Photography News

Layering sounds like a checklist: put something in the foreground, something in the midground, something in the background, and press the shutter. Anyone who has tried it on a crowded sidewalk knows the elements rarely cooperate, and a frame with three layers can still read as a pile of clutter.

 

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Shooting portraits at an event means working in whatever corner the venue hands you, with a line of people who all expect to look good and very little time to fuss over each one. A single strobe can give you soft, directional light that looks like it's coming through a big window in that space, but only if you shape it with more than a bare umbrella or softbox.

 

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When you had out in autumn, the first thing that you're likely to be greeted with is fallen leaves on the floor. Take advantage of these and create some great photos!

It's worth packing a polarising filter as one of these will enhance autumn shades and help reduce glare. Then basically, all you need to do is find some autumn leaves, arrange them if you wish then photograph them. Try and get a mix of varieties if you can and if you can wait until the next morning to photograph them, they'll be covered in droplets of morning dew or if you wait until the temperature drops a little more they'll have a dusting of frost, giving you the chance to shoot some abstract Autumnal shots.

 

1. Look for interesting patterns Don't have any trees at home? Well, you can collect some fallen leaves from the park or venture out early and do your photography there. Look out for scenes where fallen leaves have created interesting patterns without you having to move them or where they’re decorating a particularly picturesque scene. A blanket of leaves around the trunks of trees will always make a great shot that really sums up autumn. Look for objects in your garden or around the park that you can use in shots with the leaves you've collected to make a more interesting composition.    2. Go close-up and abstract You can position yourself a little further off the ground and photograph the whole pile of leaves but by getting in close to one or two of them, playing with several compositions you can end up with some surprisingly interesting shots. Try just focusing on the tip or stalk of one leaf or focus on the centre of one so blur creeps in at the edges. Try using a wider aperture so you get a shallow depth of field that allows detail to be to focus of the shot. Do watch out for shake creeping into your shots as it does become more noticeable when working with close focusing. Always use a tripod and make use of your camera's self-timer so you aren't touching the camera as the exposure begins. Better still, use a cable / remote release or even your SmartPhone as the trigger if your camera allows it.   
  3. Backlight the leaves Back home, if you have a lightbox you can use it to backlight your leaf so all the detail stands out. If you're using a camera that has Live View it's worth using it to check the overall sharpness of your close up shots. It also comes in handy when you're taking shots where putting your eye to the viewfinder is a little tricky. 

If you're working by water where leaves are decorating the land surrounding it or are floating along the surface of the water as it flows downstream, experiment with longer exposure times to blur the water's movement. We say experiment as several factors will affect what length of shutter speeds you'll need to achieve your desired result.

 

4. Experiment with settings

Experiment with your camera's white balance settings to find the best colour balance for your shot and if you feel the autumn tones need more depth, use your camera's exposure compensation control and dial a - stop in. You don't need to go too low, a half or one-stop should be fine. Having said that, if you shoot in RAW you can always give the colour in your shots a boost when you're back on your computer. 

If you edit a lot of video, the most tedious part of the job isn't the creative color grade. It's getting the footage adjusted so that you can add the color grade. One shot is too bright, the next too dark, one camera leans green while another leans warm, and you end up crawling through the timeline clip by clip trying to make everything look like it belongs to the same production. On a real project, that takes hours, and nobody bills for it.

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The War Department's April 20, 1865 reward broadside carries three photographs a little over three inches tall, pasted by hand into printed frames at the top of a sheet nearly two feet long. Somebody sat with a pot of paste and a stack of prints and mounted them one sheet at a time. No two copies of the most famous wanted poster in American history are quite the same object.

 

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- Partner Content -

 

 

Talking-head ads often have one obvious problem after AI enhancement: the person starts looking too polished. Skin becomes unnaturally smooth, small facial details disappear, and the final video can have that familiar "AI plastic" look. 

That can hurt an ad, especially when the goal is to make the speaker feel REAL and trustworthy.

