DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY NEWS FROM ePHOTOzine

 

Spring officially begins this month so we want to fuel you with spring ideas and suggestions so when it does arrive, you'll be ready to head out with your camera. So, here's a list of all the best photographic opportunities this spring you won't want to miss.

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1. Lambs

 

One of the most notable and iconic features of spring is the abundance of baby animals. The easiest of these to go out and photograph freely are lambs. They are spritely creatures, and so to capture them sharply, use a higher shutter speed as they are liable to move just as you have set up your shot. There is more information on lamb photography in our lamb photography tutorial.

  2. Flowers

 

At the beginning of spring, snowdrops and daffodils will begin to shoot and bloom, providing ample opportunity for some macro and flower cluster shots. Head out to your nearest wooded area to find some wild spring flowers as well as waiting for the flowers in your garden to show.

More tips on photographing spring flowers can be found here: Spring Flower Photography Tips

 

3. The Last Frosts

 

At this time of year, the weather is getting milder, but you'll still be able to capture some frost if you're up and about early enough. Frost looks great when it forms on newly sprouting plants, as the vibrant colour contrasts nicely with the white of the frost.  You can find out more in our frost photography tutorial.

  4. Fresh Vegetation

 

Spring is not just about close-up shots. Take advantage of the blooming colours and fresh greens to create wider landscape shots, or even panoramas, that look more vibrant and alive. ePHOTOzine has plenty of landscape tutorials over in our technique section. 

  5. Sunrise / Sunset

 

You can still capture the sunrise at a reasonable time now and the sun is still going down just after most finish work giving you the chance to capture a cracking sunset too. 

  6. Showers/ Shooting In The Rain

 

Showers are a key part of spring, and they shouldn't put you off getting out with your camera. Some great shots can be achieved in the rain, and more information on how to capture them can be found in our tutorial on shooting daffodils in the rain and in our tutorial on coping with bad weather. 

 

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The ‘Above the Glacier’, a captivating mountain shot by RobTurner, has been awarded our ‘Photo of the Week’ (POTW) on ePHOTOzine this week.

This is an impressive image that shows the full scale of an alpine glacier. The view captures the glacier’s flow, with crevasses and a central moraine line visible as the ice moves between rugged peaks. The tall cliffs and snowy slopes add contrast, while the swirling clouds bring atmosphere and drama to the mountains.

It is a powerful landscape photograph that brings out the raw feel of high-altitude terrain. The drama of the mountain view is hard to miss. A beautiful shot and a very deserving POTW.

Every Photo of the Week (POTW) winner will be rewarded with a Samsung 128GB PRO Plus microSDXC memory card with SD adapter, providing top-tier storage for all your creative needs across multiple devices. But that's not all! In January 2027, we’ll crown our 2026 Photo of the Year winner, who will take home the ultimate prize of a Samsung Portable 1TB SSD T7 Shield, courtesy of Samsung. It’s time to shoot, submit, and showcase your best work for a chance to win these incredible rewards!

Wildlife photography is a subject that all of us can have a go at in some shape or form as everything from pets and garden birds to wildlife in safari parks can be photographed. With so many animals waiting to be photographed, we thought we'd put together a list of our best wildlife tutorials so you can access all of the top tips from one easy-to-find place. 

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1. 10 Quick Tips On Photographing Garden Birds

 

Here are 10 basic but essential tips on photographing garden birds you can use to capture awesome wildlife images. You're going to need a telephoto zoom (300-400mm) for capturing frame-filling shots, a tripod and if you have one, a hide so you don't scare the robins and blue tits away. 

 

2. Winter Wildlife Photography Tips

 

Learn how to take great images of winter wildlife with our list of 9 top tips and essential advice which includes knowing how your camera and any other gear you have out with you works before you're outside in your hide. It may sound like a daft statement but knowing how to quickly adjust a setting can make all the difference when you only have a few seconds to take a shot.

 

3. Winter Bird Photography Tips

 

Winter days leave us with a shortage of daylight hours for photography but you don't have to venture far to photograph birds during this season, making them a perfect subject choice. Although, as well as garden birds, the British Isles – with its thousands of miles of coastland, is a haven for wintering waders, with Hooper Swan, Dunlin, Oystercatcher and Knot numbers swelling through the winter months. A visit to the coast can prove very successful through the winter.

 

4. How To Take Great Waterfowl Photos With Ease

 

Feeding ducks is something everyone enjoys but next time you head off for your Sunday morning stroll around your local pond, pocket your camera as well as the treats you take for the Mallards and Swans.

 

5. Photography In UK Wildlife Safari Parks

 

One location that's well worth a visit with your camera is a safari park as there are some excellent ones based in the UK that'll give you the opportunity to capture frame-filling images of Lions and other animals usually seen on an African plane. 

 

6. Why Use A Telephoto Lens For Wildlife Photography?

 

If you're thinking of trying nature or wildlife photography, as well as a camera it's worth investing in a telephoto lens. Why? Well, this is something we cover in this article but first, you need to decide which telephoto lens will work best for you. 

A medium telephoto can be useful for shots taken in and around zoos and wildlife parks but if you're capturing smaller subjects such as birds, even if it's in your own garden, you'll need a telephoto that has much more reach (300mm +). For shots of swans and ducks in the park, a shorter telephoto lens will be fine. 

 

7. Photographing Dragonflies And Damselflies

 

Head to ponds, lakes and rivers and chances are, you'll soon spot Damselflies and Dragonflies which make interesting subjects for a macro image. If you do want to have a go at capturing these flying insects in your shots ideally, you'll need a macro lens but a longer zoom with a macro function at the longer end will also work fine, especially when coupled with extension tubes. Approach slowly, and start taking pictures from a distance so if they do fly off, at least you've got a few images saved to your memory card.

 

8. How To Stop Wire Fences Ruining Your Wildlife Shots

 

Zoos and wildlife parks are great places to get up close with wildlife, but the fences and glass keeping us and the animals safe can cause a few problems for photographers.

Fences often rise above eye level and the tops aren't in easy reach (for good reason) so you can't hold your camera up above it to take your shots. As a result, we often have to take photos with the cage in front of us but this doesn't mean the fence has to appear and as a result spoil the shot.

 

 

9. 5 Common Wildlife Photography Mistakes To Avoid

Wildlife photography is a popular photographic subject, but it's not one of the easiest photography types to master. Subjects are fast, shy and can be tricky to capture, plus precision and patience are a must which means it's not something we can all get right. With this in mind, we've put together a list of 5 common mistakes along with advice on how to avoid them

 

10. Master Swan Photography With These 4 Tips

 

Swans are rather photogenic and you can easily spend half an hour or so taking pictures of these majestic birds. If you're in a particularly rural place where not many people venture and a swan sees you it probably means you won't be seeing it for much longer! But if you're at your local park where people often feed them you'll find it much easier to snap a swan's portrait. Nature reserves do have public hides you can sit and wait in but as we've said if you're in a place where the swans are used to seeing people you can leave your camouflage gear at home.

 

11. How To Capture Top Birds Of Prey Imagery

 

Photographing birds of prey in the wild isn't something that's easy to do, however as the UK is home to some excellent birds of prey centres, photographers have the opportunity to shoot up close with these majestic birds when armed with the right kit and technique. 

 

12. Photographing Lambs

 

Lambs are not only cute, but they're also a sign Spring is well-and-truely on its way so they make us doubly happy. Cuteness and happiness aside, they're great subjects for outdoor photos as not only do they make people go 'ahh' they're also pretty active so you can capture some great action shots as well as images that are a little calmer. 

To set you up for your lamb-themed photography shoot, we've got 5 essential tips to share with you. 

 

13. Perfect Your Pet Photography

 

Some people put their pets before family and have images of their favourite dog sat alongside their wedding, holiday and children's pictures. This might be you too! Of course, you are stuck if you do not have a dog, but the odds are you know someone with one so if you are really keen, finding a subject is not an issue.

