It Was All Started by a Mouse (Part 1)

The following is an excerpt of the article wherein Photographer Ben Curtis is interviewed by ERROL MORRIS.

In this section Ben Curtis describes how Adobe is working to create a way for PhotoShop to track all changes made to a photograph.  Here he talks about what that means and his perspective on the subject within the context of accuracy and the relevance of a photo’s caption.

BEN CURTIS: I don’t, but it was after the Reuters incident. I read the Reuters website after that, and there was a lot of handwringing and reevaluation of their procedures. After the war, I read that Reuters was working with Adobe on some software component for Photoshop that would keep a record of all the changes that had been made in Photoshop, so that editors could see exactly what had been done to an image. It would aid in preventing manipulation of photographs. I found that quite interesting from a technical perspective, and I could see how such thing could be useful in the work flow of maintaining accuracy of images. This was one of the things that was in my head when I was writing the “in defense of captions” post — while that’s useful or could be useful, a technical solution alone is never going to solve the problem of accuracy in the media. You could take a photographer’s image straight from the camera, not even processed with Photoshop, put it on the wire, and it’s the caption that provides the accuracy for that picture. The caption is the place where it’s easy to mislead the reader. [I have written about this in my essay "Photography as a Weapon."] The caption is the thing that provides accurate context. And without an accurate context or with a misleading context, you can completely distort the meaning of an image. At the end of the day it comes back to old-fashioned ethics. You have to trust your people on the ground and you have to drill into them the ethical standards that your organization has. I remember the day after the Reuters incident I instructed a Lebanese photographer —

You have seen quite a few that Prof. Ellinor has chosen over this past semester.  

Now it is your turn to post your favorite.

Pick a new site that you feel everyone should know about or choose one that has already been posted.  

Post the URL here and tell us how you use the site and why you think it is a must for us to know and/or use.

Your posted comment will earn extra credit points.

WorkHappy.net is a labor of love for fellow entrepreneurs, sole proprietors, freelancers, consultants, lone wolves whathaveyou.

http://www.workhappy.net/

The fastest disk imaging software is now available as a free edition.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

]]> http://www.famugraphics.com/?feed=rss2&p=570 http://www.famugraphics.com/?p=552 http://www.famugraphics.com/?p=552#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:59:25 +0000 admin http://www.famugraphics.com/?p=552 34 Essential Tutorials To Getting Started With Digital Photography

http://www.pxlshots.com/blog/2008/12/34-essential-tutorials-to-get-started-with-digital-photography/

Here’s a compilation of the best photography tips and tutorials found on the web. Starting with basics to make your first purchase, all the way to the inner workings of your camera.  If you like the site don’t forget to digg it.

Here is a sampling of what you’ll find:

Camera Shutter Speeds and Apertures

“To master Adobe Illustrator isn’t easy; and the creating process of professional illustrations requires both time and patience. Therefore tutorials can turn out to be real life- and time-savers as they show exactly what needs to be done in order to create professional illustrations and how masters of illustration actually manage to do their magic.”

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/02/05/illustrator-tutorials-best-of/

Illustrator Tutorials

Creating a Crazy Cool Logo
In this post I will show you how we created the logo. I will skip the drawing parts, yes there were tons of drawings before going to the computer, because when they stole my computer and backups in 2006 they took all my photos of the drawings.

Spice up Pie Charts
For some charts you might only want to spice up the most important slice or the biggest one. Although most topics aren’t as fun as mutations, any sort of added graphics make boring charts look a lot better.

Wolf Drawing Tutorial
Learn how to create an illustrated wolf from the hand-drawn paper sketch to final product with Illustrator and Photoshop.

Skull Tutorial
An alien skull tutorial. Editorial illustration.

How I Do Stuff Tutorial (Video-tutorial)
It’s just a speed-up video of how one can go from a sketch to a mediocre illustration using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Test Your Creativity
“Using a provided set of basic shapes I have to compile them to create my illustration. The theme is up to me but there are some ground rules such as you cannot edit the shapes or distort them, you however can subtract from them using any of the shapes in the provided set.”

Vintage T-Shirts
It’s easy to create authentic collegiate T-shirt designs using Illustrator, Photoshop and a good old-fashioned iron. In this tutorial, illustrator Derek Lea reveals how combining both applications can create stunning results.

Create a Dream Design with 3D Typography

This tutorial is simply amazing, Alex Beltechi shows us how to create a really cool 3D type using illustrator then in Photoshop add textures and other elements. Also I’ve learned a lot with the way he creates the bushes and foliage.

http://abduzeedo.com/2008-most-useful-photothop-tutorials

• Enhance Your Ad Designs with 3D Splashes

What I like in this tutorial was the way Alessandro Giglio creates the splashes. Much better than buying or using brushes he really took photos and did the real thing. Of course the whole tutorial is really well done with nice and useful tips on how to use the Liquify filter.

• Create cool neon effects

This was one of the best effects I’ve seen ever. I don’t need to say anything, you have to check it out this master piece from Tony Ariawan.

Create amazing photomontages

Nik Ainley is one of my favorite digital artists out there, he’s really a master and in this tutorial he shows us how to play around with some images to create an amazing underwater scene.

