HAPPY NEW YEAR, WHAT'S NEW & COMING UP IN 2013
Canadian Nature Photographer January 1, 2013 Newsletter
Dear Friends - I wish all of you an exciting new year filled with lots of photographic opportunities. In 2013, I promise to present you with lots of new articles on nature photography, great places to visit and photograph in Canada and around the world. In June, I am planning a trip to Newfoundland with friend and fellow photographer Kamal Varma. In September, I head back to the Arctic and throughout the year I will be re vi sting many places around Alberta in order to photograph spherical panoramas and time lapse movies. I will also feature some innovative new photographers like Yury Rybalskiy who photographs panoramas from a kite, Jason Pineau who photographs the Aurora to make panoramic movies and one of Canada's best astro-photographers, Alan Dyer. I will also continue to present a variety of new and old photo-techniques and Photoshop tutorials on this site - like how to edit video in Photoshop CS6. There will be articles on photographing with mobile cellphones and using mobile apps for photography. I invite you to join me and share your special photographs and your skills if you would like in our featured photographer section . If you would like to see certain types of photography articles please let me know.
PHOTOSHOP 1 ONLINE COURSE IS FREE FOR ALL NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS
If you are new subscriber -- click here or visit the online Training section of my web site and enter the password rdc1 and you will have access to my Photoshop 1 notes in PDF form, tutorial files and step-by-step movies. The course was designed for Photoshop CS4, but most of the instructions work the same in CS5 and CS6. If instead you see a dancing moose after typing in the password - please try the password again :-) Stay tuned in the new year to learn when the Online Photoshop II course will be offered for FREE exclusively to newsletter subscribers.
NEW PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE LAUNCHED - Christmas Day I launched a new web site with my partners Ahmed Kassim and Yury Rybalskiy called "360vrmultimedia.com" that features Spherical panoramic photography, virtual tours and Object VR photography. You will be seeing more spherical panoramic photography on the Canadian Nature photography in 2013. Spherical panoramas are popular in Europe and Asia and there is a growing interest here in North America. Google is promoting this type of photography in order to include them on their maps and Google earth. It is now possible to create interactive panoramic movies that fill your screen and also play on your mobile devices. Our services are unique in that we will offer virtual panoramas taken from a helicopter or remote controlled cameras attached to a kite! Another cool feature is that we can create custom interfaces with music, voice over and virtual tours, and can even alter the weather and can make it appear to be raining or snowing in the movie - see example movie by clicking on the picture below.
Virtual tours are an ideal way for Colleges, Museums, Science Centers, or businesses to show off their facilities to attract more customers. Hotels, Casinos and other tourist attractions also can also benefit from this form of photography on their websites. I will describe how we do this type of photography in the near future including some video tutorials.
Click on the picture above or visit www360.vrmultimedia.com and view some of your virtual movies including vr photographs taken from a kite by Yury and from a helicopter by Ahmed. Ahmed is shown above standing in a virtual snowstorm at Forgetmenot pond, in Kananaskis - I should have better snowstorm panoramas in a few weeks!
Here is a 360° stitched panorama showing the inside of a local college - SAIT where I teach. This panorama can be converted into an interactive spherical movie using Flash and HTML 5 .To see a virtual tour of SAIT click here. This type of photography is also suitable for creating beautiful interactive landscapes - more to come in 2013 .
In December - 5 new articles were posted by Shelly Penner , Ray Mckenzie and Ahmed Kassim, and 2 by myself, one on Rock Art, and the other on Winter Photography & How receiving a camera on Christmas 40 years ago changed my life.
What's Hot and New Click on the photos or links to read the latest photography articles
The Dreamy World of Infrared Photography by Ahmed Kassim. Four years ago I am became passionate about photography, in particular Panoramic and infrared photography. In this short article I would like to share some of my favorite infrared photographs with you. Infrared photography is a unique kind of photography that lets me convert what seems like ordinary views into something that resembles art. Read more about infrared red....
Seasoned with a Little Light Magic by Shelly Penner. In general my most frequent subjects are birds, animals and wildflowers, but for me the most challenging subjects are landscapes. Every time I go for a walk I see birds and animals, and as long as the light is bright enough, I can usually get pretty good shots. Each time it gives me a thrill. Read more and view photographs.
Life's Adventure, One Map Tack at a Time! by Ray Mckenzie. I love taking pictures! Sounds cliché but seeing the beauty of our planet, through still pictures, has always captivated me. During my youth I remember sitting in the town library, for hours on end, looking through books, National Geographic Magazines ... traveling the planet while taking pictures of exotic people, animals and places! Read more and view pictures.
The Beauty of Rock Art by Dr. Robert Berdan. The name Rock Art suggests rock walls that have been painted with pictographs or carved into (Pteroglyphs) and I have certainly photographed this type of art in several places in Canada, but in this article I am referring to the beauty that rocks and stones alone can demonstrate - read and see more images.
How a Camera Changed My Life & Photographing in Winter by Dr. Robert Berdan. As we approach the holiday season I remember how I got started in photography 40 years ago. I had been researching cameras as I wanted a pro camera body that would let me capture what I saw through the lens. One picture hooked me into photography and it changed my life - read more.
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
WNTER WORKSHOP - Thursday January 3, and 10 evening sessions 7-10 pm and Saturday January 5 full day field trip into the mountains to photograph winter scenes and wildlife only $249 - REGISTER HERE.
PRIVATE WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING - I teach private workshops and photography lessons to beginners and professionals on any aspect of photography, digital imaging or web design. 7 hours for $249, 15 hours for $499 or $60\hr. If interested please contact me to set up a date and time.
PHOTOSHOP I and II courses are being offered by Red Deer College on the weekends of February 9 and 10 and 23, 24th. I will be the instructor - To register for the program Click Here: or visit the Red Deer College Continuing Education section of their web site and select Photography.
ARCTIC ADVENTURE WORKSHOP - If you are looking for an Arctic Adventure photographing Caribou and the Northern Lights I will be leading another photography workshop in Yellowknife and to Peterson's Point Lake Lodge on the tundra between Sept 5-10, 2013. Cost $4995.00 for 6 days. See my web site for articles and photographs from previous workshops.
If you are looking for more information about specific topics in photography just type in our search box on the home page, visit my articles page or select the featured photographer section for inspiration and instructional articles by a variety of talented photographers and artists.
GOOD NEWS In December there were 13,205 unique visitors to the Canadian Nature Photographer, with an average of more then 400 unique visitors per day - a new record, 85% of the visitors were new - if you like the content please tell your friends about the web site.
The bounce rate indicates how many visitors viewed web sites on the at articles by featured photographers - 74% of visitors that read an article visited the featured photographers web site.
Every year I like to use the time between Christmas and the New Year to set my photographic goals for the coming year, including places I would like to visit and photograph. Nature photography continues to bring joy to my life and I hope it does to yours - thanks for subscribing.
Cheers
Robert Berdan
Calgary, AB
403 247-2457
Please Visit : www.canadiannaturephotographer.com & www.360vrmultimedia.com