Photography News

Photo by Joshua Waller 

 

City streets, particularly at this time of year, are an abundance of jewelled lights from traffic, shops, and festive bulbs. Their colour and a good bit of sky detail make city locations perfect for urban winter shoots. Dramatic clouds or the subtle gradation of twilight hues make good backgrounds for winter lights but as the light fades and your background turns black, you can turn your attention to the Bokeh effect to really make your urban work shine.

When out-and-about, focus on your subject from about 10 feet away with a long lens and a wider aperture and your background lights should glow like coloured jewels in the night.

As it's dark you'll be using a slower shutter speed so a tripod or monopod are an essential item. Applying a gentle touch to the shutter button and remembering to take your shot when you've exhaled and not while you're holding your breath will also reduce camera shake and help you produce a shake-free, perfect image. A good lens is always useful too and using a lens with a focal length of 70-200mm or above will help ensure those backgrounds are out of focus and the lights are twinkling.

 

Photo by Joshua Waller 

 

Once you're set-up and your picture's framed, take a look at your white balance settings. Auto white balance will work with the majority of these shots but by choosing tungsten balance, any ambient daylight goes a lovely rich blue. It also helps ensure the lights in the background are glowing the colour they're meant to be.

As well as using the Christmas lights, why not use the other lights of the city to create some dynamic images? Illuminated advertising can add an interesting twist to urban portraits and so can reflections. Wet paving stones, wet tarmac and windows are all exciting items to hold reflections. You just have to learn to look for them and incorporate them into your images.

If you're out to shoot specifically winter/festive lights then why not plan your shoot around a Christmas shopping trip or a visit to a Christmas market. There are usually plenty of incentives to wrap up warm, grab a brolly and enjoy a mulled wine and the odd bag of roasted chestnuts, all of which make excellent festive inspired images. You could also grab a window seat in a cafe, order the drinks, then pop out onto the street, shoot a frame or two then back into the warmth. You can also use the cafe as a setting for a few of your shots, using steaming mugs of hot chocolate and coffee to add another level of interest to your portraits. 

 

The low position of the sun in winter makes it a perfect time to shoot silhouettes. You just need to find a bright background (the sky's perfect) and the right subject to give you a shot with series impact.

 

1. Pick A Subject

As there are no textures or tones to grab people's attention strong subjects that are instantly recognisable work the best. In winter, wildlife (deer in particular) work well. Even more so if you're shooting on a cold morning when the breath can be seen in the air. The bare, skeletal-like trees that cover our landscape at this time of year also work well as subjects for winter silhouettes. Higher up, turn rolling hillsides into dark shapes that curve across your shot. Fog can help add interest and contrast to the shot and exposing for the lighter, foggy parts of the shot will give you the silhouetted hillsides you're looking for.
 

2. Adjust Your Exposure

You need a bright background for this technique to work and the sky, particularly when there's a colourful sunrise, works particularly well. You can also use a large expanse of water if you live near a lake or the coast too.

To create a silhouette, expose for the brighter background rather than your subject as by doing so your subject will underexpose, appearing very dark if not fully black. Using the spot or centre-weight light measurement modes on your camera should give you the results you're looking for or you can use exposure compensation and select -1 or -2 to deliberately underexpose your shot.

If you're using a compact camera simply point the camera at the brightest part of the scene you're photographing, press the shutter half way down and don't let go of it. Next, re-frame the shot then press the shutter button the rest of the way to take your shot. This should fool the camera into giving you the exposure you want, but you may have to try exposing from different parts of the image to create the silhouette you're looking for.

3. Focusing Tips

You might want to meter from your background, but you don't want this to be your main point of focus. So, to ensure your main subject is sharp, use a smaller aperture to maximise depth of field. You can also try pre-focusing your shot before you set your exposure or switch to manual focus. If you're using a compact camera try using Landscape mode as this will let the camera know you want to use a small aperture so your shot has front to back sharpness.

 

4. The Sun's Position

Try to position your subject in front of the sun when you're framing up as you should never look through the camera directly at the sun as you can permanently damage your eyes. If you want the sun to be in frame, use the Live View feature so you can frame up safely.

  5. Turn Flash Off

If your flash is set to go off automatically make sure you switch it off otherwise it'll light up your subject and you won't get the silhouette you're looking for.

