This month: Autofocus

Welcome

Happy New Year! And it could get off

This month’s contributors

Lensi Photography Dr Denise Maxwell Photographer and educator Ahead

Pop-up portraiture

Rankin is wowing the crowds with his pop-up portrait shop in London’s West End. Niall Hampton pays it a visit

Rainy-day portraits

Take advantage of the bad weather, says Claire Gillo. Try this creative project for shooting distinctive portraits

Tidy up your storage

Start the new photo year as you mean to go on

Balancing act

Mike Harris shows you five ways to keep white balance in check –and how you can fix it during the editing stage

Mix up the colour

Claire Gillo shows you how to target and adjust individual colours with Lightroom’s amazing Color Mixer tool

Make a fakescape

Clare Gillo shows you how to create amountainous scene out of flour and adark background

Marvellous murmurations

Try to capture this amazing and visually spectacular annual wildlife event, says Roddy Llewellyn

Simple edits to transform a still‐life shot

Maximise the potential of an image by applying some simple adjustments, says Gary Rogers

How to use the rules of composition

Get the lowdown on an essential element of classic landscape photography, with Mark Bauer and Ross Hoddinott

Shoot traffic light trails

Winter is the perfect time to try this surprisingly simple technique, says Chris Rutter

‘Action’ photo challenge

Send us your best image to win a £50 voucher towards Cewe Wall Art

AFTER-DARK PHOTOGRAPHY

Dan Mold shares some techniques for capturing creative images during these longer winter nights

1 GET THE RIGHT GEAR

Discover the affordable accessories you need to make painting with light easier

2 USE FIBRE-OPTICS FOR ABSTRACT PORTRAITS

Create otherworldly portraits that are sure to turn heads with this unconventional but low-cost light painting trick

3 STAMP IN COLOURFUL SHAPES WITH FLASH STENCILS

Put your very own stamp on your photos with this project

4 ADD EERIE LIGHT DOMES TO YOUR NIGHT-TIME SCENES

Learn a clever way to add stunning light sculptures to your shots

5 PAINT WITH A LIGHT SWORD

Use the force! Light wands and sabres allow you to draw abstract and graphic light graffiti in your low-light portraits

6 CAPTURE THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

Award-winning astrophotographer Josh Dury explains why now is the ideal time to capture the majestic splendour of the aurora borealis

Get the knowledge

Autofocusing is incredibly good, but it’s fallible

Focus controls

How you autofocus depends on your preference and the subject

Focusing options to check out

There are ways and means to controlling focus

Perfect examples of getting the focus right

Increase your success rate by exploiting the camera’s AF skills to the max

Autofocus skills

How the latest AF systems handle fast-moving subjects

Pros and cons Autofocus

Shoot sharp shots (nearly) every time

Camera know-how AF technologies

AF systems use phase- or contrastdetect AF to achieve focus

Camera tech AF patterns

Take control of your camera for the best results

Shoot photos like a pro

Hone your skills to respond to challenging moments

Camera skills Focus bracketing

Control sharpness in your images with this shooting technique

Pro tip Magnifier

Take time out for a close look

PRACTICAL Photoshop

SENSATIONAL IMAGES MADE SIMPLE! 

See images in a new light with HDR mode

This new mode in Lightroom can reveal up to four stops of extra range in photos

Give black and white portraits extra impact

Transform your portraits from colour to mighty monochrome in Lightroom and Camera Raw

Make your snowy landscapes sparkle

With an abundance of white in the scene, snow-filled landscapes can be the perfect genre for applying creative colour effects

Improve your shots with our Actions and Presets

THIS MONTH’S BONUS SOFTWARE EXTRAS

The art of seeing

Liberating himself from the shackles of modern technology, Benedict Brain has creative fun with his new Camp Snap camera

Hotshots

A selection of the winning entries from 2023’s HIPA’s ‘Diversity’ competition

Reader gallery

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

Shot of the month

Drawing inspiration from nature, Jonas Hafner shot ‘Rise’ to symbolise growth and resilience

In Focus

The latest photography news from around the globe

Behind the lens

CRAIG WHITEHEAD Street photographer and author of a new book called Find Your Frame www.sixstreetunder.com

GruShots

Erik Enrico Ersson, Sweden We’ve joined up with

Scanning ahead…

Photographic memory? Jon Devo considers the pros of creating images from our thoughts

KitZone

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

Dr Denise Maxwell

The photographer and educator gives Niall Hampton some insights into making a living from photography – the title of her talks at The Photography Show

Fujifilm GFX 100 II

The do-it-all medium-format camera that should tempt full ‐frame professionals

Canon RF 24-50mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM

A full-frame zoom lens in a surprisingly compact package

Nikkor Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S £4,999/$4,797

This lens packs a powerful telephoto reach and mighty performance into an unfeasibly lightweight package

DxO FilmPack 7

£129/$139 (£69/$79 upgrade)

Hahnel Module Creative Lantern Kit

Angela Nicholson tests three magnetic modifier kits

MagMod Professional Flash Kit 2

£250/$200

Rogue Round Flash Kit + Rogue Flash Adapter (Standard)

£136/$130

The results are in… Flash modifiers

A ll these flash modifier kits work well and