NIKON D6
The pro DSLR with Nikon’s best ever stills AF and burst speed
Practical advice for enthusiasts and pros
www.digitalcameraworld.com
Issue 229
PRO ADVICE
WILDLIFE SECRETS 10 pros share their ultimate images and shoot locations GROUP TEST
Lenses for landscapes
FREE
E-BOOK WORTH £14.99
4 top wide-angles
INTERVIEW
Urban icons Discover the electric portfolio of Mike Will
WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY Expert tricks you need to capture the perfect big day
FLASH HEADS ON TEST ESSENTIAL FOCUSING TIPS GET MORE FROM PHOTO PRINTERS
Model @sophieoneil
INTERVIEW
M
ike Will is a photographer on the move. If he’s not travelling the world for an epic image campaign, then he’s travelling to live out his dream as a professional ice hockey player. The ongoing lockdown means that I’m speaking to Mike over a video call from his current home in Guildford, UK, a location that enables him to easily roam around the country for shoots. It’s halfway through June when we chat, and Mike starts by sharing some good news with me – that in the last week or so, work has started to pick up again. “I’ve just had my first two major jobs come back in,” he says. “And everything’s back on track now, so I’m excited and ready for what’s to come.” So far in his career, Mike has been commissioned by a big range of equally big clients and brands – Sony, Starbucks, Nike, and Deliveroo, to name a few – and his latest campaign was for a Zero Halliburton travel case. “It was supposed to be all urban
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London shots, but then the agency changed the brief and we ended up doing country houses and villages instead,” he explains. “Now it’s about country living, going to a retreat, that sort of thing. I wanted something that aesthetically fit that bill. Bath has such amazing architecture, so we shot there and then headed to Castle Combe.” Pro commercial photographers are always faced with the challenge of trying to balance the client’s brief with their own creative interpretations. Mike, though, finds himself with plenty of free reign. “Most clients understand that, actually, all they need to do is come to me with the message they want, and I’ll come up with a brief. Some brands come with really exact, specific ideas, and then I’ll go, ‘Okay, I understand, but this is what I’m going to do.’” For many years, Mike has been balancing his busy photography career with an equally successful run as an ice hockey player.
Looking back, he says he was always into art and always creative, but also “really into sport. I wanted to become a professional athlete. That was my dream, so I really pursued that. I was wondering what to do, and college was an opportunity to just get to the next stage, as it were – through life, you need to do something. So I studied photography, which was really fun, but then had the opportunity when I left college to pursue my dream in Canada. I moved there to play ice hockey, completely got away from photography and anything creative, and just focused on the game. Then I turned pro four years later, after playing juniors in Canada and America.” It wasn’t until 2016 that Mike picked up a camera again. “Fast forward, I don’t know how long that was… probably ten years? Suddenly I was like, ‘Oh, this is so fun.’ And it was just amazing to get out again with a camera.” Mike shot on film originally, so he already had the basics in his head from what he’d
MIKE WILL
Above left
Portrait, London
“Shooting portraits at night isn’t the easiest, but with Sony’s low-light capabilities it helps push the boundaries”
Above
Tomorrowland, Boom, Belgium “The buzz when on stage capturing these moments is second to none; you can see the electricity here”
learnt at college. “But if you see my work now, it’s very heavily based on editing, lighting and Photoshop. Goodness knows how that came about, I don’t know where I learnt that skill,” he tells us. His style is very recognisably him, and yet very ‘Instagram’ (which is no bad thing, because his consistent portfolio is a dream to scroll through). I wanted to find out how he would describe his style. “I guess it has a very electric and neon look. I love shooting at night, but when I was starting out, I felt that a lot of the night images I saw didn’t really represent that atmosphere – what looking out over a city was really like. They were quite flat, and none of the colours would pop. And actually, when
Mike’s Sony kit 1. A7R 35mm full-frame camera with autofocus 2. A7 III with 35mm fullframe sensor 3. A7 II E-mount with fullframe sensor 4. RX100 V premium 1.0-type sensor compact 5. Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA 6. FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM 7. FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM
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TECHNIQUES
Wildlife WONDERS As part of an inspirational conservation project called the New Big 5, pro wildlife photographers share their favourite animals and locations from around the world
