Thanks so much to all the participants for your wonderful images of Cheer!  It really did bring a smile to my face going through all the images and selecting a winner!  As always, the decision was quite difficult, but ultimately, the nod goes to Pan Shovel for the annual holiday giveaway.  As you all may recall, the prizes this year were donated by the good folks of Craft & Vision (David DuChemin), Thinktank Photo, and Photojojo for the books, bags and lenscap holder respectively.  So if you get a moment to check out their respective product lines, you can say thanks to them in your own way too!

The downside after all this excitement is that the January giveaway does not have a sponsor (same as last year), so this means the prize will be the ability to choose the theme for the February contest giveaway.  Think of January as a practicing month to take your own shots of whatever you find appealing.  No themes to restrict your creativity, but the rest of the standard rules apply:

1.  One photo per person

2.  Must be work-safe/family-friendly

3. Posted to the Flickr thread

4.  Largest side must be no more than 800px or less than 600px (this is only so that the winning image can be displayed well…)

5.  Taken within the last 60 days (preferably during the contest window)

6.  Images must be done by Feb 3rd (Friday).

7.  Theme is open (no theme)

8.  And most importantly, have fun!

Congrats again to Pan Shovel, and good luck to everyone in the coming months for the 2012 giveaways – keep the great shots and creativity churning!

The folks over at Stack Exchange have become the latest sponsor for the monthly contest series, and I gotta say, they are quite a clever operation.  The site is based on the same idea that the blog is based on – which is sharing knowledge and experience with the greater community at large.  No forums to join, no registrations to mess with, just good information in a Wiki-style interface.  The layout is pretty slick where you can post (and answer) photo-related questions.

There’s lots of topics covered and it’s definitely a useful resource to answer everything from generic to specific questions like “Depth of Field and Focal Length” to “How to take sharp night photos“.  Definitely one to add to your photo bookmarks folder.

Anyway, they were super generous, tossing a Lensbaby Composer into the ring for some lucky photographer!  So, special thanks and shout outs to Stack Exchange in advance for their sponsorship.  With the theme of their site, and the gear tied to the giveaway, I figured this was worthy of something special, so, here’s the gist:

Lots of ways to interpret this…it could be a stack of pancakes, a stack of coins, a stack of Pringles, a haystack, or any other way you can imagine!  Remember, the prize is a Lensbaby Composer, worth $300 retail, so if there ever was a time to ramp things up a notch, this would be it!  I’ll put something together on the Lensbaby Composer later this week so you know how cool this lens actually is!

That’s it for today – more cool stuff coming up later this week including the September winner (lucky photog will win a year of NAPP membership!), and other fun stuff.  The trick is to keep on shooting!

Without further ado, I’m pleased to announce that Drobo has selected Dave King to receive a Drobo for his participation in the giveaway.  Dave, I’ve reached out to you to solidify the details and particulars, so when you get your email, please take a moment to respond with the needed information for shipping.

Many thanks to the folks at Data Robotics for their support and sponsorship!  Thanks to everyone for their participation, and even if you didn’t win, remember, backing up your data/work is always a good thing – the Drobo is an easy solution to that task, so consider their products for your backup needs.

On the subject of contests, the monthly photo contest to win a year of NAPP membership is still underway, so there’s time to get an image into the contest thread over on Flickr as well.  Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn about Photoshop and photography from one of the premiere learning resources available today!

Keep on shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow…more tk.

You may also notice that I dropped a hidden time bomb above – we’ve gotten an extension through Friday!  That means, if you haven’t had a chance yet, there’s still time!  It also means that if for any reason you forgot to register, there’s still a window of opportunity for you to do that until tomorrow midnight!  Only 48 hours (roughly) left, so don’t forget to participate for your chance to win!  Thanks to Drobo for both allowing the extension and for adding a second Drobo to the giveaway.  As a refresher, here’s the contest particulars again:

1. Follow me (@CBJason) and @Drobo (no need to unfollow and re-follow if you already are…)

2. Re-tweet the following text message over on Twitter:

RT I’ve registered to win a #Drobo with @CBJason at http://bit.ly/qdqg6Z

3. Share your best story about why you need a Drobo on the blog here (my blog) and on the Drobo Facebook page! (Note the embedded links… )

4.  Don’t forget to register with Drobo in case your name is picked – if you’re not registered, you can’t win!

5.  All entries must be submitted no later than midnight MDT on Friday!

Keep posting the stories – these are great to read.  As a reminder here though too – I am not picking the winner personally, it’s done by a random drawing from all the registrations.  After drawing two names, these will be cross-checked against the Twitter messages and such, so keep ‘em coming!  Some of the stories I’ve read are quite fascinating, ranging from small business owners running retouching businesses, to poetic story lines, and even PhD students working on some pretty fascinating topics that require massive storage needs.

