The point-and-shoot cameras are great, that is, as long as the subject of the photo is not moving very fast.
The compact digital camera can take so long to react after you snap the shutter release button that the moment has passed and the desired image is never captured.
The problem is called shutter lag.
But avoiding it, or minimizing it in the next camera you buy — well, that is a tricky problem.And the problem is, camera makers do not want to tell consumers too much about that.
It is just that shutter lag is too difficult a concept to communicate in ads or marketing materials in stores;it still is much easier to sell consumers on a camera’s price, style, color, image-stabilization abilities, wireless ability or even its many preset shooting modes like fireworks, underwater or dining.
The first problem is that shutter lag is not really shutter lag at all, but processor lag:when the photographer begins to push down the button to snap the picture, sensors in the camera begin to take a series of measurements.Then the image is captured on the processor and sent into memory.
The specifications surrounding lag are not standardized and can be interpreted in various ways. Indeed, there is not even one standard. For instance, one might measure shutter lag in auto focus and another with manual focus, which will be much less.
The shutter-lag problem is not true of all digital cameras. The digital single-lens-reflex (S.L.R.) cameras do not have a problem with shutter lag.
Photographers offer a few tips on capturing action shots with point-and-shoot cameras:
1.If you can anticipate a shot then push the shutter-release button down halfway. Priming the auto-focus gets the process started early. When you push the button down all the way, the camera can process the information more quickly.
2.Another trick is to point the camera to where the action will occur, push halfway, and when the action occurs, push it all the way. That means you do not follow the subject, you follow the event. In other words, if you are tracking a downhill skier slaloming through a series of flags, aim at the flags, not the skier.
3.Camera makers also suggested using the burst mode, which quick-fires a series of photos. Shoot the first one in advance of the event and then you probably will capture the significant moment.

More information: The New York Times

Digital or film? by TJ Tierney

Having lost count of the number of people who have asked me: “have you gone digital?” I am always left wondering why it’s such a much-asked question. The camera is only a tool in which a photographer creates an image. His personal ability to create a unique image remains the same.

For many forms of photography, digital has long held obvious advantages, but for landscapes the resolution necessary to make larger prints just wasn’t available. But things have changed and digital cameras are fast becoming the tools that most pros use.

Modern digital cameras are perfectly capable of matching the 35 mm film - the format which most landscape photographers begin with. But can they really match the large format film cameras? This is probably the greatest question that all photographers face.

Instant LCD feedback is digitals greatest gift and this enables the photographer to check exposure and composition of their image in the blink of an eye. While this is a big advantage, the hours spent in front of the computer processing the raw images have to be a hindrance. A landscape photographers time is best spent behind a camera not in front of a computer.

The pros and cons of digital photography will remain an issue for some time. At the end of the day a digital camera won’t make a photographers images better. The same values we apply in our photography should remain regardless of which camera we use.

Good photography remains as elusive and as enticing as it ever was; going digital doesn’t change this or make getting good images any easier. It brings technical advantages, and plenty of them, but the majority of photographic techniques never change. Good landscape images come from the photographer’s personal ability, not the ability of a camera. The camera helps, but the creative eye remains the same.

As a landscape photographer I am still hesitant to embrace digital photography and all the qualities that digital has brought to other professionals in different photography fields.

There are a few simple reasons that I still use a film camera:
The authenticity of my images could be questioned if I used a digital camera. It is often assumed that great digital images have been manipulated.
Too much time is spent in front of a computer.
Slide film produce stronger colours than a digital camera.

There are many advantages for changing to digital but I’m going to stick with film; for the time-being that is. With time film cameras will be a thing of the past and all our images will be exchanged for the pixels. But, be wary - believing our work will be superior would be falling into a great trap. For me size matters, the larger I can print an image the better.

So where larger prints are needed, my choice will be to stay with Film, but I’m sure this will change in the near future.

TJ Tierney is an award winning Irish Landscape and nature photographer. For more tips you can visit his photography site. To view his images visit his on-line gallery of flower pictures or see his collection of stock photography

Article Source: http://www.articlecube.com

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc. is shutting down Yahoo Photos, an online photo storage site, and asking users to move instead to its Web 2.0 photo sharing site, Flickr, a Yahoo official said.

In June, tens of millions of registered users of Yahoo Photos will be notified of various options including upgrading to Yahoo’s Flickr service or various outside-photo storage sites, according to Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield.

Yahoo also will offer consumers the option of loading their photos on competing sites when users are notified next month.

Flickr will get top-billing, of course,” Butterfield said in an interview late on Thursday about the plan to give users multiple alternatives.

Butterfield and co-founder Caterina Fake, his wife, sold Flickr to Yahoo in 2005. Butterfield is now a director of product management at Yahoo.

Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of Yahoo’s Network Division, said in a company statement: “We are making great strides in our ongoing efforts to align Yahoo!’s resources and focus on core strategic priorities.”

“Part of this progress is today’s decision to close Yahoo! Photos to better serve our valued customers through Flickr.”

Do you like Kate Moss, enough to buy her nude pictures?

Then prepare your wallets for the May 31,2007 action !

This is a movie with my last photo shooting session. The weather was good, location good and the model beautiful:

Of course, this shooting was last night, in my dream.