 

6. Framing Advice 

Don't think you have to fill your frame with your subject as a little space around them will leave room for the brighter, colourful background to show, giving your shot more interest and impact. This is where a wider lens comes in handy as you'll be able to get more of your background in shot. Of course, getting close to a shy animal with a wide-angle lens is easier said than done but you could try putting your camera on a tripod and use a remote release to fire the shutter button. Just remember to focus the camera on a fixed spot before you go into hiding. Having said that, if you're using a long telephoto lens to capture your winter wildlife from a distance you should still have plenty of room around your subject for the lighter background anyway.

ePHOTOzine is delighted to confirm that Samsung will once again support the much-loved Photo of the Week award, celebrating an impressive 11th year of this successful partnership.

Thanks to Samsung’s ongoing commitment, this long-standing collaboration continues to recognise outstanding photography, shining a light on creativity, technical excellence and artistic flair across our community. We’re excited to welcome another year filled with inspiring images.

Samsung continues to inspire the world and shape the future through innovative ideas and cutting-edge technology, and ePHOTOzine is proud to welcome the global electronics brand back as supporter of our prestigious Photo of the Week accolade for the eleventh consecutive year.

We’re pleased to announce that throughout 2026, Samsung will once again reward our Photo of the Week (POTW) winners with its reliable, high-performance memory products. Each weekly winner will receive a Samsung 128GB PRO Plus microSDXC memory card with SD Adapter, providing fast, dependable storage suitable for a wide range of devices.

The Samsung 128GB PRO Plus microSDXC memory card, complete with a full-size SD adapter, is ideal for use with cameras, laptops and more. Compatible with Android smartphones, tablets, action cameras, drones and gaming consoles, PRO Plus is designed to help you capture more, faster and without compromise. With impressive U3, Class 10 read/write speeds of up to 180/130MB/s, transferring and storing large volumes of images is seamless. UHS-I, V30 support ensures smooth 4K video recording, while six-proof protection guards against water, extreme temperatures, X-rays, magnets, drops and wear. The card is backed by a 10-year limited warranty. Further details are available on the Samsung website.

Photo of the Week is selected every week by the ePHOTOzine team. To be in with a chance of winning, simply upload your images to the Gallery.

All 52 weekly winners will then have their images showcased in our POTW forum. In January 2027, the community will be invited to vote by hitting the ‘like’ button on their favourite shots. The ePHOTOzine team will tally the votes and crown the overall Photo of the Year winner, who will take home the top prize: a rugged, ultra-fast 1TB Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield.

Best of luck to everyone taking part, we look forward to seeing the diverse and inspiring images submitted by our community of photographers each week. Our sincere thanks go to Samsung for its continued and valued support.

 

Photo by David Burleson
  Food plays a big part in the Christmas festivities so why not spend some time capturing some food-filled shots which look good enough to eat! 
  Preparation 

Professional food photographers have stylists and chefs working with them but even though you probably don't have this luxury still make sure you're picky about your food. It doesn't matter if you're photographing vegetables you've bought from the supermarket or mince pies you've baked yourself, make sure you take a good look at your subject and only select the best of the bunch.

A tripod will keep your hands free for adjusting the food in your shot and it'll also ensure your shots are sharp when working indoors with lower light conditions. 
 

Set Your Scene

We are not all lucky enough to have large, light kitchens we can work in but this isn't an excuse to take a messy photo. The odd bowl, spoon or floured rolling pin may work in your image but a table full of objects from everyday life won't. If you don't have much space just fill the frame with your product or use a wide aperture to throw the background out of focus. You could also hide your clutter with a background - something as simple as a coloured piece of card or even wrapping paper can work well. Just frame up correctly so what's behind the background doesn't sneak in from a corner.

You need to think carefully about what you set your food on, too. If you want a clean, simplistic feel go for a white plate while something more colourful can work better for Christmassy food.
 

Use Your Eyes

You're not putting food on a plate to just eat it so make sure you think about how it's presented. Grouping items in odd numbers works well but so does pairs with certain foods and objects. Take a good look around the plate for crumbs and sauce that may have run as too as this will just distract the viewer from your main subject.

Don't automatically shoot your food like you'd sit to eat it. Look for the most interesting angle and work from there. However, there are occasions when shooting directly above can work, such as when creating patterns or working with a particularly distinctive plate. 

Finally, watch your white balance and make sure there's plenty of light – setting up near a large window is a great idea. But avoid using direct flash as it will leave you with food that doesn't look appetising.

For more food photography tips, have a read of this article: 10 Top Tips For Taking Better Photos of Food 

    During the winter months, the sun's low and the sunrise isn't quite as early so you can venture out a little later if you wish. Your local news channel or a quick search online will give you the time of the sunrise. You can just stay in one place, shooting a particular view or scene but taking the time to walk a few steps to find the best angle of your subject is always advised. If you're feeling a little more adventurous plan yourself a route that circles back to where you park your car.

