CAMERA CLUB OF THE YEAR LIGHTING ON THE MOVE PORTRAITS ON LOCATION Revealed! The UK’s most talented club Four leading battery powered kits tested
Get great results using high-key flash outdoors
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24-70mm F/2.8 ZOOMS Which one sets the highest standard?
“I don’t really like cameras. It’s your brain that takes the picture” Exclusive interview with portrait legend Terry O'Neill TECHNIQUES, SOFTWARE TIPS AND SAND
Toast the coast with our 16-page seaside special FEATURED INSIDE: NIKON D81O FUJIFILM X-T1 6 STANDARD ZOOMS CANON EOS 6D MANFROTTO 190 GO! TAMRON SP 15-30mm F/2.8 ap58-001 cover cb.indd 1
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ISSUE 58
Welcome WILL CHEUNG FRPS, EDITOR Will has worked in photo mags for 30 years and has been taking pictures for even longer. His photographic interests are very broad, from landscape and nature to portraits, indoors and out.
COVER IMAGE: Sunrise on Llanddwyn Island, Anglesey with morning sun on Twr Mawr lighthouse by Drew Buckley.
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It’s a colourful time of year with plenty in the countryside and gardens to point the camera at. If your preferences lie with people and events, there is also much to look forward to, including celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. If your leanings are more scenic, now is a great time to get to the coast. It’s not high season yet so it’s comparatively quiet, especially if you can sneak a day off work and go midweek. With the long days, though, it might even be possible to do a shoot before or after work, which, of course, has the benefit of more interesting light. Our big feature covers all things coastal with advice from some leading experts in the genre and it’s filled with great pictures to get you motivated. It’s inspirational stuff and as all of us are within a few hours from somewhere coastal it seems rude not to exploit the opportunity. In Lighting Academy we stay outdoors, exploring outdoor portrait shooting with portable flash. Whether you own a speedlight or a portable battery flash outfit the extra creative potential of adding a blip of extra light is massive and we show you how it can be done successfully. As if it was almost planned, in Photo Kit, we take a close look at four leading portable flash outfits. Location lighting is very much the in thing, whether that’s using flashguns or battery-powered studio flash. Here it’s the turn of battery flash with models from Elinchrom, Lencarta, Phottix and Profoto tried and tested.
Will Cheung FRPS, Editor PAGE 66 COVER STORY
BATTERY LIGHTING
COASTAL SEASCAPES
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PAGE 42 COVER STORY
TERRY O’NEILL
PAGE 24 COVER STORY
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ISSUE 58
CONTENTS PAGE 6
LANDSCAPE MASTERCLASS
Mine a rich seam of photographic gold with a trip to an oilseed rape field – after reading editor Cheung’s advice. PAGE 10
UPFRONT
Isn’t photography just the best thing since sliced bread? We think so, which is why we’re working up an appetite for street shots, tasty treats and naval narratives. PAGE 48
COVER STORY
LIGHTING ACADEMY
KINGSLEY SINGLETON
PAGE 18
PAGE 24
PROJECTS
THE BIG FEATURE: AT THE COAST
We all like to be beside the seaside and if you read this expert advice, you’ll enjoy a trip to the coast even more. PAGE 42
PAGE 55
CAMERA CLUB OF THE YEAR
And the winner is…
TERRY O’NEILL
His career took off with a street shot of a sleeping British Home Secretary and since then Terry O’Neill has photographed everyone from the Beatles to Sean Connery. So what’s his photographic secret?
PAGE 83
LONG-TERMERS
IAN FYFE
MIKE MARTIN
PAGE 48
LIGHTING ACADEMY
When we went down to the woods today, we took the flash kit along to help balance out the daylight. PAGE 55
PROJECTS
Give your photography a boost with a project; it’ll bolster your skills and populate your portfolio. PAGE 94
INSPIRED
Fire up your imagination with shots from fellow readers. This month, they tackle still life. PAGE 98
AND FINALLY…
Editor Cheung’s bringing up the bodies.
