Fun with Photography

Wayne, NJ—JVC launched the Perfect VIP Experience sweepstakes, offering Stone Temple Pilots fans the opportunity to win a grand prize ticket package for each stop on their anticipated summer/fall 2010 tour.

The prize package includes two VIP concert tickets—located within the first 10 rows—a JVC Everio or Picsio video camera, and a meet-and-greet photo opportunity with one of the band members after the show.

Prize winners will be encouraged to use their JVC camcorders to take videos and still images at the concert that may be featured on the Stone Temple Pilots Facebook page.

Fans can enter to win the Perfect VIP Experience sweepstakes by “Liking” the JVC Facebook page, selecting a tour stop and entering their e-mail address at facebook.com/jvcusa.

The tour kicks off on August 10 at the Red Rock Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado, and continues through early September, with more dates to follow.

JVC and Stone Temple Pilots recently posted an exclusive live video of the hit single, “Between The Lines,” featured on the band’s new album, Stone Temple Pilots. The clip, filmed live at their recent club appearance at New York City’s Gramercy Theatre, can be viewed at the JVC website, jvc.com.

Ottawa, ON—Corel’s Quest for the Best Creativity Challenge looks to showcase some of the best inspiring work made in Corel software, whether created by professionals or enthusiasts.

“With Corel’s Quest for the Best Creativity Challenge, we’re looking to discover and celebrate some of the extraordinary individuals who use Corel software in unique and inspiring ways,” said Nick Davies, senior vice president, Corporate Marketing, Corel. “As we celebrate our 25th birthday, it’s the perfect time to shine a spotlight on the talent and skills of our community as we thank them for their loyalty and longstanding support.”

Corel users are invited to participate in one of two ways: they can design their creation in one of Corel’s products and upload the entry to corelquestforthebest.com for a chance to win one of the prizes being awarded for the top 25 entries; or they can visit corelquestforthebest.com to pick a favorite submission. When visitors register and vote to enter the contest sweepstakes, they’ll also have a chance to win one of 10 HP mini netbooks drawn at random.

The deadline for participation is 11:59 pm EST on August 31, 2010. Among the prizes are: an HP Pavilion Elite 390t desktop computer; Wacom tablets; Nikon D700 DSLR camera and Nikkor lens; Nikon Coolpix cameras; Apple iPads; Flip UltraHD camcorders; HP mini netbooks; and Corel software packages that include CorelDraw Graphics Suite X5, Corel Painter 11, Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 and Corel VideoStudio Pro X3.

As a continued celebration of the company’s 25th birthday and to thank all of the customers who have supported it through the years, Corel will be launching a series of special promotions and activities through the remainder of 2010. Contest participants can also find free trial versions of the latest Corel creative products at corel.com/freetrials. Visit corel.com/25 for more promotions and follow Corel on Twitter: @corelsoftware.

Ridgefield Park, NJ—Samsung and The Jimmie Johnson Foundation announced they will partner together for the 2010 Samsung Helmet of Hope program, allowing fans and media members to nominate their favorite children’s charity to receive special recognition and a $10,000 monetary grant.

For six consecutive Sprint Cup race weekends, NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson will select two charities that focus on children in need, one from fan submissions and one from media submissions. The logos of the chosen charities will be featured on Johnson’s helmet.

To kick-off the program, Samsung selected Feeding America’s “Kids Café,” an important program that works to address the growing hunger epidemic, to be the first logo to adorn the helmet.

“Samsung is the fastest-growing home appliance brand in the U.S. and when we are given a chance to leverage that leadership to make a difference in the lives of children, we embrace the opportunity and aim to sustain growth in both areas,” said Tim Baxter, president of the Consumer Business division at Samsung Electronics America.

Nominations will be accepted until 5 p.m. EDT on September 1, 2010. To submit an application, visit helmetofhope.org.

The nice thing about new services is that they bend over backwards to lure new customers. Take SnapHaven, a new online photo backup service. As part of their inaugural effort to lure new customers, they're offering unlimited photo scanning for photo prints up to 8 x 10-inches in size to anyone who signs up for a membership (prices start at $49.99 a year). You just pay shipping and handling.

