Table of contents for August 2024 in Digital Camera Magazine

1 “After the kites have been fed, they have full bellies, they are tired and that’s when you’ll get better photos. Plus, it’s easier to photograph the birds when there are fewer of them flying around.” 2 “The wingspan of a flying kite is fractionally under two metres. Don’t zoom in and out; lock your focal length to 300mm and wait for the bird to come into your range instead of going hunting for it.” 3 “Your prize shots will be ones of the kites diving, so I set myself up to place the bird at the top of the viewfinder, in the centre, so there’s room in my frame for capturing the bird as it dives.” 4 “Keep an eye on the tail of the bird. If the tail is wide…

The relentless march of time and technology means that today’s camera quickly becomes yesterday’s obsolete junk. However, give it enough time and that junk could become a collectable item. When it’s passed from useful to decorative, that’s the time to set your camera collection up for a macro shot. For this image, I’ve set the cameras up on a table with window light in the background. However, the front of the cameras is lit by a tungsten lamp with a colour temperature of around 3000K. The camera’s AWB has catered for this, which means that the highlights on the tops of the cameras have a contrasting blue cast. A wide aperture was used to give a shallow depth of field, with the focus on the front features of the central…

Although the traditional practice of crofting – tenant farmers eking out a subsistence living in a wind-swept glen – is largely a thing of the past, new regulations mean that these traditional attractive buildings are still available for those wishing to live in and cultivate their croft. Although crofting is now more a lifestyle choice than a necessity, croft houses are very much part of their environment and should be photographed in the same way, whether that’s as an active agricultural enterprise, or as one of the many ruins scattered around Scotland and Ireland in particular. So compose your scene as you would a traditional landscape. Rule of thirds Try to use the rule of thirds for the landscape composition but ensure that the front of the croft is facing…

If you’ve never seen a puffin before, you may be surprised by their diminutive size, impressed by their diving capabilities and amused by their colourful beaks and sad eyes. The UK has 580,000 breeding pairs of Atlantic puffin, one of the three types of Fratercula, as the genus is known. The other two are the Horned puffin, found off the coasts of Siberia, Alaska and British Columbia in the summer and California in winter; and the Tufted puffin, also found in the north Pacific. At 32cm long on average, the Atlantic puffin is the smallest but, thanks to its orange feet and brightly coloured beak, also most distinctive. Puffins like to nest in grassy burrows or crevices in seaside cliffs and are excellent swimmers, which helps them capture small fish…

One of the key reasons why mirrorless and DSLR systems are the only real choice for wildlife photographers is their compatibility with a huge range of interchangeable lenses. You can customise your system by investing in the focal lengths that suit the subjects you wish to capture – for example, longer ‘telephoto’ lengths for photographing birds and mammals from a distance, or a macro lens for small insects. Lens choice is important, greatly dictating the look, feel, context, and impact of your nature shots. FOCAL LENGTH The focal length of a lens determines its angle of view and the extent to which the subject will be magnified. It also helps to determine perspective. The focal length is represented in millimetres, with a low number indicating a short focal length (large…

Shutter speed determines the length of time the camera’s mechanical shutter stays open for during exposure, and hence the amount of light that enters the camera and reaches the sensor. If this length of time is too short, insufficient light will reach the sensor and the image will be too dark (underexposed). If the shutter is open too long, too much light will strike the sensor and the resulting image will be too bright (overexposed). Shutter speed has a reciprocal relationship with lens aperture. SHUTTER SPEED At the time of writing, the fastest mechanical shutter speed available on any camera is 1/8000 sec, although electronic shutters are capable of even faster speeds. Typically, the slowest automatic speed is 30 seconds, although longer exposures are possible by using a camera’s Time…

1 ‘Hot Creek, California’ by Vit Javorik “I took this photo in the Sierra Nevada in California. When I arrived, the light wasn’t ideal, so I camped nearby and waited for the sunrise – it didn’t disappoint. I love the early morning colours, the stream twisting through the scenery and the mountain backdrop.” Taken with a Nikon Z 6II and a 24-70mm f/4 lens. Settings: 6 secs at f/16, ISO 100. Digital Camera says: It does look like a fascinating location, Vit. From the steaming hot springs to the distant mountains, there’s lots for the eye to explore. 2 ‘The girl with the gun’ by Anthony Pantelis “Your project on shooting Film Noir style shots (Photo Active, Issue 281), inspired me to retrieve some images that I’d taken last year. We used a…

46 MINUTES OF VIDEO This month… Tool School: All-new Adjustment Brush Get to grips with Photoshop’s new brush tool and transform your images using local enhancements Fundamentals: Taming a shiny face Use the improved masking tools in Lightroom to reduce the amount of shine on skin in your portraits Get the Look: Transform landscapes Being in the right place at the right time isn’t always possible but with Photoshop, we can transform drab images VIDEO TRAINING The issue 284 download includes video lessons that build on our tutorials, plus bonus videos with extra tips! www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc284 PHOTOSHOP All-new Adjustment Brush LIGHTROOM Tame a shiny face in portraits LIGHTROOM Use its Graduated Filter tool PHOTOSHOP Transform drab landscapes PHOTOSHOP Flash-paint landscapes LIGHTROOM Geotag your photos PHOTOSHOP Take control with Smart Sharpen Download 46…

This landscape shot feels unbalanced, and the photographer hasn’t made enough of the great sky colour. The first thing we need to do is crop the image to the right-hand edge of the treeline 1, as well as straighten the horizon line very slightly. We definitely need more contrast between the sky and the trees 2. In Masking, we’ll use Select Sky to isolate the sky, before brightening it up with the Whites slider at +40. We don’t want the whole sky to be brighter, just the area behind the trees; so, using Subtract, we can place a Gradient Filter over this area and bring back the detail. To further affect the trees and land we’ll use Select Sky again, but invert it. Now we can darken those areas by…

At this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference in Cupertino, USA, A Apple teased partnerships with Blackmagic Camera Design and Canon, in which both companies will produce camera hardware and software to support the creation of immersive visual content. At WWDC, Canon shared updates on two products designed to help lower the barrier to entry for those keen to create virtual reality content. The first is a new RF-S7.8mm F4 STM Dual lens, designed for use with the Canon EOS R7, making it the second official Canon R mount lens created for VR and the first made to capture spatial video for the Apple Vision Pro. Sharing a similar design to the Canon EOS R 50mm F1.8, it features a unique dual lens design that mimics the difference in space between current…

www.amazon.co.uk/www.amazon.com DJI is the biggest brand in consumer drones, but has held out against offering 4K video at the entry-level a bit longer than some. Instead DJI had settled on three tiers in the ‘ultralight’ (below 250g) class, where the entry-level Mini 2 SE offers only 2.7K video, compared with the 4K of the Mini 3 and the Mini 4 Pro. The new Mini 4K signals a departure from that strategy. The Mini 4K is not so different from the Mini 2 SE in terms of design; the airframe is the same, and it takes the same batteries. If it wasn’t for the name on the side, you’d probably not be able to tell the difference. Switch it on, however, and you soon spot that the Mini 4K has a…

www.sigmauk.com The Mark II edition of the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 II Art really pushes the boat out. It delivers a raft of upgrades and improvements, while still only costing about half as much as ‘own-brand’ lenses like the Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 G Master II and the Panasonic Lumix S Pro 24-70mm F2.8 – and little more than a third of the price of the Leica 24-70mm Vario-Elmarit-SL F2.8 ASPH. Considering how much Sigma has packed into this lens, it looks like a real bargain… Build and handling Handling and autofocus performance aside, optical quality is the main hallmark of any great lens. The 24-70mm F2.8 II Art packs 19 optical elements, of which five are slimline, highly polarised aspherical elements, designed to enhance image quality while lightening the build.…

Donn Delson Photographer The Los Angeles-based aerial photographer recently exhibited his work in London. We find out more about his unique ‘down’ photography style. Page 118 Will Cheung Photographer and writer A fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and the former editor of many photography titles, Cheung is the man behind Camera Clinic, which continues on page 72 Paul Way Photographer With 30 years experience of photographing birds, who better to deliver a workshop on capturing the majesty of magnificent red kites? Page 8 Jon Devo Photographer & writer Our resident tech columnist considers the latest developments in photography and digital imaging. Read his latest dispatch on the future of virtual reality, on page 100 Ben Hall Wildlife photographer Seeking to awaken people to the diversity of the natural world,…

When the opportunity arose to join the leading wildlife photographer Paul Way for red kites feeding time at Gigrin Farm in Wales, I didn’t envisage the sheer number W of birds that would appear. My previous experiences of bird reserves tended to involve patient waits for species that might turn up, in small numbers, and only for a fleeting time. But Gigrin Farm is a different matter entirely. I’d love to be able to avoid the trap of making references to scenes reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller The Birds, but standing in the hide at Gigrin Farm, this did cross my mind – albeit I don’t recall any birds of prey in the 1963 film, and humans aren’t under attack today. Quite the opposite: if you want to get…

