Photoshop World Opens Registration With Discount Offer.

Photoshop World Conference & Expo – the largest Photoshop educational event in the world – will be held September 7-9 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Photoshop World is offering an advance registration discount of $100 until Friday, August 4th. Registration is open at photoshopworld.com or by calling 800-738-8513, Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM – 7:00 PM EST.

Thinck.com Launches Online ICC Colour Profiling Service

In what looks to be a reasonably priced service, Thinck.com have announced the launch of its ICC Colour Profiling Service. It promises to make high-quality colour management available at affordable prices using a system which allows users to download the appropriate test charts (colour targets), print them out and subsequently send them to Thinck.com by post. Thinck indicate in their press release that less than a week later, the customer will receive their new printer profile via email. Prices start at €45.00 for a RGB or CMYK printer profile.

Whilst this is a good start I can see that this will have to go hand in hand with solutions in the most important are of colour management - Calibration of Display Devices. For more information the service, visit thinck.com.

Announcing Spymac Galleries

I dont usually like to quote directly from press releases but the following is excerpted from a relase I received from Spymacs PR Agency -Thomas PR

June 12, 2006, NY, NY – Spymac www.spymac.com, the largest Macintosh community with over 1 million members, announced today Spymac Galleries, the first photo and video community that lets you express yourself like never before. Post photos, movies and music online for free and then discuss personal photos, new music, crazy videos, gossip, news, etc. online with friends and other Spymac members.

Available for Mac and Windows, Spymac Galleries let you upload for free massive multimedia files of up to 3GB using new “Spymac Disk” technology for exceptional drag-n-drop ease of use. An additional 9GB of online storage space and other services are also available to Spymac Club members for a small annual fee of only $25/year. Users can share or embed their photos and videos in their own or other’s blogs, auctions and web pages.

Spymac Galleries – Create Your Own Photo & Video Community

With Spymac Galleries, the emphasis is on community. Socialize, build relationships, and have fun sharing and exploring files, bookmarks, multimedia, schedules and other content with your friends and family. Files can be made public or viewable only to your friends and colleagues. Spymac visitors can comment, rate, and be polled on new multimedia creations for an unequaled interactive experience and a true community of friends and family all over the world.

Easy to Use Spymac Disk Technology

Posting to the Spymac Galleries is extremely easy. Using new Spymac Disk technology with advanced AJAX and WebDAV features, photo and video galleries can be quickly designed by dragging and dropping files. Spymac Disk makes it easy to drag files from your computer to the Spymac servers, where they can be displayed and viewed. Spymac Disk shows up on your desktop as a drive (just as an iPod or other storage device would), and managing files is just as simple as dragging and dropping photos, music and video from the drive where they are located to the Spymac Disk drive. Spymac Disk synchronizes with the Spymac site in the background while you work, so sharing and storing files online has never been easier.

Should definitely be an interesting experience and worthy of some exploration. Visit Spymac now and sign up for an account.

Photography Great, Arnold Newman Dies

Another great has left us ... Arnold Newman is perhaps one of the most candid and powerful photographers you will ever come across. His work is famous for capturing the essence of his subjects. His portraits of Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Marilyn Monroe, Otto Frank, Andrew Wyeth, Andy Warhol and Alfried Krupp are excellent examples of his ability to capture and convey character. His death is a great loss to us. To see some of his powerful images visit PDNs Legends Online and Digital Journalist.
I leave you with a quote which captures the essence of his talent -

We do not take pictures with our cameras,
but with our hearts and minds.

Arnold Newman 88 - 1918-2006

News for June 2 - 12

HP recalls Photosmart R707 cameras
HP is recalling nearly 700,000 Photosmart R707 cameras dues to reports of a fire which was apparently caused when the camera was fitted with a non-rechargeable battery. A firmware update has been released which corrects the problem -- or they can contact HP to have the update carried out. The Firmware is available here.

Sony introduces Alpha DSLR-A100 digital SLR.
Sony have relased their much awaited DSLR, known as the Alpha (α) DSLR-A100, the camera is based upon Konica Minolta's Maxxum 5D/7D models. This further reinforces the continuation of the Konica/Minolta product line (which Sony bought last year) whilst bolstering Sonys Digicam offerings. In addition there are also 19 new lenses, including three from German lensmaker Carl Zeiss.
The basic specs are listed below, and if you want more details be sure to check out the reviews from Digital Camera Resource or DP Review
Alpha DSLR-A100:
10.2 effective Megapixel CCD, produces images at 3872 x 2592
Super SteadyShot CCD-shift image stabilization system
Sony/Minolta Alpha mount, supports most KM lenses and all the new Sony ones.
A hardware based Dynamic Range Optimizer.
Two dust reduction systems: special coating on sensor repels dust, and CCD "shakes" the rest off when camera is turned on/off.
2.5" LCD display with 230,000 pixels.
Enhanced full manual capability
ISO support up to 1600
RAW, RAW + JPEG support
Unlimited JPEG continuous shooting at 3 fps
Proprietary Hot shoe for external flash.
CompactFlash Type II slot; Memory Stick Duo adapter included
USB 2.0 High Speed support
Uses new NP-FM55H lithium-ion battery; 750 shots per charge
Ships in July for $899 body only or $999 with a Sony 18 - 70 mm lens

ArcSoft announce Panorama Maker 4

ArcSoft Panorama Maker 4 allows users to easily create seamless panoramic images from a series of digital photos. In the words of Mr. Stephan Cote, ArcSoft Vice President of Sales, Desktop Imaging Group. "Panorama Maker 4 is truly an amazing piece of software. In just seconds it will stitch a small set of pictures into a beautiful, wide-angle shot or turn a whole series of photos into a panoramic work of art, ... Almost every part of Panorama Maker has been upgraded. The workflow has been simplified, photo selection and photo ordering is now fully automated and photo stitching is fast and flawless. Fans of the previous version will love this upgrade but it's going to turn a lot of new heads too." I'll download a demo and try it out and report back when I get a chance. Panorama Maker 4 is available from the ArcSoft website.

