In addition, we’ve also improved the My Photos section to allow in-place editing of photo titles and descriptions. We find that this allows much faster and more intuitive editing of photo information. Just click on the current title or description to go into edit more. Click “Save” (or just hit ENTER for the photo Title) and your update is instantly stored.

A few other improvements worth noting:

• Rotating photos is now faster and more easily accessible.
• Comments can now be posted without leaving the gallery or photo page.
• Emailing gallery and photo links has been optimized and received a face-lift.
• Changing your email address and password is also simplified and optimized.
• Loading time for all Gallerama pages and member galleries has been improved.
• Loading of galleries using Brick Wall layout has been greatly improved.

Enjoy, and stay tuned for further updates.

For our tech savvy readers…
Gallerama is now using the brilliant jQuery JavaScript library. We’ve been impressed by John Resig’s amazing library for quite some time and were itching to bring it into Gallerama space. With this new set of updates our own libraries were re-written to rely on and extend jQuery and maximize its potential. Big thanks goes out to the jQuery team.

Once again, our Zoom feature is used to display the enlarged photo version which is automatically displayed in the largest available size which will fit in the user’s browser window. (Resizing the window will correctly adjust the image size.)

Displaying captions below the photos in the gallery view is entirely up to you, as is the number of photos you choose to display per page. When specifying this number please keep in mind that the first grid “cell” is reserved for the gallery name. To display all photos on the single (first) page, just enter a high number!

So, check it out and let us know how you like it.

One of Gallerama’s goals from its inception was to offer not only a cutting-edge photo management and storage solution, but also a great way to showcase photos as well as photographers. We believe we’ve made a big step in that direction by revamping Gallerama’s photographer profile pages, making them a vital component of each member’s online photo presence - a complete photo site in itself. The new profile sites offer quick access to photographer’s most popular and most recent galleries, as well as a link to all available galleries, organized by group.

And there’s more to come. Many elements of the new profile page will soon be customizable, including colors, fonts and the background texture!

If you are a Gallerama member, you benefit from this update instantly and at no extra cost. If you haven’t joined Gallerama yet, what are you waiting for? Join Gallerama today - its free!

• Mini Square Thumbnail: 40×40 pixels (cropped)
• Small Square Thumbnail: 90×90 pixels (cropped)
• Standard Thumbnail: 140 pixels wide or tall (larger dimension is used as the limit)
• Fixed Height Thumbnail: 140 pixels tall
• Fixed Height Web Version: 400 pixels tall
• Standard Web Version: 740 pixel wide or tall (larger dimension is used as the limit)

We’re happy to announce that we’ve just added two more standard versions which we feel provide a better gallery viewing experience, and allow for greater flexibility with future gallery template designs.

• Large Squre Thumbnail: 150×150 pixels (cropped)
• Extra Large Web Version: 650 pixels tall

Keep in mind that our Zoom and Slideshow features automatically display the largest possible photo version which fits into the viewer’s browser window, making sure that no part of the image is cut-off during viewing.

PDN PhotoPlus Conference & Expo, the premier photography and imaging event took place at Jakob K. Javits Convention Center in New York last weekend. Once again, members of the Gallerama team were in attendance speaking with photography professionals and enthusiasts about their photo archiving and management needs, and about how Gallerama can help solve them. Additionally, we’ve continued to explore potential partnerships with other providers with the goal of expanding the Gallerama offering to include services such as printing, online sales, etc. Stay tuned for updates on these.

But since we’ve got a real passion for photography and technology ourselves, we couldn’t help but explore the new offerings from the many great exhibitors featured at the show. Some of the highlights included Nikon’s first full-frame DSLR: the Nikon D3, as well as its close sibling, the Nikon D300. As usual, Canon’s presence was dominant with a broad array of fantastic products. Adobe, highlighting its industry standard Photoshop CS3 as well as its new Lightroom software provided many very useful tutorials making its booth a hot ticket at all times.

Information on the next year’s Expo is already posted on the PDN PhotoPlus website. Be sure to check it out.

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Note: There is a poll within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

If you think things have been a little quiet on the Gallerama front, think again. After months of research, architecture and development we’re officially announcing that Gallerama is now fully integrated with Amazon’s Award-Winning S3 service. This means that not only are the images of our users safely stored at one of the world’s best and most sophisticated storage facilities, but Amazon S3 is also used for serving all photos from Gallerama member galleries as well.

And this is just the beginning. Stay tuned for the real benefits of this integration. To be announced here very soon.

One of Gallerama’s most popular layouts recently got a sweet update. To compliment the overall rounded look of the design, each of the thumbnails is now displayed with rounded edges. Same goes for the currently selected, large image. Additionally, the improved Zoom functionality is used to enhance the gallery viewing experience and provide greater photo details.

Click to view a gallery using this layout

Our latest (and quite possibly, greatest!) layout, appropriately named BRICK WALL is now available to all Gallerama members. We truly feel that this layout embodies the essence of Gallerama’s uniqueness and elegance in online photography presentations. Eliminating virtually all space around the photos, galleries displayed using the Brickwall layout waste no space on filler content, focusing instead entirely on the photos themselves by covering the entire page with them. To view each photo’s caption, visitors can simply mouse-over the photo.

The enhanced Zoom feature is used for detailed viewing of each photo. Click each photo for a large image which offers email, print (if enabled by photographer) and other links. Sound interesting? See it for yourself and lets us know if you agree.

Click to view a gallery using the Brick Wall layout

If you’ve ever used a Gitzo tripod - especially one of the modern, carbon fiber ones - you’ll almost certainly agree that its simply in a class of its own. The brilliant design and build quality are sure to please but not all of us can afford (or need) such expensive support gear. I’m guessing this was the thinking of Chinese brand BENRO which has managed to create very high quality near-replicas of the many Gitzo models and make them available at much lower prices. The model that is the topic of this report is the Benro M-028 n6 Carbon Fiber tripod which is a part of Benro’s Mountaineer line, named so after Gitzo’s own Mountaineer series.

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Special thanks Scott Upton (http://www.couloir.org/) and Lokesh Dhakar (Lightbox JS) for the inspiration.

To recap, there were really only two things I disliked about the Lightsphere: its bulkiness and price. And just to clarify, its not that the $49 Mr. Fong charges for the Lightsphere is a lot of money for something that works well and will get plenty of use, but its that I felt that it was way too much for something that closely resembles the food container used by my local Indian food restaurant and also doesn’t fit into my camera bag. The bulkiness of the Lightsphere also led me to think that if such an instrument needs to be large, then it should have a purpose when packed away in my camera bag. That purpose, I realized, should be to protect my Nikon SB 800 flash unit.

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Gallerama visitors and members can now enjoy viewing all gallery slideshows while being able to control the speed and background color. In addition, controls for navigating through the gallery while in Slideshow mode have also been added and include pausing, starting over, skipping and reviewing previous photos. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

www.gallerama.com

An innovative flash diffuser, the Lightsphere II Inverted Dome System is claimed to produce results rivaling sophisticated studio-lighting setups at a fraction of the cost while being portable enough to carry around anywhere. On Gary’s website you’ll find a number of good videos showing the power of Lightsphere, its variety of applications and performance under different conditions. Gary himself made an appearance at Adorama recently and showcased his product receiving a great response. A member of the staff told me they sold about a hundred of these in a span of 2 hours during and after Gary’s visit!

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