Whilst we can't afford to go jetting off to PMA in Las Vegas, we know a man who can - Gary L. Friedman; rocket scientist, photographer and musician. Here's a quick recap of his visit to the Sigma stand, and some pictures. Sigma's PMA announcements included the DP1x, DP2s, the final production specification for the SD15 and a new range of professional lenses including an 85mm F1.4 and a stabilised fast 70-200 F2.8.
Sigma’s high-end lenses have often been overlooked despite their excellent performance, but when the unassuming focal length of 200-500mm was announced, the entire industry noticed - partly because of the astonishing F2.8 maximum aperture, and largely because of the £16,000+ price tag. A beast rarely seen in the wild, Sigma brought a few customers and press along to Somerset County Cricket Club in Taunton to demonstrate the lens in the wild.
I began my working life as a naturalist at the fledgling film unit of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) wielding a Bolex H16 film camera loaded with film stock similar in speed to the movement of Plate Tectonics. A great deal of water has passed under the bridge since those heady days and like many photographers I was faithful to film even after digital imaging arrived, despite the increasing difficulty with processing.
Inevitable, though, I had to face up to retiring my slide cameras and bought a Minolta 7D, which I’ve recently updated to Sony DSLR compatible with my collection of Minolta and Sigma Lenses and one lens in particular, a venerable Sigma 90mm macro, that has stood me in good stead for years. I always try to photograph subjects in the field using natural light, and the 90mm’s short focal length has taught me the value of a steady hand, patience and a careful approach, particularly where butterflies are concerned. I’ve lost count of the shots I’ve missed because I was too close and the insect took fright and flew off.
Despite the cost of Photoshop, many people barely skim the practical applications the software can be used for - and if you're very new to digital imaging, then you might not have considered everything you can do with Photoshop. Don't worry if you're more experience, there will be articles for you later - but here are a few quick tips to point new users in the directions Photoshop can take them.
Photographs are often taken for posterity reasons. The preservation of moments captured by the camera lens in these photographs is very much loved by all people for years to come. In fact, many families around the world have a camera or two in their household in order for them to take pictures of treasured times. There are also those people who take professional courses in photography and upon completing the course, sets up a professional studio to meet the needs of the society for really outstanding pictures.
Years of advancement in technology have changed some of the basic patterns for photographers, with a new attitude that an image which is unsatisfactory can always be fixed later in Photoshop or similar. This is often considered to be a problem, but it's only really an issue if the photographers are not thinking ahead about their composition and subjects. Quite often a scene is taken as a whole, and one technique that can help create powerful and interesting images is to look at the detail within the scene, instead of cropping it later.
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