Webshots Blog

She carried you for nine long months. She always had an answer when you asked, “Why?” No matter how bad your hair cut/braces/acne was, she still loved you.

Yes, we’re talking about moms! Mother’s Day is May 13, so give her a gift from the heart that she’ll cherish forever: a poster featuring photos of you and your family.

We’ve got a great deal on 20″x30″ posters—they’re big enough to fit all the photos you want for only $19.99. You can’t get flowers delivered for that price!

Check out all the great photo gifts in our store and make mom’s day that much more special!

We’re planning some scheduled maintenance for Webshots, so parts of the site will temporarily be down from about 9 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, to 2 a.m. on Sunday, April 29 (all times PDT).

During the down time, all inlining codes will be turned off on the site, but anything you’ve already linked to on an external site, such as your MySpace page or blog, won’t be affected. You can still watch videos on Webshots, so check out some recently featured ones now!

Also, you won’t be able to sign up for a new Premium membership, and current Premium members won’t be able to change any information in their account, such as billing address or credit card number, or cancel their account.

Updated at 4:54 p.m. on 4/27/2007: During the down time, uploads will also temporarily be disabled.

Just wanted to give you all a heads up. Have a great weekend!

Are you counting down the days until Spider-Man™ 3 hits theaters on May 4? Then show us your Spidey spirit, and you could be featured in the Spider-Man™ 3 Fan Photo Mosaic sponsored by Sony Pictures.

The Mosaic is a web of photos submitted by Webshots Spider-Fans that are digitally transformed into the new Spider-Man™ 3 poster—how amazing is that?!

If your spider-sense is tingling, then submit your enthusiastic Spider-Man™ 3 photos—of you, your dog, a cool Spidey tattoo, whatever! We’ll choose the most passionate ones and display them in the Spider-Man™ 3 Mosaic at Spider-Man3Photos.com on May 4.

ENTER NOW!

Update: The deadline to enter your Spidey-Fan photos ends at 12 p.m. on April 27, 2007 (PST).

Howdy!

We went without sleep, extra pay or back rubs to churn out a brand-new Flash-powered upload tool for you all!

“But what does that mean to me, Jesse?” you ask.

Travel back in time with me, won’t you?

In the time of Before, Webshots had three ways to upload:

• Webshots Desktop – totally awesome, but not compatible with Macs
• Faster web upload – great, but only for PC users using Internet Explorer
• Simple web upload – nothing simple about it, you could upload only one thing at a time!

Back to the time of Now. We still offer three ways to upload, but the simple upload is actually simple thanks to the power of Flash. You can now upload a whole lot of photos and videos in one fell swoop. There’s even a green status bar to let you know the progress of your uploads. But for me, the best part is that it works with Macs and I can use any browser!

No doubt you can see my excitement!

So what are you waiting for? Grab that folder of dusty photos. Get those videos off the cam and onto your PC (or Mac!) and upload them now!

Filters can do everything from enhance an image to create a totally new one. Let’s have some fun with filters in this week’s Creative Challenge. You can use any kind of filter—digital, external, even a piece of cellophane. Get creative, experiment and try something new! The winning photo will be featured on the homepage, so please read our Submission Guidelines before you enter.

Submission Guidelines
1. Our editors look for sharp, clear horizontal images that are at a minimum resolution of 800×600.

2. Images with added text, including watermarks, logos, and copyright symbols, will not be considered.

3. Images with graphic borders or frames will not be considered.

4. Currently, vertical images cannot fit in the homepage template. Therefore, we cannot publish vertical or narrow panoramic images.

5. Please do not submit images that have been featured in the last three months (either on the homepage or in a featured album).

6. Images that don’t meet the exact guidelines can be submitted and viewed for everyone to enjoy, but please understand that we cannot publish images that don’t meet minimum guidelines on the homepage.

7. The Creative Challenge runs from 12:01 a.m. on April 25 to 5:00 p.m. on April 30 (all times PST).

8. 3 photos per member. Please edit your work—show us only the best!

9. You can easily grab the links to all photos by copying the URL from the yellow action box on each photo page and pasting it in the blog. Click on the photo below to enlarge.

