Best magezine for serious amateur photographers?

<p>Hello to all the great photographers at Photo.Net .<br>

I am an amatuer photographer seeking to increase my practical working knowledge and skills in both digital photography and 35mm film photography. I have some good camera equipment in both areas. My question is, what is the best photography magezine for a serious amatuer seeking to improve their game. I'm not so much interested in popular camera reviews aimed at consumers, as I am in solid and meaty photography articles that really dig into some good topics and explain them, both at a technical level and a practical level. I'm on a very limited budget, so I can afford one or two subscriptions, and thats about it.<br>

Any seasoned advice would be very appreciated.<br>

AP<br>

Atlanta, GA</p>

<p>I'm on a limited budget as well! Aren't most of us!</p>

<p>Check out your library. </p>

<p>Magazines vary according to purpose and objectives as some are focused on the final product while others are focused on technique and specifics to a photography industry. </p>

<p>There is a lot of information available here on photo.net as well as other places on the web.</p>

<p>Shutterbug, LensWork, Rangefinder, Professional Photographer, Photoshop User, Vogue, Town & Country are some of the magazines I receive. I also frequent the Minneapolis Art Institute as I'm always viewing what other greats have accomplished.</p>

<p>My quest for knowledge is never ending. My main challenge is to find people who thirst like I do and are willing to experiment and work on the various aspects of photography.</p>

<p>I have a lot to learn.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>alan,</p>

<p>i too have a very small budget and when i first got into photography two or three years ago, i spent some money on buying various magazines. inevitably, all of the amateur magazines had lens testing or product review based articles. in the days of internet, i detest such print reviews and saw them as a waste of money. i wanted photographic articles and the only magazine that came remotely close to what i had in mind was the black and white photography magazine.</p>

<p>Photo Techniques Magazine. Consistently good articles. If it's got David Vestal doing editorials, it's got to be good. </p>

Depends what you like to shoot. I do nature/wildlife and the "Outdoor Photographer Magazine" is very helpful to me.

<p>As a beginner, you really need to read Popular Photography and Shutterbug every month. Critics might say that both of these write more about equipment than about photography and have a bias toward pushing what their advertisers are selling. But they are still the de facto publications of record for photography whether you like them or not. Every major new camera, lens, software and accessory that comes along gets covered, and often very in-depth and ahead of the curve. Also, Popular runs through all the basics -- how to use filters, which zoom to choose, how to light a portrait, etc. -- on a cycle about every two to three years. (They used to include how to develop film, how to choose an enlarger, but those days are gone.) They are also one of the few if not the only publications that conduct objective third-party testing of lens and camera performance in their own lab. Shutterbug is more folksy. They do hands on tests of cameras and lenses, but not lab tests. They do more profiles of photographers and stories about classic cameras.</p>

<p>In addition to the others I read Photo District News. Great articles and ideas mostly relating to the business aspect of photography. CMYK also has decent photo tips and publishes a photography annual which always has outstanding images.</p>

<p>Even though I am in the U.S., I prefer the Magazines from the U.K. related to amateur photography. They are much more organized in my opinion and well worth the time to read.</p>

<p>Practical Photography and Digital Photo are the two I choose to spend the money on. They are a little pricier in the US since they are shipped from the UK, but with Digital Photo there is always a supplemental CD of video tutorials totaling well over 100 minutes and Practical Photography most of the time comes with supplemental information as well.</p>

<p>Their main site is http://www.photoanswers.co.uk/ and they have a lot of information you can see from the site related to what is included in the magazines.</p>