Top 20 iPhone Photography App Updates Today - 10/07/10

Apple have approved 20 iPhone photography apps today and they look great. Take a look at the list of updated apps below, I have included a 'What's New' section within each one for you to check out.

Hipstamatic

The Hipstamatic brings back the look, feel, unpredictable beauty, and fun of plastic toy cameras of the past! The Hipstamatic keeps the the quirks of shooting old school but gives you the ability to swap lenses, film, and flash settings all with the swipe of a finger.

What's new

NEW FEATURES
+ New toggle on the camera front to switch between High / Medium / Standard quality (Medium quality is only available on iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4)
+ EXIF / GPS metadata is now saved to the Photo Library (camera roll)

BUG FIXES
+ Fixed a bug where the app could become "stuck" in High quality mode
+ Fixed a bug where 'High Quality' mode on iPod touch was incorrectly scaling images up
+ Other bug fixed

Price: $1.99/Download

Panorama Mosaicker

Mosaicker automatically arranges and seamlessly blends multiple photos to create seamless panoramas.

What's new

Added auto crop feature.
Bug fix for very high resolution setting when processing longer videos.

Price: $1.99/Download

CamKewl

CamKewl is all-in-one app you need for camera.

What's new

* More colors in Accenting!!
* 'Movie Mode' button in options table for iPhone 3GS and iTouch4. Blitz issue fixed in iTouch4.
* Help page updated.
* Bug fixes in Accenting and overall algorithm improvement. Hi-Res Retina Display icons.

Price: $0.99/Download

Simple DoF Calculator

Simple DoF Calculator allows photographers to calculate the depth of field and hyperfocal distance for any given settings. It calculates the near limit, far limit, total depth of field, hyperfocal distance, distance in front of the subject and distance behind the subject. The app shows al those calculated values in a simple image without unnecessary information.

What's new

v2.0
- Completely new interface with better graphics for the iPhone 4
- Native iPad support
- Fast switching between 2 cameras
- New cameras can now be downloaded
- Support for backgrounding in iOS 4.0
- View distance in front of and behind focus point

v2.0.1
- Fixed crashes at startup on iOS 3.x
- Improved alerts on connection errors

v2.0.2
- Bugfix for sometimes displaying the wrong circle of confusion (iPad)
- Fixed spelling

Price: $1.99/Download

Photo Rotate

This application lets you rotate photos. Sometimes, when holding your iPhone at a strange angle and taking a photo, the orientation of the photo is incorrect. This app lets you correct the rotation of the photo, so you can view it correctly, or upload it to a site such as facebook the correct way up.

What's new

* Stability: fixed a crash that could occur
* UI Tweaks including a new Icon
* Ready for iOS 4.2

Price: $0.99/Download

WiiPhoto

WiiPhoto is an amazing couch-photo-viewing app that turns your widescreen television into a huge digital photo frame. The Wii console connected to your TV, combined with the ease-of-use of WiiPhoto makes it possible to enjoy photos from a plethora of photo sources: your iPhone/iPod touch/iPad itself, Facebook, Flickr, SmugMug or a Mac (including integrated support for iPhoto libraries).

WiiPhoto offers everything you need to share vacation photos with family and friends. Or to browse through the photo albums of your Facebook friends. Or to explore today's most interesting photos on Flickr. Imagine all these photos appearing on your television with just a few taps and without requiring any additional cables.

What's new

- modified Flickr artwork as requested by Flickr

Price: $2.99/Download

Video Edit

Video Edit is the FASTEST way to edit and render videos on the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 4G. Over 10x faster than iMovie!

What's new

★ The fastest HD rendering available
★ 10X faster than iMovie!
★ Significant user interface improvements.
★ Improved swipe to delete projects.
★ Ooodles of bug fixes

Price: $2.99/Download

GPS MapCard 2

Easily share your photo with map.

What's new

∙ Faster upload a image.
∙ Some bugs fixed.

Price: $2.99/Download

Nikon Lenses

The Nikon Lenses app is a guide to Nikon's current lineup of F-Mount lenses used by both Nikon's digital and film SLR cameras.

What's new

New Features:
Added ability to constrain displayed lenses to just DX, VR, SWM, ED, or IF flagged lenses.

Bug Fixes:
Fixed crash when tapping on lens picture.

