Digital Photographer

The above words – borrowed from the American scientist Carl Sagan and his 1980 book Cosmos – seem like a fitting way to introduce our astrophotography/nighttime photo feature this issue. Of course, there are fundamental technical skills to learn in o

As Digital Photographer’s staff writer, Peter is an expert on many genres. In his coastal feature on p58, he looks at ways to shoot and edit captivating landscapes by the sea. On p84, Peter has put together a tutorial on shooting a panoramic using a

In our most recent competition in association with Photocrowd we challenged you to submit your best images of autumnal scenes, and after assessing almost 3,000 photos, the winners have been selected. Both crowd-voted and expert winners will win a lic

Ever since Nikon announced the full-frame (FX) format Z 6 and Z 7, we’ve been expecting an APS-C (DX) format camera to join them. Now the wait is over, as Nikon has announced the 20.9MP Z 50. Unlike Canon, Nikon has given the new camera the same lens

Dallian Macadam is based in Adelaide, Australia. Living with the illness cystic fibrosis, his photographic work (A Visual Odyssey) is all about capturing life in all its beauty, from landscapes to portraits, from wildlife to urban life. “There is bea

The universe is back in fashion. Everywhere you look there are astonishing images of the night sky. Visit Instagram and you’ll see the Milky Way and the northern lights arching across the sky above beautiful landscapes, while NASA and the Hubble Spac

You will need to manually control focus, ISO, aperture and shutter speed, so you’ll need a camera with manual controls (a DSLR, mirrorless or a capable compact). Full frame is best but not essential. What lens you use will make a big difference. Use

Want to go deeper into the cosmos? There are two ways to photograph star clusters, nebulae, galaxies and other deep-sky objects; using a tripod-mounted ’star tracker’ underneath your camera, or attaching a camera to a telescope. Star trackers are sim

Sooner or later, be it because of the weather, through client needs or perhaps your own drive to learn, as a portrait photographer you’re going to have to master light, and more specifically lighting your subject. And for that, you’ll likely reach fo

Before discussing lighting setups, it’s essential to understand how flash can be used in a portrait, and typical ways in which a subject is illuminated using one or multiple flash units. Once we understand that, the main light can be used in these ty

When we talk about hard or soft light we are discussing the quality of the light that the flash, in this case strobe lighting, produces. A way to identify the hardness of the lighting is to look at the shadows. Soft light wraps around objects, castin

You might find you are already familiar with (and are using some of) these setups without the label, which is great. Once you become familiar with them as basic principles, it’s always good to break the rules and experiment by moving and altering you

Sometimes called glamour lighting, this setup requires minimal kit and is easy to achieve. It’s a great place to start wherever you’re working because it’s so simple to do. The light is placed directly in front of the subject, typically 30 centimetre

Commonly used in beauty and fashion photography, clamshell lighting takes glamour lighting and softens it out further, creating clean, soft and flattering images. The core of this technique is the use of two frontal lights (one key, one fill) to crea

Split lighting employs a more dramatic look, by splitting the face in two and using the light to illuminate one half, with the option to add in a fill or reflector to soften the shadow side. It typically has more contrast than the previous lighting s

1 Light quality Not all light is made equal. When choosing your flash heads, think about the reliability, size, modifiers, weight and cost of the units. 2 One at a time When setting up your lighting, test every light separately, and you’ll be able t

The ocean is a constant draw to photographers all over the world. There is the special appeal of the boundary between the sea and land that lends coastal scenes a dramatic tone, scarcely experienced at inland locations. The movement of the waves, the

‘Essential’ is a relative term in the context of photography. While there are times when certain pieces of equipment cannot be substituted to create the same effect, in many cases the importance of a product is defined by the photographer’s willingne

The main element of a coastal landscape scene is the way in which the land interacts with the ocean. This boundary between solid and fluid landscape features is what gives coastal shots energy and intrigue, so it is important to focus on emphasising

Pros: The first ‘blue hour’ of the day provides soft illumination, as the sun is not directly visible in the frame. This makes contrast management of long exposures easier. Cons: Unless you know an environment well, the low light can make compositio

