Photo.net Newsletter: May 6, 2010

Hi %%First Name%%,

Mother’s Day is around the corner, Memorial Day weekend is coming up, Father’s Day is next month. All great occasions to take photos, try something new, expand your photographic horizons. In honor of Mother’s Day, we’d love to hear about what you have planned for your mother—photography-related or not. Post your plans here.

On the community front, we have some new announcements for you this month. We’re introducing a new forum: Member’s Photo News, for Photo.net members to announce gallery shows, publications, new websites, and so on. Also, we’re trying out Cooliris walls to display images in some areas of the site. At the moment, it’s still a ‘beta’ thing but people are liking it a lot. See below for more details on both these community announcements.

Also, on the editorial side of things, you can spend your weekend learning a new Photoshop trick on inverting backgrounds using LAB, read Sebastian’s detailed account of his photographic excursion to Sicily, Italy, read a preview on a new Nikon lens, or check out three new Gizmos and Gadgets reviews. And check out the Photo.net Moms, Dads & Grads Gift Guide if you haven’t done so already.

Don’t miss the deals and discounts from Adorama (scroll down), and share your thoughts about editorial, community, photography, and anything in between on the Photo.net Blog, Facebook Page, and Twitter Feed.

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, please send them to us directly at contact@photo.net. Enjoy the newsletter!

Sincerely,

Hannah Thiem, Managing Editor, and Josh Root, Chief Admin, Director of Community

Photo.net Community Updates

Two new photo.net features this month. A new forum and a new way to look at images.

New Forum: Member’s Photo News

To address the need for the Photo.net community to be able to announce photo-related news or updates (professional or otherwise), I have created a new forum called Member’s Photo News. This is a forum for Photo.net members to announce gallery shows, publications, new websites, and so on. This forum is somewhat heavily moderated to prevent abuse. It exists to help our established members get a little attention for themselves. It does not exist as a place for industry press releases, SEO boost efforts, “for sale” ads, or anything of that sort.

PLEASE read the forum guidelines. If you do not understand or have questions, please ask in the Photo.net Site Help forum.

Click here to go to the new Member’s Photo News forum.

Cooliris test on Photo.net

Just a heads up to anyone who is surprised, we’re trying out using Cooliris walls to display images in some areas of the site. At the moment, it’s still a ‘beta’ thing. So please report any glitches here on this thread.

Currently, you can click the Cooliris logo and bring up the wall in these areas of the site:

• Photo of the Week archives
• No Words forum
• Image tag search
• Image caption search
• Nikon Wednesday photo threads

Click here for more info or to ask a question about Cooliris.

Gifts for Moms, Dads & Grads

Mother’s Day. Graduation. Father’s Day. These dates are around the corner—it’s time to consult the 2010 Photo.net Moms, Dads and Grads Gift Guide for the best selection of tried and true photography gear. This year, we organized by price point—you can look at recommendations only in your price bracket. Maybe look at the over $1000 items for yourself?

We are honored to have such a great crew of contributors to this year’s gift guide. These are professionals who have used nearly every piece of photo equipment on the market. The selections are what they’ve used first-hand and rate them over other similar products. Go ahead, see what they have to say about photo gear for your mom, dad, or grad. (See end of article for list of contributors).

Read the Photo.net Moms, Dads & Grads Gift Guide.

Editorial Highlights

This month, we’re showcasing a new Creativity in the Photoshop Darkroom tutorial, a Nikon lens preview, a photographer’s guide to Sicily, Italy, and 3 new Gizmos and Gadgets reviews:

Nikon AF-S 200-400 f/4G ED VR II Lens Preview

Nikon is updating the popular AF-S 200-400 f/4 lens with Version 2. It keeps the overall design of the AF-S VR Version 1 with the following improvements: improved vibration reduction with the newer VR2, nano lens coating to reduce flare and ghosting, and a new A/M auto focus mode that prevents accidental override of AF when the photographer touches the focus ring.

