Table of contents for February 2019 in Digital Camera Magazine

As I’m writing this, the first cold snap of the winter has arrived. So what better time to don some warm clothes, pick up your camera and make the most of the transformative effect of snow, ice and frost? That’s our main theme for this issue, with 11 pages of tips on how to shoot winter wonderlands, plus a masterclass in the Canadian Rockies with Mike Mezeul. You can also find out everything you need to know about ISO, enjoy the Abstract & Creative category winners in our prestigious Photographer of the Year competition, and get inspired by 10 new projects in Photo Active. Equipment reviews this month include a flashgun group test – and don’t miss the incredible images by Jimmy Nelson, who discusses his new book Homage to…

Before plonking the tripod down just anywhere, Mike thinks very carefully about how to capture the scene in front of him, and what viewpoint to take… Composition “Really think about what it is you want to accomplish. Make it your mission to find foreground elements that are going to help your image. This could be a tree branch, for example, or leading lines in the ice. When you’re in snow, try to look at where you want to walk, too: once you step on it, snow is no longer pristine, and this will alter your image.” Focus Mike uses Live View to compose – and as his Nikon D850 has a tilting touchscreen, he can easily zoom in on areas when he wants to check the focus. “In terms of…

1 | LANDSCAPES Shoot winter dawn When the daylight hours are short head out for first light to capture those amazing skies and warm natural light There is nothing better on a crisp winter morning than watching the sun rising over the horizon and breaking through the clouds. Winter is the perfect time of year to shoot sunrise: for starters you don’t need to wake up at stupid o’clock in the morning to be there! Our sunrise was taken at 7.40am, which meant leaving the house at a reasonable 6.30am to be there on time. For our landscape shoot, we headed up to a viewpoint at Gallants Bower, near Dartmouth Castle in Devon, and composed our shot looking out over the sea at the mouth of the River Dart. In…

This type of image may appear complicated to create but in fact it is very easy to do. All you need is a model (you can use yourself and the self-timer setting if you can’t find a willing participant) and a paintbrush as a prop. You’ll also need to use some type of image-editing software where you can create separate layers to work on. We used Photoshop, but we also tried this effect with Affinity Photo (which worked just as well using the same process) and Photoshop Elements. In Elements we had to find an easy work-around as you don’t have the Black and White Adjustment Layer feature the other programs offer: we duplicated the background layer, then changed the top layer to monochrome and added a Layer Mask. To…

Jo Stephen has a distinctive abstract approach when it comes to documenting wildlife and the natural environment. Jo has worked in wildlife conservation and education, and even as a glass blower. She is currently studying for an MSc degree, exploring how art and photography can engender nature connection and healing for both person and planet. Jo took this eye-catching image at Winterborne Clenston, in the Winterborne Valley in North Dorset, where she lives. “Almost all of my photography is taken within a very small local area,” she says, “as I try to minimise my impact on the environment. But I also enjoy watching the seasons change in familiar and intimate landscapes.” If you want to see more of Jo’s work she will be featuring in the upcoming exhibition Plants and…

Gift worth £69.99 See the full range and order online at www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/dcm/vd42 or call 0344 848 2852 and quote ‘vd42’ *Terms and conditions: This offer is only available for new UK subscribers. Gift is subject to availability. Please allow up to 60 days for the delivery of your gift. In the event of stocks being exhausted we reserve the right to replace with items of similar value. Prices and savings quoted are compared to buying full-priced print issues. You will receive 13 issues in a year. You can write to us or call us to cancel your subscription within 14 days of purchase. Payment is non-refundable after the 14-day cancellation period unless exceptional circumstances apply. UK calls will cost the same as other standard fixed-line numbers (starting 01 or 02)…