Free/Download

Burst Mode

Grab hundreds of snapshot at a blazing rate of 24 frames per second!!!

What's new

Thumbnails view
Photo sequences
Frames stacking

Price:$1.99/Download

Explore Flickr

Want to see the most interesting, vibrant and beautiful images on flickr.com right on your iPad or iPhone? Explore Flickr will show you this stunning photography from around the world in perfect high definition.

What's new

★ Compatibility with iOS4 on iPhone.
★ Bug fixes

Free/Download

Time Lapse Photo Journal Pro (Upload & Share Videos)

Time Lapse Photo Journal makes it easy to create Photo Journals of your life by taking and adding photos of yourself, or your loved ones. Then you can play back the photos you take over the weeks, months and years, as Time Lapse video slideshows. And the video can be uploaded to Facebook and YouTube to share with your friends.

What's new

Several bug fixes and performance improvements

ShutterSnitch

Wirelessly transfer images to your iPad from your Eye-Fi card, Canon, Nikon or other filetransmitter that supports uploading to an FTP server over your wireless network.

What's new

• Progressview while receiving files from an Eye-Fi card.
• Receive photos from multiple Eye-Fi cards.
• Position counter displayed when new images arrives.
• Setting addded to turn off automatic jump to new incoming photos.
• Export selection list containing filename and star rating via E-mail.
• Added a setting to save smaller photos to the Photos app.
• Bug/security fixes

Price: $7.99/Download

CinemaFX for Video

Record videos on your iPhone and give it the hollywood glamor treatment like our CinemaFX app for photos. Go back in time and create a retro 8mm home movie. Or if you are a fan of the edgy and rich toy camera look, for the first time ever you can create toy camera style videos and share them with the world.

Price: $1.99/Download

Photopular - The Missing Flickr Client

With Photopular, you can view your Flickr.com statistics right on your iPhone or iPod Touch. (Flickr PRO account required)

What's new

- Bug fixes (when there has been no activity on your Flickr account in the last week)
- The graph is now refreshed automatically

Price: $1.99/Download

SwankoLab

Complete with smells of photo chemistry and sounds of mad science being made, your SwankoLab comes with everything you need to turn any image into a retro misprinted masterpiece. Choose chemicals, process photos, and experiment. You’re the artist / chemist / creative genius-- have fun!

What's new

NEW FEATURES
- New Chemical ‘Rasputin’ (for Stu’s Catalog subscribers)
- Support for Retina Display on iPhone 4 and iPod touch (4th generation)
- Background processing for developing prints (iOS 4 only)
- Prints can now be shared directly to Facebook from within the app
- EXIF metadata is now saved to prints recording the chemicals used (iOS 4.1 only)

BUG FIXES
- Fixes the Black & White (+ Blue) effect bug
- Other iOS 4 bug fixes

Price: $1.99/Download

iPicasso - Picasa Web Albums Manager

Now you can access all of your Picasa web albums and videos with just a single tap. Manage your photos, view your friends’ pictures and videos and more with iPicasso. You are going to love how easy this app makes the sharing and caring of your Picasa accounts. Click “...More” to learn why you should download this App today!

What's new

- ability to edit and name Picasa accounts
- friendly message when Picasa storage quota is exceeded
- localization refinements
- fix a bug that would show portrait photos as landscape
- bug fixes

Price: $2.99/Download

FoodPhotoFestival

The FOODPHOTO FESTIVAL APP is the digital planer of the first international FOODPHOTO FESTIVAL October 2010 in Tarragona, Spain.

What's new

New map and screening photographers added.

Price: $2.99/Download

FinderCam

New feature: FinderCam cleans the blue stain in the center of the camera when the picture under fluorescent lights by iPhone4. There are three levels of cleaning, please use the original photo to fit.

It supports also reading from the album, can be applied to photos taken in other apps .

What's new

minor bug fix

Price: $1.99/Download

Photo Geo

Photo Geo will allow you to review your old photos taken with the integrated iPhone camera to find out where the photo was taken. The iPhone has an accurate GPS and any photos in your camera roll that have been taken with the GPS enabled can be shown on a map with the Photo Geo. Easy to use. No extra tagging required. Simply select one of the photos in your camera roll and a map comes up showing you the location where the photo was taken.