Vmake Labs' Portrait Pro scene is designed for this kind of footage. It can sharpen and improve facial details without pushing skin toward an overly smooth finish. That makes it worth testing for creator ads, founder videos, product explainers, and other campaigns where the person on screen needs to look clear without losing natural texture.

 

Why talking-head ads fail after basic enhancement

 

A talking-head is harder to enhance than a product-only shot. The person has skin, hair, eyes, teeth, fabric, and a product label in the same frame, and all of them move. Basic enhancers treat them the same. They crank sharpness and smoothing globally. The result is predictable:

• Skin loses pores and fine lines, then looks waxy.
• Hair turns into a solid helmet, especially curly or fine hair.
• Product in hand gets softer while the face gets too smooth.
• Background starts to buzz or pulse when you export to 4K.

Viewers notice it fast. In a creator ad or founder video, trust drops when the person does not look like themselves. 

So, the better enhancement approach is to treat the face as a separate visual priority. Facial details need enough sharpening to restore clarity, while skin needs to retain its natural variation. Hair and eyes need their own level of detail too.

That is the main reason Portrait Pro in Vmake Labs can make sense for talking-head ads. Instead of relying on a general enhancement pass, it puts more attention on the portrait area. This can help to enhance video quality when the original footage is slightly soft, compressed, shot in poor lighting, or recorded with a phone camera.

 

What Portrait Pro does differently

 

Vmake Labs is an AI social video studio for small businesses that need help to generate, enhance, and optimize video to capture attention and drive sales. It is built for social operators, SMB owners, and UGC creators who have to turn product clips into post-ready social video fast.

Inside that studio, enhancement is split into tiers and scenes so you don't use a hammer for every job.

• "Fast" for quick cleanup
• "Quality" for an AI-powered rebuild with richer details
• "Master" for cinema-grade polish at 2K, 4K, and 8K, when the clip needs to hold up as a hero ad

Then the scenes handle intent. The "Studio" gives real footage a more cinematic look. "Portrait Pro" is specifically for people. If your video is 80% face, that is the one you want.

 

 

Think of it as a larger model that knows the difference between skin and other surfaces. 

When you use it:

1. Skin keeps texture. Instead of smoothing everything, it preserves small details — pores, fine lines, eyebrow hairs — while cleaning compression blocks. The face looks clearer, not airbrushed.
2. Product in hand stays sharp. When a creator holds your tote, serum, or gadget, Portrait Pro keeps label type and material definition. So the eye can read the product while still believing the person.
3. Large areas stay stable. White desk, studio paper, or a blurred room behind the speaker does not band or flicker when you push to 4K or 8K.

That combination matters because most talking-head ads are shot on a phone in mixed light. You want the bump to 8K for the homepage hero, but you do not want the "beauty filter" look that kills credibility.

 

A practical workflow that keeps skin natural

 

Small teams who live on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts do not have time to re-shoot. They reuse authorized assets they already own. Here is how they fit Portrait Pro into a real day:

 

1. Clean your own clips first

 

If your best testimonial has an old editing app logo that is semi-transparent in the corner, or old captions baked over the product, run it through Vmake Labs ai watermark remover first.

Vmake Labs watermark remover tool now has Smart Pro feature, which is built for hard cases — moving, animated, or semi-transparent text that sits on top of complex backgrounds like canvas or skin.

 

 

It detects more of those fine, moving marks and blends the background with finer edge repair, so you do not get a big blur patch where the text was. Only use it on footage you own or have explicit rights to edit.

 

 

2. Pick the right mode and scene

 

Next, upload the cleaned clip to the Video Enhancer. Choose:

Mode: Quality for most talking-heads, Master if this is going to be your main ad for a week or you need to crop it to multiple ratios

Scene: Portrait Pro

 

 

That is it. 

Don't stack extra sharpening on top in another app. Let Portrait Pro do the skin work. If you need to enhance video quality for background details too, Master will give you more headroom at 4K without pushing the face into that waxy look.

 

 

3. Check at 100% before you export

 

Pause on three frames: eyes open mid-sentence, a slight smile, and a side turn. Zoom to 100% on your phone.

