The Photo Art Gallery Photographer of the Week is the wonderful PeterT...............

"Hi, I am a keen amateur photographer and have been a member of the Penrith RSL Photographic Club for the last 16 years. I find that Camera clubs are a great place to learn, receive encouragement and find inspiration to continue on your photographic journey."

Check out their gallery www.photoartgallery.com/artist/PeterT

Here are a couple of gems to whet your appetite.................

Thank you to this weeks guest blogger Daniel @thetechlegend

In the past, we used to carry our cameras whenever we go for vacation, sightseeing or an occasion to capture the sweet memories. We cannot carry camera always with us wherever we go and we may miss to capture some beautiful things which we can ever see.

Later on, mobile phones came into use besides storing phone numbers, to call and to retrieve the calls; it is also used to capture such things which cannot provide us much clarity.  Moving a step iPhone made that also possible and with some special apps made even professional photographers to use this iPhone as their camera.

Now a day’s, IPhone became best way for photographers always to capture all the beautiful and memorable things without missing any moment.

Photographers, make sure that your camera bag is filled with right tools. Here are some best apps which can help you in getting the right tools.

Camera+
Camera+ provides with an option to use LED flash as flashlight. For whatever picture we capture we look for the clarity to give us good clarity Camera+ app provided clarity filter. Another best thing about Camera+ app is Anti-shake features. This app also has an ability to set exposure and focus independently. After taking a photo you can also add a number of effects. Sharing the photos onto Facebook and twitter is also possible with this app.

PhotoBuddy
This app is an all-around photo assistant with a variety of features. Calculating sunrise/sunset and the phases of moon, calculating the depth of the field, finding the maximum distance a flash can light through the given aperture and many other amazing features are included in PhotoBuddy.

DSLR Camera Remote
DSLR Camera Remote app is designed to let you trigger a digital SLR wirelessly from your iPhone. You can control the camera settings like aperture, white balance, shutter speed and ISO remotely. These features of this app are dragging the attraction towards it.

Perfect Photo
This app belongs to image editing category. It does powerful image editing and makes it perfect with few taps. You can remove red eye, acne and spots on the picture. This is the best app who loving editing pictures on the iPhone. This app provides with more than 25 essential editing tools and effects to improve the picture quality.

Magic Shutter
Magic shutter app comes with good features that allow taking long and repeated exposure photos. The smart exposure function in it can avoid over exposure. It can easily set the shutter speed as it likes. The photo sharing feature allows sharing the photos any time using any method.

We have heard of artists going to extremes for projects but this is a new one! "Burning House" by Chicago Photographer Carrie Schneider was created by her continually building and then burning down a house on the exact same position for two years!

The project may have had questionable environmental implications, however, the images are not only beautiful, but slightly mesmerising.

carrieschneider.net

Leica has never been a company that caters to the masses, and as if to prove the point their latest offering is a full-frame camera that only shoots black and white.

There's no color filter in front of the sensor, which allows more light to hit it. As a result, it promises a greater dynamic range and better noise performance. The ISO range goes from 160 to 1000, but the camera promises to pull more details out of scenes, especially if they have a lot of contrast.

The M-Monochrom will first be available at the new Leica store in Washington DC starting in July. It will cost just a shade under $8,000, which is about $1,000 more than the standard M9.

The Photo Art Gallery Photographer of the Week is the wonderful Cwithe...............

"I was born in 1981 into a family of architects, but i followed my own passion and went studying Japanese & Philosophy… somewhere in my mid 20s I got into photography,which became my biggest passion besides music and Japanese language and culture. I strive to live what i love, I travel a lot & I’ve never been bored."

Check out their gallery www.photoartgallery.com/artist/cwithe

Here are a couple of gems to whet your appetite.................

In a project commissioned by the FotoFreo festival, Magnum photographer Martin Parr brings his unmistakable style to the shore of Australia.

Parr travelled through three cities in Western Australia - Fremantle, Port Headland and Broome. He used these seaside town as setting to capture Australian cliches, using his usual saturated, flash style of photography.

Parr said about the project that "No Worries. This is a phrase that seems to encapsulate the rather delightful, laid back approach that the West Australians adopt. I quickly noticed that everyone I met in Broome and Port Headline in particular used this phrase, and once observed the title was a done deal."

The exhibition will be showing in the Brisbane Powerhouse from the 26th of July til the 23rd of September 2012.

Want to make millions from your photography from just one shot! Well take some inspiration from these, the worlds most expensive image prints ever sold!

No. 5 - Cindy Sherman's 'Untitled #153' (1985), sold for $2,700,000 in November 2010 at Phillips de Pury & Co. New York.

No.4 - Edward Steichen's 'The Pond-Moonlight' (1904), sold for $2,928,000 in February 2006 at a Sotheby's New York auction.

No.3 - Andreas Gursky's '99 Cent II Diptychon' (2001), sold for $3,346,456 in February 2007at a Sotheby's London auction.

