SNAP IT. TWEAK IT. LOVE IT. SHARE IT.

Create something really special out of a photo - Snapseed Desktop for Windows. The best thing about it: you don’t need Photoshop or any other image editing software to create incredible effects. By just using Snapseed, you’ll be able to edit your photos intuitively and create impressive results.

Special Offer:
Exclusively for members of fotocommunity and available only until 11/05/2012 Snapseed Desktop for Windows on offer for a special one-off price of €9.95 instead of €15.95.

Nature Photography: Landscape and Animals
Robin Preston shows you how to bring a sense of dynamism to your photos using Color Efex Pro 4 and Snapseed Desktop for Mac. Simulate well-known darkroom techniques with the help of Nik Software tools, and you’ll be able to create incredible effects in a matter of seconds. It really has never been so easy to edit your photos creatively and effectively.

Do you wish to experience live and first-hand how quick and easy it is to edit your images with Snapseed?
Then register now for our free webinar with star photographer Robin Preston.

A very common part of documentary photography is street photography to feature candid situations in public places. It could be prepared to catch a defined situation or determined by chance. Sometimes you will meet both. At any time: be prepared!

Nikon D50, f10 @ 1/125sec, ISO 200

That´s the story from Ken Piros:

Photography in the inner city presents a lot of challenges and not just light, aperture and shutter speed. The most challenging situations you run into are the homeless and poor wanting handouts.
You are going to hear a lot of stories, very convincing stories, some will be true, others not. Can you turn your back on them? If you are a compassionate person you are going to try and help some of the people with the most believable stories.
You will be taken advantage of but you can’t let that harden your heart or you will miss that person that really needs a hand up.
I recently started a photo series called “Inner City Religion” where I went out in the early morning hours to photograph some store front churches. I passed one up with a man standing in front of it that I thought could make a nice addition to the series. I turned around and parked my car in a grocery stores parking lot directly across the street. Grabbing my camera I started to set my camera setting for the light reading and proper shutter speed when suddenly a woman appeared at my window. She asked if I could spare some money so she could go inside the store and buy something to eat. Faced with another situation where I have to quickly decide is she telling the truth about the food or does she just want money to buy some Mad Dog 20/20 ( cheap wine ). I handed her a five dollar bill and a small booklet containing the Gospel of John. She thanked me and then left.
I went back to my camera setting when she suddenly re-appeared at my window asking me if the booklet was about Jesus? I said it was. She grabbed my hand in both of hers and kissed the back of my hand thanking me again. After I got my pictures and was preparing to leave I saw the woman leaving the grocery store with a donut and a cup of coffee.
Sometimes you get taken but those times when you don’t make it all worthwhile. There are a lot of images of the homeless and beggars posted on this website and plenty of compassionate comments; I guess that we all have a decision to make.

Do you have a photo with an untold story behind?

Let me know! Send your story and the link to the picture to Matthias Moritz. Your story may be the next published at fotocommunity.com!

The peacock as a symbol of beauty, wealth, love, passion but also immortality, arrogance and vanity always has a special place in the animal kingdom. It is a main figure in myths and legends of various cultures and eras. In India the peacock is a sacred animal and destined to be the national bird. The main figure of the Kurdish religion Yezidism, Melek Taus, is most commonly depicted as a peacock, which was appointed by God to the highest angel and the guardian and steward of the earth. In Greek mythology, the goddess Hera created the "hundred-"plumage of the peacock from the many-eyed giant Argos, who with his eagle eyes guarded Io and was finally killed by Hermes.

Canon Powershot S3 IS

So, also photographers are drawn to the attractive coat of this bird. But: its better to be careful and to demonstrate respect for the pretended weaker opponent. That´s the story from Adele Oliver:

I have taken photos in many forbidden places or in areas where it was not safe, especially for a woman. I have taken lots of pictures in difficult situations off moving boats or turned myself into a pretzel to get the right perspective .... but everything has always turned out just fine. But I remember the day when I took this image all too well.

It was March 2008 when I went with my 8 year old granddaughter to the small carved out of the jungle zoo in Mismaloya/Mexico. We had a great time watching and photographing animals, then we came to an area with birds - and some of them were running around freely! Excitement, excitement : there was my first peacock !! I had to get down to his level to get the right angle and crouched down sitting precariously on my haunches, I had to adjust my camera - such a bright light, I had to focus ..... I pressed the shutter and had a photo - then tried a second shot. Suddenly an enormous weight landed on me - the peacock was right in my lap !!!! I felt pain in my right hand which was holding the camera - he had bitten me !!! My granddaughter was screaming, I was on the ground, in shock, and there was blood running down from my hand. I managed to get up after shaking him off and inspected the damage - three wounds, but my ego was probably more damaged than my hand.

