Weekend Link Round-up
Firefox
Firestatus Firefox Add-on: Update Twitter, FaceBook and FriendFeed Right from Firefox
Looks like a nice add-on for easy social site updating.
Web Dev
The Best Cheat Sheets for Web Developers
"We have collated a set of best cheat sheets for web developers. It includes some of the popular programming language, e.g. jQuery, Mootools, Prototype, PHP, MySQL and more."
Gmail
5 LIttle Known Gmail Tips
Check out some power user tips for Gmail users.
Photoshop
11 Photoshop Tutorials All Web Designers Should Learn
A round-up of well-chosen online Photoshop tutorials meant to teach a variety of Photoshop techniques to add to your design skills.
Top 33 Photoshop Tutorials Resource Sites
From speckyboy.com, a nice list of resources for Photoshop Tutorials.
Web Design
Web Design Toolbox: 130+ New Tools to Make You a Better and Faster Designer
A nice round-up of web design tools from mashable.com.
CSS
Golden Ratio in Modern CSS
CSS Globe takes a look at how to create a web layout that feels comfortable to the user by using the Golden Ratio theory.
Pro Sharpening in Photoshop CS3 Using Smart Filters
Veerle Peters has a nice tutorial today, showing how to sharpen a photo using Photoshop CS3's Smart Filters. If you're still using CS2, don't despair, read to the end of the article to learn how to accomplish a similar thing with CS2.
Pro Sharpening in Photoshop CS3 using Smart Filters (Veerle's Blog)
Cross Process and Redscale Effects in Photoshop
I have really been enjoying photography site Epic Edits, not only for it's photography tips but for tutorials on how to achieve certain image effects in Photoshop. Their latest is a nice how-to produce Cross Process and Redscale effects.
I gotta hand it to the film guys, they sure know how to have a good time. I’m fascinated by the many methods and techniques they can use to produce some very interesting images, all of which are only possible with film. As digital photographers, we can only try to mimic what they can do in hopes that our work will turn out half as interesting. Here are a couple of my favorite film photography techniques that can be (sort of) reproduced with Photoshop.
Photoshop Techniques: Cross Process and Redscale (Epic Edits)
Photoshop Vintage Effect Tutorial
From Veerle, a nice tutorial on how to give our digital photos a vintage effect in Photoshop. The tutorial offers some techniques that make a great starting point for a number of image effects.
Top Best 55 Photoshop Tutorials for Professional Photographers
Emma Alvarez Site: Top Best 55 Photoshop Tutorials For Professional Photographers is a really nice list of links to Photoshop Tutorials for photographers. You certainly don't have to be a professional photographer to benefit from a browse of this list!
How to Read and Understand a Histogram
Photography website Professional Photographer has a great article on understanding the histogram, that's definitely worth a read for anyone interested in photography.
So a histogram is a useful tool for helping you analyze, at a glance, how the information and exposure data in a photograph is distributed. It shows the luminosity range of the image along with how it is distributed.
How To Read and Understand a Histogram
16 Inspiration Portrait Photography Techniques
Hobbyist photography site, Epic Edits Weblog, has a great article for portrait photography inspiration. 16 Inspirational Portrait Photography Techniques shows 16 different elements or techniques that can produce a great portrait photo.
A great read for any photographer.
60 Sources of Photography Inspiration
Anyone who has been taking photos for a while eventually reaches a time when nothing seems to be inspiring them. This article from Photography website Photopreneur aims to help out with that.
60 Sources of Inspiration for Photography offers some great ideas from breaking out of a creative, photography rut, if you ever find yourself in one.
Pixel Addiction: Photoshop and Photography Tutorials
Pixel Addiction Tutorials is a collection of Photoshop and Photography tutorials that anyone with an interest in these things will find very useful, such as the Creating Brush Collages illustrated above.
Tutorials are available for Photoshop, Illustrator and Paintshop Pro, as well as general photography and image tutorials.
Worth a bookmark.
