NEW! 2 CDS EXCLUSIVE FULL SOFTWARE WORTH £80 ON OUR CDS! The definitive guide to better photos 132 pages of image-editing tutorials, kit reviews & more! SONY DSC-F717 RATED INSIDE Our expert view of Sony’s new 5-megapixel marvel TURN YOUR PHOTOS INTO WORKS OF ART Our exclusive CD software and tutorial show you how £100-£800 WHICH CD BURNER IS CAMERAS RIGHT FOR YOU? COMPARED We test six of the latest inside and 2200 CCHHRRIISSTTMMAASS reveal the winner 2 IMAGE-EDITING HELP & TUTORIALS CCAAMMEERRAASS TTEESSTTEEDD Ideas, advice and techniques to improve your pictures We reveal the ideal features for the best prices – it’s your complete buying guide 9 D E 77 CEM TAKE BETTER NIGHT 147 BER 9 2 0 0 PHOTOGRAPHS! 01 02 7 7 7 0 0 3 RMEaSkeTO oRldE, wFAasDheEdD- oPuItCS PWEeR sFhEoCwT yPoOu RhoTwR AtoI TcSreate 5Es0se PntHiaOl tTeOchSnHiqOuPes T fIoPr S Easy tricks you can use to improve your low-light/indoor shots 1 £4.9 2 9 colours as good as new this great image every Photoshop user PRINTEDINTHE UK SETTING UP IN NEW MEDIA In the first of our series of features on going freelance in new media, 3D and illustration, find out exactly what it takes to go it alone 3DS MAX 5 All the new features of 3ds max 5 explored. Check out the fully working 30-day demo on the cover CD – and don’t forget the massive 45-step tutorial PHOTOSHOP TO A BRIEF An insightful, tutorial-based look at the thought processes and techniques behind professional editorial illustration A4 LASER PRINTERS ON TEST Five of the best lasers go head-to-head in our in-depth group test. Plus, reviews of Cinema 4D R8, AXELedge 2 and the Canon EOS D60 ON SALE NOW 2 MEET YOUR 2 TEAM Our promise 4 to our readers 8 Nick Merritt STARTHERE Every month we will show you how 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 Happy Christmas! photography, walkthroughs and diagrams 8 Dylan Channon to show you how to improve your Senior Art Editor photographic and image-editing skills Dylan is a keen amateur A nd welcome to our second issue. Before Isay any more, I have to thank you all for We have a cast-iron policy of editorial photographer and sits on the advisory independence. All our kit is reviewed as- the amazing response to issue one. Not only did we sell out of WHSmith – a rare board of Somerset College of Art sold. We discourage our journalists from and Technology. and hallowed event (if you work in publishing), but the response from everyone accepting gifts from advertisers. has been fantastic. Emails and letters have flooded in with compliments, suggestions and We welcome your opinions on the 8 Roddy Llewellyn ideas – it’s been more than any of us were expecting and the team thanks you all. magazine, ideas for articles, photography, Art Editor thoughts and questions. Roddy studied photography at Send them in today – see the email We’re very pleased and relieved to say that judging from most of the emails, we’ve more or university and is PPA Designer of the addresses below. less put out the magazine you seem to want. Which means I can junk emergency Plan B – Year for his work on Create, a magazine for creative professionals. we won’t need to send the lads round after all. That’s not to say everything’s perfect.From c next issue, we’re rebalancing our image-editing tutorials to take account of the legions of 8 Tim Daly non-Photoshop users out there, so look out for that. We’ll also be adding video tutorials to Departments Photographer and writer complement our magazine projects. Tim is one of the UK’s leading digital photography experts. He’s written But that’s for next month.This month, because of the time of year, we’ve gone for what is a We want your letters, ideas, photography, numerous books on the subject and articles, tips and more! Write in today to his photographs have been exhibited very comprehensive round-up of cameras on-sale this Christmas. We rate 21 of the best (we the following areas: across Europe. know the cover says 20... er, consider the additional camera a freebie...) broken down into Issues with your discs three key price ranges.10 cameras get a page each, five-high price cameras get a spread [email protected] 8 Tom Ang each in the usual way, while the budget cameras get compared over two pages. Your letters Photographer and journalist [email protected] Tom is one of the UK’s leading Photos for our galleries Enjoy the issue and do please keep writing in! photography writers, contributing to a [email protected] multitude of traditional and digital Events, ideas, places to visit magazines. This month, we let him [email protected] loose on the Sony DSC-F717. For help and advice [email protected] 8 Steve Bavister Articles/ideas for publication [email protected] Photographer and editor Nick Merritt, Managing Editor Visit our website today! Steve is one of the UK’s best-known [email protected] www.digitalcameramagazine.co.uk photographic writers, having edited and