Table of contents for July 2021 in Digital Camera Magazine

With a busy summer staycation on the horizon, why not make 2021 the year you take your best-ever seascape shots? Turn to page 56 for an in-depth masterclass on capturing the coast, and ride the wave of hints, tips and expert advice. If you’d rather stay local, though, then another raft of projects awaits in Photo Active (p16) and Stay at Home (p43), while Camera College offers an introduction to still-life photography (p68). On other pages, you’ll find plenty of inspiration: Hotshots showcases the Portrait of Humanity Awards 3 (p78), and in our interview (p134), leading wildlife photographer Marsel van Oosten discusses his new book Mother. Plus, if you enjoyed BBC4’s The Great British Photography Challenge, we chat to the contestants, from page 10. For fans of camera kit, this…

Download 53 minutes of video training for Photoshop, Lightroom and Affinity Photo. FILE & VIDEO www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc244…

10 things to shoot, edit or create this month, including starry nights, floor-based fashion and everlasting love Garden birds are great to see at any time of the year. A common visitor to our gardens is the blue tit; they enjoy a wide range of natural food, but appreciate being offered something extra – so we always hang some food from our magnolia tree for them. I decided to try to capture these busy little birds with my Fujifilm GFX 50R and GF 110mm f/2 lens, plus a Godox V860II flashgun. I waited for a solitary arrival to alight on my target area. The blue tit took up several poses, and I snapped away until it decided to depart. It seemed completely unaware of the high-speed flashes and continued to…

In the most basic terms, DxO’s Nik Collection (www.dxo.com) is a set of post-processing filters that can be highly customised after application. They can be opened from your default editing software, such as Photoshop or Lightroom. Once you’ve finished with your edit within your chosen Nik filter, you can click Save to return to your original editing software with the new style applied. You can also open images directly, then save them directly as new JPEGs onto your computer for posting on the web or printing out. Some people hate the idea of using pre-made filters, but if you’re keen to experiment, Nik Collection gives you a great platform to start from, and still end up with a final image that reflects your own taste and input. You can even…

There are plenty of great opportunities to catch beautiful portraits this summer, but if you want to enhance your images, one of the best skills you can learn is how to retouch the skin. Luckily, there’s a method I’m going to show you in Lightroom Classic CC that is fast, effective and surprisingly straightforward. The Spot Removal Tool is a really easy way to edit out flaws. Whether your model happened to have a bad breakout on the day of the shoot, or you simply want to remove some flyaway hairs, the Spot Removal Tool can be a life-saver whenever an otherwise amazing portrait has some small imperfections. It’s just as handy for removing dust sensor spots from landscapes, for example. The Spot Removal Tool replaces any area that you…

The lazy days of summer are here, which means more spare time to try a new photo project or two! This is where we suggest some ways in which you can while away an evening and develop your photo skills at the same time. This issue, Niamh Cottle shows how you can try a fashionable food photography style at home by serving up her flat-lay food project. Next, Dave Kai Piper upcycles his archive to craft a brand-new fine-art montage. And Digital Camera readers share their landscapes, portraits and more! PLUS! Visit our website for more home-focused inspiration www.digitalcameraworld.com/tag/homephotography www.digitalcameraworld.com/tag/homeworking…

1 ‘Tulips’ by Donald McIntosh “I liked your example of ‘A trace of fine art’ (page 64, issue 241.) My take on the technique was to prop up an plastic poly pocket just in front of the tulip. The backlight was a foot away with a fabric diffuser on it. I added a warmer glow in the edit, and really enjoyed the whole process.” Digital Camera says: We always feel a warm glow when readers feel inspired by past projects to get creative themselves. This image is beautiful, Donald: the simple use of three colours, the fine detail of texture on the poly pocket sleeve, a composition that leads the eye across the entire image, and a great exposure. You should be very pleased. 2 ‘Nuts about nuts’ by Steve Raven “Busy…

With over a decade’s experience as a writer and photographer, James is also an accomplished image editor – and an expert in Affinity Photo. SPONSORED BY FILE & VIDEO www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc244 In an age when even the most basic camera is capable of producing high-resolution images of crystal-clear digital clarity, there’s a certain charm to old photos and faded prints with their skewed colours, blurry details and imperfections. Thanks to Instagram and the like, vintage effects and filters can be added with ease in a matter of seconds. But if you want greater control and more individuality to your retro image, then it’s worth spending the time to create your own bespoke treatments. Affinity Photo offers a host of useful tools for custom retro effects. In this project we’ll look at…