PHOTO KIT PAGE 63
GEAR NEWS
Every snippet and story you need to know about the latest photographic kit. WILL CHEUNG
PAGE 6
LANDSCAPE MASTERCLASS PAGE 90
MINI TESTS
PAGE 66
LOCATION LIGHTING
Battery powered flash kits from Elinchrom, Lencarta, Phottix and Profoto on test. PAGE 74
STANDARD ZOOMS
It’s the go-to lens for many, spending more time on the camera than most other optics, so it’s worth investing in a good standard zoom, but which one? PAGE 83
LONG-TERMERS
PAGE 74 COVER STORY
STANDARD ZOOMS
Only long-term, day-to-day use can tell you what a camera is really like. So what do the AP team and readers think of their kit?
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MINI TESTS
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THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN London is such a vibrant, ever-changing city that you can spend a lifetime enjoying it with your camera and still go to your grave not having done it all. Without wishing to sound morbid that brings us nicely to another photo opportunity. Only death and taxes are certain in life, so said Benjamin Franklin, but at least death brings with it photo opportunities. Well, cemeteries do, at any rate. And it’s highly likely that there’s one close to you with potential for a few pictures. If you’re booked onto our Photo 24 shoot on 20 and 21 June, London’s ‘magnificent seven’ are certainly worth adding to your itinerary. In the early 19th century London’s population doubled and graveyards quickly became overcrowded so Parliament passed a bill in 1832 to allow private cemeteries to be established outside London. Over the next ten years seven were established – Abney Park, Brompton, Highgate,
Kensal Green, Nunhead, Tower Hamlets and West Norwood – and these are the magnificent seven. Photography for personal, non-commercial purposes is fine, but you should check each cemetery’s website for restrictions such as on tripod use. And of course cemeteries are not suitable locations for a fashion shoot with a load of mates. The websites also have details of opening times and with the exception of Highgate which charges £4, entrance is free. There is plenty to shoot whether overall views or close-up details, so if you go, take your time to explore at your leisure and even take time to read the inscriptions which can be fascinating. If you have an infrared camera, that is definitely worth taking along too. Finally, it should go without saying that if you do go, please treat the places and fellow visitors with all due respect and enjoy the locations through your lens.
FOR MORE…
BROMPTON ROAD CEMETERY A visit to any one of the magnificent seven is a worthwhile photo trip, but editor Cheung chose to explore Brompton Road, taking along his Fujifilm X-T1 and his infrared converted Nikon D7000. If you visit, why not share your results with us, maybe as a project (see page 55)?
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ABNEY PARK abneypark.org BROMPTON brompton-cemetery.org.uk HIGHGATE highgatecemetery.org KENSAL GREEN kensalgreencemetery.com NUNHEAD bit.ly/1bJruUs, also www.fonc. org.uk TOWER HAMLETS bit.ly/1S0OS0U, also fothcp.org WEST NORWOOD bit.ly/1E1vtT8, also fownc.org info@advancedphotographer.co.uk
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In association with
PHOTO 24 2015 Photo 24, which takes place on 20 and 21 June in London, is a free festival of picture-taking in one of the world’s leading capitals with a load of like-minded folk. We have very few places left due to some cancellations, so if you can make it and fancy joining us please email rebeccakalama@brightpublishing.com in the first instance to check out the ticket situation. Advanced Photographer is also available as a fully interactive magazine – go to iTunes now!
