A smattering of useful things I’ve come across this month

June 2026

Photography

  • Software: Negative Lab Pro - a LightRoom plug-in that converts your scanned negatives. I downloaded the trial version and converted 24 negatives, experimenting with all the settings. I’m no expert in this, but I loved it. The software works great, and I was extremely happy with the results. I purchased the full version for $99. I’ll update you down the road after I get some more time with the software.

    From their website: NEGATIVE LAB PRO brings impossibly good color negative conversions right into your Lightroom workflow. No more messing around with tedious exports and hand- edited curves. Lab-quality tones and colors are just a click away.

  • How to install ICC Color Profiles - Video and written instructions for installing ICC profiles on a Mac.

  • How to Install AM1X Custom Media Config Media Types for Canon Prograf Inkjet Printers - Mac and Windows instructions for installing AM1X files to your Canon printer.

  • Image to Binary Converter - Now, I don’t know why you would need to do this. But, hey, it’s cool to do it once.

  • A True (almost) Adobe RGB monitor - BenQ monitors for photography. 99% of the Adobe RGB color space.

  • SilverFast Scanner Software - I don’t have a film scanner yet, but I want one. My slow march back into shooting film continues. Seems like this is the best software for scanning negatives/photos. If you know of something better, please let me know.

  • Sakura Pigma Micron Archival Pigment-Based Pens - If you print much on true 100% cotton fine art paper, you know that flaking can be an issue. At least in the dark shadows, you can use these pens to “fix” any flaking. Good for signing those prints as well.

  • Wide-Gamut Test Page - I posted this last month, but it seems worthy of another post about it. Test your monitor to see how wide its color gamut is.

  • Suncalc.org - Sometimes, when trying to photograph an exact spot or building, you want to know if the sun will be behind or in front. Suncalc.org narrows this down. Pretty good resource.

  • Book: Color and Light in Nature - Please see below for the description of this book, but it’s aimed at photogs and needs to be under the photography section as well.

  • Moments - Looks interesting. Nothing stands out to me as odd; the FAQ’s seem legit. Appears to be free with premium options down the road. Custom domains, no algorithms, you own your stuff and can export at any time. If you need a place to have your own photo journal, check it out. From the website: A simple photo journal on your own domain. No algorithm, no ads, no pressure to grow. Post a photo, add a caption if you feel like it, and move on with your day. If you know anything about who is behind it and/or the pros and cons, let me know. The risky thing about all these types of sites is that they come and go and change their terms of use at will. Always better to have your own site.

  • Milky Way Tonight App - Here is the Android Version. The website explains it all. But looks like an app to help you plan Milky Way shots.

  • Good Used Photography Gear Sites:

    I’ve been searching and buying used film gear lately, and other than eBay, these sites are very good.

General

  • Why Do We Value Items More If They Belong To Us? - What is the Endowment Effect? The endowment effect describes how people tend to value items that they own more highly than they would if they did not belong to them. This means that sellers often try to charge more for an item than it would cost elsewhere. This link was found in Robert Breen’s beautiful story about having double vision.

  • David Attenborough’s Life’s work, searchable - I’m a huge fan of David Attenborough, and this website allows you to search nearly 5000 episodes across 90 series by animal, habitat, location, and more. Pretty cool.

  • Where to Find the Colors Your Screen Can’t Show You – Ryan Moulton’s Articles - There are colors that I want to show you, but I can’t. They exist in the real world. You probably saw some of them today, but I can’t show them to you on a screen. A digital photograph can’t capture them, and your screen can’t display them. No game you’ve ever played has contained them. Unless you have specialized equipment, they are entirely absent from the digital world.

    Most of them are cyans. On screens, we live a life starved of cyans. It is shocking when you see one in person. They seem unfamiliar and intense in an otherworldly way. I want you to experience that, but again, I can’t show them to you. Instead, I have to show you how to find them in the real world.

  • ObsoleteSony Archive - On July 1, 1979, Sony released the first Walkman in Japan. Over time, the portable cassette player became Sony’s language for personal audio, and the Walkman name moved from cassette to CD, MiniDisc, and eventually from physical media to digital files.

    For this year’s Walkman anniversary, I wanted to do something more permanent than a post.

    Today, I’m officially opening ObsoleteSony.com: a searchable, multilingual archive of Sony personal audio history, built around Walkman and the many forms that name eventually took.

    You can visit it now, search for a model, browse by year, explore cassette Walkman, CD Walkman, MD Walkman, and Network Walkman, or spend some time moving through Sony’s portable audio history by format, feature, year, and memory.

