A new study has revealed that over half of British nationals get stuck in what experts call a “holiday photo perfection loop”, with the average holidaymaker now pressing the shutter multiple times in an effort to get the perfect shot.

The survey, conducted by Popsa, the folks behind the namesake photobook curation app, highlighted that of the 2,000 adult respondents, 54% said they have between 2 and 3 attempts at getting the “right” image, while 31% said they shoot at least 4 frames.

These results point to what Popsa says is a growing “holiday photo perfection loop”, where people get caught up meticulously crafting a scene, subsequently disconnecting themselves from the moment rather than savoring it with a camera.

Liam Houghton, CEO and founder of Popsa, said: “We’ve reached a point where people are experiencing moments through the lens of how they’ll be shared, rather than how they’ll be remembered. "The irony is that the more effort we put into capturing the ‘perfect’ photo, the less connected we often feel to the memory itself.”

According to Popsa, British holidaymakers now also snap more photos with the intention of sharing them, rather than for their own memories.

Respondents said that, on average, nearly 4 out of their last 10 photos were primarily taken for others’ eyes. For others, the number was even higher, with 10% saying each of their last 10 holiday photos were shot to be shared.

While Popsa didn’t allude to the underlying reasons why British holidaymakers now take more “perfected pictures” to be shared, wider research has suggested how pressure to appear as attractive as possible in social media posts can result in multiple retakes.

“Photos should help you relive a moment, not distract you from it,” Houghton said. “The goal isn’t to stop taking pictures, it’s to make sure the ones you take actually mean something.”

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"Why did I need a photograph? I knew I'd been there" – Edmund Hillary’s purported words after history-making Everest summit seem crazy by today's 'snap everything' standards.

Exploring Morocco is like stepping into a whole new world of vibrant sights and bustling markets. But when the excitement of the lively streets starts to wind down, there's a whole other adventure waiting in the southern deserts.

During our three-week photography adventure in Morocco, we couldn't resist the attraction of the Sahara's sweeping sand dunes. Compared to the hustle and bustle up north, the desert felt like a different universe where time slowed down and conversations flowed freely.

One of the highlights? Riding atop camels as the sun dipped towards the horizon. With the help of our friendly Berber guide, we snagged some stunning shots of these majestic creatures against the golden sky. It was like something out of a dream, and we couldn't have asked for a better photo opportunity!

Top tips for great results

1. Plan ahead
Hiring a professional guide who can navigate the local terrain and handle the camels will increase your chances of capturing great photos, so you can focus on your photography.

2. Timing is key
Plan your shoot around the golden hours of sunrise and sunset when the light is soft and warm, casting beautiful shadows and enhancing the colors of the desert landscape.

3. Try these settings
Get to know your camera before the photo shoot so you can make adjustments as the environment changes. Depending on the subject movement, 1/250-1/500sec is usually a good starting point for shutter speed, with the aperture set to f/4 and sensitivity to auto ISO.

4. Create depth
To enhance the visual appeal of your photos, consider incorporating natural elements such as sand dunes, desert vegetation or distant horizons. These elements can add depth and perspective to your photos, and make them more interesting to look at.

5. Experiment with angles
Get creative with your composition by shooting from various angles – from ground level to capture the camels' majestic stature or from above to showcase the vastness of the desert.

Heading for the trip of a lifetime and want a new Canon camera to take with you? Here are the best ones available. You don't want to drop your camera though, so why not invest in a new camera strap? Alternatively, travel light with a convenient compact camera.

Shehuo is ancient. For thousands of years, it's been the Lunar New Year celebration in rural Northwest China: performance, costume, ritual and community all tangled together. But it's dying. Urbanization empties villages. Young people leave for cities and don't come back. The elaborate traditions—the training, the masks, the shared knowledge—slowly fade into silence.

Chris Yan began photographing Shehuo festivals with the understanding that once it's gone, a visual record is all that remains. But rather than approaching it as straightforward documentary, he brought something else to it: the technical discipline of someone who spent years in advertising. That background shows up in every frame, and it's what makes these photographs work so well.

Look at Yan's portraits of performers and you see something more deliberate than simple documentation. The colors are saturated and vivid, but never oversaturated. The costumes—reds, blues, golds, intricate embroidery—pop against carefully chosen backgrounds. He understands that a grey concrete wall behind a performer in pink and blue robes isn't just context; it's a compositional choice that makes the costume read more powerfully.

Photographers often talk about finding light, but Yan's work demonstrates something equally important: color as a primary structural element. When he frames a performer's hand holding an elaborate ceremonial object, the gold embroidery and red silk become the story.

The hand isn't just holding something; it's displaying craft and devotion through color. And that's no accident. That's training from years of understanding how color hierarchy guides the viewer's eye.

The series includes portraits where performers dominate the frame entirely—headshot-style, confrontational—and others where a single figure stands small in a vast rural landscape.

The choice between these framings isn't arbitrary. When a performer fills the frame, you're reading their face, their makeup, their individual presence. When they're small in the landscape, you're reading their relationship to place and community. Yan understands that framing is argument. It's how you tell a viewer what matters.

There are photographs of crowds, of processions, of ceremonial meals under striped canopies. In each, the composition serves a purpose. Leading lines guide your eye. Foreground and background work together. The chaos of actual celebration is organized into something visually coherent without becoming sterile or overwrought.

Learnings from advertising

Yan's background in advertising and design is the foundation of this visual literacy. In advertising, your composition has to work instantly. Your color choices have to land immediately. Your framing has to guide the viewer toward specific understanding. These are skills that grow from years of training, and Yan brought them to documentary work without losing his authenticity or humanity.

What makes his Shehuo series compelling isn't just that it's documenting something endangered; it's that the visual language is precise. The colors speak. The framing creates meaning. A performer in costume against a modern building isn't just irony; it's a compositional statement about tradition and change. That's what separates this work from simple archival documentation.

For photographers working in documentary, cultural, or street photography, there's real value in studying how someone with commercial training applies those disciplines to work that matters. How technical precision and humanistic content coexist. How color and framing do the heavy lifting of creating meaning.

The exhibition runs June 1-30, 2026 on the All About Photo platform. If you're interested in how visual structure creates impact in documentary work, it's well worth your attention.

One of the least discussed truths in photography is also one of the most useful. Most photographs are not very good. Not yours. Not mine. Not even those made by photographers whose work hangs in fancy galleries or graces the pages of coffee-table books. The difference is not that successful photographers avoid failure. It is that they accept it, learn from it, and build their photographic practice around it.

Photography has a habit of presenting itself as a highlights reel. Social media feeds, portfolios, and exhibitions are all edited realities. They show the polished result, not the hundreds of awkward attempts that came before. This creates the illusion that good photographs arrive fully formed, as if talent alone is all that’s needed. It might be comforting, but it’s wrong.

Martin Parr put it bluntly in his excellent top-ten list of advice for emerging photographers. “Acknowledge that you will mainly take failures.” That line matters because it reframes the entire process. Failure is not an unfortunate by-product of photography. It is part of the process. The camera is a tool for testing ideas, not proving competence.

Most of the learning happens when things do not work. When the light disappoints. When the framing falls apart. When the idea you were convinced would be brilliant turns out to be a disappointment. While these failed moments might dent the ego and feel frustrating, they can also teach you far more than a run of successes ever could.

Making a good photograph can feel satisfying, but a bad one asks questions. Why did this fail? What was I really trying to do? What would I change next time?
This is why volume matters. Not in the sense of indiscriminate shooting, but in giving yourself enough chances to get it wrong.

The photographer who only presses the shutter when they feel confident rarely moves forward. Confidence is often just familiarity in disguise. Without the expense of film and processing, working with digital photography makes this much easier.

Ansel Adams understood this well. He famously suggested that “twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop”. Taken literally, that is sobering. Taken properly, it is liberating. It gives you permission to stop chasing perfection. If 12 images matter, the rest are not wasted. They are part of the process.

The problem is not taking bad photographs. The problem is expecting not to. Once you accept that most of what you make will be ordinary, confused or unsuccessful, the pressure lifts. You begin to experiment. You take risks. You pay closer attention.

Good photography is not built on avoiding mistakes. It is built on making them, noticing them, and showing up again the next time with your eyes a little more open than before.

• Read other articles by Benedict Brain

A new perspective is a difficult thing to achieve in the modern age of photography. Drone photography, action cameras, and the new breed of lightweight pro lenses made it possible to capture unique compositions with ease – making it more challenging to produce original images.

For photographer Coenraad Torlage, that challenge became the driving force behind one of his most compelling images. His idea was clear: shooting from above – but having no drone made it difficult to achieve an aerial perspective.

Armed with a DSLR – one of the first true professional hybrid cameras – and a standard zoom lens, he captured two men resting on horseback in South Africa, from a striking overhead viewpoint...

The story behind the still

Shot details
Gear: Canon EOS 5D Mark III + EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Exposure: 1/125sec, f/8, ISO 100

Torlage shot this image as part of his winning Young Farmers series, made for the final round of the Sony World Photography Awards Student Competition 2021.

He explains, "The photograph was taken on a farm in Elandslaagte in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It shows HW and Olwethu after a long day herding cattle on horseback. The idea came from observing how these young men interact as friends.

"The idea for this photograph emerged from reminiscing about my childhood on the farm and praying for a way to visually represent that.

"It is a documentation of the life that these boys live, but it's also part of my own visual representation of what it is like to grow up as a young farmer in South Africa. This is how I remember my childhood."

The challenges

"The main challenge was to achieve a high-quality aerial shot. I couldn't use a drone, so I had to find another way of getting above them with my DSLR. Luckily, they had a large excavator on the farm, so we used that to lift me over HW and Olwethu.

"I generally keep post-production to a minimum. For this photograph, a few basic adjustments such as colour correction, sharpening, curve adjustments and some digital dodging and burning were all that was necessary.

"By using a mix of natural and artificial light, Coenraad has been able to capture a timeless portrait of the two boys, with a strong narrative theme."

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The first thing I do in a new location is look for boring postcards. Not the ones on the rack, but the scenes that would never be photographed and made into a postcard. I deliberately try to make four horizontal photographs of the dullest things I can find. Car parks. Ordinary shop facades. Scraps of landscape that appear to have zero photographic ‘value’. It is a small habit of mine, but one I do more and more as it immediately changes how I start seeing a place.

This idea owes something to Stephen Shore, though not in any lofty way. Before his photographs became museum-bound, he also made mundane postcards. Straightforward images of everyday scenes. Shore treated the postcard as a normal way of looking rather than something to rise above.

Martin Parr came into this from a different angle. Beyond his own photography, Parr has curated, edited, and published books literally titled Boring Postcards. They are exactly what they promise. Flat, dull vistas. Forgettable landmarks such as motorway service stations, shopping malls, and so on. The kind of images that feel utterly forgettable on their own but become strangely compelling when seen together. Parr understood the delightful ordinariness of these postcards.

When I make my own boring postcards, it started off as a slightly ironic but also practical practice. In one sense, a slight nod to Shore and Parr, but really just a way of making images and removing grand expectations. There is no pressure to find the best view or the right light. I am not trying to impress anyone, including myself. I just photograph what is there and move on. Something useful happens as a result. Those four images quickly build a sense of place that feels more convincing than the obvious landmarks. They describe how a location actually functions. The in-between spaces and the overlooked edges. The quiet negotiations between people, infrastructure, and environment. They might look unremarkable, but they are specific, and specificity is where photographs start to feel alive.

These images often act as a gateway to more adventurous mages; they act as a conduit to get the creative juices flowing. Once the need to make something good disappears, curiosity takes over. I begin to notice with more clarity. The postcard, usually the final product of travel photography, becomes the starting point instead.
I have also become interested in postcards as objects. They are optimistic by design, full of selective vision and gentle persuasion. Making my own versions feels like a way of acknowledging that history while quietly expanding it. Not everything needs to be beautiful to be worth looking at.

Working closer to home over the past couple of years has only reinforced this approach. Familiar places reveal more when you stop demanding spectacle from them. I have started presenting these images in postcard format as a way of keeping the work grounded.

This is how I begin most projects now. Four boring photographs, made without drama, and a reminder that paying attention is often enough.

As an avid traveler and nature photographer, my pupils dilated when this story came across my desk. A UK-based fine art photographer and world explorer will set out to conquer the famous Cape to Cape overland car journey from Norway to South Africa in record time and document the entire journey on camera.

John Balsdon, the founder of creative brand Always Look Twice, will lead a team of six intrepid explorers over 20,000km starting from the Nordkapp, Norway, the most northerly point in Europe to Cape Agulhas, South Africa, the most southerly point in Africa.

The team will cross 25 borders with “no shortcuts, flights or support vehicles”, navigating European countries such as Finland, Germany and Spain, and 15 Africa nations including Togo, Nigeria and Angola.

While Balsdon aims to break the current record of 28 days and 13 hours, set in 1984 by Canadian duo Garry Sowerby and Ken Langley, he also plans on becoming the first to produce a feature length film of this specific expedition.

Commenting in a press release, Balsdon said: “The Cape to Cape challenge is my most ambitious expedition to date.” He added:“ This is an extraordinary opportunity to tell the story of one of the world’s most unique and less well-known land routes.”

In order to set the record, Balsdon’s crew, which includes overlanding experts, engineers, medical professionals and filmmakers, will need to follow strict rules. The team will have to rely on their own skillsets and the two 4x4 expedition vehicles.

While a Danish team completed the Cape to Cape journey in just 8 days and 21 hours in 2016, the attempt was not recognized as they flew over the Mediterranean, skipping 1,600 miles and four borders.

Dates for Balsdon’s expedition are yet to be announced, but I already can’t wait to see the feature film, which is sure to capture an immense journey through an artistic lens.

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Over the past five years, I have been photographing lone trees while travelling around the world, gradually building a body of work shaped by repetition and constraint rather than novelty. The locations vary widely, from Iceland and Alaska to Japan, Tahiti and Papua New Guinea, but the approach remains consistent. One tree. Standing alone. Photographed in much the same way each time.

Most of these trees are unremarkable. They sit in car parks, on road verges, beside retail parks or on scraps of land left over after development. They are not famous or particularly beautiful. They are simply there, in a space where something else might once have been planned or to make a vista feel more ‘natural’.

The project is influenced, in part, by The New Topographics. This was a loose group of American photographers active in the 1970s, including Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz and Stephen Shore, who rejected romantic landscape traditions in favor of a cool, descriptive view of man-altered environments (definitely worth researching if you don't know their work). Like them, I am interested in how nature appears once the drama is stripped away, and how it sits within environments shaped primarily by humans. The restrained, slightly deadpan and monochrome treatment is intentional. It’s an attempt to keep the focus on form and context.

Photographing these trees over time has changed how I think about our relationship with the natural world. We often talk about nature as something wild or separate, something to marvel at on Planet Earth, but these images suggest a more awkward reality. Nature is present, but managed. Allowed, but contained. The trees are rarely central to their surroundings. They exist on the edges, fitted in where possible. There is a certain loneliness to that. The isolation in the images reflects how we tend to organise space. Practicality first, aesthetics second, ecology somewhere much further down the list.

At the same time, the work is not intended as a warning or a lament. What stands out, after photographing dozens of these trees, is their persistence. They survive poor placement, bad soil and indifference. They just continue to grow,  for the most part.

If the project has taught me anything, it is that photography does not need to dramatize nature to say something meaningful about it. Sometimes it is enough to look plainly at what we have built around ourselves, and what has quietly learned to live within it.

As the need for a castle gradually declined in the UK, noblemen and landowners looked for something more comfortable, but just as grand and imposing, to live in. The stately home, built and owned by the ruling upper classes, became a statement of wealth and power. They were also a hub for social events and provided employment for the local workforce.

Today, there are still over 3,000 stately homes in the UK, many owned by English Heritage or the National Trust when running a vast estate became unaffordable for individual families, thanks to taxes and upkeep costs.

