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Issue 38 : November 2014

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Thanks to everyone who entered last month’s Landscape and Seascape competition. I have to say I was really impressed and inspired by all of the

images! Congratulations to Ralph Bella for taking the win with his image ‘Light Streak’− really beautiful.

And well done to everyone who has got their images in this month’s issue – great work by all. We have a great issue again this month, featuring Part 1 in a series of articles on Macro Photography by Photographer Allan Cox.

Kim Howells from Kim Howells Photography Training shares her tips and thoughts to consider when looking for your next lens to buy.

And we feature award winning Photographer Ilan Wittenberg who talks to us about his photography journey, his work and his exhibition titled Black, White and Colour, held this month at Silo 6 in Auckland. A must see!

Hollie WightmanResident JudgeNZ Photographer

Awesome Entries!{

ABOUT Whether you’re an enthusiastic weekend snapper or a

beginner who wants to learn more, NZ Photographer is the fun e-magazine for all Kiwi camera owners – and it’s free!

EDITOR Hollie Wightman, hollie@nzphotographer.co.nz

GROUP EDITOR Jennifer Liew

ART DIRECTOR Jodi Olsson

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Phone Jennifer on 09 522 7257 or

email jenniferl@espiremedia.com

WEBSITE www.nzphotographer.co.nz

NZ Photographer is an Espire Media publication

Hollie Wightman

PCL’S NEW IPHONE AND IPAD APP FREE WEEKLY TUTORIALS!

New Zealand’s premium photo lab, PCL IMAGING, has made its latest evolution into the palm of your hand. They have launched this month the iphone and ipad app

which allows users to edit, enhance and order photographs directly from their phones.PCL has been a photographic industry leader for over 40 years and once again is enabling photographers with the latest technological development. The app itself is a direct result of another technology PCL has been using for several years called ROES or remote order entry software. This software was made available for MAC or PC and has been used to by thousands of happy customers.

PCL will be holding weekly tutorials for the new app for their customers and if you mention this article you can join them for a free cupcake, espresso photographic print. The relaxed tutorials will take place at PCL every Thursday at 11am.

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Next Month's Competition: Colour

GET SHOOTING AND WIN!Photographers - This is a great opportunity to improve your photography skills and get some feedback from professional photography judges in a safe and friendly environment. Here's what's up for grabs:

• The winning image on the cover of the next issue

• A high quality print of your image and cover to immortalise your achievement for your grandchildren, courtesy of PCL Imaging

• $50 cash

• And of course, bragging rights and the envy of your fellow NZ Photographer fans!

Check out next month’s theme and enter at www.nzphotographer.co.nz!

WIN!

This month’s competition theme is Colour − any subject or photography technique you like − but show us in vivid, bright, colour, entries close November 21st.

Rules: Images submitted must be no older than 12 months from the date of publication of this issue. Entry to the competition is $5 and you can enter up to five images. Images must be no more than 100 dpi and no more than 1600px wide. Save them as jpgs in the prefered colour space of Adobe RGB (1998). If you don't know what this means, don't worry, but do Google it...●

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Which Lens Should I Buy?By Kim Howells, Kim Howells Photography Training

There are so many lenses available, that it can be quite daunting to figure out which will give you the best bang for your buck. There is often no right

or wrong, you have to do what works for you. Some people love prime lenses, and some love zooms. And some, (like me) like both, depending on what you are using them for.

The decisions are based around a few key points.

1. Focal length

2. Zoom or prime?

3. Maximum aperture desired

4. Crop sensor or full frame?

5. Image quality

6. Budget

(NZP_LensChoice_1) Canon 70-200 f2.8L.jpg

Canon 70-200 f2.8L

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Canon 70-200 f2.8L Canon 50mm f1.4)

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1. Focal length• What will you be shooting, and where?• Do you need a wider angle to fit a whole family in the

frame in a small space, or a landscape? If so, maybe a 35mm or 50mm would be suitable, or a zoom like a 24-70mm, or 17-85mm.

• Do you have plenty of room to ‘back up’, so you can make use of a longer focal length? Perhaps you might like an 85mm or 135mm, or a zoom lens such as the 70-200mm.

2. Zoom or prime?• Much of this is personal taste. Many believe prime

lenses to be sharper, but lens quality tends to be a bigger factor rather than zoom versus prime.

• Some people prefer to know they have a set focal length and use their feet to zoom. Others prefer the speed of being able to zoom with the lens.

3. Maximum aperture• With aperture being one of the factors

controlling depth of field (DOF), this is an important consideration.

• Maximum aperture is the widest that the lens will open. This can be fixed, or in the case of some of the cheaper zoom lenses, this may be variable (ie the most it can be open varies according to focal length).

• The wider the lens can open, the shallower the DOF.

4. Crop sensor or full frame?Crop sensors mean that you will need to be further away from your subject compared to a full frame camera. For example a 50mm lens on a crop sensor may mean you can’t get back far enough to photograph a family in your living room, but on a full frame camera it may be fine.

