Every now and again I like to post a few links from other great photography sites around the web. Here’s what I found on my surfing today.

• Photojojo has a tutorial on Making a Flash Photo Flipbook – fun!
• DIYPhotography has posted Part 2 of their Guide to Photographing Children
• Instructor Insights shares a tutorial on Converting Color Images to Black and White in Photoshop
• Outdoor Photography Tips shares an article on Improving your Artistic Eye
• Photocritic shares a guide to Doing a Photo Critique

And lastly – a little fun quizz. Which famous photographer are you? Here’s my result – (share yours in comments below):

Weekends are great for learning new photoshop techniques so I thought I’d post another video tutorial today. This one teaches how to convert a regular digital image into a ‘pop art’ image in photoshop.

I hope you enjoy it.

Reader Question Time….

What mode do you shoot in most?

Grab your digital camera and check something for me. Look at the dial/switch/menu that shows you which shooting mode you’re currently in and let us know what it is.

I’m fascinated by watching how others use their cameras and am particularly interested to see what modes they use by default.

Are you an ‘Auto’ photographer? Do you use Aperture or Shutter Speed Priority Modes? Are you one of the few photographers who actually shoot in full Manual mode? Or are you the type of photographer who uses the preset shooting modes like ‘Landscape’, ‘Portrait’ or ‘Sports’?

There’s no right or wrong answer – but I’d love to hear what your camera is set to right now and whether that’s a ‘normal’ mode for you? Answer in

…

Today I have a real treat for you in the form of some pictures and an interview with Award winning Pro Photographer Martin Philbey.

Martin is a fellow Australian who has photographed some of the biggest names in the Music Industry around the world. His work regularly appears in music media publications such as Rolling Stone and on the covers of CDs and DVDs of artists.

Martin has been kind enough to take some time out of his day today to answer a few of my questions on his photography and business and has been generous in allowing us to publish four images from his folio of work. The images feature Robbie Williams, Destinys Child, Wolfmother and Silverchair (in order of appearance).

You can see more of Martin’s work at his website – www.philbey.com.au which showcases more of his music photography but also his portrait and sports work.

A big thank you to Martin for agreeing spend some time with us today.

1. Martin could you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into photography?

I’m now in my early 40’s and started as most people do – when I got my first SLR camera as a 20 year old and started to shoot pictures of my friends and family. I started to contribute stock to a picture agency specializing in Sport and got a full time job as a crime scene photographer.

Part of that job was learning so I completed a 2 year part time course in advanced photography. I quit the Crime Scene Job in 1996 and became a full time freelance photographer.

I started to shoot Music and artist related pictures in the early 90’s and became a regular contributor to Rolling Stone Magazine in 1998. I continue to cover Sporting events for Australian Associated Press, and the West Australian Newspaper, and I shoot music related pictures for a variety of clients (including Magazines, Record Companies, Artist Management, Manufacturers etc) in Australia and overseas.

2. What photographic gear do you mainly use?

Nikon D2X and fast lenses from 10mm to 400 mm. Bowens lighting gear for inside and Norman lights for location work.

I’ve just announced that $500 worth of Amazon products are up for grabs over in the Forums if you can be in the top 3 to recruit new members to the Digital Photography School forum.

First Place will get $250 of products
Second Place will get $150 of products
Third Place will get $100 of products

Get full details of how to be involved in this post at our Forums – but please do note that you have to be a member of the forums yourself to be able to participate.

Hopefully this will bring on a little healthy and fun competition but also bring some great new members into the forums where there’s already some great learning, photo sharing and fun going on. So head over – read how to participate and lets grow the forums!