Advanced Photographer issue 55 sampler

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M5 MKII

QUICK AS A FLASH YOU’VE BEEN FRAMED

Blockbusting sequel or rotten tomato? Capture the action with our lighting advice Composition tips for every landscape shooter

THE MAGAZINE THAT TAKES YOUR IMAGES SERIOUSLY

ISSUE 55 £4.95 ABSOLUTEPHOTO.COM

TURN PIXELS INTO POUNDS

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great ways to make money from your hobby

Sun worship Inspiring advice from fellow readers to help you shoot better sunsets

14 PAGES OF SOFTWARE & TECHNIQUE

How to master HDR and create a whole new world of dynamic images

AND THE WINNER IS… THE BEST PHOTO GEAR, AS VOTED BY YOU ap55-001 coverrpljc.indd 1

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ISSUE 55

Welcome WILL CHEUNG FRPS, EDITOR Will has worked in photo mags for 30 years and been taking pictures for even longer. His photographic interests are very broad, from landscape and nature to portraits, indoors and out.

COVER IMAGE: Times Square, New York by Ken Kaminesky

ENIPAHDACONNCTEENDT

Welcome to this technique-packed issue of Advanced Photographer.

A technique that does not have a good reputation is high dynamic range (HDR) and that to a great extent is due to photographers being rather overzealous with what is possible. The high contrast, vibrant colours and unusual look had an appeal until everyone grew out of the extreme HDR effects. The thing is, HDR is immensely useful and can come in mighty handy in a multitude of different photo situations – it can help you get great results in challenging lighting, for instance – so it definitely deserves more credit than it receives. Our main feature this issue covers its practical as well as creative benefits.

In our landscape masterclass we look at one of photography’s most challenging aspects: composition. It can make or break a picture so it’s important to get right, but it’s so easy to get wrong. The good news is that with some straightforward techniques, it’s also easy to produce powerful images full of impact.

I was lucky enough to be invited to Prague last month to enjoy the company of the latest Olympus camera, the OM-D E-M5 Mark II. I had a few hours with it and, as an owner of the original E-M5, I must admit I am impressed. It is without doubt a large step forward and its ISO, AF and handling performance are markedly superior. I’m already thinking of how I can finance an upgrade – an original E-M5 at a bargain price anyone?

See you again next month.

AVAILABLE

PAGE 32 COVER STORY

HDR

KEN KAMINESKY

Will Cheung FRPS, Editor

PAGE 68 COVER STORY

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M5 MKII PAGE 74 COVER STORY

… AND THE WINNERS ARE… Advanced Photographer is also available as a fully interactive magazine – go to iTunes now!

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ISSUE 55 PAGE 48 COVER STORY

CONTENTS

LIGHTING ACADEMY

PAGE 6

LANDSCAPE MASTERCLASS

Imparting his scenic know-how, editor Cheung shows us how it’s done. This issue, he’s busy composing.

PAGE 10

UPFRONT

Isn’t photography just the best thing since sliced? We think so, which is why we’re excited about spaniels, shows and travel.

PAGE 16

PHOTO 24

Simply the best way to spend 24 hours – photographing with like-minded people in the capital with your fav mag.

KINGSLEY SINGLETON

PAGE 18

CAMERA CLUB OF THE YEAR

It’s the penultimate round of the ultimate competition for camera clubs. Still time to enter and win though!

PAGE 22

MONEY SPINNER

Fancy profiting from your hobby? A wedding or portrait shoot could boost your bank balance – and your skills.

PAGE 32

THE BIG FEATURE: HDR

It’s a bit like Marmite, you either love it or hate it, but these pages are dedicated to converting you all into HDR lovers.

PAGE 48 PAGE 6

WILL CHEUNG

PROJECTS

COVER STORY

LANDSCAPE MASTERCLASS

ANGI WALLACE

PAGE 55

LIGHTING ACADEMY

Freeze frame with Kingsley Singleton’s flash tips.

PAGE 55

PAGE 64 PAGE 102

PROJECTS

Give your photography a boost with a project; it’ll bolster your skills and populate your portfolio.

