“The Three Armadillos”
© Copyright Steve Creek

To be honest, I haven’t seen many photos of armadillos in my lifetime. They’re just not something people take a lot of photos of, I guess, and there probably aren’t a lot of opportunities to see them. They’re also not exactly Mother Nature’s most photogenic creature.

Steve Creek might have captured one of their best sides in the photo shown above entitled “The Three Armadillos” which he entered into the Photobird Photo Contest for July 2009. If I’m not mistaken, the photo shows three armadillos walking away from us — not walking towards us. I do believe that those are three tails in the photo. It’s a cute, well-done photo, with great color and excellent depth of field.

“Three” is the theme of the Photobird Photo Contest for July 2009. Enter the contest here. The contest is always free to enter and this month’s contest ends July 31, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

Photobird Photo Contest details:

• Free to enter. Enter your photo here.
• “Three” is the theme for this month’s contest.
• Your friends and family can vote for you. You can send them a reminder here.
• This month’s contest ends Friday, July 31, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

The two winners for the Photobird Photo Contest for July 2009 will each receive the following cool prizes:

• Photobird account with 500MB storage space
• $50 Amazon.com gift card, which you can use to buy anything on Amazon.com, such as:
  • memory card for your camera
  • photography book
  • tripod
  • adorable bunny slippers (with pose-able ears!)
  • 115-piece tool kit (with locking pliers!)
  • or use the $50 toward a new camera!

Read more details about the monthly contest here.

Every monthly Photobird Photo Contest has two winners. At the end of each month, we pick one winner for the Photobird Award, and we will tally your votes to determine the one winner for the People’s Choice Award.

See the previous contests and their photos at this link.

Go here to enter the contest. And be sure to have your family and friends vote for their favorite entries to help select the People’s Choice Award. (You can send them a quick little reminder here.)

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Amazon.com keeps a running tally of its best-selling digital cameras, updated hourly. Check out the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers page at this link to see the complete list of cameras.

The top 10 list for the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers page is below. This week’s list and the list from two weeks ago are shown. Click on any of the links to go to the Amazon.com page for that camera to read reviews and to obtain more details on each camera.

This week:

1. Canon Rebel XSi – $682
2. Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS (Dark Gray) – $183
3. Canon Rebel T1i – $810
4. Canon PowerShot SD780 IS (Black) – $228
5. Canon PowerShot SX10 IS – $370
6. Canon PowerShot SX110 IS (Black) – $230
7. Canon PowerShot SD890 IS – $197
8. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5S – $213
9. Canon Rebel XS (Black) – $509
10. Canon PowerShot D10 – $300

Two weeks ago:

1. Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS (Blue) – $180
2. Canon PowerShot SX10 IS – $360
3. Canon Rebel XSi – $688
4. Canon PowerShot A1000 IS (Grey) – $140
5. Canon Rebel T1i – $832
6. Canon PowerShot SD890 IS – $199
7. Canon PowerShot SD780 IS (Black) – $245
8. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5S – $215
9. Canon PowerShot A1000 IS (Brown) – $130
10. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 (Black) – $210

There continues to be a lot of turmoil at the top of the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers list. For many months, the Canon PowerShot A590 IS compact digital camera was in first place. Then, for at least 6 weeks, the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS tiny digital camera in blue was in first place, just as it was two weeks ago. But recently, both the Canon PowerShot SD880 IS in silver and the Canon PowerShot A1000 IS in grey have also been in the number one spot. This week, the Canon Rebel XSi DSLR, shown above, is in first place as the shuffling continues.

Canon dominates the top 10 list again this week on the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers list. Canon holds 9 of the top 10 spots, with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5S as the only camera in the top 10 list that’s not manufactured by Canon. Usually Canon holds at least 7 spots in the top 10 list and I’ve never seen them with less than 6.

Before you buy a Canon digital camera or anything else on Amazon.com, please click one of our links to Amazon.com on this page or anywhere on Photobird.com. For each product you buy after your click, we receive a small referral fee, at no additional cost to you. Your clicks and purchases allow us to continue to publish the Photobird Daily and the Photobird Learning Center. Thank you for your support!

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“Giving Me Advice”
© Copyright Vicki Tinnon

You may be reading a lot these days about the RAW file format and wondering, “Is it right for me?” You might also be asking yourself “What is it?” and “Why would I want to use it over JPEG?”

Well, the simple fact of the matter is that most of you will likely want to stick with the JPEG (or JPG) file format — that is, unless you do a lot of editing with photo editing software. Read on and we’ll explain. (Fortunately, we have the assistance of this savvy, little woodland creature in the photo shown above entitled “Giving Me Advice“, by Vicki Tinnon.)

JPEG is a universally-accepted and standardized file format that can be read by just about every computer operating system and software application on the market today. It’s the de-facto file format for most digital point-and-shoot cameras. The problem with JPEGs is that they are highly compressed. While this helps to make the file sizes smaller so that you can get more pictures on your memory card, the very act of compression removes some data from each of your pictures. Because of this, JPEG files do not technically have the same high quality as RAW files, which use what is called “lossless compression”.

To make matters worse — and here’s the rub — every time you resave a JPEG file, you risk recompressing it, which can make your pictures look even worse.

It’s these frustrations with JPEG’s “lossy compression” that have led most professional photographers to the RAW file format. But this relatively new format is not without its own drawbacks, which is why it is still not universally accepted and, therefore, still rarely used by amateur and hobbyist photographers today.

The main issue with RAW is that there is currently no standardization or even agreement among camera manufacturers, or even among camera models from the same manufacturer, on its technical specification. Yes, there are essentially two flavors: uncompressed and “virtually lossless”, which contains minimal compression, but Nikon uses the NEF extension, Canon uses the CR2 extension, and Olympus uses the ORF extension. Adobe Systems is marketing a RAW standard called DNG (Digital Negative), and they provide a free converter for both Windows and Macintosh users which converts camera RAW files from various camera manufacturers into DNG files. However, you still need to invest in a software program that supports this file format in order for it to be usable. Conveniently, Adobe also sells Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Lightroom, which use the DNG file format.

So, what file format do I recommend that you use? Well, if you’re doing a lot of photo editing, you may wish to investigate working with your camera’s RAW format or the DNG format. Otherwise, I’d advise you to continue to use JPEG and to wait until a clear RAW standard emerges.

If you’d like to read more about JPEG versus RAW, this article on fotohacker.com provides a good summary from the perspective of someone who uses RAW exclusively.

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Photo © Copyright Cat Gennaro

If you are fascinated by sharks and would like to learn more about how to photograph them, underwater photographer Cat Gennaro says that even ordinary people can photograph sharks on shark-touring expeditions. Popphoto.com has an introductory article featuring Cat Gennaro and I’ve summarized the tips below.

