Category: competition

Wacom Winner!

Jason1 Comment

For those of you that don’t follow the twitter news and stuff, you may not know that I cut a finger pretty badly late last week.  A visit to the doctor on Thursday pretty much confirmed that I needed to keep from using that hand for at least 24-48 hours.  This meant no keyboard or computer use.  SO Friday, when I started to disobey the doctor (shame on me!), the spousal unit found out and intervened.

Since then, we had a nice little weekend trip to Santa Fe (only about 6 hours away from Denver) with some friends.  We took in the sights, had some nice meals and just a good time all around.  I was without computer/internet most of the time so only was able to tweet briefly over the 3 day weekend.  So, you also did not get that yesterday would be a “no blog” day.  Much like the rest of the blog-o-sphere here in the U.S., a lot of people had similar announcements though, so the lack of a post saying there would be no post was kind of…well, not really needed.

Today, however, things are back in full swing!  To start off, we have a winner in the “Win a Wacom” contest!  As you likely recall, the August theme was “Fun” and the winner would receive a Bamboo Fun courtesy of the good folks over at Wacom.  They have left the decision to yours truly, so, after bringing all the photos into Lightroom for review, I picked what I thought were the top five for a gallery to share here on the blog, and picked a winner from that set.  The winner is:

Win a Wacom Giveaway Winner
Win a Wacom Giveaway Winner

As many will likely ask “Why”, here’s the rationale as to how this image stood out above the rest.  First off, the colors and leading lines of the slide were very creative, and showing a keen grasp of image composition, so these were all really good qualities.  Also, the laughing family coming down the slide definitely showed that they were having fun, which was the theme of the contest, so that was another point in the favor of the image.  Last, but not least, the image met all the other qualifying criteria from the announcement post and over on Flickr, including size specifications, time frame, and all that jazz.  Congrats go out to Michael Whalen (a.k.a. Whalenmdw on Flickr)!  For those of you interested in seeing his entry and more of his work, be sure to follow the link to his Flickr thread here.  Thanks to everyone for participating, and to Wacom for contributing the prize for the August Giveaway.  You can also see all the entries over on the Flickr thread here.  Finally, here’s the gallery of finalists.

In other photo news, Kerry Garrison of Camera Dojo had me on his show last week.  We talked up the Canon 7D pretty good, so to hear that show be sure to stop over to his site and pick up his podcast.  (That show aired on Friday).  As for the missing podcast here at CB, trust me, one is coming out this week!  For the time being though, be sure to stop over to the Camera Dojo website, and grab that feed for your reading and podcast enjoyment!  Thanks to Kerry for having me on the show!

That’s it for today folks.  More news and photo goodness tomorrow.  It’s good to be back, so keep on shooting (we have the September contest underway as we speak, with $500 in retail prizes from Topaz Labs and Thinktank Photo, so be sure to share your images here!).

Contests and Giveaway News

Jason3 Comments

Lots to cover today, so rather than banter, let’s get to the news about all the contest stuff going on:

The Comment Contest

Talk about a huge success – had enough feedback and ideas in this one post to really get some great creative ideas in play for the coming months for the blog – after the re-design!  Some lucky winner will be announced tomorrow (I am writing this on Sunday, while comments are still being accepted, so a winner cannot be announced right now.)

Win a Wacom Giveaway

The Learning Digital Photography giveaway thread over on Flickr has seen quite an uptick in submissions in the last week.  As the deadline approached, more people started getting their “fun” themed shots in, and there’s a lot of creative and fun photos in there.  It’s going to be tough to decide this one for sure.  Have you got your image submissions in yet?  If not, today is the last day to enter, and like the lottery, you can’t win if you don’t play!  You have until midnight tonight (Mountain Time), so it’s now or never!

The September Giveaway – Think in Color!

Announced briefly and teased on post #500, September’s contest is a pretty big one.  Two significant items are up for grabs this month.  First up, the winner of this contest will receive a Think Tank Multimedia Bag System (5 bags total).  For more information on this latest bag system to hit the shelves from ThinkTank Photo, you can read the review I did here, or visit their website for the specifics here.  The retail value of this set of bags is easily $350!