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ildlife lovers and photographers around the world are being asked to vote for their “New Big 5” of wildlife – that is, their five favourite animals either to photograph themselves or to see in images. The idea behind the project is simple: whereas the old “Big 5” was based on the five toughest animals for colonial-era hunters to shoot and kill in Africa, this New Big 5 is all about celebrating wildlife photography, rather than hunting – shooting with a camera, not a gun. In 2020’s difficult times, it’s a fun (and tough) question: what would your Big 5 be? But the serious aim behind the project is to raise awareness about the many threats facing wildlife around the world, from poaching to habitat loss. More than a million species of animals, insects and plants are currently at risk of extinction across the globe. The New Big 5 was founded and launched by British wildlife pro Graeme Green after more than nine months of incredibly hard work. “As a photographer, I’ve spent so much time with wildlife,” says Graeme. “I’ve also become
Daisy Gilardini
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Greg du Toit
more aware of the harm we’re doing to the natural world and the animals we share the planet with.” Graeme’s international initiative has been supported by more than 50 of the biggest names in photography. Joining the photographers for the project are also some of the world’s leading conservationists and wildlife lovers, including Chris Packham, Moby, and Virginia McKenna, and wildlife charities such as Save The Elephants, WWF, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and Polar Bears International. Dr Jane Goodall has also backed the initiative. “What a great project the New Big 5 is,” the conservationist says. “I wonder what the final choices will be? There are so many incredible animals… all fascinating in different ways.” It says something positive about our world that people are now more interested in photographing wildlife than killing it. To celebrate the project’s launch, we’ve asked 10 of the New Big 5 photographers for their top wildlife photography tips, as well as their favourite locations and animals to photograph. Turn to p42 for an insightful Q&A with the project’s founder, Graeme Green.
Tim Laman
Marina Cano
Clement Wild
WILDLIFE WONDERS
Remember to vote for your Big 5 animals at
www.newbig5.com Results will be
Š Shutterstock
announced later in 2020.
Thomas D Mangelsen
Carole Deschuymere
Marco Gaiotti
Piper Mackay
Michel Zoghzoghi
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TECHNIQUES
Prep like a pro As with most things in life, in the wedding industry if you fail to prepare, then prepare to fail Being entrusted with the responsibility of capturing someone’s wedding day means it’s vital that you have all of your ducks in a row. Failure to prepare could spell disaster – not only for you and your reputation, but also for the wedding couple if everything goes wrong. Now that the fear of failure has firmly set in, let’s talk about some of the pre-flight checks you should become accustomed to. It may seem obvious, but the first step is to check that your gear is in full working order. This
means ensuring that your cameras have been serviced if they’re due a check-over; making sure that your lenses are clean and free from grime and dust; and even giving your camera bag the once-over to ensure you have plenty of batteries, memory cards and any other accessories that you deem vital. If you want to be extra cautious, be sure to make your checks at least two days before the wedding day. That way, if you do notice an important piece of kit isn’t working or
needs replacing, at least you have a full day to try and find a replacement. Most weddings require an early start, so it’s unlikely that you’ll have time on the morning of the wedding day to try and resolve any issues. Aside from equipment, it’s also a good idea to ensure you have print-outs of all the necessary documents. Your couple should have filled in a booking form for you with all of the relevant information for the day, so bring this along with you should you need to doublecheck timings. If your couple have requested formal group shots then you should have also received a list from them already. Be sure to bring a few copies of this with you – it’s good to have spares that you can hand out to the bridesmaids and/or groomsmen to help you round up the required people and ensure that the photos are taken in good time.
Scout the location Visit the venue in advance and make a plan of action If you want to make sure that you’re one step ahead of the game, then taking a trip to the wedding venue before the big day will allow you to scope out the surroundings for potential shoot locations (just make sure you gain permission from the landowners before you turn up). Locate some nice spots for the couple shots, and also a large open area that’s suitable for the group shots. Taking some reference photos on your phone will make it easy for you to refer back to them on the wedding day. It’s also worth thinking about indoor locations that you could use should it start to rain or turn cold.
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WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY
Packing the right gear © Gettyimages
Take the right equipment to overcome any challenges
Dual wielding
Opt for two camera bodies for greater versatility
At a wedding there aren’t many chances to re-do and try again, so equipping yourself with two camera bodies can significantly reduce the chances of you missing a shot because the lens you had attached was too long or too short. Equipping a wide lens on one camera and a medium/long lens on the other will mean that in most situations you’ll have the right focal length to bag that potentially award-winning photo.
WIDE-ANGLE LENS
x5 © Tom Calton
A wide-angle lens is essential for group shots if you’ve not got a great deal of space to work with. Trying to cram 20 to 30 people into a photo with just a 50mm lens to hand isn’t going to work.