 

  14. Butterfly Photography

 

Here we have a few tips to aid you in your pursuit of the perfect butterfly image. Meadows with wildflowers growing in abundance are great places for photographing butterflies but please don't trespass on other people's property. You could also visit one of the many nature reserves or public gardens found right across the UK.

 

15. 7 Essential Zoo Photography Tips

Take your camera along to the zoo for some close-up animal photography. Before you set off, go on the zoo's website, find a map and make a plan. Arrive early to beat the rush and try walking around the opposite way to the crowds to give yourself chance to capture shots without the crush. Feeding times are great photographic opportunities but they're popular with visitors so arrive early.

 

You've read the technique now share your related photos for the chance to win prizes: Daily Forum Competition

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The latest winner of our popular daily photography theme which takes place in our forums have been chosen and congratulations go to Jimev (Day 11 - Close-Up).

 

Daily Theme Runners-Up

If you didn't win this time, keep uploading your images to the daily competition forum for another chance to win! If you're new to the Daily Theme, you can find out more about it in the Daily Theme Q&A. 

Well done to our latest runners-up, too, whose images you can take a look at below.

  Day 8

Dogs

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Day 9

Church

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Day 10

'Fresh' Theme

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  Day 12

Lamb

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Day 13

Park

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Day 14

People

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You’ll find the Daily Themes, along with other great photo competitions, over in our Forum. Take a look to see the latest daily photo contests. Open to all levels of photographer, you’re sure to find a photography competition to enter. Why not share details of competitions with our community? Join the camaraderie and upload an image to our Gallery.

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The latest winner of our popular daily photography theme which takes place in our forums have been chosen and congratulations go to CathTay (Day 24 - 'Balance').

 

Daily Theme Runners-Up

If you didn't win this time, keep uploading your images to the daily competition forum for another chance to win! If you're new to the Daily Theme, you can find out more about it in the Daily Theme Q&A. 

Well done to our latest runners-up, too, whose images you can take a look at below.

  Day 22

Twilight Photography

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Day 23

Grey Weather Days

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Day 25

Creative Lighting

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  Day 26

Family Photos

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Day 27

Building Detail

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Day 28

Snowdrops

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You’ll find the Daily Themes, along with other great photo competitions, over in our Forum. Take a look to see the latest daily photo contests. Open to all levels of photographer, you’re sure to find a photography competition to enter. Why not share details of competitions with our community? Join the camaraderie and upload an image to our Gallery.

 

The national flower of Wales is the Daffodil and as it's St David's day today, where the flower is traditionally worn, we thought it was quite appropriate to kick-off March with a few tips on photographing this Welsh emblem. 

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1. Focus On One Flower 

Have a look at a clump of daffodils and single out the most interesting heads that can be photographed without too much clutter.

 

2. Plain Backgrounds 

In situations where there are no options to shoot the daffodil without a distracting background, place a piece of card behind the head to remove all the clutter. If you do have a clutter-free dark background in your garden, such as a conifer, you may need to underexpose by one stop using the camera's exposure compensation feature to ensure detail is picked up in the flower's petals. You could also use manual mode if your camera has that option.

 

3. Side-On Shots 

The most obvious way to shoot a single head is from overhead but if you position your camera so you can still see the front of the flower but you're positioned slightly to the side, almost as if you were shooting a portrait, you'll produce a more interesting result.

 

4. Blue Sky Backgrounds 

Try shooting upwards so you can position the head with blue sky behind it for dramatic contrast. Using a polariser will deepen the blue. Alternatively, as a member has previously suggested, use a mirror and photograph the reflection so you can include the sky without having to get low to the ground. 

 

 

5. Get Close-Up

Don't just shoot the whole head, go really close and offset the stamen, placing it in on the left or right third intersection of the photo for a more pleasing balance. Your camera's macro function will help you get closer to the flowerhead or fit a macro lens if your camera uses interchangeable lenses.

 

6. All The Flowers 

If you have a large patch in your garden that's a blanket of yellow get out your wide-angle lens which will still let you get in close but with the added bonus of excellent depth-of-field. The flowers will appear smaller but the convergence will make them look like they're reaching out towards the edge of the frame.

 

7. Remove Shadows 

If it's sunny, consider shading the flower with your hand to reduce the contrast. The overall tone will be more even and longer shadows which can appear on the flower's head will be removed.

 

 

8. Small Apertures 

Focus can be a little tricky so use the smallest aperture you can to stop blur creeping into your image.

 

9. Arty Blur 

Alternatively, use a wider aperture so the back petals fall gradually out of focus, focusing on the tip of the petal nearest to your lens. 

 

10. Giant Softbox

Don't see cloud cover as a bad thing as a light covering of cloud will act as a giant softbox. 

 

 

 

11. Wind Is Not Your Friend

As well as creating backgrounds, a card can be used to shield your subject from the wind. If you have one, you can use a plamp to steady a flower. 

 

12. Water Droplets 

Spray the petals with water so that droplets appear making the petals look fresh and glowing. It'll also add another level of interest to your shot. 

 

13. Use A Reflector

Take a reflector out with you, particularly on dull days, so you can bounce extra light into your shot without having to use your flash. You can make your own reflector from silver foil if you don't own one.

 

14. Cuttings Inside

Take a cutting and place it on a different background for a more graphic result. 

 

 

15. Shoot From Under The Flower Head

Capture your shots from under the flower head, turning it into a strong silhouetted shape against a bright sky.  If you don't want it to appear as a silhouette use exposure compensation and expose one stopover what your camera considers to be correct to give your shots a creative twist without removing detail. 

 

16. Backlit Fun With Old Flowers

Don't throw out old flowers once they wilt. Wait until the head has gone crisp and photograph that against the sun to create backlit effects.

 

17. Creative Effects 

Play around with your shots to achieve various creative effects. This can be done in-camera via Art Filters or during post-production. 

 

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Spring is a time of new growth, flowers and colour; we lose the beige of late winter and get the fresh spring greens.

Before you go out looking for spring landscapes, take a moment to consider what constitutes spring. Think bluebells, fresh spring growth and new bracken unfurling to open up and cover the dead bracken of last year.
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Flowers & Trees 

If you're working in a landscape with a carpet of flowers, or wild garlic, try a low viewpoint to emphasise the perspective and to bring the blooms to the fore, while still giving an overall view of the scene. A small aperture, such as f/16 or f/22 will ensure front-to-back sharpness and if you can, check the depth-of-field by using your depth-of-field preview button. As a guide, to ensure maximum depth of field, manually focus the lens about a third of the way into the picture from the closest point to where your lens 'sees' infinity.

If doing spring landscapes in woodland areas, dappled light shining through the leaves helps to emphasise texture, depth and the fresh, spring feeling. For an added abstract style, try a drag landscape, by panning the camera upwards during a longish exposure, to give an impressionist feel.

Get out on a good day, and make the most of the fresh, spring feeling.

To go in tight on details of carpets of flowers, try using a long lens of 200-300mm at a wide aperture. The wide aperture will give a band of narrow focus through the picture for the eye to lock-on, whereas the telephoto compression offered by the long lens will pull the layers of flowers together to portray a denser mass of colour. A polarising filter may help by taking reflections off the petals and intensifying the colours.

Landscapes with trees showing that wonderful fresh green that they only have in springtime really give a sense of season. Wait until the landscape behind them is in the shadow of a cloud, to really make the light greens stand out. Be careful metering scenes like these, as the dark background may fool the meter into overexposure, resulting in lost highlight detail in the leaves of the subject tree! So keep a close eye on your histogram.

Weather & Blue Skies

When you're trying to get across the feeling of a spring day, it pays to pick a good one! Certainly include skies if they are bringing out the feeling of spring warmth, but try to find skies with interesting cloud detail rather than overall featureless blue. If the angle is right, a polarising filter can bring out the blue to great effect. Be very careful when using a polariser in conjunction with a wide-angle lens, as the filter only successfully polarises light at 90 degrees to the sun, a very wide angle of view can often result in one side of the sky showing strong polarisation, whilst the other half shows none. Sometimes a graduated ND filter can have a more even effect on skies taken with wide-angle lenses.
 