1 Basic changes After some quick adjustments in Camera Raw (such as lens profiling), I open the file in Photoshop CC. First, I apply an Orton Effect to enhance the dreamy atmosphere. To bring back contrast and sharpness, I add the Tonal Contrast and Colour Contrast filters from the Nik Collection. 2 Contrast adjustments Adding local contrast is one of the most important parts of my digital workflow. I use Luminosity Masks, Curves and Levels to target the darks, midtones and highlights precisely. This helps to contrast the overall tonality without making the image look overprocessed. 3 Colour and final adjustments Enhancing contrast can change colour quite dramatically, so I always make quick colour corrections after the contrast adjustments. I like to reduce the overall saturation by using Saturation Masks.…

The ISO control acts like the gain control on an amplifier: the camera converts the light hitting the pixels on the imaging sensor into an electrical signal, which is then boosted according to the ISO. Strong signal Strong light creates more signal from the sensor, so less amplification or ‘gain’ is needed. Little grain The less the signal is amplified by the gain circuitry, the cleaner the picture will be, with less grain in the image. Weak signal Less light means less electrical current from the sensor. To avoid pictures being underexposed, the signal can be boosted. Strong g(r)ain The more the signal is amplified, the noisier the picture will be. At very high ISO settings, image detail will be obscured by coloured dots.…

THE JUDGE DOUG CHINNERY Winner Hruby This image stood out to me as a clear winner due to the striking composition, combined with the remarkable preparation of the model. I love the simplicity of the monochrome palette, drawing the viewer into the eyes of the model, with a strong use of dark tones there. Beautiful work. 2nd aidanvisuals I was drawn to this image for its simple, flat composition: layers of interest working horizontally through the frame, the cool tones of the hillside transected by the warm, dynamic flash of light. Simple and compelling, and thoroughly deserving of second place. 3rd Louis Bailey This image makes excellent use of bokeh in a multitude of colours, plus light against dark to draw the eye to the model’s face, the light there…

FILE & VIDEO Download the disc: www.bit.ly/dc212disc FREE! 12 Photoshop Actions on your disc Jon Adams Jon is a professional photographer and writer. He also provides one-to-one and smallgroup tuition in both digital SLR and Photoshop image-editing skills. Presenting an image in a slick way pays real dividends. First, it makes your work look very considered and complete; and second, it actually makes it look better – if that’s possible, of course! Our specially created Photoshop Actions bring you these advantages in lightning-fast time – and what’s more, they will resize your completed image to A4 or A3. This means they’re ready to print, and because the Actions automatically generate a neat white border around your pic, you don’t even need a card mount to set them off in a…

FILE & VIDEO Download the disc: www.bit.ly/dc212disc James Abbott James is a professional photographer who specialises in landscape and portraits. He’s an advanced Photoshop user and has created hundreds of tutorials. Shooting landscape images is a careful balance of being in the right place at the right time. And when it comes to processing, the aim is always to take advantage of this careful co-ordination and good luck to achieve the best image possible. What that image actually looks like is, of course, subjective. But with the right approach, it’s possible to take full control of a wide range of simple effects that look completely natural – and that’s the backbone of any type of landscape photography that doesn’t fall into the category of digital art. When it comes to…

Camera Olympus E-M10 Mark II Lens Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Exposure 1/1,250 sec at f/11, ISO 200 Challenge 1 Liz Kessler We’d not long met in Padstow when Liz adventured to climb down a ladder and capture this picture of a jetty leading out into the sand. She was immediately drawn to this subject by the very solid leading line of the jetty down the middle of the harbour, and by the reflections of the boats on both sides. “I liked the fact that by taking the photo from quite low down, the jetty pulls you quite firmly into the picture,” she says. Thanks to some very bright daylight – which was tricky to handle at times – Liz was able to shoot hands-free without a cumbersome tripod. She opted for…

