Improve Your Portrait Shots!

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The definitive guide to better photos
132 pages of image-editing

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2 BETTER ACTION PHOTOS!
Get blur-free images – we reveal how
2 PAINT SHOP PRO HELP

How to sharpen detail to turn blurry pictures into
perfect photos. Plus swap colours for fun effects
2 CAMERA MODES EXPLAINED

How to choose the right settings for each subject
2 ONLINE PHOTO
DEVELOPING TESTED
We rate 8 top options and reveal the best
20
CREATE THIS PHHOTOOTIM PACT
TIPS
FANTASTIC
DIGITAL IMAGE! IMPROVE YOUR
7
We show you how to use Photoshop’s
Blending layers and Quick Mask mode PORTRAIT SHOTS!
6 TRIPODS RATED FROM £13-£40 Discover how to compose & take perfect
photos of individuals and groups
We reveal the best buys for top-quality results
2 How to achieve ideal skintones and facial expressions
2 Flatter your subject – top photo tips & image-editing tricks
2 Ideas, poses and camera settings – we show you how FEBRUARY 2003
9 771479 001003
EXCLUSIVE! 5 ALL-NEW
TIPS & IDEAS CARDS
7 7 7
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24 poses for couples and women, whe
02
Why it’s time to make the In-depth review of the latest Take a look at this easy and
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move to 5 megapixels version of this classic model efficient entry-level camera Barcelona, Paint Shop Pro key PRINTED IN THE UK
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2
MEET
YOUR
TEAM 2 Our promise
to our readers
4
STARTHERE
Every month we will show you how
8
Nick Merritt
Managing Editor to capture and create better pictures,
give clear, independent buying
Nick’s background is technology and
recommendations on the latest kit,
image-editing related. He’s launched,
and deliver two CDs packed with the
managed and built some of the UK’s
best PC software.
leading publications in these areas.
We use boxes, tips, quick fixes, quality
8 Dylan Channon
Senior Art Editor
February already? photography, walkthroughs and diagrams
to show you how to improve your
photographic and image-editing skills
Dylan is a keen amateur We have a cast-iron policy of editorial
T
photographer and sits on the advisory
he magazine world is full of questions about time: why do covers have next
independence. All our kit is reviewed as-
board of Somerset College of Art month’s date on them? Why must I start planning for Christmas in August? Given sold. We discourage our journalists from
and Technology. that I am writing this four days before Christmas, how do I convincingly pretend accepting gifts from advertisers.
it’s the middle of January, when you’ll be reading it? We welcome your opinions on the
8
Roddy Llewellyn Working on a photography mag only makes the problem more acute, since photography magazine, ideas for articles, photography,
Art Editor thoughts and questions.
is all about recording what’s happened, not what’s about to happen. But somehow we
Roddy studied photography at Send them in today – see the email
manage. Just don’t ask the guy who edits Getup&go how he got that twitch. addresses below.
university and is PPA Designer of the
Year for his work on Cre@te, a Which somehow brings me onto this month’s issue. Where do I start when there’s so
much great stuff to talk about? Canvas 6 – my word, you’re going to like that. Talk about the
c
magazine for creative professionals.
program that does everything. Not only is it a fully-featured image editor, but you can create
8
Tim Daly drawings and paintings, do DTP layouts, even create graphics for the web. Incredible. We
Photographer and writer hope our tutorial is enough to get you started but there’s no way we can do justice to this Departments
Tim is one of the UK’s leading digital
program in only four pages.
photography experts. He’s written We want your letters, ideas,
numerous books on the subject and And there are the tips cards. A few of you told us that you would prefer the reviews
photography, articles, tips and more!
his photographs have been exhibited reference cards to be more useful, so we’ve changed them. We particularly like the posing Write in today to the following areas:
across Europe. card and Getup&go International, so we hope you do too. Issues with your discs
Finally, back to my previous editorial: the very, very few of you gagging to know what support2@futurenet.co.uk
8 Steve Bavister
Photographer and editor
compact I’ve finally gone for – well, it’s the Olympus C-4000Z. Can’t wait! Your letters
letters.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
Steve is one of the UK’s best-known Photos for our galleries
photographic writers, having edited gallery.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
and published Practical Photography Events, ideas, places to visit
in the past. He now writes for a getupgo.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
variety of photography mags. Camera/photo help and advice
help.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
Nick Merritt, Managing Editor Articles/ideas for publication
8
Barry Jackson
editor.dcm@futurenet.co.uk editor.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
Digital artist and Photoshop guru
Visit our website today!
Barry combines his digital camera,
In issue 5, we introduce a DVD option! Buy either the DVD version of the mag (all disc www.digitalcameramagazine.co.uk
computer and Adobe Photoshop
Customer services/subscriptions
to create his own particular style of content is on a single DVD, which contains extra DVD-only software and material), or the
customerservice@futurenet.co.uk
photo surrealism. two CD version as usual. It’s up to you…
Ed Davis
8
2 HOW WE RETOUCHED THE COVER IMAGE
Photo retouching expert
Ed is a commercial photographer of
many years’ experience. He is a
member of the National Association We almost used this image for last month’s
of Photoshop Professionals. cover but decided against it because the
quality wasn’t up to scratch and we didn’t
Aidan O’Rourke have enough time to retouch it. No such
8 Technical expert
Aidan is a contributor to the
problem this month. Although it was a
strong visual, it felt too cold for something
Manchester Evening News. He that needs to be warm and welcoming.
lectures on digital photography Our retouching guru Chris Stocker (see his
around the UK. feature on page 24) took off the greenish
8 8 cast, cleaned up her eyes so they were as

bright and sharp as possible, and finally
ISSUE 5 ON
;
added shadow to her nose to make it more
5 defined against her skin.
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Contents DCM#04
What’s hot inside your magazine this February
IMPROVE YOUR
PORTRAITS!
We show you how to pose your
subjects for winning results
■ Group and individual shots explored

■ Ideal skin tones and facial expressions
■ Top photo tips & image-editing tricks
■ 28 poses and key camera settings
STARTS PAGE
16
PAGE 58
Getup&Go* Ulead PhotoImpact
Creative project Raging winter storms, the mud
splattered chaos of rally driving
20 top tips
These boots… and the eerie beauty of The
Eden Project: we take you there
Essential ways to get
more out of this
versatile image
Digital photographer editing software
Barry Jackson takes
you through the PAGE
stages of a surreal
piece of work
PULL OUT
SECTION –
FIND IT
AFTER p34
74
* UK editions only
006 DIGITAL CAMERA MAGAZINE

Kit reviews
The UK’s definitive reviews
Your 2 coverdiscs
2 HOT SHOTS
PAGE 08
TRAILBLAZERS
PAGE 50
2
CAMERA TECHNIQUES
PAGE 83
THIS ISSUE WE
SHOW YOU HOW TO…
GETUP&GO TO EDEN
Pullout section
1
package every month
TAKE BETTER PICTURES
Photograph people’s features 16
Photograph children 19
Convey emotion 19
Pose your subject 20
Photograph different skin colours 20
FUJI FINEPIX A303 OLYMPUS C730
PAGE 28 PAGE 30 PAGE Compose and frame
Capture likeness and character
21
21
Deneba Canvas 6
The multi-talented creative package
120 Make your subject stand out
Use flash/backlight/slow sync mode
Use landscape/snow/sports action mode
21
83
84
Shoot in summer light 85
Every issue we bring you not one, but two CDs –
OLYMPUS C-50
PAGE 32
CASIO QV 5700
PAGE 34
each one packed with exclusive full software. This
month, enjoy Repligator 6.0, Deneba Canvas 6,
£O4 33
F FULL
Shoot in winter light
Shoot in low natural light
86
87
Photo Album 5b and tons of demos – all to keep!
SOFTWARE
ON DISC 1 ON DISC 2 IN TOTAL!
IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE-EDITING SKILLS
FULL Canvas 6 FULL Repligator 6.0
DEMO Canvas 8 FULL Photo Album 5b
Mute the colours in a portrait 22
PLUG-IN Filters 1.03
TOURS 5 x 3D tours TRIAL PhotoImpact 8 PLUG-IN AlphaWorks Blur out background details 23
TEST SHOTS for each of TRIAL Photoshop 7 Deluxe Cut out an image 24
CAMERA SUPPORTS DIMAGE 7HI our main cameras TRIAL Breezebrowser 2.3 PLUG-IN Light 1.52
PAGE 40 PAGE 36 VIDEO TUTORIALS Image TRIAL DVD Picture show PLUG-IN nik Color Blend images for surreal results 58
editing techniques FREEWARE: Cheez 1.0 Efex Pro Restore old photos 64
Your images Make selections in Photoshop
Swap colours in a photograph
68
70
20 pages of image-editing tips
Emphasise the focus of your picture 72
Regulars USE YOUR PC BETTER
EYEWITNESS HELP AND ADVICE Archive and index your shots 94
Hotshots gallery p08 Photo Clinic p64 Showcase your photos online 96
Frontline news p14 Your questions answered p88 Use an online photo developer 98
SURREAL IMAGES PHOTO
PAGE 58 RESTORING PAGE 64 Calibrate your monitor’s colour 99
2
YOUR PHOTOS & LETTERS FOLD-OUT SECTION AFTER PAGE 34
Reader profile p12 Up close at The Eden project
Trailblazers p50 Action shots with rally driving
Day in the life
Viewfinder
p52
p54
UK Botanic gardens
Get out and about in stormy weather HOTSHOTSTURNOVER
Tips for Action shots Every issue, we print the best digital photography we
OFFERS can find. Turn over now and see some of the shots that
Subscribe! p78 DEALER BANK have inspired us this issue…
PHOTOSHOP PAINT SHOP PRO
ELEMENTS PAGE 68 PAGE 70 Upgrade your software p122 Suppliers 101-119

Hotshots
Images with impact
SHOT OF THE MONTH
ROAR! MATTHEW WHITLEY
“I captured this snarling beast at Bronx Zoo in New
Jersey, in the USA. I was lucky to get such an
animated shot as lions tend to slumber during the
daytime hours.” Canon EOS D60, 100-400mm lens
[w] www.mkwphotography.com
[e] matthew@mkwphotography.com
02
03
04 02 7TH TOUR OF JAPAN Yuji Tomobe

“Captured with the help of some fill-in flash at
the 7th Tour of Japan, as he whizzed past.”
Canon EOS D30
[w] www.jsdi.or.jp/~ytom/
03 SUNNY YELLOW DAFFODIL Melanie Kipp

“Everything becomes more interesting and
beautiful simply by taking a closer look.”
Minolta Dimage 7
[w] www.caughtintimephotography.com
04 SUPERMAN Jim Johnston

“Contestant performs an aerial stunt
during the 2002 Gravity Games held in
Cleveland Ohio.”
Canon EOS D30
[e] tribefanjj@worldnet.att.net

05
06
07 05 OSTRICH Alex Maddox

“I captured this image of an ostrich at
Oudtshoorn, South Africa.”
Sony DSC70
[w] alex@telmar.co.uk
06 MR EGG HEAD Barry Jackson

“Find out how I made this image in next
month’s issue.”
Fuji 6900z
[w] www.ethrealme.com
07 STONEHENGE Bob Jones

“I wanted to capture some of the
mystery of Stonehenge and, thankfully, the
NEXT
weather helped me out.”
Olympus E-10
MONTH
We give you all the files
[w] www.bodafon.com
and techniques you need

to create this stunning
image

2ProfileMe and my camera
CHARLIE BROWN
ARVADA, UNITED STATES
www.CharlieBrownPhotos.com/Hyatt
Three years ago, Charlie retired after 30
years in the corporate world. He bought his
first digital camera, the Sony DSC-F505,
with the primary goal of reacquainting
himself with the natural world around him.
He began his adventure by visiting a small
lake near his house, taking photos of
sunrises and sunsets, animals and macros.
Over the years, landscape and nature
photography – particularly the panorama –
have become his major emphases.
Nowadays, Charlie uses a Sony DSC-F707.

01 He loves the immediate feedback digital
photography gives him, the processing
03 versatility digital darkrooms provide, and
the ability to capture a landscape with the
ease using digital panoramic stitching.
After winning some digital photo contests,

Charlie gets requests for images and his
plan is to set up a small printing operation
to provide limited copies of his prints.
@
NOW SEND US YOURS!
Email us a 100K JPEG thumbnail of your best
shots! The best wins a 128Mb Crucial
CompactFlash card each issue.
gallery.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
01 POLLINATOR 02 FROSTY REFLECTION

Sony DSC-F707 Sony DSC-F707
03 MOULTON'S BARN 04 PAINTING THE EVENING

02 Sony DSC-F505 Sony DSC-F707
04

Preserve your Memories
on CD or DVD
From your
camcorder…
From your
digital camera…
From
your PC…
…to your TV
The fun and easy way to share your home

movies and digital photos on CD and DVD
• Capture from digital cameras and camcorders
• Photo and video manipulation tools
• Create motion menus
• Automatic slideshow creation
• Automatically fit your slideshow to your music
• Automatic label creation
For more information call

us on 01895 424228
or visit us at www.pinnaclesys.com JAN 2003 JAN 2003
www.pinnaclesys.com
Frontline
Send in your news! Email us today at news.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
ALBUM
New image program from
Adobe makes us sit up and
take notice
■ See below
AUSTRALIAN
ECLIPSE
This year’s best eclipse
location Down Under…
■ See opposite
DVD PICTURE SHOW
NEW VERSION
More photo exploring and
basic image editing – seems
to be the month for it…
■ Version 1 trial on our CD
Direct printing
Adobe eyes your QUICK
SHOTS
from Canon
picture albums
BAG IT
Looking for a new New model from Canon takes images
bag for your camera
stuff? A new range
directly from your memory card
from Australian
A new multifunction printer,
manufacturer,
scanner and copier is being
Adobe’s powerful new picture organiser, Photoshop Picture Album, can’t wait Crumpler, comes in
nine sizes, from released by Canon. The
to put your image files in some sort of order £13.50 to £41.50, PRINTERS SmartBase MPC200Photo includes
and features high- direct photo printing too – simply insert your
density, water
camera’s memory card and the printer does
resistant Teflon-
A
dobe is to release a new product in images on external media like archive CDs, so you the rest, producing prints up to A4, or at the
THE IDEA 2003 which it touts as a fast new can keep track of what picture is where.
coated Polymid
fabric. Find out more usual 6 x 4 inch (borderless).
BEHIND THE way to organise and share your digital There are a couple of interesting-sounding more at Print quality is up to 2,400 x 1,200 dpi and it
PRODUCT IS TO photos. No shortage of those, but given Adobe’s organisation views: the Calendar view opens up www.intro2020.co.uk
or phone 01628
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ACT AS A dominance of the market, you have to take notice.
The idea behind Photoshop Album is to act as a
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SIMPLE simple interface to your collection of digital photos, it’s easy to see what pictures were taken when.
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Additional software includes Exif Print
INTERFACE TO no matter you have stored on your PC. The actual There’s also a Tagging system to help users FINEPIX S2
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ALL YOUR area within the program where you view your cross-reference images. Simply choose a category,
Got a Finepix S2 Pro
photographer intended) and Easy Photo
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automatically sorts and catalogues photos with the
create a new tag and drag the tag onto a picture
or group of pictures. Then check a box to sort any
you bought after Oct
20? Then it might
Print for simple image selection and output
from the PC.
PHOTOS, NO Well – and it can also handle video files. matching pictures to the top of the tagged photo – have a power supply It’s on sale now from £199 – find out more
MATTER The program claims to automatically scan your the result being that a single click can bring up all problem that could
render the camera
from www.canon.co.uk/multifunctionals.
HOW MANY entire hard drive for photos and organise every the pictures of a single subject, like images tagged inoperable. To find
image it finds, meaning the chances of you losing ‘mum’. There’s also a very interesting-sounding
THOUSANDS
2
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3
Information
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YOU HAVE are much reduced. The program also catalogues similar to a specific image. repaired, phone Fuji
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Archiving and image repair

Best sellers
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We’ll have more information on this next issue, The full version is DSC-U20
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including a trial on our CD, so find out more then,
from trivista.com
on sale on 15th February, or visit www.adobe.com
SUB-£800
OS X VIEWER Canon
There’s a new OS X Powershot G3
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS file viewer for Canon
Operating systemWindows 98-XP compatible PC
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users. Go to www.
128MB of RAM minimum, 256MB recommended
150MB of available hard disk space. Internet Explorer 5-6 powershot.com/
Colour monitor able to handle 800x600 at 256 colours powershot2/
minimum. CD-ROM drive. customer/fvu-e.html
DVD PictureShow 2 aims at
digital camera users
New features to help us all organise and share our images better
First Adobe. Now Ulead. It’s the month
for picture organisation software all
right, with Ulead’s announcement of
SOFTWARE the newest version of DVD PictureShow
specifically aimed at digital camera users. The Digital
Camera suite includes organisation and viewing tools,
including software which enables us to view digital
Behindtheimage
photos on TV, via email and online.
You can create slideshows for display on PC, Video
CD or DVD, or import, adjust and view your pictures in
Photo Explorer 8. Everything’s been designed to be
simple for beginners, and with Ulead saying it
delivers good results from low-end digital cameras,
it’s probably fair to say this is being aimed at the
entry-level user.
You also get to cut your own video projects, add
Remember our eclipse a couple of years
voiceovers and more. DVD PictureShow 2 Digital ago? Once again, the Aussies show us how
Camera Suite is on sale now from Ulead’s website
(www.ulead.co.uk) for £30 – or you can upgrade
it should be done…
your existing version for £20.
The time: 7.41pm, 4th December.
The Place: Termination Hill, Australia
Store tons of images and Cast your mind back two or three years – remember
take them with you the British flirtation with the eclipse? Despite the
predicted flock of eclipse-hunters, ravers, mystics and
Updated Nixvue Digital Album for photos on the move loonies mowing down Cornwall, everyone decided to
stay at home instead and catch it on TV.
Looking for a simple way to carry CompactFlash cards, or, SmartMedia, Memory Which was just as well as those of us huddled
around your image archive Stick and SD/MMC cards with an adapter. outside were treated to a slightly lighter patch of the
without lugging a huge great PC Coming with USB2.0, it links easily to your PC sky getting slightly darker – such were the vagaries
SOFTWARE with you? The latest version of if you want to archive images, and it also of the British weather. Only those who had made it
Nixvue Digital Album, version II, is due to be enables you to display your images on TV if you to Totality on the south coast of Cornwall were
released in February. want. It’s compatible with all the latest PC and greeted with anything approaching the full
This is a standalone palm-sized storage Mac operating systems for driver-free auto- spectacular glory of a total eclipse.
device that enables you to transfer, copy, paste, detection as soon as you plug it in. Australia, of course, has done it better. On 4th
rename move and delete files from Find out more at www.intro2020.co.uk December, assembled crowds were presented with
perfect viewing conditions – clear skies and just after
totality, sunset, rounding off the day’s astronomical
excitement perfectly.
WIDEANGLE
What’s happening around the world (but shorter)
The eclipse path passed over Angola, Zambia,
Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, before
travelling over the Indian Ocean to Southern
Australia, so people across the southern hemisphere
had their cameras poised and ready.
US COASTAL WATERS the United logo on their imaging kit. In Amateur eclipse hunter Fraser Farrell has a
Something fishy return Fuji gets exclusive pictures of the description of his successful visit on his website at
A starfish, the Brittlestar, promises various United players. The press release http://astronomy.trilobytes.com.au/2002/dec4.html.
advances in photographic quality. has both Diego Forlan and Juan Veron He explains how he captured some reasonable
New research has shown the crystal lenses promoting the kit – just as well they’ve eclipse pictures although some exposure problems
which cover its body (used for vision) are both started scoring really… meant a little Photoshop trickery was needed.
optically perfect – 20 times better than ©WWW.REXFEATURES.COM 2003
2
anything man-made. It’s expected to JAPAN
inspire the cameras of the future. Direct action
Pentax Japan’s new Optio 330GS
TALKBACK
1
MANCHESTER, UK comes loaded with direct printing
Red eye production capability through its new firmware
Tell us what you think! Our website forums at
Fuji and Manchester United have upgrade (v 1.11). It’s not yet clear if Euro
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk are just the place. Add your
signed a deal to allow Fuji to slap and US cameras will get the treatment… comments, ideas and more and join the Digital Camera club!

COVER FEATURE BETTER PORTRAITS
YOUR GUIDE STEVE BAVISTER

Steve is a photographic journalist and freelance photographer. He is editor of The
Photographer, a leading magazine for pro photographers, and author of ten books
on photography including Digital Photography and Take Better Family Photos
bavister@easynet.co.uk PORTFOLIO STEVE BAVISTER
Take better portraits!

There’s more to portraiture than just pointing a camera at someone, says Steve Bavister.
You need to think about how to pose them to make the best of their features
O
ne of your prime responsibilities when we’d care to, and look more attractive when posed in a way working digitally, teeth that are not exactly dazzling white
photographing people is to help them look their that’s ‘slimming’. The secret here is not to have the person can be brightened in just a few seconds.
best – and the key to that is accentuating the square-onto the camera because it emphasises their width. Most women whose ears protrude have long hair to hide
positive. While most of us are not exactly Brad Pitt or Nor do you want them side-on, which draws attention to them, so there’s little the photographer has to do other than
Jennifer Lopez, we all have good points that can be brought any ‘beer belly’ they might have. Place them at an angle to make sure the hair is doing its job. With men, this isn’t an
out through composition and lighting. Weaknesses can also the camera instead, and have them standing rather than option, as styles these days are much shorter. What you
4
be minimised with just a little thought. sitting, which also prevents the body slumping down and should never do is photograph the person head-on –
Many of us, for instance, carry a few pounds more than looking blobby. because that is guaranteed to make the ears as visible as
If someone is below average height and you want to possible. Instead, ask them to stand three-quarters to you, so
make them look taller, all you have to do is shoot from a that one ear is hidden. Then make sure the person is facing
WHY WE CHOSE
slightly lower angle – but not so low that you start to the light in such a way that the exposed ear is in shadow.
THIS PICTURE
exaggerate the perspective. When someone is taller than
We sharpened the eyes to
normal, shooting from just above their eye line will give an Nosing ahead
encourage eye contact attractive result. Once again, it’s important not to overdo it, If your subject has an unusually large or long nose, there
or it will seem like you’re looking down on them. are a number of things you can do to make it look better.
We added shadow to her nose, If people are not happy with their teeth, they generally One is to shoot from a slightly lower angle and another is
making it more noticeable
won’t reveal them – and you won’t see them smiling from to ask the person to tip their head back a little. If you
The original version of this picture ear to ear. Instead, you’ll have to make do with a more have a zoom lens, setting it to its longest position and
had a slightly green cast, so we limited range of expressions, but you should still have no working from farther away will improve perspective. If your
removed it, warming up the image
problem coming up with some really nice shots. If you’re subject has a small or stubby nose, then do the opposite –

PHOTOGRAPHING CHILDREN
If your kid is shy, be patient, don’t try to coax a smile. A
natural expression is the aim, so hand the child a favourite
toy or treat like an ice cream and capture the reaction. Focus
on the eyes and face and you won’t go wrong…

a
A black reflector helps you ‘remove’ light from around an over--lit subject. To see how it
works, place two black reflectors (perhaps black velvet) off-camera, on either side of
your subject’s face and see how they draw attention to the centre of the face
2 CONVEYING EMOTION
shoot from above, get them to lean forward and go in concave cheeks, choose a setting where the light isn’t
closer with your zoom lens at the bottom of its range. It coming in from the side. With dark-haired men, sessions
goes without saying that if anyone is self-conscious early in the day will minimise the likelihood of a ‘five
about their nose, sideways-on profile shots are a o’clock shadow’. They say the eyes are the windows of the soul, and in photography it’s certainly important
complete no-no. Developing lines and wrinkles is a natural part of that they’re clear and sharp. You need to take care with focusing, especially with groups or
If the chin is sagging, shoot from above and ask the growing old – but not everyone wants to be reminded when the person is off-centre and, if necessary, use your camera’s focus lock. The eyes are
sitter to lengthen their neck by leaning forward, which of the passing of the years. To make them less also one of the main ways by which we convey emotion. Tests have proved that portrait
has the effect of tightening loose skin. A ‘weak’ chin can prominent, keep the illumination as soft as possible, shots are more attractive where the subject’s pupils are dilated.
2
be enhanced by shooting more from underneath. perhaps shooting on a cloudy day, and place them so
Some men are sensitive about their receding hair line the light is coming from behind you, not from the side.
or bald spot and welcome a little help in playing it Since you are working digitally, the image can obviously
down. There are two things you can do: take the picture be softened in the computer. Always try to fill the
with your camera below their eye height, so the hair Many people wear spectacles and, as far as possible, viewfinder’s frame so there
line is less visible; and position them so that as little avoid reflections in them because it can be difficult to are no distracting
light as possible comes from above, so the face is the see their eyes. Generally, you want people to have background objects and
lightest part of the picture and the forehead a little their head tipping down slightly to lose reflections – but shoot when you see an
darker. Try crouching down with them standing don’t take this too far or it can look awkward. One expression cross your
underneath a tree. If the hair is grey, and that seems to excellent approach is to get them to lean forward, subject’s face. Some
be an issue, find a spot where the light doesn’t draw with their arms resting on a table or the back of a cameras have portrait
attention to the fact. chair. When taking pictures of people with glasses modes – these zoom in on
outdoors, you should avoid having them looking directly your subject slightly and fire
Full-featured into the sun. a quick burst of fill-in flash.
If your subject has full, rounded cheeks, avoid In fact, the best time to shoot is when there’s no
going in too close. Shoot three-quarter compositions direct sun at all. When shooting a bespectacled portrait
rather than tight head-shots and, if possible, use indoors, choose a room with only one window, and
the telephoto setting of a zoom lens. With sallow, place your subject at 45 degrees to it. Whatever you do,
2Get good shots of babies is

all about making sure they
are comfortable and getting
down to eye level. Don’t
loom over them and shoot
down. Give them something
new and interesting to play
with and capture the
resulting facial expressions. If
you don’t want to use the
flash close to a baby, make
sure the room is well lit and
use your camera’s highest
ISO setting.
2 If there’s one straightforward

rule for portrait photography
it’s always focus on the
eyes. Here we’ve
emphasised our subject’s
eyes with a very tight crop
into her face. One other
handy tip is to use your
image editor to sharpen
eyes, remove unsightly
blood vessels or shadows,
plus darken and enlarge
pupils for that friendly,
dilated look.

COVER FEATURE BETTER PORTRAITS
1
DIFFERENT SKIN COLOURS
You’ll encounter a wide range of skin types – from
pale white through to rich black, and all the shades
in between. You may find you need to tweak the
exposure slightly with different skin types. Extremely
pale skin can easily end up all washed out, and you
may need to fine-tune the exposure to prevent that
happening. With dark skin you may need to increase
exposure a little to prevent the shadow areas
merging. For mixed groups, take a light reading from
the light falling on your subjects and not the light
reflected from them, for an accurate exposure setting.
you’re taught at school, and for most of us it doesn’t while looking away suggests that a more private
Being able to pose people effectively come naturally. So, if you want to produce something moment may have been captured.
with lasting appeal, you have to give your sitter some Most of the portraits taken are of people looking at
is one of the most important skills guidance about how to stand and where to look. the camera, which makes it a good enough reason to
Hands in particular can be a problem area. When take some pictures where the subject is averting their
of portrait photography standing up, people often let their arms dangle like dead gaze – an attempt to do something different.
fish by their sides or fold them defiantly across their And irrespective of which approach you go for, there are
chest. Simply asking them to bring one hand in front of certain head positions that work well.
don’t use direct flash because it will be reflected straight the groin area and clasp the wrist with the other hand Having the face full-on to the camera can all too
back at you. You should also make sure that the person can make a big difference. People tend to hold tension easily look like a passport photograph and, as we’ve
is not looking at anything else that’s highly reflective – in their shoulders, so encourage them to relax and seen, is not really ideal for those with ‘rounded’ faces
and that includes you! So wear dark tones rather than a soften every joint. because it shows the full width. However, you do get
white T-shirt where possible. Of course, you don’t just have to photograph people strong eye contact, which can work for those with a
standing. Try ringing the changes by taking pictures of characterful and interesting face.
Posing pointers them sitting, leaning or lying down. All these Three-quarters views are ideal if you want your
Being able to pose people effectively is one of the most approaches can yield superb results, and which one you subject looking off into space, as if thinking about
important skills of portrait photography, and the only use depends upon the person and what you are trying something or lost in some pleasant daydream. It also
sure way of developing it is to take lots of pictures using to achieve. Older folk are likely to feel more comfortable works well with most people if they look at the camera,
as many approaches as possible to find out what does sitting and less inclined to lie down, while youngsters providing the torso has also been turned to face at the
and doesn’t work. may prefer a more informal style. same angle. One of the best posing combinations is
One approach that certainly doesn’t work is leaving Should people be looking at the camera or away having the body at an angle of 45 degrees to the
your subject to their own devices. People don’t know from it? It’s entirely up to you. Looking into the camera camera and then turning the head towards the camera.
how to pose in front of the camera. It’s not something indicates an awareness that the picture was being taken, This tends to be flattering for most people.

g
Worried about how to flatter that horrifically ugly and/or misshapen family member?
Discover a useful checklist of corrective techniques at Photographytips.com (the kind
suppliers of our pose cards) at www.photographytips.com/page.cfm/2941
2 2 LIKENESS AND CHARACTER

The advantage of photographing someone full
YOUR POSE CARD length, with everything from the top of their head
to the tips of their toes included, is that you get a
Not sure how to achieve a striking pose? Our pose sense of the whole person. More of the background The ideal portrait captures an aspect of the subject’s personality, ideally in a flattering way.
cards attached to the front of this magazine are just is included, so you’ll also see more of the context This might be a mannerism, an expression, body language, or something in the pose.
what you need. We’ve collated 14 poses for women, in which the picture is taken. However, the person can Generally, open arms, eye contact, a smile and a subject leaning forward shows interest,
and 14 poses for couples – try them out and, of be rather small, so you may not discern their expression and makes for a good photo. The best way to elicit a smile is simple – smile at them first.
course, send in clearly, and unless the background is interesting or The key thing is to make your subject feel good about being photographed.
your efforts! appealing, the picture may be weak and lack impact.
A tighter crop – the three-quarters shot – goes from
just above the knees, with some space above the
person’s head. This is a good choice for general picture-
taking as you can see some of the body but without the
face ending up too small.
Maximum impact
For bags of impact, with plenty of eye contact and
separation from the background, crop into a tight head
and shoulders. It can be rather ‘intimate’, though, and
isn’t suitable for those with facial imperfections.
Then there’s the question of where you place the
subject. At the centre of the frame, to one side, top or
bottom, or in a corner? Bang in the middle of the frame
seems the obvious place to position someone – it
makes them literally the ‘centre of attention’, and you
can usually see where they are and what’s going on.
Composition and framing But it can be rather boring and static
For many people, composition is a natural, intuitive Putting them to the left or right of the frame is
process. They look at the subject and the scene, raise visually more interesting, and better if you want to
the camera to their eye, and take the picture. Somehow show them in a specific context or location – though you
it seems obvious that the image should be framed in a do need to be careful the shot doesn’t look ‘off-balance’.
particular way. Placing your subject at the top or bottom of the frame,
But, in reality, there are many different ways a or in one of thee four corners, creates more tension but
photograph can be composed, and the more conscious is an approach that should be used only occasionally
you are of the choices you have, the more successful where something different is required.
the shot is likely to be. When you have a willing adult to photograph it’s
Two of the most important things to think about are reasonably easy to get them to pose for you – for a
where to place the subject and how big they should be. while at least – but with younger children you may
Are you looking to capture character or shoot an struggle. They quickly get bored, or may not be
environmental portrait? The kind of picture you have in interested in following your suggestions in the first
mind will, to some extent, determine how big you want place. If that happens, don’t try to force the issue – go
the person to be in the frame. for a candid approach instead. When photographing
As a rule of thumb, in photographs where the groups, the principles are the same. But you also need
surroundings and background are important you’ll show to think in terms of shapes – such as triangles and
more of the person than in shots where the emphasis is squares – and, most importantly, make sure all of the
on them as an individual. faces are visible.
2 FIVE WAYS TO HELP YOUR SUBJECT STAND OUT

It’s all too easy for the person to get lost in a busy ■ Increase your distance from the person and use a
background, but here are some simple ways to make longer lens setting.
them the centre of attention: ■ If you have exposure control, use a large aperture
■ Find a neutral, plain backdrop, such as a plain wall. such as f/5.6 or f/8 to limit the depth-of-field.
■ Ask the subject to stand further away from ■ Make sure that the person is lit more strongly than
the background. the background.

COVER FEATURE BETTER PORTRAITS – POST-SHOOT
Enhancing portraits:
muting colours
Change the look of your portrait by giving its colours a subtle, muted effect. Tim Daly shows us how Elements helps
* M
ost image editing centres around correcting, saturation slider. This is found under the Enhance8Adjust the project by simply clicking on the layer icon and
ON OUR
COVERDISC and restoring an original image to its best, but Colour8Hue/Saturation dialog box, but you must then former commands can be modified without
there are tricks you can play to give a totally use the same control in an adjustment layer. overcooking the result.
CANVAS 6 altered effect as well. Adjustment layers are not the same as pixel- Best of all, and particularly useful for this project, is
Need an image editing program
to try these tehcniques? Look no For example, many portraits from the ’50s and ’60s containing layers, as they only contain settings like the ability to cut holes into adjustment layers using the
further than your coverdisc were shot on poor quality slides or negative film and Levels, Curves and other dialog controls. Once applied to eraser tool, so enabling other effects underneath to mix
recorded the face in a muted but stylish colour palette. an image, the adjustment layer ‘floats’ in the layers and merge with the adjustment. The purpose of this
You can easily make a modern portrait take on this look palette and applies its effect to all the layers beneath it. technique is to mix together full and low colour
0 EXPERT TIPS of faded colour by draining colour away using the These special layers can be returned to at any stage of saturation in one image.
TIM DALY
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
PRINTING OUT
Choose a printing paper that
isn’t bright white, to carry the
effect right through. Ivory or light
cream papers will help to make
the image much less vivid and
therefore more subtle.
OPEN AND CROP MAKE AN ADJUSTMENT LAYER REDUCE SATURATION

01 First, make all your cropping, contrast and
02 The first step is to open your Layers palette
03 Once the Hue/Saturation dialog appears, slide
repair adjustments before the treatment. and click on the tiny white/black semi-circle the Saturation triangle left to reduce colour
Portraits look best when all distracting detail in the icon at its base. The pop out menu presents a range of intensity. Press OK and return to your image. If you do
0 EXPERT TIPS background has been removed by cropping or cloned
over with the rubber stamp tool.
adjustment layers, but choose the Hue/Saturation option
for this project.
want to modify this command, just click on the
Adjustment layer icon to be returned to the dialog.
TIM DALY
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
SAVING YOUR WORK
Adjustment layers can be saved
and stored with your work for
future use, but only in the
Photoshop .psd format. Adjustment
layers are much more data efficient
than simply duplicating layers and
will help you to keep your file size
to a minimum.
OTHER ADJUSTMENT
LAYERS
The same kind of techniques can
be applied using other adjustment
layers such as Levels and USE THE ERASER TOOL VARY THE OPACITY REPAIR THE MISTAKES
Brightness/Contrast. In the 04 Pick the eraser tool from the toolbox and set it 05 If your erasing looks too harsh and 06 If you remove too much of the adjustment
full Photoshop, most with soft edge brush properties. Try a brush unsophisticated, try reducing the opacity value layer, change the foreground colour to black.
Image8Adjustments menu
size of 35 pixels and make sure that the foreground colour of the eraser tool to 30 per cent. This will create less of an Adjustment layers work like stencils, so any hole created
options are also offered as
adjustment layers. is set to white before erasing. Gently remove areas of the immediate ‘hole’ but enables you to remove an area using white can be patched over with black. Remember
image to reveal the fully saturated version underneath. gradually in stages. to set the opacity at 100 per cent first.

NEXT MONTH
; 4 SPRING IS SPRINGING SO
IT’S TIME TO THINK ABOUT
LANDSCAPES…
Enhancing portraits:
getting rid of backgrounds
Use Elements to blur out distracting backgrounds, to give emphasis to your subject
0
M
any fabulous portrait shots are spoiled by a chance to correct the problem using your image editing zones of sharpness can be created that put more
background which is too sharply focussed, software to blur out the background. Photoshop and emphasis on your portrait.
EXPERT TIPS
leading your attention away from the main Photoshop Elements have various filters that do this, Your first task, though, is to decide on the zones. Try TIM DALY
subject. Unless there’s something of specific interest although but none of them quite replicate the and identify three zones behind your subject and create PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
going on behind the subject then a deep depth of field diminishing rate of defocusing created by a camera lens. selection shapes that look like irregular-shaped jigsaw USING THE
is just distracting. Elements manages to create a very similar effect pieces that fit tightly together. These will vary wildly MAGNETIC LASSO
It’s easy to see these mistakes in retrospect, but though – by making the furthest parts of the scene depending on the picture you’re editing but no matter If you find it tricky to draw an
much harder to remember when shooting, especially if more blurred than nearer parts. Using the Gaussian blur what the selection, all the bits should be saved under accurate selection using the lasso
tool, try the sticky magnetic lasso
candid portraits are your thing. But there’s always the filter within carefully drawn selection areas, different the Select8Save Selection command for later use.
option. The tool works by locking
to an edge which is a sufficiently
different colour or contrast to its
neighbour. If you make a
mistake, use your History palette
to retrace, or the tool can be
difficult to deselect.
SELECT THE ZONES MAKE YOUR SELECTION NAME YOUR ZONES

01 This image has three recognisable zones
02 Use your lasso tool to draw around the shape
03 Complete an enclosed shape and do a
behind the main subject which we have in question and make this as accurate as you Save8Selection command, since continuous
marked 1, 2 and 3. It’s important to try and visualise can. Click on Shift to add other areas to your selection or selections can be saved and stored for future use.
enclosed shapes (like jigsaw pieces) at this stage, so you Alt to remove mistakes as this will help you create Repeat the process for each ‘zone’ and give each one
can plan how and where you’re going to select. unconnected zones as shown. a different name.
0 EXPERT TIPS
TIM DALY
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
TURNING OFF LAYERS
If you click the tiny ‘eye’ icon on
each layer in the layers palette,
you can temporarily turn it off. This
makes editing on individual layers
much easier, particularly when
there are overlaps.
CHANGING TO
RETRIEVE YOUR ZONES GUASSIAN BLUR FINISHED RESULT MONO MODE
04 Once complete, do Select8Load Selection and 05 On each layer, apply a gradually increasing 06 The final result shows all the ‘pieces’ slotted If your colour images have brightly
retrieve one at a time. From the Edit menu, Guassian Blur filter that gives the illusion of back into the background but now blurred to coloured backgrounds, a much
simpler way to reduce the visual
choose Cut, then Paste the area back into the image in three-dimensional depth. As a starting point try a varying degrees. This gives a much better concentration of
distractions is to convert your RGB
the same place, but as a new layer. This will stop the filter Gaussian blur filter at 5 pixels, 8 pixels and 15 pixels to emphasis on the central figure and creates a much file to Grayscale mode.
effect looking strange at adjoining edges. the nearest, middle and furthest zone respectively. stronger-looking shot.

COVER FEATURE BETTER PORTRAITS – CUT-OUTS
YOUR GUIDE CHRIS STOCKER

Chris has worked at Future Publishing since the early 1990s as our Photoshop and 3D expert,
creating 1000s of covers and illustrations for a diverse range of magazines, ranging from
Computer Arts to Total Film. He is one of the UK’s top photo retouching experts
chris.stocker@futurenet.co.uk PORTFOLIO CHRIS STOCKER
Creating reliable cut-outs

in Photoshop 7
Having problems with Photoshop’s extract tool? Need a reliable method of cutting out images and
compositing onto another background? Read on to learn a professional’s tried and tested method
* C
utting out images using the Extract or the for ages while the extract does its thing, then spent is no bad thing as it will keep you in good stead for
ON OUR
COVERDISC colour range can sometimes be great for one another half an hour checking and cleaning up the many a cut-out job in the future. The method we will
part of the image such as the hair but, if the edges, you may as well just cut the body out with the use to create the hair mask involces using the dreaded
PHOTOSHOP 7 body is a similar colour to the background, it will leave pen tool. Calculation Commands; they look a bit scary but are
See our trial of Photoshop 7 on
CD 2 and use it to practise artifacts around the edges. much like Photoshop layer blending modes.
these technqiues. This means that you may have to spend much time Safety first In the layer palette, when you have a floating layer
VIDEO TUTORIAL zooming in and carefully painting back in areas all At least then you’ll be safe in the knowledge that you’ll and apply hard light for example, an algorithm blends it
Check out the companion video around the body with the history brush, which is tedious have created an accurate mask that will not need to be with the layer below creating a different looking image.
tutorial on CD 1 – look for the file and tricky to do because of the smooth curves you’ll scrutinised again for imperfections. You can then quickly Where the calculation commands differ is that the
Tutorial/feat_port2.
need to paint with the brush. make a hair mask and combine it with the body mask. blending works through a dialogue box on individual
By the time you have played with the settings in Although the time saving can be huge in the long red, green or blue channels to create a new mask
the extract dialogue box, done several previews, waited run, it does require some skill with the pen tool – which channel in the channels palette.
GET STARTED An understanding of the channel features in Photoshop is key to this kind of image
editing. It’s quite an advanced skill, used by professionals for magazine covers
? EXPLAINED
CHANNEL SELECT A CHANNEL CREATE A NEW CHANNEL CREATE THE HAIR MASK
Images are mixtures of three or four
01 We will start by selecting the best channel to
02 Now for the calculation command. Go to
03 Select Channels from the windows menu so
colours – RGB or CMYK. A channel is apply the calculation command to, so hit image8calculations and choose the following: that you can see what’s going on and then go
one of these colours. Each channel control 1 to view the Red channel, followed by control 2 source 1 Channel blue, source 2 Channel blue and Linear to levels Control-L. Once there, drag the top outside
can be stored as a greyscale
for green and control 3 for blue. Blue has the strongest Burn from blending, then click OK. You are now viewing a triangles closer to the middle of the image to create a
represenation – see
www.sketchpad.net/channels1.htm. contrast between the hair and background so that’s the new channel that you have created in the Channels dense black section and clearer white section, then hit OK.
channel we want to use here. palette, through your calculation commands. The hair mask is now complete.

