Beyond Megapixels » announcements

Photography News from CES 2012

Tiffany Joyce — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:00:50 +0000

Here are a handful of the items that came out of the Consumer Electronics Show (held in Las Vegas last week, with a crowd of over 140,000) that I found to be the most intriguing:

Fujifilm announced the introduction of the X-Pro1, which sports a new CMOS sensor that is supposed to provide resolution that is equal to, if not better than, a full size sensor. Three lenses, the “XF18mmF2 R”, “XF35mmF1.4 R” and “XF60mmF2.4 R Macro” will be available immediately. Techradar has done a full hands-on review that you should check out if you’re interested in this little gem. (Photo courtesy of Fujifilm.)

Sigma Photo revealed the APO Macro 180mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM lens, which is the first lens of this focal length that maintains a 1:1 ratio with a constant f/2.8 aperture. It’s designed for full-frame cameras, but can also be used on crop sensor cameras for an effective focal length of 260mm. It also has optical stabilization for hand-held shots. I will be VERY interested to try one of these babies out. (Photo courtesy of Sigma Photo.)

Nikon revealed its new flagship D4, and is one of the few products to come out around the CES to state a price – a whopping $5,999.95 (why can’t they just make it $6k, really?). The ISO expands to 204,800. You read that right, TWO HUNDRED AND FOUR THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED. You could find your way out of cave when your flashlight battery runs out, shot by shot. Other perks include an MP FX-format CMOS sensor, and 10 fps continuous shooting. (Photo courtesy of Nikon.)

Has anyone heard of Lytro? Yeah, me either. But they are releasing the world’s first light field camera, which has got the photography industry buzzing madly. As it is explained on the Lytro website, “…the Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space.” I am very, VERY interested in this camera. It’s currently retailing at $399 ($499 if you want red). (Photo courtesy of Lytro.)

So, friends! What neat gadgets came out of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show that you’re particularly excited about? Share with us in the comments, or over on our Facebook Page!

* All pictures, trademarks and brand names owned by corporations and entities as noted.

Anniversary

Steve Russell — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:39:28 +0000

Today marks one year since I began writing for Beyond Megapixels. A lot of things have changed since then including Tiffany and I buying the website in March of this year. This has been a wonderful experience for me and I’ve increased my knowledge about photography while writing for Beyond Megapixels and interacting with our great readers and fans. I hope you have learned and been entertained as well. I look forward to the future with great anticipation.

Tiffany and I have been working on a schedule of articles for the rest of the year and there are still a few holes to fill. If there is anything you would like for Tiffany or me to write about don’t be bashful. We’re always looking for ideas and want to write about the things that interest you.

I want to also thank all of you that visit our site, read our articles and help make all this possible. We couldn’t do it without you.

Oh! Please help yourself to a piece of cake.

Photo Credit:
Anniversary Cake by foodchronicles on Flickr Creative Commons

Portraits of Love Project – A Great Cause

Steve Russell — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:00:09 +0000

Portraits of Love is a project coordinated yearly by the PhotoImaging Manufacturers & Distributors Association (PMDA) and offers families of deployed military personnel free portraits for the holiday season. Portraits of Love offers professional photographers and portrait studios an opportunity to use their talents and resources to show their appreciation for our military personnel serving abroad.

As a veteran that served in combat, it’s easy for me to appreciate how much this program means to the servicemen and women serving abroad. I can’t even begin to describe what this program, had it been in existence then, would have meant to me. If you have the time and capability, I urge you to volunteer for this worthwhile project.

Interested photographers can register to participate in the program online at www.pmdaportraitsoflove.com between September 1 and October 1, 2011. Volunteer photographers will receive program promotional materials from the PMDA along with directions on how to upload portraits to the Project’s fulfillment system. Additionally, volunteer photographers will be asked to provide details about their studio space, such as location, size and set-up to allow organizers to plan for anticipated volumes in each market.

For additional information see the Press Release below.

