Rebecca Johansson Peter Carroll Trevern Dawes - Photo … · PHOTOREVIEW MAR - MAY 2014 INSPIRING AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS Rebecca Johansson The Art of Anticipation Peter Carroll

PHOTOREVIEWMAR - MAY 2014 WWW.PHOTOREVIEW.COM.AU

I N S P I R I N G A U S T R A L I A N P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Rebecca JohanssonThe Art of Anticipation

Peter CarrollWild Animals and Witchdoctors

Trevern DawesSalt and Silence

$12.95 INCL. GST Issue 59

TIPS Minimalist shooting Effective archivingColour spaces explainedLocation: Bruny IslandCSC accessories

WIN a new Olympus OM-D E-M10 Single Lens Kit+ I S S N 1839-5899

LENSES FOR LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

2 PHOTOREVIEW AUSTRALIA | Issue 59 www.photoreview.com.au

1 Editorial

5 Products & Trends The annual CES show in Las egas

provided a platform for the release of dozens of new cameras. Only a handful were worthy of note...

8 Photo Challenge

INSPIRATION12 ebecca Johansson:

The Art of Anticipation Cultivating the subtle art of anticipation

is essential to ebecca Johansson’s professional and artistic endeavours.

20 Peter Carroll: Wild Animals and Witchdoctors

Alice Springs photographer Peter Carroll took his family on a trip to Africa and now after they won an award from National Geographic Traveler the whole world knows about it.

28 Trevern Dawes: Salt and Silence

Trevern Dawes has lost count of the number of times he’s visited Lake Eyre.

36 Image eview Editor Don’s response to images by

Spyridon evithis Margherita Standing and ay Baker.

LOCATIONS40 Bruny Island Just off the eastern coast of Tasmania

within easy reach of Hobart Bruny Island combines dramatic landscapes and seascapes with gourmet dining.

INSIDER48 Colour Spaces Explained Everything you wanted to know about

colour spaces but were afraid to ask.

CONTENTS

22

24

+ An opportunity to win one of two compact high performance Olympus OM-D E-M10 Single Lens Kits.

Editor Don Norris [email protected]

Technical Editor Margaret [email protected]

Trade News Editor Keith [email protected]

Contributor Steve Packer

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C o n t e n t s PHOTOREVIEW

TECHNIQUE 45 Shooting: Go Minimalist Less can be more when you want to

create different looking images.

51 Output: The Importance of Effective Archiving

Tried and proven strategies for preserving your precious photos.

54 Lenses for Landscape Photography

A guide to the types of lenses suitable for photographing landscapes.

58 Useful Accessories for Your Compact System Camera

A survey of some handy accessories you can consider for your Compact System Camera.

NET EFFECT63 Net Effect Another world wide trawl of websites which

photographically inspire and educate.

Cover image Rebecca Johansson: The Art of AnticipationSee page 12

CONTENTS

33

INSPIRATION


employers at rst, it eventually happened that Rebecca took up a position with the same studio as Kirsten. They began combining efforts on weddings and before long decided to found Compose Photography in Mount Hawthorn, where the two have specialised primarily in wedding and portrait work since 2007.

‘I think with my performance photographs I’m looking for the one key image, whereas with weddings, all the images need to be amazing. With a personal project you’re often looking for one or two images you’re going to use. I suppose it’s about zoning in rather than zoning out. With a wedding, you’re looking at what’s in front of you, but your peripheral vision is noticing everything around you at the same time.’

‘There’s always stress at a wedding because of course you can’t go back and do it again. When we rst started, I had a shot list in

my head of everything I needed to get, but eventually that just became second nature.’

Because wedding photography is such a high stakes game, Rebecca says that being organised is essential. If your back-up plans are in place, and you know your shot list off by heart, you’re better able to cultivate that all important art of anticipation.

‘There are certain things in a wedding day that you can foresee,’ said Rebecca, ‘and if you can foresee something that’s about to happen, you’ll put yourself in the right situation to get that magic moment. Getting candid moments is about looking, of course, but it’s also about knowing what might happen.

‘At a church wedding, when the bride and groom sit down, he will talk to her, he will look to her and tell her how beautiful she looks. You’ll see that interaction, and most people won’t notice

it because the priest might be talking. But you’ll know it’s about to happen - you’ll be looking for it.

‘A wedding day is an amazing day. It’s about love, but it’s so much more than the love of the couple. It’s about the love of the parents for their child, it’s about the best friend who stands up and says I’m your best man . There’s a lot of lovely moments and lovely people that aren’t just the couple. The dad will cry when he sees his daughter and you know [to expect] all those little moments and interactions.

