Digital Camera World

Transcription

2 CDS
FREE: PICTURE WINDOW 2.5 FOTOPRINTER 3.0 SE PC & MAC
The definitive guide to better photos
132 pages of photo ideas, reviews
and image-editing tips inside!
2 FIX PROBLEM COLOURS
2 RESTORE FADED PHOTOS
2 SEE LIFE IN MONOCHROME
2 PAINT SHOP PRO PROJECTS
How to get perfect white balance using
Photoshop Elements
Our step-by-step guide to rescuing your old prints
Take great black & white photos – top techniques revealed
Add mood to a photo – we show you how
16
7
TOP DENE
CANVASBA
TIPS
TAKE YOUR
DIGITAL IMAGES
FURTHER!
Create stunning shots like this –
everything you need inside
6 DIRECT DIGITAL PRINTERS ON TRIAL
Print your photos without a PC – we reveal the best solution
TAKE BETTER
LANDSCAPES!
How to get maximum impact
with your photos, from
composition to editing
2 How to compose your subject
2 Make the most of natural light
2 Create stunning effects using
7
7
Budget 3MP camera
with optical zoom tested
FUJIFILM FINEPIX M603
Is this feature-packed Fuji
really worthy of your £700?
r
Photoshop Elements shortcuts, howesyou
niqu
tech
ic
oram
pan
camera works,
03
RICOH CAPLIO RR-30
£4.99
7
4MP flagship finally arrives
– see the full review on p34
MARCH 2003
CANON POWERSHOT G3
EXCLUSIVE! 5 FREE TIPS
& IDEAS CARDS!
9 771479 001003
filters and lenses
PRINTED IN THE UK
British Landmark Series The Angel Of The North, Gateshead
2
8
Rob Mead
Acting Editor
Rob’s been writing about technology
for the past eight years, his work
having appeared in T3, Digital Home,
The Mail On Sunday and FHM.
8
Kai Wood
Deputy Art Editor
A keen amateur photographer, Kai
has recently joined us from sister
mag, PC Format, where he was
nominated for a PPA design award.
8
Mark Harris
Photographer and journalist
Mark has been writing about
photography for over ten years, and
has been in charge of product testing
at Which? and T3 magazines
8
Tim Daly
Photographer and writer
Tim is one of the UK’s leading digital
photography experts. He’s written
numerous books on the subject and
his photographs have been exhibited
across Europe.
8
8
Barry Jackson
Digital artist and Photoshop guru
Barry combines his digital camera,
computer and Adobe Photoshop
to create his own particular style of
photo surrealism.
8
STARTHERE
Picture this…
W
elcome to issue five of the UK’s best digital photography magazine. Nick’s currently
working on a exciting photo project – watch this space for more news soon – so
I’ve temporarily stepped into the breach to give the poor chap some breathing
space and bring you more of the stuff you love: in-depth tutorials, definitive camera reviews,
plus plenty of top tips and techniques that will help you take better photos.
Things get off to a flying start on page 14, where we taken an exhaustive look at
landscapes. With spring and summer on the way, there’s never been a better time to learn
new skills and brush up on your old ones. We’ve lined up some expert tips to help you make
the most of that fleeting moment when the sun peeks out nervously between the rain
clouds and decides to shed some much needed light on the flora and fauna below. We’ll
show you how to make the most of the photogenic scenery spread before you, from
composing your shot to editing and enhancing it for compelling, arresting results. And if you
fancy consigning your pictures to print we can help there too: we’ve put six of the latest
direct digital photo printers through their paces. To find out which one’s output deserves
pride of place on your wall, turn to page 41.
Enjoy the issue.
Steve Bavister
Photographer and editor
Steve is one of the UK’s best-known
photographic writers, having edited
and published Practical Photography
in the past. He now writes for a
variety of photography mags.
8
2
4
MEET
YOUR
TEAM
Ed Davis
Photo retouching expert
Ed is a commercial photographer of
many years’ experience. He is a
member of the National Association
of Photoshop Professionals.
Rob Mead, Acting Editor
[email protected]
In issue 6, we introduce a DVD option! Buy either the DVD version of the mag (all disc
content is on a single DVD, which contains extra DVD-only software and material), or the
two CD version as usual. It’s up to you…
8
5
ISSUE 6 ON
SALE 13TH MARCH
oEvery month we will show you how
to capture and create better pictures,
give clear, independent buying
recommendations on the latest kit,
and deliver two CDs packed with the
best PC software.
We use boxes, tips, quick fixes, quality
photography, walkthroughs and diagrams
to show you how to improve your
photographic and image-editing skills
We have a cast-iron policy of editorial
independence. All our kit is reviewed assold. We discourage our journalists from
accepting gifts from advertisers.
We welcome your opinions on the
magazine, ideas for articles, photography,
thoughts and questions.
Send them in today – see the email
addresses below.
c
Departments
We want your letters, ideas,
photography, articles, tips and more!
Write in today to the following areas:
Issues with your discs
[email protected]
Your letters
[email protected]
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[email protected]
Events, ideas, places to visit
[email protected]
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[email protected]
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[email protected]
Visit our website today!
www.digitalcameramagazine.co.uk
Customer services/subscriptions
[email protected]
2 HOW WE RETOUCHED THE COVER IMAGE
Aidan O’Rourke
Technical expert
Aidan is a contributor to the
Manchester Evening News. He
lectures on digital photography
around the UK.
;
Our promise
to our readers
8
The original RGB image had an unnatural
yellow colour cast on the skin tones,
probably caused by a gold reflector. The
cast was removed in RGB mode, but
was previewed in CMYK. If converted
straight away, detail would have been lost
so it was better to work with a range of
colour detail and then convert it. Retouching
was done to the image and the canvas
was extended to the left. The background
was blurred and then painted in by hand.
It was then given some grain to blend into
the rest of the shot.
DIGITAL CAMERA MAGAZINE
003
Contents DCM#05
What’s hot inside your magazine this March
TAKE BETTER
LANDSCAPES!
How to get maximum impact
from your landscape photos
■ How to compose your subject
■ Make the most of natural light
■ Create stunning effects using filters and lenses
STARTS PAGE
14
PAGE 58
Creative project
Egg man
Getup&Go*
Ancient monuments, UK wildlife
parks and zoos, sport and icy
water. Plus 9 top tips for
photographing animal shots!
We combine three
images to create this
surreal and rather
disturbing portrait
Add atmosphere
to your photos
with Paint Shop Pro
PAGE
* UK editions only
006
Creating night
moods
PULL OUT
SECTION –
FIND IT
AFTER p34
74
2
Kit reviews
The UK’s definitive reviews
package every month
HOT SHOTS
PAGE 08
TRAILBLAZERS
PAGE 49
2
Your 2 coverdiscs
FUJIFILM FINEPIX
F402 28
PAGE
120
Picture Window 2.5
Built-in image browser that makes
short work of finding your pictures
NIKON COOLPIX
4500 30
FUJIFILM FINEPIX
M603 32
Enhance your photographs using this image-editing
tool, plus create high-quality prints, multimedia
slide shows and much more
ON DISC 1
CANON
POWERSHOT G3 34
SIX CAMERA
BAGS 38
Your images
21 pages of image-editing tips
SURREAL
GROOVY
PHOTO PROJECT 58 PHOTO CLINIC 64
NEGATIVE
IMAGES 79
DENEBA CANVAS
6 TIPS 76
FULL Picture Window 2.5
DEMO Color Mechanic 1.1
TOURS 5 x 3D tours
TEST SHOTS for each of
our main cameras
VIDEO TUTORIALS Imageediting techniques
FULL Multiple Image
Resizer .NET
FULL FotoPrinter 3.0 SE
FULL Multiple Unzipper
DEMO Photobase 3.0
DEMO Canvas 8
DEMO Lightbox 2.0
£
48
OF FULL
SOFTWARE
IN TOTAL!
ON DISC 2
PLUG-IN Photokit 1.0
PLUG-IN Simplifier 1.0
PLUG-IN Mezzy Deluxe
PLUG-IN Digital ROC
Plug-in 1.1.1
Regulars
EYEWITNESS
Hotshots gallery
Frontline news
p08
p10
YOUR PHOTOS & LETTERS
Reader profile
Trailblazers
Day in the life
Viewfinder
p12
p49
p52
p54
OFFERS
Subscribe!
Upgrade your software
p80
p121, 122
HELP AND ADVICE
Photo Clinic
Your questions answered
p64
p90
FOLD-OUT SECTION AFTER PAGE 34
Britain’s Megalithic monuments
Capturing sport
Icy waters in Scotland
Wildlife parks and zoos
Tips for animal shots
DEALER BANK
Suppliers
GETUP&GO TO ZOOS
Pullout section
THIS ISSUE WE
SHOW YOU HOW TO…
1
RICOH CAPLIO
RR-30 26
CAMERA TECHNIQUES
PAGE 84
102-119
TAKE BETTER PICTURES
Making the most of the landscape
Creating a sense of depth
Shooting a seasonal series of photos
Vertical and horizontal formats
Photographing water
Light in your landscape shots
Using a digital SLR
Shooting in autumn and winter
Creating a panoramic photo
Shooting graphic elements
Using primary colours
Looking for monochrome subjects
High and low contrast subjects
15
16
16
17
17
17
19
19
20
84
85
88
89
IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE-EDITING SKILLS
Improving composition and contrast in landscape photos
Combining three pictures for a surreal image
Colouring a faded photograph
Basic selecting techniques in Photoshop Elements
Solving white balance problems with Elements
Fixing dark photos with Paint Shop Pro
Creating night moods in your photos
Black and white negative effects
22
58
64
68
70
72
74
79
USE YOUR PC BETTER
Making simple PC fixes with Microsoft Paint
Sharing photos and print options on the net
Colour management tools for your printer
HOTSHOTSTURNOVER
Every issue, we print the best digital photography we
can find. Turn over now and see some of the shots that
have inspired us this issue…
96
98
100
2
007
Hotshots
Images with impact
01
02
008 DIGITAL CAMERA MAGAZINE
SHOT OF THE MONTH
GATESHEAD PHILIP HUNTON
“This is Gateshead Millennium Bridge just before
dusk. I adjusted the Levels in Photoshop to enhance
the effect of the polariser.” Fujifilm FinePix 6900Z
[w] www.philiphunton.co.uk
[e] [email protected]
2 ProfileMe and my camera
03
JULIAN JEFFERSON
GOATS IN THE MIST
www.pembrokeshireimages.com
02
MARSH IN WINTER
Charlie Brown
04
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F707
[w] www.CharlieBrown
Photos.com/Hyatt
03
COTSWOLD BUILDING,
CIRENCESTER
Jon Pink
I took my camera on Brean Down near Westonsuper-Mare on New Year's Day. Although it was
a murky day (low cloud, light rain, flat conditions
and no contrast), I saw these goats sheltering
near gnarled thorns and thought there was a
shot in it. I switched to the black and white filter
on my Pentax Optio 430RS and took the snap.
When I got home, I was disappointed with the
NOW SEND US YOURS!
Fujifilm FinePix 2800Z
[email protected]
RED
Anona Boyte
Casio QV2000
[w] www.pbase.com/boyte1
05
TULIP
Heather McFarland
Nikon D1X, 60mm Micro Nikon
[w] http://fullcirclegraphics.com
@
Email us a 100K JPEG thumbnail of your best shots! The best wins
a 128MB Crucial CompactFlash card each issue.
[w] www.fuci.co.uk/photography
04
result. However, before I binned the shot, I
played with Variations in Photoshop to get some
interesting colours, tweaked up the contrast and
added a little unsharp masking.
I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to
photography, and rarely play around with
images. I think this picture has taught me a
valuable lesson in creative thinking!
05
Frontline
MINOLTA DIMAGE
F300 COMPACT
APPLE ENHANCES
IPHOTO, OFFERS ILIFE
FUJIFILM’S 4TH GEN
SUPER CCD REVEALED
5MP camera threatens rivals
■ See below
More tools, better DVD burning
■ See page 11
More detail, better pictures
■ see page 12
Send in your news! Email us today at [email protected]
Minolta’s simply
smaller camera
5MP compact offers built-in image editor and subject tracker, plus 3x optical zoom
THE DIMAGE
F300 COMES
WITH A HOST
OF PROGRAM
MODES THAT
PROMISE TO
MAKE TAKING
DIGITAL
PHOTOS
A WHOLE
LOT EASIER
U
sing tech employed in the brilliant 7Hi
(awarded 92% in issue 4), Minolta’s
DiMAGE F300 combines a 5-megapixel
resolution and 3x optical zoom in one of the
company’s most classy and compact camera
bodies yet.
Measuring just 11 x 5.2 x 3.25cm and weighing
185g, the F300 obviously has other stylish
compacts like Casio’s QV-5700 firmly in its sights,
and comes with a host of program modes –
portrait, landscape, etc – that promise to make
taking digital photos a whole lot easier. Rather
pleasingly, the camera also comes with its own
built-in image processor so you can adjust the
colour, contrast, saturation and sharpness of your
chosen subject before you press the shutter. Plus,
the F300 also comes with Area AF and Subject AF
autofocus modes, which enable the camera to
track a subject as it moves across a scene,
continually adjusting the focus to make sure it
stays pin sharp.
Obviously no amount of in-camera tweaks are
going to save your shots if they’re not up to
scratch in the first place, which is where the eight
element, seven group GT lens comes in. With a
focal range of 7.8mm to 23.4mm (equivalent to a
38mm to 114mm 35mm zoom), the lens is also
armed with three aspheric elements to ensure
decent contrast and sharpness at any focal length.
Housed in an elegantly curved aluminium and
stainless steel shell, the F300 even enables you to
shoot colour Motion JPEG movies in the dark,
thanks to an improved Night Movie mode which
automatically fires up as the amount of ambient
light goes down.
We hope to bring you a comprehensive
evaluation of the £500 F300 next issue, but if you
can’t wait that long, go to www.minoltaeurope.com for more info.
MINOLTA DIMAGE F300
FULL SPECIFICATIONS
CCD 5.3-megapixel 1/1.8-inch CCD; 5.0-million effective pixels
Still images JPEG, TIFF, DCF standard, DPOF compliant
Movies Motion, JPEG (MOV), WAVE
Memory 32MB buffer, SD and MMC flash memory support
Image sizes 2,560 x 1,920pixels, 2,048 x 1,536 pixels,
1,600 x 1,200 pixels, 640 x 480 pixels, 1,280 x 960 pixels
Lens 7.8mm-23.4mm (38mm-114mm 35mm equivalent)
Zoom 3x optical, 4x digital
Focusing Video AF autofocus system with wide focus
area (Area AF), spot focus areas with focus area selection,
subject tracking AF, single shot AF, full time AF, manual
focus, macro mode. Approximate focus range
Light metering 256 multi-segmented metering, centre
weighted, spot
Exposure Programmed AE, aperture priority, shutter
priority, manual
Exposure compensation -2, +2 EV in 1/3 increments
ISO sensitivity Auto, 64ASA, 100ASA, 200ASA and 400ASA
ISO equivalents
Recording modes Auto, portrait, sports action, landscape,
sunset, night portrait, macro
Shutter speed 4 second to 1/1,000 second in programmed
AE and aperture priority modes, 15 second to 1/1,000 second
in shutter priority and manual exposure modes, BULB
Aperture f/2.8-f4.7
White balance auto, preset (daylight, tungsten, fluorescent,
cloudy), custom
Flash modes auto, auto with red eye reduction, fill flash,
flash cancel
QUICK
SHOTS
TV PHOTO TECH
Armchair Electronics
has come up with an
enticing alternative
to editing and
viewing pics on a PC
– the TV Photo
Album. The £99
device comes with
slot for popular flash
memory formats
like CompactFlash
and SmartMedia,
although you will
need an additional
adaptor if you own
Memory Stick, SD or
MMC cards. The builtin image editor
offers basic editing
functions as well as
the ability to create
slideshows and
albums. On sale now.
www.intro2020.co.uk
LEXAR UPDATES
JUMPDRIVE
The company’s
JumpDrive Trio
mobile USB storage
solution comes with
a three-in-one card
slot for Memory
Stick, MMC and SD
flash cards, and
promises fast image
transfer, thanks to
USB 2.0. Available
with 64MB or 128MB
Memory Sticks
supplied, price TBC.
www.digitalfilm.com
FOUR-IN ONE
MADE SIMPLE
The FlashLink 4-in-1
PCMCIA adaptor from
SimpleTech enables
you to copy images
from MMC, SD and
other cards to your
laptop, and runs
under Windows ME,
XP or Mac OS 9/X.
Available now for
£45 from
www.intro2020.co.uk
Sony’s Memory
Stick hits 1GB
256MB and 512MB cards coming too
Sony has teamed up with hard
drive experts SanDisk to produce
256MB, 512MB and 1GB Pro
MEMORY versions of its Memory Stick flash
memory card – finally putting it back in
contention with rival formats like Secure Digital
(SD). The announcement is a pleasant surprise
for anyone already using Sony’s card since it
appeared that Memory Stick had hit the
buffers early in terms of capacity, while SD
(currently offering 512MB cards itself) raced
ahead in popularity and data-storage arenas.
Sony has also announced a new 256MB
Memory Stick Select card that comprises two
128MB units with a mechanical switch that
enables you to choose between them. The
card is aimed at Sony’s existing camera and
camcorder users and costs £150. SanDisk card
prices have yet to be confirmed.
www.sony.co.uk, www.sandisk.co.uk
2
3
Best sellers
Information
supplied by
www.dabs.com
BEST SELLER
FujiFilm
FinePix A202
£128
SUB-£100
Mustek
Gsmart II Mini
£45
SUB-£300
Canon
PowerShot A40
£210
SUB-£800
Nikon CoolPix
5000
£719
Picture Perfect PDA
People don’t normally
buy a PDA on the
strength of its digital
HARDWARE imaging capabilities,
but when it comes to Sony’s CLIÉ PEGNZ90, they may need to think again.
The PEG-NZ90 comes with a built-in
2-megapixel snapper capable of
delivering an image resolution of up
to 1,600 x 1,200 pixels and comes
with a 2x digital zoom and built-in
flash to help you make the most of
those photo opportunities.
Aimed at business users, the CLIÉ
packs in six photo modes to optimise
the camera’s white balance for
different conditions and the flash even
features red-eye reduction for portraits.
Images taken using the fixed focus F2.8 lens
can be viewed and edited in-camera using
the CLIÉ’s 320 x 480 colour LCD and
proprietary Photo Editor software.
Transferring images promises to be a
breeze, too, thanks to the CLIÉ’s built-in
Bluetooth chip and optional Wi-Fi
capability. The PEG-NZ90 is based of
vX.X of Palm’s handheld operating
system, and is available in the
USA for $799.99, although
Sony reckons the UK version
will be winging this way
very, very soon.
For an early look at
what’s on offer, go to
Sony’s USA website at
www.sonystyle.com
Apple delivers iPhoto 2, iLife
In scenes reminiscent of the Falklands
conflict, HMS Ark Royal leaves Portsmouth
Harbour, bound for the Middle East
The time: 11th January 2003
The Place: Portsmouth, Hampshire
New tools and library-management enhancement, plus DVD burning
Apple Computer has updated its
free digital photo-editing and
library-management software,
SOFTWARE iPhoto2. Available as a free
download, the software offers new and refined
editing tools including Enhance, which helps
optimise less than perfect images and Retouch
for removing dust, dirt, scratches, etc. iPhoto2 is
also included as part of the £39.99 iLife pack
which comprises the iTunes 3 MP3 player,
iMovie 3 digital video editor and iDVD,
Apple’s simple, but effective DVD burning tool.
For more info, go to www.apple.com/uk
Families, friends and well-wishers crowd
Portsmouth’s harbourside to say their fond
farewells to the 800 crew and 100 Royal Marine
Commandos on board the aircraft carrier. This ship
will eventually meet up with 15 other ships
carrying 5,000 Navy personnel and 3,000 Royal
Marine Commandos in the Gulf – the largest Royal
Navy deployment since the Falklands War in 1982.
The sight of the 20,000 tonne ship leaving the
harbour was captured by Rex Features
photographers Chris Balcombe, Ian Jones and
Jeremy Durkin. They show how simple, iconic
images can capture the sense of emotional impact
such monumental events can bring: the use of the
graphical emblems like the Union Jack adds
poignancy and a sense of place and time to
otherwise banal images of military hardware; the
sight of the crowded walkway leads our eye from
front to back of the image, enabling us see not only
on the sheer numbers of people who are there but
also to focus on the faces of the individuals whose
serviceman husbands, wives, fathers and sons could
well be on board. The fact that such scenes were to
be repeated by the families and crews of the other
ships in the taskforce adds even more weight to
images, and reveals the gravity, pathos and sense
of duty that accompanies those en route to war…
WIDEANGLE
What’s happening around the world
WORLDWIDE
Space based spy-cam
Digital photography’s been taken to
new heights with the launch of the
OrbView 3 spy satellite. The device delivers
real-time high-res images of the world
from space, and can also be used to deliver
detailed maps and 3D fly-throughs.
get their way. They are working on a way
to print transistorised circuits using layers
of electronic polymer to create the circuitry,
capacitors, even the outer casing of devices
like light bulbs, TV remote controls and
artificial muscles for robots.
©WWW.REXFEATURES.COM 2003
GREAT BRITAIN
25,000 reasons…
USA
Print your own hardware
The humble inkjet could soon be
printing out its own digital cameras,
if scientists at the University Of Berkeley
Behindtheimage
Next-gen Sony CLIÉ comes with built-in 2MP digital camera
Scientists at Philips’ research centre
in Southampton have developed a
3cm 4GB disc that be enable you to store
up to 25,000 digital photos in your camera.
The first discs should go on sale in 2005.
TALKBACK
1
Tell us what you think! Our website forums at
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk are just the place. Add your
comments, ideas and more and join the Digital Camera club!
2
011
Sweeter pics with FujiFilm’s
double-honeycomb…
Fourth-generation Super CCD SR promises wider dynamic range, better pictures
THE AIM IS
TO CAPTURE
THE LOWER
LEVELS OF
LIGHT AND
DETAIL THAT
ARE OFTEN
MISSED
WHEN YOU
SHOOT HIGH
CONTRAST
SUBJECTS,
SUCH AS
LANDSCAPES
Ever the innovators, FujiFilm has
come up with a newly
designed CCD which promises
TECHNOLOGY to deliver a much greater
dynamic range with your pictures.
Based on the company’s hexagonal Super
CCD, the new SR chip comprises two 3.32
megapixel photodiodes (3.1-megapixels
effective): one with low sensitivity to light, the
other with high sensitivity to light. The aim is
to capture the lower levels of light and detail
that are often missed when photographing
high contrast subjects – when using flash or
shooting landscapes, for example.
Super CCD SR effectively captures the image
twice: the high sensitivity sensor works like a
conventional chip capturing the overwhelming
majority of light from your chosen subject;
while the low sensitivity sensor is able to
capture more detail in dark areas as well as picking
out highlights. The images are then processed and
combined using a digital signal processor. Despite
the power of the two photodiodes, the 9.4mm
sensor still only has an effective resolution of 3.1million pixels and a file output of 6-million pixels.
Samsung’s new
convergence cam
Camcorder promises high-quality stills
The swivelling body of Samsung’s SCD5000 has
the digital imaging tech in one half, and MiniDV
camcorder mechanism in the other
QUICK
SHOTS
COLOUR COSTS
SLASHED
TypeMaker has
slashed the price of
its CRT Colour
Confidence Studio
colour management
solution to £417.57.
The package comes
with a Pantone
Spyder monitor
calibrator and OptiCAL
software. More info
at www.typemaker.
co.uk
MOBILE SOUND
AND PICTURES
However, FujiFilm says that the increased dynamic
range will enable cameras equipped with the tech
to deliver better image quality than conventional
6MP versions. It’ll soon be easy to make the
comparison: FujiFilm is launching both 6MP HR and
3MP SR cameras in February.
Digital camcorders have long offered
digital stills capability in addition to
their movie-making spec, but
HARDWARE Samsung's taken the notion one
step further with the launch of the SCD5000, a
MiniDV camcorder with dedicated 4.13-megapixel
CCD for digital photography enthusiasts.
The high-spec chip delivers an impressive 2,274
x 1,704 pixel resolution for stills and also packs 3x
optical and 6x digital zooms into its swivelling lens
body. Images are stored on the supplied 16MB
Memory Stick, with easy transfer to a PC possible
using the USB connector.
There are some compromises however: the
lack of a dedicated stills viewfinder means
that framing your shots is only possible
through the SCD5000's video viewfinder or
via the 2-inch LCD. However, the 690g
camcorder also comes with an 800,000
pixel CCD for movies (680,000 effective), a
DV-in/out socket for easy digital video
transfer to and from your PC and camcorder,
plus a Power Nite Pix mode that promises to
deliver better quality movie images under tricky
light conditions. The SCD5000 is expected to go on
sale in the UK in the summer for £800-£1,000. For
more details, go to www.samsungelectronics.com
Intro2020 has
launched the
Phototainer, a
portable digital
image viewer and
MP3 player with
20GB hard disk. The
machine supports
Compact Flash I and II
as well as IBM’s
Microdrive, but you’ll
also need a suitable
adaptor for Memory
Stick, MultiMediaCard
and Secure Digital
cards. Data transfer
between the
Phototainer and your
PC is made easy,
thanks to the
presence of USB 1.1
and 2.0 and you can
even use the device
as a PC backup if
required. The
Phototainer costs
£499.99 and is
available now. You
can find out more at
www.intro2020.co.uk
PANASONIC
LUMIX UPDATE
Panasonic has
announced two new
cameras at Las Vegas
CES. The first is the 2megapixel DMC-FZ1,
which boasts a Leica
12x optical zoom
(equivalent to a
35mm to 420mm
zoom lens on a
35mm camera). The
second is the DMC-F1.
This stylish compact
comes with a 3.2megapixel resolution
and comes with a
Leica 3x optical
zoom. Both cameras
will be available in
March, but prices are
still to be confirmed
For more call
Panasonic on
08705 357357.
Budget Pentax
offers high spec
3-million pixels, 3x zoom for £300
Pentax claims to have raised the bar
for entry-level cameras with its new
3-megapixel Optio 330 GS. The
HARDWARE £300 camera comes with a 3x
optical zoom (equivalent to a 38mm to 114mm
35mm lens), five point auto-focus and sixsegment light metering; plus seven auto picture
modes, including landscape, sunset and soft, surf
and snow.
Adding a touch of novelty to the otherwise
unremarkable specs are the swing-out LCD
screen – great for self-portraits – and a 3D mode,
which enables you to take three-dimensional
images that can be seen using the supplied
viewer. As reported last month, the camera also
offers direct printing option with Epson photo
printers via USB and comes with a 16MB
CompactFlash card. To find out more about the
camera go to www.pentax.co.uk
Lexar comes
to the rescue
Recovers deleted digital pics
Lexar Media has launched
ImageRescue, a new file-recovery
program. Sharing superficial
SOFTWARE similarities with the free
PhotoRecovery program on this month’s Cover CD
(see page 125), ImageRescue uses a proprietary
file system to recover data from Lexar’s own
CompactFlash cards that have possibly been
damaged by accidental formatting, removing the
card before an image
has been saved or low
battery power.
The software
bundle, which includes
a USB card reader, is
available for both
Windows and Mac OS
X for £39.99. To find
out more, go to
www.lexarmedia.com
or call 01483 722290.
FEATURE
PHOTOGRAPHING LANDSCAPES
YOUR GUIDE STEVE BAVISTER
Steve Bavister is an experienced photographic journalist and freelance photographer. He is
editor of The Photographer, a leading magazine for professional photographers, and author of
ten books on photography including Digital Photography and Take Better Family Photos
[email protected]
PORTFOLIO STEVE BAVISTER
How to take great
landscape shots
Landscape photography can appear deceptively easy, says Steve Bavister, but it requires controlled use of
lighting, composition and lens settings to come up with something beyond the obvious
014
L
andscape photography – what could be easier?
All you have to do is find yourself a photogenic
location, step out of the car, lift the camera to your
eye, and capture your masterpiece. And, given that every
corner of this green and pleasant land is bursting with
stunning vistas, you’ll have a some of winners in no time.
If only! As you’ve probably already discovered, it isn’t
quite that simple. Because landscapes are all around us and
immediately available, many photographers think they’re a
straightforward subject. And, in a sense, they are. They
simply sit there, waiting for you to come along and take
pictures of them.
But while the vast panorama that’s spread out before you
may take your breath away, how can you capture it in an
image that will do the same? What’s the secret of retaining
the excitement of a 3D scene when it’s reduced to the two
dimensions of a computer screen or inkjet print?
Making the most of the landscape
Through the skilled use of light, viewpoint, lens setting and
composition – that’s how. And in this article we’re going to
show you how to use them to make the most of the
features that occur naturally in a landscape.
It’s pretty obvious, but well worth saying anyway, that
life for the landscape photographer is a lot easier when
you start with a photogenic location. It’s true that you
can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. So if you want
to give yourself a head start, it makes good sense to
visit somewhere that offers plenty of exciting views – such
as The Lake District, Snowdonia National Park, the
4
WHY WE CHOSE
THIS PICTURE
Depth of field is maximised
to retain detail in the background
The meandering river leads
your eye into the picture
Reflections on the water add
interest to the overall composition
It makes good sense to visit somewhere that offers plenty of
exciting views – such as The Lake District, Snowdonia…
015
FEATURE LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
2 THE FOUR SEASONS
One of the most fascinating projects you can set
yourself as a landscape photographer, is to take a series
of pictures of the same scene throughout the four
seasons. Ideally, the location you choose should be close
to where you live, so that when you get a fall of snow,
or a typical summer's day, you can dash off and capture
it without delay. Obviously you'll need to remember
exactly how you framed the shot – although to make it
easy you could used the last picture you took in the
series for reference.
Having done a series of four pictures, your next
project could always be to photograph the same every
month of the year. Now that would take commitment!
Of all the tools that you have at your
disposal in landscape photography,
your legs are easily the most valuable
Cotswolds, the Scottish Highlands or the Peak District.
It’s also a good idea to choose one area and get to
know it like the back of your hand – going back time
and again under different conditions and a range of
seasons. Investing in a couple of detailed guidebooks
will tell you where the best viewpoints are, and a good
Ordnance Survey map is worth its weight in gold.
Having chosen a location, where do you begin? By
walking round it. Of all the tools that you have at your
disposal in landscape photography, your legs are easily
the most valuable.
As you walk around, you’ll almost certainly discover
that high vantage points are often the best places from
which to shoot – they give you a bird’s eye view of the
countryside below. Perched high on a hill you can see
the shape of the land laid out before you, bringing all
the elements together in a perspective that you don’t
016
get at ground level. An elevated viewpoint will also give
you the opportunity to identify specific points of interest
for investigation later. Sometimes, though, the opposite
approach works best, and by crouching down at the
lowest point of a valley looking up, a small hill can seem
to rise up into a mighty crag above you.
It won’t take you long before you realise that
viewpoint and composition are inextricably bound up
with the lens setting you’re using, and can’t be
considered in isolation. Most digital camera these days
feature a zoom lens that goes from moderate wideangle to short telephoto lens. This provides plenty of
options in terms of how you can frame the shot.
Creating a sense of depth
When shooting landscapes, most people select the
wide-angle position automatically, so they can get
as much in as possible. That’s a good approach, but
care does need to be taken to avoid everything looking
small and far away – with the shot lacking any kind of
impact. To create the sense of depth you’re after, you
need to look for ways of making the viewer’s eye read
‘through’ the picture.
One excellent option is to include ‘foreground interest’
– something at the front of picture that gives a sense of
near and far. This can be a bush, rock, boat – in fact,
anything at all – but it’s worth actively seeking one out.
Sometimes there are natural frames, such as trees,
which you can place around the edge.
Another approach is to compose the shot so a natural
element, such as a river, dyke, road, wall or fence
threads through the picture. Try to get in as close to it as
possible, so that it looms large in the front of the shot
and then rapidly diminishes in size as it leads away. The
effect works best when the direction of travel is from
the bottom left of the picture up towards the top right –
and if the ground over which it runs is uneven, this will
help to imply the shape of the land.
Generally, with this kind of approach you’ll want the
images to be sharp from front to back. If you have direct
control over your exposure settings you’ll want to set as
small an aperture as possible – ideally f/16 if you can.
That’s one of the reasons why a tripod is so useful for
landscape work, because it enables you to set small
apertures without fear of camera-shake – producing
images with maximum sharpness.
Using a tripod also helps you slow down and
encourages you to work in a more considered,
contemplative way that’s worlds away from a quick
snap. As you look at things more carefully, you are more
a
Compose your shots according to the rule of thirds, where imaginary lines dissect the
image horizontally and vertically. Aim to make two-thirds of the image either land or
sky, or split it into equal thirds with objects of interest in each. For more go to
www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/education/programs/composition
2 WATER WORKS
Rippling brooks and fast-moving waterfalls are among the exciting elements of the l
andscape -– yet capturing them digitally is notoriously difficult. The main problem is that the
shutter speeds cameras set automatically is normally fast enough to freeze the movement of
the water, taking any sense of action away.
What you want ideally is around 1/8sec to 1 second, which will give the water an
atmospheric blur. If you have direct control over exposure settings, you can try a range of
speeds to find what works best. If the exposure system on your camera is fully programmed,
then try taking pictures on a dull, overcast day, when the shutter speeds will be
correspondingly longer. In all cases, select the lowest ISO setting you have available and use a
tripod or other support to avoid camera-shake.
likely to come up with a better picture. The good thing
about the landscape is that it doesn’t get bored and just
wander off – you’ve got all the time in the world, so
take advantage of it!
Wide angles may take in the general sweep
effectively, but telephoto settings have much to offer
the landscape photographer, because sometimes picking
out and isolating a small element from the landscape
can be more dramatic than including everything.
Because they crop into the scene, telephotos tend to
give a rather more ‘abstract’ landscape effect – the
more powerful the lens, the more abstract it will be,
often ending up as attractive textures and patterns.
Subjects that benefit from this treatment are ploughed
land, rows of trees, fields of crops and cracked mud.
Going closer, you might also make a superb landscape
with a close-up of the rough surface of a wall or fence.
With telephoto lenses it’s also easier to limit the
depth-of-field to make elements stand out. This
‘differential focus’ involves setting a large aperture, such
as f/4 or 5.6, to pick out certain aspects of the land,
such as a single tree, which then seem to be projected
forward from an out-of-focus background.
As with wide-angles, a high viewpoint will often
help with telephoto landscape photography, allowing
you to look down and select the part of the scene that’s
most interesting.
Vertical or horizontal?
Many landscape pictures are taken in the horizontal
format, because that helps emphasise the way the
scenery stretches out as far as the eye can see. But
sometimes an upright treatment works every bit as
well, including more sky, and giving a greater sense of
depth to the shot.
Both approaches can work well, and it’s largely a
matter of choosing what’s right with a particular
location. If you can’t decide which format you think will
work best, shoot them both and choose later.
Of course, you can always change the format of an
image on the computer, but it’s better to keep as
many pixels as possible to maximise output quality.
That said, you might want to keep your eyes peeled
for subjects that can be cropped to a panoramic.
This distinctively long, thin format is tailor made for
landscape photography, enabling you to capture the full
expanse of a magnificent vista before you.
Light of my life
So far we haven’t mentioned light – arguably the
most important element in emphasising shape and
form in a landscape photograph. Light is affected by
the season, the time of day and the weather. If you
want to reveal the curves and contours of a scene then
shadows are essential, which means the sun really has
to be shining for landscape photography to be
worthwhile. The position of the sun is crucial too. You
certain don’t want it behind you because the shadows
will fall away and be hidden, producing bland,
uninspiring pictures.
The best place for the sun is 90 degrees to the left or
right, so that it casts shadows that fall right across the
picture, giving a strong sense of shape and depth. In
the right circumstances, shooting into the sun can work,
with the shadows falling towards the camera, but care
must be taken to expose correctly and to avoid flare.
The longer the shadows, the more dramatic the
effect, which is why the best summer landscapes are
often taken early in the morning or late in the evening,
when the sun is low in the sky.
017
Dawn and dusk shots
At dawn and dusk, sunlight is warm and rich, and shadows
lengthen, giving additional detail to subjects. The light can
be spectacular after the sun sets when the sky lights up like
a theatre stage backdrop
018
g
Many of the best scenic images are captured just after the sun's come up, so set your alarm
clock for an early start – you can always go back to bed afterwards! While you can take
good landscapes within walking distance of your car, the best locations are more remote
and only accessible on foot
2 FILTER TIPS
If you choose your weather carefully, a straight record of the scene will guarantee success.
But sometimes landscapes need a bit of help. Now your first thought might be to tweak
things on the computer, but it's also worth considering using filters, as you would on a
film-based camera. If you're planning to take a lot of landscape shots it's much quicker
and easier than enhancing dozens of images. The most useful filter for landscapes is
graduated – half-coloured, with the top the darkest fading to the middle. This is used to
add interest to bland, empty skies. For general use, grey or blue graduated filters are best,
but it's also wroth experimenting with some of the more dramatic ones such as tobacco,
which gives a stormy effect. And nothing beats a polarising filter to deepen the colour of
an already blue sky and make fluffy clouds stand out.
2
USING A DIGITAL SLR
The lens on most 'compact' digital cameras is only
moderately wide angle, and to produce jaw-dropping
compositions you really need something with
greater coverage. If you already have a film-based
SLR system, and have invested in one of the latest
digital SLR bodies, such as the Fujifilm S2 or Canon D60,
you have the potential to create something more
dramatic. Many companies are now producing wideangle zoom lenses that start from 15mm, which, even
allowing for the magnification factor of 1.6x that results
from using the lens on a digital camera. This gives the
equivalent of 24mm in film terms – significantly wider
than is possible on most cameras without the
interchangeable lens facility.
There are many fair-weather landscape photographers
who only go out snapping scenics when the sun is
shining. And, of course, they get some good pictures.
But they’re also missing out on other shots they could
take in bad weather, which would add variety to their
portfolio and make it far more interesting.
Changeable conditions can produce some truly
dramatic pictures, especially if you’re ready, with your
finger on the shutter release, for when the sun breaks
through the clouds for just a few seconds. If you’re lucky
you may be rewarded with a rainbow. The more you’re
out taking pictures, the more you increase the chances
of being there when a rainbow makes an appearance.
Then you’ve got to work quickly. You’ve often have less
than five minutes to get the picture you want in the
bag, so work fast and take lots of pictures.
Misty weather and fog offer the potential for
capturing some memorable images, with distant
elements all-but-invisible, and foreground subjects
Changeable conditions can produce some truly
dramatic pictures, especially if you’re ready,
with your finger on the shutter release
That’s where a map comes in handy, and also
sometimes a compass. By planning ahead and
anticipating the position of the sun in relation to a
particular location, you can make sure you’re there at
the time to catch it in the best light.
Shooting in the autumn and winter
In autumn and winter, though, the sun doesn’t rise so
high anyway, so when it’s shining it’s possible to create
evocative landscapes pretty much all through the day –
although dawn and dusk remain the best time, because
then the light is softer and also warmer in tone.
The flat, shadowless light you get on an overcast day
is generally the kiss of death to scenic work – although
in stormy weather the dramatic skies can sometimes
compensate for lack of excitement on the ground.
rendered normally. In such situations you may need to
select a higher ISO setting, as light levels are often
rather low. Winter, too, completely transforms the
appearance of a landscape, especially in areas where
snow falls heavily.
A canopy of white makes elements such as trees
stand out more starkly, while even a sharp frost can
provide interesting details that are worth recording. Do
check your images before moving on, though, as all the
light bouncing around can easily cause under-exposure.
While this can to some degree be salvaged later, it’s
better to adjust your exposure if you have the option so
you can capture the scene as accurately as possible.
But don’t wrap your camera in cotton wool – get out
and photograph the landscape in all its many guises.
Modern cameras are extremely well made, and will
019
FEATURE LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
Creating a panoramic image
DRAW IN THE EYE
The light area in the bottom left-hand
corner leads the eyes into the frame
TRIPOD
Using a tripod allows both
a fast shutter speed to avoid
camera-shake and a small
aperture of f/16 to maximise
depth-of-field
HIGHLIGHT THE DETAIL
The exposure has been
slightly adjusted to prevent
white buildings from being
bleached out
POLARISING FILTER
A polarising filter has been used
over the lens to boost saturation
and deepen the blue of the sky,
producing a rich, lush tonality
PANORAMIC POTENTIAL
The shot is framed with the
intention of cropping it to the
letterbox shape
TIMING
The picture has been taken in the
middle of the afternoon, when
the light is crisp but not harsh
You don't have to head off into the
middle of nowhere to get great
landscape shots – man-made
landscapes can be just as effective
suffer no harm if used sensibly. If in doubt, keep the
body of the camera in a transparent freezer bag, to
protect it from moisture.
