Table of contents for April 2016 in Digital Camera Magazine

CAPTURING the magic of the sky at night is arguably one of the most satisfying techniques to master. The results can look utterly awesome, but, to the uninitiated, it can seem technically daunting. Don’t panic, though: to help you get started, astro-photographer extraordinaire, Phil Hart is on hand to show you all you need to know in this month’s cover story (page 40). If you’re already a dab hand, there are some pretty cool advanced skills to master too. We’re very excited about The Photography Show (Birmingham NEC, 19th-22nd March) and this issue is jam-packed with insight from some of the speakers, including Peter Dench, Charlie Waite and Alec Soth. I’m really looking forward to seeing them all, along with Bruce Gilden and David Bailey. If you’re at the show,…

OLYMPUS has updated its Pen range with the Pen-F, offering a built-in EVF and 50-megapixel shot capability. The latest camera carries on the brand’s retro styling with a metal casing and leather-like surround on the body, while inside the Pen-F is a new 20-megapixel Live MOS sensor with no low-pass filter. The Pen-F uses five-axis image stabilisation technology and High Res Shot technology, which combines several images in-camera to produce one image with resolution of up to 50 megapixels. Other features include a built-in electronic viewfinder with a real-time preview of setting adjustments, high-speed shooting at up to 10fps and a 1/8,000 sec shutter speed. £1,000; www.olympus.co.uk…

THE aptly named Richard Bloom has won the ninth annual International Garden Photographer of the Year competition with his dreamlike image ‘Tekapo Lupins’, shot in New Zealand. Despite a record number of entries from more than 50 countries, Richard’s image stood out for its striking colours and ethereal light. “The landscape was already amazing, scattered with drifts of naturalised lupins, giving it an almost psychedelic, feel,” he says. “The banks of this stream were bristling with lupins stretching toward the hills and out of shot, giving the sense that they went on forever.” Along with the IGPOTY title, Richard will receive £7,500 in cash. See Hotshots, starting on page 10, for more entries from this year’s contest. www.igpoty.com…

1 LENSES All that’s needed is a good wide lens. The wide 18mm end of the zoom that comes with most cameras is a good starting point. Phil’s favourite is his Canon 24mm f/1.4. For shooting the Moon, or perhaps a solar eclipse, you’ll want the longest zoom you have. 2 TRIPOD This is crucial for astrophotography, for focusing and avoiding camera shake. As long as it is solid (and easy to use with gloves on), it’s good enough. Be conscious of the tilt adjustment arm: some can get in the way when you point the camera up towards the sky. A ball head mechanism is ideal for night shoots. 3 TORCH An absolute essential – but avoid anything too bright as it can mess with your exposures as well…

NOTHING lends itself to a panorama quite like the sky. Pulling off a panorama requires a balance of planning and trial and error, as well as software that enables you to perfect your image. But it is awardwinningly worth it when it’s done right. Capturing images for a panorama at night is fraught with potential problems. If someone turns on a light on, a car drives past, or even if a cloud floats past, it can throw the exposure for that shot in the sequence, and you’ll have to start again. There’s another significant issue: stars are not still! If the exposures are too slow or the time between shots is too long, the stars will move, and matching them up will be impossible. This means you can’t simply take…

NAME: Roberto Manetta LOCATION: Rome, Italy SUBJECT: Fine-art nudes EQUIPMENT: Canon EOS 5D Mark II & Mark III with Canon 17-40mm f/4, 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.2 lenses WEBSITE: www.robertomanetta.com FOR many people, a photography project is the best way to take your mind off the demands of the day job – even for those who earn a crust from their camera. Fine-art nude photography is how Rome-based freelance photographer Robert Manetta fills his spare time, freeing him from the creative constraints that can come from working for other people. Roberto started his journey into photography with a Yashica manual camera in 1980, but it was in 1999, when the first consumer digital cameras were emerging, that he turned pro. He now specialises in reportage and glamour, as well as…

