Photography News

Big landscape scenes fall apart fast if the foreground, light, and framing are not controlled together. When you’re working near water and mountains at sunrise, small choices decide whether the scene feels intentional or scattered. 

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Leading bag manufacturer Billingham launched a brand-new leisure range marking a deliberate shift from its traditional photographic bag collections.

The new range introduces three non-photographic bag designs, created with everyday versatility in mind while retaining the brand’s signature build quality and attention to detail. The collection is designed to appeal to customers looking for practical, stylish bags suitable for daily use, travel, and leisure.

The range comprises of two handbags and one tote bag, whose names have been inspired by the unsung heroes of the film set.

The three new styles are:

• Dolly Grip – Refined, functional and beautiful. This small handbag is designed for effortless everyday style.
• Key Grip – A perfectly balanced medium-sized handbag designed for everyday use.
• Best Boy Tote – A spacious statement-making tote, perfect for work, travel or everyday use.

Both the Dolly Grip and Key Grip will be available in four colour combinations:

• Khaki Canvas/Chocolate Leather
• Sage FibreNyte/Black Leather
• Black FibreNyte/Black Leather
• Burgundy Canvas/Black Leather

The Best Boy Tote will be offered in two colourways:

• Sage FibreNyte/Black Leather
• Black FibreNyte/Black Leather

Across all three designs, the range shares a consistent set of practical features, including a removable shoulder sling, multiple handy zip pockets, and an internal brass key loop, making each bag both functional and adaptable to different lifestyles.

The launch represents a notable evolution for the manufacturer, expanding its product offering beyond photographic use and into a broader leisure market, while continuing to design and manufacture from its factory in the West Midlands.

The new leisure range is now available online at www.billingham.co.uk and through a few selected retailers, with UK SRP (including VAT) as follows: Dolly Grip at £289.00, Key Grip at £359.00, and Best Boy Tote at £426.00.

There's a particular joy in slinging a mirrorless camera over your shoulder and realizing it barely tugs at the strap. That feeling multiplies when you glance down and see the lens sitting almost flush with the body, transforming what should be a serious photographic tool into something that looks more like an oversized point-and-shoot. Welcome to the world of pancake lenses, where compactness isn't a compromise but a deliberate design philosophy. 

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Canon cameras ship with defaults that look fine but quietly work against you in real shooting. Change a few early settings and you get more honest exposure previews, cleaner files, and fewer missed shots without buying anything new. 

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Strong photographs of trees rarely come from technique alone. They come from paying attention to what happened in that place before you arrived, and from staying long enough to feel it rather than smoothing it over. 

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Valentine’s Day photos tend to bring out the same problem over and over: hands feel useless, bodies feel stiff, and everything starts to feel forced. The video focuses on simple couples poses that reduce that awkwardness, whether you’re working with a pro camera setup or just a phone. 

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An impressive capture of a kingfisher posing above still water, Waiting by Tonyd3 has a clear and steady feel.

The bird is perched on a weathered metal loop just above the water, with its reflection mirrored beneath it. Small green plants sit alongside the metal, while the smooth surface of the water adds to the balanced look. The bird remains perfectly still, as if waiting to catch something below the surface. This calm setting and the gentle reflections create a dreamy mood that makes the whole moment feel peaceful.

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 2027, we’ll crown our 2026 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!

Photo by cattyal

 

The most popular approach to flower photography is to include the whole flower but by getting in very close or by choosing a less conventional crop you can create a rather exciting image. Plus, it's a technique you can try all year round as you can just buy your flowers from the supermarket when there's none showing their heads in your garden.

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1. Work Near A Window 

A greenhouse is a great location for shooting close-ups of flowers as there's plenty of light, you're sheltered from the wind and if the windows are slightly dirty the light will be nicely diffused. If you don't have a greenhouse work indoors next to a set of patio doors or a large window and use a net curtain or muslin to diffuse the light.

 

2. Direction, Apertures & Focus 

Position your vase/flower pot so you can work directly above it then begin experimenting with different apertures and shooting distances to change the overall effect. Start with a nice wide aperture to minimise your depth of field and switch to manual focusing as you can get in closer than your camera thinks. Although, it’s not even really necessary to have any part of the image in focus as the flower colour and shape can produce attractive abstract swirls of soft colour.

If you don’t have the ability to get in close then try some creative cropping. The sweep of a single Lily petal or the shape of an Iris lend themselves to close crops.

  3. Multiple Exposures  If your camera has it, try experimenting with the Multiple Exposure Mode. This mode allows you to take several shots on the same 'frame' which the camera then combines to create one shot. Having the lens sharply focused then defocusing as you move from exposure to exposure will give you a soft, dreamy look to your photograph.

 

You've read the technique now share your related photos for the chance to win prizes: Daily Competition Forum

From copyrighted light bulbs to illegal selfies, here are the strangest regulations governing your shutter button. Most photographers operate under a simple assumption: if your eyes can see it, your camera can capture it. Point, shoot, done. Nobody can tell you otherwise. Except they absolutely can. 

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Autofocus is fast, reliable, and so baked into modern cameras that you probably never question how it’s tied to the shutter button. This argues that default setup quietly forces a trade you don’t have to accept once you start separating focus from exposure. 

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The latest winner of our popular daily photography theme which takes place in our forums have been chosen and congratulations go to dke (Day 4 - Flower Photography).

 

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

Frost Photography

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Day 2

Commute Photography

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Day 3

Glass Photography

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  Day 5

Car Photography

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Day 6

Football Photography

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Day 7

Food Photography

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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.

Photography has never been cleaner, sharper, or more technically flawless. Paradoxically, it has never felt easier to hesitate before pressing the shutter or posting the image. 

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Fog can turn a strong landscape into a flat sheet, even when the scene looked deep in person. The fix is rarely a single slider, and the right masking move in Lightroom can make fog read like real space instead of gray mush. 

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The new Photoshop update adds adjustment layers that feel tailor-made for real estate edits, especially when a scene is flat and hazy. If you shoot homes, rentals, or interiors, the difference between “fine” and “booked” often comes down to controlled, believable separation in the sky, water, and key surfaces. 

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The LUMIX S1II sits in a tricky spot: it has to satisfy stills, video, and paid work without forcing you into a slow, fragile setup. If you’ve been bouncing between systems trying to get speed, clean files, and dependable video in one body, this is the kind of camera that can end the search or expose a new compromise you didn’t expect. 

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The idea of movement isn't usually a thought that first springs to mind when you try to describe what a landscape shot is. However, when you start to think of popular landscape topics such as waterfalls, rivers, trees, clouds and the sea, you suddenly realise movement, which makes shots more dynamic, crops up more often than you think.

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Slowing your shutter speeds can create a sense of movement in your landscape shots. Just remember you'll need to use a smaller aperture to limit the amount of light that reaches your camera's sensor. If you don't, you'll end up with a shot that's overexposed. If you find your shots are still a little on the light side, fit an ND filter to further reduce the amount of light going through your lens. For shots where you want to exaggerate the power/strength of your subject or for shots that have people/vehicles moving or birds in-flight, you'll need quicker shutter speeds, a steady hand and good panning technique all of which we'll look at later on.

  1. Waves

For shots of waves crashing against cliffs and sea walls you'll need a quick-ish shutter speed, around 1/125 should help you capture the power on display. Just remember, unless you want a soaking, to keep yourself and your kit out of the wave's reach. Have a lens cloth handy and remember to wipe your kit down thoroughly once you're back home.

For shots where the waves turn into a mass of soft, blue and white blur use exposures which are 5 seconds or more. If it's a particularly bright day make sure you have an ND filter to-hand and use the smallest aperture and ISO possible. If you want the waves to have a little more shape to them use a slightly shorter exposure. How short you go will depend on the amount of shape you want and how choppy the sea is on the day so you may end up experimenting with a few different exposures before you land on the one that gives you the shot you're after.

 

 

2. Waterfalls

We've covered waterfalls in a previous article so here are just a few quick tips to get you started. For a more in-depth look, take a look at our previous technique: Shooting waterfalls.

• What shutter speed you use will be determined by how much blur you want, the focal length you're using and the amount of light available.
• Pick an overcast day when you're going to be using longer exposures. Your shot is less likely to have contrast problems too when there's a touch of cloud cover.
• An ND filter can help you extend your exposure times while a Polarising filter will reduce the amount of glare/reflection coming off the water.
• Turn the waterfall's movement into a mass of blur - 1/8 sec longer
• Faster shutter speeds will enhance the power/force of the waterfall, freezing the movement of the water as it cascades and splashes on rocks.
• Have a go at photographing water bubbles.

 

  3. Clouds

Cloud formations can appear and vanish again even before you've thought about taking a shot so if you do spot an interesting one make sure you snap it straight away. Keep an eye on your histogram to make sure your shot doesn't have areas which are overexposed and if the formation is really spectacular cut some of the foreground out, moving the horizon down so the sky fills more of your shot. Use slower shutter speeds to blur the movement of the clouds and look out for trails left by planes too as the crisscrossing lines can make an interesting abstract shot.

 

4. Birds and People

If you want to capture birds in-flight you'll need a quick shutter speed, continuous autofocus and a good panning technique. As soon as you see a bird come into shot lock your focus on it straight away and follow it through the frame, panning even after you've taken your shot. To freeze the movement you'll need to use a shutter speed around 1/500sec but if you want to blur the movement of their wings try something slower around 1/30sec.

When it comes to people, how fast your shutter speed is will depend on what they're doing. For example, someone who's water skiing will be moving a lot quicker than someone rowing across a lake.

For more tips on panning and capturing people moving take a look at our articles:

• Panning tips
• Capture motion
• Shutter speeds explained

      5. Trees

Leaves blowing in the wind are an obvious way to capture movement in a forest but for something artier, try creating a drag landscape. For tips on how to do this take a look at our articles:

• Drag landscapes
• Drag landscapes in the woods

 

You've read the technique now share your related photos for the chance to win prizes: Daily Competition Forum

The internet has a long memory, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the used camera market. Cameras that launched to scathing reviews, forum outrage, and YouTube takedowns carry that baggage for years, even when the original criticisms have become largely irrelevant. The result is a fascinating opportunity for photographers who can separate genuine limitations from outdated grievances: cameras with professional image quality selling for a fraction of their original price because the collective hive mind decided they were failures half a decade ago. 

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You can hike all day, reach a location with a clean view, and still walk away with nothing because you rushed the setup. This video is about building a repeatable process so the light doesn’t decide whether you get a usable frame. 

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Whether you’re a die-hard football fan or just watching Super Bowl LX for the multi-million-dollar commercials and the halftime show, there is one thing we can all agree on: the sheer scale of the production is staggering. This weekend, Super Bowl LX kicks off in San Francisco, and Sony is bringing an insane mountain of gear to ensure every single moment is captured in high definition. 

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Fast portrait primes for APS-C often force a compromise between price, build, and image quality. The Viltrox AF 56mm f/1.2 Pro aims to sidestep that trade-off by delivering flagship-level optics at a price that undercuts most competitors. But how big can APS-C glass go and still work for the system? 

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