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Skrekkøgle is a small product and digital design studio in Oslo, Norway known for their impactful, quirky projects. One of our favorites is a project in which they fabricated a 20:1 replica of a 50-Euro coin and placed it in various scenes to make large objects appear tiny.

The goal with most tutorials we post is to provide helpful tips for improving your photography, along with striking imagery you may want to emulate. But sooner or later it’s important to develop a style of your own, and the video below will get you started.

It wasn’t too long ago when the use of a CMOS chip in a digicam was a sign of a cheapie camera. Well, the tide has changed, with CMOS today reflecting the highest level of capture in our newest digital point-and-shoots. Yes, there continue to be CCD holdouts even in innovative designs, but the writing is on the wall, spelling an eventual fade-out of the Charge-Coupled Device. And today, the Backside Illuminated (BSI, or simply “backlit”) CMOS sensor is slowly but surely moving into center stage—at least among small-sensor point-and-shoots, for improved light reception at the sensor, hence clearer, tonally fuller, and more detailed images. We’re also seeing quite a few long-zoom models and more GPS-enabled cameras, with a digital compass to boot, mostly in travel/outdoors-oriented designs. The “rugged” category continues to grow, as well as features such as sweep panorama mode (just swing around with your finger continually on the button) and touchscreen displays. But perhaps the new feature that stands out most is Wi-Fi capability. One camera is even Android-powered. The latter may not be smartphones, but they certainly appear to be the smart way to go for the wireless generation. With those trends in mind here’s our roundup of the digicam class of 2012. (Please note that this report contains both cameras on the market as of spring 2012 and those announced to be available when this article goes to press. Check with the various manufacturers for current availability.—Editor)

DigiLabs Pro (www.digilabspro.com) introduced “Client Creations” — a variety of client created wedding album packages that photographers can easily market to clients. A complete keepsake that is ideal for savvy wedding couples, the ready-to-sell kit includes a fine-quality leather storage box, software and instructions for couples to quickly create high-quality albums using their digital photographs. Professional wedding photographers will find these comprehensive kits to be a popular and unique client offering that should enable them to bring in supplementary revenue without significant additional labor.

DigiLabs Pro introduced its new Web Galleries Pro, a completely redesigned tool for creating custom online storefronts for professional photographers. Studio owners and independent photographers will benefit from enhanced page layouts and tools meant to increase productivity and make it even easier for their clients to select and purchase images online.

Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRCE) today announced the public beta of Digimarc
Image Search, an innovative desktop search tool designed for the rapidly growing
digital photography market.



The free tool, downloadable from Digimarc's website at www.digimarc.com/mypicturemarc/imagesearch,
works in conjunction with popular desktop search tools such as Google Desktop
Search, MSN Desktop Search, and Yahoo! Desktop Search, enhancing the image search
capabilities of these tools. Current desktop search tools have limited image search
capabilities, typically looking for the file name in the header of an image, which
can be easily changed or forgotten. Most professional and many consumer photographs
are distributed today in digital form with an extensive array of associated information
or "metadata" carried within the image files.



Digimarc Image Search works with and extends existing desktop search tools by
enabling users to more quickly and effectively find images stored on a computer
based on such information or "metadata" embedded into digital images,
including keywords, copyright information and digital rights data; and identify
image copyright holders and facilitate image licensing by accessing Internet services,
where available, that connect to an image owner's website or Digimarc's
image registry, which is available to users of Digimarc MyPictureMarc and ImageBridge
digital watermarking software.



This beta release supports web updates for images from the Corbis stock photography
library and for all other images that use Digimarc digital watermarking products.




Digital photography is often digitally watermarked by its owners using Digimarc
software for a variety of purposes, including copyright protection, facilitation
of licensing, and the monitoring of Internet marketing programs. The Digimarc
software enables users to embed an imperceptible digital watermark that identifies
the image's owner and registers that image in the Digimarc online registry.
For images with embedded digital watermarks, Digimarc Image Search can retrieve
current and dynamic information about the pictures from Internet resources; for
example, identification of the owner of rights to facilitate licensing or additional
keywords to improve search results. More information on Digimarc digital imaging
products can be found at: www.digimarc.com/mypicturemarc.



Availability

Digimarc Image Search Beta is available now as a free download at www.digimarc.com/mypicturemarc/imagesearch. ...