Press D on the keyboard to set the swatch to the black and
4
ONE-CLICK white default. Press X to to swap swatch foreground and
FIX background colours
CUTTING OUT Now we’re going to use the pen tool to select parts of the woman’s body then we’ll * WEB LINKS
use the Quick mask option to create, fuse and paint different mask selections OTHER ONLINE TUTORIAL
BY CHRIS STOCKER
www.computerarts.co.uk/
tutorials/2d/
SELECT THE PEN TOOL DRAW AROUND THE IMAGE CUT OUT INNER SPACES
04 Come out of the alpha channel view by clicking
05 With the pen tool selected, draw around the
06 When the whole of the body has been cut out
on the RGB composite image in the channels image of the woman. When you reach the as one large, joined up path, move on to the
palette. Now zoom into the girl’s leg and select the pen hair, don’t cut it out precisely but instead make a general inner parts of the image. Cut out the areas of sky
tool. Check that Exclude Overlapping Path areas is selected, cut out of the right shape. On the image above, the cut between the arm and the body, making the path a mask
(see red square, top bar, above). Proceed with the path. out line has been marked with a red line. with a soft edge, to be combined with the hair mask.
0 EXPERT TIP
CHRIS STOCKER
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT
DRAWING PATHS
When using the pen tool click
and drag the direction that you
want the curve to go, paying
special attention to the direction
points as these determine the
shape of the curve.
DRAWING PATHS
Use a few more points and keep
SELECT A PATH ACTIVATE QUICK MASK COMBINE THE MASKS the Direction points quite close
07 Zoom out of the image and go to the Paths 08 With the selection still active, hit Q to activate 09 Go to the Channels palette and click the mask together, so in other words, click
palette and click on the path holding down the the Quick mask, zoom in on a selection and of the hair from earlier (or hit control alt-4). and drag quite small distances
for greater control. See video.
Control key (this will make the path a selection). At the Gaussian blur the mask to suite the edge softness of the You’ll need to inverse the selection from the select menu.
bottom of the tool palette open the quick mask options image, combining the masks, turning the image into a This combines the masks, turning the image into a
and set to colour indicates8selected area. floating layer and clearing the background to transparent. floating layer and clearing the background to transparent.
PAINT THE HAIR CHECK FOR HOLES FINAL TOUCHES

10 Set your painting swatch option to black and 11 Things should be looking pretty good at this
12 Go to the layers palette and double click the
white by hitting the D key on the keyboard stage. You may want to now deselect the image for the Layer style dialogue box. To
and select a paintbrush of around 100 pixels. Start painting selection (Control-D) and check for tiny holes that need to make the image transparent, click on the layer mask icon.
in the hair, but don’t go too far outside as you may pick up be painted in. Hit Q to come out of Quick mask – this will Sample the hair with the eyedropper tool and paint over
some stray pixels. turn the whole mask into a selection. any blue bits with the brush set to mode-colour.

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SECTION #01 REVIEWS
Section highlights…
FUJIFILM FINEPIX A303 PAGE
28
THE 3-MEGAPIXEL SNAPSHOT
There’s stiff competition at this end of the market.
Can this one stand out from the crowd?
OLYMPUS C-50 PAGE
32
THE 5-MEGAPIXEL COMPACT
With the options of a semi-pro camera packed into
a slimline design, can this live up to expectations?
MINOLTA DIMAGE 7HI PAGE
36
THE 5-MEGAPIXEL ZOOM ZLR
The first 5-megapixel camera to hit the market two
years ago is still slick enough to trounce its rivals
LAB TEST PAGE

KIT REVIEW
44
ONLINE PRINTING SERVICES
MINOLTA DIMAGE 7HI Order long-lasting high-quality prints of your digital
SEE PAGE 36 images right your desktop – we test 8 printing services
PAGE PAGE PAGE
28 32 44
Kit reviews
The latest digital photo gear, reviewed and rated
Reviews you can trust! Contact our reviews team
f #
Our aim is to inform you fully about a product’s best and magazine hits the newsagent Authoritative: Every review If you have a comment about our reviews, or a product
worst features. To this end, we guarantee each review is includes the manufacturer's range, other options, test shots, you would like us to test, please email us at
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independence. Suppliers never see a review until the and boxes to ensure each review delivers a definitive verdict digitalcameramagazine.co.uk for reader verdicts
REVIEWS 3-MEGAPIXEL COMPACT
FUJIFILM FINEPIX A303
Price £280
Resolution 3.2 megapixels
Lens f2.8-4.8 3x zoom
Memory 16MB xD Picture Card
Battery life 250 shots (AA alkalines)
Contact Fujifilm 020 7586 1477 www.fujifilm.co.uk SAMPLE IMAGES ALL THESE IMAGES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR CD
FujiFilm FinePix A303

With so many 3-megapixel snapshot cameras on the market, it’s subtle combinations of
qualities, not killer features that are winning out. Has FujiFilm’s new A303 got what it takes?
3
* ON M
ost digital camera users want more than
OUR
COVERDISC just a few quick snaphots from their camera.
Manufacturers have realised that three
million pixels is now a realistic entry point for most
potential buyers, and are supplying an endless barrage
of ever-cheaper, ever-better 3-megapixel models as
a result.
New cameras are coming in at aggressive new price
points, fighting it out with old stagers which have been
3
VIRTUAL TOUR on the market six months or more, and are themselves
Try before you buy! Rotate and
view this camera on-screen with subject to vicious price-cutting as they near the end of
our unique virtual reality tour. their production lives.
The FinePix A303 is one of the new boys, aiming to
ON OUR slice up the competition with its blend of slick,
C WEBSITE pocketable charm, ease of use and quality of results.
OPINIONS & SHOPPING The competition’s tough and unique features are a rarity
Post your views, see what other
readers think then buy this camera!
– so it’s no surprise that this model is technically 4
unremarkable but shoots instead for a winning blend of
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk/
fujia303 quality, handling and convenience.
Nice and easy

Admittedly, it feels a bit plasticky at first, but that’s only
DIGITAL RANGE
to be expected at the price. With the batteries fitted it’s
neat, pocketable and streamlined – you can whip it out
7 LENS 7 HANDGRIP 7 POWER SWITCH
FUJI of your pocket at a moment’s notice.
The A303’s 3x zoom
produces crisp, clear
Running on a pair of
AA batteries, and
Slide the power switch
to the right, and the
results, and the alkalines at that, the protective lens cover
FinePix F601 The Fuji’s practicality takes a step further with the camera’s exposure Fuji is practical and swings aside, the lens
Price: £490 use of just two AA batteries for power. Not only this, the offers reliable results convenient for day-to- pops out and you’re
Megapixels: 3/6 nearly every time day use ready to shoot
A303’s modest power requirements mean it’ll produce
FinePix F401 up to 250 shots on a pair of ordinary alkaline cells. Most
Price: £350 cameras which use AAs really need NiMH cells, and will So what’s the A303 like to use? Quick and easy. adjust the white balance and exposure compensation.
Megapixels: 2/4 suck alkalines dry in minutes. There’s so little to know that it’s almost laughable. In Pretty standard features on any digital camera, so
FinePix A303 The A303 uses a switch on the top-plate to slide back standard auto mode, the only thing you’ll need the the A303 is unremarkable in that respect. But it
5
Price: £280 a solid protective lens cover and power up the camera, menus for is changing the quality setting. You’ve got does seem to be very well-judged for its market,
Megapixels: 3 as opposed to the sliding lens cover found on some a button for changing the flash mode, another for and aimed perfectly at first-timers or point-and-
Olympus models which protects the lens while the switching the display on and off and another (rather shooters who want minimum technology and just
FinePix A204
Price: £200 camera’s not being used, and acts as a power switch horrid, it has to be said) horizontal rocking switch to reliable, colourful, sharp shots. Simple it is, but if the
Megapixels: 2 when you slide it back, The lens cover’s a lot more control the zoom. camera can deliver good results without user
robust than the delicate little leaves covering the lens interference, there’s little wrong with that. Let’s be
FinePix A202 on a Digital Ixus, for example, and the fiddly lens caps Simplicity delivered honest – most digital camera shots can be taken in
£ Price: £140
5
fitted to some more upmarket models on the market at If you switch to Manual mode (via the menus), you program AE mode with no exposure compensation or
Megapixels: 2
the moment. get some extra photographic controls. Now you can manual fiddling at all. Half-pressure on the shutter

FUJIFILM FINEPIX A303
TURN THE PAGE TO PERFORMANCE
COMPARE TEST SHOTS
2 SKIN TONES
5 PRO The FinePix produces bright, colourful images

even in overcast lighting conditions
1 6 CON The auto white balances counteracts artificial

lighting so well that portraits look a little cold
3
2 OUTDOOR SHOTS
7 LCD 7 ZOOM CONTROLS 7 NAVIGATION

Small LCDs often The A303’s zoom CONTROLS/ZOOM SWITCH
make up for it with controls also double up The Fuji's switchgear is not
5
big pixel counts. This as menu navigation its best point however. It
PRO The cold blue light and warm, watery
one doesn’t. At just controllers – saving reflects the price point and sunlight shows up in bright, vibrant colour here
6
60,000 pixels it does space on this compact is merely functional – not
CON Could prove a bit too saturated and garish for
the job, but no more little camera at all pleasing
contrast scenes – some shots look a little unnatural
release locks the exposure and focus, and that’s as works, it’s easy to figure out and the camera leaves new generation of physically smaller 3-megapixel
2 INDOOR SHOTS
much creative control as most of us need under you free to concentrate on your snaps. Thing is, its CCDs (as evidenced by the smaller lens focal
ordinary conditions. numerous rivals can all boast the same qualities, so lengths). Although this should theoretically degrade
We’ve already mentioned the extremely it’s going to come down to a more subtle blend of image quality, in practice the A303’s images have a
competitive marketplace being targeted by the
A303, and even at £280, the FinePix doesn’t have
things all its own way. The build quality and This produced the most reliable exposures,
switchgear does tend to reflect the price point, with
slightly naff, dead-feeling buttons and a really rather the most consistent colours and the best
nasty four-way navigation system with two small
point-and-shoot snaps 5 PRO The Fuji’s accurate exposure makes it very
good at available light photography and flash shots
6
left/right buttons either side of the horizontal zoom CON The A303’s colour could prove too lurid at
times when you’re looking for a subtle effect
rocker switch. The LCD panel has definitely seen
some compromises. It’s reasonably bright and
colourful, but with only 60,000 pixels, it’s hardly build quality, convenience, value and results. sharp, gritty look close up, compared to the slightly 2 IMAGE QUALITY
very sharp. This is where the FinePix A303 scores heavily. In soft look typical of previous 3-megapixel CCDs. The
all our test shots – indoor, outdoor, with flash, results look crisp and clear, and there are few 3-
Image processing without flash – it produced extremely well-exposed, megapixel cameras which can do better.
Image processing tends to be slower on cheaper saturated and neutral shots. This is a camera you can Winners in this highly competitive 3-megapixel
cameras, too, and this is noticeable in the FinePix’s leave on auto for the vast majority of your pictures. market are hard to choose because so much
playback mode, where it takes two or three seconds Of all the cameras we’ve looked at this month, this depends on price. As things stand at the moment,
to display successive shots and isn’t especially quick produced the most reliable exposures, most though, while the A303 faces tough competition
at zooming and panning either. However, most of its consistent colours and best point-and-shoot snaps. from a number of rivals, its streamlined shape, ease
rivals struggle in this respect too. The Fuji’s images are sharp, too. Like Olympus of use, modest power requirements and great
In the end, complaints are all very well, but it all and some other manufacturers, FujiFilm is using a results put it a nose ahead of all of them. 5 PRO The A303 adds a gritty edge that makes the
images look crisp at all magnifications
6 CON Bright highlights can produce some strong
1
colour fringing, and flare may degrade the image
FUJIFILM FINEPIX A303 FULL SPECIFICATIONS

A slim, pocketable, Features 70 1
Sensor 3.2 megapixel, 1/2.7-inch 3.3MP CCD Image storage xD Picture Card
easy and efficient Images 85 1
Verdict
Image size 2048 x 1536 Batteries 2 x AA

Lens Fujinon f2.8-4.8 3x zoom AC adaptor Not supplied Build 80 1
Focus
Exposure modes
Auto, macro mode 10cm
Program AE
Software CD Rom & Windows, USB Drivers,
VideoImpression, FinePix viewer, DP Editor
compact camera Value 90 1
87%
Metering 64-zone TTL Weight 145g (without batteries)
Monitor
AE compensation
1.5-inch 60,000 pixels
+/-2EV, 0.5EV increments
Dimensions
Transfer
97.0mm(w) x 63.9mm(h) x 34.3mm(w)
USB FINAL
Flash
Video output
Auto, on, off, red-eye, slow sync
No
OS Windows 98/Me, 2000, XP, Mac OS 8.6-9.2.2,
OS X 10.0.4
The FinePix A303 won't startle you SCORE
with its looks or its build quality, but
Movie recording 320 x 240 at 10fps without sound
Other features Can be connected to computer for use as webcam underneath its modest exterior is an
extremely capable and likeable
2
OLYMPUS SONY CASIO KODAK
WORTH C-300 DSC-P71 QV-R3 DX4330
camera that produces fine results
A LOOK £280/3MP £295/3MP £300/3MP £250/3MP

OLYMPUS C-730
Price £445
Resolution 3.2 megapixels
Memory 16Mb xD Picture Card
Contact Olympus 0800 072 0070 www.olympus.co.uk
SAMPLE IMAGES ALL THESE IMAGES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR CD
Olympus C-730
A 10x optical zoom? Wow, that’s big. The Olympus C-730 is perfect for sports and wildlife
fans, then, but does that make it too specialised for the rest of us?
P
ixels aren’t everything. If your main interest is
* ON OUR
COVERDISC sport, wildlife photography or anything else
that requires telephoto lenses, a long-range
optical zoom will be the first thing on your shopping list.
The massive 10x zoom on the Olympus C-730 UZ (UZ
3
stands for ‘Ultra Zoom’) gives you the equivalent of a
350mm lens at full stretch, and there aren’t many
digital cameras that can match that. Sure, other cameras
boast digital zooms that can go just as far, but only by
VIRTUAL TOUR
view this camera on-screen with
magnifying a central part of the image, drastically
reducing the resolution.
1
our unique virtual reality tour
This puts the C-730’s resolution into perspective. A
3-megapixel CCD isn’t going to set the world alight in
ON OUR this day and age, but it’s still good enough for high-
C WEBSITE quality enlargements up to A4, and that telephoto range
puts the Olympus in a class of its own.
OPINIONS & SHOPPING
Post your views, see what other The C-730 boasts a 3x digital zooming feature,
readers think then buy this camera! offering a potential maximum 30x zoom capability.
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk/ However, we’re not fans of digital zooms – they offer
olympusc730
‘empty’ magnification that doesn’t record any extra
detail. In this case, given the C-730’s huge optical 7 7
LENS FLIP-UP FLASH
zooming range in the first place, it’s probably gilding the With a 35-350mm The built-in flash
DIGITAL RANGE lily somewhat, too. zooming range and won’t fire unless
OLYMPUS a f2.8-3.5 aperture,

the C-730’s lens is
you flip it up with
the button on the
E20
Size is everything something special top plate
Price: £1,300 For those who need extreme telephoto capability, then,
Megapixels: 5 the C-730 offers remarkable value. It’s also very
compact. If you were expecting a camera like a the telephoto end, allowing the highest possible shutter normal viewing distances. It uses one of the newer,
C-5050 drainpipe with a box on the end, you’re in for a surprise. speeds. It may be that digital camera users don’t know physically smaller 3-megapixel CCDs adopted by other
Price: £649
The lens does extend further than most when you how lucky they are – there’s not much point shopping makers now, and in the Olympus it produces sharp,
Megapixels: 5
power the Olympus up, but it’s still little larger than for a 350mm f3.5 lens for a 35mm SLR film camera slightly gritty images (when you get really close up).
C-4000 Olympus’s own C-4000 or C-5050 compacts. with less than £1,000 in your pocket, and that’s for a The results are a lot better than those of the first 3-
Price: £450 These focal lengths do bring an increased risk of fixed focal length non-zoom. megapixel models, and crisp enough to need little, if
Megapixels: 4 camera shake. Don’t imagine you can shoot hand-held The 3-megapixel CCD in the Olympus may still leave any, sharpening.
C-730 in dim lighting with the big zoom settings this camera is some nagging doubts in your mind, though, since
Design compromises?
5
Price: £445 capable of achieving. It’s best to use a tripod if you all the latest headline-grabbing cameras are 4-
Megapixels: 3 want your sports and wildlife shots to come out sharp. megapixel or 5-megapixel models. Indeed, you will see So does the C-730’s design compromise it for everyday
C-720 It’s not a fault with the Olympus, but a characteristic of a noticeable difference in quality between the C-730’s photography? Not in terms of size, handling and
£ Price: £400 long lenses everywhere, on any camera. What helps output and that of a 4- or 5-megapixel model by the portability, as we’ve already mentioned. But the huge
5 Megapixels: 3 here, though, is the C-730’s maximum aperture of f2.8

at the wide-angle end, and which only drops to f3.5 at
time you’re printing at A4 size or larger. Even so,
shots from the C-730 will still look good, particularly at
zooming range does mean Olympus has had to drop
the optical viewfinder in favour of a digital one. It’s big

TURN THE PAGE TO
OLYMPUS C-730
COMPARE TEST SHOTS PERFORMANCE
2 SKIN TONES
1 5 PRO The C-730 produces strong, contrasty shots

even in overcast lighting
6 CON Outdoor shots showed a slight reddish/

magenta tinge. Indoors, flash control is good
7 2 OUTDOOR SHOTS
MODE DIAL 3
The C-730 is robust
1 and practical – the
chunky, positive
mode dial is a
good example
3
7 SHUTTER 7 7 NAVIPAD
BUTTON/ZOOM VIEWFINDER Olympus sticks to its
SWITCH The digital tried-and-tested
The switch is fast, viewfinder is not control layout, with a
given the zoom
range it’s got
especially sharp,
but surprisingly big
well-designed
navipad that offers 5 PRO Reliable exposure control and huge zooming
range make the C-730 great for outdoor photos
to cover and bright fast access
6 CON It did make a bit of a pig’s ear of our test
shot, producing an over-warm result
and clear, but as with other digital viewfinders, it mode. It’s big, clear and positive – easy to use, but you save up to four sets of custom settings for re-
2 INDOOR SHOTS
lacks the sharpness and clarity of an optical finder. not easy to knock by accident. use later.
The 1.5-inch LCD panel on the backplate isn’t On the back, the buttons are visibly cheaper than Given that it’s got such appeal to serious users,
especially big, but it is sharp and bright. those on more expensive upmarket cameras, but do though, it could do with starting up a bit faster.
Despite its extreme zooming range, the Olympus the job perfectly well. As usual with Olympus When you press the power button, there’s a pause
lens doesn’t seem to suffer any compromises as a cameras, the four-way navipad buttons double as of around a second before anything happens at
all, making you wonder if you pressed it hard
enough. The rest of the start-up process is fairly
It’s fine for point-and-shoot snapping, but leisurely, too, as the lens extends from the body and
it also offers lots of high-end features for

the LCD activates. Focusing is reasonably rapid, but
5 PRO Flash shots come out well, and simple point-
and-click shooting offers reliable results
6
does take longer as the focal lengths increase, as CON The C-730 seems a little more prone to
camera shake than some
you’d expect.
more serious photographers
And how does it look? 2 IMAGE QUALITY
result. It offers a handy 35mm equivalent wide- fast-access menu controls in record mode. It’s a The C-730 is no oil painting, and lacks the build
angle view at the short end of the scale, which isn’t system that works well, especially given that quality and design finesse of more upmarket rivals.
bad considering that many rivals with shorter zoom Olympus has stuck with separate buttons for each But you’ve got to remember the price and what
ranges don’t go as wide as that. The C-730 is a directional controller and not given into the you’re getting for the money. If you need extreme
perfectly good everyday, all-purpose camera. It’s fine temptation to include one of those horribly woolly zooming, here’s a camera that offers it, without any
for point-and-shoot snapping, but it also offers lots of four-way switches. compromises, in an extremely affordable,
high-end features for more serious photographers. As well as offering a wealth of manual workmanlike and photographically sophisticated
The main mode dial on the top plate offers access photographic controls, the C-730 has a real-time package. Yes, you can get cheaper 3-megapixel
to the C-730’s program AE, aperture-priority, shutter- histogram display to help you judge exposure levels snapshot cameras, but they won’t do what this
priority, manual and scene modes, plus playback before you shoot rather than afterwards, and it lets camera can. 5 PRO The C730’s lens offers a huge zooming range,
but without appearing to harm its sharpness at all
6 CON Not steadiest camera for hand-holding; you’ll

need a tripod to exploit that 10x zooming range
OLYMPUS C-730 FULL SPECIFICATIONS 1 The C-730 has

great zooming
FEATURES
IMAGES
90
88
1
1
Verdict
Sensor 3.2-megapixel, 1/2.7-inch 3.34MP CCD Movie recording 320 x 240 15fps QuickTime without sound
Lens Olympus Multivator f2.8-3.5 10z zoom Other features Twin media slots BUILD 80 1
Focus
Exposure modes
Auto, 4cm in Super-macro mode
Program AE, shutter-priority, aperture-priority,
Image storage
Batteries
SmartMedia or xD Picture Cards
4 x AA capabilities and is VALUE 94 1
manual, scene modes AC adaptor No
hugely versatile
88%
Metering
Monitor
Digital ESP, spot, multi-spot
Weight
Dimensions
310g (without batteries)
107.5mm(w) x 76.0mm(h) x 77.5mm(d) FINAL
AE compensation
Flash
+/-2EV in 0.3EV increments
Auto, on off, red-eye, slow sync, slow sync with
Transfer USB
It’s not the cheapest 3-megapixel
SCORE
red-eye, second-curtain sync
Video output NTSC or PAL camera you can buy, but it’s surely the
most versatile. Despite the huge zoom
2
FUJIFILM FUJIFILM HP PHOTOSMART NIKON range, it’s compact and practical, too
WORTH FINEPIX S304 FINEPIX S602 850 COOLPIX 4500
A LOOK £380/3MP £595/3-6MP £400/4MP £600/4MP

OLYMPUS C-50
Price £550
Resolution 5 megapixels
Memory 32Mb xD Picture Card
Contact Olympus 800 072 0070 www.olympus.co.uk
SAMPLE IMAGES ALL THESE IMAGES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR CD
Olympus C-50
Do you want a compact, snapshot camera or a full-blown enthusiast’s model packed with
photographic controls and esoteric features? Tricky choice – unless you opt for the Olympus C-50
* ON D
igital cameras tend to come in one of two
OUR
COVERDISC sorts. If you want full-on photographic control,
you tend to get bulky cameras festooned with
knobs and dials and with a price tag to match. Whereas 4
if you want a small, slick, pocketable camera, you have
to accept point-and-shoot simplicity and abandon all
your photographic ambitions, right?
Olympus’s C-50 aims to offer the best of both worlds,
3
with a highly compact design, but with the multiple
VIRTUAL TOUR metering and exposure options of a semi-pro camera.
view this camera on-screen with Not only that, it packs in a 5-megapixel CCD to offer the
3
our unique virtual reality tour. maximum resolution you can get in a digital camera
without taking the big step up to a digital SLR.
ON OUR On paper, it’s a very tempting package, particularly
C WEBSITE since the Olympus undercuts other high-powered
OPINIONS & SHOPPING 5-megapixel models, and by some margin. But how
Post your views, see what other does it shape up in daily use?
readers think then buy this camera!
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk/
olympusc50 Style and substance
In appearance and basic operation, the C-50’s a lot like
Canon’s S30/40/45 models. Finished in brushed steel
and chrome, it’s got a sliding lens cover that also
DIGITAL RANGE
switches on the power.
It’s quiet and quick, too. While other digital cameras
7 7 7 SHUTTER RELEASE/
OLYMPUS can sound like they’ve got gravel in their bearings, the
LENS
That lens looks dinky,
SLIDING LENS COVER
The lens cover protects
ZOOM SWITCH
There’s nothing to
but it’s fast, with a the optics when not in worry technophobes
E-20 C-50’s lens moves in and out with barely a whir. It starts good maximum use, and powers up the here. Just point, shoot
Price: £1,300 up pretty quickly and there’s not too much shutter lag, aperture of f2.8, and camera when you slide (and zoom) and the
Megapixels: 5 sharp, too it open C-50 will do the job
either. The C-50 feels sophisticated and well-made, an
C-5050 impression reinforced by the firm, positive mode dial.
Price: £700 This offers access to the cameras program, aperture- feels distinctly dead and unresponsive. For a camera which does so much, the C-50 is
Megapixels: 5 priority, shutter-priority and manual modes, as well as Other than that, though, the layout of the controls is commendably clear of knobs and buttons. There’s a
C-50 its landscape, portrait and other scene modes. You’ll very good. The four-way navipad is also used to apply configurable ‘My Mode’ for storing your own chosen
5
Price: £550 need to dip into the menus to swap between the PASM exposure compensation while taking shots – it’s very settings, and the C-50 can even auto-bracket exposures.
Megapixels: 4 exposure modes, but given the market this camera’s easy and quick. The menu system is quick to navigate, This is on top of a panoramic picture function and
aimed at, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The too. Press the menu button, and the LCD displays four optional spot-metering mode – despite its size, this
C-4000
Price: £450 C-50 is best suited to those who want this level of options to correspond to the four navigational buttons. camera really does do an awful lot.
Megapixels: 4 photographic control, but not every day, and not if it Three of these are shortcuts to commonly used
compromises point-and-shoot simplicity. functions, while the fourth displays the full menu Small is beautiful?
C-300 Although the controls generally feel very good, the system. It’s neat, fast and also user-configurable. The Olympus packs all this photographic power into a
£ Price: £280
5
four-way navigation controller is a bit stiff and the Elsewhere, one button changes the flash mode while pretty small body. It’s not as tiny as a Digital Ixus, for
Megapixels: 3
display/playback mode button to the right of the LCD another switches on spot metering and macro modes. example, but it’s not far off. And there are two factors

OLYMPUS C-50
COMPARE TEST SHOTS
2 SKIN TONES
1
5 PRO Good contrast and saturation, even in dull

lighting. Good skin tones – slight reddish tendency
6 CON Good flash exposure indoors, but the white

balance can surprise. Turn down the saturation?
2 OUTDOOR SHOTS
4
3
7 LCD 7 MODE DIAL 7 NAVIPAD
Small it may be at just The main mode dial is The C-50’s navipad isn’t as
1.5 inches across the big, clear and offers crisp as those on some
5
diagonal, but the fast access to the most other Olympus models,
PRO The C-50 picked up the warm sunlight on the
C-50’s LCD screen is used functions. It’s stiff but it shares the same pier, maximising the available colour and contrast
6
exceptionally bright enough not to be efficient menu access
CON The C-50 can be too lurid, but for the average
and crisp moved accidentally system which is a bonus
snapshot user it will deliver great-looking shots
which have helped the designers get the this LCD is unusually crisp and bright. It takes a FinePix A303, (reviewed page 28).
2 INDOOR SHOTS
dimensions down. second or so to cycle between shots in playback As a foolproof point-and-shoot camera compact to
The first is the use of a rechargeable lithium ion mode (these 5-megapixel files can be quite big), but carry anywhere, the C-50 could hardly be much
battery. Most Olympus cameras run on AAs, but this zooming in and panning around your saved shots is better. And it backs this up with photographic control
slimline lithium cell offers good battery life without
the bulk. It recharges in just two hours, too.
Secondly, Olympus has ditched SmartMedia cards As a foolproof point-and-shoot camera
in favour of new xD Picture Cards. Being promoted
jointly by Olympus and FujiFilm, xD cards make compact to carry anywhere, the C-50 could
SmartMedia cards look positively huge. Barely larger
hardly be much better 5 PRO Colours are warm and vibrant and flash shots
come out well (as ever, slow flash mode is best)
6
than a postage stamp, the Olympus card offers a CON The white balance isn’t always predictable,
dialling in extra yellow in one interior we shot
reasonably generous 32MB storage, and you can
already get xD cards up to 128MB. A 256MB card is
imminent, and the design reportedly offers a quite quick, even if you do have to keep clicking the that could make you wonder if there’s any point 2 IMAGE QUALITY
theoretical maximum of an amazing 8Gb. buttons (they don’t keep scrolling/zooming if you buying a semi-pro model. The lens doesn’t have the
However good xD cards might be, or become, it keep them pressed). zooming range or wide aperture of some models,
would be nice if digital camera makers could just sit and the colour balance can occasionally turn a little
down and work out which memory card format is Picture quality lurid, but these are small flaws when set against its
best and just stick to it. (We can’t help thinking that All this technological finesse won’t amount to much terrific day-to-day usefulness.
if Canon can squeeze a Compact Flash card into the if the camera itself doesn’t take good pictures. Here, There are better models than this for photo
tiny internals of the Digital Ixus, then everybody else though, the C-50 does very well. If it wasn’t for a enthusiasts, but none of them are any good at all if
ought to be able to do the same.) couple of slightly odd white balance decisions while you’ve left them at home when you need them.
Not surprisingly, given its size, the C-50 makes do we were photographing inside Wells Cathedral, we’d The C-50, by contrast, can just slide into your coat
with a modest 1.5-inch LCD, but with 134,000 pixels, say it was as reliable and consistent as the FujiFilm pocket and go with you everywhere. 5 PRO The C-50’s ultra-compact design doesn’t appear
to compromise its optical quality one jot
6 CON The compact design makes it hard to hold
1
steady, so watch camera shake in dim lighting
OLYMPUS C-50 FULL SPECIFICATIONS

A compact, Features 90 1
Sensor 5-megapixel, 1/1.8-inch 5.4MP CCD Video output NTSC or PAL
foolproof and Images 90 1
Verdict
Image size 2560 x 1920 Movie recording 320 x 240 15fps QuickTime
Lens Olympus f2.8-4.8 3x zoom Other features TruePic image processing and Pixel Mapping Build 83 1
Focus
Exposure modes
Auto
Image storage
Batteries
xD Picture Card
Lithium-ion rechargeable LI-10B
powerful camera Value 89 1
88%
manual, scene modes AC adaptor Supplied
Metering
Monitor
Digital ESP, spot
Software
Weight
Win 98/2000/NT/XP, Mac OS9 or higher
You might expect a pocketable
FINAL
AE compensation
Flash
Auto, on, off, red-eye, slow sync,
Dimensions
Transfer
99.5mm(w) x 58.5mm(h) x 41.5mm(d)
USB compact camera to sacrifice features
SCORE
slow sync with red-eye OS Windows 98/ME, Windows 2000/XP, Mac OS9 and image quality, but the C-50
or later
appears to make few concessions
2
KONICA KYOCERA MINOLTA CANON in either direction
WORTH REVIO KD500 FINECAM S5 DIMAGE F100 POWERSHOT S45
A LOOK £500/5MP £500/5MP £400/4MP £480/4MP

CASIO QV-5700
Price £600
Lens f2-2.5 3x zoom
Memory 16MB Compact Flash
Battery Life 1130 images or 5hrs 20 mins playback (AA FR6 lithium cells)
Contact Casio 0208 208 7838 www.casio.co.uk SAMPLE IMAGES ALL THESE IMAGES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR CD
Casio QV-5700
A 5-megapixel camera for £600? The Casio QV-5700 goes further, with high-end photographic controls, a sharp, fast lens
and build quality and handling that puts it right up there with the best
C
anon’s PowerShot G2 has made a big name
* ON OUR
COVERDISC for itself as a top enthusiasts’ camera with a
great lens, great resolution and great
photographic control. So why are we talking about the
renowned PowerShot G2 in a review of the Casio 2
QV-5700? Because the Casio seems to be everything
the G2 is, but better.
It looks like the Canon, with a moulded handgrip,
solid and positive controls and even the same lens. It
VIRTUAL TOUR
Try before you buy! Rotate and goes one step better, though, with a more attractive
view this camera on-screen with and “grippable” black finish (the Canon’s a bit shiny and
slippery) and a control wheel which makes many of the
camera functions quicker to adjust.
ON OUR Interestingly, the Casio runs on a quartet of AA
C WEBSITE batteries and the company’s claiming a remarkable life
expectancy of 1130 shots or 5hrs 20 minutes of
OPINIONS & SHOPPING
Post your views, see what other continuous playback. In fact, though, this is achieved 3
readers think then buy this camera! with expensive lithium AAs – ordinary NiHM cells are
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk/ likely to last less than half as long.
casioqv5700
Photographic features 7 7 HANDGRIP

LENS
Casio really has packed a lot of photographic features The Canon-built f2- The QV-5700 runs
DIGITAL RANGE into this camera. As well as the programmed auto 2.5 zoom is a fast, on four AAs, and its
low power
CASIO exposure mode, there’s shutter-priority automation, full
sharp optic that’s
seen service in many consumption should
manual control, aperture-priority, and a whole range of different models prolong battery life
QV-5700
5
Price: £600 scene modes.

Megapixels: 5 In fact, Casio refers to these as Best Shot modes.
Like the cheaper Casio QV-R4, the QV-5700 doesn’t can use extensively without having to start up and There are nice touches too, though, like the real-time
QV-4000 content itself with a simple selection of icons to navigate through the menu system. histogram display which lets you see whether your
Price: £400
represent these shooting modes. Instead, it presents a Some features have a less obvious benefit, like the current exposure settings are going to clip the highlights
Megapixels: 4
full-screen page indicating the sort of shot each mode Digital Soft Focus (rather easy to apply in Photoshop), or shadows before you take the shot.
QV-R4 is designed for (via a sample thumbnail) and an and some of the menu options could be clearer. Why,
Price: £350 explanation of how it works. for instance, is the ISO setting called Sensitivity and Handling
Megapixels: 4 While the QV-R4 has over 30 of these Best Shot rated as +1, +2 and so on instead of being given This camera does really feel like it comes from a
QV-R3 modes, the QV-5700 has just five. That’s until you standard ISO numbers? The manual offers a translation premium-brand manufacturer rather than an electronics
Price: £300 discover it comes with a CD containing 100 more, ready into ISO values, but why make it so difficult? Also, we company. It doesn’t have the formidable mass of a
Megapixels: 3 to be transferred and installed in the camera. couldn’t find a slow flash option, or any reference to PowerShot G2, but once the batteries are installed, it’s
EXILIM EX-S2 The Casio’s control wheel is much better than any one in the documentation. That’s a surprising omission solid-feeling and wieldy.
£ Price: £300 navipad for making aperture, shutter speed, EV in a camera that’s so well-specified in other ways – It’s not without its handling flaws, though. Startup is
5 Megapixels: 2 compensation, ISO and other adjustments, and the

layout of its buttons is well-planned – it’s a camera you
even to the extent of offering a studio-style external
flashy sync socket.
on the leisurely side for such a high-end photographic
tool, taking around five seconds from the moment you

CASIO QV-5700
COMPARE TEST SHOTS
2 SKIN TONES
7
POWER SWITCH/
SHUTTER RELEASE
The QV-5700’s
3
power/playback/
5
record switch is on the
PRO Very good outdoors, very neutral – other
shutter release. Zoom cameras showed reddish/magenta tones
4
6
is on the backplate
CON Our slow flash shot was weak indoors and
3 produced greyish-looking complexions
2 OUTDOOR SHOTS
1
7 7 7
MODE DIAL BUTTONS BY LCD ZOOM SWITCH
The outer collar These and the AND JOYSTICK
operates drive control wheel (top These two are the
modes, while the
inner dial works
right) save you
using the menu for
low points in an
otherwise good set 5 PRO Accurate exposure with good contrast, well-
saturated colours and neutral colour balance
exposure mode different functions of controls
6 CON Some may find the colours a little muted, but
you can fix that in your image-editor later
turn the power switch before the lens is fully-

2 INDOOR SHOTS
extended and the LCD monitor lights up. The monitor As well as the auto exposure mode, there’s
itself is a good size and clear enough, though a little
dim in broad daylight. shutter-priority automation, full manual
Focussing could be quicker, too, though any
impression of sluggishness is exaggerated by the control, aperture priority and scene modes
shutter-release button, which feels too heavily
weighted – half-pressing the button to activate the automatically goes to the rotating collar around the The quality of results provided by the Casio makes
focussing and metering takes more pressure than shutter release to zoom in and out – on the Casio, up for a lot of these quibbles. When it’s good, it’s
you might be expecting, and the Casio could do with that shuts down the power. very good. The dawn harbour shot on the CD
5 PRO Good, neutral colour and that fast f2.0 lens is
ideal for artificial or natural light indoors
6
a lighter first pressure and more differentiation In playback mode, the Casio cycles through saved demonstrates a truly impressive level of sharpness – CON But where’s the slow flash mode? An odd
omission on such a sophisticated camera
between this and the full-release pressure. images very quickly. Zooming and panning is a little you can easily make out the links in the anchor
We’re also not sure about the QV-5700’s
navigation button. The Casio eschews the usual four-
slower, but it does at least auto-rotate shots taken in
portrait format.
chain of the largest boat.
At other times, though, the results can be more 2 IMAGE QUALITY
way navipad in favour of a little thumb-operated variable. The Casio came up with some odd
joystick. It’s got novelty value sure enough, and it Crash report exposures now and again (like the underexposed
works OK, but it’s not as positive or as controllable The one thing we did have problems with was what shot inside Wells Cathedral), and sharp though that
as a navipad, and it’s not as if the Casio doesn’t appeared to be sporadic firmware crashes. Now and Canon lens is, it doesn’t take much to provoke flare
have enough room on the backplate for a again the Casio would fail to start up properly, and colour fringing.
conventional controller. extending the lens but then seizing up and flashing Ultimately, while the Casio has a lot to commend
The worst control, though, has to be the zoom the pair of lamps by the viewfinder window. The it, including that surprisingly good build quality and
switch. It’s a narrow, horizontally mounted rocker only solution was to open the battery compartment handling, it’s got some significant flaws too. If it
switch with a short movement on the backplate. If cover to momentarily cut the battery power – after weren’t for these small niggles, it would have got
you’re used to other cameras, your finger that, the camera would work fine again. a 90% score. 5 PRO Very good, sharp detail rendition. Get it right,
and you’ll get images to cut your finger on
6 CON Watch the focussing point with close-ups.

