The Good Bad and Ugly of online camera dealers

One user at dcresource.com has compiled a list of exceptional, good , ok and bad dealers in camera retail industry. This is a must read list of u are planning to buy a camera.
This is not a complete list as some dealers like amazon.com is not there
The raings are based on feedback from sites like www.resellerrating.com , www.shopping.com, and www.bizrate.com

link :http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14677

10000 views - Thank you all

10000 views - Thank you all
Originally uploaded by Arun Sasidharan (www.asasidh.com)

Yesterday I crossed my first milestone on flickr . My first 10000 views. Current stats says 164 photos / 10,015 views. Thank you all

To see my photos visit My Flickr page

beware of these shops when u buy cameras this holiday season

Please be sure to check the rating of any online seller at bbb.org or www.resellerratings.com before you buy. There are many bait and switch shops that do false advertising. Many of them are located at Brooklyn NY


http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/12/14/brooklyn-camerastore.html

How are camera camcoder lenses made

Here is a video that shows how camera and camcorder lenses are made.
Another useful resource for learning how lenses are made is the Canon Virtual lens Plant. This site shows the end to end process from sand to lens assembly. The lens showed is the super telephoto EF 500

Cross Process Lightroom plugin / Preset

Before

After

This is a preset for Adobe Lightroom available for download at at Lightrooms Killer tips  website

Its gives a cool effect to some pictures. It tends to apply a green tint so be selective in where u use them. You might find that some otherwise boring photos will get a new life with this preset. Here is one such attempt from me. This was taken at the Arches National Park, MOAB,Utah.

Lucis Look with Lightroom - Adobe Lightroom tips

Originally found in DP Review Forums link: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1014&thread=25577665

You can see several samples of this effect in the forum post.

Settings suggested by user :FredJamesPhotography
Slide exposure , recovery , Fill Light ,Contrast ,Clarity, Vibrance to 100

Then adjust until u get the colors you desire. I like to keep the colors low

Then blacks and exposure to get a pleasing appearence

Try this out and see if you find it interesting.

Use of Natural Objects in the frame

Another Natural Arch at Arches National Park Utah
Originally uploaded by Arun Sasidharan (www.asasidh.com)

This is one quick and easy tip that could improve the quality of photos many fold. Instead of the regular straight on approach to taking the picture, look around for some natural object that can be included in the frame as a foreground or to enclose the subject. This would become a natural frame for the photo. In this case I tried to include a tree in the frame to make the subject a bit more interesting. Sometimes you may need to add a bit of fill flash or else the foreground will appear very dark. Adding a string foreground or a framing to the composition will make it stronger.

Adobe Light Room Tip - Edgy Effect

If you use Adobe Lightroom - A new and useful photographic workflow tool from Adobe, you should try this cool effect. This is by mattk from lightroomkillertips.com
This effect can be useful for Street or Urban type of photography. he does a lot of fast adjustments to various settings like recovery, filllight, contrast etc. Luckily there is a detailed instructional video of about 10 MB. You may have to watch the video twice or thrice to get the idea

here is the link http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/2007/video-surreal-edgy-effect/

Happy Diwali - Festival of Lights

Diwali is the festival of lights in India. I wish all my friends a very happy Diwali.

For more Diwali Photos visit http://flickrexplorer.appspot.com/flickrtest?actionPerformed=search&searchText=Diwali&searchTag=&searchUser=

More on Diwali at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali