Photomappers issue 3 by PhotoMappers Magazine

Issue 33 ISSUE

INSIDE! Brilliant tips on shooting action!

Secrets exposed!

Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet Param Qui

Free ISO cheat sheet!

Rainy day projects Learn the basics of metering on your phone!

W + E I V E R R A GE

Great Sighting

Adventure S Site !

Raining outside? Let’s shoot some water droplets! We’ll even show you how!

PLUS LOADS MORE!

Vacation Destination

Peak Design Capture LENS and Capture clip PRO. PLUS and oldie but goodie, 3 Legged thing AirHed 2!

Contents

Getting close to the action

Free ISO cheat sheet

Everybody loves free stuff! We have created an ISO cheat sheet for you to use , download or print out.

Intresting angles make for very engaging photos. Getting close to the action explores physically getting close to subjects during action.

Choosing which story to tell

10 Brilliant tips for shooting action This issue is full of tips! Here’s another 10 quick tips to help you shoot action photography.

Telling stories is up to us. We have a look at how the story can be changed depending on what we shoot.

Secrets exposed!

Get Better shots NOW!

Secrets Exposed! this issue shows you guys a few secrets in shooting action. No spoilers here though..

ZONE PRE FOCUSING

As with our other Get better shots now!, this is a critique aimed at helping you see issues that may arise in photos, and how to fix them.

18 With more people shooting on their phones, we kenw we had to create some tips for using a smartphone. We’ll start with the basic: Metering.

Rainy day projects Shooting action indoors..? Rainy day projects is on shooting water droplets. This is something you need to try!

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Ever tried Zone pre focusing? No? We’ve written a guide to show you the how’s and why’s of trying it.

GEAR REVIEWS Up for review in this issue is a 3LT tripod, and a couple of products from the guys at Peak Design.

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Editor’s Note shooting action and shooting differently Shooting action requires a different skill set to portrait or landscape photography. It forces us to stay alert and really tests our reflexes and adabability. Although getting ‘the shot’ can be hard, it’s super rewarding when we manage it. So we’ve dedicated an issue on teaching you guys techniques that will help you nail it!

Getting close to the action Extreme sports benefits the most from different angles! In this case getting close to our subjects. In the photo across this spread, I was literally about 1 foot away from the bike.. Like I could feel the breeze as Ben shot past me. Was it scary? Of course! Was it worth it? Hell yeah! We’re not telling you to put yourself in danger just to get the shot though. Far from it. Ben knows what he’s doing, and so do I, so there was no concern. We started this shot with getting Ben to set up the boxes and have a few dry runs to get a feel for where he’ll be on the box and the speed he’s going. Then we threw an umberlla’d speedlite to the right of the photo to give a little side light. I snuck into the tiny gap and we got a few more dry runs done so Ben could get used to me being in the danger zone.

of field didn’t matter and set the camera to manual focus. Knowing I’d be super close, the focus ring was set to around 12 feet. One thing I did notice was there was a black spot on the box that Ben crossed constantly. When looking through the viewfinder when the spot was crossed, the shot was framed perfectly. This meant I could essentially frame the shot, and ‘shoot from the hip’ while watching the action safely. Personally, I don’t like to machine gun the shots in a high burst mode, I prefer to wait for the peak moment. That’s exactly what was done here. I waited until Ben crosses a little black spot on the box then took my shot. The wide angle lens along with being so close to the action gives us that beautiful perspective distortion that makes the front wheel look as though it’s coming out of the Camera set up was easy. I shot! had a wide lens on, so depth The shot of Gary on the

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Nikon D700 Tokina 20-35mm at 20mm F4 ISO 1250 1/100th Flash 1/16th

green BMX was shot the same way but from the other side of the box and from a slightly higher viewpoint. For the next couple of shots, we used Adam to do a few differnt tricks and on a different ramp. You may be able to see it in the background near Ben’s rear wheel. Adam is amazing a a trick called a tailwhip. This is spinning the bike frame around without being on it. So getting close to shooting this is pretty dangerous. Add in the 7-8 foot tall ramp too... As you can imagine, you’ve gotta be careful! The shots here were similar to Ben’s in set up. I put the umberlla’d flash to my left, ontop of another ramp and aiming down slightly. Focus was really simple. I turned on autofocus and roughly got into my shooting position. I placed the focus point on the coping (metal rail on the edge of the ramp). I then switched but to manual focus mode and got ready to shoot. The nature of this trick means that the bike frame comes over the edge of the ramp, so I had to hang back for the bike to clear my shooting position, then dive forward and grab my shot.

The photo on the page overleaf, I had to lay on the ramp and aim the camera skywards. Adam would still be on the same plane of focus, and the depth of field on the wide lens meant that everything I wanted in focus would be. Choosing to only shoot the peak action gave me only a handful of photos to choose from, but they were all ‘the shot’. So why did we choose to shoot with strobes instead of natural light? And how many were used?

These guys know their sport and know when the tricks looks perfect or not. Throughout this shoot, we constantly reviewed the photos to get perfection. It’s always a good idea to make sure the subjects/models are happy with images before you move on.

