The winners of the September 2011 Photography Blog Competition have been announced. The theme for September was “Little and Large” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
An Illusion of Scale by archipirata

Prize: X-Rite ColourChecker Passport
Kindly donated by X-Rite
http://www.xritephoto.com/

Ian Whiting is the lucky winner of a B3 personal server worth £295!

Whether you are a serious photographer or just a shutterbug, you’d want to keep your photos safe and share them with the world without too much fuss. This is where the B3 personal server can come in rather handy. You can use this nifty little machine to store your photos in one central location and access them from any computer on the local network or even on the Web. The built-in photo album software lets you easily generate slick web-based galleries from JPG and PNG images in a matter of minutes, and you can limit access to the galleries to specific users or open them to the entire world. B3 features a built-in and user-friendly backup tool which you can use to easily back up your photos and other data to an external disk or a remote storage solution.

If the built-in photo album software is too basic for your needs, you can easily deploy a third-party solution like Piwigo (http://www.piwigo.org) or Gallery (http://gallery.menalto.com/), as B3 comes with Web and database servers. B3’s minute size means that you can hide the server in any corner you like. Thanks to its fanless design, B3 is virtually silent, and the robust aluminium case ensures that the server survives harsh treatment.

There is, of course, much more to B3 than the described features, and we encourage you to take a look at Excito’s website (http://www.excito.com) and see for yourself what this little guy is capable of.

Tenba has announced another expansion of itsDiscovery collection of lightweight professional-level camera bags. The Discovery Top Load is a clean and simple carrying solution for a single DSLR camera body with a mid-size zoom lens, while the Discovery Messenger fits a larger multi-lens camera system plus a tablet or laptop computer up to 13 inches. As with all Discovery bags, the Top Load and Messenger have a waterproof bottom panel for protection when the bag has to be put down on a wet surface, and they include Tenba’s exclusive WeatherWrap fast-deploying all-weather cover. The new Discovery Top Load and Messenger bags are available now at suggested retail prices of $69.95 to $109.95 respectively.

The Outdoors Show in London has announced that it will be launching a brand new element within the 2012 show – a dedicated Photography Village. Geraldine Reeve, Show Manager of The Outdoors Show said: “Whether photographing landscapes, wildlife or outdoors pursuits, the coming of digital cameras and camera phones has meant that photography in the great outdoors has never been more accessible or popular. Photography has always been an important part of The Outdoors Show, and this year with the Photography Village there will be more than ever for photography enthusiasts.” In the run up to the 2012 show, The Outdoors Show is also searching for the UK’s best outdoors photographers. The competition will be launched on The Outdoors Show website later this month.

Tamron USA has launched the “My Macro Exhibit” photo contest for Tamron lens users living in the US. Entrants will create a 3D virtual exhibit on MyPhotoExhibits featuring 8 to 14 of their best macro images shot with Tamron lenses. The winning entry will be featured on Tamron’s website in February 2012. The winner will also receive his/her choice of one of four Tamron lenses: the 18-270mm Di II VC PZD 15x superzoom; the SP 17-50mm f/2.8 VC professional standard zoom, the SP 70-300mm VC USD telephoto zoom lens or the SP 60mm F/2.0 1:1 Macro. The deadline for submissions is 31st December. For more information including terms and conditions, visit the website below.

Ricoh has announced the establishment of Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company as its wholly owned subsidiary. Ricoh’s acquisition of Pentax’s camera business from Hoya had been made public earlier this year. Today’s announcement means that the deal has now been completed-

Internationally renowned Bangladeshi photographer, writer, curator and teacher Dr. Shahidul Alam, will lead a free public talk at the National Geographic Store in London next week. Taking place on 4th October from 6pm, the 40-minute talk will focus on his 30 year career in documentary photography, as well as his role as one of the most respected photography educators in the world. The National Geographic Store is located at 83-97 Regent Street, London.

At the Samsung Mobile Solutions Forum held in Taiwan, Samsung announced its new, fast 1/2.3-inch 16-megapixel CMOS image sensor. Featuring backside illumination technology and a 1.34-micrometre pixel pitch, the Samsung S5K2P1 sensor is designed for high-performance, advanced smartphones as well as digital still cameras and camcorders. The new imager supports native 16:9-format video at up to 8.3Mp resolution at 60 frames per second and maximum 16-megapixel-resolution for stills at up to 30 frames per second. Mass production is scheduled to start in November.

Interealtime has launched a major update to its photography app for the Apple iPad 2, Camera Boost. Version 2 can now record video in HD, at full speed, with the ability to apply effects in real time, as the footage is being captured. For example, it is now possible to change colour balance and lighting contrast during recording, apply color filters or reduce image noise, plus use a range of advanced effects. Camera Boost 2 can be purchased from the iTunes App Store for $4.99.

Version 16.53 of PhotoLine is now available for download. Improvements versus the previous release include Type3 font support, 32-bit image support when using plug-is, an ability to create a rectangle for the colour picker by holding down the Ctrl/Command key, WIC import under Windows, dcraw 1.444, and more. To download the program, visit the website below.

Website: PhotoLine

Independent developer Ken Tidwell has introduced DSLR Mega HD for iOS, another in his series of popular Min-U Guides to Nikon DSLRs. Containing no less than eleven camera guides, DSLR Mega HD is billed as a convenient alternative to carrying bulky printed manuals. The main camera-related menu chapters include: Playback, Shooting, Custom Setting, Setup, Retouch and My Menu/Recent Settings . There is also an additional chapter, [More], containing miscellaneous info like camera specs, buttons and dials diagrams, glossaries, error messages etc. DSLR Mega HD is available now on iTunes for $8.99.

Lomography has introduced a new collection of colourful Diana F+ and Diana Mini cameras, hand straps and accessories. The Diana F+ is now available in “Buttercup Yellow” and “True Blue”, while the Diana Mini comes in “Fern Green” and “Twilight Blue”. The camera and flash cases are also available in yellow and green, as well as “Peacock Blue”.

Website: Lomography

PhotoShelter has increased the amount of online storage for Pro accounts from 100 gigabytes to 1 terabyte. The subscription fee for a PhotoShelter Pro account is $49.99/month or $549/year and that fee is unchanged with this upgrade. The account also includes 10 customisable website themes, e-commerce tools, advanced SEO, social media integration, and multiple file delivery options.

Buying the Right Photo Equipment: 70 Tips from the Top is the first in Rocky Nook’s new series of small, to-the-point photography books that keep the content short and strong, “like a great shot of your favorite espresso”, as the publisher puts it. Geared toward beginners, this book teaches about the variety of photographic tools available and what each is meant to accomplish. The book is filled with beautiful images that illustrate how the type of equipment discussed can affect an image. Buying the Right Photo Equipment: 70 Tips from the Top is available for $19.95, £15.50 or €16.00 depending on where you live.

The Perfect Photo: 71 Tips from the Top by Elin Rantakrans and Tobias Hagberg provides beginners with a wide range of practical tips that cover composition, image capture and editing. Illustrated with inspiring images throughout, this pocket-sized book is published by Rocky Nook and available for $19.95 / £15.50 / €16.00.

In Nature and Landscape Photography: 71 Tips from the Top, Swedish photographer Martin Borg shares his top tips and insights along with 71 of his most beautiful images. Published by Rocky Nook, the 128-page softcover is available for $19.95, £15.50 and €16.00 in the US, the UK and the euro zone, respectively.

Yahoo! has released the first official Flickr app for Android. You can take photos with the in-app camera module, enhance it with a selection of filters, then upload it directly to Flickr, and share it on Facebook or Twitter. Other highlights include geotagging, full-screen browsing and slideshows for your photos, your contacts’ photos or any of the public photos from the global Flickr community; and an array of organisational tools including titles, descriptions, comments and tags. Requiring Android 2.1 or later, the Flickr app is available as a free download from the Android Market.

JOBY has launched three new portable tripods, including the GorillaPod Micro 250, GorillaPod Micro 800 and GorillaPod Hybrid. The all-new GorillaPod Micro series comprises a pair of ultra-portable mini tripods that feature an aluminium and zinc alloy construction is engineered for dependable stability, quick deployment and precise ball positioning. The GorillaPod Micro 250 ($19.95) supports point-and-shoot cameras weighing up to 250g, while the GorillaPod Micro 800 ($29.95) has a load capacity of 800g. The GorillaPod Hybrid ($39.95, pictured) has been designed specifically for compact system cameras, and comes with flexible, wrappable legs and an integrated aluminium ball-head, supporting cameras weighing up to 1kg.

Amazon’s new Kindle Fire is an Android-powered tablet with a 7” multi-touch capable screen featuring IPS technology, anti-reflex coating, 16 million colours and a resolution of 169 pixels per inch (ppi). The Kindle Fire offers Wi-Fi connectivity and a USB 2.0 port, and supports JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP image file formats (there’s no mention of native TIFF or raw support though). Also boasting a powerful dual-core processor and 8GB of internal memory, the device gives you access to the Amazon Appstore, but not the Android Market. There’s no on-board camera or 3G support either. We have no way of knowing whether the Amazon Kindle Fire will prove similarly popular with photographers as the Apple iPad - this will depend a lot on the number and quality of available photo-related apps -, but its budget-friendly price tag of $199 suggests that it may well be perceived as more accessible than its established competitor.

The Kindle Fire goes on sale on 15th November in the US. There’s currently no word on international availability or pricing.