Brad Templeton answers the question What lenses for my digital SLR? (favors Canon)

Mailorder Lens Rental

Rent Glass provides mail order lens rentals. How about trying out that new 300/2.8 before facing credit card debt.

Building a Digital SLR System

Phillip Greenspun now and then writes about photography. Some of his articles appear on photo.net, including the original film version of How to Build a Digital SLR System.

Stopping the Arrow of Time

The Diego family goes through a private ritual every 17th of June. No, it's nothing like that; instead they take a photo of everyone in their family, thus stopping the arrow of passing time. Thanks to Jody Ferry for the link.

Stopping to be nerdy a minute, I can't help but relate those pictures to those in an Eigenfaces library.

Soda bottle tripods like this have been around the web for a while now, but it's always good to refresh the inner DIY.

Fauxto

Finding Fauxto this morning was a bit of a shock. I'm not one for this whole revolutionary phase where we put huge applications online and use them over the web, especially a real image editor like Photoshop or The Gimp. I'm also not a huge fan of things written in Flash, and Fauxto is that as well.

Though it's in it's beta form, the early release of Fauxto is pretty impressive. It looks and acts like a real image editor. It's definitely one of the most impressive Flash apps I've seen in recent history. Check it out. Also be sure to check out there blog.

One Light Workshops

Intense, on location lighting crash courses from Zack Arias start January in Denver, CO. You want to attend because you're tired of not knowing enough about lighting. You want to attend because those books you've read about the subject just don't teach you the way someone showing you does. Attend One Light Workshop-- I would if it were coming to Philadelphia.

Pentax, Canon Release New Firmware

DPReview reports that both Canon and Pentax have released firmware updates making improvements to SDHC (SD HIgh Capacity). The Pentax updates are only in Japanese at the moment so, unless you're Japanese, it might best to wait a bit longer.

You Look Bored--Try Photogmo

Photogmo is simply put a challenge. Take a photo of the current topic, post it and perhaps get some feedback. It's not an original concept, but the name is awesome!

Book Review: Understanding Exposure

Larry Eiss has reviewed Understanding Exposure, a book by Bryan Peterson. His review is pretty much spot on. I've read this book, and have found it to be quite a useful reference. Read Larry's review to find out more.

Discover the Cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Be sure to check out the archives.

Buy a Gorillapod Already

I'm tired of the buzz, the name and seeing them all over, but I do really want one. They now come in a hefty SLR version too. <insert gorilla impression here>.

Tableau Is Not Tabblo

In a strange move Creativist has released an open source photo gallery, built on Ruby on Rails-- a popular framework for making websites, but has named it very similarly to Tabblo, a unique way to tell a story with photos. It's name is Tableau. The software itself looks pretty good and there's a demo available to play around with.

The World's largest book is a photobook!

Your Exposure Might Be Off

Photocritic's latest critique talks about exposing for the highlights and developing for the shadows. Aside from the critical points, the best advice from the article is that of the exposure. Given a really bright scene, or a bright portion of the scene you must make sure to not blow out the highlights, and therefore it is best to underexpose a bit (metering the highlights).

Earthbound Light talks Nikon preset white balance and rescuing images.

Why Spend Money on Studio Gear?

There's so much DIY stuff on the internet regarding studio equipment, which I may someday need. Until then, it's fun to read about all these projects that come up for inspiration. Anyway, DSLRBlog recently made a diffusion panel from pvc plumnbing supplies which doesn't even look DIY.

To make a Christmas card, X-Pose build a similar panel shown here.

Make Your Mark

I don't condone graffiti, and in my city of residence (Philadelphia), the anti-graffiti squad is pretty good at it's job. One thing you do see quite a bit of though is stencilings. Stencilings often appear on the sidewalk, or on other non buildings. This tutorial covers the process of taking a picture, and modifying it to a point where you can make a stencil from it. Abstract these techniques for screenprinting t-shirts, or decorating garage sale signs. Please don't vandalize.

Let the Pictures Do the Talking

My intention isn't to start a war, but this extensive list of "amazing" pics sure would make me buy a Nikon if I thought my camera mattered.
P.S. I'm a Nikon user anyway.
P.P.S. Canon users: have a similar list? Suggest it!

Linux Photo Organization Shootout

Linux.com has an article about the top GNU/Linux photo organizers. There are quite a few to choose from and after reading some of the comments, a bunch more popped up. If you're a GNU/Linux user and looking for a photo organizer, head over and take a look at some of your options.

I don't know if of these applications run in *BSDs, but my assumption is that some of them do.

Kids With Cameras has an update on the kids featured in "Born Into Brothels," the movie about two filmographers in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district. You can read the November 2006 update here.

