How you present your shots can have a massive impact on the way a viewer perceives them – and how they perceive you, as a photographer! Even simply adding a neat, simple border to separate your image from the frame or your portfolio pages can give an immediate boost of credibility to the shot in question. It will look more professional and considered, and will move up a notch in your viewer’s mind, before they even study the content of your shot. Too make this process…

James is a professional photographer who specialises in landscape and portraits. He’s an advanced Photoshop user and has created hundreds of tutorials. The further along the photographic skill journey we travel along, the more we inevitably seek more complicated techniques to achieve the result we’re aiming for, but also to push ourselves to learn new creative approaches. This is natural, but the constant pursuit of pushing our boundaries can make us forget the power of some of the simplest approaches to image editing, with colour balance and image brightness being two of the most basic. Colour psychology is a powerful way to convey meaning, and is regularly employed by artists and designers to help create a mood or feeling that many people will understand, even if it’s a subconscious understanding.…

Depth of field refers to the extent of the sharpness of an image. If an image is noticeably soft in front of and behind the point of focus, then its depth of field is shallow; if the image is sharp from front to back, then its depth of field is broad. Depth of field decreases the closer you are to a subject, so accurate focusing is vital to ensure that your subjects are sharp. This is why narrow apertures are used in macro photography (see below). Even then, when you shoot extreme close-ups, the depth of field may be only a matter of millimetres. As a rule of thumb, there’s roughly double the amount of depth of field behind a focal point than there is in front of it. See…

When you shoot using JPEG quality settings, your camera applies a filter to the resulting images. This sharpens them and boosts the colours and contrast. This is why raw files can look slightly soft and washed-out when you compare a JPEG to a raw version of the same shot on the camera display. You can change the amount of sharpening applied to JPEGs in-camera by creating a user-defined Picture Style, and adjusting the sharpness setting. If you shoot in raw, a default sharpening effect is applied when you bring the image into raw-compatible image-editing software, like Lightroom or Camera Raw. WHEN TO SHARPEN AN IMAGE Sharpening is one of the most important steps in post-processing images. While ‘capture’ sharpening is applied to JPEGs in-camera, and to raw images upon being…

The choice of lens makes a difference to autofocus speed and accuracy. Some lenses have more powerful motors that drive high-speed shifts in focus, but the lens’s aperture makes a difference to autofocus performance, too. You will often see an f-number listed with the AF point information in a DSLR’s specification, such as “45 f/5.6 cross-type AF points” or “centre point is f/2.8 dual cross-type”. This tells you the maximum aperture that’s required to use the extra precision of these focus points. If you’re shooting with a 70-200mm f/4 lens, for example, you would be able to use f/4, f/5.6 and f/8 AF points, but would not be able to unlock the advanced features of those rated at f/2.8. It’s the maximum aperture (the lowest f-number) of a lens that…

The way in which you can manually select an AF point when you’re shooting with a viewfinder varies according to the camera you’re using. With beginnerfriendly bodies, you typically have to first press a focus point selection button, then tap the cross-keys on the back of the camera or rotate the main dial on top to move the active AF point from one position to the next. More advanced cameras bring you more advanced selection options, and the ability to customise the controls… 1 Joystick Your camera may have a joystick or pad that gives direct control over the AF point without having to press a button. Pushing the stick in on some cameras shifts the point to the centre. 2 Touchscreen The touchscreen on some mirrorless cameras (such as…

Emily is 11 years old, but has already had her photographs printed in National Geographic. This is her first interview with the UK camera press. Did your interest in photography come from your parents? No, I discovered it at Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens when I was six years old. My mum wanted a picture of a snow leopard, and I asked if I could use the camera. Mum was reluctant, but my dad convinced her to let me try. That’s when I got a picture of the snow leopard pacing, and I got it in full. Are animals your favourite subject? Yes. I have adored animals my whole life and think they are amazing. They are such a big part of my life that I don’t think I could live…

www.olympus.co.uk Specifications Sensor: 16.1MP Four Thirds Live MOS Image processor: TruePic VIII AF points: Contrast-detect, 121 points ISO range: 200 to 25,600 (expandable to 100) Max image size: 4,608 x 3,456 Metering modes: Digital ESP, centre-weighted, spot, spot with highlight control, spot with shadow control Video: 4K UHD up to 30fps, 1080p Full HD up to 60fps Memory card: SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I) LCD: 3-inch 180° tilting touchscreen, 1040k dots Max burst: 14.1fps; silent mode/e-shutter, 8.6fps mechanical Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB Micro, Micro HDMI Size: 117 x 68 x 39 mm Weight: 332g (body only; 380g with battery and SD card) Taken on its own merits, the Olympus PEN E-PL10 is, just like its predecessors, a great camera for travellers, vloggers and fashionistas. However, the problem is exactly that: the E-PL10 is…

