Light & How To Photograph It

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riginally published as

in 2014, Michael Freeman’s fascinating book on light has just been republished. Drawing on four decades of experience, Freeman divides the book into three sections: Waiting, Chasing and Helping. This “digitally remastered” new version acknowledges the latest developments in photo technology.

OBEST FOR

aving photographed some of the best views on the planet for business and pleasure, and in his role as a Phase One ambassador, Paul hopes that the post-pandemic landscape will not carry on featuring the senseless spoiling of our natural world in the relentless pursuit of social media likes.

Watch this video to see why Paul is so concerned: www.bit.ly/dc232paul

HI think one feeds the other. If the camera phone narcissists continue to behave so badly, over time others will begin to see their actions as acceptable, too. In the crowds that I’ve seen in places like Provence, I watched the expressions of the pros change from incredulity to anger, but eventually to acceptance. Then their actions became complicit, matching the behaviour of others around them… Trampling on private property, yelling at others, ignoring warning signs, thinking they’re the most important (if not the only) person within a thousand metres.

Absolutely – and it’s all so avoidable. It’s impossible for one photographer to tell someone they’re behaving badly when they’re doing the same thing. It’s very easy, on the other hand, for people being respectful to suggest to others that there’s a better way of behaving.

Our thirst for adoration is becoming a sickening phenomenon, and that’s not just limited to Instagrammers – it applies to all of us. I’ve found myself being disappointed that an image I’ve taken didn’t get as many likes as others in my collection, to the point of considering going and reshooting it.

To me, it feels like it’s the right time to think about why we take photographs. Family photos from when I was growing up were candid, showing the fun we were having and recording enjoyment

Above: ‘Honeypot’ lavender fields in Provence, France and Lake Wanaka, South Island, New Zealand.

regardless of where we were. More and more, though, the goal of a trip has now

producing a photograph. Social media has forced people to forget the activity itself and instead focus on the output – the photo, the ‘proof’ of how great our life was on that day.

My fear is that the revived respect we found for travel will soon be forgotten: releasing crowds onto locations where they’ll revert back to their previous disrespectful ways. But it will only take a few of us to shift that direction back to a respectful, enjoyable, inquisitive nature – by helping to lead the way.

If we arrive at an overcrowded scene, why join it and add to the problem? The shot’s going to be overdone anyway. If we’re leading a workshop, why not incorporate respect and etiquette into the content that’s covered throughout our time with customers? And if we’re selling prints, how about explaining to our buyers how ethically we behaved to get the shot, and the steps we had to go through to get it right?

he 2020 Tokyo Olympics may have been postponed for a year, but not before they’d provided an incentive for several of the big camera manufacturers to release new professional cameras. It’s very much with sport in mind that James Artiaus puts the Sony Alpha 9 II through its paces – and he finds a compelling full-frame mirrorless that’s more than able to take on Canon and Nikon’s recently released pro DSLRs: the EOS-1D X Mark III and the D6.

Of course, the release of the EOS R5, Canon’s own flagship pro full-frame

Tmirrorless, adds yet another twist to the contest – and photographers have plenty of time to make their choice before Tokyo. Expect a test of the R5 soon.

Now that the countryside is beckoning and international travel is back on the agenda, it’s worth considering the best lens or lens combo to take out with you. If you’d really prefer to travel light and avoid swapping lenses, the superzooms we round up in this issue’s Group Test combine flexible focal lengths with very acceptable maximum apertures. Find out the best option for your camera body on page 108. Rod Lawton

Plus

106 Canon RF 24-105mm

f/4-7.1 IS STM

107 Nikkor 120-300mm

f/2.8E AF-S VR

o understand the Sony Alpha 9 II, you need to understand that there’s pro shooting and then there’s pro shooting. This latest Sony flagship full-frame mirrorless camera caters firmly to the latter category. The A9 II is not the highest-resolution camera you can get – but it’s designed for speed, not resolution. Its two rivals in the pro sports camera stakes aren’t mirrorless models but DSLRs: the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III and the Nikon D6.

All professional photography has its own challenges and requirements. Yet no matter how frenzied a wedding might be, it will never torture your camera’s autofocus the way that photographing Olympic swimmers in action does – and while you might need a decent burst mode to photograph a dance troupe or catwalk model, decent just

Tdoesn’t cut it when you’re shooting champion kickboxers or divers. It’s in the fire of these elite arenas that the Sony Alpha 9 II has been forged. For photographers who don’t shoot fast action professionally, it may seem like an incremental update over its predecessor. However, put through the rigors of a professional environment, the A9 II proves just how instrumental its upgrades are…

Key features

The camera uses the same 24.2MP sensor and Bionz X processor as the original A9, yielding an impressive 20fps continuous shooting output with the electronic shutter, 14-bit raw output, 4K video up to 30fps, five-axis in-body image stabilisation and a remarkable autofocus system that can make 60 AF calculations per second.

For casual observers, the increased mechanical shooting burst rate of 10