I was checking out Reddit’s lifeprotips subreddit and read what seemed like an amazing life hack: A Redditor advised keeping photographs of your physical keys in your phone’s digital wallet. That way, if you lose a key, a locksmith can cut you a duplicate based on the picture alone. The idea that you can get keys made from a picture is basically the flip side of the warnings you sometimes read in articles with headlines like “Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Post Pictures of Your House Key Online.” So does this work? Is this a new hack that will prevent you from locking yourself out again? Can thieves really duplicate your keys from an Instagram post? Yes and no. Making a key from a photo is theoretically possible, but it’s difficult enough in practice that it’s not something worth being concerned about.

“If you were to show a photo of a key to a locksmith, and if it was a pretty standard key—like a QuickSet or something like that—he could probably use his experience and expertise to determine how long the cuts in that key are,” said Owen Hunter, who worked as a locksmith for both commercial and private clients in Burbank, CA for several years. “But the photo would have to be exactly the size of the key—like a perfect one-to-one photograph—to make a useable copy.”

The difficulty of taking perfectly sized photographs of your keys

According to Hunter, even the slightest angle or discrepancy in size would make it extremely difficult for a locksmith to make a duplicate based on your picture. “You would need to take a photo of the key at an almost perfectly perpendicular angle. It would probably only be possible to do if you had a nice lighting table and [a] down-shooter or something.” In other words: A snapshot from your iPhone wouldn’t work.

Sources on the internet sometimes suggest that taking a photo of your key on a piece of a graph paper will help translate the dimensions, but that wouldn’t be too helpful according to Hunter. “That might make it about 3% easier,” he said.

The above “it-will-never-work” advice applies to the most common, cheapest, commercially available kinds of locks. Higher end locks would likely prove more difficulty, and car keys would be impossible. “I do not know of a way to make car keys based on a photograph. Because there’s so many different kinds, and there’s usually electronics and key fobs involved,” Hunter said. 

The difficulty of finding a locksmith that will take your key-photo-challenge seriously

Maybe you could overcome the technical hurdle of exactly matching the dimensions of a key you no longer have through photographic skills or painstakingly matching the shadows and angles with drafting software, but even if you did, you’d end up facing an even more difficult obstacle: finding a locksmith who would take you seriously. Someone has to make the key for you, and according to Hunter, most locksmiths wouldn’t do it.

“A locksmith would want to know what the hell your problem is,” Hunter explained. “You could be bringing in a photo of anyone’s key. It could be a big security issue that a reputable locksmith isn’t going to want to get involved with… on behalf of every locksmith ever, just bring in your key. Don’t bring a photo; it’s not helpful.”

Three reasonable ways to safeguard against losing your keys

If you must have a version of your keys saved on your phone, there is a much better method than keeping a .jpg in your iWallet. “If you really want a digital backup, you could bring your original key to a locksmith, and they can get a reading on the key’s code and give you its PIN. If you have those two things, then you can just call up a locksmith and tell them to cut a new key for you,” Hunter said.

Another solution: Bring in the lock itself. If you can get into your house, most locks can be removed fairly easily with a screwdriver or a drill, then you can bring the entire mechanism into a locksmith who can make you a new key for your old lock.

The best solution for key losers is the most mundane, but it’s almost comically simple: Use the time you were going to spend taking a perfect photo of your keys to go the hardware store. Spend six bucks to make a couple extra copies of your house key, and keep them somewhere safe. Maybe stash one in the back of your closet and give one to your neighbor Gary. I promise this will be much easier than following the advice of people on the internet.

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Over the next seven years, Fumi began travelling to and from Dora, getting to know locals and immersing herself in local happenings. Many images from the series show school life, accurately capturing the various groups, cliques and emotions. Cheerleaders are shown mid-routine, uniformed band members practising on the stadium steps, a prom in full swing, many in the midst of the dancefloor, a sole figure at a table viewing the revelries from afar. Some delve into community spaces, a pastor in a local church, rows of portioned sponge cake with pink icing wrapped in cling film, and some travel even further, into the homes of her subjects.

One image that stands out to Fumi is that of Addie and Mackenzie, both recurring figures throughout the book. The pair are shown drying Mackenzie’s rabbit after he urinated on her bed, both looking slightly bemused. A moment Fumi was compelled to capture for how “funny and unique” it was, but also because of elements of the scene’s background. In the corner of the frame you can see a collection of K-Pop posters, both girls – like many teens – being big fans. For Fumi this gives the image, which has a timeless quality, a simple way of signalling the context of a more globalised present day.

