Welcome to issue 71

I recently had the pleasure of watching our long-standing columnist and all-round photography legend Joe McNally speak at The Photography Show. I say speak, but it was more of a performance – a masterclass not just in photography, but in having the audience eating out the palm of one’s hand.

His trick? Well, it helps that he’s just about the nicest guy in the business, and his genuine humility and self-deprecating sense of humour don’t hurt, but what really stood out was the simplicity of his approach. Photography is all too easy to overcomplicate, but Joe – with the help of a model and an assistant plucked from the audience – took a point ’n’ shoot snap and turned it into a polished, beautifully lit portrait in a dozen very simple steps, with each step answering the question: what can I do next to improve this picture?

You can see the same approach at work in his column this month, on page 130: expose for the lovely colour in the sky; light the subject; light the plane. Congratulations, you now shoot like Joe!

Elsewhere in this issue we’ve got a great feature on banishing blurred photos once and for all (p. 18); a preview of Sigma’s new 24-70mm f/2.8 (p. 108); an in-depth round-up of A2 prints (p. 110); and an insightful and highly entertaining interview with arguably the best sports photographer of the past 50 years (p. 94). Enjoy!