Demystifying D-SLR Sensor Cleaning
If you (like me) have been terrified at the prospect of cleaning the sensor on your D-SLR camera, here's a nice article that walks through the various methods and outlines the pros and cons of each.
Cleaning Digital Cameras - The Methods
Bernie's Better Beginners Guide to Photography
Bernie's Better Beginner's Guide to Photography
Most authors of photography guides are experienced professionals, and speak with the authority of the published photographer. Instead I write this beginner's guide with the authority of a beginner. I flatter myself that I am better placed to advise the beginner geek on how to learn to use a camera than the professional photographer is: I have just been a beginner myself, so what was confusing and what was simple is fresh in my mind.
An excellent beginners guide and definitely worth a read for new photographers or those who feel they still have something to learn.
9 Photoshop Techniques for Great Photos
Warning: These 9 Photoshop Techniques May Result In Great Photos - a nice round-up article with ideas on how to bring some artistic effects to your photography.
I've just recently discovered this blog - Epic Edits Weblog, but from what I've seen of it, it's a worthwhile bookmark for anyone interested in photography, with lots of useful information.
Create Realistic Film Grain for Digital Photography with Photoshop
Realistic film grain for digital photograpy - a tutorial
For a very long time I've been looking for a way to create realistic looking film grain on digital photos. As much as I love digital photography I've always missed the magnificent atmospheric film grain you get when shooting on Kodak Tri-X 400 film. I've looked into several plugins but didn't find anything that's really worth the money. Today I was fiddling with some pictures I took on a photoshoot with a band and all of a sudden I found a way to do it!
The results are great (see sample photo in the article) and it's achieved with just a few steps in Photoshop. Nice!
Photoshop with Photography
Site Deziner Folio offers up some nice photoshop tips for use with digital photos. Simple and Effective Photographic Results for Beginners.
Some nice, simple ways to enhance photos, intended for beginners. At the end of the article there is a link to download a Photoshop Action for the effects shown.
90+ Online Photography Tools and Resources
90 Online Photography Tools and Resources is another great list from Mashable, with a host of online photography goodies, from online photo editors to photo sharing and hosting.
A nice round-up of photography resources.
Top 10 Most Common Photographic Mistakes
The Ten Most Common Photographic Mistakes is an excellent article with some great tips for taking better photos.
Lots of photographic examples to illustrate the tips, which is always helpful, too.
A great read.
The Bucket Method for Photographing Flowers
The Bucket Method for Photographing Flowers is a great, do-it-yourself project for making a "bucket" to photograph flowers against a black (or white, if you prefer) background.
Find out what the Shutter Life Expectancy of your Digital Camera Might Be
Camera Shutter Life | Database collects user information for a LOT of digital cameras and the shutter count that users achieved with them.
In checking my model (Canon Digital Rebel XT), I'm encouraged to see a user reporting 85,000 clicks and the shutter is still alive!
Digital Photography Tips Links
Digital Photography Tips, Digital Photography techniques: how to take better photos from the HP Digital Photography site, a lot of photography and digital photography articles to help us take better photos.
Also, The Ultimate Guide to Starting your own DSLR Obsession: Part 1 Getting Prepared - a great read for anyone looking to make the leap to a Digital SLR camera.
One Year of Stock Photography
Christophe Testi: One Year of Stock Photography! - details one photographer's experience with selling his photos on various stock photography sites.
A great read for anyone who has ever thought about making a bit of money with their photographs.
Learn better photography with Kris Krug Video
Learn better photography with Kris Krug at Northern Voice | ScobleShow: Videoblog about geeks, technology, and developers - talking photography. If you have an interest in photograpy, how other people approach photography, tips and tricks and more, this 45 minute video is time well spent.
Seven Essential Steps to Digital Workflow
Seven Essential Steps to Digital Workflow is a nice little article on digital photography workflow from capture to cropping and sharpening.
I'm always hungry for a good "from the trenches" article about digital photography workflow and while this one is good, I would have loved more detail and illustrations but nonetheless, a worthwhile read.