PMDA SEEKS PHOTOGRAPHERS FOR THIRD ANNUAL PORTRAITS OF LOVE PROJECT

Local Studio Photographers Encouraged to Help Deliver 10,000 Family Portraits to Deployed Military Personnel in Time for the Holidays; Online Registration for Participation Begins September 1 Woodbury, NY, August 29, 2011 – The PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association (PMDA), a respected photo industry organization that brings together some of the most renowned brand names in the photographic community with the common goal of sharing the impact photography has on our society, today announced that it is calling for studio photographers throughout the country to participate in its third annual Portraits of Love Project, which offers families of deployed military personnel free portraits for the holiday season. Photographers who volunteer their time will be asked to photograph families stateside and then simply upload the images to a server where prints will be shipped free of charge to both the families and their loves ones serving overseas.

The Portraits of Love Project offers professional photographers and portrait studios an opportunity to use their talents and resources to show their appreciation for our military personnel serving abroad. The PMDA’s nationwide network of volunteer photographers will be asked to open their studios to military families from October 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011. While some studios may choose to host sessions by appointment throughout this period, others may elect to host open sessions on select days.

“In 2010, we had more than 400 photographers host portrait sessions for families on military bases and in studios throughout the country,” said Joellyn Gray, President of the PMDA and Director of Marketing at FUJIFILM. “This year we hope to expand the effort to deliver a small taste of home to even more servicemen and servicewomen who aren’t able to be with family during the holiday season. The photography community has always been amazingly generous with its time and resources around this cause, and we believe we’ll be able to do even more with their support this year.”

In its first three years, the Portraits of Love Project has enjoyed the generous sponsorship from industry partners and PMDA member organizations including:, Canon,FUJIFILM, Nikon, Olympus,Sony, Bonnier Technology Group, Digital Photo Academy, Photo Industry Reporter, SeeHere.com, Samsung, Panasonic, Hewlett Packard, Tamron and The Tiffen Company.

About PMDA

Founded in 1939, PMDA provides a series of forums throughout the business year for its membership to exchange ideas and learn about new technologies and business trends, in addition to administering programs that promote photography to the general public. Monthly programs and symposiums feature leading photo and imaging product suppliers and retailers, as well as financial analysts and technical experts. The PMDA teams with the Soldiers’ Angels volunteer organization to create the Portraits of Love Project, with a goal to provide 10,000 U.S. soldiers around the world with free portraits of their families and loved ones during each holiday season. The organization has also teamed with PMA International to produce www.TakeGreatPictures.com, a site created to help American consumers find meaningful ways to incorporate photography into many aspects of their everyday lives, while helping them to make intelligent decisions about buying new cameras and accessories.

Reacquaint Yourself With Our Features!

Tiffany Joyce — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 07:00:12 +0000

By now you may have noticed that we’ve been doing some modifications to the website. Additional features, specialized content, and a new look are in the works, but for now we hope that the changes that we’ve made have improved your experience while visiting Beyond Megapixels. Here are some areas that we’d like to call your attention to in particular:

On the Main Page you will see the icons for Top Cameras, Best Books, Top Lenses, and Getting Started With Photography. Each page is updated on a frequent basis, so be sure to drop in periodically to check out the new content!

Top Cameras: This page consolidates all of the camera reviews that have been featured on Beyond Megapixels, as well as a list of the camera models that we recommend.
Best Books: On this page you will find an archive of book, magazine, and DVD reviews, as well as links to the books that we recommend for photographers.
Top Lenses: You will find a list of featured lens reviews on the Top Lenses page, as well as links to the lenses that we highly recommend.
Getting Started With Photography: The Getting Started with Photography page is a valuable resource for beginning photographers, as well as experienced photographers who wish to brush up on their skills. This page is continually updated each time we publish an article that particularly suits this topic.

In an effort to further tailor our content to your specific needs, each week we will feature a new poll on the left hand side of the main page. The results of the polls will directly effect the type of information we provide you, so please be sure to participate so we can better suit your needs!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter by following these links or clicking on the badges on the right hand side of the main page. We have a fun and engaging group of friends at both networks who will be sure to entertain you as well as provide you with enlightened and timely information about the latest updates in the world of photography. Also, you can subscribe to our site in your feed reader by clicking one of the buttons provided on the main page, or by simply adding our URL (http://beyondmegapixels.com) to your feed reader’s “Add A Subscription” or “New Subscription” field.

The Beyond Megapixels Flickr Group is over 800 members strong and growing. Share your photographs and receive encouragement and feedback from Beyond Megapixels staff as well as other group members. The latest photographs submitted to the group appear on the photo badge at the top right hand corner of the website. Everyone is welcome to join!

