Five prize packs will be awarded based on the number of entries we receive. The more who enter, the bigger and better the prizes!

If 10 entries, prize pack includes: JOBY 3-Way Camera Strap

If 50 entries, prize pack includes: JOBY 3-Way Camera Strap and JOBY UltraFit Sling Strap

If 100 entries, prize pack includes: JOBY 3-Way Camera Strap, JOBY UltraFit Sling Strap and GorillaPod Focus with Ballhead X

If 250 entries, prize pack includes: JOBY 3-Way Camera Strap, JOBY UltraFit Sling Strap, GorillaPod Focus with Ballhead X, and Cinetics Cineskates

If 500 entries, prize pack includes: JOBY 3-Way Camera Strap, JOBY UltraFit Sling Strap, GorillaPod Focus with Ballhead X, Cinetics Cineskates and Acme Made Montgomery Street Backpack

If 1000 Entries, prize pack includes: JOBY 3-Way Camera Strap, JOBY UltraFit Sling Strap, GorillaPod Focus with Ballhead X, Cinetics Cineskates, Acme Made Montgomery Street Backpack and Lowepro Rover Pro 35L AW

ENTER NOW! 

Our friends Lowepro and Acme Made will be there too! We hope to see you at our booth!

And the winners of a JOBY GorillaPod Focus and a Lowepro DLSR Fastpack are …

… Teresa Reid

Teresa Pope Reid

and Craig Holquist of Penn Wood’s Photography

Penn's Woods Photography

And now for the rest of the amazing entries!

Andrius Repsys

Anna Caitlin Lackey

Aurora Lampson

Ben Podolak

Bryan Rau

Diego Luison

Elise Marks

Ernestas Erna

Felix Pks

Fred Benz

Gage Salyards

Gus Jockers

Ivan Handler

Jack Bell

Jeremy Sky Crawford

John Mccoy

Jurgita Maceviciute-Malakauskiene

Martynas Dainius

Mary Ellen Catindig

Matt Baker-White

Mihai Miroiu

Mike Barbee

Olena Taylor

Ramune Ber

Richard Johanns

Ryan Wakat

Sakari Sipila

Silvia Cheung

Simon Gaudet Binet

Travis Fisher

Yashaswi Manjunath N

Aren’t you impressed! We’ll be back with more great photo contests in the new year!

©Robert Beck http://www.robertbeckphotography.com

Robert’s Gear for Sports Photography
Musts
-DSLR Body – He uses a Nikon D3s
-70 – 200 mm lens with f2.8 aperture
-Lens hood to protect his lens (instead of a filter)
-UDMA CF Cards in the fastest available speed, 4 GB – 8 GB

Nice to have
-200 – 400 mm lens, f4
-24 – 70 mm lens, f2.8
-16 mm fisheye lens
-Flash

©Robert Beck http://www.robertbeckphotography.com

 Which Camera Settings to Use

1. JPEG and RAW – Shoot camera RAW to capture the most information and have the most flexibility in post-production
2. Autofocus ON - You can change how fast your camera acquires the autofocus info. Set the speed of autofocus to correspond with the sport your shooting. Primarily uses the center dot as the focus pointHas the back button set up so he can focus first and then shoot a general area without the camera re-focusing
3. Vibration reduction software OFF
4. Auto white balance ON. Auto white balance is pretty good on new DSLRs Outdoors set it to “cloudy” to add warmth. Indoors match the light type. in the arena
5. Exposure mode MANUAL.  Robert shoots completely manual to have the most flexibility. Underexposed is better than overexposed
6. ISO as low as possible for the lighting conditions. For example, if it is sunny use 100 ISO, cloudy use 400 ISO.  The higher the ISO, the more noise (pixilation) will occur

©Robert Beck http://www.robertbeckphotography.com

What Makes Sports Shots Good?