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www.PhotoMappers.com The park was pretty dark. Not in an human eye way, but in a ‘I’m gonna have to crank my ISO’ kind of way. Plus, I was using a f3.5 - f4 lens and I wasn’t feeling crazy high amounts of

noise for these photos. Besides, the guys liked the look of “a dark background but the rider to be lit”. This essentially means they wanted flash used.

t o h s e h tting t

Before we even consider getting the flash out, the ambient light needs setting. This was done by using Matrix metering and manual shooting mode. To start with, ISO was set to 200, shutter speed to 1/125th and f4. It was dark! The shutter speed was lowered to 1/80th and ISO increased incrementially until the ambient light looked good. I think it became 1/80th, f4 ISO 1000. To set flashoutput power, I got one of the guys to stand roughly in our shooting spot. Power was adjusted to suit. In this case flash power became 1/64th. Those settings gave us some decent results, but it wasn’t the dark background the guys were after. With

our shutter speed at 1/80th we had room to adjust. Going to the fastest shutter speed possible with resorting to high speed sync, the shutter speed was changed to 1/200th. It gave us the exact look we were after. I wanted the f stop as wide as possible to allow the flash to refresh as quickly as possible and batteries to last for the 3 hour shoot. Batteries die fast in the cold, and it was COLD! We used just a single flash. A secondary flash unit would have given us a few more options, like rim lighting or gelling the background. But it makes for more things to think about and avoid for our subject. We want them to be comfortable and confident, without any worry of crashing into our equipment.

So there we have it. Getting close to the action gives th option of some amazing angles and beautiful photos too. Just keep your well being and your subject’s safety in mind before you shoot. Keep safe and keep shooting.

Choosing which story to tell 10

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Shooting the details of an event can build a complete picture. Thses are often otherwise missed moments that elicit emotion and build a sense of the atmosphere. Be deliberate in what you shoot and be mindful of the atmosphere you want to convey in your photos. Do you want to show how busy an event is or empahsise calmness? Your answer will change your approach to shooting. A very busy frame with lots of people in will give a complete opposite feel to a photo of a single subject with a blurred background. The main action tends to be the focus of everyone’s attention. In a wedding for example, the bride and groom are understandably the people mostly watched. In these kinds of events, 11

I urge you to look around at other people. Especially father of the bride or grand parents. You’ll find that they tend to have beautiful raw emotion on show, but only a few people notice. Another great example is a music festival. Being allowed in the photo pit is great and it’s understandable to want to make the most of the time by shooting the performers. However, look around! The people at the front of the barrier are usually the most passionate fans. These guys will sing at the top of their lungs, wear the band’s shirts and give amazing experssion. Take a little walk away from the main action and away from the huge crowd of people.

These two photos are brilliant examples of choosing what to show. The photo above shows the crowd walking by the pianist. We can tell he is positioned in a busy street. The inclusion of people walking by adds to the sense of how busy the place is. From the photo, it looks as though only one person has stopped. The shot below however gives a feeling of calmness and warmth. The bokeh in the background suggests the pianist is indoors but gives no clue as to how busy the place is. This close up gives us a

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Look for single subjects, shoot the event vendors, get in early and show how the area is calm and ready or stay late and show the aftermath. With a ballerina, shoot their feet after a show.. Showing people a viewpoint they rarely see or know about will stick with them. We as photographers can literally dictate our viewer’s perception from what we show. We want to always shoot multiple viewpoints and details to have a real sense

of the whole event. Only then can we build a true sense of atmosphere and story. There’s nothing worse than getting home and regretting missing out on shots. We’re not saying miss out on the main action though, far from it. Everybody sees the action. Very few people get to see close ups, backstage or behind the scenes. These will intrest people hugely and really help build the story you want to convey.

very good indication of the age range of the subject. Also, if you look closely, you may be able to see the plasters adoring the pianist’s fingers. The subject may play so much their skin is splitting. Or perhaps they work with their hands. Choosing to shoot the above photo in the same close up style as the bottom image would change our perception on the whole story entirely!

Always shoot multiple view points and details. There’s nothing worse than getting home and regretting missing out shots. 13

GET better shots now!

I love the original photo of the pit crew below. I especially love the angle and the view of being in the pit lane. You get a real sense of the fast pace that the team work to. There are however a few minor issues I’d change in the photo. Every photo can be improved right...? (1) First and foremost has got to be the clean up. I’ve ringed these in dark red circles. These tiny elements make my eye wander around the frame too much. I started with the two nuts lying on the floor Then I move anti clockwise around the frame with the spot healing brush, removing the things ringed in red. (2) Now the photo is free of extra distractions my attention is turned to the red object ringed in green. To me the brightness and saturation of it makes it look fake. It’s only the light hitting the object, but I think it needs darkening slightly. So I make a new curves layer in photoshop and drag the curve downwards. I then invert the layer mask and paint over the object with a white brush and around 30% opacity. The opacity of the layer itself is then adjusted to make it look more ‘natural’. (3) The previous two steps are arguably the easiest to fix. Especially in camera. For example, the nuts on the floor in step one could have been picked up when on location. That would save the removal of them in post. But fixing the crowd, or more the lack of crowd is a little harder. I made a new layer and used a combination of clone stamp tool and the healing brush tool with varying opacity. Special care was taken to make the crowd look natural with no obvious repeating patterns.

(4) Global adjustments. We now have our basic image all tidied up,it’s now time to make it pop! The original photo for me lacked a little Oomph! Namely contrast. I used a photoshop plugin called color efex pro4 for this photo. The procontrast

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feature is one of my favourites for adding punch! I added around 50% dynamic contrast and another filter on top called brilliance/warmth. This was to add more warmth to the photo. I took the yellows slider up slightly, then the perceptual saturation slider up until the photo looked good to my eye. Lastly, a vignette. Still in color efex, a draken/lighten filter was added with the default settings used. (5) Lastly, and back in photoshop, the crowd was darkened. The layer was duplicated with the blending mode set to multiply. A layer mask was added and inverted to allow me to paint in the darkness. A soft brush with around 30% opacity was perfect. Darkening then crowd takes attention away from them and draws more attention to our subject, in this case is the pit crew.

