iPhoto
A Few Book Recommendations
September 25, 2008 08:00 AM
QUESTION: I am looking for a book that addresses how to take and edit digital pictures. I don’t know an f-stop from a truck stop...lighting, ISO settings, and just looking at a camera with a dozen various adjustments is very intimidating. -Kenny
ANSWER: For a general photography book, I recommend "The Digital Photography Book Volume 2" by Scott Kelby. I reviewed it on my website earlier this year. It's a very good book, plus it's one of the cheapest at $16.49 at Amazon. Make sure you get Volume 2. It is the new one.
If you're using a Mac, I would recommend iPhoto (free) and then Adobe Elements 6 for Mac for at $79. You can check out my review of Elements. It's the best deal when it come to photo software. It includes a Raw image converter if you need it, Adobe Bridge for organizing and Elements for photo editing.
iPhoto does a fine job with most stuff if you're a Mac user. If you have a PC, you can get Elements 6 for PC but you could wait for Elements 7 for PC which should be out soon. They always take longer to get the Mac versions out.
Again, I would go with another Scott Kelby book for "Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers" or the "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book" if you have Photoshop.
If you want to stick with iPhoto, which is a fine choice for most needs, I would highly encourage you to get either “iPhoto 08 Visual QuickStart Guide” by Adam Engst or “iPhoto 08 The Missing Manual” by David Pogue and Derrick Story. Both are excellent references and will help you get the most out of iPhoto 08. The Pogue/Story "Missing Manual" is more expensive but has more information. -RL
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SMOG, iPhoto, and Backup
August 05, 2008 04:19 PM
Bob Leahy who I met at the SMOG (Southern Calif. Macintosh Owners/Users Group) meeting wrote:
I'm sure you don't remember me, but I was the one who sat in front of you at the SMOG meeting. I was the one who made the comment about many of the SMOG members having a screw loose.
I noted from your blog that you are new with iPhoto, so I wanted to mention a special application you might find interesting. It is iPhoto Library Manager. You can download it -
along with every conceivable Mac utility - at www.versiontracker.com. Version Tracker is sort of a Google for Mac applications and utilities. If you want to find a Mac utility that can help you raise llamas, look there.
iPhoto Library Manager (ILM) allows you to have multiple iPhoto libraries. Many small libraries open more quickly than one large library. That's the advantage. The disadvantage is that you sometimes might not remember in which library you put your pictures. Having to open multiple libraries can be a hassle. In your line of work, you might have a library for each project.
I've used ILM to create two libraries, which is a small enough number so I know where I put things. One library has 10,000 pictures in it, and the other has 30,000 pictures.
I was impressed by your web site (I'm the web master for the SMOG group). I'm guessing by the fact that iPhoto was new to you that you also are new to the Mac. I wanted to say a word about backup. I owned a financial newsletter business for 18 years, so I thought a lot about safeguarding my records. The problem with working for a large organization like the L.A. Times is that backup is someone else's j
ob. You might not even think about it. But with a personal computer, make sure you think about it.
What if your home burns down tonight, or someone breaks into your home while you are at work, and steals your computer? Will it be a minor nuisance, or a major disaster? I use two external hard drives. One is in the bank safety deposit vault, and I use the other one for a week. Each has a complete copy of the Mac operating system.
I plug in my backup hard drive once a day (I use a laptop) and an application called ChronoSync automatically backs up all changes I have made. Chronosync also automatically backs up my laptop files onto my laptop drive three times a day. So if my laptop drive fails, I can boot from my external hard drive and in five minutes I can continue working.
Every Monday, I go to the bank and exchange the hard drive I've used all week with one that has sat in the bank vault all week. So if my home burns down, at worse I will lose a week's work. I can live with that.
Martin Scorsese is a semi-famous TV writer. He recently had his house burglarized. The burglar stole his computer - and the external backup hard drive that was attached. Martin had no other backup. 20 years of writing - gone.
If you're already backing up, then I apologize for wasting your time. But most people don't think about what bad things can happen to them until it's too late. I was an Infantry point man in Vietnam. I was the first person to walk down the jungle path to find the mines, booby traps, snipers, machine gunners and ambushes. The experience taught me the advantages of planning ahead.
