It should come as no surprise to digital photographers that, within 48 hours of Apple’s October 2005 Aperture debut, iView Multimedia and Extensis both announced new versions of their own products. Adobe also released new photo software in January.

iView Media Pro Version 3 has some great new features, including a lightbox, better workflow tools and an improved user interface. The Pro Lightbox lets you compare up to four images side by side in a full-screen view, including the histograms, labels and rating for each image...

A look back at photography's huge technological strides in the last 20 years.

May 1989: Seattle – So I’m here in Seattle on my first trip to the Pacific Northwest and wow, is this a beautiful area! If I ever get tired of L.A., this might be a place to check out. Flying in over Mount Rainier was a treat, but by the time I got my Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic II out, added my SMC Takumar 55mm lens and loaded a roll of Ektachrome 100, we were getting ready to land. I’ll have to plan better and hope I get a window seat on the way home.

After my trip, I did a little slide show for some of the people in my office. I heard several comments that if I ever get tired of programming IBM mainframes, I could become a professional photographer. I’ve got a couple of images that I’m going to print as large Cibachromes and enter them in some contests…

Here at PhotoMedia Central, we look at a lot of photographers’ web sites. We’ve found that there are, indeed, some good, some bad and some … well, you get the picture.

If there is one thing that photographers need to understand about their web sites, it is what my publisher likes to call “impressive simplicity.” Keep it simple and knock their socks off with your images. Don’t waste people’s time with fancy technology or unusual navigation just to be cool.

For most photographers, the primary purpose of their web sites is to promote themselves and their work...

Today’s web-based photo services can market your images while they store them.

Greetings from Cambodia! I’m in Phnom Penh working on a project, and my situation here highlights the premise of this article. I have multiple backup facilities and procedures here in the field, yet if something happened to my luggage or equipment, some or all of my images could be lost.

This also could happen to all of us at home, if we experience a fire, flood, burglary, computer virus, earthquake or other disaster, natural or otherwise. No matter how good your backup and archiving plan is, if everything is in one location, you still have all your eggs in one basket...

Revving up your online image distribution with RSS

Web-savvy photographers have discovered a powerful new tool that is helping them distribute images, find locations for shoots, and keep tabs on the latest imaging trends and techniques. RSS (short for Real Simple Syndication) is an online content distribution medium that is becoming a mainstream technology. At this point, hundreds of millions of web surfers are taking advantage of this new medium, and that number is increasing rapidly...

At PhotoPlus Expo in New York City last October, Apple Computer introduced Aperture, an application that had been dubbed “iPhoto Pro” by many Apple rumor web sites prior to the official announcement. Early impressions (largely based on demonstrations by Apple) were glowing in their praise for what appeared to be a revolutionary product. The innovative interface and smartly targeted feature set promised to greatly streamline workflow for professional photographers.

For years, pro shooters have been seeking a way to manage the critical “sweet spot” of digital photo workflow, and Apple is targeting that space. The company claims that Aperture...

Steve Broback defends the JPEG format, providing tips on adjusting optimal settings.

Today, much debate surrounds the two main file formats that digital photographers have at their disposal. Serious photographers are hearing from various camps about the respective advantages of JPEG and RAW, resulting in a lot of confusion. 

I have been following this debate closely for some time, and have been asked by several photographers for guidance regarding which format they should be using...

Richard McEnery discusses the various continuing education options.

A father gets a new digital camera for Christmas. He sets out to learn more about his camera, reads about the Nikon School’s one-day digital photography classes and decides this is for him. Now he’s hooked.

An amateur nature photographer does a weekend field workshop with Darrell Gulin and gets some amazing images of an osprey feeding its young. She decides to attend the annual Nature Photography Summit and Trade Show, sponsored by the North American Nature Photographers Association...

James Bond has "Q." Sydney Bristow and Vaughn have Marshall. Every good field operative has a genius back at the home office who provides the really cool toys that mean the difference between the success and failure of a mission.

When you are shooting on location, whether that location is in your neighborhood or some remote, exotic destination, it's the little things that can make the difference. As Gary Voth points out in his story earlier in this issue, planning and preparation are the keys to success. Gary mentions several tools that are essential when shooting digital in the field. Two important things to deal with are power and storage.

There are still lots of places you can go where power may not be...

When accessorizing your digital darkroom, remember that a few basic items are better than the flashy gizmos.

When I was in high school, I decided to set up a darkroom in the attic. I started by getting a Jobo “two-banger” tank to develop my film and later added an enlarger to do the really cool part of printing my images. One thing I remember from that experience was that I continually spent money on accessories, all the things that “every good darkroom should not be without.” It seemed that there was always some new tool that I needed to make my darkroom look professional and my prints look better, but I found that the latest and greatest new gizmo didn’t make me a better photographer...