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. 31 FREE TEXTURE EFFECTS digitalcameraworld.com/dc244 Textures have long been in the creative arsenal of photographers seeking to add an extra veneer of artistry to a photo. Whether you ‘sandwich’ a negative with a texture screen in a traditional darkroom, or produce a print on a textured substrate like rough canvas, the option to combine a picture with something that changes its appearance is as old as photography itself. The digital form of this approach gives an unparalleled level of control; although there are options under Photoshop’s Filter menu, the fun really starts when you combine a regular photo with one or more shots taken of a textured surface.…

James is a professional photographer who specialises in landscape and portraits. He’s an advanced Photoshop user and has created hundreds of tutorials. Even when you process your raw files in Lightroom or Camera Raw, there can be times where you find that more contrast is needed once the image is open in Photoshop. But rather than taking a one-dimensional approach to contrast, there are surprisingly many ways that you can apply it alongside other effects. At the most fundamental level, adding contrast is about increasing the proportion of black and white points in images – but there’s so much more that you can do with something so seemingly simple. We’re going to look at how Curves allow you to take more control over contrast, with the ability to apply different…

The Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S, a constant-aperture mid-telephoto macro lens, features S-Line optical design, with a smooth and silent multi-focusing system. Nikon’s anti-reflective Arneo and Nano Crystal coatings will combat ghosting and flare, while in-lens Vibration Reduction (VR) will enable handheld shots at slower shutter speeds. The Nikkor Z MC 50mm f/2.8 is billed as “a compact and versatile lens that’s ideal for starting macro photographers”. Its rounded nine-blade constant aperture will be ideal for bokeh, and an AF focus limit switch will enable the lens to focus more quickly on subjects within the 0.16m-0.30m range. www.nikon.com; Z MC 105mm, £999/$999; Z MC 50mm, £649/$649…

The latest version of this hugely popular suite of eight plug-ins brings major updates to two of them: Silver Efex Pro and Viveza. Silver Efex Pro is a dedicated black-and-white plug-in that replicates the look of classic films, while Viveza offers global and colour adjustments. Elsewhere, Nik Collection 4 brings better integration with Lightroom and Photoshop and a new Meta Presets feature in the Photoshop Nik palette, which combines adjustments from different plug-ins. Buy Nik Collection 4 outright before 30 June to get it for £88.99 instead of £133 ($99.99 instead of $149); or upgrade it for £54.99 instead of £69 ($59.99 instead of $79). www.dxo.com Go to www.digitalcameraworld.com for the latest news, reviews & techniques…

Powered by a simple USB cable, this super-portable ring light delivers 10 different brightness levels and three different colour temperatures, all at the press of a button. Ideal for shooting stills, filming video and videoconferencing, the Beamo can be used with a variety of Joby supports, including GorillaPod. Compact (30.6 x 30.6cm) and light, at just 330g, the Beamo can be taken anywhere you need to go, or just left set up at home, ready to be used. www.joby.com; £25/$30…

1 ELEPHANTS Global population: 447,500 (in the wild). Endangered The largest living land mammals on Earth, elephants are intelligent and emotional, often working together to help teach and look after their young. There are an estimated 447,500 elephants left on the planet, including 415,000 African elephants (down from 1.2 million in the 1970s) and 30,000-35,000 Asian elephants. For the first time, IUCN recently listed the African forest elephant as Critically Endangered and the African bush elephant as Endangered, following dramatic population declines over several decades. An estimated 55 African elephants per day are still being killed by poachers – one every 26 minutes – with habitat loss the other threat facing them. The total number of Sumatran elephants is estimated to be around 1,400, with potentially only 10 years to…

www.ukdigital.co.uk The Laowa 11mm f/4.5 FF RL is the latest in Venus Optics’ line of exotic lenses. This ultra wide-angle offers an impressive 126° angle of view for full-frame mirrorless cameras, giving full-frame shooters the kind of extreme focal length that’s typically reserved for crop-sensor systems. It doesn’t boast the manufacturer’s Zero-D designation, however, meaning that distortion isn’t as well-controlled as in something like the Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D. Like all Laowa lenses it’s also fully mechanical, with no electrical contacts to communicate Exif data or facilitate aperture or autofocus control, so this is a completely manual optic. If you’ve ever used full-frame ultra-wides before, you’ll know that they are typically big, bulky, awkward things. Not so the Laowa 11mm, and this is undoubtedly the biggest selling point: this lens…

