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Posts Tagged ‘Share’

2018 Shoot & Share Photo Contest opens for entries on January 8th

30 Dec

Wanna pit your skills against tens of thousands of other photographers… for free? You’ll soon have your chance. The 2018 Photo Contest by Shoot & Share—which bills itself as the world’s only free & fair photo contest—will start accepting entries on January 8th.

What sets this particular contest apart is the voting process. No hoity-toity group of judges sifting through your entries, the whole system is democratic.

Every entrant is allowed to submit up to 50 photos in a total of 25 categories, and those photos are voted on by everyone else (including you). Photos are shown to you at random, and you vote for your favorites. As Shoot & Share explains it, “No one knows who took the photos, but everyone votes for the winners. The photos with the most votes win!”

Here’s a fun intro video Shoot & Share put together:

The democratic draw of this contest as summed up best, perhaps, by DPReview Editorial Manager Wenmei Hill:

“It’s huge, it’s free, and it’s a big ego boost (or destroyer, depending on how good a photographer you are) for tons of photographers.”

Prizes for the 2018 contest haven’t been revealed yet, but all 25 categories will have 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners, in addition to a Grand Prize Winner for the contest as a whole. According to the contest site, “Last year, there was over $ 1,200,000 in free memberships, software, credit, gifts, workshops, and more,” given away.

Not bad for a totally free and extremely democratic contest.

To learn more about the 2018 Photo Contest or see last year’s winners, head over to the contest website. And if you plan to participate, you have just over a week to curate your best shots for submission.


UPDATE: Several readers have expressed concern about some of Shoot & Share’s terms and conditions for this contest: specifically, the part that says you allow them to use your images with photo credit.

To clear up any misconceptions, we reached out to Heather Keys, the company’s head of Marketing and Business Development, to ask how contestants’ photos have been used in the past. Here’s what she said:

In the past, the photos from the contest have been used to promote various community activities as well as used to promote future contests (always with photo credit included).

At times, we have reached out to those photographers that submitted images during the contest to request to use certain submitted photos in promotion of some of the products we offer (PASS.us and Agree.com ). With that said, we’ve always requested permission and offered compensation if we ever used submitted photos for promotion of our software tools.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Fujifilm announces square-format Instax Share SP-3 SQ photo printer

25 Oct

Fujifilm has announced its first square-format standalone printer, the Instax Share SP-3 SQ. The SP-3 can crank out a 318 dpi photo in just 13 seconds and has a battery that will last for about 160 prints. The updated Share app includes templates for creating collages, magazine covers and CD jackets. Users can also search for hashtags on Instagram to select photos they wish to print. In addition to the Share app, photos can also be printed directly from Fujifilm’s X-series cameras.

You can pick up the Instax Share SP-3 SQ next month, in your choice of white or black, for $ 199.

NEXT GENERATION INSTAX SHARE™ SP-3 SQ PRINTER ARRIVES IN SQUARE FORMAT

Newly designed smartphone printer provides high quality images in square format; improved app offers new features for greater artistic expression

Valhalla, N.Y., October 24, 2017FUJIFILM North America Corporation is excited to announce the new INSTAX SHARE™ SP-3 SQ printer, the latest line in the instax SHARE series of printers that can print photos taken with a smartphone on INSTAX SQUARE film. The SP-3 is an expansion of the INSTAX product line to give users even more ways to get creative with their instant pictures that can be shared in an instant, both in-person and online with #myinstax.

Square Format Provides More Artistic Potential

The square format has been widely popular among smartphone users. With a 1:1 aspect ratio, this format is an effective artistic style and a long-standing favorite among photography lovers. Recent years have seen a rise in the sharing of square photos on social media platforms, such as Instagram, with users putting great care into every step of the process, from composition to editing and processing. With the SP-3, users can print beautiful, high quality square images in just 13 seconds to be used in DIY crafts, to decorate with or to give as a gift.

Updated SHARE App Allows for Greater Creativity

The new and improved SHARE app comes with additional features, making every step easier and more fun. Users can print up to 9 photos on one sheet using the “Collage Template”, a feature enabled by the square format of the SP-3, or use “My Template” to add text to printed photos. “My Template” comes with 11 templates ranging from magazine covers to CD jackets. Users can also adjust the color and size of text. The end result is a stylish print that users will be proud to display and share. Additionally, the app’s display screens have been designed to make the entire process easy for novice users. The app can be downloaded from Google Play on Android devices or from the App Store on iPhones free of charge.

“Hashtag Print” Feature

In addition to Instagram and Facebook, the app is compatible with Dropbox, Google Photos and Flickr. Through the “Hashtag Print” option, users can access Instagram directly through the app and select images under a chosen hashtag. This function makes it easy for users to find the photos they want and print them with ease, perfect for printing a collection of photos from any event where guests use a hashtag, like a wedding or party.

