I recently came across Life At The Edge, a photobook on the rugged Caithness coastline in northeastern Scotland, by local resident Ken Crossan.

After delving a little deeper into his work, I found out that Ken’s photos, which typically depict the flora and fauna of his home county, have also been recognized in competitions on both the national and international stage.

In fact, Ken recently snagged a 2025 Scottish Nature Photography Award (SNPA), has been recognized by the British Wildlife Photography Awards (BWPA), and gained an honorable mention in none other than the 2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards.

As humble as they come, Ken would consider himself a natural historian well before an award-winning photographer. However, his photographic accolades are impressive, and I couldn't resist reaching out for his tips and tricks.

Ken's equipment

Ken is a Nikon shooter through and through. His go-to camera body is the Nikon Z8 and his lenses include:

• Nikkor 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3
• Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8
• Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8
• Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8
• Nikkor 105mm f/2.8

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The portrait is deceptively simple. Charli xcx leans back against a pale wall in a white crop top and dark jeans, her voluminous dark hair caught mid-movement, her gaze directed downward and slightly away from the camera. There's no performance, no direct address, no obvious glamour. Just an intimacy and a slight vulnerability; the feeling of catching someone in a private moment rather than a staged one. For a photograph of one of the world's most recognisable pop stars, it's an unconventional choice.

Which is why I applaud the fact it's now hanging in Room 33 of London's National Portrait Gallery. Taken in 2024 by British photographer and director Harley Weir, the portrait has entered the NPG's permanent collection through Collecting the Now, the gallery's contemporary acquisitions fund supported by a £1 million gift from the Bukhman Foundation. It's on display in the History Makers space, which celebrates figures who have shaped contemporary culture and public life.

Charli certainly fits into that category. Born Charlotte Emma Aitchison in Cambridge in 1992, she's spent more than a decade as one of pop's most restlessly inventive figures. In 2024, her album Brat became a global phenomenon, spawning its own aesthetic, its own colour (a specific shade of acid green) and its own philosophy, "Brat Summer"; a shorthand for unfiltered self-expression that spread through culture and politics like wildfire.

Her next release, a soundtrack album accompanying the 2026 movie of Wuthering Heights, topped the UK chart in February. Her latest album, Music, Fashion, Film, was released on 24 July to five-star reviews. The gallery's acquisition places her in the permanent record at exactly the moment her cultural reach is at its widest.

Why it works

The technical approach here is worth examining closely. The image has the warm, slightly faded palette and shallow depth of field associated with medium-format film, giving it a tactile quality at odds with the hyper-sharpness of most contemporary portraiture. It feels closer in spirit to a 1970s music press photograph than a modern album campaign image, which is presumably exactly what Weir intended.

That quality is characteristic of Weir's practice. London-born and now in her late thirties, she built her reputation shooting for fashion houses including Balenciaga, Celine and Gucci, but her work consistently pushes against the glossiness those clients might imply.

Her visual language draws on documentary and fine art photography as much as fashion; she shows regularly with London galleries Hannah Barry and Michael Hoppen alongside her commercial work. The NPG's senior curator of photographs Brandei Estes describes it as combining "intimacy with a powerful sense of presence," which the Charli xcx portrait demonstrates neatly.

Why it matters

The acquisition speaks to something broader about how cultural institutions are thinking about photography. Collecting the Now, launched in March 2025, has already brought in works by Barbara Walker, Linder and Sonia Boyce, building a collection of contemporary portraiture that takes photography seriously as a fine art medium rather than a secondary category.

For me, the best thing about this portrait is that Weir didn't reach for the obvious. Given a subject at the peak of her fame, she made something quiet, personal and slightly resistant; an image that works as fine art portraiture precisely because it avoids the cliches of the promotional photograph.

There's a photograph in Keith Armstrong's newly discovered archive that stops you in your tracks. A man in a wheelchair grins defiantly, surrounded by Metropolitan Police officers. A red London bus looms behind him, its destination board reading Trafalgar Square. It's the kind of image that could have run on the front page of a national newspaper.

Actually though, it didn't; because Armstrong (1950-2017) wasn't a press photographer filing for an agency. He was a disability rights activist, shooting from his wheelchair, from inside the demonstration, for the movement itself.

Born in South Africa then raised in England, Armstrong spent the 1980s and 1990s documenting the campaign for disabled people's civil rights in Britain: the bus blockades, the protests outside Parliament, the pickets and direct actions that eventually helped bring about the Disability Discrimination Act in 1995.

He did it with an Olympus camera, film, and the kind of access no photojournalist on assignment could ever have bought – because he was one of them. Shooting at wheelchair height gave his images a ground-level intimacy that places you inside the crowd, rather than observing it from a distance.

Uncovering the archive

His archive was discovered after his death, when members of his estate contacted Shape Arts, the disability-led arts organisation. What looked like boxes of unsorted negatives turned out to be something extraordinary: more than 500 images documenting one of modern Britain's most significant and least-photographed civil rights movements.

The collection has now been digitised and made publicly available through the National Disability Movement Archive and Collection at ndmac.org. And here's the best part: it's entirely free to use for exhibitions, publications, social media and more, with a simple credit to Armstrong and NDMAC.

Why they work

What makes Armstrong's work remarkable isn't just its historical significance; it's the vantage point. Photojournalism of protest tends to work from the edges: the telephoto lens compressing a crowd, the wide-angle from a press pen, the elevated position that gives context but sacrifices proximity. Armstrong had none of those options, and the results are more powerful for it.

His images are close, chaotic and alive. Protesters hold handwritten cardboard signs reading "No more begging, we want rights now!" and "Disabled people arrested trying to catch a bus! Why?" Police officers loom large in the frame. There's wit in some of the placards, fury in others.

One image shows a woman in a wheelchair smiling serenely between two officers as a London sightseeing bus fills the background. The composition is almost classically street-photographic; the kind of accidental perfection that experienced documentary photographers spend careers chasing.

Another image, shot on New Oxford Street, in central London, shows Armstrong himself crouched low, Olympus raised, recording a police van and an officer from below eye level. It's a reminder that the disability rights movement produced its own visual culture, its own recorders, its own history, largely invisible to the mainstream photographic press at the time.

Intimate storytelling

"Keith wasn't just photographing disabled people and their allies," says David Hevey, chief executive of Shape Arts. "He was photographing from within the movement. His images place you alongside the activists. They completely change how we see this history."

That reframing is significant. As interest grows in overlooked and alternative histories of Britain, Armstrong's archive fills an important gap: a body of work that is activist and artistic simultaneously, documentary and intimate, historically vital and visually compelling.

Whale sharks are the ocean’s biggest fish – yet there’s much to the 20-ton gentle giants that science doesn’t yet understand. But, thanks to some dorsal-mounted cameras, researchers have now built “the largest catalog of whale behaviours to date,” despite those cameras only being worn for 24 hours.

Whale sharks – filter-feeding sharks that get their name from their whale-like size – have largely been observed from the surface, but researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science and Murdoch University asked a key question: what do whale sharks do when no one is watching?

Electronic tags have long been used to study animal behavior, but for this study, researchers used tags with a small camera built in. The tags were designed to fall off after 24 hours, so the researchers could then locate the tag’s signal and retrieve the footage.

The group attached the small tags to the dorsal fin (the top fin) of five juvenile whale sharks near the Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia.

Combining the footage with previous observations, the team built what they’re calling the largest catalog of the shark’s behavior to date – particularly on the animals' feeding patterns.

One of the key findings that the cameras uncovered is that whale sharks don’t predominantly feed near the surface as first thought. Cameras showed the creatures sinking with open mouths to catch a snack, as well as feeding towards the surface.

The cameras also demonstrated that whale sharks actually have a wide variety of approaches to feeding. During the 24 hours the researchers watched the whales, they spent most of their time in what the researchers called “low-effort” feeding behaviors before switching to more active feeding when locating a larger swarm of krill. Researchers described the behavior as akin to humans snacking while trying to decide what to cook for dinner.

The data is opening up insight into why whale sharks are able to survive in tropical areas where prey can sometimes be inconsistent. Researchers are hopeful that further similar studies using cameras could shed additional light on the ocean’s gentle giants.

The research was published in the journal Marine Biology.

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A fascinating squid with an incredible ability to dazzle predators by glowing in the dark has been photographed in the wild for the first time by marine biologists.

Scientists aboard a joint expedition cruise vessel spotted the mature female Arctic bobtail squid within Northeast Greenland National Park, using an M2 S Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) equipped with an additional GoPro Hero 13.

ABOVE: Watch the the rainbow-colored Arctic bobtail squid, which was spotted at depths up to 87m in sub-zero waters as low as 29.1°F / -1.6°C

Some 70 species of bobtail squid are known to inhabit oceans across the planet, including warmer regions of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, along with the sub-zero underwater regions of the Arctic.

When these squids hunt at night, moonlight from above would normally cast a dark shadow to predators swimming below.

However, bioluminescent bacteria housed in a special organ emit a blue-green light that matches the exact brightness of the moon – effectively making the squids invisible to other predators in a process called “counter-illuminated camouflage.”

The research crew, led by Dr Paige Maroni from The University of Western Australia’s School of Biological Sciences, recorded the adult bobtail squid at depths between 37-87m, also spotting a trio of egg clusters attached to a rocky substrate.

These egg clusters were recorded at a depth of 50m, where the water temperature had reached a cool 29.1°F / -1.6°C, highlighting what Dr Maroni called the “resilience of marine life in one of Earth’s most extreme environments.”

According to Dr Maroni, who co-authored the research paper recently published following the expedition, cephalopods – the class of marine animals to which squids belong – play “vital ecological roles” in Arctic waters.

However, the researchers stated that more work is needed to establish biodiversity baselines in this under-documented aquatic region.

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There will be tons of articles on where to see and how to photograph a solar eclipse, with the next one due on August 12. I have been chasing solar eclipses for 47 years, so I thought I'd write about what has changed over that time.

A solar eclipse is the closest thing I can think of to what some people call a “religious experience”. The sky goes dark in the middle of the day. The birds go to roost, while cows head back to their barns. The winds die down and there is a remarkable hush.

If you’re in the path of totality, you’ll get to see the sun’s corona, which is visible to us only during the few seconds or minutes of a total solar eclipse. If you’re in the path, and on high ground, you can watch the shadow of the moon race towards you, across open fields or open water, at 1,500 miles per hour.

Observers within the Moon's umbra (the darkest part of the shadow) see a total solar eclipse, while those in the penumbra see a partial solar eclipse. If the Moon is slightly farther from Earth and appears too small to cover the Sun completely, an annular eclipse occurs, leaving a bright ring of sunlight visible around the Moon.

It’s a sight like no other. I should know. I’ve now watched and photographed seven of them.

Eclipses only happen due to a quirk of nature. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon, but the sun is also almost exactly 400 times further away. When things line up just right, during a new moon when the sun, moon and Earth are in nearly a straight line, the moon's shadow falls on the face of the Earth.

If the moon is closer on its orbit (its perigee), it casts a bigger shadow and the eclipse lasts longer. If it is further from the Earth (its apogee), its shadow is smaller and the eclipse is shorter.

A total solar eclipse occurs about once every 18 months, but most are over water, or Siberia in winter, or over the Arctic or Antarctic or similarly hard or expensive places to get to.

Eclipses that occur over land that you can affordably get to are that not common. If you don’t want to travel, one happens over any given spot on earth every 350 to 400 years. So, all you need to do is wait… and then remember to go outside when it happens!

My first eclipse: February 26 1979

My first eclipse happened rather spontaneously. We’re talking decades before the advent of the internet, when only readers of astronomy magazines had any inkling that it was coming.

So, a week before, my then brother-in-law suggested I join a small group of 'keeners', who were going to Toppenish, Washington. I checked with my photo dealer, rented a Celestron C-90 with a solar filter and an adapter to my camera, and away we went!

We arrived in the small town of Ellensburg, Washington, late the day before, popped into a local motel and booked a room with no trouble. We dined at a local cafe that night and the waitress told us she couldn’t understand why there were so many people in town!

Mobility is key, then or now, for eclipse viewing. The morning of the eclipse, my brother-in-law and myself were racing down gravel section roads looking for holes in the cloud. We got to an intersection and stopped to consult the clouds. I chose right, while he went left. Totality was to start in less than ten minutes. I saw the eclipse, he did not.

Back then I had no idea how to use the telescope, and my tripod was not sturdy enough for it, so my photos were blurry. Totality was just 2 minutes 25 seconds. But I was hooked.

In the aftermath, I learned something rather important. Cheap Mylar filters have a blueish cast and the photos look awful. Spend a little extra coin and get filters with a golden tone. It’s not the real color, either, but it's much more pleasing.

I had a pair of electronics stores to run, and thus neither the time nor budget to gallivant around the world after eclipses. So I had to wait 12 years.

My second solar eclipse: July 11 1991

After a 12-year wait, we drove from southern British Columbia to San Jose Del Cabo, in Mexico’s Baja – a 5,000-mile round trip.

This was “The Big One”, the longest totality for some 300 years, either side of now. At its maximum eclipse, some distance further south, totality was a full 6 minutes 53 seconds, of which we got to see 6 minutes and 47 seconds from San Jose del Cabo.

A couple of evenings prior to the eclipse, we met a lady in the lobby of our hotel who taught English and wanted to chat – most likely to improve her own English. The Mexican government had worried about people damaging their eyes, watching the eclipse without proper eye protection.

So they were setting up solar filter-equipped TV cameras all along the path, and would broadcast it live over and over, as the shadow moved down the coast.

I asked her if she was going to watch the eclipse on TV, but she told me that she was going to watch it in the time-honored Mexican way. “And what is that?” I asked. “From under the bed!” she replied.

On the morning of the eclipse was 100% cloud cover. Many folks opted to drive an hour north, to Santiago, hoping they’d gain an extra seven seconds of totality, and that the skies it would be clearer inland.

We opted to set up on the grounds of a condo where some of our group were staying. We were really roughing it, as we had to suffer being on a cool, manicured lawn, 20 feet from the whirlpool, 30 feet from the swimming pool, 50 feet from the ocean and 100 feet from the bar. And we had lots of company!