Travel tripods have been steadily evolving over the last few years, and the Peak Design Travel Tripod feels very much the next step in the process. It packs down to a particularly slimline form factor, yet stretches to a useful maximum operating height, and boasts plenty of innovative extras. The Manfrotto Befree 2N1 is another solid performer and includes a monopod configuration, which is missing in the Peak Design tripod. However, the Manfrotto Befree 3-Way Live Advanced is a better fit for videography and the only tripod in the group to feature a three-way head. The Kenro is another attractive proposition, especially if you want a pivoting centre column, but it’s rather larger and more weighty. The Novo Explora T10 also has a relatively large build, but both these tripods…

Sujata Setia Family photographer The founder of But Natural Photography takes us behind the scenes of one of her shoots, and explains how to capture special personal connections. Page 38 Carl De Keyzer Documentary photographer Having traversed the US in 1990 to document the state of religion, De Keyzer returned to shoot a follow-up in 2020. He explains all about the project on page 110 Graeme Green Wildlife photographer Learn about Graeme’s new project, conceived to show how photography can help combat the threat to endangered wildlife species, on page 112 Michelle Szpak Automotive photographer Having swapped weddings and portraits for motorbikes and cars, Michelle has never needed to look in the rear-view mirror. She shares some shooting tips from page 34 Jon Devo Photographer and writer Live video streaming…

HOW TO GET YOUR DIGITAL GIFTS STEP 1 ENTER THIS URL www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc244 Enter the URL above into the destination bar of your internet browser – we’re using Google Chrome, but other browsers work in a similar way. Please do not enter it in any search field or search bar (see the examples above). This will take you to a page on our website. STEP 2 START YOUR DOWNLOAD Just click the highlighted link Here you’ll find all the gifts and videos to accompany this issue of Digital Camera. Click on the link labelled Download the disc for Digital Camera 244 and your download will start. STEP 3 ACCESS YOUR FILES Open the. zip In your Downloads folder, or wherever you chose to download your files to, double-click the dc244-disc.zip file…

It has been just over two years since I first picked up a camera. I have always enjoyed nature and being surrounded by beautiful landscapes, and wanted a new way to experience being out in the countryside. So for my 30th birthday I asked for my first-ever DSLR camera (a Canon EOS 1300D) to start capturing the places I visited, hoping to share their beauty and teach myself some new skills. I began going out locally to understand the fundamentals of photography – but it was after a visit to the Peak District, where I experienced my first cloud inversion and felt the peace of an early-morning sunrise, that I realised this was going to be more than a hobby. It had almost instantly become my lifelong passion. I recently…

The Milky Way is by far the most common night sky subject used in landscape astrophotography, and for good reason. The Galactic Core of the Milky Way is very big and bright. It will show up quite prominently, even in ultra-wide-angle lenses. The rest of the Milky Way that arcs through the sky is also quite bright and makes a great subject for panoramas. There’s quite a bit of colour in the Milky Way from the stars and nebulae scattered throughout it, and the Galactic Core has an interesting texture caused by dust clouds that block light, creating dark areas – including the ‘Dark Horse’, so named because if you look at it from the right angle, it looks like the silhouette of a horse. The Galactic Core is sort…

Passionate and artistic are just a couple of the words Michelle Szpak’s clients use to describe her motorcycle photography. Michelle has been a pro photographer since 2006, but says it has been a crazy journey to find her niche in the photography world. Michelle’s career started in the same way as that of many photographers, with weddings and portrait work. She acquired her first family portrait studio in 2009 – but it took until 2013 for her to start photographing motorcycles. Michelle is a keen motorcyclist herself, but until a fellow biker asked if she would photograph him and his bike, it had never crossed her mind to bring this love into her photography. That shoot sparked a creativity and passion for change and something new. In 2014 Michelle found…

Recently I became a Sigma Ambassador, and will be using the new Sigma fp L camera and a bunch of L-Mount lenses. Regular readers of this column no doubt will have picked up on the fact that I’m not a hardcore techhead. I value ideas, creativity and ‘seeing’ over drooling over the latest camera tech; that said, I believe passionately that choosing the right tools is a vital part of the creative process. To that end, I will still be using my much-loved medium-format Fujifilm, but I will also use the Sigma fp L alongside it for projects where its unique characteristics are more appropriate. The camera’s small size, high resolution and great range of lenses make an attractive proposition. I can see it fitting nicely into my creative toolbox;…

