So, what’s with the ads on the site and the links within posts to purchase items? 

These are links that Photographers and Post-Processing Artists would be interested in. They are often products that I use or the contributing artists use, so they are useful resources. I only link to vendors that are reputable.

Maintaining a blog is actually enormously time-consuming—not only the posting & tutorials, but maintaining and publicizing the site as well. In order to devote the amount of time required to deliver quality content to you for free, I need to solicit sponsors and affiliate sales through the site.

I have “affiliate” agreements with vendors that I use personally such as Solostreams, Topaz Labs Filters, MadMimi, etc. I may also have sponsors and ads.

Really, it’s a pretty sweet set-up for all involved. You get recommendations for products that your colleagues are using, you support this site without it costing you anything extra, and the vendors have their products recommended by users.