But I counted my blessings - he could have picked me in the face or even eyes, I also had tissues to clean up my hand .... and my Tetanus shot was still good for a year.... a painkiller could be taken at home.

I was " rewarded" with one photo .... but it will remain my only Peacock image for a long time.

Do you have a photo with an untold story behind?

Let me know! Send your story and the link to the picture to Matthias Moritz. Your story may be the next published at fotocommunity.com!

February 15th 2004, Canon A1 on Kodak film, scan from negative, photo by Matthias Moritz

The setting sun against U.S. 152 in Oklahoma, just off the Interstate. Beautiful warm colors! Suddenly I noticed two classic cars on the right hand. A super theme for a picture under perfect light conditions! U-turn, stop on the shoulder. Grasping my cameras and going out.

Hmm. Private property. "Beware of Dog". Just about 25 meters to the car, nobody in the vicinity, not even a dog. Silence. Go on! Click! First photo. Click! Next one! Changing location, position into the squat.

Suddenly, a wild yelping from behind, also shouting. Oh, oh! ... "HEY, get off my ground" I heared the angry voice of the owner. And while I slowly initiated my retreat, he got me. "I'll charge you fifty bucks a photo!" "But, uh, I do not have that much money," I replied, "I am sorry! I will not do that again!" "Next time I'll gonna shoot you," he threatened me. Well, that wasn´t music to my ears! Quickly I asked some questions for distraction, feigned interest and slowly but surely found my way to the road ....

Meanwhile, his two mini-barkers pulled at my jeans, trying to gnaw at my legs too (ouch! - just trying to keep a straight face as long as I am not in my car!)

Another "I am very sorry, sir!" Let me get out of here as fast as possible!

The photo above is a result of an undesired adventure. I made my experience and never ever tried something like that again.

Do you have a photo with an untold story behind?

Let me know! Send your story and the link to the picture to Matthias Moritz. Your story may be the next published at fotocommunity.com!

In this contest, which is organized together with Kata bags, we would like to see photographs that exude the feeling of esasiness.

Whether butterflies in spring, a feather in the air or a child on a swing, be emotional, be with ease! Which of the many possible motives for the topic you choose to show us, we are looking forward to seeing many creative images.

As usual, pictures with copyright note within the image will be removed. The contest is strictly anonymous.

Good luck to you!

INFOS & PRIZES

By reducing the colour, the reality of every black and white picture develops its own charming aesthetics. In this contest we want to see your fascinating, creative and exclusively black and white images.

Please no toning or coluorizing, no sepia or colour-key or anything. Just show the pure black and pure white.

As usual, pictures with copyright note within the image will be removed. The contest is strictly anonymous.

INFOS & PRIZES

Hello!
New menu, new home: fotocommunity presents itself in a new “look & feel”. Here we put together those changes, which are particularly useful for you.

At just one click: your personal information
From now on you will reach your own personal photo community with just one single click. When you are logged in, it doesn´t matter where you just are on the fotocommunity-website: move the mouse over your name on the top right of the menu and find all the pages that relate to you personally. And if you click on your name, you will reach the "My Community"- area.

In one place: direct entry to the main pages
The most important thing in one place: your mailbox, your photos, the photos of your friends, your discussions - the introduction to this popular site is easier than ever. We placed them all in four small icons at the top right corner of the menu next to your name. With one click you will reach each of these areas at any time. And: whether there are new mails for you, new comments to your photos or in your discussions or pictures of your new friends - the four symbols keep you always up to date.

Know where you are – at any time
In the new menu below the fotocommunity.logos you can recognize at any time where you are currently located. All the sections, subsections and divisions are clickable and allow quick navigation to adjacent areas.

Tidy: The photo areas
Channels, Gallery & Co., competitions: you can reach all photo areas immediately through the menu item "Pictures" at the top left.

Switch to a different language of fotocommunity
Now at the bottom: if you would like to leave the German-speaking community to one of the four other communities, you will find the link to the desired language version in the footer, at the bottom of each individual page.

The new home page
Modern, clear, better quality: the home page shows up with a new approach. The photo on the front page is in main focus - working through the significant expansion. Below the photo are shown news of popular areas of fotocommunity. Be inspired: below these news you will find a display of a small photo gallery of the most popular new models and photos.

