Table of contents for September 2018 in Digital Camera Magazine

In a world where more and more pictures are taken on smarter and smarter mobile phones, there is one last bastion of creative control available to the serious photographer. The ability to change lenses is one of the key reasons we use our DSLRs or mirrorless CSCs. These cameras are part of a system that allows you to customise your optic to the subject you want to shoot, the distance you can shoot from, and the visual effect that you want to achieve. All too often, we use our zooms or switch our lenses simply to save ourselves having to move our feet. But it is the creative possibilities provided that most intrigue me… You can find out 10 of my favourite lens tricks in our cover story on page…

Background “Choosing the right background is really important. You don’t get any choice over where insects land – and the vegetation can be chaotic. You need an even tone for the subject to stand out, without bright areas or dark stems, which will be obvious even if they are out of focus.” Parallel positioning “A small aperture will still not get all of the subject sharp – and it will make the background less blurred and will mean the shutter speed is slower. You need to get as much of the subject into the plane of focus – this means carefully positioning the camera so it is parallel with as much of the insect as possible.”…

1 | Action Leap into the frame Claire Gillo reveals techniques to help you step up to the challenge of dance photography in a rural location Although the studio is a safe and comfortable environment to work in when it comes to dance photography, there is something magical about being in the great outdoors and capturing those impressive ballet moves in a wide-open space. For this photoshoot, we headed up to the wilds of Dartmoor in Devon with talented dancer Lydia Brayshaw. We selected a less well-known tor as our location to avoid the crowds! Despite Dartmoor being a vast open space, it can get rather busy at the popular tors, and you want to avoid people sneaking into the background of your shot. They can also be nosy and…

You can’t take a shot until the image is in focus. Once the camera has acquired focus, it stays locked at that distance, and you’ll need to take your finger off and back on the shutter release to refocus. General photography For everyday subjects, use Single Shot AF, as this won’t let you take a picture if the subject is blurred. Portraits Left to the camera, the focus might be locked on the tip of the nose, so use a single AF point to focus on an eye. Scenics Set an aperture of around f/11-16, and use Single Shot AF to lock the focus about a third of the way into the scene. The camera will continuously focus the lens while the shutter release is half-pressed. The focus is never…

free to enter! Enter our competition and win brilliant prizes! Now is your chance to bag some amazing prizes and test your photographic skills to the limit. Digital Camera Photographer of the Year is a major competition to discover exciting and talented photographers. With some great prizes to be won (courtesy of mpb.com, Rohan, Sony, Rotolight and Cewe), pro judges will choose winners across themed categories, as well as the overall winner. We want as many readers as possible to enter, so we’re revealing all of the categories now. You can enter as many categories as you like! The Prizes Our winner gets prizes worth over £7,100: • £2,500 voucher to spend at mpb.com • £2,000 Rohan shopping experience • Sony Alpha 7 III & 28£70mm lens worth £2,199 •…

Our reader Mick Osborne I ckworth is a National Trust property in Suffolk; they were right in the middle of the lambing season when I visited. It was a bitterly cold day around Easter, and there was a huge Easter egg hunt taking place. After walking through the lambs, I noticed that some of them were leaping about. I watched them carefully and a particular group caught my eye. They were by a fallen log, which was in a dip running and jumping all around it. Sadly, by the time I’d got to them to frame the shot they’d moved from the log. However, I managed to get this photo after about 10 minutes of waiting, so I was very pleased with that. I caught this on my Canon 750D…

We have Nikontact! Nikon confirms it is launching a new full-frame mirrorless camera and lenses on 23 August, both of which will feature a radical new mount Nikon has been teasing the announcement of its new camera line for weeks through a dedicated website, as well as a series of intriguing videos that play on the company’s heritage and hint at the technology that will go into the new camera. Teaser images have just hinted at what is in store, but Nikon has gradually been revealing more of the camera body. One image shows a front command dial, and some judicious use of Levels in Photoshop reveals A, S and M exposure modes on a mode dial and a ‘35’ figure on the lens. A hotshoe can also be seen…