Second, Topaz Labs has offered up their plugin suite of actions for Photoshop to the winner of the September giveaway.  You may recall my review of the Topaz Labs Adjustment plugin here on the blog, and more of the Topaz plugins will be reviewed here during September, so stay tuned to see all the cool stuff this set can do.  The retail value of this software set is valued at $150 for the Adjustment, Denoise, Simplify, Detail, Clean and DeJPEG plugins.

So, let’s see – $350 in bags, and $150 in software = $500 in giveaway items for the September run.  That’s a lotta loot!  This means the setup will be a little more competitive than last months.  Here’s a rundown of the guidelines:

  1. Longest side of the image should be between 600-800pixels.  This makes for consistency in galleries, and also for equal view-ability in the judging phase.
  2. One photo per person, submitted through the Flickr thread, which will be created tonight at midnight.
  3. Photos must be taken within 30 days of the contest start date.  So, if you have something you took just last month, that is acceptable, but earlier archives will not be accepted.
  4. All images must be work-safe/family-friendly.
  5. This go around, the theme is:  Think in Colors (for ThinkTank and the color Topaz).  Incorporate the theme of the giveaway somehow into your photos.
  6. Since we’re talking Photoshop and plugins, it makes sense to also note that image editing is permitted, so go ahead and punish those pixels!
  7. Image submissions will be accepted starting September 1st, and will continue through Sat. Sept. 26th.

The other cool thing about the Thinktank/Topaz Labs giveaway is that the folks at Topaz Labs have offered to the winner that their photo be displayed on Topaz Labs website (along with photo credit given, naturally).  This is, of course, totally optional, but definitely a cool feather to have in ones’ cap.  The caveat here is that the submitting photographer would have to be at least 18 years old.

Phew – that is a lot of contest news!  In one sidenote about the blog, a little administrative note that the B&H Photo affiliate link is back, so if you are thinking of purchasing some gear through B&H, if you use the link above, though your price stays the same, B&H will send a few cents back this way to help offset the expense of hosting.  (It literally is just a few cents per purchase, so go ahead and spend a fortune!) 🙂  So much for a hardware review today…I’ll be back tomorrow with the last post for August, and the announcement of the Comment Contest winner!  In the meantime, happy shooting!

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The first ever Comment Contest!

Jason18 Comments

After a short (and unexpected) break from blogging yesterday, here’s a Friday Free-For-All for you!

Here’s where reader input is going to be what makes or breaks the content – that’s right, I am putting it all on the reading audience.  You can link to your own site in the comments, and the “Comment Luv” plugin will show the most recent post for fellow bloggers too.  Here’s what the content topics are to chose from (you can pick one, two, three, or all of the topics to address in your comment):

  1. What are your favorite iPhone/iTouch applications (for photography)?
  2. Who would you like to see guest-write here on the blog (you can include yourself too)?
  3. If Canon Blogger were to start a monthly newsletter, what would you like to see in said newsletter?
  4. If Canon Blogger were to start publishing eBooks for download, what topics would you like to see addressed?
  5. What one photo tip would you share with others above all else to help improve their photography (and “Take off the lenscap” is not allowed! LOL)

The best part of this?  Some lucky commenter will win a $25 gift card to B&H Photo from yours truly!  Yup, no sponsors, no tricks, no gimmicks, no nothin’ but free moolah to the best photo store on the planet!  All out of my pocket!  What am I looking for?  Useful content and ideas that will help me generate more resources to share with everyone.  So, get your thinking caps on and get to commenting.  If you post a comment and think of something later, feel free to add it – but your name can only be “entered” in the Comment Contest once!

When does it end?  Midnight Sunday!  (August 30, 2009 – so if you are reading through archives and this is like March 15th, 2035, sorry, the contest is over…)

And speaking of contests, you also only have three days left to get your shots into the Flickr thread for the “Win a Wacom” contest!  The contest pool of entries has increased a tad bit, but you can’t win if you don’t play, so get a shot or two in over the weekend – as they say at the Lotto – “Hey, ya never know!”