What´s next?
The entire side of the fotocommunity will be adapted step by step to the new, simpler design. In preparation of the changes the program code also will be rewritten, so that long desired enhancements to areas could be implemented faster and easier. Next, the forum will be renewed - and then we look forward to the new enlarged preview images and a new messaging system

We invite you to try!

Greetings
Your fotocommunity team

Peter Theunissen
Story telling landscape photography

At first the photos of Peter Theunissen caught my attraction because of the fresh, vivid colors. Second, because of the unique, fancy points of view shooting animals.

Third, the view into the landscapes of the Netherlands with a passion for detail from the foreground to the main motif. Every photo tells a little story. And when you look at his portfolio, it might be your next wish to spend your holidays in the Netherlands to enjoy the country´s beauty shown by Peter Theunissen.

So I gladly introduce Peter Theunissen as featured photographer.
Enjoy the beautiful Netherlands.

Best Regards
Matthias Moritz
Team fotocommunity.com

Peter Theunissen
I am Peter Theunissen, born in September 1945 in Maastricht / the Netherlands. That makes me 66 today.
My working live was in an art gallery to sell statues and paintings. I also aranged many exhibitions.
In my free time I am an amateur photographer just for holidays, but with the digital photography I spend more time in interest.
The only real reason I shoot photo's is because I like it. The reason I show them is because I hope you like them too.

Ben Goossens
Surrealism, a source of inspiration

Ben is one of those rare digital artists who combines suberb technical skills with an amazing creativity.

His works are not merely combinations of various elements randomly thrown together. Rather, he combines the subjects in his pictures so skillfully that he's able to create wholistic new images and entire fantasy worlds, which tell stories and inspire our imagination.

Not surprisingly, Ben seems to be influenced strongly by surrealism and quite frequently takes references from Magritte.

I gladly introduce Ben Goossens as featured photographer of the month. Enjoy the pictures!

Best Regards
Dr. Axel Flasbarth
CEO fotocommunity

Ben Gossens
After art school, I worked in 35 years as Art Director in advertising
What I make now for my hobby (I'm retired) is a logic follow-up from what I did as profession.Surrealism had always be a source of inspiration for the visual concepts in advertising and is still now for my hobby.

I used PS (from the first version), after a long period of traditional techniques, and it change completely the way of creation.

An object/subject inspired me to create a personal concept, this with my own shootings, a full HD stock, which has been build-up after 40 year of photography.

The traditional drawing techniques, I learned in school and job are very useful to make what I like to do: surreal concepts.

Many of those "crazy surreal" images are edited worldwide, that also why many call me R.Magritte/Dali in the photography, which is a great honor for me.

Andrea Sagawe
An essential view of architecture photography

What is it, that makes a photographer special among all the others? Often its not about high technical quality, but an unique view of things.
So Andrea Sagawe´s pictures attracted my attention, showing only details of the architecture, but however, I got the impression this was all you need to see understanding the architects vision behind.

Her very personal view of things she can also transfer into fascinating nature photography:

Viewing her photographs, you always will find a story easy but effectively told, kind of "reduced to the max".

I gladly introduce Andrea Sagawe as featured photographer of the month. Enjoy the pictures!

Best Regards
Matthias Moritz

Team fotocommunity.com

Andrea Sagawe
About four years ago I started with digital photography. I would call
myself an autodidact. To achieve a better degree of perfection in the
picture quality I'm always eager to learn from other more experienced
photographers. But also looking at pictures from "beginners" can help to
get a completely different and perhaps even more interesting approach on
a motive.

Although I can't say I have a particular theme in my work, I guess I
usually go for nature and architecture. I often try to reduce a motive
to a certain "essence" and tend to take shots in a kind of abstract way.
When I look at architecture I often don't see the whole building, but
like to extract parts of it which attract my special interest. That can
be a certain pattern or form, the light and shadow play formed due to
the building's structure, or reflections in a building's windows.
REFLECTIONS... another great interest of mine. I feel magically drawn to
reflections of any kind. They make great abstracts and are sometimes
fine mind-benders, especially when you turn them 180 degrees :-))

I hope you enjoy my pictures.

Today we would like to introduce an interesting ebook to you and in addition we will give away some copies to the value of 29$ each. To get one, all you have to do is to post a link to the profile of your favorite nude photographer on fotocommunity. Go to the profile of photographer, copy the URL in the adress bar of your browser und paste it in your comment here in the blog.

Everybody who leaves link to the 23 of march, 2011 will have a chance to win. Winners will be announced in the blog.

