bokeh

Pick up a camera and the possibilities are endless: a braai spread at sunset, waves breaking along the coast, the family dog dozing on the stoep. In photography, everything you point your lens at is called a subject. This guide explains what a subject in photography is, clears up some commonly confused terms and shares practical ways to bring out the best in whatever you photograph, including how to match your lens to the subject.

What is a subject in photography?

What is a subject?

TAMRON 28-75mm F2.8 G2 (Model A063) Focal length: 62mm　Exposure: F5.6　Shutter Speed: 1/125sec　ISO: 200

A subject is anything you photograph. It might be a city skyline, a mountain view, a person, an animal, a plant, a plate of food or a building. Whatever the lens is pointed at becomes the subject of the image.

Choosing a subject, and deciding how to frame it, is one of the main ways a photographer expresses ideas and feelings. Take a strelitzia in a Durban garden: you could fill the frame with its sharp

Most guides to photographing illumination were written for the northern hemisphere, where the festive season falls in the depths of winter and darkness arrives by four in the afternoon. South Africa inverts all of it. Our festive lights go up in November and burn through a high-summer December, which means waiting out a long warm evening before there is enough darkness to shoot in — sunset lands somewhere between seven and eight depending on where in the country you are, and you want another forty-five minutes on top of that before the lights read properly against the sky. The air is warm, the evenings are long, and the shooting window is narrower than you would expect. This guide covers where festive lights photograph well, the settings that get you there, and the creative techniques worth trying once the basics are working.

Where festive lights photograph well: four scenes

Illumination rewards matching your approach to the setting. Four situations cover most of what you will encounter,

South African light is not gentle. On the Highveld the sun climbs high and hard from a thin atmosphere more than 1,400 metres above sea level, while the Cape can hand you a week of flat winter overcast, and the KwaZulu-Natal coast softens everything through a standing haze of humidity. Portrait photography here is less about finding an interesting face than about learning to read the light falling on it. This guide works through the fundamentals — lens choice, exposure, portrait composition and how to shape light — against the conditions you will actually be shooting in.

What is portrait photography?

TAMRON 70-180mm F2.8 G2 (Model A065) Focal Length: 180mm　Exposure: F2.8　Shutter Speed: 1/30sec　ISO: 800

In photographic terms, a portrait is simply an image in which a person is the subject. The word carries a certain formality in English — it suggests a studio, a commissioned sitting, a framed print on a wall — and that formality is misleading. A photograph of your sister on the stoep

A macro lens is built for one thing and quietly good at several others. The name describes what it does at its closest focusing distance — render a small subject at life size on the sensor — but it says nothing about the rest of its range, where it behaves like a very sharp short telephoto. That makes a macro lens for landscape photography a far more sensible proposition than most people assume. This article covers both halves: how to shoot landscapes with a macro lens, and how to use one to produce the circular highlights known as bokeh balls.

Why a macro lens for landscape photography works

Macro lenses are usually primes, and they focus far closer than an ordinary lens of the same focal length. That is the whole point of them: a lens that will fill the frame with the stamens of a protea, the compound eye of a dragonfly, or the surface tension holding a drop of water on a blade of grass. Detail the eye cannot resolve unaided becomes the subject.

What gets overlooked is that the lens does

Whether you are photographing wildlife in Kruger National Park, shooting rugby action in Pretoria, or capturing sunsets along the Cape Town coastline, understanding depth of field can dramatically improve your photography. Depth of field controls how much of your image appears sharp, helping photographers create everything from creamy portrait backgrounds to crystal-clear landscape scenes.

In this guide, we explain what depth of field is, how depth of field works, and how South African photographers can use it creatively for portraits, sports, wildlife, and travel photography.

What Is Depth of Field?

Definition of Depth of Field

Depth of field refers to the zone in an image that appears acceptably sharp. When your camera focuses on a subject, there is an area in front of and behind that subject that may also look in focus.

A shallow depth of field keeps only a small part of the scene sharp, while a deep depth of field keeps much more of the image clear.

Shallow Depth of Field

A shallow

A single-focus lens, often referred to as a prime lens, is a powerful tool for photographers who want greater control over image quality and creativity. Unlike zoom lenses, it has a fixed focal length, which encourages you to think more carefully about composition and positioning.

In South Africa, where photography ranges from vibrant city life to scenic coastal drives and indoor lifestyle moments, a single-focus lens is especially valuable. Whether you're capturing portraits in Johannesburg, food photography in Cape Town cafés, or evening scenes along the Durban beachfront, this lens delivers sharp, high-quality results.

What Is a Single-Focus Lens and Why It Suits South African Photographers

A single-focus lens has a fixed focal length, meaning you cannot zoom in or out. Instead, you move closer or further from your subject to frame your shot. While this may seem limiting at first, it actually helps photographers develop a stronger sense of composition.

For South African photographers,