The Strobist brings us a great article about the challenges and solutions to this holiday pastime of Photographing Christmas Lights

Capturing Gaza's Hell

"I want to show the daily life of the people of Gaza, through their personal environment." Time photographer, Alexandra Boulat, on the challenges of documenting an ongoing conflict.

Time Magazine Year in Pictures 2006

There was a time when, I would check out Time's Pictures of the Week, a set of 8 pictures which you can vote on for inclusion into Time's Year in Pictures.

Update:I re-checked to see if there was an index page for the Pictures of the Week, as the link above is last weeks pictures, but the old index page now redirects to a YouTube video related to the Person of the Year. The link that used to be the index is http://www.time.com/time/potw. The Year in Pictures is not affected by this.

The Non Beauty in Beauty Photography

The amount of post production in fashion photography kind of takes the "beauty" out of creating images with a lens and film/sensor. Fortunately for some, tools like Photoshop and techniques like this (photoshop tutorial on achieving smooth skin) help sell products and make it possible to save money on the costs of making the images used for advertisement campaigns.

Unfortunately for others, especially impressionable young women, the editing and post production sell the idea that we are not beautiful enough, and that we must live up to some unachievable standard.

This isn't to say that I'm not a fan of fashion photography, beauty photography and other forms of photographic expression (even the use of post production techniques). However, it is my feeling that the industry should play a bigger part in making sure that impressionable young women are aware of these techniques so that they stop doing stuff like this.

Though it doesn't solve the "runway model" problem, where models appear in uneditable forms (i.e. live action), fashion photographers have a great new way to take an already good looking model and make him/her look that much better. I'm all for post production in fashion photography because it has this amazing ability to sell products and keep models alive while doing it, but I'd really like to see more ad campaigns and fashion photography that promotes the natural beauty of people.

Adobe Digital Photography Guides

John Nack's blog has links to a series of commissioned articles from described "industry heavy hitters," ranging from tutorials on color management in Photoshop, to a guide talking about making the switch to digital.

Blurbomat brings us a great tutorial about taking a non interestingly lit scene and making it look fantastic with photoshop.

Celebrity Mugshots

Celebrity Mugshots (via The Smoking Gun) are quite possibly the best in celebrity entertainment. Mugshots in general capture a variety of moods. Sorrow, guilt, remorse for those that have regret, and amused for those with nothing to lose.

Compact Digital Macro Tips

Digital Photography School has a bunch of tips about how to shoot "macro" with a consumer compact digital camera. Being somewhat general, these tips should provide you just enough to get your feet wet and be able to explore the power that lies within that tiny camera. Macro Photography Tips.

PikiPimp

Not exactly useful, but PikiPimp provides some fun for at least a few minutes. Upload a picture of a friend, yourself, family, whatever and use it's javascript interface to add items such as glasses, even a cigar to the picture. I suppose you could come up with something a bit more entertaining than my try, if you were so inclined.

Photo.net TV

There's quite a lot of video footage online these days, with YouTube/Google Video, and the other less important ones. I happened to stumble upon Photo.net's TV section, which has quite a few videos. Most of them seem to be location oriented (i.e. Photographing Yosemite with Don Gale), but seem to provide tips and tricks that can be related to making photographs in general.

Given Photo.net's reputation as one of the leaders in the online photography community sites, I expect that a bigger collection of videos will be available.

Can you really get this through security?

Tabblo Books Beta

Tabblo, a great way to tell a story in pictures, just launched Tabblo Books. The books are available in 2 sizes 4 x 4" (at $9.99USD) and 9.5 × 8* (starting at $29.99USD).

Like other parts of Tabblo, Tabblo Books brings with it a nice, in browser, dynamic interface. And, of course they have ready made templates.

Lighting Tutorials at Proflex Lighting School

There is a ton of information about lighting techniques here. They are definitely designed to promote their lighting products, but they should lead to some great ideas. Also, I assume other equipment could be used if you have it...

Polaroid Transfer Tutorial

Sarah Wichlacz's blog has a tutorial about transfering slides to Polaroid to achieve a neat effect.

One Shot at the Top of the World

Vincent Laforet's work is absolutely stunning, and one of his latest projects is featured in an Aperture profile. The project: Capture a worker on the Chrysler building in New York City a top one of the gargoyles overlooking the city. The result: awesome.

Neat gallery of spirals. Oooh, dizzy.

101 What the Duck?

I found What the Duck at apparently the right time. It just so happens they celebrated their 100th comic, but my best goes out to their 101st.

Don't Forget The Basics

With the Holidays coming really soon, many people will be getting some new gear, perhaps even an new DSLR. Well, don't forget the basics..