Seriously Cool Photoshop Explosion Effect

I know, I wrote this tutorial, but I have to say, I learned a lot from it, and I think it’s useful because it shows how to create we can create complex effects using simple solutions like the Clone Tool with some brushes.

Photoshop Paper Texture from Scratch then Create a Grungy Web Design with it!

Collis shows a bit of his secrets in this fantastic web design tutorial. Very useful tips on how to create paper textures

How to turn Tom Cruise into an alien

I think I don’t need to say anything about it, the title says it all.

Make an Inspiring Artistic Poster with Drawn Elements

In this tutorial Alex Beltechi shows us how to create a very cool poster with drawn elements, the step 7 is the best in my opinion. But also there are some very useful tips on how to use textures, brushes and the Color Range feature in Photoshop.

Secrets of Photoshop Hair Brushes

Bert tackles the topic of creating realistic hair and fur with Photoshop, do I need to say anything else?

Psychedelic Life Tutorial by Guilherme Marconi

In this tutorial Guilherme Marconi show us a bit of his working process. From how he comes up with the ideas and what he does to make them become reality.

Swirl Mania in Illustrator & Photoshop

This is another tutorial I wrote this year and for me it’s very useful because it explains how to create swirls in Illustrator and mix them with a photo in Photoshop to produce a very cool design.

Displacement Water

In this tutorial you will learn how to create super realistic water surface in Photoshop using the Displacement Filter. The end result is simply fantastic.

Creating Effective Clouds!

This tutorial helped me to create the Beautiful Fluffy Clouds in Photoshop - Christmas Tutorial. You will learn how to create really nice clouds using brushes.

The O series tutorial

In this tutorial James White shows us a bit how he creates those amazing designs. Very simple and effective use of blend modes and colors. Definitely worth reading it.

Create a Spectacular Grass Text Effect in Photoshop

Without any doubt one of the most beautiful tutorials of the year, the outcome is awesome and once again Collis shows us a bit of his mastery when it comes to Photoshop.

Creating surreal landscapes

When it comes to creating out-of-this-world images, the only limit is your imagination. Justin Maller shows you how to get flawless results.

Transform your doodles

Turn your idle sketches into gold with amazing Photoshop techniques from Craig Shields.

Photoshop Photo Manipulation Tutorial

In this tutorial Chris Gonzales shows us hot to mix photos of a lion and an apple to create a crazy image.

Photoshop Photo Manipulation Tutorial from Chris Gonzalez on Vimeo.

HDR Tutorial

In this tutorial un/exposed shows how we can blend three differently exposed images using Photomatix, and then demonstrates how to use some basic Photoshop techniques to touch-up the resulting image.

HDR Tutorial from un/exposed on Vimeo.

The new way to create 3D text

3D text needs the right depth, lighting and texture. Nik Ainley tells you how to do this without re-rendering nightmares

Combine 3d Renders With A Stock 3d Model

In this tutorial the guys from SimplyPSD show us ways to adjust and blend multiple stocks together to create a seamless kaleidoscopic base for an artwork. They also cover basic etching ( extraction ) techniques, look at some new layer-masking methods and have a play with different kinds of blur effects.

About the author

My name is Fabio Sasso, I’m a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I’m the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site at http://fabiosasso.com.

Portfolio Websites

Web designers often browse through portfolio websites of other designers for inspiration and ideas that can be used in their own work. Photographers, like designers, have a need to display an attractive portfolio for their websites visitors, and many photographers have excellent portfolio sites. In this post I’d like to take a look at 25 of the best. This collection is based on the quality of the portfolio site itself, not necessarily the work being displayed inside the portfolio.

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/best-photographer-websites/

A website for those who are passionate about all things Type.

http://typophile.com/

They sell great t-shirts at http://typophile.bigcartel.com/

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright.

We provide free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Here is the main website:

http://creativecommons.org/

Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from “All Rights Reserved” to “Some Rights Reserved.”

Everything they do is free!

Our first website is based on a request from a student looking to figure out what font was used in a graphic.  This can often be a designers worst nightmare — searching for a font that matches what the client has given you.  If there is no way to access the text then there is no way to know the font name from the file.

At least that is how it used to be.  Here is a site which will analyze your graphic and help you find the font name you need.  They do have specific parameters that will help with the detective work, but it can be worth it if you just have to know…

http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

Pixeloo

Here is a great site by a Photoshop blogger. A blog is a great way to market your talent, communicate with peers and teach others who aspire to your greatness.

http://pixeloo.blogspot.com/2008/04/jessica-rabbit-untooned.html

Check out this youtube video of one hour of his work condensed down to 10 minutes. He works on making Jessica Rabbit into a real person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r940y3N1Yns

is one of my personal favorites because you can come to one website and then view video’s of the most interesting people on the planet.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free.

http://www.ted.com/

One of my favorite talks :

Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

Your Assignment for EXTRA CREDIT:

Locate a TED talk or performance that you really connect with post it here with either a link to the page or description of the talk, speaker, etc. and tell why this particular performance struck home with you.