‘But,’ she added, laughing, ‘you also need to know the situations to avoid. You end up being the fth bridesmaid, that’s for sure.’

Asked if she generally shoots bursts or single frames, she said she’s very much of the well-timed shot school. ‘I think that comes from lm days. What’s the expression? Spray and pray? I think, this is the moment…

‘I do love a little bit of interpretive dance and I think maybe I photograph what I’d love to be.’

Above Untitled.

Right

INSPIRATION

PHOTOREVIEW AUSTRALIA | Issue 59 www.photoreview.com.au 17


INSPIRATION

Lake Amadeus near Uluru. You must get permission from Traditional Owners to get to this beautiful Salt Lake where huge red dunes spill down onto the surface of the Lake. One of my favourite remote destinations in Central Australia where I am guaranteed to be alone in the great silence of the desert.


INSPIRATION

Wild animals and witchdoctorsAlice Springs photographer Peter Carroll took his family on a trip to Africa, and now, after they won an award from National Geographic Traveler, the whole world knows about it. By Steve Packer


INSPIRATION

‘You welcome the thunderclouds and the atmosphere they can create,’ veteran outback photographer Trevern Dawes says of Lake Eyre, ‘but boy you’re worried you’re going to be there for some time if it starts to come down.

‘If it rains heavily enough, they close the roads because the four wheel drives can cut it up so much that they have to bring the graders out.’ (And if they have to bring the graders out because of you, the ne could easily run into thousands.)

Describing himself as ‘semi-retired’, Trevern’s working years were divided between his day job as a survey draftsman and a very active photographic career. His imagery rst began appearing in Australian and overseas magazine titles from around 1967. Along with exhibiting, teaching and publishing, he was an associate editor for Camera Craft, Photography News and Camera and Cine. He is still a regular contributor to Camera and ProPhoto magazines.

An author (along with his wife Anna) of numerous photographic books on the landscapes of both Australia and New Zealand, Trevern recently had a collection of his Lake Eyre images acquired by the National Library of Australia.

‘My rst experience with Lake Eyre was in 1976 en route to Central Australia,’ he explained. ‘As the journeys that immediately followed involved book and magazine projects in Central Australia, travel up and down the Oodnadatta Track was simply a convenient route - often with limited time to linger. As the fascination with Lake Eyre grew, basic snaps and records were soon replaced with more serious endeavours. Film at that time, in both 35mm and 6 x 7cm formats, eventually led to DSLR cameras.’

In 2013, Trevern created a one-off book and a set of A2 prints which were, he wrote, ‘intended as a summary of work, with no real intent to be shown other than to family and friends.’ But after coming across a large format book called about an artists’ camping expedition to Lake Eyre and environs by the likes of John Olsen and Tim Storrier, Trevern was inspired to pull together a collection of his own Lake Eyre photographs. It was these images - some of which are included here - that would be acquired by the NLA and which are now freely available on the Library’s website.

‘Access to Lake Eyre for the general public is limited to just three small locations,’ says Trevern. ‘For Lake Eyre North these are Halligan and ABC Bays, located about 60 kilometres out from William Creek, and Level Post Bay to the north of Marree and Muloorina. For Lake Eyre South there is a viewpoint about 10 kilometres out from Curdimurka.’


INSPIRATION


TIPS LENSES

Lenses for Landscape Photography Margaret Brown

We look at the options available for photographing landscapes.

camera is often considered ideal for landscape photography because it covers a relatively wide angle of view without introducing obvious distortions.

Although just about any lens can be used for photographing landscapes, most photographers concentrate on wide-angle lenses because they better encompass scenic panoramas. Your choice of focal length will depend on how you want to interpret a particular scene – and this can vary with the type of scene, how much of it you wish to record and the presence (or absence) of objects in the foreground.

There’s no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ approach; you simply have to interpret the scene in the way you nd most appealing. One photographer may use an ultra-wide angle lens and move in closer, while another could t a more conservative focal length and step back. And it can pay to change your shooting position to see how the scene in the frame changes, regardless of the lens you use.

Selecting the Best Focal LengthIf you wish to reproduce a scene as you see it, the ‘natural’ choice is between 35mm and 50mm (35mm equivalent) because that represents the typical focal length of the human eye. Wider angles of view will encompass more of the subject and add a perspective distortion that becomes increasingly exaggerated as the angle of view expands. Narrower angles of view can be distortion-free but reduce the amount of the scene you can encompass.

Popular focal lengths range from 10mm to 24mm for D cameras (with APS-C sized sensors) and 16mm to 35mm for F cameras (with 36 x 24mm sensors) if you want to retain a reasonably normal-looking perspective. If your existing lenses are unable to encompass the scene, try shooting a panoramic sequence.

