Some time ago I found the web site of an amazing photographer called Zack Arias and while browsing his site I stumbled upon one of his videos titled: “Short film for ScottKelvy.com”
I thought, great, another instructional video by another photographer. After watching the video, I sat in front of my laptop for long time thinking about what Zack said in that video and it made me realize that I really suck as photographer. But it also made me realize that every other great photographer including Zack Arias, Jeremy Cowart, Chase Jarvis, Scott Bourne, Denis Reggie, Mike Colon, Joe Buissink all of them sucked as photographers at one point in their careers too. The mere realization of this, made me suck less. THANKS Zack!
Adobe has released the first public beta of Lightroom 3 and it’s packed with tons of new features. The 3 videos below show the most important new features included in the public beta but keep in mind that the final product might be significantly different. Adobe has announced that by releasing early this public beta will allow them to listen to the user community and implement as much of the suggested functionality in the final product as possible.
Included in this beta is a new faster and more efficient rendering engine which allows you to quickly preview and move from one image to the next without having to wait for long time for the image to properly render. (NOTE 1: In my initial testing using my MacBook PRO 2.33GHz with 3GB RAM the image rendering is actually slower than in the current version of Lightroom. I will continue to test and perform some benchmarking and submit my comments to Adobe)
They’ve also added a noise reduction facility, watermarking (finally), film grain simulation tool (very cool), a new and improved import module. They have also added the ability to publish to the web directly from inside Lightroom 3 library to different popular photo sharing sites. Plug-ins for additional photo sharing sites will be available from the third party vendors but connecting to Flickr was a breeze.
One of the features that I really like is the ability to create exportable Slide Shows in the popular and dynamic H.264 movie format. This module allows you to create export slide shows from 320×240 suitable for small personal players to full High bit-rate 1080HD (1920×1080). We can finally create and share slide shows from inside Lightroom and share them with our clients. (NOTE 2: I’ve created a Slide Show of 323 pictures with background music and I clicked on the “Export Video” button when I started to write this post at 7:11PM and is already 8:33PM and the export is only half way done (I need to learn how to be a faster writer) I’m very impressed with most of the features included in this Lightroom 3 Beta, but so far I’m not impressed with the performance of this version AT ALL but I trust Adobe will correct all of this annoyances soon.)
Adobe also added a custom print package that allows you to create custom print layouts but I hope the final release includes a full blown book printing module like the one found in Aperture 2 or better. PLEASE ADOBE, add a functional book printing module that is second to none in the industry and allow for direct upload to quality printing services.
WHAT’S NEW IN LIGHTROOM 3 – PART 1
WHAT’S NEW IN LIGHTROOM 3 – PART 2
WHAT’S NEW IN LIGHTROOM 3 – PART 3
For more information and to download Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta, please visit Adobe Labs.
When I saw the features of the new 7D, I knew that Canon was preparing to launch a great product in the high end category but I never thought it was going to be a new EOS-1D Mark IV.
The incredible set of features of this camera outshine Nikon’s recent release of their D3s. The new Canon not only offers a huge range of ISO but it also adds 10 fps and 45-point AF system including 39 cross-type points.
The full HD 1080 video suitable for professional applications will make this camera the choice of professionals (I am a fan already). A 16.1 Megapixel APS-H CMOS sensor and Dual DIGIC 4 Image Processors for high image quality and to provide the speed needed to support the 10pfs. This camera is a monster!
Visually, the EOS-1D Mark IV looks almost identical to the EOS-1D Mark III. The only difference is a slight bump around the ports to accommodate the HDMI socket.
“Throughout the EOS 1D MARK IV’s development, we’ve carefully studied feedback from our photographers and developed a camera to meet their specific requirements” said Mr. Shinbori, Senior General Manager of Camera Development Center, Canon Inc. “With a brand new, high-quality CMOS sensor and Dual “DIGIC 4” processors, the Canon EOS 1D MARK IV allows photographers to be the first to get the highest quality images to picture desks in what is becoming an increasingly competitive market.”.
Compared to the EOS 7D, the EOS 1D Mark IV does not have some features like – the Dual Axis Electronic level and Zone AF for example. However, in a camera such as this, this is not an issue. For the working photographer, who needs to get the shots time and again and who will use the camera to make money from, these extras are not needed. If you’re not a working photographer and you want the most technically advanced camera you can get, then buy the EOS 7D.