No.2 - Cindy Sherman's 'Untitled #96' (1981), sold for $3,890,500 in May 2011 at Christie's New York.

And.........No.1 - Andreas Gursky's 'Rhein II' (1999), sold for $4,338,500 in November 8, 2011 at Christie's New York.

The Photo Art Gallery Photographer of the Week is the wonderful Sinhro...............
 
Member sinhro's has a great eye for working with the available light and composition to create beautiful portraits, with a soft candid feel. It was this talent that encouraged us to make him photographer of the week.    
 
Check out their gallery www.photoartgallery.com/artist/Sinhro

Here are a couple of gems to whet your appetite.................

The overall winner of this years Sony World Photography Award has been announced as American photographer Mitch Dobrowner. Dobrowner was chosen as the winner of the L’Iris d’Or by a panel of nine judges. In addition to a $25,000 cash prize and Sony’s latest digital imaging camera equipment.

His series of dramatic black and white landscapes capture the beauty of weather. "In July 2009, I tracked a severe weather system for nine hours. I eventually stopped in a field outside Valentine and stood in awe of the towering super-cell," says Mitch Dobrowner. "It was building with intake wind gusts of 60+ mph, and I felt like we were standing next to a 65,000ft high vacuum cleaner."

Other winners announced include; Professional, Student and Youth categories - this year also saw the introduction of the 3D category.

See all the winners work at worldphoto.org

It's the final few days for all you game enough to combine a love of science with the creative!

The New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography awards a first prize of $5,000 to an image that effectively communicates an aspect of science. We love to keep an eye on it because of the individual and creative ideas that this theme encourages.

"This photograph might be a startling image that captures the essence of scientific discovery. It may illustrate the workings of nature or the beauty of science. It may show something never seen before. It may illustrate scientific data. It might give fresh insight into a scientific phenomenon or an emerging technology.

The definition of science is, for the purpose of this prize, a comprehensive one. It includes the natural, physical, applied or life sciences (including agricultural sciences); environmental issues; biodiversity issues; flora and fauna; medicine; astronomy; information technology; technological innovation; engineering and health science; as well as work that addresses the social or economic consequences of science.

Entries are invited from both amateur and professional photographers."

Entries close on May 4th 2012 - Visit the site.

Tomorrow is ANZAC day in Australasia, so we wanted to show our respects by gathering some of the best ANZAC images submitted by you the members.  

Image Credit: chrispictures, Michael.Davies, richy, poppyscottage, positiveimage, a_pho.

Celebrities and important figures are joining forces with thousands of people from around the world in an attempt to capture a day in the life of the planet. The project called aday.org is inspired by the "Family of Man," a 1955 exhibition of international photography that became a multi-million-selling book.

Organizer Jeppe Wikstrom hopes it will provide a record of our common humanity by harnessing the power of the billions of digital cameras that are now out there, and capture the details of everyday life that photojournalism doesn't always capture. Amateur and professional photographers are being encouraged to capture image of their home, family, travel or work on May 15.

"A few months ago we were looking for everyday pictures of Paris from a major photo agency, the first thing we got was thousands and thousands of pictures of Paris Hilton," Wikstrom said. "It's an indication of our time. Sending a message to the future is immensely important. We don't want to send just Paris Hilton to the future."

Get involved at aday.org

The Australian Centre for Photography is hosting an exhibition for all the finalists of the 2012 Head On Portrait Prize.The Prize’s main selection criteria are the quality and impact of the image, rather than the celebrity of the photographer or subject.

The judges for the 2012 Prize were Tamara Dean, a multi award-winning photographer, Shaune Lakin, Gallery Director, Monash Gallery of Art, Robbie Buck, ABC Radio National presenter and Moshe Rosenzveig, Head On Director. The Critic’s Prize was selected by Robert McFarlane.

The exhibition marks the opening of this years Head On Photo Festival, Australia's largest photo festival with 200 photographic exhibitions, events and seminars.

Check out acp.org.au for more details.

The Photo Art Gallery Photographer of the Week is the wonderful IARphotographics...............

"I am re-entering the photographic world after a long absence. It was a heart wrenching decision to part with my old 35mm equipment but I have done it and am now a convert to the world of digital photography. As for subject matter I suppose I would have to say anything can be a good subject, as long as it is not people. I would have to rate sea/landscapes as my favourite subject material."

Check out their gallery www.photoartgallery.com/artist/IARphotographics

Here are a couple of gems to whet your appetite.................

One of our members has brought this cool little site to our attention. The Virtual Lighting Studio allows you to experiment with lighting a studio head shot by using up to six virtual lights, including - strobes, softboxes and ring flashes. All of which can be angled independently and dialed up and down to achieve your perfect effect.

Give it a go at www.zvork.fr/vls/

The Call for Entries has gone out for the 2012 Moran Prizes, including the 2012 Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize.

