Dream Lake by Tom Crossman

Thanks to everybody for some really fantastic images – it was extremely tough this time as there were a lot of just amazing shots!  Thanks also to the sponsor for the contest in November, the good folks over at Image Wizards!  The lucky winner will be able to get a print of their choice assembled by the folks at Image Wizards – up to a 16×20″ print!  (Tom, if you could kick me an email with your contact info, I’ll get things coordinated with Image Wizards!  Congrats again!

With November closed and in the books,  the new contest is now underway, and we have a new contest thread  open for entries too for December – the last one of 2011!  The prize list is a literal cornucopia of goodies!  Check it out:

 And of course, a holiday bonanza giveaway wouldn’t be the same without the particulars for entry, so here goes:

*Important*  I will cover up to $20 in shipping costs.  If the winner is international, there may be a small additional cost of shipping required to get the books to you.  If the winner is unable or unwilling to cover the additional costs of shipping, an alternate may be selected at the discretion of the judging panel (me).

So, get out your cameras and get on shootin – as we have just a smidge under a month to get the last winner in for 2011!  Thanks for stopping in and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

inspiredbytime (Josh and Jamie Noah)

Something about the idea of stacking up soda caps, the angle of view here, and the inclusion of one color tab randomly just kind of spoke to me this month.  A clever take on the theme, and nicely blurred background also gave this some points in the judging.  While many photos were well done, this is the one that stood out for me. (Believe me, it was very tough to choose!).  So, congratulations to Josh and Jamie Noah (I am guessing it’s a joint Flickr account)!  Please contact me via email to get the details and logistics done to claim your Lensbaby from our sponsor over at Stack Exchange!

Coming up this month – another awesome sponsor has stepped up to the plate.  We are finalizing the details, but the folks at Image Wizards will be sponsoring the November giveaway with an awesome print on some of their stock, which I understand produces amazing prints.  The contest details and particulars will likely be announced tomorrow, so do stop back for the specifics.

One last shout out to the October sponsors at Stack Exchange, as their contribution of a Lensbaby Composer for the monthly contest series was super generous – if you have some time to check them out, it’s really a great photography resource!

Canon Special Edition 70-200 EF Lens Collector Cup Review

Obviously longer and whiter than its 24-105 cousin, this holds a bit more coffee, but it’s also probably more eronomically designed to be a coffee mug than the shorter one.  The cap actually acts like a regular coffee mug rather than a lens cap, so while the “cool” factor may be lost a little, what you gain is more functionality.  I also liked this one a little better because it fits more nicely in a car cup holder than  the other one.  The body also appears to be dishwasher safe as the interior is stainless steel.

However, the downside is that the exterior is still a painted on plastic.  The bevels still don’t rotate, which is too bad, but for the grander scheme of things, it’s probably just as well to make it last longer in its designed purpose.  I did give it a quick sip test after cleaning it and there appear to be no leaks in it at all.

Now remember, this is getting added to the monthly giveaway for August, so be sure you start shooting and getting your images up in the Flickr thread here.  Thanks to the folks at Photojojo for contributing, and keep on shooting!  (Tomorrow I return to regularly scheduled blogging…:)  )

His image, clearly thinking “outside the box” of a taxicab in NYC just jumped off the page for me:

So, Miguel, drop me a line via the blog or Flickr to claim your Streetwalker Pro and I’ll get this shipped out to you in short order!  Congrats to Miguel, and thanks to everyone who participated – this was an excellent month with lots of great ideas, creativity, and inspirational types of imagery!

With July in the books, I’ve got a really cool product up that saved my bacon more than I’d care to remember.  it came to me from none other than David Ziser when I attended his workshop here in Denver.  He had mentioned a little product called PhotoRescue and it does exactly what you’d think – recovers photos off a card that were deleted accidentally!  Sheer brilliance in design, and even affordable to the tune of $30 if you end up not winning the giveaway!  Here’s the nuts and bolts:

1.  Two images per person

2.  Work/family safe

3.  Shared via the Flickr thread here

4.  Downloadable by me (so I can announce you as the winner on the blog)

5.  Deadline is August 31st (this is a Wednesday too, so not a weekend as is the norm)!

6.  This is a software product so the key is distributable globally which means – no country border limit!

7.  And the theme is…”SAVE!“

So, enjoy it, embrace it, and win!  Some extra goodies may be added depending on how sponsorships and such pan out in the next week or so! Hint hint – more coming than what meets the eye!   Thanks to the folks at DataRescue for the sponsorship, support, etc.

I do have to say with absolute sincerity though, this was far and away one of the most difficult contests to judge as there were so many good submissions that were in keeping with the “Light” theme. So, a big congratulations to all actually for every single talented submission…the ongoing participation in this series always continues to amaze me with the quality of work! A special thanks also goes out to Faxon Moulder, the owner of www.Backlitbox.com, who approached me about sponsoring one of the giveaways…it was an honor to bring him aboard and expect a review shortly from the product line as well!

Anyway, moving right along, with the April contest closed, and the May contest now open for the Hoodman Loupe^TM, the Flickr thread is now open for submissions here. The theme for the Hoodman Loupe contest, as you may recall from Friday, is BLOCK. Here’s the particulars:

A nod goes out to Hoodman for their sponsorship of the May Giveaway too, and yes, a review is forthcoming here as well. Good luck to everyone!

In the meantime, here’s the nitty gritty details for the contest:

• The Number:  1 image per person
• The Size:  Longest side must be between 600-800 pixels.
• The window:  30 day window for capture date (nothing earlier than February of 2011
• The theme is:  Flat
• The deadline:  March 31st at midnight (my time)
• The rest:  You can read more about it at the Contest Guidelines page and the Rules of Engagement

Good luck everyone, and here’s the link:  March Contest Giveaway

For the record, the Tether Table will be very slightly used, as you know a hardware review is likely forthcoming quite soon on this equipment…but then again, that’s something to look forward to, right?