Read the preview and official press release from Nikon on the Nikon AF-S 200-400 f/4G ED VR II Lens Preview.

A Photographer’s Guide to Sicily, Italy

Sicily. An island the size of a country. A country within a country. A place full of history and stories. Stories about its ancient roots, stories about its developing present. And last but not least, the unfolding story of its future. Sebastian Vaida reports back on his photographic journeys to this beautiful island and shares some of the history and tips on where to take the best photos.

Read A Photographer’s Guide to Sicily, Italy

Creativity in the Photoshop Darkroom: Inverting Backgrounds with LAB

In this creative Photoshop Darkroom series with Harold Davis, we explored a few other techniques using the LAB color space in Photoshop. This month’s column explains the basics of inverting a solid black or solid white background in LAB. You might be interested if you want to alter the background of an image: perhaps for a creative effect, perhaps you had no choice about the background when you shot the image, or you’d like to present a matched pair of photos of the same subject—one on a white and another on a black background. Harold presents this advanced technique step-by-step.

Learn about Inverting Backgrounds with LAB.

Last month, we debuted a new column on Photo.net: Gizmos and Gadgets. In case you missed the announcement, this column will cover everything from camera bags to light meters to tripods to flash diffusers to hard drives. We’ll be announcing additional Gizmos and Gadgets reviews throughout the month on our Facebook Page and Twitter Feed.

Gizmos & Gadgets: Acratech GP Ballhead

If you’re shooting with a digital SLR, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of a quality ballhead for your tripod or monopod. Acratech’s GP is an excellent example of what a ballhead should be—a well-constructed, fine-tuned piece of equipment that meets a variety of needs. Whether you’re shooting horizontal, vertical (left or right), straight up or straight down, or at an angle, the GP ballhead can handle it. It’s not a full-fledged Gimbal, but it is capable of perfectly balancing up to a 400mm f/4 lens.

Theano writes a short and sweet Gizmos & Gadgets review of the Acratech GP Ballhead.

Gizmos & Gadgets: Seagate USB 3.0 External Hard Drive

If you care about transfer speeds, this may be the hard drive you’ve been waiting for. The Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 Performance Kit may look like your standard external hard drive, but it uses USB 3.0 for greatly improved transfer speeds over USB 2.0 products.

Sal Cangeloso, tech and geek expert, writes a short G&G review on the Seagate USB 3.0 External Hard Drive.

Gizmos & Gadgets: Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket

Probably one of the best—and least expensive—investments DSLR shooters can make is Think Tank Photo’s Pixel Pocket Rocket. Designed to hold up to 10 CompactFlash (CF) cards, the Pixel Pocket Rocket is compact, easily accessible and costs only $16.50.

Theano shares tips on how she uses the Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket to hold her CF cards for fashion runway shoots.

Community News

YOU can support Photo.net!

Server space, programmer time, hours and hours of customer service all cost money. Photo.net is a business and we have to keep our head above water. How can you contribute to make sure that Photo.net keeps growing and improving? Here are four easy ways.

How to help support Photo.net

Top 10 Deals and Discounts from Adorama this Week

Note: these specials have a limited availability and tend to fly off the shelf quickly.

1. Adorama Slinger Bag
[sale price: $29.95 and free shipping, regular price: $59.95]

2. Emerson/Jazz Pocket DV152
[sale price: $28.95 and free shipping, regular price: $39.95]

3. Pentax Optio I-10 12MP Digital Camera Kit
[sale price: $224.05 and free shipping, regular price: $284.85]

4. Canon Powershot SX200 IS Digital Camera
[sale price: $279, rebate available, and free shipping, regular price: $329]

5. GoBee Hip Clutch CF Card Holder
[sale price: $149 and free shipping, regular price: $179]

6. Digital Spectrum MF1202X2 12.1-inch Ultra Thin TFT Digital Photo Frame
[sale price: $114.95 and free shipping, regular price: $129.95]

