Table of contents for May 2025 in Digital Camera Magazine

Andy Gray Landscape photographer Based in England’s Peak District National Park, Gray was runner-up in the Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year 2024, for his photograph titled ‘Hoarfrost Heaven’ (pictured, below). www.andygrayphotography.com Spanning a large part of Derbyshire, the Peak District National Park was the first national park to be established in the UK, in 1951. popular the Instagram tag #peakdistrict is. It has been a couple of years since Digital Camera last visited the Peak District, with a reader shootout at Winnats Pass and Mam Tor (issue 258), so when the opportunity arose to explore some different locations within the national park with a local photographer, we had our camera kit packed in less time than it would take to pull on a pair of hiking socks. Andy…

1 | CREATIVE How to shoot a wreath Wendy Evans gets creative by making an seasonal wreath for a topical still-life project When one thinks of wreaths, a memorial might be the first thing that springs to mind, but they are actually used to decorate doors and tables at all times of the year. That’s the aim of this issue’s creative project, making a seasonal wreath for use as the centrepiece in a still-life image. As it was leading up to Easter at the time of writing and shooting, I decided to opt for a colourful wreath onto which would be placed a freakishly large chick and some pastel-hued eggs (see next page). A couple of egg-shaped candles completed the main part of the tableaux. For the background, I added…

Spring sees warmer days with plenty of showers – the perfect S conditions for insects to flourish and for you to brush up on your macro skills. The most critical of these is focusing – with macro photography, there is much less depth of field to play with and consequently, you often need to use narrower apertures, resulting in slower shutter speeds. If practical, use some form of support. A tripod is best but for low-level work, you can consider using a beanbag. With your camera fixed in position, you can refine focus and framing. Use your camera’s monitor to focus, using the magnify or zoom button to enlarge your point of focus for optimum precision. Macro photographers should consider using a geared tripod head as this allows you to…

Polo is one of those sports that appears to be a throwback to the days of medieval P combat. Swap the ball and polo stick (or mallet in the USA) for a flail or lance and you’d get much the same spectacle as jousting. Playing the sport requires a high level of equipment (hint: it’s a horse) and no small amount of skill but, fortunately, photographing it is much easier. The main problems are how far away you might be from the action and ensuring there’s a fast enough shutter speed to capture that action. There aren’t a huge amount of clubs to approach about taking photos (there are 70 outdoor and 30 arena clubs in the UK) but when they play hundreds of games over the summer, there are…

Welcome to our monthly reader photo challenge, where the winning image will feature in the magazine so that you can claim bragging rights over everyone else who entered. For May, the theme is ‘Farm or country life’. That means working sheepdogs, herds of cows, combine harvesters or fields of lambs. To qualify for the contest, the photo should represent life on a farm or working life in the country. It does not mean wildlife or regular landscapes – the image has to represent rural working life. Over to you! Enter via email or Facebook Email your entry to digitalcamera@futurenet.com with ‘Farm/country life’ as the subject, including a brief description of the image. Or look for the ‘Farm/country life’ post at www.facebook.com/digitalcameraworld and upload your entry into the feed under the…

RUNNER-UP, NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY ‘C for Fireworks’ Marcio A Esteves (Brazil) This panoramic image of a blooming field of Paepalanthus wildflowers under the Milky Way arch was taken in Chapada dos Veadeiros, Brazil. The stunning scene was created by stitching together eight images – four of the stars and four of the flowers, which were illuminated by lanterns to create a magical effect. RUNNER-UP, ARCHITECTURE ‘Re-Imagine the City’ Tanveer Hassan Rohan (USA) The Summit One Vanderbilt is the world’s most immersive observatory experience – a glass box observatory filled with reflective surfaces cast against huge windows that showcase the New York skyline, including the Empire State Building in the foreground. The $3.3bn development was designed by architect Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. WINNER, MANIPULATION AND AI ‘Open Question’ Alena Ivochkina (Russia) “I…

While travel offers exciting photo opportunities, there is huge potential for nature photos much closer to home. If you have a garden, you can attract creatures by setting up bird feeders and growing insect-friendly flowers. You could even turn your shed into a hide. Insects including bees, butterflies, moths and wasps will be regular visitors on warmer days and are perfect for honing your close-up technique. If you put food out, birds will soon be regular visitors and you may have other mammals such as hedgehogs and foxes passing through. For successful shots, a macro lens or telezoom with good close focusing skills will give a decent image size and you can always crop in during editing for a greater magnification. Summer sun is often harsh as a light source…

Modern cameras have several lightmeasuring patterns. The default is usually a multi-pattern meter where the camera reads light from many zones (sometimes hundreds), which the image processor analyses and delivers the best exposure for the situation. Each camera brand has its own proprietary system: Evaluative (Canon), Matrix (Nikon) and ESP (OM System). Other patterns are usually centre-weighted (the centre of the frame is emphasised), average (light is assessed across the frame) and spot (meters a small area at the centre of the frame). Each measuring pattern has its merits but the multi-pattern system is the default for good reason and gives great results most of the time, including in high-contrast situations like the scenario shown here.…

When you’re shooting a set of bracketed photos to merge, ideally you would have the camera on a tripod for perfect registration. In practice, it is possible to use handheld photos but to minimise any movement, use a fast shutter speed and set continuous shooting. In Lightroom Classic, the Photo Merge command is under the Photo drop-down menu in the Develop module. The software produces a preview, assuming that an HDR merge is possible from the selected files, and the process takes a short time and delivers a DNG file. When that raw is opened to edit, you’ll notice that various Tone editing sliders have already been adjusted but there’s still a little headroom to make further adjustments.…

MEET YOUR TRAINERS Edit like a pro with their expert insights…

Travelling light Q Am I right in thinking that I can use relatively compact and lightweight RF-S lenses on my Canon EOS R5? If so, would they be good to use as travel lenses? Guy Downling A Yes, you’re absolutely right, Guy. A bugbear with Canon’s full-frame DSLRs is that you can’t use EF-S lenses in crop mode, as they physically don’t fit in the camera’s lens mount. There’s also a risk of the rear of the lens fouling on the reflex mirror as it flips up during exposures. With the EOS R mirrorless system, you can use RF-S (APS-C format) as well as RF (full-frame) lenses. You can also use EF-S lenses via an EF EOS R mount adapter. The only catch is that you have to shoot in…

Go to www.digitalcameraworld.com for the latest news, reviews & techniques All major photographic genres are covered in this new book from Ilex Press, which is on sale now: www.ilexinstant.com Featuring 60 photo projects that have appeared in Digital Camera over the past six years, plus some from our sister magazines, this new book from Ilex Press aims to elevate your craft and unleash your creativity. A wide range of photographic genres is covered in the book, including landscapes, wildlife, action, macro and portraits. All projects are graded by skill level and each one has easy-to-follow instructions. It doesn’t matter what type of camera you use, as the projects are universal and can all be attempted with a basic setup and everyday accessories. Digital Camera has partnered with Ilex Press to…

£1049/$1098 www.nikon.co.uk The Nikon Coolpix P1100 follows in the footsteps of the P1000, with a few tweaks. As such, it inherits the previous camera’s mighty 125x optical zoom lens, equivalent to 24-3000mm in full-frame terms – that’s more telescope than telephoto. It also ramps things up from the 83x zoom range of the previous Coolpix P900. You can’t describe the P1100 as a ‘compact camera’, despite having a fixed rather than interchangeable lens, but it sets out to be one of the best bridge cameras around. Build & handling All of the freakish frivolity that made the Coolpix P1000 such a delight remains in the P1100. It features the same headline attraction of a 24-3000mm (effective) optical zoom range with an f/2.8-8 aperture rating. That’s a pretty narrow aperture at…