The Canon 1D Mark IV is reasonable priced at: $4,999 and according to Canon it will be available in the UK on December 2009. Visit Canon’s web site for full features. You can also visit EOS Network for the full press releases.
Don’t get rid of your “old” EOS-5D Mark II, Canon has also announced they are working on a firmware update that will allow for user selectable frame rate on the the 5D. The new firmware will be released in the first half of 2010 and it offers both 24 and 25fps shooting speeds for full HD movies.
In recent events, T-Mobile lost personal data of thousands of subscribers who own a Sidekick device. This is obviously unacceptable but it’s the reality we live in. Big corporations lose clients data every day, not all of them intentionally and not all of them are victims of hackers, they’re just victims of technology. Checkout the announcement displayed on the T-Mobile web site on October 12, 2009.
This is scary and shows us that we’re ultimately responsible for the safe keeping of our data even when it’s stored in the cloud and we’re paying customers of large corporations. I’m a regular listener of several Podcasts, not only photography Podcasts but technology as well. A couple of months ago I listened to a photography podcast where someone was having an argument over not uploading all of our photography onto the cloud. There was also a counter argument defending the fact that we should trust the cloud because the technology is mature enough and that it’s the way technology is going.
As many of you, I do have lots of pictures and most of these images are stored on the cloud but I also have several backup USB hard drives in my office. I know that many of you are using Drobos but my current budget does not allows me for such luxury, so in addition to my USB drives I also have a backup subscription with Mozy and I also use Dropbox and Live Mesh to store some of my work on the cloud.
You can say that my files are backup 4 times and I can recover from several levels of computer disaster combining all of these backup components.
Here’s my usual workflow: I download my CF cards directly onto my laptop’s hard drive and depending on the type of pictures (client, personal, etc) I create a folder either in the Dropbox tree or the Mesh tree. In either case they are picked up by the daily SuperDuper backup job and the Mozy backup job as well. My files are now safe – Phew!
The other portion of the workflow is to make the pictures available to my clients. So the unprocessed photos remain on the compact flash cards until I finish editing the copies on my computer and upload the final versions onto Pictage for customer viewing and/or to my web site. Once the pictures have been uploaded my Lightroom library is then moved onto a DVD and stored for “final” archival.
If one of the USB drives in my office fails, all what I need to do is get a new USB drive and start the download process of downloading the missing images from the cloud onto the new USB drive or just get the appropriate DVD’s and copy the contents back. This ensures my images are still in at least 4 places and if the cloud storage providers go out of business or something dramatic happens to them I will still have all my images.
Cloud storage is great and I encourage you to use it with caution and make sure you have alternative ways to restore your valuable data from disaster.
T-Mobile us not the only example of data loss, there are several companies that faced this problem before. A couple of weeks when Google email was out for 100 minutes, it was a disaster for thousands of users. What was Google’s response? They basically said that they don’t care and if the users (you) don’t like the quality of service, you can go elsewhere for “better” service. (Matt Cutts, head of the web spam team interviewed by Leo Laporte in This week in Google 6:All your Os are belong to us)
Cloud storage technology is maturing every day and I’m sure that one day it will become the only storage we ever need. Laptops will have no permanent storage devices and all of our data will live in an organic network dispersed across the world. But today I will keep using my local storage “Just in case”.
I’ve been a Photoshop.com user since the beginning and although it offers an excellent online image editing tool and the ability to create albums and share images with your friends it was never too appealing. That is, until Adobe released PHOTOSHOP MOBILE, this REALLY changes things and makes the photoshop.com offering an incredible alternative to tweak and share your photos with the right price tag: FREE.
The newly released Photoshop Mobile for the iPhone allows you to crop, adjust exposure, saturation, colors, convert to black and white, apply filters and upload directly to your FREE library in the Photoshop.com website which has TONS of additional high quality editing tools. This is an amazing FREE product and I’m sure that a lot of the other photo applications previously released that cost $20 will be soon out of the market. Also, some of the newer applications that offer a website to share your pictures for free will also be impacted by Adobe’s product release.
Adobe has also released its mobile application for SEVERAL other mobile devices including: HTC Touch, Samsun Epix, Sony Experia, Palm Treo and others. For a full list of available models visit Photoshop.com and download it directly to your phone.
