100 New Effects to Instagram and More Updates

The new version (iTunes Link) was released yesterday.  We have 755 reviews at a 4.5 star average – that is incredible, so thank you very much.  Now, what is new?  We fixed many issues with Flickr and Dropbox, added memory fixes, and integrated the new Twitter for 5.0.  Enjoy!

That link is to the iPad version, even though we also have one for the iPhone. I recommend the iPad version if you have a choice — it has many more features than the iPhone version… you will see what I mean!

Daily Photo – Deep into the Jungle Mists

I was many kilometers down this river away from the town.  I got off my little boat to do some hiking up through the hills through the jungle. It was dense.  Even when there was a little opening, it still felt like leaves and vines were pressing in on me.  On occasion, I would see a wider break that let me see into the mysterious beyond.

Filed under the categories: China, Guilin, Li River, Travel

New Authors Coming Online

We have many new authors over at Flatbooks.com (as well as many new ebooks!).  Check out the Authors section to see who is working on upcoming books.  Very exciting!

Daily Photo – The Forbidden City

Early one morning I decided to hike up the biggest hill in the middle of Central Axis to get a shot of the Forbidden City.

Once up there, it was an amazing view of the old city.  There’s not many cities in the world that have kept such a huge area so well preserved.  It’s about as close as you can get to time travel in the real world (so far).  And then, when the light is right in these strange hours, it is a completely transportive experience.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Nikon D3X, Travel

Schemer

Have you heard of Google Schemer?  I believe it is in beta.  That is a link to my personal page… It’s a fun way to find things to do “in the real world” and I’ve been using it from time to time.

If you want an invite, watch my Google+ Stream later today for a little giveaway…

Daily Photo – From The Top of the Great Wall

Far in the north, this area of the Great Wall has been overgrown with vegetation.  Birds and little creatures are all over the place.  A path has been made over time, and it weaves in and out of these overgrown bits.  The wall is so wide that it’s sometimes easy to forget that you are standing on top of a huge structure.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Nikon D3X, Travel

Live Hangout Thursday Night!

Topic: DSLRs are Forever? Subtext: You don’t always need DSLRs now or in the future to get DSLR-quality photos…

• NEW Guests: +Romain Guy from Google, one of the minds behind the camera phone for the new+Android Galaxy Nexus… maybe can goad him into hot tips! +James Brandon from Digital Photography School; +Gordon Laing from CameraLabs.com ; +Frederick Van Johnson from This Week in Photo ; +Kelli Seeger Kim from Behind the Lens; and +RC Concepcion from Kelby Media.
• Time: Thurs at 8 PM PT – Your World Time
• Where:  Watch my Google+ Stream for the embedded player.

Daily Photo – The Bird’s Nest From Above

I was at the top of this tower late one night in Beijing.  It’s a cool tower (I don’t have a photo of it), but it’s the kind of tower that will look awful in about 10 years.  Anyway, this photo is not about the tower.

The famous Bird’s Nest stadium was spread out beneath me.  When I saw this scene, I knew I was going to shave off the top and the bottom.  The bottom was kind of interesting.  The top was dreadful.  It’s a bit painful to take a photo when I know I’m going to be cutting out so much, but I do it quite often anyway.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel

Amazing New eBook!

Check out FlatBooks.com to see “Photographing the Fourth Dimension – Time” from Jim Goldstein.  I think you’ll love it…  And, I hate to say judge a book by its cover – but – go ahead!

Lijiang is a Photo Holiday!

This turned out to be an amazing place for photos! If you’d like to see all the photos from this area, click on the Lijiang Category here or at the bottom of the post.

Daily Photo – Walking Blind through China

As Tom Anderson and I were leaving the old area of Lijiang one evening, we saw these two coming towards us in the opposite direction. One of them was blind (perhaps both), and one played a small stringed instrument while the other held out a bowl for donations.

I squatted down and waited for them to enter a little pool of light from a nearby shot before I took the photo. And then I walked over and put a little donation in the bowl.

Filed under the categories: China, Lijiang, Nikon D3S, Travel

Announcement! A Photography Workshop at Google Giveaway!

Are you in LA and want to join me for a great day at Google for a photography workshop? Watch my Google+ Stream today for instructions on how to win the giveaway. It will be an amazing time!

Textures

This photo below, like others you see on occasion, use a texture method that I get a lot of questions about. We have a popular Textures Tutorial here on the site that comes with a ton of different textures in case you are curious to learn more…

Daily Photo – The Long Path to the Temple of Heaven

It was a beautiful morning in Beijing. It was cool and crisp, and I walked around this historic area while locals were doing yoga and various other exercises. There are many ancient, repeating structures that cover the grounds in a very orderly manner. This is one of the many long structures that helps to connect various areas of the complex.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Nikon D3X, Stuck In Customs Textures, Travel

Just in! I took a quick photo here... it's still warm!

Running Out of Calendars

It looks like this will be sold out by the end of the year. I suppose that is good timing, since 2012 is pretty soon!

It’s a great gift for you, for your family, and for your friends.  Our little team of elves is standing by to pack everything up for you!

$19.99 (U.S. and Canada)*

Stuck in Customs 2012 Wall Calendar Full calendar with high-quality-saddle-stitched page High-quality glossy one-hundred-pound cover with eighty-pound pages inside 12 beautiful images from around the world

Daily Photo – Ascending to the Temple at Night

There is a temple atop a huge hill in Lijiang that has several “staging areas” for rest along the way. This is one of them.

This is an area where I took a lot of photos of the old town below. That area is kind of behind me here in this photo, although that is hard to tell from this vantage. It is a good resting place to recharge your batteries before finishing the rest of the hike up the stairs to the top. There’s also a little shop here that sells snacks and drinks… To me, a true adventurer never passes up a good snack.

Filed under the categories: China, Lijiang, Nikon D3X, Travel

Live Hangout Tonight!

Time: Thursday 8 PM PT – Your World Time: http://goo.gl/IFwEf
Topic: We’ll start with how we pack photo stuff, particularly what we’ll be bringing for the Yosemite Google+ PhotoWalk! And then… we’ll let the conversation meander in a hangout-kinda-way…
Where? Watch my Google+ stream for the Live On Air YouTube player.

Camera City

And here is another crazy place from China!

Daily Photo – The Sound that of Clattering Wood in the Breeze

Upon entering the oldest part of this ancient town, I passed by these tiny shingles that hung in the air. They made a delightful sound as the wind went through them, and it kind of set the mood for the rest of the exploration.

This woman was holding an umbrella to shield the sun. It did get a little steamy from time to time… I wish I had one too!

Filed under the categories: China, Lijiang, Nikon D3X, Travel

Join me Tuesday, Live on TWIT Photo

Tuesday at 1:30 PM PT I’ll be on live at Live.Twit.TV with Leo. The guest that day will be Dave Cross, so it should be a fun conversation!

Daily Photo – The Digital Aurora Borealis

There’s not many places where you can get a colorful sky in the middle of the night. China seems to be one of the best places to have these strange digital phenomenon.

This place is called “The Place.” It ranks right up there with some of the other awful names of Chinese locations. They should hire a poet or two so these places can sound more exotic. I’d be happier if it was called “Tomorrow Sky” or “The Sea of Matrix.”

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Nikon D3X, Travel

Thursday Night Hangout

Join us on Thursday!

Time: Thursday 7 PM PT (Your World Time)
Where to watch: www.Vidcastnetwork.com
Topic: Gear Talk! The new Nikon Mirrorless and more… Note, I usually don’t talk about gear… I’m more into the art, but this next generation of cameras is interesting to me. And, I’ll have one of the great experts joining me, +Gordon Laing and some others too. We always open it up to the public too towards the end for Q&A and general hangout fun-nonsense and stuff…

People with personal agendas

This doesn’t happen here on the blog… all you guys are cool and don’t really do this sort of thing, but it happens a lot on Google+. See this thread about this topic.

Daily Photo – The Runner of Blades

More and more cities are giving me that feel of Blade Runner. It’s such a great movie… well, the first half is great. It drags a little after that. Okay okay I know that is blasphemy… just my opinion and everything. I know I should not say such a thing…

Anyway, this is a very trendy place in Beijing. There are many trendy places, all futuristic, all full of cool shopping and restaurants, all great for photography!

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel

New eBook – Square

We have a great new eBook – it’s beautiful, educational, and fun. I think you’ll get a lot out of it. Pop over to Flatbooks.com now to get a copy and download immediately!

Here’s what’s inside:

- Learn the history of the square format
- Learn to capture for square and edit with square in mind
- Tutorials for Cropping, Making Vertoramas, and adding borders to your images
- Read an interview case study with Matt Toynbee
- Learn about Holga lenses
- 50+ Pages

Other New Flatbooks Authors

There are so many things happening with Flatbooks.com that I can barely keep up! We have Ben Wilmore writing a new book which should be done pretty soon. Besides Ben, we have all kinds of people writing them now, like Lisa Bettany, Jessica Ambats, Jaime Ibarra, and several others.

And don’t forget about Ron Martinsen’s eBook on Printing, which is another new release.

Daily Photo – Girl Outside Restaurant

I normally don’t re-process photos. Most of you may know this about me. But, I went over to have a little session with Jaime Ibarra (at the same time I talked him into writing an eBook for us!), and I took a few photos with me to work on. This is one of them. He has a very interesting technique, and I thought this would be a good candidate.

I found this girl sitting outside of a restaurant. There’s a dead time around 3 to 4 PM… to late for lunch and too early for dinner. I suppose she worked in the restaurant and was just taking a break…

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Nikon D3S, Travel

Controversial Car Photos

I asked an innocent question about cars… and I got way more responses than expected. See this crazy Google+ thread!

Daily Photo – The Canals of Lijiang at Night

There must be a hundred little canals spread here and there through the old town. There are so many opportunities for photos! This is what we call a target-rich environment.

This is the town I was in with Tom Anderson — every night we explored a new area. It was an amazing time… I can’t wait to go back some day!

Filed under the categories: China, Lijiang, Nikon D3X, Travel