TELEPHOTO LENS There will be numerous times during the day where you need to get close to the action but you can’t physically get close enough without becoming a distraction (i.e. during the ceremony and speeches). This is where a telephoto pays off.
FLASHGUN Once the sun sets you’re going to need to create your own light, so a flashgun is a must. Rather than pointing the light directly at your subject, rotate the head and bounce the light off a low ceiling for more flattering results.
WIRELESS TRIGGERS Having the flexibility to fire your flashgun offcamera will open up further avenues for creativity. Whether it’s lighting a dingy dancefloor or providing a back-light for low-light portraits, offcamera flash has a multitude of benefits. 47
AFTER
SHOOTING SKILLS
Equal detail By using the doubledistance method we could produce a uniform sharpness throughout the frame. Background detail is reduced but foreground areas appear sharper
focusing Double-distance
Learn how to set the focus position of your lens for easy and quick front-to-back image sharpness
For decades, the core technique for precision focusing was the hyperfocal method, especially in landscape images. This makes use of pre-calculated focus distances to quickly set a lens for an acceptable level of sharpness throughout. It is calculated using the formula H = f² / Nc + f, where H is hyperfocal distance, f is focal length, N is f-stop and c is circle of confusion. However, while generally suitable, hyperfocal focusing doesn’t always deliver optimal results. The values used are based on outdated parameters, namely the circle of confusion, which refers to the physical size of a blurred point of light, measured in milimetres.
The term “acceptable sharpness” is also objective, and was originally based on the quality of lenses and film available in the 19th century. In today’s world of ultra-precision optics and high-resolution sensors, the values produced won’t make the most of this quality. Plus, not all scenes are equally structured, resulting in detail loss in the foreground. The double-distance focusing we’ve tried here is an effective technique for producing a better equality of sharpness from foreground to background, helping us to get more from our equipment. This technique is increasing in popularity among pros and is an easy, all-round solution. So let’s give it a go…
Inset
Focus fall-off
Using the hyperfocal method, a good level of sharpness is achieved, but the foreground rock stack is softer than expected, when compared to the background
All images © Peter Fenech
BEFORE
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Compose the shot Arrange the frame to your liking, taking note of the spatial separation of foreground and background elements. In our scene it was clear there would be focus challenges with the receding stacks.
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Set f-stop Select an aperture that provides a balance of depth of field and resolution. Here we stopped down from f/8 to f/11, as this produced minimal diffraction but deeper focus coverage, for better overall detail.
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Measure foreground distance Using Live View, focus on the closest visible object, in this case a rock at the bottom of the frame. This will quickly set the lens at the initial focus distance, blurring the background.
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Double the value With the lens’s focus window, refocus at a distance twice that of the current setting. The closest rock was 0.3 metres away here, so we focused to 0.6 metres. Without a focus window, estimate distance.
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Shoot a test Take an image at the current aperture setting, then review at 100% on the LCD. Check both foreground and background for ‘acceptable’ sharpness, which should be roughly equal in all frame areas.
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Adjust aperture If your foreground or background is not as detailed as you’d like, stop down slightly and reshoot. If this is ineffective, nudge focus forward or back until happy, prioritising frame zones if required. 67
REVIEWS
LANDS LENSES For all of us reacquainting ourselves with the great outdoors, these landscape lenses will help to get everything into perspective The majesty of a sweeping landscape can feel a little overwhelming, especially if you’ve been stuck indoors for a while. From open fields and rolling hills to massive skies, an ultra wideangle lens will help to pull everything into the camera, giving an epic sense of scale and perspective. The most obvious choice is a wide-angle zoom lens, and there are plenty of camera manufacturers’ own-brand optics to choose from. The Canon EF 1635mm f/4L IS USM (£829/$999) and Nikon AF-S 1635mm f/4G ED VR (£979/$997) are popular choices, to name but a couple. They’re reasonably priced and come complete with accessory attachment threads, enabling easy fitment of landscape-friendly filters like ND grads (graduated neutral-density). But we’ve gone for Sigma and Tamron autofocus zooms for this group test, as they go a little wider and have a faster f/2.8 aperture rating, although they have integral hoods and require a more specialist filter system like the Lee Filters SW150 Mark II. Autofocus zooms certainly aren’t the only way to go. Given that many of us only tend to use ultra wide-angle zooms at or near their shortest focal length, a prime lens can be a good alternative. Also, with the huge depth of field delivered by an ultrawide lens, pinpoint focusing is unnecessary in landscape photography, so manual-focus lenses can be equally viable, while offering a considerable reduction in size, weight and purchase price. We’ve therefore included a couple of prime candidates from Irix and Samyang to compete with the Sigma and Tamron zooms.