5. Image quality• Within brands, there can be differences in lens quality,

due to variations in build, quality of optical components.

• Some ‘off-brand’ manufacturers may have less stringent quality control, meaning you may end up with a lens that is less sharp.

• Some cheaper lenses interfere with colour, and can add a slight tint.

6. Budget• Better glass costs more money. The more expensive

lenses generally have a larger maximum aperture, and better quality glass elements. And they come with the price tag to suit.

• Additional features such as image stabilisation can understandably result in the lens being more expensive. ●

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LESS IS MORE NEW EOS 100D

The world’s smallest and lightest APS-C DSLR*,all performance, no compromise.

*As at 1st March 2013

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I've been thinking about an article on macro photography for some time, but have been put off by the knowledge that it is a big subject that I could

never do justice to in one small article. Even if I picked one aspect of macro for in article, it would still be a bit of a tease. I've decided that the only thing to do is to cover macro in a series of articles.

Most likely, one a month for the next 12 months. Of

course if you don’t want to wait for monthly instalments

to learn macro photography, you could always come on

one of our macro workshops.

I love macro photography for its versatility. With macro,

suddenly you have a whole universe to photograph in

Part One By Allan CoxMacro Photography

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your back garden; and weather conditions that would be unsuitable for other kinds of photography, can be ideal for macro photography. When we get a cloudy drizzly day that is just not going to work for landscape photography, we’ll grab our macro gear and head to the botanical gardens.

So macro photography can also be a great ‘back up’ that compliments other types of photography.If you are reading this, and thinking macro sounds interesting, but you can’t do it as you don't have a macro lens, stop right there.

More than anything else with today's article, I'd like to get across the point that you don't have to own a macro lens to do macro photography. Just as there are more ways to kill a cat than drowning it in custard, so to there are more ways to do macro than using a macro lens.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying I don't use a macro lens. I do. Using a macro lens is very convenient way to do macro photography, but I don't use it for all of my macro work, and I don't have to use it.

The wasp portrait in this article was not taken with a macro lens. Macro photography does require some specialised equipment and it requires some specialised knowledge. Of the two, the specialised knowledge is the most important and should come first − if for no other reason than knowing what specialised equipment to buy.

If I again refer you to the wasp portrait, I had to

purchase some specialised equipment to take this photograph. I spent the princely sum of $15 on extra equipment to take this photograph.

So to summarise everything above, macro photography is something that we can all do, it's lots of fun and you don’t have to take out a second mortgage to do it. So why don’t you join me over the next few months or so and discover the wonderful world of macro photography?

To get you going, here’s a wee exercise that I think is worth doing. We are going to find out what you can do with the lens/lenses you already own, ie to what level you can already take a close-up photograph. We want to find out how close your lenses will focus, and how much of the frame will be filled by a small object being photographed.

Turn auto focus off. There will be a switch, either on the lens, the camera, or both, that switches between auto focus and manual. Often marked AF/M. Switch it to M (if you have a switch on both the lens and the camera then choose the lens).

Find the focus ring. On the lens will be a ring that lets you focus the lens by turning it. If your lens is a zoom lens, then you will have a zoom ring and a focus ring. One ring zooms the lens, the other—often smaller and sometimes right at the front of the lens—will focus the lens.

More than anything else with today’s article, I’d like to get across the point that

you don’t have to own a macro lens to do macro photography. Just as there are

more ways to kill a cat than drowning it in custard, so to there are more ways to do

macro than using a macro lens.

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If you play with turning the focus ring, you will find that by turning it one way, the lens will focus on objects off in the distance, and the other way, close to the camera. Turn the focus ring in the direction for close objects until it stops. Your lens is now focused on its closest point.

While leaving your lens focused at its closest distance, move the camera to and fro from an object until the object becomes sharp. You are looking at the object with your lens set at its closest focusing distance. Take note of this distance and of how big the object is in the frame.

Repeat this process with all of your lenses and at their different zoom ranges. Take note of which lens, and zoom range, gives the best close-up effect. Now it is time to have some fun.

Choose camera settings that give you a fast shutter speed. I would suggest 1/200sec min. (Turn your camera to A/AV mode and set the smallest f number—e.g. F4. You may have to move your ISO up if it is a cloudy day).

Now go and take some photographs. Move the camera in and out to get the subject into focus. You will notice that apart from what you are focusing on, almost everything else will be out of focus.

Don't fight this! Just go with the flow and enjoy it. The temptation is to set a larger f number (eg f16) to get more depth of field, but at this point in time, don’t. Have fun taking photographs where most of the photograph is soft, but one part is sharp.

Think about how the out of focus area works to complement the point in focus. How the two balance each other. Think about where in the frame this one point of sharp focus is. You might like to start with it on a ‘rule of thirds’ point and then trust your feelings after that. The flower photo with this article was taken with my standard lens (24-70mm) at its closest focusing distance and f2.8. ●

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FEATURE ARTIST

Ilan Wittenbergwww.IlanWittenberg.com

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A Photographer’s Journey

Ilan Wittenberg is a man of many avenues. After gaining a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and an MBA in Information Technology, Wittenberg realised his true passion and moved into the creative realm of photography. Fast forward a few years, he is now an award-winning photographer whose enthusiasm stemmed from reading Time Life books and National Geographic Magazine as a child.

Ataahua Aotearoa

Wittenberg spent some time traveling before arriving to New Zealand with his family in 2001 and Aotearoa quickly became his home. “This Place is a dream come true,” he says, “with beauty in its people and in nature; I cannot imagine my life anywhere else. New Zealand has given me the opportunity to work in an

eye-opening and rewarding field”.

The unique environment has contributed to Wittenberg’s shift into a photographic career, where he enjoys exercising his artistic spirit, creating family portraits for Aucklanders’.

Ilan’s journey as a photographer began three years ago, his early days saw him being recognised as an up and comer, today his most recent achievement is a gold medal from the photographic Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina for his piece ‘The Scholar’ (chosen out of 2,128 entries) and a gold medal from Danube Photo Club for his image ‘The Boulders’ (chosen out of 1,290 entries). The land of the long white cloud has indeed been treating him well.

When asked what equipment he’s been using, Wittenberg smiles saying, “The camera does not take the photograph; it’s the person behind it”.

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Black, White and Colour

This November, Wittenberg has been given a wonderful opportunity to present three themes of photography in Silo 6 on Auckland’s scenic waterfront. The exhibition will include portraiture, landscape and his most recent passion, fine art. He says it has been an invigorating theme to delve into, exploring his ability in creating abstract pieces. Wittenberg aims to break through the clutter of the thousands of images we see daily by telling a story through his work, emphasising the potential photography has to touch people’s lives.

Titled Black, White and Colour, the exhibition is the first opportunity he’s had to share his creations with the public

in a solo exhibition. A crowd funding campaign has been launched to help Wittenberg present the show for free. Click here to be a part of the exciting journey.

Contributing to the project gives you the chance to own an exclusive print of the exhibited works. He looks forward to opening the doors of this event and to present what he has been immersed in throughout the best years of his career as a professional photographer. Black, White and Colour opens on November the 19th at 7:30pm with keynote speaker Sir Bob Harvey.

The exhibition will be open until the 30th of November. Crowd funding campaign; Black, White and Colour Admission: Free to the general public. ●

CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY WEEKEND7th to 10th November 2014

Join international award-winning photographer, Scott Fowler EFIAP PPSA APSNZ for a long weekend of creativity and fun. All levels welcome. Take your photography to another level!

Limited numbers, great location in Otago, South Island.

Contact Scott at scottfowlerphotography@scoiwi.com for more detailsCost: $790 including accomodation and tuition

Covering: Creative Portraiture, Image Harvesting, Still Life, Macro, B&W, HDR, Creative Lighting, Post Processing and much more!

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Ralph Bella

Light streak... Milford Sound sunset. Canon 7D | f/16 | 30sec | ISO100

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Alex Efimoff

Somewhere near Gisborne, Canon EOS 7D, 50 mm full-frame lens

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Prashant Joshi

Auckland CBD. Photo taken from Devonport during last summer. Stitched panorama. I like the colours in sky and also in the buildings. Nikon D600

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Murray Lowe

Taken at sunrise on the Terrigal rock shelf with my trusty 7D. I love the explosion of colour in the sky in this one and the addition of a fellow photographer silhouetted in the distance. Canon 7D EF S 15 - 85mm lens, at F18, 1/10 sec, ISO 100, -.7 stops without any filters

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Ralph Bella

Sentinel... one of Glenorchys’ willow trees. Canon 7D | f/16 | 70sec | ISO100

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Prashant Joshi

Waterfall. This was taken in the National park near Mahuia rapids. I like the colours in the image and the motion in the water. Nikon D600

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Anna Ulyanova

Sunset from Mount Victoria. My aim was to capture amazing view to the city from the mountain in beautiful tints of evening sun.

Nikon D5300, f14, 1/250 sec, ISO 100, 25 mm focal length

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FeJonathan Mark Whybrow

This was taken in late March looking north alongside the western edge of the Coromandel. You can see how the shadows are starting to form over the land as the sun sinks towards the horizon. Triple exposure taken with my Finepix S4900 at f/10, 1/100 second and ISO 64

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Edward Swift

Looking out over Paris, was trying to get the view of Paris from the top of Sacre-Coeur, while keeping some of the beautiful architecture in frame.

Canon EOS 100D, 33mm focal length, ISO200, 1/4000s, f4.0

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Ashley Ross

Taken while on an awesome photographic workshop with Allan Cox at nzphotoworkshops.com near Waipiata in Central Otago. Taken on a Canon 700D; Canon 70-200 2.8L lens; 1/320 @ f8; 135mm

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“True art is characterised by an irresistible urge in the creative artist”

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