WIN A SHOOT

It’s your last chance to claim your spot on an exclusive portrait shoot with the Pentax 645Z.

COVER STORY

INSPIRED: SUNRISE & SUNSET

PAGE 102

INSPIRED

Fire up your imagination with shots from fellow readers.

This month, they’ve been out from dawn to dusk, capturing sunrise and sunset.

PAGE 106

AND FINALLY…

Editor Cheung ponders joining the ‘mine’s bigger than yours’ gang.

PHOTO KIT KINGSLEY SCOTT

PAGE 65

PAGE 68

PAGE 74

HDR

LONG-TERMERS

Only day-to-day use can tell you what a camera’s really like, so what do the AP team and readers think of their kit?

KEN KAMINESKY ap55-005 contents ljc.indd 5

THE AP AWARDS

The results are in! Find out which retailers and trainers, cameras and lenses you think deserve an award.

PAGE 87

Advanced Photographer is also available as a fully interactive magazine – go to iTunes now!

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M5 MARK II

Editor Cheung gets hands on with the new version of the E-M5 at the launch. Does it tickle his fancy?

PAGE 32 COVER STORY

PAGE 92 PAGE 87

LONG-TERMERS

DAISY DICKINSON

SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE SEE PAGE 62

GEAR NEWS

Every snippet and story you need to know about the latest photo kit.

HDR SOFTWARE

One of this tempting trio could help you achieve the HDR images of your dreams.

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LANDSCAPE MASTERCLASS

WORDS & PICTURES WILL CHEUNG

THE ART OF

COMPOSITION 6

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LANDSCAPE MASTERCLASS

Pictures succeed or fail on how key elements in the frame are arranged, so every photographer needs to master the fundamental skill of composition – or at least understand its possible pitfalls, because there are plenty You can work hard to get to a wonderful location in perfect light, but if your composition skills are not up to scratch, you might as well not have bothered.

Composition is not a dark art, nor is it limited to guidelines like the hackneyed but still effective rule of thirds, but it is a world where there is success and failure – although not necessarily right or wrong. Often it is just a matter of opinion.

The key thing to remember when it comes to composition is that it is your responsibility how you use the elements within the scene, making choices such as lens type, camera viewpoint or just where you position within the frame the scene’s focal point, or that drystone wall in the foreground.

Furthermore, every picture should be treated on its own terms – what worked last year, a week ago or even a few seconds ago does not guarantee success this time round. It might, but it might not, so don’t take it for granted, and work every picture hard to get the most from the scene.

With landscape, where you often have time to examine and obsess, it pays to explore a scene as much as you can before moving on. This applies even more nowadays with digital capture, because there is no real cost – apart from time – whether you shoot one or 30 pictures of the same scene.

Of course, I don’t mean that you should take umpteen shots of every scene, because you quickly run out of memory, and the light might not work for that whole time anyway. But when you have a genuinely exciting scene in front of you and the light’s great, don’t skimp: just shoot.

For this month’s Landscape Masterclass, I delved through my catalogue of scenics and called up some pictures to illustrate a few key points of composition technique you should bear in mind when you are out there.

FLATTEN PERSPECTIVE

Fit a telezoom if you want to pick out or isolate details in the scene and also use the effect of telephoto compression, which makes subjects seem very close together even though they are in reality some distance apart. The longer the focal length, the greater the effect.

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WAYS TO MAKE MONEY

WORDS MEGAN CROFT PICTURES VARIOUS

There’s no reason why your hobby can’t be profitable too, and to help you on your way to earning some extra cash, we hear from those who’ve been making money in three of the most accessible genres: weddings, children and events

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02/03/2015 10:06

WAYS TO MAKE MONEY You’ve nailed the technical part and can take a decent picture or two, but how about making some money from your talents? You don’t have to quit the day job, as taking profitable photos is something you can easily do in your spare time.

Naturally, though, the more time you dedicate to it, the more you’re likely to get out of it. Three of the easiest ‘ins’ for the burgeoning pro are wedding photography, children’s portraiture and event photography, but it’s a competitive industry out there and it seems everyone with a camera wants a slice of the profitable photographic pie.