The best bit was that roughly 30 minutes before totality, the clouds vanished and everyone had a spectacular view. Still we suffered through with only 6 minutes and 45 seconds of umbral time. Life was rough!

In contrast, many Americans flew to Hawaii, as it was also on the center-line. But Hawaii had severe clouds and – unless you were one of the exalted few allowed above the clouds, on the grounds of the telescopes atop Mauna Kea – nobody saw a thing!

A PBS documentary of the Hawaiian version of the 1991 eclipse interviewed one family who could not find accommodation, so flew into Honolulu, stayed awake for 36 hours and flew home. All without seeing the eclipse! Getting clouded out is a risk that all eclipse chasers take.

What surprised me more than anything else was that, after totality ended, even though the partial phases still had an hour or more to go, within minutes the people cleared out and the town was empty. You could have shot a cannon down the main street and not hit a soul. Absolutely amazing!

So, two eclipses down and five to go. In 1998 the internet was in its infancy, with dial-up modems and slow connections, having very little influence on people’s lives. Cellphones would not become mainstream for another three to five years. But before long, the internet would take hold of the world – and everything would change…

The next installment of David Young's 47-year diary of a solar eclipse photographer will be published soon

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Carbon monoxide and other greenhouse gases are invisible, but photographers are capturing the effects of a warming planet in a way that’s impossible to ignore. As several regions struggle with record-breaking heat, drought, and wildfires, photojournalists are turning their lenses to document the very visible effects of a global issue with an invisible cause.

I’m a photographer and a journalist, and as I was looking through the top news photos of this week, I couldn’t help but notice a pattern. Photojournalists are capturing the effects of a warming planet in a way that turns an invisible cause into a very tangible photograph – and it echoes the top photos from last week as wildfire smoke created eerie photographs with an apocalyptic feel.

These are the best photos from photojournalists that I’ve spotted this week.

A striking image of a melting glacier

This photograph by Sean Gallup shows two researchers walking across the sediment left by a melting glacier, the Isunnguata Sermija in Greenland. A group of researchers began a six-week campout where the scientists will document the changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet.

The photograph is an excellent example of powerful framing that tells a story. The low angle highlights the sediment with the glacier misted in the background. Including two researchers in the photo rather than just an empty but changing landscape gives the photograph a human element.

Firefighters silhouetted by a wildfire in France

This photograph by Romain Perrocheau stopped me in my tracks. I can’t see the firefighter’s faces, but I can feel the exhaustion radiating off them in their stance alone.

The photograph is a powerful example of what a minimal, tightly-framed photograph can do. The pattern of the bright orange smoke instantly conveys the subject, yet leaves space for the eye to go immediately to the firefighter’s stance in the middle of the composition.

An empty river bed

In this photograph by Nikolay Doychinov, boats and a bridge lie in the dry river bed of the Danube River between Bulgaria and Romania.

The aerial view of the river helps demonstrate the scale of the issue, as record temperatures had led to low water levels. But it’s color that creates a strong composition here. All three boats have the same blue that helps them stand out against the dull colors of the dried riverbed.

A perfectly-framed shot of rain in NYC

According to the United Nations, climate change is exacerbating water-related crises like both drought and flooding. This photograph was taken while New York and New Jersey were under a flood watch. The image is a color shot (as evidenced by the red in the clothing and the yellow sign on the rocks), but the weather and moody exposure make this image feel nearly like a black-and-white photograph.

Photographer Spencer Platt could teach a class on composition with just this image. The archway uses the frame-within-a-frame technique that immediately draws the eye to the subject. Placing the couple holding umbrellas against the gray skyline rather than a dark background helps the subject stand out. Then, there are even leading lines as the Brooklyn Bridge further draws the eye into the photo.

A striking night shot

There are three light sources in this image – manmade lights, stars, and a wildfire. The photograph by Thibaut Durand of Abaca Press depicts the historic Horloge des Hermes clock tower and the lights of the town of L'Argentière-la-Bessée, France, as a wildfire burns on the French Alps in the background.

As a photographer, I know just how difficult it is to capture astrophotography mixed with manmade lights, as artificial lights tend to wash out the stars. Not only did Durand capture both, but a wildfire as well. The sparks coming from the wildfire almost feel like additional stars.

Photographs have power, and these five photos demonstrate how a good photograph can draw attention to key global issues.

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As a photographer I'm always striving to level up my images, but researchers are warning bird photographers that one way to "improve" a bird photo may actually end up contaminating valuable citizen scientist databases with misleading data.

In a recent op-ed from the journal Nature, researchers from citizen science databases including iNaturalist and the Macaulay Library told a startling story of a Red-Winged Blackbird found well outside its usual range in Brazil.

The problem? The bird was actually a common Epaulet Oriole but, when the photographer asked an AI platform to "improve this photo", AI removed the bird's yellow coloring, making it look like an entirely different species.

While fake wildlife images are already littering social media platforms, the altered images' existence inside these so-called citizen scientist platforms could have serious implications, as researchers will use the sightings reported from hobbyist birders to monitor a species' habitat and patterns.

The image that the researchers used as an example wasn’t from an internet trickster, but rather from a birder who didn’t realize the implications of asking an AI platform to "improve this photo".

GenAI platforms often don't edit a photo in the traditional sense, like improving contrast, exposure and color. Instead, some GenAI photo editors regenerate, turning a real photograph into a generated image. In the world of birding, the AI can introduce subtle 'enhancements' that actually change the identification of the bird entirely.

"AI image processing tools are now ubiquitous, and there is a pressing need to educate contributors of the problems that image manipulation can cause for the scientific record," the researchers wrote.

A growing number of photo editing apps can now use AI to help novices edit photos without the usual know-how. But the apps don’t always make it clear when AI is editing and when it is regenerating pixels – and many don’t come with an option to turn the AI features off.

The researchers call for the citizen scientist platforms to integrate AI detection algorithms – some of which have already been implemented, such as recent changes to iNaturalist. But the large number of different GenAI platforms can make detection challenging.

For birders, the message is clear: don't use GenAI to share wildlife sightings on community platforms for sharing sightings.

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The Spanish national football team’s well-deserved second FIFA World Cup victory has been somewhat overshadowed by the Argentinian team’s conduct before and after the final whistle, drawing criticism regarding the defending champions' behaviour. But another incident has dominated headlines: footage of US President Donald Trump appearing to overstay his welcome during the sacred lifting of the trophy.

And now, some outlets are reporting that the US President has been intentionally cropped out of official photographs of the historic moment, including an image posted on the official FIFA World Cup X account (formerly Twitter) .

What happened?

The POTUS was given the honor, alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino, of handing out medals to both teams as well as presenting the fabled trophy to Spain captain Rodri, during the ceremony at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. Rodri appears to gently guide the US President to one side, but he stalls right on the edge of the crowd as the team prepares to lift the trophy.

Even Infantino appears to coax Trump further away, but the beaming President faces the cameras and claps the victors as Rodri launches the trophy into the sky amidst a hail of golden confetti. Only then does Trump head off.

Of course, plenty of photographers were on hand to immortalize the moment, intent on capturing that initial burst of jubilation. However, an official photograph posted on the FIFA World Cup X account (above) depicting the initial celebration features an extremely tight 4:5 crop, which only includes what appears to be a very slim portion of the President’s suit. The news comes following a hot-mic moment during the broadcast when Australian commentator Claudio Fabiano could be heard saying: “They can edit him out of that,” seemingly referring to Trump.

Was the crop intentional?

I can only comment on the situation as a photography expert. And firstly, I should address a few things. I’ve seen the word ‘edited’ thrown around a lot, which can conjure images of subject removal, cloning, etc, but from the images I’ve seen, it simply looks like they don’t extend far enough to include Trump.

Now, there’s two ways to crop, the photographer can either crop in-camera by altering the framing, or you can crop in post-production, by using a cropping tool to physically reduce the borders of the image. It’s therefore entirely possible that some of the images being shown were not cropped, but simply never framed the President in the first place.

Still, the image on FIFA’s X account is so tightly framed, my best guess is that it was cropped in post-production (although I cannot be sure). This isn’t necessarily a political move, however. In the world of photography, it’s rather common to crop out distractions that detract from the main subject of the image. And while Trump is very often the main subject, he stood to one side and was therefore secondary to the subject matter, the Spanish national team’s hard-fought victory.

While politicians come and go, this was a very specific moment to be immortalized in the annals of football history. Looking at the bigger picture, it certainly makes sense from a narrative and compositional perspective, to crop out any distractions beyond the team itself, whether that be Trump, Infantino or anyone or anything else.

This contrasts sharply with a very similar situation that happened a year ago, when Donald Trump also stayed put during Chelsea’s FIFA Club World Cup trophy lift at the same stadium. Rather than stand to one side, he found himself right between captain Reece James and goalkeeper Robert Sánchez for the brunt of the celebration. In this instance, the script is flipped, the situation is so unusual and Trump is so integral to the composition that he becomes the subject matter and from a photographer’s standpoint that only adds to the interest and intrigue of the imagery.

So, do I think Donald Trump was intentionally cropped out of the image? Yes, and if I was editing it, I would have done the same because his presence detracts from the subject matter. However, if I’d been photographing Chelsea’s FIFA Club World Cup victory, I’d have been frantically capturing image after image of the President among the players, knowing I was photographing a bizarre yet historic moment in its own right.

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Chilean Patagonia, an area famed for its towering granite peaks, crystalline glaciers, and vast, rugged wilderness so beautiful it almost seems like the picture-perfect South American region was crafted by an artist.

Yet two of the most highly commended images from this year’s Patagonia Photo Contest shed light on something much more personal than these iconic vistas.

Timothy Dhalleine's Another Day at the Office, crowned king of the “Culture & Travel” category, and Adolfo Molina Soto's On-Site Purchase, an honorable mention in the same category, reveal the local communities whose livelihoods continue to shape one of the world's most remote landscapes.

Above: Adolfo captured his honorable mention using a Sony A6500 paired with a Sony E 15mm f/1.4 G lens, opting for ISO 100, 1/350sec and f/6.7

An exchange on the southern channels

As two fishing boats drifted alongside each other in the glacial channels of Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) in Southern Chile, Adolfo was ready and waiting aboard one of them with his camera in hand. He'd already witnessed this scene on a previous trip, but, in his words, failed to capture the “essence” of the moment.

"I wanted to show not only the fishermen, but also the surroundings, the boat, the hands, the interaction, and the vastness of the landscape. More than a portrait, I was looking to tell a story,” said Adolfo.

Used the backdrop of the glacier-capped Darwin Range mountains to frame the maritime interaction rather than overwhelm it, Adolfo ensured the fishermen trading their shellfish catch for supplies remained the center of attention.

Shellfishing has been a traditional way of life in Patagonia's southern reaches for thousands of years. The original specialists were the Yámana (or Yahgan) women, who would brave the sub-Antarctic waters of the Beagle Channel foraging for mussels, limpets, and sea urchins. These days, fishermen still dive to the depths of the icy waters, albeit with modern wetsuits and breathing apparatus.

“The photograph speaks as much to the fishermen’s work as it does to a tradition of connection, trust, and exchange that still thrives in those southern channels,” said Adolfo. “They [the fishermen] represent a way of life that still exists in very isolated parts of Patagonia—a way of life we rarely have the opportunity to experience up close.”

Above: Timothy used a Nikon D750 and a 200-500mm f/5.6 lens to shoot his award-winning frame, opting for a focal length of 240mm, f/6.3, 1/4000sec and ISO 250

The most spectacular office in the world

Gazing upon the majestic landscape from Estancia Cerro Guido, one of the largest ranches in Chilean Patagonia, Timothy watched as thousands of sheep flowed across the rolling plain, directed by local cowboys, or gauchos. Dominating the scene, and dwarfing the cowboys, were the towering, iconic peaks of Torres del Paine.

“I stepped back to create a composition that emphasized both the sheer scale of the 8,000 sheep and the immensity of Patagonia,” said Timothy. In doing so, he transformed the photograph into a story as much about the people in the frame as the landscape itself. “The contrast between the tiny figures of the gauchos and the vast wilderness was exactly what I hoped to convey,” he added.

The seasonal movement of sheep across Patagonia's ranches (called "estancias") before the arrival of winter is, according to Timothy, one of the region's “most remarkable” events to photograph. Each autumn, gauchos guide thousands of sheep to lower, warmer grazing areas before the harsh weather sets in.

Sheep ranching has played a central role in shaping Patagonia’s history since the late 19th century, but this traditional way of living off the land and livestock has become more contentious in modern times.

While farmers hunt native predators like pumas, who frequently kill their sheep for food, as well as herbivore species like the guanaco (similar to a llama), who compete with livestock for the nutrient-poor steppe grasses, conservationists aim to protect these species, who bring balance to and restore ecosystems.

The people and the place

Rather than capturing single-dimensional depictions of a remote yet beautiful wilderness, the photographers delved into the layers of work, relationships, and traditions which animate the region. "We often think of Patagonia solely in terms of its landscapes, but behind them there are also communities, trades, and ways of life that deserve to be known and valued," said Adolfo.

For Timothy, there is hope that these communities and their traditions can “coexist” with nature rather than be seen as obstacles to conservation."I hope this award helps bring greater visibility to the human story that exists alongside the pristine wilderness of southern Patagonia," said Timothy. "[..]People can preserve their cultural heritage and continue making a living from traditional livelihoods while protecting the natural world around them," he said.

Instead of celebrating Patagonia simply for its dramatic landscapes, these commended photographs invite us to see it as a place also defined by the people who continue to fish its southern channels, herd sheep across its plains, and maintain traditions that have endured for generations. In doing so, they reveal a richer, more complete portrait of Patagonia—one in which spectacular scenery and human stories are inseparable.

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Beta Pictoris, located about 63 light-years away from Earth, is one of the most photographed planetary systems outside of our own – yet despite all the data coming from that part of the sky, a faint planet remained hidden. After researchers noted a bright spot in new images, the newly discovered planet was spotted in images dating back over 11 years.

“We weren’t looking for a new planet, explained lead researcher Aidan Gibbs. “We were trying to understand one we already knew existed. Then, this telltale signal appeared in the data where we didn’t expect it.”