1. Follow me (@CBJason) and @Drobo (no need to unfollow and re-follow if you already are…)

2. RT the text message in the blog post:

RT I’ve registered to win a #Drobo with @CBJason at http://bit.ly/qdqg6Z

3. Share your best story about why you need a Drobo on the blog here (my blog) and on the Drobo Facebook page! (Note the embedded links… )

4.  Don’t forget to register with Drobo in case your name is picked – if you’re not registered, you can’t win!

5.  All entries must be submitted no later than midnight MDT on Wednesday!

This means you only have 3 days to enter – do it now before you forget.

*Special Contest Note*  You only have to re-tweet the message once – multiple tweets will not gain you more entries, and will likely annoy any followers you have.

Many thanks to the folks at Data Robotics for their exciting support.  If you’d like to learn more about what a Drobo is, and what it can do for you, here’s a couple useful resources to read through (and videos to watch) including one from my review here on the blog!  It’s a great data storage solution for people who don’t want to take the time to build out their own RAID solutions (i.e. photographers).  I own one myself (yes I bought it…), and have absolutely fallen in love with its ease of use.  Beyond the initial formatting time frame for a new disk, it’s been an absolute dream, and gives me the peace of mind knowing my data is protected!

My own Drobo Review

Drobo Website

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.

Congratulations to you – and by virtue of this post, simply email me a short note with your contact information and I’ll get you in touch with the right folks at Red River Paper. Thanks to them for their sponsorship, and to everyone who entered. All the images were really deserving this month, so finding one that stood out was really really difficult. I would suggest to everyone who entered (and those on the sidelines) to still take a moment to consider getting yourselves a pack of this paper, as any of these would look really great on the Polar Pearl Metallic paper.  Here’s a link to the specific page from Red River for those interested. 

And with November closed out, I am sure everyone is wondering what is in store for December.  Must be a humdinger, right?  Yes, I promise you it is, because I am throwing the doors wide open on this month.  The prize is quite simply, the bragging rights for the month.  Photography for the sake of photography is important enough too, and without having to worry about restrictions or any guidelines, anyone is welcome to share a picture anywhere this month.  Whether it’s a link in any of the blog post comments, in the group Flickr Pool, or the December thread, as long as you let me see an image – you are eligible for the bragging rights!  (You know there is likely some prize at the end too, but this go around, it’s a surprise!)

To make it official though, there are three criteria:

That’s it – the theme is wide open, the sizes are wide open, and you can show it to me anywhere…be it Flickr, the blog in a comment, or in the group pool (please no emails though – part of the idea is to let you showcase your own best work not only to me, but to everyone)!  Good luck, and here’s to lots of entries!  Enjoy the ride, and take as many pictures as you can, because you can only submit your best one from December!  The winner will be announced in 2011!

The last little nugget for today is that a special discount is going to be announced in the December newsletter, so if you haven’t signed up yet (it’s free), don’t forget to get subscribed to it before Friday!  Here’s a link to make it nice and easy for y’all! Sign Up for the Newsletter  Happy shooting all, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

• Attending a Captured By The Light Seminar with David Ziser
• Launching a Drobo Giveaway Sweepstakes with Data Robotics
• Publishing the Photokina Podcast

First up, the podcast…

I had another great chat with Kerry Garrison about a week ago about when and why to upgrade your camera body.  With the 60D now in the market, and Photokina just starting yesterday, there’s going to be lots of opportunities to buy.  When looking at all the options of whether new features are worth the upgrade.  Check it out!  The show notes are more detailed, so will likely go out tomorrow separately, but wanted to let people catch it today because of a special sponsor…

Drobo 3-Day Sweepstakes Giveaway

For some time now I have been working on getting some preferred vendors in line for the monthly podcast series and the regular contest over on Flickr.  One of those sponsors I have been working with is Data Robotics.  I received word yesterday that some advertising dollars were still available for 3rd quarter, and if I could act fast, we could run a giveaway for Canon Blogger readers and podcast listeners.

