Resource List for Photographers

Resources

Articles

These are articles that have a LOT of resources in them, and are frequently updated! So we put them here so you can get to them easily, and make use of all this awesome info!

The Book List for Photographers

A major super important resource! Books are one of the best ways to really sink your teeth in and learn, and this list is the place to start. Books on photography, business, creativity and more. In constant development.

The Ultimate Documentary List for Photographers

Movies that help you learn photography. Brilliant. This list has movies about photography, as well as movies that will inspire you, and teach you other complimentary skills. In constant development.

Tutorials

We’ve created two easy-to-follow tutorials that cover how to process your images using Adobe Lightroom, and how to design albums using Adobe InDesign. These tutorials are concentrated information to help you get skills quickly, and spend more time shooting.

Super Photo Editing Skills

Get the skills you need to quickly and easily bring the best out of your photos. A downloadable video tutorial that shows you how to use Adobe Lightroom 3 to enhance your images.

Awesome Album Design Skills

Get the skills you need to design beautiful albums quickly, easily and profitably. A downloadable video tutorial that shows you how to use Adobe InDesign to create fantastic photo albums.

Inspiration

If you’re looking for inspiration there are a couple places were we collect and curate the most interesting stuff we find on the web.

Collections of great photos, design, and more. Join us for mega inspiration!

Tumblr

Quotes, videos, blogs, photos and assorted other awesome things.

Links

The following are links to services and vendors that have been valuable and effective in our own photography business. It is by no means exhaustive, as there are tons and tons of options out there! Hopefully it will give you a place to start, and save you some time!

Photo Post Processing

Photo Mechanic

Photo Mechanic is a fantastic program to use to import and sort your images. Import from multiple cards simultaneously, and automatically rename files with the same name (great when you shoot with two or more cameras). Read our review on Photo Mechanic

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

Lightroom is an incredibly powerful image editing and photo management program. If you’re working with RAW files you’ll love how efficient your workflow becomes with Lightroom. Learn more about using Lightroom to bring out the best in your images

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is no longer the ultimate image editing program, with Lightroom providing an easier and more efficient workflow. Still, when it comes to retouching and compositing you can’t beat Photoshop!

Adobe InDesign

InDesign is hands down the fastest and easiest way to design custom photo albums. Learn more about using InDesign to design your albums

Storyboard

An easy to use Photoshop script that creates image layouts for your blog. Read our review on Storyboard

AutoLoader

Another awesome Photoshop script that allows you to open a whole folder of images individually in sequential order. This script seriously speeds up retouching! Read our review on Autoloader

Video Post Processing

iMovie

Easy to use! If you’re just getting started processing HD footage captured by your HDSLR, iMovie is a great program to try out.

Adobe Premiere Pro

A bit steeper learning curve, but still relatively easy to use. Great for larger video projects and more professional results.

Technicolor CineStyle

A free color profile for Canon cameras for use with video capture. Produces reduced contrast footage that is ideal for post processing. Footage doesn’t look great on the back of the camera, but it’s way easier to work with in Premiere Pro.

Productivity

Gmail

The best way to handle e-mail.

Delicious

Cloud bookmarking

Things

Fantastic software that follows the productivity framework outlined by David Allen in the cult book “Getting Things Done“. A seriously useful tool for self directed creative professionals. (Mac only)

Evernote

Powerful cloud-based note taking software. Take notes on your computer, phone, iPad and have them all sync automatically. Keeps on copy of the data on the devices as well. The future of note taking.

BusyCal

Super useful calendar software for Mac. Photographers will love the integrated weather reports and the sunset times. (Mac only). Read our review on BusyCal

Bento

Easily keep track of and organize your contacts (Mac only)

Dropbox

Easily backup and share files online.

ProSelect

Essential studio viewing and ordering software. Makes the experience of purchasing photos a great one. Try out the free demo on your first viewing and ordering session and it will likely pay for itself.

Mac Software

Super Duper

Back up drives quickly. One great feature is the “Smart Update” option which copies and erases only what is necessary to duplicate the contents of a drive—makes backups super quick!

Alfred

Quickly access any program on your computer. Much faster than using the dock, or searching through finder.

VMware Fusion 3

Run Windows on a Mac. Great for those pesky Windows only accounting programs.

Transmit

Beautiful, easy to use FTP client. One awesome feature is the ability to plug in and bookmark an Amazon S3 account for easy uploading to S3.

Data Rescue

If you’ve accidentally deleted files off your computer, or you have a corrupt memory card, Data Rescue can help you restore your files! (PC version) Read our review on Data Rescue.

Social Media and Online Sharing

Facebook and Twitter

Flickr

Share photos

500px

A newer online photo sharing site. Has more integration of social media (Facebook, Twitter, liking). Also offers the ability to create simple portfolios.

Vimeo

A vibrant video community. Awesome for video projects. Their desktop uploader makes it easy to upload videos in bulk

YouTube

Great for sharing video lolz or commercial content that Vimeo prohibits

Stumbleupon

Random Inspiration. Addictive but usually useful.

Apps

Kindle App

You don’t even need a Kindle to read Kindle ebooks, just get the Kindle app! Available for a wide variety of mobile devices. Reading Kindle books is a super enjoyable experience. Read our review of the Kindle app.

Evernote

The app version of the fantastic cloud-syncing note taking software

Photosynth

Shoot 3D panoramas on your iPhone. Read our review of Photosynth here.

Blog & Website Services

Fotojournal

Easy to customize photography blogs. FotoJournal powers Photography Concentrate as well as our portrait blog. FotoJournal makes it really easy to upload and blog lots of photos.

Wordpress

The universal, free, open-source blogging platform.

Tumblr

Free, easy to use blogging platform. Lacks features like multiple image upload or integrated commenting which might be necessary for some photographers.

Carbonmade

Easy to use portfolio sites.

Printing

VisionArt

Beautiful, fine art, flush-mount albums. Friendly and amazing customer service. Perfect for wedding and portrait albums.

Blurb

Self publish your own press printed books! An affordable option (with high quality results) for everything from personal projects to your own collection of coffee table albums.

WHCC

One of the top printers in North America. Fast, incredibly high quality, consistent results. They print a wide variety of products. Find everything from prints, to note cards, canvases and press printed books.