Andy Gray Landscape photographer The runner-up in Weather Photographer of the Year 2024 took us for a photo walk in England’s Peak District. Come behind the scenes on page 8 Will Cheung Photographer and writer A fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and the former editor of many photography titles, Cheung is the man behind Camera Clinic, which continues on page 68 Barbara Davidson Photojournalist One of the professionals taking part in Leica 100, Davidson is an award-winning photo journalist who has covered many significant recent global events. Page 116 Joel Meyerowitz Photographer A master of the street photography genre, Meyerowitz is another of the leading lights of Leica’s centenary celebrations. We speak to him about the brand on page 120 Jon Devo Photographer & writer Our resident tech columnist…

While imposing sites of electrical power generation might not seem the obvious landscapes to shoot, it’s possible to capture stunning images of this essential part of modern existence. Power stations usually need access to lots of water for use in cooling, hence the large funnels that expel steam, not smoke. Combine these two elements with a long exposure and shoot it at dusk to make a much more creative and interesting photo than simply snapping away at midday. What you should usually avoid, unless you actually want massive distortion, is photographing the cooling towers and buildings from close up. 1 Compose the image Look for the water source and if it’s a lake or large body, get on the other side of it. Then set the image up so the…

PRO SHOT Short-eared owl Autofocus is so refined that even inexperienced nature photographers can successfully tackle birds in flight with the right set-up. Add super-fast burst shooting and you get an ample selection of wing positions to choose from. For this shot, a Canon EOS R5 Mark II set to shoot at 30fps with an RF 200-800mm zoom was used. The duo was mounted on a tripod with a gimbal head to help track the short-eared owl as it crossed the field hunting for food. Nature photography is a challenging subject and for its sheer diversity, there’s nothing that comes close. Essentially, everything that isn’t man-made falls under the nature banner so whether your preference is for bugs, birds or mammals, there’s no shortage when it comes to choice and…

1 ‘Murmuration over Eastbourne Pier’ by Tadas Kaminskas “This breathtaking natural spectacle occurs during the autumn and winter months as starlings gather at dusk, creating mesmerising aerial displays before roosting for the night. The presence of the full moon added an extra layer of magic to the scene.” Taken with a Canon EOS R6 II and Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8. Instagram: @tadaskphoto Digital Camera says: A thrilling spectacle set against a stunning sunset and a pier as well! 2 ‘Helios, in Reflection’ by Paul Miller “The photo was taken in the Painted Hall in Greenwich, London. It’s an artwork by Luke Jerram called Helios and is quite spectacular. It’s one of a series that includes models of the Moon, Earth and Mars and can be seen in cathedrals around the country.…

The autoexposure lock (AEL) is an easy-to-use feature and a quick method of getting a better exposure in challenging light. It either has its own dedicated button (marked AEL or indicated by a star symbol) on the rear of the camera positioned handily for the right thumb. Its strategic placement indicates its importance, but you can probably reassign the function to another button if preferred. With partial pressure, the shutter button also acts as an exposure lock, depending on the camera and how it’s set up, and on some models, the meter can be linked to the focusing zone. So, if you are shooting a backlit portrait, the bright light might fool the camera into underexposing the subject. For a better result, point the camera down (by about 45° will…

Shooting into the sun means high contrast and including it in the shot is a potential nightmare – if you aren’t careful, all you get is a detail-less patch of white. Using the highlight slider in editing can bring in some detail but be careful because going too far results in a veiled grey look, which is a definite no-no. To get around the problem, find a camera viewpoint or wait for a handy cloud so the sun is partly or wholly hidden, so you still get its impact but without the full intensity.…

ENJOY DIGITAL BACK ISSUES DATING FROM 2009!* Read issues 90-290 of Digital Camera on your computer or mobile device when you subscribe! Page 40 *2012 when using Pocketmags iOS users can access our back issues archive dating from 2009 by downloading the Digital Camera app from the Apple App Store (www.bit.ly/app_DCM). Android and desktop computer users can access our back issues archive dating from 2012 by using the Pocketmags app (www.pocketmags.com) or the Pocketmags website. Find out more at: www.magazinesdirect.com/digital-instructions/…

Spring special from Canon Brand launches the EOS R50 V for content creators, plus a companion lens – the RF-S 14-30mm F4-6.3 IS STM PZ – and the PowerShot V1, a new point-and-shoot camera optimised for video Having created dedicated cinema cameras from its high-end mirrorless models, Canon has switched its attention to the opposite end of the market. Designed for content creators who want top quality for an affordable price, the EOS R50 V retains the 24MP APS-C sensor from the EOS R50 but dispenses with the viewfinder and flash. There are plenty of video features, including a dedicated record button on the front of the body, a livestream button and a tripod thread point on the handgrip. Also released is the RF-S 14-30mm F4-6.3 IS STM PZ, which…

£1,249/$1,149 www.canon.co.uk You certainly can’t accuse Canon of having a meagre line-up of wide-angle zoom lenses for its EOS R system mirrorless cameras. With the advent of this RF Y 16-28mm, there are no less than five full-frame options, plus an RF-S wide-angle zoom for APS-C format cameras, and that’s not counting all of the back-catalogue EF mount zooms that you can use via an EF-EOS R mount adapter. Like the similarly new RF 28-70mm F2.8 IS STM standard zoom, the wide-angle RF 16-28mm follows a recent theme of downsized, lightweight alternatives to ‘trinity’ zooms, delivering much more manageable and affordable options compared with top-flight constant f/2.8 aperture zoom lenses. Taking other camera systems into account, it follows in the footsteps of the Nikkor Z 17-28mm f/2.8 which itself is…

Throughout her career, Barbara Davidson has focused her photojournalism lens on people attempting to maintain their dignity in the face of uncertainty in conflict zones and environmental disasters, with a particular focus on women and children trapped in a culture of American gun violence. She honed her story-telling approach, through multiple assignments over two decades across 58 countries, covering war, humanitarian crisis and the human condition for The Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Washington Times. Davidson is a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy award-winning photojournalist and twice named International Photographer of the Year by POYi. In 2020 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Davidson is based in Los Angeles. Instagram: @photospice One hundred years ago, the Leica 1 was launched at the Leipzig Trade O Fair. A…

WANT TO HAVE YOUR SAY? Email us, with ‘Reader letters’ in the subject line: digitalcamera@futurenet.com Star letter Let’s go macro! Inspired by your piece on indoor photography, (March issue), I decided to try some indoor macro photography. This turned out to be trickier than expected. We have an enormous (three-foot or so) Amaryllis plant, grown from a bulb, which was a Christmas gift. The flowers are now fully open, displaying stigmas, stamens and anthers, so I thought they would make a good macro subject. To start with, I used my Olympus E-PL8 and a 30mm macro lens, which has worked well for me when photographing in the garden. However, I found that even with the ceiling lights on, it was a bit too dark inside the house on a cloudy…

BONUS SOFTWARE EXTRAS! Turn to page 88 ENTER THIS URL www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc294 Enter the URL www.digitalcameraworld.com/dc294 into the destination bar of your internet browser – we’re using Google Chrome, but other browsers work in a similar way. Please do not enter it in any search field or search bar. This will take you to a page on our website. JUST CLICK THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK Click on the link labelled ‘Download the files for Digital Camera 294’ and your download will start, delivered from our own server. Please override any browser warnings about downloading from a non-secure source – our server is safe! ACCESS YOUR FILES Open the. zip In your Downloads folder, or wherever you chose to download your files, double-click the dcm294-files.zip file icon. Then when it expands, double-click Digital…

One of the fancy tricks of mirrorless cameras is to move the CMOS chip around by a small amount, taking numerous photos that can then be combined into one, huge image. The example used here is the Nikon Z 8, but many mirrorless cameras support this process, which typically offers an image with up to four times the resolution, with lower noise and better colour than from a normal, single image. This process is best suited for landscapes and macro shots and requires a tripod to keep the camera perfectly still. So, using a macro photo as an example, firstly set your shot up and turn any optical stabilisation off. On the Z 8, press the Menu button and navigate to Photo Shooting > Pixel Shift Shooting. Turn Pixel Shift…

While some animals have names that leave you W scratching your head, that’s not the case with the hedgehog. The two parts of the name are derived from Middle English words, as the animal could often be found in hedgerows and its cute snout resembled that of a pig. Thus, hedgehog. If understanding the etymology is easy, photographing them is less so as they are primarily nocturnal and tend to hibernate in winter. They are easily spooked and roll into a tight ball when threatened, tucking in their feet and face, leaving just the spiky quills. These are controlled by two large muscles which can direct which way the quills point. Hedgehogs are omnivorous, which means they feed on everything from insects, snails and frogs to vegetation like mushrooms, grass…

When it comes to imaging kit, nature photographers have never had it so good. The photography industry has latched on to this rapidly expanding market, so we’re seeing advances in all areas, from super-fast cameras and long telephoto lenses to backpacks and supports. However, the biggest strides have been in camera technology. We now have high-resolution, light-tight boxes that can shoot full-size raws, black-outfree at 120fps with AE and AF tracking, have pre-capture for fleeting moments and subject-detection that tracks small birds darting around the sky. While these are all welcome if you have the budget, you don’t need the latest gear to get the most from nature. Commitment, patience and fieldcraft go a long way in getting great photos. PRO SHOT Puffin in flight Use the camera’s mechanical shutter…

There are many ways to approach bird photography and if the subject is new to you, try common species such blue tits, gulls and pigeons before moving on to kingfishers, kites and owls. Honing a camera’s setup and developing your skills on common birds means you stand a better chance of making the most of a great opportunity when it arises. You will appreciate this ‘training’ when you’re sitting in a cold hide and the bird you’ve been waiting hours for appears. For ‘birds on sticks’ shots, the pressure is less intense but if you want to capture birds in flight, the right setup is crucial. With advanced AF systems with subject-detect, tracking and hundreds of sensor points, time spent determining what works and what doesn’t on these fast-moving subjects…

This month: Shooting into the light Add drama and impact to your photos with the contre-jour technique Will Cheung An imaging journalist and freelance photographer based in London, Cheung has a wealth of experience over several decades. www.williamcheung.co.uk In the early days of photography, having the sun behind your back and over your shoulder made perfect sense. You had even light, avoided flare and reduced the risk of underexposure, so it was a safe technique. The trouble is, while frontal lighting is perfectly sensible and the advice is still valid today, it gives dull, flat photos and squinting people when the sun is strong. Whether you call it contre-jour (against daylight), into the light, against the light or backlighting, shooting towards the light source is guaranteed to add drama, energy…

In almost any walk of life, a professional is going to outperform an amateur and it’s no different in photography. A pro can adjust camera settings and shoot in double-quick time without having to look at the controls or check where certain buttons are in a way that most amateurs can’t match. That isn’t a surprise because they are shooting every day whereas the enthusiast might only fire up their camera once a week. However, there’s no reason why enthusiasts can’t reach a similar proficiency. Spend a few minutes each evening practising setting exposure bracketing or adjusting focus and getting to know the position and role of each function button. This can be done in front of the TV and, over time, your handling skills will become slick and instinctive,…

Henrik Hagerup Photographer Title: ‘Venice Beach Skating’ Location: Venice Beach, Los Angeles, USA Date: October 2024 Camera: Canon EOS R5 and Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM Instagram: @henrik__hagerup Danish photographer Henrik Hagerup won the $10,000 main prize in the Concrete in Life competition, organised by the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA). This is the sixth edition of the prestigious international competition that celebrates the artistry in concrete architecture and highlights the crucial role the substance plays in our lives. This year’s competition received over 20,000 entries from around the globe, showcasing diverse perspectives on concrete. Photography has been a part of Hagerup’s life for as long as he can remember, and 15 years ago he turned his passion into a profession, working across a range of genres and…

PART 1 OF 6 Part 2 will appear in issue 295, on sale 23 May DxO has a reputation for lens corrections but PhotoLab 8 also brings powerful library management and photo correction capabilities. Over six issues, we’ll take a look at the various functions that PhotoLab 8 has to offer, starting with a general overview of the interface. There are two main sections, the PhotoLibrary and the Customize tabs, on the top left. The PhotoLibrary is not a catalogue itself, instead using a file browser to navigate to folders and images; however, you can tag images to form groups known as Projects, which can be viewed together. The PhotoLibrary is useful for selecting images to tag and rate accordingly. One approach is to collate images as a Project, then…

BUY THE BOOK! Pre-order 10 Years of Remembering Wildlife for £59.50/$80 (Standard Edition). Go to: www.buyrememberingwildlife.com 10 Years of Remembering Wildlife will be the tenth title in the charity book series started by wildlife 1 photographer Margot Raggett MBE in 2016. Prompted to take action after witnessing the poaching of elephants in Kenya, she asked her fellow wildlife photographers to contribute to a fundraising book – this request launched the start of something special. Between them, Remembering Elephants and its successors, including Remembering Rhinos, Remembering Great Apes, Remembering Lions, Remembering Cheetahs, Remembering African Wild Dogs, Remembering Bears, Remembering Leopards and Remembering Tigers have raised over £1.2m ($1.55m) for 79 conservation projects across 34 countries. Over 4,500 photos were entered for 10 Years of Remembering Wildlife, which will feature images donated…

Go to www.digitalcameraworld.com for the latest news, reviews & techniques The smallest and lightest GFX camera yet, the GFX 100RF packs a sensor that’s four times the size of that found in the on-trend Fujifilm X100VI – the popular compact that’s on backorder everywhere. That may explain why Fujifilm has launched another compact model, albeit one that produces 102MP files. With a fixed 35mm f/4 lens that’s equivalent to a street-friendly 28mm in full-frame terms, the GFX 100RF is replete with the latest tech, including the latest autofocus subject recognition and tracking for the likes of human faces and eyes, animals, vehicles, insects and drones, and a 6fps shooting speed for up to 296 jpegs or 40 raw files. One feature the GFX 100RF lacks, though, is in-body image stabilisation.…

Go to www.digitalcameraworld.com for the latest news, reviews & techniques Nikon has announced the successor to its ‘entry-level’ full-frame Z 5, almost five years after the original camera was launched. The Z5 II has a slightly higher resolution than its predecessor but the new model has more in common with pricier Nikon cameras, as many high-end features have trickled down to the Z5 II. At the heart of the new camera is Nikon’s most advanced Expeed 7 imaging chip, a powerful processor with many benefits over the Expeed 6 found in the Z 5, supercharging its successor’s performance. The in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) is much improved, says Nikon, thanks to the Z5 II adopting the same Focus Point VR system found in the Z f and Z6 III. A dedicated…

£6,299/$6,499 (body only) www.sony.co.uk The A1 II is the latest flagship camera from Sony, succeeding the original A1 released three years previously – and the first Alpha camera released in over a year. While a hugely impressive camera if you take a look at its spec sheet – continuing the A1 brand of being a camera that is just really good at absolutely everything. I also find it, on the whole, an all too predictable update. The A1 II maintains many killer features from its predecessor, including the excellent 50.1MP sensor and adds a few new ones, but it lacks a little pizzazz with showstopping new features. The majority of its most significant updates, while undeniably amazing technologies have already been seen in other Sony models – most notably last…

£195/$170 (new); £175/$150 (upgrade) www.on1.com ON1 Photo RAW is a do-it-all photo organiser, editor and effects tool, sold either as a subscription or a one-off licence fee. It comes in regular and ‘Max’ versions, the latter including plug-in versions of ON1 Effects, NoNoise AI, Sky Swap AI, Resize AI, Portrait AI, Photo Keyword AI, and ON1 HDR, so that you can use ON1’s editing tools from Lightroom without having to swap your workflow over. ON1 Photo RAW’s non-destructive approach goes further than Lightroom by adding filters and image layers and it also offers more instant inspiration than Photoshop and Affinity Photo. Features Most of the updates in ON1 Photo RAW 2025 are based around generative AI, such as the Generative Erase tool where you paint over objects you want to…