Cliffs and lighthouses are two of the biggest problems when attempting to control exposure. Since they break the horizon, the use of ND grad filters is difficult, as they unnaturally darken the tall elements. A simple software gradient creates a simi

As with other landscape images, coastal scenes are an often-photographed subject, so it is easy to assume there is little room to produce images that stand out as truly unique. It’s true that there is a limited number of elements the photographer is

1 Choose the right optic Your lens selection will depend on the intensity of the sunlight – if it is visible in the scene itself a wide-angle lens will suffice, but if the sun is out of the frame a longer lens is needed. A wide aperture is also requi

In any challenging shooting environment, some level of post-processing will be necessary to produce a clean, sharp final image, free from distractions and with the level of image quality expected from today’s technology. Image editing is driven by pe

We live in a mobile world where many of us spend several hours of our day consuming content via phones and tablets. Products such as the iPhone are so popular because of their multifunctionality – they enable us to carry out many tasks and access inf

1 Adjust tonality In your RAW editor start by setting the black and white points to introduce some contrast, without clipping. Next, use the Highlights and Shadows sliders to compress the tonal range, drawing back detail in the brightest and darkest

1 Get started Put up a black background behind a table. Carefully place the surrounding props, such as pieces of cheese, onions and kitchen appliances, in the background. Adding bits of colour and objects helps the overall effect. Take a test shot us

1 Rate and sort Start by organising your images in an image browsing program such as Adobe Bridge. Give each image you like a rating of five stars and then import these straight into Lightroom CC (or you can use whatever image editing software you wa

When you’re shooting on the streets, being subtle is everything. If you want true candid shots of people who are unaware of your presence, they will also need to be unaware of your big camera. Holding a DSLR in front of your face shows subjects that

Panoramic photography enables us to create images that convey the drama and beauty of a location in a way no other image can. Whether a landscape, stunning interior or even a close-up composition, a wide frame shows exceptional amounts of context, gi

Often favoured by portrait and still-life photographers, a fast 85mm prime lens will typically deliver super-sharp image quality but with a very tight depth of field. This enables you to literally focus all of the interest on the most important eleme

PRICE: £899 / $1,199 Bigger isn’t always better, especially if you like to travel light. But sometimes a larger, heavier construction pays dividends in its performance. Going all-out for image quality, with no concession to keeping the size and weigh

Some of the most prolific and successful photographers shooting today first made their name by winning a major competition. There’s a certain gravitas attached to claiming a grand prize and being judged as the best, but winning a contest also means g

PRICE: £1,379 / $1,599 Buying a prime lens can often land you with a bit of a conundrum. Should you go for a modest aperture rating of around f/1.8 to f/2.8 with the bonus of optical stabilisation, or would you be better off with a faster f/1.4 lens

PRICE: £749 / $749 Canon and Nikon both offer low-cost 85mm lenses with an f/1.8 aperture rating. The Canon costs £365/$369 whereas the Nikon sells for £429/$477, so they’re a fraction of the price of their sibling f/1.4 lenses. This Tamron 85mm f/1.

PRICE: £1,479 / $1,596 The reinvention of a classic Nikkor, this AF-S edition has a redesigned optical path, a fast ring-type ultrasonic autofocus system, and as a G-series lens it omits the aperture control ring that’s superfluous on Nikon DSLRs. It

Price: Price: £499 / $549 with 15-45mm lens The M200 is Canon’s smallest, most affordable mirrorless camera. As such, it doesn’t have a very extensive set of features, but the fact it has a 24.1MP APS-C format Dual Pixel CMOS sensor to enable phase

Price: £1,149 / $1,099 Apple didn’t set the world alight when it announced the camera setups on the new iPhone 11 series. Compared to what rival phone makers were doing already, the three-camera array on the iPhone 11 Pro and the two cameras on the r

PRICE: £1,199 / $1,199 Olympus Micro Four Thirds cameras are excellent, but that’s only half of the equation; you need high-quality lenses to go with them. With an astonishing 15 elements and f/1.2 initial aperture, this 35mm equivalent wouldn’t look

Calibrate your monitor for perfect image colour and reliable adjustments datacolor.com £158 / $169.99 Your computer monitor is a critical tool in your photographic workflow. It enables you to assess your images and gauge the adjustments that you m