What's new

Support for iOS 4.1

Price: $0.99/Download

Clear Cam iPhone App - On Sale

Currently on offer for a limited time priced at $0.99. This a great app especially for the iPod Touch 4th generation - download here to give it a try.

Photographer's Workflow iPhone App - *** On sale for 2 days only, 70% off ***

Photographer's Workflow was created to help photographers keep organized and focused on what needs to be done for every job. Think about how many things you need to do before and after a shoot; process payments, edit the photos, post to your blog, the list goes on and on. With Photographer's Workflow you can set reminders for all of these tasks with just a few taps on your iPhone.

Automate your todo list for each photo shoot! Also you can now choose to publish your tasks on your iPhone calendar (iOS 4 users) or Googles Calendar.

 

Photographer's Workflow provides a quick and easy way to create a series of tasks from any client project to your calendar. With just a few taps on your iPhone, Photographer's Workflow will populate your calendar with everything that needs to be done. It's quick and easy to use but also gives you the ability to customize the workflows or add your own.

Simply create a new project, pick your workflow template and a start date. The app will do the rest and populate your calendar with all of the necessary events you need to finish the job! It's a great way to stay organized and each project can be customized to fit a client's needs. Photographer's Workflow is simple to use yet powerful for almost any photography project. For example, think of how many different tasks you need to do after booking a new wedding or portrait session. You need to process the paperwork, collect payments, do all of the post production, album design, marketing tasks and many more tasks. With Photographer's Workflow, all you have to do is name your new project, tap the wedding workflow template and in a matter of seconds you will add all of the tasks to your calendar.

Photographer's Workflow comes standard with 5 sample workflow templates; New Prospect, New Client, Wedding, Portrait and Album sale. You can edit any of these workflows to fit your needs or create as many new ones as you need.

Please Note: Photographer's Workflow can only sync to your native iPhone calendar if you have iOS 4.0 installed. If you are running an older version then you have to sync with a Google Calendar account.

What's new

iPhone Native Calendar integration

Graphics optimized for iPhone 4 Retina Display

Currently $0.99/Download

Best Camera iPhone App Gets Updated

Well, it has been a bit of a wait, but now Best Camera has been updated and supports the iPhone 4 with multi-tasking, new filters, a customizable filter interface and sharing options.

What's new

• iOS 4.0 compatible, including multi-tasking
• Supports max resolution of iPhone 4 camera
• Customize dock by organizing your filters
• Partial (50%) versions of filters (in "Settings")
• Supports iPhone 4 Retina display
• Shortened bestc.am link now appears at the end of tweets
• Various bug fixes

Version 1.3/$2.99/Download here

Photos Without Cameras

What? I can hear you all screaming, how can you possibly take a photograph without a camera? Well a new exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London demonstrates how. You may not know but there are at least five exceptional camera-less photographers in the world.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue which presents the work of these five leading practitioners - Pierre Cordier, Susan Derges, Adam Fuss, Garry Fabian Miller and Floris Neusüss - who, by casting shadows on light-sensitive paper or by chemically manipulating its surface, capture the presence of objects, figures or glowing light. The results are powerful images, often with surreal effects and symbolic content. In an age of mass-produced imagery, Shadow Catchers offers hand-crafted photographs that are both haunting and thought-provoking.

So, how do they do it? Well, it's very simple actually. These artists create images directly on photographic paper, which uses silver salts that darken in exposure to light. By casting shadows and filtering or blocking light, or by chemically treating its surface, the paper is transformed into an image. Perhaps the most important question is 'why'. Well, read the descriptions below to find out more.

In addition, The V&A commissioned a short film on each of the five international artists featured in the 'Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography' exhibition, showing their studios and the places that inspire them. This is a revealing and evocative look at their working environments and an insight into their creative ideas. Go here to watch the films.

Working in his darkroom and studio, Adam Fuss creates a series of daguerreotypes of butterflies.

Still from the film 'Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography' (Adam Fuss) 2010 © Courtesy of V&A

Garry Fabian Miller

Garry Fabian Miller, 'Year One. Giamonios: Shoots Show', 2005/6. © Garry Fabian Miller, Image courtesy the artist/Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh

In 1984 Garry Fabian Miller discovered a method of using a photographic enlarger that allowed a direct translation between plants and the photographic print. Later, in 1992, he turned to making abstract images in the darkroom, using only glass vessels filled with liquids, or cut-paper forms to cast shadows and filter light.

