james -

you may be right about most [photography] forums being set up this way, but i can only speak to the ones that i have been on, & this is the 1st one i have seen where you have to post images like this. betterphoto.com & i believe ilovephotography are 2 that i know of, & the one i frequent the most LearningDigitalPhotographyTogether. like i say - i have been on a bunch of forums, & this is the 1st time that i have run across this method. i wish i could help you on the softwares for any suggestions, or even what they use, but that is not a realm that i have dealt with, so i wouldn't be much help. i like what i have seen from this site/forum so far, but i think that method of posting images will drastically keep participation down.

hope you don't mind this sort of feedback - & my apologies to tony for hijacking his thread.

jp