With April in the books a new winner has been determined. It was a really tough call as all the entries this month were deserving, and each could have easily been considered a winner given the theme, the composition, creativity, and treatment. All in all, the cream really has risen to the top, and I am seeing some really impressive quality in the images this month.
Okay, enough dancing around the subject. The winner is:
Bryan F
Seriously, I don’t know if I can keep doing these contests, because every month the decision gets more and more difficult to make. It was a real toss up, and the only reason this one topped the others is because of the sense of tension brought to the image as well. I just kept coming back to it saying “Wow…” So, congrats to Bryan F – he is officially now the first repeat winner on LDP, and also he marks the winner who took us over the threshold of $200o in giveaway prizes! Pretty cool if you think about it – on many counts!
In new contest news – the May contest is now underway, and the theme this month is:
WIDE!
The reason? Well, by now you should know that themes are typically based around some premise of the prize, and since the prize this month is the well-respected PTGui Panorama Software (thanks to the folks over at PTGui for their generous sponsorship). Given the nature of the contest theme, there will be a slight variation this month: images should be no wider than 1600pixels on the longest side. The theme lends itself toward panorama shots, so it would be silly to restrict the dimensions to prevent any decent panos. This will also be noted in the contest thread up on Flickr. Get clicking and above all, have some fun! Deadline is the last Friday in May (28th).
Oh, and in case you can’t keep that in mind – download a May Calendar (yup, they are back at least temporarily…more on that on tomorrows blog post). For now, feel free to download your own desktop sized calendar from the links below:
For those interested in the technique, be sure to tune in tomorrow. Otherwise, happy shooting, good luck in the May contest, and we’ll see you back here mañana!
P.S. For vendors interested in sponsoring a contest or future giveaway, I am getting caught up now and ready to start scheduling giveaway content starting in August 2010. For readers, if you know of any vendors that would be cool for prizes, by all means, let me know and I’ll see if I can’t get them on board!
Yup, the day it became available for purchase/download, the trials also became available – a first for Adobe! I’ve already downloaded it and am starting to play with it for the first time (was not a beta tester). Suffice to say, it’s pretty slick and yes, as I said yesterday, I am getting the upgrade! Rather than show you screen shots and pore over the list of new features which has been done ad infinitum, I did a short video of some of the settings I like to adjust on an initial install. So, here is that video straight from YouTube!
The Easter Egg had some cool trivia too. For instance – does anyone (outside Adobe) know how many babies were born to members of the team during production? WHo is the queen of the tenth floor? Is the wizard still there? If so, where is he now? Neat little nuggets just waiting to be discovered all in CS5! Got the answers or your own nuggets? Sound off in the comments! 🙂
Also, a final reminder about the April giveaway – some lucky participant will win an Expo Disc from the folks over at Expo Imaging. Get your balance-themed photos in before midnight tonight to have a chance at winning! Here’s the link: April Giveaway
Okay, it’s not an Oscar, nor an Emmy, but the LDP Monthly Giveaway is sufficiently popular that selecting winning images is very tough. Here’s what happens once the contest is closed: Continue reading “And the Oscar Goes to…”→
Congratulations and kudos go out to the winner for the February contest – the theme was Height and the winning image came from Sue90ca! To see all the images submitted for February, check out the thread here with all the images. Some really great ones were included, and as always, it was a tough decision. Nevertheless, Sue90ca’s “Crayons” was selected as the winner.
Before anyone asks, the March contest info is not up on FLickr yet, but I should have an announcement for that later on tonight. I’ll give you a WILD hint though about the subject and the prize! Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
P.S. Sue, if you could email me at jason <at> canonblogger <dot> com or message me on Flickr, I need to get in touch with you about the prize delivery for February…congrats again! 🙂
What’s the best camera to buy? What’s the best Photoshop plugin for photography? What’s the best CS4 tutorial? What’s the best lens for the Vivitar 110? What’s the best iPod for the dollar? What’s the best car? What’s the best truck? What’s the best soda? What’s the best flavor of ice cream?
I think you get the picture…so many questions on “What’s the best____” and almost without fail, the answer begins with an “It depends…”
We all want to get the best value for our money, and it pays to do research before you buy. No one likes to over spend, or buy something they end up not liking, or even worse, deal with the dreaded customer service lines or phone calls. Without meaning to sound all grandfatherly (I am only 40 years young…), I distinctly remember a time when we could think for ourselves, and when we formed our own opinions.
This is not to say that seeking the opinions of professionals and/or experts is not useful, because it is. If Scott Kelby says some photography product or Photoshop plugin is just totally cool – I am going to take a look at that product. He knows his stuff when it comes to these subjects, and yes, I would consider him an expert. Am I going to ask him what he thinks the best way to tape drywall is in my basement? Of course not! So, seeking expert advice is always a good thing. But there is a danger in seeking the advice of “experts”.