Our tests yielded some unexpected results. For shooting action, the Nikon D500 comes out as the clear winner. Although the autofocus systems on these cameras seem equally capable, the D500’s lag-free optical viewfinder made it much easier to follow fastmoving subjects. When you throw in its enormous 200-shot buffer capacity, it puts the result beyond doubt. But most of us shoot more than just sports and will be looking for all-round capabilities, and here the tables are turned. Taking into account exposure, dynamic range and colour rendition, the X-H1 wins narrowly for image quality, and its mirrorless design means that you don’t compromise on autofocus when you switch to Live View mode. The X-H1 is smaller and lighter than the D500; its exposure controls are a delight to use; its…

ost standard zoom lenses give decent coverage, but wide-angle zooms go a whole lot further. With viewing angles of more than 100 degrees, you can shoehorn much bigger areas into the image frame. They’re ideal for the great outdoors, especially when you want to capture big skies and epic vistas in landscape photography. Extra-wide viewing angles can be vital for indoor photography, when you can’t get as far back from your subject as you might like. Wide-angle photography isn’t just about cramming more into the image frame. A key creative advantage is that you can really exaggerate perspective and inject some real wow-factor into your photos. Get in really close to the main subject in a scene, and it can take on a giant-like stature, with the middle distance and…

1 Nikkor 200mm f/4D Micro “This is my go-to lens when shooting insects with my Nikon D850. It is an old lens, but it is incredibly sharp. I also carry a Nikon 105mm f/2.8G macro, which has the advantage of VR image stabilisation – this makes it easier to use handheld, but you need to get that much closer to the subject, and it is harder to blur the background.” 2 Manfrotto Lumimuse “I didn’t use to be a fan of artificial lighting, but portable LEDs have changed my perspective. I use my pair of Lumimuse lights more than I do my reflector nowadays. I use them handheld or on a mini tripod.” 3 Westcott scissors “An essential tool of the trade – always with me to do a bit…

DSLR CAMERA 1 Main mirror As light passes through the camera lens, it hits the main mirror and is reflected up to the focusing screen. 2 Sub mirror Some light passes through the semi-silvered main mirror and is reflected down to the AF module. 3 AF module This has AF sensors that correspond with the position of the AF points visible in the viewfinder. 4 Optical viewfinder The image is displayed on the focusing screen. In Live View mode, an SLR acts like a mirrorless camera. MIRRORLESS CAMERA 1 No mirror As there’s no mirror in its path, the light passes through the lens to the camera’s imaging sensor. 2 Live View display The camera uses data from the sensor to set the autofocus, with the focus point set on…

Phase detection AF uses distance information to determine whether a subject covered by the AF points is sharply focused. SLRs use a dedicated autofocus module for phase detection. As a result, it’s a rapid-response system, although it can be prone to errors, as it relies on the lens, the AF module and the AF points working in harmony. This is not always the case, which is why some cameras include an autofocus calibration option. Contrast detection isn’t affected by focusing errors in the same way: it’s the final picture captured on the imaging sensor that’s used to set the focus. You also have more freedom for positioning the point of focus, as you’re not relying on fixed phase-detection AF points. Phase-detection AF The light reflected down to the AF module…

free to enter! Enter our competition and win brilliant prizes! Young people (25 and under) haven’t been left out of the Digital Camera Photographer of the Year competition! In fact, they have their own division within each category, with a fresh set of prizes to be won, as well as a chance to be crowned the overall Digital Camera Young Photographer of the Year 2019. The same panel of professional photographers will judge your entries, with the same themed categories as the main competition. You can enter up to five shots – see right. (You can also enter the main competition as well as this one!) The prizes Our winner gets prizes worth over £6,600: £3,000 cash • iPad Pro with Pencil, worth £ 1,387 • Sony RX10 IV, worth…

With a decade as a writer and photographer behind him, James knows exactly which Photoshop and Lightroom tools and techniques matter most. Photoshop’s Radial Blur command is one of several filters that let you blur the detail in your photos. What’s clever about this particular filter is the direction in which it blurs. As the name suggests, it lets you blur in a radial way – either in concentric circles or bursting outwards from a centre point. The latter option can be used to mimic the look of clouds in motion, as if they have moved across the sky during a long exposure. Of course, nothing beats capturing a real long exposure in-camera. But sometimes it may not be possible to do this. Perhaps you’ve been caught short without a…