published Practical Photography in the past. In issue 3, we show you 50 ways you can improve any picture 8 Ed Davis 2 Photo retouching expert HOW WE SHOT THE COVER Ed is a commercial photographer of many years’ experience. He is a member of the National Association It’s the most important page of any of Photoshop Professionals. magazine and it’s the one we spend the most time over. We chose the 8 Aidan O’Rourke model, Jenni Williams, based on her Technical expert glamourous yet approachable look, Aidan is a contributor to the and hired stylist Jeannie Bolét to do 8 8 Manchester Evening News. He the make-up. The photographer was lectures on digital photography Philip Sowels and he shot Jenni using around the UK. our in-house high-performance Eyelike Digital mounted on a Horseman Digiflex body using Nikon ; ISSUE 3 ON 3 lenses. Finally, the colour was SALE 19TH DEC tweaked and retouched in Photoshop DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE 003 Contents DCM#02 What’s hot inside your magazine this December STARTS PAGE 25 20 Christmas cameras tested! So many cameras this month we can’t move! But you willdiscover which one you should buy this December £100-£200 Starts page 54 £200-£400 Starts page 25 £400-£900 Starts page 42 PAGE Getup&Go Top night/indoor 68 photography tips Discover the glories of photographing frost, Christmas lights and winter animals PAGE 16 CCrreeaattiivvee ppoorrttrraaiittss We reveal the tricks you can Our project shows you how to photograph PULL OUT use to take dazzling photos – no and combine images for fantastic results! SECTION – matter the lighting conditions FIND IT AFTER P98 004 DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE 2 NEON LIGHTS WILDLIFEINAFRICA SHUTTER SPEEDS LIGHTANDDARK PAGE16 PAGE62 PAGE86 GETUP&GO 2 THISISSUEWE Kit reviews Your 2 coverdiscs SHOWYOUHOWTO… The UK’s definitive reviews package every month TAKEBETTERNIGHT/INDOOR PICTURES Capture neon 18 Take photos of street lights 18 Use the ‘B’ setting on your camera 18 Photograph the moon 19 Use the flash indoors 19 10 CAMERAS FUJIFINEPIX F601 PAGE Capture creative silhouettes 20 PAGE25 PAGE44 120 Use a tripod 21 Get the right exposure times at night 21 Instant Photo Artist Light a scene indoors using existing lights 21 Turn your photos into works of art in easy steps! Create a ‘streaking’ light effect 21 Every issue we’ll bring you not one, but two CDs – SONY DSC-F717 PHOTOIMPACT8 each one packed with exclusive full software. This £80 IMPROVEYOURIMAGE-EDITINGSKILLS PAGE50 PAGE52 month, enjoy Instant Photo Artist, Paint Shop Pro 7 OFFULL Extract an object from a background 68 XTRAS, Firegraphic XP – all full and yours to keep! SOFTWARE Create a glass effect 72 ONDISC 1 ONDISC 2 INTOTAL! Create a rippled reflection 72 FULL Professor Franklin’s FULL Firegraphic XP 3.5 Add a spotlight to an image 73 Instant PhotoArtist FULL Paint Shop Pro 7 PLUG-IN ColourWorks TRIALInstant Photo XTRAS Deluxe Colour-correct and restore a faded photo 74 Effects Picture Buzz FULL iCorrect Entré 4.0 PLUG-INGalaxy 1.0 How to adjust lighting 77 BUDGETCAMERAS 6 CD BURNERS TOURS 5 x 3D tours TRIALElements 2 PLUG-IN Filters Unlimited Clone an area of an image 78 PAGE54 PAGE57 TEST SHOTS for each of FREEWARE JPEG Resizer PLUG-IN Flood our main cameras FREEWARE Rota 0.7 PLUG-IN OldMovie 1.30 Use Photoshop 7’s Healing tool 80 INCLUDES IMPROVEYOURCAMERASKILLS Regulars 5 VIRTUAL REALITY CAMERA TOURS Vary your shutter speed 86 Try before you buy! Our reviews come with this Understand your lens 88 unique CD extra: rotate and view each main camera on-screen – it’s the next best thing to holding the camera in your hands! EYEWITNESS HELPANDADVICE USEYOUR PC BETTER Hotshots gallery p06 Photo Clinic p74 OPINIONS&SHOPPING Visit our website, read our reviews, post Frontline news p12 Your questions p90 Use the My Pictures folder 96 your own views, then click through to Develop/print using a photo website 98 buy the camera! YOUR PHOTOS & LETTERS FOLD-OUTSECTIONAFTER PAGE98 www.digitalcameramagazine.co.uk Remove colour casts prior to printing 100 Reader profile p10 11 landscape photography tips 2 Viewfinder p22 Norfolk Broads photos &maps Day in the life p38 Salisbury Cathedral HOTSHOTS TURNOVER Trailblazers p62 Photographing frost and snow Winter animals OFFERS Christmas lights Every issue, we print the best digital photography we Subscribe! p64 can find. Turn over now and see some of the shots that Software upgrade offers p123 DEALERBANK have inspired us this issue… Visit our website for reader reviews! Money off Firegraphic XP p124 Pages: p101-119 DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE 005 Hotshots SHOT OFTHEMONTH CRACKED UP THE WALCOT STUDIOS “The man was captured on a Nikon D1X. The cracked mud effect was done using an emulsion-lift technique – soak a 5 x 4 Polaroid in warm salty water until the surface cracks up, then remove and dry. It was