From 31 January to 2 February, the second largest photo trade show and convention in the world, the PMA, will take place in Las Vegas. Of course, fotocommunity will be there! Three members of the Bonn team and a small booth will represent us. If you happen to be in the area, you should stop by and visit! By the way, we'd like to use this opportunity for a user meet-up, Vegas style! Anyone interested in exploring Sin City, shooting a few photos, and perhaps enjoying a few beers is cordially invited to meet us on Thursday, 31 January 8:00 PM at the main entrance of the Luxor Hotel. We look forward to seeing you there!

A foto often offers more viewpoints of reality. This effect can be used and strengthened due to digital editing. In this international contest fotocommunity and Wacom are looking for your most creative before - after images. Show us what you create from an original image of your choice. We want your entry with the before and after within this one image. What you'll change is totally up to you and your phantasy. Faces, rooms, landscapes, the motif is free! We are very excited and eager to see the most astonishing images.

Go to the contest here

- uploading will start 25th of January and end 25th of March 2008
- each account may upload two images maximum
- only entries showing the before AND after on the same image can be evaluated!
- photos may be entered only without comments, that means if you have an image uploaded already you will have to remove it and upload it new to the contest channel.
- we do assume the acknowledgement of parents for minor participants
- entries not matching these conditions will not be evaluated in the contest
- with publishing of the winners, the authors of each image will be seen
- with uploading you confirm that all copyrights are held by you and that the image is free of third person's rights.
- copyright is handled as stated in terms of use of fotocommunity
- voting will be done in two steps. In the first step by members, in the second step by a n independent jury.
- contest is without possibility of recourse to legal action
- participants have to be registered at fotocommunity, free membership is possible.
- members of Wacom and fotocommunity and their dependents may not take part in this contest.
- on equal vote the older entry wins

voting procedure:
most contests at fotocommunity have the so called 2 phase voting. That means:

1. during the whole upload time images can be voted by full members on a scale from -5 to +5, which means that -5 results in 1 point, +5 will give 10 points.
2. after the end of user voting - which can last 1 to 2 weeks after upload phase - the best 100 to 200 images will be evaluated by a jury. Each jury is put together by experts for the referring contest theme.

Prizes:

1. Prize

Cintiq 12WX


Instant Creativity.
All over the world, creative professionals use sketchbooks to express their first ideas. This is why the Cintiq 12WX was developed as if it was a sketchbook: With a smooth, flat surface. And with a light weight that enables you to use it on your knees and to show it around to others. As you would do with paper – digital paper.
No matter whether the Cintiq 12WX is on your desk or in your lap – just plug in and visualize your thoughts immediately with Wacom′s patented pen technology on a high-resolution LCD monitor. Which can be part of a multi-monitor environment, too.

2. Prize:



Intuos 3 A5 Wide Special Edition

Now, on the occasion of its 25th birthday, Wacom is introducing Intuos3 Special Edition. Available in the popular sizes A5 Wide and A4, the Special Edition sets itself apart from the other Intuos3 models with its smart black finish and the enclosed Intuos Airbrush input device.

3. Prize:



Bamboo Fun Medium

Bamboo Fun Medium
Creativity is about expression. And what better way to express yourself than by creating your own world - your own photographs, drawings, collages or letters. Offering almost unlimited possibilities to express yourself in a simple and intuitive way.

The vision to bring man and technics together by providing natural input technologies and devices has made Wacom to the leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays and interface solutions.

Youth Channel Contest

You want to discover your photographical talent? Become well known? Your photos published in magazins? fotocommunity and the French youth mag "PHOSPHORE" offer you the opportunity to do so with this contest! Until March 7th you may upload your most creative photo about "being 18". We are eager to see sensational photos and how you understand the theme. After a user voting there will be an expert jury from phosphore magazine evaluating the winners from the best photos - and publish them in their magazine.

Here's the link to the contest

Contest Rules:

-The upload starts on 23 January 2008 and ends on 7 March 2008.
-Each participant can upload a maximum of 5 photos.
-Only photos that creatively realize the subject "Being 18" can be submitted.
-Photos can only be submitted without comments. If you want to enter a photo that has already been shown and received comments, you cannot simply enter that photo with all its comments. You have to upload the photo again in the Contest Channel.
-Underage participants declare the consent of a legal guardian with the submission of their photos.
-Entries that do not fulfill the contest rules cannot participate.
-The anonymity of the contest ends with the announcement of the winner.
-With the submission of your photos, you confirm that you own the rights to the photos and that the photo rights are not owned by a third party.
-The rights of the photo are in accordance with the terms and conditions of fotocommunity.
-During the first phase, the photos will be rated by Users eligible to vote. The second phase will be decided by an independent jury of experts.
-The judges' decision is final. Legal recourse is excluded.
-For technical reasons, participants must be/become fotocommunity members (free membership is possible).
-Employees and their relatives may not participate in the contest.

The selection of the winning photos, the vote, the jury.

The 10 best photos from each language version will be collected in a pool of 50 photos. Journalists from "PHOSPHORE" magazine will select the winning photos from this pool.

That means:

User voting from 21 January 2008 until 4 March 2008
The 10 best photos from each language version will be selected.

2. Jury voting by the journalists of Phosphore

3. Announcement of the winner here in the blog

PRIZE:

The prize is the publication of the 3 best photos in the magazine.

there is a new feature for you in fotocommunity. From now on you can make some or all of your favorite photos from other photographers public and so show others which photos you think are best at fotocommunity!

To do so, just go to the menu, click on my photos and you will find a new option "favourites". Here you can choose amongst all your favourite photos from others if you want to share them with others or still keep them private.

Have fun with this new feature!