Photography Daily if you want it! (photographymonthly.com)

Member Name: Chelle1969

Product:	photographymonthly.com
Date:	15/06/09 (47 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Packed with information, great forum

Disadvantages: Home page could be off-putting to new users

Photographymonthly.com, the web site of the magazine Photography Monthly (reviewed separately) has recently had a major make-over and its new improved format deserves a review here. The site is reflective of the magazine, in that it features advice, tips and techniques for improving your photography, news and competitions.

Content
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On arriving at the HOME page, first impressions are of a very busy site with a lot of information to take in, which may be a little off-putting to some. There are several moving slideshows and animated adverts which can be quite distracting.
Across the top of the page is a band of advertising, then the logo, member login/registration links and a search box.
Below these are the navigational tabs taking you into the various content sections of the site and then further down the page are teasers of some of these areas, showing the latest additions for example, to the news, tips, gallery and forum areas.
To the right is a link to a 'camera finder' section from Which Digital Camera and at the bottom of the page more animated adverts. All this on the front page! However, once you get past the shock of being bombarded with so much info, and delve deeper into the site, you come to realise that in fact it is very well laid out and logically designed.
Going across the row of tabs...

NEWS & REVIEWS
Kind of obvious as to what this section is about, the latest industry news, new products just released on the market and the latest news from the web site, such as when competition winners are announced. Each headline opens as a separate article and at the end of each you're given the option to print the page, send to a friend, or if you're a registered user (more about that later) to comment on and rate the article. You can choose to list the headlines by date, most rated and most commented, and they're conveniently categorised on the left of the page in monthly sections.

TIPS & TECHNIQUES
In this section the headlines are links to either written articles or video tutorials designed to help with various technical aspects of photography. The articles are usually either written by members of the Photography Monthly team, or by professional photographers. They are informative and well illustrated, the videos use an inbuilt flash player and seem to range from about 8 up to 24 minutes long. As an example, some of the topics include, cropping images, monochrome photography, lowlight photography and restoring faded photos. There are many more and they are grouped into categories on the left such as Black and White, Digital technique, Landscapes, Nature and Travel, to list just a few.

GALLERY
As you would expect from the title, this is the area which showcases photos. Readers photos to be precise and there are thousands of them. Thumbnails are displayed down the centre of the page, and when clicked a photo is shown larger along with any technical info the photographer has chosen upload with the image. Underneath you're given a selection of links to related images to browse, either from the same photographer or with similar key words in the title. Again, if registered you can comment on photos and give them a rating out of 5 stars. You do need to be a member of the site to upload photos. Categories are listed on the left, along with the amount of images within each category e.g. Abstract (323)

LOCATIONS
There's actually no information in this section to explain what it's about. You can choose an area of the UK either from a map or the list of areas on the left. This then opens a list of locations within the area you've chosen, which are deemed to be popular photography locations. Each location feature has a lovely image, a map and OS grid reference and a brief description of what there is to shoot. Useful if you're travelling within the UK and wonder what there is to photograph where you're going.

MAGAZINE
This section contains all things related to the printed magazine. There are complete digital page-turning issues of some back issues, and a preview of the current issue. You can download PDF versions of some recent technique guides which were given away with the magazine. You can listen on-line or download podcasts of PM staff chatting about various subjects, and also view the latest offers to subscribe to the magazine.

FORUM
A good and comprehensive forum for website users to communicate with each other. It's initially divided into nine sections; Photography Monthly magazine/website, events and meet ups, general, tips and techniques, taking photos, digital photography, film photography, locations, classified ads. Each of these is then further sub divided and then within these section are the topics which users have posted. You don't need to be registered to read posts, but you do to post yourself. It seems to be a well moderated forum, and I myself have used it to get a question answered (by the magazine editor no less!)

DIRECTORY
This section provides a quick and easy way to search for a photographic service or supplier. You can either enter a keyword into the search box or browse the classifications which include camera repairs, photo labs, studio and model hire, camera manufacturers and insurance. If you have a business you can get a basic advert listed in this section for free - can't be bad.

COMPETITIONS
A list of the currently running comps with full details on how to enter. Not surprisingly these usually involve submitting photos, and often your uploaded photo entries can be viewed in the gallery, so you can instantly tell what standard you're up against. Sometimes they have links to sponsored competitions on pages outside of their web site and occasionally feature challenges such as writing an article or captioning a photo. Prizes usually are in the form of some type of photography equipment ranging in value from a few pounds to thousands of pounds.

CONTACT
All the usual details on how to get in touch with the team.

CAMERA FINDER
This is not listed as one of the tabs across the top of the page, but instead features on the right hand side of every page on the site. If you're interested in buying a new camera you can get some good advice here. You firstly choose from three sections, DSLR, Bridge or Compact. Within each section there is an informative overview and the option to search for a camera by price range, brand, resolution, zoom range (not in the DSLR section) or any combination of the options. Results of your search are listed and feature reviews from Which Digital Camera and technical specifications.


Opinion
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I love this site. Once you get used to the sheer amount of content on the front page you can easily navigate to where you want to go. It loads quickly (on broadband) with just a slight delay in opening the gallery section. There is so much information to be found on this site, all of which is free to access and even if you're not a reader the monthly printed magazine, you can find something of interest here. Everything is clearly laid out, easy to read and understand and does not assume a particular level of expertise.

If you register and become of a member of the site, you can make use of additional features, such as posting to the forum, entering competitions, uploading photos and commenting and rating images and articles. Membership is free and you get your own profile page where you can 'befriend' and communicate with other users. A bit like Dooyoo there's a great community feel to the site.

The forum is one of the best features in my opinion, it's great to get advice and help from knowledgeable people and, unlike some forums, it doesn't seem to be populated by idiots!

www.photographymonthly.com

Summary: I would definitely recommend a visit if you have any level of interest in photography.