Ready to rock the runway? Upload your video to the CBS web site to enter the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Model Search Contest. Maybe you know someone who has what it takes to become the next Victoria’s Secret Angel, be a good friend and pass this link.
Casting Schedule
NEW YORK | Oct. 3 Yankee Stadium 1 E 161st Bronx, NY 10451-2100 Castings begin 8am
LOS ANGELES | Oct.17 W Los Angeles Westwood 930 Hilgard Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90024 Castings begin 8am.
MIAMI | Oct. 10 Gansevoort South 2377 Collins Avenue Miami Beach , Florida 33139 Castings begin 8am
CHICAGO | Oct. 24 W Chicago Lakeshore 644 North Lake Shore Drive Chicago, Illinois 60611-3017 Castings begin 8am
For rules, details and entry forms, visit CBS web site and upload your videos to be included in the Victoria’s Secret Model search contest.
Finally Dropbox has released the iPhone version of its popular cloud storage application. If you’re not familiar with Dropbox you owe yourself a visit to GetDropBox.com and checkout one of the best cloud storage services currently available. They offer a free 2GB account which believe it or not offers plenty of storage for lots of pictures and other documents.
The service is amazingly quick and reliable. One of the many features I like is the ability to easily share photo folders with family and friends. The other great feature is the included version control that allows you to restore files you accidentally deleted from one of the devices in your group with a click of a mouse.
Just picture this scenario, you are at your client’s office away from your own town and your laptop is at the office. The client is ready to sign the contract immediately otherwise it will be a month before you can have a second chance. What do you do? Login to your Dropbox using your iPhone and email a copy of the contract you prepared at your office exclusively for them and you’re done!
Take a look at the features and try the service for free at www.getdropbox.com I’m sure you will be amazed with the ability to have a backup of your important files on the cloud and replicated on your favorite devices with one central version control.
Well it was just a matter of time for the Open Source visionaries to come up with an Open Source Digital Camera (Frankencamera) and a team at Stanford University is doing just that. This camera will revolutionize the digital camera industry and change the way we take pictures.
Imagine a camera that could actually allow you to compose, preview and shot in HDR? Or image a Camera that allows you to change the focus point after the picture has been taken. How about a camera that will allow you expose one half of the picture at f/2.8 and the other half at f/5.6?
According to the Experts at Stanford University, these are some of the features you will be able to get with the Frankencamera. Marc Levoy, professor of Computer Science and of Electrical Engineering and graduate student Andrew Adams photographed below with the open source camera.
The camera runs Linux, and its metering, focusing, demosaicing, denoising, white balancing, and other post-processing algorithms are programmable. The current version takes Canon EOS lenses.
Here’s a video of the Stanford team explaining some of the possibilities of this Open Source Camera (Frankencamera)
My good friend Todd Rapparport of Rapparport Design knows that I’m always looking for better and faster ways to test my web designs on different web browsers specifically Firefox (Mac/Win), Internet Explorer (6.0/7.0/8.0) and Safari (Mac/Win) and when he came across Adobe’s BrowserLab he immediately sent it to me and I’m sold on this free Cross-Browser testing tool.
The product looks mature and it has Adobe’s signature clean and sophisticated look and feel. It allows you to switch from each of the browsers rendering by simply selecting the browser from a drop-down list. It also allows you to see your design on two different browsers side-by-side.
I know this tool will not solve Internet Explorer compatibility issues but at least it will allow me to quickly compare my design’s behavior on each of the popular web browsers.
I came across the blog of my friend John Saddington “Human3rror” and I was impressed with the Digital Business Card Wordpress theme he has created. The theme is not only clean and trendy, it allows you to link and display your profiles from several social networks.
The Wordpress theme is easy to install and configure. You can choose which social networks to display and the profile to display when your visitors click on the social network icon. You can visit and download the Free Wordpress Theme from his blog.
Speaking about social media icons, Komodo Media has a ridiculously rad set of cool social media icons for free.
…and did I mention that these icons are all for free? Download the Free Social Network Icon Set directly from Komodo’s website.
Some time ago I found the web site of an amazing photographer called Zack Arias and while browsing his site I stumbled upon one of his videos titled: “Short film for ScottKelvy.com”
