Photography News

 

A macro image of water droplets on moss, called October, by ePz member KristinaZvinakeviciute, has been awarded the Photo of the Week accolade.

This is a superb close-up image with great lighting, and the soft, warm glow at the top of the frame gives the whole scene a dreamy feel. The tiny drops cling to the moss capsules and pick up the colors of their surroundings, while the creamy bokeh in the background adds extra interest.

The shallow depth of field keeps the central stems and drops nicely sharp, with the rest of the moss softening into green tones. It’s a beautiful macro image.

Every Photo of the Week (POTW) winner will be rewarded with a Samsung 128GB PRO Plus microSDXC memory card with SD adapter, providing top-tier storage for all your creative needs across multiple devices. But that's not all! In January 2027, we'll crown our 2026 Photo of the Year winner, who will take home the ultimate prize of a Samsung Portable 1TB SSD T7 Shield, courtesy of Samsung. See the terms & conditions and prize procedure for more information.

It’s time to shoot, submit, and showcase your best work for a chance to win these incredible rewards! Want to be our next POTW winner? Just upload an image to our gallery where you'll also find all of our past POTW winners.

You arrive somewhere beautiful, raise the camera, and every frame comes back looking like a postcard someone else already took. Too much to look at can stall your composition faster than too little, and the fix often starts with seeing less of the scene through a viewfinder, a long lens, or an in-camera crop mode.

 

[Read More]

 

Cross polarising effect is where you use a pair of polarising filters - one on the camera and one on the light source (behind the subject) to show stress in plastic which appears as wonderful multicoloured pattern. It used to be quite difficult as the filter needed for the backlight needed to be large and polarising gels are not only hard to find but also quite expensive. But there is a modern-day solution and it's staring right at you! Your LCD computer monitor. Yes, this can be used as the light source and even though you didn't realise - it has the polariser built-in.

You'll need to use a camera with a polarising filter either attached or positioned in front of the lens. Of course, you'll need a monitor and a steady support will also be useful. A tripod is ideal but it could be something as simple as a pile of books just so long as the camera is set to the correct height.

Some clear hard plastic items - filter cases, plastic cutlery, plastic glasses, cassette and cd cases or geometry sets are a few options - will also be needed as well as something to hold the plastic item steady in front of the computer monitor. Where possible ensure your items are scratch-free as these can spoil the effect. 

 

Step-by-step cross polarisation photography instructions:

1. Turn the monitor on and remove any desktop clutter and change the screen saver to a neutral colour. The other option is to create a plain mid-grey image about 800x600 pixels and call it grey.jpb. Drag this to the web browser to display it and then hit the f11 key to display the browser full-frame without menus. And then hold down the ctrl key and tap the + key until the grey image fills the monitor window.

2. Position the plastic item in front and in the centre of the monitor. A clamp is a useful tool for this but really, whatever you use just has to get the area you want to photograph in the centre of the monitor.

3. Attach the polarising filter to your camera and position the camera in front of the plastic so all you see is an area of the plastic with the grey image totally filling the background. If you can't get close with your camera use the lens at its telephoto setting to fill the frame and avoid edges of the monitor showing. If you still can't get close enough you will have to crop off areas you don't want later.

4. Rotate the polarising filter and watch the colours of the plastic become stronger and the grey goes darker. If you have it set up correctly the grey monitor will go totally black, and the colours in the plastic will be brilliant.

You can use any exposure mode and shooting at the metered setting should be fine. Underexpose a little if you want even more dramatic colours.

For an extra level of abstractness bring a second item even closer to the lens to make the whole image have a multicoloured filter. By experimenting you can often find undiscovered gems.

Canon rates the EOS R6 Mark III at up to 8.5 stops of stabilization at the center of the frame and 7.5 stops at the periphery, depending on the lens. The footnote under that number says it was measured under the CIPA 2024 standard with an RF 24-105mm F2.8 L IS USM Z at 105mm. The footnote leaves out that the camera was bolted to a vibrating platform roughly two meters from a printed chart, in a room held near 23 degrees Celsius, and that the rating comes from at least 200 frames shot at every shutter speed in the test.

 

[Read More]

Inflatable LED lights are one of those ideas that sound gimmicky. A soft, glowing tube you inflate like a pool toy, then use to light a portrait or paint with color in the dark. It's the kind of gadget that could easily be all novelty and no substance. I wanted to answer a simple question for myself: do these things actually deliver usable results, or are they just a throwaway item destined for the back of a drawer? I tested the Neewer GC30C Inflatable LED Light to find out. 

[Read More]

Most fall edits in Lightroom go the same way: you open a frame full of yellow leaves, push vibrance and saturation, and end up with something that looks worse than what came out of the camera. Warm hues clip and smear fast, and a heavy hand turns a glowing tree into a flat neon blob.

 

[Read More]

Most of your time with a camera happens under ordinary skies at ordinary places, yet the landscape images that get the most attention online are blazing sunsets over famous viewpoints. That gap shapes what you think a successful outing looks like, and it can make the scenes you actually encounter feel like second best.

