Table of contents for April 2024 in Digital Camera Magazine

STEP 1 ENTER THIS URL www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc279 Enter the URL www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc279 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. STEP 2 JUST CLICK THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK Click on the link labelled ‘Download the files for Digital Camera 279’ 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! STEP 3 ACCESS YOUR FILES Open the. zip In your Downloads folder, or wherever you chose to download your files, double-click the dcm279-files.zip file icon. Then when it expands, double-click Digital Camera…

1 Canon EOS R5 “Starting out with the EOS 600D DSLR, I have used Canon ever since. I just find their cameras so intuitive to use.” 2 Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM “A native RF-mount zoom, this is a go-to lens and I’ve been using it for over two years now. I find it to be super-sharp.” 3 Canon RF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM “I use this and the 24-70mm for pretty much every shoot I do – these two lenses are always attached to my camera.” 4 Manf rotto 058B tripod “I shoot a lot of photos from overhead, so I need a sturdy tripod. I use this with a Manfrotto 131DB horizontal arm.” 5 Manf rotto geared head “An important piece of equipment which I use a lot – the knobs…

There is often confusion about the difference between presets and profiles in Camera Raw. Although both of them allow you to transform the colours and tones in an image with one click, presets move the position of multiple sliders in the Edit panel to create a new look, whereas profiles change the colours and tones without adjusting the sliders. Profiles are more of a springboard to the editing process – for example, the Adobe Landscape profile boosts the saturation of blues and greens in a landscape; you can then manually adjust the Edit panel’s sliders to fine-tune the look. These 10 tone shift profiles produce a range of dramatic and creative looks that you can fine-tune in the Edit panel. 1 Open Lightroom We’re using version 7 of the desktop version…

Spring is on its way, and soon there will be an abundance of March hares and rabbits populating the fields once again. This is a great opportunity to dig out your telephoto lens and explore your camera’s autofocus system. Whether you are shooting a single subject or a group of rabbits, setting up your camera’s autofocus correctly will give you better results. Autofocus is a very useful tool when shooting wildlife, especially when there is more than one subject in your scene. Modern cameras offer an incredible number of autofocus points, with some having more than 400. Invest in a super-tele If you want to get into wildlife photography but find that your current lens doesn’t quite extend to subjects far away, it could be worth investing in a super-telephoto…

“Subscribe to Digital Camera and get the world’s favourite photo magazine delivered to your door or device each month” BAG WORTH £89.95! (RRP) HURRY! WHILE STOCKS LAST DIMENSIONS Internal dimensions 32 x 12 x 49cm External dimensions 34 x 21 x 50cm Great reasons to subscribe to Digital Camera magazine today Never miss an issue Enjoy 13 issues worth of Digital Camera for just £55.99 – that’s just £4.31 an issue – delivered direct to your door FREE Lowepro Ridgeline Pro BP 300 AW Daypack (RRP £89.95) The latest tips and insights A Digital Camera subscription will inspire you to take truly phenomenal photos every month and help you get the best results from your kit Get a Digital Camera magazine subscription today YOUR SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS PRINT ONLY £55.99 13…

Before we get into the different techniques you can use to produce stunning fine-art shots of landscape scenes, it’s good to consider the basics of photography that will stand you in good stead. The basic principle of considering your composition carefully before pressing the shutter will help to elevate your captures. Here are three reasons why the main image on the previous page works… Try an ultra-wide An ultra-wide-angle lens can add dynamism to your landscapes. Technically ‘rectilinear’ lenses, they are designed to keep lines straight for the most accurate rendition. PRO ADVICE THREE TIPS FOR SUPERB SCENICS 1 Focal points At your location, study the scene so you can find focal points to base your shot around. Here, note the triangulation of focal points: the two stones in the foreground…

Blending similar shots of the same scene, taken from slightly different angles, gives a unique and dramatic effect that forces the viewer to do a bit of ‘mental processing’ to grasp the content and form of the image. It takes some time to achieve a satisfying result using a camera’s multiple exposure mode, but by using layers in Photoshop, you can control the outcome with precision and, even better, do it with a single source photo. It’s best to use a picture with strong lines and strong detail, such as an urban landscape, but once you have your starting point on the screen, the process is easy. To start, duplicate the image with Ctrl/Cmd+J, and then in the Layers panel, click where it says Normal and choose the Soft Light…

