Pad Folio is a simple and elegant portfolio program for the Ipad. It allows users to set up unlimited individual portfolios through an easy-to-use back-end. The back-end is password protected, and the user can sync through their computers or the cloud system dropbox. The program allows the user to set metadata, client information and thumbnail selections. Folios can be turned on and off depending on what you want your client to see. Pad Folio 1.3 is now available on the App Store for $9.99.

Website: Pad Folio

A two-day photography workshop run by SF Photo School has just been announced with multi award-winning photographers Kevin Wilson, Martin Grahame-Dunn and Uzair Kharawala. Topics to be covered include posing, composition, lighting, off-camera flash, work flow, editing, simple post-processing and business/marketing concepts. Taking place in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, the workshop costs £150+VAT per participant. Places are limited.

Website: Masters of Light

Practice for Everyday Life is a new exhibition presented by Calvert 22. Opening on 23 March and running until 22 May 2011, Practice for Everyday Life showcases new work from a selection of emerging artists from Russia, including Tanya Akhmetgalieva, Olga Bozhko, Alexander Ditmarov, Julia Ivashinka, Sergey Ogurtsov, Taus Makhacheva, Anna Titova and Arseniy Zhilyaev. The title for this exhibition is loosely derived from the seminal text by theorist, Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life. “As a way of framing this group of artists, it felt both an appropriate and playful reference point, with the double meaning evoked by the word ‘practice’ nicely conveying both a conviction of intention as well as a sense of ongoing experimentation and development,” the organisers say.

AKVIS has just released Version 12 of AKVIS Sketch for Windows and Macintosh. The software converts photos to colour and black-and-white pencil drawings and watercolour paintings. Version 12 introduces the new Smudging parameter which creates the effect of smearing hatching in midtone areas without affecting the contour lines of the drawing.This technique looks like a result of rubbing across a drawing in soft pencil with a stump tool, smooth paper, or a finger. As the value of the parameter is increased, shading becomes similar to soft graphite. It is a fast and simple way to add a soft and blurred texture to a sketch.  AKVIS Sketch Home Licence sells for $72 or €55.

The Panasonic GF2 is now available at retail. Successor to the popular GF1, the new 12 megapixel Panasonic GF2 is 19% smaller in size and 7% less in weight than than its predecessor. The DMC-GF2 has a touch control 460,000-dot LCD screen and a new Graphic User Interface (GUI) and full HD movies at 1920 x 1080 at 60i (NTSC) / 50i (PAL) in AVCHD format. The Panasonic Lumix GF2 retails at $499 body only, $599 with a 14-42mm lens, or $699.95 including a 14mm “pancake” lens.

Review: Read our review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2

The official programme of the fifth Format international photography festival has been announced. Taking place at various venues in and around Derby, 4th March – 3rd April 2011, Format Festival will show curated exhibitions and new commissions by leading international artists within the practice of street photography. Outside in Derby Marketplace, Magnum Photos and Format will present “Take to the Streets” – a major outdoor survey show of 140 large-scale street photos by seven leading Magnum photographers working around the world. The premier exhibition strand also includes Mob Format - an international mass submission online project in association with Flickr. Submissions will be shown on the BBC Big Screen in Derby Market Place, and on mobile screens around Derby, while a Hype-style gallery in a central pop-up location will print and display the best submissions daily in a constantly-evolving exhibition. The full programme brochure will be available to download from the official Format Festival website from mid-February 2011.

The winners of Canon’s Why Do You Love Football? photography competition have been named. The grand prize winners are Heidi Yowell, 45, of La Habra, Calif., awarded the honour for the Adult Division and Michael Pronzato, 17, of Warrington, Penn., winning for the Teen Division. Each has won a trip for four to attend Super Bowl XLV in North Texas along with a trip for four to the 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Celebration this summer, and they will also have their winning photos displayed in the Hall of Fame for a full year.

Sample 11 is the fourth annual group show of theprintspace clients’ work. London’s theprintspace was launched in October 2007 in Shoreditch, and has quickly become a favourite with London-based commercial photographers, artists & students. The staff at theprintspace are in a unique position to oversee an extraordinary number of images produced for portfolios and exhibitions all around the UK and they now invite you to view a little glimpse of the talent that they see week after week. Presented by Exhibit X, Sample 11 has an emphasis on portrait photography and the various styles it encompasses. The exhibition runs from 10th to 28th February at theprintspace gallery, 74 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DL. Admission is free.

