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We humans are a strange breed. Throughout our history we've managed to bring forth engineering projects on a staggering scale, such as The Great Wall of China. Graceful structures spanning continents and millenia testify to the ancient beliefs and aesthetic refinement of cultures that could have much to teach us. The backdrop for these marvels of human ingenuity is the natural wonder of the Earth itself, at one time a source of spiritual and material sustenance. But rather than cherishing all this, we have systematically destroyed the best of what we have inherited from those who came before, either through neglect, greed or intolerance. And what little remains, is going fast.
What a difference a few short years can make in the stock photo business. Back in 2002, when Jupiterimages' Photos.com royalty-free stock photo subscription service launched, I lent a hand in getting the site some initial traffic. This included listing it in then-popular categorized site directories such as Yahoo, LookSmart and the Open Directory Project. The inexorable rise of Google has since caused Yahoo to downplay its once-mighty directory, LookSmart has become marginalized and the ODP seems to be stuck in a time warp. But in those days, being listed in these three directories was considered essential for the successful launch of a new site.
I find it surprising that most training material for graphics applications is still in the form of books. After all, digital cameras, rich-media authoring tools and the video capabilities of Flash make it easy to put together slick video-based training products, whether they're delivered on CD or streamed on the net. There are a few firms that dominate the market, such as Total Training and Lynda.com, but after that it's primarily up to the graphics gurus themselves to wear yet another hat by creating and selling their own training content.
If you shoot digital photos, odds are you either use, or are familiar with, the RAW file format. A RAW file is simply one that contains the actual, unprocessed raw data created by a digital camera. That being the case, such files provide a better starting point for manipulation and ensure that none of the original image data has been lost, ensuring the utmost fidelity. Sounds great. In theory.