Sleek Design

The SP-3 comes in white or black with a sleek, sophisticated look. The printer is also compact and lightweight with a sharp, multi-sided structure. The SP-3 is suitable in a wide range of situations.

This product is the latest in Fujifilm’s ongoing plan to share the inherent joy of taking, printing, displaying and sharing photos to expand the world of the instax instant photo system, allowing users to enjoy instant photos by printing photos that they have taken with their smartphone.

Instax SHARE SP-3 Key Features:

  • Available in White and Black body colors.
  • Create instax photos by printing images from iPhones and Android phones via the instax SHARE app.
  • Printing is also compatible directly from X Series digital cameras to the SP-3.
  • High-resolution images with print pixels of 800 x 800 dots and 318 dpi to show detailed gradations and facial expressions of a full-length portrait, character or objects clearly.
  • Printing time of just 13 seconds.
  • Printing capacity of up to 160 prints per battery charge.
  • Comes with image Intelligence, proprietary image processing technology that automatically sets the optimum brightness during printing.
  • New Templates added to the instax SHARE app:
    1. My Template – A template function where users can add text as desired and adjust the text color, size and darkness by moving sliders left and right, broadening the range of photo styles available to them.
    2. Collage Template – A template function allowing users to print 2-9 photos together on one sheet to print a collection of memories from a special day or to tie together photos with a particular theme.
    3. Split Template – Transform one picture into multiple instax photos. This allows all kinds of unique photo styles, such as dividing a beautiful landscape across two instax photos to make one big print.
    4. SNS Template – Template for printing images that were uploaded to a social networking service (SNS). This social media-linked printing feature allows users to include their profile photo or number of likes in the photo.
    5. Real Time Template – When the “Real Time Template” is selected and a photo is taken, the date, place, weather, temperature, and humidity are indicated in the frame, making it great for travel photos or watching your child grow.

Availability and Pricing

The new INSTAX SHARE SP-3 SQ will be available in November 2017 for USD $ 199.95 and CAD $ 249.99. Instax SQUARE film is sold separately for USD $ 16.99 and CAD $ 15.99.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Apple joins Instagram to share top notch #ShotoniPhone photos

08 Aug

Apple has officially joined Instagram. The tech giant has always been conspicuously silent on social media, but as the iPhone becomes an increasingly powerful and popular tool for capturing high-quality photos and videos, Apple finally caved and joined Instagram to share some of its favorite #ShotoniPhone creations.

The news broke yesterday on Mashable, where the @Apple account debuted alongside a few promises: namely, that you will never seen “photo galleries, commercials or other company marketing,” on the Instagram account. No, @Apple is all about featuring “curated and credit” photos shot by iPhone users around the world.

Or, put in more inspirational terms by Apple itself:

A post shared by apple (@apple) on

So far, the account includes several videos featuring different photographers talking over a slideshow of their work, explaining why they capture the kinds of photos they do.

If you want to be considered for a feature, all you have to do is tag your photos with #ShotoniPhone and wait for a call. According to Mashable, Apple says they will “never use anyone’s photos without permission,” so that tag doesn’t sign away any photo rights or anything… it just puts you on Apple’s radar.

Check out the @Apple account for yourself here, and let us know what you think in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Big Sky Country: Local photographers share their favorite Montana photo spots

14 Apr

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Montanans celebrate an unofficial holiday on April 6th every year since ‘Big Sky Country’ as it’s known is covered by just one area code: 406. In honor of the day, Resource Travel recently rounded up a list of locals’ favorite photography spots across the state. Take a look at just a few examples of Montana’s gorgeous scenery and then head to Resource Travel for exact locations and more photos to whet your travel appetite.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Apple captures 79 percent of global smartphone profits with 14.5 percent market share

09 Mar

According to Flickr the iPhone is the most popular camera(s) in the world and even 10 years after the original model was launched, iPhone continues to generate enormous profits for Apple. According to research from Strategy Analytics, that was obtained by The Korea Herald, in 2016 the iPhone captured 79 percent of profits in the global smartphone market, at a market share of only 14.5 percent. In absolute numbers that is $ 44.9 billion out of a $ 53.7 billion total profit.

Apple’s biggest rival Samsung leads the market share ranking in front of Apple at 20.7 percent but only grabs 14.6 percent of the profit, amounting to $ 8.3 billion. This is a similar picture to previous years when, thanks to very high margins, Apple was able to claim a much bigger proportion of smartphone profits than its market share would suggest. 

With the upcoming iPhone 8 models expected to bring a range of innovative features at what are projected to be high price points, the situation is unlikely to change in 2017. If Apple continues to invest profits into camera development, we could all benefit from its success.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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4 Good Reasons Why You May Want to Wait to Share Client Photos

14 Dec

A few decades ago the Heinz company ran a series of commercials featuring people patiently waiting for their ketchup to be poured from glass bottles, each ending with the tagline, “The best things come to those who wait.” Even though these ads seem kind of silly now, they do have a lesson for photographers: sometimes it pays to be patient, especially when sharing photos with your clients.

Almost every time I return from a photo shoot, and start going through the pictures on my computer, I get caught up in the excitement and have a nearly unbearable urge to start sending pics, previews, and first-looks to my clients. I often can’t wait to share my work with them so they can see for themselves how things turned out. However, if you take the opposite approach and apply the brakes a bit, you and your clients will have a much more positive experience, and you will be better prepared for the long run and the rewards it brings. If you are the type of person who, like me, wants to send your clients a few sneak peeks or previews before you deliver your finished pictures, here’s a few reasons you might want to reconsider that practice.

wait-to-share-photos-family-kids-park

1 – Put your best foot forward

Recently I spent an hour in the park taking pictures of a family, and as I was going through nearly a thousand images in Lightroom later that evening, I came across a few that I just had to share with the parents. They were so precious, and their little girl looked like she was having the time of her life, so I knew they would be thrilled to get a couple photos right away. I sent them to the mother’s mobile phone and she responded with ecstatic adulations, and a few minutes later the pictures showed up on Facebook where they immediately got dozens of likes and a handful of comments like “Great shot!” and “Lovely family!” So far so good, right? I mean, where’s the harm in sending a few pictures the evening after a photo session if that is the result?

My goal in sending a few initial photos was to give my clients a sneak peek (that’s literally what I said when I texted her: “Here’s a sneak peek from today’s session!”) which would whet her appetite for the rest of the photos, but in doing so I essentially ruined the surprise. It’s like sneaking a peek, to use the expression, beneath the wrapping paper a week before Christmas and getting a glimpse at your presents–it’s fun, but it makes the actual unwrapping a bit anticlimactic, since you already know what to expect.

Another problem with this approach is I found a few other pictures later on that were even better, but by then the surprise had worn off. Yes the clients were still thrilled to get their images, but by the time I had the official gallery all put together, with watermarked proofs for sharing on social media, the excitement had worn off and her friends were not as interested as they were initially. I basically sacrificed quality on the altar of immediacy, and in doing so hurt my brand just a tiny bit in the process.

wait-to-share-photos-family-tree

If I had simply waited until all the photos were finished and given my clients everything when I was truly ready to do so, I would have had much better results overall. Every photo would have been personally selected, properly edited, and appropriately watermarked for sharing on social media. My client’s photos would have looked better and so would my photography operation in general. This same scenario has repeated itself time and time again, and often my wife has to talk me down from the edge. I’m eager to share a few quick photos, but if I just wait a week or two until they are actually ready for sharing, the results are always better for everyone involved.

2 – Initial edits are usually not the final edits

wait-to-share-photos-senior-brick-wallThis second lesson is more practical and less emotional, but it rings true for me every time. My initial edits to my pictures are almost never the same as my final edits, and thus rushing to share images right away inevitably leads me to getting an inferior product into the hands of my customers. My editing workflow in Lightroom looks something like this:

  1. Import all photos
  2. Apply custom portrait presets
  3. Pick out my favorites
  4. More editing
  5. Cut out more photos
  6. Edit again
  7. Cut down again
  8. Edit, tweak, enhance
  9. Export the best of the best for printing and sharing

If I share a preview of the session with my clients, it’s usually after step 4, or worse, step 3. (Which sadly has been known to happen more times than I care to admit.) That means I am giving my client, and everyone with whom they share those sneak peeks, images that are quantitatively inferior to what I am capable of producing. If you were baking a cake that you know needs 30 minutes in the oven, would you serve it after 25 minutes because you can’t wait for your guests to taste it? No way! You would serve it only when it’s done and give your friends the highest quality dessert possible as a result. We should give our photographs, and the people with whom they are shared, no less than the time they need to be the quality they deserve.

wait-to-share-photos-child-red-shirt

3 – People think things that take longer, are higher quality

Think for a moment about something special you have in your life: a physical object, a trinket or knicknack, or something with function or purpose like a bookshelf or cabinet. More likely than not, the things we hold dear, and to which we assign greater value, have one thing in common – they were constructed with care over time. Humans often assign greater significance to things that we know took a long time to create. Spelunkers gaze in awe at natural rock formations and crystals that were formed bit by bit, over millions of years. We pay more for wines that has been aged over time, even though they are often no better than their one-year-old counterparts. Rome itself, so the saying goes, was not built in a day. Why then are we, as photographers, so quick to share photos with our clients, if people expect that quality takes time?