Many of his works explore the cycle of time over a day, month or year, through controlled experiments with varying durations of light exposure. His works are enriched by being seen in sequences that explore and develop a single motif and color range. Often, the images are conceived as remembered landscapes and natural light phenomena.

For the series Year One, Fabian Miller produced one work every day over the course of a year. At the end, he selected ninety-six of the images for a book. He divided them into twelve equal sections, titled according to the Celtic ‘Coligny’ calendar, one of the oldest of its kind, and chose one work - as shown here- to represent each month. The result is a sustained investigation into form and color alongside the cycle of time. His work is collected by Elton John.

Susan Derges

Susan Derges, 'Arch 4 (summer)', 2007/8. Collection of the artist, © Courtesy of Susan Derges


Susan Derges studied painting at Chelsea School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art, London. She then lived in Japan for six years, before returning to the UK in 1986. Her images reveal the hidden forces of nature, from the patterns of sound waves to the flow of rivers.
During the 1990s, Derges became well known for her photograms of water.

To make these works, she used the landscape at night as her darkroom, submerging large sheets of photographic paper in rivers and using the moon and flashlight to create the exposure. 'Working directly, without the camera,' says Derges, 'with just paper, subject matter and light, offers an opportunity to bridge the divide between self and other'.

In these dreamlike landscapes, she first made images of cloud by direct digital scans of ink dispersing in water within a small glass tank. She printed these scans onto large transparencies, then placed them beneath a glass tank containing water, bracken, grasses and reeds. Next she made direct prints onto dye destruction paper placed beneath both tank and transparency. Finally, she photographed these prints and digitally stitched them together to make the large-scale digital C-prints.

Floris Neususs

Floris Neusüss, 'Untitled (Körperfotogramm), Kassel, 1967', 1967. Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Graphische Sammlung, Germany, © Courtesy of Floris Neusüss

Floris Neusüss has dedicated his whole career to extending the practice, study and teaching of the photogram. Alongside his work as an artist, he is known as an influential writer and teacher on camera-less photography.

Neusüss brought renewed ambition to the photogram process, in both scale and visual treatment, with the Körperfotogramms (or whole-body photograms) that he first exhibited in the 1960s. Since that time, he has consistently explored the photogram's numerous technical, conceptual and visual possibilities.

His works often deal in opposites: black and white, shadow and light, movement and stillness, presence and absence, and in the translation of three dimensions into two. By removing objects from their physical context, Neusüss encourages the viewer to contemplate the essence of form. He creates a feeling of surreal detachment, a sense of disengagement from time and the physical world. Collectively, his images explore themes of mythology, history, nature and the subconscious.

Here, the varying proximity of parts of the body to the paper has created sharper or softer outlines. Where the model's hands were in contact with the paper, the outline is clear. Where parts of the body, such as the head, were further away, it is blurred.

Pierre Cordier

Pierre Cordier, 'Chemigram 8/2/61 I, 8 février 1961', 1961. Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée National d’Art Moderne/Centre de Création Industrielle, © Courtesy of Pierre Cordier

Pierre Cordier discovered the 'chemigram' process in 1956. Over many years, he has explored the potential of the chemigram like an experimental scientist. The simplest form of chemigram involves the application of photographic developer and fixer to gelatin-silver photographic paper, using the chemicals like watercolors. Developer creates dark areas, while fixer produces lighter tones.

Cordier used this method here, pouring rather than brushing the chemicals on to a lightly oiled sheet of photographic paper.

The Book - Shadow Catchers

The first camera-less photographs could be said to date as far back as the 8th century, when the Arab alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan recorded the fact that silver nitrate darkened in the light. In Britain, during the 1790s, Thomas Wedgwood and Humphry Davy created images on paper and leather made sensitive to light with chemical treatments, but failed to fix the results, which faded.

After William Henry Fox Talbot solved this problem in the 1830s, camera-less imagery became popular with botanical illustrators in the 1850s. There was then a lull when the camera became dominant – but camera-less photography was picked up by artists like Man Ray in the 1920s.