The 36th issue of the free PhotographyBB Online Magazine is now available for download. This edition features a number of articles including a look at Google’s new Chrome OS Notebook, from a photography and social media standpoint. The magazine also has a new column on wedding photography techniques, an in-depth look at the crop tool in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3, and a tutorial on learning “to see the impressionist way”. In their Photography Around the World feature they visit Keystone, Colorado, “a destination locale for both cross-country and downhill skiers, snowboarders, and adventure-seekers from all over”. PhotographyBB magazine is available in PDF format for immediate download from the website below.

Website: PhotographyBB

Lomography have released special Valentine’s Day editions of the Diana Mini, Diana F+ and Fisheye 2 film cameras. The Diana Mini “Love Is In The Air” is the perfect companion if you want to give your date a retro-touch, Adam and Eve have turned their attentions to the medium format Diana F+ “Take My Heart”, and the Fisheye 2 “I Love You” will make your heart race. Possibly. The three new models are priced between £79 and £99 in the UK.

Capture One 6.1 adds several new features and support for 16 more cameras. Local contrast and brightness adjustments, pen pressure and eraser support, and support for Getty Images metadata and import have been added. Capture One 6.1 now supports the new Phase One IQ189, IQ160 and IQ140 digital backs, plus recent cameras from Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Panasonic.

Pentax Japan have issued an apology to all owners of the K-5 which suffered from a “stained image sensor”. The problem affected the first shipment of the K-5, producing images with spots looking like water drops that were impossible to clean. All users of these defective products will receive free repair at a Pentax service center.

Ever wondered what the inside of your DSLR camera looked like? Want to know exactly who makes the sensor for the Nikon D7000? Then wonder no more, as the website Chipworks has dismantled a D7000 and laid bare its innards for the whole world to see. And yes, as everyone suspected, the D7000 does use the impressive 16.2 megapixel Sony APS-C sensor, presumably the same one that Sony’s own A55 and A580 cameras use, and possibly also the Pentax K-5. Also present inside the D7000 is a whopping 4Gb of SDRAM and a micro-controller courtesy of Toshiba. Just don’t try this at home, kids…

Website: Chipworks

The Ricoh CX5 is a new 10 megapixel compact camera with a 10.7x, 28-30mm zoom lens. The Ricoh CX5 offers higher autofocus speed due to the use of Ricoh’s new hybrid AF system, with focusing times decreased to as low as 0.2 sec. The CX5 also allows recording of images with improved resolution using the “Super-resolution” setting, and telephoto shooting at up to 600mm equivalent using the Super-resolution Zoom. The Ricoh CX5 will be available in black, silver, and pink for £259.99 from the end of February in the UK, and $399 from February 10th in the US.

The Rollei Sportsline 60 is a new inexpensive waterproof digital camera. The 5 megapixel Sportsline 60 is waterproof to three metres, has an unusual 64mm fixed lens, 2.5 inch LCD screen and can record HD video. The Rollei Sportsline 60 will be available for a recommended retail price of EUR 79.95.

Adobe has launched Photoshop Express 1.5 for iOS devices. The free program debuts a fast new camera workflow that enables continuous, rapid photo-taking directly in the app, adds multi-tasking and full Retina display support, and offers a better photo uploading experience. Photoshop Express 1.5 for iOS is available immediately on the App store. Note that the new version requires iOS 4.2.

Colour Confidence has premièred a new range of graphics tablets by Hanvon. “The Hanvon range offers a definitive selection of graphics tablets which combine the latest wireless-pen technologies, with smooth ergonomic tablet design and offer numerous features equal to the market leading alternatives but at a far more affordable price.”, comments Geoffrey Clements, Managing Director of Color Confidence. Launching in the United Kingdom on 31st January, the Hanvon range comprises six products, many of which are available in multiple sizes. Pricing ranges from £62.49 to £666.66 + VAT.

The Panasonic DMC-TZ20 and DMC-TZ18 are two new travel-zoom compact cameras. The TZ20 and TZ18 (also known as the Panasonic ZS10 and ZS8) both offer a 16x optical zoom lens, 14.1 megapixel MOS sensor, 3 inch LCD screen, HD movies, and manual controls. The TZ20 additionally offers a higher-resolution 460,000-dot touchscreen, full 1080i HD movies, a 3D Photo mode, and an improved GPS system. Pricing and availability of the DMC-TZ20 and DMC-TZ18 are still to be announced.