Photography News

Most people wildly misread what a photography career actually looks like. The gap between what gets posted online and what the work actually involves is wide enough to wreck your expectations if you're not paying attention. 

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If you use Lightroom Classic or Photoshop, Adobe may owe you money. The US government reached a $150 million settlement with Adobe over deceptive subscription practices, and a portion of that is set aside for qualifying customers. 

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Town photography at night is a cool subject as objects that seem mundane in daylight can suddenly take on a whole new feeling/look at night. You can also use a variety of different techniques, too, to capture scenes in more creative ways. 

There's quite a bit to cover on night photography but to get you started, we've got 5 quick but essential pieces of advice. 

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1. Gear Suggestions

 

Your DSLR and normal lenses are fine for this sort of work but long exposures are the norm so a good, stable tripod is recommended, that together with a remote release. If you do want a camera that's particularly good in low light, have a read of our 'Top 21 Best Low Light Photography Cameras' list. 

Important non-photographic essentials include suitable clothing, protective kit for the camera, a watch for timing B exposures and a torch – a wind-up head torch is a good idea. It is also taking someone with you, for safety and for companionship during your time when you are hanging around waiting for the exposures to finish.

 

2. White Balance

 

Auto white balance is fine but feel free to try the preset, perhaps incandescent or fluorescent. AWB is fine and colour casts can add to the image anyway.

 

3. ISO

 

In low light, the temptation is to whizz up the ISO scale and shot at ISO1600 and higher. Most cameras cope well at higher ISO levels now but even though this is true, it is still best to stick to ISO100 or 200 and go for high quality and long shutter speeds. By the way, windy days, bridges that gently move, traffic vibration, poor technique, wobbly tripods, can all result in blurred images so watch out for that.

 

4. Buildings And Lighting

 

Office blocks and lit buildings are obvious subjects – and if it is raining, even better, especially, if your chosen location has cobbled streets.

Stop down to small apertures and highlights come as pinpoints of light and that can effective. Including streetlamps can result in flare – if they are in shot, there is nothing you can do about it so just go with the fact. In fact, on rainy evenings with water droplets landing on the lens you can get some graphic flare effects.

 

5. Traffic And Light Trails

 

Light trails of moving traffic is a popular subject and it is easy to do. just find your scene, open the shutter and the moving traffic with its head and rear lights on will record as colourful lines. Popular places to try this technique is on bridges over main roads, roundabouts and busy junctions. Obviously, take great care with traffic and where you place the tripod.

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You've read the technique now share your related photos for the chance to win prizes: Daily Forum Competition

London Camera Exchange has revealed the winners for its 2026 Photographer of the Year competition following a significant 40 percent increase in participation from the previous year. Retired teacher Sophia Spurgin earned the overall first prize for her spontaneous portrait of a Vietnamese fisherman, securing the top spot among nearly 14,500 submissions. This year’s contest featured a 10,000 pound prize fund and introduced strict authenticity policies to ensure all winning entries represented genuine photographic talent. The awards ceremony took place at The Photography and Video Show in Birmingham where category winners were recognized for excellence in genres ranging from landscape and wildlife to emerging student talent.

 

From London Camera Exchange:

London Camera Exchange has announced the winners of its LCE Photographer of the Year 2026 (LCE POTY) competition. Nearly 14,500 entries were received this year – a 40% increase on 2025, demonstrating the contest’s growing reputation as one of the UK’s leading competitions for photographers of all abilities and experience.

Now in its third year, the free-to-enter LCE POTY competition comprises 14 different categories including the publicly voted ‘People’s Choice’ and ‘Emerging Talent’ dedicated to photography students. The latter category offers a prize for both the photographer and their university or place of study, and celebrates the next generation of photographers.

 

First prize winner:   Sophia Spurgin – ‘Fish Eyes’

 

© Sophia Spurgin / London Camera Exchange

 

The overall first prize winner is UK-based retired teacher Sophia Spurgin with her humorous portrait of a fisherman, captured spontaneously on a boat in Hoi An, Vietnam. Sophia commented, “I was keen to dedicate some time to serious travel photography during a family holiday and had been taking photos of this fisherman at work alongside a local photographer. This was the playful end of the photography session and a genuinely entertaining moment! I especially like that his fishing net is visible in the background, adding context and authenticity to the image.”

