Since the recent restructuring of the Corner Forums, we also updated some of the guidelines, including the guidelines for the new Photo Sharing Corner, and the guidelines for the updated Critiques & Feedback Corner. After some discussion, we’ve decided to make a minor update to the guidelines. Now, the guidelines for the Photo Sharing Corner and the Critiques & Feedback Corner contain the following note: “It’s often easier to show people rather than tell them how you’d change their photographs. Some people, however, don’t appreciate it when you edit their photographs. If you want to edit someone’s photograph, please make sure to ask before going ahead and making those changes.” Pretty straight-forward and simple: if you want to help someone by editing someone’s photograph, just ask first. Other than that, everything is the same as it ever was. If you haven’t jumped in to the new Photo Sharing Corner and Critiques & Feedback Corner, you should check them out - lots of great photographs being shared in the Photo Sharing Corner, and some great feedback and critiques in the Critiques & Feedback Corner.  Read more »

With a bunch of restructuring going on in the Corner Forums, it can get confusing as to where to put your photographs. Here’s a little breakdown of what should go where. To start off, you have 3 options: the Corner Galleries, the Photo Sharing Corner, and the Critiques & Feedback Corner. Read more »

It’s been a long couple of days, but the first phase of the forum restructuring we’ve been doing is now complete. Last night we opened up the new Photo Sharing Corner, and tonight, we’ve opened up the new Critiques & Feedback Corner. Of course, it will take several more weeks for all the old threads to be moved to their new homes, but in the meantime, you can continue to post photos for fun and for critique! Read more »

One of the main changes in the Corner Forums that we’re making is the addition of the Photo Sharing Corner - a place where you can just share photographs without having to worry about feedback or critique, or having to provide EXIF data or anything like that. Want to show off a photo of your cat making “that face” or a couple photos you took at the BBQ last night? The Photo Sharing Corner is the place for those type of photos. Read more »

It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally going to do some restructuring in the Corner Forums. But with almost 50,000 threads and more than 350,000 posts in the Feedback and Critiques Corner alone, it’s going to take some time (if you haven’t already, make sure to thank a mod today).

Right now, on top of the Critiques Corner, we have 18 Feedback Corner sub-forums. For a while, we thought it would be better to have more subject-specific forums. And, for a while, it worked well. Unfortunately with so many forums, it became confusing to old and new members alike. It has gotten to the point where the line between critique and feedback became so blurred that even the mods and myself had a hard time explaining the difference. Sub forums with so many subjects became confusing, and some went all but unused. Read more »

I’m sure you’ve noticed already, but there are some new “blue cameras” floating around the Corner. As of a couple of days ago, we’ve added some new moderators to the fold! Moderators are an integral part of PhotographyCorner - without their help the forums, contests and galleries would completely fall apart. They do everything from comb the forums for spam, to answer questions, to moving posts, to encouraging conversation, to running projects and contests, and even fixing some coding! I may be the “Site Admin,” but it’s the mods who really make this place go. Read more »

Over the past couple of months, we’ve moved all of the photographs from all of our past contests from the Corner Photo Galleries to the new Corner Contest Galleries (hosted by our friends at SmugMug.com). Thanks to some help from one of our mods, Erik Bernskiold, the design of the Corner Contest Galleries is now complete (check it out!). Read more »

As much as I would love it to be so, the Corner doesn’t run itself (take this week for instance - I’m on vacation… who do you think is taking care of everything while I’m away?). In addition to myself, there are dozens of volunteers that help make this place tick. Some are just really dedicated members of the community, while others are officially known as moderators (or “mods” for short). Every year or so, we try to mix it up a bit by adding a few new people to the mod squad. Read more »

There are a lot of moving parts to PhotographyCorner. Obviously the main attractions are the forums as well as the contests, but we also have this blog, a directory of photography-related sites, a resource center with articles, tutorials and product reviews, a free public photo gallery, as well as our contest photo galleries, and a whole bunch more. One of the best things about PhotographyCorner, in my opinion, tends to fly under the radar sometimes though. It's probably the best way to learn and improve your photography, as well as the best way to interact with other photographers. I'm talking about the Premiere Projects, of course. The only way you can participate in the Premiere Projects, however, is if you're a Premiere Member. Luckily for you, as of right now, Lifetime Premiere Memberships are HALF PRICE until the end of the month (CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP). Becoming a Premiere Member has a bunch of benefits, including the ability to participate in the bi-weekly Premiere Projects. Below is a closer look at the Premiere Projects in a brief interview I did with Nikon_Mario who runs them (and does an amazing job!) for us. After the interview, look for how you can sign up to become a Premiere Member and start participating!