(7) Ok, so this one is more the background and timing. As a photographer, you don’t get much control of a situation unfolding around you. As an editor though, it’s one of the main things that get looked at. In this photo, a lack of cars racing draws attention to the pit crew. But, it shows a lack of racing... I don’t know if the photographer had a certain amount of time in the pits, or if this was even a real race etc but if the photographer could have waited a second or two longer before getting this shot, then the red car under the 77 sign would have been further through the frame. Thus indicating more cars and action/racing going on. So there we have it. Check out the before and after photos to see what we did to the photo in steps 1 - 5. 6 and 7 are things to be mindful of and possibly can be fixed when shooting. Note: We’re basing this critique on personal work as some publications will not accept edited or modified photos, such as removing elements present.

(6) The crop. We haven’t cropped this image in any way, this is more about in-camera cropping and watching your frame. On the far right of this photo, can you see the pit crews feet? Notice how one pair are half cut off? If the photographer took one step to the right no feet would have been cut off. Is this minor thing an issue? It depends. As an editor, it drives me crazy. A deliberate crop halfway up the limb is fine, because it is deliberate. As resale-ability goes, the footwear brand also probably wouldn’t buy this photo for the same reason. Just be mindful of your crop.

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Literally millions of photos are taken everyday by people with smart phones and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to see why. Cameras in our phones have gotten so good! Megapixels rival that of older DSLRs, sensor sensitivity is rapidly improving - especially in low light situations, and there are photo opportunities everywhere! Seriously! Portability is easily the biggest advantage of phone photography. We carry our phones everywhere on a daily basis so is no extra gear to take with us when we go out. We look at the world differently too. For example, would you have wasted

London’s Picadilly Circus Underground station Shot with a Samsung Galaxy S7

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a shot on their dinner back in the film days? Definitely not. But now, people are willing to take 30+ just for one decent one to throw up on Instagram. It’s not just dinner that now gets snapped though! So many random things that few people would have ever thought of taking a photo of before are now being shot. Live music events are a very good example. This isn’t to say they’re good photos however. To get good photos from your phone a little knowledge has to be implemented. So let’s teach you some Phonetography! Note: I use a Samsung Galaxy s7, so other brands may work differently.

Metering. Let’s start with metering. If you’re using it will adjust settings based on the your camera phone in automatic mode, brightest part of the screen, pretty much 19

Leaving the camera to meter for itself. Here, it reduced the brightness down to save details in the clouds Metering taken from the Gherkin (the building circled)

Here is PRO mode on my Samsung Galaxy S7 (Ringed) Controls cahnged after PRO mode has been selected

causing the rest of the photo to be dark/ darker. This is to preserve highlight details from turning into a white mess. (We also call this blowing out the highlights) Tapping on our subject will tell the metering mode that our subject is the most important part of the image to be seen. It will lighten the whole screen to suit the subject and probably blow out the highlights. Without shooting in an HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode, we can’t achieve both images in one shot. So we have to compromise. If your phone is getting the metering wrong regardless of where you touch on screen, or you’d like to fine tune

the exposure yourself, you should hopefully have an adjustment slider to brighten or darken the photo. I have something called Pro mode on my phone which I use probably 85% of the time. This essentially gives me control of everything. After you choose Pro mode, the controls change allowing you to change the shutter speed and ISO. The shutter speed allows you to essentially change the amount of light you allow into your camera. A speed of ¹/1000 will allow your camera’s shutter to be open for only 1000th of a second. Not drawing much light in at all. A faster shutter speed will

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generally freeze action. Notice how the bottom bar changes and allows fine control of the exposure Notice how the bottom bar changes and allows fine control of the exposure A speed of 1/6 will allow your camera’s shutter to be open for ¹/6 of a second. It’s still very brief by human standards, but for a camera it’s an eternity. This will draw a tonne of light in and probably cause camera shake though so be wary. In review, the shutter speed freezes action and controls light. Fast shutter speeds (¹/1000 for example) makes an image darker but captures action well. Slower shutter speeds (¹/6 for example) makes for brighter images but cannot capture action. ISO is the camera’s sensor sensitivity to light. A low ISO (ISO 100 for example) makes for best image quality but needs the most light to perform.

A higher ISO (ISO 800 for example) needs less light to perform the same way, but with higher image degradation. Try it out. Set your shutter speed to ¹/250 and ISO to 100. Take the shot. Now keep the shutter at ¹/250 and change the ISO to 400. Take another shot. Notice the difference? Try a third. Keep the shutter at ¹/250 and change the ISO to 1600 and take another shot. Do you see how the ISO affects the shot? By using a slightly higher ISO, you can use a faster shutter speed to capture action. Here’s a brief example of the effects of ISO while sitting in my car Here’s a brief example of the effects of ISO while sitting in my car This is a very brief overview of ISO and shutter speeds, but it should give you a basic understanding of how these two things work along side each other.