Nikon Announce D2Xs and New Software

Nikon announced the D2Xs, which is a slightly upgraded D2X. The improvements include a larger 2.5" LCD, electronic masking of the focusing screen in high-speed crop mode, modified metering in high-speed crop mode, longer lasting battery life, a black and white mode, Adobe RGB in all color modes, up to 3 custom tone curves, 1/3 step ISO boost options, in-camera trim functions, and it's compatible with image authentication systems.

Nikon have also announced Nikon Camera Control Pro and Nikon Image Authentication. The former is an enhancement of Nikon Capture 4 Camera Control, and is compatible with Nikon Capture NX. Nikon Image Authentication is a Windows only product and is aimed at law enforcement, government, media and insurance markets. The software enables the integrity verification of images captured with the D2Xs, it can report if metadata or even the image itself has been altered since the image was taken. This last tool is especially important in forensics and any situation where images require legal usage and fidelity.

Pentax Announce The K100D

Pentax have announce the K100D which features Shake Reduction technology. "The SR mechanism is designed to minimize camera shake by oscillating the CCD image sensor vertically and horizontally at high speed using magnetic force, while adjusting the speed of oscillation in proportion to the amount of camera shake detected by a built-in sensor. As a result, the system does not require special anti-shake lenses and can be used with almost all existing PENTAX interchangeable lenses." Also announced was the PENTAX K110D, an entry-level digital SLR camera, which has all of the features of the K100D with the exception of Shake Reduction. Both cameras feature 6.1 megapixel CCD based sensors. The Naming convention references compatibility with the PENTAX K-mount lens system. The PENTAX K100D will ship along with the smc 18-55mm lens in July 2006 for $699.95 US, while the PENTAX K110D will ship along with the smc 18-55mm lens in August 2006 for $599.95 US.

Forgent Patent Claims Rejected by Patent Office

I thought this one was worth full coverage ... In my mind it covers something which has annoyed me to no end. The use of patents against the public interest. Read on...

PUBPAT NEWS > Patent Asserted Against JPEG Standard Rejected by Patent Office as Result of PUBPAT Request

Patent Asserted Against JPEG Standard Rejected by Patent Office as Result of PUBPAT Request: Public Interest Group's Review Results in Broadest Claims of Forgent Networks Patent Being Ruled Invalid

NEW YORK -- May 26, 2006 -- In the reexamination proceeding initiated late last year by the Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT"), the United States Patent and Trademark Office has rejected the broadest claims of the patent Forgent Networks (Nasdaq: FORG) is asserting against the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) international standard for the electronic sharing of photo-quality images. In its Office Action released yesterday, the Patent Office found that the prior art submitted by PUBPAT completely anticipated the broadest claims of the patent, U.S. Patent No. 4,698,672 (the '672 Patent).

Forgent Networks acquired the '672 Patent through the purchase of Compression Labs, Inc. in 1997 and began aggressively asserting it against the JPEG standard through lawsuits and the media in 2004. The company has the opportunity to respond to the Patent Office's rejection, but third party requests for reexamination, like the one filed by PUBPAT, result in having the subject patent either modified or completely revoked roughly 70% of the time.

"The Patent Office has agreed with our conclusion that it would have never granted Forgent Networks' '672 patent had it been aware of the prior art that we uncovered and submitted to them," said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT's Executive Director. "Making matters worse here is that this new prior art was known by those who filed the application that led to the '672 patent, but none of them told the Patent Office about it, despite their duty to do so."

More information about the reexamination the Forgent Networks patent being asserted against the JPEG standard, including a copy of the Patent Office's Office Action rejecting its broadest claims, can be found at PUBPAT Activities > Protecting the Public Domain.

Contact:

Daniel Ravicher, Executive Director
Public Patent Foundation
(212) 796-0570
info@pubpat.org

About PUBPAT:

The Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT") is a not-for-profit legal services organization working to protect the public from the harms caused by the patent system, particularly the harms caused by wrongly issued patents and unsound patent policy. To be kept informed of PUBPAT News, subscribe to the PUBPAT News List by sending an email with "subscribe" in the subject line to news-request@pubpat.org.

... Good news if you ask me.

PhotoMagic Version 2.0 Released

PhotoMagic version 2.0 is a Shareware photo imaging tool which facillitates quickly renaming, resizing, converting and applying special effects to multiple images. It supports Windows Imaging Acquisition (WIA) and has been designed around a Wizard based interface which makes it extremely easy to use. PhotoMagic can be purchased at Cheapshareware.co.uk.

News for week of May 22 - 30

iView MediaPro 3.1 released
iView MediaPro 3.1 for Windows and Mac has been officially released. This new version of the popular image management software runs natively on Mactel processors and includes a Notepad tool for adding and sharing comments about cataloged items.

Canon considers halt to Film SLR Development
According to Reuters Canon is considering whether it needs to continue developing both compact and SLR film camera models because the markets for both are shrinking. This is yet another indication of how digital photography is rapidly taking over from film. The use of megapixel plus Digital sensors in camera phones and the already reasonably price compact digital camera models which have flooded the market appear to have had an effect on traditional film sales. Manufacturers like Canon, Nikon, Konica/Minolta and Kodak have all seen sales of their film based usings fall dramatically.

