Here is a creative suite 5 video of the new content aware functions offered by Adobe. The author goes through several examples of how content aware feature will really speed up your daily workflow.
May 052010
This is a late Tech Tuesday post. I have always wanted to try my hand at time-lapse photography. I have seen several videos that I thought were great. Unfortunately my equipment didn’t allow for easy time-lapse set up. I currently shoot a Nikon D70s. The newer Nikon models have the time-lapse (intervalometer) feature built into the firmware.
In order for me to achieve time-lapse I need to purchase external equipment i.e. The Mumford Time Machine. The new equipment wouldn’t even make it seamless. I would have to make modifications to my current camera setup and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go that route.
In July or August of 2008 I met a Pro Photographer from Australia. He was using high end Canon Cameras, but he also had the Canon G9. The G9 had a intervalometer built into the firmware. However shortly after Canon discontinued the G9 and replaced it with the G10. I purchased a G10, from a local store thinking it had a intervalometer. I was wrong, and all the G9′s out there on the used market either were abused or cost more then the G10.
A few weeks ago while researching this project again, I ran across the PocketWizard MultiMax. I already had PocketWizard Plus II that I use for my studio strobes. In the MultiMax the software has an intervalometer. I went to my local photography store to test it out. It worked great. It was expensive, but I at least could justify the purchase, because I knew I would use it with over studio gear, so it would serve dual purposes.
As with all new unfamiliar equipment I need to work out some bugs. However over the weekend I did manage to take a time-lapse of the sunrise in San Francisco, and later that evening I did another of the sunset in the same direction. I marked my tripod and when I returned, I placed it in the exact same spot. However, I did find out you need to babysit it to make sure that the lighting is right. Cameras setting is one of those bugs I will work out as I do more. Making sure the ISO is set right, Aperture an Shutter are set correct. I read that you should put the camera in Aperture Priority. I did that and it didn’t work like I hoped. I will play with the setting and come up with the right recipe.
My next quest is to find inexpensive (free) software that will complies all the images together. I have gone to VersionTracker, but most of the software they offer is for iSight on the Mac’s. I use a Mac, but I need something more then that. A few people have pointed me to QuickTime Pro 7. It isn’t very expensive and may work seamless with iMove. Unfortunately QuickTime Pro 7 doesn’t have a trial.
On a side note, while I was doing time-lapse research, I did find a photographer Nicolesy Photography, that does a two video series on How to Create a Time-lapse. Below is the first video of her two part series. Plus as a bonus I will add another of her videos of a time lapse that she did of a portrait shoot setup and the shoot it’s self.
Stay tuned for next weeks Tech Tuesday. I that series I will explain how I set up my first time-lapse and what I leard from my mistakes. Plus I will include Nicolesy Photography second How to Create a Time-lapse video and a bonus video as well.
If you would like tocomment or add links to your time-lapse photography video, please put them in the comments below.
The Creative Director of Orbit Books, Lauren Panepinto, has invited all to see her process for designing the cover ofBlameless by Gail Carriger. In one minute and 55 seconds, The Making of a Book Cover time-lapse video takes us through intense Photoshop compositing and retouching, type tweaking in Illustrator, keyword image research, double checking the cover brief form in Microsoft Word, and the painstaking revisions process.
If you would like to read more about the process you can click here or watch the video below to see it in all in high speed.
Mar 022010
Matt Kloskowski of NAPP and the infamous Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips, has come out with a response to the Apples release of their Aperture 3. He has a blog post of 5 Reasons to Stay with Lightroon? posted Feb 15, 2010.
I will let you got to the link above to view the entire post. But, here are my quick thoughts on the Lightroom vs. Aperture. First, any program that makes my life easier is a good program. When I first got my MacBook Pro, I was given a trial version of Apples Aperture 1. It was a step up from iPhoto, because it offered more post processing control over the current version of iPhoto at the time. I knew I wanted to go the Adobe Lightroom way, because of the workflow is designed to work better with other Adobe products i.e. Photoshop. Another reason I chose Lightroom over Aperture, is the fact that most plug-ins a free, and more user presets.
Aperture has one major benefit that I looked into to help me make a decision to go with Apple Aperture. In the early days I really used the iLife programs especially iWeb and iMovie/iDVD. Aperture works seamless with these programs. However, as my needs grew beyond what these programs offered, my interest in Aperture diminished. I nolonger use iWeb for my web publishing, I use Adobe Dreamweaver CS4.