The series wasn’t without its moments of uncertainty, or miscommunication. One day Fumi encountered a shed in someone’s front yard and found something compelling about the way the light was coming through the trees, and how the flower pattern of the old chair that almost made it indecipherable from the leafy background. But upon taking the photo, a local asked Fumi why she was focussing on things that were falling apart, rather than something new – they assumed she was trying to glorify the poverty and deprivation of the area. “I didn’t expect these questions because that was not the way I saw things,” Fumi says. “I love things that have charm and personality.”

Now, Fumi looks back at the project with great fondness. Not only did she create her longest-running work to date, but she forged close, long lasting relationships with the people she photographed. She’s grateful to the Gost books team for listening to her vision and helping her to piece together such a wide array of images. But mainly, Fumi is thankful for Tanya – for her collaboration and her generosity, for graciously introducing Fumi to her family, and the place she calls home.

Wildlife is certainly one of the more challenging genres photography has to offer. Often consisting of long waiting times in dark, damp and cold conditions waiting for the animal you’re stalking to appear, the perfect shaft of light to materialise and hoping your camera settings are spot-on when you finally go to press the shutter.

However, there’s no greater feeling than when all of the elements eventually come together and you’re able to capture the exact moment you were hoping for. It takes bags of patience, revisiting locations frequently and strong camera knowledge too.

• To shoot stunning wildlife close-up shots of your own, check out the best lenses for bird photography

Reader of PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, Rebecca Pitt, is currently studying photography at Leeds Art University in England and has a passion wildlife, often visiting wildlife parks and zoos to get in some practice with her Canon EOS 1100D. 

She’s written to us asking for help to improve her wildlife photography skills to get a better understanding of camera settings and how to get top animal shots out in the wild. We paired her up with wildlife pro Paul Fowlie at sunrise in the Yorkshire Dales for them to get some incredible portraits of moorland birds and more! Here’s some of the top tips Paul taught Rebecca on their workshop together.

Paul Fowlie

Paul has been a pro wildlife and landscape photographer since 2010. Based in Yorkshire, he runs photography workshops in the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, Scotland and Scandinavia, and is also the author of A Year with Nature: A Photographic Guide to Wildlife. We met up with him in Leyburn to drive around the wonderful Yorkshire Dales to see what wildlife we could find in and amongst the heather and rolling hills.

1. Aperture control

Paul explained that he usually shoots in either his Canon’s Aperture priority or Manual modes so set up Rebecca’s EOS R6 in Aperture priority, also called Av on the mode dial. This is a semi-automatic mode that allows you to adjust the aperture, a series of blades inside of the lens that let in more or less light (and also affect depth of field), as well as input the ISO to change how sensitive the sensor is to light. The camera then works out the correct shutter speed for you so that your attention can be spent composing and focusing.

2. Autofocus setup

Canon’s latest generation of subject detection is astonishingly good and the Animal Subject Detection on Paul’s EOS R5 and Rebecca’s R6 works amazingly well. Paul switched on Animal Subject Detection and also Servo autofocus which will continually autofocus and track a subject for as long as the shutter button is held down, great for ensuring your focus continually adjusts for any movement from fast and flighty subjects like birds.

3. Full-frame mirrorless Canon EOS camera

Paul shoots on a Canon EOS R5 while Rebecca shoots on an EOS 1100D, however we were able to get hold of an EOS R6 for her to test out on the day. Both the EOS R5 and R6 use the new full-frame mirrorless RF mount and have blistering maximum frame rates of up to 40fps, they also boast incredible Animal Eye Detection autofocus. The big distinction between the two camera bodies is the sensor resolution, with the EOS R5 being 45MP and the EOS R6 being 21MP.

4. Get down low

One of the easiest and cheapest ways too improve your wildlife photography is to get eye-level with your subject to push the background further away and make it easier to blur with a shallow depth of field.

For small animals, like this colourful grey wagtail, get down on one knee but for moorland birds, it means lying prone on the ground, so it’s worth wearing waterproof clothes, or even lying down on a bin liner so you don’t get too muddy.