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CAPE
GROUP TEST
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REVIEWS
Elinchrom ELC 125 TTL / ELC 500 TTL Price: £1,189 / $1,500 (dual kit)
Elinchrom unleashes top-flight, fully featured studio flashes at affordable prices with the ELC 125 TTL & ELC 500 TTL heads 1
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Elinchrom has built a strong reputation in studio and location flash systems for robust build quality, top-drawer performance, reliability, and ease of use. Mains-powered D-Lite monobloc heads and kits have long been a favourite of discerning photographers, thanks to their compact portability, simplicity and overall superb lighting quality, especially when combined with Elinchrom’s excellent range of softboxes and various other light modifiers.
However, based on conventional rather than IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor) technology, D-Lite heads lack advanced modes like TTL flash metering and an ‘Action’ option, which fires a short-duration flash to freeze action. The Elinchrom ELC 125 and ELC 500 heads add these and many other upgrades.
Key features IGBT technology enables the versatility of advanced shooting modes, but it comes with a catch. There’s a real technical challenge in maintaining the consistency of colour temperature throughout the power range,
onsistent colour quality has C always been a strong point of Elinchrom flash heads 90
especially at low-power settings. Consistent colour quality has always been a particularly strong point of Elinchrom flash heads, and thankfully it’s been passed down to the new IGBT heads we have here. The 125 and 500 heads have power ratings of 131W and 522W respectively, the latter being somewhat larger and heavier at 2.5kg compared with the smaller unit’s 2kg. Unlike the older, more conventional D-Lite heads, there’s a larger overall power range, with both heads enabling a minimum output of just 7W. The lower end of the scale is especially useful if you want to use wide apertures to enable a shallow depth of field, or you don’t want to overpower low-level ambient lighting. With D-Lite kits, you would have to resort to using an RX One head for subtle output, coupled
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ELC 125 VS ELC 500 1 HANDLE
2 NEAT SCREEN
Intuitive and simple, the interface is based around a colour OLED screen.
ELC 125 POWER PERFORMANCE 70
Gn (Guide number)
A rugged grab handle enables secure lifting and easy handling.
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3 SETTTING DIAL The main rotary dial has a push-button action for quick and easy adjustments.
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Straightforward push-buttons work well in conjunction with the rotary controller.
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The locking clamp enables course or fine adjustments with solid locking.
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High speed sync
ELC 500 POWER PERFORMANCE
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5 LED INFO
The illuminated logo changes colour to signify one of four available wireless groups.
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Power settings Standard speed
High speed sync
The tables show the progressive power output through the range, measured as a Gn (guide number) in metres at ISO 100. Actual intensities will alter depending on the fitment of different reflectors and other light shapers.
RECYCLING PERFORMANCE 5
with RX 2 or RX 4 heads for when you need more power. On their own, or with a basic trigger, both heads offer a wide range of features. The streamlined interface combines a full-colour OLED screen with a simple rotary dial and push-button controls. For example, left and right arrow buttons enable you to alter the flash intensity in full f-stop increments, whereas the rotary dial allows for 1/10th or 1/3rd f-stop fine adjustments. There’s a menu button at the bottom left of the back panel that can be easily navigated by turning the rotary knob and pressing it to select and change settings. The menu itself includes many customisation options, including the facility to optically slave the head from a flashgun, ignoring any pre-flash pulses. At the
bottom right of the back panel is a modelling lamp button, above which there’s a ‘Favourite’ button, which you can assign to your preferred function for quick and easy access. The modelling lamp itself is a powerful 20W LED, equivalent to a 120W halogen bulb, and it has a high-quality CRI 92 (colour rendering index) rating. Options here include on, off, proportional and variable free control. Output power is sufficient for constant lighting in video and stills, with a measured power, in our tests, of EV 9.1 at one metre – 1/60th of a second at f/2.8 with a sensitivity of ISO 100. The menu system also gives easy access to alternative standard and Action flash modes, the latter delivering ultra-short flash durations as little as 1/7,750 and 1/9,430 seconds with the 125 and 500 heads respectively. Action
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The table shows the recycling speeds at different power settings on the heads, measured in seconds. Recycling speeds are virtually instant through most of the power range. The figures for Eco and Fast modes were measured with a mains supply voltage of 230V. Speeds nearly halve when using a 120V supply.
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