As a final postscript today, a new poll is up on the sidebar, so if you don’t visit the archives much (maybe take some time soon – lots of good stuff there! ), be sure to take a moment and sound off in the latest poll:

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

That’s right, two people will be announced the winners for the February contest and giveaway!  Each winner will receive a generous donation from Nations Photo Lab – a gift certificate worth $150 of free printing!  That’s right, $150 of free printing from Nations Photo Lab! This prize is available to anyone, regardless of whether you are a current NPL  customer or not.  The theme for February, as chosen by our always talented Sue from the Flickr group (due to her win during the non-award winning off month submission) is the applicable theme of Love!

A couple new wrinkles that are being thrown in this time for such a huge contest…first off, all previous winners are usually ineligible for consideration in the month immediately following their winning entry – we are starting with a new year, so it’s also a clean slate, so everyone is eligible!!!

The second wrinkle (and probably the most exciting), is that for February only – every entrant will receive a $50 gift card to Nations Photo Lab – just for participating! That’s right, all you have to do is submit a qualifying entry in the Flickr contest thread for February to win a $50 gift card for printing on any product of your choice at Nations Photo Lab! *   So, all that’s left to say are the criteria to qualify.  It’s super easy:

• Make sure your image is theme-appropriate (and family friendly/work safe).
• Make sure I am able to download your image from Flickr.  (See the explanation for how to make sure I can download it here.)
• Each image considered must be in the contest thread.
• Each person is entitled to submit one image for eligibility.  Multiple entries will not be considered.
• Each image must conform to the standard guidelines in terms of dimensions (longest side must be no longer than 800 pixels or shorter than 600 pixels).
• All images must be taken after January 1st, 2011!
• Entrants retain full copyright and ownership of images, but allow me to display the image here on the website to display when winners are announced, and in the monthly newsletter.
• Entries must be submitted no later than 11:59pm on Sunday, February 27th, 2011.
• Last but not least, have fun with the images you capture!

Questions about the submission process should be addressed in either the Contest Overview Page or the Rules of Engagement Page.

Last but not least, you may be interested in how to get to, sign into and participate in the Flickr Contest thread!

Good luck to everyone and remember to have fun!

*ETA:  In the interests of full disclosure, the $50 certificate is for new customers, so if you are already an NPL customer, feel free to enter your images as well, but the goal here is to not only encourage people to take pictures, but to print them, and to consider Nations Photo Lab as your lab of choice.  I use NPL almost exclusively (except in rare cases where they don’t have what I need, like printing on aluminum) and highly recommend them.  Here is your chance to sign up for an account for free and get up to $50 worth of printing just for participating in the contest.

First up, congratulations go out to Evelyn B. for her winning metal-themed image:

Not only is this a perfectly-lit image, but the details are spot on, and it totally fits the theme of Metal!  Congrats to Evelyn B. from Flickr – please email me your contact information so I can submit to Red River Paper for you to get the pack of Pearl Metallic Paper (which this would look fabulous printed on btw…)  Thanks to the folks over at Red River Paper for their generous donation of a pack of this really awesome paper (it really does make images just jump off the page!).  Thanks also to everyone for their entries – again, a tough decision!

*****

And now for September, the theme is Movement.  Why, you ask?  Because if you want to shoot, and be mobile or moving from one place to another, one of the best things you can have in your gearbag is a mobile gear bag!  I am speaking of none-other than the Black Rapid R-Strap!  This device straps across your shoulder and holds your camera comfortably at your hip while you walk and talk, then quick as a wink you can pull your camera up and take a shot of whatever strikes your fancy!

I’ve had one of these since the 4th generation (RS-4), and with many improvements and advances in design, they are now in their seventh generation (RS-7).  Valued at nearly $60, this prize is sure to bring a lot of interest.  The Contest Guidelines and Rules of Engagement apply, so be sure to stop over at the Flickr thread, check it all out, and get your images in – the more the merrier!

Since we’re on the contest topic, we’ve had quite a laundry list of prizes over the last…15 months!  Here’s a sampling from that list:

No doubt – a wide variety of software, gear, and other photo goodness.  I know what’s in store for the rest of 2010, but as we move through the end of the year, would love to hear your ideas for fun prizes and giveaways?  Sound off in the comments with your ideas, or shoot me an email from the “Contact Me” page (or via email).  It’s your comments that will define what the prizes are for 2011 (within reason of course…), so let’s hear from you!

That’s it for today – happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow to wrap up the week!  Don’t forget, the September Newsletter will be coming out soon, so if you haven’t signed up yet, be sure to hit the sidebar so you can get your free monthly download of digital deals, photo finesse, and lots of other cool stuff from the site! (Or you can visit the new page I am working on here to help me test the system and work out some bugs…)

• Saturday Aug 28th – Denver, CO
• Workshop will be held at:
• Arvada Center for Arts & Humanities
• 6901 Wadsworth Blvd Arvada, CO 80003

*****

On the free front – the August contest is underway on Flickr and the prize this month is a 50 sheet pack of Polar Metallic Paper from the folks at Red River Paper.  You all likely know how much I love this paper and this company – here’s your chance to find out why with your own pack of paper to push out some super prints for clients, family, friends, or even your own walls!  Submit your own image to the Flickr thread (the theme is Metal).

