NEW! Easier TRP and Gallery Search Navigation!

Check out the Photo.net Top Rated Photos and Gallery
Search areas. Now with 100% easier navigation!

You will notice the "[first page] [previous page]" and "[next page] [last page]" buttons. Along with page number buttons to skip ahead a few pages at a time. This should allow users to easily browse deeply into the massive stack of p hotos that we've got here at photo.net.

Plenty more improvements are on the way. Everyone thank your friendly programmers (and buy me a beer).

Easter Photos--Editors' Picks

Happy after-Easter-week! To celebrate, the photo.net editors have highlighted some of the members' best work relating to this holiday in the Editors' Picks: Easter Photos article.

"Easter: a time for family gatherings, children in Easter dresses frantically searching for brightly colored Easter eggs, artistic Easter egg decorations, spring flowers budding, baby animal cuddling, Easter bunny watching..." -Photo.net editors

View More: Editors' Picks: Easter Photos


Spring... Image by Eduard Koller

NEW! "More photos by ______" thumbnails on gallery image pages.

If you go to any single image page in your gallery, you will now see a "more
photos by " box on the right side next to the comments. There will
be three
thumbnail images picked randomly from your portfolio. There will also be a text
link to your full portfolio.

The purpose of this is to encourage viewers to dig deeper into photo.net
portfolios. A user might have come to your image page via a google search, or a
image you placed in the critique forum, or by a link sent to them by a friend.
What we want to do is to help give them a reason to view more of your images.
The photographers on Photo.net have some great images and we want to help them
get viewed.

This is good for us, as it encourages existing users to become more involved
with the site (instead of just critiquing one image of a particular user's,
perhaps they will critique three) and it encourages new users to explore the
site and perhaps join our community. It is good for our users because it help
encourage more visibility of their images and hopefully increases
views/comments/ratings/sales/jobs/etc (whatever reason a particular user has for
presenting work on photo.net).

One important note, images that you have in "hidden" folders will NOT show up as
thumbnails. We figure that people have any number of reasons for using the
"hidden" feature, and we do not wish to mess that up.

Spring Photos--New Editors' Picks

Happy first day of Spring! To celebrate, the photo.net editors have highlighted some of the members' best work relating to this seasonal time of year in the Editors' Picks: Spring Photos article.

"Spring: flowers budding, a time of renewal and rebirth, happy birds warbling, spring peepers singing in chorus, brightly colored nature being revived, gleeful children playing outside, warm sunny days and cool nights, washes of pastels and bright hues..." -Photo.net editors

View More: Editors' Picks: Spring Photos


Spring... Image by Katerina Lomonosov

Pentax Limited Lens review on Photo.net

The Pentax Limited lenses designed for digital Pentax cameras are also referred to as "pancake" lenses for their small compact size. Thanks to Josh Root and Justin Serpico, we now have more insight as to their capabilities and performance value.

"Choosing a three-lens kit is a particularly intense subject of conversation among those who eschew zooms. Thousands of posts have been made on the subject in the photo.net Leica Forum. The Pentax Limited line does a good job of covering the most popular choices with its approximate 32/60/105 focal length choices. Some photographers feel that the line is skewed to the long end and they have a legitimate point. However, Pentax has recently countered that accusation by introducing a 15mm (aprox 23mm equiv.) Limited lens." -Josh Root

Read more: Pentax Limited lenses


Image by Josh Root

Nikon D3 Review on Photo.net

Nikon is making strides in the realm of DSLRs with the release of their top-of-the-line pro full-frame sensor camera, the Nikon D3. Shun Cheung, Nikon photographer and forum moderator on Photo.net, had the fortune to experience first-hand the capabilities and dynamic features of the Nikon full-frame camera.


"Based on its specifications such as 9 frames per second (fps), a new state-of-the-art Multi-CAM 3500 AF module, and a relatively modest 12MP resolution, it is clear that the D3 is optimized for sports, news, and wildlife photography. Additionally, since the D3 has excellent high-ISO performance for indoor existing-light conditions, it should also be a great wedding camera." -Shun Cheung

Read More: Nikon D3


Image by Shun Cheung

Arrrrgggghhh! Photo.net is down

Sorry folks, the computer gremlins have gotten the best of us. Of course this happens in the middle of the night on the US east coast, the worst time to get someone in to work on the server.

But we will get things back up as soon as we can. If it looks like it is going to be a long outage, I will update this post.

-Josh

Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro USM Lens Review

Philip reviewed the Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro USM Lens. This is a very sharp portrait lens that can be focused down to 1:1.

"A 100mm macro lens has long been the standard for photographers using full-frame cameras. The magnification of the 100mm lens provides sufficient working distance from most subjects and does not add a lot of weight or bulk compared to shorter macro lenses."
-Philip Greenspun

Read More: Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro Lens Review


Image by Philip Greenspun

St. Patrick's Day Photos

The Photo.net editors have published a St. Patrick's Day Photos article, highlighting some of the members' best work relating to this thematic holiday.

"St. Patrick's Day: green in many hues, a frothy pint of Guinness, playful characters in a St. Patrick's Day parade, four-leaf clovers after a rainstorm, a lonely musician pasted on an Irish landscape, spritely leprechaun figures, portraits of snakes, figurative and concrete representations of this international holiday..." -Photo.net editors

View More: Editors' Picks: St. Patrick's Day Photos


Image by Roberto Poggiali

Canon 85/1.2L Lens Review

Philip reviewed the Canon 85/1.2L lens. This is a fast high-quality short telephoto lens designed for full frame sensor cameras.

"What's so exciting about an f/1.2 lens? In medium light, the lens can produce an extremely shallow depth of field, throwing any background distractions out of focus. In low light, the lens supports reasonable motion-stopping shutter speeds without forcing the photographer to choose a high noise ISO 1600 or ISO 3200."
-Philip Greenspun

Read More: Canon 85/1.2L Lens Review


Image by Philip Greenspun

Final Articles in the Business of Wedding Photography Series

Learning to make excellent images is only half of the equation to being a professional photographer. Learning to build, promote and run a successful business is equally important if you want to make a career of photography. Covering everything from promotion to legal issues, there are 11 articles to complete the Photo.net discussion on the business of wedding photography. The final 3 topics have been published:

9. Wedding digital workflow
10. Wedding albums, shopping carts, and other products
11. Further tips and advice

"I photograph in RAW and process using Capture One. I then export the files as TIFFs and bring into Photoshop to tweak. Editing is done with iView in thumbnail mode." -Jeff Ascough

"The albums we use varies. Perhaps the most expensive is White Glove, other companies include Art Leather, Leather Craftsmen, and a few others, depending on the client's budget and taste. Capri is also used a lot because the rep comes to our studios at least once a year." -Bob Bernardo

Read More: Business of Wedding Photography


Image by Marc Williams