Sophia added, “I am absolutely delighted to win the London Camera Exchange Photographer of the Year 2026. Photography has brought me immense joy – not only through the places it has taken me, but also through the wonderful friendships I’ve made along the way. To be recognised in this competition means a great deal, as it shows that my photography resonates with others.”

‘Fish Eyes’ was shot on a Canon EOS R5 Mark II. Sophia was awarded £3,000 in LCE vouchers as the overall competition winner and Travel category winner. She also scooped £500 as winner of the Wildlife category with her stunning image ‘Fighting Foxes in the Rain’.

 

Category winners (£500 vouchers each):

• Action – ‘Saving Lives at Sea’ by David Lyon
• After Dark – ‘Lonely is the Night’ by Hardijanto Budiman
• Birds – ‘A Gazing Owlet’ by Louise Norris
• Creative – ‘Swan Song’ by Brooke Shaden
• Emerging Talent (student award) – ‘Imprint’ by Millie Melvin
• Events – ‘Half a Second Before’ by Jacek Salaga
• Landscape – ‘The Lotus’ by Colin Page
• Macro – ‘Teamwork’ by Dikye Ariani
• Pets – ‘Silent Sentinel’ by Carole-Ann Chambers
• Portrait – ‘Red Rebel’ by John Lynch
• Street – ‘Crossing the Curves’ by Helen Trust
• Travel – ‘Fish Eyes’ by Sophia Spurgin (overall winner)
• Wildlife – ‘Fighting Foxes in the Rain’ by Sophia Spurgin
• People’s Choice – ‘Magical Uphill Lincoln’ by Andrew Scott

The Emerging Talent category for students attracted a significant number of entries, with some outstanding work submitted.

© Millie Melvin / London Camera Exchange

 

This year’s category winner was Millie Melvin, currently studying an MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art, with ‘Imprint’ – a powerful image inspired by an old family photograph and created using botanicals from her garden. Millie, who has aphantasia, uses her images to produce a visual archive, as she is unable to visualise objects in her mind.

Once again, water, wildlife and birds were popular subjects for 2026, with some standout photographs representing the natural world across a full spectrum of themes – from orangutans and ants in action, to owls and ospreys in flight.

 

© Louise Norris / London Camera Exchange

 

This enchanting portrait of a Little Owl chick by Louise Norris secured the top honour in the Birds category, while ‘Teamwork’ by Dikye Ariani – a striking close-up depicting a group of red ants performing a curious acrobatic display – emerged victorious in the Macro genre.

 

© Dikye Ariani / London Camera Exchange

 

Following feedback from previous years, LCE switched the Music category to ‘Events’, and this saw entries double compared to 2025, making it one of the most popular themes. Entries to the Street genre increased by 50%, and Portrait also saw a notable rise to become the 4th most entered category. Landscape remained at the top of the ‘chart’ with almost 12% of all entries.

Designed as a platform to highlight genuine photographic talent, LCE POTY introduced an AI-Generated Imagery Verification and Authenticity Policy this year, ensuring that only authentic photographs were eligible for entry. The competition saw a marked increase in AI-generated submissions. While AI images are becoming progressively sophisticated and difficult to detect, LCE POTY was set up to provide exposure for photographers capturing images of real people, places and events – rewarding them and giving them a stage to showcase their work.

Lee Harasyn, managing director of LCE, commented, “Once again, we were stunned by the quality, creativity and sheer volume of entries. The standard was just incredible. It was also encouraging to see the considerable growth in the number of entries, with more than 30% being new participants to the competition. A particular highlight for the judges was the ‘Emerging Talent’ category, which attracted entries from students across a diverse range of subjects. We look forward to continuing the competition next year, supporting true photographic talent across all genres. Congratulations to all winners and runners-up – and thank you to everyone who took part.”

The LCE POTY Awards were presented in a special ceremony at The Photography & Video Show on Sunday 15 March 2026 at the NEC, Birmingham. A gallery showcasing the finalists’ images, was located close to the show’s entrance and many of the shortlisted images have been included in a special edition commemorative book. Winners received a share of the £10,000 prize fund and a unique trophy to take home. There are also plans to tour the images at other locations around the UK during 2026. 