1. Pick a location friendly for novices. Fortunately, two of the best places to photograph sharks are close to the U.S., according to Cat Gennaro. Cold-water species such as great whites can be found at Isla de Guadalupe, which is 210 miles from San Diego. (The article at Popphoto.com incorrectly identifies the location as Guadeloupe, which is in the Caribbean.) Warm-water species such as tiger sharks and lemon sharks can be found at Tiger Beach off of Grand Bahama Island.

2. Book your trip with a professional touring company. Cat Gennaro recommends San Diego Shark Diving Expeditions at www.sdsharkdiving.com for Guadalupe and The Dream Team at www.sharkexpedition.com of West Palm Beach, Florida for excursions to Tiger Beach.

3. No flash needed near the surface. Down to 10 feet under water, there is usually enough light so a flash isn’t needed. You’ll definitely need a flash below 20 feet.

4. Use a wide-angle lens. Cat Gennaro usually shoots with a 24mm lens, autofocus, and 200 to 400 ISO. She also recommends putting your camera a bit outside the cage so that you don’t see the bars in the photo.

5. Keep both eyes open. Cat Gennaro says that if you decide to dive without a cage, don’t turn your back to the sharks. “Tiger sharks are pretty docile, but great whites are ambush predators. Put your back up against the wall or go with a safety diver” she advises. Sounds like it’s a good idea to also keep your eyes open in back of your head!

I haven’t yet photographed underwater — let alone with sharks — but I would highly recommend that if you photograph great white sharks that you choose to go inside the cage and go with a safety diver and put your back up against the wall. You don’t want an opportunity to shoot photos from inside the shark!

Good luck!

For more underwater photography tips, read the Photobird Daily article “Underwater Photography Tips“.

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See more great photos and photography articles in the Photobird Daily.

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“Just Ducky”
© Copyright John Maher

Many good things come in threes. Three’s Company. The Three Stooges. The Three Musketeers. And of course, one of photography’s most popular composition concepts, the Rule of Thirds. These three ducks are staying together in the photo shown above entitled “Just Ducky” by John Maher, winner of the Photobird Award for the Photobird Photo Contest for July 2007.

“Three” is the theme of the Photobird Photo Contest for July 2009. Enter the contest here. The contest is always free to enter and this month’s contest ends July 31, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

Photobird Photo Contest details:

• Free to enter. Enter your photo here.
• “Three” is the theme for this month’s contest.
• Your friends and family can vote for you. You can send them a reminder here.
• This month’s contest ends Friday, July 31, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

The two winners for the Photobird Photo Contest for July 2009 will each receive the following cool prizes:

• Photobird account with 500MB storage space
• $50 Amazon.com gift card, which you can use to buy anything on Amazon.com, such as:
  • memory card for your camera
  • photography book
  • tripod
  • adorable bunny slippers (with pose-able ears!)
  • 115-piece tool kit (with locking pliers!)
  • or use the $50 toward a new camera!

Read more details about the monthly contest here.

Every monthly Photobird Photo Contest has two winners. At the end of each month, we pick one winner for the Photobird Award, and we will tally your votes to determine the one winner for the People’s Choice Award.

See the previous contests and their photos at this link.

Go here to enter the contest. And be sure to have your family and friends vote for their favorite entries to help select the People’s Choice Award. (You can send them a quick little reminder here.)

~•~

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“Two Rainbows” © Copyright Ramon Prince

Thank you to everyone who entered the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009! The theme for June was “Two”. Thirty-two photos were entered into the contest and we had a wide range of photo subjects shown in twos. There were brothers, friends, a lot of birds, frogs, a mother and child, a couple of monks, a couple in love, a couple made for each other, and lovebirds on the beach.

Congratulations to Ramon Prince, winner of the Photobird Award with the photo “Two Rainbows” shown above. I wrote about the photo a couple of weeks ago. I like the beautiful sunlight on the rocks, the rich saturation of the colors in the photo, and of course the rarely seen and even more rarely captured double rainbow. Click the photo above to see a larger version.

Congratulations to Chanchal Ghosh, winner of the People’s Choice Award with the photo “Butterfly“. I wrote about this photo a week ago and I like the vibrant colors and the sharpness of the butterflies in the photo. I also like that the colors are very earthy: greens and browns, especially the very rich browns of the butterflies.

Ramon and Chanchal will each receive the following prizes:

• Photobird account with 500MB storage space
• $50 Amazon.com gift card, which you can use to buy anything on Amazon.com, such as:
  • memory card for your camera
  • photography book
  • tripod
  • adorable bunny slippers (with pose-able ears!)
  • 115-piece tool kit (with locking pliers!)
  • or use the $50 toward a new camera!

Congratulations again to both winners!

“One” was the theme for May. “Two” was the theme for June. Guess what’s the theme for July! Yes, “Three” is the theme for the Photobird Photo Contest for July 2009. The Photobird Photo Contest is free to enter, so be sure to get your entry in and have your friends vote on their favorite photos before month’s end.

For more information about the contest, please check out the details here.

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Photo © Copyright Michael Van Auken

The text and photo in this article are excerpted from The Art of People Photography by Bambi Cantrell and Skip Cohen. Copyright © 2007 by Bambi Cantrell and Skip Cohen. Reprinted by permission of Amphoto Books, an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications. All rights reserved.

To read more about this book, read the article in the Photobird Daily entitled “The Art of People Photography“.

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Posing Basics

Position your subjects so that they create pyramid shapes or triangles. Put people in small clusters. Stay away from the firing-squad approach (everyone standing straight in a row). And, don’t be afraid to leave a little space between your subjects.

If any of the subjects are to be seated, the art of communication is critical; you’re not just a photographer any longer, you’ve graduated to director. You want to make sure your subjects don’t sit flat on their backside. Instead, have them turn or shift so that they sit on their bottom thigh (more on their side than on their bottom) and have them lean forward, toward you, so that the majority of their weight is behind them.

If your subjects are standing, have them turn approximately 45 degrees away from the camera, separate their feet, and push their front hip away from you while turning the front foot toward the camera.

Remember, you can always break the rules, providing you understand them up front. For example, there may be times when you’re going to set up a “group hug” and create the infamous bunch-of-grapes pose, perfect for a message that screams “We love you, Grandma!”

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The text and photo in this article are excerpted from The Art of People Photography by Bambi Cantrell and Skip Cohen. Copyright © 2007 by Bambi Cantrell and Skip Cohen. Reprinted by permission of Amphoto Books, an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications. All rights reserved.

To read more about this book, read the article in the Photobird Daily entitled “The Art of People Photography“.

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Before you buy The Art of People Photography or anything else on Amazon.com, please click one of our links to Amazon.com on this page or anywhere on Photobird.com. For each product you buy after your click, we receive a small referral fee, at no additional cost to you. Your clicks and purchases allow us to continue to publish the Photobird Daily and the Photobird Learning Center. Thank you for your support!