This month: Prime lenses In this second part on lenses, we turn the spotlight onto primes Zooms are wonderfully convenient, hugely capable and a wise choice for many camera users so their immense popularity is thoroughly deserved. What’s more, having so many focal lengths packed into one lens also makes them great value compared with a lens with a single fixed focal length, known as a prime lens. But, as so often in the world of photography, it’s not just about value and there are several compelling reasons to add a prime lens or two to your armoury. One main reason is lens speed. There are fast aperture zooms available and the Panasonic Lumix 10-25mm f/1.7, Canon RF 28-70mm f/2L and Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 are stand-out examples. Generally, though, if…

Blending modes are one of the unsung heroes of Photoshop, providing multiple effects that can be applied to any image layer. Of course, some are more relevant to photographers than others, but one that you should familiarise yourself with is Multiply, which is a ‘darkening’ blending mode. Not only does Multiply darken, it also applies a degree of transparency to layers – allowing the underlying Layer to show through. We’re going to focus purely on Multiply but, at the other end of the scale, there’s Screen which is a directly opposite lightening blending mode. Anything we cover here can, therefore, be flipped to a brighter effect using Screen. What’s more, duplicate an Adjustment Layer set to Multiply and set the blending mode of the duplicated version to Screen for a…

OM System OM-1 Mark II New Micro Four Thirds flagship offers more than double the buffer size for burst shooting, an industry-best 8.5 stops of in-body image stabilisation, improved autofocus performance and AI-based graduated ND filters Has the photography industry’s cleverest flagship camera just got even cleverer? Although the core technology inside the OM-1 Mark II may seem essentially the same as its predecessor (a stacked 20.4MP sensor and quad-core TruePic X processor), the software and artificial intelligence powering the camera have seen some welcome upgrades. Surely the most exciting is the addition of digital LiveGND filters, which build on the LiveND filters introduced in the OM-1. LiveGND is an in-camera graduated neutral-density filter which allows physical filters to be left behind; the photographer can select the angle of the…

www.panasonic.com Panasonic cameras go from strength to strength: it was the fastest-growing full-frame camera brand in 2023. However, Panasonic’s Lumix S L-Mount lineup still lags a little behind the competition, with one major omission being the lack of a standard macro lens. Thankfully, the L-Mount Alliance saves the day here for Panasonic shooters, with fellow members Leica or Sigma stepping in to fill this gap with some superb choices, including the Sigma 105mm f/2.8 DG DN Macro, as well as Venus Optics and TTArtisan offering some more budget options. Key features But what is a camera system without good first-party lenses? Finally Panasonic has seen fit to plug this non-macro-sized hole with the brand new Lumix S 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens – although with Panasonic being the company of ‘firsts’…

Bea Lubas Food photographer and writer At The Photography Show this month, Instagram sensation Lubas will offer her expert tips on editing food shots. Get a taste of what she will cover, from page 8 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 Jess McGovern Photographer This multi-award-winning dog photographer will be giving two talks at The Photography Show. We get the inside track on taking portraits of pooches on page 120 Claire Gillo Photographer and writer Digital Camera’s former technique editor now specialises in creative and fine-art photography – you can find her latest photo project contributions from page 24 Jon Devo Photographer & writer…

Digital Camera loves to cover the wonders of shooting food. It’s one of the easiest ways of enjoying still-life photography, as a bowl of fruit and a basic camera is all you need to get started and, if you want to take it further, you’re only limited by your imagination and creativity. Bea Lubas has appeared in these pages before and is speaking at The Photography & Video Show this month. As a Lightroom ambassador, she will be sharing her tips for editing food photos in the popular software application. As regular readers may recall from issues 240 and 264, Lubas likes to keep things simple in her studio, and she loves to use natural light for photography, shaping it when necessary with diffusers and reflectors. So which tasty dishes…

1 | LANDSCAPES Compose with symmetry Discover how to use this essential element of classic landscape photography, with Mark Bauer and Ross Hoddinott The rule of thirds is one of the fundamental principles of composition, and one of the first that photographers try to get to grips with. However, if you follow it too slavishly, your pictures can become a little boring and predictable, and it is important to be aware of other possibilities in a scene. For example, in direct contradiction to the rule of thirds, you will sometimes find that centring your subject has the greatest impact. Balance Symmetry is one way to create balance in an image, but remember that symmetry doesn’t automatically produce harmony. Symmetry occurs when objects on one side of an imaginary line that…

