Now Hiring - Write For Legit Reviews

[Apoptosis]

Legit Reviews is always looking for new writers and with so much technology coming out we can never have enough people supporting the site by adding articles and reviews. If you think you have the right stuff please let me know. People I know often tell me they don't know I'm looking for help or more writers, so I thought I'd make a sticky to spread the word. Legit Reviews is always looking for more writers and help, so if you can help give us a shout!

How can you help out the site?

News Editor:
Are you in general a technology news junkie? Do you spend way too much time online? Do you enjoy putting what you read into your own words and letting others know about it? If you said yes to these questions, then you would be great as a News Editor. News Editors are the unsung heroes of nearly every site on the internet and they are responsible for a people coming back many times a day to see what the latest word is. If you think you have what it takes to be a News Editor please contact one of the staff members for more information and an application. Once you are approved you will need to have a daily routine that includes scouring the Internet for the latest press releases, maddeningly hitting the "refresh" button on your email application and getting up each and every press release as soon as it hits the airwaves. This position leaves it up to you to find the latest news and to get the word out to the tens of thousands that read Legit Reviews Daily.

General Requirements:
Must be 18 years of age or older
Outstanding writing skills
At least some writing experience at a website or journalistic publication
Excellent verbal and social skills
Extensive knowledge of the PC industry, including specific hardware companies, retailers and so on
Basic Knowledge of HTML for post layout
No location requirement

Hardware Editor:
Legit Reviews is looking for dedicated hardware editors to help expand the sites product reviews coverage into more areas and/or to better cover the products we already look at. You'll need to have an eye for detail, and be able to work with review samples that are often not ready for review as we get the latest products ahead of the rest, so that means plan on nothing working right and when it does run with it.

General Requirements:
Must be 18 years of age or older
Outstanding writing skills
Must have a 5.0MP digital camera or higher and know how to use it.
You must own a tripod to use with the camera you own
A program like Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4 to edit and optimize images for the internet
Enough free time to be able to benchmark and write the article
A dedicated system that can be used for reviews
Ability to work under a deadline and meet the deadline. This is essential!
Must be located in the US or Canada

Editorial Editor:
One of the most fun positions for a site like Legit Reviews would be doing editorial articles that interest you. If you love hardware and like to performance test video card drivers, software applications, memory timings, or write 'how to' guides you are the perfect person for writing editorials. There are no companies to deal with, no deadlines and you write about areas that interest you. An example of an editorial would be the article on playing movies on the Blackberry Bold using Badaboom. That was an article that we did on our own just because we were interested in that at the time we wrote it. The sky is the limit on this position and if you like to 'play' with hardware or interview companies this would be the way to go about it.

General Requirements:
Must be 18 years of age or older
Outstanding writing skills
Must have a 5.0MP digital camera or higher and know how to use it.
You must own a tripod to use with the camera you own
A program like Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4 to edit and optimize images for the internet
Enough free time to be able to benchmark and write the article
No location requirement

[Alathald]

If I had a nice camera I'd love to write a few articles but as of now I don't and I don't really read many other sites often Maybe sometime next year I'll be able to afford a decent camera...

[vicaphit]

Any of these would be awesome, but I don't think I have all of the technical background needed.

[hercules71185]

What do you mean by a dedicated testing system. Do you have to have something as crazy as the ones I've seen on your reviews? I have portfolios and a passion :-D.

[Apoptosis]

What do you mean by a dedicated testing system. Do you have to have something as crazy as the ones I've seen on your reviews? I have portfolios and a passion :-D.

When I say a dedicated testing system, I mean a system other than your daily driver. In the past I've had people write reviews using their only system and that is bad news. If something goes wrong they lose everything and can't even get online to tell us. In order to do proper reviews it is ideal to have two systems. How new and updated the must be to write articles depends on what is being reviewed of course.

[XstollieX]

I've got a system's I can dedicate to testing. I'd be more than happy to bench some stuff for you!