~•~

“Tuzgölü”
© Copyright Laszlo Nemeth

There’s only 5 days remaining until the end of the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009 with the theme “Two”. Enter the contest here. The contest is always free to enter and this month’s contest ends Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

I like this artistic photo shown above entitled “Tuzgölü” that was entered into the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009 by Laszlo Nemeth. This photo has a lot of good things in it. I like the horizon line at the top of the Rule of Thirds. I like the relative clarity of the foreground, where you can see the texture of the sand — or salt. The two people in the distance give a very nice perspective to the photo. I like how the sky imitates the color of the water that would be in the lake if the lake had water in it.

If I’m not mistaken, my keen Google skills and my rusty Turkish (I don’t know any) tell me that Tuzgölü is a salt lake in Turkey in or near Ankara. “Tuzgölü” may even be the literal translation for “salt lake”. Hey, according to this Wikipedia entry, it looks like I’m correct!

Laszlo Nemeth won the People’s Choice Award for the Photobird Photo Contest for February 2008 with the photo entitled “Morning at the lake“, another great photo of a lake.

Photobird Photo Contest details:

• Free to enter. Enter your photo here.
• “Two” is the theme for this month’s contest.
• Your friends and family can vote for you. You can send them a reminder here.
• This month’s contest ends Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

The two winners for the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009 will each receive the following cool prizes:

• Photobird account with 500MB storage space
• $50 Amazon.com gift card, which you can use to buy anything on Amazon.com, such as:
  • memory card for your camera
  • photography book
  • tripod
  • adorable bunny slippers (with pose-able ears!)
  • 115-piece tool kit (with locking pliers!)
  • or use the $50 toward a new camera!

Read more details about the monthly contest here.

Every monthly Photobird Photo Contest has two winners. At the end of each month, we pick one winner for the Photobird Award, and we will tally your votes to determine the one winner for the People’s Choice Award.

See the previous contests and their photos at this link.

Go here to enter the contest. And be sure to have your family and friends vote for their favorite entries to help select the People’s Choice Award. (You can send them a quick little reminder here.)

~•~

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“A Partial Eclipse Over Manila Bay”
© Copyright Fermin Naelga, Jr. and Dr. Armando Lee

One of the reasons I really like the Astronomy Picture of the Day is that I get to see stunning photos of extraordinary celestial events such as the photo shown above entitled “A Partial Eclipse Over Manila Bay” by Fermin Naelga, Jr. and Dr. Armando Lee. Click the photo above to see a larger version.

Viewing partial eclipses through photographs seems like one of the best ways to view these experiences because observing partial solar eclipses with naked eyes can result in permanent eye damage and you won’t even know your eyes are damaged until several hours later. More information on viewing solar eclipses safely is here and details on why precautions are needed is here. You can find details on how to photograph solar eclipses at MrEclipse.com.

I’ve written before about the Astronomy Picture of the Day and if you like this photo, I think you’ll also like the others listed below. Be sure to click the photos to see larger versions.

• Lenticular Clouds Above Washington
• A Lenticular Cloud Over New Zealand
• Lick Observatory Moonrise
• A Sun Pillar Over North Carolina
• L.A. Never Looked So Good
• From Moonrise to Sunset
• Planets Ahoy!
• Astronomy Picture of the Day

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“Golden Gate Bridge with cruise ship”
© Copyright Ed Krimen

Traveling to far off and distant lands is always exciting. So is traveling to nearby locales within a few hours’ drive. In both cases, it’s important to make sure you and your camera are set and ready to go. But it’s most important to make sure you are ready because your camera can’t take great photos without you. Remember, the photographer takes the great photos, not the camera.

Kodak has a good list of vacation photography tips on their website. Most of their tips are on track, and I have a few other important reminders I’ve interspersed below. I’ve also reordered the tips in more of a priority order.

1. Do your homework. Research where you’re going and learn about local events, landmarks, cultures, and traits that make your destination unique, such as this photo shown above I took of the “Golden Gate Bridge with cruise ship“. Also, learn the features of your camera and bring your camera manual with you. Even if you’ve already read it, you might want to look something up if you have a question about a feature.

2. Always carry your camera. That’s the easy one! You can’t take pictures if you don’t have your camera. Also make sure your memory cards are empty before you venture out for the day and make sure your batteries are fully charged by the morning.

3. Take lots of pictures. And only show the best ones to family and friends. Professional photographers often take thousands of photos a day and only select a handful as their favorites. Read more in the Photobird Daily article “Shoot Lots of Photos!“

4. Protect your gear. As Kodak advises, “Sand, water, snow, and heat are your camera’s worst enemies.” If your camera gets wet, check out the Photobird Daily article “Help, I Wet My Camera!“

5. Tell a story. Capture your departure, your return, and the details and emotions of your trip. Carry a small notebook to jot down quick details. I’ve written before about how it’s important to tell stories with your photos; read the Photobird Daily article “Make Your Photos Tell a Story“.

6. Capture the local flavor. Unique items make great pictures. Keep an eye out for things you and the folks back home don’t see every day.

7. Create a photo menu. Take pictures of your meals, especially the unusual foods. Similar to #5 above, you can even shoot “before” and “after” photos. Make sure you get close-ups of the food. Read “Easy Tips for Photographing Food” in the Photobird Daily. Natural light is best for your food photos. In restaurants, try to sit by the window so you can use the natural light for your photos.

8. Look for common themes. That should come naturally to you as you’ll usually visit only the places you are interested in, such as museums, gardens, and beaches.

9. Accessorize. Or not. Kodak suggests that you consider using wide-angle and telephoto lenses when necessary. If you’re an aspiring professional photographer, go ahead and use multiple lenses. But for most photo opportunities, your point-and-shoot camera should be fine. Carrying around a lot of gear may take the pleasure out of your vacation and make it seem more like work. Ken Rockwell, a professional photographer, is able to shoot gorgeous photos with point-and-shoot cameras. Read more in the Photobird Daily article “How to Shoot with a Point-and-Shoot Camera“.

10. Have fun. You’re on vacation, not a professional photo shoot. Take candid photos and try not to force your subjects to pose too much. Let them relax and pose naturally. Enjoy your vacation!

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Amazon.com keeps a running tally of its best-selling digital cameras, updated hourly. Check out the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers page at this link to see the complete list of cameras.

The top 10 list for the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers page is below. This week’s list and the list from two weeks ago are shown. Click on any of the links to go to the Amazon.com page for that camera to read reviews and to obtain more details on each camera.

