Welcome

H appy New Year to all our readers!

Building up a big following

Sunrise starts searching for stand-out cityscape shots has led to Ben Moore working with some major global brands. Niall Hampton tags along for a London location photo walk

Let the music play

Nigel R Glasgow shares his tips and tricks for capturing the essence of live music

Gone fishing

David Zeman spends time down by the river capturing birds in flight

Life on the streets

Alistair Campbell explains how to craft a documentary street-style edit to match your shots while out and about

Train yourself up

Neil Shearer gets creative with product photography in the studio

It’s cold outside

Beth Squire heads out into the cold to connect with nature

Get your rocks off

Ant Boothman takes a minimalistic approach to capturing the tranquil lochs of Scotland

Create a mini popup studio

Alistair Campbell explains how you can achieve pro‐standard editorial images, even in a small space and on a limited budget

Feeling cool

Abdel Abdulai takes to the streets to shoot simple and effective fashion

Super squirrel!

Michelle Howell spends a day larking about with wildlife

6 FRESH PHOTO IDEAS

Shooting still-life images will help develop your composition and camera skills, says Dan Mold, so get creative with these top techniques today!

1 Start a New Year photo project to stay active

Take pictures of the same scenic view throughout the year to capture the changing seasons, then combine the best ones in a grid for printing

2 Play with shadows

Get creative with light and shadows in this simple still-life setup, by learning how to transform a ring into a loveheart shadow

3 Fantastic florals

Achieve fantastic results with a simple set-up of flowers in a vase, plus some budget-friendly props that you’re likely to have at home already

4 How to use the rules of classical composition

Borrow methods employed by artists over the centuries to compose your shots, and you’ll achieve engaging compositions in every frame you take

5 Make a strawberry splash with off-camera flash!

Use an external flash unit to freeze the decisive moment when a strawberry is dropped into water, to add some dynamic action to your photographic repertoire

6 Use a wideangle lens to play with perspective

Still-life photography isn’t all about zooming in with macro lenses – try a different approach with a wide-angle optic

Creative close-ups with a seasonal twist

The complete guide to modern photography

Which camera settings?

Once you’ve arranged your composition, focus on these two important aspects…

Check the shutter speed

Indoor photography usually requires a much longer exposure

Have fun with bokeh

Take advantage of festive lights to enhance the mood of your close-ups

Change the look of your blur

Get shape-shifting with a hand-made aperture that can transform out-of-focus highlights

Camera skills Get crafty with custom aperture shapes

Get back to basics, and make your own set of blur-modifying accessories with card and a craft knife

Cool reflections and refractions

Add a splash of colour with some creative close-up photography of oil and water drops

Camera skills DoF preview

Check how much of the subject is sharp

Camera skills DIY ‘filters’

Experiment with plastic and glass accessories

Capture frozen details in nature

Explore close-up photo opportunities in the great outdoors (when the weather plays ball!)

Indoor close-up tips You won’t go wrong if you…

1 Experiment with the aperture: Wide apertures such

Reader challenge Seasonal close-ups

Enter your best shot to win a copy of Affinity Photo for Windows or macOS worth £49/$50

And the winner of the Autumn challenge is…

Joan Scott In issue 249, we challenged our

Master the Depth Of Field Blur Filter

Blur backgrounds and create super-realistic fall-off using this simple Affinity Photo effect

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Match the look of two photos for perfect composites with this powerful Neural Filter

Process a winter sun

Use Lightroom to tackle exposure challenges in photos taken as the sun sets

Copy the camera

Emulate in-camera effects like multiple exposures, intentional camera movement and soft focus

Photo Answers

Befuddled by burst rates? Gone loco over a lens? Send your technique and camera questions to digitalcamera@futurenet.com

The art of seeing

Benedict Brain reflects on the cycle of life, the news and working on the go

Hotshots

Our highlights from the Drone Photo Awards 2021

Reader gallery

Digital Camera readers continue to show how they’ve been getting creative, submitting images across a range of photographic genres

Shot of the month

Antonio Aragón Renuncio highlights the devastating impact of coastal erosion

Shootout

Two photographers accept our challenge to work outside their comfort zones by joining us for a fashion portrait and abstracts shoot. Niall Hampton is your compère

Behind the lens

PHILLIP PRODGER The curator, art historian and author on photo portraits and their takers

Scanning ahead…

Never mind a camera that fits in your pocket, says Jon Devo: here’s one on a smaller scale

KitZone

New gear, buying tips and the world’s toughest tests

Julia Fullerton-Batten

Steve Fairclough meets the fine-art photographer who embarked on an ambitious portrait project during the London lockdowns

What the f-stop?

Last year might be one we’d all like to forget, but test yourself on what you do remember about 2021 in our tricky trivia quiz!

In Focus

The latest photography news from around the globe

Fujifilm X-T30 II

£769/$899 A refresh for a classic design

DJI Mavic 3

£1,879/$2,199 A new flagship for the DJI range of folding drones

Photo-editing software

It’s not all about Photoshop! These days we want more than layers and masks…

The winner is… The Adobe Photography Plan

Adobe wins for scope and value, but it needs two programs to do it