£1,055/$1,295 www.blackmagicdesign.com Specifications Sensor: Micro Four Thirds, 18.96mm x 10mm ISO range: Dual Native ISO – 400, 3,200 Dynamic range: 13 stops Video: 4,096 x 2,160 (4K DCI), 3,840 x 2,160 (Ultra HD), 1,920 x 1,080 (HD) Frame rate: 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94, 60 fps Memory card: SD/SDHC/SHXC UHS-II, CFast 2.0 LCD: 5-inch fixed, Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) Connections: HDMI Type A (video out), 3.5mm audio out, 3.5mm stereo in, mini XLR analogue, USB Type-C Battery Type: Canon LP-E6 Size: 178 x 97 x 86mm Weight: 722g Blackmagic has been making cameras for about six years, ranging from small form-factor film cameras through to pro-grade studio cameras, all with a firm focus on video. The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K combines a new compact design with a…

The adjustable and directional light from a flashgun can do anything from filling in the shadows for sunny-day portraiture to delivering a complete lighting solution for indoor or late-night photography. A little light can go a long way. All of the flashguns we’ve chosen for this group test are powerful models that are rich in features. As such, they have impressive ‘guide numbers’ (a measure of their maximum light output); bounce, swivel and zoom heads to enable greater versatility and control over lighting; and full dedication for various camera systems. This enables automatic TTL (Through The Lens) flash metering, and the ability to control flash parameters directly from your camera. Other fancy features include wireless slave and possibly ‘master’ modes for linking two or more flashguns for complex lighting setups;…

£229/$255 Power to the people Something of a flashgun revolutionary, the Modus 600RT uses a lithium-ion battery pack, rather than AA cells. It has a powerful Gn 60 rated maximum output, along with a superfast 1.5-second recycling speed, beating all comers in this group test. Stamina is excellent too, with around 550 full-power flashes on a full charge. The basic flashgun is available in Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm and Sony versions, each with a built-in RF transceiver. Upmarket features include a 20-200mm zoom head, high-speed sync and programmable repeat flash modes. Build quality is good too. Performance With its powerful maximum output, consistently accurate TTL metering, and super-fast recycling, the Hähnel can match or beat camera manufacturers’ own-brand range-topping flashguns for performance. Digital Camera verdict The Pro kit with dual flashguns…

£569/$597 Good on the radio, but not great Bigger, better and more powerful than the SB-700, this is Nikon’s top-end flashgun, aimed at the professional market. It has a more powerful Gn 55 rating, a bigger 24-200mm zoom range, and a programmable repeat mode. The on-board control system is also more comprehensive. As expected, there’s the option of using an external battery pack, and TTL-BL or regular TTL modes can be selected directly. Similar to the latest top-end Canon flashgun on test, the Nikon has built-in RF connectivity, as well as optical linking. But it’s not all good news: the Nikon only has a built-in receiver, so won’t work as an RF transmitter. Performance At the 105mm zoom setting, the Nikon equals the Canon 600EX II-RT and, more surprisingly, is…

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 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: www.bit.ly/DCW_Zinio Google Play: www.bit.ly/DCW_GoogleP Other options Digital Camera is available for Kobo, Kindle, and Nook and more. It can also be found on the all-you-can read Readly magazine app. 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…

1 Nikon cameras Mike’s main body is the fullframe D850 DSLR, but he is also playing with the new Nikon Z7. This mirrorless camera has the same 45.7MP pixel count as the D850, but is lighter and smaller. 2 Nikon lenses Mike carries optics for a wide range of scenes, including the Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8, 200-500mm f/5.6 and 85mm f/1.4. 3 Lume Cubes These nifty little LED lights provide illumination in both stills and video work, as well as Mike’s posts on Instagram. He enjoys putting them in the snow, or having them shine through the ice to bring in a particularly unique aspect. 4 NiSi filters To enhance landscapes incamera, Mike uses polarisers and neutral-density filters. His slot-in NiSi filters can be taken out…

If you’re keen for a home DIY still-life winter challenge, have a go at our Renaissance painting-inspired low-key lighting photo project! Low-key lighting works as it sounds. It’s a soft lighting scheme that retains dark tones and shadows, and is atmospheric and moody in appearance. To achieve the low-key effect we used three candles, a table lamp and a bit of natural light. We shot in the afternoon on an overcast winter’s day, so despite being next to a big light source it wasn’t overpowering. We found mixing the cool daylight tone with the warm orange tungsten cast from the candles to be visually pleasing. To take our image, we used a 50mm lens on a full-frame camera. Initially we’d started with a wide-angle 16mm, but after arranging the props…