In conclusion, any program that makes photo post processing easier for anyone whether it is Lightroom, Aperture, iPhoto, Adobe Bridge or one of the other web 2.o programs available, I think you should use the best one for your needs.
Post your comment, thoughts or ideas in the comment section below or take the survey.
Matt’s Final Thoughts:
Final Thoughts
If you’re a current Lightroom user, you’re among the group of the most used photo management/processing software in the world. There’s a reason why when you do a search for buzz, news, tutorials, presets, etc… on Lightroom vs. the same for Aperture, you find much more about Lightroom. It’s an awesome program and like anything out there, will just get better with time. Be happy with it. If your curiosity just has to get the best of you then by all means, download the free trial of Aperture and give it a try yourself. Maybe you’ll switch. If that’s the right thing for you then go for it. Just don’t do it because it’s new and different. As always, leave a comment. I welcome your thoughts on the topic (just be nice) 
(polls)
Feb 092010
I still have a ton of reading to do, but I need to order a copy of Dreamweaver to continue my construction.
Learning a new Language
I have been working on a new website. When I got my MacBook Pro, I also bout a year subscription to Apples Mobile Me. I built a small website in iWeb ’08. I know that iWeb ’09 has many more features then iWeb ’08, but I didn’t feel it was going to produce what I needed. The UI or user interface is great. Drag and Drop, easy setup and easy to post, as long as you had an active Mobile Me account. Like I said, iWeb is a great little program, but it was limited to what I thought I needed. Stuff I wanted to do to on my site was beyond the capabilities of iWeb.
So I am working on a new design for my website. I am using Adobe Dreamweaver CS4. I downloaded it free from Adobes website. They offer a 30-day free trial. I have used Dreamweaver before.
A few years ago, a friend and I would drive to Kearney Mesa (San Diego) twice a week to attend this free Dreamweaver class. The version we used was the Dreamweaver MX that was Macromedia product. The new version of Dreamweaver is easier to use and not as clunky, even though I thought that Dreamweaver MX was the bomb back in the day.
So if you look at my site you would say I haven’t gotten very far. Well you would be correct. This is why I have left the old website under my current domain name www.KiHoPhoto.com. Continue reading »
Feb 092010
28/365 Dreamweaver, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.
Image 28/365
I have been working on a new website. So I am working on a new design for my website. I am using Adobe Dreamweaver CS4. I have not done much to the new site because; I spend a tremendous amount of time reading. Dreamweaver isn’t like iWeb, you have to know a little html to get going, plus you need to have a little understanding of how the w3c works. Here are a few books that I am reading Dreamweaver CS4 The Missing Manual, and Creating a Web Site The Missing Manual. The Dreamweaver CS4 book has almost 1100 pages. So you can imagine its not light reading.
Most sites are built with HTML, DHTML, XML and CSS. I have found some that are built using Flash or have flash components in them. Other sites use Java Script for fancy and smooth looking features. And then you have some sites that have a pseudo Java Script function JQuery. JQuery is a simple way of writing Java Script. Also, you have website that use MySQL and or Php. Then I have found some sites that use a little of everything.
I am so confused. Yesterday with all the new languages that I was learning, I thought to myself “I might as well learn how to read and speak Chinese or Japanese it would be easier”.
Feb 042010
New updated information
I just learned that the release of Adobe Creative Suite 5 will be on April 12, 2010. Here is the link to the new information: Countdown to Abobe Creative Suite 5 Release
Does anyone have any news when Adobe will release their Creative Suite 5. I started looking across the web to find a release date for the CS5. I have come across a blog called CS5.org. According to CS5.org they had an unconfirmed release date of October 2009. Well obviously they were a little off on their release date.
I did find another date that seemed be a little more realistic. This date has been repeated form web site to blog. The date of the suspected release will be April 2010.
3. Adobe Creative Suite 5
Rumor has it that the new versions of Photoshop, Flash et. al should be with us around April. It’ll be a new era for the design suite because the Mac version has been completely rebuilt in Cocoa, and will no longer run on PowerPC chips. Judging by the sneaky peeks we’ve seen here and from what was announced at Adobe MAX 2009, designers will be whimpering with delight when CS5 finally becomes available. New goodies you can expect from the suite include ‘wet look’ 3D Photoshop paint brushes, native iPhone game compiling in Flash, and a ‘Smart Paste’ tool for Dreamweaver that makes it easier to integrate vector graphics and Illustrator-created content into your web sites. Ref: Top Software for 2010
I am really interested in the release of CS5, because I am thinking of buying the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium and I don’t want to throw my money into a product that will be out dated in two months. I learned my lesson in the past. I have purchased products and spent a great deal of money on them, when a month or two later they release a new item. Then it’s to late to return the item and it cost another chunk of change to upgrade. That happened to me on my DSLR.
