COMPAS Photo Competition 2012

New Lives and Dreams

For this year’s photography competition COMPAS is looking for images that reflect the theme of ‘New Lives and Dreams’.

The Theme

This year’s theme concentrates on the historical and social imprints and traces that are the result of settling in a new place. As in previous years we are open to symbolic images, but winning entries will be of high quality, a good composition and contain strong imagery. 

We are particularly looking for images that depict the  impact that migration has on people’s lived experiences, both in terms of hopes and reasons for moving, as well as the effect that migration has on life in work, communities and homes.

Prizes: £250 and £100 for winning entries and £50 for 10 runners-up. Winning entries will appear in the COMPAS Annual Calendar and entrants will also be sent a copy.

Enter by Friday 12 October 2012.  FULL DETAILS HERE

How to Choose Your Next Photo Laptop

What to look for when choosing a laptop computer for serious digital photo processing. by Andrew Darlow.……on Photo.net If you are in the market for a new laptop (a.k.a. notebook) computer, you are not alone. More photographers than ever are choosing laptops in addition to a desktop computer, or making a laptop computer their primary computer. A few reasons for making a laptop a primary computer are as follows: major processor performance boosts in recent years; decreased weight; increased storage capability; higher RAM limits; better screens and enough specs and features to make most photographers’ head spin. Plus, due to the nearly constant updates to applications, security patches, and applications like iTunes, it’s often just easier to use the same computer at home, in the studio and when traveling. Another option, thanks to recent advances, is to keep a high-powered laptop or desktop at home, while a lightweight, yet still powerful machine is taken on the road for card downloads, backups, image viewing, etc……READ more of this extensive article here

You might also like to check out the less specific for photographers, Laptop Review site

Canon EOS 5D MkIII Hands-on Review

From Photo.net by Bob Atkins, comes this in depth review of the Canon 5DM3.

On March 2nd 2012 Canon announced the Canon EOS 5D MkIII, (compare prices) as an upgrade of – but not a replacement for – the EOS 5D MkII. Among the major new features of the EOS 5D MkIII are:

• A new 22.3MP CMOS sensor with a gapless microlens, 8 channel readout and low noise
• A new 61 point AF system with 41 cross sensors (same as EOS 1D X) with AF to -2EV
• A 63 Zone iFCL metering (same as EOS 7D)
• Native ISO settings of 100-25600 with expansion to 50-102400
• A new Digic 5+ processor (30% faster than Digic 5, 17x faster than Digic 4)
• 6fps continuous shooting
• In-camera HDR. 3 images taken at +/- 3 stop intervals with in-camera image alignment

Currently (July 2012), the EOS 5D MkIII sells for around $3450 and the EOS 5D MkII sells for around $2100

There were a host of other features that were upgraded or added, but the new sensor, new AF system and new processor are the major advances which enable many of the other upgrades such as faster shooting (6 fps vs 3.9 fps) and more extensive in-camera processing. With a processor 17x faster than that in the EOS 5D MkII, real time chromatic aberration correction is now available for JPEGs, and in video modes the extra processing power enables better moire fringing correction.

Bob Atkins

Outwardly the EOS 5D MkIII resembles the EOS 5D MkII quite closely, but the user interface is closer to that found on the Canon EOS 7D, with a similar menu structure and control layout….MORE of this extensive review here

and for comparison here is the review on the DP Review site

 

89 Photography Links That Drip With Awesome

By Toad via Lightstalking, striding the globe; from Canada to Australia to back here, bringing you the best tutorials and photography links from the blogsphere this week.

Back from a brief summer vacation, the Toad has been busy all week getting caught up with all the activity in the realm of photography.  Toad Hollow Photography has put together this weeks comprehensive list of fabulous links to tutorials, great photography and interesting blogs that contain some really incredible images and posts to see.  We hope you enjoy viewing the sites in this weeks list as much as the Toad did in bringing it to you.

Here is a taste of what is on offer

Synthetica by CEBImagery.com, on Flickr

The Toad’s lovely and talented wife, Mrs. Toad, has been busy with her digital pen lately on their blog.  Check out her latest piece “Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice” which takes us inside a kitchen display in a local heritage museum and takes us on a tour of the heart of an old historic home.

TUTORIALS

10 Tips for Photographing Classic Cars – this is a great list of tips and tricks for photographing cars, now that the season is truly upon us.  Rod Arroyo delivers a brief but totally comprehensive list of considerations and concepts to employ when shooting this type of photography, well worth the time to visit.

Click Here: 89 Photography Links That Drip With Awesome