Hyperfocal Distance Explained

Easily forgotten, yet useful for a lifetime, hyperfocal distance allows you to compute depth of field on an for an image based on the circle of confusion, the f-stop and focal length. Read an in depth explanation here.

This article is blowing up big on digg and for good reason. It's a great, comprehensive, beginner's guide on the subject of Photography.

Got a few coathangers, some ducttape and an extra bolt that happens to fit in the tripod mount of your camera? Need a portable tripod?

Getting Rid of Tourist Pixels

Nothing worse than tourists in your tourism pictures. Or, if you live in a big city and would like to just go out and take pictures of it... Same thing goes. Not to worry anymore, How to Remove Tourists from Your Photos takes a look at getting rid of those pixels that muck up a perfectly good shot.

Wired has a look at the best digicams available this fall. Is Pentax the best again? They seem to be getting lots of praise regarding their new DSLRs.

My view from my window looks like.... this. Interesting blog with pictures and descriptions of other people's views from their windows. (I haven't submitted)

A Hopeful Vision

An inspiring article about Steve Simon, who just launched a book "Heroines & Heroes: Hope, HIV and Africa." The book is a limited edition (50 copies) and is available on his site.

From the article on Digital Journalist:
"Steve Simon's latest book, Heroines & Heroes: Hope, HIV and Africa, balances human tragedy with hope in sub-Saharan Africa."

I'm not a father yet, but when I become one someday in the future, I know there'll be more photographs than I can possibly look at. Those of you now with kids (or neices, nephews, granddaughters, etc...) might find these tips for baby photography useful.

Hunter S. Thompson Gallery

I can't claim to know much about Hunter S. Thompson, and my lack of knowledge is apparent since I didn't know he took photographs. This exhibition started December 2, 2006 and goes til January 20th, 2007. If you're in California, maybe you want to check it out for yourself.

Gimp Tutorials

Assuming you don't know what GIMP is, you'll probably be less interested in these tutorials. Though, if you want a FREE and awesome replacement for Photoshop, then you should go back and find out about GIMP, and while you're at it take a look at that list of tutorials to get you started.

LifeHacker has a look at setting up Gallery2, a popular, open source web-based gallery script. Read it all at LH.

They'll go quick, but if you're lucky enough to catch one, DPReview reports about the Ricoh First Aniversary GR Digital camera. There's only 1000 units, and it goes on sale this month. The GR is a well reviewed professional grade high resolution compact camera. Read DPReview's coverage about the Anniversary GR.

Woohoo!

Photub Version 2! I've been working hard in the last few days to get this up and running, and I'm very happy so far with the results. If you experience any problems, just refresh your page. If that doesn't fix it up, I'd appreciate it greatly if you let me know. Enjoy!

High Dynamic Range Tutorial

With Adobe's release of Photoshop CS2, many photographer's became interested in High Dynamic Range (HDR). HDR uses 32-bits per channel rather than the usual eight or sixteen bits. However, your camera doesn't just magically take HDR images. Instead you take a series of images and compose them together. What you get from all this are photos with a greater range of brightness values, to which you can edit til you have the holy grail, the perfect photograph. Read Earthbound Light's tutorial on HDR.

How to Make a Digital Toy IR Camera

Zach Stern makes beautiful infrared images, and with this article, you can make your own Digital Toy Infrared Camera to make your own infrared images. Check out some of his work on Zach Stern on flickr

Get Rid of Haze with Photoshop

It's fun and easy to take photos out of airplanes, or from high above the ground. However, you normally end up with washed out and unsaturated photos. Michael A. Covington shares with us a way to Process Aerial Photographs with Photoshop.

How to Build a Panoramic Tripod Head for $10

For those interested in stepping into the world of panoramic photography, stiching software can only go so far. Also, with the price of panoramic cameras and equipment it's a pretty easy to talk yourself out of it. Worth1000.com user arodrix wrote a guide on building your own panoramic tripod head for less than $10.

Flickr Related Tag Browser

Coming from Airtight Interactive is a nice tool for visualizing tags on the popular photo sharing site Flickr. Airtight Interactive is also the creator of SimpleViewer, a popular flash image gallery application which you can use for free on your site.

Ever wonder how photographers make food look so damn good in pictures? 101 Cookbooks posted these food photography tips back in July 2006, but of course they're still valid today.

Those into running free (or Open Source if you prefer), might be interested in taking a look at Dave Coffin's dcraw and other tools for extracting those RAW pixels into something a bit more usable.

Getting in on the Holga Action

I haven't yet gotten in on this action, but would like to. Squarefrog's Holga page has a ton of useful information ranging from How to load film to How to unload film. There's also great introductions on choosing film and focusing tips.

Photub Version 2

The new Photub has been uploaded and will be replacing www.photub.com as soon as I port over content.