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    1. Lenses For Flower Photography When it comes to kit, a macro lens or telephoto zoom lens with an extension tube won't be out of place and as you'll most likely be working close to the ground try to preview your shots with the help of LiveView if you find that getting your eye close to the viewfinder is difficult. A tripod is always useful when shooting macro work and a waterproof sheet, mat or gardener's kneeling pad will make the experience of working on the damp ground slightly more comfortable.  [HOOK]position_1[/HOOK]  2. Get Down Low 

Ideally, you need to be working at the same height as the snowdrops so be prepared for sitting or kneeling on the damp ground. To get you even closer to the flower heads you'll need to splay the legs on your tripod and, if you can, move the centre column from vertical to horizontal as this will get you closer to the ground. As well as making use of LiveView, switch on the camera's self-timer or use your cable /remote release to help keep your shots shake-free.
 

3. Shot Type One: Plenty Of Depth-Of-Field

Once you're set-up, you'll find you need a small f/stop to get good depth-of-field, which means you need a long exposure and when you look through the viewfinder or use your LiveView, you'll notice how the smallest of breezes will blow the flower which when mixed with slower shutter speeds, will create blur. Try using a simple piece of wire to keep the flower still or you could just wait patiently for the wind to settle down.
 

4. Shot Type Two: Bokeh Backgrounds 

If you find a particularly good specimen that doesn't have anything distracting in the background or foreground, throw the background out of focus, keeping the flower sharp. Take this one step further and completely cut out the steam, leaving the viewer's focus completely on the head of the flower. If the background looks a little too empty try positioning yourself so another Snowdrop sits in the background which you can blur out of focus. For group shots, try to pick out two or three for the centre of your image then create an out of focus frame with the surrounding snowdrops.

 

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It doesn't matter if you're planning an indoor or outdoor shoot, will be working with a professional model or your children, we have to tutorials that cover all aspects of portrait photography so you'll be ready to click the shutter button as soon as your subject arrives. 

 

1. Urban Portrait Shoot Photography Tips

 

City streets are an abundance of jewelled lights from traffic, shops, and festive bulbs. Their colour and a good bit of sky detail make city locations perfect for urban winter shoots. Dramatic clouds or the subtle gradation of twilight hues make good backgrounds for winter lights but as the light fades and your background turns black, you can turn your attention to the Bokeh effect to really make your urban work shine.

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2. Tips On Using Fill-In Flash For Portraits

 

Fill-in flash can give images that extra bit of 'pop' they need when working both inside and out. Adding a little flash can flatter your model's skin, remove deep shadows that can appear in places on the face such as under the nose and it will give your model catchlights in their eyes which is a big bonus. It's also useful on overcast days as it can breathe life into dull portraits. You can also use a 'pop' of flash to highlight foreground interest in landscape shots.

 

3. Natural Light Portrait Tips For Beginners

 

Get back to basics and make the most of natural light by capturing portraits without flash or studio lights. Cloudy days are perfect for portraits as the light's diffused, use a reflector, clean your windows and make sure the eyes are sharp. 

 

4. Winter Portrait Photography Tips

 

Living in the UK, most of the best clothing in our wardrobes is probably winter stuff so why not encourage people to get out and about with their favourite coats, hats and scarves and have fun shooting some outdoor winter portraits.

 

5. Photographing Low Light Portraits

 

Working with just one light, or indeed natural light at dusk, is a great way to create moody portraits that can be full of character. It's a perfect technique for shooting subjects who are a little older as low light can really exaggerate lines and wrinkles but don't let this put you off photographing low light portraits of younger members of your family. 

 

6. Creative Children Portraits On A Budget

 

Just because you don't have an expensive lighting set-up or a studio doesn't mean you can't shoot interesting portraits of your children. To help you out, we've put together a list of quick tips made up of low-cost techniques.

 

7. Fun Portrait Photography Tips

 

Have a little fun on your next photoshoot and capture some expressions that'll put a smile on your face. Taking fun portrait photos doesn't have to be difficult - with a few simple tips, you can create something that breaks the mould.

 

8. Shoot Better Environmental Portraits With These Tips

 

Environmental portrait photography has nothing to do with global warming or looking after the planet. It is all about photographing your subject in their natural environment. This can be anywhere from where they work, where they live, or anywhere where they like to spend their time. It is all about portraying something of the character of your subject through where they are in the photo.

 

9. How To Create Catchlights In Your Portrait Shots

 

A catchlight is simply a light's highlight reflected off the surface of your subject's eyes. They subtly breathe light into portraits by adding a little more depth to the eyes and are something that painters were using in portraits long before photography was a popular pastime.

 

10. Improve Your Close-Up Portraits With Our 6 Tips

 

Our faces may be made up of the same components but the expressions, shapes, lines, tones and marks that decorate them all tell a unique story that's waiting to be photographed.

 

11. Portrait Photography Tips For Shoots Outside

 

Outdoor portraits add levels of interest to a shot you can't always get from an indoor shoot and it's also the perfect excuse to wrap up in layers (on cold days) and strike a pose. To kick-start your outdoor photoshoot, we've put a few easy to understand but rather essential outdoor portrait tips together for you to peruse.

 

12. Indoor Portraits With Window Light

 

Daylight is free and it is wonderful for portrait work as not only is it flattering and photogenic but it's really easy to work with so it's a good place for beginners to start. You don't need a fancy studio, either, as you can pick a location outdoors or simply set-up next to a window in your own home.  

 

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Instead of focusing on a building as a whole, you can pick out detail such as clock faces, windows, gargoyles and other interesting aspects. However, doing so can be a bit tricky as unless you have an incredibly tall set of ladders, a lot can be out of reach but there are quite a few ways you can get around this. 

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1. What's In Your Kit Bag?

To get close to detail that's high-up on buildings, you're going to need a zoom lens that has a slightly longer reach. If you're a compact user you'll still be able to capture frame-filling shots if your camera features a longer zoom (20x or above would be good). Having a camera with a vari-angle LCD screen can make it easier to frame your shot when working with a tripod at its maximum height or when you're working hand-held with your arms up above you but it's not an essential feature. 
 

2. Look For Detail 

Most pictures you see of churches, cathedrals and other tall structures show the whole, impressive structure but by cropping in tightly you can highlight the fantastic repetitive detail, make an interesting pattern and shoot detail you don't always notice in the wider shots.

Once you begin to search you'll be surprised at the amount of detail you'll be able to fill your frame with. Of course, there's gargoyles, clocks, windows, spires, sundials and weather vanes, but a little closer to the ground you'll find stone carvings present and sometimes intricate detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls around doorways and above windows.

Filling the frame with repeating patterns such as brickwork or tiles on a roof can create interesting abstract shots. Just fill your frame, watch your shutter speeds if you're working hand-held and make sure you're focusing accurately as blur really doesn't work in this type of shot.

 

3. Roof Access? 

If you can get on the roof or balcony, as well as gaining you a great viewpoint of the city you can often find interesting statues/gargoyles projecting out from the walls. As they don't move they're an easy target and most are so beautifully sculptured that several varied photographs can be taken. However, as not all buildings give you access to their roof, you'll probably end up shooting from the ground where you'll need to use the long reach of your telephoto or zoom lens to bring the detail to you.

 

 

 

4. Magnification 

The problem you have with using lenses with a longer reach is that they magnify objects, which is of course what you want, but this does mean that even the tiniest of movements can create a large amount of blur in your photograph so make sure you have a tripod and stick to quicker shutter speeds when possible. Using a lens which features Vibration Reduction (VR) will further minimise shake. If you're shooting detail such as weather vanes where the sky will be your background fit a polarizer to darken a blue sky and give more contrast to the shot.

