Using a handheld light meter isn’t for everybody, and we occasionally forget to pack a grey card. But there are things that are close enough to middle grey that they can work just as well. Grass is a common subject to meter off in rural areas. But something else you can use is your hand. Using your hand as a target for spot metering isn’t a new idea, but it’s one that many don’t know about....

The chances are as a photographer that you pay close attention to light and colour, even if you don’t have a camera in your hand. It’s possible then that you might have noticed how your colour perception changes as the light fades. It’s self-evident that we have no colour vision in the dark. You only have to wake up in the night, give your eyes a moment to adjust, and see for yourself....

Tilt shift lenses are used for far more than simply making cities look like they were shot as miniatures. They allow you to correct for perspective distortion. They also let you shift the focal plane to get subjects at different distances in focus and a whole lot more. You don’t get quite the versatility that you would from the movements of a large format camera, but they’re a start. Of course, the miniature effect in recent years (whether shot in camera, done in post, or applied in Instagram) has made tilt shift lenses quite popular....

Smartphones are fantastic tools for showing off our work, watching movies, or even playing games. Their “big” problem, though, is that their screens are rather small. This means if you want it bigger, you must connect it up to a TV or use a projector. Projectors for phones have been on the market now for a couple of years, but most of the decent ones are quite expensive. So, why not make your own?...

Sometimes, you just need a spinning camera that orbits around your subject for a video. There are many really fancy, expensive, customised and automated rigs out there that will let you do this costing a whole lot of money. But sometimes, you just want to go the DIY route with grip gear that you possibly already own. The folks at Threefold needed a way to shoot a cool shot idea to film a promo for a planner called Evertide....