Petersen’s PHOTOgraphic Digital Photo Guide, available only on newsstands, is a beautifully designed quarterly with 48 pages of up-to-date tutorials, uninterrupted by advertising from cover to cover.

If you always captured pictures in bright light with the sun at your back, if your subjects weren't moving, the temperature was pleasant and the background elements and depth of field didn't matter, photography would be a piece of cake. Your pictures would be virtually perfect every time and you probably wouldn't be reading this Petersen's Photographic Digital Photography Guide because there would be no room for improvement.

The truth is that photography is not a piece of cake at all. There are many challenges in all aspects of picture taking that photographers must deal with, both environmental and technical. Some have to do with the limitations of the digital sensor to capture the full range of light and color we see with our eyes, and some involve shooting conditions such as rain, heat, cold and high humidity. Other challenges entail shooting fast moving subjects, photographing in dark interiors and capturing instantaneous events like fireworks in which built-in exposure meters are completely useless. And sometimes the challenges are a combination of all of the above.

Volume 18 - Meeting Photo Challenges
Meeting Photo Challenges Macro Photography Macro photography is all about details. That's why we photograph small subjects. But I have seen hundreds of macro pictures and the lack of sufficient depth of field is the biggest problem. If much of the picture is blurred, that defeats the purpose of the photograph. 03.19.13 | Jim Zuckerman
Meeting Photo Challenges Birds In Flight One of the biggest challenges in nature photography is taking a great frame-filling picture of a bird in flight. Just having the hand-eye coordination required to keep the bird in the frame is a big deal, but then you have to keep it in focus, watch the background so it's not busy or distracting, use the right shutter speed for the effect you want, be aware of the light and get a decent exposure. 03.19.13 | Jim Zuckerman
Volume 17 - Creative Image Processing
Creative Image Processing A Pro's Portrait Processing Workflow When I'm looking at ways to do a specific task my brain often reverts to Occam's razor. (Occam was a logician and Franciscan friar in the 14th century.) The way I interpret it, is that if there are many ways to do something the easiest and most direct method is usually correct. 12.18.12 | Steve Bedell
Creative Image Processing Image Processing Apps A colorful dragonfly alighted on a tree branch adjacent to the patio, so I went inside to grab my Nikon D300 and attached a Tamron 70-300mm lens. With strong backlighting, flash fill was mandatory, so I added an SB-900 speedlight to the mix. 12.18.12 | Jack Neubart
Volume 16 - Nature & Outdoor
Nature & Outdoor Useful Camera Settings As cameras have "evolved" from film to digital, so has photo "vernacular." Yet, the basic concept of KIS (Keep It Simple) remains; bombard yourself with too many features while trying to learn how to take a better picture and you risk becoming confused. You don't want to just get lucky shots you want to be able to predict when the right settings get you just the image and mood you desire. 09.18.12 | Sean Arbabi
Volume 15 - Creating Better Photographics
Creating Better Photographics Choosing And Using Lenses One of the main tools we have for creating visual effects are lenses, the photographer's eye on the world. Every choice of lens has implications about what you can and cannot include in the frame, how subjects within the frame relate to one another and how we use aperture settings and focal length to create a special point of view. In this chapter we'll explore lens choice as well as lens controls that are essential to creative photography, including depth of field and focusing options. 06.19.12 | George Schaub
Volume 14 - Night & Low Light Photography
Night & Low Light Photography Low Light Special Effects Low light photography presents many challenges, but like any challenging situation it also opens up opportunities to create unique images. Think outside the box and you will be surprised at the kind of images you can produce. The techniques I describe below will get you started. Try each one and see why there is no limit to what you can create with some imagination and effort, and have some fun in the bargain. 03.20.12 | Jim Zuckerman
Volume 13 - iPhone Photography
iPhone Photography Moving, Sharing And Printing Your iPhone Images When I wrote iPhone Artistry I moved hundreds of images from my iPhone to my desktop computer. Not once did I use a cable or iTunes! Yep, in this section you'll learn the speed and ease of apps and techniques that let you move images both to and from your iPhone, all the while bypassing time consuming hassles of synch cables and bloated desktop software! 12.20.11 | Dan Burkholder
Volume 12 - Light & Exposure
Light & Exposure Shadows Shadows are an integral part of light, and that means they are an integral part of photography. Everything casts a shadow, however subtle it may be, in virtually all types of lighting conditions. Even a small insect casts a shadow in diffused light. 09.20.11 | Jim Zuckerman
Volume 11 - Close-Up & Macro
Close-Up & Macro Floral Photography I'm sure that everyone who has ever owned a camera has taken pictures of flowers. It's impossible not to. Flowers are too beautiful to resist, and there are so many species and varieties that you could devote your entire life to shooting nothing but flowers and hardly scratch the surface. 06.21.11 | Jim Zuckerman
Volume 10 - Personal Projects
Photo Projects Traffic Lights One of the first techniques I learned in photography was to use long exposures at night to blur traffic lights. I liked it decades ago, and I still enjoy seeing artful streaks of light superimposed over an urban environment. 03.23.11 | Jim Zuckerman
Volume 9 - Digital Back & White Photography
Digital Back & White Photography Black & White, Film & Digital This issue is dedicated to digital techniques, but I feel it's important to have a discussion on the differences and similarities between black and white film and digital photography. 12.6.10 | George Schaub
Volume 8 - Flash Photography
Flash Photography Pop-Up Flash This issue is oriented to photographers who are serious about their photography, and who want to learn to use flash creatively. 9.6.10 | Jim Zuckerman
Volume 7 - Travel Photography
Travel Photography Wildlife Photography If your primary goal on a trip is to photograph animals, say on a safari or "eco-tour," this changes your approach to photography quite a bit. You have to think about many things that don't apply to other types of travel work. 6.6.10 | Jim Zuckerman
Volume 6 - Color & Design
Color & Design Colors Of Night If you have not been photographing at twilight or night up to now, you have an exciting adventure ahead. Because cameras have the ability to accumulate light over time, nighttime photographs can seem brighter than they do to our eyes. 3.6.10 | Jim Zuckerman
Volume 5 - Choosing & Using Lenses
Choosing & Using Lenses Buying A Lens After you buy a good camera that allows you to change lenses, it will become obvious to you that it is not the camera that enables you to be creative in photography. It is the lenses. 1.12.10 | Jim Zuckerman
Volume 4 - People Photography
People Photography Photographing Children Photographing children is a joy because of their innocence, the honesty in their faces, and their beauty. 10.14.09 | Jim Zuckerman
Volume 3 - Landscape Photography
Landscape Photography Get Close Minute details in nature are captivating. Rock textures, flowers, lichen, seashells, fungi, and leaf patterns make incredible pictures that reveal a world seldom noticed by people. 7.14.09 | Jim Zuckerman
Volume 2 - Mastering Composition
Mastering Composition Unique Perspectives Compelling compositions can come in many forms, and they can also come from unique points of view. 4.14.09 | Jim Zuckerman