 

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Local parks are one of the best places to find a wide variety of photographic subjects. Plus, you'll be enjoying the outdoors and getting some exercise at the same time so what's not to like?
 

1. Gear Choices 

If you're just going for a quick walk around the park pocketing a compact will be fine but for those who will be taking their camera and interchangeable lenses along, pack your telephoto lens for shots of dog walkers, animals and long shots of the park with your town in the background. For close up work with flowers and leaves pocket your macro lens.

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2. Grey Days Are Good Days

An overcast day, when the light is gently diffused, is the perfect time to capture flowers and foliage. They look even better after a light rain shower as the vibrant greens will jump right out of your frame. If you spot a squirrel while looking through the trees and bushes keep your distance and use a telephoto lens to fill the frame with the cute animal. For those of you who have streams, ponds or even lakes in the park you're visiting why not have a go at duck/swan photography. In most locations, the ducks are used to people so getting close to them shouldn't be a problem. 

If it's a fine day there should be plenty of people for you to snap a few candids of as they pass by. Try shooting from the hip or if someone such as a park warden tidying up really catches your eye, remember to ask them if they mind you taking their photo before you snap away.
 

3. Guide The Eye

Paths and lines of flowerbeds can be used to guide the eye through the image while repetitive patterns such as lines of trees, street lighting and fencing can add symmetrical interest to your shots.
 

4. Go Down To The Woods

If your park has wooded areas you could have a go at capturing beams of light bursting through the trees but this usually means you'll need an early start and shooting on a misty morning is a must.  
 

5. Statues, Water Features & Architecture 

Don't forget that statues, monuments and water features make great photographic subjects and most parks will have one if not all of these on display somewhere. Try looking for glimpses of buildings in your town through the leaves on the trees or gaps in the hedges. The contrast of green or even the golden colours of Autumn later on in the year against the glass and concrete of the town can work extremely well. Then, when you leave the park, find a hill to climb and photograph the patchwork of greens that break up the grey lines of the town.
 

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The German image editing provider Neurapix has expanded its AI technology with a fundamental enhancement: effective immediately, the AI edits even more like a human by taking the context of the entire Lightroom collection being processed into account. The result: even more consistently edited photos.

The goal of many photographers is a cohesive look that runs throughout an entire shoot. Until now, however, editing AIs have analyzed each image individually and applied the desired style to each one separately. Neurapix's new approach also considers the other images within the project, ensuring, for example, even more consistent white balance and more uniform exposure across the entire set.

For users, almost nothing changes in terms of operation: in the Neurapix editing dialog, they can simply check the box labeled "Optimize Consistency" to activate the new AI. The feature is included in the "Neurapix Unlimited" plan. In the “Pay-per-Picture” model, as with all optional features, a maximum surcharge of 1 cent per image applies.

 

"The Best Editing Results Currently Possible"

 

"We asked ourselves: Why doesn't AI work like a human? After all, a human would look at the entire shoot and compare the images with one another," says Nils Sauder, co-founder and CEO of Neurapix. "Accordingly, we developed a completely new AI approach in order to deliver the best editing results currently possible to our customers."

The new feature becomes available automatically after updating the Neurapix plugin. The update is offered via a pop-up the next time Lightroom Classic is launched, or it can be installed manually via the Plug-in Manager.

 

About: Neurapix is a German AI start-up based in Goettingen that was founded in 2021. The company has developed an artificial intelligence that is able to learn a photographer's image editing style and apply it within Adobe Lightroom Classic. This allows photographers to have large numbers of photos edited in their own style, resulting in significant time savings of around 90%. For more information, please visit the Neurapix website.

      

Canon has received eight accolades at the 2026 iF Design Awards, marking thirty-two years of consecutive recognition for the company's industrial design. This year's awards were granted to a range of products within Canon's portfolio, including mirrorless cameras, digital cinema equipment, and industrial printing solutions. These honors reflect the brand's ongoing participation in global design standards and its ability to deliver products across multiple technology sectors.

 

From Canon:

Canon announces that eight Canon Group product designs were recognised by iF International Forum Design GmbH at the iF Design Award 2026. This year marks the 32nd consecutive year in which Canon designs have won iF Design Awards. Canon Medical Systems Corporation's Aquilion Rise CT scanner was selected for an iF Gold Award, the highest distinction.

iF Design Award 2026 Gold winning product

 

  Product name Full-body CT scanner Aquilion Rise (Canon Medical Corporation)

 

iF Design Award 2026 winning products

 

  Product name Mirrorless camera EOS R50 V Compact digital camera PowerShot V1 3D lens RF-S7.8mm F4 STM DUAL Digital cinema camera EOS C400 Digital cinema camera EOS C50 Industrial inkjet label press LabelStream LS2000 Large-format hybrid printe
Colorado XL-series
(Canon Production Printing Netherlands B.V.)

 

iF Design Award 2026 Gold winning product 

 

Aquilion Rise, full-body CT scanner

 

iF Design Award 2026 winning products

 

RF-S7.8mm F4 STM DUAL, 3D lens

 

PowerShot V1, compact digital camera
 

EOS R50 V, mirrorless camera (shown with RF-S14-30mm F4-6.3 IS STM PZ lens attached)

 

EOS C400, digital cinema camera (shown with CN-R85mm T1.3 L F lens attached)

 

EOS C50, digital cinema camera (shown with RF85mm F1.4 L VCM lens attached)

 

Colorado XL-series, large-format hybrid printer

 

LabelStream LS2000, industrial inkjet label press

 

About the iF Design Award

Established in 1953, the iF Design Award is one of the most prestigious design awards in the world. It recognizes outstanding industrial designs worldwide. This year, international design experts judged over 10,000 entries from 68 countries and regions across nine disciplines: product, packaging, branding & communication, service design, architecture, interior design, concept, user experience, and user interface.

For more information, please visit the Canon UK website.

Photo by Daniel Bell.      Why this style of photography works is because, generally, people feel more relaxed out of a studio environment which will produce better photos. Throw a bit of fun into the mix and you'll soon have a collection of images that are unique and interesting.  [HOOK]position_1[/HOOK]  1. Gear Advice 

For environmental portraits, a 14-24mm lens can work well but a go-to lens popular with many photographers is a 70-200mm, which can produce great perspective at the right focal length. When working with families, particularly when shooting a little more candidly, natural light works well but do pack essential lighting accessories such as a reflector. If you find you're out during the middle part of the day, particularly on a sunny day, find shade you can shoot in to produce a more even exposure. 
 

2. Conversation Is Key 

Even if you know the people you are photographing it's still important to talk to them during the shoot as direction and encouragement will always be welcomed. Suggest poses and always get your 'money shots' in the bag early so you can have more fun and also shoot more candidly later on. Good shots to ensure you capture are images of the group as well as shots with tighter framing of individuals or one or two family members together.

Direction doesn't have to come via your voice either. You could kick a ball into a particularly good patch of light or ask children to play with toys in a certain part of the landscape you're working in. Remember that children do have a short attention span so make the posing part of the shoot as quick as possible then leave them to play, capturing candids with your camera as they do. 
 

3. Colours, Backgrounds & Clothing 

Backgrounds that contrast with what your subject is wearing can create vibrant images and don't get too hung up on having everyone in matching shades as a mix of colours adds interest and if they pick their own outfits, they'll be more comfortable. 

 

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Lambs are not only cute, but they're also a sign Spring is well-and-truely on its way so they make us doubly happy. Cuteness and happiness aside, they're great subjects for outdoor photos as not only do they make people go 'ahh' they're also pretty active so you can capture some great action shots as well as images that are a little calmer. 

To set you up for your lamb-themed photography shoot, we've got 5 essential tips to share with you. 

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1. Don't Trespass

Shooting from a roadside, lay bay or on a public path that has right of way through a field is fine but don't venture on to someone's land without asking permission first.

2. When To Photograph Them?

In some places, lambs are starting to appear in fields now and if the farmer started lambing early, some start in December, they should be starting to become more active which will give you the chance to capture more interesting shots.