"Nude photographer Michael Charles reveals insider secrets in his new ebook, "Money Shots: The Insider's Guide to the World of Nude & Erotic Photography." On 165 pages, including 65 images, Money Shots covers all aspects of nude and erotic photography.

The ebook provides extensive information on both, the creative and business sides of the erotic photography industry. Whether someone is interested in pursuing nude photography as a hobby with great fringe benefits or aspires to become a full-time pro; "Money Shots" will show photographers of all levels how to reach their full creative potential."

Michael Grotkamp
Catching the opportunity

The first thing you notice about Michael Grotkamp’s images is that he not only captures wonderful street portraits of the people he encounters but he also captures the essence of the person through his artistic style.
We know you will enjoy his select portfolio as featured photographer this month and afterward stop by and enjoy his full collection of images.
"Art is not in the eye of the beholder; it is in the soul of the artist." – Quote by Seth Godin

Ken Piros
Team Fotocommunity.com

Michael Grotkamp
As a photographer a bloody autodiduct (self-taught) ..... as an artist and graduate of the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen professionally trained with a view towards depth, the ideal of the Dessauer Bauhaus - the magnificent concept of the school of vision (Schule des Schauens). As a professional - among other things - responsible for positive photographic results in the advertising business as opposed to work for the from time to time gladly paying client.
Important for me is the closeness to Otto Steinert, the founder of subjective photography as well as seeing the work of August Sander - and since then being introduced by a photofriend to the work of the Frenchman Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Not attached to any style but catching the opportunity ... filling garbage heaps with sanguine purposeful selections. My two major priorities are looking for visions into humanity, emotions, the unexpected moment, situation, documentation and portraits and maybe - but rarely - a Psychogram. And lastly: the connection between photographic grounding and the equally wide palette of painterlyt illustrative elements.

Congratulations to the winners of the Winterwonderland contest.

Members Berthold Klammer, Kenny Jazz, Hanne L., Uwe Schnittert, håggard, Amine Kansoussi, Andrew Hutchinson, AdventureDan, Secallen have been awarded the prizes of a MICRO-MINI ZEBRA Reflector worth 171,45 Euro, a SUN-MOVER Zebra Reflector worth 89,- Euro, a Fotocommunity calendar edition: „The Art of Photography – Macro” and the book “Window Seat” –The Art of Digital Photography & Creative Thinking.

With their excellent artistic images of people and animals during the winter season, they and all members that contributed made the contest section a valuable reference when looking for outstanding winter scene photography.

We would like to thank you and everybody who participated and are looking forward to the upcoming contests.

Many thanks, also to the jury for their time and effort in making this contest a success.

The fotocommunity.com admin team

In focus: light and composition

I took notice of Luc Tricot and his pictures right from the beginning of his membership. His pictures tell a story, they are creative, powerful in simplicity, sometimes in a combination of an eye-catching object in the foreground embedded into a beautiful landscape .

See his Picture "Glass and sea"

Still I like his distinctive style of photography in its diversity. So have a look into a selected portfolio of his work: (New section featured photographers/Luc Tricot)

Afterwards look into his profile and enjoy a lot more beautiful photos!
Every time good light to you!
Matthias Moritz
Team fotocommunity.com

Luc Tricot:
"I am Belgian , I have been passionate about photography since youth. I have travelled widely in pursuit of subjects that interest me. My primary interest is in nature. I am an
autodidact, but have a profound feeling for my subjects. My objective is not to improve on perfection, but to capture it through my lens. Light and composition play a big part in my works. I received several accolades for my work in recent years. In 2010 I was awarded 'Canon' First Prize in Photo Magazine for the Ecological photo of the year.
I research my subjects deeply, often photographing the same site or subject on a regular basis, through different seasons, different weather conditions, times of the day, building towards the mood I wish to capture and convey. I am currently compiling a body of work on Iceland. My next trip is to Tanzania, on a photographic safari in March."

This is new to fotocommunity.com:
we decided to introduce distinguished photographers in a new subsection. Every month the team of fotocommunity.com invites a photographer to introduce a selection of his work in a special folder, to talk about himself, his ideas and creativity of photography. Enjoy well captured streets situations, landscapes in beautiful light or portraits. It might encourage you to improve your own work or just to meet another member of fotocommunity.com.

Winter is around the corner and everybody is looking forward to snow and sunshine. The photographers heart beats faster while spending joyful moments out in nature. Show us pictures of people and animals during the cold season. Walkers in the middle of snow covered landscapes, sheeps in a snow storm, ice crystals on windows, snowball fights or playing children on a white powdered field, all of that and much more is what we want to see.

