Last week we looked at 5 different ways to create compelling captures here on the blog. Well, today the latest podcast is available where we go into a little more granularity on the subject. A little dash of some photo news and tidbits are thrown in too, but more importantly, the previously hyped and promoted conversation with David DuChemin is now live and ready for your listening enjoyment. We look not only at how to create compelling captures, but also at how the idea of controversy fits into the picture. Can controversial pictures make for more compelling images? What defines controversy? Is it the photographer, the conditions, the viewer, or something else altogether?
David and I also talk about his travels, share a few anecdotes, and look at the world of photography in new and exciting ways – coming at things creatively rather than technically. Lots of great stuff for your listening enjoyment. Here’s the show notes for Episode #33 of Learning Digital Photography:
That’s it for today, make sure you get the podcast from either the download link over at PLM, or via iTunes and let me know what you think! Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
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PODCAST ALERT!!!
The hosting folks are having some technical difficulties, so please bear with them as they sort things out – in the meantime, the ad-free podcast can be downloaded as an mp3 file here!
Another month goes into the archives as we enter November for 2009. Here at the CB/LDP headquarters though, that means it’s announcement time for a couple of things, not the least of which is the latest contest news, the October newsletter, and something new for blog readers only! Let’s start with the contest news:
Fellow blogger, NAPP member, and active LDP participant, Karen Stansel was the winner of the October giveaway. She walked away with a Pro license of Noise Ninja from the folks over at Picture Code. Congrats to Karen (a.k.a. Mitzs), and thanks to Picture Code. With that contest closed, we are now into the November Giveaway. This month a pretty cool bundle is being offered up. The winner this go around will go home with the following prizes (yes, that’s plural!):
A free copy of one of Matthew Bamberg’s books on photography (don’t know who he is, listen to the latest podcast! 🙂 )
A DVD from Photoshop User TV – the best of the 11th year!
A $25 gift card to B&H Photo (just in time for the holidays)
The theme for the November contest is: Winter (surprise surprise, since Fall was last month!) The usual spate of guidelines applies, but to be sure you are getting all the latest, stop by the Flickr thread and read the first post. Then, get ready and shoot because there’s only about 3 weeks again for getting your shots in. Good luck to all!
Next up, the latest news from the podcast and blog is the October newsletter. Painstakingly assembled over the last month after some really useful feedback, it’s now ready for download by clicking on the image below:
Learning Digital Photography, Issue #2
In one final bit of photo goodness, and in keeping with what many others are doing, I am happy to announce that CB/LDP is also joining the fray of photogs that shares their images in the form of a monthly desktop calendar! Download the November Newsletter for the links to the images, or follow these links here (only temporarily linked here in the blog – going to become a newsletter-only feature starting with the December issue! I am offering up 3 sizes based on the analytics of monthly traffic. If your desktop dimensions are not featured, let me know either in the comments or via email and I can customize one for you…otherwise, here’s the 3 dimensions:
Another little nugget I just was reminded of (this is why participating in forums is a good thing): Don’t forget to adjust your in-camera settings on the date/time for the change in daylight savings in U.S. (unless of course you never changed it forward in the Spring…)! Doing so will keep your EXIF data accurate! (Thanks to Dave from the NAPP forums for the reminder!)
Last, but not least, I would be remiss if I didn’t drop a hint to read the latest issue of the PhotographyBB Online Magazine. Not only is it free, but it’s just chock full of great and useful resources. Also on the site is an active community forum of fellow photogs, full of great shots, creativity, and useful advice. All of it is worth your time, so be sure to stop in there and see everything Dave and crew has to offer…(oh yeah, I wrote an article for the October issue too!)
Tomorrow, don’t forget to tune in for a combo hardware/software review, the likes of which you’ll never believe until you read it! (Okay, nothing that fancy, but worth keeping in your feed reader, right? 🙂 ) Happy shooting all, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for the latest!
