Bogen Café is a new imaging workshop environment offered to college students in the USA. Steven Katzman, a self-taught photographer, author, and professor of photography at Ringling College of Art and Design, will give an evening lecture at each workshop. Highlighting a special selection of products from Bogen Imaging and the program’s sponsors, Bogen Café will visit 20 colleges and 20 dealerships per year for the next four years, beginning August 2007.

Ever wanted to take photos that are completely free of noise? Guillermo Luijk has published an intriguing article explaining how to do just that, with some seriously impressive example shots.

“The idea is to develop a simple method compatible with the regular shooting technique, to completely eliminate noise from our shots even in the deepest shadows. In this way we will recover all textures that noise made unusable and at the same time we will expand the effective dynamic range of our camera in the low light end.”

Website: Guillermo Luijk - Zero Noise Photography

Aquent Graphics Institute and O’Reilly Media are holding a global series of training seminars for Adobe CS3 to support the Dynamic Learning series of books. The 3 day seminars will be held in 20 cities in North America, Europe, and Australia, covering Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver and Flash. “Our Adobe Creative Suite 3 training seminars series are a great opportunity for creative professionals to learn first-hand from some of the top Adobe software experts in the world,” said Christopher Smith, President of AGI. You can register for a single day ($99) or all 3 days ($279).

Two new Nikon School DVDs demonstrate how easy it is to take great pictures with Nikon digital SLR cameras. The “Fast, Fun & Easy: Great Digital Pictures” is aimed at Nikon D40 and D40x owners, and “Understanding Digital Photography” covers fundamentals that are relevant to any DSLR camera. Both Nikon School DVDs are available at Nikon-authorized dealers in the USA.

Vincent Versace, Photographer, Author and Trainer joins host Scott Sheppard on Inside Digital Photo radio to discuss his insight into what it takes to be a photographer or simply an image maker. Hear Vincent’s insights and philosophies about the techniques he uses to capture the moment and angle of the image rather than just a record of an object. Vincent recently taught a class to Navy/Coast Guard Photographers on how to take be better photojournalists and document historical events. Taking pictures historically has provided records, the difference between a picture and capturing the moment lies in the eye of the photographer. Using the right equipment for the assignment, being prepared for anything, and having the confidence in your vision are all concepts that impact your ability to take outstanding images.

In the latest Inside Digital Photo radio show, photographer Vincent Versace shares tips and discusses Nikon’s Capture NX digital image processing and editing program. Vincent explains in detail how Capture NX can quickly process your images to get you back to taking pictures. Vincent also shares some unique insight into Nikon technologies, being an avid Nikon user, advocate, and beta tester for most of his photographic career.

Website: Inside Digital Photo - Nikon Capture NX

Photographer Stephen Johnson has just opened a new state of the art lab to help teach budding photography students. Throughout the year Stephen Johnson holds a variety of workshops for all levels of photographers, including classes on RAW files and fine-art printing.

Tamron have released four new completely free video podcasts covering wildlife, wedding and street photography. Obviously featuring as many Tamron lenses as possible, the vodcasts are presented by professional photographers Don Gale, Andre Costantini and Michael Ayers. The Tamron podcasts are well produced, informative and definitely worth a look.

A recent InfoTrends study affirms that sharing is the top reason why people take photos. Over 8 billion images were shared during the last calendar year in the US alone. The report also shows a strong correlation between the use of the Web and satisfaction with digital imaging. “As the digital photography market matures, we expect that monetization will occur beyond capture and print: there will be more focus on enabling services rather than just selling products,” commented Ed Lee, a Director at InfoTrends.

Apple is inviting photographers to join them for a free seminar on Adobe Photoshop CS3 in London, UK on Tuesday May 22nd. You get a free Aperture tutorial DVD if you attend, but space is limited, so hurry!

Think Tank Photo have published a comprehensive free article about travelling internationally with your camera gear. Noted photojournalists, ncluding 2005 Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Deanne Fitzmaurice, USA Today’s Robert Hanashiro and the New York Times’ Vincent Laforet, have contributed their travel insights. The 13 page article is available as a free download at http://www.thinktankphoto.com/airport .

Luminous Landscape have published the final part of a 3-part guide to assessing your technical and aesthetic level as a photographer.

“There are lots of wonderful tunes, yet there is something about ‘Amazing Grace’, especially on the bagpipes, which just grabs many people. I remember when it first started playing on the radio in the early 70’s and was surprised at my reaction to it, and even more so when I found that others had a similar reaction. We’re talking about photographs like that tune. That so many wonderful pieces of music don’t grab you that way suggests an element of magic for which there are unlikely to be any rules, tricks or tips to make equivalent photographs,they just are…”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Taking Your Photography To The Next Level

The X-Rite Picture Perfect Color Seminar teaches photographers how to manage color and perfect their workflow. The seminar series takes place in 40 cities in the US and Canada from May-December 2007. Professional photographer Phil Nelson, an X-Rite Color Expert, will lead the one day seminar, which costs $299.

Following yesterday’s CS3 announcements from Adobe, Total Training has today unveiled five new DVD-ROM based training series covering Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, InDesign and Dreamweaver. “Training is vital to the success of this release so we’re excited that Total Training will be releasing their exceptional in-depth video training content across these products to help customers quickly get up to speed and make the best use of Adobe Creative Suite 3.” said Caleb Belohlavek, director of product management for Adobe’s Creative Solutions. The 5 Total Training Adobe CS3 products ship in April 2007 and vary in price from $149 to $199.

Photo agency VII’s new European lecture series will be sponsored by Canon. 10 photographers on VII’s roster will take part in two days of presentations and discussions. “The opinions of professional photographers have always played a big part in the evolution of EOS, the world’s leading SLR system – the European VII Seminar now gives photographers new opportunities to talk about their craft.” said Barry van Vuuren, Team Leader, Professional Imaging Department, Canon Europa N.V. For more information about the European VII Seminar programme and to reserve tickets, visit www.viiphoto.com/event.html

Luminous Landscape have published Part 2 of a 3-part guide to assessing your technical and aesthetic level as a photographer.

“I think a lot of photographers have a split personality – on the one hand we are extremely proud of the images we create and can be overly confident of their value. At the same time, many of us have that nagging doubt about our abilities and are convinced we are going to wake up one of these days to the realization we are ‘crap’ photographers who should find another hobby – say beer bottle cap collecting. Unfortunately what this dichotomy translates into is that we seem to bounce from one view to the other.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Taking Your Photography To The Next Level

The-Digital-Picture has a detailed guide to that bane of the DSLR owner, cleaning the sensor.

“So how do we keep dust off of the sensor in the first place? Well, you may not be able to prevent it - DSLRs often have with dirty sensors right out of the box. But aside from that, a little care can minimally prolong a necessary sensor cleaning. I change lenses a great deal and generally need to clean my sensor every 5-10 weeks.”

Website: The-Digital-Picture - Sensor Cleaning

PMA 2007: Panasonic will launch the Digital Photo Academy, a series of workshops across the USA for all digital camera owners. The Panasonic Digital Photo Academy will offer three levels of courses taught by a local professional photographer. Panasonic will also launch www.DigitalPhotoAcademy.com in late-April.

Square Group and Apple are running a free seminar to help you shot like a pro - taking place on Thursday 15th March, 6.30pm at the Trades Union Congress Centre, Great Russell Street, London. Richard West from Apple will be joined by representatives from Wacom demonstrating Cintiq, HP and its range of printers plus Eizo for monitors.

Photographer Gerd Ludwig offers some tips about digital photography on Kingston Technology’s ‘Icons of Photography’ website. Ludwig comments “Shooting inside the Chernobyl reactor was probably the most challenging photographic situation I’ve ever encountered. It was dark, loud, and claustrophobic; the clock was ticking as our group rushed through dimly lit tunnels strewn with wires, pieces of shredded metal and other debris as I struggled not to trip; I was dodging the spray of sparks from the drillers in highly contaminated concrete dust; and I knew that I had less than 15 minutes to capture impacting images of an environment that few have ever seen, and that I might never access again.” Read our in-depth Gerd Ludwig interview to find out more.