*****

Last but not least, the eBook has been flying off the virtual shelf, and the response there has been overwhelming too.  Read the reviews, and get your own copy from the eBooks page here!  It’s still a super deal at only $4.99 for the digital download – it includes 49 Photo Tips, explained in detail and with accompanying images to demonstrate the effect when appropriate!  Add this one to your virtual library today!  (An iPad version is due out shortly – working on the ISBN now…)

*****

That’s it for Friday!  Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you here on Monday with the Super Exciting News that I can’t share yet!  Are you ready for some excitement though?  Stop back in to find out!

Needless to say, this last one was the final push I needed as the photo opportunities here would be quite enjoyable.  Indeed they were, and I dare say I felt like having a bit of tea after capture time was finished!  What say ye all – anyone feel like a bit of tea after this?

Perhaps it’s just me, but it was a charming visit, and the results of both her labor and mine (to the extent that it existed wandering the gardens above) were quite gratifying!  How about you?  Do you feel like having a bit of tea?  Sound off in the comments with your thoughts and feedback!  I’ve shared a larger set of images on Flickr too, so if you’d like to see more, the full compilation is here.

Happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Simplicity in composition (there is really no place to go but dead center, and your eyes move all around there to see the legs kicked back, the vehicle lowering away (almost a perfect K, which is a compositional approach) is really well done.  It’s also tack sharp and the color appears to be spot on with the brilliant blue of the sky.  Finally, the implied speed and action of the activity  kept true to form for the challenge, so congratulations are in order for Matt Beaty!  Check out this image and the rest of his work over on his Flickr stream and website! Let’s also not forget that the folks at Lexar were kind enough to share these cards with us to help continue the contest series, so thanks to them.  Thanks also to the rest of the entrants – it really was a crowded field this month.  Next month I suspect it’s going to get even more crowded though…

*****

Speaking of next month, with the June contest now closed, it’s time to gear up for the July contest, which starts immediately!  As you may recall from the last podcast, I had the good fortune of talking with Senior Product Manager Tom Hogarty about the release of Adobe Lightroom 3 on the last podcast, and in the course of the show, was happy to announce that July will be the month where we are giving away a free copy of Lightroom 3!  Valued at $299 retail, this is going to be one for the ages (again)!

Many thanks to Adobe for contributing to the continued success of the giveaway series.  All the details for the giveaway are now live on Flickr, so stop in there to submit your best image!  Don’t forget to read the Contest Guidelines and the Rules of Engagement before submitting.  With how cool and sleek and slick Lightroom has become (and with the news being what it has been in current events lately), the theme for this month is:  SLICK!  Interpret as openly as you like (just keep it family friendly), and good luck to everyone!

As if two piece of contest news is not enough – we have about 6 days left in the comment contest where 3 lucky people will get a free copy of “Taking Stock” by Rob Sylvan (NAPP Helpdesk, iStock Reviewer and Author).  If you’ve not submitted a comment, this is a free book just waiting for 3 random peoples names to be drawn from a hat (or online number generator as the case may be), so share your own comment soon before time runs out!  (One comment per person.)

I was going to share a final announcement but am completely drained from all the buzz here…so get out and shoot, comment and have some fun – more exciting news tomorrow!  (Hint:  It’s about workshops!)

[podcast format="audio"]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/cbtip49.mp3[/podcast]
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Over the weekend I decided to clean house on my Flickr presence.  My  personal collection of photos I’ve shared through Flickr over the past several years is not as big as some peoples – because there are some prodigious photographers online.  In fact, I know some people that “publish” every shot they take.  While I certainly do not fall into that category, as I sort through some of the shots in the entire portfolio – many today struck me as “yawners”.  They didn’t really tell a good story (at least anymore).   So why are they still in my portfolio?  No longer!

Remember, when you put your work out online, this is a snapshot of the quality of you as a photographer.  Do you want everything to be out there?  Or do you want to put your best foot forward at all times?  For me, I choose the latter.  The folks at NAPP have this right because they only let you put your 24 best photos in their online portfolio section.  I clearly have at least that, but are they really getting the visibility they need?  lately, for me, the answer has been a resounding no.  So, it’s time to clean house.  When you look at my Flickr Portfolio come Monday morning, it will be much leaner, but hopefully much more professional-looking.

So, what about you?  Is Flickr your showcase or your storage?

May, We Salute You

Brad Lackey

Brittany Jones

KBTImages

moises cervantes

Paul Prior

scrapgeek

SarahinArizona

Travel Photography

whalenmdw

I’m pretty sure the artist name matches with the description and caption, so be sure to stop by not only the LDP pool, but check out these great folks threads and photostreams on Flickr too – lots of great vision and talent out there.  Thanks to everyone for sharing your images with the crowd – it’s always a lot of fun to see new takes on things.

For those interested in seeing your photos “up in lights”, be sure to add them to the group pool over at LDP.  I usually remember to check at or near the beginning of every month for some of the highlight images from the previous month…in this case May!  All were a great thrill to see, so thanks to everyone!  Keep ‘em coming!

Speaking of Flickr, don’t forget the June Contest is underway – and the winner will enjoy the generosity of Lexar’s latest line of CF cards – they contributed 2 4GB Lexar Pro 300X cards to the monthly giveaway, so thanks to them.  These retail for around $70 a piece, so this is almost $150 in prize values!  The theme is FAST because these cards sure are fast at 300x!  Be sure to share your images in the contest thread, and consider Lexar for your memory needs.  B&H is having some pretty good deals these days too, so you may want to check them out for about half off the regular retail price at $44.99!  Check them out here:  Lexar Pro 4GB 300X CF Cards

And finally, with the start of June – we have the image of the month set to a desktop calendar for the most popular screen resolutions – laptops, large monitors and regular monitors.  If you don’t see your resolution listed, send me an email or post in the comments so I can get that size entered and uploaded!. Happy shooting all, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Desktop  Calendars

• 1600×1200
• 1280×1024
• 1024×768

The Easter Egg had some cool trivia too. For instance – does anyone (outside Adobe) know how many babies were born to members of the team during production? WHo is the queen of the tenth floor? Is the wizard still there? If so, where is he now? Neat little nuggets just waiting to be discovered all in CS5!  Got the answers or your own nuggets?  Sound off in the comments!

