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Editor’s Note

We're deep into spring now, and this week we're turning things up a notch - it's all about Bold & Bright! Think vivid waratahs, blazing poppies, electric blue skies, and every saturated shade that this glorious season throws at us. Week three is the perfect moment to push past the subtle and really let colour do the talking in your images.

If you haven't already entered the DCW monthly photo competition on the theme of Spring Colours, there's still time - we'd love to see your boldest, brightest work in the mix!

Monthly photo competition

Week 3: Colours of Spring | Topic: Bold & Bright

Spring is surging, and this week shifts to a bolder palette — loud blooms, fierce tones, and sky‑high intensity. Week three invites you to abandon restraint and let vivid hues command your shots.

⚠️ Weekly prompts are just a guide — interpret them your way, as long as your shot captures the spirit of the month's theme.⁠

How to enter:

To participate, simply complete the submission form on our portal on our website. Make sure your entries align with this month's theme. For additional guidance, check the photographic tips below.

Prizes:

1st Prize: Sony Tough 64GB SDXC UHS-II 300MB/s Memory Card Valued at $249.95

2nd Prize: Sony MDR-7506 - Monitoring Headphones Valued at $199.95 RRP

Deadline:

All entries must be submitted by 30th September, 2026.

Make sure to read the FAQ on the competition page at the link below to understand all the details and rules of the competition.

We look forward to receiving your photos and celebrating your creativity

Canon has officially unveiled the EOS R8 II, and it's shaping up to be one of the more exciting full-frame mirrorless releases of the year for enthusiast shooters. Sony has also turned heads this week with not one but two new G Master super-telephoto lenses - the FE 400mm F4.5 GM OSS and FE 600mm F6.3 GM OSS - offering serious reach for wildlife and sports photographers.

Spring doesn't do anything quietly - the season arrives with saturated greens, blazing yellows and reds so vivid they almost vibrate. If your images have felt a little flat lately, this month's theme is the perfect excuse to chase contrast, punch and visual energy. Here are some ways to make bold spring colour work hard in your shots.

Seek complementary colour pairs:

Look for naturally occurring colour opposites in your scene - purple jacaranda against a lime-green lawn, or orange poppies beside a blue-painted fence - and frame them together to create instant visual tension that pulls the viewer in.

Expose to protect your highlights:

Bright floral colours blow out surprisingly fast, so dial your exposure down by a third to two thirds of a stop and let your shadows run a little darker; you'll hold the richness in those saturated petals rather than ending up with washed-out blobs of white.

Use a polarising filter in strong light:
A circular polariser will cut the glare bouncing off waxy leaves and wet surfaces, deepening the blue of the sky and making greens and reds appear genuinely richer right at the point of capture rather than relying on a heavy edit later.

Simplify the background ruthlessly:
Bold colour needs room to breathe, so move in close, change your angle or open up your aperture to throw distracting foliage behind your subject into a clean blur - one dominant colour against a quiet backdrop will always read stronger than a chaotic mix of competing tones.

Spring is bursting with saturated colour, and your gear should be ready to match that energy! A wide-aperture prime lens will help you isolate vivid blooms against beautifully blurred backgrounds, while a circular polarising filter cuts glare and makes greens and blues absolutely pop. Pair that with a sturdy tripod for sharp, deliberate compositions, and consider a portable LED panel to punch up colours in tricky shade. A remote shutter release keeps things crisp, and a set of vivid-tone-optimised lens filters rounds out a kit built for bold, bright seasonal shooting.

NEED HELP? TALK TO AN EXPERT 1300 365 220

"Colour is joy. One does not think joy. One is carried by it." - Ernst Haas

Your photo question of the week:

When shooting bold spring florals like vivid red poppies or electric yellow wattles, you notice your camera's histogram shows the bright petals are being clipped at the right edge. Which of the following approaches best protects petal detail while keeping colours looking punchy and saturated rather than washed out?

A) Switch to spot metering and expose to push the highlights well into clipping, then recover detail in post using the Highlights slider

B) Apply negative exposure compensation of around one to two stops to bring the histogram away from clipping, then recover midtone brightness in post while retaining colour saturation in the RAW file

C) Switch to a JPEG shooting mode with a Vivid picture profile applied, as the in-camera processing will automatically prevent highlight clipping on saturated colours

D) Increase your ISO significantly to give the sensor more light to work with, which helps the camera retain colour information in bright areas

Last Week's Answer:

Last week's answer was B - a slightly cool colour temperature between 5000K and 5500K paired with a mild negative tint adjustment. Pastel tones are delicate by nature, and nudging your white balance just a touch cooler helps preserve that soft, airy neutrality rather than letting warmth creep in and muddy those gentle hues. Get this balance right and your pastel shots will feel effortlessly clean without looking clinical.

Let's face it. Not all of us are professionals, and even still, pros still need to learn a thing or two about photography or cinematography. That's why we've put together this section. We want to highlight some of the common and not-so-common questions people face when attempting a particular genre.

My spring flower shots feel flat and lifeless even though the blooms themselves are gorgeous in real life. How do I make those vivid reds and yellows actually pop in camera?

Try getting lower and finding a clean, contrasting background - a patch of deep shadow or a clear blue sky works brilliantly. This separation lets those warm tones sing rather than compete. A polarising filter also helps enormously by cutting surface glare off petals, which instantly deepens saturation without any heavy post-processing. Shooting in the mid-morning light, when the sun is still relatively low, gives you warmth without washing everything out.

Reader’s gallery

Navigate to our reader’s gallery to see a selection of entries to help inspire your vision. You can also see the past winners there. Thank you to everyone who sent in their images. We love seeing them!

Sometimes, all we need is some visual motivation, like these images, to spark our creative thoughts. What will you create with your camera this week? Enter your images via our online portal, and we look forward to showcasing them.