The Earth spins on a tilted axis – and thank heavens it does. Night and day, the seasons, weather… It’s all down to the 1,000mph rotation of our planet. And it’s really easy to photograph. However, creating a star trail does require a basic understanding of how the night sky works. Since the planet spins on its axis, if you point your camera to the north if you are in the northern hemisphere, or to the south if you are in the southern hemisphere, you will photograph stars that are circumpolar: they appear to travel in circles that get tighter towards the poles. Although the basic technique outlined here is simple (all you need are a kit lens and a tripod), there are more advanced ways to do it. Probably…

How to enter To enter your best ‘Around The World’ images, either email your entry to digitalcamera@futurenet.com putting ‘Around The World’ in the subject line; or go to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/digitalcameraworld, look for ‘Around The World’ FB post, and upload your entry into the feed. By entering your image onto our Facebook feed and competition you state that you own the copyright to the image and agree that Digital Camera can publish your image in context to the ‘Around The World’ Facebook competition. Copyright of the image is retained by you the owner, who will be credited. The closing date is 8 February 2019. Nathan Dodsworth Last month we set you the challenge to shoot the best ‘From Above Or Below’ scene you encountered. Congratulations to Nathan Dodsworth,…

Many parts of the world are lucky enough to have four distinct seasons. For landscape lovers, that means four different seasons of weather, conditions and climates to capture and enjoy. After the glorious warm hues of autumn, winter can seem cold and drab in comparison (and the perfect time to put away your camera and hibernate). Brave it out in the cold, though, and you’ll often be rewarded with some stunning photo opportunities. While it might not snow in every location, elements such as frost and ice are just as photogenic. At this time of year, the sun hangs much lower over the horizon, so there’s plenty of opportunity for backlighting subjects. For the sleepier shooters among us, later sunrise times in winter also mean setting a later alarm. Here…

With winter images, a common problem is that bright snowy areas often look grey. All that white fools your camera meter into underexposing scenes, so take back creative control for a result that’s truer to the scene in front of you. In automatic modes, this is done by adding a stop of positive exposure compensation. In Manual mode, tweak the settings so the light meter is about one stop over the given reading. When you use the histogram to review images, remember you’re not looking always looking for a uniform distribution of tones. Snow should look white and crisp in a scene, without being totally blown out.…

There’s much more to classic winter scenes than just wide sweeping vistas of mountains and fields. The season also provides plentiful opportunities for detail shots, as well as intimate landscapes. One approach for breaking away from standard shots is to replace your wideangle lens with a telephoto for the day, challenging yourself to see subjects anew. Longer focal lengths offer the opportunity to hone in on elements such as frozen bubbles, leaves in frost, or low winter light hitting a single tree. They also compress the perspective of a scene, so that the viewer is more drawn to the subject. When you switch up your lens choice, play around with the aperture, too. Using smaller f/stops than you might usually for standard landscapes can yield dreamy out-of-focus backgrounds and bokeh.…

In order to select the ISO sensitivity of your choice, you need to be using one of your camera’s more advanced shooting modes. Even then, you can select the Auto option in the ISO menu to let the camera handle the sensitivity. Here, the camera will set an ISO that will give a reasonably fast exposure for the lighting conditions. Auto ISO is a useful option when you’re moving from outdoor to indoor locations and don’t have time to change the ISO manually. It can also turn Manual mode into a combination of Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority: once you select your preferred combination of aperture and shutter speed, the camera will do its best to maintain a consistent exposure by adjusting the ISO. When you’re shooting in low light,…

FILE & VIDEO Download the disc: www.bit.ly/dc212disc When you’re shooting quickly to make the most of fleeting light, it’s not always possible to get a great shot all in one go. You may find a great backdrop, picked out by a winter sun, but it won’t always have the foreground detail present to lead into it and make a complete picture. The best solution is to seek out a suitable foreground to anchor the shot, of course – but you don’t want to miss that lovely light, so I’d always suggest you shoot immediately. By doing this, you can make sure the dramatic background is safe in the can, then go on a separate search to find the ideal foreground that balances the scene. By shooting image components in this…

Camera Olympus E-M10 Mark II Lens Olympus 9-18mm f/4-5.6 Exposure 1/60 sec at f/4, ISO 200 Challenge 2 Liz Kessler Later on in our exploration of the North Cornish coast, we drove to Port Isaac, a remote, small and picturesque fishing village on the Atlantic coast of north Cornwall. Although sunset was very subdued, there were still plenty of historical lanes and clifftop views to explore. was low tide at Port Isaac when we visited, so although Liz wanted to get a shot of the water, it was a long way out, and she had to find a different approach. “While I was looking around, I noticed this chain at the back of the beach. It had a feel of being abandoned and forgotten about, and felt quite apt for…

This scene of a cat looking out of an old cottage window has plenty going for it – but the shot is a bit underexposed, and we need to tighten up the composition. To start with, I ticked Enable Profile Corrections in Lightroom’s Lens Correction panel 1, then used the Transform Panel to improve the wonky window frame. It wasn’t perfectly straight, and it didn’t need to be – the old windows aren’t actually level anyway – but by using the Guided Upright Tool I could improve it a bit 2. I also used the Scale slider to enlarge the image within the frame and to lose the surrounding brickwork, which wasn’t adding anything. This image will look better in black and white; pressing V on the keyboard immediately changed…

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 Tayvallach to Ardmaddy Bay 4 days, 54 miles Total so far: 3,821 miles Beyond Crinan, the wild landscape towards Ardfern is more like mountaineering than coast-walking, with views over to Jura and Scarpa. The only paths to follow are made by deer. In the middle of a forestry plantation, I’m delighted to find the mysterious 4,000-year-old Ormaig rock carvings overlooking Loch Craignish. The site has just been strimmed, obscuring the carvings under loose grass. As it’s getting dark and I want a photo, I make a brush from bracken to hurriedly clear the grass from the rock and reveal the carvings, like some form of ancient…

Full-frame compatible: Yes APS-C effective focal length: 75mm Image stabiliser: No Minimum focus distance: 40cm Manual focus override: Yes Focus limit switches: No Internal zoom: N/A Internal focus: Yes Filter size: 62mm Iris blades: 9 Weather seals: Yes Supplied accessories: LC-62B 62mm lens cap, LF-N1 rear lens cap, HB-90 bayonet hood, CL-C1 lens case Dimensions (dia x length): 76 x 87mm Weight: 415g £599/$597 This Z lens comes bottom of the alphabet, but it gets straight As for performance www.nikon.com As far as headline specs go, the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S seems like just another 50mm standard prime, if a well-specced one. The 12-element optical stack includes two ED glass elements, as well as two aspherical elements to boost contrast and vibrancy. With a large maximum aperture comes shallow…

£455/$399 Smarter than the average flashgun This Canon Speedlite takes clever tricks to a new level. In AI Bounce mode, for example, it fires a pre-flash pulse at the target, then flips up 90 degrees and fires a second pulse at the ceiling. It then sets the optimum bounce angle and power output. A semi-automatic mode enables bouncing the flash off a white wall or an adjacent reflector card. However, other features you’d expect to find in a flashgun costing this much are absent – including RF (Radio Frequency) wireless linking, featured on Canon’s cheaper 430EX III-RT. And it can only work in optical slave mode: there’s no programmable repeat mode, nor even a pull-out reflector card. Performance The artificial intelligence gets things right for bounce flash photography, although the…

