For those ’saving up’ for a reason to shop, check out the Black Friday deals of Amazon.com:

I just bought myself a new toy (Canon 5D Mark II) last weekend and it’s probably my Christmas gift for myself for 2 years, so I’ll probably hold off. Although, I might end up asking for the WD TV Live as an early Christmas present!

Hey guys, quick post for you…

For you iPhone/iPod Touch addicts, check out the new Photoshop.com Mobile over at iTunes.

It’s free!!!

Adobe just released Lightroom 2.5 and Camera Raw 2.5. The update to Lightroom contains support for the following cameras:

Nikon D300s
Nikon D3000
Olympus E-P1
Panasonic DMC-FZ35
Panasonic DMC-GF1

More details are found over at Lightroom Journal.

To download the updates, see the links below:

• Lightroom 2.5: Macintosh | Windows
• Adobe Camera Raw 5.5: Macintosh | Windows

Hey everyone,

It was a touch decision… it was down to the 2 images: Anne Roque’s “Wait” and Melvin Casterence’s “Through the Years”. I tried to put myself in their shoes, how they took the shot, the composition, etc. And ultimately, I had to pick one.

So, this year’s winner is (drum rolls please…)…

Wait – by Anne Roque

Note, click the image above to see a higher resolution of the photo.

Anne, congratulations on winning! You get a free copy of Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Book, Vol. 3. For those who want the book, check out the link. You can purchase if for $15 at amazon.com.

Thanks again to everyone who participated.

Hey guys,

As with last  year’s tradition, I would typically pick the top photos that I have narrowed down and then share it with the group.

Before I proceed with the top picks, let me first thank each and everyone of you who participated in the walk. It was really great meeting you guys and it was a lot of fun. I hope each and everyone of you has gained a new friend (or two) because of the walk.

Also, I would like to thank Greenbelt for allowing us to hold the Photowalk there.

In case you’re wondering how I reviewed the submissions, here’s what I did:

• I downloaded each photo in our site (only the ones uploaded in the official site); not the Flickr group
• I then viewed them on a big monitor (full screen) so I can fully appreciate the photos (using Adobe Bridge)

So without further ado, here are my top picks from the walk:

“The Sentinel” by Archie Sy

Archie: I don’t know how you were able to make the guard pose in the middle of the walkway. Hats off to you for taking the courage to do this!

Next one is from Sharan Balani. Sharan was actually a bit ‘jet-lagged’ during the photowalk. However, his photos during the photowalk doesn’t look like he’s sleepy at all! Must be the coffee…

The photo below is from Stephen Lavoie. Stephen is an alumni of the photowalk. He joined us last year. For more of Stephen’s photos, check out his flickr site. He has some photos of last year’s walk there.

“Closing Time” by Nhatz Rosal: I was actually able to see this in Nhatz’s Canon 5D Mark II camera (I had to mention his camera! ) during the day and I was like “Hey, where’d you see that?!“

“Miss You Much” by Joel H. Garcia — Joel was last year’s walk winner. Joel: all I can say is that you have a GREAT talent and eye for the photos. I was behind you when you took this shot and the vision you have in terms of how you conceptualized the image is just great.

“Wait” by Anne Roque — Anne, this is a great shot and I love how you all the lights just blend well with the photo. I guess being around Joel pays off (or is it the other way around?)

And finally, “Through The Years” by Melvin Castrence. Melvin is an old buddy; we used to work together. Aside from a good photographer, he can shoot some hoops!

So, there you go. I will be picking the winner tomorrow and will upload it to the Winner Page in Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk site.

Again, it was great meeting you all. Don’t forget, check out all the photos in our Group Pool. There’s a lot of nice shots out there!

For those who always use Flickr, here’s a new Adobe AIR application that allows you to view your Flickr Photos inside an interface that looks like Lightroom. And guess what, since it’s Flickr + Lightroom, the app is called Flickroom!

It’s a pretty light download at around 1.3MB.

I installed the app as soon as I heard about it. It has a pretty neat interface (see the image above).It even has a link to twitter so you can send your photos over there. I think it’s one of the nice ways to browse your photos and to browse Flickr because it allows you to view the photos outside the web browser interface.