Also bright highlights can cause colour fringing
CASIO QV-5700 FULL SPECIFICATIONS 1 Powerful

photographic
FEATURES
IMAGES
92
87
1
1
Verdict
Sensor 5 megapixel, 1/1.8-inch 5.36MP CCD Other features 100+ Best Shot settings transferable from CD
Lens Canon, f2-2.5 3x zoom Image storage Compact Flash BUILD 86 1
Focus
Exposure modes
Auto, manual, infinity, 6cm macro mode
Batteries
AC adaptor
4x AA
Supplied options at a VALUE 90 1
manual, Best Shot modes Weight 335g (excluding batteries)
good price
84%
Metering
Monitor
Multi-pattern, centre-weighted, spot
Dimensions
Transfer
118mm(w) x 74.5mm(h) x 64.5mm(d)
USB FINAL
AE compensation
Flash
Specifications +/-2EV, 0.3EV increments
Auto, on, off, red-eye
OS Windows 98/Me, 2000, XP, Mac OS 8.6-9,
OS X 10.1
The Casio’s surprisingly well made, SCORE
Video output NTSC and PAL
well designed and handles well too.
Movie recording 320 x 240 AVI format with sound But it’s marred by some quirky design
points and occasional unpredictability,
2
OLYMPUS OLYMPUS NIKON MINOLTA
WORTH C-50 C-5050 COOLPIX 5000 DIMAGE 7i
which is a real shame
A LOOK £550/5MP £700/5MP £800/5MP £800/5MP

REVIEWS 5-MEGAPIXEL ZOOM SLR
MINOLTA DIMAGE 7HI
Price £1,000
Memory 16Mb CompactFlash
Battery Life 220 shots
Contact Minolta 01908 200 400 www.minolta.co.uk SAMPLE IMAGES ALL THESE IMAGES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR CD
Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi

In a market where technology advances at the speed of light, surely any camera nearly two years old belongs in an old
folk’s home? Minolta’s determined to keep plugging the DiMAGE 7, though, with a new, pro version
T
he Minolta DiMAGE 7i was the first 5-
* ON OUR
COVERDISC megapixel digital camera to hit the market in
May 2001. The DiMAGE 7i, and now the 7Hi
1
DIGITAL
CAMERA
MAGAZINE
models boast some revisions and enhancements over
the original, sure, but can a camera this old compete in
today’s market? Yes, it can compete. And not just
compete, it can trounce the rest as effectively as it did
in 2001. And here’s why…
5-megapixel CCDs were state-of-the-art in May 2001
VIRTUAL TOUR
Try before you buy! Rotate and and, despite many people’s expectations about future 2
view this camera on-screen with developments, they’re still state-of-the-art now. Sure,
you can buy digital SLRs with 5, 6 and even 11-
megapixel CCDs, but only if you’ve just won the lottery.
ON OUR The DiMAGE 7, offers the largest resolution of any
C WEBSITE remotely-affordable digital camera. But it’s been joined
by Nikon’s Coolpix 5000 and 5700, Sony’s DSC-F717,
OPINIONS & SHOPPING
Post your views, see what other Casio’s QV-5700 and others. So can the DiMAGE still
readers think then buy this camera! trounce the rest? Yes, and here’s why.
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk/ Photographic enthusiasts accept lots of compromises
dimage7hi
when they switch from 35mm SLR film cameras to
digital cameras. Like fast, manual zooming – ditched in
favour of slow, graunchy electric motors. Like 28mm
DIGITAL RANGE wide-angle lenses, most photographers’ favourite
MINOLTA ‘second’ lens – ditched in favour of zooms that rarely go
DIMAGE 7HI
wider than 35mm. Like hands-on knobs and buttons
7 7
5
Price: £1,000 that let you adjust the camera in moments – ditched in
LENS CONTROL DIALS
Megapixels: 5 favour of fiddly menus on LCD screens. Like not being Excellent 28-200mm The control dials let
able to use filters any more – ditched thanks to lens zooming range, you adjust EV
DIMAGE 7I fast f2.8-3.5 optics compensation, drive
mechanisms that preclude filter threads and require and a filter thread mode, sequence
Price: £750
expensive attachments/converters instead. on the front shooting, ISO sensitivity
Megapixels: 5
This is why the DiMAGE 7 is unique. There’s a proper
DIMAGE F100 rotating zoom collar on this lens. And this lens goes
Price: £400 right from 28mm to 200mm in 35mm camera Professional capabilities introduced this, the new 7Hi model, to run in parallel
Megapixels: 4 equivalents. And you can adjust practically every Like other makers, Minolta has been changing its with the 7i. The 7H’s single most notable feature is its
DIMAGE XI important photographic parameter, from ISO to white camera ranges practically on a monthly basis, the ability to hook up with studio-based flash systems via its
Price: £350 balance to EV compensation and more, without touching DiMAGE 7 has soldiered on remorselessly. The DiMAGE external flash sync socket. This takes it into professional
Megapixels: 3 the menu system. 7i, introduced in March 2002, brought faster and more territory, where photographers would otherwise be
DIMAGE X And (pause for breath), the lens has a conventional sophisticated focusing, a new high-speed shooting checking out digital SLRs at twice the price. The 7Hi’s
£ Price: £300 filter thread on the front. It’s all so practical, so ‘right’ mode and improved shutter response and speed range. image quality is such that it’s fine for all but the most
5 Megapixels: 2 that you want to grab all the other makers by the throat
and give them a shake.
Underneath, though, it’s still the same classic design.
So good is the DiMAGE 7, that Minolta’s now
demanding (large-scale reproduction) work. The 7Hi can
also shoot at an exceptional 3fps at full resolution –

MINOLTA DIMAGE 7HI
PERFORMANCE
2 SKIN TONES
7
3
CONTROL WHEEL
The control wheel
works in conjunction
with its mode and
5
settings dials to PRO The Minolta’s less inclined towards lurid
provide fast non- saturation than some of the other cameras
6
menu-based control CON Slow flash shots need more power, and there
was the occasional tendency to underexpose
2 OUTDOOR SHOTS
4
7 7
HYPERFINDER
1
BATTERY
The Minolta’s COMPARTMENT
HyperFinder boasts The DiMAGE 7Hi
improved colour,
and will rotate
runs on four AAs.
Cheap and 5 PRO The Minolta offers neutral colour and its
exposure system favours the highlights
through 90 degrees practical, then
6 CON You’ll find yourself adjusting your images’
levels to restore contrast, colour and brightness
perfect for fast-moving fashion and editorial shots The focusing speed, fast though it is, doesn’t 6-megapixel digital SLR images and 5-megapixel
2 INDOOR SHOTS
indoors, and sports action outdoors. match that of the Olympus E20 or any digital SLR, ‘pro-sumer’ camera images is as large as that
and the controls aren’t instantly intuitive – you’ll between 5-megapixel cameras and 3-megapixel
Snags and drawbacks need to spend some time with the manual to get models. The DiMAGE 7Hi is extremely good, but only
At this point we have to stop and list some of the the best from this camera. Oh, and if you attach the compared with its direct rivals and not digital SLRs.
Dimage 7’s faults, if only to stop ourselves having a neck strap, it fouls on the CF card door when you try
The bottom line
It’s all so practical, so right that you want to
In terms of quality of results, the DiMAGE 7Hi is no
longer conclusively superior to its rivals. For handling,
grab all the other makers by the throat and practicality and control, though, its completely
5 PRO The 28mm (equivalent) wide-angle setting
lets you shoot interiors the others can’t squeeze in
6
different design philosophy keeps it well ahead. CON Our slow flash test shots were disappointing,
proving under-illuminated, grey and characterless
give them a shake It all boils down to that lens. Not only does it
offer a huge 7x zooming range, it encompasses a
genuine wide-angle setting, offers fast (non-motor) 2 IMAGE QUALITY
fit. The digital ‘HyperFinder’, improved in the 7i and to open it (you can tell we’re getting niggly now, zooming and gives you a conventional 49mm filter
7Hi models, still isn’t as good as a proper optical SLR can’t you?). thread on the front. And it’s got that excellent f2.8-
viewfinder like that in the Olympus E20, for One of the most important points to make, 3.5 maximum aperture. The lens alone is a
example. And while the HyperFinder does tilt up and though, is that at this level it’s the CCD’s physical size masterpiece. Throw in the intelligent on-camera
down through 90 degrees for waist-level viewing, a that has the biggest bearing on image quality. While controls, excellent switchgear and robust design and
flip-out rotating LCD panel would be handier still. entry-level digital SLRs offer only a small apparent the DiMAGE 7 is still hard to resist.
The 7Hi’s metering system doesn’t impress us increase in resolution (6 megapixels versus 5), they But only go for the 7Hi model if you must have
every time, either. Now and again it lapses into use much larger CCDs, which place far fewer that 3fps sequence mode and studio flash capability.
underexposure – nothing serious, but enough to demands on the optical system and produce visibly The ‘amateur’ 7i is otherwise just as good and some
leave you with some tweaking to do in Photoshop. sharper results. The difference in quality between £300 cheaper. 5 PRO The sharpness is excellent and it suppresses
flare far better than the rest on test
6 CON There’s little to criticise, but the images will

benefit from a slight dose of sharpening
MINOLTA DIMAGE 7HI FULL SPECIFICATIONS 1 This camera is a

classic design:
FEATURES
IMAGES 93
98 1
1
Verdict
Sensor 5-megapixel, 2/3-inch 5.2MP CCD Other features Flash sync socket for use with studio
Lens Minolta GT f2.8-3.5 7x zoom lighting systems BUILD 92 1
Focus
Exposure modes
Auto, manual, 13cm in macro mode
Image storage
Batteries
Compact Flash
4 x AA full stop! VALUE 86 1
manual, scene modes AC adaptor Supplied
92%
Metering
Monitor
Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot
Weight
Dimensions
117mm(w) x 90.5mm(h) x 112.5mm(d) FINAL
AE compensation
Flash
Auto, on, off, fill-flash, red-eye, rear-sync
Transfer
OS
USB
Windows 98/Me, 2000, XP, Mac OS 8.6-9.2.2,
The DiMAGE 7 didn’t just introduce SCORE
Video output NTSC or PAL OS X 10.1.5
new levels of resolution, it brought
Movie recording 320 x 240 at 15fps with sound truly intelligent, practical design too.
The resolution may be commonplace
2
CASIO NIKON SONY CYBERSHOT OLYMPUS
WORTH QV-5700 COOLPIX 5700 DSC-F717 C-5050
now, but that design isn’t
A LOOK £600/5MP £900/5MP £800/5MP £700/5MP

REVIEWS IMAGE-EDITING SOFTWARE
MICROSOFT DIGITAL IMAGE PRO

Manufacturer Microsoft
Price £45
Contact 0780 6010100
Website www.microsoft.com DIGITAL IMAGE PRO CREATIVE EFFECTS
Digital Image Pro

This nifty little piece of software provides one-click access to the most important features you’ll need to
correct your images… but Richard Cobbett asks if it appeals to pros as well as amateurs?
* VIEW P 2 USING DIGITAL IMAGE PRO

rovided that you’re using a recent version of
A DEMO
ONLINE Microsoft Windows, you’ll already own a copy
of the basic Picture It! application, and be able
DIGITAL IMAGE PRO to experiment with how it works and how best to use it Digital Image Pro is a 06
There’s no trial available but there
is a video demo you can watch in before splashing out on this upgrade. task-orientated, labour- 04
Windows Media Player. Visit Digital Image Pro takes its younger sibling’s ease of saving program that’s 08
http://photos.msn.com/editorial
/EditorialStart.aspx?article=CDProd use, and focuses firmly on the world of digital very easy to use…
uctOther_ProductDigitalImagePro photography – offering powerful tools that require no 03
&section=CD_PRODUCT
artistic skill to use. However, it doesn’t cover all bases in 01 Main Window
The main window is where you 07
that it makes no effort to endear itself to the hearts of position and edit your image pieces.
conventional artists or more experienced photographers.
To begin with, you simply load in your image and tell 02 File Browser
the software what to do with it. This is an important Flip between open files with ease.
distinction, as while programs such as Paint Shop Pro

01
and Adobe Photoshop provide you with toolkits, Digital
03 Task Menu
Image Pro focuses firmly on Tasks. Should you have a Each menu option has a thumbnail
to indicate its effect.
picture with a blemish on it, for example, you don’t
x FEATURES have to load up the clone tool, paste some skin over
the area on a separate layer, meld the edges and apply 04 Task Buttons
CONTROLS any touchup effects. You need only pick the Remove
Touch-up Tasks are split up according
to category. 02 05
■ New user interface
Blemish task and click until Digital Image Pro has sorted
■ Improved/added
lighting controls the problem out for you instead. The beauty of this 05 Zoom Panel 06 Main Toolbar 07 Project Menus 08 Stack
Unlike most of the rest, Zoom Text and other local image The final options handle projects, The Stack holds the layers and
■ Support for Photoshop plug-ins program is its simplicity and ease of use. controls are always available. controls are fixed on the toolbar. including multiple file edits. objects in your scene.
■ Additional documentation
■ More Product Tour videos Multi-tasking
■ Enhanced Batch Editing tools The same applies to Wrinkle removal, Red Eye, and a
■ Improved zoom control
number of other extremely convenient shortcuts.
■ New crop controls
Whichever you choose, the left of the screen snaps vivid colours to previously washed out-looking images, online, both free and commercial, and prove extremely
open to make way for the new task. Some, notably Red and just by dragging the slider. Tints, blurs and sharpens convenient for filling up any gaps in Digital Image Pro’s
Eye, offer little control, while others, like Brightness and proved just as effective, although even with the relatively small line-up.
Contrast, provide sliders for precision adjustment. Be inclusion of a number of paintbrushes, the emphasis on While this software serves its purpose as an image
warned, however, that while this approach does work, it global rather than local edits can prove frustrating. editing tool perfectly well, its lack of dedicated drawing
is very, very slow. Experimenting by switching between or manipulation tools do pose a problem if you want
0 EXPERT TIP the various screens on offer and adjusting everything Plug in and play to play with your photographs or do any clever
can take a long time if you need multiple tools. You can One of the biggest features in Digital Image Pro is its manipulation. For mere correction though, it does
RICHARD COBBETT run a series of tasks on multiple images simultaneously, support for plug-ins. This is really useful, as any Adobe the job and with all of the features that you need to
PC EXPERT
but at the expense of this control. Photoshop-compatible effect can be loaded in and used get by, is a strong contender.
MINI LAB As well as the standard levels slider, there is a Task on your images, with plenty on offer, covering No match for Photoshop or
82%
Use the mini lab for correcting, FINAL
rotating and renaming groups of on hand to control the amount of back and frontlighting everything from creating the illusion of natural media to even Elements 2, but for both SCORE
pictures, saving yourself time. that will be associated with your image. This produced adding a vivid glowing edge to your work provided in quick and easy edits, there are
some of the best results in the test, immediately adding the box. Many more of these effects are available few better alternatives.

8
THIS MONTH
Getup&go
Where to go, what to shoot FEBRUARY 2003
UNFOLD
THIS 8-PAGE
SECTION!
■ Map of gardens
■ Top photo tips
■ Places to visit
■ Pocket guide
BASED ON ORDNANCE SURVEY

MAPPING © CROWN COPYRIGHT, ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED: AM134/02
WINTER STORMS
In search of stormy shots?
The harbour at Lyme Regis
is the perfect spot
THE EDEN PROJECT

Get yourself to the world’s
largest greenhouse – it’s a ACTION
garden of paradise PHOTO TIPS!
Fold out this
guide to take
better pictures
WINTER GARDENS
Garden of Eden
Wrap up warm and go
down to the woods in around, and reflected in a central lake. You’d be
NATURE Architectural and horticultural wonders lure Pete Martin busy for years simply photographing the more
search of flowers
to deepest Cornwall in search of a modern paradise attractive specimens, but the most dramatic
pictures will inevitably be of the biomes
pace-age architecture, tropical rainforests waterfalls, plunging down the sides of what was themselves. They rear up everywhere in your
S and Mediterranean olives may seem odd once a china clay pit, the larger one houses over viewfinder, hundreds of transparent air-filled
bedfellows, but down in Cornwall they 1,000 species of exotic tropical plants in the mists pillows on a geodesic steel framework,
successfully occupy the same weird space. of its 50-metre high space. Alongside, the warm reminiscent of giant bubbles or insect eyes, and
Brainchild of gardener and entrepreneur, Tim temperate biome has been landscaped with look fantastic juxtaposed against the natural lines
Smit, the Eden Project has been attracting plants better suited to the Mediterranean than to of the plants they contain.
controversy, praise and crowds in equal portions the cold Cornish winter outside its hi-tech plastic Eden is also about entertainment. Depending
since it opened in 2000. In summer, the queues covering. Between the two, and a third outdoor on the season, you’ll encounter wandering
RALLY DRIVING for this horticultural wonderland are immense so, temperate zone, you’ll find subjects for your players, Tibetan prayer flags fluttering in the
Rallys provide a fantastic if you want more space and time to take camera as diverse as mahogany trees, bananas, breeze, massive sculptures or artists at work, all
opportunity to snap pictures, now is the time to visit. bamboos and sunflowers. with one thing in common – helping us to
action-packed pictures Eden’s heart is its two massive biomes, set in a Visually, the site is stunning, with 35 acres of understand the role plants play in our lives.
dramatic lunar landscape. Kept humid by artificial weird and wonderful landscaping wrapped Hopefully your photographs will reflect this!
Detach this section and take it on your travels!
8 8 8 EDEN INSPIRATION [w] www.edenproject.com, Eden’s official website, packed with information about things to see, and the project's aims and history [w] www.eden-project.co.uk A lo
Getup&go to… THE EDEN PROJECT CORNWALL
IMAGES © Simon Burt Apex News and Pictures" (www.apexnewspics.com)

8
LILY THE PINK
EDEN PROJECT
8
FAR-RIGHT If the crowds are too
much, go for close-ups of plants
8
MIX AND MATCH
Note the juxtaposition of natural and
manmade objects
BUG EYES
8
Isolated from their AIM FOR ST AUSTELL

surroundings, the biomes By car: east of St Austell, signposted from
resemble strange scientific close-ups the A30, A390 and A391.
HOW TO GET THERE
© CROWN COPYRIGHT, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: AM134/02

BASED ON ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPPING
DETAILS
8
WHAT IS IT?
Situated in a disused china clay pit near
St Austel, the Eden Project contains the
largest greenhouse in the world, and is
home to over 100,000 species of
plants – exotic and everyday.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

JUNGLE LIGHT Adults £9.80, children £4, family £23.
8
Strong back or side light will pick

up the steamy atmosphere to lend LOCATION
a sense of drama Eden Project, Bodelva, St Austell,
Cornwall, PL24 2SG.
GARDEN PARADISE
8 Garden enthusiasts will find a
wide range of plant
FACILITIES
Three restaurants, coffee bar and shop.
environments and species at Eden
OPENING HOURS
DANCING IN THE STREET Winter hours until 30th March 2003,
8
Look for the bizarre. There are 10am – 4.30pm (last entry 3pm).
many works of art dotted
throughout the site INFO
www.cornish-riviera.co.uk for local info.
EXPERT ADVICE
Exposure: bracket exposures in
dramatic lighting if you have time.
Images normally regarded as EXPOSURE TIP
8
underexposed may give the effect

Pete Martin
specialises in you are looking for, and this isn’t USING FILTERS
photographing always easy to see on the LCD.
UK cityscapes Use graduated ND filters inside the
biomes to balance out exposure
Protection: seawater and cameras between sky and ground so you don’t
don’t mix. Keep a plastic bag in lose detail in the roof structure.
your pocket for protection from Alternatively, get down low and expose
spray, or invest in an all-weather for the sky to create bold silhouettes of
housing. Droplets on long lenses plants and people against the
may not be visible at wide framework. Outdoors, use long lenses
apertures, but will be obvious with to home in on the strange shapes. Look
wide-angle shots. Try to shoot for interesting reflections in the lake or
from sheltered locations and use the way plants inside press against the
shutter speeds around 1/250th in MORNING MISTS
8
clear plastic walls.

high winds. A muted colour palette helps emphasise the graphic
shapes of the trees against the biome framework
ocal man’s personal view of the Eden Project, packed with pictures
Getup&go to… BOURNEMOUTH SOUTH COAST
RALLY DRIVING
8
AIM FOR BOURNEMOUTH
By car: from the M27, take the A338 to
Bournemouth. Rally stages will be
signposted off this at Somerley Park
(near Ringwood) and around.
HOW TO GET THERE

ACTION THRILL SEEKING
Pete Martin goes into top gear to capture the thrills of rally driving
DETAILS
8
allying is the UK’s most popular motor driving. For the best pictures, you want secret is to get there early and find a spot
R sport, and no wonder. It’s got speed stage rallying, where higher performance where the cars will be coming towards you
WHAT IS IT?
Bournemouth hosts the annual Rallye
and noise and is full of adrenaline and cars compete off-road against the clock – on a bend. As they drive round, they’ll be Sunseeker, including the final round
excitement. It also makes for gritty, action- often in forests or across old airfields. travelling slightly slower, making it easier to of the 206 Winter Cup, on 22nd
February, with 100 cars competing in
packed pictures. You’ll find helpful clubs all round the focus and freeze the action, but their wheels
16 stages over 70 miles of local forest
Before packing your flask and country, with rally series taking place will also be throwing up mud, gravel and and MOD tank testing grounds. There
waterproofs, you need to know your roads throughout the year. More importantly, races water that make for dramatic images. are plenty of viewpoints at all the
from your stages. Road rallys take place on take place in daylight! Major events include Vehicles set off at timed intervals, so stages of the race.
normal roads, usually at night, and are more the Network Q stage of the World Rally you’ll get plenty of chances to get the
a test of navigational skills than high-speed Challenge and numerous BRC stages, but picture right. Notice what the early starters
WHERE TO GO?
Rallye Sunseeker 2003.
smaller local rallies will help hone your skills are doing and plan your shots accordingly.
5
WATER JUMP and are no less exciting. Look for unusual angles near spray- LOCATION?
Wherever there's water there's Despite increasingly stringent rules producing puddles, or bumpy sections Somerley Park near Ringwood.
dramatic pictures to be had
governing where you can and can’t go to where speeding cars may leave the track
WHAT ARE THE FACILITIES?
5 watch the cars, it’s still possible to get good altogether, and pick backgrounds to
FLASHY DRIVING Catering at Somerley Park – otherwise
Combine long exposures with flash to pick vantage points in spectator areas, from highlight the cars, using a telephoto to crop take a flask and sandwiches
up the car lights at night rallys where you can capture plenty of action. The in tight.
COST?
£10 for either a Rover forest car park
EXPERT ADVICE or Somerley Park; £24 for both car
Pre-focus: try pre-focussing park passes and programme.
manually on the spot you want
your car to occupy, and press INFO
the shutter a split second www.rallyesunseeker.co.uk
Pete Martin
specialises in before it gets there.
photographing
UK cityscapes
Shutter speed: speeding cars
POST-SHOOT
8
and long lenses require high

shutter speeds (1/250th plus)
for sharp images, and that INTENSIFYING COLOURS
means wider apertures or Get as close as possible to the action for
upping the ASA setting in maximum impact. In the absence of a
gloomy forests. Panning with telephoto lens, crop your pictures
the vehicle enables slower tighter to improve the composition. Add
speeds and increases the panning-style blur by cutting out the
sensation of speed by blurring car, and making a new layer, adding a
the background – useful when Linear Blur (Filters) to the background.
you’re stuck with mundane Feather the edges of the cutout by 2 or
‘side-on’ vantage points. 3 pixels to soften the transition.
GET SOME INSPIRATION [w] www.rallycodriver.co.uk Just one of dozens of websites dedicated to rallying enthusiasts but with an event finder for all the major rallies this year
Side A Side A This is side A. Turn over for side B
to fold this booklet: about the shoot, and we'll reply! or moving away from you
with your name & a few words
8 8 8 How
camera will record effect if it’s coming towards,
around into a square in half horizontally from rest of section gallery.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
STEP 3: Now fold STEP 2: Fold this side STEP 1: Detach sheet the more motion the view – you’ll get a better
Email a small JPEG to longer the shutter is open, moving across your field of
■ Now send us your pictures! Do use a fast speed – the Don’t capture the subject
USE A FAST SHUTTER REDUCE THE ANGLES
greenhouse specimens
to snap frosty scenes and
offer plenty of opportunities
Britain’s botanical gardens
your spirits: even in February,
5 Lift
how to get there
■ Detailed maps of
2
up sports pictures.
will help you get cracking close-
SIDE B: EXOTIC AND
2 BOTANICAL GARDENS
good, a telephoto lens
If you want to get really
of rallys and winter storms 03
GARDENS/ACTION PICS
spectacular, high-energy shots TELEPHOTO LENS
Get out and shoot some
a piece of the action? to get much closer to the action.
5 Want
200mm will enable you
■ Dos/don’ts A lens rated at 80mm to
■ Equipment ZOOM LENS
02
■ Tips
INDEX: you want.
set the exact shutter speed
use it to ensure you can
shutter priority control, with the action
SIDE A: 9 TIPS ON HOW TO
2 CAPTURE MOTION
If your camera has a 01 blur will be unless you pan
WHAT’S IN THIS ISSUE SHUTTER PRIORITY the more apparent the effect of
TOPICS COVERED remember, the closer you get
Do get close into the action but
>
better results USE THE ZOOM

FEBRUARY 2003 TEAROUT FACTSHEET NO.4
three items for
EQUIPMENT: Dos and don’ts
GETTING IT RIGHT: CAPTURING MOTION
DETACH HERE
FOLD ALONG THIS LINE SECOND

6
Getup&go
FOLD ALONG THIS LINE FIRST
.
Getup&go ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY
If you’ve ever tried to are equivalent. You can use a more distant object – even you’ll need a shutter speed results – it balances exposure capture the action before it
photograph moving slower shutter speed if they if the speeds are the twice as quick for a 100mm requirements with shutter all starts up again.
objects, you’ll know are moving towards or away same. This will increase lens – that is, 1/500 seconds. speeds automatically.
how hard it is to avoid from you. blurring. Similarly, zooming The more you zoom, the REMEMBER
8 in on an object has the faster the shutter speed LOOK FOR THE 8 SHUTTER LAG
blurring and to capture them
THE DISTANCE effect of making it appear needs to be.
7 TURNING POINT If you are panning with your
at just the right moment.
3 OF THE SUBJECT closer, so that it will blur With many moving objects, subject, remember to factor
In this month’s Getup&go
rally report we show you how The closer to the camera the more. This effect increases BETTER there’s a turning point at in shutter lag – the time it
subject is, the greater the in proportion to the focal
5 SHARPNESS which the object freezes takes from pressing the
to capture fast-moving
objects. Luckily, it’s not as angle of motion there is and length of the lens. For a You can increase sharpness by while it changes direction, shutter release, to the shutter
hard as it looks… the more it will move across shutter speed of 1/250 photographing fast-moving like a ball at the high point of opening. Anticipate wrongly,
the field of view relative to a second with a 50mm lens, objects as they come towards a parabola. Anticipate this and a slow lag could mean
you, or move away. Try to get change of direction and you the action is over before you
a wide angle of view and have a perfect moment to have even taken the picture.
UNDERSTANDING don’t get too close to the
1 BLUR subject. Select a fast shutter
Blur occurs when the image speed, in the order of 1/500
moves while the shutter is seconds. And use a high ISO
open. The way to reduce blur setting – ISO 200-400
is to reduce the time the because a fast shutter speed
image lingers on your CCD. will reduce the amount of
There are several ways to do light falling on the CCD.
this. Using a fast shutter
speed is the most USE YOUR
fundamental, but other 6 CAMERA’S MODES
attributes affect how long the Because of the trade-off
image remains on your CCD, between shutter speed and
including the speed of the aperture size, which affects
subject, its distance, the depth of field, consider using
direction of movement and USING A ZOOM your camera’s program
how far your lens is zoomed.
4 The type of zoom you use will affect the final quality modes to help you get the PAN WITH THE SUBJECT
of picture. The ideal zoom will have a range of 80mm to best balance. The shutter 9 One way to generate the effect of motion while
DIRECTION 200mm, and for that kind of quality, you will probably need priority mode will enable you
2 having the subject remain still, is to move or pan the camera
OF MOTION to invest in an additional lens – and for that, you will need an to override your camera’s as the subject whizzes past (see Hotshots issue 1
Objects will blur more if they SLR camera. However, some top compact digitals like the built-in trade-offs with the for a great example of this). Simply move with the
are travelling at a right-angle Olympus C4000 Zoom can manage 32mm to 96mm optical exact shutter speed you subject, keeping it centred in your viewfinder. For best
to your camera lens, than if zoom. With digital zoom on top, you may find your digital require. Also consider the results, use an auto-focus camera with a slower shutter
they move towards or away camera comes close enough to delivering a zoom range you Action mode built into many speed, say 1/125 seconds.
from you – even if the speeds can live with. compact digitals for the best
PULLOUT NO.4
Getup&go... routeplanner
UK botanic gardens
Britain has many outstanding botanic gardens. And thanks to centrally-heated greenhouses, many are open all-year round
T he extraordinary success of The Eden

Project in Cornwall has renewed interest in 2 1 SCOTLAND
exotic and botanic gardens of all types. Of ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS
Founded in the 17th century as a physic
course, the great advantage of Eden is that
garden (a garden for growing medicinal
as well as having fantastic, space-age plants) in the centre of Edinburgh,
architecture, the environment within its biomes the Royal Botanic Gardens have
remains constant – no matter how grim the expanded to encompass four sites
weather is outside, so there’s no barrier to around Scotland. Each site specialises in
different plants. For example, Logan,
visiting it in the winter.
provides space for sub-tropical plants in
Many of the UK’s top botanic gardens also its greenhouses, while Benmore focuses
feature greenhouses that are open all year. Our on trees and shrubs from high rainfall
map opposite reveals some of the best places to areas of the world.
Other highlights: from 11th January
visit if you want to see some beautiful gardens,
to 23rd February, look out for the
lift your spirits from the grey drabness of a British ‘Zones of Inhibition’ exhibition – an
winter and photograph flora. exhibition of the private lives of fungi,
And if that isn’t enough to inspire you, just focusing on four fungi of economic
remember, the shortest day has been and importance. On 25th January, there’s
gone – from here on, the weather’s on the up. 21 the Winter Wonderland guided walk
(book in advance).
Entrance: Free.
Family-friendly? From 15th February to
18th February, there’s a special ‘Frost
February Fun’ kids event, which features
storytelling and entertainment (£2 fee).
More info: www.rbge.org.uk/rbge/web/
index.jsp
2 2 CENTRAL ENGLAND
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD BOTANIC GARDEN
Wander into Oxford and while you’re there, visit the botanic
garden. Founded in 1621, it’s the oldest botanic garden in
Britain. Outside, there’s a comprehensive collection of plants
and trees, while inside the greenhouses contain a selection
of tropical plants from around the world.
Other highlights: located next to the river Cherwell, it’s
adjacent to Magdalen Bridge.
Entrance: closed on Good Friday and Christmas Day, it’s
otherwise open around the year and only starts charging
from 1st April.
Family friendly? Under 12s get in for free even on-season
(April 1st to August 31st).
More info: 01865 286690
22
2 3 SOUTH-WEST LONDON
KEW GARDENS
Situated ten miles outside London, Kew is probably the world’s most famous
botanic garden. And it’s well geared up for visitors at any time of the year,
too, with special winter displays. Look out for fruiting trees, winter bark
23
and flowering cherry. Towards February, snowdrops and witch hazels appear
near the rock garden. If the winter is mild, the first magnolia of the year begin
to sprout at this time of year.
Other highlights: gift shops sell everything from calendars to stinging nettle
*WEBSITES OTHER UK BOTANIC GARDENS syrup, a range of special seasonal events and two restaurants/eateries if you
want to make a day of it.
Entrance: open all year apart from Good Friday and Christmas Day.
Your options aren’t confined to the places here. Visit
www.rbgkew.org/friends/gardens.html for details on Family friendly? Children up to and including 16 years get in for free
gardens in Cardiff, Windermere, Kent, Hampshire and (accompanied by an adult)
many more More info: www.rbgkew.org.uk
Getup&go to… LYME REGIS DORSET
© GUY EDWARDES
LYME REGIS
8
AIM FOR LYME REGIS
By car: take the A35 coast road from
Dorchester to Honiton, then the A3052 to
Lyme Regis.
HOW TO GET THERE

DETAILS
8
LANDSCAPE WINTER STORMS WHAT IS IT?
Ever since Meryl Streep lashed herself
to the Cobb in the teeth of a gale in The
French Lieutenant's Woman, Lyme Regis
Blustery winter days take Pete Martin to Lyme Regis in search of watery action has become a Mecca for photographers
in search of stormy images. The oddly-
o a photographer there’s no such light, while behind it the sky remains
T thing as bad weather. But for black and heavy. Such moments may be
shaped 13th century harbour wall
makes an ideal focal point as massive
pictures of nature in the raw you need to opportunistic, but you’ll increase your waves break over it, and is a popular –
if dangerous – place to dodge the spray
be out in it, not sat at home in front of chances if you’ve read the forecast and
(so much so that it is often closed
the fire. The sea is perhaps the most are waiting for them. You also need to during bad weather). The curve of the
potent of nature’s forces to capture, as a move fast; bad weather changes bay allows views from the seaward side
trip to Lyme Regis on a wild and windy constantly, so familiarity with your back across the sea front itself.
day will demonstrate. When the tides are camera is essential. Keep images simple.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
high and the winds from the south, Why not try pointing the camera up at Nothing.
storm tossed waves are hurled against the sullen skies and scudding clouds?
sea defences all along this Dorset Include a strip of horizon in order to WHAT ARE THE FACILITIES?
coastline, from Exmouth to Portland Bill. ground the image, but meter off the sky Plenty of cafés and B&Bs, as befits a
popular seaside town.
But it’s at Lyme that the elements can itself (avoiding any sun) to create dark,
seem at their most dramatic, as the brooding images. Look for apt subjects
waves drive into crash over the Cobb. such as windswept bare trees to
In westerly winds, the Cobb is best silhouette against the sky.
POST-SHOOT
8
shot from the undercliffs to the west, or

the gardens above, with the breaking STORMY WEATHER
8
waves backlit by any sun that makes it ABOVE Place the people a third into ARCHIVE ALL YOUR
the picture to tighten the composition SKY SHOTS
through. When the wind’s from the east, Some may not work on their own
the sea front itself loses its protection but prove a perfect replacement for a
LOW HORIZONS
from the harbour wall and becomes the
focus of its fury. 8 TOP-RIGHT The brooding sky and dark
horizon gives an almost mono picture
bland sky in another picture. Cut around
the main image content, save the
selection and make it into a new
Paradoxically, the best lighting for
layer, then paste your chosen sky
8
landscapes often occurs when the STORM LASHED behind it and adjust its position. You'll
MIDDLE-RIGHT A sheltered viewpoint
weather is at its worst. Fleeting breaks in need to do a little tidying up to make it
gives a dramatic picture
the storm clouds may allow the sun look real, but this means that you'll get
at least one good picture from two
through, with fingers of light spotlighting
LIGHT WAVES
8
possible rejects.
perhaps Golden Cap along the coast, or BOTTOM-RIGHT A strong backlight
flooding the foreground with a brilliant helps pick up the spray off the waves
GET SOME INFORMATION [w] www.lymeregis.com Local tourist information site [w] www.ukho.gov.uk/easytide.html The website for the UK Hydrographic Office – tide tables for the whole of the UK
Getup&go to… HODSOCK PRIORY
TEASEL TEASE
8
Teasels are a regul
background and ba
stems and their thick coating
Live and kicking

NATURE Laurie Campbell searches our woodlands for the
traditional first signs of spring
he first flowering of the candlemas bell, you’re looking for other subjects, holly berries
T aka the humble snowdrop, is a sure sign and haws often survive marauding birds, and
that winter is almost at an end. Introduced to look good against blue skies on sunny days.
this country by Italian monks in around 1600, this Evergreen holly leaves also make pleasing
harbinger of spring unfolds a drooping bell- patterns, especially in hedgerows where you’ll ICED UP
8
shaped flower through its cover of woodland leaf have fewer problems with depth of field. And These crystals of fro
mould as early as January, and makes an you’ll find dead hogweed flowers on riverbanks Work quickly if it's s
attractive subject when little else is in flower. and teasels on waste ground, both of which can
The even, shadowless light of an overcast day be picked and taken home for still lifes. Try
is best for capturing the delicate beauty of these leaving these out overnight when frost is
hardy flowers, ensuring that the whites of the forecast and photograph the results. Who said
petals don’t lose their detail – always a problem winter was dull?
in stronger light. Take advantage of a wide-
angle lens’ close focusing to get in tight on
SHOOTING IN WOODS
8
individual clumps of flowers, while still showing

their context, or make drifts appear more
densely packed with a telephoto lens.
OVERCAST SETTING
Set the camera’s white balance to
A macro lens or attachment is handy for close- ‘overcast light’ when shooting in shady
ups of single flowers, with their three outer woodlands. Get down low to capture
petals protecting an inner set tipped with green. individual snowdrops, ensuring that the
camera is parallel to the stem to keep
Avoid windy days, as the leggy plants will move
both this and the flower head in focus
too much for slow shutter speeds. If it’s a within a limited depth of field. A
problem, gently tie a stem to a twig pushed into beanbag makes a handy low alternative
the ground just out of shot to steady it. to a tripod, which may struggle at this
When you’re done with the high key shots height. Not being so leggy, aconites and
cyclamens can be photographed from GIANT PLANTS UP CLOSE AND
8
8
afforded by snowbound snowdrops, fill your LCD This is the same giant hogweed plant as above, but this time the The three-dimensio
above more easily.
with colour from the winter aconites, cyclamens 20mm wide-angle lens creates a setting for it by including the speed to give a wid
and crocuses that follow hot on their heels. If background and blue sky. The plant can grow to four metres high essential to reduce contrast an
GET SOME INFORMATION [w] www.ngs.org.uk For 75 years the National Gardens Scheme has been opening private gardens to the public for charity. Their site helps you find them
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
IMAGES ©LAURIE CAMPBELL

WINTER GARDENS
8
AIM FOR WORKSOP
By car: leave the A1 north of Worksop
onto B6045 towards Worksop. It’s two
miles along, and well signposted.
HOW TO GET THERE

ER GRAPHIC BRACKEN HOGWEED HEAVEN
8
lar sight in winter. Here the dark Frosted bracken fronds make strong, graphic shapes
8 The delicate nature of this giant hogweed head
backlighting helps to isolate the up close. The camera was parallel to the frond to called for a long lens and a wide aperture to create
g of hoar frost keep everything in focus at a restricted depth of field as soft a background as possible
DETAILS
8
WHAT IS IT?
Many woodland gardens open in
February to allow visitors their first
glimpse of spring. One of the most
spectacular is Hodsock Priory near
Worksop, which has five acres of
gardens and 20 acres of woodlands
planted with 80 varieties of snowdrops.
LOCATION
Hodsock Priory, Blyth, near Worksop,
Notts, S81 0TY.
WHEN IS IT OPEN?
From 1st February for five weeks,
10am to 4pm.
rost on a reed stem were shot virtually life size on a macro lens.
sunny as the frost doesn't last long HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Adults £3.50, children 50p.
WHAT ARE THE FACILITIES?

Teas and light snacks available.
CONTACT
Tel 01909 591 204.
POST-SHOOT
8
USE THE LEVELS CONTROL

It’s easy to overexpose and lose the
detail in the whites of snowdrop petals.
Take care of the highlights by careful
use of the Levels control. Select the area
you wish to be the highlight with the
white dropper tool, then adjust the
mid-tone slider to distribute the tones
below this. Make sure you click on areas
D PERSONAL WORM’S EYE VIEW of pure white or you could affect the
8
onal nature of this clump of snowdrops required a long shutter For this low angle view, Laurie used a bean bag as a camera support. A wide angle colour balance.
de depth of field in the low light. The subdued soft light was lens and hyperfocal focussing technique maximises the depth of field. This means
and keep detail in the whites of the petals focussing about one-third of the way into the picture
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REVIEWS CAMERA SUPPORTS
JESSOPS TP323 MANFROTTO MN679

Price: £40 Price: £28
Contact: Jessops www.jessops.co.uk Contact: Manfrotto www.manfrotto.it
Type: Tripod Type: Monopod
Jessops has packed the TP323 with almost every gadget and feature available in The style of Manfrotto’s MN679 is like an upmarket
the tripod world. At 1.5kg and 63cm folded, it’s far from the lightest and smallest walking stick – three interlocking anodised aluminium
tripod on test, but the features more than make up for its old-fashioned styling. shafts topped with a comfy non-slip grip, nylon wrist
From the top, the three-way adjustable head is detachable, enabling you to strap and ABS head. The MN679’s selling point is its
screw and unscrew the camera in your hand rather than on the tripod itself. The restyled leg locks that simply snap open and shut (45-
head comes with two spirit levels, mounted at right angles to keep everything degree run), making it much quicker to set up and put
flat, and the column head also has 360-degree markings on it. The TP323’s away than rivals. It’s 64cm long when closed and the
handles and fittings are made of ABS; solid and practical but a little cheap leg extends to an impressive maximum height of
feeling. The central (air-cushioned and braced) column is moved up and 162cm (nearly five and a half feet).
down by a crank, enabling precise positioning. The three-section The head is well designed, with a nice, wide 60mm
aluminium legs have quick clip releases, and extend to give a maximum ridged plate and a clever spring-loaded screw (with
height of a metre and a half. Finally, the feet have ball-in-socket joints, cap) that automatically handles both 1/4-inch and
giving them a self-levelling action. Completing the list of features are 3/4-inch camera screws. We did find that using the
carrying options – a hook at the base of the central column and smaller screw did require careful handling – it
carrying handle about halfway up. might prove tricky to do if you’re wearing gloves
Verdict: the TP323 is a complete tripod, with enough features or in the cold. The MN679 comes with its own
to make a good addition to any Allen key mounted on the shaft to adjust the
85%
photographer’s kit – although FINAL leg lock tension in the field. Monopods
SCORE
the weight may deter hardcore aren’t quite as stable as tripods, and you
outdoor photographers. obviously can’t leave them to take a self-
timer shot, but you really notice the
payoff when it comes to weight – the
MN679 weighs just 600g and can
support up to 10kg of equipment.
Verdict: overall, this is a
professional and very
well-priced model.
82%
FINAL
SCORE
ATLANTIC ALFA 3 Q/R

Price: £18
Contact: Jessops www.jessops.co.uk
Type: Clamp
The Alfa 3 is typical of many entry-level tripods – it has enough utility to earn its space in
your camera bag, and enough drawbacks to make you want something a bit more
substantial. A weight of just 560g, combined with a packed-down size of 40cm and a
respectable maximum height of just over a metre, make it light and flexible enough to
use in the field. It also comes complete with metal leg brace and a three-way head.
There’s a quick-release camera platform but no spirit levels to keep your images
straight. Elevation is a standard sliding control, and the legs are in four sections,
controlled by quick-release clips, and capped with plain rubber feet. So far, so
good. However, the real problem with the Alfa 3 is its build quality. The
aluminium central column and legs are thin, almost flimsy, and certainly aren’t
up to use in environments where they’ll receive the odd bash or kick. All the
fittings and screws are ABS plastic – tough, but not as hard-wearing as steel.
And because the Alfa is light, unless you’re using the smallest digital
camera, your setup will be top heavy – bad for working on slopes.
Verdict: if you’ve never used a tripod, the Alfa 3
will show you what you’ve been missing, but if
67%
FINAL
SCORE
you’re going to take it further than a car park,
you’ll need something a little more solid.

