New Panasonic LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm lens
Together with the announcement of the Panasonic Digital Interchangeable Lens Camera DMC-G1 on Sptemebner 12th, Panasonic also announced a new interchangeable Lens, the LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm/F3.5-5.6 ASPH./MEGA O.I.S. It is a new standard zoom interchangeable lens designed specifically for the cameras compatible with Micro Four Thirds System standard…

New Sigma SD15 digital SLR replaces the SD14
Sigma announces the new Sigma SD15 digita SLR camera. This camera is the latest model in Sigma’s digital SLR camera SD series, powered by the 14 megapixel Foveon X3 direct-image-sensor it can capture all primary RGB colors at each and every pixel location arranged in three layers. The SD15 incorporates the “TRUE II” new image processing engine. It provides high resolution power and reproduces high definition images rich in gradation. Incorporation of the large 3.0 inch LCD monitor improves the ease of operation…

Gorillapod Focus
The latest Gorillapod, designed for professional sized cameras and digital video cameras.

New Olympus (Micro) Four-Thirds digital cameras
Olympus is developing a new interchangeable lens D-SLR to expand its E-System line-up. Positioned as a mid-level model, it is intended for anyone wanting to express their creativity through photography no matter if an amateur just starting out, or a professional with years of experience already behind them. The new camera can be expected in the first quarter of 2009. Olympus has also begun development of a camera based on the “Micro Four Thirds System”. A concept mock-up of the camera will be exhibited at Photokina 2008…

Nikon releases D80 firmware update version 1.11
Nikon releases firmware update version 1.11 for the D80 digital SLR camera. This update resolves the problem that, in some rare circumstances, causes the battery indicator to blink, regardless of actual battery charge…

Your Photo: Our Critique
Galen Hussey submitted this image taken with a Canon Rebel XTi. The light in this image is very even for a reflective subject but the…

Hall of Shame New Inductee
Air travel is increasingly more cumbersome. As if long lines, higher prices, and more luggage restrictions weren t bad enough, now add on the fear that…

Your Photo: Our Critique
Brede Petersen shot this flower with a Canon EOS 30D with an exposure of 1/30 sec at f/3.5, ISO 320. While I m a sucker for…

From the PopPhoto Flash Archives
October 25 2007 Tip of the Day: Perfecting Baby Photos 1. Turn off your flash and use a fast shutter speed (1/250 sec or higher)…

Dustin Snipes on Quality and Quantity
Quick, what’s the first image that would pop into your mind if you were assigned to go to a basketball camp and shoot seventy portraits in two days?Picture day in seventh grade? I Love Lucy at the cake factory? L.A.-based shooter Dustin Snipes shows not only that it can be done, but it can be done with quality and style. Check out his blog post for the details. And dig around for several more OA-style posts he has for you, too.(Thanks, WSP! | Photo 2008 Dustin Snipes)-30-This is a full RSS feed post from Strobist.com. Click the post title to see the full post and view reader comments. This month’s feeds are sponsored by:

Selling your Photos as Wallpaper
Photography: Vlad Gerasimov (VladStudio.com) Wouldn’t it be great to shoot a picture that you love, have thousands of people pay to own a copy and know that they’re going to see it, appreciate it and enjoy it several times a day before coming back to pick up another one? That’s not likely to happen through gallery representation, [...]

Bert Stephani: Mo’ Bounce to da Ounce
I am in the air all day today, flying back from Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Bert Stephani is across the pond, pretending he is in L.A. So I will leave you in his able hands, as he invades a public beach with a California Sunbounce Micro and a kickin’ pair of ND-8 filters over his eyes.(Seriously, I love Bert’s videos.)See stills from the shoot on Bert’s blog. More info on the CSB here.-30-This is a full RSS feed post from Strobist.com. Click the post title to see the full post and view reader comments. This month’s feeds are sponsored by:

An Open Access Photo Library
Microstock might have hit the stock world like a kick to the shins, but it carries one big advantage and one giant disadvantage. The advantage is that anyone can now earn from their photography. Photographers no longer need to be professional full-timers to license their photos and they’re free to upload as many or as [...]

