DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY NEWS FROM ePHOTOzine

It's very easy to slip into a shooting pattern where not much thought is given to framing and composition so you end up with shots which are OK but are rather mundane and ordinary. However, with a few little, simple changes, shots can be turned into something much more interesting.

Summer by Peter Bargh.

 

Evaluate

If you're shooting a scene, particularly if you're not familiar with your shooting location, it's easy to become flustered so you just shoot anything and everything you see. However, if you take the time to study the scene so you can find out what / who should be your main focus point you'll be able to frame your shot(s) around them, giving your work focus rather than shooting anything and everything.

 

Angle

Digital photography really opens the doors on experimentation as there's almost no limit on the number of shots you can take. As a result, don't be afraid to shoot the same subject/scene from a variety of angles. Get down low, climb up high, go wider, get closer...there are plenty of options to have a go at, you just have to find what works for you.

 

Portraits

Those who are new to photography tend to put people in the centre of the frame when photographing them, however applying 'the rule of thirds' can give you a shot that's much more creative and appealing to the eye. For those who don't know what 'the rule of thirds' is, imagine a grid that divides your shot into nine equal sections by a set of vertical and horizontal lines. With the imaginary frame in place, you should place the most important element(s) in your shot on one of the lines or where the lines meet. So with a person, instead of putting them in the centre, simply move them more to the left or right thirds of the frame.

One problem with following this rule is that it can leave you with a strong focus point on one side of your shot and a big empty space on the other so, to improve this, see how you can add a secondary point of interest that's less important to balance your shot.

Whitby Goth by Peter Bargh.

 

Backgrounds

For portraits, you can use backgrounds to add an extra level of interest to your shot, however don't let it become the star of the show. Don't pick a scene with colours or light that'll outshine your subject(s) and make sure you balance the shot so background interest doesn't turn into a cluttered mess that just spoils the photo.

Lighting

What time of day you shoot, the weather and if you're working indoors or out can make a big difference to how your final image will look. For example, early morning or later afternoon/evening light isn't as harsh as mid-day and evening low, light shots in cities tend to look better when there's still a little light in the sky as this adds more interest to the shot. The light at sunset/sunrise changes rapidly and you may even find the best colours/light appear just as the sun dips behind the horizon.

For outdoor portraits, you may need to find some shade so the light on your subject's face is more balanced. It'll also make them 'pop' from the scene as the background tends to be a little brighter than where they are stood. Can't find shade? Use a reflector to bounce light up onto their face to fill in shadows under their nose and eyes.

If you're working with a scene where there's a big difference in the dynamic range (the shadows and highlights) you may want to consider shooting some HDR. In a nutshell, this is where you layer several shots together that have been taken at different exposures (you'll need a tripod as every shot has to line up exactly). For more information on HDR, take a look at this article: HDR Landscapes

These are just a few of the many examples out there on how light and other aspects can change the appearance/feel of a photograph. For more tips, check out our technique section.

© Skylum

 

• Skylum receives the Google Play Best of 2025 Award in the Best Multi-Device App category for Luminar.
• While the award recognizes the Android version and its seamless support for Chromebooks, Luminar Mobile is also available on iOS, ensuring full integration with Luminar Neo on desktop across both macOS and Windows.
• The award underscores Skylum's innovative strength and commitment to making cutting-edge image editing accessible to all devices.

 

The AI-powered image editing app Luminar Neo, developed by Skylum (https://skylum.com/luminar-mobile), has been named Best Multi-Device App at the Google Play Best of 2025 Awards. This award recognizes the Luminar team's innovation making it easy to edit your photos anywhere across Android phones, tablets as well as Chromebooks. The app also complements the broader Luminar ecosystem available on macOS and iOS, offering creators professional-quality tools regardless of platform.

 

Awards for the best apps in the Google Play Store

The Google Play Best of 2025 Awards recognize the most innovative and influential apps of the year, honoring excellence in design, user experience, and technological innovation.

 

Best Multi-Device App for Luminar Mobile

The Best Multi-Device App category honors apps that offer exceptional cross-platform capabilities and a consistent, high-quality user experience. Luminar Mobile stood out for its advanced AI tools, intuitive design, and seamless integration between desktop and mobile editing workflows.

The Luminar team would like to extend its sincere gratitude to its global community for their creativity, trust, and continued support.