To give you the edge, we’ve rounded up experts in their fields to share insider info that’ll help you on the road to earning a few quid or becoming a professional photographer extraordinaire.

PICTURES VARIOUS

BRETT FLORENS

Shooting fine art images is another business opportunity and tackling something different as Brett Florens as done is a good way to go.

Advanced Photographer is also available as a fully interactive magazine – go to iTunes now!

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HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE

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WORDS KINGSLEY SINGLETON PICTURES VARIOUS KEN KAMINESKY Advanced Photographer is also available as a fully interactive magazine – go to iTunes now!

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HDR SHOTS POLARISE OPINION LIKE FEW OTHERS. SOME LOVE THEM, SOME HATE THEM... AND SOME REALLY HATE THEM. BUT WHEN MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR SUBJECT, THERE SHOULD BE NO RESTRICTIONS ON WHAT TECHNIQUES YOU USE, JUST HOW YOU USE THEM. SO THIS MONTH WE’RE MOUNTING A DEFENCE OF THIS MOST MISUNDERSTOOD AND ABUSED TECHNIQUE. GET SET FOR BRACKETING, TONE-MAPPING, MASKING, STRONG COFFEE AND BRIAN ENO… High dynamic range processing has been around for long enough now that most photographers have given it a go. And here’s what, for many, that looked like: photographer makes HDR image on computer, goes ‘Wow, that looks weird’, and moves on with their life.

You see, most people just don’t get HDR, or how and when to make the most of what this powerful method of capture and editing can deliver. In fact, one of the greatest misconceptions is that HDR is a photographic subject in its own right, like landscaping or portraiture.

But it’s not. HDR is simply a technique, like any other used to make a picture. It’s a means to an end, not the end itself. So when someone says ‘I don’t like HDR’, they may as well be saying ‘I don’t like using long exposures’ or ‘I don’t like putting my camera on a tripod’. You’d scoff at the notion. We all would. It would be ridiculous. As ridiculous as denying yourself one of the most useful and creative techniques in photography.

Another common mistake is in terms of agenda.

That's to say, if you’re going out just to shoot HDR, your work will probably reflect this as a purely technical, scientific exercise. But if you’re going out to shoot a particular scene or subject, and its capture demands an HDR approach, you’re working in a much more positive way.

Further complicating things is that while HDR processing is relatively simple to do, it’s also very easy to get wrong, with the kind of eyeball-melting results that fill up Flickr pages being one of the main reasons people find to ignore it as a legitimate and powerful exposure technique.

So even if you think you know the basics and have the software required, this feature is most certainly for you. Over the coming pages, and with the help of some experienced image makers, we’ll look at how and when HDR techniques should be used and what leads to the most important thing of all – a pleasing image that you can be proud of.

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HIGH-SPEED FLASH LIGHTING ACADEMY

SPONSORED BY

WORDS & PICTURES KINGSLEY SINGLETON

FREEZING TIME

Fancy a shutter speed of 1/40,000sec? Then you need high-speed flash When you start out in photography, it’s common to think that freezing movement in your pictures is all about getting the fastest possible shutter speed. Of course, in some cases this is true, but when it comes to achieving the sharpest shots of moving subjects, flash is the key, and shutter speed becomes far less important.

In this month’s Lighting Academy we’ll look at why flash is used for high-speed photography, what kit you need to do it, how to set up your camera, and how to adapt the lighting for your subject.

FLASH POWER 1/64 (1/10,000SEC DURATION)

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The set-up we’ve used here is designed for shooting an object as it falls into water, creating a submerged splash and bubbles – the image is then rotated and cleaned up a little in Photoshop – but the same basic methods can be used for other types of high-speed shot, like water droplets, popping balloons and so on.

While we’ll touch on some of the still-life techniques used, we’ll mainly be concentrating on triggering and setting the correct power of the lights, as well as how their position alters the look of the shot.

FLASH POWER 1/1 (1/1600SEC DURATION)

ABOVE With one light on the background and one on the subject, we used a wireless trigger to fire the flashes and shot in continuous drive mode to get a few exposures per ‘dunk’.