Dull days might not be your favourite time to head out into the countryside, however, days like this can give the best sort of light which makes grass appear saturated and you'll be able to see plenty of detail in the lamb's coat.

 

3. Wrap Up Warm

Even though we do get sunny days, it's still rather cool out there and when you're standing around for lambs to move a little closer to you, you'll soon start to feel the cold if you're not dressed correctly. Sheep are generally very wary of people so once they've done a runner, it can take them quite some time to build up the confidence to come and graze near you again.

 

 

4. Find One Subject

If possible, zoom in and focus on just one lamb. Not only will this give you the 'ahh' factor but it'll also give your shot more impact. Your shot must be sharp and exposed well and if you can, use a wide aperture to throw the background out of focus so nothing distracts the eye away from the lamb.

Getting down to the lamb's level can give a more interesting viewpoint, however, you need to pay more attention to the background – posts growing out of heads is never a good look and other items can just be distracting.

If you're subject's slightly older, they'll have more energy and will be braver so are more likely to be jumping around. Adding a small amount of blur to your action shots with slower shutter speeds can work well but don't go too slow as you still need to be able to see what your subject is.

 

5. Group Shots

Singling out one lamb can be tricky in a field full of sheep so if you struggle, go for the group shot instead. Look for interesting patterns and formations the sheep create and if get a small cluster of sheep together, wait until they're all looking your way and snap the shot.
 

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  Macro and close-up photography allows us to see the world from a different viewpoint and sometimes, shots can be almost magical with what they unveil. Plus, with so many subjects waiting to be captured, you really can put your macro photography skills to the test and, you don't have to venture much further than your own garden either.    To get you started, here are our 10 top tips on capturing images with close-up/macro lenses.  [HOOK]position_1[/HOOK]  1. Make Sure Your Subject Is Perfect

 

When you're working at such close focusing distances any imperfections become more noticeable and they can end up distracting the viewer or spoiling what could be an excellent shot. However, taking the time to look at your subject, making sure the butterfly you're photographing doesn't have a damaged wing or your fungi specimen isn't dirty or had a bite taken out of it, will mean you won't be disappointed when you review your shots on your computer once home.

2. Get Up Early

 

Not everyone's a fan of early starts but if you want to shoot macro photography out in the field, it's something you should get used to doing. Some subjects tend to be less active in the morning, especially when it's still a little chilly, making them easier to photograph and plants, flowers and other foliage are less likely to have had a bite taken out of them early on, too. Mornings can bring a sprinkling of dew which adds another level of interest to your shots and morning light is softer and warmer too.
 

3. Try Backlighting

 

Low, morning light makes it easier to backlight your subjects which can give your macro shots an interesting twist. Objects which are slightly translucent such as leaves, flower petals and butterfly wings look really good when light shines through them from the back. Keep a close eye on your shots though as the light levels can fool your camera into thinking the scene's too bright and it will underexpose the shot. If you do have problems just use exposure compensation to fix it.
 

4. Switch To Manual Focus

 

When working close to a subject, autofocus tends to end up searching backwards and forwards for something to focus on. Eventually, it may focus on the right point but it's much quicker to switch over to manual where you'll be able to focus more precisely. If you're not used to using manual focus it can take a little bit of practice but if you try shooting flowers, fungi and other objects which are less likely to fly or runoff, you don't have to rush so can take your time in getting your focusing spot-on. Then, once you're used to working manually, move on to more tricky subjects such as insects and other wildlife.
 

5. Try Pre-Focusing

 

Some macro subjects such as insects move fast and scare easily so pre-focusing your lens before they come into frame can increase your chances of capturing a good shot. Find something that's of a similar size of your subject and position it the same distance away as your subject will be when it lands.

 

6. Pack A Polarising Filter

 

A polarising filter can be fitted to a lens to ensure the colours captured are the same as the real thing, giving your shots more punch in the process. Attaching a polarising filter to your lens will slow your shutter speeds down, however, so make sure you're using a tripod to stop shake which can spoil your shot when working hand-held.
 

7. Avoid Shake

 

Camera shake is more noticeable when working close to your subject so always use a tripod. If you have one, use a remote release to fire the shutter button so you don't have to touch the camera or if you don't have one, use the camera's self-timer or your Smart Device if you have a camera that'll allow you to control it this way. Making sure your image stabilisation is on and using quicker shutter speeds, which you can get by switching to a higher ISO if you're working in low light, will help keep movement to a minimum but it's still best to fasten your camera to a tripod.
 

8. Windy Days Are Your Enemy

 

As already mentioned, any movement in the frame is exaggerated when working at such close focusing distances so what may seem like a small breeze to you can look like a strong, winter gale blowing through your image.

You can hold your subject in place with plamps etc. or if you're patient, just wait for the wind to stop blowing. You can also try and shelter the plant you're photographing with a make-shift shield. Card works well but if you're out in the field try using your camera bag or even your own body to shield your subject from the wind. Also, using a slightly quicker shutter speed will freeze motion but this isn't always possible, especially when working in darker locations such as woods.
 

9. Get In Close Then Add Some Space

 

By isolating part of a flower, insect or leaf you can create strong, abstract shots. So find detail that interests you and really zoom in close, filling the frame with striking shapes and interesting patterns.

Don't forget to try the opposite too so your subject has some space to 'breath'. Why? Well, it can help give your image context as well as create a sense of scale in your shot. Do keep your background simple if you do this though as you don't want it to distract from your main subject.
 

10. Light Your Shot Well

 

Where possible, try to use natural light, however, there are times when this isn't possible such as working in the woods where light levels are lower or when you're working with subjects that move quickly.

Rather than using your camera's built-in flash which is harsh and often too direct, try using a ring flash which can give a more even spread of light. Watch out for overexposed 'hotspots' appearing on your subject and when using natural light, make sure your own shadow isn't caught in-frame. You may also need to use a reflector to bounce much-needed light into dark areas of the shot. You can buy reflectors, but one made from a piece of card and silver foil can work just as well.
 

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With good cameras becoming more reasonably priced and nearly all phones having one built-in, photography's something that most people can now easily dabble in. Even though this is true, there are still people out there, kids for example, who haven't picked up a camera before and need a little guidance. So, that brings us on to our ten basic photography tips to teach someone new to photography.

1. Hold The Camera Correctly

This may seem like a really obvious thing to be telling someone, but camera shake, which can occur when you're not holding the camera correctly, is a problem those who are new to photography face. In fact, those who use mobile phones to take photos and hold one hand out while trying to press the shutter button will know all too well how it can result in blurry, wonky shots. To stop this, hold your camera/smartphone with two hands, quite close to your body, position your feet shoulder-width apart to give yourself a more stable base to shoot from.
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If you're using the LCD to compose your shot don't stick your arms out too far in front of you and keep your arms/elbows tucked in when possible.

Before you take your shot, make sure your fingers aren't over the flash (if using it) or blocking the lens and keep a firm grip of your camera but don't squeeze too tightly as you can cause the camera to move, resulting in shake.
 

2. Support

Having your arms tucked close to your sides and standing as still as possible will stop any blur caused by movement from spoiling your shot. Don't move your camera/phone away as soon as you've clicked your shutter button either as shutter lag can mean your camera's still processing the shot so you'll end up with a blurry photo of another part of the scene rather than the person or object you want a photo of.

Using a tripod will keep the camera still and help keep shake to a minimum. There are various light-weight, easy to use models which are designed to be used with smaller cameras.

If you don't have a tripod, use a nearby solid object as a support or lean against a wall, tree or whatever object you can find that won't move. 
 

3. Breathing

Being conscious of your breathing can further minimise shake. Some suggest taking a deep breath, holding it, taking your shot and exhaling while others prefer to do it the other way around. It's not something that's recommended for very long exposures though!

4. Hold The Camera Straight

Check the framing of your shot before hitting the shutter button as having a photo where it looks like everything's about to slide out of frame's easily done. Having said that, there are times when shooting on an angle can work really well but most of the time, you'll want your horizons to be straight. Using a tripod can help as some models have built-in spirit levels which can tell you when the tripod's not straight. There are the occasions where the spirit level will tell you the shot's wonky but your eye will know different so trust your instincts on these occasions.

 

5. Different Modes

Camera modes are there to help you capture the best possible images you can so learn what they're for and switch to them when needed. There's also aperture and shutter priority which give you more control over how your camera takes photos and are a great way to start your journey into the manual world. For more tips take a look at these tutorials:

• Camera Modes
• Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority

As well as using different modes for different situations, have a go at shooting from different angles and positions too.

 

 

6. Shutter Button

Don't be too heavy-handed with the shutter button as this can cause the camera to move which can mean you end up with a slightly blurred shot.

Another important thing to learn about the shutter button is that it can be pressed halfway to focus your shot. This can be used in all shooting situations but is particularly important for shots where your camera doesn't know what your main focus point is and as a result, you end up with blur in the wrong part of the shot. An example of this would be when you position your subject to the left or right of the shot, leaving more space towards the centre and opposite side. As your subject is off-centre your camera may not think they're what you want to focus on and as a result, they'll be blurry while you'll have a background that's nicely in focus. However, using focus lock (half-pressing the shutter) will stop this from happening. Have a look at our previous tutorial for more tips on how to use this: Focus Lock.

7. Backgrounds

Check the background for unsightly items and objects sticking out of your subject's head. If you're not planning on throwing your background out of focus (some drive modes do this automatically) so it's blurred, make sure it's not too distracting or cluttered.

 

8. Fill The Frame

Use the optical zoom on your camera to bring your subject closer, filling the frame and creating more interest. A person can look dwarfed in a wide landscape or surrounded by buildings so use your zoom so you don't lose them in the frame. If you're using a camera phone which doesn't have an optical zoom use your feet to move you closer to your subject rather than using the digital zoom which can lower the quality of the shot. 

 

9. Focus Point

A shot needs a focal point otherwise your eyes will be left searching the image and they won't find anywhere to settle. You can have more than one focal point but make sure the point that's secondary doesn't fight your main focal point to be the centre of attention. Once you know what your main focal point is there are various compositional tricks you can perform which includes using various elements within the frame to draw the eye to one focus point, you can adjust your framing to make a more pleasing composition or zoom in to really focus on your subject, eliminating other items in the process.

 

10. Shoot Different Subjects

Many professional photographers focus on one type of photography, but this isn't something you need to do straight away. Experiment with various subjects, learning how each needs to be approached differently in the process. It'll also give you the chance to find out which you enjoy shooting the most so if you do want to start shooting more regularly, you'll have a particular subject you can work on perfecting.

Don't be afraid to take lots of shots either as getting out there and actually pressing the shutter button is the best way to learn. Do take the time to evaluate your work too so you know what needs to be improved and just as importantly, know what techniques work successfully. You can also ask other photographers, family members and friends for their feedback too as sometimes they'll see things you've missed. Finally, make sure you have fun and enjoy taking photos! 
 

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A black-and-white portrait full of detail has been chosen as this week's featured image. Simply titled 'Lizzy', Hudson_Swan presents a photo with a blurred outdoor backdrop that frames her naturally. The patterned scarf, fur-trimmed coat and long wavy hair create strong textures that work well together. Lizzy rests her cheek in her hand and looks straight into the lens, giving the portrait a relaxed and natural feel. A really lovely portrait and a well deserved spot as this week's featured image.

Every Photo of the Week (POTW) winner will be rewarded with a Samsung 128GB PRO Plus microSDXC memory card with SD adapter, providing top-tier storage for all your creative needs across multiple devices. But that's not all! In January 2027, we’ll crown our 2026 Photo of the Year winner, who will take home the ultimate prize of a Samsung Portable 1TB SSD T7 Shield, courtesy of Samsung. It’s time to shoot, submit, and showcase your best work for a chance to win these incredible rewards!

The freedom of shooting thousands upon thousands of photographs on a single shoot or photo trip is a huge benefit of digital capture. That’s all very well but at some point you’ll need to trawl through your shots and find your ‘keepers’, organise them into collections, add keywords and delete the dross. That’s a job that can easily soak up hours and even days in front of a monitor and any technology that can ease the burden is very welcome. 

Excire Foto 2025, a software available for Mac and Windows, could be the answer. It’s an asset management program and has no editing capabilities but it can manage and organise your photo collection very quickly.

 

Navigating around Excire Foto 2025 is simple thanks to its clean interface and you get tooltips while hovering over each icon. Not having any editing functionality must help to keep the interface fuss-free.

 

Quick Verdict

It might be stating the obvious, but any piece of kit, be it a lens, filter or software, is only worth having if it plays a useful role in your photography. In respect of Excire Foto 2025, for productive photographers, being able to quickly and accurately search for pictures in a very large image collection is invaluable. Yes, it’s a serious investment but it is a one-off cost with the potential of saving you lots of time.

If you’re a frugal shooter with a disciplined shutter finger, Excire Foto 2025 might not be for you. But for photographers who like to keep their camera busy and shoot a broad range of subject matter, especially people and events but also nature and scenics, this amazing software is very effective. The ability to quickly search for images in many ways without having to keyword or rate them beforehand is a huge benefit.

Is Excire Foto 2025 worth the money? Well, that’s a question only you can answer but there’s no denying that it’s an excellent, very capable product worth trying.

 

+ Pros

• Fast, even with huge image collections
• Face and people search
• Easy to use
• Text prompt search works well
• Auto keywording is especially useful for people shots
• AI-assisted culling
• Outright purchase, no subscription
• Works for stills and video
• Excire runs locally – images aren’t sent into the cloud for analysis so there’s complete privacy
• Video playback possible directly from the preview

- Cons

• £199 / $229 is a significant investment
• Importing big photo collections takes time but it’s a one-time job
• Auto keywording can be less effective for non-people photos
• Aesthetic rating might not appeal to everyone
• Auto advance after image rating would be nice

 

 

Excire in its product range offers AI-powered image management software. Tested here is Excire Foto 2025, a standalone app with AI and traditional organising features. It should be stressed that Excire doesn’t have any editing tools, so in your workflow it complements rather than replaces your usual editing software. 

For those photographers with an Adobe Lightroom Classic based workflow, Excire does have a solution specifically for you. Excire Search 2026 works as a plug-in so meshes seamlessly with Lightroom Classic and has most of the features seen in Excire Foto 2025. 

Excire Foto 2025 and Excire Search 2026 sell for £199 / $229 each and that is for an outright purchase – there is no subscription model. Both apps come in a bundle price of £299 / $299 and are available on a free 14-day trial.

The top filter bar provides a selection of search and view options including metadata, capture time and Excire’s Aesthetics rating.

 

Excire Foto 2025 Getting started

Open up Excire Foto 2025 and you’re presented with a series of welcome screens that you can turn off. After that, you’ll see a cleanly laid out interface that is organised into sections. Image thumbnails are shown in the central area, and the size of previews can be varied to suit. Double-clicking on a thumbnail shows a larger preview that you can view at 1:1 or zoom into up to 500% for an even closer look. There’s also the option to compare two images. 

In individual image mode, images can be rated either with stars and colours which mirrors what Lightroom offers. Indeed, the same keys are used for rating (i.e. 1-5 for stars, 6-9 for colours). Also, it’s the same if you want to delete a photo (X), deselect an image (U), show the grid/gallery view (G) or go full screen (F).

In my case, where I used a collection of pictures already managed by Lightroom, existing star and colour ratings show up in Excire.

The left column is for folder navigation. There’s an option to show folders in a timeline and a search results palette where you can revisit previous searches. The fourth icon here is for image culling, which we’ll delve further into later.

Across in the top bar is a selection of filters and you can search by relevance, Excire’s Aesthetics rating, keyword metadata with parameters including camera used, ISO and shutter speed.

