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top tips
follow our advice and ensure you get creative shots from new places words by Jon adams
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for exciting new travel Photos hether it’s a day trip, a weekend break or a long-haul jaunt to an exotic location, the idea of recording the sights of a new place is a prime motivator for most photographers. For us, the next best thing to experiencing diferent scenery and unfamiliar cultures is to capture it in camera, but transferring that experience to still images on a memory card requires real skill and technique. The biggest challenge is to avoid HSS – Holiday Snap Syndrome – where you
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shoot like a tourist and simply record events and scenes in a kind of ‘autopilot’ mode. These shots are great as memoryjoggers when you’re reminiscing about the trip two years down the line, but to get proper photographs that stand the test of time, you’ll need to avoid HSS and work a bit harder. Use these tips and you’ll get genuine creative images that’ll stand up to artistic scrutiny, and will have portfolioquality pics to bring back along with all those great memories!
exciting iDeas & exPert aDvice // get the shot
caPture Portraits in winDow lighting charles hildreth explains how simplicity is the key to shooting perfect people pics HOW cHarles GOT THe sHOT “I’m a firm believer that photography is a reflection of self. In most of my photos there’s some longing or daydreaming by the subject, which I’m hoping makes the viewer curious. This picture is one of many from the day where the model let her guard down and is doing something truly natural. I like to keep my portraits as simple as possible with no additional lighting or tripods that might hinder my movements or take the model out of her concentration. Even though the photo may be a reflection of myself, or how I view the world, it has to be a truly honest moment between the model and me. “This was shot on the staircase of my old residence, making it relatively straightforward to shoot, aside for maybe the occasional resident walking down the stairs of the apartment complex! I like to shoot using a shallow depth-of-field, with wide apertures such as f/1.4-1.8. This naturally requires me to keep a steady hand so that I don’t drop the focus of the model’s eyes. I also like to shoot with lighter shadows, so I make sure I don’t lose any detail in the darker areas of the
subject; especially around the eyes and hair. I do this with the intention of adding more contrast and shadow detail later on in Photoshop. “Half of the fun of photography for me is the digital development process afterwards. I have a pretty good grasp on the way I like my images to finish up; I use a method of masking that I learned from another photographer when I started, who also taught me some layering tricks. It’s taken me a few years to really refine it into my own style, but now it’s the base for all of my images.”
HOW TO Take perfecT pOrTraiTs Window light is fantastic for portrait pictures as it projects a soft, flattering light across the subject’s face, reducing the appearance of harsh shadows – a problem often found when shooting in direct lighting. It’s said that the eyes are ‘the window to the soul’, meaning that they’re the most expressive part of the face. This is even more relevant when it comes to portrait photography as the eyes often tell the story, and it’s a photographic norm to ensure your subject’s eyes (or the one nearest the camera) are sharply focused. The focal length you use makes a big diference. If you want to achieve undistorted, natural-looking portraits then shooting with a focal length over 50mm on an APS-C camera, or 85mm on a full-frame model (as used by Charles) will provide the best results. Shooting any wider than this will distort facial features and give unnatural results.
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take a Panning shot
F you love the thrill oF shooting trackside, or at airshows and sporting events, then panning shots are most certainly for you! They have a style all their own and done in the right way, can add a unique feeling of energy and pace to moving subjects. In fact, some of the most iconic action photos of all time are panning shots, because while a static subject represents an expertly frozen moment in time, a panning shot has life, capturing not only the subject but its velocity. Panning shots aren’t difcult to achieve either, and once you know the technique involved you’ll have added a hugely important and creative
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skill to your arsenal. Panning shots are essentially a controlled form of camera shake – the movement of the camera during an exposure which causes motion blur in pictures. But, in a panning shot the movement of the camera is allied to a moving subject; the two staying in sync, so that only the background is blurred and the subject remains partly or entirely sharp. Setting the right shutter speed is vital for this, and so is learning how to track and pan smoothly with your subject, whether it’s a racing car, a motorcyclist, a runner, or even an aircraft taking to the sky. Read on to see how it’s done...
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camera academy
keY SkiLLS YOu’LL LeARn RighT heRe A panning shot uses several camera techniques at the same time, so trying one is a great way to fast-track your photo skills.
use your continuous af & drive modes
Shooting a moving subject means you and your camera need to adapt quickly, and the best way to do this is to use Continuous Autofocus mode and shoot multiple frames during a pan. This way you’ll keep the subject in focus as you follow it and, by shooting more frames, you’re more likely to get a sharp one.
Handling skills for smootHer, sHarper sHots Camera shake, where your D-SLR moves slightly during an exposure, blurring the results, is the blight of many pictures, and just because in a panning shot you’re deliberately moving, you still need to guard against shake. Your pan has to follow the subject in a smooth line or you’ll get blur in parts of the pic where you don’t want it.
tHe rigHt speed for tHe job
Panning shots need a slow enough speed to record movement as you follow the subject, but this depends on how fast they’re moving. Our Spitfire was shot at 1/80sec, but slower subjects would require a longer shutter speed to pick up enough movement in the background.
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magda wasiczek // inspiring images
nodding heads There’s no shortage of inspiration in the natural world, and it’s full of eyecatching colours, ripe for a striking shot, such as with these delicate Pulsatilla captured during their springtime bloom.
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gear focus // reviews & buying aDvice NIkoN CoolpIX p520
42x zoom, 18.1mp, 1/2.3in Cmos £319
FujIFIlm hs50
42x zoom, 16mp, 1/2in EXR–Cmos II, £399
> camera group test
all–in–one suPerzooms five superzoom bridge models battle it out to establish the ultimate all–in–one camera
test by dan mold
lthough they’re technically ‘compacts’ all five of the bridge cameras in this month’s test can do much more than just point and shoot! These all-in-one superzooms are a burgeoning breed, providing you with massive focal range, and many of them also feature creative Program, Shutter priority, Aperture priority and Manual modes in addition to manual focus, so you
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get a lot more freedom than with a regular compact. So why else would you want one? Well, D-SLRs can seem daunting if you’re upgrading from a point-andshoot compact, but these cameras literally ‘bridge’ the gap between the two, hence their name, making them a convenient stepping stone; you get the simplicity of a compact with features you can grow into, all in an afordable package.
They’re lighter and smaller than D-SLRs, too, making them a great choice for holidays or when you want to travel light, but it’s the 40 or 50x zooms they ofer that present their most exciting feature. Compared with the 3x zoom you get with a 18-55mm or the 11x of a 18-200mm lens on a D-SLR, they ofer an incredible amount of reach, so you can immediately see their appeal. In fact, they ofer something that’s impossible to achieve on a D-SLR, even with the most expensive lenses and accessories. Convinced? Good! Now let’s put these five to the test to find out which ofers the best all-round package.
how we did the test To find our winner, we tested the Iso range of each camera, checking its Noise performance at the higher Isos, while a lens chart was used to detect any signs of optical defects through the aperture range, such as vignetting, fringeing, ghosting and softness. Tricky metering situations and the amount of detail rendered up by each camera’s sensor were also tested, and finally, each was rated out of five based on Features & Build, performance, Image Quality and Value.