photo © 2010 Courtney Carmody | more info (via: Wylio)

Photography Tutorials

How to Use the Healing Brush and Patch Tool in Photoshop – A video rundown of this topic from Sean over at Fstoppers. All their stuff is well worth watching.

Making Image Adjustments in the Histogram – As the title says, Digital Photo Buzz takes you through the basics of adjustments in Light Room with your histogram. It’s basic, but a good introduction for beginners or reminder for seasoned photographers.

Setting Your Lightroom 3 Preferences: The External Editing Tab – A good little video rundown of setting up your Lightroom preferences to let you easily switch between editing programs like Photoshop.

How to Take Better Pictures for Beginner Photographers – It’s definitely for beginners, but it’s a solid introductions to exposure, metering and modes that a beginner may not be familiar with. One to point your friends to if they ask you how to use their DSLR.

How to Use Backdrops to Improve Your Photography – A good tutorial from Chase Guttman who also happens to be a regular on the Light Stalking forums and an award winning photographer.

Black and White, Monochrome or Duotone? – Takes you through the basics of setting up to print these ways.

How to Keep Your Camera Clean – From the folks over at B&H. A basic rundown, but worth a read.

Batch Resizing in Photoshop – Shows you how to resize an entire collection of images easily.

Filling the Shadows with Flash – A rundown of fill flash with examples. Worth a look for beginners to see what it does.

photo © 2008 George Eastman House | more info (via: Wylio)

Camera Gear

The Nikon D90 vs the D7000: Should You Upgrade? – This one certainly isn’t shy in encouraging you to upgrade to the D7000. Find out why.

DIY Optical Ring Flash – This looks kind of like a space alien. But we’re sure it would work perfectly well and save a few dollars.

Nikon D3100 Review – A rundown of this new entry-level DSLR with some impressive results. From the prolific folks at Digital Photography School.

A Practical Comparison of the Nikon Pro DSLR Camera Line – The top five camera that Nikon buyers are likely to get and what you get for your money.

Photograph Collections

Amazing Pictures: 30 Minimalist Landscapes – The folks who run this website also publish a heap of cool magazines and guides. A great collection, but be sure to check out the rest of the site as well.

Some Amazing Wedding Photography Images to Inspire – A solid collection that wedding buffs will enjoy.

9 Cool Infrared Photos – A small collection of a fun technique.

Photography News & Business

The Stolen Scream – A shocking video about a guy whose photograph was stolen and went totally viral around the world… without him even knowing it. Worth a watch if you want to be more informed about the copyright debates.

The War on Cameras – This is an important issue for photographers who value their freedom. This is an interactive map of where photographers have been harassed. Not cool.

33 Ways Photographers Can Use QR Codes – A new technology that some early adopter photographers are using to market their photography business is explained in this article.

Photography Tutorials, Case Studies and Discounts - LightStalking Photography Newsletter.

For those of you who have a subscription, it has been announced in the magazine this month and online at the competition website. Christopher’s photograph will also appear in the magazine in April. Grab a copy from your news agent.

Christopher has been a regular writer for Light Stalking over the past year and judging from the reaction to his articles, a very popular addition to the team. The prize is the latest in a series of wins for Christopher as he expands his portfolio and business on the back of his extraordinary landscapes.

You can read some of Christopher’s work right here on Light Stalking. He was the author of our latest Quick Guide on Black and White Landscape Photography. His other popular articles include:

• Create Stunning Coastal Landscape With These 7 Tips
• How to Add Mist to Your Landscapes With Photoshop
• How to Photograph Snow
• An Introduction to Dodging and Burning in Photography
• How to Prepare Your Photographs for Black and White

You should also chase down Christopher at his other online haunts. He has a great Facebook page in addition to his landscape photography website. We also finally managed to convince him to get onto Twitter. Better late than never!

So congratulations to Christopher. We know his success is going to continue.

Photography Tutorials, Case Studies and Discounts - LightStalking Photography Newsletter.

With the help of Jason Smith, a great photographer from Newcastle, we’ll be spending part of an afternoon walking around the streets of Newtown in Sydney. If you’re not familiar with Newtown, it’s full of street art and crazy characters and there is no shortage of great things to capture with a camera. We have planned out a great route that will take you past a lot of the best stuff on offer like the murals below.

For those of you with a competitive nature, we will also be offering a prize for the best image taken on the day though we still haven’t organised the prize yet! Stay tuned. But note there is no requirement to compete at all.

The Details

When: 3 PM, Saturday September, 25th

Meet: Outside Newtown Neighbourhood Center, 1 Bedford St, Newtown.

Directions: It is directly opposite Newtown Train Station on King St.

Map:
View Larger Map

Plan: 90 Minute circuit covering street art on Denison St, Abermarle St and Camperdown Memorial Rest Park (including church) then along Victoria St, Stephen St (more street art) then back to the beginning along King St. (We will supply a map of the route).

After that, we might even go grab a meal or a drink at one of Newtown’s many restaurants or pubs for anybody who is interested in chatting a bit more about photography (this part is very informal).

RSVP: Please sign up below so we have an idea of numbers.

Photography Tutorials, Case Studies and Discounts - LightStalking Photography Newsletter.

We’re giving away five of David DuChemin’s photography guides. In fact, the winners can even choose which of David’s great books they would like.

If you’re not familiar with David, he’s a prolific photographer and author of five ebooks on improving your camera craft without spending any extra money on gear. If you’re a believer in the idea that skill trumps gear, then you will love these guides. (Affiliate Link)

The Rules

To enter the competition, all you need to do is go over to the Light Stalking Facebook group, sign up and post a photo to the wall.

At Midnight December 10 (GMT) we will tally up which 5 individuals have the most “likes” on their photos to find the winners.

You can post as many photos as you like to the wall, but an individual will only be awarded a single one of the five prizes. We’re trying to spread the love!

What’s next?

It’s simple.

1) Join the Light Stalking Facebook group.

2) Post a photo to the group’s wall.

3) Get your Facebook friends to “like” your photo.

What are you waiting for?

Photography Tutorials, Case Studies and Discounts - LightStalking Photography Newsletter.