Win an unforgettable trip off Scotland’s dramatic West Coast in the ‘Wish You Were Here’ online travel photography competition. Three winners will enjoy a once in a lifetime photographic experience on the island with National Geographic’s Jim Richardson. Winners and their partners will enjoy a week’s stay in the exclusive Jura lodge, a VIP tour of the Jura distillery and island, a two day photography master-class from Jim Richardson, and an Olympus E-PL1 camera to capture images from their visit.

Only 15% of consumers back up their computer files on a regular basis (once a week or more). In a survey by Acronis, almost a third (29%) do not back up their files, photos and music, while a quarter (25%) state that they only back up when they remember.

Do you back-up your photos regularly? If so, what kind of system do you have in place? Let us know in the Comments.

PhotoCaddy 1.4 is an award-winning photography guide for iPhone and iPod touch devices. PhotoCaddy is a handbook for photographers of all skill levels, with content that is constantly evolving thanks to an active user community. Users have access to a growing range of photography topics, with each topic providing creative suggestions, technical camera settings, and equipment recommendations.

The PhotoShelter Print Vendor Network is a new open network of print vendors from around the globe. The PhotoShelter Print Vendor Network enables serious photographers to sell prints and products via their PhotoShelter websites while assigning fulfillment to a print vendor of their choice, virtually anywhere in the world.

The iWorkTablet is a new solution for working with a Wacom tablet and the iWorkCase. The iWorkCase is the first on-location workstation from photographers for photographers, as well as digital operators and DiTs. Every order of an iWorkCase or HyperMac battery placed by 31.12.2010 will be entered in a lottery for an iPad Wi-Fi + 3G 16GB.

TouchRetouch 2.0 is a new photo-editing software app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users. It allows users to remove objects from freshly captured or saved photographs easily, with finger swipes and taps only, without affecting any other elements of the picture. TouchRetouch 2.0 is available worldwide exclusively through the AppStore in the Photography category and for $0.99 (USD) only.

BlackBerry Presents MTV’s Brand New for 2011 is a new competition where one director, reporter or photographer will win a money-can’t-buy opportunity to showcase their talents with MTV. The winning photographer will be hanging out with MTV Bang presenter and model Natasha Gilbert, documenting the evening and artists through a lens. To secure this unique opportunity, entrants can simply upload their best picture from a live event, ensuring the image reflects the atmosphere and experience, and accompany this with a caption.

AKVIS Refocus improves the sharpness of out of focus images. It can process the entire photo or bring into focus only the selected part to make the subject stand out against the background. To achieve a more realistic selective focus effect, you can sharp one part of the photo and blur the rest. Registered users of AKVIS Enhancer can get this program for free. Other users can benefit from the 30% discount Christmas offer.

kiRay Camera 1.3 is a new photo correction app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users. The kiRay Camera app offers users a single click photo correction tool that works automatically when a new photo is taken. Saved photos can be opened and enhanced with just a tap or two to the screen to fix back lighting, brightness, focus and more. With more than 250,000 downloads, kiRay Camera has been sitting in the number one spot in Japan’s Photography category for the last year. kiRay Camera 1.3 is only $1.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Photography category.

Talenthouse has launched a new project with Grammy Award winning band, Maroon 5. Photographers worldwide are asked to submit a photograph that embodies the theme of ‘Love’ to the Talenthouse website by 31 January 2011. After an eight-day voting stage, Maroon 5 will review the 50 highest-voted submissions and pick the 5 winners who will each receive the opportunity to photograph Maroon 5, meet the band and attend an after show party on their 2011 world tour at a location determined by Maroon 5 and Talenthouse. Travel and accommodation will be provided. The 5 winning photographs will be featured on the band’s official website and social media pages. The winners will be announced on Valentine’s Day.

Webstie: Talenthouse

Light & Land has announced a number of photography workshops in some brand new locations next year. These include classes in Jordan and Puglia, led by Charlie Waite, a workshop in Libya with Giles Stokoe and aurora hunting in Lapland with David Ward and aurora photographer Andy Keen. Full details including locations, dates and prices can be found at the website below.

White Knight Press has just released a new title, the Photographer’s Guide to the Leica D-Lux 5: Getting the Most from Leica’s Compact Digital Camera . This book is a follow-up to the author’s earlier guides to the Leica D-Lux 4, Panasonic Lumix LX3, and Panasonic Lumix LX5 digital cameras. The new book, like the earlier ones, explains all operations, features, menus, and controls of the camera in clear language, providing guidance not only about how to accomplish things with the camera, but when and why to use certain features. In addition, the book goes beyond the realm of everyday photography, and provides introductions to more advanced topics such as infrared photography, street photography, digiscoping, astrophotography, and creating 3D images that can be viewed with conventional red and blue 3D glasses. The book is available now in PDF format for download through the website below at a price of $9.95.

Verbatim’s portable USB 3.0 hard drives with 1TB capacity are now available in six neon colours. These include Caribbean Blue, Hot Pink, Violet, Sunkissed Yellow, Eucalyptus Green and Volcanic Orange. Backwards compatible with USB 2.0 host devices, the new USB 3.0 Portable Store ‘n’ Go Hard Drives from Verbatim come bundled with two software packages, Nero BackItUp and Burn Essentials, and Nero RescueAgent.  The Verbatim USB 3.0 Portable Store ‘n’ Go Hard Drive is available in stores now and costs £99.99.

Atlantic Light Works and Reindeer Graphics have released PercepTool 2.0.2, a Photoshop add-on suite that performs HDR, Tone Mapping and Perceptual Effect operations on digital photos. Completely revised and updated, PercepTool 2.0.2 includes a new interface for the Perceptual Effect routine that now includes Exposure and Contrast adjustments instead of using Photoshop tools. The Perceptual Effect adjustment has been redesigned to operate faster and to protect the highlights. In addition, PercepTool 2.0.2 now includes Equalizer, a superior multi-contrast Tone Mapping interface, and HDR Align and Blend, a High Dynamic Range operator that combines images without “grunge” effects. Included is a histogram with both Levels and Ansel Adams Zone System scales. PercepTool 2.0.2TM may be downloaded only from the website below. For those who have purchased the original PercepToolTM the upgrade cost is $75. The full version is $150.

Frommer’s has unveiled the winner of the 2010 Frommer’s Favorite Travel Moments Photo Contest. Peter G. Allinson, M.D., from Maryland scoped the top prize of a $4000 vacation, and a Tamron zoom lens, for his image of a diver and a sperm whale which he shot while holidaying in Rousseau, Dominica, in the Caribbean. He said: “We located the whales and were able to swim, photograph and play with them on multiple days. This is a photo of my friend Jeff thanking one of the whales, known as Scar, for posing with us. Interacting with and making eye contact with these huge gentle intelligent creatures was the most memorable moment of my life.”

Avanquest has launched a new version of its interactive photo sharing solution SendPhotos. This application automatically sends photos taken on a mobile phone to a dedicated website to enable easier sharing. “The SendPhotos project started with a simple observation; most of the photos we take with our mobile phones never leave our devices,” said David Wright, CEO of Avanquest Software Development. “Sharing digital memories has always been the core idea behind the project but this new version has evolved substantially to offer a dedicated website where users can enhance images and produce printed products.”

Epson America has announced three new canvas products that will be added to its Signature Worthy collection of media. These include the new Exhibition Canvas Gloss, Exhibition Canvas Satin and Exhibition Canvas Matte products, which are built on a polyester and cotton blend that is specially coated to produce vibrant colours as well as rich, deep blacks and tonal gradations that are claimed to distinguish them from competitive products. All three Exhibition Canvas products are available in roll widths of 13, 17, 24, 44 and 60-inches, and 17” x 22” cut sheets will be available in early 2011. Pricing starts at $34 for the 13"x20’ roll of Exhibition Canvas Matte, and goes up to $425 for the 60” x 40’ roll of Satin/Gloss.

Win a Lomography camera in our Festive Competition! Just in time for Christmas, we have two great Lomography cameras to give away to two lucky winners - the Diana Mini En Rose and the Sprocket Rocket.

This competition is now closed.

The lucky winner of the Diana Mini En Rose is Ashley McKnight.

The lucky winner of the Sprocket Rocket is Graham Morris.