New Features List

You can now add YouTube videos into your comments/blogs/etc. Just click the new YouTube button and follow the instructions.

We have just added the facebook like, twitter tweet, google +1 and share options to photos.

This allows you to easily share photos with your friends without leaving ePHOTOzine and in some cases, in a single mouse click!

We have implemented an upgrade today to the affiliate prgram which now allows you to link to any page on ePHOTOzine with your affiliate link. Check out the affiliate program page for more information.

Back in 2006 we initially launched our Affiliate Program. This allowed you to earn commission by referring people to ePHOTOzine who eventually signed up to e2 membership. There was also the ability to earn commission through book sales of Guide to Great Photography. However, the initial launch and v4 re-vamp were both flawed and gave out incorrect statistics to our members. Thus, very few members took part in the Affiliate Program.

However, today we have re-launched the Affiliate Program and believe we have worked out all the previous bugs. The affiliate program can be found through the ePHOTOzine drop down menu or in the 'More' tab in your portfolio. From here you will be able to get your special affiliate tracking link and track your earnings and payments. It's free to take part in and you can earn quite a bit doing it.

We have transferred all the previous earnings over so for some members you may already have an account balance displayed. We will pay 10% for every e2 sign-up and renewal you refer through you affiliate link. Payments are made every quarter to affiliates who have an account balance of at least £20.

So, go on, get involved and start making money referring your friends and family to ePHOTOzine.

Go to the Affiliate Program

We have added popular tags to the photography blogs so you can now easily browse by the most used tags.

Today Google has released the new '+1' button and we have added this to all news, reviews, article and techniques.

If you find one of our posts useful, as well as sharing it on twitter and facebook, you can also let others on Google know that its good. Just click the +1 button which is located near the like and tweet buttons.

Today we have added a feature which allows you to login using your facebook or twitter account. This makes it quicker and easier to log into ePHOTOzine if you are logged into Twitter or Facebook.

Next time you come to login, click the appropriate button. You may be prompted to login to Twitter or Facebook if you aren't already. Once you have done so, you will be redirected back to ePHOTOzine and asked to confirm your ePHOTOzine account details for the first time only.

Once you have done the above, you will be able to click 'log in using facebook/twitter' and you will be automatically logged into your ePHOTOzine provided that you are logged in on Facebook or Twitter.

Place your mouse over the topic title in the forums to see the first comment of the topic.

We have now added the about tab to your portfolio page, go to your my settings area to fill it out.
If you prefer not to have this tab there is an option to turn it off in your website options under portfolio options.
We have also added the option to add links to both your facebook and twitter accounts in portfolio settings.

Today we launched our new user portfolios. Here is a list of new features:

- Improved Ease-of-Use
- Buzz Feature - See how people are interacting with you in 1 easy to access location.
- My Groups tab in Portfolio
- Easier to use Notification Manager
- Portfolio filter available for everyone
- Quicklinks available for everyone
- User Awards available for everyone
- Portfolio calendar available for everyone
- Voted Photos - See what recently photos you have voted on
- Photo Comments Activity - Filter out photos owned by yourself.
- Tabbed Awarded Photos box
- Album Sideshows

E2 Member Exclusive Features
- Favourite Photo Collections - Group your favourite photos into collections
- No ads in Portfolio
- Change your portfolio style from white to black

We have introduced a new Avatar Sudoku. Now a new board is made each time you refresh so you can enter and play as much as you like.

If you make a top score for the week then your avatar will be used for the next week!

Hide the next and previous thumbnail popup that appears when you place your cursor to the left or right of the images.
To do this go to My Settings options and change the Display Next/Previous Arrows option to hide without thumbnails.

Today we merged the Members' Meetings section with the Members Groups area as they were very similar in usage and features.

We also added a few additions to the groups area including:

- Group events calendar
- Address and map details for events
- You can now attend events on the group calendar
- You can now upload photos to group events that you have attended

Today we launched our revamped homepage to bring it into the V5 style and add a few things. Here are some of the upgrades that have been done:

- New cleaner easier to read and use layout
- Latest Awarded Photos tab
- Recent Competition Winners strip
- Recent Group Activity
- Recent Challenge Photos

We have had quite a few changes in the past month including an overhaul of the gallery bringing it into the V5 style. Including some performance turning, here is a list of the changes we have implemented:

* New V5 Design Gallery
* Minimal thumbnail style to give thumbnails some air.
* New gallery icons to indicate features and awarded photos
* Exif data extracted and recorded from uploads where exif data is available.
* Stretched Layout/Centered Layout option to display ePHOTOzine the way you want to. You can change this in My Settings > Website Options.
* Random Gallery which allows you to browse the gallery randomly brining up photos you may not have seen before.
* Simplified gallery upload making it easier to preview and make changes to your photo before you add it to the gallery.
* New tag filter replacing the old category system. This allows filtering of the gallery to be more flexible instead of being stuck to a specific set of categories.
* Right-click protection on photos. Stop the most common way of stealing photos online automatically from ePHOTOzine visitors on non-e2 members.
* Vote notificaiton. Get notificatiosn when one of your photos receive a vote.
* Easier to use Google Map for geotagging your photos and finding other photos.
* Hide Photo option, making it easier to remove older photos from your portfolio without actually removing them completly.
* New Gallery Homepage featuring the latest awarded photos and many other aspects of what is going on in the gallery
* New Options menu on comments for a cleaner and easier experience.
* Improved next/previous photo options which allows displaying the arrows all the time.
* New next/previous thumbnail strip that displays more photos and quicker browsing of the gallery.
* Next/previous photos now work with gallery search.
* Preview modification photo before uploading.
* Notifications of uploads for gallery tags.
* Display votes on gallery photo tool tip
* Latest Modifications gallery.


e2 member features:
* Browse the gallery by large option. No need to click to view large versions anymore. You can change this setting in My Settings > Website Options
* See ALL photos in large including free members' photos.
* Large thumbnails in gallery option. You can change this setting in the gallery filter.
* Enhanced background colour picker allowing to pick any colour.
* Favourites upload notifications. Get notifications when one of your favourite photographers uploads a new photo.
* Upload multiple versions and re-order versions quickly and easily.

We have introduced a new feature in My Settings > Website Options which allows you to choose to either automatically show the next/previous arrows in the gallery or to hide them so they only show when you move your mouse over the left or right.

All members can now have quick links which are bookmarks to your favorite pages. You can bookmark any page by using the sidebar and clicking add quicklink.

Also now the my calendar is open to all. You can add events to your calendar and have it appear on your portfolio by selecting the option from your my settings

We are very exicited to announce the launch of the equipment database. This new section of the site provides a way to add, search, compare, write user reviews, rate and purchase photography equipment. The goal is to build up the most complete database of photography equipment and specifications on the internet. This database can be very useful if you are considering purchasing new equipment or just curious as to the specifications of a particular product.

View the Equipment Database

The database is currently in the early stages of an 'Open Beta' while we build up the equipment in the database. We would like you to help by contributing your equipment knowledge. Simply click the 'Add Equipment' button to add the equipment you own to the database.

Add Your Equipment

We hope you enjoy this new section and find it very useful.

We are pleased to announce the 'e2 Special Offers' forum. This forum provides a list of offers, competitions and discounts only available to e2 members.

All sorts of offers are available including free software, discounts from online retailers, discounts on training courses and much more. More offers, competitions and discounts will be added regularly so be sure to check back regularly.

Check it out:
http://www.ephotozine.com/forums/e2-special-offers-357

We have made hiding topics even easier!
By having a hide topic link on the recent activity page and the topic page in each of the forums you can hide any topic quickly.

To unhide any topics simply go to your Manage Topic Views check the topics you want to remove and click remove.

We have made it easier for everyone to join in on discussion in group forum topics. Now you can post a comment in a group forum topic and you will automatically become a member of that group, making it one less step for you to do.

For a while we have provided a feature for e2 members to upload photos into forum topics and blog posts. Now we have decided to release this feature to all our members. So now everyone can upload images in forum topics and blog posts. Just click on the image topic in the comment box and follow the instructions.

Due to popular demand we have added a new feature to My Settings > Website Options.

The 'Default Notification Status' setting allows you to define whether the 'Set Notification' checkbox is autochecked or not on new photo uploads and new forum topics you add to ePHOTOzine.

Along with this we have improved the Website Options page to make it easier to understand the available options and how they work.

We have added a few new notification options to the groups. You can now set notifications to be alerted of new photos uploads, new forum topics, new group members, new comments and new calendars events in each group you join, so you will never miss anything!

You can find these new options by going to the groups you have joined and clicking on the 'Settings' button.

You can also share your group activity on your social networks automatically through our Ping.fm integration:

Set-up Ping.fm Integration

You can now create groups to easily interact with other ePHOTOzine members with similar interests. In groups you can post comments, share photos, start forum discussions and schedule events on a calendar. Anyone can create and join groups so check out our new members' groups feature:

http://www.ephotozine.com/groups

We are always looking for ways to improve the site, so if you have a suggestion for a new feature or an idea on how something can be improved, submit a report to us.

Hi Everyone,

A couple of days ago we launched a new layout for the homepage. Based off some statistics we found that Forum Activity and Latest Photos are quite popular parts of the homepage. Therefore we have moved these up to the top left part of the homepage to make it easier to access. Just click on the tab to display the tab's information, the site will remember which tab you have selected for the duration of your visit.

We have also applied the same layout to news, reviews, techniques and articles on the homepage which makes it easier to see what's new at a glance.

If you are a user of popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many others, you will be especially excited about this new feature.

With our new Ping.fm integration, you can now quickly and easily share your photo uploads, forum discussions, blog posts and many other things you are doing on ePHOTOzine to 30+ popular social networks, saving you time and keeping your friends up-to-date with what you are doing.

It's very easy to set-up. Just go to your My Settings and click on the new 'Share' tab; or click the link below and follow the step-by-step instructions:

http://www.ephotozine.com/mysettings/share

Once you have set-up the integration, you will have a new option available on many parts of ePHOTOzine to share with social networks.

We are always looking for ways to improve ePHOTOzine, so if you can think of other places you think this feature could be useful, feel free to send us your suggestions by creating a report:

http://www.ephotozine.com/create-report

We have just re-launched the Photo Locations area of ePHOTOzine. For those who don't know, Photo Locations is a great resource to find some of the best photography locations around the world.

If you have a location that isn't on the map, make sure you add your favourite photo location.

Here are some of the new features added to the Photo Locations area:

- browse locations by latest and alphabetical
- comment notifications
- view nearby locations on a map
- unlimited photos for each photo location
- rate a photo location
- linkable search results so you can put links to photo locations searches in emails, forum topics or comments to share with others.
- improved usability when adding a location to make it easier to do so.

Today, we are introducing a new voting system into the gallery that is currently in BETA. Compared to the Readers' Choice voting system, the Photography Choice voting system allows members to not only vote a photo up, but also down. Therefore, if you feel a photo is not well taken or lacks in some way you can express your opinion with a down vote.

This new two way vote system also hides the list of voters to prevent any biased voting which we hope will encourage votes based only on the merits of the photograph.

When you upload you will now have the choice to choose which type of voting you would like to use on that photo. There is also a new option in My Settings which allows you to set the default voting option for the photos you upload.

This new voting system also comes with a new gallery and new award. You will be able to filter the photos in the gallery by voting type by going to the Gallery and clicking on either 'Readers' Choice Gallery' (original gallery) or 'Photography Choice Gallery' (new ± gallery).

As mentioned, this new voting system is currently in BETA so we can see how everyone uses it and see if there is any room for improvement, and if we should continue developing it or scrap it. If you have any suggestions or would like to give us your feedback about the system, please create a report.

Please Note: THIS IS NOT AN ATTEMPT TO REPLACE THE EXISTING VOTING SYSTEM

Challenges is the latest area to be revamped and new features added.

Check out the challenges area now

Challenges Upgrades:
- improved performance and speed
- Auto EXIF data importing
- right-click protection
- Browse by large (e2 members only)

We've finally got around to adding an official Facebook fan page. If you're on Facebook become a fan of ePHOTOzine here. ePHOTOzine Facebook page

We have added a Weekend Events Guide as part of the new Photo Month Section. The guide lets you know what events are going on each weekend that would be worth taking a camera to.

We need your help to make this bigger and better. There's a forum to discuss it here: Events Guide - please help us to help you

Photo Month is our new brilliant feature designed to keep your enthusiasm for taking pictures and enjoying photography at fever pitch.

It works a bit like a year-long Advent calendar. Click on the day of the month and you will find shooting hints and tips, location ideas, event details, image-editing techniques, tutorial movies and reviews relevant to the day, month or season.

There's something new to keep you stimulated daily.

Bookmark the Photo Month advent calender page and make sure you check it out daily.

Today we have launched the V5 version of the Videos section of the site. You can now watch videos without the need of going to ePHOTOzine TV. We have also added comments and notifications to the section as a new feature.

Check out the Photography Videos section now.