1 | TRAVEL A day at the seaside Wendy Evans packs up her bucket and spade and heads for a traditional British holiday destination While holidaying by the seaside was popular among the wealthy classes in the 18th century, largely for health reasons, it wasn’t until the Victorian era that a seaside day out became fashionable for the working classes. One of the most popular seaside towns is Blackpool, famous for its illuminations and home to the iconic Tower, built in 1894. So I went there to discover the sights for the day-tripping photographer. If there’s one thing you can rely on at the seaside, it’s the fickle British weather. Despite being in the middle of June, it was cold, rainy and blowing a gale – no wonder the beach…

Rivers snake their way through the landscape in a way that can only truly be appreciated from the air, making them perfect subjects for drone photography. Your assignment is to shoot a landscape image in which a river provides a curvaceous focal point. You may be able to use local knowledge to find good locations close to home or satellite imagery to find places where a river makes interesting shapes. Once you arrive at your location, it may help to get the drone up high to scout the areas that show the most promise. For your final composition, think about emphasising any interesting features of the river, such as meandering curves or feeder channels. You may find that to get the water to stand out against the darker colours of…

Welcome to our monthly reader photo competition, where the best image wins a £50 voucher that can be used towards purchasing stunning wall art from the leading photo printing brand Cewe. This issue, the theme is stunning sunsets. Summer is a great time of the year to capture sunsets, of course, with golden colours and favourable weather. We want to see your best efforts, over land or sea, that show off your technique and photographic skills. Enter via email or Facebook Email your entry to digitalcamera@futurenet.com with ‘Sunsets’ as the subject, including a brief description of the image. Or look for the ‘Sunsets’ post at www.facebook.com/digitalcameraworld and upload your entry into the feed. Enter by 15 August 2024 (only one image per reader, please). The winner will be announced in…

WINNER: Into the Forest ‘Explosion of Monarchs’ Jaime Rojo “As the days get longer and warmer in the oyamel fir forests, the first signs of spring bring with them a remarkable increase in activity at the Monarch Butterflies Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán, Mexico. “The monarch butterflies have stored enough fat before they start their migration, so the majority of them won’t need to eat much when they are overwintering in Mexico. However, they do need to drink, so water or dew must be available to them because they can be pretty active in the heat of the day. To quench their thirst, thousands of butterflies swarm to the ground near small streams, where they sip liquid and vital minerals from the wet soil – a behaviour called puddling. “Climate change…

F-stops are often the cause of much confusion among photographers – and not just beginners. They are quite easy to understand, though, and it is essential to have a good knowledge of f-numbers and how they work. The aperture is the common term for the iris diaphragm of a lens, which consists of several thin blades that adjust inwards or outwards to alter the size of the near-circular hole they form (the aperture), through which light can pass. By altering the size of the iris, photographers can determine the amount of picture-forming light that is allowed to enter the lens and strike the sensor. Aperture controls the depth of field – the amount of an image that appears acceptably sharp. UNDERSTANDING F-STOPS It can be helpful to compare the aperture…

White balance is a camera function designed to neutralise colour casts produced by different colour temperatures. Our eyes are so sophisticated that they naturally adjust for the light’s temperature, natural or artificial, enabling us to always see it as white or neutral. A digital sensor isn’t quite so clever, which is why it often needs a helping hand. COLOUR TEMPERATURE Every light source contains varying amounts of the three primary colours: red, green and blue (RGB). Lower temperatures have a greater percentage of red wavelengths, so appear warmer; higher temperatures have a greater proportion of blue wavelengths and appear cooler. The temperature of light is measured in degrees of Kelvin (K). For example, the warm light of a candle has a low value of around 1,800K, while shade under a…

FILE & VIDEO www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc284 10 BONUS ADJUSTMENT PRESETS Turn to page 88 to find out more! The latest update to Photoshop CC introduces a new brush tool that allows you to paint tonal adjustments over an image. The Adjustment Brush is designed to streamline the process of making local adjustments in Photoshop and we can use it for all sorts of powerful tonal enhancements. When editing your photos, local adjustments can work wonders, especially in landscape scenes like this where the difference in brightness between land and sky can occasionally leave one area too dark and another too bright. With the Adjustment Brush, it’s a simple task to pull detail out of these areas, as well as enhance colours and boost details. In this project, we will show you how…

