Friday, November 27, 2009

Panasonic has announced that its Lumix cameras have been used to capture 109 images for The Caravan Gallery’s latest book, Is Britain Great? 2. The Caravan Gallery is a mobile exhibition and visual arts project run by artists Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale who are on a mission to record the ordinary and extraordinary details of life in 21st century Britain.Looking carefully at cultural trends and paying attention to juxtapositions, the pair take a detailed glance at today’s society asking the question is Britain really that great? Panasonic’s relationship with Williams and Teasdale began with the purchase of the DMC-FZ30 camera. The pair now use the Lumix DMC-G1.

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Three teens have been selected as national winners in Sightsavers International’s i-click competition 2009. Emily Tudor, aged 13 from Buckinghamshire, won first prize in the 11-14 category, Stacy Leigh Stewart, aged 16 from Scotland won first prize in the 15-16 category and Lolita Cameron, aged 17 won first prize in the 17-18 category. Their photos, selected from hundreds of entries submitted by young photographers from across the UK, will be displayed in a special exhibition alongside photos by Harry Potter star Katie Leung and X-Factor pop sensation Same Difference. The exhibition, ‘i:click – when actions speak louder than words’ will be held in the gallery@oxo on London’s South Bank from 10 December 2009 – 10 January 2010 and entrance is free of charge.

Website: i-click

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Photo Productions - a London-based company that designs and produces premium photobooks for photographers - have opened up their service to the wider public. They claim that their Premium Photobooks are a world away from the low quality, mass-produced, design-it yourself products that have become increasingly common. Photo Productions have developed an innovative and user-friendly website. Customers upload photos, and through a simple order process can choose from twelve photobook sizes, three graphic design styles, and various personalisation preferences. There’s even the option to drag photos into a specific order or choose which are to be most prominent. Once the order has been placed it’s sent to Photo Productions’ in-house graphic designers, who get to work creating a bespoke storybook narrative.  Each premium photobook arrives in its own presentation box, free courier delivery is included within the UK, and they also offer 10% off subsequent Photobooks ordered at the same time.

Website: Photo Productions

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Silkypix UK has released Silypix Developer Studio 4.0.27.2 and and Pro 4.1.27.2. Like the latest Release Candidates announced last month, these “final” updates provide support for cameras with Foveon x3 sensors, including the Sigma SD14, DP1, DP1s and DP2. Additionally, they support the new Sony Alpha DSLR-A500 and A550 models too. Exisiting Silkypix UK customers can obtain updates from the Downloads section of the Silkypix website.

Website: Silkypix UK

Praktica has launched the luxmedia 12-Z5, a new, 12-megapixel digital compact camera with a 28-140mm equivalent zoom lens.. The Praktica luxmedia 12-Z5 features a 2.7” TFT LCD screen, smile detection, face tracking, blink detection and intelligent scene recognition. Images are stored on SD and SDHC cards, and there is 32MB of internal storage available, too. Weighing in at just 120 grams, the Praktica luxmedia 12-Z5 is available now for €120.

Via DCVIEWS

The Mail Tribune is now accepting reader submissions for its Rogue Valley 2009 Photo Contest. Mail Tribune readers are invited to submit photos they snapped in Southern Oregon during 2009. Images can be of anything from neighbours and places, to regional events and familiar valley icons, as long as they depict the photographer’s unique take on life in the valley. The submission period is open now and will continue through December 31, 2009. Voting will begin New Year’s Day and continue through January 7, 2010. Reader votes will be collected via online balloting, and will be counted along with votes by a panel of expert judges. Winning photos will appear on an In Focus photo page in the Mail Tribune in January. Grand Prize will be a Vixen VMC 1-10L Telescope from Bach’s Camera. Other prizes will include: a Tamrac 5210 Camera Bag & Digipod 550 tripod to the first runner-up, and a 17x24 gallery wrapped canvas print for the second runner-up. Make sure to read the rules before entering your work.

Website: Rogue Valley 2009 Photo Contest

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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Now in its second year, the CB Richard Ellis competition sets a brief for photographers to explore “cities at work” at any time during a 24-hour period. The organisers split the day up into 24 hours and allow for up to 24 images per photographer, but only one per hour of the day. Winners for each hour are chosen by their judging panel, and the prize for each hour is sponsored by an international brand. The winner and two runners-up will be given prizes sponsored directly by CB Richard Ellis. The grand prize will be a week’s holiday for two in Jordan. Whereas the previous competition was only open to contestants from the UK, this year they are opening up the competition to all photographers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. As with every competition, we encourage you to read the rules before entering your work.

Update: |Due to popular request, entry has been extended for the 2009 competition until Midnight on 31st January 2010.

Kenro has released a new CD folio case aimed at professional photographers. Made from a leatherette material the CD folio comes with a frame on the front for a photo or message. The folio inside has been designed to hold a single CD and has a designated space for a photo. The folio has a magnetic closure and is supplied in a presentation box. The CD folio is available now with an RRP of £8.95.

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onOne Software has released its new Plug-in Suite 5 for Adobe Photoshop, which is now available for download. Announced almost exactly a month ago, Plug-in Suite 5 includes FocalPoint 2, PhotoTune 3, PhotoFrame 4.5 Professional Edition, PhotoTools 2.5 Professional Edition, Genuine Fractals 6 Professional Edition and MaskPro 4. Plug-in Suite 5 is available now to new users for $599.95 and to existing users of previous versions of the Plug-in Suite for $199.95.

Website: onOne Software

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Widgetize has announced FantasyLens 2.3, an update to their portrait generation app for iPhone and iPod touch. With innovative features like one-touch automatic colour matching, FantasyLens makes it easy for anyone to create composite portraits using photos of friends, family alike, the company claims. Turn anyone into an astronaut, the Mona Lisa, a sunflower, the Statue of Liberty and more - all without any prior image editing or Photoshop skills. Requiring an iPhone or iPod touch 2.2 or later, FantasyLens 2.3 is available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Photography category priced at $0.99.

Website: FantasyLens 2.3

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