Digital Photographer

There’s never been a better time to break the rules of photography. In the wake of the current crisis, we say discard the photo rulebook and shoot what keeps you sane – and safe. In our first feature on p28, learn to rethink your camera settings and

Peter has been writing for Digital Photographer for many years and is an expert on all things image-related. This month, he’s created a guide to breaking the rules of photography (p28). He also reveals how to balance lighting indoors (p66), and looks

Recent circumstances have made venturing out of the house difficult, but make the most of your time at home, using rooms for creative backdrops, and cinematic lighting, then show us your best results. Enter at photocrowd.com/digitalphotographer for a

For our latest competition in association with Photocrowd, we challenged you to submit your best images of the arrival of spring. After working through thousands of brilliant entries, the winners have been selected. Both crowd-voted and expert winner

The shortlist of finalists in the prestigious Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year competition has been revealed for the 2020 contest. More than 9,000 entries were submitted to this year’s competition from 70 nations across the globe. Once entrie

In the ongoing global struggle against the novel coronavirus, which has already been responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in multiple countries, there is a race to devise methods of rapidly detecting the presence of the virus in a possib

Nikon Europe has launched a new campaign, #createyourlight, in an effort to encourage photographers from around the world to keep using their cameras during lockdown, thereby documenting an age that will no doubt be considered a pivotal moment in his

We recently had the chance to ring TV presenter, photographer and nature-lover Chris Packham for a phone chat. He was talking to us from a windy field behind his house, watching two of his nine-month-old poodle puppies frolic by the fire pit. Their t

Shutter speed is often the first camera setting we learn to control on our journey to becoming expert photographers. This is because the effect of changing the exposure duration is highly visible, and with only a minor change the entire look of an im

Photography is a simple concept – all the photographer needs to understand is how to control brightness through a combination of camera settings. Learning how to frame the world in a way that is exciting or thoughtful, giving a glimpse into your crea

Perhaps more than any other camera parameter, aperture choice is tightly associated to genre, with photographers rarely thinking to use alternative settings. Shallow depth of field created through the use of a wide aperture, with the tell-tale creamy

Set an f-stop that will produce required depth. This will likely underexpose the shot, so add flash to lift shadows on the subject. Place the subject to exaggerate the varying distances from the camera of objects throughout the frame. Only choose to

While both shutter speed and f-stop values control exposure, they are often considered solely for their most obvious stylistic effects – blurring or freezing of motion and clarity of background detail. Sometimes, the connection of the settings used,

The terms ‘proper’ or ‘correct’ are highly ambiguous for a creative medium such as photography. From a technical standpoint this would mean an exposure that clips no channels and retains detail at both ends of the dynamic range. However, the resultin

Remaining shadow detail must provide interest, otherwise a pure black area will appear to be more intentional and a better choice. A sharp falloff in brightness means that objects only a short distance from each other may be illuminated differently.

If you only have zoom lenses at your disposal, consider challenging yourself to shoot at a single focal length only. Use DOF or shutter speed effects to change the image, instead of focal length. Some models have a zoom lock, which can prevent uninte

I started my career in 2005 as a retoucher. I began taking self-portraits in 2009 and even tried a commercial photography path for a while, but my creative side prevailed. I mostly shoot art and creative photography now, rarely traditional images. I

Candidates for intentional camera movement are brightly coloured subjects that will blend into areas of less intense hues. When moving during the exposure ensure it is in a single, sharp, sweeping action. Try not to double back on a movement, as this

Flash photography and landscapes are rarely associated, but when used with care artificial light can boost contrast and colour. Start by calculating the base exposure in Aperture Priority mode, then activate an off-camera speedlight at the lowest pow

Set baseline ISO Experiment to find the ISO setting above which the level of grain rises significantly. For many cameras this will be around ISO 1600 and will be your standard setting. Check other settings Higher ISO may result in a smaller aperture

There are many rules and conventions when it comes to photographic composition. Many have their roots in fine art. Some standards, such as the rule of thirds, are widely taught in mainstream education, including books, magazines and basic photographi