The stately house

There are two ways of approaching photographing the house. Either you show it as part of the landscape, so place it in the distance with gardens and lakes in the foreground, or you shoot from closer up, from an architectural perspective. Let’s take the distance shots first.

Only the biggest and most popular stately homes are open during the winter months, when you have the chance to get sunsets and sunrises, because of the times they will be open. Mostly, opening times are March/April to September/October, so it’s late in the year when you might get a sunset, right at the end of the day.

Normally, though, it’s best to either hope for sunny days for color photography, or billowing clouds for conversion to mono. Flat, grey skies are friends to no-one.

The objective, then, is to show the country house as the dominant feature in the landscape, with other elements, such as lakes, pathways, gardens, trees and so on, as compositional elements that draw the eye up to the house.

The rule of thirds here would have you place the house and horizon on the top horizontal third, but rather than keep the house central, unless there’s a distinct symmetry to the shot, position it on one of the vertical thirds. A wide-angle lens is usually required, which means (depending on what’s in front of you) anything from 18 to 28mm.

You’ll usually need plenty of depth of field, so dial in f/16 or f/22 and focus a third of the way into the scene. Aim to have the sun either behind you, or to one side, so that the light falls on the stonework and the house isn’t backlit. It can be worth deploying a circular polarizer filter to enhance the skies, especially if there are some fluffy, white clouds about, as this will help make them stand out.

Bear in mind that there’s usually a 1 or 2-stop hit to the light levels when using a polarizer, so when combining that with an f/22 aperture you may need to up the ISO, find something stable for the camera to rest on or resort to a tripod.

The other use for the polariser is if you manage to compose the scene with a lake in the foreground. Here the filter can be used to either maximize the reflections on the water or, the opposite, reduce them so that you can see through to the lake bed.

The other approach is to feature the house much more prominently and use the gardens in the foreground as the lead-in detail.

The danger of getting much closer is that the verticals of the house start falling away, unless you can employ a specialist tilt-shift lens to correct this, or you fancy having a go at free-lensing where you detach the lens from the camera body and try angling it yourself.

If you’re going to correct the verticals in Photoshop afterwards, make sure there’s some space on either side of the house because the correction process itself will use up some of that. With less scenery to encapsulate, focus a third of the way into the scene and use an aperture of around f/11.

If you’re shooting early in the morning, it’s worth keeping an eye on the white balance as the light might have more blue tones than you want. Ideally shoot RAW files, so that the color temperature can be more easily tweaked later. Otherwise, try some of the sunny sky or cloudy sky presets, or dial in 5600K or 6500K to ensure the stonework retains a nice color in the sunlight.

What to find outside

The other attractions of stately homes are the gardens and the interiors. For the gardens, it can be anything from close-up or macro shots of some of the flowers, to an interesting architectural or landscape feature in the garden.

On a recent trip to Bowood House in Wiltshire, I discovered a purpose-built waterfall behind the lake, while other properties often have a folly or arboretum. On the bigger estates you can also find the vast tracts of parkland are inhabited by herds of deer, which is an opportunity for telephoto work and wildlife photos.

Discovering the treasures inside

The interiors present a range of challenges, starting with the fact that flash photography and tripods are usually not allowed. So, reduced available light means fighting with the shutter speed to avoid camera shake.

A wide-angle lens helps here, the shorter focal lengths enabling handheld shots where a telephoto wouldn’t. Plus, with restricted access to most rooms, you want a wide view, unless it’s down a corridor. Anything from 16 to 28mm works well, but be wary of objects close to the camera becoming unduly distorted.

What aperture to use, though? How much depth of field do you want in a scene that consists of just a room? Well, the wide-angle lens gives more depth of field than a telephoto, so try f/5.6 in aperture priority mode and see what kind of shutter speed you get.

Your camera type, whether the lens has optical stabilization, and how steady your hands are, all determine the minimum shutter speed you can hand-hold at. Personally, I draw the line at 1/20 or 1/30 sec before I reach for the ISO dial.

If the shutter speed is too slow, increase the ISO by whatever you need to get that minimum speed, rather than just letting auto ISO take over. This isn’t a fast-shooting situation; you’ve got time to work it out.

As well as the interesting personal rooms on offer, there are other places that offer photographic value, such as hallways with ornate, vaulted ceilings; kitchens, with old fashioned equipment; chapels; and spiral or grand staircases.

What almost all the scenes will have in common, though, is mixed lighting. There will generally be incandescent or tungsten lamps inside and daylight coming through the windows.

Firstly, it’s tricky to get a correct exposure for situations like this, and if there’s too much contrast between light and dark then it might not be that practical. Generally, if you expose for the room, the highlighted windows will blow out, but if you expose for the windows, the rest of the room will be pitch black.

Obviously shooting RAW is essential here, but it’s safer to get an exposure that retains the highlights, because you can pimp the shadows in Photoshop later. An HDR mode will also help because it’s likely that you won’t have access to a tripod, so taking multiple exposure to combine them later will be impractical.

With the mixed light sources, the other issue is going to be white balance. The incandescent lamps will have a temperature of around 2800K, tungsten halogen is 3200K, fluorescent light comes in a bit higher at around 4,500K but the daylight coming through the window can be 5,000-6,000K for sunny weather and up to 8000K for cloudy days.

So in practice that means that the window light areas tend to be blue, the desk lamps tend to be orange. The camera generally only applies one setting to the whole scene, so if it sets the white balance at say, 3,000K to make the light from the desk lamps more white, then the rest of the scene, illuminated by daylight, will become noticeably blue.

It’s much better to go the other way, tweak the white balance up to 6000K to make the daylight areas a nice, neutral color, and let the areas around the desk lamps have a more golden orange tone. You can either do it in camera at the time, or adjust accordingly when processing the RAW files.

Custom white balance

This scene has competing light sources with incandescent to the left and window light at the back. That means the color temperature on one side is different to the other. Here, a custom setting of 6,000K was used to stop the window light turning blue, while retaining a pleasant orange glow around the desk lamps.

To shoot stately homes you'll need a wide-angle lens. Obviously you'll need to carry all your kit about in a handy backpack as well.

I was recently asked to share my top tip for photographers who are just starting out. It sounds like a simple question but, the longer I sat with it, the more complicated it became.

There are so many obvious answers. Buy better kit. Learn the “rules”. Master exposure and so on. All those things matter, of course. They are part of the process and I would never suggest otherwise. But none of them felt like the right answer.

After years of running workshops, writing articles and books, and watching people struggle and grow with photography, I think my best advice has very little to do with equipment or technique. It is simply to slow down.

So much of contemporary life is built around speed. Efficiency is praised. Time is optimized. Moments are squeezed until nothing is left unused. Photography often absorbs that same mentality. Shoot more. Post faster. Scroll on. But often, photographs are not well-made under pressure. They are made through attention.

Slowing down gives you time to connect with what is in front of you. Time to look properly rather than glance. Time to notice small shifts of light, mood and meaning.

When you slow down, your eyes open and your mind follows. You stop hunting for pictures and start responding to ‘place’. That change alone can be liberating, and you never know what you might ‘see’. A bit like this horseback landscape I noticed while slowly walking.

Alongside slowing down, I would also urge photographers to learn from the best. There is a simple principle at work here. Garbage in, garbage out.

Look closely at photographers whose work genuinely moves you. Do not just scroll past it. Study it. Ask what they are doing and why. Then try to find out who influenced them and what they “borrowed”. The history of photography is crucial.

Just as importantly, photograph subjects that interest you. Not what you think should be photographed. Not what looks popular online. Interest sustains attention, and attention sustains practice. Without it, photography quickly becomes hollow.

Practice matters, too. You would not expect to run a marathon by turning up on the day without training. Photography is no different. It requires repetition, patience and time. Progress is rarely dramatic. It accumulates slowly.

Slow down. Look harder. Learn deeply. Then practise some more. That, in my experience, is where photography really begins.

When travelling abroad there’s one location that’s almost guaranteed to offer a wealth of photographic opportunities, and that’s the local market. From the Souk Semmarine in Morocco to the Dong Xuan market in Vietnam, the world of bazaars, souks and street markets are bustling with color, texture and character.

There are a number of approaches you can take with your camera, including finding interesting vendors for portrait studies, wide-angle shots to show the scale, and tight telephoto crops to focus on the hustle and bustle.

The other option is to focus on what is being sold, to illustrate the patterns, textures and vibrant colors of foodstuffs, jewellery and fabrics. For this you’ll need to either crop tightly to exclude the surrounding stall and just showcase the items, as in the main image here, or look to compose the image in terms of the shapes and patterns of what’s on offer.

Working in enclosed spaces, it’s often the wide-angle lens that comes into play, but a short telephoto will certainly give you the flexibility to go wide to encompass the whole scene and then zoom in for more individual items. Even in bright, sunny conditions, the stall and goods themselves are likely to be in the shade, so any close up work might require increasing the ISO and using a wider aperture like f/2.8, f/4 or f/5.6 to avoid the shutter speed dropping too low for a handheld shot.

For the wide-angle view, showing the market itself, rather than a specific stall, you want more depth of field, so switch to f/11 or f/16 if there’s a really big area to capture. With bright, overhead sunlight and the stalls in shadows, they might have a blue color cast thanks to the AWB only catering for the sunlight. So, either shoot in RAW so it’s easy to tweak later, or use a manual white balance setting of 6,500-7,000K.

A versatile compact camera can be ideal for travel photography, so here's the best ones around at the moment. Consider taking a drone to fly over the market, if it's safe and legal. These are some to consider. Of course you'll want to show off your photos when you come back, so why not use one of these digital photo frames?

While canal building has been around since Roman times, when the industrious conquerors built the Fossdyke to connect Lincoln to the River Trent, it wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that it really took off in the UK.

Burgeoning industry needed a better method of transporting goods and raw materials than by road, and canals offered the solution. A horse could tow up to 50 tons of cargo in a boat, connecting mines with factories and factories with cities. There was a frenzy of canal building, from 1759 to the end of the 18th century but it was to be short lived as a competing, integrated national railway took shape by the middle of the 19th century. The profit in canal building disappeared and the waterways slowly fell out of use for industry. It took nationalisation in 1947 to save the remnants of the canal system and then it was down to mainly leisure activities that put them to use.

What, when and where to shoot

Canals are interesting in that they can be found in the countryside, complete with greenery and pleasant paths used for leisure pursuits, but their original purpose was industrial transportation, so are present in cities, with buildings and artificial lighting as backdrops. There are also associated elements, such as bridges, docks or marinas for the boats, toll houses and, of course, locks, enabling the canal to climb over elevated stretches of terrain.

Let’s start in the towns and cities, which are the most interesting ones, with the docks for the canal boats which, at this point, are usually marinas for pleasure craft. Sunrise and sunset are obviously key photographic opportunities, but in a city the setting sun is often obscured by buildings and in the other direction, those same buildings can stop light falling onto the areas surrounding the dock.

If it’s a cloudless sky, so you don’t get any visual pyrotechnics, or, at the other end of the spectrum, it’s actually cloudy, then waiting until dusk is a better option. Now the sky deepens to a blue color and the artificial lights of the buildings are reflected in the water. As the water in the dock isn’t going anywhere, it’s only the wind that’s going to affect the reflections. If this is the case, then use a longer exposure to blur the ripples - something like 15 seconds. Don’t focus on the water either; focus on the nearest building or boat that’s moored up. The idea is to shoot across the water, towards the points of interest, using a wide-angle lens. The size and distance away of those objects determine what kind of focal length to use.

In the case of the photo of Leeds Dock (above) it needed an 18-35mm lens, at the widest setting and an aperture of f/14 in order to get an exposure of 30 seconds as the wind was causing a lot of rippling on the water.

Zone/Evaluative metering is generally okay for this kind of shot as there isn’t too much difference in the light in the sky compared to the water. Using centre-weighted and metering off the buildings would be an equally valid option. The other thing to consider is whether to use a polarizing filter to ensure maximum reflection on the water. It will extend the shutter as well, which will be an advantage on those windy days.

Once away from the dock, look out for bridges, canal paths and locks. For these an aperture of f/5.6-f/11 should be fine, focusing on the important element. For shots that involve a longer stretch of water, consider switching to portrait orientation and using a narrower aperture to keep more of it in focus. The tricky shot would be shooting back towards the setting sun - see the photo of the bridge, above - where the light in the sky is much brighter than on the water or the parts of the embankment that are in shadow.

A graduated ND filter will certainly help but even so, you may need to shoot in RAW and lighten the dark areas up in post-processing. The important thing is not to lose the highlights.

Into the countryside

Once the canals head out of the close confines of the city then, invariably, you’ll be on the towpath. Now you’re looking for areas that aren’t completely enclosed by trees and where there are attractive and colourful longboats to photograph. Look for corners and curves in the canal that add a little more visual interest than straight lines. For a shot with lots of boats in view, focus on the first one and use an aperture of f/16-f/22 to keep the rest acceptably sharp. If the shutter speed falls too low and you didn’t want to lug a tripod about, then simply increase the ISO rating. If your lens has IS/VR or the camera has IBIS, then you get away with a slower shutter speed, but this is your call based on your own equipment. For just one boat in view, use f/8 and focus on the prow.

One feature to look for is where the canal has to climb over a natural rise and uses locks to do it. For these switch to portrait orientation and focus on the first lock, showing the rest rising up behind. Some early morning or late afternoon sun will help here as otherwise the locks may largely be in the shade.

Finally, look out for interesting historic buildings along the canal path or even some examples of wildlife such as herons. Use a telephoto lens for these and a wider aperture to lose the background and make the bird stand out. Focus on the eye and compose so the bird is looking into the scene.

To photograph canals and locks you want a wide angle lens and a telephoto lens for close-up shots of boats and locks. Don't forget to take a tripod for those long exposure shots as well.

A young girl sits perfectly still, her skin painted a vivid blue, as careful hands apply the final touches of paint to her forehead. This is not theater makeup or casual dress-up; this is transformation in its most sacred form.

Indranil Sengupta's image Make Up, part of his series Bohurupi, has earned him a Merit Award in AAP Magazine's #53: Travels competition. It documents a centuries-old tradition in rural India, where folk artists transform themselves into Hindu deities through elaborate makeup and performance.

During the annual Gajan festival in West Bengal, these artists are in high demand for their expertise in enacting mythological dance dramas; performances that both preserve ancient stories and provide their livelihood.

Technical approach

Sengupta captured this intimate moment using the Fujifilm X-T4, paired with the Fujinon XF16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR lens. His settings – 1/125sec at f/6.4, ISO 640 – suggest he was working in challenging ambient light conditions, with the f/6.4 aperture providing enough depth of field to keep both the young subject and the applying hands sharp.

The Fujifilm X-T4's 26.1MP APS-C X-Trans sensor is a useful tool in these documentary situations, offering excellent dynamic range that captures the subtle gradations in the blue body paint, while retaining detail in both the shadowed background and the brighter painted skin.

Meanwhile, the fast pro-grade zoom provided the flexibility crucial for documentary work. Sengupta would have been able to adjust his framing without moving and disrupting the delicate application process, as the constant f/2.8 aperture ensured consistent exposure throughout the zoom range.

Composition

Beyond the technical considerations, though, what really makes this image powerful is Sengupta's choice to focus on preparation rather than performance. While some might choose only to document the finished spectacle, this image reveals the vulnerable, intimate moment of becoming.

The composition draws our eye from the applying hand at top right, down through the carefully painted forehead decorations and the girl's serene expression. The weathered, rough-hewn walls provide textural contrast to her smoothly painted skin, while also telling a story about the humble circumstances in which this ancient art survives.

In 2026, Bohurupi artists face an uncertain future. As rural audiences shrink and entertainment preferences shift toward modern media, these traditional performers struggle to maintain their craft. Sengupta's series documents not just a cultural practice but a vanishing way of life, adding urgency to the work's documentary value.

What photographers can learn

For photographers interested in cultural documentation, Make Up offers valuable lessons. Rather than shooting from a distance as an outsider, Sengupta's intimate framing suggests trust and access built over time.

