March 29, 2011 by Brad.

For the last several weeks, I have been attending an excellent series of free live webinars on using Dreamweaver CS5 for design and styling web pages using CSS.

CSS is the modern standard for laying out and styling web pages and everyone who is involved in the design of web sites needs to know about CSS. However, there can be a daunting learning curve.

That’s where Myra Rhodes and Everyone’s E-Learning Inc. come to the rescue. Myra has prepared a complete set of online interactive Dreamweaver training lessons that you can purchase as a package or you can buy through a monthly subscription through her web site.

But here’s the best part:

Myra has recently upgraded the package for Dreamweaver CS5 and she is presenting the newly revised lessons in a series of free live webinars every Tuesday at 11am Pacific time. You can sign up for these through her web site.

Myra has a very cheerful, friendly teaching style that makes learning the material a breeze. The complexities of CSS and Dreamweaver dissolve away with Myra’s concise, easy-to-learn units.

I highly recommend Myra Rhodes and Everyone’s E-Learning Inc. for Dreamweaver training.

Posted in Web design, Digital Art-ifacts | Print | 2 Comments »

March 27, 2011 by Brad.

Aloha! We recently spent a few days on the Big Island of Hawaii at the Marriott Beach Resort on Anaeho’omalu Bay ( 19°54′57.97″N 155°53′20.17″W).

There is a very nice group of beaches along the south shore of the bay that afford a roughly 60 degree panoramic view of the entire bay, including the resort. I decided to capture this view in a sequence of photos to create a panoramic image. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Photoshop, Photography, Digital Art-ifacts | Print | 1 Comment »

March 15, 2011 by Brad.

Every once in awhile someone sends me a favourite, special image from Facebook or some other web site or blog and they ask me to make an enlargement print. They are often surprised or disappointed when I have to inform them that this is unlikely to work, despite how amazingly good the image might appear on their laptop or cell phone.

If you have read part 1 of this series, you’ll know that I can produce amazingly good enlargement prints from a 12 MP, 10 MP or even an 8 MP camera file. So why won’t the Facebook image work? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Photography, Printing | Print | 1 Comment »

March 7, 2011 by Brad.

In part 1 of this series, I answered the very important question “How many pixels do you need?” to get the best prints at Turning Point Arts. In that article, I explained why it is unnecessary, and in fact undesirable, to resize or up-sample your image before submitting it to me for printing. This leads to the question of how best to sharpen your image if you plan to have it printed at Turning Point Arts.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Photography, Printing | Print | 1 Comment »

March 6, 2011 by Brad.

It is very easy to prepare images to get outstanding prints at Turning Point Arts. In fact, it might require fewer steps than you think. I have noticed that some clients perform resizing and resampling steps that are actually unnecessary and had they not been done, very likely would have produced better prints. It would also have saved them time. So in the interests of helping you get the best possible prints with the least amount of work (on your part), I am writing this series of articles.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Photography, Printing, Digital Art-ifacts | Print | 1 Comment »

March 6, 2011 by Brad.

“Apps” have become the modern “great differentiator” between devices. ‘MY app store has more apps than their app store, so buy MY smartphone. It’s obviously better than theirs.’ Well, that’s the implication anyway. Marketeers love this; it’s Marketing 101–they teach it in school. Find and flog the key differentiator(s) between your product and their product. If you can’t find one, then invent one.

But “apps” (as ‘defined’ by Apple and now Google, Nokia; and I’ve even read that Microsoft is considering the idea for Windows “8″) are bad, VERY bad. They’re bad for consumers; they’re bad for developers and they’re bad for the computing industry in general. They’re only good for Apple (and possibly Google, Nokia, et al.), but not indefinitely.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Brad's rants, Digital Art-ifacts | Print | No Comments »