Light Painting or Light Graffiti is a rather cool technique that is really easy and fun to do. All you need is: a camera capable of long exposures, torch or light emitting object, tripod (not life and death) and a dark location. There are a few variations of light painting but they are all done using pretty much the same technique..

What’s the technique Mike? I hear you beg.. read on..

I am sure you have seen wonderful panoramic photos on the internet, you may have given it a try and always come away with mixed results. There are a few simple rules to go by when making your panoramic photo, simple but important, so I though I'd highlight them below.

The program that you use is really up to you, so I will deal with everything that goes on before you input your pictures to ensure great results in the end.

Remember those awesome 3D pictures that you had to view wearing those old-school red and cyan glasses? I have been making these pics for a while now so I thought I would post a little tutorial on how to do it yourself to impress your friends or possibly bag yourself a wife (or husband - if you are one of those hot photo-taking ladies)

Olympus, makers of the overpriced and under-performing SUPER point and shoot Pen E-P1 (which was released 4 months ago) are soon to be launching the E-P2. How annoyed would you be if you had just forked out the ridiculous ticket price for the E-P1 only to discover you have not worked out all the functions before it is superseded.

I have been taking photos at concerts I have been to over the last 4 or 5 years and normally come away with a few keepers but I have always been left a little frustrated that due to camera restrictions, I could only take in my point and shoot. A few months ago I put my name down as a contributer for an online magazine so I could start building my portfolio and confidence as a live shooter. There is no pay for this but it's a great time and I am getting to see bands I'd never see.

So, what have I learnt so far? read on....

I started using Adobe Lightroom about a year ago and it has quickly become the main programe that I use for processing (I still use Canon's Digital Photo Professional for sharpening).

According to Adobe, Lightroom has been reworked from the ground up, making it faster and more capable of dealing with ever-increasing library sizes. It uses a better noise-reduction technique that improves your photos taken at high ISO settings.

I have been taking part in a competition run by Olympus Australia. They send you the new Pen E-P1 camera to have for 1 month and we take photos, upload them and people vote.

People seem pretty divided over this camera, some say it's slow to focus and process and had bad ISO and others would clearly marry it if it was legal (where it is in the United States of America).

I am going to offer my opinions on this camera after one month of extensive use, but please note:

1. I never read the manual
2. I only had the 14-48mm kit lens and the 17mm 2.8 lens
3. I never read the manual

OK, it IS slow... slow to focus, slow to process the art filters and slow to process long exposures (although I have been told to turn noise reduction off and this fixes the long exposure processing time) and it's pricey - the $1399 price tag for the body alone with kit lens and ($1799) for the twin lens kit will always make me compare it to a dSLR and not a point and shoot.