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COASTAL SHOOTING
WORDS KINGSLEY SINGLETON PICTURES VARIOUS
WE’RE AN ISLAND, AND THAT MEANS ALL PATHS LEAD TO THE SEA; CERTAINLY WHEN IT COMES TO LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY, ANYWAY. BUT WHILE IT’S TRUE THAT SEASCAPES MORE THAN RIVAL THEIR LANDLOCKED COUNTERPARTS IN THE POPULARITY STAKES, HOW DO YOU MAKE THE MOST OF THE COAST IN YOUR SHOTS? THIS MONTH WE REVEAL ALL WITH EXPERT ADVICE FROM SEASONED SEASCAPERS
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THOMAS GARY KING
COASTAL SHOOTING
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COASTAL SHOOTING
I CREATIVE EDGE Coastal landscapes are an addictive subject that keep on giving, and photographers will go to surprising lengths to capture them. And there's huge variety, too, because the seaside is a location that's always in motion, so no matter how many times you shoot the same spot, you'll never get the same image.
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t was 6.30 in the morning when I saw the shape on the beach; a lumpy, amorphous blob of seaweed, almost halfway between the highwater line and the surf. At around two and a half feet, it stood well above the other clumps on this remote Scottish shore, and the half-light gave it the hunched and slimy malevolence of some sea-dwelling demon from an HP Lovecraft novel. But I wasn’t worried; I was thankful to see it; it was the tripod that I’d forgotten all about and left there the night before. I was amazed it’d survived this serious dunking and hadn’t been dragged into a watery abyss, but after fighting off the plant-life and gathering it up in the first rays of a weak wintery sun, something even more surprising dawned on me: the reason I’d managed to forget it in the first-place. The sea does funny things to photographers’ minds, it seems, and like the hours that you can absently lose absorbed in a still-life project, there’s something about those places where the land meets
the water that fascinate to the point where you’ll risk being cut off by the tides, scramble over slippery rocks and almost inevitably end up with sodden socks, all in the pursuit of a better angle or another five minutes of the lapping waves. Could you even be so drained or mesmerised that you’d stumble home leaving your kit behind? It seems so. In compiling this month’s guide to seascapes, it became obvious that many expert photographers had undergone similar losses of reason, quickly followed by losses of gear, clothing and sometimes layers of skin. For instance, Chris Calver, a seasoned shooter from Suffolk once fell off a storm gate, in search of the perfect shot, snapping his 17-40mm f/4 and denting his EOS 5D, then spent the rest of the day in A&E; Brian McCready who lives and shoots near the iconic Mourne Mountains of Co Down reports beaches to be the last resting place for many of his tripods, usually crippling hinges and losing feet to the greedy sand. It all says something about the passion we all feel for the coast; a passion that we’ll refine this month… @advancedphotog
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GARY KING
BRIAN MCCREADY
COASTAL SHOOTING
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CHRIS CALVER
So where does the fascination come from, and what does the sea add to a scene that landlocked views lack? For Brian it’s the dynamism of the coast: “I can return to the same stretch, often the beach at Tyrella or Dundrum Bay with the outline of the Mourne Mountains as a backdrop, and the conditions are never the same; the winds are usually stronger on the coast so the light is always fleeting, and the changing tides mean that the sea is never in the same mood for very long.” And for Chris? “It’s simply that water lifts the scene even if other elements don’t come together; the movement always draws you in.” Gary King, who’s from Cornwall, but based in Devon, and often to be found along the South Hams coast around Wembury, is also captivated by recording the motion of the water. “No two images will ever be the same and you’re in total control of the feel of the sea through the shutter speed you use,” he enthuses. Drew Buckley echoes this; running his own photography business since 2010, he lives and shoots along the Pembrokeshire coast, the only designated ISSUE 58 ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHER
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INTERVIEW
TERRY O’NEILL
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OK, it’s clearly not all that terrible being Terry O’Neill. The iconic photographer, credited with helping define the faces of the 1960s and revolutionise portrait photography as we know it, lived a life of privileged access to the world’s biggest stars. Was it luck or something more? Here, he talks to Kingsley Singleton about the pictures he made and the pictures that made him…
I
n a world of tiresome, truculent micro celebrities it’s great to find someone who is, at the same time, deserving of their fame and also one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. That person is Terry O’Neill, who despite being one of the UK’s most iconic photographers, is as free with perspectives on his career, his subjects, his successes and failures, as he is with London travel advice (“you want a number 14 back to the West End from here”). The foundations of Terry’s reputation were built in the 60s, and his style brought an exciting documentary edge to portraiture. This came, in part, from embracing new 35mm format cameras, allowing quality shots to be taken outside the studio, but mainly from his unintrusive approach. Here he discusses his early years and the experiences that formed his approach.