Focal Length and Aperture Explained
Focal Length and Aperture Explained for the Photography Novice - a really nice beginner look at focal length and aperture, explained in plain english and nicely illustrated to further the explanation.
A good read for anyone struggling with understanding the basics of photography.
3 Solutions for shooting against the light in photography
3 Simple Solutions for Shooting Against the Light in Photography that Work "Shooting against the light has always been a tricky thing in photography", but photography site photoaxe.com shows 3 ways to deal with it, to produce better photos.
A great read with some really good tips.
Four Methods to Remove Colorcast in Photos
Four Methods to Remove Colorcast in digital photos using Photoshop.
"Sometimes getting the color balance right on digital shots is difficult. Here are some techniques for using Photoshop to improve the color of your photographs."
An excellent overview of four different methods, from simple levels tweaking to more complex, using a color check card. A great read.
PhotoWalkthrough.com: learning digital photography with video and audio tutorials
If you've been looking for a site that will help you learn digital photography post-processing, then it's certainly worth looking at PhotoWalkthrough.com PhotoWalkthrough offers free video tutorial podcast covering digital photography post processing using adobe photoshop cs2.
"This site should focus not just on the mechanics of how an image was produced but also explain the mental process of the artist. It should explain why they made the decisions they did - even if it was just "because it looked nice". I hope that a typical visitor here will already be comfortable with the process of shooting a photograph and getting it onto their PC but they might be interested in the more artistic elements of the process such as how to look at a photograph and tell if it's a keeper. Or how to look at a photograph and see within it a crop or processing technique that will make it stand out."
The site will start with a photo and walkthough the post-processing process in a series of video tutorials (Quicktime). In addition, PhotoWalkthrough features tips and tricks posts and rss feeds of either the full-sized or an ipod sized videos.
PhotoWalkthrough is part of the Photocast Network, which is another great photography resource. It features it's own photography related podcasts, with input from around the photography podcast/photocast world. Check out the Podcasts blogroll for links to more great sites.
Getting Started with HDR Photography
HDR or High Dynamic Range photography is one of the hottest new imaging trends. As great as digital photography is, there are inevitably scenes that we want to capture whose range from light to dark are just too extreme for the camera to capture. If you (like me) have been interested in getting started with creating HDR images, here are some resources I've found.
PDF E-book: oreilly.com -- Online Catalog: HDR: An Introduction to High Dynamic Range Photography - just $7.99 to download and start learning right away.
HDR Tutorial at Cambridge in Colour. This article/tutorial does a great job of explaining the process and capture requirements and then shows how to use Photoshop to create an HDR image.
Get inspiration at the Flickr HDR pool.
HDR Photography article on #ffooaa.
HDR Photography from a single RAW photo using software program Photomatix.
A useful HDR FAQ.
Modern HDR Photography, a popular HDR article from last summer.
The HDR Landscape Photography Tutorial.
Merge to HDR in Photoshop CS2 - a great introduction to the HDR feature introduced in Photoshop CS2.
Set Your Camera to Automatically Transfer your Pictures, Sort and more (WindowsXP)
Set Your Camera to Automatically Transfer Pictures to Your Computer, Sort By Date and More! (Windows XP) - step-by-step how to set up a sleek image transfer, sort and storage routine automatically with most digital cameras and Windows XP.
Why repeat the same steps time after time if you don't have to?
The SimCam: Film and Digital Camera Simulator
The SimCam: Film and Digital Camera Simulator is a fantastic tool for anyone wanting to understand the basic concepts of photography - film or digital.
The SimCam tool simulates Shutter and Aperture, Film Speed and Camera Shake. For each tool, you simply dial in the paramaters, they are applied to the sample photo and you see the results of your choices.
Demystifying exposure: interactive audio tutorials for digital photography
a shot apart: tutorials presents a whole series of digital photography lessons in audio/interactive form (mp3).
