Free 3d Photo Maker

Jason2 Comments

I don’t often do a weekend post, but every once and a while, and since I have reduced the blogging schedule somewhat, figured I’d share this little nugget here today.

A friend told me about a site that produces tons of free applications for things like video, audio and stuff – that I should check them out.  I took a look and sure enough – there’s literally dozens of apps they offer for free.  Now, my mantra is always that “you get what you pay for” but when I saw they had a photo-specific app, figured I had to at least try it.  It’s called 3-D Photo Maker, and is a pretty quick and easy download/install and to create the images.  (I don’t think there’s a Mac version as of yet.)

It’s a neat idea and I am not sure what algorithms they are using, but here’s the upshot of what it does.  You reference two images and it does some sort of processing to them that theoretically creates a 3-D look.  It was hard to tell the results because you do need those 3-D glasses to view the results, but on a first glance, it’s kind of neat.  Here’s a few sample screenshots from the program:

You Need the Glasses

Adding Images (w/ dropdown)

The Results (w/out glasses)

Finish Notificatoin

For those interested in trying it themselves, the download link is here:
Free 3D Photo Maker

What Moves You?

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The question of what moves us as photographers is one that everyone eventually questions at some point.  Whether this comes early in your pursuit or later…at some point everyone considers where their real passion for a particular artistic genre exists.  Whether that art form is painting, sculpting, musical, or photographic in nature, the question is one that will always persist.  I’ve asked this question before in an essay simply titled “Why?”, and there have looked to answer the question from an esoteric perspective.  (Feel free to read the essay yourself from the PDF article here.)

However, today it’s more of a motivational question.  What motivates you to shoot – and what are your real reasons for pursuing any of the arts?  For my own photography, the roots lie in scuba diving.  You see about 20 years ago, I became a Certified PADI diver.  I took to it quite easily, and ever since have been enthralled with scuba diving.  So much so that I considered taking the advanced certifications, which required two specializations.  One was a no-brainer, the other was underwater navigation!  You can imagine what the no-brainer was…

Having seen so many wonderful scenes from artists, showing stunning beaches, the underwater marine life, from sharks to whales, dolphins and fish all along coral reefs, the world of scuba diving and beaches have always drawn me.  Part and parcel with that passion has also been one for sunsets and sunrises.  And since we can all appreciate a sunrise or sunset scene from the beaches of the world, I’m sharing today some of my own personal favorites.  Yes, these are retouched to a degree, but I’ve tried to stay true to the scene as I remember it.

While some day I eventually hope I am able to afford the housings to go back underwater with all this gear I’ve accumulated, but for the time being, I’ll have to survive with these above-water scenes.  Enjoy, and if you’ve got your own favorites, feel free to share those here as well through your own links.  Happy shooting!

Mexican Sunset

Mexican Sunrise

SC Sunrise

Road to Folly

Folly Beach

The Workshop Tour Takes Off!

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After extensive preparations, logistical planning and coordination, it is very exciting to finally announce the often teased and hinted at Learning Lightroom 3 Workshop Tour! Kerry Garrison and I have pooled our collective resources and we’ll both be at all the classes!  We’ve got an initial launch in our own residence cities, with dates and locales already in place at:

Sunday Aug 1st – Anaheim, Ca [Completed]
Saturday Aug 28th – Denver, Co [Completed]

Seats are expected to go fast as this is a full day workshop aimed at getting you up to speed with Lightroom 3 whether you are new to the game, or ready to jump in for the first time!  With lots of content, including “bags-o-schwag”, door prizes, and resource DVD’s, the dirt cheap Early Bird Price of $79 for the first 15 to sign up, we’re sure to hit capacity quickly!  After that, the regular price of $99 per person kicks in.  Special thanks to our sponsors:  Adobe, Thinktank Photo, Nations Lab, and many more for their generous contributions to help get this off the ground.  We’ve also got lots of local vendors who will be showcasing some super cool products at super cool discounts, and we’ll have gift certificates to give away too!  So, come on out and check things out – it’s a steal at these prices!

Also, if you don’t live near any of the initial launch cities, make sure to submit a request for your own city (and get your friends to do the same!).  Fifteen requests for another city brings us to you!  There’s also an email subscription link on our launch page, (and here on the blog) so be sure to stop in and visit us at:

Lightroom Dudes

Picking a Theme

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We all get stuck in creative ruts, and are in search of ways to inspire ourselves.  Kerry Garrison (form Camera Dojo) and I talked about this last night while we explored the place that smart phones and their cameras have in the photography marketplace.  As the conversation went on (and on and on – we tend to digress a lot when we get to talking), we found ourselves talking about 365 projects, or photo-a-day projects, and ways to challenge yourself and come up with new topics to shoot. Continue reading “Picking a Theme” →

Cleaning House – Is Flickr your storage or showcase photos?

Jason4 Comments

How do you know it’s time to clean the house?  For me it’s usually when i see a thin layer of dust, or when the dirty clothes pile exceeds the clean clothes pile.  Another definition would be when you run out of clean dishes (or start buying disposable because all the regular ones are still dirty.  We all have benchmarks that we use to decide when it’s time to “tidy things up”.  But – what about your photography portfolio?  Do you clean it up regularly? Continue reading “Cleaning House – Is Flickr your storage or showcase photos?” →

The power of color

Jason2 Comments

I’ve shared many many stories and images on the blog here to help illustrate the various nuances of things like light, angles, and yes, even color.  I’ve talked about complementary colors, and simplicity of colors and I’d like to re-visit that today as we head into the weekend, because it’s not something I see talked about a lot.

The illustration I am trying to make in all of this is that a simplicity of color can be just as powerful as a huge rainbow of colors – and sometimes, even more so.  Sometimes, a uniformity of color can have an impact and a power that all the wild variations thrown together cannot induce a positive reaction.  As in all things photographic, the best way to demonstrate is through imagery.  here are a few examples of the “Power of Color”  In the interests of keeping things consistent, I am working hereunder the RGB principle of Red, Green, and Blue as the three primary colors, and will look at these in comparison to a scene of multiple colors.  Ready?  let’s go! Continue reading “The power of color” →

Sharing your photos online

Jason2 Comments

Posting your photos online has become an almost expected step in becoming known as a photographer.  People want to see your website.  You are judged on not only the quality of the photos but the quality of the website as well.  So, when I found a plugin made by a company called Cincopa that lets you insert browse-able galleries into your posts, I was intrigued.  I signed up for a free service, and shortly after signing up, ran out of bandwidth.  (200MB/month limit). Continue reading “Sharing your photos online” →

Photoshop is not a bad word

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A lot of photography conversations revolve around the question of how much editing has been done to a picture.  Terms like “sooc” (for straight out of camera) or raw, or “minimal editing” are involved.   I also have been known to encourage capturing the best pictures you can in camera.  But does that mean editing in post process is a bad thing?  No, definitely not.  For some, it has become a bad thing though, and phrases where “photoshop” has become a verb have been bandied about a lot.  I’ve heard everyone from amateurs to pros say things like “We’ll just photoshop that out later” or “Can you photoshop my eyes?”. Continue reading “Photoshop is not a bad word” →

Lightroom 3 is here – Now What?

Jason2 Comments

With all the hubbub of the release of Lightroom 3 and all the resources that cropped up online in mere minutes of the announcement, we often find ourselves asking more questions once the excitement and energy that surrounds a product release has drained.

I took these questions with me to a conversation with Senior Product Manager Tom Hogarty last week, and got a lot of insights and answers, with both a technical perspective and that of long-term development.  I give you this week’s podcast: Continue reading “Lightroom 3 is here – Now What?” →

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