Rainy day projects It’s about time we give you another rainy day project! This issue is focused on action, so we thought what better action at home than action you create! In this case water droplets breaking the waters’ surface. This is a very easy project to shoot and I think you’ll agree, the results are awesome! A quick note before we start, we’re working with water around our electronics, so a towel is an absolute

necessity. Any water REMEMBER! droplets or spillages around our gear should You’re working around electrical be mopped up instantly. equipment and water! Always We can shoot with or keep a towel handy. without flash. I opted If your gear gets wet, turn it off, to use flash because remove batteries and allow it to I’m guaranteed a fully dry out before attempting frozen photo and to turn on. more flexibility on achieve this type look to it. colour for backgrond. though. Food colouring If you choose to do The first can be added this without flash then consideration to the water if make sure you have an in this shot you wish. The extremely fast shutter was colours.. background speed. 1/4000th or I used clear was just a 1/8000th are the better water but with piece of white options. You may have a white bowl card. to bump the ISO to to give a milky 22

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Things you’ll need Water Bag (sandwuch bag) Bowl/tray Towel Flash (optional) Background (optional) Patience! This may sound obvious, but you’re going to need to take a fair few shots!

The Setup • A tray was laid out to catch any excess or overflowing water from our bowl that we now place on top. • The bowl is the filled with a jug of water. • A lightstand with boom arm was placed directly over the bowl. • Next, the sandwich bag was filled with water, secured at the opening and taped to the boom arm. One of the bags’ corners faced downwards to give the water a defined path to travel down. • Our background was hung behind the bowl. Dependining on where you’re shooting, this can be easy to do or awkward as hell! In our case, we taped it to another boom arm and let it hang.

• With the flash mounted on a light stand, it was placed to the edge and slightly behind the bowl. The power was reduced to around 1/64th power and aimed directly at the background. • Our camera was mounted to a tripod, but a stack of books could work if you’re in a pinch. That’s the basic set up done. Next was the issue of focusing... A tiny hole was cut into the corner of the bag to give us a constant drip and I took a pen and dipped it into the water where the droplets were hitting. Advanced photography skills right there... But if it works! With focus set, we then switch our auto focus to manual and get ready to shoot.

This is the full set up. It’s really quick and easy to do. I used my D7000 and a Sigma 17 - 50mm 2.8. The close focusing capability of the lens means a dedicated macro lens isn’t needed. On top of the camera, you can see a transiever. The speedlight is also mounted on one. These allow the flash to fire without the need for cables. A boom arm can be seen at the top of the shot. A bag half filled with water is hanging from it and this is the source for the water drops.

This shot shows the angle of the camera set up. We gave the camera a very slight upwards angle to clear the rim of the bowl. The water was filled to the very top of the bowl. The drip try is there to catch over flowing water.

p u et

s he

For this set up, I used a remote trigger to fire the camera. It allows me to get down and really concerntrate on when to take the shot. I could have just pressed the cameras’ shutter button instead but it would have been a little 24

more hit and miss. I won’t pretend that you can take 5 photos and be done. This type of photo is a numbers game. But there’s nothing wrong with that. We’ve controlled as much as possible, now it’s down to the

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I originally used a small light stand to mount the flash on, but it made the flash way too high. Taking the flash off it and angling the umbrella mount in a certain way made it stand on it’s own. Well, with a little support. That mini light stand was used to keep the flash constantly standing. Positioning the flash so close to the background allows a much faster flast duration This means more chance of water droplets being frozen in our shots. Happy days!

The flash head with a red gel on. You can see the angle we set the flash up for. I didin’t want a direct flash so it was bounced on the white background. Bouncing the flash spreads the light and colour a little more evenly. The gel is a Rouge gel and held on with a hair band. The power was set to 1/64th and the head was zommed out to 24mm for a wider spread. A wider light spread makes for a very small hot spot.

water. This project is really good for helping you practice your timings. It gets you into the mindset of only shooting the peak moment and anticipating the moment of action.

Enjoy this project and don’t make too much of a mess! We won’t take the blame!

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Choosing which ISO is best for your shooting condition can take ages to learn! We want to help you fast track that process, even if it is cheating a little bit. But it’s okay, we won’t tell anyone. Here’s an ISO cheat sheet for you guys to use as a reference. We have a downloadable copy of it at: http://www. photomappers.com/free-stuff/ and choose the ISO cheat sheet. Print it out, save it to you phone or what not.

Click an icon below to be taken straight to the destination!

Check out our YouTube channel! Click here or visit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP0iU3VLFboLLXhJWJiwnkw Alternatively, www.photomappers.com/videos will also take you there. Find us on Instagram: www.Instagram.com/photomappers

10 Briliant tips for shooting action Shooting action photography can be a litle daunting if you’ve never done it or are just getiing into it. We’ve thrown together 10 brilliant tips to jump start your progress and keep you creative.

1. Blur the background by panning The idea with panning is to keep the subject sharp, but introduce blur to the background. It gives a real sense of motion when it’s done properly and adds huge visual interest to the photo. Using a semi slow shutter speed, (try 1/60th, 1/30th or 1/15th), focus on the subject and keep them at the same point in the frame as they move through the viewfinder. Follow the subject by moving the camera and rotating your body. The end result should be a sharp subject with a blurry background. Shooting in continuous focus and burst mode will increase the odds of getting the perfect paning shot.

2. Use a slow shutter speed Sharp photos of a moving subject can be boring. Try using a slow shutter speed to add interest to a static and possibly boring subject. The longer the exposure, the more blur you’ll have, taking your photo into ghostly blurs and abstract art territory.

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3. Telephoto lens Depending on what you’re shooting, getting physically close to the subject isn’t possible. Cue the telephoto lens. Using a long lens will allow you to fill the frame and also compress the background, while staying at a safe distance.

4. Get in close to the action There’s no doubt about it, getting in amongst the action makes for amazing viewpoints and photos! Think wide angle lenses to distort perspective, laying on the floor and shooting upwards and filling the frame with the subject.

5. Monopods These can be a godsend with long heavy lenses! Monopods can take the weight of the lens off you for an extended period of time, saving your arms from falling off (possible exaggeration). The increased stability will also allow you to use slower shutter speeds for creative blurs and panning. Plus, they weigh nothing and take up next to no space.

6. Tripods On a similar point to number 5, tripods are an amazing tool we have in our arsenal. Having a camera setup mounted on a tripod gives us the option of creating a blended sequence photo or control for perfect framing. Sporting events won’t allow them for health and safety reasons though..

7. Shoot a lot Shooting more photos will generally result in a higher ‘decent shot rate’. But we don’t mean go at it with a machine gun approach. It’s senseless to shoot 50 photos of no action. What we mean is shoot bursts of 4 or 5 photos when action is happening. Don’t be scared of filling memory cards either, just swap them out when you get a few seconds to yourself.

8. Use a fast shutter speed In a complete contrast to number 2, using a fast shutter speed to freeze action will help you nail the shot. Epspecially with fast moving subjects.Imagine surfing, trying to catch the water frozen in time as the board breaks the waves with a slow shutter speed. Not going to happen. You’d need a shutter speed of at least around 1/1000th.

9. Go Dutch A Dutch twist is pretty much giving the frame a little twist. A twisted frame adds a huge amount of dynamic feels to the shot and works especially well with cars, bikes, cyclists etc. Try shooting a few shots with the subject diving from one corner of the twisted frame to the next.

10. Pre-focus the shot With really fast moving subjects or blind corners, your AF might not be able to keep up with the speed. One solution is to switch to manual focus, pre-focus on a spot where you know the subject will pass, and start shooting on continuous drive. Keep shooting until the subject has passed the zone you have focused on. We have an indepth guide on pre-focus at http://www.photomappers.com/free-focus-zone-guide/

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Secrets exposed! Secrets Exposed! gives you the knowledge that the pros have and you want. This issue, we expose a few secrets in capturing the very best action shots.

Fast cards Fast SD cards are so important for capturing action! Fast cards can literally be the difference in getting the shot or not. Without them, we’re constantly waiting for photos to be written from the cameras’ buffer. Even more so with video. Unfortunetly fast AND reliable SD cards aren’t cheap. They’re not worth skimping out on though. You rely on them to store your photos on after all. The two brands I use are Sandisk and Lexar.

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Multiple low powered flashes Speed lights have a crazy fast flash duration. Usually this is around 1/18,000th of a second... At minium flash power. Obviously this is way faster than our shutter speed, and we can use this to our advantage. Especially in extreme situations. Think water droplets breaking the surface of water, paint splashes, or the dirt kicked up by a motocross bike as they fly around a loose corner. A single speed light would probably illuminate the subject pretty well, but some of the particles may have a slight blur. Maybe this doesn’t bother you. at all.. We understand. Having the knowlege to actually freeze them gives you choice. Take your speed light and set it to minium power, usually 1/125th power. The only issue with this technique is the need for speed lights. Alot of them... For example, if your subject is illuminated perfectly at 1/1th power, adding another flash at the same distance from the subject, would allow both flashes to be set at 1/32nd power to get the same exposure. 2 speed lights isn’t so bad right? Let’s take it to 1/64th power. We’re moving along one stop of light, so we have to double the amount of speed lights to get the same exposure. You with me? We’ll go to 1/125th power for our fastest flash duration. We now have 4 speed lights set up to be at 1/64th power, and we’re going to be moving another stop. Another stop is doubling again, right? So we now have to double our 4 speed lights to a crazy amount of 8 to get the same exposure. That’s alot of lights! Not to mention batteries, light stands, transievers etc. The camera’s aperture and speed light power go hand in hand. A wide aperture allowing more light in. Therefore, a wider aperture can give you a lower flash power output, meaning a faster flash duration. More chance of capturing action!

This little bad boy is a YONGNUO YN560-II speedlight. These are super cheap at are £40 each! They only operate in manual mode but you can get 10 or more of them for the price of a flagship Nikon or Canon flash.

Back button focus Ever heard of back button focus? No? It takes the auto focus away from the shutter button and applies it to a button on the back of the camera. Sometimes it’s a dedicated button, other times it takes place of the AE-L/AF-L button. It also means you can take photos while focus isn’t aquired. Is this a good thing? It depends on how you use it. If you already have a plane of focus set, and the camera in manual focus mode, then you can shoot in a burst just before the subject passes that plane. Shooting this way increases the likelyhood of sharper shots and peak action captured without waiting for the cameras autofocus. The biggest benefit though is the ability 34

to shoot multiple frames without the need to re-focus between each shot. Standard button shooting requires you to grab focus, depress the shutter button fully, release and repeat. This takes time! In an action situation, it’s not ideal. With back button focus, you can aquire focus, and provided you keep you thumb on the back button, shoot to your hearts content. Combine back button focus with continuos focus mode, and you have a winning combination. You’re able to focus on your subject, track them though the frame and shoot. http://www.photomappers.com/how-toset-up-back-button-focus-nikon

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Setting up back button focus Please note different cameras and models may have a different process so you may need to consult your manual or google for your specific camera. The method below was done on a Nikon D7000. Step 1: Navigate to the custom settings menu (Menu button and third icon down Nikon D7000) and choose controls.

Step 2: Find the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Assign AE/L AF/L buttonâ&#x20AC;? and press OK.

Step 3: Scrolldown to AF-ON option and press OK. The AE/L AF/L button will now be for focusing.

