At one time I used two projectors and an electronic mixer to project 35-mm slides of my fishing or hunting trips to sportsmen’s groups. Several years ago, I looked for a program where I could show slides on a TV set and found one that was only a step better than my conventional slide show. I also tried Microsoft's PowerPoint, the pride and joy of salesmen and white-collar execs. I've yet to see a good, professional PowerPoint presentation incorporating a photo show.

When I went to this year's OWAA conference in Madison, I wanted to tell other members about a new slide show program that is out of this world and a joy to view. I found that Tom Ulrich had discovered the same program.

The name of this program is Pro Show Gold, and it's not that expensive. What will it do that others can't? It uses both digital images or downloaded color slides. Once projected, you can zoom the image in or out, set the time it is viewed and select hundreds of fades and dissolves. You also can pan across an image, movie-camera style. It also accepts video files.

I'm not a computer wizard, and I find that this program is easy to use. Setup is not that difficult, and after a few tries, you'll be producing a professional-looking package. You also can download background music or narration and captions that will shame the best PowerPoint presentation. When you’re done, burn CDs of your presentations, which you then may view on your TV (if you have a CD outlet), on a computer or projected via a laptop. You will be impressed, and so will your audience.

ProShow Gold retails for about $70 and is sold by the Photodex Corporation.

An OWAA member since 1967, Henry F. Zeman lives in Grand Rapids, Mich. A freelance writer/photographer, he publishes his work in periodicals such as Michigan Hunting & Fishing, Michigan Out of Doors, Outdoor Life and Field and Stream. If you have questions or comments about this article, feel free to contact him. Zeman wrote "Digital Camera Tips: It’s Not Too Late to Make Digital Photography Work for You," which appeared in the Jan./Feb. 2004 Tech-E-Letter.

Many editors and photographers making the transition from film to digital files find editing images on a computer screen an arduous task. "It’s much easier to edit from a stack of slide sheets" is the common refrain.

Here is a transitional solution and a way to combine those slide files with your new digital files. This could apply to digitally shot or scanned images.

Many of us file by subject, so my suggestion is to consider developing a system merging the old and new. You can make this simple or complex, depending on how you file and if you cross-index. To keep it simple, file by location or activity.

If you are working from an existing slide collection and want to scan slides and create digital files, you could set up a consecutive numbering system for all future scans and existing ones by using a batching process within your graphics software program. Many graphic programs allow you to rename, resize and change from JPG to TIF format or vice-versa.

As an example, I built a file on Potholes Reservoir in Washington state. After I returned from my trip, I edited out the outtakes as I would with slides on a light table, only doing it on my computer. I then made contact sheets in Adobe Photoshop (this can be done in most newer versions, from the inexpensive Photoshop Elements to the latest Photoshop CS). I saved contacts to my computer and then burned the contact sheet files to a CD along with the corresponding digital photo files.

These now can go into my "Washington State" file, along with my existing 35-mm collection. When an editor asks for photos of Potholes Reservoir, I can simply go to the traditional file, pull the CD and either make a set of contacts or edit a selection and make new contacts, printing them for overnight shipping.

If the client is used to working with images on his or her computer and is in a rush, I can save contact sheets as JPGs and e-mail them instantly. The editor can open them, view the contact sheet at full size and e-mail me a selection, which I then e-mail back or overnight ship on a CD.

If I want to break my files down to subject matter, such as "smallmouth," "largemouth" or "walleye," I can do so by placing the particular images in new folders. I then can make contact sheets of these images and burn a CD of the contacts to be filed accordingly.

If you want to combine scanned slides and digitally shot images into a particular subject file such as "smallmouth," consider renaming and renumbering the images in a photo-batching program. The same would apply if you shot everything digitally or only used scanned slides. This requires you to keep records of the last number in your existing file so you can continue without error. This is time consuming but can be a workable system for merging film and digital files.

Most importantly, it gives you or your editors a method to quickly visually edit digital images.

Convert copies of them in Photoshop (go to Image>Mode>Convert to Profile>RGB) before uploading to your Web site or sending via e-mail. Retain the original in its aRBG color space for sending to editors or printing.

How do you type a copyright symbol to claim the rights to your photos? What about a Euro symbol for your article on Eurailing? Following are shortcuts that work in all Windows programs. To produce the first four symbols, press Alt while typing the four digits on the keypad.

© ... type Alt + 0169

® ... type Alt + 0174

™ ... type Alt + 0153

º (degrees) ... type Alt + 0186

€ (Euro) ... type Ctrl + Alt + E

Katie McKalip

Citing reference material has always been a challenge, and now with Internet publishing it becomes even more complicated. The Citation Machine is a reference source to help writers correctly cite sources in articles. An interactive Web tool designed to assist teachers in modeling the proper use of information property, the Machine is also useful for journalists. Simply click the type of resource you wish to cite, complete the Web form that appears with information from your resource and click "Make Citations" to generate standard MLA & APA citations.

Spencer E. Turner

The Fish Passage Center records the number, sex and species of game fish that make it through the dams on the Columbia River and its tributaries. You can find out how many fish the hatcheries pump out each year, the expected steelhead and salmon returns, maps to spawning areas and a day-by-day count for each dam. This section of the site can help you determine how the fishing will be in each area and how the migration has changed from previous years.

Maine Watershed Stats

Maine is a beautiful state with some of the most pristine streams and lakes in the Northeast. This Web site features watershed profiles that list streams, lakes, ponds and rivers that make up a particular watershed. Statistical, historical and fishery data are logged in a convenient format for digging up facts that can make a story about any of Maine’s freshwaters better.

The Chesapeake Bay Program hosts this site, which provides a map to most of the data available on the Bay and its fisheries, plant life, water quality, watersheds and restoration projects. History from the founding of Jamestown, Va., to the impacts of the Clean Water Act is available, and the morphing population-density map is just plain cool.

The Texas Water Resource Institute is funded by the U.S. Geological Survey and hosts this Web site, a treasure trove of information on water quality and conservation in the Lone Star State. The "News and Media Resources" menu includes "story tips" that can help you get started. The site includes profiles of each of the Institute’s projects and a "Scientist and Specialist" directory that will lead you to credible sources.

This site from the USDA Forest Service gives national participation statistics on most forms of outdoor recreation. You also can review recent reports on issues such as recreation on private land and expanding recreational markets. ... Or for a real kick, you can look at the non-market user values of the Florida Keys! The site also includes obscure statistics – like how many people go sledding each year, or how many people like to go for Sunday drives.