Photography News

A dedicated monochrome camera changes how you see a scene before you even lift it to your eye. When you commit to black and white only, every choice about light, texture, and timing becomes more deliberate.

[ Read More ]

See how painting the scene with light has improved the image of the mushrooms on the left, adding mood and interest to the shot on the right. 

 

When you think of light painting your first thoughts will probably be of people drawing pictures and writing words but you can use it to breath a little more creativity into your still life work too.

As you'll be using longer exposure times or even Bulb mode, a DSLR or an advanced smaller camera will probably the type of camera you think is best for this sort of technique. However, that's not to say you can't use a compact as many do offer longer shutter speed ranges. As well as your camera, make sure you have a tripod to hand and you'll need a torch for 'painting' light with. A piece of black card can be useful as you'll be able to create a cone-shaped from it to direct light more and translucent coloured paper (sweet wrappers will work fine) can be used to alter the colour of the light you're painting with. 

When it comes to the set-up, place your camera on a tripod so you can control the torch with one hand while hitting the shutter button with the other then focus and set the camera on focus lock so that it isn't fooled by the uneven light. If the camera struggles to focus, use your torch to light your subject so the camera can adjust. Any standard torch will do and you can either hold it still or move it around to illuminate different areas of your object. Changing the position of the torch will also prevent hot spots appearing in the image.

 

Photo by David Pritchard. 

 

It's best to slowly build up the amount of light you paint onto your subject so you don't overexpose a particular area. You'll need a long-ish shutter speed if you're not using the B-setting and as a torch has a colour temperature that's warmer than daylight, you could end up with images that have an orange tint. Of course, you may think the warmer tones work but if you don't, auto white balance should be able to remove it or you can always edit your images after if shooting in RAW. 

If you find the light isn't directional enough, try using a cone made from black card and secure it to the torch to give you more precise control over it. 
  More photography tips and tutorials    

• Ultimate guide to indoor photography
• 10 DIY Photography Tricks & Hacks

Style is not something that comes with experience. It takes shape when a photographer stops acting intuitively and begins to build a conscious system of decisions. That system is your personal strategy.

[ Read More ]

Soft portraits on sharp modern cameras are frustrating, especially when you know your focus point was right on the eye. A tiny mix of motion blur, shutter vibration, and dull light can rob your images of bite even before you open them in Lightroom.

[ Read More ]

Seven years ago, I made a decision that has shaped the way I photograph wildlife ever since I bought the Sigma 150-600mm lens. It was for one specific purpose: to finally get closer to the action during the annual red deer rut in Ireland. Does it still stack up?

[ Read More ]

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|294692|294692_1763713393.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 Leedslass1 (Day 21 - Ice)

 

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 16

Colourful Architecture

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|23199|23199_1763296607.jpg[/COMMENT_IMG]

  Day 17

City Lights At Night

[COMMENT_IMG]portfolio|20585|3752324[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

Day 18

Cutlery

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|85831|85831_1763458501.jpg[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

Day 19

Different Angles

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|197810|197810_1763567960.jpg[/COMMENT_IMG]

  Day 20

'Laughter'

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|163790|163790_1763650916.jpg[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

Day 22

Stormy Weather

[COMMENT_IMG]portfolio|44582|3456309[/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.

Photo by David Burleson

Add A Vignette

To create mood and to add emphasis apply a vignette to your transport shots. For more information on how to do this, take a look at our tutorial: Creating Vignettes.

Shoot Inside

As well as shooting the outside, if you can, open the doors of the car, truck or of whatever transport you’re photographing and capture some interior shots. You can go wide, capturing the whole of the interior or use a close-up lens to focus on detail such as dials, buttons and badges.
 

Fill The Frame

To really add emphasis so the car is the only focal point of the shot, fill the frame with it. This, however, doesn’t mean it has to be positioned in the centre of the shot. Move your position slightly to the left or right and you’ll see how it can make a really big difference to the overall image. Just make sure you don't clip off a wing mirror or a wheel in the process.

Photo by David Burleson

Use Reflections

Try using the car’s mirrors or some part of its bodywork to capture a reflection of another part of the car in. Just have a good look at the reflection to make sure you or any passers-by aren’t captured in the shot as you’ll have to spend time cloning them out later if you do.

Away from the car look for puddles and other reflective surfaces you can photograph. New buildings, which are full of glass and steel, are great backdrops to position new cars against.

Stepping further back so you can see the reflection of the horizon down the side of the car can also work brilliantly, particularly at sunset or if you're in a picturesque location.