If you want your images to appear toned and styled then the Color Grading feature in Lightroom is the perfect tool to do just this. Color Grading is an updated version of what used to be the Split Toning tool. You’ll find the Color Grading feature in the Develop Module underneath the Color Mixer tab and above the Detail tab. In the Color Grading tool, you can adjust the colours of either the Shadows, Midtones or Highlights, or globally across the whole image. Any alterations made to the Global setting will overlay over the other settings. The layout of the Color Grading feature makes it easy to use. You can change the selection from all three settings (Shadows, Midtones and Highlights), which is represented by a triple circle symbol, or…

The winner of the ‘Action’ challenge is… Mickaël Malaper In Digital Camera 277, we challenged our readers to submit an image that best encompassed ‘action’. Congratulations to Mickaël Malaper for a capture that combines a superb composition with excellent underwater lighting skills. Titled ‘Aquatic Wings’, this image was taken on a Canon EOS R (used in a SeaFrogs underwater housing) with a pair of Sea & Sea YS-03 strobes. Excellent work, Mickaël! Settings: 1/125 sec at f/8, ISO 400 The latest theme of our monthly photo challenge is ‘Water’ – so whether you enjoy taking photographs of streams, rivers, seas, ponds, precipitation, puddles or lakes – or whatever else floats your boat – we’re looking forward to seeing your best shot! Enter via email or Facebook Email your entry to…

WINNER: INTIMATE LANDSCAPE ‘Undertow’ Csaba Daróczi, Hungary Water violet (Hottonia palustris) submerged beneath moving water. “In the first days of May, I always return to a small canal near Izsák, Hungary, where the water violet plants bloom in huge numbers. Unfortunately, flowering was delayed this year and only the leaves were still underwater. I was about to go home when I saw a tree had fallen over the canal and the plants were clearly visible under its reflection. I found it an exciting subject and played with it for a while.” Camera settings: Nikon Z 6, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 ED lens, 1/320 sec at f/9, ISO 1250 Post-processing: Basic adjustments in Adobe Lightroom Further information: Website: www.daroczicsaba.huInstagram: @daroczics WINNER: ANIMALS CATEGORY & OVERALL WINNER ‘The Bird of the Forest’ Csaba Daróczi,…

After you’ve made a mono conversion to give a colour landscape an artistic appeal, there’s another processing technique you can employ to take your photo in a new direction. Split-toning assigns different colours to the highlights and shadows in your image, so instead of giving your shot a single toning treatment (as you would with sepia- or blue-toning), you can use both at the same time. Although you can use any colour, split-toning is best when opposite (or complementary) colours are used. That means going for blue-yellow, red-cyan or green-magenta splits, though the most successful is usually blue-yellow, as this gives cool-toned shadows and warm-toned highlights, both traditional treatments. First, make a good mono conversion that’s rich in contrast and detail. To do this from a colour raw file, open…

Photography tradition dictates shooting with the sun behind your shoulder so that you’re capturing your subject with the light falling directly onto it. While this approach makes sense, go against the grain and shoot into the light. This is also known as ‘contre-jour’, which means ‘against the day’. Shooting like this can be challenging as it’s easy to end up with an image that’s too dark, so you may need to dial in some positive exposure compensation to brighten your shot. To achieve the starburst effect, you’ll need to use a small aperture, such as f/11, as this helps to control the light. The small aperture only allows a narrow hole for the sunlight to pass through and this causes the light waves to spread out and create the starburst…

WATCH THE VIDEO! Trust in photography is at an all-time low. In an era of GenAI and deep fakes, any image must, by necessity, have its authenticity questioned. As such, there is more need than ever for tools we photographers can use to prove our images are genuine. We want transparency in AI image editing and a bulletproof digital signature for our own photos. The Content Credentials Initiative could be part of the solution. Spearheaded by Adobe, the idea is to create an ecosystem of trust, embodied by a ‘CR’ watermark pinned to images, that reveals a trail of provenance. Built into Photoshop and Lightroom, this feature lets us create a kind of log that accompanies the image to show others not just who created it, but also what changes…

