The two lucky winners of a Manfrotto Photo Kit are Charlotte Clark and Austin Taylor.

These kits include the new Manfrotto Compact Travel Tripod which will go perfectly with your Manfrotto Veloce Backpack! Each kit is worth £135!

The new Manfrotto Veloce III (Black) Backpack is the essential shooting backpack, which comfortably fits all your camera gear and tripod either inside or outside the bag as well as a 13” laptop (13” Apple). Grab your DSLR (with or without battery grip and up to a 16-35mm lens attached) via the top opening without having to open the entire bag. 1-2 additional lenses, flash and accessories fit in the bottom compartment.

The Manfrotto Compact Photo Kit (Grey) is the most compact full size support in the market. The five section legs and the unique reversible column provide maximum compactness for storage and transportation, and yet, when fully extended it is a full size tripod with no compromise on height. The quick action intuitive ball head allows you to simply and quickly set the position of your camera in any situation so you don’t lose the right moment.

For more information or to buy Manfrotto products online visit: www.manfrotto.co.uk

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

1st Place
Drops of fun by MKatz
Prize: X-Rite ColourChecker Passport
Kindly donated by X-Rite
http://www.xritephoto.com/

The lucky winner of a great Tamrac DSLR bag, courtesy of Lovecases.co.uk, is Robin Stanford.

The Tamrac Rally 5 will comfortably accommodate your DSLR with up to a 6” lens attached, 1 long tele photo lens and one mid size zoom lens plus a flash and all your accessories. There is also space for your iPad, small laptop or Tablet PC.

Check out Lovecases’ camera cases and dslr camera bag range.

This contest closed on Tuesday 22/05/2012.

The five lucky winners of Photo Director 3, courtesy of CyberLink, are mr eastwood, barry wolohan, Moby M Xavier, Hitesh Rathod and Lutz Froenicke.

PhotoDirector 3 is designed to provide all the features photographers need to manage large batches of photos, adjust images to the best quality and showcase work in their own unique style, in a single application. Now featuring People Beautifying tools and a complete range of cutting edge processing features, PhotoDirector 3 not only enables customers to perfect every detail of scenery photos, but also create professional portraits.

This contest closed on Tuesday 24/05/2012.

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

1st Place
The blue galaxy by czardases
Prize: X-Rite ColourChecker Passport
Kindly donated by X-Rite
http://www.xritephoto.com/

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

1st Place
My Own Worse Enemy by phototoad

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

The winner of a fantastic HP Pavilion G6 laptop featuring AMD Vision Technology is Sudipto Das.

AMD offered you the chance to win a laptop based on its Vision technology which gives PCs more power to speed up applications like photo and video editing.

To enter the competition we asked readers to submit their best photo on the theme of Technology.

We then sent an AMD Vision chip to a shortlist of five readers to use as the subject for a photo for the final stage of the competition.

The Photography Blog editorial team has judged the finalists’ entries and the winner will receive a HP Pavilion G6 laptop featuring AMD Vision Technology.

Samsung is giving 10 lucky Photography Blog readers the chance to win an 8Gb SDHC memory card.

All of the cards in Samsung’s latest memory line-up provide incredible read speeds of 24MB/s and have been designed to meet the growing need for faster data transfer from a mobile device, such as smart phone or digital camera, to a PC.

The premium ‘Plus’ range of SDHC/SD and micro SDHC/SD memory cards have the highest available class 10 speed rating - for advanced data transfer speed and flawless transmission of full HD video – and also boast a class-leading write speed of up to 21MB/s. With data storage capacity of 8GB or 16GB, the cards are perfect for today’s memory-devouring devices and come with a 10 year limited warranty.

To enter the contest, just answer this question

To celebrate it’s sponsorship of the 2012 World Photography Awards Sony is giving 10 lucky Photography Blog readers the chance to win tickets to the winners exhibition that will take place at Somerset House from 27th April - 29th April 2012.

Marking the 5th Anniversary of the Sony World Photography Awards, the beautifully curated winners’ exhibitions will be on show inside the Embankment Galleries at Somerset House on The Strand in London.

In this vast photographic exhibition, visitors will find some of the best contemporary images taken by photographers from across the globe. Mixed media installations will include traditional print, video, moving image and 3D, with subjects spanning all genres, including fine art, fashion, portraiture, sport and photojournalism.

To enter the contest, just answer this question

Alongside the exhibition in Somerset House, World Photo London is returning for its annual weekend of exciting events from 27th – 29th April 2012.

The programme incorporates events for anyone who enjoys photography, whether a culture buff or a practicing enthusiast, including; City Project Workshops, Business of Photography Seminar, Blurb Drop-In Workshops, Critique Sessions and Winners Tours.

For further information about the seminars and workshops available during World Photo London please visit: http://www.worldphoto.org/festivals-and-events/programmes/world-photo-london/events/

Win a brand new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ45 digital camera in our exclusive competition!

We’ve teamed up with creative specialists JMS to offer you this fantastic prize that’s suitable for every degree of photography experience.

The Panasonic FZ45 is simple to use and comprises a whole host of features to help improve shots. Experience aside, these features allow novices and pros alike to capture the perfect shot.
Boasting 14.1 megapixels, the FZ45 offers photography enthusiasts a 25-27mm wide-angle, 24x optical zoom lens.
The FZ45 has HD recording facility, Intelligent Resolution Technology and 32x Intelligent Zoom. It also has intuitive manual operation for complete creative control.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning a brand new Panasonic DMC-FZ45 digital camera is click on this video production link (this one on your left) and leave your answer to the following question.

Q. Describe your favourite photo you’ve ever taken in no more than 100 words.

It can be of absolutely anything you like. A family photo, a holiday snap, a sporting event, a city skyline, a geographical wonder - you get the gist!
The winner will be the answer that best captures the imagination of the panel of judges. If they can picture your picture, you’re in with a great shot!

Click here for our full review of the Panasonic FZ45.

Entries close at 23:59 on April 8th 2012. Good luck!

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

1st Place
A lifelong friendship by miliu

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

The lucky winner of a Buffalo LinkStation Pro Quad worth £450, courtesy of Buffalo Technology, is Philip Kendall.

The Buffalo LinkStation Pro Quad (LS-QVL) is the ideal storage solution for discerning home and SOHO users. This high performance, dual drive NAS device can be configured in RAID 0 (striping) for maximum performance and RAID 1 (mirroring) for maximum data security. Even if a hard drive fails, your important files will remain safe. Streaming of digital content too, is a breeze at ultra fast data transfer speed of 72MB per second. For a busy home or SOHO user, the LinkStation Pro Quad – which runs on a high-speed Marvel 1.6GHz CPU - is a natural choice. Buffalo products can be purchased from Amazon.

Make sure to visit the Buffalo Technology UK Facebook page for all the latest news.

This contest closed on Thursday 23/02/2011.

The 3 lucky winners of a Kingston Wi-Drive, which enhances the usability of your Apple iOS wi-fi device, are Richard Griffith, Peter Barber and Murray Kellett.

The Kingston Wi-Drive lets you share your favourite content with your favourite people. The Wi-Drive offers up to 16GB of portable storage and wireless file sharing for Apple devices, including iPod touch Gen 3 & 4, iPhone and iPad. Your content can be shared simultaneously by three users on their own devices, whether at home by the pool, or off the beaten path on a camping trip Rugged and easy to use, it comes with a USB cable and requires an App downloadable at Apple’s App Store. The Wi-Drive utilises Flash-based storage technology to promote wireless portable storage in an external device that is independent of the basic portable Apple device. Is features integrated Wi-Fi and four hours of battery life and is backed by a one-year warranty, 24/7 technical support and legendary Kingston reliability.

Watch a video of the Kingston Wi-Drive here.

This contest closed on Thursday 23/02/2011.

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

1st Place
Always Keep In Touch by Barry John

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

Neil Maughan and Andy Sloan are the two lucky winners of a fantastic new Manfrotto Lino Pro Photo Vest.

To celebrate the new Manfrotto range of Lino Pro Apparel, Manfrotto is giving away TWO Pro Photo Vests for Photography Blog readers! Each Manfrotto Pro Photo Vest is worth £380 RRP!

The Pro Photo Vest is the ultimate photo working tool combined with the comfort and sleek design of an everyday vest. This dynamic shooting vest compliments your shooting experience while comfortably holding and supporting your camera gear and accessories.

This contest closed on Saturday 31st December 2011.

For more information or to buy Manfrotto products online visit: www.manfrotto.co.uk

Manfrotto - Imagine More

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

1st Place
Stalag-Ice by nrshapiro

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

The lucky winner of a fantastic Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S smartphone, courtesy of Sony Ericsson and Photography Blog, is Georgina Bean.

We’ve teamed up with Sony Ericsson to give away an Xperia arc S smartphone and a live dock to one lucky winner.

The Xperia™ arc S at a glance:
- Super fast 1.4 GHz processor
- 3D and 2D sweep panorama photography
- 8.1 MP camera with Exmor R™ for mobile image sensor
- 4.2“ Reality display with Mobile BRAVIA® Engine
- Latest Android™ platform Gingerbread 2.3

This competition closed on 19/12/2011.

Who would have thought that a digital camera inspired by the almost-bygone era of film would become an instant best-seller for a company that has been mostly absent from the higher-end of the market? That’s what the X100 achieved for Fujifilm in 2011, a retro product with a very modern twist that has proved to be by far the biggest surprise of the year, and a clear winner of our Camera of the Year 2011 award.

“The X100 delivers all of the goods and more in terms of its overall handling and image quality. Fujifilm have married the best of the past, in the multitude of external controls, leaf-shutter, optical viewfinder and stunning appearance, with some cutting-edge features, most notably the hybrid optical / electronic viewfinder, which really is a revelation to use.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Fujifilm and the X100!

Our penultimate award is for the DSLR Camera of the Year 2011. Somewhat overshadowed by the rise of compact system cameras, DSLRs are still the staple product for the big two of Canon and Nikon. But it’s the young upstart Sony that most caught our eye in 2011 with the launch of the A77, the premium product in the company’s innovative range and the deserved winner of our 6th award for 2011.

“The Sony A77 is a big leap forward for Sony’s DSLR range, offering a feature-set, handling and performance that beats its main rivals. The new 24.3 megapixel sensor offers greatly increased resolution without impacting on low-light performance or operational speed, while the OLED viewfinder is simply the best EVF that we’ve ever had the pleasure of using. The inclusion of full 1080p movies, built-in GPS, 12fps burst shooting, dual control dials, top-panel LCD and an excellent 3-way rear screen make the A77 our new favourite prosumer DSLR.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Sony and the A77!

Get 2 full-price adult tickets for the price of 1 for IWM London’s new exhibition, Shaped by War: Photographs by Don McCullin.

Shaped by War is the largest ever UK exhibition about the life and work of one of the world’s most acclaimed photographers Don McCullin. The exhibition features around 250 photographs, contact sheets, objects, magazines and personal memorabilia.

Download and print this voucher to redeem your 2-4-1 Adult Tickets for the Shaped by War exhibition at IWM London, Churchill War Rooms, HMS Belfast. The offer runs until 31st Jan 2012.