Photo by David Burleson

Change Angles

Take a walk around the mode of transport you’re photographing and look for the angles, shapes and little details that make it unique. 

Get low to headlight level to make it look intimidating while shooting from the side will give you the chance to follow the lines of the car’s bodywork which will help guide the eye through the shot.

Shoot up high so you can show the car’s overall shape, just make sure the sky’s not overexposed. You can always fit an ND grad to darken the sky, creating more mood. For wider shots, make sure you can’t see what’s behind the car from underneath it as this will be distracting.
 

Picture this: A new photographer finishes building their portfolio, registers their LLC, files their DBA paperwork, and suddenly announces to the world, "I need a brand." They spend $500 on a beautiful, scripty logo from a designer on Fiverr or 99designs. They pick some carefully curated "moody" color presets for their Lightroom catalog. They commission a sleek website with parallax scrolling and a cool animated loading screen. They launch their Instagram with a consistent grid aesthetic. They call it a day, sit back, and wait for the high-end clients to roll in.

[ Read More ]

Photographers have a tendency to prescribe ways things should be done. But that flies in the face of the beauty of art, doesn't it? Here are some common takes on photography that maybe, just maybe, require a rethink.

[ Read More ]

A fast 85mm prime this cheap can change how your portraits and travel images look, especially if you want shallow depth of field without spending on a first-party lens. Here's a look at this fantastic option.

[ Read More ]

Black and white can feel like the wrong choice when the forest is burning with autumn color. Yet that is exactly when it exposes how well you understand tone, structure, and the way trees and branches hold a frame.

[ Read More ]

Color contrast is what turns a flat, gray landscape into something that feels deep and alive. Learning to build contrast between warm and cool colors is one of the fastest ways to rescue files that would otherwise feel dull.

[ Read More ]

Church interiors are difficult to photograph because they usually have huge bright windows and dark nooks and crannies with the rest being a mix of tones illuminated by tungsten light or candles. Automatic exposure cameras will often deliver a photo with a well exposed interior, but no detail in the windows. Fortunately, with digital photography and modern software there is a solution, it's called HDR (high dynamic range) photography. Using HDR can really make your architecture shots pop.
 

   

Most modern cameras will have a HDR mode built-in, however if this is not the case, then here are some basic instructions.

 

Creating a HDR image

To create a HDR shot you need to take several shots of the same scene at different exposures, each one from the same position. These are then merged into one photo using HDR software (see ePHOTOzine's technique section for articles on how to do this). To ensure the photos are in an identical position it's best to use a sturdy tripod which will keep everything aligned and steady. It's worth using a cable-release too to trigger the shutter when the camera is on the tripod, but with a static subject such as a church you can get away using the camera's self timer.
 

Use a wide lens

A wide-angle lens is best for church interiors and ideally you want one that's really wide. With a lens like this you can usually shoot the interior from wall to wall if you stand back far enough. The camera you use can be a DSLR or compact so long as it has a manual exposure mode or at least exposure compensation to override the automatic settings.

As exposures are long in churches they can soon flatten your camera battery so always carry a spare just in case. Also, when shooting HDR, every picture you take requires several exposures so you may need extra memory cards.

HDR exposures should have a fixed aperture so that the depth of field is the same for each shot. Set the camera to f/8 and before setting up the shot take a meter reading for the lightest area. If the shot has a stained glass window in view this will usually be the brightest part. These are usually very decorative and beautiful works of art so you need to record those with an exposure that gives 100% detail. Use the camera's spot meter and position the camera so the window is in the centre of the viewfinder where the meter takes the reading. Take a shot and preview the result on the LCD If it's good make a note of the shutter speed. Now take a meter reading for the darkest area and make sure that the resulting photo has detail in it. Make a note of the shutter speed.

 

Your HDR exposure should have a range of shots that covers from the speed needed for the window to the speed for the dark areas. Let's say the window was 1/15 sec and the dark area was 8 seconds. The full shutter speed options would be 1/15sec, 1/4sec, 1/2sec, 1 second, 2 seconds, 4 seconds and 8 seconds. So you could take seven photos or as most HDR software can get what it needs from two stop intervals you could take four shots at 1/15sec, 1/2sec, 2 seconds and 8 seconds.

With this new information, adjust the position of the camera on the tripod compose the photo, including the previously metered elements in the frame and take a sequence of pictures, making sure no one walks into frame and the light doesn't change, sun comes out, floodlight goes on inside etc., at the shutter speeds calculated earlier.

Try this technique all around the church, in bigger churches/cathedrals there are lots of smaller rooms and chapels to discover.