We all enjoy cooking and eating food – so why not go a step further and photograph your culinary creations? A lot of detail and time can go into making just one food photograph, but I’ll show you how to style and position food, how to set up your camera and light the scene, and how to edit the images. In this project I will explore different ways to photograph food while using inexpensive equipment. I will show you how to use everyday kitchen objects to manipulate the light produced by an external flash, and teach you how to style and position your food, for example by adding condiments to the image to create a narrative. I will also take you through some basic edits when it comes to processing…

Everyone enjoys a trip to the seaside, but for landscape photographers, it’s not just the idea of chips and ice cream on the promenade that whets their appetite. The coast is an exciting location that can provide a huge amount of scope for eye-catching photography. So while you’re on holiday or having a day out at the coast, don’t forget to take your camera with you. During the summer months, sunrise can be as early as 4.30am, with sunset as late as 9.30pm, which means you can be out shooting well before the day begins, with time for a nap before breakfast; or you could shoot after your evening meal. This makes seascapes the perfect subject on holiday, because the early and late golden hours won’t interfere with your day.…

Whenever you look at a seascape image and wonder, “How did they do that?” chances are the effect was the result of shutter speed control and the use of filters. Sure, you can shoot HDR or split raw to maintain sky detail rather than using ND grads, and the results look great if that’s the approach you decide to take. But if you want to extend exposure time to blur water, or to remove reflections from the surface of water, you have to use filters. PRO KIT REVERSE ND GRAD FILTERS ND grads come in several graduation types. Hard grads, with a short transition from full to no effect, are commonly used for seascape photography, because they’re ideal for flat horizons. Reverse grads, which have a hard graduation moving up…

Every seascape photographer needs a wide-angle lens, but not all wide-angles allow you to capture dramatic images. Any focal length below and including 35mm is considered to be wide-angle – but for the most eye-catching results, a 16mm lens full-frame or 10mm APS-C is ideal, due to their ability to get close to the subject and exaggerate perspective. For the ultimate in flexibility, however, a 16-35mm zoom for full-frame or an 10-20mm APS-C are excellent lens options. Exaggerated perspective (Top) Saltwick Bay, North Yorkshire Getting up close to the wreck and shooting at 16mm has made it appear larger in the frame. The camera was less than a metre away, which makes depth-of-field tricky, but focusing at a third of the depth of the scene beyond the foreground at f/13…

The beauty of still-life photography is that you don’t need much kit at all: any camera and almost any lens can be put to good work. You don’t need a great deal of space either. Having room to set up a tripod is going to help, as it will allow you to frame your still-life set-up with precision, as well as enable you to use the optimum camera settings. A different selection of backgrounds will prove useful. For tabletop set-ups, a sheet of white card and some black velvet are going to be well-used assets, but backdrops with more vibrant colours and those with interesting textures can also come in handy. A reflector or two is good to have around – you don’t need anything fancy, as a couple of…

You can apply effects such as texture, grain and a vintage colour palette in editing software, but it can be rewarding to experiment and take an in-camera DIY approach. For example, you can achieve a soft, hazy look by simply breathing on the front element of the lens and taking shots as the moisture evaporates. To create selective areas of blur and sharpness, try dabbing Vaseline onto part of a clear filter. A less messy option, as shown here, is to simply wrap some clingfilm over the front of the lens. You can tailor the effect by leaving a gap where you want elements of the picture to be sharp, and by feathering the film around the edge to provide the blur.…

‘Wanda’ Suzanna Szamocka “This photograph was taken just as Poland’s lockdown restrictions were easing. It was the first time I had visited my grandparents in two months, and they had been in isolation for several weeks. My grandmother seemed concerned about the world but calm; happy to see me, but sad to be closed off from the world.” ‘Lhabhum and Arte’ Phoebe Theodora “Lhabhum is a Tibetan refugee who works in a London care home for people with special needs. He had recently lost one of the residents to Covid-19. It was a huge blow. Here he sits with one of his four daughters.” ‘Protesters’ Virginia Hines “I encountered this young man at a Black Lives Matter demonstration, less than two weeks after the tragic death of George Floyd and…