In the top corner of the right panel sit the search tools and immediately below are four palette options showing metadata, faces, keywords and general which includes the image’s histogram and information which includes file details. 

Shown enlarged here is the panel of Excire’s search tools. Across the top row (from left to right): Text prompt, Find duplicate, Find by GPS, Find by keyword. Across the bottom: Find faces, Find people, Find similar photos.

 

Excire Photo 2025 Ease of use

During installation, Excire asks where you want to install the default database which includes thumbnails, preview images and the program cache. The database will increase in size over time as images are added, so choose a hard disk with plenty of free space. In my workflow, Lightroom catalogues are kept on a separate 2TB NVMe SSD drive in a fan-cooled enclosure connected to the computer’s Thunderbolt 4 port, so I used this drive for my Excire database. For information, for this test I used a M2 Max Mac Studio 32GB RAM running Tahoe 26.2. 

Excire says it’s perfectly feasible to have a single database managing your entire image collection even if you have hundreds of thousands of high resolution Raws. 

That said, it depends how you like to work. For example, if you take on freelance commissions, you could have separate databases for personal and paid work. As part of my test I made several databases and moved them around with no problem.

Before importing your first images, you need to check the initial settings. Go to Excire Foto>Settings>Preferences to bring up a series of options. So, for example, if you want to add PSD files, the option in the Add menu must be selected. In Previews, the size of previews can be changed and if you want to work with 1:1 previews. In Metadata, you can choose to import existing keywords into Excire Foto.

Excire’s quick start guide walks you through the many options and it’s important to give the settings a few minutes of attention.

A prompt search for images with a full moon revealed this candid. You can see in the enlarged panel other keywords applied by Excire Foto 2025.

 

Excire Foto 2025 key features 

• Only available with a lifetime licence, no subscription option
• Range of search tools: Text prompt, duplicate, GPS, people, face, keyword,
• Organising tools: AI keywording, duplicate search, face-tagging
• AI-assisted culling module
• Stills and video compatible
• Intelligent face-sharpness detection
• AI Aesthetic scores
• AI-powered video management 
• High-speed preview rendering
• Supports Raw, PSD, JPEG files and more
• Available for Mac and Windows

 

Images imported into Excire Foto 25 go through a five-step process with images analyzed and keyworded so it takes time, but it only needs doing once. With big image collections, leave the software running overnight.

 

Excire Foto 2025 Performance

It’s while adding the images to Excire Foto 2025 that the magic happens when the images are analyzed and tagged by AI. To benefit from Excire’s skills, make sure the Analyze photos option is switched on in the Add Folders dialogue box.

The import process comprises five stages: Preparing, Adding folders, Finding photos, Registering Photos and Analyzing. The process is seamless so you don’t have to do anything during import and it’s the last two stages that take time.

I started with a new shoot. With 3377 50-megapixel images (1007 JPEGs, 2370 Raws) the adding process took just under 12 minutes.  Next, it was the turn of 37,966 images (25,927 Raws, 12,039 JPEGs) from a recent trip. This lot took just under two hours to initialise in Excire. 

My third test was going to be more strenuous. Excire suggests that adding large photo collections should be done overnight and that is advice worth heeding. I imported six years' worth of images, mostly Raws (in-camera and DNG) but also TIFs, PSDs and JPEGs. In bare figures, the 135,813 files amounted to 4.66TB so this was a serious task. The import process took precisely five hours, 49 minutes and 30 seconds. Before you think that I stayed next to the computer with a stopwatch in hand, I’ll come clean: you get a status report (see above) at the end of the adding process. 

The next evening, I added another year’s worth of photos which again took close to six hours taking the whole database to 259,280 photos. 

Adding photos is slow but this only applies at the beginning of your relationship with Excire and once you have your archive initialised, adding shoots as you go doesn’t take long at all.

 

In the Find by text prompt panel (enlarged here for better visibility) just tap in what you’re looking for. Your search could be for a specific subject or you might be after images that show a particular mood or emotion. Here, I was after ‘reflections’ and Excire found 3930 images.

 

Excire Foto 2025 Finding images

With images loaded, it was time to try the various search aids. I started with the Find by text prompt. Here you type in what you are looking for and you have options to limit how many images are shown and something called distance limit which defines how strict you want the search to be. 

This search is performed with the help of AI and is not keyword related. My large photo collection has been managed by Lightroom Classic with keywords limited to location, species and camera technique but no more.

In Excire, I tried words such as ‘tranquillity’ and ‘flight’ plus phrases such as ‘images that show happiness’. I also tried more descriptive searches such as ‘images with a full moon’, ‘calm water’, and ‘city skyline’ as well as locations. It was interesting in my London search that Excire included a red tram photo taken in Hong Kong, so I assume AI saw a red bus-like vehicle and assumed it was a London bus. It did, however, correctly identify 3926 London shots including infrared Raws.

For ‘flight’ I ended up with 2539 images featuring insects, birds and airplanes. For the ‘moon’ search, 715 images were found and while most were of the full moon, I got also a few crescent moons and a couple of sunsets. What impressed, though, was that the search was largely accurate and included images where the moon was veiled by cloud or even if it was small in the frame. The search process was really fast too, typically taking less than ten seconds, which is incredible with a database of over 250,000 photos.

The Find by text search is cool and works impressively. The ability to make searches for specific subjects is great but to make conversational searches adds an extra dimension. 

With the Find Faces command, you get a dialogue box with quite a few options. So you could decide, for example, to search for a child, male and smiling. My collection of pictures included lots of family snaps so a search using those criteria found 375 shots, mostly of my great nephew so that worked.

 

In the Find People dialogue box, you can choose facial properties – smile or not, eyes open or shut – plus you can limit how many pictures you want to see and how ‘strict’ or ‘loose’ you want Excire to be in the search.

 

Excire Foto 2025 Find People

With the Find People tool, start by picking an image that includes your search subject. As I had a shot of my great nephew on-screen I used that and Excire found 151 images with a very high success rate.

That was a simple search, but the Excire Find People tool goes much deeper. First thing to stress is that Excire works locally, i.e. with connected hard drives, and nothing is uploaded so there is no risk regarding privacy.

The Find People tool uses the latest facial recognition technology. Using the Find People icon in the search panel is one way to access the dialogue panel but hover over an image and an icon appears top right that has the same job.

Next, choose where you want Excire to look (the whole collection or a specific folder), limit how many images you want to see and how exact (strict) or broad (loose) you want the search to be. You can also search by keyword or without keyword so that the found images can then have a keyword added.

With the search done, check the results. There is a Zoom faces option in the right panel or just hover on the thumbnail for a zoomed in view. Clicking on an image in gallery view also shows a head only preview in the right-side panel and here you can add the subject’s name for future reference.

If your found person is in a group, the AI technology will show all the faces with the option to name each person in the right panel. If you’re unsure of who is who, double click on the gallery view image for a large preview and you will see each face is highlighted. Hold down the Alt (Windows)/ Option (Mac) key and use the arrow keys to jump from face to face with a magnified view for easy identification.

For people photographers, the Find People tool has huge time-saving potential and it’s easy and quick to use.

 

Excire’s AI powered keywording works well as you can see with image taken in Venice with keywords including Boat, Lake, Waters and Person. The keyword Venice can be added manually and then copied onto other images but Excire has provided a good start.

 

Excire Foto 2025 Keywording

Keywording is the process of tagging descriptive words to your photos and doing it manually takes time and a great deal of it if you like to crunch the detail, even with a keyword-friendly software such as Lightroom. Personally, I keep it simple and often just tag the location, species, technique or project and I have all the keywords in a file that I import into every Lightroom catalogue.

Excire has AI-powered auto keywording that’s done when pictures are added. To get the benefit of the feature, make sure the Analyze photos is ticked when you import the images. The downside is that the initialisation process slows down the import process. However, as we’ve mentioned previously, if you have a large collection to add, leave Excire running overnight.