Here are some of the tutorials you'll find in ePHOTOzine's technique section on HDR photography

• HDR Buildings
• Creating HDR Images
• Post Processing HDR Images
• Using Oloneo PhotoEngine For HDR
• HDR Landscape Photography

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|161002|161002_1762438553.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 Kenwil (Day 06 - Creative White 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 1

National Parks

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|154993|154993_1761963020.jpg[/COMMENT_IMG]

  Day 2

'Win' Theme

[COMMENT_IMG]portfolio|51734|3875208[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

Day 3

Fireworks

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|348931|348931_1762183734.jpg[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

Day 4

Races

[COMMENT_IMG]portfolio|41212|2639447[/COMMENT_IMG]

  Day 5

Photo Walk

[COMMENT_IMG]portfolio|229889|3889904[/COMMENT_IMG]

 

Day 7

Panoramas

[COMMENT_IMG]direct|339957|339957_1762499764.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.

In today's lens market, we're spoiled with clinical perfection. Every new release promises sharper corners, less chromatic aberration, and faster autofocus. But rewind a few decades, and the photography industry was a wild west of mechanical experimentation, questionable engineering decisions, and ideas that made perfect sense to exactly nobody. Some of these experiments became beloved cult classics. Others became cautionary tales whispered in engineering departments. All of them are gloriously, magnificently weird.

[ Read More ]

All hype aside, what did I learn from putting the brand new Nikon ZR and NIKKOR Z 24-70 f/2.8 S II into the field to make my new series, The Pickup Artist?

[ Read More ]

- Partner Content - 

In the case of the OM System Olympus OM-1, beauty is much deeper than skin deep and it’s an outstanding, capable and feature-rich camera.

 

The Micro Four Thirds (MFT) format is based on a 17.3x13mm sensor so roughly the same image size as the 110-snapshot film format. However, while the ultimate quality possible from the 110-film format leaves a great deal to be desired, that is not the case with digital and the MFT format is capable of pro-quality results. 

OM System and Panasonic MFT cameras are very popular with enthusiasts and expert photographers and with the help of MPB, we went shopping with £3000 to spend on a fully-fledged zoom lens outfit to suit photographers who enjoy a wide range of subject genres, from people to nature and landscapes to macro. 

We went for the OM-1 as the crux of our system. The OM-1 was produced by OM System and was the last camera to bear the Olympus badge, and when it came out in 2022, it was 50 years after the trend-setting classic 35mm film camera of the same name. 

 

Its small stature and slick handling make the OM-1 ideal for grab shooting on the street. Exposure was 1/100sec at f/5.6 and ISO 400. Image by Will Cheung.

 

The OM-1 had a 20.4-megapixel sensor at its heart and as befits a flagship camera, its feature list makes for impressive reading. The stacked CMOS sensor had 1053 quad-pixel AF sensor points, which gave excellent and accurate performance whether shooting upright or horizontal-format shots and almost regardless of the scene’s content. Speaking of content, the OM-1 has a very capable and versatile subject-based focus detect and tracking focusing system and this is enhanced further with the ability to create custom AF patterns to suit your favourite subjects. For example, if birds in flight or airplanes are your favourite subjects you can make a fat letter-box AF pattern to suit their shape.

 

Scenes with extreme contrast hold no fears to the OM-1 and the Raw file in this case had plenty of editing potential. Exposure was 1/100sec at f/11 and ISO 200 80mm on 40-150mm. Image by Will Cheung.

 

Supporting the camera’s AF skills is the OM-1’s remarkable burst shooting capabilities. Olympus was the first camera brand to come out with an innovative pre-capture feature called Pro Capture. This allowed shots to be captured and held in a buffer and were only committed to the memory card upon full shutter button press. It made capturing instances such as a bird or dragonfly taking flight achievable even for those photographers with poor reactions. What makes Pro Capture amazing is that on the OM-1, you can shoot full Raws at 50fps with AE/AF tracking and 120fps with fixed AE/AF. To give this OM feature some context, one camera brand has pre-shot capability but only with JPEGs.

 

The OM-1 range of computational modes lets you achieve images in-camera.

 

Assisting good shots in poor weather and dodgy light, the IP-53 weather-sealed body is image-stabilised with a system rated with 7-stops benefit and 8-stops with compatible OM optics. 

We haven’t even mentioned handheld and tripod high res shooting modes, in-body focus stacking and Live shooting modes, so you can appreciate that we have only scraped the surface when it comes to the OM-1’s great photo features and that’s why we’ve chosen it as our lightweight system centrepiece.

 

Like other OM System/Olympus cameras, the OM-1 has a full complement of Art Filters for creative in-camera JPEG output. This was the Diorama filter. Exposure for this was 1/250 sec at f/11 and ISO 200. Image by Will Cheung.

 

The OM-1’s launch price was £2000 body only, but now it’s tremendous value on the used market with MPB having excellent condition bodies (at the time of writing) within the range of £789-859. 

Naturally, the MFT lens mount is supported by OM System and Panasonic, so there is plenty of choice in terms of primes and zooms but in addition, there is a huge selection of independent autofocus and manual focus lenses available from brands including Sigma, Laowa and Zeiss at a wide range of prices.

The smaller MFT format has an image area nearly one quarter the surface area of full-frame but on the important format diagonal, MFT is half that of 35mm so there’s a 2x crop factor and that is a huge benefit especially when it comes to long telephoto lenses. So, for example, a MFT 150mm lens gives the same field of view as 300mm in full-frame and, aperture for aperture, more depth-of-field by around two f/stops.

Of course, lens choice is very much a personal matter but here we wanted to cover a wide subject range with our lens system, so chose OM System optics that covered from ultra-wide to long telephoto taking in macro along the way. With our generous budget limit of £3000 in mind, that’s enough for a versatile four lens kit and some latitude with lens speed.

Searching MPB’s website, there was a huge choice available when it came to lens model and condition, although a couple of our choices had limited stock at the time. Of course, in the rapidly changing world of used kit that is to be expected, so when you do go shopping with MPB, if a product catches your eye and stock is limited, it pays to strike quickly before an item is snapped up.

 

There’s a huge range of lenses available for Micro Four Thirds format cameras. On the left, there’s the OM System 8-25mm f/4 sitting next to the 12-40mm f/2.8 II (lenses not shown to scale).

 

Okay, this is what we went for. For an ultra-wide zoom, the choice was the 8-25mm f/4 PRO at £589 which is a significant saving on its £949 new price. This 16-50mm full-frame equivalent is a lovely lens, even though the f/4 maximum aperture might mean resorting to higher ISOs in poor light. That said, with the potential of denoising in software, shooting at ISO or even 3200 is not an issue.

The standard zoom we went for was the 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO II available in ‘like new’ condition at MPB for £639. Small, portable and highly capable, this is the perfect lens for general shooting.

 

The petite OM 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens gives up to lifesize magnification. This close-up portrait of a marbled white butterfly shows its potential. Exposure was 1/400sec at f/2.8 and ISO 800. Image by Will Cheung.

 

To tackle close-up subjects, we went for the 60mm f/2.8 Macro at £249 in excellent condition. This lens focuses close enough to give lifesize magnification and is a delight to use, being so compact and capable.

Our outfit was completed with the 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO. MPB had plenty of stock and an excellent condition sample was on offer at £814. This telezoom gives the view of a full-frame equivalent 80-300mm and is a favourite with MFT shooters.

Well, that's £3000 spent on a four lens MFT system which can cope with most subjects with no problem and won’t break your back on long days of photography. If the notion of down-sizing appeals, check out what’s possible with MPB.

 

  News from MPB

As consumers, we want value, choice and outstanding service and you get all that and more with MPB, so the brand deserves all the plaudits it deserves. But MPB is a forward-looking business and has a vision way beyond looking after its customers. 

MPB has recently released its FY25 Impact Report on its Sustainability. Headlines include 615,000 cameras, lenses and accessories (9% from 564,000 last year) have been recirculated and zero waste was sent to landfill with the Brighton site achieving a 92% recycling rate. There is much more in the report so if you want to learn about MPB’s sustainability strategy, you can read – and download - it here.

  MPB Explained

You need kit to take photographs and produce videos, and taking the used route is a cost-effective way of making the most of your budget and keeping up with the latest developments in imaging technology.

MPB is one of the biggest used retailers with bases in the UK, Germany and the USA.

Trading with MPB the process is fair, safe, painless and incredibly easy.

Whether you have kit to sell, want to make a purchase or part exchange, start by going to the MPB website which is intuitive and straightforward to use.

If you have kit to trade, just start typing the name in and a list of suggestions from MPB’s huge database will appear. If a name on that list matches your product click on it and add its condition; if not, continue typing in the whole name and condition.

It’s worth bearing in mind that MPB’s database covers much more than cameras and lenses so if you have, for example, a photo backpack, tripod or filters to sell these can be shown as you type in their name too.

With all your kit listed, add contact details and a quote will appear in your inbox soon afterwards, although manually entered items will take one working day.

If you are happy with the quote, accept it and follow the instructions to get the kit ready for courier collection on a day to suit you. For higher-value deals, an MPB account manager will also be in touch, so you have a personal point of contact if you have any queries.

Once received by MPB, you will get a notification and after checking by its product specialists you will receive a final quote. This can vary from the original quote if there is a missing item —like a battery not being supplied—or your assessed condition differs from the actual condition.

A quote can go down, but it can also increase if the kit’s condition is better than your assessment.

The whole process doesn’t take long and MPB are in touch by e-mail at every step so you’re never in the dark, and only when you are totally happy with the deal, pass on your payment details or pay the balance in the case of part-exchange. Either way, the money or your new kit will be with you soon after.

Get A Quote From MPB Today

 

About MPB

• MPB is the largest global platform to buy, sell and trade used photo and video kit.
• MPB is the simple, safe and circular way to trade, upgrade and get paid.
• MPB is not a marketplace, instead buying directly from visual storytellers and evaluating all items before reselling MPB-approved kit.
• MPB's dynamic pricing engine provides the right price upfront for all items.
• Circularity is at the centre of MPB, promoting sustainability, diversity and inclusion in everything they do.
• MPB prioritises inclusive recruitment and supports employees with extensive training and development. They promote inclusive visual storytelling and an inclusive circular economy.
• MPB's business model is 100% circular. All packaging is 100% plastic-free. Their cloud-based platform uses 100% renewable electricity.
• MPB recirculates more than 570,000 products annually
• MPB provides first-class customer service. Customers can receive support through their Help Centre or by speaking directly with a kit expert.
• MPB's product specialists are trusted by thousands of visual storytellers in the UK.
• MPB is rated ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot with over 37,000 reviews.

Visit The MPB Website

Remembrance Sunday is a day that commemorates the sacrifices of armed forces and civilians in times of war and artificial poppies are bought and worn as a mark of respect. Although the 11th is the actual Remembrance Day, a two-minute silence is observed at war memorials and other public spaces across the UK at 11am on Remembrance Sunday. At these locations and for weeks after you will see decorative wreaths of poppies placed at these memorials which can make an interesting subject for photographers.

 

What sort of kit is best?

Any compact camera can be used to photograph memorials and artificial poppies. As long as it has a lens with a fairly close focus you will be able to shoot closer shots of individual poppies or wreaths, and a wide angle will help you take a more overall view of the scene.
 

The main thing you need is imagination.

Respect your surroundings

At all times respect the location. These are areas marked for people who lost their lives and people come to pay their respects. The last thing they want is a disrespectful photographer interrupting their moment.  

Memorials are often grand structures and dwarf the wreaths placed below them so consider moving in closer with a tighter crop of the scene. Use a wide-angle lens and move in close placing the memorial to one side and allow the background scenery/cityscape to contrast against the scene.
 

Utilise the colour of the poppies

Consider the bright colour of the poppies against the often cold dark tones of the memorial and underexpose slightly so the darker areas become a stark contrast behind the vibrant red of the poppies. You can adjust the contrast and colour saturation using your image editing program to enhance the poppy colour.

Try focusing on a single poppy and isolate it from the rest of the scene. Placing one strategically on a part of the memorial will give an interesting still life set. Use a polarising filter to prevent reflections from the statue or polished marble.
 

Be creative with your angles

Hone in on a single poppy in a wreath and use a wide aperture to throw the rest out of focus. Choose the right angle and the rest will be a blur of red as a background.

Many of the memorials have very poignant messages engraved in the marble. Try including one of these in the shot with a wreath. Have the wreath on the foreground and the message tailing off to the distance. Photography the message head-on and cropped so just a few of the words are visible with a single poppy laid over them.

 

Don't forget the people at the ceremonies

Candid shots of old war veterans wearing poppies can make good photographs. Again, respect the person. Asking if you can take a photograph is polite and then you don't have to grab the moment. You can spend a few minutes composing the shot and making sure the viewpoint is good. If the person is in a wheelchair get down to their level for a better perspective.

A photo of a person placing a poppy on the memorial could look good from the right angle. Again, take from a low viewpoint and makes sure the face and the poppy are in frame. 

Packing for a trip always involves tough choices. Do you bring that heavy ultra-wide zoom for just a few shots? Viltrox AF 14mm f/4 Air has an answer that makes the decision incredibly easy, and it comes in a tiny lens that costs less than a nice dinner for two.

[ Read More ]

Lightroom hides a lot of power behind menus you probably ignore and shortcuts you might not even know exist. If you spend hours editing, small changes in how you use masks and ranges can add up to cleaner images and faster decisions.

[ Read More ]