Contents

PART I: TAKING BETTER SNAPS WITH A CHEAPER 1

Chapter 1: Getting the Best from a Low-Cost Camera 3 How Cheap Is “Cheap”? 3 Getting to Know Your Camera 7 Ten Universal Questions for Every Shot 8

Chapter 2: Why Most Snaps Fail to Impress 11 Some Common Errors 12 What Makes a “Good” Snapshot? 13 Ten Cost-Nothing Tips for Better Snaps 14

Chapter 3: First Steps in Portraiture with FREE and Low-Cost Lighting 17 Creating One-Lamp Portraitures 17 Making Your Own Low-Key Lighting Kit 20 Creating No-Lamp Portraitures: Taking It Outdoors 20 Using Scrims to Soften Sunlight 21 Getting More Lights for Less 23 Resources 25

PART II: GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT 27

Chapter 4: Choosing a Better Camera 29 The Four Types 29 Shopping Around for a New Camera 30 Users’ Recommendations 31 Getting an Entry-Level DSLR at a Rock-Bottom Price 32 COPYRIGHTEDRead FREE Reviews Online: 10 Leading MATERIAL Review Sites 35 Chapter 5: Keeping It Steady: Tripods, , and VR Lenses 39 Blur Reduction: A Big Step Towards Better Photographic Technique 39 Using Tripods and Heads 40 Low-Cost Tricks for Reducing Blur 44

Chapter 6: Saving Money on Lenses 47 Why People Argue About Lenses 47 Recommended High-Value Lenses 50 Using Older Lenses on a New Camera 52

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Chapter 7: In Praise of the 50mm Lens 55 Using a Lens Chart 55 Using 50mm with Full-Frame, 1.5x, 1.6x, and 1.7x Crop Factor Sensors 56 Five Reasons to Buy the “Nifty Fifty” 57 Shooting with a 50mm Lens 58

PART III: KEEPING COSTS DOWN 61

Chapter 8: Cost-Cutting Tips for Better Photography 63 Setting White Balance 63 Setting 66 : The Pro Technique Available to All 67

Chapter 9: Shooting RAW and Processing It For FREE 69 The Rise of the RAW Format 69 The Snags of Using RAW 70 Software for RAW Processing 70

Chapter 10: Shooting Macro Without a Macro Lens 81 Four Ways to Get Macro Shots 81 Lighting for Your Macro Shots 85 Using Lens Stacking to Take Macro Shots 86 Making a Tabletop Studio for 87 Building a Mini Light Box for Small Product Photography 88

Chapter 11: DIY: Cleaning Your DSLR Sensor 91 Common Contaminants and How to Get Rid of Them 92 Cleaning the Chamber 95 Testing Your Cleaning Method 95

Chapter 12: DIY: Making Your Own 97 Considering Lens Hood Types 97 Finding Lens Hood Templates Online 98 Making a Superhood for a 50mm Lens 99 Making a Flexihood for a 100

Chapter 13: More DIY Photo Fun Accessories 103 Making Pop-Up Diffusers 103 DIY Accessories for Flash Guns 105 Making Your Own Lenses 107 Getting Decorative Effects 108 Getting Soft Focus Without a Special Lens 110

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Finding Low-Cost Tripods for Your Compact Camera 110 Emulating Without the Airplane 112

Chapter 14: FREE Photo Calculators 117 Printing, Cutting, and Assembling Your Own FREE Exposure Calculator 117 Using the Golden Ratio 119 For a Few Dollars: Photo Calculation Software for the iPhone 119 Optical System Calculators 121 Print Size Calculation 124

Chapter 15: FREE and Low-Cost Utility Software 127 FREE and Low-Cost Exif Tools 128 FREE and Low-Cost Screen Capture Utilities 129 FREE Pickers 132 FREE Online Color Analysis 133 FREE File Archiving Utilities 133 Low-Cost Compression Software 134 FREE JPEG Lossless Rotation 135 FREE and Low-Cost Data Recovery Software 135 ”Free Scan” Photo Recovery Software 136

PART IV: SCRUTINIZING, SORTING, AND RESIZING YOUR 139

Chapter 16: Monitor Calibration for Next to Nothing 141 Understanding 141 Calibration for Windows and Mac 142 FREE Online Monitor Calibration 148 FREE Online Tutorials on Monitor Calibration 148

Chapter 17: FREE and Low-Cost Image Viewers 151 Top FREE and Low-Cost Image Viewers for Windows 152 Image Viewers for Mac: Why the Mac Is Different 159

Chapter 18: FREE and Low-Cost Photo Organizing Software 161 The Difference Between Sorting and Cataloging 161 Searching Through Untagged Images 163 Other Good FREE Photo Organizing Software 164 For a Few Dollars: More Photo Organizing Software 167

