Most SLRs cope remarkably well with freezing temperatures. I’ve had no problem using Canon EOS SLR cameras below zero for weeks on end, often down to -20°C and in extreme down to -30°C. This article is for those trying to keep such a camera going under expedition conditions, such as an icecap crossing or mountaineering expedition in the arctic: ie no power sockets, adverse weather, sleeping in tents on the ice and for a period of weeks. However much of the advice also applies to using a camera in cold conditions generally.

Keeping Your Camera Functioning in Arctic and Sub-Zero Temperatures – PictureCorrect

In this DIY tutorial Philip Schütz (see his Flickr account here) takes us through the process of making a wireless remote shutter release from a doorbell. NOTE: no responsibility for damage to you, your camera or doorbell will be taken by DPS: proceed with care.

Did you ever want to try wildlife shots, but the animals were scared by your presence? Did you ever want to do self portraits, but your IR remote couldn’t do the job? Real wireless remotes can help you, but they are an expensive piece of equipment. In this tutorial you will learn how to modify a wireless doorbell, that you can get in any home depot store or garage sale, to make your Canon EOS DSLR focus and release the shutter from a great distance.

Please note: I do not take any responsibility if your camera and/or you take any damage. Building the wireless control requires a bit of soldering, the soldering iron is hot and if you short?circuit parts you could destroy the doorbell. However, don’t worry if you never used a soldering iron before, if you follow the instructions carefully and handle the soldering iron with care any damage is very unlikely. You don’t have to worry about high voltages or currents, the bell and the camera use only batteries, you should avoid touching any parts anyway unless you have to.

1. What you need

• A small soldering iron (15 – 25W)
• Big tweezers or needle?nosed pliers
• Two pieces of wire, you can cut almost any piece of old wire you have
• A stereo cable with 2.5mm plug (Or a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter and old headphones)
• A MOC 3020 or MOC 3040 chip, ask the local electronics store, they’ll help you out
• A wireless doorbell, make sure it has an LED that is lit when the bell rings and a long melody

2. The Bell

At first you should test the bell, the LED has to light up when you press the button, and it is best if the LED stays lit for as long as you push the button on the remote. Open the bell and disconnect the speaker, you don’t want the animals be frightened by the sound, do you? Test the bell again, even if you disconnect the speaker, the LED should still light up.

Now disconnect the LED. If it has high legs, you can just cut if off near the LED, that’s the easiest way. If it is soldered directly to the board, you have to heat the solder spots on the other side of the board with your soldering iron and pull it out.

Take your MOC and look at the top, the legs facing down. There is a little marking, a small circle or a semi?circle imprinted in the case. In the photo below you can see the numbers of the pins I will refer to from now on. On the left side of the MOC between pins 1 and 2, there is a LED, similar to the one you just removed from the bell. The pins 4 and 6 on the right side of the MOC are only connected, if the LED in the left part is lit.

It gets a bit tricky now, so be careful. If you have soldered before, you can skip the following section.

Excursus: Soldering

Turn your soldering iron on and wait until it is hot. Meanwhile you take your piece of wire and remove the isolation on the one end. Now wrap the copper core of the wire around the part you want to connect it to. Put some solder on the tip of your soldering iron so it melts.

Now bring the solder onto the connection of the wire and the other part so it flows on the wire and the other part to get a good electrical connection. Repeat until the wire does not move anymore. Use the tweezers or pliers to hold the wire or the chip in place. Pull gently to test the connection.

You have to connect pins 1 and 2 to where the LED was before you cut it out. The anode must be connected to pin 1 and the cathode to pin 2, do not confuse them, it will not work the other way round. You should see which one is which from a small drawing on the board (see photo below). If there is no drawing, well then it is a bit of a guess. I suggest you only connect the wires without soldering until you know if you got it right. You can use two pieces of wire like I did, or you can connect the MOC directly to the board if you know what you are doing.

Be careful when soldering: Pins 1 and 2 and the wires on the board must not be connected in any way, don’t use too much solder.

3. The Camera

We will now work with the camera. Plug your 2.5mm cable into the cable release connector of the camera. Now cut the cable at the desired length (I suggest at least 4 inches) after the plug and remove the isolation. You should now see for separate wires, two of which are isolated again and two blank ones. Remove a piece of the second isolation as well. Make sure none of the wires are connected and turn your camera on.

One of the isolated wires connected to either of the blank ones will cause the camera to focus, the other isolated wire connected to a blank one will make the camera focus and shoot. This alone is an improvised cable release, should you ever need one. Now solder one of the blank wires to pin 6 of the MOC and the isolated wire that made the camera focus and shoot to pin *4*, or vice versa, it doesn’t matter here. You can now test it ? press the button of the remote and the camera should take a photo. If the camera focuses but does not shoot, try holding the button of the remote for some time until it does. Nothing happens? Most likely you switched anode and cathode of the LED ? fix that and it should work.

4. The Case

Put everything in the case of the doorbell, make sure nothing is connected to anything it should not be and cut a hole for the wire to the camera. I secured the cable with some tape for strain?relief.

Congratulations, you are done!

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

How to Make a Remote Shutter Release from a Doorbell [DIY SPECIAL]

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Photo by Lorrie McClanahan

While the old saying says that ‘curiosity killed the cat’ I’m coming to see that ‘curiosity’ is an incredibly useful characteristic to have as a photographer.

Here’s a few reasons why curiosity is a characteristic of great photographers:

1. Because it helps them notice things others are oblivious to

As I was surfing through the last 7 days of interesting photos section on Flickr earlier today, one of the things I noticed most about the photos that I saw there was that very few of them were of out of the ordinary subjects. Rather many of them were stunning images of everyday things that most of us wouldn’t even think to look for beauty in.

2. Because it drives them to find new ways to show ‘normal’ items

Another thing I noticed about many of these photos of ordinary everyday subjects was that the photographers found interesting ways to make them look extraordinary. They did this by finding interesting angles, placing their subjects in unusual settings or by experimenting things like focal length (particularly macro shots).

3. Because it drives them to learn about their digital cameras

The last thing I noticed about the shots on flickr was that some of them showed that their photographers had a good grasp of their cameras and how to use them. It was obvious to me that many of the photographers had ventured out of Auto mode and had learned to use other functions of their cameras. There is obviously a lot of experimentation going on with many of the shots – evidence of curious minds wondering what will happen if they just take the shot like this….

4. Curious photographers intrigue the viewers of their images

I’ve got no way of proving this one but it’s a theory I’ve always had. Creative people who are willing to push boundaries and explore new ground tend to be the type of people that others are drawn to. Curious photographers images are attractive because they help the rest of us view the world in new and intriguing ways.

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

Characteristics of Great Photographers – Curiosity

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Product: Umba Lumba

I have to start by informing you that ultimately I’m a huge fan of brick and mortar.  I like to go into a shop, talk to real, living, breathing humans, face to face.  I like to touch and feel my purchases.  I enjoy smiling at clerks, asking them where they’re from, and finding out if they have kids and such.

The reality is that we live in a whole new world. I’m finally starting embrace the fact that just maybe, my brick and mortar passion is going to have to become a thing of the past.  I’m being forced to inch my way into the freakishly powerful world of online shopping.

I’ve recently spent a lot of time perusing sites like Etsy and other “small market” online vendors.  The other night I spent a considerable amount of time on Etsy searching for something very specific.  As I was sifting through the gazillions of similar products-alas, none of which ended up being exactly what I was looking for- I noticed a trend: If a product had a bad photograph, we’re talking the little thumbnail preview image here, I would not even click through to see the product details.

I am convinced that a good image can be a make or break situation for an online vendor.  I can say emphatically and with absolute conviction that I would be more likely to purchase a poorly crafted product that had been well photographed than I would a wonderfully made product that had been photographed poorly.  I think online shoppers, admittedly on a subconscious level, are making similar judgments, though perhaps not as extremely, of our online products every day.

Here are some tips anyone with ANY camera can begin using today to improve the quality of their shots for online sales.

**Given the fact that few online vendors are also skilled photographers with fancy lighting set ups, we’re keeping things super simple by using natural light. **

1. Turn Off the Flash

Start by turning off your flash.  9 times out of 10 glare (caused by the flash) on your product is going to make the image look amateur and as a result lower the buyer’s confidence in the quality of the product as a whole.  Wait until daytime, turn out any lights in the room, and pull a table up close to a window or doorway. Photograph your product there in the soft difused light.  Diffused light isn’t only flattering light for skin tones and face shapes, it’s just as powerful a photographic tool on your pretty product.

2.  Remove Distracting Elements

I can’t even believe that I’m forced to point this out.  Sheesh people.   Remove anything from the photograph that doesn’t add directly to the feel/concept of the image as a whole.  Obviously this includes any kind of mess or clutter that is in no way related to the product, but also, this applies to elements you’re tempted to add to the image just for the sake of creativity.  I know it’s our tendency to attempt to grab the buyer’s attention by utelizing our creativity to create a “catchy” image.  Remember: 99.9% of the time what we think is going to be “catchy” ends up being a turn off to buyers as it simply looks cluttered and distracting.  Not to say that there’s no good in staging. . .

3.  Utilize Simple Staging.

Simply placing your product on a piece of glare free fabric (or paper) can be sufficient.  A a simple complimentary pattern may add a little punch without feeling too busy.  Having a model wear the product (if applicable) rather than just photographing it lying lifeless on a table can add dynamic.  The trick is to attempt to be creative without getting out of control.  Your product should be the focus of the image.

The rule of thumb should be, if your staging is distracting from your product, or if your eye isn’t immediately drawn to your product, but first drifts to another part of the image, then you need to back off of the staging.  Be sure to get an outsider’s opinion.  Sometimes we get so caught up in the concept we’re going for as photographers that our judgment can become clouded.

4.  Employ Creative Use of Depth of Field to Highlight Product Detail

Use a low aperture to create a shallow depth of field to highlight the elements that make your product special.  Since people can’t physically handle your product, you’ve got to make sure you show them everything there is to show. . . including the details.  If you’re not familiar with controling depth of field check out this article from the DPS archives or simply switch your camera over to Aperture Priority and make sure your aperture (fstop) is dialed down to the lowest possible number your lens allows.

Have more tips?  Be sure to add them in the comment section below!

Happy Shooting!

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

How To Photograph Your Product to Enhance Your Online Sales in 4 Easy Steps

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I’m a member of a photography group which was recently invited to attend a presentation from photography legend Art Wolfe.   I have been admiring Art’s work for the past two decades while I have been exploring photography and hoped to get a chance to meet him.  Living under the principle, “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no” I presented the idea to Seattle Photography Associates Executive Director When Paddison.  When has been a great resource for this community group and didn’t let me down.  She was able to procure me a 15 minute interview with Art before a presentation of his work at the Kirkland Performance Center in Kirkland, Washington.

Before I get to the interview, let me say that Art is not only a fabulous photographer, he’s also down to earth and a pleasure to talk with.  He’s engaging, has an easy, yet excited manner and makes those he contacts feel at ease.  After our interview and before the presentation he walked through the Performance Center audience and spent time sitting and chatting with those who had come to experience his presentation.  He’s a real class act and I am very glad I got the chance to sit with him and pick his brain.

Note: part 2 of this interview with Art Wolfe will be published here at DPS tomorrow. Stay tuned via one of our subscription methods to get that update.

And now, Part 1 of the transcript from the interview with Art Wolfe

PETER: Your schooling was in art, specifically painting, at the University of Washington yet you are most widely known for your photography.  What about photography changed your focus?

ART WOLFE:  It was at a time in the late 70s when photography and 35mms were becoming more and more and more handy.  I got a camera when I was in a climbing class outside of college and I started taking pictures just to document the climbs and I just took to it like a duck in water.  The speed with which I could take compositions and make multiple compositions was much more suited to my temperament.

Having said that, I’ve just recently got back into painting after 30 years. And now it’s been great because I’m taking it a step further and melding my paintings and my photography together.  So it’s kinda like a full circle.

PETER: When I was asking on Twitter for questions readers would like to ask you, @wrighttony told me to ask to see some of your paintings.

ART WOLFE: It’s amazing, I knew because over the years I’ve had interviews and people would invariably ask me if I ever would  get back to painting; I said,”Someday”. I never threw away the paints or brushes. And suddenly I think one of the interviews spurred me to see if I still have any kind of eye-hand coordination. And you never lose that.  In many ways the paintings I’m painting now are way more abstract are more sophisticated because the intellect has evolved over 30 years.  So, it’s been fun.

PETER: What elements are you most interested in while choosing a travel destination?

ART WOLFE: The elements are the same ones that would make me want to go to that place.  In other words, a sense of have I seen this scene over and over and over again in peoples pictures or on TV shows.  Or is there a sense of wonderment and adventure to go and see something not quite seen before.  And if it’s been seen before, can we more importantly put a different slant on it.  So those are some of the motivations.  But I pick the greatest places around the world (smiles).  The most remote cultures the biggest mountains. The most austere, remote deserts.  And that’s a great starting point.  If the show continues for 5 years I’m sure we’ll get down to exploring the Kent wetlands, but right now we still have a lot of places to get to.

PETER: You’ve been a professional photographer for over 30 years and you’ve seen some great photographers come and go.  Who out there inspires you today?

ART WOLFE: Wow.  It’s a lot of my non-nature colleagues.  I love the work of Greg Groman and his nudes and celebrity photos.  You know it’s….what’s his name…..you know I’m at the age quite honestly where I have to relax the brain to access the short term memory.  Let’s come back to that one because there are some but you know it’s like, pulling names out of the hat is really difficult for me.

PETER: Ok, no problem.  How important is it to you to have professional equipment?

ART WOLFE: Absolutely, I’m not at all a techy, nor am I someone who polishes the latest camera and plays with the latest gadgets.  I’m pretty uninterested in technology and that’s the bottom line.  Having said that, I’d be idiotic if I’m going to take anything less than the best equipment into the field.  Because I’m spending as much energy as you can imagine getting into the middle of the Sahara and to have something to capture the culture and atmospheric conditions that is less than what I could have brought would be ridiculous.

So, I bring really high end cameras along and I’m working on a project right now that involves human nudes, abstracts and I’m using Phase 45 equipment so it’s a huge file.  Because I’m really rapidly heading towards fine art prints and collectors prints and I want the best equipment to capture that.

PETER: Digital Photography School has a fair amount of beginning photographers who are regular subscribers.  For someone just finding they have a passion for photography, what would you say is the best thing for them to focus on from the very beginning?

ART WOLFE: To pursue their passion and to not worry about money. In other words, I think so many photographers really want to figure out where’s the economy and whether they can justify their interest in photography by the amount of money they can make from it.  I think that’s wrong headed.  I think; don’t think about money, follow your passion, make whatever you can work in continuing your adventure with photography and someday if that’s part of what you want, money will come.

But I think people feel that if they’re not selling their work or making money from it, their work is some how inferior and I don’t think it’s ever been a measure of whether your work is of value or not.  A few of us neurotic folks make our living from the work but it is by no means a very easy occupation and I don’t think it’s either a measure of whether your work is good or not.

So, I think people should follow their passion, whether they make money or not.

In Part 2 of the interview, Art Wolfe speaks to his use of design in taking and teaching photography as well as his transformation to only shooting digital while on a trip to Antarctica. 

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

An Interview With Landscape Photography Legend Art Wolfe – Part 1

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This is the second part of a two post interview with legendary landscape photographer Art Wolfe.  For Part one, click here.

PETER: In an interview with another of our writers, Jim Goldstein, for his podcast EXIF And Beyond, you talk about the importance of using design elements in your photography.  Can you please explain how you use design in creating photographs?

ART WOLFE: For me, and you and for everybody else out there the biggest challenge is to go into any environment, whether it’s interior or exterior, urban or wild and find the shot.  Find something within all that view in front of you that you’re honing in on and you’re making composition that engages you but more importantly, ultimately engages somebody else.  Finding that subject is difficult whether you’ve been doing it for 30 years like I have or just picked up the camera.

So what I do is I have a lot of different folders, if you will, in my brain and one of them is the elements of design.  So I’m just sitting here and looking and talking to you and I’m noticing the curvature of these seats, the patterns, the textures and all of that and that is a visual cue for suddenly seeing a potential photo.  It’s no less true if I’m walking a path in Mt. Rainier [National Park] or along the shore of the Olympic Coast.  It could be a texture cue.  It’s just a visual cue that alerts me, “Ah may be a photo here”. Do you get it?

And I have all sort of other ones, you know, whether it’s color or atmospheric conditions, I make up all these little folders of idea in my brain that I can access while I’m in the field.  And it’s not that this is the right way or the wrong way for everybody; it’s the one way for me that works.

Those patterns in nature, the elements of design which are shape, pattern, texture and line are ones I often draw upon whether I’m in a culture photographing wildlife and swarms of animals or shooting intimate landscape, they all apply; texture, pattern, line and shape.

PETER: If this whole “photography career” thing fell through the floor tomorrow, what else could you see yourself doing for a living?

ART WOLFE: (no hesitation) Teaching. I love teaching. In fact right now I’m teaching a series of really high end workshops that I just got back yesterday from teaching on the east coast.  It’s fun to take a small group of people that are really, ummm, quite successful in their respective fields and teach them something that they’re struggling with.

Finding the subject is the main thing for most people and especially if they are technically proficient, you know.  Many of them are lawyers, doctors, they own companies.  But when they come to nature or when it comes to composition they struggle.  They’re all right handed and uhhhh, it’s not that right handers aren’t artistic either, but I do believe in the theory that left handed, right brained people access art, much easier.  I think that’s unequivocal if you look at all the successful artist over the years.

So I help people that are technically proficient, competent and confident find their way through teaching [them].  And that’s a noble profession for me.

And then third would be landscape design. I like working the landscape.

PETER: Not just photographing it?

ART WOLFE: No, I worked on a yard at my home in West Seattle for the last 30 years and it’s a Japanese style garden with old pine trees and natural elements from the Northwest [USA].  I made a water feature with waterfalls and it’s all soothing but it’s also photogenic and it’s a great magnet for wild animals.  So it serves multiple purposes.

So I’d love….if I couldn’t take pictures it’d either be teaching or, you know, pruning trees (laughs).

PETER: A lot of beginners get stuck in a rut of focusing on main subjects and filling the frame with them.  How important is it to you to find a way to see things around the subject to enhance the image?

ART WOLFE: It’s absolutely imperative and in fact it’s one of the center points of new class that I’m teaching that is really based on positive and negative space. In fact I started out the class by asking everybody to draw a dog.  “Make a rectangle and draw a dog.”  And they put the dog right in the middle.  Then I tell them, “Redraw the dog where the ears, the tail, the legs are all touching the four corners of the frame.”  And then they start to see the spaces around it.  The elements around any subject [are] as important, as far as I’m concerned, as any subject itself.  Once you start locking that into your brain, you start to really…striking a balance, you start to look at the light and dark areas and suddenly the photo has strength and balance.

PETER: How much of what you’re shooting now is digital?

ART WOLFE: It is 100%.  And it all changed like this (snaps fingers).  I went to Antarctica on a trip about five and a half years ago and I brought 400 rolls of film, my trusty film camera and I then brought this little point and shoot digital.  But it was still of good quality.  I waited until the cameras were of equal quality and it was like a twelve megapixel camera.  And I took one picture, in the rain, crossing the Drake Passage, which is the body of water between South America and Antarctica, of a bead of water in the rain on a railing.  I took it back to my room and downloaded and I saw the image come up and it was like (pause) immediate.

I think that’s probably the response most photographers have once they start switching to digital.  That immediate result meant I have never shot a slide since.  It was just that fast.  All that film came all the way back to the United States and I have never have shot another slide since.  Do you believe that?  It is true.  It is true.  It’s dramatic and it’s true.

And since then, of course, digital has far outpaced the quality of film.  You know, there may be just a couple examples where film still has…you know…..very long exposures.  But boy, I wouldn’t go back.  And what I said earlier also is analogous is, like, I’m not into technology.  I’m into the subject.  And if that technology enables me to capture the subject faster and better, why not?

PETER: And a follow up to that.  How much emphasis do you put on post production work in the computer?

ART WOLFE: It really depends.  I don’t, we don’t, spend a whole lot of time creating fantasy.  Nor will I spend much angst removing a telephone pole if it’s way off in the corner and it’s drawing your attention…that thing’s gone.  So I don’t have problems with that.  Where we use the technology almost continuously is, out of a shoot, the photos we choose to use in any kind of situation, we’ll go through contrast and saturation and all those and we’ll set them to a standard that’s pretty much agreed to in the industry. We’re basically making the digital capture look more like the Velvia film we used, so we’ll just get to that point.

PETER: We recently asked our readers a question I’d like to pose to you now: If you could only visit one place or area for the rest of your life and that was the only place you were allowed to take photos, where would it be?

ART WOLFE: It’s a place that I’m actually going to take a tour to, and people can sign up to.  And it’s also true, it’s South Georgia Island.  I’m going down there in November and there’s several places available on that trip with me. We’re going to go from South Georgia onto Antarctica.  If you stick around for this lecture, you’ll see towards the end I close with that area, it’s just…..it speaks for itself.  It’s fantastic.

———————–

I’d again like to thank Art Wolfe for taking the time to chat and When Paddison of Seattle Photography Associates for arranging the meeting.  Check out Art’s site for more information on his workshops and photographic works.

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

An Interview With Landscape Photography Legend Art Wolfe – Part 2

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One of our readers, Christopher Honiball (see his Flickr stream here) sent in this set of tips on what to do when you’re approached on Flickr to sell an image. The image to the right is one he was recently asked to sell.

Several members on the DPS forum have been approached by an official asking for permission to use their picture on their website/catalog/book/etc.

The first thing you will want to decide is whether or not you will charge for the use of your photo. Opinions on this WILL differ. Some people don’t mind giving away the use of their pictures to individuals doing personal projects or nonprofits (remember that nonprofits generally do pay employees, however). Many times, though, a large for-profit company will ask you for your picture, and in that case, they should be paying.

When deciding whether or not to charge, you should also think about your future goals with photography. Especially if you are producing work that has the quality to be requested for publication, you are probably looking to make some money from your hobby at some point in the future. If you give away the rights to your pictures now, you are effectively undervaluing yourself, and this same customer may come back again in the future expecting more free pictures. Obviously, you don’t want to put yourself in that situation.

Many people will ask for permission to use your pictures in exchange for “credit”. Here’s the thing – credit in most cases means nothing. When is the last time you went on a website (not related to photography) and saw an interesting background picture, immediately thought, “I wonder who took that!” and went and searched out their website? If you’re a photographer you may have actually done that (strange), but most people never even think of the photographer when they see a picture – they just think about the picture itself. Of course, if National Geographic or a photography magazine wants to publish your picture then that would get you some interest, but in most cases the benefits of “credit” are negligible.

Also keep the following in mind:

1. You took the picture, and only you own the copyright to your picture. Do not give away or sell the copyright to your picture, only limited rights. Use a contract (Thank you forum member SusanH for reinforcing this with me).
2. These people are probably not trying to scam you, since they actually cared enough to ask you for permission. Be careful though.
3. Even if you are an amateur, your work has value if someone is asking for it. Don’t be afraid to ask for compensation.
4. Find out what they intend to use your picture for. If they are serious about using your picture, use a contract!

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide what to ask for your picture. If you are approached, ask what the individual was looking to pay, and negotiate from there. It doesn’t have to be a huge sum – enough, however, to recognize that there is value in your work. Keep in mind that each photo given to a company in exchange for “credit” helps to undermine the value of creative or skilled photography -something which definitely has value.

What would you add to Christopher’s tips?

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

What to do when asked to sell a picture on Flickr

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I’m very excited to announce that one DPS reader is about to get a new Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds mobile workstation!