 

1. Kit Requirements

When it comes to kit, a tripod is essential when working with low light levels and make sure you pack the wide-angle lens for capturing sweeping shots of the landscape. A longer zoom won't be out of place either, plus pack a range of filters including grads and a polariser. A graduated neutral density filter would be useful in case you find the sky's a lot lighter than the ground. While a polarising filter will reduce glare and deepen blue skies

If you want to shoot wide vistas with foreground detail use your wide-angle lens while telephotos let you pull in detail and are also excellent at putting objects within their environmental context.

 

 

2. Adapt To Your Conditions

Morning light can be cool sometimes so try using the cloudy or shade white-balance settings on your camera to give the shot a little more warmth. You'll also need longer exposures and this is where your tripod will be useful as you don't want shake spoiling your shots. It will also slow you down, making you stand back and evaluate the scene in front of you.

While you're out early, try capturing a sunrise shot. If the sky was clear the night before there's a good chance you'll be able to capture a cracking sunrise but if a little bit of cloud starts to appear don't worry; it will help diffuse the light. As the sky's bright and the ground's dark your camera may struggle to expose correctly but bracketing can solve this or if you just want to focus on the sun try spot metering. Never look at the sun through the lens, though as there is the risk of eye damage. Instead, make good use of your camera's LiveView feature or just compose with the sun shielded behind something solid.

- Partner Content - 

 

 

From Luminar Neo to the Ecosystem

Luminar Neo has long been loved by photographers for making complex edits simple. Its AI-powered tools, starting with the legendary Sky Replacement, let you bring your vision to life with ease, turning ordinary shots into something extraordinary. And now, the all-new Luminar Ecosystem takes it even further, connecting mobile and desktop editing, streamlining your workflow, and opening up new creative possibilities. With this major upgrade, reviving memories, enhancing flat lighting, and sharing your work has never been easier or more inspiring.

 

Keep Your Creative Flow Going, Anytime Anywhere

The Luminar Ecosystem isn’t just powerful, it’s flexible. With cross-device editing, you can start a project on your phone and finish it on your desktop without any interruptions. Every adjustment, from sliders to masks, syncs automatically across devices, ensuring your work is always up to date.

This workflow is perfect for photographers who are on the move. Capture a stunning scene while travelling, start your edits on your tablet or mobile, and finalise them at your desk, without losing a single tweak.

 

Share Your Stories with Friends and Clients Instantly

Once your photos are edited to perfection, the Spaces feature allows you to turn them into beautiful, shareable web galleries. In a few clicks, curated photo collections can be published online, creating a personal showcase for friends, family, clients, or fans.

Spaces isn’t just a gallery, it’s a storytelling tool. It gives your work context, emotion, and impact, helping you share memories, projects, or professional portfolios without needing design skills or a website. Transform your photos into immersive experiences, making it easier than ever to connect with your audience through the power of imagery.

 

 

Bring Old Photos Back to Life 

One of the standout features of the new Luminar Ecosystem upgrade is Restoration, a tool that makes bringing old or damaged photos back to life completely effortless. In just one click, Restoration can remove deep scratches, restore faded colour, or do both at once.

With Restoration, all you need to do is upload your image, select the type of restoration, and let AI handle the rest. The results are natural, polished, and packed with emotion, turning old snapshots into vibrant, memory-filled images you’ll be proud to share.

You can easily enhance an old family heirloom, a scanned black-and-white image, or a damaged print with Restoration that ensures every photo feels brand new again.

 

 

Add Dimension and Drama with Light 

Another major highlight is Light Depth, a smart enhancement tool designed to give your photos professional-level depth and contrast. Light Depth automatically identifies where your image needs highlights and shadows, sculpting a more dimensional, visually striking result.

It’s especially useful for images that appear flat or under-lit. Instead of manually dodging and burning, which can take 10–15 minutes per photo, Light Depth achieves sculpted lighting in a single click. It draws attention to key subjects, enhances natural contrast, and helps your images truly pop, making it ideal for portraits, landscapes, and fast-paced workflows where time is precious.

 

 

Edit Smarter and Faster with AI suggestions

The Luminar Ecosystem will also introduce AI Assistant soon, an intelligent built-in guide that will help you edit photos with confidence and efficiency. By analysing each image, it will suggest optimal adjustments, from fine-tuning colour and contrast to improving overall balance, allowing you to apply one-click enhancements or use its recommendations as a creative starting point. AI Assistant will also simplify navigation, helping you quickly locate tools such as Develop / Develop Raw, Curves, Colour, and Colour Harmony, making even advanced features more accessible. It will be ideal for speeding up your workflow, understanding the product faster, and unlocking the full potential of every image.

 

Get More Editing Power at Your Fingertips

As mentioned, the Luminar Ecosystem includes a mobile app that brings powerful editing tools directly to your device. With features like Enhance AI, Structure, Sky AI, and advanced portrait tools, you can edit with precision anytime, anywhere. Full RAW support, crop, erase, and curves adjustments give you complete creative control on the move. 

For its convenience and versatility, it was recognised as Best Multi-Device App of 2025 by Google Play. Luminar Mobile is available for iPhone, iPad, Android devices, and ChromeOS, allowing you to edit wherever you are on your preferred device.

 

Seamlessly Integrate Luminar into Your Existing Workflow

Beyond the powerful new features, the Luminar Ecosystem is built to fit effortlessly into the editing setup you already rely on. 

It can function as a standalone editor or as a plugin for Photoshop or Lightroom, allowing you to incorporate its AI tools into your existing workflow without disruption.

Preset collections, advanced masking, and layer support give you creative control, while AI-driven enhancements save time and maintain quality. Whether you’re working on portraits, landscapes, or creative composites, Luminar Ecosystem adapts to your needs—streamlining the editing process while giving you powerful tools to explore new styles and techniques.

  A Few Final Words

The Luminar Ecosystem is more than just an editing suite, it’s a full creative platform. From restoring old memories to sculpting light, editing across devices, and sharing work in beautiful web galleries, these tools help both beginners and professionals simplify complex processes and achieve polished results with ease.

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Taken during an early morning visit to Hartlepool Headland, Rolling In by DaveRyder shows the sea pushing towards the shore. The headland sets the location, while the main focus is the movement of the water.

A longer exposure smooths the waves into flowing lines across the scene. Dark clouds sit above softer light in the sky, adding contrast, while wind turbines on the horizon give the image a modern touch. Together, these elements create a strong coastal photograph that reflects the conditions well.

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 2026, we’ll crown our 2025 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!

 

What planning do you do before going on a landscape shoot?

Always check the weather forecast, and if walking is involved, make sure I know the route. Proper clothing, make sure people know what time I should return, etc.

Although weather plays a great part in landscape photography, I firmly believe there is no such thing as bad weather – simply different types of lighting. Rain, snow, wind etc can all create interesting landscape pictures. In fact, living in the lakes, a clear blue, cloud-free sky is probably my least preferred lighting conditions. Once you get to know an area well, you know what direction light comes from, but I try to go on every shoot with a totally open mind, I hate pre-planning shots, because when you reach the location, if the light is different from you planned, you feel that you're not getting the shot. I would far sooner react to the light that is there, and work with what is available to create the style and type of shot that works on that day.

That's not to say some lighting conditions suit certain locations better than others – I have my favourite spots for rainy days, and I have some shots I am still waiting for the 'right' light after many years.
 

What are your top 6 tips for landscape photography?

 

Tip 1

Learn the rules of composition - golden mean, rules of thirds, lead lines and so on, then compose your pictures as you see fit. I believe in balance of the picture, which may break all of the rules, but for good reason.

 

Tip 2

Don't limit yourself to the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset – you waste far too much of the day. Great pictures can be taken at any hour – there are a few barns in the Lakes which make great features in a landscape, where the light hits them perfectly between 12 noon and 1pm.

 

Tip 3

When you see a picture, take it – get the shot – even handheld if necessary. I see too many photographers spend an age setting up the tripod, selecting the right lens, deciding which graduated filter to use, fitting the grad, taking the meter reading, then missing the shot because the light has changed. Get a shot in the bank, then take more care to get another, if the light has held on – you might have a winner, if the light's gone, at least you have a shot!

 

Tip 4

Never refer to weather as dull – if you think "dull" you will take "dull" pictures – because you'll go out with the wrong attitude. All weather conditions can give fabulous landscape shots – never pre-plan a shot on the basis of weather and lighting, because if it is different from what you planned, you may overlook even better opportunities for outstanding images.

 

Tip 5

Try to get as much right in camera – I tidy up foregrounds, use the appropriate colour balance (often preset), and I hear all the time - “I can sort that out in PhotoShop” If you start out lazy in your approach, things will just get sloppy. Also, it means I need to spend less time sitting in front of a computer sorting out pictures and can spend more time out taking photos.

 

Tip 6

Taking a digital picture costs nothing, if you're unsure about depth of field, take a range of shots at varying apertures, it's easier to select the best looking shot on a huge computer screen than on the back of your camera, and many a good shot has been lost because of too little (or too much) depth of field.

  Article by John Gravett of Lakeland Photographic Holidays - www.lakelandphotohols.com