Preview: Photo Review March - May 2013 Issue 55

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MAR-MAY 2013

AUSTRALIA

PHOTOREVIEW

WWW.PHOTOREVIEW.COM.AU

PERSONALLY PROFESSIONAL DANIEL LINNET

COLD WATER HOTSHOT

AL MACKINNON

ANGELA’S EYE

ANGELA ROBERTSONBUCHANAN HOW TO ` Use histograms for better exposures Adjust levels to make your images pop Get the most from your AF Choose the right compact system camera $9.95 INCL. GST ISSN

1839-5899

Issue 55

+

REVIEWS Pentax K5 II | Nikon D600 | Olympus Pen E-PM2 | Plus 6 lenses

CONTENTS Display your images on Photo Review’s gallery at www.photoreview.com.au For magazine submissions, send Don a link to your images dnorris@photoreview.com.au

1 Editorial The ¶shock of the old· can be as refreshing as constant novelty.

5 Products & Trends 8 Photo Challenge

INSPIRATION

TECHNIQUE

12 Cold :ater +otshot Al Mackinnon

38 Using +istograms to Estimate Exposures

Surfer and surf photographer Al Mackinnon has made a name for himself shooting the hottest waves in the world·s coldest water.

24 Personally Professional Daniel Linnet Constant variety and reinvention are the spice of life for Sydney commercial photographer and teacher, Daniel Linnet.

32 Angela·s Eye Angela 5obertson-%uchanan :hile she started out in photography sailing the vastness of the world·s oceans, these days Angela 5obertsonBuchanan’s focus is far more intimate - and closer to home

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+ow histograms can help you control key factors that affect exposure levels.

44 Editing Correcting Images with Levels Adjustment Using the Levels tool in your image editor to adjust image tones and contrast.

INSIDER 42 Understanding Autofocusing Systems Making the most of AF technologies.

C

s t n e t n o

PHOTOREVIEW Editor Don Norris dnorris@photoreview.com.au Technical Editor Margaret Brown mbrown@photoreview.com.au Trade News Editor Keith Shipton keiths@photoreview.com.au

BUYERS GUIDE

Contributor Steve Packer

49 Are You Ready for a Mirrorless Camera"

Creative Director Darren Waldren Melissa Kallas

Nikon D600

Issues to consider when buying a compact system camera.

58 Olympus PEN E-PM2

60 Sigma APO Macro 0mm f 2. E; DG OS +SM 61 Tamron SP 0-200mm f 2. Di 9C USD A009

61 Tamron SP 90mm f 2. Di Macro 9C USD F00

61 Olympus M =uiko Digital mm f .

LENSES

PERIPHERALS

60 Fujinon Super EBC ;F 55mm f 2. - 5 LM OIS 60 AF-S Nikkor 2 - 5mm f .5- .5G ED 95

62 Ei]o Coloredge CS2 0 Monitor

DSLRS 55 Pentax K5 II 56 Nikon D600

MIRRORLESS

NET EFFECT 64 Net Effect Since last issue, our esteemed editor has been gathering websites of a photographic bent to serve, divert and inspire you.

Cover image by Daniel Linnet See page 29

Publisher David O’Sullivan dosullivan@photoreview.com.au Publication Manager Pauline Shuttleworth pshuttleworth@photoreview.com.au Accounts Manager Kate Addison mpaccounts@photoreview.com.au Media Releases edmail@photoreview.com.au Advertising Phone (02) 9948 8600 pshuttleworth@photoreview.com.au Subscriptions One year (4 issues) $29.00 $29.00 including GST and delivery in Australia. See page 36 this issue or phone: (02) 9948 8600 or online: www.photoreview.com.au Photo Review Australia is printed on Monza SatinSatin Recycled Pacesetter PaperPaper with with ISO 14001 Environmental Accreditation Printed by Pegasus Print Group [www.itechne.com] Design by itechne Cirasa Design hello@cirasadesign.com.au phone (03) 9421 8833 Distributed by by NDD Network Services Photo Review website by itechne All content in Photo Review Australia is protected under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any form without written consent from the publisher. Photo Review Australia is published by

Media Publishing Pty Limited ABN 86 099 172 577 OfďŹ ce 4 Clontarf Marina Sandy Bay Road, Clontarf NSW 2093 Australia Ph: (02) 9948 8600 Fx: (02) 9948 0144 Em: edmail@mediapublishing.com.au www.mediapublishing.com.au www.photoreview.com.au

AUSTRALIA

CONTENTS

INSPIRATION

Cold water hot shot Surfer and surf photographer Al Mackinnon has made a name for himself shooting the hottest waves in the world’s coldest water. By Don Norris

