I am not one to push products but every once in a while one comes along that just grabs my attention. I received a perk request on our meetup.com site from a company called Riley G Designworks . A perk is an offer from a vendor for our members and it is usually a win/win situation. The vendor has a ready made audience and our members get a sweet deal in savings. The offer presented is a 10% savings on all their custom camera straps. As with any offer that comes across my screen I have a responsibility to my members to check it out first. To say the least, I was really taken in by this company's story.

Aspect ratio refers to the relationship of the width of an image to its length independent of the actual size. Aspects are typically written as two numbers separated by a colon; i.e 3:2, 4:3, 16:9, etc., where the first number represents the width. While it's not crucial to have a full understanding of ratios and how they are calculated, it does make sense to have at least a passing knowledge. "Why?"  I hear you ask. The answer, in a nutshell, is this; if you plan on printing your images you need to understand what will fit into your picture frame. Let me explain.

The biggest and most popular part of many photography communities (photography forums, Flickr) are the critique boards (read about " Finding a photo critique group on Flickr " ). Just about every subject and type of photography is addressed. The reason for its popularity is the undeclared value it has to those who take advantage of them. If you are serious about your photography a well executed critique becomes an invaluable tool. It is a mirror that reflects both your strong points and your weaknesses and, like a mirror, you need to be willing to accept all your weaknesses no matter how hard it is to hear. Having someone critique your work can be a hard blow to the ego. If you are overly sensitive about your work you may want to reconsider. However, keep in mind that the members making these observation only know you from what you post. They react to a request and will offer an opinion based on their level of experience and expertise. DO NOT take anything that is said...