The penultimate stage in the SUPOY championship saw a real variety of approaches to the theme, though some people may have felt constrained by their glass, others have demonstrated some thought about using what they have to hand - with the final stage coming up next, the positions for the leaderboard are looking interesting.

The fourth stage in the SUPOY championship saw some strong entries and a real improvement in submission numbers; I'm looking forward to the entries for the final two stages. The 50mm ƒ1.4 EX DG clearly inspired some strong competition and the seasonal weather no doubt helped with inspiration. Not only are the entries impressive for this one, I'm also pleased to see the technical information being given - I hope that other users will get some insight into how people are working with their cameras from this and benefit from it, so I do encourage people to provide as much information about their photography as possible. 

Many beginners find digital photography rather challenging and rightly so. Today, more and more digital cameras are being created and it seems like the more digital cameras they make, the more difficult they become to use.

You may not want or even need a camera with tons of features. It really depends on the type of pictures you plan on taking.

Regardless of the camera you own or are planning to own, you should have a well-rounded knowledge of digital photography. Hopefully the following 20 tips for capturing digital images will prove to be useful in your quest for taking better photographs.

{mosimage width=125} Fashion has come full circle for the 8mm fisheye. It’s almost a full-frame lens on the digital APS-C format. Richard Kilpatrick intruded on friends at Whitby’s Gothfest weekend with the original 8mm f4 EX DG - and has since been using the 8mm f3.5 EX DG in Sigma fit…

To shoot portraits with an 8mm fisheye, you have to be willing to stick the lens mere centimetres from the subject’s nose – and they have to be willing to accept a cariacture worthy of any gothic abbey gargoyle in exchange!

{mosimage width=125}The Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM is the company’s latest offering in the extreme telephoto zoom budget marketplace and it comes in with a few eyebrow raising improvements! Replacing the 170-500mm model that is now somewhat long in the tooth, the new lens, along with its shorter sister 120-400mm version has an excellent specification for its price.

The first stage in the 2008/9 SUPOY awards had some strong entries, and the August holiday meant that judging and publishing the results and the winner of the 20mm f1.8 lens provided by Sigma UK for this stage has been slightly delayed. The winner and 9 placed images are published below.