Change the shooting mode to alter the relative control for the photographer and automated camera systems, to reveal unseen artistic possibilities. Whatever camera parameters you are accustomed to, inverting these is a baseline for creative shooting,

While a zoom lens provides the greatest number of composition options, for the purposes of focus experimentation a fast prime is a strong choice of lens. A 35mm f/1.4 optic enables you to capture landscape scenes with shallow depth of field, abstract

Whatever stage your country is at, respect the call to stay at home. Medical staff are putting their actual lives on the line for us, so it’s the least we can do. I want Loxley to still be in business when this is over, for example, so I will be orde

One of the benefits of the LCD on a digital camera is that the information displayed can be quickly changed. Head into your camera menu and change the composition guide overlay to try a new framing technique. While the standard rule-of-thirds grid ca

In the current situation, my first tip is to remain calm with clients and keep things as friendly as possible. Try to direct them towards postponement rather than cancelling, so that they can look forward to the shoot. We have a natural tendency to t

Sites such as Teachable (teachable.com) are a fantastic platform for creating your own online course website, and you can package and personalise content to share your photo knowledge with others. To get started, sign up for the Teachable course-crea

As soon as the news began to report on coronavirus, my work began to suffer and all my shoots were cancelled or postponed. The last job I did was with HRH The Prince of Wales at the Prince’s Trust Awards, where some celebrities opted to wear gloves,

As busy and successful photographers, we’re always wishing for more hours in the day. If only we had more time, we say, we’d update our websites, start that new project, and really, we would get our admin sorted. Although it’s in the most devastating

I travel the world covering motorsports as a freelance photographer. From my home base in Charlotte, North Carolina, I annually travel across the United States, Europe, Asia and many other places covering car racing and bike racing. Because of COVID-

I am constantly shooting so find it very hard to keep my website (jordanbanksphoto.com) and portfolio fresh and up to date. I have a couple of years of work that still hasn’t been included on my site. Now that I can spend some time in front of my com

I have been working on a personal project building a low-level red kite photography hide at Gigrin Farm in mid Wales. Although the current lockdown has put a halt on the building process itself, I have been reviewing my current progress pictures of t

Newsletters are a great way to reach potential customers and shout about your photography, but don’t expect thousands of people to sign up overnight. Encourage initial subscribers by including a sign-up form on your email signature, the homepage of y

These are tough times for everyone, but especially for those who have spent years building their photo businesses from scratch. I’m a huge believer that a positive attitude creates a positive life, and we are currently in a great situation, having al

I had been thinking of ways to bring others together and spread positive energy through photographs at this difficult time. I came up with an idea to find a projector and use it to project landscape images onto walls in downtown areas where people ar

To keep photographers motivated and engaged over the upcoming months of isolation, Nikon has started the Create Your Light campaign. Nikon is encouraging photographers to share their own unique stories of life in lockdown through imagery. Nikon is al

Creativehub is a new and free remote-working tool for collaborating with clients. The file storage and sharing platform (version.new) has recently launched and was produced in record time as a response to the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown. In a simila

The coronavirus crisis has left us all social distancing. However, with challenges also comes the inspiration for new ideas and a change of direction – hence me shooting my own portrait for this creative project. Self-portraits are a great way to rem

1 Create a narrative The inspiration for this came from the bright yellow Forsythia bush. I put together an outfit I had already. The ruffles in the shoulders reminded me of flowers, and the headpiece worked well to elevate the character I wanted to

I shot in Aperture Priority mode with a low ISO, and then changed the aperture to experiment. The outfit came from designer Lory Sun. I came across her on Instagram and reached out to her. I loved the striking colour and texture of the bush. I felt i

•Reach out to designers you come across on Instagram or Facebook. •Connect with your community via Facebook groups, meetups, and photography clubs. A lot of my favourite people to work with came through recommendations. •Check out your local thrift/c

There are many things you can still photograph if you’re stuck indoors, but you can really only practise portraiture with somebody to sit for you – and recently, hiring and being in close proximity to a model isn’t the best idea. If you’re lucky, you

One of the biggest challenges of interior photography is balancing exposure with outside lighting conditions. When shooting buildings for commercial clients, whether the subject is a house, office or other business property, images of the inside almo

A photographer operating a high street studio is directly relying on passers-by for business, so it is easy to realise that the appearance of the studio itself – the decor, interior design and display images – is of critical importance to attract att

PRICE: £599 / $699 Launched in 2012, this was the first Art lens in Sigma’s Global Vision line-up of Art, Contemporary and Sports lenses. As such, the design focuses on artistic freedom and creativity. Many subsequent Art lenses, including the 50mm a

When it comes to saving money and keeping to budgets, photographer Ian Pack has many hacks and solutions hidden up his sleeve. Ian runs a blog called Pack’s Hacks, Lighting for Photographers (ianpack.blogspot.com), which includes many money-saving id

Price: £2,199 / $2,297 Although most of the cameras launched recently are mirrorless, there are still plenty of photographers who like the larger size, optical viewfinder and traditional design of a DSLR. The introduction of the Nikon D780, the repla

Price: $24/month (approx £19, paid annually) Album Suite $379 (approx £306) One way that wedding, pet and social photographers can make more money is by offering their clients a greater range of products, each with a nice profit margin. However, man

Here, three friends sit down to chat about photography and how it matters to them; nothing more, nothing less. Discussions are laid-back to the extreme; frequently rambling and often shooting off on wild tangents, and episode lengths vary rather wild

PRICE: £1,500 / $1,697 Released in 2010, this lens finally replaced the antiquated 35mm f/1.4 Ai-S that dated all the way back to 1970. The new lens is rather larger and over 50 per cent heavier, weighing in at 600g. It is a similar size and weight t

Released: 2009 Tilt: +/- 9.5 degrees Shift: +/-12 degrees Angle of view: 84 degrees Maximum magnification: 0.34x Q I’d like a tilt-shift lens for my Canon SLR for correcting perspective and controlling depth of field, but I can’t afford to buy o

PRICE: £1,628 / $1,699 Bigger and heavier than Canon’s original 35mm f/1.4 L-series lens, the Mark II was launched four years ago at about twice the price. It has a sturdier build and adds weather seals plus fluorine coatings on front and rear elemen

When shooting with full-frame cameras, 35mm lenses are popular with all sorts of photographers, covering everything from news and reportage, weddings and environmental portraiture, to landscape and architectural photography. The classic focal length

The key selling point of Pro Enhancements is the Online Proofing, which enables clients to flick through the pages of a virtual album online and request changes or approve the layout. It keeps communication simple and can automate client reminders. P

Unlike Nikon’s recent mirrorless cameras, which have the Z mount, the D780 has Nikon’s F mount, so there’s a huge range of directly compatible lenses. Rather than opting for an XQD/CFexpress card slot like in the mirrorless Z 6 and Z 7, Nikon has giv

1 Tweak composition The first step in my workflow is deciding the crop and playing with the elements. Here, I felt the left side was more full of flowers. I made a new layer, flipped it over, then in an inverted layer mask I brushed back the flowers

PRICE: £929 / $899 Until recently, Tamron’s fastest Di prime lenses for digital cameras had a modest aperture rating of f/1.8. That changed last year with the launch of this 35mm f/1.4. We’ve seen some excellent Tamron lenses in the past, especially

Nikon’s SnapBridge technology has been around since early 2016, and it’s present in the D780. It makes use of both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity to simplify connecting the camera to a smartphone for remote control and image transfer. Although it s

As I look out from behind my computer screen, I can see scattered houses, farm buildings, goldfinches eating sunflower seeds on the feeders, a couple of Shetland ponies nibbling at grass, and a few horses gamboling in a field. No, not gambling (anima

Website tenba.com Price: £219 / $256 Built to last, and with a hydrophobic coating, reinforced stitching and YKK zippers and clips, this backpack has capacity for two large cameras and six to eight lenses, including a 400mm f/2.8, as well as a 17

We all know that setting up a photography business is not an easy undertaking, and although you will struggle to do it for free it doesn’t have to be as expensive as you might first anticipate. There are a few key areas where you are going to need to