Photography News Issue 38

Photography News | Issue 38 | absolutephoto.com

Advertisement feature

Ulla Lohmann was one of the first photographers to use the EOS 5D Mark IV. Here she tells us how she’s getting on with Canon’s latest full-frame DSLR

Ulla Lohmann’s CV reads like a Who’s Who of the world’s most renowned publications. Her photographs have been published in National Geographic , GEO , The New York Times and The Sunday Times , to name-drop just a handful. She is a photojournalist and documentary filmmaker based in Germany with more than 20 documentary films to her name. She also leads photo workshops. Expeditions she has been on include kayaking across the Everglades, off-road driving in Papua New Guinea, rock climbing in the Dolomites and shooting volcanoes in Vanuatu and Indonesia. You might have noticed that she loves adventure and the challenge of photographing and working in places where many of us would fear to tread. Indeed, whether she is swimming with hammerhead sharks on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia or abseiling into an active volcano, her camera goes with her and she is not one to rest until her photographs tell a compelling story. Her brand of choice is Canon and she has been a user of the EOS 5D series from the beginning. “Saving weight and bulk are key issues on expeditions,” she says. “Also, even

though the EOS 5D series is a full-frame camera it helps me to be less intrusive as a professional photographer in remote areas.” “I usually travel with two Canon EOS 7D Mark II bodies and two EOS 5D Mark IIIs – which have now been replaced by two EOS 5D Mark IVs. My lens choice varies, but for the trip to Ambrym island in Vanuatu where these pictures were taken I had the 11-24mm f/4, 35mm f/1.4, 70-200mm f/2.8 II and the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 II, all Canon EF lenses. “I have been using the EOS 5D Mark IV for only a short time and it has got me shots I have only dreamt about before. I shot land diving (bungee jumping without the safety precautions) on Pentecost Island. Here you only get 11 jumps and the hero jump happens only once. Thanks to the features of the EOS 5D Mark IV, such as Dual Pixel RAW, seven frames-per-second continuous shooting and accurate autofocus tracking I did not miss this unique opportunity. “The shoot on Ambrym was covering a scientific expedition. We were 600m into the volcano, 50m away from 1200°Cmolten lava. It was a stern test for the EOS 5D Mark IV’s build quality and weather sealing with the heat, ashes and acid rain. Its dynamic range

The Kit

skills coped well with black rock and bright lava while the camera’s high ISO ensured excellent image quality, too. The touchscreen even worked with heat gloves inside the active volcano. “The picture (overleaf) is the world’s first climbing picture inside an active volcano on Ambrym. It was also Vanuatu’s first climbing route. My husband, Basti Hofmann, installed the route whilst waiting for a weather window to abseil into the volcano to take scientific measurements. The lighting was provided by Canon off-camera flash used in TTL mode.” For more about Ulla Lohmann’s amazing photography and details of her workshops, please see her website. Find our review of the Canon EOS 5DMark IV in this issue. It was a stern test for the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV’s build quality

The Lens Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM Ideal for dramatic landscapes, interiors and in any situation where there is limited room to work in. The lens’s construction ensures distortion-free, super-sharp pictures.

The Camera Canon EOS 5DMark IV

The latest generation of the EOS 5D dynasty is packed with great features including a new 30.4-megapixel sensor, Dual Pixel RAW and a 61 AF-point sensor.

Canon Explorer Ulla Lohmann is a German photojournalist and documentary filmmaker with a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resource Management. She has worked for renowned magazines and broadcasters, including National Geographic , GEO, BBC, Red Bull Media House and The New York Times . Together with her husband, Sebastian Hofmann, Ulla has published a book about the Dolomite Mountains for National Geographic . She loves the challenge of photographing whilst on expedition, but can also wait for days in a hide to get behavior photographs of animals, engineer for weeks to get her camera into a certain position or particular angle, or photograph for years the same tribe who performs secret mummification rituals in Papua New Guinea. About the photographer

ullalohmann.com

Powered by