Microsoft Announce new still image format.

Just when we thought there were enough image formats to contend with Microsoft announce another one. Windows Media Photo will feature a .WDP file extension and promises multiple colour space support and fast compression algorithms. Microsoft promises Windows Media Photo will support a wide range of features including:
Multiple color formats for display or print.
Fixed or floating point, high-dynamic-range image encoding.
Lossless or high-quality lossy compression.
Extremely efficient decoding for multiple resolutions and sub-regions.
Minimal overhead for format conversion or transformations during decoding.
Obviously another attempt to dominate the imaging arena by Microsoft it remains to be seen how many vendor will take a serious look at yet another file format. However with all the patent bull thats going on at the moment it would be nice if this is a fairly open standard, it appears however to be tied into the XML based XPS. You can read more at Microsofts information page on WDP here or obtain the specification document.

Exposure 1.0 Review

Exposure 1.0
Reviewed Published May 2006
Published by: Alien Skin Software
Requires: Photoshop CS or a recent edition of a plug-in compliant host application.
Windows 2000 or XP, 2GHz Pentium 4 or later, 256MB RAM;
Mac 1GHz Power PC G4 processor, 256MB RAM, Mac OS X 10.3.8 or later
MSRP: US$199.00

Alien Skin specializes in creating cool and useful Photoshop plug-ins for imageers and designers. Exposure is a tool which has been created to answer a particular need of both digital and film photographers. Many a photographer and designer has a favorite 35mm or medium format film or look they like. Some like the rich saturated colors of Velvia, some like the gritty look of T-Max and others like the fidelity of Kodakchrome.

What Exposure does is allow the user to emulate the look and feel of specific film types as well as adjust and control color, tone, focus and grain. It works in two modes: a) the emulation of B&W film types or toned images, and b) color film, processes and treatments. The list of available emulations is quite comprehensive with more promised in future.

Exposure is great for emulating specific black and white films, B&W infrared, toned and specially processed images like Calotypes, Daguerreotypes and Orthochromatic images. It even features several types of cross-processing treatments such as C41 to E6, E6 to C41, Lomo and old film effects. I was quite impressed by how well these were implemented.

Exposure is really easy to use and allows a great deal of modification from the base effect. Each interface features five control panes which allow you to select the effect you want to use and then modify its color, tonality, focus, the grain attributes and settings.

The individual filters are easy to figure out from their descriptive labels and would be obvious to anyone one who has had a broad experience with shooting film. Most of the filters do look a great deal like their real world equivalents but some could do with a little refinement, something which happily Exposure readily enables. Another big plus is the capability to save your own library of presets, something which I consider to be a must for any tool of this kind.

Film grain is one of the hardest attributes to effectively emulate and it is often something which many imageers are asked to remove from scans and images. In Exposure this attibute is actually a requirement because the user is trying to emulate a real world quality which has its own aesthetic value. Grain in Exposure is nicely implemented with controls for affecting the inclusion of grain in shadows, midtones and highlights as well as grain size and the grain color variation when it's applied in color film mode. One of the attributes which would greatly improve the handling here is the inclusion of features like clumping and grain shape to allow for special effects and more realistic grain effects. It might be possible to create application curves and profiles for different types of grain and effects.

I found the best results were created when using a fairly neutral image with no overt color casts. I also found that using higher resolution images was a neccessity, as with lower resolution images the grain effects proved unrealistic. A 4 megapixel image is a recommended baseline.

Technical and creative support for Exposure is excellent with online help, web based support including user forums, and a manual which covers not only the software but also the real world issues around which the capabilities of Exposure are based. Visiting the forums at Alien Skin will also yield additional settings and tips for improving your use of this excellent tool.

Exposure is impressive and it is my feeling that the only real way to improve the conversion process is to use a spectral mapping system for determining the characteristics of each film type and then using a characteristics table which allows you to determine image source and image target profiles.

Cons: Would like to see more film types. The interface needs a little improvement on its focus. The grain effects could also be more realistic in their character. Some of the filters need fine tuning. It would be nice to be able to access all of the presets in one place. The effects will only work in RGB mode so those of you who prefer to work in CMYK need not apply.

Pros: Fast and easy to use. Highly configurable. Exposure is aimed at and priced for professional users who can appreciate the work that's been put into this excellent plug-in. Excellent support forums. Whilst much of what Exposure does can be achieved using a whole array of features found within Photoshop, the plug-in unifies these capabilities in an interface which makes it easy to achieve the desired result. The available presets further simplify the process. Exposure is easy to use and doesn't get in the way of the process of exploring what you can do with your images. All told, Exposure is a must have for any photographer and imageer who works in the digital realm. What's more, you'll have fun working with it. Highly Recommended.

This review has been reproduced in its entirety from Kickstartnews.com

Elsewhere on the Web.

DPReview post Canon PowerShot S3 IS Review
As usual DPReview produce a comprehensive look at this image stabilized modle from Canon. Image stabilization in Point and Shoots seem to be the new feature being touted by many manufacturers. It's a feature which has even made its way to Mobile Phones. The review can be found here

Photo-i Review Epson V750 Scanner
Photo-i have posted an in progress review of the Epson V750. The pages that are there so far are well worth a read if you're interested in aquiring a new scanner. I've always had good results with the Epsons and this new scanner looks to be no different. Although the Nikon Photo-i always produce excellent reviews with good examples providing a balanced viewpoint and good examples. The Review can be found here.

