Review Digital Camera World 04-11-2014

Digital Camera World

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5 digital camera features no photographer should be without Apr 10th 2014, 23:01, by crutter If you only ever get to grips with five digital camera features, make sure it's these… All images by Chris Rutter Every camera has a plethora of different features and functions, but it can be bewildering to know which ones to use and when, so we've come-up with the five essential digital camera features you need to master to help you get perfect results every time. Some of these, such as back-button focusing, take a little time to master, but it's well worth taking the time to get to grips with them, as once you do, you'll wonder how you ever managed without them. No matter what subject you're shooting, we guarantee they will change the way you shoot forever, and will result not just in better images, but images that you previously thought were impossible. Don't believe us? Read on to learn more… SEE MORE: What camera should I buy? Pros and cons of each camera type Best digital camera features: 01 Highlight warning & histogram view What’s the feature? These two image-review modes are essential for assessing the exposure of your images. The highlight-warning mode will show you overexposed areas as flashing pixels, while the histogram is a graph showing the distribution of the tones within the image. How does it work? In the playback menu you will have to select the option to display these two review modes. Then, when you review your image, either automatically after you have taken a shot or by pressing the playback button, you can select the review mode by either pressing the info button or the top and bottom parts of the multi-controller. If the highlight warning flashes, you will need to reduce the exposure (ie darken the whole image, so that the highlights are no longer blown). The easiest and most intuitive way to do this is to find your camera's Exposure Compensation button or menu, and dial in a compensation value of say, -1 (negative values make the image darker, positive values brighter). A quick test shot will confirm whether you need to dial in more or less compensation. While the highlight warning can be useful, however, using the histogram will give you much more information about the overall exposure – if the graph is bunched up at the right, with a gap to the left, the image is over-exposed, so again, you will need to dial in some negative Exposure Compensation. If it's bunched to the left, with a gap to the right, the image is under-exposed, so you will need to set the Exposure Compensation to a positive value. SEE MORE: How to set up a camera for the first time – 11 things you need to do first When should I use it? Both of these review options can – and should – be used by default, but the highlight warning is best if you need to quickly check the exposure, while the histogram is ideal for checking under- and over-exposure, and for fine-tuning things when the exposure is critical – such as when shooting landscapes, or architecture. Anything else I need to know? Both the histogram and highlight-warning displays use information from a JPEG image (even if you are shooting in raw), so if you are shooting in raw, leave any Picture Styles or Controls set to neutral to get the best indication of the exposure of the raw file. Best digital camera features: 01 Highlight warning & histogram view Best digital camera features: 02 Live View mode Best digital camera features: 03 Manual AF point selection Best digital camera features: 04 Back-button focusing Best digital camera features: 05 Continuous shooting for static subjects READ MORE 10 common camera mistakes every photographer makes How to use a camera: exposure modes made simple New camera anatomy: 12 key camera settings to get you started right 24 camera features every beginner must memorize 44 essential digital camera tips and tricks Enter the world's richest photo competition for a chance to win $120,000 Apr 10th 2014, 10:00, by jmeyer How does winning $120,000 sound? That's the top prize on offer in this year's Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA), the world's richest photography competition. And that's not all. With so much money on offer for the top prize, it is unsurprising to hear the contest has a huge total prize pot of $400,000, so even if you don't win first place you could still walk away with several thousand dollars in prize money. This year's overarching theme is 'Life in Colour', a subject that allows entrants to "explore an array of exciting avenues". Themes in previous years have included 'Creating the Future', 'Beauty of Light' and 'Love of the Earth'. Sub-categories this year include 'Life in Colour', 'General', 'Faces' and 'Night Photography'. The latter three categories offer $15,000 for first place, $12,000 for second, $10,000 for third, $8,000 for fourth and $6,000 for fifth place. The 'Life in Colour' sub-category presents an even more attractive option to entrants, with $25,000 up for grabs for first place, $20,000 for second, $15,000 for third, $12,000 for fourth and $10,000 for fifth place. There are also two invitation-only special categories. The Photography Appreciation Award has a prize value of $20,000 and is for an individual or group showing "long-standing commitment to enhancing the art of photography". The second special prize is the Photographic Research/Report Award, which aims to "celebrate research which reaches excellence in the field of photography". It has a prize value of $25,000. Last year's winners of the special prizes were Steve McCurry and Dr. Ren Ng. Founded in 2011, the HIPA prize aims to "build man" by "developing and honing his skills and pushing his ambitions to new horizons where excellence and distinction in the field of photography have no limits". Last year's grand prize winner was Fuyang Zhou, whose striking shot of a rudimentary schoolroom scene in a rural district of his native China was deemed to be the perfect representation of the contest's theme of 'Creating the Future'. The 2013-2014 edition of the competition saw over 26,000 candidates from 156 different countries take a shot at the prize, with 38,203 images being submitted. That's up from just over 4,000 entrants in 2011, the first year of the competition's existence. The closing date of this year's competition is midnight on 31 December 2014. For further details, visit the HIPA website: www.hipa.ae/en READ MORE 10 common exposure problems every photographer faces (and how to avoid them) How to set up a camera for the first time: 11 things you need to do first 24 camera features every beginner photographer should memorize 10 common camera mistakes every photographer makes

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