This week:

1. Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS (Blue) – $180
2. Canon PowerShot SX10 IS – $360
3. Canon Rebel XSi – $688
4. Canon PowerShot A1000 IS (Grey) – $140
5. Canon Rebel T1i – $832
6. Canon PowerShot SD890 IS – $199
7. Canon PowerShot SD780 IS (Black) – $245
8. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5S – $215
9. Canon PowerShot A1000 IS (Brown) – $130
10. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 (Black) – $210

Two weeks ago:

1. Canon PowerShot A1000 IS (Grey) – $133
2. Canon PowerShot SD880 IS (Silver) – $288
3. Canon PowerShot SX10 IS – $370
4. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5A – $213
5. Canon PowerShot G10 – $449
6. Canon PowerShot SD890 IS – $199
7. Canon Rebel XSi – $699
8. Canon PowerShot SX110 IS – $224
9. Canon PowerShot SD780 IS (Black) – $239
10. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28K (Black) – $299

There’s a lot of shuffling going on at the top of the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers list. For many months, the Canon PowerShot A590 IS compact digital camera was in first place. Then, for at least 6 weeks, the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS tiny digital camera in blue was in first place, just as it is this week. But in the past few weeks, both the Canon PowerShot SD880 IS in silver and the Canon PowerShot A1000 IS in grey have been in the number one spots. Overall, prices for all of the cameras seem to be the same or slightly higher this week compared with two weeks ago.

Canon is still holding most of the top 10 spots on the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers list. This week, Canon holds 8 of the top 10 spots. Usually they hold at least 7. I’ve never seen them with less than 6. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5S and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 in black are the only two cameras in the top 10 list this week that are not Canon cameras.

Before you buy a Canon digital camera or anything else on Amazon.com, please click one of our links to Amazon.com on this page or anywhere on Photobird.com. For each product you buy after your click, we receive a small referral fee, at no additional cost to you. Your clicks and purchases allow us to continue to publish the Photobird Daily and the Photobird Learning Center. Thank you for your support!

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“Butterfly”
© Copyright Chanchal Ghosh

There’s only 1 week remaining until the end of the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009 with the theme “Two”. Enter the contest here. The contest is always free to enter and this month’s contest ends June 30, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

The photo shown above entitled “Butterfly” was entered into the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009 by Chanchal Ghosh. I like the vibrant colors and the sharpness of the photo. The colors are very earthy: greens and browns, especially the very rich browns of the butterflies. I like how the main butterfly, front and center, has a pronounced texture to its wings. It appears very tangible in this photo. The short depth of field with the blurred background really makes the butterflies stand out.

Photobird Photo Contest details:

• Free to enter. Enter your photo here.
• “Two” is the theme for this month’s contest.
• Your friends and family can vote for you. You can send them a reminder here.
• This month’s contest ends Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

The two winners for the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009 will each receive the following cool prizes:

• Photobird account with 500MB storage space
• $50 Amazon.com gift card, which you can use to buy anything on Amazon.com, such as:
  • memory card for your camera
  • photography book
  • tripod
  • adorable bunny slippers (with pose-able ears!)
  • 115-piece tool kit (with locking pliers!)
  • or use the $50 toward a new camera!

Read more details about the monthly contest here.

Every monthly Photobird Photo Contest has two winners. At the end of each month, we pick one winner for the Photobird Award, and we will tally your votes to determine the one winner for the People’s Choice Award.

See the previous contests and their photos at this link.

Go here to enter the contest. And be sure to have your family and friends vote for their favorite entries to help select the People’s Choice Award. (You can send them a quick little reminder here.)

~•~

See more great photos and photography articles in the Photobird Daily.

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“Are You Nuts”
© Copyright Vicki Tinnon

This is a cute photo shown above entitled “Are You Nuts” by Vicki Tinnon, taken on the campus at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska. Vicki Tinnon submitted the photo for the Photobird Photo of the Hour.

Is the squirrel posing, or is it admiring the camera Vicki Tinnon is holding, thinking it’s actually a really large nut?

What’s quicker than a hungry squirrel with lunch in its mouth? Vicki Tinnon’s shutter button trigger finger. Click the photo to see a larger version.

You can see more of Vicki Tinnon’s Nebraska photos in her “Nebraska Life” photo album on Photobird.com and more of her beautiful photos in her Photobird photo album at photobird.com/vickitinnon. Vicki Tinnon won the Photobird Award for the Photobird Photo Contest for May 2008 with her photo “Moving In“.

Photobird.com is the easy way to share your photos. You capture and share so many great photos on Photobird.com that we created the Photo of the Hour feature to give you the opportunity to share your very best with the rest of the world. You can see the Photo of the Hour on the Photobird.com home page and on the Look at Pictures page.

It’s really easy to submit your favorite photos to be featured on the Photobird Photo of the Hour: Simply view the photo from your photo album and click the “Submit for Photo of the Hour” checkbox. There is no limit to the number of photos you can submit and we always like to get new submissions.

In return for each photo we use on the Photo of the Hour or People Places and Things, you get more storage space for your photo album so you can store more photos. Details are here.

If you’d like to keep some of your photos private while you share your favorite photos with the world, you can read how easy it is to do that with Photobird photo albums in our Photobird Daily article entitled “Show Off Your Photos, and Keep Some Private“.

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“Auroral Explosion”
© Copyright Ben Hattenbach

Auroras make for stunning photographs. I imagine that auroras are even more incredible when viewed in person. But what’s the best way to photograph auroras? Ben Hattenbach wrote a detailed article on The Luminous Landscape website that describes how he photographed the Aurora Borealis during “nine chilly nights” in the Alaska wilderness.

He also has some good anecdotes about how his photography equipment fared in the freezing cold: “On this trip to Alaska, the nighttime temperatures in the mountains I was exploring normally ranged between -20 ^oF (-29 ^oC) and -40 ^oF (-40 ^oC), conditions that the locals dismissed as mere ‘t-shirt weather.’”

I recommend you read the entire article for all the details, but here’s a quick summary:

Where in Alaska Can One Find an Aurora? Destination: Fairbanks. Ben Hattenbach describes three different locations within about 60 miles of the city, with Clearly Summit along the Steese Highway being only 20 miles from town.

When is the Aurora Best Viewed? Late February and March when the Alaskan skies are the most clear, and between midnight and 2am when the aurorae are most intense.

What’s the Best Way to Photograph the Aurora? Ben Hattenbach explains: “Capture the aurora’s lines and structure, together with some landscape for context.” A sturdy tripod is a must. A fast wide-angle lens is optimal, on a DSLR that produces photos at high ISOs with little or no noise. His suggestions for camera settings include:

• Manually prefocus at infinity.
• Use the largest lens aperture available, preferably f2.8 or below.
• Choose the highest ISO with which your camera will provide reasonably good quality photos.
• Set your exposure time manually and keep it as short as possible.

Read Ben Hattenbach’s article for more details and more amazing aurora photos.

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“Two Rainbows”
© Copyright Ramon Prince

Two weeks remain for the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009. Ramon Prince entered this stunning photo shown above entitled “Two Rainbows” from Moab, Utah. The color and saturation in the photo are amazing, as well as of course the rarely seen and even more rarely captured double rainbow.

“Two” is the theme of the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009. Enter the contest here. The contest is always free to enter and this month’s contest ends June 30, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

Photobird Photo Contest details:

• Free to enter. Enter your photo here.
• “Two” is the theme for this month’s contest.
• Your friends and family can vote for you. You can send them a reminder here.
• This month’s contest ends Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

The two winners for the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009 will each receive the following cool prizes:

• Photobird account with 500MB storage space
• $50 Amazon.com gift card, which you can use to buy anything on Amazon.com, such as:
  • memory card for your camera
  • photography book
  • tripod
  • adorable bunny slippers (with pose-able ears!)
  • 115-piece tool kit (with locking pliers!)
  • or use the $50 toward a new camera!

Read more details about the monthly contest here.

Every monthly Photobird Photo Contest has two winners. At the end of each month, we pick one winner for the Photobird Award, and we will tally your votes to determine the one winner for the People’s Choice Award.

See the previous contests and their photos at this link.

Go here to enter the contest. And be sure to have your family and friends vote for their favorite entries to help select the People’s Choice Award. (You can send them a quick little reminder here.)

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“Merced River, Yosemite Valley 2″
© Copyright David Cresine

David Cresine has a lot of beautiful photos of Yosemite in his “Yosemite and the Eastern Sierras” album here on Photobird.com. I especially like the photo shown above entitled “Merced River, Yosemite Valley 2“. This photo was chosen for the Photobird Photo of the Hour. Click the photo to see a larger version.

I like this photo for a number of reasons. It’s clear with good sharpness and color saturation. The clouds in the blue sky complement the earthbound objects nicely. There are a lot of things in the photo that one associates with Yosemite Valley: mountains, a waterfall, tall trees, a meadow, and a river.

Photobird.com is the easy way to share your photos. You capture and share so many great photos on Photobird.com that we created the Photo of the Hour feature to give you the opportunity to share your very best with the rest of the world.

It’s really easy to submit your favorite photos to be featured on the Photobird Photo of the Hour: Simply view the photo from your photo album and click the “Submit for Photo of the Hour” checkbox. There is no limit to the number of photos you can submit and we always like to get new submissions.

In return for each photo we use on the Photo of the Hour or People Places and Things, you get more storage space for your photo album so you can store more photos. Details are here.

If you’d like to keep some of your photos private while you share your favorite photos with the world, you can read how easy it is to do that with Photobird photo albums in our Photobird Daily article entitled “Show Off Your Photos, and Keep Some Private“.

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Photo © Copyright Derrick Story

Amazing! With less than $500 worth of consumer photography gear — a Canon PowerShot SD700 and the Canon WP-DC5 waterproof case — Derrick Story captured these wonderful underwater photographs while snorkeling in Curacao, an island in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea.

Derrick shares his underwater photography shooting tips here. He advises photographers to:

• Avoid using the camera’s flash, relying instead on the natural diffused light coming through the water at depths of 10 feet or less.
• Shoot with a camera that has image stabilization since everything, including the photographer, is always moving under water.
• Increase the ISO to 400 for a lightning fast shutter speed.
• Use the “underwater scene mode” on your camera, if it has one, to improve the white balance.

Derrick’s work is a real inspiration to amateur photographers everywhere and we can’t wait to put some of his tips to practice the next time we’re snorkeling.

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Amazon.com keeps a running tally of its best-selling digital cameras, updated hourly. Check out the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers page at this link to see the complete list of cameras.

The top 10 list for the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers page is below. This week’s list and the list from two weeks ago are shown. Click on any of the links to go to the Amazon.com page for that camera to read reviews and to obtain more details on each camera.

This week:

1. Canon PowerShot A1000 IS (Grey) – $133
2. Canon PowerShot SD880 IS (Silver) – $288
3. Canon PowerShot SX10 IS – $370
4. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5A – $213
5. Canon PowerShot G10 – $449
6. Canon PowerShot SD890 IS – $199
7. Canon Rebel XSi – $699
8. Canon PowerShot SX110 IS – $224
9. Canon PowerShot SD780 IS (Black) – $239
10. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28K (Black) – $299

Two weeks ago:

1. Canon PowerShot SD880 IS (Silver) – $255
2. Canon PowerShot SD890 IS – $179
3. Canon PowerShot A1000 IS – $129
4. Canon Rebel T1i – $853
5. Canon Rebel XSi – $700
6. Canon PowerShot SX10 IS – $382
7. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5A – $225
8. Canon PowerShot SX110 IS – $240
9. Nikon D40 – $412
10. Canon PowerShot G10 – $459

There’s turmoil at the top! For many months, the Canon PowerShot A590 IS compact digital camera was in first place. Then, for at least 6 weeks, the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS tiny digital camera in blue was in first place. Then, the Canon PowerShot SD880 IS in silver was in first place two weeks ago, but no longer. Now, the Canon PowerShot A1000 IS in grey compact digital camera is in first place with a price of $133. It was in third place two weeks ago. The Canon PowerShot SD880 IS in silver is now in second place. Its price is up $33 to $288, while the Canon PowerShot A1000 IS in grey is up $4 to $133.

As always, Canon still holds most of the top 10 spots on the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers list. This week, Canon still holds 8 of the top 10 spots. Usually they hold at least 7. I’ve never seen them with less than 6. Two cameras from Panasonic are the only two cameras in the top 10 list that are not Canon cameras.

Here are more observations about the recent list:

1. Six weeks ago, the Canon Rebel T1i DSLR entered the list at number 10 at $900, even though it wasn’t available for sale yet. Two weeks ago, it was available to purchase for $853 and up to 4th place. This week it’s $900 and down to 22nd place. Ouch!

2. The Canon PowerShot SX110 IS is holding steady in 8th place and its price decreased $16 to $224. It’s the only camera in the list that hasn’t shuffled around from two weeks ago.

3. The price for the Canon PowerShot G10 decreased $10 to $449 and it zoomed from 10th place up to 5th place.

Before you buy a Canon digital camera or anything else on Amazon.com, please click one of our links to Amazon.com on this page or anywhere on Photobird.com. For each product you buy after your click, we receive a small referral fee, at no additional cost to you. Your clicks and purchases allow us to continue to publish the Photobird Daily and the Photobird Learning Center. Thank you for your support!

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“Lenticular Clouds Above Washington”
© Copyright Tim Thompson

Lenticular clouds certainly make stunning photos. And the photo shown above entitled “Lenticular Cloud Above Washington” by Tim Thompson is no exception. It was featured as the Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 3, 2009. Click the photo above to see a larger version. According to the Astronomy Picture of the Day, lenticular clouds are formed when moist air is forced to flow upward around mountain tops.

Tim Thompson’s photo works well for a few reasons. First, the main focus of the photo is clearly on the cloud closest to us, with the mountain as secondary for perspective. How are those two objects emphasized? By keeping the buildings and trees at the very bottom of the photo and by not including large parts of the buildings in the photo. If you include the buildings, then our focus will turn to the buildings as well as the cloud, but you want to keep our focus on the cloud. Also, including less of the buildings in the photos allows you to fit more of the cloud and the mountain in the photo. Learn more about simplifying your photos in the Photobird Daily article “Simplify.“

I’ve written before about lenticular clouds in the previous article about the Astronomy Picture of the Day when I wrote about “A Lenticular Cloud Over New Zealand“. Fortunately, lenticular clouds are not just something from down under; we can appreciate them here in the United States too. In fact, they probably appear all over the world where there’s mountains.

I’ve written before about the Astronomy Picture of the Day and if you like this photo, I think you’ll also like the others listed below. Be sure to click the photos to see larger versions.

• A Lenticular Cloud Over New Zealand
• Lick Observatory Moonrise
• A Sun Pillar Over North Carolina
• L.A. Never Looked So Good
• From Moonrise to Sunset
• Planets Ahoy!
• Astronomy Picture of the Day

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“Midnight, Lough Tay, Co. Wicklow”
© Copyright Peter Cox

You already know that cameras capture light and in order for your camera to capture a scene, there must be enough light to travel through the lens and the shutter and arrive at your camera’s sensor before the shutter closes.

But what if you wanted to photograph meteors, stars, or a night scene which looks nearly pitch black to the naked eye? The short answer is that your camera can capture a lot of light even at night as long you leave the shutter open for a very long time, such as several seconds or minutes. A lot of people do this when they photograph fireworks, which I’ve written about in the Photobird Daily article “How to Photograph Fireworks“.

Peter Cox wrote a very interesting article entitled “An Irish Nocturne” at Michael Reichmann’s The Luminous Landscape website. In his article, Peter Cox explains how he was able to photograph the beautiful photo shown above entitled “Midnight, Lough Tay, Co. Wicklow“.

Peter Cox’s goal was to photograph the Geminid meteor shower. Unfortunately, he didn’t see any meteor’s that night, and he also broke one of his lenses, but judging from the beautiful photo he captured, it looks like it was very well worth it.

In his article, Peter Cox explains in great detail how he shot the photo, from setting up the tripod and composing the image in the dark, to adjusting the white balance, color saturation, and contrast of the final image in Photoshop. He writes about his camera settings, how to focus in the dark, and more. Check out his article for all of the details.

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If you’re new to photography or just enjoy learning all you can about photography, then Digital SLR Handbook by John Freeman is for you. The book is helpful even if you don’t have a DSLR (digital SLR), although all of the tips are written for DSLR users.

Digital SLR Handbook is 256 pages long and in a small page format, but it’s packed with information. There isn’t an extensive amount of detail for each topic, but John Freeman manages to cover an impressive number of photography topics and tips in a relatively short book. Of all of the photography books I’ve written about, this one manages to cover the widest range of photography topics in a single book.

In the beginning of the book, John Freeman discusses photography hardware, including DSLRs and how they work, lenses, sensor sizes, and accessories. Later, he writes about “seeing the picture”, including depth of field, foregrounds, backgrounds, perspectives, and composition. The rest of Digital SLR Handbook covers a wide variety of topics that you may be interested in photographing such as landscapes, nature, people, architecture, still life, and action, and John Freeman covers all of these from the perspective of using your digital SLR.

The text and photos in Digital SLR Handbook are sufficiently large and the book is well laid out. Granted, the book was released about 18 months ago, but photography concepts and topics have not evolved since then, so the book is still current. Of course, there’s newer DSLRs available than what’s covered in the book, but DSLRs seem to have a longer technology lifespan than compact point-and-shoots. Also, the target audience of this book will generally be just starting out with photography and won’t need the latest and greatest equipment; it’s best to start with established, well-known, and often less-expensive older photography equipment.

Digital SLR Handbook costs less than $15 on Amazon.com and is a valuable addition to your photography library if you’re starting out or just enjoy reading all you can about photography. As of today, the book only has 3 reviews on Amazon.com, but each reviewer seems to really like the book and gave it either 4 or 5 stars.

Digital SLR Handbook is published by Amphoto Books, which also publishes Understanding Exposure, by Bryan Peterson, another highly recommended book. Here’s a list of other photography books I’ve written about in the Photobird Daily:

• Understanding Shutter Speed
• Fashion Photography, by Bruce Smith
• Photographer’s Exposure Handbook
• Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait
• PhoDOGraphy
• Hands-On Digital Photography
• Night & Low-Light Photography
• The Art of People Photography
• Beyond Portraiture by Bryan Peterson
• Mastering HDR Photography, by Michael Freeman
• Baby Face

Enter the Photobird Photo Contest for your chance to win a $50 Amazon.com gift card which you can use to buy these books or anything on Amazon.com!

Before you buy Digital SLR Handbook or anything else on Amazon.com, please click one of our links to Amazon.com on this page or anywhere on Photobird.com. For each product you buy after your click, we receive a small referral fee, at no additional cost to you. Your clicks and purchases allow us to continue to publish the Photobird Daily and the Photobird Learning Center. Thank you for your support!

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“sunset surfer 3″
© Copyright David Cresine

Two is mathematically greater than one. It is said that two heads are better than one. Two surfers checking out a beautiful sunset makes for a great photo, such as the photo shown above by David Cresine. Click the photo above to see a larger version.

“Two” is the theme of the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009. Enter the contest here. The contest is always free to enter and this month’s contest ends June 30, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

Photobird Photo Contest details:

• Free to enter. Enter your photo here.
• “Two” is the theme for this month’s contest.
• Your friends and family can vote for you. You can send them a reminder here.
• This month’s contest ends Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

The two winners for the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009 will each receive the following cool prizes:

• Photobird account with 500MB storage space
• $50 Amazon.com gift card, which you can use to buy anything on Amazon.com, such as:
  • memory card for your camera
  • photography book
  • tripod
  • adorable bunny slippers (with pose-able ears!)
  • 115-piece tool kit (with locking pliers!)
  • or use the $50 toward a new camera!

Read more details about the monthly contest here.

Every monthly Photobird Photo Contest has two winners. At the end of each month, we pick one winner for the Photobird Award, and we will tally your votes to determine the one winner for the People’s Choice Award.

See the previous contests and their photos at this link.

Go here to enter the contest. And be sure to have your family and friends vote for their favorite entries to help select the People’s Choice Award. (You can send them a quick little reminder here.)

~•~

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“‘one’derfully messy toddler!”
© Copyright Fiona Lanzino

Thank you to everyone who entered the Photobird Photo Contest for May 2009! The theme for May was “One” and everyone entered great photos into the contest. The contest featured more than one bird, more than one flower, and one silly kitty!

Congratulations to Fiona Lanzino, winner of the Photobird Award with the photo “‘one’derfully messy toddler!” shown above. I wrote about the photo and its cute subject just a few days ago. I also pointed out that the composition of the photo is very well-done as it just focuses on the foot, the brush, and the wall. I like the vibrant colors in the photo and the exposure level makes everything clear. Click the photo above to see a larger version.

Congratulations to Ann, winner of the People’s Choice Award with the photo “Feed Me” which captures the rarely seen event of a baby bird with its beak open asking its parent for food. Ann snapped the shutter at just the right time to capture the open beak. The bottom of the fence and the top of the grass are positioned using the Rule of Thirds which results in good composition.

Fiona and Ann will each receive the following prizes:

• Photobird account with 500MB storage space
• $50 Amazon.com gift card, which you can use to buy anything on Amazon.com, such as:
  • memory card for your camera
  • photography book
  • tripod
  • adorable bunny slippers (with pose-able ears!)
  • 115-piece tool kit (with locking pliers!)
  • or use the $50 toward a new camera!

Congratulations again to both winners!

One and done for May! You all know what comes after the number one. “Two” is the theme for the Photobird Photo Contest for June 2009. The Photobird Photo Contest is free to enter, so be sure to get your entry in and have your friends vote on their favorite photos before month’s end.

For more information about the contest, please check out the details here.

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“‘one’derfully messy toddler!”
© Copyright Fiona Lanzino

There’s only 3 days remaining until the end of the Photobird Photo Contest for May 2009 with the theme “One”. Enter the contest here. The contest is always free to enter and this month’s contest ends Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

Fiona Lanzino entered into the contest this cute photo entitled “‘one’derfully messy toddler!” and explains in the description: “My little daughter was sitting on a chair foot painting up the wall in her messy art class. She decided it would be much more fun to paint one foot!” Yes, of course! The bottom of her foot is getting paint on it, so I bet she’s thinking, “I’ll paint the top too!” Besides, I’m sure looking at the top of her unpainted foot on top of the painted wall ruins the whole painting experience and makes her lose her creative focus! The wall is painted; therefore, the foot must be too! The paint and the brush probably feel good too. Yep, she definitely knows what she’s doing. She’s got it all figured out.

The composition on this photo is very well-done: focusing on the foot, the brush, and the wall. Click the photo to see a larger version.

Photobird Photo Contest details:

• Free to enter. Enter your photo here.
• “One” is the theme for this month’s contest.
• Your friends and family can vote for you. You can send them a reminder here.
• This month’s contest ends Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

The two winners for the Photobird Photo Contest for May 2009 will each receive the following cool prizes:

• Photobird account with 500MB storage space
• $50 Amazon.com gift card, which you can use to buy anything on Amazon.com, such as:
  • memory card for your camera
  • photography book
  • tripod
  • adorable bunny slippers (with pose-able ears!)
  • 115-piece tool kit (with locking pliers!)
  • or use the $50 toward a new camera!

Read more details about the monthly contest here.

Every monthly Photobird Photo Contest has two winners. At the end of each month, we pick one winner for the Photobird Award, and we will tally your votes to determine the one winner for the People’s Choice Award.

See the previous contests and their photos at this link.

Enter the contest here. And be sure to have your family and friends vote for their favorite entries to help select the People’s Choice Award. (You can send them a quick little reminder here.)

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“Blown Away”
© Copyright Robert Romero

“Blown Away” is an attractive photo by Robert Romero of an unusual flower. What makes this flower unusual is that it’s not a real flower. As Robert Romero explains in the description of the photo, he noticed this pretty flower on the grass at a park, which is kind of odd to see a large pretty flower growing in the middle of the grass at a park, and then he figured out that this flower made from cloth had been blown off someone’s nearby patio onto the park grass.

I really like the vibrant colors, the clarity, and the composition of the photo. Click the photo above to see a larger version. Be sure to see more of Robert Romero’s beautiful flower photos in his “floral beauty” photo album here on Photobird.com.

Robert Romero won the Photobird Award for the Photobird Photo Contest for February 2008 with this photo, “Just Peachy“. You can see more of Robert’s photos at photobird.com/theshootest.

Photobird.com is the easy way to share your photos. You capture and share so many great photos on Photobird.com that we created the Photo of the Hour feature to give you the opportunity to share your very best with the rest of the world.

It’s really easy to submit your favorite photos to be featured on the Photobird Photo of the Hour: Simply view the photo from your photo album and click the “Submit for Photo of the Hour” checkbox. There is no limit to the number of photos you can submit and we always like to get new submissions.

In return for each photo we use on the Photo of the Hour or People Places and Things, you get more storage space for your photo album so you can store more photos. Details are here.

If you’d like to keep some of your photos private while you share your favorite photos with the world, you can read how easy it is to do that with Photobird photo albums in our Photobird Daily article entitled “Show Off Your Photos, and Keep Some Private“.

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One of the most challenging subjects to photograph is children. You want to get memorable shots, but the resulting pictures too often fall into one of two disastrous camps: a series of out-of-focus blurs of hyperactive kids bouncing off the walls like charged electrons or, perhaps even worse, unnaturally serious kids, warned to behave and, consequently, unwilling to show anything more than a serious pout or nervous grin.

Pekka Saarinen, a professional photographer based in Helsinki, has written a wonderful essay entitled “Getting Kids on CCD: Portraits”, which we’ve linked to on the Photobird Learning Center. In the essay, Pekka details a tried-and-true process that includes steps which, when read, have the ring of truth of common sense, such as this zinger: first, get to know your subjects. Pekka advises playing with your subjects at their level and introducing the camera into their play, keeping things light by using the camera as an instrument for humor.

After your subjects have become accustomed to the camera, Pekka advises straight talk: tell them exactly what you want to do and what level of cooperation you’ll need from them in order to be successful, such as “staying very still when the photo is taken”. Pekka advises incorporating small-talk into the photography session and including the child’s toys as a way to displace their natural nervousness. If you can, get the rest of the family behind you or out of the room, shoot from the child’s height, and try to keep the background simple.

Oh, and Pekka also advises not to overdo it. Remember these are just kids we’re talking about here. You should stop after you sense the child is growing weary; otherwise, they will become less cooperative subjects the next time you want to take pictures of them.

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Amazon.com keeps a running tally of its best-selling digital cameras, updated hourly. Check out the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers page at this link to see the complete list of cameras.

The top 10 list for the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers page is below. This week’s list and the list from two weeks ago are shown. Click on any of the links to go to the Amazon.com page for that camera to read reviews and to obtain more details on each camera.

This week:

1. Canon PowerShot SD880 IS (Silver) – $255
2. Canon PowerShot SD890 IS – $179
3. Canon PowerShot A1000 IS – $129
4. Canon Rebel T1i – $853
5. Canon Rebel XSi – $700
6. Canon PowerShot SX10 IS – $382
7. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5A – $225
8. Canon PowerShot SX110 IS – $240
9. Nikon D40 – $412
10. Canon PowerShot G10 – $459

Two weeks ago:

1. Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS (Blue) – $175
2. Canon PowerShot SX10 IS – $370
3. Canon PowerShot SD880 IS (Gold) – $247
4. Canon PowerShot SD890 IS – $199
5. Canon Rebel XSi – $700
6. Canon PowerShot G10 – $450
7. Canon PowerShot SD880 IS (Silver) – $282
8. Canon PowerShot SX110 IS – $225
9. Polaroid i735 – $55
10. Canon PowerShot A470 – $90

Wow, with much surprise, the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS tiny digital camera in blue is no longer in first place, where it had been for at least the past 6 weeks. Before then, the Canon PowerShot A590 IS compact digital camera was in first place for many months. Perhaps one reason the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS is in blue is no longer in first place is that it is no longer available from Amazon.com, only third-party sellers.

