Photo magazines

[joewatt]

I'm curious as to what magazines folks here enjoy reading. I subscribe to Shutterbug and find it helpful, but it's not enough to satisfy my appetite (hanging out on this forum goes a long way too!) - Anybody?

[rpcrowe]

I subscribe to Outdoor Photographer only because I get it very inexpensively...

[Donald]

'Black & White Photography', published in the UK, is my journal of choice. Excellent educational tool.

[Steaphany]

I use to subscribe to Shutterbug, but found it to be just too focused on the latest and greatest equipment and services, nearly nothing on technique and it is devoid of anything regarding film photography.

I do subscribe to Rangefinder and occasionally pick up View Camera. ( I need to get a subscription )

Since my most popular images are my astronomical, I also need to renew my subscription to Astronomy.

[Harpo]

Outdoor Photographer. Sometimes i pick up a copy of one of the issues coming out of the UK. Seems to have much more quality photography magazines on the other side of the pond than here. Too expensive to subscribe from this side!

[joewatt]

I agree with you on Shutterbug, but it has more substance than the likes of Popular Photography, IMO!

[Glenn NK]

My own take on this issue:

Partake in a forum like this, and perhaps a few others (I do the Canon specific forums) and others that deal with post processing (Adobe Lightroom forum). There are simply no magazines that can provide better information than these sources.

The information garnered here and at the others (in my opinion) surpasses many of the magazines which to me appear to be primarily aimed at pushing their advertiser's gear. Every camera is perfect. Well, perhaps DP Review may not agree. Other sites actually test lenses rigorously - a magazine can't afford to do that.

With today's internet, magazines don't offer much more than what's available at a mouse click. Just today, someone on this forum mentioned some Lightroom plug-ins that I wasn't aware of (Joe Watterson).

To a great extent, it seems that today's forums are yesterday's magazines.

Having argued against magazines, I will concede one thing to them. Some of them don't bother rating gear, but get into the creative process - they are worthwhile.

Glenn

[Andrew1]

I've come to realize that no matter the type of magazine, whether it be photography, motorcycles, woodworking, whatever, that I've found none that suit my personal needs every month. I've had a couple of subscriptions but because of the inconsistency in holding my attention for every issue I've let them lapse. There's just too much information out there to relegate myself to one publisher. I take a look at a few and try to find something in the issue that appeals to me on what I am doing at that particular time. PhotoLife and Outdoor Photography Canada are a couple of the regulars. With that said I must add that I've found a couple of good ones that I have picked up 3 months in a row now. To those of you who have not seen, or picked them up due to the cost in North America, do yourself a favour and pick up a couple of the British magazines. I personally have found them far superior to what I have been used to from the US based ones which I sometimes find just too full of ads. Some of the British ones are very expensive but Digital SLR Photography and Digital Camera World are down in the ten to twelve dollar range. The issues I've picked up so far are well worth it. I don't even look at the ones in the twenty dollar plus range for fear I'll see something I like.

[Shadowman]

Popular Photography.

[ktuli]

I have subscriptions to Popular Photography and Outdoor Photographer because they are both ridiculously cheap. They can be pretty dumbed down at times, and I sometimes find myself longing for a bit more content. I also have a Shutterbug subscription currently, but I agree with what folks here said about them being too focused on the newest gear only. I also find their articles a bit too wordy and not edited for a quick/easy read while on my morning commute. I also find their gorilla tactics of trying to force their other (completely unrelated) magazines down my throat on a constant basis to be extremely annoying, and for that reason alone will likely drop their subscription - at times, I've gotten up to three emails from them in the same day trying to sell me on their audiophile magazines, and whatever else they have.

I was also reading a couple digital magazines on my ereader for a while. Underwater Photographer, PhotographyBB, and a couple others I can't remember right now. They're nice because they're free, but my ereader is kind of crappy and slow (shouldn't have cheaped out, and will likely upgrade someday), so I've fallen out of that habit.

- Bill

[russellsnr]

Hi, I used to buy mags evry month of the counter but soon realised that IMO unless you are a complete novice they really are not a lot of use , OK they are something to read but!! come to a forum like this and you can find what you need to no just by typing it in the search box, mags also tend to only cover one or maybe two large subjects ie Portrait & Photoshop in an issue so if you are into landscape and use another software for PP then that issue is not a lot of good to you (I no you don't buy it in that case but if you subscribe!!) No IMO the forums are a much better option and of course if you want to no something about, say Lightroom you write to the mag and wait and hope you get a reply in the next issue on here you get a reply(if someone available) within the hour if not sooner. And best of all the forums are FREE!!
Russ

[Shadowman]

Most have online editions and they usually post the complete content of the printed magazine.

[Shadowman]

I picked up a copy of Digital Photo while traveling, it is a UK based magazine. The articles lean towards gear comparisons and techniques. The issue I purchased also had a CD of Photoshop lessons. The website is www.photoanswers.co.uk

[Ken MT]

Likewise I get Digital Camera. Each month there is a CD that covers Photoshop CS and Elements tips and lessons, as well as some other information not in the magazine. In addition by getting a subscription I get it about 2-3 months earlier (airmail vs surface mail). I retain back copies to build up my range of information