Is the tag on the top of my twitter page. I am doing some home matiance on my blog and web site, while watching the Olympic Men’s Bronez Metal match between Finland and Slovakia. Slovakia has just scored and the score is now FIN 1 – SVK 1, half way through the second period.
Anyways, one of the thing that I have been working on is my tweets for twitter. I installed two WordPress plug-ins the past few days. The first is Tweetmeme. Tweetmeme is the little twitter retweet button you see at the bottom of each post. After reading a few blogs and articles that I found on Social Networking, I figured that I would get a little more active on Twitter. this is a good way for other blog readers, fans or whatever to tweet my blog post.
I also added another Twitter plug-in for WordPress that will tweet my post to my Twitter account with a Bit.ly URL. This is for those that aren’t reders of FishEye Studio blog, but are my Twitter Followers they too can enjoy what I have to say… right!
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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.
Apple iPad
I am sure I am not the First, and I know I won’t be the last. Apple today revealed in San Francisco, in their grand fashion the new long anticipated iPad. About six months ago word was out that Apple Inc. was going to come out with a new device. And today was that day to see what the iPad would look like and how much it would cost. It seems to be a large version of the iTouch.
The size seem to be about the same as the MacBook Air just without the clam shell. The screen is 9.7 inches, measured diagonally. So overall, it’s slightly smaller than a magazine. And at just 1.5 lbs and 0.5 inches thin, it’s easy to carry and use anywhere. The high-resolution, 9.7 inch LED-backlit, IPS display on iPad is remarkably crisp and vivid. It uses a display technology called IPS (in-plane switching), it has a wide, 178° viewing angle.
iPad uses the same revolutionary technology that’s in an iPhone multi-Touch. To maximize battery life, Apple engineers took the same lithium polymer battery technology they developed for our notebook computers and applied it to the iPad. As a result, you can use iPad for up to 10 hours while surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos, or listening to music.
The iPad will be released in March with wireless, and in April Apple plans on releasing the 3G version. The iPad will start at $499 pirce tag. And iPad is available with a choice of 16, 32 or 64GB flash storage. I don’t think that will be enough storage. I have a feeling that will be a limiting factor for those of us that will be using this as a substitue when we don’t want to us our MacBooks.
Here is the link to the video if your would like to learn more. iPad
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.
Adobe today released Lightroom 2.6, Camera Raw and DNG Converter 5.6. According to Adobe this willl be the final update to Lightroom 2.0. Next stop Adobe Lightroom 3.0.
In the new release from Adobe Lightroom 2.6, Adobe fixed previous issues that came to be in release 2.5. They also added new support from new camras that came to market since the last update.
Click here to get the download:
Known Issues
• Burning exported images to disc is not available for the Lightroom 64-bit Windows application.
• Upgrading a Lightroom 1 catalog during a catalog import can create multiple temporary copies of the catalog while upgrading
• Lightroom performance can be impacted when the Window’s Recycle Bin contains thousands of files
• Lightroom may not automatically launch an import dialog when a memory card is attached to a Windows Vista computer. Please select the Import button in the Library and select the attached card reader to begin the import.
• Lightroom 2.6 will not automatically migrate plug-ins located in the following directory: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2\Modules\. Any plug-ins in this folder should be moved to: o XP: C:/Documents and Settings/{your_username}/Application Data/Adobe/Lightroom/Modules/ o Vista: C:/Users/{your_username}/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Lightroom/Modules/
Supported File Formats:
• JPEG
• TIFF (8 bit, 16 bit)
• PSD (8 bit, 16 bit)
• DNG
• Proprietary raw formats (Please visit http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html for a
full list of raw file support. File support for Lightroom 2.6 aligns with Camera Raw 5.6)
New Supported Cameras:
Support for the following cameras has been added in this update.
Canon EOS 1D Mark IV Mamiya M22
Canon EOS 7D Mamiya M31
Canon PowerShot G11 Nikon D3s
Canon PowerShot S90 Olympus E-P2
Leaf Aptus-II 5 Panasonic DMC-FZ38
Mamiya DM22 Pentax K-x
Mamiya DM28 Sigma DP1s
Mamiya DM33 Sony A500
Mamiya DM56 Sony A550
Mamiya M18 Sony A850
Important File Format Support Exceptions (Formats not supported):
• CMYK Files
• PSD files saved without a composite image. (Saved without “Maximize Compatibility” setting)
• Files with dimensions greater than 65,000 pixels per side (512 Megapixel Total)
• All video files, including those acquired by digital still cameras
New in Lightroom 2.6
The goal of this release is to address bugs that were introduced in previous releases of Lightroom 2 and provide additional camera raw support. A comprehensive list of issues fixed in this release is included below:
Lightroom 2 Bugs – Fixed
• The crop tool would unlock a locked aspect ratio after a rotation adjustment
• For Mac OS X 10.6 customers, visual artifacts could appear when panning an image viewed at 1:1 in
the Develop module.
• For Mac OS X 10.6 customers, the 10.6.2 update included a correction that prevented Lightroom 2 from opening more than two files using the Edit-in-Photoshop functionality.
• Lightroom 2.6 provides a fix for an issue affecting PowerPC customers using the final Lightroom 2.5 update on the Mac. The issue, introduced in the demosaic change to address sensors with unequal green response, has the potential to create artifacts in highlight areas when processing raw files from Sony, Olympus, Panasonic and various medium format digital camera backs.
• Lightroom 2.5 and earlier did not support the updated Panasonic DMC-LX3 aspect ratio modes added with the camera’s latest version 2.0 firmware.
Working with Lightroom 2 and Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw
Lightroom and Photoshop Camera Raw share the same image processing technology to ensure consistent and compatible results across applications that support raw processing. These applications include Photoshop CS4, Photoshop Elements 7.0 and Premiere Elements 7.0.
Photoshop Camera Raw 5.6
Adobe applications must be updated with the Camera Raw 5.6 plug-in in order to ensure compatibility with Lightroom 2 develop module settings and Photoshop integration features. Photoshop CS4 users can update the Camera Raw plug-in automatically using the Update tool listed under the Help menu. The Camera Raw 5.6 plug-in can also be downloaded and installed manually by visiting the Adobe web site: www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html. Please follow the installation instructions carefully.
Sharing Lightroom Settings with Camera Raw 5.6
By default, Lightroom’s develop module settings are stored in Lightroom’s database. In order to ensure that Lightroom develop settings can be viewed by Camera Raw 5.6 the settings must be written to the XMP metadata block for that file. This metadata is stored in an XMP sidecar file (Imagename.xmp) in the current image directory of proprietary raw files or stored directly within DNG files. To update images with the latest develop settings, choose the library module and select the group of target images. Choose the shortcut Command(Ctrl) + S to save the settings to the XMP metadata block.
Viewing Lightroom settings in Camera Raw 5.6
Before working in conjunction with Lightroom and Camera Raw please set the Camera Raw preference to: Save image settings in: Sidecar “.xmp” files. By default Camera Raw will display the image adjustments exactly as performed in Lightroom’s develop module.
Viewing Camera Raw settings in Lightroom
Raw files edited by previous versions of Camera Raw will maintain their previous appearance when imported into Lightroom. Note: Those files must have been edited with the preference set to Save image settings in: Sidecar “.xmp” files in order for Lightroom to respect the previous edit. Files edited in Camera Raw after importation into Lightroom can be updated in Lightroom by choosing the “Read Metadata from Files ” from the Metadata file menu. Note: This menu option is only available in the Lightroom Library.