Alexis Bliss, UK “I got this shot whilst on a very interesting hike, with views of Loch Lomond, the Highlands and the Campsie Fells. The flowers were close to a geological rock formation created by glacial plucking. Local folklore says the rock formation was created by the devil, who slashed through the rock with a whip of his tail as he flew overhead. I took the shot in the evening when the sun was low. I lay on my front to line up the flower head with the pockets of light shining through the foliage. This gave an interesting bokeh effect.” Sandra Kepkowska, UK “This photograph was shot in Arizona on The Wave, where permission for visit is a lottery every day. The image was taken early morning after a…

Our reader Will Fosky On my 40th birthday I touched down in the country I’ve always wanted to visit the most: Iceland. It was a dream come true! Instead of riding the ‘Hop-On, Hop-Off’ tour bus around Reykjavik, I decided to walk for miles in every direction, taking in the beautiful sights and some of the cleanest, coolest air I’ve ever experienced. This breathtaking sight is taken from the Observation Deck of the Perlan Museum, which offers a 360-degree view. It was shot on my Canon EOS 5D IV and a 24-70mm lens at 70mm. The exposure was 1/100 sec at f/16 and ISO 100. Our expert Andrew James Great shot, Will. Having stood on this very spot myself on the Observation Deck at the museum, it’s a very inspiring…

www.sigma-imaging-uk.com Competing in the ring of ultimate portrait primes, Sigma’s latest Art lens is up against pro-grade favourites including the Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM, Nikon AF-S 105mm f/1.4E ED and Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master. The Sigma overshadows them all, if only in physical size and weight: it’s heavier than most 70-200mm f/2.8 telephoto zooms. The optical design is based on 17 elements, laid out in 12 groups. These include three top-performance FLD (Fluorite-grade Low Dispersion) elements, two SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements, and one aspherical element. Multi-layer coatings are applied and a fluorine coating is added to the front element, to repel moisture and fingerprints. Unlike many of Sigma’s older Art lenses, this one has weather seals, including a rubber gasket on the mounting plate. As…

Your pro tutor Ross Hoddinott Ross Hoddinott is a multi-award-winning wildlife and landscape photographer, best-known for his close-up photography. He lives near Bude in North Cornwall. Check out his work at www.rosshoddinot.co.uk It may be obvious, but insects are much easier to shoot when they are perfectly still – and this means shooting them at the right time of day. “I rely on natural refrigeration for most of my shots of butterflies and damselflies,” says Ross Hoddinott, “so I photograph them right at the end of the day or just after dawn, when it is cooler and they are resting.” Our plan, therefore, is to do two different shoots – one in the evening, and the next at first light the following morning – in two locations close to Ross’s…

1 “I use Aperture Priority mode, with an aperture between f/5.6 and f/11.” 2 “I use Matrix metering, with exposure compensation as necessary.” 3 “For shady dawn images, I have my ISO set to 3,200 – but typically use a higher ISO than people expect. With my handheld shots in the middle of the day, I use ISO 800.” 4 “For the damselfly, I used a shutter speed of 1/200 sec, as even with The Plamp and the tripod, there is still some movement in the plant the insect is resting on. For handheld shots I would typically use a shutter speed of around 1/1,000 sec.” 5 “I use a Manfrotto 405 geared tripod head-on to fine-tune composition.” 6 “I focus manually, and use Live View. I use the Focus Peaking…

You might think that there was nothing new to discover about lenses. After 180 years of evolution, surely there can’t be much that you can invent in the optical design of our cameras? The truth is that lens design is now changing at a rapid pace – almost as quickly as the cameras that we attach them to. Bigger zoom ranges, wider angles of view, faster maximum apertures, higher resolutions and innovative designs seem to arrive on almost a weekly basis. It has never been easier for an enthusiast photographer to get hold of a super-fast prime, an ultra-wide zoom, or a ‘big Tom’ telephoto. AF speed and manual focus controls are getting more refined too. This revolution in lens manufacture has come at a crucial time – as it…

