The 39th edition of the free PhotographyBB Online Magazine is now available for download. This month’s edition features tutorials for taking better sports photos and capturing memorable moments, tips for digital photo-art manipulations, an in-depth look at Lightroom’s adjustment brush, a “reader FAQ” on portraiture and lighting, and more. You can download the latest issue of the magazine from the website below.

Website: PhotographyBB Online Magazine

Louis Boulet from École Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière, France, has been announced as the winner of the Student Focus Competition for the Sony World Photography Awards (WPA). The students had a month prior to the awards to complete the final challenge. The theme of the brief was, ‘Actions speak louder than words’, and students were asked to produce a series of images on the subject of actions and movement using Sony’s SLT-A55 cameras.

Akvis have released Akvis Retoucher 5.0 for Windows and Mac OS. This version introduces the Spot Remover tool which can remove small imperfections on an image easily. Support for files in raw format has also been added as well as an OS File Dialog for loading and saving files.Akvis Retoucher sells for $87.  For registered users of the previous version the upgrade is free.

Blurb has just released a new mobile publishing application called Blurb Mobile. Designed to enable easy and fast story creation using rich media content, the Blurb Mobile iPhone app enables easy media editing, including rotating, cropping, scaling, and drag and drop sequencing, plus geotagging, which can link the story to a location on a map. Available on iTunes, Blurb Mobile is free to download and each customer receives a story channel on Blurb.com/mobile to share their stories. In addition, Blurb Mobile Plus provides an in-app upgrade path for customers seeking additional photo, video and audio capability.

Fantasea Line has just introduced the Nikon Coolpix P7000 Camera & Housing Set and a complete line of underwater photo accessories specially designed for the FP7000 Housing. The bundle includes the Nikon Coolpix P7000 digital camera itself and the bespoke Fantasea FP7000 housing (pictured). The Nikon Coolpix P7000 Camera & Housing Set is available now for $1,249.95. Additionally, a range of Fantasea Eyes Underwater Optics for the FP7000 housing will be available from June.

The BAPLA Academy is a new online platform created by the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies. The academy, which launches in May 2011, enables all members to learn more about the professional side of photography. In addition to advice from picture library professionals about copyright and keeping pictures safe from image thieves, helpful hints and resources, there will also be an opportunity to showcase the best work to the professionals and to sell prints to the public. “It is a unique opportunity,” says Simon Cliffe, BAPLA’s executive director (pictured), “to link into the expertise and resources of the people that sell images on a daily basis.” Academy membership costs £49 a year with discounts for students.

The World Photography Organisation (WPO) and Sony have announced a partnership with Save the Children for the 2011/12 Focus Award. The 2011/12 award will focus on Save the Children’s emergency relief work in order to raise the profile of under-reported emergencies and the importance of the Children’s Emergency Fund in responding immediately to disasters. Jasmine Whitebread, Chief Executive of Save the Children International comments: “Save the Children is delighted to partner with the World Photography Organisation and Sony to draw attention to the millions of children caught up in disasters around the world every year… This partnership will help us raise the profile of ‘forgotten’ emergencies and help save more children’s lives.”

Website: Save the Children

The Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) has recognised the Harman by Hahnemühle product family with its ‘Best Fine Art Inkjet Paper’ award. With the slogan “Two Legends: One Paper”, Harman and Hahnemühle have introduced a range of seven media (six papers and a canvas) for the sophisticated fine art inkjet print. The range was unveiled at PMA 2010.

Argentinean photographer Alejandro Chaskielberg has been announced as this year’s winner of the illustrious L’Iris D’Or, the 2011 Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year. Beginning his career at the age of 18 as a photojournalist for a local newspaper, 34 year old Buenos Aires born Chaskielberg has spent 16 years developing a highly successful career as a photographer. His winning photographs offer a rare and insightful look into the lives of a community of islanders who live on the Parana River Delta. Devoting himself entirely to his ‘High Tide’ project, Chaskielberg lived with the islanders for two years, immersing himself in their daily life in order to document the way they live and work. Chaskielberg said of his series of striking night time portraits, “Using photography I have been able to present another version of the Parana River Delta and its community that has been photographically ignored throughout the years.”

Today Nikon officially announced the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G lens, which features an all-new optical formula, a weather-sealed mount and instant manual override. The design comprises seven elements in six groups, including one aspherical element. The dedicated Silent Wave Motor (SWM) ensures quiet auto focus as well as full-time access to manual focus. Fully compatible with Nikon’s modern film and FX-format digial SLR cameras, it offers a 75mm (equivalent) focal length when used with the manufacturer’s DX-format DSLRs. Weighing in at only 185 grams, the lens is supplied with a lens hood and a soft pouch. In the US, the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G will be available from 16th June at a suggested retail price of $219.95, and in the UK and Europe from 2nd June 2011 at £199.99 / €232.00.

Programmer Matt Burns has written a search engine that lets people find their stolen camera gear by searching EXIF data for their serial number. Users can enter their camera’s serial number or simply drop any photo taken with their stolen camera on stolencamerafinder.com to get a list of web pages that contain images taken with the same camera. The service is free and available now at the website below.

Website: Stolen Camera Finder

The US National Park Service (NPS) has announced that the twelfth National Historic Landmarks Photo Contest is open for entries. The contest invites photographers to submit up to ten entries - one per landmark - by 31 July 2011.(National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States.) As always, we suggest that you read the rules before entering your work.

Dreamix Studio has released Album App 1.0 - a new digital photo album solution for the Apple iPad. The app lets you scale, rotate and move photos with a single touch, add pages to your album and get creative with the layout or use one of the 30+ predefined templates. With only a single tap you select a photo from your photo library and it will auto position on the spot you tapped on. Available on iTunes, Album App 1.0 is priced at $3.99.

Adobe has posted the final versions of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) 6.4 and Photoshop Lightroom 3.4. Originally published as Release Candidates, these updates fix a few bugs and add raw file support for a number of new cameras, including the Canon EOS 600D (pictured), Nikon D5100 and Fuji FinePix X100 and others.

Website: ACR 6.4 for Mac | ACR 6.4 for Windows
Website: Lightroom 3.4 for Mac | Lightroom 3.4 for Windows

Canon has released a firmware update for the Canon EOS 7D digital SLR camera. Version 1.2.5 improves read and write speeds when using UDMA 7-compatible CF cards, and addresses various issues with custom function C.Fn 4-1, movie and still capture using certain CF cards, and menu screens displayed in Arabic and Portuguese. To learn more and to download the firmware update, visit the website below.

Website: Canon EOS 7D Product Page

Nikon has issued a firmware update for the Nikon D7000 DSLR camera. Version 1.02 resolves a number of issues and changes the way long-exposure noise reduction is performed. Specifically, dark frame subtraction is now applied to all photos taken using shutter speeds slower than 1s. Previously, long-exposure NR was applied to photos captured with exposure times longer than 8s only. You can download the update from the website below.

Website: Nikon D7000 Firmware

Canon U.S.A. has announced a series of workshops entitled, “Deconstructing the Story”, as part of its Live Learning events. These three-day, hands-on sessions provide intensive learning opportunities designed to demonstrate improved techniques for shooting successful video projects with video-enabled Canon EOS digital SLR cameras, such as the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV pictured above. The workshops will be held in five cities across the United States, including Orlando, Cincinnati, New York, Austin and Seattle. Click through / read on for dates and more information.