Finally, on this last Friday of August, I’d like to share yet again, an absolutely hysterical strip from What The Duck (I shared it earlier this week), but this  just floored me, so had to give another shout out for those that haven’t picked up WTD in your readers yet (and you should!).  So, have a laugh, then have some fun and share your thoughts – the sky is the limit.  Have a great weekend everyone and we’ll see you back here on Monday!

Post #500: Celebrating a Milestone!

Jason11 Comments

balloons-42

Not sure where to begin really – this is all kind of surreal, because I really didn’t think that this milestone would see me where things are today with the blog.  Needless to say, the blog has succeeded beyond my wildest expectations, so thanks to everyone who’s made that possible.  Without further ado, here’s the big news (via YouTube video, so feed readers, stop in and get the news by taking a few minutes out of your day for this exciting video news bulletin!):

For the data hounds, here’s a rundown of some of the stats for a snapshot of what’s that’s happened thus far on the blog:

  • Posts = 500
  • Comments = 1107
  • 107 Categries
  • 544 Tags
  • Total Visitors = 231,000
  • Single Highest Traffic Day:  Thursday, April 10, 2008
  • Subscribers:  1006
  • Highest Subscriber Count Ever:  1018 (4 days ago)

That’s a lot of stuff when you think about it.  So, for all the thousands of you that have been tuning in regularly, thanks so much for all your kind thoughts, words, and contributions over all this time.  Tune in to the YouTube video for the contest news and some other fun stuff!  In the meantime, keep on shooting – you know what’s coming up in the next 500 posts!  Happy shooting everyone.  Have an awesome weekend and we’ll see you back here on Monday for post #501!

Post #498: A few shots from the Photo Walk

Jason9 Comments

You’d think these would be shots from the Scott Kelby Photo Walk, but that’s only half right.  Ever since the first photo walk last year in Golden, CO…several of us kept the concept cooking with regular meet-ups (through www.meetup.com, a great place to organize get-togethers for any type of group, not just photography).  Anyway, this meetup group has been getting together on a regular basis (monthly to semi-monthly depending on season)…and we had our August photo walk back at historic Golden CO (in honor of last years Scott Kelby photowalk that was held there).

Since I am on the subject of photo walks, before the pics, it helps to say a few words about these gatherings.  They are probably one of the most enjoyable things about photography, because you get together with people that share the same passion you do for the craft.  You get to trade shots and techniques, talk shop, and gear, post processing – the works.  I have made some great friends from both photo walks, so kudos to Scott Kelby and the NAPP organization for hatching the idea for these types of get-togethers.  While the activity has always been around to a degree – the awareness and energy that they’ve brought to it are astounding!

Okay, enough fan-dom for the day – here’s my photo gallery shots I’ve worked on thus far.  Got a few regular shots and an HDR using the trial version of Photomatix (I still haven’t ponied up to buy this…I need to do that soon!):

_MG_7899
Large Sunflower

Farmhouse
Farmhouse
Para-sailing
Para-sailing
Wood Stove
Wood Stove

I know these are all pretty much snapshot material, but it’s part of what makes photo walks so much fun – just random pics, and socializing!  Unless of course you take your photowalking more serious…  On that note, share your thoughts on photo walks in the comments.  Do you find them useful?  If so, for what?  If not, share those thoughts as well.  Chime in, as comments are always appreciated!  (Oh yeah, can anyone tell which one is the HDR?  No peeking for the “photomatix” stamp!)

One final note – we are in the final days of the August contest over in the Flickr threads.  This month, the prize is a Wacom Bamboo Fun!  (I reviewed this last month on the blog, and you can check out the review here.)  The retail value of this is $100, and the submission count is a little lighter this go around, so your odds of winning are even better – for now!  Anyway, like the Lotto, if you don’t play, you can’t win – and this one is free!  So, share your “fun” themed shots today in the Flickr group – see the thread for more details here:  Bamboo Fun Giveaway

Okay, that’s all the photos, news, and contest info I have for this 498th post.  We’re closing in on magical #500 – only a couple days to go, so stay tuned as the posts will likely get more and more multimedia filled.  And, if you tune in to #500 – a great giveaway exclusive to that day will also be announced!  So, as we count down the days remaining, keep on shooting.  Until tomorrow, hope all your shots are great ones!

