So, yours truly finally got himself an iPhone, the brand spanking new iPhone 4s which features quite an impressive 8-megapixel camera with a f/2.4 aperture, certainly impressive for what is essentially a mobile phone (OK sure, the iPhone is a lot more than just a phone but you get my drift).

If you are interested in seeing what the camera in the new iPhone 4s is capable of, you can check out this article over at www.funkyspacemonkey.com where you can also see how the iPhone camera has improved with each new iteration over time. It is quite amazing stuff.

Day 1: “Piazza”

Anyway. I know, I know, I’m sometimes a late adapter of new technology. It takes me a while sometimes to join the latest craze. In fact the shop assistant in the local Telstra shop smiled when he saw my old Palm Treo and said with what seemed like a hint of genuine pity in his voice “I haven’t seen a Palm phone for years…” Oh well, oh well, but I’m glad I jumped on the iPhone band-wagon. In fact it was the best smart phone offer in the shop compared to brands like HTC, Samsung, Nokia etc.

Day 2: “Flight in the clouds”

Of course I had also noticed all the hype about Instagram which also attracted me to the iPhone as a choice for my new camera phone since Instagram currently only works with the iPhone (as of November 2011), with no news on when the app might become available on other platforms. Instagram seemed like a fun and easy way to share pictures with other iPhoneographers.

Instagram

So I downloaded the free Instagram app as soon as I got out of the store (well, second after the awesome Endomondo sports app so I could track my walk back home from the store and see how many calories I had burned) and I was up and running with Instagram in no time (it’s great to receive a phone that works and is 50% charged straight out of the box).

Day 3: “Patina”

For those of you who might have been sitting on the fence with regards to Instagram, I can say that my initial impressions of Instagram are quite positive. The app is very simple, easy and fun to use which is probably core to the incredible success it has enjoyed since being developed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.

Day 4: "Turner"

Instagram comes packed with 16 different filters (or effects if you will) in addition to the normal setting if you don’t want to mess with your image, but just share it via Instagram. The filters will add a lomo/retro/vintage look to your images, and you also have the ability to switch on/off some cool border effects (though you only get one choice of border effect per filter).

In a matter of a few seconds you can transform the look and feel of your pictures and share it with your friends and followers on Instagram as well as on several other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr.

It’s simple, easy and quick! Some people have referred to Instagram as “Lomo and Twitter meets photos” which is quite descriptive to a certain extent.

Day 5: "Silo"

While you can happily play around with Instagram on its own, I was soon curious to explore other apps and within a few hours I had also downloaded PS Express by Adobe, Pano by Debacle Software, CrossProcess and ShakeItPhoto by Banana Camera Co., LightTrac by Rivolu Pte Ltd, Snapseed by NIK Software, PhotoForge2 by GhostBird Software and Instant110 by youthhr.

Day 6: “Happy Halloween”

One still needs to be careful not to become lazy and compromise on the fundamentals of good image design though. Yes, Instagram and all the hundreds (if not thousands) of other cool photo apps can work wonders on your images and transform somewhat ordinary images to good, cool-looking images. However your results will still always be better if you look for good compositions, beautiful light and interesting subjects.

The iPhone is definitely a great tool to help you exercise your vision on a daily basis. In fact I started my first ‘one photo a day for a year’ project the day after I got the phone and I’ve been going for a week now (see the seven images in this post). I have considered a year-long daily photo project for a while now, and with the iPhone and the ease of sharing the results via Instagram, it seems like a somewhat easier commitment to make (though no doubt still a challenge to find new images every day).

Day 7: "Green, Brick and Red"

At the end of the day the best camera is the one that is with you and chances are that your iPhone (or other mobile camera phone) is going to be with you more often than most other cameras. So make sure to use it as a tool to exercise your vision on a daily basis!

If you want to follow my “365 Project” you can see daily images at www.folkeandersen.tumblr.com (from 26 October and 365 days forward) or follow me on Instagram: @folkeandersen.

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• Desde Mi Ventana / From My Window

If you like making great natural light portraits Steve McCurry is clearly one of the great masters to study. He is a master at capturing the unguarded moment and showing us the soul of his subjects.

In fact he published a book titled The Unguarded Moment in 2009, ten years after the brilliant Portraits published in 1999 (a must-have for portrait photographers).

Steve McCurry is of course best known for his “Afghan Girl” photograph, the beautiful Afghan girl with the stunning green eyes and a piercing gaze. After the photograph gained worldwide recognition when it was featured on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine, several attempts were made by McCurry to identify the girl during the 1990s. However the identity of the “Afghan Girl” would remain unknown for over 17 years.

In 2002 a National Geographic team travelled to Afghanistan and finally located the girl in a remote region of Afghanistan. She was identified as Sharbat Gula and determined to be around the age of 30, which means she was around the age of 12 when the picture was made. Incredibly Gula had not seen her own famous portrait until it was shown to her in 2003.

In this five minute video clip Steve McCurry talks about how he created the photograph and shows some of the few outtakes from what was a relatively short photo session:

In recognition of Sharbat Gula (“Afghan Girl”), National Geographic set up the Afghan Girls Fund, a charitable organization with the goal of educating Afghan girls and young women. In 2008, the scope of the fund was broadened to include boys and the name was changed to Afghan Children’s Fund.

You can donate to the fund by visiting this link: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/donate/afghan-childrens-fund.html

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G’day everyone and Happy New Year from Sydney, Australia!

I hope you had a good Christmas and that Santa was good to you. Hopefully Santa put one of two photographic gifts under the tree for you this year?

Speaking of photographic gifts, I’ve been busy with a new project which I’ve been working on in what little spare time I have in between juggling work, photography, blogging and family. I hope to be able to reveal a lot more about this new project in a a few weeks time. For now it’s still work-in-progress.

Today is of course good a time to reflect on the year that passed and 2010 was a great year for Photography 24/7 with over 15,000 people visiting the website from 129 different countries. I’d like to thank all of you who has supported Photography 24/7 in this past year. Your support is much appreciated. Keep linking to us, keep telling your friends about us…

photo credit: Wiborg

We’re still only a very small site though and you can help by spreading the word about Photography 24/7. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. You may even want to send your friends a good ol’ email and tell them to subscribe to our RSS feed. Feeling extra social? Go ahead and join the Photography 24/7 Flickr Group and share some of your photos (and your photo will be rotated on the Photography 24/7 website).

If you like a post use the big social buttons at the bottom of each article and let people know.

So What Was Popular on Photography 24/7 in 2010?

As I was looking at the visitor statistics today for this post, I also took a little peek at what articles had been read the most times in 2010. So here is a quick little top list of the most read articles in 2010:

1. Two Basic Steps to Promote Yourself as a Photographer

2. Choosing Your Photography Portfolio Website

3. Split Toning a JPEG File in Photoshop CS4 in Three Easy Steps

4. How To Photograph Silhouttes

5. André Kertész: The Polaroids

6. How to Do Polaroid Emulsion Lifts

7. The Top Five Best Books on Composition in Photography

8. The Impossible Project Reveals New Monochrome Instant Film For Polaroid Cameras

9. National Geographic Photographer Bruce Dale: 30 Years of BAD Pictures

10. Sally Mann Revisited

Not surprisingly some of the ‘how-to’ articles have been popular, but I’m also really pleased to see that my review of The Polaroids is on the list along with my recommendation of Sally Mann’s awesome DVD What Remains.

New Year’s Resolutions

One of the most powerful things you can do with any resolution or goal you’d like to set for yourself is to write them down, so here are my New Year’s resolutions (goals) for 2010:

1. Organise my life to have more time for family and photography (a work-in-progress).

2. Keep my desk and workspace clutter-free!

3. Write at least 100 new articles for Photography 24/7.

4. Write at least 50 articles for Black and White Photo Magazine.

5. Shoot a lot more film and start developing my own B&W film at home.

6. Attract more submissions to QwertyPics.

7. Launch PhotoMoti.

8. Shoot at least two new personal fine art projects – one of them on black and white film.

9. Weigh in on the scales at 78kgs.

10. Ask at least one stranger if I can take their photo.

So there you have it – I’ve put myself out there. That’s my New Year’s resolutions for 2011.

What are yours?

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Mon Dieu! Usually I enjoy every day, I think we should, but really I wouldn’t have minded doing a time warp that had skipped the last 5-6 weeks altogether.

I didn’t manage to write a single entry for the blog, let alone make any new photographs.

After going through a period of extreme stress in August my immune system decided to let its guard down and I ran head on into not only one, but two very nasty viruses at the end of August which saw me bedridden with prolonged fever, lack of appetite, night sweats and extreme fatique for almost three weeks. At first I just thought it was a very persistent influenza, but a blood test proved otherwise.

My liver and blood index figures were off the chart and doctors warned me that I could be in bed for as long as six weeks provided there were no complications! As if boxing with these viruses wasn’t enough, I also contracted pneumonia and was diagnosed with a partly collapsed lung.

For a while it felt as if I was 72 and not 36.

Unfortunately this whole drama also meant that I wasn’t able to catch up with Mike from Phowto who was in Sydney at the end of August which I really regretted, but it just wasn’t possible.