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e n o Z e r P using c o F e v o l y l e t lu We absorable skills at e transferappers! So we’r ore ‘in PhotoM help you get mth a pro going to eper’ shots wi focusing. focus keue called zone ion, techniq e you a definit ations We’ll giv ggested applic it for a some sulain how we didet’s dive and expvious shoots. L few pre A P P ! ! ! ! in... B R A A 37

Zone focusing in short is having an area (zone) in your frame that will be sharp and the rest out of focus. To find out exactly how much of the photo will be sharp of out of focus, many people look to apps or charts called hyperfocal distance.

Pre focusing is setting your focus point to an area where you (the photographer) expect action to take place, before the action is happening. Now we combine the two. Our focus point now becomes a focus zone. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll all make sense soon, I promise. 38

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Applications for zone pre focus: SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY This is personally my favourite application for zone pre focusing and it’s pretty easy to do provided you can anticipate the action. I shoot alot of BMX riders at skateparks so I can ask them to redo the trick if I miss it. So we’ll cover the controlled aspect first, then no control (e.g shooting a football game). The difference between control and no control is the ability to move/place the subject at your will. Using a BMX shoot as an example, the first thing I will do is ask my subject where their trick will be performed. This could be on a ramp so their airborne over it, jumping a box, down some stairs... you get the idea. Then I ask what the trick will be. Knowing the sport helps in this regard. For example, if I ask and the reply is “I’m going to do a 3whip” I know that I can’t get super close to my subject because their bike is going to be spinning as to rotate 360 degrees in the air. Whereas a different trick would allow me to get super close without the fear of getting a bike in my face. Next, we need to know what it looks like. Even if we know what the trick looks like generally, we need to find out which side it will be executed. Some people naturally rotate or trick a certain way and you don’t want to miss out on the best angle because you didn’t ask. After we know these, we can find the best location and angle. It is possible to do this first and have your model adapt, but I don’t like doing it this way incase they 39

are a little tentative and are just doing it for the camera. I’d much prefer to have them confident in what they are doing, and looking so doing it. As you see, alot of this technique is planning and/or knowledge of your subject. Now we have all the information we need, we’ve found the best location and have chosen our angle, we can put our technique into practice. For our BMX example, the model is going to be doing a trick called a tailwhip (the rider holds the handle bars and rotates to bike’s back end a full 360 degrees beneath them) over a ramp called a box. The trick will look best when our model’s legs are perpendicular to the ground and the bike is the same or either side of their legs. This happens around halfway across the ramp.

So how are we going to zone pre focus for this? We’re going to ask our model to stand half way across to box and stand as tall as possible. With our camera on single point autofocus, we focus on our subject. I would focus one the face out of habit. We are then turning our focus to manual mode. This is either done on the camera or lens. If there’s the option to do both, do both. We don’t want any broken camera or lenses. We need our camera on a tripod to ensure the most consistent result as moving yourself will move the focus zone. For example, taking three steps forward after focusing, and not adjusting the focus accordingly, will move your focus plane three steps in the same direction. If you’re not using a tripod, you can mark your shooting spot with a little piece of tape or a coin. Make sure it’s at the tip of your toes to make it easier for yourself. This can also be done on your focus spot. A piece of tape could be placed on the floor, focused on, and the camera the put in manual focus mode. What about shooting with this technique...? It’s actually very simple 40

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once everything is set. A tripod with a cable release will make for the easiest method. The exposure will be set to suit the scene, and the camera set to a high burst mode. We then ask the model to do their thing and shoot. As the focus plane is pre set, hopefully you will get at least one sharp photo as the model passes through the focus zone. Provided you’ve taken a photo or some as they pass through... In the sequence shot of the backflip, we asked Gary where he would land, We then watched as he done his initial backflip to get an idea of how best to frame the shot. We then put some tape on the floor, focused, switched to manual focus and removed the tape. The camera was on a tripod which allowed this sequence to be shot. Above, we looked at a controlled version of zone pre focus. Let’s now see how it would work without control. Even without the ability to control the action, most of the technique remains the same. We are still focusing on an area where we anticipate the action to be, but we may have to wait a while for the action to unfold or pass through our zone. This means we have to be ready or the shot will be missed. Again, knowing the sport you are shooting will be your best friend in these situations. As will patience. Lots of patience... Just as a brief example of how this technique gets put into practice in the real world, let’s be behind a finish line at the London marathon. Provided you don’t move your position after focusing you can focus on the finish line ribbon, throw your camera AND lens into manual focus mode and wait. And wait. And hopefully not need the toilet... In the example above, the subject(s) will be in focus as they cross the finish line, even if they’re the 521st person to cross, and even if the finish ribbon has disappeared. Again, having your camera and lens setup on a tripod with a cable release will show the true benefits of the whole combination through not needing to focus again. Go out and try this technique. See if it works for you too. Feel free to tag us on Instagram too so we can see what you’ve shot!

s w e i v e r r a Ge 3 Legged Thing AirHed 2 A few years ago, I started to see the limitaion of shooting handheld constantly. So the hunt for a decent tripod began. I knew of the big brands and had read a million articles, reviews and watched videos to try and determine the right one for me. Then, the 3 legged thing brand appeared. These tripods were sexy! Anodised blue ballheads, quirky model names and huge weight ratings! All at a very resonable price too! I had to have one! I opted for a series 1 Airhed, but a broken tripod leg and call to customer service to buy a new leg ended in the 3 legged thing guys taking my old one and upgrading me to a series 2! Thus, it brings us to here. I love my ball head. The specs of the thing are; Arca-Style Quick Release and Plate Separate Ball/Pan Locks Color Keyed Drag Adjustment Ergonomic Knobs Triple Bubble Leveling Supports 88 lb / 40Kg And... It weighs just 15.6oz / 0.44Kg!! Under half a kilogram! Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just insane!