KS: Before the celebrity shots you’re so well know for today, you had a ‘proper’ job as a photographer with BOAC at London Airport (later Heathrow). What did that involve? TO: Yeah, it was in the Technical Photographic Unit. I wasn’t into photography at that stage; I wanted to work for an airline so I’d get to play in jazz clubs on stopovers in the US. I was glazing prints and assisting people photographing the interior of aircraft. I was so bored by it, but a guy there got me interested in photography proper; he brought in magazines and books, and I slowly picked it up. As part of the job, we had to go to art school once a week, and as an assignment I got sent down to the airport to do some reportage; people crying, going home or coming back, or whatever… that’s when I got lucky and got this shot of Rab Butler [Home Secretary, 1957–62].
ACCESS ALL AREAS Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, shot in 1975, at the height of Moore’s Hollywood success. Terry O’Neill enjoyed unprecedented access to the biggest stars of the day, creating decades of intimate images full of humour and candid moments. Advanced Photographer is also available as a fully interactive magazine – go to iTunes now!
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PHOTO KIT STANDARD ZOOMS
WORDS & PICTURES RICHARD HOPKINS
GROUP TEST
RAISING THE STANDARD The workhorse of any outfit, standard zooms will spend longer than most lenses on your DSLR. We do the science so you can buy with confidence
I
s there a more regularly used lens than a standard range zoom? Offering unrivalled versatility, they can be pressed into service on any number of tasks from family snaps and events, to portraits and interiors, to general scenes and landscapes. With a fast f/2.8 maximum aperture at all focal lengths, they’re good in low light, great for shallow depthof-field effects, and they focus reasonably close too – typically 15cm from the front of the lens, giving a handy reproduction ratio of approximately 1:4 at the 70mm end. The 24-70mm lenses here sit at the heart of a classic three-lens trinity, with a wider 16-35mm-ish f/2.8 and longer 70-200mm f/2.8, so it makes sense to choose carefully and invest in the best. To help
you do this we’re testing premium optics from the leading DSLR makers alongside options from Sigma and Tamron, which are also strong contenders, but less hard on the credit card. The Tamron offers VC image stabilisation, uniquely in this class, with the only other stabilised options being the Canon 24-70mm f/4 IS, or Sony with its in-camera SteadyShot stabilisation system. There are two schools of thought around the value of image stabilisation, with some considering it to be unnecessary in this focal length range and just adding extra optical complexity. On the other hand, the option to shoot handheld at speeds as long as 1/4sec – deep into normal tripod territory – definitely has its advantages.
HOW WE TEST LENSES Advanced Photographer’s lens test procedure, using industry standard Imatest software, accurately reflects real-world use and overcomes the problems associated with other test procedures. We use the same camera – a Nikon 1 V1 – for all tests so different brands can be compared. Custom-made shifting adapters are used to position any area of the test image over the V1’s sensor. Resolution is the equivalent of 74 megapixels on full-frame, so the best lenses can really shine. By testing at 24-lines-per-mm on fullframe, and adjusting by crop factor for APS-C at 36-lines-per-mm, format changes are automatically adjusted and can be directly compared. It’s a fact of physics that sharpness is always slightly reduced on smaller formats and this change accurately reflects that. Results are given as a percentage of MTF contrast. A theoretically perfect lens would
score 100%, though in practice anything over 70% represents an Excellent standard for demanding photography. Shooting distances are realistic. Regular test targets are relatively small – often under 6ft wide – which means that wide-angle focal lengths have to be used at artificially close range. This impacts sharpness and overemphasizes distortion, vignetting and field curvature. With shooting distances never less than 3m, we use custom-made high definition targets of different sizes. Our superwide target is the equivalent of 32ft across. Focusing is dead accurate. Centre and edge readings are taken separately and focused individually at each aperture, with a 3D-wedge for visual confirmation. Precise focusing is obviously vital, yet other methods are not 100% reliable and are often adversely affected by common field curvature and focus-shift issues.
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STANDARD ZOOMS PHOTO KIT
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INSPIRED STILL LIFE
Want to get shooting, but need a creative nudge? Then you’ve come to the right place. Every month we’ll bring you a different subject to inspire your next project, challenge your creativity and show how simple themes can be tackled in lots of exciting ways… Your creativity has no limits with stilllife photography, because the scope of what you can shoot, and how, is almost unlimited. With attentive lighting, the right props and a sprinkling of digital effects it’s easy to make your visions a reality. Take the reader pics featured in this month’s Inspired gallery for example. Here you’ll find a great mix of the classic to the technical; from abstract to realist. There’s so much to try and the more you explore, the more new and exciting images you’ll create. What’s more, the actual shooting of still life is such a pleasure. It’s a subject
where you can lock yourself away for hours, fine-tuning compositions and lighting to cook up amazing results. It’s captivating, addictive and brings out the ingenious side of your brain. Set a task of bringing the best out of a subject and you’ll find yourself coming up with solutions to the framing and lighting that you didn’t think existed. If you’d like to get your shots into Advanced Photographer as these readers did, make sure you send them to inspired@advancedphotographer.co.uk along with the story of how and why you shot them.
RIGHT
ABOVE
PAUL NASH
This still life shows how simple lighting and careful composition can achieve results similar to classical painters like the Dutch masters. It’s also a great way to tell a story. Paul says, “replicating this is a challenge but grouping objects with themes and messages about somebody’s personal life allows us to not only replicate something technically but to provide a portrait of an individual.” Shooting on his Canon EOS 5D Mark III and EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens, he used only natural light, the illumination coming from a window one metre away. The middle aperture of f/13 (20secs at ISO 200) gives sharpness, but it’s the careful selection and positioning of the items that’s really important.
CALVIN TAYLOR LEE
Still life is about trying interesting subjects with different light sources and compositions to see what you come up with. Get it right, as Calvin did, and you’re onto a winner. He placed this bulb on a plain, slightly reflective tabletop and lit it from the rear with Christmas lights. These were arranged two feet from the bulb, giving them space to diffuse into a colourful bokeh. Shooting into the main light gives the picture a warm captivating glow, but the way the bulb refracts light is important, too, adding solidity and form to the subject. Shooting with his Sony A320, Calvin used his 50mm f/1.4 lens wide open to get the background blur. 500PX.COM/ONECLICKPHOTOGRAPHER
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STILL LIFE INSPIRED
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ABOVE
DEBBIE HARTLEY
For sheer impact it’s hard to beat this still-life shot. To create this intense rainbow of colours around the subject, Debbie used a cross-polarising technique in which a regular circular polarising filter is used on the lens, while the subject is backlit from a polarised light source. The latter can be a lightbox covered in polarising film or (more commonly these days) an LCD screen, which has a polariser built in. Debbie placed clear plastic forks on the screen of her iPad (with a white image displayed on the screen) and used a macro lens to focus closely to them. Rotating the polarising filter on the lens changes the look, so it’s possible to get very different amounts of shadow and colour across a range of shots. Shooting handheld in aperture-priority, she used 1/80sec at f/5.6, ISO 1000. FACEBOOK.COM/DEBBIEHARTLEYPHOTOGRAPHY
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And finally…
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EDITORIAL TEAM
Editor Will Cheung on his photographic month
MY OLD NIKON D700 WAS WELL USED (THRASHED IS MORE ACCURATE!) AND ITS SHUTTER HAD DONE WELL OVER 120,000 ACTUATIONS BY THE TIME I UPGRADED TO A D800.