It is only now, about five weeks later, that my energy levels are starting to return to somewhat more normal levels, so now it’s time to catch up!

Now, there may very well be several things I have missed in recent weeks, but here is at least a brief list of noteworthy highlights from recent weeks (make yourself a good cup of coffee, this post is going to be a little lengthy):

• Canon Announces Powershot G12
• Fuji Announces a Beauty
• New DVD by Tony Sweet: Flower Photography Artistry
• Photocrati Releases New WordPress “Super Theme”
• The Impossible Project Reduces Shipping Costs
• Journey Through Java

Canon Announces Powershot G12

A couple of weeks ago Canon unveiled their successor to the Powershot G11.

I have been a fan of Canon’s very successful G-series line for a while now and have been shooting quite extensively with the Canon Powershot G9. My August Snaps series was shot entirely with the G9.

Most of the G12′s key features remain the same from the G11, however Canon has added some nice improvements to make the Canon Powershot G12 stand out.

Some of the main improvements include their newer Hybrid IS system (adapted from the S95) which compensates for both shift and angular camera movement, in-camera HDR mode, plus an addition of a new front dial which provides quick and convenient access to settings during shooting. Partcularly noteworthy is also the addition of 720p HD recording which makes this camera quite an afforable and attractive video camera.

Fuji Announces a Beauty

In an industry that cranks out new camera models at a very fast pace, I don’t often pay a lot of attention to these announcements, but this one made me look twice. It’s sure to turn a lot of heads!

Inspired by the beauty and form of classic cameras from the past, the Fuji X100 combines all the latest technical digital innovations in a beautiful, traditional chassis which oozes class and prestige. The ergonomics of the design offer the perfect balance between compact convenience and user-friendly operation.

The camera is styled like a film rangefinder camera, with a leathery covering surrounding the body and a magnesium alloy top and base plate. Reports from people who has handled this camera also states that while this is a truly compact camera, it’s also remarkably heavy – an indication of a well-built, quality camera.

The new Fuji X100 is a high-grade digital compact camera based around an APS-C CMOS sensor, a Fujinon 23mm f/2 fixed focal length lens (equivalent to a 35mm f/2 in 35mm terms) and a newly developed Hybrid Viewfinder.

So what on earth is a Hybrid Viewfinder? Well, apparently it’s an optical viewfinder (OVF) and an electronic viewfinder (EVF) combined into one. Talk about the best of both worlds! Notice the little lever with the red mark at the upper left of the lens in the picture above? This lever allows you to switch between the OVF and the EVF. For more details about this new type of viewfinder watch the video below.

The Fuji FinePix X100 is aimed at the professional photographer or keen enthusiast looking for exceptional quality pictures from a compact camera. It is designed to appeal to the millions of DSLR users who need a slim back-up camera for high quality in-fill shots when the use of a bigger SLR system is either inconvenient or impractical. I’d imagine that this camera will also appeal to quite a lot of street photographers. In fact this where I would see this camera fit into my camera collection.

And if I haven’t quite convinced you that you really must have another camera, perhaps take a look at this video and your knees might become even softer!

Oh boy, oh girl. You’d have to agree that this camera is one heck of a temptation! The Fuji Finepix X100 is due for commercial release in early 2011.

Enough said already…

New DVD by Tony Sweet: Flower Photography Artistry

I’m a big fan of Tony Sweet and his photography. He is also a great teacher and instructor.

Flower photography is one of Tony’s specialities and now he has released a brand new DVD titled Flower Photography Artistry.

In this DVD Tony demonstrates many techniques from the traditional to more creative options that has given his flower images such a distinctive look. You will follow along in a private workshop as Tony shoots in the field at Longwood Gardens, then takes you back into his studio for a demonstration on some of his favorite post-processing techniques. Finally, Tony reviews an extensive gallery images, discussing the methods he used to achieve some of his favorite flower photographs.

Tony Sweet also teaches some excellent online photo classes over at BetterPhoto.com which I can highly recommend. When I first started out in photography I attended 8 different classes over at BetterPhoto.com and they all helped propel my photography forward. Check them out.

Photocrati Releases New WordPress “Super Theme”

Just updated and with the price dropped to just $79 the folks over at Photocrati has released what does look like quite a “Super Theme” for any photographer who might not already have a website, gallery or blog. In fact in this new Super Theme from Photocrati gives you all three in one package which means you will get a website, gallery and a blog all in the one place. As such this new theme may also be of interest if you’re looking at bundling your web presence into one place.