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Top left photo: Front view of the AirHed 2. Here you can see the vertical/portrait groove. Bottom left photo: Rear side shot showing all 3 knobs and the 2 way spirit level built into the plate clamp. There is an additional bubble level on top of the plate clamp. Bottom photo: My D700, battery grip with batteries and a 70-200mm 2.8 mounted on the AirHed 2.

A 40Kg weight support is pretty impressive don’t you think! I can’t imagine many camera setups weighing more than this. The ball head comes with an orange magnesium camera plate with a 1/4”-mounting screw and detailed with the 3LT logo. It’s wide too, giving a real sense of secuirty when attatched to the head. The plate also is compatible with the BlackRapid T1 screw system, so you can attatch the plate to the camera and the loop doesn’t interfere with useablity. Airhed 2 has 3 knobs. One is the Arca Swiss quick release, the second is the ball head lock. They’re all labelled Rock/ Lock’., I love the labelling on them!. The third is the panning knob. The motion on these knobs is so smooth and beautiful, with the Rock/lock knob doubling as a 43

cluth to allow fine adjustments. To use it as a clutch, just loosen the knob slightly, allowing fine movements, then tighten. Simple. A dedicated groove/slot/section on one side allows the ball head to to sit on a vertical plane for easy ‘portrait mode’ . I’m personally not so keen on using it because if you have a heavy camera, the weight isn’t spread downwards, evenly over 3 legs, but instead, it’s hanging off the side. Plus, framing the shot becomes a little awkward as movement isn’t as easy. The option is there though, so can’t complain. The beauty of a tripod head is that it can be mounted on either a monopod or a set of tripod legs pretty much universally. Not only does this head look beautiful (it’s also available in black, but why would you when anodised blue is so pretty!), it’s huge weight rating gives piece of mind and ‘future proofing’ for when you upgrade to bigger heavier lenses. You just know that the head will be able to handle the weight with ease. I’ve had this ball head around 3 years now, and there are a new set of models out that I would like to get my hands on to try. The main reason being the quick release. If there’s any critisism I have with this ball

Top right photo: The AirHed one plate (left) against the AirHed 2 plate (right). Showing both sides of the plate and the BlackRapid T1 screw. head, it is the quick release. It’s not a quick release lever, but the screw knob. Should it be a problem? No, but I like the idea of flicking a lever and having my camera instantly off the tripod. I’d only save about 5 seconds in doing so, so it’s not a deal breaker at all. I’d definetly recommend this head to anybody looking for a strong and reliable head at a very decent price!

Overall Rating

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Peak Design capture pro clip and capture lens Capture Pro clip Next up for review, we have the Capture Pro clip and Capture LENS from Peak Design. The Capture Pro clip is a camera mount chassis that has the ability to be attatched to virtually any bag, strap or belt up to 3 in (7.6cm) wide. The beauty in this is that a camera can be positioned in any position for comfortable and fast access. Before we go any further, I’d like to mention I love the Peak Design guys ‘mission’. Go over to Peakdesign.com/ mission to have a full look. But in short, they aim to make the ultimate in best quality gear, treat people with upmost respect and as equals, and strive to make to planet a better place. If those aren’t things to support them, I don’t know what are! There are 2 different models of Capture camera clip. The regular Capture Clip and the Capture Pro Clip. The difference is that the Pro version is made of all aluminum, is a little heavier, and has a more flexible attachment plate that fits both ARCA and Manfrotto RC2 tripod heads. The one we have for review is the PRO clip. The PRO clip quick release lock can withstand a staggering 200lb of force! That’s heavier than most people!

What’s in the box? The box itself is beautifully designed and it was a shame to open it. Once open, we have the clip itself, the quick release plate and a bag. Inside the bag you will find a couple of Anchor links, an allen key for attaching the quick release plate to your camera and another little bag with PROplate tripod adapters. These are for attaching to the quick release plate so it can fit onto a Manfrotto RC2. The plate works perfectly with all models of ARCA without the adapters. How does it work? The Capture PRO camera clip is so wonderfully simple in design. The clip has 3 parts; a back plate, a chassis and quick release plate. Unscrew the clamping bolts, slide a belt or strap between the back plate and chassis, then tighten the bolts. That’s it! I’ve lived with the PRO camera clip for a few weeks now and I’m still quite amazed at how well it works to be honest. The connection is so secure and I’ve not experienced any slipping from the camera or clip when attached. There is a little plate locking clutch screw that tightens the plate in the clip. Also, the red quick release button can be twisted to prevent accidental release

of the plate (and your camera) and can help prevent theft. These features work amazingly well when going on a long walk or having to navigate changing terrain. If I’m shooting on location and constantly clipping the the camera back in the mount, I’ll leave the plate lock screw a little loose for easy one handed mounting and unmounting. What I have found is I really don’t like having my camera hanging off my belt with a decent lens on. I tend to shoot with my favourite Nikon D700, a grip and 70 - 200 2.8. Heavy camera system, I know. Peak Design have a solution for heavy systems though, and that’s a product called the PRO pad. I haven’t used it so I can’t comment, but I can see it’s potential. It basically gives the lens a cushion to rest on and stops pulling your trousers down! With a lighter camera system though, this isn’t an issue. You could throw a mirrorless system on the clip and basically forget about it. I am generally a messenger bag user. For me personally, I’ve found to place the camera quite high on the strap. Placing my heavy setup high makes the whole thing feel light as a feather. Well pretty much.. Instead of walking and holding the strap, the camera can easily rest on my forearm, constantly supported. This gives me alot more control over the camera bag sway. The camera is always in a ready to shoot position too. With one and basically already on the lens, all I have to do is take my shooting hand, grip the camera and press the button.The whole thing takes about a second! No fumbling around in a camera bag!