P R I Z E S
1st Prize:  1 x MICRO-MINI ZEBRA Reflector worth 171,45 EUR
2nd Prize: 1x SUN-MOVER Zebra Reflector worth 89,- EUR
3rd to 5th Prize:  1 x Calendar fotocommunity edition: „The Art of Photography – Macro”
6th to 15th Prize: 1x Book „Window Seat” –The Art of Digital Photography & Creative Thinking

Go directly to the contest.
Watch Terms, Conditions and Prizes.

Your sedcard is still missing! From now on the sedcard in the fotocommunity is free - and therefore free for anyone who wants to present him- or herself as a model and who wants to ride the wave of orders from phtotographers and customers from industry and advertising.

Whether old or young, male or female: In addition to classic beauties we're also looking for characteristic faces. Even users with a free account are invited to create a sedcard with five photos, fill out a short information on their size, dimensions, applications, and fee expectations. With the model search function you now only have to let potential clients find your profile.

Here you can create your own model sedcard now.

A long aspired dream has come true. The dream of Angela Vicedomini, Maurizio Vicedomini and Salvo Zannelli. All of them are members of the Italian fotocommunity, the place where they all became friends.

Besides the passion for photography, these close friends also share an enthusiasm for music. The worldwide known Rock band „Genesis“ is of special importance to them. Due to this common interest, the friends constantly aspired to fulfill their shared dream. One day a little miracle happened – “Genesis” fell in love with the photos of Angela, Maurizio and Salvo and they agreed to collaborate in a their project. Finally, their dream came true, in the form of a book.

Another member of the Italian fotocommunity, Gaetano Ficara, has written the introduction for the book: ”no photobook, but a book about photos; key fotos that give a visual perspective of the magical text of the songs that the group wrote, a passionate view arranged through the photographic spirit of the authors.

“Genesis – in Our Flight of Fancy – Photos to hear and music to look at”

The book will be presented officially the 17 of September 2010 in Monte Verito di Ascona right before the concert of Steve Hackett. The book includes 136 pages in color and black-and-white, with a size of 30x30 cm and the publishing company “Vier-Augen-Verlag” will release it. Steve Hackett, Gaetano Ficara, Mario Giametti and Gabriele Rigon wrote the introductions. Those who join the concert will be able to get a personally autographed book by Steve Hackett.

In closing, some words from Maurizio Vicedomini: “When we registered for the fotocommunity our intention was to share our passion in photography. We recognized very fast that in this network lays much more than just photography, through this common interest, true and deep friendship became possible. This book is the proof. Supporting this project, there are enthusiasts like us, which only together could fulfill an old dream.

Back in april we changed gallery voting comprehensively. Meanwhile we noticed, that we did not achieve our objectives. Because of the anonymity and the elimination of any comments, the gallery voting also lost much of its charm, since many of the voting discussion were very productive and interesting. That's why we´ve now changed the rules for gallery voting again.

From now on each photographer may choose between two voting methods, when one of his photos is proposed for gallery voting. These options can be selcted in the “settings” of each account.

1. The open voting method is back again. Author, title, and comments will be displayed. In addition, the photographer has the option to hide voting comments after voting has been completed.

2. As an alternative, there is still the anonymous method without comments, author or title. Please note that this choice is only available in your domestic domain and language. In non-domestic domains, only the open voting method is possible.

After a photo has been successfully voted into the gallery, photographers can permanently or temporally disable additional comments below their gallery images. And finally the votinghistoryis back again, so everybody has a summary of the voting results and can more easily find rejected pictures.
A lot of your ideas and wishes have influenced the new approach and we would be glad, if you like the new, customizable voting.

Voting for the gallery is only available for pay user. Free guest cannot participate, but if you wish to do so you can become a pay member very easily here.

You as members were longing for some new photographic contests. Since creating a contest implies a lot of preparation and also a longer time to find the winner, we created something similar, a "monthly theme" on a regular basis.
In the "Special"-Channel" you will find a new Section "Two Months Project", where you will see the subsection with the specific topic. Everyone is allowed to participate with one photo per theme.

For seven weeks you are able to upload your favourite photo and to vote for others, the last week will be opened for voting only. At the end the results will be posted under the pictures.
The winning image will be used as section preview of this competition and will be shown on the frontpage. The winner will be featured in the blog.
The "Two Months Project" has just started. It is now open and images can be uploaded until June 10th. On June 17th the voting phase will end and the results will be published.

Here straight to the project.