Writing You Should Read

Two projects by Liz Neeley that you should take the time to look at:

  1. Meeting The Moment - Each Friday evening, I write a summary of the week’s events in science and higher education. I pull together roughly three bulleted paragraphs about what has happened, hazard a guess about what to expect next, and offer at least one useful thing to do.

  2. UNBREAKING - The United States is experiencing institutional collapse at a speed and scale that are difficult to understand, especially through feeds and updates that atomize our attention. We believe that mapping the damage done and its human costs – and the pushback and resilience work already underway – is necessary groundwork for building and retaining political agency.

  • The Ed’s Up - Yup, the famous science writer, Ed Young. Ed puts out a great newsletter filled with useful info and great bird photography.

Books

  • Early Bird Books - I’ve been getting their emails for a while now and have found some really good deals. You can sign up for their email list here. There is also a dedicated Canadian deals page, and a U.K. deals page.

Books Purchased and Added to the Queue

  • The Blue Hours - I’ll let Ed Young describe the book (he does a better job than I would): An incredible memoir about Krzywonos’s experience as a worker in Antarctica in the wake of her best friend’s death. “Antarctica feels reborn in these pages–unshackled from the tired myths of heroism that have long defined her, resounding with once-silenced voices, and ready for a new era of myth- and meaning-making. Kryzwonos accomplishes all of that with writing so haunting, formidable, and transportive that it’s almost impossible to believe that this masterpiece of a book is her debut. This is a _stunning _book.” Note: not available until Dec 1, 2026

  • The Creatures' Guide to Caring - A lively and revelatory journey through the evolution of caretaking on Earth, from animal parents to modern-day humans, making the case that caring for children and one another made us who we are.

    Poison frog fathers carry tadpoles on their backs. Killer whale grandmothers hunt to feed their adult sons. Tropical birds incubate their friends' eggs. Spider moms let their hatchlings eat them alive. Around the world, animals from the exotic to the familiar go to astonishing lengths to keep their young alive. Their biology, brains and behaviors show us what we have in common with other creatures, as well as what’s unique about Homo sapiens.

    With warmth, humor, and occasional run-ins with bodily fluids, science journalist Elizabeth Preston leads a highly accessible tour of cutting-edge research into how and why we and other animals care for young. She discovers that humans evolved to raise our kids in cooperative groups, and that the tools we’ve inherited for caretaking aren’t only for moms or parents in general–they’re the basis for our human society.

  • Color and Light in Nature - O.K., this book has an odd way of ordering it. You get just about zero confirmation that things went through, but it works. You basically pay via PayPal, then email your PayPal receipt to an email, and the book shows up. I got mine yesterday. It’s a beautiful, incredibly unique book aimed at photographers but also at folks who are curious, in a science sort of way, about why we see the things we see.

    From the website: What is a rainbow? Why are there always two of them? Can mirages be photographed? Why do stars twinkle? How many ice crystal haloes are there? Is it really darkest just before dawn? Why is the sky blue? Why is the setting sun red and flattened? What color is water, and why does it appear in so many different colors? Why does the full moon look so big on the horizon? What’s the best way to see an aurora borealis? What is the green flash? Why are icebergs blue? Why can clouds produce such strong colors? What is a glory? Why is the dark side of the moon sometimes visible? What are those light beams that seem to radiate from the setting sun?
    These and scores of other naturally occurring naked eye phenomena are presented and discussed, along with tips on how to see and photograph them.

    I’m reading this book cover to cover, highlighting what pertains to me as a photographer. It will help you understand light and color in your photography. I’m thinking about getting a couple more copies to use as gifts. I can’t imagine any photographer who wouldn’t enjoy this.

    Some major topics:

    • Shadows
    • Clear air
    • Water and light
    • Water drops
    • Ice and halos
    • Naked eye astronomy
    • Observing (human vision and how it behaves and misbehaves)
    • Exotic clouds

    You can see a professional photographer talk about the book and how it helped him make a shot here.

Podcasts

  • Dirtbag Diaries - I highly recommend Dirtbag Diaries+ as well. This is a great podcast about the outdoors, the environment, and the people connected to it. I’ve been a Plus subscriber for years. I listen to almost every episode.

  • Clarkesworld Magazine Podcast - A few months ago, I talked about Clarkesworld Magazine, but people don’t know they have a great podcast as well. They take some of their top stories and read them.

  • Common Land - Season two was wonderful, Matt Podolsky and his 65-year-old mother thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail. Along the way, Matt shares stories of remarkable people, surprising history, and the modern challenges facing the Appalachian Trail – all as the iconic footpath marks its 100th anniversary. I really enjoyed this season and Matt’s storytelling. I hope he’s working on season three.