I switched from Nikon to Canon in 2010. I was a Nikon guy since 1974. Nothing would have made me switch. Then in 2007- 2008, Nikon dropped the ball and Canon surpassed their technology. I've never felt the D600, but the 5D's was full frame and The images were stunning. The lenses are sharper and better made than any piece of Nikon equipment I have ever had. I've been a pro for 32 years, I love my Canon equipment, I never felt this strongly with Nikon.

I noticed the background right away. The dark where the background is light and light where the background is dark, is a separation thing. My mentor always said that photography can consist of just 2 things, separation and balance. Separate the main subject from the background and balance your lights for proper exposure. Also, the shadow under the nose is medium sized, a large light source woulds leave a shorter shadow and visa versa for a small light source.. if you don't have a lot of lighting equipment, use a few clip lights. you can easily see where those shadows fall.

All digital chips are getting bigger and better. Most, not all, are first placed in digital backs. Why, because these backs are priced from $10,000 to close to $35,000. The company gets back some of heir R&D. Right now, the bigger and more expensive he chip, the better the resolution, sharpness and color. I know that these backs are quite often used in a reduced mode, meaning that it might be 80mp, but you're shooting a 22 mp image from the 80 mp chip.
Most of these are used in commercial studios, I would not be taking my 22mp back on an excursion to the outback, but I'm just a studio guy, shooting with a hasselblad body and lenses. I take my canon when I go outside to play or go on vacation. Don't let these guys spoil any of your fun, most likely they are being financed by a large software or media corporation. I also thought "Live Picture" was out of business.

I use a "burly" from Mac Gurus. They have great info on their website for building a photo data base. The Burly's are eSATA, so they are smokin fast for backing up folders of photos. They will listen to what you need then recommend a slew of info on their site.

I use DVD's to backup and to deliver images to my client. While DVD's are not the ideal archiving media, what is? DVD's are inexpensive ( do not buy them at the discount stores) I shop at Media Supply, I use "Taiyo Yuden" disks, the blank ones, just silver. Do not write on them with magic marker. Keep them in a jewel case, no paper cases. I have clients 10 years out that still pull images off of them. No problems.

I had the same problem with CS 3 and Mountain lion. I upgraded to CS 5 and now it works great.

I have seen all signatures and copyright on the back cover of the card. Also your website and any other contact info. Very good for future sales.
I also like to put a signature in the art itself. I choose a typeface, I use a script looking one. I choose a color with the eyedropper tool in PS, near where I want to sign, usually on he bottom left or right. Once I have that color, I make it slightly lighter or darker so it shows but is unobtrusive.

Try to find a color profile at Millers. Most places that print have these available for photographers. I've used these at Costco and Modern Postcard. They can change the color of your photo a lot or just a little bit. But are imperative when you print thru the web. Saves time and money. There should be installation instructions with the profile.

You can rent a Nikon Super Cool Scan at a local pro camera store. Excellent scanner with bulk scaing capabilities. The 4000 used to scan 50 slides per hour at about 16 x 20 @ 600dpi. Very good color too.

I love my Gary Fong light dome! I have never had o much confidence shooting candids at a sales meeting. From 1 to 10 people in groups, perfect images, every time.

When I shoot products I set up the lighting and take a photo of a grey card or grey scale. Two things can follow, you can set up a custom white balance immediately with your camera or use the grey card to neutralize the entire shoot, when you process from raw to tif or jpeg.( if no lights are moved or aperature is changed, during the shoot). Either way works fine. They also make a white balance tool that fits over your lens, like a filter, One product is called " ExpoDisk". Looking up this product with your camera model will also yield tons of videos showing you how to set up a custom white balance. A very handy thing to know for tricky lighting.

When I switched over from Nikon to Canon I was very cash strapped and going to Italy. I chose the 5D mk 11 & the 24-105 L. I had a blast both shooting with a full frame camera and using a lens that was a decent wide and a great portrait lens. It doesn't have the speed of the 24 - 70, but it is a great all around lens. Very sharp and a little more reach.

Use that 70-200 you have, wide open to throw the background out of focus. Fill the frame with the product. I typically search the web for " drink photos" to get some inspiration for the shoot. Don't copy anything, but sometimes a bit of visual imagery goes a long way. Gives you ideas for 2nd versions of shots you need to take, but would like do better. Consider all assignments a chance to shoot for your website.

I really liked the book " The Joy of Photography". It gives you a basic understanding of how to use a camera with predictable results. It gives you experiments to try and examples of what each "technique" will look like. A very good photography course, and I'm sure you can get the book at a used book store. Good luck.

Western Digital and Seagate have the better reviews when it comes to drive failure. If this is for backup, remember that all forms of backup will fail. Copy to an external drive, then shut it down. Don't spin your Back up hard drive all the time. For a really good article on photo archives you can't do better than " Mac gurus " they have great products and articles and understand what we are up against.