Did you know that we have nearly 100 article categories to choose from, and archives that go back as far as November of 2007? That’s a LOT of photographic knowledge to peruse, so if you’re looking for help on something specific, try finding it the archive and category search functions on the left hand side of the page. You can also search the entire website via keywords by using the search box at the top right-hand corner of the page.

Finally, as always, we encourage you to provide us with feedback so that we can continue to improve our website and our relationship with our readers. Feel free to leave a (kind and constructive!) comment on any article, and e-mail us at info (at) beyondmegapixels (dot) com.

An Exciting Announcement!

Tiffany Joyce — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:00:09 +0000

Announcing some very exciting news! Henceforth, Steve Russell and Tiffany Joyce are no longer just the content writers, but have also formed a partnership and have become the owners of Beyond Megapixels.

There are many future plans for the website which will benefit you – our fans, readers, and loyal supporters. Forthcoming changes will include improvements to the look and feel of the site, expanded content, and more opportunities for reader engagement. Steve and Tiffany have also acquired the accompanying Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr sites which have so richly added to the Beyond Megapixels community. Of course, this transition will not be accomplished overnight, so your support is greatly appreciated while all of the details are finalized.

Over the last six months, Tiffany and Steve have developed a friendship that has grown into a strong partnership. Their different backgrounds and life experiences (which you can read more about on the Writers page) is one of the strengths they bring to this site and to their writing. At Beyond Megapixels you’ll get differing perspectives which will broaden your understanding of photography; from time to time one may write an article on the same subject the other has written about just to demonstrate a different viewpoint.

Progressing from freelance writing to site ownership is a big responsibility and one that both Steve and Tiffany are eager to tackle. There will be a lot of work ahead in order to grow this site to its full potential; we hope that you, our readers, are also excited about the future of Beyond Megapixels.

As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments section of this article, or e-mail them to info [@] beyondmegapixels.com.

Thank you very sincerely for your continued support! It’s going to be an exciting year!

Steve Russell and Tiffany Joyce

Photo credit: Follow the Light by familymwr on Flickr Creative Commons.

New “Getting Started” Page

Tiffany Joyce — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:13:47 +0000

Hello, friends! You may have noticed the newest section of the Beyond Megapixels website, titled “Getting Started With Photography”. The link is up at the top of the page, below the links for “Home”, “Contact Us”, etc. I spent a good while last week, while Vernon was featuring articles written by guest bloggers (which I hope you enjoyed, I know I did!), researching all of BMP’s archives (over two years worth!) to find the most appropriate articles to include in the “Getting Started” page.

The intent of the page is to provide a repository of information for those just getting started in photography. It begins with some very “101″ type articles – how to choose your first camera, exposure basics, flash 101, histogram 101, and more. It then moves on to some composition rules and tips such as portrait photography, macro photography, and bokeh. From there, articles are listed specific to photography techniques, including the article round-up for the “100 Steps to Improve Your Photography” series. Next comes some articles related to photography equipment, including some inexpensive “do it yourself” projects. Finally, there is a discussion on camera and gear maintenance and cleaning.

This page will continue to grow as more articles are written for Beyond Megapixels pertinent to the “beginner” audience. I hope to discover and fill in any “gaps” that may exist among the topics and requisite articles. With that said, I would delighted and grateful to you, our faithful readers, if you would offer in the comments your own suggestions for “beginner” articles, which will be written and added to the “Getting Started” page.

Sifting through the vast array of information out there about photography can be daunting and time-consuming. We hope that you find the “Getting Started With Photography” page to be helpful in guiding you toward improving your photography skills!

Photo Credit – “March of the Cameras” by Suss-Man on Flickr Creative Commons.

Plans for 2010

Tiffany Joyce — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:00:44 +0000

Hello, friends! Sherry (from BMP’s sister site PhotoBlog) and I (Laura!) have been collaborating on some big plans that we have for our readers, beginning in January of 2010! It IS right around the corner, believe it or not. We want to provide more opportunities for our readers to participate in site activities, and deepen the friendships and collaborative contact that we all have with one another.

Monthly Photo Challenges:

Beginning in January we will be running month-long “challenges”. There will be one photographic “theme” in which participants are encouraged to take photos of a certain subject and post to the Beyond Megapixels Photo Pool on Flickr. There will also be one “technical challenge” in which participants will use a certain photography technique and post their results in the Pool.