News for week of May 15 - 21

Breeze Systems DSLR Remote Pro v1.2
Breeze Systems has released DSLR Remote Pro v1.2, which has added support for the Canon EOS 30D. DSLR Remote Pro enables the control of Canon DSLR cameras from a Windows PC and includes a live view allowing cameras to be controlled from up to 5m away from the computer using a standard USB cable. V1.2 also supports the Canon EOS 5D, 350D/Rebel XT, 20D, EOS-1D Mark II and EOS-1Ds Mark II, 10D, 300D/Rebel, EOS-1D and EOS-1Ds. Visit Breeze Systems for more information.

New Beta of Calico for Mac
Kekus Digital have posted a new beta of Calico, its panoramic stitching program for the Mac. New in 1.2 beta4 are bug fixes as well as PTMac project file export. Calico 1.1, is also available at Kekus Digital.

Canon EOS 30D support added to DxO Optics Pro
DxO Labs have updated their image correction software DxO Optics Pro to be able to process RAW and JPEG files captured with the Canon EOS 30D and one of 12 compatible lenses. The update is free to licensed users of v3.55b of either the Standard or Elite versions of the software.

ISO 24,000 Film from Kodak
Kodak announced the development of a new silver halide emulsion that is thermally developed to produce a positive image at speeds of up to ISO 24,000. Kodak Researchers presented a report at the International Congress of Imaging Science in Rochester, NY. You can read the conference abstract here. Kodak are investigating the viability of producing this film as a product.

Adobe release Photoshop 9 update...

Adobe have released an update to Photoshop, Version 9.0.1 handles several issues including performance and bug fixes. Fixes include the following:
• Photoshop no longer hangs for several seconds when using painting tools with quick strokes.
• A runtime error that could appear when mousing over a high-res document with the Brush tool has been fixed.
• Documents containing a large number of text layers now open more quickly.
• Problems related to palettes (slow redraw, palettes go white, possible crash) have been addressed.
• TIFF files from certain scanners can now be opened correctly.
• After editing an image in Photoshop CS2 via the TouchUp tool in Adobe Acrobat software, the image no longer gets repositioned.
• XMP metadata from AI and PDF files is now retained in Photoshop.
• Slow performance when toggling layer visibility has been fixed.
• Info palette numbers are now displayed and updated when moving a curve point in Curves via the cursor keys.
• Problems opening certain TIFF and PSB files greater than 2GB have been resolved.
• The Merge to HDR command now functions properly when using high-ASCII characters in user login.
The updates are available for both OSX and Windows and can be accessed at Adobes New Downloads Page.

Luminous Landscape - Measuring Megabytes

The Luminous Landscape have published an article called 'Measuring Megabytes' in which Chris Sanderson, Michael Reichmann, Charles Cramer, Bill Atkinson have produced photographs using a range of high end digital SLRs, medium format digital backs and 4x5 medium format film. The medium format backs were from Phase One and included the P25, P30 and P45 which have resolutions of 22, 31 and 39 megapixels respectively. The digital SLRs used were the 16.6 megapixel Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II, 12.7 megapixel Canon EOS 5D and the 11 megapixel Canon EOS 1Ds. The results of the shoot will be of interest to anyone who has questions about how resolution affects the results of your work and on the differences between the different types of equipment. The results are also being published on a DVD which will include Raw files from the shoot and scans from the film produced. The article can be accessed here.

NAPP launch Photoshop Training Site

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), the world’s leading educational and training resource for Adobe® Photoshop®, has recently launched its training site, Photoshop Training. Featured on the new site is a 21 day course, Photoshop for Digital Photographers by well the respected Scott Kelby.

Adobe Release Camera Raw Version 3.4

Adobe have released Camera Raw Version 3.4 for Photoshop CS2. Camera Raw can be downloaded from Adobe's download servers Download Servers. Support for the processing of RAW files from 8 new cameras and digital backs has been added since v3.3.
Newly Supported Models include:
Canon EOS 30D,
Epson R-D1s
Leaf Aptus 65
Leaf Aptus 75
Olympus EVOLT E-330
Olympus SP-320
Pentax *ist DL2
Samsung GX-1S

Adobe have also updated their DNG converter to Version 3.4 which can be downloaded from Adobes DNG Site.

Infrared Basketball Photography

Sportsshooter.com has published an excellent article by freelance photographer Tom Dahlin who shot some stunning black-and-white infrared images with a modified Canon EOS D60. The Shoot was produced as an assignment for the Minnesota Timberwolves. The pictures are a mixture of game action and studio portraits. Read the full article at Sportsshooter.com.

Digital Imaging News - May 6th 2006

Mamiya to Sell Optical Equipment Division
Mamiya-OP is selling its Optical Equipment Division to Cosmos Scientific Systems Inc. Mamiya has been producing cameras since the late 1940's, but has failed to successfully market digital vesions of their professional photography equipment.
Hopefully Cosmos will be able to turn things around and make the product line a viable and successful business in the professional digital photography world. I'll be very interested in seeing what they do with the Mamiya ZD 'medium format' digital SLR and back.

Kodak EasyShare V6.0
Kodak's EasyShare digital camera and docking system is celebrating its fifth birthday. Kodak have released their new EasyShare V610 dual lens camera and version 6.0 of its EasyShare software. Version 6.0 features a new user interface, a photo card printing feature and will be available this month to download for free.

ACDSee Updates
ACD Systems has released updates to its two flagship products, ACDSee 8 Photo Manager and ACDSee Pro Photo Manager. ACDSee 8.1 Photo Manager includes more than 50 feature, performance and productivity enhancements and RAW support, and the Pro Photo Manager update offers improved speed and performance in RAW processing. Free upgrades are available now at ACD Systems.

Canon 5D CSPro Released for Mac
Fred Miranda has released the Canon 5D CSpro Plugin for Mac. The Plugin features new and improved sharpening technology (CS) specific designed to accommodate Canon 5D SLR files. New with 5D CSpro is the ability to work with layered files. So, if you are working on a image with layers, they will remain intact. Canon 5D CSpro provides everything from haloless sharpening, edge-sharpening, luminance sharpening, mode sharpening, and more with just the press of a button. With this plugin you can also choose from low or high ISO settings. Other options allow you to sharpen fine detail. There are pre-designed intensity levels, and options to reduce color noise from high ISO files as well. You can even create your own sharpening profiles, preview settings and tweak intensity results. For more information visit the product page at Fred Miranda.

Microsoft Launches Future Pro Photographers Contest
Microsoft has announced the inaugural Microsoft Future Pro Photographers Photography Contest, which is open to college photographers from around the world. The grand prize is US$20,000 in cash plus thousands of dollars worth of computer hardware and software. The deadline for submissions is May 31, 2006.

Aperture 1.1.1 Released
Apple have released Aperture 1.1.1 for Mac. The update features a minor update that fixes several bugs and improves integration with iPhoto.

Light Machine released for MacOS X
The Plugin Site released the MacOS X version of LightMachine, a plugin for performing all kinds of light adjustments in photos. LightMachine combines shadow/highlight, virtual lighting and color-based correction tools for performing sophisticated corrections without the need for time-consuming selections and layer stacks. It lets you selectively correct photos taken under bad light conditions or with inadequate camera settings and achieve results that rival photos taken under the best circumstances.
Additionally LightMachine can achieve special effects like glows, sunsets, high key and selective b/w effects, replace one color with another and simulate polarizing filters. LightMachine works in several graphics applications including Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Illustrator, Painter, Canvas and Fireworks. LightMachine can be applied to 8bit and 16bit RGB images.

PictureCode releases Noise Ninja for Intel Macs

PictureCode posted Noise Ninja 2.1.1 beta 1 of the standalone version of their powerful noise reduction software. In addition to minor bug fixes, version 2.1.1 supports Intel-based Macs,
PowerPC-based Macs, Machines running Windows and Machines running Linux (AMD/Intel only).

Capture One Updated - significant performance enhancements

Phase One has updated Capture One to version 3.7.4, The Capture One update significantly speed ups transfer rates and also included is support for more cameras and more RAW file formats. Capture One is now also designed to run natively on both Intel and PowerPC based Mac computers with a purported performance increase of 40%. Capture One 3.7.4 also offers speed enhancements for Windows and PowerPC Mac users and is a free update for existing users. Visit Phase One® for more information...

The 2006 TIPA Awards

The Technical Image Press Association have annouced their awards for 2006. Having been an interesting year in product development and releases there were only a couple of surprises, but some excellent products.

The awards were awarded as follows:

D-SLR ENTRY LEVEL - Nikon D50
D-SLR EXPERT - Nikon D200
D-SLR PROFESSIONAL - Canon EOS 5D
MEDIUM FORMAT D-SYSTEM - Hasselblad H2D-39
HI-END PROFESSIONAL CAMERA SYSTEM - Sinar m System
D-ULTRA COMPACT CAMERA - Canon Digital Ixus 65
D-COMPACT CAMERA - Fujifilm FinePix F30
D-SUPERZOOM CAMERA - Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1
MULTIMEDIA D-CAMERA - Samsung Digimax i6 PMP
CONSUMER LENS - Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC
PROFESSIONAL LENS - AF-S VR Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED
PRESTIGE CAMERA - Ricoh GR Digital
DIGITAL CAMERA BACK - Leaf Aptus 75
FLATBED PHOTO SCANNER - Epson Perfection V750 Pro
SMALL FORMAT PHOTO PRINTER - Panasonic KX-PX1 / PX10
A4 PHOTO PRINTER - Epson Stylus Photo RX640
A3 PHOTO PRINTER - HP Photosmart Pro B9180
LARGE FORMAT PRINTER - Canon imagePROGRAPH iPF5000
INNOVATIVE PRINTING TECHNOLOGY - Epson UltraChrome K3™
PHOTO PROJECTOR - Panasonic PT-P1SD
INDEPENDENT INKJET PHOTO PAPER - Innova Art FibaPrint Gloss
COLOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - ColorVision PrintFIX Pro Suite
IMAGING PERIPHERAL - Pantone huey
IMAGING INNOVATION - Olympus E-330 Live View
IMAGING STORAGE MEDIA - Lexar LockTight System
STORAGE BACK-UP - Jobo Giga Vu Pro evolution
PHOT0 SOFTWARE - DxO Optics Pro 3.5
MOBILE IMAGING DEVICE - Nokia N80
INNOVATIVE DESIGN - Kata Bags
MONITOR - NEC spectraview 2180 LED reference

Sony α (alpha)

Sony has announced the brand name for its D-SLR cameras that will be launched sometime this summer. Sony will be using the symbol α which they describe as “meaning “beginning” and “essential,” the symbol (pronounced alpha) embodies the spirit of Sony’s approach to the D-SLR market. Under this sub-brand, Sony will produce a complete camera system of accessories and lenses to enhance the enjoyment of photography.”　

