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Photo Techniques

Photography at the beach Moni Caron gives some tips to improve results at the beach. more

The Rule of Thirds Revisited Edward Ginsberg more

Quick Tip - Using an anglefinder Peter Madeley more

Flash Modifiers Peter Madeley more

Sand Sledging An alternative approach to low level camera support. Peter Madeley more

A Fresh and Widening Perspective Peter Madeley more

A year of Butterfly and Dragonfly Photography Peter Madeley more

Flashgun Workout Colin Leftley provides advice on how to make the most of your hand-held flash more

Flower Power Photographing flowers can be done at anytime of the year, indoors during the inclement weather of the winter months, outdoors during the spring and summer when wild flowers are in bloom and gardens are a mass of colour. David Pike outlines his approach to outdoor flower photography. more

Colour co-ordination Colin Leftley details the issues that you need to consider as both film and digital camera users when thinking about colour balance and when photographing under different lighting conditions. more

Flights of fancy Bird photography is a branch of wildlife photography that is readily accessible for most of us. Photographing mammals or underwater wildlife often requires travelling to get to the right place at the right time, while bird photography can often be done from the back garden. David Pike outlines the approaches to this aspect of bird photography. more

First steps in Studio Lighting It easy to make a successful start at studio photography, just take things slowly and keep things simple such is the advice from Colin Leftley. more

First steps in Studio Lighting. Part Two. In his first article Colin Leftley explained how to get to grips with a single light and in this article he explains how to take things a couple of steps further ? how to refine your results and how to add extra zest to your shots. more

Remote Control and Remote Trigger Photography Remote control or remote trigger photography is unlikely to be useful for everyone and it requires the purchase of an accessory, but for wildlife photography enthusiasts it can be a great boon. David Pike explores this technique. more

Snow shoot Winter is not the happiest time for photographers, but when the snow comes, it can transform the landscape - David Pike gives some tips to ensure that you are ready for the snow when it comes. more

Tilt, Shift and Scheimpflug No this is not the latest dance craze, but an outline iof how to use tilt and shift lenses. David Pike explores the creative applications of these specialist lenses and shows that they can be used by more than architectural and nature photographers. more

Telephoto Close-Ups Peter Madeley outlines his experience turning his 400mm telephoto lens to macro photography - an unusual choice perhaps, but as he shows this can be a very effective way to move into close-up work. more

Floral delights Michael Sayles shares his approach to floral photography in the studio. With a reasonably simple set-up that is easy to replicate some stunning images can be created. more

Shooting Silhouettes Photographing silhouettes can be pursued in almost any area of photography - it is a relatively straight-forward technique that relies primarily upon shape, composition and exposure. David Pike explores this technique in more detail. more

Airshow Photography It is that time of the year when we are entertained, amazed and awed by those crazy men in their flying machines. Dave Stewart takes us through the techniques that he employs for successful air show photography. more

Other camera support Last month we took a look at the issues surrounding tripods, this month David Pike considers other forms of camera support. more

Use your Heads A tripod is an essential accessory but most of the better tripods require a separate tripod head. David Pike discusses the main types of tripod heads on the market. more

Choosing and Using Tripods A tripod should never be regarded as an optional accessory - this is true whatever type of photography you favour. In this first article on camera support, David Pike looks at the issues in choosing and using tripods. more

Editing Your Slides It may be boring, but anyone that takes photography seriously has to do it ? David Pike goes over the issues related to editing and captioning your slides. more

Filing and storing slides David Pike explores some of the issues related to filing and storing your images. more

Outdoor Essentials Peter Madeley provides some practical advice on how to improve your outdoor photography - the key is to learn from your experience and Peter shows us how to do this while provide a wide range of useful information. more

Digiscoping Many of you may have seen Andy Bright?s images in the UK Photographics gallery ? they are truly impressive, especially when you know they were taken with a digital camera. We asked Andy to share his techniques with us. more

The Natural Look - using filters in nature photography David Pike takes a closer look at using filters for outdoor photography - concentrating on the use of the polarising filter, the neutral density filter and the warm-up filter. more

Colour - a key compositional component David Pike outlines the use of colours in photographic composition. Written from the perspective of nature photography, the points made have relevance in any area of colour photography. more

Shooting into the sun This month David Pike explores the beauty of back light and the creative opportunities of shooting into the sun. more

Close Call David Pike provides an outline on close-up photography - a great technique for many outdoor subjects and also a techniques that can be employed in doors during those cold and wet winter months. more

Resolution solution An increasing number of photographers are turning to digital imaging either through original digital capture or through scanning images originally taken on film. One of the key issues that often causes confusion is that of resolution. In this first article David Pike tackles the question of input resolution. more

Digital image file sizes Resolution has a direct bearing on file size and in this article David Pike outlines how to calculate file sizes for digital images with a quick reference to file compression. more

Output Resolution What is the image resolution required to produce an A3 print? What do I need to see my images as full size pictures in a printed magazine? These are a couple of the questions tackled by David Pike in this third article on resolution. more

A basic decision: Vertical or Horizontal? David Pike this month tackles some composition issues ? starting in this article with the basic decision on whether to compose a shot in the vertical or horizontal format. more

Taking a strong Line David Pike looks at lines, shapes, pattern and form in photographic composition. more

Choosing a lens in the shop Lenses are one of the most critical pieces of equipment ? if not the most critical and choosing which lens to buy is an important decision. David Pike runs through the key issues of buying a lens. more

Using lenses in the field Different lenses have different properties and which lens you use in the field will depend upon what effect you are trying to achieve. David Pike looks through the different types of 35mm lenses and gives advice and how they can be used in the field. more

Apertures and depth of Field David Pike discusses how aperture adjustments can provide creative control of the depth of field of a photograph. See also this month?s feature article by Lee Frost where he discusses depth of field and hyperfocal distance for landscape photography. more

Watch your behind! In this article David Pike outlines the importance of the background in an image and in particular explains how to use aperture in a technique known as differential focussing to control the background. more

Shutter Speeds and Movement Last month David Pike discussed overall exposure setting, in this article he explains the use of shutter speeds and techniques for showing movement. more

Wet Wet Wet! David Pike takes a closer look at the techniques for photographing water, an area where it is important to manipulate shutter speeds to show movement. more

Mastering Exposure Exposure may not be the most exciting subject, but it is probably the most important technique to master. David Pike lays the foundations for good exposure technique. more

Taking control of Exposure You cannot rely on your camera to set exposure and you cannot blindly accept what your light meter tells you. David Pike explains how to take control of exposure setting. more