If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

It’s been so long since I distributed some link love, and more importantly directed my readers to some great articles around the photography blogs world, that this edition will go a little back than a week.

Nonetheless, these are all great reads and teach something of value.

So, here we go:

• Thomas Hawk, the author of that fantastic video I shared sometime back, published a couple of posts with his views on copyright law and fair use. Although I completely agree with the first one, in reducing the time frame in which a work is copyrighted, the second one is a little more controversial and I’d have to think about it more deeply and in view of my own situation. But go there and read what Thomas has to say.

• David at the Digital Pro Talk shares 12 ways to really improve your photography in 2008. Great tips to really rediscover yourself and your photography.

• After that mild confusion that spread at the first sound of new laws coming that would affect photographers while traveling, Ben from the Complete Digital Photography wrote some more about it with a clarification. It seems that there are no reasons to panic after all.

• And it seems that the subject of Creative Commons will never be dead. This time it was Dan Heller’s Photography Business Blog’s turn to share his view on the subject. And it goes more deeply than it seems at first sight. Later on, Dan published a Proposal for the Creative Commons that would serve photography better.

• And if you are a photographer you know what a portfolio is. But do you know the best way to create yours? Brian, again with the high quality posts he has us used to, shares some tips on the Art of Making a Portfolio. It is a subject that I’ll probably return sometime in the future as I think there is some more to be said about it.

• On a more technical side, bokeh has been and continues to be a way to increase the beauty of a photo and direct attention to your subject. To create bokeh there is the lens way and the photoshop way, and Jeff at Beyond Megapixels teaches both. If you want more on how to use shallow Depth of Field to create bokeh and make those photos “shine”, Lau at PhotoAxe has a nice tutorial.

• Now, on to portrait photography. Besides the 31 Tips Brian “concluded” from his December challenge (nice ones by the way), there was one other, this time at the digital Photography School, that caught my eye: Catchlights (no pun intended). Those little things that add great value to portraits or, according to some professionals, ruin them.

And with a list this big, besides all the other posts from blogs you might be subscribed to, you have more than enough to keep you busy.

Ok, time to get this blog rolling again.

On my previous post, I’ve explained why I was absent for so long…  

Now it’s time to get my stuff together and bring the blog back to life again.

And nothing better for that than start with what has called my attention in photography lately.

Without further delays:

•  Haje at Photocritic.org has a very good article on how minimalist photography can be as or more powerful as photography that contains a lot of information. When less is more shows very good examples of using less information to highlight certain areas of your photos.

• Shutterbox Philippines reports a serious new firmware for Canon Digic II based point and shoot cameras.

How does it sound to have your camera shoot in raw mode, have a live histogram, a DOF-calculator, file browser, among others? Good, right? Go there and read all this firmware can do for your point and shooter.

• Casually, Trevor at Photowalking.org found out that he has a forum after all. Ok, maybe not one of the best things to have neglected for long, but if it grows it can provide a good place for photowalking discussions. Since I know that many out there are avid fans of photowalking, why not going there and talking a look around?

• Many photographers have considered, at one time or other in their careers, turning pro or at least turning photography into a business opportunity. Having a well set portfolio to showcase your work and approach potential clients is a must. If you are interested in this kind of approach, Photopreneur published 3 steps for a better photography portfolio that are sure to give you a better foundation instead of the “how the hell do I do this” way.

And that’s enough “linkage” for this week. Enjoy…

• Remember the post “Story behind the image” from some time back to spread the word on Jim’s project? A week ago he published the links to the 21 photos and stories submitted. It gives for some interesting reading with very beautiful photos. It’s curious to see what makes a photographer want to freeze a moment.

 

• Thinking about upgrading your camera? Sushee at Photography Tip published an article going through some questions you should ask yourself before making that decision.

 

• As you might have seen in the post “Are Digital Cameras destroying photography?” I’m an vigorous adept of learning how a camera works and planning a photo before taking the shot. Wingerz has a nice review of the major things you should know about your camera settings and how they influence the outcome of the photo. Although is a somewhat simplistic approach, if you know this things you are on the right track to learn much more.