“The Sony α™ mount system of cameras, lenses and accessories will integrate advanced electromechanical technologies that are key to D-SLR performance, the versatility of the well-established Maxxum lens mount system, and Sony’s renown in imaging devices and technologies. These include CCD and CMOS imaging sensors, as well as other image processing technologies, in addition to overall product miniaturization. People who have already made investments in many of Konica-Minolta’s lenses and accessories will be able to take full advantage of Sony’s new D-SLR cameras.”

This brand is in fact a continuation of Konica-Minolta’s earlier efforts in this area. It'll be of interest to see what Sony release this summer as they promise several models.

ILEX Digital Studio Series for Photoshop

Reviewed by: Mario Georgiou, April 2006
Published by: ILEX Press
Requires: N/A
MSRP: UK£71.80 (4 titles)

During the many years that I've been using digital imaging tools and Adobe Photoshop in particular, I've found that very few of us really know the full extent of Photoshop's power and versatility. Even Adobe's user manual falls short of really covering Photoshop's capabilities. The idea of a recipe-based approach to learning about Photoshop appealed to me, because if it's done right, should simplify the process of understanding the tools and features and providing a context for them. All four books in the ILEX Digital Studio Series follow the same format. There are actually five books in my list at the end of this review, but the latest release is not part of the Digital Studio Series as of yet. I consider it to be so, therefore I'm treating it as such. When I received the ILEX press release for the Digital Studio Series, I knew that I had to get my hands on it.

All the Digital Studio Series books look well produced. Like all good recipe books, they begin by introducing the basic elements and tools to be used in the creation of your projects. After covering the basics well, each book then takes a particular project type, technique or recipe and provides very easy step-by-step instructions for you to follow. Each recipe offers plenty of clarity and visual references and covers the features needed to complete each project. In some cases more than one method of reaching the intended goal is provided.

The Blending Modes Cookbook is excellent and begins by covering what the blending modes actually do. It actually provides several excellent examples for each mode and leaves you in no doubt as to the power of this understated feature. Blending modes are also demonstrated in combination with other features in Photoshop to help achieve a given effect or correction. Blending Modes Cookbook author John Beardsworth provides comprehensive coverage of what can be achieved. The book then goes into some excellent recipes using blending modes and other features to create several types of bleaching effects and treatments, repairing highlights and shadows, high contrast effects and explorations of several different sharpening techniques. The book then finishes with several excellent illustrative and graphical treatments.

The next book in the series is the Filter Effects Cookbook and it too is comprehensive in its coverage of the filters found in Photoshop CS2, with every filter covered in some depth. The variety and scope will provide you with plenty of inspiration and ideas and reasons to try filters on your own creations. It is not so much a recipe book as much as it is a reference and idea manual. As in the Blending Modes book, the features covered here are well illustrated.

The Photo Effects Cookbook is an exploration of the kind of graphical effects achievable with Photoshop. It is a book which doesn't really focus on any one function but more on how to create some very useful graphic treatments. There are 61 recipes in the book, broken up into several categories: Tonal and Color, Graphic Art, Lighting, Natural World, Traditional Photographic, Distortion Texture and Presentation effects. Some of the effects like Art Nouveau and the Fish Eye lens effect could have been better executed, but I did find some very useful lessons in this book. Amongst my favorites are Selective Coloring, Warhol Screen-Print, Watercolor, Oil Painting, Pencil Sketch and the Infrared Photography effects recipes, all of which are well demonstrated. In fact nearly all the recipes in this book are extremely well executed.

The Retouching Cookbook takes a look at common issues you are likely to encounter in photos and how to correct or adjust for them. The recipes here demonstrate how to handle exposure and color correction, focus manipulation, the retouching of several types of images and color and lighting effects. My favorite section dealt with the emulation of traditional darkroom effects like cross processing, hand tinting, solarization and mezzotints. The book then looks at the processing of RAW files and finishes up by dealing with several recipes for photo restoration and compositing techniques. Again this title is quite comprehensive in its coverage of the issues you may encounter as an imageer or photoretoucher.

The final book in this review is the Fine Art Cookbook and whilst it isn't part of the Digital Studio set, it is in the series. This book is the one I would most likely recommend to the digital artist who only has a budget for one book from this series and who may want to use Photoshop to create artistically styled images or illustrations. This book does a good job of covering a broad spectrum of artistic and photographic styles and techniques. It demonstrates the emulation of the artistic styles of artists such as Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Seurat and Van Gogh as well as several photographic schools and styles. The featured photographic styles, schools and media types are well worth exploring and may lead you to find a reason to visit your nearest art or photographic gallery in order to explore the history of these styles and schools.

Cons: Some of the examples created for the recipes were a bit weak. There are some errors in layout where the before & after examples are inconsistently placed. This may have been done to prevent the books from becoming staid or predictable but may also create some confusion. There is some repetition between books with respect to the techniques which are featured.

Pros: Excellent design, layout and writing. Comprehensive coverage of the featured tools. Easy to follow recipes. If you have all the books in this series, then you might find some repetition. But this occurs in only in some of the techniques featured and the examples in each case are different, so the minor repetition may be more likely to reinforce the viability of the featured techniques. In many ways, I feel that anyone using Photoshop would definitely benefit from having these excellent reference books on their bookshelf. A must-buy. Highly recommended.