You and the Failure of PhotoShelter
On October 10, 2008, PhotoShelter will close the PhotoShelter Collection, its stock outlet. In an announcement on the company’s website, Allen Murabayashi, PhotoShelter’s CEO declared: “We believed that we could create a more democratic system - a marketplace for stock photography where virtually any one could participate. And a few months later, The PhotoShelter Collection was [...]

Ad Men Seek Flickr Photos and Flickr Members
Photography: juliebee What do Flickr members want? To chat to other photographers and swap stories and tips about where and what to shoot, maybe. To make the odd print sale or win a new client, perhaps. To improve their photography, often. It’s all of those things, of course, but mostly Flickr membership tends to be about showing your [...]

When Pictures Hurt Websites
Is it possible that an entire marketplace is wrong? Could it be that the biggest buyers of low-cost photography aren’t just wasting their money by buying images but actually damaging their own earnings? And if it is the case, is it possible that we can keep this to ourselves so that they don’t find out? The [...]

Art Photography - How to Create an Oil Painting from a Photo with Corel Painter
Today we’re talking Art Photography as Bob Nolin from Digital Image Magazine shares some tips on creating an oil painting effect from a photo. Imagine you had a magic paint brush, and when you painted with it on a blank canvas, it changed colors for you all by itself. You wouldn’t have to try [...]

Shooting and Selling Through a Recession
Even during the last economic boom, times have been hard recently for professional photographers. The price of digital equipment might have fallen, cutting expenses, but with high-end cameras now within reach of amateurs the result has been an increase in the supply of photographers and of images too. At the same time, the Internet [...]

When it all Goes Wrong
Photography: Behrooz Nobakht It seemed like a good idea at the time. We liked it. Judging by the level of activity on the site, lots of photographers liked it. And seeing as they were the ones who poured their money into the plan, 8020 Publishing, producers of JPG Magazine, liked it too. The only people who didn’t [...]

27′ Sony Color TV….Price - 50.00
   27″ Sony Color TV with Remote. Good Condition, and Fully Functional. Asking price is $50.00/OBO. GOOD DEAL AND PERFECT FOR ANYONE HEADED OFF TO COLLEGE! MUST SELL…MOVING AT THE END OF AUGUST.

Getting a point and shoot felt so good
When I first started my photography courses I shunned the point and shoot camera. I thought that since I wanted to be a professional photographer I couldn’t be a “slacker” and use one. I felt frazzled. The easy to use point and shoot camera is what got me into photography in the first place, now [...]

Shooting and Selling Through a Recession
Even during the last economic boom, times have been hard recently for professional photographers. The price of digital equipment might have fallen, cutting expenses, but with high-end cameras now within reach of amateurs the result has been an increase in the supply of photographers and of images too. At the same time, the Internet [...]

Have Camera, Will Travel, May Earn
Photography: Steady 70 There’s a reason they call photography a dream job. It’s creative, it’s rewarding and best of all, it’s paying work that doesn’t have a boss. Sure, you’ll have deadlines and clients, but you’ll also have the freedom to decide how you arrange your working life. You could, in theory at least, grab a [...]

Excellent PDA/Pocket PC Great Price!!….Price - 699.99
   Symbol MC50 w/ Windows Mobile(which includes Internet Explorer, Pocket Word, Pocket Power Point, Windows Media Player, and more!), QWERTY Keyboard, Imager, Scanner, Voice to Voice IP, Also included USB cradle, power supply, and AC cord. (I’m willing to negotiate.)

Canon EOS 5D - MKII ?
I spotted whispers on Northlight-Images site that Canon’s EOS 5D DSLR is about to get an update. There are also specs posted on DP Review forums for a second generation 5D with the following changes: A gain to 15.3MP up from 12.8MP, a 2 stop hike in light sensitivity to 25600 ISO. The new snapper will also supposedly [...]

