Best photography magazine?

[N E Williams]

Ok so this isn't a photography product as such but I'm wondering what photography magazine would you consider the best to buy? And explain why I am thinking of maybe subscribing to one and not sure which.

 

[pbelarge]

Depending on your area of interest, there a many to choose from.
Here is a Google page that will help you find what may interest you.

Google

 

[N E Williams]

Depending on your area of interest, there a many to choose from.
Here is a Google page that will help you find what may interest you.

Google

Cheers, I was going to use Google but just wondered what people on here thought, my area of interest would be beginner photography, macro and landscapes I guess.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

I don't really read alot of magazines about photography, but i'd say lenswork is one of my favorites, a little "masculine" though in subject matter. JPG is good, PDN is generally pretty good too.

 

[Josh66]

What are you looking for in a magazine?

There are a lot of different types...

There are art magazines, which will have very high quality artwork, but not much else.

There are 'gear review' mags, which I tend to find boring, but if you like to stay up-to-date on the newest kit it would be good.

There are tutorial geared mags, if you don't care for tutorials you won't get much out of that.


So, what do you need? If you just want to see some good photography and don't really care to see the 'behind the scenes' stuff, an art magazine might be the ticket.

edit
BTW - Art magazines tend to have far fewer ads - but you pay for that with higher subscription costs... Good compromise, IMO.

 

[N E Williams]

What are you looking for in a magazine?

There are a lot of different types...

There are art magazines, which will have very high quality artwork, but not much else.

There are 'gear review' mags, which I tend to find boring, but if you like to stay up-to-date on the newest kit it would be good.

There are tutorial geared mags, if you don't care for tutorials you won't get much out of that.


So, what do you need? If you just want to see some good photography and don't really care to see the 'behind the scenes' stuff, an art magazine might be the ticket.

edit
BTW - Art magazines tend to have far fewer ads - but you pay for that with higher subscription costs... Good compromise, IMO.

I am looking for something for beginners, showing tips, advice and tutorials. Also a bit about what gear to buy too. Thanks

 

[Overread]

National Geographic is about the best there is and sometimes they do photographer interviews as well.

Otherwise the rest of the market are quite poor in content - I would better recommend a few good books along with time on the internet and you can gather up pretty much all and more info than you can from many of the magazines - many of which are very very entry level in their approach - expecting where it comes to editing where they all expect you to have photoshop CS5 and few (if any?) make any help or use if you are using something more suited to a beginner like elemets.

The Digital Photographers Handbook by Scot Kelby is where I started - its a simple book that gives you basic settings and starting points for a variety of situations and conditions as well as giving general gear advice for a range of interests. It's not trying to go into much depth, but it gives you that all important starting point.

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson is the natural build on book from the other - this goes into more detail about using and controlling exposures and the content it covers will leave you in good standing for a long time.

From there you can try some of the other highstreet books and these break into two kinds - the informative and the overrated picture book. Now there is nothing wrong with picture books, but if you are after info they are very poor choices and will only go over the basic starting points in brief.

If you've an interest in nature/macro/landscape John Shaw has published a range of books (some only on the second hand market now) that cover these aspects and each is well written and well worth reading - even if the gear talks are a little older, the same principles for film still apply to digital photography.

Further if you go into more nature work I strongly recomend The Wildlife Photographers Field Manual by Joe McDonald - there is a lot of good detailed info packed into this little book

 

[N E Williams]

Overread you do it again with your very helpful replies, thank you so much :thumbup: I don't think I'll bother with getting a subscription to a photography magazine now, will definitely look into the Scot Kelby books, noticed there is 3 volumes I think and they are reviewed quite good so thanks

 

[kundalini]

Rangefinder is a pretty good mag. Like most, there is a fair amount of advertising. If you tout yourself as a business, the subscription is free. I assume it is available in the UK.

 

[N E Williams]

Rangefinder is a pretty good mag. Like most, there is a fair amount of advertising. If you tout yourself as a business, the subscription is free. I assume it is available in the UK.

Thanks for the reply kundalini but I'm not going to pursue my interest in buying a magazine subscription, thank you anyway

 

[Taylor510ce]

I have subscriptions to Shutterbug, PopularPhotography, and Outdoor Photographer.

They all are fairly decent reads for the most part. They have a mix of articles, gear reviews, tests, editing tutorials and Q&A sections. They have some contests as well. I am not sure which would be my favorite. If you like landscapes and wildlife, I think Outdoor photography is pretty decent. The other two are just sort of more generalized.

More than anything I read them for inspiration and to learn about new upcoming gear or read tests etc.

 

[kundalini]

Thanks for the reply kundalini but I'm not going to pursue my interest in buying a magazine subscription, thank you anyway

Perhaps you missed this part the first time around, please allow me to reiterate.......

Rangefinder is a pretty good mag. Like most, there is a fair amount of advertising. If you tout yourself as a business, the subscription is free. I assume it is available in the UK.

There is NO BUYING involved.

 

[Peter Milo]

The net is better than any mag imho.

 

[gsgary]

Overread you do it again with your very helpful replies, thank you so much :thumbup: I don't think I'll bother with getting a subscription to a photography magazine now, will definitely look into the Scot Kelby books, noticed there is 3 volumes I think and they are reviewed quite good so thanks

The internet and just buy when you see something that interests you

 

[rmpbklyn]

for equipment go to B&H and get their catalog, then look up the reviews.

I rarely learned anything from a photo magazine, unless it was a photoshop mag, but then that's editing....

if you like hiking and landscapes for Outdoor Photographer, but not much on how but where to go....

I would suggest to read books, go to library before investing in a library.