The competition was generously backed by leading manufacturers including headline sponsors Canon, Fujifilm and OM System, partners Lexar, Nikon and Sony, and affiliates Cewe and Sigma. LCE would like to thank the judging panel – SheClicks founder and journalist Angela Nicholson, Chris George, content director at Future Publishing, and professional portrait and travel documentary photographer Jimmy Cheng – for their expert opinions and help during the tricky process of selecting the winning images.

For more information, please visit the LCE POTY website.

 

Comfy integrates the HitPaw FotorPea API that allows for image enhancement for Comfy users. Users can now benefit from the technology that will help automate and enhance the quality of images. These tools will help restore, enhance, and denoise images, all operating directly inside Comfy.

This integration shows how photography is changing with the help of AI tools to add detail to older, lower-quality, and compressed images. Rather than replacing creative editing, these tools are focusing more on streamlining multiple edits and ensuring overall consistency and clarity. 

For photographers, content creators, and platforms that manage lots of visuals, processing large amounts of visuals with less post-production work can be really helpful.

 

What HitPaw FotorPea Brings to the Comfy Platform

 

HitPaw FotorPea focuses on enhancing photos without changing their overall natural look. Instead of using filters that change the photo more aggressively, the system leans on AI models that have been trained to understand the structures, textures, and minutiae of photos.

Due to Comfy integration, photo enhancement features can now be used within a single workflow. This also means no more exporting images or using other tools to improve the quality of images because improving images has been included in the workflow.

While this functionality aids individual creators, it is particularly useful for teams and services dealing with high volumes of images, especially when the prospect of manual editing is impractical.

 

AI Image Enhancement Integrated into the Core Workflow

 

 

With the integration of AI image enhancer, Comfy now has the ability to auto-enhance different types of images. It uses AI to analyze the images and adjust clarity, noise, and resolution while keeping the textures and features of the people in the images faces as natural as possible.

Most traditional upscaling tools enhance the whole image and result in a generalized view, often causing the person in the portrait to look artificial. HitPaw FotorPea, on the other hand, uses AI realism-based portrait enhancements, meaning they look natural.

 

Key image enhancement capabilities include:

• One-click enhancement for portraits and scenes
• Separate AI processing for faces and backgrounds
• 2x and 4x super-resolution options
• Noise reduction without heavy softening
• Batch processing for large image sets
• API access for automated workflows

The system's features are ideal for mobile phone photography, low-res web images, scanned images, older digital photos, and also for slight improvements to already high-quality images.

 

Model-Based Enhancement for Different Photographic Scenarios

 

The integration does not consist of simply applying a singular enhancement method across all images. Instead, it uses various AI models tailored for particular subjects as well as certain quality levels. This gives the end user more options to choose from when dealing with more challenging photographic materials.

 

Available image enhancement models include:

• Face Clear Model (2x / 4x): Upscales portraits and softens the skin to give a clearer picture and accentuates the surrounding details.
• Face Natural Model (2x / 4x): Maintains the skin texture and facial features to make them look more natural.
• General Enhance Model (2x / 4x): This model is used to enhance general and everyday images, like landscapes, architecture, animals, and many more.
• High Fidelity Model (2x / 4x): This tool is specifically designed for subtle enhancement of DSLR photos, posters, and AI images.
• Sharp Denoise & Detail Denoise Models (1x): Reduce noise in photos taken on mobile devices and cameras, while retaining the original flexible image size.
• Generative Portrait & Generative Enhance Models (1x–4x): Diffusion models that focus on rebuilding some of the details that may be missing because of heavy compression or destruction of the image.

This model selection structure enables photographers and content teams to select the specialized image enhancer AI technique that fits the source material the best instead of using a one-size-fits-all solution.

 

Built for Automation and Platform-Level Workflows

 

A key element in this integration is the API-based design. Rather than putting the tools just as creative editors, Comfy enables automated enhancement as part of broader content pipelines. This gives the value not just to individual photographers but to any platforms, publishers, and services that handle extensive image libraries. With the goal of quality improvement while maintaining smooth, automated workflows, Comfy integrates AI enhancement directly into the platforms.

