Tamron USA has announced the “My Food Exhibit” photo contest offered exclusively to Tamron lens users residing in the US. Entrants will create a 3D virtual exhibit showcasing 8-14 of their best images in a food theme. Professional photographer Hernan Rodriguez will judge the contest and choose the winning exhibit based on overall image quality and originality of the collection. The winning exhibit will be featured on the Tamron USA website and Tamron newsletter. The winner will also receive his/her choice of one of five Tamron lenses: 18-270mm Di II VC PZD 15X all-in-one zoom lens; SP 17-50mm F/2.8 Di II VC; SP 70-300mm Di VC USD; SP 60mm F/2.0 Di II 1:1 Macro; or 18-200mm Di III VC for Sony E-Mount. The deadline for submissions is 31st December. As always we suggest that you read the rules before entering your work.

Nikon UK and NME have teamed up for the NME Music Photography Awards with Nikon exhibition at the famous Getty Images Gallery in London. The exhibition will feature the best images from this year’s music photography competition which was open for entry during the festival season this summer to both amateurs and professional photographers. Now in its third year, the competition attracted more images than ever before, with the judges having to select winners from over 7,000 entries. With a Nikon 1 camera kit up for grabs for the amateur categories and a D800 digital SLR kit for the professional category, each of the category winners will also get to meet NME’s Picture Editor and experience a photography master class with an NME photographer. The best two will then be chosen to shoot a gig for NME and one eventual winner will get to shadow an NME photographer. All winners will be announced in NME magazine, issue 27th October 2012. The exhibition at the Getty Images Gallery opens on 7th November and runs until 1st December.

Canon U.S.A,, Ron Howard and the public have selected 91 winning photographs from the “Project Imaginat10n” contest, which will see five innovative celebrities direct short films based on ten of the photos. A consumer vote helped narrow down the photographs, where one of the selected winners’ photos was chosen by Ron Howard in the “Discovery” category to be a thematic tie across the celebrities’ films. The directors will now each select one additional photograph from the other nine storytelling categories that personally inspire them, ultimately utilizing ten photos to represent their creativity and imagination.  In addition to “Discovery,” the themes include Character, Mood, Goal, Backstory, Setting, Obstacle, Relationship, The Unknown and Time.  The winning photographs determined by Ron Howard and the consumer vote can be seen at the website below.

Photography Blog and Corel have teamed up to giveaway 5 copies of Corel PaintShop Pro X5!

The 5 lucky winners are: James Hackett, Cees Buitendijk, Ron Zigelhofer, Paul Smith and Burkhard Schrammel.

Whether you want to create powerful photos or dynamic digital works of art, Corel® PaintShop® Pro X5 provides all of the photo editing and creative design tools you need. Manage, adjust and edit your work with a few simple clicks. Create stunning photos with intense visual contrast using new and enhanced HDR features - including the new ability to create HDR-style effects from single RAW photos. Organise your photos and tag people and places using the new Find People and Map View features. Get inspired with creative brush and vector tools, including new text and layer options. Hone your skills with built-in tutorials and use new social media integration to instantly share your creative vision on Facebook®, Flickr® and Google+™.

The new Find People feature of PaintShop® Pro X5 helps you identify the people in your photos, making it easy to find and share photos of family and friends, or sync with your social contacts on sharing sites. In addition to manual tagging, you can also use powerful face detection technology to automatically analyze facial characteristics and help identify and organize the people in your photos.

Photography education and entertainment site PhoozL has announced the launch of a new photo contest series: “Weekly Wednesdays.” Each week, participants submit their best images that display the essence of that week’s theme. Entry is free and open to all logged-in members of PhoozL. Winners are selected by the week’s judge and added to the Winners Showcase and the PhoozL Points scoreboard, which puts them into the running for the PhoozL Photographer of the Year. “Photographers have been asking us for a more-frequent contest cycle,” explains Harald Johnson, PhoozL’s founder, “and we’ve come up with a great option to motivate and inspire them.”

The winners of the 29th AOP Photographers Awards have been announced. This year has produced another wonderful collection of diverse images across the 16 categories. Over 3,500 images and videos were entered, by almost 400 individuals. The following photographers won Best in Category awards: Richard Seymour, Julia Fullerton-Batten, Dylan Collard, Craig Easton, Jeroen Hofman, Robert Wilson, Wendy Carrig, Jim Naughten, Andy Rudak, Oliver Haupt (twice), David Ryle, Tif Hunter, James Day, Simon Norfolk and Adam Hinton. This year’s two Gold winners are Jeroen Hofman and Simon Norfolk.