So, the blog post for the podcast got bumped so I could add an intro there about the giveaway, (you can get all the details about the 3-Day Giveaway here.

David Ziser Denver Seminar

The other news item of note was the David Ziser seminar I attended on Monday.  This is his 2010 tour, titled Captured By The Light, and I had an opportunity to assist as a volunteer for the show…taking registrations, assisting with product sales, and setup/breakdown.  The seminar was probably one of the best I have attended (and I’ve taken in a few…).

The sheer quantity of material was amazing…and with the added door prizes, I can totally see the value behind this event.  He had over $6000 in door prizes!  In addition to the swag that was given to every attendee, including free months of memberships for things like Kelby Training,  a free 1 year membership to WPPI, 20% off discounts for things like the Spyder3Pro, Animoto discounts, 4-month subscription to Professional Photographer.

It was just a great time.  It was an honor to participate, and I would like to take a moment here on the blog to thank David and his staff for their down-to-earth and welcoming approach.  For more information on the Captured By The Light Tour and to see if he’s coming to a city near you, check out the details here:  www.capturedbythelight2010.com And if you’re not a reader of his blog, make sure you check that out too – probably one of the best resources I have in my daily feeds…you can pick that up here: Digital Pro Talk

That’s it for the double-post Tuesday – not the norm, but definitely timely enough and worthy of the additional nugget.  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Here’s what you need to to:

1.  Follow me over on Twitter (@CBJason), and follow the folks at Data Robotics (@Drobo), if you aren’t following already (current followers do not need to re-follow).

2.  Tweet the following message:

RT  Exclusive Canon Blogger sweepstakes giveaway! Win a #Drobo S from @CBJason and @Drobo Details here: http://bit.ly/dgAZYy

3.  Then, follow the link provided below to enter your information and be registered for the giveaway:

http://info.drobo.com/canonblogger

Thanks so much to the folks at Data Robotics for their generous donation.  The winner will be drawn this Friday, so make sure you act now – only 72 hours to get in on the action, while the getting is good! In addition to the big winner, Data Robotics will also be sending out an exclusive discount deal to all non-winners, so really, enter this sweepstakes!  If you need a super stable, redundant, scalable, and reliable file storage system – the Drobo is the way to go!  I’ve been using mine for 2 years and have never looked back!  This limited time offer goes from 12:01 Tuesday (Pacific Time) until 9am this Friday, so it’s a limited window – but for a $700 prize, worth the incentive to act quickly!

More tk, so keep on shootin’!

• 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!

This image has the perfect amount of abstraction, yet also technically is very well thought-out, and the symbolism/timeliness of it to topical events of late is pretty amazing.  Congratulations to Stephen!  If you could get in touch with me via email (jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com) I’ll coordinate to have the folks at Adobe set up fulfillment on your very own copy of Lightroom 3!

Special thanks and acknowledgments also to Adobe for their generosity and continued support of the blog, podcast and concert series – you are a big part of why people come every day to read the material, to learn and share knowledge with one another.  Thanks Adobe!

So, with the July contest series wrapped up, it’s time to announce the August contest.  Another sponsor of the blog in a big way is Red River Paper, as they are providing discount codes and promotional offers to all readers of the blog (CB18 for  $5 off any order and CBShip for free shipping of a promo pack of papers.).  They are also contest sponsors and this month they have generously contributed a pack of 8×10 Pearl Pro Metallic paper for some lucky participant.  And without further ado – the theme for August is:

METAL

A Flickr thread will be posted on Saturday, and entries will start being accepted at midnight.  Thanks to Red River Paper for their sponsorship as well for not only the giveaway, but for their support of the blog and podcast!

In keeping with just going to take it all in, I left all my camera gear at home, save my Motorola Droid, which I wasn’t really counting because that is my phone, and it’s serving multiple purposes.  Yet, (surprise surprise), I found myself compelled to take photos of some of my discoveries from the excursion, so, restricted to my camera phone, I was very much “shooting from the hip”.  While the images are certainly never going to make it into the Smithsonian, some were quite compelling for their historical reference (and to its credit, I was quite happy with the Droid performance given the range of conditions I put it through).

