HDRtist

HDR photography has taken off in a fairly big way over the last year. What is HDR? It's a technique involving the merger of three identical images with different exposure levels into a single, bright, detailed picture. You'll need software to do this, and one of the best is HDRtist. Sadly, only available for Mac at this time.

Photo Web Hosting

Most photographers end up with hundreds, if not thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of photos on their hard drives, collecting virtual dust. The aim of most photographers should be, in my opinion, to upload their best efforts to the internet and share them in a virtual gallery. How to do this? There are several ways.

Firstly, you can find yourself a dedicated photo sharing site and join their community. This has pros and cons. Some can be free, some have unlimited upload rights, but very few have both. Your photos are also often left at the mercy of site censors or the financial well being of the company you choose. Some very big names have departed the market and taken their users photos with them.

A more secure and flexible idea is to find a website hosting company and host your photos yourself, on your own website. It's really not difficult to do. There are plenty of programs which will create galleries for you from your photos and all you have to do is upload them. The customization possibilities are limitless, you can have your own domain name and share your favourite snaps for all to see.

The key is in finding the right web host. It's important to choose a company with a decent background. Reliability, financial success, user reviews are all things you should be checking. Fortunately for you, Web Hosting Geeks have done the hard work and made choosing the perfect host for your needs a cinch. They also have a great web hosting blog with lots of informative articles.

Photomizer

Photomizer has launched and provides users with a powerful tool to bring the best out of their photos, including the ability to create an HDR image from a single file. There is a trial period to test it out before you buy. Click here for details.

DXG All Weather Camcorder

DXG have entered the portable camcorder market with a new product that boasts all weather capabilities. Come rain or shine, this HD camcorder will be ready to capture your favourite moments at a bargain price. Click here for details.

Sony A230 Review

Photography Blog have just published their review of Sony's new budget entry level DSLR, the A230. Click here to read their full review. My own opinion is simple - it's still too big, too clumsy and too limited feature wise (no video for starters) to rival the competition.

Downgrade To Step Up

I've long argued that for many new DSLR buyers, their recently acquired toy is an unnecessary expense that may well harm their photography rather than enhance it. Of course it does depend on how much dedication they are willing to put in. But for most people, who are content sharing their photos on the web or printing out at A4 or smaller, the gains to be had from buying a DSLR just won't be realized. This article sums up some of the points I have long made quite nicely.