If you use your mobile to access ePHOTOzine forums but find that its slow and bulky, you will be pleased to hear that we have created ePHOTOzine mobile, a mobile friendly version of ePHOTOzine. You can access ePHOTOzine mobile by pointing your phone's web browser to:

http://m.ephotozine.com

Currently the only section available on mobile is the forums, but we plan to bring more and more into it in the future.

The forums have been upgraded to V5 New features include:

- images in forums (e2 feature)
Add images in forums posts to illustrate a point.

- hide member's posts
Click to hide posts by specific members.

- float user bar (BETA idea)
A bar that appears at the bottom of the page with profile info and section extras such as forums and gallery comment box

- quicker editing of posts
You are no longer taking to a new page to edit a comment.

- improved bbcode editor
Add smilies, wrap text in quotes, add images (e2 feature) and simplified links

- unread posts (posts that have been added since your last log out)
Jumps straight to posts that have been added since you last logged out.

- Forum Post medal
Indicates how many forum posts you've made.

The blog section has been totally revamped. Previously an e2 only feature, blogs have now been opened up for everyone, and a photo upload option has been added for e2 members so they can now illustrate their blogs. Use blogs as a photo diary spot, or to tell other members your news or share your views, please don't use them to ask questions, that's what forums are for.

We may not have wrapped a present and put it under your tree but that doesn't mean we've forgotten about you!

From today (25th December) until the 31st December we're giving our members e2 Membership absolutely free. That means for one week you get larger photo uploads, the ability to let others modify your work, the chance to create an exhibition plus many, many more treats!

See what e2 features you can use.

If you are an existing e2 member, you will receive an extra week on top of your subscription.

We hope you enjoy the gift.

Have a great Christmas,

ePHOTOzine team.

We have just completed an upgrade to the Classified Ads section of ePHOTOzine. Here are some of the improvements that this upgrade includes:

* Add an image to a classified ad
* Highlight your ads in yellow to make them stand out
* Upgrade a live classified ad with an image, highlight or extend the date
* 'My Classifieds' in portfolios so others can see your ads
* Search classified ads
* Order classified ads by price
* Extended classified ad descriptions
* Improved design and usability
* Added restrictions to prevent scammers from posting ads

So check out the Classified Ads section and feel free to add a classified ad!

The book reviews section has been redesigned in the new V5 format. New features include an improved search, order by title, relevance, rating and date, plus an option to leave comments.
You can also browse by author or by publisher.

We introduced a new feature a few weeks ago and forgot to announce it here, so for those who don't visit the forums we now have a Guest Editor each week who volunteers to look through the gallery and award pictures that he/she thinks are outstanding hie or her GEA. The feature is being discussed here: Guest Editor
If you feel the EC HCs could be a better selection, now's your chance to show us why. Let's see your pick of the crop.

We've created a new group for compact camera users where beginners are welcome to join and post photos taken with their compacts. Details here Compact Camera Users

We have upgraded the downloads section! In this upgrade we:

• Improved the search


• Simplified upload restrictions


• Improved look and usability


• Added top downloads this week


• improved thumbnail creation of many files

So come and check it out!

We have added 2 new categories to the gallery:

- Night / Low Light
- Still Life

If you have any photos you feel fall under these categories, you can re-categorise them by doing the following:

1. Click on the photo in your portfolio
2. Click '[EDIT]'
3. Change the categories
4. Save the changes you made.

We have added a feature using the Members Meetings area to bring together members who enjoy shooting certain subjects so that their images and ideas can be discussed in a group format. There's a forum thread discussing the idea here. ePHOTOzine Groups

We have just completed the upgrade of the Pro Portfolios Section. Along with improved usability and performance, we have also included the following new additions to the section:

- Editable portfolios
- Easier multiple photo uploading with unlimited uploads
- Search portfolios

We have upgraded the poll section to the new style. There is also a new option for you to suggest a poll.

Hi Everyone,

Some of you have already noticed. We have added a couple of additions to the photo and forum pages.

We display featured news, reviews, techniques, articles, buyers guides, etc. On many occasions this displays relevant links to techniques and articles that might be related to the photo/forum.

A little late to announce but as the feature has become a regular part of the site we will formally announce it now.
We now have a Critique Buddy Challenge - created to give anyone interested in a photo challenge and opportunity to share and receive detailed opinions. Full details here Critique Buddy Challenge FAQ

Hi Everyone,

The FAQ section of the site has been given some attention lately. We have improved the search facility and have added a feature which allows you to mark FAQs as helpful.