Here is a sampling of some of the more interesting shots of the day, including an old time Apothecary pill manufacturing device:

A milker for the Bessies on the farm:

A broom maker:

A loom:

and a boat:

I’ve already put a few of these on Flickr, so for those of you seeing duplicates, my apologies…

Anyway, fun stuff, and always good (in my opinion) to take some time off to re-set.  You can still take photos even if they’re not works of art, and just knowing your purpose can always help to get the creative juices flowing again.

So, what helps you re-set?  Is it a break from routine?  Taking a trip?  Putting photography out of your mind?  Powering through it with a point and shoot?  Sound of with your strategies in the comments!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here soon with the announcement of the winner for the Lightroom 3 Giveaway!

Just a short post today as I’d like to remind everyone about the monthly contest series.  This month the winner will get a  free copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.  No strings, no catches, no anything – just enter your best photo in the July Flickr thread (the theme is “Slick” – because Lightroom is just super slick and super cool!)

This isn’t a beta, or a trial, or even just an upgrade – this is a full edition of Lightroom 3, and it’s yours for the taking – so check out the giveaway details in the Flickr thread.

There’s a very limited window left (submission deadline is Saturday at midnight) and it’d be a shame to miss out on a chance to win this free software, donated by the folks at Adobe!  Click the link in the upper right corner of the website to enter today.  Good luck, and most importantly – have fun!

Flickr Thread for Entries

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]
[podcast format="video"]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/vids/learning.mp4[/podcast]

Here’s the show notes:

News

• 3rd Annual Worldwide Photowalk
• Getting sued for your own Images
• Lexar 16Gb and 32 GB cards now shipping
  

Interview – Rob Sylvan

• NAPP Helpdesk Work
• Lightroomers
• Books
  • Lightroom 2 For Dummies
  • Taking Stock (forthcoming)
• Perfect Picture School
• Adobe Lightroom Support Center
  • George Jardine Podcast #18
• Rob on Twitter

Q&A

1. Porting Libraries/Catalogs from Lightroom 2 to Lightroom 3 (Beta)
2. Adding monitors for more real estate
3. Work flow for scanning your photos

Contest News

Thanks to Scott from Peachpit Press, there is a special contest associated with this podcast and blog post!  If you listened to the podcast, you know what’s at stake, so feel free to chime in on the comments – something fun to win for 3 random people!  This post will take comments through July 7th and then three people at random will be selected for the prize!

That’s it for today – lost of fun stuff coming up tomorrow too, so make sure you stop in for the latest news – will be talking software AND hardware tomorrow…as well as announcing something else near and dear to me here on the blog, so be sure to stop back in then for more.  Happy shooting and we’ll see you then!

First off, Scott Kelby has announced the 3rd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk!  It’s a pretty big deal now as there are some major sponsors that contribute prizes to this, and it’s just a super cool time.   There are usually a couple that start up for the Denver area, and if you’ll be around, let me know and I can post which group I’ll be in so you can join (or avoid) as needed!

Next up, I am having a couple really exciting podcasts coming up in future weeks, so my one that I recorded over the weekend will never see the light of day – it was a solo run, so not as much fun as, perhaps talking to Rob Sylvan (Also a NAPP Helpdesk writer) or Martin Bailey!  They are coming up soon, and we’re recording soon, so get your questions in via comments, email, or the free 800 line:  866-809-8663!

In other blog news, you may notice three new sponsors in the sidebar:  Adobe, NAPP, and Red River Paper!

• Adobe – So, if you’re trial version of CS5 is almost up – order the full version here and you can still take advantage of great savings.  Just come through the side panel link here to get the same pricing as elsewhere, and when you do, you’ll be helping me keep costs to a minimum on the blog and podcast!
• NAPP – For the NAPP link – you can sign up for a membership through this affiliate link and get lots of special bonuses, and the referral also helps to keep costs down too…(I think you get like 2 additional months free or something like that).
• Red River Paper – These guys are terrific – not only have they donated prizes in the past to monthly giveaways, but their continued support and service to both myself and readers/lilsteners is now available through the affiliate link in the sidebar.  Enjoy (especially their latest Pearl Metallic paper – totally rocks!)!

Finally, speaking of contests, the May giveaway entry deadline has passed and the winner of the free copy of PTGui Pano Software is:  AlinNZ!  Congrats to him and to Alin – if you contact me via email, I’ll get you in touch with PTGui to have them send your license key to unlock the software!  Great photo, and thanks to all for participating!

