Ok, if you haven’t had enough to read this week, today sees the release of another e-book, the 3rd in the series from Andrew S. Gibson “The Magic Of Black And White”.

As with all the Craft & Vision books, there is the realisation that everyones vision and intent is different. As a result, Andrew walks you through his creative process from vision, to capture, and beyond, in a way that dictates nothing, but instead guides you with ideas and advice that can help you to tune your own compositional and processing skills.

There are nine images in total which Andrew uses, and whilst the explanations that are given reference Photoshop and Elements, users of Lightroom (such as myself) and I would imagine Aperture etc, should have no difficulty in transposing techniques to their own favoured processing tool.

The book culminates in a way I particularly like, with advice on displaying your final images through things such as diptychs or triptychs and again this goes to show the attention to detail that is synonymous with the Craft & Vision books. It does your work no favours to create a great image and then not spend a few moments considering how best you can help it to tell its story.

As always with Craft and Vision e-books, there’s a special release offer:

For the first four days only, if you use the promotional code WHITE4 when you checkout you can have The Magic of Black & White (Part 3) for only $4 OR you can use the code WHITE20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more eBooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST August 22, 2010.

Not enough!? Ok … How about the BUY ALL option (in the blue bar below the New Release section) – You can purchase all 16 PDF eBooks and there’s a standing discount of 20% built right into the price!

As with all my reviews there are two links here, one is affiliated (you get to contribute to this site) and one takes you direct to “Craft and Vision” (you don’t) and the choice is yours for whichever you use, the price stays the same.

Craft & Vision – The Magic Of Black And White (Pt3) by Andrew S Gibson *Affiliated Link

Craft & Vision – The Magic Of Black And White (Pt3) by Andrew S Gibson*Non-Affiliated Link

Here it is folks! The second big launch event of the month and one I know you’re going to love!

Musetouch is an exciting new magazine about visual arts, created by Maia Sylba, in her own words “out of love and passion for art”. That love and passion is clearly evident, not only in the magazine but in all the design work she does, both printed and web.

As photographers it’s easy to get wrapped up in Henri Cartier Bresson or Ansel Adams et al, but inspiration comes in many forms and the world of art has much to give for those who seek. Musetouch is an online magazine about art that encompasses not only art in the traditional sense, but also the more modern. It’s as relevant as anything you’ll find on the net and whatever form your passion takes, there’s sure to be something there for you.

Head on over to http://musetouch.net/ and enjoy!

Did I mention it’s free as well! What more could you want!

Well, who would have thought it?  August, traditionally something of a quiet month and here we are on the brink of two massive launches in the same week!

The first is something that I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time, and that’s the launch of the International Guild of Visual Peacemakers .

Known also as the IGVP, the International Guild of Visual Peacemakers set out their vision as “visual communicators devoted to peacemaking and breaking down stereotypes by displaying the beauty and dignity of various cultures around the world”. This is no empty statement.  The IGVP brings together some of the leading photographers in the world today.

Some of the names you may already be familiar with from my posts here (Matt Brandon, Gaving Gough, Ami Viale, David duChemin) and from their work in National Geographic, the BBC, et al, but the IGVP isn’t just about being a voice for a select few, it is also about helping other, less well known photographers, to learn from the best and move forward with an ethical approach of respect and understanding.

Pop across to the site and have a look around, then take a few moments to sign up and join in what promises to be one of the most important developments in the world of photography this year.

The second launch I mentioned comes tomorrow. Check back then for all the details but suffice to say, ‘inspiring’, ‘educational’, and ‘passionate’, are all words that come to mind … and did I also mention it will be ‘free’!?! What more could you possibly want!?!

It’s that time of the month again and July seems to have flown past! Manchester has been wet and windy throughout so nothing unusual there, but thankfully Belgrade has been sizzling and so it’s from there that this months wallpaper comes. It was shot in the middle of the afternoon a couple of weeks ago whilst walking along Kosovska on the way to Tašmajdan Park and essentially the processing is a custom split tone preset in Lightroom with the clarity slider pushed left to give it a slightly diffused look.

My site stats show most visitors are running monitors at 1280×1024 so there’s a version for that here

and then also my own resolution at 1920×1080 here

As you can see from the thumbnails the two versions are slightly different due to the 3:2 format of the original and a 4:3 crop looking a little awkward so, pick the one that suits your screen best and if it’s raining where you are, at least you can still spend august sharing a moment of Belgrade sunshine!