Kostiantyn Tymoschuk, VP of Growth at Skylum, commented: “We are very honored to have won the Google Play Award for Best Multi-Device App. This recognizes our team's years of effort to make Luminar not only powerful, but truly universal. It is a tribute to the thoughtful design and our users, who inspire us every day with their use of Luminar.”

 

About Luminar

Luminar is a cross-platform next-generation photo editing platform powered by advanced AI technologies. With Luminar Mobile for Android and iOS and Luminar Neo for desktop (Windows and macOS), the Luminar platform helps travelers, outdoor lovers, and everyday photographers get great-looking photos on any device.

 

About Skylum

Skylum is a global image processing technology company dedicated to revolutionizing the world of image processing and creative tools. Its core product, Luminar Neo , allows photographers of all skill levels to unleash their creativity and bring their visions to life with advanced AI-based technologies, while giving artists complete control over the final result. Skylum has won the Red Dot Award, Apple's Best of Year, and the “Best Imaging Software” award from TIPA and EISA, as well as several other prestigious industry awards. For more information, please visit our website.

Motion and movement is a wide and varied photographic subject and as a result there are many ways a photographer can create a sense of motion or movement in their shots. Slow shutter speeds can be used to exaggerate the flow of water while fast shutter speeds will freeze the force of a wave as it crashes against a sea wall. ePHOTOzine has written many tutorials that cover motion in some shape or form and as a result, we've decided to group the most popular ones together so, hopefully, you'll be fuelled with enough inspiration and ideas to make you want to head out to capture motion. Here's our top seven:
 

How To Capture Landscapes That Show Motion

John Gravett shows us how wind movement can make interesting and more dynamic landscape shots. Plus, he includes tips on capturing the popular 'blurry' water shots at the coast and with waterfalls.

 

How To Use Blur To Create A Sense Of Movement

Blur isn't always a bad thing as it can help emphasis speed and create motion in a shot. Read on for tips on using shutter speeds, flash and zoom lenses to create blur.

Photo by David Clapp - www.davidclapp.co.uk

 

Beginner's Guide To Capturing Motion

Mike Browne from PhotographyCourses.Biz shows how easy it is to capture a sense of movement.

 

Camera Panning Techniques

Peter Bargh talks through a few tips to improve your panning technique. Panning is a great technique for action and, once perfected, the main subject will be sharp against a blurred background.

 

Tips On Photographing Action And Movement

Here are a few tips on shutter speeds and how to focus so you get sharp action shots every time.

 

How To Capture Movement

Ben Boswell shares his tips on capturing movement. Tips include making sure movement looks deliberate, when to use a pan, what shutter speeds are appropriate and if a tripod is needed.

 

More Tips On Capturing Movement In The Landscape

Do landscape shots always have to be static? If you think about it you'll realise that they're often not. This tutorial adds to the tips John Gravett gave in his article, covering clouds, trees and people as subjects.

Photo by David Clapp - www.davidclapp.co.uk

The kitchen holds a world of photo opportunities and all you need is some imagination to exploit it.

When it comes to kit, a camera and a tripod are essential but in terms of lighting, natural light will work just fine, however feel free to experiment with flash and other forms of lighting too. For example, for one of the shots further down the page, a torch was used to create contrasty light.

Once you start searching, you'll find plenty of objects in the kitchen that have photographic potential. Things like pots and pans, colanders and, as here, a trivet can be pressed into service as subjects. A kitchen work surface will make a perfectly good background but so can the sink or any material you have in your house. Objects can be arranged on the worktop in various compositions, with the camera and lens aimed downwards.
 

The trivet above was photographed with the camera in auto white-balance and it worked fine, but for the colander, the camera was switched to incandescent white-balance to give the overall blue colour cast. Pulling away slightly and including the stainless steel sink give an interesting backdrop. Filling in the shadows was done with some silver foil just held in position.

 

For the shot of the wooden spoons, a torch was placed on its side, creating a very oblique, contrasty light. The camera was left in auto exposure mode using the exposure compensation control to correct exposures and focusing was done manually on this occasion. The shutter was fired using the self-timer. Exposures were in the order of 1/8sec at f/8 with the camera set to ISO 200. If you have problems with colours appearing too warm or even cold, you can tweak the images during RAW processing. If you prefer, or if you are shooting JPEG, try shooting with a custom white-balance setting. Again, silver foil was used as a reflector.