A good bag is also a worthwhile accessory, especially
if you plan to do a fair bit of walking to find the best
spots. Holdalls designed as rucksacks are most
comfortable, as the weight is spread over both
shoulders, and you can all your essentials such as maps
and a sandwich without getting fatigued (see our
review of camera bags on page 38).
You don’t have to head off into the middle of
nowhere to get great landscape shots – man-made
landscapes can be just as effective. A rape field under a
blue sky, full of vivid colour, or a swathe of barley
blowing in the wind can be every bits as appealing –
and a lot more accessible if you have limited time to
take pictures.
Although we always talk of ‘landscapes’, it doesn’t
mean you can’t take pictures with water in them. In
fact, you can get the best of both worlds if you take
some shots around our coastline. Small, colourful fishing
boats, moored in picturesque harbours, make superb
subjects fit for a calendar, while reservoirs and lakes
have similar potential. If you want to get people
‘oohing’ and ‘ahhing’ when they look at your pictures,
nothing beats a sunset over water.
A final thing to consider is whether you want to be a
purist, as many landscape photographers are, and avoid
including people in the picture. While there’s certainly a
strong case for doing that, as they can easily be a
distraction (especially keen walkers wearing orange
fleeces), including an individual or group can sometimes
give a welcome sense of scale that takes the shot to a
higher level. So even if your preference is to wait until
people have moved out of the frame, it can be worth
taking a couple of shots to see whether it works.
TELEPHOTO SETTING
Using a telephoto setting has
helped to 'compress' and flatten
the perspective
SKY AND CLOUDS
Waiting a few minutes for some
clouds to drift by results in a more
interesting picture
2 YOUR COLLECTABLE CARDS
Want to create a panaroma? Take a look this month’s
cover story companion tips cards. We’ve got six tips to
help you produce jaw-dropping landscape panromas.
FEATURE LANDSCAPE – POST-SHOOT
Improving composition and
contrast in landscape photos
Great landscape images can be made to look even better using a few simple Photoshop edits. Tim Daly shows you how
*
ON OUR
COVERDISC
PICTURE WINDOW
Enhance your photos using its
powerful image-editing tools,
plus create high-quality prints,
multimedia slide shows etc
0
L
ocation shooting can be difficult at the best of
times, with changeable light and unreliable
weather conditions to contend with. Happily,
Photoshop has several tools to help you tweak your
digital shots afterwards, in much the same way as
traditional photographers would adjust their landscape
prints in a darkroom.
Landscape photography is all about subtlety,
emphasis and dynamic composition. Composition is,
without doubt, the hardest photographic skill to pick up,
so in the meantime there’s Photoshop’s cropping tool.
With adventurous crops, large sections of original
pixels are discarded, resulting in the potential for a
smaller, but more interesting print. There’s no hard-andfast rule that states that all landscape images need to
be a regular rectangular size, and combined with the
ability of inkjet printers to output onto any size or
shaped paper, this won’t be a problem.
The best tools Photoshop offers are for darkening
bland areas of images and converting the whole photo
into a visual mix of dark and light. Great photographic
prints, whether digital or conventional, all have slightly
darker areas linking to lighter areas, to encourage the
viewer to ‘scan’ and examine the subtleties of the
image. Compared to a snapshot with its all-over single
tone and lack of strong emphasis, the carefully crafted
digital print will win hands down each time.
EXPERT TIPS
TIM DALY
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
BOOSTING COLOURS
Caution is the key word when
increasing the saturation of your
colours because digital images
can easily become overcooked.
Avoid applying excessive
saturation commands, especially
to images that have been
compressed in the JPEG format,
as the blocky shapes caused by
compression will become
more visible.
0
EXPERT TIPS
01
ADJUST THE HORIZON LINE
04
SELECT THE SKY
It’s easy to end up with wonky composition. To
mend a sloping horizon line, turn on the
View8Rulers option then drag the top ruler to bring a blue
non-printing guide over the horizon. Do Edit8Select All,
then Edit8Transform8Rotate and straighten the horizon.
02
CROP THE IMAGE
05
DARKEN DOWN THE SKY
This example had far too much bland grey sky
in the shot, so it was removed using the Crop
tool. Drag the tool across your image and let go to
preview the potential new crop. The darker grey area will
indicate the section to be discarded.
03
IMPROVE DOMINANT COLOURS
06
DARKEN DOWN THE FOREGROUND
Great landscape images can be dominated by
a single colour, like the yellow here. From the
dialog box edit menu, choose a colour, then increase
Saturation (to no more than 10) by using
Image8Adjustments8Hue/Saturation command.
TIM DALY
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
WORK ON A
DUPLICATE LAYER
If you’re worried about ruining your
original image file, then make a
duplicate Background layer to work
on. Click and drag the Background
layer icon on top of the tiny new
layer icon, at the bottom of the
Layers palette.
GAMUT COLOURS
You can see which colours won’t
print with the same intensity as
viewed on the monitor via the
View8Gamut Warning command.
When making colour saturation
edits, turn the Gamut Warning on,
so you can see when you’ve gone
too far. Colours that won’t print will
be tagged with a grey colour.
022
When natural lighting is flat, you can easily
introduce drama by darkening down the sky.
Use the lasso tool and draw a rough selection edge
around the part you want to darken. Do Select8Feather
and enter a 20 Feather Radius to soften down the edge.
Now do Image8Adjustments8Brightness/
Contrast and move the Brightness slider left
until you see a difference. With very neutral grey skies,
this could be as much as –40. If it looks too obvious, go
back one step using your History palette and try again.
To balance out your dark sky, now darken
down areas of the foreground. Use the Burning
in tool and work on the Midtones, with a 30% Exposure.
Large soft edged brushes are best, such as 120 pixels.
Click and paint into areas which need darkening down.
SECTION #01
REVIEWS
Section highlights…
KIT REVIEW
RICOH CAPLIO RR-35
SEE PAGE 26
PAGE
PAGE
30
RICOH CAPLIO RR-35
THE 3-MEGAPIXEL SNAPSHOT
Three megapixels can turn out a decent photo these
days and this is the cheapest model on the market
PAGE
NIKON COOLPIX 4500
THE 4-MEGAPIXEL COMPACT (BEST BUY)
Better designed and specced than its predecessor
the 990 – and still using that crafty swivel design
PAGE
CANON POWERSHOT G3
THE 4-MEGAPIXEL COMPACT
Does the long awaited Canon G3 – the priciest
camera reviewed this issue – stand up to scrutiny?
PAGE
LAB TEST
DIRECT PHOTO PRINTERS
Cut out the middle man and invest in some printing
supplies. We road test the do-it-yourself options...
PAGE
PAGE
34
41
Kit reviews
The latest digital photo gear, reviewed and rated
f
Contact our reviews team
Reviews you can trust!
Our aim is to inform you fully about a product’s best and
worst features. To this end, we guarantee each review is
Independent: We have a cast-iron policy of editorial
independence. Suppliers never see a review until the
magazine hits the newsagent Authoritative: Every review
includes the manufacturer’s range, other options, test shots,
3D tours, plus links to buy online Clear: We use diagrams
and boxes to ensure each review delivers a definitive verdict
#
If you have a comment about our reviews, or a product
you would like us to test, please email us at
[email protected]. Visit our website at
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk for reader verdicts
26
30
34
41
REVIEWS
3-MEGAPIXEL COMPACT
RICOH CAPLIO RR-30
Price
Resolution
Lens
Memory
Battery Life
Contact
£225
3.2 megapixels
f2.6-4.7 3x zoom
8MB internal, SD card slot
350 shots with optional Li-ion cells
Johnsons Photopia 01782 753 300 www.ricoh-cameras.co.uk
SAMPLE IMAGES ALL THESE IMAGES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR CD
Ricoh Caplio RR-30
The RR-30’s as cheap an introduction to 3-megapixel photography as you can get, but
has its appeal been driven down along with its price?
*
ON OUR
COVERDISC
VIRTUAL TOUR
Try before you buy! Rotate and
view this camera on-screen with
our unique virtual reality tour
C
ON OUR
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OPINIONS & SHOPPING
Post your views, see what other
readers think then buy this camera!
R
icoh’s digital camera range is a bit of an odd
mixture. At the top end it’s got its businessorientated i500 and i700 models, and the
similarly styled 4-megapixel RR-1. These boast unusual
slab-like styling which works surprisingly well, but the
pricing and the business slant have left these models
rather dead in the water.
Meanwhile, lower down the range, there’s the
cute MP3-playing RR-10 and the cheap and cheerful
2-megapixel RR-120. Bang in the middle of these two is
the RR-30, with higher resolution, higher spec and more
mass-market appeal, especially at current prices.
Price will have to be a big factor in choosing this
camera, because its feature set is pretty much par for
the course in this area of the market. It does offer a
choice of metering patterns, though, and can even
bracket your exposures. Its rather bulbous design, then,
disguises some reasonably serious intentions.
2
3
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk/
Bargain basement
DIGITAL RANGE
RICOH
CAPLIO RR-1
Price: £469
Megapixels: 4.0
RDC-I500
Price: £375
Megapixels: 3.3
CAPLIO RR-10
Price: £285
Megapixels: 2.1
5
CAPLIO RR-30
Price: £225
Megapixels: 3.2
£
CAPLIO RR-120
Price: £175
Megapixels: 2.2
5
026
The design doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, mind.
Both the styling and the materials feel on the cheap
side, and it doesn’t take long for the matt silver finish to
start marking up with scuffs and scratches.
In use, though, it starts to grow on you. Startup is
reasonably fast at around three seconds, and the
focussing seems quite speedy, too – plus, it doesn’t
suffer from the same hunting and whirring that
mar other cameras.
The two-stage shutter action is good, too. It’s wellweighted and positive, and you know exactly when the
exposure and focus have locked so that you can take
the picture.
This is a camera you’ll get to grips with very quickly.
The main mode dial on the top plate is clear and selfexplanatory, offering access to the playback, picturetaking, scene, movie and setup modes, with a power
button in the middle.
On the back of the camera, everything is equally
logical, though you can tell it’s been built to a budget by
the way the LCD image grows dim and grainy in
7
LENS
You’re doing well to
get a 3x optical
zoom at this price,
and the performance
is well up to par
gloomy artificial lighting, and the generally cheap feel of
the buttons. The controls are well-spaced, though, and,
in keeping with the rest of the camera, organised very
clearly. Ricoh has used four separate directional buttons
arranged in a circle rather than a single four-way
navipad, and even though they’re mounted flush
with the backplate, they’re still easier to use than
the navigational controls on far more expensive
cameras (like the Nikon CoolPix 4500, reviewed
this issue, for example).
There are other small design changes to consider.
Ricoh has adopted the latest practice of using the
navigation buttons to offer shortcuts to common options
in photo-taking mode. Here, the ‘up’ button cycles
7
OPTICAL
VIEWFINDER
The optical
viewfinder is small,
but easy to find
with your eye
through the flash settings, while ‘down’ takes you
into macro mode.
The menu system is easy to follow, though the EV
compensation control could do with being more
accessible. The Scene mode is especially good. There
are only six different scene settings, but each one is
accompanied by a typical photo and an explanation
of when to use that mode and how it works.
Playback speed is pretty good, though images take a
couple of seconds to render at full resolution. Zooming
in and panning is particularly fast for a camera in this
price range.
The Ricoh should prove practical, too. Working off just
a pair of AA cells, it can also take optional rechargeable
TURN THE PAGE TO
COMPARE TEST SHOTS
RICOH CAPLIO RR-30
PERFORMANCE
2 SKIN TONES
1
7
3
4
3
5
6
PRO Skin tones reproduce well, especially in
natural lighting, with few unnatural colours
CON Complexions can look a bit colourless using
direct flash, or slightly yellow in some conditions
2 OUTDOOR SHOTS
MODE DIAL
The mode dial’s big,
easy to grip, hard to
move accidentally and
so obvious you won’t
need any instructions
7
7
lithium-ion units which Ricoh reckons should be
good for 350 or so shots. The NiMH cells we used in
our camera seemed to last pretty well, too.
Picture quality
So while the Ricoh lacks the features, style or charm
to be a ‘must-have’ digital camera, it does look
pretty good at the price. It’s the sort of camera you
7
Noise is well-controlled, edges are sharp without
exaggerated sharpening artefacts, and there’s not
too much colour fringing around bright areas, either.
Indeed, while it’s the 4- and 5-megapixel
cameras that tend to grab all the headlines these
days, you might not have noticed a quiet revolution
going on lower down the market. Some of the
much cheaper cameras, using only the ‘old’ 3-
With its 3.3-megapixel CCD it’s obviously not
going to challenge serious enthusiasts’ kit,
but it does deliver rather good shots
buy with your head, not your heart.
That being so, you probably wouldn’t expect
anything more than simply competent image quality
from this little number – but that’s where the RR-30
springs a couple of surprises. With its 3.3-megapixel
CCD it’s obviously not going to challenge serious
enthusiasts’ kit for image quality, but it does deliver
rather good shots nonetheless. Not only are they
well-exposed, they’re saturated and sharp, too.
megapixel chips, are now turning out some very
respectable results indeed.
Our camera did produce some vertical lines down
the left hand side of the frame when we were
shooting into the light for our outdoor test shot, but
the conditions were fairly extreme and the same
fault wasn't repeated on any other occasion.
The Caplio RR-30 isn’t instantly impressive.
Indeed, it does feel rather cheap. The controls are
RICOH CAPLIO RR-30 FULL SPECIFICATIONS
Sensor
Lens
Focus
Exposure modes
Metering
Monitor
AE compensation
Flash
Video output
Movie recording
Other features
WORTH
A LOOK
2
3.24-megapixel, 1/2.7-inch 3.34MP CCD
Ricoh f2.6-4.7 3x zoom
Auto, 1cm in macro mode
Program AE, scene modes
Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot
1.6-inch 80,000 pixels
+/-2EV in 0.3EV increments
Auto, on, off, slow, red-eye
NTSC and PAL
320 x 240 at 15fps without sound
8Mb internal memory
HP PHOTOSMART
720
£250/3MP
OLYMPUS
C-300
£280/3MP
Image storage
Batteries
Battery life
AC adaptor
Weight
Dimensions
Transfer
Software:
OS
FUJIFILM FINEPIX
A303
£270/3MP
good, though, it packs in some useful photographic
features and – most important of all – it produces
good quality shots reliably in a variety of conditions.
5
6
PRO Good exposure control, high levels of contrast
and tremendous colour saturation and vibrancy
CON Didn’t like shooting into the light very much,
and slightly underexposed a couple of our shots
2 INDOOR SHOTS
Close contenders
But this is a very crowded market-place, and the RR30 is up against tough competition from a number
of makers. It’s just about the cheapest 3-megapixel
camera with an optical zoom on the market right
now, but not by much. HP’s PhotoSmart 720 comes
close, with its barmy but likeable retro styling, while
Sony’s DSC-P71 is hot on its heels – likely to cost you
only a little more and is much better made.
FujiFilm’s A303, meanwhile, is in the same price
territory again, and it’s slimmer and neater than the
Ricoh. We also like the Olympus C-300, currently
dipping well under the £300 barrier and another
first-rate performer.
So it all comes down to price in the end. If you
really do need to shave off every pound, and the
RR-30 comes along at the right price, then go for it.
If it was our money, though, we’d spend £20-30
extra on one of its rivals, if only for the extra build
quality and style.
1
SD card slot
2 x AA
350 shots with optional Li-ion cells
No
160g (without batteries or card)
114mm(w) x 54.5mm(h) x 32.5mm(d)
USB
Ricoh Gate, DU-10 image browser/editor
Windows 98/Me, 2000, XP. Mac OS8.6-9.2.2, OSX
10.1.2 or later
SONY
DSC-P71
£260/3.3MP
NAVIPAD
Four separate
buttons feel a bit
cheap, but they’re
well-spaced and
logically arranged
LCD
The LCD is bright
and crisp enough,
though it does start
struggling in low
light levels
Verdict
SHUTTER RELEASE
The shutter
action is good,
and focussing is
crisp and
accurate
A bit of a
plain Jane that
nevertheless
takes good
shots
With so many good cameras at or
around the Ricoh’s price point, it could
do with a bit more appeal. As it is, it’s
a camera you’ll buy on price alone
5
6
PRO The smooth shutter action should keep
camera shake to a minimum using available light
CON Few problems, though we couldn’t find the
slow flash mode – that left shots looking harsh
2 IMAGE QUALITY
5
6
PRO Highly saturated, colourful images that show
good levels of detail. You won’t be disappointed
CON Watch out for colour fringing around bright
highlights, and avoid bright light sources
FEATURES
73
82
IMAGES
BUILD
VALUE
70
82
1
1
1
1
77%
FINAL
SCORE
027
REVIEWS
2.1-MEGAPIXEL COMPACT
FUJIFILM FINEPIX F402
Price
Resolution
Lens
Memory
Battery life
Contact
£300
2.1 megapixels (4 megapixel output)
f3.2 fixed focal length
16Mb xD-Picture Card
140/400 shots (monitor on/off)
Fujifilm 020 7586 1477 www.fujifilm.co.uk
FujiFilm FinePix F402
Digital dons, FujiFilm, has produced a slinky 2-megapixel point-and-shoot that uses advanced
light sensing to give 4-megapixel images. But do the results stand up to scrutiny?
VIRTUAL TOUR
our unique virtual reality tour.
C
ON OUR
WEBSITE
OPINIONS & SHOPPING
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk
F
3
ujifilm is one of the digital camera world’s
pioneers. Its SuperCCD imaging technology is
now in its third generation, Fuji is working
jointly with Olympus on the new xD-Picture Card
format, and FujiFilm cameras have long boasted a
combination of innovative styling and build quality
that’s left the rest looking slightly lacklustre.
The SuperCCD chips used in many of FujiFilm’s
cameras feature larger-than-usual light sensing cells. The
in-camera processing produces output files larger than
the SuperCCD’s native resolution. The 2.1-megapixel
SuperCCD in the FinePix F402, for example, generates
4-megapixel files, while the 3.3-megapixel SuperCCD
in the M603 (also reviewed this issue) can generate
6-megapixel images.
So does the image quality match that of genuine 4
and 6-megapixel CCDs? That’s one of the things our test
was aiming to find out.
3
OUR
COVERDISC
* ON
4
What can it do?
DIGITAL RANGE
FUJI
FinePix F601
Price: £400
Megapixels: 3/6
FinePix F401
Price: £330
Megapixels: 2/4
5
FinePix F402
Price: £300
Megapixels: 2.1
FinePix A303
Price: £270
Megapixels: 2
£
5
028
FinePix A203
Price: £230
Megapixels: 2
The F402 is designed as a highly pocketable ‘take
anywhere’ camera pitched fair and square at the
snapshot market – which doesn’t necessarily exclude
experienced photographers if the features are right.
With better build and a lot more style than entrylevel FujiFilm cameras, it’s not the cheapest camera you
can get by any means. Does it justify its price tag? A
cursory glance would leave you doubtful. With its
program AE exposure system and simple point-andshoot controls, the F402 is no more sophisticated than
2-megapixel cameras costing £100 less. The menu
system, for example, can be set to Auto (point and
shoot only) and Manual (adding EVcompensation and
white balance adjustment). Still, it is very easy to
operate. The graphical menu system is simple and it’s
immediately obvious how to navigate it.
There are no custom ‘scene’ modes for portraits,
landscapes, night shots and so on, but the LCD can
display a grid, splitting up the scene into a 3x3 grid as a
compositional aid. You can hook up the F402 to your PC
to use it as a webcam, and the price does include a soft
7
7
CRESCENT-SHAPED
PANEL
This sliding panel
is the power switch:
nice movement
case and a cradle for placing it next to your computer.
The fixed focal length lens (39mm equivalent) is a bit
disappointing, since nearly all the F402’s rivals have
zooms, and while you can shoot movies with sounds at
320 x 240 resolution, it’s only at 10fps.
Pixel performance
On the other hand, the SuperCCD does have high
sensitivity, going up to ISO 800 and 1600, though only
at 1260 x 980 resolution, using special ‘Pixel Coupling’
technology. The xD-Picture Card you get with this and
other FujiFilm cameras certainly is tiny – less than half
7
MICROPHONE GRILLE
The F402 can record
movies with sound,
but only at 10fps
LENS
The fixed focal length
lens restricts the F402’s
versatility, but not its
image quality
the size of a SmartMedia card – but the 16MB capacity
is OK, and these cards are reckoned to offer faster
read/write times and lower power consumption.
On paper at least, the FinePix F402 doesn’t seem
that impressive, but all that changes the moment you
take it out of the box. It’s very slim indeed, with a
brushed metal finish, solid-feeling build and smoothcornered styling. The startup time is around a second
and focusing is pretty fast too. The shutter action is a
little uncertain at the end, leaving you wondering if
you’ve taken the shot or not, but the weighting is
otherwise OK. The power switch is especially neat – a
TURN THE PAGE TO
COMPARE TEST SHOTS
7
FUJIFILM FINEPIX F402
PERFORMANCE
2 SKIN TONES
4
3
SHUTTER BUTTON
The shutter release
has a reasonable
action, but needs
better shot
confirmation
5
6
1
7
PRO A nice healthy warmth in various lighting
conditions, including flash. Good tonal rendition.
CON Can exaggerate reds a little at times, which
seems to be characteristic of the SuperCCD
2 OUTDOOR SHOTS
LCD
The LCD is bright and
crisp, and pleasingly,
the optical viewfinder
isn’t bad either
7
ROW OF BUTTONS
This row of buttons
looks smarter
than a navipad,
but doesn’t work as
well. The control layout
is very good, though
particularly easy to use. Things are looking up for the
little FinePix, then, but can the image quality from
its 2.1-megapixel SuperCCD match up?
Well, it’s not bad at all. SuperCCD images have
sliding panel to the left of the body as you hold the
camera, with a really nice action.
The optical viewfinder is on the small side, but
easy enough to put your eye too and quite crisp and
bright. The 1.5-inch LCD on the back is good, too,
though it does get a bit grainy and dark in low
ambient light levels.
different qualities to those of conventional CCDs, and
it’s not that easy to compare them directly. Right up
close, you can see that the F402’s 4-megapixel
images don’t have the bite or detail rendition of
‘real’ 4-megapixel shots, and that there’s a distinct
granular effect in some areas and clear edge
sharpening artefacts.
The detail rendition lies around halfway between
that of a typical 2-megapixel camera and a
4-megapixel model. It’s roughly equivalent to a
3-megapixel camera’s results, which is about what
FUJIFILM FINEPIX F402 FULL SPECIFICATIONS
WORTH
A LOOK
2
CASIO EXILIM
EX-S2
£300/2MP
PANASONIC
LUMIX DMC F7
£260/2MP
Image storage
Batteries
Battery life
AC adaptor
Software
Weight
Dimensions
Transfer
OS
MINOLTA
DIMAGE X
£300/2MP
1
xD-Picture Card
Lithium-ion rechargeable, NP-40
140/400 shots (monitor on/off)
Supplied
FinePix Viewer, ImageMixer VCD
125g (without battery or card)
77mm(w) x 69mm(h) x 22mm(d)
USB
Windows 98/Me, 2000 or XP. Mac OS8.6-9.2.2,
OSX 10.0.4 or later
CANON DIGITAL
IXUS V3
£400/3MP
and contrast, and shouldn’t need too much work in
your image-editor later on.
The only area where the camera struggled was in
reproducing reds. They were all vivid, but with
almost no differentiation between shades (see the
red sweatshirt in our Skin Tones performance panel).
The F402 may not look cheap on paper, but its
main metal-built sub-compact rivals are less capable
2-megapixel models. The F402’s excellent design
and build quality, plus its startlingly slim dimensions,
are very appealing – a great pocket camera.
Verdict
The buttons on the back work well too. The
conventional four-way navipad has been dropped in
favour of a smart-looking but less effective strip of
buttons, with the larger, central one operating
up/down, and smaller buttons to the side for
moving left and right.
A three-way switch swaps between movie,
playback and stills mode, and during playback mode
the F402 cycles between images reasonably fast,
and you can zoom in and pan around your saved
images too, though the lack of a zoom switch
means you have to toggle between ‘zoom’ and
‘pan’ modes on the navipad.
It all adds up to a camera that feels well made
for the money, is extremely compact and is
2.1-megapixel, 1/2.7-inch 2.1MP SuperCCD
2048 x 1536
Fujinon f3.2 fixed focal length lens
Program AE
64-zone
+1.5 to -2EV in 0.3EV increments
No
320 x 240 at 10fps with sound
Docking cradle, soft case
you’d hope for at this price, after all.
Where the SuperCCD does score, though, is its
sharpness at normal viewing distances. The shots
are punchy and crisp-looking with decent saturation
On paper at least, the FinePix F402 doesn’t
seem that impressive, but all that changes
the moment you take it out of the box
Smooth operator
Sensor
Image size
Lens
Focus
Exposure modes
Metering
Monitor
AE compensation
Flash
Video output
Movie recording
Other features
5
6
A small, neat
and beautifully
made camera
The limited specs make the F402
look dear compared to other entrylevel snapshot cameras, but there’s
so much more to it than that
PRO Very good exposure control, even in tricky
conditions like backlit and high contrast scenes
CON Bright highlighted areas can merge and
wash out, but the F402 isn’t alone here
2 INDOOR SHOTS
5
6
PRO Saturated but neutral colours. The slow flash
mode balances well with the available light
CON The SuperCCD does offer high sensitivity,
but with more noise and less shadow detail
2 IMAGE QUALITY
5
6
PRO Images are contrasty and saturated at normal
viewing distances, with neutral colour rendition too
CON Fine detail isn’t quite up to the standard of a
4-megapixel camera – it’s more like a 3-megpixel
Features
Images
Build
Value
1
1
93 1
90 1
FINAL
SCORE
70
86
85%
029
REVIEWS
4-MEGAPIXEL COMPACT
NIKON COOLPIX 4500
Price
Resolution
Lens
Memory
Contact
£550
4 megapixels
f2.6-5.1 4x zoom
16MB Compact Flash
Nikon 0800 230 220 www.nikon.co.uk
Nikon CoolPix 4500
DIGITAL
CAMERA
MAGAZINE
Not so much point and shoot as twist and shoot. Nikon’s evergreen swivelcam design
gets a bigger CCD and a cosmetic revamp
*
ON OUR
COVERDISC
VIRTUAL TOUR
ON OUR
C WEBSITE
OPINIONS & SHOPPING
review/reviewproduct.asp?RGN
=2&RCN=13&RPN=170&sp=&v=3
DIGITAL RANGE
NIKON COOLPIX
5700
Price: £900
Megapixels: 5
5000
Price: £700
Megapixels: 5
5
4500
Price: £550
Megapixels: 4
4300
Price: £400
Megapixels: 4
£
5
030
885
Price: £350
Megapixels: 3.3
W
here other digital camera makers seek to
make their models look as much like
conventional cameras as possible, Nikon took
a bold step with its CoolPix 990 model, the predecessor
to the 4500. Digital cameras don’t have the long and
complex optical paths of film cameras, and the
designers used this to separate the lens from the LCD
panel with a swivelling pivot halfway along the body.
The great thing about this design was it enabled you
to compose shots at waist level, overhead, and
practically round corners. And despite feeling like
plasticky gimmicks about to fall to bits, the 990/995
models were extremely robust, durable and practical.
It’s nice to see Nikon continuing with its ‘swivelcam’
series, since its 5-megapixel models have reverted to a
much more mainstream camera shape. Other cameras
like the PowerShot G2/G3 and 5-megapixel Nikons
have flip-out, rotating LCDs, but on the swivelling
CoolPix 4500, you use your fists not your fingernails. It’s
instantly practical in a way that flip-out LCDs aren’t. And
that swivelling joint will last for decades.
3
7
LENS
The 4500’s 4x zoom
is carried over from
the 995, but here it
delivers sharper,
crisper results
Leaner and fitter?
Cosmetically, the 4500 is a much more svelte, upmarket
machine than its predecessor. Under the skin, though,
rather less has changed. It does boast an improved
processing system, which offers greater speed and
improved image quality, while the designers have
sneaked in a new (and useful) scene mode with no
fewer than 16 different settings. There’s also a
panoramic mode now, (though there’s no dedicated
panorama stitching software).
The 4500 swaps the rugged plastic ‘combat’ styling
of the CoolPix 995 for a sleeker, more compact shape
and a hard, black, magnesium alloy finish. It’s not only
better-specified than its predecessor, but cheaper and
better-finished too.
At least, that’s how you start off feeling. However,
along the way the designers have also made
modifications to the control layout that offer less obvious
benefits. We’re so used to the outgoing 995 that maybe
we need time to adapt to the new controls, but initially
at least they seem to represent some odd decisions.
Shrink to fit
For a start, the playback mode is no longer accessed by
a single rotary power/mode switch. Instead, it’s
operated by a little button on the back and you have to
go through the Quick Review mode (which displays a
thumbnail image within the main LCD image). It takes
longer and it’s more awkward.
The LCD is smaller too. The old model’s 1.8-inch
display has been dropped for a 1.5-inch unit that’s very
bright and crisp, but still smaller.
A rearrangement of the mode functions does make it
1
7
SWIVEL JOIN
The 4500 has a
pivot halfway along
the body. You won’t
believe how useful
and practical this is
until you try it
a little quicker to get to the 4500’s aperture-priority,
shutter-priority, manual and scene modes, but the
miniature joystick (thumbstick?) that’s replaced the old
model’s conventional navipad is really rather horrible.
The directional movements are a bit vague and you
have to press down vertically to ‘OK’ menu choices
and actions. It takes quite a firm push and it’s too
easy to push it to one side.
The latest 5-megapixel Nikons have controls which
are a bit smaller than you want them to be, and the
4500 seems to be following this trend. There’s no
reason for it, since this is hardly a miniature camera.
It does feel good to use, though. The controls are
well-made, and the magnesium alloy body feels very
TURN THE PAGE TO
COMPARE TEST SHOTS
7
NIKON COOLPIX 4500
PERFORMANCE
2 SKIN TONES
CONTROLS TO RIGHT
A reorganised
control layout leaves
the Nikon’s top
plate uncluttered,
but some changes
are not welcome
1
5
6
PRO A healthy-looking neutral colour balance in
most conditions and fine detail rendition
CON Flash shots and those taken in overcast
lighting can make your subjects look a little pale
2 OUTDOOR SHOTS
3
7
THUMBSTICK
What is it with digicam
makers? They drop
navipads, which work
well, and use widgets
like this thumbstick,
which don’t
LCD
The LCD is smaller
than the CoolPix
995’s, but it’s good
and sharp, so you
probably won’t worry
classy. The 4500 starts up a lot faster than the old
995, and doesn’t sound so much like a tractor.
Zooming is still a bit slow, but image playback,
zooming and panning is quick. The shutter release is
one of the 4500’s strong points, with a very wellweighted two-stage action that helps – along with
work and when to use them – this camera comes
with an excellent 164-page English manual.
Although the EV compensation control is quite
handily placed, the 4500 still suffers from some of
the control problems of its predecessor. In particular,
it’s a camera with very powerful photographic
On the swivelling CoolPix 4500, you use
your fists not your fingernails. It’s instantly
practical in a way that flip-out LCDs aren’t
the camera’s eminently ‘grippable’ design – to
keep camera shake down to a minimum.
The menus have been redesigned too, and while
they don’t offer much that the old camera didn’t,
the whole experience of using them is a bit more
satisfactory – if you can live with that little
thumbstick, that is.
The new scene mode is particularly effective,
offering not just a good range of modes, but also
clear explanations as to what they’re for, how they
controls – exposure bracketing, white balance
bracketing, best shot selector and more – which are
buried just that little bit too deep in the menus.
Visibly better
But what about the image quality? The increase in
resolution from the 3.3 megapixels in the 995 to the
4 megapixels in the 4500 might not sound much,
but we reckon 4-megapixel CCDs do a better job
than 3.3-megapixel chips, size for size. Shots taken
NIKON COOLPIX 4500 FULL SPECIFICATIONS
Sensor
Lens
Focus
Exposure modes
Metering
Monitor
AE compensation
Flash
Video output
Movie recording
WORTH
A LOOK
2
4-megapixel, 1/1.8-inch 4.13MP CCD
Nikkor f2.6-5.1 4x zoom
Auto, manual, 2cm in macro mode
Program AE, shutter-priority, aperture-priority,
manual, scene modes
Matrix, centre-weighted, spot, AF spot
NTSC or PAL
NIKON COOLPIX
4300
£400/4MP
CANON
POWERSHOT G3
£700/4MP
Other features
Image storage
Batteries
AC adaptor
Weight
Dimensions
Transfer
Software
OS
CASIO
QV-5700
£600/5MP
1
Swivelling body
Compact Flash
Lithium-ion, EN-EL1
No
130mm(w) x 73mm(h) x 50mm(d)
USB
Nikon View 5, Photoshop Elements 1,
FotoStation Easy
Windows 98SE/Me, 2000, XP, Mac OS9.0-9.2,
OSX 10.1.2 or later
OLYMPUS
C-50
£550/5MP
7
MENU BUTTON
Why are we showing
you the menu button?
Because you’ll be
seeing altogether too
much of it, we fear
with the 4500 are clearly crisper, sharper and
punchier than the 995’s which was, it has to be
said, a little woolly in that respect.
Compared to the other cameras on test this issue,
the CoolPix 4500 comes out pretty well. Detail is
well defined – its detail rendition is clearly better
than that of the FinePix F402, the Ricoh Caplio RR-30
and even the FinePix M603 – and tones are smooth
with little granularity. Its images are perhaps a
fraction dull and undersaturated compared to the
rest, but it avoids the lurid reds of the two FujiFilm
models and produces commendable neutral results
all round. It’s possibly got a very slight tendency to
underexposure now and again, but that’s no bad
thing in a digital camera, prone as they are to
highlight burn-out.
In terms of image quality, build quality and
general speed, the CoolPix 4500 is a significant step
up from the 995 – and it’s cheaper too. We still have
misgivings about the controls and layout, though,
and CoolPix fans might find the changes frustrating.
First-time users, though, will simply marvel instead
at the instant practicality of Nikon’s long-running
swivelling design.
Verdict
7
A classic design
gets a welldeserved update
Nikon’s done a great job with the
image quality, build and finish, but
the 995’s successor isn’t necessarily
any better to use
5
6
PRO Sharp detail, accurate exposure and less
prone to overexposure and burn-out than some
CON Can err on the side of underexposure, which
may mean some tweaking later
2 INDOOR SHOTS
5
6
PRO Slow flash balances well against ambient
light and the pop-up flash appears when needed
CON Could do with a slightly wider-angle zoom –
it’s a tad on the long side (38m equivalent)
2 IMAGE QUALITY
5
6
PRO Very sharp, crisp, well-exposed results. One of
the best 4-megapixel digital cameras
CON Why didn’t Nikon slot a 5-megapixel CCD into
one of its all-time classic camera designs?
95
FEATURES
IMAGES
93
BUILD
94
VALUE
83
1
1
1
1
91%
FINAL
SCORE
031
REVIEWS
3-MEGAPIXEL COMPACT
FUJIFILM FINEPIX M603
Price
Resolution
Lens
Memory
Battery Life
Contact
£700
3 megapixels
f3.2 2x zoom
16MB xD-Picture Card, 512MB MicroDrive
130 shots
FujiFilm 0207 586 1477 www.fujifilm.co.uk
FujiFilm FinePix M603
The digital camera that thinks it’s a camcorder? The high-quality movie mode isn’t the
only thing that sets the M603 apart from its peers
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casioqv5700
DIGITAL RANGE
FUJIFILM
S602 PRO
Price: £700
Megapixels: 3.3
S602
Price: £595
Megapixels: 3.3
5
M603
Price: £700
Megapixels: 3.3
F601
Price: £400
Megapixels: 3.3
£
5
032
F401
Price: £330
Megapixels: 2.1
F
ujiFilm’s camera range seems to be settling
into three main product ranges. There are the
inexpensive entry-level snapshot cameras like
the A203, the high-end professional models like the
FinePix S602 and the FinePix S2 Pro and, in the middle,
we’ve got the company’s innovatively-styled
‘multimedia’ models.
And if one camera deserves the multimedia tag, it’s
this one. Other cameras include movie modes, but only
at a limited resolution of 320 x 240 pixels and a flickery
frame rate of 15fps. The M603 just blows them all
away. With 640 x 480 resolution and a 30fps frame rate,
this camera comes close to the quality of digital
camcorders. And with the inclusion of a MicroDrive slot
and 512MB card, it can keep recording at these
resolutions for minutes on end. You even get a handgrip
to make longer sequence shooting more comfortable.
2
3
Strange but true
The high-quality movie mode and MicroDrive slot
aren’t the only unusual things about this camera.
Apart from the unusual upright shape, it comes with a
giant 2.5-inch LCD screen. The resolution is no higher
than that of many rivals, at 118,000 pixels, but its
sheer size makes it an impressive compositional
aid for still photographs and a great playback device
for movies.
The LCD needs to be good for composing images,
mind, because there’s no optical viewfinder at all.
Not a problem if you generally compose shots on
the LCD screen anyway, but could be a bit of a worry
as far as battery power is concerned. The quoted life
of 130 shots isn’t bad at all, though, and it only
drops slightly when you’re saving images on the
MicroDrive. Certainly we had no complaints about
battery life during our tests.
The M603 looks pretty pricey given its specifications,
despite that high-powered movie mode, but the
inclusion of a 512MB MicroDrive accounts for a good
part of the cost. You also get a Picture Cradle for your
desk and a soft case to carry the camera round in.
7
BLUEBAR
That horizontal blue
divider doesn’t
indicate any clever
kind of swivelling
lens design
And the fact is that, photographically, the M603 is no
more sophisticated than the little F402 – reviewed on
page 28. It’s got 50% more resolution, but otherwise
the same combination of program AE and modest EV
compensation and white balance controls. Enough for
mildly creative snapping, but not much else.
The M603 is bulkier than you might be expecting,
and while it’s got a nice metal finish, the quality is a bit
patchy here and there, with a couple of untidy panel
joins on the top plate and a rather plasticky control
‘bubble’ on the right.
And it’s on the bubble control that you’ll find other
7
LENS
The 2x optical zoom
has a modest range,
and could do with a
bit more at the
telephoto end
unusual design features. The zoom rocker works
conventionally enough, but the camera defaults to the
mid position rather than the wideangle setting, which
we found to be a bit of a nuisance. But right next to it is
the shutter release, also shaped like a rocker switch. This
may prove more convenient for movie shooting, and it’s
not a big disadvantage for stills, but it does takes some
getting used to and it’s easy to get the wrong switch
with your fingers (zoom instead of shutter and vice
versa) if you don’t look first.
Startup is pretty fast, but accompanied by some
loud electronic twittering that you’ll want to turn down
TURN THE PAGE TO
COMPARE TEST SHOTS
7
7
CONTROL BUBBLE
This control ‘bubble’
houses the zoom
rocker and – unusually
– the shutter release
LCD DISPLAY
The giant 2.5-inch LCD
is bright and crisp and
perfect for both
composition and
movie playback
4
7
MODE SWITCH
With just three
modes – still,
playback and
movie – the M603
is easy to grasp
The movie quality is the M603’s unique
feature, and the results are a step removed
from novelty movie modes
There are no scene modes, but the M603 does such
a reliable job in plain program mode (as do most
other digital cameras) that it’s debatable whether
you need them.
The M603’s control layout is logical and easy to
understand – it doesn’t do that much anyway, let’s
face it – and it’s a nice camera to use. But while it’s
by no means a big camera, it’s not one you can slip
into your shirt pocket either.
Quality and value
The movie quality is the M603’s unique feature, and
the results are a step removed from the novelty
movie modes of most digital cameras. You can
transfer them to your computer and start building
them into your home movie projects without the
expense and faff of DV capture cards, too.