 Every published photo is one out of 100s or 1000s of photos taken. This is where practice comes in. The more you shoot, the higher percentage of the photos you take will be good ones. Bottom line: if you want to become a better photographer – SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT!

©Robert Beck http://www.robertbeckphotography.com

Backgrounds are the most important thing to pay attention when you’re shooting sports. Find a background that is the least distracting possible to bring your subject out. You want it to be obvious to the viewer what the subject is.

©Robert Beck http://www.robertbeckphotography.com

Light – pay attention to the lighting conditions and work them to your advantage.

-The golden hour when the sun is low in the sky (early morning or late afternoon) is a great time.
-If you’re shooting in the middle of the day, put your subject against a darker background.
-Keep shooting even if its cloudy, rainy, snowy – let the action speak for itself!
-Play the light – Good front light is also good backlight. Try and get both perspectives.

©Robert Beck http://www.robertbeckphotography.com

Aperture – Set it to F2.8 or F4 for a shallow depth of field. This makes the background drop out dramatically so the viewer focuses on the subject

Composition – shoot a mixture of tight and loose shots. When in doubt, shoot looser. You can always crop-in during post-production.

Shutter speed – 1/1000^th of a second is the slowest speed if you’re shooting action sports.

©Robert Beck http://www.robertbeckphotography.com

 ***

If you’re interested in viewing Robert Beck’s work, please visit his website. If you’d like to be in the loop for Lowepro’s next webinar, follow them on Facebook.

And here’s our dream team …

]]> http://joby.com/blog/2011/11/rockin-it-at-ppe/feed/ 1 http://joby.com/blog/2011/10/tips-from-a-pro-jack-atley/ http://joby.com/blog/2011/10/tips-from-a-pro-jack-atley/#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:34:17 +0000 Emily http://joby.com/blog/?p=1836 On Wednesday I attended the Lowepro Photography Webinar with Australian photographer Jack Atley.  Jack Atley is a professional commercial photographer with clients ranging from the Sydney Opera House to Coca Cola to Peugeot to Gucci. His presentation was really well done and full of great anecdotes to illustrate his points. Plus, he has a fabulous Aussie accent!

Lucky for those of you who couldn’t make it, I took notes. Here are Jack’s tips for taking better pictures and becoming a successful photographer.

1. Shoot lots of images! Practice, practice practice to learn your camera inside and out.
2. Get good light! And then put your subject in that light. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times to shoot. Also chose the lowest ISO for the light available to get the best detail.
3. Watch your backgrounds. Be mindful of what is behind your subject.
4. Composition – the rule of thirds. Put your subject (the main thing you want to get across to your viewer) in the bottom, top, left or right third of the frame instead of the dead center for a more dynamic photograph.
5. Shoot for your viewer, not just yourself. 
6. Be creative! Take risks! If you look at things the way everyone else is looking at them, you’ll never get a stand-out image.

… this fun image shot using both a GorillaPod and a GorillaTorch.  A GorillaPod Focus supported the camera and a GorillaTorch Flare was used write the text. I say that is doubly awesome!

And even more impressive is this super-sized model of the GorillaPod Original that they built from molded Styrofoam! Originally used to promote JOBY tripods at a tradeshow, the Godzilla of GorillaPods now lives on the main sales floor of Australia’s largest independent camera store, Michaels of Melbourne. How cool is that?!?

Thanks Maxwell! You rock! Now if you could just make another 8 foot GorillaPod for us to display at the SF Office …

***

Now is your chance to improve your photography with a free webinar hosted by our friends at Lowepro. Professional photographer Jack Atley from Australia with share his advice on how to take award-winning shots and also answer any of your photography questions. The webinar is on Wednesday October 19th from 4 pm – 5 pm PST or 8 pm – 9 pm PST (EDIT: If you missed it, here’s the recorded Jack Atley Webinar). Sign up and more information are here. I’ll sure be there! And below are a few of Jack’s amazing photos to get you psyched on the class.