We’re so excited that The Photography & Video Show 2024, at the NEC in Birmingham, is almost upon us, after 18 months since its last outing. As well as coming to say hello to the Digital Camera team on stand H404, there’s loads more going on at the event: there will be some top speakers (most of the talks are free!); some amazing deals on cameras, lenses and accessories from top photography retailers and direct from manufacturers; you can get hands-on with the widest range of new and exciting products under one roof; and watch live demonstrations – everything from technique tips for beginners to business focused advice for working professionals and those thinking of turning pro. Plus, there’s also the Masterclass Theatre, where some big names from the international…

www.hasselblad.com The Hasselblad 907X and CFV 100C is the most beautiful camera system I’ve seen. I’m a sucker for vintage cameras and SLR-styled modern mirrorless models, but I’ve never been quite as smitten with the design of a camera like this one. But this beauty is also a beast. A truly unique modular system, the Hasselblad 907X & CFV 100C comprises a ‘camera’ (the 907X, reviewed in issue 235) and the all-new 100MP medium-format back (the CFV 100C). Combined, they become a modern mirrorless camera, but the CFV 100C can also be attached to a vintage Hasselblad body, such as the iconic 500C, adding 100MP horsepower to these similar systems. The camera is a huge step up in performance from the previous Hasselblad 907X & CFV 50C (the older 50MP…

www.viltroxstore.com The Viltrox AF 27mm F1.2 Pro picks up the baton from some seriously good f/1.4 lenses, available in Fujifilm X, Nikon Z and Sony E mount options. We were impressed by the Viltrox AF 23mm F1.4 Z, Viltrox AF 33mm F1.4 Z and Viltrox AF 56mm F1.4 Z, which are all pretty much the same size and weight, plus the slightly larger Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 Z. Personally, I was so impressed by these four lenses that I bought them outright as my go-to lenses for when I’m shooting with my Nikon Z fc camera. Combining fast and consistently accurate autofocus with good handling characteristics, Viltrox’s back catalogue of lenses include de-clicked aperture rings and are terrific value at the price, although the 23mm, 33mm and 56mm lack weather-seals.…

Depth of field is one of the most creative controls we photographers have. By choosing what’s sharp and what’s soft, we can draw attention to the important parts of a scene while de-emphasising everything else. When we focus on a point in a scene, there is an area in front and behind the point that also appears sharp. This is the depth of field – and it can be expanded or contracted. For example, when shooting a person in a forest, depending on your camera and lens settings, you could choose to record detail in the trees in front and behind the person or transform the trees into an attractive blur. Aperture basics There are several factors that give us control over the depth of field. First is the aperture…

Few things encapsulate spring like the sight of bluebells carpeting a woodland floor. These beautiful and iconic flowers normally appear in April or May, depending on the weather and location. These seasonal displays can be short-lived, so you’ll need to keep a close watch on likely locations to give you the chance to capture them in their full glory. There are many ways that you can shoot these colourful displays, depending on the type of location, the background and the lighting you encounter. The classic wide-angle view is great if there is a large, colourful display, with a suitable background, but that’s not always the case. For smaller displays, you’ll get better results by using a longer focal length lens, such as 70-200mm, and isolating specific areas of flowers. Using…

This is Marty, a professional bridge player (the card game). I first met Marty while sailing on a ship between Lisbon, Portugal and New York City, USA, in early 2022. I was one of the ship’s lecturers, giving talks about the art and craft of photography, and Marty was the ship’s onboard bridge instructor. I made a portrait of Marty as we wandered around the streets of Belfast on a damp, drizzly day. He was an interesting and intriguing character and a compelling subject. I wrote about the image I made of him in the September 2022 issue of Digital Camera magazine. To my surprise, I met Marty about a year later on a different ship in the North Atlantic. We were sailing in and around Iceland and Greenland, but…

While this is one of the oldest tricks in the book for getting an arty soft-focus appearance in your images, it can still work an absolute treat. So let’s revive this tried-and-tested technique. All you need is some petroleum jelly (such as Vaseline) and something you can smear it on that will then fit over the lens. Obviously, it’s possible to smear the jelly directly onto the glass of a lens, but this could potentially damage an expensive optic so is best avoided. Instead, you could use an old UV filter that’s been scratched and is no longer in use. Early uses of a ‘gel’ filter were to create a softening effect for portraiture, but this technique can work equally well for fine-art landscapes, especially where there is a main…

