At the National Trust we’ve got plenty of great places to explore during the winter months, with some of our most spectacular landscapes looking their best at this time of year. Spend time with family or friends, see things from a new perspective and make your winter warmer afterwards seem all the more delicious. Here’s our pick of the top ten gardens to enjoy the crisp winter weather in:

Image copyright: Alan_War This weekend Digital Photographer forum user Alan_War  is our Weekend Project winner. His winning image is a beautiful and eerie landscape that is atmospheric and makes excellent use of the silhouetted dead trees in the reflection of the still water. To view all the entires go to http://www.dphotographer.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=3710&start=1

1. Play with shadows. Creating an atmosphere in a Halloween image is crucial and strong shadows work particularly well for creating a spooky effect. If you're photographing people shadows across the face add a dynamic edge. Make sure you expose your shot for the highlights and keep the shadows dark. If you want to increase the contrast you can do so at the editing stage. 2. Capture the deta

Happy Halloween to you all! And to tie in with the spooky theme this weekend we challenge you to take a scary halloween image. Think about lowlight and playing with the shadows! If you want some top Halloween shooting tips check out DP's http://news.dphotographer.co.uk/news/top-halloween-shooting-tips/ Enter your images for free at http://www.dphotographer.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=

27 October 2011: Leica Camera AG has expanded its range of lenses for the Leica S-System with the new Leica Elmarit-S 30 mm f/2.8 ASPH., a wide-angle lens scheduled to be available from December 2011. With the addition of this lens, the portfolio of lenses for the professional S-System now comprises five focal lengths. The Elmarit-S 30 mm f/2.8 ASPH., with its wide angle of view equivalent to

THE INTERNATIONAL AWARD 2012 The International Street Photography Award is looking for exceptional photographers that display a unique style and depth of work in the genre of street photography. PRIZES •    £2,000 cash •    Solo exhibition in London •    An all-expenses paid trip to the exhibition launch and awards ceremony in London in June 2012 Total prize value: £

The star of the Canon Pro Solutions Show 2011 in Islington, London, is the brand new Canon EOS-1D X full frame DSLR. Drawing a crowd of eager pros at the show, this new top spec camera certainly looks the part on paper and feels robust enough to meet the needs of the most demanding of pros. The two-day show has drawn quite a crowd as a result of this new announcement, with famous faces su

Bonusprint.co.uk one of Britain’s favourite photo printing brands today announced a new social media partnership. The household name has teamed up with A Very British Party set to hit our screens on Watch (Sky 109, Virgin 124) from Tuesday 25th October to celebrate Britain’s unique passion for parties. Celebrations with friends and family have always been a key time to take photos and since

October 2011 Want to unleash your creativity and achieve outstanding images? Digital Photographer has teamed up with creative software publisher, Serif, to give away four copies of PhotoPlus X5 (worth £71.48 each) – the powerful and intuitive photo editing software. Take photos then make them great with the new feature-packed program. Edit, fix, enhance, and organise your entire image

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is launching its third annual Red for Heart Digital Photography Competition this week and is calling on photography enthusiasts across the UK to enter. The brief is simply ‘What the heart means to you’ with just one rule - to incorporate red somewhere in the digital shot. The same brief spans three age categories: adults aged 16 and over (£10 entry fe

Promotion: How photos can engage your readers

While a written blog certainly relies heavily on well-written and nutritious content in order to keep its readers coming back regularly, they also benefit greatly from the inclusion of a few great images.  Confront your readers with a sea of

Camera School: ISO and sensitivity

Lesson four: Master ISO ISO is the measurement of a camera sensor’s sensitivity to light. Based on the speed ratings of conventional 35mm film (denoted as ASAs), most compacts, superzooms and DSLRs will allow photographers to alter the I

How to use the blur filter in Photoshop

[caption id="attachment_17347" align="alignnone" width="605" caption="Before"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_17348" align="alignnone" width="605" caption="After"][/caption] Follow the steps below and add speed to your static shots using the