photo mags

lostinfrance

lostinfrance

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David
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who buys photo mags,more info on the tinternet than ever and at £4 a throw are thay worth the 30% of advertising and just think of the number of trees they cost

think this will be a good one
 
I'm quite fond of "Black+White Photography" - seems to be one of the few that isn't just a glorified Photoshop tutorial these days.

Edit: just looked back through the magazine rack and realised it was 6 months ago I actually bought a photo. mag! maybe I'm not as fond of it as I thought :shrug:
 
I will occaisionally buy one if there is a good freebie with it (I picked up Practical Photographer the other month when it had the flash gels in it), or if there is an article in it that I fancy reading.

I probably only buy about 3 mags a year though!!
 
I subscribe to Black & White (dropped the subscription when it went through a bad patch a year or so ago) via a Xmas present from my wife. In the time I wasn't subscribing it has changed significantly - much more digitally oriented now. I'm not sure I'll continue the subscription as it doesn't add a great deal that can't be found on the interweb. Occasionally buy Amateur Photography. Other than that I get all I need from the web.

Gid
 
stopped buying mags abolut 2 years ago,spend the money on other things ,paper ink and such.Picked up practical phtographer last night and think it was the worst £3.99 i have spent
Too many adds,not enough about stuff you have but about stuff you need(need nothing)
No direction and not enough reader input
 
Black+Whie has joined the world of painfully awful dross I'm afraid. It is now essentially just camera reviews that are crammed in on the pretense of testing how they cope with making black and white pictures, and how to fake old techniques in photoshop.

The printer's art, the best bit in the whole magazine hasn't been seen for months, and if I see another review by Lee Frost saying a camera has a great black and white mode I think I will hurt someone (namely Lee). He's a clever bloke and great to talk about pictures with. I don't know why he doesn't pitch a colum at them instead of rubbish camera reviews

Unfortunately there's very little to choose from, especially on the highstreet. Your best bet for good magazinery is to visit Waterstones or similar, they often have a good selection which focus on pictures instead of cameras.
 
borders in warrington used to have some good mags but alas have closed down,so scroll the internet for info
 
There are some very good articles in some of them, I go for the magazines aimed at professionals.
 
Practical Photography for me, if you subscribe for a couple years you'll notice that the articles do the rounds now and again but I read it more for the gear reviews and for inspiration. David Noton used to have a column with them but he doesn't appear to write for them anymore! Instead they get someone different every month which is fair enough I suppose :)
 
I used to buy them when they were about £1.50, but with the price they are these days I tend not to bother. Most of the content is repeated anyway and there seems to be an unhealthy amount of photoshop tutorials and other 'filler' type content. Although as above I'm not averse to picking up an issue with freebies.
 
for me i tend to go with DSLR user and Practical Photography, then if the issue is rubbish i will just sell it on, i did that with loads of old(ish) digital video magazines that cost £6.00 each new and i sold them for £2.50 each and there was about 30 of them.
 
I'm only subscribed to Practical Photography these days... but only 'cos it gives me something to read in the bathroom! :D

I used to get Digital Camera until it went downhill (along with their forum) and also DSLR User. I still read Amateur Photographer on occasion and I get the journals from the RPS and SWPP to read as a last resort. :)

Si
 
I'm only subscribed to Practical Photography these days... but only 'cos it gives me something to read in the bathroom!
Click to expand...
Agreed, there's a wealth of info online these days, and it's specific to what you're searching for instead of some magazine editor forcing something on you. That said, having a magazine is useful for taking into the bathroom, on the train, etc.

Personally, I've got an annual subscription to 'Practical Photography' which was paid for with £13 in Tesco Clubcard vouchers. The magazine's not the best I've ever read, but it's great for what is effectively free!
 
I can't actually remember the last time i bought a photography mag.

At one stage I bought Amateur photography every week, then when I worked in retail didn't need to as the shop I worked in got a free copy every week. i also bought the BJP but that was pretty thin on the ground article wise. They did seem to have similar articles come full circle such as "Back to Basics" "Rule of Thirds" etc....
 
There was a glossy magazine back in the '70's called (IIRC) 'Photo' - I think it was German but published across Europe and the USA in regional language versions. No camera tests and no 'how to' dross, not even any edtorial of note simply images printed large and small interviews with the photographers.

Cost a bit back then (and didn't last in the UK for more than a couple of years) but it was inspirational to me as a callow youth. Shame that the 'best' inspirational work is only visible on some page on 'flickr' and seen on monitors not printed on high grade art paper by people who care.

These days I never look at an magazines other than in the dentists waiting rooms - they are vehicles to sell advertising and offering me things I don't want at a price I don't wish to pay in order to impress people I care less than nothing about.
 
I still buy a few, but I guess I'm a bit old school and still like something tactile to be able to enjoy the read.
 
I find myself on a ferry or plane fairly regularly so a magazine will always be in my bag. I also like to sit in a coffee shop on a saturday afternoon and have a read whilst I drink my late so I tend to pick up a magazine quite frequently. Have stopped subscribing to so many as subjects for articles do tend to get repeated across the titles but I still can't stop myself from checking them out on the shelf.
 
lostinfrance said:
who buys photo mags,more info on the tinternet than ever and at £4 a throw are thay worth the 30% of advertising and just think of the number of trees they cost

think this will be a good one
Click to expand...

More info on internet: yes, there is a lot of information on the internet but seeing as much of it is given out by people who are no more qualified than the people writing the magazines, is it actually worth taking as gospel? A lot of information does not neccessarily equate to a lot of useful information...

30% advertising: That's a actually a good amount - means the reader is getting good VFM. A 60/40 split between editorial and advertising (respectively) is more the case for consumer titles; glossies are a different matter because they have much more control over what they feature in terms of adverts and don't rely as heavily on that revenue stream to pay the bills.

Number of trees: the paper people are taking care of this by replanting to offset what's used plus, with rising employment and transport costs, it's one of the factors why paper doubled in price over the last 18 months. We (those of us who buy mags) should actually be thankful that we're not paying double for the end product....

I think the mags do a good job; yes, they're very repetetive but what do you expect from a a hobby that is effectively 'turn camera on, compose shot, press shutter'? There are probably more people coming into photography through digital camera use these days than ever before so the consumer mags (PP etc) are probably rubbing their hands as a result. They don't really need people who know it all - that's not they're target audience. :)
 
just my 2 cents...

I Like AP. I TRUST the reviewers/authors of the articles. I often HATE the internet - so many people passing on opinions which they haven't fact-checked. Statin opinions on lenses and bodies they have never touched never mind used! Is it because I am an INTJ?

I also hate looking at a monitor screen (which is quite a lot already by the way) more than I have to. I don't have the figures at hand but I think a weekly AP mag is something like 90 quid with a free decent, small crumpler bag or other accessory as a freebie.

Let's not get into the Environmental aspect because there 1000's of useless magazines that are causing trees to be cut down. And you only have to drive by massive office blocks in London near the A40 (maybe other cities too?) at 11pm at night when all the lights and pc screens are on with no-one inside!

Popped into Wh smith today and saw a mag called "photoshop creative collection". Never seen it before. I was flicking through and I saw 4-5 page, detailed instructions on creating a 'serious cartoon/manga image' from a portrait. It's something I've always wanted to do. It's nice to have it in print.

Having said all that, I don't buy 'em - I just read the copy of AP at the library.
 
I've been subscribed to AP for about 4 years... great magazine really. Though I do admit, I do tend to read DP reviews more so, as I enjoy them more than AP I think...
 
i dont even buy a newspaper or book
we have a good library
 
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