NEXT MONTH
; 5 WE RATE THE BEST POCKET

HARD DRIVES
THE POD THE POD

Price: £15
Contact: The Pod www.thepod.ca
Type: Beanbag
When tripods shrank down to monopods, it

was only a matter of time before someone
went that step further and made a camera
support that’s just a ‘pod’. With no legs at
all, The Pod is a 12.5cm diameter, 5cm
deep circular sack packed with tiny
plastic beads, and is intended for
use in situations where tripods are
either impractical or forbidden
(many museums, for example). It
provides a safe support for even
the largest digital camera – the
manufacturer claims it can take the
weight of a fully grown man.
But The Pod is a lot more than just the
mini-beanbag it resembles. Made from thick
water-resistant nylon, The Pod is topped with a steel screw
and is adjustable to a wide range of angles (though flat horizontal can sometimes be a little tricky to achieve).
The base is non-slip and non-marking, with a central Velcro-fastened opening that enables you to remove the
contents. This means you can transport the Pod empty then fill it at your destination (it weighs about 400g
when full). If this all sounds like an ideal travel companion, intrepid explorers will be
78%
pleased to hear that The Pod also floats (note: don’t try this with a digital camera FINAL
SCORE
attached) and is fairly invulnerable to dropping or crushing.
Verdict: The Pod is a great idea, very well executed.
SLIK CORPORATION SLIK MINI

Price: £20
Contact: Slik www.slik.com
JESSOPS CLAMP/TABLE TRIPOD Type: Tripod
Price: £13 From one of the biggest names in tripods comes one of the
Contact: Jessops www.jessops.co.uk smaller examples of the type. But, as the box plaintively begs,
Type: Clamp ‘don’t laugh’ at this little tripod.
One of the major drawbacks of using most camera supports is
This tripod looks more like a piece of woodworking equipment than a camera their sheer bulk – and the Slik Mini packs down to a diminutive
support, but Jessops has managed to squeeze a few neat features into this model. 20cm and a trim 320g when folded. With its rubber-tipped legs
Folding down to a pocket-sized 13cm and weighing only about 150g, the and central column extended, you’ve got a maximum operating
Clamp/Table Tripod is primarily for use around the house, but if you’re brave enough height of 215mm.
you could attach it to tree branches, fence poles or even bike frames for those hard- This is obviously far too short to use for traditional shooting, but
to-get action shots. is ideal for low-angle shots and for using on top of walls, tables
The black ABS construction is lightweight and feels a bit delicate, especially in the and so on, or with the self-timer. It’s also ideal for use as a chest
clamp screw, where you really need strength. A double ball-and-socket joint links the pod or wall brace when you’re on the move.
clamp to the head, enabling you to fix the head at almost any angle to the body. No Build-wise, the Slik Mini is a class act, with a suction pad on
maximum support weight is stated, so we tested the clamp with a heavy old Epson the base of the column to aid stability and a cork pad on the head
digital camera. It seemed to hold okay, but the ball-and-socket joint was less than plate that should keep your camera from getting scratched. The Thanks to Jessops for the kind loan
rock solid, with a tendency to droop unless kept pretty much vertical. aluminium and ABS construction feels very solid, and the two-way of the equipment for this feature.
The Clamp comes with two snap-down legs to make it a tripod – but don’t pan and tilt head is secure enough to trust with even bulky Check out their website at
www.jessops.com
imagine this will give you the stability of a proper, braced model. The legs are light models. Elevation is controlled with a nice, chunky screw.
and the whole thing is unstable, especially if you want to get a portrait rather than Verdict: the instructions claim the Slik Mini can handle
landscape shot. equipment up to 1.5kg, which should be enough
55% 73%
Verdict: the Clamp is an interesting idea, but build quality is FINAL for all but the largest SLRs with their longest FINAL
SCORE SCORE
questionable and it’s definitely a size reduction too far. Only lenses. We found no stability problems with our
suitable for use with light equipment. heavy test camera.

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ONLINE PRINTING SERVICES LAB TEST
Labtest
ONLINE PRINTING
SERVICES
I * ON
t’s long been a sore point among digital are the dozens of online printers setting up their stalls in OUR
photographers that while raw image cyberspace, offering services dedicated to the digital COVERDISC
resolution improves steadily and cameras get imager. And just like the boom in e-tailing a couple of
ever smaller and more capable, we are often judged on years ago, a young market means some fantastic offers PRINTER TEST IMAGE
the variable quality, impermanent prints that inkjet as they fight to acquire your custom. These businesses Find the test file we used to
generate the print results on this
printers seem doomed to produce. But times are aren’t limited to the familiar high street developers – page on our coverdisc A, look for
changing and multi-megapixel CCDs can now produce everyone from camera manufacturers and film a link to it on the disc intro page
the level of resolution (300dpi+) required for commercial companies to internet portals and flashy startups wants
silver halide printers to output prints at standard 6 x 4 a piece of this pixel pie.
and even 10 x 8-inch sizes. There are two main types of service on offer. The first
The issue now shifts to one of getting the data from offers an online album service, where you upload your
your camera or PC to the right lab for you. One option is images (JPEGs only) through a web interface into semi-
to take a CD or memory card into your high street photo permanent albums stored on their servers. These allow
processors and queue up behind the happy snappers – you to publish your images for your friends or the
and probably end up talking to an assistant who thinks general public to see, as well as enabling you (or
SmartMedia means The Guardian. Much more exciting anyone, if you like) to order prints. The second involves

LAB TEST ONLINE PRINTING SERVICES – FEATURES
TOP TIP Don't rely on promises of permanent online storage. Several online album providers have gone bust, taking thousands of images with them. Always keep backups!
AGFANET/ JESSOPS/
BONUSPRINT BOOTS COLORMAILER PIXOLOGY
FEATURES FEATURES FEATURES FEATURES
What you get Bonusprint is best known for What you get The Boots Wellbeing website is What you get Colormailer is the only What you get Jessops is one of dozens of
creating processing envelopes inside Sunday more about healthcare than photography, international service we tested – it’s based in companies using Pixology’s software and print
supplements. Its experience with mail-order but that poor impression fades as you open Switzerland, but fulfils via Agfanet, the service, which consists of a branded 5.1Mb
printing is second to none, and the online up the hefty 5.4Mb Viewer software (PC Windows XP wizard, Nokia and Sony in the download (PC only). The Print@Net software
experience fits the brand – basic, cheap and fast. only). This is far more than just a printing UK. Uniquely, you can choose to either enables you to browse your drive to select
The website loads in seconds and doesn’t muck wizard: it’s an image editor, album browser download Colormailer’s efficient Fotowire images, showing thumbnails of acceptable
around – prices, a FAQ and a download button is and help centre all rolled into one. While the software (PC/Mac), or upload images directly for formats (JPEG, TIFF, BMP and Flashpix) but not
all you get. Mac and PC downloads are the editing functions are no substitute for a printing (but without any permanent online filenames. Selecting images and print formats is
smallest on test, and the program (Fotowire) dedicated image editor, it’s a brave effort, storage). Which ever way you choose to easy, with the software offering resolution
has a step-by-step wizard. Bonusprint offers and the crop function is nicely integrated. download the software, a large range of print advice but no information on cropping/framing.
three print sizes, no choice of finishes, novelty The album browser works well. We had sizes are on offer, with a choice of matt or gloss You can choose from a comprehensive range of
items, CDs or extras, but it offers a good difficulties communicating with the Boots server, finish on enlargements only. You can also order print formats, plus a bewildering array of novelty
cropping option. You can access Bonusprint from and you have to upload all images before an archive CD and various novelty T-shirts. items, from passport pics to coasters, mugs,
the Windows XP print wizard. choosing print sizes and getting prices, which Colormailer operates a reasonably-priced mousemats and laminated posters. The Jessops
isn’t very user-friendly. Also, there is no professional service with choice of finishes, pro software and website has notably good FAQs
Key feature Fotowire’s cropping option opens resolution warning. paper, 3,000dpi printing and a free screen and customer support, and is currently offering
your image in a new window. You can then calibration guide. ten free 7 x 5 prints.
rotate and choose either to fit the picture to the Key feature Edit functions include cropping,
print (giving white borders if it’s not spot on) or sharp/soft focus, sepia/B&W, auto-colour and Key feature Colourmailer’s web upload function Key feature You can save multiple delivery
move a mask around for a full-frame print with red-eye removal. Adding text in a variety of is a good option, but doesn’t allow the framing addresses for dispatching the huge range of gifts
cropped edges. (download crop.bmp) typefaces and styles is straightforward. accuracy of the Fotowire software. to friends and family.
8 8 8 8
VERDICT VERDICT VERDICT VERDICT
Fotowire downloads The software is Colormailer is the most This is a slick piece of
quickly, uploads your comprehensive but flexible service tested, software with a good
images swiftly, and more suited to with a good range of product range but
the crop option is beginners. Print uploads and options, some key failings –
first class. Sloppy quality is let down but international no framing advice or
printing lets down a by some harsh shipping can image filenames.
good-value service. compression. add time. Print quality is poor.
you downloading software onto your desktop and 7 x 5 and larger (10 x 8 or similar) prints, but only though it will mean white borders at the top or sides.
performing most of the image selection and ordering PhotoBox, Pixology and Colormailer have a wide range Resolution advice is just as important. All the printers
process off-line. The package then uploads the images of formats, from enprint size right up to posters, with on test except PhotoBox and Boots offer automatic
and debits your credit card. Beyond these basic non-standard (for example, panoramic) formats on offer, warnings if the image you’re printing is light on pixels
? EXPLAINED
functions, both systems offer extra services, depending too. Only PhotoBox allows you to choose gloss or matt for the print size you’ve selected – it’s not always easy
on the printer. Some let you apply basic image-editing finish on all sizes. The web services accept only JPEG to tell without it, and the last thing you want is a
functions (cropping, red-eye, distortions) to your pictures, images; the download printers can all take at least TIFF pixellated picture hanging on the wall.
MONITOR CALIBRATION
A common complaint about choose from a wider range of services (including and Flashpix files, too.
printing digital images is that the posters, photo T-shirts, mugs and so on) or send to The other essential considerations are cropping and Branded services
images look darker or brighter than multiple addresses. The amount of customer support resolution warnings. Most digital cameras produce The world of film and processing is a small one. Only a
they did on your desktop. offered and turnaround times quoted also vary widely, images in a different aspect ratio to traditional 35mm handful of companies make 35mm colour print film, and
Calibrating your monitor can fix this. and the company you choose should depend as much cameras, and you can obviously create images of an even smaller bunch make the commercial machines
If this is a problem, open the image
on these as the headline prices. any dimensions in your image-editing software. The that actually create your prints. Similarly, many of the
in an editing package and compare
it with the final print. Now simply
better printing services show you exactly what will online printers you’ll see on the web don’t print your
adjust the brightness and contrast Features on offer be cropped for each print, and some (Agfanet and images themselves, they’re just an own-brand for one
until the two look the same. The most important feature to look for in any printer is Bonusprint) even let you move that crop around. A of the big players. See our table at the end for the
that it offers the service you require – all offer 6 x 4, print-to-fit option ensures all the image is printed out, rundown on who prints for whom, but generally

KLICK KODAK MSN PHOTOBOX
FEATURES FEATURES FEATURES FEATURES
What you get Klick’s print wizard software is so What you get It’ll come as no surprise that MSN What you get PhotoBox is a dedicated web
What you get Kodak’s EasyShare concept works
simple and transparent it’s hard to believe it’s a Photos is the first service offered by Windows album service, and offers a wider range of
all the way from camera to printer, and the
5.4Mb download. With an Explorer-style XP’s online print wizard. Although you can also features and printing options than any other on
Kodak website is an integral part of this
interface, it’s supremely easy to use – you order through MSN’s impressive website, you still test. Registering and creating albums is easy, but
user-friendly system. The front page is admirably
simply navigate to the right folder and select need to download software (an upload tool) and uploading JPEG images is less straightforward –
brief, with just a registration link and sign-in
(and rotate) thumbnails of the images you prices are slightly higher. The website offers gift there’s no progress dialogue box and even
box. Once you’re signed in, you’re presented
want. The next step gives resolution advice for printing and lets you share online albums with uploaded images take a few minutes to become
with an album view page where you can
each of the five print sizes on offer (6 x 4 to friends. The built-in wizard is the easiest option available for use. You can share your albums
create, alter and upload (JPEGs only) to online
12 x 8), but, unfortunately, no cropping for XP users, accessed directly from the desktop. with selected friends and there are public
albums. You can then view, rotate and buy
information. After selecting the quantities you MSN Photos uses Fujifilmnet to fulfil orders, but albums you can post to and print from. The
prints of your images in any of six formats
want, it’s just a matter of inputting delivery choice is limited to a mere four print sizes (6 x 4 range of print sizes is enormous – everything
(6 x 4 to 18 x 12) or a selection of novelty
and card details and then uploading all the to 12 x 8). The wizard is the only service to let from tiny passport shots to 30 x 20 posters are
items (mugs, mats, T-shirts and jigsaws),
data. This is a rather basic service, accepting only you print GIFs and offers resolution but no available in gloss or matt. You can choose a
should you wish. Resolution and cropping
JPEG images and offering few frills, but it is cropping advice. You can select multiple shipping wide selection of photo gifts, archive CDs, and
information is well handled and there’s plenty
extremely cheap – with 6 x 4 prints just 15p addresses, but be careful, there’s no order there’s professional and multiple address
of help pages to browse through (though no
each and only 75p for postage. confirmation screen when you place an order. options. There’s good cropping info but
phone support).
surprisingly no automatic resolution warnings.
Key feature Choosing your images takes just a Key feature The selling point of Windows
Key feature You can share each online album
few seconds – and, usually, Klick’s software XP’s print wizard is that you can select and Key feature Your 30Mb allowance for online
with friends. Just add their email address to a list
even keeps a running tab of the total upload print out your images without downloading albums increases to a generous 100Mb when
and they’ll be sent a link letting them view or
file size. additional software. you place your first order.
buy from the folders you choose.
8 8 8 8
VERDICT VERDICT VERDICT VERDICT
At less than half the This is a basic service A choice of four print This is a superb service
price of other services that will appeal to formats just won't be for serious digital
and delivering some beginners, although enough for most imagers, offering the
of the best quality it’s far from cheap. photographers, but fastest and most
images, Klick is And the prints have the print wizard comprehensive
unbeatable for day- poor colour and can't be beaten for service. Print quality
to-day printing. uneven exposure. ease of use. is faultless.
speaking, the big players are Colorplaza and Pixology for

downloaded software, and PhotoBox for web albums.
conventional print, or even a negative or transparency.
Prices are similar to online services, and you won’t
picture viewing and editing software on the disc.
Many processors are now offering image 3 IN DETAIL
You shouldn’t necessarily avoid branded services – need an expensive broadband connection or hours on a enhancement and manipulation services. These mainly PRINT QUALITY
you’ll get exactly the same printing and delivery service dial-up to upload them. Control over cropping and cater to the ‘airbrush my ex-husband out of the Most commercial printers print at
as the parent brand and prices can be even keener, the range of print sizes and formats available is holiday snaps’ market, but can be helpful if you 300dpi, and suggest resolutions of
especially if they have special offers on. Customer more limited than some of the better online printers, haven’t got access to a scanner and Photoshop. Prices 1,800 x 1,200 (a 2-megapixel
image) for 6 x 4 prints and 3,000 x
service might get complex, though, so shop around but you do have the convenience of picking your prints start from around £10. Some of the services above are
2,400 (7MP) for 10 x 8 prints for
before you settle on a printer. up locally (or even on the spot for simple prints) instead accessed via self-service kiosks, which aren’t best results.
of waiting for the post. tremendously reliable, so call in advance to ensure the
The high street versus the net High street outlets are also good sources of digital service is actually working and there’s someone to help
So does online printing spell the end of photographic imagery. Most processors will transfer your 35mm you use them.
printing on the high street? Hardly. Most of the major negatives onto a CD at the time of processing for
photo finishers are moving with the times, offering a around £5 for 40 images. This may sound expensive Home printing
variety of services to appeal to the digital photographer. compared with a 10p CD-R and it can take up to Printing at home is always an option, but don’t imagine
You can now take a ZIP or CD (and, increasingly, a couple of days, but the quality of scanning should that it’ll save you lots of money. A single A4 sheet of
memory cards) containing your images to almost any be first rate – if it isn’t, ask them to do it again! good quality glossy photographic paper costs around
large branch of Jessops or Boots for output as a Some processors (Boots, for instance) even include 50p, and printing on it can cost nearly as much again in

LAB TEST ONLINE PRINTING SERVICES – TEST RESULTS
TOP TIP To access the photo developers built into Windows XP, go to the My Pictures folder and select from the left hand task pane
AGFANET / JESSOPS /
BONUSPRINT BOOTS COLORMAILER PIXOLOGY
8 8 8 8
TEST RESULTS TEST RESULTS TEST RESULTS TEST RESULTS
The pictures arrived in three Boots is one of the fastest Prints from the Swiss-based The Jessops Pixology prints
days, in a card envelope. Loose inside services on test, with prints shipping printer Colormailer were the last to arrived in three days, in a rip-open thin
was a wallet with the enprints and a display out the day after we ordered them. arrive, taking a respectable five days, but they did card envelope. A further plastic bag then
mount with the 10 x 8 print. The customer’s Unfortunately, they arrived in just a cardboard- deliver a very professional package. A thick card contained print wallets. Prints came on Fujicolor
name is on the back of the prints. backed paper A4 envelope, with a loose envelope contained an extra card backer and Crystal Archive paper but the quality was very
Detail This was printed to fit the frame. Good cardboard sheet inside – not the best protection plastic wallets protecting the prints, an invoice disappointing. With a few exceptions, the prints
detail and a nice exposure was marred by a against a busy postal system. The images were and some high-quality index prints. Colormailer suffered from poor exposure and noticeable
yellow cast in our shot. printed on Fuji Crystal Archive paper, with file uses Agfa Prestige Digital paper, and prints the digital artefacts, especially at sharp edges.
Indoor The indoor shot showed lovely crisp names printed on the back. customer name on the back. Performance was Detail A catastrophic framing error left half the
detail. The light felt very natural but might be a Detail There was very well balanced exposure of satisfactory, with excellent detail on all shots but frame blank. The image was also over-exposed.
little cool for some tastes. a complex subject and strong detail. less impressive colour reproduction. Indoor Good overall colour balance let down by
Outdoor Good detail and the ‘print to fit’ crop Indoor The indoor image was well exposed but Detail Excellent detail and good colours in a well pixellated digital edges and far too much noise.
worked well where the subject got right to the too red. There were some grainy edges. exposed print. Outdoor Horrendously over-exposed, leaving the
edge of the image. A red tramline (printing error) Outdoor The outdoor shot had noticeable fringing Indoor The colours in the indoor shot were sky looking more like a turquoise sea in our
was noticeable. and colour noise throughout. Colour artefacts muted, but there was plenty of crisp detail. outdoor shot. The highlights were lost and there
Test That tramline made another appearance. could be seen in the detail. Outdoor Again, detail was first rate, although a was also a lot of noise, especially at the edges.
The complex print came out too pale and slightly Test Good tones and sharp detail were let down slight underexposure dulled the image. Test The nasty edge effects really stood out on
yellow, but with very good detail. by digital noise again. Test Deep colours and sharp edges were spoilt by the test card print. Colours were okay but straight
Skin The Skin The detail was a mild yellow cast. lines were imprecise.
enlargement had sharp and tones Skin Colours Skin Vibrant
62% 65% 74% 50%

a graininess but FINAL precise, but it FINAL accurate but FINAL skin coloured FINAL
a natural feel to SCORE still maintained a SCORE muted. Digital SCORE rescue Jessops’ SCORE
the colours. human feel. noise visible. ratings.
ink. And while modern inkjet printers can produce or a basic image editor will be able to order prints upload your images from anywhere in the world, which
? EXPLAINED startlingly good results if everything’s spot on, the in a matter of minutes. But if you don’t have a is great if you’re on holiday with a limited number of
wrong combination of ink, printer and paper can give broadband connection, uploading them can be time memory cards. The downside is that upload times can
FTP UPLOAD flat, lifeless results. Inkjet prints can fade within a few consuming and expensive. For instance, it’s worth be longer still, and you don’t get a proper dialogue
For the online album services,
uploading via an FTP browser (even
months, although this is less of an issue than it used to remembering that a typical 2-megapixel image will be box telling you how much time you’ve got left to go.
the one built-in to Explorer) has be. If you intend to do a lot of printing at home, use the around 400K in size. So uploading at 3 to 4K/second Kodak and PhotoBox are both reliable services,
advantages. It should have an paper and ink recommended by the manufacturer. with a dial-up means a couple of minutes per image, although tracking down help info in Kodak was laborious
accurate progress meter and the and a lot longer if you’re using TIFFs instead of and we also received some security warnings. Klick
ability to drag and drop images, Ease of use compressed JPEGs. offers a web album service alongside its download
even whole folders, into your
The good news is that none of the online printers we The web album services have the advantage of being option, and Colormailer has a basic web upload service
FTP account.
tested are difficult to use – anyone who can use Explorer completely plug and play – just log on and you can but no albums.

KLICK KODAK MSN PHOTOBOX
DIGITAL
CAMERA
MAGAZINE
8 8 8 8
TEST RESULTS TEST RESULTS TEST RESULTS TEST RESULTS
Klick’s package – a thick Kodak’s service actually ships out MSN was the slowest of the UK- PhotoBox was the fastest service
cardboard box – was not very well of Stuttgart in Germany, so we were based printers, taking four days to turn on test, with our prints postmarked the
labelled, but nevertheless arrived in three pleased to get our prints at the same time as the our order around. The prints (on Fujicolor Crystal same day we placed the order. The packaging
days. The prints came in a wallet and the majority of the UK-based printers. The card- Archive paper) arrived in a colourful card was tough and clearly addressed, with a picture
enlargement was loose, with a thin cardboard backed paper envelope felt quite flimsy, and the envelope, containing a wallet with the smaller invoice and the message we requested. The
backer, all in a plastic bag. A basic invoice had prints (on respected Kodak Royal paper) were prints and a card-backed A4 envelope with the prints were shipped together in a single plastic
only delivery address and thumbnails of the stored all together in a thin paper holder. The enlargement. The four 6 x 4-inch test prints were sleeve, and PhotoBox also printed the filename
prints, which were printed on Fujicolor Crystal delivery note had thumbnails of our images on it, unacceptable – all were completely out of focus. on the back of each Fujicolor Crystal Archive print.
Archive paper. and didn’t state the print costs. Detail Colour and exposure were fine, but the Detail The flowers leapt off the paper, with
Detail A lovely balanced exposure revealed Detail The image was overexposed, completely image was out of focus, blurring the fine detail. superb colour and astonishing levels of detail.
plenty of detail. There was a tiny yellow cast. washing out any detail from the flowers. The Indoor Very poor focusing combined with flat Indoor Too much red blurred details in the low-
Indoor Good performance in tricky conditions colours were muddy. colours made another unacceptable print. lights, but they weren’t disastrous.
indoors. The print came out slightly too red, but Indoor A green cast killed an intimate portrait. Outdoor The focusing was as bad as ever, even Outdoor The outdoor print really showed the
adequately sharp. Outdoor The reds were too saturated, jumping accurate exposure and lovely deep colours benefit of the extra half inch, with none of the
Outdoor An excellent result outside. Strong but out at the cost of any detail. However, the detail couldn’t save this photo. subject lost to cropping. Good contrast and
not overbearing colours, although it would have was good, and edges were nice and sharp. Test Atrocious focusing had blurred all the detail. convincing colours, especially skin tones.
benefited from a touch more exposure. Test A red colour cast and blurry edges let Kodak Skin The crisp enlargement must have been Test The cropping was a little strange, but the
Test The range of colour and contrast was really down on the test card image. made on a different machine from the other level of sharpness in the details was excellent.
impressive. Detail Skin A green cast prints as the focus Skin Nice and
was spot on. flattened the was fine, with warm, with a
80% 51% 42% 90%

Skin A warm FINAL image. Pixel FINAL plenty of detail. FINAL wide colour FINAL
and flattering SCORE structure and SCORE Colours were rich SCORE range. Detail SCORE
portrait. noise visible. and strong, too. was fine, too.
The results
? EXPLAINED
The downloaded software was all easy to use – full You might think the Windows XP wizard would be
marks to the Fotowire software (used by Agfanet and the easiest to use of any online printer, and it certainly All the services we tested delivered our prints in the
Bonusprint) for keeping the download to 2Mb. The involves the least user effort – just decide between the correct sizes, to the right address, within five days.
COMPRESSION
Fotowire and Klick programs are simple wizards – there’s three services on offer (MSN Photos, Jessops and PhotoBox and Boots were quickest, and Colormailer and
Minimise the compression of any
no way to go wrong as you’re guided through the Bonusprint) and you’re done. However, you will need a MSN Photos the last to arrive. Print quality varied images you want to print.
selection and upload process step by step. Pixology .NET passport to sign into MSN Photos (with your credit enormously, from superb to unacceptable, and we Compression is great for delivering
(Jessops) and Boots present more substantial interfaces, card and address details), and the wizard is a touch too encountered all the problems familiar from commercial acceptable quality images for web
with Boots in particular offering image editing and simplistic to be useful. There’s no order confirmation 35mm printing, such as poor exposure and focusing, or email use, but can be visible
album browser functionality on top of the essentials. It’s page, no crop marks and getting anything other than variable colour balance and contrast, inaccurate framing when output. Choose 'maximum'
or the highest quality setting when
a great idea (and good for cropping), but it’s no the most basic help info involves navigating to a and tramlines. In addition, some printers introduced
saving your images as JPEGs.
substitute for a real image editor. website anyway. digital errors (colour artefacts, noise and pixellation),

LAB TEST A4 INKJET PRINTERS – SPECIFICATIONS
BUYERS’ TIP If you're in a hurry to get your prints back, keep your order simple. Adding enlargements or novelty items can delay your whole order
SPECIFICATIONS
AT A GLANCE
1 BONUSPRINT BOOTS AGFANET / COLORMAILER JESSOPS / PIXOLOGY
Overall % 62% 65% 74% 50%
Features % 43% 50% 77% 40%
Performance % 66% 71% 66% 54%
Ease of Use % 75% 70% 70% 75%
URL bonusprint.co.uk wellbeing.com colormailer.co.uk/agfanet.com jessops.co.uk/pixology.co.uk
6 x 4 price $0.25 $0.30 $0.22 $0.34
10 x 8 price £1.25 £4 (10x7) £1.70 (11x8) £1.24
P&P £0.70 £1.50 £1.50 £1.50
Web upload/ Albums N N Y/N N
PC download size/spec 1.6Mb, Win 05+ 5.4Mb, Win98+ 2.1Mb, Win95+ 5.1Mb, Win 95+
Mac download size/spec 0.8Mb, OS8.1+ N 1.9Mb, OS8.6+ N
Image formats JPEG, Flashpix, TIFF, BMP JPEG, Flashpix, TIFF, BMP JPEG, Flashpix, TIFF, BMP JPEG, Flashpix, TIFF, BMP
Print sizes (in) 6x4,7.5x5,8x6,10x8 6x4,7x5,9x6,10x7 4.5x6,5.3x7,6x8,6x4,7x5,9x6 6x4,7.5x5,8x6,10x8

Enlargements N 15x10 11x8,12x8,16x20 15x10,18x12,18x27
Non-standard formats N N A4,30x40,20x28,28x10,16x14 15x5,18x51
Pro N N Y N
Novelty items N N Y Y
CD N N Y N
Crop marks Y Y Y N
Resolution advice Y N Y Y
Multiple addresses N Y N Y
5 5 5 5
PRO Excellent
5 CON Very limited PRO Well
5 CON Expensive. PRO Good
5 CON Slow PRO Good
5 CON No crop
Fotowire product range. integrated Consistent images and the service product range marks. Poor
software. Average prints software for digital image best range of and easy to use quality prints
Cheap beginners problems features on test
* WEB LINKS probably as a result of extra compression. Worst

offenders were Kodak, with pixellation and extremely
services for more professional users. They can archive
your images on CD for £6 to £7, give your images the
a limited range of products (as few as four print sizes)
and quirky technical support. And while all commercial
poor colour accuracy; Jessops, with unreliable exposure, professional treatment (hand-adjusted colour and printers are prone to the odd off day, the consistent
ACE
www.acecam.com a nasty framing error and clear digital artefacts; and, better paper) and arrange next-day courier delivery – digital and focusing errors introduced by a couple of
This American site has a surprisingly above all, MSN with consistently unacceptable focusing. though none of this comes cheap. Colormailer is the printers can only be blamed on poor development and
good index of online printers The best performers were PhotoBox and Klick, both of only service that doesn’t discourage black and white quality control.
in the UK and worldwide. which produced superbly detailed, vibrant images with images (when you print B&W images on a colour Hopefully, these services will improve but, in the
A good resource. spot-on focus and exposure. printer, you often get unpleasant colour fringing), but we meantime, we recommend you stick with the printers
All the prints came on standard mini-lab photographic didn’t test this service. that did best in our performance tests.
YAHOO PHOTOS
http://photos.yahoo.com/ paper – Fujicolor Crystal Archive, Agfa Digital Prestige If you just want to try online printing, you can’t go
Good online album storage and and Kodak Royal – which means that your prints should Conclusion too far wrong with Klick. As well as being the cheapest
printing service. last at least 50 years if stored correctly. Compare that If you’re stuck with a dial-up net connection, you printer on test, charging just 15p for a 6 x 4 print, the
with some home printing inkjet/paper combinations should think carefully before using any of these online software is utterly intuitive and the results were
PHOTODEAL which have lifetimes measured in months and the printers exclusively – they’ll eat up a lot of your time and some of the most impressive we saw, with well
www.photodeal.co.uk
benefits of commercial digital printing are clear. it will probably be much less trouble to use a similar balanced exposure and excellent levels of detail.
This download printer (PC only)
often has good special offers.
service in the high street. But if you’re already part of If you want anything even slightly out of the
Added value services the broadband revolution, there’s no doubt that online ordinary, though, you should look to the dedicated
FOTANGO Above and beyond hard copies of your images, most of printing has finally come of age. All the printers we online printer PhotoBox. Despite a few gaffes
www.fotango.co.uk the printers offer a range of extra services. Printing to tested are fast and simple to use, and the majority are (including no auto-resolution warning), this is the most
This online album printer also T-shirts, mugs and mousemats is common. Only reasonably priced and produce perfectly acceptable comprehensive and professional service out there,
processes traditional 35mm and
Bonusprint and Boots lack novelty items, but Jessops and prints most of the time. with super-fast service, an enormous range of print
APS film, and automatically stores
PhotoBox go completely overboard, sticking your But some differences are clear. Many of the larger options and producing by far the highest quality
the images in your album.
pictures on everything from keyrings to calendars. More companies are only dabbling in online printing for now – prints – really stunning colours and exceptional
seriously, PhotoBox and Colormailer offer a range of this means a speedy service and keen prices, but it also sharpness throughout.

NEXT MONTH
; 2 WE TEST AND COMPARE

THE LATEST DIRECT
PHOTO PRINTERS
3 IN DETAIL
LIGHTFASTNESS
Despite claims made by paper and
ink manufactures, images output
on inkjet printers have yet to
KLICK KODAK MSN PHOTOBOX DIGITAL
CAMERA prove their longevity. Conventional
MAGAZINE
silver halide prints from labs
80% 51% 42% 90% should last at least 50 years, and
33% 43% 40% 80% probably much longer if looked
after properly.
80% 54% 40% 90%
80% 75% 75% 80%
klick.co.uk printat kodak.com XP wizard/photos.msn.co.uk photobox.co.uk
£0.15 £0.39 £0.45 £0.49
£1.20 £2.49 £1.82 (12x8) £2.50
£0.75 £1.50 £0.74 £1.50
Y/Y Y/Y N Y/Y
5.4Mb, Win 95+ N/A Windows XP only N/A
N N/A N N/A
JPEG JPEG JPEG, Flashpix, TIFF, BMP JPEG
6x4,7x5,8x6,10x8 6x4,7x5,8x6,10x8 6x4,6.7x4.3,7.5x5 6x4,6x4.5,5x3.75,7x5,10x8,8x6,9x6
12x8 12x8,18x12 12x8 12x8,15x10,30x20
N N N 5x5,12x5,A2,A3,A4
N N N Y
N Y Y Y
N N N Y
N Y N Y 0 EXPERT TIP
Y Y Y N
MARK HARRIS
N Y Y Y BASIC CHECKS
ONLINE PRINTING
5 5 5 5
PRO Cheapest
5 CON Very PRO Web service
5 CON Expensive. PRO Simple
5 CON Light on PRO Print
5 CON Expensive – ESSENTIALS
on test with limited range easy to use Low-quality to use features and quality, speed this quality
some of the of products prints atrociously and features doesn’t The first thing to check is that
best images and features poor prints second to none come cheap your computer is capable of
using the service – software
should be available for a range
of PCs and Macs. The printer
HOW WE TESTED THE ONLINE should accept a range of image

formats (to save you time re-
PRINTING SERVICES saving them) and – very
importantly – offer a good
selection of print sizes. Post and
packaging charges tend to be
W
e rated the printers on the services they offer, without knowing which came from which printer. All offer gloss finish only, except PhotoBox which gives
the same regardless of how
with greater emphasis placed on more The orders were placed with the printers within an the option of gloss or matt.
many prints you choose, so you
important functions. For example, smaller hour of each other. Because we ran the test at a busy
don’t want to be splitting your
download file sizes and Mac compatibility earned more postal time just before Christmas, we judged the Verdict order among several companies.
points than novelty printers. Key features were the turnaround time from the postmark, not how long it It’s rare to undertake a group test of eight very similar A quick turnaround is also
number of image formats accepted and the range of took to deliver. However, we did down-rate the services and find one that excels in all areas, but important – if the company
print sizes and types offered. Colormailer and Kodak services as they’re based in PhotoBox did just that, winning top marks for its doesn’t even claim that less than
Europe. We also rated the packaging the prints arrived in features, delivery time and print quality. With its three or four days, it’s unlikely to
deliver any quicker than that.
Performance We selected five test images, each – well-labelled, tough packages got higher marks. comprehensive website service, uploading and sharing
Look to the future – is the printer
designed to test a separate aspect of the online printers. Ease of use We rated each printer on the design and your images is as easy as ordering the huge range of offering regular software updates
Four of these were typical 2-megapixel JPEGs. The functionality of their website and any downloads. We products on offer. PhotoBox turned our order around the and do they offer the services
outdoor shot highlighted colours and contrast. The detail took into account customer service and help functions. same day we sent it and even the packaging was the you might not want right now
shot tested sharpness and focus. The indoor shot was to Overall To arrive at an overall score, we weighted toughest on test. Image quality was absolutely first class but will grow into? The best
see how the printer dealt with more subdued hues and performance at 65 per cent, features at 35 per cent and – great colours, superb detail and none of the digital or printers offer excellent customer
service – check that they offer
skin tones. The test card shot was helpful to check on ease of use at 5 per cent. printing errors we found elsewhere. The only downside
multiple delivery addresses,
cropping and objective colour accuracy. Finally, the shot is its hefty price – users on a budget should try Klick, a order tracking and a phone
of the baby (at 8 megapixels) tested how the printers Common features great download service with bargain-basement prices number for when something
managed complex skin tones and printing at a larger All the printers accept MasterCard and Visa, but and near-professional print quality – but only on a very inevitably goes wrong.
size (around 10 x 8). We assessed the prints ‘blind’, PhotoBox and Boots also accept Switch and Solo cards. limited range of products.

Trailblazers
Travel the world, see interesting things and shoot them
WINNER! MARIGOLDS IN THE FLOWER MARKET, CALCUTTA, INDIA SUSAN MELKMAN

“The picture was taken with a Fujifilm Finepix S602 Zoom.”
02
02 Photographed by: 03 Photographed by:
Brian Gleeson Caroline Jefferson
Location: The Sphinx at Giza under Location: Yosemite National
the shadow of the pyramids Park, US
Camera used: Nikon Coolpix 775 Camera used: Sony F505V
Trailblazers 03

05
04
204 Photographed by:
Colin Worley
Location: Man working in rice
terraces, Bali
Camera used: Olympus
C-2100 UZ 06
205 Photographed by: GET YOUR PICTURE FRAMED!

Ean Proctor
Location: Double O Arch in Send them in and the best gets framed and returned. We’re looking for
Arches National Park, US landmarks, unusual events or just something fabulously composed. Start
Camera used: Sony planning that trip away! ■ Email us at gallery.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
Cybershot PS-71
This month, you have mostly been to…
206 Photographed by:
Matthew Tuck
Location: Dover beach,
Barbados
Camera used: Fuji 7
finepix 6900 3
5 6 2
207 Photographed by: 1
Bert Rendering
Location: “The photo is taken 4
in Turkey, October 2002 during
a trip near Marmaris.”
Camera used: Fuji Finepix
2800 Zoom
07 Trailblazers
YOUR PHOTOS JORDAN GRAND PRIX RACING
EMAIL US! Send in your life – see opposite!
01
MEET HELEN TEMPLE
Each issue in Day in the Life, we focus

on someone with an interesting job,
and follow them round for a day. This
month, meet Helen Temple,
Marketing Officer for Jordan Grand
Prix Racing.
The impression is that a PR job in F1
is glamourous, is that true? As Helen
says: “Some of the time it is
glamourous, and I remember how
fortunate I am to be here, doing a job
and going to places that a lot of F1
fans can only dream of. And although
the mechanics call the marketing staff
‘luvvies’, and give me grief about the
press office being an easy life, it’s a
hard day’s work…”
Day in the life

Jordan’s Marketing Officer, Helen Temple, takes Digital Camera
02
03
Magazine through a Grand Prix Saturday
A
typical day for Helen begins at 7.30am, distributed to them quickly after the session.
when she arrives at the circuit to check At 4pm journalists start to arrive and the drivers
emails and scan F1 stories on the net in spend about an hour a day with them. One-
the motorhome office. Most interviews have to be question interviews can always be squeezed in, but,
accommodated within a ‘media hour’, plus a few as Helen explains, “the drivers are usually rolling
short TV interviews before and after track session. their eyes at me when they are on interview
Track sessions start at 9am and an effort is made number seven after I promised them only four.”
to put live updates on the Jordan website. Before The final part of the day is spent going through
qualifying starts at 1pm, Helen persuades the piles of papers, items that fans have sent into be
drivers to talk to the TV crews while they wait to autographed and the schedule for the next day.
get into their cars, and she gets immediate Helen’s day usually ends at 6pm, and if there are
feedback when qualifying has finished. no media or sponsor functions in the evening
Newspapers and magazines have deadlines (which often go on late), she heads back to the
in the afternoon, so it’s vital for Helen to make hotel tired, but knowing she’s lucky to have a job
sure the Jordan media release is written up and that so many people would love to do!

Now it’s over to you: we want your life in our hands (or on these pages anyway). If
4
CONTACT you have a visually interesting job that you think might make a good Dayinthelife,
US please email us today at: [e] editor.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
T BE INSPIRED! www.f1jordan.com
Dayinthelife a
i h lif
01 Fisichella racing hard
Jordan driver, Fisichella, takes a corner
on an average day at the office.
02 Quote… unquote
Quotes are gathered from drivers
immediately after they have qualified.
03 Eddie and Helen

Helen ensures that Eddie Jordan gets
to press interviews on time!
04 Down in the garage

Qualifying hour is spent in the garage
gathering information. And, if needed,
removing unwanted visitors!
07 05 Online information
An effort is made to put live updates
08 to the team website so that fans can
04
log on and get all the latest news.
05
06 Faxing the F1 facts
Post-qualifying press releases are
created and distributed to the world’s
media from here.
07 EJ’s interviewed
Eddie limits press interviews – or he’d
never have time to do anything else!
08 Takuma signs autographs

Takuma, the Jordan driver, signs
autographs for the fans.
06 09 The best part of the day

Time to party! Well, it’s all part of
Formula 1…
09
Many thanks to Helen Temple and all at

Jordan Grand Prix racing for their help and
assistance in this feature. Also thanks to
Paul Sutton at Sutton Motorsport Images.
Find out more about Jordan Motorsport at
www.F1jordan.com
ALL IMAGES ©2002 PAUL SUTTON MOTORSPORT IMAGES

Viewfinder
We want your letters! Email us at letters.dcm@futurenet.co.uk and we’ll print the best
Welcome… Can I get issue 1?

I picked up issue 2 on the day of release and was
Star Letter PhotoImpact 8 winner
seriously impressed. I hit your website to order a
Call them gremlins, back issue of issue 1 but the order was delayed What paper?
call them acts of God, due to problems with the website. When it finally I have an Epson printer and have tried Epson and other manufacturers’ cartridges. The Epson ones
or more realistically, went through, all copies were gone! give higher quality outputs. Epson recommend they be used with Epson paper but I have had
call them mistakes. I was seriously disappointed – Future mags good results from some Kodak papers, too, but variable results using Ilford. What about you guys
Sometimes little, er, promote the use of technology and encourage doing one of your comparison tests so that we can get a reliable and objective opinion or at least
bugs do manage to people to embrace the digital age! I’d really data on which to base our own?
wetback our sturdy defences, crawl under appreciate a copy of issue 1, even a well thumbed Gary Sandy
our quality radar and raid our pages. one with no CDs. I’ve even tried Ebay with no
In issue 3, all the apostrophes success! Is it at all possible that there might be a DCM Interesting idea. On the whole, for the sake of an easier life, we’ve tended to go with
mysteriously vanished from the Getup&go spare copy ‘lying around’ the office? the ‘use maker’s paper in maker’s printer’ recommendation.
and Viewfinder pages. This is a first, since Bill Bulloch One reason for this, is that while doing what you suggest
they were all there when we last checked. It may look okay, there’s no assurance the results will remain
turns out a corrupt font installed on one of DCM Really sorry about this. We can put your so over time, given the different chemical compounds used
our Lino computers was at fault – our team mind at rest on one point – because of the by the various papers, inks and coatings. As a result there’s
has something like 35 years of combined incredible demand for issue 1, it would have no realistic way for us to test for the resulting light-fastness.
magazine experience and has never come made no difference whether Subs had got their So while your photos might look fine now, there’s no
across anything like it before. Our apologies finger out right away with respect to your guarantee they will do so in five or ten years.
for this. Note this month’s mag is replete website order. We sold out and there were no This month’s Star Letter wins a copy of PhotoImpact 8.
with apostrophes, we’ve even chucked in a back issues! Sorry about this.
few strictly unnecessary ones just to even Unfortunately our office was also cleaned
the score. out by colleagues suddenly “dropping by for a DCM Well, we are certainly tougher reviewers
In the meantime, keep writing in to chat.” So we don’t even have any spares left than our rivals. One benefit of our £5
letters.dcm@futurenet.co.uk. ourselves. We can, however, send out PDFs of coverprice is we’re less dependent on criticises it! Does he really think the millions of
specific articles if this helps, so please let us advertising income to balance the books, so people who are ditching 35mm film for digital are
Nick Merritt Managing Editor know and we’ll do what we can. we really can say what we think. doing it because they’ve been conned by the
We think the Optio 430RS is a good camera. camera companies? We’re not all stupid!
What camera? You won’t go far wrong with the Konica Susan Hart
I’m new to digital photography and was looking KD400Z but if you can move up a price bracket,
for a compact camera. Knowing nothing, I’d the Olympus C-4000 Zoom is my personal …Okay, Ian McCandless, fair enough to be
narrowed the field down to the Pentax 430RS, favourite at the moment. As for the S45, it’s a suspicious but things have moved on. It’s been a
Minolta Dimage 100, Fuji 601 and the Canon S45. superb camera and will certainly do what you long time since I heard that old canard about LPs
I’d decided on the Pentax until I read your review want, we’d have no hesitation in delivering better sound than CDs – if true, why has
in the December issue. Another magazine voted it recommending it. vinyl been confined to such a tiny niche?
their best camera in its class – did you have a David Ross
faulty one? Finally, would you just go straight for We love digital
the Canon S45? In response to Ian McCandless who slagged off …I expect lots of people will be furiously
Interact Ian Read digital photography, I suggest he tries it before he disagreeing with Ian McCandless’ letter about
Since last issue, another 1,900 people have between traditional and digital photography cameras you would have manual control longer a true photographer.” Correctly, he
registered at www.digitalcameramagazine. in terms of supporting equipment, such as over Zoom (35 – 105 mm), ISO (50-400), finishes his observation with, “what tosh.”
co.uk, taking our total to a healthy 5,900 – studio lighting, depth of field control, TTL Shutter Speed (1/1500 – 15secs), Aperture Johnathan Ryan started a thread
not bad at all, keep ‘em coming folks! Here’s metering, etc.” (F2.8 – F4.9), Flash (1.1 – 15.7 ft), Manual suggesting changes and improvements to
what our forum regulars have been Obviously a potential defector there. Peter Focus and White Balance settings.” the website, so if you have any ideas, get
discussing this month: Harrison and John Hoffman were kind John said his main concern was over yourself over to the thread ‘website
enough to point him in the right direction. shutter lag, plus, “the SLR film brigade will suggestions’ and put in your two cents’
Alan Muscat asked, “What are the differences Peter advised: “Generally on £300-£400 look at you with scorn and say you are no worth – we’re all ears.

Inspired!
Have our tutorials and ideas sparked something? Send in your
examples and we’ll print the best every month, to
gallery.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
Trip to London
Congratulations on an excellent magazine. I already subscribe to Windows XP: The
Official Magazine, so I am no stranger to the format. Digital Camera Magazine lives
digital being overhyped, but he has a point. I have Barrel of laughs up to my expectations of good quality and information – well done! I have now
gone digital and I like it, but for any professional Congratulations on an excellent second issue. I was subscribed as well. I particularly like the ‘Get Up & Go’ section and had the chance to
work on a budget, it’s still cheaper to use 35mm particularly impressed that your reviewer picked up use it yesterday on a day trip to London from Edinburgh. I have attached one of my
film and scan it. the barrel distortion problem on the otherwise photos taken at Trafalgar Square after dark. I
Kevin Ripley excellent Fuji F601 – none of the other reviews I’ve used your tips and am
read have mentioned this, although it is very delighted with the result.
DCM We’re not sure about that one Kevin. Our obvious in some types of photograph at wide- I used an ISO setting of 100,
friendly neighbourhood Walcot Studios went angle settings. F5.0 and shutter speed of 1
digital in 2002 and tell us they’re winning tons Your reviewer remarks that this can be second.
of new business because costs are now so corrected in digital-imaging software. Could you Jim Woodrow
much lower they can undercut their rivals, explain how? I’ve tried to find a tool to do this in
deliver good quality and still make a profit. So both Photoshop Elements 2 and in Corel Fantastic stuff Jim, this is
it’s not just consumers who are seeing benefits Photopaint (admittedly a fairly old version) but easily the best picture
– the grizzled, sceptical old pros are too. without success. The full version of Photoshop is we’ve received so far –
beyond my pocket. please keep them coming.
Kids’ stuff Chris Bradley
Your premiere issue was amazing! What lured me
to the mag was the tutorials. The photo DCM In Elements 2 and Photoshop 7
compositing tutorial with the art set and kids there’s a new Perspective tool which is
running around was a valuable insight. I had a lot a real improvement over the use of the
of fun doing my own – I used my three kids and Transform tool we’ve mentioned
my sister-in-law’s two kids, (it will be presented as previously. Use the crop tool to select Sundown
a 20” X 30” poster for my father-in-law as a your picture. Then under Image, I was making coffee in the kitchen when
Christmas gift from all of his grandchildren). Transform choose Perspective. This I noticed the sky seemed to have bands
Software’s nice, but the articles make or break a enables you to drag the selection in a of fire running across it (due to the sun
magazine, and your stuff is really making it. symmetrical way, which corrects about to appear over the horizon), so I
Richard Murray distortion evenly. ran for the camera. As there wouldn’t
have been time to get anywhere more
open (I’m half a mile from the coast!)
before the light changed, it had to be
Tell us what you want! done from the back garden – silhouettes
it was!
Every issue, it’s our aim to improve the magazine. Mark Bedding
Write in to letters.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
Running around
He wanted… He She wanted… This is natural blur as I was
John Doherty wanted a wanted… Jane James thinks there’s too much testing what my Olympus
searchable index so he Richard Murray space given to camera reviews and would make of my daughter
could find articles in his is one of the many wants less. spinning round. As it happened
back issues easily who want video tutorials she came to a sudden stop –
on our disc She got… hence the partial blur!
He got… No change – sorry! We had
Then I tried to improve it by
From issue 5, He got… lots of reviews in issue 2
we’ll include Finally, they’re here! because of Christmas but using Layers (Serif7) to Clone
an index on Check your discs for a every issue we will carry at least five out the shoes and Cut&Paste
our coverdisc. bunch starting this issue. camera tests. over some of the background.
Sue Premru
WRITE Every issue, we aim to improve some aspect of the magazine. Email
your suggestions to letters.dcm@futurenet.co.uk and the Editor, in his
Keep it up Sue, good to see
some examples of creative
IN great wisdom, will decide what you deserve… use of blur.
TODAY!
Website @
Visit Digital Camera
Magazine online!
The UK’s best digital photography magazine now has a fantastic community
site on the internet – and we want you to join in today!
O
ver the next few months, we want to turn issue, swap tips and techniques, add your own kit
digitalcameramagazine.co.uk into one of reviews, read our tutorials, post your pictures and
the UK’s biggest and most dynamic digital much more!
photo communities, and we hope you’ll pop along to Plus you’ll be able to click straight through from
help us! We’ll be putting up articles from every issue one of our camera reviews, to the relevant page
of the magazine for you to download, plus you can at one of the UK’s top retailers, and buy it! Nobody
meet the team online in our forums and talk about else offers you such a simple, comprehensive
specific issues and ideas you want to share. service. In the meantime, why not visit
You’ll be able to meet thousands of other Digital www.digitalcameramagazine.co.uk and start the
Camera Magazine readers, discuss each month’s ball rolling…
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SECTION #02 YOUR IMAGES
CREATIVE PROJECT PAGE
58
PHOTO SURREALISM
Barry Jackson takes two ordinary pictures and
blends them, with extraordinary results
PHOTO CLINIC PAGE
64
RESTORE AN OLD BLACK & WHITE PHOTO
We give a faded wedding picture from the 1950s
some special treatment
PAINT SHOP PRO TUTORIAL PAGE
70
SWAPPING COLOURS
Add a new dimension to your photos by
transforming the colour of just one element
TOP TIPS PAGE

CREATIVE PROJECT
74
GET MORE FROM ULEAD PHOTOIMPACT
PHOTO SURREALISM Get the most out of this popular photo-editing
SEE PAGE 58 software, with our 20 top tips
PHOTO CLINIC
SEE PAGE 64
PAGE PAGE
70 74
Your images
Making and creating better pictures
Tutorials you can trust! Contact our editorial team
f #
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Authoritative A leading professional in his/her field Clear Our large page size means we can add extra email us at editor.dcm@futurenet.co.uk Visit
writes every tutorial. Value-added We try to include elements, explanations and detail to each tutorial. our website at digitalcameramagazine.co.uk
PROJECT PHOTO SURREALISM
YOUR GUIDE BARRY JACKSON

Barry became hooked on digital photography only this year. He soon realised that
the combination of digital camera, computer and Adobe Photoshop were the
perfect tools to create his own particular style of photo surrealism
contact@etherealme.com PORTFOLIO BARRY JACKSON WEBSITE WWW.ETHEREALME.COM
Discover Blending layers

and Quick Mask mode
Digital photo artist, Barry Jackson,shows you how a little imagination and a copy of
Photoshop can turn three ordinary photographs into one extraordinary image
A 3 TOOL SCHOOL
rmed with a digital camera, computer and fresh in my mind, I collected my Fuji 6900z digital
PROJECT
photo-editing software you have the tools camera, a tripod and an old pair of boots from the
KEY DETAILS necessary to express your artistic ideas; wardrobe. I went out to the garden and positioned the
2 ON OUR DISC combine these with a little imagination and a
willingness to experiment, and the art world is your
camera and tripod on a section of path at the back of
the house.
BLUR FILTER
Learn how to use the gaussian blur filter combined with the
■ IMAGE FILES
All the elements you need to gradient tool to reduce the depth of field.
oyster. In this tutorial I will share with you the Using the self timer to avoid shaking the camera, I
recreate ‘These Boots’ are on
our discs techniques and creative process used to produce a first took a background shot of the path, and then placed
surreal image, in the hope that it will inspire you to the boots on the path and shot them in the same way.
2 SKILL LEVEL create artistic projects of your own. Finally, I sat on a chair in front of the camera and
6 1 Creating the idea
placed my bare feet in the same position as the boots,
leaned over to the camera, set the timer and took the
2 TIME TO COMPLETE The Oxford dictionary gives the definition of surrealism shot. Now, with the three main elements of my image
3.5 HOURS as the ‘expression of the subconscious mind’. This is

quite apt because the idea for my image, ‘These
Boots’ (opposite), came to me in a hazy moment just
in the camera, it was time to experiment.
Over the next few pages I will recreate the steps
used to produce my image, so that you can create
before waking one Saturday morning. With the idea still it yourself…
HOW WE
PREPARED
EACH ELEMENT
BARRY JACKSON
DIGITAL ARTIST
THE BACKGROUND THE BOOTS THE FEET

A The background is a section of path at the B The boots were perfect for the part – apart C I used the camera’s self-timer to take these
INSPIRED BY A SLEEPY back of my house. I picked this because I from being the wrong colour. All the shots of my feet – this enabled me to get the
MOMENT, I PHOTOGRAPHED liked its subtle blue and purple colouring and grainy elements of the image were taken from the same angle photograph right and also prevented the camera from
THE SEPARATE ELEMENTS
USING A FUJI 6900Z texture. The three shots were taken with a Fuji 6900z using a tripod so, when combined, they would have the moving when the shutter release button was pressed,
digital camera. same perspective. preventing blurring.

Everything you need to
create this image is on your CD
All
All the images
images, filters
filters and plug-ins you
you need
to cre
create this image are
are on your
your co
cover CD.
CD.
2
All
All images
images are
are © Barry
Barry Jackson.
Jackson.
BACKGROUND BOOTS FEET
backgr
background.psd
ound.psd boots
boots.psd
.psd feet
eet .psd
CDA/tutorials/
TOP TIP Name a layer by clicking on its representation in the Layers palette. Rename it by right-clicking on its name and selecting Layer Properties
STAGE 1 2 IN FOCUS Understanding the Layers palette

ARRANGING THE LAYERS
REDUCE OPACITY LAYER STYLES DROP-DOWN MENU
By opening the individual 01 Use the Layers palette Apply an effect to a layer – it Click on the drop-down menu to
elements within separate layers,
to control the way could be a blend, a glow or access different ways to dissolve,
we can easily make
layers look, their names, colours emboss effect, and more fade and adjust colours
adjustments to each one
and so on. Here, we’ve taken the
without affecting the others.
opacity of the Boot layer down to ADJUSTMENT LAYER LAYER OPTIONS
Now we can match the boot
50% (click on the Boot layer Tweak the contrast, levels, Click here (top-right) to rename,
sizes to the feet.
name, then adjust Opacity), so you curves and so on, from delete, merge, duplicate a layer,
can see the feet underneath them, this control or flatten the whole image
as a guide.
ISOLATE THE RIGHT BOOT
02
0 EXPERT TIP With the images in separate layers, we can
now see that the boots are too wide to blend
BARRY JACKSON with the feet. First use the polygonal lasso tool (L) to
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT make a rough selection around the right boot, then right-
USING THE click and choose Layer via Cut.
MAGNETIC LASSO
The Magnetic lasso tool enables
you to roughly draw around a
subject whilst automatically
adding anchor points along the
edge to create a selection. If any
mistakes are made, backtrack
along the path whilst pressing
the delete button; this removes
the anchor points one at a time.
RESIZE THE RIGHT BOOT

03 This places the boot on a new layer and allows
each boot to be resized individually. Select Free
Transform from the Edit menu (Ctrl + T) and squeeze the
boot to fit the foot, double-click to apply the change.
ISOLATE THE LEFT BOOT RESIZE THE LEFT BOOT USE THE ERASER
04 Return to the original boots layer and again 05 Select Free Transform from the Edit menu (Ctrl 06 While the boots are still semi-transparent, use
use the Polygonal lasso to make a rough + T) and squeeze the boot to fit the foot. Try to the eraser tool (E) to remove the background
selection around the left boot, choose inverse from concentrate on getting the top of the boot to fit – the from each boot layer. This gives us a better idea of our
the Select menu (Shft + Ctrl + I) then delete the lower part will be deleted later. Finally, double-click to goal. Don’t worry about erasing the end of the right side
background (Ctrl + X). apply the change. lace, we will replace this later.

…PAINT SHOP PRO …PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS …PHOTOIMPACT
4
HOW TO USE Discover how to use Masks via three handy tutorials at There’s no Quick Mask mode in Elements but you can fake it. See Discover more about Masks in PhotoImpact, at http://
MASKS IN… www.digital-foundry.com/index_paintshop.html www.arraich.com/elements/pse_mmultilayermasks1.htm graphicssoft.about.com/library/extra/blmasks-upi.htm
STAGE 2 2
ISOLATE THE ELEMENTS
Having used the feet as a guide,
we now have the correct size of
boots we need. Now it’s time to
isolate them.
MAKE A SNAPSHOT ISOLATE THE BOOTS TIDY UP

07 Click on the camera icon at the bottom of the 08 Return the opacity of both boots to 100 per 09 Zoom in and use a fine eraser to tidy up any
History palette – this adds a temporary copy to cent and use the Magnetic lasso tool (L) to rough edges. When complete, make sure the
the top of History palette that can be returned to at any carefully draw around each boot once the selection is top boot layer is selected then Merge the two boot layers
time, just in case we make a mistake and have to get complete. Once done, right-click Select Inverse, then Ctrl + together. Go to Layers – Merge Down (Ctrl + E).
back to this stage. X to delete the remains of the background.
IN FOCUS Working with Quick Mask mode

MAKE A QUICK MASK TOOLS COLOURS
12 Quick mask is a way of Use a hard-edged Make sure the default
painting the area you want Brush tool (B) to foreground and
to turn into a selection. Click on the increase the size of the background colours
Quick mask icon (Q) near the bottom of mask and the Eraser (black & white) are
the Tools palette then use the Brush tool tool (E) to decrease the selected painting with
(B) to paint over the black area of the size of the mask any other colour creates
boots but leave the laces and inside the a semi-transparent or
boots unpainted, click (Q) again to make partial mask
the area around the mask a selection.
3 IN DETAIL 10
ISOLATE THE FEET
Use the Polygonal lasso to make a rough
selection around the area we want to keep.
SELECTION TOOLS
Photoshop provides three tools for Delete the background (as in step 08), then use the
selecting awkward shapes: the Magnetic lasso and the Eraser tool to complete the
Lasso tool, the Polygonal lasso and isolation as in steps 08 and 09.
the Magnetic lasso. Lasso draws a
wiggly line that exactly follows
your mouse’s moves. Polygonal
draws straight lines and is ideal for
selecting straight-edged objects.
Magnetic is like the normal lasso
tool but snaps its wiggly line to
regions between areas of high and
low contrast, helping your accuracy.
ISOLATION RESULTS
11 When complete, the image should look like
this. Make a copy of the Boots layer by
dragging it onto the New Layer icon at the bottom of the
Layers palette, just left of the Trash icon. Then click on the
Eye icon to turn the layer off – we will use this later.

TOP TIP Remember, when Snapshotting the History palette (see previous page), snapshots are temporary and are not saved when you quit the image
STAGE 3 2 IN FOCUS Colour adjustment

BLEND THE LAYERS
ADJUST THE CURVES COLOUR CHANNELS
Blending layers enables us to 13 COLOURS Click on and drag the Click on the drop-down
creatively mix together the layers
From the Select menu, line to adjust the menu to adjust each
into the final composition.
choose inverse (Shft + Ctrl + I) colours, top-right colour separately (red,
and then adjust the colour of represents highlights; green, and blue) or
the selection by using Curves. bottom-left shadows select RGB to adjust all
Finally, from the Select menu and and the midpoint the colours together
choose Deselect. represents midtones
DUPLICATE A LAYER
14
0 EXPERT TIP Make a copy of the feet layer and drag into
place above the active boots layer; reduce the
opacity by 50%. Use the Clone tool (S) to copy and fill in
BARRY JACKSON
PHOTOSHOP EXPERT any missing areas of skin so the coloured boot area is
USING THE ZOOM TOOL completely covered.
To quickly zoom in or out use Ctrl
+ to zoom in and Ctrl – to zoom
out or use Ctrl + space bar + left
click and drag the mouse over a
specific area of the image to
zoom straight to that point.
ERASE SELECTED AREAS

15 Carefully erase the areas of the layer above
the laces and then return the opacity to 100%.
Select hard light from the drop-down blending modes
menu at the top of the Layers palette. Try experimenting
with the various blending modes.
HUE/SATURATION DROP SHADOW MAKE A SHADOW

16 Turn the Boots copy layer on, and place above
17 The image now needs to be blended with
18 Make a new layer (Shft + Ctrl + N), title it
the Feet copy layer (with soft light mode from background. Double-click on the original Feet Shadow and place it on top of the other layers.
the blending modes menu turned on). The image is layer, this will bring up the Layer Style palette. Click on Use a soft air-brush to paint a shadow on the inside of the
getting there but it’s saturated. Go to Image8Adjust Drop shadow in the Styles menu and experiment with the left boot. Finally, go to Filter8 Blur8Gaussian Blur then
Hue/Saturation and then reduce the saturation. settings. Make sure the Preview box is ticked. reduce the layer opacity to 70%.

PHOTOSHOP 5-7
4
MORE ABOUT MASKS Find out more about the selection tools and masks at
AND SELECTIONS http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshopmasks
WWW.CARLVOLK.COM/PHOTOSHOPTIPS.ASP/ T ADD TO FAVOURITES
STAGE 4 2
ADJUST THE
BACKGROUND
With the main images
combined and ready, we need
to turn our attention to the third
element of the composition –
the background.
TIDY THE BACKGROUND REDUCE THE DEPTH OF FIELD MERGE VISIBLE LAYERS
19 Use the Clone Stamp tool (S) to remove the
20 Duplicate the background and apply to it a
21 Once you’re happy with the background, turn
distracting greenery from the top-left corner Gaussian Blur filter, go to Layer8Layer mask8 off the Background layer and merge the
then drag the gradient tool (G) from the corner to create a Reveal all and then drag the Gradient tool (set to visible layers together (Layer8Merge visible), (Shft + Ctrl +
dark, shadowy area to match the top-right corner. This foreground to background) from the top of the picture to E). This enables you to make final adjustments to the
increases the sense of perspective in the final image. the heel of the boots. boots without affecting the background.
0 EXPERT TIP
IN FOCUS Final result
BARRY JACKSON
Layer Styles
CREATING NEW STYLES TO SUM UP DEPTH OF FIELD SHADOWS
Rather than using a real
24 We’ve taken three photographs, Blur the Add shadows
background, create your own placed them on separate layers, background with to blend the
using Layer Styles. Experiment isolated the areas we wanted to use, blended the Gaussian Blur boots more
with some basic pattern via
them together, adjusted the colours and filter to reduce the naturally with
Layer, Layer Style, Pattern Overlay
added some shadows. Finally, we’re increased depth of field the background
and see what you get.
the sense of perspective and reduced the
depth of field. And there we have it: our final
surreal result.
REPAIR THE LACE

22 It is now time to replace the end of the right-
hand side lace we erased earlier. Use the
Magnetic lasso tool to make a selection around the end of
the left-hand side lace, copy (Ctrl + C) and paste (Ctrl + V).
FINAL ADJUSTMENTS
23 Drag the selection over to the right-side lace
then use Edit8 Free transform to position over
the lace end, double-click to apply. Make final colour and
contrast adjustments before flattening the layers (Layer,
Flatten image).

PHOTO CLINIC RESTORATION
YOUR GUIDE ED DAVIS
Ed Davis is a London-based advertising and corporate photographer with many years
experience of studio and location photography. He specialises in image manipulation, and
delivers creative solutions that combine photography and digital technology. He is a member of
NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals)
Equipment used: a scanner and Adobe Photoshop 7
picdesk.dcm@futurenet.co.uk WEBSITE www.ed-davis-photography.co.uk
Bring back black & white!

This wedding photo from the 1950s has faded so much that it looks like sepia print. With a little care and
attention Ed Davis can take care of the holes, cracks and stains ’til it looks as good as new…
I
n the last two Clinic sessions we’ve used was quite soft and porous which meant that areas around the edges that need replacing, drawing
CLINIC restored a colour print from the ’70s and photographs were prone to discolouration; they pin holes to reconstruct, cracks from folding to cover,
CHALLENGE US an old, hand-tinted portrait. This month we would absorb moisture and crack when they dried and a few stains as well as the discolouration to
2 THE READER
look at a wedding photograph from the 1950s taken
just a few years after the end of the Second World
out. In spite of all the distress, the photo we are
dealing with is still very crisp, giving us a good base
remove. The fabric of the lady's coat to the right of
the groom has a particularly tricky zigzag pattern –
JAN WINTERGREEN
Jan emailed us asking if we War. Good quality photographic paper and chemicals to work with. The restoration of this image involves we will have to demonstrate accuracy and patience
could help with this ‘battered old
were not readily available at that time – the paper various retouching techniques. There are missing to get it spot on.
specimen’ – a photo of her
parents’ wedding in 1953. We
were only too pleased to help!
2 CHALLENGE LEVEL
5 1
BEFORE The picture is cracked and worn, and
the colour has faded AFTER The photo looks as good as it did on
the wedding day!
2 TIME TO REPAIR
03
16 HOURS 01
02
2 NOW SEND YOURS!

Contact us via email with a 100K
JPEG attached and if we like it,
we’ll get in touch!
Email us today at:
picdesk.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
8
04
05
We need to employ a whole range of techniques here to 02. RIPS AND CRACKS 04. REPAIRING TEXTURES
get the result we want, involving the Clone tool, the Patch Solution: Use the Clone Tool to remove small Solution: To retain the texture of the coat fabric, in this
Photo tool and the Curves palette. Taken together, we’ll be able
to restore this picture.
areas of damage, then Copy and Paste to repair larger
sections.
case a zigzag pattern, copy undamaged parts of the
material using the Patch tool.
Clinic
01. BRINGING BACK THE BLACK & WHITE 03. MISSING PARTS 05. HAVE FUN WITH COLOURS
Solution: This colour is not the original one. So Brighten Solution: Reconstruct the missing corners from other parts Solution: Although above we have decided to return the
the photo using the Curves palette, and then desaturate to of the image using the lasso tool and liberal uses of Copy picture to its original state, there’s also the option of toning
remove all of the discolouration and stains. and Paste. the image too.

4
MORE ABOUT THE Set the blend mode to replace and it will blend noise and
HEALING TOOL grainy images more effectively
STAGE 1
BRINGING BACK
THE B&W
The photograph was originally
black & white but has
discoloured over the years to
2
a faded, brownish tint.
BACK TO BLACK & WHITE STAIN REMOVAL READY TO RETOUCH

01 Open the Curves Palette: 02 There are stains on the bride’s dress due to 03 The brownish colour has now been removed.
Image8Adjustments8 chemical reactions and dampness. Remove The tonal range of the image is neutral and
Curves (Ctrl + M). Choose a white area, such as the collar, the colour so the stains are the same tonal range as the easier to retouch – it can be re-coloured at a later stage.
click the Highlight Eyedropper, click on the white area. rest of her. Use the Desaturate command on the Options Different effects can be applied to the finished print, such
Now using the Shadow Eyedropper, click on the dark area Bar: Image8Adjustments8Desaturate (Shft + Ctrl + U). as sepia tone or hand tinting.
inside the doorway to make that black & white.
STAGE 2 2
RIPS AND CRACKS
There are several areas that
need to be repaired: the rips,
the cracks, the stains and other
small blemishes.
RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB SWAP THE AREAS REPAIRING THE DOOR FRAME
04 The photograph is fragile. Parts of the surface 05 The damage is extensive: on the left a rip and 06 Repair the door frame on the left of the photo
have been lost, leaving gaps in the emulsion. a missing section; on the right, a white sticker using the Clone Tool on the Tool Bar (short cut
Using the Copy and Paste method, damaged areas can be covering part of the door frame. Repair the left side first (it S). Place the cursor over an undamaged section of the
covered, and blended together. Minor blemishes and has the least damage) then copy and paste the repaired door frame, press Alt, move the cursor to the damaged
cracks need the Clone Tool and the Healing Brush. section onto the right-hand side. area and click. This will cover the small defects.
0 EXPERT TIP
ED DAVIS
USING LAYERS
LINKING LAYERS
If you want to lock layers
together, click on the small box USE THE LASSO MOVE INTO POSITION MAKE IT FIT
next to the eye in the Layers 07 Click the Lasso Tool (short cut L), select the 08 Position and merge the new door frame with 09 Select an area with the Lasso Tool (short cut L).
palette. A link of chain will
repaired area with the Feather setting on 2px, the background. On the Layers Palette, click Drag the selection over an undamaged area of
appear in the box: they are now
linked. If you move one layer, the copy the section (Ctrl + C) and Paste (Ctrl + V). To move it the arrow in the top right, on the drop down menu click similar texture. Copy the area (Ctrl + C – marked in red)
linked layers will also move. into place and flip it left to right select the Transform Tool Merge Down. This will combine the two layers. Repeat then paste (Ctrl + V) it on its own layer. Move it over the
on the Option Bar: Edit8Free Transform (or Ctrl + T). the process to cover the rip inside the door frame. damage. Use Transform tool (Ctrl + T) for an accurate fit.

PHOTO CLINIC RESTORATION
ONE CLICK FIX There are more patterns in the drop down menu of the Pattern selector. Click on the small arrow in the top right corner and click on Load Patterns
3 IN DETAIL
BRING BACK THE WHITE SELECT THE DRESS PICK THE RIGHT PATTERN
10 The bride’s dress is the lightest part of the 11 Make a selection around the bride’s dress 12 On the Tool Bar, click the Paint Bucket Tool. On
photograph, showing an array of stains, dirt, using the Lasso Tool (short cut L). For a soft the Options Bar click Fill8Pattern. From the
BLENDING OPTIONS cracking and other blemishes. Choosing a good source to edge, pick a Feather setting of 6px. Create a new Layer by drop down menu, in the Pattern selector, choose a light
One of Photoshop’s strengths is the
clone or copy and paste from is essential to retaining the clicking on the Create New Layer icon at the bottom of the black & white pattern. Click inside the selection to fill it
power and control it gives to the
blending of layers. Try hard light original definition and texture of this garment. Layers Palette or on the Option Bar: Layer8New8Layer. with the chosen pattern.
mode for richer, deeper tones, or
soft light for lighter tones.
BLEND THE LAYERS SUBTLE CHANGES DEFINE THE EDGES

13 On the Options Bar click Layer8Layer 14 The newly created white layer is used to blend 15 To enhance the edges of the bride’s jacket and
Style8Blending Options, a large palette appears. in with the stained bride’s dress, diffusing the buttons click on the Burn Tool in the Tool Bar
On the Blend If: section there are two sliders: This Layer imperfections without loosing too much of the detail. (short cut O). Set the Exposure on the Option Bar to 35 per
and Underlying Layer. Click on the top slider, Press Alt. This The area in red has been blended with the top and cent. Take the curser over the area you want to darken,
splits the slider, giving more variation in the blend. Repeat bottom layers so it has lost some of the stains but still click and drag, and the area will darken while the lines
with the second slider until the balance is achieved. retains the texture. become more visible.
STAGE 3 2
MISSING PARTS
Most of the corners have suffered
damage from being bent over or
having pins pushed through them.
New areas have to be created
using other parts of the image.
FIND A REPLACEMENT COPY AND PASTE FITTING IN TO THE IMAGE

16 Look at the photograph and try to locate similar 17 Click the Lasso Tool (short cut L) on the Tool 18 Flip the new section of wall using Free
pieces of the background that can be used to Bar. In the Option bar, set the Feather to 2px; Transform: Edit8Free Transform or (Ctrl + T).
replace damaged sections in other areas. This technique this will soften the edge and help with the blending. This section can be used several times along this edge of
will save time and it’s easier than trying to rebuild the Make a selection around the wall area, copy the selection the print covering over most of the fine surface cracks.
image. In this case a section of the wall is ideal as it would (Ctrl + C) and Paste (Ctrl + V). The selection is now on its Use the same technique to rebuild the other corners of
continue on the other side of the notice board. own layer and can be moved. the photograph.

If the pattern is too coarse it can be softened using the
4
MORE TOOL Gaussian Blur filter. Option Bar8Filter8Blur8Gaussian Blur.
OPTIONS Use the slider to adjust the amount of blur
STAGE 4 2
REPAIRING TEXTURES
Finally we’re going to patch up the
woman’s zigzag coat – the most
complicated pattern on the
photograph. To give the image
clarity, you must make sure that
the textures you use as your
source are as sharp as possible.
PATCH UP THE IMAGE SELECT THE BEST SPOT CLEAN LINES

19 Photoshop 7 has some slick new tools in its 20 To retouch the coat using the Patch Tool, 21 The finished result is really impressive. You can
arsenal and one of these is the Patch Tool. This choose an area that looks like it will fit over see here how the new selections blend
is perfect for the job we have here. It is located in the the damage. Make a selection around that area, click themselves seamlessly over the damaged areas, leaving
same icon as the Healing Tool. To access it, simply select and drag the selection over the damage, position your no visible join or trace of the former damage. The best
the Patch Tool from the Tool Bar (short cut J) on the Option selection accurately to fit the pattern, release the mouse thing about this effect is that the end result retains the
Bar, then click Destination. and it will blend with the background image. exact texture of the fabric.
IN FOCUS Final presentation
THE TINT OPTION

23 To create a sepia tone print, change the colour.
Open Image8Adjustment8Hue/Saturation
(Ctrl + U). Click on the Colourize tick box, then move the
sliders to get the right colour.
@ SEND YOURS!
We want your faded, damaged
pictures today!
Send them in, we’ll fix them up for
free, show everyone how we did it
and send them back restored! COLOUR COORDINATED PERFECT FIT COLOUR
22 Once all the retouching is The damage Once the essential
The sort of pictures we’re after
completed, the next step is to sustained over the elements of the
need to be decent photos which
have become damaged –
decide on the final print. The options are years is invisible now, photo are restored
unfortunately we can’t make badly to leave it black & white or give it a thanks to some of you can choose the
composed/shot photos good. slightly warm tint. We also have to Photoshop’s tools colour tint you prefer
choose the size and decide if it’s going to
■ Contact us via email, with a small be presented: in a frame, or mounted in
JPEG of the photo attached, and if
an album.
it’s right for the mag, we’ll get in
@
ADOBE ACTION SEPIA
touch. How’s that for a bargain?
Email the following address:
24 Click on the Actions Tab in Photoshop, then the
action marked Sepia Toning (layer). With the
picdesk.dcm@futurenet.co.uk action highlighted click on the arrow on the bottom to start
the action. When it has finished the print will be sepia toned.

TUTORIAL PHOTOSHOP & ELEMENTS TOOLS
YOUR GUIDE SIMON DANAHER
Simon Danaher is a digital artist specialising in Photoshop, compositing and 3D. He
is also a consultant, trainer and author. Simon has been working professionally in
the graphics industry for over six years, and is currently writing his second book on
professional graphics techniques
letters.dcm@futurenet.co.uk PORTFOLIO SIMON DANAHER
Using the right selection

tool for the job
Learn the basics of selections in Photoshop – Simon Danaher shows how they work and
how to make the most of them
L
earning how to use the selection techniques Just like there are many different ways to adjust It's also important to understand what's going on
TUTORIAL
is one of the most important skills you can colour and brightness (some obvious, some very beneath the surface and how Photoshop handles
KEY DETAILS learn in Photoshop because it's required for obscure) in Photoshop, there are many ways to make selections, pixels and channels. They’re all related, so
2 ON OUR CD
Discover our trial of Photoshop
so many operations. If you need to apply a filter to a
portion of an image while leaving the rest of it intact, a
selections. The key to being good at it is practice. And
this doesn't just mean learning how to hold the mouse
once you get to grips with the concepts you'll find
working in Photoshop much easier.
7 and try out this technique. selection is the best way to do it. If you want to make steady while drawing a line. After using Photoshop for a In this Photoshop tutorial we'll show you how
2 SKILL BOOSTER
colour or brightness adjustments to parts of an image
independently from each other, then making a good
while you become more intuitive at being able to
decide what tool, feature and workaround is best
Photoshop selections work and how they can be applied
in conjunction with other Photoshop features to improve
4 selection is the key. for a given task. your digital photos.
2 TIME TO COMPLETE
20 MINS
BASIC SELECTION When you make a selection in Photoshop, such as with the Rectangular
Marquee tool, you will see what's called the 'marching ants'
2 NEXT MONTH
Intermediate
Selection techniques.
? EXPLAINED 01
MARCHING ANTS
This dotted line of ‘marching ants’ defines 02
MOVE AND ZOOM
Note that only tools or features that change 03
FLOATING PIXELS
When you 'pick up' a selection like this,
CHANNEL the boarder of the selection you have the pixels in some way respect selections. using the Move tool, the selection 'floats'
Channel – a special 'layer' in the made. Pixels inside the shape are selected, whereas You can still use the Pan (hand) or Zoom (magnifying above the pixels in the layer. It's free to move
Channel palette that stores pixels outside are known as unselected or ‘protected’. glass) tools to move and zoom the whole image anywhere you like so long as the selection is active.
greyscale pixels. These can be used
All that’s happening is you’re basically telling the irrespective of what you’ve selected. However if you As soon as you deselect it, the pixels in the selection
to make selections and masks and
can be saved as alpha channels in
program you only want the pixels inside the selection use the Move tool and drag you will actually be are 'dropped' onto the layer replacing those beneath it
certain file formats. to be affected by whatever effects you apply next picking up those selected pixels – thus changing the for good. Notice that this technique is destructive to
within Photoshop. image in some way. the pixels in the image.

NEXT MONTH
; 5 INTERMEDIATE SELECTION
TECHNIQUES
* WEB LINKS
[w]www.winplanet.com/
winplanet/tips/4201/1/
[w]www.apogeephoto.com/
aug2000/PhotoshopTip3.shtml
[w] www.graphicdesign.com/
Photoshop/Tips/layers.html
CREATE A NEW LAYER MOVE THE SELECTION THE TRANSFORM SELECTION

04 If you want to do the same thing non- 05 If we go back to the image as it was before, 06 Even better, you can adjust the size and
destructively you need to copy the pixels in as a single layer, and make a selection using angle of the selection too by using the
the selection to a new layer. The command is the rectangular Marquee tool again we can do Transform Selection feature in the Select menu. With
Layers8New8New Layer from Copy or command/ something else. If you click and drag the selection you this feature you can stretch and rotate the selection
control-J. The original pixels are unchanged and you can move just the selection. This enables you to fine- only, just like you can with pixels and the Free
are now dealing with layers rather than selections. tune the selection's position after you’ve created it. Transform tool.
You can also make selections by painting. This is useful if you want a less ; READ ON
QUICKMASK MODE precise, more artistic selection ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 7 FOR
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Published by Focal Press

ISBN 0240516907
Price £29.99
Website www.amazon.co.uk
USE THE QUICKMASK MODE MASK OUT PARTS SELECT BY PAINTING
01 The simplest way to make a selection using 02 Choose the Brush tool and a large hard 03 If you want to Select by painting you have Aimed at intermediate users, this
paint is to use Photoshop's QuickMask brush. Now when you paint in the image to start with everything already masked handy book takes a close look at the
various tools in Photoshop 7 which
mode. To do this, simply open your file then press the you see a translucent red colour appear called a out. Enter QuickMask mode with no selection active
can help photographers get more
Q key to enter QuickMask mode. You are now ready to Rubylith. What you are doing is Deselecting areas by then type alt-delete to fill the image with the
from their images. Written by Martin
start painting. painting in the image. You are literally masking out foreground colour (which should be black). The whole Evening, it contains tons of tips, help
parts of the image as you paint. image turns red to indicate it is masked out. and advice on everything from
image editing to scanning and
colour correction.
SWAP THE COLOURS THE CHANNEL BUTTON ADD A DROP SHADOW

04 Now swap the foreground and background 05 QuickMask shows that pixels and selections 06 It looks just like the original paint strokes. We
colours by pressing the X key – white should are related. With the painted selection still can apply filters now. Here the Sketch8Torn
be at the top now. With the Brush tool begin painting active, click on the Channels palette tab then click the Edges filter is applied. By clicking Make Selection from
again. Now where you paint it will remove the Save Selection as a Channel button. Click the channel Channel button, the modified channel is converted back
Rubylith to make a selection. Once finished press the Q that is created to view it and drop the selection by to a selection. We can now add a white background
key again to convert the QuickMask into a selection. typing command/control-d. and apply a drop shadow, or countless other effects

TUTORIAL GET STARTED WITH PAINT SHOP PRO
YOUR GUIDE JOE APICE

Joe has been a keen amateur photographer for over 20 years and trains others in
basic camera techniques. His work has been exhibited in local galleries and he’s an
avid user of Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop
joseph.apice@verizon.net PORTFOLIO JOE APICE
Swapping colours in
selected areas of an image
If you need to make selective colour changes to objects in your photo, such as clothing or scenery, without
changing their texture then Joe Apice’s tutorial will show you how
M 7TOOL SCHOOL
ore often than not, the idea of swapping photos. It will probably be a subtle change – perhaps a
TIPS GUIDE
colours in a photograph brings on weird facial client you did a photo shoot for wants an article of
KEY DETAILS expressions from photo enthusiasts. "Change clothing to look a little different.
2 SKILL LEVEL the colours? I took the picture because there was Or simply, you might want to see how changing the PSP7 TOOL PALETTE
The Selection tool, the Paintbrush
something about it that begged me to photograph it. colour of certain objects will impact the final image, out tool and the Eyedropper tool are
3 Why would I want to change the colours?" of pure curiosity. located here in the Tool Palette.
2 TIME TO COMPLETE Well, for the most part, I would agree, and I’m not
suggesting that you start swapping colours in your
There are a multitude of reasons why you might
want to change colours in an image: those few outlined
20 MINSPERSTAGE
pictures to try and make them look better.
What I am suggesting, is that there are times when
above are just a few.
The important thing to know is that Paint Shop Pro 7
easy. It will also look totally professional – the naked eye
would never know the difference. Here’s how to go
2 NEXT MONTH
Fixing Dark Photos.
colour swapping can add a new dimension to your has all the tools you need to make the job quick and about changing those colours.
GET STARTED Before we actively change the colour of a photograph we must treat the selected
area in a certain way, leaving a base that’s suitable to work with
3 IN DETAIL
CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT
The Auto Contrast Enhancement
feature is not available in versions
earlier than PSP7. To obtain
8 8
somewhat similar results, adjust the
contrast by using the Adjust
Brightness & Contrast command.
THE SAMPLE IMAGE MAKE THE SELECTION DESATURATE THE COLOURS

01 To illustrate the effects of selective colour 02 To select the area of interest use the Freehand 03 Before making colour changes, we want to
swapping, I will use the image above and selection tool, sometimes referred to as the remove the existing colour from the selection
change the colour of the girl’s blouse from a maroon Lasso tool. Choose the Freehand selection tool by clicking by desaturating it. To do this we go to the Main menu bar
colour to a mint green. The technique works best on the mouse pointer on the Lasso icon in the Tool Palette. In and choose Colors8Adjust8Hues/Saturation/Lightness. In
selections that have distinct edges and tones of even the tool options window, set the feather value to 0. The the Hue/Saturation/Lightness dialog box, set the
colour. It is not meant to be used for changing people’s accuracy of your selection will determine the quality of Saturation to -100 and the Lightness value to 0 as shown.
hair colour, for example. your results, so zoom in close on critical areas. You are now in a position to start making changes.