Of course Photocrati offers all the bells and whistles with the theme such as great SEO, customization options, theme options, easy set-up etc. You can watch this little video to learn more about the Photocrati “Super Theme”:

What’s also to like about Photocrati is that The Photocrati Fund gives $5000 grants to emerging photographers working on important humanitarian and environmental projects.

The Impossible Project Reduces Shipping Costs

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a big admirer of the challenge that The Impossible Project has taken on, but less of an admirer of how they seem to have hyped what I regard to have been ‘too-early-to-market-products’ through clever marketing, and even less of an admirer of their shipping costs!

For more details see my somewhat critical article Is The Impossible Project Shrouding a Mediocre Product in Clever Marketing? where Jay also made some interesting and detailed comments today. I found it particularly interesting to read Jay’s comment on the new PX70 colour material.

However with regards to the shipping costs there are some good news for Impossible fans. The Impossible Project has lowered their shipping costs on small shipments within the USA and Europe making it somewhat more reasonable to buy a couple of packs of film.

Sadly, if one wants to buy a pack of Impossible film for shipment to Australia you still have to fork up US$50 in shipping (even for just one or two packs!)

Journey Through Java

The good people over at Craft & Vision have released yet another great eBook – this one by travel/documentary photographer Mitchell Kanashkevich.

Journey Through Java is the fifth in The Print & The Process series.

Mitchell Kanashkevich is a curious world wanderer and a travel/documentary photographer who works passionately and skillfully to create exceptional images of some of the most amazing places in the world.

This eBook is built around a series of images from his journey around East Java, predominantly Ijen Crater, Mount Bromo and the Island of Madura. By exploring the idea of photographing in iconic/famous places Mitchell delves into the heart of what it takes to find your own voice and story. He’ll unpack the processes behind his creative decisions and he doesn’t shy away from practical topics; such as natural lighting, off-camera flash in a softbox, and choosing the right angles. Mitchell doesn’t stop there. He goes beyond surface-level impressions and shares his insights into how to create deep and meaningful photographs.

Journey Through Java – The Print & The Process is 46 spreads of photographs and insights that will inspire as you develop your own craft. The downloadable PDF sells for the usual “crazy” Craft & Vision price of just US$5.

Pheeeewww, allright I think that was all for tonight. Hopefully I’ve caught up and hopefully all of the above is not all old news to you.

I’ll be resuming the “How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4″ series in the next two posts, so stay tuned.

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“There are 1440 minutes in a day. In these minutes photographers capture a moment. These moments make up a day which lasts forever.”

This was the introduction to a recent exhibition held at the State Library of New South Wales where I have also had the pleasure to give a presentation of some of my own photography.

You can watch the five Sydney Morning Herald photographers behind the exhibition talk about their craft in these five separate and excellent videos giving a glimse into what it’s like to be a working newspaper photographer today.

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• Joel Sartore

It seems us photographers (professional, part-time and amateurs alike) are slowly losing our rights to the freedom of expression.

Photographing in public places is becoming increasingly difficult post 9/11 and often means you’ll be subjecting yourself to questioning or even harassment by people in authoritative positions.

While taking pictures in public places for commercial purposes usually requires a permit is fair enough, what about taking pictures for your own personal enjoyment, personal projects, editorial purposes or simply for the sake of art and documenting life in general?

Sadly, it seems, every person who has a camera can be threatened with unjust laws and regulations these days.

Recently photographers Carlos Miller and Stretch Ledford were banned for life from the Miami-Dade Metrorail in the U.S..

Ironically the ban came after the two photographers had planned to ride the Metrorail through three stations to see if anybody would try to stop them from taking pictures of the trains.

They didn’t even make it inside the first station!

You can watch the video from their ‘metro adventure’ here or you can read Carlos Miller’s version of events on his blog or take a look at Stretch Ledford’s version of events on his blog.

Protest Rally in Sydney, Australia

Here in Sydney, Australia world-renowned landscape photographer Ken Duncan is spearheading a Sydney rally to raise awareness about the eroding rights of photographers in Australia.

You can read the Press Release about this rally below…

PHOTOGRAPHERS TO PROTEST ATTACKS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Australian photographers are losing their rights to freedom of expression. And it doesn?t matter whether they are full-time professional, part-time or strictly amateur, as every person who has a camera can be threatened with unjust laws and regulations.

“However the bureaucrats who have drafted the new regulations restricting photography have clearly forgotten that”. Mr Duncan said that landscape photographers such as Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis helped to instil a pro-conservation mindset amongst Australia?s people, while other photographers such as Max Dupain had produced iconic images that would be treasured for many decades to come. But he said that unless the draconian laws that were currently in place were not rolled back that all types of photography would be affected and that our society as a whole would be diminished as a result.

