Make your own studio - Take great studio shots without spending a fortune You may think you need lots of expensive equipment and a fancy light set up to get a decent studio shot however this is not true. In this months issue we take you through tricks of the trade, the short cuts, so you can take great indoor studio shots, all in the comfort of your own home. Studio photography is all about lighting so although a top lighting rig will provide impressive results this can also be t

It’s tempting to think that once the sun has gone down, it’s time pack up your camera and go home – but you couldn’t be more wrong. Sunset itself is a formidable technical challenge with extremes of lighting contrast, but once the fiery globe has disappeared, the lighting becomes much more manageable. The best time to shoot low-light images is the hour after sunset, when there is either reflected sunlight in the clouds, or the sky still retains a blue colour. Once it g

How to bring out a city’s character in day or night   Elements such as light, framing and aperture can all have a profound effect on the end product, and knowing when to employ which techniques can be the difference between a breath-taking image and yet another snap. If you’re looking for advice on how to turn a standard tourist shot into something special without spending thousands on kit or a new camera, follow our expert guide on urban landscapes….  

Sunnier weather brings about weddings, fetes and shows, making it all the more important to know the best techniques for shooting outdoors Every time you venture outside to take a photo, the conditions are slightly different. The angle of the sun moving to change the size of the shadows, a cloud might be temporarily cutting out the light or the threat of rain creating grey skies. Instead of trying to correct any issues created in Photoshop afterwards this feature will let you in on the be

Get the best results from stunning scenery There’s few things worse in the world of photography than being able to visualise how a shot should look, but being unable to achieve it. Although the average digital camera will be able to take a snap of a beautiful sunset or breath-taking landscape, without the correct settings or framing the majesty of the situation may well be lost. Over the next eight pages we’ll show you how to set up your DSLR or compact in such a manner that t

Photography has never been one technology but a development of one medium to the other. Even now in the digital age photography is advancing at a rapid rate that what we take to mean photography can literally change in a second. Manufacturers push the boundaries and develop innovative products that reinvent what we want from a camera. This leaves a questionable argument in our heads - what is the future?  To see the future we must examine the past and present and what better time t

Take breath-taking images of fast-moving objects Trying to take an image of a fast-moving object is one of the most difficult skills in photography. Not only are there the settings of the camera to contend with, but being able to react to the subject fast enough is a skill in itself. At Digital Camera Essentials we’ve taken our fair share of blurred images due to not being ready for the subject hurtling past, and as a result have learnt a fair few tricks to insure even if what y

Whatever genre of photography your favour, chances are it will sometimes lead you outdoors. Sports, portraits and wildlife photography can certainly produce stunning results inside, but there really is nothing like getting out into the big wide world to really open you up to some wondrous photographic opportunities. Landscape photography is the best-known facet of the great outdoors shooting list, but this does not mean it is the easiest, far from it. The landscape is not static, but cons

Digital camera sensors work by converting light energy (photons) into electrical energy (electrons). This energy forms a signal that’s transferred to the camera’s processor. The sensor is made up of millions of individual photosites, each one corresponding to a pixel in the final image. A six-megapixel digital SLR has six million pixels on its sensor. Actually, there are a few more than this, but many pixels around the edges are used for calibration and other purposes. T

Compact digital cameras always have an auto-everything point-and-shoot mode, with autofocus, auto-exposure, auto white balance, auto flash and auto ISO. You might imagine that these would take care of every conceivable picture-taking opportunity, but manufacturers also include ‘scene’ modes customised for specific types of photo. Many beginner-orientated DSLRs include scene modes too, though semi-pro and pro cameras don’t have them. The makers and the users probably fe