 

Who Benefits Most from This Integration

 

The Comfy and HitPaw FotorPea integration streamlines work for various users, but some users enjoy better integration benefits, such as:

• Photographers wanting to recover detail of challenging light or old files
• Content creators seeking cleaned-up images without tedious edits
• Media platforms dealing with large quantities of user-generated or old images
• Creative teams desire consistent image quality across all their projects

In all these cases, the advantage lies in achieving improved image quality with minimal effort.

 

A Tool Designed for Modern Image Workflows

 

Today’s image workflows are speedy, multi-source, and often automated. Images come from phones, cameras, scans, and archives and have varying quality levels. Users do not need another complex editor; they need a reliable way to enhance the baseline quality.

HitPaw FotorPea seamlessly integrates with this environment because its AI models focus on realism, detail retention, and efficiency. The Comfy integration removes friction and allows image enhancement in the place where the work already exists.

 

Conclusion

 

The integration of HitPaw FotorPea's API with Comfy exemplifies the increased importance of automation in the contemporary photography world. Focusing on natural results, adaptable models, and the ability to handle larger projects shows how AI tools are becoming more flexible and are now more about improving technical quality than being used for creative purposes. HitPaw FotorPea is at the center of this integration. Its image enhancement models now work with Comfy to provide consistent and workflow-friendly visual improvement.

Embarking on a journey to capture the night sky can be both exhilarating and challenging. In this article, I will share essential tips and insights from my own astrophotography adventures, guiding you through the intricacies of planning, gear selection, and settings to capture images of the cosmos. 

I have spent so much time living beneath the orange glow of city lights, where, on a clear night, I might see a dozen stars. However, when I stand under the vast expanse of the night sky, away from light pollution, it becomes more than just a view; it feels like a living presence.

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© Morris Hersko / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards

 

Nikon has officially opened entries for the highly anticipated Comedy Wildlife Awards 2026 for photographers and filmmakers from around the globe to share the humor and charm of the animal kingdom. Building on last year’s overwhelming success, this year’s competition promises even more laughter, creativity, and conservation awareness. With categories spanning mammals, birds, reptiles, aquatic life, and youth divisions, the awards celebrate the joy of wildlife while inspiring audiences to appreciate and protect the natural world. Entrants have the chance to win extraordinary prizes, including Nikon gear and a safari adventure in Kenya, making this year’s contest both entertaining and unforgettable.

 

From Nikon

Nikon is thrilled to announce the return of the world-renowned and delightfully entertaining Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards. Now officially open for entry, the award celebrates the funniest and most heartwarming images from across the globe, showcasing the extraordinary animals we share our planet with.

Following the incredible response to last year's awards, 2026 is set to be even more ambitious and entertaining. By harnessing the charm of witty, offbeat wildlife images and videos, the competition continues to spark meaningful conversations around conservation and promote a deeper appreciation for nature.

To celebrate the launch, the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards has released an exclusive collection of never-before-seen entries from 2025 - each one certain to raise a smile while inspiring photographers and filmmakers alike to take part in this year's competition.

Plus, with a host of spectacular prizes up for grabs - including Nikon cameras and lenses for the Nikon-sponsored categories - top entrants have the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime safari in the Maasai Mara, Kenya, hosted by the incredible Alex Walker's Serian, along with a beautifully handcrafted trophy. All category winners will also receive a premium camera bag courtesy of ThinkTANK, and a professionally designed website from Amazing Internet.

This year's judging panel brings together a brilliant mix of fresh talent and seasoned experts. Three Nikon Creators - Cameron Whitnall, Hannah Stitfall, and Roxy Hemadani - are joined by Charlotte Kemsley, Regional Director for Nikon in Northern Europe, TV presenter Kate Humble, actor and comedian Hugh Dennis, wildlife photographers Daisy Gilardini and Will Burrard-Lucas, wildlife expert Will Travers OBE, and conservationist Bella Lack.