The Digital Studio Series consists of:
Photoshop Blending Modes Cookbook for Digital Photographers: 49 Easy-to-follow Recipes to Fix Problem Photos and Create Amazing Effects
Author: John Beardsworth
Paperback 176 pages
ISBN: 1904705685
List Price: UK £17.95

Photoshop Filter Effects Cookbook: The Hands-on Desktop Reference for Digital Photographers and Artists
Author: Roger Pring
Paperback 192 pages
ISBN: 1904705677
List Price: UK £17.95

Photoshop Photo Effects Cookbook: 61 Easy-to-follow Recipes for Digital Photographers, Designers and Artists
Author: Tim Shelbourne
Paperback 176 pages
ISBN: 1904705618
List Price: UK £17.95

Photoshop Retouching Cookbook for Digital Photographers: 113 Easy-to-follow Recipes to Adjust and Correct Your Photos
Author: Barry Huggins
Paperback 176 pages
ISBN: 1904705596
List Price: UK £17.95

Photoshop Fine Art Cookbook for Digital Photographers: Techniques for Recreating the Classic Styles of Great Artists and Photographers
Author: John Beardsworth
Paperback 176 pages
ISBN: 190470574X
List Price: UK £17.95

This review has been reproduced in its entirety from Kickstartnews.com

Bob Carlos Clarke Dies

He died on March 25 in an accident in London. Although famous for his erotic and sometimes controversial images, he was an excellent commercial and fine art photographer with many iconic images to his credit. Although he showed little if any leanings toward photography in his rebellious early years, he went on to study photography at West Sussex College of Art, The London College of Printing and finally at The Royal College of Art. It was whilst at the RCA that he met and became friends with Allen Jones who also had a fondness for rubber-clad models. This fondness was cultivated by a gentleman associate at the College called "The Commander" who'd developed the passion for rubber whilst a frogman in the navy, however, Bob himself remained but an observer of the fashion.

His portraiture was as striking as it was intimate, capturing his subjects in raw and candid fashion. His Portraits of Vinnie Jones, Keith Richards and Rachel Weiss stand out in particular. The Campaigns for Urban Stone and Wallis are excellent examples of his witty, unique and often imitated approach to projects. The Wallis campaign did the rounds of the internet ... a tribute to the success of his imagery.

His personal work was of a more subtle nature, in an exploration of still life and nature, he shot things pretty much as he saw them, some of his still lifes are incredibly rich and textural in nature. He saw this as the most personal of his work, as he did it out of the love of his art and not to satisfy any brief or client. He will greatly missed by his wife Lindsey and their daughter Scarlett as well as his many friends, family and colleagues. To explore some of Bob Carlos Clarkes photography, visit his website here.

News for week of March 24 - April 1

Hello all ... I thought of posting yesterday but given the date I figured it was best not to ... I'd leave the jokes and leg pulling to others out there. One of the best was one from Photographer Craig Minielly who announced the release of a new set to his collection of portrait treatment and production Actions for Photoshop. The actions called Naturalizers, purportedly used a nano-pixel mapping technology - co-developed with NASA - which to enables "the removal of items of clothing from a subject, all at the touch of a button and without resorting to time-consuming and elaborate retouching techniques." I came across news of this excellent April Fools joke on Rob Galbraiths website. Visit the Naturalizer page here.

PSRemote and Breeze Browser Pro
Breeze Systems announced updated versions of their PSRemote and BreezeBrowser Pro software. PSRemote is a solution which allows remote control of Canons Powershot Cameras. this new version supports several new models and provides capabilty for improved exposure control under tricky lighting conditions. You can also control auto bracketing and shoot a sequence of up to 15 images, this capabiltiy makes it ideal for capturing HDR images (high dynamic range). As a tethered shooting solution its quite useful for the prosumer who does a lot of studio or product type photography. The time lapse capability is also excellent giving videographers a chance to create some time lapse based photography whilst recording to the hard drive. Visit Breeze Systems website.

Digital Camera Firmware Updates
Canon and Olympus announced minor firmware updates, Leica release a more robust firmware update. Canon released updates for the EOS 30D, 5D and the 1D MkII N. The EOS 30D firmware update (1.0.4) corrects Chinese language display problems, the EOS 5D update (1.0.5) fixes a monochrome mode bug and a problem with the combination of the EF 85 F1.2L and Speedlite 580EX. The EOS-1D Mark II N update (1.0.4) fixes a monochrome image bug and an over-exposure problem when using Focusing Screen EC-S.
Canon EOS 30D Firmware - update available here.
Canon EOS 5D Firmware - update available here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark II N Firmware - update available here.

Olympus released firmware update (version 1.2) for the E-500 (EVOLT) Four Thirds Sytem DSLR. The update provides a new menu function for exchanging the AEL/AFL and One-touch WB buttons, and improvements in the exposure level of the built-in flash in combination with particular lenses. Olympus Firmware - update available here.

Leica released a firmware update (1.2) for the ten megapixel Digital-Modul-R back for the R8 or R9 SLRs. This update features improved improved color, image display, improved Japanese menu and some bug fixes / optimizations. Also improved are compatibility with Mac OS X 10.3, and 4 GB SD cards. Leica Firmware - update available here.

Qimage v2006.250
Digital Domain Inc have released the latest version of their professional photographic printing software solution Qimage v2006.250. This Windows based software boasts new features like the specification double borders with different colour attributes, border sizing, new colour management and improved print quality for enlargements. More information here.

Basic Critical Theory for Photographers

Written by: Ashley la Grange
ISBN: 0-240-51652-4
Reviewed by: Mario Georgiou, February 2006
Published by: Focal Press/Elsevier
Requires: N/A
MSRP: US$26.95, UK£16.99, EUR24.95

As a photographer I often enjoy looking at the images created by others. It's a lifelong enjoyment for photography lovers and many of us develop biases towards the kind of imagery which attracts us. When I received this publication I'd quite expected an image-heavy, visually based look at the world of photography. What I got instead was a text heavy reference work, but don't let that put you off.

