Have you asked yourself a question about what drives you to take the pictures? I tried to ask the same question myself, and the ansfer tended to bias toward the pure pleasure to be there, to notice, to compose... And then there was the added joy of sharing the experience with others and make them feel a bit of what I felt. And only these aspects drive my photography. Actually it is one of the things that make me quite reluctant to dive into the full-time business or at least do it as much as possible. In such a case I will loose the pleasure and that slow pace of doing what I like to do.

So, let's back to the topic - The Ingredient. In my understanding, the most importsnt and vital part in photography (as probably in any form of Art) is the feeling and the experience, which you will utlimately express in the photograph. Don't forget the words of a great Photographer:

"A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed, and is, thereby, a true manifestation of what one feels about life in its entirety."
Ansel Adams

I even put it on my home page, that important it is. Just consider what many people are saying - photography is a media of an artist. And I think, we all are artists, we try to express our feelings by simply saying the words, with expression on our faces (kids do it really well), writing, painting, music and songs, photography, cooking and so many other things. By the way, your mom when she laid all that dishes and utensils on the table is a form of Art. With such simple objects she expressed the way she feels about you and the home you live(d) in.

And to conclude this small post, I want to say that whatever you feel that particular moment when you create (even that simple composition of dishes and utencils) will be captured in the media of Art. There is another thing that matters - the language on which you express (the media). But ultimately, people will percieve and respond to those feelings that you felt. That's why it is important to start feeling and probably have the good feelings like Love, Compassion, Joy, Courage and others.

This is another article (a detailed one) on starting your own business and what things you have to do first and where to look for more information.

Sometimes all this exhausting functionality in such great tools as Photoshop takes a toll. Even the keyboard shortcuts don't help much. There are so many things to click or move or drag and finally you wish that the life would be simpler. Well, here is another gadget, which may be exactly what you need - Logitech NuLooq navigator & tooldial.

The NuLOOQ navigator™ is not a mouse, but it might be your mouse´s best friend. Accurately adjust brush size in Adobe® Photoshop® with one hand, while you paint with the other; change volume, pause play or switch tracks while iTunes® runs in the background; or use it to hold the entire world in the palm of your hand with Google Earth®.

And if you want to learn more, then read the review of the tool on MacWorld.com

When you start to learn photography, or even when you are somewhere along the road, it's always interesting and benefitial to get an insight into the life and business of other photographers. And such insights are scarce.
But with a pointer from Rob Galbraith I stumbled upon the Video Clip of the interview with Michael Zagaris published on SportsShooter.com.
Video Clip: Legendary Rock & Roll and sports photographer Michael Zagaris, a SportsShooter.com member, shares stories about his life, and gives his perspective on the business of photography today. This is a nine-part video interview videotaped in his home in San Francisco.

One of the major tasks in photography (especially commerical or fashion kind) is to make the color right. There are many materials floating around (on the Net I mean). But here is another one, a whole PDF document with 37 pages. Yeap, you are right the document is about "Correcting Color Balance".