Researchers were looking at Beta Pictoris b with the James Webb Telescope’s Near InfraRed Spectrograph when they spotted another bright spot in the image where they had expected to see dust: a planet now named Beta Pictoris d.

When researchers went back over older images, they spotted evidence of the planet in images that had been taken more than a decade ago.

Beta Pictoris d is estimated to be about twice the mass of Jupiter, so why is the newly discovered planet so good at playing hide and seek? Beta Pictoris d is very dim. Researchers believe it’s one of the dimmest exoplanets ever to be photographed from Earth. The planet also has the widest known orbit in the system compared to the other two known planets, which puts it just inside the system’s debris disk.

Using Webb, the researchers were able to capture a near-infrared spectrograph and a traditional image of the discovery.

"There was an unexpected bright source of light within the Integral Field Unit imaging, but we've learned not to trust bright blobs in images," Jean-Baptiste Ruffio, a principal investigator of the Webb Observations and research scientist at the University of California, San Diego, said. “They can be instrumental artifacts or other structures in the debris disk. By obtaining a spectrum at the same time as the image, we were able to quickly confirm our suspicions.”

A separate study using the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope confirmed the planet’s existence, noting that Beta Pictoris d is 100 times fainter than the first planet discovered in the same system.

The ESO research team also combed through past data, finding faint evidence of Beta Pictoris d hidden in the glare of Beta Pictoris b, dating back 11 years

“Planet d, it seems, has been playing a game of hide-and-seek with us for over a decade and only now can we say ‘found you,’” said Jaybe Bixby study co-author and astronomer at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

In traditional imaging, a planet must be bright enough not to be overshadowed by the brightness of any neighboring objects, and the brightness of Beta Pictoris b meant the neighboring planet remained undetected for several years.

While the discovery of Beta Pictoris d is new, researchers had their suspicions – the mass and shape help explain the shape of Beta Pictoris’ debris disk.

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Social media has flooded the internet with countless regurgitations of the same compositions of the same picturesque places, so much that very rarely do I see an image of these locations that impresses me.

One such landmark which, for me, fits this description is the Golden Gate Bridge. Arguably the most famous bridge in the world, the 1.7-mile suspension-clad structure connects San Francisco to Marin County, California, and has been photographed extensively since opening in 1937.

However, Marcin Zając, a US-based Polish photographer, has been commended by the International Aerial Photographer of the Year Awards (IAPOTY) for what is easily the most unique shot of the iconic bridge that I’ve ever seen.

Instead of the cliché sun setting behind the bridge, or a long exposure of waves enveloping the rocks at Baker Beach with the bridge in the background, Zając did something wholly original.

“[…]My challenge was to find a truly unique way to present it [the bridge],” said Marcin. “By positioning the drone precisely within the massive opening of one of the main Art Deco towers, I could use the bridge's own architecture to frame the view.”

With a DJI Air 2S drone (settings ISO 100, f/2.8 and 1/160s), Marcin captured the “massive, gritty steel” structure in the foreground to create a sense of scale. And the sweeping curve of the cables formed a “perfect visual corridor” leading the eye towards the distant headlands, he explained.

The Northern California resident has snapped many a unique take on the famed bridge, including the above image, in which he elegantly combined shadows and golden sunlight to render the silhouetted structure against the San Francisco skyline. In this shot, the Transamerica Pyramid can be seen perfectly framed between the bridge tower pillars.

For his latest and fantastically original take on the Golden Gate Bridge, Marcin was selected as one of the 101 finalists from over 1,800 entries at the IAPOTY 2026. His image will be featured in the printed book celebrating all those which made this year’s final cut.

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I can still remember the first time that, standing with a camera around my neck and aching feet, one of the members of the bridal party told me that I had done a great job. I must have looked confused. The wedding wasn’t even over yet, the photographs had yet to leave my camera – how did she know my photographs weren’t terrible?

The bridesmaid wasn’t complimenting my photographs; she was simply thanking me for something quite simple: Not being rude.

Photographs should never come before people. But perhaps no one has expressed that idea more eloquently than the iconic photojournalist who used the camera to create historical poetry: Alfred Eisenstaedt.

Perhaps you’ve never heard the name Eisenstaedt, but you’ve seen his work. The German-born photographer who went on to spend 40 years at LIFE Magazine was the photographer behind the historic V-J Day photo in Times Square of a sailor kissing a woman in a nursing uniform at the end of World War II.

“Never boss people around,” Eisenstaedt said. “It’s more important to click with people than to click the shutter.”

There are two key ways that this statement from a legendary photographer, who lived from 1898 to 1995, applies to modern photography.

The first is simply that hiding behind a camera does not permit photographers to be terrible human beings. As a wedding and portrait photographer, how I connect with the people in front of my lens has a strong correlation to how the images turn out. If my actions make that person uncomfortable, angry, or frustrated, those photographs won’t be loved, no matter how technically perfect they are.

But I think there’s another way this iconic quote can be applied to modern photography, in that good photographs don’t just “click” with the person in the photograph. Great photographs “click” with the people who view them.

I can’t count the times I’ve seen “terrible” photos go viral with poor composition or bad lighting, but what’s more important is that those photos click with people; they trigger an emotional response. Creating an emotional connection with the viewer matters more than technical perfection. In fact, people may connect more with photographs that aren’t perfect, after all, humans are imperfect creatures.

Eisenstaedt’s connection to the people he photographed is undoubtedly why the photojournalist’s work remains some of the most impactful images in history. When he stood in Times Square on V-J Day, he wasn’t just a photographer, he was also a Jewish soldier who served in World War I, but moved to America in 1935 amid increasing persecution. I bet standing behind the camera on that day in 1945, he clicked with the soldier and the nurse in the iconic photograph.

Yes, the technical side of photography is important, but never more important than “clicking” with both the people in front of the camera and the people viewing the photographs.

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As a professional portrait and wedding photographer, I’m constantly trying to one-up myself, to make the next gallery of photographs even better than the last. But, there’s one genre that I will continue to shoot even if I’m absolutely terrible at it: wildlife photography.

I don’t consider myself a professional wildlife photographer, which is perhaps why heading out to a nature preserve with my camera feels liberating. There’s no pressure to get a perfect shot, there are no wedding timelines and there are no unwilling family members to contend with.

Heck, it’s highly likely that the “subject” may never even show up for the photo shoot at all, wildlife being, well, wild. It’s just me, my camera, and (possibly) some nature.

Wildlife photography is my form of self-care. Perhaps a spa day might be a better form of self-care than hauling the heaviest lenses on a multi-mile hike, and yet, I emerge from the woods sweaty, muscles aching, but a smile plastered on my face.

My use of wildlife photography as self-care dates back to the COVID-19 pandemic, when my usual escapes were all shut down at the same time that I had virtual school placed on top of an already precariously balanced to-do list.

I very quickly realized that if I am both a better mother and a better artist if I take the time to step away and spend some time outside. My creative brain needs time to wander aimlessly, bored, and there’s no better place than a walk through the woods (or a row on the lake).

Sometimes, I head out on a wildlife shoot and I never see anything more exciting than the typical birds that surround my bird feeder at home. Sometimes, I see unusual wildlife and I’m not fast enough to bring my camera up to my eye, so I shoot empty branches instead.

And yes, sometimes I do get some wildlife shots that I’m proud of.

I turned both of my creative hobbies – writing and photography – into a career. But I think every professional artist needs a creative outlet that doesn’t come with the pressures of a creative career. For me, that outlet is wildlife photography.

Even if the subject never shows up, I’m more grounded, my brain more apt to think outside the box, with some time in the woods with my camera.

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Browse the best cameras for wildlife photography or the best lenses for bird photography.

Sitting at my desk, a flash of movement outside my window caught my eye. When I looked up, my hands reflexively went for my wildlife photography gear. Right outside my cabin, a flock of cedar waxwings decided to feast on the moths, mayflies, and dragonflies right outside my window.

I’ve always loved cedar waxwings because their wings look impossibly smooth, almost plastic. But perhaps even more importantly for wildlife photography, the birds didn’t seem to mind at all at a human presence, darting right over my head to catch bugs in mid-air.

Birds are the great equalizer in wildlife photography. I can’t photograph a wild giraffe or monkey without a plane ticket. But, from the pigeons on a New York City apartment balcony to cardinals at a country bird feeder to puffins in the Arctic, birds are nearly everywhere.

Sometimes, I plan my wildlife photo hikes – which I often use as a much-needed mental health break – well in advance. I research the best spots and rearrange my schedule so that I can head out when wildlife tends to be the most active.

But other times, wildlife photography opportunities present themselves when I least expect. I’ve often longed for my wildlife gear when spotting a bird that I haven’t photographed before in a grocery store parking lot.

I can’t count the times that I wish I weren’t driving when I spotted wildlife, like the kestrel I saw scoop up a field mouse or the eagle that swooped right out of the fog towards me one morning, his wings feeling nearly as large as my windshield.

I consider myself only a hobbyist wildlife photographer (because when you turn both of your creative passions into a career, something needs to remain a sacred hobby). Thankfully, the cedar waxwings were enjoying the feast of bugs in my yard for more than an hour. That gave me the opportunity to watch, wait, and try for some action shots.

I wasn’t quite fast enough to get the birds swooping midair, but I managed to photograph a few wings poised in mid-flight, along with a few bugs clutched in beaks. A bald eagle even flew overhead while I was out photographing the cedar waxwings.

I walked back in the door, memory card bursting, and a smile plastered on my face – sometimes it’s the most unexpected photo shoots that bring the most joy.

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A number of the photographs that I’ve come across this week look as if they were shot on the scene of a post-apocalyptic movie – but the devastating wildfires across the globe, sparking eerie, smoke-filled scenes, are not the stuff of Hollywood imagination.

Photojournalists this week have managed to capture haunting photographs following a devastating number of wildfires across the globe, from Canada to France.

Abnormally high temperatures have sparked a series of wildfires in several regions, including Canada, France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. The fires have not only devastated communities directly impacted by the flames, but have also created widespread impact as smoke creates dangerous air quality across many regions.

Smoke is difficult to photograph – yet a number of photojournalists have captured eerie images of the fire’s devastation. I’m a photographer and a journalist, and I think these are some of the best news photos this week, from wildfire devastation to earthquake aftermath.

A haunting contrast between smoke and an iconic landmark

This photograph by Getty Images’ David Ramos is a haunting representation of some of the biggest headlines from the US this week: heat, smoke and immigration.

Ramos took this photograph from the Staten Island Ferry, capturing the Statue of Liberty – an iconic symbol of immigration – through the window, shrouded in yellow haze. A single silhouetted person surrounded by empty seats adds to the eerie feel of the image.

Ramos chose to focus on the Statue of Liberty rather than the person in silhouette, drawing more attention to the yellow, hazy skies.

An eerie image that captures both the heat and the smoke

Heat is something invisible that cannot be directly photographed, but I can feel the heat coming off this image from the Toronto Star’s Steve Russell.

The photograph, taken on July 15, captures a person swimming to escape the heat with the Toronto skyline blanketed in yellow smoke in the background. The tight framing lends the photo a lonely, eerie feel, as if the man in the water is the only person around.

Pilots fight a wildfire in Italy

The dangerous conditions mean many of the photos coming from this week’s wildfires are of the smoke rather than the flames themselves. This image by Alberto Lo Bianco, however, shows some of the reality beyond the impact on air quality.

In the photograph, a firefighting airplane drops its water load on a line of flames in a wildfire on the slope of Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

A haunting photograph of the aftermath of Venezuela’s earthquakes

This haunting photograph creates a devastating portrayal of another type of natural disaster – the twin earthquakes in Venezuela. While the earthquakes happened last month, this photograph from July 16 shows the continuing devastation as volunteers and family members search the rubble.

Photographer Federico Parra exposed the photograph for the light held high over two searchers kneeling in the rubble. The light draws attention to the devastation while leaving the rubble in darkness. Officials this week said the death toll has climbed past 4,800.

A statement written in chalk

The words “This is blood” are written on the pavement at the site of a fatal Immigration and Customs Enforcement shooting of a 26-year-old man from Colombia.

Photographer Ryan Murphy captured a photo of the words written as protests in the aftermath of the Maine shooting, which occurred days after a fatal shooting in Houston, Texas. Photographs are often tools to portray what words cannot, but the chalk words create a devastating photograph.

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Triggered emotions are the sign of a successful photograph – and I was reminded of this when I stumbled across photographs of a 55-year-old circus elephant, Badsha Bahadur. The photographs of the now rescued elephant are heartbreaking to see, but also prove the power that photos, videos, and social media can play.

Videos of Badsha’s condition went viral on social media earlier this month – and it’s those videos that sparked a rescue for the aging animal. Authorities rescued the 55-year-old elephant from Naogaon, and the elephant is now undergoing treatment at the Bangladesh National Zoo.

Photographs show the elephant receiving care from a team of veterinary specialists, yet at the same time reveal the extent of the animal’s injuries, which included an injured leg as well as a broken and infected tusk.

Photographer Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury, working for NurPhoto, captured this collection of images using Nikon Z9 and Z8 cameras, showing both the elephant’s emaciated appearance and close-ups of the textured skin marred by sores.

The veterinary team and authorities were able to rescue the animal, however, thanks to videos circulating on social media that revealed the elephant’s condition. Authorities said that the elephant’s previous owner had been unable to afford the cost of treatment and upkeep.

Elephants are critically endangered in Bangladesh. Last year, efforts of conservation groups led to new orders that made capturing the young elephants for use in the logging and circus industry illegal.

Badsha Bahadur is about 55 years old, authorities said. Asian elephants’ lifespan is around 70 years in the wild and around 80 years in captivity with proper care.

Bangladesh National Zoo, located in the country’s capital, Dhaka, is the largest zoo in the country and is operated by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock. According to the zoo’s website, the facility houses more than 2,000 animals from 165 different species.

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When I first started at Digital Camera World earlier this year, I wrote an opinion piece shooting down drone photography – to the displeasure of many readers.

Well, since then, I’ve seen so many fantastic images taken with drones that my opinion has gradually shifted, but this image from US-based professional photographer Kah-Wai Lin has me fully converted.

