Plato said that art is thrice removed from reality. Although the philosopher wasn’t a photographer, he hit the nail right on the head where digital imaging is concerned. If we follow what happens to the color of an object during the photographic process—from capture through output—we see several junctures where the colors are likely to be changed unintentionally, and we can gain a better understanding of why it’s important to use calibrated devices.

Professional printers are getting even better, giving us amazing picture quality with exceptional printer drivers. Usually printing with the manufacturer’s media guarantees the best print with its printer drivers, but when using a third-party paper or any other sort of substrate medium, it becomes harder to get the best and most predictable results. For those of us who want the highest-quality photos and the most control over our output, there are reliable options that ensure what we have on the screen will be yielded when we queue our print jobs.

Before plunking down a credit card to purchase a new lens, I think all of us want to know we’re making a good decision. Is this really the best lens for my camera and the type of work I want to do? Or can I use one I already have, even if the lens isn’t specifically designed for digital capture?

Infrared camera conversions are for the professional trying to obtain a unique look. The results give you an array of imaginative pictures from a portion of the spectrum of light that the human eye can’t see. Through a conversion process, a standard D-SLR can be converted to a dedicated infrared camera that records images in that part of the spectrum. These conversions have become more popular as photographers have been attracted to the evocative results. Cameras can be converted to black-and-white or color infrared.