Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Adobe Launches Lightroom 4 Public Beta

Dan Carr | 01/10- 08:56 PM

Time to get testing !

image

Adobe has opened up a free public beta for Lightroom 4.  Once downloaded, users will be able to use LR4 for free until March 31st.  For users of Lightroom 3 it looks to be a fairly gentle upgrade so far, though Adobe have been known to keep back some killer features until launch time.  The biggest feature, that I guess we were all expecting, is the ability to make simple adjustments to videos.  Exposure, tone, contrast and white balance can all be adjusted and the files can be trimmed.

more »

Monday, November 14, 2011

Small Budget Indie Filmmaking with Big Production Value

Sara Frances | 11/14- 12:03 AM

“Love and Robots” is a short film that will be debuting on festival circuit this fall. However, you could say the production was a story of love and hate.

image

The screenplay follows a female robot looking for love in a human world. The budget was, well, non-existant, but by calling in friends and favors with some of the inexpensive tools that are available to filmmakers today co-producer/directors Jay Shaffer and David Smart made a success of a completely self-financed project.

more »

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Will A 2011 Macbook Air Work For The Traveling Photographer ?

Dan Carr | 11/08- 11:04 AM

It’s tiny and lightweight but does it cut it when it comes to speed ?

image

Apple released newer, faster versions of the 11” and 13” Macbook Air in he summer of 2011 and I was curious to see whether the spec bump put them in a position where they could be used as an on-the-road solution for a photographer.

more »

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Adobe announces Carousel - cloud-based image service

Dan Carr | 09/07- 07:23 PM

image

At Photoshop World today in Las Vegas Adobe took the wraps off a new remote photo access / editing program for iOS and MacOS devices.

more »

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Lightroom Tutorial: Managing Catalogs On The Road

Dan Carr | 08/24- 04:59 AM

A Lightroom tip for the roaming photog!

image

I’m going to start a series of Adobe Lightroom tips and tutorials because it has become such an integral part of my workflow these days.  The first one I want to tackle is a common scenario for those of us who travel to shoot photos somewhere. 

more »

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A Black Box

Matt Brandon | 05/17- 12:13 AM

Do you need a DSLR to be creative? This 14 year old didn’t.

image

All photos in this post taken by Jessie Brandon. © Jessie Brandon, 2011



The debate over what is the best camera, best format of camera or even what is the best lens has been going on long before digital media ever was even conceived. I really had no plan to address this issue especially since David duChemin did such a fine job just this week. Certainly my words are no match for his. But then something happened last night.

more »

Monday, April 25, 2011

Portrait Professional 10

Dan Ablan | 04/25- 09:13 PM

Portrait Workflow Enhancements & More

image

As a full time photographer and 3D animator, there’s often not a lot of time for touching up images. And since every image our studio puts out goes through some sort of image enhancement, finding a tool to help expedite the daily workflow is not that easy.

more »

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Chromatic Aberration

Chris Meyer | 04/21- 07:32 PM

Recognizing and fixing a problem you might not even know you had.

imageimage

Chromatic Aberration is the culprit behind colored fringing - often cyan or red, and vertical in direction - appearing on high-contrast edges. Technically, it results from the failure of a lens to converge all colors from the same source at the same destination point. It is most likely to occur with lower-quality lenses and shorter focal lengths.

As I tend to use higher quality lenses and longer focal lengths, I bravely assumed I could pretty much ignore it. Until it slapped me in the face. Here’s how to identify it, and correct it in Adobe Photoshop.

more »

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Commercial Slide Show Presentations that Rock

Sara Frances | 03/27- 09:28 PM

Grab attention of even a jaded corporate audience with animated stills using the Animoto utility.

image

A slide show featuring winners is a must-have for every awards banquet. From the Oscars and Emmys on to specialized industry recognitions, all these events showcase the accomplishments of nominated individuals and organizations. The public loves exciting recaps of important civic contributions and stars, just as much as entities want to introduce or remind the audience of their messages. Oscar night budget aside however, most organizations have less-than-adequate image library assets to work with, and the results are usually dull and predictable.

more »

Friday, February 04, 2011

The Chapel: A Timelapse HDR Short Film

Chris Meyer | 02/04- 02:17 PM

A lovely piece - with some interesting aesthetic decisions.