The Hue/Saturation/Lightness command may not
4
ONE-CLICK desaturate the image completely at first. Press Shift+H
FIX and then Enter, until all the colour has been removed
MIXING IT UP You can change the colour of just one element in a photograph, with no loss to the * WEB LINKS
quality, contrast or sharpness of the image – it still looks completely natural TUTORIAL WEBSITE
http://psp7tutorials.homestead.
com/index.html
LOCATE A NEUTRAL STARTING POINT CHOOSE A REPLACEMENT COLOUR SET THE BRUSH SIZE
04 This point should be a bit lighter than neutral
05 Place the mouse pointer on the Foreground
06 Click the Paintbrush icon. On the tool palette,
18 per cent Gray. Go to the Main menu and colour box where it changes to an eyedropper and in the Tool Options window set the brush
select Colors8Adjust8Levels. In the Levels dialog box, icon. Click once for the colours and select one from the list. shape to Round, the Size to 250, the Hardness to 75, the
adjust the centre diamond-shaped slider to the left. We chose Mint Green. The luminosity can be adjusted by Opacity to 50, the Step to 20 and the Density to 100.
Check the preview window in the Levels dialog box. moving the slider up or down in the bar on the right. Make sure that the Build-up box is NOT checked.
? EXPLAINED
DESATURATION
Desaturation, as discussed in this
tutorial, refers to the removal of
colour from the selected area of
the image.
BRUSH IN THE COLOUR MIX TWO COLOURS LEVELS TO DARKEN

07 Place the brush anywhere in the selection, click 08 To mix colours, place the pointer on the 09 Now select the Levels command once again to
and hold down the mouse button and drag the foreground color box in the Color Palette and get the right tone. On the Main menu bar
paintbrush cursor in the selection until the area is filled select a new colour. When mixing, reduce the opacity of select Colors8Adjust8Levels. In the levels dialog box
with the colour. A large brush size will work best – it won’t the brush to 15 per cent before adding the second color. move the centre diamond slider to the right until tone is
go over as PSP will not paint outside of the selected area. Here, pink over green produced a lavender effect. right. The preview window above shows you the results.
0 EXPERT TIP
JOE APICE
PAINTSHOP PRO EXPERT
DESATURATION
In some cases, the
ADJUST THE CONTRAST SHARPEN UP THE IMAGE THE ICING ON THE CAKE
10 To bring back the original texture of the blouse 11 I’ve applied some sharpening to make the
12 For one final touch I’ve usied the Lasso tool. I
Hue/Saturation/Lightness
command may not desaturate the
select Effects8Enhance Photo8Automatic inherent shine of the material come through. selected the back wall area behind the girl, image completely the first time. If
that occurs, repeat the command
Contrast Enhancement on the main menu. In the Auto On the Main menu bar select Effects8Sharpen8Unsharp zooming in on the critical areas near the hair. The reddish
several times until all the colour
Contrast dialog box select Darker for Bias, Mild for Strength Mask. In the Unsharp Mask dialog box set the Radius to colour was applied using the paintbrush tool with the
has been completely removed.
and Bold for Appearance to bring out intricate detail. 1.5, Strength to 100 and Clipping to 5. brush opacity set at 50.

TUTORIAL GET STARTED WITH PAINT SHOP PRO
YOUR GUIDE JOE APICE

Joe has been a keen amateur photographer for over 20 years and trains others in basic
camera techniques. His work has been exhibited in local galleries and he’s an avid user of
Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop
joseph.apice@verizon.net PORTFOLIO JOE APICE
Enhancing your photos by

focusing on your subject
If your photos are washed out and the backgrounds are cluttered with distractions, Joe Apice’s tutorial will
show you how to bring back life into your images and focus the viewer’s attention on the main subject
W 7TOOL SCHOOL
hether you’re using a digital camera, a way, is to extract the main subject from the picture and
TIPS GUIDE
scanner or a photo processing lab, there are place the extracted image on a different background.
KEY DETAILS times when your pictures will need a level of The second is to enhance the main subject and blur the
2 SKILL LEVEL enhancement and retouching. background – an effect similar to that produced by a TOOL PALETTE
The tools use in this tutorial are
More often than not, when the photo is taken at an camera lens wide open. found here in the Tool Palette.
5
outdoor event, people in the background along with The first approach can result in a photo that will
2 TIME TO COMPLETE other objects such as traffic lights, signs and so on,
act as distractions and take the focus away from the
appear hopelessly unrealistic; the second method
focuses on enhancing the subject and reducing
20 MINSPERIMAGE
main subject.
A background can often make or break a picture, and
the distractions in the background, to produces a more
natural look. By diffusing or blurring the distractions you
background without actually removing it. Follow the
walkthrough below – we show you how to do it,
2 NEXT MONTH
Enhancing Images part 3.
there are two ways to deal with these situations. One can safely remove the focus of attention on the step-by-step.
GET STARTED Decide where you want to focus, the areas of distraction, and what can be removed
from the image without changing the balance of the colours and shapes…
8 8
0 EXPERT TIP
JOE APICE
WEATHER CONDITIONS
PREVIEW THE IMAGE SET THE BACKGROUND COLOUR ERASE ANY DISTRACTIONS
PHOTOGRAPHING SKY
Use your digital camera to
01 The image of this classic car was once a prime 02 The Eraser tool helps to remove some of the 03 Using the Lasso tool in Freehand mode, make
photograph the sky under various candidate for the reject pile. Notice how the objects in the background. To set the a rough selection of the area surrounding the
weather conditions and at different colours are faded, the sky is washed out and the background colour for the Eraser tool, place the cursor on unwanted objects. In this case, that means the utility pole,
times of the day. Keep a file on your background is cluttered with utility poles, traffic lights and the Background colour box in the Colour palette. Press and traffic light, overhead power lines and loudspeaker. Then,
computer with the various images
a bystander looking on. Don’t discard it yet. There is still hold the Ctrl key and drag the eyedropper to the area with the Eraser tool, erase the objects in the selection.
of the sky so they can be used to
life left in it and PSP will bring it out. near the objects you want to remove. Click the left mouse
replace washed-out backgrounds.
button to set the colour.

Several camera manufacturers including Fuji and Minolta have sold soft focus lenses
4
FURTHER that are primarily used in portrait photography. The advantage of photo-editing
INFORMATION software is its ability to select the areas where the blurring effect will take place
ENHANCING DETAILS Maintaining a good balance is a case of arranging colours and shapes * WEB LINKS
in order to bring the viewer’s focus to your main subject TUTORIAL WEBSITE
http://psp7tutorials.homestead.
com/index.html
CLONE OUT THE CLUTTER MAKE THE SKY SELECTION TAKE OUT THE WASH
04 Unwanted objects can be replaced with the
05 When all the unwanted objects have been
06 The washed-out sky can now be replaced with
Clone tool. To use the Clone tool, click the Dual erased, the Magic Wand tool can be used to a more vivid one from another image. To do
Brush icon on the Tool palette. Position the Clone brush select the area of the sky. A tolerance setting of 5 with a this, open the other image containing the sky you want to
cursor on the sampling area and click the right mouse feather value of 2 will do the trick here. With areas having use, select the area of the sky you want to copy and then
button to set the source point. Using the Clone brush, copy a non-uniform colour it may be necessary to increase the paste it into the selection using the Edit8Copy8Into
the sample and click the left mouse button. tolerance value before the Magic wand can be effective. Selection command.
EXPAND THE SELECTION CHANGE THE DEPTH OF FIELD INVERT THE SELECTION
07 Use the Freehand selection tool to expand the 08 The Gaussian Blur filter applied to the 09 With the background out of focus we can
selection to the areas near the front-left and expanded selection will create an out of focus invert the selection and enhance the main
right-rear sides of the subject as shown. To expand a look around the subject. The Gaussian Blur filter is applied subject. On the main menu, click Selections8 Invert, to
selection, press and hold the Shift key while outlining the by selecting Effects from the Main menu and then make the car and the road the active selection area.
new area. To subtract from the selection, press and hold choosing Blur8Gaussian Blur in the drop-down window. A All enhancements that follow will now be restricted to
the Ctrl key while outlining the new area. Radius setting of 8 produces the desired effect. this selection.
3 IN DETAIL
SATURATE COLOURS
Auto Saturation Enhancement is not
available in earlier versions of PSP.
To saturate the colours in an image
and attain a somewhat similar
result, use the Hue8 Saturation/
Lightness command and adjust the
colour saturation as needed to
obtain the desired effect.
SATURATE THE COLOURS ENHANCE THE SUBJECT’S FEATURES THE END RESULT
10 The Auto Saturation Enhancement filter is used 11 The Unsharp Mask is used to sharpen the
12 With just some basic tools you can bring back
to bring back the lost colour in the car. Select features of the car and make it stand out. On life to otherwise dull images. This tutorial
Effects8Enhance Photo8Auto Saturation Enhancement and the Main menu bar, select Effects8Sharpen8Unsharp should help you understand the power available in PSP
enter a setting of Strong for Strength and More Colorful for Mask. A setting of 150 proves effective while the Radius and that it will help you develop some ideas on how to
Bias to produce maximum colour saturation. and Clipping values are kept at their default setting. enhance your photos.

TIPS ULEAD PHOTOIMPACT
YOUR GUIDE NICK MERRITT

Nick has edited, managed and launched some of the UK’s leading
technology magazines, and has been writing about and using computers
for longer than he wants to admit
editor.dcm@futurenet.co.uk WEBSITE www.futurenet.co.uk
20 ways to get more from

Ulead PhotoImpact
With its digital photo features, PhotoImpact is already a popular mid-range image-editing application. Use our 20
tips to get even more from it
T
he competition among the makers of image excellent program has plenty to offer. We’ve come up buttons you would like displayed for the main toolbar.
TIPS GUIDE
editing software has been hotting up – all the with a variety of hints and tips to ensure that you get Now you’re ready to add effects.
KEY DETAILS major players have just released their latest the most from whatever you’re doing.
2 ON OUR DISC versions amd even freeware programs are not bad.
PhotoImpact is one that has gained in popularity and 01 Arrange the interface
02 Add effects
By combining one or more images, you can add some
Use our trial of PhotoImpact 8 to
try some of the tips on this page. now has a thriving community of enthusiasts. If you’ve been used to using a different image-editing great special effects to an image. This is ideal for
To celebrate the release of Version 8 we’ve included a program then the layout of PhotoImpact 7 may feel a creating the likes of birthday cards or postcards to send
2 SKILL BOOSTER trial version on this month’s coverdisc and compiled this little unfamiliar. You can remedy this before you start to friends and family. Open your base image and ensure
selection of 20 top tips to help you get that little bit playing around with it by clicking the Layout button. that the Easy Palette is visible. Click Object Libraries and
5
extra from the software you have already. Select Options at the bottom of the list and check the select Image Library. Select the category you would like
2 TIME TO COMPLETE Whether you’re looking to touch up digital box next to each toolbar and choose the set of tools you to use and double-click an image to insert in your main
2
photographs, or prepare images for your website, this would like to use. Then click Customize and select the image. You can then resize it and put it into position.
HOURS
2 NEXT MONTH
Look out for our selection of
ways to improve any photo.
03 GETTING MORE FROM COLOUR How to give your colour photos an
aged or sepia look in PhotoImpact 7
8 8
GET MANUAL USE HUE/SATURATION FINISH UP

01 PhotoImpact 7 doesn’t come with a filter that 02 If your photo is already black and white skip to 03 Next click Format, Colour Balance and increase
gives a colour photo an aged appearance or step three. Otherwise, open the photo you the Thumbnail variation slider to between 15
sepia tone so you’ll have to create the effect yourself by would like to age and click Format, Hue & Saturation. and 20 for the effect you want. Click one of the
manually adjusting the image’s colour settings. All you Move the Saturation slider all the way to the left so that it thumbnails in the top row of the Preset tab and then
have to do is follow steps two and three. reads -100 and then click OK. click OK for the finished result.

ULEAD’s OWN There’s lots of strong integration between PhotoImpact and the web – visit www.ulead.com for details
4
THREE USEFUL STEPHANIE’S A great selection of beginner’s tips for PhotoImpact, at www.eastofthesun.com/pi6quicktips/quicktips.htm
WEBSITES ADVANCED TIPS Go to www.pircnet.com/tips.html for a selection of more technical advice
PHOTOIMPACT
2 USING 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 TOOLBAR
PHOTOIMPACT 8 08
Here’s a quick guide to
the tools mentioned on
The interface in PhotoImpact makes it these pages. You can
alter the overall view via
easy to get to the main image tools 09 the Tile With... option
under Window.
01 File menu
Lots of options for importing from digital cameras or
exporting to the web 12 8 Pick tool
02 Edit
Fade, Stitch, Mask modes are accessed from here
10 8 Selection tool
8
13
Merge
8
03 View
Access the colour correction and image fixit controls Text tool
04 Selection 8 Crop tool
8
Select regions of the image and control how they are
affected, here Transform tool
05 Object
Useful when adding elements to an image 8 Retouch/Dodge
06 Effect
8 Paint
The usual plug-in effects options here, like sharpen.
Also access some photo-only effects like Beautify Skin 8 Stamp tool
07 Web
Design elements for use on the Web
8 Eyedropper tool
08 Shortcuts
Quick access to commonly used menu items, like 11
Save, Print, Import from Camera
09 Attributes
These change depending on what tool you have
selected from the toolbar below-left
10 Tools 11 Colour controls 12 Layer manager 13 Colour controls

Selection, text, paint, drawing, colour picker, flood fill Use these controls to adjust the amount of Brings up palette to access separate Use these controls to adjust the amount of
and so on – see sidebar colour in a picture image layers colour in a picture
04 One click fix using the Colorize Pen. First of all take a colour photo but you’ll be able to change the colour properties of the
Owners of scanners and digital cameras will be able to and turn it into a black and white picture by clicking images as well.
import their images directly into PhotoImpact 7. Effect, Special, Monochrome. Click the Retouch tool
However, such images don’t always look as great as you button, select Colorize Pen on the tool attribute bar, 11 Save time
would like. A quick way of making them more select a brush size and shape, and drag the cursor over Batch Manager under Window on the Toolbar enables
presentable is to click Format and select the Post- an area of your picture to add some spot colour. you to carry out the same process on multiple images. If
processing wizard. Here you will be able to straighten, you have a number of images open at the same time,
crop and adjust the colour settings. 08 Get drawing select the category or process you require – say, Effect –
When it comes to working in fine detail, you need to and you’ll be able to apply the same filter effect to all
05 Easy montage have things exactly right to be able to create the best the images you have open.
If you have a good selection of photos that you would image you can. Click File, Preferences and choose
12 Go 3D
3 IN DETAIL
like to combine into a montage, the easiest way to do General. From the list of Categories select Tools and
this is using a multiple image print. Open one of the choose the type of cursor you would like to use. If you Those of us not blessed with natural artistic talent would
images that you would like to include and click File, Print are lucky enough to be using a graphics tablet, you can have a job making a navigation button for a Web page
Multiple. Select the layout that you would like to use and adjust the sensitivity of pen pressure here as well. from scratch. Embossed or 3D effects would be out of COLOURISE PEN
then click Next. Choose the source of your images and the question. Fortunately, PhotoImpact 7 has a tool just To colourise an old black and white
photo, use the Retouch Colorise
drag the thumbnail of each image to your layout. When 09 Go online for the job in the Effects menu. Take any existing image
Pen Tool (click the Retouch/Dodge
you’re done, click Next and you’ll be able to print. You may want to include images of Web pages within and you’ll be able to turn it into a button. icon – it’s the option at the bottom
your site for reference purposes. The most obvious way of the list). Go to Preset and
06 Go faster to do this is by grabbing a screenshot and then editing 13 Fade away choose the pen type. Then drag
Unless you have a relatively high-spec PC with bucket the resulting image. PhotoImpact 7 has a better way A simple way of adding an effect to a plain-coloured the mouse over the regions you
loads of RAM, you can sometimes wait what seems an and by clicking File, Open From Web, Open Web Page as background image for your Web page is to click Edit and wish to colourise.
age while your image redraws after editing. You can Image you’ll be able to start editing an image of the use Fadeout. You can choose to fade in and out from
speed up this process by only loading the area of an page straight away. any angle using two or more colours. This tool is ideal
image you need to work on. Click File, Open and check for creating layers to add to an existing image, too.
the box labelled Partial load. Your image will be split into 10 Convert images
different segments, enabling you to choose the portion If you have a selection of images that you need to 14 Change dimensions
that requires editing. convert from one format to the other there’s no need to Click Format, Resolution and you’ll be able to change the
do them one at a time using Save as. Instead, place all dimensions of your image without affecting file size or
07 Turn mono to colour the images in one folder and click File, Batch Convert colour depth. This process differs from resampling in that
Turn an ordinary photograph into something special and not only will you be able to change the file type, the size and distance between the centre of each pixel is

TIPS ULEAD PHOTOIMPACT
ONE-CLICK FIX Hold Shift while you click on a path – this adds a node. Ctrl removes a node
? EXPLAINED
SELECTION
Use a Selection to choose an area
15 20 PHOTOIMPACT KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Keep these shortcuts to hand next time you crack open PhotoImpact. You’ll save yourself time and energy...
beyond which any changes you SHORTCUT RESULT SHORTCUT RESULT
make will not be applied. Think of it
Ctrl + Z Undo/multiple undo depending on your preferences X Toggle between foreground/background colour
as a boundary within which
changes are confined.
Ctrl + Y Undoes the last undo W Hold down to briefly switch to the Pick tool (which is used
Ctrl + T Repeat the last command. for moving selections around)
+ Zoom in Tab Toggles on/off Toolbars and Panels
- Zoom out Shift + F5 Sort all open compositions into order
Page Up/Down Vertical scroll Ctrl + H Open Fadeout dialog box. Use it to reduce opacity of
Home Left scroll selections and objects
End Right scroll Ctrl + U Hide toolbars and panels. Maximise current composition.
Cursor keys Move an object a single pixel in the relevant direction Esc Undos Ctrl + U above
Ctrl + X, C, V Cut, copy, paste an object Ctrl + M Maximises current composition to 100%
Ctrl + R Crop to selection Ctrl + K Activates Mask mode
Ctrl + A Select All Ctrl + G Resize image
Ctrl + F Fill selection Ctrl + B Adjust brightness and contrast
Ctrl + D Duplicate active image Ctrl + L Adjust colour balance
Spacebar Select base image F6 Open Preferences
` Display tools Ctrl + Shift + F Sharpen blurry images
Z Hold to quick-zoom. Left-click to zoom in, right-click to Ctrl + Shift + T Open Tone map
zoom out Ctrl + Shift + L Snaps to guides
C Hold down and left-click to select the foreground colour in Ctrl + Shift + R Hide or show grid
the eyedropper, right-click to select background colour Ctrl + Shift + N Snap to grid
8
altered and all other image information remains the 17 Enhance your photos Web, Image Optimizer and you’ll be able to strike a
same as before. Although there’s an extensive range of ready made filter balance between quality and a small file size by
effects within PhotoImpact 7, that’s not the only way of adjusting the colours and colour depth.
16 Make portraits better enhancing your image. For example, select an area
The obvious way to improve the appearance of one of within your image and click Selection, Convert to Object. 19 Remember it
your photographic subjects is to use the Beautify Skin That area of your image will then be selected as its own If you find a tool that’s particularly useful for creating an
filter under Effects. Some subjects will require more work image and you’ll be able to place it within your original effect you like, you don’t have to remember its settings
than others, in which case you may wish to click Format, image for artistic effect. Alternatively, click Web, Shift until the next time you need it. You can save it within
Focus instead. What this effect does is enable you to add Image for a new perspective on things! PhotoImpact so you can use it over and over again. With
a certain amount of blur to the photo, which will help to your tools settings defined, click the Add button on the
disguise any wrinkles or blemishes on a person’s skin, or 18 Optimise your images toolbar and you’ll be able to label it and save its details
any unflattering skin tones. To optimise an image for the Web, open it and click for use in the future.
0 EXPERT TIP PhotoImpact can help you turn those still shots into
NICK MERRIT
Editor
20 CREATING ANIMATIONS animations. Here’s how to do it
CHANGING THE
SHAPE OF A PATH
To quickly adjust the shape of a
path, select a drawing tool, then
from the attribute toolbar, select
8 8
the Horizontal Deform or Vertical
Deform mode. Then drag the
handles in the bounding box which
appears, to change the path shape.
IMPROVING SKIN
Use the Beautify skin filter to
improve skin tones: From Effect,
Photographic, select Beautify Skin.
Then use the Eyedropper to pick a OPEN THE IMAGE ADD MOTION BLUR FINISH UP
tone from the Before image. 01 Open the image you would like to add an 02 In this instance we are going to use the 03 Click the Reverse key frame button and your
Adjust the Level slider to soften the
animation effect to and then click Gaussian blur effect and reverse it to give image will go blurred in the preview window.
tone, and use the Complexion
option from the Style menu to Effect8Creative8Animation Studio. You will then get a the animation effect. This will give the effect of our You can increase the number of frames to lengthen the
improve quality. Click OK. preview of the 11 animation effects that are available to image coming into view and gradually getting clearer animation, but this will result in a larger file. Click Save
you in PhotoImpact. frame by frame. when you’ve finished.

The usual way to get a soft-focus effect is either smear your camera lens with vaseline (not
TUTORIAL TOOL SCHOOL
4
WHY YOU’LL LOVE recommended) or use a soft gauze material in front of the lens. However, why go to all that bother
THIS TECHNIQUE when a bit of jiggery-pokery in Photoshop can do a similar thing?
YOUR GUIDE SIMON DANAHER

Simon is a digital artist specialising in Photoshop, compositing and 3D.
He has been working professionally in the graphics industry for over six
years, and is writing a book on professional graphics techniques
letters.dcm@futurenet.co.uk BEFORE & AFTER USE LAYERS TO FAKE SOFT-FOCUS
Easy soft focus effects

Want to add some soft focus effects to your images? No problem. Simon Danaher shows you how
to do it without having to smear grease over your nice new camera lens
ocusing is usually the kind of thing that you want to get spot on, and That said there are ways to selectively defocus a photo to make it softer-looking. In
F
TUTORIAL
KEY DETAILS because of this all digital cameras can focus images automatically for you so
you get pin-sharp pictures (cheap ones may have fixed focus). Some more
the days before diffuser filters photographers would shoot through frosted glass, or
stretch nylon over the lens. Sometimes they would even smear vaseline or hairspray
2 IMAGE EDITORS expensive cameras will let you manually override the focusing to perform this yourself,
but it’s rare that you will want a picture that’s deliberately out of focus.
on them – which can be applied to different parts of the glass to achieve softened
focus. These days, of course, we have Adobe Elements.
Any image editor which
supports layers will enable you
to use this technique.
2 SKILL BOOSTER
6
2 TIME TO COMPLETE
20 MINUTES
CROP THE IMAGE AVOID DIRECT BLUR OPACITY CONTRAST

01 Here’s how to achieve the 02 Don’t blur the image directly. 03 Now all you need to do is 04 Another way to do this is to
0 EXPERT TIP simplest soft focus effect.

Open your image. The first thing to do
A soft focus effect is actually
about partial diffusion not blur. You
reduce the opacity of the
blurred layer until the normal sharp
set the opacity back to 100
per cent but use the Overlay blending
before altering the focus is to crop the can achieve this by duplicating the layer begins to show through. A 50 per mode. This increases the contrast
SIMON DANAHER
LAYERS image to a more intimate aspect and background layer (by dragging it to the cent opacity for the blurred layer results considerably so adjust it by applying
APPLY LEVELS composition like so. new layer dialog) and blurring this. in a good, basic soft focus effect. levels to the blurred layer.
You can apply levels to the
blurred layer directly when in
Multiply or Screen mode to
different effects.
? EXPLAINED
GAMMA
The gamma slider in the Levels
dialog is the grey slider in the
centre of the Input sliders.
DARK AND LIGHT SCREEN MODE FRAGMENT FILTER BLENDING STYLES
ADJUSTMENT LAYER 05 We can split the dark and 06 The opposite is achieved by 07 To simulate the effect of a 08 Reduce the opacity or try
A special layer in Elements added
by clicking the button at the bottom
light portions of the image using Screen mode instead of coarse diffusing filter you can different blending modes. The
left of the layers palette. Different and blur them individually. Set the Multiply then moving the gamma slider apply the Fragment filter rather then result is often more natural than the
adjustment layers have different blurred layer to Multiply mode. This to the right in the levels adjustment blurring it. Just apply the fragment filter blur filter approach which can be too
effects – editable at all times. causes only the dark parts of the image layer. A Hue/Saturation adjustment multiple times (by typing command-F smooth-looking, though you can also
to affect the layer below. layer can also reduce saturation. after the first application). mix the two if need be.

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SECTION #03 YOUR CAMERA
TECHNIQUE PAGE
82
CAMERA PROGRAM MODES
Explore extra shooting modes that take care of
colour saturation, contrast and sharpening
TECHNIQUE PAGE
85
SHOOTING IN NATURAL LIGHT
Natural light can vary hugely depending on the
elements. We show you how to work with it
Q&A PAGE
88
ALL YOUR CAMERA QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Long time digital photographer Aidan O’Rourke
takes your problems to task and offers solutions
TECHNIQUE
SHOOTING IN NATURAL LIGHT
SEE PAGE 85
PAGE PAGE PAGE
82 85 88
Your camera
Expert guides to taking better pictures
Tutorials you can trust! Contact our tutorials team
f #
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TECHNIQUE USING YOUR CAMERA
YOUR GUIDE TIM DALY

Tim has written several books on photography including The Digital Photography Handbook, The
Digital Printing Handbook and The Desktop Photographer, and he continues to write for The
British Journal of Photography and AG. His photographs have been exhibited across Europe
tim@photocollege.co.uk PORTFOLIO TIM DALY WEBSITE WWW.PHOTOCOLLEGE.CO.UK
Camera program modes

If you’re baffled by the many different mode options on your digital
camera, Tim Daly shows you when and where to use them
B
ABOVE White plays havoc oth film and digital compact cameras are recently bought a new camera, it’s a good idea to check
with a camera’s metering designed with extra shooting modes to cope out the program modes first, so you can see exactly
system and can result in some with different creative situations that cannot what results they produce. Many modes will lock off
disappointing results. This be captured on plain old auto. Program modes work by other controls, such as exposure compensation and
example was deliberately cleverly anticipating the kind of result you want without white balance, so it’s worth trying all of them to
overexposed by one stop to making you shoot under fully manual controls. see which suit your needs.
retain the bright whites Unlike the preset automatic modes found on film
cameras, where exposure is only controlled via shutter Auto mode
RIGHT Flash modes on a more speeds and aperture values, digital camera program The general purpose Auto mode is the one we tend to
advanced digital camera are modes can also involve the clever enhancement of use at the exclusion of all others. In Auto mode, the
capable of mixing natural and colour saturation, contrast and sharpening. Most cameras camera makes an exposure judgement based on the
artificial light together to have one or more of the following mode options which light available and translates this into a shutter speed
create this effect are set by choosing the corresponding symbol on the that prevents camera shake, typically around 1/125 and
mode dial or in the LCD preview menu. If you’ve just a mid-range aperture setting such as f8.

Get some tips on how to take great action shots and make the most of autumnal colours NEXT MONTH
4
FURTHER in landscape photos from the Kodak Digital Learning Centre at 5 SHOOTING GRAPHIC
ELEMENTS
INSPIRATION www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/dlc/techniques/archive/autumn.jhtml
The mode doesn’t give identical results each time as

the changing light levels on location will mean shutter
speeds are slowed down when the light falls or the
0 EXPERT TIP
aperture value is set at its widest, such as f4. With Auto TIM DALY
DIGITAL SLR MODES
mode selected, most of the menu settings that you
originally established, such as white balance, will still APERTURE PRIORITY
Much less automatic but none the
influence the photographs. The downside to using Auto
less useful are the traditional
mode is that your results will be entirely dependent on program modes found on digital
the amount of available light rather than any creative SLRs. Aperture priority mode
decision that you make. enables you to select the aperture
However, Auto mode is without doubt the right value of your choice to create a
depth of field effect, while the
choice if you just want image files in a raw unprocessed camera sets the fastest available
state for image editing at a later stage, as other modes shutter speed for you.
may apply corrections which would be impossible to
remove with computer software later on. These raw files ABOVE In portrait mode, backgrounds are blurred SHUTTER PRIORITY
Shutter speed priority mode is
will undoubtedly need more work, but will ultimately away to give more emphasis to the main subject
designed to let you select a specific
open the doors to more creative print and colour editing shutter speed for creating a
while retaining maximum image quality. movement effect, while the
LEFT Fill flash is a great technique to use for arresting camera sets the highest available
Party, indoor or flash mode movement and lighting up subjects that would aperture value.
When light levels drop too low for a successful exposure, otherwise come out as silhouettes
a good option is to use one of the indoor flash modes,
often referred to as ‘party’ modes. Unlike using flash
within Auto mode, (when the flash illuminates the first shooting under orange domestic lighting, this will help confident about using exposure compensation or fill
3 IN DETAIL
object it hits and leaves anything beyond it darker than to warm things up even more. One disadvantage of flash technique is the backlight mode. This is great for MULTIMEDIA
you expected), this mode makes a much better job of it. using this mode is that you may get slightly blurred shooting subjects positioned in front of a bright window, MOVIE MODE
To accompany the rapid burst of flash light, the camera results due to the slow shutter speed setting, so use a sky or light source which would inevitably turn out as a Most digital compacts have a
useful movie mode so you can
sets a slow shutter speed so any ambient light in the tripod to steady the camera or pull your elbows into silhouette. Backlight mode works by firing off a weak
create small desktop movies in the
background of the image is recorded at the same time. your body to prevent any movement. burst of fill-flash to lighten would-be silhouette areas, MPEG or MOV file format. Movies
With this mode, you can expect less burn-outs and while maintaining the correct exposure for the are created for as long as there’s
results that don’t have the characteristic coldness Backlight or slow sync flash mode background. Compared with shots taken on the standard available space on your camera
associated with flash photography. In fact, if you’re One of the most useful modes to use if you’re not auto mode, these will look more balanced and evenly memory card and are typically
created in 300x180 pixel
lit, despite their very different nature. Fill-flash is great
dimensions or smaller, without
for shooting portraits on sunny days, particularly when sound. Unlike digital video
the midday sun overhead makes deeply shadowed eye camcorders, desktop movies are
sockets and other unflattering errors. shot with half the frames per
second and may look jittery if fast
On more advanced cameras, different fill flash
moving action is recorded.
strengths can be selected such as 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8 of
full power, so you can make the flash almost
imperceptible. The only disadvantage of using fill-flash is
that sometimes its colour will seem colder than the rest
of your photograph. Professional photographers use a
slight warm-up filter over their flashgun, but you can
achieve a similar effect by taping a small piece of weak
orange cellophane over your flash window.
Portrait mode
The portrait mode is nothing more than a simple setting
designed to shoot at the widest aperture that available
light permits. To enable shooting at a wide aperture, the
camera will need to set a fast shutter speed to
counteract the extra light intensity created by f4 or f5.6.
When shooting at a wide aperture any background
details will be blurred out, providing your subject is not
standing too far away and you are using the telephoto
rather than the wide angle setting on your zoom lens.
This effect will create a shallow depth of field and
provides more emphasis on your portrait rather than the
background. With most digital compacts designed with a
reduced aperture and shutter speed range compared to
LEFT Landscape mode is the best way to capture the

dramatic sweep of an open space such as this

RIGHT Auto mode is fine for shooting general
photography where most of the subjects are beyond
five metres away
SLRs, very shallow depth of field effects may not be

available under very bright conditions. You’ll get more
blurred results by dropping your ISO speed to its lowest
value, such as ISO 100, and if sharply detailed
backgrounds still persist, move closer to your subject
and try again.
Landscape mode
If you’re planning to shoot the great outdoors, then the
landscape mode is well worth a try. Landscape
photography is all about showing the depth and scope of
a dramatic scene and apart from the difficulties in finding
the right viewpoint to capture this, you’re also faced with
a depth of field problem. How do you get the foreground
and background in focus?
The landscape mode is designed to enhance detail in
both nearby and far off elements, primarily based
around the setting of the narrowest aperture value
available such as f16.
The other classic problem associated with landscape saturation processing, while you’re taking the photo, will highlights into a dull, mid-tone grey. Gone are the clean
photography is the placement of the autofocus target. If help to reduce these effects. bright whites of a snow scene, giving a very
it focuses on an object far away, then the scenery close disappointing result which bears little resemblance to the
up looks blurred and indecipherable. In fact, any loss of Beach or snow mode original scene. The beach/snow mode solves this
sharpness within the entire image will be distracting and Bright sunlight might be ideal for lounging on the beach, problem by deliberately over-exposing by a typical value
* WEB LINKS
reduce the effectiveness of your picture. To avoid this but it can play havoc with your camera’s exposure of +1 stop. With this extra exposure, images will be
problem, make sure you’re standing at least five metres calculations. With this in mind, the beach or snow brighter and high key rather than flat and dull. Additional
away from the nearest object, or if this is impractical, set shooting mode is designed to counteract problems editing in your image processing application may be
NIKON your zoom lens to its widest angle setting. associated with too much light or shooting large white needed to correct any slight tendencies towards a bluer
www.nikon.co.uk
Click on the Exhibition button to On advanced digital compacts, this mode also includes objects or scenes. Light reflecting off the surface of water or colder colour after this mode has been applied. In
view two great exhibitions and find additional image processing on the fly to improve both and other shiny surfaces can present an identical addition to these two subjects, this mode is worth trying
out the secrets behind the shots. contrast and colour saturation. With heat haze and UV problem to the vast white highlights of a snow scene. when shooting photographs of people wearing white
light providing a common barrier to making clear and These two issues confuse a camera’s metering clothing, or standing in front of white walls.
EPSON sharp photographs, additional auto contrast and colour systems into creating an exposure that turns white
www.photoexpert.epson.co.uk/U
K/homepage.htm
Sports action mode
Try the comprehensive Epson Photo
If you’re an adrenaline sports enthusiast, then you need
Expert site for tips on shooting a fast shutter speed to catch all the action without
digital photographs. blurring your shots. Sports mode offers a range of
presets which puts the fastest shutter speed available as
its top priority. Sports action mode will also make use of
your camera’s ability to quickly shoot, save and store
image files on the memory card, enabling a sequence of
shots to be made just like using a motorised film wind-
on. The image resolution is set so that larger images
take longer to store, but smaller images take less time
and allow a longer shooting sequence. Many cameras
also offer a variation on this mode called best shot
selection, whereby ten or more shots are taken in rapid
succession and the best result based on exposure and
sharpness is selected automatically for you. On the very
fastest action sport such as F1 motor racing, most digital
compacts will not be equipped to capture frozen motion,
@ SEND ’EM IN! but you can still create great images if you find a
vantage point to shoot cars moving round a bend or any
Try out the techniques in this article other time they reduce speed.
then send us your photos. We’ll
@
print the best each month. Email us
at the following address:
LEFT Getting yourself in the right position for capturing
gallery.dcm@futurenet.co.uk fast moving subjects is as crucial as setting the shutter
speed correctly

Shooting in natural light

Natural light is the most creative tool you can use, but Tim Daly explains why its skillful control
offers a challenge to the most alert of photographers
D
ABOVE Late afternoon light is aylight varies, both in brightness and colour, little difference between exposure readings taken from
warmer and works best on throughout the day. When shooting in the sky and land, so you’ll have much less burning in and
natural subject matter such as early morning, natural light has a bluish colour, dodging to do later on.
flora and fauna giving colder colours; at noon the overhead sunlight If your landscape subjects lack a strong sky, try
produces a more neutral colour; and at the end of the cropping the sky out by using your zoom lens on
FAR RIGHT Low angle winter day and in early evening, daylight is redder and warmer. its longest telephoto setting. Tight crops of distant
light can describe a landscape The Auto White Balance function on a digital camera subjects are a well-established technique, especially
scene completely from will try to correct these differences, but it pays to if they are surrounded by a sympathetic background.
overhead summer light experiment with different settings because you don’t Soft-contrast photographs lend themselves to single
want your camera to correct an atmospheric colour by colour toning and if you’re careful to exclude all
mistake. The colour of daylight can also be changed by a trappings of modern life from your compositions, they
subject’s immediate surroundings and light that bounces can become timeless, too. If you want punchier contrast
off objects can cast unexpected colours on your results. in your photographs, use the highlight and shadow
Colour casts can easily be removed using the Colour Levels Input sliders to create a clean white and deep
Balance function in your digital-imaging application. black shadow points.
Shooting in flat light Shooting in the summer

Mist, fog and early morning light soften both the Bright and warm daylight of summer produces saturated
sharpness of your image, lower its contrast and make a and richly-coloured photographs, but there are a few
much more delicate end product. With cloud cover pitfalls to look out for. With such extremes in contrast
acting like a giant studio lighting softbox, there will be between deep, black shadows and bright, white

* WEB LINKS
EDWARD WESTON
www.masters-of-
photography.com/W/weston/
weston.html
Weston uses natural light to shoot
nude, still-life and landscape subjects
with the same cool black and
white style.
JOEL MEYEROWITZ
www.joelmeyerowitz.com/index.
html?books/clI.html~main
Meyerowitz shoots colour like no
other contemporary photographer,
finding the most dramatic contrasts
in unusual situations.
MINOR WHITE
www.masters-of-
photography.com/W/white/
white.html
Whites work for the natural effects
of light and its effects on the natural
and urban landscape.
3 IN DETAIL TOP Flat lighting can allow delicate colours and detail
to emerge. In this example, a bland white sky was
MONOCHROME cropped out to make a stronger shot
Monochrome (or bitmap) is just
another name for black-and-white.
ABOVE Deep pockets of shadows and ultra bright
In the bitmap mode, a pixel is
either black or white – shades of highlights make this subject a challenge to shoot
grey are non-existent. Because the
eye is easily tricked, this mode can
achieve an almost photo-realistic highlights, be wary of extreme point light sources such
effect that is reminiscent of
newspaper print.
as highlights reflecting off water and shiny patches on
glass. Both will trick the exposure meter, and with such
apparent brightness, your camera will create a darker
result than you expect. Heat and heat haze can also
have an unwanted effect on the way your image sensor
records colours.
If your digital camera can accept screw-on lens filters,
try attaching a UV filter for better results, or rescue Early morning light is crisper and slightly colder than noon daylight and can be a good time if you want to
strong colour by using the Saturation command in your shoot textured landscapes
image-editing package. Keep an eye out for strong
direct sunlight as this will cause deep shadows empty of the digital photographer. The biggest seasonal restriction in a warm pocket to maintain their charge and reduce
any detail and if your subject is small and close enough, is the few hours of weak daylight good enough for the power demands on your camera by using the LCD
try using your fill-flash to lighten these shadows. Best outdoor photography, which often disappear by 3pm at preview only when you need to and avoid using flash if
results are usually shot either side of midday, as the the end of the year. you can help it.
direction of the light will be much more descriptive, Yet, despite this, winter is a perfect time to shoot
showing texture and fine details. architecture, historic monuments and cityscapes because Thinking in monochrome
A difficult prospect is shooting under strong, the low-angled winter light reveals textures and One of the easiest ways to approach photography in
directional sunlight. Natural subject matter such as flora shadows not seen in the summer months. Light is natural light is to think in black and white terms.
and fauna can look much more animated under bright predominantly colourless in the winter months, losing Monochrome (bitmap) is a much more atmospheric
sunlight – as long as there are no pockets of deep its rich, warm reds and turning blue and cold to reflect way of seeing the world around you and can also
shadows that make sections of detail disappear. the season. Make an effort to get out if the weather improve an otherwise dull colour scene – particularly in
Exposure measurement under these conditions need looks overcast and changeable for this could present winter months. It’s a straightforward process to convert
careful attention and it’s good practice to use your you with a great opportunity to capture dramatic light, colour RGB images into black and white in an image-
camera’s exposure lock to take a reading off the largest clouds and rainbows. The practicalities of shooting in editing program, but the most stylish results are made
mid-tone in your viewfinder. the cold with a power-hungry digital camera should from photographs that have a good range of different
not be overestimated, though, because the drop in tones and textures in the first place.
Shooting in the winter temperature will cause your battery to run out quicker Many great landscape photographs are as much a
Despite the cold and sheer effort needed to get out into than you expect. result of darkroom trickery as they are an accurate
the open, the winter months offer a great challenge to If you can afford a second set of batteries, keep them portrayal of a real scene. The beauty of the black and

NEXT MONTH
;
A great addition to your camera kit bag is a portable reflector like the Lastolite series. Most Lastolite
4
FURTHER reflectors are double sided with a bright white side and a metallic gold or silver for bouncing more light 5 SEEING THE WORLD
IN MONOCHROME
INFORMATION back on to your subjects. View the products online at www.lastolite.com
0 EXPERT TIP
TIM DALY
HANDHELD FLASH
HOTSHOE FLASH
If your camera is fitted with a
hotshoe flash socket for attaching
a more powerful flash unit, you
can add a special device plugged
into this called a hotshoe adaptor.
This enables you to attach a
flexible flash cord so the unit can
be taken off the top of your
camera and held to one side.
ANGLED FLASH
Angled flash can mimic the look
of natural light and is great for
shooting flora and fauna subjects
when available light is bland.
Always preview your results on
the rear LCD monitor and try lots
of different flash positions until
you get the result you’re after.
TOP Many great subjects have little or no colour

anyway and can look even more interesting when
converted to greyscale mode
ABOVE Shooting into the light is a good technique

to use when light levels are lower than normal,
and is especially good if your subject has an
interesting shape
white process is the ability to make darker or lighter

areas of grey without looking overcooked and invented.
Shooting in low light

Faced with the daunting prospect of gradually decreasing
light levels, it’s still possible to shoot good quality
images if your camera has a variable ISO scale. ISO
determines the sensitivity of your sensor to light,
effectively allowing it to work properly under much
lower levels than normal.
At the top end of the scale such as ISO 800, you’ll be ABOVE This location portrait was taken away from the strong glare of direct sunlight and shows the sitter in a
able to capture much the same kind of subject matter as relaxed pose. With such soft lighting, fine facial details emerge to make the photograph more characterful
before, except for fast-moving objects and it’s a good
idea to switch your flash off to preserve the atmospheric Location portraits using natural light such as a tree. Once out of the limelight, a sitter’s pupils
natural light conditions. Try to exclude any point light The most experienced wedding photographers always will open wider and their face will not be screwed up
sources like streetlights from your composition, as these arrive early to hunt out a likely patch of shade for portrait into a frown. Portraits shot underneath a green canopy
will make your exposure darker than expected. photographs. Direct sunlight will make most portrait will inevitably look greener than you expect, but this is
The unfortunate by-product of an increase in ISO is subjects blink excessively and squint, distorting and easily cured by increasing the amount of magenta in
the random-coloured pixel effect called noise. Noise ruining their normal facial composure. You’ll never be your colour balance controls later on.
occurs when there’s not enough light for the sensor to
make an accurate colour pixel, so it creates a bright red
thanked for shooting an unflattering portrait photograph,
so you must be prepared to solve problems on the spot
If you are really keen on shooting portraits, a fold up
Lastolite reflector is a good investment and will help you
@ SEND ’EM IN!
or bright green one by mistake. Just like grain on and quickly. to balance out any shadows still remaining. Fold-up Try out the techniques in this article
then send us your photos. We’ll
@
traditional photographic film, noise will also reduce the Overhead light at midday is the main cause of reflectors unravel into sizeable but lightweight disks of
print the best each month. Email us
amount of fine detail captured in the end result. Noise is unflattering portraits, creating unnatural shadows under white, usually backed by an extra silver or gold flipside.
at the following address:
only most noticeable if you try to make large-scale print- eyebrows and chins, which will change a delicate beauty Position the reflector under your sitter’s face until it is just
outs from your files and will not be as apparent on into a rocky old-timer. This problem is best solved by out of shot and experiment with the gold variation for a gallery.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
smaller scale prints such as 6 x 4. shooting under the canopy of any natural shade nearby, warmer and more flattering result.

