Depth

Q. How do we convey a sense of 3D, or depth in our imagery when our photographs are 2D?

A. The answer lies in using tonal separation and varying degrees of luminosity throughout the frame.

In the example below, I chose to make the foreground subjects brighter, and the background subjects darker. Sometimes I reverse this and the foreground subjects can be darker than the background subjects. Irrespective of which way you choose to go with this, the perception of 3D is conveyed by there being a difference in luminosity between your foreground and background subjects.

Understanding this is easy. It may even seem ‘quite obvious’.

Yet in practice, I find myself sometimes unaware that this is what the edit requires. What may seem obvious in the final edit may have taken some time to arrive at, as was the case with this image.

Consider the two images below:

The left one is around 50% of the way towards the 3D look of the final image on the right. I sat with the left edit for a couple of days not quite knowing if it needed to be pushed further in the edit. All I knew was, that something wasn’t quite hitting the mark for me with it.

I have found that in order to reach the final edit, I sometimes have to sit with an intermediate edit (left) for some time. Perhaps a few days. I need to let my eye fully adapt to the intermediate edit, before I can then advance forward and push the image even further (right image).

In the final edit, the background is darker, and the foreground lighter. Making the background even darker took some confidence on my part. Once I had darkened the background, I think chose to lighten the foreground. I did this knowing that when I lighten areas of a frame, darker areas may be interpreted as being darker. It also enhances the perception of 3D.

Similar to learning to compose, editing is a skill that is not learnt overnight. It is a life long endeavour in learning to ‘see’.

I have met some who say ‘I rarely need to do anything to my images’. It is, in my view, often an admission to an untrained, or inexperienced eye. For there is always more that can be done. It’s just that we may not yet possess the visual skills to recognise it.

Happy new year

Wishing you a very happy new year with lots of nice new photographic opportunities.

Coming in 2026

The Curve tool is everything to me.

It is the one reason why I never considered Lightroom a serious replacement for Photoshop. Until a few years ago, Lightroom only had one global curve per image.

This has changed. Lightroom has - for me at least - come of age.

Lightroom now has localised curves. Each brush / mask now has its own curves control. This changes everything, and yet…. I think most seasoned Lightroom users don’t even use it.

In this upcoming e-book, I show you how Curves can become your one-stop-shop control for all tonal adjustment. Learn it well, and you won’t need anything else.

White Canvas, Notes & Exercises on Aspect Ratios

Today I published a new e-book about Aspect ratios. It’s a complete rewrite from my first edition which was published in 2010. I hope you enjoy reading this one. It contains a lot of information I tend to cover on my workshops.

White Canvas: Notes on Aspect Ratios explores how the aspect ratio of our camera fundamentally influences the way we see, compose, and judge photographs. Rather than treating the aspect ratio of your camera as a technical or secondary choice, the book argues that it actively shapes visual perception, eye movement, and compositional decision-making. Through observation, diagrams, and reflective analysis, Bruce demonstrates that different formats subtly encourage different habits—some making composition easier, others introducing hidden challenges.

A central theme of the book is visual awareness. It examines how the eye naturally gravitates toward the centre of the frame, how peripheral vision lacks detail, and how this leads photographers—especially beginners—to overlook edge distractions. The discussion extends into how wider aspect ratios exacerbate this problem by increasing reliance on peripheral vision, making errors harder to detect. The book also explores personal “blind spots” in viewing, showing that each photographer has habitual ways of moving through an image, which can vary depending on orientation and aspect ratio.

Practical exercises play a key role throughout. Readers are encouraged to rotate images, review unsuccessful photographs, and even edit upside down in order to abstract form, luminosity, and balance. These techniques are presented not as gimmicks, but as tools for re-educating the eye—forcing it into areas of the frame it might normally ignore. The book repeatedly frames image-making as a process of experimentation rather than success or failure.

Ultimately, White Canvas is not about prescribing a single “correct” aspect ratio. Instead, it advocates for informed choice. By understanding how different ratios influence spatial relationships, visual weight, and attention, photographers can choose formats that align with their intent and working style. The book encourages slower, more deliberate composition and a deeper awareness of how we truly see—both in the field and during image review.

Update on the new Aspect Ratios e-book

I’m almost finished formatting my new e-book on aspect ratios, which is coming in at around sixty pages.

I feel this is a huge upgrade from the first edition. And it should be, because the first edition was written sometime in 2010 I believe. That is 15 years ago :-)

In the new version I cover deficiencies in our visual system, and how this compounds issues when using certain aspect ratios. I’ve put a lot of exercises in the book which you can easily try out for yourself, along with many recommendations as to how to work with improving compositions.

I think it might be a few more weeks, as I’m now just checking the content for consistency and any errors I haven’t noticed. I expect it to be released soon after that.

Feature in December's edition of Elements Magazine

It was with great surprise to find that ELEMENTS magazine wished to interview me, and also put one of my own personal favourite shots from my last 17 years as a ‘full time photographer’ on the cover of their December issue.

View fullsize

About the cover image:

In the interview they asked me about this tiny volcano that sits on the edge of one of the Atacama’s salt flats. I describe how much work is involved in getting here, how remote it is, and also my scouting process.

It was nice to be asked some less obvious, and for me, more interesting questions.

If you are interested in subscribing, ELEMENTS has kindly offered a 15% discount by way of a special discount code: BRUCE15.

https://www.elementsphotomag.com

Defending your art

“every time I’ve compromised, I’ve always regretted it”

Listening to an interview with Kate Bush tonight from the early 90’s recounting her writing the ‘Hounds of Love’ album. She talks about the track ‘Running up that Hill’, and how it was supposed to be titled ‘A deal with God’, but had resistance from her record label. Apparently she’s always regretted the compromise.

