A few years back we produced an episode in which we gave a few suggestions for some good photography books. Recently, our guest Ruben Vicente (see also his project at Light Travelers) suggested that we repeat the topic, with a few more book recommendations. And so we did. We brought him on the show to share his book highlights and we’ve added a few more of our own.

On the news, we’ve discussed a few of the latest issues with the newest cameras on the market, we’ve seen how a smartphone can be used to photograph the Olympics, and we take a look into the split-second decision to photograph or intervene in photojournalism.

Also, our Lightroom giveaway is still on. Because we’re releasing this episode so close to the deadline, I’m going to give it a couple more days before randomly selecting the winner.

As always, your feedback is mostly appreciated, and suggestions for topics are welcome.

Enjoy the show…

In no particular order, here are the books that were mentioned on the show. If any is missing from the list, just let us know and we’ll update it.

As we announced Tom Hogarty, principal product manager for Adobe Lightroom, joins us on the podcast to tell us all about Lightroom 4. He was with us before, and after more than 3 years it was time to get back and tell us what has changed, and masterfully managing to avoid answering questions on what is coming in the future for Lightroom .

We discussed what’s new, the processing magic behind LR4 – PV2012, the new GPS and book modules, Adobe Revel, synchronization of catalogues, the surprising price drop, some complaints from users, and a lot more.

It was a great conversation, and if you enjoy using Lightroom 4, or if you are thinking about trying, I’m sure you’ll enjoy listening to it.

So, a big thanks to Tom for taking the time to join us and Lauren (PR from Adobe) for the help setting it up.

And if you don’t have Lightroom yet (or if you want another copy with the box and all), here is your chance. We are giving a boxed copy of Lightroom 4 to one of our listeners, courtesy of Adobe.

All you have to do is drop us a comment on this post and tell us what is your favourite feature of Lightroom 4, or what you would like to see included on the next version. We’ll randomly select a winner from the comments we get.

And don’t forget to let us know what you think of this episode, and the show, and give us your suggestions for new topics or people you’d like us to interview.

For now, enjoy the show…

Here is the audio version, at the bottom you can find the video of the recording (not edited)

Film is funny this way: photographers who spent years and years burning film, after the digital jump, either can’t stand the thought of film anymore or still use it once in a while. And then there are the digital era photographers that never tired anything film related… Once in a while, in conversations, I come across this latter kind and, surprisingly or not, many want to give it a try, if for nothing else, to at least bury the subject and never have to think about film again.

But, unlike digital media, the variety of camera types and different film is so big that confusion reigns.

Agfa Billy I, copyright A. Marques

To increase the confusion provide a little help, on this episode we have as guest Rob Nunn to talk about different cameras and some of their characteristics, as well as different film stocks. We even approach (slightly) film developing at home (in my opinion, if you’re going to try shooting film, you will lose much of the experience if you don’t try to develop it at home).

As always, we appreciate your feedback. And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send them our way.

Enjoy the show…

Some of the cameras mentioned on this episode:

Kodak Retinette, Olympus Trip 35, Canon AF10, Minolta SRT 101, Olympus OM2n, Nikon F55, Mamiya C33

We have finally decided to tackle the backlog of listener questions we were dragging with us (some already for a few months).

On this episode, Antonio Marques, Dave Wilson and Will Burrard-Lucas discuss aperture, shutter speed and their relationship with sensor sizes and different lenses; polarizers and graduated neutral density filters; some suggestions for the choices that have to be made with online portfolios; hosting and different publishing platforms (CMS); the (Ryan) Brenizer technique; creating packages for wedding photography; and more.

On the news side, mentions of the newly released MacBook Pro and Aperture, and some interesting news coming out of Getty on their coverage of the Olympic Games.

As always, questions or general feedback can be sent via photonetcast (at) photonetcast.com or through our contact form.

We are also looking at replacing our long-standing logo on the show. If you have any good suggestions for it, let us know.

Until the next one, enjoy the show…

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Summer is coming, and this usually means some family traveling.

With that in mind, on this episode, we decided to talk about vacation photography – basically how to make the most of your trips that are not happening mainly for photography.

We discuss gear that you need and gear that you think you’ll need, finding the best locations and how to ditch your family for long enough to go there and photograph them, the not-quite-right-camera-bag-but-it-was-the-best-I-could-think-of, and security and safety of your gear and your person while on vacation.

We also give a quick look at the news (very very quiet) and, as usual, we have our Selected from the Web.

Big reminder that we have still our Photo Competition and Social Media Competition open until June 16th. The Photo competition is open themed, so you just have to send us a link to your entry photo, and for the social media competition all you need to do is send a tweet, or facebook post, etc etc. Details on the link above.

