Photo.net Newsletter: March 18, 2009

Hi %%First Name%%,

Happy day-after St. Paddy’s Day! Hopefully, the green light you’re seeing through the window isn’t just an aftermath of all the green beer you downed last night.

Josh and I spent a very valuable week in Vegas at PMA. Most of what we saw and experienced is featured on the Photo.net Blog coverage of PMA. Thanks to Lensbaby, Ilford/Harman, Lexar, Lowepro, we were able to offer extra incentive to everyone following the blog. All comments were considered an entry. See below for the prizes and which lucky Photo.net members won some loot.

Also, the winners of the Harold Davis Flower Photography Project have been selected. Thanks to all who participated. The top 3 images get special recognition on Photo.net and a copy of Harold Davis’ book Light & Exposure, the finalist will also receive a $50 gift card from Adorama. See details and winners below.

Enjoy the editorial newsletter!

Sincerely,

Hannah Thiem, Photo.net Managing Editor

Editorial Highlights

Due to so much going on at PMA, our editorial selection is slightly smaller, but we’ll be back in full force next month featuring a few new authors whose identity remain undisclosed for now.

Color Management Primer Part IV: Printer Profiles

The last article of the Color Management Primer by Jay Kinghorn, offers advice on the myriad options available in the printer driver, tips on improving your print accuracy, and advice on preparing images for printing at a digital photo lab.

Color Management Primer: Part IV for everything you wanted to know on preparing images for print.

Photography Business Series: Estimating Expenses

Tony Luna continues his 9-part series on “The Lifecycle of a Freelance Photography Job.” The fifth article is on Estimating Expenses. Tony encourages us to take a look at some of the things you should consider when accounting for the below-the-line costs commonly referred to the as the “Expenses” or “Production Charges”.

Read Part V of the series: Estimating Expenses.

Interview with Jodi Cobb, National Geographic photographer

Jodi Cobb has been a staff photographer for National Geographic for 30+ years. Just last year, she turned freelance. I had the wonderful opportunity at PMA to discuss with her some of her life’s stories, challenges, and successes in the field of documentary/news photojournalism.

Read the Photo.net Interview with Jodi Cobb.

Canon EOS Speedlite System

Bob Atkins explores the differences among the current offerings in the Canon EOS Speedlite System, as well as two specialty macro flash systems. Be able to make the best choice on flashes for the type of photography you do.

Read the Photo.net Guide to Canon EOS Speedlite System.

Olympus E-620 Preview

Olympus just released details on their latest entry-level DSLR, the E-620. This camera falls between the the consumer oriented Olympus E-520 and the recently announced more semi-pro Olympus E-30.

Read the Olympus E-620 Preview.

Special Editorial Feature of the Month

Travel Photography Tips Series by Rick Sammon

Rick Sammon covers a few very valuable aspects of travel photography. He’s loaded with expertise on the subject, given that he’s been traveling around the world for 30 years, and has photographed just about every subject in every condition in more than 100 countries. What’s more, he’s made every mistake in the book! Therefore, Rick is in a good position to help you avoid mistakes and to help you get the most out of your travel photography experience.

• Night Photography
• Wildlife Photography
• Capturing Culture Digitally

Now for the “Gold” Articles

Let’s take a look at some articles that really are worth their weight in gold (if you could weigh virtual knowledge) or platinum if you prefer that precious metal. Here’s to the revival of some interesting older content!

• Epson R-D1 Review by Josh Root
• Using Tilt-Shift Lenses by Frank Sheeran
• Depth Edge Detection and Rendering using Multi-Flash Imaging by Kyle Nicholls

Photo.net PMA Blog Winners

Josh and I covered PMA, the largest photography expo and conference, in Vegas from March 2-5. We featured interesting products, interviews with photographers, video of the show, and an insider’s view of the show floor. Thanks to a number of product contributors, we were able to offer prizes to people following the blog. Every comment on the PMA blog posts was considered an entry in the bag-of-loot contest, hence two people winning a couple of prizes. All names were placed in a hat and selected randomly.