Reviews you can trust Digital Camera is brought to you by the UK’s most experienced team of photography journalists, which means you can trust everything you read, and compare kit with confidence. We believe the best way to test a product is to use it as it was intended. Our real-world testing involves taking equipment on a proper shoot – whether outdoors or in the studio – and using it exactly as you would, to let you know if it’s fit for purpose. Scientific data won’t tell you everything, but it’s a great way to make comparisons and sense-check our real-world conclusions. We have a series of controlled tests for cameras and lenses that deliver objective benchmarks. You can download the high-resolution test images and resolution charts we shoot from…

JAMES PATERSON Editor, Practical Photoshop With a decade as a working writer and photographer behind him, James knows exactly which Photoshop and Lightroom tools and techniques matter the most to you. Discover how the amazing Shake Reduction filter can fix motion blur and resuscitate some of your shaky images that would otherwise be destined for the trash can SOFTWARE Photoshop CC GET IT FROM www.adobe.com GET START FILES FROM www.bit.ly/dc175files WATCH VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc175video STEP BY STEP FIX CAMERA SHAKE 1 APPLY THE FILTER Open the image in Photoshop. Right-click the layer, choose Convert to Smart Object, then go to Filter > Sharpen > Shake Reduction. An automatic correction will be applied. Press Q, drag the preview box over the image to use as a loupe, then click and hold to…

Brushes are undoubtedly one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal in Photoshop, especially when it comes to creating composites. Using a brush that comes pre-installed (114), we can apply our own settings to create the look of grass. In this composite of a lioness (right), having made a selection and cut-out using the same method as my main tutorial, I’ve then used brush 114 to hide parts of the lioness in grass shapes, so that she appears to be lying within the grass.…

BUTTERFLY WINGS FOR YOUR FIRST SHOT, TRY... TO IMPROVE YOUR SHOT … • Use a longer macro lens of 100mm or more: you can shoot from farther away and avoid spooking the insects. • If possible, focus manually using the magnified Live View image . • Consider using off-camera flash, for sharper and more colourful images. TOP TIP: To make more of the image look sharp, position the camera so that its back is parallel with the butterfly’s wings. RAINY LANDSCAPES FOR YOUR FIRST SHOT, TRY... TO IMPROVE YOUR SHOT … •You’ll be dealing with slow shutter speeds, so use a tripod and fire the shutter with the help of a remote release. •Be ready to apply exposure compensation of +1 /3 to +2EV to brighten up the scene. •…

WEDDING AND PORTRAIT STAGE Our new live demo stage that actually looks like a church – complete with stained glass windows! Sponsored by Loxley Colour and SmugMug. 12:00 – 12:30 Low-light portraits: a shot in the dark Brett Florens 15:00 – 15:30 Mastering the shallow depth of field portrait Drew Gardner 16:00 – 16:30 A glimpse into the world of documentary photography Kevin Mullins LIVE STAGE Top professionals give free demonstrations on capturing unique and challenging shots. 11:30 – 12:00 Styling tips for beautiful food photography William Reavell 12:30 – 13:00 The beauty of Bollywood: the art of photographing dance Drew Gardner 13:30 – 14:00 Who, why and how: the fundamentals of photographing people Jay McLaughlin 14:30 – 15:00 Styling and photographing the seasons Emily Quinton and Helena Tracey 15:30…

WEDDING AND PORTRAIT STAGE Our new live demo stage that actually looks like a church – complete with stained glass windows! Sponsored by Loxley Colour and SmugMug. 12:00 – 12:30 The non-posing approach: Creating natural couple shots Lisa Devlin 14:00 – 14:30 Nice day for a white wedding Robert Pugh 15:00 – 15:30 The art of the quick portrait Stephen Perry LIVE STAGE Top professionals give free demonstrations on capturing unique and challenging shots. 11:30 – 12:00 Capturing and posing newborns Melanie East 12:30 – 13:00 Creative fashion photo-shoot Jane Kelly BEHIND THE LENS STAGE Demonstrations by internationally renowned photographers specialising in travel, timelapse and sports. 12:00 – 12:40 Frame by frame: a career in timelapse photography Chad Gordon Higgins 13:00 – 13:40 Every picture tells a story Tom Stoddart…

