I’ve signed a deal with the good people over at dreamstime.com that will allow their professional microstock library to be fetched and included in our search results, as well as the gallery view pages. I think this is a great addition to our own archive of images, and aimed for those who are looking for the right image for their personal or commercial needs. This is the fist step I’m taking to reduce the overall advertising on stockvault.net which will be noticable in our next update.

With more than 25,000 images added weekly and over 1,800,000 images available online, Dreamstime enjoys more than 25,000,000 visitors per month, making it one of the most popular stock photography agencies in the world. Dreamstime.com has been an active advertiser and sponsor of stockvault.net for years and will remain as one for the years to come.

You can read the official press release here.

6 short and simple tips on how to shoot interesting landscape photos by Denver Wang. Click here to read the whole article.

Another excellent and informational article from digital-photography-school.com about black & white photography. The author shares 4 ‘key ingredients’ of that will help you to visualize whether a scene will work as a black and white image or not, plus a tip for black & white landscapes from the authors of dps.

• Look for Contrast
• Wait for the Right Light
• Shapes and Patterns
• Capture Texture
• A Tip for Black and White Landscapes

Click here to read the article

A followup on my post on typography yesterday, spotted on digg.com today.
We all love these top lists, don’t we?

Web typography has come a long way. Now, with a little CSS anyone can improve the design of their web site.

read more | digg story

An article by Mark Boulton (since 2005) on how you can improve your use of typography, both online and offline. The article is split into 5 steps as listed below. This is one of the best articles about typography I’ve read in a long time. If you are serious about design, this is a “must read“.

1. Subdividing ratios
2. Ratios and complex grid systems
3. Grid systems for web design: Part 1
4. Grid systems for web design: Part 2 Fixed
5. Grid systems for web design: Part 3 Fluid

Typography related links:

- WebStyleGuide.com
- Typographica.org Jurnal
- Typography Tips & Tricks
- Typography Tips & Advice

Recommended Books on Typography:

- The Elements of Typographic Style
- Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students
- Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design

YellowIcon is a team of 10 high skilled multidisciplinary professionals crazy for graphic, interaction and icon design. Or so they say at their website.

I must agree with the “crazy” part, as their work is indeed mind-blowing and the icons are incredibly good looking. Offering over 2000 free icons, you can really say that they know how to please the freebie lovers, like me

If you haven’t got their free icons yet, I suggest you pay them a visit and enjoy all the great downloads they offer. YellowIcon also provides custom design services for those who need it.

Additional Icon Resources:
Iconbase.com
Famfamfam.com
Freeiconsweb.com
Iconshock – Vista icons
freeiconsdownload.com

A great tutorial by PSDTuts.com on how to create this type of glowing effects using various techniques in Photoshop.

“In this tutorial we’re going to create some really sharp looking glow effects using a combination of layer styles, the pen tool and colour blending. The end effect is quite stunning and hopefully you’ll pick up some tips you didn’t know before.”
- Read the rest of this tutorial

Another excellent article by Digital Photography School.

Digital Cameras present photographers with an ever increasing array of Automatic and Semi Automatic shooting modes. Most of these center around different ways of exposing your shots – however many cameras also give options for different focusing modes (auto, continuous focusing for moving subjects and manual).

When is Manual Focus Better than Auto Focus?

Let me start by saying there is no right or wrong time to use either manual or auto focusing – both can produce great results in almost all circumstances – however there are a few times when you might find it easier to switch to manual focusing:

Read the article here