LEFT At the lower powers, flash duration is shortest and sharpness is increased, but get longer as you turn up the juice.

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HIGH-SPEED OPEN FLASH LIGHTING ACADEMY

WHITE BACKGROUND SET-UP To make the background clean and white, it needs to be separately lit and at a power slightly higher than the light on the subject. Flash power needs to be kept as low as possible to freeze the movement (the final image has been rotated).

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PROJECTS AN EXPERIMENT IN LIGHT SHERADON DUBLIN | WWW.SHERADONDUBLIN.COM

Jilted bride

An abandoned garage, a jilted bride and some creative lighting were the raw ingredients for Sheradon Dublin’s latest personal project

INSPIRATION The texture of the garage walls and the heartbroken damsel creates a strong narrative. This shoot was also a lighting experiment with an LED light source not made for photography AIM To create a series of experimental, emotive story‑based portraits creatively lit in a garage DURATION One day

IMAGES Sheradon waited for months to gain access to the garage, which he anticipated would provide the perfect backdrop to his project in light experimentation.

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Photography has always been a part of my life but I never paid too much attention to it when I was much younger. Even when I started art college, photography was just another coursework module we had to complete, but that was where everything changed. I remember being in the darkroom and seeing my first print developing in the tray in front of me, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Coming from a background in design, my photographs often take on a graphic look and feel with influences from graphic novels, subculture animation or brutalist architecture. In this case, it was covers of trashy romance novels about lovelorn, vengeful damsels that sparked my inspiration.

The ‘Jilted bride’ was an idea I had been wanting to shoot for at least a year. The location of this shoot, a doorless garage space, played a central role but had been out of bounds, and I only managed to get permission to use it by pulling a few strings.

I contacted Rosie Ladkin, a London actress I had worked with before, who has an amazing talent for emoting different characters effortlessly. Then I drafted in Laura Naish, a brilliant makeup artist entrusted with bringing my vision of heartbreak, anger and revenge to life.

I wanted to shoot something dark but still have some usable images for the makeup artist, so started to review lighting methods. I had recently come across a large LED torch in a wand-like casing, similar to the Ice Light but much more affordable. It’s a lovely piece of kit for not much money. The light was not as diffused as I would

have liked but I loved the idea of working outside of my comfort zone and improvising.

I packed only the lighting essentials: two LED panels, the new LED wand torch, large Lastolite reflectors, diffusers, gels, Gaffer tape and super clamps. I figured this minimal kit would make me work harder. The continuous light was great but the light from the LED panels was quite harsh, so I rigged the large reflectors and diffusers in various formations with the clamps, to shape or flag the light, creating large areas of shadow and pools of light in the enclosed space. This added a sense of drama and provided a very dark, sinister narrative.

I wanted to be able to switch between looks and moods quickly so I set my Canon 5D EOS Mark III to manual, with the aperture almost wide open for the duration to add a softer feel around the edges.

I used either my Canon 40mm f/2.8 or 50mm f/1.8 prime lenses. I only changed the shutter speed to under or overexpose the image depending on the mood I was after. The positioning of the LED lights on stands was a mix of traditional methods, a key light, a fill and occasionally a hair light, with a little modifier creatively thrown in to deepen or open up the shadow areas.

The item that really surprised me was the new LED torch. Because of its shape and bulbs in a semi-circular arrangement, the light was thrown everywhere with little control; it looked flat when bounced, but when diffused it looked amazing. We started with a large diffuser bent round like a giant taco and brought the subject very close to the light source so the shadows would fall off quickly. It’s like shooting with a very narrow strip softbox, adding drama when you light from the rear or the sides of your subject. This method of lighting, using a simple torch to create dark, low-key work, was a learning curve with its own set of problems but I look forward to developing and applying the technique to my other personal projects. @advancedphotog

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LONDON OLYMPICS PROJECTS

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PHOTO KIT OLYMPUS OM-D E-M5 MARK II

