Frequent contributor Winston Rockwell offered the following info in response to the post entitled “Beware of fake memory cards on eBay”:

The entry regarding memory cards caught my eye, and I thought I’d send this info along in case your readers want a good site to purchase memory from. While I’ve bought photo gear from eBay, it is, as you mentioned, a somewhat risky proposition, as there are unscrupulous sellers who will advertise counterfeit items as the real thing, or sell used or “seconds” merchandise. Most actual flash memory chips are all made by the same handful of electronics manufacturers, but the packaging - the external “card” you and I see and plug into our cameras - is supplied by various distributors such as A-Data, PNY, Transcend, etc., and as long as those packages meet the industry standard form factors for SD or CF or whatever, they can use as high or low-quality materials as they want.

One place I have purchased many memory cards from with great success is www.newegg.com. Newegg is a highly reputable dealer that carries many brands, and offers very good prices as well as excellent service and fast shipping. I have consistently used them for several years, and my son has purchased from them (computer parts) on numerous occasions. In every case, they have delivered promptly, with reasonable shipping costs and excellent prices for the items they sell. Online ordering is fast and easy, and if an item is out of stock temporarily, they will notify you when stock comes in so you can place an order. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a good, honest source for memory chips, computer parts, or other consumer electronics.

Ebay is well-known as a “place” to get great deals on new and used items, including photography gear. But one item you should think twice about purchasing from the site is a memory card.

There are sellers who are advertising new, genuine memory cards from Sandisk and other manufacturers for sale on Ebay at unbelievably low prices, but the cards are actually knock-offs. The problem with buying fake memory cards is they are typically of low quality which places your hard-earned images at risk of loss or corruption. Even worse, a poorly designed card could even cause your expensive digital camera to malfunction.

I recommend that you carefully consider purchasing your memory cards from an established, well-respected local or online retailer. After all, memory cards are dirt cheap these days so why take a chance on losing your precious work and/or damaging your camera just to save a buck or two?

Sometimes you’ll take an exceptional landscape photograph only to discover later that the horizon isn’t level. It can often be a challenge leveling the horizon, but there is an easy way to do it using virtually any image editing program:

Simply make your best-guess adjustment with the “Rotate Image” tool, then click on the “Crop” tool and use one of the horizontal dotted or dashed edges of the crop box as a guide. This will let you know instantly if the horizon is now level or not. If not, click cancel and try another “Rotate” setting, then check the horizon again using the crop line. When the horizon and the horizontal crop line are more or less parallel, you’ll know you have a level horizon! (Note: Don’t forget to cancel the “Crop” function.)

As most of you already know, I’m a huge fan of great landscape photography. Well, today’s “Great Gallery Alert” points you to some of the finest landscape images I have ever seen. Photographer Frank Lüdtke has managed to capture some of the most amazing images of some of the planet’s most beautiful locations.
 
Click on over to LivingGallery.eu and check out Mr. Lüdtke’s fantastic work. And be sure not to miss the stunning Ireland images!

Photographer Martin Pot has posted some of the most beautiful images I have ever seen in his Martybugs.net gallery. He has taken numerous photographs that run the gamut from landscapes to portraits to wildlife, and a whole lot more, and they are all high-quality, expertly captured images.
 
But there is a lot more to Martin’s site then just his gallery. He also has a wonderful blog where you’ll find a bunch more of his intriguing photos along with tidbits of commentary that really bring them to life. There are also photography articles, reviews, and other info on the site to keep you coming back time and again.
 
Click on over to Martybugs.net and pay him a visit. You’re sure to find something you like, and you just might learn a thing or two.

Sometimes less is really more when it comes to capturing great portraits. It’s always tempting to try to fit as much of a person into the frame as possible, but doing so can seriously lessen the impact of an interesting facial expression or mood.
 
The next time you find yourself shooting a portrait or candid, step back just a bit and zoom in on your subject’s head and torso. This will shorten the depth of field and really make him or her stand out from the background. Also try shooting from several different angles, paying close attention to the way the light is striking the face. Sometimes just moving a step or two to the left or right can turn a boring portrait into a great one.
 
Later on, when you’re reviewing your shots on the computer, choose a few shots that feature interesting or funny facial expressions and crop them until there is little else in the frame besides the face. This will allow you to really emphasize the eyes and the texture of the skin to add a very intimate appeal to the photograph.