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INSPIRATION

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INSPIRATION

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INSPIRATION

‘They wanted a guy who was happy to swim eight hours a day in Scotland’ The water is usually around to 6 degrees C when Thurso East is at its best. Located on the NE coast of Scotland, this surÀng reef can transform the heavy North Atlantic winter swell into a wave that is as perfectly formed as any on the planet. In 2006, wetsuit company O’Neill underwrote the Àrst international surÀng competition at Thurso East. ‘The head of events at O’Neill had stumbled across an old lineup shot of mine showing Thurso East with the castle in the foreground and loved it so much they used it as the event advert and poster,’ said photographer Al Mackinnon. ‘I’ve spent more time in the barrel there than anywhere else. It’s a wonderful... just a special, special wave.’ So, when O’Neill decided to hold the event, they approached Al. ‘They wanted a guy who was happy to swim eight hours a day in Scotland and who knew the area.’ And, it might be added, they obviously knew a photographic talent when they saw one. +is father, whose lineage is Scottish, is an art dealer and as a consequence Al said that

growing up between the Channel Islands and the mainland, ‘we always had art around the place paintings and so on. In fact my thing was drawing, draftsmanship really. I was 6 when I got an offer to go to art college, but at the time I’d had enough of school. I just knew I wouldn’t make the most of any further education at that stage.’ Instead he did what many a 6-year-old would do following years of formal education he partied hard for some time while working odd jobs. Eventually though, he realised he’d had enough and got back to surÀng. ‘I started doing surf trips to some islands off of Scotland. I was living down in the South :est of the UK, in Cornwall - which obviously has a big surf scene - but I was coming across waves in Scotland which were better than anything in Cornwall and with the added bonus of no one around. I just wanted, I suppose, to preserve WKRVH VSHFLDO WLPHV, to take photographs and be able to show people. ‘There was a surf magazine which I’d read since I was at school, called The Surfer’s Path they had a section for people to submit photographs called ´5eaders’ :avesµ and if they

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TIPS ` SHOOTING

Using Histograms to Estimate Exposures How histograms can help you control key factors that HɈLJ[ L_WVZ\YL SL]LSZ Margaret Brown Correct exposures are the Ă€rst step towards usable image Ă€les and the histogram displays provided in most digital cameras can help you to achieve them. Histograms show the brightness values in a scene in a graphical format, allowing you to see both how the exposure is positioned and the range of tones contained within the scene. Each image histogram plots the number of pixels for each tonal value on the vertical axis against the range of tones on the horizontal axis. This axis is usually divided into 256 brightness values, which corresponds with the bit depth of 8-bits found in all -PEG Ă€les. The left side of the horizontal axis represents the black and dark areas, the middle represents medium grey and the right hand side represents light and pure white areas. This means the histogram for a very dark (‘low key’) image will be biased towards the left side and centre of the graph, while the histogram for a very bright (‘high key’) image will be biased towards the right side of the graph. The most critical area in any histogram is the tonal range, the portion of the graph that contains most of the pixel values. This range can vary greatly from one type of scene to another. It is generally accepted that the majority of cameras can record a brightness range equivalent to roughly Ă€ve f-stops, so if the difference between the darkest and brightest areas in the scene is Ă€ve stops or less, you should record detail across the tonal range from the darkest shadow to the brightest highlight. But only if the exposure is correct. When any of the auto exposure shooting modes (Auto, P, A, or S) is selected, most cameras will produce a histogram which peaks in the centre, gradually tapering off into the shadows and highlights. This happens regardless of the nature of the scene and it can sometimes produce exposures that aren’t quite correct.

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When the scene contains a very wide brightness range, the tonal values can be pushed to the ends of the horizontal axis on the graph. Although most of the tones in the image shown in the bottom left corner of the opposite page are slightly to the left of the centre, there’s a large area of light tones hard up against the right hand end of the graph.

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Image tones that fall outside the 256-level range of the horizontal axis will be ‘clipped’. Dark tones that reach below the zero point will be recorded as pure black. Highlights that exceed the 255 mark will be rendered as pure white. Even though the photographer’s eyes may perceive details in both areas, the camera cannot record them. How much of the tonal range in a scene and which tones are recorded in a photo will be determined by your exposure setting. The histogram can help you decide where to position the exposure to achieve the outcome you want, with the most important tonal areas exposed to reveal all the detail they contain. The secret lies in knowing roughly what the histogram should look like for different types of shots.

www.photoreview.com.au

High and Low Key Images Images in which most of the tones are recorded in the shadows are called ‘low key’. They tend to appear dark overall, with only small areas of lighter tones. In contrast, images in which most of the tones are in the highlights are known as ‘high key’ images. It’s always best to decide beforehand whether your subject matter qualiĂ€es as high or low key and decide whether exposure adjustment is needed to achieve your objective. Camera exposure meters measure the light reĂ ected from the scene, rather than the light that illuminates it. Consequently, they can’t provide an accurate measurement of the absolute brightness of the subject instead they measure the average brightness with a bias towards the midtones. While this can produce acceptable results with ‘normal’ scenes, it won’t deliver the goods when you want either high key or low key pictures. <ou’ll need to take control and manually adjust the exposure, relative to what the camera would do automatically whenever you want the average brightness in your image to appear brighter or darker than the midtones. Suppose you want to create a dark and moody picture" Exposing to bias the histogram to the left will achieve this objective. This means dialling in minus values of exposure compensation. Want to go the other way and produce a light and bright picture" Adjust the exposure compensation towards the plus values. <ou may need to swap metering methods because a multi-pattern metering mode will usually centre the tones on the horizontal axis of the graph, which averages them across the image brightness range. Choosing spot metering can help you to select an area in the scene that you’d like to record as a mid-tone. <ou can then adjust the exposure compensation to make it darker or lighter, depending on the outcome you’re seeking.

TIPS ` SHOOTING

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NEW

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