Photography Concentrate

This is a huge list of all the links to resources we have found useful. Hope you enjoy!

Gear

B&H Photo
 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ 
This is where we buy most of our photography gear from. Great prices and fast shipping. If you’re buying from Canada make sure to select expedited shipping in order to minimize duty (you should just have to pay any GST and provincial sales tax)

Adorama
http://www.adorama.com/ 
Sometimes B&H is sold out of something, so this is the next place we check. Both B&H and Adorama have a great used and refurb section.

KEH
http://www.keh.com/
Photography equipment is expensive. Why not check here first to see if you can find a good condition used item? Their ratings of used equipment are very conservative. Gear often looks like new. This is a fantastic place to look for film gear. I also love looking through the monthly catalog that they send me :)

Sterlingtek
http://sterlingtek.com/
This is usually the first place we check for generic spare batteries, but since the release of the 5D mk II we’ve had to look elsewhere. Still a great place to look for generic batteries.

ebay
http://www.ebay.com/
Can’t find your battery at Sterlingtek, check here.

Link delight
http://www.linkdelight.com/
We’ve bought a number of generic accessories from this store (have an ebay store as well), and all have worked beautifully (intervalometer, wireless remote, macro rings). A fun store to browse.

Alien Bees
http://alienbees.com/
Affordable studio lights. The owner Paul C. Buff is an interesting character.

Memory Express
http://www.memoryexpress.com/
This is where we buy all our hard drives and other computer related stuff from. (Canada)

NCIX
http://ncix.com/ or http://www.ncixus.com/
Computer parts for Canada and the US. 

Apple
http://www.apple.com/
We run an all Mac studio (Desktops, Laptops, iPhones, and an iPad!). 

Reviews

Cambags
http://www.cambags.com/
A great place for reviews on all sorts of camera bags, including how much stuff you can cram into them!

Fred Miranda
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/
Reviews of lenses and SLR cameras. 

Digital Photography Review
http://www.dpreview.com/
Seems like they review pretty much every new camera. I find them especially useful if you’re looking for a point and shoot.

The Digital Picture
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/
Extensive reviews of Canon lenses and cameras.

Blogs

Strobist
http://strobist.blogspot.com/
An amazing resource for off-camera flash. 

Flying with Fish
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/flyingwithfish/
This is a great site for photographer who do a lot of travel.

Forums

The Digital Wedding Forum 
http://www.digitalweddingforum.com/ 
A great resource and community. If you’re not already a part of this forum, you should probably join right now.

Fred Miranda
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/index.php
This is where we got our start with photography. It allowed us to explore various types of photography, and connect with people of a similar skill level. 

Photography on the Net
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/
Another pretty big forum. A great place to poke around and ask questions.

Photo.net
http://photo.net/learn/
Forums, image sharing, learning. It’s a great place to spend some time. I’ve linked to the educational articles of which they have a ton.

Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/
If you haven’t checked it out yet, then go signup for a free account today! 

Misc

Open Source Keys
http://opensourcekeys.com/
Want to learn how to program a separate keyboard for Lightroom shortcuts (or any shortcut really). Check out this site!

Everything Holga!
http://www.squarefrog.co.uk/
This is one of the best sites I’ve found featuring tips, tricks about using this magical camera.

Web Presence

FotoJournal
http://myfotojournal.com/
This is the place for affordable custom photography blogs! We’ve spent a lot of time working with the FotoJournal crew to help them create something really special for photographers. Sign-up for a free account today!

Big Folio
http://bigfolio.com/
Need a full website? This is the company we used for years before switching to a blog only web presence.

Vimeo
http://www.vimeo.com/
Want to share HD video w/style. This is the place to be.

Printing

WHCC
http://www.whcc.com/
Every time we order a print product from WHCC and it arrives we’re amazed by the consistently high quality print products they produce. We use them for guestbooks, and greeting cards. If you’re in the States I believe the offer free shipping!

Don’s Photo
http://www.donsphoto.com/donsprolabs.html
If you’re in Canada check out Don’s for loose prints. Great service, and fast.

ABC Photocolour
http://abcphoto.com/
Do you shoot film? Here’s the lab we get our color and large format film developed. They also do scanning and printing. They’re based in Vancouver, Canada

Richard Photo Lab
http://www.richardphotolab.com/
If you’re in the States check out Richard Photo Lab for developing and scanning your film.