Nikon Z 6III The third iteration of enthusiast full-frame mirrorless offers the world’s first partially stacked sensor While the sensor resolution of the latest Z 6 remains at 24.5MP, it features a brand new ‘partially stacked’ sensor that offers much faster readout speeds. This allows for an electronic shutter capable of shooting up to 120 frames per second in DX crop mode and 60fps in full FX mode. The sensor is supported by in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) that offers up to eight stops of stabilisation, up from five stops on the Z 6II. The IBIS also borrows a trick from the Nikon Z f (reviewed in issue 276) and pivots around the active focus point for enhanced subject sharpness. Autofocus points are distributed across the entire sensor, with 299 points…

www.gopro.com But for a few cosmetic tweaks, the Hero12 Black could easily be mistaken for the preceding Hero11 Black. Its dimensions, sensor specs and shooting resolutions serve up a hefty dose of déjà vu. Dig a little deeper, though, and it becomes clear that there is a handful of meaningful updates: a new mounting option, Bluetooth mic support, dual-channel audio, and HDR video are the headliners. Key features The Hero12 Black is just as waterproof as older GoPros – it’s good for a 10-metre (33ft) dunk – and can be mounted on any action cam mount, thanks to its flip-out feet. GoPro’s Mod accessories work on the Hero12 Black, including the Media Mod, the Display Mod, the Light Mod and the new Max Lens Mod 2. Newly added is a…

Shimoda Urban Explore 25 £299/$299 Customisable and comfortable for street shooting shimodadesigns.com Designed to meet the needs of city-dwelling photographers who don’t require something as bulky and rugged as camera backpacks designed for wilderness trekking, the Urban Explore comes in three sizes and the 25 is the mid-range option. Geared towards street and architectural shooters, the Urban Explore’s material is manufactured from recycled plastic bottles, so it’s on-brand eco-wise. The bag’s ‘Core Unit’ is a padded box for stowing cameras, lenses and other kit. As it’s removable, the Urban Explore can be switched between a backpack for travelling and a camera bag. The main compartment can be accessed from the side and the rear of the bag, although we found the rear access to be the most useful. The two side…

BONUS SOFTWARE EXTRAS! Turn to page 88 ENTER THIS URL www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc284 Enter the URL www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc284 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. This will take you to a page on our website. JUST CLICK THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK Click on the link labelled ‘Download the files for Digital Camera 284’ and your download will start, delivered from our own server. Please override any browser warnings about downloading from a non-secure source – our server is safe! ACCESS YOUR FILES Open the. zip In your Downloads folder, or wherever you chose to download your files, double-click the dcm284-files.zip file icon. Then when it expands, double-click Digital Camera…

Two of the main problems faced when photographing bands are location and time. Bigger budgets bring more options for location, but time is usually allocated by management or record companies. You may need to introduce pragmatic solutions so that those key problems don’t stop your creativity – fantastic images can be created in the most unusual of locations, at little, if any, cost and within most bands’ available time. Almost all bands start by playing live gigs, so the venues they use can be your new studio. Whether it’s through friends, acquaintances or using social media to contact a band, it’s easy to get permission to take some backstage or behind-the-scenes photographs with the right approach and a little determination. Small venues in particular are where artificial lighting becomes your…

The inspiration for this idea struck me after viewing Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Lightning Field series during his exhibition in London. I purchased a mini Tesla coil online, with the intention of shooting a long-exposure image of the lightning sparks being emitted by it. To enhance the abstraction and visual appeal of the image, I positioned the Tesla coil at one end of a triangle of mirrors, with the camera mounted on a tripod at the opposite end. This resulted in the style of image known as a Vortograph. The photos were taken using a timer to prevent any additional blurring caused by handling the camera. The aperture was set at f/3.2 as the image didn’t require a large amount of depth of field. Focus was set to manual, on the coil…

Hope. It was everything I had hoped for! Recently, I was speaking at the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts (CAPA) in Kelowna, Canada. Due to a slight mixup with my itinerary and having to include a ‘Saturday’ in my schedule to keep flight costs down, I had an unexpected 36 hours to get from Kelowna to Vancouver International Airport. I had a rental car, so I scoured the map, delighting at the prospect of a drive through the Rocky Mountains. While I’m sure there were plenty of dramatic ‘classic’ landscape opportunities, they don’t inspire me photographically. However, the map soon revealed a small town called Hope. Situated at the confluence of the Fraser and Coquihalla rivers in British Columbia, Hope has a population of less than 7,000. The icing on…

Whether you are a newcomer to nature photography or an experienced professional, the aim is the same: to improve and develop. It is human nature to strive to do better and to learn, and this is why photographic workshops are so popular. The Wildlife Photography Workshop isn’t intended as a substitute for attending an on-location workshop – there is no better way to learn than doing. However, it is not always possible to retain all the information you learn during a workshop; not everything will sink in. Also, workshops aren’t cheap; not everyone can afford one or justify the time away from work or family life. These are among the reasons why we decided to create this ‘workshop’ in book form. It is designed to provide a useful, practical resource,…