The Canon PowerShot SD880 IS in silver is now in first place. Two weeks ago it was in 7th place, with its sibling in gold in 3rd place. The Canon PowerShot SD880 IS has a lower price now, down almost $30 to $255.

Canon still holds most of the top 10 spots on the Amazon.com Digital Camera Best Sellers list. This week, Canon only holds 8 of the top 10 spots. Usually they hold at least 7. I’ve never seen them with less than 6. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5A and the Nikon D40 DSLR are the only two cameras in the top 10 list that are not Canon cameras.

Here are more observations about the recent list:

1. Four weeks ago, the Canon Rebel T1i entered the list at number 10 at $900, even though it wasn’t available for sale yet. Now it’s available to purchase for $853 and up to 4th place.

2. The 10-megapixel Canon PowerShot A1000 IS with 4x zoom is new to the list and in 3rd place. It costs a mere $129, which sounds like a great price for its capabilities. It’s received an average of 4-and-a-half stars from 114 reviews on Amazon.com.

3. The Canon PowerShot SD890 IS has decreased in price $20 down to $179 and it’s up two spots on the list to number 2.

Before you buy a Canon digital camera or anything else on Amazon.com, please click one of our links to Amazon.com on this page or anywhere on Photobird.com. For each product you buy after your click, we receive a small referral fee, at no additional cost to you. Your clicks and purchases allow us to continue to publish the Photobird Daily and the Photobird Learning Center. Thank you for your support!

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Photo © Copyright Jason Keefe

Composition is the most important element for great photos. I’ve written before about the importance of good composition in the Photobird Daily article “Composition Is Key” which you can find as part of Photobird’s Simple Guide to Great Photos.

In his Fine Art Photography Review of Jason Keefe’s photo which is shown above, fine art photographer and workshop instructor Alain Briot of Beautiful-Landscape.com explains how important it is to ensure the foregrounds of your photos are well composed. In Jason Keefe’s photo above of a snowy terrain overlooking the Grand Canyon, the snow and the rocks in the foreground are the main focus in the photo and therefore, as Alain Briot explains, they need a more prominent pattern to make looking at the photo a more pleasurable activity. Alain Briot also points out that in general, if the foreground in your photo is not interesting, then it’s just “there”, and the foreground won’t be as interesting as it could be. In Jason Keefe’s photo, Alain Briot shows us that in some cases, cropping might help the composition of the photo, but cropping is not ideal in this case because then the Grand Canyon looks small which is not good.

Alain Briot further explains that in order for the audience to enjoy your work and to make sense of what’s in the photo, they need to be able to clearly see everything that’s going on in the photo. If something is ambiguous in the photo and they’re not sure exactly what’s going on, your audience is going to move on to the next photo that they can understand and they’re going to forget about yours. For example, in Jason Keefe’s photo, it’s not good to leave the audience wondering what else lies beyond the photo. In this photo, parts of rocks that lie on the edge of the photo and rocks that are cut by the frame of the photo can make us wonder what else lies beyond the photo, which is not good. Instead, the borders of the photo should be nice and clean.

The lesson to be learned in this Fine Art Photography Review is that photographers need to be more aware when on location of how much of the foreground to include and exactly what objects in the foreground to include.

In his Fine Art Photography Reviews, Alain Briot analyzes your photos via free, 10-minute QuickTime movies. Alain Briot uses the audio of the QuickTime movies to explain his analysis of the photos while the video is used to show the changes he makes to the photographs as if you’re looking over his shoulder watching his computer monitor.

I enjoy watching and learning from these reviews and I think you will too. I’ve written about more of Alain Briot’s Fine Art Photography Reviews in the Photobird Daily in the articles “Color or Black and White? Which is Better?“, “The Quality of Light“, and “Reflections and Composition“.

If you like watching these reviews, you may also like Alain Briot’s workshops and DVDs. Alain Briot studied at the Academie des Beaux Arts in Paris and he conducts workshops throughout the year, which we’ve highlighted in the Photobird Daily before. Here’s a list of his 2009 workshops, which are mostly sold out. The materials he teaches in his workshops are also available on DVD which I’ve written about in this article in the Photobird Daily.

Find out more at Alain Briot’s website, Beautiful-Landscape.com.

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“Joined as ONE”
© Copyright Ramon Prince

There is only 1 week remaining until the end of the Photobird Photo Contest for May 2009 with the theme “One”. Enter the contest here. The contest is always free to enter and this month’s contest ends Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

I like this photo shown above entitled “Joined as ONE” by Ramon Prince. Although at first glance you might say it’s just a nice sculpture, there appears to be a few significant considerations taken when the photo was shot to ensure it looked its best.

• The hardwood surface works well as a background because (1) it fills the entire frame of the photo, (2) the wood provides a natural feeling to the photo, as opposed to something else such as metal or something synthetic such as vinyl, and (3) the color of the wood and the variation of its texture provides a great contrast from the solid white of the sculpture.
• The sculpture appears to be lit by natural light coming through the window. Natural light is generally preferred over artificial light.
• The curtains on the window cast a variant shadow on the sculpture and on the hardwood, adding more dynamism, texture, and depth to the sculpture and to the photo.
• Including the entire shadow of the sculpture in the photo adds additional depth to the photo and to the sculpture.

The sculpture looks really cool too. Click the photo to see a larger version.

Photobird Photo Contest details:

• Free to enter. Enter your photo here.
• “One” is the theme for this month’s contest.
• Your friends and family can vote for you. You can send them a reminder here.
• This month’s contest ends Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

The two winners for the Photobird Photo Contest for May 2009 will each receive the following cool prizes:

• Photobird account with 500MB storage space
• $50 Amazon.com gift card, which you can use to buy anything on Amazon.com, such as:
  • memory card for your camera
  • photography book
  • tripod
  • adorable bunny slippers (with pose-able ears!)
  • 115-piece tool kit (with locking pliers!)
  • or use the $50 toward a new camera!

Read more details about the monthly contest here.

Every monthly Photobird Photo Contest has two winners. At the end of each month, we pick one winner for the Photobird Award, and we will tally your votes to determine the one winner for the People’s Choice Award.

See the previous contests and their photos at this link.

Enter the contest here. And be sure to have your family and friends vote for their favorite entries to help select the People’s Choice Award. (You can send them a quick little reminder here.)

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