Chapter 19: FREE and Low-Cost Image Resizing Tools 171 Choosing the Right Tool 171 FREE Desktop Image Resizing Software 172

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FastStone Photo Resizer 172 FREE Software for Batch Resizing 175 FREE Online Image Resizing Tools 176 For Just a Few Dollars 178

PART V: IMPROVING YOUR IMAGES 181

Chapter 20: FREE and Low-Cost Image Enhancement Software 183 Enhancement and Editing: What’s the Difference? 183 Recommended FREE Basic Image Adjustment Tools 184 Other FREE Image Adjustment Tools 186 FREE Batch Correction Image Adjustment Tools 186 For a Few Dollars 187

Chapter 21: FREE Image-Editing Software 191 What to Look for in a FREE Image Editor 191 The Top Four FREE Windows Products 192 Seashore for Macintosh 197 The Best of the Rest: All FREE 197

Chapter 22: FREE Online Image Editors 203 Online Software: The Long-Term Winner 203 Featured Software: The Top Five 204 Best of the Rest 211

Chapter 23: FREE and Low-Cost Denoising Software 219 Noise Reduction Software 219 Recommended FREE Denoising Software 219 FREE Multiplatform (Java-Based) Denoising Software 223 For a Few Dollars: Low-Cost Denoising Software 224

Chapter 24: Building Powerful Software Suites with Plug-ins 229 Adobe Photoshop Elements: The Low-Cost Host for Best-of-Breed Plug-ins 229 GIMP: Pimp Your GIMP with Dozens of Great Plug-ins 232 Enhancing Paint.NET with Plug-ins 235

PART VI: MAKING HI-RES MOSAICS, , AND HDR IMAGES 239

Chapter 25: Getting Hi-Res Images from a Low-Res Camera 241 FREE Versus Commercial Stitching Software 241

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Chapter 26: 251 Taking Panoramas Without a 251 Finding the Optical Center of a Lens 252 Why Is Panoramic Photography Normally Expensive? 252 The Panosaurus: a Low-Cost Panoramic Head 253 Building Your Own Panoramic Head 255 Useful Resources 256

Chapter 27: Low-Cost Panoramic and Software 257 Software for Making Panoramas 257 Software for Displaying Panoramas 260

Chapter 28: Creating High Dynamic Range Images 263 Two Reasons to Use HDR 264 Commercial or FREE? Which Software Is Best for HDR? 264 FREE HDR Software 264 Low-Cost HDR Software 269

PART VII: SHARING & PUBLISHING YOUR WORK 271

Chapter 29: FREE Image Hosting 273 What to Look for in a FREE Image Host 274 Directories 275 Selected FREE Image Hosting Providers 276

Chapter 30: FREE Online Photo-Sharing Sites 281 Must-Have Photo-Sharing Features 281 Selected FREE Online Photo-Sharing Sites 283 Photo-Sharing Sites with FREE Basic Accounts 287 FREE Sites with Additional Features 289

Chapter 31: Online Photo Communities 293 What Online Photo Communities Can Do for You, and You for Them 293 Communities FREE to Registered Users 294 Low-Cost Photo Communities 299 Smaller and Specialist Photo Communities 301

Chapter 32: FREE Web Publishing Software 305 Using PHP to Create Your Online Gallery 305 FREE PHP-Based Photo Gallery Software 306 FREE Flash Gallery Creation Software 310 CSS-Based Image Galleries 313

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FREE Java-Based Photo Gallery Software 314 Creating AJAX-Based Photo Galleries 315 FREE Website Design Software with Gallery Features 316

PART VIII: GETTING READY TO PRINT 319

Chapter 33: Low-Cost Image Rescaling Software 321 Why Is Most Up-Rezzing Software So Pricey? 321 Some Low-Cost Image-Rescaling Alternatives 322

Chapter 34: Low-Cost Online Printing Services 327 Cheaper Than Home Printing 327 Online Photo Printers with Opening Offers (U.S. and International) 327 Online Photo Printers with Opening Offers (U.K.) 329 Directories of FREE Photo-Printing Offers 331 Premium Printing Services 331

PART IX: LEARNING MORE ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY, FOR NEXT TO NOTHING 333

Chapter 35: FREE Online Tuition 335 How to Evaluate Online Instruction 335 Highly Recommended FREE Online Tutorials 336 FREE Video Tutorials on Photography 339 FREE Photoshop Tutorials Online 340

Chapter 36: FREE Online Photo Resources 343 Photo Megasites You Have to Visit 344 Leading Camera-Specifi c Websites 345 FREE Photography Magazines Online 346 FREE Art Photography Magazines Online 348 Sites for Landscape Photographers 349 Sites for Nature and Wildlife Photographers 350 Sites for Photojournalists 351 Sites for Portrait Photographers 351 PhotoStartSheet.com 352

Index 353

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