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And the winner is…

Jason4 Comments

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Here today, I am happy to announce that the winner for the OnOne Software Plugin Suite Giveaway has been decided.  So, without further ado, please give it up for Pete Petersheim!  Pete submitted the following image to the LDP contest thread, which got the ultimate nod:

Pete Petersheim's Winning Image
Pete Petersheim's Winning Image

Click the picture to go to his Flickr thread, wish him congratulations on a job well done.  Note there are two images in his Flickr thread, a cropped version (which was entered) and the full-size one.  I think that regardless of which he had entered, it would have won the day.  The colors, composition and impressive post-processing, as well as his unique flair for something unique is just superb.  Congrats Pete!  Send me a Flickr mail message, DM me on Twitter, or email me here and I’ll get you the contact info for the folks at OnOne to get the software prize out to you in short order!

To all the entrants – thanks so much for participating – we all learn so much from one another it really is amazing to see the artistic talents that inspire in new and exciting ways!  For a full look on the entrants and the finalists, there are web galleries here:

All OnOne Entries

The Top Ten

I’d also like to take a moment and thank the folks at OnOne software for their highly generous contribution – since the winner has been announced, it’s probably appropriate to note that there is also a very generous discount being offered on the entire suite right now through Thursday, August 13th!  Save $150 off the bundle, which is an amazing savings.  So, for those who are still interested, the time is still there to save a lot of money on the package – just tell them you heard about it here at Canon Blogger/Learning Digital Photography!

With the July contest completed now, it’s probably a good time to turn our focus to the August contest – you can win a Wacom Bamboo Fun valued at $100!  I reviewed this tablet a while ago here, so if you’d like some feedback that’s a good starting point.   But, don’t forget to enter your images – you can pull from archives this go around, and submit up to three images in the Flickr Thread!  More details are also available on Flickr!

That’s it for today, so congrats to Pete!  Thanks to Wacom!  And  Happy Shooting!  (We’ll see you back here again tomorrow!)

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Reviews, Contests, and Blog Notes

Jason5 Comments

Lots to cover today on the blog so I am going to get right to it.  First up, I’m trying to maintain the schedule of hardware reviews, so rather than go into detailed analysis, I am just sharing an abbreviated review here today on the Canon 28-135mm lens.  Also up on todays blog, the OnOne Software giveaway finalists have been announced!  Last up, a few administrative things to address.  So, without further ado, let’s get started:

The 28-135mm Review

The luck of this review is due to the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk.  I had been hearing good things about this lens for a while, and finally bit the bullet and rented it from a local camera store to try it out.  I tried to keep in mind that the gear is a little more worn than usual, but did see some pros and cons on the lens, so let’s get started:

28-135mm

The 28-135 is an excellent walk-around lens.  The focal range is perfect for going fairly wide and also zooming in to a certain degree.  It offers some of the best features of both worlds, and does so at a pretty reasonable price considering what it has to offer:

Pros

  1. Focal Range:  As mentioned it has a nice range for use while moving from one environment to another.  Not quite a wide angle, and also not a zoom, but a nice combination of the both.
  2. Weight:  For an IS lens, this is amazingly light.  I was expecting it to be a lot heavier, so a definite positive (and happy surprise here).
  3. Image Quality:  I couldn’t believe how wide the sweet spot of this was.  I got crystal clear tack sharp shots from probably 30mm to 130mm.  To get that kind of range in a “sweet spot” is significantly impressive
  4. Price:  The price for this lens is a shade under $400 from B&H and for an IS lens, that’s pretty darn good – about as cheap as you can get given the feature.

Cons

  1. Battery drain:  Although it’s related to the positive of Image Stabilization, the battery did seem to go rather quickly.
  2. Weight:  I know, it was listed as a pro, but I am also listing it as a negative, because with many of the newer SLR’s the weight doesn’t balance as well as it might have on the 20D or even the 350D.  Don’t get me wrong, I like light, but I also like balanced, and here I think the weight of the dated design has an impact on balance.