19-22 MARCH 2016 THE NEC, BIRMINGHAM Keep up with current trends with our mini guides to What’s hot! 1901 FOTOGRAFI A74 www.1901fotografi.co.uk Beautifully simple, hand-made leather camera straps and fotobags. 3 LEGGED THING F61 www.3leggedthing.com Not just another tripod, but a culmination of smart British design and craftsmanship. 4V DESIGN E121 www.4vdesign.it Luxury camera straps from Italy help you carry your gear in style and comfort. 9 IMAGES TRAINING A121 www.9imagestraining.co.uk Photographic training, studio hire and exams for Certiport and Pearson Vue, and Adobe Photoshop training. AADUKIMULTIMEDIA INSURANCEA96 www.aaduki.com Leading insurance providers for photographers and video makers, from amateur through to full-time professionals. ABISKO GUEST HOUSE J45 www.abiskoguesthouse.com Stay in the Swedish Lapland mountains to get great shots of the Northern Lights or the midnight sun. ACEBIL EUROPE B33 www.acebil.eu…

UTILISING a fast Leica Summilux 23mm f/1.7 ASPH lens (35mm equivalent) with an underwater protection filter, as well as a 16.5MP APS-C CMOS sensor, the fully waterproofed Leica X-U promises Leica image quality in the harshest of conditions. As well as shooting underwater at depths of up to 15m, the X-U is shock-resistant, dust-sealed and shatter-proof for extreme subjects out of the water. The Leica X-U offers full HD video, a close focusing distance of 20cm, built-in flash, an aluminium body and a high-res 3 inch screen. £2,400; www.leica-camera.com…

HASSELBLAD has announced the 10 winners of its Masters Awards 2016 competition, selected by both public vote and a Masters Jury. Category winners were Swee Oh, Architecture; Roy Rossovich, Fashion/Beauty; Katerina Belkina, Fine Art; Lars Van De Goor, Landscape; Natalia Evelyn Bencicova, Portrait; Georgio Cravero, Product; Jake Reeder, Project/21; Ali Rajabi, Street/Urban; John Paul Evans, Wedding; and David Peskens, Wildlife. www.hasselblad.com/inspiration/masters/masters-2016 GO TO WWW.DIGITAL CAMERAWORLD.COM FOR THE LATEST NEWS, REVIEWS & TECHNIQUES…

LIGHTSCOOP DELUXE Pop-up flash rarely gives flattering illumination, but the Lightscoop Deluxe could change that. Its mirror bounces the flash burst off a ceiling for more even illumination via an arm that slides under an open flash and attaches to the hotshoe. £27/$40; www.lightscoop.com LASTOLITE EZYBOUNCE The EzyBounce can be carried in a shirt pocket, but opens up to a generous 18 x 19cm – far bigger than the pop-up cards found in some flashguns. £25/$30; www.lastolite.co.uk AURORA HDR Offering advanced tone mapping algorithms, instant presets, plus extensive adjustment and editing options, the Mac-only Aurora HDR can be used as a Photoshop plug-in or a stand-alone, thanks to its raw file support. From £30; www.aurorahdr.com…

1 PREVIEW THE MERGER You’ll need Lightroom CC or 6. Select the images, then right-click them and select Photo Merge > Panorama. A dialog box showing a preview opens. You can experiment with the different types of projection offered, but ticking Auto Select Projection usually gives good results. 2 SEE HOW IT ’S DONE To peer behind the curtain, try turning off Auto Crop to see how the images are stitched together. You may be happy with the automatic crop, but it can be beneficial to crop to a larger area, then fill in some small missing bits later, using Photoshop’s Auto Fill facility, to preserve a larger view. 3 MAKE THE PANORAMA Click Merge and wait while Lightroom does its work. You get a raw-file panorama that can be…