Joining the awards for the first time are Jamie Smart, an inspiring young wildlife photographer; Will Fortescue, adventurous photographer and safari expert; the witty Climate Comedian Stuart Goldsmith; and Roma Wells, a wild storyteller and nature/travel presenter extraordinaire.

This heart-warming competition is free to enter and open to the public until June 30th 2026. The shortlist will be unveiled in October, with the winners announced at a celebratory awards night in December.

Stefan Maier, Nikon Europe Senior General Manager Marketing says, "We're thrilled to continue our partnership with the Comedy Wildlife Awards, an initiative that has captured the hearts and imaginations of audiences worldwide. These awards showcase how humorous wildlife imagery can entertain, inspire, and bring people closer to nature. At Nikon, we are passionate about empowering photographers and filmmakers to create with purpose, and this collaboration is a wonderful way to celebrate their talent while highlighting the importance of conservation."

The Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards is proud to support Born Free, an international wildlife charity that has been championing compassionate conservation for over 40 years. Founded by Bill Travers MBE, Dame Virginia McKenna DBE, and Will Travers OBE, Born Free works around the world to protect threatened species, defend natural habitats, and ensure wild animals are treated with compassion and respect. Nikon is honoured to shine a spotlight on their vital work and longstanding commitment to keeping wildlife in the wild through this competition.

 

2026 competition entry categories include:

• Mammals Category
• Birds Category
• Reptiles, Amphibians and Insects Category
• Fish and Other Aquatic Species
• Nikon Young Photographer (25 yrs and under)
• Nikon Junior Category (16 yrs and under)
• Portfolio Category
• Nikon Video Category
• Photo People's Choice Award

For more information, please visit the competition website.

For detail-oriented creative work, the experience is just as important as the process itself. This new-generation pen display from Huion showcases refined features and capabilities. 

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Most photography blogs are beautiful graveyards. Gorgeous images, maybe a few words about the session, and then nothing. No traffic, no inquiries, no reason for Google to care. The photographer posts it, shares it once on Instagram, and moves on. Meanwhile, the blog sits there accomplishing exactly nothing for the business. 

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My photographic journey is an ongoing battle to be more aware of my surroundings. By learning to take the time to look more deeply at a subject, you can unlock a powerful photograph that would otherwise be lost or, worse, boring. 

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Buying a dedicated camera used to be an accessible step up from whatever you shot on before. Today, that entry-level market has largely collapsed, and the gap between smartphone photography and "real camera" photography has quietly become a financial wall for anyone trying to cross it. 

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Ready for some real talk about Fujifilm cameras? One photographer tried every single Fuji APS-C sensor and gives his no-nonsense rundown on which Fujifilm camera pumps out the best monochrome photographs. 

If you know me at all, and likely many of you here know me far too well, you'll be aware of my deeply psychotic devotion for the Fujifilm X-Pro1 with its beautiful first-generation X-Trans I sensor. You can get a taste of my unholy love for that camera in this ancient Fstoppers article on why I'll die on Fujifilm Hill.

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Spring officially begins this month so we want to fuel you with spring ideas and suggestions so when it does arrive, you'll be ready to head out with your camera. So, here's a list of all the best photographic opportunities this spring you won't want to miss.

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1. Lambs

 

One of the most notable and iconic features of spring is the abundance of baby animals. The easiest of these to go out and photograph freely are lambs. They are spritely creatures, and so to capture them sharply, use a higher shutter speed as they are liable to move just as you have set up your shot. There is more information on lamb photography in our lamb photography tutorial.

  2. Flowers

 

At the beginning of spring, snowdrops and daffodils will begin to shoot and bloom, providing ample opportunity for some macro and flower cluster shots. Head out to your nearest wooded area to find some wild spring flowers as well as waiting for the flowers in your garden to show.

More tips on photographing spring flowers can be found here: Spring Flower Photography Tips

 

3. The Last Frosts

 

At this time of year, the weather is getting milder, but you'll still be able to capture some frost if you're up and about early enough. Frost looks great when it forms on newly sprouting plants, as the vibrant colour contrasts nicely with the white of the frost.  You can find out more in our frost photography tutorial.

  4. Fresh Vegetation

 

Spring is not just about close-up shots. Take advantage of the blooming colours and fresh greens to create wider landscape shots, or even panoramas, that look more vibrant and alive. ePHOTOzine has plenty of landscape tutorials over in our technique section. 

