If you have come from a photography school, or have been part of a photography organization that judges your photos, you may have lingering phobias of improperly composing your photographs (due to the heavy hand that is about to "correct" you!). When it comes to fine art photography, there is no need to follow the rules set out by those above you . . . and often it is in breaking these established rules that the most dynamic and thought provoking works arise.

This photo is taken for the purpose of hanging on a wall. The wallpaper design is from the Arts and Crafts movement and the off-center composition in a jarring manner, grabs the attention of the viewer. The wallpaper design and placement of the historic painting takes the image from documentary to abstract, and provides for an interesting work to hang on a wall.

A good location to find textured wallpaper is at an historic settlement, if there is one near where you live. This image was taken at a settlement called King's Landing, in New Brunswick, Canada.

Thanks to professional photographer Mark Hemmings (www.markhemmings.com) for writing this photo tip. 

The enormous exhibition of professional photographers called Visual Gallery is a must for photography suckers like us. The Visual Gallery displays the work of internationally known photographers and award-winning photo artists.

One of the most popular acts at this year's exhibition is the work by the actor and director Dennis Hopper. Before becoming a world known actor, Hopper had made a name for himself as a photographer. At this show, Hopper's work between 1961 and 1967 is displayed. His impressive collection of images coveres the U.S. civil rights movement and includes portraits of David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol.

If you're not able to attend this year, I'd recommend to check out the fantastic albums in our explore section instead.

They are everywhere and everyone seem to be making them. Digital photo frames were introduced in 2006 but it's this year when you'll likely see them populate your friends book shelves. The digital photo frame is the photo gadget at Photokina 2008.

Now, these frames don't make us jump up and down. However, when we see that some of the more sofisticated ones would be able to talk to Jalbum albums (through media RSS), things are getting interesting. Wouldn't it be cool if you could give a digital frame to grandma and as soon as you update your Jalbum album with your kids, the frame next to grandma´s livingroom couch is automatically updated? We think so.

The world of photo enthusiasts are meeting up in Cologne, Germany this week for the bianual photo excibition Photokina 2008. Being the largest photo industry event in the world, it gathers more than 1500 companies from 45 countries to present their latest products and services. Among 160,000 other visitors, Jalbum reps Anders and myself are here to check out the latest news. We are here to connect with these fantastic companies in order to bring new features and services to your photo albums. We'll try to keep you posted on what's going on at the fair.  If you are attending we'd love to meet up, don't hesitate to send us a message!

Oh, by the way this is the first blog post in our new blog tool! As you've probably noticed you now get a note on your News page. Also, you can now comment on posts :)

Most of us are all returning from summer vacation and the time has come to transfer all the photos from your digital camera to the computer. Why not polish the photos a bit before putting them online. This is a wonderful time to discover the Jalbum photo editing tools. This blog post will just give a quick intro to the rotate tool.

From Jalbum 8.0 you can double click a thumbnail image to enter edit view. Here you can add all kind of effects to your album. This is primary an album function only. You can add any kind of effect to your image without overwriting the actual file. You can save it as a copy with the modifications if you please.

Thanks to professional photographer Mark Hemmings (www.markhemmings.com) for writing this photo tip.

Thanks to professional photographer Mark Hemmings (www.markhemmings.com) for writing this photo tip.

It's so much fun browsing Jalbum albums and to explore different interests, talents and teqniques. Check out the album from user flygfoto who's taking photos with the help of a radio controlled helicopter! 

 Photo album by: flygfoto

 Photo album by: flygfoto

Thanks to professional photographer Mark Hemmings (www.markhemmings.com) for writing this photo tip.