## 15 prizes, over $1400 value ##

Enjoy the show…

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Yes, that’s right. Episode 70 marks four years of talking photography. It feels almost strange, looking back at the almost shy announcement (episode 1), to know that just over four years have passed, and more than 80 hours of published audio. Many awesome moments on the show, not only the ones that we publish, but also what happens behind the scenes, when things go smooth, and when things almost fail miserably. It has been an amazing experience and a privilege to be able to reach a great audience such as you.

Not everything has gone according to schedule (otherwise we would be running episode 100, not 70) but we do our best and I guess that what matters is that we have not podfaded just yet

What about from your side of the show? What were the most memorable/funny/entertaining/horrible/insightful moments that you remember? Share with us in the comments…

To celebrate this 4 years, we have two competitions with amazing prizes for our listeners: a photo competition, and a social media competition. All details on how to participate at the link.

Also on the show we go through some news, and we take a look at the past four years in photography, with what we think were the biggest game-changers since we started the podcast. And just for the fun of it, there were also a few guesses at what the next four years are going to bring.

And also a big thank you to the great companies that have donated over $1400 in prizes for the competitions: OnOne Software, Nations Photo Lab, X-Rite, GMC Publications, CustomSLR, ThinkTank Photo, Artsy Couture, BorrowLenses.com and HDRSoft. It’s great to see these companies supporting the community. So, next time you need some gear, try to support them.

Here’s to another 4 years…

In episode 69 of PhotoNetCast, Guy Tal joins us to discuss the practice and ethics of selling photographic prints in limited editions.

Guy Tal, a landscape, nature and travel photographer based in Utah, recently posted an article on his blog offering his opinion that, given the state of photographic technology today, selling prints as limited editions is, at best, a marketing ploy and, at worst, unethical. Tal argues that artificially limiting the availability of prints is intended purely to drive up the cost of the work and such behavior is inconsistent with his views regarding the social good provided by easy and widespread access to art.

Our discussion touches on the definition of an artwork (with some surprising discoveries found in California law), the definition of a "limited edition" and news relating to photographer William Egglestone’s recent sale of new prints which has resulted in him being sued by a collector of his original work.

Enjoy the show…

Audio here (un-edited video coming at a later time)

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Episode 68 of PhotoNetCast brings together on the show Colby Brown (The Giving Lens) and Ivan Makarov (Plus One Collection) to talk about their experiences combining two of their passions – Photography and Charity Work.

The Giving Lens organizes workshops and photo education events in several locations around the globe. They work with local non-profit organizations and aim to make a difference within that community. On the show Colby describes very well what they do.

Plus One Collection is a collective effort by many photographers organized on Google Plus. Main idea? Publish a photography book and give the proceedings to Kiva, a micro-lending organization helping individuals in less privileged parts of the world.

Overall this was a very inspirational conversation and just shows what can be achieved when creative minds and a willingness to help others come together.

Enjoy the show…

Audio here (un-edited video at bottom)

Quote of the show:

“…it would have been better if my boots hadn’t leaked…” – Dave Wilson

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Want to shoot the tiny stuff in life? All the bugs, all the details in flowers, all the details in the small objects? Then this episode is for you.

I am joined by Dave Wilson, Will Burrard-Lucas and Teymur Madjderey for a discussion in Macro Photography.

“Up Close on the Head”

Extreme macro of a screw head with Phillips indentions. The original object is about 5mm wide and the image was not cropped.

We talk about some gear such as dedicated macro lenses (including the difference between macro lenses and zoom lenses with a macro stamped on it), extension tubes and close-up filters, without forgetting the good old trick of reversing lenses. We approach lighting in macro photography and we give a few tips to improve focus, exposure and background. Will also shared the setup for his amazing photos of mosquitoes.

Regarding post processing, we mentioned focus stacking and stitching.

On the news, we talk about the 5D MkIII, the almost end for Kodak’s slide film, the announced 41MP on Nokia’s new smartphone, and the latest news from BeetleCam.

Enjoy the show…

Unedited video of the live recording is below the Show Notes.

A big thanks also to everyone that followed the show live.

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We have dedicated this episode to clear the backlog of listeners’ questions we have been accumulating.

Lot’s of useful and insightful discussion:

Want to send your questions to the show? photonetcast _(at)_ photonetcast.com

In the news, we mention the closing of Picnik, the photo editing engine used by Flickr – it seems that Flickr is getting a major revamping, let’s see what’s going to be new as editing tool. We’ve also discussed the new Nikon D800 and tried to foresee if the optical viewfinder is going to be around for a few years more or not.

Questions of comments? Drop them below the post.

And don’t forget to connect with us on Google+, Twitter and FB.

A few links mentioned on the show

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What a full show… and just to finish it even better…