• Do you still see pores on the cheeks and forehead?
• Do eyebrows and eyelashes stay separate, not clumped?
• Does the background get cleaner while the skin stays soft but real?

If yes, you are done. If skin still looks too smooth, you probably had beauty mode on during recording. Re-record with it off and run Portrait Pro again — it preserves texture, it does not invent it from nothing.

 

When to test Portrait Pro

 

• Founder ads: You are on camera explaining why you made the product. You need to look clear, not filtered.
• Creator UGC: You have permission to reuse a creator's review. Their face is the thumbnail. Plastic skin hurts click-through.
• Product explainers: Face in corner, product in hand. Both need detail at the same time.
• Paid cuts you will run for a week: If you are spending on it, the extra minute for Master + Portrait Pro pays back in credibility.

What Portrait Pro is not for: product-only spins, flat-lays, or catalog videos where no person is present. There, Studio in Master gives you that more cinematic product look without worrying about skin.

Talking-head ads work because a real person says a real thing. The job of enhancement is to make that person easier to watch, not to make them look like someone else. Portrait Pro is Vmake Labs' answer for that — more natural skin texture, sharper product when it shares the frame, and less of that AI plastic that makes viewers scroll away.

- Partner Content -

 

It's 8:40 pm. You just photographed the last product for tomorrow's Shopify launch. But this time on the kitchen counter, under a single overhead bulb. The good light left with the sun 3 hours ago. The photo comes out dark. A little grainy. Edges slightly soft.

Now you've got two choices. Fix it tonight, or wait for daylight and shoot it again. Manual editing isn't really a third option. 

Fixing this by hand in Photoshop means hours of layered adjustments, and that's if you already know curves and noise reduction. Most sellers don't have that on tap at 9 pm, with 20 more products still waiting.

Here's the wrong question at this time: is it good enough? 

A photo can fail two ways. One is just weak pixels, buried under noise or bad light. The other is a mistake made the second you pressed the shutter: wrong color, bad crop, a spot that's pure white with nothing in it. 

Only the first is fixable tonight, and that's exactly where AI can actually help.

 

Why a Dim Photo Actually Costs You on Shopify

 

A dark product photo doesn't just look unpolished; it actively works against how shoppers browse. A dim listing does three specific things wrong on a Shopify store:

• It loses the grid. Shopify listings live or die on the grid view, where a dozen thumbnails sit side by side. Shoppers scan in under a second per item. A dim photo reads as low-effort next to properly lit competitors in the same category, even if the product itself is identical.
• It compresses worse than it looks. Shopify runs every uploaded image through its own compression to generate the different sizes it serves across devices. That compression is lossy, and it hits hardest in areas that already have thin data. This is exactly what shadows in an underlit photo are. A dim shot that looks merely soft on your phone often comes out blockier and noisier once Shopify's CDN has re-encoded it, because there was less real detail there to begin with.
• It hides the details shoppers are actually checking. Fine details like texture, true color, and finish. Low light flattens all of it, which pushes hesitant shoppers toward "read more reviews" instead of the checkout button.

 

How to Fix Low Light Shopify Images.

 

Not every dim photo needs a reshoot. Before deciding, it helps to know what's fixable tonight versus what isn't. Here's the actual process, using a men's perfume shot set to launch tomorrow as the example.

 

 

Upload the Image and Run the Enhancement Pass

 

Upload the product photo to any AI image editing tool. For this example, let us use Wink to enhance image quality. 

Since this is a product photo, select product mode rather than a general enhancement setting. 

Product mode is tuned to protect edges, text, and material texture instead of smoothing everything evenly, which matters when there's label copy or fine detail to preserve.

 

 

Don't judge the result at thumbnail size. Zoom into the label, the edges, and any dark areas to see what actually changed.

When you observe, the difference shows up in a few specific places:

• The label text is sharp again. "Nocturne Pour Homme" and the fine print underneath- the volume, the batch year- were on the edge of legibility in the dim shot. Now the letterforms hold their edges instead of blurring into the glass behind them.
• The bottle's shape reads clearly against the backdrop. The dark glass no longer blends into the shadow behind it, so the silhouette and the cap detailing separate from the background instead of merging into one dark mass.
• Nothing about the actual product changed. Same bottle, same angle, same light source. The tool just recovered detail that was already sitting faintly in the file.