Date: 29 August 2010

Time: 10:00am – 12:00 noon

Location: Near Campbells Cove on Sydney Harbour

Photo by lewishamdreamer

How About You?

Have you ever encountered difficulties, been questioned or even harassed while photographing (or trying to photograph) in a public place?

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This year the New York Institute of Photography celebrates having educated photographers for 100 years.

The New York Institute of Photography was founded in 1910 and is the world’s largest and oldest photography school. NYIP offers affordable home-study courses to students all over the world who want to learn the skills needed to make great photographs.

If you’re thinking about taking your photography to the next level then take a look at these three different courses offered by the New York Institute of Photography:

1. Complete Course in Professional Photography

In this course you can learn what it takes to become a professional photographer. NYIP will train you on both digital and film-based cameras. You’ll learn about lighting, using a darkroom and all secret techniques that the pro’s use. If you truly love photography and want to learn all about it, then this is the course for you.

2. Digital Photography Complete Course: Adobe Photoshop for Photographers

This is a complete course in digital photography and will teach you everything there is to know about Adobe Photoshop. You’ll learn how to retouch photos, post pictures on the web and how to take better digital photographs.

3. Short Course: Fundamentals of Digital Photography

If you’ve just purchased your first digital SLR or are making the switch from film to digital, this course will show you how to take great photos. Designed for the digital SLR beginner, this program will cover the basics of digital photography.

For more details about these courses you can request a free NYIP course catalogue or you can head over the NYIP website to browse for more information. I would also recommend that you visit the NYIP Student Center where you can find a long list of interviews with past NYIP students along with student success short stories.

NYIP as a Free Photography Resource

In addition to the professional photography courses offered by NYIP, you can also find a whole lot of great free photography content on the NYIP website.

The website is a great photography resource packed full with informative and instructional articles about everything from sports photography, air show photography, flower photography, macro photography and everything in between as well as more specific articles about topics like model releases, hyperfocal distance, camera cleaning etc.

For more details about NYIP and the professional courses they offer request your free NYIP course catalogue today.

Photo by onesevenone

In the interest of full disclosure please be advised that at the time of writing this post NYIP is an advertiser on the Photography 24/7 website, sponsoring a 125x125px ad space. However it should also be noted that this post has not been paid for in any way by NYIP. Photography 24/7 is also not being paid any commissions from users clicking on any of the links included in this article, nor is Photography 24/7  being paid any commissions if users buy a NYIP photography course after clicking on any of the links included in this article.

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It’s amazing what you can do with a computer and an internet connection today.

You can register an email free of cost. You can start your own blog free of cost. And you can start a public photography project that brings together photographers from all over the world.

This is exactly what Eva Sáenz from Bilbao in Spain has done with her “From My Window” (Desde Mi Ventana) project.

You don’t need a big, fancy and expensive website with all the bells and whistles. All it takes is a good blend of passion, dedication, hard work and then a good idea.

And if the idea is good enough, then it will take off, become a thing of its own and evolve into some bigger. Two plus two becomes five.

I think Eva’s idea is very good, and very creative.

“From My Window” is an artistic project with a very simple, yet very interesting mission. The aim is to collect daily scenes from people around the world by means of photographs taken out of their window, in their country, their home town.

© Diego Suarez Taibo from Oviedo (Asturias, Spain)

Eva says the following about the project:

It means a new way of creation, a mind-opening experience and a proposal of connection and information exchange among the members of a global community.

Everybody has taken pictures from the window once or twice…

“From My Window” will be the result of your actions: you take the pictures, you are the protagonist.

It’s simple. Just take a photograph from your window as the outside landscape and view is shown.

From my window, why?

Because, apart from the simplicity and ease of the proposal, it contains interesting information about ourselves: our way of life, our likes or dislikes, our particular vision of things… contrasting with many others, it generates a dialogue of differences and afinities.

I really love ideas like this and I’m grateful that Eva contacted me about the project, so that I can share it with you here and encourage you to collaborate with the project.

So your photo assignment is easy:

TAKE A PICTURE FROM YOUR WINDOW AND SEND IT TO: desdemiventana2010@hotmail.com in JPG format.

The result of the project will be shown in different exhibitions.

You can find out more about the project here (click the image to go to the “From My Window” blog):

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A photoblog is a form of photo sharing in the format of a blog. It differs from a traditional blog through the predominant use of photographs rather than text.

Photoblogging has become an increasingly popular way of sharing photos over the internet as it encourages interaction with other photographers. Most photoblogs allow viewers to leave comments on the author’s photographs which is a great way to receive feedback on your work.