The natural light and unposed quality indicate a documentary approach that prioritizes authenticity over dramatic effect. And his choice to photograph preparation rather than performance reveals deeper insight into the tradition's human dimensions.

As the world-renowned travel photographer Steve McCurry once observed, "My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport." This image demonstrates how such wandering and observation can preserve cultural practices that might otherwise vanish unrecorded.

You can explore the full selection of winning projects in the AAP Magazine #53: Travels Gallery. For this, visit the AAP Magazine website.

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While most visitors in Buenos Aires point their cameras at the colorful houses of La Boca or the tango dancers in San Telmo, I spent my time photographing something far less obvious. Electricity meters. Thirty-six of them, to be exact. 

Hardly glamorous, but this typological way of working not only feeds my creative curiosity but has also become my most profitable body of work of 2025. Prints have sold at the Bath Contemporary Artists’ Fair, through the gallery that represents me, and through online sales. Not bad for some scragglly little electric meter boxes. 

I was drawn to these meters because repetition has its own magnetic pull, and it’s something I seem to do a lot of. Like a collector.  A single box is nothing. A grid of thirty-six suddenly becomes a study in form, character and place. Each meter offered its own quirks. Weathered paint. Exposed wires. Stickers and tags. Put together, they formed an informal and slightly unusual portrait of the city. Locals and tourists watched me with a mix of confusion and amusement, although a couple ended up photographing the boxes too, which I will take as a win.

What really surprised me was the commercial response. I guess some people want work that feels rooted in place but not clichéd by it. These meters are everyday features that residents barely register, yet seen together, they become something larger. They carry texture, humor, and a kind of rough honesty. That seems to resonate.

The idea has continued to ripple outward. On a recent trip to Lisbon in Portugal, I photographed thirty-six gas meter boxes using much the same approach. They have already begun to sell and look set to be another oddly profitable chapter in this growing series. It turns out there is a healthy appetite for images that sit outside the predictable travel portfolio of touristic imagery.

There is probably a similar typology waiting on your own doorstep. Doors. Air vents. Garage gates. Drain covers. Anything that repeats is worth a second look. Odd subjects deepen your ability to see. Every now and then, they can maybe boost the bank balance.

On a recent family road trip around America, I was very excited to return to San Francisco some 30 years after I first visited . This was to be our final destination after more than two weeks and 1100 miles of travelling from Vegas to LA and up the Californian coast. 

In my (admittedly limited) travels around the US, San Francisco is my favorite American city; it just offers such a diverse range of sights and scenes, from the bridges to the bay, and great bars and restaurant culture. 

It’s the city’s famous steep hills that help it stand out. Of course, these scenes of towering buildings and the beautiful streets and old-fashion ‘cable cars’, and Alcatraz to the Golden Gate Bridge, all add up to a very photogenic place. In a nutshell, San Francisco is a photographer’s dream.

During our stay I was intent on capturing a shot I’d had in my head since I was a young man, when I had a cool (arty, pretentious) black-and-white poster of the steep streets of San Francisco on the wall of the shared house where I lived.

After lots of research and talking to various locals, I worked out California Street was the best location to shoot. Its range of steep, stepped hills and the glimpse of San Francisco to Oakland Bay Bridge framed between the city's tall buildings at the end. 

I headed to Chinatown, and the intersection of California Street with Stockton Street, and wasn’t disappointed with the scene before us, on this fateful, sunny day in San Francisco. 

The trick was to compose to emphasize the steepness of the streets, while including a famous ‘cable car’ in shot. I had to be patient, as well as have eyes in the back of my head for traffic approaching from behind; this is where the family came in handy as they were only too happy to screeen at me to get out of the road! Thankfully the cable cars also aren’t quiet, they clang up and down the lines, and the drivers like to ring their bell at every junction! 

It wasn’t long before a handful of photos I was happy with. I shot these with a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and  my trusty Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM extended to its longest telephoto point of view.

This has helped to compress the scene and bring the skyscrapers closer together, as well as ensure the distant Bay Bridge beyond is still visible in the hazy sky. 

Naturally, these images needed a strong black-and-white conversion. This gave my shots a timeless feel, and also removed any colourful things like distracting cars, and the red and yellow markings on the road.

I only wish I’d had more time to shoot there at different times of day, at sunrise perhaps, to get slightly more atmospheric lighting. I guess I have the perfect excuse for another visit some day!

Terrence Mendoza is a travel and portrait photographer on a mission to document remote tribal traditions before they disappear under the pressure of globalization.

Travelling to small villages in Kenya, Angola, Ethiopia, South Sudan and India, he captures intimate portraits and environmental scenes – often venturing along barely used tracks or dry riverbeds to reach communities rarely seen by the outside world.

Armed with his Nikon Z6 and Z7 II, Mendoza uses wide-angle lenses for ceremonial and tribal scenes, and his 70-200mm lens for fine-art portraits. Take a look at his photography, in which he aims to raise awareness and protect these cultures by showcasing their beauty, diversity and resilience.

"Modernization, such as the building of roads to formerly inaccessible areas, is influencing tribal dress and customs – and not in a good way. I set out to highlight the diversity of these tribes, in the hope that raising awareness of this often-overlooked issue may help to protect their cultures.

"My trips took me off the beaten track to small villages in Kenya, Angola, Ethiopia, South Sudan and India, camping in remote regions and traveling along barely used tracks or dry river beds to visit the tribes.

"I initiated each visit without my camera, so I could get to know my subjects first and once the connection was made, it was easier to introduce the camera. I traveled with an interpreter, although for portrait work, it was easier to make a personal connection without this added distraction.

"Without a common language, portraiture was often challenging. However, I found such interactions to be rewarding, often emotionally moving. Showing the subjects their image on the back of the camera invariably created a positive reaction."

"I love using my Nikon mirrorless kit. With tribal dancing or ceremonies, I use 24mm or wider, which allows me to keep the horizon low, get close to the action and let the subject dominate the frame. Environmental portraits also benefit from getting close and keeping the horizon low.

"However, for fine-art portraits, I use my go-to 70-200mm lens at the long end, stopped down to f/4.0, shooting early morning or late in the day, with low sun. I position my subject with the background far enough away to create pleasing bokeh. If I'm shooting with the harsh overhead sun, I look for a shaded area.

"With my images, I want to share the emotional connection I had with these people, their beauty and dignity, their hospitality and friendliness. I feel privileged to have spent time getting to know them all, and my enduring impression is how cheerful and welcoming they are."

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When I bought my first DSLR, I never looked back at my old compact camera – until, that is, I took a vacation years later and found myself shooting with a waterproof compact camera more than my mirrorless. The feeling of shooting with a smaller camera was liberating, so, as I planned a trip flying from Detroit, Michigan, to Los Angeles, California, I packed two cameras: an oversized compact camera and a tiny mirrorless.

I tucked the Fujifilm GFX100RF and the Fujifilm X-E5 with the 23mm f/2.8 R WR lens, which I had loaned out for the trip, into a camera backpack. At the last minute, my doubts got the best of me, and I tossed in my own X-T4 with a prime and a zoom, just in case, but neither one actually left the camera bag.

The Fujifilm GFX100RF and X-E5 aren’t exactly on the same playing field. The GFX100RF is a 102MP camera with a medium-format sensor and a fixed 28mm-equivalent f/4 lens. The X-E5 is a 40.2MP APS-C mirrorless camera, which I shot with the compact 23mm f/2.8 R WR kit lens. A better comparison would be matching the X-E5 with the Fujifilm X100VI, but I wanted to see how an oversized compact camera and an undersized mirrorless camera fared on the same trip.

Out of the two cameras that I packed, the so-called compact camera was actually larger than the mirrorless kit that I used. The GFX100RF sits a little taller and deeper than the X-E5, weighing about half a pound or 255g more than the X-E5 with its kit lens.

As I shot with the GFX100RF, I could almost forget that I was shooting with a medium-format camera. The camera is small, and considering my favorite lens is the Fujifilm 50mm f/1.0, lighter than my usual kit. The metal build, however, reminded me of the technical marvel that I held in my hands.

The GFX100RF doesn’t have any optical zoom, but considering the 102MP, I was still (mostly) happy with the digital zoom options. Shooting in RAW, I could also go back and "uncrop" in post if I changed my mind. I did miss stabilization when I took the camera out to shoot nightlife in the city without a tripod, and while the digital zoom will get in closer, it doesn’t have the background blurring effects of using a longer lens.

While I could almost forget that I was working with medium format with the GFX100RF, I practically forgot that I wasn’t shooting with a compact camera with the X-E5 and kit lens. The X-E5 isn’t exactly pocketable, but I don’t really recommend tucking a camera with a price tag above four figures in a pocket anyway.

The 23mm f/2.8 lens was enough for street photography, cityscapes, and a handful of portraits that I shot during the trip. Had I had more time to spend shooting than attending the Adobe Max conference – the main purpose of my trip – the zoom and portrait prime I had tucked into my bag would have actually gotten a bit of use. I think that’s the real beauty of a camera like the X-E5, it’s small enough to feel like a compact camera, but versatile enough to swap out for a zoom lens, a telephoto, a macro, or whatever lens suits what you need to shoot.

The camera that’s easier to take with you is going to be the camera that captures photographs in more locations. While I carted around both cameras during much of the trip, they were still small enough that I could just grab one camera and my wallet to go out for a quick coffee or grab dinner without a backpack full of gear.

Once you can’t fit a camera in your pocket, it’s the weight more than the size that matters. Mirrorless cameras can be compact with the right lens, and the Fujifilm 23mm f/2.8 R WR certainly fits the bill. A mirrorless with a pancake lens offers similar portability, but has the flexibility to swap out larger lenses when necessary.

So, out of the two cameras, which one won out on my trip? It was hard to pass up the 102MP and pixel-peeping sharpness of the GFX100RF, with enough resolution to create some zoom-like cropping flexibility. Still, the X-E5 wins out in value, size, and stabilization for handheld long exposures. The 23mm pancake may very well find its way into my camera bag in the future for travel.

Size matters – I find myself taking more photos when I can bring a tiny camera with me without thought to hauling around a heavy pack. But compact cameras aren’t the only travel-friendly cameras.

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Whatever the weather! On a particular morning recently, the forecast for Clevedon said full-on sunshine from around midday until sunset. So I planned an afternoon visit to capture the iconic Victorian pier, which poet laureate, Sir John Betjeman, once said is: “the most beautiful pier in England.”

However, such is the changeable nature of weather, during the day it remained totally overcast, and the forecast kept changing… the promised sunshine getting shunted ever later.

Through the afternoon it remained totally cloudy, and by late afternoon my Met office app showed only one solitary hour of sunshine – just before sunset.

Undeterred I headed to Clevedon Pier with my optimistic hat on, as experience has taught me over the years, it’s always worth taking a chance on the weather to get the shot.

Here is how I got on…

⏱️ 17:15
The cloud cover was so thick all around when I arrived in Clevedon, I was beginning to think it was going to be a wasted trip. While my weather app still said sunshine at around 19:00 for an hour, my hopes weren’t high. But something told me to stick around…

⏱️ 18:22
Seemingly out of nowhere, blue skies appeared inland, and the clouds moved slowly over the pier and out to sea! I started to feel more positive as it began to brighten up.

⏱️ 18:36
The sun broke through and lit up the pier! I began to get excited. Now I just needed the cloud cover beyond the pier to shift. I waited patiently on the beach, with my Canon camera and 70-200mm on a tripod, composed and poised…

⏱️ 19:37
It was even better than I’d hoped. Now just the haziness remained on the horizon across the Bristol Channel, leaving the outline of Wales beyond. The skies in my scene were now completely clear, and the colors started to evolve, as I started taking photos of the scene at sunset.

⏱️ 20:12
Shortly before the sun was due to disappear below the horizon, and the skies surrounding the now-silhouetted pier had transformed to reveal beautiful pinks, oranges and yellows. I smiled smugly, zoomed in to around 150mm on my 70-200mm lens, and clicked away to capture this winning shot.

Camera settings: Canon EOS 5D IV with Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM. 0.6sec at f/16, ISO 50.

For our summer holiday in California I was keen to avoid carrying too much camera kit, so I could travel light, plus ensure I wouldn’t eat into precious family time by getting side-tracked with my usual bag full of different lenses. So I decided to take only one Canon EOS camera body and one Canon lens.

That’s a bit restrictive isn’t it? Well, I actually discovered it gave me more creative freedom, as I wasn’t always thinking should I change lenses? Instead I could concentrate on better compositions with the focal lengths I had at my disposal.

This would also enable me to manage the precarious balancing act of capturing great travel photography in a quick and efficient way, while keeping the family happy during our epic road trip from LA to San Francisco.

So, I took an old Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR with a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM standard lens stalwart.

Deciding which lens to take on our vacation wasn’t as tricky as you might think. Some may want to take a superzoom that covers everything from 18mm to 400mm, but I didn’t need a super wide or super long lens for my travel photos. I just needed standard wide-angle to telephoto focal lengths, and I didn’t mind if my lens wasn’t small and compact. I also didn’t want to compromise on image quality. I wanted a fast-ish lens so I could set a wide aperture and get a shallow depth of field when I felt like it. The EF 24-105mm f/4 is the perfect compromise. Plus it’s not as heavy as the modern 24-105mm F2.8L hybrid lens, or some 24-70mm f/2.8 lenses.

24mm was wide-angle enough for my needs on a full-frame camera, but I could zoom up to telephoto 105mm for capturing ‘a scene within a scene’ or distant objects like boats on the sea, or zooming in on bustling boardwalk of a Californian beach town. Although I’ve found I often end up shooting around 40mm or 50mm for scenic shots for the better compositions, such as this shot of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The EF 24-105mm is a reassuring and tried-and-trusted piece of glass, so I knew my shots would be sharp across the frame, especially when shooting between the sweet spot of f/8 to f/11. Plus it’s got image stabilization, which is great when I was shooting handheld on the streets of LA, and wanted to shoot quick and fast.

It also complements the weight and size of a 5D Mark IV body perfectly, which is a camera I know back to front. I’m able to adjust camera settings on the fly without taking my eye away from the viewfinder.

This is another reason I took this camera with me – rather than a newer mirrorless model – as I wouldn’t waste time thinking about what new settings to use. I could focus on more important things, like exposure and composition, and simply enjoying my holiday.

By the way, here’s a top tip – don’t carry an obvious camera bag when travelling. I hadn’t brought a specific camera bag with me on our vacation on purpose. Instead I just used my son’s small Nike backpack to keep the camera with lens inside when we were out on our daily American adventures. It was great as it didn’t shout out that I’m a tourist, or even worse - I’m a tourist with a camera bag and some expensive Canon kit! So it meant I could covertly take my camera with me wherever I went, which meant I didn’t ever miss any photo ops.

The first steam-powered ships took to the water in the latter years of the 18th century, using paddles for propulsion and often still being fitted with sails. It was Richard Wright’s Experiment, a converted French lugger, that made the first trip on the open seas though, chugging from Leeds to Yarmouth in 1813. 

However, the golden age of steamships was the Victorian era (approx 1820-1914), with one of the most famous being the SS Great Britain, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and launched in 1843. Fitted with screws for propulsion, cabins, kitchens, promenade deck and a sumptuous dining saloon, it was the first great luxury liner and sailed between Bristol and New York. She was also the first iron-hulled steamer to cross the Atlantic, in 1845, fielded a crew of 120 and could carry up to 360 passengers.

Capturing exteriors

A heritage ship like the SS Great Britain is more than likely permanently moored or in dry dock as it will never sail again. Even if the ship is still seaworthy, as a floating museum you are again, more likely to find it tied up, rather than actually sailing. Photographing a ship at sea is essentially an action shot, here it’s more a case of exploiting the angles and space as a static landscape. 