Casio EXILIM EX-Z60 review
Casio EXILIM EX-Z60

Olympus Mju 790 SW review
Olympus Mju 790 SW

Ricoh Caplio GX8 review
Ricoh Caplio GX8

Olympus E500 review
Olympus E500

Sony Cybershot DSC W170 review
Sony Cybershot DSC W170

Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS review
Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS

Nikon Coolpix P1 review
Nikon Coolpix P1

Canon 1000D XS Beginners DSLR
Canon 1000D / XS is here, no rumors! Canon has announced their new entry-level budget DSLR and what a beast it is. 10mp Cleaning system 3fps 7 point AF 2.5″ LCD with Live View SD card slot That’s a pretty good bundle for the entry model I am sure you will agree. No news on UK price but expect it to be [...]

Olympus mju mini Digital review
Olympus mju mini Digital

Today’s Special: Gourmet Speedlights Al Fresco
UPDATE: Nick was kind enough to drop by and answer some of your questions in comments. (Thanks, Nick!)I love letting the new submissions to the Strobist Flickr Pool build up for a few days, so I can spend a few hours looking through the thousand or so photos that have dropped in since the last edit. That’s a lot of images to look at in one sitting. But every now and then a photo really jumps out and grabs you. Such was the case with UK-based photographer Nick Turpin’s series of portraits of thriller writers, shot for Arena Magazine.They are sophisticated, stylish and bathed in pools restricted light. And they were done entirely with a few SB-800s and voice-activated light stands. More, including Nick’s video and links, after the jump.___________I hope you enjoy this movie as much as I did — I probably watched it half a dozen times. Take a look, and then keep reading for some of the thought process behind street shooting with multiple SB’s as light sources. Nick says that began as a pure street photographer, and then started evolving his look to include small flashes. The street has since become his impromptu studio, and he is free to choose his settings on a moment’s notice. He is now shooting magazine work and advertising campaigns, using gear that would be right at home at a Strobist meetup.My guess is that he often is able to work without location permits because he is not setting up stands or tripods. And from the look of this video, this series was shot over the course of a single day.When shooting outdoors in the daytime and using small flashes, there are three things to consider: Ambient level, balance and lighting direction(s).It is helpful, though not mandatory, to work in shade. This keeps the ambient light at a manageable level. Still you’ll want to start out at you highest normal sync speed speed, to give yourself a reasonable aperture. Take a “properly exposed” photo and look at your frame. It will probably look okay. But likely a little boring, too.Next, keep your shutter speed where it is, and start to underexpose your ambient light by dialing down your aperture and chimping the back of the camera. This will set the mood and contrast range of your photo. What you are doing is basically setting an ambient “floor” on your overall exposure via your chosen aperture.How far down should you go? One stop? Two stops? Five stops? That is entirely up to you and depends on the look you are trying to achieve.Now, bring in your lights. You will have to dial them up to a power level sufficient to properly expose your subject at the aperture you have chosen in the last step. Nick is using multiple SB-800’s, snooted and aimed (via the VAL’s) to create multi-directional pools of light on his subjects. This is where it gets more difficult. Nick’s eye for narrative (and humor, if you look at some of his other work) is what defines where he places his subjects and his lights. Sometimes he motivates the light with objects on the set (i.e., the lamp post) and sometimes he goes for pure, seemingly random whimsy. Your photos probably will not look like Nick’s because you will bring an entirely different eye to your settings, body attitude and light placement.But however you do it, cool things start to happen when you balance multiple hard lights against soft fill. It is as if your subject wandered into an area of interesting, mixed light. Texture happens. Depth happens. Interestingness happens. Sure, the light from the strobes is hard, but the shadows are only as deep as you set them with your baseline ambient exposure. So it is all under control.What are your thoughts? Were you as surprised as I was to find the photos were done with speedlights and VALs? I found myself thinking back to Gregory Crewdson, mostly because of the sense of place defined by those pools of light. Pretty amazing, when you think of the comparative amounts of gear being brought to bear on the shoots.I love that VAL street lamp boom. To be honest, I love all of the photos in this series. It’s amazing how he can be at once both sophisticated and mobile. You can the whole series of portraits of thriller writers at Turpin’s website. (More projects, and another video, here.)This is a full RSS feed post from Strobist.com. Click the post title to see the full post and view reader comments. This month’s feeds are sponsored by:

Bowens Travel-Pak
Bowens have launched the advanced Travel-Pak Portable Powerhouse option.

Park Cameras officially open Burgess Hill store
Park Cameras will be holding the Grand Opening of their new store in Burgess Hill this Saturday.

Sakar are expanding their footprint in the camera business
Sakar plan to expand their own camera line with the help of Vivitar branded products.

Speedlinks, 10/3/2008
First things first: I really need to do a sig photo for the speedlinks. I’m thinkin’ tastily lit macro shot of two sausage links sizzling on the griddle. Got any other ideas? Comment ‘em to me below.Until then, your latest batch of artless speedlinks, after the jump:__________ Robert Benson blogs about an insane man named Mark J. Rebilas, who will PW-remote his cameras just about anywhere. Holy crap, would you strap your DSLR to one of those airborne BMX bikes? Company body — yeah, maybe. Personal body — uh, no. Elinchrom has debuted a new 400WS battery flash: The Ranger Quanta. (Specs here, first Photokina video grope here.) If you haven’t seen the Rangefinder Magazine article on small-flash corporate shooter David Tejada, you can now read it via PDF. Would you like to see dramatic portraiture up close and personal? Are you willing to work for free (grub included) to do it? Michael Grecco is looking for an intern. Martin Prihoda just finished his first gazillion watt-second lighting workshop, so you have to figure there was a YouTube video coming…This is a full RSS feed post from Strobist.com. Click the post title to see the full post and view reader comments. This month’s feeds are sponsored by:

Vivitar camera auction
Vivitar cameras and other photographic equipment to be sold in an online auction which opens on the 14 October.

Speedlnks: Sept. 8, 2008
Quickie batch of bonus speedlinks for Monday morning, after the jump:________ PDN ran a piece on Tim Kent’s amazing car photography, thus justifying Ken Brown’s subscription for the next ten years. Don’t miss the companion OA-style sidebar, too. If you live in eastern Canada and are a fan of Martin Prihoda, you may wish to check out a big-lights seminar he’ll be doing in Toronto later this month. My bet is most of us get a steady stream of requests to shoot photos of friends and family. This is how you might do it if you were contributing SI shooter (and current cover boy) David Bergman. If that SI thing does not work out, Dave, you would make a heckuva yearbook photographer… If you are willing to give up your email address — and can read German — California Sunbounce is giving away 450 day passes to Photokina. Finally, in case you haven’t seen it yet: Vincent Laforet takes a video stroll through Pocket Wizard heaven at the finish line of the 100m sprint at the Olympics. (Patrick Smith, if you are reading this from a public computer, you might want to put a pillow over your lap before you watch it…)This is a full RSS feed post from Strobist.com. Click the post title to see the full post and view reader comments. This month’s feeds are sponsored by:

Betcha Can’t Watch it Just Once
I always enjoy a good photo shoot video. You know, a little chance to see behind the scenes, the studio banter, some cool finished stills at the end. Nice way to spend a few minutes.Several months ago, Chase Jarvis did a promo still/video shoot for the Kung Fu HD network. For various reasons, he has not been able to publish it until now. But I got an early sneak peak, and I thought it was killer. So I watched it again. And again. And again.How many times? I have no friggin’ idea. I only know that I was watching the full, 1080p version via his server. So every time I hit the “play” button, it cost him about 35 megs worth of bandwidth. Suffice to say, I owe Chase a beer next time I see him. An imported beer.Fortunately, it’s on YouTube now, so I can watch it without the guilt. It’s cool as a moose, and I know at least 94 percent of you are gonna like it too. Oh, and yeah — that song is in heavy rotation on my iPod now.Enjoy. And head over to Chez Chase to read more and see the stills if you liked it.-30-This is a full RSS feed post from Strobist.com. Click the post title to see the full post and view reader comments. This month’s feeds are sponsored by:

