Equipment

Camera
This is my current workhorse, the Canon EOS 20D, targeted at professional and high-end amateur users. The 20D is well known to be a durable camera with high speeds, satisfying demands for high image quality, definition, and natural color reproduction.

Photoshop
Coupled with Adobe's Photoshop the possibilities are endless. What can I say, that has not already been said about Photoshop? The software that is defined as the industry standard for photography, illustration, and anything within the realm of art.

Computer
Adjust Your Monitor
You should distinguish the 17 distinct zones in the image below, from pure black to pure white. If you do not see all 17 zones, first set your monitor contrast to a 100%. Then use the brightness control to make any necessary adjustments. Pay more attention to the black steps. The darkest step should be as dark as you can make it while still being able to distinguish it from the next lighter step.

Viewing the Photos
Why do photos have a poor, pixelated or compressed look? Use the correct "Color Depth", and set your color settings to 24 or 32 bits. To change this setting:

• Windows PC: [Control Panel] => [choose Display] => [click Settings] and set video card to the highest possible color depth (24 or 32 bits).

De-activate "Image Compression"
Some Browsers and have a feature that will automatically resize larger images to fit the screen or speed up download time. The result is that the images look ugly. You should de-activate this feature!

• Internet Explorer: [click Internet Options] => [Advanced] => [Multimedia] => [un-check "automatic image resizing"]
• Netscape 7.1: [click on Edit in the Toolbar] => [Preferences in the Edit drop-down menu] => [Appearance] => [uncheck the "Resize large images to fit in the browser window"]
• AOL Browser: [settings within your AOL browser] = > [choose preferences] => [internet properties (www)] => [web graphic tab on top] => [choose "never compress graphics"]