Thanks, Bob. Very important stuff, especially about backing up. -- RL
I plan make it to the next meeting, the topic will be Pages08, Apple’s iWork ’08 suite’s word-processing application, this Saturday day morning. I’m sure I will learn something new. Everyone always seem to know another cool trick with each application. For more information, check out their website at: www.ocmug.org.
I'm sure you don't remember me, but I was the one who sat in front of you at the SMOG meeting. I was the one who made the comment about many of the SMOG members having a screw loose.
I noted from your blog that you are new with iPhoto, so I wanted to mention a special application you might find interesting. It is iPhoto Library Manager. You can download it -
along with every conceivable Mac utility - at www.versiontracker.com. Version Tracker is sort of a Google for Mac applications and utilities. If you want to find a Mac utility that can help you raise llamas, look there.iPhoto Library Manager (ILM) allows you to have multiple iPhoto libraries. Many small libraries open more quickly than one large library. That's the advantage. The disadvantage is that you sometimes might not remember in which library you put your pictures. Having to open multiple libraries can be a hassle. In your line of work, you might have a library for each project.
I've used ILM to create two libraries, which is a small enough number so I know where I put things. One library has 10,000 pictures in it, and the other has 30,000 pictures.
I was impressed by your web site (I'm the web master for the SMOG group). I'm guessing by the fact that iPhoto was new to you that you also are new to the Mac. I wanted to say a word about backup. I owned a financial newsletter business for 18 years, so I thought a lot about safeguarding my records. The problem with working for a large organization like the L.A. Times is that backup is someone else's j
ob. You might not even think about it. But with a personal computer, make sure you think about it. What if your home burns down tonight, or someone breaks into your home while you are at work, and steals your computer? Will it be a minor nuisance, or a major disaster? I use two external hard drives. One is in the bank safety deposit vault, and I use the other one for a week. Each has a complete copy of the Mac operating system.
I plug in my backup hard drive once a day (I use a laptop) and an application called ChronoSync automatically backs up all changes I have made. Chronosync also automatically backs up my laptop files onto my laptop drive three times a day. So if my laptop drive fails, I can boot from my external hard drive and in five minutes I can continue working.
Every Monday, I go to the bank and exchange the hard drive I've used all week with one that has sat in the bank vault all week. So if my home burns down, at worse I will lose a week's work. I can live with that.
Martin Scorsese is a semi-famous TV writer. He recently had his house burglarized. The burglar stole his computer - and the external backup hard drive that was attached. Martin had no other backup. 20 years of writing - gone.
If you're already backing up, then I apologize for wasting your time. But most people don't think about what bad things can happen to them until it's too late. I was an Infantry point man in Vietnam. I was the first person to walk down the jungle path to find the mines, booby traps, snipers, machine gunners and ambushes. The experience taught me the advantages of planning ahead.
Thanks, Bob. Very important stuff, especially about backing up. -- RL
I plan make it to the next meeting, the topic will be Pages08, Apple’s iWork ’08 suite’s word-processing application, this Saturday day morning. I’m sure I will learn something new. Everyone always seem to know another cool trick with each application. For more information, check out their website at: www.ocmug.org.
iPhoto Question
August 03, 2008 09:31 AM
Question:
When editing photos in iPhoto, the Adjust panel gives you the ability to alter the settings fo
r up to ten aspects of the photo. I generally only tweak the sliders for: contrast, highlights/shadows and saturation and occasionally for temperature, tint and sharpness.
--In what order should I be carrying out the adjustments?
--Are there other adjustments that I should consider?
Your advice would be much appreciated, as always! -- Jane from Perth, Austrailia
Answer:
The adjustment in iPhoto are fine for most photos. I would start with the levels adjustment at the top. It has three sliders. I use this in
Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. I usually start with the middle slider. It controls the overall brightness to the photo. Then use the slider on the left to bring back some of you black and the slider on the right for the white.
For problem photos, you can try the shadow control to bring back extra detail in the dark areas.