FUJIFILM FINEPIX M603 FULL SPECIFICATIONS
Sensor
Lens
Focus
Exposure modes
Metering
Monitor
AE compensation
Flash
Video output
Movie recording
Other features
WORTH
A LOOK
2
3.1-megapixel, 1/1.7-inch 3.3MP SuperCCD
Super EBC Fujinon f3.2 2x zoom
Program AE
64-zone
+1.5 to -2EV in 0.3EV increments
NTSC and PAL
640 x 480 at 30fps
LCD cover/shade, docking cradle, soft case,
FUJI FINEPIX
F601
£400/3.3MP
SONY
CYBERSHOT DSCP9 £430/4MP
Image storage
Batteries
Battery life
AC adaptor
Weight
Dimensions
Transfer
Software
OS
OLYMPUS
CAMEDIA C-50
£550/5MP
1
MicroDrive slot
xD-Picture Card and MicroDrive
Lithium-ion, NP-60
130 shots
Supplied
64.5mm(w) x 93.3mm(h) x 31.6mm(d)
USB
FinePix Viewer, ImageMixer VCD
Windows 98/Me, 2000 or XP. Mac OS8.6-9.2.2,
OSX 10.0.4 or later
CASIO
QV-R4
£400/4MP
CON Tones can get a little too warm at times, and
the M603 struggles to separate strong reds
2 OUTDOOR SHOTS
5
6
The still image quality is more of a mixed bag.
FujiFilm’s SuperCCD chips do indeed deliver better
quality than their native resolution suggests,
but not as much as the final file size promises.
The 6-megapixel images from the M603 offer
about the same level of detail rendition as you’d
expect from a typical 4-megapixel camera. Close-up
detail is compromised by some granularity, edge
effects and softness.
Colours, exposure, contrast, saturation and overall
colour balance are very good indeed, though,
and prints viewed at normal distances look
terrific. The only flaw is the rather over enthusiastic
treatment of reds – a trait the M603 shares with
the cheaper F402.
You’re paying a lot here for the high-quality
movie mode and the bundled MicroDrive. The
M603’s photographic options are very modest
indeed, so it’s just as well its point-and-shoot results
are so reliable. The fact is that you can get the same
quality and a whole load more features for a lot less
money than this, even within the FujiFilm stable, so
that movie mode is the only good reason to choose
this camera.
Verdict
The menu system can be left set to Auto, where
you’ve got little to do except choose the image size
or set the self-timer, or Manual, where you can
adjust the EV compensation and white balance.
PRO Very good skin tones which always look
warm and radiant. Your subjects will be flattered
7
NAVIPAD
With a proper fourway navipad, the
M603’s menus and
stored images are
easy to navigate
Settings
2 SKIN TONES
5
6
3
on the Setup screen. Focusing is reasonably rapid
too (again, with the same loud confirmation bleeps),
but the zooming speed is a bit disappointing,
especially since the lens only has a 2x zooming
range anyway.
The M603 is reasonably quick in playback mode,
cycling between images in a couple of seconds, and
the giant display more than makes up for any
sluggishness here. Zooming in and panning is pretty
quick, too (more irritating bleeps – where is that
Setup menu?).
PERFORMANCE
3
1
FINEPIX M603
A great
camcorder,
but is it a
great camera?
The M603 is far too expensive for
what it does as a still camera, so you
have to really want that movie mode
to make it worth buying
PRO Simple but not dumb! The exposure system
does a great job, even shooting into the light
CON Lens flare can creep in with strong
backlighting, and bright highlights easily burn out
2 INDOOR SHOTS
5
6
PRO Good balance between flash and ambient
lighting in slow synch mode. Pleasing flesh tones
CON Watch for camera shake in low light until you
get used to the odd shutter release position
2 IMAGE QUALITY
5
6
PRO Bright, colourful results that nearly always
look great without any Photoshop tweaking at all
CON The fine detail starts to disintegrate as you
approach 1:1 pixel magnification on-screen
80
FEATURES
IMAGES
82
BUILD
81
VALUE
70
1
1
1
1
78%
FINAL
SCORE
033
REVIEWS
4 MEGAPIXEL COMPACT
CANON POWERSHOT G3
Price
Resolution
Lens
Memory
Battery life
Contact
£700
4 megapixels
f2.0-3.0 4x zoom
32MB Compact Flash
450/1,050 shots (monitor on/off)
Canon 0800 616 417 www.canon.co.uk
Canon PowerShot G3
Canon’s PowerShot G2 has been a long-standing digital camera classic, so we were
looking forward to the new G3 with bated breath…
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review/reviewproduct.asp?RGN
=2&RCN=13&RPN=170&sp=&v=3
DIGITAL RANGE
CANON
EOS D-1S
Price: £7,000
Megapixels: 11
EOS D60
Price: £2,000
Megapixels: 6
5
POWERSHOT G3
Price: £700
Megapixels: 4
POWERSHOT S45
Price: £550
Megapixels: 4
£
5
034
DIGITAL IXUS V3
Price: £400
Megapixels: 3
W
e needn’t have kept our breath quite so
bated. The original PowerShot G2 was packed
with smart photographic features, but wasn’t
the best-handling camera in the world, proving a bit
heavy and, thanks to its shape and smooth metallic
finish, hard to grip. Canon’s had a year and a half to
come up with something better, and the G3 isn’t quite
what we were expecting.
With a boxier, retro style it actually feels a little
more cheaply made than the G2, and has more
buttons, knobs and dials than ever. True, it’s a little
more wieldy, and the finish and shape are a little less
slippery than the G2’s, but it’s no masterpiece and it’s
going to have to have a lot of new stuff under the
bonnet to overcome these first impressions.
3
1
What’s new?
The list of new features does sound impressive, mind.
At its heart the G3 has a new DIGIC processor, while the
optical zoom range has been upped from 3x to 4x (the
extra is added at the telephoto end of the range). The
aperture and shutter are now separate mechanisms,
apparently, offering a wider range of combinations –
notably high shutter speeds/wide apertures – and an
optional ND (neutral density) filter cuts down the light
entering the camera. This means you can shoot very
bright scenes or use wide apertures in bright daylight.
If you want to experiment with time-lapse
photography, there’s now an ‘intervalometer’ which lets
you set delays anywhere between 1 and 60 minutes,
while the new orientation sensor rotates portrait shots.
This improves auto-exposure accuracy (the light patterns
are analysed differently for vertical-format shots) and
ensures the date-stamping is always the right way up.
There are other additions and enhancements,
including a new 345-point ‘Flexizone’ AF/AE system
but, at heart, the G3 is still very similar to the older G2.
It offers fully-programmed auto-exposure, shutterpriority and aperture-priority automation and full manual
mode. This is in addition to a selection of ‘scene’ modes,
extended slightly in this latest model.
7
LENS
The first-rate f2.0
lens now has a 4x
zooming range,
though the lens barrel
now obscures part of
the optical finder
The G3 has to be good, mind, because there’s little
wrong with the performance of the G2. The older
camera has a great LCD, good lens, minimal shutter lag
and – as far as everyday shooting is concerned – a very
similar set of features.
What’s not so new?
The G3 starts up faster than the G2, but seems little
quicker in practical terms at composing, adjusting,
saving and reviewing shots. If you include controls and
ergonomics in your assessment of ‘speed’, then it gets
harder still to see where the G3’s advantages – if any –
lie. You know how it is when you decide to tidy your
lounge/office/study? You take everything out, put it
7
CONTROL WHEEL
Some may find the
new control wheel
useful, but it’s too
small and the action
is far too light
back, and find it takes up more space than it did before.
That’s how the G3 feels.
Some of the changes to the control layout are quite
puzzling. The G2 had a nice, meaty Record/Off/Playback
switch mounted around the main mode dial. It worked
well and used little space. With the G3, the controls
have been separated into two smaller, fiddlier dials.
On the back, meanwhile, a new ‘Func’ button pops
up a menu offering quick access to the ISO setting,
picture effects, bracketing, file format/quality and flash
power. It seems smarter and slicker until you work out
that the system on the old G2 didn’t actually need any
more button presses, just different ones.
The G3 does make the exposure compensation and
8
Getup&go
Where to go, what to shoot
MARCH 2003
UNFOLD
THIS 8-PAGE
SECTION!
■ Map of sites
■ Top photo tips
■ Places to visit
■ Pocket guide
BASED ON ORDNANCE SURVEY
MAPPING © CROWN COPYRIGHT, ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED: AM134/02
THIS MONTH
ANCIENT
MONUMENTS
How to photograph Britain’s
megalithic landscape
CAPTURING SPORT
The right place at the right
time – snapping athletes at
the ‘critical moment’
9 WAYS
TO BETTER
!
ANIMAL SHOTS
Fold out this
guide to find
out how
Watch winter melt away –
we head to Scotland in
search of winter landscapes
WILDLIFE Wildlife photographer Peter Smart goes in search of big
game – at Marwell Zoo…
ost wildlife photographers dream of
photographing big game on safari in
Africa. But the costs are high, and often it
remains just a dream, requiring budding David
Attenboroughs to seek alternative opportunities
for photographing exotic animals such as lions,
tigers and elephants.
When Longleat Safari Park opened in 1966, it
broke the mould of the caged zoo, putting its
wild animals into open enclosures more closely
resembling their natural habitats. Now, as well as
being places of entertainment, wildlife parks are
at the forefront of animal conservation and
M
WILDLIFE PARKS
Dream of shooting game in
Africa? There are good
alternatives closer to home
Detach this section and take it on your travels!
8
8
8
welfare. They’re also excellent places for wildlife
photographers to hone their skills.
While some parks have drive-through facilities,
enabling you to shoot from the safety of your
vehicle with few barriers between you and your
subject; others permit foot access on fenced
pathways. Either way, you’ll rarely be closer to
the animals than ten feet. Just as you would
photograph animals in the wild, your best friends
are a monopod, a telephoto lens (the longer the
better) and a good dose of patience.
The most popular subjects are big cats.
Lions and tigers tend to sleep during the day,
8
Hear me roar!
ICY WATERS
NO REFLECTIONS
Peter shot these African lion cubs through
perspex with the lens against the surface to
prevent reflections
so wait for feeding times in order to get livelier
pictures. Many parks publish breeding
programmes on their websites, enabling you to
plan a visit in order to get pictures of newborn
cubs or family groups.
Elephants don’t require mesh fences, which
makes them easier to photograph. However,
their dark colouring can confuse a camera’s light
meter, so take a reading off average tone
surroundings to get this right. Less dangerous
animals, such as giraffes, antelope and zebras,
have more visible enclosures, and often can be
approached closer.
WILDLIFE INSPIRATION [w] www.zoowatch.freeserve.co.uk, ZooWatch is a UK web portal to sites related to zoological parks and gardens in the UK and Ireland. Its website is a resource for educa
Getup&go to… MARWELL ZOO
THE EYES
Mother and
baby groups always
make good pictures
MARWELL ZOO
AIM FOR MARWELL
Opposing
sight lines
create tension here
By car: Leave the M3 at Junction 11 or the
M27 at Junction 6. Marwell is six miles
south of Winchester on the B2177.
8
HOW TO GET THERE
8
DETAILS
BASED ON ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPPING
Animals with textured or patterned
coats such as tigers, leopards and
zebras are best photographed in even
light. This ensures that you don’t lose
the detail, and means you can have a
go at capturing abstract shots.
MY MUM
AND ME
IMAGES © XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
EVEN LIGHTING
8
8
LIGHTING TIP
8
8
WHAT IS IT?
Marwell Zoo is geared up for
photography – it even has its own
photographic society. The 100-acre
site was founded in 1972 and you’ll
find three species of zebra, six species
of cat, giraffes, white rhino and the
largest collection of antelope in the UK.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Adults £10, OAPS £8.50, children £7.
LOCATION
Marwell Zoological Park,
Colden Common, Winchester,
Hants, SO21 1JH.
FACILITIES
Family restaurant at zoo. Marwell Hotel
near main entrance.
EXPERT ADVICE
Best results: as a rule of thumb,
position yourself less than half the
distance in front of the fence as
the subject is beyond it (you need
to be sure you know how to focus
at this aperture). Switch to manual
to avoid auto-focus latching onto
the fence, and focus on the eyes.
Flash will reflect on mesh or
perspex screens so don’t use it
straight-on.
ation, conservation and tourism
Winter hours, 10am – 4.30pm; summer
hours, 10am– 6pm. There’s a
Valentine’s day special from Feb 14.
RED PANDA
ABOVE LEFT The red panda is native to Tibet and
spends most of the time in trees, making it
difficult to photograph
INFO
www.marwell.org.uk
SPOT-ON FOCUS
ABOVE RIGHT Focusing in close with a long lens will
help you lose the bars surrounding more dangerous
animals such as this jaguar
8
Peter
specialises in
wildlife shots.
Visit his
website at
www.petersmart.com
Obstacles: one problem is how to
remove fences between you and
your subject. A telephoto lens set
to maximum aperture should
throw these out of focus enough
to make them invisible.
8
OPENING HOURS
8
E
MARWELL
POST-SHOOT
CROP IN TIGHT
8
CULTURED VULTURE
Don’t forget the rest. The lions and tigers may be the
most dramatic subjects but other species are equally
as attractive to photograph – and sometimes easier!
You may not be able to get as close to
animals as you would like, but there’s
nothing to stop you cropping your
picture tighter after the event – as long
as the overall image quality will take it.
Be prepared to trade off size for quality
at times.
Getup&go to… THE CAIRNGORMS
IMAGES © Laurie Campbell 2003
SCOTLAND
8
AVIEMORE
AIM FOR AVIEMORE
By car: Take the A9 to Aviemore, then go
east towards the Great Wilderness area of
the Cairngorms for six miles to Loch
Morlich in the heart of Glenmore Forest.
© CROWN COPYRIGHT, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: AM134/02
8
HOW TO GET THERE
LANDSCAPE CHANGING SEASONS
A
5
MELT WATERS
Sharp focus throughout is critical in this
Cairgorms river scene. Focus about onethird back and set the aperture to about f22
BLUE LIGHT
Bought by the Forestry Commission in
1923, Glenmore consists of 8,600
acres of woodland and open hillside
encircling beautiful Loch Morlich. The
loch is fed by countless small burns,
making it good hunting ground for
icy subjects.
WHERE TO GO?
Glenmore Forest Park.
LOCATION?
Near Aviemore, Highlands, Scotland
PH22 1QU.
WHAT ARE THE FACILITIES?
Café and toilets at the visitor centre
on the lake (9am – 5pm daily), plus a
caravan and camp site.
COST?
BEST RESULTS
SLOW STREAM
A slow shutter speed of 2 to 4 secs blurs
the water to a rushing milky white
Free, but pay for parking.
INFO
WHEN TO SHOOT
Back or side lighting make thawing ice
gleam against a dark background. Even
so, it’s best to shoot on a bright but
overcast day to ensure highlights don’t
overexpose. We recommend you don’t
use flash because it’s likely to bounce
straight back at you and create ugly,
specular highlights.
WHAT TO FOCUS ON
Trying to focus close on plain snow or
ice can be difficult – both eye and
autofocus sensors have nothing to latch
onto. Gently lay a twig or something
similar in the shot at the appropriate
place, focus on this, then remove it.
www.aviemore.co.uk/glenmoreforest
Glenmore Caravan & Camping Site,
www.forestholidays.co.uk for details.
8
5
DETAILS
WHAT IS IT?
Shooting in the shade in overcast light
has produced a cold blue-ness,
emphasised by selecting white balance
8
burns are particularly good because the
waterlogged, peaty soil around them
drips constantly and often forms icicles –
sometimes with grasses embedded in them
– or icy splash areas as the water has
frozen. Follow them slowly uphill from a
river or loch, keeping your eyes open for
attractive icicles or hanging curtains of ice
full of texture from the bubbles of air
trapped inside them. It’s useful to have a
macro lens for this, along with a tripod
suitable for rough ground. But don’t unsling
your tripod until you’ve found your shot
‘freehand’, allowing the creative juices to
flow unencumbered.
Look, too, for contrasts between running
water and snow covered rocks or built-up
ice. Use your tripod and slow-time
exposures (anything from half a second
upwards) to blur the water and give a sense
of new movement as well as increasing
depth of field. Use neutral density filters (or
a polariser) to retard the exposure if
conditions are too bright.
Larger rivers may have too large a body
of water to have frozen sufficiently during a
cold spell, but thin sheets of floating ice will
often form in the shallows. Sometimes
raised above the surface on rocky supports,
the frayed edges of the ice present an
almost lace-like pattern as it’s eaten away
by the passing water.
5
s the days lengthen and temperatures
rise, the last vestiges of winter start
to melt into spring. What better time to
capture the transformation of solid into
liquid as frozen streams and pools trickle
back to life? In its solid form, ice can be dull
and opaque, but as it melts and thins, its
new-found liquid transparency sparkles as it
catches the light.
You’ll find fertile shooting locations occur
anywhere that small streams splash their
way across rocks on their way downhill to
join larger water courses. Scottish Highland
8
Laurie Campbell watches winter melt away in the Scottish Highlands
POST-SHOOT
UNDEREXPOSED PICTURE?
Snow and ice can often deceive camera
exposure meters, leaving you with an
underexposed picture. If you didn’t
compensate for it in-camera, try
making a new Layer of your picture
then blending this with the original in
Screen mode. Adjust the effect with the
percentage slider to suit.
LANDSCAPE INSPIRATION [w] www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/HCOU-4U4HZM, The Forestry Commission is the government department responsible for the protection of Britain’s forests and woodlands
CONTROL THE SHUTTER SPEED
Do use speeds of 1/120sec
combined with fast film, for
that ‘frozen in time’ effect.
Slower speeds will produce
more blurring.
■ Now send us your pictures!
Email a small JPEG to
[email protected]
with your name & a few words
about the shoot, and we'll reply!
to fold this booklet:
8 How
This is side A. Turn over for side B
Side A
STEP 1: Detach sheet
from rest of section
8
Side A
8
STEP 2: Fold this side
in half horizontally
STEP 3: Now fold
around into a square
SIDE B: ANCIENT
ways you can improve your pet,
zoo or wildlife photos
ANCIENT MONUMENTS/ANIMALS
2 MONUMENTS
SHUTTER SPEED
ZOOM LENS
INDEX:
2 PHOTOGRAPH ANIMALS
SIDE A: HOW TO
TRIPOD
WHAT’S IN THIS ISSUE
TOPICS COVERED
>
EQUIPMENT:
three items for
better results
6
FOLD ALONG THIS LINE SECOND
DETACH HERE
FILL THE FRAME
Do always try to remove
distractions. Use shallow
depth of field to blur the
background and the zoom to
fill the frame.
Britain’s neolithic past. We reveal
the best places to snap a little bit
of ancient history
01
a pile of moss-covered relics
5 Turn
into spectacular symbols of
2
■ Detailed maps of
how to get there
Make sure your camera
offers enough in the way
of manual control – you want to be
able to widen the aperture for
shallow depth of field, and vary
the shutter speed to remove
motion blur.
03
animals for fun (with
5 Shoot
your camera)! We reveal nine
Use the zoom to crop out
distractions. Zoom your
way past bars at the zoo, or use it
to fill the frame with your pet.
02
■ Tips
■ Equipment
■ Dos/don’ts
If you are using a
long lens, you’ll
need to support the camera.
See our reviews in issue 4 for
our tripod recommendations.
USE FAST ISO SETTINGS
Do use ISOs of around 400-800 –
this is so you can capture the
animal without blurring.
Dos and don’ts
GETTING IT RIGHT: ANIMAL PHOTOGRAPHY
.
FOLD ALONG THIS LINE FIRST
TEAROUT FACTSHEET NO.5
MARCH 2003
Getup&go
Getup&go ANIMAL PHOTOGRAPHY
8
infested beast you end up
with isn’t exactly what you
had in mind.
So zoos and wildlife parks
have some advantages for the
photographer these days:
animals are looked after and
may well be in better
condition than the ‘real’ thing.
Plus, setting up and taking the
shots is easier – if the animal’s
pose is wrong or the weather
is wrong, simply wait until you
get the shot you want.
Given that animals
never do what you
want, when you want
or how you want, how do you
go about getting decent
pictures of the furry blighters?
One way is simply to
visit a zoo or wildlife park.
Not only are you guaranteed
a selection of suitably
exotic, fierce if slightly
bored creatures, but they
aren’t going to wonder off or
start ripping up rivals just as
you’re about to snap off that
great shot.
Alternatively, you can
always stay home and
photograph the dog. The
secret here is knowing your
animal and being prepared.
Nothing is as dull as a
photograph of the pet asleep
in its basket because you
weren’t ready for that
cracking picture of it jumping
out of the upstairs window.
USE A HIGH ISO
SETTING
3
Set your camera’s ISO setting
to 400. Animals on the move
produce blurring at lower ISO
and shutter speeds. Set your
shutter speed to 1/250sec.
or 200 – and support the
camera. Widen the aperture –
say to around f/4. The
advantage of blurring out the
background is that it makes it
harder to tell that you have
been photographing at the zoo
or park.
This will produce the sharper
images you want. Don’t worry
about the results being slightly
grainy, this should not be a
problem if your aim is to
produce standard sized prints.
4
TRY SHALLOW DEPTH
OF FIELD
If your camera supports it, try
narrowing the depth of field
so your subject stands out
against a blurry background.
Try a slower ISO setting – 100
USE THE ZOOM
2
The aim is to try to get
good close-ups, while being
careful that the cute monkey
you’re trying to photograph
doesn’t steal bits of the
camera. Use your camera’s
zoom to get in close to the
action and fill the frame. This
narrows the field of view and
crops out distracting clutter. It
also removes any items that
suggest you are photographing
at the zoo – like cage bars or
signs – helping you get a
natural look.
ZOOS VERSUS
SAFARIS
1
You may dream of capturing
that lion powering across the
African plains, but that’s
outside the reach of most
people’s budget. And the
chances are, when you get
the close-ups, the reality
of the blood-caked, tsetse-fly
5
6
THINK OF IT AS
A PORTRAIT
The best way to get a cracking
animal picture, is to use some
of the same techniques you
would apply if photographing
a person. If you’re permitted,
why not get an interesting
expression by giving the
animal a treat and capturing
the results? Try to capture the
animal in the middle of some
action – maybe try to get a
photograph during bathing
time. And focus on the eyes.
7
your pet is likely to do
something interesting.
For example, it could be
a cat getting ready to pounce,
or a dog stealing something
from the table. You will know
your pet’s behaviour better
than anyone, so be ready –
images like this are the best.
8
TELL A STORY
Keep your camera to
hand and get ready to snap if
IMAGES © PETER SMART
USE THE FLASH
A quick burst of fill-in
flash on a dull day will help
brighten colours and add life to
the animals’ eyes. But you can
also use the flash to
photograph animals in display
cases. The problem here is that
most display cases are perspex
and will reflect the flash back
at you if you are not careful.
To avoid this, move to one
side and shoot at an angle. The
light will be reflected by the
perspex at an equivalent, but
opposite angle. For example, if
the animal is at 0 degrees and
you are shooting at 45 degrees
to the animal, the flash will be
reflected at -45 degrees – that
is, in the opposite direction
and well away from your lens.
GET THE
ANGLE RIGHT
As with portraits of babies and
children, try to get down
to eye level with your pet
and photograph from that
angle. If your pet is distracted
by your close proximity,
use the zoom so you can
back off a little.
9
PHOTOGRAPHING
FISH
If you have an aquarium
and want to snap off
some pictures of the more
spectacular specimens, you
have two options. The first is
to switch off the flash and
hold the lens right up against
the glass – the tank
illumination should be enough
if the glass has been cleaned.
Alternatively, use the same
technique as you do if you
shoot animals in perspex cases
at the zoo – use the flash but
from an angle.
Getup&go... routeplanner
PULLOUT NO.5
Ancient monuments in Wiltshire and Somerset
The best ancient monuments are in Wiltshire and Somerset, from landmarks like Stonehenge, to locations like Glastonbury Tor. Here’s where to go…
TAKEN FROM LANDRANGER MAP 184
BASED ON ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPPING © CROWN COPYRIGHT, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: AM134/02
21
2 1 STONEHENGE
AGE 5,000 years
Originally there were some 80 stones circling an inner ditch (the
‘henge’). You can find Stonehenge located at the junction of the
A303 and the A344 but for such a world famous site, its tourist
support facilities are very poor.
ENTRANCE £4 to view the stones. Private access can be arranged
before 9am – fill in a form at www.englishheritage.org.uk/Filestore/visits_and_events/pdf/private.pdf
MORE INFO www.britainexpress.com/History/Stonehenge.htm
2 3 WEST KENNET LONG BARROW
TAKEN FROM LANDRANGER MAP 173
2 2 SILBURY HILL
AGE 4,000 years
Silbury Hill is only a
couple of miles from
Avebury. Located
between Marlborough
and Beckhampton in
Wiltshire, at 130 feet
high it’s the largest
man-made mound in
Europe. Despite being
excavated four times
since 1776, no
remains have been
found. In fact, nobody
knows what Silbury
Hill was built for…
ENTRANCE It’s illegal
to climb the hill but
there is a car park
nearby from which
you can take photos.
MORE INFO
www.britannia.com/
wonder/emsilbry.html
© CROWN COPYRIGHT, ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED: AM134/02
AGE 5,600 years
The remains of an ancient ‘long barrow’ burial mound, West Kennet Long Barrow
lies on Overton hill, between Marlborough and Beckhampton. Over 100 metres
long, at the east entrance there are several huge standing stones. Walk past these
around 10 metres into the ground, and you will come upon five stone-lined burial
chambers. When first excavated, the remains of 46 people were found and
legends say there’s a ghost of a dog that is supposed to haunt the site.
ENTRANCE leave the car in the car park and climb half a mile to the long barrow.
MORE INFO www.stonepages.com/england/westkennet.html
22
23
2 4 GLASTONBURY TOR
AGE 2,000 years
Glastonbury Tor rises 158 metres
from the Somerset Levels, and dates
from around 5AD, when it was most
likely created as relief when the
surrounding region flooded. In the
14th century, a Church was built at its
summit – St Michael’s Tower is the
only surviving part. Why not visit
Glastonbury Abbey and Chalice Hill.
ENTRANCE Access to the Tor is
unrestricted, and you’ll find there are
views of the surrounding Somerset
Levels – ideal for creating a
panorama. Park in Glastonbury and
catch the park and rise to the Tor
(April-Sept).
MORE INFO
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/scripts/
nthandbook.dll?ACTION=PROPERTY&
PROPERTYID=346
ontrary to popular belief, the history of Britain
started bit before 1066. Television
programmes like Time Team on Channel 4 have
tapped into a desire to know a bit more about our
heritage, and the popularity of ancient monuments
at Stonehenge and Avebury have shown how much
people enjoy visiting ancient monuments.
There are so many outstanding megaliths,
monuments and burial mounds, in and around
Wiltshire that we’ve decided to focus on this area
this month.
C
Getup&go to… UK ATHLETICS
8
©Alan Brown
BIRMINGHAM
INDOOR ATHLETICS
AIM FOR BIRMINGHAM
By car: Take the A38 (M) from Junction 6
of the M6 then follow the signs.
8
HOW TO GET THERE
8
SPORT ON YOUR MARKS...
WHAT IS IT?
Missed out on tickets for Birmingham’s
World Indoor Championships? Athletes
will be competing for places at the WIC
at the AAA Indoor Championships at the
same venue on 1st – 2nd March.
these move to outdoor tracks from April.
Inner field events such as the javelin
and shot are difficult to access, but track
events and jumps are better sited, making
them easier to capture with a 200mm lens
from spectator seats.
Once you have decided on the event,
seek out the best spot to capture the
highlights. Try the start and finish line for
sprints; mid-track for hurdlers; and behind
the pit so you can see the faces of
competitors coming towards you for the
jumping events. The repetitive nature of
many events gives you plenty of
opportunity to get it right – watch the
OVER THE TOP
LOCATION
In this shot, the peak moment in the
action has been captured
Birmingham NIA, King Edward’s Road,
Birmingham, B1 2AA.
warm-ups to see which way athletes face
at the critical moment, and position
yourself accordingly.
You’ll find grace and beauty,
passion and humour in every event.
Look for oddball poses and interesting
juxtapositions between competitors and
their surroundings, and don’t be afraid to
get down low for more dynamism.
WHEN IS IT OPEN?
From 1st February for five weeks,
10am – 4pm.
Tickets £2 to £4.
Parking, food and drink available.
INFO
BEST RESULTS
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Telephone 0121 200 2202
8
hotographing sport is about
capturing the ‘critical moment’,
whether it’s the peak of the action –
a goal scored, the race won or a
fleeting emotion on a competitor’s
face. The secret to success is knowing your
sport well enough to anticipate that
‘moment’, and being in the right place to
record it.
Big names may only grace events like
the World Indoor Championships, held in
Birmingham (14th – 16th March), but
you’ll find rising stars at interclub league
meets almost weekly around the country.
Mostly held indoors during the winter,
8
Alan Brown takes to track and field in search of passion and athletic skill
P
DETAILS
ESSENTIAL KIT
SPLASH OF COLOUR
A long lens and restricted colours
make this a strong graphic image
8
8
HIGH JUMP
SHOOTING STARS
You'll often find home-grown talent
at many of the smaller meets
For best results, the peak of the action
in the high jump and pole vault occurs
as athletes clear the bar. At this point
they hang for a split second, enabling
you to freeze the action with slower
shutter speeds.
ATHLETICS INFORMATION [w] www.ukathletics.net, The official website of UK athletics with details of forthcoming meets
8
A monopod and a 400 ISO setting (800
for indoors) are essential. Forget about
auto-focus unless you have fast
predictive focusing. Instead, pre-focus on
the spot where you think that moment
will occur, and shoot as athletes hit this
point. The shutter delay on many digital
cameras may hinder this, but practice
makes perfect.
POST-SHOOT
GET CREATIVE
A little creative blur can lift an
otherwise so-so sporting picture.
Try saving your picture as a new
layer, then applying a little linear blur
(Filters) to this and blending it with the
original layer. Experiment with the
blending modes and percentages for
the best effect, using the eraser where
you want the sharper original layer to
remain dominant.
Getup&go to… MEGALITHS IN WILTSHIRE
8
CONTROL FLA
Hide the sun behin
Beware of looking
may damage your eyes
LANDSCAPE Pete Martin roams the megalithic landscape
of ancient Wiltshire
AVEBURY SHADOWS
Early evening is perfect when shooting in the south-west
quadrant at Avebury. Long shadows emphasise the contours
Long Barrow and the mound known as Silbury
hill (both pre-date Stonehenge and Avebury).
West Kennet’s use as a burial place is well
documented, but Silbury’s original purpose still
isn’t known.
All these massive structures are best
photographed early or late in the day (and year),
when the sun’s low angle brings both stones and
the surrounding downlands to life. Early morning
mists are particularly photogenic and you’ll find
the stones clear of people – a perennial problem
at Stonehenge, in particular.
BEST RESULTS
Low light throws surface detail into
sharp relief, but can cause flare unless
you hide the sun behind the stones or
otherwise shade it – lens hoods are
rarely useful at such times. We suggest
you pay particular attention to the sky,
which is likely to play a large part in
pictures, especially at sunset.
Using filters: enhance the blue with a
polariser and use graduated filters to
reduce any contrast. But remember that
the more glass, the greater the chances
of flare.
8
LENS HOODS
PENTRE IFAN
TOP There are many photogenic megalithic monuments
scattered across most of Britain. This one is Pentre Ifan in midWales, captured in the early morning light
8
8
here are a thousand prehistoric
monuments around the British Isles.
Perhaps the largest concentration is in Wiltshire,
of which Avebury and Stonehenge must
surely be the most famous – and the most
photographed. Dating back 4000 years,
and sited in landscapes as evocative as the
stones themselves, these potent reminders of
our ancient heritage make strong and
atmospheric images.
At 427 metres in diameter, Avebury is
reckoned to be the largest stone circle in the
world, and partially encloses the village at its
heart. It’s not as well known as nearby
Stonehenge and many of the original stones
have long since gone, but unlike that monolithic
rock pile, you can wander freely among the
stones at Avebury.
The wide angle is likely to be your most
useful lens at Avebury, enabling you to close in
on single monoliths, such as the Barber Stone,
while still showing their context within the huge
ditch and bank that encircles the stones. By
contrast, the power of Stonehenge is best
captured with a telephoto lens from a distance,
taking care to find locations that offer good
separation between the stones.
A short walk away you’ll find West Kennet
T
8
Ancient inspirations
BACKLIGHT
BOTTOM Shade your lens from the sun when shooting with low
backlighting to avoid flare
MONUMENT INFORMATION [W] www.henge.org.uk Want to visit some ancient sites but are looking for something closer to home? Check out the list of English, Scottish and Welsh sites
WILTSHIRE
8
AVOID CROWDS
AVEBURY
8
IMAGES ©LAURIE CAMPBELL
You’ll avoid the crowds if you go in the early morning
for sunrise. Luckily the sheep add to the scene!
AIM FOR MARLBOROUGH
By car: Turn off the A4 onto the
A4361, six miles west of Marlborough at
West Kennet.
MISTY MORNINGS
Backlighting and an early morning mist
have reduced this Avebury image to
monochromatic tones
8
nd a stone to keep flare under control.
into the sun with a long lens or you
8
ARE
8
HOW TO GET THERE
DEEP BLUE
Use a polariser to deepen the colour of
the sky and saturate it. This will add a
couple of stops to the exposure so use a tripod
with long lenses
8
DETAILS
WHAT IS IT?
8
Like Stonehenge, 25 miles to the south,
Avebury is a henge monument,
meaning it is surrounded by a ditch and
bank. The stone circle – there are
several here – is just part of a larger
complex that includes a ceremonial
avenue of stones leading away to a
former sacred site on Overton Hill.
Many consider it a more attractive place
to visit than Stonehenge. It’s managed
by the National Trust and is freely
accessible 365 days a year.
LOW SUN
Stonehenge is often closed when the
sun is at its best. Go prepared with a
high tripod and a short stepladder to enable you
to shoot over the fence with a long lens
LOCATION
Avebury stone circle.
Museum £4, car park £1.
National Trust shop, café and toilets
open daily, plus a pub in the village.
INFO
www.megalithic.co.uk
8
POST-SHOOT
DRAMATIC EFFECTS
Consider turning suitable colour
images into black and white ones
for more dramatic, atmospheric images.
Although you can simply desaturate
the colour or use the Grayscale mode in
your image editing program, you’ll get
better results using Photoshop’s
Channel Mixer (Image, Adjust) to
control the transition of the various
colour channels.
CANON POWERSHOT G3
PERFORMANCE
2 SKIN TONES
7
POWER SWITCH
The power switch/
record/playback dial
has been separated
from the exposure
mode dial
1
5
6
7
EXPOSURE
MODE DIAL
You can now save
two custom
shooting modes,
accessed via the
exposure mode dial
7
LCD
The flip-out swivelling
LCD is the same as the
outgoing G2’s. They’re
useful, but not as
much as you think
thumb. If you have to hold the camera one-handed
for any reason, you grip it that little bit tighter and
your thumb squeezes the Menu button.
Sharp as ever
The G3 has some significant enhancements over the
G2 in terms of features, of course, if not general
If you use the optical finder you find that a
big chunk of the image in the bottom lefthand corner is obscured by the lens barrel
handling. And have Canon’s engineers been able to
improve on the image quality, too?
The G3’s images are certainly sharp, and maybe
you might notice some difference next to shots
taken on the G2. Amongst 4-megapixel cameras,
few can match these results. It’s interesting that
Canon hasn’t bothered to produce a 5-megapixel
model and, given the quite small differences we’ve
been able to detect between the G2/G3 and 5megapixel cameras, maybe Canon has a point.
various alternative AE modes, and move quickly
through the various shortcut ‘Func’ menus, but it’s
too small, too free-moving and seems unnecessary.
The new 4x zoom lens is a clear advantage, of
course, but what’s this? If you use the optical finder
you find that a big chunk of the image in the bottom
left-hand corner is obscured by the lens barrel. Did
nobody notice this when they designed it? The G3
shares an irritating design flaw with the G2, too, in
that the Menu button falls directly under your right
CANON POWERSHOT G3 FULL SPECIFICATIONS
Sensor
Lens
Focus
Exposure modes
Metering
Monitor
AE compensation
Flash
Video output
Movie recording
WORTH
A LOOK
2
4-megapixel, 1/1.8-inch 4.1MP CCD
Canon f2.0-3.0 4x zoom
Auto, manual, 5cm in macro mode
Program AE, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority,
Manual, scene modes
Evaluative, centre-weighted, spot, AF spot
1.8-inch TFT
Auto, on, off, slow, second curtain, red-eye
NTSC or PAL
CANON
POWERSHOT G2
£650/4MP
CASIO
QV-5700
£600/5MP
Other features
Image storage
Batteries
AC adaptor
Weight
Dimensions
Transfer
Software
OS
OLYMPUS
C-5050
£700/5MP
1
Timelapse photography, focus bracketing
Compact Flash
Lithium-ion, BP-511
Yes
410g (without batteries or card)
121mm(w) x 73.9mm(h) x 69.9mm(d)
USB
ZoomBrowser EX, PhotoRecord, PhotoStitch,
RAW image converter, Photoshop 5.0LE
Windows 98/Me, 2000, XP. Mac OS8.6-9.2,
OSX 10.1 or later
NIKON
COOLPIX
£800/5MP
BUTTONS
A reshuffling of the
controls has led to
some ergonomic
improvements over
the G2 but no great
changes overall
We’re not so sure about the G3’s white balance
control (see our Performance panel opposite), but its
exposure accuracy, contrast, saturation and sharpness
are all bang on. There aren’t many cameras, either,
which offer an f2.0 lens.
We’ve spent a good part of this review moaning
about the PowerShot G3, but that’s only because
most of the improvements it offers over the
G2 have proved marginal indeed. They’re the
kind of thing that look great on paper but which
you’d actually use once in a blue moon – like the
time-lapse feature and the G3’s focus bracketing
(yes, really). What many users will be looking
for is a camera that’s actually better designed,
easier to use, more practical and with more
accessible controls. Yet put the G3 side by side
with the G2 and the older camera still feels better
made and less cluttered.
If there was no such camera as the PowerShot
G2, we’d probably be full of praise for the G3. Its
features and performance put it right at the front of
the 4MP pack, and the fat lithium-ion cell and
reduced power consumption make the G3 great for
long expeditions, too. As a replacement for a modern
classic, though, it’s a bit of a disappointment.
Verdict
white balance controls more accessible, via the
navipad, but otherwise it’s as if the Canon engineers
have just reshuffled the controls instead of coming
up with anything new.
The control wheel introduced to the top of the
handgrip is especially bizarre. It lets you cycle
through aperture or shutter values in the G3’s
CON White balance control needs to do more to
offset the cool morning light in this shot
2 OUTDOOR SHOTS
3
7
PRO The G3’s excellent exposure control and high
sharpness means that portrait shots come out well
A good camera,
but overshadowed
by its predecessor
The PowerShot G3 has many new
features, but it’s fiddlier and fussier
than the old G2. At this price, too, it’s
got some serious 5-megapixel rivals
5
6
PRO High sharpness, a wide maximum aperture
and an extended zoom range
CON Small controls cause a problem if you’re
wearing gloves or you’ve got to grab a shot quickly
2 INDOOR SHOTS
5
6
PRO The anti-redeye mode works well and even
close-up flash shots are well-exposed
CON You shouldn’t have to resort to the menus to
switch the flash to slow sync mode
2 IMAGE QUALITY
5
6
PRO Great exposure control, good contrast and
saturation and smooth tones
CON Small evolutionary improvements rather than
any big step forward…
90
FEATURES
91
IMAGES
BUILD
72
VALUE
73
1
1
1
1
81%
FINAL
SCORE
035
REVIEWS
MULTIMEDIA
DVD PICTURESHOW DIGITAL IMAGING SUITE
Manufacturer
Price
Contact
Website
Ulead
£34.99
+49 2131-512-5850
www.ulead.com
WEBSITE WWW.FUTURENET.CO.UK
DVD PictureShow
Digital Imaging Suite
Put a modern spin on the most ancient of family gatherings, using a DVD player, a digital camera, and the
memories of good times had by all
*
VIEW A DEMO
ONLINE
Read the review and want to
try DVD PictureShow for yourself?
We’ve got a demo version on
coverdisc 2…
x WHAT’S NEW
CONTROLS
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
Image auto-slice
Improved photo tools
Label maker
Powerful transition effects
Captions over slides
Batch collection of clips
Timing control over slides
Support for video clips
0
EXPERT TIP
RICHARD COBBETT
PC EXPERT
CATALOGUING
Make use of the catalogue. It’s
easy to remember everything
early on, but files quickly multiply.
036
here’s no doubt that the slideshow suffers
from an image problem. People are naturally
cautious of them, probably because most of
us can remember an over-zealous neighbour, with his
snaps of Skegness, subjecting our families to tortuous
re-runs of his last holiday.
But this is the digital age and now, with a fine
collection of digital photos, you can create a DVD
slideshow that’s not only Skegness-free, but high quality,
complete with music and narration, and completely
portable. Better still, anyone with a DVD player can
watch it at their leisure.