But why use camera-less photography rather than traditional photography? Barnes says: "By removing the camera, these artists get closer to the source of what they are interested in: light, time, traces, signs and visions – things which have spiritual and metaphysical rather than simply physical qualities. Laying down the camera frees them from documentation to become, like alchemists, more focussed on transformation."

Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography, V&A, London SW7 (www.vam.ac.uk), 13 October to 20 February 2011. A hardback book of the same title by Martin Barnes, priced £39.95 (order for £35.95 from the Independent Bookshop, 08430 600 030) is being published by Merrell Publishing.

US visitors can check the price at Amazon here. UK readers can can check the price on Amazon here: Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography

Shadow Catchers competition

'The Lattice Window Lacock Abbey', 2010. Collection of the artist, © Courtesy of Floris Neusüss Floris Neusüss (made in collaboration with Renate Heyne)

To celebrate the Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography exhibition the V&A are offering the chance to win a trip to Lacock, where Floris Neusüss recreated his 1978 image of the lattice window in Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire especially for the exhibition.

The prize includes a two night, luxury bed and breakfast stay at The Red Lion in Lacock and a visit to the Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock.

To find out more and to enter the competition, go here.

Nikon foundation announced

Nikon UK has announced a new programme aimed at assisting photography students enter the industry after education. The first of these initiatives is a competition to win 3-months paid internship with fashion and celebrity photographer John Wright, £3000 cash, plus £4000 of Nikon equipment.


(Update: A spokesperson for Nikon told me the £3000 cheque is to intended help with living expenses, but there's no stipulation, and seems like a very thoughtful and generous supplement to the prizes).


For more information please see the press release below.

Zoom Launches Q3HD Handy Video Recorder – The Only Point and Shoot to Record HD Video & HD Audio

Zoom, makers of award-winning stereo recorders, has launched a new Q3HD Handy Video Recorder – the only handheld to record both HD video and HD audio (24-bit/96kHz). The Q3HD takes Zoom’s renowned audio technology and combines it with crystal clear 1080p video that will make home movies, live musical performances, sporting events or travel videos into truly immersive movies that look and sound so realistic the audience will relive every moment.

This point-and-shoot features both full HD 1080p at 30 fps (frames per second) and 720p at 30 or 60 fps. A 4x digital zoom and a larger, redesigned aperture is paired with three lighting settings ensuring the perfect amount of light in every shot. Zoom’s exclusive “Concert Lighting” setting allows the camera to capture clear, detailed videos even in light intensive environments that would cause most camcorders to wash out.

The Q3HD uses the same microphone capsules as Zoom’s industry-leading H4n recorder, configured in a wide 120° X/Y pattern, for stereo recordings of unsurpassed quality and depth. Setting audio levels is easy using the onboard level meters and mic gain switch with auto gain control.

“To shoot a great movie you’ve got to have both great video and great audio,” says Scott Goodman, President of Samson Technologies, U.S. distributor for Zoom. “Because the Zoom Q3HD is the only handheld video camera that allows users to do both, we believe it will revolutionize the way home movies are shot and set new industry standards for quality and usability.“

A new, icon-based user interface makes the Q3HD easy and intuitive. Turn it on its side to watch videos in 16:9 format on its color LCD screen. Or, use the built-in HDMI port to view on your HDTV. The Q3HD also has a built-in USB 2.0 cable to transfer, view and edit your movies on your PC or Mac.

The Q3HD comes with a 2GB SD card that gives you up to 45 minutes of HD video and accepts up to a 32GB SDHC card for up to 7 hours of HD video. Zoom also includes HandyShare editing software and two AA batteries. A Q3HD accessory package (APQ-3HD), that includes a soft shell case, windscreen, AC adapter, HDMI cable, AV cable and tripod, will be sold separately.

The Zoom Q3HD will go on sale this Fall and will be widely available at major retailers.

Specification

Top 11 iPhone Photography Magazines

Well, as you know we recently ran a feature with the top photography magazines to view on your iPad, well now we are doing the same with the iPhone. Many of the photography magazines are not universal apps, so they are on either/or device. Here are the best ones you can read on your iPhone right now but it is certainly more difficult to find magazines for iPhone over the iPad, but I guess that is not too surprising.

Nature Photo Magazine

Nature Photo Magazine is a magazine only for iPhone/iPod Touch. The contents include amazing nature landscape wallpaper and more about photographic articles by experts.

