A pen tablet, also called a graphics tablet, can serve as a great alternative to using a mouse when editing photos. With a pen tablet, you can move your cursor almost as fluidly as you would draw on a piece of paper. That said, tablets can be expensive, and they require you to adapt to a new interface. Are they worth it? In this article, I’ll be taking a look at the benefits of switching to a pen tablet for photo editing, as well as breaking down the important factors to consider when buying one.

Since Libor is traveling in South America, I’m filling in for him on this week’s Photography News. In fact, I just returned from a trip myself: I was in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park, finishing our field tests of the Nikon Z9! One feature of the camera that I used extensively is the Z9’s “pre-release burst,” where the camera records up to one second of 30 FPS or 120 FPS JPEGs before you fully press the shutter button. It enabled me to capture some bug-in-flight photos, like the one you see below – otherwise a very difficult genre of photography. All this and much more will be in our Z9 review, which I’m going to publish in a few days. Keep an eye out. But before that, let’s get to this week’s news.

Overexposure is usually considered a bad result in photography – something to be avoided at all costs. The same is true of blown-out backgrounds and overcast skies. But sometimes, this “high-key” look can be exactly what a photo needs. In this article, I will explain how to use the tool of high-key photography to your advantage to take better pictures in tricky lighting conditions.