Photo.net Newsletter: September 2008

Hi %%First Name%%,

The August lull is over on photo.net. September is here, the weather is getting worse (or better if you live in the south half of the globe) and it’s time to start uploading those images again. Show the photo.net community what adventures you have been up to over the past few months.

Plenty of new stuff to announce this month. Various site upgrades and changes, a couple of new forums, along with the usual platter of articles and monthly features. Lots of good stuff coming up next month also. The coolest thing will be that we’re going to… Ah, I’m not going to spoil the surprise. You’ll just have to wait and see.

Note to self, think of something surprising for next month’s newsletter.

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

Sincerely,

Josh Root.

Photo.net Director of Community

Latest Articles

This month, we have articles covering all sorts of photography topics, so everyone should be able to find a few that they find interesting.

Bob Atkins presents a few previews on new cameras: Canon 5D Mark II, Nikon D90, Canon 50D, and Sony Alpha A900. The Canon 5D Mark II had been rumored and eagerly anticipated by the Canon faithful for a while now. Do the specs live up to expectations? Also, Peter Hamm discusses his experience of using Tokina’s wide-angle 11-16mm f/2.8 DX lens. This is a lens that has created a lot of interest both for its affordable price and wide/fast abilities. Bob Atkins also discusses the new Zeiss ZE Lenses for Canon EOS bodies. These lenses may be just the primes you’re looking to add to your camera bag in the near future.

In addition, we continue the excellent Digital Photography Workflow series with an article on Wedding Digital Workflow using Aperture by Bakari Chavanu. Bakari walks us through his wedding digital post-processing flow and presents a few tricks and techniques with regards to Aperture.

Bryan F Peterson shows us tips on how to creatively and correctly expose your photographs, Rick Sammon presents a wide range of tips to help you improve your night photography skills, and Tony Sammon contributes Part II of his series on How to Rediscover your Passion for Photography.

Mike Johnston continues to spice up photography discussion via his September column. This month his focus is on Reserving Judgment: advising consumers to be careful about passing judgment on the latest digital photography equipment without basing the judgments on actual tests and facts, using the Sony A900 release as an example.

And finally, I myself review seven different waterproof camera bags. If you are looking to get wet, and take your camera with you, I highly suggest reading the article.

• Canon 5D Mark II Preview
• Nikon D90 Preview
• Canon 50D Preview
• Sony A900 Preview
• Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 DX Lens Review
• Zeiss ZE Lenses for Canon EOS
• Digital Workflow for Wedding Photography using Aperture by Bakari Chavanu
• Johnston on Photography: Reserving Judgment
• Waterproof Camera Bags Review
• Exposure Basics by Bryan F Peterson
• Night Photography by Rick Sammon
• How to Rediscover your Passion for Photography: Part II by Tony Luna

New Site Features

Newsletter Subscription Management

In a move that was long overdue, photo.net members can now modify their newsletter subscription status from their “my workspace” area. Look for the “Newsletter subscription” link in the “Account Options” section.

Off-Topic forum created

Photo.net now has an Off-Topic forum. Feel free to post about any subject and discuss it with the photographic community. This is something new for photo.net. We’ve long been a site that kept it’s focus (sorry about the pun) tightly on photography. But with the way online communities have evolved, people grow used to their online friendships and want to be able to veer into other subjects a little bit. Photo.net will ALWAYS be about photography first and foremost. Think of the Off-Topic forum as a place to get away from photography for a few minutes and discuss other stuff with people with whom you have something in common.

The forum is lightly moderated, but keep in mind that all of the typical photo.net policies are still in effect. This isn’t the place to advertise your business for free, or to post about your ebay auctions, or to spread your religious message, or to tell other users to eat their socks. Political debates in particular will be watched closely to make sure they stay civil. In general, just keep in mind that there are a lot of people from a lot of different cultures on photo.net. The more aware we all are of that, the better of a place the site will be.

