In News, Photoshop on
March 27, 2008 with no comments
There’s a lot of buzz about Adobe’s beta release of Photoshop Express, the simplified online photo editor and hosting service. The review over at Webware mentions the site’s TOS, which is worth a look:
Adobe does not claim ownership of Your Content. However, with respect to Your Content that you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Services, you grant Adobe a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, derive revenue or other remuneration from, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other Materials or works in any format or medium now known or later developed. (emphasis mine)
I’d like to see some clarification on this. Especially the parts about being irrevocable and being able to “derive revenue.”
Update 3/29/08: Ars Technica has more details and a response from Adobe.
In Links, Media on
March 7, 2008 with no comments
MLB Increases Its Chokehold: Starts Its Own Online Usage Restrictions…
– Sites can’t post more than seven photos from any game online.
– Audio/video content created at MLB ballparks cannot stay up on a news site for more than 72 hours.
– All applicants for a press credential must provide advance written notice of intent to transmit any non-text material.
I read this last week and still don’t get why the leagues, including the NFL, are allowed to dictate how news content is presented. Hopefully the media organizations will fight this and make the MLB come to its senses. [via Buzz Out Loud]
In Photography on
March 3, 2008 with no comments
Long exposures with the Holga can be a little tricky. With just one shutter speed (1/125 or so) and one aperture (f13) doing anything with the standard mode is pretty much out of the question. Some models have a bulb mode, but since there is no meter it’s a guessing game when it comes to proper exposure length.
So I figured I would cheat and use the 20D to meter the scene. I set the 20D to f13, set the ISO to match the film speed, and framed the shot to match the Holga the best I could. Using the 20D’s meter, I set the proper shutter speed and fired off a test shot. If it looked good it was the one I wanted to use for the Holga.
Without a cable release for the Holga, I have to press and hold the shutter manually. I don’t have a watch either, so counting down the seconds is an inexact science. Essentially I just press the shutter and then count out the seconds in my head – one-one thousand, two-one thousand, etc - until time is up and I release the shutter. Not much to it.
I’ve only tried this once, but it works pretty well. The biggest issue is the camera shake due to the lack of a proper cable release.
Here is one of the better exposed shots from my first attempt. The exposure time was about four seconds.
In Links on
February 29, 2008 with no comments
Photographer Recreates Famous Photos with Legos - Recreations of the work of Ebbets, Cartier-Bresson and more with some clever shots of Star Wars Legos thrown in for good measure. The Eddie Adams Vietnam photo redone with smiling Lego figures is a little creepy.
The photographer’s Flickr stream is worth checking out. I particularly like this photo of Soundwave and Laserbeak.
In How-To, Photoshop on
February 28, 2008 with no comments
Actions are a great way to accelerate your Photoshop workflow, but clicking though the actions panel to choose the one you want can be a hassle. I recently decided to streamline the process even further by assigning keyboard shortcuts to my most used actions.
Assigning the shortcuts is easy, the option is just buried in the Photoshop actions menu.
To get started, fire up PS (I’m using CS3) and click the actions tab. Choose the action that you want to assign the shortcut to then click the tiny arrow (expertly circled in the image on the left) to open the actions menu. Then choose “Action Options.” This brings up a window where you can choose the F-key you want to use. You can also specify if you want to make use of the CTRL and/or Shift keys for your shortcut. Click OK and you’re done.
Now you can fire off actions without having to aim your mouse. It scores points for boosting both speed and laziness – a win-win situation.
In Events, Photography on
February 27, 2008 with 2 comments
Last Saturday our local photography group had access to a Lamborghini Diablo for a group photo shoot. This was a thrill since I spent a considerable portion of my teenage years drooling over cars in “Road & Track” and “Motor Trend” magazines. Mixing fast cars and photography is about as good as it gets.
After finding a parking lot with enough green grass nearby to provide a decent background, we started shooting. Cars like the Diablo aren’t exactly common around here, and we drew plenty of looks from passers-by wondering what we were doing with such an unusual car. I think someone asked if we were working on an ad.
Shooting cars can be a challenge. You really have to keep an eye out for harsh shadows and reflections that can spoil a shot. Since I like to use a wide-angle lens, I spent a lot of time crawling around the parking lot trying to keep my reflection out of the picture. Is there a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon? 
With another successful group shoot in the bag, I’m already curious to see what we come up with for the next outing.
In Geekery on
February 27, 2008 with 1 comment
In an epic display of geekery, Veronica Belmont, Merlin Mann, and Leo Laporte joined Jonathan Coulton in a live Rock Band performance of “Still Alive.” Check out the video here.
Coulton also appeared on this week’s episode of TWiT. There’s a little too much JoCo fanboyism, but the discussions about the music industry, creating independent content, and building an audience online made for an excellent episode.
Such Great Heights
Video: Joe McNally photographs the changing of a light bulb atop the Empire State Building. (0)
