Around the Web

Costco moves all printing to Shutterfly.
For all those that have used Costco for prints here are some key dates:

January 11, 2023:  Day you can begin transitioning your photos to Shutterfly.
January 28, 2023:  Products and Services no longer available at Costco.
January 31, 2024:  Deadline to download your photos from Costco.

Below is the email sent out to customers in case you missed it.

Keep an eye on your mailbox for another email from Costco this Wednesday, the 11th.

Milky Way season is upon us so here is a helpful calendar to let you know that best times to go out there and shoot it.

Here are some quick highlights.

April 10th and 17th

May 8th and 15th

Jun 5th and 12th

Jul 3rd and 10th

Aug 7th

Click here to download the printable version.

Full article here on PetaPixel.com

The photo center at the Milford Costco has been closed for a couple years now but it looks like the remaining photo centers will be closing by the 14th of February.  So when we get back to normal and restart our print competitions you’ll have to use their ship to home option should you continue using Costco for your prints.

Have any of you been using them since the Milford photo center closed?

Nik is back!

After being on life support for a few weeks it looks like the Nik Collection just might survive!  DxO has acquired the suite from Google and plans to continue development of the collection.  Whether or not it will remain free in the future is uncertain, but for now it is.

Full Article here:

https://nikcollection.dxo.com/

As many of you are aware Google has abandoned the Nik Collection and will no longer be updating or supporting this free software suite.  It is just a matter of time before these apps stop working and many of us will be scrambling for replacements, but one of them may already be here.  For those of you who enjoy using NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 an alternative is about to be released for Windows and Mac called Aurora HDR 2018.

Brought to you by the makers of Macphun and Co-developed with Trey Ratcliff this release is poised to be a robust HDR application as Trey is one of, if not the top, HDR photographers out there.  Per ordering now will save you 64% off the regular price.  At $89 bucks it is tough to pass up.

For a full list of features head on over to the Aurora HDR site:
https://aurorahdr.com/

If you’re unfamiliar with Trey Ratcliff I suggest checking out his blog and website.
https://www.stuckincustoms.com/
http://www.treyratcliff.com/photographs/

It isn’t even September yet but there is a nip in the air to go along with a few leaves that are surprisingly turning in my yard.  Hard to believe but summer is nearly over and it will soon be giving way to the beautiful colors of autumn, a landscape photographers paradise.  To help you capture that perfect shot I found a great interactive foliage map.

Just use the slider under the map to pick a date and the map will update with its predictions.  While they claim this map wont be 100% correct it sure can help with some long range planning of your foliage adventures this fall.

Click Here

Some additional resources are:

Weather.com

Yankee Magazine

CT.gov

Episode of the Week
This week’s episode comes from PhotoFocus and it is part of their Inspiration Show series:
February 14, 2017
The Inspiration Show | Photofocus Podcast February 14, 2017

Hosted by Scott Bourne and Marco Larousse the Inspiration Podcast at PhotoFocus is a wonderful podcast between two photographers who’s niches are quite contrasting but this helps provide great perspectives on the topics they discuss.  Here is their show description:

About this show:

On the monthly #Inspiration episode of the Photofocus podcast, Scott and Marco will discuss the art, history and motivation in photography that often gets lost in today’s media rich world. Slow down, look closer and put more intent into photography to increase your creativity and final results. And simply spread the pure love of photography.

What made this episode great is that it touched on the last podcast I recommended offering more examples on  the importance of printing your work.  I think the line was, “It’s not a photograph until it’s a print” and I couldn’t agree more.

I also enjoyed them going back and forth on bokeh and what they called, “The religion of shallow depth of field”.  In their discussion they offer some great examples of when and when not to use the shallow depth of field.

Also be sure to check out their selection for Inspirational Photographer of the Month as well as their pic for Book of the Month.

In addition to listening on the PhotoFocus website you can find them on iTunes or here on SOUNDCLOUD where you can also view the show notes:
https://soundcloud.com/photofocus/the-inspiration-show-photofocus-podcast-february-14-2017?in=photofocus/sets/the-inspiration-show