Ashley la Grange has written an excellent book which navigates through the context and meaning of photography. It covers photography from a range of cultural and historical perspectives as well as guiding the reader though a visual language which many outside the world of academic photography can only guess at. Every chapter in this book is filled with information on one aspect or another of photography and la Grange explores each aspect with lessons and questions which help the user understand and explore their own work within this context.

The book also references many landmark works of photographic criticism, thinking and theory which are now out of print. These include John Berger's "Ways of Seeing", Susan Sontag's "On Photography", Martha Rosler’s, "In, Around and Afterthoughts" and Roland Barthes' "Camera Lucida". Also featured are works by Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Andy Grundberg, Raghubir Singh, John Baldessari and Peter Godwin. If you have a public library nearby, it is well worth looking up these works to expand upon the basic quotes la Grange draws from them.

The major drawback I found with this book is that like many academic works it is text heavy and misses the point that many of the students of photography have a visual bias. Also like many academic books it also follows the form of using text to draw attention to visual works, but because of the way these books are produced, places the relevant examples away from the context of the referencing text. I think it would have benefited from more examples and a slightly different layout. Even so, the examples used are from some of the greats, with luminaries such as Roger Fenton, Mike Wells, Henri Cartier Bresson, Josef Koudelka and Dorothea Lange aptly represented.

This book is aimed at the beginner, student and enthusiast who want to delve into the more theoretical side of photography and while it does cover some concepts which would be more familiar in a more academic context, it does not lose the reader by delving too deeply into them. The author's use of practical assignments and references allow readers to experience the subjects discussed within a personal and experiential context, using the examples to good effect. My favorite discussions involved the cultural differences between photography in the west and the way the Chinese establishment uses photography to shape a political world view.

There were many subjects in this work which made me feel like reading more and also some with which I disagreed deeply. As an exercise in stimulating thought this book was highly successful and also very enjoyable. This book allows the reader to explore the world of photography through a new set of lenses—ones which allow you to create images crafted through a critical eye.

Cons: Text heavy and to be of the best use must be read and experienced in a group context.

Pros: Excellent references throughout. Well written. Lessons are well thought out. Basic Critical Theory for Photographers is one of those books which should become part of the syllabus of many of the excellent photography courses that are out there. It is a book which benefits from group use and review and one which should be on the recommended reading lists for all students of the medium. The individual who wants to experience the lessons this book will also benefit from reading many of the hallmark works which are referenced therein. Highly recommended.
This review has been reposted in its entirety from Kickstartnews.com.

Rectilinear Panorama Pro 1.2.1

Reviewed by: Mario Georgiou, March 2006
Published by: Altostorm Software
Requires: Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 or later, 700 MHz Pentium III/1GHz or faster, 512MB RAM, 10MB available hard disk space
MSRP: US$179.95 (Pro version)

One of the biggest issues you may run into when shooting architecture or urban environments is that fact your lenses will most likely distort the subject matter. The distortion is inevitable if you use wide angle lenses. As a professional you may be able to correct during shooting by using a Tilt & Shift lens, but that sort of lens is strictly in the domain of the professional photographer and unless you are specializing in architecture there is no real reason for you to own one.

Like me, you most likely use an array of wide angle and zoom lenses for general everyday use. You also might get frustrated from time to time with the inadequacies of imaging software when it comes to simply and effectively correcting things like barrel distortion, pin cushioning and other optical problems caused by a combination of optics and your shooting perspective. There are tools out there which can be used for doing some of this correction. Photoshop CS2 itself has some very good controls for some of these problems, but none of these have the simplicity and power built into Rectilinear Panorama Pro from Altostorm.

The process of correcting your images in Rectilinear Panorama Pro is an easy one. It's a Photoshop plug-in which means you have to load your image into a compatible editor and activate the Rectilinear plug-in. The correction process involves 4 basic steps.

The first step is the Distortions Definitions dialog which allows you to outline curves, and Guideline which describe the nature of the distortions in your image. One set of guidelines outlines the horizontal distortions and the other set outlines vertical distortions.

Once you've outlined the main distortions in your image you then proceed to the second step in which you determine the photo's final geometry. There are two types for both vertical and horizontal lines. The options include definitions for straight/parallel lines or angled/converging lines. The choices make it easy to determine the way the corrections should be handled.

The next step defines the parameters that control the recovery of object sizes and to restore the dimensional ratios of elements in your image, after the adjustments have been completed.

The fourth step in Rectilinear determines how the result will be cropped and then saved. The resulting destination option allows you to determine whether the image will be saved to a file or to the images source window. Because saving to a source window can create problems in your workflow and revision tracking, in most cases I highly recommend saving to a file.

Working with Rectilinear over the course of several weeks, I was able to process dozens of photos with the plug-in. It proved very easy to learn and use and I thoroughly enjoy the consistent results I've been able to achieve. The help files and the tutorials are very helpful and informative although there are areas where the language needs a bit of clarification—nothing that a couple of sessions with a consultants and an editor wouldn't solve.

All in all Rectilinear does its job very well but there are still a few ways in which it can be improved. For example, it would be great to be able to pull shooting and lens metadata from RAM and other image files to automatically correct for some distortions based upon lens profiles.

Cons: Price. Help manual needs clarification on some points.

Pros: Easy to use. Fast, powerful and the results are excellent. The results Rectilinear achieves are spectacular. Altostorm have done an excellent job with this tool, which I recommend for any photographer who specializes in landscapes and architecture of all kinds. It is an excellent tool for anyone who uses lenses which introduce any distortion into images. Highly recommended.

This review has been reposted in it entirety from kickstartnews.com.