The Corner Blog

Canon's Project Imagin8ion - When You Find Me

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:29:36 -0400

About a year ago, Canon announced a collaboration with one of Hollywood’s most influential directors, Ron Howard, to select the 8 winners of the “Project Imagin8ion” contest from 96,262 submissions (some of which were from members of the Corner, no doubt). The contest challenged photographers to submit images based on a series of 8 separate movie themes to ultimately inspire a short film by Ron Howard. The film was shot using Canon dSLR products (obviously), and was just recently screened at the Sundance Film Festival.

Photograph Water Drops for Contest Corner Challenge #98

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:52:06 -0400

Now that Contest Corner Challenge #97 has come to a close, it’s time for our next photography challenge. You have almost 3 weeks to get your entry in for Contest Corner Challenge #98: Water Drops. The subject of your entry should be pretty obvious based on the title of the contest (hint: water drops). The water drops can be on anything - a window, a flower, someone’s face, splashing in a puddle, in mid-air - wherever. Just make sure the main subject of the photograph are the water drops themselves (and not just a random photograph that happens to have water drops in it).

The contest is being sponsored by our friends at DayMen Photo Marketing and Lowepro. If the winner is a Premiere Member, they will get to pick from one of the following bags: the Lowepro Terraclime 100 (Grass Green), the Lowepro Nova 160 AW Shoulder Bag (Chestnut Brown with Black Trim), or the Lowepro Toploader Zoom 45 AW Bag (Sea Blue). If the winner is not a Premiere Member, they will receive a Lifetime, Level I Premiere Membership.

Before entering a photograph, be sure to read the guidelines and submission requirements listed here: Contest Corner Rules & Regulations. And please, (please!) make sure the photograph is taken during the contest period - I had to reject almost 30 entries from the last contest for this reason alone! Now get out there and photograph some water drops!

"Catch the Ball" Wins the 97th Contest Corner Challenge

Sun, 13 May 2012 15:19:42 -0400

Contest Corner Challenge #97: I Like to Move It, Move It received more than 120 entries, and resulted in 74 qualifying entries - the most we’ve had in a long time! I guess it doesn’t hurt that a Tamron SP 10-24mm Di II ultra wideangle lens (a $500 value!) was up for grabs. Despite all the entries, once the voting was complete there was a clear winner - with over 1/3rd of the votes, william88 easily won the popular contest with his photograph “Catch the Ball.” The final voting results are now available in the voting thread.

The contest was sponsored by Tamron: Founded in 1950, Tamron is a recognized leader in the manufacture of precision optics, offering a broad selection of meticulously engineered interchangeable lenses for professional photographers and photo enthusiasts. Dynamic research and development, committed to advanced optical engineering, has produced a stream of award-winning Tamron lenses that deliver a superb fusion of performance and value, enabling today’s high-resolution digital SLR cameras to perform at their peak. Since William is a Premiere Member, he will receive the Tamron SP 10-24mm Di II ultra wideangle lens. This ultra wide 2.4X zoom provides an angle of view equivalent to a 16 to 37mm in the full-frame DSLR format, making landscapes, streetscapes, architecture and confining interiors come to life beautifully. The lens is compatible with Canon, Nikon, Sony and Pentax smaller-sensor cameras - Nice!

Be sure to drop by the award thread to congratulate William on his second Contest Corner Challenge victory, and to see a larger version of his stunning photograph. And if you haven’t already, take some time to browse through all the entries in the CCC#97: I Like to Move It, Move It Photo Gallery, too!

Corner Member Close Up: Kris Popiolek

Fri, 11 May 2012 16:29:54 -0400

It’s time for another “Corner Memeber Close Up” photographer interview! This week we meet Kris Popiolek (aka Kot) from London, Ontario, Canada. Kris has been a member of the Corner for over 4 years and is coming up on 1,000 posts! The interview below features more than 2 dozen of his favorite photographs - enjoy!

Four New Resources Added to the Corner Resource Center

Thu, 10 May 2012 13:59:36 -0400

Unless you keep your eye on the Photography Resources forum or in the Corner Resource Center, you may have missed FOUR new resources that were posted up over the past couple of days. Luckily for you, we have the links to the new photography resources right here in the Corner Blog:

Improve Your Photographs with Depth of Field by JeffColburn - Learn how to use depth of field to improve your photographs by choose what is, and what isn’t, in focus.
Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM by legolas258 - A review of the Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM lens.
Overcoming Physical Flaws When Photographing People - The Body by JeffColburn - How to deal with many of the physical flaws you will encounter when photographing amateur or professional models.
Overcoming Physical Flaws When Photographing People - The Face by JeffColburn - How to deal with many of the facial flaws you will encounter when photographing amateur or professional models.

