The last in the current series of videos with LA based freelance photographer Chris Weeks.
This time he shows you what he carries when he is doing his more personal work, away from the world of assignments.
He packs small, but mighty.
Check it out:

We’d like to thank Chris for all of the solid info he has been sharing with us.
Check out the entire series of “What’s in the Bag?” on the video shorts page (tab is at the top of this page.
When you see what the pros actually use to get their job done, it helps a bit when you are making your own purchase decisions.
True, your needs may be different, and you may not have a client on the other end of your photography, so adjust accordingly.

How many times have you had a great lunch and figured, it looked so good, maybe you’d like to share a photo of that.

Or perhaps the meal had a certain importance because of where you were or who you were with?
We want to see those photos. And perhaps help you get published. And help feed some people.
Are you with us?

We’re launching a photo contest, right now, called “Let’s Do Lunch” where you can win prizes and help feed some people at the same time.

You see, 20% of your entry fee will be donated to a community food bank, local to the Grand prize winner..
And we have some amazing sponsors and prizes for you to win: ThinkTank Photo camera bags, Adobe software, NAPP Training videos, Blurb.co custom books, and lots more we’ll reveal as the contest progresses.

There will be a Grand Prize Winner, (4) 1st place winners, 1 in each category, Peoples Choice award, and a Student prize ( and students pay less to enter. we know you have less dough.)

Along with the prizes, each winner, plus a selection of honorable mentions will be published in a book, 20% of the sale of that book will go to food banks.

Here’s what we’re looking for:
Picture + Words:
*Document your lunch with a photo, and a few sentences, sharing what the experience was about.
*Upload your photos on the contest site.
Let’s Do Lunch!

Enter as many times as you like. The more the merrier!

The contest has 4 categories, and there are sample images on the site.

* Friends and Family – meals on a more personal level.

* Down to Business – lunch with a purpose

* Street – delicacies only available on the boulevard

* Solo – meals on your own (desk/ park/kitchen /auto, etc.)

If you are on Facebook, we have been uploading a bunch of lunch photos, you can check out. here is a link: Lunch

The juror is stellar with the editorial team of Chow.com, the online foodie mecca.
Lou Manna, famed food photographer, and the New York Times restaurant review photographer for 15 years, and James B. Wood, Director of the Photography Dept. at the Academy of Art in SF, and heavily awarded photographer in his own right.

These folks know food AND photography and we are proud to present them as our jurors.

20% of the sale of that book will go to local community food banks.

So, C’mon
Let’s do Lunch!

No matter what, when you enter, you are helping.

We look forward to seeing all of your entries and hope that you pass the word around about this one.
Easy to enter, with some good rewards.

All info is on the contest site, http://letsdolunchcontest.com

The rumor mills have been swirling, as everyone in the photo world has been waiting for Nikon to make it’s 800 lb gorilla move into a pro DSLR with HD Video capability.
Well, it just entered the room.

The Nikon D3s with an incredible ISO capability that carries over from stills AND video (how about a “standard “12,800 ISO and a boosted ultra high end 102,400 ISO!!!)
Yes, the pros have been waiting on this one. New features, like a quiet mode, 9 fps, bigger buffer for those massive files, improved viewfinder, and of course the new video specs:
Movies are captured in HD quality 1280×720 pixel resolution at 24fps that can be trim edited in-camera, but most significantly, most of the camera’s still shooting functions – including ultra-high ISO settings – are available in the video mode, and single frames can be saved on the fly as JPEGs. Although these frames are of low resolution, they are sufficient for multimedia presentations, says Nikon, and could be used for newspaper print.

By the way, when we said 9 FPS, that meant at full resolution! Couple that with the incredible ISO range, slip in a little quiet mode, and there is no where you can’t shoot!

If you want and need the toughest combo DSLR (still and vid ) out there right now,
The Nikon D3s just claimed the throne.

Of course you may have to wait for Santa. It won’t hit stores till end of Nov.
And then you better have been extra nice this year : the body will be listing at $5199.95.
A much lower price than the eyepopping D3x last year, which had about twice a many megapixels.
Maybe the megapixel wars are over.

So here you go: you wanted a high end Nikon with HD video capabilities, you’ve got it! You save some mega dough on the mega pixels.
Huh, we guess the race has changed directions. And is moving rapidly to the world of motion. (too much?)

There are some major advances here:
(More pix after the jump) Continue Reading »

Everybody likes to have a choice.
This week we’ll be offering the the winning entry, their choice of 4 pretty cool photo prizes.
Sure, we have a gift box, where we gather goods through the year that we think you may dig.
Of course, new stuff always catches our eye, and opportunities arise where we can offer you some extra special goodies.
Here’s what we have for you this week:

1) From the Nikon School, the DVD Understanding Digital Photography DVD. with Bob Krist giving you some excellent instruction in the use of your DSLR, taking you a bit past the automated features.

2)How about a DVD on Portrait Lighting on Location?
Software-Cinema has always made high quality training videos and this one, featuring Tony Corbell will be a huge help to you, especially with the holidays coming up. Nothing like having a solid portrait to add to that greeting card, or perhaps offer up your skills as a photog, for gifts.

3)One of our favorites is a Small accessory bag from LowePro, the 20AW. which we use to store and transport our external hard drives, with cables, but you can think of a hundred other things to use it for, no doubt. And we’ll stuff it with a Giottos Quick Shoe Mini Tripod and one of out popular photoinduced.com lens cloths in it’s own neoporene stuff sack, finally back in stock.

4) And the last item to choose from is a great volume of work by the photographer Man-Ray, published by Taschen.

So, the winner this week will get to choose one prize from the list of 4 above.
Sure, we know it’s a slightly different way than we usually do it, but why not, right?
These are items you enjoyed before and we figured, why not give you another opportunity to get just what you wanted?

Remember, you have to be signed up for the free Newsletter to be eligible. The sign up is right on top of this page.
Pretty easy, really.
Details will come in tomorrows Newsletter, delivered to your inbox at 9:00 AM, PST.
Of course we do ship ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!
Because that’s where you are.

It’s going to be a giveaway filled season as we empty the gift box, and start to refill it for 2010!

Oh, quick note: we have just added a translate button/link/option powered by Google. If you are bi-lingual, tri-lingual or any multiple language speaking person, would you be so kind as to try it out in the language of your choice?
We just want to know how well it’s working.
Thanks!

We knew that eventually, the big companies would be here.
Lots of great smaller developers are creating some amazing mobile software for photographers.
We applaud them and download them.

You do know that you don’t have to suffer through the ATT phone misery, right? With a stand alone iTouch you can download apps to your hearts content (almost), answer email, surf the web, play your games and have up to a 64 gig iPod in your hands.
You just can’t make phone calls.
Ok, enough of that.

We’ve been looking at, downloading, and paying for numerous photography applications, or apps, looking for the ones that we actually would use. Maybe even on a regular basis.
Sure, we were happy.
Then this came along.
Adobe Photoshop.com can now be accessed, even in a trimmed down version. On your iPhone. OR your iTouch.
Check out Photoshop.com mobile.

By simplifying most of the actions you would ever need to do on a mobile photo, and then syncing with a free online service giving you free 2 gb of storage, it’s a big win. Continue Reading »