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The emergence of Canon DSLR video has been a triumph and a struggle for wantabe Steven Speilbergs, me included. The triumph is the undoubted quality of the image, and the creative avenues opened up by the wide variety of lenses available.

The struggle includes the introduction of so much new terminology, so many new ways to be creative and to fail miserably, and the inevitable havoc caused to well established workflows with the introduction of video. This post outlines my efforts to arrive at something resembling a usable workflow for video, using  MPEG Streamclip, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Youtube.

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We Had Some Great Adventures!

Ah, my first DSLR, a Canon 20D, it is time to part company. I will miss it, but the truth is I have not used it since I got my 7D. So it is up on eBay now, to be recycled into something new and shiny! Check it out here.

UPDATE: Sold and dispatched.

So Adobe has announced Creative Suite 5. There have already been some amazing preview video’s, but, as always with Adobe products, there will be the debate whether to upgrade or not. I am lucky enough to have Adobe Master Collection CS4, but here are the top three features which will probably push me down the upgrade path…

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Adobe Lightroom 2

In my previous post on Digital Asset Management, I briefly outlined some of the entry level contenders for DAM software such as Google Picasa and Adobe Photoshop Elements. In the rest of this series, I will look at some of the heavy weights, the professional asset management systems. I will start with the one I use most –  Adobe Lightroom. Not sure if this is a good idea as I it is the product that I am most intimate with, knowing its strengths and weaknesses. Let’s get started…

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20 Years of Adobe Photoshop - But is it Still Relevant for Photographers?

Webdesigner Depot website has a great overview of 20 Years of Adobe Photoshop. While I have Adobe Photoshop CS4; I find myself using it less and less, and I wonder whether it will remain as relevant to Photographers in particular in the future. The touch up tools now available in  Adobe Lightroom / Apple Aperture and the like could very well render Photoshop to the realm of super specialized tool for Graphic Artists and Web Designers.

That said, it really has been a phenomenon; so much so that it is often used as a verb:

That image looks photoshopped!

A result of that is that in popular culture it now stands for all that is wrong with magazine images of skinny models. It is accused of being complicated, difficult to learn and use, and extremely expensive. So much so that it must be one of the most pirated pieces of software on the internet.

Still amazing software though…

Windows 7 Logon Screen - Your Photos Here?

When you have a love of photography, you want to see your best images as much as possible. For those, like me, who spend most of their working day in front of a PC or Laptop you can always set your wallpaper to display your favorite image. With Microsoft Windows 7, you can even configure that image to automatically change frequently, or use images from an internet feed.

While this is a big improvement over Vista & XP, there are still some tweaks and adjustments which in my opinion should be built in, and could be done without complicating the overall user experience, such as the Windows Logon Screen, and in the case were you have dual monitors. Thankfully, others have stepped in to fill this gap…
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So Many Photos...

Ok, I am a geek. I love good software, and I am always chasing the next “Big Thing”. In photography, the “Big Thing” over the last few years has been Digital Asset Management software. With the announcement from Apple of Aperture 3, and the impending arrival of Adobe Lightroom 3, I felt its about time that I updated my previous post on software for Photographers. So below I outline my views on some of the leading contenders, including Google Picasa, Apple iPhoto, and Adobe Photoshop Elements. In part 2, I will cover the more professional orientated offerings (at least in price) such as Apple Aperture, Adobe Lightroom, and some more exotic candidates.

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Building foundations - the hard way!

When I started this blog, the web was alight with talk of Wordpress, Blogger, and other “blogging platforms”. I eventually chose Wordpress as I was blown away by all the varied and artistic themes that were available for it. Also Wordpress is extremely extendable through plugins for embedding Youtube movies, photo’s from Flickr and a host of other things. Before you even start blogging, it is important to build a solid foundation for your Wordpress Blog. Here are 11 plugins to help with that…

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Which Photo Software? What photo software you need, when, and why...

I recently discussed the must haves / don’t needs of buying a digital camera, depending on the stage of your photography obsession . I would imagine that most of the time photo’s come straight out of the camera and onto paper, if at all. If you want to take your photo’s that little bit further, here are some software tools which can smooth the way…

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I have long pondered setting up a “Home on the Web”. Obviously, if you are reading this, I must of actually got around to it, but what does it take to make it happen?

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