More people are experimenting with combining timelapse photography and motion control to create wonderful “videos” using still image cameras. One particularly lovely one is The Chapel by Patryk Kizny of LookyCreative. In addition to some of the nicest motion control timelapse moves I’ve seen (way beyond your typical horizontal slider bar movement) and a stunning setting (an abandoned, derelict Protestant temple in Zeliszów, Poland built at the end of the 18th century), Patryk also employed HDR (High Dynamic Range) capture and processing to pull details out of the interior of a building illuminated only by windowlight.

more »

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Avian Aspirations

Chris Meyer | 01/29- 04:55 PM

A journey from a landscaping rock to an abstract collage.

The primary reason I agreed to write this Hybrid Artist blog was to share information about using photographs as the basis for creating collages as well as other forms of abstracted art. In that vein, here is a quick blow-by-blow for the latest piece I finished: Avian Aspirations.

more »

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Test Driving Content Aware Fill for Photoshop CS5

Dan Carr | 01/22- 11:20 PM

Time saving automatic fill tool.

One of the most talked about features in the release of Adobe Photoshop CS5 is a tool called Content Aware Fill.  A clever tool that analyzes the surroundings of a selection and intelligently fills in the blank space in between. 

more »

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Lucrative Event Portraiture

Sara Frances | 01/02- 02:22 PM

How to make substantial add-on sales from weddings, mitzvahs and family celebrations.

image

Photographers who claim just to record things as they happen at an event are missing out on some very large dollars. We find that most families are reluctant to organize and spend for a professional group portrait.

When everyone is together and dressed for an important celebration, this is your opportunity to take a few moments, gather the family and reap the profits.
This is a no-brainer win-win situation. Mothers secretly dream of having a fabulous portrait, and you want your artistry on your client’s wall as your silent salesman.

more »

Thursday, December 02, 2010

onOne Software Announces Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture

Dan Carr | 12/02- 01:00 PM

New version of Perfect Resize and direct integration with Lightroom and Aperture provide photographers with essential tools to quickly achieve high quality results.

image

Portland, OR– December 2, 2010 – onOne Software, Inc., a leading developer of innovative, timesaving solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers, today announced availability of Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 for Adobe® Photoshop®, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® and Apple Aperture. Tackling specific problems within a photographer’s preferred workflow, the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 offers simple yet powerful solutions for color correction, image resizing, masking and professional photographic effects in one affordable package. With support for Photoshop CS5, CS4 and CS3, the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 includes FocalPoint 2, PhotoTune 3, PhotoFrame 4.6, PhotoTools 2.6, MaskPro 4.1 and Perfect Resize 7 (the next generation of Genuine Fractals). The Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 will also include the recently announced Perfect Layers, which will be available in early 2011.

more »

Monday, October 25, 2010

CalDigit AV Drive Review - USB 3.0 comes to the Mac

Dan Carr | 10/25- 03:05 PM

image

Let’s face it, we all spend more time at our computers than we want to these days.  With digital camera manufacturers pushing megapixel and file sizes higher and higher, and HD video becoming the norm, we are constantly in need of more hard drives.  On top of a need for reliable storage space I’m always looking for a way to speed up my workflow and hence spend less time in front of the monitor.  A couple of months ago storage solution specialists CalDigit announced a new addition to their external drive lineup, the USB 3.0 packing AV Drive.  On top of this they simultaneously released a Mac compatible PCI USB 3.0 cards as well as an Expresscard USB 3.0 adapter for Mac laptops with expresscard slots.

more »

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Deconstruction 1.1

Chris Meyer | 11/01- 10:50 AM

Distressing a photo to accidentally create a prize-winning collage.

imageimage

The journey from a clean photo of a modern building to a distressed, impressionistic print.

Although I have spent a fair amount of money to buy camera equipment and digital printers which can produce a more-perfect image, the truth is that my personal aesthetic is more along the lines of wabi-sabi: an appreciation for the aged, weathered, and decayed. So what happens when I take a clean photo of the San Diego Museum of Modern History, a fine modern architectural example of a glass, metal, and stone? I have to distress it. The irony is, the result won a prize - and few realized it was a digital print of a photograph. Here’s one photograph’s journey into the realm of accelerated aging:

more »

Page 1 of 2 pages  1 2 >




Keyword editing made easier

Sara Frances | 02/04- 11:54 AM

Composition 101 trick simplifies keyword selection and organization

Combined Photo Mechanic & Lightroom Workflow Video

Dan Carr | 01/28- 10:45 PM

How to make the most of these two favorite programs in a singular workflow

LIGHTING STRATEGIES: Exploiting a Single Light Source

Art Adams | 01/28- 11:14 AM

Sometimes all it takes to make a beautiful picture is placing one light—as long as it’s the proper light source. This still photo shows an example of one style of soft lighting that’s been in use for centuries, and for good reason: it works.