The danger is that it is so easy to claim oneself as an expert anymore. Anyone with $10 and an hour can purchase a domain/hosting and set up a website claiming they are an expert in duct tape applications. People will flock to this site, asking questions about how to apply it in all sorts of circumstances. What’s the best way to affix bubble wrap to a window? What’s the best way to tape a package for shipping? What’s the best way to adhere flashing to an airplane kitchen galley?
Anyone can purport to be an expert, but you need to exercise some common sense in deciphering who is qualified to render an opinion. Additionally, it may help to exercise a little judgement of your own. No one likes to make a decision and be wrong. Being wrong is no fun. I am wrong on many things, and while I may try not to be wrong – that is something that will never completely happen. But you know what? When I make a decision and I am wrong – I usually end up learning more from that than if I take the advice of others and the decision is wrong. Why? Because the blame is shifted from me – “That’s not my fault,” I say, “Joe Schmoe told me to do that…he is wrong.”
The thing of it is, whether Scott Kelby or Joe Schmoe tells you something about anything – you need to make up your own mind from time to time. It’s important because if you don’t make your own decisions, whether it be about dry-walling, duct tape, or photography – your learning curve will never amount to much. Learn from experience!
Happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow with the Best Blog! 🙂
P.S. Don’t forget, the best contest is going on right now on Flickr – Circle themed photos are being accepted through Jan 29th and the winner gets a free copy of Photomatix from the folks at HDR Soft.
The trumpets sound! The chorus rings, and the internet shall stop and take notice!
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)
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:
Make sure your image is between 600-800px on the longest side.
Try to keep things within the current month. Archives are okay, but preference will be given to current photos
Images should be family/work safe
Should be posted to the Flickr thread for the current month contest
Deadline for entries is Friday, Jan. 29th (again, 3 weeks)
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! 🙂 )
Last night I got the bug to try something I’d seen before – the classic Christmas-y look with a score of music and a shallow depth of field. It was straightforward enough and after putting a piece of sheet music on the piano, and trying it that way, wasn’t getting the drop off in depth-of -field as I had hoped for. So, I took a different approach and put the music sheet flat on a table, knowing the dof would drop off that way, with the foreground out of focus and receding off in the background too.
So, the second one came out okay, but the plain background of the table didn’t really work all that well…it needed something else – Christmas lights! So, I got an extra garland that wasn’t used in the house and threw that down, encircling the paper. But something was still missing…a little color. What goes with green and white? Red! Enter a blanket strategically placed underneath it all to add a touch of color. So, took a few shots, and liked it, but the shadows seemed kind of muted, and the lights were getting a little blown out. Hmmm…could I be dreaming of an HDR Christmas?
An HDR Christmas
The fact that the little star burst off the one light happened was purely incidental, but I think helped the overall composition. How about the reading audience? What are your thoughts? Does it work? Need something else? What about your own holiday-themed work? Feel free to share thoughts, feedback, samples and such in the comments!
In other Friday news, CB now has a Facebook fan page, so if you get a minute – stop by the Facebook page and sign up. I’ll be sharing more photos, tips, tricks, and such there in the weeks to come as well, and you won’t know unless you’re a “fan”! For those of you getting your news from the feed, the direct link to the Facebook page is here.
Don’t forget, the December Giveaway is also still underway – over $400 of super cool prizes including software, books, prints, and papers! Just a cornucopia of prizes, all waiting to be given away for free! Just enter your photo at the Flickr thread: December Giveaway. The theme this month is GIVING. Interpret however you like and good luck to all. The rest of the contest details are here.
That’s about it for this Friday – have a great weekend everyone! Going on a sunrise shoot in the mountains tomorrow wit the Meetup group here in Denver, so it is going to be an early riser for me tomorrow. Start time of 4am! More on that next week! Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here on Monday!
I know – the blog has not gotten much attention lately. My apologies – but after the job loss, and pounding the pavement, my schedule has tightened up considerably, so the “planned posts” have pretty much been exhausted as I let myself get behind. The good news is that with several opportunities on the horizon, I am a little less stressed about “real world” economics, and can dedicate some time back to the blog. A few items of note:
#1 – The Year End Blowout Bash is underway – and LDP/Canon Blogger is giving away a ton of goodies. I posted details about this last week, but in the interests of giving it a little more “face time”, I would encourage everyone to start thinking about their “giving” themed photos – could mean some seriously cool prizes coming your way to start the new year off right! More details on the prize package and such here:
#2 – The 3rd edition of the LDP Newsletter is forthcoming – with some little known tidbits about the guests on most recent podcasts, including nuggets from David DuChemin and Andie Smith, as well as the monthly roundup, great quotes and christmas/holiday ideas for the photo buff in all of us.