£309/$435 The flagship from a flash legend There’s a lot to like about this flashgun from the long-established German flashgun manufacturer. It has a powerful 24-200mm zoom range, -9 to 90-degree bounce facility, and the availability of both master and slave wireless operation, although only with optical transmission. Uniquely in this group, there’s a secondary sub-flash module for adding a catchlight when using the main head in bounce or swivel mode. Onboard controls are slick and intuitive, based on a colour touchscreen. Pro-grade extras include a programmable repeat flash mode and a socket for an optional power pack. Performance TTL metering tended to err very slightly on the bright side in our tests and, despite the beefy Gn 64 power rating, the Metz delivers fairly average maximum power output at…

£239/$340 A wolf in sheep’s clothing We’ve all seen compact little flashguns that lack decent power and are bereft of advanced features. Despite being reasonably priced, the Nissin i60A bucks the trend, shoehorning an awful lot into its diminutive build. There’s a mighty Gn 60 power rating, an oversized 24-200mm motorised zoom range and a full 180 degrees of swivel in both left and right directions. The kit includes a diffusion dome, a soft pouch and a mini-stand. Nissin has also included a constant LED light, ideal for video and close-range stills shooting. Comprehensive on-board controls are easy to use and highly intuitive. Wireless infrared and optical slave functions are built-in. Performance Performance is mostly very pleasing and we have no criticisms of the maximum power output throughout the generous…

The adventurous Mike Mezeul had promised me several things when I joined him on an extended masterclass (or rather, tagged along on one of his popular photography workshops). We’d learn how to take stunning landscape images, shoot at night, edit, and survive the cold. What I’d need – warm clothing and thermos aside – was the will to face the elements and create great photos. On our first day of shooting, we meet before sunrise (6.45am) and head out to Vermillion Lake, which was completely frozen solid. Mike chose this spot because of the frozen bubbles that rise up and create patterns in the ice, which would make an amazing element for foreground interest if the light was dynamic. “Generally, it’s safe to walk on ice when it’s a thickness…

Like a lot of photographers, Jack Hopkins is moved by the place that he grew up in. “I take many of my photographs on the coastline of Cornwall, and have always been inspired by what it has to offer,” he says. His calming image ‘Pink Sands’ just shows that there are always new ways of looking at locations that are familiar to you. It was taken from the air using a drone on the beaches of Hayle. “I feel this photograph truly represents the Cornish lifestyle,” says Jack. “The fact that the composition only has one surfer in it shows the contrast between Cornwall’s packed beaches in the summer and the quiet and peace us locals get to enjoy during the winter months.” www.jackhphoto.co.uk Aerial settings Jack used a DJI…

Winter is inherently damp, cold and extreme, and this really puts kit to the test. After a shoot, minimise condensation by leaving gear in an intermediate place like a porch – this slows the change in temperature from cold to hot. 1 Technical gloves Gloves are a must in freezing temperatures. You might want to try touch-screen-friendly ones, which will allow you to operate the camera. 2 Memory cards In extreme conditions, don’t be let down by poorquality storage. The waterproof Samsung Extreme cards we used can endure operating temperatures up to-25 ºC. 3 Spare batteries Extreme temperatures can wreak havoc on battery life, so make sure you have plenty of extra juice out in the field. 4 Camera bag What kind of bag will excel in winter? A backpack…

1 Take a calibrated image You’ll need a grey card or calibrated filter to take a reference shot and set your custom white balance. We used an ExpoDisc here, placing it over the front of the lens. The lens was pointed towards our subject, and we captured a shot with our intended settings. The reference image didn’t need to be sharp, so we used manual focus to stop the lens’ autofocus hunting. 2 Set custom mode Setting your camera to Shade or Auto white balance might seem wise for snowy subjects, but this choice can often render scenes overly yellow and ruin an otherwise frosty atmosphere. (See the before and after examples above.) Instead, head to your camera’s shooting menu and set the white balance to Custom. 3 Use the…