 

[Read More]

Fisheye lenses for medium format have been close to nonexistent, so if you shoot a Fujifilm GFX or Hasselblad body and want that look, you've usually had to adapt glass that doesn't cover the sensor properly. AstrHori's new 8mm fisheye goes after that gap with a circular image and a field of view wider than a full hemisphere.

 

[Read More]

For decades, a photography career seemed to hinge on one or two pictures, the frames that appeared in every magazine profile and forum thread until they became shorthand for the person who made them. If you've ever wondered whether your own work needs that kind of breakout image, your answer affects how you shoot, how you edit, and how you share everything else.

 

[Read More]

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|245542|245542_1791616541.jpg[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

The latest winner of our popular daily photography theme which takes place in our forums have been chosen and congratulations go to TonyMat1 (Day 10 - British Wildlife).

 

Daily Theme Runners-Up

If you didn't win this time, keep uploading your images to the daily competition forum for another chance to win! If you're new to the Daily Theme, you can find out more about it in the Daily Theme Q&A. 

Well done to our latest runners-up, too, whose images you can take a look at below.

  Day 11

Movement

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|339957|339957_1791700337.jpg[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

Day 12

Mood

[COMMENT_IMG]portfolio|349646|3964186[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

Day 13

Self Portraits

[COMMENT_IMG]portfolio|51734|3862047[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

Day 14

Coast Out Of Season

[COMMENT_IMG]portfolio|63105|3047608[/COMMENT_IMG]

  Day 15

Fungi

[COMMENT_IMG]portfolio|32898|1931258[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

Day 16

Fallen Leaves

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|18094|18094_1792171270.jpg[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

Day 17

Autumn Macros

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|320788|320788_1792222263.jpg[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

You’ll find the Daily Themes, along with other great photo competitions, over in our Forum. Take a look to see the latest daily photo contests. Open to all levels of photographer, you’re sure to find a photography competition to enter. Why not share details of competitions with our community? Join the camaraderie and upload an image to our Gallery.

A Canon patent application published in Japan on October 16 includes a complete optical design for a 70-200mm f/2 zoom covering a full-frame sensor, a combination Canon has never sold in any mount. The design, Example 9 in the filing, holds f/2.06 from 71.65mm to 194mm.

 

The filing, JP 2026-168807, was first reported by Canon Rumors. Canon filed it on April 4, 2025, and it contains 11 numbered examples. Eight are f/1.46 zooms: two cover roughly 51-83mm, one 44-83mm, two 36-83mm, and three 36-48mm. Examples 9, 10, and 11 cover about 72-194mm at f/2.06, f/2.5, and f/2.3.

[Read More]

    The colours of Autumn are really what make our images sing and one way to exaggerate the golds, yellows and reds is with backlight. Plus, it'll really make the intricate pattern of veins stand out and focus the viewer's attention.   Backlighting, where the light comes from behind your subject towards your camera, can make semi-translucent subjects such as Autumn leaves really 'pop' from the frame. Colours tend to glow more and the detail found in leaves, such as the veins, really stand out. Plus, if you can position your subject against a darker background you'll enhance the effect. Just make sure your lens is shielded to prevent flare with a lens hood, your hand or use your surroundings to create a cover for your lens. While we're talking about light, it's worth mentioning that you can actually create this effect with the sun to the left or right of your frame, so long as it's at a low angle.    1. Think about lens choice

Working close with wide-angle lenses can give creative results, however, flare will be more of a problem. A macro or telezoom lens is ideal but still fit a lens hood to prevent flare. Do check the frame to make sure the lens hood hasn't crept into the frame though. 

If you find the leaf is silhouetting against the sky just add a little fill-in flash. You can also position the flash behind the leaf to create your backlight if the sun's not playing ball or when at home, use a window or even a lamp as your light source. You just need to place a piece of tape over the leaf's stalk and stick it flat against a window. You won't have to worry about wind blowing your subject around at home either.

  2. Leave space between the subject and the background for good bokeh

Having space between your leaf and its background will help create the distraction-free blurry background we're after. Using an aperture to throw other leaves out of focus can help too.

When it comes to metering it's best to take a reading from the leaves to ensure they are correctly exposed and switching to spot metering will help. If the background's dark you may need to reduce the exposure by about half to one stop to ensure it stays dark. If it's light, open up half to one-stop and bracket if you are unsure. Check your histogram too to make sure your shot is correctly exposed. To make the light around the edge of your subject 'sparkle' you may need to overexpose the shot slightly.

After Autumn gives way to Winter you can use this backlighting technique to enhance the sparkly appearance of frost and ice which works particularly well when working with plants. 

At 11:21 on the morning of November 24, 1963, Jack Beers was standing on a railing in the basement of Dallas police headquarters with a Mamiyaflex twin-lens reflex, and he tripped his shutter as Jack Ruby stepped into the open. Several feet lower and to his left, Bob Jackson released the shutter on a Nikon S3 six-tenths of a second later. Beers got Ruby walking; Jackson got the bullet.

