Northern New Mexico offers a rich cultural mixture, great scenery, and a diverse range of environments, from desert to towering red rock formations to lush alpine meadows to deeply cut river valleys. It’s a photographer’s paradise, which is why you should consider “Taos: A Photographic Adventure Workshop” from July 11-17, 2015.

Panasonic has announced the new Lumix G 42.5mm/F1.7 ASPH./POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilization) (equivalent: 85 mm) and the Lumix G Macro 30mm/ F2.8 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S. (equivalent: 60mm) lenses. Both lenses are designed for Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds camera systems.

Sigma announced two new photo products ahead of the big CP+ Imaging Show in Japan: a new 24mm F/1.4 DG HSM Art lens and the dp0 Quattro camera.

Our Picture This! assignment this month was Panorama and thanks, in part, to some recent technical leaps in digital cameras, we received an array of impressive panoramic images. Some were created with panoramic “sweep mode” (in-camera stitch), which has made creating a panorama as easy as pressing the button and sweeping the camera in front of the vista before you. Others were comprised of a series of images that were stitched together in software on a computer. While there was really no wrong way to do it, because the process has become so easy, many images looked very similar. On the next few pages, check out the grand panoramic images we felt really stood out from the pack.