- Just pay only one time, Update always FREE
- Every three weeks for updating
- This app includes a lovable function: Banner Free MobileSafari.

Price: $0.99/Download

Distill Magazine - photography from the best fashion & style magazines

Distill Magazine is a digest of the best photography and design from the international style and fashion press (including: A Magazine, Acne Paper, Big Man, Dansk, Exit, Fashion Tale, Hercules, Huge, Interview, Lemon, Man about town, Men’s File, Muse, Numero, Please, Ponytail, The Room, Rubbish, S Mag, Sang Bleu, Sleek, Slurp, Soon, Swallow, Tokion, V, Volt, Vice, WAD, Wound, Zink and many others).

Distill showcases the most original, innovative and accomplished fashion, style and visual arts shoots currently being created anywhere in the world. Distill is a magazine application developed for the iPhone & iPod Touch.

Price: $4.99/Download

Digital Camera Essentials Magazine

The UK’s premier Digital Camera Essentials’ guide, Digital Camera Essentials is the magazine for all your shopping and shooting needs. Every issue, Digital Camera Essentials is packed full of essential news for the beginner or enthusiast photographer. From how to shoot your best ever shots and perfect them in post-production, to in-depth and honest reviews of all the latest compacts, DSLRs, lenses, peripherals and more. Plus, all the current digital cameras are listed in our comprehensive, 25-page buyers’ guide, helping to ensure you pick the right camera for your needs.

Price: $1.99/Download

foto news now

Foto news now combines Photography Monthly and Professional Photographer magazines in one great app. Browse through the daily updated photo news from the world of photography, read features from the latest issues, watch videos and listen to podcasts by industry professionals. Access hundreds of high-quality photos in the gallery and portfolio sections, share content with friends and enter competitions. This is a great app for anyone who is passionate about photography, from the enthusiast to the professional.

Price: $2.99/Download

Digital Artist Magazine

Digital Artist is the perfect magazine for anyone who uses their computer as a canvas. It is the only community-focussed magazine to cover all art styles and all art software, making each issue a medley of breathtaking images to inspire you to create your own.

Price: $1.99/Download

Photoshop® Creative Magazine

Photoshop® Creative is the perfect magazine for learning more about Adobe’s outstanding application. Each issue is packed with inspirational tutorials covering the whole scope of the software, from creative projects, to practical guides to using tools and techniques. Readers also benefit from a collectable CD-ROM each issue. Whatever you use Photoshop for, Photoshop creative will help you become a better digital artist.

Price: $1.99/Download

Digital Photographer Magazine

Launched in 2002, Digital Photographer is the ultimate monthly photography magazine, delivering indispensable, practical and hands-on shooting advice. Aimed at digital enthusiasts and professional photographers, Digital Photographer features the latest high-end kit reviews, expert interviews, practical shooting advice and image-editing tutorials to help you become a better photographer. Also showcasing a selection of images from DP readers every month.

Price: $1.99/Download

Vanity Fair Magazine

Vanity Fair’s high-profile interviews, stunning photography, and thought-provoking features on the world’s most engaging people, places, and scandals are available on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch NOW! In addition to the complete October issue, you’ll get bonus photographs and video extras. Plus, find previous months’ issues available for sale in your in-app Store. Best of all, you can use the app two ways: turn it horizontally to swipe through a digital replica of the entire print version, or hold it vertically for an interactive reading experience.

Price: $4.99/Download

GQ Magazine

Look Sharp. Live Smart. Right now. Download the latest issue of GQ + app-exclusive photos and videos you won’t find in the magazine. This app download includes your handy reader, a library feature, AND the complete current issue (October). And best of all, you'll experience it in two ways: Hold it vertically for an iPhone-friendly reading experience, or turn it horizontally and swipe through a digital replica of the entire print version just like you’re used to.

Price: $4.99/Download

Wired Product Reviews

Feed your gadget lust on the go with the Wired Product Reviews app. Get Wired.com's daily reviews of the latest consumer electronics, gadgets, cars, gaming gear and more.

Each hands-on review includes detailed product information, key specs, Wired's rating and the list price -- all with top-quality photos. Download now to effortlessly navigate hundreds of reviews, from laptops to Lamborghinis.