If you are at the dock with the ship, the tricky part is getting far enough away to include all of it in the shot, as buildings and dockyard equipment may be in the way. Clearly, a wide angle lens is required here, so head for the prow of the ship and frame it so you can get everything in. For ships with masts, the problem is even more acute because now you have a large vertical element to incorporate as well. Sometimes it’s simply not possible to get everything in, in which case a portrait-orientation shot, including the prow, figurehead and first mast, is your best bet. 

The one thing to be aware of is the position of the sun (if you get any that is) as you want it to be on the side of the ship that you are shooting, not on the far side as this will make it either too dark or offer a tricky exposure. Focus on the prow and use an f/8 or f/11 aperture for the best combination of sharpness and depth of field.

Whilst up top the main attractions are the patterns of wooden planks leading down the ship and the views from either end. Here use a wide angle lens and focus around 3m into the scene, unless you are excluding what is right in front of you, in which case focus a bit further into the scene. Then you can either opt for f/5.6, f/8 or f/11 for maximum sharpness. For ships with masts or tall steam funnels, switching to portrait orientation is usually a good idea.

If the ship is in dry dock there can be the opportunity to get below the waterline, in which case head for the rear to photograph the propeller and rudder. While at the dockside, especially for heritage harbours, there are often other elements of interest such as gears and pulleys, cranes, stacks of barrels and coal, or re-enactments of 19th century life. Capture these before you board the ship.

Life below decks

Capturing how the crew lived and the passengers travelled on a luxury steam-power liner ship like the SS Great Britain can be fascinating but technical challenges await. For a start, it’s going to be much darker, too dark to shoot with f/8 at ISO 100. If you don’t want to keep changing the ISO rating everytime you encounter a new scene it can be worthwhile setting it to Auto ISO and specifying a lower shutter speed limit. Now, with a wide angle lens and either in-camera image stabilisation or lens-based vibration reduction, you can hand-hold a camera at fairly low speeds. How low you can go is your call, but if you set the lower shutter speed to 1/50 sec, then that will offer a good balance between a stable enough shot and the Auto ISO going too high.

Things to look for include cabins for the passengers and control rooms and kitchens or storage areas for the crew. The steam-powered engine machinery may also be visible. For cramped areas the options for composition can be limited, but for locations such as promenade decks or dining saloons where there is more space, avoiding having vertical columns right at the front of the shot as they will probably distort. Use flooring patterns to lead the eye through the scene and consider using symmetrical compositions for architectural features. Which shooting mode to use is your choice but personally I’d go with aperture priority at f/5.6 or f/8 with Auto ISO.

Finally, as these are heritage vessels, it’s not uncommon to find re-enactors dressed up to represent people of the day. Do you have room in your kitbag for a little 50mm portrait lens? If so, now’s the time to swap it in, go wide with your aperture to blur the background, or narrow it down to include the setting.

Metering matters

Scenes below decks will invariably offer a combination of deep shadows, tungsten lamps and natural light from portholes. Zone or evaluative metering, which works well outdoors, is not a good option here, resulting in slower shutter speeds and overexposed highlights. Centre-weighted metering is a better choice, but check the results and if necessary, meter off the brighter elements, lock the exposure reading and recompose for the actual shot. However, if your camera has this, then the best metering option of all is highlight-weighted metering. This actively looks for the light sources and creates an exposure for those, giving you pleasing shadows in other areas. If the overall result is too dark, then ensure you’re shooting RAW and brighten the shadows or mid-tones in post production.

When visiting historic attractions you might not want to lug around your main kit so why not take a travel camera with you or upgrade your phone so it packs one of the best built-in cameras?

As I was packing for a brief three-day weekend away, I eyed my camera backpack that has two bodies and several bright prime lenses tucked safely inside – and then I grabbed a cheap mirrorless camera and an all-in-one superzoom lens, tucked it into a small bag, and left.

I didn’t take my usual and much beloved Fujifilm camera gear on my last vacation; instead, I grabbed the Nikon Z50 II and the Tamron 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD. That camera and multi-purpose lens were the only digital gear I brought besides my Pentax K1000 film camera (and my iPhone, if that counts).

It may seem strange not to reach for the camera with pro-level capabilities every time, particularly on a road trip driving an SUV with plenty of cargo space. But when I grabbed the all-in-one lens instead of my usual and much beloved primes, I wasn’t thinking about image quality; I was thinking about how liberating it felt to use a compact camera when I flew to Florida earlier this year.

I was thinking about how my mental health needed a break from the stack of photos I still had to edit, a break before the busy fall season started.

I wanted to channel that digital minimalism and, more importantly, the ability to hike without wearing a camera backpack. I eyed my waterproof camera, but this latest trip I knew was filled with trails for birding, and I wanted something that balanced portability with a bit of telephoto reach – and that’s where the all-in one superzoom comes in.

Superzooms earned the moniker because they contain both wide-angle focal lengths for snapping landscapes and longer telephoto lengths without swapping lenses. The Tamron 18-300mm in particular also has fairly close focusing capabilities that enable it to function like a half macro lens.

Did Tamron’s affordable all-in-one zoom lens deliver images on par with those from my bright primes? Of course not.

Tamron’s 18-300mm may be fairly good compared to similar lenses that pack wide and telephoto into a single optic, but there’s some edge softness, barrel distortion, and vignetting to contend with. Most noticeably the narrower aperture requires upping the ISO, which introduces more grain and tends to muddle those fine details.

Yes, I did miss the bokeh on my beloved 50mm f/1 lens, but I did not miss wearing a bunch of gear on my back. This was, after all, supposed to be a mini vacation.

A budget all-in-one lens isn’t going to deliver pro-level image quality, but it does deliver the ability to pack light, leave the backpack behind, and still get wide, telephoto, and macro shots. It may not be as trendy as compact cameras, and it certainly doesn’t fit in a pocket, but that superzoom was my compromise between wanting to snap a variety of different photos without hauling a lot of gear around.

I happen to be lucky enough to turn my two biggest hobbies – writing and photography – into a career. But there’s a subtle shift that happens when hobbies become work in that it’s hard not to feel like I’m always working.

I don’t mean to say that I no longer enjoy photography; I do, even when I’m photographing a paying client. But I do find that, when I spend my weekends and vacations taking more photos, I end up getting out of bed on Monday morning feeling like I haven’t really had a weekend at all.

Shooting with more minimalist gear makes my photography feel more like a hobby again – along with (gasp!) not editing those weekend photos and just sharing JPEGs. Keeping a genre strictly as a hobby, as I do with birding and wildlife photography, also helps retain some semblance of a photography hobby.

Am I going to run out and buy the Tamron 18-300mm? (That writing-photography career also means I have the opportunity to try more gear than most, but I do still have to send it back.)

I’m tempted, but there’s gear that sits higher up my wish list (like a brighter telephoto zoom for birding and something wider than 18mm for astrophotography). But I don’t think it’s a bad buy, particularly for hobbyists who can’t afford to get multiple lenses.

The experience also got me excited that Tamron is working on a 25-200mm f/2.8-5.6 that doesn’t reach as far, but has the option to shoot with a wide aperture, or a longer focal length, and still even includes half macro.

There are plenty of trends that I roll my eyes at, but minimalism isn’t one of them – and an all-in-one zoom is a compromise between a compact camera and a heavy backpack full of kit.

More all-in-one zoom lenses

Take a look at the best superzoom lenses for Nikon cameras, and check out some popular options like the Tamron 18-300mm, the Tamron 28-200mm, the Nikon Z 28-400mm and the Sigma 16-300mm.

For photographers, the frustration of a pristine scene marred by distractions is a common occurrence. Whether it’s busy crowds, moving vehicles or onlookers in popular tourist spots or scenic viewpoints, we have all experienced this frustration. While patience might secure a gap for a clean shot, it’s often unfeasible in continuously busy locations.

So how can you ensure your photos aren’t inundated with crowds of people? One highly effective solution involves the use of extremely long exposures. By keeping the shutter open for an extended duration, the motion in the scene blurs, effectively eliminating unwanted elements from the frame. This technique proves particularly valuable in crowded scenarios, transforming busy city streets or iconic landmarks into empty, almost surreal landscapes.

The beauty of this method lies in its ease; with the right equipment and a few considerations, any photographer can use long exposures to enhance their photos and avoid hours of editing work. Whether you’re capturing iconic cityscapes or serene landscapes, using long shutter speeds opens up new realms of creative possibilities.

Before / After

Shooting steps

The setup

1. 24-70mm f/2.8 lens Your shutter speed is the most important component in low-light photography. So a fast lens (f/2.8 or less) will make things easier

2. 10-Stop ND filter Shooting in live view mode will use up batteries much quicker, so make sure you have fully charged spares

3. Tripod You will take a lot of photos in burst mode, so make sure you have plenty of memory cards for your shoot

4. Cable Release You will take a lot of photos in burst mode, so make sure you have plenty of memory cards for your shoot

1. Ensure everything is stable

Stability is crucial when using slow shutter speeds to blur out any motion as any slight camera movement can cause camera shake. So, to ensure that your photos remain sharp, mount your camera on a stable tripod on a solid surface.

2. Select a small aperture

For long shutter speeds, the key is to limit incoming light by choosing a small aperture, such as f/14 or f/16. Avoid going anywhere above f/16, as extremely small apertures can lead to reduced sharpness due to lens diffraction.

3. Go with a low ISO

Depending on how quickly the distractions in your scene are moving, you are likely to need an exposure of at least 30 seconds and possibly even longer. Alongside a small aperture, expanded low ISO will also help you achieve longer exposure times.

4. Use a filter

During the daytime, the main challenge will be to attain a sufficiently long shutter speed. To overcome this, use a six- to 10-stop neutral density filter. If necessary, consider using stacking filters to achieve a long enough shutter speed that blurs out any movement.

5. Select live view mode

When using DSLR cameras, mirror flips cause subtle vibrations. In long-exposure photography, this may lead to camera shake and soft photos. Prevent this by choosing Live View mode to eliminate mirror movement and ensure your images stay sharp.

6. Don’t touch the camera

Even pressing the shutter button can be detrimental to the sharpness of your photos in a long-exposure shot. So refrain from touching the shutter button and, instead, opt for a cable release or go into your camera’s menu and set a two-second timer.

Pro tips

Top tips for long exposures

1. Be aware of where you are placing your tripod. For example, if you are on a bridge, a passing car or even people walking by can cause vibrations that will blur your images.

2. Make sure that you have multiple filters – even a 10-stop filter might not be enough to slow your shutter speed sufficiently.

3. If you have a UV filter on your lens, remove it before you attempt to screw in an ND filter or the ND filter holder. If there is a slight jam, it will be difficult to unscrew
the two filters from one another.

4. You also need to ensure that you have enough power and spare batteries for this type of photography. Long-exposure photos will drain your battery quicker than you think.

5. Be aware of colour casts when using poor quality or cheap filters, especially if they are made from plastic. If you stack these, you may find that your images have a magenta color cast.

Editing steps

1. Fix the shadows

This was a high-contrast scene between the bright, reflective stupa (shrine) and the shaded areas in the foreground. So the first thing to focus on is to brighten the shadows and recover the highlights slightly to avoid them being clipped.

2. Add contrast

Fixing the highlights and shadows has meant that the image now looks a little flat. The next step is to remedy that on the Tone Curve by moving the sliders to create an S-curve. I also added a bit more Clarity to define the edges of the objects.

3. Tweak the brightness

Boosting the contrast has darkened the image slightly again, so I tweaked both the Brightness slider and the Shadows slider to make it lighter. To make the colours pop
a little more, I also increased the Vibrancy and Saturation sliders.

4. Zoom in and finesse

At this stage, I zoom into my image to make some local adjustments and tweak things. For example, increasing the brightness has resulted in some of the highlights being clipped, so I created a mask and recovered these local areas.

5. Straighten and crop

Next, I try to fix the converging lines in the image. In most cases, the image can be straightened by selecting the Auto setting in the Transform tab. I then cropped in slightly on either side and the top of the image to get a 4:3 ratio.

6. Tidy up

My last step is to zoom into the image at 100 per cent and check the photo for things like dust spots, which often become more noticeable when you darken clear sky areas. I use the Healing function to remove these and clean up the rubbish in the foreground.

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A cathedral is different from your local church in that it is defined as the seat of power, or administration, for the Bishop who presides over that particular area. The practical upshot of this is that cathedrals are much larger, more ornate and offer a wealth of photographic opportunities, from architecture to interesting objects.

For this project I headed down to Salisbury Cathedral, which is certainly one of the most impressive in the United Kingdom.

There are three main challenges: distortion, low light and overly bright highlights. The first one is tricky and can only be completely overcome by using a tilt-shift lens to correct the converging verticals and having the building look like it’s falling away.

If you lack that, then the best practice is to get as far away as possible with an unobstructed view, then zoom in to fill the frame. The nearer you are and the wider the lens used, the worse the distortion will be. However, the wider the lens, the more depth of field you get.

You could aim to hit the hyperfocal distance for focusing (which creates the most front-back depth of field), but if the foreground is basically grass and not that important then it's better (like in this case) to focus on the building itself, with an f/5.6-f/8 aperture, for maximum sharpness.

Objects of interest

There can often be interesting objects stashed away inside a cathedral. Use as wide an aperture as possible and zoom in. This image is shot is f/4.5 at 72mm – it’s the bell from a ship that was used to baptize babies at sea. There are children’s names inscribed inside the rim.

Religious elements

It’s a place of worship, so there will be things related to that – none more striking than a pulpit for preaching to the masses. Here, the pulpit is incredibly ornate. If you have to use a wide-angle lens, expect plenty of depth of field, despite an aperture of f/3.5, like here.

Halls and tombs

There will be plenty of tombs related to either well-known figures or those prepared to ease their way into the afterlife with a handsome donation to the church. Combine the tomb (at the end) with long hallways to provide leading lines. Stay away from the walls to reduce the distortion.

Abstract ceilings

To capture the ornate ceilings, stand directly underneath and look up or use a flip-out LCD to make it easier on your neck. The key is to aim for a symmetrical composition of the main elements, even if other features are not balanced. Ensure that your shutter speed is fast enough.

Figures and creatures

Cathedrals often have mythical creatures for you to look for. At Salisbury Cathedral there are all kinds of other figures, such as these four. Like the ceiling shots, aim for some structure and uniformity in the composition.

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When you travel to a city, it’s only natural to visit its hotspots. They’re hotspots for a reason. But if you’re a photographer visiting London, stay away from the hotspots of England's capital!

Of course, you can take very good Martin Parr-inspired photos. I’ve enjoyed taking Martin Parr-inspired photos since I was a beginner photographer. But there’s so many other ways to explore a city!

Here are five gems outside central London that photographers are sure to love…

1) Crystal Palace Subway

The Crystal Palace Subway is in southeast London, which isn’t exactly known to have great transportation links, but if you’re near London Bridge it’s relatively easy to get there.

The subway provided access to Crystal Palace (an actual palace and exhibition hall) until both the Palace and the station were destroyed in a fire in the 1930s. It has recently been restored and opened to the public in 2024.

It’s a magnificent space to take photos, particularly for those who like architecture shots. The subway was built in Victorian times, boasting a striking vaulted roof supported by octagonal pillars.

The subway hosts open days and events including film screenings, markets, and sketch and photography sessions. Entry is free but it’s worth checking the Crystal Palace Trust website for updates on events.

2) Crystal Palace Park

Crystal Palace Park is right next to the subway. You can still see the remains of the palace, including a few large sphinx statues. I am not the only person who’s taken a selfie with them or played around with it like it’s a photo booth with my friends.

There are various attractions to photograph: the Crystal Palace transmitter (London's less glamorous Eiffel Tower, if you will), dinosaur statues (and of other extinct fauna), a skatepark, a maze, a market on Sundays and more. There’s also the Crystal Palace Bowl, which hosted Bob Marley and the Wailers’ largest UK concert and final London show in 1980.

Its sheer size means it’s got a little of everything, whether you’re into photographing sports, historical buildings, or music events.

3) Kingston upon Thames

Kingston upon Thames is in southwest London, along the Thames (hence the ‘upon Thames’ bit). It’s close to Heathrow Airport and easy to get to from central London, just a thirty-minute or so train ride from London Waterloo.

It feels like a town, and it was one during medieval times. This gives Kingston charming out-of-London town vibes. Its Ancient Market Place possibly dates from the early 1200s. During the Christmas holidays, Kingston holds its annual Christmas market and stalls transform into charming wooden chalets.

It’s a great spot for street photography and for photographers looking to photograph theater and musicians; Kingston’s The Rose Theatre and Pryzm (Gracie Abrams, Bon Jovi and The Last Dinner Party have performed there) are both within walking distance from Kingston Station.

South from Kingston is Surbiton station, which is at the edge of London. Photographers who are Potterheads rejoice, that scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in which Dumbledore appears to Harry and swiftly transports him to Diagon Alley.

4) Richmond Riverside Walk

Slightly above Kingston is Richmond. Along the riverside walk are several local businesses, boats and green spaces, enjoyed by locals particularly in the spring and summer as Londoners come out like flowers to take in the heat.

A notable spot in Richmond is the White Cross, popularly known as The Pub That Floods. This is due to the high tide, which leaves the pub flooded and you inside with a drink in hand and complimentary wellington boots on your feet. According to its website, it’s a place "where high tides, high vibes and a once-in-a-lifetime experience come together".

Check out Josh Edgoose’s 10 Miles West, which is a great place to spark your inspiration. It documents Twickenham, Isleworth, Brentford and Richmond over 10 years.

The borough of Richmond upon Thames has several historical buildings from Tudor, Stuart or Georgian times, like Hampton Court. You can also go photograph the deer in Bushy Park, which is particularly beautiful in misty mornings.

5) Kew Gardens

Love plants? Kew Gardens is practically a theme park for plant lovers and botanists. And even bird photographers, too. This place is huge and has a variety of photo opportunities.

There’s a bunch of different activities and events at the park, including flower shows, exhibitions, walking tours, as well as outdoor Tai Chi and yoga classes.

The Tree Walk enables you to get on the same level as the treetops around you and see the world from above, and you can even see London’s skyline in the distance.

One thing to consider, though, is that it can be relatively pricey. Tickets are around £25 (roughly $34 / AU$52) in peak months (February to October) and around £15 ($20 / AU$30) at off-peak months (November to January) – and you should book in advance to get the best pricing. While entry to some events is included in your ticket, others are not. Students and others get discounts and reduced prices.

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Oh dear, it sounds like the lo-fi content creation boom has reached commercial travel photography, with data suggesting that travellers are “skeptical of destinations and accommodations that only post polished, curated content.”

The survey from Full Frame Insurance, taken from a pool of 1,000 Americans, was conducted to find out how travel photography impacts trust when vacationers are searching online.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, AI-generated or enhanced imagery proved a big concern, with 83% of respondents feeling “anxious about AI-generated images” and only 6% believing AI intervention will make the genre more trustworthy.

This mistrust isn’t coming from nowhere, with more than one in five feeling unsafe when arriving at a destination that they booked because of the imagery, and nearly two in five feeling let down by “misleading” travel photography.

The survey also revealed that diversity played a big role in how likely a respondent was to respond favorably to imagery, with 42% more likely to visit a travel destination promoted by photos with a diverse representation.

The survey also revealed some not-so-surprising data about Gen Z. While 1 in 4 respondents was influenced by “how attractive people look in destination photos”, this rose to 59% when the survey pool was limited to Gen Z. That’s not all; nearly a third of social-media-savvy Gen Zers bring a travel buddy along to capture selfies.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway for those within the travel industry is that 82% of respondents said they like realistic imagery of travel destinations, “even if that means showing construction zones, sketchy areas, or visible safety concerns.”

So there you have it. I, for one, am not surprised to hear that AI-enhancement is a big cause for concern when viewing travel photos. As I said a few months ago, in this new world of AI, photography will live and die by how transparent we photographers choose to be about the images we create.

This survey by Full Frame Insurance only seems to embolden that sentiment.

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A debate recently raged on Threads: should you watermark your images?

Despite it being a seemingly innocuous question, there are some photographers who are surprisingly passionate about the topic.

“Looks terrible, and anyone who is going to steal your image can easily remove the watermark with AI anyway!” said one.

“I used to watermark my photos because I was worried about someone stealing them. Looking back, it seems a bit silly now, but we all live and learn,” said another.

“The bigger the watermark, the weaker the photography,” opined a third.

Sure, some watermarks are ugly. They can distract from the image and, as many pointed out, they’re easy to remove. So why bother?

I’m not proposing splattering your name repeatedly all over the photo as if fired from a paint gun, but for me, a neat logo or signature in the corner is no different from an artist signing a painting.

It’s a subtle reminder that someone made this, and owns the copyright. My watermark matches the logo on my website and is part of my brand. I think it looks smart and professional.

Of course, I know it won’t stop a determined thief. If someone really wants to steal your photo, they will. But most people aren’t malicious, they’re just clueless. They see a pretty image online and assume it’s free to use. They don’t know the law, and they rarely credit the photographer.

When that happens (and it often does), my watermark is my way of asserting ownership and making sure I get the credit I deserve.

And when it comes to the thieves, it’s even more useful. If someone crops or clones it out, that’s not accidental. That’s proof of intent, and it gives me a stronger legal case if I need to chase them for payment.

So no, my watermark isn’t ‘terrible’. It’s my digital signature. My quiet little “I made this, please don’t nick it” in the corner.

And if it makes you look at it? That’s a win!

In times gone by, caves performed a vital service by providing shelter for animals and early humans. Usually created by faintly acidic rainwater running down through limestone and dissolving the rock, cave systems take thousands of years to fully form. Stalactites (the ones that hang down) and stalagmites (the ones that grow upwards) are created by rainwater loaded with dissolved calcium bicarbonate from the limestone above, typically growing at a rate of less than 10cm every thousand years.

The premise of this article is that you’re taking a tour around a commercial cave system, so tripods and using a flashgun aren’t allowed. It goes without saying that the low light level is going to be challenging throughout, but that’s not quite your biggest one.

The biggest challenge

No, the bigger menace are spotlights on reflective surfaces. As this type of cave system has usually been opened up for visitors, there will be spotlights to highlight interesting features. The trouble is, they will be quite bright, in very small areas, whereas the rest of the cave will be suitably murky and dim. This will fool most metering systems, resulting in blown highlights on these reflective surfaces. For that reason, always shoot RAW, not JPEG. Sometimes you can get away with a couldn’t-care-less approach to file formats, but not here. Shoot JPEG and you’ll be crying over the hotspots later. Even RAW, though, has its limits, so in caves which do have some very bright spots then either use Highlight Metering or Center-Weighted Metering and meter off the lights, then lock the reading and recompose for the actual shot. Yes, you’ll have your work cut out in the RAW files later, pulling all the details out of the shadows, but at least that’s possible whereas cloning overblown highlights is no-one’s idea of a good time.

So that’s the metering side, how low you can go with the shutter speed with your camera setup is something you need to appreciate in advance because it dictates how much you’ll need to increase the ISO rating to get a usable shot. A wide-angle lens, lens-based vibration reduction, in-body image stabilisation, mirrorless systems, and steady hands all contribute to what’s feasible.

Also, if you can take a monopod around with you (often you can’t, some places you might be able to) then that will help facilitate lower shutter speeds. Where do you draw the line? Without being able to prop either myself or the camera against anything, I’m looking at 1/25 sec as the minimum and if the shutter speed drops below that, I need to take action.

One method of going about shooting down below is to use Manual mode, set the shutter speed to your minimum for handheld shots, use the aperture you want for the scene, and set the ISO to Auto to let it pull in enough light for the shot. This is a fairly quick method of working, as you’re only changing the aperture every so often but there’s less control over the ISO and the resulting noise.

The alternative method is to use Aperture Priority mode and set the aperture for the scene, keeping an eye on the shutter speed and adjusting the ISO as and when required. It’s a lot more fiddly, but there’s more control and if you’re not in a busy, large tour group where your time to get each shot is fairly limited, then it’s a good option.

So, the next question is what aperture to use? With a wide angle lens you’re getting a decent amount of depth of field compared to a telephoto lens, but the key factors are how big is each cavern, how much back to front sharpness do you need, how much light is there, how high is the ISO rating? It’s a constant mental juggling exercise. So, a small cavern, there’s less to include, you can use a wider aperture, bring the ISO down perhaps. If there’s not much light and you’re facing really high ISO ratings (such as 3200 or higher) then sometimes you just have to make the best of the situation by opening up the aperture to f/2.8-f/4 to get more light in, but then focus on the most important element in the scene, so at least that’s going to be in focus. For a bigger cavern, where maybe you can stop down to f/8, take the standard landscape path of focussing a third of the way into the scene.

What about water

Pools of water, rivers, underground lakes, they all add to the interest. While any fast-flowing water can add a dramatic element to an underground photo, it’s the still pools that have more potential because of the reflections. If you’re lucky, there will already be a reflection off the water surface, but if not, are you willing to try using a circular polariser?

Rotate it to maximise reflections and get a better photo but there’s a price to pay. It’s around two stops less light coming into the camera. What difference does it make? Down in the depths, where you are shooting on the edge, quite a lot. Say the shutter speed was 1/32 sec, you’re good with that but then add the polariser. It’s now ⅛ sec. Do you feel lucky? Or, your ISO was 1600, but now it’s 6400. How much more noisy is the photo now? Of course if this particular cavern has relatively good light, then a two stop hit is much more palatable.

Past and present

Caves have been occupied and used for thousands of years as seen in these shots showing fossils, 19th century mining equipment, and a current cheese making operation, deep underground.

Six months. That's how long my wife and I spent wandering around New Zealand between August 2024 and February 2025, armed with our cameras and a naive belief that we'd return home with memory cards bursting with spectacular shots of Middle Earth.

Instead, we came back with what can only be described as the world's most expensive collection of "No Photography" signs.

It started innocuously enough. The glow worm caves in Waitomo? No photos. Fair enough, we thought, let's protect the worms. Then we learned that we weren't just banned from shooting the glow worms, but even the stalactites. Do rocks have rights? In New Zealand, apparently so.

Then came the Weta Workshop tour in Wellington. No photography allowed of its behind-the-scenes magic. I get it – trade secrets and all that. Though given that half its techniques seem to involve foam latex and clever lighting, I'm not sure my holiday snaps were going to bring down the special effects industry.

Protect the penguins

Our trip to the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony delivered the next blow to our photographic ambitions. These adorable little tuxedo-wearing birds waddle ashore every evening in one of nature's most adorable moments.

And of course, we expected to be told "no flash photography". But again, the rule was no photography at all; a fact that hadn't been made clear on its website.

Apparently, even the gentle glow of a phone screen might send these creatures into existential crisis. I've seen penguins in documentaries aggressively defending their breeding grounds against intruders, including vampire bats. But show them a Canon DSLR and they're suddenly as fragile as Victorian ladies with the vapors.

The annual World of Wearable Art show in Wellington – a spectacular, unique mix of fashion, art and performance that I'd highly recommend to anyone – continued the theme.

Despite being surrounded by the most photographically striking garments imaginable, we were forbidden from capturing any of them on camera. Copyright concerns, they explained. Because clearly, my shaky-handed tourist photos from the back of the arena were going to compete with their professional marketing shots.

But it was the museums, particularly those featuring Māori art and artifacts, where the photography bans felt most ubiquitous. Cultural sensitivity is absolutely important, and I respect the sacred nature of many "taonga" (treasured possessions or cultural treasures of the Māori people).

But when the ban extends to contemporary art inspired by traditional themes, or historical displays with explanatory plaques, or even the sign to the toilets, it starts to feel less like cultural protection and more like blanket prohibition.

Cultural clampdown

As a result, by the end of our stay, our photo album selection was looking very limited. Beaches, yes – though New Zealand's summer decided to cosplay as British weather, so most of those shots looked more drearily apocalyptic than aspirational.

Mountains from a distance, check. But anything requiring actual engagement with New Zealand's cultural or natural attractions? Verboten.

What's particularly galling is how these bans are spreading like a particularly virulent strain of bureaucratic thinking. The justifications vary – wildlife protection, copyright, cultural sensitivity, trade secrets – but the result is always the same: photography becomes the enemy of experience, rather than its natural companion.

The wildlife protection argument is perhaps the most insidious because it sounds so reasonable. Of course we want to protect animals. But when did we decide that humans holding cameras are inherently more threatening than humans without them?

Are we really suggesting that generations of wildlife photographers, from Ansel Adams to David Attenborough's crews, have been environmental vandals this whole time?

Copyright concerns are equally puzzling in the Instagram age. Museums and similar attractions invest huge sums (often of taxpayers' money) in creating shareable experiences, then seem genuinely surprised when people want to share them. They're simultaneously courting visitors while treating them as potential art thieves.

And don't get me started on the "disrupts other visitors' experience" argument. Apparently, the gentle click of a camera shutter is now considered more disruptive than the constant buzz of conversation, the rustle of souvenir bags, or the inevitable wailing of overtired children.

We've created a hierarchy of acceptable disturbances where photography sits firmly at the bottom.

Worryingly, this trend isn't confined to New Zealand – I've noticed it creeping into attractions worldwide. Even some restaurants have started banning food photography, as if sharing a picture of your overpriced eggs benedict constitutes industrial espionage.

Yes, Instagrammers can be tedious and annoying. But I still say, let them have their fun. A night out is supposed to be fun, right?

The irony is that these photography bans often defeat their own stated purposes. Want to protect wildlife? Engaged visitors who feel connected to what they're seeing – often through photographing it – are more likely to become conservation advocates.

Worried about copyright? Stop worrying and start encouraging: amateur tourist photos are the best free marketing you'll ever get.

Fears for the future

So where are we heading? Maybe I'm being paranoid, but it feels like we're creating a world where experiences become increasingly ephemeral, where the only acceptable record of our encounters with art, nature and culture are the sanitized, professional images approved by institutions.

It's turning tourism into a form of temporary amnesia. You were there, you saw it, but you're not allowed to prove it. And in our efforts to preserve and protect, we're actually erasing the personal connection that makes travel meaningful in the first place.

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Iceland. The land of Fire and Ice. Every photographer's bucket list location. How could you not be excited to go? I definitely was. I was going with my buddies Richard and Mark. We were flying over and camping for a week in a trip that encompassed the whole island. This meant spreading the equipment load and bringing only the most essential equipment. Weight was definitely an issue. 

At the time I was using Canon and even with just a few lenses I was well overweight. Something had to give. It was time for a travel camera. I hummed and hawed. Fujifilm seemed like a great idea, the image quality was great, but there were focus issues. One of my portrait photographer heroes had started using Olympus, so I bought an E-M5. It was feature packed and very compact. It fit the bill. 

We flew over at the end of June and collected our jeep. After a short trip around Reykjavik, we hit Route One with sun to our sides. We made our way down to Vik, stopping at waterfalls and black beaches as we passed. The summer meadows made for a gorgeous foreground as we perused Seljalandsfoss. My new Olympus was perfect as we wandered around the waterfall. 

Seeing as we were tourists (don’t lie to yourself-even as a photographer, you’re still a tourist), we did the tourist thing and followed the queues up behind the waterfall. It was glorious, with the sun shining through. No chance of a golden hour shot, we had too much to see! 

On we went to Skogafoss. I wanted to capture this beast as it thundered down. It was every bit as magnificent as I imagined. Now, I did take two cameras with me. My Canon EOS 5D Mk II and the new Olympus E-M5. 

The Olympus was getting the love, but I was still using the Canon to get wider shots using the EF 17-40mm f4L. I got this up first and took a few shots, letting it run a few HDR brackets. Then I set up the Olympus by the stream coming out of the waterfall. I wanted to use the stream as a leading line into the magnificent falls. 