This series looks at "Demystifying Exposure" and consists of seven parts, each anywhere from 2 to 6 MB in size, that will walk through the various aspects of exposure. From the site ...
• We'll talk about what it is, understand how it works
• Demystify a lot of the terms and vocab
• Understand how to control and utilize aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to your advantage
• Learning exposure will help any photographer in any context, from artistic photo shoots to casual vacation photos
• Learn by experimentation, not passive reading. The audio guides you along as you adjust your camera and go on little mini shoots
Note that these are intended to be interactive, so we would presumably look up the mp3 on our ipod to listen to while getting out with our camera and following along by doing. An great idea and worth checking out.
5 Things you need to know about SLR lenses
5 Things You Need to Know About SLR Lenses - a good article for anyone trying to figure out what lenses they should be looking for to go with that new SLR camera.
From the article ... “what lens should I buy?” Well, that’s a tricky question because there simply is no one-size-fits-all lens.My goal in this article is to give you some basic knowledge about lenses that will help set you on the path to lens buying goodness, or if you’re like me, indecisiveness. Hey, it’s a start."
Tutorial: Have your subjects pop right out of your photos
instructables : Creating a 3D effect with image editing software (GIMP or Photoshop) - a really fun effect with some great how-to instructions that work equally well in GIMP or Photoshop.
Check out some of the examples in the comments for some fun ideas for using this effect.
Microsoft Photo Info Power Tool
Microsoft Photo Info - a brand, spanking new Power Tool from Microsoft! This add-in for Windows "allows photographers to add, change and delete common metadata properties for digital photographs from inside Windows Explorer."
Photo Info provides the ability to edit images individually or as a group, generate a copyright notice automatically, view and correct EXIF info, preview the image and more! Needs Windows XP SP2 or later or Vista.
Nice!
Cheap cameras don't take crappy photos, people do
Cheap cameras don't take crappy photos, people do is a one of the nicest illustration I've seen on how to improve photos, regardless of what kind of camera you're using to take the picture. The article looks at composition, moving closer, taking lots of photos then picking the best of the bunch and then refining the photo in photoshop.
On the photoshop front and as a follow-up article, is How to Adjust the Lighting in Photos Like You Mean It, which walks through some really nice photo adjustments that can be done in Photoshop to really bring out the best in the subject.
Local Contrast Enhancement: how to remove haze from your digital photos
The Contrast Enhancement technique is one that every digital photographer should have in their post-processing toolbox.
The technique involves using the Unsharp Mask Tool (in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or the GIMP) and does a great job with a lot of photos that are lacking "punch".
Turn your camera upside down for more flattering portraits
Well that's a tip I've never heard before! Turn Your Digital Camera Upside Down For Better Portraits - Digital Camera University suggests that "believe it or not by turning your camera upside down impacts how the light from the flash illuminates your subject. Most people have circles under their eyes and when you turn your camera upside down the flash hits the skin at a different angle and helps diminish the circles and makes them look younger."
The author admits that the effect of this trick is subtle but I do think it does show a nicer light on the subject in the example photos in the article. What I want to know though is how easy it is to actually take a picture with the camera upside down? I guess I'll have to try it to find out!
PhotoWalkthrough.com
PhotoWalkthrough.com - tutorial guidance on photography image creation and tools. - a series of video tutorials which walk through the process of photo post-processing in Photoshop to create some really stunning photos.
Each video tutorial is divided in to chapters, which makes for smaller downloads and the ability to watch a bit at t time.
Photography: Rules of Composition
Lost in Bluedom has a great photography article on composing your photos. The Rules of Composition - looks at the classic "rule of thirds", as well as other things to consider when framing up that photo.
Some composition rules I find make a big difference are: getting really close or shooting really wide. Either/or. Often (although not always) the in-between area lacks impact; trying to shoot from higher up (on a stool) or from lower down (lay on the ground); make sure you have a "subject" before you shoot and think about ways to highlight that subject with framing. And if all else fails, remember you have a second chance to get it right by doing a bit of cropping in the digital darkroom!
