The Blow Up plugin is available for $199. Registered users of other Alien Skin products receive discount pricing when ordering direct. Online ordering can be made at http://www.alienskin.com.

The paper has issued a statement "Accuracy is among our most sacred journalistic values. That goes for the photographs, as well as the words, that we publish.So, it is with much regret that I inform you that the color in a photograph in Thursday's editions was inappropriately altered before it was published. The photo, taken by Observer photographer Patrick Schneider, appeared on the front of the Local & State section. It depicted a Charlotte firefighter on a ladder, silhouetted by the light of the early morning sun."

In the original photo, the sky in the photo was brownish-gray. Enhanced with photo-editing software, the sky became a deep red and the sun took on a more distinct halo.

Ricoh have released a second function-enhancing firmware update for its GR DIGITAL camera.

The GR DIGITAL a high-end digital camera was first released in October 2005. The firmware update can be downloaded from the Ricoh website. The following features have been added

• Optional functions can be set for the Exposure Compensation and White Balance selections that were applied as fixed items on the ADJ. dial.
  (Before, the optional functions could be applied to two selections; but with the function enhancements, all four selections that can be made with the ADJ. dial can be set optionally.)
• If settings are changed with the ADJ. dial, the setting can be selected by the zoom button. (Only when digital zoom function is turned off.)

According to an article in Newsweek digital photographers in the US will spend $300 million ordering prints and other paraphernalia (mugs, mousemats, calendars etc) online in 2006. This is a 50% increase over 2004. They look at four of the main competitors in this busy sector.

The pros and cons for Shutterfly, Kodak Easyshare, HP's Snapfish and Apple Iphoto are compared. It would seem you pays yer money and takes your choice as all have advantages and disadvantages. If comparing on price alone Snapfish comes out on top at just 12c a picture but its editing features are the worst of the set.

Thanks to Still Life With... for the details. You can have, in exchange for $2950, 5 nights and 4 days at il Bareto, 14 kilometers southwest of Siena in Italy. Each day an indepth look at a different aspect of food photography and cooking is covered. The course is run by Ignacio Urquiza (aka Nacho) who is an established photographer with over 60 books under his belt, including several award winning cookbooks. Details in the downloadable brochure,

Passport Canada is looking into creating a computerised tool to screen photographs of new applicants against images of criminal and terrorist suspects.

This facial recognition system will the first large scale Canadian involvement in biometrics. But hosting 21 million or so images of applicants is raising concerns from privacy and civil rights groups. The tool will compare passport applicants photographs with images from security watch lists and halt those not eligible for a passport from obtaining one.

The contract is to be awarded in November. A regional trial will be conducted in early 2007 with a national roll-out by late next year.

A new slim camera from Pentax. The S7, the 7 referring to its 7 megapixel capacity, features:

• Approx. 232,000 pixels 2.5-inch non-glare LCD monitor with excellent outdoor visibility
• Mode Palette provides quick access to 16 shooting modes and 15 playback modes
• Frequently used functions can be assigned to the Green button
• Digital zooming provides up to 4X magnification
• Approximately 23MB of built-in memory
• Built-in AF spotbeam (on/off switching possible)
• Includes the ACDSee for Pentax image viewer/image management software
• Supports PictBridge, DPOF functions, Exif Print, and PRINT Image Matching

Optio S7 is the first compact Pentax to accept the new SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) memory cards in addition to SD memory cards. Recommended Price is under US$400.

Meade have introduced a series of binoculars, CaptureView, that come equipped with a 2 megapixel digital camera.

The camera, while a bit low on the spec front, boasts a 8x zoom, 16MB of internal memory, an SD/MMC memory card slot, and a USB slot that enables it to be connected to the PC. You can capture the view as digital images or video clips and use the Flashback feature to save the last 5, 10, 15, or 20 seconds of any recording.

The recommended retail price is approximately US$390.

Just a quickie - if anyone uses the Olympus Studio viewer software they have released a series of updates.

The updates improve functionality and removes some software bugs.

Olympus Studio for Windows Update

Olympus Studio for Mac Update

Olympus Viewer for Windows Update

Olympus Viewer for Macintosh Update

From the gushing press release you would have thought it was the most revolutionary piece of camera equipement ever. But its just a bag. A rather nice bag, admittingly, but just a backpack in which to store your camera at the end of the day.

Words such as 'lifestyle', 'unique', 'cutting-edge technologies', are all very well and it may well be an 'unprececented design' and 'ergonomic' but what I need to know is how much it costs and what can be fitted inside!

Distributed exclusively in North America by Bogen Imaging the Ergo-Tech Collection offers a "futuristic design. Each bag features designated safe guard zones, where extra internal, modular padding is added to protect the gear within. In addition, safe guard zones also feature Flexi-Shield, a technology specifically designed for the Ergo-Tech collection. Flexi-Shield, Kata‚s new, high-frequency, molded flexible reinforcement, appears in the form of ridges on the exterior of safe guard zones for ultimate protection. "

Nikonians - the international club/forum for Nikon owners - has a small competition for registered users. Answer the 14 questions survey and you could win a Markins 3D Ballhead. This is a smaller and lighter head than the Markins M20 and the Markins M10 and is ideal for light tripods and monopods, like the Gitzo G11XX series or the Manfrotto 190 (Bogen 3001).

Fill out the questionnaire here.

Tourist remover - just released from Swiss software engineering company futureLAB. It's an online tool that removes unwanted moving objects (like tourists or moving vehicles) from photographs. Interesting.

The process is fully automatic but you need 3 to ten photos of the same object taken in succession for the software to churn out a 'cleaned' image at the end. It is packaged with Snapmania - another photo organiser/sharing thingy - but I cannot seem to find any reference to it on the site.

Anyone use Snapmania and the Tourist remover?

While I was reading up on icecreams for the changing buying habits over on Slashfood I ran across a summer photo competition from Walls Icecream.

Basically they ask for you to upload a picture with a summer theme - they mention a walk on Brighton Pier or a barbecue with friends and family. Now as this is a competition sponsered by an ice cream manufacturer I would suggest the inclusion of one of their products.

The prizes are a Nikon digital camera or a Mini Cooper. Oh and a years supply of ice cream. This is for UK residents only. I can't see any closing date info.

YoPhoto is a UK site designed for the easy creation of high quality photo books.

You download the software and then design the book by selecting different layouts, background colours and optional captions. There are four sizes to select and come bound in a hard cover. Available in 'opulent bonded real leather' or contemporary linen with a choice of fourteen colours from classic British Racing Green, Ivory and Nero to a striking Shanghai Red, pretty Dianthus Pink or Tiger Lily. Prices range from £12.99 to £30.99 depending on the size of the book you order.

The actual software download is free, it is the printed book itself you have to pay for. Calendars also available (£12.99/£15.99). You design the book using the simple options and upload the final product for printing. There is also a burn to cd option if you wish to send the product through the post.

[Order a a Yophotobook before August 2006 will be entered into a draw to win a Canon EOS 350D digital camera. Click here for details]

The best images from citizen journalists have been announced at the Nokia Citizen Journalism Awards 2006.

The winning image is a shot of the No.30 bus in Tavistock Square, London taken just after the bomb explosion on 7th July 2005.

The winner has donated the prize (Nokia N90 cameraphone, a photo printer, and Flickr membership) to charity for auction and wishes to remain annoymous. David Otway was second for his shot of the Buncefield oil depot explosion taken from a plane, while third place went to Alexander Chadwick's cameraphone shot of people emerging after the Piccadilly line explosion.

The judges in the competition included Channel 4 news presenter, John Snow, BBC News Interactivity editor, Vicky Taylor, CNN.com Europe editor, Nick Wrenn, and Chairman of the Picture Editors Awards, Glyn Genin.

The awards were open to any non-journalist who shot an image or video clip that had been used in some form of publication in the last year.

A new camera from Fujifilm - FinePix S6000fd. This is a 6 megapixel digital camera with a 10.7x zoom lens (equivalent to 28-300mm).The S6000fd will be available in September for $499.95 but in the Uk from October and in Europe from mid-September for 499 €.

The main selling point seems to be the company's new Face Detection Technology. FDT operates exactly as its name implies, identifying up to 10 faces in a framed scene. Once faces are identified and prioritized, the 6.3 MegaPixel FinePix S6000fd adjusts its focus and exposure accordingly to ensure the sharpness and clarity of human subjects in the picture, regardless of background. This is hardware rather than software based so it works in just 0.05 seconds.

* Dual Shot Mode: In this mode the FinePix S6000fd quickly shoots two images in succession-one with and one without the flash-saving both. This convenient function lets the user perform an on-the-spot picture comparison and decide which photo is the most pleasing.
* The FinePix S6000fd is equipped with a 28-300mm Fujinon 10.7X optical zoom lens with full manual control via the lens barrel. This lens configuration offers flexibility for either zoom or wide- angle shotss.

Entries are now closed but you can download a voting form for the Garden Photographers' Association International Photographic Competition and view nearly 100 stunning images. Inspiration indeed.

Bristol, UK - between 11th and 13th August Canon will be attending The Discovery Channel Bristol Balloon Fiesta. It promises to be an amazing event full of photographic opportunities with 150 hot air balloons launched over the three days. Canon will be demonstrating how easy it is to print directly from a camera to one of their printers.

The closest you can get to a digital SLR without actually buying one - the eight-megapixel, 5.8x optical zoom Kodak P880. Reviewed on PC World.

A picture of nerve cells growing on the silk is one of the winning images in this year's Wellcome Trust Biomedical Image Awards. It is one of 26 images - many revealing objects invisible to the naked eye - captured from medical research programmes across Britain.

Example of using Photoshops gradient mask to remove an unwanted object from a photography. On Still Life With...

HP's PIXACO has announced a summer of online 'photo fun' with lowered prices in some European countries by up to 36 percent. Pixaco provides its customers with "high-quality prints and photo merchandise from quick, convenient home photo printing to customer-friendly online ordering"

The shows will take be at London's Business Design Centre in Islington. There are two sessions planned - Thursday 3 August at 6.00-8.00pm, and on Saturday 5 August at 9.00am-12.00pm or 2.00-5.00pm.

Presented by various experts including celebrity and music photographer Andy Earl (www.andyearl.com) they will demonstrating how professional photographers use EOS in their work. Nature, fashion, sports and reportage photography are all to be covered and will supply tips and techniques to help amateurs extend their photographic skills. Post-shoot possibilities will be demonstrated with iPhoto and Aperture image processing applications from Apple.