Once set up, I went to check my Canon. As I got there I turned around to see my 4-day-old E-M5 falling in slow motion as the tripod overbalanced. It splashed into the stream and the water flowed over it completely. I sprinted over, but it was still a distance from me. It was deep in the stream and I had to wade to grab the tripod to lift it out. 

Now these cameras are weather-sealed, but they’re not waterproof. It was a mess. Water was pouring out, so I immediately removed the battery. All I could do now was let it dry out. A few days later after sitting on the back window of the jeep in full sunlight, I risked putting the battery in with mixed emotions. Nothing started smoking, so that was a start. I tried to take a photo.. The shutter fired. The picture? Not so good. 

The sensor was covered in gunk. I tried to clean it using sensor swabs and cleaning fluid, but no amount of repeated cleaning made any difference. To cut a long story short, I became convinced that somehow dirty water had leaked under the sensor’s protective glass. Another side effect at the time was each time I reinserted a battery, the camera time would reset, so I can’t actually pin the exact photo I shot, but I think this one is around the time of doing some cleaning and having 2 spots that couldn’t be removed.

I sent the camera back to Olympus, via my local shop, where I had bought it. Olympus sent it back untouched, saying there was no point in trying to repair a water damaged camera. I was a little upset and could only just suck up my loss. 

Time passed and I got to the point where I figured that as the camera was a dead loss anyway, I’d give it one more go with new cleaner and swaps. If it failed, then that would be the end of it. It would be a great story of over-excitement and a tale of warning. 

What do you know? It worked this time. I shot loads more on that camera and eventually sold it to a friend who knew the full story of the camera. He used it on many shoots, and recorded many music videos with it. 

Two men from Cumbria, England, have been found guilty of criminal damage at Newcastle Crown Court. Their crime was felling the world-famous Sycamore Gap tree, beloved of photographers for decades.

The men, Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, have each been convicted of two counts of criminal damage, and the verdict – returned at 10:00 today, after the jury took over 4 hours of deliberation – was unanimous.

The judge in the case, Mrs Justice Lambert, has indicated that the men will be sentenced on July 15. And, according to the BBC, the court proceedings will "likely" be televised, such is the level of interest in the vandalism of the Sycamore Gap.

The investigation has been the subject of intense interest, at least in part because people have sought to understand why the men should want to cause harm to a site of such natural beauty that it has long been of interest to tourists and photographers.

According to Northumbria Police, however, there has never been any information about motive. Instead, the investigation was forced to discover that the men had the means and opportunity.

Since the verdict was announced, Gale Gilchrist, spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service, said that the tree was an "iconic natural landmark in the North East of England." She added that, "In just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended its historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction."

She noted that the criminals seemed to take pleasure in how far and wide the news of their act of destruction spread. The other charge against each man was for damage to Hadrian's Wall. (Read the full CPS statement)

The police, too, noted the strength of feeling among people – including landscape photographers – which motivated them to build a robust case and ensure that those responsible were brought to justice.

The investigation began after the felling in September 2023, as documented by Northumbria Police.

The case involved some very strange details, such as a photo of Mr Graham, taken by Mr Carruthers, holding a pair of owls! (It was more significant that there were chainsaws in the photo – and that there are photos of the pair doing tree surgery.)

The case even discussed whether the pair had seen Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (a film in which the tree appears!).

It also seems there was a video filmed by the pair of the crime in progress:

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Read our guide to the best cameras for landscape photography and the best lenses for landscape photography.

For me, one of the joys of travel photography is capturing local people. I don’t mean snatching the occasional street scene, but getting up close and creating colourful, personal portraits. And to do that, you have to speak to them.

I’ve broken out my rusty Spanish in Guatemala, stumbled through Maa with Maasai guides in Kenya, and made Botswana locals laugh with my terrible Setswana. Even if you butcher the pronunciation, making an effort goes a long way – it breaks the ice, creates a genuine connection, and sets you up for characterful photos and a rewarding interaction.

Here are the five words or phrases I always try to learn as soon as I arrive in a new country.

1. Hello

An obvious one, but vital. Greeting someone in their language is the fastest way to show respect and establish a rapport – and is much better than arrogantly assuming that everyone understands English.

2. May I take a photo?

Yes, you can get by with a hopeful smile and a gesture towards your camera, but making the effort in the local language almost always leads to a better response.

In Kenya, asking “Awosh empisha?” in Maa made people warm to me instantly, and gave me the opportunity to take stunning portraits of Maasai villagers who couldn’t believe a foreigner had made the effort.

3. (You look) beautiful!

I always show people their photograph on the back of my camera. For many, it’s a rare experience – and being able to give a compliment and make someone feel good is an easy way to thank them for their time.

I never ask to photograph someone unless I genuinely think that they look interesting or photogenic – and who doesn’t like being told they look great?

4. Do you have WhatsApp?

Where possible, I like to send people their images. After all, they’ve given me their time, so why shouldn’t they get something back? A priestess I met at a holy site in Guatemala was so delighted when I later remembered to do as I’d promised, it made her day. And that made me feel good, too.

5. Thank you

I like to leave people with a smile and a good feeling towards tourists. It creates a positive impact on the people and places I visit and paves the way for the photographers who come after me.  

Learning a few local words doesn’t just lead to better images – it leads to memorable experiences, too.

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Before you head off, make sure to arm yourself with one of the best travel cameras and one or more of the best lenses for travel photography.

I’m a bit of a volcano junkie. I’ve hiked them all over the world, from Guatemala and Chile to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Usually, I’ll hire a porter to carry my gear – it’s a great way to give a local guy a day’s income, and save myself the pain of lugging kilos of lenses and a tripod for hours uphill.

But for Ol Doinyo Lengai, an active volcano in northern Tanzania, that wasn’t an option.

Rising over 9,800ft / 3,000m above Lake Natron, Ol Doinyo Lengai is sacred to the Maasai, known as the Mountain of God. It’s also the only volcano in the world that erupts natrocarbonatite lava – a black, sticky paste that flows at a searing 932°F / 500°C.

While not as high as other volcanos I’ve climbed, it’s also stupidly steep – and completely terrifying.

We started at midnight to reach the summit for sunrise. That meant six hours of climbing by torchlight, scrambling up forty-five-degree slopes of compacted ash with no switchbacks, nothing to grab onto, and a very real risk of losing your footing and sliding straight back down to the valley floor, with nothing to break your fall.

There was no way I was dragging a DSLR and lenses up there. So I left the ‘big camera’ behind and took only my Fujifilm X100T – the precursor to the Fujifilm X100VI, a compact with a fixed 35mm lens and a small pouch that I could attach to my belt.

It was the perfect choice. I could easily whip it out to shoot climbers lit by torchlight or capture the vertigo-inducing views of the valley far below.

At the top, it handled the glowing sunrise and precarious crater rim beautifully. And when I needed the all-important summit photo, my guide could easily handle the simple task of pointing and shooting.

Would the DSLR have given me better image quality? Of course. But I probably wouldn’t have made it to the top with it. Sometimes, the best camera is simply the one you can actually carry up a volcano.

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In late 2020, during the depths of the pandemic, I began working on an epic two-part documentary series about the Ancient Maya Civilisation.

I spent four months alone during the grim winter lockdown, planning a five-week shoot across Maya sites in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. It was my creative baby and a longed-for escape from the misery of lockdown, at a time when travel was banned and only a privileged few could leave the UK.

Then, just ten days before departure, I went to my best friend’s house to celebrate my birthday (I live alone, and she was my ‘support bubble’ person). But along with a lovely gift, she accidentally gave me COVID.

I was devastated. Months of hard work, research and planning had gone into that trip, and now I couldn't go. I sobbed over Zoom to my bosses, but the shoot had to go ahead. So I stayed home, briefed a replacement director from my sickbed, and watched as he jetted off to shoot my film without me.

But I couldn’t let it go. I needed to see the people and places I’d spent so long researching. So, once the edit was finished, and determined to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, I booked a three-month trip to Guatemala and went by myself. That decision turned out to be life-changing. 

At the time, I was a freelance documentary director with a small travel blog on the side. But after returning from Guatemala, I pitched my first stories and images to national publications.

I landed bylines and photo credits in National Geographic Traveller, BBC Travel, Wanderlust, JRNY, The Great Outdoors, BBC Wildlife and more. Just recently, National Geographic Traveller published a Guatemala supplement featuring three of my articles and six of my images – including the cover.

My blog now gets over 100,000 page views a month, many from travelers looking for Guatemala tips. I’ve won awards, been published in most of the major UK travel titles, and I get invited to speak and write about travel photography.

In two months, I’ll be taking the stage at the Royal Geographical Society and am even in talks to lead my own photography tours.

None of it would have happened if I’d made that shoot. So I guess I have to thank my best friend – and COVID!

One of my favorite images – one I love so much that I framed it and hung it on my wall – is of a chimpanzee.

I took it in Uganda’s Kibale Forest, after an hour of hiking through tangled jungle, following our guide as he chased the chimp’s echoing calls. When we found him, Ssebo the chimpanzee was posing on a log, framed perfectly by foliage, the light falling just right on his face, bright eyes full of intelligence. A gift of a wildlife encounter. 

Later, the image was published by Lonely Planet alongside an article I wrote about chimp trekking. It was one of my first travel writing commissions and, as a newbie photographer, seeing my photo on the Lonely Planet website was a major career moment.

But as soon as it went online, every African safari company and its dog nicked it to use on their own site. It’s all over the internet: every tiny Ugandan tour company and even large websites like TripAdvisor and GetYourGuide are using my photo with zero credit, let alone payment. 

How do I know? I’m signed up to Pixsy, a copyright platform that scans the web for your images. Every month I get emails full of matches: page after page of my chimp photo being used left, right and center. The alerts make me so furious that I might need to ask my GP for blood pressure medication.

The worst part is that most of these companies are small operators in Africa, where Pixsy has no legal reach. Many of the sites don’t even have contact details. What can I do? Rage silently? Fire off takedown notices that go nowhere? It’s exhausting.

I’ve thought about removing the image from Pixsy altogether just so I can live in blissful ignorance. But two things stop me. First, every now and then it is used by someone we can pursue – and a few hundred dollars here and there is still worth having.

And second, I’ve accepted that Ssebo the chimpanzee is now living his best life on the internet. If some tour operator uses him to sell trips, and visitors end up supporting conservation in Uganda, maybe that’s a win. Even if I didn’t get the credit.

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3D developer Matt Newell always carries a camera around with him – so perhaps it's unsurprising that the 3D artist’s first video game is one where players become photographers. Lushfoil Photography Sim is a game where players virtually explore ten different virtual locations, taking photos and trying photography challenges along the way.

Newell, who first picked up a photography hobby in high school, sees Lushfoil as a way to eliminate many of the problems photographers face in the real world, creating a game where photographers can unwind without the challenges that typically come with photography. Players in Lushfoil have control over more than just the camera but can manipulate the weather or adjust the angle of the sun, dreaming up shots that may not be possible in the real world.

“The goal of the project was actually to eliminate the problems you get as a photographer in the real world,” Newell told Digital Camera World. “I’ve done lots of early mornings and late nights trying to photograph specific weather conditions or see the stars. But in Lushfoil, since everything is simulated, you can fine-tune elements in your environment to your liking, such as sun angle, sun strength, fog, wind, rain, snow, and more. One challenge I’ve kept, though, is photographing animals. They can be sporadic, or only appear for a few moments, which is what makes animal encounters so special.”

Lushfoil, which launched April 15, mixes his photography hobby with his work as a 3D developer. Using the Unreal Engine, Newell has built 3D scenes for everything from museum exhibits to music videos. With Lushfoil, Newell mixes his 3D art with photography.

“I see Lushfoil mostly just as a compilation of my work in a 3D environment art, like how artists release albums as a body of work,” he said. “This would be my debut album. Photography, which eventually became the core of the experience, started out as just barebones first-person exploration mechanics that I created as a new way for people to experience the worlds that I’d made.”

Players in the game will have a main camera that uses presets to simulate different lenses and settings. Newell says that this is to give seasoned photographers enough control while also making the game beginner-friendly. The game will also have discoverable cameras that players can find, including a 35mm film camera, early 2000s digital cameras, a tape camcorder, and some surprise virtual gear.

The game, at launch, will feature ten real-world locations, most of which Newell has visited and photographed himself, basing the 3D scenes on his own travel images. The game includes Lago Di Braies, Italy; Castle Rock Beach, Western Australia; Kyoto, Japan; Mýrdalssandur, Iceland; Chamonix, France; The Mardi Himal Trail, Nepal; Yamadera, Japan; Northern UK; Shengshan Island, China; and a tenth surprise location.

While photography is central to Lushfoil, Newell sees the game as a space where beginners can learn and advanced photographers can unwind, but also as an experience designed for non-gamers. “I’ve tried to design the experience to be less ‘game-y,’ to try and make it approachable to those who don’t usually play games. I hope people are able to easily grasp the controls and movement so that they can just use the game to relax and unwind, practice composition, or learn about cameras.”

Lushfoil Photography Sim is available on several gaming platforms, including PC/Steam, Playstation and, XBox.

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In today’s crowded digital world, it’s all about adding a unique touch to your travel photos to really stand out. Just switching up your shooting angle might not cut it!

Here are some tips to help your audience feel like they’re right there with you. By sharing interesting stories and capturing scenes that draw them in, you will create a memorable experience for your viewers.

Don’t stick strictly to the plan

Having a plan is helpful, but it can also hold you back from exploring and staying curious. Sure, there are plenty of iconic spots to snap pictures of – but if you really want to discover the area's hidden gems, go with your gut instincts.

Take a stroll down side streets or through alleyways, and you might just find some unexpected and amazing photo ops. This kind of wandering makes for a more laid-back photography experience, which is something you want to allow for sometimes.

Frame travel atmospheres

As a traveler, you immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and scents of the destination – but don't forget that your audience is missing out on those sensations. To ensure your travel photos truly stand out, communicate a sense of feeling and place through your work.

Capturing your impressions is what sets a pro apart from an amateur. Even with just a little gear, you can show off the mood of your trip – like experimenting with exposure to highlight the beauty of a waterfall. The secret is to use photographic techniques to really capture what makes any scene special.

To give your images extra impact, learn about the traditions and cultural interactions of the places you’re visiting. Do your research and include events and celebrations to enrich the story with a sense of adventure, context, and a deeper meaning.

Watch the background

This is a classic tip that portrait photographers know well. If you want to draw attention to certain elements or subjects in your photo, isolating the subject with a shallow depth of field is key to making it pop against a busy background.

To melt a background into a blur of bokeh, open up your aperture to its maximum (the smallest f-number), which lets in a lot of light. Just remember that, in bright conditions, you'll want to keep your ISO low and shutter speed high to balance the exposure.

Pro tip: Analyze the light

Figuring out outdoor lighting can be tricky, especially when you’re in new places. But if you want high-quality travel photos, don't forget to consider the light so you can really capture the atmosphere and showcase your subject in the best way. Apps like Best Photo Times can help you know how the light will hit the scene. It even provides a visual layout on a map to show what lighting effects to expect.

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This year's The Photography & Video Show 2025 has relocated from its traditional home of the UK's second city of Birmingham to the nation's capital, the world-famous city of London. It will take place for the first time at the Excel London exhibition center from March 8-11, 2025, and is set to be the biggest and most exciting yet.

• SAVE 20% OFF TICKETS TO THE PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO SHOW

And if there wasn't enough to see and photograph at the show itself, London is a photographer's dream. Historical architecture butts up against modern skyscrapers, and pomp and pageantry juxtaposes with gritty street scenes, there's something to shoot around every corner of the capital.

But where do you start? With our FREE Photographer's Guide to London download, that's where! Our complimentary ebook is packed with advice and inspiration for the unmissable sights to capture with your camera while you're in The Big Smoke. Download it today!

