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Digital Darkroom Basics Would you like to set up your own digital darkroom? Wouldn't it be nice to scan in your original negative, transparency or print, burn and dodge it on the computer, apply color correction interactively, then print a copy in only a few minutes? Sound like fun? Would it be fun to spend hours and hours talking to computer salespeople who know nothing about professional photography or darkroom techniques? Is it possible that each salesperson you speak to is really more stupid than the last one, or do they just act that way to make you mad? Would it be fun to spend hours and hours in your local libraries and book stores, trying to locate a book that tells you how to select all of the individual components you need in order to build a digital darkroom that will deliver the results you need as a professional? Why do the authors of these books and magazine articles believe that you would spend thousands of dollars just to produce trivial results? Why don't they get serious? Could it be that they don't know any better? There are many professional photographers, like yourself, who are eager to create their own digital darkroom. Many of these photographers subscribe to PhotoStockNotes, published by PhotoSource International. Numerous articles in PhotoStockNotes, as well as other photography publications, have dealt with individual products to a limited extent, but nobody offered the photographer advice on how to actually build a digital darkroom capable of producing output of a specified quality. Rohn Engh, the director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes, agreed. He published my "how-to" article, as a five-part series, starting in the May 1997 issue of PhotoStockNotes.
If you were a subscriber to PhotoStockNotes then you may already have benefited from these articles. If you are not a subscriber, too bad! I sure hope you didn't waste all of your money setting up a digital darkroom recently, only to find that it didn't deliver the results you needed.
Viewing The Web: How To Get
The Most From A Site The editors of Shutterbug magazine recently decided to start a monthly column on web sites. They wanted to promote sites that featured great-looking photography. Problem is, what looks great on one viewer's computer may look terrible on another person's screen. "We want an intro article telling people how to view photographic web sites on their browsers, which browsers work best, how to get them, etc., etc.," wrote Bob Shell, Editor of Shutterbug. "My boss read what you wrote for my site and was impressed, so when I suggested asking if you would write it, she was all for it. Oh, yeah, deadline. Three days ago as usual!" I was all for it, too. Shutterbug published the article in their November 1997 issue. If you aren't a photographer and don't read Shutterbug, then you can read the article here. If you are a photographer and don't read Shutterbug, then you should be ashamed of yourself!
Web Site
Design For Photographers There are many professional photographers who are considering starting their own web site. Many of these photographers subscribe to PhotoStockNotes, published by PhotoSource International. Numerous articles in PhotoStockNotes, as well as other photography publications, have dealt with the pros-and-cons of web sites for photographers, but nobody offered the photographer advice on how to actually build a web site. I discussed this issue with Rohn Engh, the director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Rohn agreed that this was a major problem facing many professional photographers. Web Site Design For Photographers was written specifically for stock photographers, but also applies to professional photographers in general. My message was clear: you needn't be a whiz-bang computer techie in order to create your own web site, and you needn't spend very much money. I tried to create a "how-to" atmosphere that would encourage photographers to take the plunge and create their own test web sites. Something must have clicked. Rohn Engh has received numerous letters and e-mails from readers with nothing but good things to say about my article. He is including the article in his new web site, and has already posted it to CompuServe. I have received quite a few e-mails from his readers who have requested copies of the parts they missed. Most important to me as a consultant, I have found new clients as a direct result of this series. Here is the article, as originally written. The PhotoStockNotes version had very slight editing, due to space limitations.
Web Site
Management For Photographers Anybody can build a simple, personal web site these days. If you need a web site for your business however, throw away any ideas about doing it yourself! You probably don't have the skills and resources needed to do the job right. Like it or not, you must hire a professional web site developer. Regardless of who you hire, it is still your web site project. It is your responsibility to manage the development of that web site. Where can you learn how to do that? Take a wild guess...
The Digital Darkroom Digital imaging technology is one of the fastest changing technologies on the planet. It is not surprising that photographers continue to ask me questions about printers, scanners and other peripherals.
eCommerce Three years ago, very few people had even heard the term "eCommerce." Today, it is the hottest buzzword in the world. The CEO of Intel recently said something to this effect: "If your company is not doing business on the Internet by 200x, then your company won't be doing business period." You could learn about eCommerce by attending typical seminars costing about $3,500 for four days. If you like to read, there are hundreds of books available on the subject. You might even find one you can understand! On the other hand, you could read my series of articles for free and save hundreds or thousands of dollars right up front. If you develop your own eCommerce solution one day, the knowledge that I give you could easily shave $10,000 off of your budget.
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