Adding impact to your black and white images

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i8kuGUqQ9Y



LourceyPhotography - http://www.PhotoEducationOnline.com - A quick tip for adding some impact and drama to your black and white images.

Category: Education
Tags: adobe, photoshop, tutorial, lourcey, lourceyphoto.com, photoeducationonline.com, digital, photography, photoeducation, photographer, portrait, painting, learn, guide, tricks, tips, photo, diy, art, cs3, cs4, cs5, tutorials, editing, create, black, white

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iPhone Camera App - 100 Cameras in 1

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaATbRcwbDY



stuckincustoms - Elegant, Fun, Poetic - A fresh and new camera that will capture the world around you in the poetic sense in which you live it. Every one of your creations will be different and unique. New and old photos alike await a vast array of effects. After you create you are free to save o share to your heart's content. You will be amazed at how quickly the 100 effects are processed. In under one second, you'll be swiping through effect after effect until you find the perfect one. You'll find an amazing effect whether you enjoy creating photos of people, landscapes, or the world's mysteries in between.

• Mark you favorites.
• Share your creations.
• Create your world.

Now available at http://www.stuckincustoms.com/links/1... 

To see more about the app, visit http://www.stuckincustoms.com/best-iphone-camera/

Category: Travel & Events
Tags: hdr, video, tutorial, photo, photography, trey, ratcliff, iphone, app

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DxO Optics Pro v6.5.2 now available

DxO Labs is pleased to announce the immediate availability of DxO Optics Pro v6.5.2 for Mac and Windows that adds RAW support in both its Standard and Elite editions for the Pentax K-5, the Sony NEX-5 and NEX-3.

Further, 50 new DxO Optics Modules are now available to DxO Optics Pro users, covering numerous Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony cameras.

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Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 44: Slow Shutter Magic: Adorama Photography TV

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAI-azmqokA



adoramaTV - This week Mark Wallace shows us how to use a slow shutter speed to get some really fun photos. By shooting at night with slow shutter speeds you can create interesting shapes with light.

Bonus blooper included at the end of the video.

Visit http://www.adorama.com/learn for more photography videos!


Category: Howto & Style
Tags: photography, Mark Wallace, snapfactory, adorama, camera, digital, Slow Shutter Speed, tripod, ISO

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iPad Photography App: Ansel Adams: Adorama Photography TV

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybLuX4BfyxE



adoramaTV - This week Mark Wallace discovered a great iPad application that is called Ansel Adams.

Adorama Photography TV presents Ansel Adams for the iPad. This app provides an introduction to the life and work of the most honored American photographer of the twentieth century. It includes a slideshow of 40 Ansel Adams photographs, with optional audio narration, written commentary, or synchronized music. A complete bibliography and letters between Adams and Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Weston, Garry Trudeau, President Carter, and others!

Visit http://www.adorama.com/alc/ for more photography videos

Category: Howto & Style
Tags: Ansel Adams, mark wallace, adorama, app, apple, camera, digital, ipad, photography, snapfactory

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Shutterstock Gives the Lasting Gift of Clean Water to Arid Regions in Ethiopia

Wells funded by Shutterstock bring safe drinking water to hundreds of men, women and children

New York, December 8, 2010 – Shutterstock, the leading global provider of stock images and stock footage by subscription, has made a lasting difference in the lives of hundreds of men, women and children in Northern Ethiopia by providing the life-changing gift of clean, safe drinking water for decades to come.

New Shutterstock-funded wells throughout the arid Amhara region mean that men such as Muche Alemu no longer have to experience the pain of watching family members, including his own daughter, die from waterborne diseases, which claim the lives of 4,500 children on average worldwide each day. Before Shutterstock’s well came to Alemu’s village of Casie Chibechiba, he and his family had to walk for hours to a stagnant, murky pond to collect drinking water.

“Water was always our biggest fear because it made our village sick, and there was nothing we could do,” said Alemu. “But now, I do not worry anymore. We have no more sickness from water, no more children dying because they cannot find clean water to drink.”

Alemu’s story is the result of Shutterstock’s yearlong partnership with charity: water, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. To date, Shutterstock’s wells have helped approximately 1,500 people like Alemu in six villages throughout the drought-ridden Amhara region of Northern Ethiopia.

“As a global, socially responsible company, it is important for us to support sustainable projects that make a real difference in the lives of people around the world,” said Jon Oringer, founder and CEO of Shutterstock. “As we look toward the holiday season, we encourage our community of buyers and contributors to extend their generosity to those who need it most.”