There’s also an option to change the background color to either black or gray. By doing this, you actually get a better experience in looking at photos because the colors just pop out (because it’s not the traditional white background of a browser and Flickr).

Right now, my only comment is that I can’t seem to find the functionality for me to submit photos into a group inside of Flickroom

Check it out yourself at this site: http://www.flickroom.org/beta/

You can follow the Flickroom blog for more news and updates.

Enjoy!

Great news for Nikon users and those who want to switch to Nikon. Nikon just announced 2 new cameras and had updates to 2 lenses.

The first one — Nikon D300s.  Priced at around $1,799, it’s a 12.3 megapixel camera in DX format (meaning not full-frame) that comes with video (720p), a dual SD and CF card slot, and can shoot up to 7 fps.

The second camera is the Nikon D3000. This is more of an entry level DSLR, 10 megapixes, and is a replacement of D40. Expected street price is around $599.

I don’t want to bore you with the details so check out the following links for more details:

• Rob Galbraith’s entry on the new cameras
• Nikon’s D300s site
• Nikon’s D3000 site

Also, there’s also a comparison of the Canon 5D Mark II and the Nikon D300s that you might be interested to read…

Also, aside from the cameras, Nikon announced 2 new lenses:

1. AF-S Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8G ED VRII:It promises to have 4 stops of hand-held shooting because of the new VR II stabilization. It’s priced at around $2,399 and is available in November 2009.

2. AF-S Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II: An upgrade to the minimalist travel lens, the main updates include the new VR Ii stabilization and the addition of the zoom lock. Target release is September 2009 and is priced at $849.

More links:

• Rob Galbraith’s details on the lenses
• Nikon’s official site on the 70-200 lens
• Nikon’s site on the new 18-200 lens

Hello everyone,

I’m sure you’re dying to post and share your photos… so there are 2 flickr groups where you can share your photos:

The first one is our Greenbelt Manila Photowalk Flickr Group -> http://www.flickr.com/groups/photowalk09manilagb/

Note, this is an invite-only group so that I can limit it to those who joined our walk only. There is ABSOLUTELY NO LIMIT on the number of photos you can share/upload here!

If you sign-up in the flickr group, please make sure you let me know your name (in case your Flickr acccount isn’t descriptive of your name).

The second group is the official 2009 Photowalk Group of Scott Kelby. This is where ALL photowalk members can share their photos so that everyone can see the photos from ALL locations.

Finally, don’t forget the deadline: July 25, 2009 to upload 2 of your best photos to our official site! This is separate from the flickr group.

Hello everyone,

Wow, I can’t believe it was raining the whole day today. I’m just hoping that it will all pour tonight so that we’d have good weather tomorrow.

Just a cool fact before I start — I can’t believe that there’s 27 walks in the Philippines this year! Last year, we only had 1: the one I led. This is just an amazing growth!

I realized that our meeting place is in an uncovered area! So, in case the weather is bad tomorrow, our meeting place will change. I will meet you guys at the Starbucks area in Greenbelt 3, between Starbucks and Cafe Havana.

Btw, in case you’re bringing a car, weekend rates at Greenbelt Parking is P45. I think this applies to all Greenbelt Malls. Last time I parked was at Greenbelt 5 and it was a flat rate on a weekend.

I also ran across some tips on what to shoot (from Laurie Excell). This is very applicable for us tomorrow.

Some final things to put on your checklist before you go to the walk:

• Get your gear ready. Charge your batteries! That includes both your camera batteries and your batteries for your flash (if you’re bringing one). Make sure to clean your lenses too!
• Empty out your memory cards. You don’t want to go there with a full memory card. You might not be able to take a lot of photos. If you have backup or spare memory cards, bring them as well.
• You don’t have to bring your laptop. You might think that we have to upload photos immediately after the walk. Well, we don’t have to! We have a week (deadline of July 25) to upload our photos. I also don’t want you lugging around a big bag tomorrow while walking around. I want us all to be as light as we can be!
• Wear comfortable clothes, and be ready to bring a jacket in case it rains tomorrow.
• Be there early so we can still talk and I can brief you guys on what will happen.