Hot Links
About filters
Picnick.com for applying filters to a photo–see the “Creative Tools” section.

Your submissions for the Creative Challenge: Earth Day show how much this world means to you—it’s given you so many wonderful photographic opportunities! From gorgeous sunsets to playful children to swaying trees to buzzing bees, you have captured the essence of Earth in your pictures and videos.

Thanks to all who entered, and a special thanks to the members who encouraged others to submit! You’re all winners in my eyes, and here are the top three that wowed the editors:

#1. The butterfly and the flower: Nature’s most romantic couple. With such stunning colors, great composure and tight focus, this entry by member keithandlaura is our winner! It will be featured on the homepage tomorrow.

#2. I couldn’t resist this hard-working bee! These insects are an essential part of the flowering process, bringing us all the lovely blooms we love to photograph. Such a perfect submission by member minikittycat.

#3. What I loved most about all the entries by member idelsoni was the story he told in the caption. Not only is this expansive landscape stunning, but in his words, “it represents the beauty of the Earth and the harmony among all living things on the Earth.”

This world is definitely a better place because of all of you!

Earth Day, April 22, is dedicated to learning about the Earth’s environment, so ask yourself what you can do to protect and preserve it. Use Webshots as a resource for finding photos and videos of the wonderful world we live in.

Celebrate Earth Day on Webshots

Submit a photo for our Earth Day Creative Challenge.

Browse the Outdoors channel for albums on everything from sea life to deserts.

Watch a video of a glacier cracking and breaking and comment on it.

Check out our editors’ collections: Think Green, Spring Bouquet and Tropical Paradise.

We hope you enjoy the day!

Earth Day is April 22, and it’s dedicated to learning about the Earth’s environment and what we can do to protect and preserve it. As photographers, we can give a voice to those who can’t speak about the world and what’s happening to it, such as the trees, rivers, mountains and animals.

In honor of our little home in the universe, shows us your photos (and videos) of what you love most about the Earth’s environment.

Rules!

1. The winning photo will be featured on the homepage!
Note: We cannot feature vertical photos or photos with borders on the homepage, so please take that into consideration when submitting.

2. The Creative Challenge runs April 18 to 23.

3. 3 photos per member. Please edit your work—show us only the best!

4. You can easily grab the links to all photos by copying the URL from the yellow action box on each photo page and pasting it in the blog. Click on the photo below to enlarge.

Global Links
About Earth Day
Earth Day Network
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Have fun taking pics and videos of Mother Earth!

Every taste bud was tingling as I devoured the delicious entries in the Creative Challenge: Food. I narrowed the entires down to 11 and sent them off to Meredith Arthur, a food photo editor for Chow.com. She picked her three favorites, so let’s indulge in the winners:

“The hardest things about food photography are definitely lighting and food styling, that is, what props are used and how the food is presented. All three of these photos used light well and made the food look both appealing and attractive,” said Arthur.

#1. The color in the fish, and the architectural pattern, made for a great composition as well as a really beautiful subject. Congrats to member mjesli, who will be featured on the homepage tomorrow!

#2. Though the ice cream was a little overwhelming, the brownie itself looked crisp, the chocolate sauce wasn’t overdone and the light was very clean. Great job by member charles_sng.

#3. The cannolis have a nice sense of place and good composition as well, and the cannolis themselves look intriguing. Wonderful entry by member olditaliantree.

Thanks to everyone who participated for making our mouths water! I’m glad you tried a new type of photography and got to see dishes from all over the world. I’ll be leaving messages for a few of you in hopes that you’ll share your recipes with me!

You pay taxes all year long, so Webshots is giving you a break: On April 15 and 16, we’re taking 10% off all orders in the Webshots store!

Just enter coupon code taxday07 and start saving now on our high-quality
prints and gifts, such as:

Prints of your Easter or Passover celebration.

Poster for Mom—Mother’s Day is May 13.

Hoodie featuring your best Spring Break photos.

And more!

Enjoy the savings—we’ll take care of Uncle Sam!

Special runs from April 15, 2007 at 12:01 a.m. to April 16, 2007 at 11:59 p.m. (all times PST). Unlimited use of coupon code!