Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The other little nugget is that if you liked the ebook update, you can help me let others know about it, and get in on “the action” yourself.  For everyone you refer over that buys a copy (whether they use a discount code or not), you’ll get a little kick back.  Since it’s only $4.99 normally, I’m saying thanks to those who are helping me promote the book with a 20% buy-in.  So, for each referral sold, that’s $1 back to you!

Simply hit the Affiliate Program link either here, or at the lower left corner of the main blog page!  Enjoy the reading, let me know what you think about the iPad, and help out with a few referrals – every dollar helps!  Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here next week!

Affiliate Program

(You’ll be directed to an affiliate link that gives you an affiliate number and a way to get your own unique code to give to others for getting 49 Photo Tips – The Sequel – no purchase necessary, no sign ups, hidden fees or anything, just a buck a referral paid out via Paypal at the end of every month!)

ETA:  Sorry all, the polling service starting spamming the blog with some pretty unrelated questions so it’s been deleted.  I was looking to see how many people listened via iTunes, via PLM, or direct download…thanks!

For those that do not listen to the show,  there are a few questions I would like to ask you too.  First off, why don’t you?    Seriously though – I realize that not everyone has the time to listen to podcasts, or the resources to afford things like iPods, Touches, and iPhones, and all that stuff.  So, for the non-listening audience (just blog readers), I am trying to come up with ideas for you too.  So, here’s a chance to tell me what you want! Sound off in the comments with your ideas too – things always change and it’s the reader and listener interest that keeps me in touch, so let me know what other types of material you would like to see!  Is it more contests?  More interviews?  Worksheets and practical exercises?  Workshops and seminars?  All are options (and anything else you have in mind).  I’ll check back in on Monday to see what everyone has to say.  Happy shooting and have a great weekend!

• News Links –
  • Ansel Adams Video
  • Getty ventures into China for Asian collections
  • Yahoo adds YouTube and iTunes Integration
• Artist Statement Resources
  • Photo on Blogs
  • Art Business
  • Writing the Artist Statement

Another news item I forgot to mention in the podcast is an upcoming web seminar series for photographers, free, from Adobe.  Here’s the dates:

• Photoshop: April 23rd
• Lightroom: April 9th and May 7th
• Both: May 14th

Link for more info and to register is here

Make sure you stop in and grab the podcast from the good folks over at Personal Life Media, and visit our show sponsor Lensbaby if you are thinking about the Lensbaby Composer.  Diggs from PLM and reviews from iTunes are encouraged, welcomed, and appreciated!  Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here tomorrow! 

Don’t forget, you can email me from the show link with any questions, comments, feedback or thoughts, as well as share comments here, and reviews on iTunes.  For those without iTunes or Zune, I can provide an mp3 version of the show on request.

With that pretext set, we’d all be interested in hearing the blogosphere thoughts on this subject. So, vote in the poll, then chime in with the comments – the fate of the universe rests in your hands (not really, but join in anyway, it’s fun! )

I promise tomorrow I will return to photography topics.  In the meantime, Happy Shooting!

• Making Money in Photography
• The Value of Social Networks
• and some Free Web Resources that you may have missed

I also take the usual spate of reader/listener questions (great ones this go around, so thanks and shout outs to Marcus, Krista, and Nick! In the future, send me links to your websites so I can return the generosity on the podcast and here on the blog post. For now though – thanks! So, share your questions, comments, and feedback through the many opportunities here at the blog and via email.

A couple of show notes:

The 1st segment is a more detailed look from yesterdays post on “The Cost of Doing Business“, and talks about the details involved in creating a business plan.

The 2nd Segment looks at the value of social networking, so naturally here, I will suggest you stop by and say hi to me on The Twitter, LinkedIn, and through the various forums I participate in.

And last but not least, on the subject of freebies, my apologies for the two contest mentions from Popular Photography, but they have since closed (I hate it when they don’t indicate that at the source page!), sorry! Dave Cross blog can be found here though, and Scott Sherman/Michael Stein’s podcast can be found here. Anyway, thanks for stopping in, and as always, share your feedback, comments, and ideas either in the comments or via email.