After the walk, we will all be going to Seattle’s Best. We’ll enjoy a cup of coffee (for some reason, it’s always nice to drink coffee and watch the rain fall) and share our photos/experiences with each other. Thanks to all who gave their feedback on our venue.

Oh, and on the day before the walk, Scott is giving away a freebie to everyone: 1 month free access to Kelby Training Online! This just sweetens the whole experience of the whole walk! You can now enjoy learning Photoshop, Lightroom and Digital Photography from the experts by accessing the training anytime you want! In order to access this, you have to  login to our Photowalk Location Page. Right now, the code is still not there, but I will let you know once it’s there.

And if I may leave one final message — I know you will all be competitive (because of the prizes) in taking photos. Just don’t forget that the overall spirit of the walk is for us to be with fellow photographers and just have a great time!

See you all tomorrow!

Hello everyone,

I’m sure you’re excited for the walk on Saturday. To better prepare you for the walk, here are some things to remember.

Date and Time

We will be meeting at 4:00pm in front of Starbucks, Greenbelt 3. There’s a fountain there. Please come early so we can also start early.

What will happen? Once we get a good number, I will be briefing you on what will happen and explain to you our route.

If everyone’s there on time, we might be able to get a group photo. Otherwise, we can just do it afterwards.

During the Walk

As mentioned before, since we’re a big group, we will end up walking in small groups. Now, you may end up going with people you already know. However, I encourage you to meet new people since this is the main purpose of the walk. It’s a social event and it’s our chance to mingle with co-photographers and talk about our passion!

When walking in groups, make sure we still observe the rules of the Greenbelt area.

If you’re a newbie or a shy person, please let me know (secretly via email) so I can help you out. I might also be able to introduce you to other people who can help you out.

Attire and Weather

Wear something comfortable and decent. Consider the weather too. The weather’s been crazy the past week — we have been getting rain and heat. I checked the weather sites and it doesn’t help us at all! It looks like it will rain. It could be a blessing because there are some shots that we might be able to get. Or, it might not be as warm if it’s gonna be gloomy.

One tip – make sure you bring some extra plastic bags to cover your gear in case it rains. That’s usually useful.

The good thing with our location is that we have a lot of places that we can ‘hide’ when it rains. We can go inside the mall or the walkways so that we won’t get wet.

In case you’re interested to find out what the weather is this Saturday, it looks like it’s gonna rain. Btw, in case you look closer, you will see the sunset time there

Some links to check the weather:

• http://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Makati/forecasts/latest
• http://www.accuweather.com/world-forecast-weekends.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&locCode=ASI|PH|RP077|MAKATI&metric=1
• http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/weekend/RPXX0017?from=36hr_topnav_business

Gear

Friday night — after a night out of partying, make sure you charge your batteries so that you’re fully charged by Saturday! Charge your batteries, clean your gear, bring waterproof bags (if you have only;  no need to buy a new one just for the walk) so that you are protected in case it rains.  Try to bring your travel/portable camera bags so that you won’t be carrying something heavy during the walk. That would also help in us not attracting too much attention.

Lenses — you don’t have to bring ALL of your lenses. But it’s good to have both a wide and a zoom lens. If you’re into prime lenses, you can also bring that since you might also be able to take photos of some people.

Tripods — you might ask if you can bring this. Yes, you may. I talked to the folks and they said we should be able to take photos using tripods. The only requirement is that we do not get in the way of the shoppers and we don’t disrupt the flow of the people.

Oh, and if you’re one of those who have new gear, the walk might be a good opportunity for you to try out and do a review of that. Jeff Revel (Mr. Photowalk Pro) will have some gadgets to try out…This could be an opportunity for you to share your findings with your new purchase!

Managing Your Photowalk Account

Finally, some house-keeping things. Make sure you read my previous email/post on checking your log-ins in the Photowalk Site. Also, don’t forget to download Lightroom since there will be a plug-in for us to use so we can upload photos.

If you guys login to our city page now, you will actually see some instructional videos on how to upload your photos. Check that out!

Oh, and remember the key dates for the walk.

That’s it!

See you all this Saturday. If you have questions, feel free to let me know.