Click the photo to be taken to his photo stream and comment on his excellent body of work there as well.  Congrats, and for those interested in the June contest – the news is posted on the Flickr site with all the details, so head there for more info.  I’ll go into more details on it later this week, so keep on feedin’ on the blog!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

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!)

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! )

“I got a new ______ for Christmas.  Now What?”  (Insert your own camera make/model in the blank)

The answer to this really depends on what, if anything, you had before the new item made its way into your hands.  For simplicity sake, I’ll break the response down to 3 different categories:

1.  This is your first “serious” camera, and you are making the foray into digital photography.  Right off the bat, let me say Congratulations! Joining the digital revolution of photography and imaging is definitely exciting, and the onslaught of information can be intimidating.  A couple resources are better in this case over a huge amount of information overload.  In this case, I would recommend doing three things:

• Read the Manual!  Seriously – it may not be the most well-written thing, but it can give you insights as to what all the buttons, dials, and knobs do.
• Learn the basics of exposure – The Digital Photography School offers a great page that goes over the nuts and bolts of how exposure works in cameras – very helpful!
• Learn the basics of composition – There are so many resources on this, but I like Wikipedia because it links to many others and thus I would deem it very reliable and unbiased.  The one linked here is the article on the Rule of Thirds.  Many other sites cover this too (including mine), but this is just a superb starting point.
• Make an inventory – if this is an SLR, it means you should now be including it on an inventory of “high ticket” items in your house, and a home inventory is always a good thing to have in case of disaster!
• Get out and shoot, practice, then shoot some more!  Trial and error is an important part of the learning process, and by learning what doesn’t work, you will be one step closer to learning what does work.  So, don’t be afraid of getting out and shooting!

2.  This is an “upgrade” from a previous digital camera, and you are simply adding more features.  In this scenario, you are probably already armed with the basics, and are looking to expand your creative efforts with the increased features of faster shutter speeds, larger MP counts, etc.  Here, there’s only three things instead of the five above:

• Read the manual – there are many more options, custom functions, features, buttons, dials, knobs, and menu options.  Reading this will help get all this sundry stuff down quicker so you can…
• Get out and shoot – the tried and true rule of practice, practice, and more practice is what will gain the most in terms of comfort and ease of use for you whether it’s a new camera or an upgrade!  It also will give you an opportunity to see and note the differences between your previous body and test for things like sharpness, functionality, and all that sort of stuff while you are still in the important warranty period.
• If you already have an inventory of gear, be sure to add it here, making note of the serial, registration, purchase date and (if available) location of purchase.  If you don’t have an inventory of gear – the new addition should be motivation enough to ensure that you do get one together.  You may also want to consider your insurance situation: Do you have coverage? Do you have enough?  Call your agent to find out.

3.  Here, you are an established photographer, and this is simply adding another item to your tool belt.  In this scenario, you are likely adding another body for redundancy purposes, or to relegate your other one to a backup role.  Nevertheless, there are some important things to consider doing as you move forward:

• Use it!  Check for compatibility with all your current lenses – that everything works as expected, that there are no cracks, chinks, nicks, or other things that you should be concerned about.
• Add the gear to the list of inventory that you likely already have – make note of the serial numbers, the date of purchase, and if your gifter doesn’t mind, the place where purchased.  All this can be very helpful in keeping records current and up to date.  Check with your insurance agent and make sure you still have enough coverage for your gear – see that they get all this information too.

There you have it, some key points to keep in mind for you and your new camera.  Congratulations on the new gear, and don’t forget to get creative, because while the gear is fun – it’s really just a tool in your creative tool belt!  Did I miss anything?  Are these categories sufficient enough for most?  Do you fit into one of these categories or is another one needed for your situation?  Any other ideas for what to do with a new camera purchase?  Got any specific questions?  What kind of camera did you get?  Share your own questions, feedback, and stories below, by sounding off in the comments!

Last, but not least, don’t forget about the December Giveaway over on FLickr. Over $400 in prizes including books, prints, papers, and software that are great for any photographer!  Thursday the 31st is the last day to enter, so make sure you get your best “Giving” themed photo in before the deadline!

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

1.  Membership:  Being a member of organizations has perks, and there are several out there that can help different types of photographers for different reasons, but three that I would highly recommend are membership to NAPP (of which I am a member – $99/year), PPA, ($194/yr)  and ASMP ($140/yr).  If these are a little out of your league – a Flickr Pro membership is only $25, and gives you access to lots of things that aren’t available in the free version.