I know how tempting it can be to want to share a few pictures right after you are done with a photo session. It hapens to me almost every time! It might get you some immediate accolades from your clients, but can be somewhat counterproductive in the long run. Early sharing can send the wrong signal to your clients, and their friends, about the quality of your pictures. Think about it from your clients’ perspective – would you feel good about spending $ 500 on a photo session if the photographer finished editing your images in one day, or would you rather know that he or she spent a week or two to get the colors, the cropping, and other edits just right?

wait-to-share-photos-baby-basket

If your clients have to wait a week or two for their pictures they will assign a much greater value to them, because they know it took you longer to arrive at the final product. When I think about giving clients a preview or sneak peek, my wife, ever the voice of reason, usually pulls me back from the edge and reminds me that we’re only helping our business in the short term. That is not creating the type of high-quality perception we want people to have when they think about having us do their pictures.

4 – Sharing photos early cheapens your talent and skill

One of the nice things about the prevalence of smartphones is that everyone has a camera. Of course the downside to this is many people also consider themselves photographers, when they may not have all the training, experience, and skill that most of their professional counterparts possess. While I’m not one to judge, and far be it from me to say whose work has value and whose work does not, I do know that if you want people to spend money on your photography services, you need to give them a reason to do so.

Why should I pay someone $ 1500 to shoot my wedding if my friend says he can do it for half that with his new Canon Rebel and a kit lens? Why should I pay $ 300 for pictures of my kids when my sister can just use her  iPhone with its really nice camera? The reason is because you, as a photographer, are much more than just a person with a camera. People are paying you for your knowledge and skills, your ability to work with people and capture their emotions, and to create beauty and art with the press of a shutter button. You have experience shaped by years of trial and error. Sharing pictures within hours of taking them can send your clients a signal that your work is no different than anyone else with a halfway decent camera.

wait-to-share-photos-birthday-cake

It was so tempting to share this photo with the girl’s mother right away, but after a week I had taken more time to properly edit it to where it was much better than the original.

By carefully culling your photos from a session, taking time to edit them to perfection, and choosing only the best of the best to eventually give to your clients, you are sending a message that you might not be the fastest game in town, but you mean business, and do quality work. To use another food analogy, anyone can stop at a fast food burger joint and get a quick meal. For a quality top-notch hamburger you need a sit-down restaurant where your food takes a decent amount of time to prepare. Even if both establishments get their beef from the same distributor, the public perception of the latter will almost always be greater than the former, partly for the simple reason that you don’t get your food right away. The same holds true for photography – the best things come to those who wait.

wait-to-share-photos-baby-basket-park

Of course one obvious problem here is how long to wait. As a general rule I like to give my clients their images within two weeks, and often a bit sooner. Much more than that and they can get a bit annoyed, as you would also have a problem waiting two hours for a hamburger, no matter how tasty it was. Every photographer is different, and the length of time depends on many different variables, but as long as you set your clients’ expectations upfront you should be fine. You might even benefit from over-estimating the length of time it will take, and then delivering your pictures a bit sooner. This type of under-promising and over-delivering can go a long way towards building goodwill with your clients, and give them an even more positive impression of you and your work.

What about you? Do you like to share your photos online right away or take your time? I’m interested to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

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The post 4 Good Reasons Why You May Want to Wait to Share Client Photos by Simon Ringsmuth appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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GoPro adds Trim + Share feature to mobile app

02 Sep

GoPro has added a Trim and Share feature to its mobile app and some of its camera models, allowing users to pull short clips from video footage and share the finalized video. The feature is available now in the latest version of the GoPro mobile app, and is offered on the HERO4 Black + LCD BacPac, HERO4 Silver, and the HERO+ LCD. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Updated Kodak Moments app lets you share, edit and print your images

04 Aug

An update to the Kodak Moments app makes it a one-stop-shop for editing, sharing and printing, eliminating the need for a separate app to send images to Kodak’s Picture Kiosks. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Kolektio helps capture and share moments among friends

02 Jun

Kolektio is a new app that aims to simplify the process of sharing images among frinds from an event, party or any other ‘moment.’ Users can create privately shared image albums, so-called moments, in the app and then invite others to either contribute to the album or view the images. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Sony owns an estimated 40.2 percent share of the image sensor market

05 May

According to market research estimates, in 2014 Sony made 40.2 percent of all image sensors, leaving its rivals in the sector far behind. There’s no doubt that a lucrative Apple contract has helped put Sony ahead of the competition, as it earns approximately $ 20 for each iPhone sold. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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