PhotoWalkPro

It’s true that most days you can look at my blog and you will see mention of your typical photo editing tools such as Photoshop, Lightroom, Photomatix, and even Aperture, but what about that little program that comes loaded on your Mac? Isn’t it a photo management and editing program? Do I really need to spend $650 just to play with my digital files? The answer is, it all depends. So lets take a look at a program that doesn’t always get a lot of love but probably should, Apple’s iPhoto.

I have to admit that I don’t use iPhoto that often but the other day my son was working on a Scout project that required him to take photos and then present them on his computer. This is when I remembered the perfect tool for my 12 year old and that was the little used iPhoto `08. The one thing you can always count on from Apple is that their software interfaces will always be clean and easy to use and this is no different for iPhoto.

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Just a few odds and ends to wrap up this first week of 2008.

Last week over at David Ziser’s Digital ProTalk blog, David hooked up his readers with a link to a free copy of SnagIt,  the screen capture utility.  Many of us photo bloggers have need to capture an image from our screen from time to time and this is a great, easy to use, program for doing just that.  The only downfall is that it is a Windows-only program.  The good news is that if you are a Mac user, you already have a capture utility built right into OS X.  To use this little hidden feature, just press CMD+SHFT+3 for a full screen grab or CMD+SHFT+4 to pull up a cursor that lets you select what part of your screen you want.  It’s a simple, fast solution for Mac users.  David also pointed his readers to a free download version of Camtasia.  Camtasia is a screen capture utility for creating video.  It records all of your screen activity as a movie file that can be used for training and is widely used by folks that create online tutorials.  Once again, this is a Windows application.  I don’t believe that OS X has a solution for this yet but there is an inexpensive application that will do the same thing.  For $65, you can download Screen Mimic.  This screen recording program not only records your screen and audio, but will convert it to Flash or QuickTime.  If that’s a little steep for your wallet, for a mere $20 you can download iShowU.  This is a great capture utility with lots of presets to satisfy your online video needs plus other great features.  Definitely worth the money to get you up and running in the online tutorial business.

Ben Goes Big -  Legendary Photoshop author and instructor Ben Wilmore has released a new website to feature his photography.  Much of what Ben shoots is processed using his HDR techniques and so Ben created this site that can fill a 30″ display with his images.  Ben says that they look best when they are big.  I wonder if this is justification to go out and buy that new Apple Cinema HD display?  To see Ben’s new site, click here.

And finally, this weekend I am heading down to Tampa to the Imaging USA show.  I will be checking out all the new photo technology being released this year at the 500+ vendor tradeshow.  While I am there I will be stopping by Kelby Training to see Scott Kelby, Dave Moser, Kathy, Matt, Dave, and anyone else that will let me get close enough to annoy them.  Hopefully in my downtime I will get to go shoot a little with Scott and Dave.  I haven’t had a chance to shoot anything this year and I am dying to get snapping.  If I get anything decent or find any great new gear at the show I will be sure to throw it up in a post.  Until then, I will close out this post with a shot from my trip to Page AZ last year.  Have a great weekend!  GO SKINS!!!

Here’s a little late breaking news for you Lightroom users, Adobe has released version 1.3 for download. The update includes these new enhancements:

• Additional camera support for the Canon 1Ds Mark III, Nikon D3, Nikon D300, Olympus E-3, and more
• Updated Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard support

Mac users can download their update here.

Windows users can download their update here.

I haven’t made the Leopard leap yet but I am assuming that this update will fix the printing problems that Lightroom had in Leopard. Additionally, there were releases for Photoshop, Bridge, and Camera Raw. Here is the low-down as taken from John Nack’s Blog:

Photoshop 10.0.1 update addresses the key pain points experienced by users printing from CS3, particularly on Windows. I’ve posted a separate note that goes into more detail on the topic. The update also includes better support for preserving XMP metadata (including copyright) via Save For Web, through the inclusion of a new “Include XMP” option in the dialog’s settings menu. The Photoshop update does not address a problem with changing the values for various tools on Mac OS X Leopard, but Apple and Adobe are working together on a separate fix (details).

