Sharpening is one of those terms that often makes photography purists shiver. After all, if a camera and the lens are doing their job properly, the picture should naturally be sharp and require no further processing, right?

Well, yes and no. Ideally this would always be the case. In a perfect digital world, the picture would be perfectly sharp, perfectly exposed, and the color levels would all be perfectly recorded by your camera.

Sadly, the world of the digital photographer is often times less than perfect. » MORE

Geocoding or Geotagging has become increasingly popular in the last couple of years. That’s likely because the number of cameras that can accomodate GPS integration has risen and their cost has dropped, not to mention the growing list of photo sharing websites that use that kind of GPS data for extended features like mapping. So, it seems like GPS and Photography are now intrinsically linked.

With many higher end cameras, you can now connect a GPS directly to the camera if you have the right equipment. With Nikon cameras like the D200, D300, or D2X, or D3 - a 10-pin port allows you to connect a GPS directly to the unit (provided you have the right cables). The problem is that this can be unwieldy, and it typically requires a high end SLR that not all of us have.

There are two slightly better solutions around this, which we’ll discuss. » MORE

Yup - Adobe is ready to unveil Lightroom 2 to the world, in beta form. After their very successful first version, a lot of photographers are anxious to see what kind of improvements they can expect from the next iteration of Lightroom.

Keep in mind that while the Lightroom 2 beta is free to download and try out, it’s still in a very early stage and shouldn’t be considered as production software. This is strictly for testing and providing feedback to Adobe, and shouldn’t replace your current photo software at this point.

You can download the LR2 beta from here.

Today we’re talking about color spaces. There isn’t a good general understanding of color spaces and their limits, and because of that - there is a lot of confusion and bickering about what to use. These are shark infested waters we’re wading into. If we’re not back in 30 minutes, call the authorities.

While there are plenty of color spaces available out there, the two that are most often available on digital SLR’s are Adobe and sRGB. While you can convert these to any other space in post processing, there’s typically not much benefit, so the question is - sRGB versus RGB (or Adobe RGB)… what’s better? What are they? » MORE

In the photography post processing software world, Adobe reigns supreme. There aren’t many competitors to Photoshop, and Lightroom - but Apple’s Aperture is one of them, and it’s giving Lightroom a run for it’s money with a brand new update.

The Apple Store has been down for a little bit, but when it came back up… it had Aperture 2 details, with a lower price point at $199 plus a redesigned interface with some new shortcuts. Let us know your impressions if you get a chance to use it.

» MORE

One of the best ways to determine if your image is exposed the way you want it is to check the histogram. However, when you start talking histograms, a lot of people get that glazed over look in their eyes. It’s a fancy word for something that’s really quite simple. Knowing what the graph means, and how to read it, are important things to understand however.

You may have seen these in programs you use, or on the back of your camera. They are histograms, a visual representation of data in your image. A histogram is a bar graph that shows you the distribution of luminance values in a digital photograph. » MORE

Geotagging is a fairly new phenomenon, which is only maturing as the GPS, Digital SLR, and Internet world grow and evolve. It’s extremely practical to know where some pictures were taken, and many photo sharing websites will actually use this data to help group pictures together geographically. Plus, it’s just fun.

Some higher end SLRs (like the Nikon D300 or D2X) allow you to actually connect your GPS unit to the camera and automatically geotag your pictures with latitude and longtitude information.

However, this means having to attach the GPS to the camera, usually through the use of a specialized cable… and not every camera has this function. Though it’s handy (since the information is recorded “on the go”) there is another way which is a little more work, but a lot more flexible. » MORE

Shooting images on your camera using your memory card is a no-brainer… you pop the card in, and you go to it. Let’s say, though, that you’re shooting on location or in your studio and you want to get a better look at your pictures as you shoot them - without having to stop to download them. Your camera may have the ability to tether to your computer via a USB cable (or maybe even wirelessly). Just make sure that your camera supports (and is set to) PTP or Picture Transfer Protocol mode, and that you have the software support for it. » MORE