Thanks to JeffColburn and legolas258 for putting these reviews/articles together for the Corner! If you want to submit a review, article or tutorial to the Corner Resource Center, check out this thread for details on how to write and submit your own resources.

A Lot of Entries to Wade Through to Vote on CCC#97

Sun, 06 May 2012 16:03:14 -0400

With a great prize up for grabs (a $500 lens courtesy of Tamron), Contest Corner Challenge #97: I Like to Move It, Move It got a bunch of entries. In fact, I received over 120 entries, and we have 74 that made it through to voting. Take a couple of minutes and browse through all the entries in the CCC#97 Photo Gallery.

Once you’ve had a chance to browse through the gallery, head on over to the voting thread and cast your vote. You have until 7:00pm EST (11:00pm GMT) on Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 to make your vote count.

The contest is being sponsored by Tamron: Founded in 1950, Tamron is a recognized leader in the manufacture of precision optics, offering a broad selection of meticulously engineered interchangeable lenses for professional photographers and photo enthusiasts. Dynamic research and development, committed to advanced optical engineering, has produced a stream of award-winning Tamron lenses that deliver a superb fusion of performance and value, enabling today’s high-resolution digital SLR cameras to perform at their peak.

If the winner is a Premiere Member, they will receive an Tamron SP 10-24mm Di II ultra wideangle lens. This ultra wide 2.4X zoom provides an angle of view equivalent to a 16 to 37mm in the full-frame DSLR format, making landscapes, streetscapes, architecture and confining interiors come to life beautifully. The lens is compatible with Canon, Nikon, Sony and Pentax smaller-sensor cameras (a $499 value). If the winner is not a Premiere Member, they will receive a Tamron SP 70-300mm Di VC USD telephoto zoom lens. Tamron’s SP 70-300mm Di VC USD delivers class-leading sharpness, brilliant color and striking contrast and features Tamron’s USD (Ultrasonic Silent Drive) auto-focus drive and VC (Vibration Compensation) image stabilization. Winner of the prestigious EISA Best Product Award 2010-2011: Best Zoom Lens. The lens is compatible with Canon, Nikon and Sony full and smaller-sensor cameras ($449 value).

There are a lot of entries to wade through, so you’d better get started (check out the entries here, and cast your vote here)!

SmugMug Corner #120: Mike Crowley

Fri, 04 May 2012 14:55:07 -0400

The "SmugMug Corner" photographer interview today is with Mike Crowley from beautiful Wisconsin. His answers are short, but he's more than made up for the lack of words with his photographs. We have 20+ of his favorite photographs included with the interview below - enjoy your photograph trip through Northern Wisconsin!

"In the Lily Pads" is the May 2012 PotM

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:08:15 -0400

“In the Lily Pads” by agiledogs garnered the most votes in the May 2012 Photograph of the Month contest, awarding Clark is first Photograph of the Month victory since joining the Corner just over a year ago. You can browse through all the nominated photographs in the May 2012 PotM Photo Gallery, and see the final voting results now revealed in the voting thread.

The contest was sponsored by our friends at DayMen Photo Marketing (an innovative manufacturer and distributor of high quality imaging products and accessories), Acme Made (best known for incorporating innovative textiles and materials with contemporary styling to produce attractive bags, cases and sleeves for laptops, eReaders, smart phones, and digital cameras) and Lowepro (inventors and designers of popular camera bags, photographers and lovers of the natural world who take our reputation as The Trusted Original™ to heart). Since Clark was not a Premiere Member (I know, I’m just as surprised as you are!), he will receive a Lifetime, Level I Premiere Membership (about time he’s in the Premiere Member Club).

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out a larger version of the winning photograph, and congratulate Clark on his first PotM victory in the award thread.

The April 2012 Corner Newsletter: Done a Day Early

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:54:44 -0400

It’s true. If you’ve opted in to receive the Corner Newsletter via email, you probably already know that it was sent out late last night - a full day earlier than normal. The April 2012 Corner Newsletter, if you haven’t read it already, is waiting for you in your inbox. For those that have opted out of receiving it, or aren’t members of the Corner (what’s up with that - it’s FREE to join!), you can always read it online here in the Newsletter archives.

The newsletter was sponsored by our friends at B&H Photo Video. B&H is world-renown as the place to go for all your photo, video, pro audio and digital imaging needs. Now PhotographyCorner and B&H have partnered together to bring you great deals on photography gear through our new Photography Deals forum. In addition, a portion of every purchase you make at B&H (if you start shopping from this link) will go towards supporting the Corner! B&H brings you great deals on photography gear, and you get to help the online community you know and love - sounds like a perfect fit to me. Start shopping today at http://bhpho.to/photographycorner.

April 2012 Bling

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:58:38 -0400

Usually a couple of days before each Corner Newsletter goes out, we take a couple of minutes to recognize and award members of the Corner who have hit posting milestones over the past month. Commitment Awards are handed out to those who have shown great community dedication & commitment, and have reached a specific post-count milestone (1k, 2k, 5k and 10k). We have two members receiving awards this month: WHolmes and Chris Fulton. Thanks for your dedication and commitment to making PhotographyCorner an awesome online destination for photographers!

Corner Member Close Up: Carlo Galliani

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:56:47 -0400

We have an amazing Corner Member Close Up photographer interview for you today. There are 2 dozen photographs below, and each one of them is absolutely, hang-it-on-your-wall, breath-takingly STUNNING. If you're a member of the Corner, you're already well familiar with the photographs of Carlo Galliani (if you're not, sign up for a FREE account here) - his photographs are consistently nominated for Photograph of the Month honors. Admittedly, his English isn't great (he's Italian - between a friend of his and I, we managed to make this interview work), but the photographs more than speak for themselves. Even if you don't read the interview, scroll all the way down to browse the photographs... you can thank me later.

Vote for the May 2012 Photograph of the Month

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:09:47 -0400

It’s that time again! We have 15 amazing photographs up for the May 2012 Photograph of the Month contest - check out the entries in the photo gallery! Before the end of the month, be sure to cast your vote here in the voting thread, as the winner will not only receive a prize, but will also have their photograph displayed on the PhotographyCorner homepage for the month of May.

The contest is being sponsored by our friends at DayMen Photo Marketing (an innovative manufacturer and distributor of high quality imaging products and accessories), Acme Made (best known for incorporating innovative textiles and materials with contemporary styling to produce attractive bags, cases and sleeves for laptops, eReaders, smart phones, and digital cameras) and Lowepro (inventors and designers of popular camera bags, photographers and lovers of the natural world who take our reputation as The Trusted Original™ to heart). If the winner is a Premiere Member, they will receive a Lowepro Terraclime 100 Camera Bag or an Acme Made Kindle Hardback Folio case. If the winner is not a Premiere Member, they will receive a Lifetime, Level I Premiere Membership.

But before we can give away the prizes, we need you to cast your vote! Get on it already - you’ve gotta get your vote in by the end of the month!

The New Mod Squad

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:55:51 -0400

Well, it’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally done another mod shuffle in the Corner forums, and we’ve got a new Mod Squad for you. Moderators are the volunteers that make this place tick. From dealing with spammers, to pointing newbies in the right direction, from editing posts, to monitoring the galleries - the mods are the people that keep the Corner running smoothly.

If you haven’t already, take a couple of minutes to congratulate and thank the new Corner Mod Squad!!

Returning Moderators
chellezfotoz - Michelle
digital2006 - Marty
Nikon_Mario - Mario

New Moderators
Sharna - Sharna
jenfadder - Jennifer
Gems - Sabine

Thanks to Michelle, Marty, Mario, Sharna, Jennifer and Sabine for volunteering your time to help keep the Corner running smoothly! (If you’re interested in becoming a moderator, let me know and I’d be happy to discuss the opportunity with you!).

SmugMug Corner #119: Shelly Porsch Chetty

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:19:18 -0400

We’ve got another fantastic SmugMug Corner photographer interview this week with Shelly Porsch Chetty who’s been a SmugMug customer for over 5 years! The interview includes 20+ of her favorite photographs - a great way to get inspired to go out and take some photographs this weekend.

I Like to Move It, Move It - Contest Corner Challenge #97 Announced

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:07:02 -0400

I Like To Move It, Move It
I Like To Move It, Move It
I Like To Move It, Move It
Ya Like To (MOVE IT!)

I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but think about dancing lemurs every time I hear that song (from the move Madagascar). You don’t need to know how to dance to enter Contest Corner Challenge #97 - you don’t even have to photograph a lemur (because, I mean really - how many lemurs are wandering around our streets these days?). Your challenge for CCC#97: I Like to Move It, Move It is to photograph movement - it’s as simple as that. Whether you want to pan-and-shoot to show the movement, or freeze movement in mid-air, that’s up to you. But your photograph has to be about capturing movement in a photograph.

Entries are due in by May 1st, so you’ve got a little over two weeks to plan, take, and enter your photograph (remember your entry has to be taken during the contest period). Get all the contest details (or ask any questions you make have) in the contest thread in the forums. Be sure to read through the Contest Corner Rules & Regulations before entering your photograph as well.

Now get out there and photograph some movement!