There’s a lot more I could go into here, but on the whole, the lens is a great one, and with the pros definitely outweighing the cons, it’s definitely one to consider adding to your gear bag – if you like to photo walk!  If you’d like to see samples of the 28-135 in action, feel free to check out this montage of shots I compiled from the Scott Kelby Photowalk:

The OnOne Giveaway Finalists!

I know, the moment you’ve all been waiting for – the finalists.  I am pushing forward here partly because my counterpart at OnOne, Mike Wong, has been on vacation, and is getting back soon, and secondly, because I understand OnOne is having an excellent promo sale going on right now for the suite, so I’d like to get this wrapped up so that those who have been waiting to hear can still take advantage of the opportunity to save a little $$$!  Lastly, also because the anticipation over the OnOne giveaway is a primary focus for many listeners, and other contests are both underway and coming up!  So, without further ado, here are the finalists I’ve chosen.

OnOne Software Giveaway Finalists

The quality of entries made it super hard to pick, because there were so many that were deserving of moving forward into the finals – but decisions had to be made.  Thanks to all for entering, and best of luck to the finalists – Mike and I will talk this week and hopefully have someone get a great email by Friday with the news that they are the proud winner of the OnOne Software Plugin Suite Giveaway!

Blog Notes

A couple updates are coming soon to the blog, and a couple have already been made.  Some things you may or may not have noticed that have already taken place:

The links in the sidebar have been broken out into categories from one another so you can find things easier

A paypal link has been added to the sidebar – I had mentioned this once before, and try not to push it, but donations are always welcome to help offset the costs of running this blog (bandwidth, time, and storage on my hosting provider)

The picture has been updated in the header.  I try to change this out periodically, and in the next incarnation that will randomize on each visit through an entire gallery of photos, but a new one is in place, so if you are picking up the content from a feeder – stop on over to see the changes!

Last but not least, thanks to Terry Reinert, I’ve added a plugin for fellow bloggers – when you post a comment here, your last post from your own blog is happily linked to your comment!  Enjoy!

So, that’s it for today?  Like the review and the changes?  How about those OnOne finalists?  Kudos to everyone who submitted images too.  Don’t forget to jump into the latest and greatest giveaway – the winner will get Wacom Bamboo Fun valued at $100!  Be sure to throw your best “Fun” themed images into the contest thread here:  Giveaway Thread

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

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Exposure Denver Presentation

Jason2 Comments

Tomorrow I will be speaking at a local photo club’s monthly meeting – Exposure Denver.  It’s quite an honor and my first time presenting in any way so we’ll see how it goes.  I’m sure the photogs there will have tons of questions I have absolutely no clue on what the answers are, but I am going to try to talk a bit about work flow – from capture to print.

I’ll be sharing the process I use to import my photos from the camera to the computer and then my file management system, both for redundancy and output to various outlets including web galleries and to print.  Talking points will include:

* Card Readers
* File/Asset management
* Lightroom
* Web Galleries
* Blogging and sharing images online

Anyone in the area is welcome to stop by and meet the the group.  Exposure Denver can be found online at http://www.blog.exposuredenver.com

The meeting starts at 7pm at the Breckenridge Brewery located at: 471 Kalamath Street | Denver, CO 80204  Hope to see you there!

In contest news, the finalists for the OnOne Software giveaway should be announced in a few days – judging begins today.  The August contest kicks off today – with the prize at the end of the tunnel to be the Wacom Bamboo Fun (small)!  Thanks to the good folks at Wacom for donating this great tablet for a lucky reader.

As always, post your images to the Flickr thread, and make sure your image is sized between 800 and 600px on the longest side.  The theme:  FUN!

Here’s the link to the Flickr Thread:  Bamboo Fun Giveaway

That should be enough news for one day, so happy shooting all!  We’ll see you back here tomorrow!

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Galleries Addendum

Jason4 Comments

Yesterdays post on how to get into galleries generated some great questions and comments both via email and on the blog, so in the interests of keeping that interest and momentum going, here’s a few more tips on Getting Into Galleries, courtesy of Dave Warner from LensFlare 35 and Rich Charpentier (who I’ve interviewed here on the podcast).  Thanks guys for chiming in and offering your assistance!  Onto the 5 additional tips:

  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.

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