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

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

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

Affiliate Program

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

Share with your family, friends, colleagues, whomever – I’m really interested to see where people are in this whole smart phone deal…have a great weekend!

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

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

Now in week 22, see if you can identify the latest picture of the day for the “What’s This?” series shown above.  Lastt week’s shot as a constructio garbage chute from the inside.  As promised I am including an exterior shot today so everyone can see what they look like from a “normal” perspective.

In other news, don’t forget the poll on the sidebar!  We’re at 30 votes and counting – let’s see if we cna break that 50 mark!  I also noticed that the feed readers are now over 500, and CB also hit a new one day high of 572!  Very exciting stuff to see that many people enjoying the blog.  Tomorrow’s Thursday Thoughts is none other than Rob Jones ot Towner Jones Photography.  You may recall he asked me to guest post on his blog a few weeks ago, so I invited him to come in here and do the same!  He’s got some great insights to share too, so be sure to stop back for that.  Until then, happy shooting!  Hope all your shots are good ones

So, what can I afford?  Well, believe it or not, the significant other has asked for a camera for Christmas!  That’s right – I am winning her over, she’ll become a member of the dark side soon.  So, in the spirit of the Christmas lists that I started last week with cards, this week, I am suggesting one of three different price buster point and shoots.  One actually is not a Canon camera!  My picks for consumer P&S cameras this year are:

• The Canon G10
• The Lumix LX3
• and the Canon A590

Okay, so the G10 isn’t exactly entry level, but it’s super sweet!  The blogo-sphere seems to have settled down about the in-camera processing that the Lumix does to correct for barrel distortion and chromatic abberation, so the LX3 is back in people’s good graces.  The A590 also made my list primarily because of the feature set it has relative to it’s price (it comes in at just a hair over $100!)

So, when combined with the list from last week, there are now six items on my Holiday Guide!  I’ll get another four added here soon to give you a full top ten, but for those keeping score, here’s what I have thus far:

1. Personalized Gift Cards
2. Memory Cards
3. Christmas Cards (share the holiday cheer on a budget)
4. Canon G10
5. Lumix LX3
6. Canon A590

In other photography news, I am working on the photography site some more to really get a new look in place and I’ve got a new header to set the tone.  Feel free to stop over and take a gander.  Then, come back and tell me what you think!  I am listening in the comments, on the Twitter, and via email.  Don’t forget to vote in the poll – we’re on pace to shatter the previous record!

That’s it for today – I’ll be back tomorrow with the weekly audio podcast series, so be sure to stop in for that.  Until then, happy shooting!

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

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

A couple of show notes:

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

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

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

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

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

Also as a reminder, today is the last day to participate in the contest poll – we’re sitting right at 19 votes thus far, so do stop in to the blog and share your thoughts by participating – it’d be super cool to see that vote tally get up over the 30 mark!

We got our first wave of snow overnight last night, and the dusting was just enough to remind me of how beautiful the winter months can be.  Once we’re completely settled in and I am back out shooting more often, I have a feeling the blog will be a venue for much of this photography.  So, there’s a prediction of things to come.

I’ll leave this Friday on that note, along with your weekly episode of What the Duck:

Enjoy the weekend, Happy Shooting, and we’ll see you back here Monday morning!

As always, those who correctly identify the image from this cropped portion win fabulous prizes, win fame and fortune, money, money, money, and lots of photo gear and software….yeah okay, that part’s not true…but you do get bragging rights!

Some of you may have noticed that there is now a widget on the sidebar for my twitter account.  It’s kind of fun actually and I can see how so many are addicted.  I’m trying to post there more regularly, but cannot guarantee a lot of activity.  It’s really just daily stuff – work stuff, occasionally photo-related, but if you want a glimpse of the “personal me”, that would be the place to find out.

Also, don’t forget – today is the last day to vote in the TWIP photo contest.  The prize is a 1st generation Drobo.  I am currently in 7th place for vote tallies, so any help would be appreciated (not that I expect to win or anything, but stranger things have happened…)  The link to vote is here (you have to have a Photrade account)

In other news, be sure to stop in tomorrow for the latest Thursday Thoughts with Jason D. Moore!  Thanks in advance to Jason for taking the time to sit down with me and talk about a variety of photography subjects.  It really was an informative session and I learned a little more about him (which of course is the goal…).  If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming edition of Thursday Thoughts, and get some free referrals to your blog, let me know in the comments or via email and we’ll see what we can work out to help one another!