 

Check the pixel dimensions before you export.

 

A clean, well-lit photo can still be too small for Shopify's zoom-on-hover to work. 

 

 

If the file's under roughly 2000px on the long edge, that's your cue to run it through Wink's image upscaler before uploading. Upload the enhanced photo, pick 4K as the output, and hit start.

 

 

That lands you right around 3840-4096px, which happens to match Shopify's own recommended size for clean zoom, without handing you a file that's bigger than it needs to be. 

Skip 8K here.

 

What AI Enhancement Can Actually Rescue

 

Grain can be fixed because it's noise layered on top of real pixel data, not a replacement for it. The actual shape and color the camera captured are still underneath. The enhancer identifies the random noise pattern and strips it out, leaving that real data behind. 

It may be difficult, especially in shadows and dark glass, since that's where the sensor had the least light to work with.

Detail loss can be fixed because the information was never actually erased, just compressed. Weak light shrinks the range between highlight and shadow, so texture that needs contrast to read ("Nocturne Pour Homme" against dark glass, an embossed cap) flattens into near-uniform gray. 

But it's still there, encoded in tiny tonal differences too small to see at that compressed range. Stretching that range back out is what makes it visible again, which is why the label comes back legible without the bottle's color or shape ever changing.

Softness may be partially fixed, and this is where the distinction lies. Motion blur caused by a long exposure may be remedied since the edge simply became smeared for a few pixels and its initial position is still retrievable from its surroundings.

Out-of-focus blur cannot be corrected because the lens did not resolve the edge in the first place. There is actually a difference between blurred information and non-existent information. That's the actual boundary of what enhancement can do here.

 

The 30-Second Decision Checklist

 

• Colors look accurate, but the shot is dark, grainy, or a touch soft → Enhance it.
• Colors look off, blue-tinted, orange-tinted, washed out → That's white balance. Reshoot, or correct color before anything else.
• Product is cropped, cut off, or badly angled → Reshoot. Framing can't be recovered after the fact.
• Bright areas are pure white with no visible texture → Reshoot. There's no data there to bring back.
• Photo looks fine at normal size but blurs or pixelates when zoomed → Upscale it before uploading.
• Photo is both dark and small → Enhance first, then upscale. Doing it in the other order just stretches the noise.

 

Most late-night product shots land in that first bucket. That's the good news. The problems that actually need a reshoot are rarer than they feel at 9 pm.

 

Shopify-Friendly Export Sizes

 

Setting Recommendation Why it matters Square product image dimensions 4096 x 4096px Safe standard for Shopify's grid and product pages Minimum width for zoom to activate ~800px Technical floor; below this, zoom-on-hover won't trigger Recommended width for clean zoom 2000px+ Holds up when a shopper zooms into stitching or material File format JPEG (most cases) Reasonable size without visible compression artifacts File format (exception) PNG Only when transparency is needed, e.g. isolated cutouts Max file size Under 7MB Keeps page load fast; slow pages quietly cost conversions too

 

The Final Takeaway

 

Enhance first, retake only when the file leaves you no choice.

The best product photo on Shopify doesn't look enhanced. It looks accurate. The goal was never to make the perfume bottle glow. Instead, it was to let shoppers see it the way it actually looks under normal light. That distinction matters more as AI tools get easier to reach for. 

Remember that overcorrection reads as fake just as fast as a dim photo reads as careless. Both cost trust. 

The sellers who win on Shopify aren't the ones with the most processed images. They're the ones whose photos simply tell the truth, clearly, in whatever light they had.

When you build your first photography website, the platform you use can make it remarkably easy to include everything. Within an afternoon, you’ve populated a portfolio template, drafted an "About Me" page, and installed an e-commerce plugin to sell prints. You create a space for your blog. It feels productive, with every feature you can think of accounted for. You sit back and wait for visitors. Over time, though, the site may begin to feel less like a cohesive body of work and more like a crowded room where different voices are talking over each other.