Free/Download

Architect Magazine Mobile Reader

ARCHITECT speaks to today's architects with coverage of the most significant developments in architectural design, technology, and business. Each issue includes photography and drawings of major building projects, peer-to-peer advice on professional practice, and emerging trends in materials and products.

Free/Download

Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 - Part Two

We couldn't resist adding some more glimpses of five more Highly Commended images in this years Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 for you. To view our earlier post of five additional highly commended images, go here. Take a look at these...

Now in its 46th year, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is an international showcase for the very best nature photography. The competition is owned by two UK institutions that pride themselves on revealing and championing the diversity of life on Earth - the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Being accepted into this competition is something that wildlife photographers, worldwide, aspire to. Professionals win many of the prizes, but amateurs succeed, too. And that's because achieving the perfect picture is down to a mixture of skill, vision, originality, knowledge of nature and luck.

Each year thousands of entries are received and judged by a specially selected expert panel. The winners are announced at an awards ceremony that takes place each October at the Natural History Museum, London

A miracle of monarchs by Axel Gomille

Behavior: All Other Animals - Highly Commended

Millions of monarch butterflies migrate from North America to spend the winter in the El Rosario forest, high in the mountains of central Mexico. "The sheer density is unbelievable," says Axel Gomille. "I had never seen anything like this before. It was breathtaking. They landed on my fingers, my cap, my camera - everywhere." In March, as the temperature increases, the monarchs start to become more active and the migration northward begins. After warming up in the first rays of the early morning sun, the roosting monarchs fly down to drink: they need water to make use of their tiny fat reserves. Gomille's aim was to capture the butterflies movement and their rich colors lit up against the dark forest backdrop. To do this he lay almost in the puddle, so that the sun lit the butterflies from the side, highlighting the ones in the air. When they take off, it sounds like wind

The hidden plague by Joel Sartore

One Earth Award - Highly Commended

This is a crime scene in a remote corner of California, high in the Sixty Lakes basin area of the Sierra Nevada: mountain yellow-legged frog corpses lie belly-up. The culprit is a chytrid fungus, which causes the infectious disease chytridiomycosis, implicated in the decline or rapid extinction of at least 200 species of frogs and other amphibians worldwide. The disease was first seen in frogs in the Sierra Nevada in 2004, since then it has reduced the population of mountain yellow-legged frogs from tens of thousands to just a few hundred. The death of the frogs is emblematic of a global amphibian decline.
It is believed that the fungus is being spread in part by the international trade in amphibians for display, food and laboratory use, its effects enhanced by global warming.
Its impact on frogs has resulted in the biggest loss of vertebrate life due to disease ever recorded

Lookout by Ken Dyball

Nature in Black and White - Highly Commended

Ken Dybal got to know this caracal well. Living in Kenya's Masai Mara, the young male's mother appeared to be trying to encourage him to become independent. She would leave him alone for long periods of time, says Dyball, presumably hoping he would learn to fend for himself. He slept in a den in the ground during the day, emerging in the evening to wait for her. Early one morning, as Dyball explored the spot where he had last seen the caracal, he heard the thunder of hooves. As a herd of wildebeest galloped past, pursued by hyenas, the terrified young caracal shot out of the grass and up the nearest tree. He did the right thing. They stampeded straight over his den, says Dyball

The drop by Andrew Parkinson

Animals in their Environment - Highly Commended

With his legs dangling over the edge, Andrew Parkinson tried to avoid any foreground showing in the picture by leaning right into the gale-force westerly. "Like so many people with a fear of heights, I am almost hypnotically drawn to drops, and I was determined to show the fulmar as part of this spectacularly precipitous landscape though if the wind had stopped, I might have had a problem. The fulmar is such an aerodynamic bird that the splayed tail feathers and legs seem comically incongruous. But the bird was, in fact, coping perfectly well with the winds surging up the cliff face. Indeed, it seemed to be just enjoying riding the swells."

Dawn Call by Pierre Vernay

Animals in their Environment - Highly Commended

The roar of a red deer stag carries an unmistakable message: the more powerful the roar, the stronger the stag. The sound is designed to carry in a forest, leaving both hinds and competitors in no doubt about the caller's physical superiority. To catch the action of the rut, Pierre Vernay stationed himself in Dyrehaven forest, an ancient deer park north of Copenhagen in Denmark. Going out at dawn, he planned to photograph the deer backlit against the rising sun. Just as the very first beams of sunshine lit up the grass, a stag emerged from below a huge oak tree to challenge a rival that had strayed too close. One set of bellowing was enough - the rival got the message, loud and clear, and vanished.