That’s it for today, don’t forget to vote in the latest sidebar poll at the blog! Hope all your shots are good ones… happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

[podcast]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/CBPodcast60.mp3[/podcast]

As I tinker a little with the audio quality of the show and try to make things more seamless and enjoyable, you’ll notice I am pushing the show out in segments, with some music to break things up in little snips between the subject material.  If you like it, chime in via the comments section of the blog.  If you don’t like it, well…chime in via the comments section of the blog.  If you are ambivalent, well…chime in via the comments in the blog.

Hmmm…seems like someone would like to hear what the listening audience thinks of the changes in the format for the audio podcast.  And it also seems that the feedback can easily be done via:  the comments section of the blog!

If you’ve listened to the show and are still yearning for more, please stop by fellow podcasters Scott Sherman and Michael Stein’s new podcast series:  Digital Photography Life.  Formerly, these guys hosted the Digital Photography Show on another network and they’ve since moved on.  Their first show on the new network mis up and ready for your listening pleasure, so do stop over and give it a listen – great to have them back on the air!  Their podcast can be found here:  Digital Photography Life

[podcast]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/CBPodcast58.mp3[/podcast]

In the interests of keeping the “What’s This?” on schedule, we are now in week 18. Last week’s was in fact, the stained glass that a reader correctly identified rather quickly. So, I am hopefully going to make things a little more intriguing for you this week. Let’s see the first to identify this image:

Podcast Notes:

1. Gadget Infinity is the site to get the Cactus Triggers from – be careful to order for the correct lights
2. There are some great patterns inside CS3 (not available in CS4 anymore), just go to the following folder to find them: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS3\Presets\Patterns\PostScript Patterns
3. Q&A – Recording Software, Crop Factors, and photo terminology

Wrap-up: Contests, Road Tip, & Polls

Happy shooting all, watch those apertures, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Today, I take a somewhat introductory look at the prevalence of photography forums across the internet. With communities cropping up for every nuance and interest, one literally has dozens, if not hundreds upon thousands to choose from. Everything from lighting, to portraiture, landscape, architecture, and even food photography has a community of avid participants. What to make of it all? Which ones are good and which are not as beneficial as others? I’ve referenced a few communities here from time to time, including ones that I still participate in on a regular and on-going basis.

As my interests wax and wane into different specifics, I find myself moving from one community to another in search of what I am looking for and I suspect others do the same. What are we looking for? Well, that can vary depending on where we’ve been and where we want to go. So, to kind of help clear the air on all the vagaries of photo forums online, I cobbled together my weekly podcast to talk about three basic types that I see all over the internet.

Do you participate in forums? What kinds of information do you look for when you visit these forums? What types of forums are they? If you had to classify them according to the 3 main types referred to in the podcast, where would your community fall? Here’s a chance to promote your own communities in new and interesting ways, by sharing your thoughts in the comments. Let me know and I’ll share the best of these in next Tuesday’s podcast. In the meantime, Happy Shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.

P.S.  Don’t forget to vote for my photo over at the TWIP contest on Photrade here – only 2 days left!

First off, thanks to the 27 people who participated in the last poll on whether the economic downturn was shaping their photo purchases.  The results were pretty even:

The new poll is now up and on the side panel, so for the RSS readers, be sure to visit the blog to see the question and possible answers, as well as participate!  It’d be really cool if a poll broke the 50 count barrier this go around, so let’s ROCK THE VOTE!

