The 8 Best Photography Magazines

It would be fair to say that I read too many photography-magazines. I have a few years of editions Many were disposed of in mid 2016.

You’d think I would subscribe. It’s certainly a great way to save a LOT of money as many magazines offer incentives.

What I like most about magazines is full access to articles. Alt+Tabbing back and forth on the internet can be annoying. Flicking to any article that helps reproduce a Photoshop-plugin, or has a lists of the latest gadgets, lens or Canon is much easier.

I remember saving entire pages from websites for instructions to use automated scripts in Photoshop. Check your browser functionality, you can do that! Then I used freeware programs to convert to a PDF whereby I follow the instructions carefully in my own time. It’s not always a perfect method, but after removing chunks of comments & advertising from the HTML, it saved so much time.

Wait wait, let me finally get to the point of this article:

Here is a complete list of all the photography magazines I have ever purchased. Some are Australia, and cool ones are from the UK.

1. Australian Photography
Since this is my country, I love this one. It is a quality color magazine, with heaps of interesting info’, data, appraisals, and camera and lens tests. If you are an Australian resident, look for “Your Best Shot” where they add a theme each week. Submitted images are appraised and given good reasons how the technique might be improved.

2. Capture, Australia
This is my favorite magazines. There is grand advice on every facet conceivable, including holding your camera effectively in any environment. This is more a text-based magazine: Their aim is to educate the user, not just overflow the eyes with high-gloss photography. Take your time to read this magazine. It’s worth it.

3. Digital – Photography & Design, Australia
What can I say? It’s a thin magazine, but packed to the brim with great articles. The best part is the HOW-TO section where they display step-by-step diagrams regarding Adobe products. I have learnt a lot of great techniques here!

4. Digital SLR, UK
I don’t buy these so often, they’re a more expensive magazine. The upside is the contents are irrefutable. You’ll get your money’s worth in every edition! It’s also a glowing endorsement for UK tourism: Some photographs make me want to walk across water to my ancestors!

5. Digital Photography, Australia.
As the title suggests, they have one target market.
I only bought one edition,”Volume 1“, predominately focusing on ‘black and white‘, entitled ‘The Essential Guide for Enthusiasts and Professionals’, plus ‘130 pages of expert advice and inspiring photos‘. Like all the magazines listed prior, it covers every section conceivable – from selective coloring through to camera testing. This edition goes into a lot of detail regarding ‘circular polarisers’, plus a massive-in-depth analysis of all the main cameras. That is the main reason I purchased it!

6. Practical Photography – The UK’s Best Photo Mag. I couldn’t find a website.
Of all the non-Australian photo-mag’s, I couldn’t give this a higher level of appraisal.
They rely on heavy advertising, but don’t let that fool you: They have lessons that many other magazines merely dabble upon: They go in hard, display the easy-to-follow data and colorful text – so you won’t forget soon how to light that shot or remove that dust-bunny!
PS. You must get your hands on their ‘50th Birthday Collectors Issue‘, displaying 50 useful photo tips & essential camera skills, plus photographs shot between 1959 an 2009.

7. Digital SLR User Magazine , UK
I love the magazines out of the UK. Their budgets seem to be massive. This one might be thicker than the rest, but it’s well worth the carry-home or the packed post-box! It is filled with the same intensity of all UK TOG-mags, and well worth the read.

8. PhotoPlus
I love Canon, so you can understand why I like this magazine: The subtitle is: “The Independent Mag for Canon Photographers“.
The upside of having this magazine is that the articles can be easily related back to my camera-learning. From the one magazine I discovered Canon Accessories that I never knew existed!

Having them delivered home has problems: Theft, Weather and non-arrival. My post-man, the neighbours and mother-nature might all be a budding photographers. Therefore having a Post-Office-Box avoids all these problems in one fell-swoop.