New Features List

Today we have made some minor alterations to our main menu to improve the grouping of the site features. The new Inspiration main menu now contains Techniques, Photo Month, Photo Locations and Features.

We have also added VS Mode to the Photos Menu.

After a week long public beta to the community, we have switched to a new 1 step photo uploader. The new uploader decreases the amount of time it takes to upload a photo by allowing you to enter the details while your photo is uploading. With most modern web browsers, you can drag and drop a photo from your computer to upload.

We have also improved the EXIF data support from photo uploads by importing title, keywords and descriptions. This can be particularly useful if you use this information in Lightroom, Aperture or other photo management software.

Two new features have been launched today.


1. Option to Opt-Out of VS Mode. (available now in My Settings > Website Options > Gallery Options)

You can now choose to remove your photos from the vs mode. If you ever wish to change your mind, just change this setting back to opt-in and your photos will be available in vs mode again.

2. Filter out vs mode notifications in Buzz

Tired of getting buzz notifications that your photos have won another vs mode? A new 'Options' button is available in your buzz on the right side. Clicking this will provide you an option to stop all new VS mode notifications from coming in and will eventually hide previous ones from your buzz feed.

What is VS Mode?

You will be presented with 2 random photos from the gallery. All you have to do is click on the one you think is the better photo. Based off everyone's choices, we will calculate and rank the photos using a special formula. As we receive more participation, the calculations and ranking will become more accurate.

What else is included in this upgrade:
- See win and loss totals on all photos in the gallery. Click on a photo in the gallery and you will see the total wins and losses the photo has received in VS Mode.
- See a breakdown of wins and losses on all photos in the gallery (e2 members only). e2 members can view a list that shows what a particular image was paired up against and what the outcome was.
- Order By Rank in gallery filter (e2 members only).
- Buzz message when your photo wins a VS Mode.

Why VS Mode?

The point of VS Mode is to eventually provide an accurate ranking of all the photos in the gallery based on photo quality in comparison to other photos in the gallery. VS Mode is currently in a beta phase. While we will be keeping all the results, we may tweak and change it in the coming weeks as we start seeing participation from the rest of the community.

Get Started!

We need your help to find the best photo on ePHOTOzine! Go to the VS Mode and start telling us which photos are the best. Click the link below to go to VS Mode:

http://www.ephotozine.com/vs-gallery

Removal of Challenges

With the introduction of VS Mode, we felt that it was time to remove the Challenges area. Challenges provided a very similar system of photo ranking. However, after years of being on the site, the feature has slowly lost popularity and therefore we have decided it was time to remove Challenges. We hope those users who enjoyed challenges will enjoy the new VS Mode just as much.

We have created the Awarded Photos gallery where the photos which have won either the Highly Commended award, Editor's Choice award, Guest Editor's award or Picture of the Week accolade together all in one gallery. You can find it by either clicking Photos or the Awarded Photos option in the menu.

The Editor's Choice gallery can still be accessed from the select a gallery drop-down found on all the gallery pages.

When browsing photos, you may notice something seems to be missing. The 'Photo Scroller' which sat just above the photo's comments and displayed a series of photos next in line, has been relocated to the right of the description. It's smaller, compact and out of the way, but still provides the same facility.

We have been concentrating on simplifying and de-cluttering the gallery to provide a more enjoyable experience. So, we have cleaned up the menus available under a photo and combined them into 1 easy-to-use menu.

More information can be found in this forum topic.

We have introduced a new button on all photos that allows you to 'turn the lights off' and only show the photo, removing all distractions. Just click the black and white circle under the photo. Click it again (or anywhere on the screen) to turn the lights back on.

Transfer the leadership of groups easily to another member if you no longer want to be leader of the group. They will be contacted and need to accept the request before they assume control. To begin the process, go to your group and click 'Edit Group'.

Group Privacy Options - We have introduced 2 new options for privacy. 'Members Only' allows everyone to see the group, but only group members can browse within the group. 'Hidden' totally hides the group and only group members can browse and see the group. This can be set when creating or editing a group. 'Hidden' groups will need members to be invited to join.

Non-Group Events - Events can now be created without the need of a group. This is particularly useful for creating one-off members' meetings. Just click 'Create Event' from the Group and Events Homepage.

Delete Group - Group owners can now delete their groups.

Distance Indicator on Events - On the Group & Events Homepage, we now display a distance indicator next to each Event. This is estimated based off your address details set in your account.

Group's Activity Feed - Each group has its own activity feed making it easier to stay up-to-date with what is happening within a group.

Upload Photos Directly to an Event - You no longer have to use your gallery upload to upload to an event. Just go to an event you have attended and click 'Upload a Photo'.

Event Photo Upload Notifications - You can now get a notification when a photo is uploaded to an event. Just click 'Notify Me of New Photos' from an event's page.

Get involved in our Groups & Events section today!

We have continued our development on improving the Groups area of the site as well as a few minor improvements in other places. Over the past few days we have introduced the following:

* Photo Map in Groups - You can now view photos uploaded to a group on a photo. Please note, only photos which have been geotagged will display on the map.
* New Groups Homepage - We have redesigned the groups homepage to concentrate more on the groups and events you are a member of. The design also gives more presence to the events and meetings.
* Resetting Group Notifications - Notifications from groups have been reworked to work the same way as other notifications on site. Instead of receiving a notification everytime something happens, you will receive a notification, it will then be turned off until you click the reset link in the notification. This is to prevent us from sending you unwanted emails.
* Private Album Support in Portfolio Multi-Uploader - The multi-uploader in your portfolio now supports private albums. You can create a private album and upload directly into it. This allows you to upload as many photos at once to a private area not visible on your portfolio.

We are just over half way done with the group upgrades, so there are still many more exciting changes to come.

We have recently been concentrating on improving the Groups area of the site and over the last few days we have introduced the following upgrades:

* Group News - Group members can now post news in a specialised area of the group. Group creators can turn this feature on by going to 'Edit Group'.
* Event Attendee Limit - When creating a group event, you can now set a limit for attendees. This is useful if you only have a number of available spaces for an event.
* Message Event Attendees - Event creators can now send a private message to all the event attendees at once. This is useful if you need to make attendees aware of important information/changes about the event.
* Created Groups in Portfolio - Under the 'Groups' tab in portfolios you can now filter the groups by only the ones this user has created.
* Groups in 'Related Content' box - In some areas of ePHOTOzine we show a 'Related Content' box on the right side, there is now a tab for related groups.

Watch this space, there is still a lot more to come.

Today we have introduced some big changes to the way you can upload photos to ePHOTOzine making it easier to share your photos quicker.

For more information about these upgrades please read the following article:

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/multiple-photo-upload-and-more-added-to-ephotozine-19177

e2 members can now view modifications in large format. Please note, this is only available when modifications have been uploaded at a larger size.

Now you can see how your constructive critique points rank and compare to other members. You can also see who has the highest overall points for all time and weekly.

This can be found on the right side in the Critique Gallery

Find out more about the Constructive Critique feature

This week we have introduced a few new additions to ePHOTOzine which make it easier for members to connect, share and stay up-to-date with the people and things they are interested on ePHOTOzine.

For more information about these upgrades please read the following article:
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/ephotozine-has-had-an-upgrade-18618

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.