With over a decade as a writer and photographer behind him, James knows exactly which Photoshop and Lightroom tools and techniques matter most. The Texture control is one of the best tools in Camera Raw and Lightroom for controlling details in your images. On the face of it, the slider is very simple – drag one way to increase detail, drag the other way to decrease it. But used in combination with other excellent Camera Raw or Lightroom tools like the Adjustment Brush and Range Masking, the Texture command becomes even more powerful. While the name may imply that this tool is best at enhancing textures, in fact it’s often at its best when doing precisely the opposite. A negative texture value can result in a wonderful softening effect –…

Conducted online due to Covid-19, the Tipa World Awards recognise excellence in 40 categories of imaging products, rewarding achievements in the fields of design, technical innovation, capabilities and performance. Sony racked up three gongs for new cameras, including Best Full-Frame Professional Camera for the Alpha 1, and Best Photo/Video Camera Expert for the Alpha 7S III. There was also recognition for a new Sony lens, as the Best Prime Standard Lens went to the FE 50mm f/1.2 GM. Sigma aced the lens standings, meanwhile, with awards for the 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS | C (Best Ultra-Telephoto Zoom), the 85mm f/1.4 DG DN | A (Best Portrait Lens) and the 105mm f/2.8 DG DN Macro | A (Best Macro Lens). Nikon collected awards for its Z 6II (Best Full-Frame Camera…

Lighter and much less expensive than its S Pro 50mm f/1.4 sibling, Panasonic’s new optic is designed for both stills and video, with micro-step aperture control for smooth exposure shifts, suppressed focus breathing, and a weather-resistant construction. It’s light for a full-frame f/1.8 prime, at just 300g. Optical construction consists of nine elements in eight groups, with three aspherical lenses, one ED lens and one UHR (Ultra-High Refractive Index) lens. High “descriptive performance” is promised by Panasonic, plus beautiful bokeh boosted by a nine-bladed diaphragm. www.panasonic.com; £429/$449…

www.sigma-imaging-uk.com The Sigma fp L is a 61-megapixel version of the original Sigma fp, launched in 2019. From the outside, the two cameras are identical: the Sigma fp L has the same compact, rectangular shape, with a fixed rear screen and a switch on the top for swapping between Cine and Still modes. The Sigma fp concept is odd, but intriguing. Sigma wanted to make a modular camera that could be adapted to all sorts of uses. The fp L is basic in the extreme: there’s no built-in viewfinder (although you can clip on an optional EVF unit sold separately or as part of a kit), and the rear screen doesn’t even tilt. The idea is that you get accessories for particular kinds of work, and ‘build’ your working rig…

www.adobe.com The full version of Adobe Photoshop can appear daunting to a photography novice. Photoshop Elements cuts to the chase by focusing on overcoming common photo problems, such as removing colour casts or straightening tilted horizons. As Elements contains only essential photo-fixing tools, it is far easier to master than the ‘full-fat’ version. Elements’ useful Guided Edit modes give you easy access to the key tools required to help fix picture problems. Thanks to features such as Adobe Sensei AI, they enable you to give your shots a creative makeover without needing years of experience to master the full version of Photoshop. Elements also boasts distinct tools of its own, such as the new social-media pleasing Moving Photos effect. You can buy Photoshop Elements 2021 on its own, or in…

Practically unique amongst modern travel tripods, this recently launched Befree Advanced kit comes complete with a three-way head rather than a ball head. The locking handles cleverly fold in good and tight, so you can still swing the legs up to encircle the head for compact stowage. Equally useful for photographers and videographers, the three-way head features Manfrotto’s ‘fluid drag system’, which aims to deliver smooth control for both panning and tilt movements. Flip locks are fitted for the extending leg sections, rather than the more usual twist-action locks, but they’re quick and easy to use. None of the legs can be removed for use as a monopod. They’re made from aluminium; there’s no carbon-fibre edition. Performance Resistance to flexing and vibration is pretty good. The three-way head provides precise…

9 ALL-NEW TIPS CARDS Our collectable shooting tips cards enable you to carry handy settings and suggestions around in your kit bag, ready for when you need them. This issue, get wallet-sized advice on capturing lighthouses, slow-sync portraits and making the most of the golden hour. NEW-LOOK TIPS CARDS! ✔ 9 subjects ✔ Techniques ✔ Settings ✔ Kit list 31 texture effects for Photoshop CC Create a distinctive visual style for your photos by applying textures as overlays. Look in the Gifts folder in your download for the 31 texture effects, then turn to page 88 for Jon Adams’ guide to applying the textures over your images using Photoshop CC. 31 FREE TEXTURE EFFECTS digitalcameraworld.com/dc244 Buyer’s Guide ebook 256 pages of the latest camera and lens reviews, plus buying advice for…