Number 3

I use my photoblog to upload my photographs in chronological order and my photoblog therefore works like a kind of scrapbook if you will. This allows me (and anyone else who might be interested) to track the development of my photography over time. I’m yet to catch up to present time though.

There are lots of excellent photoblogging ressources available on the internet which make it easy for you to create your own photoblog.

Pier and Pastels

If you’re new to photoblogs here is a list of ressources you can refer to:

Pixelpost

Pixelpost is an excellent open-source, standards-compliant, multi-lingual photoblog application for the web. Anyone who has web-space (see Eleven2 below) can download and use Pixelpost for free! I personally use Pixelpost as the platform for my photoblog.

Eleven2

Eleven2 will host your photoblog for only $6/month and will also manually install Pixelpost or any Pixelpost template for free. I personally use Eleven2 to host my photoblog as they are affordable and make it very easy to get up and running with your photoblog.

The Photoblog Awards

The mission of the Photoblog Awards is to encourage and honor brilliant photoblogs that have shown excellence in photoblogging.

Cool Photoblogs

Cool Photoblogs is a great place to find, well, cool photoblogs from all over the world. Make sure to list your photoblog there.

WordPress

WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is designed for more traditional blogging but has also become more and more popular amongst photobloggers in recent years. Today you can find many great photo theme templates for the excellent WordPress platform (see some of the WordPress theme providers below).

PhotoPressPro

PhotoPressPro was developed in close cooperation with professional photographers to create some great WordPress themes available for pro photo blogs.

WooThemes

WooThemes offers a range of different premium themes for WordPress. Our sister site QwertyPics which offers free showcases for photographers, is based on the Aperture theme from WooThemes.

DYIthemes

Over 15,000 webmasters rely on the Thesis Framework promoted by DIYthemes which is another popular WordPress blog solution on the market today.

Photocrati

Starting at just $59.00 Photocrati specializes in WordPress themes for photographers and offer a great little selection of stylish themes for photographers.

Elegant Themes

Elegant Themes craft their themes with a goal of simplicity and professionalism and strive to inject each design with a dose of modest elegance.

Theme Forest

Take a walk in the Theme Forest where you can find thousands of site templates and themes including many photoblogging themes.

WP Zoom

WP Zoom is a small team of two talented web-designers which create Premium Themes for the WordPress blogging platform. WP Zoom include several image based themese including one called Photoblog.

RichWP

If you want to set up a blog, a photo gallery, an online portfolio or a full-blown magazine site, look no further than RichWP. Use the state-of-the art WordPress content management system to easily build and maintain your presence on the internet.

Using some of the ressources mentioned above you can literally start your own photoblog in a matter of a few minutes and it can be a very satisfying journey! Liberate your images from the dark corners of your hard drive and get them onto the internet.

Have fun!

P.S. You can read more about blog themes for photographers in my article 4 Great WordPress Blog Themes For Photographers.

P.P.S. If you already have a photoblog feel free to leave a comment with a link to your blog so we can take a peek.

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In my article Two Basic Steps to Promote Yourself as a Photographer I talk about the importance of having your own website and provide some suggestions to how you can get up and running with your own website with some good and easy solutions like Zenfolio, phanfare, Kodak Gallery, SmugMug or Shutterfly Pro Gallery.

Another way to get your images in front of potential buyers, curators, fellow photographers, friends and family and just people in general is by starting your own blog.

Blogging is becoming increasing popular among photographers and in recent years we have seen the development of some really cool blog soloutions for photographers.

If you haven’t already started your own blog here are four great blog solutions for photographers which are worth considering.

Each of these solutions provide you with a professional WordPress theme which will help make your photography blog stand out from the crowd.

PhotoPressPro

Starting at just $49.00 PhotoPressPro offers three solutions; Classic, Platinum and The Works where Platimum (at $99.00) is probably the most popular.

PhotoPressPro was developed in close cooperation with professional photographers to create some great WordPress themes available for pro photo blogs. A single-column, wide layout allows for huge images, and the widget-ready header menu and footer enable ultimate control over navigation.

PhotoPressPro’s blogs also feature a powerful, easy-to-use Control Panel which empowers you to completely customize the look of your blog, and save “Snapshots” for dozens of design configurations. Built-in inline comments and a JavaScript slideshow masthead help polish off a clean, high-end look, all for a very affordable price.

WooThemes

WooThemes is what I use for my Photography 24/7 blog, so I’m a little biased here. However there is of course a reason why I decided to use WooThemes as a professional theme for my blog.

The two main reasons were quality and support.

