BetterPhotoJim

Most Popular Contest Questions

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Weekend.

I checked in with my email Inbox a few times over the weekend. In reading the many emails, I realized that it might be cool to publish some of the most popular Q&A in regards to our Online Photography Contest.

Q #1: I entered the contest today using the photo id# of an existing upload. However, it isn't showing up on the recent contest entries. Where is my contest entry?

A: Entering an existing image into the contest using the photo id# is a great way to avoid duplicate uploads. Keep in mind that when you enter an image in the contest using a photo id#, the image is placed in order of the photo id#, therefore the image is placed further back in the contest pages.

You can double check on your entry by signing in to your Member Center and clicking on the link:
(My BetterPhotos Tab)>Current Contest Entries. Be sure to refresh the page to view the entry.

Q #2: I entered an image into the contest, realized I'd selected the wrong image and then deleted that entry. When I went to enter the contest again, I no longer had the contest category pull down menu.

A: The database has already recognized an entry for you for the day. Even if you subsequently deleted that upload, it still counts as an entry for the day.

The database won't allow more than one entry per day. It will automatically omit the photo id field and also the category pulldown when it has already recognized has an image entry for the day.

Hope this helps!

Zoe: (I just had to include a photo)

Thoughts and Tips on Taking Black and White Pictures

Two of a Kind © Stacy Wasmuth

Hi everyone!

I've always been a confirmed color photographer, but at the same time, I've always appreciated black and white. Each month, when the finalists and winners of BetterPhoto's free photo contest are announced, I enjoy seeing all of the fantastic images, whether in striking color or dynamic black and white. Two of my recent B&W contest favorites appear here.

Certainly, many photographers continue to shoot with black and white film. But there's a high-tech reason for the enduring popularity of this traditional medium: the digital darkroom, in which a color shot can be converted to a B&W image. Although many images work best in color, some others benefit from the colorless approach.

Super! © Hans Kwaspen

BetterPhoto's very own Jim Miotke wrote an excellent article on the subject: Thoughts and Tips on Taking Black and White Pictures. Some of what Jim has to say:

"It's classic and elegant, even romantic and special. The simplicity of black and white helps you focus on the important stuff. You can often turn a drab color shot into an amazing black and white. If you do your own darkroom work - traditional or digital - it opens up a world of magic and fun."

Also, be sure to check out the awesome images in BetterPhoto's Black and White Photography gallery.

That's it for now. Enjoy your weekend!
Kerry Drager

Two Photos I Came Across

While preparing my next book for publication, I discovered these two images from a Vermont fall colors trip in October 2004. It's always so fun to re-discover images that I forgot I had.

The two photos capture the same exact subject; I just did something to the scene in between shots. What did I do and which version do you find more appealing?

In future blog entries, I hope to tell you more about the process of writing a photography book. It's a fascinating and fun thing to go through (even though it can be challenging at times). The main principle of writing or any creative endeavor is that you have to generate more and just know that much is going to be edited out later. I don't think these two images are going to make the current book but I wanted to at least share them with you here.

Things Remembered with Photographs: Memorial Day

Has anyone ever said to you “Happy Memorial Day?” Not often, probably. It’s really not that kind of holiday, is it? Even though most of us are looking forward to happily celebrating the three-day weekend, we have an inkling that there is something or someone we should be remembering. Every day there are moments in our lives that we can record with a picture: a baby’s beautiful smile, a perfect sunset, a ripple on a smooth-as-glass lake. These things remembered with photographs are important, but sometimes there are events so significant in our history, we must take time to really ponder them.

A couple of summers ago, our family visited the Vietnam War Memorial in DC and I paused to think about a friend of mine whose name is listed on that huge slab of black granite captured in this great photo by Brenda Tharp.

War Memorial © Brenda Tharp All rights reserved

The service, loyalty, and sacrifice of those parents, grandparents, siblings and friends who have served in the armed forces and, perhaps have left us, warrant our thoughts and prayers. Perhaps a stroll through family photograph albums or the galleries at BetterPhoto will help to remind us of this.

Before signing off, if you haven't already noticed, there’s something new in the Blogs - a neat feature that Jay Wadley created. When looking at either of the main collective blogs - Instructor Insights or Notes from Team BetterPhoto - in the column on the right, you will see a link to each of the contributor’s entries. So, whenever you like, you may read all of the entries by one particular instructor or a BetterPhoto team member, like Kerry Drager, who doubles as an instructor. What a terrific amount of excellent information can be found. Why it’s almost like taking a class or reading an article at BetterPhoto.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Better Price for BetterPhoto Summit

Good news! We were able to find a much less expensive meeting room for the BetterPhoto Summit and are passing the savings on to you.

The Summit is now only $297! We were able to reduce the price AND the summit is being held is a nice, convenient-to-the-airport Hilton.

And we have a lot more goodies and details to post soon.

Ebay Selling!!

Well, we are officially a part of the eBay community! We are testing out a pilot program wherein we are offering signed books, DVDs, etc. up for auction on eBay. If we get a good response we will eventually be opening a BetterPhoto store on eBay. So to all of our amazingly wonderful community members out there - check out our ebay selling!! Here's a link to our very first auction!

Email Notification

When uploading photos or participating in Q&A/Discussions on Betterphoto.com, there is a checkbox that determines whether you want to be notified via email of any comments or thread activity. In the past we left this checkbox checked by default. Several members commented that it was a hassle to uncheck this box every time they did not want notifications. We changed the pages so that the box was unchecked by default. We have since received a lot of feedback from members who were disappointed that comments had been made on their photos but they were unaware because they had forgotten to check the notification box.

Because of this, we added the ability for each member to decide if they want the notification checked or unchecked by default. We hope this will allow everyone to control email as they see fit. We have set the default to on for everyone now. If you would like to change your notification default, go to the "Member Info" tab of your member center and you will see instructions there.

Photo Contest, Photo Summit... So Many Things to Talk About

We just announced the April 2005 photography contest winners - WHEW! What a task and what a thrill!

I enjoy overseeing the final rounds of the contest so much - the photos never cease to amaze me. That's the best part... being inspired by the incredibly excellent and beautiful pictures. The worst part is having to narrow it down to only 111 winners - that's just cruel, both for the contestants and for us here at BetterPhoto.com.

I was especially impressed to see one name come several times. Charles Inglefield really cleaned up! Welcome to BetterPhoto, Chuck! Fantastic job, especially for your first time at BetterPhoto.

And watch out, BPers... there's a new contestant on the playing field :)

Here's Chuck's winning photo:

Photography Contest Grand Prize Winner - Dusk © Charles L. Inglefield All rights reserved

Chuck certainly wasn't the only one to knock my socks off. I was floored by the quality of work in every one of the winning images, as well as all of the photography contest finalists too.

One more thing: Regarding the BetterPhoto Summit, many of you are emailing us with great feedback. The two key things you are saying are that a) you need more in order to justify the travel; and b) you want details.

We do plan on offering exciting 1-3 day post-summit workshops and tours, where you will get to put what you learn into practice. I have a whole bunch of other fun surprises up my sleeve too. I just haven't had a chance to write them up. (Had to make sure we finished the contest first.)

As far as details go, same thing applies. Keep an eye on the photography home page and the photography summit page, as we will be posting the logistics and other details as soon as possible.

It's going to be a fun one!

Children's Family Photos

Just this morning, I was reviewing the family calendar with my son, Mack, and realized...summer is less than a month away! I always envision the summer to be filled with routine for our family: swim practice, workbook time, reading time, "Kitchen Open/Kitchen Closed" time, and I will have my camera out constantly to capture my children's family photos. We always start off on the right track, but by week #3 of summer vacation, workbooks and reading books are gathering dust, the kitchen seems to be an "all you can eat, anytime you want" buffet, and I have yet to fill my CF card with great shots of the kids.

Two summers ago, I bought my first digital camera, the Nikon Coolpix 4300. It was so exciting to embark on this great adventure of Digital Photography, especially as we were leaving on a week long family camping trip. On the 7 hour drive from Seattle to the beautiful dunes of Oregon Dunes National Park, I took the camera, the manual and Jims' Absolute Beginners Guide with me. I read and tried to absorb every bit of Jims' book (and small bits of the coolpix manual).

I had a lot of fun experimenting with the camera, using many of the manual features and feeling like I had nothing to lose (meaning, no film to waste). I did manage to fill my CF card many times and the photos I took are still my favorites today. We had such a wonderful family adventure in Oregon, and I managed to capture a small slice of it:

Remembering to use fill flash for face shadows:
Andie After A Hike

Rule of Thirds:
Mack in Eugene

But that was two years ago! Last summer, I did NOT manage to fill my card and capture the rosy glow of my summer time kids, the first "dive-in" at the swim meet, the first horse back ride, waterskiing at Lake Chelan or any of the family adventures ripe with photographic opportunities.

Summer 05 will prove to be different, I am armed with the many tips gained from our Q&A, wonderful lessons and insights from Jay Formans Capturing Your Kids course and the many BP members that I have come to know via email to hold me accountable.

Have a great week!

Photography Contest

If you are a contestant of our monthly Photography Contest, wondering when the April winners will be announced...

Bear with us. We had another grueling battle these past two days with Adware, spyware and other nasty stuff like that. My systems appear to be working again so knock on wood, we will have the winners. Monday is what I am estimating. Please pass it on and let all your BetterPhoto friends know.

Here's an Internet prayer to take with you this weekend:

"God bless my enemies. Love those that spam me. Bless hackers with a glimpse of your satisfaction and peacefulness. Do good unto those who thoughtlessly abuse my computer. I pray that they see your goodness and learn how to be better on the Internet."