The Long Exposure is a new e-book written by Belfast-based landscape photographer David Cleland. “The aim of this e-book is to offer an introduction to the process of capturing long exposure photographs,” the author says. “It documents the simple steps I employ each time I embark on a long exposure photo shoot.” Priced at $5, the book comes in PDF format that can be read on computers, smartphones and most tablets.

Here are seven Full 1080 HD movies taken with the new Panasonic GH3 compact system camera using the MOV, AVCHD and MP4 formats, including 72Mbps in ALL-I.

They’ve all been uploaded onto Photography Blog’s Vimeo HD channel where you can watch them at their native size. Note that these are fully representative of the Panasonic GH3’s final video quality when it ships next month.

A major retrospective exhibition of work by Czech photographer, Jitka Hanzlová, will have its only UK showing in The Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this autumn. The exhibition - on show from 17 October 2012 to 3 February 2013 - brings together around 100 works spanning her career from the early 1990s to the present day.

The Royal Photographic Society’s 155th International Print Exhibition will be at Rook Lane from Saturday 17th November 2012 – Saturday 5th January 2013. The exhibition showcases a wide range of genres and styles of photography, with cutting-edge prints being shown alongside traditional work - from the artistic to documentary, from portraiture to natural history. The exhibition features professional, student and amateur photographers from around the world. The prints have been selected by a panel of well-qualified photographers from different backgrounds. Rook Lane Arts Trust is an arts venue and exhibition space in the heart of Frome, Somerset. Housed in a grade 1 listed former chapel (pictured), Rook Lane offers a year round programme of visual arts, music and education events.

JP Distribution has secured the rights to supply the Transcend range of memory cards into the UK photographic market. “We are excited that we have the opportunity to work with a brand that has its sights set to the future and is focused on providing high quality products with great sales opportunities to the photographic market,” commented Paul Roper, Sales and Marketing Director at at JP Distribution. “The brand perfectly complements our existing portfolio of high quality products for the discerning photographer and Transcend will be available to our customers through our established dealer network.”

The tenth issue of Adore Noir Magazine is now available for purchase. Adore Noir is a fine art photography magazine available exclusively in digital format. Featuring beautiful female nudes by Eric Kellerman, first-class street photography by Stan Raucher, an interesting essay by Chad M. Kushins, ethereal X-ray images of plants by Allan Gill, land- and seascapes by Alexei Krasnikov, a striking set of surreal photographs by Tommy Ingberg and portraiture by Russell Monk; this issue reinforces the magazine’s commitment to high-quality black-and-white imagery.. The latest issue of Adore Noir is available for $2.95 from the website below.

Website: Adore Noir

Manfrotto has announced US pricing for its KLYP iPhone accessory. The KLYP case has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $29.99, the KLYP case with compact ML120 LED light retails for $69.99, the case+ML120+Pocket-tripod combination sells for $89.99, the KLYP case with the larger ML240 LED light costs $99.99, and the kit comprising the KLYP case, the ML240 and the Manfrotto Pocket-tripod is priced at $199.99.

Getty Images has announced that its Flickr Collection has grown to 500,000 images. The half millionth photograph had been submitted by Jiangang Wang, a system engineer and photo hobbyist from Tianjin, China. The image, “Minato Mirai night view,” was captured from the vantage point of Osan-bashi in Yokohama, Japan, where Wang now lives, and shows the city skyline just after sunset.

Adobe has released version 1.4 of its Digital NeGative (DNG) specification. The industry-standard raw format has been expanded to include 1) a new lossy compression option, 2) a Default User Crop tag that allows the in-camera crop setting to be respected while enabling the photographer to “un-crop” the image, 3) new floating-point information storage that allows for a larger amount of dynamic range to be stored within a file, and 4) a Transparency option for “undefined” pixels around the edges of a panoramic image stitched in-camera.

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.

AP Camera Systems have announced the launch and opening of pre-orders of the indie i5 tripod mount / camera case for iPhone 5 owners. While held securely in a black anodised precision CNC machined compartment behind a red anodised cover, the indie i5 offers easy access to the relocated headphone jack, redesigned dock connector, and front and rear cameras of the new iPhone 5. Both the body and cover of the indie i5 are manufactured from aerospace-grade aluminium. Pre-orders placed via AP Camera Systems website before the close of business 12 October 2012 can save 25% off the MSRP ($134.97 plus shipping and any applicable tax).

The renowned Dutch online photo and video specialist Foto Konijnenberg has been renamed ‘Photospecialist’ in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. In the near future Photospecialist will open online and physical shops in more countries in Europe, with the logistics, sales and marketing remaining centralised in the Netherlands. “Our ambition is to bring our service and range of products to more countries within Europe - we were already specialists by reputation, now also by name!” says Henk Konijnenberg, CEO. In The Netherlands and Belgium the company will continue to operate under name Foto Konijnenberg for the time being.

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.

Consumer electronics manufacturer Sakar International has announced the launch of four Polaroid-branded digital video cameras. The line-up includes tne Polaroid iD820, billed as one of the world’s thinnest, lightest true 1080p HD camcorders ($179.99), the Polaroid iD879 with 5x optical zoom ($179.99), the Polaroid iD450 with built-in Wi-Fi ($179.99) and the Polaroid iD640 waterproof, shock-proof, dust-proof and freeze-proof pocket video camera ($99.99).

Sakar has announced the launch of several new digital compact cameras under the Polaroid brand. The new models include the Polaroid iF045 ($99.99), a fourteen-megapixel camera with front- and rear-facing displays and 5x optical zoom that’s waterproof down to a depth of 10 feet; the sixteen-megapixel Polaroid iS2132 ($199.99) superzoom camera with 21x “enhanced definition” optical zoom and HD video capture and the Polaroid iS326 ($79.99) ultra-compact camera with 3x optical zoom and a slim form factor. Unlike the Z-series Polaroid digicams, these models do not feature built-in printers.

At an auction held yesterday at Swann Galleries, a set of Edward S. Curtis’s magnum opus, The North American Indian, complete with 20 text volumes and 20 folios, was sold at $1.44 million dollars—more than any other single lot auctioned off at Swann in its 70 year history. Daile Kaplan, Swann Vice President and Director of Photographs & Photobooks, said, “We were very pleased to have sold this iconic work by a major 20th century artist. The price reflects the rarity and beauty of this American masterpiece and the interest in photobooks as an artform.”