Here are the selected winners and the prizes they won:

• Bill Gerrard: $200 Lensbaby gift certificate
• John Howell: 5-roll pack of 35mm Ilford SFX 200 infrared film
• Andrew Lynn: 5-roll pack of 35mm Ilford SFX 200 infrared film, Photo.net 1-year subscription
• Dick Arnold: 5-roll pack of 120 Ilford SFX 200 infrared film
• Michael McGowan: 5-roll pack of 120 Ilford SFX 200 infrared film
• Kelly Cannon: 30-sheet pack of Harman Crystaljet RC inkjet paper
• Martijn Houtman: 30-sheet pack of Harman Crystaljet RC inkjet paper
• Rob Smith: 30-sheet pack of Harman Crystaljet RC inkjet paper
• Nathan Purmort: Lowepro Toploader Pro AW 70
• Oliver Chong: Lowepro Pro Roller x200, Photo.net 1-year subscription
• Scott Heffernan: Lexar 8GB Pro 133x SDHC card
• Ronin Weir: Lexar 8GB Pro 133x CF card

Thanks to all who followed our unique coverage of PMA 2009, and thanks to the companies who generously offered such wonderful prizes!

If you haven’t already, check out the Photo.net PMA Coverage.

Project Of The Month: Repetition

When searching for scenes that could make a strong image, one of the best places to start can often be to look for repeating subjects that make a pattern. You will often hear photography instructors say things like “patterns bring a sense of order and rhythm to an image.” I’m not sure how true that is—it’s a bit “metaphysical” for my taste, but I do know that the human eye generally enjoys a good pattern.

Patterns can come from the subject itself, as with the beer bottles in my example image. Or patterns could come from light, color, or even texture. One good way to notice patterns is to get either very close to something or very far away. By getting close, you eliminate extra information and allow the pattern to come out (as with the beer bottles) and by getting far away, you eliminate the specifics and allow yourself to see patterns in a larger view of the world (think of traffic on a freeway, for example).

See all of the Monthly Projects (and submission instructions) on the Monthly Project Index page. Also, be sure to take a look at last month’s Window Light project page and see all the wonderful images that were uploaded. Here are a few that caught my eye:

Harold Davis Flower Project Winners

In January, Photo.net featured an interview with Harold Davis. Harold discussed his methods of finding inspiration and creativity when photographing a specific assignment or a non-specific assignment. At the end of the interview, he offered a creative project for Photo.net members to delve into.

Assignment: Photograph a flower in a unique way—in a way that nobody’s seen before. Take a month to dive in to photographing a flower in an unusual creative way. One of the key requirements for this assignment is “originality”; that is, this is a flower as it has not been seen before.

The Grand Entry is the proud recipient of a $50 Adorama gift card and a copy of Harold Davis’ book Light & Exposure. The 1st and 2nd Runners up win a copy of Harold’s book as well.

You can view all the entries here: Harold Davis Flower Project

Grand Entry: Martha Weintraub’s “Flower Dancer”

1st Runner up: Christa Binder’s “Untitled”

2nd Runner up: S.J. Luke’s “Coming Up for Air”

Special Deals from Adorama

Lensbaby 0.42x Super Wide Convertor Lens

• Converts Lensbaby optics from a 50mm focal length to a 21mm focal length, while only slightly shrinking the Sweet Spot
• Compatible with the Double Glass, Single Glass, Plastic, and Pinhole/Zone Plate optics as well as our legacy Lensbaby lenses
• 37mm threaded and screws onto the front of any Lensbaby for ease of use
• Measures 2” w x 1.75” h / 2.4oz (4.4cm x 5.1cm / 68g)
• Will vignette when not pointed straight ahead on a full frame camera

Buy now from Adorama: Lensbaby 0.42X Super Wide Convertor Lens [sale price: $79.95 + free shipping]

Other deals from Adorama:

• Joby Professional Gorillapod Focus Flexible Aluminum SLR Tripod [sale price: $99.95]
• Nikon Coolpix S52 Digital Camera [sale price: $109.95]

What’s Happening In Our Forums

• Wedding and social event photography (60 Responses) Photoshopping is crowding out technical skill...an opinion
• Canon EOS (67 Responses) Nikon to Canon
• Digital Darkroom (37 Responses) Gamut? 3800 EpsonStandard vs PhotoshopRGB
• Classic Manual Cameras (62 Responses) What older manual 35mm camera is the best to purchase? price max out at 350
• Film and Processing (828 Responses) Poor scans - May explain why some switch to Digital

Go To Photo.net Forums. »

Editors’ Picks

We have a new Editors’ Picks for your enjoyment: St. Patrick’s Day Photography.

Samples:

Also, take a look at some of the most popular Editors’ Picks from previous months:

• Birds-in-Flight Photography
• Landscape Photography
• Architectual Photography