It is easy to assume that, to achieve maximum impact, the subject should fill the frame. While this approach can certainly create bold and eye-catching nature photographs, it rarely produces the strongest, most stimulating compositions. By including a degree of negative space around your subject, you can capture a far more compelling, harmonious image, and one that conveys more about the subject and its environment. WHAT IS NEGATIVE SPACE? Put simply, negative space is the area of the image that is not occupied by the subject. When photographing wildlife, it is tempting to focus attention solely on the subject, overlooking the importance of the empty space around it. However, when used correctly, negative space can create far more aesthetically pleasing compositions, helping to create a sense of context, scale or…

Isabella Franceschini’s project, ‘The Leap of Fish that Dream I of Flying’ has been awarded the prestigious Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award for 2024. The project focuses on the decommissioning of the Polesine Camerini thermoelectric plant in Rovigo Province, north-eastern Italy, which is set to be transformed into an eco-friendly tourist facility through a project involving local institutions and the local population. Isabella’s project documented the conflicting environmental challenges in this area since 2015, showing how humans have both benefited from this environment, through the local mussel farming industry, but also exploited it with the building of a thermoelectric power plant. “The Marilyn Stafford FotoDocumentary Award represents a unique opportunity to share my project with a wider international audience, promoting understanding and awareness of the importance of preserving delicate ecosystems such…

BONUS SHINE REDUCTION PRESET Turn to page 88 to find out more! FILE & VIDEO www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc284 Shine. Does it look dewy or just wet? We all have natural oils on our skin – they make us look healthy and alive. However, when we light images or shoot in brighter light, the reflections can often look shiny and ugly. Specular highlights are fine on skin and they help give it some dimension. However, when they are excessive, they start to look like sweat. You can try to do things in advance to reduce this, such as using a mattifying powder – even on male subjects. Almost everyone you see on TV has had some sort of makeup applied. You may be going for a dewy look where shine is intentional. But…

Toning it blue Q How can I give an image a moody, blue tonal quality in Lightroom Classic? Lesley Farmer A There are several ways you could do this, but I am going to tell you my favourite – which also happens to be one of the quickest. First, convert the colour image to black and white, then open the Color Grading Panel in the Develop Module. I prefer to adjust both Shadows and Midtones by dragging the target from the centre of each respective circle into the blue zone. You’ll need to play about a bit to see what works with your image. Then you can also use the Luminance, Blending and Balance sliders to adjust further to your tastes. If you want a more subtle blue tone, adjust…

HANDS-ON PREVIEW www.fujifilm-x.com There was a time when a certain phone manufacturer would release tame S versions of its flagship phones in-between major numerical releases, both as a refinement of the previous model and to build momentum for the next big update. When Fujifilm opted to name the X-T30’s successor not the X-T40, but the X-T30 II, it felt like a refined but tame update to see Fujifilm through, and to harvest a bumper crop of updates for the next model. It’s safe to say that the X-T50 is not another simple refinement. It has received big updates, both inside and out, which should put this camera firmly back on the radar of anyone shopping for retro-styled digital cameras. Traditionally, the X-T30 II and its predecessors have featured tech from…

www.fujifilm.com The Fujifilm GF120mm is tailor-made for macro photography. The effective focal length of 95mm (less than the true focal length because this lens is paired with Fujifilm’s medium-format GFX cameras) is ideal for extreme close-ups of anything and everything, from bugs and insects to wristwatches and the other paraphernalia of life. The minimum focus distance for achieving maximum magnification is 0.45m (as measured from the image sensor in the host camera) and enables a comfortable working distance. Yet this lens is no one-trick pony. With fast autofocus and five-stop optical image stabilisation, the lens works well for portraiture and any other shooting scenarios that require a short telephoto focal length. Build and handling My initial reaction to this lens was one of disappointment. Dedicated macro lenses that I’ve used…

At Photo Independent’s London show in May, images by Donn Delson appeared alongside those of six other Los Angeles-based photographers. But Delson’s works were captured in a novel way, from ‘doors off’ helicopters at heights of up to 12,000 feet (4,000 metres). To date, Delson has spent more than 300 hours strapped into doorless helicopters enjoying rarefied views of the world and recording many of these moments for posterity on high-resolution digital cameras. His photographs, which result from moments of serendipity rather than anything he has pre-planned, capture what scenes resemble from the air, rather than their actuality, and are named accordingly, with titles including ‘Feathered’, ‘Turntables’ and ‘Water Color’. We sat down with him to find out more… How did you come up with your distinctive take on aerial…