A little over a year ago, we were introduced to SmartAlbums from Pixellu. They helped photographers all over increase their productivity by allowing them to stop hating the process of designing albums. This year, they brought us a bigger and better product, and I got to use it first hand.

Most of us are familiar with "the gear trap," the fine line that's crossed when a shooter makes a top priority of continually researching and purchasing newer and better camera equipment. This can be a dangerous money pit. But there are times when your gear must be upgraded, lest you suffer the technical shortcomings of outdated or inadequate equipment.

StudioBinder is a web-based tool designed to help manage any creative production. Whether you are a photographer planning a shoot with a small creative team or a world-class producer looking to manage your next billion dollar box office hit, StudioBinder promises to help make your production run smoother with its suite of handy tools. Lets find out if StudioBinder meets the bar set by its lofty claim of being the world's leading production management software.

For those with Creative Cloud subscriptions, you may have been rudely and often interrupted by Adobe's Creative Cloud desktop client popping up in your menu taskbar (a very similar phenomenon occurred with both Mac and PC platforms). For such an annoying issue, it took Adobe quite some time to come to our rescue, but we can finally celebrate a new kind of independence. Alas, my migraines are finally fading — CC now politely stays where it belongs. That is all. Make sure you update. Have a nice day.

GuruShots is a photography site that hosts "The World’s Greatest Photo Game,” In their latest challenge, they invited participants to submit their best photos of "Mostly Black." I loved seeing the variety of images and mood this challenge set. There were thousands of entires and millions of votes but the winners of the challenge were decided. Check out the three winners as well as hundreds of top rated images below.

When it comes to graphic tablets, one brand name always come up: Wacom. However, the Japanese manufacturer is not alone, and the competition is getting better. Parblo is probably among the best alternatives out there for the entry level market with products such as the A610S.

I just got notified of a rather extensive contest that Profoto is putting on, who are releasing prizes every month from now until December. Many of you might be happy to hear that the contest isn't based on random drawings, but instead is a photo contest that asks you to submit your best photo that follows different themes. June's theme is "The First Kiss."

There are days when living in a tiny New York City apartment really suck. Like when you just watched a cool DIY video on how to make holograms at home and that creates a burning desire to experiment yourself. Watch this video to see how you can make make your own holograms wih glass, mirrors, a projector and some fog, mist or steam.

As an entertainment and tour photographer, Susannah Brittany primarily shoot stills and video shots for some of the world’s top pop and country music artists. This basically involves shooting all day long: while they are doing media interviews or meet and greets, of/during travel on the bus, behind the scenes content of the artists getting ready or in-between shows, and then of course, while they are performing. Her work ends up being used used for new media distribution, including YouTube, social media, and sizzle reels.

Wedding slow season is inevitable. Feelings of discouragement can fill the mind of even the most talented photographer during slow season, so here are a few ways to fill that downtime and make this year’s the most productive yet.

Multimedia projectors have become so affordable in recent years that it is quite likely that you either own one or know someone who does. This is good news for filmmakers and photographers who are interested in achieving a unique range of eye-catching lighting effects in-camera.

Do we even need a unique voice in our photography? Is having our own style really necessary? I have a few thoughts to share about this.

If you're a mirrorless camera user in search of a third party lens, you could be in luck. Today, Rokinon announced the release of their new high speed 21mm f/1.4 ED AS UMC Compact and the 50mm f/1.2 AS UMC Compact “made for mirrorless” lenses. The lenses are designed specifically for mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras and compact system cameras and will be available in mounts for Sony E, Micro 4/3, Fuji X, and Canon M. The lens will also be available in black or silver.