As always, Shutterstock believes that pictures tell the story best. To see compelling images of Muche Alemu and the Shutterstock-funded well that brought clean, safe drinking water to his village, please visit: http://shutr.bz/water

About Shutterstock®
Founded in 2003, Shutterstock is an innovative global e-commerce company and a leading provider of stock photos, illustrations, and footage. Shutterstock provides royalty-free content to creative professionals worldwide, specializing in subscription products that are simple and user-friendly. For more information, visit www.Shutterstock.com.

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Introducing the 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD (Model B008) , The World's Lightest, Smallest 15x Zoom*1, with Tamron's First PZD (Piezo Drive)*2 AF

December 9, 2010, Saitama, Japan - Morio Ono, President and CEO of Tamron Co., Ltd., a leading manufacturer of optical equipment, announced the release of yet another groundbreaking lens: the world's most compact, lightweight lens with a 15x zoom ratio*1, featuring a 62mm filter diameter, VC (Vibration Compensation) image stabilization and Tamron's first standing wave ultrasonic motor system for SLR lenses, PZD (Piezo Drive) *2. The 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD (Model B008) digital SLR ultra-high-power zoom lens for Canon and Nikon mounts will be released in Japan on December 20, 2010, with the development of a Sony*3 compatible mount at a later date.

The 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD (Model B008) (referred to below as 18-270mm Di II VC PZD) is an astonishingly light, compact ultra-high-power zoom lens with a filter diameter of 62mm. Weighing in at 450g, this new all-in-one zoom lens is equipped with an AF unit driven by Tamron's new PZD (Piezo Drive)*2, an ultrasonic motor that delivers faster and quieter focusing when the autofocus is engaged.

The 18-270mm Di II VC PZD, will be easy to use and highly portable - a high-power zoom that will offer the user the versatility to shoot in a variety of situations. Its wide zoom range of 18-270mm positions the lens as an all-purpose workhorse for any photographic situation.

Product Features

1. The 18-270mm Di II VC PZD boasts the world's highest zoom range at 15x magnification for a lens with its compact size and light weight*1, with the added value of Tamron's proprietary VC (Vibration Compensation) image stabilization. At 450g, measuring 88mm in length (from mount face to the tip of the lens), and 74.4mm in diameter with a filter diameter of 62mm, it's a compact and easy-to-carry lens.
2. Silent, high-speed autofocus in a compact lens due to the incorporation of Tamron's new PZD (Piezo Drive) *2 autofocus technology.
3. This lens has a minimum focusing distance of 0.49m throughout the zoom range and a maximum magnification ratio of 1:3.8.

Di II (Digitally integrated design): Di II lenses are for exclusive use with digital SLR cameras (with APS-C size sensors), with a suitably optimized optical design. These lenses cannot be used with digital SLR cameras with an image sensor larger than APS-C size, or 35mm film SLR cameras.

* *1 For SLR camera high-zoom-ratio lenses with 15x magnification capability. Current as of December 2010. (Source: Tamron).
* *2 PZD (Piezo Drive) is a standing wave ultrasonic motor system developed by Tamron. The motor is faster and quieter than DC motors when the AF drive is operated, and compared with ring type ultrasonic motors, it has an actuator that facilitates lens design and reduced size.
* *3The Sony mount is not equipped with the VC image stabilization mechanism, as the body of Sony’s digital SLR cameras has a built-in image stabilization function. Consequently, the lens with a Sony mount is referred to as the 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II PZD and does not include the VC description.

PZD (Piezo Drive)
Ultrasonic motors are divided into two categories depending on the principle that generates the energy to move the drive: traveling wave motors and standing wave motors. Traveling wave motors include the ring type ultrasonic motor used in the recently launched 70-300mm F/4-5.6 VC USD as well as other lenses, but this lens employs a newer technology, the PZD (Piezo Drive), which functions on the standing wave principle.

A standing wave ultrasonic motor utilizes high-frequency voltage to extend and turn the piezoelectric (piezoceramic) element, thus moving the entire element in a standing wave movement. The metal tip is the contact point of the element to the rotor, and moves in an elliptic motion from the swiveling motion of the moving element, and the friction from this motion turns the rotor. Standing wave ultrasonic motors have the distinct advantage of being smaller than their traveling wave counterparts, and therefore allow a more compact SLR lens size.

VC (Vibration Compensation)
Tamron's VC mechanism employs a three-coil system, whereby three driving coils activate the shake-compensating VC lens group electromagnetically via three steel balls. The VC lens elements are held in place only by contact with the steel balls, achieving smooth movement with little friction. This provides a stable viewfinder image with excellent tracking performance that eliminates the blur from handheld shots for cleaner, crisper shots.