Large aperture Shallow DOF Large apertures such as f/1.8 enable a narrow depth of field, which can help you to separate the main subject from objects in the foreground and the background. Small aperture Extensive DoF Smaller apertures like f/16 and f/22 extend the depth of field further out from the point you’ve focused on, so that more of the overall scene appears sharp. Small aperture (Up close) Shallow DoF Focus distance also affects depth of field. The closer you are, the shallower it becomes, and even a small aperture may result in a relatively narrow band of sharpness. Aperture plays a crucial role in the extent of the depth of field, or the amount of front-to-back sharpness in a photo. Small apertures can make more of an image look…

MADDENED BY MANUAL MODE? GOT THE GOAT OVER GIMBALS? Send your question to digitalcamera@futurenet.com [subject line: Photo Answers] How high? Q How do I know the best height to set my tripod when taking landscapes? Greg Hythe A YOU don’t! Well, not until you’ve worked out your composition. This is a mistake I see a lot of people doing when I am running a landscape workshop. They see the scene in front of them, then immediately get their tripod out, fix it at maximum height for ease of use and start taking pictures. In fact, once they have the camera on the tripod, you might find that they barely move at all… Tripods are absolutely essential for lots of landscape work – but they can also make you become rather too…

WHETHER you choose a single specimen or an entire woodland scene, we want to see your best pictures of trees. There’s a host of ways to tackle this one, from a documentary-style approach to a fine-art treatment. Use a wide-angle lens low and close to exaggerate the scale of a towering trunk, or take a step back with a telephoto lens to make a forestscape appear more densely packed. Make your shot stand out with a creative technique like a long exposure, a tilt-shift treatment or a time-lapse montage, and try an alternative crop, such as square or panoramic. How about shooting at night, too? How to enter Visit www.photocrowd.com/a/current and look for the Digital Camera Perfect Storm contest. (You need to register, but it’s free to join.) Click Submit…

DAN Rubin is a designer, photographer and creative director based in London, but is perhaps best known as a pioneer of mobile phone photography. One of Instagram’s earliest users, Dan is an advocate of using social media to promote your work, and he boasts one of the social network’s biggest followings of any photographer. He also travels the globe on commissions for clients such as American Express, Ducati, Land Rover, O2 and RedBull. What do you know about your job that you wish you knew at the start? I didn’t expect photographers to be treated as a commodity by agencies and brands. For the first 6–12 months of working primarily as a photographer, I was far too trusting of the motives behind clients contacting me for projects. I ran a…

THE BEST PHOTO PRODUCTS OF THE YEAR 2015 was a dazzling year for new cameras, lenses and accessories. Last issue we presented a shortlist of nearly 100 products, and asked you to vote online, alongside our expert judges. There are 18 categories, spanning everything from top-end and enthusiast cameras and lenses to gadgets, software, printing services and technical innovations, plus our Camera of the Year accolade. HIGH-END CAMERA www.canon.co.uk Canon EOS 5DS £2,700/$3,700 A lightweight SLR that’s jam-packed with features STORMING to the top of the table with twice as many votes as its closest rival (the Sony A7R II), the 5DS reaffirms Digital Camera readers’ preference for SLRs over compact system cameras – so far, at least. And what a camera the 5DS is. With its 50.6MP sensor, it…

SEAN MCCORMACK Photographer and writer Sean McCormack is an experienced photographer and writer based in Galway. He is the author of The Indispensable Guide to Lightroom CC. seanmcfoto.com Discover how Lightroom can help you reduce the artifacts that camera image sensors sometimes add to your shots SOFTWARE Lightroom CC / 6 GET IT FROM www.adobe.com GET START FILES FROM www.bit.ly/dc175files WITH features like high-ISO capture becoming better, it’s a wonder we need to talk about noise reduction. But we photographers tend to push our gear to the limit to catch moments that otherwise would be missed. Digital noise caused by high ISO settings that get a sharp image will always be preferable to a blurred photo caused by too low a shutter speed. There are two main types of noise:…

As well as creating your own brushes, there are many places online to buy brush sets of specific effects. I recommend you check out the brush sets from Aaron Blaise (www.creatureartteacher.com). Using one of the hair brushes in his packs, I was able to cover over parts of the hat (right) that were very challenging to select. Within the Brush panel, one option is Color Dynamics, where the colour of each stroke can vary between foreground and background – which were two colour samples from the original fur in this case.…