Lin’s image was recently awarded third place in the single image category at the 2026 International Aerial Photographer of the Year (IAPOTY) Awards. This was the second edition of the competition, and Lin walked away with $250 (approximately £190 / AU$360) and will be featured in the awards book showcasing all 101 finalists.

I think the top-down drone perspective is what makes this shot so special. Yes, you could easily capture the essence of this image with a frame taken at eye level, but it wouldn’t depict the immersive nature of the dust cloud surrounding the herd of wild horses, nor the ethereal, golden-yellow sunlight illuminating the scene.

Lin captured this image using a DJI Mini 4 Pro in Cappadocia, Turkey. Yılkı (wild) horses have been domesticated for over a millennium in the Anatolia region – formerly known as Asia Minor – which makes up a large portion of modern-day Turkey.

Since ancient times, Turkish villagers have tamed wild horses for agricultural work and transportation, the traditional enduring today mainly for tourism purposes.

The photographer opted for a 6.7mm focal length (24mm full-frame equivalent), f/1.7, ISO 100 and a 1/160 sec shutter speed, which I think perfectly balances freezing the animals’ movement while allowing a sliver of motion blur which almost leaves a dry, dusty sensation in your mouth.

Congratulations to Kah-Wai Lin on his commended image. The composition really is outstanding and it’s given me a fresh perspective on drone photography.

This year’s overall AIPOTY winner was Azim Khan Ronnie, who snagged the competition crown with a majestic series headlined by a fantastic shot of a fisherman among a colony of feeding migratory birds.

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There’s a video doing the rounds on social media showing a group of wildlife photographers coming within just meters of a puma in the Torres del Paine National Park (Chilean Patagonia), and it’s causing quite a ruckus.

On one side, you’ve got those pointing the finger at the photographers and their guide for what appears to be a major encroachment on the puma’s territory. And on the other there are the photographers who appear in the videos themselves and their supporters saying it was, in fact, the animal who flouted the boundaries.

Having watched the video myself, it's clear that the animal approaches the group, but I’m still siding with the finger-pointers. Why? Because the group – and their guide for that matter – broke the rules. One broken rule leads to another, which we all know creates a slippery slope towards worsening wildlife photography practices, like idiot tourists trying to take selfies with animals…

Above: the viral video shared by Guillermo

Torres del Paine National Park authority clearly states a minimum distance of 50m between animals and people (the rules are in Spanish, so have your translator ready, if need be). And in the video that went viral, which was shared on Instagram by a photographer, Guillermo, who was there that day, we see this rule go out the window.

What we don't see in this video, but which we do in a longer sequence from that day captured by fellow group member and photographer, Belen Etchegaray, is that the puma slowly made its way toward the group, not the other way around, which she says lets them off the hook.

But I still don't buy it. With all due respect, Belen and her crew must hold themselves to higher standards. That 50m minimum distance I mentioned before? Well, the national park also states that it's the tourists' responsibility to maintain it, even if the animal is the one closing the gap.

If anything, Belen’s video is the smoking gun that convicts the group as the guilty party, not the puma, as in none of the frames do the people make any attempt at distancing themselves from the wild cat.

Above: the full sequence shared by Belen Etchegaray

Admittedly, the puma, Diana, who’s well-known to guides thanks to a recognizable cut on her left ear, seemed quite unbothered by the group's presence. In the clips you can clearly see she’s on the hunt for something that’s out of frame, which explains why she’s so unfazed by the humans.

You may now think this works in the group's favor. Nope, in fact, it condemns them even more in my eyes! If the animal is on the hunt, then Torres del Paine is even stricter, stating that the minimum distance extends to 100m.

Call me a bore, but the rules are the rules, and the group didn't take the precautions they promised to when they entered the national park. It doesn't matter if the minimum distance to be kept by photographers is 50m, 100m, or 1000m, these rules are to protect the animals we love while still enabling us to enjoy our beloved craft.

Guillermo, Belen, and the rest of the group seemingly made no effort to backtrack and give Diana the 100m of space she was owed. Flouting rules like these sets a dangerous precedent for animals in wildlife photography hotspots everywhere, not just Torres del Paine National Park.

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No matter how long you or I dedicate ourselves to photography, nor how many amazing pictures we take or state-of-the-art cameras we own, none of us will ever come remotely close to being as cool as NASA career photographer Jim Ross.

On July 04, to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the USA (in 1776), Ross took to the skies in an F-18 fighter jet, snapping bird's-eye pictures of Washington, DC. Taking part in the Freedom 250 Flyover, Ross, with a Nikon Z9 in hand, also captured frames of an accompanying F-15 fighter.

“I grew up in Bozeman, Montana, when it was still considered a small town, so if someone told that little kid that he would be flying in an F-18 over the National Mall, he would have never believed it,” Ross told NASA.

Jim Ross started his career as an aviation photographer at NASA’s Armstrong (then Dryden) Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, in 1989, becoming the photo lead in 1997, a position he still holds.

Throughout his impressive career spanning almost 40 years, he’s immortalized some of NASA’s most electrifying moments – like early SR-71 flights, the delivery flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour to Los Angeles and the first flights of NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft.

In 2023, from the backseat of a T-34C research aircraft, Ross shot an exhilarating frame of NASA pilot Nils Larson while the plane was inverted during an aerobatic maneuver. The image captivated the agency and was later awarded NASA Photo of the Year.

“My mind is always thinking about what kind of photo I can take that will share what I am experiencing in the aircraft,” Ross said. “I love documenting history, and having the opportunity to capture flights and launches has kept me doing it for almost 37 years.”

Well, that’s it folks; we may as well sell our cameras, because Jim Ross has reached stratospheric levels of coolness that only a NASA photographer ever could. I’m not jealous at all. I swear.

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A cable-connected camera has found itself in the middle of a raging debate following England’s 2-1 World Cup Quarter-Final win against Norway. The alleged incident happened when Norwegian goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland lofted a thundering goal kick high above the pitch, with footage appearing to show a sudden drop in altitude and the ball falling directly into the path of England’s Eliott Anderson.

The midfielder drove forward, passed out wide to recent Barcelona signing, Anthony Gordon, whose pass then traced the edge of the box toward England talisman Jude Bellingham who shrugged off a defender and slotted the ball across Nyland’s goal and into the bottom-right corner of the net.

A BBC Sport report highlighted how Norwegian players immediately reacted to the incident, but referee Clement Turpin allowed the goal to stand. ABC News quoted a statement from FIFA which revealed that the sensor inside the football itself did not register a “peak” at the proposed moment of contact, meaning there’s no definitive evidence as to what exactly happened. You can watch the incident via the YouTube Short from @PeNewssss (above) and make your own mind up.

What is a cable-suspended camera?

Cable-suspended cameras are crucial for sports coverage, because they can be suspended high above the field. These cameras travel along a system of cables enabling them to follow the on-field action. This is crucial in delivering varying angles for replays.

The controversy follows several high-profile incidents regarding referring decisions in the World Cup, but is the first time camera equipment has been accused of intervening. This incident wasn’t even the only talking point during the match, with Norway having a goal from a corner disallowed, following a shove from team hero, Erling Haaland on England’s Eliott Anderson, as well as calls for a foul on England captain Harry Kane, shortly before Norway’s Andreas Schjelderup opened the scoring with an incredible long-range effort from a tight angle.

England will now face Argentina in a semi-final clash on Wednesday July 15. Here’s hoping the match isn’t blighted by any camera- or hand-related controversies.

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These photos of the very first FIFA World Cup Final are surprisingly good, considering they were taken on 100-year-old cameras. Could the Z 120-300mm f/2.8 be a surprise addition to Nikon’s World Cup squad? I’ll be keeping an eye on the sidelines. Ikea photographs household items to create ingenious representation of World Cup nations’ flags.

This photograph, Galaxy on the Rise, was captured in Tenerife, the Canary Islands, where the photographer spent nearly four hours searching for a hidden cave that proved remarkably difficult to find.

"I'm always drawn to locations that feel unique and relatively undiscovered, and this cave was a perfect example," says astrophotographer Anastasia Gulova, reflecting on the image that has now been selected for Capture the Atlas 2026 Milky Way Photographer of the Year collection.

The search became even more demanding due to intense heat and powerful winds, which pushed the photographer against the surrounding rocks. Almost abandoning the attempt, Gulova finally located the cave that would become the foreground for one of her most memorable Milky Way images.

How 'Galaxy on the Rise' was captured

Gear: Canon EOS RP Astro-modified (for sky), Canon EOS R5 (for foreground), Tamron 35mm f/1.4 SP Di USD, Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM

Accessories: Leofoto Ranger, Sky Watcher Sky Adventurer Pro 2i, VF foto white mist filter

Exposure: Sky: Pano 1 row x 6 panels x 4 frames at 60sec, 35mm, f/1.8, ISO 800; Foreground: Pano 1 row x 6 panels at 60sec, 16mm, f/4, ISO 100 (focus stacking + bracketing)

"The conditions made the process demanding," Gulova explains. "Intense heat combined with powerful winds made movement difficult, at times pushing me against sharp rocks.

"After nearly giving up and heading back, I finally came across the cave, a moment that made the entire search worthwhile.

"Capturing the image proved just as challenging. Composing and shooting the panoramic foreground required careful positioning, while properly illuminating the upper section of the cave was particularly difficult.

"To manage this, I used focus stacking across different planes, including the upper edge, the horizon and the lower foreground, all in near-total darkness, where the brief blue hour offered little assistance.

"With the Milky Way sitting low on the horizon, bringing out its color and detail required additional effort in both capture and processing.

"In the end, the result reflects not only the scene itself, but also the persistence and experience behind it, making it especially meaningful."

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Contrast in photography doesn’t always mean dark shadows and bright highlights – sometimes that contrast comes from a stark difference between the subject and the background.

From a viral photo of a person of color surrounded by a group in white masks to a serene scene clouded by a ship full of plastic, some of the most striking photojournalism this week highlights the power of contrast.

When I flipped through some of the best pieces of photojournalism from Getty this week, July 03-10, I realized that the most striking images are the photographs that use the power of contrast.

I’m a photographer and journalist, and I think these are some of the best news photos this week.

A stark contrast to America’s 250th birthday

The United States’ 250th birthday brought images of iconic Americana, from lightning and fireworks over the Home of the Braves to patriotic parades. But one of the most striking images of the week has gone viral for highlighting the racial tensions in modern America.

During the 250th anniversary celebrations in Washington DC, white supremacist group the Patriot Front marched in the city. The group’s white face masks are a sobering contrast to the red-white-and-blue celebrations.

The contrast becomes an even more humbling reminder of the racism that clouds both America’s history and present when the group’s stark white face masks are photographed among people of color. This shot on the subway by Getty’s Finn Gomez shows the masked group on the subway as a Black person waits by the subway doors.

Another shot of the Patriot Front on the subway by Reuters’ Cheney Orr went viral for the contrast, depicting a Black woman sitting alone on the train, surrounded by masked men. The striking contrast between the woman’s expression and the masks around her captures the other side of the Fourth of July celebrations in a devastating but important piece of photojournalism.

A serene landscape marred by bright plastics

A trash-filled barge floating on a serene, blue and green natural landscape highlights the power of contrast in photography. The buildings in the distance seem to have the same colors and variety as the litter on the ship.

The image comes from Michael Dantas on assignment covering the recent studies that flag an alarming amount of microplastics found along the banks of the Rio Negro in northern Brazil.

An unusual view of iconic architecture

Iconic architecture is often well photographed, but this striking view of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris immediately caught my eye. Taken underneath the iconic archway, looking up, the shot captures fighter jets in a practice run, preparing for the upcoming Bastille Day parade.

The unusual perspective invites the eye through the entire image and highlights the shape of the jets flying in sequence under a bright blue sky.

Historic architecture under modern criticism

The Washington DC Reflecting pool is another landmark that’s regularly photographed, but this shot uses the reflection of the Washington Monument to highlight the protests around the pool. A visitor stretches to take a shot of the pool over the fence erected around the moment after algae bloomed after a recent renovation.

The shot was captured by Getty’s Andrew Harnik during protests outside the arrangement for David Hearn, a former Olympian, who has been accused of damaging the pool.

The contrast of modern warfare

The woman in this photograph looks perfectly normal – but it's the bright clothing and the way she's going about her day on her phone that's a stark contrast to the rescue workers in the background.

The photograph, by Kostiantyn Liberov, is part of a series on daily life in Ukraine in 2026 that shows how life is unfolding as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues. This shot was taken on July 06 after a missile strike in Kyiv.

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A team of scientists has shared mesmerizing footage from a month-long exploration into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Among the scenes is a transparent-headed fish so alien that it looks like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.

The species in question is the elusive barreleye fish – a type of spookfish that, until now, had never been seen photographed in the wild.

An absolute rarity of nature, it has a completely transparent, fluid-filled dome on its head protecting its eyes, which, to the layman eye, makes it seem like you’re looking at the fish’s brain.

ABOVE: The alien-esque spookfish can be seen at 2:06-2:08

Marine biologists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, led by Dr Aaron Micallef, spotted the ghostly being at a depth of 2,329ft (710m) in a region of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Doldrums Fracture Zone.

This is an extensive system of cracks and fault lines on the seafloor (13,000ft / 4,000m) roughly the size of Lake Michigan, around 800 miles off the northeast coast of Brazil.

Tectonic plates violently grind past one another, sculpting dramatic seascapes like sedimented basins that can house chemically altered waters responsible for unique deep-sea ecosystems.

ABOVE: See the fascinating deep ocean vents discovered by the researchers

"This discovery shows why exploration still matters," Dr Micallef told the Schmidt Ocean Institute. "Even in the Atlantic Ocean, where plate boundaries have been studied for decades, there are still places where the first close look can reveal something entirely new."

Dr Micallef’s crew, who operated a remote-controlled submarine called SuBastian from the surface, made more otherworldly discoveries.

Thanks to Substian’s 4K camera, they also bagged footage of a pair of beautiful and also never-before-seen thermal vents spewing life-creating materials into the ocean.

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Images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed new secrets about a nearby galaxy, leaving European Space Agency (ESA) astronomers with all sorts of questions about its mesmerizing structure and glistening star formations.

