Sunday, January 29, 2006
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
I love not depending on windoz
As I mentioned in an earlier post I don't like having to use windoz to do things. I have to use my husband's machine and, well, I'm just plain partial to my Mac (i love my mac! i love my mac! i love my mac!). So i was frustrated trying to post pictures here at blogger. Now i'm sure there are many ways around this but, as i understand it, to upload photos i have to use Hello, which is part of Picasa. these are all free programs that run on windows machines only. I had been testing Picasa and how it works with Hello and Blogger when i started this blog. So of course I was on my husband's machine. But I don't want to be there all the time, and my pictures are not on his machine so... to upload from there I have to move the pictures first, which is not that bad because i've networked the machines, but then i end up with extra copies all over. ugh. so I found a way around it. I have a silly blog at Xanga, just so i can make comment's on my daughter's Xanga site. But at Xanga, it's easy to upload photos, so I uploaded the photos seen below and simply copied and pasted it's link in a little html, dropped it into the blog editor and ta da! the photo shows up right smack in the middle of the post. Hurray for me!
Who wants to see my silly blog? OK here's the link. http://www.xanga.com/kaylarus
Radiantvista daily reviews photoshop workbench etc
Since i've started teaching digital photography to the elders, i have found some really fantastic educational sites about photography on the web. Radiantvista is currently my favorite. The front page has random photos that are very inspiring so that each time you drop by there's a new one.
Everyday i check out their daily critique. Brave souls send in their shots and the fellas give a detailed critique. They start with what they like best (quality of light is a big one) and go into detail about what's good about the shot. Then, about one third to one half the way through the presentation, they switch to what could be improved about the photo. It's interesting the way they can make a photo that was good look really great with a simple crop, color correction, or creative use of the spot healing brush! Then, right before the end, they summarize what's good about the photo and they always thank the folks who submitted the photo.
I love these critiques because for me it reinforces that close critical eye that we need to use when taking the shot and when editing in photoshop. (I also like to guess what improvements they will make and it's fun when I'm right)
Speaking of photoshop, there's another section of the site dedicated to showing in detail what you can do to improve a photo in photoshop. Some are basic techniques, like how to drop in a new sky, and others are more advanced, showing consistent workflow, use of masks, color correction with adjustment layers and so on.
Another part of the site has video tutorials. These are long and amazingly detailed. Like the daily critique, the videos run on quicktime which is so much better than windows media player. All you Mac users already love Apple's Quicktime but for you all still using windoz go here to download it:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html .
My absolute favorite tutorial is the tutorial on composition. This is the class that i had the hardest time teaching because every resource that i found had yet another take on it. But this tutorial is so comprehensive yet clear and simple it's accessible for everyone.
They also have PDF tutorials for those of you who miss reading. Seriously though, these are good for opening up photoshop and working along side. Also in PDF format are some articles, or at least the first one about "The Myth of Talent" which makes the point that you need to work at it and even if you are not that good to start out, if you keep at it you can get really good. I'm not sure this is always true. I don't think it would matter how much i practiced singing for example.
Radiantvista also has podcasts. I feel like such a techie when i download these to my iTunes and play them. Yet it's a real throw back because it's like listening to the radio. I don't own an iPod, but i suppose if i did i could listen to the shows on the run. The shows tend to go into depth about a technical subject like the one about using the RAW format to your best advantage and the latest one about how to use charts that tell you when different stages of twilight will happen where you want to shoot, so you can know when to get out and get that great landscape in the best light possible.
Why do these guys give away so much knowledge? Well besides being in love with what they do, the site also promotes their workshops. Unfortunately for me they are not giving one in my area anytime soon, but i'll be the first to know when they do! What could be improved in a perfect world? Well getting a woman photographer on board would make me feel more at home, but that's just me!
So I give the site an enthusiastic five stars.
Everyday i check out their daily critique. Brave souls send in their shots and the fellas give a detailed critique. They start with what they like best (quality of light is a big one) and go into detail about what's good about the shot. Then, about one third to one half the way through the presentation, they switch to what could be improved about the photo. It's interesting the way they can make a photo that was good look really great with a simple crop, color correction, or creative use of the spot healing brush! Then, right before the end, they summarize what's good about the photo and they always thank the folks who submitted the photo.
I love these critiques because for me it reinforces that close critical eye that we need to use when taking the shot and when editing in photoshop. (I also like to guess what improvements they will make and it's fun when I'm right)
Speaking of photoshop, there's another section of the site dedicated to showing in detail what you can do to improve a photo in photoshop. Some are basic techniques, like how to drop in a new sky, and others are more advanced, showing consistent workflow, use of masks, color correction with adjustment layers and so on.
Another part of the site has video tutorials. These are long and amazingly detailed. Like the daily critique, the videos run on quicktime which is so much better than windows media player. All you Mac users already love Apple's Quicktime but for you all still using windoz go here to download it:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html .
My absolute favorite tutorial is the tutorial on composition. This is the class that i had the hardest time teaching because every resource that i found had yet another take on it. But this tutorial is so comprehensive yet clear and simple it's accessible for everyone.
They also have PDF tutorials for those of you who miss reading. Seriously though, these are good for opening up photoshop and working along side. Also in PDF format are some articles, or at least the first one about "The Myth of Talent" which makes the point that you need to work at it and even if you are not that good to start out, if you keep at it you can get really good. I'm not sure this is always true. I don't think it would matter how much i practiced singing for example.
Radiantvista also has podcasts. I feel like such a techie when i download these to my iTunes and play them. Yet it's a real throw back because it's like listening to the radio. I don't own an iPod, but i suppose if i did i could listen to the shows on the run. The shows tend to go into depth about a technical subject like the one about using the RAW format to your best advantage and the latest one about how to use charts that tell you when different stages of twilight will happen where you want to shoot, so you can know when to get out and get that great landscape in the best light possible.
Why do these guys give away so much knowledge? Well besides being in love with what they do, the site also promotes their workshops. Unfortunately for me they are not giving one in my area anytime soon, but i'll be the first to know when they do! What could be improved in a perfect world? Well getting a woman photographer on board would make me feel more at home, but that's just me!
So I give the site an enthusiastic five stars.
Monday, January 23, 2006
trying to find a work around link to cancerwontkillshullady
I like this blog because I can make it look the way I want more than any other. I am testing blogs because i think that the over 50 population, like those in my digital photography class, will benefit from using blogs because the can communicate with friends and family in a creative way. I have a friend who is using a blog as a journal throughout her battle against breast cancer. It really seems to work for her both as a journalling tool and a way to keep everyone informed of her progress. For me this would be a great way to create an artist's journal, but i have a technical difficulty that i must find a work around for. The usual way to post pictures is using picasa and hello. but those only work on a windoz box. which i could manage if i had to cuz after all my dear husband has one of those machines i love to hate like the bad girl in a soap opera. but i don't want to! i take it as a personal challenge whenever i find something that won't work with a mac! I think the work around is the link aspect. If i can upload the pictures anywhere on the web i will be able to link to it and it'll show on my blog. well enough for today.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
trytryagain link to dancingmyassoff blog
this is a pic of my daughter and friends that she messed with is photoshop express. I'm using that version of photoshop so that i can teach it to the elders in el cerrito. it is different than photoshop cs, most notably in its lack of curves. but as my daughters' photo shows, you can still do cool things with it. I posted it here using picasa and hello from my husband's computer. originally the idea was to link it to her blog over at xanga. it seemed to work at first but then it became moody so i figured out how to upload pics to xanga so she could link to it at her site directly.
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