Fujitsu entrusted with Sony CMOS fabrication

Sony is to delegate production of CMOS sensors used in digital cameras to chip-maker Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd. According to The Japan Times, Fujitsu doesn't compete directly with Sony in sensor manufacturing, but didn't want to divest its proprietary technology with rivals (Sanyo, Sharp and Toshiba amongst others). Final assembly will remain firmly behind closed doors at Sony's own fabrication facilities.

The debate about who makes Nikon's sensors continues to be a point of discussion on various forums around the web. Although Nikon designs sensors for use in their DSLRs, such as the hybrid LBCAST sensor used in the D2H of 2003 (which was made by Sony), production is outsourced. However, while the D3x sensor is also made by Sony, a fact confirmed to me and other journalists by a senior Nikon executive at the time of the launch, there remains some controversy over who makes the 12-megapixel sensor in the D3, D700, and D3s. It's still most likely to be Sony, in my opinion, but built to Nikon's own designs.

With Fujitsu producing certain components of of Sony's CMOS sensors, purportedly for reduced production costs, I wonder if it might also have a second purpose, to allow customization of the final finishing for ad-hoc designs from Sony's clients; rival camera makers, not only Nikon, but Pentax too. You have to remember that the Sony camera manufacturing business is separate from its semiconductor business (there are no duplicated manufacturing operations), and that Sony will be buying sensors from its own semiconductor business, much in the same way that Nikon and Pentax do.

Source.

Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 highly commended images

The world’s most prestigious wildlife photography competition, Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year, has revealed some of the commended images from this year’s competition.

There's five listed here, these are among the selection that will join more than 100 other prize-winning photographs, including the overall winning images, when the exhibition debuts at the Natural History Museum, London on 22 October 2010. It will then tour nationally and internationally after its launch in the capital. More than one million visitors are expected to have seen the exhibition once the tour is complete.

A carcass-eye view by Juergen Ross (Germany). Category: Behaviour: Mammals - Highly Commended. A feeding lioness is framed by the carcass of a giraffe at South Africa's Kruger National Park

Picture: Jürgen Ross / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The thoughtful baboon by Adrian Bailey (South Africa). Category: Behaviour: Mammals - Highly Commended. Each morning, thousands of Cape turtle doves flock to a trickling seep at Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, the only source of water for miles around. Birds of prey, meanwhile, line up in trees on nearby cliffs and pick off the drinking doves. This young male baboon finds one of the victims on the ground.
Picture: Adrian Bailey / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Fishing frenzy by Tomasz Racznyski (Poland). Category: Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife - Highly Commended. A black-browed albatross has just surfaced after diving for the discarded horse mackerel and is being set upon by a rabble of other birds. On a trawler in the South Pacific, fish falling from the nets as they are pulled up are an irresistible lure.
Picture: Tomasz Racznyski / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Sunset moment by Olivier Puccia (France). Category: Urban Wildlife - Highly Commended. Overlooking Ramtek in Maharashtra, western India, Hanuman langurs find the highest point from which to admire the sunset. Squeezed out of their forest homes by deforestation and the spread of human habitation, Hanuman langurs have become part of urban life in many parts of India.
Picture: Olivier Puccia / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The ant-shepherd and its little flock by Matt Cole (UK). Category: Behaviour: All Other Animals - Highly Commended. A Black Ant (Lasius niger) herding Black Bean Aphids (Aphis fabae), to 'milk' their honeydew (an ant stroking the aphids with its feelers to encourage them to excrete drops of honeydew). Taken in Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire.
Picture: Matt Cole / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year


The 2010 search has now been completed, and the winning and commended images will be on show in the exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London, from 22 October 2010. As a photographer I have strongly recommend you visit this exhibition, I make a point in my schedule to visit it every year and it never disappoints. You will love it. To book tickets, please follow the link here

The winning and commended images from 2009 have been published as a hardcover book;  Wildlife Photographer of Year: Portfolio 19  (Amazon US).