Winner of the Open Section of The 2011 Moran Photographic Prize …

And a few that caught my eye …

Have an awesome weekend folks!

We are happy to announce that our JOBY | Peter Stathis Venture Collaboration lighting line has won two Spark:Pro Awards! The Spark Awards are the world’s first multi-level design awards. Designers from all skill sets are welcome, whether they are professional, novice or student. Both the Trapeze and Obus won this high honor from Spark and we are so thrilled! We know that they are awesome, innovative lights, but it is quite nice to hear that other folks think so too.

As usual, we are in great company for this award. Here are a few wonderful designs that stood out to me from those entered into the competition.

Out of the Box: Mobile Workstation

Urbio Urban Vertical Garden

Czech: Tiles Made of Recycled Materials

If you are interested in checking out more inspirational product designs visit the gallery of Spark! entries.

***

A while back I announced that DayMen-Lowepro acquired JOBY. We were really excited about the news and I’m thrilled to report that we’ve joined forces with another amazing team of creative, active, photography-loving folks! One awesome thing coming out of this partnership for our loyal customers is that there are now double the opportunities to win photography gear! JOBY sponsors contests, Daymen-Lowepro sponsors other contests and you have even more chances to win! I think that makes this a win-win-win.

As you can see, Outpost Magazine and Lowepro are hosting a Signs of the Road Photography Contest. Simply submit your favorite photo of a wacky road sign and you can win prize packs chock full of LowePro bags and JOBY tripods – the ultimate photography power couple – if I do say so myself.

Happy weekend! And, go out there and find some crazy road signs to enter into the contest.

For Immediate Release
August 26, 2011

Petaluma, CA – DayMen Group, manufacturer and leading distributor of high-quality imaging, laptop and other electronic protective accessory brands, is pleased to announce it has reached an agreement to acquire Joby.

Joby is the San Francisco-based manufacturer of iconic photo, mobile and lighting products that inspire the creative and active lifestyle, including the award-winning GorillaPod line of flexible tripods.

“DayMen will bring its extensive distribution network and our history of building great brands to the Joby line of products,” said Gil Roberts, DayMen CEO. “DayMen and Joby are built on a shared passion for creativity, superior functionality and constant innovation. Together, we can accelerate the growth of our business and build the global presence of our Lowepro, Acme Made and Joby brands, as well as the many outstanding third-party brands we distribute around the world.”

DayMen has been distributing Joby in Canada since 2007 and Australia since 2008. Since it was founded over six years ago, Joby has grown from a start-up to a company with distribution in over 65 countries.

Forrest Baringer-Jones, Joby CEO said, “When we introduced our best-selling GorillaPod for sale in 2006 we were able to redefine the way photographers capture images. Since then, we’ve developed a number of great products to thrill our customers including new lines related to lighting and mobile accessories. The acquisition by DayMen gives Joby a great opportunity to expand both our distribution network and our product line.”

“I am incredibly proud of the team we have built, the products we have developed, and the customer and distributor relationships we have forged,” said JoeBen Bevirt, Joby’s founder. “I am excited for the tremendous opportunity DayMen has provided for Joby to continue to grow.”

Media Contact:
Joby Press Office
press@joby.com
415-262-2955

About DayMen:

Since its inception in 1981, The DayMen Group has enjoyed an exceptional reputation in the photographic and consumer electronics industry as an innovative manufacturer and distributor of high quality imaging products and accessories from Lowepro, Acme Made and other third party brands. Based in Petaluma, CA, DayMen Group is owned by private equity firm Brockway Moran & Partners.

About Joby

Joby creates iconic, award-winning photo, mobile and lighting products that inspire the creative and active lifestyle. We believe great design starts with a user-centric approach, is functional yet playful, and enhances people’s lives. Founded in 2005 with the introduction of the industry-defining and best-selling GorillaPod, Joby is a global company headquartered in San Francisco, CA with offices in Geneva, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan and Shenzhen, China.