Regular readers will know that I reviewed the Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds a month back (I was pretty impressed with the notebook). Normally when we do reviews on products we get to use them for a couple of weeks before sending them back. This time things went a little differently….

Lenovo said I could give the W700ds away to one of my readers!

First – let me say a massive thank you to Lenovo. This is no cheap giveaway – the W700ds range starts with a Recommended Retail price of $2869 – so thanks to Lenovo.

How to Win

I’m going to keep this very simple. You only have to do one thing to put yourself in the running to with this great mobile workstation – you need to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

On Thursday 11 July at 7pm (Melbourne Australia time) I’m going to randomly choose one verified subscriber to our newsletter to receive the laptop. That gives you just over two weeks to get your subscription in. You can subscribe by adding your email address here and hitting ’subscribe’:

If you don’t see the subscribe form above it could be that you’re running ad blocking plugins that not only block ads but these types of forms. If you turn your ad blocker off for a minute and reload the page you’ll hopefully see it

NOTE: Once you’ve done that – watch your email inbox because you’ll be sent an email asking you to confirm your subscription – this ‘verifies’ you as a subscriber and puts you in the running to win.

Once you’re subscribed you’ll begin receiving a weekly email from DPS which will update you on all of our latest posts, new assignments in our forum and other DPS news. These get sent out weekly on a Thursday.

We keep your email address private and don’t use it for any other purpose but to send you newsletters. You can unsubscribe at any point (just not before the 11 Jul or you’ll be out of the running to win the laptop).

As a testimonial for the newsletters let me just say that on the occasional weeks that I don’t send them (when I’m on vacation) I get a heap of emails from subscribers asking where it is!

If you’d like to check out what these newsletters are like – here’s our latest one to give you a taste.

UPDATE: if you’re already subscribed to the newsletter – you’re eligible to win the Lenovo already – there’s no need to resubscribe. If you don’t know if you’re subscribed simply add your email address and the process won’t let you go further if you’ve already subscribed.

Also – please note that the computer has been used by me to do the review linked to above – it’s new but not brand new. It also has US power plugs, but can be used elsewhere by buying a travel power adapter. I’m happy to have it shipped anywhere in the world so all are welcome to participate.

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

Win a Lenovo W700ds Mobile Workstation by Subscribing to Our Weekly Newsletter

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The following tip was submitted by one of our readers Mort Metersky. Mort emailed me some of his experiences of improving as a photographer last week and I asked him to share more. As a 74 year old photographer I thought his wisdom would be something many of us could learn from. You can see more of Mort’s work at his website.

Image by Swansea Photographer

What is the “BEST” way to learn how to become a better photographer? The answer, I believe, is there isn’t because we all learn in different ways. According to communications theory, to remember anything it must be repeated five or more times. I can only relate to you how I learned to become a better photographer.

It has to do with the repetitive idea of communication theory.

When I retired after 36 years of working for the U. S. Navy as a civilian, I joined a photography club. By that time, I owned a Nikon FA. The club had photo competitions once a month (we met twice). Every other month we either had a theme or open competition. Paid judges critiqued the images and points were given based on the image being picked first, second, etc. We had three levels of competition, beginner, intermediate or advanced. I started out as a beginner and my images were judged against other members in that category. You needed a 100 points to move up a level. After the third year, I moved up to intermediate and two years after to advanced.

The point of this story is that I took hundreds of slides and many of them got critiqued. The critique was ALWAYS how to make the image better. Critique from a knowledgeable photographer is how I got to the point I am now. I never stop learning, either from my students or other photographers. Self critique will NOT make you a better photographer. I still ask for my images to be critiqued.

Join a camera club in your area. I’ve never met a photographer who wasn’t willing to help me.

I teach photography and have been for the last five years. My students range in age from 10-71. The first lecture is on the basic rules of composition. We take field trips and they show me their images and I suggest different perspectives, etc. The students MUST take pictures during the week and I critique them. Class after class we do the same thing.

Every image can be made better in some way. Of course, now with Adobe PhotoShop (we use Elements 6 on an iMAC) there are a lot of tools that can help correct most “mistakes.”

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

Become a Better Photographer Through the Critique of Others

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