ATP announces the new GPS Photo Finder mini
ATP introduces the new GPS Photo Finder mini. The GPS Photo Finder mini can record the locations at which pictures were taken and easily geotag photos with GPS coordinates without a computer and software. All you have to do is simply activate the Photo Finder mini while taking pictures, then insert the camera’s memory card into the slot on the docking station, attach the Photo Finder mini as well and then the geotagging process will be carried out automatically. The Photo Finder mini is available now at select regions for $149.99…

Lighting 102 - 7.2: Time in a Bottle
Before we get to the assignment for this last unit in Lighting 102, I have one more technique for you to consider when using time as a variable for your flash photos. It’s very useful, because it acts as a gear multiplier for those of you who may not have as many strobes as you’d like.Given that a flash can record it’s subject in an instant — even if the exposure is spread out over a long time — there are several ways to stretch a flash into looking several light sources when shooting a static object.You’ll remember Jonathan Boeke’s cool shot from July in which he ran around during a time exposure popping his green-gelled flash from behind several trees to create this photo. It’s a great idea, and you can easily see how it can make one flash look like a whole bag full of lights.But you’ll need a very dark environment and a long shutter to have time to make all of your locations for popping the flash. And if you screw up one pop, your whole photo is shot.Another way to approach this is to use your camera’s multi-exposure setting, if it has one. Some do, some don’t. If your camera is so equipped, this gives you great flexibility and time to spare when you are lining up your various light locations.If you do not have three PW’s (one to manually trigger, one on the camera in relay mode and one on the flash) you’ll want to wrangle a button-pushing friend to help. The camera, obviously, should be on a tripod.If you’ll remember, we set up a tag cloud for others who wanted to try this technique. You can see their resulting photos here.For my take on Jonathan’s night woods shot, I chose the multiple exposure route because it allowed me to control the ambient light. There was still plenty of twilight when this photo was taken, but since I shot each multi-exposure pop at a 250th of a sec, I could totally control my ambient. I could even have chosen to lay down a, say, three-stop-underexposed ambient frame to flesh out the rest of the photo if I wanted. But I liked it better on black.I tried the straight multiple exposure method about ten times (all pretty time consuming, too) and never got one I liked. So I decided to cheat. I use that term loosely, as there are no real “rules” for this kind of shot. As far as I am concerned, any tool you have is fair game. So I decided to do this multi-exposure on separate frames and combine them in Photoshop. I shot each frame separately, and added each new photo a layer at a time, and combined them using the lighten mode. This simply compares the two layers, pixel by pixel, and the lightest pixel in a given location wins. Which means it pretty much works like a multi-exposure — except you can tweak each layer / flash pop before you add it to the final photo. You can shift the color, exposure, etc. It’s a fantastic trick for shooting large scenes with one speedlight. I used my single loaner SB-900 for this one. (It turned back into a pumpkin last week and had to go back to Nikon.)Thanks much to Photoshop Honcho Ben Willmore for the heads-up on the lighten technique.The best way I can explain the advantage of being able to build this exposure around the totally controlled ambient is to say that I shot the photo at left almost an hour after the multi-pop photo. I think that kind of control is pretty cool, when you consider you are getting it with just one speedlight.The soft look in this photo came from the fact that I used a plastic Holga lens (more on that here) on my D3. Kind of ironic, really - a $50 Holga lens on a D3. But I love the look, when combined with hard strobe.And that’s exactly what I did here — camera on tripod, ambient underexposed a stop or two and a 30-second exposure. Just tripped the shutter and walked up to the side of the tree (out of the frame, tho) and popped the flash manually.My choice of shutter for the multi-exposure shot above turned day into night, and the long shutter for this one turned night into day. Understanding flash / ambient control lets you do some cool stuff.Speaking of Doing Cool StuffNow, it’s your turn. You have just about everything I have to give on time manipulation of your flash photography. So for this, our last L102 assignment, your job is to shoot a still life. Your photo should contain a combination of flash and some form of time-based manipulation.That’s pretty wide open, I know. I wanted it to be that way because I thought we would make this one a little more interesting.At the close of this assignment I will choose one shot, and the winner gets a set of Lighting Seminar DVDs, shipped anywhere in the world. Hopefully that will add a little layer of fun to the last assignment.The DetailsThe deadline for this assignment is midnight, local, September 20th. Please make sure your photos are in Flickr and tagged before then. If you are a newb to Flickr, go ahead and sign up now (it is fast and free) and drop some photos in so you can get through the week-or-so waiting period before they let your tagged photos show up.Here are your tags:StrobistLighting102 (Note: no spaces)AssignmentTimeInABottle (Note: no spaces)and for your best shot, include the tag:FinalYou can see all of the take here. You can see the final edits here. Discussion is here.Judging will be by a committee of one (yours truly). I will choose based on technique, creativity, how badly I wish I would have taken it myself, my general disposition at the time, what I may have had for breakfast in the morning, etc.PLEASE NOTE: Please do not enter pre-existing photos into the running for the DVDs. I would like to award them to the best photo shot specifically for this assignment. We are doing this one on the honor system, but make sure your EXIF can back you up…Best of luck to all, and I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with!This is a full RSS feed post from Strobist.com. Click the post title to see the full post and view reader comments. This month’s feeds are sponsored by:

New Panasonic LUMIX G VARIO 45-200mm lens
Together with the announcement of the Panasonic Digital Interchangeable Lens Camera DMC-G1 on September 12th, Panasonic also announced a new interchangeable Telephoto Zoom Lens of the Micro Four Thirds System Standard, namely the LUMIX G VARIO 45-200mm/F4.0-5.6/MEGA O.I.S. It is a new telephoto zoom interchangeable lens designed specifically for the cameras compatible with Micro Four Thirds System standard…

Nikon announces 50 mm f/1.4G AF-S Nikkor lens
Nikon announces the 50 mm f/1.4G AF-S Nikkor single-focal-length lens. This latest addition to the NIKKOR lineup features a large maximum aperture of f/1.4, enabling it to be used for easy handheld shooting in dark settings, such as a dimly lit room. It also allows you to easily create beautiful large blur effects. The Silent Wave Motor (SWM) of this lens ensures quick, quiet autofocus. Autofocus shooting is made possible with SLR models that do not have a built-in motor, such as the D40 series and D60…

Leica D-LUX-4 first digital compact system camera
Leica announces the D-LUX 4 digital camera system. This new camera, similar to the Panasonic LX3, offers a high-aperture lens that allows you to work with an open shutter. Its high speed makes the D-LUX 4 ideal for available light exposures. At a standard resolution of 10.1 megapixels, the D-Lux 4 can take photos in all three formats (4:3/3:2/16:9) to suit the particular recording or playback situation. On the spacious 3″ LCD monitor with a resolution of 460,000 pixels, pictures can be viewed and assessed…