Once you’ve got the settings and composition nailed (or thereabouts), it’s time to liven up your creative eye. Light is everything to the outdoor photographer, and in winter, the sun is fairly close to the horizon all day. A lower sun angle sun means dramatic light and shadows, so why not try including the sun in the frame, either directly shining for sunbursts or peeking behind snow-covered trees? While we haven’t mentioned it here, winter landscapes can be inherently un-colourful. Don’t be afraid to shoot in black and white and focus on tones and textures in the image instead. 1 Feature ice patterns Cracks and bubbles in ice make for dramatic elements in a scene, especially when they’re used as leading lines. Here, the ice fills two thirds of the…

Your camera’s ISO menu offers a selection of sensitivities which will be displayed either in full or third-stop increments, along with an Auto ISO option where the camera does the selecting for you. There may also be a range of expanded settings – if these are greyed out (as the screen above), you’ll need to unlock them in the main menu. Choose higher numbers to increase the sensitivity, which in turn will allow you to use a faster shutter speed. There are numerous reasons for wanting to do this – here are some examples… Avoiding camera shake The chance of a photo becoming blurred through camera shake increases if the shutter speed drops below 1/focal length (for example, slower than 1/100 sec for an equivalent 100mm focal length). Set a…

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…

FILE & VIDEO Download the disc: www.bit.ly/dc212disc James Paterson With a decade as a writer and photographer behind him, James knows exactly which Photoshop and Lightroom tools and techniques matter most. The two interlinked Photoshop tools Dodge and Burn perform a simple yet hugely powerful task: they let you lighten or darken areas of our images. Whether it’s a landscape, portrait or any subject matter, subtle dodging and burning can draw the eye to the areas that matter most while de-emphasising those that don’t. Photographers have been doing this for over a century. In the darkroom, dodging and burning controlled how the light from an enlarger would expose a print – by either holding back light (dodging) or concentrating extra light (burning) in different areas. A racquet-shaped tool would often…

Reader 1 Liz Kessler Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II Location: St Ives, Cornwall Author Liz has written over 20 books for children and young adults. She has always loved the ocean: when she’s not thinking about her next story idea, she photographs surfers on the beaches of St Ives. Liz used her lightweight Olympus mirrorless system on our shoot, meaning she was able to move about very quickly when details caught her eye. Liz recently dabbled with the Olympus E-M1 Mark II, but believes the best camera is the one you have in your hand. During the day, she was keen to explore fun perspectives at the places we visited. www.lizkessler.co.uk Reader 2 Lucie Averill Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III Location: Near Marazion, Cornwall Former teacher Lucie has…

Mitakon releases “bokeh monster” for Fujifilm GFX A super-wide aperture with this lens should yield exceptional image quality As you’ll read in the review from page 110, the new Fujifilm GFX 50R medium-format mirrorless camera is now on sale. And the good news keeps on coming – a new super-fast lens for the system is imminent, too. But it’s not a Fujinon: the Mitakon Speedmaster 65mm f/1.4 is manufactured by Chinese optical specialist ZY Optics. With an equivalent focal length of around 50mm, this standard manual-focus prime is two full stops faster than Fujifilm’s own GF 63mm f/2.8 R WR lens. The super-wide maximum aperture of f/1.4 creates what the manufacturer is describing as “a bokeh monster”. The metal-cased lens is constructed from 11 elements in seven groups, and has…

£3,999/$4,499 www.fujifilm.co.uk Specifications Sensor: 51.4MP medium-format CMOS, 43.8 x 32.9mm Image processor: X-Processor Pro AF points: TTL contrast AF, 425 points ISO range: 100 to 51,200 (exp. 50-204,800) Max image size: 8,256 x 6,192px Metering zones: 256 Video: 1,920 x 1,080 at 30p, 25p, 24p Viewfinder: EVF, 3,690k dots OLED, 100% coverage, 0.77x magnification Memory card: 2 x SD/SDHC/SDXC, UHS II compatible LCD: 3.2-inch tilting touchscreen, 2,360k dots Max burst: 3fps, unlimited JPEGs, 13 lossless compressed raw Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Size: 161 x 97 x 67mm (body only) Weight: 775g (body only, with battery and memory card) The Fujifilm GFX 50R is the most affordable medium-format digital camera camera yet to hit the market – it’s a full £1,000/$1,000 cheaper than the DSLR-style Fujifilm GFX 50S, the previous record-setter. With…