The SnapHaven service offers unlimited photo uploads into password-protected galleries as well as a "lifetime guarantee" that your photos will be "accessible and downloadable for 99 years." Whether that claim holds true or not, it's a service worth considering. If you save your photos to your hard drive and only your hard drive, you're asking for trouble. External hard drives crash less (because they're used less) but will eventually fail as well.

Melville, NY—Makoto Kimura, president of Nikon Corporation, announced that entries for the prestigious Nikon Photo Contest International 2010-2011 will be accepted between September 1 and November 30, 2010. The worldwide contest provides an opportunity for photographers of all skill levels to contribute to photographic culture. Winners will be named in June 2011.

Since its inception in 1969, the competition has steadily gained popularity with photographers from every corner of the globe, with more than 320,000 photographers submitting more than 1,310,000 photos. In the 2008-2009 competition, more than 18,000 photographers from 153 countries submitted more than 51,000 photos, marking a new record for the largest number of entries by the most applicants from the most countries.

Categories. 
Entries for the 2010-2011 contest will be accepted for two categories: the first category is a free subject category (A); the second is titled “Energy” (B). Photos of any subject or theme are invited for the free subject category. Entries for the Energy category should be photos that capture the energy of sights and subjects that inspire, motivate or excite. Entrants may not enter the same photo in both categories simultaneously.

Returning again this year is the Emerging Talent Award, which is designed to recognize the importance of the next generation of young photographers and provide them with an opportunity to share their photos.

Entry Period. September 1, 2010 through November 30, 2010. Photographers may fill out the application form on the Nikon Photo Contest International 2010-2011 website and transmit image data via the form.

Number of Entries and Format. 
Two photos for each category (total of four) may be submitted. Image data (JPEG only, 10MB files or less) captured with a digital still camera (excluding that captured by medium-format and larger digital cameras) and image data created by scanning an image captured with a film camera (35mm or APS) will be accepted. Images that have been digitally enhanced or edited with software will also be accepted.

Awards and Prize. Well-known currently active photographers will judge entries. A total of 53 prizes will be awarded, with one photo to receive the contest grand prize. From each category, 16 photos will receive first, second and third prizes. Four photos entered by photographers aged 29 or younger will receive Emerging Talent Awards, while 16 Emerging Talent Award runners-up will have their entries exhibited in the contest Mini Gallery.

The grand prize is a Nikon D3S DSLR, AF-S Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED
 lens, AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
 lens and the winning photo will be included in the Mini Gallery on the Nikon Photo Contest International 2010-2011 website.

One first-place winner from each category
 will receive a Nikon D300S DSLR, SB-900 Speedlight
, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
 lens and AF-S Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR lens.

Second-place 
winners (five awards from each category) will be awarded a Nikon D5000 DSLR and AF-S DX Micro Nikkor 85mm f/3.5G ED VR lens. Third-place
 winners (10 awards from each category
) will receive a Nikon D3000 DSLR and AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens.

Four Emerging Talent Award winners will garner a Nikon Coolpix P6000 digital camera
 and will have their winning photos included in the Mini Gallery on the Nikon Photo Contest International 2010-2011 website. Sixteen runners-up in for the Emerging Talent Award will receive a Nikon Coolpix S1000pj digital camera
 and will also have their photos included in the Mini Gallery. nikonusa.com

Portland, OR—Lensbaby unveiled the winners of the recent challenge the company posed to its community—to come up with a new shape for their Creative Aperture kit. Lensbaby photographers from around the world took action and submitted their best images taken with a Lensbaby lens and a homemade aperture disk for a chance to win a place in the new kit.

Five photographers were selected, and the grand prize winner, with the winning photo showcased on the product packaging, is Troy Eiffert from Kalona, Iowa. Ivan DeWolf, Jerrid Jones, Andrew Kua and Bjorn Rannestad were also chosen and will have their creative aperture design produced and added to the new kit as well.

Troy Eiffert’s winning photograph is a perfect example of using an aperture shape as texture, and how it can add a striking element to a photo. “I created the slots aperture to achieve a vertical, horizontal or diagonal painterly effect depending on how it was placed in my Lensbaby Composer,” said Eiffert. “This is by far my favorite and most versatile aperture I have cut from the blank disks.”