It’s no secret that fine-art photography takes its cue from the Old Masters. Although a camera, rather than a paintbrush, is your tool, that doesn’t mean you can’t get ‘painterly’ in the way you capture. Many artists see simplicity and a lack of definition as a way of giving an impression of a scene and by reducing or removing the hard edges of reality, impressionist style pictures can be created in-camera. To get swirls, blurs and streaks in your shot, move the camera at the moment of exposure. This may be at odds with the standard way of taking a photo, where we aim to get the subject as sharp as possible – but in the search for that elusive fine-art ingredient, it can be successful. To pull off such…

1 ‘Outlook’ by Liam Willis “This image was shot in Cuckmere Haven, near Seaford in East Sussex. I like the way that as the sun came up, not only did it create a haze on the horizon, engulfing the Belle Tout Lighthouse seen in the distance, but it also cast a golden light on the iconic chalk cliffs. It’s always a really small window of time when the sky is full of colour for sunrise and sunset, so I love the way it hasn’t just captured the golden glow but also a small gap looking up at the blue sky. These coastguard cottages have to offer some of the best sunrise views in the country. “I keep an eye on multiple weather apps for the cloud coverage and height in the…

So you have some fine-art landscape photos to show off… one thing you can do to enhance your landscape processing is add a border to the finished image. In this case, we’re talking about having an even feathered edge to the image which will leave it surrounded in white. It’s a pleasing effect. Given that Lightroom Classic doesn’t allow you to add pixels or remove them without copying from other parts of the image (even content-aware removal is still based on existing pixels), you may be wondering if this is even possible in Lightroom. Well, it is. In the Effects panel, you have the Post-Crop Vignetting tool. Usually, this tool is used to darken edges with a large feather so there’s a subtle change. You don’t want the vignette itself…

In this image, we have a trio of Whooper Swans. The photographer has actually done really well to capture a sharp shot of them in flight. However, the image is too dark because the camera’s metering system appears to have misinterpreted the light tones in the sky and the swans, resulting in underexposure. But before dealing with that, let’s tighten up the composition. In the Transform panel use Scale to make the subjects bigger in the frame and the X and Y Offset sliders to re-position them slightly 1. Next, let’s brighten up the sky a little. In the Basics panel, choose the Whites slider and take it to the right to brighten up the whole image 2. Don’t go too far, as we want to retain detail. Now, we…

Cave photography calls for a varied range of skills, with stamina, endurance and an ability to operate in confined spaces near the top of the list. As it’s a subject many of us will be in the dark about, what could be better than taking a deep dive into the discipline from a leading practitioner? Exploration and adventure photographer Sam Davis is based in Powys in Wales and has been caving since childhood. A love of the great outdoors and hunger for travel led him to become a photographer and two of his passions will take centre stage at The Photography & Video Show this month… What will you be covering in your talk? My talk is called ‘Illuminating the Underworld’ and it will be about cave photography – taking…

www.canon.co.uk Every so often, a new superzoom telephoto lens grabs our attention. Mostly, it’s third-party lens-makers like Sigma and Tamron battling over stratospheric focal lengths or huge apertures. Canon, it seemed, was content to focus on sensible quality and let other companies make the headlines. But the Canon RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM is a serious challenger to the superzoom throne. The RF 200-800mm offers a record 600mm difference in focal length from wide to tele, for full-frame cameras anyway, and achieves this in a body weighing just over 2kg and 31cm long. However, there are compromises to be made, with the maximum aperture being limited to f/6.3-9, making it considerably narrower than other rival lenses with less ambitious focal lengths. The RF 200-800mm is designed for full-frame cameras, but…

Recently crowned the overall winner of the 2024 Societies of Photographers 20×16 Print Competition and, having won a hatful of previous awards, Jess McGovern is a leading practitioner of dog photography. Her beautifully composed images reveal the soul of her subjects and capture the deep emotional affinity that humans have with canines. Self-taught, McGovern is passionate about giving back and has helped 500,000 photographers develop and grow, both in-person and via her online photographic community. She is giving two talks at The Photography & Video Show: ‘Lights, camera, lick!’ and ‘Catch! Creating classic dog action shots’. We caught up with McGovern to find out more about her and her photography… Why did you become a pet photographer? Animals were always my safe space when I was a teen, and I…