2.  Prints and Framing:  I’ve talked up Mpix before, and would highly recommend them as a printing outfit for anyone, but regardless of your preferences, giving prints as gifts is always appreciated, especially when accentuated by frames, and photographers are no different.  Gift certificates to places like Mpix, and even your local frame and print shops is something that will not only be appreciated but used!

3.  Seminars and Workshops: Having been to only one, this is something I would love to get more experience with, and there certainly is no dearth of these available.  Kelby Training is the one I know best, but there are literally dozens of outfits that offer on-hand seminars and workshops on everything from lighting, post processing,  One that interests me specifically is the Santa Fe workshops, where Joe McNally teaches, but others are all over the country from Maine to California, Florida, and everywhere in between.  If you know of any particular seminars and workshops, feel free to post links in the comments!

4. Software:  High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is here to stay, and for those of you interested in getting great results, you’ll need some software to help you process those images.  Photoshop is okay at it, but if you want better results, a 3rd party product that is dedicated for the tone mapping and processing is really required.  The one I like (and that most others like as well), is Photomatix, from the folks at HDR Soft.  They have educational discounts as well for students, teachers, and the like.

5.  Video:  I know, convergence and the ability to shoot video inside your camera is becoming increasingly common, but this video recorder is just too cool (and low cost) to shrug aside…I am talking about the Flip video Ultra HD Camcorder.  For $150 from B&H, it’s a super deal, and the recording quality is superb.  I’ve seen lots of people with these, and I’ve seen the results – remarkable quality for the cost.

So, get out those credit cards, and get the gift that suits your photog best!  In the meantime, we’ve got a couple things going on here now at the blog, so be sure to chime in before the end of the year:

• December Giveaway – Win $40+ of prizes, including books, prints, paper and software
• Share your Best photos from 2009 – I’ve added the ability to embed photos in the comments section, so if you have an image you like from 2009 and it’s online, share it in the comments for Saturday’s post

That’s it for today – happy shooting and happy holidays as we count down the remaining days to Christmas!

• A free copy of the “Within the Frame”, the wildly successful and great book donated by David DuChemin!
• A free copy of “Visionmongers”, the latest book from none other than David Duchemin!
• A free copy of Photomatix, the software known for its HDR processing, donated by the folks over at HDRSoft!
• A free 16″x20″ gallery wrap of a print of your choice, printed (and donated) by the folks over at MPix!
• and as if that is not enough, the folks at Red River Paper have also expressed interest in joining the gievaway frenzy, so it looks like there will be a paper bundle in the mix too – (more details on the bundle specifics as those come in!)

With over $400 in free stuff, this is surely going to generate a lot of interest, so this go around, the guidelines are a little stricter than normal.  Here they are:

1. Limit of one photo entry per person.
2. Also, please make sure your photos are taken during the month of December.  I know – there’s a few days missing, so it’s less than a full month to shoot, but the theme is somewhat appropriate…more on that in a minute. Just remember, no archives!
3. The  longest side of your image should be no larger than 800px or shorter than 600px.  Don’t confuse this with a 800×600 aspect ratio – the second side of the photo can be any length you want – just make sure the longest side is no larger than 800px and no shorter than 600px.  All entries should be posted in the Flickr Contest Thread.
4. All entries must be live before midnight December 31st.

So, the theme is all that remains.  Since it’s a season of holidays far and wide, we’re going to go with the theme of:

GIVING

That’s it – interpret however you like.  Just tie in that theme somehow, and enter your best photo in the Flickr thread.  Good luck all, and may the best shot win!  Happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!  Many thanks to David DuChemin, Mpix, HDRSoft, and Red River Paper for their generous contributions.  Now, let’s wow them with some amazing photography!

P.S.  Just a little reminder that the blog is still taking donations to not only help offset the cost of maintenance, but also now to help pay the bills – the “curveballs” referenced the other day was an abrupt notice that my position was being terminated.  So, please help to keep things alive and online through the holiday season!  I am going to try to get some extra special content out there for everyone so you can also get some use out of this feeble old mind for any donations (or purchases…) but no guarantees there yet.  (Special thanks to Rob Jones from Towner Jones Photography who has already donated very generously to the cause though…)