Happy Holidays to everyone at the Corner! In case you missed it in the forums, Santa Claus stopped by and gave us some presents! Check out his thread in the Conversation Corner. Read more »

As most of you know, over the past 3 weeks, in conjunction with Contest Corner Challenge #60: That Bites, we partnered with the Canadian Red Cross in a fund raiser called ‘Malaria Bites.’ The purpose of the fund raiser was to purchase specially-treated mosquito nets for children in Liberia. These mosquito nets help to keep children safe from malaria-carrying mosquitoes while sleeping, when mosquitoes are most likely to bite and spread malaria. For $7 CDN (about $5.50 US), we could purchase a net through the Canadian Red Cross. Every $7 we donated could save a life. Instead of buying little trinkets and stuff this holiday season, as a community, we decided to save lives instead. Read more »

A couple of weeks ago, along with the announcement of Contest Corner Challenge #60: That Bites, we started a site-wide fund raiser called “Malaria Bites.” Our goal? To raise money to purchase mosquito nets for children in Liberia to help prevent the spread of malaria by partnering with the Canadian Red Cross. You can read all about the Malaria Bites campaign here in our initial blog post. Read more »

It’s been a long wait, but it’s finally here: The PhotographyCorner 2008 Photograph of the Year Contest - with 9 fantastic sponsors who are offering $11,500 in prizes to the top 10 finalists, with a grand prize worth approximately $3,800!!! All the details you’ll need on the contest can be found here on the 2008 Photograph of the Year Contest page. Read more »

Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic disease that attacks a person’s blood supply. It is transmitted by mosquitoes at night, striking silently while people are asleep. The more times a person is bitten by infected mosquitoes, the greater their risk. Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of malaria and can die as quickly as 24 hours after first experiencing symptoms. Symptoms include recurring chills, fever, and sometimes jaundice and anaemia. Although malaria is not always fatal to adults, the debilitating symptoms often prevent those stricken with it from working or taking care of family members–causing a serious economic burden to people already vulnerable to the effects of poverty.

So what does Malaria have to do with photography? Not much really. I've been trying to come up with a good way to tie this into the Corner (and there is a tie in, but you'll have to wait until Contest Corner Challenge #60 is announced), but what it honestly comes down to is that if you're into photography, that means you have some disposable income (let's face it, photography isn't a cheap hobby), and the most proven and cost-effective way to prevent malaria is by sleeping under a long-lasting insecticide-treated net (which we can purchase for only $7 each). I'll get to more on that below.

Last week, we paid tribute to Carl (aka ohenry) for all the hard work he’s done on the Premiere Projects over the past year (just to clarify, he’s not dead or anything… just passing along the torch!). The torch has been passed to Mario, known around these parts as Nikon_Mario. With this passing of the torch, we’re taking the opportunity to do a little retooling of the Premiere Projects. Read more »

After some suggestions and recommendations by the members of the Corner Forums and the moderators, we’ve made a couple of small changes in the forums - specifically in the Photography Equipment forums. This really won’t affect many of you, but I thought I’d give you the heads up, just in case the changes are initially a bit confusing. Here’s what we did: Read more »

A while back, there was a fantastic suggestion that we create a stickied thread in the Corner Forums so that there’s an easy way for members to make requests of the mods (you know, stuff like: “can you delete this post/thread for me” & “I think this post is spam, can you delete it?” & “can you move or merge this post for me?” etc). Well, I put it on my “todo” list, and it finally worked its’ way close to the top today, so… tada!!! Here’s the thread: Need help? Ask a Mod!! It’s located right near the top of the Questions & Suggestions Forum. So now, instead of sending a private message to myself or a couple of mods, you can ask, and all of the mods (and myself) will be able to check it out right away! How’s that for service??!  Read more »

I’ve honestly been meaning to write a post about StumbleUpon for a long time. It’s been sitting on my “To Do” list for months, and for some reason or another, it always seems to get pushed down the list. Oddly enough, however, it’s probably one of the more important posts I’ll make this year. Read more »

While not an overly active section of the forums, PhotographyCorner is one of the few free photography sites that offers a section for Fine Art Nudes. Due to the fact that we have a wide variety of age groups that use the Corner Forums and Galleries, we have our Fine Art Nudes forum set as “private” (you have to ask for permission to have access). Up until recently, our guidelines stated that you had to have been a member for at least 30 days and have at least 50 posts on the forum to ask to access. After some discussions, we’ve slightly altered our entrance requirements. Read more »

The PhotographyCorner Forums can be a daunting place for even the most “forum-savvy” photographers. There are currently nine categories, twenty-six forums (if you include the Premiere Members stuff), and almost thirty sub-forums. That’s a lot of choices (some might say too many, and that’s something we’re looking at… but that’s a discussion for another day)! As part of our on-going upgrades to the Corner Forums, we’ve added a new feature to the Photo Gear For Sale forum. Read more »