Supreme Quality
WooThemes are all built on a solid code framework which has been fine tuned over some time now. WooThemes also include a new backend solution to let you easily control the theme options and multiple theme styles to every theme, it won’t take you long to get up and running. In addition to the solid foundation, WooThemes simply offer some really cool designs.

Incredible Support
The support offered by WooThemes is simply unparalleled to anything I have seen. The Woo Ninja’s go out of their way to help you tweak and customize things which many, many other companies would simply not help you with stating something along the lines of ‘that goes beyond the scope of our support’. Not so with WooThemes! You get access to theme documentation, tutorials, knowledgebase and probably the best support forum anywhere!

WooThemes prices start at $70.00 and they offer a permanent 3-for-1 offer on any of their WordPress themes. This means you get to choose two free bonus themes in addition to the main theme you want. This gives you the option to have several blogs with different themes, or the option to change your theme to another theme if you get tired of the theme you chose to start with.

For specific photography themes take a look at Aperture, Groovy Photo, Exposure or FreshFolio.

I’m using the Fresh News theme for the Photography 24/7 blog.

DIYthemes

Over 15,000 webmasters rely on the Thesis Framework promoted by DIYthemes which is another popular WordPress blog solution on the market today. The Thesis Theme for WordPress is a high-quality template system that you can use to improve your site immediately.

One of the advantages of Thesis is that they boast one of the strongest SEO of any theme on the market today as result of its coded HTML + CSS + PHP framework. Thesis also contains additional options that will allow you to fine-tune each and every page of your site.

You don’t have to be a coder to use Thesis as it includes option panels which allow you to command your site with ease, while Thesis does all of the heavy lifting behind the scenes.

Photocrati

Starting at just $59.00 Photocrati specializes in WordPress themes for photographers and offer a great little selection of stylish themes for photographers. Photocrati really puts the emphasis on photography but also provides you with a traditional blog and several other cool frontend and backend features.

Photocrati also offers you the option to buy five themes for just $99.00 which provides you with the choice to change your design if you grow tired of a particular theme over time.

The Importance of Good Design

Why choose a professional theme when there are so many free themes available you might ask?

Personally I think the importance of good, functional design should never be underestimated. A good looking website will present your photographs in the best possible light (so to speak) and will enhance the viewer’s experience and encourage them to explore your website further.

In addition to the design a professional blog solution will usually also provide you with the necessary support to get up and running smoothly and quickly.

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This week-end I found a lot of inspiration in a blog post by Ibarionex Perello titled Just Shoot Something and I think it’s something that will resonate with most photographers, so go take a look for yourself, specially if you’re a little low on inspiration.

In the last few days I have been concentrating on using my Lensbaby on my dedicated infrared Canon 20D which I had converted to infrared by the folks from LifePixel.

I haven’t had any particular subjects in mind that I have been wanting to shoot, so I have just brought the camera with my whenever I could and in the spirit of just shooting something I have just made some photographs along the way.

Here are three infrared Lensbaby images that were all shot today.

An Abstract Extract

I took this picture at one of the local playgrounds in the harsh midday light. I think it was the simplicity of the scene along with shape and form that attracted me to take this picture. I have given the image a rich brown tone simply because it seemed to work well for this image.

Palm Fronds

Palm fronds in bright sunlight work well for infrared photography. Here I have isolated one palm frond and framed it by two lower out-of-focus fronds. It’s all then then set off against an almost pitch black sky which has only been marginally darkened in Photoshop compared to the original RAW file. For this image I chose to convert the image to a black and white infrared image.

Lensbaby Infrared Texture Overlay

Yes, I know, I’m really mixing it up in this third image; Lensbaby, infrared and texture overlays!

Don’t ask me why I did it, I just thought I would try something else. Call it playing around which I think is an important endeavour for any creative activity. Playing around sometimes leads to nothing, other times it might lead to your next big project.

In this third image I used three different background textures: the fur of a mountain goat, a piece of grey cardboard with cutting marks on it and then a photo of a brick wall. These textures were then simply blended into the infrared image of the backlit leaves using blending modes in Photoshop.

Just shooting something keeps you in shape, it helps stimulate your mind and it helps keep your vision sharp. It doesn’t matter that you might not produce a Pullitzer Prize winner shot. The important part is to just shoot something.

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Today I had the opportunity to go for a small walk in the mid afternoon with my daughter. In the spirit of living a photographic life – and making the most of every opportunity – I brought along one of my Canon 20Ds which I have had converted to a dedicated infrared camera by LifePixel.

