Review Digital Camera World 08-16-2013

Digital Camera World

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Macro nature photography: tips for taking pin-sharp close-ups of flowers and insects Aug 15th 2013, 23:01, by jmeyer In our latest Professional Photographer to the Rescue series post our pro shares his best macro nature photography tips to help our apprentice learn how to take pin-sharp pictures of wildflowers, lichen, butterflies and much more. Meet our professional photographer Ross Hoddinott is one of Britain's best-known wildlife photographers, and specialises in getting right in close to nature with his macro lens. The 35-year-old Cornishman  was recently named one of Nikon's UK Ambassadors. You  can find out more about his books, workshops and his beautiful imagery at www.rosshoddinott.co.uk Meet our apprentice Jan Churchward lives in Torbay where she works as the finance officer for a local health centre. Unusually Jan didn't nominate herself to be our apprentice – unbeknown to her, she had her name put forward by her husband Derek. They are both keen photographers, but while he loves landscapes, she has got more into taking pictures of the macro world since she got her D60 some five years ago. So met up with Ross and our team for a day's shoot, photographing the flora and fauna near Bude in Cornwall. Technique assessment As they took pictures of the flowers along the Coombe Valley, Ross suggested these ways Jan could set up her camera to improve her picture shooting success rate: Auto White Balance Keep your greens clean Ross says… In woodland settings, the huge amount of green foliage will fool the Auto White Balance setting, and will give an overall colour cast to the shot. Cloudy White Balance I got Jan to switch from AWB to the manual Cloudy White Balance setting, and there was an immediate improvement to the look of her shots on the LCD. Legs akimbo Ross says… For shots of woodland flowers you need to get the camera as low to the ground as possible. Jan's tripod wasn't getting low enough – but I discovered that you could unscrew the centre column to allow the legs to splay right out. Live update Ross says… I am always reluctant to suggest people upgrade their camera. But Jan's D60 does not have LiveView, which is an extremely useful facility for macro as it allows you to check focus so precisely. I let Jan try out a D7100 I had borrowed from Nikon so she could see the advantages of this video display of the viewfinder image. PAGE 1: Meet our professional photographer and apprentice PAGE 2: Macro nature photography tips for planning your shoot PAGE 3: Final macro nature photography advice from our professional photographer PAGE 4: Our professional photographer’s recommended gear PAGE 5: Shot of the Day READ MORE Close-up portrait photography: how to shoot unusual portraits in stunning detail How to photograph anything: best camera settings for macro photography How to set your autofocus for macro photography 10 common exposure problems every photographer faces (and how to fix them) The Decisive Moment: how nature photographers can make the most of it Cities at night: how to photograph urban areas mixing natural and artificial light Aug 15th 2013, 10:50, by jmeyer Photographing cities at night can prove challenging for many photographers who struggle to get an accurate exposure. In this urban night photography tutorial we explain how to mix artificial and natural light for a more balanced shot. When shooting city scenes at night, or more specifically at twilight, there are two sources of light; one from artificial sources such as street lamps and the other from residual natural light. The problem is that if one is brighter than the other, the resulting picture will have some parts that are correctly exposed but other areas that are either very dark (under-exposed) or very bright (over-exposed) depending on how you have taken the meter reading. The solution is to time the taking of your images so that the light levels from these different sources is the same, which will then produce an evenly exposed shot. Here's how you do it… How to photograph cities at night 01 Mix artificial and natural When shooting down town at night, artificial light will play a major role in illuminating the scene, but don't dismiss the importance of natural light, especially with regard to the sky. By making use of this residual light you can avoid black skies and produce a well-exposed shot with detail throughout.   02 Use spot metering For a balanced shot, light levels from the sky and artificial light need to be roughly the same. This is easy to determine by taking a spot meter reading from both the sky (A) and an area of the scene that's well lit by artificial light (B). If the sky is too bright, wait for it to get darker and take another reading.   03 Perfect timing At the point when the sky is still slightly brighter (1-stop) start shooting using the spot metered settings for the artificially lit part of the scene. Continue to take pictures using these exposures. For about 10 minutes the scene will be evenly lit and two or three shots will be perfectly exposed. READ MORE 10 common exposure problems every photographer faces (and how to solve them) Night Photography: how to set up your camera to shoot anything City photography: tips for taking pictures of buildings and cities Bulb mode: how to get pro-quality shots in low light Night photography exposure guide: free cheat sheet

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