#3 – With many things under way both professionally and personally for this time of year – the posting schedule that I had been adhering to for most of the year (hardware, software review, composition, podcast, etc.) is likely not going to be followed as strictly as things will be done more on a “catch as catch can” sort of thing. If you like tuning in for one thing or another – keep on reading because the stuff you like will be there, just maybe not on the schedule you are accustomed to.
#4 – Last up, I’d like to point out that the donations tab is still active, and all are welcome to contribute via that conduit – but in the interests of getting some tangible things back to the reader and listeners that have been so encouraging, I am going to be coming out with some short eBooks (5-10 pages max) and there is a new link for the website to bookmark for that content: https://canonblogger.com/store While I am getting a fairly good idea of things readers and listeners would like to see/hear, feel free to send in questions, comments, suggestions and the like for store content as I am open to input.
So, with the vegetables out of the way, I’d like to delve into the “meat and ‘taters” segment of today’s post and that lies in the title: bokeh
For those of you that may not be aware, bokeh refers to the blurred portions that are out of focus behind your subject matter. The quality and nature of that out of focus portion can really enhance a photo, and can even become the subject matter itself when looked at creatively. Now, I‘ve talked here on the blog about bokeh in the past, but in the spirit of the holidays, I thought it would be fun to share some samples of images where I actually forced the entire scene out of focus, to basically make the bokeh the subject:
The Beauty of Bokeh #1
The Beauty of Bokeh #2
The Beauty of Bokeh #3
The Beauty of Bokeh #4
The Beauty of Bokeh #5
As the samples show, you can make some pretty fun use of blur and bokeh. Shapes lend themselves well, and varieties in colors, as well as monochromes too. Another thing – when getting bokeh and blur – don’t worry too much about noise and crank the ISO if need be – it’s all about your creative mind. You can remove noise if you must, but the idea is to capture something in a new way and getting bokeh this time of year specifically can be a lot of fun. A few suggestions though:
Look for shapes, as suggesting what the subject might really be can catch visual interest by teasing the eye – you know what it is by the shape…
Look for light, because without much variation in light or bright spots, the bokeh will end up looking like just some smudges of a limited tonal range
Use your best lens(es) as these produce softer bokeh – less angular edges, and more rounded or smooth textures, which is usually better for bokeh (“better for bokeh”, did I just say that?)
Shoot wide open, then switch to manual focus and intentionally blur – push the lens further out of focus for variations on your bokeh elements. Watch what happens and adjust to taste.
So, there’s a few ideas for you – there could be an eBook coming out on this later with more samples and suggestions so let me know if this whets your appetite. Do you like the idea? Want to see more? Get more tips on shooting for the abstract? Do the photos above help or hurt the idea? Do you like them or think there are better samples? Got any of your own? Feel free to post links to your own libraries of bokeh and blur for everyone to enjoy – there might even be a newsletter mention in it for ya! 🙂
That’s gonna do it for today – coming up later this week, the aforementioned newsletter, another podcast, and much more, so keep on shooting, until then, may your batteries be charged and your memory cards filled with lots of photos this holiday season. Now get out there and shoot ya some! 🙂
A few days late, but the year-end giveaway is quite exciting as there is just a ton of good stuff going into this giveaway. Here’s the inside skinny on what the winner is going to walk away with in December:
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:
Limit of one photo entry per person.
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!
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.
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…)
With the November giveaway deadline behind us, it was time to look at all the submissions and pick a winner from the set of entries. Without further ado, the winner of the November Contest/Giveaway is:
Winter Wonderland
The theme for the contest was “Winter” and though it was a little early for this, Yvonne took her creativity to new levels by doing some rather unique post processing on an image and it worked! It looks like she converted this to black and white or added an infrared filter of some kind. Not sure what exactly she did, but it sure gave me shivers when I looked at it, so, congratulations to Yvonne for your creative vision, and for winning the November giveaway. If you see this before I get a chance to find you, send me an email to claim your prizes. I’ll be sending Yvonne a $25 gift card to B&H Photo, a DVD for the Best of Photoshop User TV, Season 11, and a book from Matthew Bamberg. Be sure to stop by Yvonne’s photo stream on Flickr, and her website for more wonderful photos and to congratulate her.
Thanks to the folks at NAPP for the DVD, to Matthew Bamberg for contributing a copy of his book, and for everyone who participated. I know it was challenging as many people noted that it wasn’t very “wintery” in their area yet. Hopefully though, Yvonne’s creativity showed us that you can create wonderful winter-like scenes any time of year – you just need to post process a little.
Stay tuned for the announcement of the December giveaway this Friday, while recovering from your turkey-induced tryptophan slumbers! Believe it or not, tomorrow is not going to ne a no-blog day – something special is scheduled for your reading enjoyment. Regardless, have a Happy Thanksgiving, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow! Don’t forget those cameras, and keep on shooting!