Ever wonder where the name of your camera come from? Why Canon, or Nikon or whatever brand you have? Here is a list with the name etymolgies of the comanies involeved in photo industry:

Canon: Originally (1933) Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory the new name (1935) derived from the name of the company’s first camera, the Kwannon, in turn named after the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy.
Fuji: named after Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan.
Kodak: Both the Kodak camera and the name were the invention of founder George Eastman. The letter “K” was a favourite with Eastman; he felt it a strong and incisive letter. He tried out various combinations of words starting and ending with “K”. He saw three advantages in the name. It had the merits of a trademark word, would not be mis-pronounced and the name did not resemble anything in the art. There is a misconception that the name was chosen because of its similarity to the sound produced by the shutter of the camera.
Konika:it was earlier known as Konishiroku Kogaku. Konishiroku in turn is the short for Konishiya Rokubeiten which was the first name of the company established by Rokusaburo Sugiura in the 1850s.
Minolta: Minolta was founded in Osaka, Japan in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten (日独写真機商店; literally: Japan-Germany camera shop). It was not until 1934 that the name Minolta — meaning “ripening fields of rice” in Japanese — first appeared on a camera, the Minolta Vest.
Nikon: the original name was Nippon Kogaku, meaning “Japanese Optical”.
Olympus: the original name was Nippon Kogaku, meaning “Japanese Optical”.
Sanyo: The Japanese translation is disputed, although the Chinese name is “三洋” (literally, “Three Oceans”).
Sony: from the Latin word ’sonus’ meaning sound, and ’sonny’ a slang word used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster, “since we were sonny boys working in sound and vision”, said Akio Morita. The company was founded as Tokyo Tsoshiu Kogyo KK (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) in 1946, and changed its name to Sony in 1958. Sony was chosen as it could be pronounced easily in many languages.
BenQ: Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to life.
HP : Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.
Adobe: from the name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the houses of founders John Warnock and Chuck Geschke.
Corel: from Cowpland Research Laboratory, after the name of the company’s founder, Dr. Michael Cowpland.

Here you can find a much larger list, with all companies names explained.

Now we have a free web directory only for photo related sites. You cand fin it here : free directory, or in right sidebar.
So everyone with a site related to photograpgy is invited to submit for free, no backlink required, but if you do link back tuo us , then you will have your site featured.
Soon we hope this directory to be a good photography resource.

A movie made for the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. Take a ordinary girl, put some make-up, do the hair, some lights, a little photoshop and you have a beauty queen. The ideea of this project is that this beauty is not real, but many women, especially the youngest take this beauty as a standard, and from here a lot of self esteem problems and a distorted image aof reality.
Here is How to transform an ordinary woman to a top model video:

And the campaign’s site: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.ca , if you are in Canada, buy 3 Dove products and get a free pocket camera:)

Tired of getting left out of group photos taken with your point and shoot camera? Out of breath from sprinting to beat the self-timer when making a self-portrait?Then search no more,I have the answer for you: Monster Pod.

MonsterPod™ sticks to a 1,000 objects and counting! Its patent pending “viscoelastic morphing polymer base” molds, grips and sticks to metal, wood, plastic, veneer, marble, Formica, cement, block, steel, brick, glass, tile, enamel, sheet rock, rocks and trees!

It is fat-free, über-cool, non-toxic and will stick to just about any surface you mash it onto with its patent pending viscoelastic morphing polymer base. The Monster Pod is very easy to use; simply fasten your camera to its standard ¼-20 screw thread and attach it to almost any surface - it will stick securely for up to ten minutes (depending on the surface and the angle).

When you’re done, just peel it right off. The Monster Pod does not leave marks or residue, and its effectiveness is not compromised by dirt. It is not a gel, and will not dry or harden. It is eminently portable, weighing only 6 ounces, and measuring 4 1/2″ across and 1 3/4″ tall, and is safe for children and pets to play with.You can easily toss it into a pocket, briefcase or camera bag, or in its optional carrying case with a shoulder strap.

Key Features

-Sticks to 1.000 of different surfaces and objects;if the object is irregular in shape you simply mold the viscoelastic base with your fingers until it conforms to the shape.
-Quick & easy to setup, just apply gentle pressure - no legs, cranks or knobs and not even magic !
-Monster Pod holds up to a 20 ounce compact digital camera
-Adheres temporarily until you peel it off with its viscoelastic base that molds, grips and sticks to nearly any surface
-Monster Pod is a polymer - it does not dry or harden over time and has been tested up to 3,000 sticks and still counting
-Monster Pod does not breathe fire; it will not go on a rampage and destroy your village

So it’s depend on you to become a monster photographer with the Monster Pod !

TURN Cultural Association together with Parudimos Association organises the 2007 “International Romani Art Festival”, a cultural event that will bring in Timisoara not only romani artists but artists from all over the world.
The first edition unfolded under the theme “”So keres Europa?”” (« What’s up Europe? ») will take place during the 22nd and 29th of June 2007 and will embody: live concerts, photo exhibits, contests, book releases, workshops, debates, conferences, roma language and history classes, equal chances.
International Romani Art Festival with the theme “„So keres, Europa?”” aims at revealing a new perspective upon a delicate subject of present interest. It is time to say no to prejudice and racism.