IMHO, composition is where it's at for anyone looking to improve their photos. Beyond the camera model, the f-stop or ISO, if the composition is lacking, the photo will often fail.
Here are some more resources for photographic "rules of composition".
A whole bunch of Photography Composition Articles.
Learn Photographic Composition.
Photography Composition: Your photo as a story.
Photography Technique, Composition Tips, Books and Websites.
Turn an ordinary photo into an extraordinary photo
Blurbomat | How to Turn an Ordinary Photo Into an Extraordinary Photo walks through the photoshop process he took when post-processing a photo in photoshop.
I love these kind of posts. Not many people are willing to share their techniques like this. Kudos and thanks!
A Photoshop tutorial for photographers
A Photoshop tutorial for photograpers - Twisted Tree Photography is an excellent resource for digital photographers, with a lot of interesting articles on the use of Photoshop and on digital photography in general. Well written and presented.
Eye for Photos: Photography Tips
Eye for Photos offers up some nice guides, tips and tricks for photography and post-processing. Start with Principles of Photography, then Photography Basics, Macro Photography and Post Processing.
I found the look at photo digital framing options on the Post Processing page particularly interesting. Amazing how a different framing technique can change the look of the photo! Eye for Photos helpfully shows how to achieve these framing techniques in Photoshop.
Top 10 Digital Photography Tips
Top Ten Digital Photography Tips is a really good read for some reminders of things to consider to take your digital photos up a notch.
Personally, I needed a nudge to reconsider my aversion to tripods. They are a "necessary evil", the writer reminds and some shots are just impossible to capture without one. The recommended UltraPod is a great choice and perfectly addresses my main beef with tripods - their size to lug around.
Digital Lens Filters: mimicking traditional techniques in Photoshop
Digital Lens Filters takes a look at mimicking the use of colored lens filters with black and white film with digital cameras and Photoshop.
The article provides some great information and links on the effect of colored filters as well as various black and white conversion methods for Photoshop.
Finally, the article looks at how to bring the colored filter effect in to Photoshop and as an added bonus, offers up some digital lens filter Photoshop Actions as well! (linked within and at the bottom of the article).
Developing an Efficient Digital Photography Workflow
Developing a Professional Digital Photography Workflow - PictureCorrect Tips - an excellent article on how to develop a routine method for processing digital photos, from capture, through RAW processing, through photoshop to saving and backing up. Some really good information here.
How to buy and use polarizing filters
How to Use and Buy Polarizing Filters - A great look at polarizing filters - what they do and what kind to buy.
Best Photos of 2005
immense world: 18 Best Photos of Year 2005 are so fabulous! They are each so special in their own way. The fish one freaks me out a bit, the galaxy is awe inspiring and the dog through the fence is hilarious. Great photography!
The Law for Photographers
The Law for Photographers / Travel Photography Law / Legal Issues of Taking Photos - a good read for any photographer who has ever wondered whether they should take/publish a photo.
Photographing Children - a How to
Digital Photography World: PHOTOGRAPHING CHILDREN - an in-depth look at how to get great photographs of children.
Ways to Photograph Motion
Expressing Motion in Photography - PictureCorrect Tips and Lessons - looks at freezing motion, motion blur of the whole image, motion blur of just the subject and panning.
Photography Techniques Education Site
dg28.com - photographer education is a treasure trove of photography technique advice, showing how to deal with a number of shooting conditions to achieve great results.
Create a Killer Panorama in Photoshop
Photoshop Reference Guide > Creating a Killer Panorama - a how-to.
Next generation Canon Rebel announced: the XTi/400D
Canon EOS XTi/400D featuring a 10.1 Megapixel CMOS, 30D focus including 2.8 enhanced, Antidust, Large 2.5" viewfinder and picture styles . You can see tech specs here.
The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi/400D is slated to ship in mid-September 2006 in the U.S. at an estimated street price of US$799, or US$899 in a kit with the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II.