Specifications Lens mounts: Canon EF-M (tested), Fujifilm X, Sony E Lens construction: 14 elements in 10 groups Angle of view: 24.4° Diaphragm blades: 9 Minimum aperture: f/22 Minimum focusing distance: 0.17m (2x) Maximum magnification ratio: 2:1 Filter size: 52mm Dimensions (dia x length): 57 x 100mm Weight: 335g www.venuslens.net Like many of Laowa’s offerings, the 65mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO promises premium performance at a pocket-friendly price. Laowa has fast carved a niche for itself not just as a purveyor of exotic optics, but of expertly engineered ones that offer more than just quirkiness or lower cost of entry – and this is no exception. Designed for APS-C systems using the Canon EF-M, Fujifilm X or Sony E mount, the Laowa 65mm Macro is a size and weight befitting…

This Canon full-frame compatible 50mm prime is the least expensive lens in the group. Even so, it’s nicely made and a big improvement over the previous edition of the lens. Enhancements include a more refined autofocus system based on a stepping motor, which gives smooth, ultra-quiet transitions ideal for movie capture. From a bokeh standpoint, the increase in diaphragm blades from five to seven is a more significant upgrade, giving a better-rounded aperture when you stop down a little. Although it produces a natural perspective on full-frame bodies, it gives an effective 80mm focal length on APS-C format Canon cameras, ideal for portraiture. Performance Bokeh is a little lacking in smoothness, on a par with the Nikkor DX 35mm on test, the latter being designed exclusively for APS-C format cameras.…

This lens is designed for DX (APS-C) format SLRs, on which it gives a natural viewing perspective, roughly equivalent to using a 50mm standard prime on a full-frame body. The f/1.8 rather than f/1.4 aperture rating and the fact that the lens only needs to produce a relatively small image circle, to fill an APS-C sized sensor, help to reduce the physical size as well as the cost. The construction is quite simple, with just eight optical elements in the line-up, one of which is aspherical. While most of the other lenses on test have a nine-blade diaphragm, this one only has seven. Performance Bokeh is reasonable for an inexpensive lens, but less smooth than from the pricier lenses in the group, apart from the Olympus. The aperture is fairly…

The Micro Four Thirds format really puts the ‘compact’ into compact system cameras and lenses. That’s mostly thanks to being based around a relatively small image sensor with a 2x crop factor. As such, this small 45mm f/1.8 lens has an effective focal length of 90mm in full-frame terms, delivering portrait-friendly reach. Depth of field is more dependent on the ‘actual’ rather than ‘effective’ focal length, so the modest aperture rating of f/1.8 makes good bokeh a challenge for this lens. The aperture is based on seven diaphragm blades rather than nine, although that makes no difference if you’re shooting wide-open to give bokeh the best chance. Performance Sharpness is pretty good across most of the frame, but bokeh is a bit glitchy and lacking in smoothness. Sharpness Sharpness is…

Sony’s G Master lenses have earned a solid reputation for overall performance and image quality, and for beautiful bokeh in particular. Typical of the breed, this 135mm f/1.8 prime utilises XA (eXtreme Aspherical), Super ED and regular ED elements in its construction, along with an 11-blade diaphragm that maintains a wellrounded aperture when you stop down a bit. For hands-on aperture control, there’s a physical aperture control ring with one-third f/stop click steps and a straightforward de-click switch to enable smooth transitions during movie capture. Performance The lens delivers sumptuously smooth bokeh, helped not only by the long focal length but also by the sheer optical quality. Defocused lights near the edges and corners of the frame can take on an elliptical appearance. Sharpness Centre-sharpness is phenomenal, but cornersharpness is…