 

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Most people who freeze up with flash have memorized a few settings that worked once, and those settings fall apart the moment the sun moves or the room gets darker. A fixed order of decisions, run the same way with a small Westcott FJ strobe or a big one, gets you to a good frame faster than any saved power number.

 

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A constant f/2.8 standard zoom is the lens most APS-C shooters end up leaving on the camera, yet the options have often been heavy, expensive, or simply missing from certain mounts. The Tamron 16-50mm f/2.8 costs roughly half as much as Sony's own equivalent and weighs far less, which raises a fair question about what you give up for the savings.

 

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Luminar is now offering something pretty unique for photo editors who want a powerful yet portable web-based editor. It's called Luminar on Web, which certainly describes its functionality.

 

Luminar on Web is a new browser-based product allowing for easier access to high-grade photo editing from anywhere without powerful hardware, long app installations, or years of experience.

Here are a few facts about Luminar on Web:

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The photos you hauled a heavy pack up a mountain to make will almost always feel stronger than the ones you grabbed on a walk to the grocery store. That gap between how an image feels to you and how it reads to everyone else shapes what you print, what goes into a book, and what you show the world.

 

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Blend modes sit in a dropdown at the top of the Layers panel in Photoshop, and a lot of people choose one by scrolling until something looks right. Once you know what each mode does to light pixels, dark pixels, and everything in between, that guessing becomes a choice you can repeat on sky replacements, retouching, textures, and composites.

 

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We can't let October pass without mentioning a close-up photography subject many photographers shoot spectacular images of at this time of year and that's fungi.

So, if you're venturing into the world of fungi photography for the first time or just want a quick reminder on what kit you'll need, have a read of our guide on photographing mushrooms, toadstools and fungi.
 

1. Pick the right season

The reason why this technique is something that's mentioned at this time of year is that fungi tend to like Autumn and Winter when it's cooler and wetter. You might even find them establishing themselves on your lawn if conditions are right. 

 

2. Head somewhere dark and damp

Think dark, damp places such as dense woodland areas where not much sunlight can get through. Search under piles of leaves and look around the base of trees. After a spell of particularly wet weather, they will start to show themselves in more places than you might expect!

 

3. Use a macro lens

A good macro lens is a must as fungi aren't the largest of subjects and your shots will have more impact by getting in close.

 

4. Stabilise your kit

Low light means longer shutter speeds so you're going to need a support for your camera. Some tripods can be adjusted so they sit low to the ground but you could just use a beanbag if your tripod isn't so flexible. Consider using a remote / cable release so you don't introduce shake at the start of the exposure but if you don't own one just use your camera's self-timer.

 

 

5. Pack a polarising filter

On particularly damp days shine can be a problem and mushroom tops can end up overexposed. To combat this, fit a polarising filter to the end of your lens which will reduce the shine. You may be wondering why you couldn't just head out on a dry day and there's no reason why you can't, however as David Pritchard explained a blog post: "There’s no better time for photographing mushrooms than after (or during) rain. The colours strengthen, and everything adopts a lovely sheen." 

 

6. Tidy the surroundings

It's sometimes worth cleaning the specimen up that you're photographing before you take your shots. Have a look at what's in the back of the frame, too to see if there's twigs or anything else that could prove to be distracting in the final shot. Please don't pull plants out of the ground or damage parts of a tree for the sake of a photo, though. It's important that you leave things as you found them once you've finished taking your images. Of course, you may prefer the natural look which means you won't have to brush any dirt off the mushroom at all.

 

 

7. Shoot down low

Fungi like the floor which we know isn't the most comfortable angle to work from but it does mean viewers of your images will be drawn into the fungi's world much more successfully if you shoot from low down. The fungi will also have a three-dimensional feel to them as they'll have more height, plus you'll be able to capture shots of the underbelly, too.