Also, a final reminder about the April giveaway – some lucky participant will win an Expo Disc from the folks over at Expo Imaging.  Get your balance-themed photos in before midnight tonight to have a chance at winning!  Here’s the link:  April Giveaway

Believe it or not though, I’ve got a couple really good posts lined up over the next few days (amazing what happens to your content when you plan ahead, eh? )  For today, I am bringing back the “Shout outs” theme from the previous months Flickr Group contributions.  These are just a sampling from the entire month of March to the group pool, and have nothing to do with the contests.  Just some images that I thought deserved a little recognition…so, without further ado, here’s that random sampling.  Thanks to all who have so generously shared their images and who continue to do so – it’s awesome to enjoy all the talent that is out there!

I think I got the order right, but if I cross-referenced these wrong after download, please let me know.  Honors this month go respectively to the following people:

• Grey Hamster
• Josh Cohen
• KaleidoscopePhotos
• karensk7
• KBTImages
• NZSnapper
• Sue90ca
• and whalenmdw

Thanks to them especially for their creative, inspiring and thoughtful contributions!  Everyone’s were really great so it was even hard to narrow it down to a select few here too.  Keep on sharing and next month, we’ll see which ones end up on the blog.  Stop over to their respective Flickr threads and give them some praise for their excellent work!

Speaking of months – don’t forget there’s not much time left in April to enter the Balance themed contest to win an Expo Disc from the generous folks over at Expo Imaging!  Entries are taken until midnight April 30th, MDT (GMT-7).  Good luck and don’t forget to enter your images in the thread here.

Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for more news and updates from the LDP/CB corner of the photo world!

*****

News Flash:  There’s something new abuzz in the iTunes store!

1. I’ve given my wife specific instructions on how to close the thread, and how to download all the images into a folder on my desktop.  If an image is not downloadable – it’s disqualified.
2. Once the images are downloaded, I look at the details view on my Windows computer.  This avoids me looking at thumbnails and I only see the metadata – if the longest side of the image is UNDER 600 pixels, it’s disqualified.
3. Next, I look at the remaining set, and look for dimensions OVER 800pixels.  Any images that are over-sized – are disqualified.
4. The next test is whether the photo adheres to the theme – so now I switch to thumbnail views.  Any that are not somehow related to the theme are disqualified (although this has not happened yet…)
5. Last but not least, I import the remaining photos into Lightroom and look at in slide show mode.  I pick the ones that either show real artistic expression or spot on composition and color treatment.  The others are removed from consideration.
6. Finally, I pick the three images I think are the “Best in Show” (if more than 3 remain at this point).  I’ll review these three more carefully, looking for things like distractions, depth of field, and other nuances that can either improve or enhance an image, and pick the winner on that basis.  If I cannot decide – I usually will email them to a friend and have him or her look at them and ask for their input.  From that, a winner is decided.

Here’s how the numbers crunched this month:

There were 22 images submitted in the contest thread:

• Round One eliminated5 photos that could not be downloaded
• Round Two eliminated one photo that was smaller than 600px on the longest side
• Round Three eliminated seven photos that were larger than 800px on the longest side
• Round Four eliminated no photos – all adhered to the theme
• Round Five eliminated no photos – all the compositions showed creativity and recognized at least one of the standard rules of composition (rule of thirds, golden mean, creative bokeh, contrasting colors, etc.)
• Round Six was the tough one.

It was tough because I basically had to pick my three favorites and judging here is never fun because you are (in essence) rendering a judgement which is never free of bias or subjectivity.  Nevertheless, three had to be chosen, and the three finalists were decided.  At this point I had to really look at the nuances of composition and the winner was:

Josh Fassbind!!!

The artistic bokeh and dof, combined with the compositional and lighting appeal makes this one the winner!  Congratulations to Josh for a well deserved win!  Thanks to everyone for participating, and good luck next month – the theme for April is:  Balance And the prize?  Ooooh – an awesome prize this go around, because it’s all about balancing things – it’s the Expo Imaging Expodisc!  This beauty is kind of like a filter you place on the front of your lens and by shooting toward the light source, you can guarantee your white balance (get the theme now? ) will be spot on in post production.

This is a fanstatic product which I have reviewed on the blog before and can save hours of time on the computer, and spend that much more out doing what really matters: taking pictures!  Valued at up to $100 (based on the filter size you need for your gear), it can literally be the one that saves the day on your shoot because you nailed some white balance in tough fluorescent phosphorous conditions that could take hours to correct in post production!  So, get shooting because the new thread is up on Flickr and now’s your chance to get out and win this from the generous folks over at Expo Imaging (and thanks to them for sponsoring the giveaway for April!)

• tcrpmg:  Charger, extra cards, batteries bug spray and hand sanitizer
• DIYPhotography: SB800, trigger, gridspot, flash clamp
• playleimagery: extension tubes, reflector, filters, and a Cokin p350 hood  (plus tons of batteries)
• steelersnm: batteries, charger, cleaning supplies and business cards
• pwscott: Giotto Rocketblower
• kevin_mullins: My lucky feather
• lesault: 430EX, diffuser, wireless trigger, hair ties

Batteries seem to be a common favorite accessory, which makes sense because you never wanna be without the juice!  What about the rest of the reading audience?  Any personal favorite accessories you take along with you when shooting?  Sound off in the comments!  Oh yeah, and if you’re not following me yet, jump on board and you too can sound off in real time, as well as see your Twitter account up in lights (well, maybe not in lights, but at least mentioned when I do these questions from time to time…)

In the meantime, keep on shooting – this month the contest theme is Height and the Flickr thread is open for entries through the last Friday of the month – midnight mountain time as always is the deadline.  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for more photo goodness!

Why you ask?  We have a winner for the December Giveaway!  I am happy to announce that the winner of the December Giveaway Bonanza is none other than:

Frank Sammut!

Frank’s shot of a childs hand, offering up a gift perfectly symbolized the concept of giving, and his blurred bokeh of the holiday theme in the background was just beautiful!  He’s got some great work on his Flickr page too, so stop by and check it out and tell him congrats!

Congratulations to Frank for winning the giveaway package!  Frank, if you could drop me an email:  jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com, I’ll get you all the information and relay you to the donors for the giveaway.  Thank you to everyone for participating, and especially to the sponsors, including:

• David DuChemin (for a free copy of both Within the Frame, and VisionMongers)
• MPIX (for a free 16×20 gallery wrap print of Frank’s choice)
• RedRiver Papers (for the specialty paper bundle)
• HDRsoft (for the license to a copy of Photomatix Pro)

It’s also time to anounce the theme for the January giveaway.  We’re going to move away from the seasonally tied themes, so people don’t feel restricted there as different areas are in different seasons.  Instead, we’ll be going with something that is going to inspire some dynamite entries for sure:  Circles

That’s right, we’re going with a shape!  It should be interesting to see what comes in.  As always the standard guidelines apply:

1. Make sure your image is between 600-800px on the longest side.
2. Try to keep things within the current month.  Archives are okay, but preference will be given to current photos
3. Images should be family/work safe
4. Should be posted to the Flickr thread for the current month contest
5. Deadline for entries is Friday, Jan. 29th (again, 3 weeks)
6. The folks at HDR Soft have been very generous and have offered up another copy of their Photomatix Pro bundle for the January winner – so if you are into the HDR craze, or are interested, there’s another chance to win your very own licensed copy!

The January Flickr thread is up, live and ready for entries, so get out and shoot!  Happy New Year and Happy Shooting!

P.S.  Can anyone tell me anything different about the site?  (For you feed readers, come on over and check things out – something is different! )

This plugin comes courtesy of Jeffrey Friedl, and one of the greatest features of it is the cost – absolutely free!  Well, that’s not exactly true, you do need to spend one cent via Paypal, but for a penny, check out what you can do:

I started off downloading the ZIP file (and it works for Windows or Mac) and expanding the archive.  Then I moved the plugin to the root of my Applications folder on the Mac (you can choose where ever you want to store plugins, you just have to tell Lightroom – and for me this is an easy place).  The icon for it looks like this:

Flickr Uploader Plugin Icon

Nothing too spectacular yet, and there’s a little bit of installation and customization needed.  Your needs may vary based on how you want to use the plugin, Flickr, and Lightroom, but the cool thing is that Jeffrey has put together a plugin for most online locales including Smugmug, Zenfolio, Facebook, Photobucket, and many more.  So, if you use another resource, it’s worth checking out.  I’ll continue here for the Flickr plugin and you can decide for yourself if it’s worth adding this tool to your workflow.

Next up, I went ahead and configured the plugin from inside of Lightroom to use my Flickr account.  Here’s what I did. To start, click on Export, just as if you are exporting to disk or some other resource

Open Export Dialog

One the export dialog box is open (and here’s the tricky part), look to the far right of the gray bar across the top that says “Export to Disk”.  You’ll see two little arrows which means there are menu options:

Files on Disk

If you click on those arrows, you’ll get a new dialog box (bet you didn’t know that was there – did you? ), and the Flickr option will show up.  Select the Flickr dialog one for our purposes here:

Flicker Exporter

Once you select the Flickr Exporter, you will get a new dialog box that will start the authentication process that Lightroom will use to log into Flickr.  If you have multiple Flickr accounts, or specific authentication methods you prefer, these steps may change a little based on your needs.  But here, I am doing things the most straightforward way:

Flickr Authentication

Next up, if you are logged into Flickr already, the plugin will open a page that will grant access to the plugin.  So, it helps if you are already logged into your Flickr account on the internet.  So, you’ll get a dialog box that looks something like this from the plugin to that effect:

Warning Notice from Plugin

On clicking the OK button, it will take you to the grant access page, and you’ll get another dialog box that grants the plugin access to post photos to your Flickr account (which, after all, is the goal, right?).  The one notable difference you will see in yours is that my face won’t be staring back at you like here.  That is the avatar for my Flickr account, so your screen should show your avatar – if it shows something different, then you are in the wrong account (but I guess that goes without saying)!

Granting Access from Flickr Side

A second confirmation screen from Flickr will also let you know that this is a 3rd party application, and just acts as a security measure to make sure you are aware of what that means.  Click the button that says “OK, I’ll authorize it”, as shown below.  Again, while it goes without saying at this point, your dialog will look a little different different.  If it doesn’t and you see my avatar in your Flickr account, I am gonna be calling soon!

Authorization

Finally, you will get a confirmation screen on Flickr, noting what you’ve done (they make it pretty clear what you’ve done, and how to delete it if needed on the Flickr side):

Flickr Confirmation

On return to the Lightroom interface, you’ll get a confirmation screen there as well – just click it to continue:

Lightroom Confirmation

On granting access, you’ll get an authorization code, which for obvious reasons I am not going to post here, but make a note of that code and enter it back when you return to Lightroom.  On completing that you will be presented with the Flickr Uploader Dialog.  Here I am going to show you a few key ones that you have to scroll down to be aware of in making your uploading preferences.