Centaurus A (also known as NGC 5128) is located 11 million light-years away from Earth and has been well documented by scientists since its discovery in 1826. However, vibrant cosmic dust shrouding the galaxy’s central region made it difficult to observe, and even the Hubble Space Telescope couldn’t provide detailed enough images.

But unlike Hubble, JWST features a Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) that cuts through the hazy space gases, which the ESA says exposes the galaxy’s inner workings and a prime case of “galactic archaeology”.

Most notable to the astronomers is the “warped” parallelogram-like band of light peppered with stars stretching across the center of NGC 5128, while wisps of material flow outward like clouds.

This formation was revealed by combining images from the MIRI with those captured by the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), with the ESA thinking it could have been the result of a cosmic collision with another galaxy billions of years ago.

The astronomers also used James Webb’s spectroscopy instruments to determine how the black hole at the center of Centaurus A influences the galaxy as a whole. While the researchers are certain it can trigger new star formation by compressing gas, and also limit this by pushing cosmic material away, the “complex” answers continue to elude them.

Even though the ESA astronomers have been left scratching their heads, they’ve said that the new images have enabled them to trace dust, resolve millions of stars and reveal the motion of gases in unprecedented detail, transforming Centaurus A into a “vivid record of cosmic history”.

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Snow leopards are one of, if not the, most difficult big cats to spot thanks to their perilous habitats and shadowy movements. These cats typically live at altitudes between 3,000 to 4,500 meters across Central and South Asia, meaning researchers, who’ve nickanmed them the “Ghosts of the Mountains” often have their work cut out.

However, over the years, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has partnered with local conservation efforts to help restore populations of the big cat, in the process drip-feeding images to the public from their trail cams.

The latest photos to appear on WWF’s social channels have come from an ongoing survey which began in 2022 to document the elusive mountain cats across 10 high-altitude regions in China, including the Wolong National Nature Reserve (Sichuan Province) and the Sanjiangyuan National Park (Qinghai Province).

Since then, the network of cameras has captured more than 600 photos of snow leopards and recorded 157 separate sightings, shedding new light on the species’ population, of which only 22% is estimated to have been documented by researchers.

While snow leopards remain largely out of human sight high up in the mountains, the researchers hope the passive infrared (PIR) cameras, which can function in temperatures as low as -40°C, will reveal greater numbers of these cats than previously known.

Along with capturing snow leopards, the current survey has also snapped pictures of other high-altitude species, including foxes and takins – large, stocky mammals native to the eastern Himalayas that look like a cross between a bison and a moose.

WWF hasn’t mentioned when the current survey will come to an end, so hopefully there will be more snow leopard and other wildlife pictures shared over the coming months too.

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Photographing fireworks requires hitting the shutter at just the right second – but sports photographer Casey Sykes recently managed to capture not just fireworks but lightning all striking in the same frame.

Sykes (@caseysykesphoto) is an Atlanta, Georgia-based freelance photographer whose portfolio spans regular coverage of the Atlanta Braves to Getty Images to corporate clients. After the Braves’ 14-3 win over the New York Mets on the Fourth of July, Sykes stuck around for the fireworks show and captured a rare shot mixing lightning with the post-game fireworks.

In the shot, fireworks light up just beyond the stadium as a bolt of lightning strikes on the right side of the photograph. That dual human-made and nature-made night show unfolds over a packed stadium, including striking blue lights and projected stars, further adding to the ambiance of the shot.

Capturing lightning on camera is a difficult shot that requires the right timing – or a light-sensitive trigger. But capturing a photo that mixes both fireworks and lightning is even more unusual.

Many fireworks shows are often cancelled when inclement weather is expected, making the mix even more rare. The storms held off for most of the game, however, and started moving into the area during the post-game show.

According to the photograph’s metadata, Sykes captured the shot with the Canon EOS R5 Mark II and the RF 15-35mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens. A fifteen-second shutter speed helped get both the lightning strike and fireworks in the frame, while an f/22 aperture kept much of the detail in the stadium sharp.

The mix of fireworks and lighting together over the home of the Braves was striking enough that the photo was featured among Getty’s top photos of the week.

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Instead of relying solely on billion-dollar space telescopes, NASA should also consider using pictures taken by astronauts with commercial handheld cameras to study the cosmos. That’s what astronomers at Tokyo City University, Japan, have suggested in a new research paper.

The paper has revealed how an image taken by one of the astronauts during the recent Artemis II lunar mission has improved understanding of the F corona – scattered light from cosmic dust forming part of the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere.

The image was taken on day 6 of the lunar mission as the astronauts witnessed a total solar eclipse from the far side of the Moon. We don’t know which astronaut pressed the shutter, but we do know, thanks to EXIF data, that they used a Nikon Z9 and Nikkor 35mm f/2D lens, with settings: 2secs at f/2, ISO 1600.

According to the Japanese astronomers, the F corona is a faint spreading structure that can be seen in the image surrounding the Moon, which is obscuring the Sun, and special conditions such as a total solar eclipse are required for observation.

By analyzing the image, the astronomers deduced that the extent to which the F corona is distributed in the north-south direction is greater than scientific models have previously predicted, revealing new understanding of the origin and evolution of materials within the solar system.

The Tokyo-based researchers have said the study represents a pivotal intersection of science and human activity, as “a single photograph taken by a person in space” has highlighted a potentially crucial role astronauts using handheld cameras could play in the future of astronomy.

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European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot has shared the latest of the incredible images she’s captured from aboard the International Space Station (ISS), this time treating us to a mesmerizing shot of the aurora borealis as it glistened over Earth.

Adenot is part of the Epsilon mission crew, who are expected to remain in orbit for around nine months conducting microgravity research, and this new image was captured on day 127 (orbit 1,968) some 250 miles above the planet.

“That aurora was absolutely spectacular… shimmering and dancing beneath us, stretching as far as the eye could see, and so intense it lit up the Station in shades of green,” said Adenot. “Moments like these never get old up here; the whole crew suddenly find themselves vying for a good spot at a window!”

An aurora occurs when electrically charged particles from the Sun collide with gases in Earth’s upper atmosphere, causing atmospheric oxygen and nitrogen to glow vibrantly.

Adenot said she’s seen several since the mission began, but this one was “on a completely different level”, requiring different camera settings than usual. To capture the shot, she set her trusty Nikon Z9 to 1/4 sec, f/1.4 and ISO8000.

The astronaut has been documenting the mission with camera in hand since the beginning and has built out an amazing portfolio.

On day 103 (orbit 1,598) she snapped an awesome image of Mt. Vesuvius – the volcano which destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii – and Mt. Etna, an active stratovolcano on the island of Sicily, while smoke billowed from its crater.

With roughly a month left of the Epsilon mission, I’m sure we can expect more fascinating images from her before the space odyssey comes to an end.

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At the beginning of the year, I set the cat firmly among the pigeons when I claimed that I only recommend the ‘Big Three’ camera brands for serious wildlife photography: Canon, Nikon and Sony. As you can imagine, Micro Four Thirds camera (MFT) photographers were not happy.

So, Luke from OM System got in touch with me and offered to lend me some kit so I could put my money where my mouth was. Cue the arrival of the flagship OM System OM-1 Mark II and the mighty ‘Big White’ M.Zuiko 150-400mm f/4.5 TC1.25X IS Pro, as well as the M.Zuiko Digital ED 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3 IS and M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO. Lucky me!

Determined to put the kit through its paces, I headed off to wetland wildlife reserve WWT Slimbridge and the Hawk Conservancy Trust in a bid to photograph some of the most challenging wildlife subjects on Earth: birds. So, read on to find out why I hold my hand up and admit that I was so very, very wrong about MFT. Just don’t expect a puff piece – I’m not ready to give up my full-frame kit just yet…

Wildlife photography weight saving

MFT is renowned for the small size and light weight of its cameras and lenses. But in my review of the ‘Big White’ 150-400mm f/4.5, I called it a bit of an oxymoron. That’s because it’s a 12.4in long, 1,875g behemoth. Still, compare it to a full-frame 600mm f/4 lens and it’s a minnow. It’s also the largest MFT lens on the market, aimed squarely at sports and wildlife professionals.

The M.Zuiko Digital ED 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3 IS is just eight inches long and 1,102g, with the M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO measuring 6.3in and weighing 880g. To put that into perspective, every MFT lens on the market (even the ‘Big White’) is smaller and lighter than the Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR. And while the OM System OM-1 Mark II is very small and light for a flagship camera, it’s not so prominent that longer lenses feel unbalanced, which is a good thing in my book.

I’m no stranger to heavy kit. I’ve owned a Nikon D800, Nikon D850 and Nikon Z8, and as I get older and my back becomes more temperamental, the weight of my kit is something I’m becoming more and more aware of. Most camera gear seems manageable when you pluck it off the shelf in an air-conditioned store and wave it around for a few minutes. You’ve got to imagine yourself in blistering heat, trudging your way up a gravel track to get to that secluded hide. Or standing on a cliff-top, capturing pan after pan of soaring seabirds.

And indeed, while walking around with my OM System kit, I couldn’t quite believe that I was packing two super-telephoto and one telephoto lens, plus a flagship camera. My own personal Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR is so long, a lot of camera bags are too small for me to pack it with a camera attached. No such problem here. For hide photography I do prefer to use some kind of support, be it a tripod, monopod, or beanbag, but the M.Zuiko Digital ED 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3 IS, especially, is an absolute joy to stroll around with.

Even the ‘Big White’ is easy to cart about. And doing so netted me my favorite image of this little project. I was leaving a hide, ‘Big White’ in hand, when a sparrowhawk landed in a tree, right in front of me (above). I couldn’t believe my luck! I simply raised the M.Zuiko 150-400mm f/4.5 TC1.25X IS Pro, took full advantage of its huge 800mm effective focal length and squeezed off a burst. No cropping needed.

If you’re physically unable to lug around heavy kit, know that it will impact your enjoyment, or even become a wildlife photography barrier, you simply cannot put a price on MFT’s weight-saving properties. However, it comes with a bit of a caveat: image quality.

How good is MFT image quality?

At the epicentre of MFT’s weight-saving strategy is its 4/3 sensor, which measures 17.3 × 13mm, roughly half the dimensions of a full-frame sensor (36 × 24mm) and roughly ¼ of the surface area, while also being smaller than an APS-C sensor (23.5 x 15.6mm).

This results in what tends to be a combination of lower resolutions and smaller photosites resulting in more noticeable noise, which means MFT images tend not to hold up to extreme cropping as well as their APS-C and full-frame counterparts. The flip side is that 2x crop factor, which means you’re effectively doubling your lens’s given focal length. In practice, this is often a big advantage, but there's one situation where it's more of a hindrance. Let me explain…

So, the big plus point here is that you can fill the frame with your subject, while standing further back. This means you’re less likely to stress or scare wildlife, or better your chances when restricted to a hide. But, this advantage is curtailed somewhat because it leaves you far less room for cropping.

A lot of photographers will tell you to get it right in camera. It’s sound advice, but doesn’t always work out in practice. Wildlife and sports photographers, in particular, often rely upon cropping simply because they cannot get close enough to the subject. This levels the playing field somewhat when it comes to high-resolution full-frame cameras that can be cropped significantly.

If you’re shooting at 400mm on a full-frame camera, you can crop to the point that you can end up with a similar field of view as an MFT camera (800mm), but a 45.7MP or 60MP sensor will still leave you with less resolution than a 20.4MP MFT sensor. However, the margins are fine and the advantage with extensive cropping is that you get more control over your composition. If you’re capturing slower wildlife or wildlife portraits then I think getting it right in camera is definitely what you should be aiming for and in this context the extended reach of an MFT setup can work to your advantage.

But I spent a lot of time capturing birds in flight during the Hawk Conservancy Trust’s excellent flying displays and what I found out was that even though I could get much closer to the subjects using my OM System camera, I was missing more shots. The reason is simple, the larger the subject is in the frame, the less room you have for error.

When the subject is an erratic bird, you really do need to pull back slightly to give yourself some wiggle room and help prevent unintentionally cropped wing tips, beaks, etc. So, while MFT gives you the advantage when capturing portraits or slower subjects, a high-resolution full-frame camera wins for extreme action such as birds in flight.

OM System OM-1 Mark II: Suitable for wildlife?

I really enjoyed using the OM System OM-1 Mark II. After all, Digital Camera World’s resident MFT fanatic, James Artaius, awarded it five stars in his review. For starters, it’s a fantastic price. It’s an expensive camera, but you can find it for under $2,000 / £2,000, which is enthusiast-camera prices for flagship technology. What really surprised me, though, is the camera’s ergonomics.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the OM-1 Mark II is the most comfortable camera I’ve ever had the pleasure of using. The grip feels just right, your thumb naturally rests on the ISO button and your left hand is free to alter the AF mode or burst speed without ever moving your eye away from the viewfinder. I was using my Nikon Z8 on the day to compare and the OM-1’s AF isn’t as good as the Nikon’s, but you’re talking about a more expensive, larger and heavier camera.

Do I still recommend ONLY the ‘Big Three’ for wildlife photography?

I guess I’m recommending the ‘Big Four’ for wildlife photography now. ‘Big Five’ if you include Panasonic’s wildlife-worthy Lumix G9 II. I still stand by my original article in that if someone were looking for the very best wildlife photography setup money can buy, I’d lead them down the full-frame route. But if budget or your back is a concern or if you’re a hobbyist who really doesn’t need to be buying the cream of the pro-grade crop, then Micro Four Thirds is not only a solution, its unique advantages mean that it’s not even a sub-par option. It’s just a different option.

My feeling is that it really comes into its own when photographing almost any wildlife that isn’t birds in flight. The extended reach increases your chances of getting it right in camera, making it a fantastic system for wildlife reserve trips or safaris. However, I still think the ability to widen your framing and crop in post is the better choice when capturing birds in flight.

But that’s what’s great about the photography industry today; there really is a system for everyone. So don’t let me or anyone else tell you that Micro Four Thirds isn’t an ideal fit for wildlife photography. If it meets your budget and saves your back, it’s the system for you. Right then, Fujifilm photographers. Come at me!