5. Lens hood

Paul always recommends attaching the lens hood to your Canon lenses. Not only does a lens hood give you a bit of shade for better contrast in images and helps keep water off the front of the lens on rainy days like we were shooting in, they also offer a bit of protection against knocks and dings should you accidentally drop or prang your camera. It’s much more cost effective to replace the cheap lens hood than the glass front element of your expensive Canon lenses!

6. Long zoom lens

Paul uses a variety of zoom lenses for his wildlife work and what he uses will depend on what he’s shooting. For larger animals he might choose a RF 70-200mm f/2.8L which has great image quality and a wide maximum aperture which makes the lens fast and able to blur the background.

However, for small birds a lens such as his RF 100-500mm is more suitable to get frame-filling shots of these tiny and agile subjects. Shooting from the car with a beanbag on the window, Rebecca was able to zoom in on this male grouse with her Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM to capture this lovely bird portrait and catch the stunning details of the water drops on its back.

7. High speed action shots

Paul uses a fast burst mode to capture the perfect moment, as well as Servo autofocus mode which will continually track focus when you half-press the shutter button. Paul set Rebecca’s EOS R6 on Drive Mode to High Speed Continuous+.

8. Canon EF-EOS R mount adapter

Paul has recently switched from his old Canon EOS-1D X Mk II to the full-frame mirrorless EOS R5. He’s still in the process of migrating his lenses over so uses the EF-EOS R to make his old Canon EF mount lenses for DSLRs fit his new RF mount mirrorless EOS R5. His EF-EOS R mount adapter also has a control ring on it allowing him to quickly change core settings when he’s out in the field and speed is of the essence.

9. Stabilization modes

When shooting handheld Paul always has his Image Stabilisation switched on. This is a combination of optical stabilisation on his lenses, and In-Body Image Stabilisation (IBIS) where the sensor moves to combat camera-shake; the two methods combined help mitigate shake even further and produce sharp shots at slower shutter speeds. Paul mostly uses Stabilizer Mode 1 on his lens which corrects for shake on both the vertical and horizontal axis, although occasionally he’ll switch to Mode 2 for panning, where it only corrects for vertical movement so you can still achieve smooth panning shots.

10. Watch the background

An often overlooked part of wildlife photography is the background. It’s all too easy to get fixated on the animals, trying to make sure they’re sharp and capturing the right moment, but your background makes a huge difference too.

These images were taken quickly back to back and at the same aperture of f/5.6 to blur the background. While the background has been blurred, we can still see the scrappy tree branches in the background (above).

Moving slightly to recompose with the colorful mossy green rocks in the background helps smooth out the background and add color at the same time.

If you’re really into wildlife photography, you’ll want to check out the best wildlife lenses. Paul uses a Canon EOS R5. To see his stunning portfolio check out his Instagram, or to book a workshop visit his website.

For the eighth episode of IN STUDIO, we headed to the Romolo area to meet documentary photographer Glauco Canalis. Impressed by his work and story, we decided to meet him and discover what led him to pursue this type of photographic research. Of Sicilian origin, Glauco Canalis was educated between Milan and England, studying first in Plymouth before moving to London. Here began his career as a photographer, primarily in the music world and occasionally in fashion and advertising. However, his personal projects are something else entirely. His approach is documentary. He’s interested in places and the people who inhabit them, delving deep into the nature of certain traditions, investigating Mediterranean architecture, and social contexts. Often, the places and communities he chooses are “on the margins,” and the resulting stories are raw and painful. «For this reason, as I immerse myself deeply in the projects, sometimes I need to find moments to step back because inevitably they weigh on me as well,» he explains. But let’s start the interview to understand how a nomad like him has finally found his place.

The studio

We are located in Romolo, a neighborhood south of Milan. Glauco Canalis’s home-studio is located in a basement with large windows that filter a gentle, diffuse light. The somewhat British underground soul is perceptible even though everything is carefully organized. The space is very large, an open space divided into zones, on one side the living area and on the other the working area. On the latter side we notice the presence of boxes and many binders on the shelves, a large desk with a computer and a small table on which Glauco is reorganizing all his cameras. We are curious about how he lives in this space and how he organizes his work. Let’s start with the questions.

Let’s start from the beginning. How did it all come about?

I found my path when I started working as a music photographer. After seven years as a freelancer, I returned to Italy, mainly due to COVID and Brexit, and started working for the Controluce agency, which represents me now. In Italy, for the time being, I work less with music, focusing more on fashion and my personal projects.

