I have to admit, I’ve been giggling to myself at some of the comments that are popping up on the sites that have covered the Vampire Weekend image controversy. There seems to be confusion in monumental proportions regarding who owns the rights to a picture, to people’s images in a picture, and what you can—or can’t—do with a picture that you own. Confused much? We’ve put together the Small Aperture Quick and Dirty Guide to Photographs, People’s Images, and Rights. Just remember that we’re not lawyers. Continue Reading

We like to get photographers started young and a bit of competition along with the chance to win a digital camera can’t hurt. Little Ones and Slightly Bigger Ones can test out their garden-related photography skills in the Royal Horticultural Society Young Photographer of the Year competition. Continue Reading

Well, this is a curious one. It seems as if Vampire Weekend, whom I happened to see on Sunday when they headlined at Latitude, the photographer Tod Brody, and Vampire Weekend’s record company have found themselves in hot water over the photograph of a young woman used on the cover of band’s album, Contra. Continue Reading

If you fancy playing around with HDR but aren’t really sure where to begin, something has just dropped into my inbox that might be what you need. Continue Reading

Photos can be a really important historical resource, and it isn’t just the pictures taken at significant events or of famous figures that are valuable. Those pictures stored in boxes in dusty attics or filed away in albums, your mother’s first holiday snaps and your great-grandparents’ wedding portraits, they all have a story to tell. Continue Reading

If you’re just wetting your feet in photography, or perhaps if money is tight, you might not want, or be able, to splash out on expensive editing software. There is, however, quite a selection of free editing packages out there. We thought that we’d give four of them a spin and tell you what we thought. Continue Reading

I’ve just come home from a great weekend of music, poetry, and theatre at the Latitude music festival. There were heaps of cameras floating around Henham Park, from 8 year olds with disposable ones that you can buy in Boots for a few pounds to Nikon D3Ss toted by the press, via mobile phones and all shades of compact camera. But if you were an ordinary paying member of the public, you weren’t allowed to bring in a dSLR. Continue Reading

Seeing as the site is called Small Aperture, we thought that we’d give an explanation of the concept of a small aperture. Aperture is fairly important in terms of photography, but it isn’t exactly straightforward as altering the aperture can have a dual effect on your pictures. So, here’s our guide to the small aperture. Continue Reading

Feedback on photographs can be a funny thing: of course you don’t want to be shot down in flames and told that it’s an awful picture, but more often, you don’t just want to hear: ‘Great shot!’. Knowing why someone thinks it is a great shot, or what you could have done to make it that bit better is far more valuable. But with so many millions of images up for critique in the usual haunts, it’s easier to just say the obvious, or say nothing at all. So how about a site that actively fosters sharing feedback? Continue Reading

If you’ve ever wanted to turn off or dim a light in a photograph after you’ve taken it, or if you’d like to be able to adjust exposure as if you were still behind the lens but aren’t, then the people over at Oloneo might have just the piece of HDR software for you. What’s more, it makes the adjustments in real-time. Continue Reading