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 & Catherine Brodie
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Ian Fyfe, Paul Morgan, Mike Martin, George Gergiou, Brian McCready, Gary King, Chris Calver, Drew Buckley, Richard Hopkins
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I had the choice of selling or trading it in, but given its hard life it wasn’t worth a great deal so I made the decision to get it converted to infrared capture by Advanced Camera Services. I already had a APS-C DSLR converted to infrared but having a full-frame option seemed a good move. I’ve shot infrared for years and especially loved the much-lamented Kodak High Speed Infrared film, capable of harsh, grainy and contrasty prints. With time and a great deal of experimentation I finetuned my infrared technique to such a degree that I knew I could accurately pre-visualise the finished print when I pressed the shutter release. Shooting digital infrared is obviously different and in many ways it’s so much easier. No need for a red or IR filter, no need to make any focusing adjustments and, of course, no need for a changing bag to swap films. Not only that but shoot a JPEG alongside a Raw file and you also get an accurate preview of the final result. It’s wonderfully easy. There are issues, though, that have to be sorted. The biggest one seems to be lens choice. Some lenses just don’t deliver good results. They might produce perfectly fine results in normal digital capture, but give serious hotspotting with an obvious, tonally different central circle when used with digital infrared. I’ve had issues with fixed focal length as well as zoom lenses, and price is no arbiter either. Another issue I’ve experienced is really horrendous flare. Again, neither price nor lens type comes into it and the flare isn’t even visible in the viewfinder at the time of shooting. Perhaps the sun is some way out of frame, but the flare is terrible. Both issues are very difficult if not impossible to resolve in editing software and I have lost some good shots because of them. And speaking of software, producing images redolent of the old Kodak film needs a bit of work. Some IR shooters seem to go for strange colour effects while I prefer the coarse, contrasty and grainy images of a style I used to achieve with film but that takes a little tinkering. Usually it’s a matter of bumping up the clarity and contrast quite a lot, recovering the highlights and then adding some noise to simulate grain. Ultimately shooting digital IR is much more straightforward than using film and it’s this time of year when trees bloom that I enjoy it most. Scenes of glowing foliage and dark skies can look brilliant. The downside is that having gotten used to carrying one camera, knowing it can handle both colour and monochrome, I’m back to toting two around with the extra IR body.
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Sales director Matt Snow ☎ 01223 499453 mattsnow@bright-publishing.com Key accounts Mike Elliott ☎ 01223 499458 mikeelliott@bright-publishing.com Sales executive Krishan Parmar ☎ 01223 499462 krishanparmar@bright-publishing.com
DESIGN TEAM Design director Andy Jennings Design manager Alan Gray Ad production Lucy Woolcomb
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PUBLISHING TEAM Publishing director Andy Brogden Publishing director Matt Pluck Editorial director Roger Payne Head of circulation Chris Haslum
CONTRIBUTING TO ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHER
Digital infrared is not as technically challenging as film infrared, and all you need is a body converted for the purpose. It might get worse if more brands follow Leica’s example and come out with a dedicated monochrome body. I could be lugging three camera bodies around for colour, mono and infrared which is exactly what I was doing 15 years ago. Speaking of Leica, its new Monochrom M (Type 246) was launched at the end of April and I got to spend ten minutes shooting with it. It’s most assuredly a Leica in build, design and handling and I really enjoyed using it. It was a bright sunny day but I managed to find a street scene dark enough so I didn’t run out of apertures and shutter speeds to try the camera at ISO 12,500 and even 25,000. Processing the DNG files in Lightroom, I couldn’t help but be impressed: the results are lovely. Thing is, spending £5750 for a body that shoots monochrome only takes extreme dedication and obviously very deep pockets. Now, if some enterprising camera maker can come up with a sensor to shoot colour, monochrome or infrared with a flick of a switch that would be a truly brilliant innovation. It’s probably being designed right now. @advancedphotog
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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