What are your personal projects about?

There’s a significant overarching theme characterizing my research—the identity of the Mediterranean. Under this large umbrella, there are projects like the one I did in Sicily, which deals with the political landscape. After the American invasion, there was a separatist movement aiming to make Sicily the forty-ninth American State. Being Sicilian myself, I became intrigued and investigated this story, particularly by photographing at the sites of American military bases. In recent years, the themes I’m most engaged with revolve around adolescence. I’m interested in depicting youth situations in suburban neighborhoods, narrating unique stories, such as areas affected by poor governance.

What are you working on now?

Currently, I’m working on a project exploring the Neapolitan tradition linked to the cult of Saint Anthony the Abbot and the “Cippo.” This project, tentatively titled “The darker the night, the brighter the stars,” essentially documents the Neapolitan tradition of burning Christmas trees found—or rather, stolen—around town. All of this occurs on the day of Saint Anthony the Abbot, which falls on January 17. This tradition turns into a kind of gang warfare. For four years now, I’ve been working on this project, following a group of youths from a neighborhood in Naples. This project has earned me awards and exhibitions in Portugal, Puglia, and next year, I’ll present it in Paris.

From what you tell us, your work doesn’t seem to be easy. How do you choose the places where you operate? Do you spend a lot of time in the field?

Research is often impulsive. I rely a lot on intuition—I find myself in a place and start shooting, then the research begins. Often, it’s the place that finds me and inspires me. From there, I delve into the context and seek answers. As I study, I uncover the place’s history, and almost always, I discover an element that connects to me. There’s always something autobiographical and personal in the things that interest me—I sense them, and I dive right in.

So you never choose a place beforehand?

When it comes to my personal projects, it’s actually never been the case. For instance, this project I’m currently working on – “The darker the night, the brighter the stars” – originated from my stay in Naples. It was 2018, and I was working on Liberato’s music video. I noticed children hiding Christmas trees, curious, I asked, and they told me this absurd story. The following year, I spent New Year’s Eve in Naples, and that story came back to me. I began asking more questions and doing research. That’s when I decided to narrate this story. Reading about a place before visiting it happens very rarely; usually, if I do it, it’s because it’s already tied to something I’m working on.

Let’s talk about your studio. You’re relatively new here; how do you feel about this new studio? How were your previous studios?

When I lived in London, I had a fairly large room where I used to shoot, but it was never as big as the space I have now. In general, my studio always coincides with my home, mainly because, as a photographer, I don’t need a proper studio like an artist might. Once I have a space for my computer and a backdrop for shooting, I have everything I need. This is my first space this large and solely dedicated to work. I immediately felt at home here.

Are you attached to this place, or would you leave tomorrow?

I feel comfortable in this house. If I had to stay in Milan, I wouldn’t want to be in a different house. I really like the light here; maybe the only thing missing is a garden. I’m the opposite of someone rooted; this is my attempt to have a fixed point because I have a very nomadic approach to life.

Do you enjoy hosting people and communal living? Do you often feel alienated in this space as both a home and studio?

I’ve been here for a year, and I’m thrilled to have found this space. I enjoy cooking a lot, so when I’m in the mood, I often have dinners and lunches. With this large table, it’s natural to invite many people. The most alienating aspect of this space is that it’s a basement, so I can’t see what’s happening outside. Also, my modus operandi often involves being at the computer for weeks for post-production or writing, so the possibility of feeling isolated is there. However, fortunately, my work varies enough. I’m either here at the computer or away for weeks. There’s a sort of polarity. But I like knowing I have this place as a base; it makes me feel calm to know I have a place with my things where I’ll return.

What do you like most about this space?

This place reflects a lot of who I am. Certainly, its spaciousness gives me room to think. The ability to have a space I can shape keeps my mind active.

Last customary question, what’s an object that must be in your studio?

It’s sad to say, but it’s the computer. It’s the tool I use the most here in the studio for post-production, research, and communication. One thing I always feel the need to have physically with me are my photography books and negatives. I need to know they’re with me. I get a bit anxious when I don’t have them, and I have a great fear that something might happen to them. My dream is to have a wall for archiving and cataloging everything; otherwise, when I can afford it, I’ll put them in a vault.

Ph Credits Andrés Juan Suarez