DOWNLOAD START IMAGES www.bit.ly/dc175files 1 Camera profiles in ACR The colours and contrast of images opened in Adobe Camera Raw can sometimes look subdued compared with JPEGs, which are processed in-camera. The fact is that Adobe’s generic conversion profile is quite conservative – but it’s possible to get much closer to the camera’s own rendition using the Camera Calibration tab. This contains a Camera Profile menu. Adobe Standard is the default option, but you can also select alternatives such as Camera Standard, Camera Landscape or Camera Vivid. These are a much closer match to the camera’s own Picture Styles (Canon) or Picture Controls (Nikon). 2 Blitz zits and wrinkles with the Spot Healing Brush It can take a long time to clone out spots and blemishes in portrait shots. The…

WEDDING AND PORTRAIT STAGE Our new live demo stage that actually looks like a church – complete with stained glass windows! Sponsored by Loxley Colour and SmugMug. 11:00 – 11:30 Overcoming church wedding challenges Kate Hopewell-Smith 12:00 – 12:30 Take your portraiture from ordinary to extraordinary Steve Howdle & Stephanie Thornton 14:00 – 14:30 Lighting for portraits John Denton 15:00 – 15:30 A glimpse into the world of documentary photography Kevin Mullins 16:00 – 16:30 The art of one-light portraits Neil Freeman LIVE STAGE Top professionals give free demonstrations on capturing unique and challenging shots. 11:30 – 12:00 Fearless flash photography Gavin Hoey 12:30 – 13:00 Capturing the illusion of the magic and fun of the circus Anna Fox & Natasha Caruana 15:30 – 16:00 Lighting and posing: the ultimate…

Tickets to see these living legends are £10 each. Book online now! David Bailey Best known for: classic portraits of iconic celebrities and models The bestknown British photographer of the 20th century, David Bailey is simply a legend. Synonymous with the golden age of portraiture during the swinging 60s. Bailey has photographed the great, good and not so good; his most famous subjects include Mick Jagger, The Beatles, Andy Warhol and The Krays. While it’s easy to get distracted by his iconic subjects and largerthan-life persona, Bailey is a master of black and white photography, with a unique ability to put his sitters and models at ease and get them to open up to the camera. He’s also an accomplished film maker, who has directed several documentaries and advertisements. Don’t…

I like to be creative in my work and try to distort reality a little, giving an almost impressionist interpretation of the scene in front of me. One of the ways I do this is by using long shutter speeds which of course highlights motion within your composition. One has to weigh up the effects of these long exposures – sometimes too long a shutter speed will have an adverse effect, creating motion where you don’t want it; the branch of a tree or the mast of a boat; sometimes by going very long you risk exposing your camera to too much wind, rain or spray thereby increasing the risk of camera shake or water droplets. On these occasions I use the LEE Little Stopper, so called not because of…

Festival of Instameets with Instagramers of Birmingham and Visit Birmingham See Birmingham in a whole new light with this festival of instameets throughout the weekend and across the city. It’s the perfect opportunity to meet local photographers and members of the city’s thriving photography community. Janet Mendelsohn, Ikon Gallery, Brindleyplace The largest exhibition to date of photographs by this American academic and documentary filmmaker. Mendelsohn’s archive of over 3,000 photographs, taken in the Balsall Heath area of Birmingham in the 1960s, give a fascinating insight into an urban community in flux. Hidden spaces A unique series of events that share the secrets behind the façades of Birmingham’s buildings – lots of exciting photo opportunities. Abstract in the landscape A fun and rewarding photo walk with Paul Sanders, ambassador for Fujifilm…

FREE! 9 all-new tips cards! Our series of tips cards offer pocket-friendly advice for photographers on the go. This month we’re serving up tips for shooting backlit spring flowers, butterfly close-ups, balloon flights and more. Each card suggests initial camera settings as you seek the best exposure, then offers foolproof ways to take your photos to the next level. The collection builds month by month into the ultimate reference guide. You’ll find your cards after the regular magazine. WATCH VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc175video WATCH VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc175video When you see either of these logos, there’s a related video online 34 AMAZING PHOTO TRICKS This month’s ebook has something for everyone. Whether you want to carry out a quick colour correction or transform a picture with a more substantial dramatic effect, you’ll find expert…

SUPER-SPEED The continuous shooting rate when using the viewfinder has been pushed to 14 frames per second – with full autofocus and metering. QUICK MENU Like Canon’s other SLRs, pressing the Q button activates the Quick menu to check settings and make speedy changes. THREE SCREENS A total of three screens keep you informed about the camera’s settings when you are holding the camera away from your eye. NEW BATTERY Canon is using the new LP-E19 battery, which it claims offers a 90-shot increase in battery life on the LP-E4N supplied with the 1D X Mark I.…

MANFROTTO MICRO FRICTION ARM This mini Friction Arm attaches to 055- or 190-series tripods to give you a compact yet highly adjustable accessory mounting point. Alternatively, an optional 386B Nano Clamp will fix the arm to a small pole instead. £75/$105; www.manfrotto.co.uk DELKIN USB 3.0 CARD READER Delkin’s latest dual-slot offering enables simultaneous image transfer from its CF and SD slots over an ultra fast USB 3.0 connection. Slots are protected by a strong plastic cover. £30/$40; www.delkindevices.com LASTOLITE EZYBOX SPEED -LITE 2 The original EzyBox was a convenient way to soften flashgun light: now Lastolite has refined the modifier with the Ezybox Speed-Lite 2. The softbox pops into shape with a new plastic shroud, which attaches to your flashgun with a silicone strap. £50/$69; www.lastolite.co.uk…

IN issue 171’s Mini Test of monitors, we included the ViewSonic VP2780-4k, rating it at three stars. After our testing, ViewSonic realised that the test unit provided had a fault that affected the brightness, and we agreed to assess a new test unit. With the original test unit, we had to turn the brightness level up to 95% in order to obtain acceptable viewing levels. However, ViewSonic’s replacement unit gave accurate brightness at just 25%. As a result of this new test, we are modifying our overall rating for the VP2780-4k to four stars. £700/$700; www.viewsonic.co.uk…

PTGUI (www.ptgui.com) is a specialist panoramic stitching program that gives you more control over your panoramas. It starts at €79 for the standard edition, but you can download a free trial version for Windows or Mac OS X. The trial has no time limit, but adds a watermark to any panorama you create. PTGui can open raw photos, but it’s advisable to do any processing you want to apply in Lightroom (or your raw software of choice) first, then export the required files as 16-bit TIFFs, to preserve the full dynamic range of the images. Keep any processing to a minimum, though. Many of the sliders in Lightroom make local changes to an image that are dependent on its contents. This means that even if you apply the same adjustments…

URBAN PHOTOGRAPHY Our latest Shootout took place on London’s South Bank, where Ben Brain challenged two readers to battle it out with modern architecture, iconic structures and more... READER 1 Navjit Bhamra CAMERA: Nikon D810 LOCATION: London A SALES, operations and planning lead for a software company, Navjit is mainly drawn to travel photography. He has been slowly building up a portfolio of London landmarks since recently returning from a stint in Singapore. So, when this month’s challenge came up, Navjit felt confident enough to join us and give it his best shot. He was also keen to spend a day with likeminded photographers discussing all things photographic, from the latest kit to the dynamics of the photography market. www.facebook.com/darkcloudphoto READER 2 Leon Tyler CAMERA: Olympus OM-D E-M10 LOCATION: London…

Applying noise reduction essentially blurs the image, so it’s necessary to sharpen the image afterwards to make up for some of the loss of detail. The key ingredients in this are the Amount and Masking sliders. Masking controls which areas are sharpened, so you need to set this to sharpen only the edges in the photo. Hold down the Alt key as you slide to get a black-and-white preview of these areas. Anywhere that appears as white will be sharpened; black areas will all remain unsharpened. This prevents areas of continuous tone being sharpened, which would cause noise to re-appear. Set the strength of this sharpening using the Amount slider.…

