Here are answers to questions we get asked about Digital Photography Now. We’ll be expanding and refining this section over time as we get more feedback.

What's it all about?
Digital Photography Now has two main goals. These are to be of help to anyone getting into digital photography for the first time, possibly photography novices and, secondly, to keep more experienced enthusiasts and business users up to date with the latest hardware, media and software products and services.

The central sections of DPN will include NEWS, REVIEWS, FEATURES, TIPS on technique, a JARGON buster, buyers GUIDE and a DISCUSSION forum.

DPN aims to be interactive. Key to its success is feedback from readers, whose comments will be invited and published where possible. Readers will also be able to influence the editorial direction of DPN.
[Top of page]

So what prompted the creation of DPN?
Several things. It's an exciting time for digital photography. Camera and photo printer technology has matured rapidly in the last year or so. It's now possible to take pictures and print them five minutes later using a desktop photo printer and you'll have a hard job to tell they weren't produced from a roll of film. Your photos can also be on the Web or emailed around the world in the same time.

Consumers want the technology but have been dissuaded by price and fears concerning its complexity. We bump into all sorts of people who want to know if it's time to say good-bye to film and the fear of their developing and printing getting lost in the post.

We're passionate about digital photography and DPN is a natural expression of this passion.
[Top of page]

What products does DPN cover?
Digital cameras (including digital movie cameras featuring still image capabilities), flat bed scanners, film scanners, photo-quality printers, photo editing software, photo archive management solutions, consumables, plus online photo sharing and printing services. This is not a definitive list.

DPN's target audience is non-professional, from beginners to enthusiasts, but including business people who find they need to use digital photography as part of their work.
[Top of page]

So what makes you think DPN could be a success?
We feel DPN will fill a gap in the coverage of digital photography on the Web. First of all we are UK-focussed.

There are a number of interesting new and established digital photography Web sites that DPN will, inevitably, be compared with. Some are produced by professional photographers, others by enthusiasts, a few combine traditional photography with digital and some have a very technical nature. others concentrate on cameras at the expense of scanners and printers and so on.

Surprisingly few really address the needs of photography novices. DPN has to be good enough to attract and keep readers who want to own their first digital camera, or scanner or photo printer but have no idea where to start. At the same time it must offer people who have become hooked on digital photography and yearn to improve their knowledge, skills and equipment armoury.
[Top of page]

Does that mean DPN rejects the values of other photography Web sites?
Absolutely not. DPN concentrates on specific aspects of digital photography. It's unashamedly aimed at the consumer end of the market. We hope to establish friendly ties with complementary photography Web sites. We'd love to hear from Web masters and editors of sites like these.
[Top of page]

Is DPN formulated to compete with printed digital photography magazines?
No. We recognise there will be some overlap in featured content, but the print and online publishing worlds are fundamentally different. We believe they can coexist. DPN can do some things printed magazines can't and vice-versa. Once again, we have historical links to some of the printed UK photo magazines and we hope to establish complementary relationships with publishers of other printed photography titles, not to mention mainstream IT/computer magazines that periodically cover digital photography topics.
[Top of page]

What makes you qualified to run a digital photography publication?
DPN's editor, Ian Burley, started his career in the photographic trade back in the early 80s. He managed two retail sites in London, one of which won Amateur Photographer magazine’s Dealer of the Year award. Interest in photography stemmed from school days, but degree-level education in computing eventually lead to a career in IT journalism that started in 1984, lasting to the present day, including coverage of digital imaging topics. Digital Photography Now brings Ian's career full circle, combining experience in IT and photography.
[Top of page]

Who writes for DPN?
DPN is a professional publication and will, primarily, use articles provided by full time professional journalists established in the field of digital imaging or related IT disciplines. We are happy to accept previously agreed submissions from non-professional sources, but any such articles would be edited and subbed to professional standards prior to publication.
[Top of page]

How will DPN finance itself?
Sites like DPN fundamentally rely on advertising. Our rates should be very competitive as we are maintaining a tight lid on costs. However, DPN probably won't make any money for several months. Work needs to be done to get the site's traffic up to commercially significant levels before we can realistically hope to sell advertising and sponsorship. We will offer site sponsorship deals to anyone who feels they'd like to support DPN right from the start and we have already secured some minor sponsors from well-wishers. If you need to know more information about advertising or sponsorship, click here to get in touch
[Top of page]

Are you interested in cross-promotion?
We sure are! Especially in the early months, if you can help us by providing a link to DPN, we will be happy to return the favour - depending on the arrangement on offer, of course. We also welcome offers of products to offer as competition prizes.
[Top of page]

Is your policy to be editorially lenient in order to avoid upsetting potential advertisers?
Absolutely not! It’s not possible to review absolutely everything on the market for practical reasons. Some publications do have a policy of not covering bad products as it’s not deemed interesting for readers. However at DPN we feel readers should be warned about poor products. On the other hand, we will not slate anything - we give the facts, good and bad as we have discovered and give our conclusions. But in the end, it’s down to individual readers to make their own judgements.
[Top of page]

Will DPN offer products and services for sale to its readers?
No. DPN is an editorially driven venture. It's tempting to follow up articles with commercial offerings beyond the scope of banner advertising. However, by putting our feet in the shoes of the reader we feel we'd rather not cloud the editorial integrity of DPN with commercial offerings. However, if there was an opportunity in the future to build a commercial site alongside, but editorially independent of, DPN, we'd seriously consider it.
[Top of page]

Will access be restricted to registered readers?
No. We feel the fundamental ethos of the Web and the Internet is to offer consumers free and unhindered access to information. Besides, we feel it would be severely limiting to force registration as many potential readers would not bother to overcome such a hurdle. However, we will offer registration to readers who are happy to do so and generally encourage reader registration in order for us to improve the editorial balance of DPN. Naturally, we recognise registration provides valuable demographic intelligence for potential advertisers. However, no personally identifiable information will be distributed to third parties of any kind without their consent. We are committed to the guidance of the UK Data Protection Act.
[Top of page]

What's the nationality of DPN?
It's not as stupid a question as it sounds Inevitably DPN will attract readers from many different countries, notably the USA. We welcome all such visitors to our site. However, we have taken the conscious decision to address UK readers specifically and so our prose will be in British English, pricing will be in pounds sterling and contact details will defer to UK-based locations if there is a choice. Should DPN prove to be a success with readers from other parts of the world, we would consider specific editions tailored more closely to their needs, but until then we must make the best use of our relatively limited resources.
[Top of page]

Are you interested in licensing DPN editorial content?
Yes, although only to mutually agreed terms. We welcome any enquiries about licensing.

Thank you for taking time to learn about Digital Photography Now.
 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

Updated: 13th August - 2001