If you’re in Toronto, Mississauga or Calgary this Saturday (Dec. 12) and you’ve finished all your Holiday Shopping – why not check out one of these informative seminars?

• Introduction to Point and Shoot Cameras (10am – Mississauga)
  A fun and practical class where new point-and-shoot digital camera owners will learn easy tips about how to take better photos.

• Lenses: Your Camera’s Eye (10am – Toronto)
  A thorough understanding of how camera lenses affect your image is essential for creative control in photography.

• Photography Basics (10am – Calgary)
  In the confusing world of digital photography, one of the few constants is this: Automatic functions do not get the most from your camera.

• Better Family Photos (2pm – Mississauga)
  A fun, practical class where digital camera owners learn easy tips about how to take better photos of children and pets.

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Our Photo Critique section has been on a bit of a hiatus, but we figured with the holidays right around the corner this was the perfect opportunity to offer up some free praise & constructive advice.

click to enlarge

This submission, from John Koller, was taken while hiking along a trail in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. He captured this shot with his Nikon D80 f/ 5.6 at 1/500 and low ISO using a Nikkor AF-S 70-300 f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR II lens.

“It was about 115 °F and I came across this poor critter. It’s like he cooked on the rock! I did not know how this turned out until I got back home because the conditions were so bright that my review screen was too washed out to make any adjustments and re-shoot. Plus, did I mention it was hot! Back home I downloaded it to Aperture 2. A few minor adjustments brought out the colors in the rock formation and the detail in the shadow of the skull. I like the blur in the background. Again thanks for the critique in advance.” – J. Koller

So… tell us your thoughts!

And – as always – feel free to submit your photos!

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Premier Imaging Products may be known to a lot of you for their amazing array of paper products or even their new gallery wrap kits. But they’ve got another product that is, in our opinion, the BEST investment you could ever make for your prints or art reproductions.

What is it? Well, we’ll tell you: the Eco Print Shield. It’s a water-based protective coating that’s been specifically engineered for ink jet water-resistant media.

Granted, there are a lot of protective coatings on the market today, but the Eco Print Shield has one claim that we think makes it the hands-down winner:

The Red Wine Test

Premier Imaging wanted to test just how durable the Eco Print Shield coating was with canvas. Thinking of one of the toughest stains to get out of anything, they looked happily to red wine. They decided to spill a hearty Cabernet Sauvignon on a half coated, and half uncoated canvas.

Twenty-four hours later, as you can see in Photo 1, the wine on the Eco Print Shield coated side stayed on top of the coating. As expected, the wine on the uncoated half was absorbed into the ink jet receiver layer.

Taking a sponge, the Premier Imaging folks wiped both stains. The side coated with Eco print shield easily wiped clean, while the uncoated side had no noticeable effect (Photo 2). The stain is permanent. In fact, the wine stain was so strong, it stained the sponge!

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With families still feeling the effects of the recent recession & food banks worried they won’t have enough to meet the increased demand with the coming Holiday Season, businesses & individuals have been asked to step things up. Vistek has already agreed to do more in the way of increasing donations by implementing a two-part food-raising project.

Part 1: Ink Drop off & Recycling.
Vistek is encouraging customers to drop off empty inkjet and laser printer cartridges at the Edmonton store. All recycling fees will be donated to the Edmonton Food Bank. It’s an easy and convenient way for Vistek customers to get rid of empty ink cartridges. Plus, our combined efforts help fill up the Food Bank, which is good for a lot of other people in the city.

Part 2: Food Drive.
Vistek is supplementing the Ink Drop off event with a Holiday Food Drive. With the need for food items this year at an all-time high, Vistek is doing everything possible to help make a difference.

Want to help out? You’re asked to drop off non-perishable food items or empty inkjet cartridges at Vistek Edmonton:
10569 109th Street NW
Edmonton, Alberta, T5H 3B
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