500px is celebrating their 4th birthday and are doing it in style, they are giving away a Fujifilm X100S!

This is a great camera and don't take my word for it, check out what Dave Hobby, Zack Arias, and Ken Rockwell all had to say about it.

Dave Hobby - "As for myself, I am starting my 2013 round of HCAC assignments and many will be shot with this camera. It's that good" - read Dave's full review

Zack Arias - "The x100s is my desert island camera" - read Zack's full review

Ken Rockwell - "the world's best available-light camera" - read Ken's full review

You will find plenty of sample images Dave and Zack shot with the X100s that you will surely want to see, so be sure to check out their reviews.

Simply follow this link over to the 500px blog for all the details on how you can enter the contest.

Good luck!!!!

Yup, it was just announced yesterday, that the 2013 Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk will be kicking off in October.

And yours truly will be leading the walk to be held here in Portland Maine. I have led this walk before and it has always been a great deal of fun, you get to make new (photography) friends, take some great shots, and fill your lungs with fresh air.

All good things.

The walk does not take place until October 5th, but your can reserve your seat today.

I really hope to see you there.

If you enjoy taking pictures of flowers (and who doesn't?), then the Gardens in Focus Photography Competition could be right up your alley.

One of the cool features about the competition is not only do you have the chance to win money, there is the opportunity (only if you want it) to sell prints of your photograph as well.

Here are a few of the details:

Categories:

* Plants in a Botanic Garden (Amateur)
* Plants in a Botanic Garden (Professional)
* Creatures in a Botanic Garden (Amateur)
* Creatures in a Botanic Garden (Professional)
* Out & About in a Botanic Garden (Amateur)
* Out & About in a Botanic Garden (Professional)
* International Botanic Gardens (Open)
* My Secret Garden (Open)

Prizes:

The photographer of the overall winning image will be awarded the first prize of $2,000 in cash and will have their images displayed with the prestigious International Garden Photographer of the Year competition in the UK and published in the IGPOTY book.

Second prize - $1,000 in cash

Third prize - $500 in cash

Category prizes - $150 each category

People’s choice prize - $300 in cash

Plus all winning and grand finalist photographs are featured printed and framed under glass in an exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney. Selected framed prints from the exhibition will be available for purchase (subject to the agreement of the photographer).

"Pic of the Month" - monthly prize

You can get the rest of the details here.

As a follow-up to our last post, here are a few things I wanted to share regarding one of the cameras we talked about, the Nikon D800 (a camera I own and LOVE).

Did you know that the video quality is so good that there are some TV shows that shoot exclusively with the D800? Check it out.

In my interview with Michael Clark, he said that some of the best video files he sees are coming out of the D800.

As many of you know, I shoot weddings with Stacey Kane, and she has become a huge D800 fan, having moved from the Nikon D3 to the D800 for one reason, image quality.

There is a reason those images look so good, according to organizations like DXO Labs, is that the D800 sensor is the best in the world.

Two very thorough, informative (and glowing) reviews you will want to read:

1. The first is the "Nikon D800 Review" from PhotgraphyLife.com - "I am very impressed... the Nikon D800 will become the camera of choice for my photography needs".

2. Is from Ken Rockwell, here is his review of the Nikon D800. "The D800 is the best DSLR ever made by anyone at any price".

Both of these reviews are phenomenally in-depth.

If you are seriously considering a new camera, you can not do better than the Nikon D800 and you can get it for $2700 with free shipping.

Lastly, if you own (or are expecting to own) this camera you can get an in-depth step-by-step tour of the Nikon D800 with John Greengo over at CreativeLive for just $49.

I recently read three posts comparing the Nikon D4, D800, and D600 that I want to share with you.








The first, "Nikon D4 vs D800 vs D600 full-frame low-light showdown" is from Pocket Lint and does a very nice job comparing noise between the three cameras.

The Second is from my photography man crush Ken Rockwell and his post is "The Nikon D600, D800 and D4 are the same camera inside!" in it he gives you his side by side comparison of all three (along with links to his in-depth reviews of each) and explains why the D600 is the smartest financial move.




Third, is a lively discussion covering "D800 High ISO" with Shun Cheung at Photo.net, lot's of visual evidence, lots of reader input.




Considering price, the Nikon D4 is $5996 (or $4899 refurbished) , the D800 is $2796, and the D600 is $1996 so (unless you are a sports photographer and need high frames per second rate) the choice is rather obvious.

Okay, there is no free money, it was just a shameless ploy on my part to get you to continue reading.

;)

But seriously, here are resources that will provide you some very cool, very useful free tools that will help you do the things you do even better.

We have five resources for you today, each with multiple resources and tools, so it may take you a while to work your way through all of them, and as you do know that they all have the Weekly Photo Tips "wicked good" stamp of approval.


1.The CoffeeShop Blog. You'll find actions, presets, templates, textures and a whole lot more.

2.Pioneer Woman. Get yourself a copy of  "The Pioneer Woman Actions".

3. Heather Green. Heather is giving away a Google plus template, a Flickr cover template, a re-size and sharpen for Facebook Photoshop action, along with Nik Silver Efex preset.

4. MCP Actions. Not only will you find free actions and free presets, you'll also have access to some pretty cool tutorials.

5. Amy McMaster. Like the previous four resources you'll find some good stuff here as well, like Sharpen This!, Facebook & Blog resize and sharpen actions, and Basic Clean Edit (and more).

You will surely like what you find on these sites, so crank up the bandwidth, you've got some downloading to do!

I usually don't "forecast" upcoming blog posts, but... as most of you know if we post on weekends it's usually (way) off the topic of photography and I have two posts planned for this weekend that I think you'll enjoy, at the very least it will cause you to pause... and think (I hope).

See you tomorrow.

Just in case dad is a photographer, here are a few suggestions.

As is always the case, not only is this stuff on sale, it also comes with free shipping.

LumiQuest Wedding/Event Kit with Quik Bounce Light Modifier -$34

You can check out our LumiQuest review here, a great little light modifier.

Flashpoint VL-48, Macro Ring Light - $39

X-Rite Digital ColorChecker Passport, Exposure & White Balance System - $79

You can check out our ColorChecker review here, I use this ALL the time and think there is nothing better for getting color correct.

Think Tank Airport 4-Sight Four Wheel Roller - $149

Lexar 64GB Professional 800x CompactFlash Card - 2 Pack - $249 

Since I stared shooting with the Nikon D800 I have moved to this memory cards to accommodate the large file size and have been extremely happy with their performance.

Tiffen 77mm Variable Neutral Density ND Filter - 2 to 8 Stop - $149

Check out our Scott Kelby Long exposure tutorial to see this kind of filter in action. I own it and love it.

Flashpoint Carbon Fiber Tripod, with Ball Head - $149

Lastly, every penny of every affiliate check we get goes to feeding the hungry, so here is a chance to get outstanding gear at sale prices while also giving a hand to those in need.

Thank you.

At what point does one step over the line and go from good photshop to BAD?

In my humble opinion, this is yet another example of Photoshop run far amuck.

It's one thing to "tweak" an image with Photoshop, it's another thing to hit it would a pound of C4!

This video is less than a minute, so please you tell me (leave a comment below), good thing or bad?