When you start shooting photos of any kind, you might look back later on and discover that they are often from a very conventional head-height angle with your subject dead centre. You might then start to experiment further with the rule of thirds, placing the subject to the left or right of the frame; but the shots may still be quite predictable. Shooting fashion photos is a great way to get creative. You’ll always need to show off the clothing, but you’ll also want to impress people with a shot they feel they haven’t seen before – getting creative with angles, framing, depth of field and shutter speeds. This will also help you keep yourself interested in your own photography, or may even get you out of a rut. If…

Get this great Vanguard camera bag by subscribing today at: www.magazinesdirect.com/dcm/range32 or call 0330 333 1113 and quote ‘BM24’ Make sure you use this URL or quote the code on the phone: other offers are available that do not include the camera bag gift Subscribe to Digital Camera for a year and get this brilliant bag to store your camera gear Great features of the Vanguard Veo Range 32M camera bag • Fits a DSLR or a mirrorless camera with lens, 1-2 further lenses, accessories and a 13in tablet • 360 x 165 x 250mm on the outside; 320 x 135 x 230mm on the inside; weighs 840g without items • Front compartment for accessories, plus media card organiser and two side pockets for water bottles • Comes with waterproof…

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have hundreds, if not thousands of images, on your hard drives, yet will think little of them. Do photographers have to create new photographs to make new images, or can we find new ways to reimagine or repurpose images in our archives? Could there some hidden gems among your archives, ready for a whole new lease of life? As a long-form project, I have been photographing old houses in Ireland. Each day, I would head out with this goal in mind. I didn’t care about the weather or locations; in fact, I didn’t pay attention to much else aside from the building. The context of the images was pre-established before I even set off for the day. I would set up my camera and…

The way you organise the elements in a scene is incredibly important for images that exhibit visual balance and draw the viewer into the image. Simply lifting the camera to your eye and shooting without care or attention is definitely out of the question. Try composing handheld with the camera at different heights, and move around the subject to find the best angle before attaching the camera to the tripod. Next, start thinking about composition and how the different elements within the scene balance with each other. 1 Centrally composed It’s often said that you should never compose a seascape or landscape with the horizon or subject in the centre of the frame – but with some seascapes, it provides more balance than the rule of thirds. The reflection of the…

The relatively slow-paced nature of still-life photography means that you have time to make adjustments to the exposure. For that reason, you’ll have more control and consistency by working in Manual mode. For the best image quality, keep the sensitivity low at around ISO 100‑200, then choose an aperture that suits the subject. Some set-ups benefit from more front-to-back sharpness, in which case you’ll need to use a narrow aperture, such as f/16 or f/22. This may pull the background into sharp focus, too, which is something you may wish to avoid (in which case, use a larger aperture setting). You may end up having to use a slow shutter speed setting to produce a good exposure, which is why a tripod is essential. Keeping the camera locked in position…

Wireless control Flashguns with tilt-and-swivel heads allow you to bounce the light off a nearby wall, but taking the flashgun off-camera gives you more creative options. You may even be able to control the flashgun directly on your camera’s rear display. Soften the light Use an umbrella to spread and soften the light from an off-camera flashgun, either by bouncing the light from its interior, or firing the flash through it. A softbox will give the light more of a directional quality, as well as softening it. Make your own You don’t necessarily have to splash out on a purpose-built light modifier, as there are plenty of household objects that can help you soften and shape the light. I often reach for this piece of laptop packaging, as it’s so…

Tom Ballard In issue 242 of Digital Camera, we challenged our readers to shoot their best motion blur image. Well done to Tom, for ‘Bluebell Wood’. This is a fine example of motion blur by Tom. He has created a very pleasing artistic interpretation of a sea of bluebells, and wins a copy of Affinity Photo worth £49/$50. 2nd place: Christopher Taylor A great panning technique on the motorcycle has created an atmospheric image, with the bike and rider standing out against the background blur. 3rd place: Marie Brook-Smith Hats off to Marie for spotting the photo potential in this weathervane. It shows that even the most simple things can be used to create creative shots. Join us on Facebook! We’ll reveal the winner of issue 243’s Multiple Exposures reader challenge in a…