The Moran Arts Foundation Ltd [Moran] invites photographers to submit works in competition for the 2012 Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize [Moran prize]. The prize promotes contemporary photography and excellence in photo-based work, including all types of analogue and digital photography. Images can be either colour or black and white.

Entrants to the Moran Prize are asked to interpret “Contemporary Life in Australia” with an emphasis on Australians going about their day-to-day lives within their environment.

There are two sections in the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize – an Open Section and a Schools Section with the total prize money of $130,000. First prize in the Open Section is $100,000 with up to $10,000 awarded for highly commended works and, a total of $20,000 in the Schools Section. The two sections will be clearly delineated from each other in the exhibition to be held at TBA and in a subsequent touring exhibition.

The judge for the 2012 competition is TBC.

The Photo Art Gallery Photographer of the Week is the wonderful Kinfolk...............
 
Member Kinfolk gallery is definitely a must see for any macro lover - his dramatic insect shots are little artistic masterpieces.
 
Check out their gallery www.photoartgallery.com/artist/kinfolk
 
Here are a couple of gems to whet your appetite.................

A big thank you to our guest blogger this week Brent Pearson for sharing his knowledge with us

- for more information check him out at brentpearsonphotography.com

In my previous article I wrote about taking the first steps into low-light photography and how to overcome the challenges of composition, focus and light metering when you can't see through the viewfinder.

This article will now introduce you to the art of light painting.  Light painting is all about painting with light while the camera is on a long exposure.  There are two quite different categories of light painting.
1.    Landscape light painting - Where the light sources are hidden but you are illuminating the scene with your lights
2.    Creative light painting - Where the lights themselves become the star of the image.

I will touch on both of these forms of light painting during this article.

Landscape Light Painting
This typically involves painting a landscape scene at night with a white light source.  In terms of what to use as a light source, you can use anything, but most people start off with a simple torch.

Ideally you want to pick a light source that has the following characteristics;
•    Reasonably bright light - so you can light up a broad area when necessary
•    Even light - you want to avoid torches with hot-spots as it creates uneven lighting
•    Daylight colour temperature - Try to avoid the tungsten (yellow) torches as they really don't mix well with moonlight.
The technique is to expose your camera on a long exposure (usually 30sec +).  Your camera is set to Manual exposure mode,  ISO is typically set to 200 and aperture would typically be either f5.6 or f8.  You need to disable your autofocus and make sure you focus manually.

Once you trigger your shutter and your camera begins its long exposure, you then start painting the landscape with your torch light.  A few things to remember:
•    The direction of the light is important, don't just stand next to the camera and paint the scene with flat lighting,   move off to one side and create dramatic shadows over your landscape.
•    You can walk in the scene - If you are wearing relatively dark clothes and you keep your body between the torchlight and the camera, then you will be invisible, so you don't have to stand behind the camera and paint,  you can walk around in the scene and highlight specific elements.

Creative Light Painting
This is where you can go to town.  There are a whole bunch of funky looking lights you can get.   Your imagination is the only limit.   By bringing these lights into the scene, you can create some incredibly surreal creations.   Here's a couple of my lighting painting works along with descriptions of how I created them.

Spider On The Track
This shot involved the person on the railway tracks spinning steel wool that was alight (causing the shower of sparks)
The water effect on the ground was created using Blue Electro-luminescent (EL) wire that glows.  We wiggled it as we walked down the tunnel.

 
Blue Silhouette
Lighting an aerosol can causes the blow-torch effect you see on the right. In the tunnel we used EL wire again to create the blue effect around the wall of the tunnel, and then fired a flash unit to create the shadow of the man in the tunnel.

For more information on night photography or light painting, visit my web site at http://brentpearson.com.au for lots of free tutorial videos and a comprehensive ebook on night photography and light painting.

Dutch product designer Gordon Tiemstra has created Apollon, an interesting concept that could take the photography/social networking combo to the next step.

The Apollon allows multiple users to share their images by syncing their cameras and having their day's images enter a common database using a wi-fi link.

Tiemstra described his vision of the product, “I thought it would be interesting to make the process of taking photos more social by decentralizing the role of photographer, I envisioned what the next step could be in 'sharing’ and realised that it might be about 'sharing the experience’ instead of merely ‘sharing the result.'"

No word on the production of Apollon, but keep an eye on the offical site for updates - The Apollon

The 2012 International Travel Photographer of the Year is now open for entries, with a $10,000 prize for the overall winner and the chance to gain global exposure of your work.

Travel Photographer of the Year was founded in 2003, and is celebrating its 10th year of entries. Open to amateur and professional photographers from all countries and of all ages, Travel Photographer of the Year is one of the world’s most prestigious photography competitions, with photographers from nearly 90 countries taking part last year alone.

Images can be submitted as prints or uploaded online, and HD video entries submitted on DVD by post. Entries close on September 17th. Entry fees start at £10 and Young TPOTY is free to enter.  Full details of how to enter can be found on www.tpoty.com.