Your Fireworks Photos

Just before the 4th of July, we asked our NYIP Facebook Fans to help us amass the greatest collection of fireworks photos ever. They came through in a big way, sharing the photos that they took on and around the fourth with us all month.

We chose the best of the best and included them in a slideshow below. We hope you enjoy!

And you can visit nyip.com for tips and tricks on how to capture amazing photographs of Fireworks.

NYIP Contest Watch

NYIP's Contest Watch provides information on international, national and regional photo contests that you might want to enter. Here are the lastest photography contests to check out:

X-Rite "Color Perfectionists Unite" Photography Contest

X-Rite, who make color management software and equipment have launched this monthly photo contest for "anyone passionate about perfecting color." Each month they will announce a theme (August is Summer Fun) and monthly winners will be selected by a top professional photographer specializing in the area of photography related to the theme. Each monthly winner will also be featured on the X-Rite Photo blog and will receive either an X-Rite ColorMunki Display, i1Display Pro, or a ColorChecker Passport. The top 20 finalists each month will be featured in a monthly gallery at X-Rite Photo on Facebook and Color Perfectionists Group on Flickr.

PIX Digital Imaging Contest

AfterCapture' Magazine's PIX Digital Imaging Contest recognizes excellence and innovation in digital imaging including retouching, CGI, 3D, compositing and other post-production techniques. Categories include Single Image, Series (limit 5 images), and Student (Image or Series). There are fees to submit your images. Prizes include either a Canon PowerShot G12 or Nikon COOLPIX P7000 camera, Complete Nik Software Collection, a PhotoServe Portfolio, full registration to WPPI 2012 and three Master Classes, Gold Pass to the 2011 PDN PhotoPlus Expo including a two-day pass to WPPI NYC, Image and Series winners will receive a feature in AfterCapture magazine, Student winners will receive a one-page profile in AfterCapture magazine and a One-year subscription to Photo District News magazine. You'll need to hurry — the deadline has been extended to August 15, 2011.

Rangefinder Magazine's Take Your Best Shot Contest

Photographers are invited to submit their best images of People, Places or Things. Prizes include having your photo published on a cover of Rangefinder Magazine if you're the Grand Prize Winner, and a Digital SLR, a Tamron zoom lens,a $200 B&H Gift Card, full registration to WPPI 2012,  and a one-year subscription to Rangefinder for other winners. All winners will also be featured in an online gallery as well as in the December issue of Rangefinder. Deadline to enter is October 3, 2011 and there are fees to enter this competition.

Epson World Shootout Underwater Grand Prix

If underwater diving is your thing and you can head off to a reef somewhere to take pictures this month, then you'll want to consider entering this contest sponsored by Epson. Over $70,000 of cash and prestigious prizes, 7 categories (Dive Destination, Wide Angle, Macro & Super-Macro, Ship or Plane Wreck, Underwater Environmental Conservation, Fresh Water, and Amateurs) and you choose your own diving destination. However, the rules are very specific, so you'll want to make sure you read them. For instance, since they only want photos taken during the month of August, contestants are required to set the date on their cameras to August 2016. Learn more on the contest Web site and then get diving — your images need to be in by August 31st!

Zoom-in on Poverty" Global Photo Contest

A joint effort between the Chinese news agency Xinhua and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), this contest has the goal of refocusing the world's attention towards poverty. Submitted images should show some of the causes, solutions and achievements made in poverty alleviation and must have been taken within the last ten years. The contest is open to  professional and amateur photographers as well as news media organizations.  Categories include Editorial Images: Best Professional Singles Award, Best Professional Stories Award, Best Non-Professional Singles Award,Best Non-Professional Stories Award as well as a Creative Images Award, Netizen's Choice Award - 1 Piece from All Categories and an Anti-Poverty Achievement Award. The first, second and third place winners will get $5,000, $2,000, and $1,000 respectively. The Netizen�s Choice Award winner will receive $6,000 and camera gear and The Anti-Poverty Achievement Award winner will be awarded with $8,000 and camera equipment. The deadline is September 1, 2011.

One Life: an International Photo Contest 

The deadline has been extended to August 19th! The prizes are great for this photo contest - $10K in cash, an exhibit, worldwide exposure - but the entry fee is steep at $10 a picture so you'll want to carefully consider whether to enter or not. You can submit entries into People, Place, Things, or Ideas, basically anything that according to the contest officials "illuminates your perspective: what you love, your travels, or anything that reflects your world and experience." If you've got images along those lines and the entry fees don't scare you away, this could be your ticket to the big time... Enter by July 29th.

For tips on how to enter and win photo contests, check out NYIP.com's Contest Tip Collection.

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Still Photography Magic in Stop-Motion Video Process

I'm always fascinated with studio work. You can truly create magic when it comes to taking still images, just as Sylvain Dumais did with 4,000 photographs and some animation, stop motion, and pixilation. "The Long Haul" video featured below shows off his creative studio process to great effect, combining the beauty of photography with the brilliance of digital video.

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Tune in on YouTube.  Visit the Official Site at NYIP.com.

Swimming Upstream to Reach Your Photography Goals

I recently came across the amazing story of Lewis Pugh, who swam across a high altitude glacial lake just below Mount Everest.  He's using this platform to foster positive change for the environment.  While it's not an outright photography video, I believe there is much we can take away from this clip.  After Pugh's first failed attempt where he nearly drowned and froze to death, he quickly recognized the need to change his entire approach to swimming if he wanted to succeed, and survive. What worked during his first 30+ years of swimming would be of no use here.  In fact, the harder he kicked and thrashed, the faster he sank to the bottom.  This idea can certainly be applied to your photography business.

    

On various photography forums, blogs, and websites, I've noticed a growing frustration with the state of the industry today.  They claim photojournalism is dead, and sports shooting will soon be next.  Some blame amateur photographers who charge too little, and undercut their business.  Others say it's the media, the internet, Photoshop, digital cameras, Facebook...you get the idea.  We live in a time where the business of photography is rapidly changing.  We can fight it and potentially sink like a stone, or use the challenge to create new opportunities.  

As you'll see in the video, it was only after Pugh embraced the need to change that he could succeed. As photographers, we have the ability to make a difference through imagery, and awareness.  Of course there are many roadblocks, and obstacles to overcome, but as Pugh says, “there is nothing more powerful than the made-up mind”.  

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Is a Photography Book in Your Future?

A show of hands out there - how many of you would like to have your photographs published in book form? This used to be a difficult proposition. When New York Institute of Photography graduate Ernest Cole left his native South Africa back in the early 1960s, he carried with him devastating images of apartheid; they led to a ground-breaking book of his work from publishing giant Random House (House of Bondage, 1967). Today's publishing process offers far more options to photographers. You can wait to get tapped by Big Publishing, or you can self-publish and turn your photographs into a themed book. Self-published, print-on-demand books make good instant portfolios for the photography professional. And as you'll see from the following video, some even win prizes, like German photographer Judith Stenneken's Last Call, a photo essay of the last days of an old Berlin airport.  

Join the conversation on Twitter.  Follow along with Facebook.

Tune in on YouTube.  Visit the Official Site at NYIP.com.