[hercules71185]

I understand, my "main" computer is my laptop I'm on it for almost every post. The gaming one is what I was talking about, I just didn't know if what you were looking for was a setup that could use DDR2 and DDR3 or multiple setups. I always do benchmarking and testing for fun, regardless if it's for the forums, or just to keep me occupied in my spare time. This is something I like to do and it allows me to play with numbers.

[HACKhalo2]

I would LOVE to be a news junkie. I know most of HTML4, and I spend a hell of a lot of time online. If your still looking, PM me, and I'll send you what you need.

[Apoptosis]

If anyone wants to try to do some reviews or help post news be sure to let me know!

[vicaphit]

Since my system is not the best when it comes to hardware, I would be happy to try a peripherals review of some sort. My wife has been busy at work lately, so I have lots of time between when I get out of work and when she gets home.

I only have a 4 megapixel camera though.

[Apoptosis]

Since my system is not the best when it comes to hardware, I would be happy to try a peripherals review of some sort. My wife has been busy at work lately, so I have lots of time between when I get out of work and when she gets home.

I only have a 4 megapixel camera though.

Can you take clear pictures with it?

Pictures like this one were taken with an old 5mp point and shoot Canon S60 - http://www.legitreviews.com/images/revi ... cables.jpg

You just have to have good light and a white background... White poster board and a $15 fluorescent shop light from home depot will do the trick.

[vicaphit]

Here are a couple of pictures I took with it just for an example. This is with natural lighting (used the flash), 4M setting with macro turned on.





I have a desk lamp, and I could get a florescent bulb for it. Poster board is also cheap.

[hercules71185]

Here are a couple of pictures I took with it just for an example. This is with natural lighting (used the flash), 4M setting with macro turned on.





I have a desk lamp, and I could get a florescent bulb for it. Poster board is also cheap.

All you need is better lighting and a better background. That's the only thing it takes. I've seen pictures with 2mp camera phones come out professional.

[Apoptosis]

yup try with a white poster board under it

[vicaphit]

Well, I didn't have a poster board handy, but I did have a white poster, which had a clean back.

[Apoptosis]

Yeah it's tough... Here is one that I took on a white poster board with a Canon SD 770IS with no flash:

nokia_101_front.jpg (30.63 KiB) Viewed 99 times

[hercules71185]

Just over expose it a bit more, use a cleaner product and 30 seconds of photoshop. Since I can't help out with the first 2 from here I figured I'd do a less than 60 second photoshop job. All I did, use the magic wand, select the white board, paint it white. Rotated it so it was sitting upright, and changed the perspective a little. And shadow highlight for the details in it. For macro you want to over expose since you can always darken the blacks and you want all the detail in the darks.

[hercules71185]

and for Nates pic, Do you use a shiny poster board? And what type of light, a tube florescent?
I was looking at the pics before on the desk, mainly the EEEPc. I thought to myself why do they not just recess the holes where the power goes in so they don't break off. I fixed 4 computers in the last month where the adapter broke off the part on the mother board for the power. I mean if you just had a loose wire coming out of the recess it wouldn't have the same chance of breaking right?

[vicaphit]

The yellow light seems to be coming from my ceiling light. The post I used is laminated, so that is why it was glossy. I've got to learn to use Photoshop to be able to do all of the things you mention hercules. I can use the magic wand, and rotate, but that is about it.

[FZ1]

The yellow light seems to be coming from my ceiling light. The post I used is laminated, so that is why it was glossy. I've got to learn to use Photoshop to be able to do all of the things you mention hercules. I can use the magic wand, and rotate, but that is about it.

If you don't have photoshop already, try Adobe Lightroom. There is much less of a learning curve and for what needs to be done for here (assuming you don't need to cut out backgrounds) it is perfect.

As for the pic, go to color adjustments (depending on the app - PS is hue/saturation), choose the orange channel and drop the saturation.

basic shop job2.jpg (71.51 KiB) Viewed 88 times