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Macro photography is recognizable by its characteristic shallow depth of field and tight framing. In the majority of close-up images, a single subject is isolated in the frame, with a sharp falloff in focus in front of and behind the subject.

This type of composition is fantastic for highlighting details and creating a bug’s-eye perspective. However, there are disadvantages to the macro point of view, namely a removal of context – a limit to situational coverage.

Sometimes we want to show how our subject fits into the environment beyond the frame edges, to tell our viewers a little more about it. And photomerging can provide an answer.

Traditionally, panoramas are associated with landscape photography – yet the widescreen format can lend a unique style to macro. Due to the specific challenges of the genre, however, we must adapt our approach to the shooting process.

As we will be rotating the camera, it's critical to observe the effect on focus placement and make adjustments. Fine control over focusing and exposure is necessary to produce an effective, engaging and successfully merged panoramic view.

For this technique, try using both a true macro lens and a telephoto zoom with a close-up function to see which gives more manageable results.

6 pro shooting steps

1. Set camera height

Start by lowering the tripod so that the camera is aimed at the subject from 90°. This reduces the impact of parallax issues during image stitching and increases depth of field over the subject.

2. Perform test pan

Decide exactly how much of the scene you want to cover and calculate where to start and end your pan movement, as well as how many images this may take to complete.

3. Lock exposure

Find the ideal exposure, then lock in these settings by switching to manual mode and entering the shutter speed and aperture values. This prevents brightness from changing between segments.

4. Focus first segment

Zoom in using Live View to focus the first segment. Here the subject was not visible in the first image, so the distance between it and the camera had to be measured and the focus estimated.

5. Pan and refocus

Shoot the first image and rotate the camera to shoot the second. Ensure the focus position is kept at the same distance relative to the camera to maintain sharpness over the subject.

6. Repeat and stitch

Using a smaller f-number will minimize focus changes between images, but you may need to reshoot several times to perfect focus placement. Turn on focus peaking to visualize the focal plane.

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It turns out that people are ‘photographing’ the World Cup by taking pictures of their television sets – including professional sports shooters. That’s right, World Cup images are turning up on Instagram from photographers who aren’t even on the same continent, let alone the stadium in question.

It would seem that the person who sparked this particular trend is Paris-based professional sports photographer, Florence Pernet (@flo_pernet). Upon failing to get accreditation for the World Cup, he found an alternative route by photographing games on a television set.

Florence isn’t the first photographer to think of this, going so far as to credit Matthew Johnson (@matthewjohnson) in one of her posts. Matthew created a series called Screen Time, which centers around television photography. However, this interesting style of photography has courted some interesting discussions regarding photography ethics.

An Instagrammer called @imbue_visual has posted a Reel about it, calling Florence’s work and the reasoning behind the idea “brilliant”, as well as praising the artistic results, before essentially questioning others jumping on the bandwagon, stating:

“It stops becoming a statement and starts being more of a creative style. Like, come on, the broadcaster has found the angle.”

Fashion influencer and photographer Damien Broderick (@damienbroderick) has also commented on the Reel, stating: “I couldn’t travel to India or back in time. So i decided to photograph this book [sic].”

Another commenter says, “You’re not shooting the whole frame of the tv tho. You are finding your own view through another’s view [sic]”. The Portuguese national team has even reposted one of Florence's images of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Clearly the internet is split. However, it is important to note that Florence’s images look nothing like the framing used on television. Often they are zoomed in, so you can see the screen’s pixels, captured with slow shutter speeds to form gesture-drawing-like abstracts, or color graded extensively.

In a world where creators are worried about AI scraping their works, this sort of debate is always going to divide the community. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it, but what I will say to detractors is, where does it stop?

You wouldn’t lambast an architectural photographer for finding their unique angle when framing a building or structure they didn’t design or build…

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Photographers may have more than fireworks to capture this Fourth of July weekend, as several sun flares could mean a natural night sky light show over the next few days. Heightened solar activity could increase the odds of seeing the aurora farther south than usual over the weekend.

The sun emitted several flares over a 24-hour period on June 30. Those flares could potentially spark an aurora this weekend, as early as tonight, with heightened chances for an aurora continuing into the weekend.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s three-day geomagnetic forecast predicts that the highest levels of activity could potentially hit a KP6, a moderate G2-level storm, around 18:00 ET today. The levels remain above a KP4 for more than 24 hours, however.

NOAA, however, notes that this particular solar activity makes the forecast unpredictable, and the timing could come earlier or later than expected. The sun unleashed 10 flares over a 24-hour period, and how those flares interact makes the aurora even more challenging to predict than usual.

The organization notes that there is “some uncertainty” on the timing due to that unpredictability – if the solar activity hits during daylight hours, the aurora would not be visible.

With the timing uncertain, photographers should check NOAA’s short-term forecast – which tends to be more accurate than the three-day forecast – before losing sleep.

If the conditions remain favorable, northern US states and Canada could see some aurora activity:

The UK's MET Office is also monitoring the activity and notes a potential aurora, but says that "any aurora is likely to be restricted to the northern parts of the UK and similar latitudes."

Thankfully, photographing the aurora is a little like photographing a fireworks show: Bring a tripod and prepare to use slower shutter speeds.

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NASA’s deep space images often feel like both science and art. But NASA’s latest images are art in more ways than one: they come with sound. NASA recently released a set of new images that are impressive on their own, but come accompanied by music created from scientific data.

NASA’s sonigications translate different data points from the photographs into different musical elements. The brightness of the image, for example, turns into volume, creating a crescendo at the brightest points of the photograph.

NASA used different scans, such as left to right and a clockwise circle, along with using different instruments to represent different data. In one sonification of the Milky Way cluster NGC3603 for example, the data that comes from Chandra’s X-ray observations becomes piano notes, while the Hubble data becomes an acoustic guitar.

A photo that creates a song is unusual in itself, but the set of images also features red, white, and blue galaxies and nebulae as NASA’s nod to America’s 250th birthday this Fourth of July. That seems extra appropriate, because what fireworks show is complete without sound?

Those colors, however, aren’t just patriotic but represent different visual data and hint at where that image came from. Chandra’s x-ray technology tends to render blues, purples, and whites. Layering those images with visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet photographs from additional space telescopes, like Hubble and James Webb, offers both more colors and a more complete dataset.

The cluster of Milky Way stars known as the nebula NGC 3603 looks almost like an exploded firework. NASA says the bright red cluster of stars is revealed by mixing data from Chandra with images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

The new collection also features the galaxy NCG 4736 or Messier 94, a shot that mixes images from Chandra with photos from astrophotographers on the ground using telescopes. The combination shows off the galaxy’s inner starburst ring, where new stars are forming.

The blue inside the final image collection comes from Hubble data on a distant cluster of galaxies known as ZwCl 0024+1652, while data from Chandra’s X-ray data adds the red superheated gas to the image.

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A wildlife photographer has just been shortlisted for the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year (AGNPOTY) 2026 for his dreamy underwater image of a seahorse so rare that scientists say it is classified as “data deficient”.

Lewis Burnett photographed the elusive tiger snout seahorse meandering among a hypnotic coral growth bursting with soft, pastel blues, pinks and orange colours.

This seahorse is rarely seen in the wild – so much so that according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which documents animal species at risk of extinction, there isn't enough data to categorize its status.

The tiger snout seahorse is entirely endemic to Western Australia, living between the Abrolhos Islands and Rockingham, making them difficult to observe.

They are rarely logged in science databases; seahorse researchers have noted that, out of hundreds of seahorse observations, only a tiny fraction are tiger snouts.

“This site is known for spectacular soft coral growths, so I was able to photograph this iconic species with a background that does them justice,” Burnett told AGNPOTY.

He used a Sony A1 camera with a Nikon Nikonos RS 13mm f/1.8 fisheye lens to capture the scene, opting for a 1/80 shutter speed, f/13 aperture and ISO 400.

The fantastic image of the tiger snout seahorse will now battle it out with 99 other finalist images to be crowned the overall winner of Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2026, taking home AU$10,000 (approximately $6,900 / £5,200) and receiving widespread recognition.

Hosted by the Southern Australian Museum (Adelaide), the competition accepts images showcasing natural flora, fauna, land/seascapes, or celestial objects within the ANZANG (Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and New Guinea) bioregion.

In 2025, the coveted title of Nature Photographer of the Year went to Ross Gudgeon (Australia) for his truly unique image of a cauliflower soft coral.

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The world’s largest camera was built for scientific discovery, but as the Vera C. Robin Observatory begins its decade-long survey of the night sky, the researchers are calling the work both scientific and a “blockbuster movie of the Universe.”

The Vera C. Rubin’s record-breaking size and resolution are the result of two decades of research and engineering, but on June 30, the camera’s ten-year survey of the night sky officially began.

The ultra-high definition, ultrawide-angle camera has begun creating a time-lapse of the night sky, which researchers expect will continue for a decade. “Today, we begin filming the greatest cosmic movie ever made,” said Brian Stone, the Chief of Staff, currently performing the duties of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Director.

Deputy Director of Rubin Operations for SLAC echoed a similar theme of the observatory’s impact on both science and technology. “It’s taken 20 years of hard science, engineering, and more to get to the point where we can call ‘action’ as we start rolling on this blockbuster movie of the Universe,” Marshal said. “Millions of alerts in just the last couple of months show that Rubin is up and running as a discovery machine. Now we’re putting it all together.”

Located on a mountain in Chile, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is operated by the NSF’s NOIRLab and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory took its first 3,200 megapixel photograph of the universe last June as part of the initial testing, but now the massive 6,200-pound / 2800 kg camera has officially begun its ten-year time-lapse of the night sky.

NOIRLab calls the observatory “the most powerful Solar System discovery machine ever built.” The Legacy of Time and Space Survey’s anticipated scientific contributions stem from both the tech behind the camera and the camera’s ten-year survey that could map out changes in the night sky over the next decade.

The observatory is now capturing one photo of the southern sky about every 40 seconds overnight. While the survey will pause for unfavorable conditions such as cloud cover, the system is expected to take around a thousand images every night for the next ten years. That’s about ten terabytes of data every night in operation.

Researchers believe that the camera’s high resolution and ultra-wide lens will uncover details about the universe not previously observed by earlier technology. During just the month and a half of early surveys to prep for the decade-long survey, researchers noted that Rubin had spotted more than 11,000 asteroids that had never been spotted before.

Software will help sift through the massive amounts of data, with researchers estimating that the system could send as many as seven million alerts each night.

The observatory’s early images are available to explore online.

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An accomplished wildlife photographer had a truly special encounter with a family of elusive big cats while leading a photo tour group in an Indian national park. Matan Sharon and his tour group were in Manas National Park, at the foothills of the Himalayas in northeastern India, when they finally encountered the melanistic Indian leopard.

More commonly known as "black panthers”, these majestic yet elusive big cats make up just one in ten leopard individuals worldwide.

Found in the dense, shaded tropical rainforests of South and Southeast Asia, they carry a genetic mutation called melanism – which causes an overproduction of dark pigment while their underlying rosette patterns remain visible under certain light.

Above: Matan Sharon's dusk encounter with the leopard cubs

ABOVE: Watch Matan Sharon's dusk encounter with the leopard cubs

"After hours of intense waiting, with the invaluable help of our local guides, the magic happened," said Matan, speaking to Indian tour company FinderBridge. "Exactly 20 minutes after sundown, a head popped up from the tea plantation. It slowly began to climb. Total silence fell over us."

The group had spotted two melanistic leopard cubs and, as one began scaling a tree, the moment all wildlife photographers prayed for occurred: the animal looked directly into Matan's lens. However, just after, the encounter became even more special as the mother returned to feed her little ones.

Above: the mother leopard keeps tabs on the photographers

"She is so intelligent; she chose the only safe place around to raise her cubs. She knows when to leave them and when to return," commented Matan in a separate Instagram post. "I love watching her moving around at a precise pace [...]. She is taking advantage of humans, and when she feels uncomfortable, she switches gears and disappears."

The group also encountered a range of other animals in the national park, including the Indian greater one-horned rhino, Indian elephants and the Bengal monitor lizard, which looks like a smaller Komodo dragon.

"Having traveled to over 100 countries as a photographer, I can safely say Bodoland and Manas are among the most magical places I have ever visited," commented Matan in a third Instagram post.

What a truly incredible encounter – and one that the photographers are sure never to forget. I highly recommend checking out Matan's Instagram to see his fantastic work, and also our guide to the best cameras for wildlife photography, where we break down our expert-reviewed picks.

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Take a look at the best cameras for wildlife photography along with the best lenses for bird photography and wildlife.

July 2026 is a month of contrasts for astrophotographers in the Northern Hemisphere. On one hand, nights are short, compressed into a narrow window between lingering twilight and early dawn. On the other hand, what darkness remains is hard to resist. This is peak season for the Milky Way’s brightest region and the last chance to image Jupiter in evening twilight. Add a well-timed new moon, a photogenic full ‘Buck Moon’ and a meteor shower, and July becomes less about quantity of darkness and more about timing. Here’s everything you need to know about astrophotography in July 2026:

Read: 10 must-shoot events for astrophotographers in 2026

July 11: Moon and Pleiades

If you can get up an hour before sunrise and you have a clear east-northeastern horizon, look for a 15%-illuminated waning crescent moon curled around the Pleiades open cluster (M45), with Mars and orangey red supergiant star Aldebaran below.

Read: When to photograph the moon

July 11-12: Manhattanhenge

July’s best celestial photography opportunities are not confined to dark skies. Twice each year, three weeks before and after the summer solstice, Manhattanhenge occurs in New York City. On both evenings this weekend, the setting sun will align perfectly with Manhattan’s grid of streets and be framed by the borough’s skyscrapers. On 11 July, the entire disk of the sun will appear on the horizon between the skyscrapers, while on 12 July, it will be possible to capture the “kiss the grid” effect, with half the sun appearing below the horizon line as it sets directly within Manhattan’s grid. For photographers, this is about geometry and timing. Use a long lens (200mm or more) to compress the scene and position yourself along major streets such as 42nd or 34th. Arrive early, as crowds gather quickly. Bracket your shots to retain detail in both the sunlit sky and the shadowed foreground. The definitive source for details about Manhattanhenge is New York’s American Museum of Natural History.