 

8. Think about your composition

As mentioned in the above point, once you've got your position on the ground, you'll be able to not only photograph the top of the mushroom's dome but underneath it too. This gives you the chance to capture some of the textures and colour the mushroom has to offer as well as exaggerate the height of it. Try to capture mushrooms in a group, as a variety of sizes will add interest of the piece. Odd groups are more pleasing to the eye than pairs but if you have one particular good specimen, don't overlook shooting it standing on its own. If you include the background and how much distance you put between you and the mushroom will change every time so do take some time to assess the scene before hitting the shutter button. 

 

 

9. Shed some light on the image

Fungi may like dark conditions but it's not something that's easy to work with as a photographer. The most interesting part of the mushroom is the underbelly and to highlight the textures, shapes and colours you're going to have to bounce light into the scene. You can use your camera's built-in flash but this will often result in a harsh light that doesn't really add anything to the photograph. Instead, use off-camera flash and bounce the light off other objects. You can also play around with backlight which should create a halo around the mushroom's top. If you don't have a flashgun experiment with a torch or use a reflector to bounce light onto the underbelly of the mushroom.

 

10. Use a shallow depth of field

Throwing the background out of focus will not only help isolate your subject but it can also hide unwanted clutter. Add a bit of backlight and your subject will pop from the frame.

© GoPro

 

GoPro has rolled out a free firmware update for the MISSION 1, MISSION 1 PRO and MISSION 1 PRO ILS that rebuilds how the cameras shoot stills. The shutter now responds the instant the button is pressed, and holding it down shoots continuous photos, with more than 100 at 12MP or more than 20 RAW files at 50MP. The MISSION Monitor app for iPhone and iPad also gains a histogram, waveform, RGB parade and false colour, along with wireless camera connectivity. GoPro Labs firmware adds anamorphic lens support for the MISSION 1 PRO ILS, covering squeeze ratios from 1.33x to 2.0x.

 

From GoPro:

 

GoPro, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) released a free update that enhances MISSION 1 Series cameras' photography capabilities. Photo shutter response has been dramatically improved to provide hair-trigger sensitivity for improved photo capture accuracy, and holding the shutter button down will capture continuous photos in rapid succession.

GoPro also updated its recently debuted MISSION Monitor app with four new professional exposure tools and wireless camera connectivity, and released a new version of GoPro Labs firmware that adds anamorphic lens support to MISSION 1 PRO ILS for film and television professionals.

Since launching earlier this year, the MISSION 1 Series has earned 12 top industry awards from 10 leading consumer technology, photography, and outdoor publications, including Best Overall Action Camera from WIRED, Best Action Camera in the Tom's Guide Awards, and editor's choice awards from PCMag, Tom's Guide, Gizmodo, and The Shortcut.

 

MISSION 1 Series Photography Update: High-Performance Shutter Response + Continuous Photo Capture

 

MISSION 1 Series cameras have received a ground-up rebuild of how they capture photos, transforming them into rapid-fire photography solutions:

• Rapid Photo: With the free firmware update, all MISSION 1 Series cameras will now feature zero-lag, ultra-responsive shutter button response that results in photos being captured the instant the shutter button is pressed.1
• Continuous Shutter: Press and hold the shutter button to capture photos continuously—more than 100 photos at 12MP or more than 20 RAW photos at 50MP.1
• Buffer Indicator: A new on-screen indicator signals when the camera is approaching its buffer limit.
• Updated Shutter Sound: A modernized shutter sound delivers clear, distinguishable audio confirmation for each photo as it's captured.

This new photography experience makes MISSION 1, MISSION 1 PRO, and MISSION 1 PRO ILS a natural match for the Point-and-Shoot Grip. The grip's lightweight, rubberized metal frame turns the camera into a high-performance handheld point-and-shoot camera that's ideal for run-and-gun, on-the-go street and travel photography. Two cold shoe mounts accept accessories like Light Mod 2, making it a complete handheld setup for hikes, concerts, and road trips. The grip is available as a stand-alone accessory or as part of MISSION 1 PRO Grip Edition.

"For photographers, by photographers. That's how we approached updating the MISSION 1 Series photo experience," said Jensen Granger, GoPro's Creative Director of Photography. "This update opens an exciting new chapter for photography on GoPro. Put a MISSION 1 Series camera in the Point-and-Shoot Grip and you have a seriously capable travel camera that's durable, mountable and can even shoot 8K video. It's the camera everyone from first-time buyers to seasoned photographers will want in their bag."

 

MISSION Monitor: New Exposure Tools + Wireless Connectivity

 

MISSION Monitor, the free iPhone® and iPad® live-preview app for MISSION 1 Series cameras,2 is being updated with four new professional monitoring tools that enhance exposure and color control, plus wireless connectivity and support for the aforementioned enhanced photography experience:

• Histogram: A real-time graph of every brightness level in the frame to confirm a balanced image, protect highlights, and avoid crushed shadows at a glance.
• Waveform: Maps brightness across the frame, showing exactly which parts of a shot are clipping or underexposed, not just whether something is off.
• RGB Parade: Displays the red, green, and blue channels side by side to confirm neutral tones are truly neutral and catch color casts before they become a problem in post-production. It's especially useful when shooting in GP-Log2, where a color cast is nearly invisible to the naked eye.
• False Color: Replaces the live image with a standardized color map that instantly shows which parts of the frame are clipping, which are underexposed, and whether skin tones are landing where they should.
• Wireless Connectivity: Connects to the camera wirelessly for cable-free live preview and image monitoring.
• New Photography Experience: Supports the all-new Rapid Photo and Continuous Shutter capture updates.

 

GoPro Labs: Anamorphic Lens Support for MISSION 1 PRO ILS

 

GoPro Labs, a public beta firmware program that enables GoPro camera capabilities beyond stock features and controls, now adds anamorphic lens support to MISSION 1 PRO ILS with the latest GoPro Labs firmware update. Paired with the camera's Micro Four Thirds™ mount, it brings anamorphic filmmaking to the world's smallest, most rugged compact cinema camera with interchangeable lenses.

Anamorphic lens support includes compatibility with GoPro's Emmy® Award-winning HyperSmooth video stabilization. GoPro Labs firmware also writes pixel aspect ratio metadata to the video file so desktop playback and editing tools like Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve recognize the true shape of the image and correct it automatically.

Squeeze ratios of 1.33x, 1.5x, 1.6x, 1.8x, and 2.0x are supported, with presets for fast switching between anamorphic and spherical lenses. An on-camera desqueeze preview for the rear screen is coming soon.

 

Availability

 

The all-new photography experience for MISSION 1 Series cameras is available now as a free firmware update via the GoPro Quik app or on GoPro.com.

The MISSION Monitor app update is free and available today on the Apple App Store® for devices running iOS 18 or later.

The updated GoPro Labs firmware supporting anamorphic lenses is available to download for free from GoPro Labs.

 

London Camera Exchange (LCE) has opened entries for its Photographer of the Year 2027 competition, inviting photographers of all skill levels to compete for a share of a £10,000 prize fund across 14 categories. Free to enter, the competition offers opportunities for photographers to gain national recognition, with winning and shortlisted images showcased at The Photography & Video Show 2027 at ExCeL London. Entries are open until midnight on 20 January 2027.

 

From London Camera Exchange:

 

• London Camera Exchange annual photography competition returns with £10,000 prize fund – now open for submissions
• Quick, easy and free to enter for photographers of all levels and experience
• 14 diverse categories from Landscape and Street to Wildlife, Portrait and Travel, plus publicly voted ‘People’s Choice’ and ‘Emerging Talent’ for photography students
• Exhibition and awards presentation at The Photography & Video Show at ExCeL London, with winning and shortlisted works featured in a special commemorative book

 

London Camera Exchange is calling for entries to its LCE Photographer of the Year 2027 contest, inviting photographers to showcase their creativity and compete for a share of a £10,000 prize fund and gain national recognition for their work.

Now established as a major platform for photographic talent – and celebrating creativity, skill and inspiration – LCE Photographer of the Year is free to enter and open to photographers of all experience levels, aged 18 and over. Images can be taken anywhere in the world.