New VC mechanism (moving coil method)
Tamron's original VC image stabilization mechanism utilized a moving magnet system whereby a heavy magnet was positioned near the moving VC lens element. In the new VC unit the positions of the magnet and the coil are reversed, because of this the VC optical lens element is attached to the coil. The new VC mechanism employs a moving coil mechanism with a lightweight coil, and the lighter coil reduces the load on the drive system. Thus, the lighter, more compact new VC unit contributes to the lens's overall light weight and compact size.

Notice of Classification Code Change for Nikon Mounts
Since the introduction by Tamron of the first Nikon mount lens featuring an internal AF motor, the AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC (Model A20), all Nikon mount lenses with the internal AF motor had used the classification code "N II". Lenses using a coupler system* without an internal AF motor were designated as "N". As future lens introductions for Nikon will have the internal AF motor as a standard feature, Tamron has decided to simplify the designation and consolidate all Nikon mount lenses as "N", eliminating the "N II" designation for future models. This classification code change will be effective from the 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD (Model B008).
The "N" classification lenses with coupler systems are: AF 55-200mm F/4-5.6 Di II (Model A15); AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di (Model A061); SP AF200-500mm F/5.6-6.3 Di (Model A08); and SP AF180mm F/3.5 Di (Model B01).

*Coupler system refers to a system that uses a shaft to harness the AF motor built into the camera body to operate the lens.

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Two Minute Tip: Adding "Pop" to Images in Photoshop

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWVu-fmqPV8



NicolesyPhotography - Nicole demonstrates how to add a "color pop" to an image using Adobe Photoshop.

Category: Howto & Style
Tags: photoshop, cs5, color, pop, tutorial, nicolesy, adobe

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BenVista releases PhotoZoom Pro 4

ARNHEM, December 6, 2010 – Today BenVista announced the release of their new software for digital image resizing PhotoZoom Pro 4, which as of now is available for both Windows and Mac platforms.

The PhotoZoom series is specialized in enlarging (and downsizing) digital images while preserving original quality, for which it uses BenVista's patented, award-winning S-Spline technologies.
With PhotoZoom Pro 4, BenVista aims to tackle an additional challenge: creating acceptable image enlargements based on mediocre or even low quality originals.

Says D.S. Schoolwerth, CEO at BenVista: "Ideally, you always have high quality originals to work with. But reality can be different. What if all you have is a low-res original full of noise? And what if a client insists on working with a low quality image from the Web, that suffered quality loss due to JPEG compression? Enlarging such images usually isn't a very good idea:
distortions will become disturbingly visible. Or when you apply repair filters prior to resizing the image, the end result often looks blurry and artificial."

With PhotoZoom Pro 4, BenVista claims to offer a spectacular new solution to this problem.
Schoolwerth: "We have developed a technology that combines perfectly with our S-Spline Max resize method. Not only it cleans up JPEG compression artifacts and noise, the image will also look perfectly sharp and true to nature after enlargement."

Another major new feature of PhotoZoom Pro 4 is 64-bit support. With the increasing popularity of 64-bit versions of Windows, Mac OS X, and Photoshop in mind, PhotoZoom Pro 4 now fully supports 64-bit environments, both as a stand-alone application and as a Photoshop plug-in.

Other improvements are additional fine-tuning options, new pre-defined settings for different types of images, and additional presets for common print and pixel sizes.

Besides PhotoZoom Pro 4, BenVista also released PhotoZoom Classic 4 today. Although the Classic version misses some of the Pro version's features, it too creates outstanding image enlargements thanks to its S-Spline XL image resize technology. Also, the price of the Classic version is significantly lower, allowing the PhotoZoom series to reach a wider public.

Demo versions of PhotoZoom Pro 4 and PhotoZoom Classic 4 can be downloaded directly from the BenVista website: www.benvista.com. Various upgrade options are available.

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iPad Photography App: Flickpad Pro: Adorama Photography TV

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2cr32hbovI



adoramaTV - Adorama Photography TV presents Flickpad Pro for the iPad.

This week Mark Wallace discovered a great iPad application that is called Flickpad Pro. This app is makes keeping up with the latest photos your friends and family are posting on Facebook and Flickr really fun and really fast.

To download Flickpad and for reviews of related iPad apps, go here: http://www.adorama.com/alc/article/Fl...

Visit http://www.adorama.com/alc/ for more photography videos

Category: Howto & Style
Tags: flickpad pro, mark wallace, adorama, app, apple, camera, digital, ipad, photography, snapfactory, facebook, flickr

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