The Photographer's Guide to London has been produced by our friends at Digital Photographer magazine and is included as a supplement with issue 289, which goes on sale February 14, 2025. The issue is also bundled with a free physical copy of the Digital Photographer 2025 Annual bookazine, two extra ebooks, and a bunch of Software assets. It is not to be missed!

See our exhaustive show guide for everything you need to know about the Photography & Video Show 2025, including a comprehensive guide to what's on, a full exhibitors' list, must-see speakers, and the free talks and demos you can attend.

The Photography & Video Show is presented by Future Plc, which is also the parent company of Digital Camera World.

View Finders, an Emmy-nominated series that follows two photographers as they travel throughout the US, will soon begin its latest season. The third season of View Finders is expected to debut at the Imaging USA conference on February 03.

View Finders follows professor, author and photographer Chris Greer and photographer Paul Daniel as they travel across the United States. The third season will open with two episodes centered on photography in two national parks: the Grand Tetons National Park and Arcadia National Park.

Take a look at the trailer for the show's second season for a taste of what it's all about:

ABOVE: Watch the View Finders season two trailer

The Grand Tetons episode will be shown on February 03 followed by the Arcadia episode on February 04, both in the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center's PPA Theater, as part of the Imaging USA show taking place in Dallas, Texas.

The unscripted series joins the two photographers as they make their way across the US in search of both adventure and beautiful photographs. Along the way, the hosts discuss photography as well as the history behind the locations.

This year, Sigma is the official lens sponsor of the series. Excluding some drone shots, the photographers on the show will use Sigma lenses, the company says, with the episodes also shot with Sigma gear. Sigma’s booth at Imaging USA will also have gear checks and cleaning by Sigma’s service team.

"View Finders is centered around the overall visual experience; and the Sigma lenses consistently delivered stunning footage from every location, which we hope inspires our viewers to explore and photograph the country themselves," said Greer. "We are very excited to premiere these two episodes at Imaging USA in partnership with Sigma."

While the show hasn’t yet shared a streaming date outside of the public showing during Imaging USA, photographers can catch up on the first two seasons by streaming them free through PBS.

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UK photographer Andy Nelson is primarily focusing on street and travel photography. He is a Leica shooter, and adds, "Some of my best photos are taken when simply being a tourist, that is why I love my Leica Q2. I don’t need to carry my heavy professional kit with me all day, and I can still take pro-quality photos. Compact cameras have a beautiful place in the world of photography!". 

I had the pleasure of interviewing him about his work and analyzing his image 'Torres de Quart'. We discussed the techniques he used to capture the photo and why it works... 

1. Subject = Success

Incorporating or excluding a subject significantly influences the success of a photograph, says Andy. "I took the same photo without the person… it wasn’t great. The image didn’t give a place for the eye to rest. In this image, the subject allows the eye to focus on an area of interest and adds an element of curiosity. I like that the silhouette overlaps the most vibrant area of the photo, doubling the emphasis on where the eye should land." The silhouette of the individual is rendered prominently, effectively obscuring the identity of the subject while retaining the viewer’s attention.

2. Playing by the rules

"The key area of the photo falls nicely into multiple rules of composition. It fits perfectly into the upper-right intersect of the rule of thirds, almost fits perfectly into the Fibonacci spiral, and sits on the shoulder of the golden ratio. The vertical brick line in the middle is perfectly aligned to the center vertical line; the horizontal brick line is on the upper line of the golden ratio," explains Andy. "In my naïve youth, I thought composition rules were ‘restrictive to the creative expression’. When I look back at my favorite photos, they all follow common composition rules, even my candid ones!"

• Rule of Thirds: use it and break it with confidence
• Golden ratio photography composition explained
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3. Strong sunlight

Harsh sunlight? Stop down and let contrast be your friend, says Andy. "To the naked eye, the shadows weren’t as deep, and the yellow wall was not as vibrant. To a camera set to its default exposure, the harsh sunlight blew out the highlights. I noticed interesting shapes from the strong sunlight being blocked off by the walls behind me, and set my preview exposure to -2 stops. It was only when I looked through the viewfinder that I saw the potential in the composition – the deep black shadows and vibrant highlights looked amazing!"

4. Color family 

"I’m still new to the subtle art of color science, it’s something I aim to get better at this year," explains Andy. When he edits photographs, he uses color.adobe.com to find a color harmony that can balance the photo. He says, "This image has a monochromatic color harmony (yellow through to black). The original photo was well-balanced anyway, but I used Lightroom to remove some magenta and red creeping into the midtones. It’s a marginal gain that really helps improve quality by removing distractions."

Tech details

Camera and lens : Leica Q2 and Summilux 28mm 1:1.7/28 ASPH
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter speed: 1/500 sec 
ISO: 100

• See our guide to all the current full-frame compact cameras
• Leica Q2 vs Q3
• Actually, I DON'T think the Leica Q3 is a worthy upgrade to the Q2
• Leica Q2 Reporter review
• The best Leica Q2 price prices and deals

Others in the Why Shots Work series

• Urban street photographer reveals his candid capture secrets
• Photographer tells story of getting up close and personal with a python
• Discover four key elements that make this stunning photo a success
• The 4 photographic decisions that take this motorsport shot to the next level
• Photographer tells story of his amazing shot of wallabies fighting on the beach

Sebastien Lebrun is a master of architecture photography and is passionate about getting the scene right in-camera. 

I had the pleasure of interviewing him about his work and analyzing his image 'Italien frame'.  We discussed the techniques he used to capture the photo and why it works.. 

1. Extreme perspective

"In the city of Siena in Italy, you can’t miss the Torre del Mangia. However, at nearly 90m tall, it’s a challenge to photograph the tower without minimizing the medieval architecture. I was looking for a unique view instead of the typical shot from the nearby Piazza del Campo."

While wandering around the building, Sebastien discovered a small courtyard and opted to use this angle. "The challenge was to balance the disparity in brightness between the sky and the shaded buildings," he says. "Ideally, I would have used the exposure bracketing technique, but my shooting position didn’t allow it. So, I focused on exposing the buildings while ensuring the sky wasn’t overexposed."

2. Frame in a frame

"I composed the image intending to visualize a total immersion and to direct the viewer’s gaze upwards," says Sebastien. By choosing this composition, he created several successions of frames, leading the viewer’s attention from the architectural structures all the way up to the top of the tower. 

"Usually, the frame within a frame helps direct the eye, but here, I also wanted to highlight the structure. It is possible to discover the stone and architecture of the stained glass windows as well as the arches," he says.

3. Continuous symmetry

"Using an ultra-wide-angle lens (14mm) was essential here so that I could include every element of the tower in my composition. I also had to find the necessary perspective to showcase the architecture’s symmetry," Sebastien says. To do this, he had to lie on his back in the courtyard to include everything in the frame. 

"I had to be patient to obtain a shot without too much distortion while meeting the characteristics of an architectural photo," he says. "I did some slight cropping in post-processing, but I prefer to take my time when I’m in the field and get the best possible image in-camera."

4. Deviating elements

The meticulous symmetry and the composed nature of the frame may lead some to presume that the image has been AI-generated. However, there are some discernible indicators that attest to the authenticity of the scene. On the left, the sun slightly interrupts the symmetric pattern in brightness, creating an interesting element. 

"I went out early in the morning because I wanted the low sun to capture the cutout of the battlements, effectively breaking the monotony of the Gothic architecture. Also, the blue sky counterbalances the foreground darkness and offers an escape," Sebastien says.

Tech details

Camera: Nikon Z6 

Lens: Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8

Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter speed: 1/160 sec 

ISO: 100

Others in the Why Shots Work series

• Urban street photographer reveals his candid capture secrets
• Photographer tells story of getting up close and personal with a python
• Discover four key elements that make this stunning photo a success
• The 4 photographic decisions that take this motorsport shot to the next level
• Photographer tells story of his amazing shot of wallabies fighting on the beach

For stills and video shooters from newcomers to pros, The Photography & Video Show is the must-attend event of 2025.

It takes place at Excel London in Custom House, in East London, England – and if you bring your camera (or pick one up in one of the exclusive show deals) I thought I'd round up some of the sights to visit and photograph in the immediate area and beyond.

East London Skyline at Night

This snap was taken toward Canary Wharf, looking out from the river by the Cutty Sark. Getting this perspective is only a short swim from the Excel, but wiser transport options are available (we'll get to that)!

It's an easy shot to get: the camera does all the work for you. The fence there is wide enough to rest a camera on, then I just set the aperture nice and small so you barely need to worry about focus and (if you're in aperture priority) the camera picks a long exposure (a few seconds at least).

Ideally use the timer to start it, so when you press the shutter you don’t wobble the camera – and that’s it. The fact that the water can’t sit still the whole time the little hole is open creates a blurry reflection for you!

Upton Park, Brick Lane and Shoreditch

There's a beautiful mural of the Bollywood actress, Rekha, near Upton Park tube station. Upton Park is the most ethnically diverse part of the UK: 42.5% of the population are Asian and 69% in total are people of color. Green Street, the road the station is on, is a fascinating place where you can get any kind of sari, shalwar kameez, bling, exotic fruit and veg, or curry (try Shinde's Pure Veg).

Equally vibrant and thriving are Brick Lane and Shoreditch, the former full of diverse eateries, the latter full of cool sights to snap, including endless fashionistas and artistic graffiti.

The IFS Cloud Cable Cars (if you're feeling brave)

If you don't have an impressive collection of anxiety disorders like me, you can enjoy what Transport for London describes as "a unique experience 15 minutes from central London on the UK's first and only urban cable car." You'll soar a whopping 90 meters above the ground, where you'll get great views of St Paul's Cathedral, The Gherkin, The Thames Barrier, Maritime Greenwich and Stratford's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Alternatively, you can just take photos of them like I did. As I say, I haven't actually been in a cable car as I'm a total wuss – but I would imagine you can take decent photos from inside them through the glass.

Docklands during the day

Docklands and its many iconic cranes are quite atmospheric. No tips on how to take this photo – just point and shoot. However, remember to make sure that you get all of the cranes in shot – don't crop them, or they look really weird.

Finish with a coffee in a London bus

If, like me, you decide not to get on the cable car to the O2 (anyone still call it Millennium Dome?) you can pop into a less mobile means of transport for some people-watching – and one where you needn't worry about layers of curved glass affecting your optics, if you're into a bit of street photography.

The Heroica Lounge is a converted London Bus that's a popular spot for pizza, watching cable car arrivals and Instagramming. It is far from the only means of transport that's been repurposed nearby. Look out for hotels on boats, too!

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Take a look at some of the best cameras for street photography along with the best lenses for street photography – and make sure to check out these street photography tips.

What’s 63 square miles in size, 1,200 miles from the nearest landmass and home to over 900 monoliths that line its coast? Easter Island — also called Isla de Pascua and Rapa Nui — is famed worldwide for its moai, giant stone monoliths carved in the 12th and 13th centuries that (mostly) gaze inwards from its rocky coast. Capturing the moai is what photographers flock here for, of course, but there are a few things you need to know if you’re to get anything special. Plus, with a fabulous coastline, plenty of petroglyphs and dark skies, there are many other reasons to spend a week here on a photographic safari like no other.

Here’s everything you need to know about photographing Easter Island…

1. Understand Easter Island

The moai of Easter Island comes in three parts: ahu-moai-topknot (platform-monolith-headress). They represent ancestors and are found on the coast, with the remains of villages surrounding them. There are canoe-shaped boat houses, the remains of buildings, caves and petroglyphs near to them. By the 17th century, all of the moai had been toppled during a civil war between seven clans, and that’s how almost all of them remained. The ahu platforms were used to make buildings.

So the iconic ahu and moai you see in photographs have all been refurbished, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s. They are:

Tongariki — 15 moai on the east coast.

Anakena Beach — two ahus with eight moai statues on the north coast.

Ahu Akivi — seven moai facing the sea just north of Hanga Roa.

2. Time it right at Rano Raraku

Easter Island is famous for its ahu and moai, but the images you see most are of the “sunken heads” at Rano Raraku. However, there are 900 moai on the island, and only about 200 ever made it to Ahu at the coast. The vast majority appear to have been broken and/or abandoned in or near Rano Raraku, where the monoliths were carved from the basalt of a dormant volcano. However, almost all of the moai on the slopes — through which a path winds — face south. That makes it a poor choice at lunchtime when the sun is in the northern sky and behind the moai. Unless you mainly want silhouettes, either come early in the day or late in the afternoon.

Don’t forget to get close-ups of the moai’s tattoos, arms, ears, and other peculiar features that tend to be overshadowed in photographs by the vast rectangular faces.

3. Plan it in advance

There are four things you need to visit Easter Island: funds, planning, an understanding of risk, and an appreciation of “island life.” With everything shipped in, everyday items are expensive, and even basic rooms go for a few hundred dollars a night. We’re talking basic rooms, nothing high-end, with accommodation only available in low-rise Hanga Roa and split between low-key resorts, hostels and Airbnbs. The key factor, however, is the LATAM flight from Santiago, Chile, which is presently the only way of reaching the island. Book it a year in advance and expect to pay somewhere in the region of $460/£350 for a return flight. There’s typically only one flight a day, and bad weather can frequently cause delays and cancellations, so have contingency plans … and expensive travel insurance.

4. Sunrise at Tongariki

The classic photography experience for most visitors to Easter Island is sunrise at Tongariki, an ahu refurbished with help from the Japanese government. Here, 15 moai of varying heights are lined up with a rocky coastline and cliffs to the north. It’s a beautiful place, and since it’s on an east-facing coast, the sun rises behind the moai each morning. You can book a tour but arrive only minutes before sunrise. You’ll miss the colors beforehand, and you’ll also have a lot of other people to compete with. It’s, therefore, better to come here alone, about an hour before sunrise, to get the full impact. You won’t be able to enter the monument's grounds, but it makes no difference if you have a 100mm or larger lens. Find a place beside the perimeter stone wall – only a few feet tall – and stand well clear of the cars passing behind you.

5. There are lots of restrictions

A decade ago, Easter Island was free and easy. You could walk up to the ahu and touch the moai if you wished, but that’s no longer true. Now, you must have a Rapa Nui National Park pass to enter any of the 13 official protected archaeological sites. You also have to visit these sites with a guide, though it can be a private guide and not necessarily a large bus tour (there are no coaches here, just a fleet of minibusses). No ticket and no guide, no entry.

That said, Easter Island is perfect for renting a car to explore on your own but don’t do it straight away. Since you must visit the 13 archaeological sites with a guide, first take a tour with a guide — preferably a private excursion — and ask for advice on the best places to visit in the following days. The roads are dirt and pot-holed, but they’re relatively easy to drive on, partly because they’re quiet.

6. Night photography at Tongariki

The Southern Hemisphere night sky is spectacular, largely because it’s possible to see the galaxy’s bright core. On Easter Island, a vast and bright Milky Way arcs across the night sky between April and November.

Although it is possible to do stargazing evenings by minibus, they don’t include astrophotography nor tend to take place in particularly picturesque locations where moai are on display. As well as being a great place to photograph the sunrise, Tongariki is an excellent location for night photography, not only because you can get the ahu and moai in the shot but also because it has a good view of the Ranu Raraku volcano to the west. The only issue with Tongariki at night is a harbor light behind it that flashes on and off every few seconds. Find a position outside the wall where a distant tree partially blocks the harbor light (you’ll find it eventually!), and it’s a far less serious issue.

7. Don’t forget Ranu Kau

It’s oddly not on many tours of the island, but one of the most dramatic locations from a landscape photography point of view is Ranu Kau, a lagoon in a volcanic caldera. It’s a short drive from Hanga Roa in the island's southwest. There are a couple of pullouts: Mirador Hanga Roa overlooks the entire island to the north, and Mirador Rano Kao gives a view of the caldera, part of a steep and precarious cliff. Up here, there are interesting possibilities for landscape photography, and with the island's landmass blocking the prevailing wind, there are good prospects of a clear sky. A wide-angle lens is a must.