SPECS STREET PRICE £899.99 body only, £1099.99 kit with M.Zuiko ED 1250mm f/3.5-6.3 EZ CONTACT olympus.co.uk SENSOR 17.3x13mm Micro Four Thirds IMAGE SIZE 4608x3456 pixels ISO RANGE 100-25,600 AUTOFOCUS MODES High-speed imager AF, SAF, CAF, manual, 81 AF areas EXPOSURE COMPENSATION ±5EV SHUTTER 60secs-1/8000sec (mechanical), 1/16,000sec (electronic), Time, bulb, flash sync at 1/250sec METERING Digital ESP with 324 areas EXPOSURE MODES PASM, scene SHOOTING SPEEDS Up to 10fps continuous LCD SCREEN 3in vari-angle IMAGE STABILIZER 5-axis sensor shift – yaw/pitch/roll/ vertical/horizontal, 5EV benefit

WORD & PICTURES WILL CHEUNG

FIRST LOOK: OLYMPUS OM-D E-M5 MARK II

The E-M5 was the first arrival in the Olympus OM-D family and very popular it has proved too.

The Mark II has now arrived and looks set to be an even bigger success Launched three years ago, the Olympus OM-D E-M5 caused quite a stir and many DSLR enthusiasts invested in one. Many sold off their APS-C and even full-frame systems to finance the change, while many bought the E-M5 to use in tandem with their existing outfit.

Three years is a decent amount of time when it comes to imaging products so an updated model was due, and the announcement was no surprise. News of the E-M5 Mark II was very welcome, although with a small reservation. When camera makers use the Mark II designation it usually means that the original has been upgraded a little but the changes aren’t significant enough to justify a totally new model name.

If that sounds slightly cynical, it is not meant to, and is based on past experiences.

However, I think it is fair to say that the E-M5 Mark II does offer significant advantages over the E-M5, so existing owners considering an upgrade can probably be optimistic that the investment will be justified.

I have only spent a few hours with the Mark II so the jury is still out but the signs are very promising.

Olympus took imaging journalists to the Old Waste Water Treatment Museum in Prague for the day to try out the Mark II in a variety of

situations to see for themselves how the model performed. The cameras used were production quality but the images shown here are from JPEG originals as no raw converter software was available at the time. I also took along my E-M5 as well as an E-M1 too for comparison’s sake.

Key changes compared with the E-M5 are an improved image stabilisation system giving a 5EV gain instead of a 4EV benefit; a three-inch vari-angle touchscreen that folds out to the side; and an improved sensor for superior low light, high ISO shooting. The sensor is a 16-megapixel Live MOS unit.

Some sources have said the sensor is from the E-M5 while others have said it’s from the E-M1. Neither is the case. The sensor is said to be new and, unlike the E-M1 unit, it does not feature phase-detection AF pixels so high ISO noise performance is claimed to be superior.

There are a couple of fascinating extras. There’s Live Composite mode, which will appeal to light painters and astro and firework photographers (see panel right), and there is a 40-megapixel high resolution mode (see panel overleaf).

We tried both modes in Prague so you can see how they fare.

The handling of the Mark II is very similar to the

original E-M5’s but at the same time different. The on/off switch has moved to a collar around the left-side exposure mode dial and that was confusing to start with. There are also more function buttons so you do need to spend a little time on custom set-up – in the time I had, I left everything on default settings.

One Mark II feature I am very keen on is the vari-angle monitor but that’s because I like monitors than can swing out to the side too.

Some will love it for the convenience

STORAGE MEDIA 1xSD, SDHC, SDXC, UHS-1/II compatible DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 123.7x85x44.5mm WEIGHT (INC BATTERY & CARD) 469g

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OLYMPUS OM-D E-M5 MARK II PHOTO KIT

of shooting selfies, but I like it for the flexibility of viewing angle. You could, for example, check image composition even when standing to one side of the camera – you could be sheltering the camera from a buffeting wind during a long exposure or standing there as a human lens hood against a low sun.

We’ll be reviewing the E-M5 Mark II in greater detail next issue, but for now here’s a closer look at the some of its features.

