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Well, I guess there really is a Flickr group for every possible photographic subject you can think of: Squirrels With Cameras.

Scott Alan Johnson has taken dozens of photos of wild squirrels with real vintage cameras. Not as in “I took this photo with my vintage camera”, but as in “here’s a squirrel behind a Kodak Duaflex IV TLR”.

You’ve really got to admire someone who pursues their vision with such dedication!

Filed under: Humor, Photographers
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I just received this question from a visitor:

I am currently using a Canon Eos 20D and am trying to get the best result shooting very beautiful jewellery and diamonds etc.

What settings, lighting, etc do u suggest to get the best out of this fantastic camera?

We are currently having trouble finding the best lighting system and focusing setting!

Please help

I can’t tell you exactly what to do without being there to see what you’re trying to achieve, but some general tips for jewellery photography are:

• use a light tent
• use manual exposure
• use manual white balance
• use a small aperture for large depth of field
• use a proper macro lens
• use manual focus
• set up with a tripod, shutter release cable, and a stand for the jewellery so you can photograph items one after the other quickly
• wear cotton gloves to avoid getting fingerprints or smears on the jewellery

I also found a great article on tips for photographing jewellery.

If you have any more tips, please add them in the comments!

Technorati Tags: photography tips, jewelry, jewellery, macro

Filed under: Equipment, Photography Tips, Technique
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Now all those Windows users can see what us Macheads have been raving about for the last six months or so - Adobe has announced Lightroom Beta 3 for Windows. Download it now to see the future of digital photography workflow.

There are a few minor features missing from Lightroom for Windows that are present in Lightroom for OS X, but Adobe is promising that the two feature sets will match up by Lightroom Beta 4.

Some good places to start reading about Lightroom and learning tips include:

• PhotoshopNews.com
• The Luminous Landscape - Lightroom Tips
• The Luminous Landscape - Lightroom Discussion Forum
• Ian Lyons’ Lightroom For Windows Tutorial

Technorati Tags: Lightroom, Adobe Lightroom, digital workflow, raw processing

Filed under: Asset Management, RAW Files, Software, Workflow
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This looks like it will be an interesting adventure to watch - Adobe is sending a crack team of photographers to Iceland, where they’ll travel around taking photographs and using Adobe Lightroom on laptops to manage, process and output their images.

A dozen top photographers overcome the challenges of nature and technology on the assignment of a lifetime…

On the Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop Adventure 2006 Blog, you can follow along with the photographers’ preparations before the event, see what happens during the adventure, and get their perspectives and impressions of how things went afterwards.

This should be a fantastic opportunity to see how a bunch of top photographers manage their digital workflow, before, during and after a big trip.

The photographers include:

• Mikkel Aaland
• Michael Reichmann
• Peter Krogh
• Richard Morgenstein
• Maggie Hallahan
• John McDermott
• Bill Atkinson
• Martin Sundberg
• John Isaac
• Chris Sanderson
• Ari Magg
• Sigurgeir Sigurjonsson
• Christopher Lund
• Derrick Story
• George Jardine
• Angela Drury
• Melissa Gaul
• Addy Roff

Technorati Tags: digital photography, Lightroom, workflow

Filed under: Asset Management, Photographers, RAW Files, Software, Workflow
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Canon has released firmware version 1.1.0 for their EOS 5D and EOS 1D Mark II N digital SLRs.

Canon EOS 5D Firmware 1.1.0

• Enhancement of direct printing with specific printers.
• Correction of the communication errors that occurred when shooting with EOS 5D and EOS Capture software after shooting about 138 shots.
• Correction of the phenomenon in which the flash mode settings are changed from E-TTL to M (Manual) when EOS 5D is used in combination with Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2 and Speedlite 580EX.

Canon EOS 1D Mark II N Firmware 1.1.0

• Enhancement of direct printing with specific printers.

Filed under: Canon, Firmware Updates
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Breeze Systems have announced the availability of BreezeBrowser Pro v1.5, latest release of their image browsing and raw conversion software for Windows.

New features include:

• Adobe XMP data can now be entered and displayed within BreezeBrowser Pro for maximum compatibility with Photoshop and other applications
• input and edit XMP data in JPEG, TIFF, PSD, DNG, PNG, JPEG 2000 and raw files for maximum compatibility with Photoshop and other applications
• display frames around your images in BreezeBrowser Pro’s slideshow
• frames can also be added to batches of images using BreezeBrowser Pro’s proofs tool
• simpler keyword editing for batches of images or individual images using the new keyword editor
• now outputs Adobe PSD files (8-bit or 16-bit) in proofs and raw conversion
• improved color for Nikon D200 raw conversion
• updated lens distortion correction using the latest PTLens profiles

BreezeBrowser Pro is Windows based software developed and marketed by Breeze Systems Ltd. Available for US $69.95 or for US $89.90 bundled with Downloader Pro; the price includes one year’s free upgrades. BreezeBrowser Pro v1.5 is a free upgrade for customers who purchased a copy of BreezeBrowser Pro within the last year. Customers who bought BreezeBrowser Pro before 30 June 2005 and BreezeBrowser customers can upgrade to BreezeBrowser Pro v1.5 for just US $35.

Filed under: Asset Management, Software, Workflow
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