At the end of the road to Rano Kao is the stone village of Orongo, an interesting place in itself and also home to the “birdman cult,” during which Rapa Nui men had to swim out to one of the three tiny islands offshore to fetch an egg from the sooty tern, and return them unscathed, to become king.

A dramatic photo with a dramatic story behind it is what Easter Island is all about; there's much more here than moai.

Read more:

Astrophotography: How-to guides, tips and videos

Locations for photographers: best locations for photography around the world:

 After dedicating eight years to ecological and alternative causes in rural areas by establishing a permaculture farm in the Perigord Vert region of the verdurous countryside of France, when I was just 21 years old, I now dedicate myself exclusively to the arts that drive me day after day. On the one hand, these arts have been nurtured by reading books, such as poetry and philosophical essays, and on the other, they are inspired by the journeys I have embarked upon for several years now, which are probably the most substantial base of my creativity.

As a minstrel, poet and photographer, I travel across Europe from city to city, driven by the ambitions that fuel my art. My primary goal is to share the songs I write and play and, thanks to this, I now earn a living from it. Equipped with a camera and lenses that never leave my side, my second goal is to capture the dynamic and polymorphous images of these cities. These images and elements of life are integrated into my poetry, with each collection intended to renew itself.

In a way, photography has been an unexpected discovery that helped me to reconnect with real life, far from the shadowy realm of poets and the dark basements of musicians. Indeed, like most photographers, you have to be there, seeking the magical, capturing the elusive present and being full of hope waiting for the miracle and the beauty of an accident that sometimes creates amazing pictures. 

Since the street is my main environment, due to my activities as a street musician, my photography predominantly features urban scenes, however, I also appreciate the beauty of portraits and nature.

Returning to the road with songs from the first two albums of WoodRat Flat, my solo project, I will be filling European streets with my guitar and my voice for the next few months – and, of course, taking photographs.

Advertising agency Oglivy has teamed up with the South African Tourism board to create a specially developed camera made entirely from materials from the country and decorated with traditional art.

The ‘Live South Africa’ campaign is aimed at attracting tourists from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Sweden to South Africa, and features beautiful images and videos of locals sharing their unique stories.

The images were captured by a local photographer's using the ‘South Africam’ – a specially developed pinhole camera made entirely from local materials including a case made from Cape Beech wood, a lens from scrap metal, and a strap from cork leather. It has been decorated by visual artist Samurai Farai, who opted for traditional South African colors and designs.

The images are set to be showcased in Amsterdam’s Restaurant 'Braai' in December. The photos and videos aim to inspire international visitors by authentically portraying South Africa through local eyes, promoting a deeper cultural connection.

Pinhole cameras work like a camera obscura, without a lens but with a tiny aperture that lets the light in. It gets focused, and then is projected out the other side as an image. The size of the image is dictated by the distance between the object and the pinhole.

The ‘South Africam’ was given to three local photographers– Andile Phewa, Andile Buka, and Tsele Nthane —to create a portrait series showcasing local people, their lives, and businesses through a uniquely African perspective. They captured a diverse range of perspectives and personalities, from the culinary community of Bo-Kaap, coastal hiking on the Chokka Trail, the vibrant culture and history of Soweto, wild Madikwe, and the scenic beauty of and majestic sights of the Panorama route.

The idea was to attract tourists by letting them into the essence of real South Africa, before they traveled there.

Tolga Büyükdoganay, chief creative officer of Ogilvy said in an interview with Little Black Book, "We're thrilled to partner with South African Tourism again, showcasing the country's soul through the eyes of its people. This time, we literally built a camera from South African materials, capturing the nation's authentic beauty with a unique artistic tool."

In an interview with Little Black Book Online, CCO of Ogilvy Amsterdam said that they had been thinking of ways to showcase the beauty of South Africa.

“That’s when the idea struck us: why not create a camera that’s uniquely made in South Africa? Most cameras are typically made in places like Germany, Japan, China, or Korea. We thought, instead of using equipment made elsewhere, what if we could use materials from South Africa itself to build the camera?

“So, we envisioned making a camera using South African resources – wood from Cape Beech trees for the structure, scrap metal for the lens, and a cork leather for the strap. This camera would not only capture images but also embody the land.

“We decided on a pinhole camera, the 'camera obscura,' a traditional model that’s simple but capable of creating remarkable photography. Our plan was to use this camera to capture portraits of locals, allowing them to tell the story of South Africa through their own eyes.”

The photographers were chosen for their ability to use a pinhole camera, as well as their unique perspectives on South Africa.

Creative director Lorene Faivre said: “Our vision for the future is to continue this photographic journey by involving more local photographers. This way, we can ensure that a multitude of perspectives are represented, further enriching the series.”

• Pinhole photography: make your own pinhole camera using a body cap
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The Somerset Willow Farmers is a body of work that explores the day-to-day lives of the traditional willow farmers at Musgrove Willows, based in the village of Westonzoyland, near Bridgwater. With this project, photographer Josh Lomen aimed to capture the skills, character and expertise of present-day willow farmers working within a traditional landscape.

"This subject came to light as I was researching some ideas for my final major project at university. I was struggling with ideas for a while but I’d always wanted to focus on the landscapes of Somerset with my work. One day, I came across an article about the heritage crafts of the UK and how some are at risk of becoming extinct. So I started looking at what local crafts Somerset is known for and I came across willow crafting. I started researching this and the next day, I was given a business card for a local willow farm. I made contact and they were really pleased to get behind this project. 

I wanted to create an archive of work that tells their story of the farm and lives so that the craft is preserved for future generations. The farm is one of only a small handful in the world that produces authentic willow coffins so it was fascinating getting to go behind the scenes and seeing the whole process from the cutting of the willow right through to adding the finishing touches to the coffins. It was a special thing getting to see these masters of the craft at work.

My aim for the project was to have a body of work that would serve as an archive, telling the story of the farmers’ daily lives so that future generations can look back at this traditional craft and see the legacy and the impact that willow farming has had on the Somerset landscape."

The Somerset Willow Farmers was on show at The Pressoir in Wells as part of Somerset Arts Week in October. Zines are available from Josh’s website, for more information, visit joshlomenphotography.com.

Tech details

Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Zoom

Image - The Finishing Touches
Aperture: f/3.2
ISO: 1600
Shutter speed: 1/125s
Focal length: 24mm

Image - The Cutting of the Willow
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO: 400
Shutter speed: 1/250s
Focal length 24mm

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This misty, mono masterpiece was captured in Port Glasgow by photographer Stuart Neville (@glasgowpixman). The subject is a stainless steel sculpture by John McKenna called 'The Shipbuilders of Port Glasgow'. Stuart photographed the towering 33ft monument using his newly acquired Nikon Zf and Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 S.

• Do you have an image that should be Photo of the Day? Send your image to: digitalcameraworld@futurenet.com for the chance to be featured.

Stuart was on his way to the town of Largs, thanks to the weather forecast's promise of blue skies. But he couldn't resist stopping off at Port Glasgow to make the most of the misty conditions. He told me: "I saw that the whole area was covered in early morning mist. I got off the bus and spent about an hour photographing the area.

"I seem to remember that the autofocus was struggling a bit with the low visibility so I switched to manual focus when capturing the statue. I also had to move around to get a good position for a clean shot with no background buildings or cars."

Stuart couldn't move too much though, because he wanted to position the sun so it backlit the sculpture. "Luckily, the sculpture is in a small park with plenty of space around it to maneuver," he said.

The stunning mono conversion was performed in Adobe Lightroom. "I always saw it as a black-and-white picture," said Stuart. "I applied a Nikon camera monochrome preset, added some negative Dehaze to emphasize the mist and reduced the blacks to provide more of a silhouette."

But Stuart's love for monochrome goes back to film, which might be why he now wields a Nikon mirrorless that borrowed its good looks from the legendary Nikon FM2. "I’ve always liked monochrome, which probably goes back to my time doing film photography with Kodak Tri-X and developing my own film.

Stuart's top tips for photographing misty scenes...

"My tip for anyone wanting to capture this type of foggy image is to check the weather forecast the night before and be prepared to get up very early before the fog burns off. And wrap up warm, too!"

See more of Stuart's work by checking out his Flickr page.

Check out previous Photo of the Day images, and the stories behind them.
If you have an image you'd like us to consider for Photo of the Day, email it to us at digitalcameraworld@futurenet.com

Are you interested in retro cameras? Check out the best film cameras and the best retro cameras.

This jaw-dropping black-and-white image of Mont Blanc was taken in the Aiguilles Rouges, Chamonix. It was captured by photographer Per Wilms, who used the Sony A7R III and Sony FE 24mm f1.4 G Master lens, paired with a Zeiss polarizing filter. Remarkably, the lighting settled directly on Mont Blanc in the background, highlighting the magnificent mountain.

• Do you have an image that should be Photo of the Day? Send your image to: digitalcameraworld@futurenet.com for the chance to be featured.

Per set out to capture the picturesque Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe. But this wasn't an easy feat. A considerable hike at high altitude (2200m) was required to reach this vantage point and that meant contending with strong winds. He explained: "Oh, it took a lot of hiking. About four hours from the town of Chamonix. Technically, it wasn't difficult, but you have to be in good shape, because you're hiking in thin air, and some parts of the trek are steep."

While planning is a huge part of landscape photography, it can be harder to plan when attempting a long hike. Thankfully, Per had his camera with him when this incredible moment appeared. "I didn't do anything special, I was just lucky," he said. "I arrived in the morning when the sun was at the right angle, around east to south east.

"I was very lucky that the surface of the small pond was almost calm, despite the wind. I used an aperture of f/9, so I could add more depth to the picture."

A key decision was the black-and-white conversion, which Per did using Adobe Lightroom. "The mountains look better in black/white – it has a special mood and the contrast between light and shadow is easier to see."

Per's top tips for photographing mountains...

"Patience. You have to wait until the right moment. And if you're trekking into the mountains then you also need to build up your stamina, because of the high altitude."

Check out previous Photo of the Day images, and the stories behind them. If you have an image you'd like us to consider for Photo of the Day, email it to us at digitalcameraworld@futurenet.com

Are you interested in landscape photography? Check out the best cameras for landscape photography or the best polarizing filters.

 "My trip to Borneo had multiple objectives. The first was capturing the five species of wildcats living in tropical forests. Within a week, I knew it would be a real challenge but we managed to find the Leopard Cat and the Marbled Cat, which was a great achievement. 

However, since wildcats are usually active at night, we spent a lot of time in the dark. So, as the second part of my project, I set myself the goal to capture Borneo’s diverse wildlife in the dark – the island has so much more to offer than just wildcats. 

From a photography standpoint, taking beautiful pictures at night in such a hostile environment was challenging; from the leeches that would find a way to attach themselves to me to the humidity, the inaccessibility of some areas and the pouring rain that could arrive at any time.

Because we were travelling by car, the hardest part was spotting the wildlife. We used a torch to see if we could get any reflections from the eyes. Once we spotted an animal, we stopped and figured out what type or species it was so we knew how to approach it. I needed to think quickly and figure out how to get the shot.

Usually, it is better to shoot from ground level. However, most animals are shy and tend to run away. Also, shooting with a flash in the pitch dark needs to be avoided at all costs as it goes straight into the animal’s eyes and creates poor lighting conditions. So, I used an off-camera flash that I left on the floor, positioned 90° degrees from the camera, or I held the flash or got someone else to hold it. 

Most of the wildlife shots we see tend to be captured in the daytime, so discovering a completely different viewpoint was just amazing. The stars all over the sky, the sound of silence and hearing the creatures moving around silently in their natural habitat was a whole new experience. 

I am glad that this project has allowed me to experience Borneo’s wildlife at night and that it has also given others the chance to discover it through my photography."

Tech details

Camera: Canon EOS R5

Lenses: Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM

Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO

Other equipment: Godox XPro III, Godox V1, Softbox

I am fascinated by the power of volcanic eruptions, and capturing them in a photograph is a dream come true. That’s why I frequently hike around volcanoes in Guatemala. In fact, my fascination with volcanic eruptions inspired me to start running photography workshops and private tours to see them. I want more people to experience the Earth in all its fierce glory, and helping them to capture that perfect shot motivates me to do my best. I want them to return home with incredible photos and memories from a real adventure.

“In this shot, my goal was to capture the aftermath of a volcanic explosion, with the cone of the volcano covered in the molten rocks that have just come out of the crater. To avoid a trial on the rocks rolling down the mountain, I wanted to freeze them in the photo so I used a short exposure of three seconds.

It’s always a challenge to stay awake throughout the night while being exposed to the elements. For this capture, I was shooting from another volcano at a distance of 2km away from the Volcan de Fuego – the most active volcano in Latin America. The altitude and the cold weather are always a challenge, but the excitement of seeing the volcano erupting in the distance is a great reason to get out of the cabin.

I didn’t have to do too much editing to this image in post-processing. I only added some contrast, increased the colors slightly, and decreased the highlights close to the crater.

Tech details

Camera: Nikon Z 6
Lens: Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S 
Aperture: f/3.2
Shutter speed:  3 sec
ISO: 800

As someone who recently had their entire hand luggage spilled out for the world to see for no apparent reason then had to queue for the space repack, this trend intrigued, and infuriated me. 

The 'airport tray aesthetic' trend encourages people to unnecessarily unpack their belongings – the Fujifilm X100VI, or another of the best compact cameras, the Gucci wallet, Lost Mary vape, Prada sunglasses and copy of Vogue or a battered Jack Kerouac's ‘On The Road’ into the security trays – then take a flat lay photograph for the 'gram. 

Desperate to show off their aspirational identities, these social media acolytes are currently enjoying spilling out their belongings in filthy, scratched-up gray trays on a background surface reminiscent of a morgue.

At a time when airports are introducing screening machines meaning you don’t need to take anything, even liquids, out of hand luggage at airport security, the 'airport tray aesthetic' trend seems even more bizarre.

The trend is spreading across Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest and seems to be of interest to not only the usual suspects Gen Z, but also older generations. 

Most readers will understand how long it can take to set up the perfect shot, and at potentially one of the most tense moments of the airport experience, especially when running late, this is not the time or place for it.  

The trend seemingly started after New York based influencer Chelsea Henriquez shared a TikTok video showing herself, and her friends, emptying out their carry-on bags at LaGuardia security checkpoint and snapping the shots.

"Got all my girls unpacking their bags for aesthetic airport tray pics," she says in the video.

The post accumulated 377,000 views.

Some people are even recreating their photographs outside airports, with influencers like Alyssa Lenore admitting to purchasing airport trays to set up at home. She told the New York Post, who referred to the trend as "time-consuming," that she didn’t "want to be in a position with people – especially on a line [where] intensities are already high."

Conscientious yes, but insane in its own right.

This digital flexing is akin to the 'In My Feelings' challenge of 2016, which saw many people run themselves, and more importantly others, over dancing outside of their vehicles to the song of the same name by Drake and filming.

Similarly, there was the 'outlet challenge' of 2020, which involved partially plugging your phone into the mains, then dropping a penny between the metal prongs and the outlet, causing it to short and spark. This resulted in multiple people getting burns, and eye injuries, and also took the power out in various shared buildings, even causing large fires.

The US Transport Security Administration recently told CNN of the 'airport tray aesthetic' trend:

"The TSA has become aware of this trend recently. As long as the staged glamour photos are not causing delays or issues with other passengers in the checkpoint, there are no issues."

It’s impossible to believe that this trend isn’t causing delays and heightened tension in airports, where the staff usually bear the brunt of disgruntled customers. 

Equally, a 2018 European study found that airport trays are usually the most germ-heavy surfaces in the entire building.

This trend feels similar to the phenomenon of huge traffic jams being caused by drivers slowing down to ogle a roadside accident, and while I’m obviously all for creative expression, this is egotistical time-wasting at best, and the images are absolutely not worth it.

Why not take a look at our guides to best point and shoot cameras, the best travel cameras, and the best waterproof cameras.