For me, it was her statement “every time I’ve compromised, I’ve always regretted it” that really jumped out at me.

I have always sensed through interviews with Kate Bush, that she is someone who trusts her instincts, and has very strong views about what she’s doing. Uncompromising may be the best way of saying that, and yet, when you do say it, it comes pre-loaded with conotations of being difficult. Which is a shame, because I think when you know what you want, and strive to convey it, that takes a lot of courage, bravery, and vision.

And intuition.

Artists, need to have intution. They all have it, but I’m not sure that all of them utilise it. It’s your responsibility to work on your own intuition as a photographer.

What I got most out of this interview with Bush was that you should really defend your art. No one else is going to protect it, or look after it more than you will.

So it’s really your job to look after what you do. And you can only do that if you have the utmost respect for yourself and what you do. If you don’t believe in yourself, or your own work, then you can’t really expect others to.

Respect for your work, must start with you.

Proud little tree

I don't know what it is about this little tree at the edge of lake Kussharo in Hokkaido. But I've come to visit it for ten years now and always loved its shape.

I have until this moment been unable to make a photograph of it that I was happy with.

This month I offered it at a special price on my website, and chose the title "Standing proudly at the edge of lake Kussharo" because there seems to be a rather upright stance about it.

There's also some kind of symmetry to it that I find quite pleasing.

Anyway, I know that the image means more to me than anyone else (that is the case for all of our images). I can't quite define what it is that I love about it, but all I know is that it means something to me.

So, welcome little tree, I'm glad we were able to work together.

The print can be found here.

Bliss Photography

For many years now, when I run my Hokkaido winter tour, we end up at the Takushinkan photo gallery. Inside it, they host the photographs of photographer Shinzo Maeda who died in 1989.

To my eye, Maeda’s photographs are beautiful minimalist statements about Hokkaido, in all seasons.

I was particularly taken with Maeda’s autumn images, and they are the sole reason for me wishing to come to Hokkaido at that time of year. I was sure, that Hokkaido could still offer the minimalism that I saw in his work, despite his images being created a long time ago.

Lake Toya, Hokkaido 2025

Many of the locations of his images I thought beautiful. I appreciated that they were probably changed beyond recognition or no longer in existence. Such is the way of evolving landscapes - a benefit if you ask me. But it still did make me curious as to whether I might find anything at all in the Autumn. I think my concerns where that the landscape would be much more busy than the winter blankets of snow I had encountered up until that point.

I have never been interested in copying someone else’s compositions. Instead, I’m much more interested in finding out ‘what I may find?’

Fast forward three years and I am now on tour no.3 with a group. Tour no.1 was very much an experiment to see what was there. Each tour has always offered up different views, different autumnal conditions (this year for instance we just missed snow by a few days in Biei). But I’m glad I followed my heart in coming to Hokkaido in the autumn. I was not aware of many other autumnal images of the island which is good in the way that it makes it so much easier to go a place and not be bombarded by countless images you’ve seen elsewhere.

I’m just home from Japan, and this morning was my first foray into editing the work. Film processing began on Saturday at 1am due to jet lag, and it went seamlessly until Monday morning where I finished hanging up the last films to dry, and started to put them into sleeves. That was when I was able to review the images as I cut them into strips of three on my light table.

I think it’s tempting to look at all of what you’ve shot and try to make some kind of plan out of it. I’ve found the only plan worth sticking to is to work on the images that you feel most inspired by. Edit those, and then perhaps see how the fit together (if at all). The next set of images to choose to edit becomes clearer once you’ve done that first step.

The image above was shot at Lake Toya, which was not part of this year’s tour. I just wanted to go and see what was there. I followed my gut on this one. And during the five days I was there, I was repeatedly drawn back to these two trees at the lake side. I think it’s obvious why.

More to follow, hopefully in this month’s newsletter.

Cake and eating it

In the UK, we have this expression: “you can’t have your cake, and eat it” It means - you can’t always have everything.

Today I got an email about my forthcoming Aspect Ratios ebook. The email was concerned with the idea that keeping one’s work to a certain aspect ratio, so that their work is ‘consistent’ when it’s laid out, may be done at the expense of the individual image. This is true.

I appreciate that my friend who wrote to me, was really working through the dilemma by putting his thoughts down on an email to me.

His dilemma of whether to scrap images that don’t conform to a given ratio really boils down to accepting that everything in photography is a compromise. With every compromise, you gain and you lose at the same time.

For myself, I currently hold the view that I’d much rather sacrifice individual images if they do not conform to the aspect ratio of choice that I’m working in. I personally dislike portfolios where the work is all different shapes and sizes.

I realise this is rather extreme, but I have learned that when I come to lay images out, they simply don’t make the final selection if they jar in some way. For me, aspect ratios have to be consistent in the portfolio.

But that’s just me, and I would not for one second assume you should agree with me. It is simply something that I have decided is important to me, and you need to form your own opinion about what’s important for you.

You may even find that for one portfolio, aspect ratios are not so important, or perhaps even a feature. Another portfolio may require a different approach. The upshot is, that there are really no rules, just what you think is important at the time of you creating and presenting the work. You are even entitled to change your mind at a later date, as I often do.

For me right now though, I’ve found particular strength in portfolios than the individual image. I think they help promote the style of work I do, but also, the consistency of the aspect ratio helps me lay out the work in a format that I think contributes to the style.