A couple of photography links
Digital Photography Tips From The Top Floor - 101 Ways To Improve Your Digital Photography
Controlled Image Sharpening in Photoshop CS2 - for when unsharp mask just doesn't cut it. With very nice results!
Online Image Editors Comparison
With online image editors popping up a lot lately, Online Image Editors Compared | Smiley Cat Web Design is a timely look at the choices and their features.
Zoomr and Lightbox
Put some oomph into your blog with Zooomr and Lightbox - a how to add snazzy lightbox effects to your blog using your Zoomr account to host the photos.
Photojojo � Panographies: Panoramas on Steroids - a very cool panorama-like effect how to from Photojojo.
Picture2Life Online Photo Editing
Picture2Life! is yet another online photo editing tool. This is the second one I've seen this week. This one looks nice, although I'm still not convinced of the steady and ongoing need for these services. With free programs like Gimp and even relatively low priced programs like Adobe's (Macromedia's) Photoshope Elements, I would think that most people would have a photo editor handy most of the time. Maybe I'm missing something.
A couple of photography links
A couple of photography links -
DIY Photography - Concert Photography and
And in case all that reading has made you drowsy, may I suggest the Triple Chocolate Espresso Bean Cookies!
Downloadable Pinhole Camera
Make your own pinhole camera with this dowloadable, cut and fold template.
Random Good Stuff: Free downloadable Camera
Tabblo
At first glance, I though Tabblo was JAFC (just another flickr clone), but it's a bit different. Tabblo is more like a scrapbook, allowing users to share photos with a like theme on one page with notes. Tabblo also allows viewers to comment on the page. The display is nice too.
And more ... users have full control of who can view, comment, and share your tabblos, can pool photos together with other Tabblo members for collaborative tabblo creation, can integrate open photo services such as Flickr to avoid having to upload to multiple sites and can publish tabblos to blogs, social networking sites, and other places online. Could be a nice solution for anyone looking for this kind of photo sharing site.
Photography Jam
PhotographyJam - the photographer's resource: Camera basics: shutter-speed, aperture and ISO - link says it all. New and promising for photography basics information.
10 Ways to Add Variety to Your Digital Photos
� 10 Ways to Add Variety to Your Digital Photography :: Digital Photography School - some excellent tips for injecting some interest in to digital photos.
Photography: Colour to Mono
Digital Camera takes a look at Colour to mono - four methods for convering a colour photo into black and white. I like the results from the Lab method, but that's just me (and how it looks on my not-so-great laptop screen, perhaps).
Pixoh
Pixoh: Edit pictures online - for when you don't have access to a full blown editor. Features Flickr import/export, crop, rotate etc.
UFRaw - open source raw conversion program. Looks very promising .
ZenPhoto
zenphoto - more a photo gallery than a photoblogging program, but looks nicely done and still only in beta!
Photo Gallery Templates
Photo Gallery Templates - based on Douglas Bowman's own photoblog, the long awaited public release of much template goodness for Movable Type. Soon to be seen everywhere!
Digital Photography related links
Stopdesign's new photo galleries are really well done. Attractive and well coded for a flawless presentation.
I don't usually look to Microsoft to provide photography information, but this article on Understanding Sharpening is well done.
A few articles I enjoyed at ShutterFreaks:
Simple 2 layer masking technique for Photoshop.
Digital Workflow 1 and Digital Workflow 2
Some digital inspiration at Making Room Magazine.
And finally, UNphotographable: a text account of pictures missed just struck me as hilarious this morning ;)
Gimp for Photographers
Gimp for Photographers - seems like an attractive option if Photoshop is unavailable. And the author offers some great tips and links, specifically for photographers.
Photoshop Black & White Conversion Action
SLOWER.NET LOG: B&W Conversion outlines a Photoshop Black and White Conversion technique first documented here but adds a bit more and helpfully provides a Photoshop Action File for the process!
Photoshop & Photography Tips
Jay Arraich Photography and Photoshop Tips. Excellent informational site plus some free for personal use black & white photos as well.
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