Luxury whisky brand The Macallan has been running a competition in which they are encouraging people to send in an important image and tag it with a key word - they call it the Last Word. You can find the details here. There are some amazing prizes up for grabs.

Here’s my Last Word picture which is titled Self. Self-portraits are perhaps the most difficult people shots to take – after all, not that many photographers like to be the subject of the picture. This abstract self-portrait plays with reality to deliver a pleasing image that doesn’t give too much away about the photographer. Taken with the humble iPhone and post-processed with Nik Software’s SnapSeed, it proves that even the humblest of equipment can take and create a good photo. The image also shows that the right lighting can make or break the mood; the lengthening shadows of dusk not only added to the ambience of the scene, but created the extreme sense of perspective that makes the photo so interesting. My tip - always carry some kind of camera with you, whether that’s a DSLR or a simple cameraphone - you never know when exactly the moment will be right.

Incidentally if you live in the UK you can see my image and some other excellent images at the Macallan booth at several exhibitions. Details here: http://www.themastersofphotography.com/

Don’t forget to enter the competition, there’s a photography trip to Scotland and top end Fujifilm cameras up for grabs.

Burrard-Lucas Photography has launched a new travel photo competition. They are looking for striking, original and beautiful travel photographs that reveal the wonders of our planet. You are not limited to any subject matter in particular; travel photography can portray many things including an area’s people, cultures, customs, history or landscape. The grand prize is a Canon EOS 60D digital SLR camera (pictured). The winner also receives a 16x24” framed print of his/her winning photograph. The submission deadline is 31 December 2012.

The winners of the September 2012 Photography Blog Competition have been announced. The theme for September was “My Camera” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
my Canon Powershot Sx 110Is by raznicu2010
Prize: X-Rite ColourChecker Passport
Kindly donated by X-Rite
http://www.xritephoto.com/

Photography Blog and HiFi-Tower have teamed up to launch a brand new giveaway. The prize is a Klarstein Mini Projector, and we’ve got ONE to give away to a lucky reader!

This contest has now closed - the lucky winner is Alan Newington.

The Klarstein YX4B is a compact mini projector that beams images up to 60” in size. The projector is perfect for photo slideshows at home or on the go. It has an AV jack input for connecting a range of typical devices, as well as a USB port and micro-SD slot, so there’s definitely no lack of input options! For photographers, the Klarstein YX4B handles JPEG files with ease, along with audio/video files like MPEG4, FLV, MP3, and FLAC. The projector comes equipped with a long-lasting LED lamp, ensuring you’ll be proudly projecting your photos for years to come. The Klarstein YX4B and a selection of LED, LCD, and HD projectors are available online at hifi-tower.co.uk.

Photobox, Europe’s Number 1 supplier of photo prints and gifts, has launched its Motographer of The Year competition. According to the company a “Motographer” is a mobile photographer, someone who uses their mobile phone to produce snapshots of the world around them. Using the dedicated Motographer of The Year Facebook app on the Photobox Facebook page, entrants can submit the best shot they’ve taken with their smartphone for a chance to win £500 of Photobox credit, free enrolment on an exclusive iPhoneography course, a brand new smartphone, and exclusive entry to prestigious photography events throughout 2013. By using the dedicated hashtag #MOTY2012, photographers can also submit entries via Instagram and Twitter.

ImaginAIR is a new competition created by the European Environment Agency (EEA), inviting participants to tell a story about Europe’s air in three pictures. Participants must submit three pictures and a short text which tell a story about air, choosing one of four themes: air and health; air and technology; air and nature; and air and cities. The competition is open to all citizens of EU Member States and several other countries which cooperate with the EEA. The submission deadline is 4th October.

The Syngenta Photography Award, a new international competition that aims to stimulate dialogue around key global challenges, is now open for submissions.  In its inaugural year, the theme is “rural-urban”, exploring the relationship and tensions between rural and urban environments. The Award has two categories. The Open Competition welcomes photographers of all levels, from professional to amateur. In addition, professional photographers are invited to compete for a Professional Commission by submitting an original proposal that is related to this year’s rural-urban theme. The closing date for entries is 15 January 2012.

The 5th Annual International Loupe Awards are now open for entries. Featuring Amateur, Open and Medium Format sections, with 3, 8 and 3 categories respectively, the International Loupe Awards are open to professionals, amateurs and students, and are judged by 25 leading photographers from around the world. The deadline for entries is 31 October 2012.. Late entries accepted until 15th November (late entry fees apply).

Nik Software has just launched the ‘Nik Focused’ online photo contest. Linked to the homonymous online event that runs parallel with the Photokina trade-show, the ‘Nik Focused’ photo contest invites photographers to submit up to five vintage-styled or -themed images to win one of 20 prizes. The submission deadline is 24 September 2012. You can enter your photos via the website below.

The winners of the August 2012 Photography Blog Competition have been announced. The theme for August was “Stars” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
My shot of the galaxy! by bloopiers
Prize: X-Rite ColourChecker Passport
Kindly donated by X-Rite
http://www.xritephoto.com/

Wikipedia has announced the launch of this year’s Wiki Loves Monuments photo competition. In last year’s contest, 5,000 photographers from 18 European countries uploaded more than 168,000 photos. This year’s competition will have significantly greater participation, including the United States and many non-European countries for the first time. Volunteer Wikipedians organise the contest in each country, with the winning photos from national contests considered by an international jury in late October. The international jury will announce the top-ten international photos and the overall best picture winner in early December.  The grand prize winner will be invited to a photo tour in Hong Kong for the annual meeting of Wikipedia editors, photographers, and collaborators: Wikimania 2013.

We’ve teamed up with Lovecases.co.uk to offer one lucky winner the opportunity to win a Crumpler Cupcake Slim DSLR Camera Photo Backpack.

The lucky winner is: Giacomino Parkinson.

This bag is a slim photo backpack made from super tough Chicken Tex Supreme high performance nylon. The complete section is a padded photo compartment with adjustable dividers. It’s suitable for a digital SLR camera with zoom lens attached plus approx 4 more lenses and a flashgun.

Check out the rest of Lovecases’ slr camera bag and bridge camera case ranges.

Just answer this simple question to enter the contest. (HINT - visit this Lovecases product page to get some help with the answer).

We’ve teamed up with color management specialists Datacolor to giveaway a fantastic SpyderSTUDIO worth £450!

The lucky winner is: Branislav Beliancin.

SpyderSTUDIO is a complete colour calibration solution. It provides everything needed for the utmost in accurate colour management from shoot, to edit, to print. With solutions from RAW camera calibration to quick and easy custom ICC printer profiles, the results are reliable, real-world colours.

In addition to SpyderPRINT, SpyderSTUDIO also consists Spyder4ELITE and SpyderCUBE. The former is an advanced colorimeter that automates and simplifies display calibration. It features a patented, full-spectrum, 7-colour sensor that can accurately characterise a variety of wide and normal gamut displays. The same sensor - which offers double-shielded filters for longer life and enhanced performance - is used to calibrate a monitor, laptop computer, iPad, iPhone and projector. Datacolor’s SpyderCUBE is a three-dimensional white and contrast-balancing tool. Also included in the SpyderSTUDIO is a desktop cradle/tripod mount, SpyderGuide, 6’ USB cable and Quick Start Guides. The package comes in a convenient and stylish metal case for easy transport.

SpyderSTUDIO - along with the entire Spyder range - is available at photography and consumer electronic retailers nationwide or online at www.Datacolor.com. The SpyderSTUDIO is priced at around £449.99.

Just answer this simple question to enter the contest. (HINT - visit the Datacolor Facebook page to get some help with the answer).

We’ve teamed up with MILK to give away three of their coffee table-quality books.

The three lucky winners are: T Chao, Chris Bouvard and Vasko Bujaroski.

PQ Blackwell, internationally renowned publisher of illustrated books and the creators of MILK (Moments, Inspiration, Love, Kinship) has just launched MILK Tailor Made Books (www.milkbooks.com), a new website which enables anyone to showcase their artwork or images in a personally designed, tailor-made book. 

Three subscribers now have the chance to create their own exquisite coffee table-quality book. Using MILK’s editorial and design frameworks, these beautiful books will be printed to the creator’s unique specifications on high quality art paper, professionally bound in designer fabric, and will be accompanied by digital versions that allow people to add video in the telling of their stories.

This competition ended on the 22nd August 2012 (12:00PM GMT).

Just answer this simple question to enter the contest.