The ins and outs of Polarizing Filters

An interesting tutorial on polarizing filters. The full written review can be found here.

Sony Competes with the Big Boys: Sony A900 24.6 MP

The Sony A900 promises to offer Canon and Nikon serious competition in the pro camera field.

At a price tag of about 3,000 dollars, this 24.6 MP camera will have such features as body image stabilization and five-frames-per-second shooting speed.

The camera will be built tough, having a magnesium body with rubber seals. One feature will the be ability to use a practice shot to set white balance and other settings. Will Nikon, which just recently released the D700 with 12.1 MP at a similar price, be upended? Time will tell.

A full review of the Sony A900 can be found here. Thanks to Gizmodo for the first leaked magazine ad for the Sony A900.

Photography News: Become a more Knowledgeable Photographer

Photography can take you in many directions. Perhaps you are just a beginner, or have reached a more advanced plateau. But no matter where you are at, there is always a higher rung to reach. One quality I have found incredibly useful is to have self-confidence in your ability to reach for the next rung in the ladder. To reach higher it is important to follow the lead of others who are climbing ahead of you.

An excellent read is: "The Pitch:Book Proposals that Hit their Mark" In this six-page article you will follow three proposals that found their way to print in the very difficult market of photography books. Interestingly, all three proposals had elements in common, and could help give you an edge in getting your book published. You will see the process from both the photographer's point of view and that of the publishers.

Recommended: A video interview with Photographer Munem Wasif, a current and popular photographer from Bangladesh. He is attending the Visa pour l'Image festival and is noted for his black and white photographs and documenting global warming.


Photocritic always presents interesting content for photographers. Now, here is how to make an extreme Macro lens for your DSLR out of a Pringles tube. And you can enjoy a snack while you do it. Some of his example photos are awesome.

Picasa 3 beta: Make Your own Movie

Today I downloaded the new Picasa 3, and ran it through some paces. I have always used Picasa to organize my photos. Having thousands of photos on three drives, it's been been quite an organizational endeavor! Picasa has helped me with this gigantic task, and I really like the quick search functions. I have, though, rarely used the editing tools.

Now Picasa 3 is out and with it new features. Things that I liked:

1) A very fast download, and it integrates quickly with Picasa 2.

2) New features with photo editing tasks,all in a very straightforward format.

3) Improved collage tools that have considerably more functionality than of those found in Picasa 2.

4) An easy way to Geo-tag pictures.

5) A smart facial recognition tool, that finds photos with faces, and can find faces by name.

6) The ability to make movies, quickly and easily from stills, that can be posted on both uTube and Flickr.

Well, I was anxious to see Picasa's movie-making abilities and tried it out immediately. It was quite easy and worked flawlessly. The simplicity of the process amazed me - it happened with one click. I am already thinking about using it as a marketing tool for my photos.


The main drawback at present is that you cannot add audio to your movie, but that will soon change. Picasa 3 is still in beta, and adding audio is planned but not yet implemented.

On the whole, I recommend the Picasa 3 download. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.