Shared Topics:

Once per month, Sherry and I will write about a common photography topic – I will write about it here on BMP, and Sherry will write about it on PhotoBlog. In this way you will get differing perspectives on the same topic, and perhaps Sherry and I will broaden our own understanding on the topic as well!

Reader Polls:

Readers will be treated to a monthly poll in which we will garner opinions about everything from recommended gear, to favorite photography subjects, and polls related to recently published articles. We hope you look forward to the opportunity to share your opinions!

Photo Fix:

On a monthly basis, I will submit a photo that I have taken to Sherry, and she will publish an article on PhotoBlog about which post processing methods she would use on the photo, as well as give opinions and advice on composition, cropping, aperture/shutter speed, or other things she might have done differently. The opportunity works both ways, of course – she will be sending ME a photo to play with and write a post about here on BMP, too. In addition, we will both be asking for contributions from our readers to submit a photo of their own for us to process and write about!

Comments:

Comments on posts are a large part of the conversation around BMP. I pledge that in 2010 I will respond to EVERY SINGLE COMMENT left on this site within 48 hours, so that our readers can feel that their opinions, thoughts, and questions are valued. Let’s keep the conversation going!

Got An Idea?

Do you have any thoughts on what features you’d like to see on this website? Don’t be shy! Leave a comment and let us know what you’re thinking! Based on recent feedback you should soon be seeing the Post Author’s name associated with each post, and Previous/Next links within each article. Keep the suggestions coming!

Photo credits (all): Snerkology Media.

Prajneet (RIP): A great person, photographer and friend.

Tiffany Joyce — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:59:44 +0000

Over the last few months I have had the privilege to work with a great person in Prajneet. Prajneet was passionate about photography and he loved writing for BMP, he especially loved interacting with the community.

I tried to find the original application form that Prajneet sent me when applying for the BMP blogger position. I got around 100 applicants and then I had this Indian guy send me a mail saying something along the lines of “I love photography, I want to write for your site and you should hire me, please give me an opportunity”. I hired Prajneet and he turned out to be a great hire. A good hire is when you have a number of big sites come and tell you how good a writer he really is and his content rocks!

Funniest moment was when he emailed me at 3 am in the morning telling me “Vernon we’ve hit 5,123 RSS readers”, I was trying to work out why he picked 5,123 as the number.

Prajneet’s best work was easily the IYP series that he ran and got 100,000’s of hits. It was all his idea to run the series and I know that I loved reading his articles which were always unique and full of useful insights.

If you would like to read more please refer to the link below, I’m not a very good communicator when it comes to these issues.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090815/cth1.htm#2

Thanks Prajneet for all your great work, we send our prayers to your family at this time.

Photographers in the News and another Winner

Tiffany Joyce — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:24:05 +0000

In official business The Betterphoto Guide to Digital Photography can be claimed by commenter: PShorten. I have sent you an e-mail with request for your address but if you haven’t gotten it please check your junk mail.

I’m always interested in photo tips, who isn’t? So this week for our Photographers in the News I bring you tips from famed photographer Frank Cricchio by way of The Beaumont Enterprise a Hearst Newspaper. I recommend you check out all of the tips in the article but this one had me digging out my camera manual:

“Cloudy weather conditions reduce the amount of light, making for less contrast and consequently a softer image. To get a better photo, you need to tweak the contrast or tone setting in your camera, Cricchio said. You’ll get more vivid photos, even if the weather is crummy.”

I didn’t realize that I could do this as a pre-set on my camera until I investigated further. I really am digging this setting and will be posting some shots this week of the results thanks to some really crummy weather on the radar. Other things coming up this week:

My review of the Canon EOS 40D. I never thought I’d say this but I really liked cheating on my Nikon.
What is HDR and where to start your experimentation.
Another review and a HUGE giveaway from fotoflot.
Inspiration and Featured photos from our Flickr Group (have you uploaded something from the weekend yet?)
And tips on how to capture that look of love in photos.

Post Card Winners

Tiffany Joyce — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:26:25 +0000

Hi Everyone

The winners for the postcards are “Chris Mcelwee” and “Anna”. The winner for the canvas print is “Dana Stone”. These are really great winners and I hope that each of you will post your postcards and canvas prints to our website for all to see.

For those who didn’t win don’t worry we will be running many more competitions.