Beginner Photography

Monday, August 16, 2010

One more on free image editing software...

It's called FastStone Image Viewer. Two of the (many) cool features is the ability to batch convert images into PDF files and dual monitor support.

Here are a few more features:

True Full Screen viewer with image zoom support and unique fly-out menu panels

Crystal-clear and customizable one-click image magnifier

Superior Red-Eye effect removal/reduction with completely natural looking end result

Image modification tools: Resize/resample, rotate/flip, crop, sharpen/blur, brightness/contrast, etc.

Eleven resampling algorithms to choose from when resizing images

Image special effects: watermark, annotation, drop shadow, framing, bump map, lens, morph, waves

Draw texts, lines, highlights, rectangles, ovals and callout objects on images

Multi-level Undo/Redo capability

One-touch best fit/actual size image display support

Image management, including tagging capability, with drag-and-drop and Copy To/Move To Folder support

Histogram display with color counter feature

Compare images side-by-side (up to 4 at a time) to easily cull those forgettable shots

Configurable batch processing to convert/rename large or small collections of images

Slideshow creation with 150+ transition effects and music support (MP3, WMA, WAV...)

Print images with full page-layout control

Create fully configurable Contact Sheets

Powerful Save As interface to compare image quality and control generated file size

Run favorite programs with one keystroke from within Image Viewer

Click on the image below and it will open larger (and in a new window) allowing you to view more of the menu options in greater detail.

Remember back in March?...

When I was so happy with the approach of spring, and how pleased I was with my tomato seedlings?

Well, those bad boys are doing some serious producing, I picked a couple dozen fruit this weekend alone.

Is there anything better than a fresh home grown tomato?

Well, maybe winning the lottery, dating Jennifer Aniston, or being Tom Brady would be better than a home grown tomato... but really, it was meant to be a rhetorical question.

(clicking on this image will open it larger in a new window)

Saturday, August 14, 2010

It's Saturday, I must be shooting...

I am about to walk out the door to shoot a wedding with my friend Stacey Kane.

This past May we traveled (again) to Long Beach Island (NJ) to photograph a wedding at Bonnet Island Estate.

What a nice place, wonderful couple, and a fun wedding to shoot.

That wedding was recently featured over at Cake & Pictures and you can check it out here.

Friday, August 13, 2010

More free photo editing software...

Sorry for the long delay between posts (I think the longest in the 4 year history of this blog), but sometimes life happens.

Here is installment 2 of free image editing software.

Today we bring you Photobie, an all free, no nags, no "pro" upgrade options, 100% free image/photo editing software.

I could bore you by rambling on and on about the features and the things I like about Photobie but your time would be waaaaaay better spent checking out the software for yourself.

Be sure to read their 43 page feature list (a downlaodable pdf) and you'll see that it's powerful, it's versatile, and it's worth your consideration.

Here is the Photobie tutorial page, their YouTube channel, and their download page.

Below is an "intro" video, it's 10 minutes long and nicely demonstrates the abilities of this powerful program.

(Subscribers know the routine, you'll need to return to the blog because videos don't push through with your subscription).

Monday, August 9, 2010

Free image editing software...

This week we are going to present you several options when it comes to (truly) free image editing software.

We are starting with Photoscape.

Other free image editing programs have similar features but Photoscape is the first one I have found has a clone stamp tool (see the video at the end of this post).

It also has a bunch of tools that I like - batch tools (edit, resize, rename), Face Search (it will search for similar faces on your computer and online), and a RAW converter.

Here are a few more key features:

♦ Viewer: View photos in your folder, create a slideshow

♦ Editor: resizing, brightness and color adjustment, white balance, backlight correction, frames, balloons, mosaic mode, adding text, drawing pictures, cropping, filters, red eye removal, blooming, clone stamp

♦ Page: Merge multiple photos on the page frame to create one final photo

♦ Combine: Attach multiple photos vertically or horizontally to create one final photo

♦ Animated GIF: Use multiple photos to create a final animated photo

♦ Splitter: Slice a photo into several pieces

♦ Color Picker: Zoom in on images, search and pick a color

♦ Paper Print: Print lined, graph, music and calendar paper

You can learn more about Photoscape on their website, check out sscreen shots, and download it here.

This video is a very good demonstration of how well their clone stamp tool works. As usual, subscribers will need to return to the blog to watch it (as it doesn't push through with your subscription).

Thursday, August 5, 2010

SOLE MATES

Unfortunately Viva’s love of outdoor weddings along with our love of designer shoes hasn’t always been a match made in heaven. Let’s face it, luscious grass covered ceremony sites, cocktail receptions on beautifully stained decks and tented dinners on perfectly laid cobble stones aren’t really a high heel’s best friend. Not willing to give up one or the other (outdoor weddings or high heels), Viva went on a hunt to see what we could do to help them get along.

High heels, meet SoleMates.

"At last the sole-ution to wearing high heels on grass, cobblestones, bricks, wooden decks and over subway grates! By increasing the surface area of the base of the heel, SoleMates reduce the pressure preventing them from sinking into the grass or falling into cracks."

Not only do these little babies make walking on grass a breeze, they also help to protect your heels and prevent damage to those oh so stylish Louboutins you splurged on for your wedding day. And don’t forget your bridesmaids. Now they can walk down the aisle with confidence too.

While located in the US, SoleMates does ship to Canada and offers a fantastic discount to brides!

One thousand DIY photo projects....

Okay, maybe it's not a thousand (it's more like 65), but listed here are plenty of low cost/no cost DIY projects that will keep you busy for quite some time.

If you have a DIY project not listed here please let us know so we can add it to this group as we are going to maintain a "DIY Project" list that our readers can refer to.

If you have (or when you do) complete a DIY project, share that with us too.

New, let the fun begin.

Adjustable Snoot

Backdrop Stand

Backdrop Stands & Green Screens

Beauty Dish

Beauty Dish for SB-800

Beauty Dish flash modifier

Beauty Dish (stainless steel)

Boom Arm Reflector Holder

Budget DIY Lighting System

Canvas Photography Backdrop

C-Stand

Cheapshott Collapsible Umbrella DIY

David Hobby Grid Hack

Digital White Balance Filter (like ExpoDisc)

Film Can Diffuser & Color Gel holder

Flash Diffuser (cigarette packet)