PHOTO HELP Q&A
YOUR GUIDE AIDAN O’ROURKE
Aidan O’Rourke is a freelance photographer who’s worked with digital imaging
and photography since 1994. He created ‘Eyewitness in Manchester’ (part of
Manchester Online, the Manchester Evening News website), the largest online
source of photo and info about Manchester. See the URL opposite for more
details on Aidan’s digital photography seminars around the country
help.dcm@futurenet.co.uk (camera queries only) WEBSITE www.aidan.co.uk/seminars
All your camera

questions answered
Send all your technical questions to Aidan at help.dcm@futurenet.co.uk and he’ll do his best to help…
2 2
QUESTIONS A DVD playing through a TV uses If you want to go the whole way If I did buy into the £1,000 range of
ANSWERED A a system designed primarily and save your photos as a self- compacts what would be the best bet
IMAGE CAPTURE for high bandwidth moving images, contained DVD there are a number of for taking shots of birds? (P.S. I mean
CLOSE UP SUBJECTS . . . . . . . . . .91 SLIDE SHOW THROUGH and is entirely different from the packages which will do this – here the feathered variety!)
ARTIFICIAL LIGHT SETTING . . . . .90 DVD UNIT AND TV operating system on your PC, which are two I found by doing an internet Peter Emsley
CAMERA USE PICTURE TRANSFER is designed for many purposes, search for ‘DVD slide show’:
USING A BIRDING TELESCOPE . .88 ■■ INTERMEDIATE including the storage and transfer of 1) Ulead DVD Picture Show People moving from film to
SLIDESHOW THROUGH DVD . . .88
I use a Kodak DX3600 camera, still images and playing mainly lower www.ulead.com/dps/ and
A digital photography are at a
OLYMPUS PHOTO EDITING . . . . .89
SERIF PHOTOPLUS . . . . . . . . . . .89
Q and have been very pleased bandwidth videoclips. 2) tvCD digital slide show software disadvantage. While it's possible to pick
IMAGE FILE COMPRESSION . . . .89 with the results. I’ve saved pictures on It's important to realise you can www.tvcd.biz up a usable SLR film camera for under a
RESIZING FOR PRINT . . . . . . . . .89 my hard drive, and some back-ups on already view your photos on TV very Happy viewing! hundred pounds, you won't find a
RESIZING IMAGES . . . . . . . . . . .90
Iomega zip disc and CD-R. easily. Most current personal digital SLR camera with interchangeable
2
MEDIA
BOOKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 My problem is I wish to save in a computers can be connected to a TV, lenses for much less than two grand. So
WEBSITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 format that will enable me to play a and you can view your desktop and many people, such as myself, have
slide show using a DVD unit through a files in the same way as you view gone from SLR film to digital compact.
TV. I haven’t purchased a DVD machine them on your computer screen, using CONNECTING A The digital compact is fine for the
BIRDING TELESCOPE TO
* ON OUR as yet. What do I need to do? the slide show function – I use this type of work I do, but if you are
COVERDISC Peter Corrigan facility all the time. A DIGITAL CAMERA seriously interested in photographing
PHOTOGRAPHY birds – of the feathered variety – I would
DVD PICTURE SHOW 1.0 ■ BEGINNER recommend spending some extra
Find this trial mentioned opposite,
on disc B I have just read the November money and buying a digital SLR.
Q edition of Digital Camera There is an adapter you can buy to
Magazine and have decided that I’m connect your Kowa birding scope to a
ready to convert to digital. I hope to Canon EOS D60 SLR. You can find more
stretch to a Canon SLR but may details on this at www.aaabinoculars.
consider the higher end of compacts com/kowa_820_series_accessories.
such as the Coolpix 5700, Minolta html#photo
Dimage and so on. However, if you don't want to spend
I note from the adverts in your two grand on the digital SLR, there are
magazine, that it is possible to connect other options available to you. You could
a birding telescope to some cameras buy a universal adaptor which enables
at a reasonable cost. you to connect the telescope to any
Photo When I first bought my Canon EOS

(some eight years ago), it was very
expensive to connect an SLR to a
camera, including a digital compact.
Personally, I don't think that the results
from this method would be as good as
Help
telescope. I’m wondering what the with a digital SLR. Go to astrovid.com
situation would be today if I did buy and look at the page on digital camera
an SLR with interchangeable lenses – adapters – then decide which route is
A movie playing through a Mac Quicktime player (the HIndu temple at Whalley Range, Manchester) can you shed some light on this? best for you.

The JPEG was designed as a storage and display medium for
4
FURTHER photographs. The GIF format is most suitable for characters,
INFORMATION simple logos and graphics
8
FANSITE REVIEW www.dpreview.com technical explanations... you name it, it's there.
Content This site is slick, dark and exciting, but well laid Verdict This remarkable website is largely the work of IT
out and quick to load. It contains every conceivable digital whizzkid Phil Askey, who tells me it's a labour of love on
photography resource you can think of, including news which he spends up to 100 hours a week. It shows. Try
updates, detailed and exhaustive camera reviews, forums, dpreview.com and you'll soon be hooked!
2
INCREASING FILE SIZE
BETWEEN OLYMPUS AND
SERIF PHOTOPLUS
IMAGE EDITING
■ BEGINNER
I have just treated myself to your
Q gorgeously glossy magazine and
will be reading it bit by bit. I appreciate
your offer of help and will take you up
on it, if you don't mind!
I have three questions for you. Firstly,
will your examples always be with
Paint Shop Pro? I can just about A 1,280 x 960 image is JPG High, (moderate compression), quality 8 At JPG Maximum, quality 12, the file size is now a whopping 604.33k
translate them to Serif so they are still
useful. I have an older computer which Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, as levels – JPEG High means moderate Canary Wharf photo (above right) is
is now half-full and I don't want to put well as many other image-editing compression, larger file size on disk 604.33k – three times its previous
Paint Shop on as well as it groans a lot. programs. They all run on basically and better quality. JPEG Low means size. This is because I’ve resaved
Secondly, I use the Olympus the same principles. severe compression, smaller file size the file at the highest setting, saving
programme which came with my Next you have a problem on disk and poorer quality. It looks the picture info, as well as the
camera to do routine things with my concerning outputting of JPEG files at like your Olympus editing program is artifacts and jaggies from the earlier
pix, and the file size I use quite a lot is a large size. I think I know what the set to JPEG high. When you open the JPEG compression.
Jpeg 1,280 X 960, which gives me a file problem is. Firstly, your file size for a saved JPEGs in Serif, work on them There are two things to remember
for each pic of between about 170K 1280 by 960 image file equates to and save them a second time round, here. First, you shouldn't be saving
and 230K depending on complexity. JPG high, quality 8. you find the file size is 621k. and re-opening your JPEG files. Each
However if I transfer them to Serif When we save an image file in I’ve reproduced this effect and at time you save, there is a degradation
PhotoPlus and then send them back to JPEG, the JPEG Options dialog box JPEG maximum, Quality level 12, of quality. You should work on the
Olympus by either Save as Original or gives us a choice of compression we see that the file size for my images in one program only –
Export Jpeg, they have increased to
621K – this without any work on them
– if I do work, they’re bigger. Can you 2 RESIZE FOR A 6 X 4 PRINT
shed light on this? As I send them to Tweaking a photo for the optimum print result
family I have to remember to reduce
the size to save time. How and why
does the size increase?
Thirdly, I have my best family pix
printed as the ink is so expensive. I
take them in on disk, but always loose ? EXPLAINED
some of the edge as 6 x 4 paper is not
GAMUT
the same shape as my digital camera Gamut, often used in the term 'out
pix. I have tried to get round this by of gamut' refers to the range of
increasing the canvas size in Serif and colours which a particular device is
hoping it chops off the margin, but able to reproduce. A computer
tend to guess the size as it offers pixels. Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope in To prepare this photo for printing at At 1,200 x 800 pixels, the image file monitor is able to create millions of
colours, but many of these colours,
Do you know how many pixels would Cheshire is seen here during a snow 6x4 we’ll reduce it down to 1200 will give a print six inches wide and 4
for instance the brighter reds, are not
make a 6 x 4 print? My arithmetic is storm in December 2000. This is how pixels wide by resampling it. This inches high, the same aspect ratio as printable – they are out of gamut.
dodgy! I look forward to hearing the image file looked with camera gives us a file which, at the standard 35mm film. In this photo there was
from you and wish your magazine output at the largest size – 2,048 pixels setting of 200dpi, will give a print 6 enough room to crop – in fact, it HISTOGRAM
every success. wide and 1,536 pixels top to bottom. inches wide and four and a half probably looks better like this. Another The graph which expresses
Susan Premru At the standard setting of 200dpi, this inches from top to bottom – half an reason to resample and crop to fit the the number of pixels of a
gives us a print size of slightly more inch too much. We’ll have to crop it intended print size is that we’ve particular colour in an image file,
ranging from 0 to 255. The Levels
To answer your first question, than ten inches wide and less than down to four inches, cutting the reduced the file size on disk by half,
A the techniques I describe eight inches top to bottom – A4 size. canvas size from 900 to 800 pixels. making it quicker to transfer.
control is a histogram which you
can manipulate.
should be applicable to both

PHOTO HELP Q&A
EMAIL AIDAN! Send your digital photography queries to Aidan at help.dcm@futurenet.co.uk Please note that this email address is for technical problems only. See page 3 page for others
but poorer quality, like a runny

watercolour painting, with a
multitude of sins all glaringly visible.
You would think such cruelty to
photos ought to be outlawed in this
day and age, but on the internet, I
still see plenty of images like this.
I have now compounded the sin I
committed in the previous photo by
resampling the picture up to a larger
I’ve chosen the lowest JPEG setting here which I’ve resampled the pic to a larger size and re- Thank goodness I still have my original Canary size (sin number 2) and re-saving (sin
V TECH FOCUS drastically reduces the file size, but also

produces a lot of image degradation
saved it at max JPEG setting. You can’t get back
the quality you lost previously though…
Wharf photo, which saved once and once only
at the JPEG maximum setting
number 3) it at JPEG maximum
setting, giving a much bigger file
whether it's Olympus or Serif, and that it is set to JPEG maximum. Look choose the lowest JPEG setting? I've size, which is sin number four!
iSAPS save once only. If you want to save closely at the Save options and I think resampled the picture down to a Phew, thank goodness I still have
What is it? Not the International
an image and open it in another you'll find that you can choose a smaller size to make the JPEG my original photo, an interesting
Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery,
but Intelligent Scene Analysis based program, then it's important to save lower compression and file size. artifacts visible. The picture is broken record of how Canary Wharf looked in
on photographic space, a the file in a 'lossless' file format such To answer your third question, take up into a mosaic of squares, each one July 2000, which I saved once and
technology which features in the as Tiff or Photoshop, so you don't lose a look at the photos above. Actually, I containing an approximation of the once only. As I take thousands of
latest Canon Powershot digital any picture information. dealt with this in issue one, but this is picture information in the set of photos, I generally use JPEG high
cameras. It reportedly delivers more The second thing to look at is the an important point so let's look at it pixels grouped together in each setting – otherwise I would need
accurate autofocus, auto exposure
output settings of Serif – it appears again. See what happens when you square – this gives a smaller file size terabytes of storage space.
and auto white balance.
2
How it works: The spec runs as
follows: "Canon has created a Levels and readjust the sliders for the
'Photographic Space' that relates red, green and blue channels.
the peripheral brightness and the 300 PHOTOS TAKEN ON The blue channel shows the greatest
distance between camera and ARTIFICIAL LIGHT SETTING imbalance with the tones bunched up
subject according to the zoom – HOW TO CORRECT? towards the right hand end of the
position of the lens when taking a
IMAGE EDITING histogram. We need to reduce the blue,
picture." What this means in simple
■■■ ADVANCED so I've dragged the slider to the right,
terms is that certain scenes
demand particular settings, and the Can you please help? I saw your giving an input value of 0.7
camera is able to detect the type of Q magazine (who could miss the I've dragged the red channel to 1.5
scene by referring to focus and large format) and thought perhaps you and the green to 1.2. You can also input
zoom lens setting.
could help me with a problem I have. the values in the fields. It's not perfect,
When to use it: If the camera is I recently went to Turkey and took and there will be some further
focused on infinity and the some 300 photos. Imagine my horror adjustment to do, but at least we have
peripheral light levels are bright, it's when I downloaded them and they all reduced the heavy blue cast, and the
probably an outdoor landscape had a cast on them. On checking my skin tones look better.
photo, and the settings will be camera (a Fuji 2000z) I discovered that I Having fine tuned the adjustments,
adjusted accordingly (eg, narrower
had left it set on Artificial light, hence we now have to repeat the process
aperture, slight under-exposure so
highlights don't burn out, daylight
the blue-ish cast. another 299 times. The good news is
I have Paint Shop Pro 5 and we don't have to manually enter the By reducing the separate colour channels in Photoshop we can reduce the blue saturation
white balance). If the camera is
focused on a subject close by, and Photoshop 6 on my computer. Is there a data each time, we can save a Levels
the light levels are lower, the way to save these photos, and if so, do profile. Once you’ve made the two commands – open image file, Run and Save as. It shouldn't take too long
chances are it's a portrait shot, so I have to do each one individually or adjustments to the three channels, click action. As a precaution, I would omit to get through all the photos and you'll
the camera adjusts itself for optimal
can I batch them? I have attached a 'Save' and this will save the values in a save file from the action so I can view have the satisfaction of seeing each
portrait shooting (eg. wider
typical photo from these for you to see. small file which you can then access each image before saving it manually. one magically transformed from what
aperture for out-of-focus
background, shorter shutter speed, I picked one with people on to show next time by clicking 'Load'. To speed up the process, open the looks like a faded colour print to a
indoor or dull light white balance). the skin tones. We have now reduced the process images up 10 at a time, run the action much more acceptable image.
iSAPS appears to be another step By the way – an excellent magazine! down to six commands – open image
on the road to the ultimate 'smart' I look forward to them all. file, open Levels, Load profile, Click OK,
camera, which knows how to take Bob Wood Click Save, Save as new file. Make sure
the perfect photo in any light.
to use 'Save as' and save the altered
Wouldn't it have been nice if the file into a separate directory, leaving
A camera had given you a your originals untouched.
warning? See our closing feature… You can now automate this process
First of all you’re going to have to by creating a Photoshop action. An
correct the colour imbalance. It will action is simply a set of instructions you
probably be difficult to restore 100 per can record and save, which Photoshop
cent natural colour, but we should be can then play, carrying out identical
Many of Canon’s newest models
use iSAPS
able to improve it. In Photoshop the changes on any other image file. A digital camera left on the Artificial light setting will produce this blue-ish tint (left). Photoshop
easiest way to do this is to go into Now we have reduced the process to can’t restore the natural colour 100 per cent but it can do a fine job of reducing the blue haze!

Each time you save and reopen a JPEG file there’s a
4
TOP TIP degradation of quality. The best policy is: save and close
a JPEG only when you’re totally happy with it
8
MANUFACTURER SITE related kit. Verdict The main pages are functional, with
www.digitaldreamco.com centred text & elementary graphics. The pages are in five
Content: A digital camera manufacturer based not in Tokyo European languages, though there are typos, even on the
but Kent. The Digital Dream Company make incredibly cool, English page. Fix the typos, improve the graphics and this
compact and affordable miniature digital cameras, and could be a site to match their 'wannahave' product range.
2 ?
settings in the future? Can I use the much shallower depth of field, putting priority setting – we fix the aperture to
telephoto and close-up lenses to create the subject in focus and the background a desired value, and let the camera EXPLAINED
depth of field effects? Is there a book or out of focus – or vice versa. The decide the shutter speed. If your
HOW TO GET THE RIGHT APERTURE PRIORITY
manual you could recommend? aperture has to be balanced against the camera doesn't have this feature, you This fixes the aperture and adjusts
APERTURE MANUALLY? Stephen Brook shutter speed and the sensitivity rating can still coax it to a wider aperture by the shutter speed around it. Find out
CAMERA USE (film speed) of the CCD. Most automatic shooting in low light. Portraits work in more on pages 85-87.
■■ INTERMEDIATE Looking at the specs for the cameras use a pre-set program to low, diffuse light anyway.
I read with great interest your
A Kodak 3900 I see that it has/has select a suitable aperture and shutter The CCD in digital cameras is
Q article on depth of field and use not got aperture control. Let's just speed. In bright light the aperture will relatively small, so the background is
of aperture control in photography. I define what we mean by aperture – it’s probably be small, say F7, and in low never going to be very defocused. Only
have a Kodak 3900 with additional the size of the iris – the device similar light it will probably be wide. when you use a medium or large
close up, telephoto and wide angle to the small hole in the human eye Sometimes it's good to have a wide format camera do you get the out-of-
lenses and am wondering if it’s possible that lets in light. When the aperture is aperture even in bright light – when, focus background of Hollywood portraits
to manually adjust the aperture range smaller, the whole picture is sharper for instance, we're taking a portrait and of the 1930s. You can, of course,
on my camera. How can I take a more from close to the lens to infinity. When wish to throw the background out of simulate this effect at image
controlled approach with aperture the aperture is larger, the picture has a focus. This is when we use the aperture enhancement stage anyway.
2 DEPTH OF FIELD
These animal portraits illustrate how best to photograph a subject close up
; READ ON
DIGITAL IMAGING
Unfortunately, when shooting Claudia Jane the Jersey Cow has a calm nature Georgina is prone to shaking her head Now she’s keeping still. The aperture Published by Focal Press
the sow from a few feet away at the and is used to close-up photos. I’ve around. We’re shooting in low light so is f3.4 and the shutter speed is 1/25th Price £15.99
Written by Mark Galer & Les Horvat
standard lens setting, our attention is set the camera to the widest setting: the camera – set to auto – has given of a second – slow, but it’s still
Buy from www.amazon.co.uk
distracted by her less-than-glamourous f2, to capture the fine detail of her us an aperture of f3.4. The shutter possible to get a sharp image if
surroundings. For that paparazzi-style hair and eyelashes, while throwing speed is 1/21st of a second, so photographer and model hold still. It's
shot for the front cover of that celebrity the railings in the background and Georgina's fit of pique has resulted that magic moment – reminds you of
magazine we need to get in close. her left ear out of focus. in a blurred image David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton, eh?
Aimed at students of photography

and design who intend to use a
digital darkroom, this manual takes
a thoroughly educational approach
to digital imaging, with aims and
objectives, exercises and carefully
I'm testing the difference between a Now I’ve set the aperture to F7 giving This fellow’s been captured at a very With the aperture at F4, the graded units. Photos are mostly
narrow and wide aperture using the a shutter speed of just 1/15th of a narrow aperture – F11, giving a background is a little more out of focus showcased in black and white with
aperture priority setting. This is wide – second. The narrow aperture has shutter speed of one fifth of a second but it’s only subtle, even at the fullest some colour in the centre pages.
Excellent for use on courses in digital
F2.5 to be precise, giving a shutter made the background sharper – not as – I had to support the camera on the zoom setting and widest possible
imaging and for anyone who
speed of one hundredth of a second. effective for a portrait. Even at 1/15th wall. I’ve zoomed in to the fullest aperture. This functional aspect of requires a step by step guide
See how the background is out of of a second there is no blur as I have extent to try to throw the background digital cameras needs to be addressed with self-testing.
focus, focusing attention the face. held the camera steady. out of focus, but it is still quite sharp. by manufacturers in the future. Verdict Highly recommended.

SECTION #04 YOUR PC
USING YOUR PC
ARCHIVE YOUR PHOTOS Section highlights…
SEE PAGE 94
USING YOUR PC PAGE
94
HOW TO STORE AND ARCHIVE PHOTOS
Is your hard drive overloaded with pictures? Time to
bring some order to your digital collection
ONLINE TUTORIAL PAGE
96
SHOWCASING YOUR PHOTOS ONLINE
Upload full size colour photos to the net using
compression techniques that retain quality
PRINT TECHNIQUES PART 4 PAGE
98
USING ONLINE PHOTO LABS
Getting your photos developed online couldn’t be
easier – and the quality matches the High Street
PAGE PAGE PAGE
94 96 98
PC & Internet
Using a PC to make the most of your digital photos
Tutorials you can trust! Contact our Reviews team
f #
Our aim is to bring you creative ideas, expert tips and image files, and full or trial software so you can try the If you have a comment about our reviews, or a product
quick fixes you can use in your own work. tutorial for yourself, delivering a complete package. you would like us to test, please email us at
Authoritative A leading professional in his/her field Clear Our large page size means we can add extra editor.dcm@futurenet.co.uk. Visit our website at
writes every tutorial. Value-added We try to include elements, explanations and detail to each tutorial. digitalcameramagazine.co.uk for reader verdicts
TUTORIAL USING YOUR PC
YOUR GUIDE JOE CASSELS
Joe Cassels writes regular tutorials for a wide range of computer magazines. He
is an enthusiastic digital photographer with a track record of helping many
people get more from their PCs
joe@cassels.org.uk PORTFOLIO JOE CASSELS
Archiving and
indexing your photos
You’re probably building up quite a collection of digital photos by now. Joe Apice explains how to catalogue
them, back them up for protection and make them quick and easy to find
O
ne of the joys of digital photography is that suitable names and are kept in appropriate folders. You You can make sure you don’t lose any photos by
TUTORIAL
you can take hundreds more pictures than can make good use of some of Windows’ sorting regularly archiving them to CD. Writeable CDs are really
KEY DETAILS you ever could by using conventional film. features to help you reach the right photos quickly cheap nowadays, coming in at well under a pound a
2 ON OUR CD Freed from the repeated cost of buying and developing, within a folder. It’s really quite simple to arrange folder piece and they’ll hold over a thousand pictures.
See our trial of DVD PictureShow your collection can grow to immense proportions contents by name or file size or by the time the picture Apart from the sense in making sure you have a
1.0 plus freeware tool EasyFast remarkably quickly. was taken. The ability to group files by their initial letter backup, burning images to CD is a great way to share
Viewer to help you browse and
index images quickly. There is a downside to this. A huge collection of or the place they were taken, for example, is very them with friends. Most computers carry CD drives and
pictures can become quite unmanageable and while useful, as a mass of files gets broken down into a growing number of DVD players can read computer
2 SKILL LEVEL most recent computer hard drives will hold a staggering manageable chunks. CDs and display still images on a TV screen. CDs are
1 quantity of images, they aren’t infinite. Archiving your pictures is important as PCs aren’t one easily posted and less liable to get damaged than
You need to bring some order to your collection, hundred per cent trouble-free. You might accidentally printed photographs, so you can share all your photos
2 TIME TO COMPLETE which you can do by making sure your photos have delete some files or a virus could wipe part of your disk. with friends and relatives far away.
20 MINUTES
Choose clear filenames so you can

RENAMING FILES easily identify your pictures
8 8
CHOOSE THE PICTURE TYPE THE NEW NAME DO IT AGAIN

01 Select Start, My Pictures, and open up the 02 The filename below the picture is now 03 Now click on a different picture and the
folder that contains the images that you’d highlighted. This was probably generated new filename will stay in place. Repeat this
like to rename. Select View, Thumbnails to see when you transferred the pictures from your camera. for the rest of the pictures in your folder. It’s important
miniature versions of the photos. Choose one of the Press backspace on the keyboard to clear the name to give each picture a descriptive filename as it helps
pictures and right click over it so that you get a drop and type the new one in. Choose a name that Windows index your images later on and archive
down menu. Choose Rename. describes the picture well. similar locations/dates together.

Sort your files in several ways 0 EXPERT TIP
SORTING FILES and find images quickly JOE CASSELS
PHOTO ARCHIVING
NAME YOUR FILES
A good filename makes a
photo much easier to
find. Adopt a strategy of
naming your photos after
the main subject(s) and keep
them in folders named
after the location, event or
occasion featured.
SORT BY NAME SHOW IN GROUPS VIEW PROPERTIES

? EXPLAINED
01 In the folder with your newly labelled 02 Now, right click once more over some open 03 Your folder is now suitably indexed. KB, MB
photos, right click some white space not space. Choose Arrange Icons By, Show in Experiment with sorting pictures by These are both measurements of
Computer memory. KB stands for
directly over any picture. From the drop down menu Groups. Your thumbnail pictures will now show in different criteria. Again you can choose Show in
kilobyte and MB for megabyte.
choose Arrange Icons By, Name. This makes all the groups arranged by the initial letter of the filename. Groups based on these factors. It’s often useful to see
Both are multiples of the byte unit.
pictures jump into alphabetical order by their names. This makes finding pictures much easier. file details. Right click a photo and choose Properties. Nothing with computers is ever
simple; to prove this a kilobyte is
in fact 1,024 bytes and a megabyte
is 1,024 kilobytes. It’s often simpler
to think of the rough size a picture
would take up, which is around
300KB for a standard resolution
photo image.
FILE PROPERTIES SEARCH FOR PICTURES PHOTOS FOUND

04 This box shows key information about the 05 Close the File Properties box and the 06 The Search utility scans your hard drive,
picture file. You can see its size in KB and current folder. Click Start, Search, and looking for files that contain that keyword.
when it was taken, last modified or viewed. You Pictures, Music or Video. Check the Pictures and Photos As it finds them, you’ll see their icons or thumbnails
can also see the default program that the image box and type a word that’s part of the filename. Click in the right pane. Click View, Thumbnails if you can
opens in. You can change this and the filename. Search to start the utility searching for the photo. only see icons. Double click the file to launch it.
BURNING TO CD Archive your pictures to CD so you’ll

never accidentally delete them
* WEB LINKS
8 8
Microsoft
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp
/digitalphotography/videos/ma
nagepics.asp
The official Microsoft Windows XP
site has a section specifically geared
towards digital photography,
including informative features and
forums offering help and advice.
CHOOSE PICTURE TO BURN FILES WAITING CD WRITING WIZARD

01 Click Start, My Pictures and browse to the 02 Windows XP then copies these files into a 03 You’ll see a folder containing these files.
folder you want to archive. Remember that waiting room folder before they can be Click Write these files to CD. The Wizard
your folder can contain sub-folders. Each CD will hold transferred. As these get copied, you’ll see a balloon starts, asking you for a name for the CD. Enter one and
650-700MB, which is a lot of photos, so don’t worry alert on the taskbar telling you that you have files click Next. Put a CD in the CDRW drive and click Next.
about overfilling it. In the left-hand pane click copy all waiting to be burned. Once the copying is finished, The pictures are burnt to your CD, which will take
items to CD. click the balloon. several minutes.

TUTORIAL SHARING YOUR PHOTOS
YOUR GUIDE MATTHEW RICHARDS

Matthew Richards reviews digital cameras for worldwide specialist press, as well as being
a keen photographer, using both conventional 35mm outfits and digital systems. His main
areas of interest are sport, landscape and people photography
matthew.richards1@ukonline.co.uk PORTFOLIO MATTHEW RICHARDS
Optimising image sizes

Full size, full colour photos don’t have to mean a long wait or hefty downloads.
Mathew Richards explains how to make more of your pictures online…
E
verybody wants their photos to be seen in impairing the image quality. This can turn out to be the image stored in BMP format will be around 10Mb.
TUTORIAL
the best light. With conventional prints, this biggest challenge in the whole process. That might not sound like much but if you’re
KEY DETAILS literally means using a good light source, downloading a file of this size through a conventional
2 ON OUR CD
Find Batch Thumbs 1.5 will help
choosing the right frame and even hanging them on a
suitable background. Showcasing your digital portfolio
Fat files
The standard Windows format for storing pictures is BMP
modem, it’ll take nearly an hour. Anybody wanting to
view your photos online will probably have given up
you create thumbnail galleries online, however, involves a lot more planning. format. The letters stand for ‘bitmap’, which literally long before the first shot is even half way downloaded.
and HTML code for the web. Firstly, you need to find a good place to showcase means that the picture is broken down into individual
Downsizing
2 SKILL LEVEL
your virtual collection, either by choosing an online
photo gallery or community to host your pictures, or by
bits, or pixels, each of which has full colour and
brightness information recorded for it. In this way, the The trick is to reduce the size of the file, without
6 taking matters into your own hands and designing your complete picture is made up of single pixels of shrinking the size of the picture, while maintaining the
own website. You also need to think about how to get information. The process is very accurate, but you end quality. It sounds like a tall order but with a little care,
2 TIME TO COMPLETE your photos across as quickly as possible, without up with huge data files. For example, a three megapixel and some trial and error, you can get great results.
10 MINUTES
APPLYING JPEG COMPRESSION How to compress in Paint Shop Pro (all good
image-editing software should be similar)
3 IN DETAIL
8 8
NIGHT-TIME
PHOTOGRAPHY
It’s a great time of year for night
time photography. And, with the
reduced palette of night scenes,
IMAGE QUALITY FILE FORMAT DOWNLOAD TIMES
with less colours needed, you
might be able to get away with
01 The main thing about JPEG compression 02 There are two types of JPEG file format. 03 With a compression level of 80, we’ve
compressing your photos as GIF is that you can use it on a sliding scale, With Standard encoding, your photo will be shrunk a 10Mb, 3-megapixel photo down to
format files – the original Graphics trading image quality against file size. As you move displayed line by line as it’s downloaded. Progressive 101K. This means a fair amount of quality loss but the
Interchange Format for the Internet,
the compression level slider, a preview window encoding places a rough copy of the image on screen download time has shrunk from 50 minutes to around
which supports 256-colour use.
shows the effect on photo quality. and builds better quality renditions over the top. 30 seconds on a standard modem.

4
To see how compression works to best (or worst) effect in action,
FURTHER compare the quality vs file size of a few shots in an online
INSPIRATION photo gallery. We suggest Photobox (www.photobox.co.uk)
The first thing to do is to choose the physical size of

the image you want to make available online. If your
idea is to let people print out your photos on their own 2 JPEG COMPRESSION RATES
colour printers, in full A4 size with optimum quality, We took a standard 3 megapixel photo and compressed it with a variety of JPEG compression levels.
you’ll need to keep those three megapixels. However, if Here’s how much we saved on files size and download time (for a standard 56k modem) at each level.
they’re just for online viewing, most people use a There’s also a small part of the original shown, so you can see the effect on quality at each level
maximum screen resolution of 1,024 x 768 pixels, so
you can shrink your three megapixel photos by 50 per Paint Shop Pro includes a handy
cent both vertically and horizontally, which means the two-step wizard which can
resulting file size will only be a quarter of the original. optimise your photos for web use.
Choose a compression level and
Applying compression see a sample of the resulting
image quality
Reducing the physical size of your photos is only the
start of the story. The real data size savings are made by
applying compression. These are mathematical
algorithms applied to the computer data in your digital
photos, so that complex strings of numbers are
represented by smaller, stored calculations. An example
of this at its best is the use of vector calculations for
‘draw’ type files. Here, lines, circles and shapes are
represented by simple mathematical operators, rather
than information for each ‘bit’ of the picture. You can SmartSaver Pro from Ulead is a
resize a vector-based image with negligible loss of great program for optimising
image quality, especially when it comes to avoiding your photos for web use. You
can get a 15-day free trial version
jagged edges on resized diagonal lines.
at www.ulead.co.uk – it’s a
However, while vector drawing is ideal for clip-art, 6.4Mb download
photos need different information stored pixel by pixel,
in bitmap fashion, so this isn’t the best option. There are
two main choices available to you: lossless compression,
and lossy compression. Lossless compression is available
with Compressed TIF format, which can typically cut the compression levels, you’ll start to notice your images
Compression level: None
File size: 10Mb
? EXPLAINED
size of a BMP image by half. The advantage is that becoming more pixellated, while fine detail will be lost Download time: 41m 40s PIXELLATED
when it’s uncompressed for viewing, there will be and other unwanted picture attributes will start to creep Pixellation occurs when individual
absolutely no degradation of the original photo quality. in, like fine lines becoming blurred. However, you can Compression level: 1 pixels, or points of a photo are
blocked together to form jagged
The downside is that, with only a 50 per cent file size get away with different amounts of compression with File size: 1.6Mb
edges or blocks of colour. This
saving, your photos might still be too large for effective different images so, if you’re trying to maintain quality Download time: 6m 40s occurs most commonly when
web usage, with download times too long to tolerate. while saving every ounce of file size that you can, it’s photos are enlarged or high levels
best to experiment with compression settings for each Compression level: 5 of compression are applied.
Sliding scales and every photo you put online. File size: 831k
The preferred file format for online usage is JPEG, Download time: 3m 28s
created by the Joint Picture Experts Group. Using lossy Standard or progressive?
compression, you do lose some picture quality with
JPEGs, but you can save a lot more on file size. The most
One final point that’s often overlooked is that there are
actually two different forms of JPEG compression
Compression level: 10
File size: 563k * WEB LINKS
important point, however, is that you can choose the available to you. There’s the standard form, which Download time: 2m 21s
TRIAL SOFTWARE ONLINE
compression you want to use on a sliding scale, with a requires the whole picture to be downloaded before With so much good image editing
compression factor of anything from 1 to 99. it can be displayed. With most browsers, this often Compression level: 15 software around, most of which is
As you trade off quality against file size, even at the results in a frustrating line-by-line drawing of the File size: 432k ideal for optimising your photos for
highest quality setting (with a compression factor of 1), photo on-screen. Download time: 1m 48s online use, choosing the perfect
you can expect to shrink a photo down by over 80 per The second option is to save your JPEGs with package for your needs can be a
tricky business. However, most
cent, while maintaining near-perfect image quality. ‘progressive encoding’, whereupon a rough image will Compression level: 25
programs have free trial versions
However, as you slide up the compression scale, there be displayed in its entirety, with better quality images File size: 307k
which you can download from the
are massive file size savings to be made. subsequently laid over the top as more information is Download time: 1m 16s developers’ websites. Here’s a few
downloaded. The upside here is this gives a more of our favourites…
Quality matters immediate result on screen, but the trade off is slightly Compression level: 50
Naturally, you don’t get something for nothing with higher file sizes when you save your photos. File size: 189k Adobe Photoshop 7, £586,
compression. As you use greater degrees of file-size As a rule of thumb, we’d suggest using standard Download time: 47s www.adobe.co.uk
Adobe Photoshop Elements, £69
slashing, something has to give and it always turns out encoding for small images, and progressive encoding for
www.adobe.co.uk
to be the picture quality. As you increase JPEG the bigger picture. Compression level: 75 Microsoft PictureIt!, £59
File size: 117k www.microsoft.com/uk
Download time: 29s Paint Shop Pro 7, £93
The trick is to reduce the size of the file, www.digitalworkshop.com
Serif PhotoPlus 8, £69
Compression level: 99
without shrinking the size of the picture File size: 31k
www.serif.com
Ulead SmartSaver Pro, £39
Download time: 8s
while still maintaining the quality www.ulead.co.uk

TECHNIQUE PRINT TECHNIQUES PART 4 WWW.PHOTOBOX.CO.UK I’m another one who thinks this the best
4
FURTHER quality service around. Upload your files by 4.30pm and you’ll
INFORMATION get your prints back the next day
YOUR GUIDE TIM DALY

Tim has written several books on photography including The Digital Photography Handbook, The
Digital Printing Handbook and The Desktop Photographer, and he continues to write for The
British Journal of Photography and AG. His photographs have been exhibited across Europe
tim@photocollege.co.uk PORTFOLIO TIM DALY WEBSITE WWW.PHOTOCOLLEGE.CO.UK
How photo labs work

To tie in with this month’s lab test, Tim Daly looks more closely at your printing options online
I
f you’re a confident surfer you can make use so high and at such a low cost, this kind of service the time you spend logged on making the transfer. If
TUTORIAL
of the growing number of online digital matches professional High Street lab output for service. you’ve got a monthly fixed price internet connection
KEY DETAILS printing services. The process works by with unmetered access, then this is less of an issue.
2 ON OUR CD
InstaCropper 2.2 – crops your
uploading digital files to an online photolab website
such as Photobox, who will print your images out onto
File transfer
Many of these Internet photo labs are global rather
Uploading large image files via a slow connection will
take a while, so compressing your images beforehand
pictures automatically. conventional photographic paper and dispatch them than local businesses and as such have built their is a necessity. This will sacrifice high print quality, so
2
back to you the next day by first class post. The system systems around two common web browsers, Microsoft the compression routine should only be undertaken
SKILL LEVEL is so simple, speedy and cost effective, you’ll never Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator. As such, using the visual preview offered by Photoshop and
5 miss a deadline again. browser-based services are cross platform and will Photoshop Elements’ Save for Web command.
work on both Windows PCs and Apple computers. The Most labs will only accept images saved in the
2 TIME TO COMPLETE How it works act of uploading image files sounds much more compressed JPEG format and Apple users will need to
30 MINUTES After you’ve uploaded your digital image files, they’re

received at the other end by a high capacity server
complex than it really is and is just like sending an
attachment with an email.
ensure that their files are saved with the all important
.jpg three digit file extension. The modestly sized
2 NEXT MONTH
linked to an automated digital mini-lab printer, identical
to the machines used in hgh street photolabs.
Other service providers use their own specially
devised transfer software such as the worldwide
3.4MB image you see below was compressed to just
195K using a JPEG compression routine at 80 per cent
More on calibration.
Photobox use the very best quality mini-labs like the ColorMailer lab and their own Photo Service software. without any visible deterioration.
Fuji Frontier, which use a fine laser to ‘beam’ your The Photo Service program is free and easy to
images onto conventional, silver-based, colour download and, unlike browser-based services, offers a Fotango
photographic paper. This revolutionary process avoids useful set of additional preview tools. The ColorMailer Fontango offers a great service for those photographers
the use of a traditional enlarging lens, so common Photo Service lets you crop, rotate and place borders still shooting with film. Simply send them your
mini-lab problems such as print scratches, dust or poor around your images and most usefully, tells you when exposed colour film and they’ll scan it, upload it to
focus never appear on the end the print size you’ve ordered exceeds the resolution of their site and send you a password. After receiving
results. In fact the print quality is your digital image file. your original negatives back, you can log onto the site,
3 Like the worldwide view your photos online and then place your print
network of Kodak orders. You can still upload digital files to Fotango like
online labs, you can any other online service and you can also email any
upload to a ColorMailer image in your album.
lab in Europe, US or
1 Australia and get the Online albums
lab to mail your prints Internet photo-labs also offer a password-protected
directly to your storage facility so you can create your own online
overseas friends in a albums. Once uploaded to your server space, you can
couple of days. also order t-shirts, posters and jigsaws of your prints.
You can even grant access to friends and family who
2 4 Compressing can order their own prints direct. Many labs provide
your files this for free or for a limited time and albums are
The trade off with organised like slides on a lightbox with tiny thumbnail
5 online albums is images, leading to larger versions of your files.
The sort of features you should expect to find on a good online photo lab are:
1 Fast and easy file uploading facilities
2 The ability to share files with other users and friends
3 Security, and control over who can see your picture albums
4 Fast, efficient and cost-effective prints
5 Extra features like postcards and poster prints from your originals
TUTORIAL COLOUR CALIBRATION
YOUR GUIDE TIM DALY

Tim has written several books on photography, including The Digital
Photography Handbook, The Digital Printing Handbook and The Desktop
Photographer, and he continues to write for The British Journal of
Photography and AG. His photographs have been exhibited across Europe
tim@photocollege.co.uk PORTFOLIO TIM DALY
How to match colours

You can’t just switch a monitor on and hope for the best. Tim Daly explains why it needs careful
calibration so you can be sure the colours on-screen match the colours of your prints
ven though the contrast and brightness of display settings, there are usually several screen
E
TUTORIAL
KEY DETAILS most monitors can be manually adjusted resolutions to choose from, depending on the quality of SETTING UP DIRECTIONS
using dials and buttons, it’s much better to the graphics card installed on your PC. These resolutions
■ Apple OS 8-9 Go to Apple menu8Control
2 SKILL BOOSTER use software-driven tools to drive your adjustments.
Calibration is all about making your monitor display a
are measured in pixels and are commonly described as
640 x 480 or VGA, 800 x 600 or SVGA, or 1,024 x 768
Panels8Monitors
7 ■ Apple OS X Go to Apple menu8System
neutral colour and is the first stage in establishing a and beyond. High-resolution settings let you see more
Preferences8Displays
2 TIME TO COMPLETE
colour-controlled workflow. An uncorrected monitor will
always give you a false representation of your image
of your high resolution image onscreen and will prevent
less scrolling, yet menus and tool icons can become
■ Windows PC Go to Start8Settings8Monitor
20 MINUTES
and make accurate colour printing virtually impossible.
Before we get to the this stage, let’s look at the
small and difficult to see. A good compromise is to try a
mid-range resolution such as 1,024 x 768 to start with. way to determine a fixed environment where colour
2 NEXT MONTH options involved when setting up your monitor for the consistency can be managed and maintained when
Defining colour settings first time. Most monitors can be set to display colour at Software calibration inputting and outputting digital images.
in Photoshop. three different levels: 256 colours (8-bit), thousands of The best tool to use for calibrating your monitor is the
colours (16-bit) and millions of colours long established Adobe Gamma, supplied freely with Saving your results
(24-bit). All monitors have a control for setting a fixed most OS and imaging applications. Adobe Gamma is a Once complete, save the profile with a recognisable
number of colours in a display regardless of the actual tiny application that works by guiding you through a name. This profile can then be accessed by a colour
colour depth of the image on show. It’s a bad idea to simple step-by-step sequence where brightness, management application such as Colorsync or the
view top quality digital images on anything less than contrast and colour balance is established then saved as Adobe (ACE). Both are known as colour management
millions of colour mode, as lower settings will not show a special kind of file called a display profile. This profile modules (CMM) or engines, designed to establish and
0 EXPERT TIP the subtleties and tonal variations.

