Digital Photography School Newsletter

Published: Thu, 02/07/08

Digital Photography School


Digital Photography School Newsletter
Welcome to another Digital Photography School Newsletter.
 
This week has been a fun one at DPS. I've been excited to introduce some new writers on the blog and the forums have continued to have lots of discussion.
 
WIN - every post you make in our forum gives you a chance to win a Canon camera worth over $300 in our Forum Competition.
  
Have a great weekend and don't forget the camera
 
Darren 


» New at the DPS BLOG
The DPS Blog has been the scene of some great new photography tips (from some new writers) this week. Here are the latest posts on the blog. 

The Human Side of Photography - 4 Tips for Natural Looking Portraits

You can have all the compositional techniques in the world at your disposal - but if you don't know how to put your portrait subject at ease your shots will always look formal, stilted and uncomfortable.
 
In this tutorial Pro Photographer Natalie shares 4 tips for helping your subject relax and getting natural looking shots.
 
 

 
 

photophlow: A Social Experience for Flickr Photographers

Many DPS users use Flickr to store and show off their images. In this review regular contributer Brian introduces us to a great new service that works with Flickr - PhotoPhlow - a more social experience for photographers.
 
I'd not seen PhotoPhlow before but after this review know I'll definitely be checking it out.
 
  

9 Pet Photography Tips

One of the most popular types of photography that I see being explored online on photo sharing sites is taking photos of images of pets (2nd only to children). 
 
In this new tutorial we explore 9 simple tips to help your pet images really shine!
 
 

DIY Image Stabilizer for Your Digital Camera

In this video we get a quick tutorial on how to make a DIY image stabilizer for your camera to reduce camera shake.  
 
All you need is some string, a bolt and a counter weight. It's not perfect but this simple trick will give you something to do on the weekend! 
 
Do you have a digital photography question that you've been too embarrassed to ask? This thread on the blog is especially for you. No question is too simple and we'll use as many of these questions as possible for the basis of articles in the coming months at DPS.

Crumpler Zoomiverse XL Backpack Review

Lastly this week we present this review of a brand new bag from Crumpler - the Zoomiverse XL Backpack.
 
Sime is our interviewer and he has some interesting things to say about his bag.
 
If you've tested it or have another favorite camera bag drop by and let us know your recommendations.
 


» Top 10 Tips from January

Every month we post around 30 digital photography tips and tutorials here at DPS. It can be hard to keep track of them all each month so this year I thought I'd do a monthly 'best of' to highlight the most popular posts of the month.

The following links are to the 10 best posts on the DPS blog of January 2008 (as rated by you based upon comment numbers and visits to the blog).

  1. DIY Flash and Lighting Hacks for Digital Photographers - this post was extremely popular on a lot of other sites and got a lot of traffic. I guess people like the DIY thing!
  2. 5 Reasons to Take Your Camera Everywhere in 2008 - a motivational post to kick off the year with a reminder that you'll only take great images if you take your camera with you!
  3. DIY Reflector - Sometimes it's the most simple tips that get the most attention.
  4. How to Shoot Light Trails - the effect of this post is that there are a lot more light trail posts in our forums this month!
  5. Introduction to Metering Modes - thanks to Trudy for this popular reader submitted post (anyone is free to let me know if you ever have one like it to contribute).
  6. How to Photograph Grandma - this community workshop drew a lot of comments. I've had an email from Mandy this week to thank everyone for your advice. She did the photo shoot a few days after this post went up and she's really happy with the results. Sadly though her Grandmother passed away three days after she took the images. Mandy used the shot that she took in a visual presentation at the funeral and received a lot of great feedback from her family. Thanks to everyone for your advice on this - it made me proud to see the DPS community rally around Mandy in this way.
  7. 70-200mm Zoom Lens Reviews - 3 popular 70-200mm lenses reviewed.
  8. Asking Permission to Photograph People - a topic that always generates lots of conversation
  9. 17 Stunning Wide Angle Images - there has been some interesting debate on HDR images in this post.
  10. Introduction to Catchlights - another popular reader submitted tutorial that has helped a lot of people.
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