The absolutely wonderful and thorough camera review site dpreview.com has (finally) added lenses to its repertoire. Not only will they investigate lenses with the same hands-on depth that their camera reviews enjoy, but they have also rolled out a custom Flash-based, interactive widget that allows you to change the settings of the lens and view its sharpness, chromatic aberration, geometric distortion, and falloff (vignette) live (small screenshot to the right). I played with the tool for a little while and was blown away by how easily it allows you to see what the real-life sharpness of the lens is at different distances from center and at different f-stops. Amazing.

It has been said that a photograph isn’t truly done—that it doesn’t completely exist—until it has been printed.

Whether you believe printing to be the absolute culmination of your photographic efforts or not, you will undoubtedly have an ongoing need to print your images nonetheless, whether it be for presentation; to give as gifts; to make cards, calendars, or other products; or to wallpaper your bathroom (snap a quick photo of that if you do!)

Here are some services that may come to your aid.

I know I talk a pretty serious game most of the time, but I also like to have fun now and then. I recently stumbled upon a pretty hilarious series of videos by a guy named Donnie Hoyle called “You Suck at Photoshop.” They’re basically Photoshop tutorials, but presented in a rather cynical, somewhat spiteful, and utterly entertaining way.

Trust me, if you have a few minutes, just watch one or two of these and you’ll see what I mean. I should mention that there is some coarse language, so try not to get in trouble watching these at high volume in the office, OK?

In the style of chef Gordon Ramsay, I will now shake my hand in the air beside my head and exclaim that the solution for anyone’s languishing business or hobby is to stay fresh, local, and honest. Though chef Ramsay is usually talking about produce and grass-fed beef, I am talking about capturing scenes right in your own community.

I might have mentioned in passing that my “day job” brought me to New London, Connecticut almost two years ago. New London is a rather scenic city positioned on the bank of the Thames river—very near to its mouth—which empties into the Long Island Sound. Although not without its social and economic problems, it is a historic city with a great deal of architectural and maritime attractions.

Nearly two hundred years after the invention of photography, creations in the medium are finally being considered “safe” investments. The value of photographs as collectibles is rising sharply, to the pleasure of auction-goers and to the woe of some photographers.

Though paintings, sculptures, prints, and other works of fine art have been spotlighted on the auction block for many years and for tremendous money (works by Jackson Pollock and Gustav Klimt—to name only two—have sold at auction for more than $100 million apiece), the world of fine art collectors has seldom been penetrated by even the most renowned photographers.

This, however, is changing.