Favorite Links by Category
General Digital Photographic Websites
Lots
of good general photographic information with active forums. Just
select free registration.
Digital Photo Forum (Discussion Boards)
Great
place to go for forum help and inspiration from other users.
Adobe
Support Forum - Necessary Evil (ok - even Super Evil).
Cameras / Hardware / Production Websites
Received my first piece (25x20"
White Aluminum - High Gloss Photo on Aluminum) from imagewizards yesterday.
It is absolutely breathtaking!
My search for the perfect combination of Art-Frame-Presentation for art competitions, and my home, is over! Colors were spot-on to my inexpensive, but color calibrated LCD monitor; no color proof was necessary. Their turn-around time was exceptional! I have never received a piece which was so lovingly and robustly (thick plywood crate $25 - good deal) packaged.
The recessed frame is high drama and incredibly captivating! To deliver the same drama in a print, I would have to go with an expensive mat/frame/anti-glare combination, so the overall cost of the piece is comparable. One of most striking things I've noticed about this high-gloss format, is the piece seems to be very tolerant of different lighting and viewings angles. This is so important, when you can't control where a piece will be hung or can't change the lighting - it just looks great, no matter where I stand.
The Aluminarte® process is relatively new (2009), using heat to "bake in the ink vapors" into the surface of the aluminum. They describe it as high-definition and that is no joke.
I couldn't be happier and would easily recommend imagewizards to everyone (except people competing in the same show).
My favorite place for new camera news and general camera gloating
and/or bashing :) The reviews are in-depth and the comments
are extensive enough to give you a real feel for how some of this
equipment will perform.
Another great place for digital camera reviews. The site is a
little smaller scale and feels less "Corporate."
Digital Software Websites
Photoshop Elements 8 (PSE8) is Adobe's consumer/prosumer digital
photo software. In my (not so) humble opinion, this software strikes
the best balance between real creative power and actually being able
to use the software. You will still need to buy a good how-to book
if you move beyond the quick/guided functions, but it will do nearly
everything Photoshop will do at a fraction of the cost. In addition,
the Organizer is one of the best around. Save your money and skip
the video counterpart - PRE7 was terrible! I need to update
this for PSE9; substantial improvement over version 8. Full
mask capability and is much more stable on the laptop I run.
I'm now using Lightroom 3 for organization with PSE9 for my
editing. The organizer is pretty good in PSE 9/8, but if you
take a lot of pictures, LR3 is easier to keep track of things.
Boris is a really nice man who produces some excellent software;
Photo Jumble and Click-2-Crop among others. Jumble and Click-2-Crop
among others.
Digital Photographic Services
I have been using SmugMug to share photos & videos, before it was
cool. Very secure & easy for family to download and print photos.
Best part, it is one of the few sites which does not automatically
resize or reduce the quality of your photos - YEA!
My Favorite Digital Photography Books
The Photoshop Elements 7 Book - Scott
Kelby & Matt Kloskowski. Excellent How-to book for PSE - great
tricks and tips. My preference over the
Missing Manual.
- Scott
Kelby. Great book, lots of very cool helpful little tricks. I
passed on Volume 2, hints were not as unique or as helpful; really
seemed like he was just milking it, so never even looked at Volume
3. I highly recommend the first book - pretty inexpensive too.
The Digital Photographer's Handbook -
Tom Ang. DK publishing does a great job when it comes to books with
pictures; really shines here.
Links
And we should re-invent the wheel, why? These people/places have so already been there done that!