7. Joby Gorillapod Mini Tripod
[sale price: $14.95 and free shipping, regular price: $19.95]

8. Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 DI-II VC (Vibration Compensation) Lens
[price: $568.85 after $100 mail-in rebate, 10 days only 5/1/2010 till 5/10/2010, and free shipping, regular price: $668.85]

9. Bushnel Backtrack Personal GPS Finder
[sale price: $44.95 and free shipping, regular price: $49.95]

10. Nikon D5000 Refurbished DSLR
[sale price: $519.95 and free shipping, regular price: $598.95]

Find great deals on thousands of other products at the Photo.net Adorama Store.

What’s Happening In Our Forums

• Casual Photo Conversations (16 Responses) Photography projects for a 4-day weekend?

Last month, we asked this question in the casual conversations forum, “If you had 4-day weekends, what photography projects would you pursue for your own portfolio?” We got some interesting responses:

Jeff Simms: I’ve actually started one, I’m photographing reflections. whether it’s on water, glass, or polished metal. Anything that reflects.

Matt Laur: Whenever I contemplate the pure bliss that is a couple or three un-interrupted days to shoot a particular subject, I end up thinking about non-photography projects/pursuits that also take a couple or three days, and which lend themselves to interesting photographs. Don’t like the food idea? Photograph a kid building and deploying a new bird feeder, and then photograph the squirrel ransacking the thing the next day. Perhaps work with an artist who tackles fresh-air paintings that she executes over a two-day period, and tell the story. Or one could easily spend an entire day watching the light fall on a given piece of architecture, the better to actually plan to photograph it the following day, and then work up the results…

Daniel Bayer: I guess if I only had 4 day weekends then I would focus my energy on singular topics and try not to spread out too much. Those would be either people stories, environmental issues such as local watersheds in different towns or off the grid landscape essays. 4 days is not really much time unless you are already well versed with the subject or it is an intensely visual theme like Mardi Gras.

Nazeri Abghani: Lug my gear to some these remote places in the interior to start making pictures of exotic endemic bird species in the wild … with 4 days to spend, you’ll spend 1 day to fly in and out, another day to get to the site and 2 full days shooting in the backcountry … sleeping in temporary shelter at basecamp, eating simple foods and putting up with weird bugs at night. Sounds just like a fun 4 day weekend that would get the creative juices flowing …

Add your long weekend photography pursuits here.

• Alternative Cameras & Lenses (24 Responses) long exposure photos with daylight
• B&W Photo - Printing & Finishing (28 Responses) Safe Lights on the cheap
• Olympus and Four-Thirds (12 Responses) Enabling Macro on Canon FD 35-105 with Lumix G1
• Lighting Equipment and Techniques (7 Responses) Product lighting / reflector stands?

Go To Photo.net Forums. »

Monthly Project: My Friends (Our World #5)

This is the fifth of six months worth of themes that will attempt to give Photo.net members the opportunity to share the world around themselves with the rest of the Photo.net community. We are a worldwide community, but we really have a lot in common. We all sleep somewhere every night, we all have friends and family, we all have somewhere we call “home”. These themes will break those things down into simple statements that we can photograph: room, home, family, city, and so on. The idea is that the simplicity of the themes will be impressive when brought together by a group of people.

May’s theme is “My Friends”. We are more than just the place we live, we are defined by those who we choose to surround ourselves with. Friends can be an amazing joy, a frustrating burden, a supportive shoulder, and enjoyable distraction, and everything else in between. Give the Photo.net community a glimpse into your life by sharing an image of your friends.

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 My Village, Town, City project page and see all the wonderful images that were uploaded. Here are a few that caught my eye:

Editors’ Picks

And this month’s editors’ picks is… Wedding Photography.

Samples:

Also, take a look at what the Editors found visually interesting in the previous months—perhaps one of your images has been selected…

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

• Astrophotography
• Rangefinder Photography
• Fashion Photography