First, thanks to everyone who provided commentary on my dilemma of signing up with Flickr vs Picasa. I gave both a test drive, and really liked each. Flickr seems unbeatable for community-based features, and I have a feeling its traffic is off the charts. On the other hand, Picasa is extremely clean and straightforward in design, and the integration into Google is very handy.

In the end, though, I decided to think outside the box (as the saying goes), and signed up with Smugmug. In the beginning of this process, I knew very little about Smugmug, but after a couple days on the site, I was hooked. The design elements are really great looking, going from professional to whimsical. Customizability is outstanding, too. What sealed the deal, for me: Smugmug offers easy ...

I have been debating the purchase of the Canon 300 mm f2.8L IS for a while now. I finally took the plunge (I wish I had stock in B&H!).

So far, I could not be happier. I've had just a few opportunities to see what it can do, but the clarity is unrivaled, at least in my experience. In fact, sometimes I see almost too much detail. Check out the dandruff on this cormorant

For subjects without dandruff (and even for those that do!), the level of detail I can capture is opening up new possibilities. I had always admired the art deco tiles on this condo building, but didn't know how to capture them.

It's NOT all about the gear, but sometimes a lens is so useful it makes the job much, much easier. Now, I just need to find a good chiropractor ...

Taking a tip from another Dreamstimer (thanks, KenneyStudios!), I submitted a few images for full keywording. I was a little skeptical at first, thinking 'How could they know my photos better than I do?'

Well, I am officially hooked on this service. The keyworders have come up with many, many more descriptive terms that I have on my own. They have a fresh eye for the photo, and it seems to help them envision more themes and uses than I had in mind when I created the image. I won't embarrass myself by showing how limited my own keywording is, but check out the great job they did on these photos.

I know that some old hands on Dreamstime are very familiar with collections, but I have just discovered this feature and created my first collection.

As I was searching Dreamstime, I realized that it is much easier to find images of Christian houses of worship than images of sites and buildings representing other religious traditions. As a college instructor in world religions, I thought it might be helpful for users to have a collection of houses of worship from different faith traditions. And so:

http://www.dreamstime.com/non-christian-houses-of-worship-rcollection6150-resi435288

I encourage everyone with images of houses of worship from around the world to add to this collection. I know there are some terrific images out of there of temples, mosques, gurdwaras,...