I guess that is one of the questions I can ask when I head into San Francisco for the Photoshop 20th Anniversary bash.
I you have any information on a release date of any Adobe CS5 products put them in the comments.
Several months back I posted on my blog Safety First about the importance of backing up your files and data, especially photo files. As you may have gathered I am a photographer. No matter what you may think of my photography it does not really matter. The point is I spend an good amount of personal time behind my lens trying to capture that perfect photo in a moment of time. So I can afford to lose any of my images no matter how bad they are. If I choose to delete them at least I made the choice and not a hardware or software failure doing it for me.
I brought this up because one of my Terabyte HD’s was filling up with all my system backups. I only had 50 gigabytes left on my primary backup HD. So I decided to delete all my backups up to November 1, 2009. It was simple, all I needed to do is find the folder and files under the Backup main folder a delete the folder I wanted.
I moved the no-longer needed folder to the trash. What I didn’t realize is how long it would take to actually empty my system trash once the deleted folders were in the trash. For the record it took just over 5 hours for the entire trash can to be emptied. That just over half a terabyte of free space has now been recovered. I am sure that in my obsession of backing up my system that it will only be a matter of month and I will be deleting a 1/2 terabyte of re-storable files and folders.
If you feel so inclined to read my previous post here is the link Safety First.
Jan 102010
If you use WordPress for your blog then you know you have the option to use Akismet to help keep the spam down on your site. What most bloggers that use WordPress know that you can download and use Akismet for free.
What worries me is when companies explain that you can protect your WordPress site form spammers by using a anti-spam program that they will supply to you for $5 per month. Wow that seems like a good deal if you are a idiot.
I by my domain names through GoDaddy.com. I also host my website trough GoDaddy.com. However, when my contract is up with GoDaddy.com I am going to consider using a different Web Hosting Company.
I find it a little insulting that GoDaddy.com would send me an email soliciting my business for a product that I can get for free. I have a WordPress Blog, and you need to have a better then average intelligence to have and maintain a WordPress site. I have changed my template several times. I have added many plug-ins and other add-ons. One of the plug-ins I use and downloaded for free is the Akismet anti-spam plug-in.
If GoDaddy really wanted to keep me as a customer instead of trying rip me off and get me to pay monthly for a service that is free, they should have pointed it out to me with a link and tell me that it is a free plug-in that can be found on the WordPress Plug-in page. Here is the email that was sent to me.
How GoDaddy.com wants to steal from you.
Kelby Training Live is offering a Adobe Photoshop CS4 Seminar in Sacramento, CA on Monday November 9, 2009. This should be a well informative trainging session taught by Ben Willmore. For more information got to Kelby Training Live.
Ben Willmore has personally helped over 30,000 design and photography professionals make the transition from blindly following step-by-step techniques, to “Aha! I finally GET Photoshop!” His breakthrough teaching style of “not-just-how-but-why” has made Ben the in-house instructor of choice for companies such as Mercedes Benz, Adobe Systems, America Online, and Fisher-Price. He’s a member of the Dream Team for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), a featured speaker at design and photography conferences in around the world, and writes for numerous digital imaging publications.
Ben Willmore is author of the award-winning, best-selling book, Adobe Photoshop Studio Techniques and co-author of another bestseller, How to Wow: Photoshop for Photography. His hit seminars, “Photoshop Mastery” and “Photoshop for Photographers”, have established Ben as one of America’s favorite Photoshop instructors. He has personally helped over 30,000 design and photography professionals make the transition from blindly following step-by-step techniques, to “Aha! I finally GET Photoshop!” His breakthrough teaching style of “not-just-how-but-why” has made Ben the in-house instructor of choice for companies such as Mercedes Benz, Adobe Systems, America Online, and Fisher-Price. He’s a member of the Dream Team for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), a featured speaker at design and photography conferences in around the world, and writes for numerous dig
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
Adobe, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop Lightroom are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated. |
|
|
||||