GLYN DEWIS Photographer and author Glyn is a commercial photographer and retoucher, and is also an Adobe Community Professional trainer. He is the author of The Photoshop Workbook. www.glyndewis.com When an object is too complicated to cut out from a background, cheat! Try this smart technique that could save you hours of selection chores SOFTWARE Photoshop CC GET IT FROM www.adobe.com GET START FILES FROM www.bit.ly/dc175files WATCH VIDEO www.bit.ly/dc175video COMPOSITING – or rather, the process of selecting and cutting out assets from one picture and realistically adding them into another – is a common practice in the world of digital photography. Compositing is everywhere from areas such as the movie industry, where they create elaborate and fantastic posters advertising the latest blockbuster, to jobbing photographers being asked to simply move…

www.michaelfreemanphoto.com Which photographers (living or dead) would you like to have round for dinner? Elliott Erwitt, Helmut Newton and David Bailey (all known for their sense of humour). What’s on your memory card right now? Video footage for a commercial project on China’s Tea Horse Road. Who would you like to thank for getting you where you are today? Pam Marke of Time-Life Books, who published my first pictures and gave me the impetus to leave advertising. To crop or not to crop? Better not, but it’s inevitable for layout reasons in publishing. Tell us a secret about your photography that you haven’t told anybody before… There are no secrets, no magic bullets… Just do it, and live it all the time (or as much as you can). What’s in…

March 2016. There’s only one place for the serious photographer to be, and that’s The Photography Show at the Birmingham NEC. Since its launch in 2014, this four-day exhibition has become one of the major photographic events in Europe, uniting key makers and retailers, big-name photographers, passionate pros and keen amateurs. Last year 30,000 people flocked to The Photography Show. It’s a unique opportunity to try out the hottest new cameras and accessories, hear top photographers share their insights and secrets, and snap up some bargains with the exclusive retailer show deals. On the subject of saving money, check out the generous multi-day discount this year. Pay the normal rate for your first day and you can get the other days half price – see www.photographyshow.com for details. What’s more,…

WEDDING AND PORTRAIT STAGE Our new live demo stage that actually looks like a church – complete with stained glass windows! Sponsored by Loxley Colour and SmugMug. 11:00 – 11:30 Surprising ways to bring feeling and emotion into your portraits Marcia Michel 12:00 – 12:30 Achieving high-end wedding portraits Marian Sterea 14:00 – 14:30 The art of the quick portrait Stephen Perry 15:00 – 15:30 The non-technical portrait guide Adam Bronkhorst 16:00 – 16:30 Nice day for a white wedding Robert Pugh LIVE STAGE Top pros give free demos on capturing unique and challenging shots. 11:30 – 12:00 Think big with small equipment: studio in your kit bag Adam Bronkhorst 12:30 – 13:00 Creative fashion photo-shoot Jane Kelly 14:30 – 15:00 Photography as therapy: the journey to pro Matt Hart…

Absolute beginner or full-time pro, there’s a workshop for you! BEGINNER’S MASTERCLASS This is ideal for anyone at the start of their photography journey who wants to learn essential tips from the experts. There’s a charge of £10 for this dedicated four-part morning programme, in addition to the entry fee. Saturday 19 March 10.30-13.00, Toute Suite Sunday 20 March 10.30-13.00, Toute Suite 10:30 – 11:05 Tools of the trade Understand the differences between the types of camera available, how to choose the camera most appropriate for you and what different lenses are for. Damien Demolder, photographer and journalist 11:05 – 11:40 Understanding camera settings Get to know the essential settings of your camera, understand exposure modes on setups for different occasions and learn about exposure and metering. Angela Nicholson, Head…

Our hand crafted quality photobooks, are tailored for professional photographers across the UK and Europe. Each book is treated with the same level of care and attention deployed in your own work. Our easy to use software takes the stress out of designing and creating photobooks. The simple online ordering service is backed up with real people at the end of the phone. • Special ‘Show Only’ discounts • All books printed and bound in Surrey • Unique art papers • Helping you increase your profit in 2016 • Quantity trade discount • Please visit stand J51 www.aperturebooks.com Come And See Our Award Winning Books…