Landscape photographer Camera: Canon EOS 6D Lens: Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6L Exposure: 1/1,600 sec at f/6.3, ISO 400 simonbutterworthphotography.com This image is the first of nine that show the salt evaporation fields of Shark Bay, Western Australia. The reason the fields are blue is they flood the seawater onto the land, and then the water evaporates, leaving the purest salt in the world! A friend and I made the decision to hire a plane for the day. It was a pricey excursion, but fully worth it, as the expertise of the pilot and his knowledge of the area were vital. We got the pilot to fly quite high, around 4,000ft. The plane door was open, and I was terrified! This soon changed as we got higher, and it became a more…

Jon is a photographer and writer, and provides tuition in digital SLR and Photoshop skills. On this month’s disc or download, you’ll find a pack of 30 custom-made photo textures. These have been specially photographed and processed to add unique, creative effects to your images, and you’ll be surprised at how effective they are. Back in the days of film, texture screens were ‘sandwiched’ with the negative to get creative effects when custom-printing photos, but our digital files offer much more control and flexibility so you can achieve the precise effect you desire. To use them, all you need is an image-editing package that supports layers and Blending modes (such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements), and you can customise the effects to your heart’s desire to get stunning results. Here’s…

Reader 1 Jennifer Berry Camera: Nikon D850 Location: Swindon Jennifer has photography in her blood. Her father was a semi-pro who carried out photography for the armed forces as well as exhibiting his non-military work. After holding down a regular 9-5 job at Intel, Jennifer decided to follow her dream and became a freelance photographer, specialising in documentary photography. As well as providing images for editorial, commercial and private commissions, she assists Singapore-based photojournalist Edwin Koo and co-ordinates KIO International Photography Masterclasses in Nepal. www.jennifermjberry.com Reader 2 David Goodier Camera: Nikon D850 Location: Barnsley David cut his photographic teeth with a Zenith EM in his early teens, but had no interest in darkroom work. It was the arrival of digital cameras that caused his love of photography to explode, as…

Quintin Lake Roving photographer Quintin is past halfway in his 6,000-mile photo walk around the whole of the UK coast. www.theperimeter.uk This month’s route Helensburgh to Dunoon 5 days, 86 miles Total so far: 3,406 miles It’s been a sinister and thought-provoking couple of days walking the patrolled and razor-wired edge of the UK’s nuclear weapon facilities: the submarine base at Faslane and the nuclear warhead store at Coulport. I pass groups of hyper-fit Marines on training runs, vigilant police patrols, and the caravans of Faslane peace camp emblazoned with “Killer Trident” slogans. Unsurprisingly, there’s no pavement alongside much of the 18 miles of electric fence that protects the site. Occasional clipped, disembodied tannoy announcements and prison-camp- like lookout towers add to the sense of foreboding, and the constant rain…

If you want to shoot sports, wildlife and action, it’s a lot cheaper to do it with an APS-C camera than one of the full-frame models used by the pros. You don’t even have to compromise on durability and features, since both of the cameras featured here are designed for hard, professional use. They also represent a dilemma for photographers: the choice between DSLR and mirrorless camera designs. The Nikon D500 and Fujifilm X-H1 have many similarities. They have the same-size sensor with very similar resolution (20.9MP in the Nikon, 24.3MP in the Fujifilm), and both have advanced autofocus systems and high-speed continuous shooting modes. Both cameras can shoot 4K video, and the similarities extend right down to the price. The D500 is a little more expensive in the US,…

www.canon.co.uk New versions of both of Canon’s 70-200mm stabilised telephoto zooms are now available. The third edition of the f/2.8 is only a minor refresh, with added coatings on some elements and a new paint job that’s a slightly paler shade of grey. The new Mark II f/4 lens, on the other hand, has undergone a complete makeover. Naturally, the f/4 rating of this lens is a full f/stop slower than that of its f/2.8 sibling, but it’s significantly smaller and barely more than half the weight, at 780g compared with 1,480g. Indeed, a tripod mounting ring is only supplied as an optional extra. Even so, there’s nothing lightweight about the quality of construction, which feels very robust and features extensive weather seals, along with keep-clean fluorine coatings on the…