A few interesting links about Photography, Technology, Social Media, and Gadgets that I’ve come across recently. Some are smart, some are funny, and some are just plain dumb, but they are all interesting for one reason or another. Have a look and let me know what you think:

• Getting used to the PV2012 Develop Sliders? | The Lightroom Queen
  This is the best summary I've seen yet on how to use the new exposure controls in the Develop module in the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 beta. Exposure has been completely rewritten, but it's not obvious on first glance exactly how it's different. This writeup really helps!
• Followed Photography Sites – Flaunt Your Site
  A great list of photography websites that don't use the "nofollow" attribute on comment links. This means that if you comment on those sites, your own site will earn some page rank. Page Rank = Good SEO.
• Foldable Softboxes from StrobePro.com
  These are my new favorite photography gadgets! If you have ever setup a traditional softbox (with flexible poles that you insert into a speedring and then force into the fabric of the box) you'll know that it's annoying and time consuming! Well it doesn't have to be that way anymore. These great new boxes from StrobePro fold like an umbrella. Fast and easy!
• A Catalog In The Cloud Revisited | Lightroom Secrets
  Using Dropbox to sync your Adobe Lightroom catalog to multiple computers is a fantastic way to take Lightroom with you when you're on the go, or to simply make use of multiple workstations in your own home or office. Dropbox now has an option Selectively Sync only the files you want to sync, which allows you to exclude the image previews when you sync your catalog. They aren't necessary to make this work, and this saves a lot of space on your Dropbox account!
• Free Business Plan Workbook for Photographers
  Most photographers that I know could use help to run their business better. Here is a free resource that just might help to kick the new year off in the right direction.

A few interesting links about Photography, Technology, Social Media, and Gadgets that I’ve come across recently. Some are smart, some are funny, and some are just plain dumb, but they are all interesting for one reason or another. Have a look and let me know what you think:

• Special upgrade offer | Adobe Creative Suite family
  Adobe have backed down on their previous announcements that there would be special pricing for upgrades to CS6 from Photoshop CS3 and CS4 (and all the other tools in the Creative Suite older than 1 previous version). They will now be offering reduced pricing to upgrade from CS3 or CS4 from the time CS6 arrives until the end of 2012…
• Lensrentals.com Lens Repair Data 2011
  The information in this annual blog post is always informative and might be useful if used in the right way. Keep in mind that rental companies represent a true torture test for photography equipment, so you have to take the information with a grain of salt and use it as relative information rather than absolutes.
• Better Photography Backgrounds – Rise & Tilt
  The video is a bit cheezy, but the concept is great. If you want clean backgrounds in your images you need to pay attention to what's behind your subject. If you can't clean it up then get up higher and use the floor or ground instead of whatever cruft is on the walls or in the scenery behind.
• Fotoshop by Adobé – YouTube
  This commercial isn't real, neither are society's standards of beauty. Full post here with behind the scenes: http://jesserosten.com/2012/fotoshop-by-adobe
• Tutorials | Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Preview
  Here is a series of FREE videos from Lynda.com by Photographer Chris Orwig to introduce you to all the changes and new features in the beta version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.
• AdobeTV | What’s New in Lightroom 4 Beta
  Lots of great videos from Adobe about the new Lightroom 4 beta for Photographers. If you are considering running the new version you shoudl definitely check out the video to learn about the changes to the develop module.

A few interesting links about Photography, Technology, Social Media, and Gadgets that I’ve come across recently. Some are smart, some are funny, and some are just plain dumb, but they are all interesting for one reason or another. Have a look and let me know what you think:

• Adobe Forums: Forum: Photoshop Lightroom 4
  Do you have questions, feedback, or bug reports for the LR4 beta? Go here to discuss it with the Lightroom team and other photographers in the Lightroom user community.
• Adobe Releases Lightroom 4 Beta! | The Photo Geek
  The Photogeek (one of my favorite Lightroom developers) has issued a blog post including his "Five Favourite Features" included in the new beta version of LR4. Definitely worth a read.
• What’s New in Lightroom 4.0 Beta? | The Lightroom Queen
  The Lightroom Queen always has a great summary of what's new when new versions of Adobe Lightroom arrive.
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 | photo management software beta – Adobe Labs
  This is the official Lightroom 4 beta download page. Get it here!
• Jeffrey Friedl’s Blog » Adobe Has Released a Public Beta for Lightroom 4
  I don't know about you, but this is one photographer that has been waiting very impatiently for the next version of Lightroom to arrive. The first public beta is here, which means that the full version will likely arrive sometime this summer!

A few interesting links about Photography, Technology, Social Media, and Gadgets that I’ve come across recently. Some are smart, some are funny, and some are just plain dumb, but they are all interesting for one reason or another. Have a look and let me know what you think:

• Multi-catalogue approaches – Lightroom Solutions – John Beardsworth
  A great article about using multiple catalogs in Lightroom. I hate this approach, but there are many others out there that thing it's a great way to work. This article discusses main approaches to making it work.
• Lightroom Solutions – A new website from John Beardsworth
  John Beardsworth is one of my favorite Lightroom experts and he has helped me with my own photography workflow on several occasions, and has been a great source of information and debate on the why's and how's about Lightroom. If you are a photographer you really should be using Lightroom, and you should be following John's work!
• The ultimate, easy to use, fully featured WordPress ecommerce plugin – MarketPress
  This is a really great shopping cart solution for your WordPress site. Want to sell prints or other photography products? This just might work for you.
• Nikon D4: $6,000, Nikkor AF-S 85mm f/1.8G: $500 | Nikon Rumors
  Looks like a Nikon clone of Canon's recently announced D3X. I wonder which one will actually make it to the market first?
• Hack Attack: The Cordless Workspace (sort of)
  I love this solution to the cord monster. I need to implement some of this to clean up my disaster.

A few interesting links about Photography, Technology, Social Media, and Gadgets that I’ve come across recently. Some are smart, some are funny, and some are just plain dumb, but they are all interesting for one reason or another. Have a look and let me know what you think:

• Your Complete Guide For Photographing Star Trails | DIYPhotography.net
  I loves me some star trails, and I plan to do more of this kind of photography in 2012.
• The power of asking | Rosh Sillars
  Sometimes if you really want something you just have to ask for it. It's amazing how things don't happen just because you want it, but if you simply ask, you never know what might happen!
• How to use your smart phone for SEO | Rosh Sillars
  Better SEO = good.
• Get Brushed ě°˝€“ 2012 Calendar Photoshop Brushes
  I've been using these monthly calendar brushes for years to create calendars from my photographs every month. You can make your own too!
• Photographer Pants
  These don't look like pants that most of the photographers I know would want to wear. But it's kinda fun that we're getting some press!