Lensbaby Creative Aperture disks allow users to custom cut shapes onto blank aperture disks in order to add unique one-of-a-kind effects to their photos. These disks allow specular highlights (bright points of light in a photo, like street lights or bright sunlight on a lake) in the out-of-focus area of a photo to take on the shape of the hole on the aperture disk. By using an Xacto knife or craft hole punch, photographers can create a multitude of shapes. The aperture disks are compatible with the Muse, Composer, Control Freak, Lensbaby 2.0 and Lensbaby 3G lenses and with the double glass, single glass, plastic and soft focus optics.

The Lensbaby Creative Aperture Kit 2 will feature nine disks, including an additional four shapes envisioned by Lensbaby staff. The kit will be available by the holidays for an MSRP of $14.95. Lensbaby Creative Aperture blanks will remain available for enterprising photographers to cut their own shapes ($9.95). lensbaby.com

Melville, NY—To complement the summer concert season, Nikon is launching “NikonLive” (nikonlive.com) as part of its sponsorship of the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater with Live Nation.

The site will provide music fans with photography content, including tips about shooting concerts and images by professional photographers—while integrating music, photography and social media to enable fans and artists to share personal concert experiences.

Fans will be able to view images taken by performing artists in the site’s Sound Check area, and view professionally photographed images in the Rock and Roll Picture Show area. Nikon’s professional photographers will give fans an exclusive, behind the scenes look at their favorite music acts, as well as provide fans with advice and tips on how to shoot images and video with their digital cameras.

Additionally, fans will be invited to participate in the Cool Shot contests for the chance to win a “Rock Star Flyaway” trip to the concert of their choice at the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater or a Live Nation club show in New York. Information on this contest is available at NikonLive.com.

“Nikon is excited to again team up with the world’s largest live entertainment company, Live Nation to connect with music fans,” said Bo Kajiwara, director of Marketing, Nikon Inc. “We think music is a compelling platform for Nikon to engage music and photography lovers who capture and share their music moments through photographic images.”

In addition to visiting nikonlive.com, fans can follow updates from other fans along with bloggers, photographers and participating artists by using the Twitter hashtag #NikonLive and by visiting the Nikon Facebook Fan Page at facebook.com/nikon.

Nikon at Jones Beach Theater is the outdoor amphitheatre located at Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh, New York, attracting some of today’s biggest stars and over 300,000 music fans every summer. nikonusa.com

Sacramento, CA—Liquid Image introduced its Xtreme Sport Cams (XSC) brand at the CEA Line Show—a lineup of masks and goggles with built-in digital video cameras to capture action while on the go.

The new line provides integrated electronics to take hands-free video and photos, eliminating the need to mount external cameras onto helmets. The view captured from the XSC goggles and masks is closer to the users’ actual view as opposed to the view captured from a POV camera mounted on the side of a helmet.

Several models from the Xtreme Sport Cams line are on display at the CEA Line Show in New York City, June 22-23.

Impact Series HD Videocam MX Goggle. This motocross/off-road goggle has an integrated HD camera with a 159-degree (full field of view) wide-angle lens. The hands-free unit has a 5.0MP (2,560x1,920) camera and a video mode that records 720p HD video at 30 frames per second with audio. It supports USB and holds a microSD/SDHC card up to 32GB to record thousands of photos or hours of HD video. A rechargeable lithium battery provides power for two hours of HD video. Model 365 has an MSRP of $250.

Summit Series HD Videocam Snow Goggle. This goggle also contains a 159-degree wide-angle lens to shoot while skiing, boarding, sledding or snowmobiling, along with a 5.0MP camera and 720p, 30-fps video capture. Large side buttons allow for greater dexterity while wearing gloves. It also supports USB and 32GB microSD/SDHC cards. Its rechargeable Li-Ion battery supplies two hours of HD video. Estimated ship date for model 335 is August. $250.

Freestyle Series Videocam Swim Goggle. The goggle employs a 62-degree (full field of view) lens to capture action to a depth of 15 feet. The unit has a 1.3MP camera and a VGA video mode with audio. Its Li-Ion battery records 1.5 hours of video, and its 2GB internal memory will hold 3,000 images or 45 minutes of video. A USB cable is provided to transfer files and recharge the battery. Model 330 is scheduled for July release. $99.

Accessories such as high-powered LED torches and color filters are offered for some models at MSRPs of $49-$89.

Liquid Image recently developed merchandising displays to showcase the new line as a group of products or for individual display at retail. Displays include mannequin heads with attached video monitors, freestanding racks and trays that affix to peg mounts for standard camera department displays.

The Xtreme Sport Cam line follows the concept of Liquid Image’s original underwater digital camera mask; integrating the camera into the sports equipment allows the user to travel with fewer items and to keep their hands free while performing sports activities.

All cameras record a view similar to what is seen and also feature both a photo and a video mode, with an emphasis on the video feature. The cameras utilize a two-button system: there is a button for on/off and another for the shutter. To record a photo or a video, users turn on the camera, choose the mode, and then press the shutter button. LED lights inside the goggle/mask signal the mode along with an auditory signal. liquidimageco.com

Hauppauge, NY—The Tiffen Company announced that Photo fx Ultra, an Apple iPad version of Photo fx, its award-winning photo enhancement app, is now available. The app offers a new user interface to take full advantage of the iPad’s increased screen size.

Included with the app is a new color-correct filter, more filter presets and parameter choices, search capability, and the ability to share filter effect setups with Tiffen’s Dfx digital filter. Multiple layering, masking and finger-painting controls are now accessed from the user-friendly icons that border the large image area.

Key features of Photo fx Ultra include: 68 filters organized into seven filter groups; a total of 836 presets; 65 color or black-and-white film looks; the ability to add realistic diffusion to photos using a library of 50 textures; creation of natural lighting effects using 117 patterns; 27 grain presets to simulate popular motion picture film stocks; the ability to add multiple filters without saving, selectively apply filters by painting a mask, and modify filters with sliders, on-screen controls or presets; high-resolution support up to 2,048 pixels; and the ability to edit in portrait or landscape mode, to crop, rotate and straighten, and to zoom into an image with the close-up lens filter.

The app, which includes integrated help, is compatible with the still image editions of the Tiffen Dfx digital filter software. It’s priced at $5.99. tiffen.com

Tampa, FL—On July 24, 2010, the whole world will be walking again with Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), as he hosts the Third Annual Worldwide Photo Walk.

Hailed as the “world’s largest global social photography event in the history of photography,” the Worldwide Photo Walk takes place on the same day around the world where photographers of all walks of life and skill levels gather together to socialize, learn new tips from each other and explore their corner of the world through photography.

“In 2008, we had 241 walks,” said Kelby, founder of NAPP, editor-in-chief of Photoshop User magazine, president of Kelby Media Group and #1 bestselling computer and technology book author. “Last year, we had over 900 walks with over 32,000 photographers participating. We did the math; your average photographer will take upward of 300 photos during a photo walk. That means that nearly 10 million pictures were taken in that one single day that may never had happened otherwise. I think that’s pretty cool, and we all can’t wait to see what happens this year.”

There is no fee to participate, but pre-registration is required at the Worldwide Photo Walk site; photographers can find a walk nearby them and join in the fun. If there is no Photo Walk in their area, they can register to lead a walk of their own. Anyone can participate; all they need is a camera—any kind of camera, even a single-use model.

Kelby credits the success and popularity of the event to the social aspect of photography the world over. “Photography is usually viewed as a solitary activity, but the truth of the matter is that people love to shoot together, compare notes and just have fun with photography,” said Kelby. “The Worldwide Photo Walk is a social phenomenon. I’ve had group leaders contact me to tell me they’ve turned their walk into a monthly event. Other people tell me they’ve made friends at the very first Photo Walk that they’ve kept to this day. It’s the joy of shooting with friends, new and old that makes this event so special.”

The social aspect of this event has also transcended into the online world of social networks as well. Participants in the Worldwide Photo Walk post updates to Twitter before, during and after the event under the #WWPW hash tag, they share their pictures on Flickr and get updates from NAPP via its Facebook page.

In addition to enjoying a day of photography with like-minded individuals, participants may also be eligible to win prizes from the Worldwide Photo Walk’s sponsors if their photo is chosen as the best photo of the day by their walk leader. Each winning walk photo is then entered into a global competition where Kelby picks the single “best photo” of the event along with 10 runners-up.