Friday, February 16, 2007

Advances in Digital Printing

InkJet is becoming one of the most reliable forms of printing in this age of labless digital developing. Some of the advances include Epson's Ultra Chrome K3 ink, which when used with the right paper combination, is said to have an archival life of 200 years. But, if you can't shell out $600 each time you need to refill all 8 pigments, than there's another option for you. Kodak has invented a 100 year archival ink to battle the 15 year inks of most consumer inkjets. To make the deal even sweeter, Kodak sells their inks for HALF the price. ($14.99 vs. $29.99.)

"In fact, all of your 4x6-inch prints will be a lot cheaper with the new inks averaging 10 cents per print. Meanwhile, letter-size black and whites will run about 3 cents per print. The inks themselves will be priced at $9.99 for a cartridge of black ink and $14.99 for a five-color cartridge. Kodak claims this is 50% cheaper than what you'd spend on say an HP, Epson, or Canon ink refill. So we checked out their prices and in all instances, the Kodak ink saves you a pretty decent amount of cash. Whether the quality is as good—that we'll have to see for ourselves, but analysts have said good things so far.

Oh, these printers are fast as hell, too. They'll shoot out your photos at the rate of 22 pages per minute." –Brian Lam of Gizmodo



_______________________________
BUT WHO NEEDS INK?!

In an article published today on New Scientist Tech, Belle Dumé explores a new kind of photographic printing technology that is completely inkless, tonerless, waxless, etc - with no more cartridges to buy!

"Zink paper is made from a white plastic sheet covered with micro-thin layers containing three types of colour-forming dye crystals – yellow on top, magenta in the middle and cyan on the bottom. The paper is initially colourless, looks and feels like ordinary white photograph paper and is not light sensitive."

In the past, this technology has only been used for monochromatic printing such as receipts printed onto heat sensitive pape, but this new photographic paper can produce millions of colors. This definitely sounds like an intruiging development, but the ultimate question is, what is the archival longevity of a photo which is created through a process that involves heat?

CLICK HERE to read the entire article.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Free Online Resources for Photographers

Here are some great free online resources for photographers (wedding photographers in particular), please add your own favorites as well!!!

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER ORGANIZATION RESOURCES:

  • WedPix - the WPJA's monthly online magazine
  • WPPIOnline - WPPI's monthly newsletter for wedding & portrait photographers
  • PPAMag - Professional Photographer magazine online
  • Rangefinder - Rangefinder magazine online
  • PopPhoto - American Photo and Popular Photography magazines online
  • PictageTV - Interviews, Tutorials, & User submitted videos (use the tabs to access more videos)

PHOTOGRAPHER DRIVEN RESOURCES:



TOOL & TECHNIQUE RESOURCES:

  • Strobist - lighting tools & tips
  • Blue PIxel - A blog Team of Photographers, Writers, and Cinematographers collaborate on offering free tips and tricks
  • PhotoShop TV - digital photography tips and tricks from NAPP gurus
  • Lightroom Killer Tips - all kinds of yummy goodness on the breakthrough program from Adobe, PS Lightroom
  • After Capture - multimedia resources and post production tutorials
  • Adobe Online Seminars - free e-seminars on various Adobe tools and products
  • Apple Online Seminars - free e-seminars on various Apple tools and products

JUST FOR FUN:

FREE ONLINE MESSAGE BOARDS:

  • OpenSourcePhoto - a photography forum for niiiiiiice people
  • Photo.net - free and very public online forum for all types of photographers
  • Digital Wedding Forum - offers both a "start" forum free for beginners and a "pro" forum membership
  • DigitalPhotographers - Gary Fong's message board
  • DPReview - tool-talk for photographers
  • OneLight Workshop - lighting tips and techniques
  • Flickr Groups - don't discount this public site as amateurs only, there are some amazing people doing amazing things and sharing it all on individual group message boards. Find a group you're interested in and check out the discussion area- you may find some amazing things!
  • ProPhotoResource - featured photographers are interviewed regularly and asked to participate in the forum

(P.N-2/14/07, OSP-2/15/07)

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Photoshop Actions for Photographers

There are a lot different Photoshop Actions you can purchase or download for free out there, so here's a one-stop-shop for photographers. If there are actions you think everyone should know about - post a comment and share your favorites!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Tim Sanders: The Love Lecture

Tim Sanders, author of The Likeability Factor and Love is the Killer App, is also a motivational business speaker who draws upon his experiences with some of the top executives and businesses in the country. (Think of him as the modern Dale Carnegie.) Tim maintains a great blog, called Sanders Says which is well worth subscribing to if you're looking for great ideas and ways to improve your networking skills. If you're not the reading type, he also has a few DVDs available of his motivational speeches. The clip below is where Tim explains three strategies for multiply your value through sharing knowledge, changing your attitude toward adopting an abundance mentality, and improving your likability factor. Below is a GREAT video clip with lots of valuable advice worth watching all the way to the end!!

>>>>>CLICK HERE<<<<<<
to watch part of Tim's Love Lecture on how to multiply the value of your business.

LaCour on Wedding Photojournalism

Atlanta based wedding photojournalists, LaCour share some of their insights on how they view the capture of a wedding day...

Andrew talks about the Nouns & Verbs of photojournalism...


Rachel & Mark talk about anticipating moments in photojournalism...


CLICK HERE to see LaCour's resource blog for photographers.