ABOVE The original E-M5 (left, the extra shutter button courtesy of the HLD-6 grip) compared with the Mark II. The Mark II’s exposure mode button on the left is lockable using the same idea as first seen on the E-M1 so it can be locked or left working in click-stops. Other key changes are the relocated on/off switch, the shift in the rear input dial position and more function buttons that can be assigned to frequently used features. One thing you can’t see is that the Mark II body is lighter by some 50 grams.

LIVE COMPOSITE MODE E-M5 users have long been enjoying the camera’s Live Bulb mode where you see at a long exposure building up over a period of time. Live Composite is similar yet different and that’s the mode used for this light-painting image.

With the Mark II fitted on a tripod, the camera was set to manual mode, low ISO and the lens to f/6.3. The shutter time was five seconds, which meant the camera took a continuous set of five-second exposures that it then merged in real time.

Set-up done, the lights were turned off and the first release of the shutter made a five-second (or whatever time is set) dark frame exposure to identify noise. The camera’s then all set for the live composite. Pressing the shutter again (there is no need for a

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lockable remote release), it was time for the light painting to start.

Every five seconds the image updated and I watched the effect on the monitor.

Once done, pressing the shutter release again closed the shutter and terminated the exposure.

For this image here the light painting was done by Olaf Schieche and Eugenia Ospanov (www.zolag.de). In terms of time, the shutter was probably open for three minutes as the light painters moved around the dark interior of the water treatment plant. There was a very low level of ambient light so they could see where they were going but with the low ISO setting that didn’t have much impact on the image.

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ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHER AWARDS 2014

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ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHER AWARDS 2014

THE VOTES ARE IN. THEY’VE HAVE BEEN COUNTED. WELCOME TO THE RESULTS OF OUR AWARDS RECOGNISING ALL THAT’S GOOD IN THE WORLD OF IMAGING

T

hank you to everyone who made the effort to register their votes for what they considered to be the best gear and services in 2014. In many categories it was a close run thing between the nominated products and only in a few cases was there a runaway winner.

We hope you agree though, whether you voted for that particular product or not, that the winners thoroughly deserve their accolades.

History will tell whether 2014 was a truly vintage year or not, but there is no doubt that we saw many exceptional and innovative products that captured the imagination (and credit cards!) of discerning image-makers everywhere.

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And finally…

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EDITORIAL TEAM

Editor Will Cheung on his photographic month

DO WE REALLY NEED 50.6 MEGAPIXELS? THE TRUTH IS THAT FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF US PHOTOGRAPHERS, THE ANSWER IS AN UNEQUIVOCAL NO. I’M STILL PRINTING A2 PRINTS FROM SIXMEGAPIXEL FILES SHOT ON AN EOS 10D By its own impressive standards, Canon, in terms of launching new cameras, had an exceptionally lean 2014, with the G7 X probably being the highlight. When the planet’s leading DSLR camera brand’s highlight is a compact, surely questions should be asked in the House of Commons. The world order is fine though because the brand still dominates the DSLR market, so it shows you don’t need a constant flow of new products to sell lots.

And it looks like Canon’s period of self-imposed exile is over as it has launched four DSLRs, most notably the 50.6-megapixel full-frame Canon EOS 5DS and EOS 5DS R, but there’s even more with new lenses and an EOS M CSC. The thing about the two new Canon fullframe DSLRs (and soon to be joined by the much rumoured Nikon and Sony DSLRs of a comparable resolution perhaps) is the immense number of pixels. Do we really need so many?

Forgive my meander back in time (I’m sorry, but it happens when you’ve been in the game for as long as I have!) but when keen shooters were using Kodachrome and Fujifilm Velvia, the much vaunted digital resolution figure needed to match these top films in quality terms was said to be 14 megapixels. Well, that milestone was left behind years ago and many of us still happily use cameras that don’t even have that number of pixels under their bonnet. I love my Nikon D3s and that has a mere 12 megapixels and its files are good enough for A2-size prints and beyond. Indeed, I am still printing A2 prints from six-megapixel files shot on a Canon EOS 10D. So, back to my question, do we really need 50.6 megapixels? The bare truth is that for the vast majority of camera users, the answer is an unequivocal no. For some professionals, where the ‘mine is bigger and better than yours’ syndrome can apply such a high megapixel count can matter, perhaps. The demand for one of last year’s best cameras, the medium-format Pentax 645Z with its 51 megapixels, has been high so is perhaps proof of that. Incidentally, for the price of the 645Z you can buy one each of the new EOS 5DS bodies and still have change for a very, very good night out.

