This is the second entry in what I hope will become an occasional feature dissecting how some of my photos - and those of the Cheapshooter community - were taken. These photo dissections will highlight how a photo concept is developed technically on a limited budget and will be geared for more advanced photographers. Cheapshooter’s first photo dissection was dubbed “Held Hostage“.

The concept: As fall continues, I have more and more assignments to shoot. The bulk of these are boring as all hell - I shot a street sign yesterday, for example - but occasionally an opportunity to be a bit more creative comes down the line. After an earlier photo assignment fell through, I had to rush to put together a portrait of a member of a student skateboarding club. Daylight was fading quickly, so I knew I would need to break out the flashes for a night session.

The equipment: It’s been a bad week for me, equipment wise. One of my budget radio triggers has been on the fritz, so I was limited to one flash. My Canon 40D is already in the shop, so I broke out the trusty Digital Rebel XT. Light was provided by a Canon 430 EX, a silver umbrella and a stand. I wanted a wider perspective for this photo and my flash would provide plenty of light, so I utilized the 18-55mm kit lens, which works surprisingly well in situations like this.

See how it all came together after the jump.

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Just a heads up for anyone looking to buy a Canon 40D. I purchased a 40D last week, took it home, slapped on a lens and couldn’t get it to focus. It didn’t matter if I used autofocus or did it manually - something wasn’t calibrated correctly (I think). Even though the image looked sharp through the lens, the photos themselves were uniformly blurry.

I called Canon for assistance and they told me to send the camera in for repairs, complete with a letter documenting the problem and printed samples that illustrated the focusing error. I just got an e-mail saying the 40D would be repaired and that I could expect to receive it in 5-7 business days.

A quick search of some other websites showed that a couple of other people are having this problem, too. If you’re in the market for a 40D, be sure to put it through its paces carefully and look for any potential problems. It’s a bit frustrating that Canon launches have been so buggy recently…

Note from Dan: I’ve always been impressed with Nuno Correia’s smoke photography over at Photoassignment.net, many examples of which he’s shared with Cheapshooter readers. I asked him to write a tutorial on how he approaches smoke photography, and he gladly obliged. Thanks to Nuno for this great post - I’m excited to try his methods out for myself.

Smoke photography can free your imagination: its like looking for familiar figures in the clouds. The minimalism found in a thin line of smoke and the complexity of its little swirls is fascinating.

You don’t need top notch hardware to capture smoke photos; a point-and-shoot digital camera works just fine. See how after the jump.

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If you aren’t using Firefox yet, you should. Not only is Firefox more secure than other popular browsers like Internet Explorer, but also has a strong developer community creating extensions to make your browser do more. And as a result, there’s a plethora of plugins to turn your simple browser window into a photo sharing, displaying, browsing and uploading station.

Check them out after the jump.

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I’m not typically one to hype online contests, because usually the odds of winning are pretty terrible. But I ran across LuckySearch last week and have earned $25 in Amazon gift certificates already.

Here’s how it works. LuckySearch uses the same search results as Google. Every search gives you a shot at winning points which can be redeemed on the site. There’s a lot of garbage in their rewards catalog, but points can be redeemed for Amazon.com gift certificates in $5 increments. Five hundred points is good for $5 in credit. I redeemed a few thousand points I had accumulated, and received my gift certificates the next day.

Amazon’s a great site for photographers. While Amazon itself carries an ample supplies of photo goods, Adorama also sells their products through the site. While you’re not likely to pay for a new Digital SLR using LuckySearch, it is a good way to earn some money toward memory cards or other photo accessories for doing something you’re probably doing already.

In case you’re wondering, LuckySearch makes money through the ads placed at the top of the search results. While I don’t know if the business model is sustainable for the long hall, there’s no harm in hitting them now while they are paying out.

Click here to check it out.