Category: tips and tricks

Photoshop Reloaded – Web Galleries with a twist!

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A couple weeks ago I did a tutorial about how to create web galleries using Photoshop. As one of the steps, I advised to sort through your images first and pick out the ones you want to put in your web gallery into a dedicated folder to make the process easer once you start in Photoshop – well, that advice was a little short-sighted.

I got my most recent issue of Photoshop User (from the great folks over at NAPP), and read through an almost identical tutorial, with one notable exception – they used Bridge! That’s right, you can use the companion software to Photoshop, Bridge, to select your photos rather than sorting them before hand. Well, hey that’s cool, right? Saves you a step. Well, it could – depending on whether you have any sort of file management in place. See, in photography (and with most disciplines that use a lot of digital files), there’s an idea called digital asset management (or DAM), that gives you guidelines on how to save, store, archive, and design an effective means of managing your digital imagery. If used properly, any image you want is only moments away. It involves a lot of pre-planning, effort, and discipline to implement and maintain. So, this week I re-did the Photoshop Web Galleries tutorial with that in mind.

You get a peel into some of the basics of how I implement a DAM system that works for me, and an explanation as to why using the Bridge method for selecting your photos for a web gallery is better than the first method I used. *cough/duplicates/cough* Having said that, there are still a few nuances that Lightroom has where Photoshop lacks a little in this regard, but, if you have PS, you can streamline things a little more by incorporating Bridge.

So, without further ado, check out this week’s episode, which I am admittedly naming for perhaps a little visibility:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Monday Madness: Some news and Making Money ideas for Small Timers

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Hello again all, and first off, let me apologize for not making my typical Friday appearance, some stuff came up here that called me away from the blog on short notice. I’m back today though, and I’ll give a Friday Funny at the end, courtesy of WTD, but for the time being, I have a few exciting things to share:

  1. I am almost done with my photo gallery articles! – I will likely have another podcast or two on using other apps like Jalbum, but would like to finish out the written version first before devoting time to that. More to come this week on that subject.
  2. As my photo friends return from PSW chock full of their own tips and excitement at the show, I saw two of them throw a few trackback links to some stuff from here at CB, so thanks and shout outs to Mark and Jason!
  3. As if I don’t have enough things to do on my plate, I also started yet another project that I had been meaning to pick up. I am ditching all my photo magazines! I have been a regular subscriber to Popular Photography, Shutterbug, Rangefinder, PC Photo, and Photoshop Insider for some time now, and they are now all going in the garbage can. Read on for more info on that!

Continue reading “Monday Madness: Some news and Making Money ideas for Small Timers” →

Lightroom 2.0 Beta – First look at the dual monitor! (A preview video)

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Just before I hit the sack last night, I saw that Adobe went and released Lightroom 2.0 in its beta form. I’ve already downloaded it and checked out some of the key changes. Until this release, I had used a trial version on my one desktop, and decided I’d tr it for 30 more days just a week or so ago on this main one. Well, right after recording a tutorial on creating web galleries in LR 1.x Adobe goes and does this! I shoulda known better.

The NAPP staff was clearly in on the development as they’ve got a page already set up with a first look on a lot of the key items. Great info and the features are definitely the ones I’d been waiting for – guess it’s time to buy! In my earnest to see everything I noticed though, that Matt K. does not show the dual monitor display on his first look. Was rather disappointed, so….in the interests of showing to others what I just saw, I did a little brief first look of my own. The resolution is super huge (1024×768), and it does look a little “off”. The reason here is because my one monitor is a 19″ and my other one is a 15″. So, on Windows it looks a little funny. But, it does get the gist across for those interested in seeing what’s there for the latest version. Check it out in the Quicktime download attached to this post.

As for the nuts and bolts of changes, I’ll leave those details to the pros over at NAPP and other blogging venues. Some of the more salient and interesting ones I saw today are here:

Only a few wishes…I didn’t immediately see any support for tethered shooting…but I guess that’s could go on a wish request since it’s still in beta. Also, it looks like the second monitor support means just 5 view options: loupe/grid/live loupe/locked loupe/compare/ and survey. I was hoping the 2nd monitor would be customizable with the LR panels (like Photoshop), but I’ve not figured out how to do that yet. If anyone knows whether that is something I am missing, or if it’s not been added…let me know.

Anyway, that’s the big news today – LR 2.0 beta was publicly released during the keynote at Photoshop World! With Photoshop Express, and tons of other R&D stuff coming out of Adobe – it’s a good time to be a fan! SO, without further ado, here’s my first look at LR 2.0 dual monitor setup options! Quicktime only version today (renders faster than the flash version and has wider viewing from those that visit the blog).