Speaking of LifePixel they have recently launched a brand new website as well as a new Super Color Infrared filter which you may want to check out. It looks pretty wild. I have just had the standard IR conversion done to my Canon 20D, but the Super Color Infrared filter looks pretty cool too. However it may not be to everyone’s taste.

Shooting with a dedicated infrared camera is a lot of fun, and if you are considering converting one of your older digital cameras then I can recommend the service provided by LifePixel. They did a quick and professional job on my Canon 20D and turned it all around really quickly considering the camera was going from Australia to the US and back again! It was all very prompt and an easy and good experience.

Anyway…

My plan was to make a few infrared Lensbaby images today, so I fitted my Lensbaby Composer together with a 1.6 telephoto lens in front of the Canon 20D. I wanted to isolate a particular tree that we have just down the road in what is essentially just a very small patch of nature backing up to an industrial estate. It’s the very same area where I made the tree images in this article.

The Tree

When I was post-processing the image this afternoon I ended up playing around with the Red, Green and Blue channels and decided to keep some colour in the image rather than converting to black and white as I did in this image and this image.

I ended up really liking the colours as they turned out. The seem to give the picture a dreamlike quality.

What do you think?

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Greetings from Denmark where I’m celebrating Christmas this year with family.

Before we get right down to business, let me just tell you, flying half way around the world with a 16 month old baby is a challenge! I cannot think of a much more stressful situation than having a 16 month old baby being wide awake and wanting to play just as all cabin lights are being switched off and all other passengers just want to go to sleep! It’s an exercise in patience. It’s a test of your ability to stay calm when you start getting annoyed looks from other passengers who don’t seem to understand that it’s not exactly easy to tell a 16 month old baby to sleep when it’s their normal awake time, let alone tell them to sit still for 12 hours!

Anyway… just needed to get that off my chest.

It’s been snowing here in Denmark and it’s a refreshing change of climate compared to the summer temperatures we left behind in Australia.

One of the things I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is that there is always something that moves you when you take a picture. It can be the light, a feeling, an expression, a mood, a colour, a shape, a texture, a form and many other things.

So while I’ve been taking some pictures around my home town in Denmark I have tried to think about what it is that moves me when I take a particular picture.

Here are some photos from the last week or so where I made specific comments to what moved me in each picture.

What moved me? Light and line.

What moved me? Texture and colours.

What moved me? Gesture and shape
(largely inspired by André Kertesz ‘The Polaroids’)

What moved me? Texture.

What moved me? Colours and symmetry.

What moved me? Light and colours.

What moved me? Line.

What moved me? Texture.

What moved me? Light and colour.

What moved me? Texture and colour.

What moved me? Line and shape.

What moved me? Texture and colour.

What moved me? Colour and mood.

What moved me? Texture.

What move me? Light and line.

What moved me? Colour and line.

What moved me? Line and repetition.

Thinking about what moves you before you take the picture greatly increases the chance of success. It allows you to make conscious decisions about how you should design your picture.

So I encourage you to take a few seconds before making a picture to think about exactly why you photograph the scene in front of you. What is that moves you about what you see? When you can answer that question, you can emphasize on this in the design of your picture.

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This is just a quick follow-up post to my Create Your Own Inspiration Files post in which I referred to my addiction to photo magazines. I have since done a little bit of browsing on the internet in an effort to find a company that offers discounted magazine subscriptions (there almost always good deals to get on magazine subscriptions as the magazines depend largely on advertising income more than anything else).

I came across MagazineDiscountCenter which offers some really great discounts on photo magazine subscriptions (and magazines in general for that matter).

Unfortunately they only serve addresses within the U.S., so if you live outside the U.S. you will have to do some local research to find local discounted magazine subscriptions.

Here are some of the photo magazines that MagazineDiscountCenter offers:

Outdoor Photographer

Popular Photography & Imaging

National Geographic Magazine

PHOTO Techniques

American Photo

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In this video National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore talks about being on assignment for the world’s greatest magazine.

In his presentation Joel Sartore communicates a strong conservation message along with how we can all help to save the planet, spiced up with his great sense of humour.

If you want to see more of Joel Sartore – and his excellent photography – consider getting this fantastic DVD At Close Range with National Geographic which takes you behind the scenes of what it’s like to work and shoot for the National Geographic magazine. Not only does Joel Sartore take the viewer with him on various assignments in this DVD, he also invites us into his home, his office and introduces us to his family (who has accept him going away for many weeks at a time on assignment which is not easy on family life).

An intimate portrait of National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore, who brings his tolerance for misery, and his wit, to every assignment for one of America’s most venerated magazines.

I own this DVD myself and have watched it several times for inspiration. I can highly recommend it.

Buy it now!

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