Excire’s keywording skills are impressive for general shots and you’ll find some images have many keywords while others might have one or two. Look at each keyword and you’ll see figures such as 0.99 or 0.97, which is the software marking itself on the accuracy of its keywording skills.

Excire doesn’t always go into too much fine detail, so you won’t, for example, get specific species or location. That said, some - but not all - of my shots of Big Ben were correctly keyworded while Waterloo Bridge was incorrectly identified as Tower Bridge.

Excire’s auto keywording is remarkably good and useful but don’t expect deep detail. I shoot a lot of nature so I found, for example, that pelicans were correctly labelled but not further identified as dalmatian or great whites. With my photos of ring-necked parakeets taken in the garden, these were correctly tagged as birds but for the next level of identification, I got budgerigar, tit and parrot, although not in all cases even in the same sequence. With insects, butterflies, caterpillars and dragonflies were all keyworded accurately but without the specific species although a praying mantis was correctly labelled. 

Excire’s AI keywording is not infallible and may not go into enough detail for some photographers, but there is no denying its overall effectiveness and time-saving potential.

 

When images are loaded into Excire Foto, its AI checks out each image technically and pictorially and gives it an Aesthetics rating out of a maximum score of 100. The enlarged section shows the Aesthetics rating of 83.18 for this image.

 

Excire Foto 2025 Aesthetics rating

Among Excire’s AI driven features is its ability to aesthetically assess your pictures giving a score out of 100. The software looks at the image characteristics such as exposure, sharpness, content, lighting and so on and makes an automated judgement. 

Leaving obvious technical failings aside, assessing a picture’s pictorial qualities is of course subjective and asking AI to perform the task is interesting. 

In my 250,000 plus database, a Burnham lighthouse at sunset picture was rated at 96.17 while a completely detailless black frame scored 14.78 but it should be much lower.

Where I think Excire’s aesthetic assessment will be particularly useful is with people pictures, where its AI skills can check whether a subject’s eyes are open or not, as well as technical considerations such as exposure and focus. 

Use the Sort by tool, choose Aesthetics and click on descending and your best shots, as rated by Excire, will sit at the top and you can focus your attention on those. It’s amazing that a 250,000 plus image database can be re-ordered in literally a second or so.

 

Excire’s AI culling module organises images into groups defined by different criteria which makes it a breeze to compare similar images shot in sustained bursts, for example.

 

Excire Foto 2025 Culling module

Shooting lots of pictures takes up storage and of course there is no point hanging onto shots that are obvious failures. Identifying rejects takes time so here Excire can also help you out with its Culling Project feature. There’s a selection of people-oriented culling profiles (People, Wedding, Vacation) but you can create your own profiles using aesthetic and technical settings. 

I decided to cull a folder of images taken last autumn at Bushy Park. It took six minutes for Excire to work through 487 Raws organising the shots into 71 Sequences, 31 Visual Similarity Groups and 136 Smart Selections. Clicking on the relevant category in the Culling Projects panel and you can check out what Excire has done. 

With each sequence or group open using Ctrl+Shift (Windows) / Cmd+Shift (Mac) and the left and right arrows on the keyboard lets quickly go through the sequences and you can select the keepers with the number keys 1-5 for star ratings, 6-9 for colours and X for rejects. You could even base your ratings on each image’s Aesthetic rating.

Again, it’s worth repeating that Excire’s speed is incredible and using full screen (F key) and the left and right arrows means you can check and rate photos as fast as you like. In this respect, Lightroom and even Fast Raw Viewer are left trailing in Excire’s wake in terms of speed. The only feature I would have liked is the option of auto advance so the next image appears automatically after rating the previous one.

 

This set of images has been grouped into sequences. That’s very useful for subjects such as nature where shooting sustained bursts of very similar pictures is normal.

 

Excire Photo 2025 Verdict

In my book, any device, gadget or software that saves time sitting in front of a keyboard is a good thing and there’s much to appreciate and enjoy in Excire Foto 2025. It’s a powerful image management software and I found it very useful and user-friendly and not frustrating in the way that Adobe Lightroom Classic can be. 

During the review, I loaded 250,000 images in a single database. In my experience, a catalogue that large in Lightroom Classic means waiting for previews to refresh and sharpen. In Excire, previews and thumbnail views are refreshed very quickly. Using the arrow keys, regardless of the chosen preview size, I could go from image to image with the tap of a key and no lag at all. Critically checking and rating images is amazingly quick and Excire Foto 2025 is worth the money for this capability alone.

Speed, of course, is important but it’s Excire’s many organisational skills that make it a great all-round asset management software. AI culling, AI keywording, its powerful search and organising skills, yes there’s a great deal to admire and enjoy in Excire Foto 2025. 

Of course, £199 / $229 is a significant purchase but you need to factor in how much time and effort Excire Foto 2025 will save you, and how many more pictures you could be out taking rather than sitting in front of a computer. In that context, it’s superb value for money.

 

Excire Photo 2025 Pros

• Fast, even with huge image collections
• Face and people search
• Easy to use
• Text prompt search works well
• Auto keywording is especially useful for people shots
• AI-assisted culling
• Outright purchase, no subscription
• Works for stills and video
• Excire runs locally – images aren’t sent into the cloud for analysis so there’s complete privacy
• Video playback possible directly from the preview

 

Excire Photo 2025 Cons

• £199 / $229 is a significant investment
• Importing big photo collections takes time but it’s a one-time job
• Auto keywording can be less effective for non-people photos
• Aesthetic rating might not appeal to everyone
• Auto advance after image rating would be nice

 

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Churches are something the majority of us will have in our towns and villages and they're a great location for a spot of photography as they're just as interesting on the inside as they are on the outside. Plus, you might have a graveyard to explore as well. Whatever your style of photography, a church will probably have something to grab your attention. 

 

1. Getting Access 

 

To make the most of what our churches have to offer we have to get inside them which can be trickier than you think. Larger churches and cathedrals may have photographic restrictions (a fee payable to use a tripod, no flash etc.) and certain opening hours but generally smaller, local churches are more willing to give you access any time of the day. Just phone in advance to let the vicar or whoever holds the key know that you'd like to take some photographs inside the church. In many smaller towns churches are left unlocked during the day. 

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In buildings of this size, you might as well keep your flash in your bag as it will only add light to objects a few feet in front of you. Instead, you need to get your sturdy tripod out, fasten your camera to it and use a long exposure.

As exposures can be several seconds long, the smallest of nudges can cause the camera to shake so try using a remote / cable release or the camera's self-timer option to reduce it. You could even use your Smartphone to trigger the shutter if you have a camera which can be controlled remotely via smart devices. When it comes to lenses, anything goes. Telephoto lenses can be used to capture the details found on the roof, wide-angle lenses for the wider architectural scenes and macro lenses for close up details of pews, columns and altars.

 

2. Respect Your Surroundings & Fellow Visitors 

 

Before we discuss shooting suggestions do please remember churches, particularly smaller ones, are quiet places so try to make as little noise as possible as you move around. Be respectful of others around you who are there to pray etc. too.

If you're visiting a church that's popular with tourists do remember that others will want to take photos too so work quickly or plan your visit for first thing in the morning or nearer closing time when less visitors will be around. 

 

3. Shooting Suggestions 

 

Try shooting down the aisle to capture the lines of pews, altar and everything else people think of when you ask them to describe a church. Find a comfy pew or a part of the floor you can lie on (don't worry about the funny looks) and focus your lens on the roof which often has interesting patterns and features. Don't be afraid to get in close to objects either.

Reflections off windows, cases and even abstract shots of blurred lines of pews up close can create interesting images. Although if you're trying to capture images of objects protected by cases you won't want reflections or glare spoiling your shot. Try using an ND, polarising filter or cupping your hand around your lens to cut down on reflections and have a cloth handy to remove any fingerprints that have been left on the case.

The large stained glass windows found in most churches look great when lit up by sunlight and they also work well as zoom burst subjects, something we've covered previously on the site. 
 

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