Additional Notes on Camera Raw and Lightroom
• Camera Raw will only read the current settings for the primary image in the Lightroom Library. Virtual Copy adjustments will not be displayed or available in Camera Raw 5.6
Dave Cross from NAPP share this bit of information and technology on his blog. I thought it was information I should share as well. Adobe labs has been working on a very cool feature Content-Aware healing tool. It’s an improvement from the current healing too in Photoshop CS4.
Continue Reading…
Photo by: Kirk Howard Copyright© 2008
Have you ever wondered how photographers take those great
panoramic photographs? It is done a couple of ways. One way is to use an ultra wide angle lens like a
FishEye lens.
Nikon has a 10.5mm f2.8 lens, if positioned correctly (right in the middle) you will eliminate a considerable amount of curvature at the edges. Also you can purchase a special designed camera with a lens that rotates around the camera’s rear
nodal point.
Another way is to take a series of images and stitch them together with software. These pictures can be taken either in portrait or landscape aspect. Images are captured by panning the camera left to right.
A few things need to be done first in order for these images to turn out exactly the way you saw it through the lens.
1. Use a Tripod. Not only will this help keep your image stable it will help to keep the camera on a constant focal plane.
2. Keep the Aperture and Shutter speeds settings constant. For example I take a light meter reading of the subject I want to photograph. The reading is Aperture 11f and the shutter speed is 1/250 sec. Keep these settings set for every frame of the pano.
3. Also I would overlap the images by 10% to 20% from frame to frame. This maybe the single most important step. I will explain why in a moment.
4. Use a remote trigger. This will help eliminate camera shake, and help keep the image from getting blurry by bumping the camera. Especially in low light settings.
After you have taken the images you wanted now comes the software to stitch these images together. This requires a program that is made specifically for this purpose.
Photo by: Kirk Howard Copyright© 2008
Many programs are available to stitch these images together. Some are available online and others are provided in stand alone software. I prefer stand alone software. I use Photoshop not only for my post production adjustment, but it also comes with a great panoramic stitching feature. Photoshop is not cheap. Luckily I only had to purchase the upgrades. I very inexpensive stand alone version is made by ArcSoft Panorama Maker priced around $40.00. All this program does is stitching images for panoramics.
Five years ago, I first tried this technique with Photoshop 7.0. My first attempts didn’t turn out that great. I didn’t have a tripod, didn’t know about keeping the aperture and shutter speed constant. Plus my camera wasn’t the greatest at the time.
My next version of Photoshop, Photoshop CS worked better. Then came CS2 which I never used. However, towards the end of last year I discovered a little secret, Photoshop CS3. The program itself isn’t a secret, but the stitching function had been updated. In this newest version of Photoshop, they totally revamped and improved the stitching abilities for panoramics.
According to what I have read, most of the previous steps I mentioned above, do not need to be exact. However, Adobe insists that step three is a must. The overlapping is what makes this software perform its magic, and create nearly perfect panoramic images.
I still perform all the steps above. I feel that if I can do it right in the camera first, then I don’t need to spend much time in post production. Plus the stitching feature processes panoramics that much better.
Photo by: Kirk Howard Copyright© 2008
A few weeks ago I told you about a cool new website slide.com. I showed you an example of it with some images I took while in Half Moon Bay.
Today I have another great website Dumpr.net. I have been playing around with the musuem page, and came up with some really great ideas and images. I created this museum looking image within seconds. It is easy to use and you will be very entertained by the results.
I shot this image of a Mayan woman and her child in Antigua, Guatemala. I could see this image up in an Art Gallery. Personally it looked better then some of the photographs I viewed a few weeks ago at the S.F.M.O.M.A.
In another blog that I read it had a new slide show feature that I really liked. I liked it so much I had to have it and use it. It comes from a Web 2.0 application at slide.com. It is very easy to use and best of all it will automatically give you the proper html code to add to almost any website. I used the Blogger feature to automatically add this slide show to my blog. Man… I love technology!
The Characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Photos by: Kirk Howard Copyright© 2007
