Link Roundup 12-07-2007

Wow it's been a busy week! I've been posting twice per day, I've read through a ton of really great articles, and I've discovered a few really neat websites. So here's a “special announcement” list of links before we hit the regular links.

• December Challenge
  TrevorCarpenter.com
  This project is almost like work, but I'm having a real blast working on improving my portrait photos. It's not too late to join in if you haven't already!
• Gift Exchange for Photography Bloggers
  All Day I Dream About Photography
  Write a photography article, send it to Antoine, and get a different one in return. Deadline to have your post written is December 21st, so don't put it off too long — I'm definitely participating!
• 50 Photos Project
  50photos.com
  Nate Ritter is running a little experimental project where he's aiming to create, publish, and sell a limited-print photo book using images from Flickr photographers. I'm not in the first round of photographers 🙁 , but I think it's a really cool idea nonetheless.
• Social Media for Photos Only
  PictPicture.com
  A site similar to Digg, users submit photos to be voted on by the community. photographyVoter does this same thing with photography articles, but if photos are your thing you might check this site out. I'm still trying to find time to get in there myself.
• Digital Photography Online Classes
  Hewlett-Packard
  A few free online courses hosted by HP that will go more in-depth than a single article or blog post. Includes topics like telling a story with photos, camera composition: change your perspective, professional digital photography made simple (interesting choice of words), and fundamental photography techniques.

OK, time for the regular links. Can you spot the theme? By the way, how many links are too many links? I try to keep it around 7, but this week called for a few more. At what point are there so many that you don't look at anything but the first one or two? Speak up now, or I'll just assume that you like seeing 50 links every week.

• The Art of Portrait Photography
  Eric Hamilton Photography
  8 tips for creating better portrait photos — including lighting, subject, focus, background, composition, texture, color, and exposure.
• Lighting 102: Ultra-Hard Light / Film Noir
  Strobist
  Super contrasty photos by using a little trick with your external flash. This looks way fun.
• Eight Great Ways To Include Shadows In Your Pictures
  DIYPhotography.net
  Rather than avoid the shadows, embrace them and make them work FOR you. 8 tips and 8 awesome photos as examples.
• Photo Retouching: Dodging and Burning
  Jake Garn Photography
  Pretty good informative video on using burning and dodging for portrait and fashion photography.
• Model Release: When do you need it and where to get it?
  All Day I Dream About Photography
  An overview on the touchy subject of people photography and model releases.
• Ten Tips for Photographing Pets
  Photodoto
  If you can't handle taking photos of people, start with pets. I could see many of these tips applying to people photography — especially kids.
• Video of the Week — 1/2 portrait retouching, 1/2 humor, and 1/2 politics.