General Characteristics of Wide-angle LensesAs well as allowing more of the scene to be included in the photograph, wide angle lenses have a number of noteworthy characteristics.

For starters, they tend to magnify the distance between objects while allowing greater depth of eld.

Depth of eld increases with the angle of view, to the point where lenses that are wider than about 20mm produce pictures in which almost everything in the scene appears sharp, even with relatively wide aperture settings. This is one reason why stabilisation is relatively uncommon in wide angle zoom lenses and rare in the widest prime lenses.

Zoom or Prime?Zoom lenses represent the most affordable way to achieve a range of focal lengths and, consequently, most kit lenses are zooms. Typical lenses in single-lens kits are 18-55mm for D cameras or 24-85mm for F bodies. Kit lenses are usually built to a price and slower than prime (single focal length) lenses or fast, premium-quality zooms.

Most camera manufacturers – and many specialist lens manufacturers – also produce more up-market wide-angle zooms, which are a stop or two faster than kit lenses and usually more sturdily constructed. Many will retain the same maximum aperture throughout the zoom range (which can be advantageous when using the longer focal lengths for portraiture).

Prime lenses have maximum apertures that may be up to three f-stops wider than a zoom lens of the same focal length. This provides a much brighter view nder image, more exibility for hand-held shooting in dim lighting and much greater control over the plane of sharpness in the picture.

If your camera uses an electronic view nder the rst factor will be unimportant because the gain will be automatically adjusted for optimal brightness. But the other factors will remain relevant and should be taken into account when making purchasing decisions. (The box on the next page provides a useful comparison.)


TIPS LENSES

The table below lists the relative advantages and disadvantages of prime and zoom lenses.

Rectilinear distortion and vignetting are not included in this table because most cameras can correct them automatically. Both are also easily corrected with good image editing software. In general, zoom lenses are more likely to be affected by both aberrations than prime lenses, although some very fast primes can show slight vignetting at the widest apertures.

Prime lensesZoom lenses

Usually higher due to simpler optical designs, better glass

Can be very good but probably won’t match the best prime lens at equivalent focal length

Image quality

Usually highCan be very good but probably won’t match the best prime lens at equivalent focal length

Build quality

Generally faster (larger maximum aperture for focal length)

Usually slower with a 1-2 stop difference between the shortest and longest focal lengths

Speed

Usually higher, particularly with faster lenses

Ranges between affordable and expensive, depending on speed and build quality

Price

Often quite heavyLight for the focal lengths coveredWeight

You need several lenses to encompass a range of focal lengths, which can mean a heavier bag overall

Fewer lenses can be more portable, provided they aren’t too large

Portability

Limited to a single focal lengthOne lens covers many focal lengths

Versatility

Low; frequent lens changes may be required, with the risk of dust entering the camera

HighConvenience

Usually excellent due to large maximum aperture

Limited by maximum apertureLow light use

Usually excellent due to large maximum aperture

Limited by maximum apertureBackground blurring

Focal Length AnalysisIn this section we will look at popular focal lengths for landscape photography and analyse their characteristics in order to suggest the situations in which they will be most effective. Our suggestions should be taken as hints; not rules that must be adhered to. Many creative images have been produced by stepping outside the bounds of normal practice. (Note: for convenience, we have used the F focal length as reference and added the approximate D focal length in brackets.)

50mm (33mm) is the focal length that best replicates the normal human eld of view. Lenses with this focal length are versatile and can be used for subjects other than landscape photography, such as portraiture and cityscapes. Prime lenses are available with maximum apertures as wide as f/1.4, which is very fast and bright.

35mm (24mm) is usually the longest focal length that can be seen as a ‘wide angle’ lens. Typically covering a diagonal angle of view of around 63 degrees, it encompasses more of the scene than a 50mm lens without introducing noticeable distortion. Prime lenses are available with maximum apertures as wide as f/1.4.

28mm (18mm) is one of the most popular focal lengths for landscape photography because it can encompass a relatively wide angle of view (75 degrees) without introducing obvious distortions. It’s a good focal length for maintaining a balanced perspective between close subjects and the background. Almost as versatile as a 35mm lens, the 28mm is often used for architectural photography and group portraiture. Prime lenses are available with maximum apertures as wide as f/1.8.

24mm (16mm) encompasses an angle of view of 84 degrees, which is relatively wide. This focal length can help to retain a sense

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Rebecca Johansson Peter Carroll Trevern Dawes - Photo … · PHOTOREVIEW MAR - MAY 2014 INSPIRING AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS Rebecca Johansson The Art of Anticipation Peter Carroll