Well, that’s it for this Wednesday. Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow with Jason D. Moore!

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

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

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

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

Oh, sorry, this is a photo blog, not a football one!

Okay, here’s the latest and greatest from CB. First and foremost, CB Episode #55 went up today. I took about twenty minutes to talk about off-camera lighting. I looked at the radio transmitters available, infrared transmitters and a number of different companies that deliver products. Pricing from various websites was also reported. As prices may change, and sales may happen, those are approximate according to the date of publication. So, if you have questions about off-camera flash, this may be a good starting point. I look at everything from PocketWizards to Cybersyncs, Skyports and more. It’s about a 20 minute listen, but chock full of information, so download it and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments – I’d really like to hear what people think of the “new format”.

Other news from CB – the header is updated! I’ve got new header shots rolling out every day this week, so make sure you visit the blog and look at the new images (this is for all you RSS readers out there). For the regular visitors, you may also notice that I finally took some time to sit down and add some of the common links above the header, so now you have quick access to The Online Photography Test (more questions and ideas are needed for the “Expert exam”, not linked like yet), the Colors and Textures Gallery, and my own website of personal photography work.  Finally, I also added a link to the  CB Flickr group (I’d love to see some more members sharing photos and ideas). Pretty cool stuff that I am happy to finally have in place. Thanks go out to Erik Bernskiold of Bernskiold Media for taking some time to jog my memory on the particulars of HTML editing – it’d been a while.

As promised, here are the links from the show (a.k.a. show notes):

• Pocket Wizards (B&H) $380
• Elinchrom Skyports (B&H) $180
• Alienbees Cybersyncs (Alienbees) $130
• Cactus Triggers (Gadget Infinity) $25-$50
• Nikon (B&H)
• Canon (B&H)

As I said in the show, I’m migrating from the ST-E2 from Canon to the Cactus transmitters. If you’d like to hear a follow-up episode on my experiences when I am done, let me know and I’ll try to get that “in the can” too.

Well, that was just a ton of information for a Tuesday, so I’ll leave things at that, and let everyone come back tomorrow rejuvenated for the Wednesday “What’s This?” Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

P.S.  Don’t forget the poll on the sidebar or the Photrade contest – both are ending soon so get your votes in today!

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

Linked here

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

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

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

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

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

Well, as a temporary release, I’ve put a few together using the Auto-viewer format.  It has naturally been customized a little, but is up and viewable right now!  Check out the images I’ve included here:  CB Photo Galleries They are mostly images of colors and textures thus far with a few other test images thrown in to determine sizing.  Hopefully I’ll get all the full versions from “What’s This?” incorporated soon too.  Feedback, comments, and suggestions on this are not only welcome, but encouraged.  Ideally I will be setting up a dedicated website for this material at some point too (provided there’s enough interest).  So, what do you think?  Don’t quit my day job?  Good idea?  Yawner?  Sound off in the comments!  Here’s a few sneak previews of what’s in the gallery right now:

In other news, I got word from Michael Johnston over at The Online Photographer that his final post on “Must Have Photography Books” has been published.  Like an oracle, when he suggests a book, it quickly sells out, so be sure to stop over to his blog to see what photography goodness is available.  It can be read here.

Last but not least, there’s only a few more days to participate in the “SLR features” poll – I think it’s set to expire this Friday, so be sure to jump in and share your thoughts on what the most important features are.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 of Me

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

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

Today I thought it might be fun to share a few links to fun Photoshop resources – reasons to laugh and just take a break from it all.  Here’s 3 of my favorites:

Photoshop Disasters

You Suck at Photoshop

What The Duck

Fair warning, the second one could be considered “not safe for work”.   Do you have any fun Photoshop resources or web sites that you visit just for laughs?  Share them in the comments.  Have a good weekend all, and, as always, happy shooting!