Who would benefit from the PRO clip? In all honesty, pretty much anybody with a camera. The beauty of the clip is that you don’t have a camera hanging from your neck, you don’t need to take a bag or to physically hold the camera when not in use. Plus it looks bloody cool! I can see landscape/Hikers/Travel photographers etc would really feel the benefits of the clip. I can imagine that it would become the favourite camera accessory in no time. Also, Wedding, sports and event photographers who are constantly changing between different cameras. Conclusion: I absolutely love the Caputre camera PRO clip. It’s easily my favourite accessory. It’s build quality gives me 100% faith that my gear is safe attached to it. Having free hands and an apparent lighter camera system when on walks is so liberating. I’d recommend this product to literally everyone!

Overall Rating

The Good: Amazing build quality Frees up your hands! Makes walking and changing lenses easier Very small Holds ALOT of weight! You belt or strap will give out before this thing does! The Bad: There really isn’t any actual bad points.. Sometimes it can be a little fiddly and some people may call it expensive. But, there’s a lifetime warranty!

Capture LENS Lastly in this review section, we have the Peak Design Capture LENS. It’s availiable in Nikon F mount, Canon EF mount or Sony E and FE mounts. Here we have the Nikon F mount. I was super intruiged by this product when I first saw it and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it! It’s very similar to the previous product, the Capture PRO camera clip, in fucntionality and quality. So we won’t go through the basics again. The difference with this product however, is that it’s designed to hold 2 lenses for some super fast lens

changes. What’s in the box? The Capture LENS is the full kit which includes the chassis, back plate, Lens kit and another couple of Anchor links. Oh, and a carry bag is included in each product. How does it work? The chassis and back plate work in the same way as the Capture PRO camera clip. Unscrew, attach and tighten. The Lens kit slides in the same way a quick release plate would and you’re ready to go! The Lens kit (Lens mount) has 2 caps covering the holes on where lenses will

be mounted. It’s best practice to keep these on when not in use so no dust or debris can fall inside. There are a couple of red dots and arrows on the kit which indicate the way to place your lens into the mount. When securing the lens, make sure you hear and feel a definite click. The first few I tried, I wasn’t sure if I had put the lens on correctly, but after a few tries, I learnt how to get the click. On each side of the Lens kit, there is a red button which will only release your lens when pressed. No worries about lenses falling off randomly.. I would have liked another button on each side for lens release though. On bigger lenses I found I’d have to go two handed to release it. The Lens kit is able to be turned into 4 different positions to suit the user. You grab the kit and pull it away from the base and turn to the desired postion. That’s all there is to it. The internal mechanism is designed to keep the Lens Kit in place, but it’s easy to move and manipulate when needed. You dont even need to use it with the plate. You can attach the Anchor links to the holes on the side of the Lens kit and attach them to a Peak Design strap. For those days you don’t want to take a bag around with you. It is easier to manipulate with the kit firmly attatched to Capture clip though. I have found using a lens on both sides of the Lens kit is best for my personal shooting style. The covering caps are relatively easy to lose if you’re anything like me! As soon as you take a lens off the camera, you switch it for one from the kit. The ability to rotate lenses on the fly saves so much time! Having a wall or something to put a lens on while changing makes it so much easier. The only issues I have are, and these may just be issues with myself: 1. Getting the lens on the kit is

sometimes awkward. It’s pretty easy to miss the mount or put the lens in a slight angle. Yes, there are the dots on lens and mount, but it takes a little while to finese the technique. 2. The buttons. Using both hands on the Lens kit is fine. No issue there. But try one handed.. It’s weird. Pressing the button, twisting the lens and keeping a firm grip is awkward. Although the Capture Lens kit is plastic on the outside, the lens mounts are metal and it all feels exceptional quality. Like the Capture PRO clip, this comes with a lifetime warranty so you can be confident it will survive any abuse you give it. Conclusion: This isn’t a product for everyone. I love the concept but in practice it can be a little fiddly. With the Capture Lens mounted in the Capture clip and placed on a backpack or belt with small lenses, it’s a brilliant piece of kit. Shooting weddings or live music where lens changes are a constant thing, this piece of kit shines, provided the lenses you put on it aren’t huge and heavy. However, I’m a fan of putting lenses into a camera bag where they aren’t as susceptible to knocks, bangs, scratches, weather etc. In a camera bag there is some form protection. Also, depending on placement, some lenses can get in the way, especially when using hoods. It is a really good product. but as a standalone product, I can’t get comfortable with how long my camera sensor is exposed when changing lenses. As a comaprison, when using a messenger bag, my lens change technique takes about 1 or 2 seconds and my sensor is pretty guarded from the elements. One the website, I’ve written a brief review and how to of the Capture Lens and Capture PRO clip used together.

The Good: Brilliant quality Holds 2 lenses Really secure way to mount lenses Can be mounted in a variety of places Lifetime warranty Can make changing lenses fast The Bad: Fiddly to mount and unmount at times Turning the kit position sometimes requires 2 hands Not really useful on a belt, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good on a strap

Overall Rating

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