Some recent PCs are capable of working in billions of
is then called into play each time your computer is
switched on and establishes a constant working display
manage profile information across different applications
on your workstation. Drag your monitor profile into the
TIM DALY colours mode, but this will be squeezed back into 16.7 and bypasses any change to the physical controls on the CMM’s Profile folder and then load it as the default
USING COLOUR million by all desktop printers. In addition to colour outside of your monitor case. Profiles are a very useful display profile.
DESKTOP COLOURS
Set a neutral grey desktop colour
and you’ll be able to see casts
much better. Don’t use highly
patterned desktop designs and
position your monitor away from
colourful walls and bright lights,
especially fluorescent tubes.
? EXPLAINED FIRING UP HARDWARE CONTRAST COLOUR WHITE POINT

PROFILE 01 A Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) 02 Next, set your monitor’s 03 After clicking into the next 04 Finally, set the ‘white point’
A profile determines actual pixel monitor, must be switched on hardware contrast control to stage, deselect the View of your monitor to ensure
colour appearance. for half an hour before colour calibrating its maximum value and follow this by Single Gamma option until you have a that the white pigment in your screen is
it. Flatter TFT monitors can be set up adjusting the brightness. Keep a close red, green and blue square. Move the truly white, and not tinged with any
CMM without delay. Launch your Adobe eye on the grey centre box in the sliders under each square until the other colour (which will in turn affect all
The tiny program that oversees
Gamma application (do a Find File Adobe Gamma panel and aim to make centre box is merged with the outer other colours it produces). To do this
colour conversions. ColorSync,
Adobe ACE are both CMM.
command or use Sherlock). Then choose this the darkest perceptible grey you box. This will perfectly correct the press ‘measure’ and click on the most
the Step-by-step option as shown here. can without turning it black. colour display of your monitor. neutral grey square.

THE MAGAZINE
WHOSE TIME
HAS COME...
…A magazine dedicated to style, connectivity & convergence.
Technology for life
INSIDE THE FIRST EDITION
SYNERGY& STYLE Enjoy seamless technologies
for smarter living SURROUND SOUND
REVOLUTION One speaker panel to rule them
all? HOUSE 2010 Fastforward to the future
home FREEDOM TO ROAM Get broadband
internet on the move VIDEOTAPE IS DEAD!
Every new recordable technology tested
Get connected. Get digitalhome. £3.50
Order your copy direct (UK only):

TEL 0870 444 8657
FAX 01458 271146
ONLINE www.digitalhomemag.com/issue
BRAND NEW ON SALE DEC 19

SECTION #05 RETAILERS
5 steps to safe shopping
To prevent or handle the unlikely event of receiving faulty or
damaged goods, why not follow our checklist below – you’ll
reduce whatever slight chance there is of problems:
1 CHOOSE YOUR SITE OR RETAILER

Overleaf, you’ll find pages of camera retailers who offer competing
prices and levels of service. Give them a look:
2
USE A CREDIT CARD
If you are buying goods worth more than £100 in total, use a credit
card. This is because in the event of any problems, you are entitled to
claim against the credit card company as well as the seller (you won’t
get your money back twice but the company is there to claim against if
the seller has gone bust.) You might also get extra insurance, so check
with your credit firm.
3 NEVER PAY IN CASH

If you can’t pay by credit card, use a cheque or postal order instead.
Don’t send cash through the mail, even by registered post. Apart from
the risk of theft, you can’t stop payment if you need to, and it’s
impossible to prove how much you sent.
4 KEEP A RECORD
Keep records if you’re paying by credit card over the phone. Print off
web pages after you have entered your details on them. Keep notes of
exact times and the name of the person who took your order, if you’re
paying by phone. Always keep your receipts.
5 DON’T USE A DEBIT CARD

Many debit cards don’t have the protection or insurance options
afforded to credit cards, so avoid using one.
Dealerbank
18 pages of the UK’s camera retailers
Contact our team

To advertise in our Dealerbank section contact
#
We can’t make guarantees on quality of service from our
advertisers, but if you do have problem – or have had
praiseworthy service – we’d like to know. Email us at
our sales team on 01225 442244 or email
letters.dcm@futurenet.co.uk dcamclassifieds@futurenet.co.uk
Lyson information
clickon
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checkout
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FUJI KONICA FUJI FUJI

Finepix S304 KD400 Finepix A202 Finepix 2600
£338 £338 £128 £198
CANON FUJI NIKON OLYMPUS

Powershot A40 Finepix 2800 Coolpix 2000 C220 Zoom
£208 £278 £178 £178
EVERY CUSTOMER GETS
D I G I TA L C A M E R A S
£2 OF DIGITAL PRINTING FREE
MAKE & MODEL CAMERA +32MB +64MB MAKE & MODEL CAMERA +32MB +64MB MAKE & MODEL CAMERA +32MB +64MB
CARD CARD CARD CARD CARD CARD
Canon Digital Ixus 330.................. £298 £314 £321 Kodak DX3700 ............................. £218 see website see website Olympus C700 .............................. £378 £389 £400
Canon Digital Ixus V2 .................. £278 £294 £301 Kodak DX3900 ............................. £268 £284 £291 Olympus C730 .............................. £428 £442 £453 EXTENDED WARRANTIES
Canon Digital Ixus V3 .................. £338 £354 £361 Kodak DX4330 ............................. £268 see website see website Olympus camedia c120 ................ £148 £159 £170 AVAILABLE FROM £20
Canon Powershot A200 ............... £148 £164 £171 Kodak DX4900 ............................. £268 £284 £291 Olympus E10 ................................ £798 £809 £820
Canon Powershot A30 ................. £188 £204 £211 Kodak LS443 ................................ £348 see website see website Olympus E20 ............................. £1,098 £1114 £1121
Canon Powershot A40 ................. £208 £224 £231 Konica KD 3000 ........................... £258 £274 £281 Oregon Scientiﬁc Dshot III .............. £68 £79 £90 FREE QBEQ
Canon Powershot G2 ................... £548
Canon Powershot G3 ................... £598
£564
£614
£571
£621
Konica KD100 ................................ £88
Konica KD200Z ............................. £218
see website
see website
see website
see website
Pentax EI100 .................................. £98
Pentax Optio 330GS ..................... £248
£114
£264
£121
£271
PHOTOGENETICS 2.0
Canon Powershot S30 .................. £378 £394 £401 Konica KD300Z ............................. £378 see website see website Pentax Optio 330RS ..................... £308 £324 £331 WORTH £24.99
Canon Powershot S40 .................. £468 £484 £491 Konica KD400 .............................. £338 see website see website Pentax Optio 430 ......................... £418 £434 £441 WITH EVERY PURCHASE
Canon Powershot S45 .................. £468 £484 £491 Kyocera Finecam S3X ................... £298 see website see website Pentax Optio 430RS ..................... £428 £444 £451
Casio Exilim EX-S1 ....................... £168 see website see website Kyocera Finecam S4 ..................... £348 see website see website Ricoh Caplio RR1 ......................... £468 £479 £490 COME AND MEET OUR
Casio GV10 Blue .......................... £208
Casio GV10 Red ........................... £208
£224
£224
£231
£231
Minolta Dimage 5 ........................ £398
Minolta Dimage 7 ........................ £688
£414
£704
£421
£711
Ricoh Caplio RR10 ....................... £248
Ricoh Caplio rr120 ....................... £168
see website
£179
see website
£190
VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
Casio QV2900ux .......................... £308
Casio QV4000 .............................. £398
£324
£414
£331
£421
Minolta Dimage 7Hi ..................... £958
Minolta Dimage 7i ....................... £678
£974
£694
£981
£701
Ricoh RDC-i500 ............................ £398
Ricoh RR30 .................................. £248
£414
see website
£421
see website
MISS PIXEL
Casio QVR 3 ................................. £288 see website see website Minolta Dimage E203 .................. £198 see website see website Samsung Digimax350SE .............. £288 £304 £311
Casio QVR 4 ................................. £328 see website see website Minolta Dimage F100 .................. £358 see website see website Samsung Digimax 410 ................. £328 £344 £351 £15 OF DIGITAL
Fuji Finepix 2600 .......................... £198
Fuji Finepix 2800 .......................... £278
£209
£289
£220
£300
Minolta Dimage X ........................ £288
Nikon Coolpix 2000 ..................... £178
see website
£194
see website
£201
Sony Cybershot DSC P2 ................ £328
Sony Cybershot DSC P7 ................ £368
see website
see website
see website
see website
PRINTS WITH ALL
Fuji Finepix 30i ............................. £278 £289 £300 Nikon Coolpix 2500 ..................... £248 £264 £291 Sony Cybershot DSC P9 ................ £408 see website see website ORDERS OVER £500
Fuji Finepix 6800 .......................... £398 £409 £420 Nikon Coolpix 4300 ..................... £398 £414 £421 Sony Cybershot DSCS75 ............... £468 see website see website
Fuji Finepix A202 ......................... £128 £142 £153 Nikon Coolpix 4500 ..................... £518 £534 £541 Sony Cybershot DSC-707 ............. £867 see website see website
Fuji Finepix A203 ......................... £218 £232 £243 Nikon Coolpix 5000 ..................... £698 £714 £721 Sony Cybershot DSC-31 ............... £178 see website see website COMPARE & CONTRAST
Fuji Finepix A204 ......................... £188 £202 £213 Nikon Coolpix 5700 ..................... £868 £884 £891 Sony Cybershot DSC-P5 ............... £408 see website see website DIGITAL CAMERA SPECIFICATIONS
Fuji Finepix A303 ......................... £268 £282 £293 Nikon Coolpix 775 ....................... £248 £264 £271 Sony Cybershot DSC-51 ............... £188 see website see website SIDE BY SIDE
Fuji Finepix F401 .......................... £328 £339 £350 Nikon Coolpix 885 ....................... £358 £374 £381 Sony Cybershot DSC-71 ............... £278 see website see website
Fuji Finepix F601 .......................... £458 £469 £480 Olympus C1 (c-you) Zoom ............ £168 £179 £190 Sony Cybershot DSC-85 ............... £498 see website see website
Fuji Finepix S304 .......................... £338 £352 £363 Olympus C220 zoom .................... £178 £189 £200 Sony Cybershot U-10 ................... £188 see website see website
Fuji Finepix S602 .......................... £548 £559 £570 Olympus C300z ............................ £258 £269 £280 Sony Mavica CD400 ..................... £738 see website see website FREE MINI TRIPOD WORTH
Kodak CX4210 ............................. £138 see website see website Olympus C3020 ............................ £338 £349 £360 Sony Mavica MVCFD200 .............. £428 see website see website £8 WITH EVERY CAMERA
Kodak CX4230 ............................. £178 see website see website Olympus c4000z ........................... £378 £389 £400 Sony Mavica MVC FD75 ............... £348 see website see website
Kodak DX3215 ............................. £130 see website see website Olympus C50zoom ....................... £468 £482 £493
READERS AND ADAPTERS C O M PA C T F L A S H ( T Y P E I & I I ) S E C U R E D I G I TA L

Fuji ZIO USB Smartmedia reader/writer .............................................. £29 Fuji 16MB ........................................................................................... £15 Sandisk 16MB .................................................................................... £22
Expert USB Compact Flash reader ...................................................... £24 Fuji 32MB ........................................................................................... £18 Sandisk 32MB .................................................................................... £30
Sandisk Compact Flash adapter ......................................................... £15 Fuji 64MB ........................................................................................... £26 Sandisk 64MB .................................................................................... £46
Fuji 128MB ......................................................................................... £48
SMART MEDIA IBM 340MB microdrive .................................................................... £110 MEMORY STICKS
Fuji 16MB ............................................................................................. £9 IBM 1GB microdrive ......................................................................... £238 Sony 16MB ......................................................................................... £29
Fuji 32MB ........................................................................................... £14 Sandisk 16MB .................................................................................... £15 Sony 32MB ......................................................................................... £42
Sandisk 32MB .................................................................................... £20
Fuji 64MB ........................................................................................... £26
Fuji 128MB ......................................................................................... £48 Sandisk 64MB .................................................................................... £28
Sony 64MB ......................................................................................... £62
Sony 128MB ....................................................................................... £98 share & print
Sandisk 128MB .................................................................................. £50
Sandisk 16MB ...................................................................................... £9
Sandisk 32MB .................................................................................... £15 Sandisk 256MB .................................................................................. £98 B AT T E R I E S A N D C H A R G E R S
NO LENGTHY DOWNLOADS
Sandisk 64MB .................................................................................... £28
M U LT I M E D I A C A R D S
4 X 1200 mAh ................................................................................. £6.50 TO GET STARTED
Sandisk 128MB .................................................................................. £52 4 x 1800 mAh ............................................................................... £11.50
Toshiba 128MB .................................................................................. £50 Sandisk 16MB .................................................................................... £19 4 x 1200 mAh & mains charger ..................................................... £16.50 1
Sandisk 32MB .................................................................................... £24 4 x 1800 mAh & mains charger ..................................................... £20.50 Upload digital images to on-line album.
Sandisk 64MB .................................................................................... £44
2
All prices include vat (and delivery for orders over £100). Prices subject to change Store, share or order prints.
3
Prints delivered direct to your door.
www. .co.uk FREE 50mb on line photo
FOR ALL THESE GREAT DEALS AND MORE VISIT OUR WEBSITE album storage
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call 0870 745 1036 FREE £15 worth of prints with
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decrypted until downloaded onto our server. This is the most secure model. InternetCamerasDirect.co.uk, Unit 14, New Mill, Brougham Road, Marsden, Huddersﬁeld HD7 www.icdphotos.com
6BJ
On your discs
Two CDs every month! Here’s what we’ve lined up for you this issue…
>
DISC A Cheez 1.0
This February…
FULL SOFTWARE EasyFast Viewer 3.01
Canvas 6 (PC & Mac) FilterSim 1.0
DEMO SOFTWARE Image Enhance 3.2.2
Canvas 8 (PC & Mac) InstaCropper 2.2
IProc32 1.0
DISC B JAlbum 2.85
FULL SOFTWARE PaintStudio Lite 1.2
There’s a heap of software flooding the market right now. We’ve chosen a PhotoAlbum 5b – as xatshow 4.60
comprehensive sample for the coverdisc, which Jeremy Ford talks us through sold for $39.95
Repligator 6.0 – as PLUG-INS
T
he digital camera industry is doing well. have a choice of either a CD-ROM or DVD version sold for $34.95 AlphaWorks Deluxe
This success means that software of Digital Camera Magazine. Users lucky enough AmphiSoft Plug-in
companies are developing software for to own a DVD drive will benefit from additional DEMO SOFTWARE Filters 1.03
digital camera users – and the choice is almost software (including Mac software) and special PhotoAlbum 6.0 Autochromatic 2.0
overwhelming. We try to bring you a broad DVD-only content, such as an extra exclusive full Repligator 9.0 Digital SHO Plug-in
selection of software, that’s suitable for both product that’s not included of the CDs. Don’t miss Advanced JPEG 1.1.1
beginners and experienced photographers. out, it’s going to be a very special issue. Compressor 4.1 Edgeworks Deluxe
As part of this objective each and every issue Jeremy Ford ArcSoft Panorama Plugin Commander
we also give away full versions of leading brand Senior New Media Editor Maker 3.0 Light 1.52
applications on the CD and and easy-to-follow Jeremy.ford@futurenet.co.uk BreezeBrowser 2.3 Virtual Painter 3.0
introductory tutorials. Flick through the next few DVD Picture Show 1.0 Web Image Guru Plug-
pages and you’ll see the complete line-up of full ■ Don’t forget issue 5! We’ll have two packed Focus Magic 1.23 in 4.0
free programs for you to keep discs full of essential resources, or a DVD issue iMatch 3.1.0.111 nik Color Efex Pro!
Going forward, we’ll endeavour to keep our with extras for your digital camera. It’ll be in the Photo-Brush 2.01 Photo Classic Set
standards high, and from next issue you’ll have a shops on Thursday 13th Feb. PhotoImpact 8.0 nik Color Efex Pro!
Photoshop 7.0 Photo Design Set
Picture Man 4.2 Web Image Guru 4.0
VIRTUAL TOURS Our virtual tour enables you to get a proper feel for the five
digital cameras we’ve reviewed this issue
FREE SOFTWARE
Batch Thumbs 1.5
DRIVERS
Kodak Easyshare
How to run your CD

Simply place the CD in your PC’s CD drive.
The interface will run automatically. Please
read the user agreement carefully – if you
accept the terms, click ‘I agree’. Then use
the menu bar at the top of the screen to
browse your disc’s contents. Enjoy – any
problems, please see below:
Reader support
FLY AROUND DETAIL SHOTS TEST SHOTS We are careful to thoroughly test each
01 Use the pink arrows to the left and right 02 We’ve provided nine detailed images of 03 We’ve taken test shots in four different CD but in the event of a problem,
of each camera image to spin the each digital camera so you can have a lighting situations to enable you to view please call our reader support team on
camera around. Rollover the outside arrows to auto- really thorough look at each of them. Zoom into the the image quality of the individual cameras. These 01225 822743. In the event of your disc
rotate the camera in that direction or click the inside required close-up shot by simply clicking the include a detail picture, a skin shot, plus indoor and being physically damaged, please see the
arrows to manually rotate the camera to the relevant thumbnail image or pressing the number outdoor shots. See a large version of each shot by back of the disc case for details of how to
position you want. key shown below each one. clicking the thumbnail or pressing the number key get a free replacement.
displayed below each image.

Repligator 6.0
Quickly and easily apply special effects to your digital photographs to really make them stand out
* SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
SPECIAL EFFECTS You can use the special Xform filters in Repligator 6 to radically
change your image for some surreal effects
PUBLISHER RANSEN-SOFTWARE
PRODUCT STATUS FULL VERSION
CONTACT INFORMATION WWW.RANSEN.COM
AS SOLD FOR $34.95
SERIAL NUMBER None required
T
aking a good photograph is one thing,
but really making it stand out in a
striking fashion is quite another. Using
Repligator 6 you can use your own original
photographs to create impressive special effects
and surreal images in just a few easy steps.
Repligator uses special filters known as Xforms
to completely alter the appearance of your
images. You can randomly select an Xform to
apply using the built-in wizard or alternatively, you CHOOSE A PHOTO CHOOSE THE XFORM EFFECT BACKTRACKING
can select an Xform you know you like from a 01 Load one of the photographs into 02 If you want to change the XForm effect 03 You can use the Sequence Overview
menu. Once you have applied an Xform you like Repligator by clicking File8Open and that’s been selected for you, you can feature to backtrack to a previously
the general idea of, you can experiment further select the image you would like to use. Click OK to randomly cycle through others by pressing the F7 selected effect. Click Sequence8Sequence Overview
with various settings to create a variation on the select a random XForm effect. key (or F6 and selecting one from the list). and select the one you would like to use.
original theme.
As applying special effects is so simple, it is
easy to get carried away and keep changing your
picture and then wish you’d stuck with an earlier
effect. Thankfully, Repligator includes a feature
called Sequence Overview which enables you to
view and select any of the effects you have
previously applied to an image.
All of the effects can be quickly cycled through
by simply pressing the F7 key until you find one
you like the look of. If you would like to modify it
slightly, pressing F8 will produce variations on the
same theme.
It may be that you do not want to apply an
effect to the whole of an image. This is where XFORM PROPERTIES FADING EFFECTS VIGNETTES
mixing comes into play. Using this feature you can
04 The properties of individual XForms can
05 An effect doesn’t have to apply to a
06 You can also use vignettes to frame your
fade an effect in from one side of an image or set be altered before they are applied. After whole image – it can be set to fade in or images like old photos. You can cycle
it or circle out from the centre. With a little finding an effect you like, click Properties8XForm out from anywhere. Choose your effect then click through vignettes like XForms by pressing F11. Save
experimentation, you can create some very Settings to change effect options. Properties8Mix and choose your settings. your image when you’re happy with the results.
interesting results.
Upgrade to Repligator 9
Readers of Digital Camera Magazine can upgrade to the Version 9 of the software includes an additional 30 special
latest version of Repligator for a specially discounted price. effects, the option to generate up to 40 images at once, a
From within the program click Help8Ordering and click on number of new mixing options and much more.
the Buy button that appears. You will then be taken to a If you would like to try out this new version before you
website from which you can buy Repligator 9 for just $23.95 buy, you can download a demo version from
– a saving of 28%! www.ransen.com
Deneba Canvas 6
The multi-talented Canvas 6 is free with this month’s mag. Discover its incredible power here
* SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
PUBLISHER
PRODUCT STATUS
DENEBA
FULL VERSION
GETTING AROUND CANVAS 6 The interface and how
to use it…
CONTACT INFORMATION WWW.DENEBA.COM
AS SOLD FOR £386 6
SERIAL NUMBER Register at www.deneba.com/cv6regukf
1
C
ompared with bitmap editors, vector
illustration packages aren’t exactly thick 3
2
on the ground. Let’s see, there’s
Illustrator, FreeHand, Corel Draw and… well, that’s
about it, isn’t it? Not exactly. There’s a fourth
contender which may not get the press of the 5
others, but actually offers a whole lot more:
Canvas, from Deneba.
In fact, to call Canvas merely an illustration
package is a gross understatement. Yes, it enables
you to create vector shapes with gradient fills,
transparency and all the other tricks, but it also
happens to contain powerful bitmap editing tools,
too, along the lines of Photoshop or Paint Shop
Pro. And you can combine the two very easily. Oh,
and it also has great text-handling capabilities for
laying out and publishing newsletters or other
documents. And did we mention it can create and
publish web pages, too?
Indeed, there’s very little Canvas can’t do – and
even better, what it does, it does bloody well. But
7
you don’t need to take our word for it – we’ve
given you the full version of Canvas 6.0 8
Professional on this month’s disc.
1 THE DOCKING BAR 3 TOOL TABS 5 MAIN VIEW WINDOW 8 PRESETS

Drag any palette or sub-palette Click a tab to see the tools Click any object with the arrow These arrows open further text
here for quick reference. within, or drag off the tool to select it. menus that enable you to load
docking bar to put them in a and save presets.
2 THE TOOLBOX floating window. 6 THE MAIN TOOLBAR
Just about all of Canvas’ object You can customise this to add 9 TOOL OPTIONS
creation commands can be 4 ZOOM or remove tools as needed. Some tools have various
accessed from here. Right-click Zoom in or out using these options. Double-click to
a button to see the alternative controls or type in a zoom 7 OPTIONS display them.
forms of that tool. level directly. This down-pointing arrow
enables you to display or hide
the more complex options.

APPLY A FILTER Filters – the first part of image apps that everyone always plays with.
Prettify your pictures with some of these
CHOOSE AN IMAGE FILTER TYPE RIPPLE FILTER

01 Canvas 6 has loads of filters, and they’re 02 Hit Image8Filter. Select a filter type then 03 This is the Ripple filter. Canvas 6 also has a
all fun to use. Load up a piccy in the usual hit the one you want. Zoom in if you need couple of rendering effects. Hit
way. Activate the Selection tool in the toolbox then to. Lots of filters give you a dialog box, so complete Image8Filters8Render and then Clouds or Wheel.
click the image to select it. this too, then hit OK. There’s no dialog, so you get the effect straight away.
Upgrade to Canvas 8
■ New option to anti-alias rotated bitmaps – ■ More efficient auto-create mode – select a paint
C
anvas 6 gives you a lot, but version 8
offers even more. You get an Undo when rotating raster images (bitmaps), a new tool and start painting anywhere. Canvas now
palette to reverse multiple actions. Even Anti-alias image checkbox is now available creates multiple paint objects if multiple brush
better, you can just click a bitmap to edit it and whenever Hard rotate for image option is strokes are too far apart and it is needed.
paint with textures and gradients, and artistic selected. ■ Paint bucket now uses the fill colour for
filters like Stained Glass have arrived. You can ■ New Quick Mask command consistency between vector and image mode.
create ‘sequences’ (macros) and exporting to web ■ New Gaussian Blur filter is 10 times faster ■ New Lasso selection mode omits the colour of
pages is even more advanced – for instance, you ■ New Filters: Bevel Image, Lens flare, Crystallize the first click point (assumes it’s the background
get support for CSS files. So what are you waiting Image, Stained glass, Oil painting. colour) from the selection in one step.
for? Visit www.deneba.com for ordering details. ■ Clicking on an image with a paint tool selected ■ Multiple Image Display interpolation options –
automatically assumes you want to paint and for improved display of images at magnifications
Over 100 new enhancements including: enters paint mode. that aren’t an even multiple of the resolution or
■ All paint tools now support all Canvas Ink types ■ Easier editing of multiple, separate paint object that are scaled at odd multiples of the active
not just plain colours. This means that you can
now airbrush gradients, textures, etc. as you
areas – no need to exit or enter paint mode to go
from one to the other. This is now automatic as
magnification. Options are: none, bilinear and
bicubic and auto. In auto mode Canvas chooses
GETTING
would a solid colour. long as a paint tool is selected. what’s best for any given image.
TO GRIPS
Top tips to help you get to grips with Canvas.
Canvas uses a custom paper size by default. If print If your palettes are threatening to take over the world, Canvas’ Customise command (File8Customise...) is For quick precise positioning, turn on the grid
will be your final destination, change the default rein them in with two useful commands in the incredibly powerful. Not only can you alter toolbars (Layout8Display8Show Grids) and tick Layout8Snap
document size by going to Layout8Document Setup... Window8Palettes menu. Clean Up Palettes stacks and menus, but you can also set up custom strokes, To8Grid. You can alter the size of the grid using the
and choose A4 – or whatever paper you want to use. them neatly, while Put Away does just that. inks and other things – all with keyboard shortcuts. Layout8Grids... menu.
FANCY A TIPPLE? Combining images is easy with Canvas’
bitmap editing tools
RESIZE THE PICS LEVELS THE HISTOGRAM

01 These are the two pictures we’re going 02 We’ll start with the wine glass. Just 03 The Levels control shows a histogram
to combine – both free stock images about any image can be improved by count of the colours in the image: darkest
from the web. We’ve already imported them using playing with the Levels command, so we’ll start colours are on the left, and the brightest are on the
the Image8Acquire menu and resized them from with this. Select the bitmap and choose Image8 right. Click Preview and drag the middle slider under
their original huge dimensions. Adjust8Levels. the histogram.
GAMMA THE WAND TOOL BACKGROUND

04 What you’re doing is changing the
05 Now we need to select and cut out the
06 Double-click the Wand tool icon and change
gamma of the image, which lightens or cork from its background. Right-click the the tolerance to something much lower,
darkens the image. Usually you can click Auto for image and select Edit to go to paint editing mode. such as 10. Now click in the white background. Most
QUICK ON best results, but in this case we’ll reduce the

gamma slightly to deepen the mid-tones.
From the toolbox, right-click the top right icon and
choose the Wand tool.
of the background will automatically be selected, but
not all of it.
THE DRAW
More tips to help you get to grips with Canvas
If your computer isn’t too speedy and you’re working To resize an image, select it and drag one of the If you’re painting on transparency (as in the main Another good tip for painting on transparency masks
with huge image files, use proxies (Image/Proxy). corner/side handles (hold [Shift] to keep the walkthrough), switching between the Mask view and is to temporarily lower the opacity of the entire
This creates a faster, low-res ‘stand-in’ version of the proportions). Or use the ImageArea8 Resolution... Mask/Image view combined can help you check the layer, using the slider, so you can see the underlying
pic to work with. menu command for more precise control. outlines of your mask. layers a lot more easily.
0 EXPERT TIP
GET MORE FROM
CANVAS
On the front of the mag, you’ll
find 5 free tips cards. One of
the cards is the Canvas
Coverdisc companion – check it
out for some powerful tricks
SELECT THE CORK REMOVE BACKGROUND REDESIGN THE SHOT

07 Hold Shift (to add to the selection area), 08 Choose Image8Select8Inverse. Now the 09 Delete the original cork layer (but keep
then click in other parts of the cork itself is selected, rather than the the original bitmap file) and arrange the
background. Keep doing this until just the cork background. Do a Copy to the clipboard, hit Escape wine glass and cork as in the screenshot. Of course,
itself is outlined. A few stray pixels here and there to deselect everything, then Paste. And there you we want to be able to see the cork through the
won’t hurt. have it – one cork without its background. glass, so you’ll have to…
TRANSPARENCY LAYER PAINT THE TRANSPARENCY PAINT ON THE MASK

10 …right-click the cork image and select
11 Doing this sets up a transparency layer
12 Use the airbrush and a grey colour to
Arrange Send to Back. The cork layer is for the wine glass – this is important as paint on the mask. The darker the grey,
now behind the glass. Select Window8Palettes8 we can now actually paint on the areas of the more transparency is applied. Choose a fairly
Show Transparency, then double-click the wine transparency. Make sure Channel is selected for light grey at first, and vary the transparency
glass image. Mask, then click Edit. depending on what you want to accentuate.
To move a selection marquee in Canvas, choose As in Photoshop and other programs, the options in When you add text and other objects to an image in You can add text that follows any path automatically
Image8Select8Float, then in the Channels palette, Image8Select8Modify are useful for subtly bitmap editing mode, they’re converted to pixels using the Path Text tool. Just create the path or any
set the Floating Opacity to zero. You now have one expanding, contracting and changing an image immediately – so add them as separate objects in other shape, select Path Text, move the cursor near
selection outline that can be moved around. selection marquee. Use them often. normal mode if you want to edit them later on. the path and start typing.
Photo Album 5b
Looking for a new way to display your pictures? Why not use this full program to create your own digital photograph albums?
* SOFTWARE
SPECIFICATIONS
PHOTO ALBUMS Present your digital pictures as a slideshow or as a still photo album –
and you can change the presentation at any time
PUBLISHER SHOWYOURPHOTOS.COM
PRODUCT STATUS FULL VERSION
CONTACT INFORMATION WWW.SHOWYOURPHOTOS.COM
AS SOLD FOR $19
SERIAL NUMBER
www.showyourphotos.com/registration.html
for free registration
O
nce you’ve spent a few months
snapping away with your digital camera,
you will find that you’ve amassed a
reasonably larger collection of images. While
traditional photographs can be handily displayed in
photo albums, deciding how to organise images
on your hard drive can be less simple.
Using Photo Album 5b from this month’s cover
disc you can quickly and easily organise all of your START YOUR OWN ALBUM DESCRIBE IT VIEW IT
photographs and other images into digital photo 01 Click on a blank entry in the left hand list 02 When you have added a number of 03 To view a completed photo album, click
albums which can be viewed and printed from and press the Show button. Right click photos, you can add a description to help on its entry in the left hand Photo Album
your computer. Collections of photographs can also on a blank box, select an image to add, enter a you identify individual albums. Click on the Describe list and then click the Show button. You can view an
be added to a slideshow – perfect for showing off description and click Save and Exit. button and enter a meaningful description. image full screen or right click to print it.
your holiday pictures to visiting friends!
As well as displaying images, Photo Album also
enables you to edit your photographs before
adding them to an album or slideshow. There is a
range of special effects for you to choose from as
well as standard image tools such as adding text
and shapes. If any of your photos are suffering
from poor colour, this can be changed by adjusting
the brightness and contrast, hue, saturation and
luminosity and the RGB values.
As well as enabling you to display your digital
photos in albums and slideshows, Photo Album
can use any image file on your hard drive. If you
have standard printed photographs you would like
to use, you can use the accompanying SLIDESHOW CHANGE THE ORDER EDITING
Acquire/Edit program to scan in photographs or
04 Select a blank entry from the right hand
05 You can change the order of the photos
06 To alter an image before adding it to an
other images. Slideshow list and click Edit Show. Go to on the list by clicking the up or down album, click on the Acquire/Edit button in
Please note that in order to use this program the pictures you want to include and click the Add arrows. The Quick Rotate button enables you to the main window. There are image editing tools and
you will need to register it free of charge. To Photo button as you select each one in turn. change the orientation of individual pictures. range of special effects at your disposal.
do so, visit www.showyourphotos.com/
registration.html, enter the required details and
an email will be sent to you containing
registration information.
Upgrade to PhotoAlbum 6
Upgrading to version 6.03 costs $26.99. Find out more by screen saver, and much more. A trial version is included on
visiting the Photo Album website at this issue’s CD-ROM for you to try out. And as a special Digital
www.showyourphotos.com New features include: Albums Camera Magazine promotion, the developers are giving away
and slide show combined, unlimited number of albums, 10 free copies of Photo Album 6.03. You can find the
improved Photo manager, full feature printing ability (1-100 competition posted at:
photos per page), make any photo collection a slide-show www.ShowYourPhotos.com/html/competition.html
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NIKON SB 80 DX FLASH £ 269 EN - EL4 BATTERY £49
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FUJI S 2 SLR CAMERA KIT + 1 GB MICRODRIVE £ 1895
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www.cameras.co.uk
Digital Camera Advice Centre
We help you to find the right camera
and tell you where to get the best deal.
Consumer Reviews
Impartial Advice - Easy Guide to Digital Cameras

NEXT STEPS
NEXT ISSUE On sale everywhere on 13th February
Digital camera heroically

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catches criminals EDITORIAL & ART

Nick Merritt Managing Editor
[e] editor.dcm@futurenet.co.uk
Dylan Channon Senior Art editor
[e] dylan.channon@futurenet.co.uk
Digital cameras are so versatile they can even catch thieves! Richard Llewellyn Art Editor
Is there no end to their talents? [e] richard.llewellyn@futurenet.co.uk
Elizabeth Raderecht Operations Editor
Vicky West Sub-editor
A
couple of stories landed on our desks this crystal-sharp high-resolution
month that were so good, we had to share pictures of them committing EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS
them with you. Once again, they reveal the crime. Why they didn’t Steve Bavister, Aidan O’Rourke, Pete Martin,
Mark Harris, Barry Jackson, Chris Stocker, Joe
the humble digital camera as the unsung hero of the just steal the camera is
Apice, Ed Davis, Tim Daly, Simon Danaher,
hour, this time possessing hitherto unknown crime- anyone’s guess… Joe Cassels, Matthew Richards
busting talents. Another story illustrates
PHOTOGRAPHIC CONTRIBUTORS
Take the case of the burglars who broke into a school the simple maxim that if (Where not credited inside)
in North Carolina, USA. Bored with the idea of nicking you’re going to nick Future Network Photo Studio, Getty Images UK.
blackboards, chalks and carving obscene messages into something, be sure to Special thanks to Phil Sowels & Jessops Bath
desks, they started to take pictures of each other remove all identifying marks
committing the crime, with a camera found lying in one before you put it on display. ADVERTISING
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of the classrooms. When Giovanni’s Pizzeria in Michelle Blackwell Ad Manager
After snapping off a few shots, they tried to remove North Carolina had all its kitchen equipment stolen, the [e] michelle.blackwell@futurenet.co.uk
the film for safe keeping, but finding there wasn’t one, owner must have thought he’d never see it again – until Ben Shoesmith Sales Executive
[e] ben.shoesmith@futurenet.co.uk
they assumed the camera hadn’t been loaded and left the police found a South Carolina restaurant installing a [t] 020 7317 0259
it behind. huge fridge with photos of the original restaurant owner’s
Of course, it had no film because it was a digital grandchildren still stuck to the side. NEW MEDIA
camera. The burglars were caught when the police If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime, or at least James Brown Group New Media Manager
[e] james.brown@futurenet.co.uk
hooked the camera up to a PC and downloaded all the make sure the camera is switched off. Jeremy Ford Senior Disc Editor
[e] jeremy.ford@futurenet.co.uk
James Guest New Media Development
[e] james.guest@futurenet.co.uk
Next month – on sale 13th February CIRCULATION AND MARKETING

Clare Tovey Production Manager
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Diane Ross Production Coordinator
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Thank goodness the end to the British winter is Marie Spicer Subscriptions Executive
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John Weir Publishing Director
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how to duplicate his great results increasing our team!

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iPhoto on the new faster iBook Satisfaction guaranteed
Digital cameras are revolutionising the way we take pictures. Now, Apple As well as the John Lewis reputation for quality and value to give
provides the missing link to the way we save, organise, share and enjoy you peace of mind, we offer a free 2-year guarantee with every Apple
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More reasons to buy your Mac at John Lewis to help you set up your Apple computer and a free delivery service that saves
If you needed another reason to buy your Mac from John Lewis then you the hassle of carrying your purchase home yourself.
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Regular customers know that they can talk to knowledgeable, helpful staff
All under one roof at John Lewis. That is why we ensure that our sales staff are fully trained by
John Lewis department stores stock the whole OSX iPhoto-ready range Apple on an ongoing basis, so you can rest assured that you will get the best
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