Creating Web Galleries using Lightroom

Jason2 Comments

As Photoshop World is starting tomorrow, I imagine most are watching the pros blogs to see what news, events, and info is forthcoming from that semi-annual event. Something tells me I will be ponying up the $500 to go to the September one in Vegas. (Benefits of NAPP membership notwithstanding…) In looking at the classes that they are offering for this Spring I guess two things caught me as surprising – first that there are so MANY classes to choose from. In a way a lot of options is a good thing, but it also has downsides. The upside is there are lots of choices. The downside is that sometimes the subject matter is so compartmentalized, you really have to pick a path and stick with it. In other words, if you pick one subject, you are also conversely choosing not to go to other subject matter. Case in point, I would like to have seen Painting With Photoshop by Bert Monroy on day one, but that conflicted with the Top 10 Photoshop Techniques by Matt K. – and since very few classes are repeated, there’s no chance to catch the other class later during the event.

In light of that – one small suggestion for future shows (like anyone is even listening to me)… offer fewer classes but repeat them more – that way you give everyone a chance to see everything. I realize it sounds kinda cheap, but for the price tag of entry, I really would rather get to learn from everyone rather than 3 or 4 instructors only.

The other thing that surprised me is that the head honcho himself, Scott Kelby, is teaching very little this go around. One of the things that has made Scott so endearing to so many is his supremely effective teaching style. yet for this Spring ’08 show, he’s only teaching three classes (and one of them is basically his 7-point system which can be gotten from Amazon for a mere fraction of the cost for Photoshop World entry. I’d rather spend my time learning stuff I can’t get from a book. As kind of the “front man” for NAPP, Photoshop World, and leading pitchman for Adobe products, it would have been nicer to see more classes with him up front. Maybe that will change for Fall ’08.

Although I should also note that Scott just busted up his leg the other day, so is heading out on crutches, and that may have mandated some scheduling changes. He is also delivering the keynote speech, which I am sure took a great deal of time to prepare, so there are possible mitigating circumstances involved with his decreased participation in the instruction. Since I hopefully will have saved enough to go to the Fall ’08 one in Vegas, I’ll look forward to seeing if he’s doing more instruction.

In other, more directly related news to Canon Blogger, I’ve finished the tutorial for this week a little early, so will post it here now. Last week I went over some of the basics of how to create a web gallery using teh automated feature of Photoshop CS3. This week, I look at another product in the Adobe family – Lightroom. Setup and generation is pretty quick and easy, just a couple pointers on what to avoid and precautions to take in putting everything together, from both the perspective of the photographer and the viewer. A little shorter than last weeks tutorial, but still hopefully useful. The flash version is linked, and the Quicktime version is attached for those tuning in via feeds, iTunes, and with iPods.

Web Galleries II (Lightroom)

Happy shooting and watch those apertures! For those going to Photoshop World, have a blast!

Creating Web Galleries

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In keeping with my latest project of putting together instructional materials on how to create web galleries, I took advantage of the video tutorial this week to go through some of the basics of how to do the task in Photoshop. It’s not as smooth as Lightroom as some of the CSS doesn’t work right in Firefox (Firefox 2.x is not W3C compliant.) Nevertheless, it does get you through the bare bones of it, and addresses some of the issues that you should consider while putting together a set of images for displaying in a web gallery. It’s a little longer than your average tutorial (11:22) but the content I think makes it worth the time spent. As always, it’s in both Flash and Quicktime varieties for both web and iTunes/iPod viewing. Enjoy!

Oh yeah – anyone know how to cure hiccups?

ETA:  Posting some of these on YouTube now, so adding links back as they go live on there as well:

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Monday Mental Challenge

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This week I am taking a different tack on my blogging for two reasons. First, I’d like to start featuring more articles, both as individual segments that can stand on their own, but that also could become part of a larger work. Based on feedback I’ve received from family and friends, it seems I do sometimes have a knack for the written word. I’d like to share some of these articles with the blogging community i the hopes of receiving more critical and objective feedback on their usefulness. Second, the thrust behind this initial thrust of articles is based on some repeated questions I’ve received in both the blogging community and the photography community of local and online brethren. So, in at least a tangential sense, the larger scope of this is not only to compile a series of articles that is publishable, but also as independent topics that can serve as tips and helpful resources for those that do read this with any regularity. Continue reading “Monday Mental Challenge” →

Thursday’s Thought – HDR photography

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After Scott Sherman and Michael Stein’s most recent show from DPS, where they bring in Jeff Revell and talk about HDR photography, I am reminded of the attention that HDR got when CS2 first came out. I had tried some HDR back then and it really didn’t come out too well, likely because of the tone mapping that Jeff referred to.