Before you make use of the DVD Pictureshow itself,
it’s best to use some of the other applications bundled
with it, to prepare your footage before you burn it to
disc. In particular, Photo Explorer 8.0 is on hand to
organise your ever-growing collection of snaps and clips
into a more manageable format. By importing them
and assigning them a keyword, you can quickly search
for the exact image that you need – or alternatively,
give each a rating and ensure that the cream floats to
the top. At this time, you can take advantage of a
number of tools for correcting colours, removing red-eye
and otherwise correcting any imperfections – although
Photo Explorer as a whole is no real match for the likes
of Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop.
T
2 DVD PICTURESHOW DIS: THE INTERFACE
This imaging suite is
extremely user-friendly
and simple to navigate,
as you can see below
02
01 Slideshow size
As you add images and videos to
your project, the bar fills up to
warn you when you’re about to
run out of space.
07
03
02 Source files
05
08
When editing a slideshow, the
source files are on hand so you can
keep an eye on the global picture.
04
03 Narration/Music
Background music and narration are
handled separately, playing over the
top of a finished slideshow.
01
06
04 Timing
By default, all slides appear for the
same length of time. You can adjust
this setting as needed, here.
05 Options
All of the options that you have to
play with spring up on the left as
and when you need them. All are
self-explanatory.
06 Simple stages
Slideshows are put together in
stages, zeroing in on exactly
what you’ll need to do at any
given time.
07 Control
With the video and slideshow
options, you have far more control
than it initially seems. Follow the
path, and you can’t go wrong.
08 Thumbnails
The thumbnail views may be
small, but never to the extent
that you can’t see what you’re
working on.
Show time!
Once you have the photos ready for action, it’s time to
put on the show. You add the photos using a very
straightforward drag-and-drop interface, and link them
up with any of the 42 animated transitions on offer.
Each slideshow can contain up to 100 photos, and with
the ability to store up to 99 slideshows per disc, it takes
a matter of minutes to split things up into a more
manageable form.
For more ambitious projects, you can import music
and play it over the top, or sit down with a microphone
and record your own narration. It couldn’t be easier to
adjust the amount of time that each image is displayed
on the screen according to how much you have to say –
there’s no need to stretch stories out to several minutes
and no reason, bar mercy, to cut down anecdotes. Each
function is given its own screen, stepping through the
process one stage at a time, but never requiring any
technical knowledge beyond roughly how much you
can fit onto the disc.
Straight to video
Video clips can be plugged in just as easily, and
everything made easily accessible to your viewer via a
convenient DVD menu – enabling it to skip straight to
the relevant parts. If you aren’t ready to dive into disc
burning, all is not lost, as the suite can output results as
HTML documents, ideal for uploading to the web.
Having burned your masterpiece to a disc, the
obvious finishing touch is to design some quality
packaging to wrap it in. A built-in label-maker helps you
to design the titular disc label itself, as well as a small
thumbnail guide to the contents that you’ve copied
across. It won’t, however, replace any CD labelling
software that you already own.
DVD Pictureshow is an excellent way of transferring
your image collection into a format that anybody with a
DVD player can enjoy. The added ability to load in music
and narrative gives your photographs a dimension you
can’t get from prints, and provided
FINAL
that your friends and family are
SCORE
suitably teched up, it’s the ideal
way to share the memories.
90%
REVIEWS
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CRUMPLER DIGITS SPORTY GUY 1.28
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This Australian bag is made out of the elegantly named ChickenTex, an artificial fibre that bears a striking resemblance to
nylon. External dimensions of 140 x 170 x 100mm contain a main padded compartment of 100 x 140 x 50mm (if
you’ve got an SLR or heftier old-school digital camera, the Crumpler range goes up to about twice this capacity). Made
from solid rip-stop nylon, the outer material feels tough – even a little bit too stiff for comfort. Although it comes with a
belt loop, the shoulder strap is more useful, with adjustable length and a strong Velcro quick-release fastening. The
zippered front compartment features two small pockets and one slightly larger one, plus a Velcro-secured mesh pouch
that claims to be anti-static, making it perfect for memory storage (although it suffers from having almost no padding).
A nice innovation is the elasticated loop for preventing your battery pack from bashing anything
FINAL
else nearby – always a worry when expensive memory cards and heavy cells share a space.
SCORE
The Crumpler Digits Sporty Guy 1.2 is well constructed, but the fact that you can’t seal the main
compartment means that it isn’t as weather-proof as other bags on test.
82%
Smaller…
LOWE D-RES 4
MEMORY CARD
WALLET
7CASELOGIC DC40
Price: £8
Contact: www.lowepro.com
Price: £10
Contact: www.casedirect.com
If you’ve
already got a
camera bag
from your film
photography
days, you just
need a digital upgrade. Your first
move should be to organise and
protect your memory cards. The
D-RES 4 memory card wallet can
store two small card cases plus one
large (PCMCIA-sized) card in its
mesh pockets. An affordable and
well-designed essential.
The DC40 is the smallest camera bag on test, measuring just 100 x 135 x 70mm
externally. Its internal dimensions aren’t a lot smaller, meaning its padding isn’t as
extensive as the more expensive bags. The thin front padding is especially worrying, as
this is prime territory for knocks and drops. The DC40 is constructed from an artificial
leather material called Koskin that’s unlikely to fool many people, but does have the
advantage of being water resistant and tough. A detachable shoulder strap and belt loop
are included and – unsurprisingly at this price – all the fittings are made of plastic.
There’s a small zip-fastened rear pouch, which is OK for cards but you wouldn’t want
to store bulky batteries in it. The main compartment is also zip-fastened, with a foldover protective flap. A neat design touch is the internal flaps that prevent the front cover
from folding all the way out, thus preventing your camera from slipping out if you open
the bag too quickly. Caselogic is the only company on test to realise
FINAL
that you’ll be putting a bag anywhere else but on your body, with
SCORE
a plastic reinforced water-resistant panel sensibly protecting the
base of the DC40. Larger versions of this bag are also available.
And Larger…
LOWE PRO DRES 300
BRIEFCASE
63%
Price: £50
Contact: www.lowepro.com
The D-RES
300 briefcase
from Lowe
Pro is
designed
especially for
the itinerant digital photographer,
with dedicated padded
compartments for your laptop,
digital camera, batteries and
memory cards. Also tucked into its
1200D ballistic TXP water-resistant
casing are plenty of spaces for
notebooks, tickets and magazines.
Carrying options for the D-RES 300
are DryFlo mesh handles or a
detachable strap with non-slip
shoulder pad.
038
CENTON DIGICASE SMALL8
Price: £10
Contact: www.jessops.co.uk
This leather-style case has two compartments, protected by a fold-over flap with a plastic fastener. The shiny, fake
leather feels very cheap – perfect for concealing an expensive camera but unlikely to wow your fellow snappers. A
shoulder strap is provided but its 100 x 140 x 50mm size is just small enough to make the single belt loop a viable
option. All the strap fittings are plastic and not especially tough. The main compartment is split into two and, as the
divider isn’t removable, the largest camera this Digicase can accommodate is much smaller than its
FINAL
size might suggest – check the fitting before you buy. The Digicase’s front compartment has a slip-in
SCORE
pocket and another zippered mesh pocket for cards and batteries. Centon does offer a two-year
warranty on its Digicase bags, which should be long enough if they’re as tough as it claims.
63%
;
5
NEXT MONTH
WE RATE THE BEST POCKET
HARD DRIVES
SAMSONITE TREKKING DIGITAL LINE D-F/V18
Price: £21
Contact: www.samsonite.com
The solid lines and ugly leather patches of the 285g D-F/V1 are unlikely to win any style awards, but its 130 x 155 x
100mm durable 600D polyester exterior conceals some great design features. Carrying options are good, with two belt
loops, a central padded hand strap and an adjustable shoulder strap complete with non-slip padding. It’s worth noting
that all the fittings are metal, which should aid longevity. A thin rear zip pocket doesn’t seem to have a lot of utility, but
the main compartment opens towards the user. The main space (110 x 130 x 55mm) is fully padded, with an optional
divider attached by a couple of Velcro strips. The lid doubles up as a mesh pocket with Velcro fastenings, which is ideal
for keeping your cards out of harm’s way. Lift the front flap and Samsonite has stuck in an address
FINAL
label for those people who are naive enough to hope that someone discovering four hundred
SCORE
quid’s worth of portable electronics will track down their rightful owner. Build quality is good,
although a couple of the zips felt somewhat flimsy.
85%
7CENTON DIGICASE MEDIUM
Price: £13
Contact: www.jessops.co.uk
The medium Digicase on test has a similar design to the small version, with two main compartments and a snapfastened fold-over flap. The shoulder strap provided is thin and comes with all-plastic fittings, and might not be up to
extended real-world wear and tear. There’s also a single belt loop. Although the external dimensions of 120 x 160 x
58mm sound fairly generous, the main compartment is split in two – designed more for a stylecam and spare battery
than a normal-sized camera. The compartment’s zip-fastened lip has a zip-fastened mesh pocket on its underside, which
a good location for stashing your memory cards. The Centon digicases have some of the thinnest padding on test in their
main compartments. That’s not necessarily a problem because it keeps the weight
down, and internal space up. If it’s just a matter of surviving a fall from your waist,
FINAL
SCORE
all the bags on test will be fine. If a longer fall or sharper impact is likely, opt for
more substantial padding, and be prepared to lug about a larger, heavier bag.
65%
CRUMPLER DIGITS SPORTY GUY 0.68
Price: £23
Contact: www.crumpler.de
Our second Crumpler bag is smaller and less expensive that its 1.2 brother, but
shares many of its features including its ChickenTex skin. The bag measures 110 x 150
x 80mm with an internal space of 80 x 120 x 40mm, making it suitable only for
smaller digital cameras and stylecams. There is a removable shoulder strap, but
the 0.6 is happiest worn on a belt, using a brace of cunning Velcro straps to attach
firmly at waist level. The main compartment has a non-scratch microfibre lining to
avoid damaging optical components, although there’s very little padding on the top
fold-over flap.
A front compartment has room for memory cards and a battery or two, but there’s
no space for accessories. Build quality is excellent throughout – this is a tough little
case. And it’s notable for having relatively few seams. No matter how good the
stitching is (and the Crumpler’s is almost faultless), wear and tear
FINAL
generally concentrates on seams, so the fewer a bag has, the
SCORE
better. It’s a hefty price tag for such a small bag, but this is one bag
that won’t fall to pieces in a hurry…
Thanks to Jessops for the kind loan
of the equipment for this feature.
Check out its website at
www.jessops.com
65%
039
DIRECT PHOTO PRINTERS
LAB TEST
Labtest
DIRECT PHOTO
PRINTERS
P
rinting your digital images at home is now as
easy as investing in a good quality inkjet
printer. This month we’ve rounded up six of
the best on offer and put them through the Digital
Camera Magazine labs. If you use a manufacturer’s
inks with the recommended premium photo paper,
even sub-£200 models can routinely deliver prints
that look almost as good – and should last as long – as
silver halide prints from a commercial laboratory. But the
latest printers are aiming for more than just replacing
trips to the shops, they’re now gunning for the PC on
your desktop.
All direct printing inkjets on test come with slots
into which you can slip the memory card from your
camera (and sometimes a cable from the camera itself),
enabling you to print enprints, enlargements up to
A4 size and panorama prints, without ever booting
up your desktop PC. Even if you don’t often print directly
from the card, these printers offer an excellent way of
adding a decent memory card reader to your system
without taking up another USB port or more desktop
real estate.
Inkjet printers have never been more affordable, with
the £150 to £250 range offering particularly good
value. Spend less than this and you could end
up with a very slow model (some cheap models can
take 20 seconds to produce a page of text and many
minutes to output a photo).
If you do any quantity of photo printing, your main
expenses will be ink and good quality paper, so buying a
budget printer won’t even save you much money in the
long run. Printers above £150 should all deliver good
quality photo prints and crisp monochrome pages. They
should be able to accept a range of paper sizes from
envelopes up to A4, and work with all major operating
systems and memory cards. Beyond this, you’re
generally paying for print speed, build quality and extra
features such as roll paper holders, built-in image
enhancers and bundled software. Inkjet printers at the
top of this price range and above can handle larger paper
sizes and often come with more than the standard four
inks, for improved colour reproduction.
Features to look out for
The headline features of any printer are its resolution and
print speed. Print speed is quoted in pages per minute
(ppm) but never believe manufacturer’s figures – there
are no reliable standards and the performance you get
depends on the specification of your PC.
See the results section at the end of this lab test for
an assessment of the printers’ real-world speeds.
Resolution is a more objective measurement, and 2,400
x 1,200dpi (dots per inch) is the minimum you should
look for in a photo inkjet. Printers with 4800dpi+ vertical
resolution will generally only deliver that resolution on
the correct media (normally the most expensive
available) and this is especially the case for the 5,760dpi
figures quoted for the Epson printers.
HP would have you believe that its PhotoRET IV
technology gives it a major boost. PhotoRET is a
layering system that puts down up to 30 dots of ink
on top of each other to build up smooth variations
in colour. Using less ink, it’s faster and cheaper than
full resolution printing and gives impressive results,
ON TEST
PRINTERS
CANON
S530D
Price: £250
EPSON
STYLUS PHOTO 915
Price: £180
EPSON
STYLUS PHOTO 925
Price: £220
HP
PHOTOSMART 7350
Price: £200
LEXMARK
Z65P
Price: £150
SONY
DPP-EX7
Price: £370
041
LAB TEST DIRECT PHOTO PRINTERS
TOP TIP Calibrate your monitor – print out a good colour image, open the same file in an image editor and adjust your monitor’s colour and contrast settings until they’re as identical as possible
? EXPLAINED
CANON
S530D
DITHERING
This is when the tiny ink dots
making up a photographic image
are visible to the naked eye. It looks
worst when seen in solid colours
and blacks.
PRICE
CONTACT
WEBSITE
EPSON
STYLUS PHOTO 915
DIGITAL
CAMERA
MAGAZINE
£250
0800 616 417
www.canon.co.uk
PRICE
CONTACT
WEBSITE
£220
0800 289622
www.epson.co.uk
A step up in terms of speed and build quality
from the 915, the six-colour Epson Stylus Photo
925 has four dedicated slots for memory cards,
an automatic roll paper cutter and a much improved
LCD screen that makes direct printing as easy as
it can be without actually seeing the image.
Performance is solid rather than exciting, with
technically proficient images nevertheless lacking the
spark of the HP and the speed of the Canon photo
printers on test.
KEY FEATURE 1
KEY FEATURE 1
The control panel is a lot easier to use than it looks.
The 915 has two ink cartridges – black and colour
(which contains five inks for increased photo realism).
The excellent 5cm mono LCD screen displays options
clearly via a logical menu system.
KEY FEATURE 2
KEY FEATURE 2
KEY FEATURE 2
Despite being the most expensive inkjet on test, the
S530s comes with just a PCMCIA slot. A card with
Compact Flash adaptor is supplied.
Memory cards are inserted via the PCMCIA slot.
Adaptors for Compact Flash, Smart Media, Secure
Digital, Memory Stick and Multimedia card are supplied.
The roll paper adaptor fits either side of the paper
feeder and includes an automatic paper cutter and
borderless printing.
KEY FEATURE 1
5
6
PRO Good, fast printing.
Cheap ink
CON Single card slot
72%
FINAL
SCORE
although you can always choose full resolution printing if
you prefer.
All but the Sony (whose maximum paper size is
6 x 4 inches) are A4 printers, and all but the Lexmark
are capable of printing borderless prints. This gives
you a huge range of paper size and printing options –
the best place to select these is in the printer driver.
The Epsons are notable for coming complete with roll
paper holders. Roll paper is great for producing quantities
of 6 x 4 inches (or a similar size) enprints and is the only
way to output true panoramic prints, but it’s tricky to load
and use, and can be very difficult to get flat afterwards.
The Epson 925 comes complete with an automatic roll
paper cutter.
Paper handling is more important than you might
think – you only have to have a couple of premium
glossy sheets mangled and the cost starts to mount. The
£180
0800 289622
www.epson.co.uk
It’s not unheard of to get six-colour printing at under
£200, but add an LCD, 5600dpi-optimised resolution
and compatibility with all the major memory cards, and
Epson seems to be onto a budget winner. The 915 is
never going to win prizes for build quality but it’s rare
to find a roll paper holder on a printer at this price.
Although installation is simple and the printer is easy to
use, the print quality betrays its budget price tag, with
only acceptable colour reproduction and very poor black
and white printing.
The S530D is the only printer on test to use separate
cartridges for each of its four ink colours, plus a
separate print head with a generous 256 black
ink nozzle. This saves both time and money: the
Canon prints at least twice as fast, and at half the
cost of the other printers. It’s a shame the memory
card slot is dependent on PCMCIA adaptors, because
the Canon is excellent ergonomically, with a
comprehensive LCD menu system, straightforward
driver and some useful bundled software. This printer is
a very safe choice.
042
PRICE
CONTACT
WEBSITE
EPSON
STYLUS PHOTO 925
5
6
PRO High resolution
CON Average image quality
57%
FINAL
SCORE
Lexmark is the only printer to come with two separate
paper trays – one for plain and one for speciality paper,
although the HP does have an extra slot just for 6 x 4inch photo paper. The Lexmark and HP also have
automatic paper sensors so that you can’t accidentally
print with ‘plain’ settings on expensive photo paper.
Although all the paper feeders (except the Sony) can
take up to 100 sheets of paper, you should always feed
glossy paper through one sheet at a time.
All the printers on test except the Lexmark have some
kind of built-in LCD. The Canon, Epsons and HP have small
monochrome displays that help you navigate menus and
check print settings. These are handy but aren’t in the
same league as the Sony DPP-EX7. The DPP-EX7 comes
with a 3.8-inch touch-sensitive colour LCD display where
you can preview, enhance, zoom and crop images from
the memory card before printing, making it a truly
5
6
PRO Superb colour
printing. Good design
CON Expensive ink
63%
FINAL
SCORE
standalone device. Optional preview monitors are
available for the Epsons (£80) and the Canon (£90), but
without the DPP-EX7’s interactivity.
Printing from a card
The number and quality of slots that each printer offers
vary widely. At the bottom of the pile are the Canon
and the Epson 915. These come with a single PCMCIA
slot, so you’ll need an adaptor to use any of the standard
card formats. A Compact Flash adaptor is supplied,
and ones for other formats cost £20-30. Next up is
the DPP-EX7, which has a PCMCIA slot plus a dedicated
slot for Memory Sticks. The Epson 925 has slots for
Compact Flash, Microdrive, SmartMedia and Memory
Stick but top of the heap are Lexmark and HP, with four
slots that cover all of the above plus Multimedia Card and
Secure Digital.
HP
PHOTOSMART 7350
LEXMARK
Z65P
0
SONY
DPP-EX7
EXPERT TIP
MARK HARRIS
PRINT EXPERT
USING A DIGITAL
PHOTO PRINTER
PRICE
CONTACT
WEBSITE
£200
0870 547 4747
www.hp.co.uk
PRICE
CONTACT
WEBSITE
The 7350 is a very well thought out printer, sporting
four card slots, good connectivity, a paper sensor and a
cartridge system that lets you swap the black tank for
a second three-colour cartridge when you’re printing
photos. But it’s in pure printing performance that the
HP truly impresses. It excels at both colour and mono
printing with solid tones, really bringing subjects to life.
Direct printing options are more limited than others on
test, but the only fly in the ointment is its expensive
ink cartridges. An excellent choice.
£150
01628 481 500
www.lexmark.co.uk
PRICE
CONTACT
WEBSITE
£370
08705 111 999
www.sony.co.uk
Lexmark has traditionally offered you a lot of printer for
your cash, and its flagship Z65P continues in the same
vein. Four card slots accommodate all the major
memory formats, including Microdrive, and the
4800dpi resolution is as good as any on test. A good
driver and print monitor are ably assisted by the best
software bundle on test – Adobe Elements 2.0.
Although text printing is fast and reliable, the Z65P is
let down by lacklustre photo printing and an inability to
print without using your PC – it’s the only printer on
test without an LCD.
Two things about the Sony make it stand out from the
other printers on test – a built-in touch-sensitive LCD
screen, and a £370 price tag. Using the screen to
enhance, crop and add graphics to your images is easy
enough, but it’s much slower and more limited than
PC-based image editors. The dye-sub process delivers
by far the strongest and most reliable colour images on
test – but only on 6 x 4 inch paper. If you need the best
possible quality images without booting up your PC,
the DPP-EX7 is worth the investment; for everyone
else, a good inkjet is the logical choice.
SOHO users won’t like the front feeding design – it
takes up a lot of desk space compared with a vertical
paper-feeder.
KEY FEATURE 1
KEY FEATURE 1
Having two paper trays is a useful feature, especially as
the main one has an optical paper sensor.
The 3.8-inch colour LCD has a resolution of 320 x 240
pixels. Use the supplied stylus to select options.
KEY FEATURE 2
KEY FEATURE 2
KEY FEATURE 2
Separate card slots for the varying memory cards saves
on clumsy adaptors.
Separate card slots for the varying memory cards saves
on clumsy adaptors.
There are two memory card slots – one for Sony’s
Memory Sticks, the other for PCMCIA cards.
KEY FEATURE 1
5
6
PRO Excellent features and
build quality
CON Average image quality
67%
FINAL
SCORE
There are two ways you can use the memory card
slots in the printers to output your photos. The simplest is
to use the printer as a card reader. Just copy the files to
your PC, then use an image editor to tweak them before
sending them back to be printed. This gives you the
flexibility and power of your PC, as well as the security of
backing up your images. The Lexmark can only be used
in this way. The second way is to leave your PC turned
off and print using the controls on the printer alone (see
the ‘Using a digital printer’ box).
The options that each printer gives you vary, but they
all let you print an index print, select media and print
layout (though usually not as wide a selection as you get
from your PC), plus DPOF (Digital Print Order Format)
printing, where you choose in the digital camera what
and how many images are printed. The Epsons and the
Sony give you control over basic image parameters like
5
6
PRO Bargain software
bundle. Best text printing
CON Poor colour printing
54%
FINAL
SCORE
brightness, colour and sharpness and all can add effects,
from sepia toning to ‘vivid’ colour enhancements.
If you want to crop your images blind, the Canon,
Epson 925 and HP will let you, but only the Sony DPPEX7 actually previews the results. It also lets you zoom,
rotate and add text or freehand paint (using the touch
stylus). Printing the images generally takes a little longer
than from your PC as the printer has to source the data
from the memory card.
Ink cartridges
All photographs, whether printed professionally, at home
or in magazines, rely on millions of tiny coloured dots to
create the illusion of continuous colour tones. Inkjet
printing is actually closest to colour magazine printing,
using the same four colour inks – cyan, magenta, yellow
and black (sometimes abbreviated to CMYK). When set at
5
6
64%
PRO Amazing photo printing.
Colour preview screen
CON Limited paper range.
Very expensive
FINAL
SCORE
different distances from each other, these four colours
can reproduce the entire spectrum. The Epson printers
use six inks (extra cyan and magenta tones) to provide
more accurate reproduction of skin tones.
In this test, all but the Canon and Sony have two
ink cartridges – one for black and one for the other
colours. These cartridges have built-in print heads,
so that when you change ink cartridges you’re also
changing the print head. This has the advantage that
you shouldn’t come across head-related problems
like patchy printing or smeary colours. However, it
means that you really can’t re-fill empty ink cartridges,
and it also keeps cartridge prices high. With the HP,
you can swap the black cartridge for a Photo Print
cartridge containing lighter cyan, magenta and yellow
inks for top quality photographic images (we tested it
with this fitted).
Printing directly from a memory
card (and, in some cases, even
straight from your digital camera)
saves time booting up your PC
and loading graphics software,
but it does present some
challenges. First, you must know
which images you want to print –
not as easy as it sounds if you’ve
got 100-plus images on the card.
As the filing systems in cameras
and printers can differ, you can’t
always make a note of the image
number in playback mode – it’s
safer to print an index print of
thumbnails. It can be very hard to
spot subtle differences between
similar shots when they’re so
small, though, and printing three
or four index prints can take up
all the time you saved by not
using your PC! After you’ve
chosen your image, you still have
to make sure it prints as you’d
like. Most printers let you select
the layout of the image, and a
few even let you crop or resize
the image. Some printers do
have built-in image
enhancement options, giving you
basic control over brightness,
colour, sharpness and zoom, but
these apply clumsily to the whole
image and are no substitute for
working on the picture in an
image-editing package. Their
biggest drawback is that you
can’t see the effects until you’ve
actually printed out the picture –
and used all that expensive ink
and paper. Direct printing
is best saved until you
understand your camera and
printer well, and learn exactly
how the image you see on the
digital camera LCD will come out
on your printer, or for low-res
images you need immediately.
043
TOP TIP Every time your printer is turned on, it cleans the print head ready for use. This ensures great results from the word go but also uses up precious ink every time
? EXPLAINED
DPOF
Direct Print Order Format lets you
use your digital camera to select
what and how many images
to print out.
CANON
S530D
DIGITAL
CAMERA
MAGAZINE
EPSON
STYLUS PHOTO 915
EPSON
STYLUS PHOTO 925
PRINT RESULTS
PRINT RESULTS
PRINT RESULTS
Colour prints Despite a
shaky start with the first colour
test image – weak colours and
grain – the Canon shares the crown for
image quality with the HP Photosmart 7350.
Colour prints The output
from the 915 was a bit of a
disappointment, especially
considering that it’s a six-colour printer.
The 915 is at its best when reproducing real-world
images, with good levels of detail and faithful (if
slightly flat) colours. Colour separation was good and
the overall effect was acceptable.
Colour prints The 925's sixcolour printing produced
images with excellent levels of
detail and smooth tones, although the
colours were flat and a bit lifeless. The printer performed
well with the tonal range test card, showing a good
progression from rich black to strong, primary colours.
Mono prints The second test image demonstrated
excellent tonal discrimination, with almost the full
spectrum clearly visible. Edges were very sharp and
the greyscale was also impressive, with crisp tones and
solid blacks. Text printing was superb – not up to laser
quality but as good as inkjets get.
Speed The S530D didn’t have to share the honours for
print speed – its extra print nozzles zipped through our
test files in short order, with even the largest file taking
less than two and a half minutes to print. To give you
an idea of just how fast it was, the S530D could have
printed all its test files in the time it took its nearest
rival to print just the large image!
Mono prints Its monochrome print was the worst on
test, packed with grain and dither, and suffering from
an unpleasant yellow tint. Text printing was also poor –
bold type wasn’t solid black and all the text had very
blurry, jagged edges.
Speed Print speed wasn’t bad at all. Although the
largest colour printout took well over seven minutes,
the black and white image and text pages came in at a
respectable three and a half minutes and a minute and
a half, respectively.
Mono prints Despite these solid blacks, its monochrome
performance left a lot to be desired. The 925 also
sported a yellow tint with grain visible on the mono
print, although it wasn't as bad as its little brother, the
915. The text pages again benefited from the 925's
unbeatable blacks, but it was let down by hesitant
edges giving rise to some blurring.
Speed The Stylus Photo 925 was middle of the road,
taking a hefty seven minutes to produce the largest
photo and taking nearly two minutes to chug through
the three text test pages.
3 IN DETAIL
SHARED FEATURES
All the printers on test connect via
USB, but the cable is never
supplied. All but the Lexmark have
an LCD display and all have at least
one slot for direct printing from
memory cards. All can print DPOF
JPEGs and index prints from
memory cards, but the Sony
printer can also print BMPs and the
HP can print TIFFs. All have
extendable sheet feeders that can
store 100 sheets of plain paper up
to A4 size. All came with driver
software for PC and Mac.
044
The Canon S530D has four separate ink cartridges and
a separate print head. This is a much more economical
arrangement – cartridges are around a third of the price
of others on test. It also allows the print head to be more
sophisticated and faster than its disposable rivals. The
Sony DPP-EX7 uses a completely different printing
technology, called dye sublimation. Dye-sub printers use
four coloured films to deposit pigments directly onto the
paper and are excellent at producing smooth, continuous
tones and un-dithered colour. Because the print is built
up from four separate films, a dye-sub printer with
400dpi resolution (like the Sony) can produce prints as
sharp as a 1,600dpi inkjet. Although dye-sub prints have
proven longevity, it’s likely to remain a more expensive
technology for the next few years.
Ease of use
Before you decide on a printer, make sure you’ve got
enough room for it. All the printers on test are a similar
size (except the diminutive Sony) but, by the time you’ve
added paper feeders and output trays, they can take up
a unexpected amount of your desk. The HP’s frontfeeding mechanism takes up more space than the
others. Inkjets are noisier than laser printers, but there
was little sonic difference between our test samples. For
some reason, printers never come with interface cables –
all the models on test need a USB cable. Buy a long one
(around £10) for maximum flexibility in placement. The
Canon and HP printers both come with an additional port
for connecting and printing directly from your Canon or
HP camera. The Epson 925 features an additional USB
port for backing up your photos from the card to an
external storage device (such as another digital camera)
if you’ve got the right cabling.
All the printers on test come with driver software for
PCs and Macs and are simple enough to install, although
the HP wizard is unnecessarily long-winded. The Canon
requires you to perform a manual print head alignment
the first time you use it, the others all set themselves up
;
3
HP
PHOTOSMART 7350
LEXMARK
Z65P
SONY
DPP-EX7
PRINT RESULTS
PRINT RESULTS
PRINT RESULTS
Colour prints The 7350
benefited from its flexible ink
cartridge capabilities – its six
colour inks (no black) printing delivered
first-class colour images as well as remarkable mono
prints. The 7350 showed its class on the largest colour
test card, with strong, vibrant colours, and little dither.
Colour prints Despite having
4800dpi resolution, the Z65P
had some problems with its
photo reproduction. The colour prints
showed noticeable horizontal banding, muddy
colours and a slight yellow cast. While solid tones
were generally good, blacks could have been a bit
more consistent.
Colour prints Testing a dyesub printer alongside inkjets is
like comparing a greyhound with
a labrador – it’s bound to be faster on
the straights but there’s no way it’s fetching your
slippers. As a dedicated photo printer you would never
use the EX7 for printing text, so we omitted that test.
As expected, the Sony produced wonderful photo
images – fantastically vibrant, saturated colours without
a hint of grain. Although the rock solid colours leapt off
the paper, the Sony couldn’t quite match the fine tonal
discrimination of the best inkjets, with similar shades
blurring into each other.
Mono prints It was in the black and white test image
that the 7350 performed head and shoulders above the
competition – excellent contrast, solid blacks and scarcely
a hint of grain or dither. Text printing was acceptable,
although some blurring at the edges could be seen.
Speed Although it came a distant second to the Canon
in print speed, the HP was no slouch, whipping out the
photo images in between three and a half and six
minutes. It was curiously reticent to print text, though,
trailing the pack and taking an embarrassing two and a
half minutes to work through the three pages.
automatically. The printer drivers (accessed through Page
Setup in the application you’re printing from) are mostly
clear and helpful, although the Sony’s is basic, with no
advanced settings or help options. The Canon driver is
especially comprehensive, with plenty of intuitive
graphics and useful drop-down menus. When printing,
the Lexmark and Epson print monitors are good, showing
ink levels and progress. The Lexmark even verbally
informs you in a cheesy American accent when printing
has started and finished.
All the printers except the Sony come with additional
software to make the most of print options (such as
multiple images on a page or printing to labels) and at
Mono prints The Lexmark performed well in our text
test, though, with crisp lettering and substantial blacks.
Speed The Lexmark was the slowest printer on
test for photo printing, taking over nine minutes
to produce the largest colour test card. Even the
monochrome image required nearly five minutes.
But text printing was nippy as well as good quality,
and the Z65P finished seven seconds ahead of the
Canon, taking just over half a minute to produce the
three pages.
least a basic image editor to enhance, crop and resize
your photos. The Canon comes with extra packages to
help you browse and organise your portfolio and to
create panoramas, but the Lexmark’s bundle is by far the
best, containing Adobe Elements 2.0 (PC/Mac) – the
winner of our image editor lab test in issue three. This is
a flexible, powerful and easy-to-use package that
normally retails for around £70, making the £150 Z65P a
real bargain.
Test results
All the printers we tested are capable of producing
good quality images that will do justice to your digital
NEXT MONTH
WEB ALBUM
SOFTWARE
? EXPLAINED
PPM
Although print speed is quoted
in pages per minute (ppm),
most of the printers take more
than a minute to print photoquality images larger than 6 x 4
inches. It’s best not to trust the
manufacturer's figures!
Mono prints The mono image had by far the richest
blacks on test, but did carry a faint blue colour cast.
Speed Because of the nature of the dye-sub printing
process, print time for all three images was very similar
– around two to two and a half minutes per print.
camera and photographic skills. This is especially true of
the sort of real-world subjects that most photographers
shoot – natural colours and skin tones found these
printers at their strongest. It’s when you start demanding
more of them – such as discriminating between similar
shades, high contrast scenes and monochrome prints –
that differences emerge.
If pure image quality is your only consideration, you
should look no further than the Sony DPP-EX7 dye-sub
printer. Although it’s more than twice the price of some
of the other models, it shows the benefits of its filmbased technology – absolutely no dither, very smooth
tones and bright, saturated colours that are
045
TOP TIP If you print directly from a memory card, keep a note of which settings and visual effects (vivid, enhance and so on) you used and whether or not you liked them
1
SPECIFICATIONS
AT-A-GLANCE
DIGITAL
CAMERA
MAGAZINE
CANON
S530D
EPSON
STYLUS PHOTO 915
HP
PHOTOSMART 7350
Price
£250
Telephone
0800 616 417
0800 289 622
0800 289 622
0870 547 4747
URL
www.canon.co.uk
www.epson.co.uk
www.epson.co.uk
www.hp.co.uk
Print technology
Bubblejet with separate print head
Inkjet
Micropiezo Inkjet
Inkjet with PhotoRET IV
Max vertical resolution DP1
2,400
5,760
5,760
4,800
CMYK
CMYK PC PM
CMYK PC PM
CMYK PC PM
Ink tanks
4
2
2
2
Cards accepted/adaptor
PCMCIA (CF adaptor supplied)
PCMCIA (CF adaptor supplied)
CF MD SM MS
CF MD SM MS SD MMC
Direct printing – crop/zoom
Y
N
Y
Y
Direct printing – enhance image
Y
Y
Y
Y
Direct printing – add effects
N
Y
Y
Y
Max print width
216mm borderless
216mm borderless
216mm borderless
216mm borderless
Extra port
Digital camera
N
USB
USB
LCD
Mono
Mono
Mono
Mono
Size (mm)
430 x 301 x 188H
467 x 547 x 302H
492 x 290 x 228H
475 x 390 x 160H
Software
ZoomBrowser, PhotoRecord, Image
Browser, PhotoStitch, EasyPhotoPrint
PhotoQuicker, ImageFramer
PhotoQuicker, ImageFramer
Album printing, Photo Director
Other
Optional LCD preview monitor (£90)
Roll paper holders,
optional LCD preview monitor (£80)
Roll paper holders and cutter.
Optional LCD preview monitor (£80)
Automatic paper sensor
Features %
61%
61%
71%
68%
Image quality
75%
50%
60%
75%
Print speed %
90%
65%
55%
50%
Overall %
72%
57%
63%
67%
Inks
C = Cyan M = Magenta Y = Yellow K = Black
PC = Photo cyan PM = Photo Magenta
£180
EPSON
STYLUS PHOTO 925
indistinguishable (often better, in fact) than commercial
silver halide prints. But the initial expenditure is matched
by very high running costs – £1.50 for every 6 x 4-inch
print is lot more than it would cost to have your images
printed via an online service or on the high street and
the range of paper sizes is very limited.
The six-colour HP produced the best colour photo print,
packed with vibrant colours, good contrast and very
little dither, but the four-colour 2,400dpi Canon also
did very well, with superb colour precision and lovely
sharp output. The same two printers also made the best
greyscale prints, combining crisp blacks with controlled
grain. While the Epson Stylus Photo 925 showed reliable,
technically accurate printing, it was let down by poor
monochrome results.
The sub-£200 models earned the lowest marks
for image quality: the Lexmark suffered from noticeable
horizontal banding on many prints and the Epson
915 tended towards weak colours and excessive grain
and dither. While you’ll probably use your printer for
photo printing, good text output is important, too. Best
046
£220
on test for plain paper printing were the Lexmark
and the Canon, both of which had solid, sharp text
without the blurring of other models (notably the
Epson 915).
Printing an A4 colour photo used to be a good excuse
to go and make a cup of tea, and inkjet print speeds
remain frustrating, except at high resolutions. The
clear winners were the dye-sub Sony and the Canon
S530D, which zipped through our test files in half the
time of the other inkjets, thanks to its neat print head
design. The remainder had very similar performance,
taking around seven minutes for the largest file and four
minutes for smaller images. Only the Lexmark bucked
the trend, taking over nine minutes on the big picture –
and then zipping through the text pages even faster than
the Canon.
We couldn’t test lightfastness of the resultant photo
prints, but current opinion is that if you use only the
recommended premium photo paper and inks for each
printer, inkjet prints should last at least 15 years and
probably a lot longer. We found no paper handling
£200
problems (tram lines on prints, skewed images and so
on) with any of the printers.
Conclusion
Surprisingly, there wasn’t a strong correlation between
the number of inks or the quoted resolution and the final
print quality. Far more important seemed to be build
quality and clever design features, such as the Canon’s
separate print head and the HP’s ability to swap its black
cartridge for additional photo colour inks. If you do want
to print directly from a memory card, the Sony with its
colour LCD touchscreen is the only model that can truly
be called standalone. The most flexible direct printers are
the ones with LCDs and dedicated slots for the major
formats – the HP and Epson 925. But direct printing has
so many drawbacks (tiny index prints, not being able to
see what you’re doing and the inevitable waste of
expensive ink and paper) that these models should be
seen more as a space-saving combination of card reader
and printer than as an alternative to traditional desktop
printing from your PC.
HOW WE TESTED
THE PRINTERS
LEXMARK
Z65P
£150
SONY
DPP-EX7
£370
01628 481 500
08705 111 999
www.lexmark.co.uk
www.sony.co.uk
Inkjet
Dye sublimation
4,800
403
CMYK
CMY
2
Dye sub roll
CF MD SD SM MMC MS
MS/PCMCIA
N
Y
N
Y
N
y
216mm
102mm borderless
N
N
N
Colour with preview
445 x 533 x 331H
242 x 267 x 87H
Adobe Elements, Fotoscale
None
Second paper tray, automatic paper sensor
Gloss/matt finish, colour touchscreen LCD
56%
61%
55%
73%
50%
53%
54%
64%
e tested the printers using four
identical test files – three
standard test card files and one
MS Word file consisting purely of text.
The first colour JPEG test card replicated a
typical photographic scene, containing a
selection of natural skin tones and subtle
variations in light tones and colours. It
featured a high level of fine detail.
The second TIFF also had plenty of detail,
but we chose it for its graded colour boxes
and series of black stripes. The colour boxes
showed how good the printer was at
depicting tiny differences in tone and
brightness. The stripes – vertical and
horizontal – tested printing accuracy: if they
started to smear or blur together, it showed
poor resolution.
The third photo TIFF file was a greyscale
test card, containing both a series of
monochrome tone boxes and real-life
scenes. This was designed to test the
W
printers’ black and white reproduction.
All three photographic test files were
printed at maximum resolution onto the
manufacturer’s recommended glossy
premium photographic paper using
original inks. No paper was recommended
by Lexmark, so we used Canon paper.
The text page contained different font
sizes and styles and was meant to replicate
a standard real-world document. This was
printed at standard resolution on 80gsm
bright, white plain paper.
The prints were assessed blind for colour
accuracy, sharpness, grain and dithering. We
also measured the time taken to produce
each print. We then rated the features that
each printer has – resolution, connectivity,
number and type of card slots and so on.
Finally, we combined these figures,
weighting image quality at 40%, features at
40% and print speed at 20%, to arrive at an
overall percentage rating for each printer.
BLACK CARTRIDGE COST £s
COLOUR CARTRIDGE COST £s
VERDICT
W
hich printer you opt for will depend on two
things: your budget and how much photoquality printing you intend to do.
If you’re dipping a first toe into digital photography,
the Lexmark Z65P (£150) is a tempting choice. Not a
direct printer as such (you need a PC to print from a
memory card), it nevertheless has slots for all the major
formats, doubling as a flexible card reader. Although its
photo printing isn’t great, it’s a whizz at text and comes
bundled with Adobe Elements 2.0 (which sells for
around £70).
Spend an extra 50 quid and you can get the HP
Photosmart 7350. Superb colour and mono printing,
a clever swappable ink arrangement and good
connectivity are only let down by expensive inks (up to
£30 for a colour cart). This is a good choice if you don’t
want to splash out too much and won’t be outputting
colour photos every day.
The overall winner is the most expensive (£250)
of the inkjets to buy – and yet probably the cheapest
overall thanks to its low running costs. The Canon
S530D has modest 2,400 x 1,200dpi resolution and
only a single PCMCIA slot, but produces reliable colour,
mono and text prints, with superb tonal discrimination.
Its separate print head means that ink cartridges are
well under a tenner each and that print speed really
is exceptional.
If money is no object, the Sony DPP-EX7 at £370
delivers wonderfully rich, saturated colour. However,
paying £1.50 for each 6 x 4-inch print – with no
ability to print on larger paper or text – will deter all but
the perfectionists.
LARGE TEST CARD TIME
047
Trailblazers
Travel the world, see interesting things and shoot them
WINNER!
OPERA IN BEIJING, CHINA MERVYN JONES
“I enjoyed a trip on the Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian train. I took a Fujifilm FinePix 4700 camera with me”
01
02 Photographed by:
Keshan
Location: Dubai
Camera used: Canon
Powershot S40
02
03 Photographed by:
Sunil Gupta
Location: Fisherman's Wharf,
San Francisco, US
Camera used: “I used a
Fujifilm FinePix F602Z on auto
settings after getting an AF
lock on the seagull. The
picture was cropped and light
levels were corrected using
Picture Publisher 8.”
Trailblazers
03
049
06
04
204 Photographed by:
Sally Pik Shan Yeung
Location: Mitre Peak, Milford Sound,
South Island, New Zealand
Camera used: Canon Powershot A40
Fred Courtie
Location: Montreal, Canada
Camera used: Canon Powershot G2
07
Nigel Cloutt
Location: Eden Project, Cornwall
Camera used: Ricoh RDC-6000
Stephen Wilson
Location: Temple at Karnak, Egypt
05
050
Jatin Patel
Location: Grand Canyon
Camera used: Canon Ixus 300
08
09
John Marmon
Location: Thailand
Camera used: “I used a Nikon F90x
and then the images were scanned
onto Kodak Photo CDs. Now I also
have a Nikon D100, which is great.”
Ian Bedford
Location: Sunset at Pigeon
Point, Tobago
Camera used: Nikon Coolpix 775
10
Delmar L Hepperly
Location: Philadelphia, US
Camera used: “I have a Canon G2
and produce 32 x 42-inch fine art
photographs on archival paper
from France and process them
on a $100 thousand machine
called an ‘Iris’. I believe this is the
first time this method has been used
by a photographer.”
Nigel Hayden
Location: Oslo, Norway
11
12
GET YOUR PICTURE FRAMED!
Send them in and the best gets framed and returned. We’re looking for landmarks, unusual events
or just something fabulously composed. Start planning that trip away!
■ Email us at [email protected]
This month, you have mostly been to…
12
5
8 11
3
6
7
10
1
2
9
4
Trailblazers
ilbl
051
YOUR PHOTOS
THE STORM CHASER
EMAIL US! Send in your life – see opposite!
MEET WARREN FAIDLEY
01
Born in ‘Tornado Alley’, USA, Warren is
the world’s only full-time storm
chasing journalist and photographer.
His breathtaking extreme weather
images have appeared in National
Geographic, Scientific American, Life,
Time and USA Today. Warren’s film
and video footage have also been
used in Jurassic Park and Buffy
The Vampire Slayer, as well as in
videos by artists such as Sheryl
Crow and Paul McCartney. In 1997,
Warren became the first man ever
to capture a tornado on 35mm film
and acted as technical consultant for
the blockbuster movie Twister.
Day in the life
02
Tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning storms and hail – it’s all in day’s work for storm chaser, Warren Faidley
hasing storms is a 24 hour a day, seven
day a week occupation – you never
know when the next one’s going to
hit. For Warren this means plenty of preparation
and a willingness to go whenever and wherever
the storm takes him: he has separate crates
containing the photo, measurement and tracking
equipment he’ll need for each storm type.
In spring you’ll find him chasing tornadoes in
the central plains of Middle America. In summer
he’ll have travelled west to cover local forest fires
and lightning storms, and by autumn he’ll have
moved east, capturing the hurricanes that batter
the coast every season.
Ninety per cent of Warren’s day can be spent
simply waiting, studying internet weather sites
C
and producing his own storm forecasts. Some
days involve frantic chases across the plains in
Archangel, his fully-loaded sports-utility vehicle,
which contains his still, movie and video cameras
plus the electronics, radios, computers and radar
he needs to keep pace with the storm he’s
tracking. The truck even has a rollcage, plus
aluminium covers that prevent the windscreen
from shattering when hit by 100mph hailstones.
"I’ve had some pretty close shaves," he says
"Once during Hurricane Andrew I made the
mistake of sticking my hand out of the window
to see how strong the wind was, only to have it
cut to pieces by the glass flying through the air."
He’s also been struck by lightning and had a
twister form so close to him that it shook the
truck. But, for the most part, Warren reckons his
job is pretty safe: storms 20 miles across are easy
to predict, he argues, and most of the time he’s
in more danger of having a car smash with the
legion of amateur storm chasers who career
around in their own trucks, than he is of being
caught off-guard by the weather.
When it comes to capturing his images,
Warren needs to work fast. He typically uses
cameras that can shoot 20-30 frames per second
and he needs masses of resolution – 90MB or
above – if he’s to charge $10,000 a shot for iconic
shots like the one used for the promo poster of
Twister. It’s shots like that which keep him doing
what he does – a regular day job in an office just
wouldn’t suit Warren at all…
03
4
CONTACT
US
Now it’s over to you: we want your life in our hands (or on these pages anyway). If
you have a visually interesting job that you think might make a good Dayinthelife,
please email us today at: [e] [email protected]
T BE INSPIRED! www.stormchaser.com
04
Dayinthelife a
i h lif
01 Wild thing
Warren used a long exposure to
capture this majestic lightning storm
from an Arizona mountain.
02 It’s a twister
A twister hits the ground in Tornado
Alley. Warren often does his own
weather forecasting so he can tell
where and when they’ll hit.
05
08
09
03 King of the road
Warren usually works alone from his
truck, dubbed Archangel, which is
packed with storm monitoring and
photography equipment. During the
height of the season, however, he
can assemble a full crew comprising
4-12 people.
04 Storm warning
Lightning storms are often an early
indication that a tornado is on its way.
So too is baseball-sized hail, which
has hit Warren’s truck so hard that it’s
smashed the windscreen.
06
05 Fighting fire
When he’s not shooting fires, Warren
can be found putting them out – he’s
a fully qualified firefighter.
06 Supercell
Warren captured this majestic
supercell tornado in Pampa, Texas in
May 1994. The year before he
captured seven storms in a single day.
07
10
07 Windy city
Warren took shelter in a garage to
capture this shot of Hurricane Andrew.
08 Lightning strikes
Warren got so close to this lightning
storm in Arizona that he was knocked
to the ground by a lightning bolt.
09 Trail of destruction
The aftermath of a tornado that struck
a town in West Texas. Warren was
there to capture the devastation.
10 Gimme shelter
The summer heat of the American
West gives rise to some spectacular
lightning storms.
053
Viewfinder
We want your letters! Email us at [email protected] and we’ll print the best
Star Letter PhotoImpact 8 winner
Welcome…
Another bulging
postbag of brickbats
and bouquets from
you this month. Chief
among your concerns
was getting some of
our cover software to work on your PCs. Both
SmartPix Manager (issue 3) and Deneba
Canvas 6 (issue 4) require serial numbers to
work, which are either printed in the mag or
can be obtained by registering with the
appropriate website. We do explain this in
our cover CD pages, but some of you
obviously missed it. We’ll aim to make such
caveats clearer in future.
Aside from these niggles, most of the
letters we get (thankfully) are pretty positive,
but we welcome all your comments – it’s
your magazine, after all.
Be sure to keep sending in your photos
for Trailblazers, Day In The Life and our letters
page too. We love to see what you’ve been
up to each month, but please make sure you
include contact details and info about how,
when and where you took your shots.
Rob Mead Acting Editor
Interact
Digital Camera’s website forums offer a
wide range of topics, advice and helpful
tips for newcomers and experienced
photographers alike. This month, we focused
on landscape panoramas...
Bruce Russell asks: “I’m new to digital
photography, and want to stitch images
054
Rogue traders?
Canon comparison?
I’m just trying to find out whether you will be
testing the Olympus Camedia C-5050 in the near
future. I’m trying to decide between that and
Canon’s PowerShot G3…
Adam Waddington
DCM You can find a review of the PowerShot
G3 on page 34 of this issue where it gains an
81% rating – a little disappointing given the
classic status of its predecessor, the PowerShot
G2. We’re expecting great things from the
Olympus too, so look out for the definitive
review in issue six of DCM, on sale Thursday
13th March.
What’s in a
memory card?
I’m thinking of buying a digital camera,
but I’m confused about all the different flash
memory formats that are out there. Some
cameras come with SmartMedia, while others
have Memory Stick or Secure Digital. Are they
compatible? If not, how do I know that I won’t be
stuck with a defunct format in the future – just as I
was with Betamax?
Edward Brandon
together to make one long image. Can
anyone advise me which software to use?”
David Needham replied: “Photomerge in
Photoshop Elements creates the panoramic
look out of a number of photos. I’ve had
varied results. It works best when you make
sure all the photos are ‘level’ ie, on a tripod.”
Alan Gallery added: “Make sure you expose
We think we have uncovered a conspiracy, and would like
your magazine to investigate. We were looking for some
digital cameras for our school, and thought the spec on the
HP Photosmart 850 was about right. We placed an order for
three cameras through our usual HP dealer, SCC Direct in
Birmingham, at an attractive price of £329.99 including VAT.
We buy quite a bit of equipment through them as they are
one of the biggest educational suppliers of HP gear.
We received an email from SCC stating that they were not
allowed to sell this camera as HP had signed an exclusive deal with Jessops and
John Lewis. In return, Jessops and John Lewis promise not to discount the camera. So your
mission, (if you choose to accept it) is to purchase a HP Photosmart 850 from a supplier other
than the two mentioned. If you cannot, then surely HP are guilty of price fixing, and could face a
hefty fine?
Steve Boyd, Cheadle Hulme School
DCM We contacted HP about this and a
spokesperson confirmed that the HP PhotoSmart
850 is only available through Jessops and John
Lewis. However, discounts for schools are available
through Jessops educational division (0116 232
6520). As for price fixing, the 850 exclusive is
exempt since a) such deals are typically only in
force for a limited time and b) because HP sells
other digital cameras in its range through
competing high street and online outlets.
This month’s Star Letter wins a copy of
PhotoImpact 8.
DCM You’re right Edward, there are a lot of
different formats out there right now and
many of them are totally incompatible with
each other. But that’s not necessarily a
problem. You can readily buy adaptors for your
computer that will accept any of the current
cards and many photo printers offer slots for
on manual to maintain uniform exposures.
Overlap [each image] by 10% or more for
lenses of 50mm or more, and 20-25% for
wide-angles.”
Sam Goodman agreed, adding: “The only
thing to add... is [for you to] get a spirit level
to fit onto the camera so that your shots
come out level.”
memory cards too. Of all the formats, Memory
Stick and Secure Digital (SD) have spread the
furthest into the consumer electronics sphere,
popping up in everything from PDAs to
camcorders and phones, so they are the
formats to go for if you want to share your
cards with other devices. It’s probably worth
Most of the other Forum posters agreed
that Adobe PhotoShop or PhotoShop
Elements was a good bet for stitching your
images together, although Jack Pries also
recommended MGI PhotoSuite 4.0 (Platinum
Edition). Whatever the package you use, it
sounds like Bruce will have plenty of fun
editing his pictures.
Inspired!
Have our tutorials and ideas sparked something? Send in your
examples and we’ll print the best every month, to
[email protected]
Pop art
steering clear of any cameras that use
SmartMedia as these cards have been
superseded by the newer x-D format too.
The trouble with Canvas
I am having trouble installing the cover disc
software Deneba Canvas 6. In the installation setup
a serial number is required before the program can
be installed. Please could you tell me where I can
get this number from or how to overcome this
installation problem?
Monica Pothecary
DCM Sorry Steve, here’s your picture again…
Sundown
I was making coffee in the kitchen when I noticed
the sky seemed to have bands of fire running
across it (due to the sun about to appear over the
horizon), so I ran for the camera. As there wouldn’t
have been time to get anywhere more open (I’m
half a mile from the coast!) before the light
changed, it had to be done from the back garden –
silhouettes it was!
Steve Dooley
DCM To get the serial number you need to
register online at the Deneba website
(www.deneba.com/cv6regukf). Once you’re
successfully registered, the number will be
emailed to you.
This shot of my girlfriend Lisa was taken
recently at Penarth Beach near Cardiff, Wales.
She suddenly burst into a song from the
Eighties so I took a snapshot. Underneath each
layer is a further blended layer of a photo taken
the same day of the sea at Penarth Beach. I
wanted the photo to be a mix of psychedelic
Eighties pop and the memory of a fantastic
winter’s day at the beach. The finished image is
a collection of four photos on one canvas. This
image has been blended with the general
blending selection of Darken, Multiply and
Luminosity and further blended with the Hue
and Saturation options. I have then played with
both the Hue and Saturation palette and
brightness/contrast tool.
Darren Sheen
This goes to show what can be achieved
apps like Elements and Paint Shop Pro.
Sunset oversight
Dawn light
I picked up issue four today and was really
chuffed to see that you’d printed my picture in
Viewfinder. I was, however, just a tiny bit peeved
that you managed to credit it to Mark Bedding.
Any chance you could reprint it with my name
next to it? Cheers.
Steve Dooley
This photo was taken on my father’s
London balcony, using a Nikon CoolPix
995. The height of the balcony and the
trellis enclosing it give it a ‘secret
garden’ feel. I took this shot early one
morning in the soft dawn light, before
the frost and the threads of spider web
were lost. I like the way the different
shades of grey in the background give
it depth.
Tom Powell
Tell us what you want!
Every issue, it’s our aim to improve the magazine.
Write in to [email protected]
He wanted…
He
wanted…
Brian Kennedy is
after a wedge.tif
printer setup file
we forgot to put on
issue 3’s cover discs.
Randy Kirihara
wanted fewer
camera reviews and
more tests of printers,
scanners, ink and paper.
He got…
The file is on our ftp site at
ftp://futurenet.co.uk/pub./m
axpc/digicam/testwedge.zip
WRITE
IN
TODAY!
He got…
A direct photo printers group
test on page 41 of this issue.
This is a great, atmospheric picture
Tom, especially as it’s been
completely unenhanced by
image editing apps.
He wanted…
Rod Macdonald wanted more
Mac software to be included
on our cover CDs.
He got…
All our CDs from issue
4 onwards now come
with Mac versions of
our giveaway software
where possible.
Every issue, we aim to improve some aspect of the magazine. Email
your suggestions to [email protected] and the Editor, in his
great wisdom, will decide what you deserve…
Avalon harbour
This is a picture of Avalon harbour on
Catalina Island in California. Our
friends are in one of the boats you
can see in the harbour. We rented a
little jeep and drove up to the highest
viewpoint. I used my Sony Cyber-shot
DSC-F707 to take the picture and then
used Photoshop to remove the power
lines and utility poles that got in the
way of the picture. I actually took
130 pictures of Avalon, of which
45 are still on my computer.
Danny Lesnick, San Francisco
SECTION #02
YOUR IMAGES
CREATIVE PROJECT
PHOTO SURREALISM
SEE PAGE 58
CREATIVE PROJECT
PHOTO SURREALISM
Barry Jackson invites you inside his imagination and
demonstrates his unique style of image blending
PAGE
PHOTO CLINIC
RESTORE AN OLD COLOUR PHOTO
Ed Davis gives an old ’70s photo a new lease of life
after years of light exposure have turned it orange
PAGE
PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS
USING CHANNELS AND GRADIENTS
Simon Danaher explores basic selection techniques
and looks at using different transparencies
PAGE
PAINT SHOP PRO TUTORIAL
CREATE NIGHT MOODS
Joe Apice shows you how to add dramatic nighttime effects to photos taken in broad daylight
PAGE
58
64
68
74
PHOTO CLINIC
SEE PAGE 64
PAGE
PAGE
68
74
Your images
Making and creating better pictures
Tutorials you can trust!
f
Our aim is to bring you creative ideas, expert tips and
quick fixes you can use in your own work.
Authoritative A leading professional in his/her field
writes every tutorial. Value-added We try to include
Contact our editorial team
image files, and full or trial software so you can try the
tutorial for yourself, delivering a complete package.
Clear Our large page size means we can add extra
elements, explanations and detail to each tutorial.
#
If you have a comment, suggestion, idea or
submission you would like to make, please
email us at [email protected] Visit
our website at digitalcameramagazine.co.uk
PROJECT PHOTO SURREALISM
YOUR GUIDE BARRY JACKSON
Barry became hooked on digital photography last year. He soon realised that the
combination of digital camera (Fujifilm FinePix 6900 Zoom), computer and Photoshop
were the perfect tools to create his own particular style of photo surrealism
[email protected]
PORTFOLIO BARRY JACKSON WEBSITE WWW.ETHEREALME.COM
Combining images to create
a surreal portrait
Digital photo artist Barry Jackson returns to guide you through the quick and easy creation of
another eggstraordinarily surreal image
T
PROJECT
KEY DETAILS
2
ON OUR DISC
■ IMAGE FILES
All the elements you need to
recreate ‘The Egg man’ are on
our disc 1.
2
SKILL LEVEL
6
2
1
TIME TO COMPLETE
2.5
HOURS
here have been many arguments over the
years about whether digital or traditional film
is the best photographic medium. The
decision depends, among other things, on how the
individual photographer uses their chosen medium. One
of the main reasons why I use digital photography is the
speed at which it enables me to work. In this tutorial I’ll
take you step by step through the formation of the
image, ‘The Egg man’, which will take less than three
hours to complete.
Shooting the elements
The man in the image is a friend of mine, Andrew,
who kindly agreed to model for this image. I
photographed him against the only plain background I
could find during a five-minute break from his work. I
A
THE HEAD
Taken inside under tungsten light, the FinePix
6900 Zoom digital camera made a good job of
capturing the correct colours. The metal screen in the
background had rivets in it but these were easy to
remove using Photoshop .
058
originally planned to replace the background but after
viewing the images on my computer I decided to keep
it because I liked the subtle green colour next to the
pale blue shirt. The egg and spoon pictures were taken
against a white background under natural daylight from
a nearby window. It was important to keep the
backgrounds uncluttered in order to make it easy to
isolate the elements.
All the photographs used to make up the final image
were taken with a Fujifilm FinePix 6900 Zoom with the
image quality set to fine. The images were then
transferred to my computer, ready for the really creative
process to begin.
All the files needed to recreate this image are
included on cover disc 1, so why not give this project a
go – it’s a lot easier than you might think…
B
THE EGG
This picture was taken against a background of
plain white paper under natural daylight. The
egg was perfectly boiled with a nice, runny yoke dribbling
down the front of the egg.
3 TOOL SCHOOL
MAGNETIC LASSO TOOL
This useful tool enables you to roughly
draw around a subject while the Lasso
automatically defines and sticks to the
edge of the subject creating a selection.
C
THE SPOON
The spoon was also taken against the same
white background with the FinePix 6900
Zoom. All the images were taken from the same angle so
that there were no conflicts with perspective.
Everything you need to
create this image is on your CD
All
All the images
images, filters
filters and plug-ins you
you need to
to
cre
create this image are
are on your
your co
cover CD.
CD. All
All
images
images are
are © Barry
Barry Jackson.
Jackson.
2
CDA/tutorials/
HEAD
EGG
SPOON
man.psd
egg.psd
spoon.psd
TOP TIP To quickly rename a layer, double click on the name of the layer you want to rename in the Layers palette and enter the new name
STAGE 1
2
IN FOCUS Using the Magic Wand tool
ISOLATING THE EGG
03
Start by removing the egg image
from its background.
0
SELECT THE
BACKGROUND
As the background is
mainly the same colour, we can
use the Magic Wand tool to select
the background. Click on the Magic
Wand tool (W), set the tolerance to
30 and click on the background.
EXPERT TIP
BARRY JACKSON
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
DISABLING THE
LAYER MASK
To turn off a Layer mask,
hold down the shift key while
clicking on the mask icon.
Repeat this process to turn the
mask on again.
01
OPEN THE IMAGES
02
ADJUST THE COLOUR
04
REMOVE THE BACKGROUND
SHIFT AND ALT KEYS
Hold down the shift key as you
click with the Magic Wand to
add to a selection or hold
down the alt key to remove
from a selection.
TOLERANCE VALUES
Adjust the tolerance value to
increase or decrease the range.
of a selection. Values between
0-255 can be entered; a value
of 255 selects every pixel in
the image.
MAGIC WAND TOOL
Use the Magic Wand tool to
create a selection around
pixels with a similar colour
and brightness.
Open up the Man and Egg images in
Photoshop – these can be found under
tutorials on cover disc 1. Concentrate on the egg by
adjusting the colours, select the Curves palette by clicking
Image8Adjustments8Curves (Ctrl + M).
Select the left eyedropper at the bottom-right
of the palette and then click on the darkest
part of the picture – the shadow between the egg and
the egg cup. Now select the right eyedropper, click on the
background and click OK to apply the adjustment.
? EXPLAINED
INVERSE
Selecting the inverse option enables
you to reverse the selection.
BLEND MODES
The blend modes are a range of
options that control the way the
pixels in the base layer are affected
by other layers.
060
To soften the selection, edge-click
Select8Feather (Alt + Ctrl + D) and set the
feather radius to 1 pixel. Click OK to apply it and hit the
delete key to remove the background. Inverse the
selection by clicking Select8Inverse (Shft + Ctrl + I).
05
LAYER THE IMAGES
Use the Move tool (V) to drag the selection
onto the Man image, click on Layer8Layer
properties, name the layer ‘Egg’, and click OK to apply the
name. Reduce the layer opacity to 50% and position the
egg over the man’s head.
06
RESIZE THE EGG
From the Edit menu, select Edit8Free
transform (Ctrl + T) and then squeeze the egg
to fit the top of the man’s head. When you’re happy with
the results, double-click to apply the changes.
4
…PAINT SHOP PRO
DISCOVER BLEND
MODES IN…
STAGE 2
…PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS
Found in the Layers palette. Learn more about PSP Blend
modes at www.jasc.com/tutorials/nieuwenstein/layers4.asp
…PHOTOIMPACT
Exactly the same as Photoshop Blend modes. Find out more at
www.arraich.com/ps7_pperfectBlend1.htm
Called Merge Modes. Find more info at www.fortunecity.
com%2fwestwood%2farmani%2f268%2fpi4tut14/
2
BLEND THE LAYERS
Use a layer mask and the
gradient tool to blend the
layers together.
0
EXPERT TIP
BARRY JACKSON
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
BACKGROUNDS
When photographing objects for
inclusion in a composite image,
always try to use a plain
background because this will
make it much easier to isolate
the image later.
07
USE THE ERASER
While the egg layer is still semi-transparent,
use the Eraser tool (E) to remove the
unwanted areas of the egg covering the man’s eyes
and the spoon. When this is done, return the layer
opacity to 100%.
08
DUPLICATE THE EGG LAYER
In the Layers palette, drag the egg layer onto
the new layer icon (second right at the bottom
of the Layers palette). This will make a duplicate copy of
the ‘Egg copy’. Click on the eye icon to turn this layer off –
we’ll return to it later.
09
ADD A LAYER MASK
11
BLEND WITH SOFT LIGHT
12
OPEN THE SPOON IMAGE
Now blend the egg with the man’s head,
return to the original egg layer and select
Layers8Add layer mask8Reveal. This will add a mask to
the layer that we can adjust.
IN FOCUS Adjusting the Layer mask
10
USE THE
GRADIENT TOOL
Use the Linear gradient tool
(G) to drag from the top of the egg
down to the man’s eyebrows. This
will create a gradual blend between the
two layers.
TOOLS ON THE
LAYER MASK
The eraser, airbrush
and gradient tool
can all be used on the
Layer mask.
REVEAL OR HIDE AREAS
Use a Layer mask to hide
or reveal areas of the layer
without affecting the
pixels of the layer.
MASK ICON
The mask icon next to the
eye icon indicates that the
Layer mask is active.
Turn on the ‘Egg copy’ layer and select Soft
Light from the drop-down Blend8Modes
menu at the top of the Layers palette. Use the eraser to
remove the shell areas but leave the inside of the egg
and yoke dribbling down the front of the egg.
3 IN DETAIL
LAYER MASK
The Layer mask controls how
much of a particular layer appears
in the overall image. Black masked
areas are hidden; white areas
show through.
Open the spoon image from the cover
CD, select Image8Image size and click
on the drop-down arrow next to the width box.
Select percent, set the width to 50%, and click OK to
apply the change.
061
TOP TIP Only sharpen your image at the end of the creative process because the use of other filters can enhance small marks created by sharpening
STAGE 3
2
IN FOCUS Using the Clone Stamp tool
ADD YOKE TO THE SPOON
15
Add some runny egg yoke to the
empty spoon.
TIDY THE
BACKGROUND
Return to the
background layer and use the
Clone Stamp tool (S) to remove
the rivets in the background,
choose a brush with a soft edge
and a diameter larger than the
rivet, select a sample point close
to each rivet for best results.
13
SELECT THE YOKE
14
POSITION THE YOKE
16
CARRY ON CLONING
CLONE STAMP
The Clone Stamp can be
used in all the available
blending modes.
REDUCED OPACITY
Reduce the opacity of
the Clone Stamp to
produce a subtler
clone effect.
ALIGNMENT
With Aligned selected,
the distance between
the sample point and
the Clone Stamp
remains constant. Turn
this off and the sample
point will stay in its
original position.
Use the Magnetic lasso tool (L) to carefully
draw around the yoke on the end of the
spoon, copy (Ctrl + C) and paste (Ctrl + V) or drag onto the
layered image. Name the layer ‘Yoke’ and position it on
top of the other layers.
? EXPLAINED
CLONE STAMP TOOL
The Cone Stamp tool enables you to
sample pixels from one part of the
image and place them anywhere
else within the image.
Position the yoke over the end of the empty
spoon and then use the Eraser tool (E) to tidy
up any rough edges. The yoke should be roughly the right
size for the spoon. Use the Edit8Free transform tool (as in
step 6) to make any size adjustments.
0
EXPERT TIP
BARRY JACKSON
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
MOVE TOOL
As well as using the Move tool to
drag one image from its window
onto another open window you
can drag layers straight from the
Layers palette.
062
With the Clone Stamp tool still selected,
remove the blue area at the bottom righthand corner of the background, zoom in and use a hardedged brush when cloning close to the man’s shirt.
17
FLATTEN THE IMAGE
It’s now time to merge all the layers together.
Select Layer8Flatten image. Be sure you are
happy with the results of each layer before flattening
because once this is done any adjustments made will
affect the whole image.
18
ADJUST THE CONTRAST
Now the image is flattened, colour and
contrast adjustments can be made to the
whole image. Generally, the colours in this image are fine,
but the contrast could be stronger. To adjust this, select
Image8Adjustments8Auto contrast (Alt + Shft + Ctrl + L).
4
LEARN MORE ABOUT
PHOTOSHOP LIGHTING EFFECTS
STAGE 4
2
Learn more from three great tutorials from our sister magazine, Computer
Arts, at www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/type/tutorial.asp?id=20705
IN FOCUS Using lighting effects
ADD A HALO EFFECT
21
We will now use the Lighting
Effects filter to add a halo effect
to the man’s head.
OMNI LIGHT
Select the Omni light type from
the drop-down menu and
position it over the top of the man’s head
in the preview pane. Adjust the size
and position of the light by dragging the
handles. Try experimenting with the various
styles of lighting.
19
DUPLICATE THE BACKGROUND
20
LIGHTING EFFECTS
22
BLEND WITH SOFT LIGHT
LIGHTING STYLE
Pick a lighting
style – there are
lots to choose
from so
experiment with
different styles.
MAKE ADJUSTMENTS
Choose between spotlight,
directional or Omni light
types and use the sliders to
adjust intensity and focus.
COLOUR OF LIGHTING
Choose the lighting
colour here.
To give the impression of light emitting
from the man’s head, use the Lighting Effect.
First duplicate the background using Right click8Duplicate
background or by dragging the background layer onto
it to create a new layer icon at the bottom of the
Layers palette.
With the original background layer active
select Filter8Render8Lighting Effects. This will
bring up the Lighting Effects palette, which enables us to
choose from a good range of lighting filters.
0
EXPERT TIP
BARRY JACKSON
LAYER STYLES
POSITIONING LAYERS
If you find it difficult to position
layers absolutely try using the
arrow keys to nudge the layer
one pixel at a time.
When you’re happy with the lighting effect,
click OK to apply it, return to the background
copy layer and select Soft Light from the Blending modes
drop-down menu – this will place a light glow around and
behind the man’s head.
23
UNSHARP MASK
Flatten the image and apply the Unsharp Mask
filter using Filter8Sharpen8Unsharp Mask to
sharpen the image. This filter enables us to control the
amount of sharpening needed. For best results, use lower
settings and apply the filter two or three times.
24
THE END RESULT
We now have our end result – a slightly
disturbing but equally amusing image of a
man dipping a spoon into the top of his open head. Try
capturing that within three hours on film!
063
PHOTO CLINIC RESTORATION
YOUR GUIDE ED DAVIS
Ed Davis is a London-based advertising and corporate photographer with many years
experience of studio and location photography. He specialises in image manipulation, and
delivers creative solutions that combine photography and digital technology. He is a member of
NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals)
Equipment used: a scanner and Adobe Photoshop 7
[email protected]
WEBSITE WWW.ED-DAVIS-PHOTOGRAPHY.CO.UK
Colouring a faded photo
Over time, sunlight and chemical reactions can fade old prints. One reader’s photo from the 1970s has turned into a lifeless,
orangy-brown mess, so we challenged Ed Davis to bring it back to life…
M
ost of us have boxes of faded photographs
stashed away, hardly recognisable images
of our youth. This month we were sent a
print of three nattily-dressed friends standing in the
kitchen at a party. The patterned shirts and ties,
kaftan and generous facial hair left us in little doubt
that this shot was taken in the early 70s.
CLINIC
CHALLENGE US
2
THE READER
PAUL DUNFORD
Paul had tried a few times to
bring a bit of realistic colour
into this picture. He has more
from the same batch of pictures
to restore…
2
CHALLENGE LEVEL
5
2
2
1
BEFORE
14
The damage in this picture is so extensive, and the
colours have been so badly bleached and faded that
it’s impossible to decipher the original colours.
Looking at the man on the left-hand side, it’s hard to
tell if his jacket is supposed to be brown, dark green
or dark blue.
The colours have bleached out,
detail is diffused and contrast is flat
TIME TO REPAIR
HOURS
Groovy baby
02
01
AFTER
When undertaking a restoration project like this,
try to ensure that the final image looks as natural as
possible. You may have to make an educated guess,
taking into consideration the colour and styles of
clothes that were worn at the time.
Hopefully this picture will bring back some happy
memories for Paul…
The colours have been revived,
putting the life back in the party!
03
NOW SEND YOURS!
Contact us via email with a 100K
JPEG attached and, if we like it,
we’ll get in touch!
Email us today at:
[email protected]
8
04
Photo
Clinic
064
In Paul Dunford’s 70s party picture, the colours have
bleached out, leaving an orange cast that needs to be
removed; the detail is diffused and needs to be
sharpened; the contrast is flat and lifeless; plus the colours
need to be enhanced.
02 TOTAL COLOUR FADING
01 FADED EDGES
03 BLEMISHES
Solution: Even out the faded edges of the photograph
using Layer masks.
Solution: Use the Clone tool to get rid of any small
blemishes, then use the Copy and Paste technique in order
Solution: Remove the overall red tint, re-balance and recolour the image using the Curves palette so that the
image appears more natural and gives the subjects a
more realistic look.
to remove the pull cord, which cuts through the face of the
man on the right-hand side.
04 VISIBLE PAPER TEXTURE
Solution: The texture of paper that was used to print the
image had become visible during scanning (this is a
common problem that occurs when original prints are
scanned). Reduce this distinct surface texture using Layers
and Filters.
4
USING
MULTIPLE LAYERS
You can rename each layer by right-clicking the mouse on
the layer you wish to rename. Select Layer Properties in
the dialog box and rename the layer
STAGE 1
REMOVING FADED AREAS
2
The image has faded around the
edges and needs to be evened
out first.
01
MULTIPLE LAYERS
04
CREATE A MASK
07
WHITEN THE SHIRT
Copy the background layer twice using
Layer8Duplicate Layer (short cut, right-click
on the layer in the Layers palette and select Duplicate
Layer) and repeat the same procedure. You now have
two layers.
The Gradient mask goes from left to right, and
white to black. The white area on the image
will be visible and the black area will be masked.
STAGE 2
02
ADD A MASK
05
CHANGE BLENDING MODES
08
DARKEN THE JACKET
To remove the faded areas, click on the Add
Layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers
palette. This will place a Mask option on the layer. A mask
is used to separate areas of the image when working on
them. Once the balance is correct, the layers are merged
to form one image.
To blend the layers together change the
Blending option at the top of the Layers
palette to Multiply. The image is now a blend of the
three layers. Flatten the three layers into one using
Layers8Flatten Image.
03
ADD GRADIENTS
06
SELECT THE RIGHT BLEND
09
A CLEARER IMAGE
Click inside the Layers mask. On the tool bar
click on the Gradient tool (short cut, G), make
sure the Linear Gradient is active and choose the gradient
that will affect the foreground and background. Take the
cursor to the left-hand side of the image, click and drag to
about two-thirds of the way across and release.
In Photoshop 7 there are 24 Blending
modes. Each Blending mode affects the image
differently. The Multiply mode works well when dealing
with faded or underexposed photographs. In this case, it
recovers the lost information in the image.
2
BALANCE THE COLOURS
The image now looks even
but the colour is still far from
correct. The overall red tint
is still apparent. To bring back
the original colour of the
photograph, each section of
colour is treated independently.
Open the Curves Dialogue box using Image8
Adjustments8Curves (short cut, Ctrl + M). Click
on the third eyedropper (Highlights), select an area of the
photo that should be white and click on it. The red changes
to a more neutral tonal range.
Click on the Shadow eyedropper and click on
an area that should be black, such as the
dinner jacket of the man on the right-hand side. The
image darkens, the overall red tint disappears and
suddenly the photograph looks more natural.
The orange haze effect has been removed and
the people are defined so they stand out from
the background. The next steps are to make the skin tone
more natural, balance the background colour and finetune the colour of the clothing.
065
PHOTO CLINIC RESTORATION
ONE-CLICK FIX To change a colour photograph into back and white, go to the option bar, click Image8Adjustment8Desaturate (short cut, Shift + Ctrl + U). The colour photograph will now be black and white
0
EXPERT TIP
ED DAVIS
PHOTOSHOP
SHOW TOOL TIPS
To find out about tools and what
the symbols and icons mean,
make sure the Show Tool Tips
box is ticked in the preferences
using Edit8Preferences8General.
10
COLOUR REFERENCE
13
THE SKIN TONES
16
COPY AND PASTE…
Next, remove the colour cast from individual
items. We do not have enough information
about the colour of the clothes but balancing the skin
tone is a good place to start because it changes the
colours of the clothes accordingly and gives us a good
base to work with.
The main colour in the flesh tones is red – in
this case too much red. Open the Selective
Colour pallet using Image8Adjustments8Selective
Colour. Move the sliders to reduce the amount of red and
check the colour change by clicking the preview selector
on and off.
STAGE 3
11
ON THE RIGHT PATH
14
REPEAT UNTIL DONE
17
… UNTIL DONE
From the tool bar, select the Lasso tool (short
cut, L). Make a selection around the skin of the
subject – the face, neck and hands. Click on Paths in the
same palette as the Layers, move the cursor to the
bottom of the palette, click on the icon that is third from
the right and make a work path from the selection.
The different paths created now appear on the
Paths palette. Each item can be adjusted
separately. Right-click on a path using Click8Make
Selection, leave the Feather Radius at 1 pixel and click OK.
Open the Selective Colour palette and adjust the sliders to
remove the relevant colour.
12
MULTIPLE CORRECTIONS
15
FINAL TOUCHES
18
CLEAN UP THE REST
Creating paths enables you to save complex
selections and go back to them at several
stages during retouching to make multiple corrections.
Make selections and create paths for each of the areas
to be adjusted – jackets, shirts, ties, hair, faces, skin tone
and background.
The photograph was taken in the early 70s.
Select the shirt (see image 14) and make a
guess at the brightness of the pink shirt. Click the Levels
palette using Image8Adjustments8Levels (short cut, Ctrl +
L). Move the slider on the right over to the left, and the
shirt will brighten to your taste.
2
REMOVE THE PULL CORD
AND BLEMISHES
The pull cord hangs across the
man’s face and should be
removed using copy and paste.
Cover up the white patches along
the right edge in the same way.
Then use the Clone tool to remove
smaller imperfections.
Click on the Lasso tool (short cut, L), make a
selection around the part of the image that
needs to be covered and move the selection over an area
that is similar in tonal range and colour. Click Edit8Copy
(short cut, Ctrl + C) then Edit8Paste (short cut, Ctrl + V).
Now move the new pasted section over the pull cord.
066
The pull cord can’t be covered in one
operation. The same method will have to
be applied several times to blend the new pasted areas
correctly – each time matching the new piece with
its surroundings.
Click the Clone tool in the tool bar (short cut,
S), pick a soft-edge brush from the Brush
pallet on the Options bar and a circle will appear
representing a brush size. Click and drag the mouse to the
area you want to cover, release the mouse and click on
the blemish.
4
MORE TOOL
OPTIONS
STAGE 4
To find out more about Blending modes there are
tutorials at http://photoshopgurus.info/beginners/
ps-blend_modes.shtml
2
REDUCE THE
PAPER TEXTURE
In the 60s and 70s, photographic
paper was available with a
distinct surface texture sometimes
referred to as satin finish. This
photograph was printed on coarse
quality paper.
19
TAKE A CLOSER LOOK
Enlarge a section of the image to see the
original pattern on the photographic paper. On
the tool bar, click Zoom (short cut, Z), click on the image –
it will magnify every time you click. The pattern will
become visible all over.
20
CHOOSE A PATH
The next step is to reduce the pattern. Go back
to the paths we created earlier, click on the
Paths palette tab. Right-click on the path that covers the
area you want to work on, click Make Selection to select
the area. A filter can now be applied.
21
WHICH FILTER TO USE
23
GROOVY MAN!
24
BACK TO BLACK AND WHITE
The linear texture is impossible to remove but
it can be reduced. Apply the Motion Blur filter.
The angle and amount of blur can be adjusted. Click Filter
8Blur8Motion Blur then alter the angle and amount until
the selected area loses the grain. The image softens but
the detail remains intact.
IN FOCUS DIFFERENT EFFECTS
Invoke the psychedelic era. In the Curves
palette, move the graph up and down to form
a wave pattern with peaks and troughs using
Image8Adjustment8Curves (short cut, Ctrl + M). The
result is random and unusual.
@ SEND YOURS!
We want your faded, damaged
pictures today!
Send them in, we’ll fix them up for
free, show everyone how we did it
and send them back restored!
The sort of pictures we’re after
need to be decent photos which
have become damaged –
unfortunately we can’t make badly
composed/shot photos good.
■ Contact us via email, with a small
JPEG of the photo attached, and if
it’s right for the mag, we’ll get in
touch. How’s that for a bargain?
Email the following address:
@
[email protected]
22
DIFFERENT EFFECTS
Once the retouching is
finished, the tonal range can
be changed. Keep it as it was originally,
turn it to black and white or create a
funky background – the choice is yours!
DEFINITION
In the final picture,
the subjects are
defined so they
stand out from the
background. We can
now clearly see that
they are standing in
the kitchen
BACK TO THE PAST
The net curtains and
the hot water heater
are also recognisable.
The photograph looks
almost as fresh as the
day it was taken
To create a black and white print, open Image in
the Option bar, click Image8Adjustment8
Hue/Saturation (short cut, Ctrl + U), move the saturation
slider to the left and the colour will be removed.
DIGITAL CAMERA MAGAZINE 067
TUTORIAL BASIC SELECTING TECHNIQUES
YOUR GUIDE SIMON DANAHER
Simon Danaher is a digital artist specialising in Photoshop, compositing and 3D.
He is also a consultant, trainer and author. Simon has been working professionally
in the graphics industry for over six years, and is currently writing his second book
on professional graphics techniques
[email protected]
PORTFOLIO SIMON DANAHER
Basic selecting techniques
in Photoshop Elements
Selections are a vital part of the editing process in Photoshop and can seriously trip you up if they’re done badly.
Here we look at the basics of selections in Photoshop, how they work and how to make the most of them
L
ast issue we looked at basic selecting skills in
Photoshop and this month we will be
pushing things a little further with some
intermediate selection skills. As we’ve seen, making
selections is key to success in Photoshop. It’s such a
simple thing yet it presents a minefield of potential
disasters if not done correctly.
In this tutorial we will look at partially transparent
selections, gradient selections and more. A partially
TUTORIAL
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TIME TO COMPLETE
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MINS
CHANNELS
2
? EXPLAINED
CHANNEL
A special ‘layer’ in the Channel
palette that stores greyscale pixels.
These can be used to make
selections and masks and can
be saved as alpha channels in
certain file formats.
068
01
transparent selection is one that only partially protects
pixels. This means that rather than a filter being applied
to the selected pixels with 100% intensity, the effect is
only partially applied.
The great thing with these kinds of selections is that
the degree of transparency can vary over the selected
area, and in order to do this Photoshop has a very
simple relationship between pixel brightness and
selection. We’ve seen how you can use Quickmask
mode to paint a selection using black or white, where
black equals no selection and white is fully selected. In
fact, you can use any shade of grey, and the percentage
of brightness you choose will directly reflect the
transparency of the selection. Use 50% grey and the
selection will be 50% transparent, for example.
The key is to understand that pixels and selections
are interchangeable and where this is most evident is in
the Channels palette.
You can view a selected shape as pixels, by converting it from a selection into a channel - this
then enables you to make adjustments to it and store the shape for future use
CREATE A NEW DOCUMENT
The first thing we must do is make our
selection. Create a new document in
Photoshop, say 1,024 x 768 pixels with a white
background. Now we’ve talked about the Quickmask
function before. You can create a custom selection
by enabling Quickmask mode (the q key), filing it
with black and painting in it with white using the
Brush tool.
02
APPLY A NOISE FILTER
We can leave Quickmask mode, and there’s
our selection. Apply a filter such as Noise
through it and the filter is constrained to where we
painted. Simple. Notice, though, that the edges of the
effect fade out smoothly. Because we used a soft
edged brush the selection has a soft edge – we are
already creating a partially transparent selection
without realising it.
03
TURN A SELECTION INTO A CHANNEL
We can see what the selection looks like
by converting it into a channel: the
transparency values in the selection are converted to
white, black or grey pixels. With your selection still
active click on the Channels palette and click the ‘Save
Selection as Channel’ button. Click on the newly
created channel to view it. The selection has now
been converted into pixels.
;
5
0
NEXT MONTH
FILTERS AND HOW TO
USE THEM
EXPERT TIP
SIMON DANAHER
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
LAYER MASKS
A selection can also be saved as a
layer mask, just like a channel.
You can load any channel or layer
mask as a selection by commandclicking on it.
04
STORE AND REUSE
As well as showing its true pixels,
converting your selections into channels is
also a convenient way of storing them for re-use in
the future. (To convert a channel back into a selection
later on, you simply select it and click the ‘Load
Channel As Selection’ button at the bottom of the
Channels palette).
GRADIENTS
01
OPEN THE BABY PICTURE
04
LIGHTEN THE BACKGROUND
05
HARDEN UP THE EDGES
With the selection converted to a channel
(so they are now represented as pixels), you
can use Photoshop’s tools and filters to modify it. For
example, applying Levels to the channels you can drag
the black and white input sliders inwards to harden up
the edges. Don’t forget to drop the active selection
(command-d) beforehand though.
06
STYALIZE YOUR IMAGE
Now we can modify the edges, perhaps
making them grainy and rough by applying
the Styalize8Torn Edges filter. Once you’re happy with
the look you can load the channel as a selection (see
step 4) and use it any way you see fit – to make a
colour adjustment or to apply a filter through on an
image layer.
Making gradient selections is an essential skill, and it’s quite easy to do.
The steps below show you how to use the gradient tool
Open the file Baby.jpg from the CD. What
we want to do here is focus more strongly
on the mother and baby – particularly the mother’s
loving gaze. A gradient selection is very useful here
because enables us to modify the image in a specific
but seamless manner.
Load this channel as a selection (click at the
bottom of the channels palette). Back in the
Layers palette click the background layer to select it
(the rubylith disappears) and run Levels (command-l).
Now you can adjust the gamma slider to make the
mother and baby lighter than the background.
02
ADD A NEW CHANNEL
05
DARKEN THE BACKGROUND
In the Channels palette add a new channel
and choose the gradient tool. Now select
the new channel, then click the eye icon of the RGB
channel. This displays the channel and the RGB layers
together – the channel will display as a red rubylith
just like in Quickmask mode.
Alternatively you can make the background,
darker. In order to do this we must flip the
selection so that the mother and baby are protected by
the selection. Typing command-shift-i will invert the
selection, and then you can run Levels and reduce the
white output slider.
03
USE THE GRADIENT TOOL
06
GUASSIAN BLUR
In the Gradient tool options bar select
the Reflected gradient type, then use the
tool to drag diagonally from the centre of the image
to the top left hand corner. The gradient you draw
onto the image should end up looking similar to the
one shown above.
You don’t have to use Levels to get this
blurred effect – any Photoshop filter or
adjustment will do. Here we’ve used Gaussian blur to
blur through the gradient selection so that the look of
the background is softened. See the final file,
Blurred.jpg for the finished effect.
069
TUTORIAL WHITE BALANCE CORRECTION POST-SHOOT
YOUR GUIDE TIM DALY
Tim has written several books on photography including The Digital Photography
Handbook, The Digital Printing Handbook and The Desktop Photographer, and he
continues to write for The British Journal of Photography and AG. His photographs
have been exhibited across Europe
[email protected]
PORTFOLIO TIM DALY WEBSITE WWW.PHOTOCOLLEGE.CO.UK
Solving white balance errors
in Photoshop Elements
Colour casts can be caused by many different circumstances, but one of the most exasperating
results from an incorrect use of the white balance command in your digital camera
T
he human eye is completely self-correcting
when presented with artificial light, but
cameras are only designed to operate within
the colourless spectrum of natural daylight. This is why
you sometimes get strange coloured photos when
shooting under fluorescent tubes or domestic tungsten
lighting, unless the white balance is properly set. A
digital sensor in both digital and traditional cameras
provides invisible colour correction and compensates for
any imbalances in the visual spectrum. On more
advanced digital SLRs, the white balance function can be
used to tackle a wider range of problems and can be
TUTORIAL
KEY DETAILS
2
SKILL BOOSTER
5
2
2
2
TIME TO COMPLETE
5
MINS PER IMAGE
NEXT MONTH
Solving flash errors
NEUTRAL BASE
01
SPOT THE COLOUR CAST
Shot in natural light, this image should be a
neutral grey, but has turned out much
warmer than expected. With neutral coloured images,
it’s easy to see colour casts compared to spotting
them in more saturated colour areas. Do an
Enhance8Adjust Color8Color Variations command.
070
programmed to match a precise lighting condition,
measured in colour temperature on the Kelvin scale (K).
Colour controls in Elements
There are four ways of correcting image colour
imbalance in Photoshop Elements: the Auto Colour
Correction, the Colour Cast Correction tool, the Colour
Variations and the (least used) Levels command. Like all
tools in Elements and the full blown Photoshop, these
four controls appear to offer the same end result, but
will vary in their success depending on the condition of
the original image. The Auto Colour Correction offers a
one-stop command, with no dialog box and no tools to
vary the results. This works best on images which have
a mild colour cast, but proves much less reliable on
bigger problems. The Colour Cast Correction tool offers a
better chance to solve complex casts by using a dropper
tool to set new colour. The Color Variation dialog is the
easiest to use by far and the best place to start. It offers
three colour correctors and a useful lighten and darken
function without needing to move onto another dialog
box. The fastest method and the most reliable, after
some practice, however, is the hidden mid-tone dropper
control in the Levels dialog box.
The Color Variations command is easy to use and works well if the
original colour can easily be identified as a neutral shade
02
SET UP THE DIALOG BOX
Best results are achieved by applying colour
corrections to the Midtone areas. Don’t
overdo the amount of correction and have the Colour
Intensity Amount slider set halfway as shown. Click into
either of the six colour buttons and watch the After
preview image, top right, change.
03
THE CORRECTED IMAGE
Now neutral without being too cold, the final
result shows off details and delicate colours
absent in the original. The same Color Variations
command can be used creatively to warm up
images taken with a flash or cool down those shot
under an evening light.
AUTO CORRECTION
01
ORIGINAL WITH A BLUISH CAST
04
ORIGINAL WITH A MAGENTA CAST
This image of sand was shot under bright
sunlight, but with the wrong white balance
setting. Although much colder and bluer than
anticipated, this slight kind of colour imbalance is
easy to solve.
This image was shot in daylight with the
white balance set to correct fluorescent
lighting by mistake. Domestic and tube lighting gives
off a green light, so magenta is used to compensate.
Casts are easier to spot in mid–tone grey areas.
USING LEVELS
This can provide a one-click fix; but sometimes you’ll
need to make more detailed adjustments
02
USE AUTO COLOUR CORRECTION
05
APPLY THE ADJUSTMENT
The first step worth taking is to make an
Enhance8Auto Colour Correction command.
It’s essential to make sure that you haven’t made a
selection before applying this command, or the results
will apply to a smaller area and not the entire image.
Do Enhance8Adjust Color8Color Cast to bring
the dialog box into play. This prompts you to
click into the image using a tiny dropper tool, onto a
white, black or grey area. You’ll need to make several
attempts before it’s fully corrected though.
03
THE CORRECTED ORIGINAL
06
NEUTRAL COLOUR ORIGINAL
You’ll see pretty quickly whether this quick
fix control has solved the problem. The
original bluish cast is now removed, leaving a warmer
end result. If unsuccessful, reverse out with an
Edit8Undo command and try the next method.
After clicking the highlighted areas, this is
the result. It’s important to remember that
even a slight repositioning of your dropper tool will
result in a completely different colour change, but
keep on clicking until you find the right balance.
The Levels command works with a mid-tone dropper that
takes a neutral patch and adjusts colour accordingly
0
EXPERT TIP
TIM DALY
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
SHOOTING IN DIFFERENT
COLOUR SPACES
01
YELLOW STARTING POINT
Even though this image is mainly coloured
green, the bottom, left-hand area of
pavement is yellow rather than a neutral gray. Make
an Enhance8Adjust Brightness/Contrast8Levels
command to start the correction process.
02
USE THE MID-TONE DROPPER
Once open, click on the middle dropper tool,
in the bottom right hand corner of the
dialog. Next position this in the most neutral mid tone
area of the image and click. This command will
completely colour correct your image.
03
THE END RESULT
Now fully corrected, the same image
separates out different colours much better
than the original and has lost its former yellow cast. If
the process didn’t work first time, keep clicking the mid
tone dropper in a new area until it’s corrected.
The sRGB colour space is a universal
colour palette used in most digital
cameras, but better cameras can
be set to shoot in the Adobe RGB
(1998) space, which draws upon a
larger colour range. Professional
image editing software like Adobe
Photoshop enables you to manage
images produced under different
colour spaces and minimise the
visible damage. If your digital
images constantly lack colour or
brightness, then it’s worth
experimenting with the colour
space of your digital camera.
071
NEW SERIES GET STARTED WITH PAINT SHOP PRO
YOUR GUIDE JOE APICE
Joe has been a keen amateur photographer for over 20 years and trains
others in basic camera techniques. His work has been exhibited in local
galleries and he’s an avid user of Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop
[email protected]
PORTFOLIO JOE APICE WEBSITE HTTP://APICE.HOMESTEAD.COM/INDEX.HTML
Fixing dark photos
with Paint Shop Pro 7
If your photos are on the dark side, and you want to bring back the original brightness and detail,
Joe Apice shows you how, using PSP7 and a little common sense
TIPS GUIDE
KEY DETAILS
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SKILL LEVEL
8
2
2
TIME TO COMPLETE
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MINSPERIMAGE
NEXT MONTH
Making people look younger
H
alf the battle when trying to improve
an image is recognising what’s wrong with
it; the other half is knowing how to resolve
the problem. Although photo-editing software has
helped many photographers correct their mistakes,
we must keep in mind that Paint Shop Pro – like
so many other image-editing programs – is also
designed to enhance your photos. These programs are
not designed simply to replace the skill that goes into
taking a good picture.
Dark photos result when the amount of light reaching
the image sensor on your camera is insufficient. With
automatic cameras, this situation most often occurs on
sunny days, when the camera’s built-in exposure metre
is fooled by complex lighting conditions, such as when
there’s a mixture of bright sky and shadows.
There are two ways to fix this problem: at the
camera level, when you can adjust your exposure to
compensate for the lighting situation; and at the imageediting level, when you can use the photo-editing tools
that we’ll be discussing in this tutorial.
It’s important to remember that there are several
tools that can be used to fix dark photographs using
Paint Shop Pro. These tools include the Histogram,
DESIGN FEATURES
7TOOL SCHOOL
TOOL PALETTE
The Freehand Selection tool and
the Magic Wand are found in
the Tool Palette.
the Curves command, the Levels command and the
Layer Blend mode.
This month we will use some of the simpler tools,
and show you how to get some really professional
looking results.
Identify the light and dark areas in the image, determine what details you
want to bring out and select a staring point that will set the tone for the image
? EXPLAINED
AUTO EXPOSURE LOCK
If your camera has an Auto
Exposure Lock (AEL), you can
adjust the exposure by moving in
close to your subject and taking a
metre reading. Use the AEL
button to lock the exposure,
move back and recompose your
picture, then press the shutter
release. If your camera is not
equipped with an AEL feature,
the simplest way to highlight
shadows is to use your camera’s
built-in flash as fill light. The light
from the flash will fill the shadow
areas without affecting your
background. See your camera
manual for details on how to use
these features.
072
8
01
PREVIEW THE RAW IMAGE
In this example, the camera’s exposure metre
has been fooled by the complex lighting
conditions of the scene. The bright sky and light coloured
trousers of the boy’s uniform have caused underexposure.
As a result, the trees in the background have lost detail,
the grass has turned an ugly colour and there’s a shadow
over the boy’s face, caused by the baseball cap.
8
02
MAKE THE FIRST SELECTION
Blue skies add a natural colour balance to
photographs, so we want to enhance
the colours here. The sky selection is made with the
Magic Wand tool with the tolerance set to 15. We can
capture the entire sky in one click of the mouse. This
selection will also serve as the starting point for our
subsequent selections.
03
THE SKY IS BLUE
The Color Balance tool offers control over
the colour mixture and provides an ample
amount of colour saturation. Select the Color Balance tool
by choosing Colors8Adjust8Color Balance on the Main
Menu bar. Keep the settings in the dialog box at their
default values and slide the Yellow – Blue balance slider
all the way to the right to enrich the blue.
4
AUTO COMMANDS
IN MORE DETAIL
PRO RESULTS
The Auto Color Balance and Auto Contrast commands are not available in earlier versions
of PSP. To achieve similar results with the earlier versions of Paint Shop Pro, use Colors
8Adjust8Color Balance and Colors8 Adjust8Brightness Contrast
Natural and pleasing results can be obtained with a little
effort and some basic tools in Paint Shop Pro
* WEB LINKS
TUTORIAL WEBSITE
http://psp7tutorials.homestead.
com/index.html
04
INVERT THE SELECTION
07
LAWN CARE
With the sky selection still in place, choose
Selections8 Invert. This will enable us to work
on the remaining areas of the image to bring out the
details in the trees, grass and on the boy. You can feather
the selection to blend the colours. Choose Selections8
Modify8Feather and set the feather value to 3.
On the Main menu bar, choose Effects8
Enhance Photo8Manual Color Correction. In
the preview window, drag a rectangular selection as
shown to include the source colour. Next, select Grasses
for the category, and then click the arrow in the Preset
Colors box to bring up the colours.
05
BALANCE THE LIGHT
08
BRING OUT THE BOY’S FEATURES
On the Main Menu bar, select Colors8Adjust8
Levels. Click the Reset button in the lower
right-hand side of the panel to bring the sliders to their
default position. Next, move the middle slider to the left
until the details in the trees begin to show – a setting of
1.74 achieves the desired results.
With the Freehand Selection tool, select the
area around the boy’s face down to just below
the neckline. We also want to feather the selection using
the Selections8 Modify8Feather command and setting the
feather value to 3 pixels. Feathering the selection helps to
smooth out the colour transitions.
06
MAKE THE GRASS SELECTION
09
ADD COLOUR TO THE FACE
We can now begin to see the textures and
shadows of the branches and leaves. We want
the colours in the grass to be more vibrant because the
grass acts as a natural contrast against the boy’s uniform.
First, select the entire grass area around the boy as shown
using the Freehand Selection tool.
Add a colour tint to the boy’s face to help even
out the tone when we adjust the contrast. On
the Main Menu bar, select Effects8Enhance Photo8Auto
Color Balance. In the dialog box, move the slider to the
left until the Temperature value is 5541. Maintain the
other settings at their default position.
0
EXPERT TIP
JOE APICE
PAINT SHOP PRO EXPERT
HISTOGRAMS
10
HIGHLIGHTS AND SHADOWS
The Auto Contrast command helps to balance
the highlights and shadows in the boy’s
face. Select Effects8Enhance Photo8Automatic Contrast
Enhancement. In the dialog box, set the Bias to Neutral
and the Strength and Appearance to Normal.
11
LOOKING SHARP
Sharpen the image using the Unsharp
mask. On the Main Menu bar, select Effects8
Sharpen8Unsharp Mask. In the dialog box, adjust the
Strength setting between 50 and 100 until you achieve
the desired results. Here, a setting of 100 works well.
12
THE END RESULTS
PSP will help you create an image that will
rival those of pro photographers. For best
results, preview your photo, make accurate selections of
the areas you want to change and make the changes
gradually using the tools that give you the best control.
You can use the Histogram to
determine if there is enough detail
in an image to make corrections
possible, and what lightness
corrections need to be made. You
can open the Histogram window
by clicking the Histogram icon on
the standard toolbar.
073
NEW SERIES GET STARTED WITH PAINT SHOP PRO
YOUR GUIDE JOE APICE
Joe has been a keen amateur photographer for over 20 years and trains others in basic camera
techniques. His work has been exhibited in local galleries and he’s an avid user of Paint Shop
Pro and Photoshop
[email protected]
PORTFOLIO JOE APICE WEBSITE http://apice.homestead.com/index.html
Creating night moods
in your photos
If you have a photo that lacks mood, or maybe you just want to see it in a different light, Joe Apice shows you
how to create a bit more atmosphere using just a few basic tools available in Paint Shop Pro 7
TIPS GUIDE
KEY DETAILS
2
SKILL LEVEL
8
2
2
TIME TO COMPLETE
30
MINSPERIMAGE
NEXT MONTH
Making people look younger
T
7TOOL SCHOOL
he time of day that you decide to take a
picture is as important as the picture itself – it
determines the mood of your final image.
Photos taken early in the morning or late in the day will
produce long shadows and warm light and they are the
ideal times for landscape and scenic photography.
Night-time, when the moon is full, is another great
time to create atmosphere in your photos. Pictures of
dark streets and alleyways taken during the night give
an eerie feeling of suspense and drama – almost as if
someone is lurking in the shadows. Light gives life to
photographs, and capturing the exact moment when
the light is right requires a lot of planning and a lot
more patience.
On holiday, the day is filled with many activities and
often we don’t have time to set up our cameras and
wait for that special moment. So what can we do?
Well, with a little practice, we can achieve the same
results with Paint Shop Pro. For example, if you want to
photograph a scene, but it’s midday and the light is not
dramatic enough, try to imagine what the scene would
look like during the late afternoon, early evening or at
night. Angle your shot to include key elements that will
help you when you alter the image. Clouds are always
GET STARTED
Divide the image into parts, and identify the key elements in the scene that
will play a role in the manipulation of the image
8
TOOL PALETTE
The Lasso tool, the Magic Wand
and the Paintbrush tool are found
in the Tool Palette.
good for adding dramatic effects. Objects such as street
lights lend themselves well for night photos. Other
things such as waterways, streams and water puddles
can be manipulated to reflect areas of the scene and
bring a feeling of depth to the image.
8
3 IN DETAIL
COLOUR AND CONTRAST
The Auto Color Balance and Auto
Contrast commands are not
available in earlier versions of PSP.
To achieve similar results with the
earlier versions, use Colors8
Adjust8Color Balance and
Colors8Adjust8Brightness Contrast.
074
01
PREVIEW THE IMAGE
The image of this Venetian waterway was shot
at about 11am. Notice how the brilliant light
from the midday sun has lit the entire scene. There
appears to be a lot of detail but the image lacks mood,
which is often typical of photos taken at this time of day.
The elements that will play the key role in the transition
from day to night are the clouds, street lights and water.
02
MAKE THE SKY SELECTION
Select the sky using the Magic Wand. In the
Tool Option Palette, set the Magic Wand
tolerance to 15 and the Feather value to 0. Hold down the
Shift key and click the Magic Wand pointer at the empty
sky and then at the cloud patterns until the entire sky is
selected. Save the selection using the Selections8Save to
Disk command and name it ‘Sky and Clouds’.
03
SELECT THE WATERWAY
Use the Lasso tool in Freehand mode to select
the waterway. In the Tool Option Palette, set
the Feather value to 0 and trace around the edges of the
water as shown. Hold down the shift key when making
selections that are not contiguous. Save the completed
selection to disk using the Selections8Save to Disk
command and name it ‘Waterway’.
4
FURTHER
INFORMATION
ADDING EFFECTS
Manufacturers such as B&W, Heliopan, Hoya and Tiffen produce a variety of high
quality filters that create moods when used in color photographs. They include Orange
filters, Neutral Density filters, Sepia filters and Fantasy Color filters
Apply transitional effects to the image. These include darkening the shadow
areas, adding contrast and detail and turning on the street lights
* WEB LINKS
TUTORIAL WEBSITE
http://psp7tutorials.homestead.
com/index.html
04
DARKEN THE SKY
07
CREATE MOONLIGHT IN THE SKY
Load the Sky and Clouds selection back onto
the image using the Selections8Load from Disk
command. Bring up the Curves adjustment tool by
selecting Colors8Adjust8Curves from the Main menu bar.
In the Curves dialog box click the mouse pointer on the
centre of the grid and drag the line down as shown.
Load the Sky selection onto the image by
choosing Selections8Load from Disk8Sky and
Clouds. Select the Paint Brush tool and, in the Tool Option
Palette, choose a large brush size – around 150 – and set
the Opacity and Step values to 20. Make the foreground
colour black and brush the colour into the selected area.
05
DARKEN THE BUILDINGS AND WATER
08
ACCENTUATE THE SHADOWS BELOW
On the Main menu bar choose Selections
8Invert to select the rest of the image and
then bring up the Curves adjustment tool by choosing
Colors8Adjust8Curves. Drag the line from the centre of
the grid as shown or enter a value of 155 in the Input box
and 100 in the Output box.
Apply the same technique to the buildings and
the water with a higher opacity level. With the
sky selection in place, choose Selections8Invert on the
Main menu bar. Select the Paint Brush tool with the
Opacity value set to 45. Keep the same brush size and
apply black to the selected area as shown.
06
ADD CONTRAST TO THE WATER
09
ILLUMINATING THE STREET LIGHTS
Load the Waterway selection back onto the
image by choosing Selections8Load from
Disk8Waterway. Select Effects8Enhance Photo8Automatic
Contrast Enhancement from the main menu. Set the Bias
to Darkest, the Strength to Normal and the Appearance to
Bold to bring out the details and reflections in the water.
On the Main menu bar, select Effects8
Illumination Effects8Sunburst. Place the
crosshairs in the left-hand preview panel directly over the
street light. Set the Light Spot Brightness to 30; Circle
Brightness to 0; Rays Density to 20; and Rays Brightness
to 50. Keep the colour white or bright yellow.
0
EXPERT TIP
JOE APICE
PAINTSHOP PRO EXPERT
CURSORS
10
SHAPE THE LIGHT FALL
To produce the effect of light being shed onto
the pavement and water, a selection is made
to approximate where the light would fall. The selection is
feathered with a value of 60 – this diffuses the effect and
produces a more natural appearance.
11
BRIGHTEN THE SELECTED AREA
On the Main menu bar select Colors8
Adjust8Curves. In the Curves dialog box, first
click the reset button, then click the line at the centre of
the grid and drag it upwards at a diagonal until the Input
box reads 92 and the Output box reads 157, as shown.
12
THE FINAL TOUCHES
Create the illusion of light to some of the
windows and stars. Add the window light by
using the paintbrush tool set to 50% opacity and a dark
yellow colour. Add the stars by using the Paint Brush tool
with a brush size of 1 and the opacity set to 100.
When making tight selections, set
up your Tool Preferences to show
precise cursors. You can change the
cursor type by clicking the Cursor
and Tablet Options tab in the Tool
Option Palette. Press and hold the
Shift key to add to your selection;
press and hold the Ctrl key to
subtract from your selection.
075
TIPS DENEBA CANVAS 6
YOUR GUIDE NICK MERRITT
Nick has edited, managed and launched some of the UK’s leading
technology magazines, and has been writing about and using computers
for longer than he wants to admit
[email protected]
WEBSITE www.futurenet.co.uk
16 ways to edit an image
in Deneba Canvas 6
It's powerful, versatile and ideal for image editing, drawing, painting and web page creation. And it was on
last's month's coverdisc! Now discover how to make the most of it
TIPS GUIDE
KEY DETAILS
2
ON OUR DISC
Trial of Canvas 8 (Mac and PC).
For full version of Canvas 6, call
Back Issues on 0870 444 8470
2
SKILL BOOSTER
7
2
2
TIME TO COMPLETE
1.5
HOURS
W
hen we initially did the deal to get Canvas 6
on our CD, we did not realise just what a
flexible and powerful program it was. We
thought it was mostly a vector drawing program but
while this is true, that’s only a small fraction of its
abilities. Of most interest to digital photographers are
the image editing and website creating features.
In fact, the image editor built into Canvas is good
enough for most photo-orientated image purposes, with
image correction tools, support for Photoshop plug-ins
and effects filters, the ability to cut out and alter images
and support for layers. If you missed Paint Shop Pro with
issue 1, this will go along way to filling in that gap.
Anyway, that’s the hard sell – now for the tips.
NEXT MONTH
20 Picture Window tips
01 Flatten an image
As in Photoshop, if you have built up a number of Iayers
or a stack of paint objects on a single layer and you
wish to flatten (merge) your work into one single paint
object, then there is no specific command for this. What
you must do instead is select all the paint objects you
wish to merge and click Image8Area8Render to render
them into a new, single paint object. This will not
destroy your original paint objects; rather it will create a
brand new paint object from them and the originals will
remain unharmed.
02 Transferring a selection
Sometimes you will copy a paint object then create a
selection on one of the copies and realise you need to
use the same selection on the other copy. There is no
command or provision for loading a selection from one
paint object to another but there is a provision for
attaching and detaching a channel mask. Rather than
create a new selection from scratch and risk a
mismatch, simply save the selection as a new channel.
Then open the Channels palette and drag the new
channel downward into the channel mask slot.
Next click Object8Transparency8Detach Mask. Select
the other paint object and click Object8Transparency8
Attach Mask. In the Channels palette, drag the mask
from the channel mask slot upward into the alpha
channels area. You can now place the paint object into
edit mode and click Image8Select8Load, and the
selection will be available to load.
03 Applying global changes
to spot colours
Sometimes you will want to change a spot colour after
it appears in many places throughout the document.
Canvas does not maintain links to the objects using inks,
2 IMAGE EDITING
WITH CANVAS 6
Access the various controls via this
simple-to-use interface
01 File
Open and save files in the usual way. Use for
paintings, images and so on
02 Edit
Calibrate your colours here, or set up gamut warnings
03 Object
Use this to control layers and create/remove paths
04 Effects
Transform and Free Transform tools let you repair
converging verticals. Blend colours or add shadows
05 Image
Choose Greyscale, RGB, CMYK or Lab colours. Crop/trim
images, change resolution. Adjust contrast and balance.
01
02
03
04
05
MIKE’S SKETCHPAD Useful selection of tips for later versions of Canvas. See www.sketchpad.net
DENEBA HOMEPAGE Discover the hidden features and read some more tutorials at www.deneba.com
MORE TECHNIQUES Advanced Canvas techniques - http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/canvastools
4
THREE USEFUL
WEBSITES
PHOTOIMPACT
04
LAYERS AND OBJECT STACKS
TOOLBAR
It’s easy to lose track of the which layer you’re working on so keep track of your selections
Here’s a quick guide to
the tools mentioned on
these pages. You can
alter the overall view via
the Tile With... option
under Window.
Each layer has its own stack. When you issue
commands such as Bring to front, Send to back,
shuffle down and shuffle up, the commands affect
only objects on the current layer. When you begin
to work with multiple layers, you need to bear in
mind the effects of duplicating and moving objects
between layers. There can be little or no change
to the screen display, but there may be major
changes to your composition.
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
Working with Objects
Imagine you select and copy an object with
Edit8Duplicate. The duplicate object is in a stack of
two objects on layer 2. There are some important
points to be made here:
a) The duplicate is placed directly on top of its
original. If you want to select the original then you
need a means to select objects that lie directly
beneath other objects.
b) Immediately after duplicating the original
object it becomes unselected and the duplicate is
now selected so you need to be aware of which
object you are working with (there is no change
to the screen display).
Click the Send To Layers button on the toolbar or
click Object8Arrange8Send To Layers. A palette
will appear. Choose layer 1 and click Select. You
are only seeing the duplicate object mentioned
above. Everything above and below is hidden
while it’s selected. If you deselect all objects, the
original object will be showing again.
so changing them will not affect the objects to which
they are applied.
Instead of changing each object individually, use the
Find command for this purpose. First edit or create the
new colour you wish to use. Then click Edit8Find and
choose either the fill or pen attribute. A list of all the
colours used throughout the document will appear.
Choose the colour you wish to replace from the list and
click Select. Canvas will select all the objects having the
fill or pen ink chosen. Once the objects have been
selected, simply click the ink you wish to replace it with
in the Inks palette.
05 Store layers in default order
The default order in which layers are added and
numbered are from bottom to top. Layer 1 will be on
the bottom followed by layer 2, then layer 3 on the top,
etc. Images and their layers can be saved as individual
Canvas files which themselves can be reused and placed
into other Canvas documents.
When this is done, Canvas will place the layers in the
default order whether they were saved that way or not.
For example, if you create an image with the layers
numbered 1, 2 and 3 from the top down rather than
from the bottom up, Canvas will rearrange the layers
into the default order when the image is placed into
another Canvas document. To prevent this from
happening, always store layered images using the
Selection tool
Crop/Draw/Lasoo
Add text
Draw a rectangle
Draw a curved path
Draw an oval
Zoom
Opacity slider
Strokes/brushes
Pen ink tools
Flood fill
Manage your layers via the Document Layout palette under the Layout menu
default numbers and order to prevent confusion. You’ll
be glad you did.
06 Moving a Selection Marquee
In Canvas there is no tool to move a Selection Marquee
as such. But you can float a selection and make it
transparent. Here’s how. Make your initial selection then
click Image8Select8Float (that floats a copy of what’s
under it without disturbing the original pixels).
Then here’s the trick... pull up the Channels palette
and set the Floating Opacity value down to zero if you
want. Now you can see what’s under it while you move
it around. You can even use the arrow keys to nudge the
marquee a pixel at a time.
07 Prepare GIF and JPEG images for
the Net
Start by selecting all the objects for the image you want
to export as JPEG. Click File8Save As. In the Save As
dialog in the lower left corner there are two things to
check. First, click the Save Selection radio button, then
choose JPEG from the ‘Save as type’ pull down. Then
enter a filename. When done, click Save.
Next you will see the Render Image dialog. Choose
RGB Color for the mode and uncheck the Anti-Alias and
Mask check boxes. Click OK when done. In the Export
JPEG dialog, choose 100% quality. When you click OK
Canvas 6 will generate the file.
08 Work with Layers 1
In Canvas you can edit three kinds of documents –
illustration, publication and presentation documents.
Illustration documents contain sheets and each sheet is
composed of layers. Publications contain pages and each
page is composed of layers. Presentations are a series of
slides and each slide is composed of layers.
09 Managing Layers
Layers are managed in the Document Layout palette,
found under the Layout menu item. Click the plus sign
next to the sheet to reveal the default layer (below left).
On the bottom left side of the palette is a button to add
a new sheet. Click layer 1 to activate it (below right).
Notice that the button on the lower left side changes to
New Layer.
3 IN DETAIL
TOOLS
Right-click on a tool for more
options – for example, the tool to
the right of the selection tool on the
toolbar contains some 21 tools,
including crop, draw, erase, lasso,
airbrush, magic wand, eyedropper
and many more. Very impressive.
10 Adding a layer
Click the New Layer button (below left). Upon doing so,
Canvas adds a new layer and assigns it a number. Also
notice that adding the new layer also activates it
(highlighted grey). To activate a layer simply click the
layer in the palette. You can always tell which layer is
the current (active) layer by looking at the Document
Layout palette. The active layer is always highlighted.
11 Dragging layers
To rearrange the layers place the mouse pointer on a
8
077
TIPS DENEBA CANVAS 6
ONE-CLICK FIX Click visibilty bullets to hide layers (you can only hide layers that are not activated)
8
? EXPLAINED
CONTEXT MENU
The context menu can be used for
both selecting and editing. When
you need to edit an object in the
stack, use the Edit menu item to
avoid double-clicking the mouse.
Doing so would run the risk of
inadvertently repositioning the
object or activating a paint tool.
colour you wish to find and select it for replacement.
Next click Select. All objects filled with the chosen ink
will be selected. You are just a click away from assigning
a new fill ink.
layer then drag and drop the layer on its new location.
While dragging, the pointer turns into a grabber hand.
12 Hiding layers
You can also hide layers from view. Notice the eye icon
near the top of the palette. This is the visibility column.
Clicking the bullet in the visibility column toggles the
layer visibility on and off.
You cannot hide the current layer. To hide a layer, you
must first activate another layer. Hiding layers is a means
to select objects that lie directly under other objects. In
the Preferences palette is a setting for allowing objects
to be selected across visible layers. Hiding layers
prevents the selection and editing of objects.
13 Using the Find command
One of the most powerful ways to select objects is with
the “Find” command. Canvas enables you to select
objects based on their attributes. In the example below,
you can globally select and replace fill inks with the find
command: Click Edit8Find, then in the palette, select the
14 Creating new colours
In Deneba Canvas the Inks palette is the control centre
for the creation and management of colours. You can
load, append, save and clear new sets of colours,
gradients, textures, symbols and hatches as well as
modify existing sets.
Start by clicking the triangle on the left of side of the
Inks palette to reveal the Colour manager. Using the RGB
Bars, create a new colour. You will see a sample of the
colour in the preview box. Next drag the new colour
from the preview box into the colour inks grid with all
the other colours.
15 Use the Preferences
Modify the preferences by clicking File8Preferences. First,
in the General tab check ‘Select across visible
16 BRIGHTENING AN IMAGE
Use the Levels and Curves commands built into
Canvas to enhance your images
8
0
EXPERT TIP
NICK MERRIT
MANAGING EDITOR
EDIT MODES
01
GO INTO EDIT MODE
02
Click with any painting tool to place it in edit
mode. The first adjustment will be to the
brightness values across the entire image. Click
Image8Adjust8Curves.
layers’. This comes in handy when you have to select
and align objects across layers. The Drawing tab
enables you to duplicate an object and paste it directly in
front of the original. For this set the x and y coordinates
to zero in the ‘When duplicating objects offset’ section.
Note: you can also use Edit8Replicate using one copy
with an offset of zero and leave the default of 10 pixels
in this preference.
Next click the Painting tab and check ‘Anti-aliased
Canvas objects’ as well as ‘Anti-aliased clipboard’ to
make sure selections and text objects will be antialiased as a rule. Next click the Display tab and select
the ‘No preview’ radio button so transparent pixels in
bitmap objects display by themselves with a
checkerboard pattern.
There are some situations where anti-aliasing would
be undesirable and where using hard-edges would
actually work better. During image editing anti-aliasing
can leave unwanted halos (artifacts) around selections.
Be sure to remember to clean these up after moving or
cutting a selection.
8
CLICK TWO POINTS
We want to lighten the highlights more than
the shadows. Click two points on the diagonal
line as shown below. The red circle on the left is for the
shadows and the one on the right is for the highlights.
03
DRAG THE POINTS
Drag the left and right points upwards. The
right point is dragged higher than the left point
to lighten highlights more than shadows.The brass areas
look good but the dial still has some shadows.
Use the Edit menu item when
editing an item in the stack to
avoid double clicking.
PAINT OBJECTS
8
To edit an unselected paint object
at the top of the stack directly
under the mouse pointer, click on
the object with any paint tool. This
will put the object into edit mode.
8
CONTEXT MENU
The context menu can be used for
both selecting and editing. When
you need to edit an object in the
stack, use the Edit menu item to
avoid double-clicking the mouse.
Doing so would run the risk of
inadvertently repositioning the
object or activating a paint tool.
04
MAKE A SELECTION
To make adjustments to part of an image you
need to make a selection. Select the Oval
Marquee tool and with Windows Ctrl-Drag a selection from
the centre of the dial outwards (with Mac begin dragging
before pressing Control).
05
ADJUST THE SIZE
If the selection is too big or too small you can
adjust its size by clicking Image8Select8
Modify and choose either Expand or Contract. When you
are satisfied with the selection marquee, click Image
8Adjust8Brightness/Contrast.
06
FINISHED RESULTS
Click the Preview check box and drag the
contrast slider to the right to increase the
contrast slightly. This will brighten the highlights and
darken the shadows and will tend to make the
muddy areas disappear.
4
TUTORIAL USING ELEMENTS
WHY YOU’LL LOVE
THIS TECHNIQUE
This is a technique few people think to pursue, so you’ll add a totally fresh dimension to your work. You
can make the subject of a shot a lot more ambiguous, and perhaps use the result to inspire other kinds
of artwork. Who knows, maybe you’ll inspire someone else to experiment in this way too?
YOUR GUIDE SIMON DANAHER
Simon is a digital artist specialising in Photoshop, compositing and 3D.
He has been working professionally in the graphics industry for over six
years, and is writing a book on professional graphics techniques
[email protected]
BEFORE & AFTER POSITIVE TO NEGATIVE
Negative images
Creating black and white negatives and effects is something you might not have tried before.
You’d be amazed how great pictures can take on a new dimension with this technique
TUTORIAL
KEY DETAILS
2
SKILL BOOSTER
5
2
reating negative images is very simple in Elements and can be used to
create some striking variations of your favourite pictures. Given the right
subject matter a negative can be artistically interesting in its own right. But
as there is always more than one way to skin a cat in Photoshop and Elements we'll
have a look at the different possibilities on offer.
C
One of the great things, though, is that Elements gives you a huge amount of scope
for experimentation. The trick is to not get too carried away and to always keep in
mind roughly the effect you want to achieve. We'll look at making an interesting
negative black and white image from a colour one but also explore some different
effects using the same techniques.
TIME TO COMPLETE
20
MINUTES
2
0
EXPERT TIP
SIMON DANAHER
LAYERS
BLENDING MODES
01
CONVERT TO GRAYSCALE
05
BLEND MODES
Open the file rocker.jpg. There
are a few ways to create a
black and white negative of it. Firstly
use the Image8Mode8Grayscale
command. Now you can no longer use
any kind of colour in the file.
02
REDUCE SATURATION
06
DUPLICATE LAYERS
Another way to do this is to
keep the image in RGB mode
but add a Hue/Saturation adjustment
layer. By reducing the Saturation sliders
to -100% all colour is removed. This will
look slightly different to the first one.
03
DESTRUCT CREATIVELY
07
OVERLAY MODE
To destructively create a
negative of the image you
can select the background layer and
type command-i. This inverts the values
of the pixels on the layer creating the
negative of the image.
04
INVERT ADJUSTMENT
08
CREATE A SKETCH
Finally, you can use the Invert
Adjustment layer. Like all
adjustment layers it doesn’t affect the
actual pixels on the layers below, it acts
more like a filter that changes how they
look – in this case inverts them.
Difference and Exclusion blending
modes are very closely related;
always try them both as one
usually suits an effect better
than the other.
? EXPLAINED
GRAYSCALE
Tan image made up of only shades
of gray, with no colour.
Inverted adjustment enables
us to try different blending
modes. Here we've set the Invert layer
to Difference mode. This creates an
effect like Solarization – parts of the
image are inverted and others are not.
Duplicating the Invert layer
creates a slightly wild effect
caused by the interaction of the two
Difference blending modes applied to
the Invert adjustment layers. The effect
looks really digitally affected though.
Changing the lower of the
two Invert adjustment layers
to Overlay mode produces something
altogether more moody and interesting.
The girl's profile is plunged into shadow,
creating a silhouette on the window.
Going further we have
created a sketch-like look to
the image by adding yet another Invert
adjustment layer, set to the Exclusion
blending mode, then increased the
contrast using a Levels Adjustment layer.
079
SECTION #03 YOUR CAMERA
TECHNIQUE
CHOOSING DYNAMIC SUBJECTS
Some objects naturally produce striking photographs,
and the right composition makes all the difference
PAGE
TECHNIQUE
BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY
Tim Daly shows you the kind of pictures that benefit
from a stylish monochrome conversion, post-shoot
PAGE
Q&A
ALL YOUR CAMERA QUESTIONS ANSWERED
A plethora of technical questions for long time
digital photographer Aidan O’Rourke to tackle
PAGE
84
87
90
TECHNIQUE
CHOSSING DYNAMIC SUBJECTS
SEE PAGE 84
PAGE
PAGE
87
PAGE
88
90
Your camera
Expert guides to taking better pictures
f
Our mission is to ensure that our tutorials bring you creative
ideas, expert techniques, tips and quick fixes you can use in
your own work. Authoritative A leading professional in their
field writes every tutorial. Value added Where possible, we
Contact our tutorials team
include image files, and full or trial software so you can try
the tutorial for yourself, delivering a complete package.
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TECHNIQUE USING YOUR CAMERA
YOUR GUIDE TIM DALY
Tim has written several books on photography including The Digital Photography Handbook, The
Digital Printing Handbook and The Desktop Photographer, and he continues to write for The
British Journal of Photography and AG. His photographs have been exhibited across Europe
[email protected]
Shooting graphic
elements
There are many compositional techniques you can employ to make your
photo pack a bigger visual punch. Tim Daly explains how to further
increase your success rate by looking for dynamic subjects
ABOVE Shiny metal car bodies
give great reflections and can
be arranged into dynamic
compositions. This image was
shot from a low viewpoint
with a wide-angle lens to
emphasise the car lights
RIGHT With diagonals forced
into the corners of the picture
frame, this image looks much
more dynamic
084
G
raphic elements such as lines, squares,
arrows and lettering, combined with primary
colours, form the essential ingredients
for attention-grabbing photographs. It’s no coincidence
that road signs and symbols use clean colours and
bold shapes to get their message across safely and
without delay.
Geometric shapes exist all around us, but you have to
emphasise them with tight cropping and adventurous
viewpoints. The great American street photographers,
Robert Frank and Lee Friedlander, produced images
based on the signs and symbols of urban life in the
1950s and 1960s. Out on street level, and faced with so
many choices about which parts of the scene to include,
both photographers made careful compositional
judgements into memorable images.
Diagonals and lines
We live in a world where straight lines predominate
with straight-edged vertical buildings and straight lines
on the pavement. Diagonal lines are rarer and much
more likely to grab our attention when captured in a
photographic composition. When out on location, try to
organise diagonal lines in your viewfinder by moving
your own shooting position – either by shooting from
slightly above or by raising one side of the camera
higher than the other. This will have the effect of
pushing lines and shapes towards the corner of your
4
FURTHER
INSPIRATION
Use your software Crop tool to re-design your images and you may find that they look stronger
as squares or in the panoramic format. In complex compositions, you may even discover that
you can pull out two separate images from one original image file
LEFT At close range, primary colours can make an
appealing image, even out of seemingly
throwaway objects
example, the fast-disappearing worlds of traditional
railways and docks are crammed full of fantastic graphic
signs and details that evoke the golden age of
engineering. Close-up details of ironwork, rivets and
complex mechanics can offer worthy photographic
subjects when shot in natural light.
With seemingly ordinary subjects, your first attempts
can be less than perfect because you haven’t been
adventurous enough with your viewfinder crop. Don’t be
afraid to omit important bits of a subject if it makes a
stronger design. You can improve the composition of
your images at a later stage by using the Crop tool in
your image-editing program.
How much information do you really need in order to
identify a shape or subject? Much less than you think.
Close-up photographs can make a kind of visual puzzle
where it can take a little while to identify the source of
the subject. Close-up textures taken from man-made
objects – particularly bright colours – can form a good
project or series. Why not visit a scrap heap, fairground
or classic car event? These examples can provide plenty
of unusual photo opportunities.
viewfinder frame, producing visually stronger results.
Armed with the luxury of an LCD playback, you can
easily compare different crops or experiments while still
out on location. If your camera has a zoom lens, try
using it at its wide-angle setting for a more distorted,
but dynamic picture.
When shooting with a wide angle, lines and shapes
become flexible – especially at close quarters – so you
can make a more interesting image. Professional studio
and industrial photographers often use a wide-angle
lens to create graphic images of seemingly uninteresting
products and industrial equipment.
Primary colours
Primary colours are visually striking and always make
great photographs – especially if shot under bright
sunlight. When combined with primaries, complex
and interlocking graphic shapes demand all the
photographer’s attention and skill in order to juggle the
conflicting elements to make a strong image.
Like a jigsaw, brightly coloured graphic images are
broken into many colour compartments and can need
several attempts before the right composition is found.
Always shoot around your subject until you’ve found the
right angle of view and composition – even a slight
repositioning of the camera to the left or right can give
a radically different result.
Signs and symbols
Style and design
If you’re excited by the design and look of a finely-tuned
vehicle, then photography is the perfect way to pay
homage. Badges, logos, engines and body details can all
be captured in graphic single frames to glorify the
unique style of the shape. If you want to get in close, it’s
a good idea to use a wide-angle lens because it will
;
5
NEXT MONTH
SHOOTING A PHOTO
DOCUMENTARY
create exciting, distorted shapes and enable you to force
together seemingly unconnected parts into a much
more striking image.
Headlights, wheels and shiny tubular elements make
great photographic details that can really emphasise the
style of the period. Rather than use a macro lens at
close range, better results will be achieved using a super
wide-angle setting or wide-angle lens adaptor close up.
There’s always the danger that at such close range you’ll
spot your own reflection in a shiny surface or metallic
detail, but this can be removed with the Clone Stamp
tool in most digital image-editing applications.
Vintage style
With many vintage and classic car associations meeting
on a regular basis, access to stylish machines has
never been easier. A great idea for making graphic
shots of cars is to complement them with a style that
reflects the period. When taking this kind of picture,
select an appropriate background behind your subject,
making sure all modern elements are kept out of the
picture frame. Telegraph poles, television aerials and
street signs date an image, and may ruin the effect you
want to achieve.
After shooting your source material, consider
mimicking the look and feel of a vintage photograph by
digitally toning the image a rich sepia or light blue using
the Colorize command in Photoshop’s Hue/Saturation
dialog box.
Tilting your camera
There’s no golden rule stating that verticals always have
to be kept vertical. Tilting your camera is a good
technique to use for creating a dynamic diagonal.
3 IN DETAIL
CONSTRUCTION SITE
If you’re stuck for ideas, check out
the photographic work of Alexander
Rodchenko. Part of the Russian
Constructivist art movement,
Rodchenko’s photographs are
shot from the most unusual
viewpoints like a bird’s eye view
and a worm’s eye view. His best
images distort portraits into curious
shapes because of the very low
viewpoint he used, and the way he
represented ordinary people as
statue-like hero figures.
Even the most mundane subject can make a worthy
shot when it’s turned into an abstract or simple colour
study. Many subjects have their own unique symbols
that can make a fascinating documentary project. For
LEFT Close-up shots of signs and symbols like this
number on the side of a fishing boast can add detail
to a larger photo essay
085
* WEB LINKS
LEE FRIEDLANDER
www.masters-ofphotography.com/F/friedlander/f
riedlander5.htm
Check out the master of American
street photography and view his
complex compositions.
ALEXANDER RODCHENKO
www.masters-ofphotography.com/R/rodchenko/r
odchenko4.html
The great Russian photographer and
artist made a virtue out of shooting
his photographs from the most
inventive angles of view.
WILLIAM KLEIN
www.masters-ofphotography.com/K/klein/
klein2.html
Where other photographers looked
for inanimate shapes to base their
designs on, Klein used the hurly
burly of people in the city for his
stunning work.
@ SEND ’EM IN!
@
Try out the techniques in this article
then send us your photos. We’ll
print the best each month. Email us
at the following address:
[email protected]
086
RIGHT Natural subjects can benefit too from the
same kind of approach as, as this carefully organised
study of textured rocks shows
Simply lower one of your hands and hold the
camera until you’ve got a line running from one corner
of your frame to the other. Although it’s possible to
reproduce the same effect with the Rotate tool in your
software application, you can end up discarding a large
quantity of the original pixels, leaving less data available
to print out.
When focusing on subjects above your eye level,
try tilting your camera to rearrange lines and shapes
until you’ve made a stronger composition. You can
pull one side of the camera towards you to create an
exaggerated perspective that will be more dynamic
when shot with a wider lens. When making this kind of
adjustment, don’t forget that you may need to set a
new point of focus.
Architectural subjects
Contemporary architecture is another great subject to
photograph. Try out some graphic picture-making
techniques in conjunction with your zoom lens fixed on
its telephoto setting. Designed on paper by architectural
designers, most new buildings offer a stunning mixture
of lines, shapes and colours waiting to be interpreted
and arranged by your camera lens.
For far-off buildings – or those too high to reach – try
using your zoom lens on its longest telephoto setting.
This will help to crop out any unwanted elements
that cause a visual distraction. This creates interesting
effects because of foreshortening – where the actual
physical distance between objects appears reduced.
Used in the built-up surroundings of a busy modern
city, foreshortening can really emphasise the fight
between different structures for dominance.
When shooting this kind of subject, try to find a
viewpoint well above ground level, so you can shoot
across the city rooftops to capture a greater sense of
distance. Wide-angle lenses in this situation push your
nearest subjects much further away in the viewfinder
and make them seem smaller and less significant.
Viewfinder cropping
Many digital compact cameras are fitted with a
rangefinder window on the side of the camera body,
to help you compose your photograph. Set slightly to
one side, the rangefinder window can show more
of a subject than you will end up with when it’s
printed out. Be wary of framing your photograph too
tightly to the edges of your viewfinder, as peripheral
details may not be recorded. It’s much better to step
back a bit or set your lens to a slightly wider angle and
leave a visible space at the edges. With non-viewfinder
cameras such as digital SLRs and those with a
camcorder-type LCD viewfinder, less cropping mistakes
are made out in the field.
ABOVE A telephoto lens is the perfect tool to use for
comparing different subjects in the same shot. This
example contrasts an older building with a shiny
modern office block
LEFT With one side at close range, a tilting composition
can lead your attention from the near edge to the far
edge of the picture
Seeing the world
in monochrome
Don’t despair about lack of colour and strong sunlight during the cold winter months – get out
and shoot some moody black and white photos instead. Tim Daly shows you how…
ABOVE A low contrast
treatment can make an image
look historic, and can be used
to emphasise gentler subjects
FAR RIGHT Monochrome is an
ideal way to record a gritty
documentary subject and
focuses attention on reallife situations
S
hooting with black and white film has long
been established as the all-time favourite with
traditional photographers. In the digital era,
monochrome photography has even more potential.
Conventional back and white photography has
developed over the past century and a half as a craft
skill rather than just a technical picture-taking process. At
the darkroom stage, photographers can reinterpret an
original negative in many different styles. Contrast, tone
and colour tints can be applied to an image to enhance
flat lighting and bring out lurking textures that wouldn’t
be revealed in a machine-processed print.
Apart from the real skill in the post-production of
stylish black and white photography, you have to be able
to spot potential monochrome images when strong
colours are largely absent. When natural light is dull and
your subject colours don’t exactly sing out loud, a
monochrome interpretation can add warmth and punchy
contrast to the most mundane situations.
Although many digital compacts offer an additional
sepia shooting option, this is really just a crude RGB
image with a brown tint attached. A better option is to
shoot using normal RGB colour mode, followed by a
conversion process in your image-editing application.
With a comprehensive assortment of tools for converting
colour to black and white, it’s not necessary to start with
a monochrome original.
Even if you’re shooting conventional film and using a
film scanner to convert negative into digital files, it’s
better to shoot colour negative rather than panchromatic
black and white film stock. In addition to having the
option to print in colour or monochrome, starting with a
colour film or digital original gives you the valuable asset
of original colour values that you can remix and
rebalance before conversion takes place.
Pictorial and realist
photographic techniques
There are two opposing black and white photographic
styles that have developed into popular ways to work.
The pictorial style is based on seeing the innate beauty
in the world around us and converting this into visually
087
LEFT A pictorial treatment works best with a
landscape subject such as this composition, which
contrasts different and subtle textures
pictorial and make a virtue out of subtle and delicate
image tones.
The realist style is based on seeing things as they are,
and not dressed up to look better or more palatable
for the viewer. In a style often used by newspaper
photojournalists and based on clear, contrasty and
graphic statements, hard-hitting black and white images
don’t pull any punches, and can look stylish in their
own, unique way.
Yet you don’t need to live near an awesome
landscape or the gritty reality of an inner city to apply
these styles to your own work.
Looking for subjects
attractive images. Pictorial photographers have been
around since the birth of the medium
in 1839 and take great effort to find rare subjects,
events or scenes that can be captured and preserved
before they disappear. Most great landscape images are
3 IN DETAIL
PRINTING BLACK
AND WHITE
Although most inkjet printers offer
the option to print in black ink only,
much better results can be made
using all your ink colours in colour
printing mode. Using a single ink
colour, your printer will have its
resolution cut to a quarter or a sixth
of its full potential and will give you
speckly and coarse contrast results.
Although it can be difficult to make
a monochrome print that is castfree using colour inks, slight colour
casts are easily removed using the
colour control slider in your colour
printing software. For a really
special kind of printing, consider
using one of the Lyson Small
Gamut inksets – cleverly designed
cartridges that are charged with
neutral monochrome or toned inks
for top-quality black and white
output. Check them out at
www.lyson.com
088
Where colour photography is a chocolate box of
different visual treats, black and white is about light
and its stunning effects. Many photographic situations
don’t present the photographer with a rich and varied
selection of colour and, at worse, they are insipid
and uninspiring.
With a black and white conversion in your imageediting application, undesirable colours can be removed
and replaced with a punchier tonal range for a better
visual effect. Colour can easily date a photograph to
a particular year or time of the year, but this can
be removed by a simple change to monochrome
for a more timeless and classic feel. It’s very hard
to visualise a black and white photograph while
shooting on location, but you’ll get great quality results if
you concentrate on some or all of the following
essential elements.
Subtle contrast subjects
The difference in shades of grey arranged between the
black shadow and white highlight point is called contrast
in traditional photography, and brightness in digital
imaging. Pixel brightness can be made darker and
lighter simply, and this enables the user to separate and
enhance different areas of the image to create a totally
different visual balance.
Unlike straight colour photography, where little
tonal manipulation can occur without looking invented,
black and white interpretation can be highly
individualistic. With a good mixture of pure black and
white and a full range of greys in between, an image
with a subtle contrast presents a seamless jump from
highlights to shadows.
Software controls like Levels and Curves are ideal for
putting proper black and white points into a low contrast
image, and can be used to shift the balance of the midtone greys. In addition to correcting low and high
contrast images, software tools can give the user an
opportunity to express their creative ideas through the
printed end-product. Subtle contrast with a colour
BELOW Bland colour images can easily be made
more interesting after a straightforward conversion
from RGB to Grayscale mode
4
FURTHER
INSPIRATION
Famed for his portrayal of the indigenous European people, Josef Koudelka’s B&W approach is unique.
With a strong belief in the power of photography to bring attention to social injustice worldwide,
Sebastiao Salgado produces timeless B&W shots. (Find more info at www.masters-of-photography.com)
;
5
NEXT MONTH
BETTER TRAVEL
PHOTOGRAPHY
TOP The Duotone dialog box offers the opportunity
to exercise infinite control over monochrome image
tone using Curves
RIGHT This image was toned using Photoshop’s
Duotone image mode and shows a delicate mix of
different colours
change to enhance your images can be produced
using Photoshop’s versatile Duotone mode, where up to
four colours can be assigned to precise tonal sectors in
an image.
Once loaded and manipulated into shape, duotone
images can rival the most skillfully toned photographic
print ever made in the darkroom. Best of all, you don’t
need to be an expert using Curves to control contrast
because Photoshop comes armed with loads of premixed duotone colour recipes. You can apply the colours
directly to your images by pressing the Load button in
the Duotone dialog box.
High contrast subjects
When strong whites and blacks are present with very
few accompanying grey tones, the result is said to be
high contrast. Best suited to strong shaped subjects, high
contrast effects enhance lines, edges and textures and
are the way to get a bit of realism into your work. The
end result of a high contrast print is usually a strong,
graphic image that attracts attention. As a by-product of
the process, finer details found in mid-tone grey areas
disappear, so this kind of style is best used when you
don’t require a delicate image.
High contrast subjects are usually found under bright
sunlight, but excessively high contrast can be challenging
to print out on a desktop inkjet because darker grey
areas fill in and reproduce as black. This style is a good
way to shoot a photo story out on location, particularly if
it’s based on a strong issue or theme and is an excellent
way to shoot portraits in the natural light.
Low contrast
With no black or white, the low contrast image is
derived from an expanded range of greys and can be an
expressive and atmospheric way to interpret a subject.
With a softness associated with vintage photographic
processes such as platinum and carbon tissue, the low
contrast image can be very effective on portraits and
flower subjects.
Spotting potential images for the vintage treatment
can be tricky at first, but keep a close eye on background
details, such as telegraph poles, street signs and parked
cars, as these will date a picture. When shooting
standard RGB colour mode images with your digital
camera, you’ll need to change the tonal range of your
image after uploading it to your computer by using the
ABOVE Three ways to convert from RGB to monochrome are as follows: mode change to Grayscale is shown
second from the left; change to Lab mode third from the left, and a Channel mixer conversion at the far right
Output scale in your Levels dialog box. By pulling both
highlight and shadow points towards the centre, you’ll
make the darkest areas of the image dark grey instead
of black and change any white highlights into a flatter,
light grey.
Converting to black and white
After shooting your colour originals, Photoshop offers
three ways to make the conversion from colour to
monochrome, but only one involves the seemingly
obvious Grayscale mode. After switching your mode
from RGB to Grayscale, your results will always look flat
and lack any vibrancy that was present before the
change. Once changed to Grayscale mode (incidentally,
producing identical results to making a Desaturate
command within the RGB mode), there are no colourediting tools available for you to use. For a punchier
conversion, try converting your RGB colour image into
the little-used Lab mode.
In Lab mode, colour and image lightness is kept
separate in three different channels: one for lightness
and two for colour. Open the Channels palette and drag
both colour channels into the wastebasket, leaving a
brighter monochrome lightness channel image that can
be converted back to RGB for colour editing. The third
and most versatile way to make a conversion is to use
the Channel Mixer command – found in both Photoshop
and Paint Shop Pro – to alter the balance of image
colours before making a monochrome end product. The
Channel Mixer offers you the chance to make image
colours lighter and darker than they were in the
original, much in the same way as black and white
photographers use deep colour filters to make blue skies
appear black, and green foliage to appear white.
@ SEND ’EM IN!
Try out the techniques in this article
then send us your photos. We’ll
print the best each month. Email us
at the following address:
@
[email protected]
089
PHOTO HELP Q&A
YOUR GUIDE AIDAN O’ROURKE
Aidan O’Rourke is a freelance photographer who’s worked with digital imaging
and photography since 1994. He created ‘Eyewitness in Manchester’ (part of
Manchester Online, the Manchester Evening News website), the largest online
source of photo and info about Manchester. See the URL opposite for more
details on Aidan’s digital photography seminars around the country
[email protected] (camera queries only)
WEBSITE www.aidan.co.uk/seminars
All your camera
questions answered
Send all your technical questions to Aidan at [email protected] and he’ll do his best to help…
2
2
QUESTIONS
ANSWERED
CAMERA USE
USING A CARD READER
MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY
INSTALLING PLUG-INS
MEMORY CARD SIZES
IMAGE EDITING
REMOVING RED EYE
IMAGE MANAGEMENT
MAKING A PANORAMA
SHARING IMAGES
CONVERGING VERTICALS
PRINTERS
PRINTER PROBLEMS
MEDIA
BOOKS
WEBSITE
090
090
092
093
090
091
092
092
093
093
093
091, 093
Photo
Help
090
ADVANTAGES OF USING A
CARD READER USING A CARD READER
CAMERA USE
■ BEGINNER
I have a FujiFilm FinePix 4800.
Q What advantage is there to be
gained from using a card reader? I just
plug the cradle into my PC and the
pictures go straight in – the cradle is
plugged into the mains so I can’t see
any advantage in having one.
Roy Turrell
I can think of many situations
when you might be glad of a
card reader:
1) When your camera battery is
low, and you don’t want to use any
more power while you are transferring
your pictures.
2) When your battery is dead, and you
don’t have another to hand.
3) When you’re using a borrowed
camera, and you don’t have the
compatible USB cable.
4) When you’ve lost your precious USB
cable, and your supplier doesn’t have
any in stock.
5) When you’re using several memory
cards, and you wish to download from
them one after the other without
having to open and close the camera.
6) When you’d like to continue
photographing with the camera while
downloading – only a card reader
enables you to do this.
A
The card reader has saved my bacon
on many occasions and, considering
some of them cost less than £30,
they are excellent value for money. I’d
recommend you buy one and keep it
in reserve.
2
INFORMATION ABOUT
MACRO CAPABILITIES
CAMERA USE
■■ INTERMEDIATE
I am looking for a generalpurpose camera and can
spend up to £400. I want to do macro
photography, but I can’t find any
information about how close I can focus
with any of the digital cameras, in any
of the camera reviews I’ve read. I
usually fill the full viewfinder with
about 2-10mm objects, but sometimes
they are as large as 40mm.
Max D Freier
Q
The information regarding the
macro capabilities of digital
camera lenses should be listed in
the technical specifications. Just
go to the camera manufacturer’s
website or other resource, and
download the specs, which are often
in PDF format. Study them carefully –
it’s an essential part of choosing a
camera. If the camera has macro
capabilities, it should be mentioned
there – it might not be mentioned in
a camera review.
I recommend the Nikon Coolpix
range of cameras, which have
excellent macro capability, with an
ability to focus on a subject as little
as a couple of centimetres away.
Macro photographs give us a
marvellous view of small objects,
whether they be flowers, jewels,
coins or other subjects. You’ll see
truly amazing details revealed that
wouldn’t easily be visible to the
naked eye. The Nikon macro facility
is one of the best, but you’ll also
find it on other cameras – keep your
eyes peeled!
2
REMOVING RED EYE
IMAGE EDITING
■■ INTERMEDIATE
Unfortunately I missed the
first issue of Digital Camera
Magazine, which had an article about
how to remove red eye in photos. Is it
possible to use Photoshop 5.5 to
remove red eye? If not, can you
recommend any other software
program that I can use?
Darren
Q
A
The Macro setting enables you to see things that are normally too small for the naked eye to see.
In this case, I positioned the Nikon Coolpix camera close up to my laptop screen, revealing the
luminous red, green and blue strips
8
ONLINE PHOTO RESOURCE REVIEW
www.ephotozine.com
Content www.ephotozine.com is an online digital
photography magazine, which offers news, reviews,
forums, tutorials and lots more. It’s aimed at people
Red eye is a recurring problem.
There are different types of
red eye and various methods to fix
it. In fact, a whole book could be
written on the subject. Many imageediting packages offer ‘quick fix’ redeye correction, which works by
automatically selecting the area of red
and desaturating it to grey.
The results often look unnatural
because there is still a glow visible in
the eyes. To fix red eye properly, you
have to spend a little more time. I
have two main methods of fixing red
eye (see the box opposite). They can
be used in any photo-editing program
that uses Layers, including Photoshop
versions 5 to 7 and Paint Shop Pro.
A
2
interested in digital photography, at all levels of expertise
and experience. The website is the brainchild of highly
experienced editor and journalist Peter Bargh. The
reviews are friendly in tone, readable and informative. It’s
an online ‘zine’ with a personal touch.
2 TWO WAYS TO ZAP RED EYE
The essential task is to turn the red area of the pupil to black, while preserving the light reflection
PERFECTIONIST
First draw a circular area over the
reddened pupil. To give precise control
over size, use the circular Marquee
tool, holding the Shift key down to
constrain it to a circle. It should be
about the same size as, or slightly
larger than, the affected pupil.
Using the Paint Brush or Paint Bucket,
tools fill the circle with black. The eye
now looks much better, but we
have hidden the catch light. How can
we restore it? You can try painting
one of your own but it will not look
convincing – try it!
Instead, select the catch light from the
background layer using the Magic
Wand, which should be set to antialiased. The Marquee encloses the
white area, plus neighbouring pixels.
Now paste in the selected area,
creating a third layer – it’s satisfying to
see the catch light appear and the eye
look natural again. Gain extra pleasure
by toggling between the ‘before’ and
‘after’ states using the Layer ‘on’ and
‘off’ button!
Paint around the edge of the pupil
using a sample taken from the
neighbouring colour. Make a new
layer set to Colour and paint using
the Brush tool. Select the remaining
red area and using Image8Adjust8
Hue/Saturation, desaturate it to grey.
Make the pupil look natural by
reducing the opacity to 80%, allowing
a little of the desaturated iris colour to
show through. Finally, a small amount
needs to be shaved off the top of the
pupil in line with the upper eyelid.
PHOTO-MANAGEMENT
SOFTWARE
IMAGE MANAGEMENT
■■ INTERMEDIATE
I’m interested in organising my
photos before I’ve got too many
to keep track of them. I want to be able
to catalogue them in at least six
different ways: category, subject,
location, quality, source, nature of
modification, as well as using EXIF
information.
Dennis Waite
Q
There are many photoorganisation programs that
enable you to sort and browse
through your photographs. They all
perform basically the same task,
which is to display thumbnail
versions of the photographs, giving
you an overview of your collection.
You can enter extra information,
enabling you to classify and search
for specific photos more easily. One of
the most impressive is iPhoto,
bundled free with Macintosh
computers. Photoshop 7 includes an
image browser, which enables you to
access EXIF information.
On more thing: before going onto
invest time and money in a photomanagement program, think carefully
about filenames.
A
QUICK-FIX
?
EXPLAINED
INTERPOLATION
Open the file and duplicate the layer,
so you have two copies of the photo,
one on top of the other. Desaturate
the background layer using
Image8Adjust8Hue/Saturation to
remove colour from the picture,
including the red in the eyes.
Go back to the upper layer and, using
the Delete tool with the brush set
approximately to the size of the
pupil, make one or two clicks to
reveal the desaturated or grey
version underneath. Make a 'hole'
with the Eraser brush using just a
click or two.
Go down to the background layer and
use the Levels control (Image8
Adjustments8Levels) to darken it.
Drag the slider until the grey has
turned nearly to black. The whole
layer has been darkened, but we can
only see the pupil through the ‘hole’
we’ve made in the upper layer.
Interpolation takes place when
picture information from individual
pixels is reprocessed and
recombined to make a larger or
smaller image – that is, one with
larger or smaller pixel dimensions
than the original. On some digital
cameras, the picture information is
interpolated upwards to create an
image with larger pixel dimensions.
091
PHOTO HELP Q&A
EMAIL AIDAN! Send your digital photography queries to Aidan at [email protected] This email address is for technical problems only. See page 3 page for other problems
V TECH FOCUS
THE FUJIFILM 3RD
GENERATION SUPER CCD
What is it? FujiFilm’s 3rd Generation
Super CCD (charge coupled device)
takes digital camera technology
further by radically altering and
improving the design, layout and
functionality of the conventional CCD.
This is the third incarnation of the
product since it was launched in
1999. The Super CCD delivers a
choice of resolutions – 1m, 3m and
6m (1,280 x 960, 2,048 x 1,536 and
2,880 x 1,920, respectively), and
performs exceptionally well at low
light conditions. It also delivers VGA
size full motion video.
How it works: Those ingenious
designers at FujiFilm did a total
rethink of the existing CCD, and
decided to rotate the entire array of
photo sensors by 45 degrees. Using
this arrangement, and by making
them octagonal, more of them can
be packed into the same area,
providing more detail. The Super
CCD’s processing technology takes
the output from this diagonallyaligned array of sensors and
interpolates it into a digital image
with pixels arranged in the standard
way, horizontally and vertically. The
Super CCD can achieve great low
light results by using the output of
sensors grouped into four. Four
sensors in theory gives you four
times the amount of light. The ‘four
into one’ low-light feature – up to
1600 ASA – is used with the 1,280 x
960 (1M pixels) picture size. There is
noticeable noise, but the results are
usable. Clear and vibrant 640 x 480
video is achieved in a similar way.
2
INSTALLING PLUG-IN
FILTER EFFECTS
CAMERA USE
■ BEGINNER
Please can you explain how to
install and use plug-in filters and
effects. I understand that many of these
are produced for Photoshop and
Photoshop Elements. I often see them
referred to, but it’s often assumed that
we all know how to use plug-ins – I feel
fairly sure this is not the case!
Roland Williams
Q
Plug-in filters add extra
A functionality to a basic program,
extending its capabilities. They are often
written by independent developers and
2
JOINING PICTURES TO
MAKE A PANORAMA
IMAGE EDITING
■■ INTERMEDIATE
I would like to make panoramic
pictures by joining several
pictures together. Is it possible to do
it manually?
Paul Marquez
Q
There are many software
packages available for making
panoramas, but often I prefer to join
together the images myself. Place the
photos you wish to join together on two
separate layers so they overlap, then
carefully delete the upper layer to
reveal other one underneath.
I’ve taken an example – two
images that have been joined
together in the box below.
A
2
SHARING IMAGES VIA
THE WEB
CAMERA USE
■■■ BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE
People often send me huge
image attachments that
take ages to download. Is there
Q
anything I can do to prevent them?
Bernard Longley
This can be quite a problem.
Many people unwittingly
send me enormous image files that
would tie up my phone line for half
an hour or more. I have discovered an
easy way to ‘zap’ the offending
attachments before they even reach
my in-box – using my Internet Service
Provider’s webmail service.
There are different names for it
but, basically, you can view your
incoming messages online before
downloading them, and if there are
any you’d rather not receive –
particularly those with over-sized
attachments – you can delete them. If
you have broadband, then those
huge and unwanted image
attachments will download quickly
A
2 JOINING PHOTOS TO MAKE PANORAMAS
Photos captured on the FujiFIlm FinePix F601 with Super CCD
(See the portfolio photo on page 88, which consists of ten images joined together)
Here are the two pictures we are about
to join together. Note the similar
areas at the neighbouring edges of the
two photos.
Before we join any photos to make
a panorama, we need to rotate
them so the horizon is absolutely
horizontal in both pictures. Use Edit8
Transform8Rotate.
Use a guideline to check the horizon is
true. You can drag it down from the
Ruler area at the top. The correct
rotation in this case is -1.5 degrees.
The other photo also needs rotating –
by -3.4 degrees.
After increasing the canvas size of the
left-hand picture, drag the right-hand
picture onto it using the Move tool.
Now the two pictures are in one file,
overlapping, placed on two separate
layers. It’s important to try to line up
the areas to be deleted.
Nudge the upper layer side to side
and up and down, switching the layer
off and on to check the position. We
can now start to erase the upper layer
using the Delete tool set to airbrush.
To disguise the join, erase along the
inside of the cloud.
Make the erased upper layer fully
visible by switching off the
background layer underneath. The
lower left-hand edge still needs to be
erased. Set the erase tool to a smaller
size to avoid ‘ghosting’.
Delete down over the plane fuselage
and over the apron, revealing the
lower layer. Use of the delete tool to
disguise the join. Use the Levels to
tweak the upper picture until the
colours along the join are the same.
Select ‘Merge layers’ to combine the
two pictures onto the background
layer. Crop the photo to cut away the
uneven edges left after the rotation.
There, finished! Who would have
guessed that this photo consists of two
pictures joined together?
Does it do what they say it does?
We’ve been trying out FujiFilm’s
FinePix F601 camera over the past
few weeks. The Super CCD really
does produce vibrant and sharp
images in low light, with superb
colour and detail. You can see
examples of my photographs in the
December Dusk Views update of my
website (Eyewitness in Manchester
www.manchesteronline.co.uk/
ewm). FujiFilm’s PDF file explaining
how the Super CCD works can be
found at www.steves-digicams.com
/2002_reviews/fuji_f601z.html
092
are ‘bolted’ onto the main program, like
modules. Installing them is easy.
Photoshop and Elements have a
subdirectory named plug-ins – simply
copy the plug-in module and place it in
the plug-ins folder. When the program
launches, the plug-in will then be
available to the program under the
Filters drop-down menu.
4
FURTHER
INFORMATION
Jaggies is the common name for pixels that are visible along diagonal
lines. They are caused by lower resolution images being displayed too
large, causing the pixels to be visible to the naked eye
8
MANUFACTURER SITE
www.panasonic.co.uk
Content: The website of the Japanese company is a suite of
websites all of similar design, with attractive Flashpowered animated menus. Of special interest to those of
and, if you’re not careful, your email
folder will become clogged with
hundreds of megabytes of unwanted
data. Exercise caution, and if you
don’t want it, zap it!
2
DEALING WITH
PRINTER PROBLEMS
PRINTER
■ BEGINNER
I have a problem with my Epson
890. It has started printing my
photos in a pale blue colour with dark
pink in shadows and black areas as
normal. I have checked all settings,
cleaned the head and reinstalled the
print driver. Please can you help me
work out what is wrong.
David Horton
Q
The number of images a
memory card can store depends
on its size. If each photo is about 1MB,
then a 64MB card should be able to
store around 60 pictures, and a 256MB
card should be able to store around 250
shots. If the file size is larger, then
you’ll only be able to store about half
this number.
On a trip like this you can easily take
a thousand or more photos, so you’d
need ten 256MB cards, costing about
the same as a laptop computer. And
that’s one possibility I’d suggest – get a
laptop computer and download the
images as you go along…
A
2
HOW TO SORT
CONVERGING VERTICALS
IMAGE EDITING
Inkjet printers have reached
a remarkable state of
sophistication and cost a fraction of
what they used to a few years ago.
But, like all items of hardware, they
are still prone to malfunction. Buying
a new cartridge can solve many printing
problems, but sometimes the problem
lies elsewhere – possibly inside the
machine. If the printer is under
warranty, the manufacturer should be
able to help.
A
2
WHAT SIZE MEMORY CARD
TO TAKE ON HOLIDAY
CAMERA USE
■ BEGINNER
I’m going to South America this
year on a nature trek holiday. I
want to be able to take reasonable
pictures of scenery and wildlife. I have
approximately £800 to spend on a
digital camera and I have been
provisionally looking at the Minolta
Dimage 7i. I will not be able to
download pictures until I get home, and
What size memory card will I need, and
can you recommend a zoom lens
attachment that may be useful?
Karen Jones
Q
us interested in digital photography are the mini-sites on
the SD memory card, which as the site explains, is not just
for storing photos from digital cameras, and on Panasonic’s
highly desirable range of Lumix digital cameras, produced
in association with Leica.
This photo of a floodlit building taken at night sent by Martin Sheehan has converging verticals –
correcting the perspective in Photoshop may improve it
■■ INTERMEDIATE
I’ve taken photos of buildings
at wide angle and have noticed
that they are guilty of ‘converging
verticals’ or ‘triangles’. Is there a
tool in Photoshop 5.5 that can help me
to sort these out so that the building
looks straight on the edges and less
like a triangle? I’ve enclosed the picture
(above right)
Martin Sheehan
Q
I dealt previously with the
problem of converging verticals
in issue one, so I won’t go into it in
detail here. Suffice to say that the
easiest way to correct them in
Photoshop is by using either the
Perspective or Distort functions under
the Transform menu. It’s an intuitive
‘drag and click’ method that’s easy
and fun to use.
However, there is another way,
using the excellent plug-in utility
‘Panorama Tools’, which I introduced
in last month’s Q&A section. You can
find it on the Digital Photography
Review (dpreview) website at
www.dpreview.com. It is possible to
download and install the tools, which
enable you to carry out perspective
corrections on all kinds of photos by
entering numerical values.
; READ ON
CAPTURING THE IMAGE –
YOUR GUIDE TO CREATING
DIGITAL IMAGES
Published by
Rotovision
Price
£14.95
Written by
Joe Farace
Buy from
www.rotovision.com
A
This photo was taken in the desert in Abu Dhabi in 2000. If you take a laptop computer with you on
your travels, you can download and edit photographs on the spot
Verdict A useful and attractively laid
out paperback about digital
photography, focusing primarily on
image capture. Plenty of technical
info and author opinion. The images
are in standard stock photography
style, which is less than inspiring. In
digital photography manuals we’d
prefer to see author-produced
photographs in a wide variety of
styles. Nevertheless, an
accomplished piece of work from a
very experienced writer.
093
SECTION #04
USING YOUR PC
THE WINDOWS PAINT
PROGRAM
SEE PAGE 96
PAGE
PAGE
96
YOUR PC
98
USING YOUR PC
THE WINDOWS PAINT PROGRAM
Bundled free with Windows, Paint is perfect for
viewing photos or making minor tweaks to them
PAGE
ONLINE TUTORIAL
WORKING THE NET
In the last of this series, Matthew Richards gives an
overview of your online options and resources
PAGE
PRINT TECHNIQUES
COLOUR SETTINGS IN PHOTOSHOP
Using your colour management tools will give you
quality colour prints. Tim Daly shows you how
PAGE
PAGE
100
PC & Internet
Using a PC to make the most of your digital photos
f
Our aim is to bring you creative ideas, expert tips and
quick fixes you can use in your own work.
Authoritative A leading professional in his/her field
writes every tutorial. Value-added We try to include
Contact our Reviews team
image files, and full or trial software so you can try the
tutorial for yourself, delivering a complete package.
Clear Our large page size means we can add extra
elements, explanations and detail to each tutorial.
#
If you have a comment about our reviews, or a product
you would like us to test, please email us at
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk for reader verdicts
96
98
100
TUTORIAL USING YOUR PC
YOUR GUIDE JOE CASSELS
Joe Cassels writes regular tutorials for a wide range of computer magazines. He
is an enthusiastic digital photographer with a track record of helping many
people get more from their PCs
[email protected]
PORTFOLIO JOE CASSELS
Simple PC fixes using
the Paint program
You can still make small changes to digital pictures even if you don’t own dedicated picture-editing software.
Joe Cassels takes you through the process
TUTORIAL
KEY DETAILS
2
SKILL LEVEL
2
2
TIME TO COMPLETE
20
MINUTES
T
he ideal way to manage your photos and
pictures is to use an image editor like
Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. These
professional programs enable you to alter the colour
balance, contrast and brightness of pictures, as well as
providing plenty of effects and filters.
However, If all you want to do is look at some holiday
snaps and perform some simple editing before printing
or emailing them to a friend or relative, you don’t need
any extra software at all. Paint, the default program
bundled with Windows, will handle it all admirably and
for the nifty sum of no extra pounds.
If you’ve used Paint before, you may well have been
deceived by its simplicity. Earlier versions only handled
bitmap images, which made it unsuitable for handling
digital photographs, but the version of Paint that comes
with Windows XP can cope with most common picture
files. You can also undo your last three actions instead of
simply the previous one.
There is little in the way of dedicated photo-editing
tools, but you can still achieve some simple effects with
a little careful planning. For example, there’s no tool to
automatically shrink or enlarge an image, but you can
use the stretch and skew options to reduce an image by
There’s no resize tool in Paint, but you can stretch
your image positively or negatively
RESIZE AN IMAGE
8
01
STRETCH AND SKEW
This picture won’t fit into the Paint Window,
even at full screen. We need to reduce its
size, but Paint doesn’t have a dedicated tool for doing
that. However, all is not lost as we can try to unstretch it, using the Stretch/Skew utility that comes
with Paint.
the same amount both horizontally and vertically
which does roughly the same job.
You can also crop in Paint, by selecting the part of the
image you want to keep and copying it to the clipboard.
All you need to do is start a new image and paste the
section onto the empty canvas. You can even get
around the flash photographer’s nightmare of red eye,
by carefully replacing the red pixels with a colour taken
from any normal looking part of the eye, using the
dropper tool.
If you have a strict budget, and don’t want to do
complicated editing, Paint may be all you need.