scanned, then both images were Images with impact combined in Photoshop.” [w]www.thewalcotstudio.co.uk Hotshots 02 03 04 02 SEASIDE DarrinJenkins ABIPP “Birds and sky are separate shots taken before the two men, then cleaned up in Photoshop. The final image was interpolated using GF Print Pro.” PhaseOne Lightphase fitted on a Horseman Digiflex [w]www.photohall.com/DarrinJenkins 03 WATERFALLJal Schrof “This is Multnomah Falls in Oregon, located along the Columbia River Gorge national scenic area. It’s the second highest falls in the US.” Olympus C2100UZ [w]www.pbase.com/run4est 04 BOY AND BALL Rob Scott “I shot this with the white balance set to fluorescent, using a rear curtain flash sync, exposed at 1/60th second at f8.” Nikon D1X [e][email protected] DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE 007 The essentials of imaging The Dimage F100. The Top Gun of digitals. The F100. The only digital camera in the world, which if it detects a moving subject, focuses, locks onto it and ensures that it stays focused, wherever it is in the frame. Now thanks to Minolta’s Area AF, you can capture in- focus shots at the touch of a button. The Dimage F100’s Area AF system with its extra-wide focusing area automatically seeks out your target through its Subject Tracking AF system, locks on and stays locked on no matter where it is in the frame; 9 o’clock, 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock or 6 o’clock. Even if it’s coming straight at you there’s no need to worry, the Dimage F100 will automatically adjust the active focus frame to keep your subject in focus. With an effective 4 megapixels, a Minolta GT 3x optical zoom lens and Minolta’s Cx ProcessTM, high quality images are guaranteed. The F100 is the only camera with Automatic Digital Subject Program Selection, a system which, when set to Auto, automatically assesses the shooting conditions and adjusts the program to match the scene, portrait, landscape, night portrait, sunset or sports action modes. Couple this with Macro, for super crisp close-ups, fast start-up, rapid focusing, movie recording with audio, audio recording, e-mail copy facility and rapid picture to picture shooting capability and you’ve got yourself a rather special camera. The best of the best. The Top Gun in fact. www.dimage.minolta.com Hotshots 05 06 07 05 BUTTERFLIESBob Garas “I used the macro to capture the bud image, then combined it with picture of some butterflies in Photoshop.” Canon G1 with two White Lightning 1200 Strobes [w]www.geocities.com/bgaras2001 06 SURF Keith Moss “Arma, who is lead singer of SURF, captured in a recent gig at Glasgow Barrowlands, exposed for 30th sec at f5.6.” Fuji S1 Pro [w]www.finephotoart.net 07 SLAITHWAITE RESERVOIRKeith Moss “I captured this with the colour setting on high, for 60th sec at f11.” Fuji S1 Pro [w]www.finephotoart.net DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE 009 2 Me and my camera Profile Robert Ganz QUEBEC, CANADA [email protected] Robert saw our call for gallery contributions in issue one and immediately emailed us. We’re pleased to showcase some of his work on this page – it’s an impressive mix of scenes and techniques. 01 He tells us: “I bought my first digital 02 camera (a Casio QV2000UX) in early 2000, then moved onto the Canon G1. Now I work with the Canon D30. Along the way I’ve also owned a Nikon 775, and now a Canon IXUS as point-and- shoot digitals.” The excuse Robert gave his wife to invest in digital was the birth of their second son in 2000. Now for the real reason: “yes, I’m a bit of a gadget fanatic, and at the time digital photography seemed to finally be at a point where the results were approaching what I could get with regular point-and-shoot film cameras. So I took the plunge.” The main benefits of digital to Robert are immediacy and convenience: “Digital enables me to shoot whenever and wherever I like without concern for film and developing costs. This is a huge 03 advantage as I am free to shoot in situations where normally I might not, 04 and I can photograph subjects as creatively as I like.” He continues: ”I know right away if I’ve got the shot I want – if it’s sharp; if it’s exposed properly. The immediate feedback allows me to learn extremely quickly and removes any uncertainty I would have (as an amateur) with film. The camera goes with me everywhere I go, and I never pass up an opportunity to take a picture. No doubt about it – my digital camera has made me a better photographer.” @ NOWSENDUSYOURS! 01 OLD UNION BROOK, NOVA SCOTIA 03 BATHTIME FUN Email us a 100K JPEG thumbnail of your best Canon G1, two photos stitched together Canon D30, 50mm 1.8 lens, flash shots! The best wins a 128Mb Crucial 02 FATHER-IN-LAW ALBERT 04 CROSSROADS CompactFlash card each issue. Canon D30 handheld in available light Canon G1, 250D closeup lens [email protected] 010 DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE