The winners of the May 2009 PhotographyBLOG Competition have been selected by a panel of judges. The theme for May was “Rain” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, by phototoad

Prize: ShutterPoint.com one-year subscription with 100Mb of storage space
Kindly donated by ShutterPoint.
http://www.shutterpoint.com

Adobe will be raising the UK pricing of its CS4 products from 1st July 2009. Blaming sharp fluctuations between UK and European exchange rates, the price increase will equate to a price rise of up to 10%. Photoshop CS4 will increase from £485 to £534 (ex VAT). To achieve a better balance, Adobe is reducing some Euorpenan prices of CS4 by up to 13%.

The new Lowepro Toploader Pro AW Series of camera bags provides fast access to your DSLR camera. Available in three sizes, 65 AW, 70 AW and 75 AW, and priced at around £70 in the UK, the Lowepro Toploader Pro features a side opening that offers easy-grip access, U-shaped zipper pulls, and Lowepro’s unique 360° All Weather AW Cover. The Toploader Pro Series can be worn in three ways; holster-style over the shoulder, attached to Lowepro’s Street & Field belt system, or with the Topload Chest Harness.

The 2010 Sony World Photography Awards are open for entries from today. The competition for professional photographers incorporates 12 categories across three genres – commercial, fine art and photojournalism/documentary. The overall winner will take the coveted L’Iris D’Or title together with $25,000. From the nine amateur categories, one photographer will be chosen as the Sony World Photography Awards Amateur Photographer of the Year and win a grand prize of $5,000 and Sony camera equipment. New for the 2010 awards, a documentary category has been introduced for amateur photographers.

ILFORD has launched a new and improved version of its GALERIE Smooth Pearl and Smooth Gloss inkjet paper. Including a new optically controlled nanoporous layer and redesigned base, GALERIE Smooth Pearl and Gloss media provides a full tonal scale from deep blacks through to crisp whites. ILFORD GALERIE Smooth Gloss and Pearl is available now in sheets from 4 x 6 up to A3+.

The range of Rollei digital cameras is being extended with 7 new models in the UK. The new Rollei Compactline 50 costs just £49.99, the Compactline 90 is only £79.99, and the Compactline 150, which has a host of features including a 5x optical zoom, panorama function and 19 different shooting modes, is just £129.99. The RCP8330, Flexline 140 and the Swarovski at £79.99, £169.99 and £199.99 each are also stacked with functions and features that belie their prices. The new range of Rollei products put German excellence in technology, design and build quality in your hands, for a very Japanese price.

The Fujifilm Instax Superhero Photo Contest launches today on Facebook. You can submit up to three photos reflective of the superhero theme, which have to be taken using a Fujifilm Instax 200 camera, scanned and posted on the Fujifilm Instax Facebook Page. Fans of Fujifilm Instax on Facebook will be able to cast their votes for their favorite photo until the competition is narrowed down to five finalists. Then, a panel of pro photographer judges will select the winning Instax superhero-themed photo. The contest is open now until June 30th, and the winner will receive one case of Instax 200 Instant Film.

Panasonic has just released a firmware update for its highly successful premium compact, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. Version 1.3 brings you the following:

  1. Improved auto white balance performance.
  2. Improved auto white balance performance in sunset mode.
  3. Improved recovery operation from unremoved lens cap.
  4. Improved operation of MF ASSIST/AF area selection.
  5. Improved display of Manual Exposure Assistance.

Website: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 Firmware Update Service
Review: Read our in-depth review of the Panasonic LX3

onOne Software has announced a free, Lite version of PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition. Based on the exact same feature set as PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition, PhotoTools 2 Lite includes 14 of the most popular effects found in both PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition and PhotoTools 2 Professional Edition. The 14 effects available in PhotoTools 2 Lite range from reproducing classic photographic effects like Bleach Bypass and Cross Process, to reproducing film stock such as Kodachrome® and Velvia®, to modern effects, including automatic skin smoothing. PhotoTools 2 Lite is offered at no cost and is only available as an electronic download direct from onOne Software.

Website: Photo Tools 2 Lite

Scott Kelby has announced his Second Annual Worldwide Photo Walk scheduled for Saturday, 18 July. Scott Kelby’s Photo Walk is a fun, social photography event where photographers get together for two hours, usually in a metropolitan area or trendy section of a city, to walk around, shoot photos, and have fun with other photographers. Each Photo Walk has a local assigned leader who chooses the route of the walk and the ending place, where participants have the opportunity to look at each other’s photos from the walk and make new photography friends. Registration is free and open to all photographers – amateurs and professionals. Photo Walk groups are limited to 50 participants per walk and advance registration is required.

Website: Worldwide Photo Walk

KelbyTraining LIVE have announced their newest digital photography seminar tour, Location Lighting Techniques for Photographers, featuring internationally acclaimed American photographer Joe McNally (pictured), author of The Hot Shoe Diaries and other best-selling books. The Location Lighting Techniques for Photographers seminar begins its tour of the U.S.A. in San Francisco at the South San Francisco Conference Center on Friday, July 31. Other U.S. tour stops include Washington DC, Los Angeles and New York City. Attendees will learn the step-by-step process of going from bad to good light with just one flash, then working your way up to two or more flashes. McNally will take you through a variety of lighting set ups with live demonstrations. A full day of training costs $99 ($79 for NAPP members), and includes many bonus materials.

Website: Kelby Training LIVE

HDMI Licensing LLC, the agent responsible for licensing the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) specification has announced the features that will be incorporated in the upcoming HDMI 1.4 specification. Enhanced functionalities include: a new data channel for Ethernet connectivity, an Audio Return Channel, 3D over HDMI, support for high-definition resolutions four times beyond the resolution of 1080p (including 4096x2160 24Hz), expanded support for colour spaces including AdobeRGB, a Micro HDMI Connector and a new Automotive Connection System for in-vehicle HD content distribution. The HDMI specification 1.4 will be available for download at http://www.hdmi.org no later than June 30, 2009.

Co-operative Xest’s talking photo album allows you to record a ten-second message to accompany each picture. The album accommodates up to twenty-four photos of 4x6” size, and lets you put a name to the people, places and events in each of them - a great tool for jogging your memory and preventing arguments in the family over when and where the shots were taken, the company says. When viewing the photos, all you need to do is press the play button to hear the message for the photo you’re viewing. Powered by two AAA sized battteries, the talking photo album is available online for £39.88.

Website: Talking Photo Album at Co-operative Xest

LifePics have announced the option for retailers to offer hundreds of new online photo book options to consumers via LifePics-powered retail photo sites. This means that LifePics’ online photo book offering has increased to a total of 450 possible books, allegedly the largest number available to retailers on the Web. The new additions include several in-house options that retailers can print on a variety of creative printing solutions that LifePics integrates with, including HP’s Photo Center, HP’s Indigo printers, Noritsu’s D701, several Xerox printers, and others. LifePics also added new book options via Proven Direct, a wholesaler that specializes in high-end custom cover wrap-around and lay-flat books.

The Fashion 360, Powered by Nikon is an intricate technical rig of fifty D700 cameras timed at different intervals to capture celebrities on the red carpet from an innovative visual “surround sound” perspective. In collaboration with production company Big Freeze, the Fashion 360, Powered by Nikon will allow viewers at home to experience a 360-degree view of their favourite celebrities. Many of the Fashion 360, Powered by Nikon images will appear throughout the broadcast and online in an exclusive photo gallery on http://movieawards.mtv.com, offering viewers at home an opportunity to check out the latest in Hollywood fashion trends up close.

Website: Watch the making of Fashion 360

According to Dublin-based market research company Research and Markets, product penetration for digital still cameras has reached at least 48% in the USA. Affordable and easy-to-use digital cameras have transformed how U.S. consumers use photography, changing it from something used to document important occasions like weddings and trips to an integral part of everyday life, the company notes in its new report, “Still and Video Cameras in the United States 2009”. The high penetration figure may indicate that the market is becoming increasingly saturated, and makes it challenging to maintain revenue growth.

Santa Fe Photographic Workshops celebrate 20 years of instruction for the photographic community. The growth and success of the Workshops is attributed to attracting some of the world’s most influential photographers as instructors, the steadfast dedication of its talented staff, and developing new programs and partnerships. Starting with 27 workshops and 287 participants in its first season, the Workshops has grown more than 600% to offer over 200 workshops attended by 2,000 participants annually. With campuses in Santa Fe and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, programs extend around the world through photographic journeys in such regions as Tuscany, Bali, Provence, Ireland, Australia, Oaxaca, Tanzania, and Morocco. Week-long workshops are taught by talented, world-renown photographers such as Sam Abell, Joyce Tenneson, Platon, Nevada Wier, Nadav Kander, Julieanne Kost, Joe McNally, and Greg Gorman.

Website: Santa Fe Workshops

Cecil Beaton: Portraits is an exhibition of nearly 50 portraits by one of the most famous photographers of the 20th century. The exhibition, which is going to take place from 26 June - 31 August 2009 in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, reflects the astonishing talents of the photographer who was also a writer, artist, designer, actor, caricaturist, illustrator and diarist. He photographed a dazzling array of superstars and leading personalities ranging from the Queen to Mick Jagger, Marilyn Monroe to Audrey Hepburn and Winston Churchill to Lucian Freud. His long career covered an era of great change from the Roaring Twenties to the dawn of the New Romantics. His early photographs were published in society magazines The Sketch, Tatler and Eve from 1925 onwards. In 1927, 23-year-old Beaton secured a contract with Vogue to provide portraits, caricatures and social commentary. His career – with the exception of two short breaks – continued with Vogue for the rest of his life.