Full-frame compatible: Yes APS-C effective focal length: 80mm Image stabiliser: No Minimum focus distance: 40cm Manual focus override: Yes Focus limit switches: No Internal zoom: N/A Internal focus: Yes Filter size: 72mm Iris blades: 9 Weather seals: Yes Supplied accessories: Front lens cap, lens hood, rear lens cap Dimensions (dia x length): 80 x 108mm Weight: 950g £879 / $949 A new premium fast prime in a cut-throat sector www.tokinalens.com This new fast standard prime is designed to be the start of a high-end Opera series, positioned above the company’s AT-X lens line to rival Sigma and Tamron’s latest premium offerings. Inside the Opera 50mm f/1.4 FF is a nine-element optical stack that contains three SD (Super-low Dispersion) elements and one aspherical element to minimise chromatic aberrations. New to this…

£539/$479 A powerful pro-grade flashgun Canon’s top-flight flashgun model for professional photographers is actually not much more expensive than the beginner-friendly 470EX-AI. It has a more robust, weather-sealed construction, and a lot more power under the bonnet, with a rating of Gn 60, plus an extended 20-200mm motorised zoom range. A major upgrade over the 470EX-AI is that this one features master and slave wireless modes, with both RF and optical transmission. RF linking increases the range from around 10m to 30m, with the extra benefit of being able to work around corners or through obstacles, as well as being more reliable than infrared in bright, outdoor conditions. Performance Performance is excellent. The control panel is intuitive, enabling you to set up complex parameters quickly and easily. Digital Camera verdict…

£259/$327 Limited power, good control The SB-700 comes complete with colour correction filters for use with both fluorescent and tungsten ambient lighting, plus auto-sensing when fitted. A good-quality diffusion dome is also included. Smart features include a range of illumination patterns, a powerful 24-120mm zoom range and wireless commander and slave modes, albeit with only optical rather than RF connectivity. One niggle is that you can only switch from Nikon’s TTL-BL (Balanced Light) mode to standard TTL by changing the metering mode on the host camera body. There’s also no programmable repeat mode. Performance The Gn 38 maximum power rating is the lowest here. Even so, it comes pretty close to the Canon 470EX-AI and Phottix flashguns at competing zoom settings. Digital Camera verdict It’s not the most powerful flashgun…

£249/$250 Powerful and well-connected Phottix is best known for its range of studio flash heads and triggering solutions, but this is a highly capable flashgun with Canon, Nikon and Sony dedicated options. It has a powerful Gn 58 rating, and wide-ranging flash modes that include programmable repeat. The kit comes with a diffusion dome and a weather-sealing shroud over its mounting foot. One downside is that the motorised zoom range is fairly modest, at 24-105mm. Full optical commander and slave modes are featured, and the Phottix can also work in both master and slave modes with RF linking. Performance During our tests, maximum power output was a little down on other top-end flashguns, equalling that of the Canon 470EX-AI. It’s substantially lower than in the Canon 600EX II-RT, Nikon SB-5000…

Delkin Devices USB 3.0 Dual Slot SD UHS-II and CF Memory Card Reader £30/$22 www.delkindevices.com This card reader sports the classic combo of SD and CompactFlash slots, both being the fastest of their type – UHS-II and UDMA 7. You can use both simultaneously, and the case’s design means a card of each type can be stored inside the reader, protected by a hinged rubber door that closes around them. The 90cm USB Type-A lead is hardwired to the reader, so while you won’t lose it, it can be slightly awkward for transportation, and you’ll need an adapter to connect this reader to a Type-C based laptop like Apple’s MacBook Pro. Speed-wise, we could only extract a maximum video read speed of 223MBps and a 198MBps write rate from our…