Read How to photograph Manhattanhenge

July 17-18: Dark sky window

Night is short enough in July without having to contend with a bright moon. So keep your attempts to image the Milky Way and anything in the deep sky to a few nights before and after the new moon on Tuesday, July 14. In mid-northern latitudes, the brightest part of the Milky Way becomes visible low in the southeast after dusk and climbs higher through the night. Use a wide-angle lens (14-24mm), a fast aperture (f/2.8 or thereabouts), ISO 800-3200 and exposures of 10-20 seconds to capture it, then use post-processing software to draw out detail. A star tracker will allow longer exposures and finer detail, revealing dust lanes and star clouds.

Read: How to photograph the Milky Way

July 17-18: Crescent moon returns

The nights after the new moon offer a chance to capture an ultra-thin crescent moon in the western twilight sky. On July 17, you can catch a 16%-illuminated waxing crescent moon close to Venus, with it slightly brighter and farther away from the planet on 18 July. You’ll need a clear horizon, precise timing and a tripod. Use a short telephoto lens (100–300mm) and expose for the crescent itself — Earthshine may be visible as a faint glow across the rest of the lunar disk.

Read: The best star tracker camera mounts

July 29: Full ‘Buck Moon’ rises

The time to image July’s full moon — known as the Buck Moon — is at moonrise where you are as its light passes through more of Earth’s atmosphere and takes on a warm orange hue. Scout a clear southeastern horizon and use apps like The Photographer's Ephemeris and PhotoPills to align the rising moon with foreground elements such as buildings, hills or coastlines. A telephoto lens in the 200-600mm range will exaggerate the moon’s size relative to the landscape.

Read: How to photograph the full moon

July 30-31: Delta Aquariid meteor shower peaks

The Delta Aquariids peak overnight, though this year the bright moon will significantly reduce visibility. Even so, it’s worth attempting wide-field imaging, being sure to orient the camera away from the bright moon’s glare. Meteor photography relies on persistence and volume. With a camera and a wide-angle lens on a sturdy tripod, aim away from the moon and start with ISO 800-3200, f/2.8, 20-25 seconds. Then, when you’re happy the finished image is balanced and sharp, switch to continuous shooting for a few hours.

Read: The best lenses for astrophotography

Astrophotography shot of the month: The Milky Way in H-alpha

July is arguably the best month of the year to photograph the Milky Way’s brightest section visible from the Northern Hemisphere. Rising high on warm, moonless nights, the galaxy’s central regions in Sagittarius and Scorpius become prime targets for wide-field astrophotography. However, shooting the Milky Way in Hydrogen-alpha — or H-alpha — reveals a new view.

Most standard DSLR and mirrorless cameras block up to 90% of H-alpha light, which is why many astrophotographers increasingly use astro-modified cameras or narrowband H-alpha filters combined with star trackers for long exposures. Think of it as switching from ordinary night vision to an X-ray view of the galaxy’s hidden structure — suddenly the Milky Way appears alive with stellar nurseries and glowing interstellar clouds.

H-alpha filters isolate a deep-red wavelength of light emitted by glowing hydrogen gas at star-forming regions across the galaxy. The result is striking: crimson nebulae and intricate gas clouds emerge from within the Milky Way’s star fields, particularly around Sagittarius, Cygnus and Scorpius. Love it or loathe it, H-alpha images of the night sky are here to stay.

Read more:

• Astrophotography tools: the best camera, lenses and gear

• The best lenses for astrophotography

• The best star tracker camera mounts

Boudoir photography is an intimate form of portraiture that tends to be themed around private bedroom or dressing room locations, featuring subjects wearing nightwear or lingerie.

True boudoir photography centers around empowerment, not provocation, conveying the elegance of form and shape, always prioritizing a tasteful and artistic mood.

Even so, boudoir photography can feel intimidating to newcomers. But these tips from professional photographer, Emma Finch, help to dispel any trepidations and are proof that the foundations of portraiture will stand you in good stead to capture elegant and artistic boudoir images.

The following is an excerpt from PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine’s Apprentice feature (issue 165), where award-winning professional photographer Emma Finch took reader Tom Becker under her wing during a day-long boudoir photography shoot. To see more of Emma’s incredible work, visit her website.

1) Full-frame camera and lens
While Emma has she's since upgraded to a Canon EOS R5 Mark II, she has also used a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV for portraiture. For most of her work she pairs it with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, which is razor-sharp, fast to focus in low light and has a great zoom from wide angle at 24mm to short telephoto at 70mm.

2) Be ready to shoot
Make sure that your Canon camera and exposure settings are all good, and your lights and location are set up before you ask your model to get in position.

3) Brightest part of the shot
Although boudoir photography can often feature lingerie, it’s still portraiture – and the subject’s face is the most important part. Make sure the face is nicely lit and you’ve focused on the eye closest to you.

4) Make a pinboard
Emma loves to browse Pinterest for vintage ideas and inspiration. She creates pinboards that she can share with models, giving them an idea of the sort of theme and style she wants to achieve in her photoshoots.

5) Good crop, bad crop
You can accentuate an hourglass figure by changing composition. Make sure the shot doesn’t crop off the bust or hips, as you want to keep these areas – crop at the waist or thighs. Never crop on a joint like a knee or elbow; choose to crop either side of the joint. Above, Cherie’s hand and tip of her shoe have been cut, which makes this shot look messy. It’d be better to have a wider or tighter composition instead.

6) Experiment with lighting
Change up your lighting between flash and natural light to achieve different looks. Remember, you can always add a small amount of flash ‘fill’ to naturally light shots if need be.

7) Turn the beep on!
Emma loves to shoot with the classic Canon AF beep noise on, as it reassures her that the camera has acquired focus before firing the shutter.

8) Use a model release form
Model release forms are readily available online and are a good way of outlining your agreement with the subject and what you’re allowed to do with the images, as well as documenting the shoot details.

9) Be aware of insecurities
If your subject has an insecurity such as their short stature, you can shoot from a low angle or with a wide-angle lens to make the legs seem much longer. Also be aware of how you’re lighting your subject, so that any areas they’re self-conscious about are dark and in shadow, not having attention drawn to them.

10) Check the shot
The rear screens on Canons are great for enabling you to zoom in on shots and double-check that they’re sharp. With portraits you may be shooting with a shallow depth of field (using apertures like f/1.8 or even f/1.4), so it’s crucial that you get the focus spot-on. It only takes a few seconds to do.

11) Show your subject your shots
Communication is a key part of getting your subject to feel relaxed. Be sure to share some of your best shots with them throughout the shoot, so they can see what’s being achieved – they may also have suggestions that you hadn’t thought of.

12) Lead-in limbs
The arms and legs can be positioned to use them as curves or leading lines that draw the viewer in and lead their eye through the image, just like with landscapes.

13) Have fun!
Boudoir photography can be quite moody and serious, but it doesn’t have to be! Moments where your model is smiling or laughing can work brilliantly well, too.

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If you're into portrait photography then you'll probably be interested in the best lenses for portraits and the best camera for portraits. If you're thinking of jumping into the world of artificial lighting, here are the best photography lighting kits.

Nobody can truly say which camera brand reigns supreme when it comes to professional sports photography, but the latest data from MPB – the world’s largest photography gear resale platform – points to Canon.

According to MPB, during the build-up to and initial 14 days of the 2026 FIFA World Cup (from January 01 to June 23), sales of the Canon EOS R1, the brand's flagship camera, rose by a whopping 344% compared to the same period last year.

At the same time, on-site searches for the Sony A9 III, the best camera for sports photography from the Alpha brand, rose by 119% but led to a more modest 63% overall increase in sales year-on-year.

“For sports photography, it’s all about features like subject tracking, continuous shooting speeds, buffer depth, low light capabilities and overall image quality," said Amy Moore, a camera expert at MPB.

"A robust camera body with great battery life, as well as quick, professional connectivity for sharing the action are also important.”

The EOS R1 is Canon’s best camera for professionals, released in late 2024. Among other top-tier features, the powerhouse captures up to 40fps with the electronic shutter and boasts in-body image stabilization of up to 8.5 stops.

The A9 III gives the R1 a solid run for its money, featuring a lightning-fast 120fps and the world’s first commercial global shutter sensor.

However, the faster sensor lacks the low-light performance of the R1's conventional stacked design – particularly with Canon's neural net processing offering up to two stops of in-camera denoising for even cleaner results.

Surprisingly, the MPB data said nothing of recent Nikon sales on the platform, although Moore did mention the Nikon Z9 – the Big N’s flagship shooter – as also being an “obvious standout” camera when it comes to professional-grade stills and video.

Find flagship models on MPB

Find your next professional-level camera on the world’s largest resale platform.

Canon EOS R1
Sony A9 Mark III
Nikon Z9

When buying, pay attention to the actuation count (how many images the camera has taken), the overall condition and the accessories included as these affect prices and performance.

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See where these cameras rank among the best cameras for sports photography, where my colleague James has put each of them through their paces, and make sure to pair them with the best lenses for sports photography.

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.

I've been a professional portrait photographer for over a decade – and learning about the "trinity primes" for portraiture changed how I used my camera.

If you've ever wondered why your people pictures don't quite look or feel right, there's a pretty good chance that you're using the wrong lens. Or perhaps, using the right lens in the wrong situation.

Even the best lenses for portraits are only effective if you use them appropriately. Shooting with a lens in a circumstance for which it wasn't designed can distort features, warp proportions and cause chaos for your composition – and that's before you get to things like subject separation and depth of field.

If you want to improve your portrait photography, this is the single best piece of advice I can give you – and I always carry these three focal lengths with me for portrait work.

You don't have to own all three, but understanding how to use each one will make a world of difference to your portraiture – and perhaps help you decide which one you need to add to your kit bag.

Knowing the right tool for the job is the surest start to getting the shot you want…

Full-length

When photographing a subject full-length, use a 35mm wide-angle lens. When shooting, your lens should be in line with the subject's navel.

(For medium format cameras, this will be around 44mm; for APS-C bodies, it's 23mm (unless you're on a Canon, in which case it's about 21mm); for Micro Four Thirds cameras, it's a 17mm lens.)

An equivalent 35mm focal length will flatter full-length figures, keeping the body in proportion. But it's important to shoot level with the midsection and in alignment with your subject; shooting up will lengthen the legs and squash the torso, shooting down will do the opposite.

Moving in closer than full-length with a 35mm will start to distort the subject; if you've ever taken a headshot with a wide-angle lens (or your standard phone camera), you'll know what I mean! This is not a lens designed for close-ups, unless you're doing so with intention – and your subject doesn't mind having elongated features.

Half-length

When photographing a subject half-length, use a 50mm lens. When shooting, your lens should be in line with the subject's chest.

(For medium format, this will be around 63mm; for APS-C bodies, it's 33mm (or 31mm for Canon); for Micro Four Thirds cameras, it's a 25mm lens.)

Again, a 50mm lens when shooting a half-length (or a three-quarter or torso shot) will naturally flatter the figure and features. Moving in closer with a 50mm to shoot a headshot will not distort your subject as severely as a wide-angle lens, but it will still introduce unnecessary optical effects.

Headshot

When photographing a subject's headshot, use an 85mm lens (or 90mm, if that's more common on your system). When shooting, your lens should be in line with the subject's nose.

(For medium format, this will be around 107mm; for APS-C bodies, it's 55mm (or 52mm for Canon); for Micro Four Thirds cameras, it's a 42mm lens.)

An 85mm lens is specifically designed to photograph a frame-filling headshot with minimal distortion. In crude terms, as I was taught while I was an apprentice, a long lens "makes noses shorter".

All things being equal, it can also inherently render shallower depth of field – which can create separation by blurring the background and making your subject stand out (provided there is sufficient distance between them and what's behind them).

Break the rules (after learning them!)

I can, of course, hear immediate umbrage and uproar. "You can use any lens you like! You can take a headshot with a fisheye lens if you really want to!"

Yes, I know. In fact, I shot the above half-length portrait on an 18mm fisheye. And the below full-length on a 300mm. And the environmental shot below that with a 40mm.

You can, indeed, use any lens you like – but only, as I said earlier, if you're doing so with intention. A 35mm lens is perfect for environmental portraits, but I've seen far too many photographers trying to take a headshot with one. And sometimes that's because they've been using a 35mm on a crop sensor camera, where it becomes a nifty fifty so you can get away with it.

So again: you need to know what your lens is designed for, how it behaves on the camera with which you're using it, and whether you're using it "right" or "wrong" you need to do so consciously to get the effect you need.

My "trinity primes" are ideal for use in a studio or commercial setup – which is where I started using this setup – because not only do they each flatter the subject for their respective shots, they can each be used interchangeable to retain the same perspective without having to move yourself, your subject or your lighting.

I can stand in the exact same position and take a full-length, half-length and headshot without moving my feet – just by changing the lens on my camera.

But the truth is, if space and moving things is no object, you should shoot everything on the longest lens possible. When I can, I love shooting full-length shots with my 150mm lens because it offers the most flattering, least distorted reproduction of what's in front of me with the greatest amount of (and usually greatest quality) bokeh.

However, its magnification also affects the background; so while it's great for carving out and isolating a subject, it obliterates or obfuscates your environment. (And the working distance makes communicating with your subject a challenge!) Which is why shooting with a wider lens – like 40mm in the example below – is useful as it captures the scene while also flattering the subject.

But 90% of the time – especially with most of my client work being indoors, with limited working distance – sticking to the trinity prime portrait lenses will never let you down.

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Check out the best cameras for portraits along with the best portrait lenses. I would personally recommend the Olympus M.Zuiko 75mm f/1.8, the Canon RF 85mm f/1.2L USM and the Zhongyi Optics Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95.

Bears make for majestic wildlife photo subjects, but get too close and they may just start eyeing you up – either out of self-defence or, worse, as prey, as one photographer recently found out the scary way.

Kai Snyder (kaiseed0), a professional chef and amateur photographer, was out snapping in the Lake Clark National Park Reserve in Alaska when she came across an enormous Alaskan brown bear lapping up water from a river.

After a few moments, the bear’s survival instincts kicked in – it turned its attention to Kai, giving her the most bone-chilling stare. Fortunately for the photographer, the river stood between her and the beast.

Alaskan brown bears weigh anywhere from 200 to over 1,500 pounds (around 90 to 680kg) depending on their sex, the season and their location.

More commonly known as grizzly bears – although not the only type of grizzly bear – they can be found in mainland Alaska, heavily populating the southern coastal regions and the Kodiak Archipelago.

Incidents of Alaskan grizzlies attacking photographers are rare, but have happened.

In 2012, a California hiker was mauled and killed while taking photos of a 600-pound grizzly. Photos recovered from the man’s camera showed that he’d come within 50 yards (45 meters) of the grazing bear, violating park rules that mandate a quarter-mile (402 meter) distance.

While we don’t know how close to the bear Snyder was, we do know that this wasn’t her first encounter with a grizzly. In fact, the Alaska resident has said in other TikTok clips that she’s “so stoked to live in a place where bears walking through the yard is an everyday occurrence.”

I’m glad to see that this latest and viral encounter ended safely for the photographer, and hope to see more of her work soon. There are a couple of shots on her Instagram of grizzly bears that are very nicely composed.

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Camera trap footage may not be the most glamorous form of wildlife photography, but it plays an essential role in modern conservation, especially in monitoring elusive species that are almost never seen by the human eye.

The Amazonian short-eared dog is one of these species. In fact, according to researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – a global conservation program headquartered in New York City – the canid, which has short legs, small, rounded ears, and a dark coat, is one of the world’s “least-known.”

However, WCS researchers based in Bolivia recently shed new light on this elusive dog, colloquially known as the ‘ghost dog’ in Latin America, by publishing a camera-trap study of the species that lasted 23 years.

For almost a quarter of a century (2001–2024), the researchers ran 34 “intensive” camera-trap surveys across northwestern Bolivia and southeastern Peru, snapping a substantial 4,635 individual images of the Amazonian short-eared dog and documenting 594 independent events.

Above: footage of the elusive short-eared dog captured by WCS trail cams

“Camera-trap surveys provided significant information on the behavior and relative abundance of the short-eared dog, suggesting it is more abundant than previously thought, although it remains a relatively rare medium-sized carnivore,” the researchers noted in the published paper.

According to the scientists, the research also uncovered that the creature has a “strong preference” for intact forest, highlighting the importance of maintaining protected areas and other management units that preserve Amazonian forest coverage.

The researchers also mentioned how the survey is a prime example of how conservation technology and remote sensing (i.e. camera traps) can provide substantial data on one of the Amazon’s least-studied species.

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As much as I love chasing the northern lights, I haven’t yet attempted to see the southern lights. But NASA astronaut Jessica Meir arguably had one of the best views of the early June 2026 phenomenon, snapping swirling greens and reds 271 miles above the Indian Ocean aboard the International Space Station.

NASA shared the stunning photograph on June 16, but Meir captured the photo of the Australia Borealis on June 5 as the ISS passed south of Perth, Australia.

The photograph mixes both the arch of the lights with the curve of the Earth and swirling clouds. That means Meir and other ISS astronauts likely had one of the few viewing spots for the June 5 southern lights, as cloud cover will obstruct the views of the night sky phenomenon from Earth.

Meir took the photo with the Nikon Z9, which is one of the first mirrorless cameras ever to make the trek to space. As space cameras need to be thoroughly tested to withstand the rigours of space, using older DSLRs is more common – like aboard the recent Artemis II mission – but the Z9 is one of the first mirrorless cameras to be tested in space.

Meir took the shot through a window at the ISS – parts of the space station are visible at the top and bottom of the frame. A slow 1/4 shutter speed, bright f/1.8 aperture, and ISO8000 helped the camera gather enough light from the dark scene.

Meir is scheduled to remain at the ISS as the spacecraft commander through September 2026. Meir’s background is in studying life in the most extreme environments, from expeditions to study penguins in Antarctica while studying for her Ph.D. to her current role conducting biology experiments in space. Meir was also among the first all-female spacewalks alongside Christina Koch in 2019.

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There's a quote in the new Taschen monograph, Arnold, that every portrait photographer needs to read.

Reflecting on the experience of being shot for film campaigns and magazine features, Schwarzenegger says: "They always shoot up, so the camera is right there in front of you, making you taller, more impressive, and the results are always terrific.

"You might go in your trailer, look in the mirror, and say, 'I look like shit,' but it doesn't matter. The way they shoot, you will always look like a stud."

It's a line delivered with his characteristic chutzpah, but it also contains a genuine insight: camera angle is everything – and the right photographer with the right perspective can make any subject look extraordinary.

That insight runs through this remarkable book, which lands on July 14 and is edited by Dian Hanson for Taschen's XL format.

At 528 pages and $150 / £125 (Australian pricing to be confirmed), it's a serious investment, but what you're getting is one of the most comprehensively photographed lives in modern history.

Schwarzenegger didn't just happen to be photographed well; he understood, instinctively and early, that the relationship between subject and photographer was a collaborative one, and he brought the same competitive intensity to a studio session that he brought to the stage at Mr Olympia.

The book traces his story from an impoverished childhood in Thal, Austria, through his rise as a young bodybuilder, his conquest of Hollywood and, eventually, the California Governor's office.

Along the way, an extraordinary cast of photographers found in him a subject who was, quite simply, unlike anyone else they'd worked with: a body that defied credibility, a face that was simultaneously strange and magnetic, and a personality that filled a room.

The results, gathered here across seven decades, amount to one of the great photographic records of any single human being.

The Pumping Iron effect

The turning point, photographically, came with the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron, which introduced Schwarzenegger to an audience far beyond the bodybuilding world – and, crucially, to a new generation of photographers and artists who found in him something they hadn't anticipated.

As he recalls in the book: "Pumping Iron brought the photographers and painters: Elliott Erwitt, Robert Mapplethorpe, Francesco Scavullo, Jamie Wyeth, Andy Warhol, Leroy Neiman; one after the other they photographed and painted me."

That's a roll call worth thinking about. Erwitt, one of the great humanist documentary photographers; Mapplethorpe, whose formal rigor and interest in the male body made him a natural fit; Scavullo, the defining portrait photographer of celebrity in that era; Warhol, who understood better than anyone how to transform a person into an icon.

Each brought their own language to the same subject. And the contrast between their approaches, all visible in this collection, is itself a masterclass in how differently the same body can be read by different eyes and lenses.

It was also where a long professional relationship began with Annie Leibovitz. "At the time, we thought she was super cool and kind of a hippie photographer that was game for anything," Schwarzenegger recalls.

She would, of course, go on to become the definitive chronicler of US celebrity, and her sessions with Arnold across the decades form some of the book's most compelling material.

A subject who understood the craft

What separates the photography in Arnold from a standard celeb retrospective is the sense that the subject was never passive.

Look at the early images shot on Austrian hillsides: a young man in blue trunks against a sky of improbable blue, relaxed in his body in a way that reads as complete self-knowledge.

These weren't candids, they were collaborations – and they show a subject who understood intuitively how to give a photographer what they needed.

The later studio work, particularly Herb Ritts' stark black-and-white portraits and the monumental Sante D'Orazio images, demonstrates what happens when an exceptional photographer meets a subject with no inhibitions and no bad angles to avoid.

The low-angle shot that Schwarzenegger describes isn't just a trick of perspective; it's a recognition that the camera can reveal what the eye misses, that the right position transforms.

For photographers, this is ultimately what makes Arnold worth the investment. It's not a celebrity biography with pictures, but a genuine record of photographic collaboration across half a century.

The range of approaches, from intimate personal snapshots to monumental studio productions, from grainy documentary to the precise glamour of a Mapplethorpe formal study, covers almost every mode of portrait photography.

The subject changes across those decades, and so does the photography around him. Together they tell a story about how a face and a body can be read differently in each era, by each new pair of eyes behind a lens.

Arnold XL by Dian Hanson is published by Taschen on July 14, priced $150 / £125.

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Take a look at the best cameras for portraits along with the best portrait lenses. See how Arnold's tome compares to the best books on photography – and where the greats who shot him rank among the 50 best photographers ever.

A UK zoo is set to trial a night vision camera system powered by artificial intelligence in the hopes that it will reveal health issues in animals more quickly.

Marwell Zoo, located just outside the city of Southampton, Hampshire, is set to implement the system this month, which will keep track of animals’ nighttime activity and put AI to work interpreting footage and flagging any unusual behavioral patterns.

The system – which has received over £340,000 (approximately $450,000 / AU$645,000) in UK government funding – is being developed in collaboration with researchers from the University of Surrey and will be trialled on giraffes and red river hogs before a wider rollout to other species in the zoo.

“We are delighted to be working with the staff at Marwell Zoo on this exciting AI project that will deliver the first AI health and monitoring system focused on zoo animals,” said Professor Kevin Wells, professor of AI in human and veterinary healthcare at the University of Surrey, in a statement.

“It’s a great example of how academia and conservation organizations can come together to develop technologies that support conservation efforts.”

By monitoring animals’ nighttime activities, the zoo and researchers hope that the system will highlight earlier minor health issues that could potentially develop into more threatening conditions.

They’re also hoping that the AI will provide insight into how lighting, heating, or feeding times influence behavior.

Marwell Zoo has previously used technology-driven systems. In 2018, it collaborated with IBM to test enclosure smart heaters and, since 2021, has worked with the University of Southampton on a project where drones identify and track wildlife.

Laura Read, chief executive of Marwell Wildlife, said that the latest project could "strengthen animal welfare further" by "highlighting those extra details that can be difficult to spot with the human eye".

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Taking photos in a downpour is a major challenge – not to mention potentially dangerous to the camera gear. But I’ve just stumbled across a set of photos that perfectly illustrate why sometimes the best photographs are the most challenging ones.

Patrick Smith (@patricksmithphotos), a sports photographer working with Getty Images, turned a recent “torrential downpour” into an opportunity for dazzling mid-game portraits of the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles.

Last month, when the Tigers traveled to Baltimore, the skies opened up in what Smith describes as a “downpour.” Instead of trying to shield his lens from the droplets, Smith appears to have embraced the rain, taking shots from a low angle that allowed the rain to gather on his lens.

The stadium lights hitting those droplets turned the rain into a dramatic flare and dotted the images with bokeh. Rather than wiping off his lens, Smith turned towards where players waited on deck, creating striking photos that were taken in the middle of a professional baseball game, yet felt more like creative portraits than sports photography.

According to the photo’s metadata, Smith took the shots with the Canon EOS R1 – a mirrorless camera that is, thankfully, weather-sealed. However, Smith also used the Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM, a budget wide-angle that isn’t weather-sealed and typically needs extra protection to work in the rain.

But, that ultra-wide perspective allowed the photographer to surround the players in a sea of rain-created bokeh and flare.

Smith used a mix of different settings for the shots. In shots dotted with shaped bokeh, he used a narrower f/13 aperture to help define the shape of the bokeh and turn the stadium lights into starbursts.

In another shot with more abstract-shaped lens flare, he used an f/2.8 aperture and ISO 2000 in order to freeze the rain in the background into droplets at 1/2000th of a second shutter speed.

The game wasn’t the first time Smith had turned bad weather into a golden opportunity for unusual sports photography. I previously came across Smith’s work while browsing through photos of the 2026 Winter Olympics, where Smith turned snow into a dramatic framing tool, along with using techniques like shutter drag.

I’m impressed both by the way Smith has managed to turn challenging weather into a framing tool – and the fact that he shot what look like portraits in the middle of an MLB game.

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Sir Don McCullin has been given one of Britain's highest civilian honors in a list of new awards released to celebrate King Charles III's birthday. The celebrated photojournalist, who is now 90 years old, has been named a Companion of Honour for services to photography.

The Order of the Companions of Honour was initiated by King George V in 1917 and is one of the rarest honours in the United Kingdom, as it is only held by a maximum of 65 people at one time.

Nowadays, the honour is awarded to those who have made a "major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time". Other living holders of the title include Sir David Attenborough, Sir Elton John, and Dame Anna Wintour. The actress Helen Mirren was named alongside Don McCullin as the 389th and 380th people to ever have received the title. A further vacancy in the Order was created with the recent death of the artist David Hockney.

Don McCullin was knighted back in 2017 and is best known for his harrowing images of confilct and famine around the world, which he shot for the Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s and 1970s.

Last week, it was announced that a new book of his photographs of the Vietnam war, including many that have never been published before, will be published later this year.

I remember a few years ago seeing a picture of a terrifyingly ugly shark that went viral. It had this protruding mouth packed with razor-sharp teeth and a long pointed head.

It turns out that this was a goblin shark, which quickly gained the reputation of the world's “ugliest” sea creature. Now researchers have captured footage of these less-than-stellar-looking fish in their natural habitats for the first time.

Australian scientists from the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre video the fish during a research project in the Tonga Trench – the second-deepest marine trench in the world – in 2024.

In 2019, in another region of the Pacific Ocean, researchers from the University of Hawaii observed the sharks near Jarvis Island.

The two sightings of this elusive species, which happened some 1,500 miles apart, have been published together in the Journal of Fish Biology.

“We actually know virtually nothing about them [goblin sharks],” Professor Alan Jamieson, director of the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, told the Guardian.

ABOVE: Footage of the goblin shark spotted in the Tonga Trench

While the species was first discovered in 1898, there have been few sightings of them alive. The sharks typically remain at a depth of around 3,000 feet (approximately 915 meters), with Jamieson explaining that any previous sightings were usually because of accidental fishing.

The 2024 video lasts just over 20 seconds and the individual recorded in the Tonga Trench was captured at a depth of 6,500 feet (approximately 2,000 meters).

Jamieson said the result was only possible due to the sheer amount of footage collected during the expedition, which included over 50 days of continuous filming.

“They [goblin sharks] are ridiculously horrendous to look at,” said Professor Culum Brown, a fish expert at Macquarie University. “Not even their mother would love their faces.”

Brown explained how the sharks are like “something out of a horror movie”, using their long snouts to detect prey and then shooting out their protrusible jaws to snag them.

I’m certainly glad I’ll never encounter one of these terrifying creatures on a wildlife shoot, but it is amazing to see footage of them in their native habitats for the first time ever.

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