So…now armed with CS3, and the recovery slider, I decided to re-visit some shots that were good candidates for HDR. As it turned out, with the recovery slider and a little bit of attention in Photoshop with normal layering, I turned out a few pretty good ones without having to go the HDR route. Here’s two:

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So… anyone else into HDR photography out there?  Share your thoughts, shots, and links to your own work in the comments.

Adding Blur – and some more Photo Walk News

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Sometimes, no matter how careful you are with your setup, the in-camera limitations simply cannot compensate for a vision you have, whether it be the color range of an image, its tonal range, or even the depth of field you want to achieve. A perfect example of this was posted in our regional clubs photo site www.scphotogs.com last week. I shared a technique for adding blur to an image. While normally you wouldn’t think blur is something you want to add, as intuitively we are trained to think of images as sharp and crisp subject matter that is in focus. blur is something that can really enhance an image. I shared a technique I learned with the photog-friend, and in light of the tip, decided it would make a good tutorial as well. Check out the link for it at the end of this post. Here’s the web-version of the finished product, and a link to Jon’s photo site if you’d like to see more of his work.

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Don’t forget to vote on the poll to the right, asking how many cameras are in your house? We’re still a long way from the 100 mark, so it’ll be staying up for a while…unless we start “rocking the [proverbial] boat”. Another thing I always like to remind people about is that I am offering up some of my own imagery for sale on the artist site, Redbubble. Click the link to visit my profile and see the images I have for sale (at a steal too – just wanted to share a few with the community!) Lest we not forget, B&H is also the place where pretty much everyone gets everything photography-related, so if you visit their site, use one of the banners here. It’s the same price to you on all gear but B&H does help off-set the hosting expenses with each purchase made through these links, so help a fellow photog out! 🙂 Continue reading “Adding Blur – and some more Photo Walk News” →

Thursday Throwbacks

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Okay…let’s throw things back two days and pretend it’s Tuesday again. Why, you ask? Because I finished the tutorial I had started. It’s just a quickie, but does explore some often missed elements from the Tools Palette – particularly with the Options bar for each tool. While there clearly wasn’t enough time to go into great detail on all tools – I did give the crop tool and the Lasso tool a run for their money. Watch me screw up too and blithely ignore it while powering through! Rather funny stuff – but hey, if we take ourselves too seriously, then we’ve stopped having fun, right?

Anyway , here’s the links to the Flash and Download versions of the tutorial.

The Options Bar

Enjoy the weekly shenanigans, happy shooting and keep watching d’em apertures! 😉

Muscle Failure Monday – and the “sweetness” factor

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As the weekend fades into the recesses of time, it leaves a reminder with me in the form of muscle failure from the screened in porch project. For regular readers (the half dozen or so)…you may recall me having posted in passing about the porch before. Well, enough was enough for me and I went full bore to finish the dang thing this weekend. I did (for the most part), but am paying the price today. The remaining false studs were put in place, and the panel trimming began in earnest. I never realized how tiring it can be to bend over a miter saw, hammer away (manually) at paneling with chincey nails that bend with the slightest off-center tap of a hammer, manually cut metal rebar for shelf hanging, finishing painting trim work around a counter, re-paint a contractor f***-up, rip paneling boards to exacting measurements, hang paneling boards with one hand while holding the paneling in place with shims and another hand all while running back and forth to Lowe’s every three or four hours. Starbucks saw almost as much money from me as Lowes did on this project!

It’s done though (for the most part – still a little trim work to do, and some cosmetic work here and there), and I’ve got a few shots to share of it.

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After all was said and done, I retired to the couch for about half the day to surf, watch HGTv (that channel is addictive), and catch up on my photo reading materials. It was a pretty sweet feeling to get all of that completed. Speaking of sweet, check out the new softbox I made this evening from the DIY’er perspective. Should be interesting to see if it works when I get back in my “studio”. Here’s a shot of that too:

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Not the most professional of softboxes, but it should do the job well enough, once I get the inside spray painted with white. (Without it the can itself cast a nasty yellow glare on shots.) For anyone who is thinking of doing this, all you need is an empty container, a piece of paper, a utility knife and a little spray paint. If you want to forgo the spray paint, you could always use something like a Clorox jug (empty and rinsed of course…) cut in half. Ultimately, I’ll likely put some cloth on there and rubber band it around to act as the softbox rather than a sheet of paper but you get the idea.

For more lighting ideas, try getting an empty cardboard roll from a carpet store – you can get them dirt cheap (as in free) and cut to size. Spray paint a little white paint on the inside and you’ve got yourself a neat little snoot! What’s a “snoot” you ask? Go find out at Strobist – where you will find everything you ever needed to know about lighting but were afraid to ask!