Ghetto Studio: Compact Garage Background Support
I love it when a great idea just drops in out of the blue. This one is from Ray Dobbins, a bicycle collector who likes to take photos of his prized objects in his garage. He is totally frugal on the light, using a pair of cheapo worklights as main sources. Brownie points for that, obviously. But it’s the two small metal brackets he made that will certainly find their way to my garage.When I get a garage, that is. More pics, and a a couple of ways for Ray to kick his light up a notch, inside.More for LessRay is wonderfully low-end on his whole setup, having just upgraded to a 4MP Kodak EasyShare camera. He is bouncing the two worklights off of the ceiling, and putting the bikes on seamless white, including a sweep to fill on the bottom. Further he fills with white flats on the sides to smooth out the light even more.The genius in his setup is this small bracket, which he uses to attach white seamless paper to his garage shelving. What a great idea. Since he is shooting bikes, he does not even need to run the shelving up to the ceiling to get full height — which is exactly what I would do.He holds the paper roll in with to (retractable) bolts. What could be simpler? I am almost certainly gonna have a neater garage (one day) because of this idea. Ray, my wife thanks you.And since one good turn deserves another, let’s take a few minutes to help Ray pimp out his lighting and image management — while staying on his super-tight budget. (Not that Ray is a tightwad, either. He just likes to spend money on bikes, rather than lights…)First, you are really going in the right direction with the white flats. Big, creamy highlights on the sides and floor make your bike’s form come to life. Let’s continue down that path a little more.I would suggest using small pieces of black cardboard between the worklights and the bike in your current setup. This will kill any hard, direct light. So all of your light will be creamy bounce light. The net affect will be to kill small, hot-spot reflections in the tubing. As a bonus, it’ll also kill hard shadows behind the bike.Second, I see that at least one of your lights is a double worklight. Sweet. You can do all of your ceiling bounce with just one double light. Place it in the center of the garage and aim the two lights toward the respective sides of the ceiling. You just scrounged yourself a second light source to use for free.This next idea is gonna sound a little fancy-pants, but it’ll make those bike tubes come to life in a killer way: Get an old sheet. Queen sized would be ideal. Stretch it on a cord, so it hangs, clothesline style, across the garage just behind your tripod/camera position. Stick your second work light a ways back, behind the sheet and aiming at it. You just made yourself a huge, on-axis ring light / soft box. Combined with the bounce light on the ceiling and flats, this light will sculpt your bike’s form very nicely, with no glaring hot spots, either. Make sure to fill the sheet with light — back the light up.This will make your white background much easier to tame and keep smooth, too.And, assuming you’d rather spend $600 on some obscure Campy seat post than a new copy of Photoshop, you can now do pretty decent image post processing online for free with Photoshop Express and/or Picasa.Thanks to Ray for the background bracket idea, and to Jean for the heads-up about the lnk. And if anyone else has any good garage-studio ideas to share, hit us in the comments with words and/or URLs.:: Ray’s Bike Photo Setup ::This is a full RSS feed post from Strobist.com. Click the post title to see the full post and view reader comments. This month’s feeds are sponsored by:

Canon releases WFT-E3/E3A firmware version 2
Canon releases firmware update version 2.0.0 for the WFT-E3/E3A wireless transmitter. This firmware update is only needed for use of the transmitter on the EOS 50D digital SLR camera. If you are using the EOS 40D, you do not need to update the firmware as the new functions only apply to the model 50D. These new functions are: Supports Wi-Fi Protected Setup Can transfer images in folders Can change HTTP port numbers …

Partnering with Real Estate Professionals
Photography: sfadden Marketing is a neverending business. As soon as you win one client, you know it won’t be long before you need to pick up another. That’s why it makes sense to ensure that your marketing plan contains streams that are set up to bring in repeat business. One of the best ways to do that [...]

Nikon introduces F1.4, 50 mm lens
Nikon has introduced a new, fast 50 mm lens. The new F1.4G, 50 mm AF-S lens features a Silent Wave Motor (for fast, quiet focusing), plus new coatings to reduce flare and chromatic aberration. And, since this lens has the built-in focus motor, this is the first 50 mm lens with autofocus support when attached to a D40/D40x or D60. The new lens is scheduled to ship in December for $439.

Hands on Review: Sharpener Pro 3.0 by Nik software
Nik s Sharpener Pro 3.0 is designed to give you more control over sharpening your photos during post processing. Sharpener Pro 3.0 works as a plug…