With Bridge 2.1.1, a new preference to enable High Quality Preview has been added to Bridge’s Preferences->Advanced panel. When enabled, the preference addresses the problem of a soft or blurry preview appearing in the Preview panel and in Slideshow mode. The Bridge update also remedies other problems reported by users, including a problem that could cause Bridge to lock up when using arrow keys to navigate.

Lightroom 1.3 improves compatibility with Mac OS X Leopard, fixes some bugs, and adds an option to render 1:1 previews during import. New cameras supported in Lightroom, Camera Raw, and the DNG Converter include the following: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, Canon PowerShot G9, Nikon D3, Nikon D300, Olympus E-3, Olympus SP-560 UZ, and Panasonic DMC-L10. The applications also now support the sRAW format produced by the Canon 1D Mk III, 1Ds Mk III, and 40D.

There’s also a preview Lightroom Export SDK available for developers on Adobe Labs. If that sounds interesting, check out what Lightroom PM Tom Hogarty has to say on the Lightroom Journal.

If you follow my blog, you know that I am a Nikon shooter. That doesn’t make me a Canon hater. I don’t play that game. I just have had Nikon products available to me over my career and so I have a great comfort level with their products, and sometimes great frustrations. That’s just the way it is when you align yourself with a particular product. It’s like Mac and Windows. It’s a love/hate sort of thing. That being said, I like to keep up with what is going on within the Nikon World so I occasionally drop in on several Nikon resource web pages. Here is what I found today.

• Nikon is celebrating their 90th anniversary. As part of the celebration they have put together a video featuring a retrospective of Nikon firsts and historic company moments throughout the years. You can check it out right here.

• T-Mobil and Nikon have teamed up to offer wi-fi email service directly from the CoolPix S7c digital camera. The first time you turn your camera on in one of the more than 7000 T-Mobile hotspots around the country your one year complimentary T-Mobil service starts. Find out more details here.

• Nikon has their own magazine called Nikon World. The magazine is produced quarterly and is available for $16.95. There is also an online version that contains stories, videos, and even contests. Check it out by clicking here.
• Do you have a question concerning any of your Nikon gear? Well have you tried searching the Nikon Knowledge Database? The database is sort of a searchable FAQ comprised of over 1200 answers. It covers everything from where to find an online owners manual for your camera to how to focus Nikonos lenses with close-up accessories. Check it out right here.
• Have you ever been to the Nikon Pro site? Well if you haven’t, you most certainly should set aside some quality time to check it out. The site is full of tech updates, spotlights on Nikon Pro shooters, and great photography. You can also sign up to have the Nikon Pro newsletter delivered right to your inbox. To read more, click here.
• Want to see what other Nikon shooters are creating? Try checking out the Flickr Nikon tag cluster. Start your search here.
• To see other Nikon user sites, go check out the Nikon Community list over at NikonLinks.Com
• Finally, if you want to stay up with everything Nikon on a daily basis you need to add Nikonians to your daily blog list. With over 90,000 members, there is more here than you can digest on just one visit. Check them out here.

I just came across the coolest little piece of photo gear that could revolutionize how you shoot and save/transfer your images. If your camera uses an SD card for storage then you are going to want to see the Eye-Fi card. In simple terms, it is a 2GB memory card with built in wi-fi that will wirelessly transmit your images from camera to your computer or to your online storage home (e.g., Flickr, Shutterfly, Snapfish…). The card is compatible with Windows and Mac OSX (Tiger, not Leopard as of this writing) and is pretty easy to set up. It attaches to your computer via USB, you set up your card and service, and then you go take pictures. The card doesn’t have to leave your camera and you don’t have to hook up any cables to transfer your images. How cool is that? I don’t know how fast the wireless transfers are or any of the technical specs but here is the best part. This thing only costs around $100.00! It is also available at most major camera stores and also Amazon (click here to go directly to the product page). If you would like more info, you can go to the Eye-Fi site by clicking here. Also, Gizmodo did a review of the card which can be read right here. Now if they only made an 8GB compact flash version

That’s all for today, have a great weekend!