Photography Masterclass Magazine – Issue 161

Issue 161 of Photography Masterclass Magazine is a working photographer’s issue — part field guide, part gear notebook, part gallery wall. Across its 98 pages it moves from the technical demands of night-sky shooting to the quieter question of how a cheap piece of glass can change the way you look at a frame.

The tone throughout is practical rather than precious. Techniques arrive as step-by-step instructions, gear talk comes with a clear verdict in mind, and the featured photographers explain their thinking rather than simply presenting finished pictures.

What’s Inside Issue 161

• Masterclass: a step-by-step guide to photographing the Milky Way
• Inspiration: ‘Old School Tech, New School Results’ — how a $50 lens made one photographer better
• Buyers guide: the Canon 45mm F/1.2, and whether it is the new nifty fifty
• Featured photographer: an interview with German architectural photographer Markus Auerbach
• Editing: one image colour graded three different ways
• Timelapse: an aerial journey filmed on the DJI Inspire 3
• Plus: an editors’ choice photo selection and a readers’ gallery

Shooting the Milky Way, Step by Step 🌌

Capturing the galaxy is treated here as a rite of passage — and as a job with a checklist. The masterclass covers the kit that earns a place in the bag, the settings and conditions that decide whether the shot works, and the post-processing moves that pull detail out of a dark sky without turning it into noise. Because the guide runs from planning through to final adjustments, it is as useful for a first serious attempt as it is for anyone whose previous night-sky images came back softer or noisier than expected.

Gear Without the Hype 📷

Two equipment features anchor the issue, and both are really about value rather than specifications. The first follows a photographer who swapped expensive glass for a $50 lens and found his pictures improving anyway — a reminder that constraint often sharpens attention. The second puts the Canon 45mm F/1.2 under scrutiny and asks whether it can carry the ‘nifty fifty’ mantle. Read together, they frame a question most photographers wrestle with: which upgrades genuinely change your work, and which simply change your receipt.

Markus Auerbach: Less Is Usually More

The featured interview turns to Markus Auerbach, a German photographer based near Stuttgart whose architectural images are built on a minimalist eye. Drawn to modern buildings, industrial spaces and the clarity of strong design, he works with lines, shapes, surfaces and shadow until compositions become pared back, often abstract. His photographs show how much can be said with a deliberately narrow visual vocabulary, and the conversation is a useful counterweight to the busier, more maximalist photography that fills most feeds.

Editing, Aerial Work and Grey-Day Light

A colour-grading feature takes a single image and develops it three separate ways, making the effect of each choice visible side by side — helpful for anyone who tends to stop at the first look that seems acceptable. There is also an aerial timelapse journey shot with the DJI Inspire 3, and an expert guide to making cinematic photographs from flat, grey-day conditions, which is exactly the weather most of us actually shoot in.

Who This Issue Is For

Photographers who already know their way around a camera and want to keep improving will get the most from this issue. It rewards readers who enjoy following a technique from planning to final edit, who like gear discussions with a clear opinion attached, and who look at other people’s photographs to work out how they were made. Beginners will find the step-by-step material approachable, while the interview and gallery sections offer something to aim at.

Digital Delights delivers the issue as a complete digital edition, ready to read on the screen you already use.