Next, I would move on to the saturation, temperature and tint.
You can add a little Sharpness but I would keep it to minimum if you need it.
For any real control and photo editing, I would suggest using Photoshop Elements. At $79, its a great deal and simply a lighter version of Photoshop. I always recommend it over similar priced photo editing programs because there are so many fine books and tutorials available on it. --RL
When editing photos in iPhoto, the Adjust panel gives you the ability to alter the settings fo
r up to ten aspects of the photo. I generally only tweak the sliders for: contrast, highlights/shadows and saturation and occasionally for temperature, tint and sharpness.--In what order should I be carrying out the adjustments?
--Are there other adjustments that I should consider?
Your advice would be much appreciated, as always! -- Jane from Perth, Austrailia
Answer:
The adjustment in iPhoto are fine for most photos. I would start with the levels adjustment at the top. It has three sliders. I use this in
Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. I usually start with the middle slider. It controls the overall brightness to the photo. Then use the slider on the left to bring back some of you black and the slider on the right for the white.For problem photos, you can try the shadow control to bring back extra detail in the dark areas.
Next, I would move on to the saturation, temperature and tint.
You can add a little Sharpness but I would keep it to minimum if you need it.
For any real control and photo editing, I would suggest using Photoshop Elements. At $79, its a great deal and simply a lighter version of Photoshop. I always recommend it over similar priced photo editing programs because there are so many fine books and tutorials available on it. --RL
Firefox 3, Piclens, Foxmarks, and Vertu
June 29, 2008 12:02 PM
By Robert Lachman
Just upgraded to the new Firefox 3 browser. Definitely an improvement, an upgrade in speed, design and memory use. Just added the new PicLens plugin by Cooliris for Firefox 3 which creates a
n amazing sweep of photos across screen allowing you to enlarge individual photos or videos with YouTube. Check it out in the photo above with my photographs. It works with Fickr which is really a sweet way to scan across all the photos. Sometimes I make more work and make a bigger mess when I try to get organized. This time it might be an exception to the rule. I added the Foxmarks plugin to Firefox. I wanted a way to organize and synchronize my bookmarks with Firefox 3 my home and work computers. My bookmarks are an unorganized bookmark mess to begin with. I'm not the best but I'm not the worst, somewhere in the middle. Details to come when I figure it out.
This weekend I had a very nice lunch with my wife at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. After lunch I looked in the window of Tourneau. Little out of my price range. I mean a lot out of my price range. OK, completely out of my price range. I know that because they don't have price tags on the watches and other items in the window. After checking out the super expensive watches in the window display, a silver Vertu phone caught my eye. I've never seen one of these perhaps it's because I don't hang out with many movie stars. No price tag on this baby. I was a little confused though. Where's the iPhone in the window? Heck, I thought the iPhone was the world's most expensive phone. Even the 3G version is out of control price wise when you check out the service plan.
At Tourneau I'm not sure they would take me to seriously wearing shorts, sandals and a hockey t-shirt. And, if you notice, I'm not wearing a USC hat in the photo below, that might have got me a price check. The maroon and gold USC thing goes a long way at this mall. They even have a USC store at the mall.
Does anybody know why everyone's complaining about the price of gas going over 5 dollars a gallon? Soon Apple and AT&T want to charge $70 dollars a month to use your iPhone. Nokia's luxury subsidiary, Vertu, the under-featured, overpriced cellphone which does come in very cool colors sell in the over $5000 range. Now that's expensive and something to complain about. Can people really afford things like this? I did find one on Craig's List for $3,500. Much better. Thought about it and the 3G iPhone seems a better bargain brand new at the Apple store for $199 ($299 for the one you would really want) due out July 11, 2008.
Check out Scott Kelby's website. He has the final results from his, "Top 10 Things You Want Most in the New Version of Photoshop" poll. I still think a reduction in the price of the software should be number one. It didn't make the list.
Make sure you check out Deke McClelland's 101 Photoshop Tips in 5 minutes video below. It's very creative and informative. I can't even imagine how much time went into producing the five minutes of video. Other great stuff at his website at www.deke.com.