Actually I have no doubt that the two new Canons will be in high demand so get your order in if you fancy one. I also have no doubt that many buyers will be buying them in the belief that they seriously need 50.6 megapixels. What’s more, they will be telling the world precisely that, posting their pictures of a brick wall on Facebook, Twitter,

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Editor Will Cheung FRPS ☎ 01223 499469 willcheung@bright-publishing.com Features writer Megan Croft ☎ 01223 499466 megancroft@bright-publishing.com Contributing editor Kingsley Singleton kingsleysingleton@bright-publishing.com Sub editors Lisa Clatworthy

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Daisy Dickinson, Sheradon Dublin, Angi Wallace, Hugh Arnold, Brett Florens, Ken Kaminesky, Neil Kremer, Debbie Poyser, Kris Griffiths

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FEW OF US need 50 megapixels but what we need and what we want are two very different things.

Flickr etc and viewing their images on 24in monitors, knowing that in their heart of hearts 50.6 megapixels is an extreme case of overkill, but feeling smug about life at the same time. These people might as well use a pinhole camera. Bitter?

Me? Yes, quite probably!

Speaking of which, world pinhole day is on 25 April. I know it’s easy to get very sniffy about old technology but I love the idea of shooting pinhole.

I have mine on a Nikon body cap so will be using it in conjunction with my digital SLR. Hands up, I admit I haven’t gone for a film pinhole but I have shot more film so far in 2015 than I managed in the whole of 2014. It all stemmed from a recent and very serious tidy-up when I came across my bag of film cameras – Canon, Nikon, Leica and Olympus.

I’m loving the pleasure of using a Leica M and an Olympus OM-1 – it’s almost sensual. As an aside, I’ve even started playing my LPs again – if you don’t know what an LP is, ask your parents or grandparents.

It seems film is probably doing better than many people think. You might have read that the Royal Photographic Society now has an analogue group. On one hand it is a sad reflection of the state of film usage that an organisation where 100% of its members used to use film has now set up a special interest group for that. On the other it has recognised the demand from film users and the many people involved should be congratulated on their efforts.

What with all this activity, in different sectors of imaging, there is no doubt that photography itself is in very fine fettle at the moment and that can only be a good thing. @advancedphotog

CONTRIBUTING TO ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHER Advanced Photographer is always looking for photographic talent so if you feel your pictures are worthy of being featured in the magazine we would love to hear from you. In particular we want creative pictures showing the use of popular and innovative camera techniques.

BY POST: Send us a CD with 12 images or fewer, together with a contact print of images, and a brief covering letter outlining your ideas and photographic credentials. In terms of file size, please ensure that the image is at least A4 size (21x29.7cm) and 300ppi resolution. If you prefer, up to 12 unmounted A4 prints can be submitted. Please enclose a stamped SAE if you want the CD/prints returned.

Advanced Photographer, Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridgeshire CB22 3HJ.

BY EMAIL: Please email us at info@ advancedphotographer.co.uk. Attach no more than six low-resolution JPEGs (1000 pixels on the longest dimension) and a brief, 100-word email outlining your ideas and key photographic credentials. We will contact you for high-resolution files if your images are chosen for publication.

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When you have finished with this magazine, please recycle it Advanced Photographer is published on the first Thursday of every month by Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridge CB22 3HJ. No part of this magazine can be used without prior written permission of Bright Publishing Ltd. Advanced Photographer is a registered trademark of Bright Publishing Ltd. The advertisements published in Advanced Photographer that have been written, designed or produced by employees of Bright Publishing Ltd remain the copyright of Bright Publishing Ltd and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. While Bright Publishing makes every effort to ensure accuracy, it can’t be guaranteed.

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absolutephoto.com

26/02/2015 17:15