Cuba! People-to-people 2012 dream trip for photographers

Sara Frances | 01/19- 10:14 AM

Hands On With The Canon G1 X

Dan Carr | 01/16- 11:02 PM

Nikon At CES With The New D4

Dan Carr | 01/15- 10:56 AM

Hands on impressions with Nikon’s latest flagship

A Look At JVC’s New 4K Camera And The Future Larger Sensor Interchangeable Lens Version

Dan Carr | 01/12- 12:14 AM

Intriguing first public look at prototype JVC 4k camera

Hands On Impressions Of The Fuji X-Pro 1

Dan Carr | 01/11- 05:00 AM

Photos and video run through of Fujifilms latest retro star

Adobe Launches Lightroom 4 Public Beta

Dan Carr | 01/10- 08:56 PM

Time to get testing !

Fuji Launches New X-Pro 1 And 3 Lenses

Dan Carr | 01/10- 12:45 AM

Fuji’s first foray into the interchangeable lens, large sensor market

Canon Creates Its Own Space In The Marketplace With The G1 X

Dan Carr | 01/10- 12:02 AM

Small camera, surprisingly large sensor

Lexar Introduces 1000x Memory Card

Tony Donaldson | 01/09- 07:10 AM

A CompactFlash card capable of 150 MB per second and full HD video.

Datacolor Launches Spyder4 for Simplicity and Accuracy in Color Calibration for all Display Devices

PPC News Staff | 01/06- 10:08 AM

Spyder4 Express, Spyder4 Pro and Spyder4 Elite Provide Full Spectrum Color Calibration for Creative Professionals

Hands-on with the HP Envy 110 e-All-In-One

Tony Donaldson | 01/06- 09:01 AM

It prints, scans, copies and faxes, more wirelessly than you even expect.

CRU-Dataport Drive Boxes

Tony Donaldson | 01/06- 12:33 AM

A safe way to archive and store your old hard drives.


image

Keyword editing made easier

Sara Frances | 02/04- 11:54 AM

Composition 101 trick simplifies keyword selection and organization

Effective keywording is one of the three most important ways to get your site or post found on the internet - along with title and description. But I’ve always found keywording a disorganized chore. Here’s a way to make the job simpler, quicker and more logical.

Remember how in composition 101 class you had to make an outline of topics, content, facts etc.? We used to do this on index cards, one card for each separate fact or topic. We wrote these in no particular order, just as they came to mind or emerged from research. Then we rearranged the stack of cards to create the logical skeleton of the essay. Done this way it was easy to see if there were any gaps in the content or if further rearrangement were needed.

I’ve found this analog approach works well for proposing, editing and sequencing keywords.

Once you’ve done your research, possibly on Google Adwords, to propose keywords, then you’ll also try to think inside the head of your audience to imagine what they might search on. I always make a big list of potential keywords, even if some seem a bit far out or not fully on target. For something as important as your website, you can never have too many keywords to start the edit process. Don’t forget keywords that speak to business products or services you may not do right now, but are targeted in your business plan.

Here’s my system to edit and organize your search keywords. My example is done on a blank file folder, easily preserved for future reference or for colleague comment.

image

  • Write down each proposed keyword “candidate” on a separate sticky note. I use the smallest size sticky notes and cut them in thirds to save space.
  • Arrange the stickies on your desk or a white board to get a good look at the total field.
  • Re-arrange them, grouping categories like Photo services, Photoshop, Album design, etc. (or whatever is your business)
  • Select the 2-5 most important keywords, then second tier from ones to be discarded.
  • Re-arrange again in a logical, customer-friendly sequence.
  • Generally choose no more than 25 keywords for your main core list (federal governments site limit). This is hard for us because we do so many things related to video, stills and productions.
  • Rearrange as many times as needed, because individual pages or blog posts will need different, specific keywords than those for the site in general
  • Keep a dated record of your final edit, and don’t throw away the de-selects, because they will eventually find a use - no need to rethink totally from the ground up

image
image

image

Combined Photo Mechanic & Lightroom Workflow Video

Dan Carr | 01/28- 10:45 PM

How to make the most of these two favorite programs in a singular workflow

I’ve posted a detailed video about what makes Photo Mechanic a must have program for many journalists and sports photographers before. But many people also like the easy adjustment tools of Adobe Lightroom. This video walks you through how to setup a workflow that incorporates the best of both of these programs.

To be considered for listing, contact pr (at) provideocoalition (dot) com