 

[Read More]

When BenQ asked me if I would like to take a look at the new PD2732U monitor, I was interested because a monitor is something I spend a lot of time looking at, particularly when I am editing photographs. Color accuracy is obviously important to me, but so is how the monitor fits into my existing workflow.

 

[Read More]

Most street photography outings involve long stretches where nothing worth photographing happens, and how you handle those stretches shapes what you bring home. If you've ever walked for two hours, felt the pressure build, and started shooting anything that moved, you already know the problem.

 

[Read More]

Fujifilm's XF 400mm f/4.5 gives X-mount shooters the field of view of a 600mm lens on full frame, with an aperture about two-thirds of a stop brighter than the company's 500mm f/5.6. If you shoot birds or wildlife on Fujifilm, that extra light can be the difference between a usable shutter speed at dawn and a frame lost to motion blur.

 

[Read More]

The Panasonic Lumix S9, Fujifilm X-M5, and OM System PEN sell at similar prices in 2026, yet each uses a different sensor format: full frame, APS-C, and Micro Four Thirds. If you're moving up from a phone to a camera you'll carry every day, that price overlap makes the decision harder than any spec sheet suggests.

 

[Read More]

Most side-by-side tests of APS-C and full frame end the same way, with differences that barely show up in the photos people actually print or post. Far fewer people act on that result, because selling a full frame kit means walking away from money already spent and from a long-held idea of what a serious camera is supposed to be.

 

[Read More]

 

Autumn is the perfect time for capturing close-up/macro shots and this is something you can do even if you're a compact user who doesn't have an arsenal of lenses at their disposal. Be on the lookout for subjects that have interesting textures or are full of colour, plus look on the ground as well as up at the trees as you'll find conkers and other interesting items that make the perfect subject for an Autumn macro shot. 

 

Use the close focus mode

To get started, you're going to need a compact camera that has a close focus. Around 10cm is fine, however many modern compacts focus much closer now. The macro mode is usually indicated by a flower icon and you need to ensure this is selected otherwise your camera won't know you want to shoot macro shots. Plus, this mode will also usually mean your camera picks a larger aperture (small f-number) so you get backgrounds that are nicely thrown out of focus. 

A tripod will help prevent camera shake and if you plan on shooting fungi and other subjects that are close to the ground, one that has a reversing centre column will help but it's not essential. A beanbag or even your camera bag can be used as a support for a quick snap if you don't own a tripod.

 

1. Working with low light conditions

For locations where there's not much light, such as in woods, you may need a small reflector to bounce more light on to your subject. If you don't own one try making your own from a piece of card and silver foil. You can use your camera's built-in flash but it tends to be a little harsh which can result in fungi looking a little too shiny and can take away from the overall atmosphere of the shot. Do try taking a few shots with it, though and see what you think. You never know, you may prefer the shots with flash rather than without. 

So you don't cause camera shake by pressing the shutter button you can use your camera's self-timer on its shortest setting. By doing so, you'll not be pressing the shutter button as the exposure begins, reducing the chances of shake spoiling your shot. 

 

2. What Can I Photograph? 

Autumn means lots of gorgeous coloured leaves falling off trees and they can make interesting macro shots on their own or you can use your macro leaf shots as textures in other photos. Look for different patterns and shapes but this doesn't mean they have to be perfect as little imperfections can add interest to your shot. Make the most of backlight to really make your images 'pop'. 

As the leaves fall off the trees, they become bare, and this gives you the chance to capture shots of bare branches and bark which again, make great textures for background montages. Also, consider textures that can be printed as triptychs - three photos framed in panels side by side.

 

3. Look for the first frost

In the Autumn, the first frost of the year usually appears and can make interesting photos when it covers leaves or grass. Head for open spaces (lawns and fields) rather than places that are sheltered, which can stop frost from forming. Side and direct light will help emphasis the way the frost glistens and it will last longer in shaded areas but you'll need to use a reflector to bounce extra light into the shot. For shots that capture the patterns and textures frost creates, get in close and avoid using flash.

Conkers are becoming ripe and falling so be on the lookout for them. Don't just go for brown ones either as they look just as good when popping out of their bright green shells. They are perfect subjects for an Autumn still life when used alongside leaves and even berries. If you do use berries you may need to adjust your shooting position as reflections can be a problem due to them having an almost shiny surface.

 

4. Focus on the small details

To give your close-up work a more abstract feel remove your subject from its surroundings by focusing on a small part of it. Look for interesting shapes and textures that you can focus a tight crop on. Overcast days are good for this sort of technique as the diffused light will help bring out detail in the shapes, lines and form you're capturing.     

In the whole plate daguerreotype the Getty Museum catalogs as "Early Operation Using Ether for Anesthesia," a young man lies on a table in a Boston amphitheater with both legs bare below the knee and his socks still on. Nine men crowd around him, and several of their faces are smeared by the length of the exposure. That plate has been in print since 1903, and for decades it has carried captions placing it on October 16, 1846, the morning ether was first demonstrated in public.

[Read More]