After the blog post on Wednesday, and the number of comments received, I thought that the next podcast would be well served to discuss the idea behind matting and framing in more detail. As luck would have it, that podcast just went live earlier this afternoon! You can catch the podcast over at the Personal Life Media site here: Learning Digital Photography
Here’s the Show Notes:
In this latest episode of Learning Digital Photography, the Grand Prize winner from the September $500 giveaway is announced, and the October contest opens up – ready for your entries. The theme this time is Fall (open to interpretation). Specs, guidelines, and such are discussed including dimensions, dates for submission and more.
Also in this episode, a primer on framing your photos: things to look for and avoid when matting and framing work. I look at what gallery and show fine art venues usually require versus home or personal use.
Finally, the popular listener question and answer segment returns, with some great ones coming from all over the globe! Download today! Happy shooting!
Don’t forget, every time you “Digg” the podcast over at PLM, or subscribe and write a review on iTunes , you are helping others enjoy the fun and thrill of photography. Feel free to also use those venues as well as the comments here and contact with me via email if you have an idea or thought to share about the show. Thanks, as always, for listening and reading. Have a great weekend, happy shooting, and we’ll see you back again on Monday!
First off, I’d like to extend a big time “Thanks” to Andie Smith for bravely stepping up to the plate and delivering a home run of a first Guest Blogger post. With 17 responses to her post, it is already ranked among the top five posts ever! Make sure you stop over and check out her blog and portfolio.
For this Friday, I’ve got a fun little photo tip for you and that is to peruse your archives occasionally. You may find something of interest where previously you didn’t. Since inspiration and creativity can strike at any time and anywhere for a different number of reasons, if you don’t like an image immediately, consider just archiving it for a while. I do…and every month or so I peruse my own archives to see if some gem escaped my first glance. Here’s a few that initially didn’t strike my fancy where now I am thinking “Hey, there might be some potential there!” What do you think?
SC Beaches
SC Beaches
Last but not least, don’t forget, the $500 Giveaway for a Topaz Photoshop Plugin Bundle and and Thinktank Multimedia Photo bag system will close for entries tomorrow at midnight! (I had thought it was tonight earlier, but in referencing the Flickr thread, realized it’s tomorrow, so you got a 24 hour window to get your own photo creations in. One person did ask if “Topaz” had to be in the picture and the clarification was made that ANY color is fair game (or even the lack of color if that’s how you interpret it…) The Flickr thread to enter your photos is here: $500 Giveaway
That’s it for this week, have a great weekend, happy shooting and we’ll see you Monday!
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
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!).
As you may recall from the video announcement on Friday’s post #500 – the giveaway product for September includes the newest bag system from Thinktank Photo. You read that right, it’s a bag system! Totaling $320 in value retail the bags include the following: Continue reading “Post #501: Hardware Review – Thinktank Photo Multimedia Bag”→
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!):
Large Sunflower
FarmhousePara-sailingWood 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!
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
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:
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!)
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!
Today I thought it would be appropriate to take a moment and give some contest update announcements.
First off, don’t forgot the OnOne Software Plugin Suite contest that is going on all month. Share your images over in the Flickr thread (with a theme of “Numbers”) to be eligible.
Second, the winer of the Fotoquote Pro discount is contributing commenter Fred from the comments posted in June. Fred won the discount code for a copy of Fotoquote Pro – congrats to Fred.
Third, the next contest is also going to be an exciting one because the folks at Wacom have generously offered to let me give away the Bamboo Fun I reviewed a couple weeks ago. That will be going live next month though, so definitely something to look forward to there!
Last but not least, if there are products you would like to see reviewed, given away as prizes in photo contests and such, just share your product ideas with me here in the comments or via email (you all know it by now – jason AT canonblogger DOT com).
I know, it’s a lame way to self-promote things, but the lucky listeners and readers also ultimately benefit from these types of giveaways, so please let me know what types of things you would like to see in future giveaways. (Still working on a few ideas myself, but hearing from readers and listeners is the best way to generate content you like, so let’s hear from the audience!)
Happy shooting out there, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow. I should have the next podcast up and ready for your weekend listening enjoyment too!
