Webshots Blog

When you think of the holidays, what comes to mind? Sparkling ornaments? Sledding in your back yard? Festive window displays? Cooking special holiday meals with your family? We want to know what makes your spirits bright this holiday season. Share your Holiday Spirit pictures with us—the winning photo will be featured on the homepage!

OFFICIAL ENTRY RULES
To officially enter the Creative Challenge, you must tag your three submissions with creative-challenge-holiday. You can then view them and everyone else’s submissions on the DISPLAY PAGE (it updates about every hour). To find out more about this, read the Using Tags on Creative Challenges post.

Submission Guidelines
1. Our editors look for sharp, clear horizontal images that are at a minimum resolution of 800×600 (submissions can have larger resolutions than this). Currently, vertical images cannot fit in the homepage template. Therefore, we cannot publish vertical or narrow panoramic images.

2. Images with added text or images, including watermarks, logos, copyright symbols, graphic borders, frames and time stamps, will not be considered. Collages, however, are acceptable.

3. Please do not submit pictures that have already been featured on the homepage.

4. The Creative Challenge runs from 12:01 a.m. on December 12 to 3:00 p.m. on December 17 (all times PST).

5. 3 pictures per member tagged exactly (including hyphens) with: creative-challenge-holiday

*Note: 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. Also, now that you’re tagging your entries, you don’t need to post links in the comments section anymore.

NEXT WEEK: Creative Challenge Winner’s Circle
Celebrate the best of the best in the Creative Challenge Winner’s Circle editors’ collection featuring the top-three winners from all our Creative Challenges this year! To make sure everyone got into the collection, Holiday Spirit will be the last Creative Challenge of 2007. But we’ll give you a head start on the first Challenge of 2008: New Year’s Resolutions. Show us pictures of what you resolve to do (or not do!) next year, whether it’s eat less chocolate or hit the slopes or travel the world more!

The holidays are here, and it’s time to decorate your desktop and send some cheer with our free seasonal Pro Shots! Get into the spirit by clicking on a photo to download it to the Webshots Desktop software or email it to friends and family. Don’t have the free software yet? Get it here!

Home for the Holidays

A Chanukah Glow

A Long Winter’s Nap

Snowy Sunday

Happy Snowman

A Town and Country Christmas

Chapel on the Square

Sleepy Santa Paws

Star Season

A Country Christmas, Wisconsin

Ginger Bread

Christmas Puppies

The above photos are available only for download or sending to someone special via email. To see more holiday photos, many of which are available for purchase as prints and gifts, check out our holiday favorites collection.

We had a great time traveling the world and learning about different cultures as we viewed each submission in the Creative Challenge: Statues. All the entries were truly fantastic, so we had a hard time choosing our top three—the first round of finalists included over 40 photos! But when all was said and done, these three remained in the winner’s circle, and we think you’ll know why:

#1. By showing us the backside of the statue, member wesmfmm pulls us in and makes us want more—and the edgy shadows only add to this mysterious effect. The wreath in the outstretched arm compliments the natural earthiness that’s growing on the stone angel, and the composition, which uses the Rule of Thirds, positions the subject and an interesting point. Overall, a stunning entry by member wesmfmm—congratulations, we’ll feature you’re photo on the homepage tomorrow!

#2. We think member newzealand4me said it best in her caption: “Such a contrast to me—statues representing lives that are long gone and the life of a boy that has yet to grow up.” We loved the creative contrast and the subtle elements (such as the colors in the boy’s jacket mirroring those in the American flag) that tied this image together. Excellent work!

#3. Simplicity and elegance are the stars of this submission by member _yoko12. The statue of the flying pigeons is stunning in itself, but the way member _yoko12 shot it against the blue sky with the moon in the background makes the scene come to life. Great job!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Challenge and shared their stunning photos with us. To see all the entries in the Creative Challenge: Statues, visit the DISPLAY PAGE.

It’s happened to the best of us: You’re uploading your photos to Webshots, and you realize that some of them are upside down or vertically challenged. If only you could rotate them until they were right-side up….

With the new rotate tool, now you can! Just go to the photo page of the image you want to rotate and click on the rotate icon (marked by circular arrows) in the action box to the right of the image. A pop-up window will appear and let you preview what your rotated image will look like:

Other times, you realize that your shot would be perfect if you could just crop out a power line, or perhaps you want to focus in on the action or subject a bit more like this member did.

The new crop tool let’s you do that right from the photo page. Just click on the crop icon (marked by scissors) and make your adjustments.

As with any editing software, using the rotate and crop tools will change the quality of your images to a certain degree, and once you crop, you can’t go back, so keep that in mind. Of course, we have pop-up message to remind you of this just in case you forget!

We hope you love these new features as much as the staff does—we’ve been having a lot of fun turning people on their heads! Please leave your feedback and comments below, and if you’ve used the feature and want to show it off, provide a link for us!

Photo walks, a popular activity among photo-sharing communities, lets us all be a part of something no matter where we are in the world. By taking a walk this weekend and sharing the pictures with us, you’re contributing to a global mural of life.

So put on your walking shoes, grab your camera and go for a walk. You’ll be surprised at the photographic opportunities that present themselves. We’d love to see all of your photos as you can submit as many as you like!

Please tag your photos with Weekend Photo Walk 2 and then post your links in the comment section. Your entries won’t be judged—this is just for the fun of it!

Just in time for the holidays, we have a bunch of great new products in the Webshots store—and everything is 20% off right now, so why not try out these new items?!

Photo Wrapping Paper
Make your gifts stand out with custom photo wrapping paper! We totally love this one—and it makes a great gift for anyone, too!

Talking Greeting Cards
Don’t just show them how much you care, say it with these new talking greeting cards. Customize the outside with your photo, then add a recorded message for the one you love.

Puzzles
They’re back and better than ever! Now you can have fun with your photos with the paper (complete with tin) or new wooden puzzles. What a great stocking stuffer!

Holiday Themes for 4×8 Photo Greeting Cards
Frame your favorite photo in a swirl of snow flakes or other holiday designs and send it to everyone on your list!

Happy Shopping!

Though they don’t move, statues have a lively quality about them. From the famous Lincoln Memorial to a monumental event, many things of importance have been memorialized in everything from bronze to stone. Get creative with this one and try capturing a statue or multiple statues from interesting angels, use a variety of filters or play with the exposure. You may even make it look as if it were alive!

OFFICIAL ENTRY RULES
To officially enter the Creative Challenge, you must tag your three submissions with creative-challenge-statues. You can then view them and everyone else’s submissions on the DISPLAY PAGE (it updates about every hour). To find out more about this, read the Using Tags on Creative Challenges post.

Submission Guidelines
1. Our editors look for sharp, clear horizontal images that are at a minimum resolution of 800×600 (submissions can have larger resolutions than this). Currently, vertical images cannot fit in the homepage template. Therefore, we cannot publish vertical or narrow panoramic images.

2. Images with added text or images, including watermarks, logos, copyright symbols, graphic borders, frames and time stamps, will not be considered. Collages, however, are acceptable.

3. Please do not submit pictures that have already been featured on the homepage.

4. The Creative Challenge runs from 12:01 a.m. on December 5 to 3:00 p.m. on December 10 (all times PST).

5. 3 pictures per member tagged exactly (including hyphens) with: creative-challenge-statues

*Note: 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. Also, now that you’re tagging your entries, you don’t need to post links in the comments section anymore.

NEXT WEEK’S THEME: Holiday Spirit
When you think of the holidays, what comes to mind? Sparkling ornaments? Sledding in your back yard? Festive window displays? Cooking special holiday meals with your family? We want to know what makes your spirits bright this holiday season! Got an idea for a Creative Challenge? Let us known on the blog!

Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday also known as the Festival of Lights, begins tonight at sundown and last for eight days. If you’re celebrating with your friends and family, we’d love for you to share your photos and videos with us—we may even feature one of yours during the celebration!

Don’t forget to send Hanukkah greetings to your friends and family from AmericanGreetings.com—they have a beautiful selection of ecards for everyone.

Happy Hanukkah from all your friends at Webshots!

Your photos in the Creative Challenge: Long Exposure took us to a wonderful, magical place, where time stands still, light dances in the sky and water gracefully flows. We “took our time” on this one, looking over all the entries and finally choosing these three as our favorites:

#1. By panning his lens and following the subject during a longer exposure, member wolftinz captures the action of the race beautifully. Congrats to member wolftinz—we’ll feature your photo on the homepage tomorrow!

#2. Member dawson30 put a lot of thought into this striking long-exposure shot. He aimed the lens at the turbulent sky, patiently waited with the camera’s shutter open and was lucky enough to capture the raw power of this electrical storm. Great job!

#3. Member mwiley07 used the vibrant colors of the autumn leaves to strongly compliment the peaceful movement of the water. Nice work!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Challenge and shared their stunning photos with us. To see all the entries in the Creative Challenge: Long Exposure, visit the DISPLAY PAGE.

If your Christmas tree is up and decorated, then it’s time to take some pictures and share them with your friends and family. But before you do, follow these handy tips to make sure your photos have that classic holiday feel.

#1. Be mindful of the ambient light in the room. If you desire to include details like tree ornaments in the photo, be sure to turn on a lamp or two in the room. You may also want to turn off your flash as it will typically wash out the warm and cozy color in the room, though it might be necessary to include a fill flash if you’re also taking a portrait of someone in front of the tree.

#2. Whether you own a point-and-shoot camera or a digital SLR, use a tripod, use a tripod, use a tripod—yes, it’s that important!

#3. If your lens has a switch to turn off image stabilization, turn it off. The vibration of the lens will cause the camera to move slightly during a long exposure.

#4. If you’re photographing the tree by itself, turn off your flash and use a longer exposure. Set your camera’s ISO to 400 and then take some test shots on Manual or (M) mode instead of Program (P) or Automatic (A). Adjust the shutter speed and/or f-stop until the exposure looks right. As a place to start, try setting the ISO to 400, the f-stop to 8 and the exposure to 1/30th of a second. If the image appears too dark, increase your exposure to 1/15th or 1 second. Using an f-stop setting of 5.6, for example, will achieve a more shallow depth of field but require a shorter exposure than higher settings, such as f/16.

#5. If you don’t own a cable release or shutter remote for your digital camera, use the camera’s self timer to avoid shaking the camera during exposure.

#6. If your photo appears too orange for your taste, in the camera’s menu, adjust the white balance settings to tungsten.

#7. For capturing outdoor light displays, use the same exposure theory as you would for indoor shots, but switch the white balance settings to outdoor. I prefer to photograph outdoor displays around 30-40 minutes after sunset so that the camera can still record ambient light and capture some color that remains in the sky. For a shot like the one above, switch to aperture priority mode, set your f-stop to 5.6 or 8 and let the camera determine the proper exposure for you. Don’t forget to use the exposure compensation button (that’s the +/- button) to tweak the exposure: Use the (+) settings in increments to lighten the image and the (–) settings in increments to darken the image.

#8. Want to get this effect with the Christmas lights in your photo? Place a star filter in front of your lens and twinkle away!

You’re all set to snap some amazing pictures of your Christmas tree and all the wonderful outdoor displays. Happy holidays!