02
8
STRETCH IT BACKWARDS
Click Image8Stretch/Skew. Keep the Skew
amounts at zero degrees, as we don’t want
to distort the image. Entering any number below
100% in both the Horizontal and Vertical Stretch boxes
will result in a smaller image with the same aspect
ratio as the original.
03
THE FINISHED PICTURE
Click OK. Here we’ve reduced the image to
half its original size, using the Stretch/skew
facility and we can see the full picture. The picture
quality hasn’t suffered in the process and this is a
much better size for working in Paint, as before you
could only see the full image by printing it out.
CROPPING WITH PAINT
Some nifty cut-and-paste action is needed to
achieve a crop in this picture
0
EXPERT TIP
JOE CASSELS
PHOTO ARCHIVING
NAMING FILES
Always save your photo under a
different filename by clicking File
Save As…, as soon as you open
it. This way, you can preserve a
copy of your original photo
before you make any changes to
it. If you mess up any of your
alterations, you can go back to a
pristine original very easily.
01
OPEN THE PHOTO
02
Launch Paint by choosing Start8All
Programs8Accessories8Paint. Open your
chosen picture by clicking File8Open and browsing to
it. Switch to thumbnail view so you can find the
image you want more quickly. Click Open.
LOCATE THE SUBJECT
03
Use Paint’s scroll bars to move the item of
interest to the centre of the screen. Larger
photos may not fit completely within the Paint
window and you can’t zoom out, so careful
positioning is important.
MAKE A SELECTION
Click on the rectangular selection tool from
the toolbox on the left of the screen. Make
sure the lower, ‘selection without background’ option
is highlighted. Click and drag a rectangle around the
area you want to crop to.
? EXPLAINED
RED EYE
04
COPY THE SELECTION
05
Once you are happy with the part of the
picture you selected, click Edit8Copy. This
puts your cropped area onto the clipboard. This way
you can preserve the original image if you change
your mind later on.
DEMON EYES
CREATE A NEW IMAGE
06
Click File8New. You will be prompted to
save changes to your image. Select No, so
your original image is preserved prior to any changes
you made. You are presented with a blank canvas
onto which you can paste the selection.
PASTE CROPPED IMAGE
This term describes the effect of a
photographic flash reflecting off a
person or animal’s retina, making
their eyes appear to glow red.
Using a flash not directly aimed at
the subject can avoid red eye, as
can careful lighting. However, you
can remove red eye from a digital
photograph using an imageediting program.
Select Edit8Paste so your selection
reappears. Save this with a different
filename to your initial picture. Experiment with
different cropping areas to find the best composition.
Save each image with a different filename.
Remove red eye the Paint way
8
8
* WEB LINKS
Microsoft
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp
/default.asp
Information for beginners and
professionals, downloadable
software and technical support.
01
THE EYES HAVE IT
Launch Paint and open the picture involved.
This girl in the middle is the one suffering
from demonic eyes so we’ll need to edit this area of
the picture. Choose View8Zoom8Large Size and use
the scroll bars to position the eyes centrally in the
window before you start work on them.
02
AN EYE FOR AN EYE
Select the dropper tool from the Toolbox
and use it to pick up the colour from the
normal-looking eye. You may need to use a different
picture to reference the colour if both eyes look red.
Your reference photo must have the same subject and
similar lighting.
03
OUT DAMNED SPOT
Now switch to the pencil tool and carefully
replace the red pixels with the normal eye
colour. Choose View8Zoom8Normal size to check the
result. If you're happy with the result, save the
picture; if not, close and open the picture file without
saving the changes to start again.
DIGITAL CAMERA MAGAZINE 097
TUTORIAL MAKE THE INTERNET WORK FOR YOU
YOUR GUIDE MATTHEW RICHARDS
Matthew Richards reviews digital cameras for worldwide specialist press, as well as being
a keen photographer, using both conventional 35mm outfits and digital systems. His main
areas of interest are sport, landscape and people photography
[email protected]
PORTFOLIO MATTHEW RICHARDS
Working the net
Whatever you want out of the internet, we guarantee you’ll get more than you bargained for. Matthew Richards gives you the lowdown
on getting online, sharing your photos, choosing your print options and showcasing photos on your own website…
T
he internet has something to offer everyone,
from an experienced digital photographer
who’s never beren online, to someone taking
the leap from traditional photography to digital, and still
finding their feet. In fact, the internet has so much to
offer, that sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start.
Over the last few issues of Digital Camera Magazine,
we’ve been looking at various ways of getting more out
of the net, from online communities and ordering prints,
to web hosting and creating a full-on website.
This month, in the last of the series, we’re going to
focus on exactly what kind of facilities to look for,
depending on precisely what you want to do online. For
more detail and information on any particular area, order
a relevant back issue of the magazine. A full list of what
we’ve covered in each issue of the magazine is shown
opposite, in the right-hand side bar. For now though, let’s
take a look at what options are open to you and why
* WEB LINKS
BonusPrint
www.bonusprint.com
MSN
www.msn.co.uk
MSN Photos
http://photos.msn.co.uk
IncrediMail
www.incredimail.com
IMS Web Dwarf
www.virtualmechanics.com
Easily.co.uk
www.easily.co.uk
Photobox
www.photobox.co.uk
WS-FTP Pro
www.ipswitch.com
7DayShop
www.7dayshop.com
Google
www.google.co.uk
098
you’d even want to get online in the first place.
In the digital age, the internet is no longer one of
life’s optional extras, especially if you’re into digital
photography. There are many different ways you can
share your photos online but the practicality and
advantages of the net go much further than that. For
example, the web is an unparalleled source of
information on all the latest digital photography gadgets
and gear – complete with top opportunities for bargain
buys. Just compare some of the prices for memory cards
and other photographic accessories at a website like
www.7dayshop.com with even the best High Street
prices and you’ll see what we mean.
Tricks of the trade
Then there’s all the help, advice, tips and tricks you can
get from online forums. Rather than having to phone
around trying to get an answer to a particular question,
MAKING THE MOST OF MSN 8
8
01
SIGN UP, SIGN IN
Multiple sign-in facilities in MSN 8 mean
that everyone in the family can have their
own log-on and customised set of features. In true
multimedia style, everyone can also have their own
sign-in photo.
all you need to do is to post your question in a forum
online and you shouldn’t have to wait long for the
answers to come flooding in. There are plenty to choose
from – we’d recommend going to www.google.co.uk
and searching for ‘digital photography forum’ to get
quick access to plenty of general forums as well as quite
a few specialised ones, like www.ukdiving.co.uk/
ukdiving/photoforum for digital underwater photography.
How much does it cost?
The good news is that getting online can be surprisingly
inexpensive. Unlike playing games or watching DVD
movies, photo editing software and access to the
Internet doesn’t demand huge specs from your PC. As a
rule of thumb, if your PC is good enough to download
photos from your camera, then it’s good enough to use
for internet access. And if your PC doesn’t already have a
built-in modem, you can buy an internal modem for as
At £6.99, the new MSN 8 has plenty of online
advantages, especially for digital photographers
8
02
MSN PHOTO PLUS
Sign up for MSN 8 and you get automatic
access to MSN Photo Plus, for sharing your
shots online and creating your own communities.
There are also some slick tools for uploading your
photos, plus plenty of tips and tricks on offer.
03
PICTURE IT!
As an MSN 8 subscriber, you also get a free
copy of Microsoft Picture It! Express 7. Despite
the ‘express’ tag, it’s a surprisingly fully featured
image-editing package with plenty of useful, yet
easy-to-use tools to make your shots look their best.
4
FURTHER
INSPIRATION
If you've got lots of high-res photos to send it might be better to invest in
a CD-RW drive tha send them online. Buying recordable CDs in bulk you
can get a good deal – around 20p to 25p per disc
3 BACK ISSUES
AS SEEN IN DIGITAL
CAMERA MAGAZINE…
Over the last few months Digital
Camera Magazine has run a
complete series on internet
photography. You can order issue
2, 3 or 4 of the magazine by
phoning our Customer Services
department on 0780 444 8470.
Issue 1, however, has completely
sold out. We apologise for any
inconvenience caused.
ABOVE BonusPrint adds a raft of digital services
to its conventional printing processes, via the
company’s website
RIGHT Moving up a gear from the free space offered
by your ISP, Easily.co.uk has a wide range of web
hosting packages to choose from
little as £20, or an external one (easier to fit as you
don’t have to delve under the covers of your PC) for
around £50.
As for online running costs, most ISPs (Internet Service
Providers) offer a local rate dial-up number. This works
out at around 4p per minute during peak rates, 5p in the
evenings and a penny per minute at the weekends –
less if you make the internet your ‘best friend’ or at least
list it as one of your ‘family and friends’ numbers.
Alternatively, you can sign up with an ISP like
Freeserve, BTopenworld, Supanet or Virgin for unmetered
access. This typically costs around £15 per month and
lets you spend as long as you like online without paying
dial-up time. All you need to do is to keep a record of
how many minutes per week you’re typically online to
see which works out to be the best deal for you.
Phone a friend
When it comes to sharing digital photos on the internet,
the most straightforward method is to email your shots
to friends, family or colleagues. You’ll get an email
address as part of the sign-up process with whichever
ISP you choose, so you can use that to send your photos
to chosen recipients across the connected world, without
the need to build any websites or carry out any other
time-consuming tasks.
The only thing you really need to be careful of when
emailing photos to friends is that you keep the file sizes
down. With modern, multi-megapixel cameras, it’s
common for single images to be a couple of MB or more
in size. This can take your recipients five to ten minutes
to download and will clog up their email software, which
they might not thank you for. Check out last month’s
issue for full details on how to optimise your photos but,
in short, it’s best to reduce the physical size in pixels,
and apply as much JPEG compression as you can
(without adversely affecting image quality too much)
before you email your images to others.
If you’re looking for an email program that really
enables you to make the most of multimedia
opportunities, including digital photos, we’d recommend
SO
LD
OU
T
Online photo communities
IncrediMail, which you can download and use for free,
from www.incredimail.com
Quality printing
Naturally, you don’t get something for nothing. Even
with the speed and convenience of emailing your
photos, there are times when it’s good to have ‘proper’
photos on proper photo paper to pass round among
friends or hang on the wall. Photo inkjet printers are
remarkably good nowadays, especially ones with sixcolour ink processing. These most commonly add photo
magenta and photo cyan to the normal four-colour
cyan, magenta, yellow and black process, to more
accurately bring out the full range of colours captured
in your digital photos.
Going pro
However, for truly professional-looking results, you can’t
beat professional printing. The internet can help here as
well, with Fujifilm, Jessops, BonusPrint and others
providing online services for getting your photos printed
online. Better still, many services offer a free trial once
you sign up. This means you can get a few photos
printed for free before deciding which company you
want to go with, or whether you’re going to stick to
printing your own photos at home, instead of ordering
online and waiting for them to turn up in the post. See
issue two for full information on the benefits of online
If your PC is good enough to download
photos from your camera, then it’s good
enough to use for internet access
print services. To go the whole hog, there’s no substitute
for having your own gallery of shots online and there are
basically two ways of going about this. The first and
easiest way is to sign up to an online photo community,
as described in issue one of Digital Camera Magazine.
Here, all the web page creation is done for you, so all
you have to do is to upload the photos you want to
share. Two of the most popular services in the UK are
MSN Photos, at http://photos.msn.co.uk and Photobox,
at www.photobox.co.uk.
Ordering prints online
Create a website
Better still, you could create your own website to
showcase your photos in exactly the way you want. This
is a lot easier than you might imagine. Web creation
software can be cheap to buy and easy to use, as we
highlighted in issue three of the magazine. Indeed, some
programs, like IMS Web Dwarf are completely free to
download and use – you can grab your copy at
www.virtualmechanics.com.
Your ISP almost certainly gives you a few MB of free
space for hosting your own website, which is the place
to start. If you want more space, independent of your
ISP, we’d suggest you check out the services offered by
Easily.co.uk at www.easily.co.uk. To upload all the files
contained in your site to your online web space, you
can’t beat using a proper FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
We’d suggest WS_FTP Pro, which costs around £30 to
buy, but you can download a free trial version for 30
days’ use at www.ipswitch.com.
We hope we’ve given you a flavour of the many and
varied services and options that you can make use of
online. All that’s left is for you to try the ones that suit
you and see just how well they work. Once you do,
you’ll never look back.
Creating your own website
Optimising your photos for
online use
? EXPLAINED
UPLOAD
The process of transferring data,
stored in files, from your PC to a
‘server’ computer connected to the
internet, from where other net
users can access this data.
099
TECHNIQUE
4
COLOUR MANAGEMENT
FURTHER
INFORMATION
Try these useful guides for professional colour calibration of your
workspace. Go to WWW.adobe.com/support/techguides/
color/main.htm
YOUR GUIDE TIM DALY
Tim has written several books on photography including The Digital Photography Handbook, The
Digital Printing Handbook and The Desktop Photographer, and he continues to write for The
British Journal of Photography and AG. His photographs have been exhibited across Europe
[email protected]
Colour settings in Photoshop
Once you’ve set up your monitor properly, you should spend a little extra time deciding how Photoshop’s colour management tools will work for you
0
C
olour management seems like a
tremendously technical concept for most
keen photographers, but it’s not complex
and it’s there to help you keep your images in topclass condition.
The main problem is that digital image colours rarely
look the same when an image file is swapped
between hardware devices. There are several subtle
variations in the universal RGB colour mode such as
sRGB, Adobe RGB (1998) and ColorMatch RGB. These
are sometimes referred to as a workspace, and have
their own unique colour palettes which can alter
significantly when viewed in a software application
under a different workspace.
To counteract this, there are tools installed inside
professional hardware and software to manage the
transition. For example, you can choose to colour
manage your monitor, input devices and output
devices so that consistent colours are maintained.
EXPERT TIP
TIM DALY
COLOUR PROFILES
BUYING CUSTOM
PROFILES
For many professional photographers,
custom profiles based on the
idiosyncrasies of a particular output
device can be made or bought direct
from specialist services, like the USbased Cone Editions. For a price, this
company will make a bespoke
output profile for your workstation if
you print out and return their preset
colour chart. Once analysed, the chart
will be form the basis of a personal
profile which will adjust your colour
images to fit a target paper and
printer combination.
Setting up the colour workspace
Some workspaces have a smaller colour palette than
others, such as the sRGB space, so the best option is to
use the largest and most universally recognised
* WEB LINKS
Many hardware and software
manufacturers offer online advice
on how to cope with colour
management problems as follows:
SOLUTIONS
workspace such as the Adobe RGB (1998). This
workspace is the best for accurate colour printing and
will not cause colours to change. Photoshop can be set
to work with Adobe RGB (1998) as its default
workspace by making the following command
Photoshop8Color Settings. When the dialog appears,
pick the Custom option from the Settings pop-up menu
found at the top. Next, click in the RGB pop-up and
select Adobe RGB (1998) from the list, as shown.
Colour management engines
The conversion process can be managed by a tiny
piece of software called the Colour Management
Module or Engine, sometimes referred to as CMM or
CME. Both ColorSync and the Adobe (ACE) are
management tools and both come with Photoshop,
with the latter being the best option to use. When
opening images that have been captured in another
workspace, you can configure your CME to deal with
the problem in a number of different ways called
policies. Most common is to convert images from a
smaller space into your current but larger workspace.
The second option is to preserve the integrity of the
image’s workspace, useful if you are only viewing
rather than editing. To set up these policies make the
same Photoshop8Color Settings command as before,
but click the Advanced Mode checkbox, found at the
top left of the dialog box. Next, choose Convert to
Working RGB from the RGB pop-up in the Color
Management Policies section.
Profile mismatch reminder
While still in the Color Settings dialog, you can also set
up Photoshop to prompt you with a visual reminder
each time an image file is about to be opened or
pasted from another source image – useful when a
potentially damaging conversion is about to occur. It
gives you the chance to decide what to do before the
image is opened. In the Color Management Policies
section, tick all options as shown.
Tagging your documents
Once opened, worked on and ready for saving, the
final part of the colour management workflow can be
made. You can choose to save your images with your
workspace colour profile by doing a File8Save As
command. At the bottom of the dialog box, tick the
Embed Color profile option, as shown.
You can deal with image files from different hardware/software formats by configuring your
machine to anticipate them, or by managing them through special ‘policies’
CONE STUDIO
www.inkjetmall.com
Delve into the useful tips on colour
management, especially useful for
older versions of Photoshop.
COLORSYNC
http://www.apple.com/colorsync/
Read about theory behind the
Colorsync colour management tools.
EPSON
http://www.photoexpert.epson.co
.uk/UK/EXPERTISE/how_to_icc_pa
ge1.htm
Learn how to use printer colour
profiles with your Epson printer
100
01
SET UP THE COLOUR WORKSPACE
You can set a default workspace on your
workstation that all files will recognise.
02
COLOUR MANAGEMENT ENGINES
These enable you to set up ‘policies’ which
deal with foreign file formats on arrival.
03
PROFILE MISMATCH REMINDER
This pre-empts any nasty surprises by warning
you when your colours will be affected.
SECTION #05 RETAILERS
5 steps to safe shopping
To prevent or handle the unlikely event of receiving faulty or
damaged goods, why not follow our checklist below – you’ll
reduce whatever slight chance there is of problems:
1
2
CHOOSE YOUR SITE OR RETAILER
3
NEVER PAY IN CASH
4
KEEP A RECORD
5
DON’T USE A DEBIT CARD
Overleaf, you’ll find pages of camera retailers who offer
competing prices and levels of service. Give them a look:
USE A CREDIT CARD
If you are buying goods worth more than £100 in total, use a
credit card. This is because in the event of any problems, you are
entitled to claim against the credit card company as well as the
seller (you won’t get your money back twice but the company is
there to claim against if the seller has gone bust.) You might also
get extra insurance, so check with your credit firm.
If you can’t pay by credit card, use a cheque or postal order
instead. Don’t send cash through the mail, even by registered
post. Apart from the risk of theft, you can’t stop payment if you
need to, and it’s impossible to prove how much you sent.
Keep records if you’re paying by credit card over the phone. Print
off web pages after you have entered your details on them. Keep
notes of exact times and the name of the person who took your
order, if you’re paying by phone. Always keep your receipts.
Many debit cards don’t have the protection or insurance options
afforded to credit cards, so avoid using one.
Dealerbank
18 pages of the UK’s camera retailers
Contact our team
#
We can’t make guarantees on quality of service from our
advertisers, but if you do have problem – or have had
praiseworthy service – we’d like to know. Email us at
[email protected]
To advertise in our Dealerbank section contact
our sales team on 01225 442244 or email
[email protected]
On your discs
>
Two CDs every month! Here’s what we’ve lined up for you this issue…
This March…
W
Picture Window Pro 3.5
DEMO SOFTWARE
FREE SOFTWARE
Color Mechanic 1.1
ColorCastFX 1.0
OTHER
Digital Photo Librarian
Virtual Tours
Dup Detector 3.0
Tutorial files
Futuris Imager 2.6
Camera test shots
Image Enhance 3.22
Camera database
iMprinter 2.0
Manufacturer web links
JPEG Comment Editor
1.0
edition of the magazine this month. And finally,
make sure you visit our website at
www.digitalcameramagazine.co.uk for
more tutorials, camera reviews, plus you can
get the opportunity to chat to thousands of
other digital photography enthusiasts.
DISC B
Picture-shark 1.0
FULL SOFTWARE
RGB Lights 1.0
Multiple Image
VCW VicMan Photo
Resizer .NET
Editor 7.0
Multiple Unzipper
Jeremy Ford
Senior New Media Editor
[email protected]
(demo)
PLUG-INS
FotoPrinter 3.0 SE
Digital ROC Plug-in 1.1.1
EmbossWorks Deluxe
■ Don’t forget issue 6 which will include a
choice of CD or DVD. Why not subscribe every
month and save yourself some money? Turn to
page 80 for more details…
VIRTUAL TOURS
Builder
FULL SOFTWARE
Picture Window 2.5
We’re giving away a plethora of free software, plug-ins and demos this month –
the cream of all this booty being Picture Window 2.5 for your digital darkroom
elcome once more to this month’s disc
pages. We try to keep things interesting
for you each month so you’ll find the
full version of Picture Window 2.5 on disc A. It
provides you with a suite of tools developed
for digital photography adjustments and
enhancements – a digital darkroom if you will.
Follow our tutorial to help you get started and
you’ll also find excellent help information built into
the software too.
Last issue we told you that this month we’d be
giving you the option of a DVD and CD version of
Digital Camera Magazine. Unfortunately this
plan has been delayed until next issue. Apologies
to anybody scouring the shop shelves for the DVD
DISC A
Our virtual tour enables you to get a proper feel for the five
digital cameras we’ve reviewed this issue
DEMO SOFTWARE
Flexify
ParcSoft PhotoBase 3.0
MasterBlaster Deluxe
Canvas 8
Mezzy Deluxe
DVD Picture Show 1.0
nik Color Efex
FamiliaBuilder 3.0.2
Photo Abstract Set
Lightbox 2.0
PhotoKit 1.0
Panoweaver
Simplifier 1.0
Professional 3.0
SwapShop Deluxe
Photo2VCD Professional
1.63
OTHER
PHOTORECOVERY 3.0
Reader gallery
True Screen Saver
How to run your CD
Simply place the CD in your PC’s CD drive.
The interface will run automatically. Please
read the user agreement carefully – if you
accept the terms, click ‘I agree’. Then use
the menu bar at the top of the screen to
browse your disc’s contents. Enjoy – any
problems, please see below:
Reader support
01
FLY AROUND
Use the pink arrows to the left and right
of each camera image to spin the
camera around. Rollover the outside arrows to autorotate the camera in that direction or click the inside
arrows to manually rotate the camera to the
position you want.
120
02
DETAIL SHOTS
We’ve provided nine detailed images of
each digital camera so you can have a
really thorough look at each of them. Zoom into the
required close-up shot by simply clicking the
relevant thumbnail image or pressing the number
key shown below each one.
03
TEST SHOTS
We’ve taken test shots in four different
lighting situations to enable you to view
the image quality of the individual cameras. These
include a detail picture, a skin shot, plus indoor and
outdoor shots. See a large version of each shot by
clicking the thumbnail or pressing the number key
displayed below each image.
We are careful to thoroughly test each
CD but in the event of a problem,
please call our reader support team on
01225 822743. In the event of your disc
being physically damaged, please see the
back of the disc case for details of how to
get a free replacement.
Multiple Image Resizer .NET
Why resize all of your images by hand when you can use a program to do it for you? Try out Multiple Image Resizer for size...
*
SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
PUBLISHER
PRODUCT STATUS
CONTACT INFORMATION
AS SOLD FOR
SERIAL NUMBER
ACUMEN BUSINESS SYSTEMS
FULL PRODUCT
WWW.ACUMENSYSTEMS.COM
£9.99
NOT REQUIRED
TWEAK IMAGES
This handy little program enables you trim and rotate your images to
perfection as well as adding some borders and complimentary text
R
esizing any number of images can be a
lengthy and time consuming process.
You might, for example, be creating a
website to show off your latest batch of
photographs and find yourself having to manually
create thumbnail after thumbnail. But it need not
be like this. Using Multiple Image Resizer .NET, you
can automate the entire process, leaving you with
more time to concentrate on other things.
As the name would suggest, this program
enables you to resize a number of images in one
fell swoop. But it doesn’t stop there – you can also
choose how images should be resized (as a fixed
size or as a percentage of the original image),
whether images should be flipped or rotated,
and what sort of border should be used to
frame each picture.
Once all of these options have been set, you
can select some text to overlay onto your images
– perfect if you would like to add copyright
information to prevent your work being used by
anyone else. When all of this has been done, all
that is left to do is decide how your resized
images should be named, where they should
be stored and which image format they should
be saved in.
While this program is perfect for creating
website thumbnails, it can be used for any
purpose, even if all you
want to do is convert a
folder full of images into a
different file format. It’s a
useful tool whatever your
requirements may be.
01
ADD YOUR IMAGES
04
ADD BORDERS
Launch the program and go to the Select
tab. Click Add Folder of Images. Select
your folder to add an entire folder or select images
independently by clicking Add Individual Images.
If you would like to add a border to your
resized images, use the next tab to
select your options. You can change the type of
border to use as well as its colour and thickness.
02
RESIZE THEM
05
ADD TEXT
Use the next tab to indicate which
processing options you would like to use
on your images. Move to the Resizing tab to scale
down your images to the ratio you want.
You can also add text to your images –
such as copyright information. Click on
the Text Options tab, enter your text and choose the
font and positioning your would like to use.
03
ROTATE THEM
06
SAVE YOUR IMAGES
The Rotate tab can be used to determine
if images should be rotated or flipped at
all. As you change options, you will need to refresh
the preview by clicking on the Refresh link.
Finally, on the Save tab, you must select
the file format to save images in and the
naming convention to be used. You can then move
to the final tab and hit Go.
Upgrade
The company behind Multiple Image Resizer .NET, Acumen Business
Systems Ltd, produces a whole range of other software – some of which is
available free of charge!
Working on a similar idea to Multiple Image Resizer, Multiple Unzipper
enables you to work with several zipped archives at once so you can
quickly and easily uncompress a number of files in one action.
Another free tool is Net Tester, which may be used by network
administrators or those with home networks to check all available
machines on the network at any one time. .Net tester then reports their
IP addresses back to you.
Take a look at the company’s website (www.acumensystems.com) and
you can find out more details on all these useful products.
Picture Window 2.5
Picture Window is a professional image-editing and photo-enhancement tool that offers you an unparalleled level of control over your work
*
SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
PUBLISHER
PRODUCT STATUS
CONTACT INFORMATION
AS SOLD FOR
SERIAL NUMBER
DIGITAL LIGHT & COLOR
FULL VERSION
WWW.DL-C.COM
$49.95
NONE REQUIRED
PHOTO EDITING
Picture Window 2.5 has all the tools you need for some nifty digital
manipulation. If you like this, why not check out version 3.1?
E
quipped with your camera and Picture
Window 2.5 from this month’s cover
disc, you can turn your computer into
your own personal digital darkroom. The program
places at your disposal a wide range of power
tools covering every aspect of image editing.
Whatever alterations you make to your images,
Picture Window 2.5 makes it easy to revert to an
earlier version of your work should you make a
mistake. As well as the usual undo feature, every
time you make a change, apply a filter or special
effect, a new window will open containing the
newly transformed version of your file. This means
that it is easy to take an original image and try
out a number of ideas and view them all on
screen simultaneously for easy comparison.
As well as special effects and filters, and the
usual range of graphic tools, Picture Window also
offers a collection of options brought together in
the Miscellaneous Tools window. From here you
have access to a number of useful features such
as lighten, darken, smudge, red eye removal,
sharpen and blur. The fact that all of these tools
and their various options are available from a
single window greatly increases common image
enhancement tasks.
The Monitor Calibration tool can be used to
ensure that what you see on screen precisely
matches the output of your printer, so you will not
waste time on an editing session only to have to
redo it when your printout is not up to standard.
With support for layers, masks, and boasting
extremely customisable options, Picture Window is
ideal for those looking for professional results
without the hand-holding of wizard interfaces.
01
BROWSE YOUR IMAGES
04
CALIBRATE YOUR MONITOR
Picture Window includes a useful Browse
option which can be used to preview the
entire contents of a folder of images. You can then
open individual images or print out miniature
reference sheets.
Before you start image editing, you
should calibrate your monitor. Turn the
contrast right up and click File8Calibrate. Adjust the
settings for the best picture output.
02
TWAIN SUPPORT
05
PAINT AND CLONE TOOLS
The program also features TWAIN
support so you can acquire images from
other sources, such as a scanner. You can then use
Picture Windows tools to adjust the image as
necessary, using the usual methods.
The top tool bar can be used to access
some of the basic image tools such as
paint brush and the clone tool. Cick on a toolbar
button for the appropriate options box.
03
SLIDESHOWS
06
MISCELLANEOUS TOOLS
Digital slideshows are great way to send
out a whole collection of images to
people. Simply click File8Slideshow and double click
on the empty box to start adding pictures to the
slideshow selection.
The Miscellaneous Tool window should
be your first port of call for the common
image editing tools. Select your tool from the drop
down list and set the option below.
Upgrade
Picture Window Pro 3.1
If you liked the power of Picture Window 2.5, take a look at some of the
new features included in version 3.1. All operations now include support for
48-bit colour, and there is better colour management available, with full
support for ICM profiles. Mask-making has been improved with a number of
new features, including a new smart brush mode that selectively masks
only areas with similar colour, enabling you to make accurate masks more
easily. Other improvements and additions include rotation during cropping,
cropping to irregular shapes, a new Fan special effects transformation,
support for shadowed text, greater ranges in the blur and sharpen dialog,
cropping in the print dialog and more. Find out more by visiting the Digital
Light & Color website at www.dl-c.com
07
TEXT OPTIONS
10
MULTIPLE CHOICE
Using the Text option (Transformation
Text), you can precisely control the
appearance and positioning of text over your
pictures. The preview option enables you to try out
ideas before committing them by clicking OK.
Each time you apply a special effect or
transformation to an image, the original
file will be retained. This enables you to try out a
few ideas and compare them before deciding.
08
MASK OPTIONS
11
COLOUR BALANCE
Masks can be used to protect certain
areas of an image while you work on
others. Click the M button on the toolbar to display
the Masks options. To make masked areas less
obvious, remember to feather the edges.
Picture Window’s comprehensive Color
Balance Transformation enables you to
precisely configure the colour levels of pictures,
along with saturations and other settings.
Color Mechanic
Another product that may be of interest is Color Mechanic. This is a colour
correction plug-in tool that works with Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop
Elements as well as other plug-in-compatible, image editing programs. The
key feature of this particular colour correction tool is that it enables you to
adjust individual colours without any others being affected. This gives you
09
COMPOSITE TRANSFORMATION
12
SAVE FORMATS
You can use the Composite
Transformation tool to merge two
images together or to add a special effect to an
existing image. The gradient blend, for example,
fades in an image from the centre of the screen.
When you’re happy with the changes
you’ve made to your picture you can
save it in any of 11 popular image formats,
depending on how you want to use your images.
more control over your images than other tools which simply apply a
uniform filter to the entire image.
Extremely impressive results can be achieved using Color Mechanic by
simply adjusting the slider settings. In just a few simple steps you can
perfect your images. Again, you can find out more by visiting the Digital
Light & Color website at www.dl-c.com
FotoPrinter 3.0
Complete package for editing and improving your photos, or printing them out with fine control
*
SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
PUBLISHER
PRODUCT STATUS
CONTACT INFORMATION
AS SOLD FOR APPROX
SERIAL NUMBER
MEDIENTEAM66
FULL PRODUCT
WWW.MT66.DE
£10
Internet access required
F
otoPrinter is a versatile photo editing
and presentation program that makes it
easy to import images from your
camera and print them out for maximum impact.
Installing the software is very straightforward, with
the minimum system requirement being modest:
Pentium PC, 32MB of RAM and 500MB of hard
drive space.
FotoPrinter works with any version of Windows
from Windows 95 onwards. Although the software
is free, you do need to obtain a user ID and
registration key, which you can do by going to the
maker’s website. Oddly, the program asks for the
registration details when you close it, but online
registration only takes a matter of minutes.
Another quirk is the interface: unlike most photo
editng programs, there are no pull-down menus,
and the graphical, colourful appearance is much
more reminiscent of Kai’s PowerTools or Power
Goo. Although this software is not time-limited,
you need to pay a small upgrade fee (just under
£5) to use the advanced photo-editing effects and
add printable frames to your shots. One big
advantage of FotoPrinter is its ability to set your
printer margins. Every printer has non-printable
areas (top/bottom/left/right). Consequently, blank
margins may occur when printing on preprinted
paper. To fix this in FotoPrinter, select the ‘Adjust
Printer’ option in the Print menu. The “Test” option
is located here. Clicking on this option generates a
test printout. On this printout, measure the actual
distance between the vertical line and the left
margin of your page (x) and the distance between
the horizontal line and the top page margin (y).
Enter these values in the corresponding fields
(X and Y). Your printer will now be adjusted.
01
IMPORT THE IMAGES
02
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
03
ENHANCE YOUR IMAGES
Photos can be obtained directly from
a TWAIN-enabled digital camera or
scanner, or from a location on your PC by clicking
‘disk.’ Key functions within the program can also
be accessed by right mouse clicking.
Along the top of the main screen is a
collection of 15 tools for editing and
adjusting your shots. The first couple enable you to
reduce the number of colours in an image for
turning it to a grayscale colour palette.
Moving along, you find tools for changing
to true colour, adjusting image saturation
and tweaking brightness and sharpness. The tools
can handle basic quick fixes only. Look for a
dedicated package for more intensive corrections.
MORE IMAGE TWEAKS
FREE IMAGES
ADD SOME TEXT
The strange-looking squiggle (ninth
along, top bar) lets you adjust gamma
settings, while the next one along alters
the rotation. Next to that are tools for mirroring an
image and moving it around the printable area.
Along the bottom of the main screen
you’ll notice a modest selection of
royalty free photos. Click the Underlay
tool and you can merge two images for an easy,
yet dramatic, effect.
Text can also be added to photos for print
out or inclusion on your website. Before
text can be added, you need to select
drag and drop mode, then enter the details in the
dialog box which pops up.
04
07
PICTURE ALBUM
Click the album function on the main
screen to view your photos as
thumbnails in a photo album. Handy if you have a
lot of images accumulating on your PC and need to
identify a shot quickly.
05
08
PRINTER CALIBRATION
Printer adjustment is carried out via
‘Settings.’ You can calibrate your printer
so it can print within the margins of pre-printed
documents, as explained in the introduction to this
software or within the included help files.
06
09
GETTING MORE FEATURES
To access the more sophisticated photo
effects and picture frames, you need to
re-register for an update. When you see this screen,
click the Internet button and you’re taken to a web
page where you can pay the update fee.
Also on the coverdiscs
With this lot installed on your workstation, managing and editing your digital photos should be a breeze
PhotoRecovery for digital media 3.0
DVD Picture Show 1.0
Arcsoft Photobase 3.0
*
*
*
SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
PUBLISHER
PRODUCT STATUS
CONTACT INFORMATION
LC TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
DEMO
WWW.LC-TECH.COM
T
SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
PUBLISHER
PRODUCT STATUS
CONTACT INFORMATION
ULEAD
DEMO
WWW.ULEAD.CO.UK
E
SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
PUBLISHER
PRODUCT STATUS
CONTACT INFORMATION
ARCSOFT
DEMO
WWW.ARCSOFT.COM
T
his application can undelete deleted images or recover
files from formatted media cards – as long as you haven’t
placed fresh data on the card. Simply direct it to the media
card and it’ll scan the device displaying the list of files it has
recovered. Then, just copy them to your hard drive for safekeeping.
ven though you’ve turned to digital, the slideshow is not a
lost art. DVD Picture Show enables you to build digital
slideshows that you can master to either CD or DVD. You
can add menus, music and special effects. If you burn to DVD the
disc should be compatible with most standard DVD players.
his is a photo and media management application for the
non-professional. To justify the $49 price tag there are
basic editing and adjustment tools, slideshow functions
and a Web album builder, which takes a folder of images and
automatically creates a thumbnail image gallery.
Dup Detector 3.0
Lightbox 2.0
Digital ROC Plug-in
*
*
*
SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
PUBLISHER
PRODUCT STATUS
CONTACT INFORMATION
Y
PRISMATIC SOFTWARE
FREE
WWW.PRISMATICSOFTWARE.COM
our hard drive’s cluttered enough without keeping
duplicate files. Dup Detector can identify and delete
duplicate files regardless of the file name (it compares
pixel data instead). Matching images are displayed with image
previews plus the option to delete them. This application is free.
SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
PUBLISHER
PRODUCT STATUS
CONTACT INFORMATION
T
CONCEIVA
DEMO
WWW.CONCEIVA.COM
his file/image browsing add-on supports many other
applications. Lightbox offers a visual thumbnail listing of
images (and other media files) so it’s easy to find the
image you’re after. Partial integration means the image can be
imported into your application. This package costs just under $30.
SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
PUBLISHER
PRODUCT STATUS
CONTACT INFORMATION
APPLIED SCIENCE FICTION
DEMO
WWW.ASF.COM
T
his Photoshop plug-in makes image correction simple by
doing the adjustments automatically. It focuses on colour
fading (scanned photographs) and light castings. The
example images on the developers website show some remarkable
transformations and our tests also produced excellent results.
125
NEXT STEPS
NEXT ISSUE On sale everywhere 13th March
New supernova caught on
digital camera
Future Publishing,
30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW
Customer services [t] 01458 271 100
[w] www.digitalcameramagazine.co.uk
EDITORIAL & ART
Nick Merritt Managing Editor
Rob Mead Acting Editor
Kai Wood Deputy Art Editor
Elizabeth Raderecht Operations Editor
Vicky West Sub-editor
It’s taken 10,000 pictures shooting 100 galaxies a
night for amateur astronomer Doug Rich to finally
achieve his dream
EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS
Steve Bavister, Aidan O’Rourke, Pete Martin,
Mark Harris, Will Smith, Sandy Gardner, Joe Apice,
Ed Davis, Tim Daly, Simon Danaher,
Joe Cassels, Matthew Richards
©WWW.REXFEATURES.COM 2003
T
here aren’t many people who are prepared to build a two-storey
observatory onto the side of their house, but Doug Rich likes to do
things differently. By night this air traffic controller from Hampden in
Maine, USA sits in front of his $4,000 telescope, hooked up to an even more
expensive digital camera and laptop and snaps distant stars once every 47
seconds. Now the amateur astronomer has seemingly achieved the impossible –
discovered the remains of star that exploded over 150 million years ago and
completely missed by his more professional and expensively equipped
astronomical compadres.
Doug Rich discovered the supernova, named 2003O, by accident during
a routine star search that sees him shoot 100 galaxies a night for the five
nights a month when the weather is clear enough to see any stars at all.
Realising that the extinct star couldn’t be found on any of the 9,500 celestial
maps in his possession, he immediately registered the find with the Central
Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, making it the 15th supernova to be
discovered so far this year.
Sadly, the images Rich took won’t be adorning the space above the fireplace:
the electronic images he takes are seemingly unremarkable sheets of grey,
peppered with tiny black dots. But that doesn’t seem to bother 54 year old Rich,
who told local newspaper the Kennebec Journal that the discovery was his own
Super Bowl “You wouldn’t find something like this at Wal-Mart,” he said. But then
you can’t imagine Wal-Mart selling observatories, two-foot long aluminium
telescopes or star-shooting digital cameras either.
Next month – on sale 13th March
■ Spring back to life!
PHOTOGRAPHIC CONTRIBUTORS
(Where not credited inside)
Future Network Photo Studio, Getty Images UK,
Rex Features UK
ADVERTISING
[t] 020 7317 2600
Michelle Blackwell Ad Manager
Ben Shoesmith Sales Executive
[t] 020 7317 0259
NEW MEDIA
James Brown Group New Media Manager
Jeremy Ford Senior Disc Editor
James Guest New Media Development
Steve Pashley Online Editor
CIRCULATION AND MARKETING
It’s a fantastic time to get outdoors and capture the birth of a brand
new season – we reveal the top photo techniques that will help you
take brilliant pictures of plants, animals, places and people
■ Web publishing essentials
Clare Tovey Production Manager
Diane Ross Production Coordinator
Mike Thorne Team Buyer
Jamie Malley Circulation Manager
Fiona Tully Marketing Manager
Marie Spicer Subscriptions Executive
SENIOR MANAGEMENT
We pick the best program to help you post your pictures on the net
■ Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro tips
Dave Taylor Group Publisher
John Weir Publishing Director
Colin Morrison Managing Director
Greg Ingham CEO
Printed in England
© Future Publishing Ltd 2003
More top tips from our experts. PLUS: Photoshop filters explained
■ Up to the minute camera reviews
We put five of the latest models through their paces.
PLUS: find out how you camera fares in our brand
new six-page Buyers Guide!
■ Don’t forget to reserve a copy of
Digital Camera Magazine at your newsagent,
or subscribe See page 80 for full details!
130
2 PACKED CDs!
Plus 8 pages of events & ideas to
Getup&go to, and five new-format tips cards!
Disclaimer
Getup&go section, tear-out factsheets and gatefold covers
are published in UK editions of the magazine only. All
contributions to Digital Camera Magazine are accepted
on the basis of a non-exclusive worldwide licence to
publish or license others to do so, unless otherwise
agreed in advance in writing. We reserve the right to edit
letters. We cannot accept liability for mistakes or
misprints, or any damage to equipment or possessions
arising from use of this publication, its discs or software
■ Due to unforeseen circumstances, it may sometimes be
necessary to make last-minute changes to advertised
content, for mag and discs.

Digital Camera World

Transcription

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