Create a photo web site

I take a lot of pictures. With digital cameras, film is cheap. I rarely print any more. when I do I usually send them to Costco. They can do a much better job printing than I can, and cheaper too. Usually I put my pictures into a slide show to display on my big TV. When I take pictures at an event I usually post them online so they are available to everyone to view -- if they so desire.

There are lots of photo sites online and most are free. They make money by selling prints.

• I used to use Flickr, probably the most popular site, but have switched to Picasa because it has fewer restrictions.
• Picasa is free and if you have a gmail account you are already a member. There's a plugin for iPhoto. Otherwise use Picasa Web Albums Uploaders.
• dotMac members can also create online photos sites on the iDisk directly from iPhoto.
• If you're into making web sites, as I am, you can use Galerie (free) to create custom photo albums. It also interfaces to iPhoto.

Photo Editing

I never met a photo I couldn't edit. Use Photoshop, Elements or GraphicConverter or even online services like picnik.com, but it's pretty time consuming if you have a lot of pictures.

iPhoto is a great little program and gets better with each version. You can review and edit your photos pretty quickly but it has some drawbacks.

• When you edit a photo it creates a copy and preserves the original. Photos are kept in a special folder/file, the iPhoto library. No touch or you're in trouble.
• For some reason my iPhoto library is about 3X as big as the photos it contains.
• Editing is limited in iPhoto to just the basics.

I've started using Adobe Lightroom 1.4. It's light years ahead of iPhoto but a little expensive for the casual user. It's geared to the advanced photographer, particularly those shooting RAW. More later. A big difference with iPhoto is that Lightroom doesn't touch the original and it doesn't make a copy when you edit. It simply records the editing steps in a small file. When you're ready for use the photos, it applies the changes to the selected photos and exports them. Originals are still untouched.

Version 2.0 of Lightroom is now available as a free, beta download. If you're serious give it a try.

Apple's Aperture is similar to Lightroom and has been recently improved and dropped in price. I haven't tried it so I can't comment. Lightroom has about 2/3 of the Mac market. Competetion is great for the consumer.

Cameras

I have two point-and-shoot digital cameras, both fairly old. I'd like to step up to something better, but still want one that is light and small enough for easy travel.

The better cameras are digital SLR (single lens reflex) models. That's what the pros use. These have dropped significantly in price, but still range from about $600 to $6000. Here's what I see.

• Larger sensors (CCDs) that allow for greater light sensitivity. Look at the front of your camera to see how big the aperture is, that hole the light goes through. Big apertures capture more light, but it requires a larger CCD. Expensive SLR cameras have sensors the same size as 35mm film. Less expensive SLRs are about 2/3 that size. Most point-and-shoot cameras are much smaller(1/10). Camera ads rarely mention this. They like megapixels better.
• Big sensors and lenses mean the SLRs are bigger and heavier.
• Interchangeable lenses. Since the CCD is more exposed, dust can be a problem.
• A flip-up mirror directs the light from the lens to an optical viewfinder so you see what the lens does. Generally you don't frame the picture in the LCD screen.
• RAW. This is a biggie. RAW images aren't processed or compressed in the camera but delivered as untouched files that are processed in your computer. This means a larger range of light values are captured. Bigger dynamic range. More control. That's where Lightroom and Aperture come in. They thrive on RAW. Very few point-and-shoots are exporting as RAW, but that may change.