Entries open on 12 October 2026 and close at midnight on 20 January 2027. Photographers can submit a maximum of one image per category, with 14 categories offering opportunities to depict everything from dramatic action and landscapes to wildlife, portraits, creative scenes and everyday events. Participants can submit their images in-store at any of LCE’s 26 retail shops around the UK, or online at https://poty.lcegroup.co.uk/.

Lee Harasyn, managing director of LCE, commented, “London Camera Exchange is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2026, so we are aiming for this year’s competition to be our biggest and best yet. LCE Photographer of the Year has developed into an exciting platform for photographers to showcase their talent and compete for major prizes. With a £10,000 prize fund, 14 categories and an exceptional panel of judges, there are more opportunities than ever for photographers to achieve recognition for their shots.”

Following the success of the Emerging Talent category in previous years, photography students studying in the UK are again eligible in this dedicated section, with the winner receiving £500 worth of LCE vouchers and an additional £500 awarded to their photography department, university or other place of study.

The popular ‘People’s Choice’ category will also return, giving photographers the chance to put their images directly in front of the public and encourage friends, family and fellow photography enthusiasts to vote for their work. The image receiving the most eligible votes will become the People’s Choice winner.

The competition offers a substantial prize for every category winner, with each of the 14 category champions receiving £500 worth of LCE vouchers and a trophy. The overall LCE Photographer of the Year will be presented with an additional £2,500 worth of LCE vouchers, while the Emerging Talent winner’s place of study will receive a further £500.

 

2026 overall winning image, ‘Fish Eyes’ by Sophia Spurgin

 

Finalists will be invited to the LCE Photographer of the Year awards ceremony at The Photography & Video Show 2027, taking place at ExCeL London from 13 to 16 March 2027. All the finalists’ images will be displayed at a high-profile exhibition in the show entrance.

A selection of shortlisted entries will also be included in a stunning LCE Photographer of the Year special edition commemorative book, with a complimentary copy provided to featured entrants. The winning images will be announced at the awards ceremony, and via London Camera Exchange’s social channels and national and specialist media, delivering further opportunities for photographers to share their work with new audiences.

The 2027 competition will be judged by four distinguished photography experts: Angela Nicholson, founder of SheClicks, Chris George, content director of Digital Camera World and Creative Bloq, award-winning professional portrait and travel documentary photographer Jimmy Cheng and internationally acclaimed street photographer Peter Dench.

Lee Harasyn continued, "We want LCE Photographer of the Year to celebrate photography in all its forms. From emerging photographers developing their style to experienced professionals, we’re looking forward to seeing the creativity, originality and different perspectives that photographers bring to this year’s competition.

"Being able to honour the winners at The Photography & Video Show at ExCeL London makes the 2027 competition particularly exciting. We can’t wait to discover the images that will make this year’s shortlist and share them with photography audiences across the UK and beyond."

Images can be captured using any device capable of producing a digital image of sufficient quality and resolution for entry, including cameras, drones, smartphones, tablets and other digital imaging devices. Images must be the entrant’s own work and AI-generated imagery is not permitted. The judges will assess shortlisted images based on composition, lighting, subject matter and technical skill, with photographs judged anonymously. The overall winner will be selected by the judging panel from the 14 category winners.

 

Categories:

• Action
• After Dark
• Birds
• Creative
• Emerging Talent
• Events
• Landscape
• Macro
• People’s Choice
• Pets
• Portrait
• Street
• Travel
• Wildlife

 

The competition is generously backed by major photo industry brands including headline sponsors Canon, Fujifilm and OM System, as well as partners Nikon and Sony, and affiliates Cewe, Lexar and Sigma.

LCE Photographer of the Year 2027 is open to photographers worldwide, although prizes are limited to photographers who are resident in the UK. No purchase is necessary to enter or win. LCE Photographer of the Year is free to enter and attend.

 

LCE Photographer of the Year 2027 key dates

• Entries open: 12 October 2026
• Entries close: Midnight, 20 January 2027
• The Photography & Video Show 2027: 13 to 16 March 2027, ExCeL London
• Awards ceremony: Timings to be confirmed and communicated to shortlisted entrants.

 

For more information and please visit the LCE Photographer of the Year website.

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