Beginner Questions forum created

One of the common complaints that I hear from beginning photographers is that they are nervous about asking what might be considered “stupid” questions and are quite sensitive to being made fun of when they do ask them. To address this issue we have created a Beginner Questions forum.

This forum is intended to be used by beginners who have basic photographic questions. For the most part, these should be about photographic technique or theory. “What should I buy” type questions stand a good chance of being sent to a forum dealing with that specific sort of equipment.

To make sure that the questions are appropriate and the answers given in the spirit of real assistance, all posts to this forum will be reviewed by an administrator before being made visible. This means that there will be a delay between when you make a post and when it appears on the forum. Rude or unhelpful posts will be deleted. Threads that don’t fit the “beginner” designation will be moved to a more appropriate forum. So give it a try and help out those who are still learning about this crazy world of photography.

A few forum name changes

The Photo.net Feedback forum is now the Photo.net Help & Questions forum. This forum was set up back in the past when the site was much younger and there was nobody answering the “contact photo.net” email. But now that the site has a decade of history, it is much more efficient to have users contact me via the “contact photo.net” form if they have suggestions about the site or wish to discuss site policy. Not to mention the fact that these threads typically spiral down into a mess that can easily be avoided when two people are having a conversation publicly rather than privately. Think of it as helping me keep my sanity. Plus, with more and more new member joining us every month as digital photography beings people back into the photographic world, there are many users who need a little help with our sometimes offbeat site navigation and user interface. The site and community is much better served helping these people than arguing about the ratings system. So to summarize, if you have suggestions, complaints, or feedback about the site, I would love to hear it, just drop me an email. If you have questions about the site and how things work, please post to the Help & Questions forum.

The Classic Cameras forum is now the Classic Manual Cameras forum. The goal being that it encompass all cameras up to the electronic/autofocus era. If it’s manual, it has a home in this forum. Although, obviously, some camera systems are probably better served in their respective forums (Canon FD, Leica, or Medium Format being good examples). But you get the point.

The Olympus forum is now the Olympus & Four-Thirds forum. While Four-Thirds is not an Olympus only creation, Olympus is the main player on the scene and has made an effort to make its older gear usable on their four-thirds cameras. And with the upcoming “micro four-thirds” system, there will likely be a lot to talk about.

And finally, the Casual Conversations forum is now the Casual Photography Conversations forum. This is to differentiate it from the new OT forum. In short, if it is about photography and there isn’t another forum that your question fits into, it should be put in the Casual Photography Conversations forum. If it has nothing to do with photography, it should go in the OT forum.

Featured Member Photographer: Justin Grant

Justin Grant is a rare thing in the world of professional photography. Many people dream of dropping a career that they are tired of, making a switch to something more exciting, and becoming successful at it. Many people dream, many people try, and many fail. Justin is not one of those failures. After falling in love with photography in 2003, Justin left the world of software engineering and decided to be a professional photographer. With no previous experience with or interest in photography, this would seem like a fool’s quest. But through boundless energy and a ton of hard work, Justin has succeeded on a scale that would make many photographers jealous.

”I picked up the camera and started playing around and it somehow worked. To this day, I tell people that I “pretend” to be a professional photographer every day. I still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night and think “what the hell, I’m a photographer?? How did that happen!?” -Justin Grant

Read More. »

Samples from the member’s portfolio:

View Justin’s Entire Portfolio. »

What’s Happening In Our Forums

• Canon EOS (117 Responses) 5D MKII here it is
• Leica and Rangefinders (63 Responses) Noctilux 50/1 lens
• Mirrorless Digital Cameras (77 Responses) Pany's new micro four thirds

Go To Photo.net Forums. »

Project Of The Month: For Sale

Nothing fancy this month. No wacked out techniques or crazy schemes. Just a simple theme: “For Sale”.

Find something, anything, that is being sold and take a photograph. Bonus points for funny signs or weird locations. Go to it!

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 “Hands at Work” project page and see all the wonderful images that were uploaded. Here are a few that caught my eye:

Editors’ Picks

Macro Photography

Samples: