Digital Camera World June 2020

Lockdown restrictions have started to ease for some of us, so now it’s possible to start thinking about getting out and about with your camera again. And you might feel that you need to kickstart your creativity after a couple of months holed up in quarantine. Turn straight to page 62 to do just that: this month’s cover feature is all about going back to basics with one of the first lenses you ever bought, the flexible 50mm. Also this month, there are 10 all-new projects to try in Photo Active (p10), and our Stay at Home section returns (p35). If you’re a fan of astrophotography, then make sure you download this month’s bonus ebooks (p8), and read our review of the Canon EOS Ra (p96). Camera drone users are…

Claire Gillo Creative photographer Photographer and writer Claire is constantly coming up with new ideas and approaches, and shares two of her latest projects in Photo Active. Marc Newton Documentary photographer Discover how Marc conceives and develops his distinctive documentary projects – and then executes them – in Photo Active, on page 24. Simon Newman Astrophotographer Enforced confinement to his house and garden led Simon towards photography, and he’s never looked back – although for astro, he regularly looks up… George Fairbairn Photographer and animator The US-born but UK-based photographer had a varied career before finding his vocation: stop-motion animation. He shares his secrets on page 20. Alex Tsepko Software developer The CEO of Skylum shares some thoughts on artificial intelligence and future development of his products, which include Luminar and Aurora HDR. See page 94. Quintin Lake Roving photographer Quintin is two thirds of the way…

During the summer of 2018, I got into photography ‘seriously’ when a broken hip left me confined to the house and garden for six weeks. I bought a macro lens, practised shooting bugs every day, and devoured all I could about photographic technique. Now my main photography passion is landscape astro. While I don’t get to do this as often as I like – I’m a father of two young ones – when I do it’s a true experience. I love every stage of the operation: the planning, waiting and hoping for the right conditions, the night itself alone under the stars, and even the post-processing – a key aspect of astro. All my favourite images have strong memories associated with them; clearly that’s a personal thing which can never be…

1 Camera gear I use Google Maps for scouting new locations, as many areas have photos tagged to them. The PhotoPills app (right) helps me ascertain which direction the Milky Way will look its best. For weather forecasting I use Clear Outside, which also gives the light pollution value for the location: in skies with light pollution levels above Bortle 4, it’s hard to capture the Milky Way well. The rig shown to the right is what I use for tracking the night sky, as seen in the Dunkery Beacon image. The tracking mount allows exposures of several minutes, which can really maximise detail and colour. If I have to travel light, I’ll just use a camera, tripod and fast lens, as in my Pen y Fan image below, and stack the…

As we all get ready for summer, one leisurely activity to engage with is photographing flowers at a close proximity, to create a dreamy and abstract result. For this shoot I used bluebells as my main flower, although some of you may have already noticed that the bluebells in my garden are not the traditional native English bluebells but their Spanish cousins. The bluebells appeared very early this year due to the warm April weather, so they may well have disappeared already in your region. But the technique shown here can be applied to photographing whatever garden flowers you have in your garden. If you don’t have a garden, you can still photograph a windowsill planter or a hanging basket – as long as it is a group of flowers, it…

Black-and-white photos can be powerful, inspiring and timeless. With digital photography it is easy to convert a colour photo to black and white – but if you want to get quality black-and-white images, you will need to do more than simply take a raw file or JPEG straight out of your camera and desaturate the colour. When you’re using Lightroom, there are several different techniques that you can use for getting quality black-and-white photographs. 1 Begin your conversion At the top of the Basic Panel, you will find the Treatment options. Changing from Color to Black & White will convert your picture with one click. (Choosing B&W in the HSL Panel has the same effect.) The conversion doesn’t look too bad, but it’s a little flat for my taste. It might work…