  5. Sunrise / Sunset

 

You can still capture the sunrise at a reasonable time now and the sun is still going down just after most finish work giving you the chance to capture a cracking sunset too. 

  6. Showers/ Shooting In The Rain

 

Showers are a key part of spring, and they shouldn't put you off getting out with your camera. Some great shots can be achieved in the rain, and more information on how to capture them can be found in our tutorial on shooting daffodils in the rain and in our tutorial on coping with bad weather. 

 

You've read the technique now share your related photos for the chance to win prizes: Daily Forum Competition

Flat raw files after a stunning rainbow shoot are one of the most deflating moments in landscape photography. What you saw in the field and what your camera recorded are two different things, and knowing how to close that gap is a skill worth building. 

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Soft images are rarely a gear problem. Whether you're shooting portraits, landscapes, or products, the culprit is almost always your camera settings, and fixing them is more systematic than most people realize. 

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The ‘Above the Glacier’, a captivating mountain shot by RobTurner, has been awarded our ‘Photo of the Week’ (POTW) on ePHOTOzine this week.

This is an impressive image that shows the full scale of an alpine glacier. The view captures the glacier’s flow, with crevasses and a central moraine line visible as the ice moves between rugged peaks. The tall cliffs and snowy slopes add contrast, while the swirling clouds bring atmosphere and drama to the mountains.

It is a powerful landscape photograph that brings out the raw feel of high-altitude terrain. The drama of the mountain view is hard to miss. A beautiful shot and a very deserving POTW.

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. It’s time to shoot, submit, and showcase your best work for a chance to win these incredible rewards!

Shooting a landscape and making it feel like a landscape are two different things. Steve O'Nions makes that case convincingly, and his approach to doing it with a Holga and fiber-based darkroom prints is worth paying attention to. 

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Wildlife photography is a subject that all of us can have a go at in some shape or form as everything from pets and garden birds to wildlife in safari parks can be photographed. With so many animals waiting to be photographed, we thought we'd put together a list of our best wildlife tutorials so you can access all of the top tips from one easy-to-find place. 

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1. 10 Quick Tips On Photographing Garden Birds

 

Here are 10 basic but essential tips on photographing garden birds you can use to capture awesome wildlife images. You're going to need a telephoto zoom (300-400mm) for capturing frame-filling shots, a tripod and if you have one, a hide so you don't scare the robins and blue tits away. 

 

2. Winter Wildlife Photography Tips

 

Learn how to take great images of winter wildlife with our list of 9 top tips and essential advice which includes knowing how your camera and any other gear you have out with you works before you're outside in your hide. It may sound like a daft statement but knowing how to quickly adjust a setting can make all the difference when you only have a few seconds to take a shot.

 

3. Winter Bird Photography Tips

 

Winter days leave us with a shortage of daylight hours for photography but you don't have to venture far to photograph birds during this season, making them a perfect subject choice. Although, as well as garden birds, the British Isles – with its thousands of miles of coastland, is a haven for wintering waders, with Hooper Swan, Dunlin, Oystercatcher and Knot numbers swelling through the winter months. A visit to the coast can prove very successful through the winter.

 

4. How To Take Great Waterfowl Photos With Ease

 

Feeding ducks is something everyone enjoys but next time you head off for your Sunday morning stroll around your local pond, pocket your camera as well as the treats you take for the Mallards and Swans.

 

5. Photography In UK Wildlife Safari Parks

 

One location that's well worth a visit with your camera is a safari park as there are some excellent ones based in the UK that'll give you the opportunity to capture frame-filling images of Lions and other animals usually seen on an African plane. 

 

6. Why Use A Telephoto Lens For Wildlife Photography?

 

If you're thinking of trying nature or wildlife photography, as well as a camera it's worth investing in a telephoto lens. Why? Well, this is something we cover in this article but first, you need to decide which telephoto lens will work best for you. 

A medium telephoto can be useful for shots taken in and around zoos and wildlife parks but if you're capturing smaller subjects such as birds, even if it's in your own garden, you'll need a telephoto that has much more reach (300mm +). For shots of swans and ducks in the park, a shorter telephoto lens will be fine. 