How does a camera’s meter work? The built-in light meter reads the amount of light that’s reflecting off the subject as it is shown in the viewfinder; the metering mode you select determines where this reflected light is being read from within that scene. What different metering modes are there? The main modes present in most cameras are Matrix, Spot and Centre-Weighted, although they may be called something different, depending on the manufacturer of the camera. For example, Matrix mode is variously referred to as Evaluative or Multi-Pattern, and some camera models offer additional metering modes. So which mode should I use? Cameras usually come with their Matrix metering mode set as the default and this is certainly the most useful for everyday scenes in normal conditions. Spot metering is…

Epson International Pano Awards open now The 12th iteration of these prestigious awards is calling for entries. Enter before 16 August to be in with a chance of winning a share of the $40,000 prize pool. For full details, visit: thepanoawards.com Last chance for Nikon UK summer discount British consumers have until 19 July to benefit from Instant Savings deals on a variety of Nikon camera kit. The savings are deducted at the point of sale – no registration or proof of purchase is required. www.bit.ly/dc244nikon Potato Photographer of the Year 2021 open now Support the Trussell Trust network of UK food banks by entering your best shot of a potato. Prizes worth over £2,000 include a Fujifilm X-T200 mirrorless camera kit. photocrowd.com/potato; £5 per image Update 3 available for…

Two new compact primes have been revealed in a development announcement, but there isn’t much else to go on. The Z 28mm f/2.8 is being developed as a wide-angle prime lens for everyday shooting, while the Z 40mm f/2 is being designed as a standard prime lens. Both lenses are full-frame optics, but their slim form factors will fit well on the Z 50 APS-C body. Neither lens carries the premium ‘S’ designation, so it’s expected they will both have an affordable price tag. www.nikon.com; £TBC/$TBC…

Designed for professional sports and news photographers, the Canon RF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM and RF 600mm f/4L IS USM will bring out the best in the forthcoming EOS R3 – the pro mirrorless body with 30fps continuous shooting and eye-controlled autofocus. While the optical construction of the two RF lenses is largely indistinguishable from their DSLR counterparts, the cutting-edge RF mount delivers an extra half-stop of image stabilisation. The new primes are also the first RF-mount lenses to feature a double power drive mechanism, enabling super-fast autofocus performance says Canon. www.canon.com; RF 400mm f.2.8L, £12,450/$11,999; RF 400mm f/4L, £13,410/$12,999…

An old hunting term for the five most-prized and dangerous animals for trophy hunters in Africa to shoot and kill, ‘The Big 5’ comprises elephant, rhino, leopard, Cape buffalo and lion. As both a photographer and a wildlife lover, I think photography is a far better way to celebrate animals than killing them. That’s why I launched a global initiative in April 2020 to create a ‘New Big 5’ of wildlife photography – shooting with a camera, not with a gun. Wildlife lovers around the world were invited to vote on the New Big 5 website for their five favourite animals to photograph or to see in photos. The idea behind the project was to get people thinking and talking about wildlife, and to focus attention on the global wildlife…

www.fujifilm.co.uk The new Fujifilm X-E4 is a slim rangefinder-style mirrorless camera with a classic external shutter speed dial, and really needs a slim lens with an aperture ring to set it off. The XF 27mm f/2.8 R WR is that lens, and is sold with the X-E4 as a kit, although you can buy it separately if you own a different X-mount camera. This is an update of the original Fujinon XF 27mm f/2.8, with the same optical configuration we’re told, but with the addition of weatherproofing and that all-important aperture ring. Fujifilm’s X-mount cameras use the APS-C format, so although this is a 27mm lens, its angle of view is actually equivalent to a 41mm lens on a full-frame camera. There’s also no optical stabilisation – only selected Fujifilm…

Most of us like to travel light. Any outing is likely to be more pleasurable without a heavy tripod in tow. Conventional tripods can be unwieldy, so we often leave them at home, where they’re of no use. By contrast, travel tripods are made to be compact and light. Traditionally, though, they’ve often been relatively unstable and too small to enable a comfortable operating height. The new breed of travel tripods aims to give you the best of both worlds. Many have legs that swing upwards for stowage, so that the head is encircled by the feet. This reduces the folded height by around 8cm to 10cm. Some models also include as many as five sections in each leg and a two-section extending centre column, reducing the folded height even…