In other “me” news, the photo contest over at TWIP (This Week In Photography) only has three days left, and every vote counts.  Again, the photo is listed in the side panel, but you can visit the Photrade site directly to vote by following this link here:

Since this last weekend was a particularly non-photo themed weekend, there’s not much else to share for now.  Tomorrow will be another day with a new podcast and other photo news and information, so be sure to stop back in then.  Happy Shooting, watch those apertures, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Basically, Adobe has worked with various camera vendors to get the ACR to approximate the same colors that are shown in the vendor proprietary software (Digital Photo Professional for Canon and Capture NX for Nikon, and a whole host of others.)  Matt did a great job of showing how close it gets while even still in beta.  I was convinced enough to go ahead and download the plugin to use in CS3.  Fair warning though, you do need at least ACR version 4.5 or higher to use these profiles (I have 4.6 installed).  Since my bodies are Canon-specific my interface may look a little different, but thought I’d share the screenshot of what it looks like for me:

My thoughts are that the Camera Landscape beta is the closest to what DPP shows.  Since it’s all happening in camera raw, as Matt stated, it just gives you a better starting point with less editing to get to your final results.  I really can’t wait to see how this develops and moves out of beta.  Just hope that Adobe sees fit to release the final shipping version for CS3 owners as well as CS4.  What about others – has anyone else installed this?  How do your pictures look?  Are they close to your vendor software?  Feel free to jump in with the comments!

In other news for Friday, this is the last day to participate in the economy-photography poll from the sidebar.  You RSS readers – stop in and vote, we’re trying to break 30, and only have until midnight!  Other than that, it’s been a great day – I even got some cool shots of the dog after our walk with the sunlight glistening in her eyes.

I’ll leave with my favorite What the Duck of the Week.  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again on Monday – have a great weekend!

In other news, I’m also rolling out some new headers for the blog this week.  I’ve finally had a chance to go through my archives with”blog header” in my mind, and found quite a few that work quite well (imho).  So, stop in over the course of this week to see a new blog header image every day!)  Also, feel free to share your thoughts and feedback in the comments section.

I’d also like to put out a reminder about the poll on the sidebar (“Has the economy affected your photography purchasing?”)…only 5 days left to participate in that (poll closes this Friday).  Also, the TWIP Photo contest is still going on, so you can enter to win a Drobo if you’re interested.  If you already have a backup solution in place, then stop over and vote for my contributed shot, as I really could use something better than a single WD Mybook setup.  That picture is also in the sidebar of the blog, and directs you to the Photrade site where you can register, vote, and participate with your own images.  It’s all free, so help a fellow photog out by stopping in to vote.  Only 10 days or so left in that contest too!

That’s it from the CB side of life for this Monday morning.  It will turn colder later this week with temps dropping below freezing, so that should push even more colors into the leaves, so I’ll see what I can do for some more colorful photos on Thursday or Friday.  How is the color where everyone else is?  Any other  captures of the fall foliage?  I’d love to see what others have got thus far, so feel free to share links in the comments.  Hope everyone else had a great weekend too.  Happy shooting, and we’l catch you back here tomorrow.

Turns out there are some LR issues with a few tools and with XMP sidecar files versus database entries.  If this is all gibberish to you, then don’t worry you are probably fine.  For the more technically inclined though, their readme file is something to look at before you upgrade ACR this go-around.

Linked here

Proof positive that the old adage of “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” can still apply in a modern world.  If you don’t have a specific need for the update (a very recent camera purchase), I’d hold off until the next update ships as this could break Lightroom to a degree, as well as prevent respecting of previous edits if you use the database option for XMP data.

In more CB-specific news, the last poll finally wrapped up today.  With 30 responses, here was the final tally:

The newest poll is now up on the sidebar.  2 weeks does seem to return more meaningful information as that gives people enough time to respond.  Feel free to chime in at your leisure.  The question is:  Does the current economic downturn had an impact on new photography-related purchases?  For those reading in feed readers, stop in to see the options and vote!  Let’s try to crack the 50-count this go around!

On a lighter note, the WTD series this week was really pretty darn funny.  Here’s my favorite:

Have a great weekend everyone, Happy Shooting, and we’ll see you back here Monday morning!

As we all know by now (unless you are in a cave somewhere in the Congo), Canon has released the 5D Mark II and the specs were posted here a few days ago.  Forums and the blogosphere have poked and prodded at just about everything they can until the camera itself comes to stores in October.  So, for the time being we will likely see just more pontificating.  As for the content here at CB, I am probably gonna draw back a little and let others wax on about it.

In more current events, Adobe released the Camera Raw update for all your product needs.  It’s now at version 4.5, and is available for Mac and Windows download free here:  Camera Raw 4.5

What the Duck had a great week from the comedic standpoint, and I really can’t pick a favorite, so just go there and read through them all!  Great stuff!

Nominations are now open for the Podcast Awards for 2008.  They close at the end of the month, so be sure to stop in and let them know who you think is deserving of the awards for this year.  I’ve also got a link to them on the sidebar with a suggestion for CB (hint hint:  Education).  There’s 22 different categories so be sure you’ve got the URL’s for all your favorites handy to plug in the appropriate content areas.  Others that I would recommend for nominations include:

• This Week in Photography
• The Tech Guy
• The Digital Photography Show
• Terry White’s Tech Blog
• Jason D. Moore Photography

The list goes on and on, but there’s only one tech category and most of the blogs I visit fit that area.  Although there is a People’s Choice category too.  As for CB, I’ll stick with the educational theme.  So, if you think I’ve helped with education in photography and photoshop at all, then add a kudo in there.  Who knows – maybe I’ll actually make the top ten in that category! (I doubt it though…but it never hurts to self promote, so there it is!)

Also, I’ve got a new poll up on the sidebar.  After posting the features about the 5D Mark II, I thought it might be interesting to see what features people would like to see in their camera gear.  You can pick any three, so let’s Rock the Vote (so to speak), and get those opinions in.  I wanna hear from YOU!

Finally, I thought I’d share a shot I did kind of by accident.  I was trying to do some night photography with HDR in mind.  Nothing came out all that well so I just started trying all sorts of things.  Came up with this:

3 of Me

Do you like it?  Too much?  Not enough?  Is it too processed?  I’m kind of biased, so rather than reveal my own thoughts on this, I’ll leave it to the readership to decide if this works at all.  Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Okay,  so much for a quickie!  I’ll just leave it at that, and wish you all an excellent weekend filled with productive and creative results.  Happy Shooting!

Don’t forget to vote on the poll to the right, asking how many cameras are in your house? We’re still a long way from the 100 mark, so it’ll be staying up for a while…unless we start “rocking the [proverbial] boat”. Another thing I always like to remind people about is that I am offering up some of my own imagery for sale on the artist site, Redbubble. Click the link to visit my profile and see the images I have for sale (at a steal too – just wanted to share a few with the community!) Lest we not forget, B&H is also the place where pretty much everyone gets everything photography-related, so if you visit their site, use one of the banners here. It’s the same price to you on all gear but B&H does help off-set the hosting expenses with each purchase made through these links, so help a fellow photog out!

In other news, the Photo Walk Craze has spread to Scott Kelby as he and Matt went up to DC to join a Photo Walk. As some of you may recall a post I made a while back on tips for a successful Photo Walk, so it’s kind of cool to see these industry well-knowns also picking up steam in this area. Check out some of Scott’s shots from his blog post from yesterday. The second post was equally interesting too- it turns out the Copyright Office is now allowing you to register as many images as you can fit on a DVD for $45. Thanks for the link Scott!

The other Scott I follow is Scott Sherman (and Michael Stein) from The Digital Photography Show. They compile the last of their PMA interviews into the posting from Friday, and it’s a great listen when you get the chance. I break mine up during commutes, so after a day and a half, I am done. Well worth the time spent though, and the commute just flies!

Finally, here’s the web link for the Adding Blur Tutorial. Until next time, Happy shooting and watch those apertures!

The other web gem for today is the iTunes listing. Canon Blogger is now on iTunes! I know I mentioned this yesterday, but a link has been set up in the sidebar with a very “Web 2.0″ style graphic that links there. Stop in and download/review some episodes today. (You might be one of the first ever to review Cannon Blogger! )

The poll for software preferences was closed yesterday. The winner was LR, followed by CS3, and CS2, taking 35%, 30%, and 17% respectively of the total of 215 votes. Here’s the vote totals:

Having looked at the software, the new poll now looks at the hardware (or gear) selections. Clearly there are other options out there besides Canon, and we often will choose multiple vendors for our choices. We’ll go with this one for a month too, so make sure you vote on the sidebar.
Last but not least, I need some help! I’ve been perusing some Flash tutorials and unfortunately, Flash animation is just not something I can dedicate the amount of time needed to get a good handle on things and create a dynamite intro for the vidcasts. So…any Flash gurus out there? Throw a link up to your flash movie proposals into the comments section, and the winning flash suggestion…well, wins! (I’ll think of something cool to throw to the winner…)

That’s it for Wednesday – off to watch the Apple Expo! Until tomorrow – happy shooting and watch your apertures!

Clearly, this week I was re-visiting the horizon leveling subject, but in a more intermediate role. Last week, this subject was one of a few tips were touched on in a light fashion, so this week, largely in response to feedback from fellow photogs, I am re-visiting this one to address some questions that arose. Primarily, how should you level on multiple axes? It was something of a learning experience for me, as my initial thought would have been the warp tool under Free Transform. As it turns out, in the image supplied, perspective transform worked a lot better. I suppose there are multiple ways to skin a cat, but here I look at both the ruler and the transform tools for leveling purposes, depending on the number of axes, and effects you are going for. Check it out in the link at the end of the post.

I also wanted to take a moment to give shout outs to Scott Sherman and Michael Stein of The Digital Photography Show. Scott had a series of snafu’s last weekend that reminded me of some useful advice I learned a year or so ago in similar fashion. Basically, he reminded me that if you are serious about photography and your pictures, the planning begins long before tripping the shutter. After my episode, I devised a checklist of “to dos” both in packing for a shoot, and in wrapping up. This ensures you have all the gear you need going in, it all works, and you leave with all your gear as well. The post came from the photo clubs’ blog, last year, so forgive the outdated link, but it still has use and is relevant today. Anyway, the story can be seen at the link at the end of this post.

Thanks all for tuning in again, and I see the poll count has jumped another couple notches so keep the votes coming – I don’t want to say the goal for fear of jinxing it, but the more the merrier in voting for content!

Oh, and I almost forgot, shout outs to Dave from Fred Miranda for supplying the image for this weeks tutorial!

Developing a checklist

Leveling multiple axes (horizons) in Photoshop

ETA: As I eventually figured out the flash problems, I have been able to go back to previous posts and incorporate the embedded flash videos. As this was the first video podcast (I wasn’t keeping count until I realized that I’d better, just to keep track of content and quality), so backdated shout outs for the first video podcast. I am also attaching a Quicktime version of the movie for downloading and iTunes purposes so, check for that at the top of this post.

Olympus announced it’s latest Pro series camera, the successor to the E-1, to be unveiled Oct. 17th. While the announcement may seem kind of a yawner (reviewed at dpreview here: Olympus Review), the fact that it only took them 4 years, 4 months to announce a new body was of comical note to Michael over at TOP.

Scott Kelby does his daily post on the Photoshop World conference, and gives a few props to other photogs and their sites around the net. Always worth at least a glance. You know it’s quiet though when Scott doesn’t have much to post other than a few helpful link referrals pimping sites of his friends (just kidding Scott)….

The Strobist is always a great place to stop in for a detailed read if you’re in the need of knowledge (remember, I like alliteration).

Adobe finished the rollout of its own software in house.

Not much else other than the usual spate of forum posts that struck a chord for me. I’d share them here, but in most cases you need to register to view, so not worth the time since most won’t click thru.

I did notice a significant drop-off in readership, and still not many participating in polls. I’d really like to get at least 20 people to participate, so if you’ve read the blog at all and not voted on the content you like, please do so at your leisure (over here on the right—–>) .

In the meantime, with photos being the dominant choice, I will leave today with a random shot from my own library, a recent effort at a stock shot (sorry if the IQ is a little low-res, but always gotta be taking efforts to reduce piracy)…