 

7. Photographing Dragonflies And Damselflies

 

Head to ponds, lakes and rivers and chances are, you'll soon spot Damselflies and Dragonflies which make interesting subjects for a macro image. If you do want to have a go at capturing these flying insects in your shots ideally, you'll need a macro lens but a longer zoom with a macro function at the longer end will also work fine, especially when coupled with extension tubes. Approach slowly, and start taking pictures from a distance so if they do fly off, at least you've got a few images saved to your memory card.

 

8. How To Stop Wire Fences Ruining Your Wildlife Shots

 

Zoos and wildlife parks are great places to get up close with wildlife, but the fences and glass keeping us and the animals safe can cause a few problems for photographers.

Fences often rise above eye level and the tops aren't in easy reach (for good reason) so you can't hold your camera up above it to take your shots. As a result, we often have to take photos with the cage in front of us but this doesn't mean the fence has to appear and as a result spoil the shot.

 

 

9. 5 Common Wildlife Photography Mistakes To Avoid

Wildlife photography is a popular photographic subject, but it's not one of the easiest photography types to master. Subjects are fast, shy and can be tricky to capture, plus precision and patience are a must which means it's not something we can all get right. With this in mind, we've put together a list of 5 common mistakes along with advice on how to avoid them

 

10. Master Swan Photography With These 4 Tips

 

Swans are rather photogenic and you can easily spend half an hour or so taking pictures of these majestic birds. If you're in a particularly rural place where not many people venture and a swan sees you it probably means you won't be seeing it for much longer! But if you're at your local park where people often feed them you'll find it much easier to snap a swan's portrait. Nature reserves do have public hides you can sit and wait in but as we've said if you're in a place where the swans are used to seeing people you can leave your camouflage gear at home.

 

11. How To Capture Top Birds Of Prey Imagery

 

Photographing birds of prey in the wild isn't something that's easy to do, however as the UK is home to some excellent birds of prey centres, photographers have the opportunity to shoot up close with these majestic birds when armed with the right kit and technique. 

 

12. Photographing Lambs

 

Lambs are not only cute, but they're also a sign Spring is well-and-truely on its way so they make us doubly happy. Cuteness and happiness aside, they're great subjects for outdoor photos as not only do they make people go 'ahh' they're also pretty active so you can capture some great action shots as well as images that are a little calmer. 

To set you up for your lamb-themed photography shoot, we've got 5 essential tips to share with you. 

 

13. Perfect Your Pet Photography

 

Some people put their pets before family and have images of their favourite dog sat alongside their wedding, holiday and children's pictures. This might be you too! Of course, you are stuck if you do not have a dog, but the odds are you know someone with one so if you are really keen, finding a subject is not an issue.

 

  14. Butterfly Photography

 

Here we have a few tips to aid you in your pursuit of the perfect butterfly image. Meadows with wildflowers growing in abundance are great places for photographing butterflies but please don't trespass on other people's property. You could also visit one of the many nature reserves or public gardens found right across the UK.

 

15. 7 Essential Zoo Photography Tips

Take your camera along to the zoo for some close-up animal photography. Before you set off, go on the zoo's website, find a map and make a plan. Arrive early to beat the rush and try walking around the opposite way to the crowds to give yourself chance to capture shots without the crush. Feeding times are great photographic opportunities but they're popular with visitors so arrive early.

 

You've read the technique now share your related photos for the chance to win prizes: Daily Forum Competition

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The latest winner of our popular daily photography theme which takes place in our forums have been chosen and congratulations go to Jimev (Day 11 - Close-Up).

 

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 8

Dogs

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Day 9

Church

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Day 10

'Fresh' Theme

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  Day 12

Lamb

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Day 13

Park

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Day 14

People

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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.

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The latest winner of our popular daily photography theme which takes place in our forums have been chosen and congratulations go to CathTay (Day 24 - 'Balance').

 

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 22

Twilight Photography

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Day 23

Grey Weather Days

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Day 25

Creative Lighting

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  Day 26

Family Photos

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Day 27

Building Detail

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Day 28

Snowdrops

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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.