Pro DPI
http://www.prodpi.com/
Another print house. We haven’t tried them yet, but they seems like great folks and they ship to Canada and States. 

Mpix Pro
http://mpixpro.com/
We haven’t tried these guys out yet either, but I’m always blown away with the selection of products they have. Definitely worth a look.

Juke Box Print Shop
http://www.jukeboxprint.com/
If you’re in Canada check these guys out for business and post cards. 18pt card stock!

Moo
http://us.moo.com/en/
Looking for some cool business cards? Definitely check out Moo!

Canvas on Demand
http://www.canvasondemand.com/
Awesome stretched and framed canvases!

Pixel 2 Canvas
http://www.pixel2canvas.com/
We’ve only heard great things, and their canvases look beautiful.

Simply Canvas
http://www.simplycanvas.com/
Another canvas printer who we’ve used. Wonderful work. Try out a few different canvas printers above to see which one you like best and take advantage of their first-time studio discounts.

A couple more printers for Canada!

Print Huge
http://printhuge.com/
Klyment Tan is a *genius*. Edmonton area photographers should definitely get in touch with him.

Print Kind 
http://printkind.com/
Dylan McAmmond is the guy to know if you’re in the Saskatoon area. I believe he also ships all over Canada!

News

PDN
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/photo-news/index.jsp
Photo District News - There’s no other place like it online. This is the magazine for photographers to be reading.

Rob Galbraith
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/index.asp
If something big is going down in the photography industry this guy knows about it! He also has a compact flash / sd card data base tracking read/write speeds.

Software

Lightroom
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/
We use Lightroom to do 95% of our post - processing

Photoshop
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshop/
We use Photoshop for retouching, prepping for print and other creative effects.

InDesign
http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/
The ONLY program you need for album design. The proof is in the name.

Photo Mechanic
http://www.camerabits.com/site/
For importing and sorting images this is the program to use!

Autoloader
http://www.photoshoptools.ca/autoloader/
Allows you to point a Photoshop script at a target folder, then press a hot key and a photo is loaded. Make your adjustments and then press the hot key again and your photo is saved (in a new location if you like), closed, and the next photo is open. This lets you get through whole folders of images super quick in Photoshop! 

Pro Select
http://www.timeexposure.com/
We use indispensable software for viewing and ordering sessions. It’s pricey, but it usually pays for itself with the first viewing and ordering session.

Skype
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home
Have an out of town client that you need to meet? Or maybe you just want to chat with your grand parents? Then Skype is for you!

Mac Specific Software

Quick Silver
http://www.blacktree.com/
Contol + Spacebar and search for anything on your computer. Way better than spotlight.

Things
http://culturedcode.com/things/
To do lists. When I’m done writing this I get to cross something off my Things list!

VMware Fusion
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
Need to run Windows on a Mac? We do for Quickbooks, so we run it through VMware Fusion!

Adium
http://adium.im/
One IM client to rule them all

Super Duper
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/superduper/superduperdescription.html
Fantastic backup software for the Mac!

Tweetie
http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/
After some trial and error this is the twitter client that Lauren and I use most frequently. Though if you’re looking to do some serious tweet work TweetDeck (http://www.tweetdeck.com/) is the way to go. 

Omnigraffle
http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnigraffle/
Mind mapping software that I’ve been experimenting with. I’m excited to start using it more.

The Cloud

Tave
http://www.tave.com/
Studio Management Webware. 

Evernote
http://www.evernote.com/
If you like taking notes, this is the tool to be using! Incredibly versatile! Wow!

Gmail
https://mail.google.com
Manage all your e-mail in one place! Forward them to one address and manage from there.

Drop Box
https://www.dropbox.com/
Creates a folder on you computer that automatically syncs with a folder online. Sync with multiple computers! Use is limited pretty much by your imagination!

Public Libraries

We love to learn! You would be surprised at what you can find at your public library! A favourite feature of our public library is the ability to search an online catalog covering every branch in the city and then reserving books and having them sent to our local branch. All for free!!! 

Search Google to find your local library or if you’re in the States check out this site that will help you find your nearest library 

http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/librarysearch/