This month, it’s time for a new round of GIMP links. Of course, the Linux-based photographers are the primary target of this list. But, remember that GIMP is also available as a valuable option for the money-sensitive user of Windows, too.
And, for the most adventurous ones (with some code programming ability): Add your own GIMP features (Dive into the code base of the GNU Image Manipulation Program)
The final releases of DNG Converter 6.2, Adobe Camera Raw 6.2 and Lightroom 3.2 includes RAW file conversion for the Sony Alpha 33, Alpha 55, Alpha 290, Alpha 390, NEX-5 and NEX-3. Those were included in the Release Candidate versions, but they become official/final now.
Of course, other cameras are also taken into account like the all new Canon EOS 60D, the Samsung NX10, the Panasonic Lumix LX5 and the Pentax 645D.
Sometimes, the work of a photographer attracts my attention for reasons even more personal than usually. This is exactly the case here with the pictures of Dave Mead on facial hair. I loved it.
Copyright (C) Dave Mead
In May of 2009, photographer Dave Mead traveled to Anchorage, Alaska to photograph the contestants of the 2009 World Beard & Mustache Championships. On the day of the contest, over the course of eleven hours, Mead captured the portraits of 130 bearded/mustached subjects. This Summer, 54 of his portraits were on display at Chelsea Market in New York City. The exhibit, titled “Magnificent Specimens“, has since ended but prints can be purchased online by visiting http://davemead.bigcartel.com/.
I is often quite difficult to find the user manual of a good SLR camera like the Canon EOS 550D (aka Canon T2i or Kiss X4). This is the reason why I decided to share with you the result of my searches. You will become able to evaluate correctly the features of the this nice SLR camera, the Canon EOS 550D.
Even if you are not reading French, I highly recommend checking these (most of the posts are made of image comparisons using the yellow buttons to select the software program results you want to see). Even if you are equipped with Pentax, Canon or Nikon gear, the lessons you will draw from this are applicable on all the photo camera brands, concerning strengths and weaknesses of each of these software tools.
To understand the review process and the methodology, I would recommend the reading of (here, all in French):
With the tests, body by body, you will immediately recognize the excellent results of Lightroom 3/Camera Raw 6 (these two Adobe software programs share a single common RAW file management core). Just behind, comes DxO Optics Pro 6 which is a bit more violent (or more accentuation prone) and the (not famous enough) Bibble Pro 5.
From this point, you will always be able to get the best from the photos you were forced into shooting in poor lighting conditions which required big ISO figures.
During the analog years of photography, it was possible to photograph pictures taken in the Infrared part of the light spectrum. Quite often, it led to a images that were simultaneously eerie looking (for the shift in colors) and slightly blurred by a reduced quality/resolution. It was only a matter of buying an IR filter and some IR-sensitive film. Then, you had to experiment.
Today, in the Digital Age of the Pixel, infrared photo became a little more difficult because, while the digital photo sensor is by nature very sensitive to infrared light, this is counteracted by filter removing this sensitivity (most sensors as so sensitive that they would produce bizarre-looking pictures if left untamed). Now, this is even more true for DSLR cameras which are nearly systematically closed to Infrared light (mostly, the only solution is a conversion involving replacing parts in the SLR camera and a lot of trial and error).
However, the images may be worth the effort if you look at some pictures produced by patient photographers.
Found at RobertBenson.com, here is probably the best description of how a photographer evolves in time (from larva to beautiful butterfly, one would say). You may be any location on this evolution chart, but it’s good to recognize that you still have the possibility to move forward to the right of the graph.
Stages of a photographer
Knowledge
Quality of Photos
How good you think you are
Where are you located? Please, use the comments below.
During the warmest days of the Northern hemisphere, it is more pleasant to go and photograph the stars or even the storm coming at the end of a day too hot.
I just started a small experimentation. For those of you who may be interested, I opened a Flickr group under the name of YLovePhoto. Instead of making a sort of closed beta test upon invitation only, I chose to open the doors widely. The operation may still be a bit imprecise during a few weeks (there is a learning curve here). So, don’t be too harsh.
In the future, it should ease the exchanges between the YLovePhoto readers in an environment that is very photo-friendly and open to picture sharing. All ideas will be welcome of course.
Since it seems that a relative majority of the readers here are French-speaking, the language of most people in the group will clearly be French. Try and use French, if you can. However, we will not complain if you have not a perfect grammar and French is not your mother language (French people are supposed to try and do better).
If you cannot speak/read/write French, as a courtesy to all people, let’s try to split different conversations for French and English (or other languages). If it is really needed, I may open another group later. Let me know.
The basic rule here will be: Let’s be polite to the others. YLovePhoto already exists both in French and in English.
It has been a long time since my last portfolio about a pure landscape photographer. When I found Christian Del Rosario, I immediately decided I wanted to give him a space here, because his pictures exploit light at its best. “An overcast sky is the friend of the landscape photographer” seems to be his motto.
Christian Del Rosario: Visit the many picture galleries of his web site.
In this fire storm of Lightroom special links, you will find a lot of articles coming from the excellent Digital Photography School web site whose tutorials are definitely on my best-of list.
Canon launches two new firmwares (surprisingly, both hold the same version number v1.0.8, but they are really two different firmwares split at birth for two different cameras).
For the Canon EOS 1D Mk-IV, this is the correction of a bug around the aperture management in video mode.
For the Canon EOS 550D, menus have to be corrected/updated.
As usual, the downloads will take place from the Canon Japanese web site:
Emyr Pugh is both linguist and photographer, an unusual association which visibly gives him a tight link to people he meets, all the more in Mongolia where he lives.
His web site, www.dogfen.com (‘dogfen’ is the Welsh word for ‘documentary’) is a window on Peoples and Humanity. Moreover, the great generosity of Emyr leads him to offer his pictures in very large format: Admire his web site in full screen; Image loading may be somewhat slow, but it’s well worth being a little patient.
(Amazon.com)
I just started a small experimentation. For those of you who may be interested, I opened a 
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