This first shot (above) shows the top part of the dialog, and shows how you are authenticating on Flickr.  Now, use the scroll bar on the right side to move down through the options.  First stop, the Photo Set.  On authenticating, the plugin will pull your complete list of photo sets from Flickr.  If you don’t have any photo sets built, then none will be here.  Since I do have photo sets, it will default to the first one alphabetically.  You can change the sort order, and specify what photo set (if any) you want the uploaded image to be added to, as desired.  For this example, I did not add the photo to an existing set, or create a new one.

Photo Set Choice

Pretty straightforward, but let’s keep scrolling through a few more key items you will want to think about utilizing or disabling depending on your work flow.  The next one I think warrants mentioning here is the groups.  One of the ways you can increase the visibility of your photos on Flickr is by participating in groups.  More people look at them, you’ll get more feedback, and sharing our photos with others is the goal anyway, so go ahead and add the appropriate groups here.  I selected the group “CanonBlogger” for obvious reasons!

Publishing to a Group

Only a few other options that I think are useful from this plugin, so we’re almost done.  Next up, is another social networking one that I tend to use fairly regularly – Twitter:

Twitter posting

Last but not least are the meta tagging options you have available to you from the plugin interface.  The options are just to diverse to go into detail here, and I prefer to tag photos on Flickr differently than in Lightroom, so I leave these blank, but in the interests of full disclosure, here are some of the tagging and naming options in the plugin dialog:

Tagging Photos

If you think about it, for a penny, this is a pretty good deal (I went ahead and made a donation, which I would also encourage you to do as well – Jeffrey has clearly put a lot of time into developing these plugins, and he needs to eat, just like the rest of us).  So, there you have it – the process of finding, downloading, installing, configuring and using the Lightroom Flickr uploader.  As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, there are other uploaders available as well, and I am going to probably go get the one for Smugmug as I have an account there too.  It just makes the sharing of your photos that much easier.  (Who knows, the Facebook one may also make its way into my utility belt at some point once I get more comfortable with it…)

If you have questions or problems with the installation or the uploader itself, Jeffrey has a good FAQ page here that should answer most questions for you.  If not, I am sure he has an email address available somewhere for specific questions not addressed online.  For my work, I think this plugin totally rocks!  It’s going to become a staple in my work flow, and if you are into social media at all, I would highly recommend it for those purposes as well.

In talking about all of this, it bears mentioning that some of us are not fans of Flickr, Twitter, or Facebook, and while I can understand the hesitation of some, it’s really a matter of personal preference, and maximizing the time you spend on your computer.  if these outlets aren’t your cup of tea, that is totally fine.  But if you have the Flickr plugin – it is that much easier for you to participate in the Monthly Giveaways here at Canon Blogger/Learning Digital Photography!

With those thoughts, I’ll leave well enough alone as this post has gone on long enough for one day.  Happy shooting (and uploading) and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.

#1 – The Year End Blowout Bash is underway – and LDP/Canon Blogger is giving away a ton of goodies.  I posted details about this last week, but in the interests of giving it a little more “face time”, I would encourage everyone to start thinking about their “giving” themed photos – could mean some seriously cool prizes coming your way to start the new year off right!  More details on the prize package and such here:

#2 – The 3rd edition of the LDP Newsletter is forthcoming – with some little known tidbits about the guests on most recent podcasts, including nuggets from David DuChemin and Andie Smith, as well as the monthly roundup, great quotes and christmas/holiday ideas for the photo buff in all of us.

#3 – With many things under way both professionally and personally for this time of year – the posting schedule that I had been adhering to for most of the year (hardware, software review, composition, podcast, etc.) is likely not going to be followed as strictly as things will be done more on a “catch as catch can” sort of thing.  If you like tuning in for one thing or another – keep on reading because the stuff you like will be there, just maybe not on the schedule you are accustomed to.

#4 – Last up, I’d like to point out that the donations tab is still active, and all are welcome to contribute via that conduit – but in the interests of getting some tangible things back to the reader and listeners that have been so encouraging, I am going to be coming out with some short eBooks (5-10 pages max) and there is a new link for the website to bookmark for that content:  http://www.canonblogger.com/store  While I am getting a fairly good idea of things readers and listeners would like to see/hear, feel free to send in questions, comments, suggestions and the like for store content as I am open to input.

So, with the vegetables out of the way, I’d like to delve into the “meat and ‘taters” segment of today’s post and that lies in the title:  bokeh

For those of you that may not be aware, bokeh refers to the blurred portions that are out of focus behind your subject matter.  The quality and nature of that out of focus portion can really enhance a photo, and can even become the subject matter itself when looked at creatively.  Now, I‘ve talked here on the blog about bokeh in the past, but in the spirit of the holidays, I thought it would be fun to share some samples of images where I actually forced the entire scene out of focus, to basically make the bokeh the subject:

The Beauty of Bokeh #1

The Beauty of Bokeh #2

The Beauty of Bokeh #3

The Beauty of Bokeh #4

The Beauty of Bokeh #5

As the samples show, you can make some pretty fun use of blur and bokeh.  Shapes lend themselves well, and varieties in colors, as well as monochromes too.  Another thing – when getting bokeh and blur – don’t worry too much about noise and crank the ISO if need be – it’s all about your creative mind.  You can remove noise if you must, but the idea is to capture something in a new way and getting bokeh this time of year specifically can be a lot of fun.  A few suggestions though:

1. Look for shapes, as suggesting what the subject might really be can catch visual interest by teasing the eye – you know what it is by the shape…
2. Look for light, because without much variation in light or bright spots, the bokeh will end up looking like just some smudges of a limited tonal range
3. Use your best lens(es) as these produce softer bokeh – less angular edges, and more rounded or smooth textures, which is usually better for bokeh (“better for bokeh”, did I just say that?)
4. Shoot wide open, then switch to manual focus and intentionally blur – push the lens further out of focus for variations on your bokeh elements.   Watch what happens and adjust to taste.

So, there’s a few ideas for you – there could be an eBook coming out on this later with more samples and suggestions so let me know if this whets your appetite.  Do you like the idea?  Want to see more?  Get more tips on shooting for the abstract?  Do the photos above help or hurt the idea?  Do you like them or think there are better samples?  Got any of your own?  Feel free to post links to your own libraries of bokeh and blur for everyone to enjoy – there might even be a newsletter mention in it for ya!

That’s gonna do it for today – coming up later this week, the aforementioned newsletter, another podcast, and much more, so keep on shooting, until then, may your batteries be charged and your memory cards filled with lots of photos this holiday season.  Now get out there and shoot ya some!

Winter Wonderland

The theme for the contest was “Winter” and though it was a little early for this, Yvonne took her creativity to new levels by doing some rather unique post processing on an image and it worked!  It looks like she converted this to black and white or added an infrared filter of some kind.  Not sure what exactly she did, but it sure gave me shivers when I looked at it, so, congratulations to Yvonne for your creative vision, and for winning the November giveaway.  If you see this before I get a chance to find you, send me an email to claim your prizes.  I’ll be sending Yvonne a $25 gift card to B&H Photo, a DVD for the Best of Photoshop User TV, Season 11, and a book from Matthew Bamberg.  Be sure to stop by Yvonne’s photo stream on Flickr, and her website for more wonderful photos and to congratulate her.

Thanks to the folks at NAPP for the DVD, to Matthew Bamberg for contributing a copy of his book, and for everyone who participated.  I know it was challenging as many people noted that it wasn’t very “wintery” in their area yet. Hopefully though, Yvonne’s creativity showed us that you can create wonderful winter-like scenes any time of year – you just need to post process a little.

Stay tuned for the announcement of the December giveaway this Friday, while recovering from your turkey-induced tryptophan slumbers!  Believe it or not, tomorrow is not going to ne a no-blog day – something special is scheduled for your reading enjoyment.  Regardless, have a Happy Thanksgiving, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!  Don’t forget those cameras, and keep on shooting!

Here’s the Show Notes:

In this latest episode of Learning Digital Photography, the Grand Prize winner from the September $500 giveaway is announced, and the October contest opens up – ready for your entries.  The theme this time is Fall (open to interpretation).  Specs, guidelines, and such are discussed including dimensions, dates for submission and more.

Also in this episode, a primer on framing your photos:  things to look for and avoid when matting and framing work.  I look at what gallery and show fine art venues usually require versus home or personal use.

Finally, the popular listener question and answer segment returns, with some great ones coming from all over the globe!  Download today!  Happy shooting!

The links mentioned in the show follow as well:

Rich Charpentier’s Website and Blog

Flickr Contest Thread

Redimat

American Framing

[display podcast]

Feel free to comment here and contact with me via email if you have an idea or thought to share about the show.  Thanks, as always, for listening and reading.  Have a great weekend, happy shooting, and we’ll see you back again on Monday!

For this Friday, I’ve got a fun little photo tip for you and that is to peruse your archives occasionally.  You may find something of interest where previously you didn’t.  Since inspiration and creativity can strike at any time and anywhere for a different number of reasons, if you don’t like an image immediately, consider just archiving it for a while.  I do…and every month or so I peruse my own archives to see if some gem escaped my first glance.  Here’s a few that initially didn’t strike my fancy where now I am thinking “Hey, there might be some potential there!”  What do you think?

SC Beaches

SC Beaches

Last but not least, don’t forget, the $500 Giveaway for a Topaz Photoshop Plugin Bundle and and Thinktank Multimedia Photo bag system will close for entries tomorrow at midnight!  (I had thought it was tonight earlier, but in referencing the Flickr thread, realized it’s tomorrow, so you got a 24 hour window to get your own photo creations in.  One person did ask if “Topaz” had to be in the picture and the clarification was made that ANY color is fair game (or even the lack of color if that’s how you interpret it…)  The Flickr thread to enter your photos is here:  $500 Giveaway

That’s it for this week, have a great weekend, happy shooting and we’ll see you Monday!

• Multimedia Wired Up 10 Bag (Retail value $140)
• Mic Drop-in Bag (Retail value $40)
• Audio Recorder Bag (Retail value $40)
• Big Audio Bag (Retail Value $50)
• Wireless Mic Kit Bag (Retail value $50)

Rather than describe the function of each, here I am going to defer to the descriptions Thinktank provides on their site because their descriptions are pretty good and I figure why re-invent the wheel.  Instead, I’ll share here my lists of pros and cons on the system overall.  So, here’s the lowdown from my perspective:

Pros:

1. Design – The overall design of these bags is just superb.  Because it’s designed as a multimedia system, the idea of incorporating a way to feed cable lines from one component to another is just brilliant.  This way cables are not interfering with operation of anything.  I also very much enjoy the idea of incorporating both a belt and harness method for carrying gear.  While belts can tend to sag down when loaded, the shoulder harnesses prevent this from happening without being too constricting.
2. Material –   Additionally the material is the excellent canvas/nylon-style on the outside with very well-thought out padding on the inside (although I think the pads could still stand to be a smidge thicker).  They also were very generous in that most of the bags have a rain cover that easily pulls out should you get caught in a sudden downpour.
3. Space – Even though the Wired-Up 10 bag is the smaller of the two (there is also a Wired Up 20), it can hold an impressive amount of gear.  Although I had to take off lens hoods, I was able to get all of the following into the bag:

With all this crammed in there I still had room in the front portion to accommodate a few other accessories (like radio triggers, media cards, batteries, etc.  The rear pocket also allows for things like grey cards, business cards, and other slim style things (I tossed my 1.4x TC in there along with the flash diffuser cap for the 550EX).  I know this isn’t exactly a multimedia gear list, but it does give you an idea of what all can fit in there.  Here’s a quick snap I took with everything in there:

The rest of the system also holds up well – with what appear to be very durable zippers, which have bungee-style pulls that make them easier to close.  The accessory bags also are designed with stiff flaps on the backs and Velcro to add them onto the main belt bag (the Wired up 10 or the Wired Up 20).  What I especially liked about each of the bags is that not only could I see the use for each designed component, I also could see other items being substituted in and out.  Ipods, P&S cameras, and other components could easily fit in here.  Probably the thing I was most pleased with was the slim pocket that sits against your back.  It was a little snug but I was able to fit a mini-laptop in there (my wife’s Acer Aspire One).  I literally could go completely mobile and reduce my overall technology footprint to fit inside this bag/betl system.  I think the Wired Up 20 would probably be more desirable just because things were a little too snug.  For a trip though – it could work in a pinch – check it out:

Cons:

Design:  My two druthers in the design are the belt and the suspender/shoulder straps.  On the belt, I wish it had a little more space to put the accessory bags on them.  With the current design, each bag would butt up next to one another without any room between them.  While this may not matter if you are up and moving around, but I can imagine that sitting down while fully loaded could be tricky.  Sure, you can always take the whole setup off, but if you are bending and squatting or wanting flexibility then this could conceivably have trouble with maneuverability.  The other element were the shoulder straps – they were thin which made them less obtrusive.  However, because of their thinness, this could cut into your shoulders if you are heavily laden down with gear.  Thankfully, I don’t own enough gear to really have that kind of an impact, but for the multimedia minded, with audio recorders, mics, and all the bells and whistles, I could see it kind of digging in a little too much.

Other than these two elements I really couldn’t even think of much else I would change – even the price is right for what you are getting.  All five of these bags is still under $350 which is quite a good deal!  Heck, even the matte black and thin blue pin-striping that is a part of the Thinktank design looked cool here.  All in all, this is definitely one to consider.  While no bag or bag system is perfect – this is the closest to perfection I’ve seen yet!  (And I’ve tried a few systems…)

Well, that’s about all for today – just a reminder that we are in the last week of the current month’s giveaway where you can “Win a Wacom”!  Get your photos in by Friday to the Flickr thread, be eligible for this giveaway.  Happy shooting all, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for the latest software review (and you should know what that is – if not watch the video from last Friday!)

Grab the Feed

1. Make sure the gallery shows photography – if gallery owners deal primarily with paintings, sculptures, metal work, and such, the odds of being accepted are much less.  This involves actually doing a little research into the gallery.  Perhaps a visit or two during different showings could help determine whether the venue is appropriate for your work.
2. Make sure the gallery shows your type of work – if you are primarily a landscape artist and the gallery primarily shows urban gritty work, portraiture, or architectural types f work, then again, reconsider the venue.
3. Contact the gallery – let them know you are interested in being considered, and give a few small samples via email.  Ask if you can schedule a time to visit with them.  Like Dave and Rich said, nothing can be a bigger turnoff than showing up unannounced and possibly interfering with a scheduled appointment or client sale.
4. Be professional – treat a prospective gallery showing like a job interview.  Just like you wouldn’t want to show up with 4×6 photos in a binder album, also don’t show up on site wearing cut-off shorts or be un-groomed.  It’s not just your work that is being considered, it’s YOU.  If you are accepted into the gallery, in all likelihood, they will want you there for the opening day, so people can meet you, learn about you and interact with you.  If you don’t present yourself with your best foot forward, then clients and gallery owners will probably be less interested.  Once you are big and famous, sure, being unkempt can be part of your “flair” or quirks, but until then, you are just messy!
5. Be prepared to be told no.  It’s tough to hear, but don’t take it personally if at all possible.  Running galleries is a business, and when it comes to running a business, it’s not personal – it’s just a business decision.  Consider also that gallery owners get many many requests from aspiring artists, and simply do not have room or space all the time.  In the most recent podcast, Matt Timmons mentioned this briefly.  Just because someone says no, doesn’t mean a lifetime of “no”.  It just means “No” today.  Ask again in a few months.  Sometimes people like to see persistence, especially if your craft is getting better.

So, there you go, two days of tips on getting into galleries!  Ten tips total, so go forth and good luck!

Speaking of luck, best of luck to everyone who has been submitting their “Numbers” themed photo contest running right now over in the Flickr forums.  I took a quick glance this morning, and there are just shy of 50 entries.  Amazing given that only one entry is allowed per person!  And there’s still time – you have until midnight tonight to get your picture in.  The winner will walk away with a free copy of the OnOne software Plugin Suite (valued at over $500 retail)!  If you are thinking of getting in the game, now’s the do-or-die moment.  Like they say in lotteries – you can’t win if you don’t play!  Here’s the link to get in the game:  Numbers Contest

Have a great weekend everyone – Happy shooting and we’l see you back here next week for the latest and greatest in photography news, nuggets, interviews, reviews, and all that goes into Canon Blogger.  We’re closing in on some pretty fun dates, including the 500th post, the 2 year anniversary of CB, 1000 Twitter followers, and much more, so be sure to pick up the feed.  I know I had mentioned the next contest on the podcast as well, so be sure to stop back in Monday for the news on what the theme is, and to pick up the tag on Flickr for the thread.

Grab the Feed